a celebrated and extensive country of Asia, bounded on the north by Great and Little Thibet; on the south, by the hither peninsula of India, part of the Indian Sea, and bay of Bengal; on the west, by Persia; and on the east, by Thibet, and the farther peninsula. It is situated between 84° and 102° of east longitude, and between 21° and 36° of north latitude; being in length about 1224 miles, and in breadth 960; though in some places much less.

This country was in early times distinguished among the Greeks by the name of India, the most probable derivation of which is from Hind the Persian name. We are assured by Mr Wilkins, that no such words as Hindoo or Hindostan exist in the Sanscrit or learned language of the country; in which it is named Bharatá, a word totally unknown to Europeans. The first accounts we have of Hindostan are from Herodotus, who lived 113 years before the expedition of Alexander the Great. His accounts, however, convey very little information, as he appears only to have heard of the western part of the country, and that on account of its being tributary to Persia. He informs us, that India, Darius Hyftafes, about 508 B. C. had sent Scylax of Caryanda to explore the river Indus. He set sail from Casparyrus, a town near the source of the Indus, and the territories of Pañga (which Major Rennel supposes to be the modern Pehkely), and continued his course eastward to the sea; then altering his course to the west, he arrived at that place where the Phoenicians had formerly sailed round the continent of Africa; after which Darius subdued the Indians, and became master of that sea. The northern inhabitants of India, he says, resembled the Bactrians in their manners, and were more valiant than the rest; those far to the southward were as black as the Ethiopians, killed no animals, but lived chiefly upon rice; and clothed themselves with cotton. By the expedition of Alexander, Hindostan, the Greeks acquired a little more knowledge of the country of Hindostan, though he did little else than march over the tracts described by Herodotus. He was informed of the existence of the river Ganges, which had not been known to Herodotus; and the story of his supposing that he had discovered the source of the Nile, when near the head of the Indus, is well known, as well as his surprise and consternation when he arrived at the mouth of that river, on account of the high tides. Major Rennel is of opinion that both these stories are falsehoods. He thinks it is impossible that Alexander could have been ignorant of the writings of Herodotus, who gave an account of the discoveries of Scylax; and with regard to the other circumstance he expresses himself as follows. "The story of Alexander's surprise at seeing the tides in the Indus, appears to me equally improbable; seeing that the same Herodotus, book iii. speaks very particularly of the tides in the Red sea, and describes them as being not only strong, but ebbing and flowing every day. (That most intelligent and ingenious traveller M. Volney informs us, that the tide ebbs and flows three feet and a half at Suez). Arrian takes no notice of the tides until Alexander's fleet had arrived near the mouth of the river. It is true, the tide of the Indus does not go up so high as in other rivers of equal bulk, and that run on so small a descent; but nevertheless, as the tide is perceptible at 50 or 60 miles above the river's mouth, we may conclude, that it could hardly escape the notice of Alexander and his people in their voyage from Pattala to the sea, supposing they had not been apprised of the circumstance. Besides, Arrian's account of the tide which did so much mischief to the fleet, is descriptive of the bore, or sudden influx of the tide, in a body of water elevated above the common surface of the sea; such as occurs in the Ganges, &c. He says, those ships which lay upon the sand were swept away by the fury of the tide; while those that stuck in the mud were set afloat again without any damage. To the generality of readers no reason will appear why the circumstances of the ships should be different in the mud and on the sand: the fact is, that the bottoms of channels in great rivers are muddy, while their shallows are formed of sand; and it is the nature of the bore to take the shortest cut up a river, instead of following the windings of the channel; consequently it must cross the sand banks it meets in its way, and will also prove more destructive to whatever it meets with aground than what is afloat." For an account of the exploits of Alexander in Hindostan, see the article MACEDON.

The Grecian expedition into India soon excited a general curiosity in the Europeans to become acquainted with a country so wealthy and so remote. Megalithenes, the ambassador of Seleucus, resided long at Palibothra the capital of an Indian nation, and from him the ancient writers learned most of what they knew concerning that part of the world. He lived about 300 years before the Christian era, and kept a journal during the time he resided in India.

For some short time the western provinces of India continued subject to the Syrian empire founded by Seleucus; but he quickly ceded these distant countries to one Sandrocottus, who gave him only 500 elephants in exchange. Soon after this the province of Bactria likewise became independent; and thus the connection between India and the western parts of the world was entirely dissolved, and we are almost entirely ignorant of the transactions of that country till the time of the Mohammedan conquest. That the extensive country we now call Hindostan was divided among many different nations, we have no reason to doubt; but Major Rennel is of opinion, that however this might be the case, there was generally a large empire or kingdom, which occupied the principal part of that immense valley through which the Ganges takes its course; the capital of which has fluctuated between Delhi and Patna, as the limits of the empire have varied. This was named the kingdom of the Prajji or Gangaridee in the times of Alexander and Megalithenes. Major Rennel is of opinion that it extended westward to the Panjab country; and he also thinks it probable that the capital named Palibothra stood on the same spot which is now occupied by the city of Patna. The kingdom, according to this supposition, would occupy part of Bengal; and he thinks that it could not be less than that of France. It was on the borders of this kingdom that Alexander's army mutinied and refused to proceed any farther. Arrian informs us, that the people were rich, excellent soldiers, and good husbandmen; that they were governed by nobility, and that their rulers imposed nothing harsh upon them.

The Hindus themselves pretend to an extravagant antiquity; but we are informed by Major Rennel, that Hindu history to be credited on the foundation of Hindoo materials or records) exists before the period of the Mohammedan conquests; for either the Hindus kept no regular histories, or they were all destroyed, or secluded from common eyes by the Pundits. We may judge of their traditions by that existing concerning Alexander's expedition; which is, that he fought a great battle with the emperor of Hindostan near Delhi, and though victorious, retired to Persia across the northern mountains; so that the remarkable circumstance of his falling down the Indus, in which he employed many months, is sunk altogether. And yet, perhaps, few events of ancient times rest on better foundations than this part of the history of Alexander, as appears by its being so highly celebrated, not only by contemporaries, but by several of the most eminent authors for some centuries following. The only traces of Indian history we meet with are in the Persian historians. In the beginning of the 17th century, Mohammed Ferishta composed a history of Hindostan, most of which was given in that of Colonel Dow, published upwards of 30 years ago; but with regard to the early part of it, Major Rennel is of opinion that it cannot at all be depended upon.

The authentic history of Hindostan commences with the conquests of Mahmud or Mahmood Gazni, about the year 1000. His kingdom had arisen out of that of the Saracens, who under the caliph Al Walid had extended their conquests immensely both to the east and west. Mahmud was the third from Abifagi, a governor of Khorasan, who had revolted from the king of Bucharia. He possessed great part of that country formerly known by the name of Bactria. Gazni, Gazna, or Ghizni, was the capital; a city which stood near the source of the Indus, though Balkh likewise claimed this honour. Subaftagi, the father of Mahmud, had projected the conquest of the western part of India; but dying before he could put his designs in execution, Mahmud took upon himself the conduct of the expedition; but previous to his invasion of India, he strengthened himself by the conquest of the whole of the ancient Bactria. His first invasion took place in the year 1000; during which he made no farther progress than the province of Moulan. That part of the country was inhabited by the Kuttry and Rajpoot tribe, the Malli and Catheri of Alexander, who still retained their ancient spirit, and made a very stout resistance to the armies of that furious enthusiast. As he was prompted to this undertaking no less by a desire of exterminating the Hindoo religion than by that of conquest, a league was at last formed against him among all the Indian princes from the banks of the Ganges to the Nerbudda. Their allied forces, however, were defeated, and the year 1008 was marked by the destruction of the famous temple of Nagracut in the Panjab country. Having satiated himself with plunder on this occasion, Mahmud returned to his own country; but in 1011 invaded Hindoostan once more, destroying Tanafar a city on the west of Delhi, and a more celebrated place of worship than Nagracut itself. Delhi was reduced on this occasion; and in seven years after Canoge was taken; the temples of Matra or Methura, the Methora of Pliny, a city of great antiquity, and remarkable for a place of worship near Agra, were likewise demolished; but he failed in his attempts on the Rajpoots of Agimere, either through their own valour or the strength of their country. His twelfth expedition took place in the year 1024, when he destroyed the celebrated temple of Sumnaut in the peninsula of Guzerat, adjoining to the city of Puttan on the sea-coast, and not far from the island of Diu, now in the hands of the Portuguese. In this expedition he proved very successful, reducing the whole peninsula of Guzerat, with many cities, the temples of which he constantly destroyed; and indeed seemed no less pleased with the overthrow of the Hindoo religion than with the conquest of the country. At his death, which happened in 1028, he was possessed of the eastern and by far the largest part of Persia, and nominally of all the provinces from the western part of the Ganges to the peninsula of Guzerat; as well as those lying between the Indus and the mountains of Agimere; but the Rajpoots in that country still preserved their independency, which they have done all along, even to the present time.

In the year 1158 the empire of Gazna fell to pieces from the same causes by which other large and unwieldy states have been destroyed. The western and largest part, which still retained the name of Gazna, was seized upon by the family of Gaurides, so named from Gaur or Ghor, a province beyond the Indian Caucasus; while those contiguous to both shores of the Indus were allowed to remain in the possession of Chufuro or Cufroe, whose capital was fixed at Lahore. In 1184 the poverty of this prince were driven out of their territories by the Gaurides; by which means the Mohammedans became neighbours to the Hindus, and in a short time began to extend their dominions to the eastward. In 1194 Mohammed Gorri penetrated into Hindoostan as far as Benares, and repeated the same scenes of devastation which had formerly taken place under Mahmud Gazni. At this period Major Kennel is of opinion, that the purity of the language of Hindoostan began to decline, and continued to do so till it became what it is at present; the original dialect being what is called the Sanscrit, and which is now a dead language. Mohammed Gorri also reduced the southern part of the province of Agimere, and the territory to the south of the river Jumna, taking possession of the strong fortresses of Qualior. After his death in 1205, the empire of Gazna was again divided; and the Patan or Afghan empire was founded by Cuttub, who had the Indian part, the Persian remaining to Eldoze. Cuttub fixed his imperial residence at Delhi; and in 1210 the greatest part of Hindoostan Proper was conquered by the emperor Alumuth, the successor of Cuttub. After his time the government of Bengal was always bestowed upon one of the reigning emperor's sons; and during his reign the bloody conqueror Jenghiz Khan put an end to the other branch of the Gaznian empire, known by the name of Kharegum; of which revolution an account is given under the article GAZNA; but Hindoostan was at that time left undisturbed. In 1242 the Moguls began first invasion to make irruptions into Hindoostan, but did not at this time make any permanent conquest. The country was now in much the same state in which it had been before the invasion of the Mohammedans, viz. divided into a great number of states tributary to the emperor, but in a great measure independent; and which did not fail to revolt whenever a favourable opportunity offered. The kingdom of Malwa, which had been reduced by Cuttub in 1205, shook off the yoke in the year 1265, and the Rajpoots were on every occasion ready to revolt, notwithstanding that their country lay in the neighbourhood of the capital. The most dreadful massacres, rebellions, and confusion, now took place, which, from that period almost to the time that the British government commenced, made up the history of Hindoostan. The empire being parcelled out among a set of rapacious governors, the people were reduced to the last degree of misery, and were at last so far misled as to imagine that it was their interest to take up arms, in order to render these governors independent. Had the emperors of Hindoostan consulted their true interest, they would have given up the provinces which lay beyond the upper part of the Indus and the deserts of Agimere; as these formed a barrier which could not easily be passed by any invader. By neglecting this precaution, however, they at last gave an opportunity to the Moguls to penetrate into their country; and these, after several invasions, became at last so formidable, that they were permitted by the emperors, in the year 1292, to settle in the country. At this time the reigning emperor was Feroe II. of the tribe of Chillegi or Killegi, so named from Killeg near the mountains of Gaur; and in 1293 this emperor projected the conquest of the Deccan; by which was meant 'at that time all the territory lying to the southward of the Nerbudda and Mahanada and Cat-tack rivers; an extent of dominion almost equal to all that he already possessed in Hindoostan. Feroe was incited to attempt this by the riches of one of the princes of Deccan; and the person who proposed it was one Alla, governor of Gurrah, a country nearly bordering upon that which he was about to invade. Hindofan. Alla, having accomplished his undertaking, during which he amassed an incredible quantity of treasure, deposed and murdered the emperor, assuming to himself the sovereignty of Hindofan. He then began a new plan of conquest; and the first instance of his successes was the reduction of Guzerat, a strong fortress, which had hitherto remained independent, and, while it continued so, was a strong obstacle to his designs upon the Deccan. He next reduced Rantapur and Chetore, two of the strongest forts in the Rajpoot country. In 1303 the city of Warangole, capital of a kingdom of the Deccan named Tellingana, was reduced; but in the midst of these conquests the Moguls invaded the country from an opposite quarter, and plundered the suburbs of Delhi. Notwithstanding this check the emperor resumed his plan of conquest; the remainder of Malwa was subdued; and in 1306 the conquest of the Deccan was again undertaken. The conduct of the war was now committed to Cafoor; who not only carried his army into Dowlatabad, but, in 1310, penetrated into the Carnatic also. The extent of his conquests in that country is not known; and indeed his expeditions seem to have been made with a view rather to plunder than to achieve any permanent conquest. The quantity of riches he amassed was so great, that the soldiers are said to have carried away only the gold, leaving silver behind them as too cumbersome. As the treasure carried off on this occasion had been accumulating for a number of ages, it is probable that the country had long remained in a state of tranquillity.

