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EGYPTIAN SCULPTURES.

to strengthen this opinion; and particularly so at Mont-pesser, or Mundip Ishwur, on Salsette: at a little distance from whence there still remain six obelisks, in tolerable preservation. On some of them is a representation in basso-relievo, of sea and land battles; the vessels engaged in a furious combat are extremely well represented: on others are carved the emblems of peace, and similar subjects, which may perhaps relate to the æra just mentioned.

Before I conclude my account of these excavations, I must not omit the striking resemblance which has been observed between them and the sculptured grottos in Egypt; a circumstance which seems to imply that either the Egyptians copied from the Hindoos, or the Hindoos from them; the former is now generally allowed. Not far from the city of Assuan, the ancient Syen described by Strabo, on the confines of Ethiopia, the rocks on the western bank of the Nile are hewn into grottos, with places of worship, columns, pilasters, and hieroglyphics, as particularly mentioned by modern travellers. Strabo also describes the adjacent island of Elephantina, with its surrounding rocks in the Nile; from whence were hewn those enormous masses used in the magnificent structures of Egypt, and especially that amazing cube, each side measuring sixty feet, in which the sanctuary of Butis was cut. The island of Elephantina in the time of Strabo contained a small town, with the temple of Cneph, and a celebrated Nilometer.

I have often been struck with the idea that there may be some affinity between the written mountains in Arabia, and the excavated mountains in Hindostan ; I mean only as far as relates to such records or memo

INSCRIBED ROCKS.

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rials in time of remote antiquity. The book of Job is allowed to be of a very ancient date; coeval, if not antecedent to the writings of Moses. In his sublime and pathetic apostrophe the afflicted Patriarch exclaims, "O that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book! that they were graven with an iron pen and lead, in the rock for ever! for I know that my REDEEMER liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see GOD, whom I shall see for myself; and mine eyes shall behold, and not another!" Job, ch. xix, v. 23-27.

In this memorable speech to his misjudging and uncharitable friends, uttered by the venerable sufferer, in strong faith and fervent hope, he not only makes this animated appeal, but ardently wishes to have it recorded for the consolation of the latest posterity. Printing, so improperly introduced by the English translators, was then unknown; manuscripts were perishing, but the rock was permanent. On an adamantine rock, therefore, did the pious prince wish that his words might be engraved, the characters filled up with lead, and remain indelible for ever! All this must certainly allude to a custom then known: most probably the written mountains in Arabia, the very country in which they lived, were extant at the time, and familiar to his hearers.

Engraving on stones was generally practised in Egypt their hieroglyphics were cut in the hardest granite; the obelisks were sculptured in intaglio, filled with cement of various colours; which is probably what our translators have meant by lead. These memorials brought into Europe by the Roman Em

284

CEMETERY IN SINAI.

perors, the remains of excavated hills and sculptured rocks still extant in Egypt, united with the accounts of the Greek historians, undoubtedly prove the antiquity of works similar to those in India. The characters engraved on the portals of the excavated mountains in Hindostan, and the adjacent rocks, have very lately been deciphered: I copied several lines from the entrance of the caves of Canara, which were then pronounced obsolete, and past finding out: Mr. Wilford has proved the contrary. Possibly, in this enlightened age, the characters on the Arabian mountains may yet be explained.

Niebuhr mentions a large cemetery in the desert of Sinai, where a great many stones are set up in an erect position, on a high and steep mountain, covered with as beautiful hieroglyphics as those of the Egyptian mountains. The Arabs carried them to this burial place, which is more remarkable than the written mountains, seen and described by other travellers in this desert; for so many well-cut stones could never be the monuments of wandering Arabs, but must necessarily owe their origin to the inhabitants of some great city near this place, which is, however, now a desert.

Towards the end of the year 1774, commotions in the Mahratta State afforded the Government of Bombay an opportunity of obtaining the islands of Salsette, Caranjah, and Elephanta; the former was quisition of great importance to Bombay.

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I paid an early visit to these new conquests: it is a pleasant passage of a few hours from Bombay to Tannah, the principal fortress in Salsette, which so soon after the siege made a desolate appearance. It

was built by the Portuguese when masters of the island, and altered by the Mahrattas, who conquered Salsette and Bassin during the Peshwaship of Bajerow. Half a mile from the fort is a Portuguese church, pleasantly situated on the side of a large tank, surrounded by mango and tamarind groves; the spires and domes of mosques and Hindoo temples rising amid their dark foliage, produce a good effect.

I sailed from Salsette to Caranjah, and landed about two miles from the principal town, situated between two lofty mountains, on the west side: it was nothing more than a large Mahratta village, with low straggling houses, near a tank covered with wild ducks and waterfowl, hitherto unmolested by Europeans. On its banks a small fort, a Portuguese church, and a Hindoo temple embellished the view. The principal fort stands on the summit of a lofty mountain, romantically diversified by woods and rock: the ascent is steep and difficult. This castle, small, badly constructed, and mounting only fourteen guns, was incapable of defence, but its situation rendered it almost inaccessible. It commands a western view of the town and harbour of Bombay, Salsette, and all the adjacent islands, and to the east the mountains of the continent, and nearer plains of Caranjah, abounding with rice-fields, cocoanut, palmyra, mango, and tamarind trees, filled with monkeys, parrots, owls, and singing-birds of various kinds.

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MY APPOINTMENT.

CHAPTER XV.

The Author obtains an Appointment among the Civil Servants attached to the British Detachment ordered from Bombay, to assist Ragonath-Row, Peshaw of the Mahrattas, then driven from his Capital, and at the head of an Army in GuzeratMahratta Empire-Ragobah leaves Poonah, and marches against the Nizam-Commencement of the Civil War-Ragobah applies to the Bombay Government for a Detachment of British Troops, and enters into a Treaty-Embarkation of the English Detachment to join his Army in Guzerat.

SOON after the conquest at Salsette I obtained one of the appointments generally given to the civil servants, with the detachment of British forces sent from Bombay to the assistance of Ragonath-Row, at that time the reigning Sovereign of the Mahrattas, though he had then been driven from his capital by the confederate ministers; and when the Bombay Government resolved to reinstate him on the musnud at Poonah, he was encamped with his army in the province of Guzerat, waiting for the junction of the English troops.

That a war, which, in its consequences, has engaged the East India Company in various treaties and alliances with the Mahrattas, may be better understood, I shall give some account of that extraordinary nation; who, by their caste are accounted among the lower tribes of the Hindoos; but by courage, policy, and perseverance, are become the most powerful and formidable people in Hindostan.