144 
POONAH. 
it was immediately exchanged with his Highness for a district of 
equal value in Bundelcund, although Olpar was particularly desi- 
rable on account of its vicinity to Surat. It would be an object of 
the greatest importance to the British Government to obtain a ces- 
sion of the tract of land below the Gauts from Damaun to Carwar, 
as it would complete the security of the sea coast from the Gulf of 
Cambay to the Indus ; but unfortunately the greater part of this was 
a grant of the Mogul to Bajee Rao, the first Paishwa, as a jaghire, 
and being therefore considered by them as a private property of 
the family, they are extremely unwilling to alienate it. This reason 
was candidly admitted, and the subject dropt. Any alarm which 
might have been excited in the Paishwa's mind, (a mind timid from 
a deficient education, having been brought up by Brahmins in com- 
plete seclusion, where he was taught nothing but their religious 
ceremonies, of which he is a perfect master,) by the idea that the 
British wished to grasp at every thing, and merely to employ him 
as an instrument of their ambition, has been done away by the free 
gift of the strong fort of Ahmednuggur and the district around it, 
which was conquered by Major General Wellesley, and to which 
he had no claim ; and still more strongly since, by their having en- 
gaged in a war with Holcar, on terms so beneficial to him, and so 
triflingly advantageous to themselves, even if complete success 
should attend their arms. 
The friendship which the Paishwa evidently feels for the British 
must, in a great degree, be attributed to the able conduct of 
Colonel Close, the Resident, but still more so to the confidence he 
places in the military and civil talents of General Wellesley, to 
ivhose active exertions he owes his re-establishment at Poonah, an 
