addressed. These offices are largely used by merchants in the course
of trade, and bills of exchange are constantly being thus sent, while
the banks forward the foil or other half to the house on which it is
drawn, receipt of which is necessary before the draft can be cashed.
Such documents, together with small packets of sycee, make up a
tolerably valuable bag, and would often fall a prey to the highwaymen
which infest many of the provinces, but that most offices anticipate
these casualties by compounding for a certain annual sum which is paid
regularly to the leader of the gang. For this blackmail the robbers of
the district not only agree to abstain from pilfering themselves, but
also to keep all others from doing so too. The arrangement suits the
local officials admirably, as they escape those pains and penalties
which would be exacted if it came to be known that their rule was too
weak, and their example powerless to keep the district free from the
outrages of thieves and highwaymen. Large firms, which supply carts to
travellers between given points, are also often in the habit of
contracting with the brigands of the neighbourhood for the safe
passage of their customers. In some parts soldiers are told off by the
resident military officials to escort travellers who leave the inns
before daybreak, until there is enough light to secure them against
the dangers of a sudden attack. In others, there are bands of trained
men who hire themselves out in companies of three to five to convey a
string of carts with their dozen passengers across some dangerous part
of the country, where it is known that foot-pads are on the look-out
for unwary travellers. The escort consists of this small number only,
for the reason that each man composing it is supposed to be equal to
five or six robbers, not in mere strength, but in agility and
knowledge of sword-exercise. To accustom themselves to the attacks of
numbers, and to acquire the requisite skill in fighting more than one
adversary at a time, these men practise in the following remarkable