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Wilkins, Librarian to the East India Company,. published a set of engravings of the ruins of Gour. There is also a correct plan of the city deposited among the records of the India House. Of late, the ruins of Gour were shown in a photographic exhibition.

Three causes-the removal of the capital, the desertion of its old bed by the Ganges, and the unwholesomeness of the region-have contributed to turn Gour into a wilderness. It is impossible to pass it,' says Heber, 'without recollecting that what Gour is, Calcutta may any day become, unless the river in its fresh channel should assume a fatal direction, and sweep in its new track our churches, markets, and palaces (by the way of the Loll Diggy and the Ballighaut), to that Salt Water Lake which seems its natural estuary.' This is a sad homily for our house-owners and municipal debentureholders.

CHAPTER II.

FAR below Gour, but still high in repute, is Rajmahal, which possesses an interest derived from many historical recollections and storied associations.' The poet in his ardour may say—

'Hail, stranger, hail! whose eye shall here survey,
The path of time, where ruin marks his way ;’

but there is nothing to realize preconceived notions. The city, founded by Rajah Maun Sing and adorned by Sultan Shooja, which at one time rivalled Delhi in splendour and luxury, and rung with the melody of the flageolet and tambourine,' is now a dismal jungle filled with the moans of the midnight bird and the shrill cries of the jackal. Up to a recent day there were many vestiges of the works of Raja Maun, of the palace of Sultan Shooja, of the stone-roofed and delicately-carved balcony described by Bishop Heber as 'still retaining traces of gilding and Arabic inscriptions,' and of mosques, gateways, and other buildings. They have all disappeared-many of them having been blasted by gunpowder to make room for the Railway works. The place has scarcely any interest for the traveller, and forms only wretched knots of huts dispersed at

considerable and inconvenient distances from each other. The only recommendation of the town is its pretty situation upon a high, steep bank, from which the Himalayas are visible on a clear morning, and below which the Ganges, as if incensed at being obliged to make a circuit round the barrier of the hills,' sweeps with great violence, and, chafing in wrath, sometimes rends away several acres of ground. The beautiful, blue, and woody hills are about five miles inland.

It was on the opposite shore to Rajmahal, that Surajau-Dowla happened to be detected and seized by his enemies. In his flight from Moorshedabad towards Patna, he became oppressed with hunger, and landed at the cell of a poor Mahomedan dervish on the bank of the river opposite to Rajmahal. Thirteen months before had this dervish been deprived of his ears by the order of the fugitive tyrant, and he had good reason to remember his person, and recognize him in his disguise. Receiving his guests courteously, and setting about to prepare a dish of kicheery for them, he privately sent off a man across the river, and leading a brother of Meer Jaffer to the fugitive's hiding-place, had him seized and conveyed to Moorshedabad to revenge the loss of his ears.

From Rajmahal, we carry the reader on board the India General Steam Navigation Company's steamer Agra with the flat Chumbul. It was on a bright sunny afternoon that we turned our back upon the desolate city of Rajmahal, and when we were fairly embarked

Sahibgunge.-Secreegully.—Terriagurry Pass. 97

upon the wide expanse of water, the vessel parted the foaming waves with her bow, and rode triumphantly upon them like a thing of life.' It is something to experience the pleasures of dashing up the classic waters of the Ganges in a steam-boat at the rate of four miles an hour, out-blustering the winds and waves, not caring a nonce for the gods presiding over them. In about two hours we passed by Caragola, opposite to which is Sahibgunge, sprung into a picturesque town in a wild moorland. Next we approached the Mootee Jhurna waterfall, which is seen tumbling down the mountain in beautiful cascades. Towards evening we were moving close to Secreegully, and high on the summit of the rocky eminence gleamed the white tomb of the Mussulman saint and warrior. The tomb,' says Heber, 'is well worth the trouble of climbing the hill. It stands on a platform of rock, surrounded by a battlemented wall, with a gate very prettily ornamented, and rock benches all round to sit or pray on. The chamber of the tomb is square, with a dome roof, very neatly built, covered with excellent chunam, which, though three hundred years old, remains entire, and having within it a carved stone mound, like the hillocks in an English churchyard, where sleeps the scourge of the idolaters.'

The famous Terriagurry Pass is better seen from the train, which runs past by the foot of the slate-built fort that formerly guarded the entrance. The narrow pass, about a quarter of a mile wide, is flanked by two isolated cliffs that afford a commanding position from their lofty,

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peaked heights, to keep an enemy at bay from approaching the wooded valleys and narrow defiles of the country. Probably, the fortifications, seen in ruins on the southern cliff, were first erected by Shere Shah, and then repaired by Sultan Shooja, when they had respectively to defend themselves - the one, from the approach of Hoomayoon, and the other from that of Meer Jumla. There may exist inscriptions, and local inquiries on the spot ought to settle the truth. Passing Terriagurry, one falls into the Anga of ancient Hindoo geography. The stupendous wall of rocks, the detached cliffs, the sloping dales, the warm dry soil, the stouter and healthier cattle, and a more manly-looking race-proclaim it to be a different country from that of Bengal.

It was near sunset, and the chain of hills stood full in sight, rising in lofty ranks. High above the rest towered Peer-Pointee, and projected far in a promontory into the bed of the river. Many centuries before Father or St Pointee had chosen this favoured spot for his abode, had the banks of the Ganges here been covered with shrines, altars, and temples of the Buddhists, and the remains of these antiquities form great curiosities for the traveller. The Pattur-ghatta cave, with its sculptures, is a remarkable object for sightseeing. Long had a tradition been current, that a certain Rajah had desired to explore it, and set out with an immense suite, 100,000 torch-bearers, and 100,000 measures of oil, but never returned. The interminable cave of native imagination has been ex

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