mmMim Cll|c ivtjljt iiHntorablr DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Treasure %oo?n Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 https://archive.org/details/travelsinindiaduOOhodg \ ' V T R A V R L S I N INDIA, DURING THE YEARS 1780, 1781, 1782, & 1783. BY WILLIAM HODGES, R, A. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR » AND SOLD BY J. EDWARDS, PALL-MALL. MQCCXCia, AH-P Tv .TV. ‘HS'.X- * ST2W , ?t3 TABLE of the PLATES , WITH DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. Engravers Names. Pagoda at Tanjore, to face page 12 Medland. Calcutta 14 Byrne. Pafs at Sicri Gully 22 Angus. Zananah ...... 24 Skelton. Banyan Tree 27 Pouncy. MuITulman women, Moon-light .... 28 Skelton. Peafant woman of Hindoltan, &c. . . 30 Tompkins. Column 63 Medland. Proceffion of a Hindoo woman to facrifice on the funeral pile 84 Skelton. Bidjegur 86 Pouncy. Palace at Lucknow 102 Fittler. Agra 114 Walker. Molhah, and MuITulman women ... 128 Tompkins. Gwalior 142 Byrne. LATELY PUBLISHED IN ONE VOLUME FOLIO, ATLAS SIZE, Price 1 8/. in Sheets, or 20 /. hound in Rnfjia Leather, A COLLECTION OF VIEWS in INDIA, DRAWN ON THE SPOT, IN THE YEARS 1780, 3781, 1782, and 1783, AND EXECUTED IN A Q_U ATINTA, IN IMITATION CF THE ORIGINAL ' DRAWINGS, BY W. HODGES, R. A. WITH HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF EACH. tRINTEI/ IOB THE AUTHOR, AND SOLD BY J. EDWARDS, NO. ~j S', PALL-MALL. ' V . •. v,<.; ..^,v .. • ; . ' r ■€ , . . ... . ,. v . . ....• . . •.•••• PREFACE. The intimate connexion which has fo long fubfifted between this country and the continent of India, naturally renders every Englifhman deeply interefted in all that relates to a quarter of the globe which has been the theatre of fcenes highly important to his country ; and which, perhaps, at the moment when he perufes the de- fcription of it, may be the refidence or the grave of fome of his deareft friends. It is only matter of furprize, that, of a country fo nearly allied to us, fo little (hould be known. The public is, in- deed, greatly indebted to the learned labours of gentlemen, who have relided there, for the information which they have afforded concerning the Laws and the Religion of the Hin- doo tribes; as well as for correft and well digefted details of the tranfaftions of the Mogul government. But of the IV. PREFACE. face of the country, of its arts, and natural productions, lit- tle has yet been faid. Gentlemen who have refided long in India lofe the idea of the firft impreffion which that very curious country makes upon an entire ftranger : the novelty is foon effaced, and the mind, by a common and natural operation, foon direfls its views to more abftratt fpeculation ; reafoning affumes the place of obfervation, and the traveller is loft in the philofopher. To fupply, in fome flight degree, this hiatus in the topo- graphical department of literature, is the immediate objeft of the following pages. It will, I flatter myfelf, not be diF agreeable to my readers to be informed, that they confift of a few plain obfervations, noted down upon the fpot, in the fimple garb of truth, without the fmalleff embellifhment from fiClion, or from fancy. They were chiefly intended for my own amufement, and to enable me to explain to my friends a number of drawings which I had made during my refidence in India, fome of which accompany the prefent publication. The apology is trite; but in this cafe its truth, and the refpeftability of the name to which I refer, muff plead my excufe it was owing entirely to the influence and perfuafion of my molt juftly effeemed friend, Henry James Pye, Efq. Poet Laureat, that thefe obfervations have been fubmitted to a tribunal, which I have ever regarded with awful refpeCf the Public. PREFACE. v. While I acknowledge my heart-felt obligations to one friend, it is not confiflent with my prefent feelings to omit the kind attentions of another. My learned friend, Dr. Gregory, by his perufal and revifion of my manufcript, con- tributed greatly to lelfen my apprehenfions of that ordeal to which I was about to commit myfelf ; and though he infills upon my Hating, that his corre£iions were almoll entirely verbal, yet I cannot but be confcious, that, without them, the work would have appeared in a Hill more imperfect Hate. After all, I am aware that I Hand in need of every candid allowance on the part of my readers. It is evident that the ftudies abfolutely requifite to any degree of profi- ciency in a liberal art, and the praftice of that art after- wards as a profelhon, can leave but little leifure for the cultivation of literature ; and perhaps my engagements have been even more unfavourable to this obje£l than thofe of molt artills. A long circumnavigation, and the profelhonal la- bour required in completing the works for Captain Cook’s fecond voyage, occupied me for feveral years ; and a voyage to India, with my different excurfions in that country, ab- forbed no inconfiderable portion of my time and attention. On another part of this work I can fpeak with rather more confidence, becaufe I am lefs perfonally concerned; and becaufe, as far as I am concerned, I appear in my pro- VI. PREFACE. per profeflional character. The drawings, from which the plates for this work are engraved, I have already men- tioned were made upon the fpot : and, to the utmoft of my ability, are fair and accurate reprefentations of the originals. Of the execution of the plates, while I feel that too much cannot be faid, my fenfes fufficiently convince me that it is unnecelfary to fay any thing. I therefore conclude with fhortly returning my thanks to the artifts for the care and attention they have beftowed upon them. Queen Street, May Fair, Feb. 18, 1793. TRAY E L S I N INDIA. CHAP. I. General Appearance of the Coafl — Of the Town of Madras — - Boats of the Country — Firf Reception of a Stranger — His Senfations on entering the Country — War with Hyder Ally — • General Difrefs — Defcriptive Sketch of the Country, Build- ings, &c. — Indian Temple. The whole extent of the Coaft of Coromandel is an even, low, fandy country; and about Madras the land rifes fo little and fo gradually from the fea, that the fpec- tator is fcarcely able to mark the diftin&ion, till he is affifled by the appearance of the different obje&s which prefent themfelves upon the fhore. The Englifh town, rifing from within Fort St. George, has from the fea a rich and beautiful appearance ; the b 2 TRAVELS IN houfes being covered with a ftucco called chunam, which in itfelf is nearly as compaft as the fineft marble, and, as it bears as high a polilh, is equally fplendid with that ele- gant material. The ftile of the buildings is in general hand- fome. They confift of long colonades, with open por- ticoes, and flat roofs, and offer to the eye an appearance flmilar to what we may conceive of a Grecian city in the age of Alexander. The clear, blue, cloudlefs fky, the polilhed white buildings, the bright fandy beach, and the dark green fea, prefent a combination totally new to the eye of an Englifhman, juft arrived from London, who, accuftomed to the fight of rolling maffes of clouds floating in a damp atmofphere, cannot but contemplate the differ- ence with delight : and the eye being thus gratified, the mind foon affumes a gay and tranquil habit, analogous to the pleafing objefts with which it is furrounded. Some time before the (hip arrives at her anchoring ground, fhe is hailed by the boats of the country filled with people of bufinefs, who come in crowds on board. This is the moment in which an European feels the great diftinftion between Afia and his own country. The ruft- ling of fine linen, and the general hum of unufual con- verfation, prefents to his mind for a moment the idea of an affembly of females. When he afcends upon the deck, INDIA. he is ftruck with the long muflin drefles,* and black faces + adorned with very large gold ear-rings and white turbans. The firft falutation he receives from thefe Grangers is by bending their bodies very low, touching the deck with the back of the hand, and the forehead three times. The natives firft feen in India by an European voyager, are Hindoos, the original inhabitants of the Peninfula. In this part of India they are delicately framed, their hands £ in particular are more like thofe of tender fe- males ; and do not appear to be, what is confidered a proper proportion to the reft of the perfon, which is ufually above the middle fize. Correfpondent to this deli- * This drefs is in India ufually worn both by Hindoos and Mahomedans, and is called Jammah ; whence the drefs well known in England, and worn by children, is ufually called a jam. t The complexions of the people on the Coaft of Coromandel and to the fouthward, are confiderably darker than thofe to the northward. It is alfo to be obferved, that the native Hindoos are generally darker than the Muf- fulman, who originally came from Tartary and Perfia. The latter may in faft be called a fair people ; and I have even feen many of them with red hair and florid complexions. It is a well known fadf, that w’hen a Tartar or Perfian family has refided in India for a few generations, their complexions have confiderably deepened. The Mogul family of the houfe of Timoor, I underftand, are of a deep olive complexion. \ It has been obferved of the arms frequently brought to this country, that the gripe of the fabre is too fmall for moll European hands. b 2 4 TRAVELS IN cacy of appearance are their manners, mild, tranquil, and feduloufly attentive : in this laft refpeft they are indeed re- markable, as they never interrupt any perfon who is fpeak- ing, but wait patiently till he has concluded ; and then anfwer with the molt perfe£f refpeft and compofure. From the fhip a ftranger is conveyed on (hore in a boat of the country, called a Mafloolah boat : a work of curious conftruftion, and well calculated to elude the violent (hocks of the furf, that breaks here with great violence : they are formed without a keel, flat bottomed, with the fides raifed high, and fewed together with the fibres of the cocoa-nut tree, and caulked with the fame material : they are re- markably light, and are managed with great dexterity by the natives : they are ufually attended by two kattamarans, (rafts) paddled by one man each, the intention of which is, that, fhould the boat be overfet by the violence of the furf, the perfons in it may be preferved. The boat is dri- ven, as the bailors fay, high and dry ; and the paffengers are landed on a fine, fandy beach : and immediately enter the fort of Madras. The appearance of the natives is exceedingly varied, fome are wholly naked, and others fo clothed, that nothing but the face and neck is to be difcovered ; befides this, the European is (Iruck at firfl with many other objefts, fuch as women carried on men’s (houlders on pallankeens, INDIA. 5 and men riding on horfeback clothed in linen drefles like women : which, united with the very different face of the country from all he had ever feen or conceived of, excite the ftrongeft emotions of furprife ! It is impoffible to defcribe the enthuffafm with which I felt myfelf aftuated on this occaffon ; all that I faw filled my mind with expe&ations of what was yet unfeen. I prepared therefore eagerly for a tour through the country ; but my route was fcarcely fixed, when I was interrupted by the great fcourge of human nature, the great enemy of the arts, war, which, with horrors perhaps unknown to the civilized regions of Europe, defcended like a torrent over the whole face of the country, driving the peaceful hufbandman from his plow, and the manufa&urer from his loom. On the eighteenth day of July, 1780, I was a melancholy witnefs to its effe£ls, the multitude coming in from all quarters to Madras as a place of refuge, bearing on their fhoulders the fmall remains of their little property, mothers with infants at their breafts, fathers leading their horfes burthened with their young families, others fitting on the miferable remains of their fortunes on a hackery,* and dragged through the duff by weary bullocks : every objeft was marked by con- fufion and difmay, from the 18th to the 21ft, the numbers * A hackery is a fmall covered carriage upon two wheels, drawn by bul- locks, and ufed generally for the female part of the family. 6 TRAVELS IN daily increafing : and it was fuppofed that within the fpace of three days not lefs than two hundred thoufand of the country people were received within the * black town of Madras. Our Government behaved on this melancholy occalion with their ufual humanity and liberality ; and not only publick, but private relief was afforded them to a confiderable amount. Those poor people were foon afterwards diftributed to the northward, and into the fircars ; which are lands that lay to the northward of Madras, and but of late years ceded to the Englifh Government. Mr. Smith was at this period at the head of the Go- vernment of Madras : and the folicitous attention of his lady, to relieve the private inconvenience of many Englifh families, who were alfo obliged to take fhelter within the walls of the fort, muff ever be remembered with refpeft. Every objeft that now prefented itfelf to the imagin- ation bore the fame threatening and calamitous afpeft : the country houfes of the Englifh, within one mile of the fort, were ftripped of their furniture, by the owners, even * Adjoining the glacis of Fort St. George, to the northward, is a large town, commonly called the Black town, and which is fortified fufficiently to prevent any furprife by a body of horfe. INDIA. 7 to the doors and window-blinds ; this indeed was no more than neceffary, as the enemy extended their depredations even to the walls of Madras; and no fecurity could be found without the fort ; until the camp was formed at the Mount, a place about ten Englifh miles weft of Ma- dras. Every gentleman now poffeffmg a houfe within the fort, was happy in accommodating the family of his friend ; who before had refided on Choultry plain.* The troops being colIe£led from different quarters, with provifions and a proper train of artillery, the vanquifhed fpirits of the people appeared to revive ; and the reyot was again feen cultivating his rice fields, or cohering the fruits. Nothing lefs was expected when the army took the field, but that Hyder Ally would very foon be efcorted by a party of our troops into Fort St. George, and there make a public atonement for the miferies he had occafioned. This vifion foon vanifhed, in the un- happy fate of Colonel Baillie’s detachment, and the return * The country near Madras is a perfedt flat, on which is built, at a fmall diftance from the fort, a fmall Choultry: thefe are publick buildings found all over Hindoftan, and are of Hindoo origin ; they are in fad! analogous to thofe buildings called caravanferais, well known through Alia. They have been eredted and endowed by the liberality of princes, or the benevolence and piety of indivi- duals. A Bramin generally attends them who adminifters relief to the poor and diftrefied, w ho are frequently fupplied alfo with a matt to lie on, tanks, or refervoirs of water, or wells, are commonly near them. 8 TRAVELS IN of the army from a three week’s campaign, reduced in its numbers and difpirited by its Ioffes. Thefe circumftances are too ftrongly marked in the page of hiflory to make it neceffary to recount their particulars in a defcriptive work like this. The arrival of Sir Eyre Coote from Bengal, with money and other fupplies, in September, and the ac- tive meafures purfued by that gallant officer, reffored con- fidence to the troops ; and the mofl fanguine hopes of the inhabitants from his exertions were not difappointed. The opportunities that offer to a painter are few, in a country which is over-run by an a£tive enemy. I made how- ever among others a drawing of Marmalong bridge, which is a very modern work, built, as I am informed, at the private expence of an Armenian merchant. It is over a fmall ri- ver that runs near the mount, and falls into the fea at a little diflance before the village of St. Thoma, four miles to the fouthward of Madras. The Portugueze had formerly a confiderable fettlement at this village. The church and the dwelling-houfes of a few Portugueze families yet remain here. The legendary tale of the Roman Catholic church is, that St. Thomas the apoftle, in the courfe of his mif- fion to India, fuffered martyrdom on the fpot where the church is built. The fettlement of Madras was formed by the Englifh at or about the middle of the laft century, and was a INDIA. 9 place of no real confequence, but for its trade, until the war fo ably carried on by General Stringer Lawrence, from the years 1748 to 1752 ; and which originated from the claims of Chunda Saib, in oppofition to our ally Mahomed Ally Cawn, the prefent Nabob of Arcot ; from which period the Englifh may be confidered as Sovereigns. In the fchool of this able officer the late Lord Clive received his military education. Fort St. George, or Madras, rifes, as has been already in- timated, from the margin of the fea, and is allowed by the ableil engineers to be a place of confiderable flrength. It was planned by the ingenious Mr. Robins, the author of Lord Anfon’s Voyages, who was eminent for his general and philofophical, as well as for his mathematical knowledge. Since his time many works have been added. In Fort St. George are many handfome and fpacious flreets. The houfes may be confidered as elegant, and par- ticularly fo from the beautiful material with which they are finiffied, the chunam. The inner apartments are not highly decorated, prefenting to the eye only white walls; which, how- ever, from the marble-like appearance of the flucco, give a frefhnefs grateful in fo hot a country. Ceilings are very un- common in the rooms. Indeed it is impoffible to find any which will refill the ravages of that definitive infefl the white ant. Thefe animals are chiefly formidable from c 10 TRAVELS IN the immenfity of their numbers, which are fuch as to deftroy, in one night’s time, a ceiling of any dimenfions. I faw an inftance in the ceiling to the portico of the Ad- miralty, or Governor’s houfe, which fell in flakes of twenty feet fquare. It is the wood work which ferves for the bafis of the ceilings, fuch as the laths, beams, & c. that thefe infers attack ; and this will ferve to explain the circum- ffance I have jult mentioned. The houfes on Choultry plain are many of them beau- tiful pieces of architecture, the apartments fpacious and magnificent. I know not that I ever felt more delight, than in going on a vifit to a family on Choultry plain, foon after my arrival at Madras, in the cool of the evening, after a very hot day. The moon fhone in its fulleft luftre, not a cloud overcaft the fky, and every houfe on the plain was illuminated. Each family, with their friends, were in the open porticoes, enjoying the breeze. Such a fcene appears more like a tale of enchantment than a reality, to the imagina- tion of a Itranger juft arrived. There are few objefts to be met with here, which ferve to illuflrate the hiftory or charafters of the original in- habitants of India. One, however, is too curious to be omitted, and that is a beautiful Hindoo Temple, or Pagoda, at Triplecane, two miles fouth of Madras. It is of confi- derable magnitude ; and the top of the building rifing con- INDIA. 