THE Kashmirians are gay and lively people, with ftrong propenfities to pleasure. None are more eager in the pursuit of wealth, have more inventive faculties in acquiring it, or who devife more modes of luxurious expenfe. When a Kashmirian, even of the lowest order, finds himself in the poffeffion of ten fhillings, he lofes no time in affembling his party, and launching into the lake, folaces himself till the laft farthing is fpent. Nor can the defpotifm of an Afghan government, which loads them with a various oppreffion and cruelty, eradicate this ftrong tendency to diffipation, yet their manners, it is faid, have undergone a manifest change, fince the dismemberment of their country from Hindoftan. Encouraged by the liberality and indulgence of the Moguls, they gave a loose to their pleasures and the bent of their genius. They appeared in gay apparel, constructed coftly buildings, and were much addicted to the pleasures of the table. The interests of this province were so strongly favored at the court, that every complaint against its governors was attentively listened to, and any attempt to moleft the people, reftrained or punished,

In the reign of Aurungzebe, when the revenue of the different portions of the empire exceeded that of the prefent day, the fum collected in Kashmire amounted to three and a half lacks of rupees, but at this time, not less than twenty lacks are extracted by the Afghan governor, who, if hs tribute be regularly remitted to court, is allowed to execute with impunity every act of violence. This extreme rigour has fenfibly affected the deportment and man

ners

ners of the Kashmirians, who fhrink with dread from the Afghan oppreffions, and are fearful of making any display of opulence. A Georgian merchant, who had long refided in the country, gave me the most fatisfactory information of Kashmire. He faid, that when he first visited the province, which was governed by a perfon of a moderate difpofition, the people were licentious, volatile and profufe. But, that, fince the administration of the late chief, an Afghan of a fierce and rapacious temper, they had become difpirited, their way of living mean, their drefs flovenly, and though of a temper proverbially loquacious, they were averfe from communicating ordinary intelligence.

DURING my refidence in Kashmire, I often witneffed the harsh treatment which the common people received at the hands of their masters, who rarely iffued an order without a blow of the side of their hatchet, a common weapon of the Afghans, and used by them in war, as a battle-axe. Though the inhabitants of this province are held under a grievous fubjection, and endure evils the most mortifying to human nature, being equally oppreffed and infulted, the various teftimonies brought home to me of their common depravity of difpofition, made me the lefs fenfible of their distress; and in a fhort time fo faint was the trace of it on my mind, that I even judged them worthy of their adverse fortune.

In viewing the manners of a people at large, it were at once a facrifice of truth and every claim to historical merit, to introduce

pailionate

paffionate or fanciful colouring; yet the cooleft reflection does not withold me from saying, that I never knew a national body of men more impregnated with the principles of vice, than the natives. of Kashmire. The character of a Kashmirian is conspicuously seen, when invested with official power. Supported by an authority which prescribes no limits to its agents, in the accumulation of public emoluments, the Kashmirian displays the genuine compofition of his mind. He becomes intent on immediate aggrandizement, without rejecting any inftrument which can promote his purpose, Rapacious and arrogant, he evinces in all his actions, deceit, treachery, and that species of refined cruelty, which usually actuates the conduct of a coward. And it is faid, that he is equally fickle in his connections, as implacable in enmity. In behalf of humanity, I could wifh not to have been capacitated to exhibit so disgusting a picture, which being constantly held out to me for near three months, in various lights, but with little relief, impreffed me with a general dislike of mankind.

THE Kashmirians are fo whimsically curious, that when any trivial question is propofed to them, its intention and purpose is enquired into with a string of futile interrogatories, before the neceffary information is given; and a fhopkeeper rarely acknowledges the poffeffion of a commodity, until he is apprized of the quantity required. In examining the fituation in which these people have been placed, with its train of relative effects, the fpeculative moralift will perhaps difcover one of the larger fources,

VOL. II.

D

from

from whence this caft of manners and difpofition has arifen. He will perceive that the fingular position of their country, its abundant and valuable produce, with a happy climate, tend to excite ftrong inclinations to luxury and effeminate pleasures; and he is aware, that to counteract caufes, naturally tending to enervate and corrupt the mind, a system of religion or morality is neceffary to inculcate the love of virtue, and especially, to impress the youth with early fentiments of juftice and humanity. But he will evidently fee, that neither the religious or the moral precepts of the present race of Mahometans contain the principles of rectitude or philanthropy; that on the contrary, they are taught to look with abhorrence on the fairest portion of the globe, and to perfecute and injure those who are not inclosed in the fold of their prophet. Seeing then the Kashmirians, prefiding as it were at the fountain head of pleasure, neither guided or checked by any principle or example of virtue, he will not be furprized, that they give a wide scope to the paffions of the mind and the enjoyments of the body.

AZAD KHAN, the prefent governor of Kashmire, of the Afghan tribe, fucceeded his father Hadji* Kareem Dad, a domestic officer of Ahmed Shah Duranny, and who was, at the death of that prince, advanced to the government of Kashmire, by Timur Shah, as a reward for quelling the rebellion of the Amir Khan,

Those who have made the pilgrimage of Mecca are termed Hadji.

who

who has been already mentioned. Though the Kashmirians exclaim with bitterness at the adminiftration of Hadji Kareem Dad, who was notorious for his wanton cruelties and insatiable avarice; often for trivial offences, throwing the inhabitants, tyed by the back in pairs, into the river, plundering their property, and forcing their women of every defcription; yet they fay, he was a systematical tyrant, and attained his purpofes, however atrocious, through a fixed medium. They hold a different language in speaking of the fon, whom they denominate the Zaulim Kham, a Perfic phrase which expreffes a tyrant without difcernment; and if the smaller portion of the charges against him are true, the appellation is' fitly bestowed. At the At the age of eighteen years; he has few of the vices of youth; he is not addicted to the pleasures of the haram, nor to wine: he does not even smoke the Hookah. But his acs of ferocity exceed common belief; they would feem to originate in the wildest caprice, and to display a temper rarely seen in the nature of man.

THAT you may form fome specific knowledge of the character of this, let me call him, infernal defpot, I will mention fome facts which were communicated during my refidence in the province. While he was paffing with his court, under one of the wooden bridges of the city, on which a crowd of people had affembled to obferve the proceffion, he levelled his mufquet at an opening which he faw in the path way, and being an expert markfman, he fhot to death an unfortunate fpectator. Soon after his acceffion to the