1 A. D, 1822. ARRIVAL OF FRENCH OFFICERS. 131
2 positiou. On the 20th, he waited on RuNJEET Singh,
3 and was received -with marked attention. An escort was
4 sent with him to Dera-Ismaeel-Khan, and the treaty, as
5 a new example of Sikh faith, was observed to the letter,
6 and fully executed. An engagement for tribute was now
7 enforced on the Balooch Moosulmaus of Tonk and Sagur
8 west of the Indus, and the Sikh army then mov^d to Dera-
9 Deen-Punah. Runjeet Singh here embarked on the
10 Indus, sending his army by land to Mooltan. At Dera
11 Ghazee Khan, he arranged with the Nuwab of Buhawul-
12 poor for an increase of tribute, and of rent upon the farms
13 he held of that place, and Mitteen KoL On the 10th
14 January 1822, he rejoined his army at^ilooltan, but on the
15 16th posted on to Labor, leaving it to follow. On arrival
16 at his capital on the 27th, he learned that one of his
17 principal Sirdars and Jageerdars, Jv Singh Utareewala,
18 had gone over to the Afghans west of the Indus.
19 It was in March of the year 1822, that the first Euro-
20 pean adventurers presented themselves at Runjeet
21 Singh's Durbar, seeking military service, and enter-
22 tainment. There arrived in that month two French
23 officers, one Monsieur VENTURA, an Italian by birth,
24 and the other Monsieur Allard. Both had left Europe
25 to seek their fortunes in the East, upon the death blow
26 given at Waterloo, to the hopes of the military youth of
27 France. They had since been employed in Persia, but
28 liking not the subordinate place they were there required
29 to fill, they made their way after a time, through Kan-
30 dahar, and Kabool, to Labor. Runjeet Singh was at
31 first very suspicious of their motives, and could not at all
32 understand what could have induced two young men to
33 leave their native country, and travel so far. He could
34 R 2