129 



dust, from the abundance of dust in the dry season. After the pre- 

 valence of the hot winds, before the setting in of the rainy season, 

 it is still one of the warmest and most dusty places I ever visited. 



I omitted to remark, that one of the principal mosques in this 

 city w r as formerly a Hindoo temple. The zealous Aurungzebe 

 converted it into a musjed; and ordered a cow to be killed there, 

 in order to prevent the Hindoos from ever. entering it. Thevenot 

 mentions the mausoleum of a cow, that was buried at Ahmedabad, 

 covered by a dome supported by six pillars, which I could not 

 find out. He also describes a banian-hospital similar to that at 

 Surat, where he saw a number of sick oxen, camels, and horses, 

 and many invalids of the feathered race. Animals deemed in- 

 curable were maintained there for life ; those that recovered were 

 sold to Hindoos exclusively. 



The former consequence of Ahmedabad may be in some 

 degree ascertained from its being one of the four cities where the 

 imperial Akber permitted gold to be coined; the other three 

 allowed that distinguished privilege were Agra, Cabul, and the 

 capital of Bengal; ten cities were indulged with a royal mint for 

 silver, and in twenty-eight they coined a copper currenc}-. There 

 are no remains of the mint, treasury, and many olher public 

 buildings; but several magnificent ruins of the hummums, or 

 warm baths. Those of modern structure are very inferior, but 

 -are kept up in different quarters for the convenience of the inha- 

 bitants. It is probable that all the oriental hummums, in point 

 of architecture, accommodation, and beauty, have been at all 

 times insignificant, when compared with those sumptuous edifices 

 in ancient Rome, which now form a very conspicuous part of her 



VOL. III. s 



