88 W E S T E R N H I N D O O S T A N . 



poffefs a line of coaft of three hundred miles in extent; out 

 of which the Engli/h poffefs Bombay and its adjacent ifles, and 

 the flrong hold of ViHoria : and the Portugueje, Goa, and the 

 antient domain belonging to that once famous emporium. The 

 part of the Concan next to the fea is low, but at a fmall diftance 

 inland rifes into vaft ftrength. It is guarded by the celebrated 

 mountains the Ghauts, which rife to a furprifing height, and 



The Ghauts, oppofe to the weft a mural front with Ghauts, i. e. paffes. They 

 are the fame which the JFel/Jj call a Bzvkh. From the word Ghaut 

 the whole chain deriv-es its name. They give entrance into the 

 lofty, fertile, and populous plains of boundlefs view, which they 

 fupport in the manner as buttreffes do a terrace, formed on an 

 immenfe fcale. Thefe run not remote from the fea from Surat 

 to Cape Comorin, at fome places feventy miles diftant, but ge- 

 nerally forty, and in one place they advance to within fix. They 

 have leffer hills at their bafes, clothed with forefts, particularly 

 of the valuable teek. The plains are bleft, from their fituation, 

 with a cool and healthy air. From the fides of the mountains 

 precipitate magnificent catarads, forming torrents, the means 

 of facilitating th-e conveyance of the timber, and giving a 

 thoufand pi(5lurefque fcenes amidlf the forefls, 



EASTERN &c. The Ghauts are diftinguiflied into the weftern and the 

 eaftern. The firit extend, as I have defcribed, uninterruptedly 

 from Surat to the pafs of Palkaudcheryf when near Coimbetore 

 they fuddenly turn, deeply undulating to the north. Then, at 

 the pafs of Gujethetty, wind north and north-eafterly as high as 

 Amboor and Mugglee, the laft about eighty miles due weft of 

 Madras.. From hence they are not, by reaibn of the numbers 



. of 



