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MEMOIRS OF INDIA: 

COMFBISIKG 

» A BRIEF GEOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT 

OP 

SCfte Cast 3(tU>ie0; 

A 

SUCCINCT HISTORY OF HINDOSTAN, 

FROM THE MOST EARLY AGES, 

TO THS END OF 

THE MARgUIS OF HASTINGS* ADMINISTRATION 

IN 1823. 

DESIGNED FOB 

THE USE OF YOUNG MEN GOING OUT TO INDIA. 



By R. G. WALLACE, Esg. 

AUTHOR OF « FIFTEEN YEARS IN INDIA.*' 



FoTsan hce olbn rawnini i i e javabit. Vibqu. 



LONDON: 



PRIHTXD FOA 

I^NGMAN, HURST, RKES, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN> 

PATIKNOSTCK-KOW. 
1824. 






,ffc«^H£**** 



D5 4-I:). 

\ri7 



M 



London ; 

Printod by A. & R. Spottiswoodey 

New- Street-Square. 



TO 
THE MOST NOBLE 

THE MARQUIS OF HASTINGS, 

&c. &c. &c. 

AS A SMALL TOKEN OF SINCERE GRATITUDE 
AND ADMIRATION, 

THIS EFFORT OF IMV PEN 

IS INSCRIBED, 

WITH 

THE GREATEST RESPECT. 



^f3097 



PREFACE. 



The Author of this work spent a great part of his 
life in India. In the year 1805 he had opportunities 
of seeing Madras and part of* the Camatic. Hq 
served a few years in Mysore and Malabar. From 
1810 till 1813 he was in Bengal, &c. In the be- 
ginning of 1814 be was at Bombay ; soon after he 
marched with the 65th regiment for Guzerat, and 
spent some time on the frontiers of Scindea's do- 
minions. The force to which he belonged invaded 
Cutch-Booge in 1816, and attacked the pirates in 
Okamundel. In 1817 he was in the Deccan, where 
he served till the termination of the last Mahratta 
war. For several years be held a sta^T situation, 
which increased his opportunities of personal ob- 
servation. 

He had ofteii to regret the want of such a work 
as he now presents to the public. On every favour- 
able occasion he laid up materials for this under^- 
taking ; and since his return bome„ he has been 
engaged in digesting the idiole into the contents 

A 3 



VI PREFACE. 

of this volume. A considerable part of his labour, 
however, does not appear. This consisted in a 
pair of maps, and a set of drawings, intended to 
illustrate his book ; but finding that their publica* 
tion would enhance the price too much, he has 
consigned them to oblivion. In revising his manu- 
script, he threw ihto an Appendix some Notes, which 
he thinks will be useful to the reader ; and in going 
over the whole again with care, he has given in an 
Addenda such matter as he further conceived to be 
interesting. He is, therefore, conscious of hayifig 
bestowed much pains on lliis production of his 
pen. / 

Spme.imtllors have complained of a wsoit of 
public iitfere^t respecting the aiFairs of India; or 
rather that ^l^ir books were unfortunate in not 
fpmng m^idly from the shdves of their publishers 
to those Gif our numerous libraries and reading 
9ocietie$. He hopes, however, that diere is a great 
]|icre90e of cimbsity respecting India. 
. Hiodostan in ancient and modem times presents 
an iQter^tii^ spectacle to both the Chriistian and 
philosopher. If memoiy recurs to those page/s of 
hiatdry which describe commerce, it will be fomd 
that struggles between rival states for the spices, 
gems, and silks of the East, occasioned the di^overy 
of America, and the expansion of civilisation in 
Europe, after barbakrimi and priestcraft had «unk 
the noble remains of liberty and science in dark- 
ness. Let observati<m be directed to the modem 



PRSFACE. VU 

state of that extensive region of Asia, and it will 
occur to the contemplative mind, that there must 
be something extraordinary in institutions which 
have withstood the sword of conquest and the 
persuasive force of Christianity, while their en- 
feebling effect has been so great upon the inhabit- 
ants, that from the £ibalous invasion of Bacchus to 
the real possession of Hindostan by an English 
company of mercliaitts, every invader has found 
the natives unable to oppose vigorous encroach- 
ment 

In short, a spirited individual *, only a few years 
ago, deemed the pursuit of research ^salioportaadty 
as to merit the devotion of a conaidersible sum 
from his moderate fortune, which he o^red as a re- 
ward for the best essays on the most likely means of 
civilising the natives, and of diffusing the light of the 
Christian religion through the Eastern world. 

Whatever an author's motive for writktg may 
be, he should aim at promoting the interests of 
moralify and rdigion ; so that public utility may 
be obviously paramount to all other objects. Such 
is the sentiment of the writer of the fdlowing 
pages. What he has attempted to accomplish may 
be described in a single sentence. - 

He has endeavoured to abridge much that has 
been written on India ; and to speak of what he 
himseli'saw, felt, and thought whilst in that country, 

* The Rev. Dr. fifachanan. 



VlU PREFACE. 

as a plain soldier and an unprejudiced gentleman, 
anxious for the interest of truth and the welfare 
of his native land. 

To assume that he has successfully executed his 
task would be presumptuous ; but he has assiduously 
laboured not to mislead. To the justice and judg- 
ment of a discerning public he submits his work 
with respectful deference, humbly saying to all in 
the beautiful lai^^uage of the Roman poet— - 

Vive, vale : si quid novisti rectius istis, 
Candidus imperti ; si non, his utere mecum. 

Horace^ lib^i. epist.6* 



This work will be found divided into three 
bodes, of a geographical| historical, and miscellane- 
ous description ; and each book, into chapters, or 
subjects, according to the natural sections which 
4he matter suggests; followed by a copious Index. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



It was intended that a map should accompany 
this work, containing the name of every place 
mentioned in it In attempting, however, to make 
one upon a scale suitable to an octavo volume, the 
Author found it would be too crowded for easy 
reference. The best map he could give would be 
more ornamental to the book than useful to the 
reader; and the expense of this work would be so 
much increased by a geographical sketch of the 
extensive regions he desQribes, that in abandoning 
the idea of adding a map, he is confident he has 
consulted the best interest of the public. Arrow- 
smith's new map of Hindostan is now in general 
circulation ; to it he refers the reader for the in- 
terior of India ; and reference to any of the com- 
mon geographical delineations of the globe will be 
sufficient in all other respects. 



CONTENTS. 



BOOK I. 
CHAPTER I. 
Geographical Outline of India - - - 

CHAPTER 11. 

The Islands of India 

CHAPTER HI. 

Geographical Description of India 

BOOK XL 

CHAPTER I. 
History of India, from the most early ages until 
the present time . . . • 

CHAPTER II. 
The Discoveries and Conquests of the Portuguese 
in India - - • . - 

CHAPTER III. 
On the East India Companies of Holland, France, 
Denmark, Ostend, Sweden, Prussia;^ and 
Russia; also on the Trade of Spain with 
India - - - * - 

CHAPTER IV. 
On the Settlements and Conquests of Great Britain 
in India, till the end of Marquis Wellesley's 
Administration - • - - 



Page 
3 



51 



88 



128 



150 



184 



220 



XU CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

Pag« 

From tl^e Administration of Marquis Wellesley in 

India^ until the return of Marquis Hastings 2^2 

CHAPTER VI. 
Of the Three ^Presidenciesj Calcutta, Madras, and 

Bombay - - - - . 300 



BOOK HI. 

CHAPTER I. 
S(Dscellaneous Remarks on India, for the benefit of 

young adventurers - - - 316 

CHAPTER 11, 
Preparation for India, and passage out - - 358 

CHAPTER III. 
Cautions to be observed on arrival in India - 365 

CHAPTER IV. 
Remarks' on subjects connected with residence or 

service in India - - - - 370 

CHAPTER V. 
On returning from India, and in conclusion - . 379 

Appendix, containing a few notes illustrative of the 

text . . . ... - 383 

Addenda • - - - - 411 

Indjsx ---..- 483, 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA- 



BOOK I. 



India is divided into three distinct parts by the 
hand of nature. Hindostan Proper extends from 
the Himalaya, or region of eternal snow, to the 
river Nerbudda, which fells into the Gulf of Cam- 
bay, nearly" in a latitudinariine with the mouths o^ 
the Ganges. The Deccan is all that space from 
the Nerbudda to the river Krishna;, which springs 
not far from the western shore and flows into the 
Bay of Bengal. All the rest of India thence to 
Ihe island of Ceylon is called the Peninsula j whose 
table land is propped up by that amazing wall of 
granite the ghauts, which, on the south-western 
quarter, rise so high above the clouds, that while 
storm howls on one side, zephyr reposes in perfect 
6ecurity on the other. 

There is hardly a place in this vast region that 
bears the name it did in the days of Alexander 
the Great. Many of those cities, which were then 
objects of wonder, have passed aWay under the 
mouldering pressure of time. Others of more 



2 ' * MEMOIRS 'bV 'INDIA. 

modem structure are now in heaps of ruins. They 
serve l?ut as fleeting monuments to instruct man- 
kind respecting the instability of human grandeiu*. 
Such questions, therefore, as whether Palibothra 
were the modern Allahabad or Patna ; or whether 
the island described under the name of Taprobana 
*be Ceylon or Sumatra, seem of little use in the 
present age. The discrepancy proves that the an- 
cients had a very confused knowledge of Hindostan j 
and it must be confessed that its geography is as 
yet very imperfect. Those parts which have been 
accurately surveyed are laid down in Arrowsmith's 
four, sheet map tolerably well. But many others 
are only approximations from the reports made by 
native observers. 

. The inhabitants of all those countries known by 
\he names of Baloochistan, Afghanistan, Cabul^ 
&c„ which lie westward of the river Indus, may 
]?e called with propriety Indo-Persians ; and all 
those who occupy the regions east of the Tiperab 
wilds, which bound Bengal; under the names of 
Arracan, Assam, Ava, the Birman Empire, Siam, 
Pegu, Tunquin, Cambodia, I^aos, &Ct, may with 
equal correctness be called Indo-Chinese. North* 
ward of the great mountains called the Himalaya 
range, which are covered with eternal snow, the 
inhabitants are of the Tartar race; and in the 
islands of Ceylon, Sumatra, Java, the Sunda Chain, 
Bornes, Celebes,* the Moluccas^ the Philippinesi 
&e», which gem the. Indian Ocean, the natives are 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. ^ . 3 

a mixed people, assimilating to the aborigines of 
the continents near them. 

In order to systematise as much as possible this 
brief geographical description of India, it is in- 
tended in the first place to travel round the outline 
of our sketch. 



CHAPTER I. 

GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE OF INDIA. 

Little was known respecting those countries 
which lie between the river Indus and Persia, till 
Captain Christie and Mr. Pottinger undertook to 
travel through Baloochistan^ disguised as Mussul* 
man horse-dealers. After a journey of fifteen 
hundred miles from the mouth of that great river, 
they joined Sir John Malcolm, at the Persian 
court. 

, In all their course they found Hindoos, and 
monuments of the Brahmanical institutions i but 
the mass of the inhabitants are Moslems of the 
same origin perhaps as the Afghans and Sinds, 
and probably descendants from the Tartars, who, 
according to Chinese hist<x*ians, invaded the 
kingdom of Bactria, so long subject to the suc- 
cessors of Alexander. The Bdoochees are govern- 
^ by petty chiefs j some of whom live by plunder. 

B 2 



4^ MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

The king of Cabul claims^ their t)bedience as 
sovereign ; but, owing to the distracted state of 
that kingdom, every chieftain now acknowledges 
no "power but that of the sword. These chiefs are 
at eternal war with each other. We accordingly 
find, that the high feelings generated by feuds pre- 
vail among them. Like the Highlanders of Scot- 
land, they are proud, hospitable, and brave j but 
much addicted to debauch, and depraved in their 
morals. They swear by their beards, constantly 
go armed, and resent personal affronts with great 
spirit. 

Baloochistan is by nature a strong rugged 
country ; exceedingly cold in winter, but so in- 
tensely hot in summer, that the most burning wind 
known in the world is generated in it, under the 
namief'of Badi§ Sumoom. Its approaches are indi- 
cated to the natives by an unusual closeness of the 
atmosphere. Its dangerous effects, however, may 
be shunned by covering the body with even a very 
thin cloth, and lying prostrate till the fiery fluid 
passes.; but should this precaution not be taken, 
says Ml. Pottinger, " the muscles of the un- 
happy sufferer become rigid and contracted, the 
skin shrivels, an agonizing sensation, as if the 
flesh was on fire, pervades the whole frame, and 
rn the last stage it cracks into deep gashes, pro- 
ducing hemorrhage, that quickly ends this misery.'* 
Deserts and barren sands abound ; but the fertile 
parts produce wheat, rice and pulses in abundance, 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 5 

together with sugar and several drugs for exjpbrt-' 
ation. In traversing some of the wilds, Mr. Pot-" 
tingerhas described distress from thirst with much 
strength of feeling. " The shrab, or water of the 
desert," says he, " floated around us, as though 
it were mocking our distress, by its delusive repre- 
sentation of what we so eagerly thirsted for, the 
absence of which, I can affirm with perfect confi- 
dence, from my individual experience, to be the 
most insupportable of all the wants of what are 
termed tiie absolute necessaries of life. A person 
naay endure, with patience and hope, the pressure 
of fatigue or hunger, heat or cold, and even a 
total deprivation of natural rest for a considerable 
length of time ; but to be scorched under a burn- 
ing sun, to feel your throat so parched and dry 
that you respire with difficiilty, to dread moving 
your tongue in your mouth frcnn the apprehension 
of suffocation which it causes, and not to have the 
means of allaying those dreadful sensations, are, 
m my ideas, the extreme pitch of a traveller's 
calamities*" 

Both banks of the Indus for a considerable wiay 
are inhabited by Sinds, under the government of 
two chiefs called Meers, who, though tributa;ries 
to the king of Cabul, now hardly acknowledge any 
subjection. The Sinds are distinguished from the 
Baloochees, who wear turbans, gowns, and trowsers, 
in little but their head-dress, which is a cap siHne- 
thing like the crown of our hat fancifully em- 

B 3 



6 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

broidei^ed round the lower edge. A similar cap is 
worn by the females; some of whom are very 
beautiful. At Hyderabad, which is the capital, 
the artificers are very skilful ip working iron and 
gold ; and in many parts of the country there are 
monuments, which indicate the superior prosperity 
of the whole at some remote period. The small 
province of Tatta, now part of this region, is the 
JDidita of the Indus. It is in many parts suscep-* 
tible of the highest state of cultivation. A great 
de^ of it is now a desert, which in former Hmes 
was a perfect garden. Near the capital, which is 
named from the province, there are prodigioua 
numbers of graves and mausoleums j one of which 
over the tomb of Mii^za Eesau is uncommonly mag* 
nificent. Tatta is built upon the ruins of the an* 
cient Brahmanabad, which in old times was called 
Pattala by th^ Greeks j but there is scarcely a trace 
now of the 1400 bastions, which Abul Fazel de- 
scribed it to have had. 

The river Indus, in a fine course of more than 
1S50 miles, fertilizes the whole country, and pro- 
duces the Same effects as the Nile. Some of the 
tributary branches of the Ilftdus are equal to the 
largest rivers in Europe. The Hydaspes, Hydra- 
otes and Hysudrus are as large as the Rhone. The 
Hyphases^ forty miles longer than the Elbe, and 
nearly all the inferior branches as noble as the 
Thames^* 

* Vide Mr. Elphinstone's account of CabuL 



MEMOIRS OF IK0Iib 



Throughout Afghanistan, Hindoos are nuttier- 
ous. They are in fact found in considerable nunif 
bers as far as Astracan, and .even in Arabia and 
the northern parts .of Persia; where the lovexrf 
gain induces them to reside, though held in a statt 
of degradation, and only tolerated on account of 
the increase of revenue which their industry aiid 
taxation produce. The Afghans enjoy a considerr 
able share of liberty, and have a sort of political 
constitution, that inspires an ardent thirst for glory 
and independence. Love is cultivated amcmg this 
gallant race of men with much refinement; and 
the power the fair sex has, is so great, that, if a 
lady of rank sends a chief her veil, he feels himr 
self bound by honour to espouse her quarrel, 
though the destruction of him and his tribe should 
follow. Ghizni, the ancient celebrated capital of 
this country, was situated on a hill in the province 
of Cabid* Its magnificent structures have scarcely 
left a wreck behind, to mark their passage down the 
flood of time ; but pilgrimages are still made to 
the tombs of saints buried near it, of such sanctity 
that the Mohammedaiis call Ghizni the second 
Medina. T'or four centuries this was the seat of a 
mighty empire. Sultan Mahmood, the conqueror: 
of India, ornamented it with noble edifices, the 
shapeless masses of whose ruins can now scarcely 
be traced. In A. D. ;1171, the Ghizni empirf^ 
ceased, having been conquered and subverted by 
Mahomed Ghori. 

B 4 



8 MEMOIRS OF INPIA. 

Cabul may be said to extend to the great 
northern mountains •; the lower ranges of which 
are inhabited by a wild race of men, who occupy 
all the valleys of Cafiristan, from its western 
border to Cashmere, so justly celebrated for its 
manufacture of beautiful i^awls. The wool, of 
which these shawls are made^ is brought from 
Tibet It is the inside coat or down of sheep 
peculiar to that mountainous r^ion. The wool 
is at first of a dark grey colour, but being bleached, 
it becmnes a beautiful white, and takes the various 
dyes readily when spun. It is a curious fact, 
that the borders are attached to the shawls after 
fabrication, so delicately, that no eye can detect 
the pliice of junction. To make a shawl of a 
fine description is very tedious, t The coarsest 
ones from the loom fetch about a pound ster- 
hng, but the finest sometimes sell for 100/. each. 
J^ambs' skins, of the Tibet sheep, are so highly 
esteemed, that the dams are often killed before 
yeaning, on purpose to have the skin of a more 
delicate texture than after its exposure to the air. 
The valley of Cashmere $ has been celebrated 
from the most early times for its beauty.'' Nothing 
can exceed its romantic advantages from nature, 
of which Bemier has given a fine description. It 
is all holy ground to the Hindoos, every part of it 
being dedicated to some god. In the centre of a 

* Vide Addenda, No. I. + Vide Addenda, No. II. 
t Vide Addenda, No. m. 



JtfBHOlRS OF INDIA*: 9 

plain hear the lake of Cashmere, studded with 
little isles, were the gardens ^nd pavilions of the 
Mogul emperors, called, after those of Delhi, 
Shalimar. Thither the hobles made annual visits, 
to feast on the charms of this lovely valley, and to 
choose wives from among the beautiful girls of 
Cashmere; whose delicacy of complexion and 
symmetry of form were only surpassed by the 
elegant turn of their minds, the liveliness of their 
dispositions, and the sweetness of dieir tempers. 
Abul.Fazel says there were no fewer than twenty- 
six roads out of this province into Hindostan. 

The exports of Cabul consist of horses, poneys, 
furs, shawls, Mooltan chintzes, madder, assa- 
foetida, tobacco, almonds, pistachio nuts, hazel 
nuts, and fruit J among which are many of those 
common to Europe ; for the climate about Perish- 
war is almost like that of England, and in winter 
very bracing, though it seldom freezes hard below 
the Himalaya range. Their imports from India 
consist of cotton, muslins, silks, and brocade, 
indigo, ivory, chalk, bamboo, wax, tin, sandal 
wood, su|^, broad cloth, musk, coral, and drugs 
and spiceFof all kinds. The king of Cabul is 
not now vary powerful, for his authority has for a 
long time been feeWy supported ; but one of his 
ancestors, Ahmid Shah Abd^i, was so much so» 
that he decided the fate of India, which was upon 
the point of being at the disposal of the Mahrattas. 
Abdalii entered Hindostan with about 80,000 



ID MEMOIRS OF INDIA^ 

fighting men, and eighty pieces of cannon, in the 
year I76O, and on ihe 7th of January following 
the famous battle of Panniput took place. . The 
Mahrattas had a camp, it Is said, of 500,000 men^ 
and 200 pieces of cannon ; all of which were taken^ 
and the greatest part of their army put to the 
sword, on the same spot where Sultan Baber had 
destroyed the power of the emperor Ibrahim Lodi 
in 1525. Mooltan, Lahore, . and a great part of 
the Punjab, belonged to Cabul in its flourishing 
state, but upon its decline the Seiks rose, and 
they now possess- nearly all those provinces. 
. Perhaps in no part of the world is there a 
grander display of the sublime than along tlie 
Himalaya. The higher ridges of the mountains 
are seen in the distance clothed up to the snowy 
regions, with fir and oak j and the cataracts formed 
by the fiow of water from melted snow, give 
an indescribable grandeur to the scene. The 
valleys,^ in the lowest ridges, are inhabited by a 
rude and savage race, clothed in the skins of wild 
beasts, and a coarse stuff manufactured from the 
long hair of their goats. They have bij^mperfect 
notions of God, and drink to excess of an in- 
toxicating liquor produced from grain. 

Beyond these mountains lie the extensive and 
dreary regions of Tibet, extending from the 
sources of the Indus and Ganges to the confines 
of China, I6OO miles in length, and in breadth 
Irom Hindostan to- the great desert of Gobi. . The 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 11 

elevation of this country is such, that the c(Ad is 
almost insupportable^ and under its influence, vege* 
tation is parched, as if by extreme heat M^ny 
of the great rivers of China and India have their 
sources in the Himalaya mountains, whose alti* 
tude, above the plains of Bengal, is in some places^ 
more than four English miles* The ways of Pro* 
vidence are wonderf iiL In this region, which one 
would suppose unfriendly to animal life, it abounds 
to an amazing degree. The whole atmosphere 
swarms with wild fowl and game, while the woodiS 
are filled with beasts, and the plains covered with 
herds and. flocks innumerable. Among these are 
the yak or bushy-tailed cow, covered all over with 
very long hair, the musk deer, resembling a hog, 
and the shawl goat. The latter is very small, with 
straight horns, and covered with coarse long hauv 
under which is found the glossy substance manu-^ 
factured into shawls in Cashmere. Gold is found 
here in great quantities, and very pure, with which 
the natives, who are numerous, purchase warnt 
clothing, and buy up EngUsh broad cloth with 
great eag^i^ss. The higher classes dress in rich 
fiu^, and ffle poorer sort in the skins of beasts and 
coarse woollens ; but they all wear a prodigious 
weight of clothing, and very thick boots. At 
one time, the Brahmanical institutions prevailed all 
over this country, but the inhabitants are now 
Budhists, acknowledging an incarnation in the 
person of their high priest j but they make pil- 



12 MEMOlkS OF INDIA. 

griniages to Juggernaut ♦, and hold Benares in 
the greatest reverence, as the original seat of the 
arts and sciences. The most remarkable custom 
here, is, that the women have several husbands, 
there being seldom more than one wife to a whole 
fstmily of brothers; the eldest of whom has the 
privilege of choosing ; but immediately after she 
becomes the joint property of the whole, and con- 
fers her favours upon them by turns. Something 
like this is practised among the Nairs of Malabar, 
which shall be noticed in its proper place. All 
civil power in Tibet is derived from the great 
Lama, and he has several populous towns and 
strong forts. 

It is now well ascertained that the Ganges flows 
from under an eternally hard mass of snow, a few 
miles beyond the village of Gangotra^ where fancy 
has given to its source the shape of a cow's mouth j 
but it is, in fact, an aperture in the ice. To this 
sacred spot Hindoo pilgrims repair from all parts 
of India ; and it is considered such an exertion of 
love to God, that its performance is believed to 
redeem from troubles in this world md the next. 
Indeed, this trial of Hindoo faith is almost super- 
human ; for the way to Gangotra lies for several 
days' journey over mountains almost perpendicular, 
the footpath winding along their sides with a 
precipice of two thousand feet immediately below, 

* Vide Appendix, note 1. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 13 

and projecting rocks directly in many places over 
head, with hardly a resting place for the foot, so 
that a false step is certain destruction. But this 
is not all ; they have to cross swinging bridges 
of rope or cane, over frightful torrents j and a 
shivering creature from the island of Ceylon, almost 
under the line, clothed in a thin cotton robe, has 
to encounter transitions of climate in the same 
day, which a Russian could scarcely endure. 
Hundreds, nay, perhaps thousands of them, perish 
every year in this enterprize, and the bottoms of 
the precipices are white with their bones. In 
short, some idea may be entertained of the almosjt 
insurmountable obstacles on the near approach to 
Gangotra by the reader, when he recollects that 
Captain Raper and Lieutenant Webb, ^entby Go» 
vemment to explore the sources of the Gang^es, 
found the difficulties so unconquerable on getting 
near that place, that they were obliged to abandon 
their purpose, though provided with every requisite 
that unlimited expenditure could procure^ * 

The greatest fair in all India is held at Hurd-? 
warra, ^ISf^ *^® Ganges enters the plains of 
Bengal, nere the pilgrims to the five sacred 
junctions, mentioned in the Sastras, assemble j and 
as they combine commercial speculations with de- 
votion, every one brings or takes something. Two 



* Vide Asiatic Researches, vol. xi. where Captain Raper's 
Journal will be. found. . ^ 



14 MEMOTRS OF INDIA; 

milliatis of souls annually congregate at this place 
for purposes of traffic, pilgrimage, and profit. 
Here are exposed for sale, horses, mules, camels, 
tobacco, antimony, assafoetida, dried fruits ; such as 
apricots, figs, apples, pears, prunes, *raisins, almonds, 
nuts, and pomegranates ; shawls, stuffs, blankets, 
turbans, looking-glasses, and toys in ivory and 
brass ; shields, bows and arrows, rock salt, piece* 
goods, English broad cloth, muslins, sarcenets, cocoa- 
nuts; with slaves brought down from the hills, 
many hundreds of whom are sold, from three to 
thirty years of age, at the rate of from lL5s. to 
18/. 25. • each. 

This prodigious mass, collected from various 
parts of Asia, and speaking different tongues^ would 
be in the situation of the children of Noah at the 
tower of Babel, were it not that there is a general 
language of the fingers known and studied through- 
out Hindostan j which enables the seller and the 
buyer perfectly to understand each other. This 
mode of making bargains is common at every fair in 
the country. A purchaser goes up to a seller, and 
narrowly examines a camel, or whatevM^he wants. 
The person to whom it belongs makes nim. an en- 
quiring nod, which is answered by a positive shrug, 
and they join their right hands, over which a part 
of their muslin robe or cotton dress is thrown, to 
conceal their operations from inquisitive eyes. 

* Vide Captain Raper's Journal. 



MEMOIKS OF INDU; . 15 

Then fellows a most animated scene of gesticula^ 
tion, which is conducted with patience and gravity j 
but when two experienced men meet, a bargain is 
concluded in a few seconds, and the price, fixed by 
the fingers and eyes, in general so perfectly in* 
telligible, that disputes seldoim occur. 

Numbers of Fakiers, or rather Sanyassees, for 
the former word signifies a devotee of the Moham* 
medan creed, and the latter, one of the Brahmanical; 
assemble at this fair, to extort money under various 
pretences; some by torturing their bodies, and 
others by displays of buffoonery. There are four 
principal sects — Gosains, Bairagis, JogiS, and 
Udasis. The Gosains worship Seeva, and generally 
go naked, with a string of beads round the 
neck, their bodies frightfully painted, and armed 
often with sharp two-edged swords. Vishnu re: 
ceives the adoration of the Bairagis, who are 
distinguished by peculiar stripes of yellow ochre ♦^ 
or sandal wood ashes, on the forehead. The Jogis 
are followers of Seeva, but differ in some things 
from the Gosains, and are known by large slits in 
their ears, A) which they hang various substances* 
They and the Gosains bury their dead, which is a 
custom very extraordinary in Hindostan, w]iere 
burning is the general mode. Nanac, the founder 
of the Seiks, is the great object of respect with tha 

* For these distinctions, vide Asiatic Researches, vol. xi. 
Raper's Journal. . 



16 MBMOiRs OF ranoTA. 

« 

Udasis, who are easily distingiiislied, by wearing a 
conical cap, with a fringe. These four sects con- 
sider each other heterodox, and sometimes have 
satiguinary battles. In an engagement once at 
this fair between the Gosains and Bairagis, the 
latter left 18,000 d^ad on the field, and the fonnerj 
who were victorious, nearly ss many, having fought 
hand to hand, and foot to foot, with the broad* 
sword and target, for a whole day. • 

From Hurdwarra to the sources of the Ganges, 
are temples of great antiquity, one of which, called 
Raghunaut, is said by the Brahmans to have 
existed 10,000 years. At some of these, the most 
disgusting scenes of moral depravity are practised, 
almost in open day. Captain Raper says, in speaks 
ing of the village of Rami Haut, " It is inha,bited 
by dancing women ; and the ceremony of initia- 
tion to this society consists in anointing the head 
with oil, taken from the lamp placed before the 
altar; by which act they make a formal abjura^ 
tion of their parents and kindred, devoting their 
future lives -to prostitution. A short distance be- 
yond it, ii a math or fane of ' the gf|d of love.' 
The high-priest of Badrinaut was in a miserable 
state from the wounds of the deity, although he 
and all his Brahmans had taken a vow of eternal 
chastity. When he appliied for relief, he signifi- 
cantly attributed his state to a certain something 

* Vide Appendix, note 2. 



MEMOIRS OF INQJik. 17 

which he did not pretend properly to understand, 
called by him "^ rar^ojotion qfthe atmospheres^ Hia 
dress was a quilted vest, of green satin, with white 
shawl girdle, red turban, party-coloured socks, and 
gold earrings, with pearl pendants j triple rows of 
pearls formed his necklace, bracelets of precious 
stones ornamented his jwms, and rings, sparkling 
with gems, glittered on his fingers. The great idol 
of the temple, during the season of pilgrimage, has a 
superb table laid at two o'clock, and his velvet 
couch is spread every night ; but in the inclement 
part of the year he is shut up, and left to starve^ 
while the high priest and his sensual Brahmans 
retire to a more congenial climate, to enjoy their 
dancing girls. 

The surrounding mountains contain many natu- 
ral curiosities } hot and cold springs; water-falls 
from projecting ledges of snowy hills, rolling in 
shower baths over precipices; lead and copper 
mines; and such frequent earthquakes occur, 
that nearly all the temples have been shattered. 
Some of the shrubs, plants, and trees of Europe are 
seen here ; the hazel and briar, the fir and oak, and 
the strawbary, bloom in the valleys, and climb up 
the hills till lost in snow. But a custom prevails 
among the inhabitants not less interesting than 
many other things, and this is the human sacrifice 
they offer to the offended spirit of the great 
mountain, after a bad hafvest, by hurling a man 
from the top of a precipice nearly a mile high. 



18 MEMOIRS OP INDIA* 

down a rope made fast above and below. If he 
have the dexterity to balance himself so as to reach, 
tiie bottom unhurt, a great reward awaits him ; but 
should he fall, and any life remain in him, his head: 
is immediately severed from his body. • 

Nepaul lies in the north-east of Hindostan. It 
may be said to occupy the whole of that quarter 
from the river Sutleje to Bootan, being a distance 
of about 700 miles, but its average breadth does 
not exceed 100, and it all lies between the latitudes 
27^ and 32°. It is one of the most mountainous 
riegions in the world ; the lower hills and valleys 
only being inhabited ; so that by calculation its 
cultivated area does not exceed ten millions of 
acres, and its population may be estimated at two 
millions of souls. The district properly called 
Nepaul, is of small extent : it in fact consists of 
little more than a beau^tiful oval valley twelve miles 
long, and nine broad, watered by the Bhagmutty 
and Bishenmutty rivers. On one side of the 
Bishenmutty stands the capital called Catmandoo, 
and on the other the ancient city of Pattan. For 
several centuries this lovely spot was governed by 
its own rajahs, but in the year 1768 it was invaded 
and conquered by Parthi Narrain, the rajah of 
Goorca, who afterwards removed the seat of his 
government to Catmandoo, which is> now the 

* This is given on the authority of Captain Raper and 
Lieutenant Webb, who witnessed th« ceremony. Vide Asiatic 
Researches, vol. xi« 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 19 

metropolis of the whole Nepaulese territories. For 
a considerable time before, the Goorcas had been 
famous as warriors, belonging in general to the 
Khetri sect. Their rajah claims descent from the 
same origin as Sevagee, whose family is allowed 
to be very ancient. This warlike people soon con- 
quered all the neighbouring provinces, seventeen 
in number, and forced the numerous rajahs to be- 
come tributary to theirs, who is now despotic 
sovereign of this extensive region. 

Being forsaken by the principal families, who 
followed their rajah to Catmandoo, Goorca is now 
in a state of decay. It is famous for rock crys- 
tal, of which there is a great abundance neax it. 
Many of the small provinces that compose the 
kingdom of Nepaul deserve but . little notice, 
Mocwanpore is remarkable for containing a very 
strong fort, situated on the summit of a mountain, 
to which, when sore pressed by an enemy, the 
Goorcas send their families and treasure. This was 
the. case when Nepaul was invaded by the Chinese 
Tartars. It is so very strong that Cossim Aly^a' 
Armenian general, Goorgeen Khan, besieged it 
during nearly the whole of the year 1762, in vain. 
Kemaoon is one of the most fertile provinces, con- 
taining several fine valleys. Almora is also a pro- 
ductive district. The tree called phulwarah, the 
nuts of which contain a vast quantity of fat, is 
found on its hills. . This province is watered by. 
the river Causila^ which is deep and broad ; and 

c « 



90 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

there being no bridge, it is crossed in a curious 
manner by means of large gourds, several of which 
are made fast to the waist of an excellent swimmer, 
many of whom attend at proper stations. The 
passenger has only to hold fast by his guide's 
girdle, and he is ferried over with safety. Almora, 
the capital of this district, is seated on the top of 
a mountain. Serinagur is another large province 
intersected by extraordinary chains of hiUs, and 
covered with forests of oak, holly, horse-chesnut, 
and fir : it has a very strong hill fort called San- 
gur, which resisted the Nepaulese, who besieged 
it for twelve months, about the year 1791. This 
was their first attempt to conquer the country, but 
it was not effected till 1803. An army of 10,000 
men then entered it; and a furious battle was fought 
near Gurudwarra, where the Serinagur rajah was 
slain by a musket ball, his forces routed, and his 
country became the prey of the victor. The valley, 
in the centre of which Serinagur stands, is three 
miles in diameter, watered by the Alcananda, a 
fine broad river, which is crossed near the town by 
a bridge of r<^e thrown across a narrow part, 
eighty fiset wide, where the rush of water has cut 
a passage for itself through a mountain. Here the 
houses are well built of stone, two stories high, and 
slated ; but the streets are narrow ; and with the 
exception of several curious pagodas, the rajah*s 
house is the only remarkable edifice, being built of 
coarse granite to the height of four stories. 



MEMOIRS OF IKDIA. tl 

These mountainous regions are covered with deep 
forests in many places of Saul or Sissoo ; in otliers 
they are barren : the elephant abounds, but he is 
here of a small breed ; peacocks and pheasants are 
in great numbers ; mines of copper, iron, andlead^ 
are here in inexhaustible plenty, as well as fine 
marble ; and the sand of the rivers, when washed^ 
yields a considerable quantity of gold. The prin- 
cipal food of the inhabitants is wheaten bread, peaa^ 
rice, pulses, and vegetables, with such seasoning 
of animal food and curries as are permitted by the 
rules of their castes. All the country is subject to 
a sort of military government. The power of the 
Goorcas is absolute, the subject having no protec- 
tion but that of the great council of state, called 
Punjunni, which consists of the ministers and such 
chiefs as the rajah nominates. By the decree of this 
tribunal, any subject may be deprived of life and 
land; but except on particular occasions the ad" 
ministration of criminal and civil IsLsys is according 
to the Dharma Sastra, which is an ancient code 
founded in equity. In some cases, however, the 
mode of punishment is by levying a fine on the dis- 
trict where the offence has been committed, and in 
default of payment, the offender and family are 
sealed. Nepaul has to its north the lofty Himalaya, 
covered with eternal snow. Though this range of 
mountains be forty miles from Catmandoo, yet its 
immense height (peaks of it being more than 22,000 
&et above the sea) causes it to appear as if hangkg 

c 3 



22 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

over the town, to a spectator who stands at a little 
distance south of the city. Eastward the moun- 
tains are inhabited by barbarous tribes called 
Kyraiuts, Hawoos, and Limbooas. The Company's 
territories nearly embrace it on the other sides. Its 
chief towns are, besides Catmandoo and Pattan, 
Goorca, Bhatgong, Jemlah, Olmira, and Serinagur. 
The capital is said to contain 50,000 souls, and 
with its suburbs, or immediate dependencies, a 
population of 168,000. Bhatgong is situated eight 
miles from Catmandoo : it is ^ embellished with 
some fine pagodas, excellent houses built of bricks, 
arid it has a palace which was once a magnificent 
pile. It is the Benares of the Goorcas, and great 
numbers of Brahmans reside here, who say the 
town resembles the guitar of Mahadeva for its 
beauty and harmony. The Bhagmutty and Bish- 
enmutty rivers, by which this fine valley is watered, 
have their source in the gigantic mountain of Siva- 
puri. ' From a high hill called Chandiaghiri, the 
valley, said to contain half a milUon of souls, looks 
lo\'ely ; being thickly studded with villages, and 
laid out in fine plantations of sugar cane, and irri- 
gated by numerous silver streams. The Brahmans 
say that this valley was once a lake. Its climate 
is that of th« south of Europe, which is given by 
its elevation of about 4000 feet above the sea. 
The seasons are nearly the same as in other parts 
of India, but it has the monsoon earlier, and fire- 
quent showers. In three or four days* journey up 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 29 

the mountains, a man may here change the heat o{ 
Bengal for the cold of Russia ; and our officers and 
soldiers are as much benefited, when invalids froiri 
relaxation, by being sent up above the clouds of 
Nepaul, as they would by being sent to the north 
of Europe. The soil is cultivated by the Newars, 
who live in the valleys. The people of the hills 
are called Parbutties ; the other classes are Brah- 
mans, Khetris, and Rajpoots. There are not many 
Mohammedans in Nepaul. There are generally 
three harvests or crops in the year ; one of wheat, 
one of fine rice, and one of coarse rice, or pulse of 
vegetables. The capital, Catmandoo, is only remark- 
able for its great number of wooden pagodas ; its 
streets are narrow, and the houses are built of 
bricks, which are uncommonly good, all over 
Nepaul, to the height of four stories, and covered 
with tiles. It extends along the river Bishenmutty 
about a mile, but it is no where more than half its 
length in depth. In cultivating this valley spade 
husbandry is preferred to the plough, and the 
women perform a great part of the labour. All the 
fruits and vegetables of India grow here, with 
many of those belonging to Europe. There is a 
great variety of game. They have very few manu- 
facturers, although expert in working copper, 
brass, and wood. It is wonderful how they accom- 
plish some of their undertakings with their took, 
which arfe of the very worst description. It is 
said that the revenue does not amount to more 

c 4 



84 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

than thirty lacks of rupees per annum, being 
only S75>000/. ; but the government requires little 
for current expenditure, the civil and military es- 
tablishments being provided for by assignments of 
land, and the whole territories let out in jaghires, 
^11 the coins current in Hindostan pass in Nepaul ; 
but the currency of their own mint is a silver piece 
worth fourteen-pence, called a sicca, with several 
copper ones, tlie lowest of which is the 28Qth part 
of a sicca. The regular forces are clothed with 
English broad cloth, and armed with muskets and 
bayonets ; but their irregulars have bows and 
arrows, matchlocks and hatchet swords. Their 
peace establishment may be about 10,000 men, 
but they can bring a very large army into the field 
op occasions of emergency ; for when their war- 
standard) which is yellow, with the figure of Hahu- 
map, the Munkey deity, on it, is unfurled, the 
(chiefs flock to it with enthusiasm, war being their 
delight and vocation. The Nepaulese were never 
subdued by the Mohammedan invaders of India, 
'[f his may account for their purity in many respects, 
?iid strict conformity to the Brahmanical institu- 
^ops ; yet it is extraordinary that buffaloes are here 
offered as sacrifices to Bhavani, and the Newars feed 
on the flesh. Bravery is the distinguishing trait in 
the high castes of Nepaul. The men are tfauiu^efore 
open and candid, with a military simplicity of cha- 
racter. The Newars, or peasantry of the country, 
are of the middle size, well built, with strong limbs 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. ^5 

and broad shoulders, round faces, and small eyes. 
Their countenances are cheerful, and many of the 
women sprightly and pretty ; all fond of ornaments ; 
and, like the Nair fair ones of Malabar, they may 
have several husbands, it being lawful for them to 
divorce at plea3ure. Their complexion is between 
a sallow and a copper colour. The vernacular lan- 
guages are Parbutti, Newar, Dhenwar, Muggur, 
Kyraut, Hoovoo, Limboa^ and Bhootea ; but the 
Brahmans study Sanscrit and several of its ramifi- 
cations. 

The restrictions and monopolies under which 
commerce labours, have never enabled the mer- 
chants of Nepaul to compete with the neighbouring 
states. Their trade is confined generally to an an- 
nual intercourse with Tibet and Bootan. Caravans 
start, when the sunimer begins to melt the snow 
in the passes through the mountains, with grain, 
treacle, oU, sugar, cotton, chintz, iron, brass, 
lead, woollens, pearls, corals, cowries, or small 
shells that pass for money, dates and almonds, and 
return with salt, saffron, borax, dried grapes, gold-^ 
dust, cow-tails, musk, blankets, bezoar, porcelain, 
hill poneys, sheep with six horns, the cow of Tar- 
tary, called yak, dogs, shawl wool, and tea. No 
other animal can be used in passing these mountains 
far .carriage but goats and sheep. These are not 
of the species with large tails, so common to the 
westward, but a small breed, possessed of great 
strength and activity. Small bags are ti^on their 



^6 MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

backs, and a ram with a bell leads the flock, which' 
generally consists of from 50 to about 200, fol- 
lowed by a couple of shepherds and their dogs. 
These sure-footed creatures pass over precipices 
with their small burdens which no human foot 
could traverse, and find vegetation among the crags 
sufficient for their wants. 

Like all other countries, the history of the valley 
of Nepaul is involved in obscurity. The Brahmans 
of Bhatgong have lists of princes that reigned over 
it from times antecedent to our creation of the 
world ; but nothing authentic is known till A. D. 
1323, when Hur Sing Deo, rajah of Semrounghur, 
a descendant of the Surya Vansa, princes of 
Oude, conquered it. Under his posterity, Nepaul 
Proper continued till I768, when it was entered by 
the victorious Parthi Narrain, rajah of Goorca. 
Runjeet Mull, of Bhatgong, the reigning prince,- 
was beaten in a pitched battle, and he died some 
time ailer at Benares. The Goorcas then esta- 
blished their power at Catmandoo, and successively 
overcame all the neighbouring states, having now 
above forty-six petty princes tributary to them. In 
1769 their aggressions were such on the Company's 
territories, that a force under Major Kinlock was 
sent against them, which penetrated as far as Se- 
dowly, at the foot of the hills of Nepaul; and, 
although it was found impracticable to proceed 
further, yet such an impression was made on the 
government of Catmandoo, by the valour and con- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 27 

duct of our troops, that a friendly treaty was 
arranged between the two states, and part of Moc- 
wanpore ceded to us. In 1 790, the Nepaulese in- 
vaded Tibet with 18,000 men, and plundered the 
treasures of the Lama a second time, which, rous- 
ing the indignation of the emperor of China, he 
sent an army of 70,000 men against Catmandoo. 
The flower of the Nepaul infantry had been frozen 
to death in the gulfs of the Himalaya on their 
return, and the Chinese army beat the Goorcas in 
several battles, forced them to regorge the whole 
of the plunder to the Lama, and to become tri- 
butary to the emperor. For a considerable time 
after this, a great jealousy was shown to the Com- 
pany's interest. Lord Cornwallis failed in his en- 
deavours to establish a political treaty with the 
Nepaulese ; but when the Chinese army had entirely 
evacuated the country, that object was effected. 
A friendly intercourse thence subsisted till 1808, 
when the government was usurped by Bheem Sing 
Tapah, during the minority of rajah Bicrama Say, 
who about that time succeeded to the throne, at 
the age of eight years. From this period, a system 
was pursued so hostile to British interest, and the 
safety of the frontier provinces, that in 1814 a most 
respectable force was formed from the Bengal army, 
and invaded it with success, but great loss, as shall 
be detailed in its appropriate place; * 

• Vide Addenda, IV. 



28 MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

Bootan lies eastward of Nepaul, and extends to 
the wilds bordering on China. The inhabitants of 
its mountains are a small race of men, and subject 
to the extremes of heat and cold; for at Punakhsi, 
in one of the valleys, the vertical sun bums, while 
at Ghassa the people are chilled by eternal snow ; 
yet these places are within sight of each other, and 
the difference is produced by altitude alone ; so true 
it is, that climate depends as much upon locality 
as latitude. The Booteas are of Tartar origin, and 
their complexion is fair : they are an active, hardy, 
and warlike people ; expert in the use of the bow 
and short sword. Many of those w^ho inhabit the 
mild parts of the country, possess great personal 
advantages, being stout and broad-chested, of Her- 
culean strength and undaunted courage. Nearly 
all the offices of husbandry are performed by the 
women. The government is monarchical, and the 
worship of Budha prevails. 

Bengal is bounded on nearly its whole eastern 
line by the wild and extensive district pf Tiperah, 
the mountains of which are inhabited by savages, 
who have now scarcely any knowledge of the Brah- 
manical code, nor indeed of any other, although, in 
ancient times, this was the seat of an empire which 
brought armies into the field of 200,000 infantry. 
From this region and Chittagong the government 
of India recruit their establishment of elephants, 
purchasing none under nine feet high. The inha- 
bitants of Rajemal, a northern district of Bengal 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 29 

contiguous to this triact, are mostly of low stature, 
biit stout and well proportioned. Many of them 
are not taller than four feet ten inches, with small 
eyes, flat noses, and thick lips. These savage men 
were reclaimed and civilised by the noble exertions 
of Mr. Cleveland, their judge and magistrate, who 
has a monument in the form of a pagoda, erected 
to his memory n^r Boglipore : he died at the 
early age of 29. An idea of his worth may be 
entertained from the tribute paid to his memory by 
the governor-general and council of Bengal, and 
which remains for a testimony to future times, en- 
graved over his mortal remains. There he lies — 
** Who, without bloodshed, or the terror of autho- 
rity, employing only the means of conciliation, 
confidence, and benevolence, attempted and ac- 
complished the entire subjection of the lawless and 
savage inhabitants of the Jungleterry of Rajemal, 
who had long infested the neighbouring lands by 
their predatory incursions, inspired them with a 
taste for the arts of civilised life, and attached them 
to the British government by a conquest over their 
minds.'* To my understanding, this is one of the 
most honourable monuments that ever was erected, 
and worthy of being perpetuated till time shall be 
no more. 

The eastern parts of Silhet, over which the 
Bengal government exercises authority, are within 
350 miles of Yunan in China ; but the intervening 
space is so wild, and the jealousy of the Chinese so 



so MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 

strong, that no intercourse subsists between them. 
From the hills of Silhet, fine lime is sent to Calcutta, 
which is found in inexhaustible quantities there, 
although no where else in Bengal. Orange plant- 
ations are cultivated to such an extent in Silhet, 
that a thousand of that fine fruit are sold for half- 
a-crown. 

To mention all the savage tribes along the fron- 
tier of Bengal, in the Tiperah mountains, would 
be tedious : a brief notice of one or two may be 
interesting. The Garrows are a very lively people, 
who live chiefly on raw animal food, and build their 
houses or villages on piles in a very curious manner : 
they are exceedingly fond of dancing. This amuse* 
ment is thus conducted: Twenty or thirty men 
stand behind one another, each holding his hands 
round the waist of him, in his immediate front, thus 
forming circles, and hopping first to the right, and 
then to the left, on one foot, they keep time to a 
sort of drum, and a wild instrument like a clarionet. 
The women dance in rows in like manner, but do 
not mix with the men. Marriage is settled here by 
a regular courtship, and all the violence of love is 
felt. If the parents should refuse their consent 
after the young people have agreed, they are well 
beaten by their friends, and forced to submit to the 
wishes of their children on this point. The youngest 
daughter is always the heiress : if her husband die, 
she marries one of his brothers ; which custom, no- 
ticed in our Holy Scriptures, is to be found in other 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 31 

parts of India; , but here, if all the brothers die, 
she marries their father. They worship the sun 
and moon, also Mahadeva; drink to excess, and 
when their chief men die, the heads of several slaves 
are struck off, and burned with their bodies. Among 
the Kayns, the women have their faces tattooed all 
over in lines of a circular form, which gives them 
a hideous appearance. The Kookies live on the 
steepest and most inaccessible hills ; they are en- 
gaged in constant warfare, and perhaps the most 
vindictive race in the world, being of opinion that 
nothing is so pleasing to God as to kill a great 
number of their enemies. 

On the east of India, even to Canton, there are 
numerous Hindoos, and some of their temples : 
but the general worship, in all the civilised parts, 
beyond Tiperah, is that of Budha. There are 
thirteen Indo-Chinese dialects derived from the 
Chinese language, all written in a character so 
nearly alike, that in every part, the symbols convey 
the same meaning, though the words, used to ex- 
press them orally, are so different as not to be un- 
derstood perhaps at a few miles' distance from the 
town where custom has rendered them intelligible. 
Therefore fellow countrymen when they fail to 
comprehend one another have recourse to writing. 
In the Cochin-China common language, there are 
8000 characters ; the Chinese written tongue is 
understood by twenty different nations : it indicates 
real objects, not sounds. 



S2 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Our numeral, algebraical, astronomical, IJtad che- 
mical signs, are like its wonderful alphabet^, which 
is, in fact, its dictionary, t ^ 

The foregoing remarks respecting the Indo- 
Chinese languages, apply generally to all the coun- 
tries east of the Tiperah wilds, and Chittagong, 
but particularly to the kingdoms of Cambodia, 
Laos, Cochin-China, and Tunquin. These regions 
,lie to the eastward of the Birman empire ; and no 
further notice may be taken of them in this work. 
There is no native government, subject to one 
sovereign authority, at present existing in India, 
so extensive as the Birman empire; therefore, a 
brief account of it should be interesting. 

It includes the space between the 9th .and 26th 
degrees of north latitude, and the 92d and 104th 
of east longitude ; about 1050 geographical miles 
in length, and 600 in breadth. To the north it 
has Tibet and Assam t ; to the south the Indian 
Ocean and the Siamese territories ; to the north- 
east the empire of China ; to the east Cambodia, 
&c. ; and to the west the Tiperah mountains and 
the river Nauf. This extensive empire contains 
194,000 square miles ; comprising Ava, Arracan, 
Pegu, Martaban, Teuasserim, Junkseylon, Mergni, 
Tavay, Yunshan, Lowashan, and Cassay. It is 

♦ Vide Addenda, V. 

f Vide Dr. Leyden's account of the Indo-Chinese, Asiatic 
Researches, vol. ix. 
X Vide Addenda, VI. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 33 

said to contain 8000 cities, townsi, and villages, 
without including Arracan. Colonel Symgs esti- 
maites the whole population at 17,000,000; but 
Captain Cox, who succeeded him as ambassador, 
does not go beyond 8,000,000, which is probably 
much nearer the truth. The principal rivers 
are the Irawaddy, the Keenduem, the Lokiang, 
and the Pegu. Its chief towns, are Ummenu 
poor, the capital ; Ava, the ancient capital ; M on- 
chaboo, the birth-place of Alompra ; Pegu, Ran- 
goon, Syriam, Prome, . Negrais, Persaim, and 
Chagaing. The climate is very healthy. Its seasons 
are . regular, and the extremes of. heat and cold 
seldom experienced ; the duration of the intense 
heat, which precedes the commencement of the 
rains, being so short, that it incommodes but very 
little. 

. No soil can be more fertile tha-n many parts, of 
the Birman empire. The south yields abundant 
crops of rice, and the north produces wheat, and 
the various kinds of small grain and legumes 
which grow in Hindostan. Sugar canes, tobaccp, 
indigo, cotton, and the different tropical fruits, are 
indigenous. The tea plant grows very well near 
Ummerapoor, but it has scarcely any flavour. 
Besides the teak tree, which is superabundant in 
many parts, there is almost every description of 
timber that is known in India. There are mines of 
gold and silver, rubies and sapphires, iron, tin, lead, 
antimony, arsenic, sulphur, &c. It has amethysts^ 

D 



Bi Memoirs of india. 

garn^ts^ beautifiil chrysolites, jasper, amber, and 
marble. The wells are found here which produce 
pietroleum oil. 

The Birmans carry on an extensive trade with 
China. Cotton, amber, ivory, precious stones, 
betel nut, and edible nests, are transported up. the 
river irawaddy, in large boats, as far. as Bamoo ; 
where they are bartered at the jee or mart, with 
the Chinese merchants, for taw and wrought silks, 
velvets, gold leaf^ preserves, paper, and some 
utensils of hardware. — The British in India import 
to Madras and Calcutta, from the Birman dominions, 
abottt 200,000/. worth of teak timber, annually, 
which is paid for in English broad cloth, hardware, 
coarse Bengal itiuslins, glass, Cossimbazar silks, 
cocoa huts, &c. 

Like the Chinese, the Birmans have no ^^oin, 
silver in bullion and lead being the current 
monies of the country. The v^ue of these are 
estimated and Upproximated by artificial standards, 
so fluctuating that every foreigner finds it neces- 
sary to have a native banker to manage his money 
transactions. Rice is sold at the capital generally 
at the rate df eighty-four pounds for 2s. 8rf., but at 
Rangoon 250 pounds may be had for that sum, 

The courts of Ava and Pekin resemble each 
other in many respects, particularly in excessive 
vanity ^ild pride. Like the sovereign of China, 
the Birman emperor acknowledges no equal. 
Amongst his titles are, the sovemgii of* the earth 



MEMOIRS Of INDIA. AS 

— the emperor of emperors -^ the soverdgn 
este^ned for riches and happiness — the monarch 
of elephants and horses^ smd all good things — the 
icMrd of high*buUt palaces, of gold, &c. &jg. There 
are no hereditary dignities. Gold chains are the 
badges of the order of nobility* The king weam 
twenty^four chains, his prime minister tw^ve^ and 
the other nobles created for life or during office 
different numbers down to three, which is Ihe 
lowest rank of nobility. One-tentii of all produce 
is exacted as the revenue of the 'crown, but the 
amount fluctuates so much that no average can be 
given. AH we know accurately on the subject is, 
that the riches of the Birman emperor are im- 
mense. Every man in the kingdom is liable to be 
called upon to s&rve as a soldier* Their standing 
army is very small ; but 60,000 men can be raised 
in a short time, when wanted, the great men of the 
state holding their lands by military tenure. The 
establishment of war-boats is very respectable j 
at a very short notice the emperor can collect dOOi 
carrying from forty to fifty rowers, thirty soldiers 
armed with muskets, and with a piece of ordnance 
on the prow. 

There is a striking contrast between the Birmans 
and the natives of India. The Birmans are lively, 
inquisitive, active, irascible, and impatient ; their 
Bengal ndghbours are exactiy the reverse* In 
Ava the females are not concealed from the sight 
of men, though they are treated in a manner 

D 2 



36 ^ MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

destitute both of delicacy and humanity. Their 
women are sold to strangers ; but this purchase 
does not authorise a foreigner to carry a Birman 
female out of the country. As in China, women 
are not permitted to emigrate. In their features, 
the Birmans resemble the Chinese. The men 
pluck out their beards by the roots ; and both 
sexes colour their teeth, their eyelashes, and the 
edges of tlieu' eyelids, with black. Marriages are 
not contracted until the parties reach the age of 
puberty. Polygamy is prohibited bylaw, but con- 
cubinage is admitted to an unlimited extent. They 
burn their dead. In their food the Birmans are 
gross and uncleanly. Even reptiles are eaten by 
the lower classes. The sitting posture is here the 
most respectful. Their houses are raised on wooden 
posts or bamboos, generally composed of bamboos 
and mats, and but indifferently thatched ; but their 
temples are splendid fabrics, glittering with gold. * 
< This precious metal is the type of excellence 
among the Birmans. Every thing bdonging to 
the king has the word shoe^ or gold, prefixed to it. 
When a subject means to affirm that the king has 
heard any thing, he says, " It has reached the 
golden ears :** he who has obtained admittance to 
the royal presence, has been at " the golden feet/' 
In short, what pleases the sight is delightful to 
" the golden eye ;"' arid what gratifies the sense of 

^ Vide Addenda, VII. 



MEMOIRS OF INDtA. 37o 

smelling is pleasing to "the golden nose.*'* His 
majesty is sole proprietor of all the elephants in 
his dominions. It is a high honour to be permitted 
to ride on one. Male elephants are prized beyond 
females in Ava, though in Hindostan the females 
are in more estimation, on account of their supe- 
rior docility. The henza, a wild fowl, called in 
India, the Brahmany goose, is the symbol of the 
Birmari nation, as the eagle was of the Roman 
empire. 

In Ava, Pegu, and Siam, the Pali language, 
which is derived from Sanscrit, constitutes the 
sacred text. The character in common use is a 
round nagari, formed from the square pali. It 
runs in circles and segments of circles, variously 
disposed, and is written from left to right. Their 
common books are composed of the palmyra leaf, 
on which the letters are engraven with styles. — The 
laws of the Birmaris are of Hindoo origin. Their 
code is founded on the Dharma Sastra, which is a 
commentary on Menu. It prescribes, like Chinese 
jurisprudence, specific punishments for almost 
every species of crime that can be committed. 
Their laws are described as being wisej and preg-. 
nant with sound morality; and their police as 
better regulated than in most European countries. 
There are no distinctions of caste among them ; 
nor are they restricted to hereditary occupations, 

* Vide Addenda, VIII. > 

D 3 



38 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

nor forbidden from participating with strangers in 
every social bond. It is said that every peasant 
can read and write the vulgar tongue ^ for all their 
monasteries are seminaries, where youths of all 
descriptions are educated gratis, by the rhaans or 
monks, who never buy, sell, or accept money. 
They are fond of poetry and music. Colonel 
Symes was shown the king's library ; the books 
were innumerable, kept in boxes, ranged witii great 
regularity, the contents of each chest being written 
in gold letters on the lid. 

The Birmans are sectaries of Budha, who, ac* 
cording to Sir WilUam Jones, reformed the doc- 
trines contained in the Vedas, 1014 years before 
the birth of our Saviour. He is admitted by 
Hindoos, of all descriptions to be the ninth Avater, 
or incarnation of the Deity, in the character of 
preserver.— The Birmans acknowledge to have re- 
ceived their religion from Ceylon. Their priests 
wear yellow clothing; they have a long loose cloak 
of that colour which they wrap round them, so 
as to cover most part of their bodies. Their 
kioums, or convents, resemble the architecture of 
the Chinese ; are entirely made of wood, and con- 
sist of one large hall, open at all sides. There 
are no apartments for the private recreations of the 
monks or priests ; publidty is the prevailing system 
o£ BirmsiXi condi^ct They admit of no secrets 
either in church or state. These priests profess 
celibacy, and abstain from every sensual pleasure. 



HSIilQIBlS OF ikpiA- S9 

They have no salaries; never dress their own 
victuals, but receive the contributions of the laity 
ready dressed, and prefer cold food to hot At 
the dawn of day they perambulate the different 
towns and villages of the empire, to collect sup- 
plies of boiled rice, oil, dried and pickled fidi, 
sweetmeats, fruits, &c. During their quick walk 
they never lift their eyes from the ground, nor 
stop to solicit any thing. The provisions are 
thrown into a lackered box, which is carried on 
the right arm. They eat but once a day, at noon. 
Any surplus of provisions is always disposed of as 
charitably as it was given, to the needy stranger^ 
or the poor scholars, who daily attend fof instruc- 
tion. Nimneries were abolished by law as injuri- 
ous to population. 

The early history of this country is involved in 
obscurity. During the successes of the Portuguese 
in India, they interfered in the wars between the 
£irmans and Peguers, but little was known of the 
interior* In 1752 the sovereign of Pegu con* 
quec^ the king of Ava, which is the country of 
the ancient Birmans. But soon after Alompra, a 
man of low origin, rescued his country from that 
state of degradation, drove out the Feguers, and 
founded the present dynasty. In these wars the 
Prench favoured the Peguers, and the En^sh 
assisted the Birmans. Alompra died in I76O, after 
most extensive conquests and the display of pro- 
found wisdom, leaving the empire to his eldest so9i 

D 4 



40 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Namdogee Praw. — In I767, or 1131, of the Birman 
era, the Chinese sent an army of 50,000 men 
ag^-inst the Birmans. But the whole were destroyed, 
except about 2500, who were sent in fetters to 
the- capital, • where they were forced to marry 
Birman wives, and encouraged afterwards to con- 
sider themselves as Birmans. — It appears that all 
strangers are invited to marry Birman women. 
This custom, in the East, is singular ; for women 
ape, nearly every where else in that quarter, de- 
graded by intercourse with strangers.— Mihderagee 
Praw, the fourth son of the great Alompra, 
ascended the throne in 1782. He founded the 
new metropolis of Ummerapoor, to which the seat 
of government was removed from Ava. Since 
which period the Birman power has been gradually 
increasing to its present height. * 

No notice was taken of Persia in our western 
outline beyond its mere nomination. Thd same 
would be the case, with respect to China, were 
that country not more closely connected with the 
British empire in the East, by trade and locality. 
Persia, at this day, is sunk into a state of vice and 
moral degradation, which places it very low in the 
scale; of national estimation ; but China, in many 
respects, is one of the most curious empires that 
ever existed, even in the regions of imagination. 
Doubtless, fanciful writers have described it with 

* Vide Symes, Cox, Leyden, F. Buchanan, Dalrymple, and 
Hamilton. 



MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 41 

a tincture of Utopian colouring ; but its unques- 
tionable antiquity, its amazing population, though 
certainly this has been much overrated by those 
who fixed the inhabitants of the fifteen provinces 
at 335,(300,000 ; its civilisation in the lower 
branches of political economy, and the wisdom 
which directs the experience of the past to meet 
the exigencies of the present ; — conspire to render 
the following brief notice of it perfectly apposite 
in an outline of India. 

The jealousy of the Chinese government, or 
rather their experience of the encroaching disposi« 
tions of Europeans, has never permitted our curiosity 
to be gratified with a full view of the interior of 
that wonderful country. Lord Macartney, in 
modern times, had the widest field for observation.. 
He arrived in Jangangfoe Bay, in the Yellow Sea, 
about the latter end of September, 1792, and 
travelled from the north-eastern coast through the 
great cities of Tyensing and Tong-tchew to Peking 
and thence to the emperor's summer residence at 
Jehbl, in Tartary, beyond the great wall. * But 
in all this course the embassy was so strictly 
watched, and closely guarded, that except what 
occurred in their immediate neighbourhood, no 
opportunity was afforded of seeing the Chinese in 
their real character ; and it may be presumed that 
the mandarins took care to exhibit their country 

• Vide Addenda, IX. 



42 MEMOIRS OF n^DIA. 

in the most favourable and imposing light. Thus 
having passed from the northern to the southern 
extremity of China, and back again, Lord MacArt> 
ney reached Canton in December, 1793 ; and we 
may therefore safely rely upon those remarks which 
Sir George Staunton has published as the basis of 
our best information. 

In this most ancient empire, where upwards of 
two hundred millions of men have for ages been 
kept together under one government, knowledge 
and virtue alone qualify for public employments, 
and every person is eligible to rise to the highest 
honours; for although there are nine orders of 
mandarins, there is no such thing as hereditary 
rank : there is no state reli^on, and no man is 
questioned on account of mere matter of opinion* 
The laws are, like the civil code of Rome, founded 
on the principle of universal justice, which the 
Creator has stamped on human understanding.-r- 
There is every reason to believe that this empire 
has endured full four thousand years. It consists 
of fifteen provinces, exclusive of territories in 
Tartary and Tibet, spread over an area of about 
8,350^000 square miles ; the whole of which is in 
a state of cultivation far beyond what is seen in the 
most civilized parts of Europe. The very moun- 
tains are in some places tilled to their summits, 
and irrigated by ai^tificial means; the rivers are 
conducted in all directions across the country, 
forming fine canals^ upon wbich thousands of 



MEMOIRS OF IKDIA. iS 

families live in boats. There are many fine roads, 
and curious bridges ; but nearly all the magnificent 
edifices are for the public offices of the state, or for 
the honour of God, who is worshipped und^ vari- 
ous forms. Husbandmen are held in the highest 
estimation, and some of the Chinese emperors^ 
have risen from holding the plough. The fine 
arts have never advanced much in China. Their 
language is so difficult that few of them ever attain 
perfection in it : education is solely directed to wis- 
dom, self-knowledge, and theisdence of life. There 
are regular poste or modes of quick communication 
with all parts of the empire. Justice is administered 
in every town, and criminals are punished with 
great severity : the form of oath is very solemn ; 
and it is rendered striking by a piece of china 
ware being smashed with force on the ground, and 
similar destruction invoked on the soul and body 
for hesitation, evasion, or reservation in speaking 
the truth. War is not cultivated as an art. About 
one hundred and eighty years ago the Tartars con- 
quered the Chinese, and they have giv6n four 
dynasties of emperors, without changing manners, 
customs, and forms. Yet it must be acknowledged 
that the Chinese are far behind the Christian 
world in the conception of pure morality. Their 
notions respecting liberty are all slavish. Father^s 
have despotic authority over their children. Vari- 
ous kinds of slavery are permitted by law. Women 
are not permitted t9 quit the empire, that emigra- 



44 MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 

tion may be discountenanced, and their condition 
is little better than bondage ; for although the 
men be restricted to one wife, yet they may bring 
as many concubines into the house as they please, 
and divorces are allowed upon very frivolous pre- 
texts. — The Chinese are, generally speaking, a 
dirty, cunning, deceitful people ; with many of the 
lower virtues, but scarcely .one that would exalt 
man to eminence in England, It riiust be allowed 
that Europeans have, by their own selfish conduct, 
drawn forth this dark side of the Chinese character. 
In our early intercourse with this extraordinary 
empire, its government did not evince that jealousy 
which is now extreme. Russia was permitted 
to establish a college and church at Pekin * ; and 
the Portuguese were most hospitably received on 
the shores, as well as the Dutch, till time proved 
the danger of their encroachments. 

Canton, situated in lat. 23^ 7' N. lat. 113<» 14' E., 
is now, however, the only place on the continent 
of China where Europeans are allowed a temporary 
residence for commercial purposes. It is seated 
on the eastern bank of the Pekiang river, eighty 
miles from its entrance into the Southern Sea; and 
near the city it is as broad as the Thames at 
London Bridge. The climate here is cool, and 
fires are necessary during the winter. Europeans 
niay enter the suburbs, and one street is entirely 

• Vide Addenda, X. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA» 45 

appropriated to their use ; but they are not per- 
mitted in the body of the city, which is surrounded 
by high walls about five miles in circumference. 
The front of every house is a shop ; and many of 
them have signs, such as we have in our towns, for 
attraction. Here the Chinese displays his wonder- 
ful equality of temper, in humouring our capricious 
tars, and his ingenuity in fleecing them of their 
cash. 

All the river, for many miles, is covered with 
junks and boats. Some of the former carry one 
thousand tons, and are curiously divided into com- 
partments belonging to the owners, one sometimes 
having an hundred proprietors. Their ships are so 
constructed, that they may strike on a rock with- 
out sustaining any serious injury-; and if a leak 
spiiings in one part, the cargo in another will not 
be damaged. These junks trade to all parts of the 
eastern seas, and the same compass is used as in 
Europe ; but with a needle pointing to the south, 
which is here considered as the attracting point. 
,The foreign factories extend along the banks of 
the river : they are called hongs ; and each re- 
sembles a long coui-t, with four or five separate 
houses, built on a fine quay, with a parade in front, 
called the Respondentia Walk. In the neighbour- 
hood are large warehouses. . Below these are the 
chop, or custom-houses, under a tontiff, called by 
our mariners John Tuck. AH transactions are 
conducted by foreigners with the hong merchants. 



46 MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

who are a company in whom the monopoly of all 
the outward trade is vested by the government, 
under a charter of regulations. These hong mer- 
chants have sometimes property in their hands, be- 
longing to our East India Company, to the amount 
of two millions sterling. 

The English establishment at Canton consists of 
twelve supercargoes, and eight writers, whose allow- 
ances graduate from nearly 9000/. a year to 1500/. 
There are also a few medical, religious, and miUtary 
posts, remarkably well paid. All vac^icies among 
the supercargoes are filled up from the writers, who 
have a free table, and about 400/. per annum. 
They all reside three months at Canton during the 
commercial season, and then remove to Macao, 
where they have permanent houses. 

Our exports to China are, woollens, camlets, 
lead, tin, &c. ; and the average value is about 
1,200,000/. But the Company's trade from India 
to China is more miscellaneous, and consists of 
cotton, pepper, sandal wood, putchick, sharks' fins, 
^libanum, elephants' teeth, rhinoceros' horns, pearls, 
cornelians, beads, betel nut, rattans, sea swallo, 
birds' nests, &c. Hiough opium is prohibited, a 
;great deal of that valuable commodity is smuggled 
by the hong merchants ; the average of which is 
2000 chests, at 1200 dollars per chest. All this 
trade averages alK>ut 2,000,000/* per amium ; but 
the returns, comprising piece goods, sugar candy, 
tutenague, camphor, tea, raw silk, nankeens, and 



MEMOIRS OF IFDIA. 47 

^ 

china ware, &c. nearly equal the imports. — The 
private trade to China, carried on by individuals 
from Britain, authorised by the Company, does not 
4ftxceed 300,000L on an average. The exports from 
China are, tea, china ware, gold in bars, sugar, sugar 
candy, rhubarb, china root, snake root, sarsaparilla^ 
leather, tutenague, Japan copper, varnished and 
lackered ware, drugs, leaf gold, utensils, cast iron, 
silk, raw and wrought, thread, nankeens, mother-of- 
pearl) gamboge, quicksilver, alum, dammer, red 
lead, vermilion, furniture, toys, and drugs. Of 
these exports the Company take annually to the 
amount of about 3,000,000/,) upon which they gain 
35 per cent. The average in tea alone is about 
30,000,000 of pounds weight annually, which yields 
a revenue to England <rf about 4,000,000/. ; and the 
China trade produces a circulation in London of 
perhaps 20,000,000/. sterling every year. America 
takes away great quantities of tea, so does Russia 
from the Siberian frontier ; so that it is easily con- 
ceived how China must be enriched. In I678 only 
471s pounds of tea were imported annually by the 
Company; such has been the rapid increase in 
tea drinking. 

The Chinese eat horse flesh, dogs, cats, hawks, 
and owls; yet milk is not used by them in any 
form ; such is the strange capriciousness of taste, 
and the amazing diversity of customs. * 

• Vide Staunton, Barrow, Milburn, Elmore, Johnson, 
Ellis, Stc, 



48 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

We are obliged to trade with China through the 
Portuguese settlement of Macao, which is an island 
situated at the mouth of the Canton river. This 
place was granted to that, nation in gratitude for a 
signal service performed, which shall be noticed 
hereafter in the history of the Portuguese. Even 
at Macao the Europeans are , enclosed by a great 
wall of oyster shells, which are found here of an 
enormous size, within very narrow limits. The 
Portuguese extent of territory on the island is not 
more than eight miles in circumference. They ate 
therefore completely in the power of the Chinese 
government for their supplies of provisions, but the 
market is abundantly furnished from the continent. 
There are about 4000 Portuguese inhabitants, many 
of them hdf-castes, in the town of Macao, and 
upwards of 8000 Chinese, &c. ; who have two large 
temples, while the former have thirteen churches. A 
mandarin is the real governor of .the town ; but the 
Portuguese are allowed to amuse themselves with 
the forms of government in a grand senate-house. 
Perfect submission is, however, the lease by which 
they hold possession ; and they are obliged to sub- 
mit calmly to all the encroachments of the Chinese. 
In 1806, when we attempted to garrison Macao 
from Bengal, the trade was stopped, and provisions 
withheld till the troops were withdrawn. In I70O 
we were permitted to trade with Limpo and Amoy, 
^as well as Canton, which circumstance speaks 
volumes. The present emperor is the fifteenth son 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 49 

of TchienJung, who died in 1799, at the age of 89 
years, three years before which he resigned his 
throne, after a reign of sixty years. , A Chinese 
salutes with a sort of salam, and the words " hou, 
poo hou,'* which signify, " are you well or hot ?" 
literally they are, ** well, not well/' All business 
with the Chinese is transacted in a jargon of Eng- 
lish, of most laughable sound. . A Chinese calls 
rice, Uce, not being able to pronounce the letterV, 
but they are very ready at picking up what answers 
their purpose. 

The town of Macao and the gardens around it 
occupy the whole of the little peninsula which 
belongs to the Portuguese. A long neck of land 
joins it to the remainder of the island, and across 
this the wall of oyster shells, before alluded to, is 
built. Beneath a lofty eminence in the town, 
Camoens' Cave is situated,' in which, it is said, this 
celebrated poet wrote a great part of the Lusiad. 
The large oyster shells here are divided into thin 
laminae, and being finely polished, serve for window 
lights. No foreign women are allowed to go up to 
Canton. The low Chinese, in their manners and 
habits, are brutal, and their immorality is so gross, 
that delicacy must leave to imagination what it 
would degrade human nature to describe. Many 
-of their pictures are abominable ; but no true cri- 
terion of national character can be deduced from 
the perversion of one passion. It excites our won- 
der in this country to behold some men, who are 

£ 



50 MEMOIRS OF IKDIA. 

truly honourable, polished in manners, refilled by 
the advantages of education, and delicate in many 
respects, yet gross to bestiality in one ; and it cer- 
tainly should not be urged against the Chinese, as 
a general charge, that many of them have been 
found so depraved, as to leave other nations as far 
behind in invention, as they go before in industry 
and perseverance. Their women scarcely ever ap- 
pear in public, but the lower orders have been 
obi^erved to be employed in household affairs, much 
like other oriental females. The small feet, so 
much talked of, are, like the artificial size of the 
mandarin, confined entirely to the higher classes, or 
men of large property, who can afford ideal re- 
finements in substitution for bodily activity. Their 
peasantry, like our own, are too poor, and too busy, 
to think of much but their belly, their back, and 
the gross passions and appetites common to all 
humanity. 

Thus we have travelled from the mouths of the 
Indus along three sides of Hindostan. It remains 
for us, in finishing our outline, to notice briefly 
the principal islands which are comprized under 
the general name of East Indies. 



CHAPTER IL 

THE ISLANDS OF INDIA. 



We shall endeavour briefly to describe the southern 
outline of India under the heads Ceylon, Sumatra* 
Java, Borneo, Celebes, the Moluccas, and the 
Philippines. 

CEYLON. 

The southern triangular projection of Africa, and 
the western coast of New Holland, form between 
them a magnificent gap of about ninety longitudi- 
nal degrees, in the latitude of 32**. It is probable 
that at some remote period the great body of Asia 
extended, like Africa, in an unbroken state into 
the ocean ; and that, in some of those wonderful 
changes of position which the sea is known to 
take, the waters rushed with irresistible impetu- 
osity round the huge bulwark of the Cape of Good 
Hope, from the great Atlantic, through the de- 
fenceless flats of the East Indies, into the Pacific, 
leaving the highlands and mountains dry. This 
supposition is supported by tradition. 

E 2 



5S MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

In the voyage to India round the Cape of Good 
Hope, after passing the great island of Madagas- 
car, and the Mauritius, which lie eastward of it, 
no land is seen till the Maldives and Ceylon are 
approached. The Maldives project into the Indian 
Ocean to the equator, being the extreme point of 
a fine triangle, formed by the Arabian Sea on one 
side, and the Bay of Bengal on the other. This 
triangle is the Peninsula of Hindostan. 

Ceylon, the Maldives, and Laccadives are tra^ 
ditionally reported as once forming part of the 
main land, though now separated by the sea. Cey- 
lon lies at the western entrance into the Bay of 
Bengal, its shape being that of a large ham ; while 
the Maldives and Laccadives run in a chain to the 
south and west off the Malabar coast. We shall 
briefly notice the latter two chains before Ceylon. 
' The Laccadives derive their name from Laksha 
dwipa (a, lack or 100,000 islets); they belong to 
the bibby, or princess of Cananore, and are situ- 
ated about 75 miles from the coast of Malabar, 
extending from the 10th to the 'l2th degree of 
north latitude. These islands were visited by Vasco 
de Gama in 1499. Though very numerous they 
are qf small value, being of a barren and unpro- 
ductive nature, except for cocoa-nut trees. The 
largest does not contain an area greater than six 
square miles. All the inhabitants are Moplas, Mo- 
hammedans, the descendants of Arabian settlers on 
the coast. They barter cocoa-nuts, jagory, or 



. MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 53 

coarse sugar, made from the juice of ihat useful 
tree, oil made from the nut, ropes made from the 
husk of the same, boats manufactured from the 
trunk, and coral found upon the banks, with co- 
chin, anjango, &c., for provisions and other neces- 
saries of life. Their houses are entirely built with 
the stems of cocoa-nut trees, and covered with the 
leaves of that useftd palm. Their beds and uten- 
sils are nearly all composed of the sfame material, 
with parts of which they make fishing-nets, sails 
for their boats, and cups for drinking.* 

Malaya Dwipa, or the Isles of Maldive, run 
.from the eighth degree of north latitude to the 
line. They are very numerous ; separated from 
each other by narrow dangerous channelsr; and 
many of them are mere barren rocks. There are 
seventeen clusters of these islands inhabited by 
Mohammedans ; but they still adhere to Indian cus- 
toms, and are divided into a sort of castes ; for 
one island is occupied by weavers, another by mat- 
, makers, a third by potters, and so on, through all 
the trades and professions of the East. Their boats 
are made of the trunk of the cocoa palm. They 
carry on a brisk trade with the neighbouring coasts 
in manufactures of gold, silver, iron, and turtle- 
shell; all the produce of the cocoa-nut tree, and 
couries and salt-fish. They are niost adventurous 
seamen, and during the N. E. monsoon, when the 

• Vide Addenda, II. 
E 3 



54 MEMOIRS OF INmA. 

steady weather prevails, they launch their frail 
barks into the great ocean, sail into the eastern 
seas with cargoes of shark fins, which the Chinese 
esteem as an ingredient for their delicious soups ; 
carry dried bonetto to Acheen, and trade with 
Calcutta, bringing, on an average, merchandize to 
the amount of 30,000/., and taking away cotton, 
sugar, broad cloth, cutlery, silk stuffs, &c. to a 
great exteilt. Each island is under a separate go- 
vernment of a mild patriarchal form. No wars 
have occurred among them for ages, and all the 
inhabitants are described as a most inoffensive and 
hospitable race. They have several times behaved 
with the greatest tenderness to shipwrecked Euro- 
peans ; and the French had formerly a small set- 
tlement among them. In their manners and cus- 
toms they resemble the great continent ; and they 
are equally credulous and superstitious. Their 
greatest ceremonies are at the annual launches of 
small vessels loaded with odours and flowers^ which 
are sent adrift for the use of the king of the sea 
♦^hd the emperor of the tvinds** 

The island of Ceylon is known by several names. 
tt is called by the aborigines, Singhala ; by the 
ancient Europeans, Taprobane ; by the neighbour- 
ing continent, Lanca ; and by the Mohammfedanis, 
Serendib. It lies between 5^ 40' and 10** 30' N. 



* Vide Buchanan, Sonnerat, Elmore, Forrest, Leyden, and 
Hamilton. 



MEMOIRS OJi' INDIA. .55 

and 79° and 82"* E. The Gulf of Manar separates 
it from the Coromandel coast, which is l60x miles 
distant, at Cape ComorinJ^^ but the northern point 
of the island approaches Tangore. In extreme 
length, this fine island is about 300 miles, and in 
breadth it varies from 100 to 40. It is aossed by 
a lofty chain of mountains, which seem to be a 
continuation of the Ghauts of Malabar ; for the 
monsoons are the same here as on the continent, 
and while it is raining for three months on ,one 
side, the sun is shining in unclouded splendour on 
the other. Hammalleel, or Adam's Peak, which 
name it received from the converts of St. Thomas, 
is the highest part of Ceylon. It lies about 60 
miles to the north-east of Columbo. 

We are informed by the Indians, that Ceylon 
and the Maldives once formed a great island, and 
that the whole was torn from the continent at a 
stiU more remote period. The astronomical cal- 
culations, in the ancient Brahmanical books, con^ 
firm this tradition, if their first meridian, which 
passed through Oojain, be correct ; for the equi- 
noctial point was Lanca, which does not now oc« 
cupy that position, whereas the Maldives exacfl)^ 
agree, and the appearances between the twp. war- 
rant the belief that they were once the same. 

Agriculture on this island is in a very rude state. . 
The soil is in general sandy y and" requires con- 
Vide Addenda, XH. / " 
E 4 



5G MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

stant irrigation; when it is laid properly under 
water, it yields a good crop of rice, which is the 
chief sustenance of the natives ; but a sufiiciency 
is not raised for home consumption, and vast quan- 
tities are annually imported from Bengal. The 
peasantry, or husbandmen, live in straggling vil- 
lages, composed of the most simple materials, which 
the forests furnish in abundance. They go nearly 
naked, and each village forms a sort of society; 
who have a joint property in the surrounding lands. 
All their labour is performed by regular contribu- 
tion. They go out with their ploughs, which are 
nothing but crooked pieces of wood shod with iron, 
and drawn by a pair of miserably yoked oxen, and 
score the ground by going repeatedly over the 
same furrow, to a proper depth. The crops are 
divided according to immemorial custom, which 
awards a certain portion to the government, another 
to the clergy, a third to the village officers and 
necessary tradesmen, and the remainder to the 
cultivators. A very respectable old man is in 
general the magistrate, and organ of the society ; 
who, assisted by a few others, compose a court that 
settles all litigated subjects at one hearing. Over 
these villages, the government has officers called 
moodaliers, who inspect their proceedings, and 
report to the highest authority. This is the rem- 
nant of ancient Hindoo civilization, which was 
overthrown by an invasion of Rama, the great 
rajah of Oude ; who is mentioned in a poem called 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. STl 

the Ramayuna, as having entered it over a bridge, 
which his army of monkeys constructed across the 
gulf of Manar, the remains of which, but whether 
natural or artificial, it is hard to say, still are 
visible. 

The principal harbours are Trincomalee and 
Point de Galle j but ships can anchor very well off 
Columbo, Batacolo, Barbareen, Matura, Caltura, 
Negombo, Chilon, Calpenteen, Manar, and Point 
Pedro, during the fine seasons on each coast. 
There is very little inland navigation. The two 
chief rivers are called Malivagunga, and Mulivaddy, 
the former of which falls into the sea near Trin- 
comalee, and the latter not far from Columbo. 
The Dutch left marks of their fondness for canals, 
and lakes at the latter place, some of which have 
been filled up by the British, for the promotion of 
health. 

Ceylon produces fine elephants*, though not of 
the largest kind, wild horses and buffaloes, deer, 
elk, gazelles, hares, wild hogs, and small tigers, 
tiger cats, leopards, jackalls, hyaenas, bears, and 
a variety of monkeys, but the fox has not been 
seen. All our poultry are domesticated here. 
Pheasants, parrots, and parroquets are numerous. 
Nearly all the species of game abound. The honey 
bird rifles the bee ; and there are tailor birds, fly 
catchers, peacocks, and crows of the most iihpup 

* Vid€ Addenda, XIII. 



58 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

dent description. Reptiles are innumerable. The 
covra capellasy covra manillas, and whip snakes 
are poisonous. There are rock snakes thirty feet 
in length, but they are only dangerous from their 
vast size. Some of the alligators are twenty feet 
long, and as thick as an ox. Guanas, toads, liz- 
ards, blood suckers, chameleons, leeches, flying 
lizards, and large bats abound. The rivers are 
well supplied with fish, and the gardens with fruit 
There are apples, oranges, pomegranates, citrons, 
lemons, melons, pumpkins, squashes, figs, almonds, 
mulberries, bilberries, mangoes, shaddocks, man- 
gusteens, rose apples, cushoo apples, and nuts, 
custard apples, plantains, jack fruit, and cocoa 
nuts. The plantations abound with pepper, carda- 
moms, coffee, the sugar tree, the betel palm, and 
four species of the laurus cinnamomum. In the 
woods are found the banyan, the cotton tree, mando 
wood, satin wood, calamander wood, and ebony. 
But what is still more curious, the tea plant has 
been found in the forests of Ceylon, in a wild 
state, though its properties are not the same as in 
China, and it is extraordinary, that the repeated 
trials to transplant its virtues have failed.* 

Valuable minerals are found in various parts of 
this rich island. The ruby, topaz, diamond, 
amethyst, tourmalin, sapphire, crystal, cats' eye, 
opal, and cornelian are concealed beneath the sur- 

♦ Vide Addenda, XlV. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 59 

face ; while lead, tin, iron, and quicksilver lie 
deeper in the bowels of the hills. Fine pearls 
enrich the coast 

The inhabitants of Ceylon are of various nations. 
Its aborigines are the Cingalese ; but the Portu- 
guese, Dutch, Malays, and Mohammedans have 
left their posterity round the coasts in great num- 
bers. The ' ceremonies, manners, and .customs, 
resemble those of the continent. The Tamul and 
Portuguese languages are spoken generally over 
the island. Many of the Cingalese are ingenious 
artificers ; others called Bedahs are wild men who 
live in the woods, and have their habitations on 
trees like monkeys. Some of them are as timid as 
antelopes. The apostacy of Budha, at an early 
period, made a great progress on the island of 
Ceylon, and the laxity it permitted in the Brah- 
manical tenets prepared the natives for easy con-' 
version to Christianity. More than half a million 
of the Cingalese are now professors of our faith ; 
and it is probable that the whole island will be con- 
verted in a short time, since no native government 
now counteracts the spread of our opinion and 
example. 

