with a grey or brown pith and sweet glutinous juice. | sake of their milk, which is thought better than that of In this state, the canes are cut, tied in bundles or sheaves, and taken to the mill to be divested of their leaves and decayed parts, and then passed through rollers to express their juice, &c. Cane plantations are formed either in May or June, or in December and January, these being the rainy seasons. COWS. Fish are very abundant on the shores of every island, and form an important article of consumption. Their flesh is described, however, as pulpy, and not to be compared to that of the salmon. The most delicate are those caught in the mountain streams; and sea and land turtle are also frequently met with. Oysters are The cotton plant is propagated by seed, which is set to be seen hanging on the pendant branches of the wilin rows, about five feet asunder, at the end of Septem-low, which grow into the water. The black crab of ber or beginning of October; at first but slightly co- Jamaica is esteemed as a great delicacy; and is somevered, but after it is grown up, the root is well moulded. what peculiar in its habits. They burrow in the sand The seed is subject to decay when it is set too deep, during one season, and at others they are frequently especially in wet weather. The ground is hoed fre- found far into the interior of the country. It is supquently, and kept very clean about the young plants, posed that they migrate across the islands on which until they rise to a moderate height; otherwise they they are found annually. The domestic fowls are nuare apt to be destroyed by caterpillars. It grows from merous, comprehending almost every kind known in four to six feet high, and produces two crops annually; this country, except geese and the common duck. In the first in eight months from the time of sowing the place of these, however, the Muscovy duck, the turkey, seed, the second within four months after the first; and the Guinea fowl, thrive remarkably well. and the produce of each plant is reckoned about one pound weight. When a great part of the pod is expanded, the wool is picked, and afterwards cleared from the seeds by a machine called a gin, composed of two or three smooth wooden rollers of about one inch in diameter, ranged horizontally, close and parallel to each other, in a frame; at each extremity they are toothed or channelled longitudinally, corresponding one with another, and the central roller being moved with a foot-lathe, makes the two others revolve in contrary directions. The cotton is laid upon these rollers whilst they are in motion, and, readily passing between them, drops into a sack beneath, leaving the seeds, which are too large to pass through behind. Indigo thrives best in a rich free soil and a warm situation frequently refreshed with moisture. Having first chosen a proper piece of ground and cleared it, it is made into little trenches, not above two inches or two inches and a half in depth, nor more than fourteen or fifteen inches asunder. In the bottom of these, at any season of the year, the seeds are strewn pretty thick, and immediately covered. As the plants shoot, they are frequently weeded and kept constantly clean, until they spread sufficiently to cover the ground. Those who cultivate great quantities, only strew the seeds pretty thick in little shallow pits, hoed up irregularly, but generally within four, five, or six inches of one another, and covered as before. The plants grow to full perfection in two or three months, and are observed to answer best when cut in full blossom. They are cut with reaping-hooks a few inches above the root, tied in loads, carried to the works, and laid by strata in the steeper. The green turtle is very common in many of the West India islands, and is much prized as an article of food. This species derives its name from the fat being green, and is that most esteemed by epicures. There are very few shell-fish in the West Indies which are either useful or ornamental. The most beautiful are the horned helmet, the strombas gigas, and the rare plecocheilus undulatus, which is confined to St Vincent alone. With such resources, it may be supposed that the inhabitants live in comfort, from the highest to the lowest. The mode of life followed in Trinidad, as described to us by a resident, is to rise at five, get a cup of coffee, and go to business till seven. Breakfast is then served, and business is suspended for two or three hours during the heat of the day, during which time the reading-room is much frequented. Work again commences at four or five in the afternoon, and is given up altogether at nine in the evening. INSECTS, REPTILES, BIRDS. One of the most annoying pests of the West Indies is the myriads of ants that every where swarm, as well within as without doors. There are innumerable varieties of them-some black, some brown, some large, and some very small. But, like all the other productions of nature, these