1 1 fiderably above the trees, it is been all over the country. Adjoining to the temple is a large tank, with fteps defend- ing to the bottom, filled with water. The whole is of (lone, and the mafonry excellent. On the furface of the temple are many baffo relievos, which I fuppofe to relate to the religion of the Hindoos ; but whether they are conneHed with the rites and worfhip of Bramah or not, I am not able to fay : for fome of them are of the moft indecent kind. I made an accurate drawing of this building, which was fent to England, and loft on board the General Barker Eaft In- diaman, when that (hip was wrecked on the coaft of Holland, in 1781 ; but as I have made drawings of other Hindoo temples, I lefs lament the lofs. The annexed plate, a view of the great Pagoda at Tanjore, is from a picture which I painted from an accurate drawing made by Mr. Topping, an ingenious friend of mine, now on a furvey of the coaft 1 of Coromandel for the Hon. the Eaft India Company, and will ferve to give the reader a general idea of thefe efforts of Indian architecture. c 2 f a View of the Great Pagoda at Tan t j< a^cA^j2u-MlL //..//■Vyr.j 11 J_. ^ z’//f •/'///>// o^r //v J. Edwaxls, PaH TSlall J an\ o-xyg^ . INDIA. 27 Hindoo temples are beautifully carved : but of this I fhall have occafion to fpeak hereafter, when I treat of the fubjeCt of Hindoo architecture. / I proceeded from Sultungunge to Bauglepoor, where my purfuits were promoted with a degree of liberality that peculiarly marked the mind of the gentleman who then go- verned this diltriCt ; and of whom, in common gratitude, I muft ever fpeak with veneration and elteem. At the en- trance of the town of Bauglepoor, I made a drawing of a banyan tree, of which a plate is annexed. This is one of thofe curious productions in nature which cannot fail to excite the attention of the traveller. The branches of this tree having {hoots depending from them, and taking root, again produce, and become the parents of others. Thefe trees, in many inftances, cover fuch an extent of ground, that hundreds of people may take fhelter under one of them from the fcorching rays of the fun. The care that was taken in the government, and the minute attention to the happi* nefs of the people, rendered this diltriCt, at this time, (1781) a perfect paradife. It was not uncommon to fee the manufacturer at his loom, in the cool {hade, attended by his friend foftening his labour by the tender {trains of mufic. There are to be met with in India many old pictures repre- fenting fimilar fubjeCts, in the happy times of the Mogul government. e 2 28 TRAVELS IN The fituation of the Refident’s houfe, built by Mr. Cleveland, is on a very elevated fpot : it is on the banks of a nullah, forming a large ifland, bounded by the Ganges on one fide, and the nullah encircling the other : the ifland is about four miles acrofs, On the other fide is a beautiful park-like country, with clumps of great trees, feparated by glades ; the whole bounded by wood. This place owes its principal beauty to the good tafte of Mr. Cleveland. Fr om Bauglepoor to Mongheir, is between thirty and forty Englifh miles. The roads are good, the country highly cultivated, and the villages neat. Along the fide of the road are the burial places of the Muflulmans ; for they, like the ancient Greeks, always bury by or near the high- ways : thofe of the common people are mounds of earth, covering the whole length of the body, with a fmall fquare column at the head, about three feet high, and another, not more than eighteen inches, at the feet : thofe of fuperior rank have maufoleums, decorated in proportion to the wealth or munificence of the family. It is a cuflom with the women of the family to attend thefe tombs of their friends, or nearefl: and mod valued relations, after fun-fet ; and it is both affe&ing and curious to fee them proceeding in groups, carrying lamps in their hands, which they place at the head of the tomb : the effe£l, confidered in a pitturefque fight, is highly beautiful ; with that of fentiment, it is de- lightful. A print of this fubjeft is fubjoined. MAHOMMEDAN WOMEN attending; flieTOMSS of their Parents, Relatives, or Friends, at NIGHT. X? C ■ //yi// /’?// /ty //////, J ///;?/"// // ////t. (2j//os/ys/j 7i.,// . L oncl on , T? ublifhe cl_ 1> v .T. EAwar3s. FaH^MnlL, Ja ( v> - INDIA. 29 Monoheir is a large Indian town, with an old fort. One fide of the fort is flanked by the Ganges, and that to the land by a wide and deep ditch. There are three principal gates ; one on the fide next the river, another on the ealt fide, and another on the fouth. That to the eaft appears to have been very flrong : the walls are flanked with fquare towers, in the old bile of cables ; many fimilar ruins being now to be found in England. The fort was built in the middle of the lab century, by Sultan Sujah ; but the place is famous for being a military bation many centuries back.* The area within the walls of the fort is very confiderable ; it is generally made a bation for a part of the Englifh troops; and there is a houfe here for the commanding officer, built by the late General Goddard. From Calcutta to Mongheir the face of the country is ex- tremely varied. Bengal, however, to the entrance into the province of Bahar, is almob a perfeft bat, or the rife is fo gentle as not to be perceived. The foil is rich, conbbing chieby of a black earth, intermixt with bne fand. From Rajemahel it affumes a different character ; hills are feen ribng in many parts into mountains, and covered with im- menfe forebs of timber : the foil here is alfo more arid, and the air drier, than in the lower parts of Bengal. The heat * On this fpot was found, a few years back, a brafs plate, with a Sanfchrite infcription of a grant, as early as the firft century of Chriftianity. 3 ° TRAVELS IN in the months of March, April, and May, is immoderate ; and, until it becomes tempered by the rains that condantly fall in June and July, it is dreadful to the bearers of the pallankeens to 'travel in the middle of the day: the dud and heat are then, indeed, fo intolerable, that they are frequently under the necelfity of putting down their burthens, and fliel- tering themfelves beneath the fhade of the banyan trees, many of which are found on the road, particularly by the fide of wells, or fome little choultry on the borders of a tank. The number of thefe rural accommodations for travellers re- deft the higheft credit on the care of the old Hindoo and Moor- ifh governments. It is particularly mentioned in the life of the Emperor Shere Shah, that, although a ufurper who obtained the empire by the mod atrocious afts, he paid the mod humane attention to the comforts and accommodations of his people. He caufed wells to be dug at every cofs, (or two miles) and trees to be planted on the road dde. At many of thefe wells have I halted in my journies. They are, in general, from ten to fourteen feet in diameter, and lined with done: the mafonry excellent; and they are raifed from the furface of the ground by a little wall two feet high. I fliould have remarked that, throughout Bengal and Bahar, the water is excellent. It is extremely pleafant to obferve the variety of travellers that are to be met with on the road; either pading along in groups, under the diade of fome fpreading tree, by the fide of the wells or tanks. In one part may be feen the native foldiers, their half pikes dicking . . ArjBfi! j jn! OW^-y tt'ffo (Cyy WHode/es JLA . L oiidoiijPublitliecl "by J Y. dward s, F a 11 M all, J an- iy 7 cj 3 . S T AN . X •' ' INDIA. 3 1 by their fide, and their fhields lying by them, with their fabres and matchlocks ; in another part is, perhaps, a com- pany of merchants, engaged in calculation, or of devotees in the aft of focial worfhip ; and in another, the common Hindoo pallankeen bearers baking their bread. This opera- tion is performed in an eafy and expeditious manner by thefe people : they make a fma.ll hole in the earth of about a foot in diameter, in which they light a fire, and on the top of the fire they place a flat iron plate, which they always carry with them, and which they fupport with ftones ; they mix their flour with a little water, and bake their cakes, which are foon drefled, are very wholefome, and I think not un- palatable. On the whole, I mull fay, that the fimplicity and primitive appearance of thefe groups delighted me. It is not uncommon alfo, in excursions through thefe parts of the country, to meet with various fakirs, with a more than favage appearance. Sometimes whole families may be feen travelling up and down the country, forming mod beautiful pifturefque groups ; fometimes with camels loaded with goods ; fome of the party riding on bullocks, the females in hackeries, and the younger part of the company on fmall horfes, brought from the mountains bordering the eaftern fide of Bengal. Thefe horfes are called tanyans, and are mofily pye-bald. The men march on foot, armed with fpears and matchlocks : their fabres and Shields are flung acrofs their backs. Thefe are certainly valuable fubjefts for TRAVELS IN the painter. The lodgings of the traveller in India are the ferais, or caravanferais, (or places for the caravans) as they are called in Europe. Many of thefe are in the great roads, and have been erefted either by charitable perfons, or at the public expence. The Emperor, whom I have already men- tioned for his attention to the public accommodation, built many, from the extremity of Bengal to Lahore. There is a noble building of this kind remaining at Rajemahel, built by Sultan Sujab, when Subah of Bengal. The form is a fquare of equal fides ; the entrance from the Bengal road is through a large and highly ornamented gate, which alfo polfelfes mi- litary (Length no lefs than beauty. Round the four fides is a wall about twenty feet high ; attached to the wall round the fides are feparate apartments, covered on the top, and open to the center of the area within. In thefe places the traveller lodges his goods, and deeps ; the area within the fquare is for the beads. Attendant on thefe ferais are poor people, who furnifh a fmall beddead for the traveller to deep on, and who are rewarded by a triding fum, amounting to perhaps a penny Englifh. The Mahomedan is, in general, a generous man compared with the Hindoo on thefe occadons. Oppofite the Bengal gate is another in this ferai ; which, however, is nothing more than merely an opening through the wall. From Mongheir I embarked, and returned by w T ater to Calcutta; and here I had an opportunity of obferving a fe- INDIA. 33 ries of fcenery perfectly new ; the different boats of the country, and the varied (hores of the Ganges. This im- menfe current of water fuggefts rather the idea of an ocean than of a river, the general breadth of it being from two to five miles, and in fome places more. The largeft boats failing up or paffing down, appear, when in the middle of the ftream, as mere points, and the eaftern fhore only as a dark line marking the horizon. The rivers I have feen in Europe, even the Rhine, appear as rivulets in comparifon with this enormous mafs of water. I do not know a more pleafant amufement than failing down the Ganges in the warm feafon : the air, paffing over the great reaches of the river many miles in length, is fo tempered as to feel delight- fully refrefhing. After fun-fet the boats are generally moored clofe to the banks, where the Ihore is bold, and near a gunge or market, for the accommodation of the people. It is common, on the banks of the river, to fee fmall Hindoo temples, with gauts or paffages, and flights of fteps to the river. In the mornings, at or after fun-rife, the women bathe in the river ; and the younger part, in particular, con- tinue a confiderable time in the water, fporting and playing like Naiads or Syrens. To a painters mind, the fine an- tique figures never fail to prefent themfelves, when he ob- ferves a beautiful female form afcending thefe fteps from the river, with wet drapery, which perfectly difplays the whole perfon, and with vafes on their heads, carrying water to the temples. A fight no lefs novel or extraordinary, is the Bra- f 34 TRAVELS IN mins at their oraifons; perfectly abllraCted, for the time, to every palling object, however attractive. Thefe devotees are generally naked, except a fmall piece of drapery round the middle. A furprizing fpirit of cleanlinefs is to be ob- ferved among the Hindoos : the flreets of their villages are commonly fwept and watered, and fand is frequently flrewed before the doors of the houfes. The fimplicity, and perfect- ly modeft character, of the Hindoo women, cannot but arreft the attention of a ftranger. With downcalt eye, and equal hep, they proceed along, and fcarcely turn to the right or to the left to obferve a foreigner as he palfes, how- ever new or lingular his appearance. The men are no lefs remarkable for their hofpitality, and are conllantly attentive to accommodate the traveller in his wants. During the whole of the journey in my pallankeen, whatever I wanted, as boiling water for my tea, milk, eggs, &c. &c. I never met with impofition or delay, but always experienced an uncommon readinefs to oblige, and that accompanied with manners the moll fimple and accommodating. In perfeCt oppolition is the Mulfulman character; — haughty, not to fay infolent ; irritable, and ferocious. I beg, however, to be underflood of the lower clalfes ; for a Moorifh gentleman may be confidered as a perfeCt model of a well bred man. The Hindoos are chiefly hufbandmen, manufacturers, and mer- chants, except two tribes — the Rajapoots, who are military, and the Bramins, who are eccleliaftics. The Mulfulmans may be claffed as entirely military, as few of them exercife INDIA. 35 any other employment, except colle&ing the revenues, which under the Moorilh governments have been always done by military force. At this feafon of the year it is not uncommon, towards the evening, to fee a fmall black cloud riling in the eaftern part of the horizon, and afterwards fpreading itfelf to the north-weft. This phenomenon is always attended with a violent ftorm of wind, and flafhes of the ftrongeft and moft vivid lightning and heavy thunder, which is followed by rain. Tnefe ftorms fometimes laft for half an hour or more ; and when they difperfe they leave the air greatly frefhened, and the Iky of a deep, clear, and tranfparent blue. When they occur near the full moon, the whole atmofphere is illumin- ated by a foft but brilliant filver light, attended with gentle airs, as Shakefpeare has exprefted — “ When the fweet wind did gently kifs the trees, “ And they did make no noife.” Passing by the city of Moorlhedabad, on the evening of a Muflulrnan holiday, I was much entertained to fee the river covered with innumerable lights, juft floating above the furface of the water. Such an uncommon appearance was, at firft, difficult to account for; but I found, upon enquiry, that upon thefe occafions they fabricate a number of fmall lamps, which they light and fet afloat on the river: the ftream conftantly running down, they are carried to a \ t 36 TRAVELS IN confiderable diftance, and laft for many hours. After a paf- fage of a few days from Mongheir, I arrived at Calcutta. Several of the fubjefts I had collefied in my journey were painted for the Honourable the then Governor General ; two of them on a large fcale 3 viz. the Falls of Mootejerna, and the Ruins of Rajemahel. INDIA. 37 CHAP. III. Embark in the Train of the Governor General— Boats of the Country defer ibed — Remarks on thofe of the South Sea — Views on the River — Dutch , French , and Danifh Settle- ments — Sir Eyre Cootes — CoJJimbuzen — Sir John D’Oyley’s - — Patna — Reception of the Governor there — Mofque of Moonhier — Arrive at Buxar — Gazipoor — Curious Ruins — Benares — Arrejl of the Rajah — InfurreClion at Benares — Principal Events of the War — Flight from Benares, and Return thither. I DID not remain long in the capital of Bengal, on my return from Mongheir, before a new opportunity was pre- fented to me of again indulging the curiofity which I felt both as an artift and a man, to enlarge my acquaintance with a country fo fertile in the beauties of nature at lead. It being determined by the Bengal Government that it was expedient, for the public utility, that the Governor General fhould make a tour through a part of the country, Mr. Haftings, with that liberality and attention to the arts which has ever chara&erized his conduCt, acceded to my requeft, and permitted me to accompany him. 38 TRAVELS IN On the 25th of June, 1781, therefore, I embarked in a budgerow for this expedition. The periodical rains had now commenced, and every natural object prefented a new face, with fuch a frefhnefs of verdure, and with fuch vigour and Julnefs of foliage, that all nature appeared in the utmoft luxuriance. From the number, of gentlemen who neceflarily attended the Governor General, the fleet was very large, and confided of every variety of the boats of the country, ex- cept thofe which are called burs, and of which we met with feveral in our courfe. Thefe veflels are large rude barks, the hides of which are raifed very high, and fewed together with the fibres of the cocoa nut tree. They have only a fingle mail, with a large fquare fail, and the bottoms of them are nearly flat. They take in a great quantity of wa- ter from their fides and bottoms, which compels the crew to employ fome people continually in bailing. They are ufed for the carriage of cotton, and other very bulky materials, the weight of which cannot bear any proportion to their fize. Indeed, it would be impraflicable to employ boats which were calculated to draw any confiderable quantity of water on this river, as the navigation is extremely dangerous, from the fands being conflantly fhifting. I have known an ifland, four miles in length, and containing fome villages, wholly fwept away in one feafon ; in the mean time, at a little diftance, other iflands were formed, from the fands being thrown up. This phenomenon took place off the point of Rajemahel, in the year 1782. INDIA. 