more than three thoufand years old ; and to obferve in them
that attention and polifhed behaviour which ufually marks the.
moil highly civilized hate ôfTociety, ;
T he diftanee- ©f Seftaires' froth* Gakuttay'by the \neareft
road,. according to'Majpr Rennell, is 4 6 a miles s by’water,
that diftanee is greatly increafed. This city ancientlylbore the
name of Kafi, but at what period it:received its>prefentname
the page of hiftory is. filenU ft is built on the-north fid© of
the. ri^erj which is here very' broad, |and the badk§- of which
are very, high i from the water, - "its Appearance is- extremely
beautiful j . the. great variety of the buildings ftrikes the*'eye,
and the whole^iew ia much unproved by innumerable flighfs
of ftone fteps^ which are either ehttances into the feVeral' fenS-
plcs; p t to thei.houfes. g Several Hindoo temples greafly Orh-
bellifh the banks of the river., and are all afeended to by
Gauts, or flights of ftepsr, fnch as- I harve already noticed.
Many other public and private buildings poflefs alfo considerable
magnificence. Several of thefe I have painted, "and
fame on a krge fcale, fueh as I conceived the fubjeéte' de,
manded.. Many buildings on the banks- of the river, which
eno-aee the attention, and invite to further obfervation, prove;
on--a more minute inveftigation, to be only embankments, to
prevent the overflowing of the water from carrying away the
banks at the feafon of the periodical rains, and for fome time
after, when the river, is high, and the current ftrong, The
moft confiderable? of thefe embankments is called Gelfi Gaut ;
the fplendorfand e^gHnee»lof^IdeHb!as ^ as
duce'Xto te.yamme^rbut, fq^d’'j.|.U^nVa4|?pdmg- thq
qfifteps ftom/th©i^ ’
but the* natural bank), and on thq-|:t^pj<A^plantpd gardan^ In
the center of* th^Buxldmgl (dver^||river ’ ts a fquaye turret,,
.raifed and cqyered.Jfor the' ^Urpofddf enj^ytQg\|he^tefltnefs
of theevenitfgaif'; and, at the^ppme’ atigjes, tw^difta^on
pavilions jfffo^hed with cfon^^ftwhich ■ have.-tiii/fahic^dieftina- ,
tion.- Moftbf3tLS>uildin^ih^l6ibeen e r ^ e d B y the cjiarL-'
table ,contributip®a o f, the ^eAlthy *Sfor the benefit pf;the public.
N e a r l y in the center of the city is-^co«ftderable |^ahq-^
medan mofque, with two minarets r^’thefheight^ from fhe^
Water, tp ,the.top/of i'th e im in a r e t^ ^ fe^ ^M ^ ^ '^ 11^ '
was* raifed by that moff intoleraiit^and - ambitiqus of human
beings, „the Emperor,Aurungzfhe'|wko
cSit templefafqthp Hindoos/fm'fthis fpot^and bw%the pre-
fent mofquej7faid, to-be of,the fame, extent and,height^ the
building he, deftroyed., r "
T he ftreets in the city are narrow,,,and npqkept in ,fhch
good order *as’,I expedtr^^porh.fptde Hixidoo ,^ha&esvl-had
before feen. The houf^aje very.hjghnl ©bfqryed. f^me in
which I counted five
lies. The more yrealthy Hindoos, hoybyer,; ftve in' detached
houfes,' with opep-,courts, furrounded .bj^a wall. The,heat,
in this place, is- confidered as very great in the hot months,.