Cafoor still proceeding in his conquests, ravaged a second time the northern part of the Deccan, and obliged the inhabitants of Tellingana and the Carnatic to become tributary to him. Revolutions took place in 1322; but the country was again reduced in 1326, and the whole Carnatic ravaged from one sea to the other. This year Alla died, and his successors, not being possessed of his abilities, were unable to retain the dominions he had left. Under the emperor Mohammed III. the people of the Deccan again revolted, and drove the Mohammedans so completely out of these countries, that nothing remained to them but the fortresses of Dowlatabad. In 1344 the city of Bijinagar, properly Bijinagur, was founded by Belalcoo the king of Deccan, who had headed the inhabitants in their late revolt. Mohammed in the mean time attempted to extend his dominions towards the east; but while he employed himself in this, many provinces were lost by rebellions in Bengal, Guzerat, and the Panjab. His successor Feroe III. who ascended the throne in 1351, seemed more desirous of improving the remains of his empire than of extending it; and, during his reign, which continued for 37 years, agriculture and the arts were the favourite objects of his pursuit. After his death, in 1388, a rebellion and civil war took place, and continued for several years; and matters were brought to a crisis in the time of Mahmud III. who succeeded to the throne in 1393; and, during this time, the empire of Hindofan exhibited the singular circumstance of two emperors residing in the same capital, and in arms against each other. While matters remained in this situation, Tamerlane, after having subdued all the western part of Tartary and Asia, turned his arms against Hindofan in the year 1398. His conquest was easy, and his behaviour such Hindofan, as rendered him worthy of the name by which he is yet known in Hindofan, "the destroying prince." After having brought into captivity a vast number of the poor inhabitants, he caused a general massacre to be commenced lest they should join the enemy in case of any sudden emergency; and in consequence of this cruel order, upwards of 100,000 were put to death in one hour. In the beginning of the year 1399 he was met by the Indian army, whom he defeated with great slaughter, and soon after made himself master of the imperial city of Delhi. At this time the capital consisted of three cities, named Old Delhi, Seyri, and Jehan Penah. Seyri was surrounded with a wall in the form of a circle; and Old Delhi was the fame, but much larger, lying to the south-west of the other. These two were joined on each side by a wall: and the third, which was larger than the other two, lay between them. As the city made no resistance, there could not be a pretence for using the inhabitants with any cruelty: and thus matters passed on quietly till the 12th of January, when the Tartar soldiers insulted some of the inhabitants at one of the gates. The Emirs were ordered to put a stop to these disorders, but found it impossible. The Sultanas, having a curiosity to see the rarities of Delhi, and particularly a famous palace adorned with 1000 pillars built by an ancient Indian king, went in with all the court; and the gate being thus left open for every body, above 15,000 soldiers got in unperceived. But there was a far larger number of troops in a place between the cities above mentioned, who committed such disorders, that an insurrection commenced; some of the inhabitants attacking them, while others, in despair, set fire to their houses, and burnt themselves with their wives and children. The soldiers, taking advantage of this confusion, pillaged the houses; while the disorder was augmented by the admission of more troops, who seized the inhabitants of the neighbouring cities that had fled to Delhi for shelter. The Emirs caused the gates to be shut; but they were quickly opened by the soldiers, who rose in arms against their officers; so that, by the morning of the next day, the whole army had entered, and the city was totally destroyed. Some soldiers carried off no fewer than 150 slaves, men, women, and children; nay, some of their boys had 20 slaves a-piece to their share. The other spoils in jewels, plate, and manufactures, were immense; for the Indian women and girls were all adorned with precious stones, and had bracelets and rings on their hands, feet, and even toes, so that the soldiers were loaded with them. On the 15th the Indians attempted to defend themselves in the great mosque of Old Delhi; but being attacked by the Tartars, they were all slaughtered, and towers erected. A dreadful carnage now ensued throughout the whole city, though several days elapsed before the inhabitants could be forced to quit it entirely; and as they went, the Emirs took many of them into their service. The artisans were also distributed among the princes and commanders, all but the masons, who were reserved for the emperor, in order to build him a large stone mosque at Samareand.

After this terrible devastation, Tamerlane marched into the different provinces of Hindofan, everywhere defeating the Indians who opposed him, and slaughte- ing the Ghebirs or worshippers of fire. On the 25th of March he retired, and thus set the miserable inhabitants free from the most bloody conqueror that had ever invaded them. He did not, however, disturb the succession to the throne, but left Mahmud in quiet possession of it, reserving to himself only that of the Panjab country. The death of Mahmud, which happened in 1413, put an end to what is called the Patan dynasty, founded by Cuttub in 1205. He was succeeded by Chitzer, who derived his pedigree from the impostor Mohammed, and his posterity continued to enjoy it till the year 1450; when Belloli, an Afghan of the tribe of Lodi, took possession of it, the reigning prince Alla II. having abdicated the government. Under him all Hindostan was divided into separate states; and a prince, whose title was the king of the east, who resided at Jionpour in the province of Allahabad, became so formidable, that the king of Delhi had only a shadow of authority remaining to him. A considerable part of the empire, however, was recovered by the son of Belloli; who, in the year 1501, fixed his royal residence at Agra. During his reign the Portuguese first accomplished the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope, but they had no connection with any other part of Hindostan than some maritime places in the Deccan which had always been independent of the court of Delhi. In 1516, during the reign of Ibrahim II. matters fell into such confusion that Sultan Baber, a descendant of Tamerlane, found means to conquer a very considerable part of the empire. His first expedition took place in the year 1518; and the year 1525 he made himself master of Delhi. In his last invasion he is said to have brought with him only 10,000 horse; having been furnished with the rest by the disaffected subjects of the emperor. During the five years that he reigned, his chief employment was the reduction of some of the eastern provinces; but he had not time to compose the disturbances which took place throughout the whole of his dominions. On his death the seeds of rebellion, which Baber had not been able to exterminate, produced so many revolts and insurrections, that his son Humaioon, though a prince of great abilities and virtue, was driven from the throne, and obliged to take shelter among the Rajpoot princes of Agimere, where he lived in great distress. During the time of his exile his son Akbar was born, whom Mr Rennel looks upon to be one of the greatest princes that ever sat on the throne of Hindostan. The sovereignty was held in the mean time by an usurper, named Sheerkhan, who in 1545 was killed at the siege of Cheitoire, and buried in a magnificent mausoleum, of which Mr Hodges has exhibited a drawing in this country. His territories, at the time of his death, extended from the Indus to Bengal; but so unsettled was the government, that after his decease no fewer than five sovereigns appeared in the space of nine years. This induced a strong party in Hindostan to recall Humaioon; but he lived only one year after his return.

In 1555, Humaioon was succeeded by his son Akbar, at that time only 14 years of age. During his long reign of 51 years, he established the empire on a more sure foundation than it had probably ever been before; though even at this time Mr Rennel is of opinion, that all the tranquillity enjoyed by the people was merely that there was no actual rebellion. The first years of his reign were spent in reducing the provinces which had revolted from Agimere to Bengal; and the obedience of these he took care to secure as well as possible by a careful choice of governors; particularly by an unlimited toleration in religious matters, and an attention to the rights and privileges of the people. In 1585, he resolved to invade the Deccan, which had hitherto resisted the power of the Mogul princes. The war continued for 20 years; during all which time no farther progress was made than the reduction of the western part of Berar, Candcili, Tellingana (a division of Golconda), and the northern part of Amednagur; the capital of which, named also Amednagur, was taken in 1601, after a long and bloody siege, and an unsuccessful attempt of the princes of the Deccan to relieve it. Under his successor Jehan Guire, the project was but faintly carried on; the empire was disturbed by the rebellion of Shah Jehan the emperor's son; and the influence of Noor Jehan his mistress perplexed the councils of the nation. In this prince's reign Sir Thomas Roe, the first English ambassador, arrived at the court of Hindostan. The Portuguese had now acquired considerable possessions in Guzerat and Bengal, but only those in the former provinces attracted the attention of the court; so that the Persian historian takes no notice of those in Bengal. In the reign of Shah Jehan, who succeeded his father Jehan Guire in 1627, the conquest of the Deccan was more vigorously pushed than before; and the war was carried on in such a destructive manner, that most of the princes in those parts were fain to make submission to the emperor. During this reign a war took place with the Portuguese, which ended in the expulsion of the latter from Hoogly on the Ganges. In his private character Shah Jehan was a very debauched and wicked prince, which gave occasion to one of his sons named Aureng-zeib, or Aureng-zebe, to dethrone him. This prince attained his end by a train of deep hypocrisy and dissimulation; covering his ambition with a pretence of religion, and under that pretence committing the greatest crimes. He engaged in a war with two of his brothers, both of whom he defeated by unforeseen accidents, when he himself seemed to be on the brink of destruction. Having at last got them into his power, he put them both to death, and then lamented their misfortunes. One of his brothers who assisted him, was rewarded first with imprisonment, and then with death. By the year 1665, he had attained full possession of the sovereignty, and from that time to the year 1678 there reigned a profound tranquillity throughout the whole empire. In the latter part of his reign he undertook the conquest of the Deccan, to which he was supposed to be incited by the revolution and growing power of Sevagee, the founder of the Mahratta state; and who, in that character, appeared almost as a rival to Aureng-zebe himself. Having quelled a rebellion of the Patans, who lived beyond the Indus, he persecuted the Hindus to such a degree, that the Rajpoot tribes in Agimere commenced a war against him. On this occasion he headed his armies also in person; but having the misfortune to be hemmed in among the mountains, he would certainly have been taken prisoner, had not the enemy thought proper to allow him to escape. They allowed also the empress to make her escape, after she had been actually taken. In 1681, he renewed his incursions into that country, took and destroyed Checture, committing other devastations, and everywhere destroying the Hindoo temples and objects of worship; but notwithstanding all his efforts, he was at last obliged to abandon his enterprise, and allow them to remain in peace. From the year 1678 to the time of his death in 1707, he is said to have been chiefly employed in the Deccan, the greatest part of which he reduced, and for the last five years of his life is said to have been actually employed in the field. This long absence from his capital could not but be productive of bad consequences. Rebellions broke out in various parts of the empire; and during this period, the Jats or Jauts first made their appearance in the province of Agra. They were at first only a set of banditti; but have since grown to be a very considerable state, and once were of some consequence in Upper Hindoofan. After the 10th year of Aureng-zebe's reign, however, we know very little of his transactions, as he would not allow any history of it to be written. At the time of his death the empire extended from the 10th to the 35th degree of latitude, and almost as many degrees in longitude. "His revenue (says Major Rennel) exceeded 35 millions of pounds sterling, in a country where the products of the earth are about four times as cheap as in England. But so wealthy a sceptre could be wielded only by a hand like Aureng-zebe's; and we accordingly find, that in the course of 50 years after his death, a succession of weak princes and wicked ministers reduced this astonishing empire to nothing."

