Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/188

180 by so small a force. Indeed the English battalion was now reduced to 400 men, and the Nabob's troops could not be depended on. It was therefore determined, as the last resource, to take shelter under the walls of Tritchinopoly, and this resolution was put in execution two days after the army took possession of Seringham.

The city of Tritchinopoly lies about 90 miles inland from the coast, and is situated within half a mile of the southern bank of the Caveri, and about a mile and a half south-east from Seringham. It is a parallelogram, of which the east and west sides extend near 2000 yards, and the north and south about 1200. It has a double inclosure of walls, each of which are flanked by round towers, built at equal distances from one another: the outward wall is 18 feet high, and about five feet thick, without rampart or parapet: the inward is much stronger, being 30 feet high, with a rampart of stone decreasing by large steps from the ground to the top, where it is 10 feet broad, and has a thin parapet of stone about seven feet high, in which are loop holes to fire through. There is an interval between the two walls of 25 feet, and before the outward a ditch 30 feet wide and 12 deep, unequally supplied with water at different seasons, but never quite dry. In the northern part of the city stands a rock 150 feet high, from which the adjacent country is discovered for many miles round.

The English battalion encamped on the west side of the city close to the ditch, and the Nabob's troops on the southern side: captain Cope, with 100 of the Europeans sent thither in the beginning of the year, remained within the walls.

Chunda-saheb and the French took possession of Seringham, soon after it was evacuated by the Nabob's army; and in the beginning of August they sent a strong detachment to attack Coiladdy, a mud fort about a mile to the east of the great bank which terminates the island of Seringham, and the only post which still held out for the Nabob. Captain Gingen, informed of this motion, detached 20 Europeans and 100 Sepoys, under the command of ensign Trusler, to reinforce the garrison. This officer defended the fort very gallantly for several days, until it was so shattered as to be no longer tenable: he then received orders to draw off his men in the night; and a detachment