HINDOOSTAN. 63 



a million sterling in rich and profuse decorations, and to have been 

 nine years in completing. One of the quarters of the city has been, 

 very thinly inhabited since the dreadful massacre by Nadir Shah, in 

 1739, in which above one nundred thousand of the inhabitants were 

 slaughtered. The environs of this once magnificent and celebrated 

 city, appear now nothing more than a shapeless heap of ruins, and the 

 sui rounding country is equally desolate and forlorn. 



The province of Cashmire, being surrounded with mountains, is 

 difficult of access; but when entered, it appears to be the paradise of 

 the Indies. It is said to contain one hundred thousand villages, to be 

 stored with cattle and game, without any beasts of prey. The capital 

 (called Cashmere) stands by a large lake ; and both sexes, the women 

 especially, are almost as fair as the Europeans, and are said to be 

 witty, dexterous, and ingenious. This province is particularly famed 

 for the beauty and fineness of the shawls made here. 



The province of Cabul is diversified with hills, dales, and extensive 

 forests ; but the mountains are said to be covered with perpetual 

 snow. The city of Cabul is the capital of the dominions of the Af- 

 ghans, or kingdom of Candahar. 



The province and city of Lahore formerly made a great figure in 

 the Indian history, and is still one of the largest and finest provinces, 

 producing the best sugars of any in Hindoostan. The city of Lahore 

 was once nine miles in length, but is now much decayed. It is at pre- 

 sent the capital of the Seiks. 



The inhabitants of the province of Moultan carry on an extensive 

 traffic in horses with the Persians and Tartars ; the city of the same 

 name is principally remarkable for its antiquity and its cotton manu- 

 factures. 



Tatta, the capital of Sinde, is a large city, formerly distinguished 

 tor its manufactures in silk and cotton ; but a plague which happened 

 in 1699, carried off above eighty thousand of the inhabitants employ- 

 ed in tnem, and they have since greatly declined. It is still famous 

 ior its manufacture of palanquins which are a kind of canopied couch- 

 es, on which the great men all over India, Europeans as well as 

 natives, repose when they appear abroad. Tney are carried by four 

 men, who will trot along, morning and evening, forty miles a day ; 

 ten being usually hired, who carry the palanquin by turns, four at a 

 time. Though a palanquin is dear at first cost, yet the porters may 

 be hired for nine or ten shillings a month each, out of which they 

 maintain themselves. The Indus, at Tatta, is about a mile broad } 

 and famous for its fine carp. 



The greater part of the provinces of Agimere, Candeish, and 

 Malwa, are possessed by the Mahratta chief, Scindia, whose usual 

 residence is at Ougein, the capital of the latter, an ancient and spaci- 

 ous city, six miles in circumference, and surrounded with a strong 

 wall, with round towers. It is situate on the Sepras, and contains 

 four mosques, a number of Hindoo temples, and a new and sumptuous 

 palace, built by Scindia. 



Guzerat is a maritime province on the gulf of Cambaya, and one 

 of the finest in India, but inhabited by a fierce, rapacious people. It 

 is said to contain thirty-five cities. Ahmedabad is the capital, where 

 there is an English factory, and it is said, in wealth, to vie with the 

 richest towns in Europe. At the distance of about one hundred and 

 ten miles to the south, stands Surat, on the Taptee, one of the most 

 ricti and commercial cities in Hindoostan, and containing near three 



