Note 370 — THE TALE OF THE KAZI AND THE BHANG-EATER.[224] (continued 3)

Here we find the old superstitious idea that no census or “numbering of the people” should take place save by direct command of the Creator. Compare the pestilence which arose in the latter days of David when Joab by command of the King undertook the work (2 Sam. xxiv. 1–9, etc.)