er mark
his youthful career, and he wanders through vast tracts of country
unmolested and uncontrolled. The greatest blessing ever bestowed on this
great nation, was the annihilation of those immense hordes of Pindarees,
in the years 1817 and 1818, under the auspices of the Marquis of
Hastings. They generally form themselves into small bodies, some six or
seven hundred in number, putting themselves under the direction of the
most daring and despotic of their sect, but one who is generally well
acquainted with the localities of the country where plunder is to be
had. The court paid to this fiend is disgusting beyond description. He
is a little king, reigning on the throne of cruelty and bloodshed. These
people take up their quarters in towns and in their vicinity, committing
every kind of imposition on the poor unprotected inhabitants, against
whom, should they prove refractory, in refusing them even the carrying
off of their daughters or wives, the most coercive measures are
unhesitatingly resorted to. On these occasions murder is not an uncommon
event. From the unrepressed excesses of these marauders previous to the
Pindaree war, their annual visitations were looked for and expected as a
matter of course, but were esteemed by the poor plundered sufferers as a
kind of pestilential visitation, which they had no power to avert,
though, no doubt, they one and all had the inclination. They never
remained long at a place; but, during their short sojourn, they would
commit acts that disgrace the name of man, and would deservedly attach
to them the designation of brutes and monsters. They are generally well
mounted, and equipped in all the tawdry habiliments of the East. They
are most debauched and profligate characters, and some of them have four
and five women each as followers of their fortunes. These women are
excellent horse-women, and can handle the matchlock or sabre with the
best of them. They drink, riot, and smoke, the whole night, and bask in
the sun during the day. Their weapons generally consist of a long
seventeen-feet spear, a matchlock, sabre, and pistols. Their horses,
also, are well trained and manageable; but, from a formidable foe they
will run like cowards, and hide themselves till the danger is over.
Should they be surprised by any British force, they will run, and on the
road plunder one another; which sometimes is attended with bloodshed.
These people seldom marry, but live together as long as they like o