From the arrival of the Portuguese on this island, 
in 1505, to the final conquest of it, by the British 
in 1814, it was always a scene of bloodshed, 
cruelty, and death. Both the Portuguese and 
Dutch were involved in constant warj^e, not only 



60 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

with the Candians, but with the deadly marsh 
miasma of forests and mountains. At length the 
insupportable tyranny of the king of Candy roused 
the united resistance of his nobles, who, calling in 
the assistance of the British government, deposed 
their sovereign, and placed themselves at the dis- 
posal of the king of England, as shall be related 
hereafter.* 

In 1802, Ceylon was constituted a royal govern- 
ment. It is placed under a council, consisting of 
the governor, chief justice, commander in chief 
of the forces, and the secretary. The revenues 
now amount to above 400,000/., of which the East 
India Company pay 60,000/. per annum for cinna- 
mon ; and the pearl fishery yields about 40,000/. 
more. An European regiment and six native corps 
were usually kept on the island, but of course the 
military and civil establishment will now be con- 
siderably enlarged. Columbo is the capital, and seat 
of government; it is a strongly fortified Dutch town, 
with a population of about 50,000 or 60,000 souls. 

Ceylon is a beautiful island, and a most valuable 
acquisition to the crown of England. Its appearance 
from the sea is a lovely diversity of green shade in 
the foreground, while the distant purple of the high 
mountains exercises the exquisite deceptions of 
hopie.t 

• Vide Addenda, XV. 

f Vide Percival, Knox, Symes> Jones, and, Hamilton. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 



61 



SUMATRA. 

rulo Purichu, Indalas, Sumatra, also called 
Java Minor, by Marco Polo, and supposed by 
some to be the Ophir of Holy Writ^ is about 1050 , 
miles in length jfrom Acheen to the straits of 
Sunda, and about 165 in its average breadth, 
through the extent of which there runs a high chain 
of mountains, some peaks of which are 13,842 feet 
above the level of the sea. A chain of small islands 
skirts its western coast, which appear to have once 
belonged to it ; and on its eastern side is situated . 
the island of Banca, whose tin mines are exceed- 
ingly valuable. It is separated by the straits of 
Malacca, from the long peninsula of that name, 
which extends 77^ miles by 125, its average 
breadth, to the isthmus of Kraw, which joins it to 
India, beyond the Ganges. The western coast of 
Malacca is also studded with islands, which seem 
alL to have once been a continuation of the conti- 
nent. Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales's Island, 
is one of great consequence ; and the Nicobars 
and Andamans, which form a chain almost from 
Acheen to the head of the Bay of Bengal are curi- 
osities, on account of the savages by whom they 
are inhabited. We shall therefore briefly notice 
this outline, before we retouch our principal 
figure. 

The great Andaman, or the principal island of 
the cluster, or chain so named, is about 140 miles 



62 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

in length by twenty broad ; and near the centre 
of it, mountains rise to the height of 2400 feet 
above the sea. Its inhabitants are supposed to tie 
oriental negroes, of the same origin ^ those in- 
habiting the interior of Malacca. In the Anda- 
mans, their number does not exceed 2500, and 
they are perfect savages, living on fish and reptiles 
of all descriptions. Their hair is short and woolly,; 
their noses flat, their lips thick, their eyes small 
and red, their skin a deep dirty black, and their 
appearance horribly frightful ; for their limbs are 
very slender, their bellies protuberant, they go 
quite naked, smear their bodies over with mud as 
a preservative from the bites of insects, paint their 
hair with red ocre, and their countenance is a most 
disgusting picture of misery and ferocity. Their 
chief occupation is fishing, hunting, and searching ' 
for birds' nests among the rocks ; for they know 
nothing of husbandry, at least they will not prac- 
tise it. In stature they seldom exceed five feet. : 
Providence has furnished them with a super- 
abundance of fish at one season of the year, which 
they dry in the sun, and lay up in their wretched 
huts for a time of necessity ; but their stupidity 
and want of foresight is such, that they are often 
obliged to eat the most obscene reptiles ; and it 
has been asserted that they are anthropophagi. 
They have among their numerous fish, mullet, 
soles, pomfret, i^ock fish, skate, gurnas, sardinas, 
roeballs, sable, shad, aloose, cockup, grobers, 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 68 

seerfish, prawns, shrimps, crayfish, small whales, 
and enormous sharks. Their chief vegetable is 
the fruit of the mangrove ; and their animal food 
consists of lizards, guanas, rats, snakes, and the 
edible birds* nests, which are so much esteemed for 
soups by the Chinese. On the shores are found 
beautiful shells, gorgonias, madrepores, murex, 
and cowries.* 

Our government in Bengal established a settle- 
ment here, about 1791. The beautifully pictu- 
resque spot called Port Comwallis was chosen, in a 
short time after, for improvement and colonization 
with convicts from the British settlements in In- 
dia ; but it was found so unhealthy, that it was at 
length abandoned, and Pulo Penang fixed upon 
for that purpose. 

The weapons of the Andamans are bows made 
of bamboo, arrows headed with fish-bone, spears 
made of heavy wood well pointed, and shields com- 
posed of hard bark. They salute each other by 
lifting one leg, and striking their thigh smartly 
with one hand. Their canoes are made out of the 
trunk of trees ; and often merely by the help of 
sharp flint and fire. In language they are distinct 
from all the Indians. They worship the sun and 
moon, and chaunt wild chorusses to appease the 
spirits of the winds and waves. The Danish mis- 
sionaries of Nicobar, though long near neighbours, 

* Vide Addenda, XVI. 



64 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

were never able to make any impression on these 
savages, who threaten to destroy all strangers, and 
who, beyond all doubt, have been in the habit of 
eating their enemies. Though the cocoa nut tree 
abounds in the Nicobars, it is not found in the 
Andamans.* 

In the Nicobars, which islands are also nume- 
rous and some of them considerable as to size, the 
natives are a different race of oriental negroes, 
whose colour is of a copper hue ; their eyes are 
small, their noses are flat, their lips thick, but their 
hair is long and black. They shave their eye- 
brows, blacken their teeth, and flatten the backs of 
their heads by compression of the occiput when 
infants. In civilization they have made consider- 
able progress ; carry on cultivation to some extent ; 
and export cocoa nuts, areca nuts, fowls, hogs, 
birds' nests, ambergris, and tortoise shell; iiriporting 
in return, cloth, silver, iron, and tobacco. They 
live in villages, composed of from ten to twenty 
huts, under a sort of patriarchal government so 
simple, that it resembles a family compaict. Their 
food is chiefly the mellori bread, cocoa nuts, and 
yams. A narrow piece of cloth is wound round 
the waist, and passed between the legs; as in In- 
dia ; but here the end of it hangs down behind 
like a tail ; and it gave rise to the opinion that 
there were men with tails, which Lord. Moi^boddo 

* Vide Symes, CoL Colebrooke, and Hamilton. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIAr G5 

believed, and the Swedish navigator Kioping re- 
ported. Their notions of religion are confused, 
and their priests are sorcerers who make hideous 
grimaces, while they exorcise evil spirits and dis^ 
eases. Their language is an almost unintelligible 
jargon. 

The Danes established themselves here in 1756 ; 
and missionaries of that nation continued their un- 
successful exertions till 1787* when the settlement 
was abandoned, after having proved the grave of 
nearly all the Europeans that ever resided oh Nan- 
cowry.* 

Prince of Wales's Island, the N. E. point of 
which is in lat. 5^ 25' N., and long. 100° 19' R 
is computed to contain 160 square miles. It was 
received in 1785 by Captain Francis Light, of a 
country ship, as a marriage portion with the king 
of Queda's daughter. He transferred it to the 
East India Company, and being appointed gover- 
nor of the infant settlement remained there till 
1794, when he died. Its name was changed from 
Pulo Penang, in compliment to his present majesty, 
then Prince of Wales, and the new settlemeat was 
called George .Town. Here is a fine harbour that 
affords perfect security to ships at all^seasons^of the 
year. The island is diversified with hill and dale ; 
some of the former rise 2^00 feet above the ,sea j 
and showers iire so frequent, that, with the ^xcep- 

( ^ * Vide Haensel, Fontana, and Hamilton. , '. . : 



66 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Han c^ January and February^ xain may be ex-, 
pected every day in the year. Cooled by a fine 
sea breeze, the thermometer seldom ranges above 
90% and it is sometimes as low as dG"". 

When the island fell into our hands it was 
covered with an immense forest, the trees of which 
wete large enough for the lower mast of a seventy- 
four gun ship. Only a few fishermen occupied a 
small part of the coast ; but at present there is a 
population of more than 50,000 souls, among whidi 
are British, Dutch, Portuguese, Americans^ Arabs, 
Parsees, Chinese, Chulias, Malays, Buggesses, Bir- 
mans, Siamese, Javanese, Betigide^e^ and all de- 
scriptions of Indians. There is a large fort well 
furnished with cannon. Fine roads have been 
made for several miles round the town, and many 
bridges constructed by the convicts and company's 
artificers. Some of the forests have been deared 
away, and the markets are well supplied with all 
th6 necessaries and luxuries of life; the various 
fruits and vegetables of Asia and Europe having 
been introduced with Success, as well as many cur 
rious productions which enrich ihe colonists. For 
the soil is a fine rich black mpuld, produced from 
the vegetable putrefaction for ages. 

Here are cultivs^d, pepper^ betel nut, cocoa 
nuts, eoffee» sugar, paddy^ ginger, yams, sweet po- 
tatoes, mangust^^is, rambosteens^ pine applet 
geravasj oranges, citrons, pomegranates, leechees^ 
and clovety nutmegs^ cinnamon, pimento^ JciApootee, 

. 8- . 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 67 

colalava, and some other exotics have been trans* 
planted successfully from the Moluccas, &c. The 
American gum- vine, called caoutchouc, or urceola 
ekstica, is found here in great plenty. It creeps 
along the ground to a great length, and sends out 
roots from its various joints, the trunk being about 
the thickness of a man's arm ; after which it mounts 
a high tree, and expands in branches, clinging to 
every support A vast quantity of milky juice is 
procured by wounding the bark or cutting the 
vine in pieces ; and this fluid, in its chemical pro* 
perties, nearly resembles animal milk* 

Prince of Wales*s Island promises to be a set- 
tlement of mighty consequence, and the seat of 
universal commerce. From China are received 
tea, sugar, lustrings, velvet, paper, umbrellas, 
china ware^ quicksilver, nankeens, tutenague, 
sweetmeats, pickles, &c. ; in exchange for opium, 
cotton, rattans, betel nut, pepper, bird's nests, san- 
dal wood, shark-fins, camphor, and tin, bidie da 
mar. Air the staples of Europe and India And a 
market here. It is, in fact, now what Ormus was 
in former times, a great universal bazaar resorted 
to by all nati<ms. A governor and council subor- 
ctinate, as Bombay and Madras are, to the presi- 
dency of Bengal, conduct the affiurs of* the com- 
pany, who have expended a vast sum on this fine 
settlement. • 

* Vide Leith, Elmore, Howison, Marsden, Johnson, anS 
Hamikon* 

F 2 



68 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Malacca Peninsula is inhabited by a variety of 
distinct races, the principal of whom are the Ma^ 
lays and Samangs. The Samangs are the oriental 
negroes before noticed, and supposed to be the 
aborigines. These live in a savage state in the 
wild mountains of the interior; but the Malays 
occupy the sea coasts, are an enterprising and com- 
mercial people, live under a feudal government^ 
and have made some progress in arts and civiliz- 
ation. Their original country is said to have been 
the kingdom of Palembang, in the island of Suma- 
tra, from which they spread by colonization and 
conquest over many of the coasts. The Malay 
language is represented as an elegant compound of 
Sanscrit, Arabic, and all the eastern tongues j even 
Portuguese ^ords are found in it. In Malay lite- 
rature are found translations of nearly all the po- 
pular productions in India» Arabia, and Persia* 
They have, many original works of an historical 
and biographical description, with commentaries 
on the Koran ; and amongst their poetical produc- 
tion is an epic poem, entitled " Hikarat Malacca," 
which recounts the founding of that city, and the 
.wars between the Malays and Portuguese under 
Albuquerque. Previous to conversion by the Ara- 
.bians to Sooni Mohammedanism the Malays be- 
longed, to the Brahmanical Institution. 

At that period, they were governed by a rajoh^ 
who is now styled sultan j and under him are the 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 69 

dattoos or nobles, who exercise feudal rights Over 
their vassals. 

The city of Malacca was founded in 1252, and 
about forty years after, during the reign of its 
first sultan, Mahommed Shah, the Malayan empire 
extended over all the Peninsula, and the islands of 
Lingen, Bintang, Junkseylon, arid part of Sumatra; 
but in 1511, Alphonso D* Albuquerque conquered 
the coast of Malacca, took the city, and forced 
the government to fly to lohore, on the extremity 
of the Peninsula^ where it still exists. 

Gaming and cockfighting are the favourite 
amusements of the Malays. To these unconquer- 
able propensities they sacrifice fortune, life, and 
character. Their last morsel, the covering of their 
bodies, their wives and children, are frequently 
staked on the issue of a pair of dico, or the life of 
a cock. If lost, the desperate wretch sometimes 
intoxicates himself with bang, or hemp leaf, unties 
his long black hair, draws his deadly creese, and 
runs the muck. This is so named, from his call- 
ing amokj or kill mcy which he repeats, aiming 
destruction at all he meets, till he is cut down in 
self-defence, or seized alive. But this . he pre- 
vents, by all possible means, and generally dies 
inflicting wounds till the last gasp. The Malays 
are active, restless, and courageous. But they are 
treacherous, ferocious, and vindictive. If you 
ofiend a Malay he stabs you privately -y if you 
punish him, his impetuous temper knows nq 

F 3 



70 MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 

bounds, and he sacrifices his own life in immediate 
retaliation, by committing open murder. * 

It would be uninteresting to describe all the 
small islands, that seem to have once been a con- 
tinuation of Malacca, to Sumatra and Java. 
Equally unprofitable would be the tedious enume- 
ration of those which stud the western side of our 
subject. Many of these are produced^ along the 
coast of Sumatra, by the growth of coral banks* 

Sumatra is cooled by fine land md sea breezes. 
The S. E. monsoon, or dry season, continues from 
May till September, when it slackens, and changes 
in November to the N. W. when the rainy months 
set in, and cease in March gradually, without those 
tempests common elsewhere. 

The natural productions of this island are very 
numerous. Gold is found, in great abundance, in 
its rivers. Copper, iron, tiTH and sulphur are also 
in plenty. The eaith is, in many places, im- 
pregnated with saltpetre and oil, which latter 
article is a preservative of wood, &c. from white 
ants, t They have also plenty of coal ; and several 
mineral and hot springs, resembling those of Har- 
xowgate. Rice is the great article of general cul- 
tivation, and, in some places, husbandry is managed 
so well, that the earth yields 140 fold, but the 
common return is thirty for one. The cocoa nut 
tree, sago tree, and all the species of palms are 

* Vide Marsden, Leyden, Elmore, Hamilton, 
t Vide Addenda, XVII. 



MEMOIRS OF IKDIA. 71 

here, with the sugar cane, and plantations of maize; 
chilly pepper, turmeric, ginger, coriander, cumin 
seed, and hemp, are numerous. All the plants 
and shrubs of the East are found here. Silk worms 
are fed on the dwarf mulberry. The broad green 
castor oil plant gives its rich hue to the scene, and 
the indigo plant rewards the peasant with its purple 
dye. There are innumerable fruits, and the grape 
flourishes h®re, but the vine is only cultivated by 
Europeans. The poisonous upas of Java is also 
a native of this island ; but the accounts of its 
pestilential atmosphere are fabulous. It is, how- 
ever, a deadly poison. The camphor of Sumatra 
is not now plentiful ; sometimes 300 trees are cut 
down in a forest, before one is found containing 
this valuable drug. In the deserts are elephants, 
tigers, bears, and all the varieties of oriental wild 
animals, aiid reptiles. Alligators are also natives 
of this island. Among their fish, they have the 
dugong, a large one, of the order mammalia, with 
two large pectoral fins, that answer the purpose of 
feet. They have all the birds and insects of the 
East, excepjt the bird of Paradise*, and a few 
other peculiar ones, such as the cassowary and 
loory. Nothing can convey an idea of the bril- 
liant illuminations which are sometimes occasioned 
by the fire fly ; and at the commencement of the 
monsoon, the exultations of the frog species keep 

* Vide Addenda, XVIIL 
F 4 



73 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

night awake. From' the rocks are collected the 
Chinese dainties, called biche de mar, swalo, tripan 
or sea slug (hohthurion). Pepper is not now 
grown to any great extent The nutmeg and clove 
were transplanted hither from the Moluccas, and 
large plantations of these valuable spices are now 
ctdtivated. Benzoin, which is a highly valued im 
cense and styptic, being the basis of Turlington's 
drojps, is indigenous here, as well as cassia, the 
shrub cotton, the -coffee tree, and lignum aloes, 
which is a wood that yields a fragrant scent while 
burning. Among their trees are the poon, the 
camphor, the marbau, the pinaga, the ebony, the 
kayu gadis, the wood of which is like sassafras, 
and the rangi, like manchineel or mahogany. 
They have also the large banyan of India, but liot 
the teak. 

; All the various forms of government in Sumatra 
are feudal and patriarchal mixtures. Their laws 
are long established customs. A whole family is 
held responsible for the debt of any of its members. 
The father's property is divided equally amongst 
his . children* All crimes, murder not excepted, 
inay be expiated by pecuniary compensation to the 
parties seeking redress. Oaths are administered 
among the graves of their ancestors j and they 
swear, like the followers of Odin, over instruments 
of destruction, such as creeses and gun-barrels. 
Slavery and polygamy are allowed. 
The natives are of a yellow complexion, with 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA; 7^ 

flat hoses and ears, standing at right angles with 
the head, both which deformities are effected by. 
artifickl means when infants. These are of couiige 
considered with them great beauties, as well as 
enormously long nails. They pluck out their 
beard, and file down their teeth even with their 
gums; sometimes leaving them in points like a 
saw, which they blacken with empyreumatic oil. 
Among the higher ranks of both sexes, the teeth 
are cased with gold, which by candle light, set off 
by the deep black tint given by the oil, has a 
splendid appearance. Their dress is very simple, 
and does not differ materially from the general 
Indian costume. They live in small villages, built 
on piles, and mount to their airy habitations by a 
s6rt of stair or ladder, which they draw up after 
them, as a security. Their chief luxury is smoking 
opium, which is imported from Bengal. They 
emit the smoke by the nostrils, and through th^ 
passages of the eyes and ears, keeping the mouth- 
closely shut after taking a whiff. They liye gene- 
rally on vegetable food of the most simple fprm j 
and their rice is boiled in a green bamboo, which 
has so much sap, that it resists the fire during the 
operation. But every meal requires a new pot, 
Mrhich nature supplies in exhaustless plenty. Their 
wives are all purchased, and the chief wealth of a 
father consists in debts due to him on account of 
his daughters.* The women are, therefore, slaves, 
and may be sold again by their husbands. 



74 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Along the coasts the natives are generally 
Mohammedans, and many of them are of Malay 
origin ; but the real Sumatrans of the interior are 
in some cases savages, without any forms of wor- 
ship, and in others wild idolaters. Mr. Marsden 
does not corroborate what Dr. Leyden has said 
respecting the cannibalism of the Batta tribe, who 
are rather a civilized people than otherwise. If 
they eat their criminals, therefore, it is out of detes- 
tation of their crime j and if they devour their old 
pa:rents, it is from a custom founded on affection. 

In the southern part of the island, the man- 
grove * nearly covers the whole marshy extent of 
the eastern quarter ; and the branches form curious 
arches, curving from the trunk to the ground, so 
that near the sea, oysters and shell fish stick to 
them, and appear like fruit, which once gave rise 
to a belief in natural history, thiat there were 
oyster trees. Thus, we perceive how easily cre- 
dulity may be imposed upon ; and really it is no 
wonder, for man seeing both within himself and 
without, so many things that he cannot compre- 
hend, is prepared to see, feel, hear, taste, and 
understand with the senses (rf others. 

Bencoolen is our chief settlement on Sumatra. 
It is situated on the S. W. side of the island, in lat. 
S^50' S. and long. 102^8' E. Near it there is a 
strong fort called Marlborough, which was founded 

* Vide Addenda, XIX. 



MKMOiaS OF INDIA. 7* 

in 1714. It is subot'dinate to the Presidency of 
Bengal. The property of the East India Company 
at this place is estimated at 400,000/. 

The Sumatrans in the vicinity of this settlement 
are polite and humane. Their principal punctilio 
consists in never pronouncing their own names, 
BXid a great embarrassment occurs when a stranger 
makes such an enquiiy. Some of the women are 
very pretty, and have the same fondness for orna- 
ments that females every where evince. Their 
hands are constantly cold. They are marriageable 
between ten and eleven years, but soon grow old, 
and even the men are short lived ; sixty years bezng 
thought a great age. The Mohammedm boys 
are circumcised generally in their sdxtii year. All 
the diseases of India are known here. Burning 
fever is cured by pouring cold water over the 
patient, which brings on copious perspiration. 
There is a great difference between the Malay and 
Sumatran. The Sumatran is of the middle size, a 
yellow colour, and slender conformation ; the 
Malay is sometimes tall, generally robust, of a dark 
complexion, inclining to a copper tinge, with broad 
features^ and ferocious expression. There are not 
in the world more desperate pirates than the 
Malays. Their prows have attempted to board our 
ships of war. The excellence of the Sumatrans 
lies in the execution of most beautiful filagree 
works of silver and gold, which they perform like 
other IndLans with extremely coarse tools, by un- 



76 MEMOIRS OF India: 

conquerable patience and industry. Silver is not 
a native of Sumatra ; but gold is found, united 
with copper, in the mines, and in veins near Padang, 
where the Dutch founded a settlement subordinate 
to Batavia. It is said that about 20,CXX) ounces of 
gold are annually exported from Sumatra, with 
some large cargoes of pepper, in return for opium, 
English cloth, salt, &c** 



JAVA. 

This island derives its present name from a mis- 
nomer of Ptolemy ; for Yava signifies barley, which 
is not an indigenous grain, though now cultivated 
in the mountainous parts by Europeans. Java is 
separated from Sumatra by the Straits of Sunda ; a 
channel of only twenty miles. The length of 
Java is six hundred miles, by an average breadth 
of ninety-five. It has a volcanic chain of mountains, 
which occasionally explodes. The soil is in gene- 
ral far richer than the neighbouring islands. In 
point of climate it differs but little. It is cooled 
by land and sea breezes, and the extreme heat of 
the marshes may be exchanged by a short journey 
for the bracing atmosphere of the mountains, where 
nearly all the grains, fruits, and vegetables of 
Europe flourish. 

* Vide Maraden, Macpherson, Bruce, Elmore, &c. 



>IEMOIRS OF INDIA. 77 

The Javanese proclaim their honourable descent 
from the Wow Wow, which remarkable species of 
ape inhabits their forests, and he is held in great 
reverence. They are divided into five principal 
governments, Bantam, Jacatra, Cheribton, the em- 
pire of Soesoehoenan, and that of the Sultan. All 
these are subjected to the Dutch East India Com- 
pany's government of. Batavia, which I have de- 
scribed in the historical account of the trade of 
Holland with India. It is estimated on good 
a^uthority that Java contains 3,000,000 of inhabit- 
ants, a considerable number of whom are Malays 
and Chinese j but the mass of the people are a 
distinct race, that formerly professed the doctrines 
of Brahma and Budha. They were converted to 
Mohammedanism in 1406, by Sheik Ben Israel, an 
Arabian, who became a powerful sovereign. The 
kings of Bantam and Cheribon are descended from 
him ; and his mausoleum, situated near Cheribon, 
is one of the most curious and magnificent antiqui- 
ties of the east. There are splendid remains of 
Hindooism at Borong Budor and Brambanan j and 
also in the districts of Mataram and Ballanbou- 

Java swarms with life ; and its inhabitants may 
be said to eat and drink animalculae, for every 
thing exhibits innumerable forms of living matter. 
The forests are impenetrable from thick under- 
wood, creeping plants, spiders* webs of great 
strength, and every description of snake and 



78 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

venomous rq[>tile. In the watens are prodigious 
numbers of all the eastern monsters and fishes, while 
the air teems with insects^ and night blazes witii 
phosphorescent flights of the &e-fly tribe. From 
the great cassowary to the little humming bird, the 
mountains and woods abound in the feathered 
race, and the boa constrictor is found here thirty 
feet long, and as thick as a bufialo, of which he 
makes but one meal. 

But man* should be the great object with man j 
and if curiosity respecting our fellow creatures be 
a general inclination of our nature, the Javanese 
character furnishes a melancholy subject for con- 
templation. Here the government has been for 
ages one of the most terrible forms of complete 
despotism that ever disgraced the records of man^ 
kind, which has sunk human nature below the most 
sordid description of animal meanness with which 
we are acquainted. The will of the prince is law. 
He is restrained by no institutions, either civil or 
religious. Surrounded by a set of men whom he 
raises to honour or depresses to nothing by a breath, 
of his mouth, the people are abject slaves, and these 
temporary nobles, sycophants who fawn and grovel 
in -the filth of capriciousness, for the privilege of 
inflicting misery on their inferiors. A Javanese 
approaches his {»ince in a crawling manner, and 

* For an account of the Dutch on the island of Java, vide 
the history of the East India Company of Holland, in another 
part of this work. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 79 

endeavours to appear in hi^ presence an idiot and 
a pauper, to express emphatically the immeasurable 
inequality of his condition, compared to that of 
his sovereign. An inferior never presumes to stand 
in the presence of superior rank ; he approaches 
and withdraws like a. beast, and sits like a monkey 
covered with rags; for his best apparel is never 
exhibited in the presence of his king, as it would 
shew something like an equality of enjoyment. 
The Javanese are in body as in mind filthy^ fond 
to excess of intoxicating liquors, notwithstanding 
the prohibitions of the Koran ; careless about the 
chastity oftheir women j depraved in their morals* 
and addicted, like the Malays, to a passion forgam^ 
ing and cock-fighting, in which they are imitated to 
a wonderful degree by the Chinese settlers. Their 
principal weapon is the creese or serpentine dagger 
of the Malays, which is made of Japan steel, and 
inflicts a ghastly wound. In clothing, household 
furniture, accommodation, ceremonies of marriage, 
&€. they do not differ materially from the natives of 
India on the contipent. The young bride *^ is 
paraded about with similar noise and ostentation, 
after which i^e becomes the slave of her husband 
to all intents- and purposes, and he may purchase as 
many wives as he pleases. Their colour is a deep 
brown, their eyes and hair jet black, their nose 
broad and flattened, and their teeth ebonied and 

* Appendix; note 3. 



80 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

decorated with gold. The women wear their hair 
in a knot on the top of their head, ornamented with 
jewels and flowers. 

. Java produces.exceedingly fine rice, good pepper, 
valuable sugar, excellent coffee, and coarse cotton, 
with tobacco, which, added to bang, betel, and 
opium, charms away the cares of the natives. The 
friiits here are of the finest flavour ; and the man- 
gusteen of this island is delicious and beautiful be- 
yond conception. It grows oh a tree bearing at 
the same time, like the orange, both fruit and 
flowers. As it ripens, the fruit changes from a 
bright to a dark purple, and in shape it resembles 
a perfect sphere, resting on a green calyx, sur- 
mounted by a corona, divided charmingly into as 
many rays as the fruit consists of lobes. The* upas, or 
anchar tree, is here without the deadly poisonous 
atmosphere attributed to it by Foersch, and :be- 
lieved to be fact by Dr. Darwin, with nearly all 
the forest trees of the eastern islands. * 
\ This island was taken from the Dutch and French 
by Sir Sainuel Achmuty, in 1811, und^r the au- 
spices of Lord Minto, but restored by the peace of 
Paris. While it remained in our hands, very con- 
siderable improvements were introduced, arid a, 
mildness given by ecjuity to the native character 
which maybe the foundation of political happiness 
at a future period, t / 

• Vide Addenda, XX. 

f Vide Stavorinus, Marsden, Barfo^, Leyden, Hamilton, and 
Raffles. 



MBMOIRa OF INDIA. 81 



BORNEO, CELEBES, AND THE 
MOLUCCAS. 

Several small' islands lie to the south-east of 
Java, biit I think it would be uninteresting to 
notice them. 

Between Sumatra, Java, New Guinea, the 
Philippines, and Cochin-China, are situated the 
two large inlands of Borneo and Celebes, separated 
from each other by the straits of Macassar ; and 
immediately to the eastward lie the cluster called 
the Moluccas. All these islands are inhabited by 
races of men like those already described. The 
Malays and Chinese are settled round the coasts ^ 
but in the interior the natives are savages, and 
some of the tribes anthropophagi, who drink out 
of the skulls of their enemies, and, at least once in 
their lives» must embrue their hands in human blood. 
They are known by the general name of Horaforas^ 
and, being fdund not only in these islands, but in 
many other parts of India, there is strong reason 
ta suppose that they are aborigines. These natives 
are divided into tribes, and some of them are ad- 
vancing towards civilisation imder rude govern- 
ments. They cultivate the land, raise various 
crops, and carry on commerce with the coasts ; 
exchanging gold, diamonds, spices, gums^ &c. fot 
opium, and different manufactures. One tribe of 
these singular people are called Bia^oos, and live 



S€ MBfifOIRS OF INDIA. 

constantly in boats, on the sea, wandering about 
like gipsies, or itinerant fishermen, from isle to 
isle. They delight in the ceremony practised by 
the Maldivians, of launching little vessels loaded 
tnth their sins axid misfortiHies, which, they believe, 
will fall upon those mariners who' may chance to 
meet their unlucky barks. Another tribe of them 
are called Tiroons, whose desperate acts as pirates 
are fanlous in the eastern seas. The Macassars 
and Buggesses 6f Celebes are expert workmen 
in iron, copper, and gold. 

Borneo is 750 miles long, by 350 in average 
breadths It is therefore by far the largest of the 
Asiatic isles ; but the interior is little known* 
Seme of its rivers, such as Banjarmassin and 
Bftgsir, are large and navigable. There are fine 
elephants on thiis island, and its forests are in- 
habited by a large specimen of the ourang outang* 
The' Dutch, French, and English have had settle- 
menits on Borneo, but none of them succeeded well. 
In 177*, the English East India Company estsu 
blii^ed a factory at Passir ; but the climate was so 
unfriendly, and the natives so treacherous, that it 
was abandoned. The French ship L'Epreuve was 
cut off here in 1774, and the whole crew assassi- 
natbi, in the most horrible manner, by the attend- 
ants of a Malay chief, who was dining with the cap- 
tain. Ail expedition was soon after sent from Chan- 
demagor, to revenge ihe murderous act, and three 
liundred, perhaps innocent pec^e, were butchered 



in the 9M$ck an the town. The French council** 
instruction to the capt^.ia wiiai, '* To seize ^ tiumbe? 
of prisoners pn th^ co^st, imd to put th€lm on shore 
again« after having cut off their no^ies, ear% mid 
hands.*** Perhaps the b^barity of the former act 
could only be equalled by the latter j so true it is^ 
that civili^d nations become savages, wti^n they 
give way to passion an4 vindictive ferocity. In 
I7OQ, the New English Company establi£^d a 
factory iat Banjarmassin, where the Dutch had long 
been settled, but in I707, they were nearly |J1 
massacred by the natives. 

Celebes is 500 miles in length, and 150 in aveiv 
age breadth. It is deeply indented by two gulfs. 
The southern one is called Buggess Bay, while 
that to the north-east is named Tomiaee; near 
which, on the peninsula formed, by it, is Fort 
Amsterdam, a Dutch settlement, whence mu^ 
gold is received in exchange for opium, |pe. Jn 
1512, the Dutch got a footing in Macassar, on the 
south-west coast, and in time aubvefted the em- 
pire of that name, which was the principj^ ppe gf 
the Buggess tribes, and perhaps th^ origin^ se^t 
of their language, laws, and goverpmenti The 
Dutch settlements wer^ taken possession pf by the 
Englii*, in I8l!g, butr^oredat the p^eificatiqn 
of Paris. 

The Molucca islands ccniq)rise ^11 thwe qltjisterf , 

* I give this on %]^ a^uk^hpr^tyjof ffaj}|j}^n*s Gazetteer > p. 651. 

G 2 



84 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

which lie between Celebes and New Guinea ; but 
the name is generally restricted to the Dutch spice 
isles of Amboyna, Banda, Ceram, Temate, Tidore, 
and Batchian. Here the natives are the same as 
in Borneo and Celebes, with a mixture of Papuas, 
or Oriental negroes, who are supposed to be the 
aborigines of New Guinea, as they are found there 
in great plenty. These have been noticed before 
in our account of the Andamans and Malacca, 
and mention being made, in the history of the 
Dutch East India Company, of these spice islands, 
it would not be profitable to dwell on the subject 
here.* 

THE PHILIPPINE ISLES. 

Magellan, when he discovered these islands, 
called them the Archipelago of St. Lazarus ; but 
Ruy Lopes de Villabolos named them the Philip- 
pines, in compliment to Phihp II., of Spain, then 
prince of the Asturias. They are very numerous, 
lie between the 5th and 20th degrees of north 
latitude ; and the principal ones are called Luzon, 
Mindoro, Panay, Marandique, Negros, Masbate, 
Zebu, Bohol, Le^jrte, Samar, and Magindanao. 
They were anciently called Bisayas, or Painted 
Islands, because the natives, painted their bodies 
like Indians of old. Over all these, the Spaniards 

* Vide Hamilton^.^c. &c. 



MEMOIAS OF INDIA. 85 

assume sovereignty, but they are in constant war- 
fare with the pirates, who are a most unconquer- 
able race, and start up in new places, when 
expelled from their old haunts and strong-holds. 

Cheered with constant showers for a great part 
of the year, the soil of the Philippines is very fer- 
tile : but terrible hurricanes* sometimes occur, that 
entirely destroy whole cultivated districts. The 
intolerance of the Spanish government has been 
such, with respect to religion and improvement, 
that these fine islands have remained under Euro- 
peans, in a languishing state, though rich in gold* 
and nearly all Ihe productions of the eastern seas. 
The natives live on rice, sago, plantains, bread 
fruit, yams, and fish, and are so extremely indo- 
lent in the interior of the large islands^ that they 
are only induced by necessity to move. Even the 
gold mines are worked so feebly, as scarcely to 
defray the expences. Here the Bisayans go nearly 
naked ; their houses are huts of palm leaves ; and 
they require no doors to secure their properly, for 
a green bamboo serves them for a pot, a plantain 
leaf for a plate, their fingers and thumb are their 
forks, and a palm mat their cool bed. Many of 
ihe Papuan negroes, whom the Spaniards found 
here, were so wild and unapproachable, that they 
were thought to be satyrs, and men with tails, 
some of them are still found in the eastern isles, 
scarcely a degree above the beast in intellect } and 

G 3 



M Bl^lllOlRI^ Of tKBIA. 

thek likeness to the ouratig 6utang> has ^ven rise 
to the behefj that he knew the use of fii^; and 
dtiessed his own victuals. It is said, that the 
Bisayans are foreign intruders, and have nearly 
extirpated the Papuas, who were the original 
possessors of th^ Philippines. But there are many 
different tribes in this island, all agreeing, how- 
ever, with the general characteristics al4*eady de- 
scribed in the other islanders. These people are 
governed by petty chiefs, and th^ir laws are long 
established customs^ They purchase their wives, 
sate allowed only one by law, but as many concu* 
bine^ as they please ; and the bridegroom often 
fi^ves a number of years for his partner, as Ja^ob 
did 3iei*etofore, for his two helpmates. Many ob- 
scenities take place at a marriage ceremony, which 
fe performed by sacrificing a hog. 

Tagala is the general language, which is highly 
esteemed for its melody; and the literary na- 
tives had historical poems, and songs innumer- 
able, till the Spanish missionaries took such pains 
to destroy these idolatrous records. Their religi- 
ous ceremonies are performed in Woods and ar- 
bours^ like the Druids, at which a priestess presides, 
Who, with a latrce, pierces a hog, and woita herself 
up to phrenzy, while the blood is flowing. The ear* 
case is then divided and eaten, and the whole ends 
with dancing. They buiy their dead, and place 
J€k>theB> cums, and food on their tomh, bdiieving 



MEMOIRS. OF IKDIA. 8^^^^ 

that they still enjoy the things of this world, but 
their notions of a future state are exceedingly com- 
plex and confused.* 

On the day of St. Lazarus, 1521, Magellan dis- 
covered these islands. In 1571, Legaspi conquered 
Luzon, or Luconia, and estabUshed Manilla as the 
capital of the Spanish possessions. Had the govern- 
ment countenanced industrious Chinese settlers, 
the Philippines would be, at this day, the garden 
of the East ; but it was contrary to their policy. 
In 1574s their infent settlement was attacked by a 
Chinese j^rate, with an army; but he was re-- 
pulsed. 

In 1590, the Spaniards successfiilly attacked Hie 
pirates of Sooloo. After the Dutch settled at Ba-^- 
tavia, several wars ensued between them aad the 
Spaniards. In 1762, Manilla was taktu by the- 
British force, under General Draper, but it wm 
restOTed in I764. The Spanish trade is n(5W a 
mere trifle, and the col<Miies, neglected by the 
mother country and uniiupported by Mexico, are 
sinking beneath the savage encroachments of nu- 
merous enemies.t 

* Vide i^ddenda, XXI. 

t Vide Zuniga, Sonnerat, Leyden, Jkc* 



^ i 



88 MEMonts OF nroiA. 



CHAPTER HI. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF INDIA. 



India, or Hindostan, the country of the Hindoos, 
lies between the 8th and S5th degrees of north 
latitude, and the 72d and 92d of east longitude. 
Hindoo, in the Persian language, signifies black, 
and sthanf country. From the most early times 
Ibis Kgion was inhabited by the Indians, or black 
men. It comprehends an area of 1,090^000 geo- 
gr^hical square miles. 

As Cashmere, Nepaul, &c. have been already 
noticed, we have only briefly to describe the re- 
mainder of Hindostan Proper, the Deccan, and the 
Peninsula. 

Hindostan Broper is generally subdivided into 
Lahore, Mo<dtan, Guzerat, Ajmeer, Delhi, Agra, 
Malw;a, Allahabad, Oude, Bahar, and Bengali* 

The Deccan contains Aurungabad, Khandeish, 
Beder, Hyderabad, Nandere, the northern Sircara» 
Becar, Gundwana,. Orissa, and B^q)oor. 

* Vide Arrow8milh*8 Map of Induu 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 89 

It ought to be observed, that the British posses- 
sions in India are subdivided by the local authori* 
ties into civil and military districts. These, being 
often changed, need not be mentioned. In the 
Peninsula there are several tracts of country -which 
received new names when they were ceded to the 
Company, or conquered by our arms. As nearly 
the whole now belongs to us, I shall not mention 
those partial designations, but confine myself to a 
natural subdivision of it 

The Peninsula comprehends the Camatic, or all 
that region below the ghauts on the Coromandel 
coast ; the Mysore, or all the countries above the 
ghauts to the river Krishna; and the Malabar 
coast, which is the usual name of that region west- 
ward of the Malabar ghauts, from Cape Comorin 
to Bombay, although it contains Canara, Cochin^ 
Travancore, &c. 

So extremely curious are the climate and natu- 
ral history of India, that philosophers of all ages 
have been surprised, and their wondering specu- 
lations awakened by these subjects. It is never so 
hot in Canton as in Calcutta, nor so cold in Cal- 
cutta as in Canton; yet these places lie nearly in 
the same parallel of latitude, and at about equal 
distance from the sea. The seasons in India are 
called the two monsoons * ; one from the south and 
another from the north, which extend from Africa 

• Vjd^ Addenda, XXm. 



90 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

to the longitude of New Holland and the east coast 
of China, and from the Himalaya mountains to the 
latitude of the trade winds in the Indian Ocean. 
But from the direction of the coasts, the interven- 
tion of mountains, the variation of the compass, 
&c., the monsoons visit India from the S. W. and 
N. E., and are thus denominated. The south-west 
monsoon brings with it black clouds and storms 
from the Indian seas. These clouds, filled with 
rain, and urged forward by the winds, open their 
flood-gates on the Malabar coast, in May, with 
frightful storms, and astounding thunder explo- 
sions. The monsoon would thence spread, in a- 
regular sheet, over the Peninsula of India, were it 
not stopped by the ghauts on the coast of Malabar. 
Being turned northward by these lofty mountains 
so as to expand over the table-lands of Mysore, 
the Deccan, and Hindostan Proper, it visits these 
regions in regular succession, but in a much milder 
form than it bursts forth on the Malabar coast ; 
for it, makes astonishing struggles to conquer the 
lofty ghauts, and seems to exhaust itself in the. 
loudest peals of thunder I ever heard against their 
huge heads. The rain falls here for several days 
together, literally in torrents. When the clouds 
reach the Himalaya range, the strength of the mon.- 
soon seems to revive from the opposition it meets 
with there. Being again turned from its natural 
course, it seems to visit Bengal from the north- 
west. The clouds tire impeded' in their progress 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 91. 

SO as not tb fe^ch the Coromandel coast tili Octo* 
ber, when the stormy season commences there^ 
All ships belonging to Madras are then forced to 
fly for safety to the western coast of Ceylon, or 
round to Malabar. The rains having i^ent their 
fury on the Malabar coast in three months, and 
gone off with the storm called elephanta, such fine 
and lovely weather prevails there in October, that 
zephyr scarcely ruffles the ocean, whUe all the fury 
of the elements is felt on the other side of the 
ghauts. When the south-west monsoon, which 
commences in May and ends in October, prevails 
on the western coast of India, the north-east mon- 
soon holds steadily on the eastern side of the Pen- 
insula. In short, the winds and seasons on the 
two coasts are continually opposite. 

Thus, although the operations of nature are re- 
gular throughout the whole of India, yet the inter- 
position of localities has produced great variety^ 
diametrical opposition, and wild eccentricity, at 
which the finite wisdom of man must pause in won- 
der, without being able to explain the causes to the 
satisfaction of his understanding. But whilst he is 
lost in incomprehensibility, he is filled with admir* 
ation at the infinite ways of the Almighty. Man 
seems to be every where like the atmosphere he 
breathes. On the mountain he is hardy, in the 
plain he is soft ; in all situations he is liable to air 
temations of calm, gloom, agitation, and storm ; 
bM in Ii^dia, where the iaw of local peculiarity 



9^ MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

governs nature, the people are also under the same 
influence, and still, like their atmosphere, they are 
endless in variety, diametrical in opposition, and 
wild in eccentricity ; which character is exempli- 
fied both in national and particular individuality. 

The inhabitants of India may be thus enume- 
rated : — 1st. Hindoos, who are said to be ten dis- 
tinct nations *, but who come under the denomin- 
ations of Brahmans, Jains, Budhists, Seiks, and 
Pariahs. 2d. Mohammedans, who are chiefly of the 
sect called Soonis. 3d. Farsees, who are followers 
of Zoroaster, and worship fire. 4th. Armenians. 
5th. Jews. 6th. Nestorian Christians } and 7th. 
Europeans, who are Portuguese, Dutch, English, 
French, Danish, Spanish, and Swedish, with their 
spurious offspring by intercourse with the Indian 
females, now forming a very numerous race. The 
followers of Mohammed iare to those of Brahma in 
the proportion of one to ten ; but the other classes 
are not near so numerous. It is on the western 
coast only that the Parsees are settled. The Ar- 
menians are in all the great towns as merchants ; 
the Jews and Nestorians are chiefly in Malabar ; 
the Europeans all round the coast, which is now 
occupied by their descendants, in the proportion 
of one to ten of the natives; but altibough an 
exact census be very desirous, none has yet be^n 
taken, and the following is the nearest approxim- 

^ On the authority of Colebrooke ia the Asiatic Researches. 



MEMOIRS OV INDIA. 9^ 

ation to the whole population of India and the 
islands^ 

Under the direct government of Bri- 
tain . . 60,000,000 

Under our influence indirectly 40,000,000 

Under independent chiefs beyond our 

control . . • 20,000,000 

In the islands of the Indian seas • • • 20,000,000 

Total population of the East Indies 140,000,000 



The chief rivers of India are, the Brahmapootra, 
the Ganges, the Indus, the Sutieje, the Krishna, 
the Godavery, Jumna, Nerbudda, Cavery, Gog- 
grah, Tuptee, Mahanuddy, Megna, Soane, Chum- 
foul, Beyah, Gunduck, and Ravey. Its mountains 
are, the Himalaya ridges, which cross the country 
from the Brahmapootra river to Persia, rising one 
above the other, and producing the three great 
rivers, Indus, Ganges, and Brahmapootra; the 
mountains of Kemaoon and Sewalic ; the eastern 
and western ghauts; and the Vindhyan chain, 
which crosses India parallel to the Nerbudda. 
The great cities are, Surat, Benares, Calcutta, 
Delhi, Madras, Bombay, Agra, Lucknow, Patna, 
Moorshedabad, Dacca, Poonah, Hyderabad, Nag- 
poor, Catmandoo, Ocjain, Jyenagur, Amritsar, 
Lahore, and Seringapatam. 

There are, generally speaking, two harvests, 



94 MI1M0IR« OF INDIAN 

called Khereef and Rubbee ; the first in Septem- 
ber and October, the latter in March and April, 
The general food is rice, and the implements of 
husbandly are simply awkward. It requires three 
or four strokes of their ill-formed plough to pro- 
duce a furrow. This instrument is oft^a only a 
piece of crooked wood, shod with iron, and drawn 
by a pair of ill-yoked oxen. Their harrow is like 
a short ladder, upon which a man stands, whilst 
he drives ihe bullocks that draw it to break the 
clods with his weight. The cart, or car, called 
hackery, generally used throughout India, is a 
bamboo frame, supported by two wheels, the shape 
of which frame is that of an acute triangle, and 
the point of it passes up between two oxen, and 
rests on a sort of ladder, in which their necks are 
placed. What we perform with a spade and sho- 
vel, the Hindoos do with a sort of hoe in a sitting 
posture. Their reaping-hook is a short crooked 
knife ; and they tread out the grain in the fields by 
means of oxen that are driven round a threshing 
floor of baked clay ; after which it is secured in 
earthen bee-hive-shaped granaries, about the size 
of barrels, smeared over with cow dung to guard 
it from white ants. In the vicinity of large towns 
the implements of husbandry are better : but I am 
speaking generally of the country. The inhabit- 
ants of small villages or towns have, in some places, 
a joint interest in the crop, the labour being per- 
formed by contributioB, and the cattle grazed to- 



MEMOIBS QV INDIA. 95 

gather } but in numerous casea^ the fields for tillage 
are private property, while those for pasture are 
common to all, A fixed rent, which is estimated 
according to the value of the crop, is paid for the 
land to the zemindar, or person who holds it from 
government, and the cultivator has, for his share, 
barely what keeps him from absolute want. There 
is in every considerable village and town a dhuram- 
sallah, or inn, for strangers, with a person to attend 
^nd furnish what may be required. Each village 
has a magistrate, and many of them a court called 
pancheat, or five old men, who decide upon all 
matters of minor import at one hearing. Superior 
courts are held at fixed places, both civil and cri- 
minal, where the laws are administered according 
to the Hindoo and Mohammedan written codes and 
customs. The Hindoos have an admirable collec- 
tion, said by them to have been composed by 
Menu, many millions of years ago, with commen- 
taries by learned pundits, a considerable part of 
which has been translated by Sir William Jones, 
and some of their laws carefully digested by Sir 
H. T. Colebrooke. They form a magnificent tes- 
timony in favour of the great antiquity and civilis- 
ation of the Hindoos. 

These laws establish some curious points. They 
must have been compiled at a time when civilis- 
ation had attained a place which it never surpassed 
in India. At that period the Brahmanical autho- 
rity must have been in fun force, for the laws are 



96 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

all in favour of priestcraft ; where that is not con- 
cerned, they are often framed on the broad and 
universal basis of natural equity. These laws dis- 
play a wonderful degree of refinement and barbar- 
ism : on commercial points, on the duties of kings 
and magistrates, and on the various modes of lend- 
ing money and securing property, the most acute 
wisdom and knowledge of human nature are indi- 
cated ; but in the various regulations for preserv- 
ing power and producing implicit obedience, inhu- 
manity, perjury, and slavery are resorted to : chil- 
dren and wives^being made slaves to their parents 
and husbands, the people were subjected to the 
despotism of kings, and kings to the tyranny of 
priests. The great difference then, between the 
eastern world and the western in civUisation is this, 
that whereas religion was formed in the latter for 
a support to government, in the former government 
was produced to support religion. The treatment 
of women too forms another grand difference be- 
tween Europe and India. These particulars cer- 
tainly divide the whole world into east and west, 
giving a peculiar character to the institutions of 
each. 

What distinguish the Hindoos, in general, are 
the delicate and slender form of their bodies, their 
equality of mind, their living on vegetable food, 
their distribution into castes, their early marriages, 
and their painted faces, which have continued the 
same since the time of Alexander the Great But 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 97 

in travelKng from Madras to Cashmere, up the 
centre of India, the greatest variety is obvious to 
superiScial observation. There are not greater dif- 
ferences between the French, Italians, English, 
Swedes, and Russians, than between the different 
nations of India, who speak distinct languages, 
and inhabit the several parts of Hindostan, which 
are together nearly as large as all Europe. 

The Vedas, or sacred books, of the Hindoos, 
are written in Sanscrit, which is now a dead lan- 
guage, as well as the Purannas, which are com- 
mentaries on them. There are also the Prakrit, 
the learned language of the Jains ; the Bali, the 
sacred tongue of the Budhists ; and the Zend, in 
which the books of Zoroaster are written, all de- 
rivations from Sanscrit, now unknown as living 
tongues. But besides these very ancient languages, 
there are ten distinct tongues, supposed to have 
been spoken by ten different nations, which form 
the groundwork of all the dialects of India. These 
are the Saraswata, the Kanoge, the Gour, the Tir- 
hoot, Oriss^, Tamul, Mahratta, Carnata, Telinga, 
and Guijara. 

Among the Hindoos, there are no titles of 
nobility in the gift of their rajahs, or kings, as in 
Europe, but they can reward by bestowing a jag- 
hire, or gift of land, with an honorary appellation, 
which is not hereditary. The Hindoos are divided 
into many religious sects. Five worship a single 
deity j one adores the five great divinities j several 

H 



98 MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

worship Chrishna under different forms, others 
Vishnu, some Mahadeva, and several Bhavani. 
Great alterations have taken place in the Brah* 
manical institution : and rituals founded on the 
Purannas and Tantras, have obsoleted the Vedas. 
Besides these are several philosophical sects, whose 
refinements equal those of Greece, Rome, &c* 
Vishnu is worshipped under ten avaters^ or incarn- 
ations, and he is expected shortly in the form of 
a horse. But it is not by prayers to their gods, that 
the Hindoos expect to work out their perfection, 
but by such mortifications as Tarika performed, 
who is reported to have nearly dethroned the king 
of heaven by their powerful efficacy. These con- 
sisted in standing for a length of time in positions 
that produced excruciating pain. Various modes 
of suicide are believed to secure future happiness. 
A woman is promised paradise, who burns herself 
with her husband's dead body. Men are promised 
the same, for starving themselves, burning their 
bodies in dry cow dung, burying themselves in 
snow, at the source of the Ganges, giving them- 
selves to sharks and alligators at Saugur Island *, 
cutting their own throats at Allahabad, burying 
themselves alive, and throwing themselves from 
precipices. Long and expensive pilgrimages are 
also made to ensure salvation, or happy transmigra. 
tion J and a journey of 1000 miles is sometimes 

* Vide Appendix, note 4. 



MEMOIRS OF IKDiA, 99 

performed, by tumbling all the way. To cut and 
mangle the body, to be crushed under Juggernaut's 
car, to renounce the world, and to live in deserts, 
are other modes ; but it may be generally observed, 
that the Brahmans seem to have invented these 
various torments, pilgrimages and sanctifications for 
purposes of deep policy ; for when they elevated 
the man to fame who sacrificed himself, they 
opened a road to ambition, and either sent trou* 
blesome spirits out of the world, or gratified them 
with the praises of men while in it. Peter on his 
pillar was as vainglorious as Alexander at Babylon. 
-The Brahman religion has no visible head of the 
church, each great pagoda being dependent on its 
own fame and sanctity. Some Hindoo sects shave 
the whole head, except a tuft of hair on the crown. 
Unless when undergoing mortifications, when it is 
allowed to grow wild, and to mat with oil and 
ashes, so as to appear frightful. Some of the 
Brahmans take a vow of celibacy, others marry. 
All Brahmans are not priests, but they are never- 
theless held sacred, and placed above the law as 
to life } for it is the greatest of all crimes to kill 
one of them, under any circumstances. The four 
great castes of Hindoos never intermarry, nor eat 
together, except at some great sacrifice that levels 
aU distinction for a moment. This happens in the 
presence of Juggernaut, The same caste is not 
an introduction to society in diflferent parts of 
India, where a man is a stranger. A freemason 

H 2 



100 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

will be admitted into a lodge in a strange country, 
by a sign and word, but a Hindoo remains an out- 
cast, when at a distance from his own little circle. 
But he must scrupulously observe the rules of his 
own society, or he would be expelled, and never 
again be admitted to any other sect; for the 
Hindoo religion, so far from aiming, like the 
Mohammedan at conversion, will not receive a pro- 
selyte ; yet it looks with perfect charity on all wor- 
shippers, as pleasing to God, and objects of his 
care. The Mohammedans and Hindoos now live 
together in perfect harmony, though at first some 
persecuted Hindoos were circumcised by force. 
It is supposed that the Brahmans were philosophers, 
who came into India, while it was in a barbarous 
state, and subverted the horrid practices which still 
prevail in the Eastern isles. 

In Hindostan they reckon that four ages, con- 
sisting of many millions of years, have elapsed 
since the creation, but the Chinese and Hindoos 
are surpassed by the Jains, who believe that they 
never had a beginning, and that the world was 
never formed. 

Polygamy and slavery are permitted by law, 
but the customs and privileges of women are very 
different in the various tribes of Hindostan, as 
well as their ceremonies, both civil and religious. 
The Hindoo character is in general parsimonious, 
except on occasion of marriage, and in the cele- 
bration of annual sacred feasts, at which vast sums 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 101 

are expended in ostentatious display. In the mar- 
riage ceremony, the young bride and bridegroom 
are paraded about with all the magnificence of 
wealth which the parties can command; and at 
festivals, the idols are drawn through the public 
streets, on gorgeous carriages, with amazing pomp 
and noise. The lower orders have seldom more 
than one wife, who is as little secluded from society 
as a peasant's wife in Europe. Nearly all the 
children go perfectly naked for two or three years, 
but many of them have a silver plate, in the form 
of a heart, ^ suspended from a string tied round 
their loins, to hide the sight of what modesty 
prompts all nations to conceal. . The females are 
immoderately fond of ornaments, and their noses, 
ears, wrists, fingers, ancles, and toes are loaded 
with rings and jewels, in proportion to their cir- 
cumstances. Every where companies of dancing 
girls will be found, who are devoted to pleasure. 
They take great care of their beauty, preserve their 
breasts from injury by keeping them in artificial 
forms, or moulds, which fasten behind, while their 
beautiful and delicate bodies are rendered soft and 
glossy by constant ablutions, champoing with the 
fingers, which opens the pores, and anointing with 
perfumed oils. Their jet black hair is tied up in 
a knot, decorated with white flowers and gold, 
their eye-lashes are painted black, and their teeth 
often stained with the same colour ; but sometimes 
of an ivory whiteness, from their simple vegetable 

H 3 



102 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

food. Their small delicate feet and legs are bare, 
as also their arms, and part of their bodies ; for 
the Hindoo female dress is in general one long 
piece of white, coloured, or embroidered muslin, 
or cotton, wound round the loins, so as to form a 
petticoat, while the end of it is drawn gracefully 
round the breast, and serves for a veil to cover the 
head occasionally, or to hang on the smooth playful 
arm. The Hindoo male dress, of the lower orders, 
is nothing but a langutty, or loin cloth, but the 
higher ranks wear rich turbans, trowsers, and 
gowns, with party coloured sandals or slippers, £uid 
gorgeous shawls, sparkling in gold and silver. 

The whole of the Mogul empire may now be 
considered as transferred to Great Britain. In the 
reign of Acber, it yielded a revenue of 36,000,000/. 
per annum, and was governed by an unwieldy 
army of plundering irregulars. In 1812, the East 
India Company's total revenue was 17,000,000/., 
but it has since greatly increased by conquests in 
die Deccan. It now exceeds 22,000,000/., which 
will under proper management gradually improve, 
;as population advances and security is felt. The 
combined debts of the three presidencies amounted, 
in 1812, to near 30,000,000/., which, owing to 
wars and increased expenses, is not yet much re- 
duced. However, the assets of the Company are 
immense, and their affairs must be considered very 
prosperous ; for although the free trade has slightly 
injured their commercial profits, yet they have still 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. lOS 

the monopoly of all that is truly valuable. Sup- 
ported by an army of 30,000 Europeans, and 
150,000 natives, well organised, commanded by 
British officers, and kept in constant activity, the 
stability of our empire rests at present upon a firm 
basis. But the fabric of human wishes is always 
in a tottering state ; and vain are the prognostica- 
tions of short-sighted mortals ! There are in India 
about 40,000 British born subjects, in the Com- 
pany's service, as civilians, military officers and 
soldiers, free merchants, and mariners, lawyers, 
shopkeepers, and settlers. The civil servants are 
about 2000 in number, and the establishment of the 
three courts of judicature above 300. 

Females appear to be more numerous in Hindo- 
stan than males. Perhaps I may be wrong in this 
surmise ; for in some tribes several men have but 
one wife ; yet in others, for centuries past, the 
female children were destroyed. The following 
are facts in support of my assumption. Scarcely a 
Hindoo ever remains unmarried till twenty-five ; 
indeed they are all fettered with wedlock when 
children ; many of them have ten or twelve wives 
in the course of their lives ; young widows never 
marry again ; the companies of dancing girls are 
prodigiously numerous ; and the number of Hin- 
doo females that attach themselves to Europeans 
^ very great. Women in India ripen soon, and 
wither fast ; they are mothers in their eleventh 
year, and decrepid with age at thirty ; but among 

H 4 



104 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

men the wear and tear of life are not so, for 
many of them enjoy health of body and mind till 
ninety years old, and some reach a period consider- 
ably beyond 100. 

Rice is their general food, with much spice, and 
but little animal addition. To its use may be 
attributed the slender form of thdr bodies, and 
the even texture of their minds, free from many of 
our perturbations, and calmly patient under suffer- 
ings, which in Europe would rouse ^most danger- 
ous passions into immediate action. 

The varieties of men have perhaps been thus 
formed imperceptibly, by accidental causes, influ- 
enced by peculiarity of climate. A Hindoo lives 
on rice, he is soft and watery ; a Chinese may 
derive some of his qualities from tea ; as an Arabian 
does from coffee, a Laplander from fish, and an 
Englishman from beef and ale. Men are every 
where radically the same in disposition and pro- 
pensity. Colour, in such instances as have come 
under my observation, makes no difference in the 
texture of the mind. Genius has been found in 
slavery, and talent in chains. National physical 
superiority is flattering to pride ; but in reality 
civilised man is the creature of institutions ; he is, 
generally speaking, elevated or depressed in the 
scale of human estimation, just in proportion as 
the community to which he belongs is wise or 
foolish. * 

* Vide Addenda, XXII. 



MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 105 

Having made these introductory remarks, which 
are supported as well by personal observation as by 
numerous high authorities, we shall proceed rapidly 
to describe the divisions of India. 



THE PENINSULA OF INDIA. 

That part of the southern triangle of India, 
which extends from the river Krishna to Cape 
Comorin, called the Peninsula, is divided into three 
parts by the hand of nature : these are the Camatic, 
Mysore, and Malabar. Malabar is, in its extended 
sense, all that country lying along the western 
ghauts, next the sea, from Cape Comorin, where they 
rise, to the river Tuptee, where they change their 
direction eastward, and run off till lost in the neigh- 
bourhood of Boorhanpore. This region is in breadth 
from forty to seventy miles, which is the general 
distance of the ghauts from the sea shore. From 
the western ghauts, in the latitude of about 15^ N. 
a chain of mountains runs off eastward, and winds 
round northerly till it reaches the Krishna river, on 
the Coromandel coast. These ghauts rise to un- 
equal heights, many of them towering far above 
the clouds, but generally supporting a magnificent 
terrace of 3000 feet above the level of the sea, 
called the Mysore. Many of the mountains rise 
above that country from three to four thousand 
feet. All the low country is called the Carnatic, 



106 MEMOIRS OF Ib^DIA. 

on the eastern side of the western ghauts, and the 
one coast is denominated Coromandel, while the 
other is styled Malabar. The whole country, 
therefore, below the ghauts, we describe by the 
names of Carnatic and Malabar; and all above 
these mountains, to the river Krishna, by. the ap- 
pellation of Mysore. * From the source of the 
Krishna, which is in the western ghauts near 
Sattara, only about fifty miles from the sea coast of 
Malabar, this fine river courses about 650 miles, 
in many beautiful meanders, and falls into the Bay 
of Bengal, near Masulipatam, where a considerable 
portion of the Carnatic, along the eastern ghauts, 
is called the Northern Sircars. The Krishna in its 
course is joined by five other considerable rivers, 
called the Warnah, Malproba, Gutpurba, Beemah, 
and Toombuddra, besides a multitude of other 
smaller ones, and at its junction with the sea, it forms 
a magnificent body, though it is not navigable far 
inland. 

There are four principal rivers in the Carnatic, 
which have their source in the western ghauts of 
the table-land. These are the Palar, the Cavery, 
the Pennar, and the Vaggaroo ; but the country is 
nevertheless in many parts^ ill supplied with water ; 
to remedy which deep wells are dug, and large 
tanks constructed, that yield a supply for indispens. 
able irrigation, thrown up by very simple machinery. 

* Vide Hamilton's East India Gazetteer. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 107 

The soil is in general sandy, the climate the hottest 
in India, from local position, but not subject to hot 
winds, on account of the sea and land breezes; 
which blow in daily alternation. Vegetation is 
parched during the dry season, and few trees 
grow without much care and labour; the melia 
azadarichta and the robinia mitis being, I have 
been informed, the only ones which flourish spon- 
taneously in some parts of the interior. But the 
coasts are beautified with palms, and many parts 
inland luxuriantly green from the effects of patient 
industry ; yet the Carnatic requires annual supplies 
of rice from Bengal, &c., which are paid for by an 
extensive exportation of piece goods, in the manu- 
facture of which the people have been long cele- 
brated. 

The Nabob of the Carnatic, and the various 
chiefs and Polygars who composed the govern- 
ment of the country, before our influence in it, 
have now no political power ; they live on pen- 
sions or jaghires of land, and may be considered in 
the light of independent gentlemen, or petty nobles. 
Their power in the administration of justice has 
b^en transferred to the Company's civil servants, 
who as judges, magistrates, and collectors, have 
the whole country divided into districts, and hold 
native courts according to ancient custom. 

In no part of India are there so many great 
pagodas as in the Carnatic. The Hindoo idols are 
worshipped in these magnificent fabrics with gross 



108 MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

enthusiasm. The bull is a general object of 
adoration, and in some villages, one is kept as a 
living idol, and when he dies his body is buried 
with great pomp. There are not many Mohamme- 
dans in the Carnatic, but Christian converts are 
numerous in the vicinity of Tranquebar *, and 
some other places. It is computed that there are 
50,000 Christians. The Brahmans have nearly the 
monopoly of all the different offices in the revenue 
and judicial departments. Many of them, being 
of the secular order, hold large tracts of land, 
which are cultivated by their slaves. Nearly all the 
peasantry are of the Sooder, or fourth caste. There 
is a wandering tribe, called Chensu Carir, who 
have no fixed habitations, and whose wealth lies in 
droves of small asses, which- convey them with 
their children and mat houses, round the country, 
like gipsies. 

Malabar also belongs entirely to Great Britain, 
in a political point of view, though a small part of it 
be in the possession of the rajah of Travancore, 
who exercises over it the rights of an independent 
sovereign ; but he is restricted in all external 
power. The revenue he pays the Company is con- 
siderable. There are in Travancore t about 90,000 
Christians, and 30,000 Jews, and in the whole of 
Malabar full 300,000 Christians of all descriptions ; 
but the mass of the inhabitants are pure Hindoos 
with peculiar customs and manners, though Moham- 

♦ Vide Appendix, note 5* t Ibid, note 6. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 109 

medans and Parsees are also very numerous along 
the sea coast. In no part of India is the pride of 
caste more upheld than here. Some time ago, it 
was common for a Brahman, or a Nair, to cut a 
low caste man, or a Pariar down, like a noxious 
reptile that presumed to approach so as to come in 
contact. There are castes here held so infamous as 
not to be allowed to approach the habitations -of 
others, and these miserable outcasts live in the 
woods, like wild men. In some tribes on this 
coast, the husband never cohabits with his own 
wife J she remains in the house of her brothers, and 
bestows her favours on whom she pleases j gene- 
rally on the Namboory Brahmans, who are thought 
to be the most honourable fathers for offspring. 
Thus no Niar is said to know his father. In- 
heritance therefore runs in the female line, the 
sister's children being equal heirs to all property 
left by the head of the house. There are about 
thirty different sects of Nairs ; many of them eat 
animal food *, and in general they are fond of in- 
toxicating liquors. They are of the royal race of 
Malabar, second in rank to the Brahmans, and 
under them there are several other tribes of free- 
men and slaves. The astrologers of Malabar are 
still held in high estimation. Infanticide, from 
their predictions, was arrested by the Portuguese, 
and it is now unknown. Formerly, thousands of 

• Vide Addenda, XXIV. 



110 MEMOIRkS of INDIA, 

infants, it is said *, lost their lives in Malabar, whose 
stars were ascertained to predict misfortune ; as if 
it were in the power of man to rob destiny by com- 
mitting murder* 

The exports of Malabar consist chiefly of coir, 
cocoa nuts, fine timber for ship building, which 
grows in the ghauts, and is a species of oak called 
teak, rice, ghee or clarified butter, dry ginger, 
piece goods, cardamoms, pepper, sandal wood, sapan 
wood, turmeric, arrow root, betel nut, and iron, 

Malabar is a lovely country of hill, dale, and 
valley, with a magnificent horizon on one side, 
rising to the sky, and on the other a blue cheerful 
sea. The rivers are very numerous, but having a 
course only from the ghauts, they are of little con- 
sequence as navigable streams. There is an inter- 
esting diversity in this province, not to be found 
in other parts of India, for the inhabitants live in 
single houses scattered all over it, peeping beauti- 
fully from amidst plantations of cocoa nuts, pepper 
vines, and plantain groves. 

Many of the villages are romantically situated, 
and embellished with great taste. The Brahman 
and Teerettee girls of Malabar are very beautiful, 
and their dress is simple and becoming. An Eu- 
ropean may here purchase a blooming young female, 
for a few pounds sterling. It is not lawful for a 
proprietor of slaves to sell man and wife in separate 

• By the Abbe Raynal. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. Ill 

lots, but children may be separated from their 
parents. Men are sold for about 7^-5 and children 
for 2/. ; and parents who are freemen have power 
to sell their own children. But it is to be hoped 
that Great Britain will establish universal freedom 
in India, and rescue human nature in the East, as 
well as in the West, from degradation and bondage. 
. The whole of Mysore, with the exception of a 
small part, nominally under the rajah, elevated 
from obscurity upon our conquest of the country, 
in 1799> belongs to the East India Company. It 
it watered by several fine rivers which flow into the 
Krishna, or towards the eastern ocean through the 
Carnatic. It is generally a fine fertile country, 
yielding rich crops of rice, several kinds of pulses, 
(among which is the cynosurus coracanus, called 
raggy,) ricinus palma Christi, poppy, tobacco, cocoa 
nuts, and betel. The cattle are cows, buffaloes, 
small horses, sheep, and goats, with nearly all our 
varieties of poultry, a fine display of fruits, and 
excellent vegetables. No climate in India is finer 
than that of Mysore ; the air being refreshed by 
showers during the breaking of the two monsoons, 
and cooled by elevation, without being subject to 
the rarefaction of the more northern parts. My- 
sore yields a considerable quantity of iron ore ; and 
nearly all the butter used in the Carnatic is ex- 
ported from it in a preserved state without salt; 
which is effected by keeping the butter till rancid, 
and then boiling it till every watery particle eva- 



lis. MEMOIRS OF INDU. 

porates, after which it is called ghee, and put up 
in large flasks made of leather. 

Although Mysore was for a long time subject to 
the Mohammedan sway, yet there are not many 
moslems in it ; the mass of the people being rigid 
Hindoos, It is, on the whole, in a flourishing state ; 
and certainly a far finer country than the Camatic. 
The people live in villages and towns, and their 
houses are generally built with stone or mud, and 
covered with tiles, whereas in the Camatic, and 
in many parts of Malabar, the dwellings are com- 
posed of wood or mud, and thatched with palm 
leaves. 

The star pagoda, value about eight shillings, is 
a current gold coin, in the Carnatic, Mysore, and 
in Malabar; and rupees, of different denominations, 
in value, averaging two shillings the silver ones, 
with a copper piece of different small standards, 
like our pence and half-pence. In most other 
parts of India, the gold coin is a mohur, worth 
about thirty shillings, with silver and copper medi- 
ums, similar to those just mentioned. The day is 
generally throughout Hindostan. divided into sixty 
parts, and an hour, or one portion, into twenty- 
four minutes. Distances are computed by miles 
of an hour each, that is the length commonly 
travelled over in twenty-four minutes, or about 
two and a half English miles.* 

• Vide Addenda, XXV. 



^ott ia Myspye *n4 in part 9^ lifal^f^ t;li?. 
Jaifls ai:e ftmnerpus^ ^4 t^e^^^ ^je sQpc\^, i^t^y ?^a^ii§ 
repftaiQs of tlieir §i;ill in sculp^^vfe to be ^i^aeu. T|n(g, 
palaces qf &eringapatam a^e now, Uke mmy t)}^ 
that have beep, of ^ii^tlf. iut^rqst, ^.ijd a hjea^p. of 
ruins will soon mark the spots where thCT oupe 
I^^ttdly stood claming ^^miftprt^lity. ^n<?k ift t^^ 
fleeting nature of hyiwan grfujdeiff. 



THE PECQAN- 

Peccan means the south,, ?uid fq^merly signified 
all the countries of Ii^dia soutl^ward of |?in4oi|tftQ 
Proper. It is so understood hy tl^f author of t^i§ 
circumnavigation qf th,e EJyythrean seaj ^]|ut t^^fj 
word is now restricte4 to the high coi^ntiy Ijet^eg^^ 
thei rivers Nerbudda an4 Krishna, while the fegiofli 
below the ghauts, or pqrthei^Q part of |^£^a]^^^ jj} 
called thei Conc^Pf 

TJxe Nerbudda has i^ ^^urcg in laf. ^^^ 5^' N^ 
and long. 80? IS' E. ?it a sacre4 well C8^ed Qmep- 
cvintuc, ^pd ijpwing wpstprly \t\ plippS* ^ st^J^ight; 
line, fall^ into the ^ga, after a course <#*7j?P ipile^ 
in the gi^lf of Cambay, aftgr w^t^riisg fbe fine 
province pf Guzerat for a cpnsiderablie waj* This 
qui^rter of In4ia is ^sp feftilise4 by the Tlipt?§ 
river, which rises in thelngardy hill?, ^u4 falls into 
Ae §^ at 3ur^t, ^fter § f oufse we§t§rly gf ^l^put 
HQQ Bjilgs, p^ odf whiclj is t^feroHjgh t^e ^trpflg pro^ 



114 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

vince of Kandeish ; and also the Godavery, which 
has its source in the western ghauts, about seventy 
miles north of Bombay, and flows easterly to the 
Bay of Bengal, after a winding course of about 
850 miles, where its mouths form several navigable 
harbours. 

From this river to th^ south-western archipelago 
of Bengal, the country is called Orissa. It is about 
530 miles in length by ninety in average breadth, 
and in general character it is a mountainous region, 
inhabited by the Ooreas, who are a wild and un- 
civilised race of aboriginal Indians, driven to the 
most barren parts by the Mohammedan and Mah- 
ratta conquerors. The sea coast, in many parts, 
is however an .exception ; and the great temple of 
Juggernaut has for ages attracted such prodigious 
numbers of pilgrims, that for many miles around 
there is a polish of manners not surpassed in any 
part of India. Orissa is watered by the Maha- 
nuddy, by the Bytumee, and Subunreeka rivers, 
which flow, like the Godavery, into the Bay of 
Bengal, after courses of considerable length. A 
rugged chain of mountains extends from the Goda- 
vey to the Mahanuddy, and forms a strong barrier 
inland along this coast. The whole of Orissa may 
now be said to be under the direct influence of the 
company ; for much of the political power of the 
rajiah of Berar is at an end. 

. To the westward of Orissa, lies the province of 
Gundwana, a great part of which is also wild and 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 115 

barren. The best parts are inhabited by the Mah- 
rattas, and the worst by the Gounds, who continue 
almost in a state of nature. In the centre of the 
Deccan, are situated the territories of the Nizam, 
where a considerable portion of the population are 
Mohammedans, and southward to the Krishna lie 
the territories lately belonging to the Peishwa, 
which are now part of the British empire, for very 
little has been restored to the Sattara rajah, and he 
is entirely without external political influence. To 
this great acquisition has also been added the pro- 
vince of Kandeish, ceded by Holkar at the termina- 
tion of the late Mahratta war, at least all his share of 
it J so that the whole Deccan, and Concan virtually 
belong to the Company, for both the Nizam and 
rajah of Berar have received subsidiary British 
forces, which entirely places their political influence 
at the disposal of Great Britain. 

The whole of the Deccan, with that part of 
Guzerat south of the Nerbudda, is a remarkably 
fine country. In point of climate and natural ad- 
vantage, it ranks with any part of India, but long 
distracted with war, famme, and plunder, it is in 
many places very thinly inhabited. The people 
live in walled towns, and every where the ruins of 
former grandeur present a melancholy picture to 
observation. The mountainous parts are inhabited 
by wild tribes of various denominations, aJmbst in 
a state of nature ; but the Mahrattas occupy the 
best districts, and conform to the principles, man* 

I « 



116 msMCiM Of mmA. 

Tieiis, atlld ctistoms of the Hindoos ; though it is 
said th^y trere originally Persian emigrants* j bat 
this is^ involved in great obscurity, swid a difl^ence 
of dpinloti prevails respecting the origin of this 
fnartiatl dnd restless raccv 

Every thiiig ifk the Mahratta state* wears a war- 
like appearance* The summits of bills and mouri- 
tains are strongly fortified, the towns are foirtressesr, 
and nearly all the inhabitants go armed. While 
these ambitious people had political independence, 
dvilisation ktid peace conld never exist very long 
in ItidlA. Theii' plundering excursions destroyed 
dvilisation, and never permitted peace to sfforA 
sectlrfty, which is the great object of all social 
^lils. 

Ke^r the andent city of Dowlutabad, are the 
fktndtis otvei^ df Elora, which are certainly most 
magnificent monuments of the Hindoo religion. 
Hete tiie whole side of a mountain has been ex- 
cavated, and the living rock formed into such 
endless variety, as would baffle the most laborious 
description. 

The finest diamonds in the world are found in 
the Deccan, for which the mines of Golconda 
have been ever Celebrated, and the whole region 
is teettiitig with natural and artificial curiosities. 

« Oo Ike Bmik0ii%j of Mijor WiUsrd^ in tb« A«t«ti« R«- 
searches. 



MJSMOJJIS OF INWA. 117 



HINDOSTAN PROPI^l. 

It has been remarked, that from tte river Nef* 
budda southward, India forms a i6be triangle. 
Another triangle may be said to be foxamied by :the 
comitries northward of the Nerbuddaj for the 
great rivers, Indus and Ganges, which are the 
western and eastern boundaries lOf ;Hindoatan 
Proper, have their source^ at no great idist^qe 
from each other, in the Himalaya mountains. 

Of all ithe great rivers in Indis^ the Qapges i^ 
the most useful to man. It perfbrjns a winding 
journey of full 1500 mile% from its source to the 
Bay of Bengal, receives a great number of .finp 
navigable rivers in its course, and fertilises the 
richest provinces of Hindostan, bearing commerce 
on its bosom, and affording employment to 30Q,000 
of the natives. During the monsoon, the Ganges 
rises thirty-itwo feet above its lowest level, and overr 
flows its banks, in some places being then .100 miles 
in breadth, with the inhabited parts like islands 
scattered over ifes glass-like surface. When at .its 
lowest the principal channel varies from 400 yard^ 
to one and a quarter mile wide, but is rcommonly 
about three-fourths of a mile in breadth. At 500 
miles from the sea, the channel is thirty feet deep,, 
when the river is at the lowest. Taking the medium 
of the whole year, jthe quantity j[if»water discharged 

I 3 



118 MEMOIRS OF iNDlA. 

by the Ganges is about -180,000 cubic feet, per 
second of time. 

We shall now proceed to notice the principal 
jMTOvinces that compose Hindostan Proper. But as 
the three seats of British government, Calcutta, 
Madras, and Bombay, are described in another 
part of this work, no particular mention is made 
of them here. 

Bengal is about 350 miles in length by 300 in 
average breadth, and its richness of soil is amaz* 
ingly great Its general character is that of a 
flat campaign country, yielding prodigious crops 
of rice, wheat, and barley. The Delta of the 
Ganges is annually enriched by the mud of the 
river, and there is not a stone to be found in it. 
The important productions of Bengal are tobacco, 
sugar, indigo, cotton, silk, and opium * ; and to 
all the Indian finiits, are now added some from 
China and Europe. Vegetables are in great plenty. 
The potatoe flourishes here and in most parts of 
India ; and the rivers yield a great variety of 
fish, among which is that called the mailgoe fish, 
from its supposed resemblance in taste and flavour 
to the delicate fruit so named* I say, supposed 
taste and flavour, because, though I often eat the 
mangoe fish in Calcutta, I never could discover 
these qualities. All nature teems with life, from 

* Vide Addenda, XXVI. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 119 

the elephant and royal tiger *, to the fire-fly and 
musquito. 

The inhabitants of Bengal are very numerous, 
and generally average 200 to a square mile. In 
the eastern districts, the Mohammedans are almost 
as numerous as the Hindoos, but elsewhere they 
do not constitute a fifteenth of the inhabitants, 
who are rigid followers of Brahma. The Benga- 
lese are a quiet, soft race of men, who have gene- 
rally submitted to foreign dominion, without any 
efforts for freedom. 

Bahar, which is an equally fine province, lies 
westward of Bengal, and contains about 26,000 
squai'e miles. It is more subject to the hot winds 
than Bengal, and yields a vast quantity of salt- 
petre, which is largely produced during their con- 
tinuance. It has, therefore, been supposed that 
these winds are essential to the formation of nitre 
in this quarter. Cultivation is here carried on with 
such care, that in the vicinity of Patna, the fields 
look like fine English gardens. 

Westward of Bahar, lies the province of Alia- 
habad, which is 270 miles in length by 120 in 
average breadth. It is watered by the Ganges, 
Jumna, Goomty, and Caramnassa, and it contains 
the famous cities of Benares and Allahabad, two 
of the most sacred places of Hindoo pilgrimage. 
Its exports are diamonds, saltpetre, opium, sugar, 
indigo, cotton, manufactures of cotton and silk^ &c, 

* Vide Add^da, XXVU. : 
I 4 



Tftfe Ungdam of <?udte lies to Ibe north of 
Allahabad. It is in length about 250 miles by 
tOO^h breadth, and pi*odiices, with all the varieties 
%efoTt Saenti<!wiefd, a considerable quantity of lapis 
lazilK, which is vdiy valuable. This provincse is 
Intersected ty the Grbggrah river, and bounds 
kin Ifce ^est Iby the Ganges, while to the north afid 
^ast li6 the temtories of Nepjml. The HJuAd^ 
%acfe in Otide is much lati^erior, both in taerttld 
'xttd bodily qualities, to the natives <tf 'Bengai. 
They retain the warlike characteristics of their 
ancestors, the <jonquerors of CJ^ylon. In this -pro- 
Viftce Mohammedans ^re Very numerous. The king 
^3if Ottdfe Iwlds his court at SLucknow ; brtt his 
^[>oJitical ^wer rests entirely with 4he Company, 
%rho -Offend %i5'kingd6m^rdm foreign ag^esisidn. 

iNc&& of Oud^, is the jwravince of Delhi, in 
Vhich Ihte Mogul emfperors long exercised despotic 
^bftiihidh oVer the East. It is about 540 miles 
^loi% ^1^ 180 broad ; ^iit having *een Icing the 
scene of plunder arid desolation, it is thinly inha- 
%it^, ^nd *iti -Delhi, heaps of ruin every where 
'ineet the eye. The ^mt parts of ft are in our 
'posseiisidn, aiid ^he Vorst are otjcupied by petCy 
chi^ft,'belong^ng to theBeik confederacy^, who, ih- 
liteadcfiT supporting 'the national rank i^rhich their 
'fbtihders gained, now weiiken each other by con- 
'starit civirWar. 

All 'th©«5 'pf'ovinces mSy be tsinked as directly 
under the con€f(A of 4he East India Company, 



ini^!«»mh OF ^M^ l€L 

\ogeitt&r <^h the ^ea*est part^f Agi^a, Which is 
^orft S50 ^ilefe 4oHg alftd 180 broad ; and 4Jiey 
^ofestitiite the British possessions iii the eastern and 
Northern quarters of Hindostan Proper, 'derng 
with the diiStricts of Kemaoon, &o, lately ceded by 
the GoorCa government of Nepaul. 

The territories of Dowldt Row Scindea, who is 
now the most -powerful of the Mahratta chieft, are 
situated 'principally in Malwah, He retains a con^ 
isiderable shai'e of independence, which he secured 
hy judiciously bending to -necessity, at the com* 
mencemeiit of the last Mahratta War; while 
•Holkar, and fhe rajah of Berar, by trying the 
^rtune of battle, placed their political consequence 
in the liands ' df -Great Britain. The Rajpoot states 
lie in the province of Ajmeer, almost in the centre 
of Hindostan Proper; and the irihabitstrits are 
among the bravesft and noblest races of the 'Hin- 
doos ; considering themselves descended directly 
from the ancient royal race, they are actuated by 
very high principlesof patriotism and honor*; but 
being-divided by the feudal system of government, 
-Which prevails among them, they never pursue a 
combined effort for empire. Mooltan and Lahore, 
^hich lie northward of AjmCer, are possessed by a 
few petty chiefs, who by their continual feuds re- 
tard the progress of improvement, and barbarise 
their subjects. The province of Lahore, which 

^ ^ide Addenda, XXVIII. 



1£2 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

extends to the northern mountains, 820 miles in 
length and 220 in average breadth, is one of the 
finest in India, as to natural advantages, being 
watered by five fine rivers, which form what is 
called the Punjab; but, for the reasons before 
mentioned, it is now but thinly inhabited, and 
under a most disorganised government, amounting 
nearly to complete anarchy. In this province the 
Seik government, which is a theocracy and repub- 
licanism, was established by a philosopher, named 
Nanac, who apostatised from the creed of Brahma 
to pure Deism, and received converts from all re- 
ligions, permitting them to retain their original 
manners and customs. But as some account of 
this curious nation is given hereafter, we shall 
merely say in this place, that the Seiks are the only 
state in India, which ever seems to have imbibed 
repubhcan principles, and in the confusion which 
followed the de^th of Aurengzebe in 1707> those 
principles, and the ambitious vie\^s which then ex- 
panded, raised the Seiks to a formidable and dan- 
gerous height of power ; but they have since sunk 
into political insignificance, and are now divided 
into separate interests and irreconcilable feuds. 

By late conquests in Cutch, and the state of our 
connection with the government of Baroda, the 
whole sea coast, from the mouths of the Indus, 
round to Bombay, is subservient to the East India 
Company, who may be said to command all the 
resources of Guzerat and Katty war. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 123 

The large and fine province of Guzerat occupies 
nearly the same place on the west of India, as 
Bengal does on the east, and yields^ generally 
speaking, similar crops; but cotton is the great 
article of export In length, this province is about 
320 miles, including that psat of it which lies south 
of the river Nerbudda, and 180 in average breadth. 
It is rich in precious stones, such as comeUans 
and agates, and at this day, as in 1582, when Abul 
Fazel compUed the institutes of Acber, it is famous 
for painters, carvers, and handicraflmen. 

This province is inhabited by various classes of 
Hindoos, some of whom, in the mountainous and 
barren parts, are professed thieves, and the most 
expert pilferers in the world ; others are receivers 
of stolen goods, by public occupation ; and these 
tribes have given rise to a set of men, who stake 
their lives as security for the safety of persons and 
property. These are the Charons and Bhauts^ 
who are of Brahman origin, and are held sacred 
by the Bheels, or thieves, who account it the most 
horrible crime to shed their blood ; upon this pre- 
judice the securities act, and when they fail in pro- 
tection, mutilate themselves in a most dreadful 
manner. The tribe called Banyans are also very 
numerous in Guzerat They have a great respect 
for animal life, and establish hospitals for the old 
and sickly of the brute creation. Here also are 
numerous establishments of Jains, of whom an 



1S4 M£lSldIRS OF IKBIA. 

aco^mrt is giv^n hereafter, who carry faiis made 
of feathers to frighten away insects, lest thi^ 
shoitld inadvertently deprive any thing that exists 
of life. 

