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to papers which could not otherwise have been opened to him without breach of duty. We therefore place entire confidence in these volumes: and having thus given a very concise outline of their character, we shall proceed to notice more particularly some of the articles on which they treat.

Conspicuous among those whose tyranny defeated its purposes by an injudicious choice of means, was the bigoted Mahometan, Tippoo Saib: a sovereign who had beheld the beneficial effects resulting from his father's more considerate policy, yet who abandoned those principles which might have secured his own throne, and benefited his subjects. He destroyed the temples of the Hindoos; he deprived their priests of subsistence; "he forbade the commerce of his subjects with the adjacent states, because they were not Mahometan; and he boasted of making a rapid progress toward accomplishing his intention of subjecting all India to the authority of the Prophet. He had already, in a great measure, depopulated some of his finest provinces, and materially diminished their revenues; it was therefore happy, we doubt not, for India, that, by the chance of war, his life and his projects were terminated at a stroke. Dr. B. gives the following account of Tippoo's last moments, after having described the assault of the walls of Seringapatam by the British troops, who had carried them by storm.

The Sultan had been driven back to the eastward of the palace, and is said to have had his horse shot under him. He might certainly have gone out at a gate leading to the north branch of the river, and nothing could have prevented him from crossing that, and joining his cavalry, which, under the command of his son Futty Hyder, and of Purnea, were hovering round the Bombay army. Fortunately, he decided upon going into the inner fort, by a narrow sally port; and, as he was attempting to do so, he was met by the crowd flying from the flank companies of the 12th regiment; while the troops, coming up behind, cut off all means of retreat. Both parties seem to have fired into the gateway; and some of the Europeans must have passed through with the bayonet, as a wound evidently inflicted by that weapon, was discovered in the arm of the Sultan. His object in going into this gateway, is disputed. The Hindoos universally think, that, finding the place taken he was going to the palace to put all his family to death, and then to seek for his own destruction in the midst of his enemies. But, although such is considered by the Hindoos as the proper conduct for a prince in his situation, we have no reason to think that a Mussulman would conduct himself in this manner; nor was Tippoo ever accused of want of affection for his family. I think it more probable, that he was ignorant of the British troops having got into the inner fort, and was retiring thither in hopes of being still able to repel the attack.' 'Meer Saduc, the favourite of the Sultan, fell in attempting to get through the gates. He is supposed to have been killed by the hands of Tippoo's soldiery, and his corpse lay for some time exposed to the insults of the populace, none of whom passed without spitting

on it, or loading it with a slipper; for to him they attributed most of their sufferings in the tyrannical reign of the Sultan.' Vol. I. p. 80.

The bed chamber of Tippoo, in this palace, exhibited striking tokens of the distrust and jealousy that embittered his days. It was not only guarded by four tigers in the antichamber, but was entirely closed on all sides, except where it received light from a small window; and this window was so placed, that his bed, which was suspended by chains from the roof," could not be seen through it. "In this hammock was found a sword, and a pair of loaded pistols."

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Dr. B. draws incidentally a very striking picture of Hindoo duplicity and concealment, as opposed to Mahometan tyranny. It is the uniform resource of conscious imbecility for counteracting systematic rapine.

The character and pretensions of the sovereign whom the company reinstated in the throne from which he had been excluded by Hyder's intrigues, and the violence of Tippoo, have very naturally been subjects of inquiry in Europe: Dr. B. gives the following account of them. A portrait of this young Prince, of no unamiable physiognomy, is prefixed to the work.

