Searge, and there were two little Children in one that was open. The Bamboons of all these Palanquins, were covered with Plates of Silver chamfered; after them came many Chariots full of Women; two of which were drawn by white Oxen, almost six Foot high; and last of all, come the Wagons with the Baggage, and several Camels guarded by Troopers."

The majority of the palaces and musjids, public buildings, gardens, baths, &c., with which the Bahmanee kings adorned their capital are now in ruins, but there is sufficient remaining to give an admirable idea of the vast extent and magnificence of the city. Perhaps the most remarkable of all the buildings was the College or Madrissah, built by Mahmud Gawan, the Minister of Mahmood Shah.

After the capture of Bieder by Aurangzebe, this splendid range of buildings was appropriated to the double purpose of a powder magazine, and barrack for a body of cavalry, when, by accident, the powder exploding destroyed the greater part of the edifice, causing dreadful havoc around. The explosion happened in the year 1695. Sufficient of the work remains, however, even at the present day, to afford some notion of its magnificence and beauty. The outline of the square, and some of the apartments, are yet entire, and one of the minarets is still standing. It is more than one hundred feet in height, ornamented with tablets, on which sentences of the Koran, in white letters, three feet in length, standing forth on a ground of green and gold, still exhibit to the spectator a good sample of what this superb edifice was. The College is one of the very many beautiful remains of the grandeur of the Bahmanee and Bereed dynasties, which flourished at Bieder; and they render a visit to that city an object of lively interest to all travellers.

Sir Richard Temple, who visited Bieder in 1861, says: "The bastions of the fortress had a rich colouring subdued by age, being built of the red laterite of which the hills are

there formed. The style of the mosque was grand and severe, quite different from the polished and graceful manner of the Mogul architects in later times. The chief object of beauty in the place was the College. The exterior of the building had once been covered with exquisitely coloured glazing in floral devices, of which there was still much remaining to delight the spectator. This building is perhaps the finest of its kind surviving in India.”

Bieder contains eight gateways four of which, however, are closed. The Fateh gate bears a Persian inscription to the effect that it was constructed by the Subedar of Bieder in 1082 Hijri (A. D. 1671). The Shah Ganj gate was constructed in the year previous. The Thalghat gate was built in the same year as the Fateh. The Sharzah or Lion gate, which is decorated with effigies of lions cut in the stone buttresses of the gateway, was erected in 1094 Hijri (A. D. 1682).

The fortifications of the place, which are very strong, are still well preserved, the battlemented walls of the city and the citadel having a most striking appearance, as they are approached. On the bastions, of which there are a large number many pieces of ordnance, made chiefly of bluish-coloured metal and highly polished, are found; some of them have the maker's name engraved upon them, together with the charge of powder to be used. The ruined buildings in the fort have all been constructed of trap. The Rang Mahal, so called from having its fronts adorned with coloured tiles, contains some apartments which are said to have formed portions of an old Hindoo temple. The citadel also contains the ruins of a mint, a Turkish bath, an arsenal and several powder magazines. There is also a well 150 feet deep. Another building of note in the citadel is the musjid close to one of the old palaces, which is probably the one alluded to, as having been long unequalled for grandeur and solemnity. It has evidently been a building of considerable beauty, but it is now much damaged, the roof

has fallen in some places, and the building has suffered considerably by decay and neglect.

Between five and six miles north-east of the city are the tombs of the Bahmanee kings who died at Bieder. Close to the western gate is the tomb of Amir Bareed Shah, which is probably the best. It is of an imposing height, and has a richly ornamented interior. The tombs of the Bahmanee kings, of which there are ten altogether, are all built on large oblong platforms, and consist of huge square buildings surmounted by domes similar to those at Golconda. The largest of them is that of Ahmed Shah, who removed the capital from Gulburga to Bieder in 1432, and build this mausoleum, upon which is inscribed in Persian the following couplet:

"Should my heart ache, my remedy is this,

A cup of wine and then I sup of bliss."

The tomb of the Minister Mahmood Gawan (Khajeh Gawan) contains a Persian inscription signifying "the unjust execution," and that "without fault he became a martyr."

Bieder is celebrated for the manufacture of a kind of metalware which is styled Bidri-work. The metal is composed of an alloy of copper, lead, tin, and zinc. It is worked into articles of most elegant designs, and inlaid with silver and occasionally gold. The articles manufactured consist chiefly of vases, hookahs, basins, &c. There is unfortunately not much demand now for these elegant manufactures, and proportionately but a small quantity is turned out. Many specimens of it have been sent to England, and a large number of articles were made in 1875 for presentation to the Prince of Wales.

END OF PART I.