Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/343

Book V. account, may be defended by 100 men against an army. The province of Condavir extends between the river Kristna and Gondegama, which gains the sea at Medapilly; the limits of the other four provinces are not exactly ascertained; nevertheless it appears that Mustaphanagar joins to the north of Condavir; that Elore lays to the northwest of Mustaphanagar; that Rajamundrum is bounded to the south of these two provinces; and that Chicacole, much the largest of the four, extends 250 miles from the river Godaveri to the pagoda of Jagernaut. The revenues of the four provinces were computed at 3,100,000 rupees; of Condavir, at 680,000, and the dependencies of Masulipatnam were so much improved that they produced this year 507,000; in all 4,287,000 rupees, equal to more than 535,000 pounds sterling: all these rents, excepting those of Masulipatnam, aim its dependencies, which seemed already to have been carried to the height, might be greatly improved. So that these territories rendered the French masters of the greatest dominion, both in extent and value, that had ever been possessed in Indostan by Europeans, not excepting the Portugueze, when at the height of their prosperity. Nor were commercial advantages wanting to enhance the value of these acquisitions, for the manufactures of cloth proper for the European markets are made in this part of the Decan, of much better fabric, and at much cheaper rates than in the Carnatic: in Rajahmundrum are large forests of teak trees, and it is the only part of the coast of Coromandel and Orixa that furnishes this wood, which is equal in every respect to oak; Chicacole abounds in rice and other grain, of which great quantities are exported every year to the Carnatic. Although it was intended that the French should not hold these countries, any longer than they maintained the stipulated number of troops in the Soubah's service, yet it is evident that he could not have given them an establishment in any part of his dominions, from which it would be so difficult to expel them, in case they neglected to Fulfil their obligation: for, defended on one hand by the chain of mountains, and having on the other all the resources of the sea open, they might, with a few precautions, defy the united force of the Decan. This the Duan, Seid Laskar Khan knew, and dreaded so much, that he had offered Mr. Bussy a much larger tract of country, in the