1835] 



History of the Ramoossies, 



137 



dar Bheema of the 17th Regiment posted there. He in- 

 stantly prepared his men, and moved off with his guides. 

 The night v/as extremely dark and a high wind blowing. 

 The Ramoossies with their plunder had quitted Walla^ 

 and were on their route to the Sakoordy hills when the 

 detachment moving along was challenged. The Jemadar 

 called out to know who they were, (with a view to ascer- 

 tain if they were peaceable villagers ;) in a few seconds two 

 shots were fired, the balls passing over the sepoys' heads. 

 All being satisfied that it must be the Bund, the detach- 

 ment instantly returned the fire. After a few rounds the 

 Jemadar wished to discover in v/hat direction the Ramoos- 

 sies had retired, as they had discontinued firing. The 

 ground was very uneven, and covered with large black 

 stones. As the men advanced they found the body of a 

 Ramoossy that had been shot dead, and from subsequent 

 information it appears that several others were wounded. 



This unexpected encounter had a m.ost powerful eirect 

 in our favour. It greatly disheartened the whole gang, 

 and reduced their number to about thirty-five. The rest 

 fled and never rejoined, many of them having thrown their 

 arms into the prickly-pear bushes : several of them were 

 seized in a fcAV days after this. The Naik that was killed 

 was a relation of Oomiah's and one of his most active ad- 

 herents. * Ram Row Koley took his departure with his 

 Kolies. They proceeded north to Chamargoonday, and 

 from thence to Punderpoor, and then towards Kolapoor. 

 Captain Boyd was requested to move south in pursuit 

 of them, and he seized them about the middle of March. 



After this blow it was supposed that Oomiah would re- 

 pair immediately to the jungles on the Poorundur hill ; in- 

 formation however could not be communicated to the di.e- 

 tachments to admit of their scouring the hills, till the 

 morning of the 8th. The gang much alarmed, and most 

 probably learning our intentions, only remained during the 

 day in the hill, having quitted on the evening of the 7th. 

 No troops could move from Sassoor, or indeed from any 

 other place, when the gang was in the vicinity, without th^^ 

 circumstance being immediately announced to them by 

 some one of their numerous friends. 



(To be Continued.) 

 * This Naik aud auotiier i'elaUon ofhis^ rccei7ed twenty rupees uiout'aly ^^^y. 



