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late years in the Mahratta tactics, which are foreign to this cam- 

 paign: at that time when they intended to besiege a town, they 

 generally encamped round the walls; and having by that measure 

 deprived the garrison of all external means of assistance, the be- 

 sieging army waited with patience until the garrison was starved 

 into a capitulation: I have been informed, that when the Mah- 

 rattas took Ahmedabad, the capital of Guzerat, they had surround- 

 ed it in their desultory manner for several years, before the garrison 

 surrendered. A few shot were sometimes exchanged, but seldom 

 with effect: when I was with the Mahratta army they did not un- 

 derstand the use of mortars. 



The war-rocket used by the Mahrattas, which very often an- 

 noyed us, is composed of an iron tube, eight or ten inches long, 

 and near two inches in diameter; this destructive weapon is some- 

 times fixed to a rod of iron, sometimes to a straight two-edged 

 sword, but most commonly to a strong bamboo cane, four or five 

 feet long, with an iron spike projecting beyond the tube: to this 

 rod, or staff, the tube filled with combustible materials is fastened, 

 and on the lighted match setting fire to the fuze, is projected with 

 great velocity; if well directed, which is an uncertain operation, it 

 causes much confusion and dismay among the enemy, from the 

 difficulty of avoiding its terrifying and destructive effects. 