little animals, which, by some superficial writers, have been called the "plague of the West Indies," prove of the most beneficial consequence to the health of the island. They are carnivorous, and prevent the accumulation of putrid animal matter. Their scent is remarkably acute, and a dead fly, wasp, or even mosquito, will not lie on the floor for two miIn cultivating the coffee, the berries are sown imme-nutes, before a procession of ants will be seen issuing diately after being gathered, as they are found to retain their vegetative quality only a few weeks. In three months they are fit to transplant, either to a nursery or to a final plantation. In the low lands, they are planted five feet apart, and in the mountains ten feet or more. In three years, the plants will produce a crop, and continue bearing for a number of years. The berries are gathered when they are just about to drop; and are immediately carried to sheds, where they are dried upon cloths, or mats, till the husk shrivels. They are then passed through between wooden rollers turned by a mule, which separates the husk, after which they are winnowed, sifted, cleaned, exposed to the sun for a few days, and then barrelled up for sale." Various European animals thrive remarkably well in some of the islands. Amongst these may be mentioned the ox, which is much used both for food and labour. Oxen never attain such a size in tropical climes as in this country; and from the labour they have to undergo, the beef is not so good. Horses and mules are abundant in Jamaica, they being principally used for riding or drawing light burdens. Sheep are also plentiful, but the mutton is coarse. Pigs, especially such as are fed upon sugar estates, are very highly esteemed as food; their flesh being described as exceedingly delicate. Goats are kept in considerable numbers for the from some distant corner of the apartment, who drag off the prize bodily to their store-house, to be consumed at their leisure. Perhaps the greatest annoyance experienced by new settlers in those islands is from the bites of the mosquitos, although these animals are not nearly so formidable there, in size or sting, as on the South American continent. In the latter they are so dreadful a plague, that people obliged to sleep out of doors can only find protection from the smoke of rank and green weeds thrown upon a fire to windward of them. In the islands, however, they are exceedingly troublesome, and a new settler may almost be recognised from the blotched and swelled appearance of his face, hands, and ankles-in short, every part of his person exposed to their venomous probosces. They resemble exactly our British midge, and are in fact of the same family of insects. After a short residence, they cease to be any annoyance to Europeans, who become callous to their stings, and whom, indeed, they cease to fix upon after being some time in the country. They do not at all trouble the Negroes, whose oily skins are impervious to their stings. They are most tormenting during the night, and, to guard against their attacks, gauze curtains are hung round the bed of every respectable inhabitant in town or country. The process of getting into bed without admitting any of these tiny persecu- | in wrecks when the vessels themselves were out of sight tors, is one requiring great dexterity, and not a little scientific manoeuvring, as will be seen by a most humorous description, given by Captain Basil Hall in the third series of his entertaining "Fragments;" and which, although applying to the eastern hemisphere, is equally applicable to the west. Another of the pests of the West Indies is the chigre, a small invisible insect, which enters the skin, and unless extracted speedily, breeds the most disgusting sores. They abound chiefly on the coffee plantations. After getting into the flesh, they will hatch a colony of young chigres in a few hours. They will not live together, but every chigre sets up a separate ulcer. Their presence is known by a sharp itching of the part. The cockroach is a large and disgusting insect, but harmless. It resembles our cricket in appearance, and abounds in thousands. One of the most singular of the animal phenomena peculiar to the West Indies, are the fire-flies. The light emitted from their bodies is phosphorescent, and only glows during the night. "I was in the habit," says a writer on Jamaica, in our Journal, "almost nightly, of enclosing a dozen or more of fire-flies under an inverted glass tumbler on my bed-room table, the light from whose bodies enabled me to read without difficulty. They are about the size of a bee, and perfectly harmless. Their coming forth in more than usual numbers is the certain harbinger of impending rain; and I have frequently, whilst travelling, met them in such myriads, that, be the night ever so dark, the pathway was as plain and visible almost as at noonday. The light they emit resembles exactly the lustre of the