The view of Hindoostan.: [pt.1]

[figure]

II. Palace of the Rajah of Tassisudon

SHOULD future readers have opportunity of perusing a printed copy of the MS. volume of the OUTLINES OF THE GLOBE, which treats of Arabia and Persia, they will find that we left behind the province of Sind, rent from the Hindoostan empire by the usurper Kouli Khan, who, as na|ture seemed to have pointed out, made the mighty river of that name the boundary between the Persian and Indian dominions.

THE Sind, or the Seindhoo of the Sanscrit, * 1.1 was called by the antients, Indus, a name retained by the moderns. It rises from ten streams springing remote from each other, out of the Persian and Tartarian mountains, one of which originates in Cashmere. The rivers of the Panjab, and those which rise from the west above Candahar and Cabul, are the great contributory streams, but the parent one seems to be that which flows out of Cashgar, in Lat. 37° 10′ N. The name Sind is native, and of great antiquity, and mentioned by Pliny and Arrian as the Indian appellative;

the one writes it Sindus, the other 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. We learn by the Nubian Geographer, that the Arabians call it Mehran. I mean to proceed down to its Delta, where it is discharged into the sea, and briefly point out the most remarkable places, antient or modern, which occur in my course.

THE Indus, * 1.2 or rather the streams which fall into it from the east, particularly the Ihylum or river of Cashmere, and the Ganges near Latak, in Little Thibet, to the north of Cashmere, approximate, and then run diverging till they reach the sea, and peninsulate the mighty empire, so that they give the name to Hindoostan, of the Peninsula of India. India or Hindoostan is not of vernacular derivation, antient as it is; the name Hind was given it by the Persians, who transmitted it to the Greeks, and they formed from it the word India; for we are assured by the scientific linguist Mr. Wilkins, that no such word is to be found in the Sanscrit Dictionary; for the aborigines of the country knew it by no other than that of Bharata * 1.3. The discovery is new, but we have preserved the antient name of Hindoostan, given it by the Persians, and that of India by the Grecians, who gave that of Hindoos to the aboriginal people of the country, and Stan a region.

THIS vast peninsula was formerly divided into two parts, Hindoostan Proper, which was bounded on the south by the rivers Nerbudda and Soane, and the southern borders of Bengal, and by the Barrampooter on the east.

THE other division is the Deccan, which signifies the south, and under that meaning comprehends all the rest of the penin|sula, as far as Cape Comorin. This name and this division seem at present scarcely known, except in the mention of the great Soubahship, possessed by Nizam al Muluck and his successors.

This is now greatly altered in its limits, and abridged in its extent.

Hindoostan tends to a conoid form. The northern part spreads into a large irregular base. Hurdwar, the most north|ern place in the province of Delhi, is nearly in Lat. 30°, Long. 78° 15′. Cape Comorin is the most southern extremity, the point in Lat. 8°, Long. 77° 36′ 50″ E. The length therefore of this country is thirteen hundred and eighty three British miles; the breadth at the base from Tatta, in the Delta of the Indus, to Silhet, on the eastern extremity of Bengal, is thirteen hundred and ninety.

IT is necessary to be observed, that India is bounded on the north by a range of most lofty mountains, rocky, and fre|quently precipitous and inaccessible. These were the Haemodus and Paropamisus of the antients; and those which are inter|rupted by the Indus forcing its way through the chain, are called the Imaus or the snowy; but the flatterers of Alexander in compliment to him, bestowed on the western part of that out-let the name of Caucasus, as if, says Arrian (Exped. Alex. p. 318) they had been a continuation of his dominions: in maps they still are called the Indian Caucasus. Pliny, Lib. vi. c. 17. gives authority for this, by saying they were Caucasi partes.

ANTIENT ROADS TO INDIA.

THE earliest notice we have of commerce with this great empire, was in the book of Genesis, Ch. 37, where we find mention of the Ishmaelites carrying on a trade with Egypt, * 1.4 in spices, balm, and myrrh; the two last might have been produc|tions of Arabia, or of Gilead, but the spices were consined to India. They travelled at that time in caravans, and carried

their goods on the backs of camels in the very manner that their descendants the Arabs continue to do from that period. They took the same route as the patriarch Jacob did, and delivered their articles of luxury at the proud Memphis. As soon as they became a naval people, much of the commerce of Arabia, as well as of India, was conveyed to Muza * 1.5, a port not remote from the modern Mocha, and from thence shipped to Berenice or to Myos hormos, and placed on the backs of camels, conveyed to the Egyptian markets. But in respect to the Ishmaelites who had met with Joseph and his brethren, it is highly probable, that it was prior to the time of their knowlege of navigation. They had therefore performed the whole jour|ney to and from India by land. On their return they increased their caravan by the addition of the myrrh and balm, the pro|duce of their own country, or of Gilead; which they had left not long before they met with the patriarchs at Dotham, a place in the middle of Palestine, not far to the west of the sea of Ti|berias. They then proceeded on their journey to Egypt, with the addition of another article of commerce, a slave, in the person of Joseph, whom they had just purchased from his en|vious brethren.

THIS communication with India was carried on for a great length of time. To use the authority of HOLY WRIT, our safest guide on all occasions, we find that SOLOMON gave it every en|couragement. He founded Hamath in the country of Galilee, and Tadmor in the wilderness, or Palmyra, and many other cities of store † 1.6, or emporia, for the commerce of India, and Tyre, Sidon, and all the surrounding nations.

I SHALL now mention the route for which the ancients were indebted to the Macedonian hero, who, after passing the paro|pamisan Caucasus, founded a city on the south-east side of the Ghergistan mountains, or Hindoo Kho, or the Indian Caucasus, and called it Alexandria, in honor of himself. * 1.7 Alexander passed this way in his pursuit of Bessus, and returned by the same road on his invasion of India. It is probable, that Alex|andria was founded on the first expedition, in order to secure his return into a country, the conquest of which he had so much at heart. According to Mr. Rennel, it appears to have been in Lat. 34°, opposite to the modern Bamian, which stands on the north-west side of Caucasus. Here, according to Quintus Curtius, lib. vii. c. 3. he left seven thousand old Macedonian soldiers, and a number worn out in the service. Arrian, I. p. 230, says that he appointed Proexes, a noble Persian, Governor, and Niloxenus, Commissary of the army. Alexandria continued long an emporium of the goods of India, the termination of the commercial views of the Europeans, till it was superseded by the rise of Candahar, and Cabul. It seems to have had to it two roads; the one direct, and the same with the course taken by Alexander in his way from the Caspian sea to his pursuit of Bessus and his Indian conquest, through Aria, the modern Herat, * 1.8 which was, till the latter ages, a place of great strength and great commercial note. In course of ages, it suffered all the calami|ties to which the cities of the east are peculiarly incident; but it often emerged. Abdulkurreem * 1.9 saw it in 1740, on his return, in a most distressful state: the very ground floors of the houses were ploughed up, and sown with grain; but he speaks

of the magnificent ruins, which shewed its former situation. The country was uncommonly rich, but the whole road from Candahar to this city, was a scene of desolation, marked by the march of Kouli Khan on his return from India. From Herat the ancients directed their course to the southern part of the Caspian sea. This journey must have been performed by caravans of camels or horses, as the road was destitute of navigable rivers. The route touched on the shore where Astrabad now stands, which, perhaps, was the port.

THE second way, and which was much frequented, was towards the north-west. The merchants went by Champan Drapsica, the modern Damian, Bactra, now called Zariaspa, Nautica the modern Nekebad, and from that town by a short stage to Maracunda or Samarcand, * 1.10 seated in a most beautiful valley. All these cities rose, and were supported by the passage of the caravans. As to Samarcand, it had long been a vast city, known by the name of Maracunda. It was garrisoned by Alex|ander the great, after the capture (at Nautica) of Bessus the murderer of Darius. The Scythians laid siege to it, but it was relieved by the Macedonian hero. It is said to have been, even then, a city of vast opulence, strength, and splendor.

FROM Samarcand the articles of commerce were conveyed to the Oxus, * 1.11 the modern Amu, which runs at no great distance to the south. That famous river rises far to the south-east, in the Caucasan chain. It becomes navigable for barks at Termed, in Lat. 37° 30′ N. long before it comes near Samarcand; it is singular, that so distant a route should be pursued before the commodities were embarked. In the days of El Edrisi, or the Nubian Geographer (p. 138) we find that it was frequented on

that account; the Geographer mentions Termed among other stations near that great river. When the goods were shipped from Samarcand, they fell down the stream, which, in the time of Herodotus, passed through a marshy tract, the paludes excipientes araxem, now the Aral lake, out of which it flowed, and, going south-west, fell into the Caspian sea in the bay of Balchan. This passage has been destroyed above two centuries ago, and its ancient channel is scarcely to be traced. Master Anthonie Jenkinson, a most authentic traveller, gives the fol|lowing account of the cause, in his travels into those parts in 1558, as related by Purchas, (see p. 236):

The water that serueth all that countrey, is drawne by ditches out of the river Oxus vnto the great destruction of the said river, for which cause, it falleth not into the Caspian sea, as it hath done in times past, and in short time all that land is like to be destroyed and to become a wildernesse for want of water, when the river of Oxus shall faile.

I WILL now briefly enter on some other ways pointed out by the ancients as commercial routes into India. * 1.12 One is that mentioned by Pliny, (lib. vii. c. 17.) who probably speaks on good authority; his account is founded on intelligence delivered down by Pompey, when he was pursuing the mithri|datic war. It was then certainly known, that it was but seven days journey out of India to the Bactryan country, even to the river Icarus, which runs into the Oxus, by means of which, the Indian commerce may be transported by the channel of the Caspian sea, and again by the river Cyrus, the modern Kur, * 1.13 on the western side as far as Phasis, the Rione or modern Fasz, a large and navigable river, which falls into the head of the

Euxine sea, and appears to me a communication of great practicability.

I MAY also mention Batnae, * 1.14 a large commercial city, built, (according to Ammianus, lib. xiv. c. 3.) not remote from the Euphrates in Mesopotamia, by the Macedonians. It was filled with rich merchants; an annual fair was held there in the beginning of September, and it was then the resort of mul|titudes of people, for the sake of the commodities brought from India, and even Seres or China, and various other places, both by land and water; the last, by the channel of the Persian gulph, and so up the Euphrates.

THE Seres reminds me of the last communication I shall mention, * 1.15 which was to the north, leading to the distant country of China. The Chinese merchants descended from their country, and leaving the head of the desert of Gobi to the west, reached little Bucharia, and got the conveniency of the river Ilak for part of their journey.

THE ancient Comedae, * 1.16 the same with Cashgar, seated in Lat. 40° N. in the Casia Regio of Ptolemy, lay at the foot of mount Imaus. The Indian and Chinese trade carried on through this city, is still considerable. The river Sir, the old Iaxartes, is not far to the west of Cashgar, and might, by its falling into lake Aral, be an ancient channel of communication with the Caspian sea. This city was the rendezvous, even in early times, of the merchants trading with the country to the north and to the south. This, I dare suppose, was the

receptaculum eorum qui ad Seras negotii causa prosisciuntur penes Imaum mon|tem

of Ptolemy; and near it, to the east, was the Lithinon

Purgon, and Turris Lapidea of Ammianus * 1.17, which, by the name, * 1.18 could be no other than a beacon, sixed on a stone tower.

Hierken, to the south of Cashgar, * 1.19 was another celebrated mart, and is still the centre of commerce between the north of Asia, India, Thibet, and Sibiria. When the merchants reached the Indus, they fell into the tracts before described.

THE Seres, above spoken of, were the inhabitants of the north of China, remarkable for their silk, which the ancients believed was combed from the leaves of trees, and, when steeped in water, was corded and spun, and after their manner wove into a web. These Seres had some intercourse with the Romans; for Florus tells us that they sent ambassadors to Augustus, who were four years on their journey. They were a most gentle race, and shunned mankind: yet carried on a traffic, in the same manner as the western Moors do at present, with people they never see. The Moors go annually in caravans, * 1.20 laden with trinkets, to an appointed place on the borders of Nigritia. There they find several heaps of gold deposited by the Negroes; against each of which the Moors put as many trinkets as they think of equal value, and then retire. If, the next morning, the Negroes approve the bargain, they take the trinkets and leave the gold; or else they make some deduction from the gold dust; and in this manner transact the exchange, without the lest instance of dishonesty on either part † 1.21.

Candahar, * 1.22 seated in Lat. 33° o′ N. Long. 67° 15′ E. is the capital of a recent kingdom, formed by the convulsion given to this part of the eastern world. It was founded by Ahmed Abdalla, an Afghan prince, compelled by Kouli Khan to join his army in 1739. On the assassination of the tyrant, he ap|peared again among his subjects, and added to his dominions Candahar, Cashmere, and some other small districts. His successors reside at Cabul; he has an army of two hundred thousand men, once clothed with British manufactures, which were sent up the Indus, and thence to Cabul by the lesser river.

Candahar is a city of vast strength, by nature as well as art, being seated amidst fens and rocks. The Governor, Hossein Khan, defended it eighteen months against all the attacks of Kouli Khan. At length, reduced to extremity, he sallied out at the head of his men, and fell, bravely fighting in defence of his country!

Candahar and Cabul were considered of high importance in a political light. The first was esteemed the gate of India in respect to Persia, and Cabul that in respect to Tartary, and both were in the middle ages the great emporia for Indian goods, which were transported into Western Tartary, and from thence by the Caspian and Euxine seas to Constantinople, and from that city to all parts of Europe. Candahar was the magazine of the Indian and Persian goods, and Cabul of the spices. They were conveyed in caravans, north-westwards, to the famous city of Samarcand, in Lat. 40° N. and from thence the goods were put in boats, and sent down into the Oxus or Amu, which falls into the Caspian sea, as I have before related, and there shipped for their different destinations; those for Russia, up the Volga; those for Constantinople, up the river Cyrus, the modern Kur,

which descends a great and rapid river from mount Caucasus, and is navigable very far up, so as to form an easy communica|tion with the Euxine sea. Venice and Genoa received the Indian luxuries from Constantinople, and their own port of Caffa, and dispersed them over the other parts of Europe.

BOTH these cities continue the emporia of Persia, India, Tar|tary, and all the circumjacent nations. The commerce is still considerable, notwithstanding it has been lessened by that of the European nations, who have established factories in almost every part of the Indian empire.

Cabul is seated in Lat. 34° 36′ N. Long. 68° 58′ E. * 1.23 at the foot of the Indian Caucasus, and in so happy a climate, as to produce the fruits of both the temperate and torrid zones, notwithstand|ing it is bordered by mountains capped with eternal snow. The Indian historians speak of it in the most rapturous terms. It stands on the river Kameh, which falls into the Indus at Attock, but possibly is interrupted by rapids, as it is only navigable by rafts.

Cabul is the residence of the Kings of Candahar, and the present capital. The Nubian Geographer (p. 66.) speaks of Cabul as a noble city; that its mountains abounded with the sinest aromatic woods, Neregil and Myrobalans; the first may be Nellila Phylanthus emblica; the others the Spondias purpurea, &c. All the Myrobalans had once a name in our shops as gentle purgatives; among other purposes they are used in the tanning business.

OF late days, Cabul has been noted for its vast fairs of horses and cattle; the first brought there by the Ushec Tartars. Slaves are also a considerable article of commerce. Merchants resort to these markets from Persia, China, and Tartary. It was taken

by Kouli Khan by storm, who put great part of the garrison to the sword, and made himself master of a vast treasure in arms, am|munition, and jewels. Kouli Khan shewed here a strong specimen of oriental justice, by ripping up the bellies of eighty Kuzzlebash, or soldiers, for only being present when some of their comrades forced one of the country women.

THE Genoese, * 1.24 those once enterprizing people, made them|selves masters of Caffa, a noted city and port on the Euxine sea, in the famous peninsula of Krim Tartary. This they seized in 1261, and made the emporium of the commodities of India and Persia, which were brought down the Oxus, and the other routes mentioned in the preceding page. They colonized Caffa with their own countrymen, and gained prodigious wealth during the time they were in possession. It was wrested from them in 1475, by Mahomet the great, and with it soon expired the mighty power of that city of merchants. Genoa, for cen|turies the rival of Venice, equally potent, and equally brave, waged long and fierce wars with each other, incited more by avarice, than the ambition of glory.

Bochara, * 1.25 not far to the south of Samarcand, was another great emporium, and communicated the eastern articles to all the neighbouring parts of Tartary. It traded with India, China, and Persia, and partook of those of Muscovy, by the caravans which went from that empire to Cathay. This city seems to have been of more modern date: it is not mentioned, as far as I recollect, before the days of the Nubian Geographer, who wrote some time prior to the year 1151, but it appears to have been in the next century a most flourishing place.

Anthonie Jenkinson (Purchas, iii. 241.) gives a very curious account of the state of Bochara and its commerce, as it was in the year 1558. This has been uninterruptedly continued from the earliest time to the present, for the northern parts of Asia have their wants and luxuries to supply even from India and China. The discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope, gave a great check to this inland commerce. No more com|modities were conveyed that way to the greatest part of Europe, yet still the trade is very considerable to the places I mentioned, and even to the Russian empire. Catherine has, as yet, no share in Hindoostan, no Indian fleets; her splendid courts, and all the luxuries of her vast cities are supplied either from Astra|kan, or from the other Caspian ports; Astrakan is the great Russian staple of the Indian commerce. Gurjef and Kislar are the same. Persia has its Derbend, Niezabad, Baku, and others. The Tartars have their bay of Balchan and Mangushlak, through which, Bochara still pours its Indian articles of commerce. It is foreign to the plan of out-line to enter into minutiae. I must therefore refer to the second Volume of my friend the Reverend Wm. Coxe's valuable Travels. The 4th Chapter will satisfy the most ardent curiosity.

In respect to the antient Russian commerce with these distant parts, * 1.26 I shall conclude the subject with observing, that after the various commodities of India had arrived through the channel of the Oxus into the Caspian sea, they were shipped for the Volga, the Rha of the antients. That river was so little known to the antients, that they have not left us the name of a single place in its whole course. The merchants ascended that great river. After navigating it a very considerable way they entered

the Kama, and arrived through the Kokra at Tcherdyn, seated in Lat. 60° 25′ North, in those early times a mighty emporium. From thence the several eastern articles of commerce were dis|persed over all the arctic regions. The Nortmans and the Sue|ons, people of the Baltic, had great intercourse with them through the Nova, and Ladoga, another vast emporium, seated on the lake of the same name. As a proof of the antiquity of its commerce, coins of Greece and Rome, of Syria and Arabia, have been found in the antient burying places, evidences that the people of the east and of the west had met there to supply their several wants; even at Tcherdyn, coins of the Arabian Caliphs have been discovered. Notwithstanding the immense wealth of both Tcherdyn and Ladoga, scarcely a trace is to be seen of those great emporia. The commerce of the first ex|tended even within the artic circle. The Beormas, the people of the old Permia, ascended the Petzora with their furs, ex|changed them for the products of the torrid zones, and fall|ing down that northern river dispersed them over all their chilly regions.

THE MARCH OF ALEXANDER TO THE PANJAB.

I INTRODUCE again the Paropamisan Alexandria. No place could be fixed on with greater judgment whether as a place d'armes, or an emporium of the mighty empire he designed, from which he could form the vast commerce he meditated; for in his lucid intervals, a more able monarch never existed. As from a head quarter, from hence he directed his expedition to Bactra and Sogdiana, the modern countries of Balk, Bucharia,

and Samarcand. Having fulfilled the objects of his march he returned, and from this place set forth on his great design, the conquest of India. I will attend his march across the country to the banks of the Indus.

THE conqueror took a north-eastern course, and passed by the tract of the modern towns of Killaut, Tazee, Meerout, Jom|rood, and Gundermouk. He crossed several rivers in his way, such as the Cophenes, or Cow river, or Nagaz, and the Choe, which falls into the Guraeus, or modern Kameh. On the upper part of the Cophenes, which is called Dilen, stood Ghizni, * 1.27 once the capital of a mighty empire of the same name, which con|sisted of the tract lying between the Indus and Parthia, to the south of the Oxus, and part of the antient Bactria. The city is now a heap of ruins, and scarcely mentioned in history. Its emperor Mahmood I. surnamed Ghizni, first invaded India in the year 1000; his first conquests extends only to Moultan. He in 1024 conquered the kingdom of Guzerat; at that time all Hin|doostan was inhabited by the aborigines. With true Mahometan zeal he exercised all sorts of barbarities against the Hindoos; and in order if possible to exterminate their religion, levelled with the ground their favorite Pagoda Sumnaut, and every other object of their worship. The Ghiznian empire continued 207 years. Mahomed began his reign in 977, and it became extinct in 1184.

THE city of Attock stands opposite to the junction of the Kameh with the Indus. In the district of Bijore, not remote from hence, stood the Aornos Petra, and inaccessible mountain, * 1.28 towering into a conical form, with a castle on its summit, which gave so much trouble to Alexander, and which he took merely

by an unexpected panic of the garrison. M. D'Anville sup|poses it to have been the modern Renas, situated in about Lat. 38° North. Our countryman, the gallant Captain John Jones, in 1773, mastered by open storm Dellamcotta, a fort equally strong, and seated in a manner equally singular amidst the Boutan mountains.

AMIDST the savage mountains of Sewad and Bijore, * 1.29 inhabits a tribe who assert, that they are descended from some of the fol|lowers of Alexander the Great, who were left behind when he passed through the country: possibly the garrison of Alexandria, and of the other garrisons he left behind, might also contribute to this mixt species of population. The tribe of Sultani as|sumes the honor of being the descendants of a daughter of that conqueror, who came from Cabul, and possessed this country; and to this day carry with them their pedigree * 1.30. They call their great ancestor Sultan Secunder Zûlkerman, which Mr. Rennel, p. 163, observes, should be printed Zul Kernine, or the two-horned. This is certainly a most remarkable allusion to the prophecy of Isaiah viii. 8, in which Alexander the Great is fore|told under the description of the Goat, with this difference only, that they double the number of the horn, with which he had destroyed the power of the Persians and the Medes † 1.31.

Taxila stood on, * 1.32 or near the spot, where the city Attock now stands. Here Alexander crossed the Indus on a bridge of boats, which his favorite Hephestion had some time before been sent to prepare. In 1398 the famous Timur Beg, or Tamerlane, passed this river on one of the same kind. In our days Kouli

Khan (who may complete the sanguinary triumvirate) crossed the Indus at Attock in the same manner. This, by reason of the great rapidity of the stream in all other parts, was fixed on as the most convenient place, which long after induced the em|peror Akbar to build the castle of Attock for its defence against similar invasions.

OPPOSITE to Attock stood a very antient city, the Nilaube of Ptolemy. This place is mentioned by two of the oriental his|torians, quoted by Major Rennel, p. 95, under the name of Ni|lab, by which the river Indus itself was generally known by the old writers * 1.33.

Alexander, after succeding in his passage, * 1.34 got clear of the mountains, and arrived in the rich plains of Panjab, or the Five Rivers, each immortalized by being a great scene of action of the Macedonian hero. The Hydaspes, the modern Behut, or Chelum; the Acesines or Jenaub, or Cheenaub, and the Hydraotes, or mo|dern Rauvee; all which, after a long course, unite in one chan|nel, which retains the name of Cheenaub, and after the junction, passes through the country of the Oxydracae, beneath the north side of Moultan, and at the distance of about twenty miles from that city, falls into the Indus about two hundred miles below Attock, in magnitude equal to the Indus itself.

ON the banks of the Hydraotes stood the city of the Malli, * 1.35 who with the Oxydracae, after a most gallant resistance, made submission to Alexander. In the same neighborhood stood (the site now unknown) Sangala, inhabited by the Cathaei of Arrian, ii. 357, 364, Exped. Alex. and the Catheri of Diodorus Siculus † 1.36.

They are supposed to have been the same with the valiant cast the Khatre, to this day renowned for their desperate valour. Alex|ander besieged them in their city: their defence was brave and obstinate: but they fell before the fortune of the Macedonian hero, who destroyed the nation, and levelled their city with the ground. A nameless city, as Mr. Rennel styles it, was to be found higher up the river, on the opposite side. This deserved to have been immortalized, as having been the place where that hero endangered his life by one of the rash actions he was very subject to fall into. * 1.37 He leaped into the city, was beset by enemies, and received a desperate wound in his side by an arrow, which had transfixed his breastplate. He fainted, but recovered the moment he felt an Indian going to strip him, and drawing a dagger pierced his assailant to the heart. I leave the reader to consult Arrian, Exped. Alex. i. 396, about the event; and Mr. Rennel, p. 128, as to reasons for fixing the site of the momentous affair in the place he does, about ten miles above the conflux of the two rivers.

GOLD is found in some of the rivers of Panjab. * 1.38 In respect to gold, we are informed by Herodotus, THALIA, c. 95, that the Indians paid their tribute to Darius in that pretious metal; and tells us, that it is procured out of the rivers, and also dug out of the earth, and smelted by them into ingots before they make with it their donative. One of the epithets the Poets bestow on the Hydaspes is Aurifer, possibly as being peculiarly rich in gold. Herodotus, Thalia, c. 102, relates, and seems to credit, the strange story of its particles being thrown up with the sand of the vast desert, probably that of Registan, by ants as big as foxes, and that the Indians went with three camels to collect the grains which

they found in the hillocks. As soon as they had filled their bags, they returned with all possible expedition to avoid the fury of the ants, which pursued them with incredible swiftness. It is reasonable to suppose, that the historian had heard of the mon|strous nests of the Termites, or white Ants, which his informants thought proper to stock with most monstrous inhabitants.

ON the banks of the Hydaspes was fought the decisive battle between Alexander and the Indian monarch Porus, * 1.39 both equal in valour; but the former, by his great superiority in the art of war, obtained a complete victory with a handful of men. Porus employed not fewer than two hundred elephants, which, terrific as they might have been to the Macedonian horses, were, with their garrisoned towers, totally destroyed by the victorious army.

I CANNOT resist the introduction into this place of the fol|lowing curious anecdotes of the two famous Monarchs, * 1.40, as com|municated to me by Major Ouseley, the ingenious author of the Persian miscellanies. He informs me, that two Persian writers mention the invasion of Hindoostan by Alexander the great. Fer|dusi in his Shah Nameh, or Chronicle of Kings, written about the latter end of the 10th century and beginning of the 11th.; and Nezami, another celebrated poet, who flourished in the 12th. The first enumerates the various troops of Persia, Greece, and India, and the camel loads of presents which Alexander re|ceived from Keid, the Indian Prince. Nezami, in his Skander Nameh, or History of Alexander, says, that forty elephants were loaden with the various productions of the country, among which several carried Indian steel. Porus is mentioned under the name of Four. The poet adds, he brought two thousand elephants into the field; which, by a contrivance of Aristotle (Alexander's Secretary) were completely routed, and Four him|self

killed by Alexander, who found in his castle of Canooge immense treasures!

ON the banks of this river, * 1.41 opposite to each other, he built, on the bloody scene, two cities, Nicoea and Bucephala. Nicoea so named from the victory, the last in honor of his celebrated horse, which died of old age at the time of this action. Alex|ander gratefully paid it the highest funeral honors, erected a magnificent sepulchre, and called the city after its name.

I SHALL not trace the sieges, battles, and slaughters of this ambitious character; of his marches and his passages over the rivers that form this part of the Panjab, but leave my readers to consult his original historians, Arrian and Quintus Curtius. It is very certain the hero did not, amidst his deeds of arms, neglect the study of natural history. It is well known that he caused every species, objects of that science, to be collected for the use of his Tutor Aristotle. Q. Curtius relates some few re|marks on the zoology of the neighborhood. He met here with the Rhinoceros, * 1.42 with the great Serpent Boa constrictor, Gm. Lin. iii. 1083, with parrots, or birds which could speak, and with great flocks of wild peacocks. Aelian, in his Hist. An. lib. v. c. 21. relates, that the conqueror was so struck with their beauty, that he forbad his soldiers from killing them under the heaviest penalties.

Psittacus is a name derived from Sillace, the Indian word for a parrot. Linnaus, Gm. Linn. i. 321, gives to one species, long known, the trivial of the Maccdonian hero, Psittacus Alexandri, as if in honor of the species discovered by his admiral Nearchus.

THE same great officer mentions also the vast spotted serpents, * 1.43 which he says were about sixteen cubits long. Arrian, i. 538, Rev. Indic. His veracity has been called in question; but since

the Aristotelian cubit is little more than an English foot and a half, we may give full credit to his having seen a serpent of the length he gives, or one of twenty-four feet. The antients are often abused for their credulity: but let me remark, that incredulity is more frequently the offspring of ignorance than the former! At this time instances may be adduced of species from twenty to thirty-six feet in length, in Hindoostan, Ceylon, Java, and se|veral other islands. Bontius, p. 76. a most respectable writer, bears witness to the existence of some of thirty-six feet being found in Java.

AMONG the trees the Ficus Indica, * 1.44 the Varinga Latifolia of Rumphius, could not fail engaging his attention, which formed a grove of itself, by the rooting of its pendulous branches.

THE mountains bordering on the Hydaspes were part of the Cachemerian chain, clothed with forests of trees of vast height and size. He committed to the care of certain officers the fall|ing the timber, and floating it down the river to the place he had appointed for the rendezvous of the vessels, which he had used in his expeditions up the other rivers. At this place, which was between the forks of the Indus and Acesines, he founded another Alexandria, * 1.45 and there formed his docks and ship yard. He built several new ships, rebuilt and repaired others, and with a fleet which consisted of eighty Triremes, or ships with three banks of oars, and with lesser vessels, probably collected from the several rivers of the country, in all amounting to two thousand of different kinds, he fell down the Hydaspes. On his arrival at the junction of that river with the Acesines (which preserves its name till it is lost in the greater river) his navy underwent the utmost danger by the violent collision of the two waters. Several

of his ships were dashed to pieces, and himself, and his admiral Nearchus, with difficulty escaped. The sides and channel are filled with rocks, and Alexander, through ignorance of the climate of India, undertook his expedition in the rainy season, which, besides the swelling of the rivers (which impeded his march) made dreadful havoke among his troops by the diseases of the country.

THE other two rivers, which complete the Panjab, are the Beyah, once the Beypasha, and the Hyphasis of Alexander. The fifth and last is the Setlege or Suttuluz, the Zaradruz of Ptolemy, and Hesudrus of Pliny. These rise in the mountains that divide Thibet from India, and unite near Firosepour. Soon after which they divide, and insulate a pretty considerable tract into several islands; then re-unite, and, turning southerly, fall into the Indus fifty-three miles below the mouth of the Chenaub, according to Mr. Rennel's great map. Between the insulated part and the Hydraotes, was the seat of the Malli and the Catheri, objects of the destructive ambition of Alexander, who, in his expedition against those people, seemed more intent on slaughter than useful conquest. It was on the banks of the Hyphasis, says Quintius Curtius, that the hero joined his forces with those of Hephestion, after each had performed some bloody exploit. Here he concluded his expedition; and after the display of his vanity, by erecting twelve altars near the junction of the Hyphasis and Hesudrus, commenced his voyage down the Indus. The altars were equal in height to the loftiest towers of war. On these he performed sacrisices after the manner of his country. He then entertained the Indians with athletic and equestrian games, and concluded with investing the vanquished Porus

with the sovereignty of the whole country, as far as the Hyphasis.

DURING his stay in these parts, he founded another Alexan|dria, between the forks of the Indus and Acesines. The modern name of the place seems, by Mr. Rennel's map, to be Veh.

IT does not appear that ever he saw the Hesudrus, which, according to Pliny, was a discovery of Seleucus Nicator, one of his ablest officers, and his successor in part of his dominions, and particularly of those between the Euphrates and the Indus: He seems to have succeeded also to the ambition of his master, for he meditated the conquest of India, or at lest of re-conquering those provinces beyond the Indus subdued by Alexander, but which, soon after his retreat, were recovered by Sandracotta, * 1.46 an Indian of mean birth, but who, by his abilities, had rendered himself master of all India. Seleucus found this new monarch so very powerful, that he did not venture to attack him. He entered into a treaty with him, and agreed to retire, on con|dition Sandracotta would supply him with five hundred ele|phants; and thus covered his disgrace with a specious pretence.

Alexander began his voyage down the Indus about the end of the month of October, and was nine months in the com|pletion; not from the difficulty of navigation, for it might have been performed in a very short time, but from his ambitious rage of conquest and slaughter on each side of the river. His army marched, divided in two parts, on the eastern and western banks, ready to execute his orders, attended by his vast fleet.

ONE motive to this voyage was a suspicion Alexander had entertained, that he had found out the head of the Nile, and

that this was no other than the celebrated river of Egypt, be|cause he saw in it crocodiles and beans, the Nymphoea Nelumbo of Linnaeus, similar to those of that kingdom. Arrian adds, that Alexander had even written to his mother an account of his discovery.

IN our way down the stream, we find among the Sogdi, another Alexandria, founded on the site of the royal residence of their monarch, the modern Bekhor or Bakhor, in Lat. 27° 12″.

WE afterwards come down to Sindomana, * 1.47 the capital of the Sindomanni; possibly it took the name from the tract being pos|sessed of a considerable manufactory of Sindones, or fine cloths; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 being the name applied to certain kinds, the produce of the Indian looms. I must not call them linens, for I understand that India produces no sort of Linum or flax. It appears by Arrian, * 1.48 to have been in the dominions of a prince called Musi|canus, and that it opened its gates to Alexander on his passage down the Indus. Musicanus had deserted that hero, who caused him to be crucified, and all the Brachmins he could find to be put to death, as our Edward I. did the Welsh bards for the same reason, supposing the enthusiastic songs of both to have in|spired their countrymen to the defence of their country against the ambitious invaders.

THE next antient place of note is the Prasiane insula of Pliny, * 1.49 formed by the dividing of the Indus. About twelve miles below, stood Mansura, a city mentioned by the Nubian Geogra|pher, p. 57. That town was the ancient Minnagara of Arrian, ii. 163. Mar. Eryth. Its port was the Barbaricum emporium of the same, * 1.50 near the most western mouth of the Indus. Here were brought, in ships from different places, quantities of plain vest|ments,

and a few colored, also Polymitae or embroideries, Chryso|lites, Coral, Styrax, a resin, the produce of the Clutia eluteria, Burm. Ind. 217, incense, glass vessels, sculptured silver, money, and a small quantity of wine; all these were sent up the river to the royal residence.

THE exports were Costus, the root of the Costus Arabicus, * 1.51 Merian. Surin. tab. 36, till of late in our dispensaries. Bdellium, Bauhin, Pinax, 503, a concrete resinous juice, brought from Arabia and India, once in our medical list. Lycium, appertaining to some shrub of that genus. Nardus, hereafter to be men|tioned. Callaina Gemma, related (Plin. lib. xxxvii. 10.) to the sapphire of his days. Sapphirs; furs from the Seres or northern China, a proof of intercourse. Othonium, a certain cloth or stuff, of which vast quantities were sent in particular to the great commercial port of Barygaza. Silk, in the hank, or thread ready for the loom; Indicum nigrum, that is the Indian indigo, Rumph. Amboin. v. p. 220. tab. 80.

LET me here mention, * 1.52 that all the lower and middle parts of the western boundary of the Indus, went by the name of Indo Scythia. The Scythians, chiefly the Getae, had expelled the Greeks, who continued long after the retreat of Alexander, and re-peopled it with colonies of their own nation. The Getae were the most brave and most just of all the Scythians, and continued to preserve this character in their new possessions.

A FEW miles lower begins the Delta of the Indus, * 1.53 named after the Egyptian, or that of the Nile, and was called by the Indians, Pattala, which in their language signifies the same thing. There is a greater and a lesser Delta. It is near the

sea intersected by numbers of unnavigable channels and creeks. The isles formed by these, were the Insulae solis of Mela, lib. ii. c. 11, contra Indi ostia, "fatal," says he,

to all that enter them, by reason of the violent heat of the air.

There is not, at present, in all India, a place more fatal to Europeans. Pattala was the first Indian emporium frequented by the Romans; but the passage from the Red sea was greatly infested with pirates, for which reason the ships always took on board a certain number of archers for their defence * 1.54.

THE tide comes up with a vast bore or head, * 1.55 and is very dan|gerous, at certain times, to vessels which are in its way. The fleet of Alexander, when he had arrived near the mouth of the river, was surprized with one of these bores, and lost great numbers of ships. Those which lay on the sand banks were swept away by the fury of the tide; those which were in the channel, on the mud, received no injury, but were set afloat † 1.56.

THE mention of this, occasions me to return to the conclusion of the expedition of the Macedonian hero. When he reached Pattala, he found the city deserted: the fame of his barbarity had induced the prince, who had before submitted, to retire with all his subjects. Alexander, finding the necessity of re|peopling the place, sent out light troops, who made some of the late inhabitants prisoners. Those he treated with the utmost kindness, dismissed them, and promised them protection, if they could induce their fellow-citizens to return. He suc|ceeded in his design; he formed a haven, and made docks, in

order to refit his fleet; which, being accomplished, he sailed down into the ocean. The dangers which might occur in an unknown sea, and the pressing instances made by his friends, induced him to return. He landed his forces, and took the rout towards Gedrosia, and at length arrived at the city of Baby|len, with the remains of his faithful army, reduced by the toil|some march, by famine, pestilence, and every calamity which his phrenetic ambition had involved it in.

HE had committed the care of his fleet to Nearchus, a man of first rate abilities, who engaged to conduct it through the ocean to the Persian Gulph and the Euphrates. He performed his engagement, after many difficulties. When he had arrived at Harmozia, the modern Ormus, he heard that his master was not remote. He landed, with a few of his companions, and in five days reached the army, but so squalid and miserable in their aspect, that Alexander, shocked at their appearance, took Near|chus aside, and asked, Whether he had not lost his fleet? On being assured of its safety, he gave way to the most unbound|ed joy, and crowned both him and Leonnatus with golden crowns; Nearchus for having preserved the fleet, Leonnatus for a victory obtained over the Oritae; and the whole army saluted the former with flowers and garlands scattered over their celebrated admiral * 1.57.

I MUST not quit the historical part of the Indus, * 1.58 without mention of the expedition undertaken by the heroine Semiramis, many ages before that of Alexander. Certainly historians must

greatly have exaggerated the preparations; they make her army consist of three millions of foot, and two hundred thou|sand horse, and a hundred thousand chariots, and multitudes of ships, ready framed, and carried in pieces by land, to be put together in order to cross the Indus. I suspect that these vessels were no more than so many coracles, or vitilia navigia, made of bamboos, like those used by Ayder Alli in our days, on the waters of Malabar. In order to supply her wants of real elephants, she caused a multitude of fictitious ones to be made, out of the skins of three hundred thousand black oxen, which were placed on camels backs, guided by a man within this strange machine. * 1.59 Stabrobates, king of India, received advice of her preparations, and, by a prudent embassy, endeavoured to divert her from her intentions. The Queen rejected his remonstrances, crossed the river, and defeated the fleet of the Indian monarch; that perhaps was not difficult, notwithstanding it consisted of four thousand boats; but as they were formed only of the bamboo cane, they never could resist the shock of timber ships. The victory proved fatal to her; she succeeded in crossing the river, but was deceived by the pretended flight of Stabrobates; she pursued, and overtook him; the battle was fought: The Indian monarch discovered the fictitious elephants, and Semira|mis was totally defeated. She re-passed the river with precipi|tation; she lost great part of her troops, and returned covered with shame into her own country. So many fabulous circum|stances attend this expedition, that we may well doubt the veracity of the historian, and possibly of the very existence of the heroine. What credit, as the learned Bryant justly observes,

can be given to the historians of a person, the time of whose life cannot be settled within 1,535 years?

LONG after this dubious expedition, Darius Hystaspes, * 1.60 induced through the curiosity of ascertaining the place where the Indus met the ocean, built, says Herodotus, in his Melpomene, sect. xliv. a large fleet at Caspatyrus, in the Pactyan territories, on the borders of Scythia, high up the river, and gave the command of it to Scylax, a Grecian of Caryandra, a most able sailor. He was directed to be attentive to discoveries on both sides; and when he reached the mouth, to sail westward, and that way to return home. He executed his commission, passed the Streights of Babel Mandel, and in thirty months from the time he sailed from Caspatyrus, landed safely in Egypt, at the place from whence it is said that Necho sent his Phoenicians to circumnavi|gate Africa, by its now well known promontory the Cape of Good Hope. This expedition took place in the twelfth year of Darius, and in the year 509 before the Christian aera.

REVIEW OF THE INDUS.

I SHALL now give a short topographical review of the ce|lebrated river, from the ocean to its most remote part, and also of the rivers which swell its stream. That which receives this mighty river is the Mare Erythroeum, or modern Arabian sea. I have given some account of the Delta; let me add that it is, * 1.61 as it was in the time of the antients, unhealthy, and hot to the extreme: all its fertility cannot compensate those inconvenien|cies. There is a greater and lesser Delta; the greater begins a

few leagues from Hydrabad: the branch called Nala Sunkra, forms the eastern side; the lesser is included in the former, and its northern point is at Aurungabander. The Delta is of great extent, each side being a hundred and fifteen miles. From the sea as high as Moultan, is a low and level country, enriched with the water annually overflowing like the river Nile. The Indus, from the beginning of the Delta, almost as high as Moultan, runs through a flat tract, bounded by a parallel range of moun|tains, distant from the banks of the river from thirty to forty miles. That on the western side is rocky, that on the eastern composed of sand. The last, when it approaches the Delta, conforms to its shape on the eastern side, and diverges till it reaches the sea.

BEYOND the eastern chain is a vast sandy desert, * 1.62 extending the whole way above a hundred miles in breadth, and in length reaches from near Lat. 23° N. almost as high as the fertile Pan|jab, or Lat. 29° 30′. This is the part of which Herodotus (Thalia, c. cii.) speaks, when he says, that the eastern part of India is rendered desert by sands. * 1.63 Through it runs the river Caggar, but the lower part with uncertain course, lost in the sands of the desert, and render the place of its discharge at this time very uncertain. It slows from the north-east, and rises in the Damaun chain, which separates it from the distant Jumna, and not far from the origin of that great river. On its banks, in Lat. 25° 40′, stands Ammercot, a strong fort, the birth place of the great Emperor Akbar, when his father Humaion took refuge there on his expulsion from his throne by the usurper Shir Khan, the famous A••••ghan. Humaion lost most of his faithful

followers in the march over this dreadful desert; beneath a ver|tical sun, on burning sands, and want of water, tortured with violent thirst, they were seized with frenzies, burst out into piercing screams and lamentations, they rolled themselves in agonies on the parched soil, their tongues hung out of their mouths, and they expired in most exquisite tortures * 1.64.

THE wind Samiel, or the Angel of Death, * 1.65 as it is called by the Arabs, or the Smum, passes over these deserts; and with its suffocating vapour † 1.66 proves instantly fatal to every being it meets. The only means of escape is to fall prone on the sands the moment it is perceived, for, fortunately, a discolored sky is a sign of its approach. It is very frequent about Bagdad, and all the deserts of Arabia; extends to the Regislan, and even to the neighborhood of Surat ‡ 1.67.

THE most remarkable place we are to take notice of, * 1.68 in first remounting the river, is Braminabad, once the capital of the Circar of Tattah, at a small distance from Tatta. Its name was taken from its having been sanctified by the chief residence of the Brahmins, or perhaps where there might have been pecu|liar worship paid to the God Brama. It had been the antient capital of the country, and its fort was of vast extent, being said to have had fourteen hundred bastions. At the time of composing the Ayeen Akberry, were considerable vestiges of this fortification. It is mentioned in Vol. ii. p. 142.

AT Tatta we once had a factory; * 1.69 perhaps may have to this day, notwithstanding the excessive unwholesomeness of the place.

There are seasons in which it does not rain during three years * 1.70. The heats are so violent, owing to the vicinity of the sandy deserts, that the houses are contrived to be ventilated occa|sionally, by means of apertures in the tops like chimnies; and when the hottest winds prevale, the windows are closely shut, and the hotter current excluded, and the cooler part, being more elevated, descends through the funnels to the gasping inmates † 1.71. The object of the settlement was the sale of our broad cloths, which were sent up the Indus to the northern parts of India. The broad cloths and all other goods were landed at Laribunder, a town on the Ritchel, a branch of the Indus, about five miles from the sea, and sent to Tatta on the backs of camels. Ha|milton, i. p. 122, says, that in his days it was almost depopulated by the plague, which carried off eighty thousand of the in|habitants. The vast extent of business carried on in the Delta was surprising, for Abulfazel (see Ayeen Akberry, ii. 143.) assures us, that the inhabitants of the Circar Tattah had not less than forty thousand boats of different constructions. In 1555 this city was attacked by Francisco Bareto Rolen, viceroy of India. Provoked by the treachery of the king of Sind, he shewed re|lentless cruelty; he put above eight thousand people to the sword, nor did he spare the very animals. He then burnt the place, and with it immense riches; notwithstanding this, the plunder was very great, all which was swallowed up by a fu|rious tempest ‡ 1.72.

BEYOND the Delta, on the western bank, is Chockbar, * 1.73 placed not remote from the division of the river. Above that, on the Indus itself, is the fort of Hydrabad, and the city of Nusserpoor. Hallegande, Sanschwan, Nurjec, Durbet, Hatteri, and Sukor, all stand on the western side, places without any attendant story; Hydrabad excepted, which is a usual residence of the princes of Sindi, who, with the whole province, is tributary to the king of Candahar. We may also except the Nomurdis, a tribe which, like their ancestors, the Scythian Nomades or shepherds, are per|petually changing their place, for sake of pasturage, and from whom this tract took its name * 1.74.

I MENTION here the imposthume of the liver, * 1.75 not as a local disease, but on account of a peculiar superstition preserved in this country, the Sircar of Tatta, respecting the disorder. The real cause, says Bontius, p. 30. Engl. edit. arises from intem|perance; an imposthume is often formed in that part, and on opening it after death it is often found eaten, or honey-combed. The side is not unfrequently laid open to get at the part infected: The impostume is cut, and the liver cleansed. I have heard, from the credulous, strange stories on this head. The Indians of the Sircar firmly believe, that the disease is inflicted by a set of sorcerers, called Jiggerkhars, or liver eaters. * 1.76

One of this class,

says the Ayeen Akberry, ii. p. 144,

can steal away the liver of another by looks and incantations. Other accounts say, that by looking at a person he deprives him of his senses, and then steals from him something resembling

the seed of a pomegranate, and which he hides in the calf of his leg.

THE Jiggerkhar throws on the fire the grain before described, which thereupon spreads to the size of a dish, and he distributes it amongst his fellows to be eaten, which ceremony concludes the life of the fascinated person. A Jig|gerkhar is able to communicate his art to another, and which he does by learning him the incantations, and by making him eat a bit of the liver cake. If any one cut open the calf of the magician's leg, extract the grain, and give it to the afflicted person to eat, he immediately recovers. These Jiggerkhars are mostly women. It is said, moreover, that they can bring intelligence from a great distance in a short space of time, and if they are thrown into a river with a stone tied to them, they nevertheless will not sink. In order to deprive any one of this wicked power, they brand his temples, and every joint in his body; cram his eyes with salt, suspend him for forty days in a subterraneous cavern, and repeat over him certain incantations. In this state he is called Detcherch. Although, after having undergone this discipline, he is not able to destroy the liver of any one, yet he retains the power of being able to discover another Jiggerkhar, and is used for detecting those disturbers of mankind. They can also cure many diseases by administering a potion, or by repeating an incantation.

Many other marvellous stories are told of these people.

THE Delta has not on it a tree, but in the dry parts is covered with brush wood. In the time of Abul Fazel, the inha|bitants

hunted here the wild ass, or Koulan, Hist. Quad. i. p. 8. The same author assures us, that the camels were so numerous, * 1.77 that several of the inhabitants were possessed of herds of ten thousand each, a number exceeding the stock of the patriarch JOB, on the return of his prosperity. Multitudes of camels still are bred on this tract; the rest consists of noisome swamps, or muddy lakes. The Ritchel branch is the usual way to Tatta; as high as the lake reaches it is a mile broad, at Tatta only half a mile. The tide does not run higher than that city, or about sixty-five miles from the sea.

Bakhor is an antient city and fortress; in its neighborhood, * 1.78 on the banks, were observed, by a modern traveller, who went up the river as far as that city, several of the moveable towns, built of wood, such as are mentioned by Nearchus, and in the Ayeen Akberry. They are inhabited by fishermen or graziers, who constantly change their situation like persons encamped. There were other towns, says Arrian, Rer. Indic. i. p. 528, on the higher grounds, and consisted of houses built with bricks and mortar. Beyond Bakhor, on the eastern bank of the Indus, are Dary and Ken, and Bibigundy-check, and Sitpour, each known to us only by name.

