appears that he remained about a year at Delhi, under the immediate protection of the Vizier, when, at that nobleman's recommendation, he was appointed the military governor of Sirhend, and ordered to reduce the former chief of that place, who had thrown off his allegiance to the empire. Previously to his proceeding on this service, Ali Mahomet had been required to send Abed-ullah and Fyze-ullah, two of his sons, to Labore*, to be kept as hostages for the good conduct of the father. The Rohilla, who on every occasion displayed the ability and spirit of a soldier, defeated the Sirhend rebel, and reduced to his subjection Kote Roy, one of the strongest fortresses in the upper part of India. During the residence of Ali Mahomet at Sirhend, his party, which had been joined by a body of two or three thousand marauding Afghans, was computed at ten thousand cavalry, and fifteen or twenty thousand infantry of various denominations. The Rohilla did not take any part in the Durany war; but whilst the Moghul and Afghan armies were approaching to action, he quitted the Punjab and retired to Hurdwar, from whence he penetrated, in 1747, into Rohilcund, which he rapidly conquered.

* Meer Munoo, the son of the Vizier, was at that time the Governor of Labore.

+ The first invasion of the Durany Ahmed Shah.

The two sons of Ali Mahomet, who had been delivered as hostages for his good conduct, were taken by Ahmed Shah, the Durany, in the fort of Sirhend; where they had been placed by Kummer-ud-Dein, previously to the reduction of that town by the Afghans. Ali Mahomet could not long have enjoyed the fruits of his last success; for his death, according to the memoirs of that time, happened in the latter end of 1747 *, at Owlah.

PERHAPS no soldier that has appeared in India, passed through more active and eventful scenes of life, than Ali Mahomet. He was born, and grew up, it may be said, amidst the din of arms. He fell, when a boy, into the hands of Daoud Khan. An incessant series of warfare occupied his manhood, and he died at the period of finally subduiug the territory, which he had before arduously fought for, conquered, and had lost. This chief bore the reputation of a liberal encourager of agriculture and commerce. He was strict and rigorous in the exactions which he levied from his subjects; but as he rarely infringed, he never remitted a stipulated engagement. Owlah, his usual place of residence, and the principal town of Rohilcund, he ornamented with numerous public and private

Or the beginning of 1748

edifices, which were constructed and arranged with an order and taste seldom seen in Indian cities.

SAUD Ullah Khan, the third son of Ali Mahomet, succeeded to the supremacy of the Rohilla dominion. In obedience to the last counsel of his father, who had recommended Hafiz Rhamut to his young successor †, as the most capable of the Rohillas, Saud Ullah appointed that officer his deputy in the management of public affairs. During the administration of Saud Ullah, the Patans of Furruckabad, commanded by their chief, Caim Khan Bunghish, invaded Rohilcund. Confident of success, and presuming on the military reputation which he had acquired, the Patan precipitately quitted the body of his army, and advanced with a party of his principal officers. A detachment of Rohillas in ambuscade, fired at Caim Khan as he passed, and killed him, with some other persons of his retinue. The army, on the death of their leader, fled, leaving the baggage and guns behind, which were captured by the Rohillas, and estimated at a great value. Saud Ullah, said at that time to be fourteen years

* The two elder were yet kept in confinement by the Durannies. + At his father's death, Saud Ullah was about twelve years of age.

of age, had accompanied the army on this expedition*. Sufdar Jung still retaining a strong animosity to the Rohillas, and desirous. of improving the occasion of Saud Ullah's minority, formed a junction with Mulhar Row, the chief of a large body of Marhatta cavalry, and penetrated into Rohilcund. The Rohillas, unable to resist so large a force, took shelter in the skirts of the northern mountains, where they remained, until some revolutions at court caused Sufdar Jung to move towards Delhi. He carried with him the strength of his own, and the auxiliary army †, stationing in Rohilcund, a detachment for the purpose of maintaining possessions of the districts he had conquered: the Rohillas did not long continue in concealment, but collecting their scattered forces, they expelled the remaining troops of Sufdar Jung.

* The invasion of Caim Khan happened in the latter end of 1749. It appears that Mahomet Khan, the son of Daoud Khan, who had taken refuge at Furruckabad, accompanied Caim Khan on the expedition, and fell in the action. In the course of the same year, an officer named Kuttib-ud-Dein, the son or grand-son of Azmut Ullah Khan, was appointed by the court to the government of Moradabad, and entered Rohilcund with an army which was encountered and defeated by the Rohillas.

It is mentioned, that the Marhattas withdrew from Rohilcund, on receiving a bond of fifty lacks of rupees from the Rohillas; and it should seem, that they made the non-payment of this bond an ostensible cause for invading Rohilcund, in the years 1772 and 1773.

It appears that about the year 1750, the two elder sons of Ali Mahomet, having been enlarged by Admed Shah Dourany, came into Rohilcund, and solicited a portion of the paternal estate. Their claims were submitted to the deliberation of the principal Rohilla officers, among whom Hafiz took the lead, and it was resolved that the territory which had been personally possessed by Ali Mahomet, should be divided amongst his sons: Violent disputes soon arose amongst the brothers, in the detail of which, little accuracy is observed by the writers of the tracts that have come into my possession: nor would the relation, consisting of perplexed scenes of treachery and intrigue, tend to forward the general plan of this treatise. It will be sufficient to say, that the Rohilla chiefs, aware of the difficulties that affected the late arrangement, and dissatisfied at the conduct of Abed Ullah Khan, the eldest of the brothers, united in force, and expelled him, with some other branches of the family, from Rohilcund. Fyze-Ullah Khan, the second son of Ali Mahomet, obtained, after the expulsion of Abed Ullah, the districts of Rampour; which his prudent, wary

Ali Mahomet had six sons, Abed Ullah Khan, Fyze-Ullah Khan, Saud Ullah, Mahomet Yar Khan, Allah Yar Khan, and Martaza Khan,