SKETCH OF THE SIKHS, ■257 



aloud, and but seldom assemble in their mosques,* of which few indeed 

 have escaped destra6lion. The lower order of Sikhs are more happy; 

 they are prote6led from the tyranny and violence of the chiefs, under 

 whom they live, by the precepts of their common religion, and by the 

 condition of th^ir country, which enables them to abandon, whenever they 

 chuse, a leader whom they dislike ; and the distance of a few miles gene- 

 rally places them under the prote6lion of his rival and enemy. It is from 

 this cause, that the lowest Sikh horseman usually assumes a very inde- 

 pendent stile, and the highest chief treats his military followers with at- 

 tention and conciliation. The civil officers, to whom the chiefs entrust 

 their accounts, and the management of their property and revenue con- 

 cerns, as well as the condu6l of their negociations, are in general Sikhs 

 of the Khaldsa cast, who, being followers of Na'nac, and not of Guru' 

 GoviND, are not devoted to arms, but educated for peaceful occupations, 

 in which they often become very expert and intelligent., 



In the colle6lion of the revenue in the Penjdh, it is stated to be a gene- 

 ral rule, that the chiefs to whom the territories belong, should receive one 

 half of the produce,f and the farmer the other ; but the chief never levies 

 the whole of his share; and, in no country, perhaps, is the Rayat, or cul- 

 tivator, treated with more indulgence. Commerce is not so much encou- 

 raged: heavy duties are levied upon it, by all petty rulers, through 

 whose distri61:s it passes: and this, added to the distra6led state in which 

 the Penjdb has been, from the internal disputes of its possessors, caused 



* The Muhammedan inhabitants of tlic Penjdb used to flock to the British camp, wliere 

 they said they enjoyed luxuries, which no man could appreciate, that had not suil'aed pri- 

 vation. They couhl pray aloud, and feast iipoii bocf. 



+ Grain pays in kind; sugar-cane, melons &c. pay in cash. 



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