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in the fyftem of oppreffion, that I was advised to a speedy departure, left I should fall under an inspection. Though much fatigued by an harraffing journey, and the fale of my horfe, with other neceffary concerns, was to be adjufted, fuch was the afcendency of my fears, that on the 16th of the month, I was ready to proceed.

IN laying before you these scattered pieces of intelligence, I must not forget to notice, that the courtezans and female dancers of the Punjab and Kashmire, or rather a mixed breed of both these countries, are beautiful women, and are held in great eftimation through all the northern parts of India: the merchants established at Jumbo, often become fo fondly attached to a dancing girl, that, neglecting their occupation, they have been known to diffipate, at her will, the whole of their property; and I have feen fome of them reduced to a fubfiftence on charity; for thefe girls, in the manner of their profeffion, are profuse and rapacious.

My Kashmirian hoft, who continued to opprefs me with kindnefs, had a brother living in the fame houfe, who was fo much afflicted with the rheumatifm, that he could not ftir out of his room. Poffeffing much useful information, with a pleasant sociable temper, I was glad to be admitted to his converfation, which equally amused me, and contributed to a knowledge of this quarter of India. He gave me alfo fome directions for my conduct in Kashmire, which were delivered with an air of candour, and so

apparently

apparently void of defign, that I fhould have been ridiculously fceptical in not giving them credit. The day before I left Jumbo, he called me into his room, and in very affectionate language, faid,

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My friend, you are now about visiting a country, whose inha"bitants are of a character different from any you have hitherto "feen, and it behoves you to be wary and diligent, for they are a fubtle and keen people. You must particularly be on your guard against my brother, who is now in that country, and "will probably endeavour to borrow fome of your money. Steadily withstand his folicitations, nor lend him a rupee; for if you "do, the money is loft. Make your disbursements only on the delivery of the goods, and, however urgent he is, do not make any advance." He difplayed, I thought, a fingular trait of honefty in giving an advice wholly divefted of a tendency to promote the interefts of his family, at the expence of fair dealing.

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THOUGH the diftricts of Buddoo and Chinanah* do not at this day form immediate appendages of Jumbo, they are fo intimately dependent on its policy, that to avoid prolixity, I will throw their limits into one defcription. This united territory is bounded on the north by the river Chinaun, which divides it from Kishtewer; on the caft by independent Hindoo districts; on the fouth by Biffouly; and on the weft by the Punjab. It would be hazarding too hafty an affertion to offer any specific

* This district lies to the weft ward of Jumbo.

Ii2

calculation

calculation of the Jumbo revenue, as the larger moiety is produced by import and export duties, which are now in a fluctuating state, and have been diminishing fince the acceffion of the prefent chief; but the current information of the country, ftates. the ordinary receipt at five lacks of rupees, exclufive of the prodyce of Buddoo and Chinanah.

I am,

Dear Sir,

Your's, &c

LETTER

LETTER XI.

DEAR SIR,

THE

HE frequent introduction of the Sicques to your notice, will have naturally excited a defire to examine the history of this new and extraordinary people, who within a period of twenty years, have conquered a tract of country, extending in certain directions from the Ganges to the Indus. My knowledge of the fubject does not permit me to deduce, on substantial authority, their hiftory from the period in which Nanock their first inftitutor and law-giver lived, or mark with an order of dates the progrefs which this people have made, and the varying gradations. of their power, until their attainment of their prefent state of national importance. You who are apprized of the futility of the documents which compofe the general texture of Eastern record,*

who.

* Neither the genius of the people nor the form of their government is favourable to the growth of Hiftory, which is rarely feen to flourish on defpotic ground. The actions of Afiatic princes are uiually recorded by their own fcribes; and we know that a large portion of the annals of India was manufactured under imperial infpection. It is, therefore, scarcely within the verge of probability, that a writer, attracted by so Powerful an influence, would dared to have thrown the piercing light of History on

the

who have witneffed the irrefiftible tendency of an Afiatic mind to fiction, and the produce of its ductile fancy, will grant me an indulgent fcope, and will, I truft, believe, that though the body of the hiftory be not complete, fuch parts only will be noticed, as are either founded on received tradition, or on those legends which have the leaft exceptionable claims to credit.

UNDER fhelter of this preliminary, I will proceed to inform you that Nanock,* the founder of the Sicque nation, was born in the year of the Chriftian æra, 1469, during the reign of Sultan Beloul, at the village of Tulwundy, about fixty miles to the weftward of Lahore. Nanock appears to have poffeffed qualities happily adapted to effect the institution of a new fyftem of religion. He was inflexibly juft; he enjoyed from nature a commanding

the reigning monarch, or even to have examined with freedom the actions of his ancestors, who have, for more than two hundred years, maintained an unbroken fucceffion of the Empire of Hindoftan. Oriental fpeech, pregnant with figure, and capable of expreffing the wildeft flights of fancy, diflains the limits of History. It is better fitted to modulate poetic ftrains, and defcribe the wide region of romance; where it can roam without restraint, and happily without the power of committing extenfive injuries.

*He was of the Chittery or fecond caft of Hindoos, and according to a fecret belief of the Sicques, a fpecies of fecondary incarnation of the Supreme Deity.

A Patan king of Dehli, who reigned previous to Baber's conquest of Hindostan. This village is now known by the name of Rhaypour. The terms given by the Sicques to their places of worship, are Sunghut, Durmfallah, and Dairah, words fignifying, in the Hinduee, an affembly of the people, a charitable or pious foundation, and a houfe. This laft appellation feems to be applied in an eminent fenfe, as "the "houfe." The Sicques, in commemoration of the place of Nanock's birth, have erected an edifice at Tulwundy, where a grand feftival is annually celebrated.

elocution,

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