Besides the Hindoos, Gnzenrt contains a great 
many Mohammedans and Parsees. These iire wor- 
shippers came to India during the Mohanrniedan* 
persecutions, and being encouraged by the native 
princes, on account of their great industry and in- 
offensive dispositions, they have greatly increased, 
and acquired much property along the coast, even 
to the extremity of Malabar. Their women are 
placed on a complete equality with the men, and 
their morality is so pure, that a single breach of 
the 'marriaglB vow has not occurred for many years, 
nor is there an instance of female depravity -per- 
mitted among these very curious people, who are i 
in fact the Quakers of India. Like the Hindoos, | 
the Parsees contract their children in marriage,; 
when infants, but their widows, instead of burn- 
ing, or remaining single, marry widowers ; for the 
relations of the deceased are bound to find the 
survivor a partner, df the description mentioned.. 
They do not bury their dead, but leave the bodies 
in open sepultures, to be devoured by birds ; whicfc 
is one of their most extraordinary customs. The 
Parsees support each other like the Quakers^ 
When embarrassments occur, an enquiry takesf 
place, and assistance is given, if the person's con;« 



duct be correct; that is, if* misfortune have caused 
his losses, instead of i^eglect or extravagance. All 
their pursuits are of a commercial nature;- aawl 
thej are by far the best ship-builders in In(£a. 

In this province abo are numerous Boras, wh© 
are the Jews, or hawkers of the east. They pro- 
fess the Mohammedan religion, but in every other 
respect have the appearance of sons of Abraham ; 
and they form every where a separate community, 
having their head quarters, or high priest, at Boor- 
hanpoor, in Kandeish. 

The principal towns are Surat, Baroda, Ahme- 
dabad, Broach, and Cambay ; and the chief rivers, 
besides the Nerbudda, are the Myhe and Sabra- 
mutty. 

Throughout the whole of Hindostan Proper, the 
inhabitants generally live in walled towns and go 
armed, having been long accustomed to irruptions 
of plunderers. These towns have a gloomy hostile 
appearance that banishes the idea of security and 
happiness, notwithstanding their high walls and 
proud towers. Vast tracts of fine country have 
been converted into jungles by famine and war ; 
and ruined towns and villages every where pro- 
claim the frightful effects of depopulation. * 

The author is aware how very defective these 
geographical recollections are ; and that a full de- 
tail would have led him into volumes when he pro- 

* Vide Addenda, XXIX. 



126 MEM0IE8 OF INDIA. 

posed to confine himself to the third of an octavo ; 
but he trusts that, in the succeeding pages, and in 
the miscellaneous remarks of his third book, the 
enquiry of the reader will be awakened, to pursue 
the subject into its proper depth. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA- 



BOOK 11. 



The history of India suggests two natural divisions : 
one from the most early ages till the discovery of 
a passage from Europe round the Cape of Good 
Hope, and the other from that important ^period 
down to the days in which we live. Yet much 
difficulty would arise in writing on India according 
to this suggestion ; for the Mogul empire having 
continued to influence the whole system in Hin- 
dostan till very lately, it would be necessary to 
make repeated breaks, in the narration of Europ- 
ean transactions, which are to us the most interest- 
ing. Indeed, it has been justly observed by 
Goldsmith, that iall history increases in value the 
nearer it is to our own time. It is proposed, 
therefore, in the first place, to travel briefly over 
the ancient and modem history of India down to 
the present period; then take a view of the rise 
and progress of European affairs in the east, and 
rest in a more particular manner upon the public 



1^8 MEMOIRS aF INDU. 

occurrences since the administration of the noble 
Marquis Wellesley. In the ancient part we shall 
take Dn Robertson- and other authorities for our 
guides i a,nd in tfee iiKHjarii, of &W)p?£|n history 
of India, we shall.foJlow tiie plan of Abbe Raynal ; 
not, however, taking him for the best authority, 
but invoking the spirit of truth to enable pur judg- 
ment to collect a fair statement from the various 
authors* who preceded him,, and others who have 
carried the subject forward till the period when we 
became, as it were, identified with recorded facts. 



CHAPTER I. 

HISTORY OP INDIA FROM THE MOST EARI.Y 40SI» 
UNTII, THE PRESENT TIME, 

Those countries which mike a jest of the age 
given to the world by the Holy Bible, have been 
always found the most deficient in historical mate- 
rials. — One of these is Hindostan. But the fairest 
examination of the documents, alleged to have been 
in the possession of the learned Brahmans, has only 
tended to confirm scriptural record. The greatest 
oriental scholars have added their weight to the 
internal evidence which that sacred volume car- 

• Vide Addenda, XXX, 



. MMIOIRS €tF INBIA. 129 

ries alotig with it. Sir William Jones wrote inthe 
last page of his own Bible: — " I have r^ularly 
and attentively read these Holy Scriptures, and am 
of opinion, that this vdume, independently of its 
Divine origin, contains more «ublimify and beauty, 
more p«ire morality, more important history, and 
fiper strains of poetiy and eloquence than can - be 
collected from all other books, in whatever age or 
language they may have been composed/' 

It is, therefore^ from this unerring source that 
we learn many things concerning, the early his- 
tory of India, which are to be found no where else. 
It was the spices of the east that the Ishmaelites 
were carrying down to Egypt, to whom Joseph 
was sold by his brethren ; and even at this early 
period, upwards of three thousand years ago,, the 
camel was used for the same purpose as it is at 
present to cross the deserts of Arabia, and to carry 
the productions of Hindostan to the west. The 
science of this country was also at a very remote 
time in the highest repute, for the wisdom of Solo- 
mon is compared to it; and he is said to have ex« 
celled all the children of the east and of Egypt in 
understanding. 

There is reason to believe that this communi- 
cation between the east and the west was long 
carried on by land before, it was attempted by 
water; but at length great rivers and arms of the 
ocean were made subservient to purposes of com- 

K 



130 MBMOnS 0F IMSIA. 

]»erce.^ The Persian Gulf and the Red Sea 
soon became mediums through which the merchan- 
dise of India was transported ; and the gulf still 
hears its ancient name, but the Erydirean sea has 
received the appellation oired^ not from any dis- 
positiion in the water or shore to that eolour, but 
from an Arabian king named Erythras, or the red. 
Down this sea the Egyptians and Phceniciatis soon 
began to carry on trade with Hindostan j 2^ from 
the aversion of the Egjrptians, as well as the Per- 
sians, to a sea-faring life, the enriahiag commerce 
CMf the east at length, centred in Tyre and Sidon, 
admirably situated on the shores of the Mediter- 
ri^nean for communication with all parts of the 
then eivilised world. 

^ In the early histoxy of aU nations, there are &w 
materials for authentic records. Men, in the first 
formation of societies, are too busily employed 
about the present to think much of the fUture^ 
and it i^ not until the days of Herodotus, who 
flourished about one thousand years later than 
Moses, that we have annals of time upon which we 
may depend. 

According to this most ancient heathen author, 
we find tiiat the Persians, under Darius Hystaspes, 
established themsdves in India ; and that Scylax, 
S-Greel? in command of a squadron fitted out for 
the purpose, sailed down ti^ Iqc^us fi*om its navig- 

* Vide Dr. Robertton's India. 



MBMoim OP mmA. 181 

able souroei and completed a voyage of discovery 
thence to the Arabian Gulf in two years said six 
months* 

It is very probable that some of the Persians 
settled on the coast about Surat at this time ; fot 
there is a tradition to th^t e£^t, which would in* 
duce us to believe that these settlers becamie Hin- 
doos. * According to the best information t we 
possess, there are ten nations of Hindoos now 
'inhabiting India ; and the ancient opinion that the 
Brahmans never received proselytes seems to be 
erroneous, on the authorities I have quoted. It is 
true, that an mdividual would not be received into 
any of the four castes, but the Hindoo reMgion 
being considered by the Brahmans as the cmly true 
one, all* men are allowed to belong to the fifth 
class, and in transmigration may be born into any 
of the superior orders. The Brahmans never hesi- 
tate, upon being paid, to makeofierings to idols for 
Europeans, or any o&er class of men. They will 
offer up prayers and invocations, and perform cer« 
tain ceremonies for us as well as for Hindoos ; and 
Major Wilford says, if any body of m&x, rich 
enough to endow pagodas, and pay Bralunans^ 
were willing to embrace Hindooism, there is no 
doubt but they would find priests, and be m time 
considered orthodox ibUowers o£ Brahma. Thus 



* Vide Major Wilford's Essay, Asiatic Researches, vol. xi. 
f Vide Sir H. Colebrook&'s Easajs ia the Asiatic Beacairches. 

K 2 



132 MEMOIRS OF INBIA. 

it is said the colony of Persians, before mentioned, 
embraced the tenets of the Rajpoots whom they 
found about Surat, and assumed the privileges of 
one of the highest sectaral divisions, of that war- 
like race, adding the title Maha, or royal, and so 
forming the word Maha-rajpoots, or Mahrattas* * 

Although Greece looked upon all the rest of 
mankind as barbarians, it is evident that the com- 
merce of India engaged the attention of some of 
her greatest men, whose aims were bent on turning 
that grand source of wealth to her advantage ; . and 
about one hundred and sixty years after the death 
of Darius Hystaspes, Alexander the Great invaded 
Hindostan. There is both external and internal 
evidence suflScient to show, that amidst all the ex- 
cesses, and inconsistencies of this wonderful man, 
he kept his eye fixed on the grandest objects, and 
meditated not only universal empire by land, but 
also over the ocean. The glory and strength of 
Tyre had roused in his breast the ambition of ap- 
propriating the trade of the east to himself, and in 
founding the city of Alexandria at the mouth of 
the Nile, after his conquest of Egypt, "he contem- 
plated no less than making his namesake the em- 
porium of the rich commerce, which he clearly 
foresaw would flow through it Accordingly we 
find that Alexandria continued the seat of the 
Indian trade for a long time after, notwithstanding 

♦ Vide Major Wilford's Essay, Asiatic Researches, vol.xi. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 133 

many revolutions, which clearly shows how admir- 
ably well the site of it was chosen. 

At the time that this young hero crossed the 
Indus, the limits of India were the same as at pre- 
sent It was divided into two parts, India on this 
side and India on the other side of the Ganges. 
But Quintus Curtius supposed, what is now ad- 
mitted by most geographers, that those countries, 
lying between Persia and the river Indus, jpartly 
belonged to Hindostan. Ptolemy describes it as 
having Paropamisus, Arachosia, and Gedrosia 
bordering on Persia, upon the west ; mount Imaus, 
the same as the Himalaya mountains, on the 
north ; the Ganges, and those countries in the 
vicinity of that river, to the east ; and the Indian 
ocean to the south. We are informed by Arrian, 
that at this period the Hindoos had no slaves 
among them, which, if true, shows that their no- 
tions of liberty have undergone a material change j 
for in our days there are slaves in several parts of 
the country recognised by their code of laws. 
They erected no monuments in- honour of the 
dead ; which is generally the case still, with some 
exceptions. All the historians of Alexander's 
campaign in India divide the Hindoos into seven 
classes or castes ; but it appears that either the 
Brahmanical institution was afterwards revised, or 
that these accurate writers mixed up some of the 
civil departments of government with the general 
division } for the arrangement does not correspond 

K 3 



1S4 MKatOIRS OF INDIA* 

mth the modem institution according as we find it 
established over the whole country. 

It was very easy for authors, in other respects 
entitled to perfect credit, to fall into error on this 
intricate subject ; for they were but a short time in 
the country, and received their information through 
interpreters, who were perhaps not well acquainted 
with the language of India. It is supposed that 
the classification was described rather from observ- 
ation, than from accurate inquiry into the Brah- 
manicai institution ; for, under the name overseerSy 
a distinct caste is mentioned as one of the seven. 
These oflScers were appointed by the Maha Rajah, 
or emperor, as private inquisitors into the conduct 
of magistrates, and all men invested with power. 
Their duty was daily to send a written report to 
court of what they saw and heard. The reput- 
ation of these overseers was so high for sincerity, 
probity, and patriotism, that we are told not one 
of them was ever accused of telling an untruth. 
Perhaps these disinterested officers were of the 
Brahman caste, which was then, as it is still, divided 
into the sacerdotal, ascetic, and lay orders. If 
these three orders were classed separately as castes 
with Khetris, Vyasees, Sooders, and Pariars, the 
seven classes of the antients would agree with the 
present distribution* Nothing gives us a more ad- 
vantageous opinion of the government and civil 
poHcy in India at that period^ than the establish^ 
ment of such officers. Indeed the Mogul empe* 



MRlkfOIRS OF INmA. ISS 

rors were so well convinced of the superior civilise 
ation of the Hindoos, that they gradually fell into 
their system of government ) and we find^ in mot 
dern times, that overseers and public news-writer* 
were stationed in every soufoahship and province^ 
in order to communicate daily to court the result 
of their observations^ 

The interesting particul^s recorded respecting 
the Brahmans^ and the costuihe of the Hindoos^ 
at that early period show, that although there is still 
a strong general resemblance, yet that material 
changes have been introduced. Many of the 
Brahmans may yet be seen^ in India, quite ab-^ 
stracted from the things of this world j but the 
present dress of the Hindoos conforms a good 
deal to that mixed costume introduced by the 
Mohammedans. 

Some of the Brahmans with whom Alexander 
conversed, by means of an interpreter, boldly 
answered his Majesty, that the only difference be- 
tween him^and them was, in restlessness and am- 
bition. " Ydu,'* said they, " like us, will die at 
last, and possess no more space than any other 
mortal !'* * They were held in great veneration 
by the people, and as at present were the deposi^r 
tories of science, devoting their time to the study 
of astronomy, and pretended divination. Their 
Sentiments respecJting the creation^ the majesty of 

* Vide Rotik^'s Aaetettt Hi6to*y^i<-^kdii». 
K 4 



136 IHEMOIRft OF INDIA. 

God, and the elements or principles of all things, 
did not much surprise the Greeks ; and, according 
to Strabo, were not very different from their own ; 
but the austerities of the naked Gymnosophists, 
and their wonderful patience, are recorded with all 
that exaggeration which surprise occasions. Some 
of them continued whole days standing in the 
same position, with their faces exposed to the rays 
of the sun, and held it glorious to bum themselves 
alive on the approach of old age, or sickness; 
deeming it beneath the dignity of a man to permit 
death to surprise him. But others looked upon 
suicide as an act of cowardice, and considered it 
honourable to bear aU things, and run the course 
assigned by God. Thus, even at that early period, 
we perceive conflicting opinions among these sages. 
But in many respects their resemblance to the 
Brahmans of modem time is strong. Their food 
was roots and water : •— they held the doctrine of 
transmigration, as at present. However, it is a 
singular circumstance, that no mention is made of 
any monstrous images in their temples, or of any 
thing very repugnant to the Grecian idolatry, 
which is a strong proof that the Brahmanical fabric 
was essentially similar to the general worship of 
the western world. 

Nearly all the authentic information which the 
ancients possessed respecting India, was received 
from the historians of Alexander, and from the 
memoirs of Megasthenes, who was for several years 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 137 

ambassador at Palibothra, in the court of Sandra- 
cottas^ maha rajah of Hindostan. But a stronger 
proof of the undefined notion which the Greeks 
had of the east, and also of the inaccuracy and 
paucity of Hindoo records, is, that the most 
learned modems cannot agree as to the situation of 
that ancient capital; although there is nothing 
more certain than the high civilisation of the 
country at that time ; fine roads, with shady trees 
planted on each side, being numerous, and the 
most regular system of police established through- 
out the empire. 

When the Romans became possessed of Egypt, 
the pearls, diamonds, and silks of the east, flowed 
to them almost exclusively. It is probable that 
the trade of India was the great attraction which 
drew their arms thither ; for such was the rage for 
silk in Rome, that it sold for its weight in gold. 
The avidity of the ladies for ornaments was so 
great, that a pearl from Ceylon, given by Julius 
Caesar to Servilia, was worth 48,457/., and Cleo- 
patra's ear-rings were valued at 161,458/* Upon 
the decline of the Romans, the trade of India was 
divided between the Greek emperors of Constan- 
tinople, and the Persians. The eggs of the silk- 
worm were brought from China by two Persian 
monks, and the mode of procuring that valuable 
commodity, by rearing these insects, became known 
to Europe. But when the doctrines of Mohammed 
began to be propagated by the sword of conquests 



138 MEMOIRS (^ INDIA. 

all communication from Christian countries wa« 
interrupted^ and trade passed only through the 
Arabians, from the sixth to the thirteenth century. 
This enriching commerce excited the utmost rival- 
ship among the commercial states of Europe. It 
at length became centred in Venice ; but an ac- 
count which the adventurous Marco Polo published 
of China, through which he had travelled, exciting 
the speculation of Columbus respecting a western 
passage to the East Indies, led to the discovery of 
America, and also to the voyage round the Cape 
of Good Hope by Vasco de Gama. This trans- 
ferred the commerce of Hindostan to the Portu- 
guese, and laid the foundation of their future 
power. 

About the year of our Lord one thousand, the 
Mohammedans commenced their destructive irrup- 
tions into the provinces of Hindostan. A. D. 101 1, 
Mahmood of Ghizni penetrated so far as Indraput, 
now Delhi, and conquered the rajah of that place. 
He was at that time only made tributary to the 
Afghan sovereigns ; but in 1193, Cuttub ud Deen, 
the slave of Mahomed Ghori, dethroned the Hindoo 
prince of that place, and commenced the dynasty 
which reigned till subverted by Gengis Khan. 
Tamerlane took and pillaged Delhi in 1398, and 
partially subdued various parts of India; but it 
was not till 1525 that Sultan Baber firmly esta- 
blished the Mogul empire, which was consolidated 
by his son Acber, who died at Agra in 1605, leav- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 1^9 

ing a great name behind* He is esteemed as a 
most magnificent prince. His vizier, Abul Fazel, 
author of the Ayeen Acbery, was murdered by 
banditti in the 47th year of his age. In the reign 
of Acber*s successor, Jehangeer, Sir Thomas Roe 
was sent to India, as the first English aitibassador, 
and resided some time at his court in 16 15. From 
1678 to 1707, the famous Aurengzebe had been 
absent from Delhi, effecting the conquest of the 
Deccan, which had never been completely sub- 
dued ; and this long absence from his capital, laid 
the foundation for the decline of the Mogul em- 
pire. Major Rennel says it attained its full mea- 
sure of extent in his reign. From this time 
forward, the court became a prey to faction, and 
several of Aurengzebe's successors were murdered. 
In this confusion the Mahrattas, who had been 
driven to the mountains of the Deccan, became 
powerful, and in 1735 they burned the suburbs of 
Delhi. The viceroys of provinces also, taking ad- 
vantage of the weakness which they perceived in 
the government, established separate kingdoms for 
themselves. In 1738 the Nizam of the Deccan 
called in the Persians under Nadir Shah, who en^ 
tered Delhi, and demanded thirty millions sterling 
for its ransom. The emperor, Mahomed Shah, 
being unable to pay this vast sum, the city was 
given up to plunder. It is said 100,000 of its in-* 
habitants were massacred, wni sixty-two millions 
sterling of booty cdlected. During this horrible 



140 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

scene, which happened in March, 1739, Nadir 
Shah sat at the Roshun ud Dowlah mosque, to be- 
hold the butchery. In I747 the Camatic and 
Bengal had been formed into independencies as 
well as the Deccan. The Rohillas, a mountainous 
race of native warriors, had re-established them- 
selves within eighty miles of Delhi, and soon after 
the whole empire was split into as many petty 
states as could assert their rights by the swords 
Anarchy now reigned in Delhi ; one emperor was 
deposed, or murdered, after another, till the acces- 
sion of Shah AUum in I76I, who at length fled to 
the British for protection at Allahabad, which was 
taken by the army under Sir Robert Fletcher in 
1765. Shah AUum returned to Delhi in I77I, 
where he was blinded with a dagger by Gholaum 
Kaudir. This cruel and blood-thirsty Rohilla chiefi 
after inflicting the most heart-rending tortures on 
many of the royal family, was himself put to 
death by Scindea, the Mahratta chief, in whose 
hands Delhi continued till 1803, when Dowlut 
Row Scindea was defeated near it by Lord Lake, 
since which time the whole power of the Mogul 
has merged in the East India Company. 

We have not ventured to hint at the way in 
which Hindostan may have been originally colo- 
nised. — The subject is of course involved in great 
obscurity, and it is easy for a sceptic to raise argu- 
ments against received opinions, grounded upon 
scriptural authority. From the Bible we learn, 



M&MOIRS OF INDIA. 141 

that the children of Noah aspired to build a tower 
whose top might reach to heaven. It may not be 
inconsistent with the metaphorical style of the 
Scriptures to suppose, that this is a representation 
of the divisions and feuds which separated the pos- 
terity of Noah. Some of them, no doubt, pene- 
trated through the natural openings, into the fertile 
plains of Hindostan, where population, left to its 
own prodigious increase, would soon replenish the 
east. Indeed, the researches of orientalists into 
the depths of Sanscrit lore, lead to the belief^ that 
it was the antediluvian language of Noah's ances- 
tors ; for its ramifications have been found to pier- 
vade every tongue spoken on the globe, from the 
regions of China to the wilds of America. 

It appears, from the experience of mankind, that 
civilisation advances much more rapidly in an 
island of small extent, than on a continent, where 
men are at liberty to choose that savage freedom, 
which is dear to uncultivated human nature. The 
early Hindoos, therefore, in all probability, ex- 
tended themselves over the face of India, and in 
the course of a few generations lost all recollec- 
tion of their origin and the institutions of their 
forefathers. Following the dictates of instinct 
and terrified imagination, they, like other bar- 
barians, worshipped those objects which most 
readily presented themselves to their hopes and 
fears. We have testimony sufficient to assure us, 
that they fell into the most frightful forms of 



14g fttEftlOIR$ aF INDIA. 

idolatry, shedding the blood of their children in 
profusion, to appease the supposed anger (^ 
revengeful and cruel deities. Their principal 
object of adoration was called Brahma ; but whe- 
ther this name indicated the sun, oi^ the supposed 
first cause of all that meets the wondering eye of 
human intellect, is now unknown. 

Tradition, and the concurring testimonies of 
philosophers, lead us to believe that the Hindoos 
were found in this state by some of the priests of 
the western world, who were tinctured with the 
laws of Moses and the learning of Egypt. Per- 
ceiving the ease with which credulity may be con- 
verted to self-interest, a plan was devised by them 
for framing a system of government, deriving its 
origin directly from the Almighty Father of 
. Creation. 

These priests, assuming the name of Brahmans, 
were received as messengers from heaven. They 
taught that Brahma had created all things, and di- 
vided men into four great classes, consisting of the 
natural components which constitute a congrega^ 
tion of people, viz. priests, warriors or nobles, 
the gentry or middle ranks, and the lower order. 
The first were represented as having sprung from 
Brahma's head^ the second from his arms, the third 
from his body, and the fourth from his legs. Dur- 
ing life, these classes were confined to their lots ; 
but they were instructed, that by strict conformity 
to certain rules of sanctity, a transmigration would 



MEMOIRS OF INDfA. 143 

promote them through the higher ranks, till at 
length being born a Brahman, they would be ab- 
sorbed in eternal felicity. The ambition of the 
nobles was gratified by the exercise of pompous 
duties of state. From them, the rajahs or kings 
were selected, who, deriving all power from tfhe 
Brahmans, found that it was their interest to suppress 
the oth©r orders. The roving appetite of the lower 
classes for change and preferment, was also pro- 
vided for, by the fame conferred on religious knight 
errantry, and self devotion. Opinion was concen- 
trated upon one point, which gives a peculiar fea- 
ture to the Brahmanical institution in its original 
form. It was made the business of every man to 
keep him down, who was down. But, that it was 
at first extremely simple in its construction, cannot 
be doubted. All the seeming inconsistencies in 
the works of creation were accounted for by the 
operations of the preserving and destroying powers, 
which were figured as Brahmas, brothers under the 
names of Vishnu and Seeva, who became, in time, 
the great objects of adoration. 

As civilisation advanced, the machine of govern^ 
ment became more complicated. Revisions were 
found necessary, and these were effected by priests, 
who, under the title of incarnations of one of the 
great deities, held an all-powerful influence over 
opinion. The Vedas and Purannas were thus pro- 
duced as the instructions of God, and ignorance 
was called in as an auxiliary to power. Death was 



144 a£^0iRs eF iNDfii. 

the punUhment inflicted upon the man of low caste, 
who presumed to read the scriptures ; boiling lead 
was poured into his ears^ if he opened them to the 
voice of his maker ; and his eyes were sealed with 
burning wax, for directing them towards the re- 
cords of his faith. 

If, however, he was kept in darkness, he was 
well supplied with the means of subsistence*, for 
which implicit obedience and ready faith were re- 
quired. Menu framed his code of laws, which are 
in some respects admirable, and various commen- 
taries upon the Vedas in a great measure superseded 
their simple doctrines, substituting a most complicat- 
ed and bewildering system of church government 
in their stead as ever proceeded from human inge- 
nuity. 

There is every reason to believe, that originally 
the worship of Brahma did not differ materially 
from that of Zoroaster's followers, or of the dis- 
ciples of Budha ; and that the disgusting images of 
beasts and monsters were then* unknown, which at 
present shock the sight in every part of India. 
Surya, or the sun, was the great object of worship 
in Hindostan, in early times. I have seen his 
image, that of a well shaped man, in a most ancient 
temple in the fortress of Kantkote, in the province 
of Cutch. He holds a sun in each hand, and has 
behind him four diminutive attendants, with instru- 
ments something like tridents. 

« Vide Addenda, XXXI. 



MEMOIR& OF INDIA. 145 

Indeed the gross deviations from the simplicity 
of the Brahmanical institution occasioned several 
successful attempts at reformation. In an age so 
early as to baffle the research of antiquarians, 
Budha apostatised ; and, denying the divine origin 
of the Vedas, began to worship God under the 
%ure of a circle. It does not appear, howevei; 
that the followers of Budha ever became very 
numerous in Hindostan ; but in all the neighbour- 
ing countries, that faith soon superseded ancient 
idolatry, and still holds its ground, having the great 
Lama of Tibet for its head. The Budhists are 
not divided into castes at present, except on the 
island of Ceylon, where it is said* they still adhere 
to the Brahmanical classification, with merely the 
difference of placing the warriors before the priests. 

In the reformation of Budha, the discipline of 
Brahma was much relaxed, and a considerable 
latitude given in the use of food j but the founder 
of Jainism made the care of animal life one of his 
most particular injunctions ; establishing it as the 
divine will, that nothing should be deprived by man 
of existence, and teaching that the world never was 
created. Their ideas of time are, therefore, the most 
complex that can be conceivedt They offer no 
kind of sacrifices in their religious rites, which are 
simple ceremonies conducted by their priests in two 
sorts of temples. One is covered, and much like 

* Vide Lord Valentia's Travels in India, 
t Vide Appendix, note 7. 
L 



146 M£MOIRS OF INDIA. 

the Hindoo pagoda ; the other is open above, hav- 
ing Bierely a high wall round colossean statues of 
much rei^ected mai ; such as are to be seen at 
Kurcul» in the province of Canara, and at Baligol^ 
in Mysore. The Jains believe nothing but what 
Ihey can perceive; and the only ol^ects tiiey 
nvrorship are the deified ^irits of holy men^ who 
are.r^ieseflted in a state of divine abstraction in 
tiiieir temples, on altars of white marble. I have 
teen several of these temples in Guzerat i^ and the 
fallowing is a brief description of one.^ 

The images were of white marble coarsely 
scalptured, but with tolerable proportion. There 
were ten of them seated on an altar } all exactly m 
the same posture. The centre one^ on an upper 
podestal^ waft lajrger than Hfe» ta which the others 
bore an exact resemldance, though different m size. 
These idols, were situated in the temple, under a 
great pyramid^ to which you enter by first going 
up a fine fligbt of steps, and passing through two 
circular^ or rather octagon, apartments, over which 
there are large domes. The first impression is that 
you stand befi;>re representations of women with 
large ears; but on enquiry, it will be founds they 
are all intended for men,- and that the fwra is 
merely feminine, to shew the superior beauty a 
spirit acquires by transformation from flesh. 

It is impossible to describe the solemn grandeur 
of the sanctum sanctorum, in which the idols are 
placed, when lighted up with lajfge bisisa chande- 



M^80XilS; OB IHSUA*. 14(1 

la the Q@atre» aft: well ajiiJbeiw^'W^ and th^ 
vestihttle^ aee ^j^^wded withworBhi^pfira^^ m^^ g9 
Ikro^h a number of sahitotieGis^ prcNMira<d€»s^.«wA 
d%?emoiu«»«. X wa3 p^imtted to go^ cjbae iq> li^l^ 

d§Em^ wd (mtmlj^ amidst, i^ that aanrouQd^ 
m^, tMt a coi)3id£»»ble\d6i9ree of a«a and ti»8j|^^€^ 

Indeed a«maa of ftQUsihiliiyi m th& presienec^^ 
even marble statuesi. tl^t represent aarfsate of miwitel 
f^straction, in which the Hindooa coo^eiva tbnM 
is reaLpertectioii^ of the lik«fies& of God* f^% an 
elevatiim. of sentiment towards tha great Cntltfil^ 
whahaa savisibly revaakd bimsdl^ j» tv^ry aji9»,i 
tb»t ma€^>hun^m optie^. and yet lk(i.$o mmpli^tid^ 
veiled with, his own magniifi^noe* aato beta^jf^ft 
by diferent imaginatians in. a vas* y^^^ of par« 
ticukEi &wsm. Such.a xmxkr m sdtu^ted^ is apt> t« 
he. p^e^sed with th^. J^i^m^m^ idea^ that.ajtb 
fppms of ojatopl 34e9:ati9R.m^st be plea«ng,fti?f»Cr^ii 
and,. wWter b^ piHfis tb^ :deto»on^.o£ mojit^ i»«90f^ 
sist^^ies, he will mlmgf^ the! spb^f eigf his, 6haj?ifty* 
^dsb^M^ that a pui?§ heai*» u»d^ any iM^ ^ 
faiths wiU m^et witb favoiur J» Ibf .^igbl; P^ tfee 
Alinigbty^ 

Tbat Jaift wQxsbip w^v^ ii^fqrfflfttie^ 
\awk cannot be V dojijbt^ Any iMi^iWill adimtvite 
pi^^naiasis, ta ^p§fi9^ pniily^. wb«^.^@p»paf 6& tb& 
sj^pk fprmn. pf it; to: the c^mpKc»|^d sys^^j; fi^ 
Hi^0Qi»83> and tfai? m^n^xitt^. idgfe. wbigh. Ibe 

L 3 



148 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Brahmanical pantheon displays, many of which are 
too shocking for delicacy to describe. It would 
be uninteresting to exhibit such monsters ; and it 
seems' only necessary to observe, that they are ob- 
viously creations of grossness and ignorance, which 
have crept into Brahmanism in its day of degener- 
sicy ; for originally there is nothing very repugnant 
to human reason in its construction. Even in 
some of its incarnations, particularly that of 
Chrishna, there is a remote resemblance to the 
history of our Saviour. 

The last attempt, made by a native of India, to 
substitute a new form of worship in Hindostan in 
room of the Brahmanical institution, was made by 
Nanac, the founder of the Seiks, towards the 
middle of the fifteenth century. He was born at 
a village called Tulwandy, in the province of La- 
hore. His great success in converting the Hindoos 
to pure Deism, proves that they may be roused by * 
persuasion alone to change their religion, and 
imbibe principles of enthusiastic republicanism, with 
more ease than is generally supposed. The Seiks, 
or disciples of Nanac, are now very numerous, and 
besides nearly the whole province of Lahore, they 
have the Punjab, part of Mooltan, and the greatest 
share of the country between the Jumna and the 
Sutieje. Their converts arq permitted to retain 
the manners and customs of their castes, in a great 
measure. The cer mony of initiation is a solemn 
oath, to devote themselves to the use of the sword 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. , 149 

in defence of the state. Their priests are called 
Immortals, and preside at a great assembly, which 
meets, in prosperous times, at Amritsar, where 
the chiefs, having taken a sort of sacrament, by 
eating together of consecrated cake, transact the 
business of the government, which is a theocracy ; 
but this invisibility has induced each chief to con- 
stitute himself the head of the state, and, there- 
fore, the Seiks are weakened by internal divisions, 
and constant struggles for power. 

In Hindostan it is believed that the world has 
existed for 7>205,000* years, which period is di- 
vided into four ages, that bear names conveying 
the same ideas as the golden, silver, brass, and 
iron times of classical notoriety. The present is 
called the black age, and about 395,000 years of 
it remain. 

Having thus briefly run over the general history 
of India, we shall next proceed to describe the dis^ 
coveries and conquests of the Portuguese, and othef 
European states in the East, which portion of this 
work,, we fondly hope, will be found pregnant witli 
entertainment and utility. 

♦ Vide Appendix, note 8. 



1 4 



. CHAPTER 11. 

A»*Eii*thfe esttihctlbii *f Wtiiftaetce laftd literature 
in Europe, it was teng la pi^evaflhig ttjrfifiicrti that 
the tc«itral i-egions of thi^ torrid ^t^tie vrere Uiiin- 
habitable, »ote the frtiming totttfe oF th^ sun*s 
*ayi3. 'The'ititt*c6tfltebfthe Ai*abians^^^ 
^and 1?oitugal gradually riemoved this ptejiidrc?. 
•WlittftgS «f anti^tiity, saved »dm the flesmieftve 
«efi48!aii6feS *^ IghbfaUce, impairted *tew ide^ re- 
specting geography; mariners became bold, with 
th6*6ri^s^ro*theit pilot; and Hbluy, son of 
-Jtfhh ttite !K«*, king Of Ptettiigal/cttffsed ijsdse seas 
to 'be «x]^OM^ In Whteh Diodbltis Sieuki^ lia^ 
^cefl'<*(e iSlatad of Ata!a«tis: ttildet his ilrfe^ 
^«i, i* the Jreati* 141^, Madfei A Wto diSfiJOTferi^i 
which some learned men *htf*te *oniiiifered ^fe ftfe 
remains of it ; for Plato^ in one of his dialogues, 
says that this ohce extensive region sunk inta the 
sea, and disappeared in an instant. There are 
men every where, whose ardent spirits will always 
push forward if supported by hope. Under the 
terrible expectation of being perhaps burned to 
a cinder, the Portuguese navigators adventured; 



MBBRIIRB OF IWDFA. 151 

and cxmsting tlong die ^western shores of Africa, at 
length doubled its southern extremity, which was 
then called the Cape of Storms; but John the 
Second, ^eseeing vast consequences from tUs 
discovery, named it the Cape of Grood Hope. 
Animated by the success of Columbus in 149^ 
and in pursuance of that grand object, by which a 
new world had been found, the discovery of a pas- 
sage by sea to India, Vasco de Gama was furnished 
by King Emanuel with four ships, and doubling 
the Cape in 1497, reached the Malabar coast after 
^ a voyage of thirteen months. 

In all successful undertakings there is a coneor- 
rence of favouring circumstances. At Melinda, 
situated on the eastern coast of Africa, which was 
then a place of considerable trade, Gama received 
most valuable information respecting the state of 
India. Among those who crowded to see the 
interesting strangers from Europe, he discovered 
a Moor of Tunis, who understood the Portuguese 
language. He was intimately acquainted with the 
affidrs of India, and disposed to be a firm friend tb 
the Portuguese. Under his guidance, Gama shaped 
his course for Calicut, the capital of the Zamorin, 
where he was receive with all that fond hope 
which admiration excites. Through his intelligent 
interpreter file Moor, he was enabled to communi- 
cate with the natives, and being at length intro* 
duced to the emperor, who was here styled as be- 
>£>re HiaeBtibMd, he made a iiP^owiAie iinpr«^^ 

. -— -■- -'■ ' — ' -■- X--4- '■■■* •-• 



152 M£M0IR8 OF INDIA. 

on that sovereign, and obtained the promise of 
favours and privileges for his country. 

Gama was conducted to the palace with great 
pmnp and ceremony, through an extensive, rich, 
and populous city. Wonder was on tip-toe : and 
such multitudes pressed upon the numerous guards, 
palanquins, bands of music, and dancers around, 
that several persons were crushed to d&ath. He 
was welcomed at the palace by the chief courtiers ; 
and the high priest of the Brahmans, taking him 
by the hand, led the way through many spacious 
apartments guarded by cenlinels, into a magnificent 
hall of audience. The walls and floors were covered 
with rich tapestry, and silk carpeta embroidered 
with gold. Here : the Zamorin was seated on a 
low throne, surrounded by his nobles, Who sat 
likewise on artificially decorated elevation^ rising 
one above another. The Zamorin!s dress was of 
fine cloth of gold, most curiously flowered, and 
adorned with diamonds of great value. He wore 
sparkling pendants of precious stones in his ears, 
^nd a; sort of crown covered with pearls and rich 
gems on his head. His bare feet were decorated 
with costly ruigs, and his nepk and fingers glittered 
with the wealth of Crolconda. Gama presented the 
rich gifts which had been sent by King Emanuel; 
with a letter J and, in an appropriate speech, in- 
formed his majesty that his master, moved by the 
renown o£ his greatness, would have attended to 
<^r his affectionate respects in person, had not the 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 159 

vast distance proved an invincible obstacle. The 
Zamorin replied — " I have no doubt of the friendly 
intentions of my brother Emanuel^ king of Portu- 
gal, having convincing proofs before my eyes, in 
the honour of this splendid legation ; and I am 
willing to enter into strict league and amity, with 
all the benefits of free commerce." Rich per- 
fumes were then presented, with a preparation of 
betel and areca nut, in golden vessels, while a 
return of presents was introduced, borne by attend- 
ants on silver trays. * 

The Arabian and Moorish merchants^ dreading 
the consequences of this treaty, conspired to destroy 
it in the bud. Fortunately, at the critical Qioment, 
.Gama received, through the instrumentality of his 
faithful Moor of Tunis, such information as en- 
abled him to baffle the dark designs of his enemies .; 
but such was his personal danger, that apprehen- 
sive of his detention on shore, and of the destruc- 
tion of his companions by the Zamorin, whose 
jealousy and fear had been artfully* roused, he 
directed his brother, who was on board, in tiie 
event of his imprisonment or death, to set sail im- 
mediately, and inform the king of the particulars 
of the voyage, instead of coming to his assistance^ 
of seeking vengeance. . 

.What a noble instance of the magnanimity of 
man ! Regardless of himself, Gama thought only 

* Vide Addenda, XXXIl. 



t54f Mxgtoiics OF iiroiA. 

1^ fbnfatdmg the interests of othexs. Yet» in 
dmtig 8o» he secured, ^thout aiming at it, fame 
idth posterity^ the second. cbarest object to every 
elevvted mind. So true it is, that virtue rewards 
her followers with honour here and hereafter, 
while vice repays devotion with oblivion and 
ticnture, deceiving in agency, and giving the em- 
brace of despair where hope was courted. 

Gama, however, got privately on board; and, 
like a man of talent, zealous to serve his country, 
instead of openly charging the Zamorin with a 
com^piracy against his life, he, by a most insinuating 
letter, roused his majesty^s jealousies and fears re- 
lucting the Moors and Arabians, and convinced 
him of the great advantages which woidd arise from 
cultivating the friendship of the king of Portugal. 
Stimulated by imaginary prospects of gain and 
power, the artful Asiatic prince sought to heal the 
breach, by promising to punish the Moors and 
Arabians, who had deceived him by false repre- 
sentatioBs. In a letter to king Emanuel, he 
assurcJd ^m, that the arrival of his admiral and 
fleet liad afforded him h^ satisfaction. << The 
maae ^si^timents I shall always cherish,'^ said lie, 
<< proirided your subjects regulate theoiselves so as 
not to give any occasion of disturbance here, and 
that the treaty I have entered into witili your 
tpa^sty may not prejudice my amicable correspond- 
ence with all other nations." Upon which Gama 
sailed for Europe, and liv^d ^ see the glorious 



tf£MoiR8 Of moiA. 155 

fe§^ ^f M& ittfcc«S) fi6t liatdi^ paid th^ dfebt of 
nature till 1524. 

Thb ]^^u^6de WCdi^ IH; fim sutpfis^ into a 
wrer^ce for the Hindoo idols, lieeing them only 
in the obscurity of the great temples at Galicut, and 
^-tfafe aw&d distance permitted hy the Brabmans. 
f^€«*dteaad Lopes de Castanheda in his history says, 
^^tlbey fell down and worshipped th^ images, 
^<)fm finding the ceremonies of idolatry sonHich 
like dieir own i^perstitions. But the priests and 
enthtttsia^ of the Catbofitc fkith soon observed such 
hwrit^e differences^ that all the naticmal energies of 
Portugal Were iwjsed-, 1>y not only the mothres of 
gsun^and tke extension of empire, but by the zed 

Ittjpired Jby die Pope with all the folly of «co»- 
^est, and put in possession of the coasts of India 
i)y the b^anedictioci of the ehurch, thirteen ves^ls 
-Mon sailed ihiisi Lisbon, under tlie command of 
< Alvates CabraL Like the memory of Columbus, that 
{(tf'Gama is stakaed, by havii^ carried away witii him 
Mm^ o£ tibe natives txfl»diai They were, of c0ur8e, 
treated wil^ ^l possible attention, and upon their 
qrctturti'made moat &voarable reports to their <;oufi^ 
tr3rmeii <m the power rf Ihe Portuguese nation. 
Sut^fii in^ainon of human right, and the impres- 
sion mi^ on the Zamorin by the private represent- 
ations of t^e Moors and Arabians, caused Cabral 
to ifind a very cori reception, and ififty of his xemi 
i^ere mmmved. In return he sank tlie ^mssds ia 



156 MEMOIRS OF INDI4. 

the harbour which belonged to the instigators of 
this treachery, and cannonaded the town. 

Hostilities having thus commenced, Cabral found 
many of the native princes along the coast ready 
to join him in despoiling the Zamorin of power and 
territory, anxious to free themselves from bondage 
and tribute, and too blind to perceive that they 
were only, like the fish in the fable, getting off the 
gridiron into the fire. In this way, from first 
establishing themselves at Cochin, and building 
forts in different places, they soon got possession of 
nearly all the trade of the whole eastern shores ; 
for under the wise and gallant conduct of Alphonsb 
Albuquerque, they were every where victorious. 

The courage and conduct of the Portuguese on 
their arrival in India were admirable. It has oc- 
curred to my understanding that there is some- 
thing in adventure to India peculiarly rousing. The 
energies of the various nations that have made con- 
quests in the east have been most powerfully excited 
for some time, and dien lulled into a calm which 
led to. the grave ; philosophically indicating thal^ 
like the tempest of Hindostan, the human mind there 
is roused by nature to expend itself at once, and 
then to retire into long repose ; but unlike the xin- 
knowu property, which gives to the monsoon, as 
well as the face of the globe, periodical undiminished 
force and resuscitated youth, it is unable to recover 
the spring of action. . This curious phenomenon iis 
exemplified io the history of thq Hindoos, Mo*- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 15?^ 

hammedans, Portuguese, Dutch, and French ; it 
remains to be pointed out by the finger of time, 
whether or not the course will be progressive in 
application to the English settlements. The same 
law has operated invariably on individuals who 
settle or serve in India. For some years they are 
the most active men in the world ; but a premature 
imbecility follows, which, if they remain too long; 
in the country, they never recover. 

Fertile in genius, resource, and ability, Albu- 
querque aimed at empire for his country over the 
east. His first object was to establish a capital, in 
a situation easily defended, and with the advantage 
of a good4)ort for ships. After an attentive survey, 
therefore, of the coast of Malabar, he fixed upon 
the island of Goa, admirably and centrically placed. 
The approach to this harbour, one of the finest in 
the world, is defended by the two fortified peninsulas 
of Salsette and Barda. Rendered beautiful by the 
hand of nature, the island, which is about thirty 
miles in circumference, presents a most interesting 
variety of hill and dale, with the blue ghauts 
towering to the clouds on one side, and the 
cool ocean bathing the other ; while a variety of 
natural canals, formed by a fine river, which flows 
from the mountains, gives cheerfUl diversity to the 
scene, also pleasingly varied by wild woods, green 
meadows, villas, pagodas, cottages, and churches. It 
belonged at that time to the extensive kingdom of 
Vijaya-nagar, but Adul Khan, the governor, was 



158 MiyW0W3 OF IH0I4* 

in reb^lUoif against bia sovereigii, md dmmg his. 
absence on an ambitiow project, Albuquerque mailed 
into the harbour, and took the fort by storm. 

He was not at this time, however, able to retain 
it> for Adul Khan returned rapidly, with a vaait 
army> and the Portuguese had to retreat to their 
ships,, being sorely pressed by famine* and disa{H 
pointed in receiving succour from CqqIuu, 

Albuquerque had entered the city of G(m 
triumphantly on horseback, under the acelaniations 
of the people, who were very willing to qhai^^ 
masters} a Dominican, carrying an enai^ ydHk 
the cross in it, and another the keys of the J^rt 
before him ; but he had to quit it in tb# darknesa 
of night, being attacked not only by Adi|l Khan'ft 
whole army, but the treacherous citizens* WheB^ 
on board his ships, his men were reduced to the 
^eatest misery for want of water and pro^on^ 
In working down from the island along the windn 
ings of the river, he was attacked constantly by the 
enemy, who had possession of the two forts situated 
on the points which defend the harbour* Batteries 
blazed upon him during the day, while hi^ n^n 
were dying of thirst and hunger, having had. only 
dead horses and rats, with the fish of tb^e river, for 
some days before their retreat. In this exigency 
Albuqu^que determined upon a most desperatOt 
thing. The event proved, that in extremitieii th<i 
boldestt undertakings are of^n the best. Landing 
about 300 men, in, the dead, of night, he suddenly 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 159 

scaled the two forts, where he found the garrisons 
entirely off their guard, as he expected, put them 
to death, carried away their cannon, and nude 
himself master of their ammunition and pro* 
visions. 

A short time afiei^ being rein£6rced by the 
anival of a fleet fi-om Europe, he attacked Adul 
Khan, comjuered his army under the walls of (joa, 
and took the city by storm, when a vast slaughti^ 
of the inhabitants ensued. This happened on the 
25th November, 1510, since which time it has 
continued under the controul of the Portuguese^ 
To repeople the city, Albuquerque ordered all his 
young officers and soldiers to take native wives, 
who were baptised, and forcibly converted to 
Christianityi 

Like the rape of the Sabines, this violation ^ 
human rights increased the good fortune oi* the 
Portuguese. — The natives^^ on the island and 
ecmtinent, particularly the women, observing the 
happy state of the Indo-Portuguese malarons, caine 
in thousands to be baptised, and soon fiH^med a 
vast Christian society. In 1548, the convent of 
Dominicans was erected ; and in four years* time 
17j290 Indians were baptised* The Jesuits and 
Franciscans converted, during the life of St. Francis 
Xaverius, in the east, upwards of 6ve millions of 
souls, and erected so many churches, that there is 
is now scar<jely a pagoda ta be seen in the vicinity 
of their stations, but the cross peeps from every 



160 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

shade in whose gloomy recesses the mysteries of 
idolatry once prevailed. 

Most wonderful things are related by John de 
Lucena and Daniel Bartholi of this eminent saint, 
whose piety, zeal, and charity made an impression 
upon the natives so favourable to Christianity, that 
the horrors of the inquisition were scarcely suffi- 
cient to remove it. His death happened in 1552, 
in China, occasioned by fever,, after having spent 
eleven years in various parts of the east. His 
body was placed in a coffin filled with quick-lime, 
that his bones might be transported to Goa, when 
the flesh was consumed. After some time it was 
still found fresh and sweet, unchanged in colour, 
and having the placid smile and lively appearance, 
of life. The coffin, however, was deposited in the 
earth at Manilla, till an opportunity occurred ot 
sending it round to Malabar ; but five months 
afterwards a travelling Jesuit, being desirous of 
seizing its state, found the whole in perfect preserv- 
ation. Didacus Pereria, therefore, pronouncing it 
miraculous, had a magnificent coffin, adorned with 
gold and silk, made for the body, and the saint 
arrived at Goa surrounded by the emblems of mor- 
tality, but with all the appearance of enjoying a 
tranquil sleep. The viceroy, accompanied by the 
whole city, and a great part of the continent^ went 
out to meet the procession with incredible demon- 
strations of respect; joy, that his body had arrived 
amcnigst them, and sorrow, that they should be 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 161 

no more cheered by Iris heavenly exhortations. 
The coffin was deposited in the chapel of St. Paul, 
where thousands of the natives embraced the un- 
corrupted body, laying their beatds upon it, bath- , 
ing it with their tears, and champoing or rubbing 
it with their hands, in the hope of rousing the 
almost speaking clay to life. A^ tongues spoke 
loudly in praise of his uncommon zeal, piety, cha- 
rity, mildness, dangers encountered, chastity, tem- > 
perance, fasts, prayers, miracles, constancy, pru- 
dence ; and the Jesuits were so apprehensive that, 
his body would be rubbed away, or carried off 
piecemeal, that the coffin was surrounded by an 
,iron palisade. 

These particulars are given merely for enter- 
tainment, not on account of any veneration for 
superstition. It was easy for the Jesuits to em- 
balm the body of Xaverius, and to impose on the 
credulity of fanaticism ; but the whole relation, 
taken as biographical fact, establishes the high 
value set upon the character of this worthy man j 
and that his acts of benevolence in the service of 
his fellow-creatures, together with his fidelity to 
God, were no fictions. But to place him at the 
bar of judgment, it is only necessary to quote a few 
of his sentiments from an address he made to his 
friends, in reply to their affectionate remonstrances 
against his departure for Japan and China, on ac« 
coimt of the dangers attending the voyage. 

M 



1Q2 lilSfiiOIM OF WBIA* 

<^ I am surprised that ye who dedicate your 
Iwe^ to the pr£iise of God's power wd mercy 
4ikould fear £br my person* Have you forgotten 
that he is the supreme governor of the muverse, 
mA that every ihmg is ruled by his will ? As we 
m^ ambassadors of temporal priuces, relying upon 
theiiT characters and the power of their mnatars, 
pae^ CQiliideptly through an ^lemy's camp; so it 
becomes us^ the interpreters of the divine law, and 
tochers of the heathens, to rely upon heavealy as- 
distance, which* without weapons^ can carry vis 
siaf^y through earthly daiigers by sea and laiid, by 
fyce and sword^ or by whatever may sei^a to c^ 
pose the accomplishment of Almighty wiU, It i^ 
.tri|0i tha victory is npt always ours j but sdl mise- 
fi^s are to be looked upon as triab of faith aod am- 
jit^mcy, aad np disappointoient ought to st<^ a eea- 
Joiis minister in attempting every thing that may 
Qoi^uee to God's honour and the salvation of aoufa. 
. Jf a soJdieri animated by perishable fame^ adv^a- 
tu^e^ his life, -T-. if a mariner for gain leaves the 
nhpre and exposes himself to the merciless waves, 
would it not be shameiW for a minister of Christ to 
ahrirfc from ha.?ard in God's service ? — Should he 
not look upon every thing as a trifle in comparison 
of the kingdom of heaven and its increase? Let 
no such thoughts ^iter your minds; for no consi- 
^^l^ration of personal safety should hinder us from 
promoti^ t^ i«tfreftifc «!* Qc^" 



MBMOIRA OB INBIA* 169 

Goa thus^ in a short time, hecatm the graat ceii* 
tre of Incyaii commercei and Caiicut ceased . td 
attract the ships of foreign nations. 

The VenetisHis, soon after the wrival of the 
Portuguese in India^ apprehensive that tiie nch 
commerce of the east, which they had long ei^oyed# 
would foe transferred from its channel thjrough 
I^ypt rouRd' the Cim>e of Good Hop^ esuuted 
the Egyptians and Arabians to oppose the setUst 
ment of the Portuguese on the shores of Malabar^ 
Albuquerque foresaw the aim of this ocmfederaoy} 
and before their projects were ripe he made himself 
master of Socotoro, an island situated so as to comt 
mand the mouth of the Red Sea. It was taken 
possession of by Tristan D'Acunha^ aftec the 
daughter of all the Arabians^ who defended theif 
posts with undaunted courage, and refused qmy1;eir# 
Though this island did not answer the purpose of 
preventing the Egyptian fleets &obbl passing into 
the Indian seas^ yet it was found valuable (m ac^ 
count of its fine aloes ; and a Portuguese fleet sta^ 
tioned near it watched the proceedings of ihek 
enemies and destroyed their ships aiiid £)riidS 19 
detail. 

This was, however^ so ej&pensive to the viceroy 
of India, that he attempted to seize Sue% but the 
difficult navigation of the Eed Sea baffled Im abi« 
lities ; and after wild speculations of his gmiius, 
respecting the praoticability of tuxniog Urn siver 

M 2 



164 ' MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Nile, and conquering Arabia with four hundred 
horse, he turned his views to the possession of the 
Persian Gulf 

At the mouth of it stands the island of Ormus, 
which was, at the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
tury, entirely a city, — ^^for its site is a barren rock j 
but as it became the centre of trade between Per- 
sia and India, and had two^ood harbours, foreign 
merchants from all commercial countries crowded 
its streets at particular seasons, which were screened 
from the sun by awnings. In short, a combin- 
ation of lucky circumstances made it at this time 
not only the seat of universal commerce, but of 
politeness, gallantry, and pleasure, 

Albuquerque, in his first attempt, to get posses- 
sion of this important station, was foiled by the 
lareachery of his own captains, after he had dis- 
played consummate skill and iinsinkirig fortitude. 
But, upon being reinforced from Europe, he re- 
sumed operations against the place, and at length 
firmly established the Portuguese flag in the Per- 
sian empire, the sovereign of which had the con- 
fidence to demand tribute from the conqueror; 
but he, producing some of the destructive imple- 
ments of war, told the. envoy that this was the 
kind of tribute paid by his master. The conduct 
of Albuquerque in attacking Ormus, with the chief 
of which he had no cause of quarrel, is another 
proof that 'ambition will not be stopped by the 
weak barriers of justice j and the dissensions which 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. l65 

produced his failure, demonstrate the power which 
cunning and gold have often over genius. 

The^Portuguese being now firmly established in 
the western parts of India, by the valour and con- 
duct of Albuquerque and his predecessors D' Al- 
meyda and Ferdinand Cautinho, began to extend 
their settlements eastward; arid Albuquerque 
effected the conquest of several parts of Ceylon. 
This fine island presented many inducements to 
the viceroy for his chief settlement, but Tie rejected 
them in favour of the Malabar coast. 

He was, however, still debarred from fnll parti- 
cipation in the trade to China by not having a set- 
tlement to command Malacca, which was the cen- 
tre of attraction for the merchants !of all nations. 
Albuquerque longed for a pretext to attack it; 
and the jealousy evinced by the Malays to the 
growing power of Portugal soon afforded him a 
just one. Several of his men were massacred in a 
most inhuman manner, and their viceroy soon ap- 
.peai:ed before, the place, and notwithstanding des- 
perate opposition, succeeded in establishing a set- 
tlement there in 151 li Thence he sent a detach- 
ment to plant a colony in the Molucca islands, 
while he returned to Malabar to consolidate tlie 
extensive conquests he had made* 

The temperate and contented inhabitants of the 
Moluccas had lived, undisturbed" by foreign inva-' 
sion, amidst their volcanic rocks on sago and cocoa/ 
nuts, without suspecting that they possessed a trea* 



166 AUBMOIM OF MJ>1A. 

ture^ which would reoB^ them to general notice. 
But the clove and nutmeg, unknown as spices to 
the aneients^ were here discovered accidentally by 
the Chinese^ and soon became a productive article 
of commerce. 

These valuable productions render the natives 
quite independent, and, satisfied with the plenty 
which nature has provided, they are averse to 
labour. The sago tree is a kind of curious palm* 
It is not, like the cocoa nut tree, common over 
India near the sea shore, nor is it found in the 
interior^ &s that useful production is in some places. 
It grows to the height of thirty feet by six in cir- 
cumference $ and beneath a thick bark the si^ is 
found which falls into sago fiour. Its maturity is 
known by the long leaves of the tree being covered 
with wUte lewder, and by its txwok shedding 
great numbei?s of long thorns, which protect it 
while yo«ng« Being cut down it is sawed into 
pieces, the sap is diluted in water, and stramed 
throi^ a Steve for use, either baked, boiled, or 
finmed into a delicious jelly. 

The cocoa nut tree is, perhaps, the most useful 
pi:i9duction ki nature. Of a beautiful form, it rises 
with stately grace, sometimes to the height of 
seventy feet. Its trunk is nearly straight and 
eyUndrioGd^ m^arked with circular rings. The wood 
is €^ a spongy nature, and not valuable for solid 
w<N?k( ti»e leaves are used for coverit^ houses^ 
£»r -^mbiBdJM^ saik% jSshii^ nets, mid for writing on 



MEHOIR8 OF INDIA. l&f 

with a brass style. These leaves gFow on tfee top 
of the tree, and seldom exceed twelve, but th^y 
are very broad and long, and covered when young 
with a net work, of which sieves are made. The 
nuts grow from the centre of this tuft, and hang 
down in an interesting manner between the leaves. 
Each is o£ an oval form, and about §^ix inches in 
diameter ; there are about six in a e^uste^^ apad 
perfaaps, the same number of clusters on th$ tri^^ 
This fixdt is covered with a thick coiat, of which 
excellent ropes are made. Uiulemeath is a good 
»zed nut, which the Indians iocm i^to cups, and a 
variety of useful things. The pulp is agreeable 
food, a^d it yields a great q}iaxs^ of fine oU. In 
the centre of the nut there is a drink of clear 
sweetish liquor, which is both refreshing and whole^ 
some. By cutting off the bud of one of the flowers, 
and placu^g a vessdt^ under it, a considerable quan* 
tity of juice is procured every day, of a whitidi 
colo^djT, and ml agreeable taste. When this sour^^ 
it is good vinegar ; if distilled* it yields a strong 
i^irit called arrack ; and if boiled with quicklime;, 
it ^ves tolerable jugar. This juice is called toddy y 
and in a plantation the native reserves a number of 
larees for fruit, and a proper proportion for juice,^ 
became the buds which are cut become for th^t 
season abortive. It is curious to see the Indians 
mount those trees to prune the buds, and r^lace 
the earthen jars, into wfeich the liquid oo2;es.. J^ 

M 4 



l68 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

separating more than the diameter of the tree. 
The man who mounts, first sharpens a pruning 
hook in the sand, by grinding it alternately with 
the heel of each foot. It is fixed in the girdle, 
which supports the only covering or dothing round 
the loins, and an earthen pot is slung on the other 
side. The trunk of the tree is then seized by a 
twisted cord round the wrists, and the foot cord is 
placed against one of the circular rings, by which 
the body is raised, the feet are then drawn up, and 
so on, till the top or tuft of leaves is gained, for 
there is no impediment on the long stem of the 
tree. 

Albuquerque died at Goa in 1515. He was the 
greatest of aU the Portuguese. It is impossible 
while we drop a tear over his faults, not to rever- 
ence his virtues. Long after his death the poor 
and oppressed Indians repaired to his tomb, as to 
the shrine of a god, to pray for his protection 
against the rapacity and injustice of his country- 
men, and their own. He was too elevated and 
noble hot to be envied; and his king began to 
suspect that ambition of a disloyal nature lurked 
in a heart, that only beat for his country's glory, 
and honest fame. Inspired by him and the great 
commanders, which the enterprises in India formed, 
the Portuguese feared no odds ; they fought and 
conquered one against an hundred, from the Per* 
siaa Grulf to the confines of China. 

His successor Lopez Soarez, who was also a 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. l69 

humane and talented man, pushed the interests of 
his country to China, which had been contemplated 
by Albuquerque.- At this period nothing was 
known in Europe of that vast and curious empire, 
except from the account published by the Vene- 
tian traveller, Marco Polo. Some of his appa- 
rently fabulous descriptions were confirmed by re- 
presentations transmitted to Lisbon, from the 
viceroy of India ; and in 1518 a squadron sailed 
for Canton, commanded by Ferdinand Andrada, 
having on board Thomas Perez, an ambassador 
from the king of Portugal to the emperor. He 
was politely received by the mandarins of Canton, 
and conducted with great ceremony to Pekin ; and 
though he had but slight opportunities of seeing 
much of the interiorj yet the observations made 
during his journey convinced our authorities of 
the antiquity, vast population, political economy, 
and civilisation, to a very curious extent of China. 
The towns were large ; the villages numerous, and 
beautifully situated ; the roads were in the most 
perfect order ; the country was intersected by 
navigable canals ; even the hills were cultivated to 
their summits, and irrigated by machinery or re- 
servoirs J and the multitudinous inhabitants of both 
land and water were mild in manners, sagacious 
in aspect, and polite and attentive to each other. 

The Chinese government did not then seem pre- 
judiced against Europeans. " Perez was favourably 
received at court; and the ports of the empire. 



170 MEMOIRS OF IHDIA. 

were upon the pcnnt of being opened, when Simon 
Andrada, the brother of Ferdinand, appeared on 
the coasts with another squadron^-and disconcerted 
tiie good understanding. He treated the Chinese 
with haughty superiority ; built a fort, by seizing 
forcibly part of the island of Taman, and pillaged 
the country ; carrying off young girls ; making 
daves of the inhabitants, and exercising all manner 
of atrocities. Roused by indignation, the Chinese 
attacked him, drove his troops into the sea, made 
the ambassador Perez answerable for his invasion 
of right, by imprisoning him, where he died some 
time after, and banished the Portuguese from 
China. 

Some years afterwards, however, permission was 
granted for their ships to trade with the port of 
Sancian, and a fortunate occurrence soon gave 
th^n an estaJblishment of their own. The island 
of Macao, situated at the entrance of Canton bay, 
was seized by a formidablie pirate, named Tchang- 
siJao, who desolated the coasts of the empire, axid 
destr^oyed all trade with Canton, by besieging that 
city. Alarmed by his conduct and the strength 
ef his forts, the mandarins called upon the Por- 
tuguese ships of* war, then at Sancian, for assist^ 
aince. The siege was raised, the pirate destroyed, 
and the anperor in reward for such signal service, 
bestowed the island of Macao on the Portuguese, 
under certain conditions, where they built a town 
la 1540. This soon after led to iimx discoviecy of 



MfiMOIRS OF INDIA. I7I 

the rich trade to Japan, for a vessel being acci- 
dentally wrecked on that extraordinary coast, the 
sailcMTs were hospitably treated, and upon their return 
to Goa inflamed the authorities and missionaries 
with further desires of ccmquest and conversion. 

The Japanese opaied their ports to the Portu- 
guese with willingness, and a most extensive market 
was discovered for the productions of Europe and 
India. In return for which gold was paid, for 
Japan is a mountainous ccHintry, abounding in that 
metal, and other valuable minerals, but not so 
fertile as to supply its numerous inhabitants with 
the necessaries of life. But here we again see the 
bounty of Providence, and a manifestation of the 
wish that all parts of the earth should be covered 
with men; for places, which are apparently so 
barren as to resist the industry of husbandry, are 
generally found rich in hidden treasures, which 
may be bartered for the superfluities of other coun- 
tries. 

In this manner the Portuguese established their 
power round all the coasts of the East, from the 
Cape of Good Hope to Japan ; giving laws to the 
natives, and setting what price they pleased upon 
the productions of Europe and India, having a 
complete monopoly of all the brandies of trade. 
Fr<Mn Japan they drew annually about 600>000/. 
in gold, sflver, and cqpper ; from China, the teas 
and silks that were exchanged in Europe for. the 
wetdth of Mexico and Peru ; from the Moluccas, 



172 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

cloves and nutmegs ; from Bengal, the fine muslins 
of Dacca j from Coromandel, the various produc- 
tions of the Peninsula ; from Ceylon and Malabar, 
the pearls, precious stones, and spices of those re- 
gions, with the ivory produced by the elephants of 
the forests, and the sandal wood which perfumes 
the ghauts; from Guzerat, cotton, and the dif- 
ferent rich manufactures of Hindostan ; from the 
Persian Gulf, the wealth of that extensive king- 
dom ; from the Red Sea, all the riches of its 
shores, and from the coast of Africa, the precious 
minerals of Zanguebar. Besides which the^ had 
some of the islands in the Indian Sea, and in the 
Atlantic Ocean, between Europe and the Cape of 
Good Hope. They had settlements thence along 
the coast of Tunis. In short, their power was 
wonderful, and the conduct and virtue by which 
it was acquired admirable. 

But from this they degenerated and became such 
oppressors of the natives, that a general conspiracy 
was formed against them by nearly all the powers 
of India, in the reign of king Sebastian, who sent 
out Ataida, a man of consummate military know- 
ledge, to reanimate expiring virtue. He and his 
lieutenants bravely repulsed the treacherous attacks 
of the Zamorin in Malabar, the king of Cambay 
in Guzerat, the king of Achem at Malacca, the 
king of Ternate in the Moluccas, the Great Mogul 
at Surat, and the queen of Onore. The noble soul 
of oiie man, however, could not retard the rapid 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. I7S 

course of his country's falling star, though he lived 
not to see it set in the eastern ocean. Luxury, 
profligacy, corruption, and oppression, reigned ^t 
all their settlements in India j while the mother, 
whose breast supplied them with strength, fell 
under the dominion of Philip, the second king of 
Spain. On the downfall of Portugal, the sun of 
Holland rose, equally bright in the morning, as 
glorious nearly at noon, but tinged with a dirty 
and bloody red in its short evening. 

Goa and Macao belong still to the Portuguese ; 
but those monuments which they fondly hoped 
would endure for ever, are now crumbling into 
dust. Such is the perishable nature of earthly 
hope! What sensitive heart has not to heave a 
sigh over the grave of its own wishes ! So true is 
the ' reflection of the poet Southern, ** All things 
pass away and are no more.'* But before this pass 
from under my pen, let the virtues and vices of 
the Portuguese in India be briefly portrayed. 

During an overwhelming attack made by the 
Egyptian fleet that had passed down the Red Sea 
unexpectedly, on a small squadron under Laurence 
D' Almeyda, after a most determined resistance, his 
vessel struck on a flat. It was impossible for the 
other vessels to get near him, for Hocenus, the 
Egyptian admiral, with his native auxiliaries sur- 
rounded the wreck, assailing this unfortunate ship 
on all sides. The battle continued during a whole 
day, and at night a boat was sent to bring off the 



174 MBMOIRS OT INDIA. 

Portuguese admiral, but he replied, ** I shall i^yer 
leave those who have been my companions in 
danger, nor desert this ship whilst hope or h& re- 
mains to defend and save her ibr my country.'' 
Next morning the battle was revived, and one of 
Almeyda's thighs was shot away, but he ordered 
himself to be placed in a chair on the deck, and 
continued to give his orders with coolness till aii- 
other ball carried away part of his breast and ribsi 
when he expired. The Egyptians then boarded 
the vessel, when Laurence Catus, a servant of the 
deceased admiral, who was wounded in the eye 
with an arrow, and who had thrown himself on the 
body of his master, started up, and with his sword 
killed several of the assailants, while another sailor, 
n£uned Andrew Van Portua, who had lost his right 
hand, and received a musket-ball in his shoulder, 
fought to the last with his left, dealing destruction 
around. When Almeyda's father heard of his 
son's death, he said, " It is mine to sustain his 
place," and, brushing away the tear of mortal 
weakness, he proceeded with a fresh force to attack 
Hocenus, destroyed his whole fleet in the harbour 
of Diu, took that important little island, and 
amazed the continent by his valour and humanity. 

In this engagement the brave Nonnius Vasques 
Pereria was killed ; he passed through the enemy's 
batteries that lined the shore with his single ship, 
and boarded Hocenus amidst his own fleet. 

Old Almeyda did not live to see the termination 



MUfOiRt OF ixmA. 175 

of hi$ commenced success, for having fallen into 
disgrace with king Emanuel by some misunden- 
stwding, he was recalled, and killed at the Cape 
of Good Hope, by a pointed stick having been 
run through his body, in an afiray betwe^i some of 
the natives and his sailors^ But Nonnius Acunia 
tpok the fort of Diu»aad the fortified island'of Betel, 
where the despenite Turks, having burned their 
wives and children, being determined to receive no 
quarter, rushed upon the Portuguese like lions, mad- 
dened by revenge, and were not destroyed till they 
had sliaughtered seventeen officers and one hundred 
and fifty men belonging to the forc^ under Nonnius 

James Bottelho, a brave officer, having incurred 
Im king's displeasure, determined to remove it by 
mi unc<Hnmon instance of self-devotion. He set 
sail from Goa in a boat eighteen feet long and six 
broad, with bands sufficient to manage this frail 
fikiSf and arrived safely at Lisbon, with advioi of a 
glorioi^ victory in India. He received EmanuePs 
pardon, and a look oi approbation dearer to his 
fa«)art than life. 

Antcnaius Sylveria was left governor of Diu ^th 
a Muall garrison. He was soon £^er attacked by 
3000 Turks, supported by 20,000 irregulars, be- 
longing to the king of Cambay, while the Egyptian 
fleet, which had got into the Indian sea for this 
express puipose approached the walls. This great 
naval force was commanded by Solyman, basha of 
Egypt, and consisted oi sixty-four stout gaHeyt 



176 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

belonging to the Grand Signior, manned by ex- 
perienced seamen, and having on board a large 
force of Janissaries, then considered the bravest 
troops in the world. Fire-ships were pushed up to the 
fort, to involve the place in smoke, while the gene- 
ral storm of it was attempted both by land and sea, 
but one of the most steady defences ever made re- 
pulsed the attacks. Mines were then carried under 
the walls, and the roar of battle, day after day, 
was heard not only under the burning sun, but in 
the cool dark bawels of the rocks. Maifaeus, the 
historian, says that some of the Portuguese soldiers, 
when short of ammunition, charged their pieces 
with their own teeth. At length Diu was relieved ; 
and this noble defence made such an impression on 
the king of France, that he sent for the picture of 
Sylveria, and had it set in gold. 

When Albuquerque attacked Malacca, his friend 
Araiijo was a prisoner there, and the enemy 
threatened to put him to death, the moment the 
siege should begin. Anxious to save his life, 
operations were suspended; but he wrote to his 
general: " Think of nothing but the glory of 
Portugal, and let not a thought of me prevent you 
from pursuing victory.** 

At a time when Ataida was much in want of 
troops, and sorely pressed by enemies, he ordered 
the ships to sail which every year carried the tri- 
bute to Lisbon. His officers remonstrated, and 
insinuated that aU assistance was required for the 



MEMOIR* OP INDIA. 177 

defence of India. " We shall be enough without 
them/' said he ; " the state is in distress, and ito 
expectations must not be disappointed." 

In the hottest part of a furious engagement the 
son of Lopez Carasco was told that his father had 
been slain. " We have one brave man the less,*' 
said he ; " we must conquer, or deserve to die like 
him." 

A beautiful young female was sold to the amor- 
ous Thomas de Souza, as a slave. She had been 
betrothed to a lover who almost adored her, and 
who rushed into his presence frantic with grief, 
offering to share her chains. Souza was deeply 
affected at the interesting sight : — "I give you 
liberty," said he, presenting the youth with a purse 
of gold ; " go and live happy elsewhere." This 
high-minded officer knew how to imitate the 
Roman, and to captivate the human heart by con- 
quering his own. 

Some of the viceroys were also, from motives of 
humanity and benevolence, active in preventing 
the human sacrifices in India, occasioned by the 
horrid practices of idolatry and superstition. In 
some parts of Malabar a custom prevailed of 
always consulting magicians with respect to the 
destiny of children : if prognosticated to be happy, 
the infant became the object of parental affec- 
tion J but if calamity was indicated, the innocent 
little stranger was deprived of life. To the 

N 



178 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

honour of Lopez Soarez, he abolished this inhuman 
usage. * 

But in reversing the picture, we are forced to 
acknowledge that vice sunk the Portuguese charac- 
ter lower than ever virtue raised it in India. In 
the hour of its profligacy, when only the courage 
of a robber remained to redeem it from contempt, 
an Indian said, " Providence has decreed that there 
should be but as few of them as there are of tigers 
and lions, lest they should exterminate the human 
species/' 

The sepulchres of the Chinese emperors were 
plundered by dj^e, and the pagodas of Malabar de- 
jstroyed by another, while all who came to weep were 
massacred. To impose upon man, oaths were taken 
on song books, th^t they might be broken by 
tarnishing honour with an insult on religion. 
Deceit and perfidy of every description became 
common. Kings and their children were carried 
off and murdered. ^ The native peasantry were 
reduced to slavery. But providence has decreed 
that depravity should die by the injection of its 
own poison. When man is false to himself^ he 
cannot be true to his friends. From robbing 
Indians, the Portuguese learned to rob each other. 
But all their atrocities were surpassed by the In- 
quisition which they established at Ooa, where the 

* On jthe authority of the Abb6 Baynffl, 



MEMOIRS <» lanai. 179 

most monstifcms csuehiee were exercised izader 
the sanction of religion. 

Mar Joseph, the v^ei^drahle bishop (^ liie S^niaa 
Cfaristiaias of Trafirancore, wad^ seized and sent td 
Lisbon. Their churches were pillaged.;^ their hoaks 
were burned ; while archbishop Mene^^from 60a, 
in 1^99) marched, singing a hymn, nonnd the 
flames« In short, thts innoomt race^ like iSae 
contaminating Fariars of Malabar, badj to take 
refuge in the fiure^^ fearing less. irom. the wild 
elephant and tiger, than from the ferocity of feUow- 
creatures, who worshipped, the same God. So lilie 
is the reseoifakncet bc^een the ^uiKatic and the 
heathen. * 

But certainly it is wrcmg to charge the misery 
inflicted by the Inquiaiiion on the F^artuguese 
government of India^ In this instance the churdi 
of Rome was alone criminal. But punishment 
overtakes the servants of iniqmty. Governments 
embraced the tensors of that tribwnd as an engine 
of power, not from conscientious .conviction of its 
being serviceable to.God. Agaku^tihe Portugueae 
in India it excited universal &ar) with its coonpanion 
hatred; and now two thousand pitesjbi have two 
hundred moulderii^ churches, some jof tiiem: still 
magnificent structui^Sr with scarcely ^' soul to 
attend tibe ringing of their bells« The prpcei^ons 
of the auto daje will long be remCTiberedi. with the 
shrieks of victims, so pathetically described by the 



180 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

French physician Dellon *, who was immured in 
the dungeons of Goa for two years j the black 
dresses, the horrid executioners, the ghastly con- 
fessors, the san-benitoes painted with the holy cross, 
the grey samarras^ the paintings representing 
human creatures placed upon bilming torches, 
with demons seizing upon their fleeting souls, the 
carrochas^ the ringing of great bells, the parrainSf 
the militaiy array, the viceroy in all his glory pre- 
siding as the slave of a Dominican, and at last the 
actual flames curling about dying wretches, whose 
groans and shrieks pierced the souL The volun- 
tary sacrifices of the Hindoos excite no such 
feelings of disgust: we pity but we admire. A 
smile plays round the beautiful lip, while kissing 
the husband's body on the funeral pile of the living 
^d the dead. The. devotee, placing his head 
under the wheel of Juggernaut's car, says, " This 
is my delight." A Christian may hate the one as 
well as the other, but a Hindoo makes a wide 
difference between giving what we must pay, and 
taking what we cannot bestow. 

There is a description of the Portuguese in India 
by Baldaeus, in I67O, which equally applies to their 
descendants : " They are,** says he, " generally 
very idle, applying themselves seldom to any 
business, leaving the management of their concerns 
to slaves, and even the women committing the 

* Vide Appendix, note 9. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 181 

care of their children to ignorant female servants, 
who also give them suck. Marriages are frequently 
formed with.the natives by the men, but this is not 
such a general practice now as formerly. The 
children from this connection are called Mistices, 
and their offspring Castices. Fornication, and 
adultery are considered as errors of little moment, 
and the men are so fond of variety that I have 
known three female slaves in the straw at one time 
to the same master. But they are averse to 
drunkenness, notwithstanding which,* quarrels and 
murders are frequent among them. The men are 
excessively proud, and fond of snuff; as. they walk 
along the- streets, they are continually stroking and 
setting up their whiskers. So jealous are they of 
their wives and slaves, that the women, seldom 
appear abroad unveiled, and the windows of their 
apartments are so contrived, that they can look 
upwards, but not down into the strefets." 

Goa is situated in the province of Bejapoor; 
lat 15° SO' N. long. 73^42' E. ; distant from Poonah 
245; from Bombay 29^ ; from Delhi 1158; and 
from Calcutta 1300 miles. 

The old city of Goa, which contains so many 
fine and magnificent specimens of Gothic architec- 
ture, is eight miles further up the river than the 
new town, in which the viceroy and chief Portu- 
guese inhabitants reside. It is at the mouth of the- 
river, within the forts of the harbour. In the old 
dty, one of the cathedrals is in imitation of St 

N 3 



ISSZ IkOOIOlRS OF IHDIA. 

Peter's in Rome, and its gi^andeur surpasses what 
has jet beeir attempted in any other part of Indi^ 
by Europeans. The statue of Vasco de Gama is 
pkced over the palace gate of the city. There are 
in the Portuguese territories, which extend about 
forty miles in length and twenty in breadth along 
the coast, in the vicinity of Goa, 200 churches, 
and about @000 priests, many of whom are ex- 
ceedingly ignorant; and they have the old city 
nearly to themselves. The Inquisition is of course 
tto more. It as the chapel of* ihe palace, which is 
an accurate modd of that paragon of architecture 
•St^Feter^s. : Tfie church of St. Dominic is^bmuti- 
Ited with paintings by Italian masters. In the 
Augto^tinhm convent there is a very valuable 
Itbriiry of theological works, mostly prmted in the 
sixteenth 4S6ritury. The monument of St. Fraads 
XaveriU8> is i^utsite f and his coffin is enxdiased 
with silver and precious stones. 

Altii€«^h the Portuguese kept uf> a vtery con- 
sideFable ^rce, their conquests never extended far 
ftom the sea 'coast But from the Cape of Good 
Hope to China, there are numefous descendants of 
those settlei» who colomsed the different places 
along tiieis^i^re^ Many cithern are now blacker thaa 
the neighbouring Hindoos; which is a curious cir- 
ciunstance, that shews how soon a new race of men 
may spring up by crossing the breed} for those 
to whom I allude, are all castices, that is the off^ 
spring) of ttii Sun^ean ^Portuguese father and a 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 183 

native. Their language is a dialect composed of 
Portuguese, Hindostannee, and Malabar: and pro- 
nounced so in some places as to be nearly unin- 
telligible to a native of Portugal. Even at Goa, 
the national language is now a corruption which, 
in time, will form another of those numerous dia- 
lects which are found in India. Such is the poverty 
of the inhabitants of this once famous city, that 
women descended from the best families, earn their 
subsistence by making lace or artificial flowers, 
and working muslin. Necessity obliges them now 
to be industrious, and the productions of their 
needle aire sometimes very beautiful. Cochin lace 
is- the most durable of any in India. The Portu- 
guese have besides Goa, small establishments at 
Damaun, and on the islands of Timor and Macao, 
in China; but their trade is inconsiderable. In 
1580, their power was at its summit, after which 
it came down by degrees, till almost totally de- 
stroyed by the Dutch. 



N 4 



CHAPTER III. 



ON THE EAST INDIA COMPANIES OF HOLLAND, 
FRANCE, DENMARK, OSTEND, SWEDEN, PRUSSIA, 

AND RUSSIA. ALSO ON THE TRADE OF SPAIN 

WITH INDIA. 

The Hollanders, like the other states of Europe, 
had received the fashionable productions of India 
through Portugal, till the conquest of that country 
by Philip of Spain, who prohibited his new subjects, 
in 1594, from corresponding with his enemies. 
But these brave republicans had now become 
soldiers and sailors, and they determined to seek 
at the fountain head, what monopoly refused to 
share down the stream. Cornelius Houtman was 
dispatched with four stout ships, by a society of 
merchants^ called the Company of distant Countries, 
and succeeded in reconnoitring the coasts of India. 
He returned with a cargo of pepper and valuable 
spices; and reported that the Portuguese were 
every where hated. 

A plan was immediately formed at Amsterdam, 
for establishing a settlement on the island of Java, 
and Van Nee, in 1598, arrived there with eight 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 185 

ships; He was so fortunate in his negociations 
with the native princes, that he returned to Europe 
loaded with riches, and excited such emulation, as 
nearly ruined the first company; for different as- 
sociations were formed, whose interests clashing 
with each other, threatened the destruction of the 
whole. At length, with the assistance of a wise 
government, these jarring elements were harmon- 
ised into a body of men styled. The East India 
Company, armed with absolute power to make 
peace or war in all parts beyond the Cape of Good 
Hope, to legislate for themselves, and to retain 
such territories as they might conquer. 

This was quite an original idea. The Portuguese 
had traded to India for the purpose of enriching the 
king. Their viceroy had to act merely in agency 
for the government of his country, while in the 
case of Holland, one republic was formed within 
smother, made mutually dependent by interest, yet 
both masters in their own concerns. 

Success is the. child of energy. Admiral War- 
wick, with a fleet of fourteen ships, soon laid the 
foundation of Batavia, formed a connection with 
Bengal, beat the Portuguese, and established a 
high character in the East for the courage qf his* 
country. In 1624, Fort Zealand was commenced 
on the western coast of Formosa, an island near 
China, which soon became the centre of trade with 
Java, Siam, the Philippine islands, Japan, and all 
the East. In 1621, the Portuguese were driven 



186 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

from the Moluccas, and the trade in cloves and 
nutmegs fell into the hands of the Dutch. These 
valuable fruits grow on bushes resembling our birch 
and pear trees. Cloves preserved in sugar are 
eaten as a dessert to promote digestion ; nutmeg 
is said to be a poison, if used immoderately, but, 
as a spice or medicine, it strengthens the stomach 
and bowels, expels wind, and is serviceable in 
dysentery. 

The Dutch soon formed settlements also in the 
fine islands of Timor, Celebes, and Borneo ; the 
last of which is perhaps the largest in the world. 
It produces abundance of fine pepper, and some 
diamonds ; but the inhabitants of all these are 
barbarous,, treacherous, and cruel. Some of them 
are Christians ; but in general they are converts to 
Arabian missionaries, whose tenets have only in- 
flamed their natural ferocity. 

In Sumatra, Banca, and Siam, the Hollanders 
also speedily formed settlements. From these rich 
and extraordinary regk>ns they got tin, elephants* 
teeth, gum lac, sappan wood, gold, pepper, and 
camphor. The tree which produces the camphor, 
is one that grows as tall as our oak, with a leaf like 
the laurel, having numerous clusters of white 
flowers, which form into black berries as large as 
peas. Oil is procured by the application of fire 
from all parts of the tree, which is cut in pieces, 
soaked in water, and being heated, the camphor 
rises into an iron receiver. This is the case all over 



M£MOrES OF INBIA. 187 

Japan, nrhere the coarse camphor is plentiful, but 
the Sumatra drug is the finest in the world, lodges 
in* a smaller species of plant, and is yielded without 
distillation. But it is now very scarce, all the trees 
having been nearly cut down. It is deposited in 
the trunk of the tree in flakes. The Indians use it 
for removing obstructions. It also strengthens the 
stomach, and combined with otiier medidnes, it 
increases their eflScacy. 

On the i^nd of Ceylon, the Portuguese had 
made themselves detested by the foulest murder 
and perfidy; and when king Janiere was inhumanly 
sabred in their co«mcil chamber, the beautiful 
young princess to whom he had been betrothed, 
predicted their destruction, for said she " Of 
whatever crime he may have been guilty, you ought 
to have given him a legal trial. Rest assured this 
treacherous act will turn to your ruin. Who will 
not curse you that hears it? How can any one 
trust you again ? Alas ! You have involved me jm 
misery. Be therefore upon your guard, for you 
will pay dearly for having rewarded a man tinis, 
who had done you such signal service.** And they 
were afterwards massacred and driven out of all 
their settlements by the combined forces of the 
Ceyionese and the Dutch j who then pushed up 
tile Malabar coast, stormed Cochin, and seized 
upon all their forts and territories except Goa. 
Malacca even was at last taken, which for some 
time held cmt in the eastern parts : and in less than 



188 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

seventy years, the Dutch became in India what 
the Portuguese had been in the meridian of their 
glory. The Portuguese colonists embraced their, 
yoke with the docility of Hindoos ; and changed 
masters without a regret for their country. Their, 
forefather's stern virtues were extinguished by the 
luxury, indolence, and effeminacy of Asia. Thus 
Holland became master of the areca, betel, cin- 
namon, and pepper of Ceylon ; which are in them- 
selves mines of gold, were there no other treasures 
in this paradise of the East. 

The areca is a small soUd nut, which grows on; 
a most beautiful species of palm, neither so tall nor 
so. thick as the cocoa ; the betel is the leaf of a 
plant that climbs like ivy, and the areca nut, whose 
kernel is analogous to nutmeg, is wrapped in the. 
betel, powdered with lime, made from shells, and 
chewed all over India by male and female, both 
by day and by night Ladies of gallantry breathe 
it on their lovers. It is presented when friendly 
visits, are paid, and offered as a pledge of regard, 
when departure is intimated. They say it strength- 
ens the stomach, and excites inclinations of love. 
The cinnamon tree is a species of laurel,, the root 
of which when distUled, yields coarse camphor. 
Its fruit is a small berry^ and from it is extracted, 
by boiling, a perfumed white gum, of which candles 
are made for very great men. There are three 
layers of bark, two of which are cut every eighteen 
months as cinnamon, till the tree dies, or falls into 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 189 

a decline, when, being removed, fresh shoots spring 
up from the odoriferous stem left in the ground, 
equally prolific. 

When the Hollanders had conquered India, they 
were anxious to have a proper station for the re- 
freshment of their ships on the passage, and under 
the guidance of Van Riebeck, the Cape of Good 
Hope was colonised in 1650, and in twenty years 
upwards of two millions sterling expended on Cape 
Town, its fine gardens, walks, and fortifications. 
It is certainly an uncommonly fine settlement, and 
at this day presents an interesting sight. 

