MR. CRUSO'S JOURNAL.

389

the views, and if possible more than the views, of government into effect; and procured captain (now general) Reynolds, to be appointed to accompany him as surveyor, and Mr. Cruso as surgeon, both recommended by talent, promising every advantage in their respective lines.

He sailed on the 28th of January, and reached the city of Surat on the 2d of February; where having been detained, by waiting for the requisite passports from the different princes whose territories he had to traverse, and by the preparations necessary for so long a journey, in a conspicuous public character, he was not able to proceed until the 12th of March; when he moved from Surat, amply equipped in every point, to give an impression of respect for his nation and government, to those tribes and chieftains, hitherto unacquainted with Europeans, through whose dominions, then but little known, and entirely undescribed, he had purposely selected his route. The guard appointed to accompany him consisted of one complete company of regular native infantry, twenty-six Indian cavalry, and thirty-five irregular

sepoys.

Mr. Cruso's account of Surat, Baroche, and other places in Guzerat, generally corresponding with those formerly detailed in these volumes, I shall pass over, and conduct the travellers to Oojen, the capital of Mhadajee Sindia, part of Malwa. They arrived there on the 10th of April, and on approaching the city, Sir Charles was met by a deputation from the governors, for there were two who conducted him to the encampment on the banks of the river Sepra, which runs by the western walls of the city.

390

DESOLATED VILLA.

I had heard from other visitors of the desolated scenery at Vezelpore. The villa I had erected on that beautiful spot only eight years before, was then in ruins; the dining parlour converted to a stable, the drawing-room to a cow-house; the garden was ploughed up, and sown with grain, the trees destroyed, the lines to the Naiad defaced, and her urn broken.

JOURNEY OF SIR C. MALET.

391

CHAPTER XIII.

Journey of Sir Charles Malet and Mr. Cruso from Surat to Calcutta-Arrival at Oojen Shah-Jehan-poor-Sarung-poorKoojneer-Rajeghur-Sterile and stony country-RagoghurMalwa-Sasy Seroy-Iron Mines-Gwalier-Nourabad-Dolepore.

On his arrival at Oojen, Sir Charles found his tents pitched in a pleasant situation on the banks of the Sepra, not far from its western walls. The next morning, the 11th of April 1785, an officer and suitable attendants came to conduct him with inthe gates, and also to view the suburbs, which are extensive and very dusty, most of the houses being built of mud. The city is large and extremely populous; the streets broad, airy, paved, and clean; the houses generally good. The most striking public structures are a temple built by Ranojee Sindia, father of Mhadajee Sindia; a mausoleum erected in memory of a celebrated Gosannee devotee, and another containing the ashes of Ranojee Sindia. The two latter, with others of less importance, adorn the bank of the Sepra, from whence several large flights of steps lead to the river; the whole produces a good effect. Sir Charles's first visit was to Mhadu-Ghur, called also Byro Ghur, a fortress a mile and a half north of Oojen, by a road running on the banks of the Sepra. At the entrance of Mhadu

392

EXTRAORDINARY BUILDING.

Ghur, is a large Hindoo temple; the outer walls and towers are irregular; within is another fort, or citadel, of an exact square, with four gates, leading to a palace of good dimensions, in an unfinished state. The Sepra, as before observed, flows on the western side of the fortress, and part of its channel is to be conducted into a deep ditch, now forming round the remainder. It is altogether a place of little strength; the walls and towers appearing more like those round an oriental pleasure ground than a fortification. The whole is a recent work, commenced by order of Mhadajee Sindia, not yet finished, nor likely to be.

His guides then conducted him to a very extraordi nary building, at Kallea Déh, about a mile and a half further. The Sepra running on the east, in its natural bed, has been conducted by a channel to the western side of the structure; where the stream rushes through the arches of a bridge into two large reservoirs, and is, from thence, led to numerous small ones, with fountains and other ornaments. On the right is a range of buildings divided by arches, each leading to a square apartment, with a roof partly projecting inward to form a colonnade round a fountain and small tank, bordered with chunam. This was open to the sky, while the company sat beneath a piazza round the water. Under the roof, throughout all the apartments, are iron rings, from which the tattees, or screens of sweet-scented grass, were suspended. This range of apartments, the bridge, and large central building, form three sides of a square: on the fourth, which is open to the rest, the river, divided into five streams, rushes down as many artificial cascades into a general receptacle, which loses itself at the foot of a

EXTRAORDINARY BUILDING,

393

neighbouring hill. The central building, immediately fronting this pleasing scene, consists of a square apartment, covered by four domes, but has no private chambers; it seems to have been intended for the duan konna, or eating room; where the company assembled to take refreshment, and enjoy a view of the lake and cascades below. This structure still remains in high preservation; the excellent materials, especially the fine chunam, having hitherto resisted the effects of time and the elements. In front of the whole are the remains of a wall, enclosing about three miles of ground; which was formerly a park belonging to this royal villa:

From a Persian history of the province of Malwa, Sir Charles Malet collected the following account of this extraordinary work: "Sultaun Nasir al Deen Ghilzey, son of Ghias al Deen, ascended the throne of Malwa, in the 905th year of the hejira, and reigned eleven years and four months. and four months. This prince was tyrannical and cruel: he caused the buildings, the fountains, the reservoirs, and the cascades, to be constructed at Kallea, Déh, and Saadunpore. Having contracted an insufferable heat in his habit, by the use of fixed quick-silver, he had recourse to these watery abodes; there he spent his time, and transacted the business of his kingdom." By this account the waterworks and subaqueous edifices are three hundred years old, A. D. 1785; and from the excellent state of their present preservation, deservedly claim our admiration. The people of India have extraordinary ideas of the invigorating and stimulating powers of fixed mercury. Similar places were constructed by Sultaun Nasir in other parts of his dominions; and