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fertility or beauty, cannot easily be exceeded. The tract round 

 the imperial city of Ahmedabad, and all that extensive cham- 

 paign watered by the Mihi and Sabermatty, is a perfect garden ; 

 its flat surface forming a variety from the inequalities of landscape 

 round Zinore. Hindostan, though not destitute of poets and 

 historians, cannot be styled classic ground; but had Homer, 

 Virgil, or Horace visited this " Paradise of Nations," they would 

 have caused it to vie with Greece and Italy. An oriental Baia 

 and Unibria would have courted their muse; and the vale of 

 Tempe would not have remained unrivalled. The gardens of 

 Alcinous, and the streams of Tiber and Clitunmus bear away the 

 palm of antiquity ; in every other respect the royal retreats at 

 Ahmedabad, and the noble rivers of Guzerat, far surpass them. 

 Homer has exactly described the province of Guzerat, 



" Stern Winter smiles on that auspicious clime, 

 " The fields are florid with unfading prime: 

 *' From the bleak pole no winds inclement blow, 

 " Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow, 

 " For there all products and all plants abound, 

 " Sprung from the fruitful genius of the ground ; 

 " Fields waving high with heavy crops are seen, 

 " And trees that flourish in eternal green: 

 " Refreshing meads along the murmuring main, 

 *' And fountains streaming down the fruitful plain. Pope's Oi>yssiv 



From Zinore we proceeded ten miles to Chandode, which is 

 esteemed by the Hindoos one of the most sacred spots in Guze- 

 rat; situated in a romantic part of the province, among deep 

 ravines and overhanging woods, on the banks of the Nerbudda: 



