PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
89 
garden of riches, and which was, I believe, built by 
Hyder Ali, but improved by Tippoo. It is rather 
an ordinary building, and is now in a state of dilapi- 
dation. When Captain Basil Hall visited Seringa- 
patam he slept in this palace, “ hut,” says he, f<r I 
paid dearly for my temerity: indeed, I believe this 
island is nearly the most unhealthy spot in the East 
Indies. What is curious, however, I felt none of the 
effects of the malaria poison as long as I remained on 
the high level of the Mysore country ; but within a 
few days after reaching the sea-coast of Malabar, was 
seized with what is called the jungle fever, of which 
I feel the consequences to this hour. The Duke of 
Wellington, then Colonel Wellesley, when Governor 
of Seringapatam, lived in the same palace, which he 
rendered more commodious than it had ever been in 
the days of Tippoo Sultan, or even of his father Hyder 
Ali. He filled it with European furniture, and made 
it less unhealthy by placing glass sashes in all the 
windows, by which some portion of the noxious air of 
the night could be kept out.”* 
The public buildings in this once powerful capital 
of one of the greatest princes whose actions modern 
history records, are now turned into military offices, 
and residences for different functionaries of the East 
India Company’s government. Hyder’s palace is con- 
verted into the dwelling-house of the resident sur- 
geon ; his harem into an hospital for European troops. 
The private apartments of Tippoo’s harem are now the 
abode of a British Resident, and the rest of the build- 
* See Basil Hall’s Fragments of Voyages and Travels, third 
series, vol. ii. p. 238. 
3 
