The Fort of Monghyr is very large and situated on a rising ground. The fortifications were formerly quite in the Indian style, encompassed with a lofty wall flanked with towers and surrounded by a dry ditch, except on the river side. But the government found it too expensive to keep these fortifications in repair, and have suffered them to fall almost into complete decay; and at present, the fort alone would be able to stand a siege. The view from the fort is one of the finest in India. The river, in the rainy season, forms quite a large expanse of water, and the Ganges becomes a rapid stream. Sometimes the violence of the torrent is so impetuous, that it undermines the banks of the river and uproots the largest trees. During the hurricanes, which are frequent here at certain seasons, the Ganges assumes the appearance of the sea; and the water dashes over the boats with such violence, that the men are frequently washed overboard; numerous boats are capsized in an instant, and men and goods swept down the engulphing stream. These storms are always accompanied by thunder, lightning, and fierce winds, against which it is impossible to make head. There is a protruding rock here, which juts out boldly into the stream, and withstands the whole force of the water. This morning the river presented a melancholy spectacle, from the numerous wrecks of vessels which had perished during last night's storm. From a brass plate that was discovered in the immediate vicinity of the fort, in 1781, it would seem to have been a place of importance before the Christian era, and to have been subject to the Hindoo kings of Bengal, who resided at Gour. There is, however, no mention made of Monghyr by the Mahomedan historians, till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the kings of Bahar disputed its possession with the kings of Bengal. Cossim Ali Khan, whom the British raised to the throne of Moorshedabad, in supercession of Mir Jaffier, having previously created him Nawab, on dethroning Suraj-ud-Dowlah (ludicrously called Sir Roger Dowler), in 1757, after throwing off all allegiance to the British government, repaired to Monghyr to take up his residence there. He added considerably to the strength of the fortifications, and endeavoured to discipline the natives for its defence. But the English took it after a siege of nine days, and made it a military station. At the time that the government of Bengal raised Cossim Ali Khan to the throne, it recommended him to keep troops like the British Sepoys; to drill and arm them after the English fashion, and to make them wear red coats, in fact, entirely to doff the Oriental costume and training. Cossim took this advice, but turned the weapons against those who had placed them in his hands; and for several years he fought many battles against his quondam counsellors. Had Cossim Ali Khan's plan, to lay siege to Kathmandoo (Kath, _wood_, the wooden city), succeeded, the British would have been spared the trouble of the