menfe, which the afíailants divided entirely among themfelves.
After that, we made a point of honor to reftore the monarch
to his throne ; the capital had by that time recovered in part its
former profperity: the expedition highly anfwered the intent:
we eafed the inhabitants of their new-acquired riches, and returned
perfectly fatisfied with our acquifitions.
T h i s city was, before the eruption of Ayder Alt, fuppofed to
contain a hundred thoufand inhabitants. Their religion is
Hindoo: they poffefs a moft magnificent pagoda, of a pyramidal
form; and the fummit finiihing with a globe, the bafe of which
is hid in foliage : the ftones which compofe this building are
large and rude. Mr. Hodges, in tab. xxiii. gives a view o f i t ;
Captain Frapaud, another : The latter in an ornamented ftate,
the fides of the pyramid being covered with globular ftones
' placed in rows. Thefe pyramids, and thoie at Deogur, hereafter
to be mentioned, have a chamber in the centre without any
light but what is given by a lamp.
' Mr. 7rdpaud in the fame plate, gives a figure of the famous
bull which is cut out of one block o f granite, weighs a hundred
tons, and was brought from a place a hundred miles dif-
tant: the height to the top of the head is thirteen fee t: the
length from the cheft to the rump, fixteen: girth round the
neck and cheft, twenty-fix * . This may have been the F i r s t
B u l l of Zoroajler. I fhall not enter into the legend, a tale
fo nonfenfical as to weary any, except he is poffefled of the
phrenetic fancy of the pious Hindoo.
D e l t a of th e T h e whole of the kingdom is included within the Delta of
C a v er y .
» Mr. Knight’s Eflays, &c. p. 57. tab. xvii.
the
the Cavery, which is divided by multitudes o f ftreams. It
is taken notice of by Ptolemy, under the title of Cbaberis Flu.
OJlia. Excepting the Cbleroon, the moft northern, I doubt whether
any were navigable. The moft fouthern is anonymous,
but may be known by a place named in the map, Cottamoody.
This Delta is an irregular rhomb. The diftance to Calymere
point is about forty miles, and from that point, where the land
trends due north, to Porto-novo is eighty.
Calymere point, the Calligicum promontorium of Ptolemy, juts
into the iea in Lat. 10 20, and with Cape Koyel, forms a bay in
the concave fliores of the Marawars, and part of Fanjore. All
the coaft from Cape Comorin to Calymere point, and from thence
to the mouth of the Godavery, is flat and fandy : this ibrt of
appearance, in places, runs far inland, and often infulates naked
rocks, and fugar-loaf peaks. From Calymere point, the coaft
runs almoft due north, fwelling out a little about midway, as
far as the mouth of Kiftnab river, in nearly. Lat. 16” north.
T h e northern part of the ftreight between the continent and
Ceylon, which lies from Cape Calymere to the clufter o f ifles off
the northern end of Ceylon, is called -Polk's Pajage. They probably
are the ihattered remains o f land which once made continent
of the prefent ifle of Ceylon, o f which Adam's Bridge
is the other part.
W i t h i n the Delta, at a few leagues beyond the Cape of Calymere,
ftands Negapatam, the Negama of Ptolemy, a neat city,
and place of confiderable trade : it is waihed by a river, capable
of receiving vefiels of two or three hundred tons. It was
firfl: fortified in 1690, and furrounded with walls in 1742: it
did
N a tu r e of thè
C o a st*
Pa l k ’sP assaoe*
N eg a p a tam .