166 The " Koh" of Chota-Nagpore. 



depopulated ever since. No traveller ever ventured to pass through 

 their country. No Bramin, Rajpoot or other Hindoo caste, or Mussal- 

 rnian was suffered to reside in it. 



In 1820, the Agent Governor- General, Major Roughsedge, entered 

 the Colehan at the head of a force consisting of a battalion of infantry, 

 with cavalry and artillery. He was surprised to find the wild race, 

 of whom he had heard such disparaging accounts, in possession of an 

 open undulating and richly cultivated country, studded with villages 

 in groves of magnificent tamarind and mango trees, abounding in 

 unusual indications of rural wealth. He was allowed to enter on this 

 scene unmolested, but the slaughter of some of his camp-followers, 

 who had incautiously strayed into one of the villages, demonstrated 

 the hostility of the people, and an attempt to capture the murderers 

 brought about the first collision between the Hos and our troops. 

 A party of cavalry, sent to the offending village, was met in the open 

 field by 300 warriors, who undauntedly advanced to meet the charge, 

 rushed between the ranks of the horsemen, hacking especially at the 

 horses with their formidable battle-axes, and shewing no disposition to 

 yield or to turn, till half their number had been sabred or shot. In 

 the village where the murder was committed, was found a reserve of 

 60 men who fought desperately and were all killed ! The same evening 

 another body of Lurkahs* attacked the rear of the column and cut 

 off a convoy of supplies. It became necessary to act with vigour, and 

 the old Hos of the present day describe the retaliation that now fell 

 upon them as dreadfully severe. Eventually some intercepted mails 

 were restored uninjured, as a token of submission, and the Lurka chiefs 

 in the vicinity entered into engagements to acknowledge and pay 

 tribute to the Rajah of Singbhoom.f 



Major Roughsedge met with further opposition in his progress 

 towards Sumbulpoor through the Southern Peers : he had in fact to 

 fight his way out of the country ; and on his leaving it a war broke 

 out between the Kols who had submitted, and those who had not. 

 One hundred Hindustanee burkundazes under a Soobadar were sent 

 by the Agent to the support of the Rajah and his Lurka allies, and 

 this for a time gave them the advantage ; but the Soobadar having 



* " Laraka," the fighters, a common name for the Hos. 

 t Major Roughsedge' s dispatches. 



