The men think themselves well off upon the pay of three rupees a month, as they are practically only on duty two months each year, and have the rest of the time to cultivate their fields.

Therefore, with the pay of the officers, my troop only costs me about four hundred rupees a month, which is, you know, equivalent to forty English pounds; so that you cannot call it an expensive army, even if it is kept for show rather than use." "No, indeed, Uncle! It seems ridiculous that a troop of a hundred men can be kept up, for five hundred pounds a year." "Of course, the men have some little privileges, Dick.

They pay no rent or taxes for their lands.

This is a great thing for them, and really costs me nothing, as there is so much land lying uncultivated.
Then, when too old for service, they have a pension of two rupees a month for life, and on that, and what little land they can cultivate, they are comparatively comfortable." "Well, it does not seem to me, Uncle, that soldiering is a good trade in this country." "I don't know that it is a good trade, in the money way, anywhere.
After all, the pay out here is quite as high, in comparison with the ordinary rate of earning of a peasant, as it is in England.

It is never the pay that tempts soldiers.