than two hundred 'thoufahd of the countiy people were joe-
ceived within the * black town of Madras. Our Government
behaved oh this melancholy occafion with their nfna]|
humanity and liberality j and not only publick, but private
relief -Was afforded" them to a- corifideraMe amount.
T hose poor people ware foon afterwards diftributed to the
northward, and into the fircars; which are lands that lay to
the northward o f Madras, and.but.'of. late years ceded to the
Englifh • Government.
M r . Smith was at this time at the head of the Government
o f Madras : and the folicitous attention of his lady,
to relieve the private inctaivenience of many Englilh.families,
who were alfo obliged to take- fhelter within the walls ofrthe
fort, muff ever be remembered with refpedr.
E v er y obje<R that now prefented itfelf to the imagination
bore the fame threatening and calamitous afped: the countiy
houfes of the Englifh, within one mile of the fort, were
Rripped of their furniture, by the-owners, even to the doors
and window blinds ; this indeed was no more than neceflaiy,
as the enemy extended their depredations even to the walls of
Madras j and no feeurity could be found without the fort ;
* Adjoining the glacis-of Fort St. George, to the northward, is a large town,
commonly called the Black town, and which is fortified fufficiently to prevent
any furprife by a body of horfe. f
until the eamp was formed at-‘ the' Mount; a place'about ten
Englifh miles weft of Madras.': Every gentleman now- pof-
feffing a boufe within the fort, was happy in accommodating
the family of his friend; who before had refided on Choultry
plain *.
T h e troops being collected? from different quarters;' with
provilions and a proper train of artillery, thé Vanquifhed fpirits.
of the people appeared to revive ; and the reyot was again feen
cultivating his rice fields, or cohering the’ fruits.. ‘Nothing
Jefs was expedited when the army %óok‘ the field', but that
Hyder Ally would veiy fobn be efcorted by a party of., our
troops into Fort St. George, and there make a-public atonement
for the miferies he had oefcafioned*. This vifiort ïbori
vaniïhed, in the unhappy fate’of Colbfiel Baillié’s deÉteb-'
mént, and the. return of the army from a three-weeks-campaign,
reduced in its numbers and; difpirited by its Ioffes-.
Thefe circumftances are too. ftróngly marked in thé page of
hiftory to make it necefiary to recount their’, particulars^ in a
* T he1 country near Madras is’a perfeit flat, on'which is built, at a fmall
diftance from'the fort, a fmall Choultry :; tlreffe are p®lie* buildings’found alP
over Hindoftan, and are of Hindoo origin ; they are jnf&ffc analogous.to thofc
buildings called, caravanferais, well known through Alia. jj' They- have been
erefted and endowed "by the liberality of princes,;oi the benevolence and piety,
of individuals. A Bramin generally, attends them, who adminiflers relief to
the poor and diftrefled, who are frequently fupplied alfo with a mat to’ life on.
Tanks, or r?fervoirs of waterj or wells, are commonly near them.