874 Notes of a journey to Girndr. [Oct. 



missing portion of the rock on the eastern side, as the highly impor- 

 tant 18th edict, containing the names of Ptolemy, &c, had principally- 

 suffered from the mutilation. All our inquiries tended to the conclu- 

 sion, that the rock had been blasted to furnish materials for the neigh- 

 bouring causeway : to remove any sufficiently extensive part of the 

 pavement of this, would have been attended with an expense, which I 

 did not feel myself authorized in incurring without authority, but the 

 whole of the soil at the base of the rock, particularly on the eastern 

 side, was turned up to a considerable distance, and as deep as could be 

 gone. In this way numerous small fragments of the original rock were 

 found, confirming our surmises, as to the purpose to which the other 

 portions had been applied* : from these fragments only two had the old, 

 and one a portion of a letter in the modern character upon them. 



For any further information respecting this noted rock and monu- 

 ment of antiquity, I must refer to my plans, and rough sketches which 

 accompany these notes ; but I cannot help expressing, at the termination 

 of my work upon it, how much I owe to the politeness of H. H. the 

 nawab, whose hospitality and kindness, during my stay at Junagarh, 

 were unbounded; by his direction, an awning was spread over the stone, 

 and an Arab guard was furnished me ; in short that assistance was af- 

 forded, without which, it is doubtful if I could have proceeded. 



Within the walls of Junagarh, the Uparkot and some excavations 

 at its base, are the only objects of any interest. The old citadel is 

 built upon an elevation of the limestone, which appears to cap over the 

 granite at the base of the hills ; and on which the city of Junagarh is 

 situated. This is quarried in all directions in the eastern, or unoc- 

 cupied part of the city, and is so soft as to be easily cut with a hatchet. 

 It hardens however on exposure, and is invariably used as a building 

 material. The Uparkdt is a noble specimen of eastern fortification, 

 its walls being unusually high, with immense bastions. The materials for 

 these have been taken from a wide and deep ditch, which has been scarp- 

 ed all round it. There is only one gateway and narrow entrance from 

 the westward, guarded by a few sebundees of the nawab, who, as a 

 matter of form, still keeps the keys of this stronghold. With the 

 exception of a very handsome musjid, which occupies the highest 

 part of the interior, the whole is a mass of ruins, overgrown with 

 a thick jungle of the custard-apple tree: the musjid has suffered much 



* We are indebted to H. H. the present nawab of Junagarh, for the preservation 

 of the inscriptions from total destruction, as he interfered to prevent the further 

 mutilation of the stone. The popular belief in the spot is, that the unknown charac- 

 ters refer to immense treasures, buried in the neighbourhood of, or under the rock. 



