Forbes, James, 1749-1819, James Forbes letter, Angolah, on the Banks of the Sabermatty, 1775 April 27, copied between 1794 and 1800
- CallNumber:
- Folio A 2023 69
- Creator:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819
- Title(s):
- James Forbes letter, Angolah, on the Banks of the Sabermatty, 1775 April 27
- Date:
- copied between 1794 and 1800
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Series:
- Series I: A voyage from England to Bombay with descriptions in Asia, Africa, and South America
- ContainerGrouping:
- volume 7, page 161-165
- Provenance:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
- AccessRestrict:
- The materials are open for research.
- UseRestrict:
- The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts.
- ScopeContent:
- Forbes now describes the beginning of the campaign against the Marathas. He narrates the march of the army across a stretch of cultivate lands, full of productive fields ad flush with wildlife. Yet Forbes almost immediately confronts a familiar foe: the heat. He states, “I will not attempt to describe the heat of the day, nor the burning sands that overwhelmed us in the march.” It is beyond his descriptive ability—no European would understand. He does, however, offer examples of its negative effects, most notably, “instantaneous death” to any European exposed for any extended period. As the army moves, it exhausts nearby streams, tanks, and other sources of water, requiring that it continue its march to reach new sources of water. The Indians pillage many of the fields as well, making for a destructive approach to the enemy. As they approach the Sabermathy river (Sabarmati River), the army spots a detachment of the opposing Maratha forces, though they quickly cross the river and return to the main contingent of forces. Spooked, Ragobah’s forces want to stop at the edge of the river, though the English insist on crossing. Though their Indian allies did not follow them for some time, the English, in Forbes’s view, gained a decisive advantage by making this crossing, thereby taking away the enemy’s strategic position. The English do not, however, pursue the enemy immediately; instead, they camp near the river, whose water Forbes praises as “a delicious draught” and “doubly so after a hot dusty march.” It is an ideal drink, one Forbes compares to the Nile (he references Herodotus’s writings), and which makes the perfect antidote to the heat of the day. Portions of this text appear in <title>Oriental Memoirs</title>, volume 2, chapter 18.
- PhysicalDescription:
- 5 pages
- Genre:
- Correspondence , Botanical illustrations, Ornithological illustrations, Travel sketches, Maps, Watercolors (paintings), Drawings (visual works), Engravings (prints), and Portraits
- Subject Terms:
- Forbes, James, 1749-1819. Descriptive letters and drawingsForbes, James, 1749-1819. Oriental memoirs
- Associated Places:
- EnglandItalyScotlandWales
- Associated People/Groups:
- East India CompanyForbes, James, 1749-1819
- FindingAidTitle:
- James Forbes archive
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199715
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3199715?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1