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THE ATONEMENT. CHAPTER 1. WHAT PROTAP DID.

PROTAP was a Zemindar and Protap was a robber. At the time we are talking of, most Zemindars belonged to this class. Darwin says that man is the great-grand son of the monkey. If no one would take offence at it, we dare say no Zemindar would take umbrage at our disparaging remarks of his forefathers. After all, it does not seem to be a slur to come of such a stock, as elsewhere we ﬁnd the robber family held in the highest estimation. The descendants of the notorious marauder Tamerlane came to occupy the first rank in family pedigree in the world. In England, those who take a special pride in their ancestry, always trace their descent from the Norman or Scandinavian pirates. In ancient India the Kurus were particularly regarded, but they were cow-stealers—they stole cows from the northern cowshed of King Virat. Some of our Bengali Zemindars have got a touch of this ancestry.