Camp, Rauta, November 19.—On the 14th of August, I departed for Kotah, and found the junior branches of the Haras far from enjoying the repose of Bundi. But on these subjects we will not touch here, further than to remark, that the last three [700] months have been the most harassing of my existence:[[9]] civil war, deaths of friends and relatives, cholera raging, and all of us worn out with perpetual attacks of fever, ague, anxiety, and fatigue.
Rauta, the spot on which I encamped, is hallowed by recollections the most inspiriting. It was on this very ground I took up my position throughout the campaign of 1817-18, in the very centre of movements of all the armies, friendly and hostile.[[10]]
A Hunt in the Preserves.
It is asserted that, in one shape or another, these hunting excursions cost the State two lakhs, or £20,000 annually. The regent’s regular hunting-establishment consisted of twenty-five carpenters, two hundred Aherias, or huntsmen, and five hundred occasional rangers. But the gots, or ‘feasts,’ at the conclusion of these sports, occasioned the chief expense, when some thousands were fed, and rewards and gratuities were bestowed upon those whom the regent happened to be pleased with. This was one of the methods he pursued to ingratiate himself with the Haras, and he was eminently successful; the only wonder is, that so good an opportunity should have been neglected of getting rid of one who had so long tyrannized over them.
We here took a temporary leave of the regent; and we intend to fill up the interval till the return of the Maharao from Mewar, by making a tour through upper Malwa, in which we shall visit the falls of the Chambal amidst the dense woods of Pachel [702].
[1]. [Or sarpech, an ornament worn on the front of the turban.]
[2]. See the description of the Tij, Vol. II. p. [675].
[3]. [Rāo Dewa or Deorāj, who captured Būndi from the Mīnas about A.D. 1342. See p. [1464].]
[4]. [In Mārwār the term Byās, from Vyāsa, ‘the arranger’ of the Vedas, Epics, and Purānas, is applied to elderly members of the Daima group of Brāhmans (Census Report, 1891, ii. 58 f.).]