IN Lat. 29° 8′, on the eastern side of the Indus, * 1.79 we meet with the conflux of the Setlege, or Hesudrus, with that river. The town of Veh is at the forks. It is remarkable, that it is the only river we meet with from the discharge of the Indus into the sea to this place, a tract of above five hundred and twenty miles. It is the southern boundary of the Panjah, * 1.80 or the region of five rivers, so much celebrated for the bloody actions

within its limits, by the destroyers of mankind, Alexander the great, Timur Bek, or Tamerlane, and Kouli Khan. It is a most fertile tract, often plain, but towards the north and north-east intersected by a chain of hills. The Setlege runs in one chan|nel for some way, then divides, and embracing a considerable island, re-unites for a short space, and at Ferosapour separates again. The southern branch retains its name; the northern assumes that of the Beyah, or Hyphasis. These diverge con|siderably from each other, then converge, so as almost to meet at their fountains, at the foot of mount Imaus, or Himmaleh. This tract is called Jallindar, and has in it Sultanpour, and a few other towns.

NEAR the fountain of the Beyah stands the famous temple of NAGERKOTE, * 1.81 greatly frequented by the Hindoo pilgrims, out of veneration to the goddess Noshabo. This place out-miracles all miracles: cut out your tongue, and in a few days, sometimes a few hours, it will, with due faith in the saint, be again renewed * 1.82! This temple was immensely rich, being paved with gold. It was guarded by the fort Kote Kangrah. It was taken by Ferose III. in 1360 † 1.83: To such a patron of litera|ture, he found a treasure in a library of books of the Brahmins. He caused one, which consisted of philosophy, to be translated in the Persian language, and called it the Arguments of Ferose. Goropim, as quoted by Purchas, vi. p. 35, says, that Nagerkote mountain is the highest in the world.

NOT far from Nagerkote, * 1.84 is Jellamooky, a temple built over the subterraneous fire. Possibly the country may be inhabited

by the Ghebres, or worshippers of fire, or Persees, descendants of those who had escaped the horrid massacre of Timur Bek.

ABOUT fifty-five miles above the discharge of the Setlege, * 1.85 the Chunaub, or Acesines, joins itself with the Indus, and continues a single channel about the same space, equal in size to that river. On the southern banks, nearly midway, stands Moultan, * 1.86 capital of a province of that name. The country is very productive in cotton; and also sugar, opium, brimstone, galls, and camels, which used to be transported into Persia. The galls indicate oaks, which I did not before know grew so far to the south. The finest bows are made in this country; and it produces the most beautiful, and most active female dancers in all India, who were in the highest esteem, particularly in the kingdom of Persia.

THE air is excessively hot, and very little rain falls in these parts. This is a circumstance which attends remarkably the lower part of the Indus, especially the Delta, where it has been known to have wanted rain for the space of three years.

THE city of Moultan stands in Lat. 30° 34′, is small, and strongly fortified. It has a celebrated pagoda, a mosque, with a beautiful minaret, and the place of interment of many pious Shiekhs. Abulfazel, ii. 137, says, that it is one of the most antient cities in India. It was not the capital of the Malli, which Mr. Rennel supposes to have been near Toulumba; but they inhabited the circumjacent country.

Moultan was taken by one of the generals of Tamerlane. Since the ravages made in this province, after the invasion of India by Kouli Khan, a conqueror equally barbarous, the trade

of the place has received a considerable check. Thevenot adds another reason, that in his time, about the year 1665, the river was choaked up, which obstructed greatly all commerce from Lahore, and other places to the north-east.

THIS city is the great residence of the Banians, * 1.87 or merchants and brokers of India. They are of this country, and have here their chieftain. They are of the great commercial cast of the Bhyse, created, say the Hindoos, by their Brimhas, or Supreme Being, from his thighs and belly; but I shall say more of the CASTS hereafter. These form settlements in all the commercial towns in India. They also send colonies, for a certain number of years, to the trading towns of Arabia and Persia, and we find them even as far as Astrakan. In the beginning of the present century, about a hundred and fifty or two hundred of this community went from Moultan to that city, and carry on a great trade in pretious stones; they live in a large stone Cara|vansery. As they die away, or incline to return home, a supply is sent from India by their chief, selected from among their young unmarried relations. As they have no females from their own country, they keep, during their residence at Astra|kan, Tartarian women, but the contract is only during that time. They are a sine race of men, and are highly esteemed for the integrity of their dealings * 1.88 These support the most im|portant trade of Astrakan, by carrying it through Astrabad to the inland parts of the Mogul empire. This points out a more southern inland road than was known in the middle ages, when the merchants went by the way of Bochara and Samarcand, to the northern cities of India, Candahar and Cabul.

AT the distance of about sixty miles from its mouth, the Chenauh divides into two branches, which flow from the north|west from their origin, at the foot of the Himmaleh chain. The most southern is the Rauvee, the old Hydraotes. * 1.89 About twenty|four miles from its mouth, on the southern side, stand the fort and town of Toulamba. They lay in the route of Tamerlane, * 1.90 and were plundered, and the inhabitants enslaved by that monster of cruelty, justly called in India

the destroying Prince.

He excelled even his brother hero Alexander in the slaughter of mankind. Tamerlane, in his march into India, had collected above a hundred thousand prisoners: these hap|pened to shew some symptoms of joy, at a repulse the tyrant had received before the citadel of Delhi; he instantly ordered all above fifteen years of age to be massacred in cold blood. The sum was a hundred thousand.

THE city of Lahore is next, * 1.91 about a hundred and fifty miles distant from Moultan. It is the capital of the Seiks, a people which started up in the fifteenth century, under a Hindoo of the name of Nanuck, born in 1470. They are a set of religionists, tolerant in matters of faith like the Hindoos, but, unlike them, * 1.92 admit proselytes. They require a conformity in certain signs and ceremonies, but in other respects are pure monotheists; they worship God alone, without image or intermediation. They may be called the reformers of India. They retain also a calvi|nistical principle, and take an oath ever to oppose a monarchical government. They eat any kind of meat excepting beef, for like the Hindoos they hold the ox in the utmost veneration. Their general food is pork, probably because it is forbidden by

the Mahometans, whom they hold in abhorrence. Their army con|sists wholly of horse; they can raise a hundred thousand cavalry, and make war in the most savage mode. They kept long con|cealed or unnoticed, at length became formidable by their courage and enterprize, and extended their conquests over Lahore, Moultan, and the western parts of Delhi.

Lahore is a city of great antiquity, and was the residence of the first Mahometan conquerors in India, before they were esta|blished in the central parts. In 1043, in the reign of Mahmood, it was closely besieged by the confederated Hindoos, who were compelled to retire on a vigorous sally made by the garrison. It is also a Soubaliship of considerable extent. Humaioon, father of Akbar, kept his court here part of his days. Its length, suburbs included, was at that period three leagues. It had a magnificent palace, and several other fine buildings built of brick. Possibly its trade is declined since the obstruction of the bed of the river, by the banks of sand or gravel. Here begins the famous avenue which extended five hundred miles, even to Agra. It consists, according to Thevenot, Part iii. p. 61, of what he calls Achy trees. It was planted in 1619, by Jehangìr: He also erected an obelisk at the end of every cose, and at the end of every third cose was sunk a well for the refreshment of travellers.

THE pestilence first appeared in the Panjab in 1616, * 1.93 spread to Lahore, and then broke out in the Duab and Dehli. It never before was known in Hindoostan, if the memoirs of Jehangìr are to be depended on; but Mr. Gibbon, iv. 328, assures us, that the dreadful plague which depopulated the earth in the time of

Justinian and his successors, extended even to the Indies. The people whom it raged among at this time, according to Proco|pius, Bell. Pers. lib. ii. cap. 23, were the Barbari, or inhabi|tants of the neighborhood of the Emporium Barbaricum, in the Delta of the Indus * 1.94. Doctor Mead, in his elegant treatise de Peste, p. 64, relates, that India was visited with a pestilence in 1346: whether it was the same with that which, from the earliest times, took its origin between the Serbonian bog, and the eastern channel of the Nile, or whether it might not have been the dysentery or bloody flux is uncertain. Bontius † 1.95 has dis|cussed the point, and given his opinion that it is the latter, which at times carries off numbers equal to the plague itself. Cer|tainly there have been many instances of some dreadful disease carrying its terrors through Hindoostan, but distinction must be made between the WIDE WASTING PESTILENCE described by Procopius, and the local disease, the consequence of famine; such, for example, as that which has raged in the northern Cir|cars within these very few years.

THE province of Lahore is celebrated for its fine breed of horses. * 1.96 The Mogul Emperors used to establish studs in different parts, and furnish them with their lamed stallions of the Persian and Arabian kind, for the farther improvement. It was the north of India which supplied them with the best cavalry. I wish the reader to consult Abulfazel, i. 167. 239, relative to the magnificent establishment of the domestic stables, and the oeco|nomy of the military cavalry in the time of his great master.

Abulfazel, ii. 223, speaking of the rivers of this country, says, * 1.97 that the natives, by washing the sands, obtain Gold, Silver,

Copper, Rowey, Tin, Brass, and Lead. Rowey is unknown to me; brass is factitious. I am doubtful as to some of these metals being found in India. Farther enquiry may ascer|tain the metallic productions of India in the course of this volume.

A VAST mountain of rock salt is found in this province, * 1.98 equal to that of Cardonna, and, like the salt of that mountain, is cut into dishes, plates, and stands for lamps. Ice is an article of commerce from the northern mountains, and sold at Lahore throughout the year.

THE famous canal of Shah Nehr begins at Ragipour, and is continued almost parallel to the Rauvee, and ends at Lahore, a distance of above eighty miles. The intent of this canal seems to have been to supply Lahore with water in the dry season, when all the Indian rivers are from twenty to thirty feet below the level of their banks. Three other canals, for the purpose of watering the country on the south and east of Lahore, were drawn from the same place. These, formed in a distant age, are strong proofs of attention to rural oeconomy, and the benefit of the subject.

THE Chunaub, * 1.99 for a few miles, is continued from its forks in a single channel. Near Zusserabad, the Jhylum, or Behut, falls into it with vast rapidity and violence. This was the place where Alexander so nearly lost his fleet in the passage through this turbulent conflux. The Chunaub flows in a strait channel from the foot of the Himmaleb or Imaus, and there originates from two streams which quickly re-unite. Gujerat, and Jum|moo and Mundal, are town and forts on its banks. From the origin of the Chunaub to that of the Rauvee, is a plain tract,

bounded to the east by mount Imaus, bounded on the west and south by the chain of the Panjah hills. There is another plain similar, from the upper part of the Setlege as far as the Ganges, where it flows through the province of Sirinagur.

I NOW ascend, from its union with the Chunaub, the Behut, * 1.100 the most celebrated of the five rivers, the Fabulosus Hydaspes, which flows in two magnificent meanders, and issuing from a narrow gap between exalted mountains, from its origin in the romantic Cashmere; partly along a plain, partly at the foot of mountains cloathed with forests of trees of size magnificent, many of which are perishing continually through weight of years, and others succeeding them in the full verdure and vigor of youth. Would my pen could be inspired like that of M. Bernier, who in 1664 attended in quality of a physician, and philosophic friend, to a great Omrah of that time, a follower of Aurengezebe in his splendid progress to Cashmere for the recovery of his health, by a change of the burning clime of Hindoostan, for the salubrious air of the former. I leave to the reader the perusal of Bernier, the first traveller, I may say, of his, or any other age. I shall in a very abridged form take up the account from the departure of the court from Agra. His suite was an army. He was also attended by his sister, which gave splendor unspeakable to the train of ladies. He left Agra in the moment pronounced fortunate by the im|perial astrologers. To this day nothing is done without their auspices. He took the road to Lahore, hunting or hawking on each side as occasion offered. Among the nobler game, a lion presented itself. In crossing the rivers bridges of boats were used for the purpose. The heats on the march were dreadful,

caused by the lofty mountains of Cashmere, keeping the cool air of the north from refreshing the parched plains. Between the Chenaub and the Behut is the vast mountain Bember. * 1.101 It seems like a purgatory to be passed before the entrance into the PA|RADISE of Hindoostan can be accomplished. It is steep, black, and burned. The procession encamped in the channel of a large torrent, dried up, full of sand and stones burning hot. "After passing the Bember," says the elegant traveller,

we pass from a torrid to a temperate zone: for we had no sooner mounted this dreadful wall of the world, I mean, this high, steep, black and bald mountain of Bember, but that in descend|ing on the other side, we found an air that was pretty tolerable, fresh, gentle, and temperate. But that which surprised me more in these mountains, was to find myself in a trice trans|ported out of the Indies into Europe. For seeing the earth covered with all our plants and shrubbs, except Issop, Thyme, Marjoram, * 1.102 and Rosemary, I imagined I was in some of our mountains of Auvergne, in the midst of a forest of all our kinds of Trees, Pines, Oaks, Elms, Plane-trees. And I was the more astonished, because in all those burning fields of Indostan, whence I came, I had seen almost nothing of all that.

AMONG other things relating to plants this surprized me, that one and a half days journey from Bember I found a moun|tain that was covered with them on both sides, but with this difference, that on the side of the mountain that was southerly, towards the Indies, * 1.103 there was a mixture of Indian and Euro|pean plants, and on that which was exposed to the North, I observed none but European ones; as if the former had par|ticipated

of the air and temper of Europe and the Indies, and the other had been meerly European.

I NOW enter the kingdom of Cashmere, * 1.104 and immediately re|sume the words of the elegant traveller.

Thousands of cas|cades descend from the surrounding mountains of this en|chanting plain, and forming rivulets meandring through all parts render it so fair and fruitful, that one would take this whole kingdom for some great Evergreen garden, intermixed with villages and burroughs, discovering themselves between trees, and diversisied by Meadows, Fields of Rice, Corn, and divers other Legumes, of Hemp and Saffron; all interlaced with ditches full of water, with Channels, with small Lakes and Rivulets here and there. Up and down and every where are also seen some of our European plants, Flowers, and all sorts of our Trees, as Apples, Pears, Prunes, Apricots, Cherries, Nuts, Vines; the particular Gardens are full of Melons, Skirrets, Beets, Radishes, all sorts of our Pot-herbs, and of some we have not.

THIS HAPPY VALLEY, this PARADISE OF HINDOOSTAN, * 1.105 of the Indian poets, is of an oval form, about eighty miles long and forty broad, and was once supposed to have been entirely filled with water; which having burst its mound, left this vale in|riched to the most distant ages by the sertilizing mud of the rivers which fed its expanse. This delicious spot is surrounded by mountains of vast height and rude aspect, covered with snow, or enchased in glacieres, in which this enchanting jewel is firmly set. At the foot of the exterior chain is an interior circle of hills, fertile in grass, abundant in trees and various sorts of ve|getation, and full of all kinds of cattle, as Cows, Sheep, Goats,

Gazelles, and Musks. The approach to Cashmere is also very rugged and difficult. We have mentioned the mountains of Bember; besides those is one on which the pioneers of Aurenge|zebe were obliged to cut through a glaciere, or a great mass, as Bernier calls it, of icy snow * 1.106.

THE capital of this happy spot is sometimes called Cashmere, sometimes Sirinagur, and sometimes Nagaz † 1.107, is seated in Lat. 34° 12′ North, on the banks of the river, which runs with a current most remarkably smooth. At a little distance from it is a small but beautiful lake, with a communication with the river by a navigable canal. The town was, in Bernier's time, three quarters of a French league long, built on both sides, and some part extended to the lake. Villas, Mosques, and Pagodas, decorate several of the little hills that border the water. The houses are built of wood, four stories high, some higher; the lower is for the cattle, the next for the family, the third and fourth serve as warehouses. The roofs are planted with tulips, which in the spring produce a wonderful effect. Roses, and numberless other flowers ornament this happy clime. The inhabitants often visit the lake in their boats for the pleasure of hawking, the country abounding with cranes, and variety of game.

THE river, * 1.108 which rises at Wair Naig, near the southern part of the surrounding mountains, flows with a north-western course by the capital, and falls into lake Ouller, which is fifty-three miles in length, and lies in the northern part of the valley, not remote from the kingdom of great Thibet, then passes through the outlet at Barehmooleh, between two steep mountains, and

from thence, after a long course, to its junction with the Chunaub. This river is large and navigable, even within the limits of Cashmere. Bernier, p. 84. says, it carries boats as large as those on the Seine at Paris. Many small lakes are spread over the surface, and some of them contain floating islands. Among others, Bernier, p. 118. visited one, which he calls

A great lake amidst the mountains, which had ice in summer, and looked like a little icy sea, having heaps of ice made and unmade by the winds.

This reminds me of the coalition and separation of the ice in the Spitzbergen seas. This in question may be like the Ouller, for I see none of any size in the maps, excepting that expanse of water.

AMONG the miraculous waters of the natives, he reckons a periodical spring, or the ebbing and flowing well of Sandbrarc, which has near to it the temple of the idol of Brare. The reader may amuse himself with the account, from p. 105 to 110 of this favorite writer, and at p. 117 those of another, much of the same nature.

THE author of the Ayeen Akberry dwells with rapture on the beauties of Cashmere; whence we may conclude, that it was a favorite subject with his master Acbar, who had visited it three times before Abulfazel wrote. Other emperors of Hindoostan visited it also, and seemed to forget the cares of government during their residence in the HAPPY VALLEY. By the salubrity of the air, and the chearing beauties of the place, they collected new vigor to resume the cares of government. The remains of the palaces, pavilion, and gardens, exhibit proofs of their elegance and splendor. It appears, that the periodical rains, which almost deluge the rest of India, are shut out of Cashmere

by the height of the mountains, so that only light showers fall there; these, however, are in abundance sufficient to feed the thousands of cascades which are precipitated into the valley from every part of the stupendous and ro|mantic bulwark that encircles it. Amidst the various feli|cities of the Cashmerians, one dreadful evil they are constantly subject to, namely, earthquakes; but to guard against their terrible effects, all their houses are built of wood, of which there is no want.

THE Cashmerians are esteemed a most witty race, and much more intelligent and ingenious than the Hindoos, and as much addicted to the sciences and to poetry as the very Persians. They have a language of their own: but their books are writ|ten in the Shanscrit tongue, although the character be some|times Cashmerian * 1.109. They are also very industrious, and ex|cellent mechanics. The various articles of their workmanship are sent into all parts of India † 1.110. This race is famous for the fineness of their features, and their admirable complexions. They look like Europeans, and have nothing of the Tartarian flat-nosed face, and small eyes, like those of Caschguer and their neighbors of Thibet. It is certainly quite right, that this PARADISE, THE REGION OF ETERNAL SPRING, should be peopled with females angelic: they are uncommonly beautiful. The courtiers of the time of Bernier were most solicitous to obtain for their Zenanas the Cashmerian fair, in order that they might have children whiter than the natives of Hindoostan, in order that they might pass for the true Mogul-breed, congene|rous with their monarch.

THE religion of the Cashmerians is the same as that of the Hindoos; possibly the pardonable superstition of the inhabitants, warmed by their romantic situation, may have multiplied the places of worship of Mahadeo, of Beschan, and of Brama. Here is a sect of religionists, free from idolatry, which worship the Deity alone. They are remarkably benevolent, and abstain from the other sex. They must therefore be continued by disciples. As to the Mahometans, they are not numerous, and those split into sects * 1.111.

THE Cashmerians seem to have had an idea of the deluge, for, say they, in the early ages of the world, all Cashmere, except the mountains, was covered with water. One Kushup brought the Brahmins to inhabit the country as soon as the waters had subsided † 1.112. Neither were they ignorant of the history of Noah, for the Indians speak of him under the name of Sattiaviraden, who, with his wife, was by the god Vichenou, who sent to them an ark, preserved from destruction in a general deluge ‡ 1.113. The first monarch of the country was Owgnund, who was elected, says Abulfazul, 4444 years before his time * 1.114.

HERE are numbers of hermits in places nearly inaccessible. They are highly venerated, some being supposed to have power to excite the fury of the elements. Bernier, p. 104, found an an|tient anchoute, who had inhabited the summit of the lofty moun|tain Pire-penjale ever since the time of Jehangire, who was here in 1618. His religion was unknown. To him was attributed the power of working miracles. He caused at his pleasure great

thunders, and raised storms of hail, rain, snow, and wind. He looked savage, having a large white beard uncombed, which, like that of our Druid, "streamed like a meteor to the troubled air." The sage forbid the making the lest noise, on pain of raising furious storms and tempests.

Cashmere is famous for its manufacture of shawls, * 1.115 made of the wool of the broad-tailed sheep, who are found in the king|dom of Thibet; and their fleeces, in fineness, beauty, and length, says Mr. Bogle, in Ph. Trans. lxviii. 485, exceed all others in the world. The Cashmerians engross this article, and have factors in all parts of Thibet for buying up the wool, which is sent into Cashmere, and worked into shawls, superior in elegance to those woven even from the fleeces of their own country. This ma|nufacture is a considerable source of wealth. Bernier relates, that in his days, shawls made expressly for the great Omrahs, of the Thibetian wool, cost a hundred and fifty roupees, whereas those made of the wool of the country never cost more than fifty.

Akbar was a most particular encourager of the manufacture. He not only paid a great attention to those of this province, but introduced them into Lahore, where, in his days, there were a thousand manufactories, says Abulfazul, of this com|modity. The natural color of the wool of the Tools assel, the name of the animal, is grey, tinged with red, but some are quite white. Akbar first introduced the dying them. The wool of another animal used in the manufacture is white or black, out out of which were woven white, black, and grey shawls. Possibly two sorts of animals may produce the material; one

indisputably the sheep I mention, the other I have heard called a goat.

THE domestic animals of this country are horses, small, hardy, and sure-footed. Cows, black and ugly, but yield plenty of milk and excellent butter. Here is also a sheep, called Hundoo, which is used to carry burdens. No description is left to vindicate me for imagining it to be either the camel, (Llama, Hist. Quad. i. N^o 73.) or the Chilihucque (N^o 74.); the first of which is used for burdens in Peru, the last, formerly in Chili. Certain it is that India has a tall sheep, which, saddled, actually can carry a boy twelve years old. It is found about Surat. Whether it could bear the snows of the Cashmerian Alps, I leave for the subject of future inquiry.

Abulfazul, p. 155, vol. ii. mentions the elk as one of the wild animals of the country; and adds, that the hunting leo|pards are made use of in the chase of that enormous deer. The Chittah, or hunting leopard, must be brought from the scorched plains of Bengal. The elk may be a native of the woods at the base of the snowy mountains, for they are impatient of heat, and require forests, for they subsist both by browzing and by grazing.

Cashmere, says its historians, * 1.116 had its own princes four thou|sand years before its conquest by Akbar in 1585. Humaioon cast a longing eye on this rich gem, but by different accidents the acquisition was reserved for his son. Akbar would have sound dissiculty to reduce this paradise of the Indies, situated as it is within such a fortress of mountains, but its monarch, Yu|sof Khan, was basely betrayed by his Omrahs. Akbar used his conquest with moderation, and allowed a pension to the con|quered

Khan and his gallant son. From that time this happy valley enjoyed the most perfect tranquillity.

THAT 'devouring prince,' * 1.117 as Tamerlane was called by the Hindoos, encamped at a place called Gebban, on the frontiers of Cashmere. During his stay in that delicious country, he seems to have forgot his cruelty, and left without doing any injury to the innocent inhabitants * 1.118. This fair gem is at present pos|sessed by Timur Shah, successor to Ahmed Abdalla late king of Candahar.

Marco Polo, * 1.119 in his travels over the east, between the years 1271 and 1295, visited Cashmere, which he calls Chesimur. He agrees, in several respects, with the account given by Abul-fazul and Bernier. Mentions that the inhabitants have a language of their own; that they are idolaters; that they are very super|stitious: and describes their hermits, and the powers they had of raising tempests, and darkening the very air † 1.120.

I REJOIN the Indus at the mouth of the Chenaub. * 1.121 A little higher, on the west side, it receives the Lucca, an obscure river, which flows from the north-west, rising in the kingdom of Candahar. It is the only one which falls into the Indus in all the extent of the western side. Above that, on the same side, is the Cow, or Cophenes, which leads to Ghizni and to Bamia, at the foot of the Paropamysan Caucasus; beyond that we pass the mouth of the Kameh, or Guraeus, which flows from Cabul. The principal places in the vicinity of these rivers have already been noticed.

I NOW return to Attock, * 1.122 where the river assumes the name of that city, till it reaches the conflux of the Chenaub, below

Moultan. Attock signifies the forbidden, it having been the original boundary of Hindoostan on this side, which the Hindoos were prohibited from passing. Here the river is three quarters of a mile broad, the water very cold, rapid, and turbulent, and a great deal of black sand suspended in it. A little above Attock is Bazaar, where Mr. Forster crossed the Indus. The extraor|dinary journey of that gentleman merits notice. In the dis|guise of an Asiatic he left Calcutta in 1783, crossed the Ganges between Loldong and Hurdwar, and the Jumna near Meiro; proceeded on the south side of the mountains to Jummoo, and then seems to have made a tour of curiosity to Cashmere. From thence turned towards the south-west, to Bazaar; went north|ward to Cabul, where he found the bills of Calicut, seventeen or eighteen hundred miles distant, negociable: from thence went to Candahar, and crossed the modern provinces of Seisten, Korasan, and Mazanderan, to the shore of the Caspian sea; took shipping at Basrush, reached the Volga, and arrived safe at Petersburg. From Oude, the last British station, to the Caspian sea, was twenty-seven hundred miles. His security lay in his concealment of his country; he travelled with Asiatics, he was obliged to conform to their manners, to content himself with the cookery of every place he passed through, submit to every accommodation, and generally to sleep in the open air, even in rain and snow, and this he endured in a journey of a whole year. He returned to India, and ended, of late years, at the court of the Nizam, in a public capacity, his active and most enterprizing life.

AFTER reaching Bazaar we are very little acquainted with the course of the Indus. Mr. Rennel informs us, that the highest

point to which this river can be traced, is Shuckur, two hundred and thirty miles distant from Attock; and from Attock to the sea is six hundred and sorty. By the excellent map of the world published by Mr. Arrowsmith, it appears to pass through a long and narrow gap, between two chains of mountains, and to terminate at its origin in the middle of Cashgar. What that distance is from Shuckur I cannot with certainty pronounce: perhaps a hundred miles. Adding this to the two other num|bers, we may fairly call the whole length a thousand miles.

MR. RENNEL says, that it has an uninterrupted navigation from the sea for flat-bottomed vessels of near two hundred tons, as high as Moultan and Lahore; the last about six hundred and fifty miles distant. The current of the Indus must be rapid; for Captain Hamilton (i. p. 123.) informs us, that the vessels frequently fall down the river from Lahore to Tatta in twelve days; but the passage up the stream requires six or seven weeks. It once had a vast trade carried on along its channel, but by reason of troubles, and consequential bad government, it is greatly reduced.

I NOW return to the ocean. The eastern branch of the Indus falls into the bay of Cutch, which runs far inland, and receives the river Puddar, bounded by the rugged country of Cutch. Part of the gulph is infested with piratical tribes, called Sangarians, who infest the sea from hence to the entrance of the gulph of Persia. M. D'Anville * 1.123 supposes them to have been the same as the people of Sangada (Arrian, Rerum Indic. i. p. 551.) which the historian places near the

river Arabius. This may have been the case on supposing, which might have been probable, that they had removed from the western to the eastern side of the Indus, and from thence to the shores of the gulph of Cutch. The banks of the river are possessed by reguli; most of its sides are low, fenny, and liable to annual inundations. This gulph was the antient Canthi-colpus and Sinus Irinus. Arrian, ii. 165, also calls it Barices Sinus, and mentions its having a group of seven isles, which appear in modern charts.

THE Puddar falls into the gulph of Cutch, * 1.124 and has a course to the north-east as far as near lat. 26° soon after which it divides into two streams, which originate in the country of the Rathore Raipoots, inclining to the south. This river is not bordered by any places remarkable. In the middle ages the famed empo|rium, Nehrwaleh, stood on the banks of the Surutwutty, a small river which flows into it from the south, in lat. 23° 47″, E. long. 72° 30″. It stood on the site of Puttan; and flourished in the middle ages. It was reckoned the most fertile country in India, and was at that time capital of Guzerat. Mahmood I. (Ferishta, i. p. 77.) made a conquest of it in 1024. Above a cen|tury after that, El Edrisi, p. 62, speaks of it under the name of Nahrvara, and as a place of vast trade, and the great resort of merchants. Its monarchs were styled Balahare, i. e. KING OF KINGS, for all the neighboring reguli acknowledged his supremacy. The time of its destruction is not well known. The seat of empire was afterwards removed to Amedabad.

RAIPOTANA was once a most extensive government. * 1.125 Mr. Rennel says, equal to half of France. Part became subjugated. Still the hardy tribes maintain some of their old domains, amidst rude and almost inaccessible mountains. Mahometan persecu|tion

and intolerancy, confirm and heighten the zeal for the old religion of their country, added to a pride of descent, and the boast of being formed from the arms of the great deity Brahma. They are called Kehteree, or Khatre; they are en|joined the performance of thirteen great duties * 1.126. The pro|tection of religion and the art of war are two, and those they observe to the fullest extent. They seem like our knight|errant, performing all the duties of chivalry. Boullaye la Gouz gives a good figure of a Raipoot Chevalier on his 234th page.

THEY were once a powerful people, but notwithstanding they are now much reduced, they still are feared and respected by all Hindooslan. They frequently hire themselves to other states. Under the emperor Akbar, they received the blow which put an end to their greatness. * 1.127 In 1567, he marched to the ca|pital, Cheitor, strongly situated in a lofty mountain, and garri|soned by the Raja with eight thousand chosen Raipoots, and headed by a general of tried valour. Akbar effected a breach, but by springing a mine lost numbers of his own men. Unfor|tunately for the besieged; the emperor saw the governor busied in giving orders for filling up the breaches: when, calling for a fusil, he shot the faithful commander through the head. The garrison sunk under the loss. * 1.128 In despair they determined on the horrid ceremony of the JOAR. They put to the sword all their wives and children, and burned their bodies, with that of their governor, on a prodigious funeral pile. The citizens of Sagun|tum illam fide, et aerumnis inclytam † 1.129, 530 years before CHRIST, like them driven to despair, performed the same dreadful rites.

By the light of the fire the imperial army saw the barbarous rites, and entered the deserted breaches, led on by Akbar. The Raipoots, devoting themselves to death, retired to their temples. The victor ordered three hundred elephants of war to be intro|duced to tread to death the gallant victims. The scene became now too shocking to be described. Brave men, rendered more valiant by despair, crouded round the elephants, seized them even by the tusks, and inflicted on them unavailing wounds. The terrible animals trod the Indians like grasshoppers under their feet, or winding them in their powerful trunks tossed them into the air, or dashed them to pieces against the walls and pavements. Of the garrison and of the inhabitants, who amounted to forty thousand, thirty thousand were slain; a few only escaped in the confusion, by tying their own children like captives, and driving them through the royal camp * 1.130.

SIR Thomas Roe passed through it in his way to Agimere, in 1612, and gives the following melancholy account of it's then state:

Cytor is an antient ruined city, on a hill, but shews the footsteps of wonderful magnificence. There are still standing above a hundred churches, all of carved stone, many fair towers and lanthorns, many pillars, and innumerable houses, but not one inhabitant. There is but one steep ascent cut out of the rock, and four gates in the ascent before you come to the city gate, which is magnificent. The hill is enclosed at the top for about eight cosses, and at the south-west end is a goodly castle † 1.131.

LET not this, or several other instances of unprincely barba|rity, be attributed to the influence of climate. The greatest

monarchs, bred under the severest skies, have shewn themselves monsters of cruelties, notwithstanding they have been held up to us as models of greatness. Among those of the North are Basilovitz II. and Peter the Great. And in Hindoostan, the favo|rite Akbar, and others, successors or predecessors. Their enor|mities are the result of education; indulged first in every in|fant-passion, then in those of youth, till they become ungovern|able; and every opposition to their will appears criminal, and brings on the most dreadful revenge, and the frequent havoke of the human race. Compare then the manners of the princes of this country with those of the myriads of the mean|est of the Hindoo subjects; education has produced monsters of the former: climate has softened into gentleness, resignation, and the fullest submission in the minds of the latter to every evil, to famine, sickness, and tyrannic fury.

Akbar erected his conquest into a soubahship, * 1.132 and named it that of Agimere or Azimere. At present Audapour, Joodpour, and Jeinagur, antient principalities of the Raipoots, remain in their descendants. Most of the rest of the Soubahship is pos|sessed by the Mahrattas, or by Sindia. Mr. Rennel thinks the capital, Agimere, to have been the Gagasmiru of Ptolemy. It is built in about lat. 26° 32″, at the foot of a lofty mountain, crowned with a fortress of great strength. Little is said of the city. It seems holy ground, and productive of holy men. Akbar, in want of an heir, made a pilgrimage to this place to the shrine of Chaja Moin, in consequence of a vow he had made in case he was blessed with a son, which his favorite Sultana presented him with just before * 1.133. To insure success, he had

left the lady, for a considerable time, with the saints of Sikri! The pilgrimage was made from Agra. On this occasion he erected at the end of every coss, or mile and a half, a stone; and at every tenth coss, a Choultry, or Caravansera, for travellers * 1.134. The whole distance from Agra to Agimere, is a hundred and thirty British miles. These were imperial works!

Jehangìr kept his court at the latter, * 1.135 at the time that Sir Thomas Roe was sent by our James I. on his interesting em|bassy to the great Mogul. No monarch ever did more good to his subjects, by his attention to commerce, at that time in its infancy, than our despised prince. Sir Thomas landed at Surat, in September 1615; continued following the court to different places till 1618, and received every mark of exterior favor, notwithstanding the East India Company, with mercantile meanness, furnished him with presents ill-suited to the gran|deur of the British nation. The embassy proved, on the whole, fruitless, and he returned home, after doing all that a person of his abilities could to serve his country. He was frustrated by the deceit, meanness, and rapacity of an eastern court * 1.136.

THE approach to the coasts we left, * 1.137 is signified by the ap|pearance of sea-snakes; the historian describes them of a dusky color, and thicker than the Lana serpents. As to their siery eyes and dragon-like heads, I smile at his credulity: the rest is true. Sea-snakes are very frequent in the torrid zones. M. Vosmaer gives, in one of his fasciculi, figures of two of the sea|serpents: one is fasciated with brown and white; the other has a brown back and white belly. The tail of each is flat, ex|actly

resembling that of an eel, suited to a species which is entirely destined to the watery element. They are met with off most of the coasts of India, at the distance of twenty or thirty leagues from land; are never seen alive on the element of earth, but frequently cast by the surges dead on the shore. M. D'Ob|sonville, who has given an account of them, says, they are from three to four feet long, and reputed to be very venomous. M. Bougainville gives an instance of a sailor who was bitten by one, in hawling a seine on the coast of New Ireland. He was in|stantly affected with most violent pains in all parts of his body. The blood taken from him appeared dissolved; and the side on which he was bitten became livid, and greatly swelled. At length, by the assistance of Venice treacle, with flower de luce water, he fell into a great perspiration, and was quite cured * 1.138.

ON the western side of this gulph was the Syrastrena regio of Arrian, * 1.139 fertile in wheat, rice, oil of Sesamum, or Sesamum orientale, Burm. Zeyl. 87. tab. 38, and Gerard. p. 1232, Butyrum, or Ghee, as it is called in India; Carpasus is a word I cannot translate, but it appears to have been some vegetable that was used in making the Indian webs.

FROM Cape Jigat, * 1.140 the southern extremity of the gulph of Cutch, the land trends to the south-west, as far as Diu point. At the former, * 1.141 commences the better known peninsula of Guzerat. The western parts of which are mountanous and woody, the rest extremely rich, and once famed for a very considerable commerce in their productions. The Ayeen Akberry, ii. p. 76, speaks thus of its manufactures:

It is famous for painters,

[figure]

III. Sea Snakes.

carvers, and other handicraftsmen. They cut out letters in shells, and inlay with them very curiously. They also make beautiful inkstands, and small boxes. They manufacture gold and silver stuffs, velvets, &c.; and they imitate the stuffs of Turkey, Europe, and Persia. They also make very good swords, Jemdhers, Kewpwehs, and bows and arrows. Here is likewise carried on a traffic in precious stones. Silver is brought hither from Room and Irak.

ALONG the coast, quite from Cape Jigat, were a number of antient towns. Simylla, on the very cape, was once a con|siderable mart, in the days of Ptolemy.

THE famous Pagoda Jumnaut stood close to Puttan, * 1.142 on the western side of Guzzerat. It was destroyed in 1022, by the bigotted Mahmood * 1.143 The Hindoos believed that the souls of the departed went to this place, to be transferred into other bodies, human or animal, according to their deserts. The riches in gems, gold, &c. would be incredible, did we not know the power of superstition in those remote and unen|lightened times.

ON the Baeonus insula stands Diu, * 1.144 which long flourished un|der its native owners. The judicious Albuquerque had cast his eye on this island as a fit post to ensure safety and permanency to the Portuguese empire in India. He endeavoured to obtain leave from the monarch of Cambaya to erect a fort, but the governor, as wise as himself, obstructed the design. In 1535, Nugno d'Acugna succeeded, and in forty-nine days made it so strong, as to baffle the attempts of the prince, who, re|penting of his concession, endeavoured to wrest it from the

Portuguese, and perished in the siege. His successor called in the Turks, and, with an army of twenty thousand men, renewed the siege. The gallant governor, Meneses, repelled all their assaults, and obliged them to retire with great loss. In 1546 it underwent a third siege, and with the same ill success. After this, every attention was paid to a place of such importance. Its fortifications were esteemed the finest in India, to which it was deemed the key; they were seated on a rock, and had a vast foss cut through the live stone. It became a place of im|mense trade, and was the harbour in which the fleets were laid up during winter. The splendor of the buildings, and the lux|ury of the inhabitants, were unspeakable. Surat was destroyed to favor its commerce, but when that city was restored, the former declined fast, so that at present it has not only quite lost its former consequence, but, according to Nicholson, is in a manner a heap of ruins.

THE governor, Don John Mascarenhas, was, after a most gallant defence, reduced to great distress He was relieved by the great Don John de Castro, * 1.145 governor of the Indies, then at Goa, who first sent his son Ferdinand, with such force he could spare, to strengthen the garrison: After which, collecting all the troops he could in Asia, followed his son, landed his army, and joined the besieged. He resolved to attack the enemy, numerous as they were. He sallied forth, and gained a complete victory.

THE manner in which the fortress of Diu was restored, is singular. Coslro was possessed of little more than his sword and his helmet. He tried every method to raise money, but in vain. At length he offered to deposit, as pledges for the sum, the bones of his son Ferdinand, who had fell during the siege.

His army, who idolized the gallant youth, prevaled on him to restore them to the grave. He then sent to the inhabitants of Goa one of his mustachos as security for the sum required. They knew his rigid honor, and advanced the money. He died at Goa, in 1548, aged forty-eight. He had the consolation of dying in the arms of the apostle of the Indies, Xavier. His body was interred in that city; but his bones were removed to the convent at Bemsica, near Lishon, beneath a monument, which records the actions of his glorious life * 1.146.

THE great bay of Cambay, * 1.147 the Barygazenus sinus of the an|tients, now opens between Cape Diu and Cape St. John, on the opposite shore, distant a hundred and eighty miles; it runs far inland towards the north, and ends with the river Mihie, the an|tient Mais. Cambay, * 1.148 once the capital of a kingdom of the same name, stands on the western side, near the bottom, in N. Lat. 22° 20′. It is a vast city, walled round with brick, and may be called the mother of Surat, which it supports by its various rich articles of commerce, still considerable, notwithstand|ing the retreat of the sea near a mile and a half. Cambay is a great manufacturing country, and furnishes the coarse un|bleached cloths, much in use in Persia, Arabia, Egypt, and Abessynia; also blue pieces for the same countries, and for the English and Dutch trade in Guinea; blue and white checks for mantles in Arabia and Turky, some coarse, others enriched with gold; white pieces woven at Barochia, called Bastas; muslins with a gold stripe at each end, for turbans; gauzes; mixed stuffs of silk and cotton; shawls made of the Cachemirian wool; besides immense bales of raw cotton, sent annually to Surat, Bengal, China, Persia, and Arabia, for their several manufac|tories.

Add to these, rich embroideries of various kinds, and a great trade in various works in agate and cornelians, found in the rivers, which are turned into bowls, handles for knives, sabres, and various other things.

NEAR Cambay are the vestiges of another antient city called Nagra, * 1.149 perhaps the Comanes of Ptolemy. Almeyda, when he visited the coast of Cambay, observed a very antient town, with a large mosque, and near it a spatious place, covered with tumuli * 1.150. The most learned of the natives informed him, that they un|derstood by their records that Hercules, in his expedition to India, had here two great engagements with an Indian prince, and was defeated, and that the tumuli were the graves of the conquered. I mention this part only to shew how exact the Indians have been to preserve their history, founded, as part may have been, upon fable. Arrian, i. Exped. Alex. p. 306. suspects that he was never in India, but that the inhabitants, hearing of his fame, adopted him among the gods of their country † 1.151.

GREAT numbers of the inhabitants of the city of Cambay are Hindoos, who retain all their customs, and all their superstition, in the fullest primoeval manner. One tenor of their religion is to pay the utmost attention to the brute creation; this they observe with a charity that would be incredible, was it not so well attested by travellers. The account given by Pietro de la Valle, who visited this city in 1623, cannot but be acceptable to readers of curiosity.

"THE same day of our arrival," * 1.152 says he, p. 35,

after we had dined, and rested a while, we caused ourselves to be con|ducted

to see a famous hospital of birds, of all forts, which, for being sick, lame, deprived of their mates, or otherwise needing food, and cure, are kept and tended there with dili|gence; as also the men who take care of them are maintained by the public alms; the Indian Gentiles (who, with Pythago|ras, and the antient Egyptians, the first authors of this opi|nion, according to Herodotus, believe the transinigration of fouls, not only from man to man, but also from man to brute beast) conceiving it no less a work of charity to do good to beasts, than to men. The house of this hospital is small, a little room sufficing for many birds: Yet I saw it full of birds of all sorts which need tendance, as cocks, hens, pigeons, peacocks, ducks, and small birds, which during their being lame or sick, or mateless, are kept here; but, being recovered and in good plight, if they be wild, they are let go at liberty; if domestic, they are given to some pious person, who keeps them in his house. The most curious thing I saw in this place, was certain little mice, who, being found orphans without fire or dam to tend them, were put into this hospi|tal, and a venerable old man with a white beard, keeping them in a box amongst cotton, very diligently tended them, with his spectacles on his nose, giving them milk to eat with a bird's feather, because they were so little that as yet they could eat nothing else; and, as he told us, he intended when they were grown up to let them go free whither they pleased.

"THE next morning," (p. 36) adds he, * 1.153

we saw another hospital of goats, kids, sheep, and wethers, either sick or lame;

and there were also some cocks, peacocks, and other animals needing the same help, and kept altogether quietly enough, in a great court: nor wanted there men and women, lodged in little rooms of the same hospital, who had care of them. In another place, far from hence, we saw another hospital of cows and calves, some whereof had broken legs, others, more infirm, very old or lean, and therefore were kept here to be cured. Among the beasts there was also a Mahometan thief, who, having been taken in theft, had both his hands cut off; but the compassionate Gentiles, that he might not perish miserably, now he was no longer able to get his living, took him into this place, and kept him among the poor beasts, not suffering him to want any thing. Moreover, without one of the gates of the city, we saw another great troop of cows, calves, and goats, which being cured and brought into better plight, or gathered together from being dispersed, and with|out masters, or being redeemed with money from the Mahome|tans, who would have killed them to eat, (namely, the goats and other animals, but not the cows and calves) were sent into the field to feed by neat-herds, purposely maintained at the public charge; and thus they are kept, till, being re|duced to perfect health, 'tis found fitting to give them to some citizens or others, who may charitably keep them. I excepted cows and calves from the animals redeemed from slaughter; because in Cambaia, cows, calves, and oxen are not killed by any; and there is a great prohibition against it, by the instance of the Gentiles, who upon this account pay a great sum of money to the prince; and should any, either

Mahometan or other, be found to kill them, he would be punished severely, even with death.

THE country around is remarkably flat, * 1.154 and in parts over|flowed with the most rapid and sudden tides in the world. They rise four or five fathoms, and sweep before them every thing in their way. Some miles of this tract must be passed in the way from Surat. Pietro de la Valle gives, at p. 35, a curious account of the dangers attending the journey.

THE kingdom of Cambay was first subdued by Mahmomet I. in 1024, and after several revolutions, by the great Akbar in 1572. In later days it fell under the power of the Mahrattas, and in 1780 brought on the Mahratta war, which ended much to our glory, and much to our loss. This gave rise to the cele|brated march of the Bengal brigade, under Colonel GODDARD, * 1.155 from Calpy, on the Jumna river, in Lat. 26° 7′ N. Long. 80° 4′ E. to Amedabad, a march of about fifteen hundred miles: we were victorious; but in the end, finking under the expence, were obliged to give up most of our vast conquests.

Amedabad is seated in 22° 58′ 30″ N. Lat. * 1.156 It is the best for|tified city in Hindoostan. It stands on the banks of a small na|vigable river, and is remarkable for its beauty. Its port is Cam|bay, fifty miles to the south. Thevenot, p. 12, part iii. speaks highly of this city, and its magnificent mosque, its splendid palace, and fine Meidan; and also its vast commerce in sattins, velvets, and tapestries, with gold, silk, and woollen grounds, and in the several productions of almost every part of India. It was founded, says the Ayeen, ii. 92, 96, by Tatar Ahmed, one of the fourteen Mahometan princes, successors to Sultan Mahomet. The

mosque and tomb of the founder are entirely built of marble and stone. The last is of exquisite workmanship, and, notwithstand|ing it has stood above four hundred years, remains uninjured by the length of time. Amedabad was founded out of the ruins of the Hindoo cities. The walls still remain, and are six miles in cir|cumference, in which were twelve gates. Such was its state in the days of Aurengzebe. At present, not a quarter within the walls are inhabited, and nothing but the vestiges of the suburbs, which once extended three miles round the outside of the walls, are to be seen. The Mahrattas made a conquest of it. Goddard attacked and took it by storm on February 15, * 1.157 1780, after a most vigorous resistance. It was garrisoned chiefly by Arabs and Sindians, the bravest of troops. Numbers perished in the rage of the storm. No act of humanity was omitted by the general to the survivers. The gratitude of the vanquished was equalled to the generosity of the victor * 1.158.

HEROES must not entirely engross my pen: as a naturalist, I must descend to speak of inferior subjects, of the little species of finch, * 1.159 which takes its name from Amedabad, see Latham iii. 311. Edw. tab. 335. It is the lest of the genus, remarkable for its beauty, and for a sweet but short note. They are often im|ported into Europe. The elegant squirrel, called the FAIR (Hist. Quad. ii. N^o 343.) is also an inhabitant of the woods of Guzzerat.

THE flying MAUCAUCO (Hist. Quad. i. N^o 156.) is co-tenant of the same forests. It wholly inhabits the trees. In descend|ing

it spreads its membranes, and balances itself till it reaches the place it aims at; but in ascending, uses a leaping pace. Its food is the fruit of the country. This is the animal which Abulfazul calls a cat which will fly to a small distance * 1.160.

THIS Sircar, says the Ayeen, ii. 76, is remarkable for the num|ber and size of the mango trees, and the size of the fruit. There is an avenue of these trees from Puttan to Berodeh, a hundred coses, or a hundred and ninety British miles in length. The country is almost a forest in several districts, which gives shelter to multitudes of leopards.

FROM the river Mihie the coast waves to the south. After passing the small sound of Amood, succeeds that of Barochia, * 1.161 at the end of which stands a city of the same name, derived from Barygaza, famed, in old times, as far the greatest port and em|porium in all India. In 1616 the English, by the interest of Sir Thomas Roe, had permission to establish in this city a factory, which continues there till this day. By the year 1683 it had flourished so greatly, that the investment for England was not less than 55,000 pieces of baftaes, &c. of different sorts, manu|factured in the neighborhood, and in quantity and fineness superior even to Bengal itself † 1.162.

