Doáb, the country between the rivers Rávi and Chenáb. Afterwards he held for some years the most troublesome charge in the Punjab, that of the Pesháwar district, where his stern and ferocious methods reduced that wild tract to something like order for the first time in its history. His name is still remembered with awe by the turbulent tribes in the neighbourhood of the Kháibar, numbers of whom, thieves and murderers, he hung around the walls of the city. His code of punishment was Draconian, and although the English rule is mild in comparison with that of this ferocious Italian, yet those who have to administer law and maintain order on the North-West Frontier of India must have a quick and heavy hand; and the slow and cumbrous procedure of High Courts and barrister judges is mere folly when compared with the gallop after a criminal; caught red-handed before he has reached his asylum in the hills, a short shrift and the nearest tree.
The foreign officers entertained by the Mahárájá, especially General Ventura in command of the Fouj Khás, and Court in charge of what was known as the French Legion, very much improved the discipline and tactical power of Ranjít Singh's army. They were not, however, entrusted with the supreme command in expeditions which was nominally given to one of the princes, Kharak Singh, or Sher Singh, or to one of the principal Sirdárs. Of all the generals of the Mahárájá, the best was probably Diwán Mokham Chand, a khattrí by birth, who from 1806 to 1814,
