1 A. D. 1804. RAPACITY. 55
2 moantaineersi The occasion was taken to invest Soojan-
3 poor, wbicb was held by the Sikh chief BoODH SiNGH
4 ^Bhugut, from whom a sum of ready money, a large
5 piece of ordnance, and the three districts of Bubrampoor,
6 Dhuromkot, and Sookhalgurb, were extorted.
7 From the Jalandhur Dooab, where these operations
8 had carried him, Runjeet Singh crossed the Ravee,
9 and returned to Labor by a detour through Sealkot and
10 Rusoolnugur, plundering as he went. The widow of
11 . Choor-Mul was, during this march, deprived of Phug-
12 / wara, which was given in an exchange to Ft TEH Singh
13 Aloowala. Sl nsar Chund ventured again into the
14 plains towards the close of the year, and seized several
15 towns in the Jalundhur, but decamped again on the march
16 thither of Run J eet with a body of Aloowala and Ghunee
17 confederates. In February following, the Hill Raja again
18 appeared, and having seized Hosbyarpoor and Bijwara,
19 attempted to maintain himself there. From both, how-
20 ever, he was expelled by the Sikhs, and Rln J eet Singh,
21 after this service, made a tour of exaction, in which,
22 either as gift or tribute, he obtained considerable sums
23 from the old Sikh chiefs, Tar A Singh Ghyba, Dhlrlm
24 Singh, of Uraritsur, and Boodh Singh, of Fyzoolla-
25 poor. His conduct excited the jealousy and fears of all
26 the Sirdars, who had hitherto enjoyed independence, and
27 immunity from molestation. They saw that Runjeet
28 aimed to reduce them to fealty and subservience; yet
29 were they so divided, and filled with jealousies, and with-
30 out a head or leader, that they attempted nothing, and
31 could devise no scheme to relieve themselves from his
32 arbitrary exactions, and from the forfeiture and resump-
33 tion with which he seemed systematically to visit the