Under the mild government of England, the 
Dutch inhabitants, who are now so. numerous as to 
form a populous city, which may b^ called the 
capital of Southern Africa, seem contented and 
cheerftil. The climate is healthful j nearly all the 
fruits of Europe and Asia flourish here ; and the 
people, instructed by beautiful forms of Lutheran 
and Calvinistic Christianity, are simple in manners 
and frank in their deportment. The females are 
very pretty ; in some instances, that fell under the 
author's obser^'^ation, he thought them possessed, 
in a high degree, of what the French term naiveU 
— a certain undescribable something, which we ad- 
mire in children, and almost adore in a young 
mistress ; but which, we would call credulity, if 
the innocence of the lip was not a redeemer of the 
prattle that falls from an unsophisticated tongue ; 
and if an arch, sparkling, chaste eye did not 



igO MBM:9IR9^^ 09 WDIA. 

speak wit to the imagination, which the words were 
not calculated to impress on the understanding. 
Indeed it is said that the young girls here reverse 
our mode of courtship. If so many happy mar- 
riages, as are reported, be the consequence, let 
utility plead a pardon for indelicacy. Perhajjs 
Dr. Gregory may have been cold, when he told his 
daughters never to let their husbands know the ex- 
tent of their love ; for the sentiment has the freez- 
ing feel of cunning, instead of the honest glow of 
a candid heart. The Dutch farmers^ however, in 
the country, are in some instances rude specimens 
of the effect of rural retirements when not influenc- 
ed by contact with advancing civilisation; fi^ the 
march of the human mind in solitude is tiiat of a crab. 
Memory, intellect, every faculty of our nature, grow 
and gain strength by intercourse with the world. 

Batavia, the capital of Holland in India^ called 
after the ancient name of liie Dutch, who are 
descended from the BattsB of Hesse, is situated in 
the island of Java, lat 6° 10'' S. long. lOG^^Sl^'E. 
It is a parallelogram of 4200 feet by 3000, orna- 
mented with fine wide streets, canals, public 
edifices, churches, mosques, and Chmese temples. 
In 1811,. it surrendered to Sir Samuel Achmuty, 
Lord Minto, our Governor General, being present, 
superintending the operations of the attack. General 
Jansens defended his fortified camp at Mester Cor- 
nelius^ to which he retired, with skill and obstir 
nacy; but. on the St'Hh August, he was defeaibsd^ 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. IQl 

and Fort Cornelius taken by storm. At the peace 
of Paris it was r€5Stored ; and the Dutch received 
it back much improved as to salubrity. Their 
establishment is- now prosperous. There are about 
5700 taxed houses, which, with the villages around, 
in a circle of ten miles, contain a population of 
about 120,000, and there are subordinate to it up- 
wards of 200,000 souls. Fully 10,000 of these 
are Dutch, or free citizens, and their wives, de- 
scended from Hollanders ; the rest are Javanese, 
Malays, Chinese, and 20,000 of them are slaves. 

Acute inflammatory febrile diseases are very 
destructive to life. The unhealthiness of Batavia 
must certainly be occasioned by the miasma of its 
morasses^ ditches, and^ canals ; for all the inhabit- 
ants of this capital are sickly in appearance, but 
recover their colour and spirit by a short residence 
in the neighbouring mountains, which they soon 
lose upon their return. Death is so common and 
sudden, that it scarcely excites emotion in the sur- 
vivors. At the Cape of Good Hope and Chin- 
surah, the Dutch are possessed of sensibility, and 
at Cochin, some of their descendants are far from 
phlegmatic; but at Batavia an apathy prevails, 
which deeply affects the heart that can behold it. 
In fifty years it has been ascertained that 47,000 
soldiers and sailors died in the hospitals of Batavia, 
though the European military forces on the island 
were always but a handful of men. Beauty is here 
without motion, and lifeless. The sparkling eye 



192 * iBd£MOIRS OF INDIA. 

of Cape Town is no where to be seen. It is true^ 
the mode of living here is destructive of health 
and life. Luxury and debauchery are called in as 
auxiliaries to climate, and the poison of mud reek- 
ing constantly with putrefaction. 

When the Dutch came to India, they were a 
sober, industrious, temperate, and simple people } 
their valour was admirable, their prudence was 
conspicuous, and their integrity such that they 
sometimes only punished native perfidy by with- 
drawing their factories j for it was their policy to 
impress on the Indians, that in settling upon their 
coasts, and guarding them from the rapacious Por- 
tuguese, they were doing them a signal favour. 
The cloven foot of self-interest, which was after- 
wards substituted for pubUc principle, did not then 
appear. Hambroeck in magnanimity equalled 
Regulus ; for being taken in a sally, he was sent 
to persuade the surrender of Fort Zealand, under 
penalty of death ; instead of which, his object in 
going, was to inspire the garrison with fresh courage. 
Their tender soUcitations, backed by the tears of 
his two daughters, that he might break his promise 
of returning, were unavailing. " I have pledged 
my honour,'* said he, " and my memory shall 
never be suUied with reproach.** He then calmly 
returned to meet his fate in the Chinese camp. 

At Malacca, the Dutch got possession of the 
fortress by bribery, after many fruitless attacks at 
different periods. When this golden key bad 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 193 

opened the "gate, the governor was massacred to 
save 30,000/., which had been promised in reward 
for treachery. The Sabines were here imitated, 
but on a different principle. Tarpeia was crushed 
by their .bucklers for her perfidy. Odious oppres- 
sions were at length every where practised ; the 
spice trees were rooted up, that a complete mono- 
poly might belong to the Dutch company ; the poor 
natives were reduced to beggary, and butchered 
when they wept for the loss of their vegetable gold ; 
kings were dethroned, and tyrants raised for pur- 
poses of subserviency ; the will of man was sub- 
stituted for the wish of God ; and murder was called 
in to accomplish what open force could not so well 
achieve. In short, the noble Hollanders became 
Asiatic Portuguese ; and the simple republicans 
ceremonious despots. Such is the inconsistency of ' 
man. We are creatures of imitation. Vanity may 
whisper a different tale ; but let truth be told, and 
it will be found that man is every where the same 
creature. All nature aims at conquest. Animate 
and inanimate matter once in motion, go on till 
stopped by their own friction ; and as in the ocean, 
what flows to it fresh becomes salt, so in nations, 
the small body mixes with the mass, and partakes 
of its qualities. The conquerors of England be- 
came Britons ; those of India Hindoos, in all but 
name. 

Alligators and noxious reptiles are very nume- 
rous near Batavia, and the river Caiman takes its 



11^ MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

i3tame from the numbers of the former in it. There 
dre no. stones near the city ^ marble and granite 
are inaported from China. The sun*s heat is not 
ixces^ve^ for the thernjometer ranges from 84*" to 
90° in the heat of the day, during the whole year. 
Several islands protect the mouth of the harbour 
from the swell of the ocean^ and the anchorage is 
very safe. The campong of the Chinese, or town, 
K situated near the walls inland. It resembles a 
great bazar, of 1500 mean houses^ huddled together, 
containing SO^OOO inhabitants, and 40,000 swine. 
These, industrious people cultivate the rice grounds, 
Bugar plantations, and gardens around, carry on all 
kinds of .manufactures and trades, and contract 
for the supply of all things required in the civil, 
military, and marine departments. 
- The trade of Batavia is considerable. Opium, 
camphor,, benzoin, pewter, iron, saltpetre, gun- 
powder, and all warlike stores, spices, &c. are 
monopolised by the company. From Bengal come 
opium, drugs, and muslins; from Sumatra, cam- 
phor, benzoin, birds* nests, and ivory ; from Cape 
Town, garden seeds, butter, and wine ; from China, 
porcelain, teas, silks, nankeens, alum, borax, brim- 
«tone, cinnabar, mother-of-pearl, paper, sweetmeats, 
and tobacco; from Japan, copper, sabre blades, cam- 
phor,. soy, and curious articles of furniture var- 
nished, and flowered with mother-of-pearl. The 
exports are pepper, sugar, coffee, rice, arid arrack, 
with other indigenous varieties. . Batavia arrack is 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 195 

the best in the world. It is manufactured by the 
Chinese, who call it sanchoo, or burned wine, from 
various kinds of grain ; but the produce of the 
sugar cane is, I understand, the principal of 
Batavia arrack. The composition is mixed in hot 
water, and the other ingredients are liquorice root, 
aniseed, garlic, and the juice of the cocoa tree. 
Exportation of specie is prohibited ; the duties are 
heavy, and a free trade is prevented by restrictions. 

Accounts are kept in rix dollars, an imaginary 
coin of forty-eight stivers; but the currency is 
doits, stivers, dubeltjees, schillings, and rupees j 
the ducat, Japan copang, English guineas ; mohurs 
from India; doubloons, florins, and guilders, with 
all money in gold and silver, at a value propor- 
tioned to its purity. 

Affairs are administered by a governor general, 
who is president, a director general, entitled 
governor of Java, nine counsellors, and two secre- 
taries. The authority of this body is absolute ; 
and the governor general can exercise all their 
functions on his own responsibility. A fiscal is at 
the head of the police and criminal administration. 
All operations qf trade are conducted by a Shah- 
bunder. 

Never was such stiff formality and ceremony 
observed as reign here, despotically, under a re- 
publican form. In 1764, to fix the etiquette of 
irank, 131 articles were drawn up by the govern- 
ment, regulating places at table, the precedence of 

o 2 



196 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

drinking healths, the keeping of carriages, horses, 
and servants. By one article, childrens' little 
coaches are to be painted only according to the 
rank of the mother. Counsellors* wives may wear 
jewels worth 6000 rix dollars ; senior merchants* 
4000 ; others must only shine in the proportion of 
stars, numbered three, two, one. Ladies of rank 
may walk out, or go abroad, in carriages, attended 
by three waiting-maids, whose ornaments are 
minutely described ; others with only one or two. 
The Bengal Dutch civil servants are restricted 
from surpassing those at Batavia, and the director 
at Surat was only allowed four fans, ornamented 
with feathers of the bird of paradise, x;ow, or yak. 
tails, and gold. Carriages were taxed downwards, 
till keeping one was prohibited. 

The salaries allowed by the Company to their 
servants are small, so that many kinds of extortion, 
bribery, and corruption, are resorted to for the 
purpose of keeping up parade. 

Their mode of living is a heavy breakfast,, about 
eight o'clock, an oppressive dinner at noon, the 
effects of which are slept ofl^ and a tempting supper 
closes the day, at which large libations are poured 
out to Bacchus in claret, madeira, gin, and beer. 
Deaths are in the proportion of one to every five 
Europeans annually. Most of the white women 
are bom at Batavia. They spend their mornings 
among their slaves, in loose dresses, and, like their 
nurses, sit on the ground cross-legged, chewing 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 197 

betel. In the evening they go out richly decorated 
for exercise, having their jet black hair bespangled 
with diamonds and pearls, mingled with flowers of 
the Arabian jessamine and tuberose. Before supper 
the ladies put on light muslin dresses, and the 
gentlemen exchange their velvets and wigs for 
white jackets, and ornamented night-caps, in which 
they sit smoking till the hour of rest. Females 
are at maturity in their eleventh year, and grow 
old aiid ugly about thirty. No attention is paid 
to the cultivation of the mind. Little social in- 
tercourse exists between man and woman, and as 
the female is incapable by delicacy and vivacity to 
soften the manly qualities, the male is not excited 
by esteem to aim at raising what he only loves for 
his own gratification. Both, therefore, instead of 
being mutually conducive to improvement, con- 
tribute to barbarise each other. The "men are 
rude, and the women languid and insipid. 

Nearly all their slaves are from Celebes and 
Sumatra. These unfortunate forlorn creatures are 
so often maddened by cruelty to de^eration, that 
running the muck is common. This is done when 
reduced to desperation by melancholy, by rousing 
the energies to insanity with a dose of opium or 
bang. A rush is then' made by the naked slave, 
on friend and foe, with a creese, and it generally 
happens that he wallows in the blood of vengeance, 
flowing from the ghastly wounds of innocent 
passers by, before he is cut down, or taken to un- 

o 3 



198 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

dergo a refinement of torture, which exceeds des- 
cription ; but which has never been found to check 
the crime, not any more than the sanguinary codes 
in other countries. Some generous men, when re- 
turning to Europe with fortunes, manumit their 
leaves ; and others, when at the point of death, 
strive to propitiate heaven, by giving up a posses- 
saon which they can no longer retain. 

The profits of the Dutch East India Company 
have generally been above ten per cent. Their 
stock was at first about 600,000/., subscribed by 
nearly 2000 adventurers. It laid the foundation, 
in Europe, for the various frauds committed in the 
sale of public securities. We have completely 
overthrown their power in the East. The Hol- 
landers have sunk as the English rose. " When 
will you return ?" said a Dutch officer to a Portu- 
guese, as he was embarking, after the surrender of 
a strong fort. " When your crimes are greater 
than ours,*' was the instructive reply. The latter 
might now return with fair hope of as good a re- 
ception as the Dutch. 



THE FRENCH EAST INDIA COMPANY. 

During the reign of Philip the Fair, France 
began to recover from the tyranny of the feudal 
system. Agriculture, manufacture, and commerce 
were revived; but it was not till Catherine of 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 199 

ft* 

Medicis had crossed the Alps that the taste of this 
lively nation for elegance was ccmipletely fontied. 
The productions of the East were recdved frdm 
the Portuguese at first, after the trade of Venice 
fell into their hands ; but so early a« 1508 an 
attempt was made to get round the Cape of Good 
H(^e, which was unsuccessful. In 1601 a smaili 
commercial society was formed in Bretagne, and 
the vessels sent out reached the Maldives. But 
Pyrard, who conducted the undertaking, was very 
unfortunate in his navigation, and did not return 
home for ten years. In 1 61 6 another society was 
formed, which did not succeed well ; and it was 
not till 1642 that a settlement was made on the 
island of Madagascar, preparatory to others con- 
templated in India. This large island, separated 
from Africa by the Mozambique channel, wag 
covered with forests and morasses. It bad been 
neglected by the Portuguese, on account of itB 
supposed unhealthiness ; but the French finding 
that although the coasts were barren sands, yet 
that inland the country was fertile and the air 
salubrious, a factory was established upon it. The 
French, however, were unhappy m not propitiate 
ing the natives. Such a spirit of hatred was at 
length excited in their breasts, that in repeated 
attacks nearly all the early settlers were destroyed, 
and their houses consumed. 

The national energies being roused by the mis- 
fortunes of these private societies, Colbert, in 1664, 

o 4 



200 MEMOIRS OF mDIA» 

established an East India Company on the model 
of Holland, supported by the French government, 
with a charter for fifty years. It was invested with 
very great privil^es^ and the stock, amounting to 
625,000/., was raised partly by a loan in the mother 
country. Accordingly foiu* ships reached Mada^ 
gascar in 1665, and a permanent settlement w^s 
made; but the French finding it impossible to 
construct a safe harbour, never went to much ex- 
pense, and their unproductive colony was at length 
abandoned. 

Surat was at this time the centre of Indian 
commerce. The French, in common with the 
other European Companies, established their prin- 
cipal factory there, and derived much assistance 
from the Parsees, who had settled on this coast 
so early as the seventh century, to escape from the 
persecution of the Mohammedans, who conquered 
Persia. These mild and industrious followers of 
Zoroaster had conducted themselves with great 
prudence, keeping clear of all political parties, 
and being in India what the Quakers are in 
Europe, friends to the whole human race. It was 
in the year 1668 that the French established them- 
selves in this ancient and populous city under the 
direction of one Caron, who had long served the 
Dutch ; but being disgusted with ill-treatment, he 
came over to his own countrymen, and did them 
signal service by his experience and prudent conduct. 

Anxious to secure for the Company a fortified 



IffiMOSRS OF INBIA. 201 

post of consequence that might become the 
capital of that empire, which the French, from 
their first arrival, panted to establish by conquest 
over India, Caron surveyed the coasts, and fixed 
upon Trincomalee, having one of the finest har- 
bours in the world on the rich island of Ceylon. 
Assisted by a French squadron, under La Haye, 
it was taken possession of; but this occasioned a 
war between the Dutch and French Companies, 
which proved disastrous to the latter; for after 
losing great numbers of brave men by sickness, 
in this ill-concerted expedition, the fort surren- 
dered to the Dutch, La Haye then sailed for the 
Coromandel coast, and attacked St. Thome, which 
had been built one hundred years before by the 
Portuguese, and which the Dutch claimed as their 
conquerors. From this also they were driven two 
years after ; and the prospects of the Company 
would have been ruined had not Mr. Martin, a 
merchant of talent, purchased a small village, and 
some territory from the king of Bejapoor, near 
which Pondicherry was built^ and became the 
capital of their trade and conquests. It bears the 
same' name as the little village which was called 
Pudicheri. 

Here the French continued to improve from 
1672, the year in which the settlement was made. 
They formed connections with China, Siam, and 
some other places in the East, and established fac» 
tories in the^ province of Bengal. War in Europe^ 



202 MEMOIRS OF mwA. 

however, enabled the Dutch in 169S to attack the 
French capital in India. Pondicherry was taken 
in that year, and not restored till the peace of 
Ryswick in 1697. 

Meanwhile, 1688 persons had been placed on the 
island of Madagascar, who, instead of the pros- 
perity which they had expected, found graves, or 
such dissensions as paralysed all hope of success*^ 
Trade was carried on in such a way, and made so 
subservient to views of ambition and conquest, 
that instead of creeping cautiously along the 
shore, they launched into the ocean, before ex- 
peiience had taught them the best method of pro- 
tecting, the European bark against Indian waves. 
The Frenchmen of those days were all soldiers 
instead of .sailors or merchants. A warlike dis* 
position marches directly to its object, too often 
with rashness, while the commercial spirit imitates 
the fox, in accomplishing the same end by safe 
and slow encroachments. Reynard patiently takes 
his tail in his mouth, to try a stratagem, when he 
cannot mount the roost without the risk of break- 
ing his neck j but the cock jumps into the water 
that drowns him, to get at the image of what 
tempts his avidity. The French Company, there- 
fore, instead of being enriched by trade, were 
always poor, and had often to subscribe for losses ; 
while their rivals, the Dutch and English, were 
isharing dividends of thirty per cent on adventures. 
^ This course of ill^success was at length arrested 



MEMOIRS OF IJSVIAm 209 

by Orry, the celebrated financier of the mother 
country. He sent his brother out to Pondicherry 
to execute his plans ; and circumstances at length 
began to conspire in favour of France. Dumas 
was so fortunate as to obtain from the court of 
Delhi permission to coin money at the French 
capital in India, which proved to be a grant worth 
21,000/. per annuni, and by purchase or cession 
from the Tanjore government, districts were in a 
short time secured, containing 113 villages, yield- 
ing a revenue of more than 20,000/. yearly. The 
town of Karical then became a place of importance, 
and it was accordingly strongly fortified by the 
French. Their neighbour, the Nabob of Arcot, was 
attacked by the Mahrattas, and being vanquished 
and slain, his family found a place of refrige at 
Pondicherry. The Mahratta general demanded the 
surrender of his enemies, and the payment of tri- 
bute by the French, to the amount of 50,000/. per 
annum ; but Dumas laughed at the Indian, and be- 
haved with such firmness and prudence that peace 
ensued, and the Nabob of Arcot became the friend 
and ally of the French. 

La Bourdonnais, during these successes, was 
sent on discoveries, and inspected the isles of Mas- 
carenhas, Ceme, and Rodrique, which the Portu- 
guese bad discovered to the east of Madagascar, in 
the 19th degree of south latitude, but neglected. 
He made such a report upon their natural advan- 
tages, that it was immediately attempted to colo- 



S04 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

nise the two largest, now called the Isles of France 
and Bourbon. The unfortunate remnant of the 
settlement in Madagascar here found an asylum, 
and these islands proved to be the most permanent 
possessions of the French in the East A delight- 
ful climate and a fertile soil soon induced nume- 
rous adventurers to take up their abode where 
health and plenty appeared to smile on industry. 
The coffee tree was transplanted from Arabia : the 
Isle of France, which had been uninhabited before 
the French settled in Bourbon, under the manage- 
ment of the sagacious Bourdonnais, soon began to 
glow with yellow harvests of wheat, rice, and cas- 
sava, which latter grain he brought from Brazil for 
the slaves : a flourishing, town was founded, the 
harbour of Port Louis fortified and improved, 
docks were constructed, and ships built and equip- 
ped which swept the Indian seas. 

While these islands rose to importance under 
Bourdonnais, Chandernagor, the French colony on 
the river Hooghly, in the province of Bengal, was 
superintended by Dupleix, whose talents elevated 
it from almost nothing to a state of grandeur that 
excited admiration and envy. He was called to 
Pondicherry in 1742, and during his administration 
of the Company's affairs, their revenue rose to the 
highest point it ever gained, and their prospect was 
the brightest 

The English, of course, saw this with the impa- 
tience of self-interest j and the French, with the 



MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 205 

fond hope of removing the only rival that impeded 
their advancement War ensued. Bourdonnais 
besieged Madras, and took it in 1744, when he ob- 
tained plunder to the amount of SOOjOOOA, and 
agreed for a ransom of 440,000/., which was not 
confirmed by M, Dupleix, who forced all the Bri- 
tish inhabitants of every description to quit it ; for 
he aiined at driving the English entirely from India. 
The French government rewarded Bourdonnais 
for his conduct in India with a dungeon upon his 
return, great discord having arisen between him 
^nd Dupleix ; and the British having received re- 
inforcements from Europe, Admiral Boscawen be- 
sieged Pondicherry with 3720 Europeans, 300 
topasses, and 2000 sepoys in 1748. In a month 
and eleven days he was compelled to raise the 
siege, after losing 1065 Britons in repeated strug- 
gles, all of which were baffled by the conduct of 
Dupleix, who had a garrison of 1800 Frenchmen 
and 3000 sepoys; but the fortifications were of 
course equal to an army, and his artillery was 
served with great skill. 

Under a belief that Madras would never be re- 
stored to England, the French greatly improved it : 
at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1749, it was 
returned. But the restless spirit of Dupleix could 
not remain within the bounds of moderation. He 
pushed his system of aggrandizement along the 
coasts of India for 600 miles ; disposed of the 
soubahship of the Deccan in favour of a crea- 



306 unaHQiRs or india« 

ture of his own, and sent an army under M* 
Bussy to place him in power at Aurungabad. 
Another creature, subservient to the interests of 
France, was proclaimed Nabob of Arcot, which 
secured for Dupleix cessions, as a valuable consi- 
deration, on the banks of the Cavery, so situated aa 
to command the water required to irrigate the 
lands of Tanjore, which necessarily placed that 
kingdom at his disposal. He was honoured with 
high marks of favour by his king, and invested 
with the dignity of a nabob by the Emperor of 
Delhi, that he might influence the minds and ima* 
ginations of the natives by the utmost display of 
Asiatic pomp. Seated upon a tall elephant, gUtter- 
ing with trappings of gold and silver, followed and 
preceded by others in slow imposing procession, 
he received the prostrations of a slavish multitude 
with all the exultation of unbounded vanity. He 
sat in his durbar like the Great Mogul, and by 
' acting the despot soon learned to be one in reality. 
The rights of the natives were trampled upon. 
Their customs and ceremonies were ridiculed and 
insulted. They were forced to act contrary to the 
rules of their castes, and their tears, lamentations, 
and curses spread hatred and roused vengeance. 
Dupleix became inflated with his own lightness; 
•and at a time when he should have cautiously in- 
sinuated that he could scarcely walk, he trumpeted 
to the world that he was pluming his wings for 
majestic flights. 



MEBCOiRS OP nroiA* 207 

The English now saw that one of the two rival 
states must fall ; and all the energies of the Com- 
pany were directed to arrest the glaring encroach- 
ments of Dupleix, whose inordinate ambition at 
last brmging him under suspicion at the court of 
Versailles, he was replaced by M. Lally in 1758, 
just when a bloody war was commencing between 
England and Friance. Both parties strained every 
oerve to meet the coming storm, which was seen 
black and portentous over the continent of Ame- 
rica. Though Great Britain was not at leisure to 
send out ab large force to India, yet the abilities of 
Colonels Clive, Lawrence, and Coote supplied the 
place of troops. Never were harmony and emula- 
tion more conspicuous, — never were valour and 
self-devotion carried to a more romantic length 
than in those struggles between the English and 
French Companies for empire in the plains of Hin- 
dostan. Valour was always common to both na- 
tions ; but self-devotion can only be claimed by 
the victorious party, and it must be restricted to 
the period in question ; for discord as often pre- 
vails in our councils, as in those of almost any 
other country. 

Dupleix and Bourdonnais, unquestionably the 
greatest men the French Company ever had in 
their service in India, could not agree ; for, in 
fect^ they were not magnanimous enough to sacri- 
fice their own passions to the interests of their 
country; and Lally, who succeeded, had nothing 



208 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

but the impetuous courage of an Irishman to re- 
deem him from the contempt of an historian. He 
was ungovernably passionate, gloomy, and irregu- 
lar ; so that there was an eternal inconsistency be- 
tween his words and his actions. Suspicious and 
jealous, he roused in the breasts of others most dan- 
gerous commotions, hostile to the ends he had in 
view, by not knowing how to keep them suppressed 
within himself. In common with his predecessors, 
however, he aiijied at the destruction of his foes ; 
and, having received strong reinforcements from 
Europe, he attacked Madras, while the English 
were engaged in a most dangerous war in Bengal 
with the natives. This invasion of the French ter- 
minated in the capture of Chandiernagor, and the 
overthrow of every hope the French entertained of 
increase on the banks of the Hooghly. 

The siege of Madras by Lally will ever be con- 
sidered memorable for skill and bravery on both 
sides. It was commenced on the 17th December, 
1758, and terminated on the 17th of February fol- 
lowing, by the precipitate retreat of the French 
army, who left fifty-two pieces of cannon and one 
hundred and fifty barrels of gunpowder behind 
them. 

All their territories were now wrested from the 
French Company ;. and in I76I, beaten both by 
land and sea, Pondicherry surrendered, after a long 
and brave defence, to Colonel Coote. It was re- 
stored at the peace of 1763, taken again by Sir 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 209 

Hector Munro in I778, returned in 1783, cap- 
tured again in 1793, and given up once more at 
the peace of Amiens with 25,000 inhabitants and 
a revenue of 18,000/,, arising from the town and 
territory which extended five miles along the coast 
Bonaparte intended to avail himself of this nest to 
hatch a dangerous brood, and he sent out seven 
generals,, a great number of other officers, and 1400 
regular troops, with a military chest containing 
100,000/, All his plans were frustrated by the re- 
commencement of war, and the place was again re- 
occupied in 1803, but Admiral Linois carried the 
troops off in his ships, in proper time,, to the Isle 
of France; for Pondicherry was then an open 
town, the fortifications having been destroyed by 
the English, in return for a similar act when the 
French captured Fort St. David. 

At the peace of Paris, Chandemagor was^ re- 
stored to the French, but they are not permitted to 
fortify it. Pondicherry and Chandemagor are the 
only settlements they havanow in India;, for the 
Isles of France and Bourbon were captured, by an 
expedition sent against them by Lord Minto in 
1811. They now belong to Great Britain^ by 
treaty. 

Pondicherry, which was once a beautiful city, is 
hastening fast to ruins. The descendants of the 
French in it, like those of the Porti%uese ^d 
'Dutch. in other places, are very podr, and even 



SIO HBMOIAS OF INDIA. 

ladies Support themselves by various modes of In- 
dustry^ 

Since the decline of the French in India, which 
commenced with the brilliant career of Lord Glive, 
that active and restless people have never lost sight 
of any opportunity to recover their influence. Upon 
the return of Lally to Europe, after the surrender 
of Pondicherry in I76I, be was arrested, tried on 
severail charges, and sentenced to lose his h^ad, 
not, it appears, for any crime he had 'committed, but 
to allay the popular indignation, which was excited 
by the overthrow of hopes, formed with the most 
sanguine fondness. Like our Byng, he was the 
victim of prejudice and blind fury ; for he was not 
answerable for what he could not control, and the 
punishment ought to have fallen upon those who 
placed him in a situation where conciliating quali- 
ties were required. To an intolerant, overbearing 
spirit, the decline of the French must be attribut- 
ed J smd the elevation of the British to a contrary 
system. 

Ever since, the trade of France with India has 
languished, with the exception of one short period 
of five years. In I769, the charter of the French 
East India Company was suspended, and a free 
trade opened for all the subjects of that nation, 
under certain conditions. And in I77O, the Com- 
pany made over all their property to the king, ex- 
cept 4n interest in the ^ares. It stili exists as a 
body, but the trade is very trifling. 



/ Poring the rise and pfdgres» of Hyder Att!, arid 
hi» »on Tippo, the French t^ref e inde&tigable m 
disdplining the armies 6f Mysore; wd in Hke 
•manner, when the Mahrattas combmed agatnit the 
power of Great Britain in tte Eaist^ on6 of the 
most adroit manoeuvres of the Marqmsf Wdlesl^ 
was the dissorming of the French at Hyderabad, 
and their separation tvom the service of Sc^adea. 

Pondicherry is in lat 11^ dT N. \&b§. 79'' 5&' E. 
Distant from Calcutta 1 ISO mfles. It contained, 
when taken from Lally,^ about 70^000 infaabitanti, 
and several magnificent building' The street 
w^e broad, and planted on each side with a ro# of 
green trees^ the shade of which was partictdarfy 
grateful. Though the fbrtificatioiffi^ w^re destroyed, 
the public buildings neglected, and the native id- 
habitants scattered over India, yet the French re- 
stored it to beauty again, and fortified it strongly. 
In aibsequent attacks, however, these were once 
more demolished, and this charming city is now 
doomed to appear to the contemplative traveller, 
like the ghost of a lovely thi»g tiiali has bemi, and 
^ei^ed away^ leaving but a wreds: bduiid. 



THE DANISH EAST INDIA CX)MPANY.r 

Christianity having overthrowu the htobdrisijjfg 
i^st(An of Woden, one of whdse toiif^ wa%i that 
the rt^ions of bUss W€*e owly <^fffea to^Ji^wwripf, 

p 2 



91S MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 

the Danes, forsaking their cruel and rapacious life, 
mixed in commercial intercourse with other nations, 
and became polished by imperceptible- degrees. 

Christiern the Fourth of Denmark, about the 
year 1612, was anxious to share in the Indian trade, 
and accident was friendly to his wishes. Bos- 
chower, a Dutchman, possessed of influence from 
long residence on the island of Ceylon, was dis- 
gusted with some slight he had received from his 
own government, an4^ offered his services to king 
Christiern. A society was accordingly formed for 
purposes of trade at Copenhagen, and six vessels 
sailed under Boschower for India. Unfortunately 
he died during the voyage, and his second in com- 
mand, Ove Guidde de Tommerup, being coldly 
received at Ceylon, sailed for Tanj ore, where he 
found more encouragement. ^In return for some 
handsome presents, and the promise of an annual 
tribute of seven hundred pounds sterling, a cession 
of territory was made, upon which the Danes built 
Tranquebar, and the fortress of Dansburg. The 
Portuguese, Dutch, and English were all too much 
engaged at the time to prevent what they afterwards 
no doubt regretted. For the Dutch in 1689, 
although the Danish Company was not in so flourish- 
ing a state as it had been, attacked Tranquebar, 
and the place was only saved by an alliance with 
the English. 

This, however, did not much retard the -decline of 
^e Danish Society,'^for it became bankrupt in 17SO. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. Sl3 

A new East India Company was, however, formed 
by the government, with very great privileges 
and advantages. Their capital consisted only of 
135,000/. divided into 84/. shares. With this fund 
and the profits, they in forty years fitted out 800 
ships, and nearly trebled their original stock. On 
the west bank of the Hooghly river about sixteen 
miles above Calcutta^ the Danish Company built 
the handsome Uttle town of Serampore, extending 
a mile along a beautiful sheet of water, not more 
than half a mile inland, and without territory, the • 
adjacent country being British property. During 
tiie last long war the Daniirfi settlements were in 
our possession. They have been restored to the 
mother country, under the same restrictions as 'the 
settlements of France, Holland, and Portugal. At 
this place the Baptist missionaries* carry on their 
plans for converting the Hindoos ; they have been 
very successful in translating the Scriptures into 
difierent native dialects. Here also the debtors of 
Calcutta find refuge from a jail, when unable to 
satisfy their creditors ; for even in time of war it is 
considered out of the jurisdiction of the supreme 
court, and in time of peace the flag of a foreign 
state Qnables them to enjoy liberty in poverty. 

Tranquebar is situated in lat. Xl° N. long. 79« 
S5' E. Distant from Madras, 145 miles, S. by W. 
\fhile Denmark continued neutral, the inhabitants 

♦ Vide Appendix, note 10. 



311 M£M0IBS OF INDIA* 

here made laffge sums by lending their names 16. 
cover British property, but in I8O7 it was taken 
possession of by the British government, and was 
restored it the peace of Paris. The Danes are a 
quiet, immeddiing people. Their missionaries have 
been very suecessful in converting the Tanjorians 
to Christianity, and in teaching them to be haj^y 
aifter the loss of oaste, by finding the means of ^ub« 
sistence in a new society j the simplicity and beauty 
of which have been much commended by difi^ent 
observers. 

The Danes are certainly held in great respect 
by the natives in the vicinity of their two setde* 
menta, which of course they owe entirely to their 
just and proper conduct, their unambitioujirdcfiorfcr 
jaent, and their delicate attention to the rights of 
their fellow creatures, whose' manners and customs 
they do not arrogantly insult and ridicule, because 
th^ happen to be di£^ent from tkeir own. 



THE EAST INDIA COMPANY OF 
OSTEND. 

Auslfk, £?(>m its situation, its poverty, and priiil^, 
w«9 QOt in a state to cope with the commercial parts 
of .Europe in trade, i^ery thing connected witii. 
iftimufaetur« languished in a country where industr^r 
was not supported by the countenance of power. 

This state of thiii|p was seen by Prince Eugene, 



MEMOIRS OF im>IA« ^S 

who, with all the fine qualities of a S(ddifir, possessed 
those of a statesman. Having received a proposal 
fi:om the merchants of Ostend, for the formation 
of an East India Company, he lent his whole energy 
to the measure. In 1717» the first ships sent out 
by the Ostend Company reached India. From 
that period for a considerable time their a£^s 
flourished. Two settlements were made, one at 
Coblom, near Madras, and the other at Bankibazar 
on the Ganges. Their capital was at first 450,000/. 
and on this they gained 15/. per cent, for many 
years; but the policy of Austria was adverse to 
commerce generally, and the competition of the 
English in India, with other minor causes, at length 
drove ike Ostend Company out of the market. 
Being neglected by the government, it sunk into 
oblivion. The stock was sold off, and many jrf the 
proprietors turned their views towards Sweden^ for- 
the purpose of participating in the Indian trade. 



THE SWEDISH EAST INDIA COMPANY. 

Sweden began to hold a respectable station* 
among the nations of Europe from the time of 
Gustavus Adolphus ; but it was not till the year 
1731, that a rich merchant of Stockholm procured 
from the king a charter for the formation of an 
East India Company. Their success was at first 
visry great, and upwards of 54 per cent was cleai^d. 

p 4 



Sl6 MBMOms OF INDIA. 

upon their Mventures, but in time their privileges" 
were encroached upon by a necessitous and short- 
sighted government, and they were never able to 
increase their stock much, which was at first 
about 250,000/., nor to form permanent establish- 
ments in. India. The seat of their commerce with 
India was fixed at Gottenburgh, which communi. 
cates by artificial navigation with Stockholm, and 
their factors reside at the principal stations of the 
other Europeans trading with the East, but their 
speculations are now on a small scale. 



ON THE PRUSSIAN, SPANISH, AND 
RUSSIAN EAST INDIA TRADE. 

When the good fortune of Frederick the Great 
gave him possession of East Friesland in 1744, 
the advantageous situation of its capital, Etnbden, 
for trade, induced him to establish an East India 
Company, which was effected in 1751, with a 
capital of nearly 165,000/., divided into two 
thousand shares. Their speculations were, how- 
ever, very unsuccessful ; and in 1763 a dissolution 
of the Company was the consequence. 

The Spaniards, satisfied with their conquests in 
America, and prevented from turning their am- 
bition to the East by the Pope's bull, which had 
vested that quarter of the globe in the Portuguese, 
reaped no advantage from their discovery of the 



MEMOIRS OF IKDIA. 817 

Philippines, which Magellan had visited in 1521, 
being then in the service of the emperor Charles 
the Fifth. But in 1564, Philip the Second began to 
establish a settlement in this distant quarter, and 
gave his name to the discoveries of Magellan, 
which had been previously called the Manillas. 
In 1571 the dominion of Spain was established 
over nine of those volcanic isles, and the found- 
ation of the city of Manilla laid, which was strongly 
fortified in 1590 by Gomes Peres de las Marighas. 
It is situated between two volcanos, which are in 
a constant state of fermentation. This settlement 
was placed under a governor, subordinate to the 
viceroy of Mexico; and over the unfortunate 
inlanders the Spaniards have always exercised the 
most cruel oppression, having converted the whole 
of them within their reach to Christianity by terror. 
From Manilla the Spanish galleons sailed annually 
to Mexico, with the various productions of India, 
which wer^ paid for in cochineal and piastres. 
Now that revolution has deprived the mother 
country of Mexico, it is probable that tiie Philip- 
pines will be seized upon by some more commercial 
state than Spain, or continue an unproductive cor- 
respondence with America. 

Like Portugal, Spain carried on trade with 
India» only on account of the king. The Philip- 
pines furnished for export tobacco, rice, canes, 
wax, oils, cowries, ebony, dried fish, japan wood, 
birds' nests, and sea dogs; but agents were sta* 



21B MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

tioned at the chief European settlements in India, 
who purchased all the valuable articles esteemed in 
the mother country. 

The Bussians, from continuing longer in a state 
of barbarism than other nations in Europe, had no 
communication with India till after the conquest 
of Siberia, towards the end of the sixteenth century. 
Haying then approached the confines of China 
through Tartary, sharp contests arose in those: 
frightful regions, which were at last settled by 
negotiations in 1689, that fixed the Russian limits^ 
at the river Kerbechi, about three hundred leagues 
from the Great Wall. By this treaty the Chinese 
permitted the Russians to send a caravan annually 
to Pekin ; but such infringements of manners and- 
customs occurred by this intercourse, that in 1721 
it was arranged that all transactions between the 
two nations should be carried on near the frontiers. 
Accordingly, two large magazines were establish* 
ed at Kiatcha, and commissaries appointed to. 
superintend the exchange of merchandise, for 
specie was^ seldom used in this traffic. In this 
way Rusisia received tea, and many otiier luxuries, 
at the commencement of the reign of Peter the 
Great. But-that sagacious prince, foreseeing the 
great advantage of commerce with India, established 
a communication through Astracan and Bucharia, 
by which the commodities of Hindostan were 
transported to Petersburgh. He subsequently also 
had important objects in view in pushing his con- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 219 

quests towards the Caspian Sea, and the confines of 
Persia. Had the English adventurer Elton not 
gone over to Kouli Khan, it is probably that the 
trade of Russia with India would have been firmly 
settled in that direction. 

- Viewing JElussia as the most growing state in the^ 
world, it is impossible not to cfHitemplate her 
future universal sway over Am, if not prevented 
by wise precautions. Her situation is such, com- 
municating by open roads prepared by the hand of 
naturei with three great quarters of the earth, that 
it is no wonder so many statesmen look upon the 
present actioni^ of the warlike Alexander with sus-i 
picion and apprehension^ In the mighty revolu-.^ 
tions which futurity has \idtfaiii her womb, it isr 
most likely that Russia and America are destined, 
to perform great parts on the stage of the world, , 
a^d that the plains of Hindostan will be the scene 
of mighty strugglesYor empire. 



CHAPTER IV. 

On thk settlements and conquests of great 
BRITAIN IN India, till the end of marquis 
wellesley's administration. 

England, as a commercial nation, had risen to an 
important station in the reign of queen Elizabeth, 
Her bold navigators, Drake, Stephens, and Caven- 
dish, had extended the marine knowledge of their 
country ; and in the year I6OO the enterprising 
merchants of London established an East India 
Company, undej* a charter for fifteen years, with 
privileges similar to those enjoyed by the other 
societies of Europe, then trading with the concur- 
rence of their governments to India. Sir Thomas 
Roe, our ambassador to the court of the Great 
Mogul, was favourably received, and the moderate 
pretensions of the adventurers seemed at first to 
meet with success. Small factories were soon 
established at Surat, in Bengal, and on the Coro- 
mandel coast, and forts built in the islands of Java^ 
Poleron, Amboyna, and Banda. But the Dutch, 
looking upon the settlements of the English with the 
greatest jealousy, a bloody war soon ensued between 
tiie two Companies, which nearly terminated in the 
ruin of the infant stations. The English were 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 1221 

massacred on the islands of Java and Amboyna, 
and being neglected by the ministry of James the 
First, were left in a great measure to struggle with 
difficulties, that nothing but admirable wisdom and 
perseverance could overcome. 

Captain Thomas Best had established a flourish- 
ing factory at Surat, about the year 1612, but the 
Portuguese, unwilling to admit such a rival, evinced 
the most rancorous spirit of hostility ; and their 
plans for the destruction of the British settlement 
were only frustrated by the. superiority of our 
iiaval force, which beat the armaments from Goa 
in three furimis engagements. These successes 
raised the glory of the English name in India, 
and several advantageous connections were soon 
formed with native powers, ever willing to side 
with the strongest The king of Persia opened 
the trade of his dominions to our merchants, and 
during the active reign of Cromwell, the Dutch 
were every where beaten, and their settlements 
taken. But Charles the Second, induced by his 
necessities to sell the interests of his country, 
permitted a rival company, for a valuable con- 
sideration, to be established, whose interests being 
opposed to the other commercial body, nearly led 
to the ruin of both.. The Dutch at this time made 
the most formidable attacks upon the English^ and 
in 1680 drove them ignominiously from Bantam. 
When, with the spirit of Britons, the old Company 
determined upon retaliation,. King Charley sacri- 



ficed their interett^ for 9^,749^, which he reeeived 
from Holland. However, the credit of their mune 
for integrit^r and fair deali^ in Ihdia^ had placed 
45uch powerful means at the disposal of the local 
authorities, that unsupported by the goverimiaat' 
nt home, thej witbrtood the utmoet fury of their 
' enemies. After escaping imminent perils, not oidy 
from the treachery of their king, but from the 
rancour and animosity with which the two com- 
panies pursued each otl^r, the good sen^ of 
England prevailed; they were taken under the 
protection of pairliament, aaid at length in 170% 
the two East India Companies of England united 
their funds and became friends^ since which 
the most si^al success has attended their pro^ 
ceedings. 

Meanwhile, the French were beginning to push 
their ambitious projects forward with all the ac- 
tivity of hope. It was soon found that one of the 
two powers, England or France, must fall. A 
bloody war commenced in 1744^ both in Europe 
and India, which was carried on almost without 
intermission till the death of George the Second 
in the year 1760j by which time the French had 
lost all their settlements in India. The English 
were estabhshed in firm power,, not only along the 
coai^ of Coromandel, Malabar, and Beiigal^ bat 
al^ in AraUa, the Persian Gulf, and throughcttt 
the Eastern Isles. 

This amazing success i» in a great measure lo 



umMum OB INDIA, ^a^ 

be attributed to the uncommon genius of Lord 
Clive, who had commenced his career as a writer 
on the Madras establishment ; but finding himself 
better calculated for the military than the civU 
department, he joined the army, and soon dis- 
tinguished himself by acts of the most extra- 
ordinary valour. He was at length raised to rank, 
that gave him command. After several campaigns, 
distinguished by consummate skill and most daring 
enterprise, he placed the Nabob of Arcot, opposed 
by the French, on his throne, where he was sup- 
ported by the English in power. He completely 
cleared the province of the French forces. Being 
then called away to Bengal to punish the Soubah- 
of that province,- the French who were consider- 
ably reinforced, attacked Fort St David, under 
Lally, and beseiged Madras. Bui they were 
bravely resisted, and at last Colonel Gobte, having 
beaten the French general in the fields besieged 
Pondicherry, and took his last strohg-hold. 

It appears that this wonderful prosperity com- 
pletely changed the policy of the East Tndia 
Company Hitherto their government had acted 
seemingly without any view to conquest or ag- 
grandisement, and the good faith of England was 
respected by the natives. In the unassuming 
character of merchants they had been seen strug- 
gling with difficulties which excited compassion ; 
and by industry and perseverance overcoming 



4^4 MEMOIRS OF INDIA; 

obstacles that ci-eated for them in the breastof 
every observer sympathy and esteem. 

Surajah-Dowla, who had so inhumanly immured 
the garrison of Calcutta in the black hole*, from 
which out of 146 persons only 23 escaped with 
life, had been deposed by Colonel Clive, and put 
to death by his successor Meer-Jaffier Ally-Khan. 
This revolution and the battle of Plassey, by which 
it was brought about, had raised Colonel Clive's 
former bright character to such splendour, that 
honours were heaped upon him both in England 
and in India. By the emperor of Hindostan he 
was created an omrah, and by the court of di- 
rectors on the 23d of June, 1758, nominated 
governor-general. In I76O, he returned to Europe, 
and was succeeded by Mr. Vansittart, who pursued 
a different line of policy, though aiming at the 
same end, the advantage of the Company. 
■ He, however, instead of continuing hostile to 
Shah Allum, the Mogul Emperor, formed a treaty 
with him, and deposed Meer-Jaffier, whom Colonel 
Clive had elevated, placing Cossim AUy-Rhan 
his son-in-law in the soubahship of Bengal. The 
hypocrisy and dissimulation with which this revo- 
lution was effected are truly disgusting. Mr. 
Vansittart said to Meer-Jaffier, " I solemnly de- 
clare, I have no other views but your good,'* wliile 
he was deposing him; and he held the same 

* Vide Addenda, XXXIIL 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 225 

language to<;!ossiin, while stripping him of a large 
portion of those territories, to the sovereignty of 
which he professed to be raising him. Although 
he also received from Cossim nearly 100,000/., as 
a present or bribe, which was reported by some of 
the members in council to the court of directors^ 
yet that body, in consideration of the vast im- 
provement of their revenue, highly applauded the 
conduct of their governor-general, and allowed 
him a handsome per centage on the increase. 

However, the event proved that no confidence 
can be placed in a creature elevated to power on 
selfish principles. Cossim soon displayed the most 
rancorous hatred against those to whom he owed 
his elevation. He endeavoured to remunerate 
himself for what he considered he had lost, by 
the plunder and oppression of the subjects over 
whom he was permitted to tyrannise; and at 
length many acts of hostility were committed 
against the very power by whom he was supported* 
Among these may be mentioned the barbarous 
murder of Mr. Amyatt and his suite. War was, 
therefoi-e^ declared against him, and his army w;as 
beaten on the plains of Geriah ; but he escaped 
into the dominions of Sujah-ul-Dowla, having first 
massacred about 200 English prisoners, belonging 
to the factories in his territories. The fate of 
th^se unfortunate men deserves a sigh. When 
the British army was approaching Moorshedabad, 
Cossim, according to the barbarous customs of 



226 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

India, threatened to put all his prisoners to death, 
if the force advanced. Major Adams who com- 
manded, was a man of humanity, and anxious to 
prevent such a sad catastrophe, found means of 
conveying advice to Mr. Ellis and the other pri- 
soners of their danger, and offering the means of 
bribing the guards for their escape. But their 
magnanimous reply was " Let no attention be 
given to us ; we are ready to submit to our fate." 

By this revolution Meer-Jaffier was again raised to 
his former station, and Cossim being supported by 
Sujah-ul-Dowla, who held the power and person 
of the Great Mogul, a battle was soon fought at 
Buxar, which placed the emperor of Delhi, Shah 
Allum, in the hands of the English, to whom he 
had before voluntarily surrendered himself. 

Such important events, and the confusion into 
which the politics of India fell during the ad> 
ministration of Mr. Vansittart, induced the court 
of directors to dispatch Lord Clive as the only 
man who coiild re-establish their affairs, and con- 
solidate their conquests. He reached Calcutta in 
1765, invested with supreme militaiy and civi^ 
authority. His second career was commenced by 
professing in council that he came to reform tiit 
anarchy, confusion, and corruption which pervaded 
eveiy department of the government. He, how- 
ever, while professing the most disinterested mo- 
tives, pursued a course of conquest, on the prin- 
ciple, which he made known in his public di$- 



MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 227 

patches, that the princes of Hindostan wer6 now 
so well convinced of pur boundless views of am- 
bition, there was no safety but in taking what, if 
not taken^ would be turned to our own destruction^ 
" The very nabobs," said he, " whom we might 
support, would be watching to destroy us; we 
must indeed become nabobs ourselves, in fact, if 
not in name. In short, if riches and security are 
the objects of the Company, this is the only method 
for securing them." 

Accordingly about 600,000/. were extorted from 
Sujah-iil^Dowla, as the price of his safety ; and the 
emperor made over for ever to the Company, the 
collection of the revenue of the provinces of Bengal, 
Bahar, and Orissa, with all legal formality, which 
cessions, after the payment of all expenses, yielded a 
clear revenue of 1 ,650,000/. Upon this the governor 
and council styled themselves " The magnificent 
merchants of the East India Company, the dewan$ 
of the magnificent provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and 
Orissa, servants of the magnanimous emperor Shah 
Allum." It is excusable to indulge a smile at thi& 
title. The ridicule it excites becomes painful, 
when we reflect how soon talent and genius arer 
absorbed in the vices of ambition ; and how quickly 
prosperity leads a conqueror to trample on the 
rights of mankind. Lord Clive, while he was thus 
consistent in enriching himself and the Company 
with the spoils of others, could make the nicest 
distinctions on points of nwrality, and talk like an 



228 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

angel about the self-destroying effects of luxury, 
corruption, avarice, and rapacity. 

Upon this great accession of territories and 
riches, the proprietors of East India stock began 
to be clamorous for a higher dividend than six 
per centj which had been the average for some 
time. At a numerous meeting it was fixed at 
twelve and a half; but parliament, remembering 
the South Sea bubble, rescinded their resolution, 
and established ten per cent as the maximum, 
obliging the Company, moreover, to pay 400,000/. 
annually to the British government, in lieu of the 
territories conquered in India, the possession of 
which, it was asserted, belonged of right to the 
crown./ Soon after, however, when the charter 
was renewed, the dividends were increased to twelve 
and a half per cent, and an agreement made, that 
should they decrease, the stipulated sum of 400,000/. 
a year should be proportionally diminished, and 
cease altogether, if ever the profits should be so 
low as six per cent. It appears, indeed, that both 
at home and .abroad, a universal thirst was felt to 
$hare in the vast wealth of the Company, which 
was soon found to be more imaginary than real. 
The Company's servants formed a project of en- 
riching themselves by a monopoly of the inland 
trade, in salt, betel nut, and tobacco, and immense 
fortunes were made by individuals, at the expence 
of justice and British character. These articles are 
necessaries of life in India; it may be easily con- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 229 

ceived what hatred, disgust, and oppression were 
occasioned when the prices rose enormously, aftd 
when no native was permitted to participate in the 
profits. In short, it appeared, that Lord Clive, 
instead of having returned to Hindostan for ifhe 
purpose of reforming abuses, came out armed with 
superior power, only to inflict'greater evil. Perhaps, 
from a concurrence of circumstances, no country 
ever endured more complicated misery than some 
parts of India in the latter part of his administra- 
tion. The great landholders, finding. that their 
tenures were declared void, left the laiids untilled. 
A most cruel famine ensued, the frightful effects 
of which were increased by the horrors of a bloody 
war with Hyder AUi and the Nizam of the 
Deccan, which nearly ruined the credit of the East 
India Company. 

Meanwhile, about the year 1767> Lord Clive re- 
turned home. The affairs of India were managed 
by Mr. Verelst and Mr. Carrier, till 1772, when 
Mr. Hastings commenced his long career. It may 
be easily conceived with what painful feelings 
Lord Clive viewed the proceedings in parliament, 
after his return. To find that after the most 
brilliant successes and accessions of territory, which 
had been pronounced most valuable acquisitions, 
the Company he had served were involved in dis- 
tress, and forced to call upon a jealous people, for 
a loan of 1,500,000/., to pay off* their current 
debts, must have filled a mind like his, with chagrin 

(i 3 



290 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

and grief. It was proved at the bar of the House 
of Commons, that if the Company had not in- 
creased their territories between the years I765 
and 1768, that their dividends would have been 
twelve and a half per cent by trade alone, whereas 
the expences of their civil and military establishr 
ments bad risen so much above the revenue^ &8t 
they pnly shared six per cent, and consequently 
lost instead of gaining by their conquests. The 
loan was granted by parliament on very severe 
conditions. Such was the indignation excited by 
the oppressions which had taken place in the East^ 
that a bill was passed for the better regulation of 
the affairs of the East India Company, as well in 
India as in Europe, by which a supreme court was 
established in Calcutta, and a considerable share in 
the government of Hindostan vested in the crown. 
But this was not all, for heavy charges were pre- 
ferred against Lord Clive, of corruption, avarice, 
and oppression. He defended himself, however, 
with great ability ; and although it was not denied, 
that about the time of the deposition of Surajah- 
Dowla, he received 234,000/., under the name of 
private donation, an amendment was moved upcHi 
the censure, " that Lord Clive did at the same 
time render great and meritorious services to this 
country.*' . 

The remaining part of this great man's life was 
spent in retirement and solitude. Though he was 
acquitted by a public tribunal, the memory of the 



MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 231 

past tortured him, till existence became insup-. 
portable. He languished in all the horrors of 
melancholy and despair, amidst inexhaustible 
wealth, which he was unable to enjoy, and at 
length put a voluntary period to his life, proclaim- 
ing to the world, what has been so often proclaimed 
in vain, that the highest gratification of human 
wishes are insufficient to secure earthly happiness,, 
if at variance with virtue and religion. 

It was fully expected, that on the arrival of 
Mr. Hastings in India, the British character would 
be redeemed from the detestation in which it was 
held by the natives. His virtue and wisdom were 
in high estimation, both at home and abroad. He 
had passed through the ordeal of a public life with 
unsullied reputation. But the difficulties of hi^ 
situation forced him to pursue that crooked policy, 
which Machiavelian cunning has denominated 
wisdom. The qualities of his excellent, heart were 
sometimes sacrificed at the shrine of ambition. 
His imagination persuaded his understanding into 
a conscientious beUef, that he was acting in obedi-- 
ence to his pulse, whilst he was in some instances 
only consulting the cold maxims of hi& brain. 

The first act of his government was an endea-. 
vour to improve the revenue, which he found in a 
most declining state, by appointing a Committee 
of Circuit, empowered to sell all the lands in the. 
newly acquired provinces, by auction, to the highest 
bidder. Mr. Hastings* intentions in this delega- 

Q. 4 



S[d£ MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

tion of power were fair and well intended. It i» 
unjust to attribute to him the corruptions of agents^ 
or the consequences of failures. In five years an 
alarming deficiency in the public receipts was dis- 
covered, instead of that improvement which had 
been fondly contemplated. One violent act often 
generates another. To make up the exhausted 
treasury with the spoils of war was next at- 
tempted. The vizier Sujah-ul-Dowla, nabob of 
Oude, was assisted with troops in a destructive 
campaign against the Rohillas, for which he paid 
vast sums to the British government. Fresh en- 
croachments were found necessary to be made on 
the emperor of Hindostan, who had thrown him- 
self into the arms of the Mahrattas. In a short 
time the flames of war were kindled up in all parts 
of India. But it is quite unfair to accuse Mr. Hast- 
ings of producing a general war. The ambitious 
views of the Mahrattas were the real causes. It 
was well known to them that Mr. Hastings was 
struggling with great difficulties, and they aimed 
at driving the English from the shores of India. 
The utmost dissension prevailed in the councils of 
Calcutta. General Clavering, Colonel Monson, 
and Mr. Francis, being in nearly all cases adverse 
to the projects of the governor-general. They 
made public representations to the court of direc- 
tors against his proceedings, and hearkened to 
several calumnious charges from rajah Nund 
Comar, and other natives* A noble minded man 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. ' 233 

scorns to be reduced to take refuge in defence. 
Conscious of his own worth, he thinks the world 
should give him the credit he deserves. It is pro- 
bable, I humbly think, that Mr. Hastings acted on 
this principle. Instead of permitting his conduct 
to be investigated, he had the rajah arraigned be- 
fore Sir Elijah Impey, chief judge of the supreme 
court, for forgery. He was condemned and ex- 
ecuted, by the sentence of EngKsh law, for a 
crime which, according to his own code, is only a 
misdemeanor. This Hindoo was of the Brahman 
caste, held so sacred, that life is not forfeited by 
the commission of any crime ; therefore his fate 
produced a sensation of the most general indigna- 
tion in India, and nothing but inability prevented 
the native population from instantaneous revenge. 
It is true, his conviction was legal. True, he was 
subject to the jurisdiction of the supreme court. 
Biit strict law is sometimes great injustice. It is 
deeply to be regretted, that this native was 
executed. 

Mr. Hastings was not long troubled with opposi- 
tion from General Clavering and Colonel Monson, 
ivho both fell victims to the climate. Mr. Francis, 
seeing the hopelessness of opposition, returned to 
England, to make fruitless representations to the 
court of directors and His Majesty's ministers, 
who were equally dazzled with the gigantic plans 
of Mr. Hastings, for the extension of empire in 
the East. 



Sd4 MEMOmS OF INDIA* 

The Maliratta war, therefore, which had been 
going on, for some time, in the west of India, was 
now pursued with increased spirit. The Bombay 
government had attempted to march a military force 
to Poonah, the capital of the Peishwa, who was 
considered the head of the Mahratta confederacy. 
Their general was beaten by Nana Furnese, and 
forced to sign a disgraceful capitulation. But when 
this occurred, a division of the Bengal army had 
penetrated through the whole extent of Hindostan, 
and was in full cooperation with Bombay. The 
government of that presidency refused, therrfore, 
to ratify the treaty agreed to by their general. Our 
a£^s, at this period, were in a most critical and 
alarming state. No man then in India, but Mr. 
Hastings, could have commanded fortune. The 
Mahrattas had formed a most formidable con- 
federacy among themselves, and combined with 
the French, who were then endeavouring to regain 
political influence at Pondicherry.* This powerful 
attack on us, with the avowed intention of driving 
us into the sea, had been joined by the Nizam of 
l^e Deccan, and also by Hyder Alii, the powerful 
and warlike usurper of Mysore j so that Mr. 
Hastings saw all the most dangerous governments 
of India, Hindoo, Mohammedan, and £ur€|>ean, 
ia arms against him, flushed with the confident 
hope that an end would speedily be put to British 
domination. Undismayed by this state of things^ 
clearly perceiving that the native powers were only 



MEATOIRS OF INDIA. 235 

to be attached to the Company's interest by fear ; 
consequently that it would be expedient to deprive 
them as far as possible of the means of destruction, 
he suddenly seized upon the resources of Oude 
and Benares, and replenished his empty treasury 
from their abundant wealth. 

By this time, 1780, Hyder AUi had invaded the 
Carnatic, and in September his son Tippo, assisted 
by a French detachment, surrounded Colonel 
Baillie, and completely destroyed the division of 
the Madras army under his command. But upon 
the arrival of the gallant veteran Sir Eyre Coote, to 
command on the Coromandel coast, the dreadful 
ravages of the crafty Hyder were arrested, and he 
was beaten in every direction. General Goddard 
had attacked the Mahrattas in Guzerat. The 
different divisions of the Bombay army were so suc- 
cessful that the Mahrattas and the Nizam were 
soon glad to negotiate a separate peace for them- 
selves, and to enter into an offensive and defensive 
alliance wiih the English. It is impossible not to 
admire the consummate ability displayed by Mr. 
Hastings, in thus turning the very arms that were 
opposed to him, against the power of Hyder, with 
whom they were so lately in league. Hyder Alii 
continued to fight with various success. Though 
unable to stand before the science and enterprize 
of Sir Eyre Coote, he was formidable in other places. 
His son Tippo had not only destroyed Colonel 
Baillie, but totally routed a strong detachment of 



236 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

the Company's troops under Colonel Braithwaite, 
on the banks of the Coleroon. It was found ex- 
pedient to send General Mathews, with the dis- 
posable troops of Bombay, tp invade the Mysore 
dominiops from Malabar. 

Meanwhile Hyder paid the debt of nature. 
Tippo, leaving the army of his father, under the 
command of his lieutenants, in the Carnatic, 
marched with a light force rapidly through Mysore, 
and got possession of the ghauts behind General 
Mathews, whom he attacked, and forced to surrender 
with the whole division under his command ; when, 
contrary to the terms of capitulation, he and his 
officers were thrown into the dungeons of Seringa- 
patam, loaded with chains, and tortured to death. 
Animated by this success, and cheered by the 
death of Sir Eyre Coote, whose military talents 
had frustrated many a deep-laid plan of his father 
and their French allies, Tippo was pursuing his 
good fortune, with the exultation of hope, when 
peace between France and England deprived him 
of French co-operation. Finding that he was 
threatened by the Mahrattas, he readily listened to 
reason, and concluded a treaty with the Company's 
government on advantageous terms. 

Mr. Hastings resigned the government of India 
in 1785, at which time, although the Company had 
acquired considerable accessions of territories in 
Bengal, in tlie Carnatic, in Malabar, and Guzerat, 
yet the prospect was clouded in a most threatening 



lilfiMOIRS OF INDIA. 237 

manner. The Mahrattas had encroached upon the 
dominions of the court of Delhi, stripped the 
Mogul of power, and seemed by their * ambitious 
projects to aim at universal empire in the East j 
while Tippo, the warlike sultan of Mysore, was 
known to be the inveterate foe of Britain *, whose 
rancour was stimulated by the French. The charac- 
ter of Mr. Hastings has been long the subject of 
panegyric and censure. By one set of men he has 
been raised to the most magnanimous standard; 
by another his virtues have been forgotten, and his 
vices have sunk him below the rank of humanity. 
Truth must admit that he possessed splendid 
talents. He aimed at glorious things, but in ac- 
complishing his views he resorted, in a few instances, 
fo expedients which every candid heart must con- 
demn. Whilst he conscientiously believed that he 
was pursuing plans which had the happiness of 
those he governed in view, he was precipitated into 
measures that produced misery to many. It was 
the proud recollection of good motives that sup- 
ported him under the laborious investigation which 
his conduct underwent after his return, and en^ 
abled him to look down with superiority upon 
those who arraigned the purity of his intentions. 
No man can attentively consider the public acts of 
his brilliant administration, without sighing over 
the disregard to human rights, in a few cases^ 
which characterise them. If he attacked the 

♦ Vide Addenda, XXXIV. 



238 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

princes of India, were they not all ready to 
attack him,? He merely anticipated them. Ex- 
perience led him to know, that those who are bound 
only by the bond qf fear, cannot love ; and he 
conceived that in depriving the Mohammedan 
princes of usurped power over the Hindoos, he 
was so far from injuring them, that he was con- 
ferring on them and their posterity a blessing. 

Meanwhile ^tbe affairs of India had occupied the 
serious attention of parliament. It was evident 
that the extension of empire in Asia was considered 
by the nation at large, as a sort of recompence for 
the loss of America. Mr. Hastings was properly 
styled the saviour of India; and the glory of our arms 
in the East shed a sort of redemption over defeat 
in the West. It was, however, considered hazardous 
to leave entirely to the East India Company die 
government of such an empire as chance had placed 
in their hands. Mr. Fox accordingly introduced a 
bill into the house of commons, which aimed at 
depriving them of even the management of their 
commercial concerns, but as this was thought little 
short of downright robbery, it was rejected in the 
house of lords, and soon after Mr. Pitt framed his 
famous India bill, which was carried into law on 
the 9th of August, 1784. 

By the provisions of this bill, the management 
of their commercial affairs was left to tlie Company, 
but they were deprived of political and civil 
power, which was placed in the hands of a board 
of control, composed of privy counsellors, who 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 2S9 

were to be appointed by the king, and removable 
at his pleasure. The civil and military government 
of the country, and the revenue of the Company, 
were to be checked and superintended by this 
body. All dispatches from the court of directors 
were subjected to their inspection and authenticated 
by their signature. His Majesty^s decision in 
council on any disputed point was to be considered 
final. The appointment to the office of governor- 
general, president, or counsellor, in the different 
presidencies, was made subject to the approbation 
and recall of the king. An enquiry was directed 
to take place respecting the hereditary landholders 
of India, who had been dispossessed of their pro- 
perty ; and a court was established for the trial of 
Indian delinquents, with power to award fine and 
impmontnent, and to dismiss, without appeal, from 
the Company's service. This high tribunal consists 
of a judge from each of three of the courts of law, 
four members of the house of lords, and six of the 
house of commons. This memorable and important 
biU was further confirmed in 1787* by a declaratory 
act of parliament, which had become necessary 
by the frequent misunderstanding that occurred 
between the board of control and the court of 
directors. At this time the Company, so far from 
having benefited by their conquests, were em- 
barrassed, and obliged to borrow 1,200,000/., al- 
though their sales of tea in Europe had risen from 
six to 14,000,000/. annually. 






S40 MEMOIRS OF inbia; 

Under this new arrangement, the greatest at* 
tefltion was paid to Indian affairs, and the pros- 
perity which followed proved the complete success 
of the plan. Lord Cornwallis, to whom was 
intrusted the arduous task of restoring the British 
character in India to an honourable place in the 
native mind, reached his destination in 1787> and 
in two years raised the revenues, by wise and just 
measures, in Bengal, from 1,800,000/. to 2^150,000/. 
He leased out all the lands in perpetuity at an 
equitable valuation to the actual occupants, by 
which he gave security to property and possession, 
and incited labour and industry. A code of re- 
gulations were enacted in the revenue department, 
and for the guidance of all civil and military ranks. 
The army and magistracy were new modelled ;^ 
and the system of corruption and injustice which 
in some departments prevailed, was assailed, if not 
rooted out. 

But the moderation of his lordship and the 
equity of his conduct could not produce corre- 
spondent virtues in the ambitious Tippo Sultan. 
He had, shortly after the peace of 1^84, sent an 
embassy to France, and panted for an opportunity 
to renew the war. The opening of the French 
revplution soon gave him hopes of su^port^ and he 
found no difficulty in picking a quarrel. Our ally, 
thp rajah of Travancore, had purchased two forts 
called Cfanganore and Acottah from the Dutch 
East India Company. . But in I789, Tippo set up a 



MEMOIRS OF I3*DIA. 241 

claim to them, and marched towards Travancore 
with a considerable army. The English, bding 
bound by treaty, interposed, and as the claim of 
Tippo was evidently unjust, after a long negoti- 
ation, war commenced in 1790, the Nizam and 
the Mahrattas being still our allies. , 

His lordship finding it necessary to humble the 
enemy in the heart of his own country. General 
Meadows marched with the Madras army towards 
Mysore, from the Carnatic, whilst General Aber- 
crombie with the Bombay army invaded it from 
Malabar. General Meadows experienced a very- 
warm reception. After a considerable advance 
into the enemy's country, he found it necessary to 
retire on his supplies ; for the monsoon was ap- 
proaching. Lord Cornwallis having arrived at 
Madras m December 1790, and assumed the com- 
mand, the armies again advanced into the do- 
minions of Mysore. In March 1791, Bangalore 
was taken by storm, and on the 13th of May 
following, his lordship encamped in sight of 
Seringapatam, near* which, on the following day, 
a battle was fought that obHged Tippo to cross 
the Cavery. The monsoon now commenced with 
great fury, and the army being much in want of 
provisions, his lordship also found it necessary to 
retreat on his commissariat to Bangalore. 

In February 1792, the Madras and Bombay 
armies formed a junction under the walls of Tippo*s 
capital. By a night attack soon after they forced 



94& MEMOIRS OF mmA. 

the Sultan from his camp on the island^ and closely 
invested Seringapatam. Being at last reduced to 
a hepeless condition, Tippo was olidiged to sue for 
peace, by which he was deprived of one half of his 
territories, and upwards of four millions sterling. 

Soon after, the war of the French revolution 
Gommeneed, and all the settlements belonging to 
that nation on the eontinent of India were cap- 
tured by the English. In 1794, such was the 
flourishing state of the Company's affairs, that their 
charter was renewed, by a biU introduced by Mn 
Dundas, and speedily passed through both houses 
of parliament, for twenty years, with all those ex- 
clusive privileges which the Company had hereto^ 
fore enjoyed. 

At this periodi India was blessed with profound 
repose* The British character had not only been 
redeemed by the virtues of Lord Cornwallis, but 
elevated in the eyes cxf eastern philosophy by the 
celebrated Sir William Jones* one of the judges 
of the supreme court in Bengal, from 17^ ^ ^^ 
lamented death in April 179*. Lord Cornwallis 
had now returned home to reap the fruit of a wise 
administration^ in the thanks of his . king and 
country. He was succeeded by Sir John Shore, 
now Lord Teignmouth, who continued to pursue 
the same equitable and conciliating steps as his 
predecessor, in the government of the extensive 

• Vide AddiBQda, XXXV. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. S43 

possessions which Great Britain, through the in- 
strumentality of a company of her merchants, had 
acquired in the finest provinces of Asia, 

During this long period, from I788 till 179^, 
the memorable trial of Warren Hastings was going 
on, under a prosecution of the house of commons, 
before the house of lords. Twenty-nine of the peers, 
however, only thought themselves competent to 
vote on the question before the court ; for they 
were distracted by the length of time the trial had 
been pending, and the declamation of Mr. Burke, 
whose flowery language was more calculated to 
bewilder the understanding, than to promote the. 
interests' of simple truth. Eight of these peers 
gave a verdict of guilty ; but he was acquitted by 
a majority of twenty-one, and left to enjoy the re- 
mainder of his life, which he did for many years, 
in elegant ease and social retirement, cheered to 
the last by a conscientious persuasion that all his 
actions proceeded from laudable motives. 

Meanwhile, nearly all the possessions of the 
Dutch, and other European powers, in India, had 
fallen into the hands of the English. But in the 
interior of Hindpstan, a most formidable conspir- 
acy was going on, and threatened the most serious 
consequences in the beginning of 1798, when the 
Marquis Wellesley, then Earl of Momington, 
reached Calcutta to arrest its progress, and dis- 
play a combination of talent which has seldom 
been surpassed. The French, deprived of their 



®t4f MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

settlements in India, had never ceased to regret 
their loss, and to hope that favourable circum- 
stances would enable them to establish an empire 
in Asia, of which our arms alone had deprived 
them. By the, possession of the Isles of France 
and Bourbon, they were enabled, at all times, to 
correspond with Tippo. Great numbers of their 
scientific officers were now in his service, also with 
different chiefs of the Mahrattas, and at the court 
of the Nizam, organising the native armies on Eu- 
ropean principles, ready to co-operate with Bo- 
naparte, whom they expected every moment to 
approach from Egypt This deep and daring 
scheme had been long in embryo. It was now 
upon the point of dangerous maturity. 

By the intrigues of the French and the nego- 
tiations of Tippo Sultan, nearly the whole of the 
independent princes, both Hindoo and Mohamme- 
dan, were in combination against us; Persia and 
Turkey had been invited to join the confederacy. 
It was believed that Shah Allum had ceded Agra 
and Delhi to the French. Monsieur Perron's bri- 
gade under Scindea amounted to 40,000 men with 
400 pieces of artillery. The Mahrattas, with a 
population of 40,000,000 of souls, a revenue of 
17,000,000 sterling, and a territory of 1000 square 
miles, were ready to attack us ; the five chiefs 
who composed that empire were directed by 
French councils, and animated by republican 
hopes. One of them, the warlike Holkar, had a 



M£M;0IRS of INDIA. 245 

formidable body of infantry disciplined and ap. 
pointed like our sepoys, with an immense park of 
artillery. When all this is naturally considered, 
the mighty services rendered to the East India 
Company in particular, and to Great Britain in 
general, by the Marquis Wellesley during his ad- 
ministration, will appear. 

The transactions of this period, in an historical 
point of view, are extremely interesting. Tippo's 
grand object was to destroy the English by means 
of the French. In an embassy which he sent to 
General Malartic, governor of the Mauritius, he 
speaks thus: " What do you wait for? I am 
ready to afford you succours. Show yoiirselves in 
Indi^ The unbounded violence and oppression 
of the English have rendered all the princes of 
India their enemies: they are enfeebled on every 
side ; and from the great extent of territory which 
they have acquired by artifice, they are dis- 
persed in all quarters. Look upon the present 
tifiae as a most fortunate opportunity. Send a large 
army, and an extensive train of artillery, to my as- 
sistance, and effectually chastising our mutual ene- 
mies, drive them out of India.** But in soliciting 
the aid of his majesty the king of Cabul, he uses 
other language: " A hundred thousand of the 
followers of the faith,** says he, " assemble every 
Friday in the mosques of the capital, and, after the 
prescribed forms of prayers, supplicate the Bestower 
of all things according to the words of Scripture, 

R 3 



]^46 MEMOIRS (M? INDIA. 

*-** Grant thy aid, O God, to those who aid the 
religion of Mohammed, and let us be of that num- 
ber at the last day. Destroy those, O God, who 
destroy the religion of Mrfiammed, aiid let us not 
be of that number at the last day.' Your majesty 
must, doubtless, have been informed that my ex- 
alted ambition has for its object a holy war.** 

It was clearly the secret intention of Tippo Sul- 
tan, first to make the French instrumental in de- 
*stroyirig the English ; secondly, to raise up a native 
power sufficiently strong to overcome the conquer- 
ing Europeans ; and thirdly, to preserve such an 
'ascendancy over all, thiat he might, in the end, se- 
cure universal empire in India to himself. The 
object of the French was, to come in upoti the 
downfall of the English ; and the aim of the Mah- 
rattas was, to let the Mohammedans and Europeans 
expire in the struggle, while they secured the spoil 
by caution and management. 

Amidst sucK conflicting interests, the prompt 
and decided character of Lord Mornington carried 
away the standard of victory. The cunning of 
Tippo was unable to meet the wisdom of his lord- 
shq). Though the sultan attempted to cajole our 
governor-general with the deepest hypocrisy, pro- 
fessing the most ardent friendship, whilst he ttiedi- 
.tated the foulest treachery, yet his schemes were 
all seen through, and a declaration of war was 
made against him by the Company's government, 
at a time when he thought he lay entrenched be- 



M&MOIRS OF INDIAN 347 

hind the deepest diusimulaticm. It was followed up 
with such efl'ect, that Seringapatam was invested 
by General Harris on the 5th of April 1799> and 
taken by storm on the following 4th of May ; in 
which operation Tippo met death wiUi heroic for* 
titude, fighting till the last for glory and indepehd^ 
ence, such as they were pictured in his vain 
mind. Sir David Baird led the troops to the storoi 
of that fortress, in which he had been long con-* 
fined. ♦ The 4Sonquest of Mysore placed the af- 
fairs of India in such a state as enabled the gover« 
nor^general to send a considerable division of the 
forces up the Red Sea under Sir DaviU Baird, to 
assist in driving the French out of Egypt. By suc- 
cessful n^otiations with the court of Persia, the 
king of Cabul was confined to his own dominions. 
The Mahrattas- had become our allies by success- 
ful negotiation, and seemed to view the destruction 
of the Mohammedan power in Myswe with apa- * 
thy, though they were not very active in contri- 
buting to it 

The femily and relatives of Tippo Sultan were 
removed from Mysore to the fortress of Vellore in 
the Camatic; apd the ancient Hindoo line of 
princes, whose power Hy^er AUi had usurped, 
was restored to comf<Mtable dependence on British 
generosity, with nearly all the extent of territory 
which the Mysore rajah originally possessed. The 

* Vid^ Appendix, nele 11. 

B» 4 



248 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

remainder of Tippo*s dominions was divided 
amongst the conquerors and the Mahrattas. 

Until the reign of Aurengzebe, the history of 
the Mahrattas is involved in great obscurity. Se- 
vajee, a miUtary adventurer, who served with cre- 
dit under the powerful king of Bejapoor, was the 
&st who combined their discordant chiefs. He 
was bom in 1626, and died in 1680. During his 
life the foundation was laid for a powerful empire, 
and a strong hUl-fort, called Sattara, gave him 
title and security. It continued to rise, on the fall 
of the Mpgiils, till I76I, when its progress received 
a decisive check from Ahmed Shah Abdalli, king 
o{ Cabul, who, on the 7th of January, gained the 
memorable battle of Paniput, in which Ballajee- 
row, the head of the Mahratta states, was entirely 
defeated. He was the son of Bajee-row, prime 
minister, or peishwa, to the Sattara rajah, the legi- 
timate successor of Sevajee, and had, in conjunc- 
tion with Ragajee, tli^ paymaster-general, or buck- 
shee, usurped the authority of that prince, whose 
person he confined in the fort of Sattara, while he 
removed the ^eat of government to Poonah, and 
permitted Ragajee to establish himself at Nagpoor. 

This usurpation laid the foundation for others ; 
and the Mahratta state became at length divided 
among five chiefs, the Peishwa, Scindea, the ra- 
jah of Nagpoor, Holkar, and the Gkiickwar* 
United by no powerful head, these sovereigns often 
made war upon each other. When at peace, they 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 24*9 

directed their watchful attention to the statie of our 
government at Bombay. They had officered a 
considerable part of their army with French and 
En^ish adventurers, and disciplined native regi- 
ments in the same way as our sepoys. The dis«. 
trust which they had entertained of the ambitious 
views of Tippo Sultan, prevented them from ren- 
dering active assistance to that prince. But as 
they had placed themselves in a very formidable 
attitude, and were now in possession of all the 
power belonging to the court of Delhi, whose em* 
peror Scindea had as a sort of state prisoner, it 
became necessary to arrest the progress of their 
dangerous machinations. 

Dowlut Row Scindea had gained such an ascend- 
ancy in 1795, that, upon the death of Madhurow, 
the young peishwa, he usurped the principal share 
of power } but, in October 1802, his army was de- 
feated, near Poonah, by Jeswunt Row Holkar, and 
Badjeerow, the peishwa, was forced to fly to Bas- 
sein, where he concluded a treaty of perpetual 
friendship with the British government, and agreed 
to receive a subsidiary force into his domimons% 
He was, therefore, in 1803, replaced in authority 
by a British army^ under the present Duke of Wel- 
lington, then General Sir Arthur Wellesley, to 
whom the subsequent operations afforded an oppor- 
tunity of displaying those military talents which 
have since baffled the efforts of the greatest cap- 
tains of France. 



250 MBHOIRS OF INDIA. 

To detail the glorious particulars of this war 
would be a pleasing task, but we must restrict our- 
selves to a very brief notice* Lord Lake defeated 
the army of Do^)^lut Row Scindea, near the city of 
Delhi, in September 1803, while, a few days after, 
the battle of Assay, gained by Sir Arthur Welles* 
ley, raised his own glory, and that of the British 
name, -to the highest elevation. This was followed 
by the victory of Argaum, in the month of Novem- 
ber following, which, for that time, destroyed the 
power of the rajah of Berar, and forced him to ac* 
cept of such terms as Sir Arthur was instructed to 
offen The warlike Holkar, after fighting with 
great obstinacy, was completely defeated by Lord 
Lake at Deeg, and obliged to throw himself) with 
the shattered remains of his army^ into the strong 
fortress of Bhurtpore, from which he was subset 
quently driven, after the British army had sustained, 
in various unsuccessful assaults on that place, a 
greater loss than ever was experienced in killed 
and wounded in any three great pitched battles 
fought in India* In the beginning of 1805, the 
crafty Holkar was glad to sue foJ: peace on any 
terms. On the 20th of August in that year, the 
Marquis Wellesley embarked at Madras for Eng- 
land, leaving the British empire established in 
India on the most firm basis, the French factions 
every where destroyed, and the authority of the 
Company acknowledged over an extent of territory 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 251 

as great as all Europe^ with a revenue of about 
17,000,000/. sterling. 

We shall, therefore, conclude this chapter with 
the following state of India at this period, most ac- 
curately given by Sir John Malcolm. 

The emperor of Delhi was under the Biitish 
protection. Secunder Jay, the subahdar of the 
Dcccan, was completely confirmed in our alliance, 
and maintained a British subsidiary force. The 
Mahrattas were entirely conquered, the govern- 
ment of Tippo annihilated, and that of the Mysore 
family established. All the Camatic belonged to 
the CcMnpany. The conquest of Cuttack had coik 
nected the territories of Madras and Bengal, and 
the cessions of Guzerat and Malabar combined al- 
most the whole coast from the Ganges to the Indus. 
All the Douab was in our possession, and the right 
banks of the Jumna, with a line of petty states^ 
from the mountains of Kemaoon to Bundlecund. 



252 



CHAPTER V. 

FROM THE ADMINISTRATION OF MARQUIS WELLES- 
LEY IN INDIA, UNTIL THE RETURN OF THE MAR- 
QUIS OF HASTINGS IN 1823. 

Notwithstanding the brilliant administration of 
Lord Wellesley, the mighty wars in which he had 
been engaged ever since his arrival in India had 
increased the Company*s debts so prodigiously^ 
that the directors at home became greatly alarmed ; 
and the Marquis Cornwallis was despatched with 
the olive branch in 1805, and reached Calcutta in 
July of that year. The second administration of 
this nobleman was not destined to be of long dur^ 
tion. He died at Ghazipoor, near Benares, in the 
month of October following. Sir George H. Bar- 
low remained at the head of the supreme govern- 
ment until the arival of Lord Minto, in July I8O7. 

During this period the whole of India enjoyed 
profound repose ; but in such an extensive coun- 
try, where there are so many petty chiefs, all as- 
piring at independence, frequent wars must occur. 

The rsgah of Travancore, whose territories lie in 
the southern part of Malabar, had been forced, by 
treaty, to receive a subsidiary force, and deprived 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 253 

of all political power by the government of Madras. 
Soon after the arrival of Lord Minto, a disposition 
was manifested by the authorities there to shake 
off all dependence on the Company; and it being 
found impossible to arrange existing differences by 
negotiation, a part of the , Madras army entered 
Travancore in the early part of 1809, stormed the 
fortified lines of the rajah, and forced him, or 
rather his prime minister, who had usurped the 
power of his master, to make peace on any terms. 

This service was scarcely performed when a very 
alarming rebellion, which had been for some time 
in embryo, broke out in the native part of the 
Mkdras army, occasioned by the discontents of the 
European officers, at retrenchments which were 
carried into effect by the governor Sir George H. 
Barlow, certainly in a most irritating and ungra- 
cious manner. It would answer no good end to 
enter into such unpleasant particulars ; it may be 
sufficient to observe, that a judicious display of sound 
wisdom on the part of the government of Madras, 
and the commander in chief, would have entirely 
prevented an occurrence which must ever be deeply 
regretted. To such a dangerous extent was this 
rebellion carried, that the King's troops had to be 
drawn out against the Company's, and some blood 
was shed before its progress wias arrested. 

Diirmg the short peace of 1802, the French had 
received back their settlements of Pondicherry and 
Chandemagor, which upon the recommencement 



254} MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

of hostilities were retaken by the British govern*, 
ment in India without opposition, the very eon*, 
siderable military force which Bonaparte had sent 
out> escaping in their ships of war to the Mauritius* 
The possession of these islands enabled the French 
government to infest the Indian seas with priva- 
teers, whose daring operations weire most destruc- 
tive to the private trade carried on in the JEast. It 
had long been an important object, to deprive them 
of their nests, both there and at Batavia, on the 
island of Java, which they now garrisoned for 
Holland. Accordingly, expeditions were projected 
from Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and the Islea 
of France and Bourbon were captured in 1811, by 
General Abercromby and Colonel Keating, whilst 
in the same year Sir Samuel Achmuty established 
the British power in the island of Java* 

These were the principal transactions of Lord 
Minto*s administration, which was otherwise of a 
most pacific character. His policy was to tempore 
ise with the native powers. During the period of 
his government^ the Nepaulese and Mahrattas 
began to display a spirit of encroachment, which 
ought to have been punished by the sword, instead 
of being compromised by unavailing negotiatioBS« 

The Marquis of Hastings assumed the gavenv» 
ment of Ladia on the 14th October, 1813. He 
was received at Calcutta with the most Hrely de- 
monstrations of joy, and immediately directed all 
his attention to the political state of the cauotiy. 



lS|£MOIBfi OF INDIA* 255 

In the eastern parts of the British empire, his 
lordship, found, that the Nepaulese had actually 
possessed themselves of a considerable portion of 
the Company's frontiers, whilst in the west, pro* 
digious numbers of Mahratta plunderers, under the 
name of Pindarries, carried desolation into all parts 
of the Deccan, The province of Guzerat was 
also infested by the ferocious Wagurs of Cutch, a 
race of plunderers, daring in their excursions, and 
merciless in their exactions, ' His lordship, there- 
foire, finding no security in negotiation, had imme- 
diate recourse to arms, and the principal operations 
of his brilliant administration are detailed under 
the following headst 



NEPAUL WAR. 

The interesting campaigns connected with the 
Nepaul war, commenced soon after the arrival of 
Marquis Hastings in India, but his lordship's declar- 
ation was not made till the 6th January, 1815. 

This document, which comprises the origin of 
the war, sets out with stating that the Nepaulese 
conquests had approximated their frontier to that 
of the British, their ally the Newaub Vizier, and 
the protected Seik chiefs, from the borders of 
Morung to the banks of the Sutl^e. In all this 
extent, it appears these encroaching and rapacious 
warriors had appropriated to the^aselves our pos- 



Q56 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

sessions, and that their government had lent a 
deaf ear to repeated remonstrances. .There is 
proof that the Goorcas proceeded in a premeditated 
system of conquest ; and not only seized the parts of 
Mocwanpore that had been reduced by Major 
Kinlock, but also several other districts, containing 
twenty-two villages. To these provinces, below 
the range of hills that separate Bengal from Nepaul, 
the government of Catmandoo set up a claim that 
they had once formed the Terrai, or lowlands of 
the mountainous parts. But these territories had 
belonged to the dominions of Oude, long before 
the Goorcas had conquered Nepaul, and, therefore, 
there was not the shadow of justice in such a 
demand. To settle the disputes. Major Bradshaw 
had bieen sent on the part of the Company ; and 
the negotiations were continued with commissioners 
from Catmandoo, till at length it was necessary to 
appeal to arms, for the purpose of dispossessing 
them of the strong-holds which they had now 
established within our frontier ; for such was their 
insolence, that at length Major Bradshaw was 
ordered to quit the place within our own provinces, 
at which the conferences were carried on. The 
commencement of the rainy season had forced our 
troops to retire into cantonments, soon after th^ 
expulsion of the Goorcas from the disputed lands ; 
upon which they returned, massacred the police 
left to collect the revenues, and re-occupied the 
districts* Requisite atonement for this new out- 



MEMOms'OF INDIA. 257 

rage having been witiiheld, the British government 
had no choice left, and therefore now resorted to 
arms in defence of their just rights. The proclam- 
ation stated that these arms should never be laid 
down, until the enemy shall be forced to make 
ample submission and atonement for his outrageous 
conduct, to indemnify the British government of 
India for the expence of the war, and to afford 
full security for the future maintenance of those 
relations which he has so shamefully violated. 

