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 KAT 117 on the Baihárs he smote and spared not till they excepted his dominion. After establishing himself in Khasaura he attacked the Thatheras, and drove them out of Shiámpur, Saia, Barágaon, Tenduapur, and Borau. A career of massacre earned for his clan the name of Katiárs (slaughterers). The domain thus acquired has been handed down from father to son to the present day. The late chief, Ranjit Singh, ninth in descent from his merciless ancestor, Ráe Deo, lived in a state of constant warfare with the ex-government. Sir W. Sleeman thus speaks of him :- "The estate of Kutearee, on the left-hand side of the road towards the Ramgunga and Ganges, is held by Runjeet Sing of the Kuteear Rajpoot.clan. His estate yields to him about one hundred and twenty thousand rupees a year, while he is assessed at only sixteen thousand. While Hakeem Mehndee was in banishment at Futtehgurh, about fifteen years ago, he be- came intimate with Rınjeet Sing of Kutéaree; and when he afterwards be- came minister, in 1837, he is said to have obtained for him the king's seal and signature to a perpetual lease at this rate, from which is deducted a nankar of four thousand, leaving an actual demand of only twelve thousand. Were such grants in perpetuity respected in Oude, the minister and their minions would soon selĩ the whole of his majesty's dominions, and leave him a beggar. He has not yet been made to pay a higher rate ; not, however, out of regard for the king's pledge, but solely out of that for Runjeet's fort of Dhurmpur, on the bank of the Ganges, his armed bands, and his seven pieces of cannon He has been diligently employing all his surplus rents in improving his defensive means; and besides his fort and guns, is said to have a large body of armed and disciplined men. He has seized upon a great many villages around belonging to weaker proprietors, and is every year adding to his estate in this way. In this the old Amil, Hafiz Abdool- lah, acquiesced, solely because he had not the means nor the energy to pre- vent it. He got his estate excluded from the jurisdiction of the local, au- thorities and placed in the Huzoor Tuhseel. "Like others of his class who reside on the border, he has a village in British territory to reside in unmolested, when charged by the Oude au- thorities with heavy crimes and balances. He had been attacked and driven across the Ganges in 1837 for contumacy and rebellion, deprived of his estate, and obliged to reside at Futtehgurh, where he first became acquainted with Hakeem Mehndee. The Oude Government has often re- monstrated against the protection which this contumacious and atrocious landholder receives from our subjects and authorities." It may be doubted whether the epithet atrocious was ever deserved. Al any rate the present generation of Oudh Governors is glad to forget the contumacy of Ranjit Singh, while gratefully remembering the unswerving loyalty of his honoured great-grandson, Rája Hardeo Bakhsh, C.S.I. In the dark days of 1857 this gallant gentleman was as true as steel to the English Government. To his generous help the chief civil officers of two districts in the north-west, the Collectors of Farukhabad and Budaon, owed their lives. The story has been well told in Mr. R. M. Edwards' Reminis. cences of a Bengal Civilian, The title of Rája, the Star of India, a jágír, 16