This year is the first that I have drawn any revenue from that source; but, at any rate, I am not disposed to keep up a force which, while it would be insufficient to be of any great value in a war like this, would be a heavy tax on my purse." "Even the force you have must be that, Uncle." "Not so much as you would think, Dick, with your English notions.

The pay here is very small--so small that it would seem to you impossible for a man to live on it; and yet, many of these men have wives and families.

All of them have patches of land that they cultivate; only twenty, who are changed once a month, being kept on duty.

They are necessary; for I should have but little respect from my people, and less still from other rajahs, did I not have sentries at the gates, and a guard ready to turn out in honour of any visitor who might arrive; to say nothing of an escort, of half a dozen men, when I ride through the country.

Of course, all can be called out whenever I want them, as, for example, when I rode to Madras to meet you.