Aureng-zebe left four sons; Maufum, afterwards emperor, under the title of Bahader Shah; Azem, Kaum Buhl, and Aebar, who had been obliged to fly to Persia 30 years before, on account of his having engaged in rebellion against his father. A civil war instantly commenced between Azem and Maufum; the event of which was decided in a great battle, where 300,000 combatants were brought into the field on each side. In this battle Azem was defeated and killed; after which Maufum ascended the throne by the title of Bahader Shah. He was a prince of considerable abilities; but the disorders of the empire were already risen to such an height, that during his short reign of five years, he found it impossible to compose them. He was first engaged in war with his brother Kaum Buhl, whom he also defeated and killed; after which his attention was engaged by the Seiks, a new set of religiousits, who, during the reign of Shah Jehan, had silently established themselves along the foot of the eastern mountains. They now appeared in arms in the province of Lahore, and ravaged the whole country from thence to the banks of the Jumna. The emperor marched against these adversaries in person, and with great difficulty brought them under subjection. He then took up his residence at Lahore, where he died after a short illness, without having ever visited the imperial cities of Agra or Delhi.

After the death of Bahader Shah the empire was again contested among his four sons. Of these the second, named Azem Oolhaun, took possession of the treasures; but was opposed by his three brothers who agreed to divide the empire among them. Azem, was defeated and killed in a battle, gained chiefly by the valour and conduct of the youngest named Shah Jehan; who seemed resolved to abide by the agreement, and as Hindoofan, a proof of his sincerity, ordered the treasures to be divided. This was prevented by the intrigues of Zool-fecar-khan, an omrah in high trust. A new civil war commenced, in which Jehan Shah was killed. The two remaining brothers tried their fortune in a third battle, which left Jehauder, the eldest, in possession of the throne. In nine months he was dethroned by Ferakiere, or Furokserie, son to the deceased Azem Oolhaun; having, during his short reign, displayed almost unparalleled meanness of spirit.

This revolution was accomplished by the assistance of two brothers, Houssein Ali Khan and Abdoulla Khan, who had extensive governments in the eastern provinces. The calamities of the empire were not at all abated during this reign. In 1713 the Seiks appeared again in arms; and in 1716 were grown so formidable, that the emperor himself was obliged to march against them; but we are totally ignorant of the particulars of this campaign. About this time the firm English East India Company obtained the famous Firman or grant, by which their goods of export and import were exempted from duties or customs; which was regarded as the company's commercial charter in India, while they stood in need of protection from the princes of that country.

Ferakserie was deposed, and his eyes put out, by the two brothers who had raised him to the throne; and in the course of the same year two other emperors, whom they afterwards set up, were deposed and murdered; and thus, in eleven years after the death of Aureng-zebe, 11 princes of his line, who had either mounted the throne, or been competitors for it, were exterminated, while the government declined with such rapidity, that the empire seemed ready to be dismembered to a greater degree than it had even been before the invasion of Tamerlane. In 1718 the two brothers raised to the throne Mohammed Shah, the grandson of Bahader Shah; but this prince having got sufficient warning by the fate of his predecessors, took care to rid himself of these powerful subjects, though this could not be accomplished without a civil war. New enemies, however, started up. Nizam-al-Mulk, viceroy of the Deccan, had been for some time augmenting his power by every possible method, and was evidently aspiring at independence. Having received some affronts from the two brothers, who for some time had ruled every thing with an absolute sway, he thought proper to retire to his government. In 1722 he was invited to court, and offered the place of vizier or prime minister, but declined accepting it, while the growing and formidable power of the Mahrattas furnished him with a pretence for augmenting his army. At last, having by the year 1738 attained a sufficient degree of strength to accomplish his purposes, and confident of his having a large party at court, he came thither attended by a great body of armed followers. Finding, however, that the interest of the emperor was still too powerful for him, he invited the celebrated Persian usurper Nadir Shah, commonly known by the name of Kouli Khan, to invade Hindoofan. The invitation was accepted, and Nadir entered the country without Shah's opposition. The imperial general Douran being killed in a skirmish, no decisive engagement took place; and the Persian chief, though far advanced into Hindoofan, yet yet looked upon matters to be so uncertain, that he offered to evacuate the country and retire for 50 lacks of rupees, about half a million sterling. The intrigues of the Nizam and his party hindered the emperor from complying with this moderate demand; instead of which he absurdly threw himself upon the usurper's mercy, who then took possession of Delhi, demanding a ransom of 30 millions sterling. At an interview with the emperor, he severely reprehended him for his misconduct; however, he told him, that as he was of the race of Timur (Tamerlane), who had not offended the reigning family of Persia, he would not take the empire from him; only as he had put him to the trouble of coming so far to settle his affairs, he insisted that his expenses should be paid. The unfortunate emperor made no answer to this speech; but Nadir took care to enforce the latter part of it. Some time after the departure of the emperor, Nadir went to the camp to pay him a visit; where he seized upon 200 cannon, with some treasure and valuable effects, fending them off immediately to Candahar. He then marched back to Delhi, where a mob arose about the price of corn. As Nadir Shah was endeavouring to quell it, a mukket was indignantly fired at him, by which he narrowly escaped being killed. Exasperated at this, he commanded an indiscriminate massacre to be made, which his cruel soldiers instantly put in execution with the greatest alacrity, and 120,000, or, according to others, 150,000, of the miserable inhabitants were slaughtered without mercy. This was followed by a seizure of all the jewels, plate, and valuable articles which could be found, besides the exaction of the 30 millions, which was done with the utmost rigour; inonuch that many of the inhabitants chose rather to put an end to their own lives than to bear the torments to which they were subjected in case of inability to pay the sum imposed upon them. During these horrid scenes, Nadir caused the marriage of his son to be celebrated with a grand-daughter of Aureng-zebe; and after having extorted every thing which he demanded, at last took leave of the emperor with every mark of friendship. He put the crown upon his head with his own hands; and after having given him some salutary advice relative to the government of his empire, he set out from Delhi on the 6th of May 1739.

By this invasion the empire sustained prodigious loss. Since the arrival of Nadir in Hindoostan, about 200,000 people had been destroyed, and goods and treasure carried off to the amount of 125 millions sterling. Mohammed had ceded to the usurper all the provinces of Hindoostan situated to the west of the Indus. His departure left the Nizam in possession of all the remaining power of the empire, which he instantly made use of to establish himself in the sovereignty of the Deccan. The province of Bengal had already become independent under Aliverdy Cawn, in the year 1733; and not long after, it was invaded by a vast army of Mahrattas under sanction of the emperor's name; who being unable to satisfy them in the arrears of tribute he had been obliged to consent to pay, sent them into Bengal to collect for themselves. About the same time, the Rohillas, a tribe from the mountains which lie between India and Persia, created an independent state on the east of the Ganges, within 80 miles of Delhi.

The total dissolution of the empire seemed now to be fast approaching. In the confusion which took place after the murder of Nadir Shah, Abdallah, one of his generals, feasted upon the eastern part of Persia, and the adjoining provinces of India, which had been ceded to Nadir by Mohammed Shah; which he formed into a kingdom till known by the name of Candehar or Abdalli; of which a more particular account is given in the subsequent part of this article.

This year Mohammed Shah died, after a reign of 29 years; which, considering the fate of his immediate predecessors, and the anarchy universally prevalent throughout Hindoostan, must be accounted very wonderful. He was succeeded by his son Ahmed Shah; during whose reign, which lasted about six years, the total division of the remainder of the empire took place. Nothing now remained to the family of Tamerlane but a small tract of territory round the city of Delhi, now no longer a capital, and exposed to the repeated depredations of invaders, with consequent miseries and famines. The last army which could with propriety be termed imperial, was defeated by the Rohillas in 1749; by which their independence was fully established in the eastern parts of the province of Delhi. The Jauts, or Jats, a Hindoo tribe, established themselves in the province of Agra; the Deccan and Bengal were seized upon by their viceroys, Nizam and Aliverdy. Oude was seized on by Seifdar Jang (father to the late Sujah Dowlah); Allahabad by Mohammed Kooli. Malwa was divided between the Poonah Mahrattas and several native princes and Zemindars: Agimere reverted of course to its ancient lords, the Rajput princes; and the Mahrattas, in addition to their proper share of Malwa, possessed the greatest part of Guzerat, Berar, and Orissa; besides their ancient dominions in the Deccan. These people were now become so powerful, that they were alternately courted and employed by the contending parties, like the Swits in Europe; with this difference, that the Swits are paid by those who employ them, whereas the Mahrattas always take care to pay themselves. Abdallah having established his empire in the manner above related, entered Lahore and Moutlan, or the Panjab, with a view to conquest. "The whole country of Hindoostan was in commotion (says Major Rennel) from one entrance to the other, each party fearing the machinations of attacks of the other; so that all regular government was at an end, and villainy was practised in every form. Perhaps in the annals of the world it has seldom happened that the bonds of government were so suddenly disintegrated, over a portion of country containing at least 60 millions of inhabitants."

In 1748 the Nizam died at the age of 104, and was succeeded by his son Nazirjung, to the prejudice of his brother eldest brother Gazi, vizier to the nominal emperor, the French. The contest that followed on this occasion for the throne of the Deccan, and nobleship of Arcot, first gave engaged the French and English as auxiliaries in op-Hindoostan. This was followed by a long series of hostilities, which terminated in the total expulsion of the French from Hindoostan, the entire humiliation of the Mogul, and his being reduced to the state of dependence on the English East India Company; together with the subjection of a vast tract of country to the latter. These transactions have occasioned very considerable revolutions, not only in the country properly called Hindoostan, Hindostan: Hindoofan, but in other places of that extensive tract called the East Indies: for an account of which, and of some later revolutions, see the article INDIA.

The vast country of Hindostan, before the revolutions alluded to, was divided among the following powers. 1. Timur Shah, son of Ahmed Shah, or Abdallah, possessed an extent of territory to the north-westward before we come to the river Indus. This country, extending all the way betwixt India and Persia, is known by the name of Duran, or Turan; and was possessed by the Afghans, of whom Abdallah became the sovereign. He was descended from an illustrious family; and having the misfortune of being taken prisoner by Hussein Khan, then chief of Candahar, along with his brother Zuliccur Khan, they were released by the celebrated Nadir Shah in his passage through that country to Hindostan; but as that conqueror still looked upon them with a jealous eye on account of their great influence with their countrymen, both were sent to Mazandaran in Persia. Here Zalifcar Khan, the brother of Ahmed, died; and, some time after, we find the latter promoted to the command of a body of Afghan cavalry in the Persian army. He continued attached to the interests of Nadir while that conqueror lived; and even attempted, though ineffectually, to revenge his death. Proving unsuccessful in this attempt, he returned to his own country; and, arriving at Candahar, was saluted chief of the Afghans. In the course of a few months he became master of all the countries which the Mogul had been obliged to cede to Nadir Shah; and, encouraged by the distracted state of the affairs of Hindostan at that time, he crossed the Indus, and plundered the country to the south-east. An indecisive battle fought with the Indian army under the command of the prince royal and vizier, in which the latter was killed, obliged Ahmed to return to his own territories; but he soon undertook another expedition, in which he conquered the province of Lahore. In 1755 he returned; and after staying some time at Lahore, marched to Delhi the capital, having been invited thither, as was supposed, by the Mogul himself, in order to get rid of the tyranny of his vizier. The latter was accordingly deserted in a battle by orders of the emperor, and obliged to surrender himself prisoner; but instead of being put to death, he had the address to ingratiate himself with the conqueror; and the unfortunate Allumghire, the Mogul, was obliged to submit to be ruled by him as before. Ahmed took care to indemnify himself for his trouble, by laying the city of Delhi under a heavy contribution; and having stayed for about a month, during which time he concluded a marriage betwixt his son Timur and the emperor's niece, he marched against a tribe of Hindus named the Jauts, and conquered the greatest part of the province of Agra. In this expedition he surprised the city of Matra, famous for being the birth-place of Kryfben, the Apollo of the Hindus; and sacrificed to the Gopia, the muses of the country. He failed in his attempt to surprise Agra through the resolution of Fazil Cawn the governor; after which he led back his troops to Delhi, where he married the daughter of Mohammed Shah the late emperor, whom Allumghire had in vain solicited for himself.