39 The boats ufed by the natives for travelling, and alfo by Europeans, are the budgerows, which both fail and row : they have in general from twelve to twenty oars. Thefe boats vary in their fize according to the condition of their owners; fome may be about fixty feet in length, having very high Herns; many of them twelve feet from the water’s edge, and quite fharp at the upper point : in the center they are broad, hav- ing a confiderable bearing in the water, and quite fharp for- ward. They are fleered with a large paddle or oar, extending ten feet from the ftern ; and there is generally one mail; in the center, on which is hoifled a large fquare fail : they have like- wife a topmaft, on which is a fquare fail for fine weather. Thefe boats are ill calculated to go near the wind, and indeed are dangerous, from the great weight abaft ; they are, how- ever, extremely commodious, having in the center a fmall ve- rander, or open portico, opening by a door into a handfome room, lighted by a range of windows on each fide. This is the dining or fitting room, within which is a convenient bed chamber, generally containing a fmall clofet : the heighth of the fitting room is ufually from feven to nine feet. Be- fides this boat, a gentleman is ufually attended by two others; a pulwah, for the accommodation of the kitchen, and a fmaller boat, a paunchway, which is deftined to con- vey him either on fhore or on board, as it frequently hap- pens that the budgerow cannot come clofe to the fhores, where he might wifh to land. Thefe boats fail more expe- ditioufly than the budgerows ; but the paunchways are 4 o TRAVELS IN nearly of the fame general conftru&ion, with this difference, that the greatefl breadth is fomewhat farther aft, and the fterns lower : the pulwahs are a broad boat, and not fo fharp forward or aft as the other two. The Englifh gentle- men have made great improvements on the budgerow in Bengal, by introducing a broad flat floor, fquare fterns, and broad bows.* Thefe boats are much fafer, fail near and keep their wind, and there is no danger attending their taking the ground ; they are, beftdes, calculated for carry- ing a greater quantity of fail. Another boat of this country, which is very curioufly conftrufted, is called a Moor-punky : thefe are very long and narrow, fometimes extending to up- wards of an hundred feet in length, and not more than eight feet in breadth ; they are always paddled, fometimes by forty men, and are fleered by a large paddle from the ftern, which rifes either in the fliape of a peacock, a fnake, or fome other animal. The perfons employed to paddle are dire£led by a man who Hands up, and fometimes he makes ufe of a branch of a plant to diredt their motions. In one part of the ftern is a canopy fupported by pillars, in which are feated the owner and his friends, who partake together of the refrefhing breezes of the evening. Thefe boats are very expenfive, owing to the beautiful decorations of painted and gilt ornaments, which are highly varnifhed, and exhibit a very conftderable degree of tafte. It was curious to me to obferve the perfe£l fimilarity in manners between the inha- bitants of this country and the people of Otaheite in thefe INDIA. 4i water excurfions. The pleafure boats of the South Sea iflanders are, in many inftances, fimilar to thefe : working in an ocean, they found the neceflity of applying an out rig- ger, or of lafhing two velfels together, to prevent overfet- ting. Like the boats I am fpeaking of, they are worked by paddles, and are alfo directed by a man holding a branch, who, in common with the perfon in the Moor-punky, ules much gefticulation, and tells his ftory to excite either laugh- ter or exertion. My former palfage down the river to Cal* cutta was too rapid to allow of more obfervation than what related to the general appearance of the villages and towns on its banks. The ftream is ufually calculated to run at the rate of five miles an hour; but the rapidity of the flood, during the rainy feafon, is increafed, and round fome of the points in the river it is very great. Should it be calm wea- ther when the flood is thus impetuous, the boatmen endure much fatigue in towing round thefe points againft the ftream, and particularly fo where the banks are very high ; and fome of them, in the great river, are equal to the top of the mail of a common budgerow. At a fmall diftance above Calcutta is the Danifh fettle- ment of Serampoor, where there is a neat town, which carries on a confiderable trade. Both fides of the river are decorated with a few houfes belonging to Englilh gentlemen: at Ghiretty, twenty miles from Calcutta, is a very fine feat, which, in the year 1781, was inhabited by the family of the g 42 TRAVELS IN late Sir Eyre Coote, who at that time was fighting the battles of his country on the plains of the Carnatic ; where his health and life fell a facrifice to his great exertions. With an army of never more than feven thoufand effeftive men, this expe- rienced General kept the whole power of Hyder Ally at bay, and at all times was fuperior in aftion to the mul- titudes of the enemy, who were fupported by a molt for- midable train of artillery, and immenfe bodies of ca- valry. A little above this is the French fettlement of Chan- dernagore, and the ruins of the fort evince it to have been confiderable. The fort was deftroyed by Commodore Wat- fon in 1758, in a fevere aftion, which was particularly dif- tinguilhed by the gallantry of Captain Speke, who loft his fon on the quarter-deck of his own (hip during the engage- ment. Near to this is the town of Chinfurah, the Dutch fet- tlement, on the banks of the river : this town is very diftin- guilhable at a confiderable diftance, and has a handfome appearance. It contains feveral good houfes, and a church, with a little mole projefting into the river. Chinfurah lies nearly midway between Chandernagore and the old town of Hoogly, which is now nearly in ruins, but pofteftes many veftiges of its former greatnefs. In the beginning of this cen- tury it was the great mart for the export trade of Bengal to Europe. From this place we pafs by Culna and Nuddea, (both confiderable towns) in our way to Cutwa, which was INDIA. 43 made famous by the retreat of Aliverdy Cawn, in the face of a large Marhatta army, in May 1742. After palling Plalfy, which has been already mentioned* is the great military 11a- tion, in Bengal, Burhampoor, where there are barracks for ten thoufand men ; and a little above is the illand of Colfim- buzar, in which is a fadlory belonging to the Englifh comr pany, where a commercial refident is conflantly ftationed: the gentleman then refident was Mr. S. Droz, whofe polite attentions to me I fhall always remember with pleafure. On this illand there is likewife a Dutch factory. At a fhort dif- tance from Colfimbuzar is the city of Moorlhedabad, where, at the period of which I am fpeaking, refided Sir John D’Oyley, then engaged in a political department. The li- berality and attentions of this gentleman to every perfon travelling this road are well known ; and in his houfe, I may truly fay, reigned the very fpirit of old Englilh hofpitality. From Moorlhedabad the Hoogly river continues to Sooty, where is the entrance into the Ganges. From this place to Mongheir it is ufual to keep on the weftern fhore, and nearly all the way to Patna, unlefs a leading breeze from the fouth- ward and eallward fhould enable the boatmen to fleer as nearly from point to point as the fhoals will admit. Every where on either fide of the river there are collec- tions of villages, and the country is in high cultivation. When the fleet arrived at the city of Patna the fhores were lined with people, the windows in the houfes on the g 2 44 TRAVELS IN banks of the river were filled, even the tops of the build- ings and every wall was crouded, fo that when the Governor General went on Ihore, it was fcarcely polfible to proceed, from the multitude, which preffed on every fide, to falute him. When he had paffed them, all appeared ftruck with the fimplicity of his appearance, and his ready and conftant attention to prevent any injury to the meaneft individual from the irrafcibility of his Chubdars, or other fervants, who endeavoured to keep them from prefiing in. They could not but contrail this appearance and conduft with that of their Nabobs, whom they had never feen except mounted on lofty elephants, and glittering in fplendor with their train, followed by the foldiery to keep off the multi- tude from offending their arrogance and pride. The city of Patna, the principal feat of the province and government of Bahar, is long and narrow, containing a great number of inhabitants : this is the refidence of the political and commercial chiefs, and the courts of juftice of the province. It has been famous for ages. Major Rennel, whofe judgement is fcarcely to be difputed, places the an- cient city of Palebothra upon the fcite of Patna. The buildings are high, and the ftreets narrow and far from clean. Patna contains a fort, in which were confined the prifoners taken by Meer Coffim, Nabob of Bengal, in the war of 1764, by whofe order they were maffacred. The execution of this moll atrocious aft was committed to Sum- INDIA. 45 maroo, a French renegado in the fervice of the Nabob. The confequence of this fcene of horror was, the expulfion of the Nabob, who afterwards drew the late Sujah ul Dow- Iah, Nabob of Oude, into a war with the Englifh, which terminated fo favourably and fo honourably to the Britifh charafter at the battle of Buxar ; when a peace was made, leaving the conquerors in the undifturbed pofieflion of Ben- gal, Bahar, and part of Orixa. Meer Colfim became after- wards, from his crimes, an outcaft from fociety, and is re- ported to have died of want under the walls of Delhi, being prohibited from entering the city. From Patna I made an excurlion inland, about five cofs, to view the mofque of Moonhier, oh the river Soane. This building, though not large, is certainly very beautiful : it is a fquare, with pavilions rifing from the angles ; and in the center is a majeflic dome, the top of which is finilhed by what the Indian architefls call a cullus : the line of the curve of the dome is not broken, but is continued by an inverted curve until it finifhes in a crefcent. I cannot but greatly prefer this to the manner in which all great domes are finilhed in Europe, by ere&ing a fmall building on the top, which, at the point of contaft with the dome, has a fharp angle. The outer furface of this dome is ornamented by plantane leaves cut in ftone, covering the whole ; the lines interfefl each other in great lozenges, and form altogether a beautiful ornament. The great entrance to the mofque is TRAVELS IN 46 fimilar to many of ' the doors to our large Gothic cathedrals, having columns diminifhing as it were in perfpeftive to the inner door. There is a large tank belonging to it, with feveral buildings riling from the water, containing pavilions. The whole, however, is much decayed. The river Soane falls into the Ganges a little above Patna : at a fmall diftance from Patna is Bankepour, where are the refidences of the Englifh gentlemen, and near to which is the military ftation of Dinapour. From Patna I followed the fleet, and pafled the mouth of the river Caramnafla, the boundary of Bahar, and on the 12th of Auguft arrived at Buxar. This is a fort and fmall military ftation, and was, at the time I was there, commanded by Major Eaton. We proceeded from this place to Gazipoor, on the eaftern fhore of the Ganges. At this place are the ruins of a fine palace, built in the begin- ning of this century. It is raifed on a high bank, and on a point commanding two great reaches of the river, up and down. From the Tank, which is full thirty feet from the water, is raifed another bafement of brick and mafonry fif- teen feet high, in which are fome apartments : on this is the building, which is an oblong fquare, with great pavilions at the angles, and in the center of each fide: the whole is an open fpace, fupported by colonades furrounding it. Within, on the floor of the building, is a channel for water about four INDIA. 47 feet wide ; it encircles the floor, and, at equal fpaces, there were formerly fountains. In the center of the building is a fpace fufficient to contain twenty people. Nearly adjoining to this palace is a building for the purpofe of raifing water for the fountains, and fupplying them by the means of pipes, which communicate with each other. About two miles inland from the river are the remains of a ferai ; and, nearly adjoining, tombs, built at the fame period as the palace. Thefe buildings are in a fine taffe of Moorifh architecture, and in very good repair. Views of both the palace and tombs are exhibited to the public in a work which I publifhed, containing Views in India. From Gazipoor I proceeded to Benares, a diflance of twenty Englifh miles, and arrived there the day after the Governor General with his fuite. I felt a real pleafure on my arrival at this place, from being able to contemplate the pure Hindoo manners, arts, buildings, and cuftoms, undepraved by any intermixture with the Mahomedans; and laid my plans for obferving with the utmolf attention whatever came within the fphere of a painter’s notice. The unhappy events that immediately fucceeded fruftrated, for the prefent, thofe defigns. TRAVELS IN It would give me pleafure to fatisfy the curiolity of the reader concerning the circumftances of that war, but it would be foreign to the objeft of thefe pages to enter upon a minute detail ; and the public is already in poffeffion of the great outline of the fa£ls. Some notes, however, which I made on the fpot, and at the time, may prove not quite uninterefting, and I flatter myfelf will contain fomething of original information. It is not my bufinefs to enter into the queftion refpefting the rights of the government in different countries and thofe of the governed. Fafts are my object, and fuch alone as fell within the limited and confined fphere of my notice. On my arrival, the 15th of Auguft, the general converfation turned upon the conduft of Cheyt Sing, the Zemendar of the province. It is neceffary in this place to remark, that the word Zemendar implies fimply a land-holder, either by a right of inheritance, or as a renter merely ; if by right of inheri- tance, the government, virtually being the proprietors of the foil, if they think proper may poffefs themfelves of it by the laws of Hindoftan, paying to the Zemendar ten per cent, out of fuch Zemendary. Rajah Cheyt Sing had met the Governor General at Buxar, attended with a confiderable train, and a large fleet of boats, in which were two thou- fand armed men, felefted from the flower of the military of Benares, and fuppofed at the time, and reafonably fo, to be intended for the purpofe of fupporting him in the re- INDIA. 49 fufal of fuch demands as might be made upon him by the Governor General, and to prevent the exertion of force in fupport of the Britifh authority. The caufe of difagreement between the Britifh government and the Zemendar of Benares is well known. It is, however, merely an aft of common jufiice to Hate, that, during my whole refidence in India, I never fo much as heard the guilt and perfidy of Cheyt Sing once called in queftion. It was no- torious that he was in the intereft of the enemy ; and it was equally notorious that he with -held, under the moft trifling and falfe pretences, the affifiance which was demanded of him, and which by the nature of his treaty he was bound to furnifh : in a word, it was notorious to every perfon that he wanted only a convenient opportunity to withdraw his al- legiance from the company. After feveral letters and meffages had paffed between Cheyt Sing and the Governor General, the Refident, Mr. Markham, received orders to put the Rajah under arreft, at his houfe at Sewalla Gaut, on the banks of the river, to which he quietly fubmitted, without any appearance of op- pofition. This was on the 16th ; and about one o’clock in the afternoon we were informed that a large body of the Rajah’s people had croffed from Ramnagur to the Benares fide of the river, and had furrounded the Rajah’s houfe. A note was at the fame time received by the Refident, Mr. h TRAVELS IN 5 ° Markham, from Lieutenant Staulker, who had been left with two companies of Major Popham’s grenadier feapoys as a guard, faying that the people began to be troublefome, and requefting an immediate fupply of ammunition. It was now found that fuch delicacy had been obferved towards the Ra- jah, in order to prevent any fufpicion being entertained of an intention to carry the punifhment farther than was really propofed, that the feapoys mulkets were not loaded, nor had they (as no ferious oppofition was expefted) any ammunition. To this unfortunate circumftance may be attributed the un- happy fate of three very gallant officers, Lieutenants Staulker, Scott, and Sims, and two compleat companies of grenadier feapoys, not more than twenty efcaping with their lives, and numbers of thofe miferably wounded. As foon as the diflurbance became known. Major Pop- ham, who was then at Benares, fet off immediately for his camp at Marwaddy, about two cofs (or four miles) from the town, to lead the remainder of his people to the affiftance of their fellow foldiers. His utmoft exertions enabled them to arrive only in fufficient time to be the melancholy fpeflators of this horrid (laughter, without the power of revenging it, as the rebels had difperfed, and the Rajah had found means to make his efcape. Fortunately for the Englilh party in Benares, the re- bels were fatisfied with what they had effefted, the liberation I N D I A. 51 of the Rajah and the maffacre of the feapoys ; but had they attacked the Governor General in his then defencelefs dtua- tion, every perfon with him muft have fallen a facrifice to their fury. The following day every Englifhman attended the fune- ral of Lieutenants Staulker, Scott, and Sims ; and fome time after a monument to their memory was raifed over their remains. The gloom that fucceeded was truly melan- choly ; the bufmefs of the city was dopt, and it was deferted by great numbers of the inhabitants. In palfmg through the ibreets knots of people, all of them armed, were ob- ferved fecretly confulting. From this fituation we were roufed by an unhappy affair, arifing from the ill-judged am- bition of Captain Mayaffer, who commanded the remainder of Major Popham’s detachment at Mizapoor, on the oppo- fite fide of the river, confiding of a battalion of feapoys, and Captain Doxat’s corps of chaffeurs, reinforced by Captain Blair’s battalion of feapoys from Chunar. This officer, con- trary to pofitive orders, led the troops to the attack of Ram- nagur, a fort and town on the oppofite lide of the river to Benares. The dreets of this town are narrow, and every houfe being built with done, they became each a fortidcation, which was dlled with the Rajah’s people. The confequence of this rafh conduct was, the lofs of Captain Mayaffer, Cap- tain Doxat, thirty-three of the corps of chaffeurs, two guns, one howitzer, and one hundred and three men of all deno- minations. The news of this check reached us on the 21ft. in the morning, and was foon followed by advices of the intentions of the rebels to make an attack on Benares that night ; it was therefore thought advifable to leave this place of infecurity for Chunar, a diftance of twenty miles. This refolution was taken at feven in the evening, and the whole party was clear of the town by half pah eight o’clock. The confufion natural on fuch an occafion foon fubfided ; and the party, including fervants, & c. with the troops, which amounted to about four hundred men, fafely arrived oppo- hte Chunar in the morning at feven o’clock. The night for- tunately turned out the moft favourable poftible ; it was light, clear, and cool. As the refolution was fuddenly taken, I was under the neceftity of leaving behind me the whole of my baggage, excepting my drawings, and a few changes of linen, which I had thrown into my pallankeen, and which in the confufion of the night I loft fight of, but found my fervants on the following day. In the party was Beneram Pundit, the Berar Vakeel,* and his bro- ther Bilfumber Pundit, who, from motives of the ftrongeft perfonal attachment to Mr. Haftings, left their family in Benares, to attend him, and fet what in that country is a very extraordinary example, a native voluntarily (haring in the dangers and diftreftes of a European, without a view to his own private advantage. * Vakeel is an Agent from one court to another. INDIA. 