employed by the conspirators had lain in wait in a neighbouring garden for several consecutive nights, who were to have been admitted into my house under cover of darkness to murder me, as this man's help might give them opportunity; but his seizure appears to have put a stop to the plan. In like manner Captain Schneider narrowly escaped from a plot to murder him by a havildar of his own regiment, about sixty of which, it was ascertained, had been gained over.

Early in May Government struck the 27th Regiment off the Army List, retaining only for embodiment in another corps those who, from absence and other causes, might be supposed not implicated in the mutiny. These were marched to the coast to be sent away by sea, and of the rest some were imprisoned and others allowed to retire to their homes.

The elder Raja did not long survive the restoration of his kingdom. His successor, a young kinsman, trained in our schools, had been adopted on the death of his only child, Chimma Sahib's claim being of course forfeited. The premature demise of this

young man on his return journey to India is greatly to be regretted, for he came to England solely to improve his mind, and render himself more fit to govern. It would be well if every Native ruler had the same desire.

P

CHAPTER XII.

THE SOUTHERN MAHRATTA COUNTRY AND BELOW

THE GHATS.

ARLY in May Government placed the re

EAR

maining States under me as Commissioner; hitherto they had been under the Collector and Magistrate of Belgaum as Political Agent, with an Assistant, generally his senior subordinate, appointed specially for this duty. It was thought advisable to secure unity of control in the present state of affairs, and the Collector was directed to make over charge to this officer, Mr. Charles Manson, as Acting Political Agent under me, Mr. H. B. Lockett being appointed his Assistant.

A brief description and résumé of events in the Southern Mahratta Country will not here be out of place. This part of India, as officially understood, has an area of above 14,000 square miles, with a

population of some three millions. It is the territory between Satara country north and the Madras frontier south, the Nizam's dominions east, and the Ghats or Syadree chain of mountains west. Ethnologically it continues to the sea, from which to the Ghats is called the Konkan. Below these the people are all Mahrattas as far south as Goa.1 Above, the Canarese intermingle along the Madras and Hyderabad frontiers up to the river Bheema, spreading westward towards the Ghats.

In the time of the Peishwa, whose capital was Poona, that city probably divided north from south, the former extending till the people mingle with those of Guzerat. In Siwaji's time Satara may have been the division, as it is at present, but the term Southern Mahratta Country is of English origin. It contains the two collectorates of Belgaum and Dharwar, Kolapoor, already described,

1 The Sawunt Waree people pride themselves on their pure Mahratta blood, that of the Bhonsle's. Their Raja, according to our usual habit of metamorphosising words, is described in our old treaties with this State as "The Bouncello ! "

2 Kaludgee, a subdivision of Belgaum, has since, I believe, been raised to a separate collectorship.

and numerous small semi-independent States, not yet absorbed in the collectorates, each with an annual revenue of from 50,000l. downwards. The principal of these are Sanglee, Meeruj, Koorundwar, Jamkhundee, Nurgoond,' Moodhol, Savanoor, &c. Many of the people are warlike. All the descendants of Siwaji's Gudkurrees consider themselves born soldiers, and the Bedurs, Ramoosies, and Mangs, look on fighting as their profession, but the last two, deemed very low caste, only go in for it when there is a prospect of plunder.

Mr. Seton Karr was at this time collector and magistrate at Belgaum, and Mr. Ogilvy of Dharwar, while General Lester commanded the Southern Division of the Army, which had its head-quarters at Belgaum. It had been drained of its European troops for the Persian war, and, unfortunately, the three most recently-raised native regiments, viz., the 27th, 28th, and 29th, formed a portion of it, quartered respectively at Kolapoor, Dharwar, and Belgaum-unfortunately, because a new regiment

1 Nurgoond was annexed to the Dharwar collectorate after the events about to be narrated.