Travels in India (Tavernier) 39.5.5

39.5.5

On the 11th [September] all the Frank gunners went to the Nawab's tent, crying out that they had not been paid the four months' wages which had been promised, and that if they were not paid they would go to take service elsewhere, upon which the Nawab put them off till the following day. On the 12th, the gunners not having omitted to repair to the tent of the Nawab, he ordered them to be paid for three months, and promised them at the close of the current month to pay the fourth. They had no sooner received this money than they treated one another, and the baladines carried off more than half of it. On the 13th the Nawab went to the town to see the foundry which Maille had erected by his orders. Maille, as I have said, was from Bourges, and enlisted at Amsterdam for India. Having reached Batavia, the General, perceiving that he was skilful and very intelligent, kept him in his personal service to make some grottoes and fountains in his garden. But Maille, being neither satisfied with this employment nor with the rough treatment of the General, found means to place himself in the suite of M. Cheteur, who was sent from Batavia to the Nawab, then engaged in the siege of Gandikot.