Page:Dupleix and the Struggle for India by the European Nations.djvu/25

18 the King of Golconda on the land side. The garrison, 600 strong, defended themselves energetically for some time, but want of provisions soon forced their leaders to treat. The terms they obtained were just such as they wanted. The garrison were allowed to quit the place with all the honours of war, and to proceed whither they might choose. They immediately evacuated the place, and whilst the bulk of them, led by Lahaye and Baron, returned to Surat, some sixty, led by the energetic Martin, proceeded to take possession of the new territory acquired south of the river Coleroon. They reached it in the month of April, 1674.

Thus did Francis Martin found the French India which, a little later, was to contest the supremacy over the entire southern peninsula with the English. He was a man of rare capacity. He knew how to command, how to encourage, how to inspire, how to govern. His first difficulties were great. He and the sixty men with him constituted a small colony of foreigners in a new country, dependent to a great degree on the good-will of the natives, and shut out from all communication with Europe by the Dutch fleet cruising off the coast. The village of Pondichery, where Martin had established his head-quarters, was small, and, as far as accommodation for Europeans was concerned, absolutely destitute. On the other hand, its position left nothing to be desired. It was sheltered against the monsoon, was easy to fortify, extremely healthy, and conveniently situated for