Travelling Five C. On The 5th, And Four C. On The
6th, I That Day Overtook The King At A
Walled town called Todah, in
the best and most populous country I had seen in India since I landed.
The
District was quite level, having a fertile soil, abounding in corn,
cotton, and cattle, and the villages were so numerous and near together,
as hardly to exceed a coss from each other in any direction. This town
was the best built of any I had seen in India, many of the houses being
two stories high, and most of them good enough for decent shop-keepers,
all covered with tiles. It had been the residence of a Rajput rajah,
before the conquests of Akbar Shah, and stood at the foot of a great and
strong rock, about which were many excellent works of hewn stone, well
cut, with many tanks, arched over with well-turned vaults, and large and
deep descents to them. Near it was a beautiful grove, two miles long and
a quarter of a mile broad, all planted with mangoes, tamarinds, and
other fruit-trees, divided by shady walks, and interspersed with little
temples, and idol altars, with many fountains, wells, and summer-houses
of carved stone curiously arched, so that I must confess a poor banished
Englishman might have been content to dwell here. But this observation
may serve universally for the whole of this country, that ruin and
devastation operates every where; for, since the property of all has
become vested in the king, no person takes care of any thing, so that in
every place the spoil and devastations of war appear, and no where is
any thing repaired.
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