a district of the province of Gener Gundwana in Hindostan, in the 25th degree of north latitude, and 82d of east longitude; bounded on the west by the British possessions in Bundelcund; on the east by the small territory of Manwas; and watered by the rivers Soane, Bichanuddy, and Behen-nuddy.

The exact dimensions of this country, so far as we know, are not ascertained, but they appear to be considerable. Part of it is fertile and well cultivated; the chief crops are wheat, barley, and different kinds of peas, all in tolerable quantity: nevertheless, very little grain, exceeding their own necessities, is raised by the natives. They have also numerous herds of black-cattle, and large flocks of sheep. The whole surface is traversed by good roads. Its access from Allahabad, to which it was annexed by Aurengzebe, is by a pass called Sohagee Ghaut, long, steep, and difficult, having at its extremity a redoubt in a strong position. From hence Bogalcund appears BLOWING MACHINES.

PLATE XXXV.

Fig. 1. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. Fig. 4. Fig. 5. Fig. 6. Fig. 7. Fig. 8. Fig. 9.

Engt by W. Archibald Edin. like a great table and, without any descent, and the traveller is conducted by a good road to the capital.

Inhabitants. Gundwana is inhabited by various tribes, who seem to receive the generic name of Goands. Their manners and civilization are different, and in various stages of advancement; some, particularly the mountaineers, are rude and savage. They go almost naked, if not entirely so; practise gross superstitions; and dwell in villages consisting of a few huts in places almost inaccessible. But those in the lower and fertile parts of the country are more cultivated, and sufficiently courteous to strangers. The inhabitants of Bogalcund are called Bogals, Bogheleis, or Boghels, synonyms used indifferently; but it is not evident whether they should be considered a distinct race from the Goands of Gundwana. They are reported to have migrated hither from Guzerat many centuries ago, and gradually enlarging their confines by an encroachment on those of their neighbours, expelled a tribe of mountaineers from Shewah, which their chief was induced, by the excellence of its situation, to select for his own residence. It is not unlikely they are of Tartar origin. As this is one of the northern countries of India, whose history and statistics are extremely obscure, very little can be said of the manners, customs, and conditions of its inhabitants. They consist of five different tribes, acknowledging the same government, but without admitting an equal control, or paying the like obedience to it. Part, or the whole, profess the Mahometan religion, and many temples are to be seen in the territory. Three of the tribes follow a practice, too general in the east, of destroying their infant daughters, which must inevitably restrict the population.

The Bogals are skilful in agriculture; and they have many fine tanks, or artificial ponds, conveniences of greater importance in India, and of infinitely greater size than Europeans are wont to conceive. These are generally situate on a declivity, three sides being built up with much art and labour, and the fourth serving as a natural embankment. The agricultural skill of the inhabitants results, in a great measure, from the nature of the government. Here the feudal system prevails, and many of the lands are held by military tenure. The forces have no pay, but, in lieu of it, certain lands are assigned for their subsistence. Their influence is thence very great, and there is not an officer among them without one or two villages for his support. The country is thus partitioned among innumerable feudatories, who find it their interest to promote agriculture in order to provide more amply for their own subsistence. It is common with the peasantry to change their abode at intervals of three or four years, for the purpose of tilling the ground whereon their cottages stood. The traces of villages recently abandoned are, therefore, frequently to be seen, and would indicate declining prosperity, did not their renewal in other places, as often presented to view, prove the reverse.

The chief town of Bogalcund is Rewah, which is large and populous. It is situate on the small river Bichanuddy, rising twenty miles to the east, and joined by the Behanuddy just above the town. The united stream runs immediately under a large fort in the capital, which includes the houses of the most wealthy and respectable inhabitants, and where the Rajah resides. In the neighbourhood are some memorials of the slain, who lately fell in a great battle, wherein the Bogals were victorious against an invading enemy. Rewah stands in lat. 24° 37' north, and 81° 25' east longitude; distant 126 miles north-east of Benares.

This district is under the government of an independent Rajah, who is said to be the Maher-Rajah, or sovereign of several neighbouring territories; and although the Rajah of Bundelcund is himself quite independent, and infinitely the more powerful of the two, it is necessary for him to be invested by the Rajah of Bogalcund, wherein we find another analogy to feudal principles. His revenues are very small, principally owing to the subdivisions of the district; for it has sometimes excited astonishment that the sovereign of so fertile a territory should be so poor. He receives an inconsiderable tribute from the Rajahs acknowledging his superiority, land-rents, and customs on merchandise passing through the capital.

Ali Bahauder, a Mahratta chief who holds a powerful command in the army of the Peshwa, or Head of the nation, threatened Bogalcund with invasion about the year 1794 or 1795, to levy contributions from the Rajah, which he was little enabled to afford. But he was beloved by his subjects, and Ali Bahauder having put his menaces in execution, he raised an army of about 3000 men to oppose him. The enemy advanced with 6000 men, carrying every thing in his course, until arriving within two miles of the capital. There he was encountered, and totally defeated by the Rajah, with the loss of his General and his cannon. The invader vowed to revenge the destruction of his army, and the death of his General. He again collected a powerful force, and invaded Bogalcund a second time, in the year 1795; but the Rajah, then aged and incapable of the exertion necessary to resist so active an enemy, purchased peace by concessions. Either at this time or previously, he engaged to pay Ali Bahauder L.14,500 Sterling,—a stipulation which he proved totally unable to perform, and a neighbouring Rajah, who had become security for the payment, and required hostages for his indemnification, afterwards obtained the cession of a valuable district in Bogalcund, probably from having been obliged to fulfil his part of the engagement. But this was not the only calamity; for a supervening scarcity in the succeeding season followed the depredations of Ali Bahauder's troops. The natural fertility of the soil, however, and importation of various commodities from Misapour, contributed to relieve the inhabitants, and the country began to recover speedily from the disasters it had been exposed to. Nevertheless, its dismemberment, at no distant period, was anticipated, from the growing poverty and declining power of the Rajah, though the nature of the soil, and the state of agriculture, were both suf- Bogaleund sufficient to support a numerous population. Formerly, the influence of the Rajahs of Bogaleund was very considerable in Indian affairs, and they have been known to afford an asylum to powerful Princes, whom temporary adversity exiled from their own dominions. Here the illustrious Emperor of the Moguls, Ackber, was born in the year 1542. On occasion of a usurpation of the empire, his father, Humayoon, retired from Delhi; and his mother, when pregnant, was, for greater security, sent to a strong fortress, where, tradition reports, she was almost immediately taken in labour. But the Astrologers of the day having previously determined that future felicity would attend the child who should be born at a certain moment, she was suspended, during two hours, by the legs, in order to retard the period of delivery, and then being taken down, the great Ackber saw the light. More recently, when his descendant, Shah Aulum, was dispossessed of the throne of Delhi, in the course of last century, by the invasion of another potentate, he sought refuge with Ajet Sing, the Rajah, of whom we have already spoke; and here, also, between the years 1750 and 1760, one of his wives was delivered of a prince, whom she called Ackber, in commemoration of his ancestor, and who lately survived at the capital, Delhi, which was restored to him. But the future greatness of the latter Prince being of less importance, his mother probably escaped the cruel experiment to which the parent of Ackber was subjected.