On the 25th August the regiment was disembarked at Calcutta, 790 men strong, and did garrison duty in Fort William until December; during which time Major Cotton, the regimental quartermaster, and sixty-two non-commissioned officers and men, fell sick and died--a melancholy opening to its first term of Indian service. [Sidenote: 1809.]In the following year it was placed on the Bombay establishment, and sailing from Calcutta arrived at Bombay on the 1st February. From thence it was moved up to its destined quarters at Surat on the Tapti River, some two hundred miles north of Bombay. Two galloping guns worked by its own men were added, as was usual, to the establishment; and by a concurrence of testimony the regiment was excellently mounted. Early in 1810 the Seventeenth was employed on a rather curious service. At the end of 1809 there was a sudden rising of religious fanatics in Mandavi under the leadership of a man named Mean Abdul Rahman, who killed the vizier of Mandavi, and put the rajah to flight. [Sidenote: 1809.] The leader then sent a message to the English Resident, ordering him to accept Mohammedanism or fight. He added that he was come down to earth in the bodies of four great men, Adam, Jesus, Ahmad and Mean Abdul Rahman, and concluded with a request for three hundred rupees. Absurd as the matter sounds, it soon assumed a serious aspect. [Sidenote: 1810.] The news of the rising reached Surat on the 10th January, and the people at once flocked out from the city to join the new prophet. The Mohammedans in general began to assume a threatening attitude, and attacked the Hindoos with the cry of “Deen.” In fact there were the elements of a troublesome disturbance, which in the judgment of the Resident required to be suppressed at once. Accordingly four troops of the Seventeenth, under Major Supple, and some infantry were called out and marched off to the village of Boodham, where the prophet and the most devoted of his followers were assembled. The Seventeenth outmarched the infantry, and came up with the fanatics at daybreak on the morning of the 19th January on the plain outside the village. The fanatics were summoned to surrender and give up their leader; but they replied with shouts of defiance. A feint attack was then made to intimidate them; but they simply threw up clouds of dust in the horses’ faces and dared the Seventeenth to the combat. Then the regiment attacked in earnest, and there ensued what the Resident called a “furious engagement.” The fanatics were armed with spears and small hatchets attached to bamboo shafts, twelve or fourteen feet long, with which they could inflict severe wounds; and they fought like demons. If the Seventeenth had had lances in these days they might have made short work of them; but, as things were, the fighting lasted for some time. It was not until 200 of the fanatics lay dead on the field that the bulk of them dispersed and fled to the village,