T a k e n b y
S t o r m .
A m e d a b a d -
F INCH.
mofque and tomb o f the founder are entirely built of marble and
ftone. The laft is of exquifite workmanihip, and, notwithftand1-
ing it has Rood above four hundred years, remains uninjured by
the length of time. Amedabad was founded out o f the ruins of
the Hindoo cities. The walls ftill-remain, and are fix miles in circumference,
in which were twelve gates. Such was its ftate ia
the days o f Aurengzebe. At prefent, not a quarter within the
walls are inhabited, and nothing but the veftiges of the. fuburbs,
which once extended three miles round the outfide of the walls,
are to be feen. The Mabrattas made a conqueft of it. Goddard
attacked and took it by ftorm on February 15,1780, after a moil
vigorous refiftance. It was garrifoned chiefly by Arabs and
Sindians, the braveft o f troops. Numbers perilhed in the rage
o f the ftorm. No a<ft of humanity was omitted by the general
to the furvivers.. The gratitude of the vanquiihed was equalled
to the generality o f the vidtor * .
H e r o e s muft not entirely engrofs my pen : as a naturalift,
I muft defcend to fpeak of inferior fubjedts, o f the little fpecies
o f finch, which, takes its name from- Amedabad, fee Latham iii.
311. Edw. tab. 335. It is the left of the genus, remarkable for
its beauty, and for a fweet but ihort note. They are often imported
into Europe. The elegant fquirrel, called the F a i r (Hift.
Quad. ii. N ° 3 4 3 .) . is alfo an inhabitant of the woods of
Guzzerat..
T h e flying M a u c a u c o £Hift. Quad. i. N° 156.) is co-tenant
of the fame forefts. It wholly-inhabits the trees. In defcend-
* Wars in Afia, i. 90, 102.
jng it fpreads its membranes, and balances itfelf till it reaches
the place it aims a t; but in afcending, ufes a leaping pace. Its
food is the fruit of the country. This is the animal which
Abulfazul calls a cat which will fly to a fmall diftance *.
T h i s Sircar, fays the Ayeen, ii. 76, is remarkable for the number
and fize of the mango trees, and the fize of the fruit. There
is an avenue of thefe trees from Puttan to Berodeb, a hundred
eofes, or a hundred and ninety Britijh miles in length. The
country is almoft a foreft in feveral diftricts, which gives Ihelter
to multitudes of leopards.
F r o m , the river Mihie the coaft waves to the fouth. After
oaflinsr the fmall found of Amood, fucceeds that o f Barochia, at B a i o c h i a , t h e
i r O AN T IEN T DA--
the end o f which ftands a city of the fame name, derived from R Y G A Z A .
Barygaza, famed, in old times, as far the' greateft port and emporium
in all India. In 1616 the Englijh,. by the intereft of Sir
Thomas Roe, had permiflion to eftablilh in this city a faffory,
which continues there till this day. By the year 1683 it had
flouriihed fo greatly, that the inveftment for England was not
lefs than 55,000 pieces of baftaes, 8ec. of different forts, manu-
faitured in the- neighborhood,, and in quantity and finenefs
fuperior even to Bengal itfelf t.
H e r e was born Zarmanachagas, who w as in the train of the Zarmonac-ha-
embaffadors fent by a king o f the title o f Porus to Augujlus, OAS'
when he was at Antioch. Strabo, lib. xv. p. 1048, informs us
that this perfon, who. had. all his life experienced the greateft
* Ayeen Akberry, iii. 99.
t . Purchas, i. 547. Orme’s Fragments, Notes, cxxxi. ii.
felicity*,