Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 170

166
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(SEPT., 1919
our people for the especial purpose of diverting them from lying in wait to attack them. When these pirates came upon wine or food amongst the inhabitants, they made them taste before they ate or drank themselves for fear that they should contain poieon. In their marches they kept to the thoroughfares and highways, never entering the lanes or byways lest they should fall into (an) ambuscade ; neither did they move under the walls of a city lest bricks or stones should be thrown at them by the people thereon. When they marched, it was always ir, a single file of great length, at a slow pace and in good order; hy which means they occupied some miles of ground, and there was no approaching them. They could move rapidly for several tens of days together, and by opening out their body into four or five divisions they would manage to surround their enemy. When their forces were encamped opposite ours, they used to send one or two men who by alternately leaping up and crouching down contrived to exhaust our fire of stones and arrows. In an action with artillery they waited until their antagonists had fired; then they broke in on them impetuousiy and following up their advantage would drive them to & distance. In the heat of an engagement they would suddenly come forth from ambush on all sides and surround their enemy's flanks, by which mancuvre they forced our army to disperse in great consternation. They constantly resorted to strange stratagems, such as tying sheep together, or driving women on in front so as to perplex the beholder; the eyes of our people were dazzled by this, and the arms of the Japanese were thus enabled to take effect. They used the double sword exercise ; with one sword they made feints above and struck with the other below, which rendered defence difficult. They hid the shafts or butt ends of their halberds and lances, and then, all of a sudden they would hurl them forth so that it was Impossible to anticipate (the blow); their bows were long, their arrows large, and as they discharged them close, their shot was deadly. If they lay perdu, they had & marauding expedition in contemplation ; if they spread a report abroad (80 as to keep people on the alert) they were moving off. Thus they drew up their injured vessels across the stream to make a show of lying by, and straightway they sailed forth and invested Kinshán. At Shingshan they made ladders of bamboo to signify that they were about to storm it, and then they raised the siege. When they were going to take to the country, they pressed upon a city; if they had a march to make by land, they would provide themselves with oars. Sometimes they dug holes as pitfalls for their enemy; sometimes they plaited stubble to entangle him as he fled, or they stuck slips of bamboo in the ground to run into the feet of the fugitives. They used too to make a decoy of precious stones, cloth, gold, silver or women, by which they were enabled to inveigle our troops into ambuscades, and they were pleased when these lay in wait for them or pursued them. They gashed the faces of their prisoners of war, and tied their tongues to prevent it being detected by their answers that they were not Japanese ; thus their return home was cut off. They showed great kindness to the people in the vicinity of their resorts, and were thus kept fully informed of the truth and falsehood of every report .... They made handsome presents to such artisans as fell into their hands, and they were in consequence easily provided with arms. As they employed our people as spies, it is difficult on our side to ascertain (whence they got their information), and by using them as their guides, they became perfectly familiar with all the paths by which to advance or retreat. For their eating or sleeping they would stay in some place where they could break open the wall, and which was high enough for them to keep a look-out, 80 that there was no chance of taking them by surprise. Should they be closely beleaguered, they would leave some heads as a pretence and retire ; some of them wrapping themselves in cloaks of the bamboo leaf and putting on bamboo hats would play the part of labourers