being in want of every necessary of life, and are at last drove to
that desperation, that they at night get on the top of the zenanah,
make a great disturbance, and last night not only abused the
sentinels posted in the gardens, but threw dirt at them; they
threatened to throw themselves from the walls of the zenanah, and
also to break out of it. Humanity obliges me to acquaint you of
this matter, and to request to know if you have any direction to
give me concerning it. I also beg leave to acquaint you, I sent for
Letafit Ali Khan, the cojah who has the charge of them, who informs
me their complaint is well grounded,--that they have sold
everything they had, even to the clothes from their backs, and now
have no means of existing. Inclosed, I transmit you a letter from
Mandall on the subject."

_Letter from Captain Jaques to Richard Johnson, Esq., March 7th,
1782._

"Sir,--I beg leave to address you again concerning the women in the
Khord Mohul. Their behavior last night was so furious that there
seemed the greatest probability of their proceeding to the utmost
extremities, and that they would either throw themselves from the
walls or force the doors of the zenanah. I have made every inquiry
concerning the cause of their complaints, and find from Letafit Ali
Khan that they are in a starving condition, having sold all their
clothes and necessaries, and now have not wherewithal to support
nature. And as my instructions are quite silent upon this head,
should be glad to know how to proceed in case they were to force
the doors of the zenanah; as I suspect it will happen, should no
subsistence be very quickly sent to them."

_Letter from Major Gilpin to John Bristow, Esq., Resident at the
Court of Lucknow; 30th October, 1782._

"Last night, about eight o'clock, the women in the Khord Mohul
Zenanah, under the charge of Letafit Ali Khan, assembled on the
tops of the buildings, crying in a most lamentable manner for
food,--that for the last four days they had got but a very scanty
allowance, and that yesterday they had got none. The melancholy
cries of famine are more easily imagined than described; and from
their representations, I fear that the Nabob's agents for that
business are very inattentive. I therefore think it requisite to
make