This page needs to be proofread.
EASE OF FIRST VICTORIES IN BENGAL 173
"bodies of hired troops
"*' who usually had no
interest in the war be-
yond their pay. Between the
Marathas, who were spreading
over the country from the west,
and the Afghans, who had
broken in from the north, the
inland country was being ruined
by rapine and exactions; trade and cultivation had
fallen low; and the position of the minor native powers
SHIVART HILLS NEAR SALEM
IN SOUTHERN INDIA.
