BY the Divine favour, the passage of the Tungbuddra is effected; and in two or three days, please the Almighty, we shall summon you and your army to the Presence. Proceeding by the road of Nushapoor,* and arriving in the vicinity of your camp, we shall send for you. If, in the meanwhile, any other force besides Holkar’s [as that under Hurry Pundit, &c.] should make its appearance in any considerable numbers, with a view to attacking you, you must withdraw three or four coss, and take up a position among the woods: but if a superior force should not advance against you, and Holkar’s only should present itself, you must remain where you are; and procuring constant intelligence of the enemy’s army, keep on the alert, and write regularly [of what passes] to the Presence.

Another letter appears, dated 29th Hâshimy (30th August) directed to “Bûr­hânûddeen, Budr ûl Âman Khân,* and the Sipahdârs,” announcing, in like manner as the preceding one, the passage of the Tungbuddra; so that either there is some mistake in the dates, or this operation must have occupied the Sultan during the period between the 23d and 29th of Hâshimy: in which case the letter of the 23d may be supposed to have been written on the passage of the van of the army, and that of the 29th when the whole of the army had crossed the river. In the latter dispatch the Sultan says, “We shall proceed from hence to-morrow or the “next day, and soon arrive with you.” And yet he would appear, by another letter, to have been still encamped on the banks of the Tungbuddra as late as the 7th of Wâsaaey (or 6th of September). Possibly, the line of his march, after crossing the river, might have been for some days in the direction of its course.

Tippoo, in his Memoirs, plumed himself considerably on the military operation in question, and, apparently, not without reason; since besides being undertaken at a time when the river was at its greatest height, it was performed, according to his account, in the face of the main body of the enemy’s army, which, never­theless, would not seem to have offered any opposition to this bold movement. The following is the manner in which the Sultan states this occurrence:

“Marching from thence [i. e. Adoni] I arrived on the bank of the Tungbuddra. “It was now the rainy season, and the river was at a great* height. I sent for “boats from the country of Nugr, and consulted with the commanders of the “Usud-Ilhye army on the subject of crossing [the river], when all of them stated “it to be their opinion, ‘that the attempt was on no account advisable, inasmuch “as Hurry Pundit Phurkia, and the commanders of the army of Nizâm Ali “Khân, to the amount of a hundred thousand horse, besides numberless foot “forces, were posted on the opposite side, for the purpose of preventing our “passage.’ To this they added, ‘that the river was at its greatest height; that “the rains were extremely violent; and that, as the army of the Sircar would “be obliged to cross in small bodies at a time, [it was to be feared that] the “enemy, apprized of this circumstance, would bring a heavy [i. e. superior] “force against [the divisions as they crossed].’

“Disregarding* these opinions, and collecting all the boats together, I em­barked, early in the morning of the second day [after my arrival on the banks “of the Tungbuddra], with two Kushoons, with which I crossed the river, and “took post in a favourable situation, where I caused the standards of the army to “be erected. By evening, the passage of all the remaining Kushoons, together “with their guns and stores, was accomplished. On the following day, the boats “being distributed among the cavalry, the rest of the army began to cross, “and in three or four days the whole were over. Hereafter, let whosoever “shall happen to be similarly circumstanced,* proceed in the same manner, “viz. by first crossing the infantry in force, and afterwards the cavalry and “others.

“Hurry Pundit Phurkia, and the other commanders [of the enemy], on “hearing of the passage of our army, retired with their forces to the distance of “four coss, and encamped on the skirts of the [adjacent] hills and woods; from “whence, at the end of three or four days, they came and drew up before our “army, with their guns and other appurtenances of war, [apparently] with the “intention of offering us battle. Whereupon, giving orders to the eight Kushoons “that were with me to hold themselves in readiness [for action], I advanced, in “person, with a Kushoon of Usud-Ilhyes and another of Jyshe, towards the infidel “forces: before which movement, however, a picquet, which had been pushed “on in front, was obliged, by superior numbers of the enemy, to fall back. Just “at this moment I arrived, and opened a fire upon the enemy from some guns “and rockets, which soon made them flee in disorder.* After an interval of “a day, the infidels once more advanced with the intention of attacking us: “when the Usud-Ilhye army met them as before,* and they, according to “their usual practice, turned their backs, and withdrew in confusion to their “camp.*

“On the following day, about five o’clock in the afternoon, making ready three “Kushoons, and placing them under the command of Mâh Mirzâ Khân, I “directed a night assault to be made [on the enemy], and proceeded myself “with this detachment halfway towards their camp. Here I halted, keeping “with me [only] a few men and a [single] gun, for the purpose of making “signals. The Sircar’s troops [i. e. the detachment under Mâh Mirzâ Khân] “advanced; but on approaching the enemy’s army became alarmed,* and “stopping short, opened a fire from their guns. I concluded, from the circum­stance of my troops keeping up this cannonade, that they did not mean* to “advance farther [to the attack of the enemy], and therefore I fired the gun, as a “signal for them to rejoin me, which they accordingly doing, I returned with “them to our camp, which we reached the following morning.

“The next day, in order to strengthen the hearts* of my people, I distributed “presents of horses, money, gold and silver wrist-rings, &c. to the value of near a “lack of rupees, among the officers and men of the three Kushoons, according to “their respective merits.

“The following day the Mahrattah army, with a train of artillery, came and “presented itself in order of battle before the Usud Ilhye tygers, on whom they “commenced a distant fire from two or three guns. The men of our victorious “army hereupon placing themselves in a state of preparation, received the enemy, “with the same kind of cry [or noise] that is employed to frighten [or drive “away] hogs and the like; upon hearing of which, the enemy returned shame­fully by the same road they had come. After remaining another day in their “burial place,* they marched the ensuing morning, like so many ill-omened “owls, and took up a position at the distance of eight or ten coss from their “former camp.”

The Sultan next proceeds to relate his further operations against the enemy, in the same barbarous and perplexed style, which distinguishes the narrative from whence the preceding extract has been made. Nothing, however, of any moment, or indeed very intelligible, appears, till the period of his arrival at Shânoor; when he gives an account of the general engagement which was fought in the neigh­bourhood of that city, and of which I will, in its proper place, present the reader with a translation.