bsence of ordinary
comforts in the apartment from which they were viewed. The quiet calm of
this habitation, unbroken by the tumultuous sounds of a city, was so
congenial to my taste, that when obliged to quit it, I felt almost as much
regret as when I heard that the rains had destroyed the place which had
been to me a home of peaceful enjoyment.

The city of Kannoge has evidently suffered the severities of a shock from
an earthquake: the present inhabitants cannot tell at what period this
occurred, but it must have been some centuries since, for the earth is
grown over immense ruins, in an extensive circuit, forming a strong but
coarse carpet of grass on the uneven mounds containing the long-buried
mansions of the great. The rapid streams from the periodical rains forcing
passages between the ruins, has in many places formed deep and frightful
ravines, as well as rugged roads and pathways for the cattle and the
traveller.

After each heavy fall of rain, the peasantry and children are observed
minutely searching among the ruins for valuables washed out with the loose
earth and bricks by the force of the streams, and, I am told, with
successful returns for their toil; jewels, gold and silver ornaments,
coins of gold and silver, all of great antiquity, are thus secured; these
are bought by certain merchants of the city, by whom they are retailed to
English travellers, who generally when on a river voyage to or from the
Upper Provinces, contrive, if possible, to visit Kannoge to inspect the
ruins, and purchase curiosities.

There is a stately range of buildings at no great distance from the
killaah (castle), in a tolerable state of preservation, called 'Baallee
Peer Kee Durgah'.[6] The entrance is by a stone gateway of very superior
but ancient workmanship, and the gates of massy wood studded with iron. I
observed that on the wood framework over the entrance, many a stray
horseshoe has been nailed, which served to remind me of Wales, where it is
so commonly seen on the doors of the peasantry.[7] I am not aware but that
the same motives may have influenced the two people in common.

To the right of the entrance stands a large mosque, which, I am told, was
built by Baallee himself; who, it is related, was a remarkably pious man
of the Mussulmaun persuasion, and had acquired so great celebrity amongst
his countrymen as a perfect durweish, as to be surnamed peer[8] (saint).
The exact time when he flourished at Kannoge, I am