To INUNDATE, in a military sense, is to overflow any part of a country, in order to prevent an enemy from advancing. Holland is particularly calculated for this species of defence.
INUNDATION. The act of letting water into a country, so that it shall be overflowed to prevent the approach of an enemy.
In the Instruction adressée aux officiers d’Infanterie pour tracer et construire toutes sortes d’Ouvrages de Campagne, &c. par A. P. I. Belair, Chef de Brigade, may be found some very sensible observations on the means of making inundations to answer military purposes, see page 119, &c. Chapitre Huitieme, Moyens de faire des Inondations. We likewise refer our military readers to the Elemens de Fortification, published by the same author, see pages, 75, 82, 83, and 84. In page 294 of his Dictionnaire Militaire, some excellent observations upon the same subject, may be seen under the article Architecture hydraulique.
JOAR, Ind. A general massacre of the women and children, which is sometimes performed by the Hindoos, when they find they cannot prevent the enemy from taking the town. When this dreadful and unnatural ceremony is to take place, a spot is selected, which is filled with wood, straw, oil, &c., the victims are enclosed, and the whole is set on fire.
To JOIN. A technical word used in the British service, generally signifying to effect the junction of one military body with another. In a more limited sense, it means the accession of an individual voluntarily, or otherwise, to a corps or army. If an officer on being ordered to join, omits to do so wilfully, he is liable to be tried by a general court-martial, or to be peremptorily suspended by the commander in chief for being absent without leave.
JOINT Bolts. See [Bolts].
JOLS, Fr. Barges so called, are used in Denmark, and sometimes by the Russians.
JONCTION, Fr. See Junction.
JOODAY PERRAPUT, Ind. A term used in India to signify a slave taken in war.
JOOMAN, Ind. Friday so called in India.