58 MAR WITH MYSORE. 



of the governor and council. This person formed a cl «e 

 intimacy with the nabob Mohammed Ali, and joined him 

 in urging that the presidency should embrace the cause 

 of the invaders, — a measure which they firmly resisted ; 

 but these opposite impulses prevented action on "either side! 

 It was rather a subject of dismay to find that, in consequence 

 of the large cessions extorted by the Mahrattas, their fron- 

 tier and that of the British had actually come into contact. 

 Hyder, as soon as he had extricated himself from this 

 invasion, employed the most active exertions to regain his 

 lost territory. He turned his attention first to the Malabar 

 coast, the communication with which could only be main- 

 tained through the intervening district of Coorg. He sud- 

 denly invaded that country, which he found almost wholly 

 unprepared, and made a singular display of barbarian cru- 

 elty. He proclaimed a reward of five rupees for every head 

 presented to him ; then sat in state receiving and paying 

 for these bloody trophies. But after seven hundred heads 

 had been brought in, there appeared two with such pecu- 

 liarly fine and handsome features, that he was moved with 

 unwonted pity, and ordered the carnage to cease. Coor<r 

 was subdued ; and the once powerful state of Calicut, dis° 

 traded by internal commotions, scarcely made any resist- 

 ance. Hyder's next aim was to recover the extensive ter- 

 ritories wrested from him by the Mahrattas ; and in this he 

 was much favoured by the distractions in which that pow- 

 erful confederacy was soon involved. Madoo Rao, their 

 warlike chief, died in 1772, and after a short interval was 

 succeeded by Ragonaut Rao, better known under the name 

 of Ragoba, whose authority, however, was by no means 

 fully acknowledged. The Mysorean rajah, therefore, fear- 

 lessly entered and overran a large portion of the ceded 

 country. Ragoba, indeed, hastened to its defence, but 

 being recalled by a violent insurrection, which ended in the 

 overthrow of liis power, he concluded a treaty allowing 

 Hyder to occupy all the provinces south of the Kistna! 

 Another army sent afterward under Harry Punt, the leader 

 bf the party wbicheipalled Ragoba, penetrated into Mysore; 

 but Hyder having gained over a detachment of the Mahratta 

 troo,^, baffled all hia attempts, and obliged him to retreat. 

 Immed, ai, lv after the treaty with Ragoba, the indefatigal 

 We Hyder began operations against a number of independen. 



