Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan, Volume 1.djvu/82

74 Moors intended to form a Lattery of their cannon, which were so old, as not to b'e fired without risk to those who managed them.

A shallow river ran along the western side of Madrass: its outlet to the sea was about 700 yards to the south of the White Town; but this was generally stopped by a mound, formed of the sands, which were continually thrown up by the surf. This obstruction confining the waters of the river, rendered it of as much defence as a wet ditch to that part of the town by which it passed. The Nabob's army intended to escalade the Black Town, of which the walls were low, and the bastions of very little strength; this had been the project of Mr. De la Bourdonnais. To facilitate their approach to the walls in a general assult, they employed a great number of men to cut through the mound of sand; a practice which they were informed the English always made use of, whenever they thought it necessary to drain the river. At the same time a large body of troops took possession of a spring lying about three miles to the north of the town, which was the only source from which the inhabitants were supplied with good water. These measures shewed a degree of intelligence very uncommon in the military operations of the Moors. The French finding the waters. of the river decrease, and their communication with the spring interrupted, commenced hostilities, and fired from the bastions of the Black and White Town, upon the Moors, wherever they appeared; who immediately retreated from the mound, and the rest of their stations, which were exposed to this fire; but still kept possession of the ground near the spring, which was out of the reach of cannon-shot from the town.

The next day, being the 22nd of October, a body of 400 men, with two field pieces, marched out of the town, and attacked that quarter of of the Nabob's army, which was encamped to the north-west, between the town and the spring. Their cavalry mounted on the first alarm, and uniting their squadrons, advanced with the appearance of resolution. Having never experienced the effect of field pieces, they had no conception that it was possible to fire, with execution, the same piece of cannon live or six times in a minute; for in the aukward management of their own clumsy