Having settled his son Timur in the government of Lahore, Ahmed quitted Hindostan, and returned to Hindostan, his dominions, where he found every thing in confusion. Timur, who during his father's absence had been frequently disturbed by the Seiks, a tribe of Hindus who profess deism, was in 1760 driven out by a vast army of Mahrattas commanded by Ragonaut Row the Peithwa's brother, of whom so much mention has already been made. Next year, however, Ahmed crossed the Indus, and easily recovered his former territories; soon after which he became head of a league formed among some of the Indian princes, in order to oppose the overgrown power of the Mahrattas. In this enterprise he proved successful; and overthrew the Mahrattas in a decisive and very bloody battle, in which more than 50,000 of them were killed on the spot. The pursuit lasted several days, and their vast army was totally dispersed; Ahmed being everywhere received with acclamations as the deliverer of the faithful. In 1762 he again crossed the Indus, with a view to conquer, or rather to exterminate, the Seiks, whose incursions had become very troublesome, and even dangerous to his kingdom. Having defeated their army, and forced them to take refuge in the woods and strong holds, he set a price on the heads of all those who professed their tenets; and that with such success, that heaps of them are said to have been piled up in all the principal towns in these parts. At last, hearing that they had assembled in great numbers to celebrate an annual festival, he marched with an army to surprise them. The Seiks, however, were well provided for his reception, and an obstinate battle ensued. During the time of the engagement an eclipse of the sun happened, which, though discredited by the Seiks, greatly dismayed the superstitious Mohammedians. Ahmed was therefore defeated; and though he frequently returned, was never able thoroughly to subdue that people. At last, having been long afflicted with an ulcer in his face, he died on the 15th of July 1773, at a place named Kohtoba, among the mountains of Candahar, to which he had retired for the sake of coolness, and was succeeded by his son Timur, who still continues to enjoy the sovereignty. The dominions of this prince extend a very considerable way to the northward of the Indus, but he professes nothing in Hindostan besides the province of Kashmir.

2. The Seiks inhabit a country on the other side of the Indus, and making part of Hindostan properly so called. They derive their origin from a Hindoo named Nanuck of the cast of Khattri. His father, named Baba Calou, possessed a small district in the province of Lahore named Telvandi, where Nanuck was born in the year 1470. Like other founders of new sects or nations, he is said during his infancy to have given many indications of his future superiority to the rest of mankind. He seems, however, to have received no farther education than what was common to young men of his cast, viz. reading, writing, and arithmetic, and hearing the fafras or commentaries on the sacred books. In his early youth he was married to a woman of his own cast, by whom he had two sons. Being a convert to the worship of the Invisible, or deism, he accustomed himself to declaim against the folly of worshipping idols, and the impurity of paying adoration to any but the Supreme Being. At the age of 25 he left Hindostan, his family to visit Bengal and the eastern parts of Hindostan; in a second journey he visited the southern, and in a third he went as far as Persia and Arabia. On his return from this last journey, he expressed a desire of remaining in his native country; and was furnished, according to his wish, with a piece of ground on the banks of the river Bavy, about 80 miles north-eastward from the city of Lahore. Here he took up his residence for the rest of his days; and choosing to be free from the cares of this world, he dwelt at a distance from his wife and children, who came occasionally to visit him. Having acquired great reputation for his piety, wisdom, and learning, he died at the age of 70; and since his death the place of his abode has obtained the name of Dihra Dura, or "the place of worship." His eldest son founded a sect of devotees named Nanuck Shioji; but his second employed himself in the usual occupations of mankind. On account of the oppression of the Mohammedan governors, however, he removed from Telvandi, the citate of his ancestors, and settled at Kartarpour, which his descendants still possess. They are respected by the Seiks on account of their being the posterity of Nanuck, but are not held in any veneration on a religious account.

The doctrines of Nanuck were taught by a favourite disciple of his named Lhina, but on whom he bestowed on his deathbed the appellation of Angud. By him the doctrines of the sect were collected in a work named Potky, or "the book;" and an history of the life of Nanuck himself was given in another named Jenum Sakky. Both these were written in a particular kind of character called Gour Moneky, and said to have been invented by Nanuck himself. Angud named for his successor another disciple called Amerdyds; and this method of continuing the succession seems to have been practised as long as the disciples continued to own one supreme chief.

For many years the Seiks lived in peace, and gained the good-will of the Mohammedan governors by their quiet and inoffensive behaviour. By degrees their numbers and their power greatly increased, but in proportion to their good fortune, they seem to have lost their virtue; so that their gourous, or chiefs, who had hitherto borne the character of apostles, at last stood forth as military leaders. The first of these was named Taigh, whose successor, named Govund Sing, was the tenth and last of the gourous. He engaged in a rebellion against the government; but was at last obliged to submit, and even attended the emperor Bahader Shah in person. At last he was assassinated by a Petan soldier, not without a suspicion of the emperor himself being concerned. As he did not name a successor, his followers chose a chief for themselves named Banda, who soon began to make depredations on his neighbours; but being at last taken prisoner, and sent to Delhi with his family and many of his countrymen, they were all put to an ignominious death. By this execution the Seiks were much exasperated, that they swore eternal vengeance against the Mohammedans, and have ever since manifested a most implacable hatred against them. Taking advantage of the distraction of the Mogul empire by the invasion of Nadir Shah, they conquered several provinces. Wherever they came they threw down the mosques, and obliged every one to quit the country who refused to embrace their tenets. The war with Hindostan, Ahmed Shah has been already mentioned. Since his death they have recovered all the territories they lost during their contest with him; and now possess the greatest part of Moulutan, as well as several districts in the province of Delhi; including in their territories the whole of that rich country named the Panjab, on account of five rivers which defend from the northern mountains, and inclose or interfect it, running afterwards into the Indus.

The Seiks, as has already been mentioned, worship one God; but without image, or believing in any mediator. They eat all kinds of meat except beef; sparing the black cattle, in all probability, on account of their utility. Pork is very generally eaten, probably on account of its being forbidden by the Mohammedans. They are commonly dressed in blue, a colour reckoned unlucky by the other Hindoos. Their dress consists of blue trowsers of cotton, a sort of plaid generally chequered with blue and thrown over the right shoulder, with a blue turban. Their government is lodged in an assembly of different chiefs; but, who, as individuals, are independent of one another, and have separate territories. They meet annually, or oftener if occasion requires, at a place called Amberfer, which is held in a kind of religious veneration; where there is a large tank lined with granite, and surrounded with buildings, and beautifully ornamented. Their force is very considerable, amounting to no fewer than 200,000 cavalry. However, they can seldom be brought to act in concert, unless the whole nation be threatened with some imminent danger. They are a strong hardy race of men, and capable of bearing much fatigue; and so expert in war, that of late almost all the neighbouring countries have been laid under contribution by them, several petty chiefs having consented to pay them a small annual tribute in order to avoid their incursions. When in the field, none but the principal officers have tents, and those extremely small, so that they may be struck and transported with the greater quickness and facility. In cold weather the soldiers wrap themselves during the night in a coarse blanket, which in the time of marching is folded and carried on their horse. Their country is well cultivated, populous, and abounding in cattle, particularly horses, which are reckoned the best in all Hindostan. This may probably be owing to the studs which were formerly established in different places of the province of Lahore on account of the Mogul himself. Stallions were sent thither from Persia and Arabia, and there was a fixed order to send to the studs in Lahore all such Arabian and Persian horses as by any accident should be rendered unfit for mounting. Notwithstanding their desir, the Seiks are said to have a superstitious veneration for their sword; insomuch, that before one of them will eat with a person of another religion, he draws his sword, and passing it over the viands, repeats some words of prayer, after which he will freely partake of them. Contrary to the practice of all the other Hindoos, they dislike the smoking of tobacco; but many of them smoke and chew bang, which sometimes produces a degree of intoxication.

3. The provinces of Delhi have, in the course of a few years, frequently changed their masters, but have Hindostan, scarce at any period during that time been under the authority of the sovereign. Their last governor was named Nadjiff Khan, under the title of generalissimo of the emperor. He was involved in the ruin of Mohammed Kouly Khan, cousin to Soujah al Dowlah; after which he went to Caffim Aly Khan nabob of Bengal; after whose expulsion he retired with a party of horse to Bundelcund into the service of Rajah Coman Sing. He next joined the English; and at last became the general of Shah Allum. With a body of English sepoys who had been put under his command, and some other troops whom he had taken into his service, he subdued the countries near Delhi, conquered almost all the territories of the Jauts, reducing the cities of Agra, Dieg, and other principal towns. These conquests were indeed effected in the name of the Mogul, but he derived little benefit from them; Nadjiff being the real master, and keeping possession of them till his death, which happened in 1782: and since that time the countries we speak of have been involved in a scene of continual anarchy and bloodshed.

4. Next to the provinces of Delhi are the dominions of the independent rajahs, whose dominions lie contiguous to one another. The principal are those of Joinagar or Jaipour, Joadpour or Marwar, Oudia pour or Chitore, and Jefalmire. These countries are under a kind of feudal constitution, and every village is obliged to furnish a certain number of horsemen at the shortest warning. The people are brave, hardy, and very much attached to their respective chiefs; and their army is very formidable, amounting when collected to about 150,000 horsemen.

5. The Jauts were a tribe who followed the occupation of agriculture in the northern part of Hindostan. About 40 years ago they were formed into a nation by Tackou Souragemul, proprietor of an inconsiderable district. After making himself master of all the countries dependant on Agra, of the town itself, and many other important places, he was killed in battle with Nadjib ul Dowlah, the Rohilla chief, in 1763. Since that time the power of this people has been so much reduced by domestic contentions and foreign wars, that the present rajah possesses only a strong town named Partipoor, with a small district around it. The Jauts, however, it is said, are now manifesting a martial disposition, and thus may possibly be soon in a condition to recover their former extent of territory.

6. The most considerable of all the Hindoo powers are the Mahrattas, with whom the Europeans first became acquainted in their original territories of Malabar. The first of their chiefs was named Seeva, or Seeva-jee; who is said to have been descended from the ancient Hindoo emperors, and whose father was lord of a small district, for which he paid tribute to the Mohammedan king of Viziapour. For some reason, unknown to us, he was at last arrested by order of that king, and died in confinement; but his son Seeva-jee took up arms in defence of his country, and made himself master of several important places, with a considerable tract of territory, which were afterwards ceded to him by the queen-regent, the king of Viziapour having died soon after the commencement of the war.

