ty who are Marathas by caste, and very few instances occur
of their ever entering into the infantry at all. The sepoys in the pay
of the different princes are recruited in Hindustan, and principally
of the Rajput and Purbia caste; these are perhaps the finest race of
men in the world for figure and appearance; of lofty stature, strong,
graceful and athletic; of acute feelings, high military pride, quick,
apprehensive, brave, prudent and economic; at the same time it must be
confessed they are impatient of discipline, and naturally inclined to
mutiny. They are mere soldiers of fortune and serve only for their
pay. There are also a great number of Musalmans who serve in the
different Maratha armies, some of whom have very great commands.

16. Character of the Maratha armies

"The Maratha cavalry at times make very long and rapid marches, in
which they do not suffer themselves to be interrupted by the monsoon or
any violence of weather. In very pressing exigencies it is incredible
the fatigue a Maratha horseman will endure; frequently many days pass
without his enjoying one regular meal, but he depends entirely for
subsistence on the different corn-fields through which the army passes:
a few heads of juari, which he chafes in his hands while on horseback,
will serve him for the day; his horse subsists on the same fare, and
with the addition of opium, which the Marathas frequently administer
to their cattle, is enabled to perform incredible marches."

The above analysis of the Maratha troops indicates that their real
character was that of freebooting cavalry, largely of the same type
as, though no doubt greatly superior in tone and discipline to the
Pindaris. Like them they lived by plundering the country. "The
Marathas," Elphinstone remarked, "are excellent foragers. Every
morning at daybreak long lines of men on small horses and ponies
are seen issuing from their camps in all directions, who return
before night loaded with fodder for the cattle, with firewood torn
down from houses, and grain dug up from the pits where it had been
concealed by the villagers; while other detachments go to a distance
for some days and collect proportionately larger supplies of the same
kind." [223] They could thus dispense with a commissariat, and being
nearly all mounted were able to make extraordinarily long marches,
and consequently to carry out effectively surprise attacks and when
repulsed to escape injury in the retreat. Even a