THE DOON 247 



The old man went on to tell about the first Europeans 

 he had seen, and here he grew animated, and his recol- 

 lections were really interesting. Once, he said, when 

 he was a very young man, a Mahratta army suddenly 

 entered the Doon through one of the western passes ; 

 they marched on to near Dehra, and there they 

 encamped. In the camp there were two European 

 children ; they were very fair, and had long light, 

 curling hair; they were so pretty that all the villagers 

 far and near flocked in to see them, and brought pieces 

 of sugarcane to give them. He went among the rest. 

 The Mahratta army remained encamped for some 

 days, and then it left as suddenly as it had entered. 

 Why it came and where it went to he did not know, 

 neither could he tell me to whom the two children 

 belonged. 



But to return to my history. The Nepaulese, or, as 

 they were then more generally termed, the Goorkhas, 

 held possession of the Doon for some years ; then, in 

 the same manner as they had driven out the Raja of 

 Sreenugger, so were they in turn driven out by the 

 English, but not without a struggle. The English army 

 was commanded by Sir Rollo Gillespie, a most gallant 

 soldier, and regarded also as a capable general. A 

 little to the eastward of the town of Dehra a long, 

 low spur of hill runs out from the Himalaya. On the 

 extremity of this hill the Goorkhas had erected a fort. 

 When the English army entered the Doon into this fort 

 the Goorkhas retired. Sir Rollo Gillespie advanced to 

 attack it. 



The attack on Kalunga — for so this fort was named — 