53 On this occafion it cannot be improper to mention the handfome and liberal conduct of every gentleman in the garrifon of Chunar to thofe who attended the Governor General. I feel ftrongly the attentions fhewn me at this time by my friend Major, now Colonel Gardner, at whofe houfe, during my flav at Chunar, I received every kind of hofpitality. The war was now completely commenced, with great difadvantage on the part of the Englifh ; their number fmall, and befieged in a fort, without provifion to laft a month, or money to pay the few troops, which were already confider- ably in arrears, owing to the mifconduft of the Rajah, who had now fixed his ftandard on the fort of Lutteefpoor, in the jungles,* and who was recruiting his army. The feveral or- ders that had been fent by the Governor General to the commanding officers, who were within a moderate difiance, to march to his affiftance, were either cut off by the enemy, or, from the fears of the mefiengers, thefe orders were fecreted, and were never heard of afterwards. One of the Hircarrahs,fi however, reached Lieutenant Polhil, then at Allahabad, who immediately marched with his corps of three hundred and eighty men, and reached the oppofite ffiore of Chunar on the 27th. In the mean time, a perfon in the fervice of # Jungles, clofe woods. t Hircarrahs are fervants, ufed for carrying orders or melTages to anydiflance. 54 TRAVELS IN Cheyt Sing, at Iionpoor, on the river Goomty, had collected a body of two thoufand matchlock men, and one hundred and fifty horfe, and had taken poft at a fmall fort called Seker, on the oppofite fide of the river to Chunar. This man Lieutenant Polhil received orders to attack on the fol- lowing morning, which order he executed with fuccefs : he drove the enemy, and took poffefhon of the fort, and fecured a confiderable quantity of grain. This was a valuable ac- quifition to the party, for it was now found, from the tem- per of the people and the complexion of the times, that fcarcely as much grain could be procured as would ferve the daily confumption of the garrifon. The Rajah’s force at this time was faid to be ten thoufand ftrong, and his oflenfi- ble force was daily increafing. Major Popham’s camp lay at two miles diflance from the fort ; and on the third of September he detached a party, under the command of Captain Blair, with an intention to break up a camp of the enemy which was formed under the walls of Pateeta, and which was carried into execution with great gallantry, though with confiderable lofs. Pateeta is a large town, furrounded by a rampart, and defended by a fort. The news of the infurre£lion had fpread to a confiderable diflance, and a force was detached from Cawnpoor, and from Lucknow, to the affiflance of the Governor General, INDIA. 55 under Majors Crab and Roberts, the firft of which reached Chunar on the 10th of September, and the latter gentleman on the 13th. Effeftive meafures were then taken to put a final period to the war, by attacking vigoroufly both the fort of Pateeta and that of Lutteefpoor, and both attacks happily fucceeded on the fame day, the Rajah flying from Lutteefpoor to take fanftuary in his ftrong hold of Bidjegur, I fhould have remarked, that Pateeta lies about four miles north of Chunar, and Lutteefpoor ten miles beyond, in the fame direc- tion : Bidjegur is fifty miles from Chunar. The cruel and fanguinary difpofition of Cheyt Sing was manifefted, during his refidence in Lutteefpoor, by an aflion of peculiar atrocity. Some wounded men who were taken prifoners in the t camp that was left at Mirzapoor, on the re- treat of the troops after the unhappy affair of Captain Mayaffer, had been conveyed to Lutteefpoor, where they were detained as prifoners. Upon hearing of the fuccefs of Captain Blair's party, the Rajah ordered the unhappy men to be bound and carried into the woods, and to be there maffacred in cold blood. One poor creature only efcaped in a very mangled condition into Chunar. The fort of Chunar is fituated on the Ganges, near twenty miles above the city of Benares : it is built on a rock, which is fortified all round by a wall, and towers at various diftances. At that end overlooking the river is fituated the 56 TRAVELS IN citadel, which has formerly been flrong. This fort is faid to be of the higheft antiquity, and originally built by the Hin- doos. In the citadel there is an altar, confiding of a plain black marble flab, on which the tutelary deity of the place is traditionally at all times fuppofed to be feated, except from fun-rife until nine o’clock in the morning, when he is at Benares, during which time, from the fuperftition of the Hindoos, attacks may be made with a profpeft of fuccefs. In various parts of the fort there are old fculptures of the Hin- doo divinities, now nearly defaced by time. There are like- wife on the gates fome old Perflan infcriptions, mentioning in whofe reign, and by whom, the fort was repaired and flrensfthened. O This has always been confldered as a poll of great confe- quence upon the Ganges, from its infulated fituation, pro- jecting forwards to a confiderable extent, and being of con- fiderable heighth. It was befieged by the Englifh in the war carried on, during the years 1764 and 1765, againft the late Nabob Sujah ul Dowlah when he joined Meer Coflim, and was gallantly defended by its commandant, an Abyflinian in the fervice of that prince. The firfl attempt of the Englifh againft Chunar was un- fuccefsful ; but afterwards, on the fall of Allahabad, the commandant finding that the whole country had fubmitted to the Englifh, and that his mailer’s affairs were defperate. INDIA. 57 thought it needlefs to hold out any longer, and on the 7th of February, 1765, he furrendered the Fort to Major, now General Stibbert ; it was afterwards reflored to the Nabob, when the peace was fettled with that Prince ; and in 1772, it - was formally ceded by him to the Englifh Eaft India Company, in exchange for the Fort of Allahabad. At this place is kept the magazine of ammunition and artillery for the Brigade at Cawnpore. During my flay at Chunar I made feveral drawings of the Fort, and one of Pateeta. As the war was, however, now concluded, except obtaining poffeffion of Biajegur (to which place Major Popham proceeded with his whole force), the whole party returned with the Governor General, through Ramnagur, to Benares, and arrived there the 28th of Septem- ber ; after which I had fufficient leifure and opportunity for my particular and profeffional purfuits. 1 • - ' • TRAVELS IN INDIA. 59 CHAP. IV. Defcription of Benares— "Elegant Fafcade — Hindoo Temples — Dijferta - tion on the Hindoo , Moorijh , and Gothic Architecture . The city of Benares being the capital of a large diftridt, and particularly marked as the feat of the Bramin learning, it cannot but be confidered as an objed: of particular curiofity, more efpecially, fince the fame manners and cuftoms prevail amongft thefe people at this day, as at the remoteft period that can be traced in hiftory': and in no inftances of religious or civil life have they admitted of any innovations from fo- reigners. According to univerfal report, this is one of the moft ancient Hindoo cities ; and if the accounts of their own antiquity may be depended upon, it is, perhaps, the oldeft in the world. Major Rennell, however, entertains a different opinion on this fubjeff, from its not being mentioned by the Syrian Embaffadors foon after the time of Alexander, and from its being unnoticed by Pliny ; and I have too great a deference for fuch an authority, to be at all inclined to difpute it, what- ever may be the claims to antiquity which are preferred in favour of this city. It certainly is curious, and highly entertaining to an inquifitive mind, to affociate with a people whofe mam 6o TRAVELS IN ners are more than three thoufand years old ; and to obferve in them that attention and polifhed behaviour which ufually marks the moft highly civilized (late of fociety. The diflance of Benares from Calcutta, by the neareft road, according to Major Rennell, is 460 miles ; by water, that diflance is greatly increafed. This city anciently bore the name of Kafi, but at what period it received its prefent name the page of hiftory is filent. It is built on the north fide of the river, which is here very broad, and the banks of which are very high : from the water, its appearance is extremely beautiful ; the great variety of the buildings ftrikes the eye, and the whole view is much improved by innumerable flights of ftone fceps, which are either entrances into the feveral temples, or to the houfes. Several Hindoo temples greatly embellifh the banks of the river, and are all afcended to by Gauts, or flights of fteps, fuch as I have already noticed. Many other public and private buildings poffefs alfo confi- derable magnificence. Several of thefe I have painted, and fome on a large fcale, fuch as I conceived the fubjedts demanded. Many buildings on the banks of the river, which engage the attention, and invite to further obfervation, prove, on a more minute inveftigation, to be only embankments, to prevent the overflowing of the water from carrying away the banks at the feafon of the periodical rains, and for fome time after, when the river is high, and the current flrong. The moft confider- INDIA. 61 able of thefe embankments is called Gelfi Gaut ; the fplendor and elegance of which, as a building, I was induced to exa- mine, but found, upon afcending the large flight of fteps from the river, nothing behind this beautiful fafcade but the natural bank, and on the top a planted garden. In the centre of the building, over the river, is a kind of turret, raifed and covered, for the purpofe of enjoying the frefhnefs of the even- ing air ; and, at the extreme angles, two pavilions crowned with domes, which have the fame deftination. Mod: of thefe buildings have been erefted by the charitable contributions of the wealthy, for the benefit of the public. Nearly in the centre of the city is a confiderable Maho- medan mofque, with two minarets : the height from the water to the top of the minarets is 232 feet. This building was raifed by that mod: intolerant and ambitious of human beings, the Emperor Aurungzebe, who dedxoyed a mag- nificent temple of the Hindoos on this fpot, and built the pre- fent mofque, of the fame extent and height as the building he dedxoyed. The dxeets in the city are narrow, and not kept in fucli good order as I expedled, from fome Hindoo villages I had before feen. The houfes are very high; I obferved fome in which I counted five ftories, each inhabited by different fami- lies. The more wealthy Hindoos, however, live in detached TRAVELS IN 62 houfes, with open courts, furrounded by a wall. The heat, in this place, is confidered as very great in the hot months, not only from its natural fituation, but from the houfes being all built of free ftone, as well as from the narrownefs of the ftreets, which produce double and treble reflections of the fun’s rays : from the month of March, therefore, to the ufual fetting in of the rains in the latter end of June, its heat muft be intolerable. Surrounding the city are many ruins of buildings, the effects of Mahomedan intolerance. One is a large circular edifice, having evidently been a Hindoo temple, or part of one ; there are ftill veftiges of fome of the ornaments ; and on one part I found the Grecian fcroll. During my (Indies at Benares, when I was making draw- ings of fome Bramins, and feveral other perfons who were en- tering and departing from a temple named Vifs Visfha, my attention was called to the building itfelf, and the more I regarded it, the more I was furprized to difcover ornaments upon it which were familiar to my eyes. I then determined to make a fketch of the whole, which I executed, as well as a more complete drawing of one of the columns ; for on accu- rately obferving the building in all its parts, I found each column to contain the different ornaments which were found in the other parts of the building. ( INDIA. 63 For the fatisfadion of my readers a very careful engraving is annexed, which was executed from the drawing made upon the fpot. It is certainly curious to obferve moft of the ornamental parts of Grecian architecture appearing in a building ereded on the plains of Hindoftan. I was indeed much flruck with this circumifance, and led to refled: upon it fo frequently, that I was at length tempted to commit to paper a few thoughts on thefe different ftyles of architecture, which, in the form of a pamphlet upon the fubjed, was accompanied by two large plates engraved from pidures, entitled, Views of the Gate leading to the I’omb of Acbar at Secundii , and the Maufoleum of the Emperor Shere Shah at Safer am. As the effay accompanying thefe plates was printed on a fcale equal to the plates, and as I have fmce found that it could not on that account be read with any con- venience, I determined to introduce the fubftance of it in this place, as being immediately conneded with the fubjed which is now before us, and I conceive perfedly calculated for a work profeffedly dedicated, in fome meafure, to the hiftory and pro- grefs of the arts in India. As I am neither fufficiently qualified, nor willing to lofe myfelf in the unfathomable, and perhaps impenetrable dark- nefs of Eaflern antiquities, I fhall not, for the prefent, fay any thing on the charaderiific difference of the original Hindoo, and the more modern ftyle of Moorifh Architedure, in which 64 TRAVELS IN all the great monuments are conftruCted; but I fhall confine myfelf to a few loofe remarks on the prototypes, or firft models of architecture, as far as it is an art both of tafte and Convenience. $ That the Grecian Architecture comprizes all that is excellent in the art, I cannot help considering as a doctrine, which is in itfelf as erroneous and fervile, as in its confequences it is detractive of [every hope of improvement. Architecture undoubtedly fhould, and muft be adapted, to all the climates and countries which mankind inhabit, and is varioufly, more than any other art, influenced and modified by the nature of the climate and materials, as well as by the habits and pur- fuits of the inhabitants. I have not read Father Ladola’s famous diflertation on the abfurdity of the mifplaced and unprincipled imitation of Greek architecture ; nor am I in the leaft prejudiced againfl its very eminent beauties and perfections : but why fhould we admire it in an exclufive manner ; or, blind to the majefty, boldnefs, and magnificence of the Egyptian, Hindoo, Moorifh, and Gothic, as admirable wonders of architecture, unmerci- fully blame and defpife them, becaufe they are more various in their forms, and not reducible to the precife rules of the Greek hut, prototype, and column ? or becaufe in fmaller parts, perhaps accidentally fimilar, their proportions are dif- ferent from thofe to which we are become familiar by habit. INDIA. 65 Allowing what muft be allowed, that the Greek co- lumns, as they are drawn and applied by genius, are the molt beautiful ftone reprefentations of the wooden props or fupports of their original hut, and that in their general forms, and each fubordinate part, they are the ne plus ultra of fimplicity, ftrength, and elegance, fhall we precipitately determine, that the whole excellence of architecture depends on the column alone, or forget that its great effect depends rather upon the great maffes and forms, and upon the fymmetry, ftrength, and conveniency ? However partial I muft feel, from habit and education, to the Greeks, whofe free and unfettered genius, in a long feries of ages, improved the original hut of a woody country into the incomparable beauties of a marble temple or palace ; yet I freely avow that this by no means prevents my entertaining a ftmilar partiality for countries, where different models have been brought to an equal perfection. The forms of the firft habitations have differed, as the refpeCtive countries, climates, and manners of the builders, and as the nature, abundance, or fcantinefs of materials have directed. Caverns, deep vallies, fhaggy over-hanging rocks, hollow trees, and the thick impenetrable foliage of the foreft, have been equally the natural retreat and occafional habitation of the wild beafts, and of men whom different accidents have left unacquainted with the comforts of fociety, expofed to the k 66 T RAVELS IN inclemencies of the feafons, or to the apprehenfion of dangers from animals of prey, or the no lefs dangerous enemies of their own fpecies. Men are neither born with tools to build with, nor can be fuppofed to have intuitively an innate idea of any particular form of habitation, fuch as bountiful nature has affigned to the beaver, the fwallow, or the bee ; but man is born with a native fenfe of his wants, and with judg- ment and intellectual powers to improve his fituation by fuch means, as the country affords, and as the climate will fuggeft, Thus far I can venture to (fate, not only from what I have read, but likewife by a ftronger conviction, from what I have feen in the various climates and parts of the world in which I have beheld mankind, in almoft every ftage of negative or pofitive civilization. The hollow tree, and the thick foliage of the foreft, into which even Kings of Ithaca and Britain have retired, are fitter for occafiona! than for permanent relidence. They appear evidently imitated in the wigwams of the torpid, wretched, unfettled Pecherais on the frozen coaft of Terra del Fuego ; of the equally independent, but not more fortunate New Hollanders, in a milder climate j and of the more civilized and fagacious hunting favages of North America. These wigwams, nearly the fame every where as to form, differ in various countries only in the nature of the materials INDIA, 67 they