the frontier of Serendib to the extremities of the country of Kalbergah
(I.E. from the Krishna River to Cape Comorin). One sees there more
than a thousand elephants, in their size resembling mountains and in
their form resembling devils. The troops amount in number to eleven LAK
(1,100,000). One might seek in vain throughout the whole of Hindustan
to find a more absolute RAI; for the monarchs of this country bear
the title of RAI.

"The city of Bidjanagar is such that the pupil of the eye has never
seen a place like it, and the ear of intelligence has never been
informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world. It
is built in such a manner that seven citadels and the same number
of walls enclose each other. Around the first citadel are stones of
the height of a man, one half of which is sunk in the ground while
the other half rises above it. These are fixed one beside the other
in such a manner that no horse or foot soldier could boldly or with
ease approach the citadel."

The position of these seven walls and gates have long been a puzzle to
me, but I hazard the following explanation. The traveller approached
from the southwest, and the first line of wall that he saw must have
been that on the neck between the two hills south-west of Hospett. Paes
also describes this outer defence-work as that seen by all travellers
on their first arrival from the coast. After being received at
this entrance-gate Razzak must have passed down the slope through
"cultivated fields, houses, and gardens" to the entrance of Hospett,
where the second line of fortification barred the way; and since that
town was not then thickly populated, the same features would meet
his eye till he passed a third line of wall on the north side of that
town. From this point the houses became thicker, probably forming a