C a p it a l .
F ort of
ÇONDA,
meafure contributes. Nature contributes in feme parts by the
vaft hollows between the hills, but the water contained in them
is increafed by dams made acrofs their difcharges, fometimes
half a league long. After they are filled up by the rainy feafon,
the inhabitants introduce the water into the lower country by
means of fluices, which fpreads unfpeakable fertility into the
fubjacent grounds.
T h e capital was antiently named Bagnagar, and afterwards
Hydrabad. It is the prefent refidence o f its monarch the Nizam
; it is a large city. Tbevenot fpeaks of the palace as a magnificent
building, and alfo a place called 'The Four Towers,
which feems defigned to convey water to the former. Here
was a citadel o f confiderable ftrength; but after feveral affaults
G ol- it was, in 1687, taken by Aurengzebe. T he king had retired
to a fort on an impregnable rock, but1 doubting the fidelity of
his troops, appeared before the Mogulm filver chains, and fur-
rendered himfelf in the rrroft abjeit manner. He was reftored
to his dominions-; but in a little time the conqueror repented of
his g'enerofify, and again took the field. He in perfon engaged
in the fiege, and fixed his quarters at Hydrabad; he afterwards
refigned the conduit of it to one of his forts, Sultan
Azim. The king was ftill in his ftrongfortrefs,which bore the
name o f his king'dCnT. It ftocfd at the diftance o f two leagues
from the capital; OH the fnmmitare five round towers : the
lower defences were fix miles in circumference, arid above them
others of far greater flTengfh, feme of which were cut out
o f the live rock : a breach' WaVeffedtdd, but the courage of the
garrifon Was never tried ; the king being betrayfid by two or
three
three of his general officers, who in the night abandoned their
po it: the enemy ruihed in, and a dreadful daughter enfued;
the king Wasfaken,' and treated With great indignity, and being T a ken .
brought before Aurengzebe', it is even faid that he-caufed him
to be fcOUrged to extort the difcovery o f his treafure: After
this the kingdom was annexed to the Mogul empire.
A m o n g the productions of the kingdom o f Golconda muft be D iamond:
reckoned that moil pretious of gems the D i a m o n d . The
Adamas was certainly the fame with the modern diamond.
Pliny, lib. xxxvi. C. 4, is the only author that treats diffufely o f
i t : He fays it was very little known, and only to princes, and
even to few among them ; that it was the molt valuable article
n6t only among pretious Iton'es, but among every other production
of the world: Maximum in rebus humanis non folum
inter getnmas pretium habet Adamas diu non niji regibus et its
admodum paucis cognitus. He fpeaks o f fix different kinds,
but none but the firft is the diamond of the moderns. It was
fuppofed at one time to be found only in gold mines; but he
juftly obferves, that thofe o f India were not, and adds with
great judgment its relation to a cryftal: from its great hard-
nefs, its indomita vis, the Greeks bellowed on it the name Adamas
; and Adamantine is an epithet frequent with the Greek
and Latin poets.
D i a m o n d s are found in India chiefly in the provinces of
Golconda and Vijiapour, and in that of Bengal. That of Bundel-
cund, fouth of the Jumna, Raolconda, in Vijiapour, and Gandi-
cotta are famed for their mines, as is Coulour in Golconda; Ma-
hanuddy river in Oriffa and Berar, the diftriCt on its banks, are
* ' faid