Of such importance was this war considered, 
that the Marquis of Hastings left the presidency 
of Fort William under a vice government, and re- 
paired to the upper provinces, for the purpose of 
being in the immediate neighbourhood of the 
scene of action. On the breaking up of the 
monsoon in 1814, divisions of the British army 
and their auxiliaries poured towards the passes into 
Nepaul, dispossessed the Goorcas of all the terri- 
tories which had been seized by them below the 
hills, and took some of their strong forts. In one 
of these assaults, made by the division under Major 
General Sir Robert RoUo Gillespie, K. B., our 
troops were driven back by repeated charges of the 
enemy, who poured down from the heights in supe- 
rior numbers, and with most overwhelming courage, 
upon which the gallant general led on the advance 
in person, and fell in his noble professional efforts. 
His death cast a gloom over the whole army in 
India, for among the brave British officers in the 



^58 M£MOIRS OF IKBIA. 

East, not one was more highly esteemed for every 
virtue that constitutes the character of a gendonan, 
a aoldier, and a scientific commander. His great 
toerit was fully appreciated by the Marquis of 
Hastings, who had bestowed upon him his entire 
confidence. 

Major General Sir Rdbert Rollo Gillespie was 
to Irishman descended from an ancient Scotch 
family, who settled in County Down, in the reign 
of James the Second. He was born at Innishargie 
in 1769» ^o that his valuable life was lost in the 
forty-sixth year of his age. But, " blood of the 
brave, thou art not shed in vain," his memory will 
live itaserlbed on the roll of fame. In persoo he was 
elegantly formed, so that a poetical imagination 
would compare him to the ancient heioes, who in 
youth were so lovely as to resemble the fair sex. 
But his composition was all fibre and elasticity. 
Every movement indicated the activity of his soul 
and body. His manly chest and square shoulders 
at once proclaimed his capabiHty of enduring the 
warrior's toil. His countenance was fine and opeB, 
its lines marked with the finger of thought, and its 
ey^ beaming with the lustre of a highly perished 
mind. Like lightning it excited admiration and 
terror in his enemies ; but there was a mildness in 
its rays that produced only the fwmer setisartion, 
paixed with love, in th€ bosoms of his friends, com-t 
panioHiS, and fellow soldiers. He had been edo- 
e9i^d iov the bar, and entered at Emanuel cci^ 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 259 

lege, Cambridge, but disliking the wig and gown, 
his predilection for the army appeared at an early 
age. He became a cornet in the 3d dragoons, from 
which he was promoted to a troop in the 20th dra- 
goons, and served a considerable time with that 
fine corps in the West Indies, where his ability pro- 
cured for him a vote of thanks from the house of 
assembly at Jamaica, and a superb sword as a mark 
of esteem. .In 1802, he was promoted to the rank 
of Lieutenant Colonel, and returned to England. 
In 1805, he travelled over land to India, .spending 
some time with the Russian and Austrian armies, 
and passing through Constantinople and Bagdad to 
Bombay. At the time of the dreadful massacre 
at Vellore, he commanded at Arcot, and on the 
day preceding it, he was to have dined with the 
commandant of Vellore, but fortunately he was 
prevented, and the next morning he received the 
dreadful intelligence, that the officers and Euro- 
pean soldiers were butchered. He immediately 
proceeded thither, and retook the place. He after- 
wards served against the Seikfe in the Punjab. 
When the expedition againsfJava was arranged, 
he was selected for one of the distinguished com- 
mands under Sir Samuel Achmuty, whose entire 
confidence and friendship he enjoyed. On the 26th 
August 1811, he stormed the lines of Comelis, and 
terminated the subjection of the whole island, hav- 
ing distinguished himself so preeminently, that be 
was left in command upon the departure of Sir 

s 2 



260 MEMOIRS OF lUDlA. 

Samuel, when another opportunity occurred, by 
which he added fresh laqrels to the wreath that 
already surrounded his brow. The sultan of Pal- 
aoab^ng, in a fit of most wanton cruelty, had mas- 
sacH*ed the Dutch residents in his territories, and 
retired to a strong-hold with his tre^ures, leaving 
orders with his troops to put every foreigner to 
death. Colonel Gillespie reached Palambang at 
night during a frightful storm, and anxious to 
prevent the effusion of blood, pushed on with a 
small force, throi^h an immense body of the fero- 
cious Malays to the palace, which was yet stream- 
ing with gore, where he narrowly escaped the blow 
of a creese aimed at his heart, for a flash of light- 
ning fell up<m the weapon just in time to enable him 
to avoid it Here, with a handful of troops, he 
kept the population in awe, till a sufficient Force 
arrived, and saved the lives and properties of thou- 
sands of his fellow creatures. Shortly after he was 
equally successful in preventing the projected 
massacre of all Europeans at Djocjocarta. The 
sultan of Mataran had fortified his palace with 
92 pieces of cannon^ and drawn together 100,000 
partizans. Colonel Gillespie boldly and unex- 
pectedly arriving, stormed the place, and took 
the sultan prisoner. For these eminent services 
he received the highest thanks of the constituted 
authorities, and the honour of knighthood with 
superior rank in the army. Upon his return to 
India from Java, he joined the army, when organis- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 261 

ing for the Nepaul war, and found a glorious grAve 
where his friends hoped he would reap further 
honour and distinction. 

Our army consisted of about 20,000 men, aux- 
iliaries included, formed under Sir David Ochterloriy 
into divisions, commanded separately by Major 
Generals Wood, Marley, and Martindell. The 
campaign was opened under veryimfavourable aus- 
pices, for the losses sustained both in oflScers and 
men were alarmingly great. The valley c«P the 
Dhoon was at last taken possession of, but not 
without a brave defence; fourteen European and 
seven native officers, with 488 men, having been 
killed and wounded-in the operations from the 25th 
November to the 2d December 1814. After this 
the divisimis continued to advance, and experienced 
the most formidable obstacles, not only from the 
nature of the country being one of the strongest 
in the world, but from the daring bravery of the 
Goorcias, who rushed upon our bayonets sword in 
hand. 

Majfor Ludlow, after considerable success in at- 
tacking stoccades, was repulsed with great loss. 
Ma}or General Wood's division suflered very se- 
verely in an attack on the fortified post of Intgurh. 
It spears that this officer was led under the guns 
of this place by one Konckanaddee Sewaree, a na- 
tive of Nepaul, on whose report and fidelity be bad 
reason to depend, before he had time to recon- 
noitre* The villain escaped in the confusion whic;h 

s 3 



1^62 AIEMOIJEUS OF INDIA. 

fo^Qwedy a heavy fire being opened ppon the head 
of the column, many lives were lost in a few mo- 
ments. His Majesty's 17th foot, led on by their 
brave commander. Colonel Hardy man, and sup- 
ported by two native regiments, advanced upon the 
works, while a detachment was sent up the hill 
under Captain Croker, who, after driving the enemy 
before him with spirit and perseverance, discovered 
that the heights behind the post were filled with 
troops. Upon this a retreat was sounded, and it is 
probable that if the enemy bad poured down at this 
critical moment, the loss in the division would have 
been enc^njoijs ;, it was very con^derable notwith- 
s^tanding, and the enemy suffered also severely. 

; Captain Blackney commanding the left wing of the 
22d regiment, Bengal native infantry, was attacked 

. at Summonpqre by about 2000 Gporcas^ who 
after repeated charges, ail the officers except Lieu- 
tenant Strettell being killed or wounded, forced 
the Sepoys to fly,, and captured a commissariat de- 
pot, and the baggage of the detachment A post 
ftt Piersa Ghurrie under Captain Sibley on the same 
day was also atts^cked by an overwhelming foyce, 
and taken sword in hand, after thait brs^ye ^p^r 

.hj^d lp?t his life. In these unfortunate a0air^ we 
had 386 officers and soldiers killesd, wouiicled, and 

_ missing. The division undgx Major General Mar- 

■ ley was ^so successfully resisted ixk its ende^voAirs 
to advance, and suffered severely. 
B^t these dis^ters were owwre than counter- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 96$ 

balanced by the continued successi^a of* ^ Qavid 
Ochterlony and Colonel NicoUs, to whose ji^dg*^, 
ment and skill the speedy termjbiatioB of this Upody 
war is justly to be attributed. The general orders 
issued at Futtygbur on the 3d May 1815, m praise 
of these excellent officers^ by the Marquis of Qast- 
logs, are very flattening to ^bem j and 9jppara«tly 
convey an oblique censure to others* 

The success of Colonel NicoUs (and Hm obseipvi^ 
tioD will be supported by the brilliant cons^qjgiencea 
which have attended similar exertions on ^^ part 
of Major General Ochteriony), under the connpUr; 
cated di,fficultie$ presented by the quality of the 
country, the fortifications by wbicl^ its natujcal 
strength was assisted, and the obstinate r^si^tanoe ^ 
a courageous enemy, should prove the suj^eirbritji 
conferred by military service, and the c^xtm^y 
that a str^uous application of it» piineiplos .iteusf 
entail l^nouraW distinction on a commandei'^ 
Warfare in a mounl^nous regioq offers embarrassk 
ments which, when viewed at a distance, aj^ear 
insurmountable, but which dwindle into comprat^ 
tive inaignificance under the grasp of valour and 
genius. It is only in unusual situiition^ demaad- 
ing readiness of resource .and animated e£R>rts, that 
the difference betwew officer and offices caa be 
disj^ayed ; and it ought to be always present to the 
mind of every military man^ that he who in ckt 
cunistancea of perplexity tries and fails, baa to 
plctad tho^e qh^pce^ froip which no opotration in 

s 4f 



^64f ^ M£MOIR« OF m&IA. 

wa^ can be secured; his pretensions to the charac- 
ter of zeal '^and energy being in the mean time 
maintained: while he who contents himself with 
urging difficulties as an excuse for doing nothing, 
voluntarily registers his own insufficiency. 

Sir David Ochterlony had continued to advance 
on the capital, atid after various contests and diffi- 
culties in getting the battering train forward, his 
^vision was encamped before Nehn on the 27th 
December 1814, where the enemy's main army 
-wras so strongly stoccad^d, that his operiations had 
been directed chiefly against their supplies, which 
were received ftom , Billaspore. With such skill 
did he seize, by night attacks, certain positions 
around them, that he at length completely suc- 
ceeded in forcing ihem to an action, aiid driving 
them to another chain of hills called Mungoo-ka- 
Dhar, where they assembled in great force, their 
right being covered by strong stoccades, and their 
left resting on the fort of Tarra^un In this 
achievement Lieutenant Colonel Thompson, who 
conducted the night attack on the 27th December, 
that forced the Goorcas to abandon their position, 
gained greiat and well earned praise, and his report 
of the affair is interesting^ 

Colonel Thompson had with him a force of 
about 2600 men, with four light guns of the moun- 
tain train, but 1200 of this force were irregulars, 
armed' with matchlocks. He marched immediately 
after dusk in the evening, but such was the im- - 



]ii£MOIRS OF INMA. ^63 

practicabiiity of the intervening space, which as 
to distance he could have marched over in three 
hours, that thie guns were otfly got up to the point 
of attack at eight o'clock next morning. He 
then advanced up the Diboo-ka-Tebba, to gain 
a position near the stone §£occade, which he had 
first to storm. It was situated on the highest peak 
of four ridges of granite, and presented a formid- 
able breastwork of loose rocks. The enemy came 
down to the lowest approach, to receive biir force 
with a galling fire of matchlocks. But one ascent 
after another was scaled, till at. length the guns 
opetied upon the post, from the only spot wherse 
artillery could be placed effectually without arti* 
ficial works. This, however, was at the distance 
of 500 yardsj aijd it was found that a six pound 
shot was too light to make an impression. During 
the night, therefore, the pioiieers were employed 
in making fascines and gabions, to push nearer on 
the ensuing morning, but- a little before sun-rise, 
an immense body of the. enemy came' down from 
the Mungoo-ka-Dhar, another strongly fortified 
height, still more lofty, with the intention of sur- 
rounding and overwhelming him. The struggle 
was long and obstinate, the enemy lost such im- 
mense numbers^ that they were at last forced to 
retire, but their attacks were so furious, and such 
persevering courage was evinced, . that Colonel 
Thompson thought it advisable to throw up 
works around him during the night. He was> 



266 WIpWOfR* OV INDIA* 

however, reii:]iforced by Lieutenapt Colonial LypflJ5> 
an4 next morniag th^ en^my abandoned, the ppsi-* 
tipn. When our picquets tQok possession, it wa,s 
found to be very strong. The wall was ten feet 
high outside, and four feet thick, composed .of 
loose stones, extremely well built. It wa^ sur* 
rounded by a high baniboo fence, and within there 
w3fl a sort of citadel of solid ma^onxy. The 
enemy in his attack lost about 400 men in killed 
and wounded, and our casualties were also very 
eohsiderable. 

In this daring way did Sir David Ochterlony 
proceed, seizing one point after another, and con- 
tinually driving the enemy's army back* till on thg 
14th and J^th April 1815, a general engagement 
5vas forced on Ummer Sing Thappa, the Goorca 
commander tn chief, in whom now merged the 
civU and military authority of the government of 
Nepaul,. which terminated in the establishment of 
pur army on the heights of Malown, and in his 
total defeat on the day following. But these 
operations were conducted in such a manner^ and 
the consequences were so glorious, that they de* 
serve to be noticed at some length. 

On the night of the 14th of April, 1815, a 
strong detachment marched from the village of 
Purijur, and occupied a post nnder the centre of 
the enemy's position. This post was made th^ 
head of a column of attack, that followed nesit 
morning, upon a prec6ncerted signal being givea. 



MEMOIRS OF IXniA. 3^7 

The different divisions diverging from this to the 
right and left, gained the several points laid down 
in the brigadiers' instructions, and Lieutenant 
Colonel Thompson and Major Lawrie, being well ' 
supported, advanced up the Malown in gallant 
4style, under a heavy and well directed fire of 
CHnnon and musketry: but before these officers 
could establish themselves on the ridge, they were 
charged sword in hand by the Goorc^s, and, ^er 
^, severe struggle, forced down to the main body. 
To gain this practicable part of the hills, there- 
fore, became the object on our side, and success- 
fully to oppose qs was the aim of the enemy. 
During the whole day, the contest continued with 
unabated ^rdour, the enemy receiving continus^l 
reinforcements, in proportion to the pressure ex- 
perienced by them ; apd such was the resolution 
•with which they defended the ridge, that it wap 
with difficulty, lieutenant Colonel Thompson main- 
tained his position on- th^ side of the hill during 
the night, with the. assistance of temporary works 
thrown up by the pioneers. Next morning the 
i^ttaclc was renewed at day-break. Indeed, it had 
not ceased during the whole night, and the con- 
tinual blazp. of , war, the crash of . rolling rocks 
hurled fron^ the summits of the rangie of ste^ 
hills, the whiz of rockets, fprniiing curyes in th^ 
mti and the roar of artillery re-echoed by the 
various repeats of the mountains,, exceeded aiiy 
tbing tbajfe can be conceivedt The ftf^ light of 



^68 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

day on the 15th discovered Ummer Sing, on a pro- 
jecting cliflj within musket shot, hdding a stan- 
dard in one hand, and in the other his hatchet 
sword, encouraging his men, and pointing to the 
weakest parts of our position. Immediately after 
the heads of his columns appeared ; and forming 
in excellent order, they rushed impetuously on 
•our batteries. Notwithstanding the destructive 
* shower of grape that fell upon their front from 
our well served guns, they charged, and cut down 
every man at them. The enemy was only repulsed 
by repeated conflicts with the bayonet, in which 
Boughtee Thappa and several chiefs were killed. 
Afler several hours* hard fighting, the enemy re- 
tired slowly up the range of the Malown, having 
lost immensely, and inflicted much destruction on 
our force. Their acts of individual valour could 
not be exceeded by any troops in the world. Had 
they been all armed with muskets and bayonets, 
instead of swords and matchlocks, it is hard to 
say how the struggle would have tenmnated. 
Many of them seized our soldiers' bayonets with 
one hand, and pushing the point aside, buried 
their swords, which were heavy and formidable, in 
the breasts that q>ppsed them. But Colonel 
Thompson was continually reinforced by Sir David 
Ochterlony, who had foreseen every thing, and 
provided for aU with consummate skill. He more- 
over formed a fine column of diversion, under 
Captain Showers, who fell in a daring attack that 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 269 

he made upon the enemy's flank, in which he was 
nobly seconded by the column under Colonel 
Arnold, at a critical moment, when our Seik 
auxiliaries had shamefully abandoned their post. 
After fighting the whole of this day, and main- 
taining our several stations during the night, which 
was one of the utmost privatioii, we gained the 
summit of the Malown on the 16th, and in the 
course of that day completed the rout and di^ 
persion of the enemy's army. This victory was 
not achieved without severe loss, six officers and 
400 soldiers being killed and wounded, but in its 
consequences it led to the most glorious results ; 
for, shortly after, Ummer Sing Thftppa surrendered 
himself to Sir David Ochterlony, and accepted 
such terms as the British government thought 
proper to dictate. These comprised all the objects 
announced in the declaration of war. A free 
passage through Nepaul to Tartary and China 
was also established by treaty, with several im- 
portant advantages as to trade and intercourse. 

Thus terminated the Nepaul war, in a manner 
most honourable to the British arms and interests, 
notwithstanding the disasters which marked its 
commencement.' The high value set upon the 
conduct of Sir David Ochterlony and the army by 
which it was achieved, appears in the energetic 
orders issued by the Marquis of Hastings on the 
announcement of its final issue. ** So complete 
a fulfilment of his instructions, uqdi^r difficulties 



•^70 MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 

Icnown beforehand to be of no common amount, 
would alone have been sufficient to establish a high 
rate for General Ochterlony*s reputation as a com- 
mander. But there are details in the arduous 
service so ably conducted by him, which must 
meet from the mind of every one a more particular 
attention. The unremitting zeal, the sagacious 
foresight, and the admirable decision which he has 
had the opportunity of displayipg, should make 
him feel himself indebted to the embarrassments 
he has had to encounter. They have only served 
to mark in brighter colours the extent of his claim 
to applause. The patience, the ardour, and the 
intrepidity of all the officers, non-commissioned 
cheers, and soldiers of the division, must be justly 
appreciated and admired by all who have con- 
templated their conduct. The governor-general 
offers to General Ochterlony, and all who acted 
under him, his warm applause: sensible as his 
excellency believes they will be to that acknow- 
ledgement of their merits from government, a still 
more elevating consideration attends them; they 
have to reflect, with honest pride, on the further 
lesson which they have held forth to every power 
in India. The British government is too satisfac- 
torily conscious of its own superior strength, ever 
to abuse it by trespassing wantonly on any of its 
neighbours ; but if its forbearance be insulted, and 
its patience outraged by aggression, it will always 
prove, that whatsoever obstacles may retard its 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA, ^1 

earlier efforts, its perseverance will not fail ulti- 
Hiately to crush the assailants/* 

I shall next pursue the course of events that 
occurred during my further stay in India, which 
I earnestly hope will be found sufficiently in- 
teresting. 



MAHRATTA WAR, &c. 

The Nepaul war, whose principal features have 
been briefly described, was the first great public 
service which the Marquis of Hastings was called 
upon to achieve in India, and the ability with 
which it was arranged and conducted ought to 
have assured the native princes, hostile to British 
interest, that all the measures of his administration 
would but add to the glory of England. In tra- 
versing tlie vast regions of Hindostan, which lie 
between Fort William and the northern frontier, 
hi& lordship travelled in great splendour. He had 
a corps of 150 elephants and 400 camels, glit- 
tering in gold and silver howdahs, and frequently 
100 native chiefs in his train, whose followers 
alone formed a congregation of 200,000 souls, 
while the followers of his own personal army were 
45,000 in number: the account of 500 persons 
dying in his camp sometimes daily, of cholera 
morbus, was no exaggeration. But all this? display 
i*B& sound policy, for he who aim^ at governing 



272 MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 

foreigners, must, to do so with effect, conform to 
their prejudices, with respect to external things, 
which have wonderful influence in India, Political 
treaties were accomplished by his lordship on the 
line of progression with several petty chiefs. While 
the war with the Goorcas was going on, nego- 
tiations were in course with Scindea and Holkar 
for the suppression of the Pindarries, 

When the war against the Nepaulese had ter- 
minated, and his lordship found that treaties could 
not bind these public robbers', he made arrange- 
ments for attacking them and all their supporters 
and abettors: 

Previous to this, his lordship had assisted His 
Majesty's government in Ceylon, with troops from 
the presidency of Madras, for the purpose of com- 
pleting the conquest of that fine island. The king 
of Candy had for some time exercised the utmost 
cruelty over his unfortunate subjects, and treated 
the English with such dissimulation and treachery, 
thai no longer could confidence be placed in him/ 
His chiefs were in open rebellion against his au- 
thority ; and Lieutenant GeneralSir R, Brownrigg, 
being implored by them to end, the tyranny under 
which they groaned, marched to Candy, which he. 
entered without the loss of a man, and assumed 
the government of the whole of Ceylon, 

It was a melancholy sight to behold the capital 
surrounded by the traces of the most cruel exe- 
cutions. Numbers of the natives, who had been 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 27^ 

impaled alive, were fixed on high 'poles by the road 
sides. The king had escaped to the mountains ; 
but, being pursued, he was abandoned, surrounded 
and taken prisoner, his people manifesting towards 
him, when divested of the terrors of despotism, 
no other feelings than those of hatred and con* 
tempt. But it was a deplorable sight to see the 
misery of several of his wives and female gela- 
tions. They were all, however, treated with deli- 
cacy and tenderness by General Brownrigg, and 
soon after his capture, the king and his household 
were sent to Madras on a pension. Thus has a 
large accession been made to the British empire 
in the East, and a conquest effected without 
bloodshed, which baffled the Portuguese and 
Dutch, and cost the English in former attempts a 
vast sacrifice of human life. The garrison left in 
Candy under Major Davie, when it ^ was tak-en in 
1803 by the British, suffered prodigiously, sixteen 
officers and I72 European soldiers having been as.- 
sassinated in a short time, and a total loss of above 
600 men sustained. But such was now the ,change 
in the feelings of the Candians' public opinion, 
that our troops were hailed as deliverers. What a 
study for tyranny and oppression ! 

His lordship had also directed an expedition, at 
the suggestion of Sir Evan Nepean, governor of 
Bombay, to invade the territories of the rajah of 
Cutch, to punish the predatory Wagurs, who had, 
like the Pindarries, carried fire and sword into our 

T 



87^ JKBHOIBiS OF IMOUL. 

provinces, and this important seiTice was success- 
fully performed by Colonel East of the Bombay 
Gwmy, 

No British force had previously invjided this pro- 
vince^ which lies immediately north of Guzerat, but 
a friendly intercourse was kqpt up by treaty between 
our aUy the Ouickwar and the rs^ah of Cutdi- 
JBoqgew British interference had happily arrested 
the progre&s of female infanticide *, which horrible 
custom prevailed in this quarter from the most 
eorfy records of time. From the warlike habits of 
the inhabitants^ a spirited defence was expected; 
but Goloitel East, contrary to expectation^ ap- 
proai^ed the Capital without much opposition^ and 
^ced the rajah to comply with such terms as he 
dicta4)ed. 

Gutch is naturally a strong mountainous country, 
and, during a great |>art of the year, lies in an iso- 
lated form froin the overflowing of the rivers Indus 
and Puddar, in the fimgle of which this r^oii is 
situdU;ed, The country is thinly iiahabitedj and the 
townd generally in ruins, but the capital^ named 
BoOjge^ situated at the foot of a fortified hill, is 
a waMed city <£ considerable extent and great 
antiquity, surrouinded by many curious monuments 
and ioosques. Amoi^st the most magnificent of 
tliese is the mausoleum of Row Lacka^ the grands- 
father of the present rajah. It was raised to p&r^ 

* Vide A{>piB&dHc, note IQ. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 275 

petuate the memory of fifteen of his ladies, who 
performed the ceremony of suttee, or burning with 
his dead body. 

The interior building, on wbieh a great dome 
rests, is a fifteen-sided figure, and in each angle 
stands a ftill-length marble statue, which I have 
myself seen, of one o£ the fair victims to this bar- 
barous eust(Hn.* They are r^resented in the bloom 
of life and beauty^ richly decorated;, with instru- 
ments of music in their hands^ Around « this 
inner building^ runs a magnificent viranda, which 
gives it externally the appearance of a square, and 
at each angle there is: a great entcance, with a 
large marble elephsm^ facing l^e flight of stone 
steps leading up to the grand portico. Tigers, 
lions, elephants, monkeys, and an endless variety 
of fanciftil objects, cut out of stone, ornament this 
fabric. In the erection of their modem buildings; 
the Moorish and Egyptian style of architecture is 
blended, and the mixture of the wild pagoda with 
the Grecian donjie forms a very beaufifuL whole. 
For many interesting particulai^ respecl^g the 
expedition to Cutch, we h^g tp re&r the curious 
reader to a late wOTk, intituled; ^^-l^ifi^en Years in 
India,'^ whJle we confine ourselves more particu- 
larly to the subjeet at the head of this^ section. 

Marquis Wellesley had humbled but not destroyed 

« 15de Appendix^ note.13.. 
* T 2 ' 



276 MEMOIBS OF INDIA. 

the Mahratta states. The ambitious chiefs i^ho 
now composed the confederacy had^ in seci^et^ 
cherished hopes, during the pacific administrations 
which followed, that they would one day resume 
their power on our downfall. Under the deep and 
artful conduct of the Peishwa, they had entered 
into private treaties, of mutual support, fostered the 
organisation and discipline which had been intro* 
duced into their armies by the French, founded, 
prodigious parks of artillery, collected immense 
arsenals of military stores, enlisted large bodies of! 
Arabs, and encouraged the Pindarries, who were 
actuaUy in their pay, to take annual plundering 
excursions as exercises in war. The Marquis of 
Hastings was aware of these proceedings^ and, 
while he professed the object only of reducing the. 
Pindarries to such a state as to respect the rights 
of their fellow-creatures, he aimed at the future 
tranquillity of India, by placing the whole of central 
Hindostan upon the system which had been ably 
sketched out by the Marquis Wellesley.* As the 
Mahrattas, in a state of combination, were capable 
of bringing into the field a very lai^ga army, and 
300 pieces of cannon, he put the powers at his^ 
dis]}psal in motion, and took the field with the 
most magnificent British army that had ever been 
collected on the plains of Hindostan> fprmed into 

* Vide Appendix, note 14. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 277 

divisions of unequal force, but proportioned to 
the service, each under a general officer, and, 
in the whcrfe, amountirfg to" one hundred thousand 
^fighting imen.' The 'main' body,'' commanded 
by the' noble > Marquis,' being in number 13,000, 
with 60' pieces of cannon, approached the terri- 
tories of Scindea, who, seeing himself upon the 
point of being attacked before the other chiefs were 
prepared to support the cause, signed a treaty for 
himsdf, and agreed to aid the British army in the 
accomplishment of the object in view, together 
with other conditions which' tended to secure his 
foo-operation in future.' The Peishwa was likewise 
bound by treaty ; but, while" the advanced* divisions 
of the ariny' were marching from' various points to- 
wards the Nerbudda, upon the banks of which 
river the Pindarry forts"' were sitiiated, this treacher- 
ous chief attacked part of the Poonah subsidiary 
force near that city, on the 5th of November, 1 817, 
with 8000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry, in the hope 
of destroying it j but he was nobly repulsed by 
Cdlonel Burr *, of the Bombay army, who, with 
only 2000 fighting men, maintained his position till 
the arrival of General Smith with the remainder of 
the subsidiary force. This action was sanguiilary 
on' the part of the Peishwa, who lost above 500 
men in the attack,' though the c&sualties were; on 
Colonel Burr's side, only one* officer and fifty 
soldiers. ' ' ' * T " 

* Vide Addenda, XXXVI. 



278 MEMOIRS dF INDIA. 

The Peishwa, though repulsed, was still able 
to remain encamped near Poonah, and to pre- 
vent all communication between General Smith, 
who was on the northern frontier of his command. 
And the force under Colonel Burr. General Smith, 
therefore, received the first intimation of the attack 
made on Colonel Burr from rumour. Finding that 
the Bombay post was stopped, he suspected that 
all was not right at Poonah, and proceeded by 
forced marches towards it, where he arrived, and 
formed a junction with Colonel Burr on the evening 
of the 13th of November, I8I7*, notwithstanding 
the efforts of large bodies of the enemy's cavalry to 
prevent it. The united British force now amounted 
to about 5000 fighting men. The Peishwa's army 
was encamped in a very strong position, defended 
by a formidable line of batteries. It required 
some time to prepare for attacking him. On the 
evening of the l6th of November, Colonel Milnes, 
of the ^65tb regiment, forded a little river that, 
separated the two armies, and took up a position 
on the enemy's side with two brigades of infantry, 
under a heavy cannonade, and in the face of re- 
peated charges from the flower of the Peishwa's 
best troops. It was arranged by General Smith that 
our line should charge the enemy's batteries at day- 
light next morning, and, for that purpose, during 
the night the whole forces passed over, and formed 
-on the right of Colonel Milnes' division, but the 

• Vide Addenda, XXXVII. 



M£M<HRa OP wpu* ^79 

Peishwa had retreated un4^r the cover of dj^-k»©wi 
with a}l his gun8> md made good % moat difHcult 
passage across a chain <rf nHHintaio* in hi? r^ar^ 
through which therq was oply ow practicaW^ 
road, so that when morning dawned the distant 
hills were covered with the remains of hi« army* 
A great part of his camp was left standing. 

General. Smith's operations called forth the moat 
flattering expressions of approbation from bis im^ 
mediate superior, Sir Th^paa^ Hislop ; and arrange- 
ments being speedily made for the military govern* 
ment of the city of Poonab. Mr^ Elphinstone, thi 
political resident, accompanied by General Smith 
imd the field force, proceeded southward in pursuit 
of the Peishwa, and continued to follow him with 
unsurpassed perseverance, till that chief was fairly 
hunted down, and glad to retire into obscurity at 
Benares on a pension. But the operations which 
led to this event will occupy their proper place 
after the relation of other matters prior in d^^te^ 
amongst the first of which is the treacherous attack 
made by the rajah of Berar, in co-operatioq with 
the government of Poonah, on the subsidary forcQ, 
near his capital of Nagpoor. 

On the 26th of November, X817, Cdonel Scott 
took post on the heights of S^tabalee, which ov^f 
looked the city of Nagpoor and the British resi-r 
dency. At the bottom there was an Arab village, 
which, during the day, had been filled with troops 
and guns, and, in the'evening, pouring ftpm th^ 

T 4 



28Q MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

cover of the houses, 8000 infantry, 3500 of whom 
were Arabs, with thirty-five guns, supported by 
12,000 cavalry in . the distance, made a furious 
charge against the post on all sides. The struggle 
continued during the whole of the night and till 
noon next day, the Arabs making repeated despe- 
rate charges. Early in the morning, having by 
overwhelming numbers and persevering courage 
gained possession of part of the heights, the de- 
fence was confined to thatop of the right, which 
was strengthened by a breastwork composed of 
bags of rice. At this perilous moment Captain 
Fitzgerald, with a small body of Madras cavalry, 
charged a mass of the enemy's horse, and captured 
several guns, which he turned against them, as well 
as against those parts of the heights in their pos- 
session, and the explosion of a tumbril having 
created some confusion. Colonel Scott seized the 
crisis, charged along the summit with the bayonet, 
and, afber one of the most severe struggles, suc- 
ceeded in clearing the hill, at the same time his 
cavalry wheeled round the base, and cut the enemy 
up to such a degree, that they lost all hope of 
success and retired with precipitation, having lost 
six guns, and about 2000 officers and men, - But 
the loss on our part was also very severe, amount- 
ing to fourteen officers, and 333 of all other ranks, 
killed, and wounded. Nothing could e:xceed the 
chivalrous conduct of every individual. The 
officers had to fight with the musket and bayonet, 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 281 

and, as it was a struggle for life against immense 
numbers, the valour which saved the position can 
scarcely be conceived. Major M*Kenzie, Captains 
Lloyd, Fitzgerald, Macan, and McDonald, Mr: 
Jenkins, the resident, Lieutenants McDonald, Wat- 
son, and Campbell, and Comet Smith, distinguished 
themselves. The names, indeed, of every officer 
and soldier in this gallant defence deserve to be 
engraved on something more durable than brass* 
The assistant resident, Mr, Sotheby, was killed, 
fighting bravely among, the brave. 

Soon after this Sir Thomas Hislop, with the 
Madras army, reached the Nerbudda, and attacked 
the Pindarries, who, being unprepared for meeting 
a regular force, fled, and were intercepted by the 
other divisions approaching on all sides, as to a 
common centre. Sir Thomas Hislop, having a 
more, important enemy before him, did not rest 
till he came in sight of the army of Mulhar Row 
Holkar, encamped in a strong position near 
Maheidpore, on the river Sipoora, about twenty 
miles north of Oojain. During the advance. Sir 
John Malcolm had been negotiating with Holkar's 
ministers in vain. On the 20th of December, 1817j 
the British army approached Maheidpore, and the 
picquets were attacked by bodies of cavalry. The 
next morning Sir Thomas Hislop moved towards 
the river Sipoora, and, having beaten off s.everal 
attempts of Holkar's cavalry to interrupt his line 
of march, he found the main body, consisting of 



SSQ HfEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

about eighteen battalions of infantry, organised 
and appointed like our sepoys, with 100 guns in 
batteries, and supported by an immense irregular 
force of horse, that covered the surrounding plains, 
advantageously posted on the opposite bank^ their 
left flank protected by the bed of the river, and 
the right by a very deep ravine ; while their line, 
which could be approached only by one ford, prac- 
ticable for guns, was protected by several ruined 
villages. * It was Sir Thomas's intention, upon re- 
connoitring this strong poi^tion, to attack in flank, 
but, to do so, it would have been necessary to make 
a long detour, he therefore determined to ford the 
river, the bank of which afibrded some cover, and 
charge the line exactly in front. 

The divisions of the army were formed into 
columns of attack for this purpose, and the artil* 
lery having cleared the bank of tJie Sipoora, in 
the immediate front of Holkar's army, the Madras 
rifle corps, supported by several light companies 
and a strong battery of horse artillery, crossed the 
ford under the protection of an enfilading fire 
from the foot artillery, stationed on their right 
The Sipoora is a considerable branch of the Ner^ 
budda, but, like nearly all the other inferior Indian 
rivers, it is almost dry during the summer, though 
it rolls with impetuosity over its rocky bed in the 
monsoon. On the sands lodged under the rugged 

♦ Vide Sir Thomas Higlop'g Report, dated, Dec. 23, 1817. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. Q83 

bank on the enemy's side, the infantry formed ; 
and the cavalry having also crossed, at a precon* 
certed signal the whole rushed to the storm of the 
enemy's left, where several batteries had opened 
upon the ford with most destructive effect. During 
this awful period, the light troops who covered the 
formation of the line suffered severely, and nearly 
all the rifle officers were either killed or wounded. 
But the moment every thing was ready, the troops 
pressed forward with such steady valour, that no 
pause ensued, till the men were bayoneted who 
served the enemy's batteries, which continued to 
pour atorrent of grape till the moment our soldiers 
reached the muzzles of the guns* At the same 
time the line was overwhelmed in every part by 
the shock of contact, and the cavalry charging 
during the confusion that ensued, completed their 
total route. Having, however, several batteries in 
reserve near their camp, these opened a heavy fire 
upon our advancing line. This led Sir Thomas 
Hislop to suppose that a re-formation had taken 
place. Upon pushing forward, however, the whole 
camp was deserted, and our cavalry and light troops 
continued the pursuit till exhausted. 

This well-contested action continued from noon 
till three o'clock, during which time the enemy's 
cavalry pressed upon the reserve, and several 
times attacked the baggage, but the Mysore auxil- 
iaries behaved with great spirit, and met their 
charges in every direction. Seventy pieces of 



284 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

cannon were taken, together with the whole of 
the enemy's camp equipage, arid the plain was 
strewed with upwards of 3000 "of their killed and 
wounded. The success of this battle was,^ in a 
great measure, owing to the chivalroiis conduct of 
Sir John Malcolm, who led the most desperate' of 
the attacks on the left, and cheered the troops by 
the most fearless personal exposure. His noble 
and commanding figure was seen by the whole 
line to outstride their ardour, aiid his lofty plume, 
often waved by his right hand, was a banner of 
linion to the line. Great in his political cha- 
racter, and renowned as an elegant writer, this 
scientific soldier has, on various occasioas, dis- 
played an unsurpassed intrepidity, and a cool- 
ness of judgment in the hour of danger, which 
promise future increase of glory," if opportunity be 
afibrded to the exercise of the great talents which 
he possesses as a statesman, philosopher, and war- 
rior. Our. loss was very severe in this battle, being 
thirty-eight European officers, and 806 of all other 
ranks, killed and wounded, but the advantages 
were great and permanent. 

General Doveton, who commanded* the second 
division of the army, hearing of the treacherous 
attack made upon Colonel Scott, proceeded by 
forced marches to Nagpbor, where he arrived on 
the 12th of December; and the next morning having 
drawn up in line of battle before the enemy's 
'batteries, the rajah came ovier and surrendered 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 285 

Iiimself to the resident, biit his orders for the de- 
livery of the cannon and the dispersion of the troops 
were not obeyed by the chiefe ; for upon General 
Doveton's approach at the head of his column, a 
heavy fire was opened from the Sucker Durry 
gardens. The whole of the hostile line was instantly 
charged, and 75 guns, aU their camp equipage, 
and forty elephants taken. General Doveton did 
not achieve this brilliant exploit without consider- 
able loss; his killed and wounded amounting to 
nearly 200 of all ranks, and as the Arabs retired 
to the palaces and fortified posts of the city, an 
arduous duty was still before this gallant division. 
• The Arabs were strongly posted in the city, to 
the riuniber of SOOO, supported by a coiisiderable 
body of Indian irregulars. From the . want of 
heavy.battering guns, it was the 24th of December 
before such an impression was made upon the gate- 
way, as. to warrant the storm of the palace with 
hopes of success and little loss. The place was, 
however, defended with such obstinacy, that all the 
repeated attacks, made with undaunted bravery and 
skill, were repulsed ; and a serious loss sustained 
of ten European officers, and 104 of other ranks, 
together with upwards of 200 native officers and 
sepoysi But an impression was made upon the 
Arab chiefs, and they agreed spon after to evacuate 
the city, upon being permitted to march away with 
the honours of war under certain conditions. 
The consummate abiUty with which the Marquis 



288 MEMOIRS OF INDIA* * 

Captain Staunton would reach his destination in 
full time ; but, by one of those rapid movements 
which baffle foresight, his army had encamped on 
the banks of the river Bheema, near the village of 
Koragaum ; and Captain Staunton's detachment, 
upon gaining the heights overlooking that place, 
on the morning of the 1st of January, 1818, saw, to 
their surprise, 20,000 cavalry and several thousand 
infantry with guns encamped in the plain below. 
To retreat was impossible. Captain Staunton had 
just time to occupy part of the village, when he was 
attacked, in the most determined manner, by three 
divisions of Arabs, supported by immense bodies 
of horse and the fire of two guns. The enemy's 
troops were animated by the presence of the Peish- 
wa on a distant height, attended by several of 
his sirdars or chiefs, who flattered his highness with 
the prospect of witnessing the destruction of this 
gallant handful of British troops, most of whom 
were Mahrattas. .This memorable attack com- 
menced about noon, and continued with unremit- 
ting fury till 9 p. m., at which period the detachment 
had lost nearly the whole of the European artillery- 
men, and about one-third, of the infantry and aux- 
iliary horse. The exertions which the European 
officers had been called upon to make, in leading 
their men to frequent chiarges with the bayonet, 
had diminished their numbers. Lieutenant Chis- 
holm of the artillery, and Mr. Assistant Surgeon 
Wingate, 2d of 1st regiment, were killed, andLieur 



MEMaiRS OF INDIA. 289' 

tenants Swanston, Pattinson, and Connolan were 
wounded; leaving only Captain Staunton, Lieu- 
tenant Jones, and' Mr, Assistant Surgeon Wiley, 
nearly exhausted, to direct the efforts of the re- 
maining part of the detachment, who were nearly 
frantic from the want of water and the unparaU^d 
exertions they had made throughout the day with- 
out any sort of refreshment, after a fatiguing march 
of twenty^six miles. Doubtless, this detachment 
would have been entirely destroyed, had it not been 
for the rapid pursuit of General Smith, which forced 
the Peishwa to draw off, arid retreat during the 
night of the first, upon which Captain Staunton re- 
turned to Seroor^ ^ , 

But General Smith continued the pursuit of the 
enemy with indefatigable perseverance^ and at 
length on the 20th February, after a night march 
of near thirty miles, came up with his highness at 
a place called Ashtee*, where, being completely 
surprised^ be was forced to throw the flower of his 
cavalry between himself and dang^. His best 
general, Gockla, was killed in this brave but un- 
successful attempt to sustain the charge of our 
-dragoons. The greatest part of his treasure and 
baggage fell into the hands of General Smith ; to- 
gether with the young rajah of Sattara, his brother 
and their mother. Nothing could be of more im- 
portance than this capture, for the Company's 

* Vide Addenda, XXXVIII. 

u 



490 M£JtfOIRS Of INDIA. 

govermaent havii^ detennined to depose the Peish- 
wa and r^ore the ancient family, the possession of 
the true representajfcive of the bomoured line of 
Sevaj«e, in ihe person of the young rajah of Sot- 
tara, produced the highest degree of eiLultation. 

Geaeral Smith imnaediately returned towards 
Poonah, to hand over his valuable prize to Mr. 
Elpkinstone. The rajah being supplied with ele- 
phants» and all the external pomp of eastern gran- 
deur, formed a gorgeous i^ectacle at the head of 
the Britiali line. • He and his brother were, not- 
withstanding their splendour, mean and stupid- 
looking young persons j but the queen mother was 
an exceedingly fine, intelligent woman, with the 
remains of great personal attraction^ Her com- 
plexion was fair ; she sometimes rode on horseback, 
and managed her charger with skill and ease. 
She exhibited none of that timidity which one 
wouM naturaJly expect from an Asiatic female, 
but, on the contrary, appeared to be a mo5t able 
political character. 

Sir Thomas Hislop was now about returning 
with the Madras aamy, and the Marquis of Hast- 
ings had left the field fer the purpose of retracing 
his stepsi to Fort William. The sensatiorus with 
whiqh his lordship reviewed the glorkms course of 
his poli^cal and militery career in India^ must have 
he^iX most gratifying to Im great souU and the vast 

• Vid« Add^id^ XXXPX. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 291 

sum he had contributed to the amount of happi. 
ness enjoyed by 100,000,000 of people, every hour 
presented itself, no doubt, to his intellectual eye. 
Some of the divisions of the army had also reason 
to exult in the prospect of important pecuniary 
reward ; for the booty taken at Poonah, Nagpoor, 
and Maheidpore was immense. 

The Peishwa was now the only native chief who 
remained in force, and he was so completely beset 
on all sides, that much longer resistance was im- 
possible. But in several parts of the country^ 
bands of robbers, composed of disbanded soldiers 
and mountaineers, still gave employment to de- 
tachments, and there were several strong hill-forts 
in the possession of Arab garrisons, who, in the 
distractions of war, set conquest at defiance. Ge^ 
neral Hislop, in the route of his army retiirning to 
Madras^ reduced some of these refractory chiefs to 
obedience. The circumstances attending the storm 
of Talnier, a fort ceded to us by Holkar^ situated 
in Kandeish on the river Taptee^ were so extraor- 
dinary that they became a subject of parliamentary 
inquiry. 

Sir Thomas, when within a march of Talnier, 
had received intimation that the Killedar of that 
place intended to resist the occupation of his fort 
by British troops, al^ough he had received the 
order of his sovereign to surrender it, and, upOn 
the s^proach of the advanced guard, some guns, 
and a number of matchlocks^ were fired from tht 

u 2 



292 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

walls. The fort was surrounded by deep ravines, 
and quite inaccessible to reconnoissance by cavalry. 
It was, however, closely approached by the en- 
gineers covered by light infantry ; and the Kil- 
ledar having returned no answer to an attempt 
at negotiation, the field pieces were brought into 
position, and the defences of the gateway demo- 
lished to such a degree, that Sir Thomas deter- 
mined upon storming it, in the hope of at least 
making a lodgment within. For this, purpose a 
column of attack was formed and pushed forward 
to the gate. The Killedar, being alarmed at these 
preparations, sent out a flag of truce and s(^icited 
terms; upon which he was desired to. open his 
gates and surrender himself and his garrison un- 
conditionally. After some little delay, the two 
outer gates were opened and the head of the 
column entered. At the third gate the Killedar 
came out through the wicket, and surrendered 
himself to the adjutant-general. Colonel Conway. 
A party of grenadiers was then pushed .forward 
through the wicket, and still further through 
another gate, but they were at length stopped by 
the fifth entrance being shut. The Arabs within 
were clamorous to have some terms mentioned, 
before they delivered themselves up to the mercy 
of Europeans ; but after some delay, the wicket of 
this gate was also opened from within, and Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Murray, Major Gordon, and two or 
three other o£Scers entered it, fol^lowed by ten or 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. SQ^ 

twelvegrenadiers ofthe Royal Scots, upon which they 
were attacked by the Arabs, and, before aid could 
be afforded, cut down. Major Gordon and Captain 
McGregor were stabbed to the heart, and Colonel 
Murray and two other officers wounded in several 
plaX^es with daggers. The gates being burst open, 
the storming party entered the fort, and the Arabs 
retreated to the stone buildings, where they con- 
tinued to defend themselves until all the garrison, 
about 300 Arabs and Hindoos, were put to the 
sword. " A severe example,** says Sir Thomas 
Hislop, in his report to the governor-general, 
" indeed, but absolutely necessary, and one which 
I have no doubt will produce the most salutary 
effects on the future operations in this province. 
The Killedar I ordered to be hanged on one ofthe 
Jbastioiis, immediately aflter the place^ fell. Whe- 
ther he was accessary or not to the subsequent 
treachery of his men, his execution was a punish- 
ment justly diie to his rebellion in the first instance, 
particularly after the warning he had received in 
the morning.** 

. The coldness of this language freezes the heart ! 
" Absolutely necessary /** Who was the judge of 
this necessity ? A military commander, flushed 
with victory, having nothing to dread from a little 
delay, destroys the existence of three hundred of 
his fellow-creatures for an outrage, which seems to 
have been produced more by the precipitate, im- 
prutli3l)t» and haughty manner in which tb^ wicket 

u 3 



294* MEMOIRS aF INDIA. 

was entered, than in any premeditated malice; 
and the Killedar was hanged, although he surren- 
dered himself on the good faith of an implied 
promise. What ! was his disputing the order of 
General Hislop such a crime ? Might his motive 
not have been excellent ? Did he not know that 
his sovereign master had been conquered, and that 
his cession of the fort might have been extorted ? 
Is it not heart-breaking to a brave man to be 
forced to yield ? Should not such feelings be re- 
spected by the brave, and every allowance be 
made for passion and irritation in an enemy, when 
sinking beneath superior force? But I do not 
presume to pronounce upon the conduct of my 
Superior, I merely venture to reason upon the 
feeling excited in my breast by his own words. 
There are military situations where horrible ex- 
amples are necessary. The evidence before the 
public does not show that this was one of them. 
Sir Thomas Hislop in justice should not be rashly 
charged with the blood of 800 men, nor do I pre- 
sume to arraign him. His own state of the case 
is before the reader, and a judgment may be 
formed thereon. His temper and forbearance on 
former occasions called forth the applause of the 
Marquis of Hastings, and far be it from me to 
deprive him of the benefit. " To Lieutenant 
General Sir Thomas Hislop,'* says his lordship, in 
the orders he issued, 21st of February, 1818, upon 
quitting the field army, ** it might seem superfluous 



MEMOf R» OF ItfDlM ^99 

to offer praise ; yet there are tides to applause which 
should not be absoi'bed in the lustre of wctory. 
The temper and forbearance vAth which his ex- 
celleHcy, possessing all the consciousness of su- 
periority from the quality of his troopsii endea- 
voured to avoid a rupture with Holkar, and tba 
judgment with which he improved success after 
his conciliating efforts had failed, demand high 
commendation." 

All the oflScers in command of divisions or de» 
partments received his lordship's warm approba* 
tion also, in public orders when he was leaving the 
field. Brigadier Generals Sir John Malccdm and 
Doveton, Major Generals Sir William Grant Keir^ 
Marshall, Donkin, Sir David Ochterlony, imd 
Brown, Brigadier Generals Hardyman^ Tooo^ 
Smith, Munro, and Pritzler, and Colond Adams» 
were thanked in a most dignified manner, and this 
fine general order concludes in the following im- 
pressive words : — " The alteration produced with^ 
in three months, in the state of central India, is 
beneficial to the inhabitants, in a degree whic^ the 
most sanguine could scarcely have ventured to 
hope ; and to every officer who has been engaged 
in the undertaking, the remembrance of having 
had a share in effecting a change so interesting to 
humanity, will keep pace with that consciousness 
of having advanced the prosperity of the Honour- 
able Company by efforts of zeal and courage, for 
which the govern(M>gefteral oflfers his earnest thanks^ 

u 4 



996 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

however unequal that acknowledgment may be to 
the merit which calls it forth/' 

The Peishwa was now the only obstacle to the 
return of the whole army to quarters. He had 
been driven entirely out of his own dominions by 
the indefatigable and able pursuit of General 
Smith. It was his fate to receive the last blow 
from Colonel Adams, who intercepted his retreat 
on the 17th of April, 1818, killed upwards of 400 
of his adherents^ took his five remaining guns, and 
all the camels and treasure elephants he had left. 
The force under Colonel Adams had marched, on 
the previous night, upwards of thirty-one miles, and 
the pursuit and return made sixteen more, which 
was hard service under a burning sun ; for the 
heat begins in April to be terrible in the Deccan. 
Not long after this the subtle Bajee-row *, finding 
his game lost, which he had played not without 
fikill, surrendered his person to Sir John Malcplm ; 
and received a princely pension, on condition that 
he would resign all pretensions to power, and reside 
quietly, for the remainder of his life, at Benares. 
His Arabs, his Portuguese infantry, and heavy 
guns were still to be conquered ; for, not being 
able to keep up with the rapidity of his flight, they 
had been left at Sholapore, a strongly fortified town 
in the south of his late dominions. General Munro 
assaulted that place on the 10th of May, 1818, and 

^ Vide Addenda, XL. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 297 

having made a lodgment within it, a smart action 
was fought, and several of the guns .captured, but 
the main body retreated. It was, however, closely 
pursued by General Pritzler, who cut in among 
them with his cavalry, and killed upwards of 800 
in the route that followed, so that their total dis- 
persion was effected. Major De Pinto, who com- 
manded the Portuguese half caste battalion in the 
service of the late Peishwa, here lost his life, and 
nearly all the Arab chiefe shared his fate ; for these 
ferocious soldiers of fortune think it a disgrace to 
ask for quarter, or to part with their arms. Such 
only as threw their weapons of defence away 
escaped into the neighbouring woods and ravines. 

In the course of the following month and June, 
all the forts and strong-holds in the Deccan and 
Concan were taken, many of them by assaults. 
The Arabs defended themselves with desperate 
bravery, and in many places refused quarter. 
During some of these awful attacks on the fortified 
summits of high hills, the thermometer stood at 
145*^, being 49"* above blood heat in Europe. 

The war was now completely at an end, and the 
troops were placed in cantonments for the mon- 
soon. In its effects it consolidated the British em- 
pire in the East, and increased the resources of 
the Honourable Company upwards of four mil- 
lions in sterling money, per annum. All the ex- 
tensive region from the confines of China to the 
eastern frontier of Persia, and from the Himalaya 



298 MEMOIRS OF IN0IA* 

range to the Cape of Good Hope, are now directly 
or indirectly influenced by Great Britain. Since 
1818, general peace has diflused the blessings of 
security over those fine countries which were then 
traversed by destructive armies. It is easy to con- 
ceive the difference. Places that were at that 
period scenes of desolation, now teem with domes- 
tic enjoyment Without the security of high walls, 
the husbandman may now sow his rice, and plant 
his sugar-cane. He will no more, from his lofty 
loc^holes, see the produce of his fields destroyed 
by rapacious plunderers. His wives and his 
daught^^ may now go to their wells for wata: 
without the dread of abduction and murder. 
Their naked chubby ofispring may sport under the 
plantain and cocoa, unmindful of worse enemies 
than the snake. To think of the satisfaction with ' 
which the Marquis of Hastings * has returned to 
his country, without one single aspersion on his 
fair ikme, and how his dignified age will be cheered 
by the recollection of the glory of a well-spent life, 
which has been ever active in heaping benefits on 
his fellow-creatiures, are delightful subjects for 
reflection, in which every feeling heart can parti- 
cipate. 

The military achievements during the adminis- 
tration of the Marquis of Hastings did not end 
with the Mahratta war ; for, immediately after its 

• Vide Addenda, XLI. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 299 

termination, an expedition was sent up the Persian 
Gulf under the command of Sir William Grant 
Keir, who added further laurels to his own fame 
and that of Great Britain, by the reduction of the 
Joasmere pirates ; and after his return, the force, 
which was stationed on the Arabian coast, being 
attacked, another expedition was sent thither un- 
der Sir Lionel Smith, which, in its operations, was 
equally brilliant and successful. 

During the peaceful flow of happiness there are 
but few materials for history. To notice the nu- 
merous regulations which were framed during his 
lordship's administration in India, for the security 
and enjoym^2t of all ranks, would be a pleasing 
task, but a tedious one for the reader. One of his 
lordship^s latest eflbrts of wisdom in India, was 
directed against the horrid practice of burning 
wives with the dead bodies of their husbands. 
That ceremony is now placed under the inspection 
of the police; and as permission can only be ob- 
tained by an European magistrate being made sen- 
sible tiiat the female wishes to die, and that her 
expressed wish is the result of her own free will, 
there can be little doubt but humanity will start 
«uch difficulties, as will, in time, greatly diminish 
this deplorable sacrifice of life. 



300 



CHAPTER VI. 

V. - . 

OF THE THREE PRESIDENCIES, CALCUTTA, MADRAS, 
AND BOMBAY* 

.The area of country at present subject to the pre- 
.sidency of Calcutta, or Bengal, may be estimated 
at" 200,000 square miles; and if this be divided 
into twenty-four parts, three will represent rivers 
and lakes ; eight, waste, irreclaimable, and barren 
parts; one, sites of towns and villages, &c,; three, 
free lands; and nine, liable for revenue, according 
to* the most accurate estimates, ' ~ 
, This extent of region comprehends the whole 
soubahs of Bengal and Bahar, part of Orissa, Alla- 
habad and Berar, the Morung, Cooch Bahar, and 
.^ the districts in Oude, &c, acquired since 1801, 
• The population has been ascertained by calculation, 
^without accurate census, to be about 40,000,000 
^ of souls. The gross produce of the land amounts 
annually to 43,000,000/. sterling money. About a 
seventh of that sum comes into the Company's 
treasury. The whole revenue amounts to about 
twelve millions, and the whole charges, civil, mili- 
tary, &c., &C-, to about seven in sterling money. 
In 1S09 the Company's Bengal debt amounted to 



MEMOIRS OF India: 301 

upwards of $20,000,000 sterling, and it has not been 
much diminished. 

The civil and military government of this pMsi-* 
dency is vested in a governor-general and three 
counsellors. For the administration of justice 
there are, in the civil and criminal departments^ 
one supreme court stationed at Calcutta, six courts 
of appeal and circuit attached to six different divi- 
sions, and forty inferior counts stationed in so many 
different districts. The Mohammedan law conti- 
nues to be the ground-work oif criminal jurispru- 
dence, but its administration has been greatly im- 
proved by the Company's government, thc^ plead- 
ings being now written in the native hu^gu^esb^ 
the courts held openly at stated times, and all 
suitors being allowed counsellors, who are chosen 
from the Mohammedan college at Calcutta, and 
the Hindoo college at Benares, 

Calcutta, the capital of British India, is situated 
on the eastern bank of the river Hooghly, in lat. 
22^ 33' N,, long, 88** 28' E, It is about one hun- 
dred miles from the sea, by the winding of the 
river, which is, before the city, full a mile broad. 
The approach is magnificent, each bank being 
adorned with elegant villas and gardens. In the 
year 1717 this extensive city * was a petty village, 
and the country around it a jungle and marsh. 
It now extends along the river upwards of six 

• Vide Addenda, XLII. 



302 MEMOIRS OF IKBIA. 

zniles» and the numerous spires of churches, tern- 
pies, and minarets, with the strong fortifications of 
Fort William *, and several imposing public edifices^ 
such as the government house, exchange, town hall, 
college, writers* buildings, and the suburb called 
Chouringee, which is a line of Grecian palaces, 
renda* the external aspect of Calcutta perhaps 
equal in splendour to any capital in the world. 
But, upon a closer view of the houses, which are 
about 100,000 in number, they will be found poor 
mean buildings, with the exception of the Europ* 
ean part of the city, consisting of perhaps 8000 
dwellings, occupied by British, Portuguese, and 
Armenian t ioaihabitants. The whole populaticm is 
estimated at 600,000 souk; and the surrounding 
country is so numerously inhabited, that, in an ex^ 
tent of twenty miles round, it is said there are 
2,225,000 people. 

The European society of Calcutta is numerous, 
their habits ccm\'ivial and hospitable, their mode 
of living luxurious, and their appearance splendid 
in the extreme. Visits are paid generally in palan- 
quins ; but covered and open carriages, of all tlie 
descriptions fashionable in England, are numerous. 
The table is covered with vast variety, and Madeira 
and claret are introduced even in the houses of the 
middling classes every day at dinner. 

There would be no great interest in describing 

• Vide Addenda, XLIU. 
t Vide Addenda, XLIV. 



MBMOfRS OF KNDIA. SOS 

the public edifices of Calcutta, most of whidi are 
common buildings, on the usual principles of 
Europ^m architecture. Places of public amuse- 
ment are not numerous; There is one respectable 
theatre, and an assembly room, but little frequented ; 
for, although no place in the world exhibits a more 
numerous display of sptendid private parties, yet 
public intercourse is unfashionable, and pride has 
separated general society into circles, whose centres 
are like the heads of castes by which they are sur- 
rounded, * ' 

The descendants of Europeans^ called half castes, 
are here very numerous j and seven large schools 
are supported by them. There are also excellent 
male and female orphan asylums, hospitals, and a 
variety of charitable institutions, which do honour 
to the liberality of the inhabitants of Calcutta. 
Since the establishment of an episcopacy in 1814, 
in India, consisting of a bishop and three a^ch« 
deacons, &c., great attention has been paid to the 
education of the natives.- The late Dr. Middle- 
ton, first bishop of Calcutta, was mainly instru- 
mental in founding the Mission Collie, for 
instructing native youth in the doctrine and dis- 
cipline of the church of England, in view to their 
becomiiag preachers, catechists, and school-masters, 
and for other general purposes connected with the 
exteaasion of education and conversion. It appears 

* Vide Addenda, XLV. 



S04 MEM0IR9 OF INDIA. 

from the last report of the Calcutta School Society, 
that there are 200 schools within the precincts of 
its control, and that upwards of 5000 native chit 
dren are studying various branches of European 
literature in Calcutta and the vicinity. But what 
proves beyond doubt that an amazing change has 
taken place in the prejudices of the natives is, that 
Hindoo females are now students at sevieral of 
our institutions: At the last anniversary meeting 
of the Calcutta Female School Society, the com- 
mittee remark, that there were pupils from the 
highest as well as the lowest castes ; for instance, 
there were twbBrahmans, four Kaynsthus, and seven 
Vishnubers, who are considered /of the highest 
rank. In short, a learned native has published a 
treatise, in the Bengalee language, to prove that it 
was formerly customary among the Hindoos to 
educate their females, and that the education of 
women is not, as is generally supposed^ disgraceful 
or injurious, hut, if encouraged, will be productive 
of the most beneficial effects* 

Calcutta is as yet in an infant state : — no city 
in the world has ever improved or grown more 
rapidly, and if it continue for another cefitury to 
progress as it has done during the last, it will be 
the wonder of posterity. Some of its institutiwis 
are, however, susceptible of great improvement, 
particularly the supreme court, whose jurisdiction 
over Europeans extends to the distance of 1200 
miles, and yet there is no circuit branch j so that 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 305 

a criminal, with all the witnesses necessary to con- 
vict him, must be brought to the presidency, where 
punishment is inflicted, at a distance from the scene 
of perpetration. Another defect is that all the 
natives, who are subject to the jurisdiction of the 
king's court, are tried by a British jury, of which 
they may complain with good reason. In short, 
executions have taken place in Calcutta for crimes, 
on principles of British law, which according to 
the Hindoo code were not capital offences. The 
case of rajah Nund Comar is quite in point, and as 
his fate has been described, an allusion to it is only 
necessary. 

The external and internal trade of the presidency 
of Calcutta averages about 14,000,000 sterling 
annually, a great part of which is carried on by 
private adventurers, since the opening of the ports 
of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, to a free trade*, 
but the East India Company have such an advan- 
tage in a monopoly of certain articles, apd in the 
privilege of framing local regulations, that no en- 
terprise can compete with, and many speculators 
to the Indian shores have been completely ruined. 
Upwards of six hundred ships and vessels take 
their departure from Calcutta annually, with 1 50,000 
tons of merchandise, and as the same number, on 
an average, yearly sail up the river, the activity of 
the scene may be conceived. 

* Vide Appendix, note 15. 
X 



906 MSOAQIRS OF INDIA. 

In Calcutta aad its vicinity the ciuigsities are 
not numeroua, but laterentiAg. There are no 
^eat temples and nxosquesu The churches, chapels^ 
aad meettng-houses are not very commanding edi- 
fices, compared with the private mansicms, many of 
which are truly magnificent But when I was in 
Calcutta, the black-hole was to be seen, and the 
i^onument which commemorated its tragical story, 
though so much shattered by lightning, that I 
understand it now ceases to meet the eye. The 
Company's Botanic Gardens are also worthy of 
observation *, and the governor-general's country 
residence at Barrackpore, in a beautiful park, is 
another object, with the Danish, French, and Dutch 
settlements up the river Hooghly, the banks of 
which at all times present contrasts of natural 
beauty and fiightful superstition* 



MADRAS, 

Madras is the capital of the British possessions 
in the Deccan, and south pf India, It stands in 
lat 13° 5' N., long-8(y25'E„ and is distant from 
Calcutta 1080 miles, and from Bombay 77O. 

The coast on which Madras stands is lashed by 
a raging surf, over which the city appears to great 

* Vide Afid^Q^a, XLV. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 307 

advantage, and the numerous palms in its vicinity 
look charmingly green. All the sandy beach seems 
in motion with human life. The colonnaded edi- 
fices that meet the eye have the appearance of 
marble, from the fine shell mortar with which they 
are plastered and polished. Romantic boats and 
canoes approach the vessel, filled with gracefully 
formed natives, and the attention is divided between 
bodies rustling in silk and decorated with jewels, 
and others almost naked. 

At Madras nearly all the civilians live in garden- 
houses, so that the town does not present the 
splendid appearance of Calcutta ; but the country 
around, though naturally barren, is rendered arti- 
ficially beautiful; and fine roads, shaded with 
trees, intersect it in all directions. The mode of 
living at Madras is much the same as in Calcutta ; 
but provisions of every description are much dearer 
than in Bengal, and of course society is not so ex- 
tensive as in the supreme presidency. It is, perhaps, 
on that account, full as pleasant, and more general. 
The whole population of the black town of Madras* 
and Fort St. George is about 350,000 souls. Ac- 
counts are kept at this presidency in star pagodas, 
fanams, and cash j while in Calcutta the currency 
is in rupees, annas, and pice. Eighty cash make 
one fanam, twelve fanams a rupee, and three and a 
half rupees a pagoda, worth eight shillings. In 

* Vide Addenda, XLVI. 
X 2 



808 MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 

Calcutta twelve pice make an anna, and sixteen 
annas a rupee, worth two shillings and sixpence. 

Justice is administered on the same plan as in 
Bengal ; a supreme court is established at Madras 
on the model of that of Fort William, The reve- 
nue is about five millions sterling per annum, yfhich 
is nearly all expended in paying the necessary 
establishments. This presidency indirectly con- 
trols about.twenty millions of the native population 
of India, but its immediate subjects do not exceed 
twelve millions; for it has within its boundaries 
the nominally independent principalities of Mysore, 
Travancore, and Cochin, 

In a commercial point of view this presidency is 
inferior to Bombay, Its export trade is chiefly in 
piece goods, and the whole value of its shipments 
out and in annually does not exceed five millions 
sterling. 



BOMBAY. 

The presidency of Bombay, which governs the 
whole north-west coast of India, is situated on an 
island formerly comprehended in the province of 
Aurungabad. Lat. 18° 58' N,, long. 72^ 38' E. 
Distant from Calcutta 1300 miles, and from 
Madras 770. 

Bombay Island is about ten miles in length, by 
three in breadth, and it is joined to Salsette by a 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 309 

vellard or causeway. The island of Salsette com- 
municates at low water with the continent The 
rise of the tide being here, during the springs, seven- 
teen feet, and possessing docks on a large scale, 
Bombay is the first place in India for ship-building ; 
an abundance of fine timber being imported from 
Malabar, As a place of trade it stands high in 
rank ; occupying the station that Ormiis formerly 
did, being now the western mart of all India. The 
exports and imports of Bombay generally average 
six millions of sterling money annually, and above 
200 ships of different nations arrive and depart 
yearly from the fine harbour which is formed be- 
tween this island and the main. 

All the marine force which the Company have, 
consisting of fifteen fighting vessels, belongs to 
Bombay ; for the pilot service, which numbers ten 
schooners, employed in conducting vessels from 
the Bay of Bengal up the river Hobghly, the navi- 
gation of which is intricate and dangerous, cannot 
be described as a marine for offensive operations. 
The cruisers of Bombay are chiefly employed against 
pirates, who have infested the western coasts of 
India, since the time of Alexander the Great ; and 
in nautical surveys. 

Justice is administered on the Bombay establish- 
ment on the same principles as at Madras and 
Calcutta. Instead of a supreme court, there is a 
king's recorder*, with three barristers and eight 

• Vide Addenda, XLVII. 
X 3 



310 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

attorneys ; but such has been the extension of tef* 
litory by late conquests, that no doubt this presi- 
dency will soon be placed on the same respectable 
scale, in point of judicature, as the other two 
capitals. Madras and Bombay have their own 
governors, and councils of three members like 
Calcutta, but they are«ubordinate to the governs* 
general The inhabitants of the whole island of 
Bombay are computed at 2€0,000. In this nutnbef 
dicype are 8000 Parsees and 4000 Jews. The Pcm** 
tuguese inhabitants are also numerous, but, as in 
otjtk&r parts of India, the mass of the people ar« 
Hindoos* 

There are many beautiful garden-houses on th^ 
island of Bombay j and the society of the place is 
sufficiently diversified and agreeable, but the styte 
of living is far less luxurious and profuse than in 
Bengal^ though equally comfortable and elegant. 

Till the termination of the late Mahratta war, th^ 
territorial possessions under the immediate juris- 
dicti^i of Bombay were small compared with 
those of Bengal and Madras ; but by the deposition 
of the Peishwa, a great part of whose dominion^ 
have been added t<l this presidency, and by cessions 
from Holkar ^nd other chiefs, a most respectable 
extent of country, not only round the coasts to the 
river Indus, but in the most fertile parts of the 
Deccan, now belongs to Bombay, with a revenue 
which it is supposed will average five millions stea- 
ling per annum. The native population, directly 



MBMOIRS OF INDIA. SU 

controlled by the Bomimy |)resicl:e0e7, dde^ not p^ 
haps exceed dghc mililons of souls. The authori- 
ties upon which th^se eldciilatMts ai^ iitade^ «r& 
not set forth as ticcurate, beitig merely an ttpptoxim'- 
ation to what cannot be tascertainedfout by a care- 
ful xrensos. 

We have been intentionally brief* in our nolSce 
of the three priesidencies Of India, because ki evety 
common gazetite^r, their particular histofy is given 
at iai^ Bombay owes its conbeqilen<!;e to the 
Portuguese^ to whom it was ceded in ISSO^ fiut tUe 
vidrnty of their chief settlements Goa^ preVeiited it 
from becoming the western emporium, though it 
was strongly fbrtiiied, and 4lwayS considered as tm 
impdrtant post. It was received by Idng Charies 
the Second, in June 1661, as part of Mil que^fi's 
marriage portion^ from Portugal^ itiid continued as 
an acquisition of the crown tilt March 1668, wh^ 
it was tTMisferred to the East India Company^ whto 
found themaelves gniatly injured by the trade cak*'- 
ried on by thb kinj^'s si^v^^tS; In 1666^ the s^t 
cfthe Cimapany's goVemmimt was ti^ns^nred from 
Surat to Bombay, and it has i»nce continiied to role 
the wratem coast of Indian 

The harbour of Bombay is safe and comniodiotic;, 
and ih(g scenery suUime and romantic; In exttmal 
appearance Bombay bears nd resemblanbe to dther 
Calcutta 0€ Madras. The style bf arehiteetlire at 

* vide Adddttia, XLYIIT. 
X 4 



312 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

the two latter places is Grecian, the houses in and 
about Madras being generally one story high, with 
beautiful colonnaded fronts and terraced roofs, while 
in Calcutta they are two or three stories high, the 
lower apartments being thought unhealthy ; but at 
Bombay the houses are constructed with wooden 
pillars, supporting wooden verandas, sometimes 
three stories high, and the roofs slated, 

Calcutta and Madras owe their consequence 
entirely to the East India Company, having been 
both insignificant villages when factories were first 
established at them. But Bombay and its vicinity 
appear ta have been places of vast importance to 
the ancient Hindoos; for the numerous magnificent 
caves on the islahds of Elephanta and Salsette are 
amongst the most remarkable antiquities of India. 

The caves of Kenneri on Salsette are so numerous, 
that they seem at one time to have formed a sub- 
terraneous city. One of the largest was formerly 
fitted up as a Portuguese church, and the great 
idols were defaced that had belonged to Paganism. 
At the sides of the great portico there are yet two 
gigantic figures, twenty-five feet high, standing 
erect. The inhabitants of this subterraneous city 
were supplied with water by fine reservoirs cut out 
of the living rock, many of which are still fiill of 
cool and delicious water. 

\ These ca,ves, however, magnificent as they cer- 
tainly must appear to every visitor from Europe, 
are infinitely surpassed by those in the mountain of 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 313 

Elora near Dowlutabad, for an exact description 
of which, I refer the curious reader to the sixth 
volume of the Asiatic Researches ; and to the 
splendid publications of Mr, Daniels.* 

Some of the other curiosities on the island of 
Bombay have been already noticed, and we shall 
now conclude this book in humble hope that its 
contents have not disappointed the expectation of 
the reader. 

* Vide Addenda, XLIX. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 



BOOK III. 



This portion dt our work will be found to con- 
tain such miscellaneous remarks as a long residence 
in different parts of the British possessions in India 
have suggested. Our plan is first to make such 
general and particular observations on India, as 
may occur, and theil to accompany a young ad- 
venturer, ifrom his preparation till he have been 
some tittle in that country, and shall return to the 
place of his birth, either from debility, or with 
such independence as he may think suitable to his 
future happiness. As we conceive his thoughts and 
calculations must in a great measure be similar to 
what our own were, we shall endeavour to guide 
him by our experience. 



316 



CHAPTER I. 



MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS ON INDIA, FOR THE 
BENEFIT OF YOUNG ADVENTURERS. 

The area of the British empire in the East is . 
nearly equal to all Europe. There is such an in- 
teresting variety every where, that in travelling 
from West to East, or from South to North, the 
understanding is continually roused to reflection. 
To appreciate properly the character of the Hindoos, 
it is necessary to enter deeply into the constitu- 
tion of their castes, which produce their habits 
and motives to action. They are certainly gifted 
with talents in different degrees, in no way below 
the standard of other men. All the virtues that 
adorn our nature are found in Hindostan, as well 
as the vices which degrade us. If men are estim- 
able for valour and fidelity to their king, the 
warriors of India are behind no class on earth.' 
Innumerable instances of their self-devotion in the 
service of their country might be adduced. The 
Khetris resisted invasion till death — for in all 
those parts of India conquered by the Moguls, it 
is said, that not one of that unadulterated caste 
remains in existence. Victory or death was their 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 317, 

aim in fighting, and to this day it is customary with 
some of the tribes that imitate them, to put an 
end to the lives of their families, when unsuccess- 
ful in defending their independence, and die sword 
in hand, with as much determination as those ex- 
hibited who fought round Leonidas at Thermo- 
pylae. An instance of this occurred at the storm 
of Bobilee, a fort in the northern Sircars, by the 
French, in I767. There had long existed a feud 
between Rangaru, the chief of this place, and the 
head of a neighbouring state, named Viseram 
Rauze, who induced Monsieur Bussy to besiege 
it. .These forts, throughout India, are very like 
old British fortifications before the general use of 
artillery, consisting of a strong rampart of earth 
or stone, with a parapet, towers, and flanked gates, 
through all which,, numerous loop-holes enable 
the besiegqd to hurl their weapons, or fire their 
small arms at the approaching enemy. 

M. Bussy invested it with a battalion of French 
infantry, 550 strong, 250 cavalry, four field pieces, 
and the whole of Viseram's irregulars. The artillery 
soon destroyed the battlements, and the force 
assailed it by escalade in four divisions, but every 
man who attempted to mount the parapet was cut 
down.. This repulse only inflamed the ardour of 
the soldiers ; and the artillery having made a 
breach in the wall, the storm was renewed, but 
after fighting with perseverance for several hours, 
not a man could enter the breach. Great numbers 



318 MBMOIRS OF INDIA. 

oP Rangaru*s soldiers had now fallen about him, 
and while the French were forming their shattered 
column for a fresh attack, he addressed his officers 
and the remnant of the garrison. ** Noble souls,'^ 
said he, <* no hope remains. You know your duty. 
Preserve our wives and children from the violation 
of Europeans, and the still more ignominious autho- 
rity of Viseram Rauze." Upon which the oldest 
man was despatched to tell the females their fate, 
and to set fire to the sepulchral habitation, in the 
form of a funeral pile, in which they were with 
their children ready for the event. This temporary 
building, composed of straw, brimstone, and other 
combustible matters, was erected in the centre of 
the square, and a match being applied to it, the 
whole was instantly in a blaze. In the meantime, 
quarter had been offered to Rangaru and his brave 
companions by the French, who admired such 
courage, but it was rejected with disdain; smd 
after a most horrible struggle, in which M. fiussy 
lost a great number of men, the fort was entered, 
every one of its defenders opposing himself to an 
antagonist, while he was able to wield his poniard. 
Four only escaped with ghastly wounds; and a 
few days after two of these crept into the tent of 
Viseram Rauze, and despatched him with thirty- 
two wounds. Had they failed, the other two were 
bound by an oath to revenge their master. Surely 
such conduct was equal to that of the Jioman, who 
thrust his hand into the fire for missing the life of 



MBHOIBS OV IHDIA. &19 

Ponenna^ and although I am far from hiding 
up such barbaroua acts as worthy ot* imitation, 
yet men who can behave £hus, would, if civilised, 
possess all the generous traits that belong to chi- 
valry. Nor are the women less determined than 
the men in devoting their lives, when called upon 
by what they conceive to be duty or affection. 
Thousands annually consume themselves with their 
husbands' bodies, in the hope of inheriting future 
bUss* Aqiiable credulity ! Nay, they have often 
voluntarily died with brothers and fathers whom 
they tenderly loved. 

We besieged Adjighur, a strong fort in £undle- 
ound, in 1809. After a very brave resistance it 
was evacuated by the garrison. Lutchman Dowah, 
the chief) was unable to protect his wives, who re- 
mained in the place, and it was necessary to re- 
move them. For this purpose, an old man, the 
&ther of one of the ladies, was sent to prepare 
them with assurances of the most delicate treat- 
ment, but he was implored to end their existence, 
as they had heard that Lutchman was slain. Ac- 
cordingly th^ old man cut all their throats, and 
his own immediately after, for they were all found 
fifeless when thQ house was entered. * 

The Bravery of the Honourable Con^pany's 
sepoys might also be adduced as a proof of 
Hindoo courage. During the siege of Cud^dore, 

* I jpelate this on both written and oral authority. 



3S0 MEMOIRS OF INDIA«^ 

in a desperate sally made by the French, our sepoys 
foiled some of their veteran troops with the bayonet. 
It is therefore not for want of animal courage, 
and a proper love of king and country, that the 
Hindoos have been for ages subject to foreigners. 
This must be attributed to their institution of 
castes, which weakened the whole national fabric 
by infinite division and individual interest. In- 
stead of depending upon the physical strength of 
the state, which is always found in the peasantry, 
kept in activity of body and mind by necessary 
toil, this hardy race was commanded never to 
aim at glory, and by this radical defect their coun- 
try sunk into dependence. Science is necessary 
to direct the multitude, and noblemen are requisite 
to command the population, but it is to the re- 
sources of the commonalty that every state miist 
look for its security. The poet has then justly 
called a bold peasantry " their country's pride.'* 
In Hindostan, however, there is no such thing. 
The whole Brahmanical fabric is founded upon 
exclusion and slavery, therefore those over whomi 
it exercises its influence must be unaspiring slaves. 
Yet horrible as this is, it is better than no religion. 
On its promises a poor tottering human being 
depends, through all the inconsistencies of his 
nature. In obedience to the dictates of Brahma, 
he lays down his head under the wheels of the 
great procession car, pierces his back with an iron 
hook, and hangs thus, whirled round by a high 



MISMOJRS OF INDIA. 921 

wheel, lies bleeding on thorns, and at last drowns 
himself in a sacred river to feed crocodiles ; yet he 
hopes all this will procure for him salvation, when 
fleeting life shall have passed away ; and in this 
world he abstains from the gratification of wicked 
desires, in compliance with the moral laws of his 
caste. 

The Hindoo subahdar of Barwa, a town in Bun- 
dlecund, in 1790, was an accompUshed scholar, and 
deeply versed in the sciences of Europe. At the 
age of sixty he was studying the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica, in the English language, yet some- 
time after, feeling his end approaching- he repaired, 
according to the custom of his tribe, to Benares, 
and drowned himself in the Ganges. 

Near Mangee, a town in Bahar, at the con- 
fluence of the Ganges and Goggrah, there is a 
banyan tree, consisting of about sixty stems^ which 
occupy an area of more than half a mUe in cir- 
cumference. Under this huge shade a naked 
devotee sat in one posture twenty-five years, ex- 
cept during the four cold months, when, as a further 
punishment, in compliance with his vow, he sat up 
to his neck in the sacred river. 

Yet the Brahmans who control the minds of the 
Hindoos, commit the most atrocious crimes before 
their eyes. At Amran, a town in Kattywar, held 
by Hiijee Khowas, there is a monument to per- 
petuate the memory of a Rajghur Brahman, who cut 
his own mother's head off, at the great gate of the 

Y 



322 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

forl^ to prevent Hiijee Khowas from depriving him 
of some disputed property. The victim on these 
occasions glories in death, and consents to its in- 
fliction ; and while the innocent cause of the 
catastrophe is doomed to damnation, by general 
opinion, the matricide is honoured by his caste, and 
feels no remorse. That this superstition should 
not have been long ago destroyed by the seeds of 
death within itself, seems to me most astonishing. 
The Hindoos are an intelligent, acute people, in the 
common concerns of life. Their natural intellec- 
tual faculties appear no way inferior to other men's. 
I have talked to many of them possessed of dif- 
ferent degrees of information, from the peasant 
that turned the clod to the learned pundit who 
expounded the laws ; and on any subject out of 
the sphere of their prejudices, I found them as 
much disciples of Descartes as myself: that is, 
they seemed to doubt whatever struck their senses 
as requiring proof, and took nothing on the bare 
assertion of others, without the concurrence of 
their understandings ; yet whenever I touched 
upon their particular creed, all was wildness and a 
chaos, which not one I ever met could reduce to 
any thing more than imaginary comprehension. 
The learned Brahmans can speak on the subject 
with uncommon beauty. Some of them have ac- 
quired a considerable knowledge of our language, 
and to hear them explain the charming morality 
of their sacred code, the sublime duties* enjoined, 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 323 

and the axioms and maxims by which they allege 
that their lives are governed, would almost per- 
suade Agrippa to believe Paul. Yet the wildness of 
every system which the Vedas and Sastras pre- 
scribe, is such, that any well-informed European 
would suppose the absurdity obvious ; and I gene- 
rally examined the face to see whether the heart 
was in tune with the tongue, but except in the 
professed ^sceptical classes, I believe all the 
Hindoos have perfect faith in the Brahmanical 
doctrines. 

Their wild notions with respect to chronology 
and mythology have been long themes for wonder 
and speculation. The same runs through all the 
arts and sciences cultivated among them. Every 
thing obscure is rendered incomprehensible, and 
when involved in perplexity it is left as the utmost 
length which human intellect can go. These cir- 
cumstances of the mind have of course kept its 
faculties within the same small circle for ages, 
which would have been the case in Europe, but 
for those great luminaries who formed tangents 
from the spherS of received opinion. But in India, 
the poet, mathematician, astronomer, and musician, 
are all bound in chains by sacred rules that no 
man can understand; and which, therefore, are 
pronounced divine, as if the Almighty would in- 
struct mankind by lessons above his comprehension. 
In music, they were restricted to 36 sacred melo- 
dies, and the hours by night and day for their 

y 2 



3S4 MEMOIRS OP IKDIA. 

performance kid down. Their ancient instrument^ 
called Dwitantri, had only two strings, which, 
tuned in fifths, produced the heptachord. Like 
ourselves they had seven notes, sa, ri, gUy ma, pa, 
dhay nu They have our major and minor modes, 
but here simplicity ends, for their scale is divided 
into three parts. First, from the navel to the 
chest; second, from the chest to the throat; and 
third, from the throat to the brain. • Besides the 
36 sacred pieces, in many of which only two wild 
notes are used, they have 48 lighter melodies for 
dancing, which were invented by one of their gods 
after morality had become corrupted. In this 
state music now stands, the popular airs in India 
being generally Persian. Poetry has greater in- 
tricacy. It is divided into 21 classes. In the first 
of six syllables, 64 combinations are composed on 
the syll^les of each verse ; 4096 on those of the 
half stanza ; and 16,777,216 on the 24 syllables 
which constitute the complete stanza. These 
classes all rise progressively in difficulty, so that in 
the last 67,108,864 combinations are composed (m 
26 syllables, within each verse ; nearly 4,503,621, 
000,000,000 on 52 syllables, and more than 
20,^^8^,388,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 on a 
hundred and four syllables which form the stanza. 

The Brahmanical fabric is altogether so extra- 
ordinary, than when I reflect upon its ceremonies, 

* Vide Asiatic Researches, vol. ix. 



MEMQIRJS OF INDIA. 3^ 

festivals, processions, and images, I can only 
account for the principles upon which it keeps 
possession of the minds of rational creatures by 
referring it to the old maxim, " Custom is second 
nature/* What we behold daily we cease to think 
strange. This has produced such harmony be- 
tween the Hindoos and Mohammedans in India, 
that the latter have ceased to persecute the former, 
and, indeed, many of them have now adopted the 
modes which they behold from infancy, instead of 
those brought from beyond the Indus by their 
forefathers. The aborigines, in the vicinity of 
British and Mogul stations, have lost their purity 
as ancient Hindoos, and embraced many foreign 
opinions and habits. Indeed, nothing but famili- 
arity could reconcile. men to the monstrous objects 
that are every where worshipped in India. In one 
place is seen a huge form resembling a human 
creature, but with three glaring eyes and sixteen 
hands; in another, the. heads of elephants and 
hogs fixed to the trunks of mep. Here, indecent 
figures quite naked, resembling Priapus; there, 
monkeys and many-headed horses. In one sacred 
temple, a great fish with a man projecting from its 
mouth ; in another, disgusting shapes of men with 
numerous hands all armed with weapons, and many 
faces besmeared with oil and paint. But for the 
innumerable hideous forms held in veneration by 
100,000,000 of men, I refer the reader to Moor's 
Hindoo Pantheon. Many of the stories attached 

Y 3 



326 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

to those monsters are equally disgusting, and, one 
would suppose more calculated to excite hatred 
and horror, than respect and love, yet such is the 
amazing delusion under which a rational creature 
may labour that idols are actually adored as living 
. gods by men- in a state of such mental refinement, 
that many of them cannot only argue most acutely 
against those parts of our holy scriptures which 
have produced great difference of opinion among 
Christians, but arraign others upon which our 
sects have never yet disagreed. I might here re- 
peat several ingenious objections which Hindoos, 
with whom I conversed, made to Christianity, but 
to show their refinement of thinking I refer to 
Baldaeus, a Dutch clergyman, who wrote on India 
from personal observation in I67I. " A certain 
Indian," says he, ** asked me once, whether, when 
John baptised Christ, he did so in the name of 
the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. I answered 
yes. He replied that Jesus was thus baptised in 
his own name, which he thought an absurdity. 
I told him there was nothing absurd in the matter, 
since Christ was not baptised upon his own ac- 
count, or as God alone, nor as a bare man, but as 
being endowed both with the divine and human 
nature. That the Son of God could not be bap- 
tised otherwise than in the name of God; and 
that under the word God, were comprehended the 
Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost ; that Jesus 
was the same in essence with the Father and the 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 327 

Holy Ghost ; and that there were no degrees in 
the Deity, for though the Father was the first, 
yet the Son was as truly God as the Father and 
Holy Ghost : wherewith he was well satisfied. 
For the Indians being generally very ingenious, 
they ask many acute questions concerning the 
creation and end of the world, the immortality 
of the soul, hell, and such like.*' Yet the in- 
credible things they believe concerning their own 
deities, without ever doubting their truth, might 
be supposed to render them pervious to the creeds 
of other nations. I shall instance this by reference 
to interesting known facts. 