Seeva-jee having thus established himself, soon became formidable to his neighbours. Many of the Hindoo princes put themselves under his protection, and he at length ventured to make war upon the emperor Aurengzebe. In this he proved unsuccessful, was taken prisoner, and carried to Delhi. Having found means, however, to make his escape, he quickly recommenced hostilities; and the emperor, who was now far advanced in life, thought proper to come to an accommodation with so troublesome an enemy. On this occasion the Mahrattas pretend that their prince obtained a grant of 10 per cent. on all the revenues of the Deccan; which has often served as a pretence to invade that country, and levy contributions on the southern nabobs. Since that time the Mahrattas have become so powerful, that all the princes of Hindostan are alarmed when they put themselves in motion. Their territories extend about 1000 miles in length and 700 in breadth; and they are governed by a number of separate chiefs, all of whom acknowledge the Ram Rajah as their sovereign, and all except Moodaje Boolah acknowledge the Paishwa as his vicegerent. The capital of the sovereign was Sattarah; but the Paishwa generally resides at Poonah, one degree to the southward, and about 100 miles distant from Bombay. The country extends along the coast nearly from Goa to Cambay. On the south it borders on the territories of Tippoo Saib; on the east it has those of the Nizam and the rajah of Berar; and on the north those of the Mahratta chiefs Sindia and Holkar.

7. The rajah of Berar, besides that country, has the greatest part of Orixa. His dominions extend about 600 miles in length from east to west, and 250 from north to south. The eastern part of Orixa extends along the sea-coast for about 150 English miles, and divides the British possessions in Bengal from those commonly called the Northern Circars. On the west his territories border upon those of the Paishwa; on the south, upon those of the Nizam, Mahomet Hyat a Patan chief, Nizam Shah, and Ajid-Sing. The rajah himself resides at Nagarpoor, about midway betwixt Calcutta and Bombay.

8. Madajee Sindia has the greatest part of the government of Malva, together with the province of Candeih. The remainder is under the government of Holkar; who, as well as Sindia, pretends to be descended from the ancient kings of Malva. The principal residence of Sindia is at Ugein near the city of Mundu, which was once the capital of these kings. Holkar resides at Indoor, a town little more than 30 miles to the westward of the former. The dominions of these, and some other princes of smaller note, extend as far as the river Junma.

The two last-mentioned princes, though properly Mahrattas, own no allegiance to the Ram Rajah, or great chief to whom the main body are nominally subject. Some time ago the Mahrattas aimed at the conquest of all Hindostan, and even avowed a design of expelling all the Mohammedan princes; but their power was effectually checked by the British, and their dispositions among themselves put an end to all schemes of that kind. Still, however, they were ready to watch every opportunity of invading the territories of their neighbours; and their resources being so considerable, they were deservedly accounted a very formidable enemy. The strength of their army consists chiefly in cavalry; and both men and horse are capable of enduring a great deal deal of fatigue. Bodies of 50 or 60,000 cavalry have been known to travel 50 miles a day for many days together; which, considering the excessive heat of the country, must certainly appear very surprising. The country abounds very much in horses, and there is one kind named the Bheemerteddy horse, which is greatly esteemed, and sold at a very high price. The common horse of these parts is lean and looks ill, but is abundantly fit for the purposes of war. The only weapon used by the horsemen is a sabre; in the use of which they are so dexterous, that it is supposed the best European hussar would not be more than a match for a Mahratta horseman. There are considerable flocks in every province belonging to the Paishwa and different chiefs; and there are likewise many jundis or great herds of horses belonging to particular persons, who turn those they have no occasion for loose in the open plains.

The Mahratta horsemen are dressed in a quilted jacket of cotton, which is supposed to be one of the best defences against a sword that can easily be contrived of equal lightness; but the heat of the climate frequently renders it necessary to be taken off. The rest of their dress consists of a pair of trowsers, and a kind of broad turban which defends low enough to cover the neck and shoulders. In cases of emergency the horsemen carry provision both for themselves and their horses in small bags tied upon the saddles: the food of the rider consists only of a few small cakes with a little flour or rice, and some salt and spices; the horse is fed with a kind of peas named grum, or with balls made of the flour of these peas mixed with butter, prepared after a certain manner, and named ghee, together with some garlic and hot spices. These balls are given by way of cordial, and have the property of invigorating the animal after extraordinary fatigue. Sometimes it is said that they add a small quantity of bang; a kind of drug which possesses an exhilarating virtue, and produces some degree of intoxication. The Mahratta cavalry seldom make any use of tents; even the officers frequently have no other accommodation than a small carpet to sit and lie on; and a single camel is able to carry the whole baggage of the general. The officers, however, are generally well mounted, and have spare horses in the field.

All the subjects and vassals of the Mahratta princes are generally ready to follow them into the field; and in any case in which the honour or interest of the nation appears to be concerned, they generally unite in the common cause. Before they invade any country, the general is at great pains to inform himself of the nature and situation of it: and they have now made incursions into so many different parts of Hindoostan, that there are very few countries there with which they are not very well acquainted. Their great sobriety, and the fatigue they are capable of undergoing, render them very dangerous enemies. In all their expeditions the soldier first provides for his horse, and then goes to his own meal; after which he lies down contented by the side of the animal, and is ready to mount him at the first sound of the nagar or great drum. They have their horses under the most excellent management; and by perpetually careful and conversing with them, the animals acquire a degree of docility and sagacity unknown in other countries.

When on an expedition, the horses are accustomed to eat grass pulled up by the roots, which is said to be very nutritive, and to be deficient of that purgative quality which belongs to the blade alone. When they make an invasion, the devastation is terrible; the cattle are driven off, the harvest destroyed, the villages burned, and every human creature destroyed who comes in their way. Notwithstanding this barbarity in time of war, however, they are very humane in time of peace, living in great harmony among themselves, and being always ready to entertain and assist strangers. Many of the cruelties they commit may be justly reckoned the effects of retaliation for other cruelties exercised upon them by their adversaries. Thus, in 1771, after having given Hyder Ally a great defeat, they cut off the ears and noses of a whole regiment of prisoners, and in that condition sent them back to their commander, in return for his having done the same to a few prisoners he had taken some time before.

The revenue of the Paishwa is very considerable; being not less than ten millions sterling; but after deducting the expense of collection, and the expense of troops kept in readiness for the service of the state, it is supposed that he cannot receive more than four millions. From this again we must deduct the expences of the troops immediately belonging to the Paishwa himself, and which may amount to about three millions sterling; so that there remains a surplus only of one million after paying all the necessary expences of government. This nevertheless has been managed with such economy, that though long and expensive wars were carried on after the death of Narain Row, the state was not only clear of debt, but there was a surplus of two millions in the treasury, which Rogobah dissipated.

9. The Deccan, as left in 1748 by Nizam al Mulek, was by far the most important and extensive foubadary or viceroyship in the empire. It then surpassed in size the largest kingdom in Europe; but since that time many provinces have been conquered by the Mahrattas, and the northern Circars by the British. The possessions of the Nizam are also diminished by the cession of the Carnatic to the nabob of Arcot; great part of the territories of Tippoo Saib; and many other provinces of less note. Still, however, the Nizam possesses very considerable territories; but his finances are in such a wretched condition, and his provinces so ill governed, that he is accounted a prince of no consequence, though otherwise he might be reckoned one of the most considerable powers of Hindoostan.

10. The dominions of Tippoo Saib, the son and successor of Hyder Ally, are bounded on the north by the territories of the Paishwa; on the south by Travancore, the territory of an independent Hindoo prince; on the west by the sea; and on the east by a great ridge of mountains, which separate them from the territories of the nabob of Arcot. The country lying to the eastward of these mountains is called the Carnatic Payen Ghat, and to the westward the Carnatic Bhalla Ghat. The latter belongs to Tippoo Saib; and the two together make up the country formerly named the Carnatic, though the name is now restricted to the Payen Ghat.—The situation of the Bhalla Ghat is considerably more elevated than the other; by which means the temperature of the air is much cooler. On the HINDOOFAN coast of Coromandel there is a pile of ruins called by the natives Malavapatam, and by the British the seven pagodas. Concerning this there is a tradition, that it once stood at a considerable distance from the sea, though most of the ruins are now covered with water; and there is likewise a tradition, that the mountains we speak of once formed the boundary of the ocean. The revenue and strength of Hyder Ally are said to have been greatly exaggerated: the former amounting to no more than four millions annually, though by his economy and good management he made it answer every purpose both in time of war and peace. He was at great pains to introduce the European discipline among his troops; but notwithstanding all his endeavours, he was far from being able to make them cope with the British. The advantages he gained were owing to his vast superiority in cavalry, and the celebrity of his marches; which would have been counteracted had his adversaries been possessed of a good body of cavalry; and it is probable that the event of the war would have been decided in a single campaign. His son Tippoo Saib is said to have been a man of less abilities than his father, though more violent in his disposition. Against this prince hostilities commenced by the British in conjunction with the Mahrattas, between whom an alliance had been formed. Tippoo Saib himself fell a victim to his own misguided bravery at the siege of Seringapatam, which surrendered to the British on the 4th of May 1799.

With regard to the present government of Hindoofan, our limits will not allow us to enter particularly upon it, nor indeed is it perhaps of any importance, as the country is divided into so many different kingdoms, the sovereigns of which, however they may differ in other respects, seem all to agree in despotism and oppression of their subjects. As a very considerable part is now under the dominion of Britain, it may be necessary to take some notice of the behaviour of our countrymen in that part of the world, especially as an idea of their excessive despotism and oppression of the natives has of late prevailed so much, that the national character has suffered considerably by it. This has arisen partly from the great pains taken to propagate it, and partly from the ignorance of those among whom the report was circulated; and the exaggerated accounts and contentions of the members of the government themselves, have contributed no less to confirm and heighten the prejudices of the public.

The British territories in the East Indies were originally under the jurisdiction of a governor and 13 members; but this number has fluctuated occasionally from 14 to 4, at which it was fixed by act of parliament. In this council all matters, whether relating to peace or war, government or commerce, were debated, the governor having no other superiority than that of giving the casting vote. In other respects the whole executive power was lodged in his hands, and all the correspondence with the native princes of India was carried on by his means, the dispatches to them being signed by him singly; and all the princes and great men who visited the presidency were first received by him, and then introduced to the counsellors. He was military governor of Fort William, and commander in chief of the presidency; whence, as by his office he was invested with a considerable degree of power, he became an object of some envy and jealousy to the Hindoofan members of the council and other considerable people in that part of the world. In consequence of this, the government was divided into two parties, one siding with the governor, and the other opposing him; in consequence of which, the debates were frequently carried on with such heat and violence, that the records of the company were frequently stuffed with nothing but accounts of the contentions of these jarring parties. This indeed may be looked upon as one of the principal causes by which the reputation of the British government in the eastern parts of the world has suffered; for as there were very frequently opinions diametrically opposite to one another recorded upon the same subject, the contending parties in the British parliament had always sufficient authority for what they said, let them take which side they would: and thus the characters of all concerned in the East India government were, by one person or other, set forth in the most opprobrious light.

Another source of reproach to the British government in India was, that the court of directors in England became infected with the same spirit of party and contention which pervaded all other departments of the state. Lord Clive and Mr Sullivan were the two great leaders of these party disputes; and as the interest of the one or the other prevailed, different persons were appointed to the administration, and different measures adopted. The event of all this was, that whenever a new administration was formed, the first object was to condemn the measures of those who had gone before him. Thus, in the year 1764, when Lord Clive was made governor of Bengal, the new directors represented the affairs of the company as in the worst situation imaginable, from which they could only be extricated by the abilities of Clive. On the arrival of the latter in the east, he took care to write home reports to the same purpose, and to condemn in the most violent manner every thing that had been done; the whole body of the company's servants were censured indiscriminately without being allowed any means of defence, as they were in truth ignorant of the charges brought against them. When the affairs of the company were brought under a parliamentary review in the year 1774, the government was brought under a new regulation. It now consisted of a governor-general and four counsellors; three of whom were sent from England; two being military gentlemen of high rank, and the third a gentleman employed in the war-office. On their arrival they proceeded in the same manner that Lord Clive had done before them: they pronounced in the most decisive manner, that the company's affairs were in a ruinous state; and that every species of corruption had been practised by the former government. This general accusation, unsupported by any kind of evidence, was the constant theme of the dispatches sent by them to England; and thus has the reputation of the British government suffered exceedingly through the unwarrantable liberties which its own servants have been allowed to take with one another. It must also be considered, that from the remote situation of India, and the unavoidable ignorance of its affairs on that account, it was easy for any person, whose malicious purposes it might suit, to prejudice the public against the servants of the company company to as great a degree as he pleased. Hence some persons, foored by disappointment, or envious of the supposed emoluments of others, represented matters in such an unfair light to their correspondents in England, that the most unjust and shameful charges were frequently brought against innocent persons, which they could neither prevent nor defend themselves against. The dreadful famine which took place in Bengal in the year 1769, offered to these malevolent persons a most fruitful source of calamity; and many individuals were accused of having brought on this dreadful calamity, which arose entirely from a natural cause, viz. the failure of the rains, and which no human power could have prevented or removed.

