among us. He yielded accordingly to sollicitation, and com. mitted his views to paper; premising that his readers must expect no political secrets, as the intrigues of a Mahratta Durbar are, on ne peut plus, dry and disgusting, and as the opportunities of acquiring authentic information on such topics are very limited. He adds another observation of more general importance, which we give in his own words:

When an English gentleman undertakes to give an account of Indian manners and habits of private life, he labours under many disadvantages. The obstacles which prevent our ever viewing the natives of India in their domestic circles are great and insuperable; such as the restrictions of cast on their side, rank and situation on ours, &c. We do not intermarry with them, as the Portuguese did; nor do we ever mix with them, in the common duties of social life, on terms of equality. What knowledge we have acquired of their domestic arrangements has been gained chiefly by inquiry; and hence we are often led to describe customs and institutions unfavourably, because our own prejudices render us incompetent to feel their propriety, or correctly to judge of their effects. These observations apply more particularly to the Mahrattas, with whom neither we ourselves, nor our Indian fellow-subjects, have little else [much more] than merely a political intercourse.'

Mr. B. proceeds to describe very clearly and particularly the districts through which he passed, in his march from Agra to the camp of Scindiah, or, as it ought properly to be spelled, Seendhiya. This march took place at the end of the year 1808, and was performed in rainy and uncomfortable weather. No people, he says, suffer more from cold and wet, (when such weather happens to occur,) than the natives of India; who have no idea of keeping themselves warm by exercise, but cower round the embers of a few burnt sticks, and are rendered objects of pity by a single fall of rain. After having encountered a variety of unpleasant delays, and some dangers, Mr. B. arrived in the course of eleven days at the Mahratta camp, of which he gives this remarkable description:

• Camp at Soopoor, Jan. 14. 1809. Nothing, having any claim to the appellation of a regular encampment, can well be less so than that of a Mahratta army. On marching days, the Beenee Wala, or quarter-master general, moves off at an early hour; and upon reaching the ground where the army is to encamp, he plants a small white flag, to mark the spot where the tents of the Muha Raj (the title by which any Hindoo prince is commonly designated) are to be pitched; and which collectively are termed the Decoree.--The shops, called Dokans, are pitched in twe lines running parallel to each other; and thus form one grand street from the front to the rear of the army. This street often extends from three to four miles.The different chiefs encamp to the right and left of the principal street; generally, however, in the neighbourhood

bourhood of some particular Bazar. Their respective encampments are made without the smallest attention to regularity, cleanliness, or convenience: men, horses, camels, and bullocks are all jumbled together in a mass; which mass is surrounded on all sides by others of a similar nature, in a continued series of comfortless confusion. This forms what is termed the Bura Lushkur, or main army; and is generally about as many hundred yards in breadth, that is from flank to flank, as it is miles in length from front to rear; thus exactly reversing the order of encampment which obtains in the disciplined armies of Europe.

The shops, which compose the Bazars, are mostly formed of blankets or coarse cloth stretched over a bamboo, or some other stick for a ridge pole, supported at either end by a forked stick fixed in the ground. These habitations are called Pals; and are of all sizes, from three to eight or nine feet high, and proportionally wide and long according to the circumstances of the owner. Under these miserable coverings not only are the goods exposed for sale, but the family of the shopkeeper resides throughout the year, and for many years together. The wealthiest merchants of the Bazars use these Pal but the military men, and others attached to the camp, generally possess a dwelling of somewhat a more comfortable description, regularly made of two or three folds of cloth in thickness, closed at one end, and having a flap to keep out the wind and rain at the opposite one: these are dignified with the name of Ruotees, and come nearer to our ideas of a tent.

