the women were ravished, and the handsomest carried away. Such of the men as fell into the hands of the Marattas were killed, and of those who escaped the sword a large proportion perished of hunger; every eatable thing having been swept away by those whom people in Europe are pleased to call the gentle Hindoos. These ruffians did not even spare the Kudali Swami, who is the guru of all the Maratta Bramins of the Smartal sect, and who is by them considered as an actual incarnation of the deity. His matam, or college, was plundered and burnt; but this cost the Maratta chief dear. The enraged Swami held out threats of instant excommunication, and was only pacified by a present of 400,000 rupees. Tippoo had the satisfaction of taking one half of this sum, which was the assessment levied from the Swami on account of the nuzzur that lord Cornwallis exacted.

The Swami is said to have been of great use in the famine, and to have employed the utmost of his influence in collecting money to support the starving wretches. He daily fed 3,000 Bramins, and other religious mendicants; for, according to the Hindoo doctrine, it is the charity which is bestowed on religious men that chiefly procures favour in the eyes of the gods.

In the neighbourhood of this place, our traveller came to a village, where the inhospitable disposition of the natives fully manifested itself. Near this village,' says he, I overtook a Seapoy lying in the utmost agony from a rupture. Having with some difficulty reduced it, the pain in his groin was succeeded by a violent colic, which contracted his limbs; and, had any exercise been at all proper for a man in his condition, rendered him totally unable to walk. I therefore went into the village, in order to procure a cot or bedstead, of which a litter could be readily made. As I had left all my attendants with the sick man, except an interpreter, the villagers held me in contempt. I found the gauda, his brother, and some head men of the village, all Sivabhactars, standing in conversation, and wrapped up in their blankets. Having made known to them my case, the gauda replied, that they had no cots, and his brother talked very loud, and

in an insolent manner. This was checked by the coming up of a superior officer of revenue, who informed me that there were cots in every house; but neither offers of payment, nor threats of complaint, were of more avail than humanity." This inhospitality partly proceeded from their hatred to the Seapoys of the Bombay army.

At Heriuru our author's cook died. When this man was taken ill,' says he, I had given orders to secure his effects for the benefit of his wife and children; but, on inspection after his death, no money could be found. Whether he had been plundered as soon as he became insensible, and that a guilty conscience occasioned fears among his companions, or whether the sudden manner of his death occasioned suspicions, I cannot say; but it was immediately believed that he would become a pysachi, and all my people were filled with terror, The butler imagined, that the pysachi appeared to him at night with a black silk handkerchief tied round its head, and gave him instructions to take all the effects of the deceased to his family; upon this, the butler, being a man of courage, put his shoes at the right side of the door, which he considered to be a sure preventative against such intruders. Next night a cattle-driver, lying in all the agonies of nocturnal terror, saw the appearance of a dog enter, and smell round the place where the man had died; when, to his utter dismay, the spectre gradually grew larger and larger, and at length, having assumed the form of the cook, vanished with a shriek. The poor man had not the courage to use the slippers, but lay till morning in a kind of stupor. After this, even the minds of the Seapoys were appalled; and when I happened to be awake, I heard the sentries, by way of keeping up their courage, singing with a tremulous voice."

Dr. Buchanan, having surveyed the central parts of Mysore, set out from Seringapatam on his return to Madras. Cancan-hully was a temple said to have been founded many hundred thousand years ago. Previous to the invasion by lord Cornwallis, the country was well cultivated. The devastation was commenced by Tippoo, who blew up the works in order to prevent them from being useful to the

British army. After this the Anicul Polygar ravaged the country, colonel Read having invited him back to his dominions. According to the accounts of the amildar, this, gentle Hindoo has rendered 2-5ths of the whole arable lands, a waste; and, from the small number of inhabitants, the beasts of prey have increased so much, that, during the two, last years of the sultan's government, 80 of the inhabitants of Cancan-hully were carried away by tigers from within the walls of the fort. These have been since repaired, and the people can now sleep with safety. To keep off these destructive animals, every village in the neighbourhood is strongly fenced with a hedge of thorns. On the approach of the army under general Harris, Tippoo burned the town, and he did not allow to escape this favourable opportunity of destroying an idolatrous place of worship. He broke down the mandapam, or portico of the temple, and nothing remains but the gateway, and the shrine; to destroy which, probably his workmen durst not venture. Cancan-hully at present contains 200 houses. Before the invasion of lord Cornwallis there were at least 500.

We have thus endeavoured to select the most amusing and striking features in the character of the Hindoos. From which it is evident, that the separation of the inhabitants into distinct casts, constitutes an insuperable bar to civilization. Intelligence, industry, and property, are not the chief marks of distinction. The pride of cast is indeed,' says our author, 'that which is most prevalent with the Hindoos; and there is scarcely a creature so wretched or ignorant but who on this account holds in the utmost contempt many persons in easy circumstances, and respectable situations; for the rank of the different casts is by no means well ascertained; the only one point that is clear is, the immeasurable superiority of the Bramins above the rest of mankind.'

The jealousy that exists amongst the native princes in Hindostan, the terror inspired by the British arms, and the protection afforded from foreign invasion, have conspired to strengthen and extend the authority of the East India company over these immense and populous regions. But the

impossibility of maintaining a permanent authority over a people so inveterately prejudiced, by ancient and religious customs, against their conquerors, by such means as the company possess, must be apparent to every one. The propriety of colonizing Hindostan has been urged as the best means of maintaining the British power: but this scheme, it is supposed, would interfere with the interests of the company.

THE END OF THE THIRD VOLUME.

Printed by Mackenzie and Dent, St. Nicholas's Church-yard, Newcastle.