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Kairah, a large town, situated at the confluence of the Serry 

 and Wartruc rivers, is fortified in thelndian manner with a brick wall 

 flanked by irregular towers, mounting forty-seven guns; the build- 

 ings were almost concealed by trees. Leaving Kairah unmolested, 

 we marched to Coomlah, and pitched our tents in a delightful spot 

 near the village, on the banks of the Serry, a small deep river, 

 abounding with fish; the surrounding country was covered with 

 wild fruit trees, and berries of a beautiful hue and pleasant flavour, 

 which we found refreshing during a sultry march; these indigenous 

 fruits and some tasteless figs were all that remained, the enemy 

 having robbed the country of all the ripening mangos, tamarinds, 

 and other valuable productions. 



Happy would it have been for the delightful province of 

 Guzerat, had their depredations been confined to such devasta- 

 tion; but alas ! all was laid waste and destroyed. The peaceable 

 Hindoos, by whom Guzerat is mostly inhabited, are greatly to be 

 pitied, from its being so often the seat of war; for notwithstanding 

 the frequent changes of their oppressors, from a Mogul nabob to 

 a Mahratta chief, the lower classes lake very little concern in such 

 revolutions. They seldom quit the village where their fathers 

 were born and died ; there they plough the fields, reap the harvest, 

 and tend the cattle to the groves and lakes which surround their 

 humble dwellings, built of mud and straw, where their wives and 

 daughters spin cotton, grind corn, and prepare their simple re- 

 past of pulse, milk, and vegetables. It must be allowed that 

 too large a share of the produce is collected for the government, 

 and its subordinate despots; yet in general a sufficiency is left for 