Opinions of this kind have not only been circulated through the island of Britain in the most open manner, but have even appeared in some very respectable publications. Thus, in Dr Smith's Treatise on the Wealth of Nations, when speaking of the oppression arising from monopolies, and comparing their effects in different states: "The English company (says he), have not yet had time to establish in Bengal so perfectly destructive a system. The plan of the government, however, has had exactly the same tendency. It has not been uncommon, I am well assured, for the chief, that is, the first clerk of a factory, to order a peasant to plough up a rich field of poppies, and sow it with rice or some other grain. The pretexts was to prevent a scarcity of provisions; but the real reason, to give the chief an opportunity of selling at a better price a large quantity of opium he had on hand. Upon other occasions the order has been reversed, and a rich field of rice or other grain has been ploughed up to make room for a plantation of poppies, when the chief saw that extraordinary profit was to be made by opium." To this, however, the following answer has appeared in a late publication, entitled A Short Review of the British government in India. "The poppy is a plant which requires a peculiar soil, and particular care in the culture of it. The medium price of the land on which it is cultivated is about 11 or 12 rupees a begah, or one-third of an English acre. It is sowed at the beginning of October, when the season of the periodical rain expires. The plant begins to be fit for incision, in order to extract its juice, of which opium is made, about the end of December, and continues to till March. It requires a dry soil, and can be brought to maturity only in the dry season, when the periodical rains have ceased. Paddy or rice lands let on a medium at three rupees a begah. Rice is sowed about the end of May, just before the periodical rains commence. One crop is raised about the end of September; and another, which is the last, and by far the greatest, about the end of December. It requires a soil saturated with water, and lies soaked in it for a considerable time. On this account it is sowed just before the periodical rains commence; and nine-tenths of the quantity of rice produced in the company's provinces grow in the kingdom of Bengal, which is so low and flat, that the grounds are either overflowed by the rivers Ganges and Burampooter, with their tributary streams, or soaked with the rain which falls and stagnates upon them. It is therefore evident, that the soil and the season, which alone can fruitify the paddy or rice, would rot and destroy the poppy; and it is therefore as evident, that it is utterly impossible, from the nature of the two plants, that the one can be ploughed up to sow the other."

With regard to the administration of the British affairs in the East Indies, it must also be remarked, that the company now act in a very different capacity from what they originally did. From a society of merchants, they are now become sovereigns of the country to which they trade. The latter character was quite foreign to them; and they have accordingly looked upon that of merchants to be the principal one, while that of sovereigns was to be only a kind of appendage to it. Thus, instead of acting for the interest of the country they govern, and which as sovereigns they naturally ought to do, they have acted in many cases directly opposite to it, which, as merchants, is also their natural interest. Hence also, when the administration in India did any thing in obedience to the orders of the directors, which orders being dictated by merchants, were prejudicial to the interests of the country, that injury has been sometimes unjustly attributed to their servants, who acted merely in obedience to the orders they received. On the other hand, when the India administration acted with the generous spirit of sovereigns, they were sometimes blamed by the directors, who judged as merchants, and sometimes by the ministry, who were always ready upon the smallest pretence to interfere in their affairs.

At the time when the British administration first commenced in Hindoostan, the Hindoo governors were universally named rajahs; but though many of the Hindoo families yet bear that title, it does not appear to resemble, in any manner of way, our titles of nobility, or to be a dignity which can be conferred by any of the princes, or even by the Mogul himself. Hence, in that part of the world there are no ancient nobility, the titles being conferred merely by usurpers, who have neither right nor title derived from any thing but violence.

In this country we find the title of zemindar very common; a word compounded of two others, signifying, in the Peric language, a landholder. It appears to have been introduced by the Mohammedans, and to have been a kind of temporary office, prescribing the performance of certain duties, and requiring security for the personal appearance of the zemindar. He is obliged to attend the exchequer of the king's chief collector, at the commencement of every new year, to settle his revenues; and he is not allowed to enter upon the duties of his office for the year without a special order for that purpose. On the death of a zemindar, the candidate for succession must petition the sovereign, engaging himself to perform all the stipulated duties, and to pay the customary fees; nor can he enter upon his office without a special investiture. As the zemindars were by virtue of their office invested with considerable power, they soon became not only very despotic in their own dominions, but by degrees began to encroach on the power of the sovereign himself. After the irruption of Nadir Shah everything was thrown into confusion: the viceroys threw off obedience to the emperor, the nabobs threw off all obedience to them, and usurped their power; at which time it is probable that the zemindars likewise assumed powers to which they were by no means inti- Hindooan, titled from their office. Notwithstanding this, however, they were sometimes treated by the Mohammedan governors as mere revenue-officers, and used very harshly. At some times there were a set of people bound for the zemindars under the title of woodedars; and these had either a joint power with the former, or were superior to them in the collection of the revenues; and sometimes they were superseeded by officers appointed immediately by government itself, under the various names of aumils, tahfelders, or sesawruls.—The zemindaries are not limited in extent or value; there being some in Bengal which yield a revenue as high as 350,000l. sterling, while others scarcely amount to 350l.; but all the great zemindars, and many of those in middling circumstances, having procured for themselves the title of rajah, affect much pomp and state in their different districts, and keep their inferiors in as great subjection as the Mohammedan governors keep them. Some of them also have their power augmented by being of the Bramin cast; and by the reverence supposed to be due to religion on that account, joined with the power conferred upon them by the sovereign, they are in general rendered exceedingly despotic, with an almost unlimited authority to plunder their tenants; in which they were indulged by the nabobs, from the motive of plundering them again. From the consultations of the select committee in 1769, we are informed that the zemindars have a power of levying fines at pleasure; that they raise large sums from duties collected in the market; and that they frequently oblige the ryots or husbandmen to work for nothing. In short, the same claims made by the European barons on their vassals in the times of the feudal system, are now made by the zemindars on the common people of Hindoostan. If one of them is to be married, if he has a child born, if honours are to be conferred upon him; nay, if he is even to be fined for his own misconduct, the poor ryot must always contribute his share. Mr Scrofton, in his history of Hindoostan, sets forth the situation of the inhabitants in the following words:—"Unhappily for the Gentoes, themselves are made the ministers of oppression over each other; the Moor-men, haughty, lazy, and voluptuous, make them, of whom they have no jealousy, the ministers of their oppression, which further answers the end of dividing them, and prevents their uniting to fling off the yoke; and by the strange intoxication of power, they are found still more rapacious and cruel than their foreign masters: and what is more extraordinary, the Bramins still exceed the rest in every abuse of power, and seem to think, if they bribe God by bestowing a part of their plunder on cows and faquires, their iniquities will be pardoned."

From this account of the situation of the people of Hindoostan under their native rulers, it is by no means probable that they could make a worse exchange by falling under the jurisdiction either of the Mohammedans or Europeans. A notion indeed hath been industriously propagated, that the British government has behaved with the greatest cruelty in collecting the revenues, and that they have even invented tortures to make the rich people discover their treasures; but on examining the matter impartially, the reverse of this is found to be true. At the time that the British government interfered in the affairs of Hindoostan, the provinces were found to be in a ruinous state, in consequence of the wars which had taken place in the country. Even in the most settled state, and when the administration was most regular, the government was altogether despotic, and the mode of collecting its revenues extremely arbitrary; the punishments inflicted very cruel; and the whole system of government such as would be reckoned quite shocking in Europe. It is only within these few years that the British could effectually interpose in behalf of the natives; and in that short time it has produced a very considerable reformation. It is certain, that the British government has discouraged oppressive measures as much as possible; abolished the cruel modes of punishment used by the Mohammedans; and by instituting a more regular plan of justice, has procured ease and security to the natives, and preserved them in a state of tranquillity altogether unknown to them before its commencement. Many instances of the greatest cruelty exercised upon the zemindars and other collectors are to be met with in the history of Bengal, written by a native historian, and translated by Gladwin: yet the person who exercised these cruelties was dignified with the titles of the faithful servant of the Empire, and the Glory of the State; which shows that the people were absolutely familiarised with cruelty, and did not know what it was to be under a lenient government. Since the British had the dominion, matters have been totally reversed, and the Hindoos, instead of being treated with cruelty, persecuted on account of their religion, and compelled to renounce it, have been used with at least comparative lenity, and great indulgence has been shewn to them even in their most absurd practices and superstitions. When the British government first accepted of the office of dewanny, or collector of the revenues, it was not in their power to interpose with any kind of efficacy for the relief of the inhabitants; because it was at first thought proper to allow the taxes to be collected by natives, who would undoubtedly follow their ancient modes of collection. Even at that time, however, the mildness of the British governors had some effect upon the Asiatics; so that the people in general were treated with more lenity than formerly: and in the year 1772, when the council of Bengal openly assumed the office of dewan themselves, an immediate stop was put to all those arbitrary and oppressive methods which had been formerly in use. Formerly some zemindars had been flogged even to death, by an instrument called a korah: but from the moment that the British council took the collection into their own hands, not only this instrument was laid aside, but all kind of corporal punishment; by which means the severity of the Mohammedan government has been entirely abolished, and no other punishments inflicted in cases of insolvency than such as are in use in our own country. Still, however, in such extensive dominions, where a great share of power must be one way or other committed to the natives, it is impossible but some arbitrary acts must be committed, as the natives are always prone to acts of despotism whenever they can commit them with impunity; but examples of this kind cannot with any degree of candour be brought as a general charge against the British government in India.—Mr Scrofton gives the following account of the wretched state of the provinces now under the British jurisdiction at the time they were ceded to them by the Mogul. "When the governors of the provinces found the weakness of the Mogul, and each set up as sovereign in his own province, although they could not break through these immutable laws, they invented new taxes under new names, which doubled or trebled the value of the original ones, and which the landholder was obliged to levy upon his tenants. The old stock of wealth for some time supported this; but when that failed, and the tenants were still pressed for more, they borrowed money of usurers at an exorbitant interest; and the government still continuing these demands, the lords of the lands were obliged to do the same: but as all this while the value of lands did not increase, the consequence was, that at last, unable to pay the interest of the mortgages, the rents were seized by rapacious usurers. The government finding the revenues fall shorter every year, at last sent collectors and farmers of the revenues into the provinces. Thus the lord of the land was divested of power over his country, and the tenants exposed to merciless plunderers; till the farmer and manufacturer, finding that the more they laboured the more they paid, the manufacturer would work no more, and the farmer would cultivate no more than was just sufficient for the subsistence of his family. Thus this once flourishing and plentiful country has, in the course of a few years, been reduced to such misery, that many thousands are continually perishing through want. The crown lands are still worse off, let out to the highest bidder; and the Jagheer lands alone remain un plundered. Hence that equal distribution of wealth that makes the happiness of a people, and spreads a face of cheerfulness and plenty through all ranks, has now ceased; and the riches of the country are settled partly in the hands of a few usurers and greedy courtiers, and the rest is carried out of the country by the foreign troops taken into pay to maintain the governors in their usurpations. This unhappy decay the India company has already experienced in the decay of their trade, and the rise and price of their manufactures; and will, I fear, experience more and more annually."

