1 HISTORY OB' THE S1K1IS. #• ‘
2 f allow of his devoting any portion of it to literary
3 pursuits ; he nevertheless respects learning and Hisresp««t
4 learned men, referring to them for such information
5 as they are supposed to possess, and which he has
6 not had the opportunity of acquiring. VV hen talk¬
7 ing, he generally sits with his legs crossed, and
8 raised on the chair ; resting one hand on his knee,
9 while the other is employed in stroking his long
10 white beard, which is so bushy as almost to con ¬
11 ceal his mouth. Military subjects are. the usual
12 topics of conversation. He enquired what services
13 Lord William Bentinck had done for the army; and
14 without waiting for a reply, continued, “ Has he not
15 abolished flogging in the Native army—done away
16 with hospital stoppages—and allowed the horses’
17 tails to grow ?” I was not aware of the last circum¬
18 stance, but assented to the truth of the two former.
19 He was very inquisitive regarding the equipment of.
20 our horse artillery, and how this branch of the ser-
21 vice was supplied with horses. I told him, that
22 formerly many of the horses were purchased from
23 Native merchants, but that of late years, the
24 greater portion, if not the whole, were supplied by
25 the various studs kept up for this purpose by go¬
26 vernment ; adding, that any particularly vicious
27 animals were harnessed to the guns, which in most
28 instances reclaimed them; he said he would ity a
29 similar plan with his vicious horses. From Colonel
30 F. having so long commanded at Loodianah on his
31 frontier, llunjeet had conceived the most extrava¬
32 gant ideas regarding the Colonel’s personal prowess,