But supposing, as often happens, the Spahi, or tithe-farmer, who is shrewd enough to know that _ex nihilo nihil fit_, sees no means of wringing the required amount from the village till after the harvest has been disposed of. In that case he imposes on the Knez or village elder, who represents the commune in the transaction, an assessment drawn up in the Turkish tongue,[248] and as intelligible to the rural Bosniac as so much Chinese. The money from the grapes or corn or tobacco assessed having been realised, the Spahi presents himself again to the village, and demands, perhaps, double what had been agreed on. The astonished Knez takes out the written agreement, a copy of which had been supplied to him, and appeals to it against the extortioner. But if he carries the matter before a Turkish court, the first Effendi who sets eyes on it will tell him that every iota of the Spahi’s claims is borne out by that precious document! Or if he still remains obstinate, there are other paraphernalia of torture worthy of the vaults of the Inquisition. A village will occasionally band together to defend themselves from these extortioners. Thereupon the tithe-farmer applies to the civil power, protesting that if he does not get the full amount from the village, he will be unable in his turn to pay the Government. The Zaptiehs, the factotums of the Turkish officials, are immediately quartered on the villagers, and live on them, insult their wives, and ill-treat their children. With the aid of these gentry all kinds of personal tortures are applied to the recalcitrant. In the heat of summer men are stripped naked, and tied to a tree smeared over with honey or other sweet-stuff, and left to the tender mercies of the insect world. For winter extortion it is found convenient to bind people to stakes and leave them barefooted to be frost-bitten; or at other times they are thrust into a pigsty and cold water poured on them. A favourite plan is to drive a party of rayahs up a tree or into a chamber, and then smoke them with green wood. Instances are recorded of Bosniac peasants being buried up to their heads in earth, and left to repent at leisure.[249]