478 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



for besieging places, they malce 

 them of such a foiin, that, when 

 they run ashore, they are higher 

 than the fort, which is thereby 

 easily entered. 



Diamonds, emeralds, pearls, a- 

 gates, and cornelians, are brought 

 from other countries to the sea-ports 

 of Bengal. 



We are sorry to observe, that 

 notwithstanding the great wisdom 

 -of Akber's code of laws, the cruel 

 custom of sacrificing the living to 

 the manes of the dead, which in 

 our time is confined to wives 

 being burned alive with their de- 

 ceased husbands, and which, by the 

 humane interposition of the British 

 government in India, is now nearly 

 abolished, prevailed in a more ex- 

 tensive degree during his reign, as 

 appears by the following anecdote : 

 — " The dominions of the rajah of 

 Asham join to Kamroop (sircar of 

 Bengal ; ) he is a very powerful 

 prince, lives in great state, and, 

 when he dies, his principal attend- 

 ants, both male and female, are 

 voluntarily buried alive with his 

 corpse." 



Orissa, formerly an independent 

 country, is now added to Bengal : 

 it consists of five sircars, and, in 

 Akber's reign, was defended by one 

 hundred andtwenty-ninebrickforts. 

 The fruits and flowers of Orissa are 

 very fine, and in great plenty. — 

 ''The Nusreen is a flower delicately 

 formed, and of an exquisite smell ; 

 the outer side of the leaves is white, 

 and the inner is of a yellow colour. 

 The kewrah grows here quite com- 

 mon, and they have great variety 

 of the beetle-leaf. We have here 

 to ren^ark, that this is one of the 

 best specimens of Abulfazel's brief, 

 and indeed defective descriptions of 

 the botanical products of Hindostan, 



which are not sufficiently explained 

 in any of the twelve soobahs, or 

 their dependent sircars. 



At Cuttek, the capital of the 

 sircar of that name, a fine palace is 

 described, consisting of nine stories; 

 and in the town of Pursotum, on 

 the banks of the sea, in the same 

 district, stands the famous temple of 

 the Sun, in the erection of which 

 was expended the whole revenue 

 of Orissa for twelve years. 



The military force which the Ze- 

 mindars were obliged to furnish for 

 the service of the emperor consisted 

 of 23,330 cavalry, 801,158 infan- 

 try, 170 elephants, 4,260 cannon, 

 and 4,400 boats. As to the revenue 

 of Bengal at that period, it is so 

 obscurely stated, that though it 

 appears to have been immense, the 

 arithmetical statement of it is too 

 obscure to be intelligible by Euro- 

 peans, and it was certainly incum- 

 bent on the translator to have given 

 the computation in sterling value. 



Annexed to the statistical account 

 of each soobah, we have a summary 

 of the succession of the native prin- 

 ces, beginning with those of Ben- 

 gal, with sketches of the pnncipal 

 occurrences in each reign, down to 

 the time when Abulfazel composed 

 his work ; and also chronological 

 tables of the several dynasties in 

 every soubah ; more curious than 

 interesting, and occupying a very 

 considerable portion of this volume. 



An assessment of the lands of 

 Hindostan, under the title of Tuk- 

 seera Jumma, likewise extends from 

 page 190 to 307. It contains the 

 measurements, in the Hindoo lan- 

 guage, and computations, with the 

 names of the places in every soobah, 

 and is merely local. 



The third, and last division of the 

 work, forms a third volume in the 



