We can easily understand how a man, impressed with the idea that his blood had all been drawn from him by a sorceress, should become faint, and remain many days in a languid state; but how the people around should believe that they saw the blood flowing from both parts of the cane at the place cut through, it is not so easy to conceive. I am satisfied that old Jangbâr believed the whole story to be true, and that at the time he thought the juice of the cane red; but the little pool of blood grew, no doubt, by degrees, as years rolled on and he related this tale of the fearful powers of the Khilautî witches. Notes: 1. _Ante_, Chapter 9. 2. An orderly, or official messenger, who wears a 'chaprâs', or badge of office. 3. On the Nerbudda, fifty miles south-east of Jubbulpore. 4. Of the supposed powers and dispositions of witches among the Romans we have horrible pictures in the 5th Ode of the 6th Book of Horace, and in the 6th Book of Lucan's _Pharsalia_. [W. H. S.] The reference to Horace should be to the 5th Epode. The passage in the _Pharsalia_, Book VI, lines 420-830, describes the proceedings of Thessalian witches. 5. Such awkward incidents of medical practice are not heard of nowadays. 6. The population of Jabalpur (including cantonments) has increased steadily, and in 1911 was 100,651, as compared with 84,556 in 1891, and 76,023 in 1881. 7. Katâk, or Cuttack, a district, with town of same name, in Orissa. 8. In the Bilâspur district of the Central Provinces. The distance in a direct line between Mandlâ and Katâk is about 400 miles. 9. Shâhgarh was formerly a petty native state, with town of same name. The chief joined the rebels in 1857, with the result that his dominions were confiscated, and distributed between the districts of Sâgar and Damoh in the Central Provinces, and Jhânsî (formerly Lalitpur) in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The town of Shâhgarh is in the Sâgar district. 10. Râipur is the chief town of the district of the same name in the Central Provinces, which was not finally annexed to the British dominions until 1854, when the Nâgpur State lapsed. CHAPTER 12 The Silver Tree, or 'Kalpa Briksha'--The Singhâra or _Trapa bispinosa_, and the Guinea-Worm. Poor old Salâmat Alî wept bitterly at the last meeting in my tent, and his two nice boys, without exactly knowing why, began to do the same; and my little son Henry[1] caught the infection, and wept louder than any of them. I was obliged to hurry over the interview lest I should feel disposed to do the same. The poor old Rânî,[2] too, suffered a good deal in parting from my wife, whom, she says, she can never hope to see again. Her fine large eyes shed many a tear as she was getting into her palankeen to return.