British, 1818-1881.

After the defeat and death (19th February 1818) of Bapu Gokhla the Peshwa's general, at Ashta about fifteen miles north of Pandharpur, General Smith marched to Sirur in pursuit of the Peshwa. Bajirav in his flight remained for a time at Kopargaon, where he was joined by Ramdin a partisan of Holkar's, and was deserted by his lukewarm friends the Patvardhans. From Kopargaon he continued to retreat north to Chandor, but hearing that a British force under Sir Thomas Hislop was approaching, he turned back to Kopargaon and fled east. He surrendered in May at Dholkot near Asirgad. [Grant Duff's Marathas, 662.]

On the 7th March 1818, in consequence of the severe example made by Sir Thomas Hislop at Thalner in Khandesh, [Bombay Gazetteer (Khandesh), XII. 255.] Holkar's Commandant at Chandor gave up the fort without a struggle. At Galna also the commandant and garrison left the fort which was afterwards occupied by the people of the town, [Pendhari and Maratha Wars, 258.] and by the end of March 1818, Holkar's Nasik possessions had all passed to the British. As some of the forts were still in the hands of the Peshwa's garrisons, Lieutenant-Colonel McDowell marched from near Aurangabad to enforce their surrender. Ankai-Tankai about ten miles north of Yeola, where he arrived on the 3rd April 1818, surrendered without opposition. From Ankai-Tankai the force moved to Rajder on a chain of small hills about ten miles north of Chandor. On the 9th April, as the garrison refused to surrender, Lieut.-Colonel McDowell took a position about two miles from the fort while Lieutenant Davies of the Engineers began to reconnoitre. In the course of the day the enemy showed themselves in great numbers on the tops of the hills and on the chief outpost, and some of them coming down the hills drove back the besiegers' grass cutters. Next morning a party of 180 Europeans and 800 Natives, under Major Andrews, climbed the heights, gained the first and second hills, and took shelter from the fire of Rajder on the off-side of the second hill. Meanwhile a few guns and howitzers were opened on the outpost without much effect. The troops under Major Andrews now moved from their cover, and climbing little short of a mile of very difficult and steep hill side under a furious discharge of cannon and rockets from the upper forts and volleys of matchlocks from the lower work, carried the lower work, the enemy falling back on Rajder. One officer and a few men were wounded. During the whole day the enemy, still secure in their main hold, kept up a constant discharge from a couple of guns and from hundreds of matchlocks. In the face of this fire, Lieutenant Davies with the help of the sappers and miners and pioneers eet to work to prepare a battery. Towards evening the enemy, seeing the work nearly finished, hoisted a flag of truce. Shortly after two officers came down and Major Andrews agreed to let the garrison retire with their private property and arms. Scarcely had the officers returned to the fort, when there was a sudden explosion and an outburst of fire which quickly spread over the whole of the fort. buildings. According to one story the explosion was the result of a dispute between the commandant and the head officer, but it probably was an accident. Many of the garrison had already left by a Bhil track, but the greater number bringing their families with them came down by the regular gateway. When the garrison had left, a few companies of sepoys took possession of the gateway. About £5000 (Rs. 50,000) were found among the ruins. On hearing of the capture of Rajder, Indrai and several other forts in the neighbourhood surrendered without resistance.

