Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

somewhat misplaced. It is remarkable also, that Edrisi mentions the worship of the idol Bodda, or Bud, by the people of Nahroara.*

Although the gulfs of Cambay and Cutch penetrate so deeply within the land, yet so far from rendering the sea smoother, or the navigation safer, they occasion such high and rapid tides, and are so thickly sown with sand-banks, that few places are more dangerous. The bore, which means the flood tide, rushing in suddenly, and forming a body of water, elevated many feet above the common surface of the sea; and of course levelling every obstacle that opposes it; rages here with great violence: covering in an instant the sand-banks, which before appeared dry and firm. I have accounted for the terror with which Alexander's followers were struck, at the mouth of the Indus, from this dreadful phenoSee the Introduction, page xxiv.

menon.

Capt. Joseph Price had the misfortune to be carried up to the head of the gulf of Cutch, by pirates; who captured his ship, after a most gallant and obstinate defence, of two days: but he was afterwards treated with great respect and tenderness, and permitted to depart by land, for Bombay. He accordingly traversed the isthmus, to Gogo; and reports, that the country in that tract, is generally flat; having only a few eminences, and those fortified. The soil is dry and sandy, as is common to Guzerat in general; for, as the author of the Ayin Acbaree says, the rain there does not occasion mud. This may be inferred from the nick-name of Gurdabad, or dust-town; bestowed on Amedabad, by Jehanguire: who (by the bye) appears to have taken a wonderful dislike to a situation that has been much praised by other travellers.

• Baroach has been, in different ages, a port common both to Nebrwaleb and Tagara: of which last, the author of the Periplus of the Erythrean sea, makes particular mention. The former was eight journies, the latter ten, from Baroach. Tagara should be in the Deccan, according to the Periplus: though I think it furnishes no ideas that enable us to form a judgment, even of its general situation. Ptolemy places it nearer the position that answers to Burhanpour, or its neighbourhood, than any other.

+ Kirkpatrick's MSS.

The road from Amedabad to Agimere, by Meerta, is chiefly from a map constructed by Col. Call, and communicated by Mr. Hastings. To this I have added Tavernier's particulars of the road, as he travelled this way from Amedabad to Agra. I know not from whence Col. Call had his particulars, but they appear to be perfectly new. Tavernier's distance is enormous, according to the scale of the cofs; but it is to be considered, that the road is very circuitous, and no lefs mountainous; so that no rule can well be applied, for reducing the road distance, to a straight line.

The positions of Agimere, Jaepour, and Ougein, have been already discussed, as well as the places situated in the line of Mr. Smith's route. The space included between these points, and which is chiefly situated in the soubah of Agimere, has undergone a very considerable improvement in its geography, since the publication of my last map; by the contributions of Mr. Hastings, Mr. Bensley, and Col. Popham. I know not who the authors of the several maps in question were; they have, however, my acknowledgments for the afsistance I have received from them: and I grieve to reflect, that some of the personages who furnished the most interesting matter towards the improvement of this work, have not lived to be witnesses of the succefs of their labours. The tract in question includes, among others, the provinces of Cheitore, and Oudipour, subject to the Rana, or chief prince among the Rajpoots; and the antiquity of whose house may be gathered, by the name Rhannæ, appearing in Ptolemy, nearly in its proper position, as a province. The province of Agimere in general has ever been the country of Rajpoots; that is, the warrior tribe among the Hindoos, and which are noticed in Arrian, and Diodorus: and Cheitore, or Oudipour (which I consider as synonymous), is, I believe, reckoned the first among the Rajpoot states. The whole consists, generally, of high mountains divided by narrow valleys; or of plains, environed by mountains, accefsible only by narrow passes and defiles: in effect, one of the strongest countries in the world;

yet having a sufficient extent of arable land: of dimensions equal to the support of a numerous population; and blessed with a mild climate; being between the 24th and 28th degrees of latitude: in short, a country likely to remain for ever in the hands of its present possessors; and to prove the asylum of the Hindoo religion and customs. Notwithstanding the attacks that have been made on it, by the Gaznavide, Patan, and Mogul emperors, it has never been more than nominally reduced. Some of their fortresses, with which the country abounds, were indeed taken; but THE SPIRITS OF INDEPENDENT NATIONS, DO NOT RESIDE IN FORTRESSES; nor are they to be conquered, with them. Accordingly, every war made on these people, even by Aurungzebe, ended in a compromise, or defeat, on the side of the afsailants.