are built with, fuch as the boughs of trees, fhrubs, creeping plants, reeds, fods, and grafs. Now, if any of thefe wandering families of hunters and fifhermen fliould become fiationary, or form into larger focieties, they would foon be difpofed to give to their habitations as much durability and conveniency as their climates, materials, and manner of life would admit of ; nor is it probable they would lofe fight of their prototype, the wigwam, or materially deviate from it in the external form of their more capacious erection. For conflant refidence, thefe would be improved into the various thatches and huts which I have feen in the South Sea Illands, and which the Negroes on the Coaft of Guinea, and the Hottentots, inhabit j high and low, circular or fquare, open at all fides, inclofed with palifades, matting, or wicker-work hurdles, lattice, or mud walls. They will raife them on piles above the ground, and, as it were, fufpend them in the air, in countries where the dampnefs of the foil, or fudden inun- dations, would endanger their lives and property ; as on the banks of the Marannon, or Oroonoko, in Guiana, and in the inland parts of Surinam : they will keep them low, and, as it were, fink them under ground, in cold climates, where heavy blafts of wind and fnow teach them fuch methods of felf- defence. Wandering nations, of herdfmen, fifhermen, and warriors, fuch as the Arabs, Calmucks, Monguls, Ton- quefees, Tartars, Efquimeaux, Greenlanders, Laplanders, Samojedes, and Oftiacks, find in the Ikins of their cattle, of k 2 68 TRAVELS IN' their flocks, and of their fifhes, materials ; and in their camels, horfes, bullocks, and fifhing boats, conveyances of portable huts, and imitations of their original wigwams, huts and tents, which in fliape will differ more or lefs, according to the different materials they are made of. We find them of feal and rein deer fkins in the north, of hides, felt, or matting ; in Arabia or Tartary, in the form of cones, with fquare roofs, and open or fliut at the tides. The different habitations will retain more or lefs of their primitive form in proportion as the different builders remain independent and unmixed, unconnected, and in the fame ffate and culture ; and as habit reconciles the human mind to almoft every thing, each of thefe nations or tribes will re- gard their primitive habitations with the fame eye of partiality as they are prejudiced in favour of their refpeCtive countries ; but when encreafing opulence, ambition, or fuccefsful op- preflion, create artificial wants, and the great look for more convenience and diftinction, the national primitive hut or tent will be enlarged, and embelliflied with what is colfly among them. When emigrations to foreign countries take place, their prototype will follow the colonift, and genius will at laft ftretch and improve it to the laft degree of perfection of which it is capable. What this is, or may be, in architecture, we fee with admiration exemplified in the old Greek and Roman architecture, which is the thatched wooden hut, meta- INDIA. 69 morphofed by genius into a marble edifice, and yet exprefling its original parts in fuch proportions as are confident with the nature of flone and marble. Agreeably to the fame prin- ciple, the mod; elegant Chinefe buildings are evidently imita- tions of the tent made of bamboo, where flrength and fiender tapering form admit of higher proportions and wider interco- lumniations, and muft, of courfe, make the Greek marble column and its narrow intercolumniation appear heavy in comparifon with the Chinefe. The Chinefe idea of the beau- ties of their architecture muft differ from that of the Greeks, and the Greek rule of architectural beauty cannot reafonably be applied to the principle and materials of Chinefe buildings. How far all the above prototypes of buildings are improve- able, muft be left to the future exertions of genius. The oblong and tapering huts of the people of Eafterlfland in the Southern Ocean, are hardly improveable in that country, which is almoft deffitute of timber. An active people, fuch as its former inhabitants feem to have been, might, indeed, imitate them in flone; but would thefe huts fuggeft any idea but that of ribbed oblong arches, tapering on every fide ? Even the Ample wigwam will, under the influence of fortu- nate circumftances, be adorned by genius with all the pomp of Flora ; the rofe, the vine, the honey- fuckle, and the gourd, will be entwined ; they will be formed into cool and fhady bowers, like thofe which the glowing imagination of Milton afligned to our firfl parents in the Garden of Eden-. TRAVELS IN 70 The cavern and grotto, by nature fitted for the fafe retreat and habitation of man, has in itfelf many advantages ; in par- ticular, a folidity and durability, which art has never been able fuccefsfully to imitate : its impenetrable fides and exter- nal form are the mountain itfelf. When airy, fpacious, and lofty within, on a rifing ground, commanding an extenfive profpect and a fpring, on the banks of rivers, or in the cliffs on the fea fhore, how defirable in a burning climate ; impenetrable to wind and weather, how acceptable in cold climates, which are deprived of timber. Let us have a nearer view of its gloomy receffes. They are indifcriminately found in every climate; but in mountainous countries only, in which, as the Swifs philofo- phers tell us, with a particular complacency to themfelves, fagacity fooner ripens into genius, and in which the materials for building artificial mountains and caves are obvious at every ftep. Violence and fuperior force would foon take pof- feffion of thofe which are fitted: for habitation and fafety. The bones and remains of the larged: and fiercefl wild beafls, fuch as the elephant, rhinoceros, lion, tiger, bear, and wolf, formerly the lords of the wildernefs, are flill found in many of them, and conflitute fo many proofs of their exclufive pof- feflion. Is it to be wondered at, that the floated:, fiercefl, and craftieft, amongfl the lords of the whole creation, diould alfo have laid hold and kept fimilar poffefiion of them from the remote!! antiquity ? INDIA. 7 1 A good cavern was then a fuperb palace j under certain circumftances it is fo ftill. If thefe great men, or ufurpers, became afterwards objects of fuperftitious adoration, or if they have themfelves been the framers of any fyftem of fuper- ftition, then we fhall no longer be at a lofs to account for the almoft univerfal tradition which characterifes rocks and ca- verns as the haunts and facred habitations of the Gods ; and in confequence of which the form and gloom of fuch caverns have been univerfally imitated in the oldeft temples. Their external form and appearance is the fpiry rock, the towering cliff, and the mountain in its immenfe extent : How various ! how grand ! Their inner form, their breaks, and maffes, how infinitely more various, grand, and majeftic, than any thing which the poor wigwam, and its moft ingenious imitations, can fugged: orboaft of, which, compared to them, dwindle into no-* thing ; their wonderful variety, their fhape, their ftrucfture, combination of parts, and natural ornaments, depend partly on the difference of the caufes and circumftances under which they have been formed, and on the nature of the mountains in which they are found. The Granite, which forms the higheft maffes of the oldeft mountains, affe&s particular forms, and difplays a mixture of parts, which are either not found, or are lefs difcernible in other rocks, fuch as glittering or gold- coloured mica, chryftal, and a more or lefs hardened bafis, in which thefe are wrapped up and confined. It is found, evi- dently ftratified, in uncouth beds of immenfe extent, varioufly 72 TRAVELS IN inclined, which furnifhes folid maffes of almoft every fize and dimenfion. The larged: obelilks of Egypt have been hewn out of them. When fhattered or broken by the irrefiftible fhock of earthquakes, the impetuofity of torrents, when worn by the current of rivers, or corroded or mouldered by the flower action of froft, wind, and weather, the horrid crufh and downfall of mountains prefents the granite blocks and flrata in their rude unwieldy immenlity, wildly piled upon each other, fo as to form, accidentally, huts and caverns beneath. In the fame manner, they appear naked and laid bare on the weather-beaten tops and prominences of the higheft mountains. The fiffures and divifions of the maffes appear in various directions, agreeably to the force which has aCted upon them ; and in fome cafes they are wonderfully equipoifed and balanced upon each other. I have been informed by an ingenious and learned friend of mine, well acquainted with the natural hiflory of Cornwall, that we need not go to Upper Egypt or the Alps for the ftudy of granite mountains ; the whole fouth-wefterly end of this illand, beginning at Dartmoor in Devonfhire, and extending through the whole county of Cornwall, to the remote!! cliffs and rocks of the Scilly Iflands,. • INDIA. 73 is more or lefs a mafs of granite, almoft every where inter- fered by metallic veins ; that this chiefly appears in St. Mi- chael’s Mount, in Mount’s Bay, on the fouth coaft ; that fome metallic veins or lodes, in the high towering cliffs on the north coaft, corroded and decompofed by the furious battering of the fea, have left ftupendous caverns and exca- vations, of which he mentions one in Wicka Cove, between St. Ives and St. Juft, as particularly grand, and worthy the infpe&ion of the artift, as well as of the natural hiftorian. In calcareous, moftly ftratified mountains, caverns are more various and common : beftdes the accidental caves produced by the giving way and tumbling down of mountainous mafles, and the decompofttion of metallic and other lodes, more extenftve and Angular excavations are found in them, evidently produced by earthquakes, or by the decompofttion of parts of the rocky mafles, or of the ftratified rock fait, which they furrounded and covered. Such are, I am informed, among many others, the caverns near Chudleigh and Ply- mouth, in Devonfhire, and thofe which are fo juftly fa- mous near Caftleton and Buxton, in Derbyfhire. In thefe laft we behold the undeniable prototype of the lofty femi- circular dome, and of the arched vault, of which the hut of the Grecians could not fuggeft the idea. I defcribe them, from the accurate obfervations of the above mentioned inge- nious gentleman, as wonderfully regular, and as large coni- cal excavations in the roof of thefe caverns, which examined 1 74 TRAVELS IN by the light of torches appeared to referable fo many femi- circular or parabolical cupolas, or, to ufe a lefs dignified comparifon, fo many immenfe bells. The caverns in calca- reous, or more modern adventitious mountains, fhew in their walls, befides the texture and (Ratification, petrified marine, or other bodies, which are never found in granite or fimilar filicious (tones ; a wonderful variety of glittering fpar cryftals; and, in particular, incruftations of fnow-white fpar or da- laftite, which either form undulated hangings on their fides, or icicles dripping from their roofs in the fhape of columns, pillars, &c. Thefe are the peculiar glories and features of the grotto of Antiparos. I pafs over the caverns in (late and the loofer grit-done, to dwell one indant longer on thofe which are produced by volcanic eruptions, and chiefly by the contraftion of cooling lavas. They totally differ in form and features from the preceding : the forms which thefe affume will referable the apertures and bubbles which are found in other fcoria. Some of them which are found in Iceland will hold numerous flocks of (heep ; they are fpread hundreds of fathoms in various branches under ground, and have ferved formerly as drong holds and habitations to the rudic heroes and warriors, whofe names are highly celebrated in the traditional hidory and fongs of that country. Fingal’s famous and magnificent grotto is a large dratum of colum- nar bafaltes, in the ide of Staffa, though probably it never was fit for habitation, and dill lefs what fome philofophers have fuppofed it to be, the prototype of the column. That INDIA, 75 caverns in the ioofer chalk, grit-hone, and beds of hardened volcanic afhes, or tufa, are exceedingly improveable ; and that caverns have been inhabited and varioufly improved, is, I think, undeniably evident, from what we fee and read in the monuments and antiquities of every part of the world, and particularly from the immenfe excavated works in the ifland of Salfett, on the coaft of Malabar, and many others. The eafy tafk of fpecific hiftorical proof I mufl leave to others ; and requeft my readers juft to confider, that when enlarged and improved natural caverns in rocks and moun- tains became infufficient to the increafmg numbers of men and families, their improvement and enlargement, what- ever it might have been, muft naturally bring on imitations of their forms, by artificial excavations of rocks, or artificial grottos, caverns, and catacombs, by the piling up of loofe and moveable natural ftones ; and, laftly, by the compofi- tion of brick, or other artificial imitations of natural ftones, which of courfe would produce walls, huts, and houfes of ftone, mud, or brick, and nearly of the fame form. One natural inference may and ought to be drawn from what has been faid, that the feveral fpecies of ftone build- ings, which have been brought more or lefs to perfe&ion, (I mean the Egyptian, Hindoo, Moorifh, and Gothic archi- tecture) inftead of being copies of each other, are actually and eflentially the fame ; the fpontaneous produce of genius in different countries ; the neceftary effeCts of fimilar neceftity 1 2 . 76 TRAVELS IN and materials; older and younger brothers and fillers of the fame family, conceived, brought up, and bred to more or lefs grandeur, elegance and perfe&ion, in the Egyptian, Hindoo, and other artificial grottos and caverns. The py- ramid, the obelifk, the fpire fleeple and minaret, are evident- ly bold, ftupendous imitations of the romantic forms of fpiry, towering rocks, which the imitators of humble huts never prefumed to attempt. The flat roof hundred pillared Egyptian temple, the Indian pagoda, and choultry, are as evident copies of the numerous caverns, cool grottos, and excavations in the rocky banks of the Nile in Upper Egypt, and in the Aland of Elephanta and Salfet near Bombay. Gloom and darknefs are common and defirable to both ; for Fancy works bell when involved in the veil of obfcurity. The arched vault and lofty dome was not fuggefted to the Egyptians and oldelt Hindoos by the grotto and facred caverns in granite mountains ; they are the natural forms of other caverns, and in particular the boaft, the ftrength, and glory of more modern Moorilh and Gothic temples. If the Angle or grouped pillars, in many of the props and fupports of artificial caverns, (hould appear heavy, they muft be regarded as having been originally props to moun- tains ; and fuch would be retained in common ufe, till experience found out eafier and more pleafing proportions ; and till afpiring genius, at the fight of airy and lofty caverns, dared to give them lightnefs, and all the fanciful forms and graces of the Gothic ftyle. INDIA. 77 Such are my fentiments on the origin of thefe different modes of architecture. The Grecian confeffedly was fug- gefled by the primitive form of a rural hut in a champaign woody country ; and the Oriental and Gothic I conceive has derived its form and its ornaments from thofe furprizing ex- cavations which are found in rocky and mountainous re- gions. In India thefe heterogeneous fpecies of building are feldom found combined ; and I mention the inftance which gave rife to this difculfion as very fmgular indeed. By what means this unnatural union has taken place it is impolfible to determine ; and conjecture would only lead us aftray from the objeCt of thefe pages, which is a narrative and defcrip- tion of fads. / . . , • , - • - I N D I A. 79 C H A P. V. Ceremony of Widows devoting themfelves on the Funeral Pile of their Hufbands — Minute Defcription of the Performance of that horrid Sacrifice — Journey to Bidjegur — Defcrip- tion of the Fort, &c. — Arrival at Bauglepoor — The Author accompanies Mr. Cleveland through a Part of his Diflncl » — Excellent Condud of Mr. Cleveland in civilizing the Mountaineers — Curious Sacrifice . While I was purfuing my profeflional labours in Be- nares, I received information of a ceremony which was to take place on the banks of the river, and which greatly ex- cited my curiofity. I had often read and repeatedly heard of that mail horrid cultom among!!, perhaps, the mofl mild and gentle of the human race, the Hindoos; the facri- fice of the wife on the death of the hufband, and that by a means from which nature feems to fhrink with the utmoft abhorrence, by burning. Many inftances of this pra&ice have been given by travellers ; thofe whom I have met with only mention it as taking place among the higheft clalfes of fociety, whofe vanity united with fuperftitious prejudices might have diftated the circumftance ; and I confefs I could not entertain any other ideas, when I obferved the theatrical parade that feemed to attend it. Mr. Holwell, in his cu- 8o TRAVELS IN rious work entitled Hiftorical Events relative to India, thus accounts for this more than inhuman praftice : “ At the de- mife of the mortal part of the Hindoo great law-giver and prophet, Bramah, his wives, inconfolable for his lofs, re- folved not to furvive him, and offered themfelves voluntary viftims on his funeral pile. The wives of the chief Rajahs, the firft officers of the Hate, being unwilling to have it thought that they were deficient in fidelity and affeftion, followed the heroic example fet them by the wives of Bra- mah. The Bramins, a tribe then newly eftablifhed by their great legiflator, pronounced and declared, that the fpirits of thofe heroines immediately ceafed from their tranfmigrations, and had entered the firft boboon of purifi- cation : it followed, that their wives claimed a right of making the fame facrifice of their mortal forms to God, and the manes of their deceafed hufbands. The wives of every Hindoo caught the enthufiaftic (now pious) flame. Thus the heroic afts of a few women brought about a general cuftom. The Bramins had given it the (lamp of religion, and instituted the forms and ceremonials that were to accom- pany the facrifice, fubjeft to reftriftion, which leave it a vo- luntary aft of glory, piety, and fortitude/’ The author proceeds to ftate exprefsly, that he has been prefent at many of thefe facrifices, and particularly and minutely records one that happened on the 4th of February, 1742-3, near to Coflimbuzar, of a young widow between feventeen and eighteen years of age, leaving at fo early an age three chil- INDIA. dren, two boys and a girl ; the elded he mentions as not then being four years of age. This infatuated heroine was flrongly urged