1 WUZEER ZOROVKROO. 203
2 Matters being- thus arranged, the Wuzeer left Jummoo in high
3 spirits to execute his bold design. In May 1841, his whole force
4 was assembled at Leh, the capital of Ladakh, whence after set-
5 tling- some disturbances in the neighbouring districts, it set for-
6 ward in the latter end of June. Leaving the Cashmere battalion
7 and its two guns at Leh as a reserve, and to keep the country
8 quiet, Zoroveroo, with the rest of his force, about ten thousand
9 men, marched along the north bank of the Scinde river. When
10 he had thus advanced for some days, they took prisoners
11 some Bhoteas or Thibetans, and some Tartars from the plains
12 of Changthong, and these men led the army to a large plain
13 to the north or north-west of Eudakh, where the Tartars
14 used to dig for and find gold in small pieces or grains. Zoro-
15 veroo was thus induced to halt in this district for about twenty
16 days, during which time he had numbers of men employed
17 in searching for the precious metal which his master loved
18 so well, and the result was that a weight of about two seers and
19 a half was collected. The price of this gold was the destruction
20 of Zoroveroo and his army. While the Wuzeer was foolishly
21 lingering about the spot that yielded the vile dross, the peo-
22 ple of Champa, the Chinese Tartars, and a large force from
23 Lassa, had united and were advancing to check his progress
24 and to give him battle. Learning this he hastened forward
25 rapidly, and ere he met the enemy came upon three or four
26 Lama shrines, which he plundered of all that was valuable.
27 He then pushed forward towards the lakes, where he promised
28 himself much rich booty. He had not, however, proceeded
29 many days in this direction when the Champa cavalry and
30 other hostile forces became so annoying to his army on the
31 march that he found himself compelled to halt. Having done
32 this he was soon surrounded by the overwhelming force that had
33 collected to oppose him, and being compelled to give battle
34 was completely defeated. Zoroveroo himself, and his five
35 hundred Rajpoots, were among the slain, and the whole army