has a grass-cutter attached to him; for the grass being dug up by the roots, is washed from the sand and dried in a net; and it is a sufficient day's work for one person to root out and prepare the daily food for one horse. Each troop is also furnished with a large copper-kettle for boiling the grain, or beans for the horses, it being reckoned unwholesome to let them have it raw.
When on a march, the tents are generally struck soon after midnight. At the first ruffle of the drum the Lascars knock up the tent-pins, and down fall the tents, says Captain Munro, like trees in a forest yielding to the stroke of the wood-cutter. The elephants and camels are taught to kneel to receive their loads of camp equipage;[1] the bullocks are loaded with the officers' tents and boxes, the Coolies take up their burdens, and all prepare for the road. This is an occupation of noise and bustle, the variety of animals and carriages employed tending to increase the apparent confusion. Meanwhile, the officers and soldiers are standing or sitting round the fires which are blazing in every corner of the camp; the former attended by their maty boys, bearing a brandy bottle, a tumbler, a goglet, or earthen pot of cool water, and also a camp stool or chair upon their heads: the dubash and the cook have been sent forward to the next encamping ground to get breakfast ready.
Between one and two o'clock the troops fall in, the officers' horses are brought up,[2] the regiments break into columns of sections, and march off, right or left in front, as the order may be; the camp-followers, with the baggage, bullocks, elephants, and camels, bringing up the rear. European soldiers never carry their knapsacks on the march; the black boys and others, who cook for them in
- ↑ "Elephants are also trained for war, carrying a heavy iron chain, five or six yards long, in their trunks, which they are taught to wield amongst the ranks in a furious manner, and to trample upon all that come in their way." – Munro. "Military Operations on Coromandel Coast."
- ↑ The native as well as European officers have the privilege of riding with their respective companies. They are generally mounted on Tattoos, or Serissa horses.
