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THE INDIAN ARMY.

TO THE EDITOR.

A MOST deceitful error has for many years kept its place in the India Register, which the proprietors may, by reading this, be induced to rectify in their next publication. In the table of pay a rupee is represented as 2s. 6d., whereas, when I left Madras, it was worth but 1s. 8d.; and this, and even less, has been the rate of exchange for years; so that a cadet and his friends are induced to believe that he will receive as an ensign £22, 10s, per mensem instead of £15. 7s. 6d. ; a difference of nearly £90 per annum to officers of the lowest rank! The ensigns have lately been the worst-used, though the most enduring branch of the service. Would any man who knew a sword from a musket, suppose that ten lieutenants, including adjutant and quarter-master, were too many for a corps of 700 men? men who, without European officers, are as useless as a steam-engine without steam-and yet these ten have been reduced to eight, half of whom, with most of the five captains, are absent on sick certificate, furlough, and staff. However impolitic, there would have been no injustice in this reduction had officers already in India been exempted from its effects, and not reduced, like Sisyphus, to toil again to the height they had before obtained. To exemplify this, look at the Madras 24th: an ensign of seven years' standing, three as first, is now only second; and in another regiment are two ensigns of six and five years' standing, who, after starving nearly four years in Burmah as first and second-ensigns, returned to Madras as third and fourth! This vexatious cruelty, which might so easily have been avoided, and which might even now be rectified (as has been done with regard to the native officers by Lord Bentinck), has, I am convinced, a most injurious effect. Young men, before zealous and well-disposed, living in hope, now get indifferent and careless, give up studying the language, and take to shooting, billiards, &c. &c. The same good faith that the natives have in our government, ought we to have in our honourable employers; for once landed in India, to return or embrace another profession is next to impossible; and toil on we must, until relieved by the cholera or the Russians. By the bye, are you aware that £15. 7s. 6d. is the inducement held out for gentlemen to pass an examination in Hindustanni, and the same sum for Persian? not given in a lump, so that you can hand it over as a present to your moonshee, but in six monthly instalments of £2. 11s. each! The dictionary alone costs nearly this in India. How is an ensign to pay for a moonshee and books, in addition to his mess, house, servants, clothes, and Military Fund? and yet every halfyear they get the customary wig (reprimand) for not knowing the languages!

These few remarks I trust will find a place in your Journal. The Directors I know are deeply concerned in the welfare of their army, but in the multiplicity of business must occasionally overlook these minor affairs, until brought fairly before them in a publication like yours. Memorials are out of fashion, as, if f successful at home, they may not be complied with in India; witness the fate of those regarding the 1824 organizations at Madras-it is hard that the kind intentions and orders of the Directors should be frustrated there.

London, April 24th, 1830.

Your very obedient servant,

FAIRPLAY.

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A TRANSLATION of the episode of Roostum Zaboolee and Soohrab, from the great epic or historical poem of Firdousee, into English verse, has just reached us.* It is executed by Mr. Wm. Tulloh Robertson, of the Bengal civil service, and printed at Calcutta, being a remarkably good specimen of Calcutta typography.

English readers need not be so entirely ignorant of the Homer of Persia as they commonly are, for parts, and even the whole, of the Shah Namuh, have been translated into English by different hands. The translation of poetry, however, from one language into another, especially from an oriental to an occidental tongue, is a seriously difficult if not impracticable task. A close translation will appear harsh and repulsive to an English reader, whilst, on the other hand, a free version will be denounced by the Persian scholar as Bentley denounced Pope's Iliad: "a very pretty poem, Mr. Pope, but you must not call it Homer."

If our readers choose to contrast a literal and a free version of the very piece before us, they may take the prose translation of it given in our Journalt some years back, by Gulchin, with the spirited versification of the episode by Mr. James Atkinson, of Calcutta: the former is admitted, we believe, to be faithfully rendered; the latter is acknowledged to be too paraphrastic: the former will be scarcely endured by a mere English reader, the latter will not fail to have admirers amongst those who can be prevailed upon to read it.

We select as an illustration of the remarks we have made, a passage from the episode, part of the description of the combat between Roostum and his son Soohrab, in the respective translations of Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Robertson, premising that neither is very close, but the latter by far the closest, to the original:

Sohrab bestrides his prey,

Grim as a lion, prowling through the wood,
Springs on a fallow deer, and pants for blood.
His lifted sword had lopt the gory head,
But Rostam quick, with crafty ardour, said:

"One moment hold! what, are our laws unknown?
"A chief may fight till he is twice o'erthrown:

“The second fall his recreant blood is spilt.

