their services as mercenaries to Indian princes and becoming rich merchants themselves. The Europeans had the advantage of military experience in the European wars, knowledge of arms production, especially cannons, and of new military strategies. Arrival in India In 1778, Leborgne arrived at the Indian port of Madras (now Chennai). He was poor and to make a living, taught fencing. While teaching, he met a nephew of the British governor of the city, Sir Thomas Rumbold. He was offered a position as an officer in the 6th battalion of sepoys, a troop of local inhabitants raised by the Company. He accepted, and gradually learned the local customs and began training the sepoys. He lived in Madras for four years, but became restless. He was ambitious, and decided to go to Delhi in the north of India, where the Moghul Emperor Shah Alam II held court. The Marathas and Rajputs were employing Europeans and giving them the command of their armies. The new governor, Lord MacCartney, gave Leborgne letters of recommendation to the governor of the province of Bengal, in Calcutta, and Leborgne sailed there. He met governor Warren Hastings, who approved his projects of exploration. Again he was given letters of recommendation, this time to Asaf-Ud-Dowlah, the Nawab of Oudh, in Lucknow. The rajah was a vassal of the East India Company. In January 1783, Leborgne started his trip. He traveled through many extremely poor villages, learning about the culture and religion of India and noted the different Muslim and Hindu neighborhoods in various places. Arrival in Lucknow In Lucknow, Leborgne was received by the nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah and was invited to live with Colonel Pollier, in the service of the Company. As Middleton, an Englishman present when Leborgne met the nabab, explained to him afterward, this invitation was in fact an order; if he refused he would have been thrown in prison. Colonel Antoine Polier, a Swiss, received him warmly. Leborgne discovered that Lucknow had many European residents. He met two who spoke French. The first, Claude Martin, was from Lyons and had made his fortune in India; the second, Drugeon, was from Savoy like himself. The nabab gave Leborgne a kelat, richly decorated with gold and diamonds, along with letters of exchange for Kandahar and Kabul, and 12,000 rupees. The nabab kept Leborgne, with many others, as a privileged captive for five months. Polier explained to Leborgne that although