1 (i
2 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 2.45 '
3 ingredients, the most active of. which are
4 ■apes, saffron, and cardamums; and though
5 strong and fiery to the taste, it is. highly relished
6 by the Sikhs: it is kept in curiously formed bottles
7 of ; a green colour, each having a label of the ingre¬
8 dients employed, and the date of distillation. Some
9 of the sirdars indulge in its use to an immoderate
10 extent; and i recollect one day, an old Bacchana¬
11 lian* of this class remarking to Runjeet (while I
12 was recommending abstinence for its use) that
13 such a small portion as the Maharajah employed
14 would kill him, (the sirdar) to which Runjeet
15 replied, that he did. not doubt but that habit was a
16 second nature, and that by degrees he had brought
17 himself to employ a quantity so small, as would
18 have killed him in former days.”
19 « There are numerous attendants at the court of
20 Lahore, who owe their rise to the caprice of fortune,
21 and the whim of Runjeet. One man in particular,
22 who was formerly a menial, (a waterman I believe)
23 had his fortune made in one day, by a gift of several
24 thousand rupees from his master; and now acts as a
25 “ Gany mede;’ or cupbearer, being not a little proud J* e c “P-
26 of Ms office. The rajah Soochet Singh, younger
27 brother to the prime minister, to a handsome Soochets
28 figure, a rid engaging manner, adds all the advantage
29 of dress and ornament; he is of a mild and affable
30 disposition; extremely polite, and courteous • in
31 short, a perfect courtier, when required to assume
32 a Sham AttaraewaU, killed at Sobraon, and alluded to in vol ii.