EASTERN II I N D O O S T A NT. 135 



lar^e and lofty buildings, fwelling out in the middle like a bar- 

 rel, and tapering upwards to a point ; thefe are land-marks, and 

 may be feen eight or ten leagues at fea. Befides thefe are multi- 

 tudes of fmall ones; each of which is a fandluary, and contains 

 a deity *. Befides thefe are other buildings of different forms, 

 fome for the reception of pilgrims, of which not lefs than a 

 hundred and fifty thoufand annually vifit this venerated place, 

 who are entertained here. A fingular charity is obferved ; the 

 Cajls feed promifcuoufly without fear of pollution, a conftant 

 dread in every other part. Anquetil du Perron^ who vifited the 

 place, fays, in vol. i. p. Ixxxi, of his Zend-avejla, Difcourfe Pre- 

 limi}iaire, that the three great Pagodas are inclofed in a fquare 

 wall made of enormous black ftones, and that each fide of the 

 wall is a hundred fahoms in extent, and that in each is a gate 

 facing the four points of the compafs. M. Sonnerat, i. p. 218, 

 from the report of the Hindoos, beftows on it a very high 

 antiquity, greater than I can fubfcribe to, that of near five thou- 

 fand years. On one of the great Pagodas is an enormous ox or 

 cow, cut out of fi:one, with all the fore parts projecting from 

 the wall t. This the reader need not be told is the favorite 

 facred animal of Hindoojlan. 



Near the Pagodas is a large chapel, in which the Brahmins Image of the- 



"^ Deity. 



deliver their difcourfes. As to the deity, he is exhibited in form 



of a ftone mofl: rudely cut. Inftead of one eye he had a ruby; 



inftead of the other he has a carbuncle. A Dutcb^nan, chief of 



the fadory, knew the difference, and dexteroufly purloined the 



* Anquetil du Perron. t Hamilton's Voyage, i. p. 382. 



rubyo- 



