1 LETTER FROM RANJEET SINGH. 223
2 the Mission, with a view of exacting presents
3 from us; a. trick which, I belieye; has* been
4 greatly owing to the liberality with which they
5 had been treated before our arrival. Besides
6 rations while they remain in camp, which is
7 a custom of the country, a sum of money is
8 presented to them on their dismissal. Some
9 forged letters were received to-day from the
10 Khaibar chief Khan Bahadat Khan, and his
11 son, by a Khaibari, who called himself one of
12 his relatives. No sooner were the letters deli-
13 vered, than his wickedness was discovered -
14 merely by a_ perusal of them. They were
15 written in a different. style to that which is
16 generally used by the Kaibaris, whose letters
17 are usually expressed in very rude and un-
18 grammatical Persian. The man was disgraced
19 and turned out of the camp.
20 A letter was received from Ranjeet Singh
21 enclosing a detailed list of the five thousand
22 Mahomedans who were to form the contingent,
23 which he said he had ordered to assemble at
24 Peshawr ; but it appears that these troops, with’
25 the exception of a party of about four hundred