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An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies. [April 



Jemadar Ramjee Bhauggrah and the Kharies were the chief leaders ; 

 but the Koolkurnies of Rajoor were aiding and abetting in the plot ; 

 so were the police Naiks of Rajoor (for their pay and allowances were 

 considerably reduced under our government, which rendered them ex- 

 tremely discontended). It was finally determined that the Khary fami- 

 ly should send in a petition to government, claiming a restoration to 

 their rights and employment, either in the police of the district or on 

 the hill fort of Ruttungur; but they were of opinion that their petition 

 would be more readily listened to, were it known that they were in 

 arms, and had taken up their residence in the jungles when it was 

 forwarded. Accordingly Kassybah Khary, the youngest son of the 

 late havildar of Ruttungur, proceeded to the hills with several of his 

 relatives and forwarded their petition to Ahmudnuggur. Kassybah 

 Khary was joined in a few days by jemadar Ramjee. Bhauggrah, who 

 deserted from the Konkan with two of the Koly police men ; this was 

 in the latter end of the year 1828. In January 1829, I proceeded to 

 the western ghauts, taking with me a small detachment of the police 

 corps ; for letters had been received by the magistrate, from the mam- 

 lutdars of the Akolla district, reporting that the inhabitants had become 

 greatly alarmed, as several hundred Kolies had assembled in the hills, 

 for the purpose evidently of plundering them. 



Although the gang was chiefly composed of the people of the district, 

 there being nearly one, two or three persons from every village, yet, 

 for the first two days after we had entered the hills, no satisfactory 

 information could be obtained respecting the insurgents. The Brah- 

 mun Koolkurnies of Rajoor and some of their friends strongly recom- 

 mended that the troops might not be employed, and that the leaders 

 of the gang should be assured that, if they refrained from plundering, 

 and remained quiet, government would make some provision for them. 

 Those Brahmuns further asserted that, if the troops attempted to follow, 

 they would have no chance of overtaking them ; and that, if the Kolies 

 were once fired on, they would immediately begin to plunder and bum 

 every village they approached ; that when the troops neared them, they 

 would plunge into the ravines covered with jungle, and, at the mo- 

 ment they imagined they had succeeded in surrounding them, they 

 would shortly be seen passing over the summits of some of the highest 

 hills. In fact they had settled that the sepoys could never penetrate the 

 tangled thickets of brushwood, or pass along the rugged and difficult 

 footpaths* they alone travelled by. 



* They were much astonished the first time they saw a detachment of the police corps 

 cross a range of hills by one of the most difficult tracks, and which was considered by 

 them impassable to sepoys. The men on the above occasion were dressed every one after 

 his own fashion, the only thing they were required to attend to was that they had abun- 

 dance of ammunition, and to be careful of their muskets. This event tended much to de- 

 press the spirits of the Kolies, while the enthusiasm and confidence of the troops were 

 proportionally increased, 



