160 VIZIER'S CHARACTER. 



I have been credibly informed that he has been 

 known to amuse himself with firing ball from the 

 foil of Allahabad, at pots of water carried on the 

 heads of persons, passing to and from the river 

 Jumna. Although an excellent marksman, he, 

 on these occasions, shewed great want of feeling ; 

 for, to promote his own amusement, he thus 

 shamefully exposed to great hazard the lives of the 

 people who carried the water pots : of this he 

 himself was sensible, as appears by the obser- 

 vation which he has been known to make, " that it 

 " was of little consequence if he killed any one, 

 " having plenty of subjects in his country." 



I once witnessed, on the line of march before 

 described, his stopping at a tank (pond of water), 

 and proposing to the gentlemen of the party, 

 that they should fire ball with pistols at a flower 

 of the lotus, growing in the centre of the tank, to 

 ascertain who was the best marksman. On the 

 opposite side, at a distance of not more than forty 

 yards from the water, was a public road, or path- 

 way, on which a constant string of his camp 

 followers were passing at the time, and I am 

 certain that more than a hundred balls were fired, 

 many of them rebounding from the water across 