The detachment then marched from Chandor to Nasik, a distance of about thirty-five miles, through a country described as equal in beauty and fertility to any like space in India, a rich well watered plain interspersed with gentle rising grounds, populous villages, and large mango groves. Nasik, which is described as a pleasing spot, a considerable town with two palaces and some handsome buildings and a rich neighbourhood of gardens and vineyards, surrendered quietly on the 19th April, the armed part of the population having retired a few days before to, Trimbak. From Nasik the detachment marched about twenty-five miles south-west to Trimbak, reaching it on the 23rd April. After examining its ' tremendous and wonderful scarp,' Lieutenant Davies resolved to open operations on the north-east where the ground was favourable for batteries. But the only access to this point was up narrow and winding stairs, cut in the rock and with barely room for one man at a time to pass. The enemy opened a few guns and forced the engineers to fall back, with the loss of three sepoys killed and others wounded. The village of Trimbak which is commanded by the hill was taken m the evening, and during the night two heavy pieces of ordnance with a few howitzers were placed in battery. Fire was opened on the hill early the following (24th) morning, and was kept up the whole day but with little effect. Meanwhile a party of sepoys with two six-pounders was sent to the off-side of the hill to overlook the gateway and draw the enemy's attention to that quarter. Towards noon on the third day, the enemy's fire ceased and for hours no one was seen on the hill. The garrison seemed to be withdrawing or at least to be in a humour to come to terms. Lieutenant-Colonel McDowell, who was anxious to gain possession of a garden and loose work that lay in a curve at the base of the hill, ordered a small party of Europeans and sepoys to climb the slope above the town, and passing to the right to take the garden. Instead of leading the party to the garden the commanding officer marched straight to the foot of the cliff, right to the entrance of the passage up the hill. Here he was met by so fierce a discharge of rockets and matchlocks, and such showers of stones, that seven or eight men were killed and about thirty severely wounded. The rest took possession of the garden, where, though under heavy fire, they found tolerable cover among the ruins of houses and behind trees. In the afternoon, the enemy, fancying that the besiegers had really intended to attempt the narrow passage, and that no obstacles could resist their ingenuity and skill, sent a message to Lieut.-Colonel McDowell that they were willing to come to terms. Demands for the payment of arrears were rejected, and next morning an officer came down and agreed to surrender the fort. In the course of the day the garrison a mixture of Rajputs and Marathas with a few Sidis or Abyssinians, retired with their arms and private property. [Maratha and Pendhari Campaign (1820), 163-185. Details of the sieges of Rajder and Trimbak are given under Places of Interest.]

A serious revolt among the Arabs of Malegaon delayed the settlement of affairs. At an early stage in the war, Mr. Elphinstone had allowed Gopalrav Raja Bahadur of Malegaon, to gather troops and wrest the Malegaon fort from the Peshwa's officers. No sooner bad Gopalrav taken the fort than he found himself a prisoner in the hands of his Arab mercenaries. These men, identifying themselves with a baud of freebooters and with the Muvallads or Indian-born Arabs of the town, plundered the country round and made Malegaon one of the chief centres of disorder. On the 16th May, Lieutenant-Colonel McDowell, with not more than 1000 men and 270 pioneers, encamped before the town and called on the Arabs, who numbered about 350, to surrender. They refused and the place was invested. For three days the Arabs made desperate sallies but were repulsed at the point of the bayonet. In one of the sallies, Lieutenant Davies the chief engineer was killed, and Major Andrewa, commanding the European regiment, was severely wounded. On the 22nd, the besieging force was strengthened by 500 Hindustani Horse, and on the next day by a body of infantry of the Russel Brigade, 450 strong, under Lieutenant Hodges. As the guns were much damaged and the ammunition was nearly spent, DO time was lost in attempting a storm. On the night of the 28th, an apparently practicable breach was made, the few remaining shells were thrown into the fort, and the place assaulted. The senior engineer who led the storming party was shot dead the moment he mounted the breach, uttering, as he fell, the word 'Impracticable', Major Green Hill, though wounded in the foot, mounted the breach and let down a ladder, bat it dropped from his hands to the bottom of the wall. On this a retreat was sounded and only the town remained in British hands.

This failure was followed by a close blockade, and reinforcements arriving from General Smith with some mortars and howitzers, fire was again opened, in the course of which, the fort magazine exploded making a clear breach thirty feet wide in the inner wall and filling the ditch with debris. On the 13th June the garrison capitulated, and the British flag was hoisted on one of the bastions of the inner fort. Next day the garrison marched out and laid down their arms. The Arabs were taken to Surat, and from Surat were sent to Arabia. [Pendhari and Maratha Wars, 345, 346.]

On the 29th June 1818, news was received that Trimbakji Denglia, who had lately nearly succeeded in surprising the fort of Trimbak was in hiding in the Chandor village of Ahirgaon. A party of troops, sent from Malegaon under Captain Swanston, surrounded the village, forced the gates, and seized Trimbakji who was found hid under a heap of straw. [Pendhari and Maratha Wars, 367. Pandurang Hari, II. 69. Details of Trim bakji's attempt on Trimbak and of his capture are given under Places of Interest, Trimbak and Ahirgaon.]

The reduction of the district was completed by the surrender of the fort of Mulher on the 3rd July.

