440 
TALICUT 
noisy kind of ceremony with which I would gladly have dispensed 
At Mahavilli I saw, for the first time, a few large bats * flying 
about in the middle of the day, and thousands of them clinging by 
their feet to two trees, close to the choultry in which I rested : 
about two thirds of them were in constant motion, fanning with 
their wings, and they kept up a continual shrieking noise. I re- 
quested one of them might be shot, to which no objection being 
made, a peon fired at them with two balls, which killed three of 
them. On firing there was a prodigious cry , and the greater part 
flew screaming over our heads. They measured above four feet 
from wing to wing. Their heads are considerably like that of a fox, 
and their hair of the same colour ; altogether they are most hideous 
animals." 
" In the evening I went about three miles to see a garden belong- 
ing to Tippoo. It was of great extent, laid out in strait walks, and 
filled with mango, guava, lime, orange, and pomegranate trees: 
the guavas and pomegranates were ripe, and the mango trees more 
beautiful in blossom. It seems never to have been completed, as 
there is only a small building for seeds, and no place to have re- 
ceived the Prince had he visited it. Its neighbourhood has done 
little good to the inhabitants, as in passing through the village, 
which is between it and the fort, I found a great part of the houses 
deserted, and every appearance of much wretchedness. The coun- 
try around is flat." 
February 2,9. — I arrived at Talicut early in the morning. The 
village was covered with a thick and unpleasant fog ; I therefore 
shut myself up in my palanquin until ten, by which time the sun 
. * The large Ternate bat of Dr. Shaw. 
