A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
[Footnote 146: This is probably Sirhind, which is directly in the route,
but so disguised in the text as to defy emendation.--E.]
[Footnote 147: This is clearly the Sutuluge, or Setlege, called likewise
the Beyah-Kussoor, and Chato dehr, being the easternmost of the Punjab
or five rivers, which form the Indus. It was called Hesudrus by the
ancients.--E.]
[Footnote 148: From the river mentioned in the text as passed, on this
day's journey, this may have been what is now called Gundwall, a little
beyond the river Beyab, which is here 100 yards broad.--E.]
All the country between Agra and Lahore is exceedingly well cultivated,
being the best of India, and abounds in all things. It yields great
store of powdered sugar, [raw sugar] the best being worth two 1/2 to two
3/4 rupees the great _maund_ of forty pounds. The whole road is planted
on both sides with trees, most of which bear a species of mulberry. In
the night, this road is dangerously infested with thieves, but is quite
secure in the day. Every five or six coss, there are serais, built by
the king or some great man, which add greatly to the beauty of the road,
are very convenient for the accommodation of travellers, and serve to
perpetuate the memory of their founders. In these the traveller may have
a chamber for his own use, a place in which to tie up his horse, and can
be furnished with provender; but in many of them very little
accommodation can be had, by reason of the banians, as when once any
person has taken up his lodging, no other may dispossess him. At
day-break the gates of these serais are opened, and then all the
travellers prepare to depart; but no person is allowed to go away
sooner, for fear of robbers. This made the journey very oppressive to
us, as within two hours after the sun rose we were hardly able to endure
the heat.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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