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I I I N D O S T A
I
I N T R O D D C T -I O N .
'^General t —Arrangement.—Natural and Polttuaf Divi/tms.— PIan of
ibefrefenfNefcripfion.
r I "'HE defcription of this interefting portion of Afia is. not a little diffi-
cult, from its vaft and irregular extent, from the want p^gran,d.firb-
divifions, from the diverfity of naticjns and powers, large foreigt^fettle-
ments, and other caiifes, fo that the .firft objeft mud be to ^det^trnine
a clear and natural arrangement, far from being ’ imprefled with this
circuraftance,.geographers feem defir ous-sto increafe'-the embarraffinent;
•by including the regions called India beyond the Ganges, whence the
confufion becomes more confounded.
Mr. Pennant,'’who often excels in geographical delineation,„has* in
-his .View of Hindoftan, been contented with the vague divifions of
Weftern, Eafternj and Gafigetic, or that part which is-pervaded bybthe
Ganges and its tributary'ftreams. His defcription is alfo in. the form
of an itineraryj of all others perhaps the leaft adapted to general geogra-
?phy., Major Rennell, to whom we are indebted for an excellent map
and memoir, which have thrown great light on Indian geography, firft
vconfiders the fea coafts and ifiands; as, in the conftruftion of a map, the
-outline of the coaft is the earlieft object. He then defcribes Hindoftan
in four other feblions: i. That part occupied by the Ganges and its
^principal branches: 2.That occupied by the courfe of the Sinde,
' Sind eh, or river Indus : 3. The track fituated between the river Kiftna
.and the two former divifions: 4. The countries to the fouth of.the
Kiftna,