120 



EASTERN II I N D O O S T A N. 



condition, was again defeatcl, and forced again to purchafc 

 peace on the mod rigoro-iis articles ; and Alia retired with trea- 

 fures ineftimable : Whether it continued its independency does 

 not appear. 

 Delta of the From the conflux of tlie Bain Gonga to the liead of the Delta 



GoDAVERY. ^^ j.j^g Godavery is above fifty miles ; it is thirty-five miles from 

 the head to the fea, is called the Hie of Nagur, comprehends 

 only five hundred fquare miles, yet is of greater value, in pro- 

 portion to its extent, than any other fpot in the eaft, without 

 excepting the famous Delta oi Egypt. This, and the Delta of the 

 Kijlnah, are, like thofe of the Nilef of vaft fertility, enriched by 

 the foil brought down by the annual inundations. The banks 

 of the firft (within the mountains) are covered with immenfe 

 Teek Trees. forells of 'Teek trees ; when the wood is floated down, the fliips 

 built with it are launched in the following fingular manner : 



*« The fliip or veffel is built with her keel parallel to the 

 *' fliore, and as it n"iay happen from 200 to 300 feet from low 

 " water mark : wjien completed, flie is placed on two ftrong 

 ** pieces of timber called dogs (in the nature of a fledge of enor- 

 ** mous dimenfions) and on thefe a fort of moveable cradle is 

 " conftrudled, to iceep the veflel upright : two long Palmyra 

 ^' trees, as levers of the fecond kind, are then applied to the ends 

 ^' of the dogs, and by means of thefe powers they, together 

 *^ with the veflel that refts on them, are gradually puflied for- 

 ^' wards over a platform of logs, until they arrive at the lowed 

 ■** pitch of low water, or as far beyond it as the levers can be 

 ■*' ufed. Tackles are applied to the ends of the levers to increafe 

 ^' the power; the fulcrums are wreaths of ropes faftened to 



" the. 



