The Vairagi, who had saved the life of Prithwi Narayan at Banaras, no sooner heard of the conquest of Nepal, than he repaired to that country, and reminded the chief of his promises. These the chief did not attempt to deny; but said, that, as the promises had been extorted by fear, he would give nothing. The Vairagi, having assembled 500 of the religious order of Nagas, attempted to use force; but the whole horde was taken, and put to death, an event of great use to Bengal, which these ruffians had been in the habit of plundering. Prithwi Narayan, besides his personal endowments, was much indebted for success to the introduction of firelocks, which until his time were totally unknown among the hills; and, so far as he was able, he introduced European discipline, the value of which he fully appreciated. His jealousy of the European character always, however, prevented him from employing any of them in his service, and he is said to have strongly recommended to his successors to follow, in this respect, his example. How far this may have been judicious, I cannot say; but it has certainly prevented his troops, although in many respects well organized, from making considerable progress in tactics, or in a dexterous use of their arms, and these are probably much more defective than his descendants and their officers think. Prithwi Narayan died about the year 1771, and left two legitimate sons; Singha Pratap, who succeeded his father, and Bahadur Sahi, who, after his brother’s death, was regent of the kingdom during his nephew’s minority, although he had excited the jealousy of Singha Pratap, and had with difficulty saved his life by living in exile. Singha Pratap’s attention, as I have mentioned, was chiefly directed to secure the conquests towards the east, in which, as I have said, he seems to have had as few scruples as usual in his family. He died in 1775, at Devighat, and left his kingdom to his son Rana Bahadur, placed in charge of his uncle Bahadur Sahi, a very active enterprising prince, and of his mother Rajendra Lakshmi, a princess of a similar character.