i6o 



GA NOETIC HINDOOSTAN. 



Kingdom of 

 Assam. ' 



Rajah's Pa- 

 lace AT Gher- 



CiONG. 



River now 

 called bur- 

 rampooter. 



continues in that direction till it reaches Lat. ay"; midway is its 

 greateft diftance from the Ganges, being not lefs than twelve 

 hundred miles, after beginning its courfe within fifteen miles. 

 From Lat. 27% it as fuddenly turns to the weft, bounded on the 

 eaft and fouth by a great chain of mountains; it now runs 

 through the kingdom of Affam. The capital, Ghergongy is in 

 Lat. 26° 30'. It has four gates, and the city is encompaffed 

 with a bound-hedge of bamboos. The Rq/a/fs palace is fur- 

 rounded by a caufey, planted on each fide with a clofe hedge 

 of bamboos, which ferves inftead of a wall. On the outfide 

 there is a ditch \yhich is always full of water. The Rajab's 

 feat is adorned with lattice-work and carving. Within and 

 without have been placed plates of brafs, fo well poliflied, that 

 when the rays of the fun flirike upon them they fiiine like 

 mirrors. It is an afcertained fadt, that 3000 carpenters and 

 12,000 laborers, were conftantly employed in this work during 

 tw^o years before it was finifiied. When the Rajah fits in this 

 chamber, or travels, inftead of drums and trumpets they beat 

 the dhol and daitd. The latter is a round and thick inftrument 

 made of copper, and is certainly the fame as the drum, which 

 it was cuftomary in the time of the antient kings to beat in 

 battle and marches. 



The river now aflumes the name oiBurrampooier. It is cer- 

 tainly navigable to that city for large boats, which place is at the 

 diftance of fix or feven hundred miles from the fea. The hiftory 

 of this kingdom has been lately given in the Jfatic Refearches, 

 ji. p. 171 ; it fpeaks much of its wealth, and of the plenty and 

 excellency of its natural productions, and that it abounds in all 



metals 



