with Bishop Heber.

In order to protect the Swami, his followers constituted from
themselves an armed guard, as shown by Bishop Heber's account of
their meeting: "About eleven o'clock I had the expected visit from
Swami-Narayan. He came in a somewhat different guise from all which
I expected, having with him near 200 horsemen, mostly well-armed
with matchlocks and swords, and several of them with coats of mail
and spears. Besides them he had a large rabble on foot with bows and
arrows, and when I considered that I had myself an escort of more than
fifty horses and fifty muskets and bayonets, I could not help smiling,
though my sensations were in some degree painful and humiliating,
at the idea of two religious teachers meeting at the head of little
armies, and filling the city which was the scene of their interview
with the rattling of gunners, the clash of shields and the tramp
of the war-horse. Had our troops been opposed to each other, mine,
though less numerous, would have been doubtless far more effective
from the superiority of arms and discipline. But in moral grandeur
what a difference was there between his troop and mine. Mine neither
knew me nor cared for me; they escorted me faithfully and would have
defended me bravely, because they were ordered by their superiors to do
so. The guards of Swami-Narayan were his own disciples and enthusiastic
admirers, men who had voluntarily repaired to hear his lessons, who
now took a pride in doing him honour, and would cheerfully fight to
the last drop of blood rather than suffer a fringe of his garment to
be handled roughly.... The holy man himself was a middle-aged, thin
and plain-looking person, about my own age, with a mild expression of
countenance, but nothing about him indicative of any extraordinary
talent. I seated him on a chair at my right hand and offered two
more to the Thakur and his son, of which, however, they did not avail
themselves without first placing their hands under the feet of their
spiritual guide and then pressing them reverently to their foreheads."

4. Meeting with Governor of Bombay.

Owing, apparently, to the high moral character of his preaching and
his success in reducing to order and tranquillity the turbulent Kolis
and Bhils who accepted his doctrines, Swami-Narayan enjoyed a large
measure of esteem and regard from the officers of Government. This
will be evidenced from the following account of his meeting with the
Governor of B