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CHAPTER IV. 
October 22, — At sunrise I departed from the hospitable mansion 
of Colonel Close, where I had spent ten most pleasant days, under 
a salute from the lines. Soon afterwards the village ofOundwas 
pointed out to me, as a remarkable instance of the manner in which 
the possessions of the different Chieftains of the Mahratta empire 
were separated from each other. This little district, though sur- 
rounded on every side by the territories of the Paishwa, is the 
property of Scindiah, while, at the other extremity of the empire, 
Culpee belongs to his Highness. In the same manner Waufgorn, 
though only twenty-four miles north of Poonah, gave birth to the 
family of Holcar, to whom also belongs Kooch, on the banks of the 
Jumna. This intermixture of estates was formerly considered bene- 
ficial, as preventing a separation of interests ; but now that the union 
of these independent Princes is at an end, it has been proposed to 
exchange such detached possessions, and consolidate the territories 
of each. 
My palanquin bearers were very lazy, so that I did not reach the 
encampment at Chinchoor till nine o'clock. I found assembled 
there Colonel Chalmers and my other friends, who had kindly at- 
tended me thus far, that we might together visit the extraordinary 
personage, described by Captain Edward Moore, in the seventh 
volume of the Asiatic Researches, and who is believed, by a large 
