MANIPUR AND THOBAL. 820 the attack was resumed. During the day he not only beat off tlae enemy, but led out more than one successful counter-attack against the Manipuris. (It was afterwards learned that the Senaputi had himself directed the attack, and that two of his generals were killedduring the fighting.) In the evening he found he had onlyfifty roundsleft for each Snider and thirty for each Martini, and resolved to husband his ammunition and keep strictly on the defensive. But he had so impressed the enemy with the fighting capacity of his little band that they did not again venture on a close attack. On the 9th they sent in a letter under a flag of truce.

fight with a small detachment ofManipuris, who were entrenched on the road near the latter place. Their flanks were covered by swampy ground. On April 25th Graham attacked the entrenchments. After shelling them for some time, the 4th Goorkhas and the 12th Burma Regiment were sent to storm them with the bayonet. The mounted infantry had swept round the swamps and placed themselves on the line of the enemy's retreat. The Manipuris therefore made a desperate stand. About 130 of them were killed in a hand-to-hand fight in the works, very few escaping. The attacking force lost two killed and twelve wounded.

the rajah's palace, manipur.

It proved to be a despatch from hiscommanding officer bidding him abandon Thobal and fall back on Tanau, where a force was collecting to succour him. That night in the midst of thunder and rain he evacuated Thobal, unnoticed and unmolested by theenemy,and made good his retreat on Tanau. He had only lost one man killed and four wounded in all the fighting.

Among the latter was Lieutenant Grant of Thobal fame, disabled by a severe wound in the neck.

On the 26th Graham's three columns met near Manipur and entered the city, which had been deserted by the rebel princes and their followers. " The aspect of the place was extraordinary," wrote Reuter's correspondent with the force. " Scarcely a human being was to be seen. The wholeof the capital was wrapped in silence. As the troops marched into the midst of the cluster of houses, they encountered no foe, for there wasnot a fighting man within the walls. It was a desertedcity. Movingon warily, the British force entered the enclosures of the palace of theMaharajah. Here also was absolute stillness. All the occupants had fled. The magazinehadbeen blown up, and the inside of the palace was a wreck. It had been sacked There is little doubt that his vigorous action hadimpressed theManipuris with their inability to cope successfully with the soldiers of the Empire. When Graham advanced on Manipur he met with only the feeblest of opposition. He divided his force into three detachments.

Two of these marching fromKohima andCachar had no fighting. The third detachment under Graham's personal command, which advanced onManipurby way of Tanau and Thobal,had a