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Article SEIKS OR SIQUES. Page 1 of 1
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Seiks Or Siques.
SEIKS OR SIQ UES .
A S it is asserted that Buonaparte intends to form ' an alliance with this ¦ ^™ - people , we will g ive a short account of them from acknowledged authority . The sect was formed by Nanock , who lived in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries : the religious princip les which he inculcated were pure and simple , devoid of ornament , and little inclined to superstu tionAs military of considerable strengththey came
. a power some , jn ' to notice upon the death of Aurengzebe , by which event the throne of Delhi was weakened and its power divided . They waged wars with the Moguls and Afghans , by whom they were repeatedly brought to the brink of ruin : at present , however , they are a formidable
nation , subjected to a democratic government , entertain high notions pf liberty , and acknowledge no supremacy but in their prophet . The Seiks are in general strong and well made ; accustomed from their infancy to the most laborious life and hardest fate , they make marches and undergo fatigues that really appear astonishing . Jn their excursions they carry no tents or baggage , except , perhaps , a small tent for the principal officer : the rest shelter themselves under blankets
, which serve them also in the cold weather to wrap themselves in , and which , on march , cover their saddles . They have commonly two , some have three horses each , of the middle size , strong , active , and mild tempered . The provinces of Lahore and Moultan , noted for a breed ofthe best horses in Hindostan , afford them an ample supply ; and indeed they take the greatest care to increase it by all means in
their power . Though they make merry on the demise of any of their brethren , they mourn for the death of a horse : thus shewing their love of an animal so necessary to them in their professional capacity . The food of the Seiks is of the coarsest kind , and such as the poorest people in Hindostan use from necessity . Bread , baked in ashes , and soked in a mash made of different sorts of pulse , is the best dishand such as they never indulge in but when at full leisure ;
other-, wise , vetches and cares , hastily parched , is all they care for . They abhor smoaking tobacco , but intoxicate themselves freely with spirits pf their own country manufacture , a cup of which they never fail taking after a fatigue at nig ht . Their dress is extremely scanty : a pair of blue drawers , and a kind of checkered plaid , a part of which is fastened round the waistand the other thrown round the shoulder ,
, with a mean turban , form their cloathing . The chiefs are distinguished by wearing some heavy gold bracelets on their wrists , and sometimes a chain of the same metal bound round their turban , and by being mounted on better horses : otherwise no distinction appears among them . The chiefs are numerous , some of whom have the
command of ten or twelve thousand cavalry ; but this power is confined to a small number , the inferior officers maintaining from one to two thousand , and many not more than twenty or thirty horses ; a certain quota of which is furnished by the chief , the greater part be- ; jng the individual property of the horsemen .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Seiks Or Siques.
SEIKS OR SIQ UES .
A S it is asserted that Buonaparte intends to form ' an alliance with this ¦ ^™ - people , we will g ive a short account of them from acknowledged authority . The sect was formed by Nanock , who lived in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries : the religious princip les which he inculcated were pure and simple , devoid of ornament , and little inclined to superstu tionAs military of considerable strengththey came
. a power some , jn ' to notice upon the death of Aurengzebe , by which event the throne of Delhi was weakened and its power divided . They waged wars with the Moguls and Afghans , by whom they were repeatedly brought to the brink of ruin : at present , however , they are a formidable
nation , subjected to a democratic government , entertain high notions pf liberty , and acknowledge no supremacy but in their prophet . The Seiks are in general strong and well made ; accustomed from their infancy to the most laborious life and hardest fate , they make marches and undergo fatigues that really appear astonishing . Jn their excursions they carry no tents or baggage , except , perhaps , a small tent for the principal officer : the rest shelter themselves under blankets
, which serve them also in the cold weather to wrap themselves in , and which , on march , cover their saddles . They have commonly two , some have three horses each , of the middle size , strong , active , and mild tempered . The provinces of Lahore and Moultan , noted for a breed ofthe best horses in Hindostan , afford them an ample supply ; and indeed they take the greatest care to increase it by all means in
their power . Though they make merry on the demise of any of their brethren , they mourn for the death of a horse : thus shewing their love of an animal so necessary to them in their professional capacity . The food of the Seiks is of the coarsest kind , and such as the poorest people in Hindostan use from necessity . Bread , baked in ashes , and soked in a mash made of different sorts of pulse , is the best dishand such as they never indulge in but when at full leisure ;
other-, wise , vetches and cares , hastily parched , is all they care for . They abhor smoaking tobacco , but intoxicate themselves freely with spirits pf their own country manufacture , a cup of which they never fail taking after a fatigue at nig ht . Their dress is extremely scanty : a pair of blue drawers , and a kind of checkered plaid , a part of which is fastened round the waistand the other thrown round the shoulder ,
, with a mean turban , form their cloathing . The chiefs are distinguished by wearing some heavy gold bracelets on their wrists , and sometimes a chain of the same metal bound round their turban , and by being mounted on better horses : otherwise no distinction appears among them . The chiefs are numerous , some of whom have the
command of ten or twelve thousand cavalry ; but this power is confined to a small number , the inferior officers maintaining from one to two thousand , and many not more than twenty or thirty horses ; a certain quota of which is furnished by the chief , the greater part be- ; jng the individual property of the horsemen .