C busf
ClflES asd
Tewss.
Tatta.
Boundaries.
with the Indus, along which there is an uninterrupted navigation for
veffels of 2 o& ton's- not only to this city but as Far as Lahore.7 .Moul-
tan;is a ftuall city, and of litde confequence, except ’for -its antiquity
and cotton manttfa&ure.
'°The laift refaafkatde %ity oh the Hral5f^|F|||iE§ thefcaplM c f Aim ifro- ■
vince of Sindi, and fituated within the Delta, the upper part of which
is well cultivated, while the lower, inftead of the lofty forefts of the
Gangetic <Su nderbunds, prefents: only low brulhwood, fwamps, and
lakes. ; In the months of July, Auguft, and September, when, the
S. W. monfoon brings rain in mod; parts of Indiaj the atmpfipneMis
here often clouded, but no rain falls except near the. fea. At Tatta the
Heats are fo violent,, and the winds, from the ^ai^dy d’eljertsjbn the E. and
M. W. fo pernicious, that many precautions are ufed. The manufactures
o f this eify in filk wool from TSrerman^ and cotton,hay^gjeatLy
declined. The Mahometan prince of Sindi is tributary to Can dollar.
CHAPTER . IV. .
Central Hindostan, or the Middl-e'P rovinces.
Boundariet.—rChief Cities.— Sixcars.—Ancient Pfade.__Pyrates.
T HIS divifion is chiefly bounded by Gangetic Hindoftan on the
north; and on the weft by the fandy defert,; and the ocean
The fouthern limit is the- river Kiftna, with its tributary ftream the Bee-
ma; while the eaft is wafhed.by the bay o f Bengal. -The length ||| to
W. from Jigat Point to Cape Palmiras, is- little lefs than 1200 B. miles5
■while the medial breadth is about 400. In it are comprehended the
7 Rennell, 178: yet, page 93, he mentions the river of Moultan as being choked up about
1665 i
6* province
province of Oriffa, .with-part, óf Golconda' Berar, Dowlatabad., Candeiïh, Boohda-
and Guzcrat, ami . of h er d.iftriQs of inferior name ; and on the eaftern RIES'
fhore are 'the Britilh. provinces,,jpl the Sircars-. . 1
^ In a natural tranfition from, the divifion of India laft deferibed, the Chief Cities,
province- pf. Guvprat fir,ft prqfqnps; „kfelf,like a. farg^ promontory; but
the fhQrkes feem -little adapted to, eqmmqrciaT purppfes.. The chief city, Amedabad.
Amedabad, .is eonfidqrahle,, .and,, well fortified, taken by the Engliftu
under General Godjacft in t Marattas in 1783.
Cambay, at the difiapqe ©f fnore than -fifty mile^may called the fea Cambay,
porf-qf this 'cagftal j < itfglf a handfome emy, _ formerly, iof great trade in
fpiflfydvoyyffifilk, ,ahd,qsttoB qfctfis*5 rf)'Pi the harb^tp: wasdainedqd with
fand and,.mud, and is neby liltle-( frequepfe^ the trade .being chiefly
transferred tq 1 Sprat., The fovereign&^'©M>Guz,eip,tt.were not a little
^ and lqng^yfithftoodjhe powgr^qf,'the Mongulsa, and towards
the eaf£ of this province' ^appears to haye befen tkfe. feat of tjie great B'al-
hara,' or- Hindopf'empemr of-the Arabian’ authors, whofe, capital Was
’NaJyif^ran.ab" «rAjehadwarah. lat.’ 22°.’ bat onénlal Jqngitudes, or
kd^d'thfei numerals'in general, in their gepgraphlc^> works, are o f
nofcqA ina,r^iiraf.y.* Ren&udot ha«,-'however’ erred gfofsly^yhqn he
confounds the BaJhara of central Hindoftan with the Zamorin, qr Sa-
m"ohjy,-‘ the king.qf an extenfive territory .around JIalicutj whofe name
and diminilhedfplenjlftpjr |xift to this^a^. , 3|dnhr?., in tbe^twelfth'century,;
mcqtfqns that the people here ymBe1 worftilppers o f Boodh, the
cgntmOJofi' mthjhe.fóuth o f Hindqmn being more, intimate than that
with the north 5 ,to which laft the worfhiprqf Brahma, and the fed: o f
theiBramins, appear to haye be.en reftriftqd.at a. fyte epoch. .But the -
Arabian authors- afe certamjy, fabulous, ,y?hen thêy fuppofe that the.
power of the Balhara .extended even to China,. when-it probably only
cqmprjfe^.the central par,t^ of Hindoftan: .yet their opinion of Kis
power is indicated, as the foyrth grand foyereign in the world, with
thé emperors of China and Greece^ and the Arabian clydtfs.
Surat was formerly* more celebrated as the port .whence the Maho- Surat,
metans of India embarked on their pilgrimage to Mecca, than for any
* The ancient Ne-rhwalah is now Puttin, N,’ of Amenadab, and was formerly tjie capital of
Guzerat. Rennell, xlvi. 2 z8. I See a lift of the kingsm Bernoidli, i. 413. where the race of Ba-
.gela are perhaps the Baliiarasthv Arabs.