Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/73

Rh 12,000 regular troops and some raw levies imperfectly armed and not always well-affected to their rulers. But the invaders had no easy task to perform. The Indian forces were to advance through a rugged and impracticable region full of defensive defiles, the geography of which was unknown; they had had no experience in mountain operations, and were not trained to the difficulties it entails; and their opponents were a warlike people, who were ready to take intelligent advantage of every military position in their native hills, and who had occupied and fortified all the passes that led into the country.

The campaign opened badly, even disastrously. The two columns in the west advanced, middle of October, and were opposed to Amar Singh, who had only 4000 men under his command; General Ochterlony it is true penetrated by paths 'indescribably bad,' and almost impassable, as far as Biláspur, forcing the local Rájá to submit and turning the enemy's position at Arki, but these partial successes were as nothing when compared with the serious reverses experienced by Gillespie's division. The progress of that column was soon arrested by one hill fort, Kalanga or Nalápáni, garrisoned by a mere handful of the enemy, and two assaults were beaten back, the British general was killed, and more than 500 of his men were lost; after a month's delay, it seemed to dawn upon the invaders that the Gúrkhas might be shelled out of the fort, and as there was no bomb-proof cover in Kalanga, the place was at last reduced with ease, and without any further loss, 30th