With regard to the depopulations of the nabobs by the British, which has been used as a great argument against the general spirit of British government in those parts, it must be remembered, in the first place, that these nabobs were mere usurpers, who had not the least title to their dominions, and consequently could not, in point of right, complain more reasonably of being deprived of their dominions, than the persons from whom they had taken them might do of their injustice in driving them out. Their behaviour in government also was such, that it was impossible it could have subsisted for any length of time without the absolute ruin of the countries they possessed. Thus, in the case of Jaffer Aly Cawn, Mr Vanfittart declared the country to be in so confused and impoverished a state, that in all human appearance another month could not have been run through before he would have been cut off by his own feapoy for want of pay, and the city become a scene of plunder and disorder. On this account he was degraded, though without any of those circumstances of cruelty which generally characterise the revolutions in this part of the world. The administration was transferred to Hindoostan, his son-in-law Meer Coffim; who being an enemy to the British government altogether, a war followed, terminating in his expulsion. This was followed by the invasion of Sujah Dowlah, and by scenes of horrid barbarity and devastation; when in 1765 Lord Clive took upon him the office of decwan, or minister who superintends the lands and collections of the revenue. An account of his proceedings has already been given; but whatever applause he might gain, and in some respects deservedly at the time, it is now said with some probability, that he raised the expectations of the people of England by far too high. The seeds of the succeeding evils were already sown. Many sources of wealth were dried up. Raw silk, cloths, and other manufactures, had formerly been exported to Guzerat, Lahore, and even Ispahan. This had ceased on the invasion of Nadir Shah; and the influx of wealth from the European nations had ceased before the British government in Bengal had an existence. It was computed that Coffim Aly Cawn robbed the country of near five millions sterling in jewels and specie. China, Madras, and Bombay, were supplied from Bengal to the amount of more than two millions; and several other circumstances besides these contributed to diminish the riches and opulence of the country. In the mean time the internal administration of the country had been extremely defective. The zemindars being under very little restraint, acted in a very arbitrary manner within their own districts; and the tenants had no redress against the impositions and exactions which were laid upon them. Meer Coffim appointed amuls to the collection of the revenues rather than zemindars. The amuls derive their authority directly from the person who has the command of the country for the present time, and consequently are more easily called to an account than the zemindars. At last, however, these amuls, having obtained too great an influence in the country, Lord Clive thought proper to change the plan of collection. Three natives were now appointed, in the nabob's name, to superintend this department; and one English gentleman, through whom the business was transacted, had his residence at the nabob's court, and communicated the intelligence to Calcutta. The principal acting minister in this plan, however, thought proper to change the mode of collection once more, and to re-appoint the amuls; in consequence of which the revenue became greatly diminished, and they were besides complained of as greatly oppressing the people. To remedy these evils, it was first proposed by Mr Verelst, to send some of the company's servants into the internal parts of the country with the title of supervisors: but the defects of administration were now beyond their power to remedy; the revenue was not only greatly diminished, but the expense of government exceedingly augmented; and in the year 1771 the company were alarmed by accounts that bills had been drawn upon them to the amount of 1,200,000l. At this time Mr Hastings was appointed to be governor of Bengal; and the confused state in which matters were at the commencement of his administration will easily appear from the following extract of a letter from the government of Bengal, dated in the month of November 1772.—"Every zemindary was left to its own particular customs. The articles Hindostan, which composed the revenue, the form of keeping the accounts, the computation of time, even the technical terms, which ever form the greatest obscurity in every science, differed as much as the soil and productions of the province. The nabobs exacted what they could from the zemindars and great farmers of the revenue, whom they left at liberty to plunder all below, referring to themselves the liberty of plundering them in their turn, when they were supposed to have enriched themselves with the spoils of the country. The mufaddies, who stood between the nabob and zemindars, and between them and the people, had each their shares of the public wealth. These profits were considered as illegal embezzlements, and therefore were taken with every precaution which could ensure secrecy; and being, consequently, fixed by no rule, depended on the temper, abilities, or power, of each individual for the amount. It therefore became a duty to every man to take the most effectual measures to conceal the value of his property, and evade every inquiry into his conduct; while the zemindars and other landholders, who had the advantage of long possession, availed themselves of it by complex divisions of the lands, and intricate modes of collection, to perplex the officers of government, and confine the knowledge of the rents to themselves. The internal management of each district varied no less than that of the whole province. The lands subject to the same collection, and intermixed with each other, were some held by farm, some superintended by thickdors or agents on the part of the collector, and were left to the zemindars themselves, under various degrees of control. For some political reasons the company, though they had acquired the dewanny, had not yet chosen to assume the executive part of the office themselves, but committed it to the management of natives, as has already been mentioned, and their plans had been found extremely defective. By the time that Mr Haftings had been invested with the government, the court of directors had resolved to change their plan, and openly assume the office of the dewanny; and the rules established by that gentleman for the collection of the revenues, his mode of administering justice, and his police for the government of the country, are still observed with very little variation.

The plan for collecting the revenues consisted, in the first place, in rendering the accounts as simple and intelligible as possible; in the next, in establishing fixed rules for the collection; and in the third, making the mode of them uniform in all parts of the provinces; and in the fourth, providing for the equal administration of justice. The power of the zemindars was now circumscribed, and their extortions thoroughly put a stop to; many vexatious taxes and tolls were abolished, and a new mode of collecting the customs was established, to the great relief of the merchants: and so well were all the parts of this plan found to be adapted to the purposes they were designed to answer, that it has hitherto been made the model of all subsequent regulations.

One great objection to the India government is, that the English law, which undoubtedly is better calculated than any other for securing the liberties of the people, has not yet been adopted in India; whence it is thought that the company's servants have still showed a disposition to oppress, rather than to relieve, the oppressed inhabitants of Hindostan. But in answer to that it is said, that the difference between the two countries is so great, that there can be no comparison between the one and the other, nor can the constitution of England be in any degree adapted to that of the other. The religion, laws, manners, and customs, of both Hindus and Mohammedans, are so essentially different from those of this country, that it is impossible to assimilate them, should over any thing of the kind be attempted. The only true method therefore of judging whether the present state of Hindostan is preferable to what it formerly was, is to compare it with what it was under the best Mogul emperors; and in this comparison it must certainly appear that the preference is greatly in favour of the British administration. In Major Rennel's work we are informed, that during the reign of Akbar, whom he styles "the glory of the house of Timur," the country had never enjoyed so much tranquility; "but this tranquility would hardly be deemed such in any other quarter of the world, and must therefore be understood to mean a state short of actual rebellion, or at least commotion." The same author, speaking of the state of the British empire there, uses the following words: "The Bengal provinces which have been in our actual possession near 23 years, have, during that whole period, enjoyed a greater share of tranquility than any other part of India, or indeed than those provinces had ever experienced since the days of Aureng-zebe." To this we may add, that the provinces have not only experienced a perfect freedom from external invasions, but likewise enjoy a degree of internal tranquility altogether unknown before, by the subjection and civilization of a set of banditti who inhabited the hills of Rajemahal, and infested the travellers who passed that way; a wandering tribe of religious mendicants, who were wont to commit the greatest enormities.

Another advantage which the inhabitants of this country reap from the British government, is the security from violence and oppression either by their Mohammedan superiors or by one another. Under the article Hindoo we have already mentioned the particular circumstances that these people are liable to the punishment of losing their cast from a variety of causes, and that this is looked upon by them to be the most grievous calamity they can suffer. The Mohammedan governors frequently took advantage of their superstition in this respect to oppress them; and this circumstance alone frequently produced the most horrid confusion. In the instructions given to the supervisors, Mr Verest informs them, that "it is difficult to determine whether the original customs, or the degenerate manners of the Musulmans, have most contributed to confound the principles of right and wrong of these provinces. Certain it is (adds he), that almost every decision of theirs is a corrupt bargain with the highest bidder. Compensation was frequently accepted of even for capital crimes, and fines became at last an intolerable grievance; nay so venal were the judges at that time, that it became at last a settled rule to allow each of them a fourth part of any property in dispute as a compensation for his trouble.—It is impossible to suppose that such monstrous abuses continue under the British government: on the contrary we must readily believe, Hindooan. believe, what the governors themselves assert, that immediately after the provinces fell under British jurisdiction, both Hindoos and Mohammedans have been left to the free exercise of their religion, laws, and customs. The Hindoos themselves acknowledge this, and are as well pleased with the mildness of the British government, as they are displeased with the superstition and cruelty of the Mohammedans. Under the British government we cannot suppose but that commerce, to which the inhabitants of this country are so much addicted, will be much more encouraged than by the avaricious and barbarous Mohammedans. The latter had imposed so many restraints upon trade of all kinds, by the multitude of taxes collected at the landing-places, watch-houses, markets, &c. that it was almost impossible to carry it on with any advantage. Among other salutary regulations, however, enacted by the British government in 1772, many of those taxes upon commerce were abolished, and a plan laid for effectually liberating the inhabitants from those shackles by which their commerce had been so long fettered.—Regard has also been paid to the instruction of the people in useful knowledge; and the seminary established at Calcutta by Sir William Jones, certainly does much honour to the founder. Some regard had indeed been paid to this by the Mohammedan emperors; but at the time that the British government commenced, these had been entirely neglected, their endowments resumed by government, and even the buildings fallen into ruin.

From a comparison of any government to which the Hindoos have hitherto been subject, with that of Britain, indeed, it is evident that the preference must be given greatly in favour of the latter. At the time when the British first visited that country, they were not under the jurisdiction of their native sovereigns, nor had they been so for a long time before. The Moguls were not only foreigners, but a most cruel and detestable race of men; and it was by usurpations of their own rebellious subjects that the anarchy and confusion was introduced, in which the country was involved for so long a time. The British are foreigners as well as the Moguls; but the latter, who profess the intolerant superstition of Mohammed, suffer their conduct to be influenced by it in such a manner as to treat the natives with the utmost cruelty. The greatest evil perhaps which results from the British government is, the exportation of great sums of money to a foreign country; but this evil, with respect to the provinces possessed by the British, existed also under the Mohammedan government. The Mogul emperors resided at Delhi, which is far distant from the provinces of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa, the territories now possessed by Britain; so that the greatest part of the treasure sent to that capital was totally lost to them. In the time of Aurangzebe, the emperor's tribute amounted to three millions sterling; and of this a considerable part was specie; but since that time the tribute was fixed at only 1,250,000l. and even this was a vast sum; to which if we add that carried out of the country by commanders of mercenary troops, who were all foreigners, it is not unreasonable to suppose that under the Mogul government matters were still worse, even in this respect, than under that of Britain.

We shall conclude this apology for the British go-

vernment, with the following extract from the treatise Hindooan lately quoted, A short review of the British Government in India. "A more detestable or detested race of people never appeared than the Mohammedan conquerors of India; whether we consider the brutality of their passions, the bigotry of their religion, the corruption of their manners, the barbarity of their education, or the tyranny of their government: In all these respects they were the terror and abhorrence of the Hindoos, whose country they invaded, and whose dominion they usurped.

"The fanatic ignorance of the savage caliph, which dictated his barbarous reason for destroying the Alexandrian library, had neither been tutored nor refined by the Tartar education of Timur and his predecessors. The same superstitious bigotry which incited the Arabian caliphs to destroy the monuments of western learning, likewise impelled the Tartar khans to overthrow the religious temples of the eastern worship. At the commencement of the 11th century Mahmood entered Hindooan, and in the course of 12 expeditions he destroyed the famous temples of Nagracut, Tamafar, Matra, and Sumnaut. In the latter end of the next century, Mahmood Gori penetrated as far as the city of Benares, and committed outrages as Mahmood had done before at Nagracut and Sumnaut. Tamerlane possessed as much of this furious zeal as any of his savage predecessors; and if the enthusiasm of this destructive religion had not occasionally abated among some of his successors, they would scarce have left a Hindoo temple or priest in the country they subdued.