to live, for the future care of her infants ; but notwithdanding this, though the agonies of death were painted to her in the dronged and mod lively terms, fhe, with a calm and refolved countenance, put her finger into the fire, and held it there a confiderable time ; fhe then with one hand put fire in the palm of the other, fprinkled in- cenfe on it, and fumigated the Bramins. She was then given to underhand, by fome of her friends, that fhe would not be permitted to burn herfelf, and this intimation ap- peared to give her deep affliftion for a few moments ; after which fhe refolutely replied, that death was in her own power, and that if fhe was not allowed to burn, according to the principles of her cad, Ihe would darve herfelf. Her friends, finding her thus peremptory, were obliged at lad to con- fent to the dreadful facrifice of this lady, who was of high rank. The perfon whom I faw was of the Bhyfe (merchant) tribe or cad; a clafs of people we diould naturally fup- pofe exempt from the high and impetuous pride of rank, and in whom the natural defire to preferve life fhould in ge- neral predominate, undiverted from its proper courfe by a profpeft of podhumous fame. I may add, that thefe mo- tives are greatly drengthened by the exemption of this clafs from that infamy with which the refufal is inevitably branded in their fuperiors. Upon my repairing to the fpot, on the banks of the river, where the ceremony was to take place, I m. 8l TRAVELS IN found the body of the man on a bier, and covered with linen, already brought down and laid at the edge of the river. At this time, about ten in the morning, only a few people were alfembled, who appeared deditute of feeling at the catadrophe that was to take place; I may even fay that they difplayed the mod perfect apathy and indifference. After waiting a confiderable time the wife appeared, attended by the Bramins, and mufic, with fome few relations. The proceflion was flow and folemn ; the viftim moved with a ffeady and firm flep ; and, apparently with a perfect com- pofure of countenance, approached clofe to the body of her hufband, where for fome time they halted. She then addreffed thofe who were near her with compofure, and without the lead trepidation of voice or change of counte- nance. She held in her left hand a cocoa nut, in which was a red colour mixed up, and dipping in it the fore-finger of her right hand fhe marked thofe near her, to whom (he wifhed to (hew the lad aft of attention. As at this time I dood clofe to her, die obferved me attentively, and with the colour marked me on the forehead. She might be about twenty-four or five years of age, a time of life when the bloom of beauty has generally ded the cheek in India; but dill fhe preferved a fufhcient fhare to prove that die mud have been handfome : her figure was fmall, but elegantly turned ; and the form of her hands and arms was particularly beautiful. Her drefs was a loofe robe of white Oowing drapery, that extended from her head to the feet. The place of INDIA. 8 3 facrifice was higher up on the bank of the river, a hundred yards or more from the fpot where we now flood. The pile was compofed of dried branches, leaves, and rufhes, with a door on one fide, and arched and covered on the top : by the fide of the door flood a man with a lighted brand. From the time the woman appeared to the taking up of the body to convey it into the pile, might occupy a fpace of half an hour, which was employed in prayer with the Bramins, in attentions to thofe who flood near her, and converfation with her relations. When the body was taken up (lie followed clofe to it, attended by the chief Bramin ; and when it was depofited in the pile, fhe bowed to all around her, and entered without fpeaking. The moment fhe entered, the door was clofed ; the fire was put to the combuflibles, which inflanlly flamed, and immenfe quantities of dried wood and other matters were thrown upon it. This laft part of the ceremony was accompanied with the fhouts of the multitude, who now became nume- rous, and the whole feemed a mafs of confufed rejoicing. For my part I felt myfelf afluated by very different fenti- ments : the event that I had been witnefs to was fuch, that the minutefl circumflance attending it could not be erafed from my memory ; and when the melancholy which had overwhelmed me was fomewhat abated, I made a drawing of the fubjeft, and from a picture fince painted the annexed plate was engraved. m 2 8 4 TRAVELS IN In other parts of India, as the Carnatic, this dreadful cuftom is accompanied in the execution of it with dill greater horror. It is aliened, that they dig a pit, in which is de- posited a large quantity of combudible matter, which is fet on fire, and the body being let down, the vi£lim throws herfelf into the flaming mafs. In other places, a pile is raifed extremely high, and the body with the wife is placed upon it, and then the whole is fet on fire. Whatever is the means, reafon and nature fo revolt at the idea, that, were it not a well known and well authenticated circumdance, it would hardly obtain credit. In truth, I cannot but confefs, that fome degree of incredulity was mingled with curiofity on this occafion ; and the defire' of afcertaining fo extraordinary a fa6l was my greated inducement to be a fpe&ator. The war which had commenced in this province in Au- gud was not compleatly finifhed by the month of Oftober, although the Rajah had left the country, and joined the army of the Mahrattas under Madajee Scindia. The drong fortrefs of Bidjegur yet held out againd the troops com- manded by Major Popham ; and I was happy to receive the commands of Mr. Hadings to proceed to Bidjegur to make drawings of that, and of the fort of Lutteefpoor on the road. After palling the open country, (the cultivation of which had differed but in a fmall degree from the recent London. Publiftied "by J..£ dwards.P all Mall, Jan^a -1793 • of a to the Funeral File of her HU SBAND. &ru?4.as/es) //. r1^/^//r>7iy /isrr/i as //a/ ;///*' /y //. ■ '■€<*, H ■ si. , , INDIA. 85 difturbances) the traveller enters the jungles or woods, which furround the fort of Lutteefpoor. The woods are chiefly compofed of Bamboos, which come clofe to the walls of the fort, and are fo very thick as in fome parts to be im- penetrable. The fort is built of done, with the walls flanked with round towers, and is in a ruinous ftate. Two miles from the fort is a high and difficult rocky pafs, at the top of which the country continues level and flat, until nearly within three or four miles of Bidjegur, when it finks, and there appears a natural fofle furrounding the extremity of the mountain, and the view is terminated in a low fwampy country, which, in the time of the rains, is overflowed. Between Lutteefpoor and Bidjegur are confiderable woods, intermixed with cultivated ground, and a few villages. Bidjegur is fifty miles from Benares, and the fort is feated on the top of a high mountain, covered from its bafe to its fummit with wood. This is the laft of a long range of mountains, which, at this place, rudely decline to the plain. Here I enjoyed an opportunity which falls to the lot of but few profeffional men in my line ; I mean that of obferving the military ope- rations of a fiege. The camp was formed nearly four miles from the fort : there was, however, a rock about the heighth of the top of the mountains, and within gun ffiot, command- ing one face of the fort, which was fquare. From this fla- tion the walls were battered ; and, after a practicable breach was made, the garrifon thought fit to furrender. In the gar- rifon were found the mother and other female relatives of 86 TRAVELS IN Cheyt Sing, to whom every delicate attention was paid. A View of Bidjegur, taken on the fpot, is fubjoined. Soon after Bidjegur was taken, preparations were made for the departure of the party attending the Governor Gene- ral; and towards the end of December we failed, and arrived at Bauglepoor early in January, 1782. As at this place it was my intention to remain for fome time, I took my leave for the prefent of the gentlemen attending the Governor Ge- neral, who, in the fpace of two months out of the., fix fince we had left Calcutta, had been witnefs to a revolt that had nearly fhaken the Britifh power in India to its bafe ; but, by the vigorous exertions of the officers, feconded by the cou- rage and perfeverance of the troops, under a well regulated plan for the recovery of the power of the Eaft India Com- pany, every thing terminated in a manner that ferved to imprefs the powers then at war with the Engliffi with the mod formidable opinion of the vigour and energy of the Britifh government. The conduft and gallantry of both officers and troops, in the hour of their utmoft diflrefs, were not im- probably a means of facilitating the permanent peace with the Mahratta powers, and particularly with Madajee Scindia, which immediately followed. Soon after the departure of the gentlemen, about the end of January, Mr. Cleveland propofed to me to accom- pany him through a part of the diftrift into the hills, to A VIEW of BID JE & •vwiaweJ Sy C/S. ■ /. /M>/n a-C/tc '/t^les t^u--n/c here are alfo feveral Tombs. Along the weftern bank of the river are feen the ruined palaces of the great Omrahs, built in the time of Acbar Jehanguire, and Shah Jehan. A little farther, the city of Agra offers itfelf to the eye, with the great fort and palace, and the profped: is terminated to the fouth-weft by that vaft monument of eaftern elegance, the Taje Mahel, built by the emperor Shah Jehan. This fpot takes its name from Dara, a tent, and Shah, king or fovereign, being the fpot where the emperor’s tent was firft fixed, when he made his progrefs from Agra to the eaftern provinces of the empire. It being the general cuftom, from the time the dynafty of the Moguls was fixed in India, under Acbar, that the emperor fliould take the field in the fummer months, with a large army, attended by the whole court, the bankers, and the artifans, See. Thus the camp became a great city under tents, and each trade had its feveral quarter allotted to them, the emperor’s tent being in the center of the whole, furrounded by thofe of the great officers of ftate. On the 24th Major Brown was waited upon by Arafiab Khawn, an Omrah of high rank, from the Nabob Mirza Shuffeh Khawn, who lay encamped three cofs to the north- INDIA. US weft of Agra, and to whofe camp we proceeded, crofting the Jumna, and paffed through a part of the city of Agra. On the following day we pitched our tents to the eaftward of the Nabob’s encampment, in a garden wailed round, and which formerly was adorned with very conftderable buildings, now in ruins; this was a work of Acbar for the accommodation of one of his daughters. The camp of Mirza Shuffeh extended over a great fpace of ground, and more refembled a great city than a camp, having fhops of every denomination, retaining in part the character of the armies of the great emperors, only without their fplendor. The camp was faid to contain forty thoufand men ; but it appeared to me that the number was greatly exaggerated. This, however, fhould be added, that every foldier, and every tradefman and artificer, had his family with him. In the park of artillery were forty-two pieces of cannon of various calibers. Some of the largeft guns were French pieces, and very fine ones ; but the greater number were very indifferent, the metal much corroded, and the carriages rotten. It is not improbable that the tent of the Nabob might have been formerly an imperial one, being of crimfon velvet, embroidered in many parts with gold, and lined with ftlk. It was, however, much torn and moth-eaten, and had therefore no very fplendid appearance. A few days after our arrival, I attended Major Brown to the Durbar of the Nabob, where we found the principal q 2 1 1 6 TRAVELS IN commanders, among ft whom were feveral old Perftan Chiefs, with beards depending to their girdles, and countenances of great dignity. One of the hoary Chiefs, I found by his converfation, had attended Nadir Shah, or Thomas Kouli Khan, when he made his famous expedition into Hindoftan, in the year 1739, and had remained in India fince that time. The old foldier’s eye appeared in a flame when he mentioned his name, at the recolle&ion of the a6lions and victories he had aflifted at, or been witnefs to, under his former commander. After the ceremony of reception, which was by touching the turban with the right hand, without riflng from their feats, we were deftred to fit, for which purpofe there were old falhioned chairs brought, which had formerly been rich in carved work and velvet, but were now greatly injured by the hand of time; otter and rofe- water were handed round, as a mark of diftindtion. The Nabob Mirza Shuffeh fat in the center of a femicircle, furrounded by his Chiefs, with an innumerable crowd of fervants ftanding behind. After remaining about half an hour, we retired. This was a viflt of ceremony, and the bufmefs of Major Brown’s million was not entered upon for many days afterwards, for, amongft thefe people, delay feems a fettled principle of etiquette. Whilst we lay encamped at this place, I made daily ex- cur flons to Agra and the neighbourhood, the weather at this feafon greatly favouring my purfuits. Our journeys were fhort, and were begun frequently between five and fix in the TRAVELS IN INDIA. 117 morning, fometimes earlier. I had the whole day for my ftudies. The climate at this feafon is delightful, the mornings clear and very cold, frequently frofty, in fo much, that I have feen feveral tanks frozen entirely over j but in the middle of the day we generally found it very hot. I palfed mold of my days at Agra, making drawings either of the great fort or other buildings, molt of which lay in ruins. The city of Agra is lituated on the fouth fide of the river Jumna, which at this place is not fordable, and rifes imme- diately from the water, extending in a vaft femicircle. It is fuppofed to be a place of high antiquity. The prefent city, however, was raifed by the emperor Acbar, about 1566, and named from him Acbarabad, and was the principal feat of his government. The fort, in which is included the imperial palace, is of vaft extent. A view of the fort is given, and is fuch as will afford a general idea of the building and its fituation. It is conftrufted of a red free ftone, and it would appear to have been very ftrong, when firft raifed. It origi- nally had a double wet ditch, of great width and depth, and well fupplied from the river. The fort was an ifland, formed by three ditches ; one face of it, that to the eaftward, was wafhed to the foot of the walls by the river. The outer ditch is now totally ruined, the high road going through it, as may be obferved in the Plate. The inner ditch is very bad in many places, and in feveral is quite dry. The city was encircled by a wall and towers at a bow-lhot diftance from each other. nB TRAVELS IN Shah Jehan, the grandfon of Acbar, difliking the fituation of Agra, from the exceflive heats to which it was expofed in the fummer months, and defirous to raife a metropolis which fhould bear his own name, built a great city adjoining the old one of Dehli, and named it jehanabad; but the name, like the empire, is now nearly loft. To people his new city, he is faid to have tranfported thither one half of the people of Agra, to the amount of upwards of five hundred thoufand. The ruins that immediately enfued in Agra, rendered it necef- fary to eredt, for the fecurity of the people, another wall, forming a part of a circle within the old one ; and this wall was built by Joy Singh, a Hindoo Raja in the fervice of the emperor Aurungzebe. The whole fpace between thefe two walls is one mafs of ruins. The inner wall is but in indifferent repair, and within it is eafy to difcern that it is chiefly compofed from the ruined buildings, except, indeed, towards the Dehli gate of the fort, where is the great Musjiid or Mofque, built of red ftone, but greatly gone to decay. Adjacent to this fpot is the Choke, or Exchange, which is now a mere ruin ; and even the fort itfelf, from its having frequently changed its mafters, in the courfe of the laft feventy years, is going rapidly to defolation. It was taken by Colonel Polier, when that gentleman was in the fervice of the Nabob Zoolfeccar ul Dowlah, better known by the name of Nedjif Khawn. In the eaftern front of the fort was the imperial refldence, built of white marble, covered on INDIA. 