Page:The Travels of Ludovico di Varthema (1863).djvu/371

 Rh which is distant from Tarnassari seven hundred miles, at which we arrived in eleven days by sea. This city was one of the best that I hed hitherto seen, and has a very greet realm. The sultan of this place is a Moor, and maintains two hundred thousand men for battle on foot and on horse; and they are all Mohammedans; and he is constantly at war

by Moors, which is celled Bengala." (, vol. i. p. 330.) In 1537, during the viceroyalty of Nunno de Cunna, when the Portuguese first attempted to establish a fort in Bengal, "Gowro, the capital city, extended three leagues in length along the Ganges, and contained 1,200,000 families." (, vol. i. p. 84.) In Ralph Fitch's time, 1583–1591, Tanda appears to have succeeded Gour as the capital of the kingdom, which had then become tributary to the Moghul Emperor:— "From Patanau [Patna] I want to Tanda, which is in the land of Gouren. It hath in times past been a kingdom, but is now subdued by Zelabdim Echebar [Jalâl ed-Dîn, Akbar.] Great trade and traffic is here of cotton and cloth of cotton...It standeth in the country of Bengala...Tanda standeth from the Ganges a league, because in times past the river flowing over the banks in time of rain drowned the country and many villages, and so they remain. And the old way which the river Ganges was wont to run remaineth dry, which is the occasion that the city standeth so far from the water." (, ix. p. 414.) I conclude, therefore, that Mandelslo errs in enumerating Bengal as a city of that province distinct from Gour and '1'anda. He says: "En tirant vers le septentrional on trouve le royaume de Bengala, qui donne le nom au golfe que les ancicns appellent Sinus Gangeticus...0n trouve plusieurs belles villes dans ce royaume, comme sont celles de Gouro,d'Ougely, de Chatigan, de Bengala, de Tanda, de Daca, de Patana, de Banares, d'Elsabas, et de Ragmehela." (Voyages, p. 290.) The following is from Major Rannell on this subject:— "Gour, called also Lucknouti, the ancient capital of Bengal, and supposed to be the Gangia regia of Ptolemy, stood on the left bank of the Ganges, about twenty-five miles below Rajemal. It was the capital of Bengal 730 years B.C., and was repaired and beautified by Homayoon, who gave it the name of Jennuteabad, which name a part of the circar, in which it was situated, still bears. According to Ferishta's account, the unwholesomeness of its air occasioned it to be deserted soon after, and the seat of government was removed to Tandah or Tanrah, a few miles higher up the river. No part of the site of ancient Gour is nearer to the present bank of the Ganges than four miles and a half, and some parts of it which were regularly washed by that river are now twelve miles from it." Mem. of a Map of Hindostan, quoted in Hist of Bengal, p. 44. P 2