This alarming ; uprriar of theelemehts,lasted for • •Upwards bf'
three? hours; but although sevéfël!-téhts!:>\«ji'e strüék,: pfovlderi-
tially-ho ‘SWIiNSfS' feast ifeöê
to any of 'o u r’ troops.
23d; The ^eherf-ofcdèfëa J h ë whoïë^höhy0 # pioneeM and
Lascars, accompanied by a company of Europeans and onë' of
Sepoys and Malays, Vtd get 'about making- a road in ouyifront
for thé attillèry, as th e paths ^through iwhich^' t ^ T t t ë r ^ , t]ay5 '
besides being1 exceedingly narrow, were so full of ’precipices and
ravines, that -without smoothing the one, arid filling up thé
other,' it was absolutely impossible to proceed. ‘.The Adigarj on
seeing' the mén at -work for this-purpose;' sent tó the gëfièral itó
express his disapprobation of this measure; arid 'feïüoiistxated
against any of his master’s territory! being’ infringed upon in
the slightest degree, though he-’knew that wé must4 either repair
the road, or give up our intention or proceeding further:
Every thing indeed proved that this minister was', by? no 'means
much inclined to-shew us any; favour. The whole: tract, which,
it -was intended we ^should pursue »in o u r ^ É ^ ^ é ^ to .Candy,
was marked out -by twigs and bushes set up at proper distances.
We strongly suspected that a far easier röad than that pointed out
to us Was knoWir to the Adigar. Had we takën a dir^tionriither
more to the west-or to the south, as the Hutch #et® %eenbfdm*
ed to do, we should have escaped many of those inconveniences
to which we were daily subjected. The minister seemed irideed to
have pitched upon the most difficult and intricate paths for Usi,
in order that we might suffer the more in our march. The
•circumspection with which we were constantly watched, shewed
how little confidence -the Candians reposed in thé good faith of
Europeans. At the distance of two or three miles from our
encampment lay a large b e t r of tfie king’s trpops, consisting,, as
■wel were informed, of seyojRdhopsaud men, with some elephants.
This bodyrwe never saw*, ;as- ^jigyg kept >a 1 few miles a7head of
us, the^wholetómy# aoefewere cautious; always to remain just
out o l’ oup. vièw. 't l$tprie,r o£^dfie.’bffipers' y^Grg^llowed ap-
« oach theqi£ or ^t© have/j^n opportunity of-.,‘observing, their
-nu’mberÖ I attempted ,to.,asgétftam. ho.w far^, report (/had been
correct, fin this point; but although J ,ppntj$jved<to pass several
tfieir > panties unmolested,, I was- forqed| to return without
havingi‘e& ^ d im y object, ,as pralerige d o ra d e , me (tp.,yenture
farther alone.againstetheir inclination»., , .Beside the; regular troops,
tjfie avfiole inhabitants of : this part of the country weije assembled..
in. arms,, and lay in every direction around us. Some of
thèrii,often came among us; and.N whenever, any o f: us walked out
from ourv encampment,; we, seldom' failed; toc;perceive> the Can*
diaris,. skulking: ab o u ^ th ^ i^p o d s - in our vicinity. The - .party
-sente* ptjte. in,,, the .nmrning.tQbï1*3^® 'th é ,’.roads were obliged to
return a,t one q’clock,* ori.,a§coun,t. of the; rain, thunder* and
ligh tn in g , .whicfi^began to be. as .sqyqre y ester day
24th.. About- eleven, 5%^clock stru ck ij^ r tents ,to .proceed to
Ruanelli, or, ’as it & .called, by the Candians,: thu, valley of
prfecious stones,, ten miles from Apolipitti. The day was most
uncommonly h o t,. the theimonieter. being, at. 101°. In addition
to/this, the road was exceedingly difficult and fatiguing. I had
liere an opportunity, of observing that..the Europeans bore the
extreme heat much better than the natiyes> The Bengal artillery
men exerted themselves with the greatest perseverance, and
the soldiers of the. 19th regiment were frequently obliged tp
»assist in dragging the! guns through the ravines and. defilep.
But such was. the badness of the roads, that in spite of these
3 I £