Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1825 edition. Excerpt: ... The formidable weapons that these banditti use would not raise the most pleasing emotions in the mind of a timid man; and the unerring accuracy with which they will strike even a bird flying is not calculated to allay the fears excited upon viewing their instruments of destruction. Some of their arrows are pointed, some crescent-shaped} others have flat and sharp edges, and some are made with a rounded head, to stun, or slightly wound. The elasticity and power of the bow, which is made of bamboo, sends the "winged messenger" an incredible distance: but a sketch of their arrows will better explain how they are fashioned. I did not fail tb joke with my new acquaintance on his little success this time in hanging and slay* ing. He had reasons to offer for his submission to the exactions of the Bheels; but in his palliation of the compromise, he chose to omit the principal motive, viz.--" Better to have a whole skin than a cracked one." The most singular reason he urged was, that the Bheels would have shot some of the bullocks; and the owner of them was a friend of his, a high-caste Hindoo, who would be shocked at such an event! Finding that my jokes were not palatable, he turned purposely out of his road, and we separated in the most courteous manner, although, probably, our mutual opinions of each other were not very favourable. At another period, travelling with my wife in a palanquin carriage, or Shigrumpo*, towards Baroda, the capital city of Guzerat (at which place we had a subsidized force stationed, amounting to about 2000 men), when within a few miles of the city, we were stopped by two Bheels, who demanded tribute. I had a pair of pistols, and instantly cocked one; it appearing to me at the moment an insult to the British flag, ...