119 the top with plates of copper gilt, which to this day retain their full luftre, and at no great diftance there is aMofque, built of the fame beautiful materials, with copper ornaments and gilt. It was impolfible to contemplate the ruins of this grand and venerable city, without feeling the deepeft impreflions of melancholy. I am, indeed, well informed,, that the ruins extend, along the banks of the river, not lefs than fourteen Englifh miles. The palace of Dara Sheko, built by that prince, includes an extent of ground not lefs than the fquare of Lincoln’s-inn fields. It is dangerous even to walk among thefe ruins ; for at every ftep, unlefs great care is taken, the paffenger is liable to fink through holes into the covered vaults, which are now the habitation of dangerous reptiles. The ftreets in this city are very narrow, and evidently not laid out on any well directed plan. I went once to a Hummaum, or bath, which had formerly belonged to the palace of one of the great men of the court, as was plain from the expences that had been laid out on it ; being lined with the fineft coloured marbles, with many pieces of lapis lazuli introduced amongft the ornaments, which were very beautiful, in the Moorifh fcyle, compofed of mofaic and flowers; the imitations of the latter, I mu ft add, were remarkably good. At the diftance of three cofs, or a little more, from Agra, on the great high road leading to Dehli, at a place called 12,0 TRAVELS IN Secundrii, (lands the tomb of the emperor Acbar. This enormous building is feated in a garden, regularly planted both with foreft and fruit-trees, and many flowering fhrubs, and walled round, which is fuppofed to contain a fpace of upwards of twenty Englifh acres. The monument is raifedin the center of the garden ; it is a fquare building, with gates in the center on each fide, and great pavilions at the angles and over the gates : it confifls of five feveral ftories, which gradually diminifli with pavilions at each angle. The domes of the feveral pavilions are of white marble, the reft of the building is of red ftone, in parts intermixed with white marble. The fifth or upper ftory is entirely of white marble, and has a range of windows running round each fide, which are fret work, cut out of the folid flab. The pavilions that finifli this ftory are likewife of marble ; thefe have been greatly damaged, as I was told, by lightning, and by an earthquake. One of the pavilions is quite gone, and the domes of the others are greatly injured. The infide of this upper ftory is curioufly inlaid with black marble, expreflive of certain paflages from the Koran; and I was informed by a critic in Perfian writing, that it is in the moft perfect ftyle. On each ftory of this building are large terrafies, which, in the times of the emperors Jehanguire and Jehan, had coverings of gold cloth, fupported by pillars of filver. Under the fhade of thefe awnings the mollahs or priefts of the religion of Mahommed converfed with men of learning. INDIA. izi The principal entrance is by a grand gate leading to the garden ; the front highly ornamented with mofaics of diffe- rent coloured marbles, inlaid in copartments. On either fide the Renter are two flories of pointed arches, and large receffes ; in the upper ftory is a door in the center, and a window over it, with a balluftrade in front; the lower receffes have one window in each. In the center is one vaft pointed arch ; and this part of the building rifes very confiderably above the fide over the two ftories which have been juft de- fcribed. On the top, and fomewhat behind the front of this part of the building, raifed on fquare columns, are two farcophagi of black marble ; and two others immediately behind the back front of the gate, anfwering to thofe in the principal front. At each angle of the gate (this building being an oblong fquare) are minarets of white marble, riling to a great heighth, in part fluted ; above the flutes, half way up the minarets, are balluftrades ; and there is like- wife one near the top. Thefe minarets were formerly crowned with open pavilions, and finifhed with domes, which have long fince been deftroyed. In thefe minarets are ftair- cafes, leading to the two balconies that furround them. A large print, by that excellent artift Mr. Brown, has been en- graved and publifhed from a pifiure of this gate, which gives a more perfeft idea of the grandeur of it than words are able to exprefs. Through this gate we pafs into a vaft open hall, which rifes in a dome nearly to the top of the building. This hall was, by the order of the Emperor r. 122 TRAVELS IN Jehanguire, the fon of Acbar, highly decorated with painting and gilding ; but in the lapfe of time it was found to be gone greatly to decay ; and the Emperor Aurungzebe, either from fuperftition or avarice, ordered it to be entirely de- faced, and the walls whitened. From this hall, through a fimilar arch to that in the front, we defcend into the garden; and the whole of the tomb difplays itfelf through an avenue of lofty trees. This avenue is paved with hone : in the cen- ter is a large fquare bafon, which was formerly filled with water, but was quite dry when I faw it. In the center of the bafon was a fountain, the pipe only remaining : the fupply of water, indeed, had apparently been confiderable here, for all through the middle of the avenue, and on either fide, we obferved channels, which muff have been defigned for aque- ducts, but which were then dry. At fome fmall diftance from the principal building rifes a high open gate, entirely of white marble, of exquifite beauty. A blazing eaftern fun (hining full on this building, com- pofed of fuch varied materials, produces a glare of fplendour almoft beyond the imagination of an inhabitant of thefe nor- thern climates to conceive ; and the prefent folitude that reigns over the whole of the negleCted garden, excites invo- luntarily a melancholy penfivenefs. After viewing this mo- nument of an Emperor, whofe great aClions have refounded through the world, and whofe liberality and humanity were his higheft praife, I became defirous of feeing even that hone INDIA. 123 which contained his crumbling remains. There was an old Mollah who attended, and had the keys of the interior of the building, (which is (till held in veneration) and who obtains a precarious fubfiftence by (hewing it to the curious traveller. The infide of the tomb is a vaft hall, occupying the whole fpace of the interior of the building, which terminates in a dome ; a few windows at the top admit a “ dim religious” light, and the w T hole is lined with white marble. In the cen- ter the body is depofited in a farcophagus of plain white marble, on which is written, in black marble inlaid, fimply the name of A C B A R. From the fummit of the minarets in the front a fpe£ta- tor’s eye may range over a prodigious circuit of country, not lefs than thirty miles in a direft line, the whole of which is flat, and filled with ruins of ancient grandeur: the river Jumna is feen at fome diftance, and the glittering towers of Agra. This fine country exhibits, in its prefent date, a melancholy proof of the confequences of a bad government, of wild ambition, and the horrors attending civil diflentions ; for when the governors of this country were in plenitude of power, and exercifed their rights with wifdom, from the 4 excellence of its climate, with fome degree of induftry, it mult have been a perfeft garden ; but now all is defolation and filence. Surrounding the monument of Acbar are many 124 TRAVELS IN tombs ; fome of them very beautiful : moft probably they cover the remains of certain branches of his family. The traditionary report is here, that they are the tombs of his wives. On the high road from Agra to Dehli there are many fmall buildings, the form of which is a fquare pedeftal, upon which rifes a cone, to the heighth of about eight feet. In this cone there are a great number of fquare niches, in which were placed the heads of malefaftors, in terrorem. Thefe likewife ferved the purpofe of marking the cofs diftances on the road : many of them are now broken down and co- vered in the dull. To the fouth-eaft of the city of Agra is a beautiful mo- nument, raifed by the Emperor Shah lehan for his beloved wife Taje Mahel, whofe name it bears, and is called, by way of eminence, the Taje Mahel. It now hands two miles from the city, though formerly it joined it. Adjacent to this monument there was a great bazar, or market for the richeft manufaftures of India, and of foreign coun- tries,* compofed of lix courts, and encompalfed with great open porticoes ; but fcarcely a veftige of this build- ing is now remaining. The Taje Mahel rifes immediately from the river, founded on a bafe of red free-ftone, at the extremity of which are oftagon pavilions, confiding of See Tavernier INDIA. I2 5 three (lories each. On the fame bafe are two large build- ings, one on either fide, and perfe&ly fimilar, each crowned with three domes of white marble ; the center dome confi- derably larger than the others. One of thefe buildings is a musjiid, or mofque ; the other was defigned for the repofe of any great perfonage, who might come either on a pil- grimage to the tomb, or to fatisfy a well- directed curiofity. On this bafe of free- (lone (having a platform at lead of twenty-five feet in breadth) another reds of white marble, of a fquare form, and which is about fourteen feet high ; the angles are o£lagon, from which rife minarets, or vad co- lumns tapering upwards, having three feveral galleries run- ning round them, and on the top of each an open pavilion, crowned with a dome. Thefe minarets too, I fhould have remarked, are of white marble, and contain dair-cafes which lead to the top. From this magnificent bafe, like thofe al- ready defcribed, rifes the body of the building, which has a platform fimilar to the above. The plan of this is o£lagon ; the four principal ddes oppofed to the cardinal points of the compafs. In the center of each of the four fides there is raifed a vad and pointed arch, like that defcribed in the gate of the tomb of Acbar; and the top above this arch rifes confiderably higher than the other parts of the building. Thofe faces of the building which form the o6lagon on either fide the great arches, have two dories of pointed arches, with recedes, and a low balludrade in front ; the fpandels above the arches are greatly enriched with diderent coloured marble inlaid : the 126 TRAVELS IN heads of the arches within the recedes are likewife mod highly enriched in the fame manner : within the feveral arches running round the building are windows, formed by an open fret-work in the folid flab, to give light to the in- terior of the building. From behind this oftagon front, and rifing confiderably higher, are four oftangular pavi- lions, with domes. From the center of the whole, rifing as high as the domes of the pavilions, is a cone, whence fprings the great dome, fwelling from its bafe outwards con- fiderably, and with a beautiful curve finifhing in the upper point of the cullus, on which reft two balls of copper gilt, one above the other : above the balls is a crefcent, from the center of which a fpear head terminates the whole. Each face of this building is a counterpart to the other, and all are equally finifhed. When this building is viewed from the oppofite fide of the river, it polfelfes a degree of beauty, from the perfe&ion of the materials and from the excellence of the workmanfhip, which is only furpalfed by its grandeur, extent, and general magnificence. The bafeft material that enters into this cen- ter part of it is white marble, and the ornaments are of vari- ous coloured marbles, in which there is no glitter : the whole together appears like a mofl perfect pearl on an azure ground. The effeft is fuch as, I confefs, I never experi- enced from any work of art. The fine materials, the beauti- INDIA. 127 ful forms, and the fymmetry of the whole, with the judicious choice of fituation, far furpaffes any thing I ever beheld. It was the intention of the royal founder to have ere£led on the oppolite fhore a hmilar building, for his own inter- ment, and to have joined them by a marble bridge. This magnificent idea was fruftrated by ficknefs, and by the fubfe- quent difputes concerning the fuccelfion between his fons, and at laft by his own imprifonment by Aurungzebe. The garden, in which the Taje Mahel is fituated, is entered from the oppolite fide, through a large and handfome gate of red free-ftone, whence proceeds a large flight of Heps into the garden. From the top of the fteps the center part of the middle building is viewed through an avenue of cyprefs and other trees mixed : the avenue is paved with Hone, in the middle there are copartments, or beds of flowers, with foun- tains at equal diftances; four of the moft magnificent of which are fituated about half way up the avenue, and rife from a fquare bafe of white marble. Thefe, as well as the others, are fupplied by a refervoir without the building, which is filled from the river by pumps. The fountains are yet in to- lerable repair ; they were played whilft I was there ; and the garden is ftill kept in decent order, the lands allotted for the fupport of the building not being wholly difmembered from it. The center building is in a perfect ftate ; but all thofe which furround it bear ftrong marks of decay. Several Mol- iz8 TRAVELS IN lahs attend the mofque here at the hours of prayer, and ap- pear the molt orderly and decent that I have feen among the Mahomedans ; extremely attentive to ftrangers, and aflidu- ous to (hew and explain every part of it. The infide of the great building is of white marble, with many ornaments of flowers beautifully carved. The tomb is in a chamber be- low, and the body of Taje Mahel lies in a farcophagus of white marble, under the center of the building. Clofe to it is a fimilar one, containing the body of her hufband Shah lehan. Thefe farcophagi are perfeftly fimilar to thofe in the tomb of Acbar. The garden and the furrounding buildings cannot occupy a fpace more than equal to one half of that of the Emperor Acbar, at Secundrii. Tavernier mentions, that he was witnefs to the beginning and the finilhing of this building, which employed upwards of twenty thoufand men conftantly at work for a term of twenty-two years. The free-ftone was obtained in the neighbourhood, but the marble was brought t from Kandahar, the eaftern province of Perfia, by land carriage, a diftance of not lefs than fix hundred miles by the road. The expence is faid to have amounted to little lefs than one million fterling. On the third of March the Nabob’s camp moved clofe to Secundrii, where we remained until the fifteenth, when we removed to Gougaut, feven cofs from Agra. Here the d - INDIA. 129 water was very bad, being ftrongly impregnated with ni- tre, and the furface of the ground was covered with that fait. On the twenty-fecond we encamped near the fmall village of Krowley, five cofs to the weftward of Gougaut, on a very extenfive plain, which was poorly decorated with a few fcattered trees, and bounded by fome low hills ftretching to the eaftward. In thefe hills I found confi- derable quarries of red free-ftone, the fame with that of which the fort of Agra is built. The ground was very little cultivated in thefe parts : the foil is loofe and light. I found the heat about this time exceffive, and it was foon much increafed by the fetting in of the hot winds from the weftward. The water through the whole of this part of the country is very bad, from the falt-petre. On the 23d we encamped near the town of Futtypoor Sicri. The country here refembled, in moft refpefts, that which we had juft paft. It is an immenfe plain, bounded to the fouthward by a range of hills ; not a fhrub was to be feen ; and the heat ftill continued to increafe. The foil, I obferved was light, and almoft as fine as hair-powder. It is impofiible to defcribe the difagreeable effefts which this circumftance produces, when this fine dull is taken up by the hot winds from the weftward : the indifferent water too, with which the whole country abounds, muft neceffarily render the fituation unhealthy. 130 TRAVELS IN I was much entertained, during our feveral marches, by the variety of characters I faw; the people of the bazar (the market) with their wives and children ; the cavalry, who were continually manifefling their dexterity, in the oriental manner, by fetting olf their horfes in full fpeed, firing behind, as if purfued by an enemy, and then inflan- taneoufly flopping, and flying back with the fame velocity as they advanced, to the great terror of the poor people in their way. Their adroitnefs in the management of their horfes is, indeed, wonderful ; though, from the appear- ance of the animals, one would doubt whether they were able to move five miles. To thefe I may add the majeflic movements of the elephants ; not only of thofe which carried the great men, but of thofe with the heavy baggage. The appearance, in- deed, of the whole army, with the camels, artillery and baggage cattle, formed a fcene highly gratifying to the mind, entirely new to a European, offingular variety, and even fub- lime. I could not, however, but obferve the great apparent want of order in the line of march; not that my knowledge of the military art was fufficient to qualify me for palling a decided judgment ; but the order I had feen in the camp under Sir Eyre Coote, in the Carnatic, and when thofe troops marched towards the enemy, gave me very different impreffions from that which was now before me. INDIA. ] 3 J The town of Futtypoor Sicri, which lay under the hills I have before mentioned, is confiderable, and the country imme- diately near it is in tolerable cultivation. On the fummit of the higheft hill is a large mofque, which was built by Acbar. The building is in a high ftyle of Moorilh architefture. The afcent from the foot of the hill is by a flight of broad fteps, extending to the principal entrance, which is through a portal of great magnificence. After this we enter a large fquare, paved through- out, in which is the mofque, and round the fides are apart- ments for the different priefts. At the foot of the hill on which the molque is fituated are the remains of the palace, occupying a great extent of ground. The palace is in total ruin, not a fingle apartment remaining; and the only part which ferves to give any idea of its former beauty is the principal gate. At the back of the hills on which the mofque and palace are built, was a lake, formed by great mounds of earth, artificially raifed to keep in the water, on which, when the palace was inhabited, a number of fine boats were kept of every defcription, for the entertainment of the Imperial Family. The boundaries and banks of the lake are now only to be traced, many parts of it being not only quite dry, but in aftual cultivation. Throughout this part of the country the water is very bad, except at the mofque, where it is quite the contrary, the wells being funk confiderably lower than ufual, in faft, below the depth where the falt-petre is generated. While we continued here our feelings informed us of a confiderable increafe in the heat of the weather, in the courfe of a few days. I 3 2 TRAVELS IN We remained at Futtypoor Sicri until the twenty-fixth, when the camp moved to Siedpoor, about feven cofs, or a little more. Here we found the face of the country greatly altered ; we marched through a territory in many parts well cultivated : to the S. W. of the village it is, indeed, extremely beautiful, being varied with hills, the vallies and plains be- tween which were in fine cultivation. The village itfelf had been but a few months before plundered and burnt, and all the inhabitants maffacred, by Mahommed Beg Khawn, one of thofe chiefs who difputed for the fovereignty under the Great Mogul, on the death of Nudjiif Khawn, and who, a fhort time after, alfalfinated with his own hand, in a friendly meeting, the chief of this army, Mirza Shuffy Khawn ; and for thefe and many fimilar crimes fuffered death, by the order of Madajee Scindia, the Mahratta chief. We experienced great inconvenience about this time from the hot winds, as the reader may well conceive, when he is informed that, in the middle of the day, Farenheit’s ther- mometer flood in the (hade at 10S. The great quantities of fand alfo raifed by the wind prevented us from feeing the fun fet for many days, the atmofphere for many degrees above the horizon being totally obfcured by the floating maffes of fand. During my flay at Siedpoor there were fe- veral florms of wind only ; arifing in the north-eafl quarter, and veering about until it fettled in the fouth-weft. The country people call them aundees, and typhawns ; but INDIA. J 33 while they rage they may well be called hurricanes ; deffroy- ing every thing in their courfe, and being accompanied with fuch quantities of dull, as to have the appearance of a moving cavern approaching to overwhelm the affrighted fpe&ators. In one of thefe fforms of wind not a fingle tent in the whole camp was left Handing. The duff raifed by the florm approaches with a wave-like motion, and affords a clear idea of thofe tempefts which are faid to happen on the plains of Arabia and in Africa, and which are fo admirably defcribed by Lucan ; and after him by Mr. Addifon : Sudden th’ impetuous hurricanes defcend, Wheel through the air, in circling eddies play, Tear up the fands, and fweep whole