74 
FEBRUARY 1766. 
700 strong & near 150 of them armed with English Musquets. We halted with 
Morrison this Night (of the 20th February). 
The next Morning early Morrison set out in quest of the Enemy, & my Sepoys 
being joined with his, I acted as a Voluntier under him. We marched 8 miles this 
Forenoon, & then halted at Santashpour to refresh the Troops. About \ past Noon 
set forward again, but saw no Appearance of the Enemy. We continued marching 
all the Afternoon to the S & SE, till we came in sight of the River Baramputrey, & 
51 were then assured that the Enemy were hemned in between the forks of that River 
and the Durla. About 4 we entered the Village of Deenlrotta, 1 where a Party of the 
Enemy had posted themselves or rather as I am inclined to think had sat down to 
rest themselves. The sudden Approach of our People however roused them & they 
made a desperate Effort to defend themselves, at the same Time that they might 
have run off, & probably escaped. In this Skirmish I had the misfortune to be 
surrounded by the Enemy, & received several Cuts from their broad Swords, one of 
which threatned my Death. 2 Morrison pursued his Course towards the Durla the 
following two days, the second of which at ten in the Morning he came to the Banks 
52 of that River & found difficulty in getting Boats to cross over, the River at the Place 
he crossed it (vh Baggoa) being excessive rapid & very deep. 
The Sanashys had separated themselves into small Parties & scattered themselves 
over the Countrey, so that scarce 50 of them had crossed the Durla with their 
Commander ; who as Morrison was informed had retired towards Olyapour. 
I followed the Detachment in my Palankeen & was embarked on a small Boat 
for Dacca the 23rd. The 26th. I arrived at that Place & for the first time got 
Assistance from a Surgeon, having been near 6 days without the least Assistance. 
I staid at Dacca till the beginning of J une for the recovery of my Health & then 
set out to survey the Countrey between Luckypour & the Fenny, 3 in order to join on 
53 Mr. Verelst’s' 1 March to Cospour 6 to the general Map of Bengali. Ensign Richards 
1 Deenhotta is marked on Rennell’s map as 15 miles due 11 irth of Baggoa or Bagwa at the mouth of the Dharia. 
2 - The following account of this skirmish is quoted in Hobson Jobson, 2nd Ed., p. 872, from a MS. letter of Major 
Renneil’s dated August 30th 1766, six months after the event. ' ‘ The Sanashy Faquirs (part of the same Tribe which 
plundered Dacca in Cossim Ally’s Time) were in arms to the number of 7 or 800 at the Time I was surveying Baar (a 
small province near Boutan), and had taken and plundered the Capital of that name within a few coss of my route 
I came up with Morrison immediately after he had defeated the Sanashys in a pitched Battle 
Our Escorte, which were a few Horse, rode off, and the Enemy withdrawn Sabres immediately surrounded us. Morrison 
escaped unhurt, Richards, my Brother officer, received only a slight Wound, and fought his way off; my Armenian 
Assistant was killed, and the Sepoy Adjutant much wounded I was put in a Palankeen, and Morrison 
made an attack on the Enemy and cut most of them to Pieces. I was now in a most shocking Condition indeed, being 
deprived of the use of both my Arms, a cut of a Sable (sic) had cut through my right Shoulder Bone, 
and laid me open for nearly a Foot down the Back, cutting thro’ and wounding some of my Ribs. I had besides a Cut 
on the left Elbow wtu' h took off the Muscular part of the breadth of a Hand, a Stab in the Arm, and a large Cut on 
the Head 
3 A tributary of the Meghna separating the Noakhali and Chittagong districts in E. Bengal. It rises in Hill 
Tipperah. 
•* Henry Verelst, in charge of the Factory at Chittagong from 1761 to 1765 ; succeeded Lord Clive as Governor 
of "Bengal 1767 to 1769. 
6 Khaspur, now an unimportant village in Kachar, but capital of the Rajas of Kachar during the eighteenth 
century. Rennell refers to this journey of M r . Verelst’s in his ‘Memoir of Hindoostan,’ p. 298, in the following 
words: — “ML Verelst, who meditated an expedition into Meckley from Bengal and actually advanced as far as 
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