Cheitore was the capital of the Rana in the days of his greatness. It was a fortress and city of great extent, situated on a mountain; but has been in ruins since the time of Aurungzebe in 1681: and had once before experienced a like fate from the hands of Acbar, in 1567. The position of this place, is inferred from the account of Sir Thomas Roe, who made it 105 cofses from Mundu, and 51 from Agimere. From this I have been led to place it in lat. 25° 21′, lon. 74° 56′. The different MS. maps, give its position more to the west; and indeed, one of them, so far as to throw it near the great road from Amedabad to Meerta. The cause of this, is a mistake in the difference of longitude between Agra and Guzerat, which has been reckoned too much in these MSS. Cheitore, placed as above, is only about 181 G. miles on the west of Narwah: Mr. Hastings's MS. map gives this distance at 196; Col. Popham's at 195; Col. Muir's at 193; and a map of Malwa 231. All but the last, assign it the same parallel as Narwah: while my construction places it 19 minutes more southwardly: the map of Malwa, alone places it 18′ south of Narwah. Mr. Hastings's copy agrees with the construction, in making it bear about SSW from Agimere; but shortens the distance about 6 cofses.

Rantampour, a very celebrated fortrefs in the Indian histories, is situated in the eastern quarter of Agimere, and has its position from the same MSS.: and in the SE quarter of the same soubah, many other noted fortrefses and residencies of rajahs, are extracted from the same MSS.; afsisted by Col. Camac's tables of routes: such as Kotta, Boondi, Gandhar, Thora, Suisopour, Sandri, Mandelgur, &c. And in Marwar, or the north division of Agimere, Nagore, Bicaneer, Catchwana, Didwanah, Samber, &c. &c. The upper part of the courses of the Chumbul, Sinde, and Sepra rivers, appear now, for the first time, in some sort of detail; though it must be long, ere the geography of parts so remote from our establishments and influence, can be in any degree correct; and the reader will pardon his being reminded, that the geography we are treating of, includes an extent equal to one half of Europe.

The Ayin Acbaree has furnished some new ideas respecting the division of the soubah of Agimere. It consisted at that time of three grand divisions, Marwar, Meywar, and Hadowty (or Nagore); and these contained seven circars or subdivisions, Agimere, Cheitore, Rantampour, Joudypour, Sirowy, Nagore, and Beykaneer (or Bicaneer). Marwar, as including the circar and fortress of Agimere, has grown almost synonymous with Agimere, in common acceptation. The extent of this province, as given by the same book, is 168 cofses, or about 320 B. miles, from east to west; and 150 cofses, or 285 B. miles, from N to S: and its extent on the map, justifies this account. Such is the province of the Rajpoots. From the indulgence granted to this tribe throughout India, namely, that of feeding on goats' flesh, I think it may be inferred, that the custom originated in this mountainous country. The grain cultivated there, is chiefly of the dry kind. The taxes amounted (in the time of Acbar) to no more than a seventh, or eighth, of the produce of the harvest.

We come next to the Gohud and Narwah provinces, between the Chumbul and Sinde rivers. Much of this tract was described

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

up

by Mr. Cameron, in a map communicated by the late Col. Camac : but even a province equal to one of the largest English counties, is lost in such a map, as the one under consideration. Beyond this, on the east and south-east, to the Betwah river, is filled chiefly with Col. Camac's information. Between that river, and the Nerbuddah, the Persian book of routes (see page 220) furnishes the road between Callinger and Bilsah, and becomes interesting by its leading through Sagur (the Sageda, of Ptolemy), a capital fortress and town, situated on a branch of the Cane river, about 55 G. miles to the eastward of Bilsah. This route was also translated by Mr. Anderson. It gives only 78 cofses between Bilsah and Pannah (or Purna, the famous diamond mine of Bundelcund, and supposed to be the Panafsa of Ptolemy); which, I should apprehend, was a mistake; as the distance, on a straight line, is 165 G. miles. Sagur, however, being stated at 26 cofses from Bilsah, a known point, does not allow of being far misplaced, by an error in the scale.

Bilsah is placed, by a route of Col. Camac's, leading from Sirong to Bopal; and being confined by these points on two sides, and by the routes of Goddard and Smith, on the others; it cannot be far out of its place. Bilsah, which is almost in the heart of India, affords tobacco of the most fragrant and delicate kind, throughout that whole region; and which is distributed accordingly.*

Chanderee, and other places along the course of the Betwah, are either from Col. Camac's routes, or Col. Muir's map. Chanderee is a very ancient city, and within the province of Malwa. The Ayin Acbaree says, "there are 14,000 stone houses in it." It

A difference of opinion seems to have prevailed, for some time, whether tobacco came originally from Asia or America. It is so universally difseminated over Hindoostan and China, and appears to have been in use so long in the former, that it is not regarded by the common people, otherwise than as indigenous. However, it is now ascertained, very satisfactorily, that it was carried thither by the Portuguese: for there are in existence, copies of certain prohibitory edicts concerning it, ifsued by the Mogul emperors: and in those, tobacco is mentioned, as "a pernicious plant, introduced by Europeans." It is mentioned by Olearius, as a plant in common cultivation in Persia, about the year 1638.

Hh

[ocr errors]
« PreviousContinue »