HERE was born Zarmonachagas, * 1.163 who was in the train of the embassadors sent by a king of the title of Porus to Augustus, when he was at Antioch. Strabo, lib. XV. p. 1048, informs us that this person, who had all his life experienced the greatest

felicity, determined to quit the stage before a change should happen to embitter his last days. At Athens, according to the custom of his country, he devoted himself to the funeral pile, and, with a smiling countenance, saw the flames surround him. On his tomb was inscribed — "〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Here lies ZARMONOCHAGAS an INDIAN from BARGOSA, who, according to the custom of the country of the INDIANS, put an end to his existence."

NUMBERS of antient drachmae have been found here, * 1.164 inscribed with Greek letters, and the names of Apollodotes, and of Menan|der, king of Bactria * 1.165, who also reigned in this part of India, and had, among other conquests, added Pattalena to his former dominions. He was so beloved by his subjects, that on his death there was a violent contest among several cities, which of them should have the honor of possessing his body. The matter was compromised by burning it, and dividing the ashes among the rival parties.

THE internal commerce of Barygaza in early times was as great as its naval. * 1.166 It carried on a vast trade with a great city, called Tagara, the present Dowlatabad, or Dioghir, about ten days journey, or a hundred miles to the south south-east of the for|mer † 1.167. To this city was brought, from all parts of the Deccan, every object of commerce, and from thence in carts conveyed to Barygaza, over steep and lofty mountains, meaning the eastern or Balagaut chain. About two thousand years ago it was the metropolis of a vast district, called Ariaca, which

comprehended the modern Aurangabad, quite to the sea at Bombay, and the shores of Concan. Nor was this kingdom or Rajaship totally extinguished till the time of Shah Jehan, who terminated his reign in 1658 * 1.168.

PLUTHANA was another coeval town of commerce, which had considerable intercourse with Barygaza: The roads to it were over the same mountains, but the distance greater, being a journey of twenty days, or two hundred and seventeen miles. This city was on the site of the present Pultanah, a little to the north of the river Godavery, in Long. 76° 2′ west, and Lat. 19° 5′. Barygaza was also a port to Nehrwaleh, a place I have described at p. 55. I shall here add nothing more than that the inter|vening was a carriage road, and quite level.

THE city of Barochia stands on a rising ground, surrounded with walls; it is washed by the Nerbudda, the antient Na|madus. In the wars waged by Aurengzebe, in 1660, against his brothers, it sided with the latter. After a stout resistance, he took the place, put part of the citizens to the sword, and rased part of the walls, which he afterwards restored. It is now inhabited by weavers, and other manufacturers of cotton; the neighborhood producing the best in the world. * 1.169 Nature seems to have furnished the hot climates with the cotton plant, in pre|ference to flax or hemp; the manufacture of the former being far preferable in the torrid zone to linen. Cotton quickly ab|sorbs the perspiration. Linen is notorious for remaining long wet, uncomfortable, and dangerous.

THE Mahrattas were masters of this city till July 1773, when it was taken by our Bombay army, commanded by that most able and popular officer Colonel Wedderburne, who fell before the walls by a shot from a murdering species of musquet, called a guinàl; it is heavier and longer than the common, and has a larger bore, and placed on a rest for the sake of a surer aim * 1.170. The natives can hit an orange with it at a hundred and fifty yards distance. The place was immediately after taken by storm, and the most horrible excesses committed by the troops in revenge of the death of their commander. Barochia was added to the British empire by the treaty of Poonah, but in 1782 was ceded to Madajee Sindia, a Mahratta chieftain † 1.171, in reward for his assisting us to make an advantageous peace, of which we were very undeserving.

THE Nerbudda flows in Lat. 23° 10′, * 1.172 Long. 82° 10′, out of the same lake with the Saone, and after running full seven hundred miles with a course nearly due west, falls into the sea near Ba|rochia. The Saone flows out of the eastern end of the lake, and taking an eastern course, falls into the Ganges, in Lat. 25° 40′, and so forms a complete island of the southern part of Hin|doostan. It is also the southern boundary of the division called Hindoostan Proper, as it is the northern of the Deccan. That word signisies the south, and is corrupted from the antient Hindoo word Dachanos, which has the same interpretation. Arrian, in his Mar. Erythr. ii. 171, mentions a great tract, stretching from Barygaza southward, called Dachinabades.

FARTHER on is the port of Swalley, * 1.173 where the European ships, bound for Surat, frequently anchor, being the port of that city, three leagues to the north of that river. There the articles of commerce are landed, and the exports shipped; but the entrance, without a pilot, is very hazardous, by reason of the shoals. Mr. Herbert, afterwards Sir Thomas, the accom|plished attendant on Charles I. the last two years preceding his murder, found here, in November 1616, six English ships; three of a thousand tons each, the other three of seven hun|dred each; a proof of the vast extent of our trade, so early after the commencement of our commerce.

I MUST not quit this place without dropping a tear over the grave of poor Tom Coryate, * 1.174 the most singular traveller Britain, or perhaps any other country, ever sent forth. He lies on the banks of the shore, near Swalley, where he finished his long peregrinations in December 1617, during the time that the pious minister, the reverend Edward Terrie, chaplain to Sir Thomas Roe, was there. Tom was born in 1577, at Odcomb, in Somersetshire. After publishing, in 1611, his most laughable travels, styled Coryate's Crudities, prefaced by above forty copies of verses, by the waggish wits of the time (amongst which is one in the antient British language) he set out on his greater travels.

IN his European travels, he tells us that he walked nineteen hundred and seventy-five miles in one pair of shoes, and had occasion to mend them only once. On his return to Odcombe, he hung them up in the church, as a donarium for their bring|ing him safely home to his natal soil.

Encouraged by Sir Paul Pindar, whom he met with at Constantinople in 1612, he sailed for the Levant, visited Greece, Troy, Smyrna, and Egypt; made his pilgrimage to Jerusalem; had his arm tattowed with the mark of the cross; saw the Dead sea; from thence got to Alexandrette, from thence to Aleppo; arrived at Nineveh and Babylon; reached Ispahan. From thence he proceeded to Candahar, Lahor, and Agra; there he enter|tained the great Mogul with an el quent oration, in the Persian language, so much to the content of that monarch, that he bestowed on him a hundred roupees. Having a wonderful faci|lity in languages, he had a trial of skill with our embassador's laundress, the greatest scold in all Agra. Tom attacked her in her own tongue, the Hindoo, at sun-rise, and silenced her by eight o'clock in the morning. He now hastened to the final conclusion of all his travels: he descended to Surat, where he was seized with a flux, that was increased by a treat of sack, given him by some English merchants. He was a very tem|perate man, but could not resist a favorite liquor, so unex|pectedly falling in his way. More of him may be seen in Mr. Terry's Voyage, printed in 1665, a book of much entertain|ment. * 1.175 But here poor Tom fell, in 1617, and here he lies be|neath an Indian soil, a second Archytas.

Quanquam sestinas, non est mora longa; licebit Injecto ter pulvere curras.

THE road of Surat is before the mouth of the river Tapteè; * 1.176 there ships anchor two leagues from shore, in ten fathoms, and on a muddy bottom. The tide rises about six yards. The

mouth and channels of the river are intricate and dangerous; the goods which are brought are conveyed to Surat in hoys, yatchs, and country boats. Those from Swalley are carried by land, and wasted over opposite to the city.

THE Tapteè arises far remote, near Maltoy, in Lat. 21° 45′, * 1.177 in the Rajaship of Goondwaneh.

THE city of Surat stands in N. Lat. 21° 11′. * 1.178 The Abbe Raynal speaks of it as a paltry fishing village, in the thirteenth century. I suspect it to have been of far earlier origin, and am confirmed in my opinion by the Ayeen Akberry, ii. 79, which informs us, that in antient times it had been a large city. Raneer, on the opposite side, is a port dependent on Surat. The Portuguese possessed Surat soon after their arrival in India. The first fort was built in 1524, but its increase and great pros|perity arose from the settlements made there in 1603, by the English and Dutch. The Portuguese gave them every opposition possible. They once made a vigorous attack on the English, but were defeated with prodigious slaughter on their part, and a very trifling loss on that of our countrymen. It became the first trading city in India, and, in consequence of wealth, the first in luxury. In the latter end of the last century, the in|habitants were computed at two hundred thousand.

BESIDES the greatness of its commerce, it was celebrated for being the place at which the Mahometan subjects of the Mogul embarked, on their pilgrimage to Mecca, for which reason, in the archives of the empire, Surat is called the Port of Mecca * 1.179. * 1.180 A ship, one of the two which annually sail from Surat to Arabia,

filled with devotees of the highest rank, and some of the first persons of the court of Aurengzebe, was taken in its passage, in the latter end of the last century, by the infamous pirate Avery. Among the passengers was a lady said to have been the daughter of the emperor. It proved a prize invaluable, in great sums of money, vessels of gold and silver, jewels, and rich habits; for usually they are as much laden with merchandize upon account of the Mogul, as upon that of the pilgrims; and their returns are so rich, that they make a part of the European trade for the merchandize of Arabia Felix. Avery, after plun|dering the ship of its wealth, dismissed it and all its passengers. This piracy for a time embroiled us with the Mogul; but the affair being explained as the act of a robber, he dismissed his anger against the English nation. In the beginning of the last century only one ship, great and clumsy, was employed on this religious-commercial business. It carried fourteen or fifteen hundred tons, and the richness of its lading, both in going out and in returning, was immense * 1.181. This is the most antient factory we have in Hindoostan, and all our vessels made for Swalley, or the road of Surat, for at one or other of those places all our countrymen landed, who intended to penetrate into the interior of the country. We find the illustrious names of Roe, Herbert, and Shirly, among the first of our countrymen who landed on these western shores.

SIR Thomas Roe, soon after his arrival, took his journey to the court of Jehangìr, then at Azimere, as we have related at p. 59. Some very remarkable places occur in his route, in

which we shall attend him, till we rejoin him again at Cheitor. After leaving Surat he visited Burhanpour, a great city, * 1.182 in Lat. 21° 30′, Long. 76° 19′ E. about two hundred and thirty miles east of Surat, on the Tapteè, the capital of Candeish, in the Soubahship of Malwah, still a large and flourishing city. He took a northern course, passed a high range of hills, and crossing the Nerbudda reached Mundu, or Mundoo, seated on the Sepra, * 1.183 a river rising due north, near to Cheitor. This city was once the capital of Malwah; it is seated on a plain on the top of a lofty and steep mountain. It has many remains of antient magni|ficence; among others, the tombs of the Kuljyan Sultans. Here also is the tomb of the parricidal tyrant, Massireddeen. He is said to have peopled a city with women, and that all his officers were of that sex * 1.184. About two miles from thence the Moguls had a palace, which Sir Thomas Roe visited, when Jehangìr was there.

Ougein is a large city, seated on the banks of the same river, * 1.185 some miles above. Abulsazul says it sometimes flows with milk. It probably flows through a stratum of white clay, which in floods might tinge its waters with white, like

The chalky Wey that rolls a milky wave† 1.186.

It is supposed to have been the Ozene of Arrian's Periplus Maris Erythraei, the capital of a Civitas Regia. It is men|tioned by Arrian as a place of vast commerce, not only in the productions of its own country, but of those of other parts; all which were transported to Barygaza, that vast emporium, near the mouth of the Namasus. Among other articles were

Onyxes, Murrhini, or the stone from which the Vasa Myrrhina, or drinking cups, which the Romans set so great a value on, that T. Petronius had one which cost him £.3,415 of our money, were made * 1.187. These cups received their value from their rich sculpture. Add to these muslins, Molochinae, cottons dyed of the color of mallow flowers, and a great quan|tity of common Othonium, or course Dungarees. Some articles, which we cannot interpret, were brought through the neigh|boring Scythia, or the Indo-Scythia, bordering on the Indus. I shall, in another place, give at one view the various articles mutually exchanged by the merchants of India and of Europe in antient times. I shall here only select a few singular gifts, sent as presents to the monarch of Ozene, such as musical instru|ments, silver vessels, and beautiful virgins for his majesty's Ze|nana. Even in those early times the merchants had their course of exchange, and made great profit by the change of the golden and silver denarii, for the money of the country † 1.188.

THE kingdoms of Ougein, * 1.189 Agemir, part of the Malwah, and Candeish, is now in possession of the enterprizing Mahratta, Ma|dagee Sindia, who makes the capital of the first his residence. He was originally a Jaghiredar of the Poonah Mahrattas: a Jaghire means a grant of land from a sovereign to a subject, re|vokable at pleasure, but generally, or almost always, for a life rent. Sindia flung off his dependency, and makes quick advances to considerable sovereignty.

WE have the evidence of Jehangìr, * 1.190 and the reverend Edward Terry, that in their days the province of Malwah abounded with lions. Jehangìr records, that he had killed several; and

Mr. Terry mentions his having been frequently terrified by them, in his travels through the vast woods and wildernesses of the country * 1.191; whether they exist at present is doubtful, being animals at lest very rare at this time. But to return.

SURAT is a city of toleration, all sects are indulged in the free exercise of their religion. Fanaticism, in all its extrava|gance, reigns here, amidst the various casts of Hindoos; and here are practised all the dreadful austerities, and strange atti|tudes of the self-tormentors we have so often read of. Here the Persees exert their zealous worship to the pure element of fire, * 1.192 according to the doctrine of their great founder. Near the city they have their repositories for the dead. They admit not of interment; they place the corpses on a platform, on the summit of a circular building, exposed to birds of prey. The friends watch the bodies, and wait with eagerness till one of the eyes is plucked out. If the right is plucked out, they go away, secure of the happiness of the departed spirit; if the left, they deplore its eternal misery.

I SHALL not attempt to enumerate the articles of commerce of Surat. In its most prosperous state it was the emporium of all the produce of India and Arabia, and of all the produce of Europe and Asrica, wanted by the luxurious Asiatics. * 1.193 A Maho|metan merchant, living in 1690, had at once twenty large ships, from 300 to 800 tons; none freighted at less expence than ten thousand pounds, many as high as twenty-five thousand. The extent of the Indian or country trade is evident here, by the numerous fleets which frequently turn in. Nicbuhr, who was at Surat in 1764, speaks in high terms of its flourishing state,

which probably may have revived equal to that of its best days * 1.194.

WE have still a considerable factory here; * 1.195 and to this great emporium of trade, on the western side of India, are sent, by different routes, the rich manufactures of Cachemere, particularly shawls. Unwrought cotton is the principal article of exporta|tion; besides this, numberless kinds of manufactured cotton, made in the neighborhood, and the various manufactures of Cambay, Barochia, Brodera, &c. centre in Surat, and are in|cluded in its exports. I know of no medicinal articles, either the produce of, or exported from Surat. The surrounding country abounds with wheat, equal in goodness with that of Europe † 1.196. This valuable grain seldom grows farther South than this latitude, and I think never exceeds that of 20°. Our factory there consists of a Chief, (who is always one of the council of Bombay) two or three gentlemen, as counsellors to him, and four or five inferior servants of the company, as clerks; in all, per|haps, eight or ten Europeans. Our trade to and from Surat is very extensive, and our political influence is very considerable, since we got the government of the Castle by a grant from the Mogul; we likewise receive, jointly with the Mahrattas, and the Nabab, or governor, the amount of all the import and export duties; and, for the maintenance of two or three com|panies of sepoys, to garrison the castle, we have a Jaghire in lands which yields a handsome revenue. The country in the neighborhood of Surat, is partly subject to the Mahrattas, and partly to some small tribes. The Nabab's authority extends little beyond the city.

[figure]

IV. Yeek Tree.

ALL our factories from Tatta to Anjengo, and also those in the gulph of Persia (if we have any that remain), and that at Bassora, are subordinate to the presidentship of Bombay.

THE ships are built of the Teek-wood, * 1.197 the Tektona grandis of Linnaeus, Suppl. p. 151, Hort. Malab. iv. 57. tab. 27, Plant. Coro|mandel, i. p. 10. N^o 6. a vast tree, both in height and bulk, of the Pentandria Monogynia class. It grows in extensive forests, along the hills, at the foot of the Ghaut mountains, and to the north and north-east of Bassein, and is readily brought down the various streams that flow from them, on the river Gooda|verie, on the Coromandel coast; in Barmah, north of Pegu; in the isle of Sumatra, and possibly in many other places. The pro|perty of this timber, in resisting the worm, renders it in|valuable; yet it has been neglected by the non-application of it for the building our ships of war. The words of that very in|telligent writer Mr. Rennel, will best convey the idea of the importance of this invaluable tree.

I CANNOT close this account without remarking the unpar|donable negligence we are guilty of, in delaying to build teek ships of war for the use of the Indian seas. They might be freighted home, without the ceremony of regular equipment, as to masts, sails, and furniture, which might be calculated just to answer the purpose of the home passage at the best season; and crews could be provided in India. The letter an|nexed, which was written with the best intentions, nine or ten years ago, will explain the circumstances of the case. * 1.198 Teek ships of forty years old and upwards, are no uncommon objects in the Indian seas; while an European built ship is ruined there in five years. The ships built at Bombay are the

best, both in point of work manship and materials, of any that are constructed in India: and although fourth rates only are mentioned in the letter, there is no doubt but that third rates may be constructed, as there is a choice of timber. The Spaniards build capital ships in their foreign settlements. The East India Company have a teek ship on her fourth voyage at present, which ship has wintered in England, therefore any objection founded on the effects of frost on the teek timber, is done away.

FREQUENT have been the opportunities I have had of ob|serving how very rapid the decay of ships built of European timber is in the East Indies; and, on the contrary, how du|rable the ships are, that are built of the wood of that country; namely, the teek, which may not improperly be styled In|dian oak. The number of ships of war that were ruined in those seas during the late war (1757 to 1762) may be admitted as a proof of the former remark; and the great age of the ships built in India may serve to prove the latter. What I mean to infer from this, for your Lordship's use is, that ships of war under third rates may be constructed in India, and with mo|derate repairs last for ages; whereas a ship of European con|struction can remain there but a very few years; to which dis|advantage may be added, that of losing, in the mean time, the services of the ships that are sent to relieve the worn out ones.

THE Britannia, of seven hundred tons, which was built of teek, made several voyages to Europe.

THE Teek is an evergreen, and esteemed a sacred tree. The Gentoos repair or build their pagodas with this timber only, when other materials are not used. A prince of Cali|colan

[figure]

V. Poon, or Mast Tree.

built one entirely out of a single tree. A purple color is obtained from the tender leaves, useful in dying silk and cotton, which are also medicinal. A syrup extracted from them, mixed with sugar, cures the Aphthee: the flowers, mixed with honey, are prescribed in dropsies.

THE Poon tree, Uvaria altissima of Koenig, * 1.199 serves for the masts; its chief excellence is its straightness, and its lightness; it is tolerably strong, but unless great care is taken to keep the ends dry, it is apt to rot. It grows to the height of sixty feet? My good old friend Doctor Patrick Russel * 1.200 shewed me a branch of this species, and told me it was called in India the Mast tree. M. Sonnerat, ii. p. 233, tab. 131, gives a figure of it, under the name of L'Arbre de Mâture.

Surat for a long time was open to every attack; nor was the fortification attended to till after it was taken and plun|dered, in 1664, by the famous Sevatjee. * 1.201 The English and Dutch stood on the defensive, and were left unmolested. The Gover|nor deserted the place, and retired into the castle; besides that, it had no other protection than a mud wall. After the retreat of the free-booters, the citizens requested of Aurengzebe, that he would seoure them with a wall; accordingly one was built, taking in a space of four miles in circuit. It was of brick, eight yards high, with round bastions, and on each were five or six cannons.

Europeans are surprised to hear of the extent of an Indian city, but they must be told that, besides their towns being very populous, every house consists but of one floor, which makes

them occupy more ground; besides that, every house is at|tended with a great garden, a requisite, as most of the food of the Indians is vegetable.

Sevatjee was founder of the Mahratta kingdom we so often hear mentioned. * 1.202 The name is derived from Mahrat, the pro|vince in which he first established his independency. This hero derived his lineage from the Rajahs of Chietore, who pretend that their descent is from Porus. He took advantage of the troubles which arose in his time in the kingdom of Visiapour, and again, during the wars between Aurengzebe and his brothers. He ex|tended his conquests from Baglana, near Surat, to the Portu|guese districts near Goa, a little beyond the foot of the Ghauts. His capital was Poonah, an open town, but he kept his archives at Poorundar, a place of vast strength, a fortress on the summit of a mountain; he died in 1680. His successors extended their conquests, or rather their inroads, all over Hindoostan; and even compelled the great Mogul to pay them a chout, or tribute, to save his subjects from future calamities.

FROM time to time they extended their dominions to a vast magnitude, * 1.203 and divided them into two empires, that of Poonah, or the western, and Berar, or the eastern. The first is divided again among a number of chieftains, who pay just as much obedience as they like to a Paishwah, or head, whom Mr. Rennel justly compares to the emperor of Germany, and the chieftains to the princes of that great body; they often quarrel with him, and often among themselves, and never are united, but by the apprehension of a common danger. Their empires extend from Guzerat to near the banks of the Ganges, and southerly to the

northern borders of the dominions of Tippoo Sultan. Their forces consist of two hundred thousand foot and horse, and the same number in garrison * 1.204. In their inroads they come in clouds, and spread desolation far and wide.

A NEW empire is springing out of these people; Madajee Sin|dia, a Jaghiredar of the Mahratta states (of Poonah) or mere landholder, is now successfully conquering for himself. Since the year 1783 he has extended his frontiers from Malwa towards the Jumna, possessed himself of the strong fortress of Guallior, and even gives a pension to the unhappy Mogul Shah Allum, who fled to him for protection, after having his eyes put out by a savage Rohilla chieftain, on whom Sindia revenged the cruelty by putting him to a most excruciating death. Such is the sunk state of the representative of the mighty emperors of Hindoostan. Sindia resides at Ougein, in Lat. 23° 14′, a little north of the Nerbudda river.

ABOUT the year 1740 Ram Rajah, a weak prince, succeeded to the throne of the Mahratta empire † 1.205. His two ministers agreed to divide his kingdom; after which it became separated into two, in the manner we have described † 1.206. The same species of war was continued, and for a long time they carried their plundering excursions to a great distance. At one time they sent forth two armies of horsemen, consisting of eighty thousand each ‡ 1.207. They poured like a deluge, in 1743, over the low coun|tries west of the Ganges, and exercised their gothic rage against every thing animate, and inanimate; the most elegant works of art fell before their brutal fury. The English were often in|volved

in war with them. In 1783 peace was concluded, at the expence of all the conquests made by Goddard. We retained only the isle of Salsette, and a few isles within the gulph of Bombay.

THE marches of these barbarians are admirably described by the author of the memoirs of the late war in Asia, p. 281, vol i. It relates to the armies of Ayder Alli, but applies equally to the military of all the powerful chieftains of India. "It may," says the ingenious writer,

perhaps afford some measure of grati|fication to European curiosity, to be informed that the un|disciplined troops of Asia, generally inflamed with bang, and other intoxicating drugs, pour forth, as they advance, a tor|rent of menacing and abusive language on their adversaries. Every expression of contempt and aversion, every threat, fitted to make an impression of terror, or to excite ideas of horror, that custom readily presents, or inventive fancy can suggest, accompanies the utmost ferocity of looks, voice, and gesture. A murmuring sound, with clouds of dust, announce their approach, while they are yet at the distance of several miles. As they advance, their accents are more and more distinctly heard, until at last, with their eyes fixed and wea|pons pointed at some individual, they devote him, with many execrations, to destruction, giving his flesh, like the heroes in Homer, and the Philistine warriors, to the dogs, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field. The numbers of the Asiatic armies, the ferocity of their manner, and the novelty of their appearance, would unnerve and overcome the hearts of the small European bodies that are opposed to them in the field of battle, if experience had not sufficiently

proved how much the silence of discipline excels barbarian noise; and uniformity of design and action, the desultory efforts of brutal force, acting by starts, and liable to the con|tagion of accidental impression.

THE land, from the mouth of the river of Surat, * 1.208 makes a slight curvature as far as Cape St. John, or the Baryagazenum Promontorium. From this Cape, as far as Bombay (according to our East India pilot) the coast is skirted with islands, divided from the continent, and from each other, by very narrow channels. To the north of it is Damoon, a strong place, possessed, * 1.209 in the last century, by the Portuguese, but now in a most ruinous state. It was once besieged by Aurengzebe, who had determined to take it by storm, and fixed on a Sunday for the attack, thinking that the Christians, like the Jews, would on that day make no re|sistance. The Governor, an old soldier, caused mass to be said at midnight; then made a sally with all his cavalry, and a strong body of infantry, into a quarter guarded by two hundred ele|phants; he knew the dread those animals had of fire: he assailed them with fire-works. The distracted beasts, in the darkness of the night, and without their governors, rushed on their own forces, which put the army into such disorder, that before morning, half was cut to pieces by the Portuguese, and, in consequence, the siege raised.

THE tract that borders on the sea, * 1.210 from Bombay even as far as Soonda, in Lat. 15°, is called Concan. This was the Lymirica of Arrian, ii. 171, a coast full of ports, of which he enumerates several; it once formed part of the kingdom of Visiapour. At the partition teaty it was confirmed to the Mahrattas, who now

possess a line of coast of three hundred miles in extent; out of which the English possess Bombay and its adjacent isles, and the strong hold of Victoria: and the Portuguese, Goa, and the antient domain belonging to that once famous emporium. The part of the Concan next to the sea is low, but at a small distance inland rises into vast strength. It is guarded by the celebrated mountains the Ghauts, which rise to a surprising height, and oppose to the west a mural front with Ghauts, * 1.211 i. e. passes. They are the same which the Welsh call a Bwlch. From the word Ghaut the whole chain derives its name. They give entrance into the lofty, fertile, and populous plains of boundless view, which they support in the manner as buttresses do a terrace, formed on an immense scale. These run not remote from the sea from Surat to Cape Comorin, at some places seventy miles distant, but ge|nerally forty, and in one place they advance to within six. They have lesser hills at their bases, clothed with forests, particularly of the valuable teek. The plains are blest, from their situation, with a cool and healthy air. From the sides of the mountains precipitate magnificent cataracts, forming torrents, the means of facilitating the conveyance of the timber, and giving a thousand picturesque scenes amidst the forests.

THE Ghauts are distinguished into the western and the eastern. * 1.212 The first extend, as I have described, uninterruptedly from Surat to the pass of Palicaudchery, when near Coimbetore they suddenly turn, deeply undulating to the north. Then, at the pass of Gujethetty, wind north and north-easterly as high as Amboor and Mugglee, the last about eighty miles due west of Madras. From hence they are not, by reason of the numbers

of branches, sufficiently marked on the maps: they seem to take a northerly course, to comprehend Aurungabad, to cross the Tapteè, and continue westerly, at irregular distances from the river, till they arrive at a certain space from Surat.

THE whole chain, especially in the Concan, seems a connected wall, inaccessible to the summit, unless by paths worked by the hand of man, and is not to be ascended even by a single travel|ler, without the fatiguing labor of many hours; horrible pre|cipices, roaring cataracts, and frequent reverberating echoes, terrify the passenger on each side; often violent gusts arise, and hurry men and cattle into the black immeasurable abyss. Having attained the summit, the trouble is repaid by the magnificent prospect to the west, of the far subjacent country, broken into hills, and clothed with beautiful vegetation; the coast, the islands, and the immensity of ocean.

THESE Indian Appenines mark with precision the limits of the winter and summer, * 1.213 or rather the wet and dry seasons, in India. They extend thirteen degrees of latitude, from Surat to Cape Comorin. They arrest the great body of clouds in their passage, and, according to the Monsoons, or periodical winds from the north-east or south-west, give, alternately, a dry season to one side, and a wet one to the other; some clouds do pass over, and give a rainy season, but at a very considerable distance to the leeward; being too high and too light to condense and fall in rain, within a small distance of this great range.

IN Lat. 18° 58″ is a very considerable bay, filled with islands, * 1.214 well known by the name of Bombay, which forms the best and most secure harbour in India. This, as well as every part of

this coast, was the usurped property of the Portuguese; but the greatest part of this extremity was wrested from them by the Mahrattas; a few places they retained for some time, but at length all fell under the power of the new usurpers. Among the places was Bassein, * 1.215 which had been taken by Nugns d'A|cugna, viceroy of India, in 1555, and by him strongly fortified. It was in our days seized by the Mahrattas, and again, in 1780, by the English, under General Goddard, who restored it to its late masters by the treaty of 1782.

DOCTOR Fryer, who visited this city about the year 1670, when it was in possession of the Portuguese, speaks of it as a very considerable place, having six churches, four convents, a college of Jesuits, and another of Franciscans.

ABOUT twenty miles from Bassein, * 1.216 inland, is Visrabuy, fa|mous for its hot wells, which are in high esteem for their medicinal virtues, and accounted, by the Hindoos, of great sanctity.

THE principal isle is that of Salsette, * 1.217 which is divided from the continent by a very narrow channel; it is about fifteen miles in circumference, and rich in fruits and vegetables. General Goddard included this island in his other conquests. It was wisely retained on the conclusion of the peace, and con|firmed to us by the last peace, together with some little isles or rocks that lay within the important bay. Salsette was gallantly defended by an old man of ninety-two, who, being summoned to surrender, answered, "He was not sent for that purpose." It was not till he was slain in a bloody assault that the place was taken, but at the price of four hundred of our grena|diers.

The capture gave fresh security and importance to the isle of Bombay.

THAT island was part of the portion given to Charles II. * 1.218 with his Queen, in 1662. His Majesty sent, in 1661, James Ley, Earl of Marlborough, a most experienced sailor, with a strong fleet, to receive it from the Portuguese. This nobleman was killed soon after his return, in the bloody sea fight against the Dutch in 1665. "He was," says Clarendon,

a man of wonderful parts in all sorts of learning, which he took more delight in than in his title * 1.219.

Charles, in 1668, granted the island to the East India Company, under a rent of ten pounds in gold, payable annually at the Custom-house at London.

ITS length is about seven miles; it is flat, and at first was extremely unwholesome, insomuch, that

two monsoons at Bombay is the age of a man,

became here a proverb; but by draining, and by prohibiting the use of putrid fish for manur|ing the coco trees, it is rendered tolerably healthy, and is be|come the great port and ship yard of the English in India; three hundred sail can at one time lie here in safety.

ON the isle is the town, the docks, and arsenal, * 1.220 seated in Lat. 18° 58″ N. Long. 72° 40″ E. strongly fortified; and behind them the Dungeree town for the natives. When the Portuguese ceded this place to us, it had only ten thousand inhabitants. By our mild government, in 1764 it increased to sixty thousand. Abbe Raynal gives this island a hundred thousand inhabitants, of which seven or eight thousand are sailors. Mr. Ives calls it the grand storehouse of all the Arabian and Persian commerce. The

Arabs still keep up a considerable trade in ships of a thousand tons, either Indian built, or old Indiamen bought from the com|pany. One article is the Kasmish raisin, a species without stones, brought from Kasmish, an isle in the Persian gulph. The exports from India are chiefly cottons, &c. to a great amount; but the trade between these parts and the Persian and Arabian gulphs, has of late been much injured by caravans crossing the isthmus of Bassora, conducted by the Syrians them|selves. The whole bay is full of shoals or rocks, yet with chan|nels of sufficient depth of water for the skilful pilate to bring in securely the largest ships; and here, even our military fleets find conveniencies for heaving down and refitting. Admiral Watson, and again Admiral Hughes, found here every species of naval store; here his Majesty's ships winter and refit.

ALTHOUGH Bombay is a place of very great trade, it is wholly as a magazine; its native productions are nothing in the ac|count, * 1.221 unless you reckon ship-building. There the finest merchant ships in the world are built, and all of Teek. The durability of this timber is beyond belief, greater than that of our best English oak; it resists the worm longer than any other; but whether this be owing to the nature of the timber itself, or to the cement with which the plank is joined and covered, I cannot tell. Surat or Bombay built ships will certainly last threescore years (some say many more), in which time, how|ever, they are generally doubled once or twice, so that the sides of an old ship are as thick as the walls of an house. Much is likewise said of the number of years they sometimes run without having occasion to use a pump; but of this I cannot speak

with certainty. All the repairs are effected by native carpen|ters, and all the ships, even the largest, are built by them, and in a simplicity of manner which would astonish an European workman. M. Sonnerat, i. tab. 18, represents the Indian with all the powers of his art. The neighboring mountains supply them with teek-wood, Bengal with iron and hemp, and the adjacent forests with pines for masts.

Bombay is also the great depôt of artillery, arms, and am|munition, and all the means of furnishing an army. Here is also a considerable military establishment, at present under the command of Sir Robert Abercromby, K. B. President of Bombay, Governor and Commander in Chief. From hence marched the force destined to assist in the reduction of the tyrant Tippoo Sultan, and to give peace to the southern part of this vast continent.

A MOST unfortunate expedition took its departure from this place in 1779; * 1.222 at which period it had not the happiness of be|ing under the rule of a HASTINGS. A little time before, Ro|ganaut Row, a Mahratta chieftain, fled from his country, and put himself under the protection of this presidency. He had been guardian to the young Paishwa, Naron Row, his own nephew. In the numbers of intrigues that infested the state of Poonah, a conspiracy was formed against the youth. A band of assassins were employed to murder him. Roganaut, better known by the name of Ragobah, was at the time confined in prison. The nephew flew to seek safety in his arms. In that case he would have been safe, but he could only fling himself at his feet. The youth was murdered. The uncle exchanged his prison for the Paishwa-ship. Fresh conspiracies arose, and Ro|ganaut

forced to fly to the English for protection * 1.223. Aspiring to the office, he flattered the English with vast advantages in case they espoused his cause; and soon prevaled on them to commence hostilities. Salsette, Baroach, and other places fell before them. The treaty of Poorunder, in 1774, secured those places to us for a time. In a little space war broke out again, fomented by Roganaut, assisted by our fears of the French, who were busy in their intrigues at the court of Poonah. In 1778 a small army, * 1.224 under the command of Brigadier General Egerton, assisted by a field committee, ever embarrassing, from the days of the Duke of Marlborough to the present, was sent with him to advise, or rather to perplex the commanders. The army, which consisted of not quite four thousand men, crossed the bay to Uptah river, marched by Panwel, Campooly, and up the Bhore Ghaut to Candolah, which we found unoccupied: the object was Poonah. They reached the once fair city of Tullingaum, on January 1779. It had been burnt the night before, by the Mahrattas themselves, who appeared covering the plains, nume|rous as the sands of the sea. They made frequent attacks on our army, and destroyed several gallant officers, and numbers of our European soldiers, and Sepoys. We made a quick retreat to the village of Worgaum. From thence our field committee sent a flag of truce, and offer of treaty. It was accepted, on con|dition that we were to relinquish our past conquests of Salsette, and other places; to give up Roganaut and two of the field com|mittee as hostages, and to send orders to General Goddard, on full march with the Bengal army, to return instantly home. God|dard

received the humiliating orders, * 1.225 but rejected them with indignation, and continued his route, marked in every place with glory and victory * 1.226.

IN January 1781, after the conquest of Bassein, that able officer assembled his troops at Vizrabuy, and in order to make a diversion in favor of Madras, then in imminent danger, ad|vanced to Campooly, and from thence to Candolah, which the enemy had possessed themselves of in great force, but they soon were driven from their arduous station. It should seem that Tul|lingaum had been rebuilt since the last expedition, for the Gene|ral found it just burnt, and Poonah filled with combustibles, ready for the same fate. He found an army of seventy thou|sand horse and foot, ready to oppose his little body of six thou|sand; yet such was the terror of the foe, that they again burnt the town of Tullingaum. An Indian town is as soon rebuilt as destroyed; and every preparation was made for burning Poonah, by filling the houses with straw, and removing the inhabitants to the strong hold of Sattarah. Thus circumstanced, our Gene|ral thought proper to retreat, in order to assist, with part of his forces, his friends then besieged in Tellicherry, by Sardar Khan, a general of Ayder Alli's. This movement was conducted with such secrecy and skill, that the whole of the artillery and heavy stores reached the foot of the pass in safety, and without the smallest interruption from the enemy, who were astonished, on

the morning of the 18th of April, to find that our post at Can dolah had been deserted during the preceding night. Ten thou|sand of the bravest undisciplined infantry in Hindoostan, followed him to the subjacent country; they consisted of Arabs and Sindies, who attempted to harass him in his march, but in vain: He repelled every attack with great slaughter. His own loss consisted only of a few camp followers and common soldiers. I observe at this time Hurry Punt, afterwards our friend in the campaigns in the Mysore, in 1792, among the hostile commanders. Goddard returned with fresh laurels to Bombay, which even want of success could not sere.

BESIDES the two islands I have mentioned, * 1.227 scattered over the found are several others, such as Caranja, Elephanta, Hog, Butcher, and Green island; most of them very small; but all of them rising in one part or other into a lofty hill.

OPPOSITE to Caranja stood the antient Calliana of Ar|rian, * 1.228 ii. 171, a famous and much frequented emporium. It had been a common port to all nations till the Romans made a conquest of Egypt: after which they prohibited every country from entering the Red sea, and monopolized all the trade of India: every port on this coast was shut against foreigners, and that of Calliana is particularized by Arrian. The remains of that city were observed by Doctor Fryer. But what gives this neighborhood great celebrity, is the vast ca|verns, the works of very old times, discovered in the isles of Salsette, and of Elephanta, and of certain other places hereafter to be pointed out. * 1.229 The celebrated M. NIEBUHR, who visited those caves, and those in Salsette, in 1764, has given numbers of

elegant plates of the various figures, attended with descriptions. See his second volume of Travels, p. 25 to 33. Mr. Gough has also published a most elaborate account of these wonderful caves, printed by John Nichol, in 1785.—Finally, descriptions may be found in the viith and viiith volumes of the Archaelogia, by the pen of Messrs. Mackneil, Hunter, Pyke, and Boon. The accounts are of considerable length, drawn up with great accuracy, and attended with figures of the principal antiquities. Vast hills have been excavated by human art, most probably for religious purposes. Mr. Ives gives the ground plan of that at Elephanta, by which it appears to be a hundred and eighty feet, by a hun|dred and fifty in dimensions: part is supported by vast pillars, of a rounded form, swelling at the middle, resting on a square base: on the summit of which, at each corner, is a sitting ape. In the entrance are left pillars, nearly similar, but plain, and without figures.

THE inside is divided into several square apartments, the greatest propt by the pillars above described, and is a hundred and four feet square. At each angle it is divided into three small square rooms; and at one of the entrances within (for there are three) is another, all, perhaps, chapels. These are expressed in Mr. Pyke's plan.

IN every cave, described by these curious travellers, are most amazing numbers of sculptures, all cut out of the live rock, of human figures, extravagant deities, monsters, animals, foliage, and all that can astonish and bewilder the imagination. Many represent idols of the Indian mythology, figures half beast and half man; many faces and many hands to the same sculpture;

and often the Cobra de Capello, that dreadful snake, which is attendant on several of the incarnations of Vistchenou. A fish is one, which assists to explain the object of the sculptures and uses of the excavations.

THESE caverns are the haunts of monstrous serpents. Hamil|ton, i. 239, tells us, that on firing his fusil, to enjoy the thunder|ing echo of the report, he disturbed a Boa, fifteen feet in length, and two feet in girth, from its antient seat, which put the tra|veller to speedy flight, and an end to his curiosity.

MOST of the figures are colossal, from twelve to twenty-three feet high. Some of them, with all their extravagancies, are said to be finely executed: many are cross leg'd, in their attitude of prayer; many have rosaries, which prove that these places were objects of devotion.

THE woman with three faces and four arms is engraven in Mr. Pyke's account. I beg leave to make a few remarks on that figure: round her neck are five necklaces, rich in pearls and gems, with pendent jewels; her hair is long, and hangs in beautiful ringlets; her ears (not her ear-rings as they are called) hang to a vast length, exactly in the Malabar mode; and her head|dress is conic, in the Chinese fashion, which might have been in use in early times. The last is dropt; the strange deformity of long ears are still retained: so far is certainly of eastern sculpture.

BUT what can be said to the figures found in another cave, in the neighborhood of Bombay, not expressed by name: they are engraven in volume vii. of the Archaelogia; some have the sausage curl, others the cochlear twirl, in the hair, and others

the rich braid of pearl; all resembling, in some degree, the fantastic variety in the head-dresses of the Roman ladies, with|out the lest trace of oriental fashion.

I SHALL conclude with saying, that the cave of Elephanta takes its name from an elephant, with a lesser on its back, cut on the outside of the cave; and in a passage is the rude figure of a horse, called that of Alexander the Great, to whom the Indians attribute these mighty works, as we Welsh do every thing stu|pendous to our favorite Arthur. I mention this tradition to shew its great antiquity, as well as that of the excavations them|selves. Arrian, in his Periplus maris Erythraei, ii. 166, says that there were near Barygaza, foundations of camps, antient cha|pels, altars, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, great wells, all attributed to the Macedonian hero.

THE idols mentioned here are quite diminutive to some in the Soobahship of Cashmere, in recesses excavated in the moun|tain, which are called (says the Ayeen, ii. 208) Surnmii, and are pre|tended to have been the winter retreat of the antient inhabitants; one of the figures was eighty ells high; there was a woman of fifty, and a child of fifteen. In one of these Surnmii was found a tomb, and in that a coffin; in which was a corpse preserved by medical preparations: one would suppose that the customs of the Tartars had been observed in this place, and burning the bodies at that time not in use.

THE method of travelling which begins at Surat, * 1.230 and is con|tinued through most parts of India, is by oxen. The ox sup|plies the use of the horse; the smaller sort serve as pads, the larger are used in drawing a kind of carriage called a hackerie.

The beasts are commonly white, have black noses, and large perpendicular horns: they are also remarkable, like most other Indian and African cattle, for a hunch rising between the shoulders. Those of Guzerat are most remarkably large, and in great request through most parts of India. The hunch is highly esteemed as a delicacy, salted and boiled. When they are fitted for the saddle or the draft, a cord, and some|times a piece of wood is passed through the nose from nostril to nostril, and a cord extended from each end, as a bridle. M. Sonnerat, vol. i. tab. 7, gives a print of the Hackerie, or Gari, as it is called in India, and all its apparatus. In Eng|land, if these creatures are forced out of their usual slow pace, it is too well known that they will faint, or lie down under their burthen; but at Bombay, they trot and gallop as naturally as horses, and are equally as serviceable in every other respect, ex|cept that, by their being subject to a loose habit of body, they sometimes incommode the traveller by the filth thrown upon him by the continual motion of their tails. Whenever they get to the end of the journey, the driver always alights, and puts the near bullock in the other's place; then he puts his hand into both their mouths, and after pulling out the froth, mounts his box again and drives back. It seems this precaution is absolutely necessary, for as they travel at the rate of seven or eight miles an hour, they would otherwise be in danger of suffocation.

BESIDES the large species which I have engraven in vol. i. tab. ii. of my Hist. Quadr. is a diminutive species, tab. iii, common at Surat, not bigger than a large dog, which has a fierce look, but is trained to draw children in their little carts. I have been

informed, that a bull and cow from, I believe the Tanjore coun|try, have been imported into England, the height of the first not exceeding nineteen inches, and of the last not eighteen.

BEING on the subject of animals, * 1.231 I shall mention a species of the next genus, the sheep. That called Cabrito by the Por|tuguese, is a very long legged kind, and of a very disgusting appearance. At Goa it is sometimes saddled and bridled, and serves instead of a poney, and will carry a child of twelve years of age.

ABOUT Bombay is found the squirrel, Hist. Quadr. ii. N^o 336, known by the name of the place; it is very large, and of a pur|ple color.

I MUST now digress to a very different class. * 1.232 The tribe of snakes is very numerous in India. I think their great historio|grapher, M. de la Cepede, enumerates forty-four species already known. I shall only mention the most curious: I am uncertain whether they are quite local. Mr. Ives speaks of some found in this island or neighborhood; the Cobra Capello I shall describe some time hence. Mr. Ives relates, that the Cobra Manilla is only a foot long, of a bluish color, haunting old walls. Its bite is as fatal as that of the Cobra Capello, which kills in the space of a quarter of an hour. The Cobra de Aurellia is only six in|ches long, and not thicker than the quill of a crow; it is apt to creep into the ear, and occasion death by madness. The sand snake is small, but not less fatal than the others. The Palmira, with a viperine head, and varied body, is four feet long, yet in no part thicker than a swan's quill.

AMONG the variety of beautiful shells found on the coast, * 1.233 is the noted Turbo Scalaris, or Wentle-trap, a shell seldom an inch and a quarter long, of a pearly color, and with about seven spires, each having several elegant ridges, crossing them from the first spire to the last; a sine representation of the winding staircase. A painter I knew, filled with the Concha-mania, once gave fifty-six guineas for three of them, one alone he valued at twenty-five.

SOME few other things, respecting the natural history of Bombay and its neighborhood, may be here taken notice of. The diseases of India begin to shew themselves in this place, * 1.234 but I shall only attend to the Barbiers, which is more prevalent on this side of the peninsula of India than the other. It is a palsy, which takes its name from Beriberii, or the sheep, as the afflicted totter in their gait like that animal when seized with a giddiness. Its symptoms are both a numbness, a privation of the use of the limbs, a tremor, and an attendant titillation usually not fatal, but extremely difficult of cure. It comes on slowly, and usually in the rainy season; but if a person drinks hastily, when heated, a large draught of Toddy, or the liquor of the coco nut, the attack of the disease is very sudden. Bontius, (English edition, p. 1), treats largely of the cure. He recommends strongly baths or somentations of the Nochile of the Malabars, or Lagondi of the Malays, or the Jasminum Indicum.

THE phoenomenon of small fish appearing in the rainy sea|son, * 1.235 in places before dry, is as true as it is surprising. The natives begin to fish for them the tenth day after the first rains,

and they make a common dish at the tables. Many are the modes of accounting for this annual appearance. It has been suggested that the spawn may have been brought by the water fowl, or may have been caught up by the Typhons, which rage at the commencement of the wet season, and be conveyed in the torrents of rain. I can only give an explanation much less violent: That these fishes never had been any where but near the places where they are found. That they have had a pre|existent state, and began life in form of frogs; that it had been the Rana paradoxa of Gm. Lin. iii. p. 10. 55. Their trans|formation is certainly wonderful. I refer the reader to Seba, i. p. 125, tab. 78; and to Merian's Surinam, p. 71, tab. 71, in which are full accounts of the wonderful phoenomenon of these transmuted reptiles, which complete their last transformation in the first rains.

ALL kinds of reptiles appear about that season, among others, * 1.236 toads of most enormous sizes. Mr. Ives mentions one that he supposed weighed between four and five pounds; and measured, from the toe of the fore to that of the hind leg, twenty-two inches.

I NOW leave the bay, after saying that the tides here, and at Cam|bay, rise to an amazing height; this must be understood, when they are pent up in bays or gulphs, for on the open shore they do not rise above a foot and a half. Into the eastern side flows the river Pen, with stoney and steep banks. Immediately beyond the mouth, the land resumes its course. * 1.237 The isles of Kanara and Hunary, appear at no great distance from shore, small and lofty. Sevatjee seized on the first, in defiance of every effort

of the English at Bombay. He fortified this little spot. Finding ourselves too weak to remove so dangerous a neighbor, we stir|red up against him the Siddee, or admiral to Aurengzebe. This brought on several sharp naval actions * 1.238. The Siddee seized on the neighboring Hunary; and each party carrying on a cruel war, gave importance to these inconsiderable spots.

Choule and Victoria, * 1.239 and several other small places, are given in the charts on this coast. Dunda Rajapore was a port, the rendezvous of Aurengzebe's fleet, under the command of his Siddee. The Siddee was an office formed at the time when the Mogul empire first extended itself to these coasts. Its duty was like that of the Comes Littoris Saxonici, on the French and British shores, and was here intended to repel the insults of the Mala|bar or Portuguese cruizers; as the Roman Comes was those of the Norman rovers. In the year 1682 there were a hundred and twenty Gallivats, and fifteen Grabs; and a vast army encamped in the neighborhood.

Correspondent to them, were Nitrias, the modern Newtya, Tynadis, Muziris, and numbers of other ports mentioned by the Greek and Roman historians. * 1.240 This is the Pirate coast, and extends almost from Bombay till we have arrived very near to Goa. The Romans were obliged to put on board their merchant|ships a number of archers to defend them against the attacks of the pirates † 1.241, which, according to the Universal History, x. p. 267, are said to have been Arabians. Mr. Rennel gives an admi|rable description of this extent of free-booters.