diamond, and I have been told that it is no uncommon thing for the Creole coquettes to insert a few of them, confined in pieces of thin gauze, amongst their hair, and in various parts of their dress, just as our belles at home avail themselves of the ingenuity of the paste-jeweller." There are few poisonous reptiles in the West India islands besides the scorpion, which is very numerous. It lodges principally about old walls and the trunks of felled and decayed trees; its bite always produces fever, and often causes death. There are many varieties of serpents, but they are almost all harmless. The kind most common in Jamaica is the yellow snake, which is frequently found of seven and eight feet in length. It often comes into the houses; and one of them is reckoned an excellent prize by the negroes, from the great quantity of oil it yields. One of the most common of the reptile tribe is the lizard, exactly resembling the alligator in shape. These animals are to be seen frisking about in thousands throughout all the interior, especially about the public roads. Some of them are two feet long; and many of the inhabitants consider them a great delicacy when stewed. Their flesh is white, and resembles that of a chicken or rabbit. Amongst the most destructive of the animals which infest the West Indies, is the rat, which is very large in size. The history of this animal is somewhat peculiar. It was introduced into several of the West India islands about fifty years ago, by Sir Charles Price, for the purpose of extirpating the native rat. This it soon did most effectually, but at the same time overran the island itself, proving by a thousand degrees a greater pest than its predecessors. It annually does great damage to the cane-grounds. One of the first animals which attracts the attention of a stranger in the West Indies, is the large carrion-crow, called by the Negroes the "John-crow." It is a large, heavy, sluggish bird, about the size of a British turkey, the head exactly resembling that of the latter. It is black in colour, and in the interior of the country is seen floating at an immense height above every hamlet. Its sense of smell is so keen, that it will discern the effluvia from the body of the smallest dead animal at several miles' distance; and has been known to scent the dead bodies of land. They are found so beneficial to the health of the island, in thus consuming all putrid animal substances, that a fine of a doubloon (£5 currency) is exacted for killing one of them. When sickness prevails in a house, these birds perch upon the roof even in the midst of towns, where they will remain for many days, as if waiting for their loathsome banquet-in the same manner as sharks are said to attend sick ships at sea. CONDITION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.-TRADE, &c. Previous to 1834, the British West India islands were all cultivated by Negro slaves; but in that year a bill passed the Houses of Parliament by which slavery was abolished, the planters receiving £20,000,000 sterling as the price of Negro emancipation. This bill declared, that after the 1st of August 1834, all slaves should become apprenticed labourers; the apprenticeships to cease in August 1840. In the interval, disturbances occurred, and much property was damaged, from the Negroes believing that they had now only to work for themselves; but in the course of a few months they returned to their labour. This they did, however, with great reluctance; and in many instances the crops were ruined for want of sufficient attendance. The produce of the islands in consequence greatly decreased; nor has it yet reached the amount it stood at before the passing of the Emancipation Act. The island of Antigua totally abolished slavery in 1834, without requiring the stipulated apprenticeship; and it is highly gratifying to know, that the amount of crime greatly decreased in this island since that period. Bermuda followed the example of Antigua, which was imitated by many of the smaller islands, and afterwards by Barbadoes. Jamaica and some other islands, however, held out till August 1838, when slavery was finally abolished in the British West India islands. It was anticipated that this event would lead to a considerable degree of social disorganisation, but nothing of the kind occurred; and the conduct of the emancipated Negroes, who now may be termed the peasantry of the West Indies, has been peaceful and orderly; and on all occasions they have manifested a desire to work at fair wages, and to improve their moral and intellectual condition. Mr Gurney (a member of the Society of Friends), who travelled through the West Indies in 1840, and has published the result of his investigations, corroborates all official information on this subject, and describes the improvement of habits and desires among the peasantry as most remarkable. The only dispeace that has occurred in the islands, has, it seems, been caused by