passed through several deep ravines, and then, for about two miles, along a ridge of regular, though not very steep ascents, which brought us to the foot of the mountain, where a pretty little village, called Kamanka, is situated. From this spot we enjoyed a very strikingly grand prospect of the country beneath us, to a great extent; after surveying which for some minutes, we commenced our journey up the hill. The ascent was so steep and stony as to be in some places almost inaccessible; in others, we were assisted in ascending by the dilapidated remains of a flight of stone steps, which have evident marks of great antiquity, yet which must have sustained some dreadful convulsion of nature; as no effects of time, however remote the period of their construction, could so have completely demolished a work, which the durability of the materials, and solidity of the construction, seem calculated to perpetuate. The greater part of this wonderful memorial of human industry is buried under huge masses of rock and lava. As we ascended, we collected undoubted proof that the mountain has, at some period, been in a state of volcanic eruption. Near the summit, we discovered a crater, about half a mile in diameter, which was still burning. The bottom was chiefly composed of sulphur. In the deepest parts, where water had collected, the hot air or steam that passed through it communicates a boiling heat; and the smoke that issued forth had a dark appearance, and impregnated the air to a considerable distance with a strong and unpleasant stench, resembling the washings of a foul gun. The smoke and hot steam issued from a variety of places; but, in the deepest part, where a large pool of water had collected, from which there was no visible outlet, it boiled most furiously, the ebullitions rising, with a considerable rushing noise, to the height of from three to five feet. The ground, or rather brimstone rock, under our feet, was in many places heated, and it sounded hollow when stamped on ;-the whole of this immense mass of brimstone seemed as if it had once been in a liquid state, but it was now so consolidated that it was difficult to separate the smallest particle with the point of a stick.

Braminical Temples.

Hence we pursued our way in a N. W. direction, by a difficult and very rugged path, which, at length, brought us to the entrance of an extensive plain or table-land, surrounded, on all sides but one, by a ridge about a thousand feet above the level of the plain. The plain, at some very remote period, was doubtlessly the crater of a vast volcano. On its border, we discovered four very ancient temples, built of hewn stone. They were greatly dilapidated; but it was evident that the injuries they had sustained must have been the effect of some violent shock or convulsion of the earth. The largest of them occupies a square of about forty feet. The walls are ten feet thick, and the height is about thirty-five feet: the chamber within, to which there is but a single entrance, is not more than twenty feet square. The roof, which is arched to a point in the centre, is about twenty feet high; so that the whole building is almost one solid mass of masonry, composed of the most durable and finest cut stone, in blocks of from one to two feet long, and about nine inches thick. These walls, however, constructed as described, were rent from top to bottom. It was particularly observed, that little or no injury had been done by vegetation; the climate being here adverse to the production of the plant whose roots are so destructive to buildings on the plain. The cornices and entablatures of these buildings still exhibit specimens of delicate and very elegant sculpture.

Several deep excavations were observed in the neighbourhood, made in search of gold utensils, images, and coins, many of which, from time to time, have been dug up here.

From these ruins, we proceeded round the border of the plain, which was covered with scattered ruins and large fragments of hewn stone, to a considerable distance, till we reached the centre of it, where we found four other temples similar to those already described, which we proceeded to examine; but in effecting which, we experienced more difficulty than we expected. The ground, in many places, was a complete bog or quagmire, which threatened to sink under our feet. Our guide sounded with great caution before us, as if conscious of the dan

ger of some particular spots, which he carefully avoided.

These latter temples are in much better condition than the former, and the sculpture was, in many places, quite perfect. We observed several Hindu images, and among the rest, that of Vishnu, which convinced us that this spot was formerly

dedicated to the bramical worship. Here also excavations had been made in search of hidden treasures.

The height of the table land, above the level of the country at the foot of the mountain, we supposed to be about five › thousand feet.

(To be continued.)

THE subjoined is an extract of a letter by the late Sir Charles Warre Mallet, dated April, 1785 :—

On the subjection of Malwar by the Mahrattas, about fifty years ago, it was given in Jaghire to three chieftains, Ranojee Scindia, Makajee Holkar, and Esevanbea Porvar. Uzen is the capital of the Scindia family; Indar of the Holkars; and Dhar of the Powars: all which places are laid down erroneously by Rennell.

Uzen is situated in 23° 14′ to 15. On the 11th instant, I went to view the city and environs, proceeding by the banks of the river Sissera, on the eastern side of which the city stands, running nearly due north. At about the distance of two miles on western bank, is Behr Ghur, or Mahadou Ghur. The former name is in compliment to the idol of that name, who has a temple here-the latter in compliment to Mahadouja Scindia, who ordered the Ghur or fort, to be undertaken at the instance of Jewram Jaut, a chief of that tribe, who took refuge with him about ten years ago, to avoid the troubles in his own country. It is a fort on an extensive plain, surrounded by a ditch of about twenty feet deep, meant to communicate with the river at each extremity. The walls of the fort are of stone and mortar, and seem excellent masonry; but they are not yet raised to the commencement of the parapet.Within the fort is another very handsome square fortification, meant for the habitation of Scindia himself; each face one hundred and fifty yards. This building is in the same unfinished state with the former, and the progress of both is stopped by the orders of Scindia.

