210 DILAPIDATED STATE OF KHYRPOOR. 



But to return to my cicerone, the moonshee : 

 '' There, Sahib," said he, pointing to the princi- 

 pal bungalow, ''Meer Roostum always presided 

 in the durbar, and what between his own sons 

 and those of Meer Moobaruk, and Futteh Ma- 

 homed Ghoree and his sons, for all regularly 

 attended the durbar, that Detvaii-i-Aum was 

 j)retty well filled, and petitioners, or others 

 having business with the prince, sat on the 

 cJmlootra, or platform outside, as did the inferior 

 moonshees." An appearance of poverty and 

 shabbiness seems however to have pervaded 

 the whole, which showed the unsatisfactory 

 state of the treasury ; but so simple were the 

 habits of the sovereign and his com^tiers, that 

 had not the revenues been frittered away by 

 jagheers, and grants to relatives and hangers- 

 on, they would more than have sufficed to cover 

 all expenditure, but as it was, the Meer's in- 

 come was barely sufficient to cover his personal 

 expenses. '' As compared with the present 

 state of things, however," continued the moon- 

 shee, " Khyrpoor was then a prosperous city — 

 all those houses [pointing to the crumbling and 

 roofless walls] were occupied by the Ameers 

 and their retainers, whose expenditure caused 