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These are our laws, avoid the menaced guilt."...

Proud of his strength and easily deceived,

The wondering youth the artful tale believed.
He left the place, and wild as wind and wave,
(Forgetting all the prudence of the brave),
Plunged in the dark embowering forest near,
And chased till evening dim the mountain-deer.
Atkinson's translation.

Roostum Zaboolee and Soohrab, from the History of Persia, entitled Shah Namuh, or Book of Kings, by Firdoosee. Translated into English verse, with the original text annexed; notes, plates, and an Appendix By William Tulloh Robertson, Esq., of the Bengal Civil Establishment. Calcutta, 1829. Thacker and Co.

+ See Asiat. Journ. vol. xi. xii. and xiii..

Published at Calcutta, 1814.

Again he hurled him down; again depressed;
And like a tiger pounced uponhis breast,
As when some leopard, in a mountain-pass,
Waits for its prey, and bounds on some wild ass.
Soohrab, in warmth, his glittering dagger drew,
To sever Roostum's trunk and head in two.
But Roostum saw the weapon with alarm,
And cried out to Soohrab to stay his arm.
"Hold, lion-captor! thrower of the noose,
"And wielder of the sword! your grasp unloose!
"From you the secret must not be concealed,
"That our laws are as different in the field
"As my religion differs from your creed:
"For he in wrestling-match who may succeed,
Who, underneath, a warrior's head may thrust,
"And dash his back the first time to the dust,
"Must not behead him, though involved in feud ;
"But if a second time in fight subdued,
"The victor cast his foe and keep him down,
"He gains a lion's name and reaps renown.
Then, only then, he may his head divide :
"By such a rule let us our conduct guide.”

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Thus Roostum sought to evade the Gorgon's fangs,
And thus escape from death's appalling pangs.
Young, brave Soohrab his senior's counsel heard:
But though as false and treacherous as absurd,
Still he, as great as good, suspecting nought,-
First, by the prowess which his spirit wrought,
And, secondly, the fortune of his fate;
And, thirdly, his magnanimous estate,-
Believed the falsehood, in an evil hour,
And straight released his captive from his power,
His prey at large, he hastened from the place,
And bounded o'er the plain at such a pace,

With such a range, that he, the mountain-deer
Permitted to pass on, in its career.

Mr. Robertson's translation.

The reader will suspect, and justly, from this comparison, without help from the original,that into the latter translation many exotic terms and even ideas are imported, for the sake of the rhyme; and that in the former, too great condensation, or curtailment, has altered the features of the original. The episode occupies about 1,650 couplets of the Shah Namuh; Mr. Robertson's version extends to upwards of 1,900, and Mr. Atkinson's to only 716!

We cannot speak in high terms of commendation of Mr. Robertson's versification: it is by no means calculated to please a fastidious ear, as the aforegoing specimen will show. Still he deserves our thanks for his endeavour to familiarize us with the beauties of a piece, which is described by a competent judge as "one of the greatest efforts of Firdousee's genius," and which the poet himself describes pathetically as

يکي داستان است پر آب چشم

a tale full of the waters of the eye."

Miscellanies, Original and Select.

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES.

Royal Asiatic Society, May 1st.-A general meeting was held this day; the Right Hon. Chas. W. Williams Wynn, M.P., president, in the chair. Various donations were laid before the meeting, from Mrs. Skinner, Col. Broughton (acting secretary), Col. Briggs, MM. Paravey, Klaproth, &c. &c.

Charles Elliot, Esq., late resident at Delhi, was elected a resident member. General Count Paskevitch Erivanski; Mons. Alexander Korosi de Csoma (now in Tibet); the Abbé Velanti, of Malta; Dr. Christian Lassen, of Bonn; and M. Reinaud, of Paris, were elected foreign members of the Society.

Lieut.Col. Henry John Bowler and Major Alexander Anderson, both elected the 17th of April last, and Charles Marjoribanks, Esq., elected on the 20th of June last, having made their payments and signed the Obligation Book, were admitted members of the Society.

A further selection of the letters of Sir William Jones was read: in the last of those read to-day, dated 20th October 1792, he expresses his hope to see the fourth volume of the Researches printed before he left India, and the fourteenth, at least, before his death.

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May 15th. The general meeting of this Society was held this day; the Right Hon. the President in the chair.

Donations were presented from Sir George Staunton, Mr. M'Farlane, and Professor Reuvens.

