The truth of this position, in itself so reasonable, is made more fully evident by the obvious difference subsisting between the Company’s and the Vizier’s dominions. In the former, the depredations committed are always nocturnal, and of that description to be expected under the foregoing circumstances; in the latter, the speculation is infinitely more open, more systematic, and more extensive.
That considerable amelioration must have taken place under our government, is to be proved, from the safety with which travellers may proceed by land throughout the country, when compared with the extreme danger attendant upon a journey through any part of the Vizier’s territory; wherein almost every well presents the horrid spectacle of the mangled bodies of those who become victims to the sanguinary hordes of robbers that infest every part of that prince’s dominions.
On this account, every gentleman proceeding by land, from one to another station, should make a point of obtaining a small guard of a naik and four, or even of two, sepoys, whose presence will generally prove a considerable check on the adventurous disposition of the villagers in that quarter. This precaution will not, however, alone be sufficient; application should be made to the _jemmadar_, or head-borough, of each village where the party may encamp, for a certain number of _chokey-dars_, (watchmen,) proportioned to the number of tents, horses, &c., and the whole of the property of every description should be nominally put under the charge of the men thus furnished, observing, that the regular pay, which may be from four to six pice, or halfpence, for each, should be punctually paid to the _jemmadar_ when the camp breaks up the next morning, and that every item is found to be in a state of safety.
When _coolies_ (_i.e._ porters) are wanted, to carry the beds, tables, &c, of a party, application should be made, in like manner, to the _jemmadar_; and when, after arrival at the next stage, they may be discharged, it will be proper to be attentive to the regular payment of every individual thus furnished; otherwise, the servants to whom it may be entrusted to discharge them, will generally withhold a large portion, or even the whole, of what may have been ordered.