“In the district of Byswara,” he continued, “through which we have just passed, you will find at least fifty thousand men armed to fight against each other, or their government and its officers:  in such a space, under the Honourable Company’s dominion, you would not find one thousand armed men of the same class.  Why is this, but because you do not allow such crimes to be perpetrated?  Why do you go on acquiring dominion over one country after another with your handful of European troops and small force of native sipahees, but because God sees that your rule is just, and that you have an earnest desire to benefit the people and improve the countries you take?”

He told me that he had charge of the cattle under Saadut Allee Khan when Lord Lake took the field at the first siege of Bhurtpoor; that his master lent his Lordship five hundred elephants, eight thousand artillery bullocks, and five hundred horses; that two hundred and fifty of the elephants returned; but whether any of the bullocks and horses came back or not he could not say.

The country we came over to-day is well studded with groves and fine single trees, but the soil is generally of the lighter doomuteea kind, which requires much labour and outlay in water and manure.  The irrigation is all from wells and pools.  In the villages we came through, we saw but few of the sipahees of our army home on furlough; they are chiefly from the Byswara and Bunoda districts.  We found our tents pitched upon a high and dry spot, with a tight soil of clay and sand.  After the heavy rain we have had, it looked as if no shower had fallen upon it for an age.  The mud walls of the houses we saw on the road were naked, as usual.  The rapacity of the King’s troops is everywhere, directly or indirectly, the cause of this:  and till they are better provided and disciplined the houses in the towns and villages can never improve.

The commandant, Imdad Hoseyn, of the Akberee or Telinga Regiment, on duty with the Amil of the Poorwa district, in which our camp was last pitched, followed me a few miles this morning to beg that I would try to prevail upon the Durbar to serve out clothing for his corps.  He told me that the last clothing it got from the Government was on the occasion of Lord Hastings’ visit to Lucknow, some thirty-three years ago, in 1817; that many orders had been given since that time for new clothing, but there was always some one about Court to counteract them, from malice or selfishness; that his father, Zakir Allee, commanded the corps when it got the last clothing, and he succeeded him many years ago.  The Telinga Regiments are provided with arms, accoutrements, and clothing by Government.  The sipahees formerly got five rupees a-month, but for only ten months in the year; they now get four rupees and three and a-half annas a-month for all the twelve months.  ’He is, he says, obliged to take a great many sufarashies, or men put in by persons of influence at Court, out of favour,