After this account of the common dwellings of the Mahrattas, it will scarcely be necessary to add, that they are total strangers to the comforts of domestic life. The cheerful fire, and the clean hearth surrounded by smiling faces, are as much unknown to them, as the brilliant drawing-room or the crowded theatre. They never feel even the solid and cheap comforts of a snug room, or the light of a candle: but, in the cold weather, huddle round a miserable fire made of horse or cow dung, or dirty straw collected about their tents; and wrapping themselves up in a coarse blanket or cotton quilt, contrive, with the aid of a pipe of bad tobacco, to while away a few hours in listless indolence. In this manner do the more sober of them pass their evenings but such as think that life is bestowed for superior enjoyments, and have a taste for more spirited modes of whiling it away, retire at the approach of evening to the rack shop, and revel through the night in a state of low debauchery, which could hardly be envied by the keenest votary of Comus and his beastly crew. The liquor sold in the shops is distilled from the fruit of a tree called Mouah: it is about as strong as common gin, and is impregnated with a smell and flavour that would turn the stomach of the stoutest porter in London.'

Seendhiya is a chief altogether worthy of such followers. He is middle aged, rather low in stature, and has decidedly the appearance of a debauchee. Though engaged in undertakings) of importance, and generally unsuccessful, he troubles himself very little with the cares of government. A tiger-fight, an

elephant

elephant-fight, or even a new supply of paper-kites, has with him charms sufficient to remove the chagrin of disappointed efforts; and this is the more singular because his finances are generally in a very embarrassed condition. His officers and allies, being paid very irregularly, were obliged to borrow money for their daily expences at the ruinous rate of five per cent. per month. It is common among the Mahrattas to attempt to enforce payment by sitting Dhurna, as it is called, on the debtor; that is, by going to his house or tent and remaining there closely, so as to prevent him from holding intercourse with any persons, except such as the creditor may approve; which strange practice is regulated among the Mahrattas by very explicit laws. The creditor may even prevent his adversary from taking sustenance, provided that he observe similar abstinence himself, so that the strongest stomach carries the day. It is a curious fact that Brahmins are sometimes trained to remain a long time without food, with the view of hiring themselves to sit Dhurna in behalf of those creditors who do not like to expose themselves to so great an inconvenience; and to preserve a Brahmin's life is so sacred a duty, that the debt is in the result generally paid, though never until after a considerable struggle. We meet in this volume with repeated examples of Seendhiya and his ministers being assailed by their creditors in this unpleasant manner: but the expedient led only to partial payments; and nothing could overcome the habitual vice and improvidence of this unworthy commander. His behaviour at the time of the siege of the fort of Doonee is thus described:

Under the pretence of attending to the operations of the siege, he directed a small suit of tents to be pitched for him in a garden in the rear of the trenches, and there surrounded by a set of parasites and buffoons, he passed his time in one constant round of the grossest debaucheries. Emancipated from his two greatest plagues, his wife and his ministers, he refused to listen to any business; and seemed to think of nothing but fresh modes of whiling away his hours, and indulging his own profligate propensities. Women and low company have been his bane; and appear to have quite corrupted a heart and mind originally meant for better things. Virgin charms have been diligently sought for, and almost daily sacrificed upon the altar of his lusts and in the conclave of his wretched minions, scenes are said to be enacted for his amusement, so gross, and at the same time so ridiculous, as would stagger belief, and call a blush into the cheeks of the most depraved European. These miscreants are systematic in their infamy; their sports are regularly classed and organized: but, as common language is inadequate to their description, fancy is called in to their aid; and to every new diversion is given a new and unheard of designation.'

The ordinary object of hostile armaments in India is to enforce the payment of taxes; and, with a view of this kind, Seendhiya

had

.11

had brought his principal force, as well as a train of artillery of sixty pieces, against the fort of Doonee. The place and the garrison were so inconsiderable that an European officer, at the head of a few companies, would have reduced it in a week or two but the Mahrattas found it necessary to establish a line of posts within a musket-shot round the whole wall; and the garrison, after all, cared very little for their preparations. They even ventured to make sallies, carrying off at one time two pieces of besieging artillery, and contriving at another to introduce a reinforcement. Thus went on, weck after week, this miserable course of operations, until they ended at last with a compromise of the demands of Seendhiya. From circumstances like these, the public may form some idea of the justice of the claims to fame which are set forth by some of our countrymen who have gained victories in India. It was by oversetting such powers as these that Marquis Wellesley acquired, in the opinion of his admirers, the reputation of a consummate statesman, and gained panegyrics similar to those which the author has lavished on him in his dedication of the present volume. — The following particulars of the Mahratta character are given :

