their skill in battle. After further questioning oh the
part of the Wamsara chieftain, the raiders decided that
discretion was the better part of valour, and concluded
to return home to their country without attempting to
increase their wealth by raiding a people who, from
Hassan’s account, appeared well able to take care of
themselves.
Upon arriving at Daitcho, Hassan said that he
found the entire surrounding country in a state of
excitement, and that his appearance was greeted with
shouts of fear and terror. After reaching the village
of Bykender, where he was warmly welcomed, the
cause of the excitement was disclosed. Several of the
loads of brass and iron wire, which I was unable to
carry, I had buried in the neighbourhood of my camp
at Daitcho, and, in order to prevent the natives from
stealing it, I had told them it was protected by a spell,
which would have the most disastrous effect upon
them, should they venture to dig up the things I had
buried. With the wire I had also buried a few .577
cartridges. The natives had hardly waited until I was
out of sight, ere greed overmastered their caution, and
they dug up the wire, divided it among themselves,
and carried it away to their villages — at the same
time taking with them all the .577 ammunition.
The people of Daitcho were very fond of the brass
shells of cartridges, which they converted into snuffboxes,
and when they saw these cartridges they at
once appropriated them for the purpose aforesaid.
But their rude tools and lack of skill proved inadequate
for the extraction of the bullets from the shells.
Finally some inventive genius suggested that they put
them in a fire, and for that purpose a large one was
built, and they all gathered around it to watch the
result of the experiment. Of course, the cartridges
exploded, and, I regret to record, with unpleasant
results to the Daitcho; three were killed, and five or
six severely wounded. A t once, those not so fortunate
as to have possessed themselves of any of the
wire or cartridges, reminded the wounded and the
friends of the dead of what I had told them before I
set out, and the minds of these credulous people forthwith
accounted for the explosion by the terrible spell
which I had pronounced over the goods upon burying
them. During the following day all those who had
stolen the goods and wire returned them to Bykender,
with whom they left them to await my return, fearing
to keep the smallest possible quantity.