new towns have been successively erected by different conquerors and potentates. It is regular and well built, with four long and broad bazaars; but, like other cities, it is not adorned with those magnificent monuments of architecture which mark the capitals of the great empires.

Herat, formerly belonging to Persia, is situated on a small river of the same name, in the north-west corner of Afghanistan: it is a very ancient city, and was in the zenith of its splendour in the 15th and 16th centuries; the Persian historians are diffuse in their description of its palaces, caravansaries, mosques, gardens, &c. It has at present an extensive manufacture of carpets; the neighbouring country produces excellent fruit, and roses are in such quantities that Herat obtained the name of the city of roses: the population is supposed to be about 60,000.

BELOOCHISTAN.

THE southern part of this region is known by the name of Beloochistan, or the country of the Belooches, who form the bulk of its inhabitants: it contains several subdivisions: those in the eastern part are Cutch-Gundava, Sarawan, Jhalawan, and Lus; in the north-west, Kohistan, adjoining to Persia; and along the sea-coast, extending from east to west for nearly 500 miles, is the province of Mekran.

Beloochistan is divided among a number of small, fierce, independent, predatory tribes. The whole of its western part is composed of a desert of red moving sand, so light and minute as to be almost impalpable, but which is formed, by the action of the wind, into wave-like ridges of a peculiar structure. One side slopes gradually away, but the other rises perpendicularly, like a brick wall, to a considerable height; and this side the traveller, in order to prosecute his route, must often scale with immense labour. The light sand, filling the eyes, nostrils, and mouth, heightens thirst and irritation; while the phenomenon of mirage causing the appearance of a still lake that is perpetually receding, tantalizes him with the always disappointed hope of arriving at water.

Eastern Beloochistan is of a very different character. It consists of a huge mass of rugged and rocky mountains, with intervening valleys, which, however, seldom display that fertile and smiling aspect usual in countries under the tropic, but are in general arid and stony. The streams, when swelled by rain, roll through their beds with such headlong rapidity as quickly to leave them dry, serving as roads or nightly resting-places to the traveller: but the water sometimes rushes down so suddenly as to overwhelm those who have sought this shelter. There are, however, here and there, patches of good soil, capable of cultivation. The best district is the north-eastern land of Cutch-Gundava, which affords a surplus of grain for export.

Kelat, the capital of a district of the same name, is a town of about 4000 houses, supposed to stand on ground 8000 feet above the level of the sea, and, therefore, subject in winter to such intense cold, that the khan and principal chiefs then descend to a lower region. It enjoys, however, a considerable inland trade. It is the residence of a chief, who claims the sovereignty over all Beloochistan, though his real power is nearly confined to the district immediately adjoining. Nooshky, Sarawan, Jhalawan and Khozdar, are little mud towns, capitals of districts bordering on the desert; but Punjgoor is surrounded by a fertile, territory watered by the Baldoo, which, after a considerable course, reaches the Indian Ocean.

The inhabitants of this country are, like those of Afghanistan, divided into several tribes, of which the chief are the Nhoroes, Rhinds, and Mugshees, besides the Bezunjas in the eastern and the Loories in the western districts, who are preeminent for their rapacious and predatory habits. The Belooche is a brave, hospitable, honourable robber, making chepaos or raids of eighty or ninety miles, to burn a village and carry off the inhabitants as slaves, but treating kindly and securing from all harm the stranger who has, or purchases a claim to, his protection. Conjoined with him is the Brahooe, who seems to have been the original

possessor, and who, mild, innocent, and pastoral, occupies little villages situated in the bosom of these stupendous mountains.

At the south-east corner of Beloochistan, is the province of Lus, containing Beila, a small town of 2000 inhabitants, and Sonmeanee, an inconsiderable fishing-town. Along the coasts are the small ports of Gwuttur, Choubar, and Jask, possessing some trade, subject or tributary to the Imâm of Muscat. Kedje, reckoned the capital of Mekran, is a considerable town in a strong situation, the chief medium between the sea-coast and the interior countries. It is still held by the khan of Kelat, who has scarcely any other hold upon this country. Bunpoor is a small fortified town near the frontier of Kerman. The coast of Beloochistan is very abundant in fish of various kinds, as well as vast stores of oysters, &c. The people live almost entirely on fish; and as the country yields but very little grass, the few cattle belonging to the inhabitants are fed as in many parts of Arabia on fish and dates.

