Since the conceptions of sovereign rule embrace the universe, I propose to begin with Bengal which is at one extremity of Hindustán and to pro­ceed to Zabulistán* and I hope that Turán and Irán and other countries may be added to the count. The country lying to the east will be first described, followed by the north, the south, and the west.

This Súbah is situated in the second climate.* Its length from Chittagong to Garhi* is four hundred kós*. Its breadth from the northern range of mountains to the southern frontier of the Sarkár of Madáran, is two hundred kos, and when the country of Orissa was added to this Súbah, the additional length was forty-three kos and the breadth twenty-three. It is bounded on the east by the sea, on the north and south by mountains and on the west by the Súbah of Behár. The tract of country on the east called Bháti*, is reckoned a part of this province. It is ruled by I´sa Afghán* and the Khutbah is read and the coin struck in the name of his present Majesty. In this country the mango trees grow to the height of a man or not so high and produce abundant fruit. Adjoining it, is an extensive tract of country inhabited by the Tipperah tribes. The name of the ruler is Bijay Mánik. Whosoever obtains the chieftainship, bears the title of Mánik after his name, and the nobles that of Naráin. He has a force of two hundred thousand footmen and a thousand elephants. Horses are scarce. To the north is a country called Kúch. Its chief com­mands a thousand horse and a hundred thousand foot. Kámrúp com­monly called also Káoṇru and Kámtá, is subject to him. The inhabitants are as a race good looking and addicted to the practice of magic. Strange stories are told regarding them. It is said that they build houses, of which the pillars, walls and roofs are made of men. Some of these they compel by the power of sorcery, and criminals deserving of death are also thus made use of. Whoever voluntarily surrenders himself for this purpose, escapes retribution for a year. Various conveniences are reserved for him. In due time, men armed with swords cut them down, and from their movements or immobility or other aspects, they have cognizance of scarcity or plenty or duration of years or the longevity of the ruler or defeat of enemies.* They also cut open a pregnant woman who has gone her full term of months and taking out the child, divine somewhat as to the future. There grows a wonderful tree whose branches when cut, exude a sweet liquid which quenches the drought of those a-thirst. They have also a mango tree* that has no trunk; it trails like a climbing vine, over a tree and produces fruit. There is likewise a flower* which after it has been gathered for two months, does not wither nor lose its colour or smell. Of this they make necklaces.

Bordering on this country are the dominions of the Rájah of Ashá m (Assam) whose great pomp and state are subjects of general report. When he dies, his principal attendants of both sexes voluntarily bury themselves alive in his grave. Neighbouring this is Lower Tibet and to its left is Khata.* This is also called Maháchín which the vulgar pronounce Máchín. From Khán Báligh* its capital, to the ocean, a forty days' journey, they have cut a canal both sides of which are embanked with stone and mortar. Alexander of Greece advanced to that country by this route.* Another road is also mentioned which can be traversed in four days and four nights.

To the south-east of Bengal is a considerable tract called Arakan which possesses the port of Chittagong. Elephants abound, but horses are scarce and of small size.* Camels are high priced: cows and buffaloes there are none, but there is an animal* which has somewhat of the char­acteristics of both, piebald and particoloured, whose milk the people drink. Their religion is said to be different to that of the Hindus and Muḥam­madans. Sisters may marry their own twin brothers, and they refrain only from marriages between a son and his mother. The ascetics, who are their repositaries of learning, they style Wali whose teaching they implicitly follow. It is the custom when the chief holds a court, for the wives of the military to be present, the men themselves not attending to make their obeisance. The complexion of the people is dark and the men have little or no beard.

Near to this tribe is Pegu which is also called Chín. In some ancient accounts it is set down as the capital city of Chín. There is a large military force of elephants and infantry, and white elephants are to be found. On one side of it is Arakan.* There are mines of rubies, dia­monds, gold, silver, copper, naptha and sulphur, and over these mines there is continual contention between this country and the Maghs as well as the tribes of Tipperah.

The original name of Bengal was Bang. Its former rulers raised mounds measuring ten yards in height and twenty in breadth throughout the province which were called A´l.* From this suffix, the name Bengal took its rise and currency. The summer heats are temperate and the cold season very short. The rains begin when the sun is midway in Taurus, (May) and continue for somewhat more than six months, the plains being under water and the mounds alone visible. For a long time past, at the end of the rains, the air had been felt to be pestilential and seriously affected animal life, but under the auspices of his present Majesty, this calamity has ceased.

Its rivers are countless and the first of them in this province is the Ganges: its source cannot be traced. The Hindu sages say that it flows down from the hair of Mahadeva's head. Rising in the mountains towards the north, it passes through the province of Delhi, and imperial Agra, and Allahabad and Behár into the province of Bengal, and near Ḳázihattah* in the Sarkar of Bárbakábád, it divides into two streams. One of these, flowing east­wards, falls into the sea at the port of Chittagong. At the parting of the waters, it takes the name of Padmáwati and the other pursues a southern course. It is divided into three streams; one, the Sarsuti;* the second the Jamna (Jamuna) and the third the Ganges, called collectively in the Hindi language Tribeni,* and held in high veneration. The third stream after spreading into a thousand channels, joins the sea at Sátgáon.* The Sarsuti and the Jamna unite with it. In praise of this stream the Hindu sages have written volumes. From its source to its mouth it is considered sacred but some spots have a peculiar sanctity. Its water is carried as an offering of price to far distant places. Believing it to be a wave of the primeval river, they hold its worship to be an adoration of the supreme being, but this is no part of the ancient tradition.* Its sweetness, lightness and wholesomeness attest its essential virtues. Added to this, it may be kept in a vessel for years without undergoing change.

Another river is the Brahmaputra. It flows from Khatá* to Kúch and thence through the Sarkár of Bázohá and fertilising the country, falls into the sea.

And again there is the sea which is here a gulf of the great ocean, extending on one side as far as Baṣrah and on the other to the Egyptian Ḳulzum* and thence it washes both Persia and Ethiopia where are Dahlak* and Súákin, and is called (the Gulf of) Omán and the Persian Sea.