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382 HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
took place. Owing to a want of caution on the part of the
General, the Expedition was within an ace of siifiCering a severe
reverse before it started on the march to the interior, the Beni-
Loo-Ali Arabs have delivered a "chupao," or night attack,
which was nearly proving siicccssfiil. The British camp had
been pitched about one and a-half miles from the beach, while
the General, with his staff and the Bombay European Regiment,
took up their quarters near the shore; the Arabs, seeing their
advantage, determined to make a descent upon the General's
camp, and either kill or capture the entire party. Accordingly
three hundred of them made a flank march of fifty miles on the
night of the lOth of February, and attacked the sleeping camp
before their presence in the neighbourhood had even been
discovered ; but they miscalculated on their strength, and were
repulsed, after some sharp fighting, in which the British lost
one officer, Captain Parr, and sixteen men killed, and three offi-
cers, including Colonel Cox, the Brigadier, and twenty-three men
wounded. Some of the wounded soldiers lost their arms by a
single stroke from an Arab sabre, but the enemy did not succeed
in escaping without loss, eleven of their number being killed
and twelve wounded ; among the latter was their chief, who was
captured. After this experience of the character of the men
with whom he had to deal, the General removed his quarters to
the main camp.
A sufficiency of camels and draft cattle having been procured
from the Imaum, and every preparation made, the division
marched for the interior, accompanied by sixty seamen from the
cruisers, under the command of Lieutenants Robinson and
Dominicetti, and the remainder of the ill-fated detachment of
the Marine Battalion, and, on the 2nd of March, 1821, arrived
before the capital of the tribe. With a bravery worthy a
better fate, the gallant Bedouins, disdaining the protection of
breastworks or other defences, advanced on the open plain to
give battle to their white foes. A short but desperate struggle
ensued. The Beni-boo-Ali thought to repeat their former tactics,
and, filling the air with their war-cry, charged down upon the
serried ranks of bayonets with broadsword and target. With a
desperate valour that astonished the veteran officers who had
been engaged throughout the Mahratta War, and disregarding
the showers of grape from the 12-pounders, they strove with
their swords to find the weak points in that line from which a
storm of lead poured destruction into their ranks, and, with the
fanaticism of a religion that taught them that death at the
hands of the enemies of their faith was a sure passport to the
bliss of Paradise, they threw themselves on the bayonets of
the soldiery, and with reckless impetuosity tried to break
through the death-dealing squares. But all in vain was a
gallantry that has never been surpassed in the annals of war.