KAFFERISTAN.

NORTH of Afghanistan is the country called Kafferistan: it is an Alpine region, composed of snowy mountains, deep pine forests, and small but fertile valleys which produce large quantities of grapes, and feed flocks of sheep and cattle; while the hills are covered with goats. The inhabitants are called by their Mahometan neighbours, Kaffers, or infidels, whence the name of the country is derived. They believe in one God, but venerate numerous idols of stone or wood, which represent great men deceased: they have solemn sacrifices and long prayers, not failing to supplicate for the extirpation of the Mussulmans, whom they regard with invincible aversion. The villages in which they live are built on the slopes of hills, the roof of one row forming the street of the row above. Their food consists of the produce of the dairy, fruits, and flesh, which they prefer almost raw.

Their arms are a bow with barbed and sometimes poisoned arrows, and a dagger: they have lately learned the use of fire-arms and swords. They generally fight by ambuscade. The Mahometan nations are those with whom they are most habitually at war. When pursued, they unbend their bows and use them as leaping-poles, by which they bound with the utmost agility from rock to rock. The Afghans and others have sometimes confederated to make a ferocious exterminating invasion of their territory, and have met in the midst of it; but have been obliged, by the harassing and destructive mode of warfare practised by the Kaffers, to abandon the enterprise. When taken apart from their warlike propensities, the Kaffers are a kind-hearted, social, and joyous race. They are all remarkable for fair and beautiful complexions, and speak several dialects of a language nearly allied to the Sanscrit.

KASCHGUR.

KASCHGUR, north-east of Kafferistan, and between it and Little Thibet, is, like those countries, a high, bleak, and cold territory, of which our knowledge is very imperfect: the inhabitants live chiefly in tents, and are Mahometans: they are subject to petty chiefs, who exercise despotic authority.

INDIA.

INDIA comprehends the two peninsulas of Southern Asia, which are east of Arabia, divided by the Ganges, into India within the Ganges, or Hindoostan; and India beyond the Ganges, called also Chin India, Farther India, and sometimes Indo China. Both the peninsulas of India are remarkable for the number and

size of their rivers, whose waters and indundations, united with the heat of the climate, make them the most fertile countries on earth. The term East Indies is also used very commonly for the whole of south-eastern Asia, including China and Malaysia.

HINDOOSTAN.

HINDOOSTAN, in every age, has ranked as the most celebrated country in the east; it has always been the peculiar seat of Oriental pomp, of an early and peculiar civilization, and of a commerce supported by richer products than that of any other country, ancient or modern.

This country, in its most extended sense, comprises four great divisions: 1st, Northern India contains the countries extending along the base of the Himmaleh mountains: these are Lahore, including Cashmere, Gurwal, Nepaul, and Bootan, which are nearly all independent; 2d, Hindoostan Proper, extending southward to the Nerbuddah River: this division is composed of the provinces of Sinde, Cutch, Gujerat, Rajpootana, Mewar, Malwa, Delhi, Agra, Allahabad, Oude, Bahar, and Bengal; 3d, the Deccan, comprising the regions situated between the Nerbuddah and the Kistnah Rivers, which includes the provinces of Khandesh, Gundwana, Orissa, Berar, Aurungabad, Beeder, Hyderabad, the northern Circars, and part of Bejapoor; 4th, Southern India: this division stretches from the Kistnah River to Cape Comorin, and comprises the southern part of Bejapoor, Canara, Mysore; the Carnatic, Malabar, Cochin, and Travancore. Hindoostan was divided into the above provinces by Aurengzebe, the greatest of the Mogul emperors: these are not now recognized by the native states, but still form divisions in the British territories, and are in consequence retained.

The whole country is divided into a number of different states, of various forms and dimensions, so intermixed with each other, and so often changing in their boundaries, that to attempt any thing like a clear and distinct representation of them would require a space far beyond what can be here allotted to them.

