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As we marched northward we found the villages burnt and 

 abandoned; passing over extensive fields of wheat and other grain 

 Jong ready for the sickle, our allies took away as much as they 

 wanted, and, according to the general Mahratta system, destroyed 

 all the remainder. We intended to halt one or two days at Versara, 

 our next encampment, but in a single night all the wells and tanks 

 in the neighbourhood were exhausted; we therefore proceeded 

 the next morning towards the Sabermatty, finding that nothing- 

 less than a river could supply the necessity of such a multitude. 



On our approaching the Sabermatty, a detachment of the 

 ministerial army, posted on the southern bank, immediately crossed 

 the river, and joined the main body, who soon commenced a dis- 

 orderly retreat: the English troops forded where the water was 

 rather shallow, and ascending the northern banks, pitched their 

 tents without molestation. The bed of the Sabermatty was there 

 two hundred yards broad, the stream much narrower, and seldom 

 more than three feet deep, gliding gently over a silver sand, and 

 abounding with carp and smaller fish: like most other rivers in 

 India, it often overflows its banks during the rainy season, and 

 floods the country. 



The blessings of a well in the torrid zone I have endeavoured 

 to appreciate; those of a river are inestimable: the Sabermatty 

 was the first we saw in Guzerat; it afforded the harassed troops 

 and cattle abundance to drink, and a delightful bath after a sultry 

 march. The joy of our allies on encamping near the Sabermatty 

 was extravagant: the pleasure of drinking it had long been anti- 

 cipated, nor were we disappointed in the delicious beverage; the 



