Folard, and many other judicious writers observe, that in proportion as infantry is bad, and the military art declines, the number of horse increases in our modern armies; because, say they, "An able general at the head of a good infantry, can do anything, and wants but a small cavalry." It is certain that when the infantry is good, much may be done with it; and if it is bad you must increase your cavalry to keep the enemy at a distance, as you must have a great quantity of heavy artillery for the same purpose.
I must now take leave of Paniput with the remark, that formerly a treasury was established there, Kurnaul furnishing the necessary guards.
About this time there was a considerable change in the weather. The days for the most part were hot and oppressive, and towards noon even sultry. On the 5th of April I rode to Sunput, about seventeen miles. On the 6th I started, at half past two in the morning, in the midst of a complete hurricane, and proceeded to Barah Duree, a Chokey, or Police Station, near Alepore. The road was excessively sandy and fatiguing, the distance being sixteen miles and a half. On the 7th I rode to Delhi, eleven miles and a half, and encamped outside the walls of this famous royal city of the Moguls, close to the Cashmere gate.
I had now travelled 313 miles and a half, since I quitted Lahore, a distance which I accomplished in twenty-two marches.
FOOTNOTES:
[42] Thanadar, keeper of a public station. The word likewise means commandant of a military post.
[ [43] Francklin's Life of George Thomas, p. 66.
[44] Grant Duff, in his History of the Maharattas, agrees with Casi Rai in making the paid horse and infantry as in the text, and estimates the predatory horse and followers at 200,000. Casi Rai makes the whole number to have been 500,000. Asiatic Researches, vol. iii. p. 123.
[45] Roh means a hill; the Rohillas are the Affghans, who settled in Rohilkund on the return of Ahmed Shah to Cabool.