1 248
2 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.:
3 hardly worth noticing; and. in the present instance,
4 have little or no influence in retarding his pros¬
5 pects, all being laid to his zeal for the good of the
6 state. The Jemadar’s eldest son, named Ram
7 Singh,* has been instructed in the science of war,
8 I)}' General Ventura, and is already :v general
9 officer* though not more than seventeen or eigh¬
10 teen years of age. He is not of a very mild temper,
11 and has lately displayed his cruelty, by the murder
12 of Bishen Singh, not his adopted brother, but. a
13 brother-in-law of Chat Singh, a commandant in
14 Rimjeet’s service. The Maharajah has taken but
15 little notice of this bloody affair; the deceased,
16 Bishen Singh, was a fine young man, and in favor
17 at the court of Lahore; he was particularly civil to
18 strangers, and there are few of the British officers
19 who accompanied Sir Henry Fane but must
20 recollect the pleasing manners of poor Bishen
21 The champion. “One of RunjeeFs best officers, Huree Singh,
22 Nulwa, was lately slain at Peshawar while gallantly
23 fighting against the Affghans. Runjeet, like other
24 princes, hag. his champion, or at least a person who
25 may be called such. The present one is Sirdar
26 Uttur Singh, Majeethia, brother to Sirdar Lena
27 Singh, commandant of Umritsir; the latter is a
28 great astronomer, though not yet a convert; to the
29 ( opernicun system; for he believes as firmly in
30 the earth’s immobility as lie does in his own exis- *
31 * Since dead.