HINDOOSTAN. 49 



of Madras ; the territories and ports of Cuddalore, Devicotta, and Ne- 

 gapatan ; the island and city of Seringapatam ; the late kingdom of 

 Canara, and district of Coimbetore ; and the island and fortress of Bom- 

 bay on the gulf of Cambaya. 



The extent of these territories is computed at above 213,000 square 

 miles, or 100,000 more than are contained in the united kingdom of 

 Great Britain and Ireland ; their population at nearly 14 millions of 

 soUiS; and the revenue arising from them at above three millions and 

 a half sterling. 



The allies or rather tributaries of the British, are the Nabob of Oude, 

 Azuph Dowla, whose chief cities are Lucknow and Fyzabad; and the 

 Nabob of Arcot or of the Carnatic, Mahommed Ali, whose capital is 

 Arcot, but who usually " resides at Chepauk, about a mile from Ma- 

 dras, in princely state, upon part of the possessions," says Mr. Pen- 

 nant," for which the English paid a fine to his predecessors, in acknow- 

 ledgment of the original permission there to form their settlement." 

 The small states of Tanjore, Madura, and Tinevelly,are dependent on 

 the Nabob of Arcot, or rather on the English. 



The original country of the Mahrattas was the province of Candeish 

 and the district of Baglana, or the north-western part of Dowlatabad, 

 in the Deccan. They extended their territory to the west and south 

 along the sea-coast from Surat to Canara, through the narrow tract of 

 land called the Concan. They are now divided into the Poonah or 

 western, and the Beraror eastern Mahrattas. The Poonah Mahrattas 

 possess the provinces of Candeish, Malwa, and Allahabad ; and a 

 great part of Agra, Agimere, Guzerat, Dowlatabad, and Visiapour ; 

 the Berar Mahrattas, the greater part of the provinces of Berar and 

 Orissa. Their name is derived, by major Rennel, from a district call- 

 ed Marat ; but even the existence of such a district is disputed. They 

 are Hindoos, and not Mahommedans, and governed by different chiefs, 

 the principal of whom are named Scindia, Holkar, and Bounsla. The 

 chiefs of the Poonah Mahrattas pay a kind of nominal obedience to a 

 head called the peishwa, though they often quarrel with him, and often 

 among themselves, and never are united but by the apprehension of 

 a common danger. The capital of the Poonah Mahrattas is Sattarah, 

 where the rajah, the descendant of their founder Sevajee, is kept in 

 a kind of splendid confinement ; for the peishwa is supposed to be 

 only his minister, and must receive his appointment from him. The 

 seat of government of the peishwa, however is at Poonah, in which city 

 centers the principal wealth of the Mahratta states ; Scindia resides at 

 Ougein ; Holkar at Indoor ; and Bounsla, the chief of the Berar Mah- 

 rattas, at Nagpour. The Mahratta chiefs, were they to act in concert, 

 are, it is said, able to bring into the field above 200,000 horse, and 

 60,000 foot. 



The possessions of the nizam or subahdar of the Deccan (a younger 

 son of the famous Nizam-al-Muluck) comprise the province of Gol- 

 conda, that is, the ancient province of Tellingana, or Tilling, situated 

 between the lower parts of the Kistna and Godavery rivers, and the 

 principal part of Dowlatabad ; together with the western part of Be- 

 rar, subject to a tribute of a chout, or fourth part of its net revenue to 

 the Berar Mahratta. The nizam has the peishwa, or Poonah Mah- 

 ratta, on the west and north-west; the Berar Mahratta on the north ; 

 the northern circars on the east ; and the Carnatic and Mysore on the 

 south. I am not perfectly clear (says major Rennell) in my idea of his 

 western boundary, which, during his wars with the Mahrattas, was 



Vol, IT. H 