The country to the north of the Chandor hills was included in Khandesh, and the country to the south in Ahmednagar. South of Chandor order was restored with little difficulty. The country was exhausted and the people willingly obeyed any power that could protect them. The Peshwa's disbanded troops settled in their villages, the hill forts were dismantled, and the military force was gradually reduced. The Koli and Bhil chiefs of the country near the Sahyadris undertook to prevent robbery and violence, their allowances and villages were confirmed to them, and order was soon established. In the north and east, the Bhils, who were more numerous than in the south and were led by the powerful chiefs of Peint and Abhona, gave much trouble. The open country was soon cleared, but to bring to order the bands that had taken to the hills was a matter of time. A considerable force was kept with its head-quarters as Malegaon; the hills were guarded, and outbreaks severely punished. A Bhil agency was established at Kanhar in the Satmala hills about fifteen miles south of Chalisgaon and inducements were held out to the Bhils to settle as husband-men. Cash advances and rent-free grants of land were made to all who would settle, and allowances were paid to the chiefs who held the hili passes. Employment more congenial than husbandry was offered to the Bhils by the formation of an irregular force. The lazy habits of the men and their dislike of discipline made the first efforts fruitless. It was not till 1825, that Lieutenant, afterwards Sir James, Outram, succeeded in forming the Khandesh Bhil Corps. But, under his patient firmness and thorough knowledge of the Bhil character, the corps soon did good service, and disorder was suppressed even in the hills. [Details of the formation of the Bhil Corps are given in the Statistical Account of Khandesh, Bombay Gazetteer XII. 259,317.]

The Mutinies, 1857-1859.

Since the establishment of British rule the only serious breaches of order have been in 1843, when the slaughter of a cow by some Europeans caused a serious riot in Nasik, and in 1857.

During the 1857 mutinies, Nasik was the scene of considerable disturbance. [This account of the Nasik disturbances is taken partly from a paper prepared by Major H. Daniell, late Superintendent of Police, Ahmednagar, and partly from Mr. Bettington's Rough Notes Regarding, the Suppression of Mutiny in the Bombay Presidency, Clowes and Sona 1865,] Some of the rebels were Kohilas, Arabs, and Thakurs, but, most of them were the Bhils of south Nasik and north Ahmednagar, who, to the number of about 7000, were stirred to revolt partly by their chiefs and partly by Brahman intriguers. Detachments of regular troops were stationed to guard the frontier against raids from the Nizam's dominions, and to protect the large towns from the chance of Bhil attacks. But the work of breaking the Bhil gatherings and hunting the rebels, was entrusted almost entirely to the police, who were strengthened by the raising of a special Koli Corps, and by detachments of infantry and cavalry. Except the Bhils and some of the Trimbak Brahmans, the population was apparently well affected and no repressive measures were required.

The first assemblage of Bhils was under the leadership of one Bhagoji Naik. This chief who had formerly been an office a the Ahmednagar police was, in 1855, convicted of rioting and of obstructing and threatening the police, and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. On his release he was required to find security for his good behaviour for a year. Shortly after the year was over, in consequence of the order for a general disarming, Bhagoji left his village of Nandnr Shingote in Sinnar. Being a man of influence he was soon joined by some fifty of his tribe, and teak a position on a hill about a mile from his village, commanding the Poona-Nasik road. A few days later (4th October 1857), Lieutenaut J. W. Henry, Superintendent of Police, arrived at Nandur Shingote and was joined by his assistant, Lieutenant, now Colonel, T. Thatcher, and Mr. A. L. Taylor inspecting postmaster. The police force under Lieutenant Henry consisted of thirty constables and twenty revenue messengers armed with swords. Lieutenant Henry told the mamlatdars of Sangamner and Sinnar to send for Bhagoji and induce him to submit. Bhagoji refused unless he received two years' back pay and unless some arrangement was made for his maintenance. On receiving this message the police were ordered to advance against his position. The first shot killed a man immediately behind Lieutenant Henry. The officers dismounted, but before they had advanced many yards, were met by a volley, and Lieutenant Henry fell wounded. He regained his feet, and pressing on received a mortal wound in the chest. The attack was continued under Lieutenant Thatcher and the Bhils retreated.

This unfortunate engagement excited the whole Bhil population. A fresh gang of about 100 Bhils was raised by one Putharji Naik in the Rahuri sub-division of Ahmednagar, but it was Boon after dispersed by Major, now Lieutenant-General, Montgomery, the now Superintendent of Police. On the 18th October an engagement took place in the hills of Samsherpur in Ahmednagar, between Bhagoji's men and a detachment of troops and police under Colonel Macan of the 26th Native Infantry, in which Lieutenant Graham who was on special police duty, and Mr. F. S. Chapman of the Civil Service who accompanied the force, were wounded.

