Page images
PDF
EPUB

taught the use of letters, and are minutely inftructed in the know? ledge of every attraction and blandifhment, which can operate in communicating the fenfual pleasure of love. These women are not obliged to feek fhelter in private haunts, nor are they, on account of their profeffional conduct, marked with opprobrious ftigma. They compose a particular clafs of fociety, and enjoy the avowed protection of government, for which they are affeffed according to their feveral capacities. No religious ceremony or feftival is thought to be completely performed, with the accompanyment of dancing women. They ufually attend on a certain day of the week, at the court of the prince or governor of the district, either to make an obeifance, or exhibit a profeffional entertainment; and in fome of the provinces, they are endowed with grants of the public lands.*

AN Hindoo family is governed with efficient power by the male fenior member, to whom the other branches fhew an attentive respect, and in domestic life a ready fubmiffion. A fon will not fit in the presence of his father without express desire, and in his deportment and conversation, obferves to him a dutiful, as well

* The Hindoo dancing-women are here only alluded to, and those particularly who affift which is a numerous clafs) at the ceremonies of worship. As they receive a maintenance from the revenue of the pagoda, or from private persons, they are not driven by neceffity into a promiscuous intercourfe with the world. But it is to be observed, that those who do not receive any permament ftipend, are little lefs diffolute and abandoned in their habits of life, than a female of fimilar defcription in European countries.

as

as affectionate, behaviour. In the course of a long refidence in India, and rather a close investigation of Hindoo customs and manners, I never discovered what our language has termed a free thinker.* The most celebrated characters amongst the Hindoos, and their men of the world, as Scindia, Nanah Purnawees, and the Bhohulla, believe the tenets of the doctrine of Brimha with as much fincerity, and practice the minutest ceremony with as much fcrupulous attention, as the fimpleft or most bigotted peasant in the country.

I am, Dear Sir,

Yours, &c. &c.

There are fome fchifmatic fects found amongst the Hindoos, and even claffes of that people, who reject the authority of the Baids, and the whole conftruction of Bramin mythology; but however pure the original mode of their worship might have been, it is now grofsly entangled with ceremony and emblem. The moft confiderable branch of these fectaries is denominated Pooje; who have bestowed on the object of their adoration, the title Paurufs Naut, which in the Sanscrit may be termed the lord of the alchymical philosopher's stone.

+ Mharattah chiefs of eminence.

LET

LETTER III.

MY DEAR SIR,

Benares, 30th November, 1782.

ON the 3d of this month, I made an ex

curfion to Bidgi-ghur,* a place rendered famous in the Bengal annals, from a large amount of plunder acquired there by the English troops. On the first day, I arrived at Lutteef-ghur, about 18 miles to the southwest of Bernares. The fort was entirely deferted, and the paffage approaching to it is almost choaked up by brushwood, and the projected branches of trees. Lutteef-ghur ftands in the centre of a circular range of hills, from the fummit of which, a thick, and in most places a high wood, reaches to the walls of the fort. The air of this spot being deprived of a quick circulation, has acquired a malignant quality, and communicates its pernicious influence to all animal bodies. It is in these situations, where as it is termed, the hill fever is produced : :-a disease, which pervading every part of the animal œconomy, contaminates

* Bidgi and Idgi, according to the mythology of the Hindoos, keep watch at the gate of Paradife; Ghur, in the Hindoo, is a fortress or strong hold.

the

of mer

the whole mafs of blood, and will only yield to the power cury. The water alfo in fuch places partakes of the like baneful property-it fhould feem that the air infufes into this element, a certain portion of that peftiferous quality, with which the climate of woody and confined countries in India is ever pregnant. The falling of the branches and leaves into rivulets and reservoirs of water, may likewise increase the noxious effect. Having frequently witnessed the ill effects of a confined air, I am the more emboldened to hazard thefe conjectures; which I will clofe with noticing to you, that wherever I have observed an impurity of air the water has been equally pernicious.

Ar the gate of the fort, had taken up his lonely refidence, a Mahometan Faquir, who bore on him, poor man! evident proofs of the destructive climate of Lutteef-ghur ;-he was meagre, wan, and nearly confumed by the violence of a fever and ague. When I defired him to leave fo melancholy a station, and go where he might recover his health, he fhewed little attention to the advice, and prefered, he said, an existence in this place, under a load of misery and the precarious charity of paffengers, to the risk of starving in places where he might be wholly unknown.

ON the 4th, after a Journey of about twenty miles, I arrived near the foot of Bidgi-ghur hill, where I flept, and in the morning walked up to the fort, which is a circumvallation of the crown of a rocky hill, measuring from the immediate base to the summit, a little more perhaps than two miles.

THE

THE artificial fortification is neither strong, nor is it compofed of substantial materials, as is feen by a fiffure of the wall, caused by the rains of the last year, and also by a breach that was made during the fiege; which fhew that the wall is chiefly compofed of rough ftones cemented with clay. This ftrong hold owes its importance folely to its height and steepness; and had it been defended with a common fhare of conduct and fpirit, the capture would have been attended with much difficulty and bloodshed. It has been faid indeed, that exclufively of the hazardous attempt of taking Bidgi-ghur by ftorm, the greater part of the troops would have been destroyed by fevers, had they remained in that quarter a month longer. Three deep refervoirs, excavated on the top of the hill, plentifully supply the garrifon with water. Some of the bastions on the eastern side are supported by branches of the rock, which projecting horizontally eight or ten feet from the summit, holds out in the air a folid foundation. The prospect around is diverfified and picturesque, but when you throw the eye on the deep and rugged precipice beneath, the view is infinitely grand, though not divested of that horror, which naturally affects the mind in contemplating objects from fo abrupt a height. The rising and fetting fun at Bidgi-ghur exhibits a magnificent scene, and excites a train of ideas ftrongly impreffed with a grateful admiration of the first cause of nature. The view of the fetting fun takes in the river Soane, which is feen winding its ftream, brightened by the rays of the western light, through a long tract of diversified coun

try.

« PreviousContinue »