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of the troops did the same in front. But there was 
no occasion for this simultaneous attack; for the 
officer with the detachment having performed his 
part prematurely, the first discharge of the cannon 
struck the enemy with a panic, and they immediately 
left their camps and fled into the woods, leaving about 
two hundred muskets, and forty prisoners behind 
them. The governor, with his accustomed forbear¬ 
ance, immediately dismissed the latter with offers of 
peace, which were however refused. 
On the plain of Mahertomp, he established a 
post. It is a beautiful track of country, lying in the 
province of Antimaroa, of which it is the richest 
part, and occupies about six leagues of the banks of 
the Tingballe, and stretching thirteen leagues across 
from north-east to south-west. It is well cultivated, 
and inhabited throughout. Here, therefore, the army 
raised a redoubt, which was defended with four 
pieces of cannon, and an officer and twelve men. 
The enemy having incamped at a short distance 
from the Plain of Health, the governor instantly fol¬ 
lowed them, and found them strongly intrenched to 
the number of eight thousand. He immediately 
sent for four pieces of artillery to replace those 
which were left at the new station ; but in the mean¬ 
while his allies, desirous of proving their valour, had 
attacked the enemy unknown to him, and being re¬ 
pulsed, were driven to the foot of the hill on which 
stood Fort Augustus, in the plain. 
As soon as the cannon arrived, the governor, 
