SERINGAPATAM, or, SIRI-RUNGA-PATAN, a cele brated city of Hindoostan, and formerly capital of the province of Mysore. It is situated at the height of 2,412 feet above the level of the sea, at the upper end of an island in the river Cavery, four miles long, and four and a half broad. The river is.here five feet deep, and flows over a rocky bed. On the western side of this island stood the fortress, which occupied a space of 2000 yards, and contained magnificent palaces, lofty mosques, and regular outworks. Protected on its north and south sides by the river, a single rampart was found sufficient to defend this fort. But in 1792, the east and west faces, which were much weaker, were strengthened by double walls and ditches, by a circular work on the south east angle, by 'several for midable cavaliers, and by outworks before the gates. The rampart, which is very narrow, is from 20 to 35 feet high, and the whole of the revetement, with the exception of the north-west portico, consists of large oblong pieces of granite laid transversely in the walls with cement. A glacis of stone stretches along the northern face of the fortress, and the ditches are cut out of the solid rock. There are very few buildings of any importance within the fort, and those in the town are generally mean. The Sultan's palace is a mag
nificent building, in the Asiatic style of architecture; but it is deformed by a lofty wall, and the unfinished buildings which surround it. The great mosque, which is covered with the finest chunam, is adorned with lofty minarets. The ruins of the old Mysore palace have been converted into a military store house.
In the island is a celebrated temple dedicated to Vishnu, and in the beautiful garden called the Loll Bang, a handsome mausoleum, kept in repair by the Madras government, has been erected over the re mains of Hyder Ally and his son Tippoo.
Before the siege of Seringapatam, (of which we have given some account in our article Mysoug,) the population of the city and the island is said to have amounted to 150,000, including the garrison, but in the year following it was reduced to 32,000. Serin gapatam now belongs to the British. It is the resi dence of a judge and collector, and is defended by a strong garrison. The mean annual temperature of this place is 77° 06. See Edinburgh Journal of Sci. cnee, No. x. p. 249.