ground formerly belonging to the Nawab of Royapettah' (Rayada-peta—Royal suburb).
In 1899 there was an old pensioned soldier named Gibbs who was in charge of St. Mary's Cemetery. He belonged to the 1st Madras Fusiliers (now Royal Dublin Fusiliers), and he was in Madras in 1855. He took part in the disarming of the Nawab's troops, and had many tales to tell as I wandered with him through the old burial-ground among its tombs and flowers. His regiment was ordered out on that occasion by Neill, who was then in command, and the men were not informed of their destination. The women belonging to the Nawab's troops occupied a set of lines, the windows of which looked upon the place chosen for the piling of the arms. As the men deposited their weapons and retired, the women spat at them and reviled them.
Gibbs had a kind of hero-worship for his old commandant. He said that Neill during the Mutiny had the utmost confidence in himself and his men. He seemed to pick up information by magic and to know all that was going on around him. In 1857 Neill took the regiment up to Calcutta by sea. He landed his men promptly, and, knowing the urgency of the situation, he marched them straight to the station. A train was just about to start. He ordered his men, Gibbs among them, to board the train. The guard and driver represented that they were due to start at once. Neill would not hear of being left behind. He placed a guard over the engine with orders to the sergeant to shoot the driver if he attempted to move out of the station before the regiment was properly accommodated.
Gibbs's regiment was the first to use the Enfield rifle, which replaced the old Brown Bess with flint and lock. In using the Brown Bess, he told me, the men were taught when firing to take aim and shut their eyes as
