CHAPTER XXIV
CUDDALORE AND PONDICHERRY
Beware of becoming attached to any country which is not your own, or of serving any master who is a foreigner ; and leave a guru, who can do you no good.–Sloka.
On the Coromandel Coast is an old seaport town called Cuddalore. It is in the district of South Arcot, about a hundred miles south of Madras. Near it a river runs out into the sea over a broad shallow bed full of sandbanks ; and the sea breaks upon the shore with a violence that has proved more than once an effectual protection to the town when enemies have attempted to land.
The locality is full of interest. The ground round Cuddalore has been bathed in the blood of Europeans and natives, shed during the many struggles that took place for supremacy. The contests, in which Europeans took a part, began at an early date in the history of British India. The first conflict arose over two officers belonging to the Company's garrison. They were taken prisoners by the reigning Rajah of the district and carried off to Gingee, an old fortress inland that figures often in the history of South Arcot. The outcome of the incident was a collision between the Company's troops and the army of the Rajah. It was a novel experience for the Europeans. They went out in regular formation, armed with pikes and guns. The army that opposed them was composed of a rabble mob, wearing no uniform and