The old palace of the Mysore Rajas, at Seringapatam, is in a ruinous condition. At the time of the siege, the family was reduced to the lowest ebb. The old Raja Crishna, who was first confined by Hyder, died without issue, but left his wife in charge of a relation, whom he had adopted as his son. This young man soon died, not without suspicion of unfair means. His infant son, the present Rája, was under the charge of the old lady, and of Nundi Raja, his mother's father, a respectable old relative, who now superintends his education. Shortly before the siege, the whole family had been stripped by the merciless Meer Saduc, of even the poorest ornaments; and the child, from bad treatment, was so sickly, that his death was expected to happen very soon. This was a thing probably wished for by the Sultan, the family having fallen into such contempt that the shadow of a Rája would no longer have been necessary. The family of the Raja, having been closely shut up in the old palace, knew very little, during the siege, of what was going forward; and, in the confusion of the assault, having been left by their guards, they took refuge in the temple of Sré Ranga, either with a view of being protected by the god, or of being defended by the surrounding walls from the attack of plunderers. On the restoration of the prince to the throne of his ancestors, a place for his residence was very much wanted; the necessity of keeping the island of Seringapatam for a military station, having rendered the palaces there very unfit for the purpose. Tippoo, with his usual policy of destroying every monument of the former government, had razed Mysore, and removed the stones of the palace and temples to a neighbouring height, where he was building a fort; which, from its being situated on a place commanding an extensive view, was called Nazarbar. This fortress could have been

of no possible use in defending the country; and was probably planned merely with the view of obscuring the fame of Mysore, the former capital. At a great expense, and to the great distress of the peasants working at it, the Sultan had made considerable progress in the works of this place, when he began to consider that it afforded no water. He then dug an immense pit, cutting down through the solid black rock to a great depth and width, but without success; and when the siege of his capital was formed, the whole work was lying in a mass of confusion, with a few wretched tents in it for the accommodation of the workmen. Into the best of these, in July last, the young Rája was conducted, and placed on the throne. At the same time the rebuilding of the old palace of Mysore was commenced. It is now so far advanced, as to be a comfortable dwelling; and I found the young prince seated in it, on a handsome throne, which had been presented to him by the Company. He has very much recovered his health, and, though he is only between six and seven years of age, speaks, and behaves with great propriety and decorum. From Indian etiquette, he endeavours in public to preserve a dignified gravity of countenance; but the attentions of Colonel Close, the resident, to whom he is greatly indebted for that officer's distinguished efforts in his delivery, make him sometimes relax; and then his face is very lively and interesting.' Vol. I. pp. 67. 68.

The extent of Dr. B.'s journey has enabled him to present a great variety of information from different parts; for the present, we shall chiefly attend to his first volume.

The first thing that strikes us, as it did Dr. B., is the ingenuity of the natives in constructing the tanks, or reservoirs of water, which are indispensable to their agricultural success. They are formed, where it is possible, by shutting up, with an artificial bank,, an opening between two natural ridges, or hills of ground. An account, with a plate, of a very extensive tank, is introduced at the commencement of this work.

The sheet of water is said to be seven or eight miles in length, and three in width in the rainy season it receives a supply of water from an adjacent river, and from several small streams that are collected by a canal: in the dry season, the water is let out in small streams, as wanted for cultivation. It has sluices of stone, strongly fortified, to prevent the water from overflowing; with temporary aditions to raise the banks as high as possible, when there is plenty of rain.' Vol. I. p. 4.

Some of these tanks are lined all round with stones of cut granite, which descend to the bottom in steps. A tank of this kind Dr. B. mentions, "in one of the most desert places of the country," p. 11. The first species of tank, that formed by throwing a mound across a valley, is called (in the Tamul language) Fray; that formed by digging is called Culam. When these are constructed by an individual, the service he has rendered to the community adds this title to his name.

Very great tanks sometimes cost 20,000 pagodas (£.6,746) and are made at the expence of government. The farmers contribute nothing toward the building or repairing of tanks; but when, from a great and

sudden influx of water, one is in danger of bursting, they all assemble, and work to clear the sluice (Cody) and other passages, for letting off the superfluous water.' p. 279.

When these valuable constructions are destroyed by any calamity, or suffered to decay, the lands are left uncultivated, and depopulation follows. What, then, shall we think of the barbarity of Tippoo, who ordered a capital tank to be destroyed, from mere envy and caprice, or rather from enmity to his Hindoo subjects, because they were Hindoos!

It is well known that rice forms the principal article of food in India; considerable quantities of it are annually consumed among ourselves. The cultivation of this vegetable, we learn from Dr. B., is not confined to one invariable system:

There are three modes of sowing the seed of Rice, from whence arise three kinds of Cultivation. In the first mode the seed is sown dry, on the fields that are to rear it to maturity. In the second mode, the seed i■ made to vegetate before it is sown; and the field, when fitted to receive it, is reduced to a puddle: this I call the sprouted cultivation. In the third kind of cultivation, the seed is sown very thick in a small plot of ground; and, when it has shot up to about a foot high, the young rice is transplanted into the fields where it is to ripen.' p. 84.

