maintains an army of eighty regiments of infantry equipped in the European manner, and disciplined by French officers, though they are led into the field by the hereditary chiefs or khans. The artillery and cavalry are also respectable, and he is supposed to have accumulated a large treasure.

Moultan, composing the lower course of the five rivers, with all the territories along the Indus, including Sinde, its delta, is governed by chiefs formerly tributary to the king of Cabul; but at present subject to Runjeet Sing. This region is separated from Guzerat, and the other fine provinces of central Hindoostan, by a vast tract of desert. Yielding, however, some coarse grain and pasture, it supports a certain population, and is occupied by a number of rude chieftains, or petty princes, called Rajpoots, who paid even to Aurengzebe only a slight form of submission. At present they are engaged in almost perpetual contests with each other; but no foreign power seems to interfere with them in the possession of these dreary wastes.

The territories of Bootan and Nepaul stretch along the base of the Himmaleh Mountains from south-east to north-west; of these the most important is Nepaul. The greater part of this region is elevated four or five thousand feet above the sea, and enjoys the climate of the south of Europe. It is well watered and fertile. The population is composed of two races; the Newars who form the bulk of the nation, and the Bramins who are the rulers. The whole region is subjected to the military government of the rajahs of Gork wha, originally masters only of a small territory of that name, to the west of Nepaul. Bootan, south-eastward of Nepaul, is a country of an aspect similar to the latter. The natives, called Bootteas, are entirely unlike the people of India, and appear to be of the Mongul race: they have none of the Hindoo scruples, relative to animal food and spiritous liquors; their favourite refreshment is tea, beaten up in a style by no means suited to an European palate. The religion is, that of the Lama of Thibet, and Bootan is, together with that country, under the protection of China.

The following estimate has been made in a recent parliamentary paper, of the extent and population of the territories under the immediate administration of the Company :

There are, besides, 85,700 square miles in Bengal, and 5550 in Bombay, the population of which has not been ascertained; but, as they consist of rude districts, situated on the Upper Nerbuddah and in the Concan, their population is probably not extensive; and British India will not much exceed 90,000,000. The subjoined table contains an estimate of the population of the subject and independent states. The following come under the first head :—

To this list must be added the island of Ceylon, which is a royal colony, and contains, on 24,660 square miles, nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants; making the grand total of British India above 1,000,000 square miles, with a population of 131,000,000 souls.

The states that still remain independent of Britain are thus estimated :—

India has always been, in a peculiar manner, celebrated for its fertility, and for its profusion of magnificent and valuable products. In fact, the tropical countries, wherever water abounds, must surpass the regions under the temperate zone in this respect, were it only from the circumstance of producing more than one crop in the year. The large and copious streams of Hindoostan maintain generally throughout that country a perennial abundance. The character, however, is by no means universal. All the west of central India, except where it is watered by the Indus and its tributaries, consists of sand, in which the traveller sinks knee-deep. Sand forms even the basis of all the flat country of Bengal; though inundation and culture have covered it with a thin surface of productive clay. A great part also of the hilly districts, being over-run with that species of rank underwood called jungle, is unfit for any useful product. Although the Hindoos, too, have ever been an agricultural people, and remarkable for their industry, nothing can be more imperfect than the instruments, or the skill, with which they conduct that important art. The cultivators, for security under an imperfect police, or from mere custom, live in large villages, having each a small spot, on the tillage of which they occupy themselves, in conjunction with the labours of the loom and with other employments. Holding their lands by no tenure except that of usage, they never think of expending capital in their improvement, and could not, probably, with safety, show themselves possessed of property. Their plough, in comparison with ours, does not deserve the name. Rudely constructed, at the cost of less than half a crown, it cannot penetrate beyond two or three inches deep, and has no contrivance for turning over the soil. It is drawn, not by horses, but by oxen and buffaloes yoked together. The ground, after being scattered in several directions by this instrument, followed by the rough branch of a tree as a substitute for the harrow, is considered fit for receiving the seed. Manure is employed only in some rare cases, and consists merely of ashes and decayed vegetables. This rude system of husbandry resembles that which was practised in Europe during the early ages. It is not supposed that even in Bengal more than one acre in three is under actual tillage. The cultivators are poor in the extreme, their annual rents on an average not exceeding four pounds: and, instead of possessing any capital, they are usually sunk in debt.

Notwithstanding all these deficiencies, nature is bountiful, and the products of India are copious. Rice is the article upon which the whole region rests its main dependence; it is raised on every spot where irrigation can be procured. The periods of sowing and reaping vary, and produce a corresponding variety in the quality. Only one crop is raised in the year; but with another of millet or pulse on the same field. In some of the western Mahratta districts, it is necessary to substitute dhourra, the arid and course grain of Nubia. Wheat and barley are fitted only for those tracts which, from their more elevated site, approximate to the temperate climates.

The most important of the other products of Hindoostan is cotton, the material of the great national manufacture. Silk is an ancient staple of the country; sugar, tobacco, opium, and indigo are all extensively raised; the latter has been much improved in quality and increased in amount by the introduction of European skill and capital. Saltpetre, from Bahar, and coffee and pepper from the Malabar coast, are likewise among the chief products. Of the above articles, the annual produce is valued at £100,000,000 sterling, supposed to be equal to £600,000,000 in England.

