so much to thwart him, in all his measures and arrangements, that he
could never possibly get on with his duties; and the disputes between
them generally results in a compromise. He takes, in gratuities,
something less than his contracting predecessors took, and shares,
what he takes, liberally, with those whose assistance he requires at
Court. These gratuities, or nuzuranas, never appeared, in the public
accounts; and were a governor, under the _amanee_ system, to demand
the full rates paid to contractors, the more powerful landholders
would refer him to these public accounts, and refuse to pay till he
could assure them of the same equivalents in _nanker_ and other
things, which they were in the habit of receiving from contractors.
These, as a mere trust manager, he may not be able to give; and he
consents to take something less. The landholders know that where the
object is to exact the means to gratify influential persons about
Court, the Nazim would be likely to get good military support, if
driven to extremity, and consent to pay the greater part of what is
demanded. When the trust manager, by his liberal remittances to Court
patrons, gets all the troops he requires, he exacts the full
gratuities, and still higher and more numerous if strong enough. The
corps under Captains Magness, Bunbury, Barlow, and Subha Sing, are
called _komukee_, or auxiliary regiments; and they are every season,
and sometimes often in the same season, sold to the highest bidder as
a perquisite by the minister. The services of Captain Magness and
Captain Bunbury's corps were purchased in this way for 1850 and 1851,
by Aga Allee, the Nazim of Sultanpoor, and he has made the most of
them. No _contractor_ ever exacted higher _nazuranas_ or _gratuities_
than he has, by their aid, this season, though he still holds the
district as a trust manager. Ten, twenty, or thirty thousand rupees
are paid for the use of one of these regiments, according to the
exigency of the occasion, or the time for which it may be required.