M a r c h o f
M a r q u i s C o r n w
a l l i s .
V e l l o u t .
T h e flaughters and deftrudlions which defolated the northern
parts of Hindoojlan by 'Tamerlane and Kouli Khan united, can
fcarcely equal thofe brought, in more detail, on Coromandel by.
our modern deilroyer. In all the battles, daughters, famines, and
the general maiiacre at Dehli, Kouli Khan occaiioned the deaths
of two hundred thoufand o n l y *. Tamerlane wanted his record
o f Death; yet lean enumerate a hundred thoufand innocent
prifoners murdered in cool blood before Dehli. Above that
number maflacred in the city when it was ftormed. The
flxeights of Kupeli furniihed its tens of thoufands, and hecatombs
fell victims in hundreds of places to the barbarity of
Mahometan zeal. Could a juft calculation be made of the exploits
o f Ayder and Nadir Shab, actuated by ambition, and Tamerlane
by bigotted cruelty, the laft would fairly carry the
palm from his fucceeding rivals for the glory of barbarity.
T h i s incurfion was amply revenged on Tippoo Sultan, the fon
o f Ayder, by the Marquis Cornwallis, of whom fame can fcarcely
give the extent o f his praife. On him was beftowed the important
charge. He quitted Madras on the 29th of January,
1791, and the fame day joined the army at Vellout, eighteen
miles diftant; Meadows, as fecond in command, alfo joined. It
was thought neceflary to carry fifty days provifions for the
troops. It was found afterwards unneceflary, as Tippoo, deceived
by the manoeuvres of the Marquis, had left a great part o f the
country, in the early march, unravaged. He continued his
inarch nearly due weft till February n th , when he turned
* Frafer’s Hift. Nadir Shah, p. 222.
northward
northward to Chittore, eighteen miles diftant from the fpot he
left, nearly oppofite to Vellore. After a march o f about fifteen
miles he gained the pafs o f Muglee, on the eaftern Ghauts, and
in fix hours went through it unmolefted, fo little did Tippoo
fufpeift the route his lordlh ip would take. All the heavy artillery
was got up with eafe; the roads were fo good that the bullocks
were not unyoked; the troops aflifted with the drag
ropes, and the docile elephants-aflifted, by pufliing with their
heads the heavy guns ffqm behind. The army encamped a
little beyond the pafs at Palimnare, having furmounted the
ftupendous rampart toward the Carnatic, and gained the level
of the table-land, which is fupported as i f by buttrefles on every
fide. That part between the parallels o f Chittore and Da-
rampoory, in the Barah-mahal, is reckoned about three thoufand
feet above the low land of the Carnatic. The nature
o f the Ghauts, and their courfe, I have, in vol. i. p. p. 87,
88, 89, before noted; The Myfore, the fcene o f two years
glorious .but arduous adventure, was entered about four miles
beyond Palimnare. From thence, for the fpace o f about
forty miles, the march was nearly weft. At Color, forty-
three miles from Bangalore, is the Mauioleum of Ayder Alps
father, Nadim Saeb. Ayder was born at Deonnelli, a fmall for-
trefs, not far to the north-weft of Color, which, with a
certain portion o f land, was granted in fief to Nadim by the
famous Nizam ul Muluc *. It probably was built by his fon,
who by the elegance and extent of this pile, has paid him very
• ^ Life of Ayder Ali, i. p. 49.
VoL' IL K high
A s c e n t o f
M u g l e e .
C o l a r .
O