employers exacting heavy rents for cottages and provision-grounds; but this source of disquietude, we believe, no longer exists, and tranquillity and industry every where prevail. We In Dominica, he found the Negroes manifesting great anxiety for instruction-a thing that cannot be said of the English peasantry. One day, he observes, "The people gathered around us, and a woman came forward on behalf of the company, to beg for a school. are hungry for a school,' said she; we are tired of waiting for it. Nor were these idle words; for the people on this and a neighbouring property had agreed to subscribe eight dollars per month in part payment of a teacher. Nothing, indeed, can be more eager than the desire of the negroes of Dominica for educationthey seem determined to obtain it; and it is gratifying to know that the efforts now making for the purpose are at once considerable and successful. There are nearly 700 scholars in the four Mico schools, which are ably conducted, and being quite clear of any peculiar religious bias, are acceptable to the whole population." This forms an agreeable piece of information. In Dominica, a majority of the lower house in the legislature is composed of coloured persons, and the same class of persons are now eligible as jurors, both in this and other islands: it becomes absolutely necessary that the people should, by means of instruction, be prepared for performing these functions with propriety. Another cir cumstance which fell under Mr Gurney's notice at Dominica deserves to be made widely known. During slavery, it was below the dignity of any free person to labour in the fields; and all who could do so preferred to live in idleness rather than work. The abolition of slavery has removed this detestable plea for living in a state of slothful indulgence. It is now quite respectable to work-labour in the fields is not discreditable. This indicates an important social improvement. In speaking of Jamaica, Mr Gurney shows, that a coffee estate which he visited is now conducted at a much cheaper rate than during slavery, when the planters were obliged to support not only the actual workers, but all the young, old, sick, and idle. The owner of the estate in question described the two different conditions of affairs as follows:-" One hundred and seventy slaves, or apprentices, used to be supported on this estate. Now, our friend employs fifty-four free labourers, who work for him four days in the week, taking one day for their provision-grounds and another for market. This is all the labour that he requires, in order to keep up his former extent of cultivation. And willingly did he acknowledge the superior advantage which attends the present system. The saving of expense is obvious. I understood our friend to allow that the average cost of supporting a slave was £5 sterling per annum. 170 slaves, at L.5 per annum, is Now, he pays 54 free labourers 4s. 6d. per week, one day's labour being set off against rent, for 50 weeks, two weeks being allowed for holidays, Saving under freedom, L.850 0 0 607 10 0 L.242 10 0" In the course of another journey, Mr Gurney offers the following useful fact:-"Do you see that excellent new stone wall round the field below us? said the young physician to me, as we stood at A B's front door, surveying the delightful scenery. That wall could scarcely have been built at all under slavery or the apprenticeship; the necessary labour could not then have been hired at less than £5 currency, or 15 dollars per chain. Under freedom, it cost only from 34 dollars to 4 dollars per chain-not one-third of the amount. Still more remarkable is the fact, that the whole of it was built under the stimulus of job-work, by an invalid Negro, who during slavery had been given up to total inaction.' This was the substance of our conversation; the information was afterwards fully confirmed by the proprietor. Such was the fresh blood infused into the veins of this decrepid person by the genial hand of freedom, that he had been redeemed from absolute uselessness-had executed a noble work-had greatly improved his master's property-and, finally, had realised for himself a handsome sum of money. This single fact is admirably and undeniably illustrative of the principles of the case, and for that purpose is as good as a thousand." Of the condition of Jamaica generally, Mr Gurney observes" The imports of the island are rapidly increasing; trade improving; the towns thriving; new villages rising in every direction; property much enhanced in value; well-managed estates, productive and profitable; expenses of management diminished; short methods of labour adopted; provisions cultivated on a larger scale than ever; and the people, wherever they are properly treated, industrious, contented, and gradually accumulating wealth. Above all, education is rapidly spreading; the morals of the community improving; crime in many districts disappearing; and Christianity asserting