82 CONQUEST OF MYSORE. 



from one tower after another ; though, as reinforcements ar- 

 rived, they began to make a more vigorous stand. They main- 

 tained their defence particularly in a large square building 

 that served the joint purpose of a magazine and barrack ; 

 and here Tippoo, seeing his first division considerably di- 

 minished by successive contests, ordered it to be strength- 

 ened by a fresh corps. This operation was ill understood 

 and imperfectly executed ; and as the troops were advanc- 

 ing in some disorder, a party of twenty Travancoreans, 

 from under close covert, opened a brisk fire on their flank. 

 The commanding officer fell, when the whole body was 

 thrown into irretrievable confusion. The mass of fugitives 

 drove before them a detachment which was advancing to 

 their support, and who again impelled those behind. Many 

 were thrown down and trampled to death ; and the ditch 

 was filled with heaps of dead bodies. The sultan himself 

 was borne along by the torrent, and some servants with dif- 

 ficulty conveyed him over the ditch, after he had twice 

 fallen, and suffered contusions ; from the lameness thereby 

 occasioned he never entirely recovered. His palanquin, the 

 bearers of which had been trodden to death, was left be- 

 hind ; and his seals, rings, and other ornaments fell into the 

 hands of the enemy. He hastened forward, partly on foot 

 and partly in a small carriage, and arrived at his camp in the 

 most miserable plight, after losing 2000 of his men. _ So 

 precarious is the fortune with which war, and especially 

 barbarous war, is often attended ! 



It may be easier to conceive than describe the rage and 

 humiliation of Tippoo at seeing his fine army thus com- 

 pletely repulsed by a despised enemy. He made avow that 

 he would not leave the encampment till he had retrieved 

 and avenged the disaster. All his detachments were called 

 in, his heavy cannon was brought down from Seringapatam 

 and Bangalore ; and though more than three months were 

 employed in these preparations) he .succeeded completely in 

 lulling the suspicions of the British, and in persuading 

 them that he was still desirous of maintaining amicable re- 

 lations. At length, his arrangements being completed, 

 about the beginning of April, 1790, he openod regular bat- 

 teries against this contemptible wall, and soon made a 

 breach nearly three-quarters of a mile in extent. The 

 troops of Travancore, thus exposed in the open field, fled 



