122 Description of the Ruins of Simroun. [March, 



double curse of waste and pestilence. Nature, as it were, in very 

 scorn of the vile passions of man, having turned the matchless 

 luxuriance of the soil and climate into the means of debarring his fu- 

 ture access ! Such was the Nipalese Tara'i until 1816. But since that 

 period the peace and alliance existing between the two efficient Go- 

 vernments of the hills and the plains have given security to the bor- 

 derers, and man is now fast resuming his ancient tenure of this fertile 

 region. Still, however, there is little temptation or opportunity for Eu- 

 ropeans to enter it ; and as chance recently conducted me past the ruins 

 of Simroun, I purpose to give you a hasty sketch of what I saw and 

 heard ; because these ruins are evidently disjecta membra of the same 

 magnificent body to which the mausoleum of Kesriah, and the solitary 

 columns of Mathiah, of Radhiah, and of Bakhra belong. About 15 

 miles from the base of the hills, and at a nearly equal distance from 

 the Baymatty, south of the former, and west of the latter, stand the 

 remains of Simroun, in the Nipalese district of Rotahat, and opposite 

 to the Champarun division of the British zillah of Sarun. 



The boundary of Nepal and of our territories confines the ruins to 

 the south, and the Jamuni Nadi to the west. On the immediate 

 east lies the village of Kachorwa, and on the north, that of Bhag- 

 wanpur, both belonging to Nepal. Here, in the midst of a dense jun- 

 gle, 12 miles probably in circuit, rife with malaria, and abounding in 

 tigers, wild boar, and spotted axis, are secluded these wonderful traces 

 of the olden time. The country around is well cultivated now, both 

 on our and the Nipalese side, but no one presumes to disturb the 

 slumber of the genius of Simroun ; superstition broods over the taint- 

 ed atmosphere ; and the vengeance of Kali is announced to the rash 

 peasant who would dare to ply an axe, or urge a plough, within her 

 appropriately desolate domain. It was only with difficulty that my 

 elephants could make their way through the jungle ; and when I had 

 reached a central position, and ascended an elevation of some 25 feet, 

 composed of the debris of the palace, nothing but a wilderness met my 

 eye. Yet it is barely 500 years since Simroun was a pakka, forti- 

 fied city, the pride and the defence of Mithila ! After the war with 

 Nipal, Lieutenant Boileau, I think, surveyed these ruins, and drew up 

 a plan of them. "What is become of it, T know not ; and regret that 

 rry own opportunity of research was limited to one hasty visit. In 

 this, however, I traced the northern wall, in all its extent : measured 

 the dimensions of the great Pokra or reservoir called Isra ; and clam- 

 bered to the top of what were once the citadel and the Rani-bas or 

 Mahal Sarai. On my return I had much conversation with an intelli- 

 gent Brahman of Bhagwanpur, who told me that in April and May, 