PERHAPS there are few coasts so much broken into small bays and harbours, and that at the same time have so straight a general outline. This multitude of small ports, uninter|rupted view along shore, and elevated coasts, savourable to distant vision, have sitted this coast for the seat of piracy; and the alternate land and sea breezes that prevail during a great part of the year, oblige vessels to navigate very near the shore. No wonder then that Pliny should notice them in his time as committing depredations on the Roman East India trade; and although a temporary check has been given them in the destruction of Angria's fleets, &c. yet we may expect that they will continue the practice while commerce lasts. They are protected by the shallowness of their ports, and the strength of the country within. As pirates, they have greater natural advantages than those of Barbary, who, being com|pelled to roam far from their coasts, have expensive outsets; here the prizes come to their own doors, and the cruizers may lie secure in port until the prey is discovered.

THE vessels used by these pirates are of two kinds. * 1.242 The larger are called Grabs: a few have three masts, and carry three hundred tons; the lesser have only two masts, and are of the burden of a hundred and fifty tons. On the main deck, under the fore-castle, are mounted two cannons, nine or ten pounders, pointing forwards, and firing over the prow * 1.243, which is constructed like that of a Mediterranean galley. The cannons on the broadside are from six to nine pounders.

Gallivats are large row boats, * 1.244 built like the Grabs, but do not exceed seventy tons. The larger carry six or eight cannons, from two to four pounders: the lesser only petteraroes: but both are furnished with forty or fifty stout oars, which are rowed at the rate of four miles an hour: both Grabs and Gallivats are crowded with men. Eight or ten of the latter, and forty or fifty of the former, compose Angria's principal fleet for attack|ing ships of force. They scruple not to make prize of every one which does not condescend to purchase their passports.

As soon as they descry a sail they slip from port, and sail as fast as the wind: or, if it is calm, soon reach the object with their oars: the Gallivats taking the Grabs in tow. They then assemble on the stern of the chace within cannon shot, and at|tempt to dismast her. As soon as they succeed, they surround and batter her on all sides. If the ship makes an obstinate de|fence, a number of Gallivats, with two or three hundred men in each, board her sword in hand from all quarters, and in the same instant. I am obliged to Mr. Orme's classical history for this account.

THIS coast was equally infamous in the days of Pliny, possibly long before, even as long as commerce became considerable in these seas. In lib. vi. c. 23, he warns the Roman merchants of the dangers of this route, from touching at Muziris, not only because it is not abundant in articles of commerce, but as it borders upon the Piratae, * 1.245 who had a port at Hydras, some write it Nitrias; yet I think the historian intended the first, allusive to the fabled serpent which makes every thing its prey. Their ports of this coast are truly described by Pliny to be shallow,

[figure]

VI. VICTORIA.

so that the commerce was then carried on, as it is in many places to this day, in small boats, which convey the merchan|dize to the ships, which are obliged to anchor at a distance from land. Ptolemy also mentions the ports of these pirates, or the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and gives a lift of them. It is not improbable, but that these pests of the sea continued from that time to the present: but certain it is, that Vasco de Gama found them on this coast in full force, in his first voyage to India. Marco Polo, who travelled in 1269, describes, at p. 145, their piracies in those days, both in the seas of Guzerat and Malabar. He says they took their wives and children with them, and passed the whole summer on the sea. They commonly had twenty ships in a fleet, which they ranged at the distance of five miles from each other, making a line of a hundred miles. As soon as any one described a merchant ship it made a signal, by smoke, to the rest; so there was no possibility of escape. They offered no violence to the crew; they only plundered the vessel, and set the people on shore.

IN our days many of the ports of the modern pirates have been brought into notice, by the attempts to extirpate these nests of thieves, and with a temporary success. Their principal fastnesses were in Victoria, Severn-droog, Sunderdoo, Vingorla rocks, in Lat. 15° 22′ 30″, six or seven miles from the shore; and I should have given particular pre-eminence to Gheriah, * 1.246 the port of the chief pirate Angria, nearly midway between Bombay and Goa.

Victoria is the name we bestowed on one of these fastnesses. The Indian one was Bancoote. This we retain, not only because

it has a good harbour, and great trade in salt, but because the neighborhood abounds with cattle, with which we can supply the garrison and navy at Bombay. The country is peopled with Mahomctans, who have no scruple to part with them, as the Hindoos have * 1.247.

THE reduction of these piratical powers added greatly to the glory of the British arms. * 1.248 Severn-droog, and five other of the forts on this coast, were taken in April 1755, by Commodore James, commander of the East India Company's marine forces in India † 1.249. The Mahratta fleet made a shew of assisting us, but never once came within reach of the guns. Mr. James acquired immortal honor, and was among the very few who have, of late years, made the title of Baronet the praemium virtutis.

THIS success facilitated the reduction of Gheriah, * 1.250 the chief fort and residence of Angria, the head of the piratical states. Rear-Admiral Watson, who commanded the royal squadron, seconded by Mr. James, made himself master of the place in February 1756, in less than twenty-four hours, at the expence of no more than twenty men. The chieftain, Tullagee Angria, escaped two or three days before the attack, and basely deserted his wife and little children. Mr. Ives gives an affecting account of the interview between them and our humane admiral. Not|withstanding Angria forgot what ought to be dearer than all be|sides, he took care to secure his treasure. Our army and our navy, who were very nearly quarrelling about the booty before

[figure]

VII. GHERIAH.

the attack was made, found that the wily Indian had left them no more than the value of one hundred thousand pounds to divide among them.

THE first of the name was Conagee Angria, * 1.251 an adventurer in the time of Aurengzebe, entrusted by the Mahrattas with the fort of Severn-droog. He not only kept possession of that for|tress, but extended his territories a hundred and twenty miles along the coasts, and as far inland as the Ghauts. Mahrattas, Indians, renegado Christians, and Negroes, flocked in vast num|bers to the piratical standard, which became at last as formidable in these seas, as that of Algiers in the Mediterranean. All his successors retained the name of Angria, even to the last, whose destruction we have related.

I HERE mention Dabul, a neighboring place, * 1.252 to contrast the conduct of the Portuguese, who, in 1555, took it with un|common instances of barbarity. They set fire to it in four places. The male inhabitants escaped; but the savage heroes (for we cannot deny the character of heroism) put to the sword the defenceless sex and innocent children * 1.253. After various other barbarities along the coast, the wretched conqueror, Brandan, was received at the capital, Goa, with every mark of ap|probation.

THE important city of Goa stands on an island of the same name, * 1.254 in Lat. 15° 28′ 20″, in a fine bay, a few leagues lower. The city was for a great length of time the most magnificent in India. The churches and palaces of the inhabitants were of

great grandeur and splendor. It stands elevated, in form of an amphitheatre, on the banks of a most beautiful bay. The country rises gently into hills, finely wooded, and the scene is varied with churches, convents, and villas, and the distance bounded by the Ghauts, soaring with aweful majesty. The Algoada fort defends the entrance on the northern side. All this is shewn in Mr. Dalrymple's elegant views. Two rivers flow from the Balagat mountains, and their mouths nearly meet opposite to the harbour. On one, which was called the Ganges, a few leagues from the sea, stood the Nelcynda. Arrian, ii. 173, says, that the ships which took in part of their lading there, fell down, and received the rest while they lay at anchor before Barace, a town near its mouth, or in the modern canal of Bardez.

THE Indian name of Goa was Tricurii, or the isle of Thirty Villages; it is said to have been peopled by Moorish merchants, who had been banished from different ports of Malabar, and formed soon a very flourishing settlement. This is said to have happened at no very distant period before the arrival of the Portuguese.

WHEN the great Albuquerque entered on his vice-royalty, * 1.255 it was a most opulent place, and strongly fortified. It was at that time subject to Zabaim, a potent monarch, who was then engaged in war with divers tributary princes. Timoia, a neigh|boring pirate, who had submitted to the Portuguese, strongly advised the Christian General to seize the opportunity of attack|ing Goa, representing its great opulence, and the honor and wealth that would attend his success. Albuquerque listened to

his advice, and after several assaults made himself master of the city by an agreement with the inhabitants. This happened on February 16, 1510. The citizens took the oaths of allegiance to Emmanuel; he found in the place immense quantities of ammunition, forty great cannon, and in the docks forty men of war, and in the stables numbers of fine Persian and Arabian horses * 1.256. He himself resided in the royal palace: the fame of his valor and prudence spread far and wide. He received em|bassies from several of the Indian monarchs, and even was encouraged to send an envoy to the sophy of Persia.

Unfortuately a mutinous spirit pervaded his army, and even his principal officers. This naturally infected his new subjects, who, repenting their disloyalty, and disgusted with their sudden submission to a foreign and Christian yoke, conveyed their sen|timents to their late sovereign. He assembled a mighty army on the continent, and notwithstanding every endeavor of the able Albuquerque, effected a landing on the island. The Por|tuguese defended themselves with great valor, but finding the place no longer tenable, their commander determined to retire. He embarked with great secrecy every thing that was necessary; when, on the 30th of May of the same year, after a sharp con|flict, he made good his retreat to Rapander, a neighboring town, where he resolved to winter † 1.257. Zabaim proved a brave and active enemy: Albuquerque was more than once obliged to re|move his quarters: at length, receiving a strong reinforcement of Portuguese, and other supplies, he renewed his attempt on Goa,

and, after several sharp actions, made himself again master of the city, by a most fierce and bloody assault; the defence being equally obstinate as the attack.

FROM that moment the able Vice-roy determined to make Goa the capital of his master's new acquired dominion in India: he gave it every strength his military skill could suggest, and every encouragement that his wisdom and commercial know|lege could invent. The success was, for a long series of years, equal to the greatness of the design, and it flourished with un|rivalled splendor. It became the center of the riches of India, and one of the greatest marts in the universe. At length the common consequences of wealth, pride, luxury, effeminacy, and every species of fraud, cruelty, and oppression possessed the minds of these once brave and gallant people; they degenerated into every vile action; and thought nothing wrong that brought in advantage. They established here an inquisition to enslave the minds of the people. They persecuted the poor natives in every shape, and in every place. The Abbe Raynal, in most animated terms, describes the sad change. To him I refer the reader. After the fall of the Portuguese empire in India, a priest of Goa being asked, when he thought his nation might again resume its power, sensibly replied—"As soon as your wickedness shall exceed that of my people." Let me only say, that the measure of their iniquity being filled, they were beaten, and expelled from the very seats conquered by the intrepidity and chivalry of their ancestors; and that by a small nation, who, sallying from the fens of Holland, by temperance, wisdom, and fortitude, drove from almost every part of India

that nation, whose monarchs so long had tyrannised over them in Europe. Goa, and some few places on the Malabar coast, were left to them. Most of them are now deserted, and fallen to ruin. Goa barely keeps up its head: a Vice-roy, a man of rank, is still sent here; a shew of state is kept up, but nothing of ter|ritory is left, except the island, and the two peninsulas that form the harbour. The port of Goa is one of the finest in India, and in the hands of the English or Dutch would be a wealthy and flourishing settlement; but its commercial consequence is sunk to nothing: and such is the state of Diu and Damoon if they still remain in their hands.

IT was at this place that the Apostle of the Indies, * 1.258 St. Francis de Xavier, landed, when he undertook his great mission for the conversion of the Hindoos. He was born at the castle Xavier, at the foot of the Pyrenees, in 1506. He became the friend of Ignatius Loyola, and, in concert with him, laid the plan for the society of Jesus. John III. of Portugal, by his embassador, re|quested of Loyola the recommendation of certain missionaries, whom he would send to India on the pious errand. Xavier was named as one. He landed at Goa on May 7, 1542. His success was correspondent to his zeal: he made numberless converts at Goa, Comerin, Malacca, in the Molucca isles, and in Japan. At length, in 1552, he paid the debt to nature, in an isle off the coast of China. He had the honor of canonization in 1622. The citizens of Goa boast of having his body in the church of Bon Jesus, in a magnificent chapel, dedicated to the saint. His tomb is of black marble, brought from Lishon, with the history of his

life cut on the sides, which Mr. Franklin * 1.259 says is admirably executed. Legend says that the body was found fifty years after his death, uncorrupted, on the spot he died, and by them con|veyed to this city. To disbelieve the account would be highly penal, and a crime worthy of the notice of the holy office.

I HERE mention a zoological anecdote, * 1.260 to disprove the opinion that very respected friend, Mr. Barrington, had taken up, that the turkey was a native of Hindoostan; (see his Miscellanies, p. 133). In the Memoirs of Jehangìr † 1.261 we are told, that they were first seen at Goa, introduced by the Portuguese, and bought by Mocurreb Khan, embassador of Jehangìr, as a curiosity neither he or his master ever had seen before.

A FEW leagues south of Goa is Cape Ramas. * 1.262 Between Cape Ramas and Carwar, * 1.263 in Lat. 15°, begins the province of Canhara, the cis-ghautian part of Bednore, which extends along the coast two hundred and thirty miles, and ends at mount Dilla. Before Ayder Alli made himself master of this important tract, it was little known; its numerous forests, its precipitous chains of mountains, and the inhabitants, a wild race, under Polygars who never before had submitted to any yoke. At the partition treaty, at Seringapatam, this whole province was left to Tippoo. This, says Mr. Rennel, is to be lamented, but unhappily we could not retain it, as we had our full share without this as|sumption ‡ 1.264. In these parts that precipitous range comes within

six miles of the sea, but is never more distant than twenty. Below the Cape is Carwar Bay, * 1.265 with a town of the same name at the bottom, on a river capable of receiving ships of three hundred tons. The English had a factory here in the latter end of the last century. In our present war with Tippoo Saib (while I write this) Carwar was wrested from him by a detachment of our army, under Major Sartorious. All the interior part is an immense forest, which extends far to the south. It is full of animals, both the destructive, and those which are of the ven|ison kind, and other objects of food. Tigers, and all the pan|therine tribe, and jackals swarm there; as do great variety of elegant antelopes and deer; wild cattle, boars, and various of the feathered tribe.

THE BUFFALO, Hist. Zuadr. i. N^o 9, * 1.266 is very frequent in this country, and chiefly in a state of nature, and is a chace per|mitted to every one. It is fond of wallowing in the mud, and will swim over the broadest rivers. It is often seen during the inundations to dive ten or twelve feet deep, to force up with its horns the aquatic plants, and eat them swimming. It is a very fierce animal, and will with its vast horns crush to pieces any person whom it attacks; the horns have been known to grow to the length of ten feet each.

NEAR to the bay of Carwar, close to the coast, * 1.267 are the small isles of Anchedive, important in former times for being the place where Cabral, Albuquerque, and other illustrious commanders were used to put in to refit their ships and refresh their crews after long voyages, or repulses in their attacks of some of the more powerful enemies. The brave Almeyda built near the

shore a strong fort. It observable that he found in this island, amidst the ruins of certain buildings, several red and black cru|cifixes, the marks of antient christianity in India.

ABOUT thirty miles to the south of Carwar Bay, * 1.268 is Merjee. This is supposed to have been the Musiris of Arrian, ii. p. 172, and of Pliny, lib. vi. c. 23, which the latter advises his country|men to shun, as its neighborhood was infamous for its piracies. It was an emporium; but not abounding in articles of commerce. In our days it has been made remarkable for having been the place in which Brigadier General Matthews landed, in January 1783, with his forces from Bombay, on an expedition which ter|minated so fatally to himself, and so disgracefully to the English nation. Tippoo Sultan had, in the latter end of the year 1782, made a most destructive inroad into the Carnatic. To divert the ravages of the tyrant, was the object of the presidency of this coast. * 1.269 When the General had arrived so far, he landed his troops, and sent orders to the southern army, under the colonels Macleod and Humberston, to march and join him. Before their arrival he, on January 5, attacked and took a few places of small consequence. He then directed his views to the richest parts of Ayder Alli's dominions, to which he was encouraged by the distance they were at that time from relief. He carried the opulent town of Onore, * 1.270 which lay on the coast, by storm. "Every man," says an actor in the tragedy,

in Onore was put to the sword; the carnage was great; we trampled thick on dead bodies that were strewed in the way. It was rather shocking to humanity; but such are but secondary considera|tions to a soldier whose bosom glows with heroic glory, and

are thought only accidents of course * 1.271.

Notwithstanding this sage reflection of our hero, it is said that the Kilidar, or gover|nor, and twelve hundred men were taken prisoners † 1.272; these pro|bably had retired till the bosoms of our soldiers had exhausted their heroic ardour. Fortunately for the southern army, it had not made its junction with the general, and so escaped the dis|grace of the massacre, which probably the generous commanders, had they arrived, might have diverted him from.

THUS strengthened, * 1.273 he began his toilsome ascent up the Hussein Ghurry Ghaut, with all windings, not less than three miles in extent, and strongly fortified at every turning.

Luck|ily it happened,

says Mr. Sheen,

that the commander knew nothing of this defile, otherwise it would have been madness for him to have attempted it; for if the enemy had made any tolerable defence, it would have been impregnable: but it was defended only by the wild undisciplined troops of the native Polygars.

HOWEVER, the General's want of information was the cause of our success; for in the evening, part of the eleventh batta|lion, which I belong to, the light company of the Bombay Euro|peans, and part of the fifteenth battalion of Sepoys, began the attack, and took the first barrier with very little opposition.

WHEN we came to the second, we were alarmed at the prodigious number and strong position of the enemy; but finding it no less dangerous to retreat than to advance, we charged home in all quarters, when the motley crew gave way and fled, leaving about five hundred killed and wounded.

Our small body, flushed with success, immediately proceeded with the bayonet, and never stopped till they gained the sum|mit of the Ghaut, under a heavy cannonading all the way.

Bednore, * 1.274 the great object of the fatal expedition, stands on the vast plains of the same name, at about nine miles distance from the edge of the Ghauts. It is the present capital of the country, but since it is come into possession of Ayder Ali, the name is changed, in honor of him, to Ayder Nager, or the royal city of Ayder. In the history of Ayder, i. 83 * 1.275, as a place of uncommon splendor, beauty, and magnitude, with streets two leagues in length, every house in the centre of a luxuriant garden, filled with trees, and watered with limpid streams. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Canhara, * 1.276 and was called Rana Bid|dalura. Ayder possessed himself of this place, and the whole of the rich province, * 1.277 by the following accident. The son of the reigning Queen of Canhara fled to Ayder, imploring his protection and his assistance to put him in possession of his kingdom, which his mother kept from him in a most iniquitous manner. Ayder acceded to his petition, marched against the usurpress, defeated her army, and, in the end, reconciled the contending parties. She received Ayder with every mark of respect, and even lodged him in the royal palace. Under this mask she, in concert with her husband (for she had married a second, a Brahmin) determined on his destruction by the most horrid means, that of blowing him up in the palace with gunpowder. A subordinate Brahmin dis|covered

the plot: he appeared before Ayder in presence of the Queen, the King, and whole court, and charged the conspirators with their crime. The trial commenced on the spot, the charge was proved, the Queen and her husband put to death, and the king confined. Possibly the complaint of the son was uncon|stitutional, for the throne of Canhara is said to have always been filled with a female, who had the privilege of marrying whom she pleased, but exempted herself from the cruel rite of burning with the body of her husband, in the manner that the affec|tionate spouses of her subjects were accustomed to do. * 1.278 Ayder Alli seized on the kingdom, and all the immense treasure of the capital; but, what he thought of more importance, was a line of coast, which flattered his ambition with the hopes of becom|ing as invincible by sea as he had hitherto been by land.

FROM the time of the storming Onore, the General's conduct was totally altered. He grew irresolute respecting his proceed|ings, paid no attention to the plan he was to execute by the orders of the Presidency, and neglected every communication with them. Before this, he was held in high estimation, as an officer * 1.279 and a man. He remained a long time in a state of de|spondency. At length, actuated by a passion before latent, he suddenly took the resolution of performing the service he was appointed to. He ascended the Ghaut, in the manner related. He appeared before Bednore, at that time wholly defenseless. * 1.280 It was then governed by Hyat Saib, a person of consummate abili|lities, and firm fidelity towards his master. He reflected on the

impossibility of resistance, and the danger of having both the province and city desolated by the rage of the conqueror. He secretly sent to Matthews, as soon as he had entered the plains, to offer to surrender the place, and to deliver to the English all the treasures; on condition, that the persons and property of the inhabitants should be secured, and himself continued in the government under the English, with all the power he had under Ayder.

Matthews, now in possession of the treasures of ages, and dazzled by the heaps of the gems of Hindoostan, such strong temptations rose in view as instantly to dissipate every virtuous idea he might before have possessed. Avarice and rapacity oc|cupied their seats, and he rose like the fiend Mammon with all his attributes. The General seized on all the treasures, and im|prisoned Hyat Saib. He as suddenly released him, and made to him a pretended restitution of all his wealth * 1.281. Strong suspicions of the General's conduct pervaded the army. To allay their murmurs, he prevaled on Hyat Saib to present the troops with about the value of twenty thousand pounds in pagodas. He had also quarreled with Macleod, Mackenzie Humberston, and major Shaw, after the capture of Bednore, on the subject of pre|cedency with the company's troops. They quitted the army, and hastened to Bombay, to lay their complaints before the Pre|sidency. Their absence was most fatally missed. The General now, for the first time, sent dispatches to the Presidency, filled with false statements of affairs, and complaints against the army, from the generals to the very common men.

AT Bednore he found (to a patriotic commander) a more im|portant acquisition than any treasures. * 1.282 All Ayder's principal ma|gazines, a very fine foundry for brass cannon, a powder manu|factory, and immense stores of every kind * 1.283. Matthews did not make a true estimate of this species of treasure; his avarice made him neglect his security, yet he weakened his army by making detachments to every place where the prospect of plunder could allure him. He neglected the strong passes into the Mysore, which, secured, he might have rested safely against all the efforts of the returning Tippoo. Among other places he sent a detachment to Annampour, a strong fort, adjacent to Bednore, * 1.284 which Ayder had made the depôt of the rest of his treasure. The place was taken by storm. Let Lieutenant Sheen relate the disgraceful event.—

When a practicable breach was effected, orders were issued for a storm, and no quarters; which was immediately put in execution, * 1.285 and every man put to the sword, except one horseman, who made his escape, after being wounded in three different places. A dreadful sight then presented itself; above four hundred beautiful women, either killed or wounded with the bayonet, expiring in one another's arms, while the private soldiers were committing every kind of outrage, and plundering them of their jewels, the officers not being able to restrain them † 1.286.

THE troops were, however, afterwards, severely repri|manded for it. I had almost forgot to mention, that some of the women, rather than be torn from their relations, threw

themselves into large tanks, where they were drowned.

The pretence for these brutalities was, that the garrison, an uncivi|lized people, had acted in contradiction to the rules of war among civilized nations. After the specimen we gave here, I fear the idea of the civilization the British had arrived at, will not rise to any great height. Matthews suppressed in his dis|patches all accounts of this or similar transactions, and also of the vast treasures. We are beholden to private letters for the history. One officer was so shocked at one he had written, that he tore it to pieces! Lieut. Sheen was not so delicate! All these shameful relations have been contradicted; yet still, as Sir Tho|mas Brown expresses, they are among those

verities we fear, and heartily wish there was no truth therein.

THE General, * 1.287 now in imaginary security, descended the Ghaut, to effect new conquests in the maritime country. He laid siege to Mangalore. A practicable breach was soon effected, which the gallant governor, Rustan Alli beg, could not persuade hid timid garrison to defend, so he was compelled to surrender. A few years after, he unjustly lost his head, in sight of the city, by order of his cruel master, Tippoo Sultan.

AT Mangalore the General received intelligence, that Tippoo was in full march from the Carnatic to relieve his coun|try. After the receipt of the news, his mind grew quite dis|ordered. He re-ascended the Ghaut, and re-entered Bednore. In a few days the enemy appeared. His forces were so nume|rous, that they not only covered the adjacent plains, but even every hill, and more remote than the eye could reach. Mat|thews, in a frenzy, marched out with his handful of men, and

met the expected fate; was at once defeated, with the loss of five hundred men. He made his retreat into Bednore, which he bravely defended seventeen days: but finding the garrison reduced by sickness, and the number of slain, * 1.288 he capitulated on honorable terms. The garrison to be allowed the honors of war: but to pile the arms on the glacis; to retain all private property, and to restore all public, &c. &c. Tippoo took possession of the city. Notwithstanding his situation, the avarice of the General overcame every consideration. He ordered the officers to make unlimited drafts on the paymaster, who had before been greatly exhausted by various contrivances. It was currently believed, that he had sent by his brother to Goa, three hundred thousand pounds, and a great quantity of diamonds, to be remitted to Bombay; and that, even on the point of his departure, he had caused the bamboos of his palanquin to be pierced, and filled with pagodas. When Tippoo examined the state of his treasury, he grew enraged at this infamous fraud; he declared the treaty void: put the officers and their Sepoys, faithful to them to the last, indiscriminately in irons, and marched them in that condition, in a burning sun, to prisons at Scringapatam and other places. Numbers fell dead on the road, the remainder ar|rived at the place of their destination in the utmost misery, and that increased by the wretched dungeons they were confined in. Those who perished, were nightly flung over the walls, and in Chitteldroog the survivors heard the tigers gorging themselves with the corpses of their happier friends * 1.289.

THE General was confined at Seringapatam: * 1.290 where he was not suffered to linger long. Various are the accounts given of the manner of his end, but the most probable is, that it was by poison. Numbers of his officers suffered in the same man|ner, in different places, and died in the greatest agonies. His brother, * 1.291 who unfortunately returned from his journey to Goa, and a Mr. Weldon, were taken into the jungles, and had their throats cut. Numbers of the unhappy men, fated to die by the poisonous draught, abstained from food for many days, till despair and hunger compelled them to take the fatal draught. Others, who by delay made the executioners impatient, had the poison forced down their throats. My pity is suspended for as many as might have been guilty of the barbarity at Annam|pour, was it possible they could have been accessary to the savage fury of their troops, stained in every part of the expedition with slaughter, cruelty, fraud, rapine, and avarice * 1.292.

IT is evident that the severities exercised by Tippoo, after this victory, was here the determined resolution of inflicting a just punishment; but, unhappily, he included in it the innocent, as well as guilty. After his defeat of Colonel Braithwaite, on the banks of the Coleroon, how different was his conduct; he con|sidered Matthews as the sordid adventurer, Braithwaite as the generous enemy, and treated him and the wounded captives with a humanity that shewed his coolness, and capacity of dis|tinguishing between the one and the other.

I AM uncertain what the poison was; * 1.293 probably a vegetable,

in which India is extremely fertile; some speak of the juice of the Milky hedge, Euphorbia Tiraculli, Syst. Pl. ii. 438. Ossifraga lactea, Rumph. Amb. vii. 62, tab. xxix. Comm. hort. i. 27, tab. xiv. This emits most copiously a milk of so caustic a nature, as is likely to produce a most agonizing death. The juices of other Euphorbia are very deadly, as are those of the root of that beautiful flower the Gloriosa Superba, Syst. Pl. ii. 49, Lilium Zeylan. Comm. hort. i. 69, tab. xxxv. In one place I find another unintelligibly mentioned, under the title of the milk of the coco nut bush * 1.294.

I NOW pursue the event of the complaints laid before the Presidency of Bombay, by the seceding officers. Their infor|mation appeared well founded. Matthews was ordered to be superceded, his misfortune being then unknown. Macleod was appointed to succeed him in the command, and Humberston and Shaw to serve under Macleod. The sequel is tragical. The new officers, on April 5, sailed in the Ranger sloop of ten guns, Lieut. Ornen commander, to be landed for the purpose of join|ing the army. On the 7th they fell in with the Mahratta fleet, a powerful squadron, which attacked them without the lest notice. Major Shaw was shot dead, the General and Col. Hum|berston through the lungs, and several other officers killed or wounded. After a defence, far too obstinate against so very superior a force, the survivors struck, and were carried into Ghe|riah; the Governor disowning any knowlege of the peace, which had actually been proclamed a very few days before. Such

is the account given on the authority of the East India Com|pany. The author of the War in Asia, i. p. 483, makes our General a Quixote, who, rather than be carried into Gheriah for a single day, was above coming to an explanation, and madly fought the unequal force of the barbarians. Humberston died of his wounds on April 30, of whom the author * 1.295 gives a cha|racter that should not be suppressed.

He died in the twenty|eighth year of his age. An early and habitual conversancy with the heroes of antient, as well as modern times, nourished in his mind a passion for military glory, and supported him under unremitting application to all those studies by which he might improve his mind, rise to honorable distinction, and render his name immortal; he being not only acute, but pro|found and steady in his views, gallant without ostentation, and spirited without temerity and imprudence.

At his early age he was great in the cabinet as in the field † 1.296. He laid the finest plan for the overthrow of our great rivals, Ayder and his suc|cessor: and as far as they were attempted, they succeeded. He was honored with the command of a small body of troops, opposed

to the able Tippoo. By a fine retreat with two thousand men against thirty thousand Mysorians, he eluded his fury; and soon after, in conjunction with Macleod, repelled the attack of Tippoo on his lines, which forced that chiestain to the mortifying ne|cessity of seeking safety beyond the river Paniani. How op|posite to the merits of so brave a youth was his fate!

BRUTUS'S bastard hand Stabb'd Julius Caesar; savage islanders Pompey the Great; our hero dies by pirates.

A SMALL isle, or rather rock, about a mile from Onore, * 1.297 was made remarkable in the war against Tippoo, by being strongly fortified by him, being intended for a magazine of all sorts of naval stores for building and repairing ships. He had resumed his father's design of becoming a naval power. Those English frigates frustrated his plan in October 1791, and, by the despe|rate valour of a few marines, made themselves masters of the place.

WE omitted to say, that at Onore, * 1.298 the son of Francis Almeyda burnt the fleet of the prince of the place, deseated his army, and burnt, but did not think it worth his trouble to take the town. Barcelore, in Lat. 13° 25′, is the next town of note, and the parts adjacent are very productive of rice, that great food of the Orientalists.

Mangalore is a considerable city, seated in Lat. 12° 50′, * 1.299 upon a rising ground. This also has belonging to it very considerable rice grounds. It has the conveniency of three rivers, which unite a little above its site. The Portuguese supply you with rice

from these two towns, and even send it to the coasts of Arabia. As late as 1695 the Arabs of Mascat were in such strength as to come with their fleet, plunder the country, and burn the two towns, notwithstanding the Canharians have a line of earthen forts, each garrisoned with two or three hundred men, as a defence against free-booters. The Portuguese had a factory here, notorious, as I fear all their colonies are, for the excessive debaucheries of both clergy and laity.

Ayder Ali, * 1.300 with all his abilities, entertained a most grand, but visionary plan, not only of becoming sovereign of the Indian seas, but of even retaliating on the English, the several invasions they had made into India. In order to become a naval power, he invited shipwrights from all countries, and under them trained a number of his own subjects. He had in his own dominions abundance of materials; and he fixed on Man|galore as his great dock, and military naval port. He has hitherto been unfortunate. In 1768, the place was taken by a sleet sitted out from Bombay, and nine great ships and several lesser were brought away * 1.301. Ayder soon recovered his port: and, irritated at the disgrace, redoubled his efforts to restore his navy, and carry his great design into execution. By the year 1781 he had almost finished six ships of the line, and several frigates and sloops. He had heard something of the solidity and strength of the waters of the European seas, so under the notion of combatting with oceans of ice, he strengthened his ships with planks of great thickness † 1.302. But we did not permit

Ayder to make the experiment. General Matthews, secure as he thought himself in possession of Bednore, descended on this city, and in a little time made himself master of the place, with three large ships on the stocks, and several lesser, which totally put to flight the naval vision of the great Ayder.

IN 1783 Mangalore was invested by Tippoo Sultan in person, with an army of a hundred and forty thousand fighting men, assisted by the French. The governor, Colonel Campbel, made a most gallant defence, and suffered every extreme of famine, till the place was given up, on honorable terms, at the conclusion of the war, when it was found a mere heap of rubbish. It had been assailed in the strangest manner, bombarded by great masses of stones, flung out of mortars, which did infinite mis|chief: the poor soldier who was struck on the body, had a sud|den relief; those who received them on the extremities suffered a long and agonizing termination of life. Mangalore remains in possession of the Sultan, with the whole province of Can|hara, the only maritime part allotted to him in the glorious partition treaty.

Nelisuram is seated a few miles up a river, * 1.303 and is supposed to be the Nelcynda and Melcynda of the antients.

NEAR this river begins that vast extent of coast, * 1.304 called the Malabar, Le Royaume de Melibar of Marco Polo, p. 148, com|prehending the several places, districts or principalities I shall mention. It reaches to Cape Comorin, and owned the Zamorin, or King of Calicut, as Lord Paramount.

MOUNT Dilla, or Deli, is the next place of note, * 1.305 it is a small promontory in Lat. 12° 1′, and within is a bay, on which pro|bably

stood the Elancon emporium of Ptolomy. Marco Polo, the celebrated traveller of the thirteenth century, visited the place in his journey through part of India. He calls this tract Le Royaume d'Eli, and Albulseda, Ras Heili, or the Cape of Heili. Polo says, it abounded with pepper, ginger, and other spices. He adds, that if a ship happened to be driven into their port by a tempest, the king immediately confiscated it, saying—

You never intended to come here, but God and fortune disposed it otherwise; so we will profit of what they have been pleased to send.

Cananore stand a little to the south of Mount Dilla. * 1.306 In 1501 it was visited by Cabral, on an invitation from the monarch of the place, who treated him in the kindest and most affectionate manner. The Portuguese obtained leave to erect a fort near the city, which was their first and usual step towards the enslav|ing the natives. The friendly monarch died. The new king, provoked by the barbarity of one Goes, who had taken an Ara|bian ship, sewed up the whole crew in the sails, and flung them into the sea. Exasperated at this cruelty, the ruling prince laid siege to the fort. The garrison were reduced to the last extremity by famine, when they were relieved, by the sea flinging on shore great quantities of shrimps * 1.307. Tristan de Cunha arrived with his fleet, and relieved the garrison. The city afterwards was taken by the Portuguese, who continued masters of it till it was besieged, in 1660, by the Dutch.

IN December 1790, * 1.308 in the beginning of the campaign of that year, against Tippoo Sultan, Major-General Robert Abercromby

opened it with the reduction of Cananore and Nurrcarow, which he instantly effected in the sight of Tippoo. Leaving garrisons behind, he took post, on March 1, 1791, on the head of the Ghauts, at Pondicherrim, opposite to Cananore. He then pro|ceeded to Periapatam, along the plains of Mysore, about eigh|teen miles from the edge of those vast heights. He reached that fort on May 16. It was deserted by the garrison, after blowing up some of the bastions; and only eighteen miles in|tervened between him and the grand army, commanded by Lord Cornwallis, ready to invest Seringapatam, the residence of Tippoo. The Sultan exerted every resource of a great mind to avert his fate. He fought a pitched battle with the British General, and suffered a complete defeat. The Lord of Hosts interfered, and deferred his destruction. The time of the Monsoons came on. The victor was obliged to destroy part of his train, and fall back to Bangalore. The swell of the Cavery forced Abercromby to retire

who had, with infinite labor, formed roads, and brought a battering train, and a large supply of provisions and stores, over fifty miles of woody mountains, called Ghauts, that immense barrier, which separates the Mysore country from the Malabar coast. Part of General Abercromby's train also fell a sacrifice to the neces|sity of the times: and his army, who thought they had sur|mounted all their difficulties, had the mortisication to find their exertions of no utility, and had to return, worn down by sickness and fatigue, exposed to the incessant rains which then deluged the western coast of the penmsula * 1.309.

IN the following year, he again ascended the toilsome paths to fame, successfully joined his great commander, and received the most pleasing reward to noble minds, praise well deserved, and earned with hardships, perseverance, and judgment.

VIEWING the immense range of mountains from below, * 1.310 in height a mile and a quarter from the sea? covered with forests, the tops often hid in the clouds, they appear to form an un|surmountable barrier between the Mysore country and the Ma|labar coast * 1.311.

THE tract which now bears the name of Canhara, * 1.312 is by Arrian styled Cottonara. The trans-ghautian part is the Pan|dionis Regio, which answers to the modern kingdom of Mysore.

ALL this tract was, in Arrian's time, noted for its rich pro|ductions and great commerce, particularly in the article pepper. The Piper cottonaricum was famous in all parts, but the histo|rian limits the growth to one spot. The country was far from being confined to that single article: It supplied the merchants with numbers of the finest pearls, * 1.313 ivory, and Othonia serica, a certain mixed manufacture of cotton and silk.

Arrian, i. 539, speaks of the beautiful white linens of India, probably the same with the modern calicoes. These formed, as they do at present, a great part of their clothing. This trade is probably continued, to the present day, to the emporia of Tartary. When Anthonie Jenkinson was at Bochara, in 1558, the Indian caravans brought great quantities of this species of linen, which was much used by the Tartars to form their head|dress,

insomuch that they rejected our kersies and cloths, which Jenkinson offered to sale * 1.314.

Nardos Gapanica, or Nardus, * 1.315 from a certain part of India called Gapana, is another article of commerce. The Nardus was in high repute in former times, but now is out of fashion. It was much used in form of a pomatum, with which the Ro|mans perfumed their hair. Horace speaks of it frequently, on festive occcasions, and in one exemplifies the antient custom of bringing their pretious ointments in a box of Onyx or Alabastrites:

Nardi parvus Onyx eliciet cadum.

Old Gerard, p. 1081, speaks of its medical virtues in his days. I cannot ascertain the plant.

THE Malebathrum was another valuable drug from this re|gion. Pliny, lib. xii. c. 12, and lib. xiii. c. 1, * 1.316 speaks highly of it as a perfume, in which it seems to have been an ingredient among many others. The Unguentum Regale was composed of not fewer than twenty-six. That of Syria was also in high request. Horace speaks of his sitting with his old friend, Pom|peius Varus, at a feast, crowned with wreaths of flowers, and highly perfumed:

Saepe diem mero Fregi, coronatus nitentes Malebathro Syrio capillos.

Pliny gives a very long list of the persumes used by the Romans. They were mostly pomatums, and consequently not the most

delicate. The variety was endless, and some of the ingredients would seem now very singular. They anointed themselves with some kinds, to suppress the rank smell of their bodies, and often to prevent the effects of their intemperance and excess in meats and drinks, being too sensibly perceived. Dioscorides and Pliny say, that the vegetable which yielded this perfume was a certain water-plant, that floated on the surface, like what we call duck|meat. Gerard, p. 1534, called it Talapatra, or Indian leaf, and gives the figure of a shrub, related to the clove.

THE Hyacinthus, * 1.317 a pretious stone, mentioned by Arrian as an article of commerce. That of the artients approached the Amethyst in value and color. * 1.318 "Emicans," says Pliny, "in Amcthysto fulgor violaceus, dilutus est in Hyacintho." Those of India were the most valuable.

THE Testudo Chrysonetiotice was a small species of land-tor|toise, * 1.319 another export: it was so called by the Greeks, being marked as if with threads of gold; this is a faithful descrip|tion given by the antients: Linnaus calls it Testudo Geometrica; La Cepede gives a good sigure of it in tab. ix.

THE imports here (for it is well to know the antient wants of the country) were, * 1.320 a considerable quantity of specie; hence we may account for sinding in India the coins of Europe; chry|solites, an Aethiopian gem of a golden color; a few plain cloths; Polymcta, or embroideries of different colors; Stimmi; Coral, probably the red, from the Mediterranean sea, all others abounding in the eastern seas; rude glass, brass, tin, lead, a little wine, Sanaarac, or red arsenic, Arsenicum, or the common, wheat for the use of the ships only, being scarcely an article of commerce.

ALL this coast, the Lymirica Regio, or modern Concan, was greatly frequented by the Roman merchants.

Originally they performed only coasting voyages, from harbour to har|bour, failing from Cana, the modern Cava Canim, on the coast of Arabia Felix, till Hippalus * 1.321, an adventurous seaman, having considered the situation of the harbours, and the form of the sea, found out a navigation through the ocean, at the season in which the winds blow with us, says Arrian, from the sea, and the west south west wind prevails in the Indian ocean: which wind is called Hippalus, from the first discoverer of that navigation. From that time till now, some fail in a direct course from Cana, others from the harbour of the Aromati † 1.322, they who fail for Lymirica make a longer stay: others who steer for Barygaza or Scythia, stay not above three days; they spend the rest of the time in completing their usual voyage.

A FEW leagues to the south of Mount Dilla, * 1.323 stands Telli|cherry, in Lat. 11° 48′, an English settlement, of late years de|fended by lines, of a weakening extent, formed against the attacks of the late Ayder Alli. The place had been for years besieged by his forces, under the command of his General, Sadlk Khan: a vigorous sally, in January 1782, ended all his plans, which was conducted by Major Abingdon, a brave and able

officer * 1.324, sent from Bombay by General Goddard, with a detach|ment of the army for its relief. The army was defeated, the camp taken, and the General wounded and made prisoner. He soon died of a broken heart, and was buried near the fort with due honors. A tomb was erected over his grave; lamps are con|tinually burning, and the Musselmen in numbers pay respectful visits to the place † 1.325. Ayder had a strong fortress near the Eng|lish limits; but if the lines were forced Tellicherry must fall.

THE situation of the town is extremely beautiful; backed by hills finely broken, and wooded, interspersed with valleys, and watered by a fine river; but its extreme healthiness is a recom|mendation beyond all other beauties: it is equal to that of England, and is, on that account, the great resort of invalids. Pepper is the great article of commerce; but coffee is also cul|tivated there.

Tellicherry once belonged to the French, but we made our|selves masters of it, I believe, in King William's time. Hamil|ton speaks of the punch-houses: this reminds me of a pleasant mistake of M. Bernier, iii. 154, who taking the vessel for the contents, speaks of a fatal liquor much drank by the English, called Boule-ponge.

Mahé, * 1.326 a French settlement, is contiguous to Tellicherry, seated among most delicious wooded hills, and near the mouth of a river. The French settled here about the year 1722; we took it in 1760, and, before we evacuated it, completely dismantled the town, but did no other damages. To this day we prevent

them from restoring the fortifications, or augmenting their forces.

THE great squirrel of Malabar, Sonnerat, * 1.327 ii. tab. lxxxvii. is found near Mahe; it is as large as a cat, the ears short and tufted, the tail longer than the body, the upper part of the body reddish. It frequents the coco-trees, is fond of the liquor of the nut, which it will pierce to get at; has a most shrill and sharp cry.

THE great staple of this country is, * 1.328 as it was in the days of Arrian, pepper. They cultivate here, and indeed far inland, the Piper nigrum and album; also the P. longum, or long pep|per, Rumph. Amboin. v. 333, tab. 116. All these are climbing plants, and require support. The white is only the fruit in an unripe state. Raynal says, we draw annually from this neigh|borhood fifteen hundred thousand pounds weight.

THE interior of the Malabar coast is filled with forests of trees, * 1.329 many of which are of majestic sizes, and what the author styles vaslae magnitudinis. I have formed a collection of the species, most of which Linnaeus was unable to ascertain. In those cases I refer to our great RAY, and give the Malabar names, with references to the Hortus. The trees that are not to be found in this catalogue, may be met with in that of the Cey|lonese. The name of Rhecde prefixed, will evince them to be common to both countries.

• Katon Maragam Rheede Mateb. p. iv. tab. 13, Raii hist. ii. 1463
• Idon Moulli Raii hist. ii. 1482
• Kara Nagolam—iv. tab. 18. 1483
• ...

• Commotti — v. tab. 45. Raii hist. ii. 1496
• Angolam — iv. tab. 17. 1497
• Kara Candel — v. tab. 13. 1498
• Mail Elon — v. tab. 1. 1557
• Katon Mail Elon — v. tab. 2. 1558
• Thoka — iv. tab. 27—Teek, see before, p. 81. 1565
• Calesiam — iv. tab. 32. 1597
• Nyalel — iv. tab. 16. 1606
• Niruala — iii. tab. 42. 1644
• Cratoeva Tapia, Syst. pl. ii. 419.
• Panitsjica Maram — iii. tab. 41. 1666
• Syalita — iii. tab. 38. 1707
• Tongelion Perimaram 1753
• Tondi Teregam — iii. tab. 60. 1787
• Panam Pulka Nux Myrislean, & iv. tab. 5. 1524
• Tsiem-tani—iv. tab. ii. Raii hist. 1556—Rumphia Amboinensis, Syst. pl. i. 92.
• Dillenia Indica, Syst. pl. ii. 624.

Abundance of coco trees, * 1.330 the Cocos nucifera, Calappa, and Tenga of the Indians (not cocoa) are planted along this coast. Of the body of the tree the Indians make boats, the frames for their houses, and rafters. They thatch their houses with the leaves; and, by slitting them lengthways, make mats and baskets. The utility of the nut of this tree is great, for food, and for drink, and for the oil extracted from it; of the thready rind is made cordage, called Kaiar, and I think it is woven into coarse linen. From the branches exudes, on being cut, a

liquor called Toddy; the Indians hang, to the part left adherent to the tree, an earthen pot, in which is collected from a pint to a quart a day. From this liquor, fermented, is distilled an excellent Arrack, and a very fiery dram called Fool, with which our seamen too frequently intoxicate themselves.

Arcca Cathccu, or Pinanga, Rumph. i. tab. iv. to vii. is, from the universal custom of chewing the nut with Betel, a most useful tree, and greatly cultivated in every part of India. The Pliny of India gives several plates of it, with the form of the nut, and fructification, and of the cultivated and wild kinds * 1.331. The nuts are usually of the size of a hen's egg: they are therefore broken and prepared for chewing, wrap|ped in the bitter leaf of the Betel, mixed with Chunan, or shell lime, and in that form taken all over India by people of every age, sex, and condition. Rumphius, i. p. 32, is most particular about the use, and the great pomp and ceremony with which the Indian monarchs bestow it on the embassadors they receive from foreign states. It is the compliment of the country to offer this at visits, or wheresoever people meet: it is an emblem of peace and friendship, is supposed to ex|hilarate the spirits, to strengthen the stomachs (but at the expence of the teeth), and is particularly in repute with ladies of intrigue, as it is supposed to improve the powers of love. The Arabs call the Areca tree Faufel. Gorard, p. 1520, has caused it to be engraven.

THESE trees are not found in Coromandel or Bengal. The nuts are sent there in great quantities, as articles of commerce.

THE use of this nut is, in many parts of India, greatly abused; they are made the instruments of philtres, charms, and incantations by the fair sex, and often the medium of a fatal poison. The first is intended to conciliate the affection of their lovers, a practice in all ages and in all countries. They are even said to possess the powers of changing affections, to dissolve that between man and wife, and transfer them to other objects. They are next used as means of revenge, for the spretae injuria formae. They are said to be capable of preparing the nuts in such a manner, as to bring on the offending parties the completest imbecility; or, if they prefer another mode of revenge, death itself, lingering, and distant; even to any time these demoniac fair chuse. The lover falls into an atrophy, and wastes away in the classical manner, described by the Greeks and Romans, when the waxen image was made the fatal incanta|tion. Rumphius records the Indian tales, and seems to believe them. He certainly was a man of abilities, and nothing credulous.

THE Betel, * 1.332 its concomitant, is a species of pepper, Piper Betel, a climbing plant, native of all India, and cultivated by props or poles, like the rest of the kind. Neither this, nor the Areca, hath escaped our old friend Gerard: at pages 1520, 1521, he hath given good figures of both kinds.

I MAY mention other species of the vegetable kingdom that are articles of commerce from this coast. * 1.333 Such is the Santalum album, Rumph. Amboin. ii. 42, tab. 11, which grows to a great size. This wood has a strong aromatic smell, and is burnt in all the houses of the Orientalists for the sake of its salubrious

and fragrant scent. A paste is also made of the powder of the wood, with which the Indians, Chinese, Persians, Turks, and Arabs, anoint their bodies, using their persumes as the Romans did of old. Gerard, p. 1585, says, that the Indians use a decoction of the wood in fevers, and various diseases.

RED SANDERS, Santalum rubrum, * 1.334 the Pterocarpus santa|linus, Linn. suppl. pl. 318, Fl. Zeyl. N^o 417. Draco arbor, Com|mel. hort. i. p. 213, tab. 109, Raii hist. pl. iii. arbor. 113, grows here. It has a place in our dispensaries, and its wood is made use of in various works, and all the different forts of house|hold furniture, benches, tables, &c. * 1.335 and toys, on account of the agreeable seent. Blocks of the wood of this tree are of a stoney hardness and weight † 1.336. The gum and sap are of intense redness ‡ 1.337.