On the 20th January 1858, near Mandvar in Nandgaon, Major Montgomery with a considerable force attacked a large gathering of Bhils, Rohilas, and Arabs under an unknown leader. The enemy were strongly posted in a dense thicket, whence they shot down the advancing troops, and Major Montgomery fell badly wounded and his men were forced to retire with considerable loss. In the next charge Lieutenant Stuart fell mortally wounded. Lieutenant Thatcher then withdrew the troops. The loss on the British side was serious. Of ten killed and fifty wounded, one of the killed and three of the wounded were European officers.

As the spread of disorder had become serious, Captain, now Colonel, Nuttall, who succeeded Lieutenant Graham, was ordered to raise a corps of Kolis, the hereditary rivals of the Bhils, who, in Maratha times, had been among the foremost of the brave Mavalis or west Deccan soldiers. The corps was recruited chiefly in the hilly parts of Junnar in Poona, Akola in Ahmednagar, and Nasik. In December 1857, a hundred men armed with their own swords and muskets were fit for the field, and so useful did they prove that, in January and February 1858, a second levy of 110 was ordered, and, shortly after, the strength of the corps was increased to 600 men with a commandant and adjutant. In raising the corps Captain Nuttall dealt with the heads of the different clans, promising them rank and position in the corps corresponding to the number of recruits they might bring. Javji Naik Bamla, the chief of the Bamla clan, was made the head of the corps, and a brother of the famous outlaw Raghoji Bhangria and other leading men were chosen as officers. Drill masters were obtained from the Ahmednagar police, and, in spite of the want of leisure, the Kolis mastered their drill with the ease of born soldiers and proved skilful skirmishers among hills and in rough ground. Their arms were a light fusil with bayonet, black leather accoutrements, dark green twisted turbans, dark green cloth tunics, dark blood-coloured waistcloths worn to the knee, and sandals. They marched without tents or baggage. Each man carried his whole kit in a havresack and a light knapsack. They messed in groups and on the march divided the cooking vessels. They were great walkers, moving with the bright springy step of Highlanders, often marching thirty or forty miles in a day over the roughest ground, carrying their arms, ammunition, baggage, and food. Always sprightly, clean, and orderly, however long their day's march, their first care on halting was to see that their muskets were clean and in good trim. Every time they met an enemy, though sometimes taken by surprise and sometimes fighting against heavy odds, they showed the same dashing and persevering courage.

On the 3rd of December, Captain Nuttall, with a force of 160 foot and fifty horse, [The details were: 11 sabres Poona Irregular Horse, 4 Mounted Police, 50 Thana Police, and 110 Koli Corps.] marched from Akola for Sulgana, where Bhils were said to be gathering and trying to induce the Sulgana chief to join them. Three days later (6th December), on the way to Sulgana, news was brought that on the night before a party of Bhils and Thakurs had attacked the Trimbak treasury, and that some of the men who had taken part in the rising, were in the hills round Trimbak. The hills were searched, and among the men who were made prisoners, a Thakur, named Pandu, acknowledged his share in the outbreak and stated that he and his people had risen under the advice of a Trimbak Brahman whom, he said, he knew by sight and could point out. Another of the prisoners confirmed this story and promised to identify the Brahman. On reaching Trimbak, Captain Nuttall found Mr. Chapman, the civil officer in charge of the district, with a detachment of the Poona Horse and some companies of the 26th Regiment of Native Infantry. Mr. Chapman was aware that the rising and attack on Trimbak had been organised by Trimbak Brahmans. The Brahmans of the place had been brought and ranged in rows in the camp, but no one had come forward to identify the leading conspirators. Captain Nuttall, who had left his camp and prisoners at some distance, sent for Pandu the Thakur informant. He was told to examine the rows of Brahmans and find out whether the man who had advised his people to revolt was among them. Pandu walked down the line, and stopping before a Brahman whose face was muffled, asked that the cloth might be taken away, and on seeing his face said that he was one of the Brahmans who had persuaded the Thakurs to attack Trimbak. Then the other man who had confessed was called in and walking down the line picked out the same Brahman. Next morning this Brahman was tried, found guilty, condemned to death, and hanged at Trimbak.

