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An Account of the Tribe of Mhadeo Kolies* 



[April 



detachments, w ith a certain number of the inhabitants, were posted near 

 the different tanks and pools of water in the hills. This arrangement 

 greatly perplexed the Kolies, and, as many of the inhabitants espoused 

 our cause very warmly, the two chiefs and upwards of eighty of their 

 followers were captured in about two months, and marched to Ahmud- 

 nuggur. The early and successful termination of the service must be 

 chiefly ascribed to the great zeal and unceasing exertions of all the 

 officers and men engaged in the service, which was one of a most fa- 

 tiguing and harassing nature. 



One of the most enterprising characters, in the Bund of which I have 

 just given a short account, was a Koly named Ramah Keerva. He was 

 a stout and powerful man with an extremely fine figure and good fea- 

 tures ; of a very unsettled and daring spirit, and noted among the Kolies 

 for excelling them all in agility. Keerva quitted the Bund when they 

 began to be much pressed by the troops ; he moved to the southward 

 accompanied by about twenty-five men. He meditated on several 

 occasions attacking some of the detachments when they appeared 

 fatigued from searching the jungles. He had been for some ten or 

 twelve years concerned in many robberies, and persuaded four or five 

 of the Kolies who had quitted the late Bund to remain with him rather 

 than return to their homes ; they chiefly lived in some caves or recesses 

 in the rocks, occasionally moving about the country and visiting their 

 friends. As he had many acquaintances among the Bheels along the 

 banks of the Pera and Godavery rivers, he sent two of his Koly friends 

 to some of the Bheel Naiks, inviting them to join him, and to proceed 

 on a plundering expedition into the Konkan. Early in the month of 

 January 1830, about thirty Bheels joined Keerva, who had assembled 

 an equal number of Kolies who were at the time in the hills south of 

 Kotool. As the Kolies, &c. around Joonere and in the Ghorenahir 

 quarter had been plundering both above and below the ghauts, detach- 

 ments of regular troops were moving about to apprehend them. A few 

 men of one of these detachments (of the 11th regiment), under aNaik, 

 were encountered by Keerva's gang, at the small village of Mandwah in 

 the hills south of Kotool ; the party were called upon to ground their 

 arms and surrender themselves prisoners; this they very properly 

 declined doing, and were consequently attacked by the Bheels and 

 Kolies. The sepoys occupied a very small temple, and managed to keep 

 their assailants off for several hours, until a detachment in the vicinity 

 came to their relief. Several of the sepoys were killed and wounded. 

 Keerva proceeded with his gang into the Konkan, and attacked and 

 plundered the village of Kinnoully, and afterwards divided the spoil 

 amounting to 7,590 rupees, when they reached the ghauts, the greater 

 portion of it having been given up to the Bheels. The Kolies separated 

 and the Bheels returning to their homes, were pursued by a detachment 

 of the 17th regiment N.I. under that very active and most zealous 