THE Amomum Cardamomum, or Minus, * 1.338 of Rumph. Amboin. v. 152, tab. 65, grows here na••••••••••ly, particularly in places covered with the ashes of plants burnt on the spot. Consult Gerard, p. 1542, for the form of the fruit. The seeds are used in the Indian made-dishes; and, mixed with Areca and Betel, chewed to help digestion, and strengthen the stomach. We retain it in our dispensary.

As to the Amomum Zinziber, our common ginger, * 1.339 Rumph. Amboin. v. 156, tab. 66, Woodville, i. 31, the best in all India is cultivated in this country, and universally used to correct the in|sipidity of the general sood, rice; and is also mixed in the dishes of persons of rank. * 1.340 This was one of the imports of the Romans, as was the Cardamomum, Piper, Myrobalanus, Calamus

aromaticus, Nardus, Costus, Xylocinnamomum, Aspalathos, and Sesama, or the oil extracted from its seed.

BASTARD cinnamon, * 1.341 the Cassia of the shops, and Laurus Cassia, Burman. Zeyl. 63, tab. 28, grows here in great plenty, and the bark is a great article of commerce in India: some little is sent to Europe, but the consumption is very small, as we preser the true species: the bark is more red, and has a less flavor. It is said, that the forests of Malabar produce annually two hundred thousand pounds weight.

IT is endless to enumerate the plants or trees of India; the knowledge of its vegetable kingdom can only be learned from the number of books expressly written on the subject; yet, in the course of this topography, I shall incidentally give a brief account of the most singular, or the most useful. In this place I shall de|tain the reader a little longer than usual, to mention the useful Bamboo, * 1.342 a reed which is found frequent in the country. It is the retreat of tigers, panthers, bears, and other beasts of prey; and the haunt of infinite numbers and varieties of the monkey tribe. Botanists style it Arundo Bambos, and Arundo arbor; it is an evergreen. The stem is of a vivid green, but as it grows older, becomes of a duller color. I refer to the Syslema Planta|rum for the synonyms. Rumphius, iv. 8, describes, but does not give its figure. In the Hortus Malaharicus, i. tab. 16, it is found under the title of Ily. Bamboo is not the Indian name, but one imposed on it by the Portuguese, from the violent ex|plosion the hollows give on being set on fire, occasioned by the confined air, little inferior to that of a piece of artillery. This plant grows to a prodigious height, so as to over-top all trees of

the forest; and its circumference so great, as to occasion hyper|bolical exaggeration. Pliny says, that the joints of those which grew about the Acesines, are so large, that a single one is suf|ficent to make a boat.

Navigiorum etiam vicem praestant (si credimus) singula internodia.

Pliny seems to credit the re|lation; and Acosta, (Aromatum liber) an author of credit, in|forms us, that he had frequently seen them in use on the river, near Cranganor, on this coast, and that they were capable of carrying two Indians; one sate on each end, with their knees joined, and each carried a short oar, or paddle, with which they rowed with vast rapidity, and even against the stream. The honorable Edward Monkton, who had been at Goa, has assured me, that the above must have been a mistake. The largest joint he ever saw (which always grows at the bottom of the plant) was not two feet in length, and about the thickness of a stout man's leg.

THE bamboo is subservient to other uses similar, but far more important. The reed, formed into a frame, and covered with skin, becomes a boat of the same sort with the British coracles, or rather the vitilia navigia, in which the Britons even crossed our narrow seas * 1.343. Ayder Alli had great numbers, which he car|ried with him in his campaigns: those frames were carried by two men, and the skins by two more; and in a quarter of an hour they were ready for use; one of these vessels was capable of containing twenty-five men, or a piece of cannon, with which they crossed any rivers they found in their march † 1.344. As to the horses, they swim by the side of the coracle, held by the horseman (who is in the boat) by the bridle, in the same

manner as the Scots pass their nags over the narrow arms of the sea * 1.345.

IT is pretended, that these canes are so disliked by the cro|codiles, that they never seize on the navigators, as the sharks in Greenland do on the poor Greenlanders, whom they bite in two, secured as they seem to be, in their canoes.

IN most places, the joints are used as pitchers to carry water, and some will contain sufficient to supply the family for the whole day. From this use it is named the Arundarbor Vasaria.

AT the siege of Mangalore, Tippoo Sultan mounted his spears on light bamboos, a hundred and forty-seven feet long, and made his desperadoes mount the breaches, and under the fire of his artillery assail the brave garrison, inflicting distant and unexpected wounds or death † 1.346.

IN China, the joints perforated serve as pipes for conveyance of water, and in the same country, by macerating them, the Chinese make their paper, both coarse and fine; split into slen|der lengths, this cane is of much use in making mats. In short, its uses are innumerable.

THEY are often made use of for frames of houses, for which their ready sissibility, and their lightness, peculiarly adapt them.

THEY are greatly searched after, as poles to carry burthens, but particularly for the poles of Palanquins; for this purpose they are bent while growing, to give them a proper curvature; and when richly carved, as they often are, are sold at a vast

price in the luxurious Coromandel, and other parts.Linscofan, and M. Sonnerat, give prints of the effeminate great men of India, attended by their slavish train, and making their fellow|creatures their beasts of burden, who go at the rate of two leagues an hour: I observe some of their attendants in the fashion of the high toed shoes, prohibibited in England in the reign of Edward IV * 1.347. Some I observe attended with a dwarf or two, a custom formerly very frequent, even in the Europeancourts.

THIS reed is also called Mambu, and was celebrated in early times by the Arabian physicians, for producing from its joints a sort of inspissated juice, of a sweet taste, called Tabaxar, * 1.348 and Sacar Mambu. It often grows dry, and is discovered by its rattling within the hollow of the reed * 1.349. It was a famed medi|cine with all the Orientalists, in outward and inward heats, bilious fevers, and other disorders of that nature, and in dysen|teries; and it was reckoned peculiarly efficacious in discharges of coagulated blood, so frequently left in internal wounds. These uses made it once a great article of export from the Malabar ports. The Brahmins also use this Sacar in their medical prescriptions.

IN this hot country, the reed is often applied to another use, adapted to refresh the exhausted native; it is bent so as to form arbours and cool walks of considerable length, delicious retreats from the rays of the vertical sun. Finally, the application of it as an instrument of punishment (in China at lest), of the most

severe nature. It is used as the bastinado, and often till death ensues, in the most cruel manner.

SUGAR was originally brought from India, * 1.350 by the intro|duction of the plant, the Saccharum Officinarum. I shall here give some account of this useful article, and its various removals from its native place into Europe, where it was for some ages cultivated with great success. "Arabia," says Pliny, lib. xii. c. 8, "produces Sacearon, but the best is in India." It is a honey

collected from reeds, a sort of white gum, brittle between the teeth: the largest pieces do not exceed the size of a hazel nut, and it is used only in medicine.

THE cane was an article of commerce in very early times. * 1.351The prophets Isaiah * 1.352and Jeremiah † 1.353 make mention of it: "Thou hast brought me no sweet cane, with money," says the first: and the second,

To what purpose cometh there to me the sweet cane from a far country?

Brought for the luxury of the juice, either extracted by suction or by some other means. In the note on the elegant poem, the Sugar Cane ‡ 1.354, Doctor Grainger informs us, that at first the raw juice was made use of; they afterwards boiled it into a syrup, and, in process of time, an inebriating spirit was prepared therefrom, by fermentation.

SUGAR was first made from the reed in Egypt, * 1.355 from thence the plant was carried into Sicily, which, in the twelfth century, supplied many parts of Europe with that commodity; and from thence, at a period unknown, it was probably brought into Spain, by the Moors. From Spain the reed was planted in the Canary

islands, and in the Madeira, by the Portuguese. This happened about the year 1506. In the same year, Ferdinand the Ca|tholic ordered the cane to be carried from the Canaries to St. Domingo. From those islands the art of making sugar was introduced into the islands of Hispaniola, and in about the year 1623 into the Brazils; the reed itself growing spontaneously in both those countries. Till that time sugar was a most expensive luxury, and used only, as Mr. Anderson observes, in feasts, and physical necessities.

I SHALL here anticipate the account of the state of sugar in Spain, where in Europe it first became stationary, * 1.356 borrowing it from the ninth volume of my Outlines of the Globe. It was, till of late years, cultivated to great advantage in the king|dom of Granada, and great quantities of sugar made in the ingenios, or mills. In the year 1723, in the city of Mesril, were eight hundred families: Their principal commerce was in sugars and syrups, made in four sugar works, from the planta|tions of canes, which reached from the south side down to the sea side; but these and the other sugar works are greatly decayed, by reason of the excessive duties. This, with the increased demand for sugar, on the prevaling use of chocolate in the kingdom, which requires double the quantity of that article, has occasioned a drain of a million of dollars out of the country, in payment for sugar, preserves, and other confec|tionaries. This is very extraordinary, considering that Spain is possessed of some of the sinest sugar islands, besides the power of manufacturing it within its home dominions * 1.357.

I NOW digress several leagues to the west, * 1.358 to the Laccadive isles, a considerable group, the centre of which is nearly op|posite

to Tellicherry. They extend from Lat. 10° to 12° 50′ north, are low, and not to be seen farther than six or seven leagues. These are supposed to be the isles intended by Ptole|my, by the title of Insulae Numero XIX. but, in fact, they are thirty-two, all of them small, and covered with trees, and rocky on their sides, mostly as if laid on a bottom of sand, attended with reefs, and the channels between them are very deep. They are commonly navigated by our ships, in their way to the Persian Gulph, or the Red Sea. That called the ix½ degree channel, or the passage between the most southern of the Laccadives, the isle of Malique, and that called Mamala, or the viii. degree channel, between the isle of Malique, and the most northern of the Maldive isles, are those which are in use. Each island has its name: Captain Cornwal says, that called Calpenia has a river, where ships of two hundred tons may float and clean.

THE principal traffic of these isles, is in the products of the coco trees, such as the oil, the cables, and cordage; and in fish, which is dried and sent to the continent of India, from whence they get rice, &c. in return. They also trade to Mascat, in large boats, and carry there the same commodities, and bring back dry and wet dates, * 1.359 and a little coffee. Ambergrise is found often, floating off these isles. Hamilton mentions a piece in possession of a certain Rajah, valued at £.1,250 sterling. It is now generally supposed to be a mineral; Cronsted, at lest, ranks it among them: the best is of a grey color, is a strong perfume, and is also much used in medicine. It is highly esteemed as a cordial, and in nervous complaints; and, in extremities, is ad|ministered often as a persuasive to the soul not to quit its earthly tenement.

A Captain Coffin, engaged in the southern or Guinea whale fishery, found in a female spermaceti whale, three hundred and sixty ounces of ambergrise. This is said not to be unusual, but then it always is in fickly emaciated fishes. These instances do not prove that it was the production of the spermaceti whale, the food of which is squids, or the sepia: many of the horny beaks were found adhering to the ambergrise, or im|mersed in that soft substance. It appears to me, that the whales sometimes swallow it, that it disagrees with them, and acts as a sort of poison, bringing on a decay, and death; and that the parts of the sepia found lodged in it, are the undissolved remains lodged in the ambergrise. Mr. Cossin sold his prize at nineteen shillings and nine pence per ounce. This is related in Phil. Trans. lxxxi. p. 43.

MIDWAY between these isles and those of the Maldives, * 1.360 is the isle of Malique, a small, low, and solitary spot, surrounded with breakers, seated in Lat. 8° 20′ north. It is inhabited, and dependent on a Rajah on the Malabar coast. A large shallop of twenty-two oars came off to a French India ship in 1770: among the people were three who appeared of rank, and who very politely offered their services to the European officer.

THE Maldive islands are to the south of the last. * 1.361 They extend from north to south, inclining a little to the south-east, from Lat. 7° 25′ to a little more than Lat. 1°. These are the most singular and numerous groups of isles in the world: From their number Ptolemy names them Insulae MCCCLXXVIII. The Nubian Geographer calls these isles Robaihat.

THE two Mahometan travellers of the ninth century, make them amount to nineteen hundred; and the sea which sur|rounds them, and lies to the north-west of them, they called the Harchend sea. The natives make the number of their isles amount to twelve thousand. They were discovered in 1508, by the younger Almeyda; and conquered by the Portuguese from the Moors, who had usurped the sovereignty of them from the natives, who probably came originally from the adjacent Ma|labar. The Europeans did not long maintain possession. The Portuguese had obtained leave to erect a fort on one of the isles; but they were soon cut off by the Maldivians, and their fort demolished.

THEY are divided into thirteen Attollons, or provinces, and are governed by one king; but each Attollon has its particular governor, who rules with great oppression. The subjects are miserably poor, and none dare wear any cloathing above the waist, except a turband, without a particular license. The king assumes the magnificent title of Sultan of the Maldives, king of thirteen provinces, and twelve thousand isles. From Mr. Dalrymple's chart of the Maldives, they seem divided into thir|teen groups, each pretty nearly equidistant, and each with their proper name: their form is most singular; they are represented as reefs of small and very low islands, regular in their form, and surrounding a clear space of sea, with a very shallow por|tion of water between them. The chief is called Atoll Mal|divas: they have only four ports, in which their few articles of commerce are collected.

ONE article is the Cowry, a small species of shell, * 1.362 the Cyproea Moneta of Linnaeus, D'Argenville, tab. xviii. fig. K. It is very singular that many parts of the world should for ages past be obliged to these little and remote islands for their specie; and that the contemptible shells of the Maldives, prove the price of mankind, and contribute to the vilest of traffic in Negro-land; but so it is! These shells are collected twice in the month, at full and new moon. It is the business of the women, who wade up to their middle to gather them. They are packed up in parcels of twelve thousand each, and are the cur|rent money among the poor in Bengal. A Cowry is rated there at the hundred and sixtieth part of a penny, so that it is impossible to find a coin so small as to be of use to the poor in a country where provisions are so exceedingly cheap; eighty Cowries make a pun, and from fifty to sixty puns, the value of a roupee, or four shillings and six-pence English. They are re-exported to England, France, &c.; and from those places again to Guinea, as the price of the unhappy natives. Ha|milton, i. 347, mistakes the manner of gathering them, when he says—

The natives fling into the sea branches of coco trees, to which the shells adhere, and are collected every four or five months.

The exchange for them from Bengal, is rice, butter, and cloth, which is brought from that country in small vessels, fitted for the shallow navigations.

THESE islands, as well as the Laccadives, have besides a brisk trade with the western coasts of India, chiefly in coco nuts, and the several manufactures from that useful article. Among which, the Kaiar, or cables and ropes, made of the filaments of the nuts, have a vast sale on all the coast of India.

FISH is another article; * 1.363the species is said to be chiefly the Bonito, or Scomber Pelamys. These annually migrate among the isles, in April and May. They are caught both by hook and net, are split, and the bone taken out, sprinkled with sea water and set to dry; then put into the sand, wrapt up in coco leaves, and placed a foot or two below the surface, where they become as hard as stock-fish. Vessels come from Atcheen in the isle of Sumatra, with gold dust, to purchase this necessary, which is again sold there at the rate of £.8 per thousand.

THE coco tree is the only one which these isles do produce, for they are universally sandy and barren. Of this the inhabi|tants build vessels of twenty or thirty tons. The cables, ropes, sails, and every individual part is made of this tree; which even supplies the sire-wood, and provision, oil for their kitchens and lamps, sugar, and candied sweetmeats, and strong cloth.

THEY are furnished with water from wells, which they dare not sink deeper than five or six feet, otherwise the salt water will percolate through the sand. On them they depend, nor do these ever fail.

Ali, Rajah of Cananore, and High Admiral of Ayder Alli, made a conquest of these isles, took the king captive, and cruelly put out his eyes. In this state, he presented him to Ayder, who highly disapproving of the barbarity, deprived the Rajah of the command of the fleet, and treated the unhappy prince with the utmost humanity, gave him a palace, and settled on him a re|venue to supply him with every pleasure he was capable of tasting * 1.364. The poets of Ayder's court added to his title on this

occasion, "King of the islands of the sea;" and in their poems placed him above Alexander and Tamerlane. Let me here say, that he had his poet-laureat always resident, who had a stipend of a thousand roupees a month, and the rank of a general of a thousand men * 1.365.

PART of the inhabitants profess Paganism, part Mahometism, the first retained from the original. Their language is Cingalese, or that of Ceylon † 1.366,which points out their primoeval stock. As to Mahometism it is a more modern religion, derived from the Moors. Some bury their dead, others burn them, like the Hindoos: but Knox, our best authority, says, that the poor only inter; the rich commit them to the funeral pile ‡ 1.367. Hamil|ton saw, on one island, certain tombs, "sculptured," says he, "with as great variety of figures as he ever saw in Europe."

To return to the continent. A few leagues below Mahè, * 1.368 at a small distance from the coast, is the Sacrifice Rock, supposed to have received its name from certain Portuguese, taken by some of the neighboring cruizers of Cottica, and on that rock made victims to the revenge of the Indians * 1.369.

THE city of Calicut, seated in Lat. 11° 18′, * 1.370 stands about eight leagues to the south of the Rock of Sacrifice. This place is cele|brated as being the first land in India which the Europeans ever saw, after the long interval of the Roman commerce. Here the great Gama, on May 18, 1698, first saw the fertile risings and plains of Malabar, backed by the lofty Ghauts, rise before him. Mr. Dalrymple, in one of his plates, gives a view of what it now

is, and, in respect to its natural situation, what it must have been at that time. The works of art are too minute to be perceptible, amidst the bold and eternal operations of nature.

Calicut was at that time the greatest emporium of all India. * 1.371 The commerce of the Arabs with this port was prodigious. Pretious stones, pearls, amber, ivory, China-ware, gold and silver, silks and cottons, indigo, sugar, spices, valuable woods, perfumes, beautiful varnishes, and whatever adds to the luxu|ries of life, were brought there from all parts of the east. Some of these rich commodities came by sea; but as navigation was neither so safe, nor pursued with so much spirit as it hath been since, a great part of them was conveyed by land, on the backs of oxen and elephants.

ALL its splendor and all its opulence was owing to commerce, yet the houses were mean, but not crowded, detached from each other, and surrounded with delicious gardens; none were built of stone, but the royal palace, which rose with great magnifi|cence above the other buildings. The town was very exten|sive, and very populous.

AT the arrival of the Portuguese it was governed by a mo|narch, * 1.372 called the Zamorin, who, like a lord paramount, had all the other princes of Malabar as tributaries. The account, as related by the Portuguese historians, is, that six hundred years before the arrival of Gama, or about the year 898, Perimal reigned supreme over the whole country. In his old age he became a convert to Mahometism, and determined to resign his dominions to his relations, and finish his days at the holy city of Medina. His successors retained the antient religion, and are considered as chief of the Nayrs. I will relate the tale in the

elegant language of Camoens, who gives a faithful recital of the event, dressed in poetical numbers, by the elegant pen of Mr. Mickle.

GREAT Samoreen, her lord's imperial style, The mighty Lord of India's utmost soil: To him the kings their duteous tributes pay, And at his feet confess their borrow'd sway. Yet higher tower'd the monarch's antient boast Of old, one sovereign ruled the spacious coast. A votive train, who brought the Koran's lore, What time great Perimal the sceptre bore, From blest Arabia's groves to India came: Life were their words, their eloquence a flame Of holy zeal; fir'd by the powerful strain, The lofty monarch joins the faithful train; And vows at fair Medina's shrine to close His life's mild eve, in pray'r and sweet repose. Gifts he prepares to deck the Prophet's tomb, The glowing labors of the Indian loom; Orixa's spices, and Golconda's gems: Yet ere the fleet th' Arabian ocean stems, His final care his potent regions claim, Nor his the transport of a father's name: His servants now the regal purple wear, And high enthron'd the golden sceptres bear. Proud Cochin one, and one fair Chalé sways; The spicy isle another lord obeys;

Coulam, and Cananoor's luxurious fields, And Cranganore to various lords he yields; While these, and others thus the monarch grac'd, A noble youth his care unmindful past; Save Calicut, a city, poor and small, Tho' lordly now, no more remain'd to fall: Griev'd to behold such merit thus repay'd, The sapient youth the king of kings he made; And honor'd with the name, Great Samoreen, The lordly titled boast of power supreme; And now great Perimal resigns his reign, The blissful bow'rs of Paradise to gain. Before the gale his gaudy navy flies, And India sinks for ever from his eyes. And soon to Calicut's commodious port The fleets, deep edging with the wave, resort; Wide o'er the shore extend the warlike piles, And all the landscape round luxurious smiles. And now, her flag to ev'ry gale unfurl'd, She tow'rs the empress of the eastern world. Such are the blessings sapient kings bestow, And from thy stream such gifts, O Commerce, flow.

Gama was at first well received at Calicut, but the jealousy of the Arabs, prevented his friendship with the Zamorin from being of any duration. The Portuguese never could make themselves masters of the place; but at length Albuquerque, in

1503, * 1.373 prevaled on the reigning prince to permit him to build a fort not far from the city. This gave him the command of the commerce, notwithstanding the city remained under the line of its antient rulers, who very frequently were engaged in wars with their European neighbors. The English had their factories here, but, I believe, have long since deserted the place. As to the Portuguese, they became so distressed, by the union of the Dutch with the Zamorin, that they blew up their fortress, and entirely quitted the neighborhood. It was afterwards either undermined with the sea, or overthrown by an earthquake, for Hamilton says, that in 1703 his ship, which drew twenty-one feet water, struck on its ruins.

Ayder Alli advanced towards this town. * 1.374 It was voluntarily surrendered to him by the Zamorin, who prostrated himself at his feet, and presented him with two basons of gold, one filled with pieces of gold, the other with pretious stones; and two small cannons of gold, with golden carriages of the same metal. Ayder raised him from the ground, and promised to restore to him his dominions, on condition of paying a small tribute. The two princes parted, seemingly in perfect amity. The next day the palace appeared on fire. In desiance of all attempts to save it, it was wholly destroyed, and with it perished the prince, his family, and vast treasures. The Zamorin had just received let|ters from the Hindoo Rajahs of Travancore and Cochin, bit|terly reproaching him with betraying his country to the Maho|metans, and becoming apostate to his religion, declaring him degraded and expelled from his cast. So affected was he with the

disgrace, that he determined on the fatal JOAR, see page 56, and by that rite made the horrible expiation * 1.375!

IN the year 1782, * 1.376 this city was taken by Major Abington. He was superseded in his command by Colonel Humberston. The environs were at that time in possession of the enemy, under Mugdum Saheb, a general of Ayder's. The youthful hero, panting after glory, sallied forth with a handful of men, and gave him a total defeat. Mugdum, several principal officers, and between three and four hundred men, fell in the action. His forces consisted of three thousand foot and near a thousand horse. "I am ashamed," says the modest victor,

to name the number of my troops: they were so few, that you will think me rash to have ventured an action. In consequence the enemy evacuated all the country, which belonged to the Zamorin, whom I restored to his possessions † 1.377.

Paniani is a town a few miles farther, where the English had once a settlement. * 1.378 What makes it particularly remarkable is, that the Ghauts, opposite to the place, have in them a gap, be|tween fourteen and fifteen miles in length, and about sixteen miles in width, occupied chiefly by forest trees, and is defended by the forts of Annamally and Palicaudcherry, and others: It being the important pass to and from the Malabar coast, and of late years has been very frequently the seat of action. In the campaign of 1783, the forts of Annamally and Palicaud|cherry were taken by that most able officer Colonel Fullarton, who knew how to conquer, and knew how to record his actions.

[figure]

VIII. PALICAUDCHERRY.

The last was completely rebuilt by Ayder, since the war of 1767 with the English, and was furnished with all the advantages of European construction and defence; and attended with every difficulty of approach from forests, intersections of the Paniani river, and deep rice grounds; yet on the 13th of November, by the conduct of the commander and the valor of his troops, it was surrendered by a garrison of four thousand men, after a long and desperate defence * 1.379 It was afterwards evacuated; but by the partition treaty reserved to us, with other accessions, which gave entrance into Dindigul, and our interior acquisi|tions. Let me not omit, that at Palatchy, not remote from Pali|caudcherry, the land attains its greatest height, and the river runs East and West, into the Coromandel and Malabar seas † 1.380. In Sep|tember 1790, Lieutenant-Colonel Hartley, with a small detach|ment of General Meadows's army, marched from Dindigul to|ward the coast westward, to clear the country of enemies, and favor the great attack on Tippoo Sultan. He descended the Ghauts by the Paniani gap, reached the coast, gained a most brilliant victory over one of the Sultan's generals at Tervannagurry, on December 10, and completely broke the enemy's force on the west of the Ghauts. He took Turuckabad, the capital of the country, continued his march northward to Cananore, joined General Abercromby, and shared with him the fatigues and glory of the campaigns of 1791 and 1792. It is a break between the northern and southern ridge of the Ghauts. * 1.381 The moun|tains on each side are so high, as to arrest the clouds and winds;

but the last rush with vast violence through this great breach. During the north-east Monsoons, ships at some distance at sea, as soon as they come within the openings, feel the fierce effect of the wind, which pours on them with vast fury, but before they reach the line of the gap, and when they have passed it, the stillest calm succeeds.

THE river Paniani rises from the north-east in the Coimbotore country, * 1.382 and passes through the breach, and in the rainy season is navigable for small boats, to the foot of the Ghauts. Its source is from an elevated plain, sixty miles in extent, rising suddenly out of the surrounding country like a vast terrace, and faces the great gap: Such are common in India, and are features almost peculiar to the country.

TWENTY-five miles south of Paniani is Cranganore, * 1.383 the northern frontier of the Rajahship of Travencore. When Gama arrived on this coast he was surprised with a visit of certain deputies from that city, informing him, that they were, like him, Christians, and requesting to be taken under the protection of his great master, Emmanuel. Gama received them with the utmost affection, and assured them, he should recommend their interests to the Portuguese Admirals * 1.384, whom he should leave on the coast. After his departure, a quarrel happened between them and the Zamorin. A ship loaden with spices was on its way from Calicut to Cranganore; such was the avarice of the Portuguese, that they could not resist making it a prize. The nephew of the Zamorin, who was their warm

friend, represented to them the danger of offending his un|cle; and at the same time assured them, that the cargo was de|signed to be disposed of to them. All was in vain; they took the ship, and slew some of the crew. The nephew demanded satisfaction, but his remonstrances were received with con|tempt.

Lopez Soarez, a Portuguese admiral, came into India about this time with thirteen ships. He found that the Zamorin, and the citizens of Cranganore, were preparing to revenge the injuries done them. He sailed for that port, landed his men, and, assisted by the King of Cochin, attacked the Indian army, gained a complete victory, and pursued the fugitives into the city, and set it on fire. * 1.385 It was to no purpose that the Christian inhabitants entreated the conquerors to spare their churches. They did indeed attempt to quench the flames, but to no pur|pose, for very few of the places of worship escaped. This hap|pened in 1504. The Portuguese built a strong fort near the spot, about a league up the river, or channel, which is not above a quarter of a mile broad, but very deep, yet on the bar, at spring-tides, had not above fourteen feet of water. A new city arose, but the Indians rebuilt it at some distance from the antient site, and it became one of the sinest in India. A chan|nel divides it from another narrow isle, which is about four leagues long, and runs north and south, parallel with the main land. Another channel divides it from that of Cochin. The Dutch, under Commodore Goens, made themselves masters of Cranganore in 1660, without meeting the lest resistance. The Portuguese, enervated with luxury, and detested for their cru|elty,

in a single year lost every one of their possessions in Mala|bar to their antient foes, who succeeded to their wealth and power, supported by wisdom, oeconomy, and valor. As soon as they were masters of the place, they prohibited all boats or vessels from entering at the two channels, determined to pre|vent surprise, and illicit trade.

THIS city was distinguished by two most remarkable circum|stances: * 1.386 the one (to begin with the most antient) was its having been the residence of a republic of Jews, part of the tribe of Manassch, who had been carried into captivity by Nebuchadnez|zar, who sent numbers of them to this distant place. Their history says, that they amounted to twenty thousand, and that they were three years in travelling to this place, from the time of their setting out from Babylon. When they arrived they were treated with great humanity by the natives, and allowed every indulgence in both religious and temporal concerns. In process of time, they grew so wealthy as to purchase the little kingdom of Cranganore. Hamilton, i, p. p. 321, 322, makes them increase to eighty thousand families, but in his days they were reduced to four thousand. They established a common|wealth, and selected the two sons of one of the first families, emi|nent for their wisdom, to govern them jointly. One of them, in|stigated by ambition, murdered his brother: after which the commonwealth became a democracy; and their territory, many centuries ago, returned into the hands of the natives. Power|ful as they were, they are at present very poor, and few. Num|bers of them had removed to God, where they were greatly encouraged by the Zamorin of the time. They have to this

day a synagogue, near the king's palace, at a small distance from Cochin, where are preserved their records, engraven on copper plates, in Hebrew characters, and when any of the characters decay, they are new cut, so that they can shew their history from the reign of Nebuchadnezzar to the present time. The Maecenas of Malabar, M. von Rheede, caused these records to be translated into low Dutch: The perusal would be very desirable. I trust that these plates were not forgeries to im|pose on the curious governor, as the famous inscription on the death of the Danish monarch, Hardicanute, at Lambeth, was by a witty wag, which so capitally deceived the first antiquaries of our days * 1.387.

THAT St. Thomas preached the Gospel in India, * 1.388 I make no doubt. He first visited the isle of Socotora; after performing the orders of his Divine Master, he passed through the several kingdoms which intervened between that isle and Jerusalem. From Socotora he landed at Cranganore, where he continued some time, and made numbers of proselytes, and, in all proba|bility, established a church government. From thence he vi|sited the eastern parts of India, and met with martyrdom at Meliapour; where we shall resume the history of this great Apostle.

THOSE Christians on the Malabar coast grew into a potent people; but, if we may credit Marco Polo, p. 135, there was in the centre of India a country called Abasia, divided into seven kingdoms, three of which were Mahometan, the other four

Christian. The Christians distinguished themselves by a golden cross worn over their forcheads; but the Jews who were among them were marked on their checks with a hot iron.

BUT what weighs greatly with me concerning the truth of the existence of the Indian Christians, * 1.389 or Christians of St. Thomas, as they are usually called, is, that the knowlege of them had reached England as early as the ixth century; * 1.390 for we are cer|tain that our great Alsred, in consequence of a vow, sent Sig|h••••m II. in the year 883, Bishop of Sherbourn, first to Rome, and afterwards to India, with alms to the Christians of the town of Saint Thomas, now Mcliapour, who returned with various rich gems, some of which were to be seen in the church of Sherbourn (according to William of Malmsbury, lib. ii. 248) even in his days. I have not extent of faith to favour the legend of the place of the martyrdom of the saint, which was fixed by pious historians to have been at St. Thomas on the Coromandel coast; of which the reader will find an account in the following vo|lume.

THE rites and customs of these Christians differ in several respects from those of the church of Rome. * 1.391 In some they ac|cord, which makes me imagine there might have been some accidented communication of the nature of that I have men|tioned above. Osorio, i. 212, gives an account of their ceremo|nies. Speaking of the Christians of Cranganore, he thus goes on—

The Christians who reside here, are generally very poor, and their churches of a mean appearance. They keep the sabbath in the same manner as we do, in hearing sermons, and performing other religious duties. The high priest, whom

they acknowleged as the head of their church, had his seat near some mountains, towards the north, in a country called Chaldaeis. He has a council composed of twelve cardinals, two bishops, and several priests: With the assistance of these, he settles all affairs relating to religion; and all the Christians in these parts acquiesce in his decrees. The priests are shaved in such a manner, as to represent a cross on their crowns. They administer the sacrament in both kinds, making use of the juice of pressed grapes, by way of wine, and allow the laity to partake of both; but no one is admitted to this solemn ordinance till he has made a confession of his iniquities. They baptized not their infants till they were forty days old, except in danger of death. When any one amongst them is seized with a fit of sickness, the priest immediately visits him, and the sick person is greatly animated by the holy man's supplications. When they enter their churches, they sprin|kle themselves with holy water. They use the same form of burial as in other catholic countries: the relations of the de|ceased give great entertainments, which last a week, during which time they celebrate his praises, and put up prayers for his eternal happiness. They preserve the sacred writings in the Syrian or Chaldaean language, with great carefulness; and their teachers are ready in all public places to instruct every one. They keep the Advent Sunday, and the forty days of Lent, with great strictness, and observe most of the festivals which we have in our church, with the same exactness. They compute their time likewise in the same manner as we do, adding a day to every fourth year. The

first day of July is kept as a holiday, in honor of St. Thomas, not only by these Christians, but many of the Pagans also. There are likewise convents for the priests, and nunneries for their women, who adhere to their vows of chastity with the utmost probity. Their priests are allowed to marry once, but excluded from taking a second wife. Marriages amongst other people cannot be annulled, but by the death of one of the parties. When a woman becomes a widow, she forfeits her dowry if married within a twelve-month after the death of her husband. These are the customs and manners which the Christians in Cranganore, as well as many other parts of India, have observed with the utmost fidelity, from the time of St. Thomas.

WHEN Gama arrived on this coast, there were about two hun|dred thousand of them in the southern parts of Malabar; during thirteen hundred years they had been under the Patriarch of Babylon, who appointed their Metarene or Archbishop. They were extremely averse to the doctrine of St. Francis de Xavier, when he came among them, and abhorred the worship of im|ages, which they considered as idolatry. They refused to ac|knowlege the Pope's supremacy, and at length were per|secuted as heretics, with all the horrors of the inquisition, newly established at Goa. Xavier had never troubled his new converts with any instruction, nor ever instilled into them any knowlege of the principles of the Christian religion, any farther than implicit obedience to the head of the church. He gave them crucifixes to worship, and told them, they were then sure of heaven. His preaching was subservient to the political in|terests

of his country; his abilities, and his labors for that end were amazing. In him appeared all the powers which, in after times, gave to his order that vast importance in the affairs of the universe. I will conclude this article with saying, that out of the fifty thousand inhabitants found in Bednore when Ayder Alli took possession of it, thirty thousand were Christians, "who," says his historian, i. p. 83,

were endowed with great privileges.

Cranganore, and a fort on the opposite side of the river, named Jacotta, gave rise to the important war of the Mysore. They had been taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, and possessed by the last a hundred and fifty years. Ayder Alli, seeing the conveniency of Cranganore to his Mysorean kingdom, in 1780, seized and garrisoned it. In the ensuing war, the Dutch re|possessed themselves of it. In 1789 Tippoo Sultan, the successor of Ayder, determined to make himself master of it, in right of his father. He raised a mighty army, which so alarmed the Dutch, that they resolved to dispose of the two forts to the Rajah of Travancore, an ally of the English, in order to divert the storm from themselves. Tippoo marched with his forces, and attacked the lines of Travancore. The battle between his army and that of the Rajah, the latter in defence of Cranganore, on May 1, 1790, was the signal of the general war, on which commenced the first campaign in June following. The con|clusion of that glorious war was the putting us in possession of the whole coast, from Caroor as far as mount Dilly, a tract of a hundred and twenty miles. This is the result of the partition treaty.

Cochin lies in Lat. * 1.392 9° 58′ N. on the southern side of the chan|nel, on an island opposite to another that stretches to the south. It is a Rajahship, possibly dependent on that of Travancore, who seems to have undertaken the defence of the whole tract south|ward, by erecting the famous lines of Travancore, which begin at Cranganore and extend almost to the foot of the Ghauts. The coast is very low, scarcely discernible, except by the trees. The soundings are gradual, and are, at the distance of two miles from shore, ten or eleven fathoms. Ships usually lie three or four miles from land; a dangerous bar is an obstruction to en|tering the harbour; and a most furious surge at times beats on the shore.

THIS was one of the first places visited by the Portuguese, after their arrival at Calicut. It was at that time governed by a prince, tributary to the Zamorin, but who shewed every act of friendship to the Admiral, Cabral, and his companions. At his time the harbour was capacious and open. While he was there, two of the Christians of St. Thomas came and requested him to convey them to Portugal, that from thence they might visit Jerusalem, and the Holy Land. Gama himself afterwards visited Cochin, and received every mark of respect. The prince continued faithful to his new allies, and assisted them with a considerable army against the Zamorin. At length fortune de|clared against him; the Zamorin burnt his capital, and made himself master of his dominions. The Portuguese under Fran|cis Albuquerque, says Lasitau, came, in 1503, to their assistance, expelled the Zamorin, and Duarte Pachcco, whom Albuquer|que had left behind, by his astonishing valor and prudence, re|instated

Triumpara, the reigning prince, but only to fit him for a new mortification. In the transports of his gratitude he per|mitted the Portuguese to build a fort. This gave them full power over their faithful ally; and, under pretence of reducing his rebellious subjects, made a conquest of the whole country. In a little time the poor prince found himself enslaved. Cochin became, under its new masters, a place of great commerce, till the year 1660, fatal to the Portuguese power in this part of India. It was attacked by the Commodore Goens. The gar|rison made a most gallant defence, nor was it taken till after great loss on both sides. The Dutch found the city much too large for their purpose; they reduced it considerably. The titular king did not find any improvement in his situation, and it is said, that the present prince lives near Cochin, with an in|come of little more than six hundred pounds a year. Some of the race of the Jewish captives, and some of the Christians of St. Thomas, reside here. The last are miserably poor and ignorant; but the church of St. Andrea, not far from hence, is served by their clergy.

IN this city breathed his last the great Vasco de Gama, * 1.393 the discoverer of India, and, with the illustrious Albuquerque, the founder of the Portuguese empire in that inexhaustible region of wealth. Gama was born at Sines, a port in the province of Alentejo, in Portugal, of a family rendered illustrious by the valour of the individuals. Vasco was only the fifth in heraldic history, which does not even acquaint us with the time of his birth. He had served in France, and he was Gentleman of the Bedchamber to the great Emmanuel, when he was appointed, in

1497, to the important command of the fleet destined for the discovery of the Indies. We have successively mentioned his name, on several glorious occasions; our business now is only to trace him to his end: He survived to the reign of John III. to be appointed to a third voyage, and to finish his days on that shore, where he had begun his career of glory. He sailed from Lisbon on April 10, 1524. Prodigies attended his voyage; on his arrival off the coast of Cambay, in the stillness of a calm, a dreadful swelling of the sea, the then unknown symptons of an earthquake, appalled the boldest. Gama discovered the phoeno|menon: "Courage!" says he, "India trembles at our approach!" Another danger followed this. From the description, his ship was nearly foundered by the fall of a water-spout. He arrived, at length, at this port, where he gave up his great soul, on De|cember 24, 1525, to be judged according to unerring justice; for, amidst all his fine qualities, he was deeply tainted with the character of his nation, cruelty. His body lay deposited at Cochin till 1538, when it was brought to Lisbon, where it was received with greater honor than was ever before paid to any person, excepting those of the blood royal.

A FATE similar to that of Gama attended Alphonso Albuquer|que, * 1.394 descended illegitimately from the blood royal of Portugal. He was sent out by his prince, for the first time in 1503, and in successive voyages shewed himself to have been superior to any one of his nation, before or after him, both in the military and political line: he was fitted by his talents to be the founder of a great empire. We trace him almost every where from the Red Sea to the utmost limits of his Indian expedition, as far as Su|matra,

and the distant Malacca: on his last voyage he was struck by the hand of death. He directed his pilot to steer for Goa, the scene of many of his glorious actions. He was in|formed on the way that he was recalled, and two persons, most disagreeable to him, were to succeed to the government of India. "Lopez Soarez," exclamed he,

Governor of India!— it is he! it could be no other! Don James Mendez, and James Pereyra, whom I sent prisoners for heinous crimes, return, the one governor of Cochin, the other secretary! It is time for me to take sanctuary in the church, for I have incur|red the King's displeasure for his subjects' sake, and the sub|jects' anger for the King's sake. Old man, fly to the church, it concerns your honor you should die, and you never omit|ted any thing that concerned your honor.

HE died in 1515, aged 63, off the bar of Goa, * 1.395 and was interred there, but his corpse was not removed to its native country for numbers of years, as is said, at the instances of the citizens of Goa, who venerated his memory. He died with the highest sentiments of piety; even the Gentoos and Moors, through devo|tion visited his tomb, so highly and universally was he esteemed. He was an inflexible lover of justice, and of most polished man|ners; yet his actions at Ormus, at Calajate * 1.396, and other places, shew how impossible it is to suppress an inborn and national barbarity.

ALL the tract of country from Cranganore almost to Anjenjo, a tract of about a hundred and twenty miles, consists of multi|tudes

of very low wooded isles, formed by a thousand rivers, that tumble from the Ghauts. This flat country extends thirty miles inland, and has intermixed a great assemblage of lakes, rivers, and forests, the whole marshy, and most unwholesome: it abounds with fish and game, which makes Cochin, in that respect, a most luxurious residence.

A distemper prevales in these parts, * 1.397 supposed to arise from the badness of the water, or from an impoverished state of blood from poor living. Its symptoms are a violent swelling in one, and sometimes in both legs, so that it is not uncommon to see them a yard in circuit round the ancle * 1.398. It is not attended with any pain, but with an itching; the swollen leg is not heavier than the unaffected. The distemper is called the Cochin-leg, and, from the size, the Elephant-leg; no remedy has yet been discovered. The Dutch procure their water in boats from a distant place, yet Hamilton says, that he had seen both men and women of that nation afflicted with the malady. This destroys the hypothesis of its being the effect either of the water or of poor living.

FROM Cochin to the termination of the islands, the coast is flat, and so low, as to be distinguished only by the trees, or by the flags on the ensign staffs; the sea clear of shoals, and with good soundings. * 1.399 Porcah, on the island beyond Cochin, is a small Dutch settlement. * 1.400 Quilon, or rather Coulang, is another, now sunk into an inconsiderable place. On the first arrival of the Portuguese it was governed by a Queen-Regent, who ruled

over a small principality. The city was seated on a navigable river, had an excellent harbour, and its buildings were very splendid; but its commerce had declined on the rise of Calicut. Numbers of Christians of St. Thomas were found spread over the country. It was taken from the Portuguese by the Dutch, in 1662. The country was at that time also governed by a Queen, who resided at Calliere, an inland town. Nieuhoff was intrusted with a commission to her, and found her a woman of majestic mien, and excellent understanding * 1.401.

To this place there continues a similarity of low, and morassy country. At a few miles distance, to the south of Coulang, the coast immediately alters, the land rises into high and precipitous red cliffs; near them is good fresh water; at Anjenga, * 1.402 a small settlement (with a fort belonging to the English) it is very bad and scarce. The fort was built by the East India Company, in 1695. They pay for the ground rent to the queen of the coun|try. By my frequent mention of the Queen, it should seem, that a female reign in these parts was not uncustomary. The trade of the neighborhood is pepper, and a fine long cloth. Mr. Franklin, p. 7, remarks, that this is the best place in India for intelligence, and that very lately a post to several parts of India has been established. "A regular post," says Mr. Rennel, p. 317,

is established throughout the parts of Hindoostan sub|ject to the East India Company, and also from Calcutta to Madras. The postmen always travel on foot. Their stages are commonly from seven to eight miles; and their rate of

travelling, within our own districts, about seventy miles in the twenty-four hours.

CAPE Comorin, * 1.403 the most southern part of Hindooslan, is in Lat. 8°. It is level low land at its extremity, and covered with trees, and not visible from the deck more than four or five leagues. Mr. Thomas Daniell * 1.404 to whom I am indebted for numbers of informations, informs me, that the lostiest part is the highland of Comorin, which is twelve hundred and ninety|four yards high: and quite smooth and verdant to the very summit. Near the base, bursts forth a most magnificent cata|ract: and near that is a Choultry for the accommodation of tra|vellers.

A LITTLE to the northward is the termination of the Ghauts, which may be seen nine or ten leagues at sea. This was the Comar of Arrian, ii. 175, where there was a castle and a port. The sea adjacent was supposed to have been en|dued with peculiar virtues; it was a great resort for the pur|poses of ablutions, and lustrations, by all such persons who had determined to pass a religious and solitary life. The female sex performed the same rites. Written history had, even in Arrian's time, delivered a legend of a certain goddess having here performed the ablutions every month. The district was called Comari Regio; but this holy water reached, says Arrian, as far as Colchos, the modern Mingrelia. Al. Edrisi speaks, p. 31, of a Comr. Insula, and gives it a vast extent. There is a little

hill to the north of the cape, which from the sea appears in|sulated: possibly the Nubian Geographer might have received an account of that eminence, mistaken for an island, and its size exaggerated.

CAPE Comorin is the termination of the kingdom of Travan|core, Which extends along the western coast, * 1.405 from that of Cran|ganore, as far as this headland, a hundred and forty miles. In 1730 it began to rise into importance, by the abilities of its mo|narch, who reigned forty years. In giving audience to two embassadors, whom he foresaw would weary him with prolix harangues, he cut the first short with this sensible remark; "Be not tedious," says he, "life is short." He raised a fine army, and well disciplined, and meditated the conquest of Malabar. Amidst all his great talents, he mingled the weakness of being ashamed of his cast or tribe. He wished to be a Brahmin; he ordered a golden calf to be made, he entered at the mouth, and came out at the opposite part; this was his Metempsychosis; and he dated all his edicts from the days, says Abbé Raynal, of this glorious regeneration.

THIS kingdom begins in Lat. 10° 18′, near Cranganore. The breadth is greatly contracted, by reason of the approach of the Ghauts towards the shore. Intersected by rivers, and covered with thick woods, it seems almost unconquerable. The Rajah, whom I have mentioned, gave his country ad|ditional strength, by which he saved his successor from the oppression of the rising usurper, Ayder Alli.

Around his capital, and chief province,

says the author of the War in Asia, i. p. 266,

he suffered the woods to grow for a number of

years, till they formed an impenetrable belt of great depth. This, cut into labyrinths, afforded easy egress to his people, and rendered all attacks from without impracticable. Im|mured within this natural fortification, he encouraged the cultivation of the arts and sciences: he invited the approach of men of genius and knowledge; he cultivated the friend|ship of the Brahmins, and was himself admitted into their society, by the ceremony of passing, (as Raynel says) through a golden cow, which became the property of the Brahmins, the cow being sacred in India, as formerly in Egypt; and by preparing his own military stores, casting cannon, making gunpowder, &c. he rendered himself independent of foreign aid. The subjects of his remoter provinces, who, to avoid the ravages of war, had taken refuge within the woody circle, now returned with their families and effects to their former habitations.

This mode of fortification he evidently copied from his wild neighbors, the Polygars; but they live in almost a savage state, while he adopted their plan to secure the cultiva|tion of the mild arts of peace!

EVEN the approach to this difficult retreat was impeded by the famous lines of Travancore, * 1.406 which extend from the fouth|ern banks of the river of Cranganore, close to sea, to the foot of the Ghauts, strongly fortified in their whole extent: These proved the first check to the ambition of Tippoo Sultan. He wished to provoke the Rajah to begin hostilities, in order that he might not be charged with being aggressor. For several days, from the 23d to the 28th of December 1789, the Sultan's horsemen rode up to the Rajah's lines, and made use of

every insulting expedient to draw the first act of hostility from the Travancore troops; but finding them aware of his artifice, and that a detachment of English troops was stationed at some dis|tance, he at last gave way to his rage, and on the 29th of Decem|ber attacked the lines by storm. His troops had filled the foss with cotton. They passed by that means into the interior of the lines, when, by some accident, the cotton took fire, and the whole formed a tremendous blaze. In their rear were the flames; in front a furious enemy. Actuated by despair, they fought with incredible valour: out of fifteen hundred men, only forty were taken, the rest fell victims to the rage of the Travan|corian defendants * 1.407. Tippoo, from the outside of the lines, was a spectator of the horrid carnage of his soldiers. The Nayrs pressed on him on all sides, and being repulsed with dis|grace, and himself thrown from his horse in the retreat, he is said to have made an oath, that he never would wear his tur|ban again, till he had taken the Rajah's lines, and accordingly he prepared to attack them by regular approach † 1.408. On April 12, 1790, he completely executed his menaces. He attacked the lines with such vigour, that he made himself master of them, totally destroyed this famous barrier, and laid Cranganore in ruins, carried desolation through the country, and put every opponent to flight ‡ 1.409.