About a mile and a half further, on the
Asiatic Journ.-No. II.

same side of the river, is a very extraor- · dinary large gloomy edifice, of peculiar strength, and still in very good repair, erected on an artificial island, formed, for the purpose, by a diversion of the stream of the Sissera, and connected with the western bank by a bridge of sixteen arches. In the western stream, which I conceive to be the artificial one, is a surprising multitude of various apartments constructed on a level with the water and in the midst thereof. The water being conveyed round them in various channels, into reservoirs contrived for its reception, whence it is conveyed by proper outlets to the bed of the river, into which it is discharged by little artificial cascades that have a very pleasing effect.

The whole of these buildings are in the bed of the river, which must have been constructed before the bank was cut, are overflowed in the rains; but of such astonishing strength is the masonry, as to remain still in high preservation.

The apartments are admirably calculated for coolness, each recess being furnished with rings, to which I conceive were fixed curtains of the aromatic root, called Keese, which, being wetted, gives a delicious coolness to the entering air.

On the western side of the river, are two large enclosures of stone-wall, one within the other, the lesser must have been a garden, the other, which is three or four miles in extent, a park, the wall of which is now in ruins.

I could get no intelligible account of this extraordinary work from any of the natives, who call it Gharé Shah, The first princes of Malva, after the subversion of the empire of Delhi, were of that tribe; but the government afterwards fell into the hands of the Gilgees; and, VOL. 1. S.

on consulting an authentic history of this province, I found the following very clear and concise account of this extraordinary structure, viz.

"Sultaun Nasis ul Deen Gilgee, son of "Ghias ul Deen, ascended the throne of "Malva in the year of the Hejra 905, " and reigned 11 years and 4 months. "This prince, who was cruel and oppres"sive, built the water-works at Hallea "Di and Saadan Pore. For, having con"tracted an intolerable heat in his ha"bit, by eating fixed quicksilver, he "spent his whole time in these watry "abodes, and carried on the business of "his government there."

By this account, these works are 300 years old; and their permanence, through so long a period, with so constant and so great a force of water on them, is certainly much to be admired. The Indians have extraordinary ideas of the stimulative and strengthening qualities of fixed quicksilver, and also impute it to some prodigious and supernatural effects, arising from ignorance and a fondness for the wonderful. I am informed that this prince ordered places of the same kind to be prepared in many parts of his dominions, and that there are very fine ones

at Mando, about twenty-six coss hence. There are some inscriptions here, placed by order of Akber and Shah Jehan, in their progress to and from the Deckan, which I have taken copies of. Captains Reynolds has taken a view of the works. The city of Uzen is very ancient, and Isaid to have been the residence of the great prince Bicker Majet, whose æra is now current amongst the Hindoos, this being the year 1842. It is now as extensive as Surat, but retains marks of much greater extent, large bricks being constantly dug up three or four miles round. The town is very irregular, particularly towards the river, where the ruggedness of the bank has prevented the smallest appearance of order. There are many

fine flights of steps to the water, and some handsome mausoleums and pago-das on the banks and in the town; particularly the repository of the ashes of Ranajee Sindia, father of Mahajee Sindia.

The great street is very straight, broad, regularly built, and well paved. The bazar is well supplied with grain, rice, goods, greens, fruits, amongst which are apples, melons, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, &c. &c.

COMPANY'S TRADE.

AMONG the papers read at a General Court of Proprietors, at the East-India House, on the 1st of May, 1812, is one under the signatures of the Chairman and Court of Directors, in which is exhibited the following succinct view of the capital and interests concerned in the Indian and China trade from the port of London:

There are about fourteen hundred commanders and officers belonging to the ships of the East-India Company, beside the seamen, who may be about eight thousand.

The tradesmen engaged, in the supply of the Company's shipping in the river Thames, are about twelve thousand, and the labourers employed in their warehouses are abont three thousand, All these, and their families and dependents,

government, from the present mode of collecting the duties, may, we conceive, be fairly estimated at one hundred and fifty thousand pounds per annum.

NATIVE POWERS.

THE writer of a letter in India, dated June 12th, 1815, gives the following sketch of the military strength of the powers bordering on the British dominions, and which, though at present at peace with us, he calls hostile powers :

1. The Seikhs possess a large tract of country; their tribes are headed by Runjeet Sing, a warlike and ambitious leader. Their usual military establishment may be estimated at twenty-eight thousand The Seikhs under our protection can bring into the field about seventeen thousand soldiers.

men.

2. Scindiah has about forty thousand soldiers; he is said to be in close alliance with the Rajah of Berar and with the Bhurtpou Rajah. He has acquired much strength since the Mahratta war, by bringing the feudatory states under his immediate controul.

