GANGETIG HINDOOSTAN. 209 



we alfo added a new citadel at the fouthern end. Mr. Hodges, 

 in his vol. i. tab. II. III. has given two fine views of this for- 

 trefs. 



It is reafonably fuppofed to have been of great antiquity, and 

 to have been built by the Hindoos, as all the hill forts origi- 

 nally were. There is an altar of black flone within its walls, 

 on which is feated the deity of the place, except from fun rife 

 to 9 o'clock, when he vifits Benares ; that interval, fay his 

 votaries, is the only time that Chunar Gur can be attacked with 

 fuccefs. When the Ayeen was written, the neighborhood was 

 inhabited by a race of people who went quite naked, and fub- 

 firted by means of their bows and arrows. Elephants alfo were 

 common in a llate of nature in the fame favage tracSt. Popu- 

 lation and cultivation have driven thefe animals into more re- 

 mote parts of the country. 



At Chunar Gur is a mofque of particular fandlity. The gate Gate to the 



° Mosque at 



leading to it is of moft fingular beauty, and the capital fpecimen Chuxar Gur. 

 of Oriental architedlure, and has been, fays Mr. Hodges, pre- 

 ferved with the greateft care, not the fmalleft ornament having 

 received injury. Mr. Danieil, in his XXlVth plate, has been 

 peculiarly happy in his drawing. It has nor in it a mark of 

 mutilation. The entrance is a noble portico, within is a leffer 

 arch for accefs to the mofque. Above that arch is an elegant 

 projecSling loggio, fupported by two confolcs. On each fide of 

 the great portico are two others, the confoles under them pret- 

 tily carved. The front of tlie loggios are formed into open 

 work of itone uncommonly fine, as are the pillar= which fup- 

 port their roofs. The finifliing above and the parapets have 

 peculiar elegance, the laft of open work of various patterns, 

 y.OL. II. E e each 



