1 m
2 related to me an occurrence which at first I could scarcely
3 believe, thinking it a pure invention or a mere joke; but I soon
4 became persuaded that he was in earnest. I give it here with the
5 remark only, that after having arrived at Lahore, I heard it
6 confirmed by other persons, in whose statements I could also
7 place confidence.
8 Runjeet Sing— thus runs the narrative — was told that a saat,
9 or faqueer, living in the mountains, was able to keep himself in
10 a state resembling death, and would allow himself to be even
11 buried, without injuring or endangering his life, provided they
12 would remove or release him from the grave after the expiration
13 of a fixed time, he being in the possession of the means of
14 resuscitating himself again. The maharajah thought it im-
15 possible. To convince himself of the truth of the assertion,
16 he ordered the faqueer to be brought to court, and caused him
17 to undergo the experiment, assuring him that no precaution
18 should be omitted to discover whether it was a deception. In
19 consequence, the faqueer, in the presence of the court, placed
20 himself in a complete state of asphyxia , having all the appearance
21 of death.
22 In that state he was wi'apped in the linen on which he was
23 sitting, the seal of Runjeet Sing was stamped thereon, and it
24 was placed in a chest, on which the maharajah put a strong
25 lock. The chest was buried in a garden, outside of the city,
26 belonging to the minister, barley was sown on the ground, and
27 the space enclosed with a wall and surrounded by sentinels. On
28 the fortieth day, which was the time fixed for his exhumation, a
29 great number of the authorities of the durbar, with General
30 Ventura, and several Englishmen from the vicinity, one of them a
31 medical man, went to the enclosure. The chest was brought up
32 and opened, and the faqueer was found in the same position as
33 they had left him, cold and stiff. A friend of mine told me,
34 that had I been present when they endeavoured to bring him
35 to life, by applying warmth to the head, injecting air into his
36 ears and mouth, and rubbing the whole of his body to promote
37 circulation, &c., I should certainly not have had the slightest