The followers of Gunputty believe that he is now 
incarnate in the person of ChintamUn Deo, who 
resides at . Chinchore, near Poonah. It is also 
credited, that at the death of eight Decs, who have 
preceded the present one, an image of the god 
miraculously arose from the ashes. To this image, 
or to the large statue of Gunputty, the incarnation 
performs pooja, or worship, for the Brahmans say 
that the image is the greatest, his power not being 
affected by the avater, or flesh. They also think 
that Deo is so full of the divinity, that his senses 
are absorbed, and therefore he act3 the fool all his 
life ; that is, he appears to possess only suflScient 
sense to ask and answer in a childish manner. 
But he eats, drinks, and marries several wives, like 
other Brahmans. The former Deos are buried in 
small temples near the river Moota, which passes 

Y 4 



328 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

the palace in which the present one resides, with 
flights of steps down to the sacred water, for daily 
ablutions and ceremonies. Women and priests may- 
be here seen constantly bathing and perfuming the 
idols, while children are decking them with flowers, 
and pilgrims and devotees making their rich offer- 
ings ; priests chaunting sacred pieces, musicians and 
bards, dancing girls and jugglers, necromancers and 
buffoons, all striving by gesture and action to in- 
crease the revenues of the Deo, who sits cross- 
legged in listless indolence and apathy. It is also 
amazing how they venerate a statue of stone or 
wood, into which it is believed a certain god has 
been, incanted. Long pilgrimages are made to 
some of these images, which were stolen from par- 
ticular temples, or whose place of residence was 
changed as they suppose by a miracle, on account 
of some insult or neglect. 

At Weerawow, in the district of Parkur, a sandy 
tract to the south of Cutch-Booge, there is an image 
of Goreecha, or Goreeka, so ancient that it is be- 
lieved to have once occupied a Banyan temple in 
the renowned city of Gour, one of the great 
capitals of India in remote times. This idol is of 
marble, two feet high, sitting with his legs across. 
It was for a long time, after the decline of Gour, in 
Pareenaghur, another ancient town, which was de- 
stroyed during the invasion of the Moguls, but 
Goreecha, or Goreeka, fell into the hands 6f a 
Rajpoot chief, from whom he was stolen, or escaped 



M£MOIRS OF INDIA. 829 

by a miracle to Weerawow. Seventy thousand 
Banyans annually visit him at Morwarra, where the 
ceremony is performed of producing him with 
great mystery, as described in the first volume of 
the Transactions of the Literary Society of Bom- 
bay, by Captain M*Murdo, who says that the rajah 
occasionally mortgages the income he produces for 
18,750/. Besides this large sum levied at Mor- 
warra, all the adjacent towns and chiefs extort 
contributions from the caravans of pilgrims, who 
also suffer great hardships in the desert regions 
around this remote spot, and numbers of them 
perish ^very year in the same way as at Juggernaut 
At Daccour, in Guzerat, is the original idol of the 
famous temple of Dwarka. It came thither no one 
pretends to know how, about 600 years ago, since 
which time that place has been held in esteem. 

Dwarka * was the residence of an incarnation of 
Chrishna, under the name of Runchor, and at it 
there is one of the most celebrated pagodas in India, 
but the Brahmans have been thrown into dejection 
by the escape of their god twice ; for after great 
trouble, when he fled to Daccour, they incanted 
his essence into another statue, which crossed 
over about ISO years ago to the island of Bate, and 
they suppose that if their present one should take 
offence, an end would be put to his worship at the 
Goomty's sacred waters. To this wild and re- 

* Vide Addenda, L. 



330 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

mote corner of Guzerat, about 20,000 Hindoo 
sectaries repair annually, for purposes of devotion ; 
and at this beautiful temple, and two others on the 
island of Bate, separated only by a narrow arm of the 
sea, a revenue of 30,000/. per annum is produced 
by voluntary offerings. The chief of Bate, who 
is high priest of his own temple, receives the 
dresses and sweetmeats presented to the god, and 
retails them out again to the devotees at low prices, 
so that imposition is there practised openly, and 
yet the delusion is so strong, that all appears divine. 
At Aramra, situated a few miles from Dwarka, 
Vishnu performed the exploit of cutting open the 
large conch shell in which the demon Shunkudwar 
concealed himself* and the Vedas which he had 
stolen. He excused himself for the theft by saying 
that he hoped to have been put to death by Vishnu, 
which would have secured him future happiness. 

In short, statues of wood and stone are absolutely 
believed to be real gods, and worshipped accord^ 
ingly. Their table is laid every day, and their beds 
made at night. . They are bathed and perfumed with 
most scrupulous regularity. At the great pagodas, of 
Ramisseram *, Seringham, Conjeveram, Chillamba- 
ram, and Tripetty, in the south of India, though 
nearly two thousand miles from the source of the 
Ganges, the idols are bathed every day with water 
carried by pilgrims from Gangoutra, or the sacred 
junctions. This is sold again to the devotees, and 

♦ Vide Addenda, LI. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA, 331 

produces a revenue. In many of their magnificent 
temples, Europeans are permitted to approach near 
the idols, taking off their shoes ; the Brahmans 
encourage curiosity. But in some places the 
images are shown with great mystery, and they are 
often kept in dark recesses, far from the entrance, 
so that the gloom and magnificence, the wild 
sounds of shrill instruments of music, and the roar 
of great drums and conch shells, with the dis- 
figured faces of the worshippers, and the abstracted 
appearance of the Brahmans really bewilder the 
senses, 

Tripetty, in the Camatic, is so sacred, that it is 
said no European or Mohammedan ever saw its 
interior. An incarnation of Vishnu is worshipped 
here. Thd natives say that the pagodas are built 
of great carved stones, like those which excite our 
wonder at Chillambaram, Dwarka, &c., and covered 
with plates of gilt copper so curiously ornamented 
with figures, that they are pronounced the works of 
superior beings. At the famous pagoda of Malla- 
cargee and Brahma Rumbo, situated on the south 
bank of the Krishna, in a desert, 118 miles from 
Hyderabad, the idols are only shewn by the flashes 
of a brass speculum, that fall upon them so as to 
leave imagination to form a sublime picture, from 
a faint outline of something which cannot be de- 
scribed. These temples are enclosed by a great 
wall, forming a square, 600 feet long by 510, and 
covered with curious sculptures. But to enter into 



33S MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

the description of such fabrics in India, would fill 
volumes. They are neariy all in the Egyptian 
style of architecture, and so massy that they have 
endured amidst the wrecks of matter around them, 
from times of which there is now no trace. By what 
powers of mechanism they were constructed, is a 
curious enquiry for the antiquarian. 

At this day the only method the natives have of 
raising great bodies to any desired elevation is by 
forming an inclined plane of earth, as their build- 
ing proceeds, which answers the purpose of our 
scaffoldings and cranes. Up this mighty stones 
are moved by the application of manual labour, 
aided merely by the powers of the lever. In many 
places the domes which ornament the mosques and 
the pagodas in northern India, where the Hindoo 
architecture is now of a mixed kind, between the 
Egyptian and Grecian, are formed oh a mound or 
ball of baked clay, after which the earth is removed 
and the inside polished, Simple as those methods 
are, all the fabrics in India might have been con- 
structed in this way, and the caves excavated by 
the repeated applications of the chisel alone. 
Sculpture never attained very high perfection in 
Hindostan. The execution of the rarest specimens 
is not to be compared to our school, though some 
of the airy statues of females in the caves of Elora 
and Eiephanta are exquisite as to the finest pro- 
portions of form ; but in painting and sculpture a 
good outline is the first advancement towards per- 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 833 

fection which a scholar makes. To cause the 
canvas or marble to glow with living expression, to 
teach passion how to speak in stone, and to pro- 
duce by light and shade an alto relievo on a flat 
surface, with an imitation of grief, joy, hope, 
anguish, despair, so natural as to impose upon 
judgment, are pointis which nothing I ever saw in 
my extensive travels in India supports. The black 
marble bull in the beautiful pagoda of Tanjore is 
perhaps a specimen of the highest degree to which 
the art of sculpture was carried. In ancient times 
Tanjore was the Benares of the south, and it still 
retains that character, many of the Brahmans being 
literary men. The rajah of Tanjore is a learned, 
ingenious, and- liberal minded man, having been 
educated by the Danish missionaries, and carefully 
instructed in European learning, yet he continues 
firmly attached to the Brahmanical faith. The 
whole of Tanjore is like a garden, and a perfect 
contrast to many other parts of the coast similar as 
to soil and local advantages. Fine canals conduct 
the water of the Cavery, secured by prodigious 
mounds, across the whole country and irrigate every 
field. 

Indeed the whole southern quarter of India bears 
traces of having been once cultivated to a high de- 
gree ; but two thousand years seem to have made 
scarcely any difference in the manners of its pea- 
santry. In customs, food, houses, and clothing, 
the poor Hindoo is nearly the same now as his 



334 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

forefathers were then. There are, however, ad- 
mirable forms of village government remaining 
among them, which are strong testimonies of an- 
cient civilisation. Those of the same caste live in 
many places like a great family, having a com- 
munity of rights, the oldest man being the chief 
magistrate of the association, with a committee 
under him to settle all litigated matters on princi- 
ples of equity. Such is the beautiful simplicity of 
many communities at present in India, that far ad- 
vanced as we undoubtedly are in arts and sciences, 
yet from Hindoo rural felicity our politicians might * 
derive important information ; and as they have 
encouraged a system, of education improved on 
Indian suggestion, so, by adopting what is admir- 
able in the remnant of Hindoo policy, they may still 
further advantage the interests of their country. 

Many of the small villages in the Carnatic, &c., 
consist of a row of houses on each side of a wide 
street with a range of cocoa nut and plantain trees 
before the doors. Some of the larger villages have 
streets which cross at right angles, forming a fine 
square in the centre. Here the choultry, or house 
appointed for travellers, stands. If no riyer passes 
near, artificial reservoirs, faced with stone, preserve 
a plentiful supply of rain water. -The dwelling- 
houses have in general an open viranda running 
along the whole front, and under the trees before 
the doors, the inhabitants both men and women 
occasionally sit, which has a cheerful effect This 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 335 

description applies properly to the south of India, 
for in Hindostan Proper, where the hot winds pre- 
vail, the houses are constructed so as to exclude 
the air, and they appear externally of an unpre- 
possessing form. 

In the Camatic, the washerman of the village 
will be seen in one place making his collection ; the 
schoolmaster in another, teaching the children to 
write in the sand ; the smith busy at his anvil j and 
the barber seated crosslegged under a tree, operat- 
ing on the head, and addressing the hearing with 
that loquacious rattle for which his calling is famous 
all over the world j while the shrill tones of music 
are heard in a neighbouring pagoda mixed with the 
loud voice of the great drum. At the same time, 
perhaps, a party of jugglers will be playing off their 
tricks for the amusement of the idle, and fantasti- 
cally dressed f akiers strutting about to extort money 
by the extravagance of their stories and gestures. 
The cutwal or magistrate will be found adminis- 
tering justice and promoting harmony, surrounded 
by his aged advisers, who with gravity and wisdom 
admonish the young to imitate the old, and place 
before their eyes a bright example in their own 
conduct. No female exclusion is here observed. 
The women, ornamented with trinkets, are seen 
nursing their little ones, or employed in their house- 
hold affairs, while the young girls, whose black hair 
is generally braided up and ornamented with flow- 
ers, are drawing water from the wells. 



336 MEMOIRS OF INDIA* 

The Brahmans, who ccHitrol opinion, are, like the 
other three great original castes, subdivided into 
numerous sects and professions, and in the clerical 
order they have no supreme head. In every pa- 
goda the high priest is an independent sovereign, 
supporting all his inferiors attached to the institu- 
tion out of its revenues, and contracting with the 
civil power for military aid or forbearance. He is, 
in short, every thing that an abbot is, except in 
owing obedience to the Pope ; for his submission to 
the colleges at Benares is merely matter of choice. 
His Brahmans are like monks, and the only chain 
of subjection, by which the various pagodas of each 
sect are combined, consists in the reverence paid to 
antiquity, and the pilgrimages and offerings to great 
Idols at particular places. In this way a constant 
intercourse is kept up between the remote parts of 
India and Benares; and a correspondence, main- 
tained for the general interests of the particular 
worship, carried on at every temple throughout 
Hindostan. But there is no doubt, in my mind, 
that at one time the whole Brahmanical institution 
was combined under a supreme head, whose great 
pagoda was perhaps at Palibothra on the sacred 
Ganges. • The manner in which the Brahmans live 
is an interesting subject for meditation. Many of 
them, when ambition or hope courts them forward, 
are as active and enterprising as Jesuits; while 
others dose away their lives in listless indolence, 
apparently abstracted from all the concerns of this 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. SSf 

world. At Malabar Point, on the island of Bom- 
bay, there is a cleft in a rock of such sanctity, that 
it attracts pilgrims from all parts of India for re- 
generation by passing through it, which is a work of 
great difficulty. Near this was a celebrated ancient 
pagoda now in ruins. It was polluted^ like the 
other temples and caves near Bombay, by the 
Portuguese : there is a modem one near its ruins, 
dedicated to Sacksimi, the goddess of plenty, which 
is held in great veneration. The aperture in the 
rock and this temple support a beautiful village of 
Brahmans built round a delightful tank. Under 
the shade of trees planted around this fine sheet of 
water, the Brahmans perform their religious cere- 
monies and bathe in the sacred pond, to which there 
are on all sides magnificent flights of stone steps. 
Many of these learned and religious men have lived 
here from childhood without having ever felt the 
desire of gratifying curiosity by a visit to Bombay. 
Such is the extraordinary nature of man, when 
stimulated, his activity knows no bounds, yet under 
relaxation he falls into the opposite extreme. Many 
of the Brahmans are exceedingly immoral j bands 
of dancing girls are attached to their pagodas for 
purposes of prostitution. They aim not at power, 
being devoted to pleasure. But, on the other hand, 
the activity and art with which they pursue their 
objects are well known. Cromwell did not usurp 
with more address than Bajee-row, the first of 'the 
ruling Peish was of Poonah. Tallyrand did not 



998 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. * 

change sides with more talent than Purneu, who 
preserved his influence with Tippo till the last, and 
after his death secured the friendship of the East 
Ijadia Company, and turned the reverses of his late 
master, to the advantage of his present In behold- 
ing the stupendous works which he projected for 
the embellishment of Mysore, and the improve- 
ment of agriculture, I clearly saw the genius that 
had executed those fabrics in old times, with per- 
haps as simple means, which are now attributed to 
the gods. 

Between Ceylon and the continent is the famous 
bay of Condatchy, which contains a pearl fishery 
that yields government an average revenue of 
40,000/. per annum. The pearls are of a beautiful 
whiteness, yet not so much esteemed by the natives 
of India as the yellow ones of Ormus. -4bout 
every seven years the banks are fished, being laid 
oft* so as to come annually round. In this time the 
pearls are supposed to attain maturity ; but it is 
believed, that if left- much longer, they become so 
troublesome, from their size, to the fish, that they 
are thrown into the sea. Most of the divers are 
trained up from children on the island. The 
usual time they remain under water is two minutes, 
during which period the oysters are collected in a 
net. tied round the neck, from which is a signal 
cord communicating with the boat, by which they 
are assisted in regaining the surface* Some of 
those unfortunate creatures perish in attempts at 



MEMOIRS OP miiiA. 339^ 

remaining long undfer water, which is att object of 
great emulation. Four minutes are dccasionally' 
spent under the fluid, and one man remainfed, itl* 
1797» six minutes below. They are paid acCbrd-' 
ing to the number of oysters they catch ; and sttch^ 
is their perseverance, that axty-seven returns have- 
been made by one diver in a fore-noon, with from 
50 to 100 oysters in his net every time. Miany 
lose their lives, and others are horribly lacerated^ 
occasionally, by ground sharks; but the divers are 
so superstitious that they still believe their coti- 
jurors and priests can save them, afld government, 
as well as the farmers of the pearl fishery, pay' 
several of that description of impostors fbr remov- 
ing their fears. It is quite a lottery in what oyster 
a. pearl may be found; for there are nunierous 
blanks to a prize, and the latter is often so stnall^a^ ' 
not to exceed the size of a mustard seed« TTiie ' 
oysters are, therefore, often disposed of unopened' 
to the highest bidder. When the pearlsr ai^ fbund- 
they are instantly drilled by men who are very ' 
expert in this way; and sometimes a valuable prike^ 
is got for a mere trifle. 

It has been supposed, that at some remote" pfi^- 
riod, the Carnatic and Coromandei formed a- spleni- * 
did seat of extensive empire over part ^of India/ and* 
the mine of Travicarry perhaps no^V mark" the siSe- 
of govemmentr Here* several large streets • can be* ' 
traced, and thegateway^f a gorgeous'pj^ddtt eigfe«- 
storie* hight It is n^DW*, however^ onlyreititti^feabte^ 

z 2 



340 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

for extensive petrifactions of trees into flint, or 
a kind of stone, nearly as beautiful as cornelian, 
and a very large tank which covers several acres. 
Many of the hill-forts, both below and above the 
ghauts, are places of great strength. All the prin- 
cipal ones are now occupied by British garrisons ; 
but impregnable as they are by nature, they add 
but little to the real strength of the country ; for, 
whatever force is sufficient to traverse the plains, 
may* soon reduce the hills by starvation. Few 
traces of Mohammedan splendour meet the eye in 
the south of India ; but in Hindostan Proper, and 
even in the Deccan, there are numerous edifices 
which, though now in ruins, lend romantic beauty 
to the scene. 

In modern times the south of India was subject 
to the government of Visiapoor, now called Beja- 
poor, situated not far from the Krishna. Aureng- 
zebe conquered it in 1689, at which time the native 
historians say it contained 984,000 inhabited houses. 
It is now greatly in ruins, and exhibits a spectacle 
of the Mogul fallen glory ; for some of the mosques 
remaining are magnificent structures. The mau- 
soleum of Ibrahim Adal Shah is about 400 feet 
long and 150 broad, covered with an immense 
dome, supported by square pillars, carried to a 
great height. Some of the' other domes are 120 
feet in diameter. The fort was eight miles in cir- 
cumference, built of massy stone ; and the ruins all 
round this extend to such a distance, that it is like 



MTEMOIRS OF INDIA. S4l 

a mere point in the centre of a great circle. To 
immortalise the capture of this strong place, Au- 
rengzebe caused an immense cannon to be cast 
This great gun is still to be seen at Bejapoor. It is 
of brass, fourteen feet long, and nearly the same in 
circumference, and it would receive an iron ball of 
2,646 pounds weight. 

In the centre of the Deccan, to the extent of 
420 miles by 220, lie the dominions of the Nizam, 
with a population of 8,000,000 of souls, not more 
than a million of whom are Moslems, although the 
government has been Mohammedan since A. D* 
1585. When Aurengzebe completed the conquest 
of this region in 1687, he fixed the capital of the 
Deccan at Aurungabad, from which the royal resi- 
dence was transferred to Hyderabad, by the late 
Nizam Ali, which has reduced the magnificence of 
that once splendid city, Aurungabad, to ruin. At 
the new capital, which is now a very considerable 
town, containing about 12,000 inhabitants and 
some fine mosques and palaces, the Mogul charac- 
ter appears in more variety than in any other part 
of India J for the court of Delhi is now a mere 
cipher. A numerous retinue of noblemen sur- 
round the throjie, who spend their fortunes in 
ostentatious display, or profligate profusion. Their 
palaces glitter with costly articles of plate, while 
their lofty rooms are hung with the lustres of 
Europe* Many of them dress in English broad 
cloth, for the weather here is cold, though in l?"* 

z 3 



fi4A MEMOIRfi; OP IN0IA. 

^orth; yet its elevation is such that^ for three 
jpaontbs in the year, Fahrenheit's thermometer is 
Qften jis low ^s 35^^ and seldom ranges higher than 
^^; but, JLinmediately before the monsoon, the 
^\m .is ^ceedii^gly powerful. These luxurious 
^dl^les live in a free manner, and some pf them 
• cultivate the society of Europeans. They are edu- 
f^at^d generally for the military profession. Their 
complexions are fair, and sometimes ruddy. They 
j^r^ lopd of showing their children to the English, 
9nd they ^e, when young, very pretty. Our 
jbadies, w^ho visited their wives, gave us almost as 
^ourable a desc9*iption pf the charms of the fe- 
9^ialeQ, and the decorations of their apartments, as 
I^dy I4^ary Wprtley Montague did of the Kahya's 
feir F^tim^a. Their dresses were of the finest gold 
pacca muslin, flowing in rich profusion, exposing 
the fine swell of their bosoms, and the delicacy of 
tjieir arms, while their ready smiles spoke gooci- 
)iu^ojur ajQ4 happiness. Under their gowns they 
WiOre silver piuslin drawers, and their silk slippers 
yff^Tfi jewbrqid^red with gold* Their hair was de- 
corated \jrith pearls and flowers, and they exhibited 
a profu^<m of costly trinkets. Numerous maids 
richly afitired waited their commands, and sweet- 
me^te and perfumes were brought in, with delight- 
fully cppl sherbets and ices. They had musicians, 
danpers^ and story-rtellers to entertain them, and 
Ibeir little ones were bropght in to be shown with 
ejcpljli^tijqjj. Wliiftn J;|iey pay yj^jj^, it js in great 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 343 

state ; and their carriages glitter with costly orna- 
ments of silver and gold. It does not appear that 
many men of rank have more than one favourite 
wife. When they avail themselves . of the right of 
having a plurality, the ladies live in separate houses^ 
and have distinct establishments. The Mohamme- 
dan nobles and gentry drink wine, and dine re- 
clined on low couches; but when entertaining 
Europeans they sit at table, and have various 
courses of delicately dressed dishes, with a very 
splendid dessert. Dancing, recitation, and story- 
telling are their fisivourite amusements, while they 
loll on their low velvet sofas, and enjoy their 
hookas. The stories are generally of the extrava- 
gant description, told in the Arabian Nights j but 
their recitations are often beautiful pieces from the 
Persian and Hindoo poets. Many of the pictures 
in those fine tales are real copies from life of 
oriental customs and manners, which are common 
in India. During the flourishing state of the Mo- 
gul empire, the court of the Khalif al Rashid, in 
Bagdad, was scarcely so gorgeous as that of 
Delhi. The shadow of its shadow only remains sit 
Hyderabad, but even still it is worthy of admir- 
ation. At the courts of many of the rajahs the an- 
cient customs and manners of India are preserved ; 
but all the public ceremonies have been often 
described. 

Many of the Hindoo ladies of high rank enter 
into the schemes of government and the intrigues 

z 4 



S4f4f MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

of state, with spirit and ability. They are not so 
much confined as the wives of Mohammedans ; 
add it is supposed, on good grounds, that previous 
to the invasion of Mahmood of Ghizni, no such 
thing as the seclusion of females existed in Hin- 
dostan. Certainly at this' day there is no more of 
it among some of- the lower orders, than in Europe ; 
but, agreeably to custom, women hide their faces 
from strangers with part of their garment Many 
of those whom I saw seemed to me as intelligent, 
as domineering over their husbands, and as per- 
fectly free in their habits, taking their local pre- 
judices into account, as our females of the same 
rank. In the historical part of this work is 
described the unembarrassed manner of the queen 
of Sattara, and also, in the same, mention is made 
of two of Holkar*s sisters, one of whom was be- 
headed by her chiefs, for interference with state 
affairs, and the other commanded a division of 
troops, wheipi she surrendered to Sir.W* Grant 
Keir. In short, we are not sufficiently acquainted 
yet with the rights of women in Hindostan. 
Material exceptions are to be made to any general 
.description of female life in the East The pecu- 
liar customs respecting women in Malabar have 
been noticed ; and even among the Mohammedans, 
females have in some places extraordinary privi* 
leges. In the province of Jutwar, contiguous to 
Cutch, the Jut women can, when they choose, 
leave.their husbands and marry other men.. When 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 34f5 

tWs is determined upon, the wife collects all her 
acquaintances, breaks her husband's furniture, and 
persecutes him till he agrees to a separation. The 
females are held in such respect, ■ that a traveller 
cannot have a better protector than a woman in 
passing tfirqugh hordes of these robbers. In 
Afghanistan, ladies have also great influence over 
men. I have mentioned the consequence of a veil 
being sent to a chief there by a distressed female. 
-Many instances of sincere attachment came to my 
knowledge among the middle orders in India, and 
it certainly is but fair to extend what exists in part 
to the whole. I consider the custom which enjoins 
a woman to die with her husband, as a recognition 
of love in the Brahmanical code, for, although it 
springs from selfishness to call upon a beloved 
object to perform a sacrifice repugnant to the feel- 
ings of nature, yet it proves that the introduction 
of it contemplated man as unhappy in death, with- 
out the objects that contributed to his felicity in 
life. The Mohammedans erect splendid monu- 
ments in memory of their wives, and the Tauje 
Mahal, near Agra, is one worthy of particular 
notice. This mausoleum was erected by the em* 
peror Shah Jehan, to commemorate the celebrated 
and beautiful Noor Jehan Begum. It is about 
190 yards square, in a superb enclosure of 300. 
A dome rises from the centre, which is seventy 
feet in diameter. At Noorabad, in the same pro- 
vince, there is another gorgeous monument situated 



346 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

in a fine garden, laid out by Aurengzebe to per- 
petuate the personal and mental accomplishments 
of Goona Begum, a princess celebrated for many 
pathetic pieces o£ poetry written in Hindostannee. 
Her shrine bears this simple but affectionate tribute 
in Persian ; " Alas ! Alas ! Goona Begum/* 

The province of Aurungabad, in which a great 
part of the Nizam's territory lies, contains many 
curious ruins in its former capitals, Dowlutabad, 
Aurungabad, and Ahmednuggur. * Dowlutabad 
was taken about the year 1293, by AUah-ud-Deen, 
and reduced to permanent subjection by Mallik 
Naib, the emperor of Delhi's general, in 1306. 
It became in the 14th century such a favourite 
with the emperor Mohammed, that he injured Delhi 
by his endeavours to establish his capital in this 
central situation. But it is now a heap of ruins, 
and all the glories of the Moguls in the west of 
India, are absorbed by Bombay, the British capital 
in this quarter, of which particular mention has 
been made. 

Surat, which for a long time continued the prin- 
cipal station of the East India Company's govern- 
ment, is still a very populous city, containing full 
200,000 souls. It is situated on the south side of 
the Tuptee river, about twenty miles from its junc- 
tion with the sea. This city is one of the most 
ancient in India, and, it is said, still bears the same 

* Vide^Addenda, UL 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 347 

name it did, when the Ramayuna, a Hindoo poem 
of great antiquity, was written* It was called by 
the Mohammedans of India, " The gate of Mecca,'* 
because the pilgrims embarked here for Arabia. At 
this place the Parsees established themselves at an 
early period. They are mentioned by Abul Fazel as 
very numerous in his time. At present their number 
amounts to about 15,000. In I8O7 a census was 
taken, and there were 1200 of the mobid or sacer- 
dotal class, and 12,000 of the behdeen or laity. 
Suratis 177 miles from Bombay, 243 from Poonah, 
and 1238 from Calcutta, vid Nagpoor, lat. 21^^13'^, 
long. 73^ 3' E. 

In passing through the Deccan, a traveller is 
struck with the different appearance of the Hindoos. 
When in the Camatic he was accustomed to tall 
graceful figures, with narrow chests and slender 
bodies. As he proceeds through the Deccan and 
Hindostan Proper, he observes these general cha- 
racteristics no more. The countenance assumes a 
brighter tint, the limbs are strong, the shoulders 
broad, and the stature that of the middle size in 
England, with frequently those fine, manly, tall 
fellows whom we so often see in Europe. The 
Rajpoots are a race of as fine-looking athletic men 
as could be produced in the world, while the moun- 
taineers and many of the Mahrattas seldom ex- 
ceed the height of five feet three inches. In the 
higher classes of life the complexion is often that 
of Spain and Portugal. Their clothing is pf cotton 



348 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

and silk, stuffed and quilted ; with warm Cashmere 
shawls. The peasantry wear a coarse kind of 
woollen, like camlet, which is perfectly water proof, 
and made so as to cover the head and body. The 
shepherds who tend the flocks, from whose wool 
this stuff is manufactured^ live with their families, 
in many parts of India, in the deserts, having 
moveable houses for their wives and children, like 
large baskets or beehives, and when exposed to the 
weather, the men are perfectly secured by their 
dress as if inside a tent. 

The whole of Hindostan Proper is sacred ground. 
All the rivers are dedicated either to gods or 
goddesses, and every mountain, city, and village 
have .been the scenes of exploits, which form the 
Hindoo mythological romances; but the great 
temples were nearly all destroyed or mutilated by 
Mohammedan fury. Yet such was the persevering 
spirit of the Indians, that they impressed many of 
the Moguls with a belief of their absurd opinion^. 
Abul Fazel, who wrote a most able description of 
the empire of Acber in 1582, assures us that the 
river Sopra, near the ancient and sacred city of 
Oojain, sometimes flowed with milk, at which he 
expressed astonishment, bitf no doubt. In another 
place he gives an account of the pilgrimages made 
by the natives to Nagercote, a city on a mountain 
in the province of Lahore, where devotees imagine 
they obtain their wishes by cutting out their 
tongues^ " It is most wonderful,** says he, " that 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 349 

they grow again in the course of two or three 
days, and sometimes in a few hours. Physicians 
belieVe that when the tongue is cut, it will grow 
again ; but nothing, except a miracle, can effect it 
so speedily as is here mentioned.** The royal 
master of this fine writer was, however, an- enthu- 
siast himself, and of a most superstitious turn of 
mind ; no doubt his minister was of the same bent 
when he credited such absurdities. Acber, it is 
said, made a pilgrimage on foot of 230 miles, to 
worship at the tomb of Khaja Moyen-ud-Deen, 
for the purpose of obtaining male issue; after 
which he had three sons ; and of course this passed 
as another miracle, performed by the greatest 
Mohammedan saint ever known in India, the con- 
tributions at whose tomb still support 1100 peerz- 
adas, or attendant priests. Here are the remains 
of> a magnificent palace, built by Shah Jehan, in a 
fine garden, and near it is the celebrated lake of 
Pooshkur, where there are numerous Hindoo tem- 
ples round its romantic shore. The ruins of one, 
destroyed by Aurengzebe, denote it to have been 
of amazing magnificence. The statue of Brahma 
AS here, with four heads, the size of a man. Pil- 
grimages are made to this temple from all parts of 
India. But it would fill a volume to notice only 
a few of the curiosities in this holy land, where 
there are yet fine roads for several hundred miles, 
shaded with fruit trees. Every thing bears the 
traces of the country having been once culti- 



360 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

vated like a garden, and civilised to the highest 
degree. 

The ruins of Kanoge are situated in the province 
of Agra, on the west bank of the Ganges, which 
city is supposed once to have been the capital of 
a vast empire. Its mouldering remains cover an 
area equal to all London, but no temples of con- 
sequence remain, though the plain is covered with 
broken idols and remnants of Hindoo worship. 
Two mosques are now the only fabrics of conse- 
quence. This city was plundered and destroyed 
in the invasion of Mahmood of Ghizni, in the 
year 1018. Ferishta mentions some of its rajahs, 
several years before, and describes it as a city of 
wonderful splendour. Here the most general 
language in India is said to have had its origin, 
and it is but reasonable to suppose, that the empire 
which circulated this tongue so diffusely over the 
continent, under the name of Hindostannee, must 
have been very extensive. Gour, which was the 
great capital of Bengal, in ancient times gave rise 
to Bengalee, which is only current in that pro- 
vince. Its ruins extend fifleen miles by three 
or four in breadth, along the old banks of the 
Ganges, in Rajemal, near *the town of Mauldai 
Many of its materials have been carried away to 
build palaces and mosques in Moorshedabad ; only 
a great mosque, lined with black marble, and 
of exquisite workmanship, and two lofty gates 
of the citadel, remain in a state of preservation* 



MEMOIRS OF I1*DIA. 351 

The still more ancient cities, which produced the 
derivations from the Sanscrit, in which the sa- 
cred records of the Brahmans, Jains, and Budhists 
are written, have passed away and left not a trace 
behind, to reconcile the wide differences of opinion 
of learned orientalists on the subject. 

Many ingenious Europeans, in travelling over 
India, and beholding such marks of remote an- 
tiquity and civilisation, which seem on a superficial 
view to warrant the Brahmanical chronology, have 
been staggered in their belief of scriptural history ; 
I have heard several officers, whose understandings 
were otherwise sound and acute, talk lightly of our 
sacred volume, merely from* the mental conviction 
which they felt, that the time allotted for such 
advancement in arts, science, and civilisation, was 
too short for the march evidently made, till the 
period when we have authentic accounts of this 
part of Asia. I gave the subject, of course, most 
attentive consideration, and I am convinced that 
no argument can be founded upon ruins, or 
their non-existence ; for in one hundred years, 
decay of buildings is so rapid in India, that cities 
melt away almost like snow, having been at all 
times built of perishable materials. The immense 
size of towns, whose ruins we yet behold, is also 
no good foundation to build any hypothesis upon : 
for we have observed, in modem times, with what 
rapidity, prodigious masses of men have been con- 
gregated to any point which became the seat of 



352 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

empire. Kanoge only swelled the population of 
Delhi, and Gour, of Moorshedabad, while perhaps 
Palibothra sunk as Kanoge rose ; for we see the 
common course wliich events take in the East, 
exemplified in Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. 
Nor was the advancement of tiie Hindoos in art, 
science, and civilisation ever such, as to establish 
a very high scale for them in the antiquity of the 
world. In rural economy, I admit, they seem to 
have excelled nearly all nations. It is true, the 
Hindoos in very remote times constructed amazing 
pyramidal pagodas of huge stones, excavated 
mountains, and cut down rocks by repeated strokes 
of the chisel to resemble the forms of men and 
beasts ; but the sculpture does not entitle the 
artists to rank with ancient Greece, and it is 
evident that when the Vedas and Purannas were 
written, science was in its infancy. I must, how- 
ever, draw myself away from this subject ; but I 
beg to refer any sceptical reader to Sir William 
Jones's Essay in confirmation of the Mosaic re- 
cords. 

The ancient grandeur of India merged, in mo- 
dern times, in Delhi, which was once the largest 
and most populous city in the world, having been 
the capital of the Patau, and still that of the 
Mogul empires. When in its most flourishing 
state, it is said to have contained 2,000,000 of 
souls, and its ruins at this day extend over a space 
of twenty square miles. Modern Delhi, built in 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 35S 

1631, by the emperor Shah Jehan, is situated on 
the western bank of the Jumna, 976 miles from 
Calcutta. It is seven miles in drcumference, and 
has seven fine gates of free-stone. An account of 
the mouldering palaces, colleges, canals, and ex- 
tensive gardens here, would fill volumes. Many 
of the mosques are still preserved in fine order, 
particularly the Jama Musjid, or great cathedral, 
which was built in six years, and must have cost 
an enormous sum. The royal palace is about a 
mile in circumference, and the gardens of Shali- 
mar are said to have cost 1,000,000 sterling. 
Sensibility, in wandering over their ruins, sinks 
into melancholy. All their walks and arbours are 
now desolate, which were once full of life, beauty, 
and hope. Three thousand pavilions, mosques, 
and sepulchres, lie around in mouldering heaps. 
All these vast dilapidations of human splendour 
may be seen at once, from the top of the Cuttub 
minar, a celebrated pillar nine miles from Delhi. 
It is 242 feet high, and consists of a base of 27 
sides, fluted into semicircular and angular divi- 
sions. The great shaft has four balconies, at stages 
up its altitude, which are gained by means of a 
spiral staircase, and a majestic cupola of red granite 
crowns the whole. It was built A.D. 1205, by 
Cuttub Shah, whose tomb is near it, and it has, 
therefore, stood 618 years. This minar is said to 
have been intended for a great mosque, which was 
begun, but not finished. About 50 miles N. E. 

A A 



354 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

of Delhi, on the old banks of the Ganges, are the 
famous ruins of a once celebrated city called Has- 
tinanagara which was held sacred by the Hindoos. 
The natives say it was entirely destroyed by white 
ants, and this, I suppose, has arisen from the pro- 
digious ant-hills near it, which rise up all round in 
conical pyramids to a great height. 

The Patans and Moguls have left behind them 
vast monuments of their power in India. I was 
at first surprised, in travelling over the country, to 
observe very few bridges ; and those I saw in the 
Camatic and Mysore were only composed of pro- 
digious square stone pillars placed on their ends in 
the river, and covered with similar stones. But 
I sooii discovered, that the great rivers of India 
are so liable to overflow their banks during the 
monsoon, that bridges over some of them could 
not be constructed, that would withstand the im- 
petuosity of the rush of waters. That wonderful 
bridges were made in ancient times, we have 
evidence by the ruins of the magnificent bridge 
300 yards in length, at Sivana Samudra. Rammas 
bridge, which is said to have united Ceylon to the 
continent, I do not mention, because I believe it 
to be, like the Giant's Causeway, a natural pro- 
duction. At Jionpore, in the province of AUa- 
habadj^ there is a bridge of ten arches, over the 
Goomty river, which has stood since the reign of 
Acber, although our troops have, 1 am most 
credibly informed, frequently sailed over it during 



MKM0IR9 aV INDIA. S&5 

the monsoon, and yet though submerged for many 
days at a time, it has suffered no damage from the 
current. This bridge is so complicated in its con- 
struction, that no native architect could build, w 
place one like it now. There is another in the 
province of Lucknow, over the Sye, of fifteen 
arches, which is a fine specimen of Moorish archi- 
tecture. Near this capital is Constantia, the 
palace erected by General Martin, who rose from 
the ranks of the Company's service. Lucknow is 
a very populous city, contains several splendid 
fabrics, and here is the magnificently lighted se- 
pulchre of Asoph-ud-Dowlah, whose eccentricities 
form an era in pageantry. The ruins of ancient 
Oude are in this province, which city is mentioned 
in the Ayeen Acbery to have been once 148 coss 
in lengtfi and 36 in breadth, which perhaps is a 
satire on native exaggeration, for a coss being at 
least li English miles, this measurement would 
make it exceed all belief. 

Benares, the most sacred city of the Hindoos, 
situated on the Ganges, about 460 miles from 
Calcutta, is the ancient seat of learning ; and con- 
tinues to be to all India what Rome was once to 
Europe. It contains about 600,000 inhabitants, 
and many of the houses are six stories high. Here 
nearly all the rajahs and great Hindoos of India 
have vakeels, who perform religious ceremonies for 
them. The greatest pagoda was pulled down by 
Aurengzebe, who, with its materials, built a pro- 

A A 2 



356 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

digious and magnificent mosq^ue, from the^minars 
of which the city and its numerous temples, and 
grand flights of steps down to the river, may be 
seen with great advantage. About 8000 houses are 
occupied by Brahmans, who live on charity, though 
many of them are extremely rich. 

To notice all the objects worthy of curiosity in 
this quarter of the East, would considerably exceed 
the limits assigned v to these observations. Only 
two or three others shall be briefly mentioned 
before we close this book, which it is very earnestly 
hoped contains a great deal of interesting matter, 
with much information of a useful nature for young 
adventurers to India. 

The capital of Bahar is Patna, seated on the 
south side of the Ganges. It contains about 
150,000 inhabitants. In the British buryftg ground 
there is a monument to commemorate the murder 
of all the English here in 1763, two hundred in 
number, by the German adventurer Somro, who 
was in the ser\dce of Meer Cossim. Some writers 
suppose this to have been the site of Palibothra ; 
while others give the preference to Allahabad, 
which is seated at the junction of the Ganges and 
Jumna. The fort of Allahabad is one of the 
strongest in India, and the place is so sacred that 
pilgrims repair hither to be drowned. Inside the 
fort there is a moat extraordinary excavation, of 
vast magnitude, supported by pillars. The natives 
believe it extends under ground to Delhi, for the air 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 357 

is SO impure, that no one has been able to examine it. 
Another of these remarkable caverns is situated 
near Gayah, in Bahar. It is a room with a vaulted 
roof, forty.four feet in length, eighteen in breadth, 
and ten in height, and dug out of solid rock, with 
an entrance six feet high, and two and a half wide. 
On the interior there are several inscriptions ; and 
in the hills around are a great many other caves, 
all supposed to have been dedicated to the worship 
of Budha. From the pilgrims who resort thither, 
a greater revenue is derived by government, than 
from the pagoda of Juggernaut, the sum received 
here annually being about 16,000/. 

Dacca is such a modem city, that it is not 
noticed in the Ayeen Acbery, though it now contains 
150,000 inhabitants, and exports the finest muslins 
in the whole world. These beautiful specimens 
of Indian manufacture are produced by the assist- 
ance of wheels, reels, and looms, of the most simple 
form that can be conceived. Nothing but Hindoo 
patience could accomplish such wonderfully ele- 
gant productions with such means. Some of the 
women spin with the distafl^ sitting on the edge of 
a hole, which they make in the ground, sufficiently 
deep for the length of the thread, and it is amazing 
how even and fine they form it, with their deli- 
cately small fingers. 



A A 3 



3SB 



CHAPTER II. 

PREPARATION FOR INDIA5 AND PASSAOE OUT, 

Thb descriptioiu; of young men who ;^xK3eed to 
India> may ^be classed under the denosmiixatiiotis of 
Company^s dvil, military, and mariiie servaats ; 
Idog's oflSceia, and private adventurers.. It is 
necessary that they dbould all be well educated, 
grounded in pare principles of moral and religious 
dttty, and «ccust09»ed, by regular scholastic discip- 
line, to notions of obedience and sdboordioation 4 
but it is -certainly of moSne importance for a youth 
to be well acquaint^ with Europeaja Irtenature, 
than to devote a precious portkin <^* time in 
stetSyifngorieotol lamguages at home, wla^en he is so 
soon to be in a ^situation wfaeve he can assist theory 
w4th practice. 

In the ^hcfve dasafication, adl the young men 
who go oat as wiiters, curates, aissii9tant*stffrge<N3s, 
Cidiel^ midsfaipfEiien in the Bombay marine, ensigns 
in king's reginrents, or as mastei^s mates in the 
Bengal pilot service, have a good proes^ect be- 
fore them. Certain allowances await them on 
arrival in the country. A proper exercise of wis- 
dom, on their part, is not to fix their expectations 



MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 3^9 

too high ; for the sanguine disposition of youth is 
pregnant with great and very often fatal disappoint- 
ment. It will also be judicious for theija to treasure 
up this truth, that their prospects are in different 
de^ees essentially good. It depends in a great 
measure upon their own good conduct, to com- 
mand the smiles of health * and fortune. These 
two fundamental principles of thought will guard 
the mind against the encroaches of false hope and 
dangerous despair. It is proper for the other de* 
scription of youth, I mean private adventurers, to 
bear in mind that, unless they go out to ^ome com- 
mercial establishment as free traders in the Indian 
seas, or to be employed in some way by established 
European settlers, there is not on the face of the 
earth a worse theatre for action. The various 
offices under government are filled with native 
clerks, and there is scarcely an avenue open to 
a stranger. If he be a well-educated person, he 
can only lock for employment as an assi^ta^t in 
8ome of the schools at the presidencies, or as an 
editor of a newspaper, or in some other chance 
capacity, for which he may long look in vain. If 
a tradesman he may find employment ; but unless 
he has capital, the climate forbids his successful 
establtshmentt for all laborious occupations are 
performed by natives ; md Europeans in India soon 
become ao exhausted, as to be quite unfit for lae"' 

^ Vide Add«adi, JtYII. 
A A 4 



fi60 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

chanical exertion. A permission from the court 
of directors of the East India Company, is neces- 
sary, for a private adventurer, which is generally 
given in the form of a free mariner's indentures. 
This, however, does not prevent the local autho- 
rities from ordering the stranger out of the coun- 
try if he misbehave, to do which they have absolute 
power. But many Europeans have smuggled 
themselves. into India; and if an adventurer be 
very correct and circumspect in his conduct, he 
will not find much difficulty in evading the local 
regulations on this subject. * 

It is assumed, that all young men who adventure 
to India, embark for that distant region to better 
their condition, with the hope of returning to their 
native land for the purpose of enjo}ing that otium 
cum dignitate which ought to be the reward of an 
actively employed manhood. For this purpose, 
habits of economy and care should be early formed, 
and from the first conception of the idea of making 
India the sphere of exertion for independence, a 
regimen of both mind and body should be com- 
menced, and undeviatingly pursued. To preserve 
health in India, strict temperance in all things is 
indispensably necessary ; to acquire wealth, a fixed 
practice of living under income, whatever it may 
be. Youth most unfortunately often imagine that 
they are called upon, when mixing with society, 

* Vide Appendix, note 16. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA« 361 

to imitate the highest in extravagance of expendi- 
ture. The generous principle from which this 
imagination of the heart flows, is honourable to 
man's nature, but discreditable to his judgment ; 
for the increase of salaries is a reward for service, 
and as etiquette has established a scale for expence^ 
in proportion to rank, it is ah absurdity for a junior 
to ape seniority. It is like the dwarf foolishly at- 
tempting the stature of the giant, and generally 
meets the fate of the frog in the fable, that burst 
by over-exertion to rival the ox in size. 

In fitting out for India, we would strongly ad- 
vise the young adventurer to take nothing with 
him but what may be absolutely necessary. In 
this small stock, we place a few very useful books 
of reference. But to carry out the stores of camp- 
equipage, the saddles, bridles, bales of broad cloth, 
and varieties which many young men do, is alto- 
gether mistaken profusion. In nine cases out of 
ten, the stock which a young gentleman takes out 
is injured by want of care, or is of a different de- 
scription to that which he finds necessary on arrival- 
in India. He also discovers that he could have 
equipped himself there at half the expence which 
he did in London, and his regret and chagrin are 
increased by the want of those means, of which he 
was deprived by rash anticipation. The wisest 
plan is to embark with only what is necessary for 
the voyage ; and with such scientific apparatus as 
may be useful in all situations, either for amuse- 



36^ MSMOIRS OF INDIA. 

meat or improvement, carrying out a bill on some 
house of agency ; or a sum of money for equip- 
ment in India. The bill is the better mode of the 
two, for it serves as an iotroduction, and provides 
against probable loss, for the exchange on En^ish 
money varies very much in India, and a system of 
fraud is practised on Johnny Newcome ^t each of 
the presidencies, which it requires no common 
prudence to repeL 

The passage to India now seldcmi exceeds four 
months and a half^ but it is a period to which 
^eat importance ought to be attached. An ad- 
venturer is fortunate, who meets with a gentle- 
manly experienced commander of the ship, for 
much depends upon his temper and manner, in 
keeping up pit)per cerOTM>ny and preserving that 
agreeable harmony which is so very easily dis* 
turbed by ^eliishness and imprudence, in the nar- 
row sphere to which the pasfflons and inclinations 
of society are condned on board a vessel, where 
there is no such tMng as avoiding daily intercourse 
without the most intolerable imprisonment. In- 
deed the situation of a set tsf&ery impatient young 
men, cooped . up witiiin the sides of a wooden 
house, aairrounded by the ocean for four months, 
is so critical that it requires every possible atten- 
tion and care to prevent the many unhappy conse- 
quences which may- arise out of accidents. When 
good temper and a general disposition to please 
prevail, the iiours fly away swiftly, and there is so 



MfiMOlRS OF IMBIA« 363 

littie to dbraw away attentum while scnddiiig before 
the trade or monsooii, which steady weirt:her is ex- 
perienced during d^ greatest part <rf an Lodian 
voyage, that an improving course of reading may 
be pursuied, and the mind invigorated while the 
iaaagination is amused. 

There i« « roving dispodtion, or propensity, in 
human nature, which leads young men to think 
little €f the pain of separation fyam the delight&l 
associations of boyhood till after departure. It is 
then that the unobserved tear trickles down that 
cheek which, perhaps, felt but a faint flush of 
emotion when bidding adieu to objects, the loss of 
whom affection had never been taught by expe- 
rience to appreciate. Even during the voyage, 
the painful sensations of an exile, far from all he 
loves, are not so keenly felt as when he lands, and 
meets with none of those endearments which 
usually awaited him upon returning home from 
former excursions. The mind is very highly ex- 
cited during a voyage to India, and imagination is 
kept on the alert by the most pleasing visions of 
expectation. It often happens that these delight- 
ful day-dreams are found to be just as unsubstantial 
vapours as their nocturnal sisters, and it therefore 
becomes an exercise of prudence in every young 
man, to prepare his understanding for a situation 
in which he will require the full exercise of his 
reason to combat those yearnings for a return to 
joys which he is apt to imagine are fled for ever. 



364f MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

But he may rest assured, that such feelings will 
not continue to destroy his peace of mind ; and 
that he will soon form new associations and friend- 
ships; to part with which will, at some future 
period, occasion no inconsiderable wound to his 
dearest sympathies. Let each adventurer, there- 
fore, think seriously upon these probable changes 
in his mind, and he will be able to endure them 
without that despair which has maddened several 
amiable young men into acts of suicide* 



365 



CHAPTER HI. 

CAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED, ON ARRIVAL IN INDIA. 

Upon landing at any of the presidencies, crowds 
of natives, who speak tolerable English, press upon 
strangers, and it requires no small share of pru- 
dence to guard against imposition. They approach 
with the most insinuating address, and produce 
characters which are calculated to remove sus- 
picion. The necessity a stranger is under of placing 
himself in the power of some interested person, as 
well from want of information as for the supply of 
his absolute wants, ensures employment to great 
numbers of the most cunning description of men 
in India. Their objects are, to get charge of the 
luggage for the purpose of conveying it to some 
tavern, the proprietor of which rewards them for 
bringing him guests ; to engage such servants as 
the stranger may require, all of whom pay for their 
places ; to exchange English money and purchase 
the refit, which every one requires after a long 
voyage, by which they make considerable profit. 
To avoid the consequences of reposing confidence 
in such designing knaves, I would suggest that the 
stranger should leave his luggage on board the 
ship, and go on shore with any letters of introduc- 



366 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

tion he may have, or for the purpose of reporting 
his arrival at one of the public offices, where he 
will receive information that may be serviceable* 
Such young men as do not belong to the civil or 
military, service, will do well to be guided by the 
advice of the captain of the vessel ; for I can as- 
sure them, that by placing themselves at the dis- 
posal of an agent, who will.ofier himself at the 
laiiding-placeji they may, probably, be led into 
folly and inconvenience, which they will long re- 
member with deep regret* In short, I consider 
caution on this head of such importance, that I 
have known the worst misfortunes of several ad- 
venturers originate in connections which they acci- 
dentally formed with natives, on arrival in India. 

The next point, to which I would advert, is the 
caution that ought to be exercised in the choice of 
companions. In general, our youth contract in 
public schools, from mixing with ranks in life far 
above them in fortune, notions of extravagance 
and splendour, which are agreeable to the gene- 
rous and liberal feelings of that animated period 
of existence. But if these propensities be not- 
checked, they inevitably lead to the formation of 
habits, which completely destroy that prospect of 
independence for which a man is adventuring his 
life, and spending his time in an uncongenial 
climate, at a distance from all the associations of 
childhood. If the inconsistency of human nature 
was not proverbially known, it would surprise any 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 36? 

man to behold young adventurers in India living 
in such a state of intemperance and luxury, as if 
the pursuit of pleasure and the expenditure of 
wealth and health, were the objects for which they 
had left the bracing regions of Europe, to sqourn 
in the burning plains of Hindostan. It is a la- 
mentable fact, that the votaries of fashion every 
where stimulate each other to excess, by a constant 
struggle to make what is to follow surpass every 
thing that has gone before in magnificence ; but, 
in no part of the world, is this truth more obvious 
to common observation, than in India, where a 
rage for display seems to be a species of epidemic, 
that attacks every stranger, if not resisted by sound 
judgment and strength of understanding. I, there- 
fore, warn every young adventurer to reflect, at 
the threshold of his undertaking, upon the views 
which he and his friends have had, in making 
India the scene of his operations, and to act in 
consistency thereto, by avoiding companions who 
evidently proclaim the danger of their course by not 
following reason as their guide, which would lead 
them to practise the strictest rules of self-denial, as 
a sure and certain means of expediting the accom- 
plishment of their fondest hopes. 

Instead of that profusion and waste of time and 
money which characterise the youthful, civil, and 
military servants of government in India, the ra- 
tional aim of every one should be on his first 
arrival to qualify himself for promotion, by ac- 



368. MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

quiring local information on all subjects, and 
making himself master of some of the useful native 
languages. The faculties of the human mind are 
so active, that if intellect does not find them pro- 
fitable employment, they will run into useless 
luxuriance of their own accord, in the same way 
that a rich garden yields a multitude of weeds, if 
not supplied with proper seed to receive the benefit 
of its generous fertility. Is it not most necessary, 
therefore, for every adventurer to recollect, that if 
he does not, on his arrival in India, lay the found- 
ation, or sow the seeds of industry, patience, 
perseverance, and care in his mind, that indolence, 
restlessness, imbecility, and luxury will grow up 
in their stead, and propagate their pejnicious ofi- 
spring. 

But whilst I earnestly press upon the young 
adventurer, the necessity of being reserved in his 
general intercourse with strangers, I by no means 
insinuate that he should not cultivate the society 
of worthy young men of his own age and profes- 
sion. He should, on the contrary, endeavour to 
become the centre of a well-selected circle of 
friends. In the choice of them he should be guided 
by the qualities of the heart, in preference to those 
of the head. It is an amiable and philanthropic 
disposition, to aim at improving others while we 
endeavour to perfect ourselves ; to receive in- 
formation from those who can impart it, with the 
generous intention of bestowing it on others, whose 



MEMOIRS QF INDIA, 369 

opportunities may not have been equally fortunate* 
I strongly advise every youth to shun the contagion 
of vice and folly, but to look upon ignorance with 
charity j and, wherever the desire of improvement 
is manifested, to encourage the young shoot that 
may lead to excellence, with tender attention. It 
was finely said of the late amiable Dr. Hunter, 
who died at an early age in India, 

" Though vers'd from earliest years in classic lore, 
Though rich in later times with Asia's stor€, 
He never knew the vanity that flies 
Association with inferior ties ; 
But still with sentiments to nature warm, 
Lov'd all that trifles in a human form.*' 

Were young men not credulous and unsuspecting, 
they would not be such objects of the fears, hopes, 
and affections of their parents. We see in our 
children our own green years, and whilst memory 
recurs to the generous confidence, which we often 
reposed on the smiling aspect with self-^exultation, 
she reminds us how frequently deceit and villany 
lurked beneath, like vipers under a beautiful rose, 
and we start with apprehension for the safety of 
our offspring when first exposed to the treachery 
of the world. It is happy for the young, that they 
know not the dangers which surround them ; like 
many a tall ship, they push over quicksands and 
shoals, in ignorant security, the knowledge of 
which might produce hesitation pregnant with 
danger, 

B B 



970 



CHAPTER IV. 

9«MAE&8 CiJ AtfBJECTS CaKHECTEf) WifH R£SI^ 
DENCE OH HERVICB IN INDIA^ 

The civil and militaiy ^ervaiite of the Hoooarable 
Company are not hmg in Ifldia befofe they become 
important members of society ; for the civilians, as 
soon as they pass through the college exercises, 
are attached to some of the departments of govern- 
metrt as assistants, where in time they advance to 
distinction ; and military officers, upon joining their 
regiments, become guardians over the happiness of 
their inferiors, and, therefore, are responsible for 
the discharge of most useful duties. Magistrates 
in this country have not near so much influence 
over the population as civilitos in India have 
atnong the lower orders of the natives. They may 
fiiflict great misery, or promote the comfort and 
enjoyment of all around them. By oppressive 
Conduct, either through the malevolence of theu- 
own dispositions or by inattention to the native 
agents, who act under them, many of whom are 
rapacious and merciless, they injure their own 
deputation, and the dearest interests of their em- 
ployers; but, by .watching and promoting the 



M£MOIR» OP WmAk 971 

wdbfare of the poor unprotected Hiodoos, they 
both lay up a hoard of blias for themselves^ txn 
reflection upon the past, and material^ serve the 
cause of their ccaintry, whose pride and glory 
consist in the justice and benevolence of her sons^ 
Both civil and military adventurers, therefore^ have 
a wide and noble field before them in. India^ and 
it should elevate their souls to reflect oai the power 
which they have of doing good* 

In journeying over the extensive and interesting 
regionSf which young adventurers see in a i^w 
years* service in the East> it is a most ddightful 
thing to have the mind well stored with the his- 
torical occurrences which have rendered particular 
places remarkable. Nothing, I believe, expands^ 
the understanding more than reflections upon the 
past with a view to the benefit of the future* We 
are thus carried away entirely from the selfish 
present moment, and rest upon something that 
raises us in our own estimation, because it ia su*' 
perior to our proper cares* To the imlitary 8tu« 
dent, India offers an ample school for instruction^ 
as well as to the civilian^ The former, while 
viewing the scenes of battles and manoeuvres, wUl 
learn to avoid those errors which led to defisat and 
disaster, and to imitate the particulars which cxmu 
manded victory and success } whilst die civil as 
well as the military servant will sigh over the spot 
where villany was achieved, and learn to de^sii 
actions which are stamped with ii^imy. 

BBS 



37^ ' MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

The prejudices of the natives of the country 
should every where be respected, and their man- 
ners and customs studied, that no unintentional in- 
sult may be offered, or injury inflicted upon their, 
minds. It is as cruel as it is ungentlemanlike to 
scoff or ridicule strangers for things which make 
them respectable in their own eyes, and respected 
by their friends and associates. How would we 
feel under the sneer of haughty proud foreigners 
who laughed at us, because their vanity led them 
to make what was familiar to themselves a univer- 
sal standard ? If we cautiously inquire, we shall 
find a reason for almost every custom which has 
been introduced into human society ; and although 
Europeans are at first inclined to look upon the 
manners and usages of the East as absurd, yet, in 
time, they behold that every thing is the natural; 
effect of institutions. They soon discover that 
many of the Hindoo customs are well suited to the 
climate and nature of Asia, and learn to doubt 
their own judgment of others, the use of which 
they find beyond their comprehension. In this 
temper of mind, a civil or military servant of the 
Company in India will behave to all the. natives in 
such a manner as to command their respect, confi- 
dence, and esteem. It ought to be impressed upon 
the understanding of every European in India, that 
his individual conduct may be productive of good 
or evil; for men are everywhere inclined to pro- 
nounce upon the whole from the examination of. 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 373 

a part. How often is every country disgraced by 
the shameful behaviour of particular members 
of it 

A true Christian, while serving in India, will 
pity the delusion of the Hindoos, at the same time 
that he admires their faith and constancy. Instead 
of considering them ^sunk below the level of human 
respectability, he will set a proper value upon their 
creed, and clearly perceive that their religion, bad 
as it is, raises them above the atheist or scoffer at 
divine things. He will behold them with that uni- 
versal charity* which his own sacred records 
breathe, and, whilst he ayails himself of such oppor- 
. tunities as occur of diffusing the light of our Gos- 
pel amongst the Hindoos, he will carefully abstain 
from all interference with their religious ceremonies. 
No man of sound judgment and enlarged capacity 
can doubt that Christianity will, in time, overthrow 
the fabric of Brahma; but the influence of our 
Holy Scriptures in Hindostan will not be known 
till education has, like a pioneer, gone before and 
cleared away the filth of prejudice and superstition. 
This is at present rapidly going forward, and I am 
confident that God, in his own good time, wiU bring 
about the total conversion of the Hindoos, agree- 
ably to his revelation. The arguments raised 
against this by a late respectable French mission- 
ary t, an4 also against the circulation of the Bible, 

* Vide Addenda. LUI. 
f Vide Appendix, note 17. 
BBS 



974f MEMOIRS OF nVDIA. 

tee oORtrtey to the promises of Christianily. The 
A\)b^ Dubois may be peifectly tight in saying 
that the time for converting the Hindoos has not 
yet arrived. For government to try experiments 
im this subject, would be most dangerous. If our 
gOT^nment had aimed at the conversion of the 
Hindoos, there is no doubt that a very numerous 
Christian society would have been speedily formed 
amongst them; but it has not been our poUcy; 
and perhaps it is wise to leave the word of truth 
4o its own influence. The efforts which are now 
awaking m India to educate the natives, are, per- 
haps the most effectual towards the interests crf^the 
Christian rdigion of any that have yet been made. 
But is my humble belief, that if the British mission- 
CGries were permitted to locate the converted Hin- 
doos upon the waste lands in our provinces, either 
in conformity to ancient Hindoo civilisation, or to 
plans found practicable in Europe for bettering the 
condition of the poor, such a foundation for native 
Christian society would be laid, as coald never 
^gain be shaken by the attractions of idolatry. 
S/Ound «uch a mxicieus the native population would 
^radualfy congre^te, tiQ ci^dlisatimi* extended 
from the inouths of the Ganges to the Indus, and 
#6n the Himalaya mountains to Ceylon. 

Yoeing men go out to India, at that pmod of 
iiK^ wiien the 'lo((« of plisasure^ind sdyf-gratiiication 

-* VJd0 Apywwfa, Mte 1^ 



^uf^ersedes cons^ulexatioxi^ of* remote iutexesls; Xbe 
future^ for which life is mked in ^ dai^geroua x^U- 
mate, is .sacrificed without reflection to tbje presemt. 
Suck is the incoii3ijstenc7 cf our najtiire. Hence ^t 
is^ that M many amiable youths of laost re§pectal;)I<e 
famiUes form connections, by marriagje in Indi^ 
which blight the fond hopes of their parent^,; whibt 
others become entanj^ed by the voluptuow-chanas 
^f :some «able beauty, and, before tbey are ^wace, 
ignd them&elves surrounded by a numerous ot^ixj^ 
of half caste akgitimates, the difficulty >of |uroyi4- 
ing for whom embitters their futua*^ lives. JSoth 
these dangers oi^ht to be avoided by a souwl 
exercise of wisdom ^nd restraint} but I certainlj 
pity the youth less wbp marries and bepcnnes the 
father of children of hi« own cdlow:, ^f whom he 
need tiot be a^sbamed, than ihe unfortunate man who 
ositails disgfftce upon the natural ot^ects pf bis 
a&ction, and who at length hds to leave them in 
an inferior walk .of Uie^ wben be retuips tohkm- 
tive country^ The Indian beauties, wbiie y^Q*mg, 
possess fadcinations of the nost bewitching deiicisgp- 
tion, and often ^ the aiifections of £uropeansi io 
such a degree, th«»^t ^very tking is ^aqrificed to 
tbem. But they floon grow .old amd Hj^y, ,a«i «>t 
being linked to the heart tbat fondled them by 
m^Qt^ congeniality^ they asre forsaken very >pJ8;eii 
for some younig countrywoman, vW^ ad^enjniir«s tp 
the East m search of n b»sband. Such k tbe 
etS^ €^&ixvJ»ai%io Mmart;ing s^(i{a]ii4)i^ Ibntil 

B B 4 



376 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

have known several of these cast mistresses and 
their children receive very kind attention from the 
ladies who supplanted them in affection ; whilst, in 
other cases, I have discovered a deep source of un- 
happiness in the jealousy of the wife, who viewed 
every tender remembrance of her husband for his 
illegitimate children and their mother, as a declen- 
sion of her hopes, and an insult offered to her su- 
periority. Of all things I enjoin young adventurers 
to form early resolutions against connections with 
the half caste, Hindoo, or Mohammedan women, 
either by marriage, or in the common way, as not 
only involving their own happiness and future pros- 
pects in misery and disappointment, but entailing 
upon others anguish and ignominy, for which the 
gift of lifJe is no recomperice. 

Marriage, being the most important change in 
life, deserves in every part of the world great cir- 
cumspection previous to contracting it. The 
chances are numerous against happy marriages in 
'- India, where young people meet, whose modes of 
~life have been very different. The gentleman is at 
first sight charmed with a pleasing exterior, and in 
the. generosity of what he terms love, invests the 
object of desire with every thing which his imagin- 
ation suggests as necessary to felicity. When it 
is too late, such a precipitate wooer finds very often 
that the disposition, temper, education, taste and 
inclination of his choice are totally different from 
his conceptions, and he is obliged to form himself 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 377 

' upon a new model, or to forego all his fond pictures 
of conjugal bliss. Happy is the young adven- 
turer, who carries with him to India some image 
of loveliness from the scenes of his boyhood, whose 
impression and recollection will attract him back 
again to form a union with sentiments and habits 
similar to his own. Upon this principle I would 
strongly urge young men to form resolutions against 
marriage in India, during their first term, or ten 
years of service ; at the expiraticm of which, they 
should avail themselves of the privilege of return- 
ing home on leave, as well to renew their consti- 
tutional vigour, as to form a matrimonial plan of 
life. Allowing that a youth goes out to India at 
the age of eighteen, and returns home on three 
years' leave when twenty-eight, he will then be in 
the maturity of his judgment for fixing his own 
happiness in the choice of a wife ; he will be esta- 
blished in his profession, in a fair way of providing 
for a family, and at that period of life, when he 
may reasonably expect to see his children settled 
before the scene of this world closes upon him for 
ever. 

Upon returning to India, he should exert every 
energy he possesses to secure independence, or the 
power of retiring from the service when he pleases. 
For this noble purpose, from the commencement of 
his career something should be saved every month, 
and regularly transmitted to an agent, to be in- 
vested in government securities, as an accumulat- 



978 HEM019S OF iN]>U. 

ing fund. It is w^Huierful how a amall auclaus 
increases, by a contini^ roll in this manner. In 
sbcdl; very few fortunes are ever made in any other 
way, and the young adventurer may dq^end that 
if he follows this plan, he will soon command 
means which will ensure success, and warm the 
frozen regions of the north, when he feels inclined 
to exchaoge fixreign heat fw native cold. No mui 
should ever calculate on becoming independent by 
chance. Industry, integrity, and perseverance 
command fortune^ and economy secures her favours 
as a refuge;, when activity faUs from the inevitable 
wear and tear of life* In every situation it is 
man's best policy to be true to his trust, and faith- 
ful to his employers, never, therefore, let the ad- 
venturer to India be false to himseli^ when in 
c^Sciai situationg, by robbing the public, or the 
government, but, nobly just, return to his mother 
earti^ enriched with consciousness of his own 
worth. 



S79 



CHAPTER V. 

tm RETUENIN6 FEQM INJ>IA, ANB IN CONCLUSION. 

With lespect to the period of retiring from tibe 
service^ or returniBg bcMcne, much must depend 
upon iiealdi and inclination. Numbecs destrojr 
the happiness nrhich they have in prospect, by re- 
maining too long, wjubt o&era, by departing before 
llieir independence is secured, lay \j^ for them- 
selves subjects of chagrin and regret The point, 
where contentment should rest, is of tsmch a move- 
able nature, that it requii^s firmness of judgment 
to fix it. A man^s mind expands^ like his horizt^i, 
as he adraaces, and,^ continually opening new de- 
w*es;andpiioBpects, leads him oflen to place ^joy- 
: ment within the precincts of imaginadon, ijoatead of 
the sober confine of reality and experience. He 
^ughrt at first to £x the object of his Irishes^ and 
^iwhen iie has realised it, isit down with gratitiide 
to the protecting power that enabled him to succeed. 
I leave the choice of the period of retirement 
to taste dbne. Aftei* twei^ yeafs' service in India, 
there are so many links to be broken in quitting it, 
so many valuable 4»ld friends to be left bdaind, so 
many £uniliar pleasoores to be sacrificed, and habits 
to be reformed iim the prospect lof i^eturning hoaae, 
^t lie is not sn ati^Qt nf apry labo hm io fiodwre 



380 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

the struggle. If he have a family to transport with 
him, the heavy expenses attending their passage, 
if his fortune be confined, will consume a consider- 
able part of his little fund j and if he has permitted 
his ideas of comfort in retirement to soar beyond 
the bounds of simple sufficiency, he will be miser- 
ably disappointed. The real wants of life may be 
supplied in this country by a very moderate for- 
tune, and much solid happiness enjoyed in social 
retirement, but after the experience of luxuries in 
India, which habit has constituted necessaries of 
life, it requires a considerable exertion of sound 
sense to bear those deprivations which the old 
Indian has inevitably to endure. 

The European mind falls into a warmth of liberal 
feeling in India, which leads a mail to expect much 
from relations and friends upon returning to his 
-native shore, but there is no train of thought more 
deceitful. It would be an ungrateful task to lay 
open the selfishness that exists in all family circles ; 
but I warn adventurers to secure their own inde- 
pendence by industry and economy, and never to 
trust, upon coming home, to their nearest and 
dearest blood for what they cannot afford to them- 
selves. 

When a man has returned to his native land, 
let him not idly sigh for joys of which recollection 
reminds him, bift let him sit down with gratitude 
to that God who has enabled him to realise his 
reasonable expectations, assured that he is formed 
to be happy in any situation, and that as much real 



MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 381 

enjoyment and comfort may be had under the free 
constitution of his own country, as in any other 
part of the world. He is, therefore, bound, where- 
ever he may settle, not to become a drone, but, 
like the busy bee, to contribute every thing in his 
power to the prosperity of the hive to which he 
belongs, the interest of his country, and the honour 
of his king. In short, to crown an active life by 
an useful old age, cheering the poor around him, 
in proportion to his means. Thus he will find 
his last reward, a grave amidst the tears and bless- 
ings of his neighbours. 

I have at length come to the close of my pro- 
posed plan. With most anxious hope that the con- 
tents of this volume may be useful in their practical 
effects, I bid the reader farewell. 1 beg to assure 
the British public, that I have been desirous of 
, promulgating only what should merit the good 
opinion of them and their posterity. 

" Live we a longer or a shorter date, 
If wise men praise us, or if blockheads hate ? 
No — but the greetings of the good impart 
Peculiar pleasure to the feeling heart : 
Cheer the dull prospect of this earthly state, 
And reconcile us to imperious fate." 



APPENDIX. 



Note 1- 

The temple of Juggernaut is situated in Orissa, 
on the bay of Ben^l, about 300 miles soutb»west 
of Calcutta. By late accounts from India it ap- 
pears that its cdebrity is upon the decline, and that 
such vast multitudes do not now annually presa 
towards it as formerly. The following particulars 
are abridged from the Rev. Dr. Buchanan's descrip- 
tion, in his <^ Christian Researches.'' 

Such numbers of pilgrims die on their way to 
this pagoda, that for nfty miles around the country 
is covered with human bones. Hundreds of old 
people travel annually thousands of miles to die 
there. Some of the pilgrims measure the whole 
way they have to travel with their bodies. The 
dogs, jackalls, and vultures, live in the vicinity on 
human prey, as the bodies are not buried, but left 
to be devoured. When the crowds of pil^ms first 
see Juggernaut, they raise a tremendous shout. 
Around the pagoda for several miles it is like a 
va$t encampment. Sometimes great numbers are 
killed by the rush of the multitude when the great 
outer gate of the town is opened. 

The idolJuggernaut, or the Moloch of the East, 



384 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

is seated on a throne in the pagoda, between his 
brother and sister, Boloram and Shubudra. He is 
made of a large block of wood, having a frightfully 
large visage, painted black. His arms are of goldL 
and his apparel is gorgeous. The other two idols, 
equally hideous, are of a white and yellow colour^ 
Both sexes look with moral turpitude upon the in- 
decent %ures, cut out of stone, that surround them 
on the walls and gates. These idols are paraded 
about on their cars or pagodas of artificial frame- 
work, seventy feet high, drawn along by men with 
cables, during the days of the grand annual festival,^ 
or Rutt Jattra, while the wheels are often red with 
the blood of devotees of both sexes, that throw them- 
selves beneath, to be crushed to death. These devo- 
tees, with clotted hair, and painted bodies and faces, 
are seen every where practising their various tortures. 
It is supposed that there is constantly a multitude 
of 100,000 souls in and about Juggernaut, and the 
wild shouts from this huge mass are appalling when 
the idols are brought out of the pagoda^ to be 
placed on the triumphal car. The multitude, 
having green palms in their hands, fall down and 
worship the idol : then the procession moves for- 
ward, preceded by elephants and dancing girls. 
Upwards of one hundred priests are performing 
the ceremonies in the different stories of the pa- 
goda. The priests sing and shout; sometimes 
telling the people that the god is pleased ; at others 
that he will not move, and that no force can draw 
the car, unless he smiles and gives the approving 
nod. Their action and gesture are altogether 
lascivious, and the shouts of approbation in propor- 
tion to their grossness, are yells of sensual delight 
The idol is said to laugh with joy when the wheels 
of his car drink the blood of a devotee. 



APPENDIX. 



385 



Juggernaut's annual expenses are : 
His table .... 
Wearing apparel ... 
Servants* wages, dancing girls^ &c. 
Contingencies . ^ . 

Elephants and horses 
Rutt, or annual state carriage 



339 

1,250 

1,373 

378 

^ 839* 

rf8,693 



Note 2. 

The military fanatics of India make it their glory 
to sacrifice themselves in what they esteem a just 
cause, and on such occasions not a man ever flindies 
. from his ground. An instance of their self-devotion 
occurred at the battle of Argaum, 29th of Novem- 
ber 1803, in which the present Duke of Wellington 
routed the army of the Berar rajah. It is told in 
the following spirited manner by Ccdonel Stewart, 
in his " Sketches of the Highlanders of Scotland." 

" The army was drawn up in one line of fifteen 
battalions, the cavalry forming a reserve^ or second 
line, the 78th being on the right, and next to them 
the 74th ; and the 94th forming the left of the line. 
When this regiment f which was supported by the 
Mysore horse) reachea and formed ou their proper 
ground, the whole moved forward^, the 78th direct- 
ing its march against a battery of nine guns, which 
supported the enemy's left. As they approached, 
a body of 800 infantry rushed out from behind the 
: battery, and, at full trot, made for the intervals be- 
tween the 74th and 78th. Surprised at this daring 
advance, the regiment obliqued their march» to 
close the interval, and with ported arms moved 
forward in quick time tp meet their assailants. But a 
muddy dwp ditch (before unperceived) intervened, 

c c 



386 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

' and prevented an actual shock with the bayonet* 
The enemy, however, stood by the ditch, with a 
resolution almost unparalleled in Eastern troops, 
firing till their last man felL The following morn- 
ing upwards of five hundred dead bodies were 
found lying on the ground where these men had 
been drawn up. They were a party of desperate 
fanatics, who fought from a religious principle.'* 

Vol. ii. page 197* 

Note 3. 

Marriage takes place in India when the parties 
are infants, the contract being entered into by the 
parents. Upon which occasions an effort is made 
to display all possible consequence, and the savings 
of many years are expended freely in ostentation. 
The young bride and bridegroom are paraded 
about in carriages, palanquins, on horseback, or on 
bullocks 5 in proportion to the circumstances of the 
persons concerned, so is the magnificence or penury 
of the exhibition ; and the extent to which this 
vanity is carried may be conceived by the reader, 
from the following abridged account of the marri- 
age of young Vizier Ally, as given in Forbes*s 
" Oriental Memoirs." 

It took place at Lucknow in 1795. The nabob 
Asoph-ud-Dowlah, whose adopted son the bride- 
groom was, had his tents pitched on the plain near 
the city, two of which were lined with the finest 
English broad cloth, and cost 50,000/., being each 
120 feet long, sixty broad, and the poles sixty feet 
high, with waJls cut into lattice- work, for the sable 
beauties of the seraglio, and those of the nobility, 
to see through. His highness was covered with 
jewels, to the amount of at least two millions 
.sterling. " From thence," says Forbes, " we 



APPENDIX. 387 

removed to the Shumeeana, which was illuminated 
by 200 elegant girandoles from Europe, as many 
glass shades with wax candles, and several hundred 
flambeaux J the glare and reflection were dazzling 
and offensive to the sight. When seated under this 
extensive canopy, above a hundred dancing girls, 
richly dressed, went through their elegant, but rather 
lascivious dances and motions, and sang some soft 
airs of the country, chiefly Persic and Hindoo- 
Persic." 

Thence they formed a procession to a beautiful 
garden, and the march was grand b^ond con- 
ception. "It consisted of about 1200 elephants,, 
richly caparisoned, drawn up in line, like a regi- 
ment of soldiers. About a hundred elephants in 
the centre had houdahs, covered with silver ; in the 
midst of these appeared the Nabob, mounted on 
an uncommonly large elephant, within a houdah 
covered with gold richly set with precious stones. 
The elephant was caparisoned with cloth of gold. 
On his right hand was Mr. George Johnstone, the 
British resident at the court of Lucknow ; on his 
left the young bridegroom : the English gentlemen 
and ladies, and the native nobility, were intermixed 
on the right and lefL On both sides of the road,' 
from the tent to the garden, were raised artificial 
scenery of bamboo-work, very high, representing 
bastions, arches, minarets, and towers, covered with 
lights in glass lamps, which made a grand display. 
On each side of the procession, in front of the line 
of elephants, were dancing girls, superbly dressed 
(on platforms, supported and carried by bearers), 
.who danced as we went along. These platforms 
consisted of 100 on each side of the procession, 
all covered with gold and silver cloths, with two 
girls and two musicians at each platform. 

" The ground from the tents to the garden, 
c c 2 



S9S MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

forming the road on which we moved, was inlaid 
with fire-works ; at every step of the elephants the 
earth burst before us, and threw up artificial stars 
in the heavens to emulate those created by the 
hand of Providence ; besides innumerable rockets, 
and many hundred wooden shells that burst in the 
air, and shot forth a thousand fiery serpents ; these, 
winding through the atmosphere, illuminated the 
sky, and aided by the light of the bamboo scenery, 
turned a dark night into a bright day. The pro- 
cession moved on very slowly, to give time for 
the fire- works inlaid in the ground to go off. It 
was further lighted by above SOOO flambeaux, 
carried by men hired for the occasion. In this 
manner we moved on in stately pomp to the garden, 
which, though only a mile off, we took two hours 
to reach. When we arrived at the garden gate, 
we descended from the elephants, and entered the 
. garden, illuminated by innumerable transparent 
. p^aper lamps or lanterns of various colours, sus- 
pended to the branches of the trees. In the centre 
of the garden was a large edifice, to which we 
ascended, and were introduced into a grand saloon, 
adorned with girandoles and pendent lustres of 
English manufacture, lighted with wax candles. 
. Here we had an elegant and sumptuous collation 
of European and Indian dishes, with wines, fruits, 
and swdetmeats ; at the same time about a hundred 
dancing girls sung their sprightly airs, and per- 
formed their native dances. 

" Vizier Ally was at this time thirteen years of 
age, and his bride ten; they were loaded with 
jewels, so that they could hardly bear their weight ; 
and the wedding ceremony was repeated for three 
successive nights, to the no small gratification of 
Asoph-ud-Dowlah's vanity.*' 



APPENDIX* 389 



Note 4. 

Had the Marquis Wellesley continued in India 
to complete his plans, it is supposed that the whole 
system of human sacrifices would have been sup- 
pressed. His humanity and intrepid spirit stopped 
the murders committed at Saugur Island, where, on 
an average, there were twenty-three persons de- 
stroyed every month. His lordship passed a decree 
in council, " declaring the practice to be murder, 
punishable by death." The law, entitled a Re- 
gulation for Preventing the Sacrifice of Children at 
Saugur, and other places, is dated the 20th of 
August, 1802. This was a noble imitation of the 
Mohammedan governors, who at one time saved 
whom they pleased, and suffered no deluded female 
or other person to commit suicide. But as the 
practice is sanctioned by public opinion, no posi- 
tive law can entirely prevent it. We know the 
effect of our own enactments respecting duelling. 

Note 5. 

The first Protestant mission to Tamore or to 
India, was founded by Bartholomew Ziegenbalg, 
of the university of Halle in Germany. In Ijyj 
he built a Christian church at Tranquebar, in which 
he is buried. He translated the Bible into the 
Tamul tongue in fourteen years. Our pious king, 
George the First, patronised this learned missionary, 
and with his royal hand wrote a letter to him and 
John Ernet Grundlerus, at Tranquebar, dated 
23d of August, 1717> in terms expressive of great 
goodness of heart, and zeal for the cause. In this 
letter, his Mmesty says, that in his kingdom, " a 
laudable zeal for the promotion of the gospel pre- 

c c 3 



990 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

vails," and he assigns that as a reason for the great 
pleasure the success of the mission gave him, by 
which he shows not only the ardour of his own soul 
for the conversion of the heathen, but the desire 
he felt to please his people : and in another letter 
written to the members of the mission, ten years 
afterwards^ he says, " In the mean time, we pray 
you may enjoy strength of body and mind, for the 
long continuance of your labours in this grand work, 
to the glory of God, and the promotion of Christ- 
ianity among the heathens ; that its perpetuity may 
not fail in generations to come." 

The missionaries have been cA^er animated to 
exertion, as well by the inspiring influence of God 
as the heart-cheering eloquence of man* They 
have numerous letters from the most learned men 
in Europe, and the archbishop of Canterbury 
aided the wishes of his sovereign, George the 
First, with all his power: — among many paragraphs 
of his letter, written in latin, to the Protestant 
mission at that time, are these beautiful words, 

" Let others be pontiffs, patriarchs, or popes ; 
let them glitter in purple, in scarlet, or in gold ; 
let them seek the admiration of the wandering 
multitude, and receive obeisance on the bended 
knee. Ye have acquired a better name than they, 
and a more sacred fame. And when that day shall 
arrive when the chief Shepherd shall give to every 
man according to his work, a greater reward shall 
be adjudged to you. Admitted into the glqrious 
society of the prophets, evangelists, and apostles, 
ye with them, shall shine like the sun among the 
lesser stars in the kingdom of your father, for ever. 

" O happy men ! who, standing before the tri- 
bunal of Christ, shall exhibit so many nations con- 
verted to his faith by your preaching : happy men ! 
to whom it shall be given to say before the assem* 



APPENDIX. 39 1 

bly of the human race, * Behold us, O Lord, and 
the children whom thou hast given us :' happy 
men ! who, being justified by the Saviour, shall re- 
ceive in that day the reward of your labours, and 
also shall hear that glorious encomium ; * Well 
done, good and faithful servants, enter ye into the 
joy of your Lord/ ** 

Dr. Buchanan speaks thus of the Tanjore Chris- 
tians from personal observation. " After the 
sermon was ended, I returned with the missionaries 
into the vestry or library of the church. Here I 
was introduced to the elders and catechists of the 
congregation. Among others came Sattianden, 
the Hindoo preacher, one of whose sermons was 
published in England some years ago, by the so- 
ciety for promoting Christian knowledge. He is 
now advanced in years, and his black locks have 
grown grey. As I returned from the church, I 
saw the Christian families going back in crowds to 
the country, and the boys looking at their oUas or 
leaves upon which they took notes of the sermon. 
What a contrast, thought I, is this to the scene at 
Juggernaut ! Here there is becoming dress, human 
affections, and rational discourse. I see here no 
skulls, no self-torture, no self-murder, no dogs and 
vultures tearing human flesh ! Here the Christian ' 
virtues are found in exercise by the feeble-minded 
Hindoo, in a vigour and purity which will surprise 
those who have never known the native character 
but under the greatest disadvantages, as in Bengal. 
It certainly surprised myself; and when I reflected 
on the moral conduct, upright dealing, decent 
dress, and decorous manners of the native Christians 
of Tanjore, I found in my breast a new evidence 
of the peculiar excellence and benign influence of 
the Christian faith.'* 

c e 4 



89^ MEMOIRS OF IKDIA. 



Note 6. 

The Syrian Christians of Travancore inhabit the. 
interior of it When Vasco de Gama arrived at 
Cochin, in the year 1503, they had a Christian 
king. At this early period there were upwards of 
one hundred Christian churches. For 1300 years 
before this, they had enjoyed a succession of bishops 
appointed by the patriarch of Antioch. But the 
Portuguese exercised great cruelty over them, and 
subjected them to the inquisition of Goa. It ap- 
pears that their religion was the same nearly as^ 
the Protestant church of this day. Their priests 
married; they owned but two sacraments, bap- 
tism and the Lord's supper. They invoked no 
saints, nor had they any images ; they did not be- 
lieve in purgatory, and had no other dignitaries in 
their church but bishops, priests, and deacons. 
St. Thomas established Christianity at a very early 
period in Travancore, and at length suffered mar- 
tyrdom near Madras. 

At Muttacherry, near Cochin, the Jews have, 
two respectable sjoiagogues, and are divided into, 
two dasse^ called Jerusalem or white Jews, and 
ancient 0f black Jews. 

The white Jews came to India soon after the 
second destruction of the temple. On th^ir axm 
rival tbe king of the country granted them f settie- 
ment at Cranganore, A. D. 490. They continuad 
at Cranganore for nearly iOOO years under seventy- 
two governors, and were joined by many other 
Jews, but at last discord arose among them^ and 
one of their chiefs called in the assistance of an 
Indian rajah with a great army and destroyed their 
houses, palaces, and forts, driving them from Cran- 
ganore, when they fled- to Cochin and found an 



APPENDIX. 393 

asylum at Muttacherry. White Jews look upon 
black ones as half castes. It is supposed the latter 
came to India many centuries before the former. 
Vide Rev. Dr. Buchanany and other authorities. 