3. Ameer Khan may have twentyeight thousand soldiers; Mahomed Shah and Lall Sing, who generally act with him, can bring twenty thousand more into the field. Ameer Khan is generally much in want of money, and when his troops become mutinous for being kept in arrears, he gives them perhaps half their pay, with authority to plunder to the amount of what is still due to them, 4. Holkar is poor, and has only seventeen thousand men. Ameer Khan. Mahomed Shah and Lall Sing are nominally his generals.

5. The Pindarees are a tribe of military adventurers, who, having followed the standards of different chiefs, and, from the present tranquil state of Hindostan, being out of employ, have joined with other vagrants, and have cemented themselves into one great body of forty thousand soldiers. These hardy troops infest the neighbouring provinces for plunder, and will fight under any chief who will best pay them. They may be compared to the companies which infested the provinces of France in the time of our Edward III, and who first drove Peter the Cruel of Spain from his throne, and then, under the Black Prince, replaced that monster.

A second writer draws the following picture of the state of our relations, with the above powers :

The present native Princes of India are all upstarts, who, by the edge of the sword, have been able to secure a do'minion out of the falling fragments of the Mogul empire. Their councils being in general composed of the military leaders of their numerous and needy cavalry, a restless impatience of peace, and a love of enterprize, prevails in their deliberations. The power of the East India Company, always employed to preserve a general tranquillity throughout that discordant region, and to that effect represented at each of their native courts, is the common obstacle that restrains the turbulence of these adventurers, and the natural object of their concealed aversion. They are therefore leagued in secret union for our destruction. whenever a favourable opportunity offers for successful aggression; and as they are wholly ignorant of our situation in Europe, and of the influence which individual character gives to the tone of our political language in India, and incapable of comprehending an external moderation not proceeding from internal debility, they judge of our circumstances by the confidence or diffidence of our deportment.-Hence nothing is so dangerous, and nothing so liable to conjure up all these inconstant elements into a formidable array against us, as a temporising submissive disposition in our Government.

Far

There cannot be a stronger instance of this, than the conduct of the Holkar family, ever since they have been restored to their wide-extended dominions. from feeling or showing gratitude for our clemency, neither they themselves, nor the neighbouring princes, could account

for the sudden restoration of the power which we had spent so much blood and treasure to depress, but by some disaster of our affairs in Europe, which rendered it necessary for us to retire from the field. Those in the closest alliances with us therefore began secret intrigues among our troops, and our own folly, assisting their machinations, produced the mutinies of Hydrabad and Vellore.

Since that, the Holkar armies, under Ameer Khan, have constantly hovered about the centre of India, ready to fall upon us, and head the confederacy wherever a favourable opportunity offered. The lamentable contest between the Governor and the army of Madras in 1809, though obscurely seen, did not fail to draw this threatening meteor to that quarter; and he soon appeared with an immense body of cavalry, hovering about our frontier. The family of Holkar have a most formidableforce, constantly in motion, under Ameer Khan, and supported

by the confederate Mahratta politics, in constant preparation, to seize the first favourable opportunity of falling upon us. Scindiah has been increasing his cavalry and his resources, to the same intent; and the Berar Rajah, though naturally pacific, is so much under the controul of the two former, that he must ever side with their measures. The Nizam has a subsidiary force, which he is always endeavouring to corrupt; and though the Paishwah seems only engaged in forcing the wives of his subjects, his tributary Zemindars are all warlike, and ready to rise at a signal. Runjeet Sing has ever been insulting us, since we became his neighbours; and, without noticing the minor powers, the disposition of these leaders renders it every day more probable that India must soon be fought for over again. They have their emissaries in the Madras infantry, and I fear that the signal for the attack will be an explosion in that agitated quarter.

TANG-YO-CHUEN's son, having waited several years without seeing him finish the business, was a little vexed and angry at heart; and said to his father, “Why have we waited such a long time? That man's house is not yet finished, nor is his money yet expended. From this it would appear that he is a fellow of ways and means; and with regard to the business of his selling it hereafter, that seems to be a little uncertain." Yo-chuen replied, "Every day later makes it a day more certain; and each day makes it more advantageous for us. There is no occasion for you to fret about it. The reason why his house is not finished, is merely this; when it is completed, its appearance does not hit his wish; and it is necessary to take it to pieces, in order to build again. If it is excellent, he seeks for still higher excellence; so that of every day, during which

it is delayed, the alterations and improvements are wholly for our own advantage. The reason of his money not being completely wasted, is this; the usurers and the workmen, seeing he is inclined to build it very high, wish to take* and lend to him on credit. They do not sue him for their accounts and wages, because (they think) that by every additional day of work they get a day's money; while, if they were to press him hard, he would stop the work for a few days, and they would have no employment. Thus it is that his money is not all expended. This may be called taking flesh to feed an ulcer.' It is not that he is really possessed of ways and means. When he shall have arrived at the period at which

6

Such is the phrase in the original, Pa ho wó she ta, "to take things and lend to him,"