LETTER CXXIX.
To KUMRÛDDEEN; dated 29th WÂSAAEY, from SERINGAPATAM. (8th October.)

YOUR letter, informing us of your arrival with your army on the banks of the Tungbudrah,* and of your intention to repair speedily to the Presence, has been received. You must hasten your arrival here; and order things in such a manner [on your march], that no desertion may take place from your army, which [you know] is composed of men from all the four quarters, ———— as Kurpah, &c. You must, therefore, employ some of the Jyshe troops to look after them, so that no desertions may happen, but the whole join us in safety. On this head the utmost care and strictness are necessary.

OBSERVATIONS.

It would appear, from this and other letters in the present collection, that desertions were frequent in the armies of the Sultan: but so they are in all the native armies of India. It is probable, however, that the evil might be expe­rienced, in a peculiar degree, by Tippoo Sultan, since he would seem to have been in the habit of occasionally recruiting his ranks by forced levies; a practice, of which I am not aware that any other example is to be found among the princes or states of India.