Note 7. 

THEjains talkin their books of 2,000,000,000,000,000 
sagaras, or oceans of years. Now a palya is an 
estimate of the time a vast pit, filled with chopped 
hair, would take to be emptied at the rate of one 
hair in a century; and a sagara is ten cotes of cotes 
of times a palya, or 1,000,000,000,000,000 palyas 
are equal to one sagara. 

Asiatic Researches^ vol. ix. 

Note 8. 

The Suttee Jong, or age of purity,. 3,200,000 
years. 

The Tirtah Jong, or partial corruption, 2,400,000 
years. 

The Dwapour Jong, or partial depravity, 
1,600,000 years. 

The Kalli Jong, or depraved age, 400,000 years. 

It is believed that about 5000 years of the Kalli 
Jong or present age have expired. In the first age 
men lived 100,000 years ; in the second 10,000 ; 
in the third, 1,000; and in this, human life is 
limited to' 100. 

Note 9. 

" During the months of November and De- 
cember," says Dr. Dellon, " I heard every morn- 
ing, the shrieks of the unfortunate victims who 
were undergoing the question. I remembered to 
have heard, before I was cast into prison, that the 



994 MEMOIIU OF INDIA. 

auto da fe was generally. celebrated on the first 
Sunday in Advent, because on that day is read in 
the churches that part of the Gospel in which 
mention is made of the last judgment; and the 
inquisition pretend by the ceremony to exhibit a 
lively emblem of that awful event. I was likewise 
convinced that there were a great number of 
prisoners, besides myself; the profound silence, 
which reigned within the walls of the building, 
having enabled me to count the number of doors 
which were opened at the hours of meals. How- 
ever, the first and second Sundays of Advent passed 
by, without my hearing of any thing, and I pre- 
pared to undergo another year of melancholy cap- 
tivity, when I was aroused from my despair on the 
11th of January, by the noise of the guards remov- 
ing the bars from the door of my prison. The 
Alcaide presented me with a habit, which he 
ordered me to put on, and to make myself ready 
to attend him when he should come again. Thus 
saying, he left a lighted lamp in my dungeon. The 
guards returned about two o'clock in the morning, 
and led me out into a long gallery, where I found 
a number of the companions of my fate, drawn up 
in a rank against a wall ; I placed myself among 
the rest, and several more soon joined the melan- 
choly band. The profound silence and stillness 
caused them to resemble statues more than ani- 
mated bodies of human creatures. The women, 
who were clothed in a similar manner, were placed 
in a neighbouring gallery, where we could not see 
them ; but I remarked that a number of persons 
stood by themselves at some distance, attended by 
others who wore long black dresses, and who walked 
backwards and forwards occasionally. I did not 
then know who these were ; but I was afterwards 
informed that the former were the victims who were 



APPENDIX. 395 

condemned to be burned, and the others were the 
confessors. After we were all ranged against the 
wall of this gallery, we received each a large wax 
taper. They then brought us a number of dresses 
made of yellow cloth, with the cross of St. Andrew 
painted before and behind. This is called the san 
benito. The relapsed heretics wear another species 
of robe, called the samarra, the ground of which 
is grey. The portrait of the sufferer is painted 
upon it, placed upon burning torches with flames 
and demons all around. Caps were then produced 
called carrochas ; made of pasteboard, pointed like 
sugar loaves, aU <50vered with devils and flames of 
fire. 

" The great bell of the cathedral begun to ring 
a little before sun-rise, which served as a signal to 
warn the people of Goa to come and behold the 
august ceremony of the aiUo dafe; and then they 
made us proceed from the gallery one by one. I 
remarked, as we passed into the great hall, that the 
inquisitor was sitting at the door with his secretary 
by him, and that he delivered every prisoner into , 
the hands of a particular person, who is to be his 
guard to the place of burning. These persons are 
called parrains or godfathers. My godfather was 
the commander of a ship, I went forth with him, 
and as soon as we were in the street I saw that the 
procession was commenced by the Dominican 
friars, who have the honour, because Saint Domi- 
nic founded the inquisition 5 these are followed by 
the prisoners, who walk one after the other, each 
having his godfather by his side, and a lighted 
taper in his hand. The least guilty are foremost ; 
and as I did not pass for one of them, there were 
many who took precedence of me. The women 
were mixed promiscuously with the men* We all 
walked barefoot, and the sharp stones of the streets 



396 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

of Goa wounded my tender feet and caused the 
blood to stream, for they made us march through 
the chief streets of the city ; and we were regarded 
every where by an innumerable crowd of people, 
who had assembled from all parts of India to be- 
hold this spectacle ; for the inquisition takes care 
to announce it, long before, in the most remote 
parishes. At length we arrived at the church of 
St. Francis, which was, for this time, destined for 
the celebration of the act of faith. On one side of 
the altar was the grand inquisitor and his counsel- 
lors, and on the other the viceroy of Goa and his 
court. All the prisoners are seated to hear a ser- 
mon. I observed that those who wore the horrible . 
carrochas came in last in the procession. One of 
the Augustine monks ascended the pulpit, and 
preached for a quarter of an hour. The sermon 
being concluded, two readers went up to the pul- 
pit, one after the other, and read the sentences of 
the prisoners. My joy was extreme when I heard 
that my sentence was not to be burnt, but to be a 
galley slave for five years. After the sentences 
were read, they summoned forth those miserable 
victims who were destined to be immolated by the 
holy inquisition. The images of the heretics who 
had. died in prison were brought up at the* same 
time, their' bones being contained in small chests,, 
covered with flames and demons. An officer of 
the secular tribunal now came forward and seized 
these unhappy people, after they had each received 
a slight blow upon the breast from the Alcaide, to 
intimate that they were abandoned. They were 
then led away to the bank of the river, where the 
viceroy and his court were assembled, and where 
the faggots had been prepared the preceding day. 
As soon as they arrive at this place, the condemned 
prisoners are asked in what religion they choose to. 



APPENDIX. 397 

die; and the moment they have replied to this 
question, the executioner seizes them, and binds 
them to a stake in the midst of the faggots. The 
day after the execution, the portraits of the dead 
are carried to the church of the Dominicans. The 
heads only are represented (which are generally 
very accurately drawn, for the inquisition keeps 
excellent limners for the purpose) surrounded by 
flames and demons, and underneath is the name 
and crime of the person who has been burned.'' 



Note 10. 

The baptist mission commenced about the year 
1793. Dr. Carey is deeply learned in several of 
the Indian languages, and Mr. Marshman is one of 
the best Chinese scholars of the present day. At 
the press of Serampore, translations have been 
printed of the Scriptures in the Sanscrit, Bengalee, 
.Orissa, Mahratta, Hindostannee, Guzeratee, Seik, 
Carnata, Telinga, Burman, and other eastern lan- 
guages. 

Note 11. 

« History,** says Colonel Stewart, in his 
" Sketches,** speaking of the storm of Seringapa- 
tam, which Major General Baird commanded, " has 
seldom produced a more striking difference in the 
fortunes and circumstances of a man*s life, than in 
the case of this officer. He now entered as a con- 
queror within the walls of a town where he had been 
led in as a prisoner, and kept in chains for three 
years, suffering under the most cruel treatment,^r 
he was wounded and taken prisoner in Baillie*s defeat. 
As a conqueror, he showed a bright example of the 
difference between ferocious and generous minds. 



' 398 MEMOIRS OP INDIA. 

His revenge, when retaliation was in his power, 
was shown by endeavours to save the now prostrate 
enemy and the inhabitants from the fury of his 
troops, who knew what he and his brave fellow- 
sufferers had been made to endure, and were con- 
sequently more than usually exasperated." 

Note 12. 

In some tribes of Rajpoots the female children 
are destroyed, and wives are purchased from other 
tribes. This unnatural custom is supposed to have 
originated in pride. The Jerajahs, Jaits, and Raj- 
kumars practise infanticide, arid the mother herself 
is commonly the executioner, either by putting 
some opium into the infant's mouth, or drawing 
the umbilical cord over the face. Colonel Walker,' 
political agent in Guzerat, investigated the matter 
by desire of Governor Duncan, whose humanity 
prompted him to aim at its abolition. It had been 
a custom there for 2000 years, and Broach or Bary- 
gaza is mentioned by very ancient authors as its 
chief seat. According to calculation, 300 children 
were murdered annually in Kattywar and Cutch. 
Colonel Walker's correspondence with the chiefi 
of those countries is extremely interesting, and 
folly detailed in the records of uie times, but par- 
ticularly in Moor's Hindoo Infanticide. He en- 
treated many of them to let their daughters live, 
and at first received positive refusals and insulting 
letters. A curious one from Futteh Mahomed, 
to whom he wrote, in addressing the Row of Booge- 
booge, is all I can insert. " It is notorious that 
since the avatara of SriChrishna, the Serajahs, who 
are descended from the Jadoos, have, during a 
period of 4,900 years, been accustomed to kill their 
daughters; and it has no doubt come to your 



APPENDIX. 399 

knowledge that all of God's creation,, even the 
mighty emperors of Hindostan, besides all others 
the conductors of the affairs of this world, have 
preserved friendship with this court, and never 
acted in this respect unreasonably. But you, who 
are an cmiir of the great sircar, the Honourable 
Company, having written to me on this subject, I 
have felt much uneasiness, for it does not accord 
with your good character. This durbar has always 
maintained friendship with the Honourable Com- 
pany ; and notwithstanding this, you have acted so 
unreasonably in this respect, that I am much dis- 
tressed. No one has, until this day, wantonly 
quarrelled with this court, who has not, in the end, 
suffered loss. Do not again address me on this 
subject.'' Nevertheless, Colonel Walker did per- 
severe, and at length by publicly discussing and 
exposing the enormity of the practice, many of the 
supporters were led to abhor infanticide ; and 
although Governor Duncan had only received a 
cold approval from his superiors, he had the satis- 
faction of saving many thousands of infants by his 
spirited and benevolent interference through Colo- 
nel Walker. The supreme government acknow- 
ledged that his plan was worthy of humanity; but 
added, " the speculative success of it cannot be 
considered to justify the prosecution of measures 
which may expose to hazard the essential interests 
of the state." Yet it is probable that no specula^ 
tion in India ever raised the British character so 
. high in the estimation of the natives ; for many of 
the mothers came, some years afterwards, to Colo- 
nel Walker's tent in Kattywar, and placed their 
female children in his hands with all the natural 
marks of affection, emphatically calling their little 
ones his children. Public opinion, however, was 
still adverse to the preservation of them, for, in 



400 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

many instances, the little ones were disguised as 
boys. The innocent creatures appeai'ed ashamed 
of acknowledging their sex, and assured Colonel 
Walker that uiey were not girls, calling on their 
fathers with infantine simplicity to corroborate 
their assertions. Fifteen Years in India. 

Note 13. 

It is really melancholy to think that a custom 
should be supported for ages by men, which de- 
prives children of their mother when it is the will 
of Providence to call away the father. Can any 
thing be more affecting than to see a lady in the 
bloom of life, decked with flowers, aiTayed in all 
her jewels, perfumed and painted, led round the 
fun|jpal pile of her husband, amidst the exulting 
shouts of a crowd, to be consumed by blazing 
faggots ? In some parts of the Carnatic, a pit is 
made, and the widow leaps into the ^flames, or is 
thrown in by the Brahmans. But in most other 
places, she takes the dead body in her arms, kisses 
it, and places the head on her bosom, as she sits 
down in a sort of shed erected over the funeral 
pile. A procession then goes round it, great 
shouts are raised, and it is set on fire. If the blaze 
spreads properly, pain is over in a few moments, 
for the smoke produces suffocation ; but the fire is 
sometimes so bad, that the legs and arms are 
roasted before life is extinct. But what fortitude 
it requires on the part of the victim to see the 
preparations, to go through the ceremonies, to dis- 
tribute presents ! All which she is expected to do 
with ease and satisfaction. The Roman lady who 
showed her husband how to die, and presented 
him with the dagger reeking from her own heart, 
exhibited not an example of greater magnanimif^'^ 
than that of a Hindoo wife performing suttee. 



appendix:. 401 

The sacrifice of human life in this way is enor- 
mous, for sometimes great numbers of concubines 
perform suttee, in common with the widows of a 
deceased great man. In the year 1803, it was as- 
certained that two hundred and seventy-five widows 
were burned with their dead husbands within thirty 
miles of Calcutta ; and in 1804, one hundred and 
fifteen suttees were performed near the city. Al- 
lowing two millions of Hindoos within the circle 
of this estimate, and seventy millions for the num- 
ber of natives in India who observe that ceremony, 
the annual loss of lives is little short of 7000. On 
the 12th of September 1807, near Barnagore, three 
miles from Csdcutta, the body of a Koolin Brah- 
man named Kristo Deb Mookergee, who died at 
the age of ninety-two, was burned. He had left 
twelve wives, three of whom were burned with 
him. One was a venerable lady, having white 
locks. Being unable to walk from age, she was 
placed upon the pile by the Brahmans. The two 
others were young, and one of them was very 
beautiful. Tne old lady was placed on one side of 
the body, and the two others on the opposite side, 
when an old Brahman, the eldest son of the de* 
ceased, set the pile on fire, which was instantly in 
a blaze, amidst the shout of Bi^ahmans, and din of 
tom-toms and tooteries which drowned the dying 
cries of the victims* " The Koolin Brahmans,** 
says Dr, Buchanan, " are the purest, and marry 
as many wives as they please. Hindoos think it 
an honour to have a Koolin Brahman for a son- 
inJaw. They sometimes have great numbers of 
wives. Rajeb Bonnegee, of Calcutta, has fort^ ; 
Raj Chunder Bonuerjee, forty-two; Ramrajee 
Bonnerjee, fijfty ; and Birjod Bookeijee of Bisram- 
pore, now dead, had ninety.** 

lyieen Years in India. 

B D 



40@ MBMOIRS OF INDIA. 



Note 14. 



The plans of Marquis Wellesley for the govern- 
ment of India were so far beyond the grasp of 
common men, that they were misrepresented at 
the time, and ill-understood afterwards, by those 
whose duty it was to follow the road prescribed by 
his lordship's genius. 

During the decline of the Mogul empire, many 
of the Hindoo princes usurped power which was 
invariably directed towards the accomplishment of' 
ambitious views. The whole country was thus 
gradually involved in war, and it became a scene 
where every petty chief enriched himself by plun- 
der, and acknowledged no right but that of the 
sword. When the British government became 
possessed of the power which the Mogul emperor 
was no longer able to use f»T the benefit of man- 
kind, it became a duty to reduce those turbulent . 
chiefs to obedience, or at least to neutrality. As 
extension of territory was not the policy of the 
Honourable Company, and therefore, the conquest 
of native independent princes prohibited, the 
local British authority in India found it a most 
difficult task to deprive them of external political 
power. The Marquis Wellesley's system com- 
prehended a general plan of neutralising their pri- 
vate operations, by placing a subsidiary force in 
the dominions of each : a number of small well-or- 
ganised bodies ready to move in any direction upon 
me shortest notice, composed of British troops and 
well-disciplined natives, at the disposal of a poli- 
tical agent at the different native courts, being thus 
in a sort of well-connected chain stationed through- 
out India, would be fully sufficient to secure the 
peace and proi^erity of the country. In short, a 



APPENDIX. 403 

subsidiary force has the effect of reducing a native 
prince almost to the level of a subject,* Without 
depriving him of the pomp or consequence, within 
his own dominions, of sovereignty. Nearly all the 
native princes are now either directly or indirectly 
reduced to obedience, and deprived of political 
power ; which effect the Marquis Wellesiey clearly 
foresaw, from the operation of his subsidising plan. 
Others considered it so pregnant with danger, that 
its practical operation to the full extent was left 
to be proved by the talented nobleman who has 
lately returned crowned with glory from the East 



Note 15. 

In the year 1797> America was admitted to a 
free trade with India and China, and from that 
period the East India Company of England, being 
undersold both in the Indian and European mar- 
ket, sustained very serious losses. 

The merchants of Great Britain, from the above 
period, endeavoured to participate unrestrictedly 
in the valuable trade to those distant countries ; 
but the court of directors met their applications to 
parliament with such strong arguments, that their 
object was frustrated till the renewal of the charter 
in 1813, by Lord Castlereagh's Bill, when a free 
trade with India was granted to the subjects of 
Great Britain under certain restrictions.* 

Scarcely any alteration took place in the Com- 
pany's political power, except by a small increase 
of the influence of the crown, in regard to the 
nomination of governors-general. But a free en- 
trance to the chief ports of India was granted to 
all British speculators, on condition that their 
voyage should be made in conformity to local 

* Vide Addenda, LVI. 
D D f 



404 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

regulation, and their return restricted to such 
harbours as were to be fixed by a decision of the 
]Priyy Council. This free trade was to be carried 
on by vessels not exceeding 350 t(^s> burden, and 
piece goods were only to be introduced into the 
port of London. The China trade, however, 
which is the only source of oommercial emolument 
to the Company^ is secured to them exclusively by 
charter. 

Note 16. 

The govefrnment of India is in many respects 
armed with despotic power ; and it is necessary 
that every adventurer should know how his right 
of loco-motion is circumscribed ; how he may be 
Removed from acquired property and connection 
without trial or condemnation before any court of 
justice ; and how he is prohibited from publishing 
bi« free opinion upon public occurrences, by the 
press being under the censorship of the chief secre- 
tary 'to government at the three presidencies. 

No European is permitted to travel in India, 
or to^o into the interior, without a passport, except- 
ing civil arid military servants of the Company, 
when on route to join their stations or regiments. 

Any European may be sent home from India, 
by ^n order in council, at^ momient's notice, whe* 
ther he has a licence to remain or not, if the go- 
vernment deem him a dangerous subject. 

The i liberty df the press does iiot extend to 
J^ia, and as government there have power vested 
ih them by charter, to frame such regulations as 
^ey may consider expedient, they can suppress 
^ny ne^spap€fr or public print that dares to write 
in opposition to their Tiews. 

Mr. Bu4;kingham, a gentleman of great talent, 
who established a, popular /paper in Calcutta, in 



APPSNJDIX. 406 

1818, which obtained &uch circulatioii as to ensum 
to him and his family the prosj>ect of ind^pendenm^ 
has lately been sent h(»ne for giving publicity to 
matter offensive to the powers in authority thewf j 
but as his case is now before the publicy and. likely 
soon to becomis the subject of' legal investigatiau^ 
I shall mereiy allude to< it aa» illusteative of m^ 
text. 

With respect to the right of loco-motiiH)^. I am 
convinced that nothing would he mare iujuriousta 
the interest of Great Britain, or inhuman tpi th§ 
Hindoos, than to permit speculative Europeans, to 
wander away from the presidencies; at pleasure* 
They would ei?ery moment insult the nativiea by 
ignorance of the usages of the country j and if tbey 
happened to be designing men of talent, they? 
ability would soon he directed to the Comp^ay's 
destruction. There are instances on recogcd of 
European deserters in India becon^ing most dant 
gerous enemies : existir^ circumstances, tharefb$e> 
justify the first regulation. But as/to the second> 
it appears to be a most dangerous exercise of poiiieii 
and fitter for a Hindoo or Mogul, governnienti 
than one deriving its functions from the Briti3li 
parliament, the zealous^ guardian of a; free confitijiut 
tion. To tear a man away from his property^ to 
injure him, perhaps, irrepajrably in his prospects, to 
break his mind^ and to cloud his days with adv^t 
sity, without the verdict of a jury, that bulwack 
of a Briton's birth-right, seem to me monstuaui; 
things, unjustified by any necessity. If there was 
no tribunal in the country, before which alleged 
crime could.be proved and punished^ exigen,cy 
might apologize for an arbitrary act. It is deeply 
to be lamented that such a power should be giveei 
to a government that owes obedience to a king 
who kas no such authority ; and it. seems to mj 

D D 3 



4^ MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

understanding so absurd, as to deserve a place in 
the catalogue of human inconsistencies. 

On the subject of the last right possessed by the 
government of India, I beg to observe, that the 
freedom of the press has done so much for the 
civilisation and improvement of the whole earth, 
that it is a most deplorable misconception to arrest 
its operation in any part of the world ; to correct its 
abuse is another matter. Truth is the brightest ob- 
ject of human pursuit : and it never blazes with more 
effulgence than when placed in opposition to false* 
hood. Discussion elicits truth, therefore the free 
utterance of opinion serves truth. Why it should 
be dangerous to make the truth known every where, 
I cannot perceive ; seeing that truth should be the 
delight of virtue. To deny freedom to the press is 
to say, " I am afraid that my motives should be 
examined.*' Happy is the man who has such a 
mentor ! Happy is the king, or governor, who can 
sit alone and read what he believed was unknown 
to all but his own conscience ! Such a person may 
change his course ; he may be drawn away from a 
precipice. In short, it is the freedom of the press 
which has forced our kings for ages to be true 
friends to themselves, which has prevented revolu- 
tion, and which, perhaps, is that unknown principle 
that invigorates the constitution of England, and 
restores her to health and youth periodically. I 
cannot clearly understand how a free press in India 
could do harm, if it does good in any other 
country. It is the will of the British parliament, 
and the court of directors, that the inhabitants of 
India should be governed equitably ; civilised and 
enlightened by the diffusion of education. What 
can .contribute more effectually to this than a free 

Eress? Will not every Hindoo say, when he 
ears that it is not permitted in India, *• The Com- 



APPENDIX. ¥fl 

pany's servants are afraid to have their actions 
scrutinized by competent witnesses — they dare not 
appear before the bar of public opinion.'* How- 
ever, I am aware that a great deal may be said oa 
the other side. I also know that the utmost 
liberality characterises the government of India on 
all subjects connected wkh literature, philosophy, 
and religion. It is only on political topics that the 
editor of any paper in India is restrained ; and 
when I reflect upon the state of that country, and 
the folly of particular editors, there may be strong 
reasons given for the right exercised by the local 
authorities. In short, I doubt my own opinion on 
the subject. 

Note I7. 

" The question to be considered may be reduced 
to these two points,** says the Abb6 Dubois, late 
missionary in Mysore; — "First, Is there a possi- 
bility of making real converts to Christianity among 
the natives of India ? Secondly, Are the means 
employed for that purpose, and above aU, the 
translation of the Holy Scriptures into the idioms 
of the country, likely to conduce to this desirable 
object? 

** To both interrogatories,** continues the Abb^ 
" I will answer in the negative : it is my decided 
opinion, first, that under existing circumstaiices 
there is no human possibility of converting the 
Hindoos to any sect ot Christianity ; and; secondly, 
that the translation of the Holy Scriptures circulated 
among them, so far from conducing to this end, 
will, on the contrary, increase the prejudice of the 
natives against the Christian religion, and prove in 
many respects detrimental to it. 

** If any of the several modes of Chrisdan 
worship were calculated to make an iiopressios^ 

p D 4< 



408 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

and gain ground in the country, it is no doubt the 
Catholic form, which you Protestants call an idolatry 
in disguise : it has a pooja, or sacrifice (the mass is 
termed by the Hindoos pooja, literally sacrifice) ; 
it has processions, images, statues, tirtan or holy 
water, fasts, tittys or feasts, and prayers for the 
dead, invocation of saints, &c., all which practices 
bear more or less resemblance to those in use 
among the Hindoos. Now, if even such a mode of 
worship is become so objectionable to the natives," 
(he has before said that it was hated and despised) 
** can it be reasonably expected that any one of the 
simple Protestant sects will ever prosper among 
them. 

*« The naked text of the Bible, e^dbMbited with- 
out a long previous preparation to the Hindoos, 
must prove detrimental to the Christian religion, 
and increase their aversion to it, inasmuch as this 
sacred book contains in almost every page accounts 
whidi cannot fail deeply to wound their feelings, 
by openly hurting prejumces which are held most 
sacred. 

" What will a well-bred native think, when^ in 
reading over this holy book, he sees that Abraham, 
after receiving the visit of three angels, under 
human shape, entertains his guests by causing a 
calf to be killed, and served to them for their fare ? 
The prejudiced Hindoo will at once judge that 
both Abraham and his heavenly guests were no- , 
thing but vile pariars ; and without further reading 
he will forthwith throw away the book, containing 
(in his opinion) such sacrilegious accounts. 

** In the mean while he will become more and 
more confirmed in the idea, that a religion which 
derives its tenets from so impure a source, is alto- 
gether detestable, and that those who profess it 
must be the basest and vile^ of men. 



APPENDIX. 409 

" Such are the effects which, in my humble 
opinion, the reading of the naked text of the Bible 
cannot fail to produce on the unprepared minds of 
the prejudiced Hindoos/* 

Note 18. 

The Marquis Wellesley founded the College of 
Fort Waiiam on the 4th of May, 1800. From that 
period till 1807, it produced about one hundred 
volumes in oriental literature, on subjects most in- 
teresting to mankind, and connected with the 
civilisation of the East. This establishment is still 
carrying on the diffusion of knowledge, though 
now on a much reduced scale. The Asiatic So- 
ciety, formed by Sir William Jones, have contributed 
largely to information on Indian subjects; and 
the Bombay Literary Society also deserve the 
thanks of mankind for their exertions. But there 
is a general apathy complained of in the British 
public respecting their extensive empire in the 
East, which is deeply to be lamented. There is, in 
fact, no sympathy between the Western and Eastern 
world. In manners and customs the people of the 
West are a distinct race from those of the East, and 
it would never be suspected by a person unac- 
quainted with history, that botn originated in the 
same stock. Yet there is such a grand field for 
the expansion of benevolence and philanthropy 
in the consideration, that upwards of 100,000,000 
of our fellow men may be eternally benefited by 
the interest which we take in their welfare, that 
the coldest heart should be warmed into a lively 
glow on such a subject. 



ADDENDA. 



On a second revision of this 'voork, thejbllomng notes occurred 
to the author, not only as illustrative of the text, but as use/id to 
young persons. 



L 

In travelling from the river Burrumpooter or, 
more classically, Brahmapootra, which is the largest 
river of India, through Bootan, Nepaul, Lahore, 
and Cabul, to the city of Herat, on the borders of 
Persia, we find these regions bpunded, on the north, 
by one continued chain of mountains. This range 
from its eastern extremity, in about lat. 28° and 
long. 93^ on to Cashmere, runs in a north-westerly 
direction to lat. 35**. In this course it is known by 
the name of Himalaya, which means region qfper- 
pettLol snow. But from Cashmere to its western 
extremity it bears the name of Hindoo Coosh, 
which is the particular designation of one of its 
highest snowy peaks. The highest peak in this 
prodigious range of mountains is called Dhawala- 
geri. It has been ascertained to be 27,677 feet 
above the level of the sea. No part of the Andes, 
in South America, towers to such an amazing 



412 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

height. It is, therefore, the highest mountain, at 
present known, in the world. The skeletons of 
horses have been found, in these mountains, so far 
from the plains, that they never could have existed 
in such a situation. It is a curious fact in geology. 
Along with many others of a similar nature, it tends 
to confirm our sa^re^ account^ of the universal 
deluge. 

II. 

The shawls of Cashmere supply the whole civi- 
li3ed woddit It is saic^ tiiey are m^mufaetore^ at 
six*e«fi thousand Iboms, each of which gfves em- 
ployment to two or three men. The work is so 
inconceivably tedious, by which the fine patterns 
are produced, that not more than a quarter of an 
inch is completed in a whole day. It is not un- 
usual to find a loom occupied with one shawl for 
an entire year. When the pattern is new or very 
intricatfe, the superintendent workman describes to 
those under him the figures, colours, and threads, 
which they are to use, keeping before him the draw- 
ing from which he makes them work. His wages 
varies from eighteen pence to two shilKngs a day ; 
while the common workmen receive from three- 
halfpence to sixpence daily. The wool is imported 
from Tibet in bales or packages of twelve pounds 
weight, at an expense of 11. 8^., or thereabouts 
each. It is said there are about 80,000 shawls 
manufactured, . on an average, annually in Cash- 
mere ; which would be five fbr each loom, for 
although a very fine one would occupy a loom per- 
haps a year, yet ten or twelve of the inferior sort 
may be fabricated in that period. 



ADDI)Nri>A. 413 



III. 

The beautiful vale of Gas^mere, the happy 
valley, as it is called, is nearly one hundred miles 
in length, and surrounded by high mountains which 
enclose it on every side. Its soil is fertile, and 
watered with innumerable streams, which flow 
down the mountains and serve to supply the several 
lakes that are situated in the valley. The climate 
is delightful, and, what is most singular, it abounds 
in the various fruits and flowers of both northern 
and southern regions. The town of Cashmere, or 
the capital of the province, is situated on the river 
Thelum, over which there are three wooden bridges. 
All the houses in Cashmere are built with flat roofs, 
covered over with a thick bed of mould, and planted 
with flowers, which, in the summer season, present 
a miost lively appearance. 

IV. 

No scenery can be more romantic and sublime 
than the general aspect of Nepaul. The snowy 
regions or Himalaya seem to hang over it. All 
the country is extremely mountainous, and inter- 
sected with numerous rivers. The roads are cut 
in the sides of the mountains, and often seem liter- 
ally to hang ^ver the deep wide precipices that 
yawn beneath. Here and there, villages are to be 
seen perched on their lofty sides ; and low down 
in the valleys are fishermen's huts scattered along 
the banks of the streams. In some parts the 
sides of the mountains are covered with tall forests, 
chiefly composed of the pine tree, which here grows 
to a great size, and is so resinous that its branches 
serve for torches. Many of the common trees are. 



414 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

serviceable to the natives not only for building, 
dyeing, and making cordage, but for food, the 
pith,' in times of scarcity, supplying the poorer 
classes with an inferior kind of bread. It is surpris- 
ing to see how cultivation has crept up these preci- 
pices. Corn-fields can be traced to the very sum- 
mits of some of them ; for industry will conquer 
even the most barren and stubborn land. The 
husbandman here builds a succession of strong walls, 
at different heights upon the declivity. He then 
fills up the intervals between every two with soil, so 
that a succession of levels is formed for the reten- 
tion of water, and the nutrition of various crops. 
Thus they are imitating the Chinese, 



V. 

It appears that, notwithstanding the intricacy and 
difficulty of the Chinese language, the art of print- 
ing was known in that* country at a very remote 
period. We can easily conceive, how an expert 
land may put together the words of the English 
anguage, which are composed of twenty-five letters, 
Tom moveiable types, arranged in compartments 
jefore him. But the Chinese language consists of 
80,000 different characters. It would, therefore, 
be impossible to lay out such a number of letters 
before a printer ; for he might require hundreds of 
each in printing one book. Our improved method 
being impracticable to the Chinese, tliey are far be- 
hind us in the art of printing. Their books are 
issued from the press in a very different way from 
ours. 

Every work is first engraved on thin boards, 
each of which is the size of two pages. The board, 
when wet with the ink, is stamped down on the 
paper, and thus two pages are struck off at once. 



ADDENDA. 415 

which are folded together, with the blank sides in- 
wards. When sewed into a book, the fold forms 
the outer edge of the leaves, which are never cut. 
After the edition is worked off, the boards are care- 
fully laid up, to reprint the work at any future 
time. 



VI. 

Assam is an extensive country to the north-east 
of Bengal, governed by an independent rajah. In 
length it is 700 miles by 70 the average breadth. 
The «5° and 28^ of north latitude, and 94® and 
99° of east longitude may be said to comprehend 
this mountainous region. It is w^atered by the 
Brahmapootra river. No country, perhaps, m the 
world of equal extent, has so many navigable 
rivers. Besides the great Brahmapootra, sixty 
streams have been ascertained to flow from the 
mountains through its valleys ; thirty-four from the 
north, and twenty-six from the south ; all of which 
are of sufficient depth, during the rains, for boats 
of the largest size ; and a very great many of them 
admit a commercial intercourse, at all seasons, on 
shallow boats. Gold is found in the winding beds 
of these rivers, in great quantities. 

In 1582, this country was described by Abul 
Fazel, as follows; ** The dominions of Assam join 
to Camroop ; he is a very powerful prince, lives in 
great state ; and, when he dies, his principal at- 
tendants, both male and female, are voluntarily 
buried alive with his corpse.** 

The country is now thinly inhabited ; for at the 
death of every rajah, bloody wars take place, be- 
fore the succession is settled. These have desolated 
the fertile vales of Assam. Gergong is the capital ; 
but the Swerga-rajah, or rajah of the heavens. 



416 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

which is his blasphemous title, resides at Rung- 
poor, a strong military post near Gergong. In 
1793) a detachment of British troops assisted maha 
rajah Surgee Deo in regaining his throne, from 
which he had been expelled by an insurrection. 
Their services were requited by a commercial 
treaty with the Bengal government ; since which 
time an intercourse has been kept up j but the cU- 
mate of Gergong has been found fatal not only to 
Europeans but to the natives of Bengal^ 

VIL 

Above the town of Rangoon, which is situated 
at the head of a bay, formed by the mouth of the 
river Irawaddy, stands a beautiful temple. It is 
built on a rising ground, which is ascended by a 
flight of 100 magnificent steps. Round the sum- 
mit of the hill, terraces are cut and planted with 
rows, of trees, whose rich foliage gives good effect 
to the lofty spires of Ihe temple that rise above it. 
The centre and tallest of the spires is crowned at 
top with a sort of cup, in the form of an umbrella, 
which, as well as tne spire that supports it, is 
richly gilt, and glitters beautifully in the sunshine^ 
At Pegu the great temple has 100 tail spires, all 
richly gilt; and they seem, at a distance, like a 
forest of gold ; whence the edifice is called the 
Golden Temple. The centre spire, with the cap 
or umbrella, is fifty-six feet in circumference. It 
is called the Tee ; and round its rims are hung a 
multitude of small bells, which keep up such a 
continual sound, that the Tee is heard, night and 
day, at a considerable distance. 



ADDENPA, 417 



VIII. 

The emperor*s palace, in the city of Ummera- 
poor, is a spacious stone building with four gates. 
Its east entrance is called the golden gate; its 
west, the gate of favour ; its south, the gate of 
justice; and its north, the gate of state. Our 
ambassadors entered at the golden gate, and passed 
through different superb apartments to the hall of 
audience^ which was supported by seventy-seven 
pillars. At the end of it is a high gilded lattice^ 
which conceals the throne. On his majesty's ar* 
rival, the folding doors of this lattice were thrown 
open. The throxie is richly carved and gilded; 
and two tables stand near it, covered with large 
vessels and ornaments of gold. The emperor 
seemed scarcely able to ascend ihe flight of steps 
that lead to his seat, from the weight of his dress* 
He literally appeared to be cased in gold, with a 
wing of the same metal on each shoulder. His. 
crown was a high cap, richly studded with preci* 
ous stones ; and his fingers were covered with 
rings. Four priedts in long robes chaunted a song 
at Sie foot of the throne, and the numerous officers 
of state were dressed in rich silks. 



IX. 

The great wall of China is justly considered one 
of the wonders of the world. It is known to have 
been completed SOO years before the birth of 
Christ It winds over a chain of mountains for 
an extent of 1200 miles. In the valleys it is 
full thirty feet high, and even on the ledges of 
rocks never less than twenty. Such is its thick- 
ness, that the top is flat, paved with stone,^ and so 

E E 



418 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

broad that a carriage might drive along it. There 
are towers along its entire length, at intervals of 
100 yards; they vary from ten to forty feet in 
height. This great work is calculated to contain 
materials enough to build a wall six feet high and 
two feet thick, whose length, 50,000 miles, would 
twice go round the world. 

X. 

Pekin, the capital of China, is considered to be 
at least twice the size of London. One large 
street, four miles in length, and 120 feet broad, 
runs through the central part of the town, and is 
crossed by another of equal length and breadth. 
Nearly all the other streets are narrow and dirty. 
The emperor's principal palace is situated withm 
the walls of the city ; and the pleasure grounds 
around it are laid out in a singular manner. This 
space is about a mile square ; and it is surrounded 
by what is called the yellow wall, from the colour 
of the varnished tiles that compose it, and which 
glitter like burnished gold. The grounds are laid 
out in lakes and hills, formed entirely by artificial; 
means. All these heights are richly planted, and 
a number of small pleasure houses have been built 
on them; while the lakes, being sprinkled with 
islands, cause the whole to have a most romantic 
effect. But his majesty has a great many other 
palaces, which are all spacious, strong buildings. 
The walls which surround Pekin, or a space of 
twenty-three square miles, are forty feet high, and 
twenty thick at bottom, rising like a pyramid to 
the breadth of twelve feet on the top. Along the 
wall stand high square towers, and outside of it 
there runs a deep fosse. These towers, the. 
numerous triumphal arches which have been built. 



ADDENDA. 419 

in memory of remarkable men or great national 
events, the glittering temples, and innumerable 
flags and streamers hoisted by the shop-keepers 
and merchants, give the city, at a distance, a most 
singularly grand appearance to a stranger, who is 
for the first time approaching. 

XI. 

The cocoa, nut tree is converted to no less than 
360 uses by the natives of India, furnishing them 
with cordage, timber for building, arrack, vinegar, 
oil, sugar, milk, food, paint, and several kinds of 
domestic utensils. 

XII. 

Europeans were, for a long time, unsuccessful 
in raising our common table vegetables on the island 
of Ceylon. A colony of Chinese gardeners was in- 
troduced^ for that purpose, by our government. 
They have not only succeeded in producing veget- 
ables in great quantities, but also have some tiiriving 
sugar plantations under their management. Such 
is the effect of industry and perseverance. Their 
houses are very neat. At the upper end of the 
principal room, there is a high stand, over which 
hangs a tablet, written in Chinese characters, and 
containing the names of the forefathers of each 
family. A lamp is' kept constantly burning before 
this to remind them of their native country. 

XIII. 

The great elephant craal or trap, on the island 
of Ceylon, is situated about sixteen miles from 
Negombo. It is in the shape of a funnel ; com- 

£ £ 2 



430 M£MOl!l& OF IKDIA. 

]yosed of strong posts, made of whole trunks of 
trees^ driven well in the ground, and lashed to 
ethers placed horizontally, with strong ropes. 
Fires are lighted near it on the outside, to intimi- 
date the elephants when entrapped ; for otherwise, 
they would easily break through it. When these 
animals are driven or decoyed into the trap, they 
are prevented from returning by men placed at the 
entrance with torches. At length the unfortunate 
elephant is driven down the funnel, till it becomes 
so narrow that he cannot turn. The hunters then 
close on their captive ; two tame elephants^ sta- 
tioned on each side of the craal, put in ^eir trunks, 
and seize that of the wild animal. He is then 
unable to move ; and the hunters getting over the 
craal, fasten huge ropes round his legs and neck : 
after which, the stakes in front are removed, and 
he is forced forward by the two tame elephants, 
l¥faich press against him, to the tree or post where 
he is to be chained. For a long time he undergoes 
daily discipline, till at length he becomes quiet 
and resigned to his fate. Grief and indignation 
are strongly expressed by the eye of the elephant 
when he finds himself mastered. After trying 
every effort of his amazing strength for liberty, he 
sinks into deep melancholy, i*efuses food, and 
sometimes starves himself to death. 

XIV. 

Among the. natural curiosities of Ceylon are 
swarms of red monkeys, whose gambols are truly 
diverting. Their great enemies are snakes *, which 
they kill by seizing them near the throat, and 
crushing the head of the snake on a stone or against 
the tree, till life is extinct. The monkeys are 

* Vide LIV. of this Addenda. 



ADDENDA. 421 

• 

dreaded by all kinds of birds, and it is most curii- 
ous how ingeniously they form their nests, on the 
very trees inhabited by monkeys and anakes, so as 
to be secure from these devourers of their eggs and 
young ones. Some form them with a long opening 
like a purse, leave the entrance at the very bottom^ 
and fix them hanging to the end of a slender Immchi 
The tailor bird sews her little nest to a leaf at the 
tip of some branch, with some fine fibres which 
she picks up, making use of her bill for a needle. 
There are bird-catching spiders on the island of 
Ceylon, whose legs are four inches long, and their 
whole body covered with thick black hair. But, 
perhaps, nothing is more curious in that burning 
climate than the pitcher plant or nepentha^. It 
is an herbaceous plant, with thick root3 and a 
simple stem, crowned with bunches of flowers. 
The leaves have no footstalks, but partly embraci^ 
the stem at the base, and are terminated by tendrilfiu 
each of which supports a hollow vessel of bjx ob- 
long shape, which is covered with a top, like tha 
lid of a box. These singular appendages contaia 
each about a wine glass full of dear, wholespme, 
well tasted, and particularly refreshing water. In 
the morning ithe lid is closed^ but it opens durii2g 
the heat of the day, and a portion of the water 
evaporates ; this is replenished in the night, ^nd 
each morning the vessels are all full. It seems that 
these fountains are intended by Providence to 
cheer birds and other animals, for the little beauties 
of the woods are often seen dipping their parched 
bills into the cool goblets of the nepenthes. 

XV. 

The king of Candy's throne was remaved to 
England, at the termination of the war, by which 

E I: 3 



422 MEMOIRS 0.F Il^DIA. 

he was deposed, and now forms a splendid and 
highly valuable trophy belonging to the crown of 
the United Kingdom. It is covered with pure gold, 
studded with precious stones, and of beautiful work- 
manship. The two arms of the chair consist of 
golden lions, whose eyes are amethysts, as large as 
a musket ball. It is a curious circumstance, that 
the royal sceptre of the Candian monarch should 
have been a just emblem of cruel and despotic 
tyranny, being a rod of iron headed with gold. 



XVI. 

Among the natural curiosities of the Indian seas 
are the following wonderful fishes : 

The whales which venture up the Bay of Bengal 
are seldom very large, and generally perish there 
in combats with the sword-fish, by which they are 
pursued froni the Southern ocean. I have seen 
what I thought a large dead one, floating down the 
bay like a Uttle mountain ; and its stench was 
such, that though our vessel was a considerable 
way from it, we were obliged to shut our mouths, 
and hold our noses, while we gratified curiosity by 
looking at it. The sword-fish, which is often seen 
in the Indian seas, is of a large and most powerful 
description. Sir Joseph Banks, as president of the 
Royal Society, received from the captain of an 
East Indiaman part x)f the bottom of his vessel, 
with the Sword of one of these fishes imbedded in 
it, which is now lodged in the British Museum. 
The fish had such force as to drive its sword com- 
pletely through the bottom of the ship, but it was 
lolled by the violence of the effort. Beautiful 
dolphins are sometimes caught in^ the Indian seas. 
They swim with such amazing rapidity, that they 



ADDENDA. -^25 

have been known to go round a vessel sailing at the 
rate of six miles an hour. A shoal of these fishes 
followed Sir Richard Hawkins upwards of a thousand 
leagues. The dying dolphin changes its colour 
several times, and excites the tear of sensibiHty, by 
a seemingly silent appeal to compassion, which has 
probably given rise to the classical fables respect- 
ing it. 

Sharks are of enormous size in the Eastern seas. 
One was caught with a human corpse in his maw, 
that weighed 4000 pounds. The shark has 144 
teeth, which he erects when darting towards, his 
prey ; and as his large goggle eyes shoot fire, I 
know of nothing more frightful than his appear- 
ance. A great many remora, or sucking-fishes, 
always attend the shark. Our sailors have called 
them pilots, because they are seen to precede him, 
and smell what he is approaching. Some naturalists 
have called them the shark's enemies, and asserted 
that they drain away his moisture by suction j for 
it seems they live on his body : but I am certaini 
that he does not devour them; though I never 
saw him refuse any thing else, 1 have seen the 
pilot fish pass through his frightfully gaping mouth, 
when turning to swallow our baits. 

I never saw the cuttle-fish in India, but; I have 
heard that it grows to a great size there. It has 
eight arms, and possesses most extraordinary quali- 
ties, for which I refer the reader to its natural 
history. The young reader will also be amused 
by referring to the natural history of the remora, or 
sucking-fish, of which so much has been fabulously 
related by the ancients. The Indians of Jamaican 
and Cuba, in the West Indies, formerly used the 
sucking-fish in the catching of others, somewhat in 
the same manner as hawks are employed by a 
falconer in seizing birds. 

£ E 4 



494 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

' The nautilus is anothf^r curiosity of the Indian 
jsea. It has eight feet, web-toed Uke those of a 
duck, but exquisitely fine and transparent. By 
wme unknown power it can screw its body out of 
a curious shell, and assume all the appearance of a 
little ship. Two feet are raised like masts and 
rigging, with a membrane that passes for a sail, 
and certainly catches the zephyr which floats on the 
waves when it is expanded. The other feet hang 
paddling on each side, and serve for oars to row with, 
roets have given imaginary pleasures to the sailing 
excursions of this little beauty of the ocean. But 
it is probable, that when it swells the light sail to 
the breezet and forsakes the shell, its swiftness is 
employed to escape from the crab, sea-scorpion, 
aad trochus, not to amuse itself. 

Another curious little fish is the fly-shooter, or 
beaked chaetodon, which knocks down its prey by 
cautiously levelling a drop of water from its tubular 
snout, like a ball from a musket M. Hommel» 
the governor of the hospital at Batavia, ascertained 
this extraordinary fact by ocular demonstration. 

The flying-fish is of a beautiful shape, something 
like a herring. There are innumerable shoals of 
them in the Indian seas, which serve as food to 
the large fishes ; when they are chased, they take 
to the air, and fly a considerable way like birds ; 
but in this- element also they have enemies ; for 
the albatross, or tropic birds, are always on the 
wing, watching for them. Their wings soon dry ; 
and I have seen flights of them fall on our ship. 

Suite exhausted. While skimming along the ocean, 
ley look very like swallows, having black backs, 
white bellies, and forked tails. Their wings gUtter 
like silver in the sun. 

Gold fishes are natives of China ; and the most 
beautiful kinds are caught in a small lake in the pro* 



ADDENDA. 425 

vince of Chekyang. Some are a fine orange red, 
sprinkled over with gold dust ; others white like 
silver, spotted with red. When dead they lose all 
their lustre. The mangoe fish of the river Hooghly, 
near Calcutta, is, I think, the most beautiful in 
India ; shaped like a small trout, it is charmingly 
speckled with bright yellow, or golden spots, on 
a dark ground. It has a fine beard, of long 
orange threads, which, when the fish is dead, lie 
close to its body ; but in swimming they serve as 
fins, and give, when expanded, a stately and gay 
appearance to the fish« 



XVII. 

Of all insects, the white ant, or termes, is the 

-most [wonderful. Though a small creature, it is 

able to produce much mischief; and its instincts 

?lace it in a rank with animals of the largest size, 
n some parts of India^ they form their settlements 
or cities, in the form of huge cones, with turrets 
and watch-towers. They form regular streets, 
nurseries, stores, habitations ; work in divisions, 
under a seeming government, and take all the pre- 
cautions for security and order that wisdom could 
suggest, even to animals possessed of intellect. 
But among them there is neither invention nor 
variety of taste. Every ant brings with it from the 
egg all its knowledge. They can undermine 
houses, destroy the supports and the wood work, 
make their way through the floors, consume clothes, 
furniture, books, and every article that is not 
made of stone or of metal It is wonderful what 
they do sometimes in India : they have let excel- 
lent Madeira wine flow on the ground, by eating 
away the casks that contained it ; and a military 
guard was once brought to a court martial, I am 



426 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

told, at Madras, for the loss of treasure. The 
defence was, that the white ants had eaten it ; and, 
upon examination, it was found that they had 
really devoured the bottoms of the chests, so that 
the treasure sunk deeply into the sandy ground, 
and was not easily discovered. There are several 
species of these destructive creatures in India, 
some large, being nearly the size of a wasp, and 
others not larger than a small grain of rice. They 
have an insuperable antipathy to cow-dung, and 
will not approach any thing upon which it is 
smeared, till ailer it has lost smell and taste by ex- 
posure to the air ; consequently, in many parts of 
India, the floors and walls of houses are washed 
every week with a solution of that substance in 
water. 

The insects of India are very numerous. There 
are many varieties of the beetle tribe. The forests 
are sometimes illuminated with the glow-worm. 
At times the death-watch is heard, and the bom- 
bardier playing oiF his artillery. I have seen 
flights of locusts in Kattywar. The caterpillar 
tribes are, in some places, innumerable ; and they 
hang from the branches of every little shrub in 
Guzerat, being concealed in little cases shaped 
like a barrel. These habitations are evidently 
made by the caterpillar of tender twigs, glued to- 
gether, and lined with a substance like fine silk. 
I have seen these insects dragging their houses after 
them ; for they can come out to feed, and travel 
from one shrub to another. The silk-worm is em^ 
ployed very extensively in Bengal. After each 
monsoon the ephemera break forth in countless 
numbers, and endless variety. I have seen thousands 
of them end their brief period of existence, by a 
flap of their variegated wings against our mess 
candle-shades, being attracted towards the light. 



ADDENDA. 427 

There are bees, wasps, gnats of a most mischievous 
description, called musquittoes, lice, fleas, prodigi- 
ous spiders, bugs, innumerable centipes,or scolopen- 
dra, and leeches of a most voracious appetite, &c. 

XVIIL 

The bird of paradise is said to be the most ele- 
gant of all the feathered race. It is about the 
size of a thrush, with the most beautiful variety of 
colours that can be conceived, and a luxuriancy of 
plumage, which would require a long description. 
I therefore refer the young reader to its natural 
history. It is a native of Papua, or New Guinea ; 
and though it has been seen in many parts of 
India, yet it is not known to breed there. It was 
long supposed that this bird had no feet, and that it 
never rested. The poets fable it as constantly floating 
in the atmosphere. But these, and many other stories 
respecting it, are set at rest. One of these beautiful 
creatures was brought in a living state to Eng- 
land ; it had, however, entirely lost the fine floating 
side feathers, and did not long survive its arrival. 

Among the remarkable birds of India may be 
mentioned the peacock, the vulture, the falcon, the 
owl, the tailor bird, the flamingo, the albatross, the 
bustard, and the parroquet tribe. 



XIX. 

The mangrove is always found in marshy places 
near the sea, where the tide can wash its stem. It 
is ten or twelve feet high, divided into a vast num- 
ber of branches, and thickly covered with leaves. 
The trunk and lower branches send out several 
pliant shoots, which descend to the ground, and 
then take root ; these become in time so interlaced 



428 MEMOIRS OF INDIA; 

a2s to form a thick grove, somewhat resembling the 
banyaii tree. Nature conducts the seed of this 
tree to the earth in an exceedingly curious manner. 
Its fruit produces a single seed, enclosed in an 
oval case. This seed, when ripe, begins to sprout 
without falling from the tree, and proceeds in the 
form of a woody thread, till it reaches the ground, 
the seed being at the hanging end of it. The 
bark of the mangrove, which the Chinese employ 
to strike a black dye, gives out a stiong smell of 
sulphur ; and the wood has the same odour. It 
burns briskly, with a bright blaze. 

XX. 

For our only authentic account of the Javanese, 
I beg to refer the curious reader to Sir T. S. Raf- 
fles* History of Java. This accurate observer des- 
cribes them as a very virtuous people, but debased 
by the vices of their rulers. 

The anchar or poison tree of Java is one of the 
largest in the forests of that island. Its trunk rises 
often to the height of seventy feet, without pushing 
forth a branch. The bark,, being wounded, yields 
plentifully the juice, from which the celebrated 
poison is prepared. Of the inner bark a coarse 
kind of linen is made ; it has also been worked 
into ropes which are very strong, but it requires 
much bruising and washing before it can be used ; 
for, if any of the poisonous gum remains in it, and 
touches the skin, a painful sore is the consequence. 
A cup full of poison may, in a short time, be col- 
lected from a large tree. The anchar, like the 
trees in its neighbourhood, is on all sides surround- 
ed by shrubs and plants ; and, in no instance, can 
it be observed injurious to vegetation. What 
could have induced the Dutch naturalist, Foersch, 



ADDEl^A, 429 

to assert such fables, nay, downright falsehoods, 
respecting this tree, it is impossible to conceive. 

He begins his account of it with a flourish, that 
he would only relate simple unadorned facts, of 
which he had been an eye-witness. Aflter this, he 
describes the country round the tree, for ten or 
twelve miles, as entirely barren. Not even grass 
would grow near it. For fifleen or eighteen miles 
round it, not only no human creature, he said, 
could exist, but also no living animal of any kind 
had even been discovered. Even birds flying over 
this tree, he assures us, fell down dead. The fact 
is, that he never was nearer an anchar tree than 
eighteen miles. He reported from the wild stories 
of some ignorant native, and misled all Europe for 
thirty years. Our naturalists found one of the 
largest of these trees so completely environed by 
the common shrubs of the forest in which it grew, 
that it was with difficulty approached ; several vines 
and' climbing plants, also, in perfect health, ad- 
hered to it, and ascended to nearly half its height. 
But that criminals alone were, for a long time, sent 
to fetch poison from* the anchar tree, in the forests 
of Java, is well Jcnown ; and that numbers of them 
perished, is also fact ; some, perhaps, from contact 
with the poison, and others from the attacks of 
snakes and wild beasts. What Foersch relates re- 
specting thirteen criminals, whose execution he 
witnessed, may be true. He says, they were sen- 
tenced to. suffer death by a lancet, poisoned with 
upas. Being tied to stakes, their breasts were 
bared and lanced by the common executioner. In 
sixteen minutes, he says, by his watch, they were 
all dead. Their pain began in five minutes after 
the wound had been inflicted, and continued in- 
creasing till death released them from suffering. 



430 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Such has been the rapid effect of this poison in our 
experiments on animals. 

The large boa is the greatest of all the serpent 
tribe. It is not only an inhabitant of Java, but also 
of America and Africa. Most likely it was an 
enormous specimen of the boa that stopped Regu- 
lus and the victorious Roman army. According 
to a letter printed in the German Ephemerides, a 
gentleman witnessed a combat, on the island of 
Java, between the boa and a large buffalo. When 
the serpent had mastered the buffalo, and twisted 
itself round his body, the bones of the dying ani- 
mal were heard to crack almost as loud as the re* 
port of a gun. After all the buffilo's bones were 
smashed, the boa licked the whole body over, and 
thus covered it with a mucilaginous substance. It 
then began to swallow the whole ; and in the act 
the throat suffered so great a dilatation, that it took 
in at once a body that was thrice its own thickness. 
In the Bombay Courier of August 31, 1799, there 
is an account of a man who was killed on the 
island of Celebes by an enormous snake. He had 

fone on shore from a vessel close to the island, 
lis companions heard him, some tiqae after, scream 
out for assistance. But on going ashore, they found 
him crushed to death. The attention of the ser- 
pent being entirely occupied by its prey, the peo- 
pie rushed upon him and cut off his head, just as he 
was going to swallow the dead man. The snake 
had seized him by the right wrist, where the marks 
of the fangs were very distinct ; and the mangled 
corpse bore evident signs of having been crushed 
by the monster twisting itself round the head, neck, 
breast, and thigh. 



ADDENDA. 431 



XXL 



The Peloo Isles were probably first noticed by 
.the Spaniards from the Philippines. They are 
situated between the 7th and 8th degrees of north 
latitude, and the lS4th and 135th of east longitude. 
Their name seems to be derived from the tall 
palm trees with which they are covered. The 
chief islands are Carvora, Oroolong, Pelelew, and 
Angoor. These islands are well wooded. Ebony 
is found here, with the manchineel tree, and the 
cabbage, and bread fruit tree. Yams and cocoa 
nuts, betel nut, plantains, oranges, lemons, sugar 
canes, and bamboos also abound. 

When the Antelope was wrecked here in 1783, 
the conduct of these islanders was so kind, that it 
commanded the gratitude of the crew. Yet the 
natives were engaged in incessant wars, and massa- 
cred their prisoners. They are rather above the 
middle stature ; their complexions being deeper 
than the Indian copper colour, but not black. 
Their hair is long and flowing, and inclined to 
curl. The men go entirely naked ; but the women 
wear little aprons, or fringes, made from the husk 
of the cocoa nut, and dyed yellow. When both 
sexes grow up, their teetn are blacked by means of 
a dye. They seem to have no religion. In return 
for the kindness shown by Abba Thulle, the prince 
of Peloo, to the crew of the Antelope, the East 
India Company sent him a present of live stock, 
besides seeds of several sorts, European swords, 
and hardware, with arms and ammunition. None 
of the islands first visited by the English had any 
kind of grain, nor any quadruped whatever, except 
some grey rats and a few cats. In I79I the cap- 
tain of the Panther, a Bombay cruizer, was so 



4S2 MBMOIRS or ^INDIA. 

pleased with the manners of the natives, that he 
resigned his command, determined to spend the 
remainder of his life among them ; but, after a re* 
sidence of fifteen months, he grew tired, and sailed 
in a boat to. Macao. The interesting history of 
Prince Lee Boo is well known. I need only add 
that, by late accounts, it appears the live stock left 
on the Peloo islands has wonderfully increased,, 
and that the civilisation of the nativea has beea 
considerably improved by our accidental inter-* 
course* 

I am sensible that many other small islands in 
the Indian seas ought to have been noticed in this 
work } but, as I have nothing original to say res* 
pecting them, I prefer a reference to Hamilton's 
East Indian Gazetteer, which intelligent work 
comprises all I could say on the subject 

The Papuan Isles are certainly dbjects of ciu 
riosity, but we know very little respecting them 
from authentic sources. It appears that the na^ 
tives are absolute savages. In 179i> when the 
Panther was off the coast of New Guinea, the na* 
tives decoyed the surgeon into their rude canoes 
and murdered him, after which they discharged a 
shower of arrows into the ship, and wounded four 
of the crew. For all we know respecting these 
islands, &c., I beg to refer the reader to Forrest* ♦ 
Leyden, Sonnerati Keating, Maccluer, Zuniga, and 
Hamilton. 



XXIL 

I AM aware that there are systems, which very 
learned men have advocated, quite opposed to my 
assumption. Man, according to my judgment, is 
a creature whose mind is formed by the institutions 
of his country. He stands high or low in the scale 



c 



addenda/ 4f3S 

of mental improvenaent, just in proportion as these 
institutions are wise or foolish. That there are 
idiots from accidental malconformation, and that^ 
there are great *differences in the capacities of men, 
perhaps also from accidental causes, do not unhinge 
my argument. But it has been asserted * that there 
are races of men whose organisation is such m to 
prevent the possibiUty of their advancement in civilr . 
isation, arts, and sciences, to any point near what 
we have attained* Whether this be* true or not, it 
would be presumption in me to assert, because I 
do not know it, of my own knowledge ; but, till it 
is proved, I will not believe that the Creator oi 
man gave any region of the habitable earth proper- 
ties which had power to destroy the intellect of 
man. I am aware that the Esquimaux, and many 
other savage races of men, e:xhibit so complete a 
torpor of intellect as not to be able to count thirty* 
But they are in fact in the state of children. My 
little girl of two years old bursts into passionate 
exclamations at what is new to her, dances in an 
excess of joy, or melts into a flood of sorrow : does 
not the uninformed mind, when matured by agq, 
do the same ? My child has not intellect to dis- 
cover the common mode of getting what she feels 
and pants for out of my pocket ; am I to suppose 
on this account that her intellect can never he im- 
proved to the state of mine ? Those who advocate 
such systems as our holy religion cannot approvfe 
of*, seem to argue like l)r. Spurzheim, who attri- 
butes crimes to nature, which are entirely the off- 
spring of human laws for the security of property, 

♦ Vide Mr. Lawrence on Physiology, Zoology, and the Nil- 
tural Hi&tory of Man, &c* 



F F 



4S4 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 



XXIII. 



The tropical winds are three. First, the general 
trade winds, which extend to about 30® of latitude 
on each side of the equator, in the Atlantic, Ethi- 
opic, and Pacific Oceans, Second, the monsoons, 
or shifting trade winds, which are in the Indian or 
Eastern Ocean, and do not reach above two hun- 
dred leagues from the land. Third, the land and 
sea breezes, which are periodical winds, and blow 
from the land, from night to about midday, and 
from the sea, from about noon to midnight. These 
winds do not extend above two or three leagues 
from the shore. In small islands the land and sea 
breezes seem to flow from, and to the centre of 
each, in the same way as rays of light come from 
the sun. 



XXIV. 

Most Hindoos will eat animal food of particular 
kinds. Even many of the Brabmans use it. In 
marching through India, we were never prevented 
from slaughtering goats, kids, sheep, and lambs : 
but in many places a general order was issued to the 
troops prohibiting the killing of oxen, cows, pea- 
cocks, monkeys, &c. Total abstinence from animal 
food is not at all general among the Hindoo sects. 
It is only a characteristic of a few of them. The 
Banyans and Jains never, if possible, destroy 
life. There is an hospital at Surat, endowed by 
the Banyans, for the use of old and helpless am- 
mals of every description, where they are fed and 
taken as much care of, as human beings are in our 
charitable institutions. 



addenda'. 435 



XXV. 



There is a remarkable object of worship, men- 
tioned by some authors, in Mysore, called Kala 
Bharaiva, which signifies the black dog. Kala 
and Bharaiva are names of Seeva. Though I re- 
sided some years in Mysore, I certainly never heard 
of the black dog; but the French missionary Abb6 
Dubois says in his late work, that there is an idol 
so called, and that women sacrifice their fingers to 
it, in the way described in the following passage of 
Hamilton's Gazeteer, p. 591.^ " About Silagutta, 
the principal object of worship with the Morasa 
tribe is an image called. Kala Bharaiva ; and oc- 
casionally at this temple, a singular sacrifice is 
made. When a woman is from fifteen to twenty 
years of age, and has borne some children, terrified 
lest the angry deity should deprive her of her in- 
fants, she goes to the temple, and, as an ofiering to 
appease his wrath, she tuts ofi* one or two of the 
fingers of her right hand.'* 

XXVL 

Among the natural productions of Bengal the 
angeah grass may be mentioned as a curiosity ; for 
it grows to such a length and thickness, that a 
single stalk of it resembles a large rope. Another 
very great curiosity is the moving plant of Bengal. 
The stem is round, smooth, and* branching; the 
leaves grow three together on the same leaf-stalk, 
and consist of two small ones, with a third of con- 
siderable size in the middle, which is long and 
tapering to a point ; the flowers are of the same 
shape as those of the sweet pea, and grow in clus- 
ters at the end of the stalk. There is a constant 

F F 2 



436 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

motion kept up among the leaves of this plant 
Some will move but littie, while others are greatly 
agitated. This motion is not caused by the air, as 
in the aspen tree ; nor by the touch, as in the sensi- 
tive plant. Repeated experiments have proved 
this. When the plant is in full bloom, its leaves 
shake the most, so that motion seems necessary to 
its healthful existence. Even a branch cut off, if 
kept in water, will continue to move in a close 
room for some days. 

XXVII. 

The Bengal royal tiger is sometimes fifteen feet 
long from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail. 
His height has been known to be four feet ; and 
such is his strength, that he can carry away a 
buffalo, of perhaps a thousand pounds weight. 
Wlien impelled by hunger, he boldly attacks the 
human species. At other times he shrinks away 
from the sight of man. The son of Sir Hector 
Munro was killed by a Bengal tiger in 1792 ; and 
the following is the account given by an eye wit- 
ness. " We went to ^hoot deer on Saugur island, 
of which we Saw innumerable tracks, as well as of 
tigers : we continued our diversion till nearly three 
o'clock ; when, sitting down by the side of a jungle 
to refresh ourselves, a roar like thunder was heard, 
and an immense tiger seized our unfortunate friend, 
poor Munro, and rushed again into the jungle, 
dragging him through the thickest bushes and trees, 
every thing giving way to its monstrous strength ; 
a tigress accompanied his progress.' The united 
agonies of horror, regret, and fear, rushed at once 
upon us. I fired on the tiger ; he seemed agitated. 
My companion fired also ; .and in a few moments, 
after this, our unfortunate friend came up to us, 



ADDENDA. 437 

bathed in blood. Every medical assistance was 
vain ; and he expired in the space of twenty-four 
hours, having received such deep wounds from the 
teeth and claws of the animal, as rendered his re- 
covery hopeless. A large fire, consisting of ten or 
twelve whole trees, was blazing near us at the time 
this accident took place, and ten or more of the 
natives were with us. The human mind can scarcely 
form any idea of this scene of horror. We had but 
just pushed our boat from this hateful shore, when 
the tigress made her appearance, almost raging 
mad, and remained on the strand all the time we 
continued in sight.** 

XXVIIL 

For much authentic and curious information, re- 
specting central India, I beg to refer the reader to 
Sir John Malcolm* s late work, on that part of Hin- 
dostan. No attentive .officer, I think, can have 
served in India for several years without agreeing 
with me, that the instances of honour and valour, 
displayed by various classes of Hindoos, are numer- 
ous. Sir John Malcolm, in his evidence given to 
the house of commons on the affairs of India, 
states, that he has known innumerable instances of 
honour among the natives, particularly the military 
tribes, which would in England be considered more 
fit for the page of romance than of history. " There 
is,** he observes, " a large class of menials, such 
as Gentoo palanquin boys, at Madras, who amount 
to twenty or thirty thousand, a great proportion of 
whom are employed by the English government, 
or the individuals serving it, wlio, as a body, are 
remarkable for their industry and fidelity. During 
a period of nearly thirty years, I cannot call to 
mind one instance being proved of theft, in any 

F F 3 



4S8 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

one of this class of men, whose average wages are 
from three to eight rupees a month, or from seven 
shillings and sixpence to one pound. I remember 
hearing of one instance of extraordinary fidelity, 
where an oflScer died at the distance of nearly three 
hundred miles from the settlement of Fort St. 
George, with a sum of between two and three 
thousand pounds in his palanquin. Those honest 
men, alarmed at even suspicion attaching to them, 
salted him, brought him three hundred miles to 
Madras, and lodged him in the town major's oflSce, 
with all the money sealed in bags.*' 

XXIX. 

Nothing can exceed the rich and luxuriant ap- 
pearance of the face of nature in many parts of 
Guzerat and Bengal. Whole plains are covered 
with fine fruit trees, and the most beautiful diver- 
sity of crops. The eye is not only pleased with the 
different shades of green, and the vast varieties of 
flowers that border the fields, but with the bright 
plumage of the feathered race, and the pranks of 
monkeys which occupy the trees. Under many a 
spacious banyan tree the religious devotees will be 
seen practising their austerities or sitting in a state 
of absorption in the cool shade. 

The banyan tree, or Indian fig, has a stem, 
branching to a great height and vast extent, with 
heart-shaped entire leaves, ending in acute points. 
This tree is beautifully described by Milton : — 

'i Branching so broad and long, that in the ground 
The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow 
About the mother tree, a pillar*d shade 
High over arched and echoing walks betweent.*' 

Of ail treesj it is the most charming of nature^s pro* 



ADDENDA. 4S9 

ductions, and contrary to most other things in 
animal and vegetable life, it seems to be exempt 
from decay. It is continually increasing. The 
Hindoos look upon the banyan tree as an emblem 
of the Deity ; from its long duration, its out- 
spreading arms, and overshadowing beneficence. I 
have reposed under the Cubbeer Burr, which 
is the name of a banyan tree in Guzerat of pro- 
digious size. More than five regiments might be 
accommodated under the delightful shade of its 
canopy, impervious to the hottest beams of the 
sun. It is about 2000 feet in circumference, mea- 
sured round the principal stems ; the overhanging 
branches, not yet struck down, cover a much larger 
space. The chief trunks of this single tree (which 
in size greatly exceed our English elms and oaks) 
amount to 350 ; the smaller stems, formed into 
strong supporters, are more than 3000. It is filled 
with green wood pigeons, doves, peacocks, and 
feathered songsters^ crowded with squirrels, and 
families of monkeys ; and shaded by bats of large 
size, many of them measuring upwards of six feet 
from the extremity of one wing to the other. These 
hang to its upper branches in a torpid state, during 
the day. The tree affords shelter and sustenance 
to all its inhabitants; being covered amidst its 
bright foliage with small figs of a rich scarlet, which 
are exceedingly pleasant to the taste. Many ani- 
mals in it live upon each other, and continual war- 
fare and stratagem are kept up between snakes, 
birds, monkies, &c. 

Among the various trees and plants of India 
the following may be mentioned : the sugar cane, 
the bamboo, the yam, the banana, the palm tree, 
the sugar tree, the betel tree, the cotton tree, the 
jack tree, which is a fine species of the bread 
fruit; the tobacco plant, the cashew apple tree, 

FF 4 



440 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

the palmetto tree, the white % or plantain tree, 
the castor oil plants the white poppy, the pine 
apple, the guava tree, the mango tree, the peach 
tree^ the leechu tree, &c, with all the diflFerent 
spice trees and plants mentioned in other parts of 
mis work^ for nearly all the productions described 
in our notice of the common Indian islands are 
produced in Hindostan or round its sea coast 

Among the wild beasts* of India may be 
enumerated the lion, the tiger, elephant, rhin- 
oceros, hog, bufialo, wolf, hyeena, leopard, and tiger 
cat, &c. 

In the number of its regtiles are the tortoise^ 
frog, alligator, guana, chameleon, lizard, &c. 
Among its serpents are the hooded^ or spectacle 
snake, called in Portuguese cobra-de-capelloj the 
rat snake, black snake, common ringed snake, 
l^hip snake, and sea snake. There are scorpions 
of a most deadly nature* Among its worms is the 
Indian thread worm, which attacks the muscles of 
the legs of both Europeans and natives, and grows 
thercj sometimes tp the length of four yards. For 
some time after this monster has perforated the 
leg, no pain is felt, but as it grows and rolls itself 
round in a circle, inflammation takes place and 
considerable pain. The best way is to rub the 
part affected with mercurial ointment twice a day, 
till ulceration reveals the head, of the woim, which 
must be carefully taken up and fastened to a small 
twig, that it may be drawn out very gradually and 
wound round it every day. For if it breaks, and 
any part remains in the leg, it will grow again to 
a great size in a short time. 

* Vide LV. of this Addenda. 



ADDENDA. . 441 



XXX. 



Raynal may be tolerable authority in matters of 
commerce, but French writers are prone to give 
a partial account of European transactions in Tndia, 
out of prejudice to their own nation. Mr. Hast- 
ings is particularly abused by them : on this sub- 
ject, Mr. Mill lias been, I think, too much of an 
imitator. The historian, who aims at informing 
posterity and instructing mankind, should consult 
his own judgment, before he joins in popular 
clamour, either of censure or praise. He should 
endeavour to place himself in the situation of him, 
whose character he describes ; and surrounded by 
all the facts he can collect, he should, I think, ask 
his own heart — what would I have done under 
these circumstances? I perfectly agree with an 
intelligent gentleman, who has written to me, on 
this subject, thus:-—" With Mr. Hastings the ques- 
tion was, are the English to remain in India? 
With England the question was, did he adopt the 
best means of enabling us to remain there ? Let 
the result answer. No other man, then in India, 
could have preserved it to us. This may be safely 
asserted. That any one, who has since gone 
thither, could have preserved it, is more disputable." 

XXXI. 

Except in times of great famine, no one, how- 
ever poor, stands in danger of starvation in India. 
Hospitality to strangers, and affording relief to 
mendicants of all descriptions, are duties prescribed 
to all Hindoos by their Sastras. Menu enforces 
hospitality with powerful arguments. The Sastra 
decrees " that if a family are unable through 



442 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Eoverty to entertain a stranger or guest, they ^hall 
eg for his relief/* A traveller, when he wishes 
to get rest for the night, is always sure of finding 
it, and every thing necessary, at the first village. 
Consequendy, in every town and village, there is 
some public place for the reception of strangers. 
If they ask assistance, they are supplied with fire, 
a new earthen pot to cook in, rice, or split peas, 
oil, spices, &c. To plant fruit trees for travellers, 
to make wells and tanks for their use, and to build 
houses for the accommodation of strangers, are 
duties, which every Hindoo strives to perform. 
Vast sums are expended by the opulent in this 
way. A native of Burdwan, named Ramapalu, is 
mentioned, who in the course of his life made 
100 tanks, each of which cost about 4000 rupees, 
or nearly 500/. each. There are several fine 
orchards in India, with care-takers; and every 
stranger may enter them and eat as much fruit as 
he pleases. A native of Serampore, who was for- 
merly sircar to the Dutch East India Company, 
fed on an average 200 strangers, at and from his 
house, every day, for many years, spending annually 
on this kind of hospitality about 6000/. 

XXXII. 

I HAVE been a little particular in describing the 
reception of Vasco deGama, at theZamorin^s court, 
because, in all the native courts of India, the 
aame ceremonies are yet practised with very few 
exceptions. 

XXXIIL 

There are but few more aflfecting circumstances 
lii history than the fate of those brave men, who 



ADDENDA. 44S 

were immured in the Black Hole of Calcutta, by 
Surajah-Dowla, in June 1756. Their sufferings 
are pathetically described by J. Z. Holwell, Esq. 
The following is a brief abstract of his interesting 
letter to William Davis, Esq^ 
' Governor Drake, of Calcutta, had imprisoned an 
Indian merchant, and thereby drawn upon the 
English the resentment of the Soubah of Bengal, 
Surajah-Dowla, who attacked the fort and factory 
of Calcutta. Drake, on the approach of the Indian 
army, abandoned the place. But the fort was 
bravely defended by Mr. Holwell, the garrison, and 
the gentlemen of the factory, who at length, being 
overpowered, surrendered, on condition that their 
lives should be spared. Mr. Holwell says, that he 
believes- the Soubah merely gave a general order 
for their security during the night, and that the 
tragedy which followed must be attributed to the 
cruel and revengeful spirit of some of the inferior 
officers. They were forced in the dusk of the 
evening, by the armed guards, into a room, com- 
monly called the black-hole prison. This horrible 
place was a square of eighteen feet. Imagination 
can alone picture what a scene it became, when 
146 persons were pressed into it, in the hottest 
season of a burning climate. The wounded and 
the dying were even forced into it; the female 
garb was no protection ; the lady shared the fate 
of the soldier. Immediate suffocation was pre- 
vented by two small, strongly grated windows, but 
the circulation of air which they admitted was only 
sufficient to increase misery by prolonging torment. 
When Mr. Holwell entered, he immediately saw 
the dreadful nature of their situation. From one 
of the windows, he endeavoured to prevail upon 
the guard by the promise of a large sum of money, 
to remove them from this grave, or, at least, to 



444* MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

withdraw one half of their number to another 
prison. But the guard, after some inquiries, re- 
turned with this horrible answer, " I. cannot, sir, 
no one dares to awake the general." Their bodies 
were soon '^drained of moisture, by profuse per- 
spiration. A raging thirst ensued. Mighty struggles 
were made to force the door,; it opened inwards, 
and their exertions were only serviceable by pre- 
cipitating them sooner into the arms of death. 
The weak were trampled under the feet of the 
strong. All those situated at any distance from 
the windows began to grow outrageous, and many 
delirious ; " water, water !" became the general 
cry. Some skins of water were brought ; but they 
had no means of getting it into the prison, ex- 
cept by hats forced through the bars of the win- 
dows. The sight of it increased thirst to such a 
dreadful degree, that many sunk in struggles to be 
first served. So little could be conveyed through 
the bars, that it scarcely served to moisten the 
burning lips of the dying sufferers. The stench 
from the putrid bodies became intolerable. Respect 
was for a long time paid to the brave Mr. Holwell. 
At length all distinction was lost. Nearly crushed 
to death, he was forced from the window. He 
got to the farthest part of the prison, over the 
dead, and laid himself down to die on their reek- 
ing bodies. His pain increased to a maddening 
pitch. In phrenzy he again started up, and by an 
exertion of unnatural strength, once more gained 
the window, crying *' water for God's sake !'' 
His surviving companions had thought him dead. 
Respect for their beloved commander still re- 
mained alive. They cried out with one voice, 
" give him water ! give him water !'* Nor would 
one of them at the window attempt to touch it 
tUl he had drunk. Such is* the effect that a gener- 



ADDENDA. 445 

ous and noble mind has over the affections of in- 
feriors. The water only increased his thirst, as 
a sprinkling on fire increases flame. He kept his 
mouth moist by sucking the perspiration out of his 
shirt ; and, O deplorable situation ! he was even 
robbed of that liquid ; for he detected one of his 
companions plundering him; their mouths and 
noses often met in the contest for that moisture, 
which his exhausted body still retained. 

The survivors, finding that water only increased 
their misery, changed their cry to, ** air, air !'* till 
nearly every one expired with a heart rending sigh 
for, " airj air !** A vapour arose from their bodies, 
which Mr. Holwell compares to what is felt by 
holding the head over a bowl of strong spit-it of 
hartshorn. From eleven o'clock till two in the 
morning Mr. Holwell sustained the weight of a 
Dutch Serjeant on his back, and another soldier 
leaning with his whole weight against hi^ head. 
He was at length forced from pressure to sink from 
the bars of the window, by which he had held. 
On getting behind the living, he found Mrs. Carey, 
an officers* wife, in the third rank, raving for air. 
His friend, the Rev. Mr. Bellamy, lay dead, with 
his son, the lieutenant, melancholy sight ! hand in 
hand ! 

Mr. Holwell again resigned himself to fate. He 
lay down on the dead to die ! Towards morning 
the survivors, recollecting that he might have in- 
fluence to get them out of prison, caused search to 
be made for him. He was still warm, and upon 
being lifted to the window, recovered sensation and 
reason. About a quarter past six o'clock, a. m., 
after great delay and difficulty in opening the 
door, twenty-three persons were found alive out of 
146 ! but in a condition which made it very doubt- 
ful whether they would see the morning of the 



446 MEIilOIRS OF INDIA. 

next day. Mrs. Carey survived, but her youth and 
beauty caused her to be detained for the conqueror, 
or some officer of state. Her husband was no 
more. The others, after long suffering, were re- 
leased. Poor Holwell, though in a burning fever, 
with his body covered with painful boils, was 
taken with the other prisoners, to the capital of Ben- 
gal, loaded with chains. 

On the 25th of July they were conducted to the 
palace to have an audience, and to know their 
fate. Their release was hastened by the compas- 
sionate intercession of woman, who so often as- 
suages the suffering of mail. The Soubah*s grand- 
mother solicited their liberty at a feast, to which 
she was invited on his safe return. On seeing 
their condition, he looked at them with strong 
marks of compassion in his countenance, ordered 
two of his officers to see their irons instantly struck 
off, and to conduct them safely wherever they 
chose to go, giving them a strict charge, to see 
that they suffered no injury or insult by the way. 

XXXIV. 

Tippo Sultan was the inveterate foe of all Euro- 
peans, though he made use of the French, and 
told them that he only hated the English. 

His throne was covered with plates of gold. 
Over it was a canopy of the same metal, supported 
by eight pillars. This canopy was fringed with 
large pearls, and crowned with the form of a bird 
of paradise, made entirely of precious stones. Un- 
derneath the throne lay the figure of a tiger in 
the act of devouring a white man, and this con- 
cealed a curious piece of mechanism, that produced 
sounds, resembling the cries of a person in dis- 
tress, mixed with the roarings of a tiger. His 
cannon, in several instances, were ornamented with 



ADDENDA. 447 

the head of a white man, and a tiger devouring it. 
He told the French that this represented an Eng- 
lishman ; to the Mahrattas he said the same ; but 
to the Mohammedans he represented it as the 
head of an European, promising to destroy every 
Christian, and establish the Mohammedan creed. 
One of his palaces had a curious painting on its 
front, which represented the defeat of Colonel 
Baillie. The rare face of the palace was painted 
with fine representations of the trades of India, 
&c. When looking at these paintings in the great 
porches or virandas of the beautiful edifice at 
Seringapatam, to which I allude, I was reminded 
of Dido's palace, as described by VirgiL Tippo's 
wealth was immense. He had three magnificent 
palaces, 7OOO elephants, 6000 camels, 11,000 
horses, 400,000 bullocks, 100,000 buffaloes, and 
600,000 sheep. His family consisted of twelve 
sons and eight daughters. There were 800 females 
in his seraglio. His treasure was immense. 



XXXV. 

Sir William Jones was born in London in 1746, 
and died at the preitiature age of 48. To his 
works I refer the reader for many beautiful effu- 
sions of the Persian muse, and for much of what I 
know respecting oriental science and literature. He 
was the founder of the Asiatic Society, to whose 
researches I am much indebted. In one of his 
last annual discourses to that society, he has done 
more to give validity to the Mosaic history of the 
Creation, than has been done by any contemporary 
writer. The following is his epitaph, written by 
and for himself. It is admired equally for its truth 
and elegance : 



448 MEMOIRS OP IOT)IA, 

Here was depoiited 

the mortal part of a man 

who feared God, but not death ; 

and maintained independence, 

but Bought not riches ; 

who thought none below him 

but the base and unjust ; 

none above him but the wise and virtuous ; 

who loved his parents, kindred, friends, 

and country : 

and having devoted his life to their service, 

and the improvement of his mind, 

resigned it calmly, 

giving glory to his 'Creator, 

wishing peace on earth, 

and good will to all his creatures^ 

on the 27th day of April, 

in the year of Our Blessed Redeemer 1794. 

XXXVL 

On the morning of the 5th of November, 1817, 
Mr. Elphinstone, the resident at Poonah, received 
a most insolent letter from his highness the Peishwa, 
and observing an armed force approaching the 
Sungum, where he resided, he made his escape to 
camp. In a few minutes the British residency 
was in a blaze, and all his valuable property, 
manuscripts, and oriental curiosities, valued at 
10,000/., were either plundered or consumed. At 
the same time the European cantonments were set 
on fire, and entirely destroyed. Amidst the blaze, 
the Peishwa's army, estimated at 15,000 cavalry 
and 8000 infantry, approached the British position 
in battle array. A Portuguese named Pinto, who 
held the rank of major in the Peishwa's army, 
commanded a battalion of infantry organised in 
the European style, and his park of artillery, con- 
sisting of fourteen guns, were served by Portuguese. 
An officer present in this action, described the ap- 
proach of this host, by comparing it to the waves 
of an angry sea. All the heights were covered 



ADDENDA. 449 

with elephants, bearing the Peishwa and his great 
officers of state, who came out to witness the ex- 
pected destruction of the force at Kirkee. 

Colonel Burr had only, to oppose this army, 3000 
fighting men. With these he bravely advanced to 
meet the shock. The attack began with a dis- 
charge of artillery on both sides, and an attempt by 
the enemy's infantry to make an impression on our 
line, which was soon followed by a charge of their 
cavalry. In a body they pushed directly for the 
Europeans; but receiving a cool arid deliberate 
fire, turned, and forced their way through the 7th 
Bombay native infantry. These brave sepoys were 
for some time intermixed among them, and fought 
nobly with their bayonets. Large masses of the 
cavalry got into the rear, and the engagement be- 
came very critical, depending in a great measure 
on the steadiness of the Europeans in the right 
wing, who were quite unbroken. Just at the proper 
moment Major Ford, who commanded the Peishwa*s 
brigade, arrived with his men from the canton- 
ments at Dapore, and opening a well-directed fire 
upon the masses of the enemy that had got into 
the rear, struck a panic to their hearts, which was 
communicated to the whole, for they retreated in 
the utmost confusion, leaving vast numbers of dead 
on the field, and never after dared to hazard a re- 
newal of the fight. 

Mr. Elphinstone, now governor of Bombay, most 
gallantly exerted himself throughout the day, 
in setting a distinguished example of zeal and ani- 
mation to the troops. 

XXXVII. 

General Smith (now Sir Lionel Smith, C. B.) 
encamped exactly before the Mahrattas, the river 

G G 



^00 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

Moota Moola running between, and the village of 
Yellara, which is situated near the bank, under a 
height, which Was called Picket Hill, being on his 
bide, with a fine plain extending for near a mile to 
the enemy's lines on the other bank. The river 
was, however, very rocky and difficult to pass, 
having deep banks^ and being lined with Arabs* 
From the hill I had a fiill view of the position oc* 
cupied by the Peishwa's army. The city of Poonah 
was on his left, whence his line extended to Harris's 
tope, having encamped on the ground where the 
British cantonments had stood. His forces were 
now estimated at 30,000 fighting men- 

On the following morning, 14th of November, 
1617^ proper reconnoissances having been made, 
«ome guns were placed on Picket Hill, which 
swept the banks of the river with grape-shot ; but 
the Arabs having good cover, rendered it impos* 
Bible for us to examine the ford with accuracy. 
An attempt, therefore, made during the night to 
cross the river, was unsuccessful. During the 
whole of next day, there was constant skirmishing 
between the Arabs and riflemen, which product 
B very great display of personal bravery ; fi^f the 
Arabs crossed the river, and several of them lost 
their lives in daring attacks upon Captain Clutter- 
hudk, and part of the light company of the 65th 
regiment. 

Next day Colonel Milnes crossed th^ river, as 
stated in the text, and, in fact, fought the Pdshwa's 
<rmy with one half of Gieneral Smith'« force, re- 
taining the field of battle on the enemy's side of 
the river, till joined before day-light on the ensu- 
ing morning by the other division. 

What induced Sir Lionel Smith to fight the 
battle of Poonah with one-half of feis forces, and 
when the victory was gained^ not to push on and 



ADDENDA. 451 

reap all the advantages of it, puzzled some of thq 
old officers, who talked a good deal on the subject. 
Powerful motives, no doubt, suggested the line of 
conduct pursued by General Smith, who is un- 
doubtedly an officer of talent and genius. He 
was anxious, perhaps, to save the effusion of blood, 
which might be the consequence of a rash attack 
upon an enemy so vastly superior in numbers* 
Moreover, it was the object of both Mr. Elphin- 
Jitone and General Smith to preserve the city of 
Poonah from plunder and destruction, which 
a rash battle in its immediate vicinity might ba^ve 
occasioned. 

XXXVIII. 

The village of Ashtee is situated a few miles to 
the north of Punderpoor, a large town on the 
Bheema river. When the British squadrons gained 
sight of the plain of Ashtee, they heard the enemy's 
trumpets and drums loudly proclaiming surprise ; 
and saw the Peishwa in rapid retreat, while (jockla 
with a great part of the cavalry was drawn up in 
line of battle across the main road ; he having 
vowed to his highness that he would cover hjs re-, 
treat or lose his life. 

