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persed with some loss. The pursuit was resumed BOOK II. on the two following days to the Parbati river.

In the meantime, General Donkin, with the right division, had quitted the Chambal, after leaving a guard at the fort of Dholpur, and, after a circuitous march, placed himself between the Pindaris and Amir Khan. At the same time, the reserve of the grand army advanced to the south of Jaypur; and General Ochterlony encamped in such a position as to separate the two principal divisions of the Khan's troops, who were thus intimidated into acquiescence in their being disbanded. A loan of money was made to Amir Khan to enable him to discharge their arrears, and an arrangement was authorised for reorganising a considerable portion of the force by taking it into British pay. By these means, Amir Khan and his chiefs were deprived of all excuse for longer delaying his ratification of the alliance with the British, and the annihilation of his battalions. extinguished the hopes which the Pindaris had continued to cherish of the assistance of the Pathan.

The final settlement with Amir Khan being thus effected, General Donkin returned to the left bank of the Chambal, and crossed it at Gamak-Ghat eight miles north of Kota, on the 13th of December. The route followed by the Pindaris in their flight from Bichi-tál, lay across the direction of General Donkin's march, not many miles to the north east ; and information of their proximity reached him on his arrival at the river. Taking with him a light division, General Donkin advanced by forced marches to Kalana on the western Sindh, where accounts of the affair at Bichi-tál were received, and it was

CHAP. VI.

1817.

CHAP. VI.

1817.

BOOK II. ascertained that the Durra of Karim Khan was still in the neighbourhood, unconscious, apparently, of the approach of the detachment. Early on the 17th, the brigade came up with the Pindaris, but the main body had fled, abandoning their baggage and their families under a small party which immediately dispersed, leaving a quantity of property and Lal ki Begum, the wife of Karim Khan, in the hands of the victors. A large party was also attacked and put to flight by Gardner's horse, but Karim, with his main force, finding his advance to the north-west frustrated, and his hope of succour from Zalim Sing disappointed, turned back, and, passing between the divisions of Generals Donkin and Marshall, through the tract lying between the Sindh and Parbati rivers, trusted to make good his retreat to the south by Shirgerh and Gogal Chapra. He was again outmanœuvred, for although he avoided the division of General Marshall, which had advanced towards the direction of his retreat, he fell upon the line of Col. Adams's route, which had led by Gogal Chapra to Jhilwara on the Parbati, where he had arrived on the 16th of December. This compelled the Pindaris to change their course, and crossing the head of the column, they moved off to the south-west. They had purposely left behind every thing that could retard their flight: all those of the party, who were badly mounted and equipped, dispersed, and none but the most efficient cavalry remained with the leaders. The number of the Durra was reduced to little more than two thousand. As soon as Colonel Adams heard of their course, he dispatched his cavalry under Major Clarke, who overtook and routed a party

PURSUIT OF THE PINDARIS.

257

CHAP. VI.

at Pipli. The main body, however, kept in advance, BOOK II. and reached Rajgerh Patan greatly dispirited and disunited, on the 21st. On the same day, Major 1817. Clarke rejoined Colonel Adams on his march to Ekkair, where he arrived on the 22nd, and was obliged by heavy rains to halt during the following day. A party of Pindaris, four hundred strong, was here heard of, descending the Tara Ghat, and was pursued and cut up by Captain Roberts with the 1st Rohilla horse. The fugitive Durras continuing their flight, returned, after various divergent movements, to the upper course of the Chambal, which they crossed to join the remains of Holkar's army. Colonel Adams following hard upon their track, although greatly delayed by bad weather and insufficient supplies, reached Gangraur on the 6th of January, and halted there for some days to allow his troops to rest after the fatigue which they had undergone; the objects of his movements having been completely effected by the retreat of the remains of Karim and Wasil Mohammed's Durras to the south.

The Pindari Cheetoo, although he had fallen in with Holkar's army, and reinforced it with part of his followers, did not long remain in its vicinity. Interposing that force between him and his pursuers, he kept his principal party together in the country on the west bank of the Chambal in the upper part of its course, but the British detachments closing round him compelled him to shift his quarters. He returned towards the north, and during the latter days of December was encamped at Singoli, in a rugged country between Bundi and Kota, not more

VOL. II.

S

CHAP. VI.

.1817.

BOOK II. than twenty-five miles south-west from the town of Kota, the people of the country, whose sympathies were in general enlisted in favour of the Pindaris, providing him with supplies and information. He was not long unmolested. General Donkin, who still continued in the neighbourhood, secured the passes into Bundi, and advanced to the Gynta Ghat. Cheetoo was no longer within his reach. Jeswant Rao Bhao of Jawad, one of Sindhia's officers, but, as usual, exercising independent authority within his own districts, invited the Pindari to take shelter in his country, having given him and his followers an asylum for their property and families in the thickets adjacent to the fort of Kamalmer, in Mewar. Although, however, the final extirpation of the freebooters was not yet accomplished, important advantages had been secured by the judiciousness and activity of the combined operations against them. By the advance of the first and third divisions of the army of the Dekhin, and the flank movement of the fifth, the Pindaris had been driven from their haunts on the Nerbudda. By a seasonable forward movement of a detachment of the centre of the grand army, they had been prevented from making their way to Gwalior, and had been compelled to turn off towards the north-west, in the hope of finding shelter in Kota, or with Amir Khan. Closely followed by the fifth division of the Dekhin army, and the left wing of the grand army from the west and south; they were cut off from the northern course by the right division of the army of Hindustan, and obliged to confine themselves to a narrow region on the western boundaries of Malwa. They

PINDARI FORCES REDUCED.

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CHAP. VI.

1817.

had been perpetually harassed, repeatedly surprised, BOOK II. and had suffered severe loss. Their numbers had been greatly diminished, and they were now reduced to a few scattered, feeble, and dispirited bands, hopeless of escape from utter destruction, except through the intervention of more powerful protectors than any who were likely to come forward in their defence.

CHAPTER VII.

Transactions at Nagpur.-Discontent of Apa Saheb. -Accepts publicly honorary distinctions from the Peshwa.-Hostile indications.-Preparations for defence.-British force.-Situation of the Residency. -Sitabaldi Hills.-Residency attacked.-Action of Sitabaldi.-Mahrattas defeated.-Negotiations.-Arrival of General Doveton with the second division of the Dekhin army at Nagpur.-Advance of General Hardyman's division.-Action of Jabalpur.-Town occupied.-Affairs at Nagpur.-Terms offered to the Raja.-Apa Saheb comes in to the British lines.-Action of Nagpur.-Mahratta army dispersed. Contumacy of the Arab garrison.-City stormed.-Failure of the attack.—Terms granted, and Nagpur evacuated. — Provisional engagement with the Raja.-Policy of the Court of Holkar.Intrigues with the Peshwa.-Professions of amity.