"Enough, however, had been done to fix an indelible stain on the memory of those intolerant tyrants, and to make a lasting impression on the minds of the Hindoos, who, to the latest period of the Mogul government, were kept in constant dread of doctrines, which, to their apprehensions, seemed to inspire the Mohammedans with sacrilegious cruelty. Idolatry is as great an abomination to a Musulman as it was to the Jews when they most strictly revered the divine command which prohibits it; and most of the Hindoo ceremonies being considered by the Mohammedans as acts of idolatry, and all their pagodas as temples of idols, a religious principle excited mutual sentiments of abhorrence and antipathy between the conquerors and their subjects. The rest of the character of the Mohammedans may be summed up in the concise and emphatic words of Mr Sraffon, who says, 'their distinguishing qualities are perfidy and sensuality.'

"But notwithstanding these facts, and that the history of their government is a disgusting repetition of oppression, massacres, and rebellion, the fashion of the times has been to praise it, and to represent the situation of the Hindoos as easy and happy under it, till they were disturbed in this peaceful state of repose and security by the English; who have been described (with unparalleled injustice) as a set of rapacious talk-matters. It surely requires a very small degree of reflection to perceive, that such representations of the two governments must, from the very nature of things, be false.

"The Mohammedan conquerors came into India from a barbarous region, with minds and manners as uncultivated as the wilds from which they issued. The only notion they had of government was absolute power Hindooan, in the sovereign, and absolute submission in the subject.

The tenets of their religion, so far from softening the ferocity of their nature, served only to whet the edge of their persecution towards the suffering Hindoos, whom they harassed without mercy, and destroyed without remorse. The British conquerors came from a country famed for arts and sciences; the generous principles of public liberty had been infilthed into their minds from their earliest infancy: the mild tenets of Christianity cherifhed and commanded every charitable duty: and they had been taught, by precept and example, to rule with equity, and to obey with freedom. Can it be supposed that under these circumstances, the two nations should have totally changed characters on their coming into India? That the barbarous and ferocious Tartar should become mild and enlightened; that the cultivated and generous Briton should have degenerated into a cruel tyrant; and that the British governors should have rendered the situation of their Hindoo subjects worse than it was under the Mogul emperors? Reason revolts at the idea; and nothing but the rankest prejudice could ever suggest or adopt it."

With regard to the geography of this country, Mr Rennel observes, that though by the modern Europeans, Hindoostan has been understood to mean the tract situated between the rivers Indus and Ganges on the east and west, the mountains of Thibet and Tartary on the north, and the ocean on the south, the extent of Hindoostan, properly so called, is much more circumfribed; and the name ought only to be applied to that part which lies to the northward of 21° or 22° latitude. The reputed southern boundary of Hindoostan is the Nerbudda river as far as it goes, and the northern frontiers of Bengal and Bahar compose the remainder. The countries to the south of this line are called Deccan by the Indian geographers, and comprehend about one half of the territory generally known by the name of the Mogul Empire. Our author therefore chooses to distinguish the northern part by the name of Hindoostan Proper; which has indeed the Indus and mountains of Thibet and Tartary for its western and northern boundaries; but the Burampooter river is rather to be considered as the eastern boundary than the Ganges; the latter interfering some of the richest provinces in the empire. According to this supposition, Hindoostan Proper will equal in size the countries of France, Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, Switzerland, Italy, and the Low Countries; the Deccan and peninsula being about equal to the British islands, Spain, and Turkey in Europe.

Towards the north, Hindoostan is very cold and barren; but towards the south, very hot, and fertile in corn, rice, fruits, and other vegetables. The northern provinces are very mountainous and sandy; while the southern are for the most part level, and well watered with several rivers.

The most remarkable mountains are those which surround it on three sides. Those on the west, separating it from Persia, called, in general, Soleymann Khy, or the mountains of Soleymann, are of a vast height as well as breadth, and are only passable in certain places, through which roads have been made for the sake of commerce. The chief are those which lead to Cabul, Gazna, and Candahar. This great chain of mountains is inhabited by different nations, the principal of which are the Afghans, or Patans, and the Baluches, who Hindoostan, have extended themselves on the side of India, as well as Persia. The mountains on the north are called Nagrakut, Hima, or Mts Tag, which has an affinity with Imaiti, and by other names, which are given also in common to the mountains on each side, separating Hindoostan from Thibet. The very prospect of these mountains is frightful, being nothing but hideous precipices, perpetually covered with snow, and not to be crossed without the greatest danger and difficulty.

The most remarkable rivers of Hindoostan are the Indus and Ganges. The former is called by the orientals, Send, Sind, or Sindii. It rises in the mountains to the north or north-east of Hindoostan; whence, after a long course, first to the south and then to the southwest, it falls into the Persian sea, below Lower Bandar, by several mouths. In its course it receives several other large rivers, as the Nilah, Jamal, Behat, and Lakka.

The Ganges, called in the Indies Ganga, rises in the kingdom of Thibet: entering Hindoostan about the 30th degree of latitude, it runs first south-eastward by the cities of Bekar, Minapor, Halabas, Benares, and Patna, to Rajah Mahl, where it divides into two branches. The eastern having passed by Dalka, the capital of Bengal, enters the gulf of that name about Chatigan. The western, defending by Kofium-Bazar and Hughly, falls into the gulf below Chandernagor towards Pipeli.

Many of the Jews and ancient Christians believed this river to be the Pison, one of the four mentioned in Scripture as the boundaries of the terrestrial paradise. The Indians retain the greatest reverence for its waters, going in crowds from the remotest parts of the country to wash in them, from a persuasion that they deface from all the spots of sin. The reason of this is, because they imagine this river does not take its source from the bosom of the earth, but descends from heaven into the paradise of Devendre, and from thence into Hindoostan. Nothing is more childish than the fables of the Bramins on this subject, yet the people swallow them all. The Mogul and prince of Golconda drink no other water than that of the Ganges: foreigners, on the contrary, pretend that it is very unwholesome, and that it cannot be safely drank till it is first boiled. There is a great number of superb pagodas on the banks of the Ganges, which are immensely rich. At certain festivals, there has been sometimes a concourse of 100,000 people who came to bathe in it. But what principally distinguishes this river, besides its greatness and rapidity, is the gold it brings down in its sands and throws on its banks; and the precious stones and pearls it produces, not only in itself, but in the gulf of Bengal, into which it discharges its waters, and which abounds therewith. The Chun or Jemma, the Gude-rafu, the Perfilis, Lakia, and several other rivers, discharge themselves into it during its course.

The weather and seasons are, for the general, very regular in this spacious country; the winds blowing constantly for six months from the south, and fix from the north, with very little variation. The months of April, May, and the beginning of June, till the rains fall, are so extremely hot, that the reflection from the ground is apt to blister one's face; and but for the breeze or small gale of wind which blows every day, Hindostan there would be no living in that country for people bred in northern climates; for excepting in the rainy season, the coldest day is hotter there at noon than the hottest day in England. However, very surprising changes of heat and cold sometimes happen within a few hours; so that a stifling hot day is succeeded by a night cold enough to produce a thin ice on the water, and that night by a noon as scorching as the preceding. Sometimes, in the dry season, before the rains, the winds blow with such extreme violence, that they carry vast quantities of dust and sand into the air, which appear black like clouds charged with rain; but fall down in dry showers, filling the eyes, ears, and nostrils of those among whom they descend, and penetrate every chest, cabinet, or cupboard, in the houses or tents, by the key-hole or crevices.

From Suntet to Agra, and beyond, it seldom or never rains, excepting in one season of the year: that is, from the middle of June to the middle of September. These rains generally begin and end with most furious storms of thunder and lightning. During these three months it rains usually every day, and sometimes for a week together without intermission: by these means the land is enriched, like Egypt by the Nile. Although the land looks before like the barren sands of the Arabian deserts; yet, in a few days after those showers begin to fall, the surface appears covered with verdure. When the rainy season is over, the sky becomes perfectly serene again, and scarce one cloud appears all the other nine months: however, a refreshing dew falls every night during that dry interval, which cools the air, and cherishes the earth.

The produce of Hindostan is very rich in every kind, whether it be fossil, vegetable, or animal. Besides other precious stones found in it, there is a diamond-mine at the town of Soumelphur in Bengal. Quarries of Theban stone are so plentiful in the Mogul's empire, that there are both mosques and pagods built entirely of it. Some travellers tell us, there are mines of lead, iron, and copper, and even silver; but those of the last, if there be any, need not be opened, since the bullion of all nations is sunk in this empire, which will take nothing else in exchange for her commodities, and prohibits the exporting it again. They till the ground with oxen and foot-ploughs, sowing in May and the beginning of June, that all may be over before the rains, and reaping in November and December, which with them are the most temperate months in the year. The land is nowhere inclosed, excepting a little near towns and villages. The grass is never mowed to make hay, but cut off the ground, either green or withered, as they have occasion to use it. Wheat, rice, barley, and other grain, grow here in plenty, and are very good. The country abounds no less in fruits, as pomegranates, citrons, dates, grapes, almonds, and cocoanuts; plums, those especially called mirabolans; plants, which in shape resemble a slender cucumber, and in taste excel a Norwich pear; mangos, an excellent fruit, resembling an apricot, but larger; ananas or pineapples; lemons and oranges, but not so good as in other countries; variety of pears and apples in the northern parts; and the tamarind-tree, the fruit of which is contained in a pod resembling those of beans. There are many other kinds of fruit-trees peculiar to the country. But the valuable trees are the cotton and mulberry, on account of the wealth they bring the natives from the manufactures of callicoes and silks. They plant abundance of sugar-canes here, as well as tobacco; but the latter is not so rich and strong as that of America, for want of knowing how to cure and order it.

Hindostan affords also plenty of ginger, together with carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, and other roots known to us, besides small roots and herbs for salads; but their flowers, though beautiful to look at, have no scent, excepting roses, and some few other kinds.

There is a great variety of animals in this country, both wild and tame; of the former are elephants, rhinoceroses, lions, tygers, leopards, wolves, jackals, and the like. The jackals dig up and eat dead bodies, and make a hideous noise in the night. The rhinoceros is not common in the Mogul's empire; but elephants are very numerous, some 12, 14, or 15 feet high. There is plenty of venison and game of several kinds; as red-deer, fallow-deer, elks, antelopes, kids, hares, and such like. None of these are imparked, but all in common, and may be any body's who will be at the pains to take them. Among the wild animals also may be reckoned the musk-animal, apes, and monkeys.

Hindostan affords variety of beasts for carriage, as camels, dromedaries, mules, asses, horses, oxen, and buffaloes. Most of the horses are white, and many curiously dappled, pied, and spotted all over. The flesh of the oxen is very sweet and tender. Being very tame, many use them as they do horses to ride on. Instead of a bit, they put one or two small strings through the gristle of the nostrils, and fastening the ends to a rope, use it instead of a bridle, which is held up by a bunch of gritty flesh which he has on the forepart of his back. They saddle him as they do a horse; and, if spurred a little, he will go as fast. These are generally made use of all over the Indies; and with them only are drawn waggons, coaches, and chariots. Some of these oxen will travel 15 leagues in a day. They are of two sorts; one six feet high, which are rare; another called dwarfs, which are only three. In some places, where the roads are stony, they shoe their oxen when they are to travel far. The buffalo's skin makes excellent buff, and the female yields very good milk; but their flesh is neither so palatable nor wholesome as beef. The sheep of Hindostan have large heavy tails, and their flesh is very good, but their wool coarse.

This country is much infested with reptiles and insects; some of a noxious kind, as scorpions, snakes, and rats; but the lizards, which are of a green colour, are not hurtful. Snakes and serpents, we are told, are sometimes employed to dispatch criminals, especially such as have been guilty of some atrocious crime, that kind of death being attended with the most grievous torture. The most troublesome insects in this hot country are flies, mukteces, and chinchas, or bugs, the first by day, and the others in the night; when they offend no less by their stench than their bite.