The reclamation and pacification of the Bhils is inseparably associated
with the name of Lieutenant, afterwards Sir James, Outram. The Khandesh
Bhil Corps was first raised by him in 1825, when Bhil robber bands
were being hunted down by small parties of troops, and those who were
willing to surrender were granted a free pardon for past offences,
and given grants of land for cultivation and advances for the purchase
of seed and bullocks. When the first attempts to raise the corps were
made, the Bhils believed that the object was to link them in line
like galley-slaves with a view to extirpate the race, that blood was
in high demand as a medicine in the country of their foreign masters,
and so on. Indulging the wild men with feasts and entertainments, and
delighting them with his matchless urbanity, Captain Outram at length
contrived to draw over to the cause nine recruits, one of whom was a
notorious plunderer who had a short time before successfully robbed
the officer commanding a detachment sent against him. This infant
corps soon became strongly attached to the person of their new chief
and entirely devoted to his wishes; their goodwill had been won by his
kind and conciliatory manners, while their admiration and respect had
been thoroughly roused and excited by his prowess and valour in the
chase. On one occasion, it is recorded, word was brought to Outram
of the presence of a panther in some prickly-pear shrubs on the
side of a hill near his station. He went to shoot it with a friend,
Outram being on foot and his friend on horseback searching through the
bushes. When close on the animal, Outram's friend fired and missed, on
which the panther sprang forward roaring and seized Outram, and they
rolled down the hill together. Being released from the claws of the
furious beast for a moment, Outram with great presence of mind drew a
pistol which he had with him, and shot the panther dead. The Bhils,
on seeing that he had been injured, were one and all loud in their
grief and expressions of regret, when Outram quieted them with the
remark, 'What do I care for the clawing of a cat?' and this saying
long remained a proverb among the Bhils. [328] By his kindness and
sympathy, listening freely to all that each single man in the corps
had to say to him, Outram at length won their confidence, convinced
them of his good faith and dissipated their fears of treachery. Soon
the ranks of the corps became full, and for every vacant place there
were numbers of applicants. The Bhils freely hunted down and captured
their friends and relations who continued to create disturbances,
and brought them in for punishment. Outram managed to check their
propensity for liquor by paying them every day just sufficient for
their food, and giving them the balance of their pay at the end of
the month, when some might have a drinking bout, but many preferred
to spend the money on ornaments and articles of finery. With the
assistance of the corps the marauding tendencies of the hill Bhils
were suppressed and tranquillity restored to Khandesh, which rapidly
became one of the most fertile parts of India. During the Mutiny the
Bhil corps remained loyal, and did good service in checking the local
outbursts which occurred in Khandesh. A second battalion was raised
at this time, but was disbanded three years afterwards. After this the
corps had little or nothing to do, and as the absence of fighting and
the higher wages which could be obtained by ordinary labour ceased
to render it attractive to the Bhils, it was finally converted into
police in 1891. [329]