Perhaps the grandest natural feature of this region is the vast mountain range of the Himmaleh, which forms its northern boundary, after crossing the Indus, and enclosing the beautiful valley of Cashmere. This range, which, in bounding Afghanistan under the name of Hindoo Koosh, had an almost due easterly course, takes a south-east line, which it follows till it passes the frontier of Hindoostan. It is comparatively but a few years that the great elevation of these mountains has been ascertained. About the sources of the Indus, Ganges, and Sanpoo, or Burrampooter, they shoot up to an elevation of 25 or 26,000 feet; thus exceeding the height of any other mountains in the world. In Southern Hindoostan the two great chains of the Ghauts extend along the opposite coasts parallel to each other, or rather diverging, and leaving between them and the sea only a plain of forty or fifty miles in breadth. They rise in a few places above 3 or 4000 feet, but are very rugged and steep, and the entrance into the interior is only by very narrow and difficult passes. One continuous chain, the Vindhaya mountains, runs across the broad base of the peninsula, and forms a rugged boundary between it and the great plain of Hindoostan Proper.

The rivers of Hindoostan form a featnre no less important than its mountains. The Indus, the Ganges, and the Burrampooter, are the chief, and rank among the principal streams of the Old Continent. The Indus, or Sinde, forms the western boundary of this region: its head branches, the Ladak, rise among the most elevated of the Himmaleh mountains, and within a short distance of the sources of the Ganges and Burrampooter. In its course to the ocean, it receives among other tributaries the Hydaspes, or Sutledge, famed in history since the days of Alexander. The Sinde flows into the Indian Ocean by two great estuaries, which enclose a delta of about 70 miles in extent.

The Ganges is the most pre-eminent among the rivers of India, not only from its length of course, the great and fertile valley which it waters, the number of important cities and towns on its banks, but also from the holy and sacred charac

ter it has maintained from the most remote ages; the Hindoos believing that its waters possess a virtue which will preserve them from every moral transgression. Some of the tributaries would in many countries rank as important rivers. The chief are the Jumna, Gogra, Gunduck, Cosa, &c. About 200 miles from the sea, the Ganges spreads out into a broad delta, of which the numerous branches which enter the Bay of Bengal, are called the Sunderbunds; they are mostly shallow, except the Hoogly, or western branch, by which large vessels can ascend to Calcutta. The Burrampooter, the eastern limitary river of India, pours a vast body of water into the lower Ganges, before its junction with the sea; where the two streams united, form a bay with numerous islands: modern geography has long identified it with the Sanpoo of Thibet, flowing on the north side of the Himmaleh range. Late investigation, however, renders it doubtful whether they are not different streams. The other chief rivers of India are the Nerbuddah, which falls into the Gulf of Cambay, the Godavery, Kistnah, Colleroon, &c., the chief of Southern India, which flow into the Bay of Bengal.

India has, for many successive ages, been the theatre of absolute empire, exercised by foreign military potentates. It presents, however, many peculiarities distinguishing it from a mere ordinary despotism. The basis of its population still consists of that remarkable native race who, during a subjection for thousands of years, have retained, quite unaltered, all the features of their original character. They preserve in full force that earliest form, a village constitution, their attachment to which seems only to have been rendered stronger by the absence of every other political right and distinction. The village, considered as a political association, includes all the surrounding territory from which the inhabitants draw their subsistence. Not only the public services, but all trades, with the exception of the simple one of cultivating the ground, are performed by individuals who hold them usually by hereditary succession, and who are paid with a certain portion of the land, and by fixed presents.

The mass of the population belongs to the Hindoo race, and, so long as they are permitted to enjoy their peculiar opinions and customs, they quietly behold all the high places occupied by any people, however strange or foreign, with whom rests the power of the sword. They have no idea of political rights or privileges, of a country or nation of their own, and in whose glory and prosperity they are interested; they never converse on such subjects, and can scarcely be made to comprehend what they mean. Their own political bond is to a chief who possesses popular qualities, and attaches them by pay and promotion: to him they often manifest signal fidelity, but are strangers to every other feeling. Despotism is not only established by long precedent, but is rooted in the very habits and minds of the community. Such habits naturally predispose the people of a fertile region, bordered by poor and warlike tribes, to fall into a state of regular and constant subjection to a foreign yoke.

