"'You are a Rajpoot, and a Zemindar?' (landholder.)
"'Yes; I am the head landholder of this village.'
"'Can you tell me how that village in the distance is elevated above the ground; is it from the debris of old villages, or from a rock underneath?'
"'It is from the debris of old villages. That is the original seat of all the Rajpoots around; we all trace our descent from the founders of that village, who built and peopled it many centuries ago.'
"'And you have gone on subdividing your inheritances here as elsewhere, no doubt, till you have hardly any of you any thing to eat?'
"'True, we have hardly any of us enough to eat; but that is the fault of the government, that does not leave us enough—that takes from us as much when the season is bad as when it is good!'
"'But your assessment has not been increased, has it?'
"'No; we have concluded a settlement for twenty years upon the same footing as formerly.'
"'And if the sky were to shower down upon you pearls and diamonds, instead of water, the government would never demand more from you than the rate fixed upon?'