1834.] 



History of the Ramoossies* 



232 



kan, and after his return to Poona, in May A. D. 1803, Of the 

 men forming the garrison of the fort, who amounted to upwards of a 

 thousand, the greater part were Ramoossies, and the Naiks of this 

 tribe had assumed the principal authority. They were in the habit 

 of collecting part of the revenue of the forty villages that were 

 assigned for defraying the expenses of the fort ; and when Bajee 

 Row sent orders to them to deliver up the place to his officers, they 

 declined attending to his orders, stating in reply, that they retained 

 possession of the hill by the directions of their master, the Peshwah 

 Amrut Row, 



It is well known, that it was the wish of the Ramoossies, to con- 

 trive to keep possession of the fort as a strong-hold, and to render 

 themselves independent of the Peshwah ; merely acknowledging 

 him as prince of the country. Bajee Row employed some of his 

 own and the Poor under Jageerdar troops for about seven months 

 against these rebels, but without any success whatever. They had 

 many skirmishes, and a few men were occasionally killed and 



vera] of these men were conveyed even to the north of the Nurbudah river, 

 and never returned to their homes. Small villages were unmercifully sacked, 

 and afterwards frequently fired, and the inhabitants most cruelly beaten 

 and tortured, to force them to shov^ where any valuable articles might be 

 concealed. Upon Holkur's retreat to the northward, when Sir i% rthur Wel- 

 lesly was approaching Poona, he carried on the same system of devastation. 

 The inhabitants say, that the little property (gold and silver ornaments) that 

 had been in their families for three and four generations, was carried off by 

 this host of marauders. A more dreadful calamity befel the population of 

 the ravaged provinces, than merely losing their gold and silver ornaments, 

 grain and cattle ; owing to the disturbed state of the country, cultivation 

 was entirely neglected, the farmers were afraid to appear in their fields, and 

 in a great many instances, their cattle had been taken away, or strayed, so 

 that a most distressing famine succeeded to complete their evils. The scar- 

 city of grain arose entirely from the miseries above alluded to, for there had 

 been an abundant supply of monsoon rain in the years 1801 and 1802, and 

 grain had been selling at (22) twenty two seers for the rupee, previous to 

 Holkur's invasion ; but the quantity of grain consumed, and purposely de- 

 stroyed, between October 1802, and the end of April 1803, was such, that 

 from May to August grain was sold at the enormously enhanced price of(li) 

 one and one quarter seers for the rupee. Some early grain ripened by the 

 end of August. Three seers were then procurable for a rupee, and in Octo- 

 ber and November five seers were tendered for the same sum. 



The most heart-rending scenes are related of the distressing consequen- 

 ces of this dearth, by which many persons died. There were instances of 

 mothers devouring their own offspring. Many persons to save themselves 

 from starvation, sought shelter in the adjoining countries, for the grain deal- 

 ers of those parts, dared not venture to send their property into the desolate 

 territory, apprehensive of encountering plunderers. 



There is not a town or village, within the limits of the space which Holkur's 

 army passed over, that does not at this day, exhibit sad marks of the 

 wanton rapacity of these cruel plunderers, although thirty years have elaps- 

 ed, and it is to be feared, it will require many years of our protection, and 

 of a most kind and indulgent treatment, to efface the signs of those by-gone 

 ravages, and render the people, but more especially that most useful class, 

 the hard-working and industrious farmers^ somewhat independent yud com- 

 fortable. 



