EARLY EUROPEAN TRA_-\rELLERS IN 'l'DE NAGPUR TERRITORIES • Early European Travellers in the Nagpur Territories Reprinted· from Old Records NAG PUR: PRINTED AT THE GOVERNMENT PRESS 1930 [Price-Three Rupees.] 'Agents fol' the sale of Publications issued bJI the Central Provinces Government. ", ·~ [NOTE.-Appointments oLall official Agents in the United Kingdom and on the Continent for the sale of Government l'ublications have been terminated with effect from the 1st April 1925. - AU publications in future are obtainable either direct frcm the High Commissioner for India, India House Aldwych, London, W. C. 2, or through any bookseller.] INDIA. AKOLA: JUBBULPORE: Jhe Proprietor, Shri Ramdas The .1\-lannger, General Book Stores, Tajnapeth. Depot. ALLAHABAD: KARACHI: Mr. Ram Narain Lal, Publisher, ! 1 he· Standard Bookstall. etc., l, Bank Road KHANDWA: The Superintendent, Nazair Kanun The r'roprietor, >hri Ramdas Stores. Hir.d Press. Khandwa Hranch. LAHORE: M1RAOTI: Rai Sahib M. Guiab Singh & • Thakur & Co., Booksellers. Sons. BARODA: LUCKNOW: Mr. M. C. Kothari, Bookseller and 'lhe Proprietor, Newal Kisho.e Publisher, Raopura Road. Press. ' The Upper India Publishing lHLASPUR: House, Ltd , 41, Aminabud Mr. M. A. Subhan, Book~>eller Park. and Publisher. MADRAS: U0MHAY: Higginbotham & Co. D. B. Taraporevala, Sons & Co., S. Murthy & Co., Post Box 190, Hornby Road, Fort. No. 152. Radhnbn: A tmaram Sagoon. The Proprietor, The City Book Sunder Pandurang, 25, Kalbadevi Co., Post Box No. 283. Road. ~AG?Ui<: Thacker & Co., Ltd. Aidan Binzani, Proprietors, Kar­ CALCUTTA: mavir !:look Depot, Mahal The Book Company. 4/4-A, Mr. G. G. Khot, Walker Road. College Street. Mr. G. A. Shastri_. Bookstller and Butterworth & Co. (India), Ltd., Publisher, Hislop College Road. 8-2, Hastings Street. The Manager, General Book The Indian School Supply Depot. Depot. M. C. Sircar & Som., 75, The Manager, "The Hitavada". Harrison Road. The Proprietor, Bhisey Brothen, Newman & Co. Booksellers and Publishers. R. Cambray & Co. PATNA: S. K. Lahiri & Co. The Patna Law Press Co. Thacker, Spink & Co. POONA: COOCH BEHAR: The Proprietors, New Kitabkhana. · Babu S. C. Taluqdar, f.-o~,-rietor, -RANGOON: Students & Co The Superintendent, American • Baptist Miss ion Press. LJELHI: The Oxford Book1 anu Stationery • SIMLA: Co. Thacker, Spink & Co. CONTENTS. PAGES. NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO THE DIAMOND 'MINES AJ--'S't.JMBHULPOOR 1-50 ,-----· .. JOURNAL' bF A RoUTE TO NA<!i>ORE BY THE WAY OF CUTTAC. ETC.·,. WITH MAP OF ROUTE 51-74 JOURNAL OF A·· ROUTE FROM NAGPORE TO BENARES BY. THE WAY OF SOHAGEE PASS 74-90 NARRATIVE. OF A ROUTE FROM C.HUNARGHUR ~ • .. TO YERTN.~GOODUM 91-174 ' NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY FROM MIRZAPORE TO NAGPUR. WITH MAP OF ROUTE 175-208 HOMEWARD JOURNEY 208-229 A NARRATIVE OF A JoURNEY TO -THE DIAMOND . MINES AT SUl\IBHULPOOR, IN THE PROVINCE OF ORISSA. BY T. MoTTE, Eso. .. (Undertaken in the Year 1766, by the direction of the late ford Cli·L'e, then Got•ernor of Bengal.) THE RAJAH of Sumbhulpoor, in the middle of March 1766, dis­ patched Surdur Khan, hi'S servant, to Calcutta, inviting the gover­ nor to send to his capital a person whom he could trust to pur- · chase diamonds. There came at the same time four Patan mer­ chants, of whom the rajah had bought some horses, without a com­ mand of money to pay for them, to whom he had giveQ an order on his servant for payment out·of the produce of.the sale of a rough diamond, weighing carats sixteen and a half; which he was to dispose of in Calcutta. · Mohunper~>aud, a fellow of an infamous character, employed himself at this time in picking acquaintance with such strangers as came to that capital, making himself master of their business, and instructing them how to proceed. Surdur Khan fell into his hand~. who introduced him to Lord Clive, the governor, persuading him to deliver the diamond as a present from the rajah. The Patan merchants, finding they were likely to be deprived of thei~; chance of payment, assembled about his lordship's hous~. 