1 24 HISTORY OF THE PUNJAUB FROM
2 speaking of the British government, in reply to
3 some malicious representations made to him, as
4 to draw his sword in open durbar (the levee), and
5 proclaim his intention never to sheath it until he
6 had measured himself with the English. This
7 ridiculous vapouring earned for him the soubriquet
8 of the Hotspur of the Sikhs; but notwithstanding
9 the disregard of his bravadoes by the British
10 government, it is tolerably certain that, had he
11 lived, a war with the Punjaub and Nepaul would
12 have been. inevitable, and Affghanistan would
13 have taken part in the quarrel.
14 Pending this state of affairs, the serious illness
15 of the deposed Maharajah Kurruck Singh began
16 to occupy public attention. The Dusseera féte,
17 held annually at Umritzur, was omitted; and
18 whispers of the Maharajah labouring under the
19 effects of slow but deadly poison, daily inter-
20 mingled in small quantities with his food, began
21 to gain ground, not without strong suspicion of
22 the sanction, or at least connivance, of his son,
23 Noo Nehal Singh. His death shortly followed,
24 when one of the most extraordinary events
25 occurred of which history presents a record.
26 The funeral procession was much the sam — as
27 that already described upon the demise of Run-
28 jeet Singh, with this exception, that only two
29 self devoted victims sacrificed themselves to their
30 horrible superstition. Returning from his late