62 
A JOURNEY FROM MADRAS THROUGH 
Name of Ser 
ingapaiam. 
CHAPTER a parapet wall on one side, and by the aqueduct on the other. But, 
however rude such a bridge may be, it is of most essential conveni- 
May 20, &c. ence to the town, and to the inhabitants of the southern bank of 
the river, though the construction is attended with great expense. 
The inconveniencies felt from the want of a bridge on the northern 
branch are so great, that both Purnea and the Resident are very 
anxious to have one erected ; but on an estimate being formed, it 
is found, that even without an aqueduct, a rude bridge of this kind 
would cost lb, 000 Canter' mia Pagodas , or ,5,372/. 9s. 4 d. It is very 
fairly proposed, that the Company should defray one half of this, 
as lords of the island; while the Raja should defray the other half, 
on account of the advantages to be derived by his subjects on the 
north side of the river. 
Seringapatam is commonly called Patana, or Patan, that is to say, 
the city ; but the name used in our maps is a corruption from Sri 
Ranga Patana , the city of Sri Radga , from its containing a temple 
dedicated to Vishnu under that name. The temple is of great cele- 
brity, and of much higher antiquity than the city, which did not 
rise to be of importance until the time of the princes of the Mysore 
dynasty. 
The island is about three miles in length, and one in breadth, 
and has a most dreary, ugly appearance ; for naked rock, and dirty 
mud walls are its predominant features. The fort or city of Sri 
Ranga , occupies its upper end, and is an immense, unfinished, un- 
sightly, and injudicious mass of building. Tippoo seems to have 
had too high an opinion of -his own skill to have consulted the 
French who were about him ; and adhered to the old Indian style 
of fortification, labouring to make the place strong by heaping 
walls and cavaliers one above the other. He was also very diligent 
in cutting ditches through the granite ; but, as he had always on 
hand more projects than his finances were adequate to defray, he 
never finished any work. He retained the long straight walls and 
square bastions of the Hindus ; and his glacis was in many parts so 
City and 
island. 
