day as 'the cannon-ball villages.' The origin of the trouble between the English and natives, which resulted in the first battle, occurred through those divided villages. The Rajah demanded rent and kist for the portions that belonged properly to the English. The matter was finally settled by the purchase of the whole by the Company.
The boundary line was marked by the planting of a hedge some thirty feet wide. The fortifications were repaired; warehouses, dwellings, and barracks were built, and the earthworks were tunnelled to make powder-chambers and store go-downs for merchandise. The buildings have disappeared, but the earthworks remain. They are described thus in the Manual : 'The curious little barrack-yard with the wretched casemates where the European soldiers were quartered, and some of the subterranean Roman ways, alluded to by Orme, are in good preservation. The latter seem to have gone completely round the fort under the glacis, and to have formed a means of communication for the garrison ; while at short intervals other little galleries, running off at right angles and terminating in powder-chambers, served as mines. At the south-east corner of the fort the gallery ran down to the water's edge.'
The river is a sleepy backwater near the fort; but inland it forms an important watercourse. At a certain time in the year the torrent rushes down from the Mysore plateau in a great body, sweeping everything before it. Occasionally the bridges of both road and railway are carried away. The flood comes suddenly and may catch the unwary dhoby asleep on the sands. At such a time he has to run for his life, with barely time to snatch at his money and jewels hidden in the sand by his pillow. When the river is not in flood, it is a peaceful stream that meanders over the gleaming yellow sands like a blue ribbon. Buffaloes wallow in its shining pools, and the
