160 TILLEGAM. 
and with ease reached Tillegam to breakfast. I was met, about a 
mile from the town, by the Rajah's cousin, who attended me to the 
tents, where he and the minister paid their compUments, and deli- 
vered an invitation from the Rajah to visit him : which I promised, 
as I found, by enquiries at Poonah, that he was a respectable man, a 
Mahratta, holding under that government, on the tenure of military 
service only. He was formerly powerful, but at present, like many 
others, is much reduced. As his territories lie between Poonah, 
where the British subsidiary force is generally stationed, and the 
Presidency of Bombay, it is advisable to be on good terms with him. 
One anecdote does him great credit : he fed nearly the whole of his 
village during the late famine. 
Four o'clock was the time settled for our visit, as he wished 
us to take a repast with him, and had sent for our table, knives, 
forks, and spoons : the Ministers came to attend us. The town was 
larger than I supposed, and seemed thriving; his own residence 
bore the marks of ancient splendor. He received us in a small ve- 
randah on the ground floor, covered with a piece of velvet carpeting. 
Several decently dressed people were around him. He was rather 
a young man, with a good-natured open countenance. To our en- 
quiries after his health, he answered in English, that he was very 
well. His English interpreter then said, he was there to teach him 
that language. Mr. Frissel found that he also spoke Persian tolerably : 
a very remarkable proof in a Mahratta of a desire to acquire inform- 
ation. We adjourned to the repast up stairs, where we found some 
good meat curries, and a bottle of brandy, a liquor I did not expect 
in a Rajah's house, but to which he has the character of being con- 
siderably attached. 
