2C3 M'sfon/ of the Rnnwossics, [JuLT 



obstinnte strufrcrlt's repeatedly in displaeing each others retainers 

 from sueh situations. 



The Ramoossies havino- settled in the Pooninder district and 

 around Poona, — they continued to move northward, alono;the coiin- 

 trv on the east side of the Svach-y ran>;e of mountains, and after a 

 short resideuff in si^ne of tlu- piiiu-ipal villages, they beg'an to ob- 

 tain taNOur anionrr the inhabitants and oradnally to send forth mem- 

 bers tivit secured for themselves the ouardiansbip of tlie surround- 

 ing small vdhiiies Tliev gained little iriound, liowi'ver, totheeast- 

 ward, in the Ahmednugixur disti ict, for here the Ilol^ah Ramoossies 

 were established as the hereditary watehmen, and on the west-side, 

 thev wire encountered by the Kolies, who residr in ihf villages in 

 the small vallies on the eastern siele of the n)ain ranj^e of hills, in 

 manv of uhieh the Kolies are the sole iidiabitants. These Kolies 

 have been for ages employed by the different Governments of the 

 country to iinard the passes in the liiHs, leading down from the Dek- 

 haa to the Konkan, and also to act as police in the hdly tract of 

 country, from the vicinity of Bheema Shnnknr to a distance north 

 of the fort of Trimbuck. The Ramoossies therefore, in passing north, 

 kept between Joonere and Panere, and they estabhshed themselves 

 in the Kannoor Pulhar. (Puthar means an elevated but level tract 

 of ground.) Havini; descended from the masses of hills south of the 

 Pera river, they gradually spread along the plains around the town 

 of Sungumnair, and westward into the small vallies near Akolla, 

 From Sungumnair they proeeeded into the Sinnure district, and a 

 few families are settled a short way only from Nassik. 



The Bheels from ihe southern borders of Kandeish, having been 

 joined by those along the banks of the Godavery, and others settled 

 in the hills, near Sungumnair accompanied by some rebel Kolies, 

 (Rarajee Bhanggra, &c.) some Arabs, and other discontented per- 

 sons, made an irruption into the Parnere, Akolla, and part of the 

 Nassik districts in the years 1803 — 4. These plunderers committed 

 terrible ravages, wherever they made their appearance; the inhabi- 

 tants considered it necessary to fly from their homes to avoid them. 

 They kept possession of the hilly tract for a considerable time, and 

 were not driven out of the country until a detachment of the Poo- 

 na subsidiary force joined the Peshwah's troops acting against the 

 Marauders, — a sad fate awaited many of the Bheel Naiks and their 

 followers. The Peshwah sanctioned their being seized by means of 

 treachery. While Bajee Row was at Kopurgaun, on the banks 

 ot the Godavery in 1806, several hundred miserable Bheels, men, 



