tigers and other beasts of prey. The atmosphere of this jungle is so pestiferous as to threaten with inevitable destruction the hardiest troops, should they remain for any time exposed to its influence; and hence the significant appellation of Savindroog, or the "Rock of Death." From its acknowledged security, this awful fortress had long been used as a state prison by the tyrants of Mysore; and so confident was Tippoo in its strength that he was highly pleased when he heard that the British troops had run their heads against the tremendous "Gurdem Sheikhô," a name he had himself given it, implying the "Neck of Majesty;" and his courtiers even congratulated him on the event as a victory.
Lord Cornwallis having posted the main body of his army in such a position as to support the attack, and cover an important convoy which he expected from the Carnatic, ordered three detachments under Lieutenant-Colonel Cockerell, Captain Welsh, and Captain Alexander Reed, to occupy the northern, middle, and southern roads from Bangalore to Seringapatam; and intrusted the execution of this arduous enterprise to Colonel Stuart, who commanded the right wing of the army, and had been employed in the first campaign in reducing the forts of Dindigul and Paulgantcherry.
On the 11th of December Colonel Stuart pitched his camp within three miles of the northern side of the rock, the quarter from which the chief engineer had proposed to carry on the attack. His force consisted of the 52nd and 72nd King's regiments; three battalions of Sepoys, and a detachment of Artillery, under Major Montague, with a park of four eighteen pounders, four twelve pounders, two howitzers, and the field-pieces attached to the regiments.
The first operation, which was one of vast labour and difficulty, was to cut a gun-road from the encampment to the foot of the mountain, over rocky precipices, deep nullahs, and through a thick forest of bamboos, and when
