DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.24889#0018
9
44 or become arable land, whose soil is principally composed
44 of brick dust. The chief ruins are, a mosque lined with
“ black marble, elaborately wrought; and two gates of the
“ citadel, which are strikingly grand and lofty. These fabrics,
44 and some few others, appear to owe their duration to the
44 nature of their materials, which are less marketable, and
44 more difficult to separate, than those of the ordinary brick
44 buildings; which have been, and continue to be, an article
44 of merchandize, and are transported to Murshaddbdd,
44 Mdlda, and other places, for the purpose of building. These
44 bricks are of the most solid texture of any I ever saw, and
44 have preserved the sharpness of their edges, and smooth-
44 ness of their surfaces, through a series of ages. The situa-
44 tion of Gout was highly convenient for the capital of
44 Bengal and Bahar, as united under one government, being
44 nearly centrical with respect to the populous parts of
44 those provinces, and near the junction of the principal
44 rivers that compose that extraordinary inland navigation,
44 for which those provinces are famed ; and moreover,
44 secured by the Ganges and other rivers, on the only part
44 from which Bengal has any cause for apprehension/'
Gour, by which title these ruins are best known to Euro-
peans, is properly the name of the district in which they are
situated. Before the year 1202-3 of the Christian aera,
when Bengal fell under the power of the Afghan, Muhammad,
c Bakhtiyar,
44 or become arable land, whose soil is principally composed
44 of brick dust. The chief ruins are, a mosque lined with
“ black marble, elaborately wrought; and two gates of the
“ citadel, which are strikingly grand and lofty. These fabrics,
44 and some few others, appear to owe their duration to the
44 nature of their materials, which are less marketable, and
44 more difficult to separate, than those of the ordinary brick
44 buildings; which have been, and continue to be, an article
44 of merchandize, and are transported to Murshaddbdd,
44 Mdlda, and other places, for the purpose of building. These
44 bricks are of the most solid texture of any I ever saw, and
44 have preserved the sharpness of their edges, and smooth-
44 ness of their surfaces, through a series of ages. The situa-
44 tion of Gout was highly convenient for the capital of
44 Bengal and Bahar, as united under one government, being
44 nearly centrical with respect to the populous parts of
44 those provinces, and near the junction of the principal
44 rivers that compose that extraordinary inland navigation,
44 for which those provinces are famed ; and moreover,
44 secured by the Ganges and other rivers, on the only part
44 from which Bengal has any cause for apprehension/'
Gour, by which title these ruins are best known to Euro-
peans, is properly the name of the district in which they are
situated. Before the year 1202-3 of the Christian aera,
when Bengal fell under the power of the Afghan, Muhammad,
c Bakhtiyar,