General Smith hesitated not a moment. He dis- 
patched his staff to the different commanding offi^ 
cers with orders, the substance of which was that 
the cavalry should move down in separate column? 
pf attack, the 22d dragoons in the centre, the 2d 
Madras native ciavalry on the left, and the 7tb 
Madras native cavalry on the right, while the 
Bombay horse artillery were directed to take up the 
best position according to circumstances, and at 
the cUscretion of Captain Pierce. The rifle com- 
panies of the 65th regiment marched with such 

G G 2 



452 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

persevering spirit, that they kept up with the 
Bombay light battalion, though mounted on tats 
or little country horses, and were up to form a re- 
serve. The cavalry dashed down the heights in 
fine style to charge Gockla. The ground was so 
rugged that the horse artillery could not get for- 
ward in time to form line with the cavalry, who 
made directly for the centre of the masses before 
them. It was an awful sight. A dead silence 
prevailed. Gockla had chosen his ground with 
great judgment behind a nullah, and other ob- 
stacles, which he justly calculated would keep 
back the artillery. His appearance was very for- 
midable, the front ranks of his line having their 
spears couched, while the rear ranks seemed drawn 
up on a ridge higher than the front, armed with 
matchlocks. They opened a heavy fire upon the 
cavalry, when within 150 yards of their line, which 
was not returned till we arrived within a few paces 
of the Mahratta front 

The 22d dragoons commenced the action on our 
side, by discharging their pistols in the faces of the 
enemy, and charging their centre. For a few 
seconds it was a close and warm combat. General 
Smith, full of anxiety to see the cavalry close with 
the enemy, had galloped into the space between 
the right of the 7th and the left of the artillery, the 
guns having now come up. In this situation he 
was much exposed. Gockla knew that our artillery 
could not be used on account of the confused scene 
which a close combat presents. He had a chosen 
body in reserve behind his left wing, for the pur- 
pose of attacking our rear or flank ; and, while the 
shock of the charge made by the 22d dragoons had 
forced his centre to give way, he wheeled with the 
greatest rapidity round his left, and passing be- 
tween our guns and the right of the cavalry. 



ADDENDA. ^3 

attacked the 7th in rear with impetuosity. General 
Smith was cut down, and some confusion was pro- 
duced ; but Major Daw, with part of the 22d; 
charged Gockla, who was killed in this desperate 
but brave attempt. The whole of the Mahrattas 
immediately fled. /General Smith had received the 
blow of a sabre on the back of his head, but for- 
tunately the wound was not dangerous. The 
slaughter of the enemy was great, and they were 
pursued for many miles. All the plain was strewed 
with their dead and wounded. The main body was 
overtaken, but the Peishwa escaped on a fleet horse, 
A great many of his elephants and camels, some of 
them loaded with treasure, were taken, and the 
Sattara rajah, his mother, and his two brothers 
rescued, as I have related in the text. Our loss was 
only one officer, and thirty non-commissioned, rank 
and file killed and wounded, with some horses. 

Gockla's body was found covered with wounds. 
It was burned in the evening, the ceremonial being 
accompanied with all due honours, according to 
the customs of his caste. His person was large, his 
features fine and manly, his complexion nearly fair. 
He had received several deep cuts on his face ; but 
it could not be ascertained under whose hand he 
had fallen. Several inferior chiefs shared his fate 
around him. He wore on the morning of the action 
a rich dress of gold kinkob, a kind of thick satin 
finely flowered, with a pearl necklace, diamond 
(earrings, and an ornament for the turban of great 
value, which became the plunder of some of the 
camp followers ; for the bodies of all the officers 
were found nearly naked upon the return of the 
cavalry, our infantry with the camp equipage, &c. 
having in the meantime arrived. 

It is impossible not to respect the spirit of 
Gockla. The judgment with which he prepared 

G G 3 



4i54 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

tx> receive General Smith, was only equalled by hii 
valour and skill in bravely endeavouring to retrieve 
the day, upon finding that his centre could not 
withstand the charge of the 22d dragoons ; and 
the muse of history will encircle his name with a 
laurel for fidelity and devotion in his country's 
cause. 

XXXIX. 

DuRiiffG the cool of each morning, the queen 
mother of Sattara and her two sons rode richly 
caparisoned Mahratta horses, and only mounted 
their elephants in the heat of the day. The queen 
dani^d her horse with great dexterity, and rode, 
according to the custom of the ladies of her country, 
as gentlemen do with us. She bore the traces of 
great beauty, wore a rich dress of embroidered 
muslin, with but few ornaments ; she did not con- 
ceal her face, and was both familiar and talkative 
with such officers as approached. I have conversed 
with her on the line of march in Hindostannee, which 
she spoke in a very sweet tone of voice. In person 
the was rather above the middle size, and her com- 
plexion was almost fair. She evinced an ardent 
desire to appropriate every thing that was captured 
to herself; for she claimed all the elephants and 
camels, with every fine horse and tent she saw, as 
her own. Her age seemed between forty atid fifty. 
She had none of that timidity which one naturally 
supposes to belong to Hindoo ladies. Her sons 
were richly dressed in gold muslins and kinkobs, 
with pearl necklaces of three rows set in gold, and 
sp^kling with precious stones ; their turbans and 
earrings, were very costly ; they wore trowsers with 
feet like stockmgs, and slippers turned up at the 
toe^ covered with precious gems. They bad ^ 



ADDENDA, 45^ 

long procession of elephante and camels, with flags, 
streamers, and various instrument3 of music. UpDH 
approaching towns or vinage$ the trumpets werf 
sounded, and the musicians, who rode on camek, 
began to beat their great drums, when the inhabit^ 
ants came out in crowds, and prostrated themselvep 
before, their legitimate sovereign. 

XL. 

Upon the deposition of Bajee^row, late Pei«hTva» 
the rajah of Sattara was invested with the ancient 
rights of his family, and a considerable tract of 
territory roand the fortr^ess of Sattara plaioed under 
his government. His restoration does not* howr 
ever, give him much political power ; but it plac^/s 
a^mple means at hjjs disposal to make himself nni 
others happy in private life, or in ostentajtiou^ disr 
play. His history forms a parallel tQ that pf th# 
^ancient family of Mysore, and his politic^aj ejci^tr 
ence is precisely of the same nature* 

Sattara, his capital, is forty-seven miles ^south of 
Poonah. The name signifies seventeen, being the 
number of walls, towers, and gates, the fortress 
originally possessed. It was taken from the sove- 
reign of Bejapoor, by Sev^ee in 16^1, J have 
been in it. It jstands on a hill belonging to ^ ra9gi^ 
which it completely commands. The hei^t of the 
fort is about 300 yards above the plain, its len^ 
1200, and its breadth varying from 300 to iW <Q» 
the western point. Thene ig a taWe land form^^ 
by the hsmd of nature on the top, which i^ a Imge 
rock of granite ; it is cut perpendiicularly all fomd, 
at an average of thirty feet. On this solid tbimda- 
tion the rampart is buUt of maso»iy, about eight 
feet high and as many broad. Numerous towera 

G G 4 



456 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

and bastions are erected round it ; and there were 
twenty-seven guns mounted on the works, when we 
took it in 1818. There is only one gate, exceed- 
ingly strong, but a sally-port, defended by two 
towers, opens in an opposite direction. Four fine 
tanks contain an abundance of water ; and in short 
there is a small town on the summit, with an ex- 
cellent house, in which the rajah resided, when a 
I)risoner. The petah, or city of Sattara, lies be- 
ow in the plain under the north face of the fort ; 
it is of great extent. The houses are built of stone 
and lime, with good streets. The top of the hill 
commands a most delightfld view of the valleys of 
Sattara, through which the Krishna and Oomronly 
rivers meander and glitter to the eye with pleasing 
variety, sometimes hid beneath the rich foliage of 
fruit trees, and occasionally breaking forth in un- 
expected turns upon the sight. These lovely vales 
are decorated with numerous smiling villages, and 
curious pagodas, the whole appearing to the eye 
like an extensive garden from its high state of cul- 
tivation. 

XLI. 

The Countess of Loudon will also participate 
with her noble lord, the sweet reflection of having 
done every thing in her power, during a long resi- 
dence in India, to benefit her fellow-creatures of 
all colours. Her ladyship was a munificent friend 
to all the institutions in the East for the alleviation 
of distress, or the diffusion of knowledge ; the zeal- 
ous patroness of the education of the poor ; the 
kind supporter of the widow and orphan ; the un- 
solicited benefactress of the friendless, and a trans- 
cendant example of tenderness, morality, and reli- 



ADDENDA. 457 

gion. Her benevolence was the theme of poetry 
as well as prose. 

" Soft as the silver moon's refreshing rays 
Thy dewy kindness on poor blacky plays, 
And cheers the drooping head that friendless lies. 
And gives the heart, just sinking, hope to rise." 

The FaretveU at Champaid Ghaut; a Poeniy 'written in 1814. 



XLIL 

The history of the East India Company's esta- 
blishments in Bengal is interesting. In 1553 the 
Portuguese began to trade with the natives on the 
banks of the Ganges. They at length established 
factories at several places in Bengal. Their in- 
fluence was such, that other Europeans had, for a 
long time, to trade through them. Soon after the 
embassy of Sir Thomas Roe, the English were per- 
mitted to establish a factory at Pipley, a small 
town situated on the Subunreeka river, twenty-two 
miles from Bulasore. In 1642 the chief seat of 
our trade in Bengal was fixed, by Mr. Day, at Bu- 
lasore ; but owing to the extortions of the officers 
of the Great Moeul, all our factories were at length 
withdrawn. A decided preference was evinced by 
the native authorities for the French, Dutch, and 
Danes, who were permitted to establish themselves 
in the vicinity of the Portuguese chief settlement 
at Hooghly, situated twenty-six miles above Cal- 
cutta. In 1670, owing to the prudent conduct of 
Mr. Job Charnock, the English were re-established 
in Bengal, and re- occupied a factory at Hooghly, 
which they had been permitted to build in 1640, 
soon after a great rupture between the Moguls and 
Portuguese. The Moguls besieged the Portuguese 
settlement at Hooghly in 1632, and took the place 
by storm, after four months* hard fighting. Mat- 



458 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

ters, however, were afterwards adjusted between 
the hostile powers. In 1686 the English came to 
blows with the Moguls, in consequence of a quar- 
rel between some of our soldiers and the Nabob's 
collectors of revenue in the bazar. After this 
Hooghly was thought an unsafe station ; and on 
the 20th of December, 1686, the agent and cQun- 
cil of the presidency of Bengal removed the seat of 
government to a little village, called Chuttanhutty, 
now named Calcutta, from a small place near it 
Mr. Bou^ton, an assistant surgeon of the Com-, 
pany's service, had cured the daughter of one of 
the Mogul emperors of a dangerous disease, and 
obtained for his employers, if my information be 
correct, a title to the vxUages of Chuttanhutty and 
Calcutta. In 1696, during th€ rebellion of Soubah 
Sing, the English, Dutch, and French were per- 
mitted to build forts at Calcutta, Chinsurah, and 
Chandernagor. In 1698 the fort of Calcutta was 
strengthened, and called Fort William in compli- 
ment to the king of England. Here the Company 
flouristied till 1756, when it was taken. Next 
year it was recaptured by Admiral Watson and 
Colonel Clive, who, on the 20th of June, 1757, 
fought the battle of Plassey, and . laid the found- 
ation of British empire in BengaL 

XLIII. 

Fort William is superior to any other fi)rtress in 
India. It is constructed on the most scienti^c 
principles of military architecture. The barradcs 
in it are superb. In this fortress the Company 
have an excellent arsenal, and a gun foundry. 
The new fort was commenced in 1758. Whea I 
viewed the curiosities of Fort William, Vizier Ally, 
xmce nabob af Oude, was oovifined in it, in a. ipom 



ADDENDA. 4f59 

made to resemble an iron cage, for the murder of 
Mr. Cherry, where he lingered out seventeen years 
of his life, and died at the age of thirty-six, in the 
year I8I7. The vicissitudes of his life are worthy 
of a brief notice. 

The mother of Vizier Ally was a menial servant 
of low caste. She attracted the notice of Asoph-ud- 
Dowlah, nabob of Oude, who was a very eccen- 
tric character. Having no children of his own, he 
was in the habit of sending pregnant women, whom 
he met, to his palace ; and among others he sent 
the mother of Viziier Ally, whom he afterwards 
adopted according to the forms of Mohammedan 
law. The Nabob is said to have expended 200,000t 
annually on English manufactures. He had 1<X) 
gardens, ^ palaces, 1j200 elephants, 8000 fine 
saddle horses, 1500 double barrel guns, lyOO 
superb lustres, 30,000 table shades, and as msunr 
large mirrors, girandoles, and clocks, two of which 
cost him 30,000/. He ofien entertained his 
European friends with champaign dinners, in a 
ca/riage drawn by elephants. There were a thou- 
sand choice beauties in his harem. In his trear- 
sury were jewels to the amount of 8,000,000 
sterling. 

AH these became the property of his adopted 
son. Vizier Ally, whose wedding cost the Nabdb 
300,000/. It is described in another part of this 
work. Vizier Ally, when he became nabob, having 
broken his faith in several instances with the 
Honourable Company, was deposed, and placed on 
a pension of ^,000/. per annum. Being of a tur- 
bulent and intriguing disposition, it was thought 
expedient that he should reside near the presiden- 
cy, and he had reached Benares, for the purpose 
of proceeding thither, when he most treacherously 
murdered Mr« Cherry, the Company's resident. 



460 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

who had invited him to breakfast Upon a signal 
given, , his armed retinue rushed in and cut Mr. 
Cherry and his assistant, Mr. Graham, to pieces. 
They then departed with the determination of mas- 
sacring all the Europeans at that station, but were 
fortunately delayed by a noble defence made by 
Mr. Davis with a hog spear. Hearing of their ap- 
proach, he posted himself at the head of his stairs, 
and blocked up the passage with the dead bodies 
of his assailants. By this time a detachment 
arrived from the cantonments. Vizier Ally and 
his followers fled, and escaped into the territories 
of a native prince, who refused to give him up ex- 
cept on condition of his life being spared. This 
our government thought it expedient to promise, 
and he was accordingly confined in the manner 
described. When I saw him, he was a poor ema- 
ciated being. 

XLIV. 

The Armenian merchants of India are a public 
spirited set of men. When Sarkies Joannes of 
Calcutta heargl of the recovery of George the 
Third in 1789, he paid the debts of all the prison- 
ers at that time in gaol, which so much pleased 
His Majesty, that he sent him his picture in minia- 
ture through Lord Cornwallis. Their dress is veiy 
splendid. In show and equipage they are exceed- 
ingly ostentatious ; their ladies are covered with 
jewels, and wear crowns sparkling with precious 
gems. 

XLV. 

In Calcutta a civilian's lady considers herself a 
superior being to the wife of a military officer ; the 



ADDENDA. 46 1 

latter looks down with contempt on the partner of 
a country captain, who, in her turn, despises the 
shopkeeper, and frets if neglected by the mer- 
chant's wife. " To hand a lady to table, or to her 
carriage," says Tennant, " is an affair which re- 
quires deep cogitation, if it be aspired to by a 
gentleman whose rank is unequal to the office, in- 
stead of paying a compliment he is guilty of rude- 
ness, and commits an unpardonable offence. When 
the ladies take the floor to dance, the most perfect 
acquaintance with all that has ever beeii written 
upon heraldry would not enable you to make a 
satisfactory arrangement either of the ladies them- 
selves or of their partners." The Countess of 
Loudon discountenanced this fastidiousness ; it is 
to be hoped effectually. 



XLV.* 

The governor-generaPs palace in Calcutta, and 
his gardens at Barrackpore, are perhaps inferior to 
none in the world in magnificence and extent. In 
the streets of Calcutta may be seen Chinese and 
Frenchmen, Persians and Germans, Arabs and 
Spaniards, Americans and Portuguese, Mohamme- 
dans, Hindoos, and English, all thronging together. 
Coaches, phaetons, chaises, gigs, hackeries or 
country carriages, palanquins, camels, elephants, 
and horses, also vary the scene. At night the 
jackalls keep up a constant serenade for vast quan- 
tities of broken victuals thrown away from every 
house during the day. There are several kinds of 
boats on the Hooghly, but the most elegant and 
commodious are called budgerows. They vary in 
size. Some of them are sixty feet in length. They 
are generally furnished with from twelve to twenty 
oars, and have one mast in the centre. There is 



462 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

usually one large apartment with two sleeping 
rooms, and in travelling on the Ganges each bud- 
gerow is generally attended by one or two small 
boats, to carry kitchen utensils and luggage. The 
Moors build their budgerows long and narrow. 
Sometimes they are a hundred feet in length, and 
not eight feet wide, so that, instead of having 
rooms, like the English travelling boats, they erect 
an awning along the deck, supported by pillars, 
which are usually gilt and painted. The whole 
being gaily ornamented, and the rowers in fancy 
dresses, the sight is very pleasing to behold ; and 
the fine weather, which continues with certainty 
in this climate for several months, enables them to 
live in the open air .very comfortably, merely re- 
quiring a canvas screen round them at night* 

XLVI. 

Madras, like Calcutta, rose from an insignificant 
village in a few years, under the English. In 
1639 Mr. Day was invited by the local governor 
to form a settlement on his coast, and a grant of 
five miles of territory around, where Madras now 
stands, was obtained from the king of Vijaya-nagar. 
Here Mr. Day laid the foundation of Fort 
St. George. Sir Edward Winter in 1665, upon 
being superseded in the government of il^ by 
Mr. Foxcroft, seized and imprisoned him. He 
kept possession of the fort and government for 
three years, when he delivered them up to commis* 
missioners from England, on condition of receiving 
a full pardon for all offences. Madras has suffered 
from no external attacks since the French were 
repulsed in 17^9, although approached very near 
by Hyder Alii in I767 and I78I. Since the re- 



ADDENDA. 463 

turn of Sir George Hilario Barlow in 1814, it has 
been well governed by the Honourable Hugh Elliot. 
The town of Madras is situated upon a flat 
sandy shore, where the surf runs with extreme 
violence. Externally the houses are like marble 
temples; the interior, however, does not corre- 
spond with the outside ; the apartments presenting 
nothing but white walls ; few of them have ceil- 
ings, from the impossibility of finding any material 
that shall resist the ravages of the white ant. To 
a stranger approaching Madras from the sea, the 
whole scene appears like enchantment. The clear 
blue sky, the polished white buildings, the bright 
sandy beach, and the dark green sea, combine to 
abstract the mind. All my faculties seemed be- 
wildered when I was entering the roads. The 
catamarans were paddling towards us, with naked 
Indians, who looked for some time as if they were 
walking on the water ; for the catamaran is merely 
a log of wood or two, laced together. In the dis- 
tance were the Mossolah boats dashing through 
the surfi crowded with natives in long muslin 
gowns and turbans, their ears and noses decorated 
with large rings of gold and pearls. They climbed 
our ships* side and saluted us with almost super- 
human grace. I gazed at their jet black faces, 
and delicately formed persons, reminding me more 
of elegantly tall females than men. On going 
ashore, the motley group, to be seen in the streets, 
is equally interesting. The stranger is instantly 
surrounded by dobashes, or natives, looking for 
service with Europeans. The surf roars in his 
ears; their clamorous appeals add to his distrac- 
tion» Every thing he sees is new and extraordi- 
nary. He at length, lost in wonder, retires to 
rest; fantastic dreams follow him ; he disturbs the 
economy of his bed ; the musquittoes enter, and 



464 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

he awakes the next morning, bitten all over by 
these voracious devils, which may be compared to 
the infernal furies of cold climate. 

XLVIL 

Sir William Jones long ornamented the East of 
India, like the morning star; and Sir James 
Macintosh rose in the western hemisphere of Hin- 
dostan, like the planet of evening. He was 
mainly instrumental in founding the Bombay 
Literary Society, whose labours have shed con- 
siderable light on the history of western India. 
Sir James's address to Lieutenants Macguire and 
Cauty, who were tried before him at Bombay, for 
rioting at night, &c. should be copied into the 
common place book of every officer in the service. 
Fifteen Years in India, p. 159. 

XLVIIL 

The following particulars respecting Bombay 
are deemed interesting. 

Bombay is one of a cluster of six small islands, 
which form together one of the safest and most 
commodious harbours in the world. Near the 
southern extremity of the island stands the light- 
house, which rises to the height of 150 feet above 
the level of the sea, and shews its light at the 
distance of twenty-one miles. Nearly the whole 
of Bombay belong to opulent Parsees. Their 
wealth is only equalled by their industry. Some 
of the entertainments given by the late great 
Parsee, Pestengee, cost 12,000/. In the last famine 
which desolated India, a Parsee merchant fed 
5000 poor persons daily, for three months. The 
Company's dock yard of Bombay is entirely under 



ADDENDA. • 46$ 

the control oT the family of the celebrated 
Lowjee. He and his successors have- built four 
seventy.four gun ships, two thirty-eight, two tharty- 
sixes, besides twenty-five merchantmen, fromf 1000 
to 600 tons burden, iScc, and some smaller craft. 
The Parsees assist each other, like the quaker&; 
none of them have been convicted by a court of 
justice for any crime or immoral practice for many 
years. Their wives and daughters are remarkable 
for virtue and affection. The pamphlet and bam> 
balo of the Bombay reef, two species of fish so 
called, aEre remarkably fine. 

The island of Elephanta, in Bombay harbour^ 
so famous on account of its caves is about three 
miles in circimiference. It consists of two rocky 
mountains and some rice fields, in a small valley 
between them, with a few cocoa nut plantations. 
The great stone elephant at the bottom of the 
principal mountain, irom which the island derives 
its name, is now broken down, and lying in scat- 
tered fragments. Upon clambering up to the 
caves, I found a Serjeant's guard of sepoys in charge 
of them, and a snug house built on the summit. 
The great cave is a huge chamber hollowed out of 
the rock, so as to leave four rows of massive 
columns standing, which appear to support the 
roof. These form magnificent avenues. The cave 
is 220 feet long, and 150 broad. At the um)er 
end of this great room is the immense three headed 
idol, representing Brahma, Vishnu, and Seeva, with 
their symbols, &c. reaching nearly from the floor 
to the roof, a height of fifteen Pdet. Each &/oe 
alone is five feet in length. Many of the fables 
related in Hindoo mythology, are represented in 
this cave on the living rock. The whole is a 
wonderful specimen of art and labour. 

I went also to see the eaves of Kenneri ob the 

H H 



466 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

island of Salsette. The great one is hollowed out 
of the rock. It is ninety feet long and near forty 
wide, with a high fluted concave roof. Two rows 
of columns divide it into three aisles ; at the ex- 
tremity of the centre one is a huge circular figure, 
about nineteen feet high, and forty-eight in cir- 
cumference, which is believed to have been wor- 
shipped by the Jains. There are figures on the 
tops of the pillars, executed in fine style, repre- 
senting bulls, elephants, lions, and fanciful animals. 
Farther up the mountain ar^ numerous other caves, 
but of a smaller description, which are supposed 
to have been the habitations of the priests bdong- 
ing to the large cave or temple. 

Bombay has been much improved by its present 

governor, Mr. Elphinstone, who has caused new 
arracks to be built on the island of Calabah, 
which will shortly be connected with Bombay by 
a vellard, or great causeway. 

XLIX. 

As I had 33% opportunity of inspecting the caves 
of Elora, during my service in the Deccan, I 
beg to present the reader with a slight sketch of 
what I saw« 

I approached the mountain of Elora across a 
fine plain, on which our army was encamped. The 
mountain is of a semicircular form, and in extent 
about 2000 yards. After passing a walled town 
called Cassebeara, I came to the extensive ruins of 
the city of Elora. Here I was met by a Brahman, 
who undertook to conduct me up to the cave3. 
The mountain is a solid mass of fine granite, about 
400 feet above the level of the plain. There are 
eight principal caves, and about twenty small ones, 
along its face, some of which are not worth notice. 



ADDENDA. 4r67 

Among the large caves, one is like Elephanta, 
and another resembles the great cave on Salsette. 
There is a pagoda here cut out of the solid rock, 
100 feet high. Thousands of colossean %ures, 
fourteen feet high, ornament the walls. A miser 
is seen, in one of the caves, cut out of rock, ten 
feet high, with his children and wife, imploring 
charity, while a thief is stealing away bags of 
monev from behind him. The largest cave is 
callea Rhylas or Paradise. It is 245 feet long 
and 143 broad. Some of the caves are of three ^ 
stories, communicating with each other by a flight* 
of stairs. Each story has a grand viranda, sup- 
ported by fine pillars running along its front. 
The great pagoda has thousands of figures, both 
within and without, in basso relievo,* together 
with numerous separate statues^ representing the 
conquest of Ceylon, &c. There is between the 
pagoda and the scarped rock a considerable space. 
Under the rock are a viranda and galleries, in 
which fifty giants stand as guards. The height of 
the scarp is ninety feet, and from the galleries the 
pagoda appears as if it had been placed on the 
backs of elephants, tigers, and lions, and as if 
its weight were crushing them to death ; for only 
the heads, legs, and part of their bodies appear 
outside. 

L. 

I AM aware that a good account of Dwarka 
pagoda is much wanted. The following brief 
sketch comprises the particulars which I have been 
able to collect respecting it, and other places con- 
nected with it. 

Dwarka means the gate ; it is a town, and cele- 
brated teiaple in the province of Guzerat, situated 
at the south-west extremity of the Peninsula, 

H H $ 



468 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

called Kattywar, the point of which is named 
Okamundel, or the wild district. This place is at 
present possessed by Mooloo Manick, who has 
twenty-one villages, containing a population of 
12,000 souls under him. Chrishna, the favourite 
Hindoo deity, long resided here, both before and 
after his expulsion by Jarasandha from Mathura. 
It is, therefore, a celebrated place of pilgrimage. 
About 20,000 pilgrims arrive- there annually, and 
the revenue derived to the temple, &c. amounts to 
18,000/. on an average every year. 

In performing this pilgrimage the following 
ceremonies take place. The pilgrim bathes, for 
which he pays a certain sum. He then visits the 
great idol and makes offerings in proportion to his 
circumstances. Then he goes with a certificate, 
to a pagoda at Aramra, only a few miles distant, 
where he is stamped with a hot iron instrument^ 
on which are engraved the shell, the ring, and the 
lotos flower, the insignia of the gods. The im- 
pression is generally made on the arms. At 
Aramra, the pilgrim embarks for the island of Bate, 
which is in sight, where he makes other offerings 
at a sacred temple there, and receives the final 
benediction. The Brahmans of India use the 
chalk of Dwarka for marking their foreheads. It 
is, therefore, a principal article of exportation, 
being supposed to have been deposited there by 
Chrishna. Merchants carry it all over India ; and 
the Brahmans have a secret by which they can 
distinguish it from all other chalk, though similar 
in appearance. They can, in like manner, at all 
the temples in India, distinguish water brought 
from the sources of the Ganges, from any other. 

The Okamundel is separated from Kattywar by 
a run, or swamp, formed by the sea making a 
breach from the north-west shore, near Pindletaruk, 



ADDENDA. 469 

and extending in a south-east direction, again al- 
most connects itself with the sea at Muddee, which 
is about fourteen miles distant from Pindletaruk. 
The breadth of this channel gradually decreases ; 
at Muddee it is not more than a mile, and is sepa- 
rated from the ocean by a low bank, about fifty 
yards wide. The highest spring tides flood the 
run to the depth of eighteen inches ; at other times 
it is dry, incrusted with salt, and may be crossed 
with ease. From the earliest period of history, 
commerce and agriculture have been disregarded 
here by the inhabitants, who addicted themselves 
to piracy, and still persevere in the habits of their 
forefathers. They are of Wagur origin, having 
come, it is said, originally from Cutch. Their ap- 
pearance is wild and barbarous. It may be said 
they live by plunder. In courage and enterprise 
they are not surpassed by any people of India. 
The reliance they place on theif deities at Dwarka 
and Bate inspires them with confidence to under- 
take any thing. Runchor, the god of ©warka, 
is supposed to protect them while at sea. His 
priests are the chief instigators of piracy. Many 
vessels are fitted out in his name, as sole 
owner, and actually belong to the temple, which 
receives the plunder they bring back ; as well as a 
part from all private adventurers. Recently, these 
predatory expeditions have been greatly restrained 
by the British naval power ; but the inhabitants 
retain all their ancient propensity to the practice. 
In 1809 we compelled the chiefs of Dwarka, Bate, 
&c., to enter into treaties to restrain their subjects 
from acts of piracy ; but since that period expedi- 
tions have several times been sent against the' 
pirates of Okamundel. 

Bate signifies an island of any kind, but the proper . 
name of this small one is Shunkudwar. It derives 
this name from a Hindoo demon who lived here in 

H H 3 



4*^0 M£MOlRS OP INDIA. 

a large shuiik, or conch shell. An incarnation of 
Vishnu, called Shunknarrayan, destroyed him, atid 
established his own worship on the island, where it 
continued until the flight of Runchor from D warka, 
to escape a Mohammedan army. He is now su- 
preme* Bate has one good harbour, and a fort so 
strong, that it resisted our naval attack in 1803, 
when the British lost a number of men before it. 
About 150 vessels of different sizes belong to the 

Eort of Bate. The town contains about 2000 
ouses, with a population of 10,000 souls; but 
besides the town of Bate, the government or chief 
of that idand has Aramra, Positra, Bhurwalla, and 
some other places. The whole revenue does not 
exceed 30,000/. per annum, from the temple and 
all other sources. 

In 1816 I belonged to the field-force sent against 
the pirates of Okamundel. After rooting out seve- 
ral nests, we invested Dwarka, and the chief of 
that place was forced to surrender it; The town 
is small. It is surrounded by a weak wall and 
towers. An arm of the sea runs up along one of 
its faces, and forms a fine bathing place. The 
charms of this delightful sheet of water, which 
flows over sand so sparkling, that the bottom can 
be seen at all times, perhaps suggested the idea 
to some artful Brahman of establishing his worship 
here, under an incarnation of Vishnu. When the 
temples were built is quite unknoMm. Where the 
materials were procured is doubtful. The natives 
say they were built in one night by the gods. I 
could not obtain any information whatever respect- 
ing their early history, except such fables as my 
judgment pronounced absurd. They are, how- 
ever, works of unquestionable magnificence ; pro- 
digious expense and labour must have been in- 
curred in their erection. It does not appear to me 
that the antiquity of these pagodas is near so great 



ADDENDA. 4<7l 

as some others I have seen in India. There is a 
freshness about them which the great pagodas in 
the south of India have not. Yet their antiquity 
is certainly great, and there is proof that they have 
existed nearly in their present state for upwards of 
800 years. Bate was taken in 1462 by Sultan 
Mahmood Begra, of Ahmedabad, and at that time 
there were accounts of the Dwarka pagoda for 500 
years back. The priests pretend that the original 
island of Dwarka sunk, when Chrishna was trans- 
lated to heaven ; and that their pagodas were built 
by the gods to keep up his worship, where they 
now are, but that they are not near so magnificent 
as the old pagodas. In their books it is pretended 
that they have accounts of the present pagodas for 
some thousands of years : in short, since the death 
of Chrishna. Krisnu was the eighth avater, or in- 
carnation of Vishnu. His era is not exactly known. 
Budha was the ninth avater of Vishnu, and Sir 
William Jones was of opinion that he existed in 
the year 1014 before the birth of Christ. 

On approaching Dwarka, I was struck with the 
magnificent external appearance of the temples. 
Within the wall which surrounds the town there 
are two very large ones, and four much smaller. 
They stand on very elevated ground. One is an 
immense pyramid, at least 140 feet high, crowned 
with glittering balls, having a flag near the top, 
with a sun and moon. It is curiously carved from 
bottom to top, like the pagodas in the south of 
India, and composed of prodigiously large stones. 
There are seven stories in the pyramid, and two in 
the base on which it rests. The other great pa^ 
goda is not so high, but it is broader ; the root is 
carried up curiously, by one retirement after an- 
other, till it ends in a circular fortn, surmounted 
by a ball and flag. Round the outside of that 

H H 4 



4?!^ MEMQIBf OT INDIA. 

tecnple, both above and below, there are curioas 
galleries or virandas, which were crowded with 
Brahmans, who live in- the upper part of the 
tejaaples. The four small pagodas are pyramids, 
with flj^gs, and glittering tops, but they are not 
very stilking objects, compared with the two l^ge 
temples. All these are built in the ancient 
Egyptian style of architecture. A handsome dome 
is put over the entrance to one of the pagodas, but 
I conceive this to have been a modem addition. 

You go from the bathing-place up to the temples 
3by a long jight of stairs, and pass through a strong 
;gata, when the whole at once breaks 'upon the 
^ight wltibi a wonderfully grand effect. Indeed the 
l>athiBg-^ace is also an object of curiosity^ It 
exteads ^along the shore in nront of the town for 
400 yards, and there are noble flints of stone steps 
^ownto'tiie water, which is so clear, that you can 
isee ^4lie sacred fishes sporting about, quite tame, 
^d feeding from the pilgrims' hands. Aloi^ the 
bank, below the walls of the town, there are hun- 
dreds 49f little .temples in the Grecian and Egyptian 
ii^4es, isiupported on pillars, to screen the pilgrims 
ifrom the stin^ and for the ISxahmans, barbers, &c. 
tto sit in, wh^ prepare the devotees for visiting the 
iidols. 

Runchor, the supreme idol, is on a throne in the 
great temple, and I could only see that he was 
gorgacmsly dressed, and covered with gold brocade. 
His £aase was frightfully painted, and he looked 
homble amidst the glare of lamps that surrounded 
him in his abode, from which the light of day is 
excluded. In the other temples there are idols 
^called Trincongee, Cullangee, &c. &c., which re- 
late to the exploits of Runchor, if my information 
be correct. I was nearly crushed to death by the 
pressure of the crowd. The great drums were 



ADDENDA. 4*73. 

beating; the trumpets were sounding; large conch 
shells were roaring ; shrill instruments of music 
were heard in all directions ; the Brahmans were 
praying aloud, and extorting offerings from the un- 
willing devotees, some of whom w.ere most anxious to 
purchase their certificates at as cheap a rate as possi- 
ble; the devotees were prostrating themselves, and 
muttering various dialects ; and, in short, the 
whole was a scene of noise and confusion, which to 
be conceived must be experienced. 

We went afterwards to Aramra and Bate ; but 
flie temples are not worth description after Dwarka. 
Game is very plentiftil in Okamundel. Hares, 
partridges, quails, foxes, &c., are numerous, with a 
wild hog starting from every copse. The camel 
breeds here, and thrives well on the various shrubs 
that grow into almost impenetrable jungles in many 
parts of Okamundel. It is said that there are wild 
camels in the jungles of Okamundel. 

It should be mentioned that the Dwarka pagodas 
are enclosed in a square, whose side is about 200 
yards, by a wall fourteen feet high, and of con- 
siderable thickness. Besides the great gate from 
the sea face, there are other small ones, which 
communicate with the town. I think there are 
about 1000 houses within the walls of the town, 
well built of stone and lime, with tiled roofs ; but 
there is a petah, or suburb, near the bathing-place, 
which contains a great many people, and I think 
the population does not fall short of 10,000 souls. 
The town of Dwarka was taken by escalade by our 
troops in 1820; upon which occasion the pirates and 
Arabs, in the service of Mooloo Manick, took post 
in the pagodas, where they might have defended 
themselves for a long time. Their priests, appre- 
hensive for the safety of the temples, persuaded the 
garrison to evacuate the sacred precincts, when 



474 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

our men were getting over the wall, after sustain- 
ing some loss. The Arabs and pirates then took 
post in a swamp, where they were surrounded, and 
forced to surrender by discharges of grape shol^ 
but not till they had killed and wounded several of 
our oflScers and soldiers. To prevent the pirates 
from re-forming their forces, I understand there is 
a British detachment now ' stationed in the Oka- 
mundeL 

LI. 

Ramjsseram is an island situated in the straits 
between the islaind of Ceylon and the continent* 
It is eleven miles in length, by six the average 
breadth. There is a pagoda here of very great 
antiquity. The entrance to it is through a lofty 
gateway, 100 feet high, covered with carved work. 
Its door is forty feet 4iigh, composed of single 
stones, placed perpendicularly, with others crossing 
over. The square of the whole is about 600 feel^ 
and it is certainly one of the finest pieces of archi- 
tecture in India. 

Seringham is a sacred island, formed by the 
rivers Cavery and Coleroon, near Trichinopoly. 
The pagoda is composed of seven square en- 
closures, one within the other, the walls of which 
are twenty-five feet high, and four thick. These 
enclosures are 350 feet distant from one another, 
and each has four large gates, with a high tower. 
The outward wall is four mUes in circumference. 
Its gateways are ornamented with pillars, several 
of which are single stones, thirty-three feet long, 
and five in diameter. The idols are placed in 
magnificent chapels, in the inner enclosure. 

Conjeveram is a town of considerable size in the 
Carnatic, forty-six miles south-west from Madras. 
The pagoda here is dedicated to Mahadeva, or the 



ADDENDA. 475 

mother of the gods. It is a magnificent structure. 
There is an edifice near it for the accommodation 
of pilgrims, supported by one thousand stone 
pillars, carved witihi figures of Hindoo deities in a 
very masterly manner. 

The Chillambaram pagodas are situated on the 
sea coast of the Camatic, a little to the south of 
Porto Novo, 120 miles from Madras. You enter 
them by a stately gate, under a pyramid 122 feet 
high, built with large stones, above forty feet long, 
and more than five feet square, all covered with 
plates of copper, adorned with a variety of figures, 
neatly executed. 

There are in the Carnatic, many other great 
monuments of the arts, demjonstrative of the civiUs- 
ation of that part of India at a very remote 

Eeriod. Many of them are now in ruins. Others 
ave been repaired at a vast expense, by devout 
individuals. To describe them all would lead me 
beyond my limits. 

LII. 

When Dowlutabad was taken by AUah-ud-Deen, 
it was called Deoghur, or Tagara, which means the 
city of God. It belonged to a powerful Hindoo 
rajah, and from the immense treasure found in it, 
the Moguls changed its name to Dowlutabad, 
which means the rich city. 

One of the greatest curiosities of the Deccan is 
the hill fort of Dowlutabad, in which the Nizam 
has a garrison. It is cut out of the solid rock, and 
apparently impregnable; for the perpendicular 
height of each face is about ninety feet, and it has 
a wet ditch, thirty feet broad, and twenty deep. 
From the capital of the scarp, the hill shelves up 
to a point, so gradually, that even if the besiegers 



4/76 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

could mount the first perpendicular, their labour 
would be little more than commenced. The hill 
itself may be about 350 feet high from the base, 
and it is cut nearly into a square. It is quite a 
shell, the fort being excavated out of it, with tanks 
for the retention of water, and winding passages 
that astonish those who have visited its interior. 
These excavations were made before the invention 
of gunpowder, and the immense body of solid stone 
cut away was transported from its original situation 
to various parts of the fort and city, by the tedious 
means of human labour. 



LIII. 

There is a letter on record from Jeswunt Sing» 
rajah of Judpore, to the emperor Aurengzebe, which . 
places the universal charity of the Hindoos in a 
very amiable point of view. 

" Your royal ancestor, Acber, whose throne is 
now in heaven, conducted the affairs of this empire 
in equity and firm security for the space of fifty- 
two years, preserving every tribe of men in ease 
and happiness ; whether they were followers of 
Jesus or of David, of Moses or of Mdiammed; were 
they Brahmans, were they of the sect of Dhariens, 
which denies the eternity of matter, or of that 
which ascribes the existence of the world to chance, 
they all equally enjoyed his countenance and fa- 
vour ; insomuch that his people, in gratitude for 
the indiscriminate protection which he afforded 
them, distinguished him by the appellation of Jugot 
Grow, guardian of mankind. If your majesty 
places any faith in those books, by distinction called 
divine, you will there be instructed, that God is 
the (jrod of all mankind, not the God of Moham- 
medans alone. The Pagan and the Mussulman are 



ADDENDA. 4?7 

equally in his presence. Distinctions of colours 
are of his ordination. It is he who gives existence. 
In your temples dedicated to his name, the voice 
is raised in priayer ; in a house of images where the 
beU is shaken, still he is the object of adoration. 
To vilify the religion and customs of other men, 
is to set at nought the pleasure of the Almighty. 
When we deface a picture, we naturally incur the 
resentment of the painter ; and justly has the poet 
said, * Presume not to arraign, or to scrutinize the 
various works of power divine.* " 

LIV. 

Mr. Percival, in his account of Ceylon, men- 
tions the Indian ichneumon as a great snake de- 
stroyer. It is a little creature like a mangoose. 
On seeing a snake it instantly darts upon it, seizes 
the snake by the throat, and kills it, however large, 
by repeated attacks. It is said, the ichneumon 
knows certain herbs, which are antidotes against 
the poison of every species of snake. Mr. Percival 
witnessed many experiments. The ichneumon 
never would attack a snake, but in an open place, 
where upon being bitten, he could run and eat of 
the herb which he knew to be an antidote against 
the poison. He always returned with redoubled 
vigour to the attack after tasting the antidote. 

LV. 

Among the field-sports of India, hunting the 
tiger with elephants, and the wild hog with spears 
on horseback, are the most noble and dangerous. 
No country has a greater variety of game than 
India. The cheeta or a small species of leopard 
is used in hunting the antelope. Hawks are also 



478 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

used by some of the natives in field-sports. The 
natives have many ingenious and curious ways of 
catching game and fish. One is by gluing the 
feathered race to a long rod with bird-lime. The 
rod consists of a great many different joints, which 
are put on as they are wanted by the sportsman, 
who pushes it gently towards his object, till it 
touches and makes a prisoner of the unsuspecting 
creature, which takes it for a small branch, or some 
harmless twig. Water fowl are caught by a decoy 
placed over the head of the sportsman. The birds, 
not being afraid, permit him to swim towards 
them, when he catches them by the legs, and pulls 
them under water, without alarming the other 
ducks, or whatever he may be after. Fish are 
hunted into nets by a great many boys and girls, 
who form a circle in a fish pond, and beat the 
water with their hands and feet, making a great 
noise at the same time. The frightened fishes fly 
from them towards the centre, and leap into a 
large net, held so as to catch them. 

LVI. 

For an alphabetical abstract of the act 53 Geo. S. 
c. 155. dated the 21st July, 1813, I refer the reader 
to the East India register and directory to be found 
in nearly every cofiee-room in the kingdom. By 
this act the Company's charter is extended to the 
10th of April, 1831, but it is not to cease and be de- 
termined until the expiration of three years' notice 
by parliament after that period, and payment of 
what is due from the public to the Company. 

I also refer the reader to the East India Register 
and Directory for regulations respecting mffitary 
and other officers retiring from the Company's 
service ; furlough regulations, &c., &c. j tables of 



ADDENDA^ 479 

pay and allowances ; a catalogue of oriental publi- 
cations, or works on India, comprising the general 
literature of that country ; with many other useful 
heads, and the present state of the Company's civil 
and military service. 

LVII. 

There are not in the world more liberal or con- 
siderate masters than the East India Company. 
The members of this distinguished body both indi- 
vidually and collectively truly deserve the title of 
honourable. It is their wish that every man in their 
employment should be happy. Certain indepen- 
dence is placed before their servants. Every one 
of their officers both civil and military may com- 
mand the smiles of fortune by honour and fidelity. 
Military officers have nearly three times the pay 
and allowances in India, they receive in England. 
The civil servants have salaries rising from 40/. to 
1000/. a month, or from nearly 500/. to 12,000/. 
per annum. Officers belonging to His Majesty's 
regiments serving in India, have the same pay and 
allowances as the Company's officers of the same 
rank. They have not, however, the same prospect 
of independence. Nearly all local staff situations 
are held by Company's officers. Many of them 
could not be held by King's officers, who take no 
oath of fidelity to the Honourable Company. Com- 
mands, however, are given to King's officers ac- 
cording to seniority ; and the situations of brigade- 
majors, brigade-quartermasters, aides-de-camp, with 
a few other small posts, are open to captains and 
subalterns, but qjl the departments under the local 
governments are filled with their own servants. 
To be just before we are liberal, is right. When 
we reflect, however, that many King!s officers 



480 MEMOIRS OF INDIA. 

serve twenty years in India, their exclusion from 
lucrative posts is a great hardship. In twenty years 
a military man seldom gets above the rank of a 
captain. Though his pay be three times as much 
in India as in Europe, his expences are far greater. 
He returns home poor and discontented. It must 
be acknowledged that if the Company's officers 
were excluded, they would have more reason to 
complain. 

India on the whole is a fine country for military 
men. The art of war can be no where studied 
with more success than in the long campaigns which 
every soldier there experiences. Europeans may 
preserve health, if they take care. It is now well 
known that removal to the northern parts of India 
renovates the constitution after being relaxed by 
residence in the southern quarter of Hindostan. 
My experience authorises me to state, that the best 
plan for government to adopt, when a regiment 
arrives in India, from either Europe, or the Cape 
of Good Hope, is to station it for some time on the 
sea coast, where the commanding officer should be 
directed to have bathing parades three mornings 
every week, and on the alternate days exercise 
marches of about ten miles, or useful drills. Sol- 
diers should not be paraded sooner than jan hour 
before sunrise, nor should they be kept out too long, 
under the increasing heat of the day. Yet I am 
persuaded, that exposure to the sun, wheil an 
European is climatized, is not injurious to health, 
provided the fluids of the body be left to their na- 
tural powers of preserving due temperature. If 
they be irritated by gross food or spirituous liquor, 
fever and liver complaints are the consequences. 
The night air on the sea coast is delightful to the 
senses. Our soldiers, if not prevented, will carry 
out their mats and sleep under its bewitching fSresh- 



rtdss; but it is ' dkirgerous liiilesA the bbdy' itid Hieddf 
ai'e well cbvd-ed. Affei* dSmatiz^tioii the night afi^ 
ih^ the' inteWbr sedms to be £ts littlfe^ ihjuiiouS' td 
health^ as thfeiibon^day rays' of thd sun: < 

Aftfer a risgiment has Had this seasonin'gfbt a fe\i;^ 
months on the sea-co^st, it^ should be sent iiito th^ 
Deccati; or Mys6re; i;v^ich regions,' being elevated 
dbout SOdO'fddt abovte the Ifevtel^of the' sea,atiB cod 
ahd healtHftilJ The cotpSy iii th^ dotirsd' of a ifex^ 
y^eatrs; might' be marcfhed'tb the northern station^ 
tb r^cdVei t3ie' benefft of streams of air flo^tig from 
mountains of snow; THus Europeati^ would,*' ill 
my humble opinion, preserve health for ten or 
twelve years, and return to their country with un- 
broken constitutions, even after twenty years' resi- 
dence in the East. 

The East India Company's army has lately in its 
formation been considerably improved. Instead of 
a regiment of two battalions being placed under 
one colonel, each battalion has now a general officer 
at its head. This arrangement not only provides 
for a great many veteran officers, but gives a spirit 
to each separate corps which it had not on the old 
system. In short, tne aspect of affairs in India is 
at present most flourishing. 

In futiue ages when the historian shall look back 
on the records of time, he will pause in unqualified 
admiration at the space which the Honourable East 
India Company of England fill in the annals of the 
world. What will he behold? A company of 
British merchants struggling with the greatest diffi- 
culties, and overcoming kings and principalities by 
the force of integrity, perseverance, enterprise, and 
industry. Unambitious of empire, yet forced by 
the ambition of their enemies to become sove- 
reigns ; placed upon thrones to which they never 
aspired, by the efforts of others to deprive them of 

I I 



482 ADDENDA. 

their property, aird to drive them out of a country 
in which they had been permitted to settle; in- 
.clined to spare the fallen and raise the pppressed ; 
sometimes made unwilling parties to the grasping 
desires of their servants, but ever anxious to expose 
their viUany to public execration. If national 
gratitude be due for great and signal services 
rendered to our country, every Briton owes a large 
sum to the East India Company. In short. Provi- 
dence seems to have raised them up as one of the 
great supports of England in her long and mighty 
Struggle for political existence* 



INDEX. 



Abercromby, General, |7a^e 241. 254. 

Abject slavery of the Javanese, 78. 

Abul Faael, quoted, (in many places), 9. ; his death, 139. 

Achmuty, Sir Samuel, subjugates Java, 254. 

Acottah, 240. 

Act, 53 Geo. 3. cap. 155., 478. 

Adams, Colonel, defeats the P^ishwa, 286. 296. 

Adams, Major, 226. 

Addenda, 411* 

Adjighur, tragic event there, 319. 

Afghanistan, some account of it^ 7. 

Ahmid Shah Abdalli gains the battle of Panniput, 9. 

Albuquerque, Alphonso, his great exploits, 157.; death and 

character, 168. 
Alcananda, a river in Serinagur, 20. 
Alexander the Great, his invasion of India, &c., 132. 
Alexandria, its site happily chosen, ib. 
Allahabad, some account of it, 120. ; its curious fort, 356. 
Alm^da, Laurence de, his noble conduct, 173. 
Almora, a province of Nepaul, 19. 
Altitude, its effect on climate, 28. 
Alvares Cabrd arrives in India, 155. 
Ambition, the road to its gratification in India, 98. 
Amboyna, massacre of the British there, 220. 
America enjoys a free trade with India and China, 403. 
Amyatt, Mr., his barbarous murder, 225. 
Anchar, or poison tree of Java, 428. 
Andamaas described, 61. 

I I 2 



484 INDEX. 

Anecdote of the high priest of Badrinaut, 16* 

Angeah grass of Bengal, 435. 

Animal food eaten by many Hindoos, 4*34*. 

Animal life, great superabundance of it in Tibet, 11. 

Antiquity of monuments in India, remarks on the subject, 351 • 

Appendix. — Note 1. on Juggernaut, 383. Note 2. on the fa- 
natics of India, 385. ; and other notes under their proper 
heads. 

Arabians, they attack the Portuguese, 163. 

Aramra pagoda, 468. 

Aranjo, his disinterestedness, 176. 

Areca, an account of this nut, 188« 

Argaum, battle of, 250. 

Arnold) Colonel, 269. 

Arracan, 32. 

Arrowsmith's four sheet map, in what correct, &Ci, 2. 

Ashtee, action of, 289. 451. 

Asiatic Researches, sixth volume, referrisd: to fpr a;desuriptioiii 
of the caves of Elora, 313. 

Asiatic Society, 410. 

Assam, 32. 415. 

Assay, battle of, 250. 

Ataida, his patriotism, 1?6» 

Atala^tis, island of, search made for it, 150. 

Atmosphere, man seems to be every where like it, 91 » 

Aurengzebe conquers the Decgan, 139t 

Aurungabad, 34}. 

Austria attempts to share;in the trade of Indii^ 215t 

Ava, 32. 

Baber, sultan, invades India, &c., 198* 
B&di Sumoom, the danger of jt, &c.» 4. 
Badrinaut, state of the high priest^ 16. 
Bahar described^ 119. 
Baillie, Colonel, hisde&at, 235»: 
Bairagis^ sQm0mc9W% of tbtm» 15« 
Baird, Sir David, 247. SSf. 
Badjeerow, 248. ; flies to BmmfH^mt 
Baldsus quoted, 180. 326. 



1NIȣX. 485 

Ballajee-row, 248. 

Baloochistan, some account of it, 9. 

Bamboo, used for boiling rice .in, 7S. 

Banca, famous for its tin mines, 61. > 

Bantam, the English driven from it by dife Duteh, 921. 

Banyan tree, described, 438. 

Banyans, some account of them, 12$. 

Baptist mission at Serampore, 213. 397. 

Barlow, Sir George H., 252, 253. 

Batavia, an account of it and the Dutdi, 19a 

Bate island, some account of it, 469. 

Battle between the Gosains and Bairagis at Hurdwarm, 16. 

Beards, isworn by in Baloochistan, 4. 

Bedahs of Ceylon, some account of them, 59. 

Benares described, 355. 

Bencoolen, some account of it, 74. 

Bengal, some account of its eastern frontier, 28. ; description 

of the province of, 118. 
Bengal royal tiger, some account of this animal, 436. 
Benzoin, some account of it, 72. 
Bernier's account of Cashmere re&rred to, 8. 
Best, Captain Thomas, 221. 
Betel described, 188. 
Bhagmutty river, 18. 
Bhatgong, some account of it, 22. 
Bhauts of Guzerat, some account of them, 123. 
Bheem Sing Tapah, 27. 
Bheema Bhye, 286. 
Bhurtpore besieged, 250. 
Biajoos, some account of them, 81. 
Bicrama Say, rajah, 27- 
Bird-catching spiders of Ceylon, 421. 
Bird of paradise, described, 427. 
Birds, remarkable, of India, 427. 
Birman empire, some account of it, 32.; emperor^s palace, 

&c., 417. 
Bisayans, some account of them, 84. 
Black hole of Calcutta, some account of Mr. HdbrriT* sufibr* 

ings in it, &c., 442. 

II 3 



486 INDEX. 

Blackney, Captain, 262. 
* Boa constrictor, some account of it, 430. 
Board of control, its powers, 238. 
Bobilee, storm of it, 317. 
Boglipore, a town of Rajemal, 29; 
Bombay Literary-Society, 464. 
B<maparte expected from Egypt, 244. 254. 
Bones of the pilgrims near Gangotra, 13. 
Bootan described, 28. 
Boras, some account of them, 125. 
Borders of the Cashmere shawls, curious &ct, 8. 
Borneo described, 82. 

Boscawen, Admiral, besieges Pondicherry, 205* 
Bottelho, James, his daring conduct, 175. 
Boughtee Thappa, his death, 268. 
Bourdonnais, M., 207. 
Brahmanabad, once called Pattala, 6. 
Brahmanism, its history, 142. 
Brahmans, some account of them, 99. 
Braithwaite, Colonel, 236. 

Bride, how she is paraded about in In^ 79. 386.. 
Bridges of India, some account of them, 354.^ 
Brown, General, 286. 
Brownrigg, Sir R., conquers Ceylon, 272. 
Buchanan, Dr., the Rev., &c., 383. 
Buckingham, Mr., his case, 404. 
Budha, his religion, 31. 
Budhists, some account of them, 144. 
Buffaloes sacrificed to Bhavani in Nepaul, 24. 
Burke, Mr., 243. 

Burr, Colonel, his brave stand at Kirkee, 278* 449;> 
Bussy, M- 317. 
Buxar, battle of, 225. 

Cabul, some account of it, 8, 9« 
Cafiristan, where situated, 8. 
Camac, General, 234. 
Camoens'. cave, 49. 
Campbell, Lieutenant, 28 1< 



INDEX. 487 

Camphor tree described, 186. 

Candy, the king of, conquered, 273.; his throne described, 

421. 
Canton, some account of it, 44. 

Caoutchouc, or urceola elastica, some account of it, 67. 
Cape of Good Hope, 151. 189. 
Camatic, 106. 
Cartier, Mr., 229. 
Cashmere, 9. 413, 

Catching elephants and taming them, 419* 
Catmandoo, 18. 
Causila, a river in Almora, 19. 
Cautions to be observed by young adventurers on arrival in 

India, 365.; respecting the choice of companions, 366.; 

profusion and economy, 367. ; conduct and behaviour, 369. 
Caves of Elephanta and Kenneri described, 465.; of Elora, 

466- 
Celebes, 83. 

Ceremony of marriage, note on this subject, 386. 
Ceylon described, 54. 
Character of the Dutch in India, 191. 
Charles II. nearly ruins the East India Company, 221. 
Chillambaram pagodas, 475. 
China, remarks on its present state, &c., 39. 
Chinese colony in Ceylon, 419. 
Chinese language, and method of printing it, 414* 
Chisholm, Lieutenant, 288* 
Chittagong, famous for elephants, 28. 
Christians of the Carnatic, 107. 389.; of Malabarj 108* 
Christie, Captain, travels through Baloochistan, 3. 
Cinnamon tree described, 188* 
Cities, the chief ones of India, 93. 
Clavering, General, 232, 233. 
Cleveland, Mr., his monument, 29. 
Clive, Lord, his history, &c., 223. ; second administration j 236. ; 

his death, &c., 231. 
Cloves, some account of this spice, 186k 
Cochin China, 31. 

Cocoa nut tree described, 166, 41 9» 

I I 4 



488 XN^EX. 

Coins or currency of India, 112. .907« 

Polebrooke, $ir H. T., 95. 

College of Fort William, 409. 

Committee of circuit appointed J^y ]i/fr.fii^tif^f ^1* 

Condatchy 3ay, 338. 

Conjeyeram pagoda, 474. 

Connolan, Lieutenant, 289. 

Conway, Adjutant-general, 292. 

Coote, Sir Eyre, then Colonel, takes Pondicl^erry, 9gli* ; iH^lffi 

Hyder Alii in all Erections, >235. 
Coral banks produce islands in the Indian seas, 70. 
Cornwallis, Lord, his administrattops, ^^. gS^ 
jCossim Ally, 19. 

Cossim Ally-Khan eleYaiei hy Mr'^9»^iU9J:t9 224* 
Cranganor^, 240. 

Creese, a weapon so qaUec}, described, 79. 
Croker, Captain, 262. 
Cutch, some account of it, 274. 
Cuttub ud Depn invf^d^ Jp^^ 138. 
Cuttle fish, 42S. 

Dacca, some account €ff it, 3^7* 

Danes, their history, 212. 

Daughters, a great, source of w^th in Smo4trA» 79* 

Davie, MajoK, 273. 

Dead buried by the Jogis and 6os{dn§, 15. 

Debauchery, its effects on society ei^epoplig^d, 196. 

Deccan, description of it, 113. 

Declaration of war against the N#paul$9?> 255» 

Deeg, battle of, 250. 

Delhi described, 120. ; its ruins, 353. 

Delicacy of the Cashmere female^, 9. 

Dellon quoted, respecting the horrprs of the iiiqu]«iti<^ atGoa^ 

179. 394. 
Delta of the In4u8, g. 
Depravity of the Brahmans of India, 16. 
Despotic powers of the government of l^djaif^ 40^* 
Despotism, its effects exhibited in Java, 78. 
Dharma Sastra, an equit&bl^ qod^y 21. 



INDEX* 489 

Difference between the.eftolero and western worid, 96. 
Difference in the app^granc^ ^nd canfiNunation of the Hi&doo9> 

347. 
Distance, how calculated in India, I'ld. 
Dolphins, some account of tbenx, 432. 
Donkin, General, 286. 
Boveton, General, 284. 
Dowlut Row Scindea, his territories, 121. 
Dowlutabad fort described, 475. 
Dress of both sexes in India, 102. 

Dress of the high priest of Badrinaut, 16. ^ 

Dubois, Abb^, quoted, &c., 407. 
Dundas, Mr., his bill, 242. 
Dupleix, his actions in India, 206. 
Dugong of Sumatra, some account of it, 71. 
Dwarka pagoda^ some account of it, 329. 467* 

Ear-ring» of Cleopatra worth 161,458/., 137. 

East^ Colonel, his expedition to Cutdi, 274. 

East India Compapy of England, 220. 

East India Company of Holland, 184. 

Eggs of the silk worm brought from China, 137» 

Egyptians, their wars with the Portuguese in India, 163. 

Elephant craalor trap described, 419. 

Elephants of small size in the. north of India, 21. 28. 

Ellis, Mr., his. generous conduct, 226. 

Elora, caves of, 116. 312. 466. 

Elphinstone, Mr., 279. 

Elphinstone's account of Cabul quoted, 7. 

English establishment at Canton^ 46. • 

ErytlM-as, 130. ' 

Eugene, Prince, his attempt to share in the trade of India, 214t 

Exports of Cabul, 9. 

Fakiers, 15. 

Females, Hindoo, some account of them, 101. 

Feuds in Baloochistan, 4. 

Fever, how cured in Sumatra, *75. 

Field ^orts of Indim 477. 



490 INDEX. 

Fifteen Years in India referred to, 275. 

Fishes, wonderful, of the Indian seas, 422» 

Fitzgerald, Captain, 280. 

Fletcher, Sir Robert, 140. 

Flying fish, some account of it, 424. 

Fly-shooter fish, ib. 

Forbes's Oriental Memoirs quoted, 303. 

Formality of the Dutch in India, 195. 

Formosa, island of, 185. 

Fort St. David attacked by Lally, 223. 

Forts in India, general description of them, 317* 

Fox, Mr., his bill, 238. 

Francis, Mr., 232. 

Free trade to India, 305. 403. 478. 

French East India Company, 198. 

Furnese, Nana, 234. 

Ganges, river, 117. 

Grangotra, some account of, 12. 

Garrows, some account of them, 30. 

Gayah, the cave of, 357. 

Geographical description of India, 88. ; under which head are 
described its climate and natural history, 89. ; its inhabitants, 
population, &c., 92. ; its laws, &c., 95. ; Hindoo manners and 
customs, 100. ; ,the British empire with its revenues and re- 
sources, 102.; the peninsula of India, 105.; theDeccan, 113.; 
and Hindostan Proper, 117. 

Geographical outline of India, 3. ; under which head are de- 
scribed the western boundaries, Baloochistan, 4. ; the Indus, 
5. ; Afghanistan, 7. ; Cabul, Caffiristan, and Cashmere, 8. ; 
the northern boundaries, Himalaya mountains, 10.; Tibet, 
11.; Sources of the Ganges, 12.; Fair of Hurdwarra, 13.; 
Nepaul, 18. ; Bootan, 28. ; the eastern boundaries, Indo 
China and Tiperah wilds, from 29 — 33. ; China, 37. ; Canton, 
44. ; Macao, 48. ; southern boundaries, the islands of the 
Indian seas, 51. 

George I., his encouragement to the Tanjore mission, 389. 

George II., state of the East India Company at his death, 222. 

Ghauts, some account of them, 105. 



INDEX. 491 

Ghizni, where situated, 7. 

Gholaum Kaudir blinds Shah Allum, 140. 

Gillespie, Sir Robert Rollo,.his death and biography, 258. 

Goa described, 181. 

Goats of Tibet, 11. 

Gockla, his death, 289. 

Goddard, General, 235. 

Golconda, 116- 

Gold, its power over genius exemplified, 163. 

Gold fishes, some account of them, 424. 

Goldsmith, Dr^ his opinion of the value of modern history, 127. 

Goona Begum, her monument, 346. 

Goorca, present state of it, 19. 

Goorgeen Khan, ib, 

Gordon, Major, 292. 

Gosains, 15. 

Government, revenue, &c. of Ceylon, 60. 

Graves of ancestors, oaths taken among them in Sumatra, 72. 

Gregory, Dr., his advice to his daughters referred to, 190. 

Guickwar, 248. 

Gundwana described, 114. 

Guzerat described, 122. 

Gymnosophists, 186. 

Hammalleel, or Adam's Peak, 56> 

Hanuman, the monkey deity, 24. 

Harbours of Ceylon, 57. 

Hardyman, Colonel, 262. 

Harris, General, 247. 

Hastings, Warren, his administration, 231.; character, 236*) 
his trial, 243. 

Hastings, Marquis, arrives in India, 254. ; is forced into war 
with Nepaul, 255.; conquers that country, 269.; his war 
with the Mahrattas, 271.; conquers them, 298. ; increases 
the revenue of the Company upwards of four millions sterling 
thereby, 298*; sends an expedition up the Persian Gulf, 299.; 
forms regulations respecting suttee, ib. 

Hawoos, some account of them, 22. 

Herodotus, his account of India, 131. 



4«92 INDEX. 

Himalaya mountains, 10. 411. 

Hindoo Coosh, 411. 

Hindoo ladies, some account of tiiem, 843. 

Hindoos, their chronology, 393. 

Hindostan Proper, 117. 

Hislop, Sir Thomas, 279. ; gains the battle of Maheidpore, 281. ; 
puts the garrison of Talnier to the sword, and hangs the 
Killedar, 293. 

History of India, 128. ; under which head are described its an« 
cient state, 129.; Alexander's invasion, 132.; state of India 
at that time, 133.; the Brahmans and their religion, 135.; 
the trade of India during the flourishing state of Rome, 137* ; 
Mohammedan invasion, &c., 138. ; the way in which Hindos- 
tan may have been originally peopled, 140. ; the rise and 
progress of Brahmanism, 142.; apostacy of Budha, 145.; 
Jainism, ib,; and the origin of the Seiks, 148. 

History of the discoveries and conquests of the Portuguese, 
150.; Vasco de Gama sails for India, 151. ; reception at Ca- 
licut, 152.; Alvares Cabral arrives in India, 155.; Albuquer- 
que's great actions, 158.; his death, 168.; his successor, Lopez 
Soarez, extends trade to China, ib. ; the Portuguese are per- 
mitted to settle on the island of Macao, 170. ; establish them- 
selves in Japan, 171. ; arrive at the height of their power, ib. ; 
begin to degenerate and decline, 172. ; instances of their mag- 
nanimity, 174.; examples of their cruelty and vice, 178.; 
character of their descendants, 180. ; description of Goa, 
181. ; present state of the Portuguese in India, 183. 

History of the Dutch in India, 184.; Van Nic's successful 
voyage and return, 185. ; Admiral Warwick founds Batavia, 
ib. ; the Dutch become possessed of the spice islands, 186. ; 
overcome the Portuguese, 188.; their character and present 
state in India, &c., 192. 

History of the French in India, 198. ; they purchase Pondi- 
cherry, 202. ; colonise the Jsles of France and Bourbon, 203.; 
rise to considerable power under Dupleix at Chandernagor, 
204. ; wars between them and the English, 205. ; they lose 
all their settlements, 209. ; present state of their power in 
the East, 211. 

History of the Danes in India, 211.; establish themselves in 



INDEX. 498 

Tanjore, and build Tranquebar, 212. ; build Serampore, on 
the river Hooghly, 213. ; are successful in converting the na- 
tives of Tanjore, 214. ; present state, ib. 

History of the East India Company of Ostend, 214u 
Swedish East India Company, 215. 
Prussian East India Company, 216. 
Trade of Spain with India, ib. 
Prussian trade, 217. 

History of Great Britain in India, 220. ; Sir Thomas Roe sent 
as ambassador to the Great Mogul, 220. ; Captain Best's fac- 
tory at Surat,221.; wars with the French, 222.; Colonel 
Clive's actions, 223. ; Mr. Vansittart, 224. ; Lord Clivers re- 
turn to India, 226.; account of his administration, &c., 227. ; 
retirement, character, and death, 230. ; Mr. Hastings* admi- 
nistration, 231. ; resignation and character, 236. ; his trial, 
243. ; Mr, Pitt's bill, 238. ; administration of Marquis Corn- 
wallis, 240. ; of Lord Teignmouth, 258. ; of Lord Morning- 
ton, 242.;' state of India in 1805, when the Marquis of Wei* 
lesley returned home, 251.; second administration of Mar- 
quis Comwallls, 252. ; arrival of Lord Minto, and war in 
Travancore, 253. ; mutiny in the Madras army, and capture 
of the French settlements in the Mauritius and Java, 254.; 
arrival of the Maquis of Hastings, ib. ; Nepaul war, 255. ; 
subjugation' of Ceylon, 273.; expedition to Cutch, 274.; 
Msdiratta war, 276. ; expedition against the Arabian pirates, 
299.; of the three presidencies, Calcutta, 300., Madras, 
306., Bombay, 308. 

Holkar, 244. 248. 

Hongs, description of them at Canton, 45. 

Horaforas, some account of them, 81. 

Hospitality in India, 441. 

Hot springs of Sumatra, like those of Harrowgate, 70. 

Hot winds, supposed to generate nitre, 119. 

Human sacrifice offered near Badrinaut, 18. 

Hur Sing Deo conquers Nepaul, 26. 

Hurdwarra fair, 13. 

Hyder Alii, 289. 235. ; invades the Cama€i«r> 2d5; 



494 INDEX. . 

Ibrahim Lodi^ emperor, 10. 

Ichneumon of Ceylon, some account of it, 477* 

Idols, their table laid regularly, 17^ 

Imitation, its effects on men every where, 193. 

Impey, Sir Elijah, 253. 

Imports of Cabul, 9. 

India, or Hindostan^ 1. ; geographical description of it, 88. 

Indo-Chinese, 2. 32. 

Indo-Persians, 2. 

Indus, 5. 

Infanticide arrested in Cutch by British interference, 274. 398. 

Inquisition at Goa, 179. 

Insects of India, 426. 

Introduction to Book First, describes the work, and the natural 

divisions of India, 1. 
Introduction (o Book Second, explanatory of the method 

adopted by the author, 127* 
Introduction to Book Third, states its contents and nature, 

315. 
Islands of India, 51.; under which head are described the 

projections which form the Indian ocean, 52. ; the Laccadives, 

ib*; the Maldives, 54.; Ceylon, f 6.; Sumatra, and its contiguous 

isles, 61. ; Java, &c. 76. ; Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas, 

81. ; and the Philippine isles, 84. 
Israel, Sheik Ben, converts the Javanese, 77. ; his mausoleum^ 

Jains, their notions of time, or their chronology, 393. 

Jainism described, 145. 

Janiere, King, murdered by the Portuguese, 187. 

Jansens, General, 190. 

Japan, some account (^ it, 171. 

Java described, 76. 

Jenkins, Mr., 281. 

Jeswunt Sing, rajah of Judpore, his celebrated letter to Aureng- 

zebe, 476. 
Joasmere pirates, 299. 
Jogis, some account of them, 15. 
Jones, Lieutenant, 289. 



INDEX. ' 495 

Jones's, SirWilliam, testimony in favour of the Bible, 129.; his 

character and death, 242. 447. 
Juggernaut, 11.; and Appendix, note t, 383,; his expenses, 

385. 
Junks, some account of them, 45. 
Justice, the barriers of it too weak to stop ambition, 164, 

Kanoge, ruins of, S50. 

Kayns, some account of them, 30. 

Keating, Colonel, 254. 

Keir, Sir William Grant, 286. 299. 

Kemaoon, 19. 

Khetris, their great courage, 316. 

Kinlock, Major, his operations in Nepaul, 26. 

Kioping, the Swedish navigator, reported that he had seen men 

with tails, 64. 
Koiickanaddee Sewaree, 261. 
Kookies, their savage customs, 31. 
Krishna river, 1. 
Kyrauts, some account of them, 21. 

Laccadives described, 52. 

Lahore, province of, 121. 

Lake, Lord, defeats Scindea and takes Delhi, 140. 250. ; de- 
feats Holkar at Deeg, ib. ; besieges Bhurtpore, ib. ; and 
forces Holkar into a peace highly advantageous to the Hon« 
Company, ib. 

Lally, M. his actions, 207- 

Lama of Tibet, 12. 

Lambs' skins of the Tibet sheep, 8. 

Language of the fingers in India, 14. 

Languages, original ones of India, 97* 

Lapis lazuli, produced in Oude, 120. 

Laurie, Major, 267- 

Lawrence, Colonel, 207- 

L'Epreuve, the murder of her crew, 82. 

Leyden, Dr. 32. 74. 

Light, Captain Francis, receives Pulo Penang, 65. 

Limbooas, 22. 



496 INDEX. 

Lime of Silhet, 29. 

Linnois, Admiral, 209. 

Lloyd, Captaini 981. 

Loudon, Countess of, her amiable character, 4fS6» 

Ludlow, Major, 261. 

Lyons, Lieut.-CoL, 266. 

Macan, Captain, 281. 

Macao, some account of it, 48; 

Macartney, Lord, his embassy to China, 41. 

M'Donald, Captain, 281. 

McDonald, Lieutenant, ib. 

McGregor, Captain, 298. 

M*Morine, Colonel, 286. 

M^Kenzie, Major, 281. 

Mackintosh Sir James, his high character in India!; 464i 

Madagascar colonised by the Frencii, 199. 

Madeira discovered, 138. 

Magellan discovered the Philippine islands, 84.' 

Maheidpore, battle of, 281. 

Mahmood, sultan of Ghizni, invades India, 1S8. 

Mahomed Ghori conquers Ghizni, 7. 

Mahrattas, their power, 244. ; their history; 248;; wkir a^hnt 

them by the Marquis of Hietfngis, 271. 
Malabar, the province of, 108; 
Malacca, peninsula of, 68".- 
Malartie, General, 245. 
Malays, their treachery, &c., 69. 
Malcolm, Sir John, 3. 251. 281. 284. 437. 
Maldive islands described, 5S. 
Mallacargee pagoda described, 331; 
Mangoe fish, 425. 

Mangrove, some account of it, 74.^ 427. 
Mangusteen, some account of it, 80. 
Manilla, 87. 

Marco Polo excites Columbus to inquity, 138. 
Marley, Major General, 26. 

Marsden, Mr., does ndf cortfeborttfe W, L^Si,7*? 
Marriage, its ceremony in India, 386. 



INDEX. 497 

Marshal, General, 286. 

Martindel, Major General, 261. 

Mathews, General, 236. ; surrenders to Tippo, ib. 

Mauritius, 254. 

Meadows, General, 241. 

Meers, chiefs of Sind, 5. 

Megasthenes, his account of the Indo-Chinese, 31. 

Milk not used by the Chinese in any form, 47. 

Milnes, Colonel, 278. 

Minto, Lord, his administration, 252. 

Mirza Eesau, his mausoleum, 6. 

Miscellaneous remarks on India, 316.; under which head are 
observatiops on the character of the Hindoos, 317.; the 
bravery of the Company's Sepoys, 319. ; the crimes of the 
Brahmans, 321.; their wild notions respecting chronology, 
&c., 324.; their idols, 325. ; Dwarka pagoda, 329. ; Tripetty, 
331.; Mallacargee pagoda, ib,; curiosities in the south of 
India, 333. ; village governjgient, 334. ; the activity and in- ' 
dolence of the Brahmans, .336. ; the pearl fishery on the 
coast of Ceylon, 338. ; Mohammedan style of architecture, 
340. ; Mohammedan mannersii &c., 342. ; the Hindoo ladies^ 
243.; Aurungabad, 346. ; Surat, 346.; the Deccan, 347.; 
Hindostan Proper, 348. ; ruins of Kanoge, 350. ; ruins of 
Gour, ib, ; of Delhi, 352. ; the bridges of Hindostan, 354. ; 
ruins of Oude, 355. ; Benares, ih. ; Patna, ^56. ; Dafsca^. 
357. ; on the East India Company, &c., 479, 

Mocwanpore, some account of it, 19. 

Mohammedan manners described, 341. 

Moloch, the, of-the East, 383. 

Molucca islands, 83. 

Monboddo, Lord, believed there were men with tails, 64f 

MonkeySy red, of Ceylon, 420. 

Monopoly of the Company's servants, 228. 

Monson, Colonel, 232, 233. 

Monsoons described, 89^ 

Mountains, chief ones of India, 93. 

Moving plant of Bengal, 435. 

Muck, some account of this horrid Malay practice, 69, 

Munro, Sir Hector, takes Pondich^rry, 209. 

K K 



498 ' iNx>£x« 

Munro, Brigadier General, 295, 296. 
Murray, Lieutenant-Colonel, 292. 
Musk deer of Tibet, 11. 
Mysore described, III. 

Nadir Shah's invasion of India, 139. 

N^^rs, some account of tbem, 109. 

Names of places in India not now what they were, ]. 

Nanac, founder of the Seiks, 15. 122. 

Nancowry, exertions, of the Danish roksion there, 6S* 

Nautilus, some account of this fish, 4^. 

Nepenthes, or pitcher plant, some account of it, 421. 

Nepaul, description of it, 18. ; war, ^5, ; sceBery,,41S. 

Nepean, Sir Evan, 273. 

NeriMidda river, 1. 

Newars, 23. 

Nicdiiars, 64. 

NicoUfi, Colonel, 263. 

Ifizam, 229» 234. 

^Lzam's territories, 115. 

Noble instance of magnanimity, 153. 

Nund Comar, rajah, 232. 

Nutmegs 166. 

Ochteriony, Sir David, 261. 263. 269. 

Ooreas, some account of them, 114. 

Oriental negroes, 62.64. 68. 84. 

Orissa, some account of it, 114. 

Ormus, some account of it, 164. 

Ostend East India Company, 214. 

Oude described, 120. 

Ouran Outang, once supposed to have known the use of fire, 

86. 
Oyster trees, what gave rise to the belief that there were 

such, 74. 

Palibothra, 2. 

Panniput, battle of, 10. 

Papuan Isles, notice of them, 432, 



INDEX. i99 

Papuas, the oriental negroes, 84. 

Parliamentary proceedings, 229. 238* 248. 

Parsees of India, 124. 

Parthi Narrain conquers Nepaul, 18. 

Patna, 356. 

Pattinson, Lieutenant, 289. 

Pegu, 34. ; the temple of, described, 416. 

Peishwa, 276^-278. 296. 

Pekin, some account of it and the emperor's palace, &c., 418. 

Peloo Isles described, 431. 

Peninsula of India,, some account of it, 105. 

Perishwar, 9. 

Perron, M., 244. 

Persia, low character it bears at present, 37. 

Persians supposed to be the original stock whence the Mab* 
rattas sprung, 131. 

Philippine isles, 84. 

Pindarries, 255. 276. 285. 

Pinto, Major de, his death, 297* 

Plassey, battle of, 224. , 

Plato,' his account of Atalantis, 150. 

Policy of the Hon. East India Company changed by pros* 

perity, 223. 
Pondicherry, some aceount of it, 21 1« 
Port Comwallis, 63. 

Portuguese, their discoveries and conquests, 150. 
Pottinger, Mr., 3. 
Preparation for India and passage out, with practical advice to 

young adventurers, 358. 
Press, the, in India^ subject to a censorship, 404. 
Prince of Wales Island, or Pulo Penang, described, 65. 
Printing in China, how effected, 414. 
Pritzler, Brigadier General, 295. 297. / 
Productions of the northern mountains of India, 17* ; of Ceylon, 

57*; of Pulo Penang, 66. ; and others under their heads. 
Proprietors of East India Stock, 228* 
Prostitution sanctioned by Brahmanism, J 6. 
Prussia, her attempt to trade with India, 216. 
Ptolemy, hia nnsnomer of Java, 76. 

K K 2 



500 INDEX. 

Punakha, 28. 

Punjab, some account of it, 122. 

Purannas, commentaries on the Vedas, .97. 

Queen Mother of Sattara, her behaviour, 290. 454. 
Quintus Curtius quoted, 133. 

Raffles, Sir T. S., referred to for our only authentic account of 

Java, 428. 
Raghunaut temple, 16. 
Ragajee, buckshee, 248. 
Rajah of Nagpoor, ib, 
Rajemaly some account of it, 28. 
Rajpoots, their female infanticide, 39S. 
Rama, rajah of Oude, invades Ceylon, 56. 
Rami Haut, Captain Raper's account of it, 16. 
Ramisseram pagoda, 474. 
Rangoon temple described, 416. 
Raper, Captain, his journal quoted, 13. 
Rassa Deva's fane, 16. 
Raynal, Abbd, 128. 441. 

Remarks on subjects connected with residence or service in 
India, 371. 

on the prejudices of the natives, 372. 

on the conversion of the Hindoos, 374. 

oh female connections in India, 375< 

on marriage, 376. 

on independence, 377- 

on returning from India, 379. 
Remora fish, 423. 
Rennel, Major, quoted, 139. 
Reptiles of India, 440. 
Republican principles give a peculiar character to the Seiks^ 

122. 
Resources of Oude and Benares seized by Mr. Hastings, 235. 
Riebeck, Van, colonises the Cape of Good Hope, 189. 
Rival East India Companies of England form a junction, 222. 
Rivers, the principal ones of India, 93. 
Robertson, Dr., his history referred to as an authority, 128* . 



INDEX. 501 

Roe, Sir Thomas, 220. 

Hohillas, 140. 232. 

Rollings Ancient History quoted, 1S6, 

Row Lacka, his mausoleum described, 274. 

Ruins of Delhi, 352. 

Runjeet Mull conquered by Parthi Narrain, 26. 

Russia, her trade with India and China, 218. 

Ruy Lopes de Villabolos changes the name of the Philippines, 84* 

Sago tree described, 166. 

Saltpetre of Bahar, 119. 

Sangar, 20. 

Sanscrit, its derivations, 97* ; great antiquity, 141. 

Sanyassees, some account of them, 15. 

Sattara described, 455. * 

Saugur Island, suicides committed there, 98. 389. 

Saul, or Sissooy 21. 

Schools for the education of the natives in India, 303. 

Scott, Colonel, his brave conduct, 279. 

Sculpture of Hindostan, 332. 

Seiks, their history, 148. 

Serinagur, 20. 

Seringham pagoda, 474. 

Servilia's pearl worth 48,457/., 137. 

Shalimar, the gardens of, in the valley of Cashmere, 9. 

Sharks, some account of them, 423» 

Shawl goat of Tibet, 11. 

Shawls of Cashmere, 8. 412. 

Sinds, some account of them, 5. 

Slaves sold at th6 fair of Hurdwarra, 14. ; also in Malabar, iiO» 

Smith, Major General, now Sir Lionel, 278. ; forms a junction 
with Colonel Burr, ib. ; forces the Peishwa to retreat from 
Poonah, 279. ; pursues the Peishwa, 287. ; gains the action 
of Ashtee, 289. ; rescues the family of the Sattara rajah^ 
289. 

Smith, Cornet, 281. 

Soarez, Lopez, his actions, 168. 

Sotheby, Mr., killed at Nagpoor, 281. 

Sources of the Ganges, 12. 



502 INDJEX. 

Souza, Thomas de, his self-denial, 177. 

Speculation respecting the varieties of men, 4S2. 

jSpices^ the clove and nutmeg unknown as such to the ancients^ 

166. 
Staunton, Sir George, his account of China, 42. 
Staunton, Captain, his gallant stand at Koragaum^ 288. 
Stewart, Colonel, referred to, 385. 397. 
Subsidising system of Marquis Wellesley^ 402. 
Suicide, its various modes in India, 98. 
Sumatra, the island of, described, 61.70. 
Surat, some account of it, 346. 
Suttee, the nature of this ceremony, 275. 400. 
Swanston, Lieutenant, 289. 
Swedish East India Company, 215. 
Sword fish, some account of it, 422. 
Sylveria, Antonius, his gallant defence of Diu, 175. 
Syrian Christians of Travancore, 392. 

Tailor-bird of Ceylon, 421. 

Talnier, 291. 

Tamerlane pillages*Delhi, 138. 

Taprobana, 2. 

Tartars invade Bactria, 3. 

Tatta, province of, 6. 

Tauje Mahal, near Agra, some account of it, 345. 

Tea plant, a native of Ceylon, 58. 

Teeth filed down and ornamented with gold by the Sumatransi 

73. 
Teignmouth, Lord, 242. 
Termes, or white ant, some account of it, 425.^ 
Thirst, difficulty of enduring it, 5. 
Thompson, Lieutenant Colonel, 265- 267, 268. 
Thread worm of India described, 440. 
•Tibet, some account of it, 10. 
Time, hpw measured in India, 112. 
Tiperah wilds, 2. 28. 
Tippo defeats Colonel Baillie, 234. ; destroys Colonel Braith- 

waite's detachment, 236. ; sends an embassy to France, ik, ; 

sues for peace to Lord Cornwallis, 241. 244*; his confederacy 



INDEX. 60S 

against the Company, 246* ; his deep policy, i(. ; his death, 

24*7« ; his throne, &c., 446. 
Tiroons, desperate pirates, 82. 
Titles of the East India Company of England, 227* 
Tranquebar, 212. 

Trees and plants of India, some of them noticed, 439* 
Tributary branches of the Indus, 6. 
Tripetty pagoda, 331. 
Tropical winds described, 434. 

Udasis, some account of them^ 15* 
Ummer Sing Thappa, 266* 268. 
Ummerapoor, some account of it, 417. 
Upas, or poison tree, 71.80. 

Valley of Cashmere, Its great beauty, 8. 413. 

Vansittart, Mr., 224. 

Varieties of men, speculation respecting their formation, 104. 

432. 
Vasco de Gama, 15L 442. 
Vedas, the sacred books of the Hindoos, 97. 
Veils sent by ladies as a signal of distress in Afghanistan, 7* 
Verelst, Mr., 229. 
Village society in Ceylon, 56. 
Viseram Rauze, his death, 317. 
Visii^oor, or Bejapoor, described, 340. 
Vizier Ally, his marriage^ 386. 
Vows of chastity, how kept by the Brahmans, 16. 

Wagurs, 255. 273. 

Wall of China, 417. 

Warlike disposition, unfavourable to early settlements in India, 
exemplified in the history of th^ French, 201. 

Warwick, Admiral, founds Batavia, 185. 

Watson, Lieutenant, 281. 

Webb, Lieutenant, his journey to Gangotra, 13. 

Wellesley, Marquis, then Lord Mornington, his administration, 
243.; frustrates all Tippo's plans, 246.; sends an expedition 
to Egypt, 247. ; puts a stop to suicide at Saugur Island, 389. ^ 



50* INDEX, . 

Wellington, Duke of, then General Sir Arthur WcUesley, re- 
places Badjeerow on the throne of Poonah^ 249. ; gains the 
battle of Assay, 250.; and Argaum, ib. 

Whales of India, 422. 

Wild beasta of India, 440. 

Wiley, Assistant Surgeon, 289. 

Wilford, Major, quoted, ISl. 

Wingate, Assistant Surgeon, 288. 

Wives, only one in a family of brothers in Tibet, 11. 

Woden, one of his barbarous tenets, 211. 

Wood, Major General, 261. 

Wool of the Tibet goat described, 8. 

Wow Wow, a monkey of Java, from which the natives derive 
their origin, 77. 

Xavier, or Xaverius, St. Francis, some account of him, 159. ; 
his speech to his friends, 162. 

Yak, the bushy-tailed cow of Tibet, 11. 
Yunan, a town in China, 29. 

Zamorin, some account of this prince, 152. 

Zealand, Fort, on Formosa, 185. 

Zemindar, the chief landed proprietor under*, government in 

India, 95. 
Zend, the language in which the sacred book df the Parsees is 

written, 97. 
Ziegenbalg, Bartholomew, 389. -^ > 

Zoroaster, 97. 



THE END. 



London: 

IVioted by X. & R. Spotiiswoode, 

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