The first native sworn was Rustum Khan, an old Mahomedan subadar.
After saluting with deep respect the volume of his faith, he received it from the Moolah on the palms of his hands, holding it thus, with a look of profound veneration, whilst the regimental interpreter recited the form of the oath, which he repeated after him.
The Hindoos, received the vessel containing the Ganges water in their hands, and were sworn to judge impartially in like manner.
The trial now began.
The prisoner, a poor little black devil of a drummer, was asked by the interpreter if he was guilty, or not guilty; to which he replied “Jo up ka kooshee” as interpreted by Tom, “whichever my lord pleases.”
This naïve reply made the superintending officer relax his judicial gravity. The interpreter also smiled.
The stolid old subadars, however, could perceive nought but stupidity in it, evidently, and one of them angrily said to the prisoner, “Guddah (ass), say one or the other.”
Being, with the exception of a few words, wholly ignorant of the language, I could not, of course, follow the examination. The reader may, however, rest assured that he has not, in consequence, lost any information which it would be of much consequence for him to obtain.
The superintending officer and interpreter seemed to have it all their own way, rebuking crude judgments and irrelevent questions, &c. (just as a judge bothers a stupid jury); laying down the law to the subadars and jemadars, who nodded like Chinese mandarins, in deep acquiescence to their superior wisdom, saying “such bhat and bhote khoob.”[[32]]
The native officer, before coming into the Court, has generally (i.e., in five cases out of six) made up his mind after a long bhat cheet (chat, or discussion, as to the guilt or innocence of the party), touching both the act and its criminality; but is guided in his verdict or decision, nevertheless, pretty much by what the European officers may say to him: his own peculiar notions of justice and good evidence are, perhaps, clear enough; but, confused by European refinements, the sublimity of which his untutored mind cannot reach, he yields himself passively to be guided by the dicta of the Sahib Logue.