500 SURVEY OF THE GANGEE 



Srinagar tributary to Napdl, and he entered into terms, to pay in homage^ 

 the annual sum of three thousand rupees, and to maintain, at his own 

 expenccj a Vacil, or agent, from their government. The sum above 

 stipulated was Increased, under various pretences, to nine thousand rupees-; 

 while the establishment of the resident, with the exactions made by th« 

 different Gurc' hd li chieh, who, under pretence of going on a pilgrimage^, 

 jjassed through the capital, for the purpose of obtaining presents, suitable 

 to their rank, amounted to thrice the sum of the augmented tribute. 

 Neither did this treaty secure the country, from the irruptions of the 

 Giirc'hdlis ; inroads were made in different dire6lions, and cattle and 

 other articles of plunder carried oE 



Such was the state of affairs, till the year 2803 ; when the mask was^ 

 thrown off, and an army of eight or ten thousand men was sent from Ma-^ 

 pal, to carry their favorite project into execution. The command of this^ 

 body of troops was entrusted to Amer Sing Cadzi, and to Hasti' Dhal 

 Chawtra, who, entering the country, under the pretext of claiming some- 

 arrears of tribute, marched, in two parties, directly towards the capital. 

 The knowledge they had acquired of the nature of the country, by s^ 

 long and free a communication, in some measure favored their progress ; 

 but they met with little oppos^ition from the Raja, who was a man more 

 inclined to' a life of indolence and dissipation, than to encounter the 

 toils and dangers of war. His troops, it is said, amounted to fifteen or 

 twenty thousand men ; but they were composed principally of mercena- 

 ries, who endeavoured to shun an engagement ; and, after having made 

 a short stand at Bdrakdt, fied to Gumdtvdra, whither they were pursued 

 by the invading army ; and the death of their chief, on those plains, 

 secured the conquest o-f the whole country to the Gurc'hdiis, After re- 



