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222 and feet of condemned men, and then to attach them by a rope to the foot of an elephant, which, being urged forwards, dragged them after it on the rough ground, and painfully terminated their existence. Some again were ruthlessly thrown into the dens of tigers to be devoured, and it is said that three of Tipú's high officials met with this fate. Cutting off of ears and noses was a general practice, and was frequently inflicted on defaulters, thieves, and peccant subordinates.

The personal appearance of Tipú Sultán is fairly well known from the many portraits of him which have been produced at various times, but he is generally represented as being fairer than he really was. In all the best likenesses one cannot fail to note a certain amount of complacent self-sufficiency, which was in fact the mainspring of his singularly eccentric character. He had small delicate hands and feet, showing his Indian descent by the mother's side, an aquiline nose, large lustrous eyes, the neck rather short and thick, and the body somewhat inclined to corpulency. He wore no beard, but, unlike his father, retained his eyebrows, eyelashes, and moustache. He is described as having been so modest that no one ever saw any part of his person, save his feet, ancles, and wrists; while in the bath he always covered himself from head to foot. The same delicacy of feeling induced him to prohibit women from going about with their head and bosom uncovered.