THE disgrace which Tippoo suffered, * 1.410 was owing to three bat|talions of Nayrs, and five hundred archers, in all three thousand

men, who, stimulated by the cause of their country and of their religion, were crowned with victory * 1.411. The Nayrs are the nobility of Malabar, the antient dominions of the Zamorins, and in times of their prosperity formed the body guards. On the first appearance of Cabrial at Calicut, the Zamorin sent two of his Nayrs to compliment him on his arrival. They have at all times been famed for their valour and love of war. They are of the great military casts the Khatre † 1.412, and support to this day the spirit of their ancestors. They are excessively proud, and are never known to laugh. They are besides so very in|solent to their inferiors, that it is said, if a person of the lower order dare to look at a Nayr, he may be put to death on the spot with impunity. Among the good qualities of the Nayrs, may be reckoned their great sidelity. It is customary for them to un|dertake the conduct of Christian or Mahometan travellers, or strangers, through their country. The latter never venture without taking a single Nayr with them, who makes himself responsible for their safety; even an old decrepit man, or a boy is sufficient for the purpose ‡ 1.413. Should any misfortune be|fall the charge, it is related, that the Nayrs, unable to bear the disgrace, have frequently been known to put themselves to death * 1.414. Notwithstanding this, at other times they are notorious

robbers, and even will murder the traveller unprotected by one of their cast.

IN their persons they are well made, and of great strength: Their complexion more black than olive, their hair crisp, but longer than that of the Negro; their ears enormously long; they think that custom graceful, they lengthen them by art, and hang on them and their noses numbers of baubles. They at times load their arms and necks with silver bracelets and chains of pearl. In time of war, on their head, they wear a most ungraceful clout hanging down, pointed on each side, and a short wrapper round the waist, with a dagger stuck in a sash; all the rest of them is naked. In one hand is a sword of vast length. Such is the figure of one given by Captain Byron, engraven by Vivares. In religion they are of the Hindoo; in marriage strict monogamists.

PARALLEL to Mount Dilli and to Mahé, * 1.415 a small dominion, called Coorga, extends beyond the Ghauts, unfortunately into the Mysore. It consists of mountains and vast forests, sheltering tigers and elephants innumerable, being one of the few places in which the last are at present found in a state of nature. The late Ayder Alli in vain attempted to subdue the brave inhabi|tants. Family send between the Rajah and his brother, enabled him to effect his purpose. He destroyed one family, made prisoners of the other, and poffessed himself of the country. The present Rajah, then a boy, was son to the younger of the contesting brothers. This youth was by Ayder compelled to be|come a Mussulman, with all the shameful ceremonies of initia|tion * 1.416.

He was enrolled among the Chelas, or corps of slaves, and continued so till he made his escape, in 1785, into his own dominions. His faithful subjects flocked to him. The first act was the slaughter of a brigade of Tippoo's troops. The Rajah instantly offered his service to the English: It was accepted, and he proved a most useful ally. Mercara, his capital, was in the hands of the enemy. We offered our assistance to reduce it. This he declined: but, after some prudent delay, besieged it with his own people, took and dismantled it, that in future his subjects might depend on their own valour in the field for the defence of their country. At the treaty of Seringapatam, Mar|quis CORNWALLIS generously stipulated for the security of the gallant Rajah. Tippoo Sultan grew irritated to a degree of phrenzy at the demand, and broke off the actual negotiation with our General, who began to renew hostilities. Tippoo, find|ing a reluctance in his troops to defend the capital, was com|pelled to accept the dictated terms † 1.417, and the laurels of humanity and fidelity added new glories to the head of the conqueror.

THIS account I have selected from the curious relation of the Mysore campaigns, by Major Dirom: that of the natural face of the Coorga country shall be delivered in his own words ‡ 1.418.

THIS little dominion

affords not only the Sandal, and most valuable woods in India, but teems also with the spontaneous productions of all the richest spices of the East. Enjoying a

fertile soil and temperate climate, this mountainous country is a fund of wealth, that requires only peace and commerce to render inexhaustible. It is a beautiful scene to contemplate; a delightful journey to the traveller; but a most arduous march, and formidable barrier to an invading army.

FROM Cape Comorin I take my departure for the island of Ceylon, * 1.419 the nearest part of which, the isle of Calpentyn, is about a hundred and fifty miles distant. The intervening sea is the gulph of Manaar, which grows narrower and narrower till it reaches the fragments of the prior junction with the continent, of which Cape Koiel, a large promontory of the Marawars, and various rocks, are parts. The Cape will be described in my progress from Cape Comorin along the eastern coasts of Hin|doostan.

BEFORE Cape Koiel is the insula-solis of Pliny, lib. vi. 22, * 1.420 the isle of Ramana Koiel, or the isle of the temple of the god Rama, founded near the edge of the water, and on vast stones, to break the force of that element. Rama had a right to a temple opposite to Ceylon, for he killed the giant Ravanen, king of that island, and placed his brother, Vibouchanen, on the throne. Rama was highly venerated in this country. The capital of the Marawars, and the residence of the prince, was named, in honor of the deity, Ramana-dabaram. The passage between this island and the continent is called Odioroa passage. It is extremely short, about five miles broad, and not exceeding in depth three feet.

FROM the eastern end of the isle of Ramana Koiel, is a chain of rocks which runs quite across the narrow channel to the isle

of Manaar, almost adjacent to the Ceylonese shore: the length is about thirty miles, but the whole chain is frequently inter|fected by narrow passages, so very shallow, says d'Apres, in his Neptune Oriental, p. 85, as to be navigable only by the small crast of the neighboring shore, and that only in calm weather, so disturbed is the channel in gales by a dreadful surf. The little vessels that wish to make the passage, go under Manaar, where they must unload, pay duty to the Dutch, get their ves|sel dragged through the pass, and take in their cargo on the other side. It is very probable, that this succession of rocks was part of an isthmus, which in very early times had united Ceylon and the continent; for the water on each side of this chain, does not exceed thirteen or fourteen feet. Pliny, in the passage before cited, takes notice of the greenish cast of this part of the channel, of its being filled with shrubs, that is, with corals; and of its being so shallow, that the rowers often brushed off the tops with their oars.

THIS chain of rocks is called Adam's Bridge; * 1.421 the tradition is, that our common father, after his transgression, was cast down from Paradise, and fell upon Ceylon; but that afterwards, this bridge was made by angels for him to pass over to the continent.

Manaar is, as the name implies, sandy. The little channel is on the eastern side, and defended by a strong fort, garrisoned with a hundred men, notwithstanding it is impassable for any vessels which draw more than four or five feet water. It had on it seven churches, built by the Portuguese. The natives were converted by St. Francis de Xavier, and still continue professors

of Christianity, notwithstanding they have labored under many persecutions. The pearl mussel is found in great abundance on this coast, and the fishery has, at different times, been attended with good success, since the Dutch have become masters. Pliny says, that the greatest plenty were found in his days on the coasts of Tabrohana, and Toidis, and Perimula, on the peninsula of Malacca.

A SPECIES of Manati is certainly found here. Baldaeus, * 1.422 a learned clergyman, who resided long in Ceylon, describes it (Churchill's Coll. iii. 793) so exactly, that we cannot mistake the animal he intended.

Here is a peculiar fish (properly a sea-calf) of an amphibious nature; the females have breasts, and give suck, and the flesh, when well boil'd, tastes not unlike our sturgeon, and might easily be mistaken for veal.

FROM Manaar is the very short passage into the great island of CEYLON, known to the antients by the name of Tabrobana. * 1.423 I will not attempt to expose their mistakes in respect to extent, and some other particulars, as long as the identity of the isle is ascer|tained. Strabo mentions it in lib. xv. p. 1013, * 1.424 noticing the aukwardness of the inhabitants in failing, and fitting their masts in their vessels. Along the coasts are observed various amphi|bious animals, among which he plainly includes Manati; some he compares to oxen, others to horses, and other land animals; the Dugung, (De Busson, xiii. 374, tab. lvi.) may possibly have

been among them. This Strabo delivers from the account left by Onesicritus, a follower of Alexander the Great, who sent him on a voyage to India, where he informed himself of many things, among which is no small share of fable, or misrepre|sented accounts.

Mela speaks of this island as the part of another world, * 1.425 and that it never was circumnavigated.

Pliny, * 1.426 lib. vi. c. 22, gives us a large chapter on the subject of this island: he not only gives the authority of Megasthenes, who had written a history of India, and of Eratosthenes, a famous geometrician, who pretended to give the circumference of Ceylon, but has drawn many lights from the four embassadors actually sent from this island to Rome, in the time of Claudius. By accident, a freed slave of a farmer of the Roman customs in the Red Sea, was driven to the coast of Ceylon by a storm; such an impression did he make on the king of the island by his favorable report of the Romans, that determined him to send these envoys. From them many particulars were learned; they were not sparing of any thing which tended to exalt the glory of their country: they said that it contained five hunded cities; the chief was Palesimundum, that had two hundred thousand citizens. For other particulars I refer to the old historian; more is beyond my plan.

Ptolemy comes next, * 1.427 who is particular as to the productions of this great island. He mentions rice, honey, ginger, beryls, hyacinths; and gold, silver, and other metals; and he agrees with Pliny about its producing elephants and tigers. He also says, the antient name of Ceylon was Symondi, but in his days it

was called Salice, still in some measure retained in its Indian appellative Selen-Dive. The principal places named by the geographer, are Anurogrammum, * 1.428 of which the Cingalese say there are great remains in the vestiges of the antient city Ana|rodgurro.

Maragrammon, the capital town, which answers to the modern Candy; Talacoris emporium, and Nagadiba, Prasodis sinus, and numbers of other places * 1.429, which shew how well known this island was to the Romans, either by their fleet from the Red sea, or their coasting traders from the western side of India. I will only mention Malea Mons, or the modern Yale, famous for the Pascua Elephantum † 1.430 Bumasani, * 1.431 the great haunt of elephants, and which were driven, and probably shipped, at a port still called by the Dutch, Geyeweys of Elephants van plaets, and transported in vast ships to Calinga ‡ 1.432, probably the same with the modern Calingapatam, a city and port on the coast of the northern Circars.

El. Edrisi, p. 31, * 1.433 speaks of this island under the name of Serandib, and Marco Polo under that of Seilam. It is celebrated by each for its rich gems. By mistake the Nubian Geographer places the diamond among them; but all the rest it produces in high perfection, and several kinds of aromatics or spices. Silk was also exported from hence in his days. He speaks highly of the ruling monarch, who had sixteen privy counsellors, four of his own people, four Christians, four Mahometans, and four

Jews; such was the moderation of this excellent prince! He loved good wine, which he procured from Parthia and Persia, and dispersed among his subjects. He was indulgent in this gift of heaven, but a most severe enemy to incontinence.

THE Portuguese were the first of the European nations who visited Ceylon. * 1.434 It was discovered by Laurence Almeyda, in 1505, who was driven accidentally from his cruize off the Maldive isles, by the violence of the currents, into a port called by the natives Gabalican * 1.435. The ruling prince was, as he is now styled, emperor, and is lord paramount over the lesser kings; he is styled most great, invincible, and tailed † 1.436, the first of his race coming from Siam, with a tail a foot long, pendent from be|hind; his posterity in due time (according to lord Monboddo's system) shed their tails, and became as capable of the arts of government, as any European monarch whatsoever. Almeyda was received by the governor with the utmost courtesy. He sent Pelagio Souza, one of his officers, to the royal residence at Colombo, where he was introduced to the emperor. He met with a most favorable reception, formed a league with his im|perial majesty, who agreed to pay Emmanuel annually two hun|dred and fifty thousand pounds weight of cinnamon; on con|dition, that the fleets of Portugal should defend his coasts from all hostile invasions. It is well known that the Portuguese soon after made themselves masters of the principal ports, and en|grossed the whole trade of the valuable bark. The Moors, or Arabs, exerted every effort to prevent them from establishing

themselves in Ceylon. This highly concerned the Arabs, who before that time were the sole venders of the cinnamon, which they carried to Suez, from whence it was conveyed over the isthmus, and from Alexandria to all parts of Europe; all their endeavors were to no purpose; that rich trade became mono|polized by these new rivals.

THE Dutch first landed here in 1603, * 1.437 and visited the em|peror. In 1632 they received a formal invitation from the ruling monarch, and in consequence appeared off the coast with a potent fleet. They confederated with the king of Ceylon, and after a struggle of several years, and after great bloodshed, they expelled the Portuguese, whose power ended in the taking of Colombo, in 1656, after a siege of seven months, in which the Portuguese exerted all that spirit and valour which originally made them lords of the Indies. The emperor repaid the Dutch all the expence in cinnamon, and other productions of the island; and invested them with many privileges; and in re|turn found himself exactly in the same dependent state as he was before his victories. The Dutch fortified every one of his ports. They have besides a grant of coast round the island, twelve miles in breadth, reckoning from the sea * 1.438. His majesty maintains a magnificent court at Candy, but at any time his good allies, by the sole interdiction of the article salt, may make him and his subjects to submit to any terms they are pleased to dictate † 1.439.

THE form and extent of the isle of Ceylon, * 1.440 are very much undetermined. The figure which is generally adopted in the roaps, is that of a pear, with the stalk turned towards the north. The length, from Dondra-head south, to Tellipeli north, is about two hundred and eighty miles; the greatest breadth, or from Colombo to Trincoli, is about a hundred and sixty. The latitudes of the two extremes in length, are between 5° 50′ 0″, and 9° 51′. Its extremes of longitude are 79° 50′, and 82° 10′.

THE island rises from on every side to the mountains, which run in chains, principally from north to south. The highest and rudest tract is the kingdom of Conde Uda, * 1.441 which is imper|vious, by reason of rocks and forests, except by narrow paths, which are also impeded by gates of thorns, closely watched by guards. At the western skirt of these mountains soars Hamalell, and, * 1.442 in the European language, Adam's Peak. It rises pre-emi|nent above all the rest, in form of a sugar loaf. Le Brun, ii. p. 81, gives a view as it appears from the sea. On the summit is a flat stone, with an impression resembling a human foot, two feet long, it is called that of our great and common ancestor. The Cingalese, or aborigines of Ceylon, say that it is of Buddo, their great deity, when he ascended into heaven, from whom they expect salvation. The Mahometan tradition is, that Adam was cast down from Paradise (we make his Paradise an earthly one) and fell on this summit, and Eve near Judda, in Arabia. They were separated two hundred years, after which he found his wife, and conducted her to his old retreat; there he died, and there he was buried, and there are two large tombs. To this day many votaries visit his imaginary sepulchre; the Mahome|tans

out of respect to our common father; the Cingalese under the notion I have just mentioned. Is there not a trace of Chris|tianity in the opinion of the Cingalese respecting Buddo, of the necessity of a mediator, which they might have collected from the Christians of St. Thomas? Here they light lamps, and offer sacrifices, which, by antient custom, are given to the Moorish pilgrims. All the visitants are, in places, obliged to be drawn up by chains, so rude and inaccessible is the way to this mount of sanctity.

FROM this mountain rushes the great river Mavila-Ganga, * 1.443 or Ganges, which passes unnavigable, close to Candy, a very long and rocky course to the sea at Trincomale.

ALL the rest of the isle, except some marshy flats adapted to the culture of rice, are broken into thousands of hills, beauti|fully cloathed with wood. The intervening valleys are often morassy, or consisting of a rich fat soil; but the fertility of the open parts is astonishingly great.

THE account given by Ptolemy of the mineral or fossil pro|ductions, is, in a great measure, confirmed. * 1.444 Iron and copper are found here, as is black lead. A gold mine is said to be latent in one of the great mountains, but the working prohi|bited by the emperor. Of gems, the ruby, sapphire, topaz, * 1.445 the electric tourmalin, Cronsledt. Ed. Magellan. sect. 85; and the cat's eye, or Pseud-opal, and hyacinth, are met with. But what occasions the neglect of the mines, and of the gems, is the at|tention to the great staple of the island, the important bark of the cinnamon. Doctor Thunberg is very exact in his account of the gems of Ceylon, Travels, iv. 215. They are dug up about Matura, and the liberty of search is farmed for no more

than one hundred and eighty rix-dollars a year. Amethysts, and an infinite variety of crystals and crystalline gems, are found in that neighborhood. The account of my able correspondent well merits perusal.

THE inhabitants are the Cingalese; * 1.446 these are aboriginal, and differ totally in language from the people of Malabar, or any other neighboring nation. Their features more like Europeans than any other. Their hair long, most commonly turned up. They are black, but well made, and with good countenances, and of excellent morals, * 1.447 and of great piety. Their religion is derived from Buddo, a proselyte of the great Indian Foe: his doctrine spread over Japan and Siam, as well as that of Foe * 1.448. It consists of the wildest idolatry, and the idols, the objects of their worship, are the most monstrous and phantastic. The pa|godas are numerous, and many of them, like several in India, of hewn-stone, most richly and exquisitely carved. The Cingalese believe Buddo to have come upon earth; and that to him be|longed the salvation of souls: all human happiness, say they, proceeds from him: all evil, from the devil, to whom he per|mits the power of punishment. When sick, they dedicate a red cock to that being, as the Romans did one to Esculapius. During the time he inhabited the earth, they tell us, that he usually sate under the shade of the ficus religiosa, which, in honor of him, is called in the Cingalese tongue, Budaghaha. His religion is the established religion of the island.

THE civil government is monarchical. * 1.449 The emperor, in the time of Knox, was absolute, and clamed the most undisputable

right over the lives and fortunes of all his subjects. He was a most barbarous tyrant, and took a diabolical delight in putting his subjects to the most cruel and lingering deaths. Elephants were often the executioners of his vengeance, and were directed to pull the unhappy criminals limb from limb with their trunks, and scatter them to the birds of the air, or beasts of the field. The emperor's residence was at Candy, nearly in the center of the island; but he was, in Knox's time, by the rebellion of his subjects, obliged to desert that city. The government is said, by Wolff, p. 235, to be at present very mild, and regulated by the statute laws of the land, the joint production of divers wise princes, and are considered as sacred by the Cingalese. It is pos|sible that the tyrant, in the days of Knox, had destroyed the liberties of his country, which were afterwards restored. * 1.450 The author Robert Knox is a writer fully to be depended on; a plain honest man, who, in 1657, sailed in one of the East India Com|pany's ships to Madras; and on the return, in 1659, was forced by a storm into Ceylon, to refit: when his father (who was cap|tain) went on shore, and, with sixteen more of the crew, were seized by the emperor's soldiers, and detained. The Captain died in a year's time. Our author lived nineteen years in the island, and saw the greatest part of it. At length, with difficulty, he escaped, and arrived safe in England, in September 1680. His history of the island, and of his adventures, were published in 1680; and appears to be the only authentic account of the inter|nal parts, and the only one that can be entirely relied on.

THERE is in this island a race of wild men, called Wedas, * 1.451 or Bedas; they speak the Cingalese language, but inhabit the depth

of woods, and the fastnesses of the mountains, and are, in all respects, as savage as the domesticated animals are in the state of nature. * 1.452 I suspect them to be what Solinus * 1.453 calls Barbari, to distinguish them from other Indians in a state of civilization; for I think I have met with elsewhere, the distinction between a wild people, and others in a polished state of manners.

THESE Wedas wear their hair long, collect it together, and tie it on the crown of the head in a bunch. Their complexions are, comparative to the other Cingalese, light: they inhabit the depth of woods, and their skins, that way, escape the effect of the burning sun. They live entirely on flesh, or on roots; the first they either eat raw, or dried, or preserved in honey. They live either in caves, or under a tree, with the boughs cut and laid round about them to give notice when any wild beasts come near, which they may hear by their rustling and trampling upon them † 1.454. They are like them, without law, and, as Wolf, page 259, says, without religion. Knox, p. p. 61, 62, asserts the contrary. The wilder sort never shew themselves; the tamer will enter into some kind of commerce with their civili|zed countrymen. Their dress is only a cloth wrapped round their waists, and brought between their legs. A small ax is usually stuck in the wrapper. They are skilful archers, and very nice in their arrows. The heads are of iron, made by the smiths of the civilized people. They have no other means of bespeaking them, than leaving near the shop a pattern, cut out of a leaf, with a piece of flesh by way of reward: If he does the

work, they bring him more meat, otherwise they shoot him in the night.

AFTER this account of the lowest of the human race, * 1.455 I fear I shall injure the half reasoning elephant, on putting him on a level with such of our own species as have scarcely any of the reasoning particles left. This island was celebrated by Pliny, lib. viii. c. 9, for its race of elephants, which were larger, and more adapted for war, than those of India. He also gives the methods of capture * 1.456. They are, at present, taken in different manners, and after being tamed, are sent to the great annual fair at Jaffanapatam. The merchants of Malabar and Bengal, have notice of the numbers and qualities of the elephants to be set up to sale; sometimes a hundred are sold at one fair. A full grown beast, twelve or fourteen feet high, will be sold at the rate of two thousand dollars.

THE manner of taking these huge animals is thus described by Doctor Thunberg, iv. p. 240, who undertook a journey up the country to see what the Dutch call an Elephant-toil, or snare, "which served for capturing and inclosing a great number of elephants. The toil was constructed of stout cocoa trees, almost in the form of a triangle, the side nearest to the wood being very broad, and augmented with slighter trees and bushes, which gradually extended themselves into two long and impercepti|ble wings. The narrower end was strongly fortified with stakes, planted close to each other, and held firmly together by ropes, and became at length so narrow, that only one single

elephant could squeeze itself into the opening. When the governor gives orders for an elephant chace on the company's account, which happens at the expiration of a certain number of years, it is performed in the following manner: A great multitude of men, as well European as Cingalese, are sent out into the woods, in the same manner in which people go out on a general hunt for wolves and bears in the north of Europe. These diffuse themselves, and encompass a certain extent of land which has been discovered to be frequented by elephants. After this they gradually draw nearer, and with great noise, vociferation, and beat of drum, contract the area of the circle; in the mean time the elephants approach nearer and nearer to the side on which the toil is placed. Finally, torches are lighted up, in order to terrify still more these huge animals, and force them to enter into the toil prepared for them. As soon as they all have entered, the toil is closed up behind them. The last time that elephants were caught in this manner, their numbers amounted to upwards of a hundred, and on former occasions has sometimes amounted to one hundred and thirty."

"THE first care of the captors, is to bring them out of the toil, and to tame them. For this purpose one or two tame elephants are placed at the side where the opening is, through which each elephant is let out singly, when he is immediately bound fast, with strong ropes, to the tame ones, who discipline him with their proboscis, till he likewise becomes tame, and suffers himself to be handled and managed at pleasure. This discipli|nary correction frequently proceeds very briskly, and is some|times accomplished in a few days, especially as the wild elephant is at the same time brought under control by hunger."

THE horses of the island are descended from the Arabian breed. * 1.457 These are kept in a wild state, in certain islands called Ilbas de Cavallos. They are at certain times forced into the ponds and rivers, and caught by people, who, in the most dex|terous manner, fling over any part they please a noose. These are sent to a fair, immediately following the elephant fair, and sold for large prices. The peasants make no sort of use of horses; but in their place employ the buffalo, which they catch and tame for the cart, and all their rural work * 1.458.

THE species of deer are very elegant; * 1.459 here are found the spotted Axis, Hist. Quad. N^o 56, the middle sized, N^o 57, and the great, N^o 58, called by the Dutch, Elk, as tall as a horse; and the rib-faced, N^o 60, with a tusk from each upper jaw, point|ing downwards.

THE little Indian musk, called Meminna, not larger than a hare, is a native of this isle. This has, like the last, its tusks.

BUFFALOES are very common here, wild and tame; * 1.460 and are the only animals used here for rural oeconomy.

WILD-BOARS are very numerous, and very fierce. * 1.461

To fight an enemy, to hunt the elephant, and catch the wild-hog, are the three points of valour among the Cingalese.

MONKIES swarm here; * 1.462 the Wanderow is a species mentioned by Knox, with a great white beard from ear to ear, a black face, and dark grey body. There is a variety of the above quite white.

THE purple-faced, N^o 107, has a triangular white beard, pur|ple face, and black body.

THE Rillow or Rolleway, N^o 122, is distinguished by the long hair on its head, lying flat and parted. They are as large as a blood-hound, and are able to catch hold of a child, and run up with it to the top of the loftiest trees; and after admiring it for some time, they will lay it gently down on the place they took it from. These are very numerous, and very audacious, and will rob the corn fields and gardens in the very face of the owners, and as soon as they are driven out of one end of the field, will come skipping into the other, and fill both their bellies and hands. Of late years it has been discovered, by a Russian tanner, that their skins might be dressed, and made into shoes.

THE tail-less Macauco, N^o 146, and the Loris, N^o 148, are found here.

THE jackal, * 1.463 N^o 172, is numerous here, as it is all over India.

THE tiger, * 1.464 N^o 180, is too frequent in Ceylon. These animals are shot with cross-bows, placed in their haunts. Pliny says, that tigers and elephants were made by the people the execu|tioners of their kings, whenever they had offended them. They appointed a solemn hunting match, and exposed their monarch to the fury of those beasts.

BEARS, * 1.465 N^o 208, are very common, even in this neighbor|hood of the Line. Wolf says, they are large and black, and feed on honey, as they do in Europe.

THE Civet, * 1.466 N^o 274, is frequent in Ceylon.

THE Mungo, or Indian Ichneumon, N^o 255, is found here. This weesel is famous for its antipathy to the Naja, or Cobra de Capello, and for its instant recourse to the antidote to the fatal

bite, on its receiving a wound from that dreadful serpent. The plants it seeks relief from, are the Ophiorrhiza Mungos, Strych|nos Colubrina, and Ophioxylon serpentinum. The last is figured in Burman. Zeylan. 141. tab. 64, and in Rumph. Amboin. vi. 25, tab. xvi.

THE Naja is found all over the hotter parts of India, * 1.467 and is distinguished by a mark on the back of the head, of the form of a pair of spectacles, also by the power of dilating the skin of the head into the form of a hood, from which it has gotten the name of the Cobra de Capello, or hooded snake. They grow from four to eight or nine feet in length, and are justly dreaded by the Indians. Their bite is generally mortal, yet there is a remedy (if timely applied) that has its efficacy. The mortal effect some|times takes place in a quarter of an hour, sometimes in two or three hours. In its fatal sacculus it seems to contain the poisons of the Seps, one of Lucan's deadly list * 1.468. An universal gangrene takes place, and the flesh falls from the bones; con|vulsions sometimes bring on death, according to the degree of virus, on which the symptoms depend.

THIS species never distends its hood but when it is agitated by some passion, such as fear, or rage, it then quits its creeping attitude, raises the fore part of the body a third of its whole length, spreads its hood, and moves its head around, darting a fiery glare to every part, often remaining in all other respects immoveable; or its motion becomes slow, steady, and cautious,

so that in India it is held to be the emblem of Prudence; it is also held in veneration equal to a deity. The legends of the country are full of strange tales relating to its actions; they call it Nella Pambou, or the good serpent; it is often represented twisted round the deities, under the name of Calengam, in me|mory of the victory of one of their gods, over an enormous Naja.

THIS certainly is not the Deaf Adder. The Indian jugglers, especially those of Malabar, have a power of taming these dreadful animals, and instructing them to dance, after the in|harmonious and slow air of their flagelets. The serpent first seems astonished, then begins to rear himself, and sometimes by a gentle motion of the head, and with distended hood, seems to listen with pleasure to the notes. This is said not to be peculiar to those which are accustomed to the exercise, but even the snakes newly taken, will shew the same disposition, and fling themselves into the same attitudes.

Nieuhoff gives a plate of these jugglers, and their snakes, and Kaempfer a much better.

I SHALL mention here two or three Indian serpents, described by M. d'Obsonville, notwithstanding I am uncertain of their native place; one is called, in French, le Javclot, a species of Ja|culus, of a green color, five or six feet long, and most fatal in its bite. It generally lurks, extended or suspended, among the branches of trees. So situated, that they either can dart on their prey, such as little birds or insects, or remove themselves with * 1.469

a spring from bough to bough. It does not appear that they attack mankind, but rather glide from his approach: but the Indians have the same notion as the Arabs have, of its being a flying serpent.

THE Poison-Snake is only two feet long, and very slender, * 1.470 and freckled with pale brown or red. Its bite brings death as rapidly as Lucan's Volucer serpens. Our author saw a Gentoo bit by one. The sufferer could only give a shriek, and advance a few steps, when he fell down dead.

THE Burning-serpent seems to possess the dreadful poison of three species: * 1.471 It gives by its bite the symptoms of raging fire, like the Torrida dipsas. It causes, at other times, the blood to flow through every pore, like the Hoemorrhoïs; at other times, to cause swelling like the Prester, and to incite racking pains; at length, by a happy numbness, death brings kindly relief to the miserable sufferer. The Reverend Edward Terry * 1.472 saw a criminal put to death at Amedavad, with all the effects of the bite of the Dipsas and of the Prester. This species much re|sembles the last in form; both inhabit dry, hot, and rocky places; and live on insects full of saline and acrimonious parti|cles, which cannot fail of exalting the virus of the serpents that make them their food.

OUR great Ray, Syn. Quadr. 331, enumerates several of the Ceylonese serpents: one is the Oehaetulla, i. e. oculis infesius, the very same with that described above, under the name of Javelot.

THE Ninypolonga is the same with the Asp, which kills the person it bites, by flinging him into an endless sleep.

THE vast Boa, * 1.473 the Anacandaia of the Ceylonese, is common here, and is compared for size to the mast of a ship * 1.474. Quintus Curtius mentions it among the monstrous serpents which astonish|ed the army of Alexander in his march into India. This is com|mon to Africa, and the greater islands of India. It is the serpent which Livy, Dec. ii. c. 16. feigns to have given Regulus so much employ on the banks of the Bagrada.

To what I have said of the Cobra Manilla, at page 82, I may here add an instance of the rapid fatality of its bite: A gentle|man resident in India, sent his servant on an errand into a closet; the man cried out, that something had pricked his finger; before his master could reach him, he fell down dead on the floor! Perhaps the same with the poison snake?

CROCODILES are very common in Ceylon, * 1.475 and sometimes are found of the length of eighteen feet.

THE Lacerta Calotes is a singular lizard, * 1.476 with a serrated back.

THE Lacerta Iguana is common to both the Indies, and grows to the length of five or six feet; its flesh is eaten, and thought to be medicinal.

THE Lacerta Gekko is a species justly dreaded for the poison, which exudes even from the ends of its toes, and which infects, to a degree of fatality, any thing it passes over; its urine and saliva are equally dangerous; its voice, which is acute, like that of a cricket, flings a whole company into consternation. The Indians obtain from it a deadly poison for their arrows. They

tie one of these animals pendent by the tail, and provoke it till it emits its deadly saliva on the point of the weapons, which kill with the slightest wound. This dreadful reptile seldom at|tains a foot in length.

THE Draco volans * 1.477, * 1.478 the animal which bears the dreadful name of Dragon, is no more than an innocent little lizard, fur|nished with membranes, extending along the sides in form of wings, with which it makes short flights from tree to tree, chirruping as it goes. Beneath its chin is a long slender ap|pendage; the tail is very long and slender, but the length of the whole creature is not more than nine inches; and this is the only animal that bears really the form feigned by poets and writers of romance for that of the tremendous dragon.

THE insects of Ceylon are of uncommon sizes: * 1.479 scorpions have been found there eight inches long, exclusive of the legs; Sco|lopendrae seven inches in length; and of spiders, the Aranea avicularia, Seb. mus. i. tab. 69, with legs four inches long, and the body covered with thick black hair, a species that makes a web strong enough to entangle the smaller species of birds, on which it feeds.

THE hare of Ceylon differs in no respect from the English hare. * 1.480

THE crested porcupine, N^o 314, is an animal of this island. * 1.481 A bezoar is sometimes found in its stomach: the reign of its pretended Alexipharmic qualities is now over. Tavernier gave five hundred crowns for one, which he sold to advantage. It is

a mere concretion like the human calculus, and of course of no kind of effect.

THE white legged squirrel, * 1.482 ii. p. 139. Var. a. is a variety of the common squirrel.

THE Ceylonese squirrel, or Dandoelana, Ind. Zool. tab. i. is remarkable for being three times the size of our squirrel, and having a tail twice as long as its body.

THE palm squirrel, N^o 346, lives much in the coco trees, and is yery fond of the Sury, or wine extracted from the palms.

THE perfuming shrew, * 1.483 N^o 424, is a native of this and others of the Indian isles. Its musky odor is so subtil, as to pervade every thing it runs over. It will totally spoil the wine in a well|corked bottle, by barely passing over the surface.

THE two-toed sloth, * 1.484 N^o 251, and Wolf, 181, is common to Ceylon, India, and South-America.

THE short-tailed Manis, N^o 460, inhabits this island.

THE Talgoi is a species of ant-bear, * 1.485 or eater; we cannot ascer|tain the species, unless it be the same with the Cape, N^o 466. A Mr. Strachan, in the Ph. Trans. Abr. v. 180, gives an account of one found in this island, with the same manners as the others, of its laying its slimy tongue before the ants' nest, and pulling it into its mouth as soon as it finds it covered with those insects. If it is not the same it is a new species. In the Faunula Indica I have made two, this and the Obscure * 1.486.

THE cordated bat, * 1.487 N^o 499, with its heart-shaped appendage to the nose; and the striped, or Kiriwoula, N^o 507, inhabit

Ceylon. The monstrous species called the Ternate is very fre|quent here.

THE Manati I have mentioned at page 183, and the water elephant seems no more than the Dugung, N^o 469.

MANY of the above mentioned animals are, in all probability, common to the continent of India, and doubtlessly many more which have escaped the notice of travellers: there is all the appearance of Ceylon having been united with the continent; and that the gulph of Manaar was once solid land. The Mal|dives, and Laccadives, seem likewise to have been fragments of the once far extended continent.

BIRDS, * 1.488 which have the locomotive power so strongly in their formation, have a less chance to be local than the preceding class. The ornithology of my friend Latham, is as unerring a guide, as human imperfection can produce. In respect to the birds, I shall here, and elsewhere, only point out those on whom nature hath impressed any characters worthy of philosophic attention.

To shun prolixity, I avoid giving (in general) descriptions of either beasts or birds. In respect to the first, I refer en|tirely to the third edition of my History of Quadrupeds, in which I flatter myself the reader will find them amply treated. As to the general enumeration of birds, it will be found at page 67 of my Indian Zoology, with references to Mr. Latham; or, in cases where any species are common to Great Britain, to the British Zoology. The list of the known quadrupeds of India, its fishes, reptiles, and insects, are also given in the same work.

THERE are several sorts of falcons in this island, * 1.489 many of which are trained for the pursuit of game. There is a white species, with an elegant pendent crest of two feathers. My friend Mr. Loten, long Governor in Ceylon, could not give any account of any part excepting the head.

THE black and white, Ind. Zool. tab. ii. is a small kind, pied like a magpie. The small brown hawk, in Brown's Illustr. 6▪ tab. iii, is another found here.

Wolf speaks of a white hawk, which is, with the Malabars, a bird of augury, for if they see him fly over their heads in a morning, they will not that day either undertake a journey, or any business of moment. This may be perhaps the species with a white crest.

AMONG birds of elegance of color may be mentioned, * 1.490 the Indian Roller, Edw. 326, and the swallow-tail'd, 327, with its two singular external feathers in the tail, of vast length.

AMONG grotesque birds may be reckoned the two species of Buceros, * 1.491 or horn-bill; the Rhinoceros, Edw. 281, called from the singular recurvated accessary beak, by the Dutch, Dubbeld Bek; and the Wreathed, Latham, i. p. 358, called in Ceylon, the Year Bird, being supposed to have annually an addition of a wreath to its bill. They make a great noise when they fly, and have a sluggish flight, perch on the highest trees, feed on ber|ries, and are reckoned very sweet food.

THE golden oriole, * 1.492 Br. Zool. ii. App. 626, is an European bird, is called in India the Mango bird, from its feeding on the fruit of that tree. The bee-eater, Merops Apiaster, and the greater redstart, Latham, i. p. 176, are also common to India.

THE fasciated Curucui, Ind. Zool. tab. iv. and the spotted, * 1.493 Brown's Illustr. tab. xiii, are elegant birds from Mr. Loten's Col|lection, as is the Zcylan Barbet, and the red crown'd, Brown's Illusir. tab. xiv. xv.

THE red-headed cuckoo forms the 5th plate of my Indian Zoology, * 1.494 as does the red-wing'd wood-pecker, tab. vi. Mr. Latham gives another, ii. 580, under the name of the Ceylon.

THE European Hoopoo is frequent there. * 1.495 I may say that our common nut-hatch, and creeper, the wheat-ear, the wry-neck, the yellow wren, the house swallow, the woodcock, and snipe, are also natives of India. The creepers of this island, the Ceylon, Latham, ii. 712, and the Lotenian, 715, and the green-gold, 716, are elegant little birds.

Knox mentions a small green Parrot found in Ceylon, * 1.496 but not remarkable for its loquacity. The Romans were very fond of the parrot kind, which they must have had from the eastern side. The Indians (Barbari) profited of this passion, and made them an article of commerce. The Wedas are most skilful ar|chers, and probably do the same. These birds inhabit the forests, in which, says Solinus, c. 65, the trees were so lofty, that they were beyond the reach of the arrows aimed at their inhabitants. Parrots were esteemed by the Indians as sacred, particularly by the Brachmans. * 1.497.

THE yellow-crown'd thrush, Brown's Illustr. tab. xxii, * 1.498 is kept here in cages, and is remarkable for its powers of mimicking every note that is whistled to it.

IT is impossible not to mention the tailor bird, * 1.499 Ind. Zool. tab. viii, a warbler; on account of its wonderful nest; my own account of its oeconomy, taken from the Indian Zoology, page 44, deserves attention. It is thus introduced:

HAD Providence left the feathered tribe unendowed with any particular instinct, the birds of the torrid zone would have built their nests in the same unguarded manner as those of Europe: but there, the lesser species, having a certain prescience of the dangers that surround them, and of their own weakness, suspend their nest at the extreme branches of the trees: they are conscious of inhabiting a climate replete with enemies to them and their young; with snakes that twine up the bodies of the trees, and apes that are perpetu|ally in search of prey; but, heaven-instructed, they clude the gliding of the one, and the activity of the other.

THE brute creation in the torrid zone, are more at enmity with one another, than in other climates; and the birds are obliged to exert unusual artifice in placing their little broods out of the reach of an invader. Each aims at the same end, though by different means. Some form their penfile nest in shape of a purse, deep, and open at top; others, with a hole in the side; and others, still more cautious, with an entrance at the very bottom, forming their lodge near the summit.

BUT the little species we describe, seems to have greater diffidence than any of the others; it will not trust its nest even to the extremity of a slender twig, but makes one more advance to safety, by sixing it to the leaf itself.

IT picks up a dead leaf, and, surprising to relate, sews it to the side of a living one, its slender bill being its needle, and its thread some fine sibres; the lining, feathers, gossamer, and down. Its eggs are white: the color of the bird, light yellow; its length three inches; its weight only three six|teenths of an ounce; so that the materials of the nest, and its own size, are not likely to draw down a habitation that de|pends on so slight a tenure.

Two fly-catchers, of uncommon form, * 1.500 attract the eyes of all strangers: small birds, with tails of enormous length, darting through the air like arrows. Both are engraved by Mr. Ed|wards, one in tab. 113, of a black and white color, with a cunei|form tail; the other with a rufous back and tail, and two fea|thers exceeding the others in length by near nine inches.

As these are remarkable for the length of their tails, a pie, engraven by Mr. Edwards, in tab. 324, is distinguished for the ridiculous brevity of that part, and also for the beauty of its colors. Linnaeus calls it Corvus Brachyurus.

SWALLOWS (I do not know the species) never quit Ceylon.

PIGEONS in India assume the most beautiful colors. * 1.501 The pompadour pigeon of this island, Brown's Illustr. tab. xix. xx. the general color of which is a fine pale green; the male dis|tinguished by having the coverts of the wings of a fine pom|padour color, is one proof. I mention this in particular, on account of its history; but more so for that of the magnificent tree on which it usually alights to seed.

THIS species swarms in certain seasons in the island of Cey|lon, * 1.502 particularly when the fruit of the Ficus Indica, or broad

leaved Waringen, is ripe. They alight in vast multitudes on that grotesque tree, and are caught with bird-lime by the na|tives, who prepare the twigs against their arrival. Mr. Loten in|formed me, that when he was governor in Ceylon, one morning at break of day he saw some hundreds entangled on the boughs of the great Waringen tree, before his window, and ordered one of his Ceylonese servants to take them off. They are excellent food, and are often shot by the Europeans. They are observed never to alight on the ground, but to perch on high trees, and give this the preference, on account of the fruit. It is for the same reason the haunt of various other birds; but notwith|standing the sweetness of the fruit, it is neglected by mankind.

THIS tree immediately attracted the attention of the antients. Onesicritus, the philosopher who followed Alexander the Great in his expedition into India, commanded his galley, and re|corded his actions, first gives us an account of this wonderful tree. For this, at lest, he does not merit the severe remark made on him by Strabo, lib. xv. p. 1022, who seems incredulous to all he says; possibly there may be other points in which he may be also defended. This tree rises high in the air, then drops its boughs, which take root, and successively create new stems, till a vast extent is covered with the arched shade. It is even said to form of itself a forest of arched avenues, and a labyrinth of alleys, impenetrable by the rays of the vertical sun; perhaps the extent may be exaggerated. We will con|tent ourselves with giving the dimensions of one near Manjee, west of Patna; the diameter of which was from three hundred and sixty three feet, to three hundred and seventy three: the

circumference of the shadow at noon, eleven hundred and six|teen; that of the several stems, which were no more than fifty or sixty, nine hundred and twenty-one. Hundreds of people may find a comfortable retreat beneath its foliage. Such is the account given by the veracious Mr. Marsden, in page 131 of his excellent history of Sumatra.

Pliny, lib. xii. c. 5, gives the fullest description; he was best qualified, for by the time he lived, the Romans got tolerably well acquainted with the country. His account is elegant and faithful: speaking of the trees of India, he says—

Ficus ibi exilia poma habet. Ipsa se semper serens, vastis diffunditur ramis: quorum imi adeo in terram curvantur, ut annuo spatio infigantur, novamque sibi propaginem faciant circa parentem in orbem, quodam opere topiario. Intra sepem eam, aestivant pastores, opacam pariter, et munitam vallo arboris, decora specie subter intuenti, proculve, fornicato am|bitu. Superiores ejus rami in excelsum emicant, silvosa mul|titudine, vasto matris corpore, ut lx. p. pleraeque orbe col|ligant, umbra vero bina stadia operiant. Foliorum latitudo peltae effigiem Amazonicae habet: ea causa fructum integens, crescere prohibet. Rarusque est, nec fabae magnitudinem excedens; sed per solia solibus coctus proedulci sapore, dig|nus miraculo arboris.

He concludes with saying, that it was found chiefly about the Accsines, the modern Jenauh, which, falling into the famous Hydaspes, the Behut, proves its growth in those days, at lest as far north as Lat. 30° 30′. It did not escape the notice of Alexander the Great, who, after his defeat of Porus, admired it on his march to farther slaughters.

After the sine description given by the Roman naturalist, I shall not injure Quintus Curtius, by transcribing, from Book IX. ch. 1, the few very inferior lines he has written on the subject.

IT is now discovered to the very south of India, and spreads through many of the islands, even to the Moluccas. They are frequently planted in market places, and are therefore called, Waringen daun Bazaar; their extensive shade proving very grateful to all who frequent those spots of business. The Por|tuguese, from its multitude of roots, style it Arbor de raix. It is by the English usually called the Banyans tree, or more pro|perly Yogey tree, being that under the shade of which the reli|gious of that fect usually practise their senseless austerities. Pliny, lib. vii. c. 2, describes them under the name of Gymno|sophistae. Philosophos eorum, quos Gymnosophistas vocant ab exortu ad occasum praestare, contuentes solem immobilibus oculis: ferventibus harenis toto die alternis pedibus insistere. Others again have supposed this tree to have been the tree of life, and to have furnished the leaves with which our first pa|rents betrayed their sense of shame after the fall. Milton adopts the last opinion, and gives us the following beautiful version of the Latin naturalist:—

SOON they chose The fig tree, not the kind for fruit renown'd, But such as at this day to Indians known, In Malabar or Decan spreads her arms, Branching so broad and long, that in the ground

The bending twigs take root, and daughters grow About the mother; a pillar'd shade, High over-arch'd, and echoing walks between: There ost the Indian herdsman, shunning heat, Shelters in cool, and tends his pasturing herds At loop-holes cut through thickest shade.

AUTHORS who have treated, or given figures of this magni|sicent tree, are Rheede, in his Hortus Malabaricus, iii. p. 85, tab. lxiii.; Rumphius, in vol. iii. p. 127. tab. lxxxiv.; Boullaye de Gouz, at p. 194.; Linschotan, in his curious travels, at p. 68, and Catesby in his History of Carolina, iii. p. 18, and tab. xviii.? Mr. Hodge's Travels, tab. p. 27. Finally, I may mention the figures in Clusius's Exotics, p. 2, and that in Gerard, p. 1512, (copied from the former) but must observe that both seem more regular than nature will admit.

THAT magnificent bird the peacock swarms in Ceylon: * 1.503 Its legs are much longer, and its tail of far greater length in its native state, than they are with us. This most elegant and su|perb of the feathered creation, is confined (in the state of nature) to India, and adds highly to the beauty of the rich forests of that vast country, and some of its islands. It inhabits most parts of the continent, even as high as Lat. 31° 14′ N. sup|posing it to be yet found on the Hydraotes, the modern Rauwce. It was imported from India into Greece, as Aelian says, by the barbarians, by which he must mean the natives of the country of that bird. A male and female were valued at Athens at a

thousand drachmae, or £.32. 5. 10. Samos possibly was the next place they were known at, where they were preserved about the temple of Juno, being birds sacred to that goddess: but their use was afterwards permitted to mortals, for Gellius, in his Noctes Atticae, c. 16, commends the excellency of the Samian peacocks.

BUT they were known in Judaea many years before the days of Alexander. The monarch, first in all human wisdom, and who shined pre-eminently in the knowlege of natural history, imported them in his Tharshish navies, which made a three years voyage to procure for Solomon the rich productions of the East, and the objects of the study he so fondly cultivated. There can be no doubt but that the birds imported were peacocks, not Aethiopian parrots, as has been conjectured, natives of a country nearly bordering on the very sea from which his navies took their departure. Apes, ebony, and spices might have been procured from Africa, on one hand, or Arabia on the other; but peacocks and pretious stones, seem at all times the mono|poly of India.

THE Habun Koekella, * 1.504 or wood-fowl, Ind. Zool. tab. vii. second edition, is found near Colombo, but is not common. It is at once distinguished by its double spurs: in size it is equal to a common fowl.

AMONG the aquatic birds is the great white-headed Ibis, * 1.505 Ind. Zool. tab. xi, which makes a snapping noise with its bill; it loses its fine roseate color in the rainy season. Allied to the wood curlew of the Arctic Zoology, ii. N^o 360, a native of the Brasils, and southern parts of North America.

IN the Indian Zoology, tab. xiii. xiv, are engraven the wild goose and duck of Ceylon; I refer to that work for their haunts and history.

THE Anbinga, tab. xv, closes this brief ornithology. * 1.506 It is the terror of passengers; it lurks in thick bushes by the water side, and, darting out its long and slender neck, terrifies them with the idea of some serpent going to inflict a mortal wound.

I WILL not attempt to enumerate the fishes of Ceylon; * 1.507 there do not seem to be any that are local. It appears to me, that those of India spread from at lest the parallel of Cape Comorin, over the vast sea that comprehends the space from thence to the Mo|lucca isles, fills the Bay of Bengal, and surrounds the great isles which form the Indian Archipelago. In the course of this volume I shall point out those which, in form or colors, ex|hibit the most wonderful proofs of the operations of nature.

I SHALL here only mention the few which I received from Sir Joseph Banks and Mr. Loten, as authenticated species. The first is the tiger-shark, Ind. Zool. tab. xvi, fifteen feet long, finely marked with white bands on a dusky ground, said to feed on shells and crustacea.

A Balistes, the Kangewena of the Cingalese, * 1.508 with one horn on the forchead; it grows to the length of two feet, and is esteemed good eating.

Balistes maculosus, or Pottoe bora, elegantly spotted, also a good fish; grows to the length of fifteen inches.

Balistes truncatus, seemingly cut in two, like our Mola.

A Diodon, a singular species, armed with short strong spines. The Ikon Toetomba, or box-fish of the Malayans.

