________________
22
[JANUARY, 1917
within 4 or 500 Yards of the Walls, that it amazed the besieged. On the 15th this Battery was opened, and we then fixed [? fired] from thirty three Pieces of Cannon and nine Mortars. That same Evening Commissaries came from the Fort to capitulate. Colonel Coote would hearken to no Terms; surrender at Discretion was the Word. And to this they were obliged to submit, having no Provisions left....
Thus has fallen the famous Ponticherry, and since the Attack of the Bounds and Intrenchments in September, we have not lost but one Officer and less than twenty Men. Had we, like Lally, attempted at first a regular Attack, like him, we had been foiled. Now we have succeeded, what a Prospect does this open to us! If properly managed The Company will be soon reimbursed near 80 Lack of Rupees (their Debt from the Nabob), besides future Advantages.
News of the loss of another boat in the Storm of 1st January, 1781. Consultation at Fort St. George, 26th January, 1761.42
The following Letter read from Mr. Claud Russel, Commissary to the Army.
To the Honble. George Pigot Esq., President and Governor &ca., Council of Fort St. George. Honble, Sir and Sirs,
The boat Physioramany which you were pleased to send me with a Cargo of Grain the 26th Ultimo, arrived at the King's Redoubt but two days before the late Storm. The Commander in Chief was then so anxious to have the Military Stores landed from the Duke, for which purpose every boat was employed, it was out of my power to have any of the grain brought ashore in that short interval, so that the whole must have perished with the Vessel, which has not been heard of since that unfortunate night
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
CAMP BEFORE PONDICHERY,
12th January 1761.
1 have &ca., CLAUD RUSSEL.
THE HISTORY OF THE NAIK KINGDOM OF MADURA,
BY V. RANGACHARI, M.A., L.T., MADRAS.
(Continued from p. Vol. XLV, p. 204.)
De Nobilis retirement in 1645 and last days.
About 1645 the active work of De Nobilis as a missionary came to a close. He thenceforward lived as a retired servant of God. Other men continued his work, and he gave simple advice. Even at this time of weakness ana old age, the father provincial thought so much of him that he sent him in 1648 to Jaffnapatam as the superior of the Ceylon mission. Too weak and blind to work, however, De Nobilis left Ceylon and went to Mylapore, where, in a small hut, he lived the last few months of his simple life. In these days he was attended by four Brahman converts, who carried him, whenever he wanted, to the church in their arms. His simple meal, taken once a day, consisted of herbs cooked in water and seasoned with salt and spice. On account of his blindness he never went out of his hut and spent almost all his time in dictating something to his attendants. One day in 1660, he was removed, on account of the fury of some Hindus, who had been provoked by the Christians, to the Christian quarters within the fortress. The change did him no
12 Madras Military Consultations, Range 251, Vol. 47, pp. 78-79.