I could never find the cowherd who was said to have seen this vision,
and, in speaking to my old friend, the Sadr Amin, learned in the
shastras,[20] on the subject, I told him that we had a short saying
that would explain all this: 'A drowning man catches at a straw.'
'Yes,' said he, without any hesitation, 'and we have another just as
good for the occasion: "Sheep will follow each other, though it
should be into a well".'
Notes:
1. We are told in 2 Samuel, chap. xxiv, that the Deity was displeased
at a census of the people, taken by Joab by the order of David, and
destroyed of the people of Israel seventy thousand, besides women and
children. [W. H. S.] The editor, in the course of seven years'
experience in the Settlement department, six of which were agent in
Bundelkhand, never heard of the doctrine as to the incestuous
character of surveys. Probably it had died out. Even a census no
longer gives rise to alarm in most parts of the country. The wild
rumours and theories common in 1872 and 1881 did not prevail when the
census of 1891 was taken, or during subsequent operations.
2.
Pages:
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476