A VERY large species of sword-fish, (different from that de|scribed in the Br. Zool. iii. N^o 68), is found in these and other of the Indian seas. There is a very fine specimen of it in the British Muscum, which is elegantly figured in Doctor Shaw's Naturalist's Miscellany, vol. ii. tab. 88. It grows, as I have been informed, sometimes to the length of thirty feet: It is at per|petual enmity with the whale tribe; and a most dangerous ene|my, for it will sink beneath those monstrous animals, and rising with great force, transfix them with its vast snout. There have been instances of its mistaking a ship for one of the cetaceous genus. An East India-man had its bottom pierced through by a sword-fish, and the weapon quite embedded to the very base in the timber. The fish was killed by the vio|lence of the shock; but had it been able to withdraw the sword, the vessel probably must have sunk in consequence of the leak. The timber, with the weapon lodged in it, is pre|served in the Museum, to authenticate the fact. This verifies the report of Pliny, lib. xxxii. c. 2, respecting the common sword-fish, in cases wholly similar. XIPHIAM, id est, GLA|DIUM, rostro mucronato esse: ab hoc navis perfossas mergi in oceano ad locum MAURITANIAE, qui gotta vocetur, non procul Lixo flumine. Oppian gives a true account of the Xiphias, in Book ii. L. 462, iii. 547. The last has a very entertaining de|scription of the manner in which the antient Massilians took these singular fishes.

A MOST elegant striped species of Scorpaena.

THE Echincis lineatus, a new species; and finally the Labrus Zeylanicus, Ind. Zool. tab. xvi.

WHILE I am in this element, * 1.509 I shall remark that the Sepia Oc|topodia, Br. Zool. iv. N^o 44, grows in the Indian seas to a most amazing size. A friend of mine, long resident among the Indian isles, and a diligent observer of nature, informed me that the natives assirm, that some have been seen two fathoms broad over their centre, and that each arm was nine fathoms long. When the Indians navigate their little boats, they go in dread of them; and lest these animals should fling their arms over and sink them, they never fail without an ax to cut them off.

THESE may parallel the enormous Polypus, or Sepia, described by Pliny, lib. ix. c. 30, which made its nightly invasions on the magazines of salt-fish at Carteia, and long put both men and dogs at defiance.

Ceylon is peculiarly happy in its Flora; * 1.510 the trees and vege|tables of India seem crowded within its limits. There may be local vegetables in this island, and others again on the conti|nent; but I fear my deficiency in botanical knowledge will de|prive me of the power of pointing them out. Ceylon has been likewise peculiarly happy in its florists, who have enumerated and described its vegetable treasures. From their labors I shall mention those of most striking use, beauty, or singularity, with references to the authorities and figures. My chief guide will be the Flora Zeylanica, compiled by Linnaeus from the manu|scripts of Paul Herman, who from the year 1670 to 1677 had made several botanizing journeys through the island, with great hazard to himself, and at vast expence to the states of Holland. These had been lost above fifty years, and then dis|covered and communicated, in 1745, by Augustus Gunther, apo|thecary

at Copenhagen, to Linnaeus, who reduced the plants into system, and published the Flora at Stockholm, in 1747. Burman favored us with his Thesaurus Zeylanicus in 1737, a quarto, en|riched with 110 plates. The Hortus Malabaricus was published at the expence of the munificent Governor of the coasts of Ma|labar, Rheede von Draakenstein, in twelve volumes folio, be|tween the years 1678 and 1693: And the Herbarium Amboinense, in six volumes folio, composed by the Pliny of India, George Everhard Rumphius, was published between the year 1741 and 1750, under the care of the able Burman. These are works to which I shall frequently refer: the word Rheede will denote the species to be a native of Malabar; Rumph. that it is a native also of Amboina. But to proceed to the enumeration:

Indica, * 1.511 Syst. Pl. i. p. 2. Rumph. Amboin. v. tab. lxxi. Katu Bala, Rheed. Mal. ii. 85, tab. 43, the only use is in the seeds, which the Arabs use in their rosaries.

THE different species of Amomum, * 1.512 and the Costus Arabicus, Jacq. Am. i. tab. 1, have from the earliest of times been imports of this and other parts of India.

Rotunda, * 1.513 Rumph. i. tab. lxvi, is a plant with a tuberous root, equally in use as a medicine, and as a food.

Galanga, * 1.514 Burm. Zeyl. 33, tab. 13, has been a celebrated medicine under the name of Galangae majoris et minoris radix.

Rotunda, Rheed. xi, tab. 9, is the Zedoary, which retains its place in our dispensatory.

Arbor Tristis, * 1.515 Gerard, 1527; Manjapumeram, Rheede, i. 35, Raii Hist. Pl. 1698. It has the appearance of an olive. It drops

its boughs at the rising of the sun, and is only cheerful in the night. The Indian poets make it to have been the Daphne of India, once beloved by the sun, whose embraces she rejected like the Ovidian Daphne.

Grandiflorum, Merian, tab. xlvi, inhabits Malabar; * 1.516 this island and Sumatra are famed for the rich odor of their flowers. The J. Azoricum, Burm. Zeyl. tab. lviii, found its way from hence to the Azores.

Echolium, Burm. Zeyl. 6, tab. iv, * 1.517 is the Adhatoda of the Cinga|lese, who attribute to it the imaginary power of attracting the foetus.

OF the PIPER genus, Ceylon possesses, * 1.518 besides the species be|fore mentioned, P. Malamyris, Rumph. Amb. v. tab. 116, and P. Sereboa, tab. 117.

Indica, Rumph. Amboin. ii. tab. xxiii, Balam-pulli, Rheede, * 1.519 i. tab. 33, Raii Hist. 1748. That noble tree grows to a vast size here. The Dutch clergy often pitch their pulpits beneath the shade, and deliver their discourses to their great congregations secure from the sun. Providence seems to have given this salu|tary and cooling fruit to the torrid zone, as the most refreshing at all times, and most efficacious in severs, dysenteries, and Cholera morbus, diseases so frequent in India.

Zeylanica, Burm. Zeyl. 26, and Ind. 15, * 1.520 an acorn-bearing tree, smelling like ordure, yet is used by the Cingalese as a sallad.

Arborescens, Hort. Cliff. 27, * 1.521 deserves to be pointed out as a grass that rivals in height the tallest trees; yet the stalk does not exceed in thickness a goose's quill.

Arbor, * 1.522 or Bambo, has been sufficiently treated of at page 142, of this volume.

Coccinea is a beautiful shrub with scarlet flowers, * 1.523 engraven at page 169, of the Botanical Magazine, and in Burm. Zeyl. tab. 57. The flowers grow in rich rounded clusters, and bright as a red-hot coal. It is therefore called by Rumphius, Flamma sylvarum. It is frequent in Ceylon, where it inhabits watery places. Peacocks are particularly fond of the berries.

Indica, * 1.524 Rumph. Amboin. iv. tab. 47, is another specious plant, called, from its brilliant flowers, by the same name, Flamma sylvarum.

Tomentosa, * 1.525 Burm. Zeyl. 26, yields a bark, a substitute to the Indians for the betel leaf.

Laeta, * 1.526 Burm. Zeyl. 76, tab. 30, yields flowers, used instead of saffron in dying.

Turpethum, * 1.527 Blackwall, tab. 397, Gerard; Turpeth is a name given to the root by the old Arabian physicians; it was much in use among them, and the Indian, in medicine. It was a strong cathartic, and applied in dropsical, gouty, and rheumatic cases, to expel the tough serous humours from the distant parts; it is not at present in our dispensary.

Quamoclit, * 1.528 Rumph. Amboin. v. 421. tab. 155, is a beautiful climbing plant, much used in India for making bowers.

Orientalis, * 1.529 iii. tab. 55, is a tree that affords a beautiful yellow wood.

Umbellata, * 1.530 iii. tab. 118, is a common useless wood in the watery places of all parts of India, with a small tuberous fruit. The root is used for dying red.

Frondosa, iv. tab. 51, is an elegant shrub, * 1.531 called by the Ma|layes, the Leaf of the Princess, because their ladies are fond of the grateful odor of its white leaves.

IT takes the generic name from its quality of opening its flowers at four in the evening, * 1.532 and closing them in the morn|ing till the same hour returns, when they again expand in the evening at the same hour. Many people transplant them from the woods into their gardens, and use them as a dial or clock, especially in cloudy weather * 1.533.

Jalapa, v. tab. 89, is a climbing plant; notwithstanding its trivial, its uses are quite unknown. It is common both to India and Peru. The famous Jalap comes from an American plant, the Convolvulus Jalapa.

Insanum, v. tab. 85. This is the commonest, * 1.534 but poorest food universally used in India. It has been long since intro|duced into Spain, where it is an universal ingredient in made|dishes, and called by the Spaniards, Berengenas. The Arabians say, that Mahomet found this plant in Paradise, which makes his followers particularly fond of it. S. Indicum is another species, figured in Burm. Zeyl. tab. 102.

Barbatum, Rumph. Amboin. 5, tab. 88, and C. Frutescens, * 1.535 fig. 1, 3, 4, of the same table. These Capsicums have a much more hot taste and acrimony in the torrid zone, than even with us; and are universally used in the dishes of the Indians, but the excess always renders them wrinkled and chilly, and brings on premature old age.

Nux Vomica, Rumph. Amboin. ii. tab. 38, * 1.536 grows to a large size; the kernel is slat, inclosed in a round fruit, see Blackwall, tab. 395. It was formerly kept in the shops of our apothecaries,

but being a rank poison, and liable to abuse, is now totally re|jected, especially as it was found to be of no sort of use.

HERE are four species of RHAMNUS, * 1.537 Lineatus, Burman. Zeyl. tab. 88, Napeca, Rumph. Amboin. ii. tab. 42, or Vidara Laut; the chief use is to detect wizards, to whom is given to drink an infusion of the root; if it makes them sick, they are supposed guilty, if not they stand acquitted; much as wise an experi|ment, as that of swimming of witches in our island.

THE other two kinds are the common, RH. Jujuba, ii. tab. 36, and RH. Oenoplia, Burman. Zeyl. tab. 61.

Indica, * 1.538 Rumph. Amboin. i. tab. 25, 26. This tree, valuable for its fruit, grows to a vast size, and assumes the habit of an oak, and is a tree of the first beauty. The fruit is oblong, and sometimes grows to the size of a goose's egg. When ripe, it is of a yellow and red color, and contains a large kernel, which is covered with a most juicy pulp. It is reckoned (after the Ananas) the most delicious fruit in India, and very few other fruits are eaten in the hot season. It is often dressed different ways in made dishes. Of them is also made a mango-rob, most acceptable to sick people. It is often brought over to England pickled. The timber is not of any value. This tree is not found in the Molucca isles.

Castrensis, * 1.539 v. tab. 84, is the beautiful annual, the amaranthus cocks-comb, that we often see an ornament to our gardens.

Manghas, * 1.540 arbor Lactaria, ii. tab. 81. This also grows to a great size, and in the western parts of the different isles. The fruit is far lesser than the Mango. It is of an oval form, with one side concave, as if a piece had been bitten out. This, the Cingalese say, was the fatal apple tasted by Eve, whom they

feign resided along with her mate in this island: They there|fore call it Adam's apple. It lies under the repute of being of a most poisonous quality; but that notion is effectually exploded by Rumphius. It is even taken, in form of an infusion, inter|nally. The kernel may be noxious when eaten to excess, and even fatal, which may be the case with the best things. In Malabar it is called Odallam. Rheede, i. p. 71, asserts, that it is a common poison, and that a very small portion proves immediately fatal. The wood is of no value: if wounded, it plentifully exudes a milky liquor. The kernel is sometimes pressed for the oil, with which candles are made; but they emit a most rank smell.

Oleander is common to this country, * 1.541 and the hotter parts of Spain.

THE BROMELIA Ananas, Rumph. Amboin. v. tab. 81, * 1.542 grows wild in many of the Indian isles; such as Celebes, Amboina, and even the Philippine isles * 1.543: It was not, therefore, introduced from America. It is common to both worlds, and was originally brought from the Brasils into Spain. It is now frequent in Europe; but cultivated with greatest success in England. The natives of Macassar call it Pangram. The name Nanas, and Nassa, which is used in some places, is caught from the Bra|silian Nana, which was changed by the Portuguese into Ananas, and conferred on the plant, which they found also in India. This is the most delicious fruit of the country, and long since cultivat|ed with great attention, by transferring it into the richest soils.

Ceylon glows with numbers of the most splendid or odori|ferous flowers. * 1.544 The PANCRATIUM Zeylanicum, Com. Hort. i. tab. 38, is a beautiful white flower, with a charming seent.

Asiaticum, * 1.545 Miller's plates, tab. 110, and the Crinum Zeyla|nicum, Trew's Ehret. tab. 13, is that elegant species with a white flower, and pale purple stripe.

Superba, * 1.546 Com. Hort. i. tab. 69, Ind. Zool. tab. 3, well merits the pompous name. The Cingalese style it Najajala, possibly from the root being possessed of a poison equally potent with the fatal serpent Naja.

THE tuberose, * 1.547 POLIANTHES tuberosa, Rumph. Amboin. v. tab. 98, a flower of too exquisite a scent for the majority of peo|ple. It emits its odor most strongly in the night. The Ma|layans therefore style it Sandal Malam, or the mistress of the night; comparing it to a frail fair, visiting her lover in the dark, sweetly perfumed, and highly dressed. It was introduced into England in 1664, and is mentioned by our Evelyn, that glory of his days, by the name of Tuberose Hyacinth, in the August of his Kalendarium Hortense.

Rotang, * 1.548 Rumph. Amboin. v. tab. 51 to tab. 56, are the varieties of plants which yield the canes which are used to distend the hoops of the fair sex in Europe. They grow to lengths incredi|ble, some creeping along the ground, others climbing to the summits of the highest trees, and form a most grotesque simili|tude of cordage.

Elengi, * 1.549 Rumph. Amboin. ii. tab. 63, approaches nearly the clove, and is remarkable for the rich odors of its flowers.

Pedunculata, * 1.550 ii. tab. 42, is a fruit tree of no great value, resembling an oblong plumb.

WE now are to touch on the glory of Ceylon, * 1.551 perhaps of the vegetable kingdom. The LAURUS cinnamomum, Burman. Zeyl. tab. 27, Raii Hist. Pl. ii. 1554 to 1563, Woodville, i. 80, Gerard,

1532. This is an elegant species of laurel that grows to the height of twenty feet; the flowers small, and of a yellowish color: the fruit pulpy, with an oblong stone.

THIS valuable tree grows in greater quantity in the isle of Ceylon, than any other place. It grows wild in the woods, with|out any culture: every province does not possess it, there is none in that of Jaffanapatam, nor Manaar, but abound in most of the internal parts, and about Negumbo and Gale. A pigeon, I think the Pompadour, Brown's Illustr. tab. 19, is the species, which, by carrying the fruit to different places, is a great dis|seminator of this valuable tree. I do not believe it to be pecu|liar to this island; but the bark is infinitely superior in quality to any other. Botanists enumerate numbers of kinds, but they only vary being taken from trees of different ages, or growing in different soils, and situations. It may be found in Malabar, Sumatra, &c. but is depretiated by another name, Cassia, and Canella, to our unspeakable loss; * 1.552 Cinnamomum was a more dig|nified name. The antients speak of it under that title, in such high terms, that the Dutch wisely retained the name, which gave it greatest respectability. Our countryman, the late Taylor White, Esq. in Ph. Trans. vol. l. p. 860, and Mr. Combes, resi|dent in Sumatra, in page 873, are entirely of opinion, that Cin|namon and Cassia do not specifically differ. Mr. White's account is accompanied with some very good figures of the leaves of the former.

THE celebrated bark is the inner, and is reckoned the most perfect when taken from trees of seven or eight years old, if they grow in a wet slimy soil; but those which grow in the warm white

sand of the vallies, come to maturity in five years. Seba says, that the ages of the trees are fourteen, fifteen, or sixteen years. It is the heat which gives the bark that quilled form in which it comes over to us, especially the smaller and more delicate sort, which is taken from the smaller branches. The bark is first freed from the external coat, when it is on the trees; is then cut lengthways, stripped off, dried in the sand, and so becomes merchantable.

THE barkers of cinnamon are brought up to the trade, and are called Chialiases. The account given by Mr. Eschelskroon of the management, is most authentic; from him I shall trans|cribe what will be highly satisfactory to the readers. At page 339 of Wolfe's account of the isle of Ceylon, he begins thus:—

The time for barking the tree commences in the months of June and July, and sometimes even in August: now as soon as they come out of their villages for that purpose, every dis|trict sends a detachment of Dutch soldiers, and another com|posed of the natives themselves, called Lascaryns, along with them, in order to guard the wood where they are to work, and this partly on account of the roving Cingalese moun|taineers, which sometimes fall on the barked cinnamon, and make it their booty; but still more for the purpose of having an eye upon the Chialiases themselves, that they may not be able to conceal any of the cinnamon, and afterwards carry it off.

THE bark that is peeled during the day, must be carried every evening to the Dutch guard, belonging to their respective dis|tricts; there cleansed, well dried, and made up into bundles, and afterwards taken in close cases to the factory, where they

are weighed, and received by the company as payment of the assessment or tax imposed on these people by government. A man must be a very good hand indeed, that can gather thirty pounds of cinnamon in a day; whence it is easily calculated, how many persons it will take to gather ten or twelve million pounds, and that too of the best; for what is brought in is looked over before it is weighed, and the refuse of it burned.

At the time for gathering this drug, the company are obliged to draw out a cordon of seventy-two miles in cir|cumference; and as there are a great many of these corps de garde, it follows that the company must pay a great many Europeans, as well as Cingalese. These cinnamon barkers are under the command of a captain, called a Malabadde, and are distributed into four different classes. All the Chiliases must be ready at all times to work at the Governor's command, for on him it depends how much is to be barked and delivered in; and this again depends on the demand for it from Europe.

THIS important article of luxury was well known to the an|tients. The Greeks called it 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, and sometimes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or Casia Lignea, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, to the bark, from the pipe|like form it assumed by the rolling up. We have applied the word Cassia to the inferior cinnamons of Malabar and Su|matra.

THE Romans called it Cinnamomum, but generally with some addition. The Xylo-cinnamomum, or the wood, we are told by Pliny, was sold for twenty denarii, or twelve shillings and eleven pence per pound. The juice, or expressed oil, at one thousand

denarii, or £.32. 5. 10. The Daphnoides, or Isocinnamon, seems not to be thought the genuine kind, yet sold at the price of three hundred denarii, or £.8. 13. 9, the same price as the true cinnamon. The Cinnamomum camocans was the expressed juice of a nut, and perhaps a different article from the true cin|namon, was sold for no more than forty asses, or two shillings and seven-pence. The antients, according to Pliny, esteemed, as we do at present, the cinnamon of the young twigs. It was chiefly made use of as a perfume, either as an ingredient for their unguents, or to rub their bodies with, in form of oil. They appear to have been ignorant of the tree that produced it, as well as the country; they supposed that it came from that part of Aethiopia which bordered on the Troglodytes. Pliny says they bought all they could of their neighbors; but even Mr. Bruce, who would certainly do all the honor he could to Aethio|pia, never mentions it among his botanical enumerations. Pliny talks confusedly of a long voyage made with the cargoes of this pretious article, and of the crossing of vast seas: of the cinna|mon being under the protection of the god Assabinus, and of its never being cut without his permission. I dare say that the Cinnamon and Cassia came then as it does now, from the Ma|labar coast, and Taprobone or Ceylon, and that the merchants crossing the Sinus Aethiopicus in search of it, induced the Roman Naturalist to make Aethiopia its native country * 1.553.

THE antients give a most romantic account of these trees, that of their being guarded by a dire species of bat, fighting cruelly with their sharp claws; and by flying serpents; one was

the enormous bat of the torrid zone; the others, the winged lizard, before described.

ITS modern use for culinary purposes is unknown to none. Cinnamon-water is also a fine liqueur. From the leaves is ex|tracted a thick and fragrant juice, appropriated for the candles of his imperial Majesty of Ceylon; and from the roots is ex|tracted the oil of camphire, and a sort of camphire superior to what we have in the shops, which likewise is reserved for the Emperor, who esteems it an excellent cordial. Seba, in Ph. Trans. abr. vi. 326, from whom we have the account, speaks highly of its virtue in arthritic cases. The bark, and essential oil, is an article in our dispensary.

I NOW naturally pass to the LAURUS Cassia, * 1.554 the rival to the last. It is the carna of Rheede Malab. i. 107, tab. 59, Burman Ind. 91, Blackwall, tab. 319. I leave to botanists the settling of the dispute, whether it is distinct, or a variety of the last. The distinction between the bark of this and the real cin|namon, is, that this breaks smooth; the real, splinters. This has a slimy mucilaginous taste; the true cinnamon, rough, and with a rich aromatic smell.

Occidentale, Rumph. i. tab. 69, * 1.555 is common to East and West Indies. It is the Cushew of the last, the Caghu of the Cey|lonese.

Heptaphylla,—iv. tab. 22, would be invaluable, * 1.556 was it not so common; it is the most admirable medicine in the cholera, and the choler a fluxus, bilious complaints, excessive vomiting, pleu|risies, and poison: it is remarkable for its links of berries, con|nected like beads.

Tomentosa, * 1.557 and Acuminata, Burm. Zeyl. tab. 18, and Raii Hist. ii. 1558, are found here. The true ebony, which grows plen|tifully in this island, is supposed to be a species of Bauhinia; yet this once valuable wood is not ascertained.

VARIOUS kinds of Cassia, * 1.558 or Senna, are natives of Ceylon; among others, the useful C. Fistula, ii. tab. 21, so good and sine a purge.

Bonduc, * 1.559 v. Rumph. tab. 48, G. Nuga Sylvarum, v.—tab. 50, are remarkable for their rough nuts, with a hook at the end, arresting the travellers.

THE G. Moringa,—v. tab. 74-5, has a long slender pod, and erect strait stem.

Monophylla, * 1.560 Burm. Zeyl. tab. 65, and L. Acidissima,—ii. tab. 43. These bear small fruits resembling lemons.

Bilimbi, * 1.561—i. tab. 36, is singular for being loaden with fruit issuing from the knots of the body of the tree; the Av. Ca|rambola,—i. tab. 35, for its long angular apples; and the Av. Acida,—vii. tab. 17, for small rounded fruit, growing on the side of the stalk.

Tapia, * 1.562 Commel. Hort. i. tab. 67, or garlick pear of the West Indies.

CR. Marmelos, Rumph. i. tab. 81, has a large pear-shaped fruit, of a disagreeable sweetness, and rank smell.

Antiquorum, * 1.563 Com. Hort. i. tab. 12, EUPH. nerei solia, Rumph. iv. tab. 40, an elegant slender angular species. EUPH. Tira|culli, vii. tab. 29.

Pyriferum, * 1.564—i. tab. 47, a roundish fruit, called in the West Indies, Guava, full of seed, and very indifferent to the taste.

Malaccensis,—i. tab. 36, 38, Nati Schambu, Rheede, * 1.565 i. tab. 18, Raii Hist. ii. 1478, is a pear-shaped fruit, growing to the bare stalk, a cooling and refreshing kind.—EUG. Iambos, i. tab. 39, Malacca Schambu, Rheede, i. tab. 17, Raii Hist. ii. 1478, is remarkable for its crooked timber, useful for the ribs of ships. — EUG. Acutangula, iii. tab. 115, Tsieria Samstravadi, Rhecde, iv. tab. 7, Raii Hist. ii. 1480, and—EUG. Racemosa, iii. tab. 116, Samstravadi, Rheede, iv. tab. 16, Raii Hist. ii. 1479, bear edible fruits.

Ceylon has four species of myrtle; M. Cumini, * 1.566 Rumph. i. tab. 41, smelling like cumin seed; M. Zeylanica, remarkable for its great fragrancy; M. Androsaemoides, M. Caryophyllata, from its aromatic smell; and M. Pimenta, or all-spice, common to both the Indies.

Granata, Woodville, i. tab. 58. The pomgranate, * 1.567 is here cul|tivated, and prospers greatly.

Gutta, Blackwall, tab. 393, Raii Hist. Pl. ii. 1661, * 1.568 grows to be a large tree, and bears a roundish ribbed fruit, of a yellow color. The wood yields a sine yellow concrete solid juice, brought over in large cakes. It is in our dispensary, and acts powerfully both upwards and downwards. Some physicians hold it to be a dangerous medicine; others commend the use, but all recommend it with caution. It is prescribed in dropsies, and leprous cases. Painters know this drug as the richest of yellows.

Lotus, Alpin. Aegypt. 50, or water lilly, * 1.569 the Lotus Aegyptiaca of Pliny, lib. xiii. c. xvii, which appeared after the falling of the waters of the Nile. The old Aegyptians laid the fruit

in heaps, to putrify, and after drying them made bread of the farina.

N. Nelumbo, Taratta, Rumph. vi. tab. 63. This elegant plant was the antient Faba Aegyptiaca. The flower is of a beau|tiful rose color. The fruit is well figured in Gerard, 1552; it is like a poppy cut in two, and with twenty-four round cells, in each of which is a bean. The root was reckoned by the an|tients very delicious, either raw or drest. The figure is so strik|ing, that the Indians feign that Cupid was first seen floating down the Ganges on one of them, but the lovely floating flowers would have been a more suitable couch for the amorous deity. It has also a grateful smell, not unlike cinnamon. The antients feigned that this plant was shunned by the crocodiles of the Nile, on account of the prickly stalks. The Indians eat the beans.

Squarrosa, * 1.570 Burm. Zeyl. tab. lvi, a very elegant shrub.

Inophyllum, * 1.571 Rumph. ii. tab. 71. This grows to a vast size, and is a tree of amazing circumference; its leaves very large, of a sine green, and yield a delightful shade. Rheede, iv. 76, tab. 38, informs us it grows to the height of ninety feet, and the circumference of twelve, and then it bears fruit three hundred years. The flowers small, but of a most fragrant odor; the fruit round. The wood is excellent for wheels, and the greater mechanical uses. Candles are made of the fruit. This magnificent tree adorns the shores of India. The Mala|bars call it Ponna-maram.

Scrrata, * 1.572 iii. tab. 101, Rumphius calls it Ganitri, and says it is one of the tallest trees of India, and proportionably thick.

The fruit is perfectly round, of the size of a musquet ball, and of a bluish purple color; the stones seem elegantly carved, are collected in sacks, and sold at a good price, and being strung, serve for ornaments for the neck and breast, and for beads for the rosaries for the Mahometans. The timber is used for build|ing; and is an inhabitant of watery places, and even moun|tains.

Indica, Poenoe, Rheed. Malab. iv. tab. 15, * 1.573 Raii Hist. Pl. ii. 1482. This tree grows to the height of sixty feet, and to six|teen in circumference, at the bottom; and if wounded exudes a rosin; is an evergreen, and will continue to bear fruit three hundred years. The fruit is of the size of a walnut, and has a bitter kernel. Masts are made of the younger trees. The Indians excavate the bodies into canoes, which will hold sixty men.

Capsularis, Rumph. v. tab. 78. * 1.574 The Chinese make a thread of the stalks stronger than cotton.

Alismoides, Rheed. Malab. xi. tab. 46. Alpin. Aegypt. ii. 51, * 1.575 tab. 36, 37, a water plant; found also in the Nile, mentioned by Dioscorides and Pliny; is used in Egypt as a styptic.

Champaca, Rumph. ii. tab. 67, * 1.576 a most elegant flowering shrub. The flowers are of the richest saffron color; and are used by the natives of India to strew over their beds and furniture. The females stick the flowers in their hair, a fine contrast to its jetty blackness.

Asiatica, i. Burm. Zeyl. 21. * 1.577 The roots are used by the dyers for dying red.

A. Squamosa, Rumph. i. tab. 46. Burm. Zeyl. 21. The

fruit are of no value, and are chiefly devoured by the bats; sometimes are gathered before they are ripe, and left to ripen under heaps of rice, and then eaten.

Indica, * 1.578 Rheed. Malab. i. tab. 45. Raii Hist. ii. 1741, a lofty, but not spreading tree; loves sandy places; its fruit of a great size, oblong and flat; the leaves useful in dying black.

Orientale, * 1.579 Burm. Zeyl. tab. 38, fig. 1. This is an annual, cultivated in Italy, in early times, on account of the seed, from which abundance of oil used to be expressed. It is thought, that no vegetable contains such a quantity. Arrian frequently mentions the seeds or its oil * 1.580, as a great article of commerce from India, and the other eastern regions. It was used both as a food, and in medicine † 1.581. Rumphius, v. p. 204, tab. 76, describes another Sesamum used for the same purposes, universally cultivated in India.

Pentandrum, * 1.582 Rumph. i. tab. 80. Pania Paniala, Rheede, iii. tab. 49, 50, 51, pod of the wool-bearing tree, Gerard, 1552, a tree that grows to the size of our walnut; bears long pods filled with seeds, wrapped in a fine short down, too short for spinning; but after being dressed is of great use in stuffing beds and the like. The wood is excellent for making palings, and other fences.

B. Ceiba, Jacq. Am. p. 192, tab. 176, bears a long pod, with a prickly coat; common to both worlds.

Populneus, * 1.583 Rumph. ii. tab. 74. H. Rosa Sinensis, iv. tab. 8. This Flos Festalis, as it is called, is the ornament of every

feast, and instead of the invisa Cupressus, follows every un|married youth to his grave, be they Christians be they Gentiles.

Herbaceum, iv. tab. 12. and G. Arboreum, iv. tab. 13, * 1.584 the last having a more shrubby stalk than the other, the first is sown annually, but thrives better on the dry Coromandel coast than any other. This produces the great manufactures of the Indies, * 1.585 callicoes, and every other species so well adapted to the climate. These plants are natives also of the hotter parts of America, and of Africa; and even cultivated with most profitable success in Valentia in Spain; page 421, vol. vi. of the MS. part of this work, gives some account of the produce.

Ferrea, vii. tab. 11, * 1.586 is a low tree, remarkable for giving a pleasant shade, and the rich mace-like scent of its flowers. Fer|rea, Syst. Pl. iii. 269, Baiulla Tsiampacum, Rheede, iii. tab. 53, Raii Hist. 1680.

THE superb flower, BARRINGTONIA SPECIOSA, Lin. Suppl. Pl. 312; Cook's second Voyage, i. p. 157. Butonica, Rumph. iii. 170. tab. 114, is found in this island, and in all tropical countries: Is a lofty tree, and of considerable thickness, but is seldom erect, bending so that the branches hang into the water, for it is universally an inhabitant of watery places. The fruit is large, and quadrangular, as represented in Clusius's Exotic, lib. ii. c. 5. It is used, in Amboina as a remedy in the colic. In Ternate and Java, it is made into a paste, mixed with other drugs, and used to intoxicate fish, as is done by the Cocculus Indicus.

Draco, ii. tab. 70, is a tree that grows to a vast height, * 1.587 much esteemed for the sweetness of its flowers, and the beautiful red|ness of the wood, uniform or varied, so as to resemble flames of

sire bursting out of the smoke. It is therefore in great repute for the making of chests, and furniture: when used as fuel it yields a scent, grateful as that of the sandal or citron. It is also called the Dragon-tree, as it exudes a thick juice, of a blood|red, resembling that which falls from that tree, which has been long samed for that quality.

Corallodendron, * 1.588 ii. tab. 76, a tree quite brilliant with its scar|let flowers. It grows usually near the shores. It is pretended, that such is the splendor of the long spikes, that during the flowering season they actually terrify the fish from the coasts on which they grow.

Vulgaris. * 1.589 Ceylon, and India in general, produce numbers of species of kidney-beans. The species just mentioned is the scarlet. The PH. radiatus and max. are engraven in Rumph. v. tab. 139, and 140.

Pruriens, * 1.590 Nai Corann, Fl. Zeyl. N^o 539, is remarkable for its effects. The downy pile on the pods occasions the most into|lerable itching, far beyond that of the nettle. It is called at Surat, Cohuge, from which it was corrupted to the English name of Cow-itch; Ray, vol. i. p. 887, names it Phaseolus Zurratensis, and Cowhege; and says it has been proved a most efficacious re|medy in the dropsy. Rumphius figures it in vol. v. tab. 142, under the title of Cacara Pruritus. It has been sometimes ap|plied for wanton purposes, to set people an itching. The au|thor of Hudibras makes it one of the drugs used in his days to counterfeit the feats of witches. I shall give the whole list, since I may have occasion to refer back to it:—

WITH drugs, convey'd in drink or meat, All feats of witches counterfeit; Kill pigs and geese with powder'd glass, And make it for inchantment pass; With Cow-itch meazle like a leper, And choak with fumes of Guiney-pepper; Make lechers, and their punks with Dewtry, Commit phantastical advowtry; Bewitch hermetic-men to run Stark staring mad with Manicon.

Ceylon and India have great varieties of Hedysarum. * 1.591 The H. Pulchellum, Burm. Zeyl. tab. 52, is very remarkable for its long spikes of circular pods.

Tinctoria, Rumph. Amboin. v. tab. 80, * 1.592 is common in all parts of India in a cultivated state: but its native country is Guzerat, where it grows wild; but its name is derived from Indicus, a pa|tronimic taken from the country it was originally brought from. It is also found wild in Madagascar. The rich blue dye is pro|cured from it in all parts of Hindooslan, and used in the various manufactures. Dioscorides, lib. v. c. 68, speaks of two kinds, one extracted from what he calls certain Indian reeds. Pliny errs when he says it is from the slime which adheres to those plants. Dioscorides mentions it medicinally: Pliny as a paint.

THE species of CITRUS are two, C. Aurantium Sinense, * 1.593 or China orange, probably originally imported from that country, and the C. Decumanus, Rumph. Amboin. ii. tab. 64, the Shaddock, or Pumpclmose of the West Indies, which is only cultivated in

Ceylon, not aboriginal. Wolf mentions the lemon, and Burman, in his Thesaurus, gives a little lemon, the Limon Nipis, Rumph. ii, tab. 29, perhaps the common lime.

I NOW proceed to the wonder of the vegetable kingdom, * 1.594 the famous Bandura, Burm. Zeyl. tab. 17, Cantharisera, or Daun Gundi, Rumph. Amboin. v. tab. 59, the NEPENTHES Destillatoria of Linnaeus. This is an herbaceous plant, with narrow leaves. From their ends issues a very long tendril, which finishes with a long cylindrical tube, sometimes six inches in length, and furnished at the extremity with a circular valve, completely at times closing the orifice. This is filled with a pure limpid water, which continues during the time that the valve is shut; when it is open the liquor is dried up, but the stock is renewed at night, when the valve is again closed. Rumphius has seen a pint of water in those of Amboina. They seem a variety of the Ceylonese, being thickest in the middle. Those of Ceylon being truly cylindrical.

THE Dutch call this plant, Kannekens Kruyd, or the Can Fruit, from its singular form. Linnaeus, if I may collect from the name, imagines it to have been the Nepenthes of Homer's Odyssey, Book IV. which we are told was presented to Helen, by the wise of Thone, king of Egypt, together with the receipt for preparing

THE mirth-inspiring bowl, Temper'd with drugs of sov'reign use t' assuage The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage: To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care, And dry the tearful sluices of despair,

[figure]

Nepenthes

Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exalted mind All sense of woe delivers to the wind.

Pliny, lib. xxi. c. 21, gives an account of its effects. That wicked wag, Martin Folkes, in his witty description of the Arbor Vitae, will have it to have been the all-conciliating fruit of this tree, the Panacea which Helen always kept by her, and used on all occasions.

THE Cingalese style this plant Bandura, i. e. Priapus Vegetabi|lis; had Mr. Folkes known this, it would have furnished him with new arguments. That singular character drew up the hu|morous paper with wit, which all its obscenity cannot destroy. It was intended as an imposition on the good Sir Hans Sloane, and the reading was actually begun before a meeting of the Royal Society, when a member, more sagacious than the rest, dis|covered the joke, and put a stop to the secretary's proceeding. Martin Folkes himself succeeded in the president's chair.

IN Ceylon are found two species of the bread-fruit, * 1.595 the Arto|carpus of botanists. One, the Integrifolia, Lin. Suppl. 412; * 1.596 the other, the Incisus, 411. It is singular, that this blessing to the island should pass so long unnoticed: Yet Knox, page 14, in|formed us of (perhaps) both kinds, certainly of the first, and that above a century ago. The Integrifolia he calls by the Cey|lonese name, Warragah, which is the species silled with great kernels: see the fruit expressed in different plates, entire and dis|sected, by M. Sonnerat, in his voyage to New Guinea, at page 99. These kernels are taken out and boiled by the natives, and often prove preservatives against famine in scarcity of rice. Ex|teriorly the rind appears prickly, but the spines are soft, and

give way to the touch. After the interval of a century, from the time of Knox, Doctor Thunberg * 1.597 gives an account of both species. This he says is the Maldivian sour sack of the Dutch, that it contains two or three hundred great kernels, each four times the size of an almond; and that the fruit grows to the weight of thirty or forty pounds; that the taste is unpleasant, and cadaverous, yet that not fewer than fifteen dishes are pre|pared from it. He adds, that the trees of both kind are replete with a milky juice, as tenacious as bird-lime itself; and Knox adds, that the boys apply it to that purpose. Rumphius, i. p. 104, calls the larger variety of this species Saccus Arboreus major, Nanha, and gives the figure in tab. xxx. The other he names Saccus Arboreus minor Tsjampedaka, see p. 107, tab. xxxi. both these are oblong; the last sack-shaped. The leaves are entire and ovated. The fruit grow in a most singular manner, hanging by the stalk from the body of the tree, ex arbore trunco prode|mata, says Bauhin, in his Pinax, p. 511. See also the figure in Rumphius, and also in Linschotten, tab. 76, 77.

THIS species grows in most of the same places with the follow|ing. * 1.598 It is also frequent in the Maldive isles, from whence, in about the year 1727, or 1728, some roots were brought, and planted in this island. From this circumstance the species is called Maldivische Syr Sack.

DOCTOR Thunberg, in our Phil. Trans. vol. lxix. has published a long account of these fruits, under the name of Tsitodium, and particularly distinguished the second kind by the name of Macrocarpon, or long fruit. Both kinds have various names:

The Portuguese call it the Jacca, of which notice will be taken in another place.

THE second kind is only mentioned by Knox under the name of Vellas, who says it is as soft as pap. * 1.599 This is the same with the Seedless, or Apyrene of George Forster, Pl. Aescul. Ins. Oceani Austr. p. 25, which is of a globular form, and is universally cultivated in Otaheite, and possibly others of the South Sea islands. It is also described by Doctor Thunberg, and said to grow as large as a child's head. This is silled with a substance like the crumb of new-baked bread; and is universally used in the islands of the South Sea, but less so in Ceylon. It is the Bread Fruit of Lord Anson, p. 310; Ed. 1st of Captain Cook's first Voyage, i. p. 80. tab. 11; and of Mr. Ellis, in his Monograph. p. 11; and the Arto|carpus incisus of Lin. Suppl. 411.

THE varieties of the incisus, which have kernels, are those engraven by Rumphius, i. p. 110. tab. xxxii. under the name of Soccus lanosus. The Granosus,—p. 112. tab. xxxiii. and the Syl|vestris,—p. 114. tab. xxxiv. but these are all neglected in Ota|heite * 1.600, in preference of the Apyrene. The leaves of every one of these are like that of an oak, and deeply lacerated, and of the length of two feet, and the fruit pendent from the boughs.

THIS, says Doctor Thunberg † 1.601, is common in Ceylon, * 1.602 and from Coromandel to Cape Comorin. It is found near Columbo, Gale, and several other places, both wild and cultivated.

IT seems amazing, that Mr. Bligh should be twice sent to the islands of the southern ocean for these valuable plants, when it appears that they may be had with so little difficulty from Ceylon. Doctor Thunberg brought several hundred shrubs of

both species, and quantities of seeds, all of which were de|stroyed by a violent storm he met with, no farther off his port than the coast of Flanders * 1.603.

Lacryma, * 1.604 Rumph. Amboin. v. tab. 75, resembles very much a sugar cane. The Dutch have found out its excellency in chicken broth: so it is introduced to all the good tables of Amboina.

Sonnerat, * 1.605 ii. tab. 85. The Indians call it Arbor Regia, as always certain plants are found under its shade or protection: it is also full of ants, which bite with great sharpness: it bears a small clustered berry. This tree is useful in medicine, yet is said to contain a fatal poison. It has its bane and antidote, and is reported to be peculiarly essicacious against the poison of the Macassar arrows. I am reminded by this double quality (often incident in Indian plants) of the good Friar's speech in Romco and Juliet:—

Within the infant rind of this small flower Poison hath residence, and medicine power; For this being smelt with that part, cheers each part; Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.

Niruri, * 1.606 vi. tab. 17, is a small plant, called both Herba Maero|ris, and Amoris. When the Indians send a branch of it to any friend, it signifies they are oppressed with grief; when it bears the other name, it is for its being used as a philtre by the fair, to conciliate the affections of their lovers.

Indica, * 1.607 vii. tab. 5, is a species of mulberry-tree, with black fruit, as large as a walnut. The Chinese, who visit Amboina, say it is the tree which nourishes the silk-worms.

Balanghas, Syst. Pl. iv. 195, Cavalam, Rheede, i. tab.? 49. * 1.608 Raii Hist. ii. 1754? Clompanus minor, Rumph. iii. 169, tab. 107.

FOETIDA, Syst. Pl. iv. 198, Karil, Rheede, iv. tab. 36, Raii Hist. ii. 1564, Clompanus major, Rumph. iii. 168, tab. 107, ad lit. A. This is one of the vast trees of India. Sonnerat, ii. 234, tab. 132, gives a good figure of it and its flowers. This and the above are remarkable for the excessive foetid smell of both the wood and flowers, which resemble the scent of human ordure. Lin|naeus therefore gives the genus the name of Sterculia, and the trivial of foetida, and the tree itself, Stinckbaum; and Son|nerat, the plainer title of Bois de Merde.

THE Croton Lacciferum grows in abundance in the sand-pits near Columbo and other places, * 1.609 on which the Gum Lac is found in great plenty. It is sometimes used for lacquering, after be|ing dissolved in spirits of wine * 1.610.

THE Pandanus Odoratissimus, Linn. Suppl. Pl. p. 424, * 1.611 Rumph. iv. p. 139, tab. 74. Bromelia, &c. Fl. Zeyl. p. 54, is a native of this island, and also of Egypt † 1.612. It is the most fragrant of flowers, and its scent so diffusive, that a single spike will per|fume a whole chamber. It has the appearance of the Ananas, or pine apple. There are many varieties of it in Rumphius: The finest he distinguishes by the name of Venus. It is also known by the name of the Wild Pine. The Portuguese call it Ananas Brava. The fruit is red, and of the size of a melon. The juice is used medicinally in the Erysipelas, &c. &c.

Sativa, * 1.613 v. tab. 130. This species has a clustered root; grows wild in Jamaica, but is greatly cultivated in India as a food. D. Pentaphylla, v. tab. 127, and Alata, Brown's Jamaica, 359, Ge|rard, * 1.614 925. The last the useful yams of the West Indies; are of equal service for their salutary roots as a food. These, and numbers of other congenerous twining plants, assist to support the Indian peasantry, content with simple diet.

Papaya, * 1.615 Trew Ehret. tab. 8, is common to the East and West Indies, and to Senegal. It is a singular tree, having the fruit growing out of the sides of the stem, of the form of a melon, and ribbed, filled in the inside with seeds, and is as large as a child's head: the stem is quite strait, the leaves large, and divided into numbers of lobes. This tree is supposed to have been introduced by the Portuguese from the Brazils into the East Indies; many other species, now common there, are thought to have been brought by them from the new world.

Paradisiaca, * 1.616 v. tab. 60, Trew Ehret. tab. 18, 19, 20. This is the celebrated plant which the Jews believe to have been the tree of knowlege of good and evil, placed in the midst of the Garden of Eden, which our great mother was forbidden to touch; and by her disobedience brought such heavy penalty on all her offspring. Milton does not attempt to describe it; he only says—

A BOUGH of fairest fruit, that downy smil'd, New gather'd, and ambrosial smell dissus'd.

Moderns do not speak in raptures of the fruit. Sir Joseph Banks gives the most favorable account, that they all have a pleasant vinous taste. Three species merit that praise; the others must be dressed by frying or boiling, and so eaten as bread. But the form of the plant is the most grotesque in na|ture, and most rich when loaden, as it is, with its splendid look|ing fruit. The stem grows to the height of ten or twelve feet, and to the thickness of a man's leg, yet can readily be cut through with a knife; neither does it live above two years. It cannot rise to the dignity of a tree: Its leaves are the largest of any known vegetable; some are more than twelve feet long, and two broad; are very smooth, of an elegant green above, and yellow beneath; they more resemble paper than a leaf, and give a most rustling sound. The fruit grows in vast clusters, and is of an oblong shape, and is filled with a pulp soft as butter. Doctor Trew, by the skilful hand of Ehret, gives of it the most comprehensive idea.

THIS fine plant was not overlooked by the antients. * 1.617 Pliny certainly means this species by his Pala, which he describes in these words, lib. xii. c. 6,—

Major alia pomo et suavitate prae|cellentior, quo sapientes Indorum vivunt. Folium alas avium imitatur longitudine trium cubitorum, latitudine duûm. Fructum cortice emittit, admirabilem succi dulcedine, ut uno quaternos satiet. Arbori nomen palae, pomo arienae.

THIS account agrees well, not only in the size of the leaves and fruit, and delicacy of the pulp, but it also gives us reason to suppose, that there had been some tradition delivered down to

the Indians of its having been the Paradisiacal tree, and that it continued the food of the wise men, or the Brahmins, as if it was supposed to still have the power of imparting wisdom to those who fed on its fruits. Linnaeus gives the name of MUSA sapientum, Trew's Ehret, tab. 21, 22, 23, to another species, with a shorter fruit. By the trivial he seems to think this to have been the tree of knowlege: but to decide on the important dispute is far beyond my abilities.

Scrpentinum, * 1.618—vii. tab. 16, is a plant of most potent virtues, as an alexipharmic, and has been spoken of before.

Orientalis, * 1.619—iv. tab. 61, is the Roffu, the bark of fishermen, from its great use in dying their nets, and giving them du|rability.

Nodosa, * 1.620 M. Bigemina. M. Entada, Jacq. Am. 265, tab. 183. M. Scandens, Rumph. v. tab. 4. M. Virgata, Burman. Zeyl. tab. 2. M. Caesia, Fl. Zeyl. p. 217. M. Pennata, Burman. Zeyl. tab. 1, a most elegant species, with the flowers branching on the summit in the lightest manner. M. Tenuifolia, Sysl. Pl. iv. 353.

Indica, * 1.621 Rumph. Amboin. iii. tab. 84. I have, at page 207, quite out of course, anticipated the account of this wonderful species, perhaps through zoological partiality.

Religiosa is perhaps the Arbor conciliorum of Rumphius, iii. tab. 91, 92, Arcalu, Rheed. Malabar. i. tab. 27. This is also a very singular kind; the body rude to the highest degree, as if formed of the accretion of many trunks, angular, and in many places cavernous. The branches spread out most extensively on the sides, grow across, interwoven with each other, and often

growing together, so that the whole has the appearance of some Lithodendron: the leaves of a pleasant green, and placed so closely, as to form the thickest shade: the fruit small and round, of a faint taste, but are quickly devoured by the birds.

THIS tree has been venerated in India from the earliest times. The god Rum, charmed with its grotesque appearance, directed that worship should be paid to it. The superstition has been retained to this day. It is called the Pagod tree, and tree of councils: the first from the idols placed under its shade; the second, because meetings were held under its cool branches. In some places it is believed to be the haunt of spectres, as the antient spreading oaks of Wales have been of fairies: In others are erected, beneath the shade, pillars of stones, or posts, ele|gantly carved, and ornamented with the most beautiful porcel|lane, to supply the use of mirrors. Near Tanjore is one of a most prodigious size.

CRYPTOGAMIA.

I SHALL avoid speaking of the Cryptogamous, except to in|stance two or three particular species, as this class is generally too uninteresting to merit attention.

Circinalis,—i. tab. 21, 22, Raii Hist. Pl. ii. 1360. * 1.622 Fl. Zeyl. N^o 393, Kaempf. Amaen. Acad. p. 897, is a curious genus, related to the palms. Writers differ about the height. Ray, from the Hort. Malab. gives it that of forty feet * 1.623. Rumphius, i. p. 86. tab. xxii. xxiii. makes the utmost height but twenty-four, and most usually twelve. The male plant flings out from the sum|mit

a substance, in shape like the cone of the Norway fir: the female, a stem about a yard long, out of the summit of which issues several upright pinnated leaves, and fruit of the size of a plumb: the last fastened to a slender stalk, and pendent. These contain two nuts.