'and made a clamour. Lord Clive knew not the came of the complaint, while Surdur Khan and Mohunpersaud joined to persuade the poor mer­ chants, that a person would be sent to pay them at Sumbhulpoor. His lordship being then at a great loss for means of remitting money to England, proposed to me to return with the vakeel to the mines, and to endeavour to open the diamond trade .. He offered to make it a joint concern, in which I was to hold a third, he the other two; all the expenses to be borne by the ·concern. The proposals dazzled me, and I caught at it ·without reflecting on the difficulties of the march, or on the barbarity of a country in which Mr. Mallock, sent by Mr. Henry Vansittart for the same purpose, durst only stay twenty-four hours. His lordFhip instructed me to make what enquiries I could into the state of the l\fahrattas, supposing that a Government con­ nected by such very slight ties 'might be easily divided, and, hy such division, that the power of a people so formidable in India might be weakened. He directed me also to sound the officers of NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY Janoojei's court, whether he would not cede the province of Orissa for an annual tribute, and thereby give a contiguity to the British dominions in India, which would strengthen them greatly. I left Calcutta the 13th of March, proceeded to Midnapoor, and from thence in search of Mr. John Graham on a circuit round the province, whom I wanted to take leave of as an old friend, and to consult with, as a man superior in judgment to most of my acquaintance. I found him at Beerkool, on the sea-side at the foot of the braces. Here I had a sight of the sea, that spectacle of magnifi­ cence and terror; that most august object under the heavens. It is viewed by the Europeans banished to this country with a pleas­ ing regret; for they regard it as the road to· the place of their nativity. I went with Mr. Graham from thence to Jallasore, and halted on the way at Putchumber, under a banyan tree, sub ficu indica ramis inferne radicantibus; the branches of which taking root, and again issuing fresh shoots, formed a shade 560 feet in circum­ ference. I imagine the branches of these trees might be carried on to as great an extent as the level of the spot would admit, since the body of the tree is not at all exhausted by them, the parts which rise from the earth being much larger than the branches which descend to it, while the trunk, not being at all affected by cutting those branches, it is evident that every shooting bough is a separate 'tree, and as much independent of the original root as the layer of a carnation after it is cut. We arrived at Jallasore the 23rd, where we found ·Mr. Marriott, the English resident at Ballasore. Jallasore is a small town on the Shoobunreeka, bounding on the English terri­ tories to the southward. While the Mahrattas kept "a consider­ able force in Orissa, a body of troops were always stationed here; · but since they had borne an appearance more pacific, a small guard of se·p~ys only had been kept. I crossed the river Shoobunreeka the 25th in company with Mr. Marriott, and entered the Mohur Bunge country. I passed the fort of Ommerdnagur, about a mile on the right of the road, built in the style of the country fastnesses; that is to say, a deep ditch is dug, the earth of which being thrown inwards, forms :1 bank whereon small bamboos· are planted, the thorns of which, three inches long, very strong and sharp, render it impassable. It · is weakest in the month of May; for, during the extreme heats, 2 TO THE DIAMOND MINES AT SUMBULPOOR. the bamboos are inflammable, and will, if set fire to, to windward, . burn with great violence, while the knots, when the flame comes to them, fly with a sound equal to that of a pistol. The country, from th~ river to Multanekubur (the bur-tree of the Multaneze, because it was planted by a native of Multan), con­ sists of paddy-grounds, though not half of them are cultivateq; on the banks that separate them are bushes, so that the country is not open. The distance from the river to this tree is five miles, where you enter the woods, through which the road is at first broad, but grows narrower as you approach Busta. Busta is a large village, six miles from the bur-tree, and is the first Mahratta chokey on the road, consisting of a tannadar and twenty men. About 100 yards from the village is a small river which falls into the Shoobunreeka. Beyond Busta the road is more open. I passed a small river a mile and three quarters from it, and two miles from thence a second, both of which fall into the Shoobunreeka. Five miles from Busta, you pass the extremities of two banks, where once stood the gateway of the town of Gurpudda. This place was forti­ fied in the country manner by Assud Ullah Khan, in the service of Mohur Bunge Rajah, who apostatized from Hinduism, and became a Mussalman. Like most other apostates, he became a zealot to his new profession, and collected extravagant sums from persons who passed this town on their pilgrimage to.,..Jaggernaut. The fortifications have been destroyed by the Mahrattas, except the inner fort on the right of the road, where Buddee Zemman Khan, son of Assud Ullah, lives, contiguous to which is a small village.