her sway, with vastly augmented force, over the mass of the population. Cease from all attempts to oppose the current of justice and mercy-remove every obstruction to the fair and full working of freedom-and the bud of Jamaica's prosperity, already fragrant and vigorous, will soon burst into a glorious flower." Notwithstanding the symptoms of industry and improvement which prevail, it happens that the West Indies suffer from a general deficiency of labourers, and to relieve this serious difficulty various schemes have been adopted, though without any important result. Whether from this deficiency or from the effects of the seasons, the produce and trade of the islands have not kept pace with the improvements in their social condition. We have been unable to find any official statement which can furnish a view of the export and import trade during late years. In 1833, the exports from the West Indies amounted to £8,008,248, and in 1834 they were only £5,410,113. The exports of these colonies are considerably greater than their imports, and consist of four leading articles-sugar, rum, molasses, and coffee. In 1835 they sent out 3,524,209 cwts. of sugar, 5,453,317 gallons of rum, 507,627 cwts. of molasses, and 14,866,580 lbs. of coffee. Much the largest export from any individual colony was from Jamaica. The imports from the United Kingdom in 1838 amounted to £3,393,441, a sum so inferior to the value of the exports, that there must be a great payment to the planters in cash. The principle on which the trade with the West Indies is conducted, like that of all our colonies, is pernicious in the extreme. It consists in our obligation to prefer buying from them instead of from Brazil, or any other foreign country, which could supply us at a cheaper rate. While we now write, for example, sugar could be imported into Britain from Brazil at less than half the price we are paying for it to the West Indies. The people of the United Kingdom are in this manner, as it is calculated, losing several millions per annum, exclusively of civil and military expenses. It is needless, however, to dilate on this absurd system of trade, as at present certain plans are in contemplation for revising the tariff of import duties, which leads to such decided injury to the mother country, and which is compensated by no commercial advantage whatsoever. The currency employed in the West Indies is an imaginary money, and has a different value in different colonies. The following are the values of £100 sterling, and of a dollar, in the currencies of the different islands : CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS, EDITORS OF CHAMBERS'S NUMBER 24. NEW AND IMPROVED SERIES. DESCRIPTION OF THE EAST INDIES. PRICE 1 d. GEOGRAPHICAL BOUNDARIES. INDIA, or Hindostan, or the East Indies, as it is called, to distinguish it from the West India Islands, is a large country in Asia, forming, as may be seen by the prefixed map, an extensive triangular-shaped territory, pointing with its narrow peninsular extremity southward to the Indian Ocean. India is nearly comprehended between the latitudes of 8° and 35° north; its extreme length from north to south is about 1900 miles, and from east to west about 1500; its superficial area measures 1,280,000 miles. The northern boundary of this extensive region is formed by a range of mountains running from east to west, which are higher than any other on the surface of the globe, some of them reaching 25,000 feet above the level of the sea: they are called the Himaleh Mountains, from an Indian word, heem, signifying snow-some of their peaks being perpetually clothed with ice and snows. From the extremities of this mountain chain flow two large rivers, which form on either side the boundary of India; that on the east is called the Brahmaputra, and that on the west, the Indus a river from whose name the whole country has derived its present designation. Each of these streams with its tributaries water an immense tract of fertile country, and afford excellent means of internal trade to the people situated on the banks. From the mouths of these rivers the coast stretches both ways to the southward, the eastern and western side inclining to the same point, so as to meet at Cape Comorin. Beyond this, the adjoining Island of Ceylon extends a little farther outward, and reaches to within about six degrees of the equator. This large country presents a great variety of surface, being diversified in some places with wide sandy deserts; in others with fine undulating hill countries, well watered and fertile; a third portion consists of flat high-lying regions, called table-lands, which, from their height above the sea, are cool and temperate; and a fourth division consists of immense fertile plains, watered by the large rivers of the country, and their numerous tributaries. A considerable portion of the low-lying country is of a marshy shrubby character, called jungle, and unfitted for