MINOR CHRONICLES : XX. BASTI-RAM'S ACCOUNT OF THE DOGRA WAR 259
arrived at Mulbil (Mul-hbye). From thence they dispatched envoys to the camp, who at first talked boldly, and tried to frighten the Dogras, but they afterwards declared their readiness to agree to honourable terms, and proposed that some respectable and confidential agents should be sent back with them to treat with their chiefs regarding the terms of accommodation. To this the Vazir consented, and after having feasted the envoys and placed turbans on their heads, he deputed Mehta Basti Rám, with some other Dogra officers and a guard of 500 matchlock-men, to accompany them. When the men were ready to start, the Vazir was requested not to send so large a party, as their number would be more likely to alarm than to pacify the minds of their countrymen. Accordingly only five men, with two respectable zamindars, named Gola and Nanda, were sent with the envoys. On their arrival in the Ladáki camp, these men were treacherously seized by the chiefs, and dispatched under a guard of 500 men to the bridge of Darkech (perhaps Durkit of the maps between Sar-sgo-la and Pas-kyum). One of the men, however, a Suwar, named Ratan Sing, managed to escape, and returned to the Dogra camp. In the meantime Banka Kahlon (Bankha-bkah-blon), by a circuitous route, attacked the Dogras in their rear, and made many prisoners, who were thrown bound into the river in sight of their comrades. On this the Vazir, seeing the danger of his situation, ordered a retreat, which with some difficulty was effected to Lang-karchu (Lan-mkhar-rtse), in the Suru valley, to the fort of the Thai Sultan (Khri-Sultan). There the Dogras remained unmolested for four months, procuring a precarious subsistence by plunder alone.
6. At the end of that time Banka Kahlon (Ban-kha-bkah-blon) with his 22,000 men advanced towards Langkarchu (Laii-mkhar-rtse) ; but the Vazir, having received intelligence of their movements, dispatched a party of 100 men to oppose them, when they were within one kos (one mile and a half) of the place. Now the straggling manner in which the Dogras were obliged to wade through the snow, and the unsoldierlike way in which their tents were scattered over the open country completely deceived the Ladákis as to the real number of their enemies. They were, besides, quite exhausted with their long and fatiguing march through the snow ; and therefore, instead of attacking the Dogras at once, they halted for a consultation, which ended in the whole body sitting down to prepare their evening meal of tea and wheaten flour. On seeing this the Dogras attacked them with their swords, and after five or six were killed on each side, and several were wounded, Banka Kahlon (Ban-khabkah-blon) and the other Ladáki leaders became alarmed and fled with numbers of their men. The remainder of the Dogras, who had hitherto held aloof, now rushed to the attack, and completed the rout of the Botis (Tibetans) ; 400 Ladákis, in attempting to escape along the bank of the river, were overwhelmed by the fall of a snow-bed, and 1,200, who had been concealed behind a hill, were made prisoners, along with Moru Tádzi (Duos-grub-bstan-hdzin), the Káhlon of Bazgo (Bab-sgobkah-blon), and his son Gyurmed (Hgyur-med). The Dogras lost three of their leaders, namely, Uttam Vazir, Hazru Vazir of Una, and Surtu Rana, with twenty men, and
between fifty and sixty wounded.
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