Besides these articles destined for exportation, there are others extensively

consumed in the interior. The nut of the areca, combined with the leaf of the betel, is one universally used in India, which has never found its way into Europe. The customs of the country cause a vast consumption of vegetable oils, which are supplied from the sesamum, also from lint, mustard-seed, and the cocoa-nut. Woods of various kinds grow luxuriantly on the lower declivities of the Indian hills. The canes, composing the thick jungle of underwood which abounds in marshy grounds, are not only used as in Europe, but are much employed in building. The teak has been found unrivalled for ship-building; but, though it flourishes on the hills of Malabar, it does not obtain such perfection there as in Java and the eastern peninsula. Malabar furnishes also a large supply of sandal-wood, of the species called red-wood, as well as others used for dyeing, or for ornamental furniture.

The principal Indian manufactures are those of cotton, which, though nearly driven out of Europe by cheap and successful imitation, are preferred all over the east. Silk, though holding only a secondary place as an Indian manufacture, is still ancient and considerable; its main seats are Moorshedabad, Benares, and Surat; at the latter, taffetas, brocades, and embroidered gauzes, are its prevailing forms. Woollens are not made except in the northern mountainous districts, where, though coarse, they are produced to a great extent, chiefly for home consumption. Cashmere alone collects that fine wool, peculiar to the goats which feed on the table-land of Thibet; and from this material are manufactured those exquisitely beautiful shawls which Europe has striven to rival, but unsuccessfully, except in cheapness. The shawl manufactory of Cashmere has suffered peculiarly by the revolutions of that country; and the looms employed in it have been reduced from 40,000 to 16,000.

The mining operations of India are confined to one object, of so brilliant a character, however, as to throw a lustre on this and on all the Oriental regions. It produces the finest diamonds in the world; for those of Brazil, though of greater size, are inferior in hardness and brilliancy. The Indian diamonds occur chiefly in a high and rugged tract, inhabited by tribes almost independent, and extending from Golconda across the interior of Orissa.

The sands of the rivers of this tract yield also some gold dust, but not in sufficient quantity to become a national object. India produces some iron, lead, and tin, though not in sufficient quantities for home consumption. Zinc is in particular abundance; and the same may in some degree be said of these products of calcareous countries, marble, sal-gem, alabaster, common salt both in rocks and plains covered with this mineral; but the great masses of rock salt are to the west of the Indus.

The mode of conducting British commerce with India has always, till very recently, been by means of exclusive companies; and the only competition was between these rival associations. About the middle of the seventeenth century, they were combined into "the United Company of Merchants trading to the East Indies;" by whom, from that time, all the concerns of government and trade were administered. Between 1770 and 1784, the Company were obliged to yield a great share of their political power, which is now jointly exercised by the Board of Control. But no material breach was made in their exclusive privileges as traders till 1813, when the intercourse with Hindoostan was thrown generally open to British subjects, with only some restrictions as to the tonnage of the vessels and the ports from which they were to proceed; and even these have been in a great measure removed. Under the liberty thus granted, the private trade has increased astonishingly, and has almost driven that of the Company out of the field. By the acts of August 28, 1833, for the Better Government of his Majesty's Indian Territories, and for Regulating the Trade to China and India, the commercial privileges of the East India Company are abolished, its functions now being merely political, and the trade to India and China is thrown open to all British subjects. It is further declared lawful for all British subjects to reside in the East India Company's dominions without any license, on merely making known to the proper officer, on their arrival, their name, place of destination, and objects of pursuit; and any person so resident may acquire and hold lands, in the parts

where he may be authorised to reside, for any term of years, and carry on any trade or profession.

General View of the Commerce of British India, for 1833.

45,527 263,237

308,764

3,172

820,559

Hamburg

Eastern Islands.

Arabia, Persian Gulf, N. S. Wales, &c.
China

Total.

3,187,981 396,251 3,584,230

817,387 4,268,920 71,484 4,340,404 £7,263,091 807,234 8,070,325 11,008,539 745,572 11,754,111

In surveying the political state of Hindoostan, an estimate has already been given of its population, by which it amounts to about 140,000,000. Of this vast multitude, nine-tenths are still believed to consist of that native original race, who, though subject to a foreign power during so many ages, have remained always unmixed, and have retained unaltered their ancient habits and institutions. This people have attained a considerable degree of civilization, though in a form quite different from the European nations.

The Hindoos are of a very dark complexion, almost black, with features similar to, but smaller than the European, and with a pleasing and rather soft expression of countenance; in form they are slender and graceful. The females of the higher class who do not labour are exceedingly delicate and sylph-like, with dark and languishing eyes, and long, glossy black hair. The races, however, bred to war, who inhabit the mountains and western tracts, are of a bodily constitution, more hardy and athletic than the generality of the other Hindoos.