plains away. The helplefs traveller, with wild furprize, Sees the dry defert all around him rife, J> And, fmother’d in the dufty whirlwind, dies. J The reader will perhaps have pleafure in comparing thefe with the following lines of Thomfon: Strait the fands, Commov’d around, in gathering eddies play : Nearer and nearer, flill they dark’ning come ; ^ , Till, with the general all-involving ftorm Swept up, the whole continuous wilds arife : And, by their noon-day fount dejefted thrown, • •if' Or funk at night in fad difaft’rous fleep * - Beneath defcending hills, the caravan Is buried deep. 134 TRAVELS IN My intentions of vifiting Dehli were fruft rated by the move- ments of the army under Mirza Shuffy Khawn; and as no probability appeared of reaching that capital under the fanc- tion of Major Brown’s embafty, and the country being over- run by two hoRile armies, as well as by marauding parties from each, and invaded by the Sciks from the province of La- hore, I was obliged in prudence to direfl my courfe to- wards Gwalior. I therefore fent off all my baggage under the efcort of a party of feapoys, and took my leave of Ma- jor Brown on the 28th of April, at night. Added to the evils which I intimated above, the whole country was at this time infefted by bands of robbers ; and during the march of my fmall party they were attacked by a confiderable body of horfemen, but by the good condu£t of the havildar every thing was preferved. On the 29th I arrived at the village of Dohlpoor, and on the following day croffed the river Chumbull, and marched three cofs, in a north-weft dire&ion, through the worft country I ever faw ; full of ravines and deep hollow-ways. As foon as I reached the plain I en- camped under the walls of a large mud fort, which had been lately taken from the Rana of Ghod, by Madajee Scindia, the Mahratta chief. The Killidar, or governor, treated my people extremely well, and permitted them to purchafe grain and vegetables within the fort, but would not fuffer me to enter it. INDIA. J 35 The country through which I had lately palled was moll dreary and defolate, not a blade of verdure to be any where feen, and the fun moll intenfely hot. On the ill of May I arrived at Nurabad. This is a fmall town, with an old done fort in it, and a Hone bridge over a fmall nullah, (a branch of the Chumbull) confiding of feven tall and narrow pointed arches : at the extreme of the three center arches are two open pavilions, raifed upon the bridge, crowned with domes on each fide; and at the extremes of the other two arches are fmall cones, all built of the fame done as the bridge, and dnifhed with little domes : the remaining part of the bridge abuts againd the banks./ On the following day I arrived at Gwalior. I should have remarked, that throughout the whole of the above country, which I paded in my way from Dohl- poor, there did not appear the fmalled trace of cultivation, nor was there even a hut to be feen. The feafon, it is true, was the word in the year for the appearance of the country, and the hot winds had fet in with uncommon violence, which dedroy every thing in their courfe, like the Angel of Def- lation. Beddes all thefe unfavourable circumdances, it mud alfo be remembered, that this is the bordering country, which lies between the fine province of Malwa and that country yet remaining under the dominion of the Great Mogul; and it has confequently been, ever fince the edab- 136 TRAVELSIN lifhment of the Mahratta power, the fcene of perpetual wars. The fort of Gwalior is feated on the top of a confider- able mountain, rifing from a perfeft flat country. To the weft are fome confiderable hills, among which is the pafs of Narwah, leading to Ougion, the capital of the Malwah country, at prefent poflefled by Madajee Scindia. The rock on which the fort is fttuated is on every fide perpendi- cular, either by nature or art. At the north-weft end is the citadel and a palace, and a chain of feven gates leading to the town at the foot of the mountain. The town, and in- deed the whole bafe of the mountain, is furrounded by a wall ; and the place has been generally confidered, by Eu- ropeans, as the Gibraltar of the Eaft, as well for its natural fituation as for the works that have been conftrufled for its fecurity. The town is large, and contains fome few remains of good houfes, and a mofque. During the time of the Mogul government this place was the (late prifon, where the obnoxious branches of the Royal Family were always confined, and where they were allowed, for their amufement, a large menagerie of beafts, fuch as lions, tigers, &c. On the top of the moun- tain, I am told, there are confiderable cultivated plains, and a good fupply of water ; infomuch, that a vigilant and ac- tive governor might defend it againft almoft any number of enemies, who could only attack it from below. J N D I A. *37 This ancient and celebrated fortrefs is fituated in the heart of Hindoftan Proper, being about eighty miles to the fouth of Agra, the ancient capital of the empire, and one hundred and thirty from the neareft part of the Ganges. From Calcutta it is, by the neareft route, upwards of eight hundred miles ; nine hundred and ten by the ordinary road ; and about two hundred and eighty from the British fron- tiers. In the ancient divilion of the empire it is clafted in the fubah of A^gra, and is often mentioned in hiftory as the capital of a diftridl which produced a large revenue. We firft read of it in the Hiftory of Hindoftan, in the year 1008 ; and, during the two following centuries, it was twice reduced by famine. It is probable that it muft, in all ages, have been a military poft of the utmoft confequence, both from its fituation in refpedt to the capital, and from the pe- culiarity of its fcite, which was generally deemed impreg- nable. With refpect to its relative pofttion, it muft be con- fidered, that it ftands on the principal road, leading from Agra to Malwa, Guzerat, and the Decan ; and that near the place where it enters the hilly tra6l, which advances from Bundelcund, Malwa, and Agimere, to a parallel with the river Jumna, throughout the greateft part of its courfe. From thefe circumftances, as well as from its natural and acquired advantages as a fortrefs, the poffeffion of it was deemed as neceflary to the ruling emperors of Hindoftan, as Dover Caftle might be to the Saxon and Norman Kings of England. ■ % * 3 8 TRAVELS IN . On the difmemberment of the Mogul empire, Gwalior appears to have fallen to the lot of a Rajah of the Taut tribe of Hindoos, who aifumed the government of the diftridt in which it is immediately fituated, under the title of Rana of Gohud or Gohd. Since that period it has changed mailers more than once : the Maharattas, whofe dominions extend to the neighbourhood of it, having fometimes poffelfed it, and, at other times, the Rana 3 but the means of transfer were always either by famine or treachery. Gwalior was in the polTeffion of Madajee Scindia in the year 1779 3 at the clofe of which year the Governor General and Council of Bengal concluded an alliance with the Rana of Gohd 3 in confequence of which, four battalions of Seapoys, of five hundred men each, and fome pieces of artillery, were fent to his afliflance, his diftridt being over-run by the Maha- rattas, and he himfelf fhut up in his fortrefs of Gohd. The grand objedt of this alliance was to penetrate into Scindia’ s country, and finally to draw him from the wellern fide of India, where he then was, attending the motions of General Goddard, who was employed in the reduction of Guzerat. In adopting this meafure, the idea of Mr. Haftings was, that when Scindia found his own dominions in danger, he would detach himfelf from the confederacy, of which he ♦ was the principal member, and thus leave matters open for an accommodation with the court of Poonah, the principal INDIA, *39 feat of the Maharatta government ; and the event was anlwer- able to this expectation. Major, now Colonel Popham, was appointed to the command of this little army, fent to the Rana’s affiftance, and was very fuceefsful, as well in clearing the country of the enemy, as in expelling them from one of their mold valuable diftriCts, and keeping pofleffion of it. Mr. Mailings, who juftly concluded that the capture of Gwa- lior, if practicable, would not only open the way into Scindia’s country, but would alfo add to the reputation of the Britilh arms, in a degree much beyond the rifque and expence of the undertaking, repeatedly exprelfed his opinion to Major Popham, together with a with that it might be attempted j and founding his hopes of fuccefs on the confidence that the garrifon would probably have in the natural itrength of the place, it was determined that it Ihould be attacked. As the fuccefs, therefore, of this enterprise is only generally known, I have added the following account of the manner of obtain- ing poffeffion of it, from a letter written by Captain Jonathan Scott, at that time Periian interpreter to Major Popham, to his brother Major John Scott, who has obligingly permitted the infertion of it in this work : £{ The fortrefs of Gwalior Hands on a vail rock of about four miles in length ; but narrow, and of unequal breadth, and nearly flat on the top. The lides are fo Heep, as to appear almolt perpendicular in every part j for where it was t 2 140 TRAVELS IN not naturally fo, it has been fcraped away j and the height, from the plain below, is from two hundred to three hundred feet. The rampart conforms to the edge of the precipice all round, and the only entrance is by fteps running up the lide of the rock, defended on the fide next the country by a wall and baftions, and farther guarded by feven fcone gateways, at certain distances from each other. The area within is full of noble buildings, refervoirs of water, wells, and cultivated land; fo that it is really a little diftridt in itfelf. At the north -weft foot of the mountain is the town, pretty large, well built, the houfes all of ftone. To have befieged this place would have been vain ; for nothing but having three pointed arches in each face, and on each angle are pavilions finifhed like the former. Somewhat behind this runs an octagon with one win- dow in each fide, and on the angles, pavilions like the others below ; behind this is likewife an odtagon, ninety-two feet in diameter, and from the extremes fpring the dome, which is finifhed on the top by a finall pavilion, like thofe already de- fcribed. A great part of the building is now covered with flirubs and trees, which have taken root within the ftones, and promife a fpeedy decay, if not a total overthrow, of this grand pile. The country in the neighbourhood is hilly ; and fur- rounding the lake are hills, formed by the excavations when it was firft made ; moll of thefe are now covered with trees. The infide of the building is perfedfly plain, nor does it appear ever to have had any decorations. The tomb of the Emperor is flill remaining in the center, with feveral others furrounding it, which are thofe of his children. The dome, like the reft of the building, is of a fine grey free ftone, now difcoloured by age and neglect. INDIA. 151 On my return to Buxar, I proceeded to Bauglepoor, where I found my friend Mr. Cleveland on the bed of ficknefs, which in lefs than three months deprived the Indian world of his valuable life, a lofs irretrievable to his friends, and moil feverely felt by the public. A constant, and indeed an inceffant application to public bufinefs, without fufficient care of a very delicate frame, and poftponing until it became too late, the expedient of trying a more favourable climate, terminated the mortal exiitence of this ineftimable man, who died on board a fhip, at the mouth of the Ganges, in which he had embarked for the Cape of Good Hope. His remains were brought back in the pilot vef- fel that had attended the fhip, and were afterwards depofited at Bauglepoor, where a handfome monument was erected to his memory. I arrived at Calcutta on the 24th of September, after a journey of nine months and fourteen days, through a country which had once been fubjeCt to the Moguls ; the greatefl and the richeft empire, perhaps, of which the human annals can produce an inftance, and which was adorned by many really great characters in politics and in arms, I cannot look back at the various fcenes through which I paffed in thefe excurfions, without almofl involuntarily in- dulging a train of reflections relative to the ftate of the arts, 152 TRAVELS IN under this, as well as under the Hindoo government. The amazing monuments which are Hill to be found in India, prove the Mufliilman conquerors, to have been well acquainted with the principles of architecture, and at lead; to have had a tafte for grand compofition ; in painting, on the contrary, they have only exercifed themfelves in miniature, many of which are highly beautiful in compofition and in delicacy of colour ; their attempts in this art have alfo been confined to water- colours ; and they have laboured under a further difadvantage, the religion of Mahommed prohibiting all refemblances of animated nature. Whether the Arabs have ever tranfgrefled the law in this point, I know not ; but probably, on ac- count of the remotenefs of India from the original feat of the religion of Mahomed, it may have loft much of its rigour, and may, therefore, have left the princes of India at more liberty to indulge themfelves in this elegant art. In fculpture there are no inftances of excellence among the Moors, except in the Taje Mahael at Agra, upon which, there are flowers carved with confiderable ability. The Hindoos appear to me to rife fuperior to the Mahom- fnedans in the ornamental parts of architecture. Some of the fculptures in their buildings are very highly to be commended for the beauty of the execution ; they may, indeed, be faid to be very finely drawn, and cut with a peculiar fharpnefs. The inftance which is produced in this work of a column from the INDIA. 1 53 temple of Vis Vifha, at Benares, will prove it although cut in free-ftone. A fimilar inflance cut in black bafalt, in the colleblion of Charles Townley, Efq. (on which are ornaments fimilar to thofe which is referred to above) is a firiking proof of their power in this art. This column was brought from Gour, an ancient city, (now totally demolifhed) fituated on the eaftern fhore of the Ganges, nearly oppolite to Rajema- hel. I have feen manv inftances of call metal flatues, rela- tive to Hindoo mythology, that prove their perfect know- ledge in the art of calling. Thefe works, as they apply to the religion of Bramah, are both curious and valuable ; but, as they are purely mythological, the artifls have only con- fidered the fymbolical charabler ; without the proper atten- tion, and, perhaps, without a power of giving a perfebl beautiful form, fuch as we fee in the Grecian flatues. The paintings of the Hindoos, as they are, like their fculpture, chiefly applied to reprefent the objebls of their religious worfhip, are certainly not fo perfebt as the Moorifh piblures, which are all portraits. A conflant ftudy of fimple nature, it is well known, will produce a refemblance which is fometimes aftonifhing, and which the painter of ideal ob- jebls never can arrive at. I cannot clofe thefe pages without mentioning an in- tention which I entertained, after my lafl journey, of under- taking another from the Ganges, through the Deccan, to x . TRAVELS IN *54 the weftern coaft of India ; and which I fhould recommend to the attention of any artift who may be induced to vifit India, in future, with intentions hmilar to thofe which drew me from my native country. I meant to have com- menced my journey at Benares, and finifhed at Surat. As this is a part of India untrodden by an artift, much matter might be colle&ed relative to the ftate of ancient India, as many of the Rajahs in that part of the country poffefs lands handed down from the earlieft period of the Hindoo re- cords. 1 muft think, from what I have feen of the Hindoo chara£ter, that fuch a journey might be carried into execu- tion with perfect fafety, and would add greatly to our ftock of knowledge relative to the Eaftern continent. It is but too true that the expences would be confiderable, from the neceftity of being attended by a great number of fervants ; for, as is juftly obferved by Mr. Orme, in his fecond volume, “ The different cafts of the Indian religion being appropriated to fpecific and hereditary vocations, many of them are entirely prohibited from fervile offices and hard labour ; and of thofe allotted to fuch occupations, each muft abide by that alone to which he was born: the hufbandman would be diffionoured by employing his mat- tock, excepting in the field he is to fow; and even lower races have their diftin&ions, infomuch, that the cooly, who carries a burden on his head, will not carry it on his ffioul- der.” The reputation, however, that would neceffarily at- INDIA. T 55 tend the completion of fuch an undertaking, would be more gratifying than whatever wealth might be accumulated in the common track of profeflional purfuits. A painter for fuch purfuits ought necelfarily to be en- dowed with three great qualities ; a perfeft: knowledge of his art, and with powers to execute readily and correftly ; judg- ment to chufe his fubje&s ; and fancy to combine and dif- pofe them to advantage. The firft I muft fuppofe him pof- felfed of ; in the fecond is included the choice of fubjeft, with the knowledge of all the parts necelfary for fuch a fubjeft ; and in the third is included the combination of all the different parts, fo as to produce a general effeft : but the imagination mull be under the ftrift guidance of cool judgment, or we (hall have fanciful reprefentations inftead of the truth, which, above all, muft be the obje6t of fuch re- fearches. Every thing has a particular charafter, and cer- tainly it is the finding out the real and natural charafter which is required ; for (hould a painter be poflefled of the talents of a Raphael, and were he to reprefent a Chinefe with the beauty of a Grecian charafter and form, however excellent his work might be, it would ftill have no pre- tentions to reputation as chara&eriftical of that nation. Many other tours in that interefting country might be undertaken by the enterprizing artift. We know that the whole coaft of Malabar poflefles pi&urefque beauty equal to TRAVELS IN INDIA. J 5 6 any country on earth; and how valuable would be the re- prefentation of that fcenery, whether as a natural objeft, or as connefted with the hiftory of the country, and the man- ners of the people P Pi&ures are collefted from their value as fpecimens of human excellence and genius exercifed in a fine art ; and juftly are they fo : but I cannot help think- ing, that they would rife hill higher in eftimation, were they connected with the hiftory of the various countries, and did they faithfully reprefent the manners of mankind. FINIS. ■ ' 'i ^X V-V*- •*