rated the hill
ranges which had baffled all the other commanders, and retrieved the
fortunes of the war. The Gurkhas were far, indeed, from being subdued,
but Ochterlony's success among their strongest fastnesses, aided by
that of Colonels Gardner and Nicholls in the district of Kumaun,
induced them to sue for peace, and offer territorial cessions. The loss
of the Tarai, or belt of forest interspersed with pastures at the foot
of the Himalayas, was the most onerous of the conditions imposed upon
them by the treaty of Almora, signed in 1815. Rather than submit to it,
the Gurkha chiefs refused to ratify the treaty, and resumed their arms.
After two defeats, however, in February, 1816, they abandoned further
resistance, and Moira afterwards wisely consented to a modification of
the frontier-line. Retaining but a remnant of their dominions in the
lowlands, the Gurkhas have ever since preserved their independence with
their military training in the highlands, and have contributed some of
the best fighting material to the British army in India.

[Pageheading: _THE PINDARIS._]

While the war in Nepal was still undecided, fresh troubles broke out in
Central India, where Wellesley's settlement had left no permanent
security for peace. The very submission of the great Maratha powers had
set free large bands of irregular troops, with no livelihood but
pillage, and ever ready, like the Italian _condottieri_ of the later
middle ages, to enlist in the service of any aggressive state. These
mounted freebooters, now called the Pindaris, were secretly encouraged
by the Maratha chiefs, who looked upon them as useful auxiliaries in the
future, either against the government of India or against other native
princes. Several of these still remained in a more or less dependent but
restless condition, and the great leaders of the Maratha confederacy,
Sindhia, Malhar Rao Holkar, son and successor of Jaswant Rao, the
Peshwa, and the Raja of Nagpur, retained a large share of their former
sovereignty. Of these subject-allies, the one most directly under
British guidance and protection was the Peshwa, but even he took
advantage of hostile movements among his neighbours to join in a
combination against British rule, supported by the predatory raids of
the Pindaris. He had long been discontented with the subordinate
position which he had occupied since the treaty of Bassein. The
assassination in 1815 of an envoy of the Gaekwar of Baroda, who had bee