10
shared in the revolt, it was reduced to one- fifteenth. The lands belonging to Mollegodde and some others who had done good service, we re altogether released from it, as were also those of the temples; while on the other hand, it was increased to one-fifth in the case of those to whom their lands, after forfeiture on account of the insurrection, had been restored. · Thesemeasures are all stated in a very detailed manner in the proclamation before mentioned.
If the influence of the chiefs however was all- powerful in bringing the people into the field, it was apparently of little value when they arrived there, for the cowardice which the natives exhi- bited in their encounters with the troops was greater than in all probability could be found re- corded of any other nation. In one despatch we read of the capture of a chief by a party of twenty-five Malays from among some hundreds of followers, thirty three of whom were killed by this small band, without the loss on their side of a single man. In another case, a corporal's party of seventeen were attacked in the jungle, when five miles from the post of Badulla, by a body of natives, also estimated at some hundreds; two of the soldiers fell at the first fire; of the rest, five fought their way to Badulla through the rebels, while the remaining ten defended the dead bodies
of their comrades till they were relieved by a party from the fort.
1818.
298. July 24.
1818.
Major M'Donald with eighty men withstood 278. April 12. the attacks of an army of between six and seven thousand from the 26th February to 8th March, 1818, when the natives withdrew, not one soldier having fallen. This is the more extraordinary as it does not appear that the position held by
fortified. Major M'Donald was in any way
With such an enemy the loss of the troops in the field was of course but little.
On the 20th of February, 1818, there were in the Kandian provinces, 3,356 rank and file, and the casualties from the 15th October, 1817, to that date, amounted to
Killed. 1.subaltern.
2 medical officers.
1 native officer.
1 serjeant.
34 rank and file..
267. Feb. 19.
A
1818.
278. April 12.
11
Since Dead.
4 rank and file.
Wounded.
1 captain.
2 subalterns.
1 medical officer.
2 serjeants.
1 drummer.
56 rank and file.
The returns from February 21 to March 31,
are,
Killed.
1 subaltern.
1 serjeant.
10 rank and file.
Since Dead.
5 rank and file.
Wounded.
1 captain. l'serjeant.
32 rank and file.
298. July 24.
From April 1 to June 20.
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
C.O.
885
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
314. Oct. 27.
Killed.
1 serjeant.
32 rank and file.
Wounded.
2 subalterns.
2 serjeants.
70 rank and file.
No return can be found for the month of July; but from July 25 to October 24, at which time all the fighting terminated, the returns give-
Killed.
1 rank and file.
Wounded.
5 rank and file.
Thus, besides those who fell in July, and nine who died of their wounds afterwards, eighty-five
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