®fip
H I N D O S T A N..
I
Vifiapour.'
Hydrabad.
To the north of the Goa, ..formerly a
I capitakfettlement o f the Portuguefe, and a noted feat of their Inquifition.
This city, once, magnificent, Hands .on a. fmall ifle,t in th,e '/-midft of a
beautiful bay, which receives a riyulet,called the Gonga, and' two or
three' others from the Balpgauts. or higheft mountains of Sukhien,
which form a grand diftant prolpeQ;,. while the intervening fcene is
variegated withlhills, wop.ds, consents, and villas. It was féized by
the celebrated Albuquerque, the greateft of the Portuguefe commanders
in India, A. D. 1510. It afterwards .became another Malacca, another
centre; o f Portuguefe trade..3 The harbour is ranked among the fir ft in
India, and if in the hands of theEnglifh wPuld probably ; refume its
former confequence. '
The other parts o f the coaft prefenting few remarkablè objects, it
will be prpper to pafs the mountainous ridge, and firft vifit Poona,, the
capital of the weftern empire of the Marattas, but h mean, d'efencelefs
city ; the archives o f the ' gdycrmnent, and in all appearance the chief
feat o f power, being at Poprunder, a fortrefs about eighteen miles to'.the
fouth-caft.
, /Vifiapour, 'in the Maratta tèrfitoj^j!‘alfo 'called' Hejapourj
fiderable city, and was once the capital o f a large- kingddm o f thh fatne
name. In the vicinity are celebrated diamond mines.
Hydrabad is the metropolis o f thé Nizam’s tefrifóry; and particularly
o f thé célebratèd kingdom-or province of GolcPhda, hut feems’fith'èrwife
little I remarkable.-; Betwixt thefe two laft-named cities1 iiands'Galhefga,
‘ formerly the capital of a powerful' kirigidonv, thatióf the Deccan, under
the Bamineah dynafty, as already mentioned in thp- general view of
Hindpftan. On palling the Kiftna, few^ pSekshof ^ifiinguiïhéd -note
occur. Thé /regions oh thé great river: 'Tohmhu'ddrk, - which' fifes
nearly in the parallel of Seringapatam, and 'puffuex'h northern coiirfe
of about 350 B. miles till' ifjóiri the Kiftna afteï' palTing Canoul, Mve
been'delineated with fupéribr i&u fa cy in: RebnieH’s' laffmap, April
§m m ; and iftisto be wilhed that he would publifli a general m4ap of
Hindpftan on a larger fcale -than that of rySb'i' toitliya.il the 'thhftÉfeSnt
difcoveriès,
3 Pennant, I. IIZ.
C E Y L O N ,
ISLAND OF CEYLON.
Extent ■ and ' NAme—ReligbHArPvpMatteh.— Mariners dnd; Ciifioms.— Towns.—
Mahufa&ures. — Climate.— Rivers.—Mountains. — tbreftsl ^Zoology.--Mine-
ralogy.— Pearl Fifhery. —Other IJles,. 1. |
r r^H O U G H I® ifland befifitabovea fifth part/.of the fize ascribed to Extent akb
A it by the ftrange exaggeration of the ancients, it ftill approaches Name.
to that of Ireland, being generally fuppofed to be about a60 B. miles in
length' by about 150 in breadth : 'but in tl^itvide continent of Afta
territory is on fo large a fcale, that what in Europe would conftitute a
kingdom1 is here feaVcely a province. This 'filers the Taprobana, Salicef
and Sieledeba of -the ancients", the Serendib of'.the Arabians.: in |jg|
Hindoo language it is ‘ ca.ll’ef|Lanca ; and thp people are doubtlefs of
Hindoo origin." Its hiftp'ry is little known. The Hindoos fable that
it wlGccAquercd hy the' almighty Rama, who conttruded a bridg||
over the (heals and iflands,' ftill called; by his ‘name ; but the Mahometans;
ftyle it Adam’s Bridge; as, by another abfurd alteration, they have
called the (bppfifed print of thd 'feot of the god Boodh, on a high mountain,
by the name of Adam’s Foot. ' In the oftClahdiuS’embaffa:-
to Romp Sin^alefe Tajia,1raja,'iui' king, whom
'Pliny miftaking his title for his name, has called Rachia.1 ‘ In the
trifling treatile ou the Brahmans, written- by one Palladius, and trauflated
by St; Ambrofe, we are told that four kings -reigned in- Taprobana, of
whom fine ■ was ftyled Maharagia, or the great king. The f&ccpffion
-and petty •Wars bf thefe-prih£es wfiufd'flfiHittle itopot taint. When this
Portuguefe; feized/this-ifland, 1506,. the c3fi!<|f monarch ;was ;th eW g s o f
. Cotta} but the' central province -aft Csndea,!.or Kahdi, |afterwards appears
as: the leading principality. The - Portuguefe retained pdffeffioij
of the ffiores, (the inland parts .fifing ;■ to a -high' table land,/bonded »by j ■
forefts, and difficult'pafles,^ \ill aiboutf 1660, when they Were expelled Ey
the Dutch,, between whops and the king pf Kandi a- war arofe *7"59»
5'? Ji'^ElinyJ yi\ 221.
which.