Washington Irving, Esq. was elected a foreign member of the Society.

The paper read at this meeting was from the pen of Col. Tod, and was entitled "Observations on a Gold Ring of Hindu fabrication, found at Montrose, in Scotland."

The ring, the subject of this essay, is in the possession of the Countess of Cassilis, and was dug up on the fort hill near Montrose, on the site of an engagement occasioned by the landing of the English during Mary's minority and absence in France. The ring bears the miniature Lingam and Yoni, of Hindu adoration: round and over which is wreathed the serpent; on either side is the sacred bull, with the hump on the shoulder, a feature which caused the whole design to be mistaken for the arms of Mar, supported by the winged wiverns, or griffins, under which supposition it was purchased by the late Miss Erskine, of Dun, from whom it came into the possession of its present noble owner, who having shewn it to Col. Fitzclarence, that gentleman obtained her Ladyship's permission to submit the relic to the inspection of Col. Tod. After suggesting the reasons which occur at first sight of the ring for pronouncing it to be of Hindu origin, the author observes that he by no means precludes others from indulging the idea that it belonged to one of those "Giant Getes" from Scania, who found their graves in some of their descents upon Scotland. In support of this hypothesis, may be urged the similarity of religion once prevailing among all the tribes who peopled Europe from the East, as well as in India and Egypt; in proof of which he adduces the existence of exactly the same symbols as those upon the ring in the ruins of Pompeii, of Pæstum, and of Cortona, as well as in various parts of France. The remainder of the paper is principally occupied with the arguments for ascribing a common origin to the Indo-Scythic martial races of India, and the early colonists of Europe. In conclusion, the colonel observes

that the ring is a relic of singular curiosity, even had it been found upon the plains of India.

The thanks of the Society were returned to Col. Tod for his essay.

The president announced that the Society's anniversary meeting would be held on the 7th of June.

Agricultural and Horticultural Society of New South Wales-At the anniversary meeting of this Society, in October last, the president, Sir John Jamison, delivered an address, which was a comprehensive report of the proceedings of the Society, and the state of agriculture and horticulture in the 'colony, for the past year.

He began by some remarks upon the best modes of clearing the ground and felling the forest timber, and on the preceding harvest, which suffered much from drought, which being the third season similarly visited, has considerably impoverished the colonists. This circumstance affected the sales of the small dealers, and ultimately the merchants, whose stores remain glutted, and the graziers' stocks cannot find purchasers. These causes, and the reduced prices of wool, have rendered money so scarce, that cattle and sheep have sunk to about one-third the price given for them two years ago. Agricultural labour, he observes, is improving; the hoe gives way to the plough, and deep ploughing of old worn-out tracts brings up new soil, Several additional bread-corn grinding steam-engines continue to be erected in the principal towns, for converting wheat into flour, and thereby saying it from the ravages of vermin.

The tobacco plantations increase, and the returns are so profitable, that, in the last season, dry as it was, thirty tons of excellent quality were grown, dried, and cured, on five estates. Sir John says that, "in favourable seasons, the cultivation of tobacco will be found more profitable at 6d. per lb. in leaf, than wheat at 10s. the bushel; and if the cultivation of tobacco is encouraged in the colony, with a certainty of a rewarding price in the British market, in a few years we shall be able to load several ships with cured leaf for manufacture in England."

The cultivation of sugar has decreased, chiefly through a deficiency of the means of manufacture. The growth of the poppy is exuberant, and Mr. Potter M'Queen has engaged a well-qualified person to make opium on his estate at Segenhoe.

The cotton plantations flourish. Sir John quotes some letters from com, petent judges in England in testimony of the superior quality of the New South Wales, judging from samples only: they think it worth from 8d. to 9d. per lb., Sea-islands being 1s. to 1s. 8d. But we find, from a sale at Liverpool, of three bags of New South Wales cotton, brought by the ship Amethyst, and the first importation into England, that it fetched 103d. to 11 d. per lb. It is described as of good colour and clean, of a long and strong staple, and of silky texture.

The olive trees have made wonderful shoots and growth towards bearing. Sixteen varieties of the most improved European olive trees are in the government garden; some of them brought by Mr. M'Leay only three years ago, are upwards of twenty feet high, and bearing fruit. "If the quantity and quality of its fruit," says Sir John, "keep pace with the promising growth of the tree, its introduction must soon become a blessing to the colony."

The vineyards, though neglected, are sufficiently flourishing to shew that the soil and climate are extremely favourable to the growth of the grape. The

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