The mass of the people are moderate and sober in their habits; a single piece of cotton stuff suffices them for clothing; their dwellings are the slightest and simplest that can be imagined; their sustenance consists mostly of rice and water, and but little trouble is required to satisfy their wants; there are, however, some classes who display in their mode of living all the luxury of the east. The rajahs and nabobs, surrounded by numerous slaves, have their garments glittering with gold, silver, gems, and embroideries; their apartments, adorned with paintings and gilding, and perfumed with various valuable essences.

Besides the Hindoos, there are about 10,000,000 of Mohammedans, comprising descendants of the Mogul conquerors of the country. Of Arabian merchants and their offspring, settled in the western, and of Afghans, found chiefly in the northwestern parts of India, there are also many; Jews, both white and black, the latter supposed to be the descendants of some of the ten tribes, and about 150,000 native Christians on the coast of Malabar, besides English, French, Portuguese, &c. ; the descendants of the latter are numerous in many places, and are frequently found almost as dark in complexion as the aboriginal natives.

The Hindoos made, at a very early period, considerable progress in astronomy, algebra, &c., and have an extensive literature, mostly connected with their religion. Their works on epic and dramatic poetry are voluminous, and, though extravagant and puerile in a high degree, present many passages distinguished for sweetness, pathos, and harmony; the amatory poets of India are eminent, though none of them has attained the fame of Hafiz. The Bramins, who alone ought to be learned, are now almost wholly illiterate. The only tincture of literature and thought appears to exist among some of the higher inhabitants of the great cities, who have derived it chiefly from intercourse with Europeans and particularly with the missionaries. The English language is spreading in India, and a taste for European literature, newspapers, and periodicals, is beginning to take place among those whose situation throws them into habits of intimacy with foreign residents; a brighter era has also commenced in the political condition of the natives; they have, for several years, been admissible to civil offices and to act as civil and cri

minal judges, and are also summoned to sit in the punctayets, or native juries, and to try in some places criminal, in others both civil and criminal questions. By the Act of Parliament of 1833, for the better government of the Indian territories, it is further provided that no native shall, by reason of his religion, place of birth, descent, or colour, be disabled from holding any office or employment under the Company.

One of the most remarkable circumstances in Hindoo manners is the division of the people into castes; a division which has existed for thousands of years. The leading castes are four: first, Bramins, who are men of letters, and have the care of religion and laws; second, the soldiers, called rajah-poots, or descendants of the rajahs, (this class includes princes and sovereigns); third, merchants, farmers, and shepherds, called vaisyas; and fourth, sudras, or labourers.

The Bramin is required to abstain from animal food and fermented liquors, and to perform religious rites and ceremonies. Some of them, however, engage in employments of a secular nature. Many of them are agents or ministers of the native princes; some of them embark in commerce; and others are employed in carrying messages between distant places. They are an artful set of impostors, expert in disguising the truth, and practising without scruple every artifice to gull the people and accomplish their own selfish purposes. The number of persons of this caste who are respectable for their knowledge and virtue, is extremely small. The great body of these hereditary priests and sages are devoted to ambition, intrigue, and voluptuousness, and are disgraced by meanness, avarice, and cruelty. The charity which they profess is never practised. Towards the other castes they cherish no feeling of humanity, but claim every thing from them, while they give them nothing in return.

The rajah-poots seem not to possess the general character of the Hindoos. They have a ferocious courage, a savage ambition, and an insatiable avarice, not often compensated by any real virtues. Many of these are employed in the English service under the name of sepoys. The duties of the third caste consist in the labours of the field and garden, the rearing of cattle, and the sale of landed produce. When they travel to other countries, they engage in mercantile pursuits. The business of the fourth and most numerous caste, is servile labour. They are compelled to work for the Bramins, being considered as created solely for their use. To them the vedas, or holy books, must never be read, and whoever instructs them in religion is doomed to one of the hells with which the world of spirits is | provided. Such is this singular institution of castes. Each individual remains invariably in the rank in which he is born, and cannot aspire to a higher, whatever be his merits. The castes never intermarry, and so complete is the separation, that they will not even eat at the same table.

The religion of the Hindoos, derived from their sacred books, inculcates a belief in the existence of one supreme God, who holds himself aloof from the world, in a state of perfect indolence and bliss; having committed the government of the universe to three divinities. They believe that those who withdraw from the world, and devote themselves to abstinence and self-torture, will arrive at supreme happiness, by being united to the spirit of the great Deity, as a drop of water is absorbed by the ocean. The souls of the less holy they imagine will pass into the bodies of other men and brutes. The duties, ceremonies, and observances of religion, are interwoven with all the common offices of life.

The people worship images, and, under the blind influence of superstition, drown their children in the rivers, inflict upon themselves the most painful tortures and penances, and seek death by drowning, by fire, by being crushed beneath wheels, and by throwing themselves on large iron hooks. There is not, perhaps, in the whole history of the human race, a picture more truly horrible and disgusting than is presented by the idolatries of this infatuated people.

The great efforts which are now making by various missionary societies for introducing Christianity into India, have in many instances obtained a rich reward. Several hundreds of Hindoos have renounced their gods, the Ganges, and their priests, and have shaken from their limbs the iron chain of caste. A large number of converted natives have in some sense become missionaries, and have been