country to live by their wits. Just at
present we have a Ceylon Jack Sheppard, who is
carrying things with a very high hand. Sardiel
is his "honourable name," as the Chinese say.
He is said to be armed with revolvers, and to
swagger about in open day in the bazaar of a
village on the high road to Kandy, through
which a mail-coach runs. None of the villagers
dare refuse him anything; he takes the bride
from the bridegroom, the daughter from her
parents. He simply says, "I am Sardiel," and
the thing is done. He has collected around
him a band of kindred spirits, and is the terror
of the country.

As this kind of proceeding is novel, there
is no organised force here, as in the Ghauts
of the Bombay Presidency, expressly to put
down such gangs; but government has offered a
heavy reward for the apprehension of this robber
chieftain, or any of his band; and the police have
been set upon his track. A few days ago, they
almost succeeded in surrounding a house in
which Sardiel and some of his companions were;
but unfortunately they managed to get out, and
to cross a rice-field; the police pursued them,
but the robbers outran them, whereupon the
gallant defenders of our lives and liberties
halted and placed their guns against a tree
whilst they recovered their breath. Meanwhile,
Mr. Sardiel also halted, doubled, crept quietly
up to where the guns were resting, seized one of
them, took aim at a policeman, fired, and ran off
with the gun. The ball passed through part of
the policeman's coat, but did him no further
injury.

In the Bombay Ghauts the robbers often
avenge themselves on their enemies by cutting
off their noses. The putting on of new noses
has consequently become a profession. I have,
in the Bombay Presidency, seen a very fairly
executed false nose made by a native artist by
cutting part of the skin of the forehead in like
manner as is done in England.

Although there is not at the present time
any regular system of robbery prevalent, there
are occasionally instances in the remotest parts
of the island, of robbers entering a house at
night and torturing the inmates to induce them
to reveal where their treasures are hidden.
Some of their modes of torture are distressingly
ingenious. There was also at one time a
crime very prevalent in the northern province
called "ear-cutting." In later years it ceased
almost wholly, and during a residence of about
ten years in that province, I never had to take
judicial cognisance of that crime. It consisted
in cutting, or tearing from the ears of some
wealthy passer-by, the massive gold ear-rings,
sometimes ten in number, which he, according
to Tamul custom, wore. Although this
crime had almost died out, I see that at the
last sessions five men were tried for its
commission.

The robbers of India have carried their arts
to perfection. In some places it is necessary
to pay black mail to escape being
victimised. In Bombay, during the hot months,
the wealthier Europeans live on the esplanade
near the sea-shore in tents or temporary bungalows,
and every family hires a thief to act as a
watchman. An officer on the march in the
Madras Presidency halted at a certain place.
The chief of the thieves waited on him, and told
him it was a very bad place; there were a great
many rogues in it; would the Sahib allow him
to do watchman? (for a consideration, of course,
understood). No, said the officer, he would
post his sentries as usual, and if any thief
approached the tents the thief would find himself
the worse for it. The sentries were accordingly
posted, and the rest of the detachment went to
sleep. The next morning not a musket was to
be found save those of the sentries. The
sentries all declared that not one of them had slept,
and that they had kept the strictest watch. In
this unpleasant predicament, the officer sent for
the "Watchman " who had tendered his
services, having doubtlessly promised to do him no
harm before the astute old villain presented
himself.

On his arrival, the officer told him of the loss,
and promised him a reward if the muskets were
returned. "I told the Sahib there were bad
men here; I will try what can be done; but
mind, I know nothing of the affair myself."
What could the unfortunate officer do, but wink
at what he knew was a lie. In a few hours
the old man returned, and said he had obtained
information that the muskets would be found
hidden in a certain nullah, or dry water-course.
There they were, sure enough. The "Watchman"
pocketed a heavier reward than he would
have got if his services had been engaged
before, and the officer proceeded on his way,
a wiser man. The manner in which the thing
was done, was this. As the sentry turned his
back, a dusky form crept nearer and nearer to
the tents, another and another following; so
stealthy were the movements, so cunningly did
the movers avail themselves of any bush or
scrub, or inequality of the ground, that their
presence was never suspected. At length,
watching his opportunity, the foremost opened
a corner of a tent on the side opposite to that
where the sentry was patrolling, entered, and
abstracted a musket; this he handed to the
companion immediately behind him, who handed
it to the next, and so on, until the last had
been removed, when the party retreated as they
had advanced.

In Ceylon, as in India, thieves are in the
habit of greasing themselves all over, in order
that, if seized, they may slip through the fingers
like eels.

The most common kind of robbery here, and
the one least easy of detection, is cattle-stealing.
The cattle of the villagers graze about the
neighbourhood, in places where bushes and trees
afford concealment for one or two thieves, who
are generally men of a certain amount of
influence to boot. Watching their opportunity,
they seize a bullock, hurry him away through
by-paths all night to some distant place, where
their confederates are waiting to receive them,