196 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
lonel Clive then marched into the fort and took pos- 
session. 
The garrison had suffered little loss,, nor, on our 
side, was it at all severe. Upon entering Geriah, Co- 
lonel Clive was surprised to see what trifling mischief 
the works had sustained, notwithstanding the tremen- 
dous fire which had been directed against them. So 
great was the height and so extraordinary the thick- 
ness of their walls, that the garrison found an inde- 
structible shelter behind them. All the ramparts 
not hewn out of the solid rock, as at Severndroog, 
were built of huge masses of stone, so prodigiously 
ponderous that no weight of metal could make an 
impression upon them. A year’s cannonading would 
not have effected a practicable breach ; yet such was 
the vigour of the fire poured from the British ships 
against these impregnable ramparts that it terrified 
the garrison into a surrender, in spite of the solidity 
of their battlements. 
The treasure found within this town was not 
great. The money and effects were valued at about 
a hundred and twenty thousand pounds. Besides 
this, there were on the batteries two hundred guns, 
in good condition, six brass mortars, and a large quan- 
tity of ammunition of every description. The grabs 
which were burnt, consisted of eight ketches and one 
armed vessel. Upon the stocks were two large ships, 
in great forwardness, one of which was to carry forty 
guns, and the other twenty-six. Besides these, there 
was a large number of gallivats — small vessels that 
attend on the armed ships, to tow them when neces- 
sary, and are likewise used for boarding. 
