174 THE HILL TRIBES. 



the boast of tlieir chiefs was that during 600 

 years no enemy had ever entered their moun- 

 tains, every army that attempted it having failed; 

 two British detachments perished ahiiost to a 

 man in those fastnesses in 1840. Thus Beja 

 Khan, Doomkee, Islam Khan, Bhoogtee, Durrya 

 Khan, Jala^anee, and Hoossein Klian, Mun- 

 dooanee, with their robber-tribes, who were 

 assembled at Truckee, considered themselves 

 secure in that almost inaccessible stronghold, 

 surrounded by rocks, through clefts in which 

 their assailants could alone find entrance ; but 

 they knew not the master-spirit with whom 

 they had to contend, and whom they afterwards 

 styled the Shytaim Ka Bhaije* Provisions and 

 water were brought up for the troops with the 

 greatest difficulty. No man could move be- 

 yond the line of sentries without the certainty 

 of death, for, concealed in caves and chasms, the 

 robbers stole out on the troops and killed all 

 they could surprise ; but so admirably were the 

 great captain's measures taken, that, as I have 

 before said, he in a few weeks compelled the 

 enemy to surrender at discretion. Those con- 

 quered robbers are now peaceful husbandmen^ 



* Satan's Brother. 