On the evening of the 12th, news was brought that the people of the Peint state had risen and that the village of Harsol had been plundered. Captain Nuttall at once set out, and on reaching Harsol (14th), found the village sacked, the Government records torn, the clerk and accountant wounded, and the village moneylender murdered. Captain Nuttall remained at Harsol for a day or two and captured several rebels. Meanwhile the rebels bad passed over the hills to Peint, and the police being unable to make head against them, they plundered the Peint treasury of £300 (Rs. 3000) and withdraw to a hill on the Dharampur frontier. Shortly after a detachment of thirty men of the 4th Rifles under Lieutenant Glasspool reached Peint. from Dindori and arrested some drunken stragglers of the rebel force. On hearing this the rebels returned to Peint to rescue their comrades. As they were several thousand strong, the small British force retired into the walled Government office and were there besieged. On the second day, the insurgent force was strengthened by the arrival from Sulgana of Bhagoji Naik and some sixty men, many of them armed with matchlocks. On the next day news of the critical position of the British force was brought to Captain Nuttall near Harsol by a loyal Maratha landholder. Captain Nuttall at once pushed on to Peint. He found the pass leading to the Peint plateau strongly barricaded in four places. The barricades were not defended and were cleared without much difficulty, and a body of the enemy which held the crest of the pass, on being charged by the cavalry fled after firing a few shots. On reaching Peint, about five in the evening, Captain Nuttall found Lieutenant Glasspool and the thirty men of the Rifles safe, but with their ammunition nearly exhausted. For some days the rebels mustering from 1500 to 2000 strong had been swarming round their feebly fortified shelter, and a fresh assault had been planned for that evening. Even after Captain Nuttall had established himself in Peint, the insurgents did not disperse but continued to hold a ridge of hills close to the town. Captain Nuttall, accordingly, moved out his troops, and after a sharp engagement routed them with the loss of their leader, a Makrani named Faldi Khan, and several prisoners. On the 19th, Captain Walker and Mr. Boswell of the Civil Service, with a detachment of the 10th Regiment, arrived from Surat. Peint became quiet, and Bhagvantrav or Bhauraja the head fomentor of the disturbance, a claimant of the Peint chiefship and a correspondent of Nana Saheb's, was hanged with about fifteen of his followers.

The day after Captain Walker's arrival (20th December), with the addition of fifty of the Ahmadnagar police, Captain Nuttall marched southward, and, without halting, in the afternoon of the next day, at Yasir Hira, came up with the insurgents who mustered about 500 men, and with fifteen of the Poona Horse, charged and routed them with the loss of thirteen killed and wounded and three prisoners. In a hand-to-hand fight between Captain Nuttall and Mahipat Naik, Bhagoji's brother, the latter was killed and Captain Nuttall's horse desperately wounded; and in a second encounter another rebel fonght to the last, wounding Captain Nuttall's second horse.

In spite of this reverse the number of Bhagoji's followers continued to increase. On the 19th of February 1858, a large force of regular troops, [The details were: 21 sabres Poona Horse, 430 bayonets Koli Corps, and 30 Ahmadnagar Koli Police.] men of the Koli Corps, and Ahmadnagar police under Major Pottinger and Captain Nuttall, attacked and scattered Bhagoji's band in the bushland near Kakanki or Peoka fort on the borders of Yeola, Chalisgaon, and the Nizam's territory. The Bhils lost forty killed and five prisoners, and the British one private of the 4th Rifles killed and three wounded. But the rebels soon came together again, and throughout 1858 and the greater part of 1859, Captain Nuttall was engaged in hunting Bhagoji. On the 4th of January 1859, Captain Nuttall received an express directing him to march with all speed to Ajanta, where, it was reported, two or three thousand Rohilas had assembled. Captain Nuttall, with a force of 460 foot and twenty-one horse, started for Ajanta, and in three days marched about 100 miles, the men carrying all their kit. In spite of this haste, before they reached Ajanta, the Rohilas had plundered the village and dispersed.

In the following hot weather (April-May 1859), the Bhils under Bhagoji Naik and Harji Naik continued their plundering raids. On the 5th of July, after a forced march, Captain Nuttall came upon the Bhils near Ambhora Dara, eight miles south-east of Sangamner. The Bhils, who were led by Bhagoji and Harji, took a strong position from which they were driven by twenty-five men of the Koli Corps with a loss of ten killed, including Yashvant, Bhagoji's son, several wounded, and three prisoners, among them Harji Naik one of their leaders. In October 1859, parties of Bhils were reported to be gathering in the Nizam's territory with the intention of joining Bhagoji. In the British districts also they were again becoming uneasy and excited. Under these circumstances, a detachment of Native Infantry was kept posted along the frontier which was constantly patrolled by strong parties of the Poona Irregular Horse, On the 26th of October, Bhagoji plundered the village of Korhala in Kopargaon and carried off property worth about £1800 (Rs. 18,000). He was hotly pursued by Captain Nuttall for nearly a fortnight along the rough Sahyadri country, down to the Konkan, and up again into Ahmadnagar, but by very rapid and secret marches always succeeded in baulking his pursuers.

