268 An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. 



[April 



durst not mention the home of Baumlay to Nana Phurnavees at present, 

 as he seenied fully resolved on punishing all the rebels but particularly 

 himself. Jowjee made up his mind to follow Dhondoo Mhadeo's ad- 

 vice ; he joined Holkur, who readily promised to speak to Nava 

 Phurnavees in his behalf, which he did, and suggested that Jow- 

 jee should be directed to assemble a body of Kolies and join the 

 army before the fort of Loghur. The Kolies joined the army, and 

 Jowjee was called upon to exert himself now in the cause of govern- 

 ment ; he had some capital rocket men, and he advanced one of these 

 to a favourable position, and pointed out to him the direction in which 

 he was to fire his rocket. Most fortunately one of the rockets fell 

 among some powder, near the door of the magazine on the hill, which 

 caused an awful explosion, and obliged the garrison to surrender. 

 Jowjee was so delighted with the rocket man's conduct, that he took his 

 bangle off his own wrist and placed it on the others. 



Holkur, it is supposed, had been in the habit of secretly providing 

 Baumlay with ammunition and stores, to give him a better opportunity 

 of annoying the government ; this was to serve his own aims at the 

 time. When Holkur quitted Poona for Hindoostan, Jowjee accompanied 

 him to Chandoor, where he remained till Dhondoo Mhadeo had obtain- 

 ed an act of oblivion for him from Nana Phurnavees. It was repre- 

 sented to government that the best policy it could adopt, would be to 

 conciliate Jowjee and retain him in the interest of government, by giv- 

 ing him a permanent appointment ; that it seemed a most desirable and 

 important measure to preserve order in the hilly country, and, as 

 no one seemed better calculated for controlling the Koly Naiks in the 

 Rajoor districts than Jowjee Baumlay, it was ultimately determined 

 that a new soobah should be established at Rajoor, under the designa- 

 tion of the Rajoor soobah ; the forty villages of that district, twenty-two 

 of Malldesh, and in the Konkan sixty villages of the Sakoorly district, 

 twelve of the Baryajnoop, and sixteen of the Jurry Seroossy districts, 

 constituted the new soobah. The soobahdar was to collect the reve- 

 nue and pay the men employed in the hill forts, as well as the other po- 

 lice of the district. The revenue of the soobah was not always suffici- 

 ent to cover the expenditure ; four or five thousand rupees were almost 

 annually drawn from the pergunnahs of Sinneer or Sungumnair. The 

 soobahdar in his magisterial character had only authority to punish 

 Kolies guilty of theft and gang robberies ; but this w 7 as equivalent to 

 the pow T er of life and death, as the punishment inflicted was chopping 

 off their feet or hands, and in consequence they frequently bled to death, 

 their friends being afraid to approach, until it was too late, to afford 

 them necessary assistance. Persons who had committed capital crimes 

 were kept in confinement, until orders regarding the disposal of them 



