Chintadripettah and opposite to the present Government House.
On the other side of the river below the old weavers' hamlet is the military cemetery. It lies at the extreme west-end of the island, and is a quiet retired spot little visited except by those who have occasion to go there. It was laid out as a burial-ground in the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1787-8 it was surrounded by a wall that is historical, and lives in the archives of the Madras Engineers. It was built by Garrow by private contract at a cost to Government of thirteen thousand pagodas (over forty thousand rupees). It was one of the extravagances that led to the withdrawal of large building contracts from the hands of private individuals, and caused Government to carry out its own works through its own engineers.
The distance between the leafy shades of the Choultry Plain and the busy native town of Madras, known in my time as Blacktown, but now called Georgetown, is not great; yet there could be no greater contrast of scene as one passes from one to the other. The luxuriant herbage gives place to narrow streets thronged with busy humanity. The only tree that remains faithful is the cocoanut palm, which springs from the tiny enclosed yards and lifts its crown high up into the brilliant sunshine and humid sea-breeze. Red-tiled roofs and colour-washed walls, the scarlet, blue, and white clothing of the people, the green palms and the azure sky make an oriental picture full of charm.
Historians differ as to the exact age of Blacktown. On one point they are agreed. If it existed at all before Fort St. George was founded, it was an insignificant fishing village of no importance. The centre of trade was at Mylapore, and until the English formed their settlement the ships rode at anchor before that old sea-