Whether by any hint derived from either of these modes of cultivation, this vegetable might be naturalized in Britain, we cannot take on ourselves to determine; but it should appear from the remarks of our traveller, that not every kind of rice demands, as indispensable, a greater supply of water than some parts of Britain afford, nor a greater proportion of heat; since rice is grown among mountains where snow is by

no means uncommon.

Dr.

Rice in the husk, i, e. Paddy, will keep two years without alteration, or even four years without being unfit for use. B. describes three ways of depriving this grain of the husk, by soaking, by boiling, or by beating it. The rice used by the Brahmins is never boiled in this stage of preparation, though it is reckoned most delicate when so prepared.

Ground brought into cultivation for rice, is universally considered as arrived at the highest possible degree of improvement; and all attempts to render it more productive by a succession of crops or by fallow, would be looked on as proofs of insanity. Where there is a supply of water, the farmers in general think, that the best plan of cultivation is to sow one crop of rice immediately after another has been reaped; and in some parts, favoured with a supply of water, three crops of rice are every year regularly produced.'

With equal accuracy the Dr. attends to the cultivation of other vegetables; as the sesamum, the sugar-cane, cardamoms, pepper, betel, palm-trees of various kinds, and others which furnish food for man or beast. We shall extract his account

of the pepper vine; because the spice, which is its fruit, has long been a considerable subject of commerce and consumption in Europe.

The cultivators-here say, that the pepper vine does not thrive when planted close together; and therefore every man, in the garden near his house, has five or six trees only, which are intended as supports for this valuable plant. The Mango tree (Mangifera) is reckoned the best for the purpose, and its fruit is not injured by the pepper......The Mango tree ought to be at least twenty years old before any pepper vines are put on it.... Between the 11th of June and the 12th of July, or at the commencement of the rainy season, the soil round the tree is dug; and a small bank, surrounding the root, at a cubit's distance, is formed to confine the water. Then from 8 to 12 shoots of the vine, in proportion to the size of the tree, are laid down within the bank, and with two or three inches of one end standing up against the trunk. They are then covered with about an inch of fine mould; and, if any length of time occurs without rain, they must be watered; but this is seldom required. The shoots are about a cubit long. As the vines grow, they must be tied up to the tree, and rank weeds must be pulled up from near their roots. In the hot season they require to be watered with a pot; and, at the commencement of the rainy season, some leaves, ashes, and dung, must be spread on the ground near their roots. The pepper vine begins to bear at six years of age; in four years more it is in full perfection, and continues so for twenty years, when it dies. The young Amenta begin to form at a feast called Tiruvadaray Netvelly, which is accompanied by a certain conjunction of the stars, the period of which none but astrologers can tell. It happened this year on the 17th of June. The beginning of the rainy season may therefore be considered as the flowering time of the pepper. When the fruit is intended for black pepper, it is not allowed to ripen, but is collected green, so soon as the berries become hard and firm, which happens between Dec. 13, and Jan. 11. As the Amenta come to a proper maturity, they are pinched off by the fingers, placed on a mat, and rubbed with the hands and feet, until the berries separate from the stem. These are then spread out on mats, so that one does not lie upon another, and are dried two, or, at most, three days in the sun; while at night they are collected in earthen jugs, to keep them from the dew. The pepper is then put up in mat-bags, containing from 2 to 4 tolams, or from 64 to128 lbs. and is fit for sale.... What is intended for white pepper, is allowed to become quite ripe. The berries are then red; and the pulp being washed off, the white seed is dried for sale. The vines, in this case, are very apt to die; and in this province, little or none is now made.' Vol. II. p. 463.

This cultivation does not appear to be very laborious, or very costly. Dr. B. even thinks one-ninth of the produce would pay the expenses. In fact, agricultural labour, as a British farmer would understand the term, is but little known in India. What would one of our industrious early risers say to the following description of their occupation, as given by working men, in some parts of that country?

The labourers gave me the following account of the manner in which they pass their time.-About eight o'clock of our day they rise from bed,,

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