decline, although it is still a very large, but ill built city, and on a plan so irregular, that it would be difficult to estimate its area. Dacca.]-Dacca, the third city of Bengal, and once the capital of that province, is situated about 180 miles to the north-east of Calcutta, on a large branch of the Ganges, and about 100 miles from its mouth. Few situations are better calculated for an emporium of inland commerce, as the Dacca river has a direct communication with all the other branches of the Ganges. Dacca has an extensive trade in muslins, of which the finest sorts are manufactured in that city, and the cotton is produced in the neighbourhood. The country around it is low, and covered with perpetual verdure; and it is not subject to such excessive heats as Moorshedabad, Patna, and some other places. Patna. Patna, the capital of Bahar, is a very extensive and populous city on the southern bank of the Ganges, about 500 miles above its mouth, and about 400 from Calcutta. It is a place of considerable trade. Most of the saltpetre purchased by the Company is manufactured in this province. Patna, or some place very near it, is supposed to occupy the scite of the ancient Palibothra, which was the capital of a great kingdom about 300 years before the Christian æra.* Benares.]-Benares, on the north bank of the Ganges, is rich and populous, and the most compactly built of all the Indian cities, but it is chiefly remarkable as the ancient seat of Braminical learning. It does not, however, appear to be a place of great antiquity, as it is not noticed in the works of ancient geographers.† Agra.]-Agra, which appears to have been, during the seventeenth and in the beginning of the eighteenth century, the most splendid of all the Indian cities, and which now displays. the most magnificent ruins, is seated on the north bank of the Jumna, in latitude 27° 15', and longitude 78° 28′ east from Greenwich. About the year 1566, Achbar, liking the situation, made it his capital; and from a small fortified town, it soon became an extensive and well built city. It was regularly • Rennell's Mem. p. 54. † Ibid. p. 62. fortified according to the Indian method, and had a fine citadel of red stone. "Perhaps," says M Rennell," it has seldom happened that a city of such great extent and magnificence has declined so rapidly." Delhi. The celebrated city of Delhi, which was long the capital of the Mogul empire, is seated on the west bank of the Jumna in 28° 37′ north latitude, and 77° 40′ east longitude. In the latter part of the seventeenth century it was said to contain 2,000,000 of inhabitants; but this account, like many other estimates of the population of large cities, was undoubt edly exaggerated, and the description given of it by Berniers who wrote in 1663, does not authorize so high a calculation. This observing traveller estimated its circuit, within the fortifications, at only three leagues. He describes, indeed, several suburbs, but the whole aggregate makes no extraordinary extent for an Indian metropolis. The imperial gardens of Sha limar, are said to have cost an immense sum in canals, pavi lions, and other decorations. The great mosque is a magnificent structure of red free-stone and marble, with gilded domes and lofty minarets. This famous capital of Hindostan, is now for the most part in ruins; but it displays many splendid remains of palaces with baths of marble. After the plunders and massacres to which Delhi has been exposed since the decline and downfal of the Mogul empire, particularly on the invasion of Nadir Shah in 1739, when no less than 100,000 people are said to have perished, its population must now be extremely small. Lahore.]-Lahore, situated nearly in 31° 50' north latitude, and 73° 50′ east longitude, is a city of great antiquity in the Panjab, and was the residence of the first Mahomedan conquerors before they had established themselves in the central parts of Hindostan. It is now the capital of the Seiks, a new power, whose name was scarcely known till they rose on the ruins of the Mogul empire.‡ * Rennell's Mem. Introduct. p. 73. † For an account of the present state of Delhi, see Asiatic Res. vol. 4. p. 416, &c. Rennell, p. 79 and 82. The famous avenue of shady trees, so much spoken of by early travellers, extended from Lahore to Agra, a distance of 500 English miles. Poonah.]-The capital of the western Mahrattas is Poonah, a small and ill built city, quite open and defenceless. Pooroonder, a fortress on the summit of a mountain, about eigh. teen miles to the east south-east of the city, is the place of refuge in case of invasion, and there the archives of govern ment are deposited. Nagpoor.]-Nagpoor, situated nearly in the centre of India, is the capital of the eastern division of the Mahratta empire. It is an extensive and populous city, but meanly built and open, without any fortifications but a small citadel of no great strength. The principal fortress of their rajah or chief, and the depot of his treasures, is Gyalgur, situated on the top of a steep mountain, about 119 English miles from Nagpoor. Each of the native princes of India has a depository of this kind, commonly at a distance from the capital, a preCaution which the unsettled state of things renders necessary. Hydrabad.]