the land side with a considerable force, and seventeen war-elephants fully caparisoned, bearing on their capacious bodies a number of armed men. The Governor-General's body-guard,[1] under Captain Sneyd, were ordered to charge, which they did with great spirit, dashing in among the elephants, and shooting the riders off their backs. The animals stood the charge with far more coolness that might have been expected, manifesting little fear, and, when released by the shots of the British troops from the control of their drivers, retired very calmly to the fort. The sortie failed to accomplish any object for which it could have been designed, and the flotilla passed the fort with small loss, though exposed to a heavy cannonade.[2]
While the troops on land were engaged in making approaches and erecting batteries, the naval force found occupation in pushing up the river in pursuit of the enemy's war-boats, several of which were captured. On the 1st of April, 1825, the mortar and enfilading batteries commenced firing, and on that day Bundoola was killed by a rocket, after which neither threats nor intreaties on the part of the other chiefs could prevail upon the garrison to remain: they all fled in the course of the night. The breaching-batteries commenced their fire in the morning at daylight; but at the same moment the enemy's rear-guard was discerned in full retreat towards the jungle, and two Lascars who had been made prisoners came running out of the fort to announce the state of affairs there in the British camp. The line was immediately under arms, and the deserted place speedily occupied by a new garrison. The flight of the enemy had been so hurried that no measures had been taken for the destruction of that which could not be removed, and one of the most welcome prizes secured by the English was a store of grain sufficient for the consumption of our entire force for many months.
