ALLUMPARVA. 
319 
proportion of the gay laughing beings, that seemed all happiness, 
had frequently not a meal to return to. Colonel St. John and his 
wife do every thing in their power to make them forget they are 
prisoners, not only by frequent parties, but by a thousand little at- 
tentions, which come nearer to the heart. The French will have 
reason to mourn that the 73d is ordered home, though it gives 
me real satisfaction, as I shall probably soon have the pleasure of 
greeting my friends in England. 
It was with feelings of the most unfeigned regret that, on my 
arrival in England, I learned the disappointment of these hopes. 
Colonel and Mrs. St. John, with their little ones, perished on their 
voyage, how is not known. I knew them but a short time, yet 
that was sufficient to convince me that a more amiable, or a hap- 
pier couple could not exist. What a loss must they be to their 
friends, and, above all, to the two little orphans they have left 
behind ! 
February 7. — I set off at two in the morning, having Colonel 
St. John's boys for my own palanquin. I reached Allumparva by 
a quarter before eleven, distant twenty-seven miles. The country 
was more full of jungle, with less population, and fewer pagodas. 
The Carnatic will not for ages recover the destructive ravages of 
Tippoo and his allies the French. The sea was all the way about 
a mile on my right hand ; the mountains were visible on the left. 
I passed a salt-w^ater lake that bounds the jaghire to the south; it 
was very wide, but not more than two feet deep. At Allumparva, 
an old Portuguese lady keeps a kind of inn, and as Mr. Salt had 
given her notice of my intended arrival, she had prepared break- 
fast. We left her house at a quarter before twelve, and crossed the 
VOL. K 3 Q 
