1839.] March between Mhow and Saugor, 1838. 813 



The city however, especially if viewed from a height, has a remark- 

 ably lively and pleasing appearance : white terraced palaces, and 

 the light domes and minarets of mosques and tombs, peer above the 

 houses in every direction. The rock-bound lake washes the town, 

 and little outworks from the fort, (which has perhaps more of beauty 

 than of strength)* stretch to the water's brink, and add much to the 

 picturesque of the scene. Nor must we forget to notice the gardens 

 filled with fine trees, and the really splendid baolees, containing nu- 

 merous shady apartments for the convenience of the traveller. Some 

 of the mosques, &c. may in after times yield matter for the antiquary : 

 for, the Mussulman, — " non in alia re damnosior quam in sedificando" — 

 not content with mutilating the detested images, is every day using 

 them as material for his buildings, turning the sculptured part with- 

 in.t A few days before our arrival, a stone tablet from some old 

 temple, in the neighbourhood, containing, it is said, a long inscription, 

 was buried under the foundation of a splendid musjed which the 

 Begum is erecting :% another slab was about to suffer a similar fate, — 

 the authors of the sacrilege being in this last instance Jains, but a 

 copy of the inscription was taken before its consignment to earth. 

 Captain Burt has I believe sent it you. § As Bhopal is encircled 

 with ruined towns, thefts of this nature are committed very generally 

 by all classes, stones being frequently brought from so great a distance 

 as Bhojpoor. 



We could not visit all these ruins ; so we preferred passing by Shums- 

 gur, from which the two bijeks above alluded to were brought, and 

 which as the nearest to the city, has been the common quarry for 

 ages. We set out in high hopes, for a village, (of which the name has 

 escaped me,) about eleven miles off; which was fabled to possess a 

 marble stone, — Heaven knows, how many yards square, — covered all 

 over with writing. On arriving at the place, the stone was not to be 

 found ; and though we teased every soul in the village with questions, 



* Both the fort and citadel are contemptible as fortifications, spite of the famous 

 siege. 



f A common practice, J.A.S. 3; 618. Mrs. Meer Hussun, 2; 138, &c. 



X A buniah who had seen it, consoled us by the assurance that it was about 6 or 700 

 years old, and related to some Raja or town named Bid (?). That he could read it at all 

 —proves that it was modern. 



§ A fragment (No. 3.) that you may verify it is forwarded. We delayed taking a 

 facsimile till our return from Saugor, in the interim a piece which had been chipped off 

 one corner, was lost. We can make no sense of it, though the letters seem plain 

 enough. 



