Weekly Chillicothe crisis. (Chillicothe, Livingston Co., Mo.) 1878-19??, 1879-02-20
THE LOST CITY OF BENGAL.


From the London Spectator.
Among the marked pcculialities of An
glo Indians is one we have never heard
fully explained. As rule the know moth.
ing about India, They know their work,
often admirably, and sometimes know the
section of the people with whom they
come in contact; but as u rule, with, Of
course, some brilliant exceptions, they
know as little of India as an average
Frrnchman knows of foreign countries.
They are not interested IN it, and do not
study 1t, do not take even the trouble 10
see the wonderful things Of which the con-
tinent is full.
We should like to know how many An
glo BengalecS know anything of the mar.
ycllous city Of which tine name stands at
1.-The head Of this article, Gour, the ruined
capital of Bengal the Gangu Regia OF
| Ptnlom0r whore Nindpo kings IRE belicv-
! 3 tuWy" rrIp Oycars ago; where
srm-dcU'utrh ssulmaa rulers nm.
doubleday Cover ingal before Rich
arI Iyal it 10. ad, and where Kai
. h.rSIm. 1870 undcd Il sovereignty
/ wn. d. Uu.. .. mt dynastics, one of
't.w AU endured to 1881. These
..1' m.Hn Com by degrees one of the
.u.t N.ie- .n the wOrld-greater, rs
.1r nr ~" IS concerned than Baby.
..Do li.u Mr.. Raycnshaw, Il civil,
30. w'Iu ll Photographs of every build
'' g1.l lch, photographs publish
'a nnr H. lth, believes the ruins to
o'n. F.. t from fifteen to twenty
u.' ioug tho bid bed of the river by
,Un' mi" u ,cpth, space which, after
allowing Tor the rich native method Of
/ W.. with IL endless gardens and nccrsSi-
! 'y for trees, mist have sheltered popu-
tla,'au NJ at least two millions. These
king must have been among the richest
monaryi Of their time, for they ruled the
rice garden Of the world, Eastern Bengal,
where rice yields to the cutivutor lGO per
cent. they controlled the navigation Of
| the GangeS, and their dominion stretched
| down to OriSSa, where the native princes
how strange it sounds now, where Orssa
is Il province forgotten, except for an
awful tamincl-werc always defeating
their troops. They spent their
wealth necessarily mainly ona nercenuy
"I",l' olt'n III revolt iOr lheir behEalrc'
'ot'" nOI hghI lhe sl3lWart peasants VINO
entered thc army 9i the kings OF B"har
ana laeIr meet couId not protect the weak
side Of the capital; but they covered the
street with great structures, opened
broad NiraIt Streets lined with trees,
Hhi null, Il hrf Ahu outer entertainments OF
this kind.
"Ihc boundary cmbank ncnts still exist;
they were works Of vast labor, and were,
OH the average, aoont forty feet in height.
being from l>O to 200 feet tmcl. at
at the base. The facing throughout was
of ofmasonry, and numerous buildings and
rditiccs appeared to have crowned their
SUBMITS; tut the whole Of the masonry
has now disappeared, and the cmbank. |
mehtS are oYclgroWh with dense Jungle, |
'mpenelrable to man, and aifordmg Il safe
retreat Tor various beasts OF prey. The
eastern ,cmbankment was double, Il deep
moat' about I'O yards wide, separating |
the two lines. a main road ran north |
and south through the city, ITS course be.
lng, StiII t@ceabIe by. the remains Of
bridges and yiaducts. The western face
Of the city is now open, and, probably al
ways was so, having been well protected
by the GangeS, which. as already Obscry-
81, ran under ITS walls. In the crnty of
the north and south entertainments are
openings, showing that these Qualifications
had been perforated, to afford ingrcss to
and egreSs from the city. Atthcnorthrm
entrance there are no remains, but at the
southern still stands the kutwali gate, a
beautiful ruin, measuring II feet in
height, under the archway. Within the
space incloScd by these embellishments and
the river stood the city Of Gour proper
and in the southwest corner was situated
the fort, containing the hepalaCc, of which il
is deeply to he regretted that so little is
left Early in the present century there
was much to he found here worthy of no
ticc, including many elegantly carved
but these are said to have he.
come the prey of the Calcutta under
takers and others for monumental pur-
poses. On the roadside between
the palac" and the Biragirath river,
there now lies, split in twain, vast block
of horn-blcndc, which, having been ear.
ricd thus far, has been dropped and left
as broken on the highway, to bear its
testimony against the spoilers. Surround.
ing the palace is an inner cmbankment of
similar construction to that which sur
rounds the city, and even more ovcrgrown
with Jungle A deep moat protects il ON
the outside. Radlating north. south and
east from the city, other cnbanknents are {
to he traced running through the suburbs
and extending in certain directions for
thirty to forty miles. These include the
Hre"o gre lea tau'"T3ys E ,o or man toads lGqdng to