BRITISH INDIA, &c.

CHAPTER I.

EXTENT AND CONDITION OF INDIA.

LANDING AT MADRAS-DESCRIPTION OF A PALANKEEN-THE AUTHOR'S FIRST IMPRESSIONS-WHAT INDIA WAS TO THE ANCIENTS AND WHAT TO THE MODERNS-HOW THE NAME WEST INDIES WAS GIVEN TO SOUTH AMERICA-THE EXTENT OF THE EMPIRE THE EXTERNAL APPEARANCE OF THE COUNTRY AND ITS INHABITANTS-SOME MARKS OF IMPROVEMENT IN THE INTERIOR-THE EFFECTS OF WAR MORE VISIBLE-MEASURES OF AMELIORATION NECESSARY ΤΟ THE PROSPERITY OF THE

COUNTRY.

A VOYAGE to India has hitherto been regarded as a very arduous undertaking. After being confined for five months in a ship, crossing the equator twice, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and being exposed to many of the trials and dangers of the ocean, one is quite prepared to welcome the sight of the port whither he is bound. No sooner is the anchor cast in the Madras Roads, than we seem in a new world; natives crowd the vessel, show you a number and variety of testimonials which they have

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LANDING AT MADRAS.

received from gentlemen both in and out of India, and describe to you, in strange English, the inconveniences to which you must be exposed, should you venture to land without their guidance and protection.* Both sides of the ship now appear in a state of siege. Catamarans and Masula boats wait to be engaged, and their owners are anxious to gain your approbation. You can scarcely keep your gravity while you look at the grotesque appearance of the natives on the Catamarans, sitting on a small and contemptible raft in the midst of the sea, and steering the frail bark in triumph through the waves. It is a more serious concern when you descend into the Masula boat, which is to bear you through a surf that often dashes, with tremendous violence, upon the shore. Sitting under an awning which shelters you from the sun, and embarked in a boat which, though strong and serviceable, is entirely under the management of a Hindoo pilot and Hindoo sailors, you advance in safety, through the breakers, in which a jolly-boat or a wherry, though

Young Mr. Munro, afterwards Sir Thomas Munro, on his arrival at Madras, engaged one of these men, and congratulated himself on meeting with such a clever fellow. His servant, after looking into his sea-chest, said, "Oh, sir! this will never do; nobody in this country wears buff waistcoats, and breeches, and thread stockings, nor sleeps upon mattresses: sheets and blankets are useless in this warm climate. You must get a table and chairs, and a new bed." He carried off all the clothes, which he valued at six guineas, to dispose of them, and never returned.

manned with British tars, would be dashed to pieces in a moment; where many a brave man has been lost, and where many more would have perished, but for the expertness and enterprise of the natives on the Catamarans, who dive into the deep, lay hold of the sufferers, and bear them in safety to the beach. Sure as you are that they will deceive you, if possible, and that for money alone such deeds are performed, yet the first services which the natives render to you, inspire you with confidence: you feel yourselves secure under their superintendence, in the midst of danger; and some of the best feelings of your nature are called into exercise, while the missionary remembers that he is the ambassador of mercy to them.

As soon as you have landed, palankeens are in readiness to carry you to the house of your friends. What can be more indulgent, more agreeable, and perhaps more suited to the climate, than this mode of conveyance! It is found a good seat, or a comfortable bed. In shape it is oblong: on both sides there are two sliding doors, which you may shut or open at pleasure. A wooden canopy above shelters you from the sun; a long pole fixed in either end, and fastened with iron rods to the body of the palankeen, becomes the support, with which three bearers before and three behind carry you to your home, while they forget not to answer to one another, first in a low murmur, and then in a regular shout-not from any oppression which they feel,

but to encourage one another in their labour, and to keep time and tune together as they advance.*

But whatever may be the delight which this new scene is calculated to inspire, very solemn were the feelings with which the writer and his companion, landed in India. A famine prevailed over the country, and was consigning hundreds of natives to the grave; the cholera was raging with frightful violence at Madras, and had cut down some of the highest and most influential members of European society. Every acquaintance and stranger you met with seemed to ask, with an anxious and enquiring look, "Have you the cholera?" and a deep im

* A missionary, on landing at Madras, engaged a palankeen, and ordered the bearers to take him to a gentleman's house at Vepery. When they came within sight of the house, they grounded the palankeen, and the head-bearer coming up to him, said, "Master, please to walk into the garden, that is the house; but we are not allowed to carry the palankeen into gentlemen's compounds. If master will just walk this little distance, it will be very good." "Oh, yes," replied the missionary, in ignorance of the customs, "what is your charge?" "Master give five rupees, that will do very well." The five rupees were given, and the missionary walked up to the house. His friend saw him advancing, and ran out to give him a hearty welcome. "But how," he enquired, "have you come ?" "Oh, replied the stranger, "I came in a palankeen, but the bearers told me it was against the law to carry me into your compound." Oh, what cheats!" exclaimed the gentleman; "such a thing was never heard of: what have they charged you?" rupees," said the missionary. "Nearly ten times more than you ought to have given them," said his friend. As the Teloogoo bearers are remarkable for their honesty, these bearers, I should think, were of a different caste and origin.

"Five

pression of the nearness and the solemnity of death and judgment, appeared to rest on the community. But to behold the whole city given up to idolatry; what a sight! Every object brings their gross and degrading superstition to your view; the mark of the beast is engraveu on their foreheads. Their pagodas, their muntapas,* their altars, and their idols of stone, meet your eye, on every side. If they adorn their houses, it must be with figures of their deities. Their dress, their very ornaments, their trades and occupations, their shops and merchandize, their schools of learning, their public edifices, their manners and customs, and intercourse, -all remind you of their debasing mythology. Your heart sickens within you, while you pass through the streets of Black Town, and behold crowds of immortal beings busy upon the trifles of an hour, almost ready to devour one another to obtain the riches and vanities of earth, panting after worldly fame and renown, and many of them inflicting the most excruciating tortures upon themselves, to become the idols of the multitude, or to propitiate an offended deity; but all without God and without hope, famishing for want of the bread that endureth to life everlasting, and perishing in their sins.

In every age, India has been the region of re

A muntapa is a small house built upon the road-side, and containing an idol, at whose shrine, travellers may pay their devotions.