Fall of the Mughal Empire v2.c27.s15.t1.8

v2.c27.s15.t1.8

As soon as the camp is pitched the baggage tattoos (ponies), attached in great quantities to the Pāgās, gallop off with wonderful activity in quest of forage,...nor are the camels far behindhand with them.... These foraging parties are more destructive to a country than locusts. Nor are territories of friend or foe exempt from their depredations.... I suppose there was scarce a piece of wood or a blade of grass or hay left in the villages round the Peshwa's camp, after a short time's continuance, for the space of 12 miles.... Shopkeepers, handicrafts and every species of profession carry on their callings [in the amps of the Marathas] as much at their ease as in their cities... The safety of the Maratha camps is to be attributed to the vast numbers of their cavalry hovering round in every direction, rather than to any of the precautionary measures of trenches, posts, guards, etc. systematically used in our [i.e., English] armies.