that province for police duties. On leaving the 23rd native infantry regiment, his exertions in bringing the newly formed regiment into shape were warmly acknowledged by his commanding officer.
The province of Khandesh became British territory in 1818, after the Peshwá's downfall. At that time the Bhîls, a distinct race driven out of Meywar and Jodhpur, and subsisting mainly on plunder, formed an eighth part of the whole population. The Bhîl agency was established in 1825 under Colonel Archibald Robertson, collector of Khandesh. There were three agents: Captain Rigby in the north-west, Captain Ovans in the south, and Outram in the north-east. To the latter was entrusted the duty of raising a Bhîl light infantry corps, under native commissioned and non-commissioned officers of line regiments. A severe illness detained Outram in Malegáon until May; when, proceeding to Jatigáon, he led the detachment of his own regiment stationed there to dislodge some marauding Bhîls from the mountain fastnesses. Supported by reinforcements from Malegáon, the operation ended in the occupation of the Bhîl haunts by regular troops, and the destruction of so much of their power in that quarter that the introduction of remedial measures became possible. Outram commenced the formation of his corps by enlisting his captives, who, again, brought in their relatives. He also succeeded in gaining the confidence of the chief men by living unguarded among them, and persuaded five to join his corps. He made his headquarters at Dharangáon, and by July 1826 three hundred Bhîls were enrolled in his corps who had become efficient soldiers, and whose conduct was quite satisfactory. By 1828 the corps numbered six hundred men, and the collector was able to report that for the first time in twenty years the country had enjoyed six months of uninterrupted repose. In 1829 his brother Francis killed himself in a fit of mental depression, and for some time a deep gloom was cast over his life.
In 1830 it was determined to invade and subdue the Dáng country, a tract of tangled forest on the west of Khandesh and on the further side of the Sukhain hills, inhabited by marauding Bhîls. Outram, after a fortnight's campaign, overran the country and subdued it, returning with the principal chiefs as his prisoners, and all the others in alliance. On 30 May 1830 the magistrate of Khandesh conveyed to Outram the thanks of the Bombay government for the judgment he had shown in the course of unwearied exertions.
In 1831 Outram was directed to inquire into certain daring outrages committed in the districts of Yáwal and Sauda, and to apprehend the offenders. He captured 469 suspected persons, and, after inquiry, 158 were committed for trial. In 1833, the Bhîls of the Barwáni territory in the Satpura mountains north of Khandesh having risen in rebellion, Outram, who had been promoted captain on 7 Oct. 1832, took the field against them and struck a decisive blow, capturing the rebel chief Hatnia. On 27 June the government of Bombay expressed their great satisfaction at the successful termination of the expedition. During his residence in Khandesh, Outram was always ready for dangerous sport, and many a tiger fell to his gun. By his fearless bearing in the presence of danger, and his general prowess in the chase, he won the affection and admiration of the wild men among whom his lot was cast. During the ten years from 1825 to 1834 he himself killed no fewer than one hundred and ninety-one tigers, twenty-five bears, twelve buffaloes, and fifteen leopards.
Early in 1835 Outram accompanied Mr. Bax, then resident at Indore, through Malwa and Nimar; and, after his annual Khandesh tour in June, the government invited his opinion on the affairs of the neighbouring province of Gujrat, which, in the Máhi Kánta, had assumed a threatening aspect. On 11 Sept. he left Khandesh for Indore, whence he made his way to Baroda, Ahmadabad, Ahmadnagar, Edar, and Disa, returning to Ahmadabad, where he drew up his report in collaboration with the political commissioner Mr. Williams. The report, which is an elaborate state paper, dated 14 Nov. 1835, was completed at Baroda. It expressed the writer's conviction that the Máhi Kánta could not be tranquillised until the unruly clans which occupied it had been subdued and the chiefs punished for opposition to British arms. Sir John Keane offered Outram the command of the troops to be assembled for the subjection of the Máhi Kánta, but he declined the honour in favour of a friend very much his senior. Outram went on leave to Bombay in December, to be married, but a fortnight after was obliged to hurry off to the Máhi Kánta on appointment as political agent, with the general direction of affairs civil and military. Outram succeeded in the Máhi Kánta, as he had succeeded in Khandesh; and if his measures were more violent than either the governor of Bombay, Sir Robert Grant, or the court or directors found agreeable, the reproofs he received were generally softened by compliments on
