CHARACTER OF THE PINDAREES. 175 



supported by the roving tribes named Pindarees, who carried 

 to an extreme all the predatory usages characteristic of Mah- 

 rattas. The latter, indeed, regarded plunder as an essential 

 part of their policy ; still they had a country and a home to 

 which thej were fondly attached ; and they had regular 

 occupations which they followed in the intervals, independent 

 of their more violent pursuits. Their chiefs aimed, not 

 merely to enrich themselves by booty, but also to attain 

 political power. The Pindarees, on the contrary, were 

 nothing more than robbers, elevated by their number into 

 armies ; and their boast was, not that they were able to 

 encounter disciplined troops, but that they could elude them. 

 If overtaken or surprised, the point of honour was, who 

 should fly swiftest. No barrier arrested them ; they pene- 

 trated the closest chain of military posts, and found a way 

 even between the divisions of an army drawn up to oppose 

 them ; they desolated the countries in the rear ; after which, 

 making an immense circuit, they returned home by a differ- 

 ent route. Their aim was, not to possess a district, but to 

 sweep away all that was in it. Obliged to pass with a ce- 

 lerity almost preternatural, and to employ expeditious modes 

 of extracting treasure, they inflicted the most merciless tor- 

 tures to compel the owners to yield up their concealed 

 hoards. Red-hot irons were applied to the soles of the feet ; 

 oil was thrown on the clothes, and inflamed ; the head was 

 tied into a bag rilled with hot ashes and dust. The proudest 

 exploit of a Pindaree was to steal a horse ; and this ope- 

 ration was conducted with a dexterity which might put to 

 shame the most skilful of their fraternity in Europe. They 

 could carry one off from amid a crowded camp : stretched 

 on their bellies they crept to the spot, and lay concealed till 

 a favourable moment, when they cut the cords, mounted, 

 and galloped off among the bushes with a rapidity that de- 

 fied pursuit. When an enemy was distant, they divided 

 into small parties, moving in a circular direction, so as to 

 sweep the whole country. Their numbers were continually 

 augmented by disbanded soldiers, and by persons of idle 

 and desperate characters. The chiefs annually raised their 

 standard on the northern bank of the Nerbudda at the ter- 

 mination of the rains, that they might be ready, as soon as 

 the rivers should become fordable, to commence a general 

 movement. 