-Hydrabad, the capital of Golconda, and of all the dominions of the Nizam, appears to be situated about 17′ 12′ north latitude, and 78° 51′ east longitude.* The celebrated fortress of Golconda, already mentioned, is about five or six miles to the west north-west of Hydrabad. Madras.]-After this slight sketch of the different Indian capitals, it may not be amiss to mention Madras, the second city of British Asia. This important settlement is in 13° 05/ north latitude, and 80° 25′ east longitude, on the coast of Coromandel, and close to the margin of the sea. Madras, or Fort St. George, is a fortress of great strength, including within its circuit a regular and well built city. There is also a second city, separated from it only by an esplanade; and although four miles in circuit, sufficiently fortified to prevent any sudden surprise. The greatest disadvantage of Madras is that of having no port for shipping, as the coast forms nearly a straight line, and is incommoded with a high and dangerous surf, which induces the necessity of using the boats of the country for landing. It is remarkable, that on the eastern Rennell's Mem. p. 215, 216. 248. Aurungabad was formerly the capital of the Nizam's territories. N. B. Rennell speaks with great uncertainty concerning the positions of Hydrabad, Lahore, and many other places. coast of India, from Trincomalee to the Ganges, a space of fifteen degrees, or about 1040 English miles, there is no port for large vessels. Sering apatam.]-Seringapatam, lately the capital of Tippoo Saib's dominions, and the recent theatre of British valour, is seated on an island in the Caveri, in about 12° 32′ north latitude, and 76° 46′' east longitude,* and may be considered as one of the most important cities of the peninsula. The island is about four miles in length, and a mile and a half in breadth, the western side being occupied by the fortress, distinguished by regular out-works, splendid palaces, and lofty mosques. The channel of the river, by which it is encirled, is about five feet deep, and runs over a rocky bottom. The environs were decorated with beautiful gardens; and, among other means of defence, was the bound hedge, consisting of every thorny tree and shrub that the country produces, and planted to the breadth of thirty to fifty feet. When the strength of the fortifications, and the number of Tippoo's troops and artillery are considered, the conquest of Seringapatam may be ranked among the most brilliant exploits of military history.t Edifices.-The most remarkable edifices of India are the fortresses already mentioned, the numerous Hindoo temples and Mahomedan mosques, with the now ruinous palaces of the Mogul emperors. The palaces, as usual in the east, are vast assemblages of buildings, rather than compact and regular structures. The most famous pagodas, or Hindoo temples, are those of Jagernant and Seringham, which are vast masses of shapeless buildings, destitute of every mark of genius or architectural elegance. Rennell's Mem. p. 269. The greatest part of the large and opulent cities of India, described by Tavernier, Thevenot, Bernier, &c. have greatly declined since the beginning of the eighteenth century, in consequence of the almost continual wars and revolutions which have taken place since the death of Aurengzebe in 1707. Rennell, p. 57. CHAP. IV. Historical View, &c. IN delineating the geography of India, the northern and southern portions were considered as two distinct divisions pointed out by nature. In attempting an historical sketch, this country shall be treated as a whole, as the original population appears, from the uniformity of national religion and manners, to be the same throughout its vast extent. This mode of treatment will exhibit the most condensed view of a subject, on which the plan of this work does not allow room to expa tiate, and which the most elaborate researches have hitherto been, and in all probability for ever will be, unable to reduce to perspicuity and precision. The geography of India is a perplexed subject; but its history is still more embroiled and obscure. Sir William Jones and Anquetil du Perron, have made some attempts towards its investigation; but in regard to its early periods, all their laborious researches can reach no farther than vague conjecture. Either no native chronicles were written, or they were destroyed in consequence of some singular revolution. Perhaps this may have happened at the establishment of the present Braminical system, if it dates its commencement no higher than the eleventh century, as there now begins to be some reason to suspect. Before that period it is thought, on very probable grounds, that the religion of Boodha extended universally over India; and that it was not until the tenth century that it was completely rooted out of the Deccan by the Bramins. If this, indeed, be the case, it is not improbable that an ambitious and artful priesthood might have had reason for desiring to obliterate the remembrance of every thing antece |