Oude, of the murder of the
twenty-seven persons in Dewa, in October, 1849, and executed on the
18th of September, 1850. Thakur Purshad and his cousin, Bhugwunt
Sing, remained at large, and at the head of their gang of robbers
continued to plunder the country, and levy blackmail from landholders
and village communities till the 1st of February 1851, though pressed
by a force of one thousand infantry, fifty troopers, and some ten
guns. On the morning of that day, Captain Hearsey, commanding a
detachment of the Oude Frontier Police, who had been ordered to co-
operate with this force in putting down this gang, took advantage of
a dense fog, fell upon them, and with the loss of one non-
commissioned officer killed, and three non-commissioned officers and
three sipahees wounded, killed one of the chief leaders, Bhugwunt
Sing, and twenty-two of their followers, wounded many more, and took
eight prisoners, among them the son of the leader Bhugwunt Sing. The
other two leaders, Thakur Purshad and Keerut Sing, were bathing at
the time in the river Goomtee, and escaped by swimming across.

Rajah Bukhtawur Sing declares, that the taking of daughters from
families of this caste by Rajpoots is one of the punishments
inflicted upon them for the murder of their own. They will not
condescend to give daughters in marriage to such persons; and they
take daughters from them merely to get their money, and assistance on
emergency in resisting the Government, and murdering and plundering
its subjects.

This part of Oude, comprising the districts of Dureeabad Rudowlee,
Ramnuggur Dhumeree, Dewa Jahangeerabad, Jugdispoor, and Hydergur, has
more mud forts than any other, though they abound in all parts; and
the greater part of them are garrisoned in the same way by gangs of
robbers. It is worth remarking, that the children in the villages
hereabout play at fortification as a favourite amusement, each
striving to excel the others in the ingenuity of his defences. They
all seem to feel that they must some day have to take a part in
defending such places against the King's troops; and their parents
seem to encourage the feeling. The real mud forts are concealed from
sight in beautiful clusters of bamboos or other evergreen jungle, so
that the passer-by can see nothing of them. Some of them are
exceedingly strong, against troops unprovided with mortars and
shells. The garrison is easily shelled out by a small force, or
starved out by a large one;