I have before mentioned that the Mahrattas are strangers to the comforts of domestic society. They seem to be equally so to public attachment: quarrelling to-day with their chief, and always about their pay; to-morrow, with the utmost indifference, ranging themselves on the side of his adversary; and the next day returning to their former master, if he is fool enough to send a deputation, and make a few false promises to lure them back to their duty. This may perhaps be the effect of the wandering and unsettled kind of life they lead: they have no home but a camp; no hope but for pay and plunder of course that chief who can hold out the fairest prospect of both, will have the best chance of assembling them around his standard. To the same cause must be attributed their power of sustaining deprivations and fatigue; and their apparent cheerfulness and content under a system of domestic arrangement and economy, that would be intolerable to any other set of people throughout India.

The two classes of Mahrattas are as much distinguished by personal peculiarities, as by caste and dress: the Brahmuns are fair, have pro. minent features, and comely persons; the rest are dark, with broad flat faces, small features, and short square persons; but are very seldom, if ever, stout. I have never been able to discover any quaity or propensity they possess, which might be construed into a fitness for the enjoyment of social life. They are deceitful, treacherous, narrow-minded, rapacious, and notorious liars; the only quality they are endowed with, which could, according to our systems of ethics, be placed to the credit side of the account, being candour: for there is not one of the propensities I have enumerated to which a Mahratta would not immediately plead guilty in his idea of things, they are requisite to form a perfect character: and to all accusations of false

hood,

hood, treachery, extortion, &c. he has one common answer: "Mahratta durbar hue," 'tis a Mahratta court!'

The Jypoor rulers, against whom Seendhiya's efforts were directed, were much on a par as to integrity with their Mahratta antagonists. Their rule was to pay nothing until they were compelled, after which they would subscribe an agreement, and pay one half of the settled amount, stipulating to discharge the remainder in two instalments after a lapse of time. They made a practice, however, of delaying the payment of the second instalment, on various pretences; and to enforce the last a fresh war was generally necessary. At the time of which Mr. B. writes, the treaty concluded remained for a considerable time unexecuted in any one point. The great distress for money continued accordingly in Seendhiya's camp; and two Khans commanding auxiliary troops were reduced to such straits as to be obliged to sell their spare articles of dress and armour, for subsistence, while the privates of their corps were driven to the miserable expedient of living on field-rats. Riots took place among several battalions; and Mr. B. notices (p. 171.) a party of sepoys who were upbraided for withdrawing from the camp when their pay was only six months in arrear. The scenes of disorder exhibited by Indian soldiers, under these circumstances, led him to reflect very seriously (p. 297.) on the fact that the individuals composing the bulk of the British force in India are drawn from that very population which he saw in so tumul tuous a condition. No people, however, are more obedient or more easily governed than the Hindoos, as long as they receive justice at the hands of their superiors. In fact, the source of their national misfortunes is to be found in a great measure in the facility with which they allow themselves to be governed. Nothing short of extreme credulity and habits of abject submission could enable such a wretched government as that of Seendhiya to exist. Of the extent of the superstition of these people, some idea may be formed by the circumstances of the religious solemnity that passes by the name of the Moohurrum:

This is a general mourning, observed by the Moohumedans, to commemorate the death of the Imam Hoosen, the grandson of the prophet and the universal ardour, with which the Mahrattas, who are Hindoos, participate in its ceremonies, is curious enough. Every one turns Fuqeer; that is, he wears some green rags; with a string of green and red cotton yarn, tied up like beads, across his shoulders; and goes about begging from such of his acquaintance as are foolish enough to give him any thing; the term Fuqeer implying a religious beggar. Groups of such grotesque figures are to be seen in all d rections, wandering about the camp, asking for alms, and calling upon the names of Moohumed, Alee, and Hoosen. The Maha Raj himself even gives into this ridiculous custom; and is a Fuqeer during

the