Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/272

224 of keeping a vigilant watch are styled mati; and chhappah is synonymous in their dialect with a night-attack. Their food consists chiefly of simple cakes, with a little butter and red pepper; and hence it is that, owing to the irascibility of their tempers, gentleness is never met with in their dispositions. The ordinary dress worn by these people comprises a turban, tunic, selah (loose mantle), and the janghiah (short drawers). Among their horses are many mares, and among the offensive weapons used by this tribe there are but few firearms, most of the men being armed with swords, spears, or arrows instead. The system of military service established among them is this: each man, according to his grade, receives a fixed salary in cash and clothes every year. They call their stables pāgāh, and the horsemen who belong to a superior officer are styled bārgīrs.

A MARATHA BRAHMAN.

When Baji Rao, in the year 1153 A.H. (1740 A.D.), on the banks of the river Narbada, bore the burden of his existence to the shores of nonentity, his son, Balaji Rao, became his successor, and, after the manner of his father, engaged vigorously in the prosecution of hostilities, the organization and equipment of a large army,