The power, which for many centuries ruled over Hindoostan, was Mahometan, The votaries of Islam, as usual, entered India sword in hand, announcing proscription and desolation against all who should profess a faith opposite to their own; but while by these unlawful instruments they had converted the whole west and centre of Asia, in India their religion never made the slightest impression. The Hindoos opposed to it a quiet and passive, but immoveable resistance. The conquerors, finding in them such a fixed determination upon this point, while on every other they were the most submissive and peaceable subjects, allowed their own bigotry to be disarmed. With the exception of Aurengzebe and Tippoo, they have long left the votaries of Brahma in the unmolested possession of their faith, and of the various observances with which it is connected. The Mahometans have been reckoned at nearly 10,000,000, or about a tenth of the population of Hindoostan; and have also become a subject race.

In contemplating Hindoostan, as it now exists, the power of Britain appears entirely predominant. This absolute sway of an island comparatively so small, over an empire of 100,000,000 inhabitants, situated nearly at its antipodes, and accessible only by so vast a circuit of ocean, presents one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of the world. Yet the subjection is complete, and almost

universally peaceable; and the presages of its short continuance, which some entertain, are perhaps chimerical.

The number of Europeans by whom such vast dominions are held in subjection, very little exceeds 30,000. But this number is multiplied by that peculiarity in the character of the Hindoo, which makes it easy to train him into an instrument for holding his own country in subjection. He has scarcely the idea of a country to fight for. "The Asiatic fights for pay and plunder; and whose bread he eats, his cause he will defend against friends, country, and family." Accordingly, the sepoys (Indian troops commanded by British officers, and trained after the European manner) are found nearly as efficient as troops entirely British; and, so long as nothing is done to shock their religion and prejudices, they are equally faithful. Their number amounts to 181,517 men. The purely European troops maintained by the Company do not exceed 8000, but a large body of the king's troops are always employed in India; these at present are about 20,000. The Company doubles the pay of all the king's troops employed in their territories. These forces are variously distributed throughout India; for, besides defending and holding in subjection the territories immediately under British sway, bodies of them are stationed at the capitals of the subsidiary princes, at once to secure and overa we them.

The degree of vassalage in which the different states of India are held somewhat varies. The Nizam, or soubah of the Deccan, the king of Oude, the rajahs of Nagpoor, Mysore, Sattara, Travancore, and Cochin, with the representative of the house of Holkar, though they exercise, not without some interference, their internal administration, are entirely under the control of Britain. The Gwick war in Guzerat, and the numerous petty Rajpoot principalities, are rather friendly allies under her protection. Scindia is still nominally independent; but his territories are so enclosed by those of the Company, that, in case of any general movement, he can scarcely act, unless under the dictation of the Company.

The government of British India is vested in the Court of Directors of the East India Company, under the control of a Board of Commissioners, consisting of several of the chief ministers of the crown, and commonly called the Board of Control. The country is divided into the three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. The president of Bengal is styled the Governor-General of India. The Governor-General in Council is empowered to legislate for India, under certain limitations, and subject to the revision of the Board of Control and the Court of Directors. The council consists of four members, besides the governor, appointed by the directors with the royal sanction. The business of the executive is divided among five boards: viz., of revenue; of customs, salt, and opium; of trade; of military affairs; and of medical affairs. The other Presidents in Council possess the same authority within their respective governments, but subject in all matters of general policy to the Governor-General, who has the power of declaring war, making peace, and concluding treaties, and, as captain-general, may head the military operations in any part of the country, and who may suspend the governors of the other presidencies, and sit as president in their councils. The British ecclesiastical establishment in India consists of the three bishops of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, with seventy-six chaplains.

Amid the general conquest and subjugation of India by Britain, the western provinces alone have never as yet come even into hostile collision with that power. The state with which it is in most immediate contact is that of the Seiks, or Sikhs. This remarkable people began their career as a religious sect, adopting a sort of combination of the Hindoo and Mahometan creeds. They possess nearly the whole territory of Lahore, or the Punjab, watered by the upper course of the tive great rivers which convey to the Indus the waters of the Himmaleh; they also possess the northern part of Delhi, as far as the Jumna. The government forms a species of theocracy, under a body of chiefs uniting the heterogeneous characters of priests, warriors and statesmen. Disunion has prevailed among these chiefs, but they are now united under the almost absolute sway of Runjeet Sing, who has also conquered Cashmere and a great part of the kingdom of Cabul, including Peshawer, lately its capital. He has fixed his residence at Lahore, and