Now that the sugar-cane is ripe, not one cane would
be preserved in any field within five miles of any place where the
Nazim kept his troops for ten days."
_March_ 12, 1850.--Seetapoor, nine miles over a plain of muteear
soil, the greater part of which is light, and yields but scanty crops
without manure, which is very scarce. Immediately about the station
and villages, where manure is available, the crops are good. The wind
continues westerly, the sky is clear, and the blight does not seem to
increase.
The 2nd Regiment of Oude Local Infantry is stationed at Seetapoor,
but it has no guns or cavalry of any kind. Formerly there was a corps
of the Honourable Company's Native Infantry here, with two guns and a
detail of artillery. The sipahees of this corps, and of the 1st Oude
Local Infantry, at Sultanpoor, are somewhat inferior in appearance to
those of our own native infantry regiments, and still more so to the
Oude corps under Captains Barlow, Magness, and Bunbury. They receive
five rupees eight annas a-month pay, and batta, or extra allowance,
when marching; and the same pay as our own sipahees of the line
(seven rupees a-month) when serving with them. But the commandants
cannot get recruits equal to those that enlist in our regiments of
the line, or those that enlist in the corps of the officers above
named. They have not the rest and the licence of the one, while they
have the same drill and discipline, without the same rate of pay as
the other.
Pages:
624
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648