J30 EASTERN H I N D O O S T A N. 



others were merchants, who exported to various parts the arti- 

 cles of commerce ; fome were a wild and a favage race. This 

 agrees with the modern account of the nations to the weft, for 

 fome are in a high ftate of civilization, others fo wretched as 

 not to have any covering but a wifp of ftraw to cover their 

 nakednefs. The iirft dirtindtion may comprehend our northern 

 CircarSy or provinces, a traft extending from the Godavery to 

 the lake of Cb'ilka, a fpace of about three hundred and forty 

 miles, and not exceeding in breadth more than from twenty 

 to feventy-five miles. A little beyond that is a line of moun- 

 tains running equidiftant from the fea (about lixty or feventy 

 miles inland) the whole length of the Circars. Thefe arc 

 cloathed with thick forefts of bamboos and other trees, fo as to 

 be impervious to any army in more than four or five places, 

 and even in thofe pafles may be defended by a hundred men 

 againft the moft numerous force ; could M. Bt^Oy have fecured 

 his conquefts by fea, they would have been inacceliible from 

 the land. The whole country far to the weft is little known, 

 is bounded by many civilized nations ; others in the wild ftate 

 above defcribed, others, perhaps limilar, form the vaft blank 

 even in the beft maps. 



The part which comprehends the prefent kingdom of Orixa, 

 is a vaft plain, in twenty parts moraffy, in others traverfed by 

 chains of hills from north to fouth, and watered with rivers, 

 running from weft to eaft, irregularly branching. This king- 

 dom was once independent, but when it was added to the 

 Mogul empire, it was placed in the Soubahjhip of Bengal, and is 

 mentioned as fuch in the Ayeen Akberry, ii. i6, which alfo fays, 

 4 that 