cultivation. Each of these divisions of India presents an aspect peculiar to itself, and all of them are distinguished by natural productions, both plants and animals. Besides the Indus on the west, and the Brahmaputra on the east, there are other large and important rivers descending from the outskirts of the Himaleh Mountains, or from ranges of hills called Ghauts, and descending to the sea both on the east and west coasts. The principal of these streams is the Ganges, which, with its tributaries, drains a large portion of the north-east division of the country, and enters the sea in the province of Bengal, along with the conjoined waters of the Brahmaputra. The valley of the Ganges, and the valleys of its tributaries, form the fairest and richest portion of India. This district, in its largest extent, may be described as a semicircle, with its base extended along the line of the Himaleh Mountains, and its curve running along from Soodiana on the Indus, to Delhi, Gualior, Punnah, Sumbhulpoor, and Balasore, where it meets the sea and the mouths of the Ganges, thence along the coast to Chittagong, and north by Silhet and Rungpore, to include the country of the Brahmaputra. The first sight of India to European voyagers has little which can please or interest. The coasts are remarkably flat, and frequently dangerous to approach through the raging surf; the shore is only discernible by the tall cocoa-trees which surround the villages or temples. This extreme flatness of the shores of India is one of the peculiar distinguishing traits of the country, and is exceedingly disadvantageous in a maritime commercial point of view. The southern district of this magnificent valley is called Bengal, and extends along the sea from Chittagong to Balasore, about four hundred miles, and reaches about the same distance northward. The sea-coast is not the most fertile or useful part of this territory; great part of it towards the centre being composed of marshy ground, or of mud islands, among which the branches of the river are spread like net-work. These islands are covered with a rank vegetation of reeds, which are sometimes twenty or thirty feet high; or with trees and underwood so tall and dense, that it is impossible to penetrate them. They afford shelter to tigers and other wild animals, but the air of the whole of them is pernicious to health. About 150 miles upwards, the soil becomes higher and less marshy, so as to afford good ground for cultivation; and the country is here fertile and thickly peopled. It is in this district, immediately above the mouths of the Ganges, that Calcutta, the capital of British India, is situated. The inundations of the Ganges cover and fertilise immense tracts of the level country near the river, while others more remote procure the same advantages from an artificial irrigation. Luxuriant fields, divided by groves of tall trees, with villages under their shelter, and swarming with a population beyond any thing that Europe can show, form the general features of the vast alluvial plain of Bengal. prehensive division. It stretches across the centre of 2. Bahar. 3. Allahabad. 4. Oude. 5. Agra. 8. Cashmere. 9. Ajmeer. 10. Mooltan. 11. Cutch. 12. Guzerat. 13. Malwa. 6. Delhi. 7. Lahore. Third, THE DECCAN.-This division lies next, in a southerly direction, to the above, extending from the Nerbudda river on the north, which flows into the sea on the west coast, to the Krishna, a river flowing into the sea or Bay of Bengal on the east coast. Between these rivers lies the Deccan, a much less fertile division of India than the preceding; Bombay, a small island on the west coast, belongs to the province of Aurungabad in this division. The Deccan comprehends the following provinces, a portion of which once formed the Mahratta empire: 1. Gundwana. 2. Orissa. 6. Beeder. 1. Canara. 2. Malabar. 3. Cochin. 6. Mysore. 7. Coimbatoor. 4. Travancore. HISTORY. Of this remote period of Indian history, little is correctly known; all that may be said of it is, that both the Greeks and Romans were supplied with some of their articles of luxury from Hindostan, and that for many centuries this eastern clime was supposed, by the ill-instructed inhabitants of distant parts of Asia and Europe, to be the richest and most sumptuous country on the globe. The tales related of Indian grandeur appear to have in time excited the avarice and ambition of Mahommedan or Saracen chiefs. The first of this barbarous though intrepid race, who made a successful inroad upon India, was Mahmoud, sultan of Ghizni, or Affghanistan, a kingdom on the north-west of India. Mahmoud commenced his successful expeditions into India about the year 1000, and he continued them till 1024, making the destruction of pagan idolatry more the object of his visits than the acquisition of wealth or power. In this period of twenty-four years he had subdued a considerable number of the native princes, and, notwithstanding his professions, exacted