158 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



on the evening of the 12th in- 

 stant, in ])ursuit of a body of 

 horse of suspicious' character, 

 which by report amounted to 5000, 

 I proceed to detail my movements 

 accordingly. 



After marching' tlic greater part 

 of that nig'lit, I readied Camber- 

 gaum on the Beemah on the morn- 

 ing of the 1 3th, when I fortu- 

 nately succeeded in falling into 

 the tiack of the fugitives, who had 

 taken the direction of the Carrun- 

 gee Ghaut, east of Nugger. On 

 my arrival at tlie top of the pass, 

 at 8 p. ra. on the evening of the 

 15th, I found the party had gone 

 down it the e\ening before, and 

 though I was not disposed to relax 

 for a moment in the pursuit, yet 

 the difficidties I had to surmount, 

 from the extreme bad state of the 

 roads, winding over hills, and 

 through stony l)y-paths, induced me 

 to halt for a few hoiu'S, to refresh 

 the men, who appeared much fa- 

 tigued. At two a. m. however, 

 of the 16th, I descended the Ghaut, 

 and did not reach the villatje of 

 Sirsee, winch lies at the bottom, 

 until broad day-break ; there I 

 gained information of their having 

 struck into the gieat load to 

 Toka, though I was previously 

 assured that they were directing 

 their course to Pictim on the 

 Goodavery, witii the intention of 

 crossing at that place. 1 halted 

 again at Moaz, on the Toka-road, 

 to give the detachment rest, with 

 a determination to make a final 

 efiort to overtake the fugitives, if 

 possible, before they crossed the 

 river ; while here 1 received in- 

 formation of their having again 

 deviated from their route, and 

 gone to Gareeagaum, due west of 

 that place, and eight coss from 



Moaz : we were again in motion 

 at five p. m. ; and on itiy arrival 

 at Gareeagaum, I learnt that they 

 had halted there the night before. 

 Having satisfiedmyself of the cor- 

 rectness of this inft)rmation, 1 con- 

 tinued my route to the westward; 

 and, although nearly two hours 

 wei'e lost by our guides taking 

 the detachment a wrong road, yet 

 I conceived that there was still a 

 po.-sibility of coming up to the 

 pursued before day-break of the 

 l/th. In this supposition, I am 

 happy to saj', 1 was not deceived, 

 for at three o'clock I instructed 

 two of my commissioned and non- 

 commissioned confidential oihcers 

 to enter a village in disguise, who 

 seized upon a man, whom 1 after- 

 wards compelled, by threats, to 

 conduct us to the Mahratta camji, 

 which 1 had reason to suppose 

 was about four or five miles off. 



During the time we were going 

 this distance 1 made tlie necessary 

 arrangements for an attack in 

 three divisions, by the two in 

 front, consisting of the fiank com- 

 panies of the 14th Madras, and 

 two companies of the 3d Bombay 

 Native Infantry, under Captains 

 Smyth and Deschamps, diveiging 

 from the head of the column to 

 the right and left on entering the 

 encampment, aiul by directing 

 the 3d division, two companies of 

 the 2d Bombay Native Infantry, 

 under Capt. Spears, to move stea- 

 dily into its centre without break- 

 ing, with a view to this division 

 becoming a point upon which the 

 others might rally in case of ne- 

 cessity. 



On coming within two miles of 

 the ^illage of Pattre, the forces of 

 the encamjiment were clearly dis- 

 cernible, upon which the column 



moved 