Meanwhile, Mr., now Sir Frank, Souter, who, since his appointment as Superintendent of Police in July, had been pressing close on Bhagoji's heels, on the 11th of November, at the head of 159 foot and mounted police, reached the village of Mithsagar in Sinnar. Here the headman of the neighbouring village of Panchala brought word that Bhagoji Naik and his followers were resting in a river bed about five miles off. On reaching the place, Mr. Souter determined to attack the position from the north where the banks were steep and the brushwood was thick, and to drive the Bhils into the been country to the south. He succeeded in bringing his men close to the enemy without being seen. As soon as the insurgents were in view, Mr. Souter charged with the mounted police, giving orders to the rest of his force to attack at the double. The insurgents were taken by surprise and a few were cut down before they had time to light the fuses of their matchlocks. But they soon rallied, and, taking a position under a thick clump of bushes protected on One side by the river bank, kept up a heavy fire. An attempt to force their position failing, Mr. Souter picked out his best marksmen, approached the enemy in skirmishing order, and taking advantage of every bush and scrap of cover, in face of a deadly fire, gained command of their position. The Bhil losses were very heavy. When only fifteen remained alive, they marched slowly along the riverbed, still keeping up a heavy fire. Though repeatedly called to lay down their arms they refused, and dropped man by man. At last the few that remained were forced out of the river bed into the open and charged by the mounted police. They fought to the last with the most desperate courage. Of forty-nine men, forty-five including their leader Bhagoji were killed and three severely wounded. During the action Mr. Souter's horse fell pierced by two bullets, and four of the police were killed and sixteen wounded.

The completeness of this success, which was so largely due to Mr. Souter's gallantry, energy, and judgment, brought the Bhil disturbances to a sudden end. The Nizam Bhils who were awaiting Bhagoji's arrival dispersed, and, on the 20th, in falling back from the British frontier, were, with the loss of forty killed, attacked and routed by a detachment of the Haidarabad Contingent under Lieutenant Pedler.

On the 12th of November, a large party of Bhils under an influential chief a relative of Bhagoji's, left Sonai in Nevasa to join Bhagoji, On hearing of his death they turned towards Khandesh, and, as they had not committed any acts of crime, they were pardoned and allowed to return to their homes. [After Bhagoji's death, Mhardia a relation of his and a member of his gang, who had been absent on the 11th November, raised some ten or twelve followers and committed many gang and highway robberies. At last he murdered a man who was in Mr. Souter's employ as a spy, and cut to pieces his wife and child who tried to screen him. Soon after this Mhardia was caught and hanged with five of his gang.]

Though disturbances were at an end posts of regular troops were maintained till May 1860. When they were withdrawn, their places were taken by detachments of the Koli Corps. The Koli Corps continued to perform this outpost duty till March 1861, when they were disbanded, and all except a few who entered the police, returned to their former life of tillage and field labour.

The wisdom of raising the corps had been proved. Instead of heading disturbances, as had often happened before and has happened since, the disciplined Kolis were a powerful element in repressing disorder. Under Captain Nuttall's patient and kindly care, and by the example of his dashing bravery and untiring energy, they proved a most orderly, well disciplined, active, and courageous force. They showed themselves superior to the Bhils in strength and spirit, and in their two and a half years of active service five times earned the special thanks of Government. [The five occasions were: Peint, 16th December 1857; Vasir Hirs, 22nd December 1857; Tursia Dongar, 19th February 1858; Aungar, 23rd July 1858; and Ambhora Dara, 5th July 1859. Of Captain Nuttall's services Mr. Bettington, the Police Commissioner, wrote in 1858, ' He organised and disciplined a corps of one of the wildest and most unruly hill tribes, won their entire trust, gradually brought them into order, checked the unruly Bhils, and at Vasir Hira, Tursia, Aungar, and Ambhora Dara, gave them such chastisement as is not likely to be forgotten in this or in the next generation,' Police Report for 1858.]

Since 1860 the district has enjoyed unbroken peace.