*34 T R A V E L S I N
weft are fome confiderable hills, among which is the pafs of.
Narwah, leading to Ougion, the capital' of the Malwah country,
at prefent poflefled by Madajee Scindia. The rock on
which the fort is fituated is on every fide perpendicular,, either
by nature or art. At the: north-weft end is die citadel and a
palace, and a. chain of fcven gates leading to; the town at the
foot of the mountain. The town, and indeed the whole bafe
o f the mountain, is; furrounded by a wall.;, and: the.place
has been generally confidered, by Europeans, as the Gibraltar
of the Eaft, as well for its natural fituation as for the
works that have been conftrudted for its fecurity. The town
is large, and contains fome few remains of good houfes., and
a mofque.
D u r i n g the time of the Mogul government this place*
was the ftate prifon, where the obnoxious branches of the
Royal Family were always confined, and where they- were
allowed, for their amufement, a large menagerie of beafts,
fuch as lions, tigers, &c. On the top of the mountain, I
am told, there are confiderable cultivated plains, and a good
fupply of water ; infomuch, that a vigilant and adtive governor
might defend it againft almoft any number of enemies,
who could only attack it from below.
T his ancient and celebrated fortrefsjs fituated in the heart
of Hindoftan Proper, being about eighty miles to the fouth
of Agra, the ancient capital of the empire, and one hundred
tFW
EN D I’A. *35
and thirty, from the neaTeft part of the Ganges. • From Calcutta
.it tSi 'by'the nearéfb route,*; upwards of eight hundred
miles ; nine hundred and ten by the ordinary road; and about
two hundred and'eighty from the Britilh'frontiers.' In thé
ancient divifion of the empire i f is -clafTed ih* the fubah óf
Agra, and is often mentioned in hiftory ■ is the capital -of a
diftridt which producêd; a large revenue. We firft read of'it
in the Hiftory of Hindoftan, in the year 1008 ; and, during
the two following centuries, it re(#as twice reduced by famine.
It is probable that it muft, in all ages, have been a military
poft of the utmoft confequence, both from- its fituation in
refpedt to the capital, and from the? peculiarity o f its feite";
which was generally deemed impregnable. With refpedt to
its relative pofition, it muft be confidered,. that it Hands on
. the principal road leading from Agra to Malwah, Guzerat,
and the Decan; and that near the place where it enters the
hiUy tradt* which advances from Bundelcund, Malwah, and
Agimere, to a parallel with the river Jumna, throughout thc-
greateft part of its eourfe. From thefe drcumftances, as well
as from its natural and acquired advantages gs! a fortiefs, the
pofleflion of it was deemed as necefikry to the ruling empe-
rprs of Hindoftan, as Dover Caftle might be to the Saxon
and Norman Kings, of England.
On the difmemberment of the Mogul empire, Gwalior
appears to have fallen to the lot o f a Rajah of the Jaut tribe
of Hindoos, who afiumed the government of the diftridt in