Page:On the Coromandel Coast.djvu/331

Rh tough milky-juiced plants that come under the order of Euphorbiacea. The juice is sticky to touch and acrid to taste. The name is said to have been derived from Euphorbus, a physician to Juba, King of Mauritania. If the character of the man of medicine was in keeping with the character of the plant, he must have been an extremely disagreeable person. The black goats do not seem to object to the Euphorbia. They poke their long noses in among the plants and emerge chewing. Whether they eat the objectionable plants or find something more palatable underneath I cannot say.

On the glacis of the fort facing the river a bungalow had been built. It was occupied by the European missionary. Fortunately for himself he was away in the district a good deal; otherwise be must have felt the loneliness of the situation. Trees have been planted and a garden laid out round the house. Beyond the compound boundary the vegetation is rough and thorny. There is an old piece of the fort wall near the bungalow which has been utilised as a support for steps down to the river. The desire to explore is strong, but the thought of snakes kills the desire at its birth. If any warning is necessary it may be found in the monument put up by Dr. Busteed, C.I.E., to the memory of his little dog Nettle. The dog was bitten by a snake among the ruins.

In its palmiest days the fort was never strong; and it was too small for the force that was required to protect the property of the Company at Cuddalore. There was no room for enlargement or further strengthening. As long as attacks from natives only were expected, it sufficed; but when the French, under Lally, brought their guns to bear upon it (1758) it easily fell into their hands. The best of the troops had been withdrawn to protect the interests of the Company in Bengal under the leadership of Clive, and the remnant left to garrison the