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152 drew up his troops as if to seek an engagement. Thereupon Lord Cornwallis sent the rear of his army to confront the enemy, and gave orders for the heavy guns and the rest of his force to pass to the right behind this cover and proceed direct to Bangalore. They arrived there the same evening (March 5), followed by the portion of his army which had faced Tipú's troops.

The fortress of Bangalore, constructed in the sixteenth century by Kempe Gáuda (the Red Chief), was originally of mud, but in 1761 it was, by order of Haidar, enlarged and strongly rebuilt in stone. It was of oval shape, with round towers, five cavaliers, a fausse-braye, and a deep ditch. The glacis, however, was defective, and the flanking defence imperfect. To the north of it was the pettah or town, also encircled by a deep ditch and a thick-set hedge of thorns, which had sufficiently protected the place against the Maráthá horse. It has now a population of 180,000 including the cantonment, and even at the time mentioned was a commercial town of importance; indeed the second in rank in the Mysore kingdom.

The day after his arrival Lord Cornwallis moved his force to a stronger position. Tipú Sultán was about to encamp to the south-west of the fort, when the English cavalry, which had been sent out to reconnoitre, fell in with a division of his troops which