immense tributes in gold and every kind of valuable commodity. A successor of Mahmoud, named Mahommed, after carrying on war with the Indian princes for some time, at length, about the year 1193, entered Hindostan with an exceedingly large force, and bore down all opposition. The king of Delhi was slain in battle, and having advanced to that ancient capital, Mahommed there left a viceroy to maintain his authority. In this manner a Mahommedan dominion was for the first time established in the heart of India, and in one of its greatest cities; and thus commenced the Affghan or Patan sovereigns and their dynasty. added to his already extensive empire. The dynasty so planted continued in existence for rather more than three hundred years, when, in 1525 or 1526, it was subverted by Baber, who was considered one of the most adventurous warriors of his time, and who, like his prototype Mahommed, was of the Moslem faith. Baber was either descended from a Mogul or Tartar chief, or in some way, not clearly explained by historians, connected with a race called Moguls, who assisted him in his attempts upon India; and from causes of this nature, the empire which he founded in Hindostan has ever since been called the Mogul empire. What was the original political condition of the vast From the year 1526, a series of Mahommedan empeterritory now composing the British Indian empire, it rors, whose seat of authority was at Delhi, ruled the would be needless to detail minutely. Like other largest and finest portions of India. By them the portions of Asia, it was early inhabited by a primitive country was in many places newly subdivided into propeople, more or less barbarous, professing different vinces, and put under the government of tributary kings pagan religions, and speaking many more different or nabobs, who superseded the Hindoo rajahs or petty languages. The principal religion, however, was Hin- princes. One of the greatest of these Mogul emperors dooism, which we shall afterwards allude to; and it has was Akbar, who flourished between the years 1556 and been said by some historians that the early Hindoo race 1605. By his daring and judicious management, the of inhabitants manifested many symptoms of civilisa- central provinces were preserved in complete tranquiltion, and even a knowledge of some of the sciences.lity, and Guzerat, Bengal, and part of the Deccan, were However this may have been, the inhabitants generally were in some measure an industrious but simple race, and little inclined to war. Reasoning from what has occurred in their history, as well as from the information communicated regarding them, they seem, from the earliest times, to have had little or no care with regard to who ruled over them, provided they were ensured in the possession of their ancient religious usages, and their system of living in small communities, under a primitive species of local government. They were reckless of what sovereign was placed over them, or to what dynasty they were transferred, so long as the internal economy of their village districts remained the same. This species of political apathy produced the results which might have been expected. From the most remote period of which any record is preserved, the inhabitants of India, including those tribes which possessed more decided warlike propensities, or who had the spirit to resist aggression, were subjected to the government of strangers, who seized upon their territories, and made them the objects of taxation. Among other warlike princes who thus made inroads on the country, Alexander the Great, in the course of his ambitious career, marched with an army to India, the northern part of which he conquered. While the emperors of India were thus establishing their power, multifarious schemes were formed in Europe for getting possession of some of the wealth, if not some portions of the territory, of Hindostan. The commodities of Indian manufacture or produce were hitherto imported into the European states only by means of tedious overland journeys, or partly by the Red Sea, and were endangered in their passage by the attacks of ferocious Tartar and Turkish tribes. The discovery of a new and safe road to India thus became a matter of very great consequence. A route by sea round the Cape of Good Hope was at last found by the Portuguese, who, under the command of Vasco de Gama, in 1498, landed in Hindostan, on the coast of Malabar, where they at once established themselves. The whole commerce of the East Indies was now in the hands of the Portuguese for nearly a century—and this was the golden age of Portugal. Lisbon became the great depôt of Indian spices and other commodities, greatly to the envy of the Dutch and other nations. Portugal was united to Spain in 1580-the Spaniards oppressed Holland, and caused it to revolt-this revolt was followed by the capture of the Dutch ships trading to Lisbon-and this capture compelled the Dutch to |