HINDOOSTAN 65 



Golconda lies Masulipatam, where the English and Dutch have fac- 

 tories. The English have also factories at Ganjam and Vizigapatam, 

 on this coast; and the Dutch at Narsipore. 



The province of Visiapour, or Bejapore, before its conquest by the 

 Mogul emperors, was a large kingdom, the rajah of which, it is said, 

 had a revenue of six millions sterling, and could bring into the field 

 one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers ; it is now subject to the 

 Poonah Mahrattas. The capital is of the same name, and the country- 

 very fruitful. The province of Dowlatabad adjoins to Visiapour on 

 the north; the capital is Aurungabad, one of the most populous cities 

 of Hindoostan, built by Aurungzebe near the old capital, Dowlatabad, 

 or Doltabad, which has a very strong fortress, seated on a lofty 

 mountain. 



The province of Orissa, whence the English company draw some 

 part of their revenues, lies to the north of Golconda, extending in 

 length from east to west about five hundred and fifty miles, and in 

 breadth about two hundred and forty. The greater part of it is in 

 possession of the Mahratta chief, Bounsla ; but the capital, Cattack, 

 and the port of Balasore, has been ceded to the English by the trea- 

 ty which concluded the short but successful war of 1803; an acqui- 

 sition the more valuable, as it secures a communication between the 

 British territory on the Ganges, and that on the coast of Coromandel. 



In this province stands the temple of Jagernaut, which they say is 

 attended by five hundred priests. The idol is an irregular pyramidal 

 black stone of about four or five hundred pounds weight, with two 

 rich diamonds near the top, to represent the eyes, and the nose and 

 mouth painted with vermilion. 



Manufactures, commerce... The manufactures of Hindoostan 

 consist principally of muslins and silks; the shawls of Cashmire are 

 particularly esteemed. The inhabitants, in all handicraft trades that 

 they understand, are more industrious, and better workmen, than 

 most of the Europeans; and in weaving, sewing, embroidering, and 

 some other manufactures, it is said that the Indians do as much work 

 with their feet as their hands. Their painting, though they are igno- 

 rant of drawing, is amazingly vivid in its colours. The fineness of 

 their linen, and their fillagree work in gold and silver, are beyond 

 any thing of those kinds to be found in other parts of the world. 

 The commerce of India, in short, is courted by all trading nations in 

 the world, and probably has been so from the earliest ages ; it was 

 not unknown even in Solomon's time ; and the Greeks and Romans 

 drew from thence their principal materials of luxury. The greatest 

 •jhare of it is centered in England, the trade of the French with this 

 country being at present entirely annihilated ; nor is that of the Por- 

 tugues, Danes, and Dutch, of much importance. The exports from 

 Hindoostan are diamonds, raw and some wrought silks, rice, spices, 

 and drugs. 



The Mahommedan merchants carry on a trade with Mecca, in 

 Arabia, from the western parts of this country, up the Red Sea. This 

 trade is carried on in a particular species of vessels called junks, the 

 largest of which, we are told, besides the cargoes, will carry seven= 

 teen hundred Mahommedan pilgrims to visit the tomb of their pro<> 

 phet. At Mecca they meet with Abyssinian, Egyptian, and other tra- 

 ders, to whom they dispose of their cargoes for gold and silver; so 

 that a Mahommedan junk, returning from this voyage, is often worth 

 hundred thousand Doundr.. 



Vol. II. K 



