Page:A Comprehensive History of India Vol 1.djvu/577

 Chap. IX.]

SURAJAH DOWLAH.

543

account of«the subsequent catastrophe is derived/ believes that the nabob did ad i: not mean to violate his word, and only gave a general order that the j)risonei-s " should for that nidit be secured."

Mr. Hoi well on returning found his fellow-prisoneis surrounded bv a strong

Fort Wili.i.m.— From a jirint by Van Ryue, 1754. *

«

guard, who as soon as it was dark ordered them to collect themselves and sit down quietly under a verandah, or piazza of arched masonry, which extended '"« '"'»= on each side of the eastern gate, in front of the chambers already described as abutting on the wall. At this time the factories, both to the right and left, were in flames, and parties were seen moving about with torches, and some of the prisoners imagined that it was intended 'to suffocate them between two iires. This was a mistake, for the torch-bearers were only searching for a })lace in which to confiije them. During this search they were ordered into that paii of the verandah which fronted the baiTacks, along which was a large wooden ])latform for the soldiers* to sleep on. The prisoners readily obeyed this .order, for it now seemed that the worst which was to happen to them was to spend a night on the platform, at a season when all the air which could reach them through the openings of the piazza was required to temper the excessive heat. No sooner, however, were they within the space in front of the barracks than the guard advancing, some with pointed muskets, othei*s with chibs and ch*a i scimi- tars, forced them back into a room at the southern extremity. It was the soldiers prison; or, as it was generally tenned, the Black Hole. • The whole formed a cubical space of only eighteen feet, completel}' inclosed by dead walls on all sides, except the west, where two windows, strongly barred with iron, furnished the only supplies of air, but gave no ventilation, as at this time no breezes blew except fcom the south and east. Few were aware of the nature of the horrid

' Holwell's Tracts, page 387, et seq.