SHOLAPORE, the capital of the above collectorate, stands in a level tract near its eastern extremity, 165 miles S.E. of Poona and 220 S.E. of Bombay. It is a place of no natural strength, but has been so strongly fortified as to be of much importance in a military point of view. It is oblong in form, surrounded by a substantial stone wall, and a broad deep ditch, outside of which, on the north and east, is a suburb, also fortified; while on the south the ditch expands into a tank, with a mound on three sides of it. A church has been built here, but there are no other important edifices. Sholapore has frequently changed masters in the early periods of Indian history. It was taken by escalade in 1818, by a British force under General Pritzer.