BROACH, the capital, is situated on an eminence on the north bank of the Nerbuddah, twenty-five miles from the entrance of the river. The houses are generally lofty, and the streets narrow and dirty. In the town and vicinity are many dilapidated mosques and mausoleums. The town has a considerable trade, and annually exports large quantities of raw and manufactured cotton to Bombay. Besides cotton, the principal exports are wheat, joarce, rice, and other grains; nuts, oil seeds, and dyeing shrubs and plants. The water of the Nerbuddah is said to possess a peculiar property in bleaching clothes to a pure white; yet the muslins are inferior to those of Bengal, and the coloured chintzes to those on the Coromandel coast. In 1772 this city was besieged by a British force under General Wedderburne, brother to Lord Loughborough, who was killed under its walls. It was stormed a few days afterwards. In 1782 it was ceded, along with the district, to Scindia; but was again taken possession of in 1803 by
an army under Colonel Woodington, and has ever since remained in possession of the British. Broach is thought to have been the Barygaza of the ancients; and when it surrendered to the emperor Abar in 1572 it still continued to be a place of great trade. In 1780 it was about two miles and a half in circumference, and fortified in the oriental manner, with high walls, perforated for musketry, and flanked with towers; forming, with its natural advantages, an Asiatic fortress of considerable strength. The travelling distance from Bombay is two hundred and twenty-one miles, from Oojein two hundred and sixty-six, and from Poona two hundred and eighty-seven miles. Long. 73. 14. E. Lat. 21. 46. N.