After this triumph, Lord Cornwallis was still in extreme distress for provisions, and especially forage. Before making his grand movement upon the capital, he marched from Bangalore on the 22nd of March, and proceeded northward, in hopes of obtaining supplies, and of being joined by ten thousand horse which the Nizam had promised. After a long march, the expected contingent made its appearance; but a woful disappointment was felt at the very aspect of such grotesque auxiliaries. "They were rated at fifteen thousand," says Colonel Wilks, "and really amounted to ten thousand men, well mounted on horses in excellent condition; and, to those who had never before had an opportunity of observing an Indian army, their first appearance was novel and interesting. It is probable that no national or private collection of ancient arms in Europe contains any weapon, or article of personal equipment, which might not be traced in this motley crowd: the Parthian bow and arrow, the iron club of Scythia, sabres of every age and nation, lances of every length and description, and matchlocks of every form; metallic helmets of every pattern, simple defences of the head, a steel bar descending diagonally as a protection to the face, defences of bars, chains, or scale-work, descending behind or on the shoulders, cuirasses, suits of armour, or detached pieces for the arm, complete coats of mail in chain-work, shields, bucklers, and quilted jackets, sabre-proof. The ostentatious display of these antique novelties was equally curious in its way: the free and equal use of two sword-arms, the precise and perfect command of a balanced spear eighteen feet long, of the club which was to shiver an iron helmet, of the arrow discharged in flight; but, above all, the total absence of every symptom of order, or obedience, or command, excepting groups collecting round their respective flags; every individual an independent warrior, self-impelled, affecting to be the champion whose single arm was to achieve victory; scampering among each other in wild confusion; the whole exhibition pre-