THIS plant is of great use as a food in every country it grows in. The young shoots are dressed like asparagus; the fruit is also commonly eaten, and forms an ingredient in broths. The soft wood is chewed with the Areca nut.

THIS species is not indigenous in Ceylon, * 1.624 and is only culti|vated, and that rarely, in that island. In Malabar it grows on certain rocky and sandy mountains, and is called there, Todda Panna; see Rheede, iii. p. 9, tab. 13. 21. It is said to have a great sympathy with iron, and that if dying, will revive on having an iron wedge driven into it. The fruit is eaten by the Malabars with sugar, (Saccharo St. Thomoeo). The Thomists, or Christians of St. Thomas, deck their churches with its branches.

RUMPHIUS, i. p. 91, denies that this is the genuine species, and we must allow his authority. At tab. xxiv. he gives the true kind, which is the same with the Cycas revoluta of Thun|berg, Fl. Japon. p. 229, the pith of which is the famous Sago. In time of war the Japanese soldiers carry it with them in their campaigns; so small a portion will serve to support a single man, that the emperor prohibits the exporting any of the trees to a foreign enemy, under pain of death, for fear of imparting to a hostile neighbour the same benefit Japan enjoys from this nutritive food.

THE Coffee tree has been introduced, * 1.625 and succeeds greatly.

Nothing can equal the beauty of the plantations. The trees are placed thinly, and between them is planted that charming shrub the Erythrina Corallodendron, with its rich scarlet flowers, designed to protect the delicate coffee from the intense heat of the almost vertical sun * 1.626.

Scandens,—vi. tab. 32, and the Flexuosa of the same plate, * 1.627 are long climbing plants, and when split are of vast use as thongs, and for the making of baskets.

Quercifolium is a singular species, * 1.628 engraven by old Clusius in his Exotics, and by Rumphius, vi. tab. 36. It is used in Am|boina againgst the dangerous poison of the Gekko.

PALMS.

THE last class, the Palms, suddenly appear, superior in sub|limity to the rest of the vegetable kingdom.

Nucifera, Calappa, or Tinga, Rumph. Amboin. i. tab. 1, 2, * 1.629 is the noblest and most useful tree of this class. I have spoken of it at page 138; so shall proceed to the following, as next to it in importance, whether we regard its magnificence or utility.

Flabelliformis, Rumph. Amboin. i. tab. 10. * 1.630 The leaves are large and palmated, the edges of the stalks serrated; the leaves are four feet long, divided into seventy or eighty rays, like the sticks of a fan, and may be folded up in the same manner. In Macassar they are made into umbrellas, but are so highly esteemed there, that they are carried by none but by a few per|sons of the first rank. The fruit grows in clusters, and each is about the size of a child's head. Within is a very eatable pulp,

and besides are three lesser nuts, of the size of a goose's egg containing when young a soft kernel, when old, a very palatable liquor. A bread, or cake is made from the kernel, which re|quires a considerable preparation: and a liquor greatly in use called Sura, is extracted from the body, with the usual process of tapping the tree. From that again is got, by boiling, a rich syrup, and a sort of sugar. The timber is elegantly veined, and striated, and often made into chests.

THE ascent to the summit of the tree is performed by a man, who attains the height by the assistance of a girdle, which sur|rounds his waist and the tree; his knees are fixed against the body, and he gains the height by alternately removing the gir|dle, which supports his body, and then with his knees gaining a new advance: A most dangerous operation; for should the girdle break, his life is lost.

Dactylifera has been spoken of before in vol. vi. p. 366. 410. and vol. vii. p. 209, * 1.631 of the M.S. outlines. It is so amply treated of by the learned Kaempfer, in his Amaen. Exoticae, page 661, that it is difficult to give any thing in addition. It grows not only in Ceylon, but in many parts of the peninsula of India, and is called (in Ceylon at lest) Indi and Mahaindi. As the plenty and harvest of India consists in success of the palm trees, it is supposed by Linnaeus that India might derive its name from that which these trees bear in that country. It must be the gene|rical name, for Mr. Ives says that the dates do not ripen to per|fection in the peninsula of India.

THE beautiful CORYPHA Umbraculisera, * 1.632 i. tab. 8, is the most elegant species of the palm kind, from the regular expanse of

the leaf, which is quite circular, and terminating in the most beautiful rays, resembling a glory, like that of the sun, sur|rounding the whole. They are about three feet and a half in diameter, and are the finest umbrellas in nature, and in univer|sal use in Ceylon, to protect against the rays of the sun, or the fury of the rains. Knox, at page 14, shews the Ceylonese man under the protection of one of the leaves. They also serve for paper for the lapping of parcels. The wood is hard, and veined with yellow, and serves to make chests, like the preced|ing. The fruit is in the form of a cannon ball, containing within two other nuts, of the size of a musquet ball, which are eaten by the poor. These are of the richest saffron color, and give a most brilliant appearance to this elegant tree, and hang down in clusters three feet long.

THIS palm is the Tal of Bengal, the Brab of Bombay, and the Talaghas, and Tala of Ceylon. Arrian, i. p. 522, mentions the bark of the Tala as a food used by the Indians, a particular not noted by modern writers.

Sylvestris, Rheed. Malab. iii. tab. 22, et seq. * 1.633 This grows only to the height of about fourteen feet; is covered with a greyish crust, instead of a bark. The fruit, of the size and form of a small plumb, is sometimes made use of, by the poorer people, to chew with Betel, instead of the Areca. The stalks of the fruit are greedily sought after by the elephants, for the sake of the sweet pith they contain.

Urens, Rumph. Amboin. i. tab. 14, * 1.634 grows to the height of a middling coco palm. The fruit grows in vast clusters, adhering

to the sides of the twigs; are of a round shape, and of the size of a common plumb: each has within two nuts, of no sort of use; the leaves are triangular, and grow in pairs. The timber is useful, especially for shingles to cover houses. Of the pith may be made a sort of Sago, but far inferior to the true kind.

I AM so much indebted to my late worthy friend John Gideon Loten, * 1.635 Esq. for my acquaintance with the zoology of Ceylon, and various particulars respecting its natural history, that it would be ungrateful in me not to pay the full tribute of praise to his memory. I became acquainted with him a few years after his arrival in England, in 1758, and long enjoyed the valuable friendship of a man of the strictest honor, integrity, liberality, simplicity, and gentleness of manners. He was by birth a Dutchman, a native of Utrecht. He went to India in the year 1732, where he exercised several of the highest offices at Batavia, and in the islands of Ceylon and Celebes, with the highest credit, he alleviating the cares of his important duties with the fullest cultivation of the liberal arts. At Colombo he established a botanical garden; and in every place made the pleasing study of natural history a principal object. He brought over with him a large collection of drawings, done with equal neatness and accuracy, some by the natives, others by Euro|peans whom he found in the country. I was indebted to his friendship for copies of several; but the greater part he at my request liberally communicated to Peter Brown, an ingenious artist, a Dane by birth, who engraved not fewer than twenty|one, and, with several others from different places, published a

splendid work in 1776, with the title of 'NEW ILLUSTRATIONS OF ZOOLOGY,' under the patronage of my late worthy friend Marmaduke Tunstal, Esq. and myself.

FROM the same collection was formed my INDIAN ZOOLOGY, begun in 1769, and left a fragment. It was resumed and pub|lished more complete in one volume quarto, in 1790. I refer the reader to the preface to that work for an account of its rise and progress.

Mr. Loten returned into Europe in 1758, and coming into England, where he lived several years, in 1765 he married his second wife, Laetitia Cotes, of the respectable house of Cotes, in Shropshire, several years after which he returned into Hol|land, and died at Utrecht, on February 25, 1789, aged eighty, and was interred in St. Jacob's church in that city. During the whole of my acquaintance with him, at frequent periods he endured the most severe spasmodic complaints in his chest, which for months together disabled him from the use of a bed. I should not have mentioned these circumstances, was it not to add to his other virtues, those of unfeigned piety, and resig|nation unexampled amidst the trial of severest misery.

IN the north aisle, westward of Westminster Abby, is a most magnificent cenotaph, erected in 1795, to perpetuate the me|mory of this excellent man, the performance of THOMAS BANKS. A single figure, representing Generosity attended by a lion, sustains a medallion of his head; and on a pedestal is a brief history of his life and his character, in Latin. There is another inscription, consisting of the fifteenth psalm (excepting the last

verse) so expressive of the life of a good man, concluding with these words—

SUCH WAS JOHN GIDEON LOTEN.

AFTER this account of my worthy friend, * 1.636 I resume the view of Ceylon, beginning at the northern extremity of its coast, Ponta de Pedras, Lat. 9° 52′, the Boreum promontorium of Ptolemy, and taking the eastern side, surround the whole island. This north|ern extremity is broken into two, or perhaps more isles, divided from the greater by a very narrow channel; the other side is faced by rocks and shoals, and affected by most variable cur|rents.

THE city of Jaffanapatam stands on the western side of one of the isles; * 1.637 this retains its Cingalese name; most of the other places in the neighborhood have been changed to Dutch. When the city was taken from the natives by the Portuguese, in 1560, they found in the treasury the tooth of an ape, so highly vene|rated by the people of Ceylon, that immense sums were offered for its redemption, but in vain. To destroy this piece of idola|try, the viceroy ordered it to be reduced to powder, and then burnt. Apes are in many parts of India highly venerated, out of respect to the God Hannaman, * 1.638 a deity partaking of the form of that race, with the addition of heads of bears, who rendered the god Vitchenou great services in this very isle, slaying giants, and performing so many wondrous deeds. In vol. iii. p. 863, of Churchill's collection, is a long detail of his exploits. There is a wonderful extravagance in the Indian mythology; the warmth

of their climate creates ideas filled with the strangest imagery. The tooth was probably worshipped as one belonging to his godship.

MOST of the eastern side of Ceylon is guarded with sand banks or rocks * 1.639 * 1.640 Trincomale harbour is in Lat. 8° 30″, a fine and secure port, protected by a strong garrison, consisting of about four hundred men. Such was the number in fort Ostenburgh, when it was taken by assault, on January 11, 1782, by our brave seaman, Sir Edward Hughes; which, on August 26 of the same year, was wrested from us by his active and gallant rival Suf|frein.

ON September 2d, the former came off Trincomale, and to his great surprise found the French colors flying on all the forts, Suffrein, with a superior squadron, sailed out of the harbour, secure, as he thought, of victory. Our brave admiral, and his officers, enraged at the loss of the place, eagerly accepted the offer of combat. The contending admirals displayed every proof of courage and skill. Suffrein's ship was reduced to a wreck, and he obliged to remove his flag to another. By some neglect of ours we lost the disabled ship. Night alone terminated the battle. Suffrein retired into Trincomale, crowding in without order. Thus secured, Hughes left him reluctantly, and sailed for Madras with his shattered squadron. Our loss was inconsi|derable, in common men, for it did not exceed fifty-one killed

and three hundred wounded. In officers we suffered severely. The captains Lumley, Watt, and Wood fell in the action. The loss of the French was enormous. Four hundred and twelve men were killed, and six hundred and seventy-six were wound|ed. The carnage on board the gallant Suffrein's ship, the Hero, was unheard in any fight of any age, it was an unparalleled car|nage. Many of the French captains had behaved ill, six were broke, and sent prisoners to the island of Mauritius; and thus ended the unavailing slaughters in the Indian seas.

THE Ganges of Ptolemy runs into this harbour.

Barticalo is the next port, * 1.641 lying in Lat. 7° 40″. This also has a strong fortress. Here the Dutch first landed in 1638, and took it by capitulation from the Portuguese. The mountain, the Monk's-hood, some leagues inland, is a remarkable sea mark. Barticalo may have been near the site of the town called by Ptolemy, Bocona; near it is a river which preserves the name, being called by the natives Ko-bokan-oye, or the river of Bokan * 1.642.

FROM the mouth of Kobakan river, the land trends to the south-west. Nothing remarkable occurs till we reach Malawe; between that place and Tangala, is a large plain, thirty miles in circumference, noted for the chace of elephants; their antient place of embarkation, the Geyrreweys of Elyphants van plaets, is a little farther to the west.

A LITTLE more to the west is Matura, * 1.643 where the Dutch have a strong fortress; their policy is only to fortify the ports.

Dondra-head is next, * 1.644 that point is the most southern of any in the island. A little to the west is Tanawar, remarkable for having been the Daiana of Ptolemy, sacred to the moon; the place still has its temple, or Pagoda, highly venerated by the natives. Near it is one of the Dutch posts, of which they have a succession every ten or twelve miles, guards to the internal parts, and one may say, to the imprisoned Emperor. The gar|risons are provided with flags, by which signals, either of internal commotions, or the appearance of ships, are conveyed all along the coasts, even to Colombo, the seat of the Dutch government. Almost every one of these posts are near the mouth of some river or torrent, which rush on all sides into the sea, at short intervals from the lofty mountains.

Punta de Galle is a little to the north-west of Dondra-head, * 1.645 in Lat. 6°, turning almost due north. The town is strongly for|tified, and is a place of great trade. The fleets return from hence to Europe, and generally sail by December 25th. * 1.646 In Lat. 7° we find Colombo, the Dutch seat of government, and chief of their cities, built in a beautiful and magnificent man|ner; it was, as I have before mentioned, taken by them from the Portuguese. The death of their gallant general, Gerard Hulst, cast a gloom over their success, and caused their impor|tant acquisition, for a while, to be lost in their sorrow.

Nigombo is a fortress some miles to the north of Colombo, * 1.647 and is the great guard to the cinnamon country. The whole interval from Colombo is filled with beautiful villages, and

open towns, * 1.648 characteristic of Dutch neatness and industry. The long isle of Calpentyn lies near the shore, about thirty-six miles farther north. * 1.649 That of Manaar, see p. 182, concludes all I shall say of this magnificent island.

Notes

• * 1.1

  THE INDUS.
• * 1.2

  PENINSULA OF INDIA.
• * 1.3

  Rennel XX. and the attendant note.
• * 1.4

  PATRIARCHAL.
• * 1.5

  ARRIAN. Periplus, p. 152.
• † 1.6

  KINGS I. Ch. 9. V. 8, 119. CHRON. II. Ch. 8. V. 4.
• * 1.7

  ALEXANDRIA.
• * 1.8

  HERAT.
• * 1.9

  A noble Cashmerian who attended Kouli Khan on his return from India. See p. 24 of his Memoirs.
• * 1.10

  SAMARCAND.
• * 1.11

  THE OXUS.
• * 1.12

  OTHER ROUTES.
• * 1.13

  CASPIAN SEA.
• * 1.14

  BATNAE.
• * 1.15

  THE SERES.
• * 1.16

  COMEDAE.
• * 1.17

  Shaw's Travels, p. 302.
• * 1.18

  TURRIS LAPIDEA.
• * 1.19

  HIERKEN.
• * 1.20

  SINGULAR TRAFFIC.
• † 1.21

  Tassy's Memoirs, p. 311. — Tassy's account is, that a commerce similar to this is carried on between a nation called the Cadensis and the Negroes. The Cadensis act as the middle man between them and the Tunisians, who go to their country, and obtain gold and negro slaves for European commodities.
• * 1.22

  CANDAHAR.
• * 1.23

  CABUL.
• * 1.24

  CAFFA.
• * 1.25

  BOCHARA.
• * 1.26

  RUSSIAN COM|MERCE.
• * 1.27

  GHIZNI.
• * 1.28

  AORNOS PETRA.
• * 1.29

  OFFSPRING OF THE MACEDO|NIANS.
• * 1.30

  Abul Fazul, ii. 194.
• † 1.31

  See Rollin's Antient Hist. vi. 211.
• * 1.32

  TAXILA.
• * 1.33

  Plin. lib. v. c. 28. Arrian, Exped. Alex. i. 319.
• * 1.34

  PANJAB.
• * 1.35

  MALLI.
• † 1.36

  Lib. xvii. c. 10.
• * 1.37

  ALEXANDER WOUNDED.
• * 1.38

  GOLD.
• * 1.39

  BATTLE WITH PORUS.
• * 1.40

  PERSIAN HIS|TORY OF.
• * 1.41

  NICOEA, AND BUCEPHALA.
• * 1.42

  RHINOCEROS, &c. &c.
• * 1.43

  THE BOA.
• * 1.44

  FICUS INDICA.
• * 1.45

  ANOTHER ALEX|ANDRIA.
• * 1.46

  SANDRACOTTA.
• * 1.47

  SINDOMANA.
• * 1.48

  MUSICANUS.
• * 1.49

  PRASIANE INSULA.
• * 1.50

  IMPORTS.
• * 1.51

  EXPORTS.
• * 1.52

  INDO SCY|THIA.
• * 1.53

  PATTALA.
• * 1.54

  Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. vi. c. 23.
• * 1.55

  VAST TIDES.
• † 1.56

  Arrian, i. p. p. 413, 414. Exped. Alex.
• * 1.57

  Arrian, i. 577, 589. Exped. Alex.
• * 1.58

  SEMIRAMIS.
• * 1.59

  STABROBATES.
• * 1.60

  DARIUS HYSTASPES.
• * 1.61

  DELTA OF THE INDUS.
• * 1.62

  SANDY DESERT OF REGISTAN.
• * 1.63

  THE CAGGAR.
• * 1.64

  Dow's Ferishta, octavo Ed. ii. 159.
• * 1.65

  THE WIND SAMIEL.
• † 1.66

  Ayeen Akberry, ii. p. 137.
• ‡ 1.67

  Niebuhr, Deser. de l'Arabie, p. 7.
• * 1.68

  BRAMINABAD.
• * 1.69

  TATTA.
• * 1.70

  Hamilton's Voy. i. 122.
• † 1.71

  Mr. Rennel, p. 182.
• ‡ 1.72

  Conquestes de Portugais, iv. p. p. 183, 184.
• * 1.73

  HYDRABAD.
• * 1.74

  Mr. Rennel p. 185.—Ayeen Akberry, ii. p. 142.
• * 1.75

  LIVER DISEASE.
• * 1.76

  JIGGERKHARS.
• * 1.77

  CAMELS.
• * 1.78

  BAKHOR.
• * 1.79

  THE STTLEGE.
• * 1.80

  PANJAB.
• * 1.81

  NAGERKOTE.
• * 1.82

  Ayeen, ii. p. 133.
• † 1.83

  Ferishta, i. p. 369.
• * 1.84

  JELLAMOOKY.
• * 1.85

  THE CHUNAUB.
• * 1.86

  MOULTAN.
• * 1.87

  BANIANS.
• * 1.88

  Communicated to me by Dr. PALLAS.
• * 1.89

  THE RAUVEE.
• * 1.90

  TOULAMBA.
• * 1.91

  LAHORE.
• * 1.92

  THE SEIKS.
• * 1.93

  PESTILENCE.
• * 1.94

  D' Anville, Antiq. Geogr. de l' Inde, p. 39, 40.
• † 1.95

  Bontius, Lib. iii. Obs. 3.
• * 1.96

  FINE HORETS.
• * 1.97

  METALS.
• * 1.98

  ROCK SALT.
• * 1.99

  CHUNAUB, UPPER.
• * 1.100

  THE BEHUT.
• * 1.101

  MOUNTAIN BEMBER.
• * 1.102

  EUROPEAN TREES.
• * 1.103

  INDIAN.
• * 1.104

  KINGDOM OF CASHMERE.
• * 1.105

  ONCE A LAKE.
• * 1.106

  P. 103.
• † 1.107

  By Cheresiddin, in his Life of Timur Bee, ii. 96.
• * 1.108

  RIVER BEHUT, OR IHLUM.
• * 1.109

  Ayeen Akberry, ii. 155.
• † 1.110

  Bernier, p. 93.
• * 1.111

  Ayeen, ii. 155.
• † 1.112

  Same, 178, 179.
• ‡ 1.113

  Sonnerat, vol. ii. 158.
• * 1.114

  § Ayeen, 179.
• * 1.115

  SHAWLS.
• * 1.116

  PRINCES.
• * 1.117

  TAMERLANE THERE.
• * 1.118

  Cheresiddin's Life of Timur-Bee, Eng. Trans. ii. p. 95, 96.
• * 1.119

  MARCO POLO THERE.
• † 1.120

  Voiàges de Mare Polo, in Bergeron's Collections, p. 30.
• * 1.121

  INDUS CON|TINUED.
• * 1.122

  MR. FORSTER'S JOURNEY.
• * 1.123

  Eclaircissements, p. 42, as quoted by Mr Rennel.—See Memoir, p. 186.
• * 1.124

  THE PUDDAR.
• * 1.125

  RAIPOTANA.
• * 1.126

  Ayeen, iii. 82.
• * 1.127

  THEIR CAPI|TAL, CHEITOR
• * 1.128

  ITS SAD FATE.
• † 1.129

  Mela, lib. ii. c. 8. Livy, lib. in. lib. xxi. c. 7. Florus, lib. vii. c. 6.
• * 1.130

  Dow's Ferishta, ii. 276.
• † 1.131

  Churchill's Coll. i. p. 770. 812.
• * 1.132

  AZIMERE.
• * 1.133

  Dow's Hist. ii. 279, 280.
• * 1.134

  Heylin's Cosmogr. book iii. p. 198.
• * 1.135

  SIR THOMAS ROE.
• * 1.136

  Heylin's Cosmogr. book iii. p. 198.
• * 1.137

  SEA-SNAKES.
• * 1.138

  Bougainville's Voy. Eng. Trans.
• * 1.139

  SYRASTRENA REGIO.
• * 1.140

  GULPH OF CUTCH.
• * 1.141

  GUZERAT.
• * 1.142

  PAGODA JUM|NAUT.
• * 1.143

  Ferishta, i. p. 71 to 86.
• * 1.144

  DIU.
• * 1.145

  DON JOHN DE CASTRO.
• * 1.146

  Murphy's Travels in Portugal, p. 263, 273.
• * 1.147

  BAY OF CAM|BAY.
• * 1.148

  CAMBAY.
• * 1.149

  NAGRA.
• * 1.150

  Osorio. lib. vi. p. 345. Gibb's Trans.
• † 1.151

  Arrian, Rerum. Indic. i. p. 523.
• * 1.152

  HOSPITAL FOR BIRDS.
• * 1.153

  FOR GOATS, &c.
• * 1.154

  VAST TIDES.
• * 1.155

  GODDARD'S MARCH.
• * 1.156

  AMEDABAD.
• * 1.157

  TAKEN BY STORM.
• * 1.158

  Wars in Asia, i. 90. 102.
• * 1.159

  AMEDABAD FINCH.
• * 1.160

  Ayeen Akberry, iii. 90.
• * 1.161

  BAROCHIA, THE ANTIENT BA|RYGAZA.
• † 1.162

  Purchas, i. 547. Orme's Fragments, Notes, cxxxi. ii.
• * 1.163

  ZARMONACHA|GAS.
• * 1.164

  COINS.
• * 1.165

  Menander was cotemporary with Antiochus the great.
• * 1.166

  TAGARA.
• † 1.167

  Arrian. Mar. Erythr. ii. 171.
• * 1.168

  See Lieut. Wilford's curious disquisition on Tagara. Asiatic Researches, i. p. 365 to 375.
• * 1.169

  FINE COTTONS.
• * 1.170

  * Wars in Asia, i. 504.
• † 1.171

  To be farther mentioned.
• * 1.172

  THE NERBUD|DA.
• * 1.173

  PORT OF SWAL|LEY.
• * 1.174

  OF TOM CORYATE.
• * 1.175

  HIS DEATH.
• * 1.176

  ROAD OF SURAT.
• * 1.177

  THE TAPTEE.
• * 1.178

  SURAT.
• * 1.179

  Orme's Fragments, p. 16.
• * 1.180

  PORT OF MECCA.
• * 1.181

  Terry's Voy. p. 137.
• * 1.182

  BURHANPOUR.
• * 1.183

  MUNDU.
• * 1.184

  Memoirs of Jehangìr, p. 114.
• * 1.185

  OUGEIN.
• † 1.186

  Pope's Windfor Forest.
• * 1.187

  Plin. lib. xxx. c. 2.
• † 1.188

  Arrian, Periplus, 170.
• * 1.189

  MADAGEE SIN|DIA.
• * 1.190

  LIONS.
• * 1.191

  Memoirs of Jehangìr, p. 43.—Terry's Voy. p. 194, 196.
• * 1.192

  THE PERSEES.
• * 1.193

  GREAT MER|CHANTS.
• * 1.194

  Tom. ii. 41 to 62.
• * 1.195

  ENGLISH FAC|TORY.
• † 1.196

  Hamilton i. p. 161.
• * 1.197

  TEEK WOOD.
• * 1.198

  VAST DURA|TION.
• * 1.199

  POON, OR MAST TREE.
• * 1.200

  See a full account of this great Botanist, in the Preface to the Plants of Coromandel, by Dr. Patrick Russel.
• * 1.201

  SEVATJEE, FOUNDER OF.
• * 1.202

  THE MAHRAT|TAS.
• * 1.203

  THEIR GOVERN|MENT.
• * 1.204

  Rennel, cxxviii.
• † 1.205

  Same, lxxxii. iv.
• † 1.206

  Same, lxxxii. iv.
• ‡ 1.207

  Same, lxxxv.
• * 1.208

  CAPE ST. JOHN.
• * 1.209

  DAMOON.
• * 1.210

  CONCAN.
• * 1.211

  THE GHAUTS.
• * 1.212

  EASTERN, &c.
• * 1.213

  SEASONS.
• * 1.214

  BAY OF BOMBAY.
• * 1.215

  BASSEIN.
• * 1.216

  VISRABUY.
• * 1.217

  ISLE OF SAL|SETTE.
• * 1.218

  ISLAND OF BOM|BAY.
• * 1.219

  Lord Clarendon's Life, ii. 508.—Anderson's Dict. ii. 119.
• * 1.220

  TOWN, DOCKS, &c.
• * 1.221

  SHIP-BUILDING.
• * 1.222

  EXPEDITIONS FROM BOMBAY.
• * 1.223

  Account of Bombay, p. 48. 65.
• * 1.224

  UNDER EGER|TON.
• * 1.225

  UNDER GOD|DARD.
• * 1.226

  See the history of this disgraceful business, in a little 4to. pamphlet, published at Breck|nock in 1794, entitled, The Expedition of Tullingaum, &c. and the War in Asia, i. p. p. 11. 65. 69.
• * 1.227

  ELEPHANTA, &c.
• * 1.228

  CALLIANA.
• * 1.229

  FAMOUS CA|VERNS.
• * 1.230

  TRAVELLING IN INDIA.
• * 1.231

  SHEEP.
• * 1.232

  SERPENTS.
• * 1.233

  TURBO SCALA|RIS.
• * 1.234

  BARBIERS, A DISEASE.
• * 1.235

  FISHES FALLING ON LAND.
• * 1.236

  TOADS, VAST.
• * 1.237

  ISLES OF KA|NARA AND HUNARY.
• * 1.238

  Orme's Fragments, 122.
• * 1.239

  CHOULE.
• * 1.240

  PIRATE COAST.
• † 1.241

  Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. vi. c. 23.
• * 1.242

  GRABS.
• * 1.243

  Orme, i. p. 409.
• * 1.244

  GALLIVATS.
• * 1.245

  HYDRAS.
• * 1.246

  GHERIAH.
• * 1.247

  Grose's Voyage, ii. 220.
• * 1.248

  SIR WILLIAM JAMES.
• † 1.249

  Orme's Hist. i. 411.
• * 1.250

  THE PIRATE ANGRIA.
• * 1.251

  ORIGIN OF THE NAME.
• * 1.252

  DABUL.
• * 1.253

  Conquetes des Portugais, iv. 183.
• * 1.254

  ISLE OF GOA.
• * 1.255

  SEIZED BY ALBU|QUERQUE.
• * 1.256

  Osorio, ii. p. 4.
• † 1.257

  Osorio, ii. p. 13.
• * 1.258

  ST. FRANCIS DE XAVIER.
• * 1.259

  Travels, 20.
• * 1.260

  OF THE TUR|KEY.
• † 1.261

  P. 25; translated by Francis Gladwin, Esq.
• * 1.262

  CAPE RAMAS.
• * 1.263

  KINGDOM OF CANHARA.
• ‡ 1.264

  See Mr. RENNEL's Memoir on the Map of the Peninsula of India, p. 31; a most valuable explanation of the Partition Treaty.
• * 1.265

  CARWAR BAY.
• * 1.266

  BUFFALO.
• * 1.267

  ISLES OF AN|CHEDIVE.
• * 1.268

  MERJEE.
• * 1.269

  〈◊〉〈◊〉 GEN. MAT|••••EWS LANDS THERE.
• * 1.270

  ONORE SACKED.
• * 1.271

  Lieut. Hubbard's Letter.
• † 1.272

  Annual Register, 1783, p. 88.
• * 1.273

  ASCENT OF THE GHAUTS.
• * 1.274

  BEDNORE.
• * 1.275

  By M. M. D. L. T. (de la Tour) General of ten thousand men in the Mogul empire, and formerly commander in chief of the artillery of Ayder Ali, and of a body of European troops in the service of that prince. His work is not in the highest esteem.
• * 1.276

  RANA BIDDA|LURA.
• * 1.277

  ITS HISTORY.
• * 1.278

  SEIZED BY AYDER.
• * 1.279

  Hon. Charles Grevile, British India, iii. p. 843.
• * 1.280

  BEDNORE SUR|RENDERED.
• * 1.281

  Lieut. Sheen's Letter, in Capt. Oake's Narrative, p. 77.
• * 1.282

  VAST MAGA|ZINES, FOUN|DRY, &c.
• * 1.283

  Hon. Charles Grevile's British India, iii. p. 844.
• * 1.284

  ANNAMPOUR.
• * 1.285

  HORRID CRUEL|TIES.
• † 1.286

  Sheen's Narrative, p. 77.
• * 1.287

  MANGGALORE TAKEN.
• * 1.288

  BEDNORE RE|TAKEN.
• * 1.289

  Lieut. Sheen's Narrative, p. 89.
• * 1.290

  THE GENERAL POISONED.
• * 1.291

  ALSO OTHERS.
• * 1.292

  Annual Register, 1783, p. 91.
• * 1.293

  KIND OF POISON.
• * 1.294

  Liout. Hubbard's Letter.
• * 1.295

  This youthful hero was descended from a younger brother of the Seaforth family. His father, Col. Mackenzie, married the only daughter of a Mr. Humberston, of a rich old family in Lincolnshire, seated at Humberston, once a Benedictine abby, not remote from the mouth of the Humber. Old Humberston lest his daughter five hundred a year: the rest of his estate to a brother's son, who dying, was succeeded, as next heir, by the young Colonel, then in India. He added the family name to that of his own. His brother, Francis Humberston Mackenzie, of Seasorth, as I am informed, sold, by his mother's consent, the Humberston estate, and bought the Seasorth.
• † 1.296

  Hon. Charles Grevile's British India, iii. p. 824 to 848.
• * 1.297

  TAKEN BY THE ENGLISH.
• * 1.298

  ONORE AND BARCELORE.
• * 1.299

  MANGALORE.
• * 1.300

  AYDER'S OREAT FORT.
• * 1.301

  Annual Register, 1768, p. 67.
• † 1.302

  War in Asia, p. 506.
• * 1.303

  NELISURAM.
• * 1.304

  MALABAR COAST.
• * 1.305

  MOUNT DILLA.
• * 1.306

  CANANORE.
• * 1.307

  Osorio, i. p. 268.
• * 1.308

  GENERAL ABER|CROMBY.
• * 1.309

  Major Dirom's Campaigns, p. 2.
• * 1.310

  HFIGHT OF THE GHAUTS.
• * 1.311

  Major Dirom's Campaigns, p. 90.
• * 1.312

  ANTIENT COM|MERCE.
• * 1.313

  OTHONIA.
• * 1.314

  Purchas, iii. p. 240.
• * 1.315

  NARDUS.
• * 1.316

  MALEBATHRUM.
• * 1.317

  HYACINTH.
• * 1.318

  AMETHYST.
• * 1.319

  TESTUDO.
• * 1.320

  IMPORTS.
• * 1.321

  Arrian, Peripl. Mar. Eryth. ii. p. 174.
• † 1.322

  A harbour and place of great commerce, the Aromata emporium, not far from the Aromota promontorium, or Cape Gardefui, the extreme eastern promontory of Africa.
• * 1.323

  TELLICHERRY.
• * 1.324

  War in Asia, i. 263.
• † 1.325

  Franklin's Travels, 13.
• * 1.326

  MAHÉ.
• * 1.327

  NEW SQUIRREL.
• * 1.328

  PEPPER.
• * 1.329

  GREAT TREES OF THE MALA|BAR COAST.
• * 1.330

  COCO TREES.
• * 1.331

  Betela-codi, Rheede, v. tab. 16.
• * 1.332

  BETEL.
• * 1.333

  WHITE SANDERS.
• * 1.334

  RED SANDERS.
• * 1.335

  Rumph. Amboin. ii.
• † 1.336

  Raii Hist. ii. 1805.
• ‡ 1.337

  Same.
• * 1.338

  CARDAMOMUM.
• * 1.339

  GINGER.
• * 1.340

  SPICY EXPORTS.
• * 1.341

  CASSIA.
• * 1.342

  BAMBOO REED.
• * 1.343

  Tour in Wales, i. 234.
• † 1.344

  Hist. of Ayder Alli, i. 116.
• * 1.345

  Voy. Hebrides, last edit. p. 326.—Lucan, lib. iv. 131.
• † 1.346

  Wars in Asia, i. 497.
• * 1.347

  Holinshed's Chron. p. 668.
• * 1.348

  TABAXAR.
• * 1.349

  † Acosta, in Elus. Exot. 164, 246.
• * 1.350

  SUGAR.
• * 1.351

  ANTIQUITY OF.
• * 1.352

  Ch. xlv. 24.
• † 1.353

  Ch. vi. 20.
• ‡ 1.354

  Note in Book ix. 22.
• * 1.355

  ITS REMOVALS.
• * 1.356

  INTO SPAIN.
• * 1.357

  Uztariz, ii. ch. 94.
• * 1.358

  LACCADIVE ISLES.
• * 1.359

  AMBERGRISE.
• * 1.360

  ISLE OF MALI|QUE.
• * 1.361

  MALDIVE ISLANDS.
• * 1.362

  TRADE IN COWRY SHELLS.
• * 1.363

  IN FISH.
• * 1.364

  Hist. of Ayder Alli, i. 98.
• * 1.365

  Hist. Ayder Alli, i. 99.
• † 1.366

  Hamilton, i. 348.
• ‡ 1.367

  Hist. Ceylon. 115.
• * 1.368

  SACRIFICE ROCK.
• * 1.369

  § Hamilton, i. p. 304.
• * 1.370

  CITY OF CA|LICUT.
• * 1.371

  ITS ANTIENT TRADE.
• * 1.372

  THE ZAMO|REEN.
• * 1.373

  SEIZED BY AL|BUQUERQUE.
• * 1.374

  BY AYDER ALLI.
• * 1.375

  Life of Ayder Alli, i. 111.
• * 1.376

  BY MAJOR ABINGTON.
• † 1.377

  British India, iii. 832.
• * 1.378

  PANIANI.
• * 1.379

  Fullarton's Campaigns, p. 166.
• † 1.380

  Same, p. 159.
• * 1.381

  THE PANIANI GALE.
• * 1.382

  COIMBOTORE COUNTRY.
• * 1.383

  CRANGANORE.
• * 1.384

  Osorio, lib. i. p. 134.
• * 1.385

  BURNT.
• * 1.386

  JEWS IN INDIA.
• * 1.387

  See European Magazine, Vol. xvii.
• * 1.388

  CHRISTIANS IN INDIA.
• * 1.389

  OR CHRISTIANS OF ST. THEMAS,
• * 1.390

  KNOWN IN ENG|LAND IN 883.
• * 1.391

  THEIR RITES.
• * 1.392

  COCHIN.
• * 1.393

  OF VASCO DE GAMA.
• * 1.394

  OF ALBUQUERQUE.
• * 1.395

  DIES.
• * 1.396

  Osorio i. p. p. 338, 339.
• * 1.397

  SWELLED LEGS.
• * 1.398

  See the Plate 65, in Linscottan's Voyage.
• * 1.399

  PORCAH.
• * 1.400

  COULANG.
• * 1.401

  Nieuhoff's Voyage, in Churchill's Coll. ii. p. 267.
• * 1.402

  ANJENGA.
• * 1.403

  CAPE COMO|RIN.
• * 1.404

  Words are wanting to express the merit, beauty, and elegance of his present publication of the views in Hindooslan.
• * 1.405

  KINGDOM OF TRAYANCORE.
• * 1.406

  LINES OF TRA|VANCORE.
• * 1.407

  Mackensie's Sketch, i. p. 18.
• † 1.408

  Dirom's Campaigns, 257.
• ‡ 1.409

  Mackensie's Sketch, i. p. 37.
• * 1.410

  OF THE NATRS.
• * 1.411

  British India, by the Hon, Charles Greville, iii. 766:—Also Mackensie's Sketch of the War with Tippoo Sultan, i. p. 17.
• † 1.412

  Sir Thomas Herbert's Travels, 3d edit. p. 337: He calls them Cutteries, meaning Khatres.
• ‡ 1.413

  Nieuhoff, in Churchill, 272, 273.
• * 1.414

  § Dellon's Voyage, 94, 95.
• * 1.415

  COORGA NAYRS.
• * 1.416

  Dirom, p. 92.
• † 1.417

  p. p. 238, 245.
• ‡ 1.418

  same, p. 95.
• * 1.419

  ISLE OF CAL|PENTYN.
• * 1.420

  RAMANA KOIEL.
• * 1.421

  ADAM'S BRIDGE.
• * 1.422

  MANATI.
• * 1.423

  CEYLON.
• * 1.424

  STRABO's ACCOUNT OF.
• * 1.425

  MELA's.
• * 1.426

  PLINY's.
• * 1.427

  PTOLEMY's.
• * 1.428

  ANUROGRAM|MUM.
• * 1.429

  Ptolem. Geograph.
• † 1.430

  Ptolem. Geograph. Aelian, Nat. Anim. lib. xvi. c. 18.
• * 1.431

  PASCUA ELE|PHANTUM.
• ‡ 1.432

  The same.
• * 1.433

  EL. EDRISI.
• * 1.434

  CEYLON VISITED BY LAWRENCE ALMEYDA.
• * 1.435

  Oforio i. p. 253.
• † 1.436

  Wolf's Ceylon, p. 221.
• * 1.437

  DUTCH LAND HERE.
• * 1.438

  Wolf, p. 244.
• † 1.439

  Elscheskroon, in Wolf's book, p. 331.
• * 1.440

  FORM OF CEY|LON.
• * 1.441

  CONDE UDA.
• * 1.442

  ADAM'S PEAK.
• * 1.443

  GANGES.
• * 1.444

  MINERALS.
• * 1.445

  GEMS.
• * 1.446

  INHABITANTS.
• * 1.447

  RELIGION.
• * 1.448

  Knox, 72, 73, 75. Kaempser's Hist. Japan, i. 241.
• * 1.449

  GOVERNMENT.
• * 1.450

  ROBERT KNOX.
• * 1.451

  WEDAS, OR BEDAS.
• * 1.452

  OR BARBARI.
• * 1.453

  Polyhistor, c. 65. These may be the same with the Wedas, which Solinus says, made a trade of selling parrots to the Romans.
• † 1.454

  Knox, p. 62.
• * 1.455

  ELEPHANT.
• * 1.456

  Lib. viii. c. 8.
• * 1.457

  HORSE.
• * 1.458

  Wolf, p. 170.
• * 1.459

  DEER.
• * 1.460

  BUFFALO.
• * 1.461

  WILD-BOAR.
• * 1.462

  MONKEY.
• * 1.463

  JACKAL.
• * 1.464

  TIGER.
• * 1.465

  BEAR.
• * 1.466

  CIVET.
• * 1.467

  NAJA.
• * 1.468

  Manant humeri fortesque lacerti: Colla caputque fluunt: calido non ocius austro Nix resoluta cadet, nee solem cera sequetur.
• * 1.469

  See Voyages aux Indes Orient. par M. Sonnerat. Tom. i. p. p. 168, 169, tab. 45, 46, 47.
• * 1.470

  POISON-SNAKE.
• * 1.471

  BURNING-SER|PENT.
• * 1.472

  Voyage, in 1615, p. 381.
• * 1.473

  BOA.
• * 1.474

  See Doctor Shaw's most elegant work, The Naturalist's Miscellany, Vol. i. tab. 8.
• * 1.475

  CROCODILE.
• * 1.476

  LIZARD.
• * 1.477

  Same, Vol. ii. tab. 51.
• * 1.478

  FLYING LIZARD.
• * 1.479

  INSECTS.
• * 1.480

  HARE.
• * 1.481

  PORCUPINE.
• * 1.482

  SQUIRREL.
• * 1.483

  SHREW.
• * 1.484

  SLOTH.
• * 1.485

  ANT-BEAR.
• * 1.486

  Doctor Thunberg, iv. p. 178, mentions a species, but leaves it undescribed.
• * 1.487

  BAT.
• * 1.488

  BIRDS.
• * 1.489

  FALCON.
• * 1.490

  INDIAN ROL|LER.
• * 1.491

  BUCEROS.
• * 1.492

  ORIOLE.
• * 1.493

  CURUCUI.
• * 1.494

  CUCKOO.
• * 1.495

  HOOPOO.
• * 1.496

  PARROT.
• * 1.497

  Aelian, de Nat. An. lib. xiii. c. 18.
• * 1.498

  THRUSH.
• * 1.499

  TAILOR-BIRD.
• * 1.500

  FLY-CATCHER.
• * 1.501

  PIGEON.
• * 1.502

  FICUS INDICA.
• * 1.503

  PEACOCK.
• * 1.504

  WOOD-FOWL.
• * 1.505

  IBIS.
• * 1.506

  ANHINGA.
• * 1.507

  FISHES.
• * 1.508

  BALISTES.
• * 1.509

  MONSTROUS SEPIA.
• * 1.510

  VEGETABLES.
• * 1.511

  CANNA.
• * 1.512

  AMOMUM.
• * 1.513

  CURCUMA.
• * 1.514

  KOEMPFERIA.
• * 1.515

  NYCTANTHES.
• * 1.516

  JASMINUM.
• * 1.517

  JUSTICIA.
• * 1.518

  PIPER.
• * 1.519

  TAMARINDUS.
• * 1.520

  OLAX.
• * 1.521

  PANICUM.
• * 1.522

  ARUNDO.
• * 1.523

  IXORA.
• * 1.524

  PAVETTA.
• * 1.525

  CALLICARPA.
• * 1.526

  SAMARA.
• * 1.527

  CONVOLVULUS.
• * 1.528

  IPOMOEA.
• * 1.529

  NAUCLEA.
• * 1.530

  MORINDA.
• * 1.531

  MUSSOENDA.
• * 1.532

  MIRABILIS.
• * 1.533

  Knox, p. 20.
• * 1.534

  SOLANUM.
• * 1.535

  CAPSICUM.
• * 1.536

  STRYCHNOS.
• * 1.537

  RHAMNUS.
• * 1.538

  MANGIFERA.
• * 1.539

  AMARANTHUS.
• * 1.540

  CERBERA.
• * 1.541

  NEVIUM.
• * 1.542

  BROMELIA.
• * 1.543

  Rumph. v. p. 128.
• * 1.544

  PANCRATIUM.
• * 1.545

  CRINUM.
• * 1.546

  GLORIOSA.
• * 1.547

  POLIANTHES.
• * 1.548

  CALAMUS.
• * 1.549

  MIMUSOPS.
• * 1.550

  ••AMBOLIFERA.
• * 1.551

  LAURUS.
• * 1.552

  CINNAMON, OR CASSIA.
• * 1.553

  Pliny, in lib. xii. c. xix. and other parts of his Nat. Hist, treats largely of this tree.
• * 1.554

  LAURUS CASSIA.
• * 1.555

  ANACARDIUM.
• * 1.556

  SOPHORA.
• * 1.557

  BAUHINIA.
• * 1.558

  CASSIA.
• * 1.559

  GUILANDINA.
• * 1.560

  LIMONIA.
• * 1.561

  AVERRHOA.
• * 1.562

  CRATAEVA.
• * 1.563

  EUPHORBIA.
• * 1.564

  PISIDIUM.
• * 1.565

  EUGENIA.
• * 1.566

  MYRTUS.
• * 1.567

  PUNICA.
• * 1.568

  CAMBOGIA.
• * 1.569

  NYMPHOEA.
• * 1.570

  OCHNA.
• * 1.571

  CALOPHYLLUM.
• * 1.572

  ELEOCARPUS.
• * 1.573

  VATERIA.
• * 1.574

  CORCHORUS.
• * 1.575

  STRATIOTES.
• * 1.576

  MICHELIA.
• * 1.577

  ANNONA.
• * 1.578

  BIGNONIA.
• * 1.579

  SESAMUM.
• * 1.580

  Arrian, Mar. Erythr. ii. p. 150.
• † 1.581

  Plin. lib. xviii. c. 10. lib. xxiii. c. 4.
• * 1.582

  BOMBAX.
• * 1.583

  HIBI••CUS.
• * 1.584

  GOSSYPIUM.
• * 1.585

  COTTON.
• * 1.586

  MESUA.
• * 1.587

  PTEROCARPU••▪
• * 1.588

  ERYTHRINA.
• * 1.589

  PHASEOLUS.
• * 1.590

  DOLICHOS.
• * 1.591

  HEDYSARUM.
• * 1.592

  INDIGOTERA.
• * 1.593

  CITRUS.
• * 1.594

  NEPENTHES.
• * 1.595

  BREAD FRUIT.
• * 1.596

  THE INTEGRI|FOLIA.
• * 1.597

  Travels, iv. p. 255.
• * 1.598

  PLACES.
• * 1.599

  INCISUS.
• * 1.600

  G. Forster's Pl. Aese. p. 26.
• † 1.601

  Thunberg's Travels, iv. p. 255.
• * 1.602

  PLACES.
• * 1.603

  Thunberg's Travels, iv. p. 282.
• * 1.604

  COIN.
• * 1.605

  HERMANDIA.
• * 1.606

  PHYLANTHUS.
• * 1.607

  MORUS.
• * 1.608

  STERCULIA.
• * 1.609

  CROTON.
• * 1.610

  Thunberg's Travels, iv. 250.
• * 1.611

  PANDANUS.
• † 1.612

  Forskhal, Pl. Egypt. p. 172.
• * 1.613

  DIOSCOREA.
• * 1.614

  YAMS.
• * 1.615

  CARICA.
• * 1.616

  MUSA.
• * 1.617

  PALA PLINII.
• * 1.618

  OPHIOXYLON.
• * 1.619

  CELTIS.
• * 1.620

  MIMOSA.
• * 1.621

  FICUS.
• * 1.622

  CYCAS.
• * 1.623

  Hist. Pl. ii. 1360.
• * 1.624

  NOT NATIVE.
• * 1.625

  COFFEE TREE.
• * 1.626

  Thunberg's Voy. iv. 153.
• * 1.627

  OPHIOGLOSSUM.
• * 1.628

  POLYPODIUM.
• * 1.629

  COCOS.
• * 1.630

  BORASSUS.
• * 1.631

  PHOENIX.
• * 1.632

  CORYPHA.
• * 1.633

  ELATE.
• * 1.634

  CARYOTA.
• * 1.635

  JOHN GIDEON LOTEN.
• * 1.636

  PONTA DE PEDRAS.
• * 1.637

  JAFFANA|PATAM.
• * 1.638

  THE APE-GOD, HANNAMAN.
• * 1.639

  Between the bay of Trincomale and the sort Calirauw is the country called Bedas, a tract of sorest, comprehending a hundred and twenty miles. The habitation of the Bedas.
• * 1.640

  TRINCOMALE.
• * 1.641

  BARTICALO.
• * 1.642

  D'Anville, Antiquité de l'Inde, p. 146.
• * 1.643

  MATURA.
• * 1.644

  DONDRA-HEAD. TANAWAR.
• * 1.645

  PUNTA DE GALLE.
• * 1.646

  COLOMBO.
• * 1.647

  NIGOMBO.
• * 1.648

  ISLE OF CAL|PENTYN.
• * 1.649

  ISLE OF MA|NAAR.