EASTERN H I N D O O S T A N, 5^ 



ficence, and it became a mofl commercial and opulent place : 

 but its commerce declined on the rile oi Madras, and it is now 

 become a place of very little conllderation ; no part of its for- 

 tifications remain, except a piece of a ruined wall. The other 

 proof of its former importance is, that it gave title to a Portu- 

 guefe bifliop. 



The greatefl part of the Indian inhabitants are Roman Ca- 

 tholics. By their religion they were attached to the neighbor- 

 ing French at Pondicherry, and on that account they were active 

 in giving intelligence of what we were doing at Madras ; this 

 induced Admiral Bofcaiven to take poffeHion of the town, pre- 

 vious to his ill-condudted fiege of the French capital. The 

 inhabitants pretend that they are defcended from the Portti-- 

 guefe. Thefe, and many others of the mixed breeds of this 

 part of India, are often formed into companies, or mixed in 

 garrifon with the Seapoys. This mongrel breed is far inferior 

 in courage to the common native Indians. They are called by 

 them Topajfes, from their wearing a hat ; a name retained by Topassej. 

 the European nations. 



Madras, or as it was called by the natives Chinapatam, flands Madras. 

 three miles to the north of San 'Thome, in Lat. 13' 5', in the moft 

 inconvenient fpot imaginable, clofe to the fhore, continually 

 vexed by a moft tremendous furf, with a fait river on the other 

 fide, which cuts off all frefh water, and by its inundations in the 

 rainy feafon, threatens deftrucStion, Add to this, a Ixirren fandy Climate, 

 trail, incapable of bearing even a blade of grafs, perpetually 

 fcorched by a moft burning fun ; yet fo healthy, that it is the 

 great refort of the invalids of Bengal^ who here foon feel the 



good 



