A History of the Mahrattas v1.c10.48

v1.c10.48

Sivajee was always partial to the Mawulees; he observed, that although clownish and stupid in appearance, they were active and intelligent in anything to which they had been accustomed, and remarkably faithful in situations of trust. He was attentive to those in Dadajee’s service; they accompanied him on his excursions, and in hunting; and he became extremely popular, not only with them, but with the whole of their countrymen in the Mawuls. In his visits to these valleys and to different parts of the Ghaut-Mahta and Concan, he grew familiar with the paths and defiles of that wild tract, where he afterwards established himself. He had marked the condition of the adjoining strongholds, and began to devise schemes for getting one of them into his possession.