receive, was the courteous civility displayed in many of these interesting customs. He was the Rakhi-bund Bhaé of, and received "the bracelet" from three Queens of Oodipoor, Boondi, and Kotah, besides Chund Bae, the maiden sister of the Rana, as well as many ladies of the chieftains of rank, with whom he interchanged letters. The sole articles of "Barbaric pearl and gold", which he conveyed from a country where he was six years supreme, are these testimonies of friendly regard. Intrinsically of no great value, they were presented and accepted in the ancient spirit, and he retains them with a sentiment the more powerful, because he can no longer render them any service.'

Such is the country, and such is the individual by whom that country is described. We regret the impossibility of doing justice to either within the compass of the present article, or indeed of any thing short of a series of articles, each of no small dimensions.

Before, however, we proceed to make such observations on Colonel Tod's volume as may put our readers more specifically in possession of its character, we must touch, though with notice reluctantly brief, on the other work of which we have quoted the title. We began this article by adverting to the difference in the execution of these publications; and we recur to the intimation in this place, for the purpose of pointing out the two distinguishing qualities of the smaller, but more extensive work. Of such a compilation, comprehension and selection must constitute the value; and we do not hesitate to say, that we have not, at the present moment, any recollection of another instance in which those qualities have so effectively contributed to the worth of a publication. A firm and vigorous compression has been maintained throughout; and yet so abundant is the supply of detail and description, that the effects of analysis and secernment are hardly perceptible. The labour of such a process, in its application to a country like India, cannot but have been immense. Considerably more than a hundred formidable volumes must have passed under the Editor's manipulation; and to enable him to use them as he has done, a mere inspection would have been altogether insufficient, he must have read them. To a person superficially acquainted with the nature of the history and political geography of India, nothing may seem more easy than their accurate adjustment, aided by materials apparently so ample and authentic. A more intimate acquaintance with the nature of these documents will, however, give a very different aspect to the matter. It is surprising how crude and indefinite is the larger portion of the writings in question, in all, especially, that relates to statistics. The perpetual change of domination, the incessant shifting of frontier, the fluctuation in the distinguishing names, not only of countries but of individuals, the uncertainty concerning the ex

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tent and locality both of the grand and minor divisions of India, the varieties of orthography, and the necessity for constant discrimination between fact and fable, history and poetry, truth and exaggeration,-all combine to make the reduction and arrangement of these complicated matters into a clear and consecutive compendium, about one of the most difficult tasks that we can well imagine. Yet, in its execution, the Editor of the Modern Traveller has been eminently successful; and the information, both general and minute, which he has brought into the compass of four closely printed 18mos, will be found amply sufficient for all purposes of useful inquiry. His distribution of the territorial divisions of this extensive and still imperfectly known region, is, we are satisfied, as near to correctness as, under actual circumstances, it is practicable to approach; and his sketch of its ancient annals is remarkable for clearness, spirit, and verisimilitude:-we use this word as the most appropriate to a portion of history so involved in fable as to baffle all approach to any thing beyond probability. For the details of the Mohammedan conquests, full use has been made of rich materials; yet we regret that recourse could not be had to the complete and accurate translation of Ferishta, by Colonel Briggs, published since the completion of that division of the Modern Traveller which comprises India. Ferishta's history', says Colonel Tod,

is throughout most faulty in its geographical details, rendered still more obscure from the erroneous orthography, (often arising from mistaken punctuation,) of the only translation (Dow's) of this valuable work yet before the public. There is one gentleman (Lieut.Colonel Briggs) well qualified to remedy these defects, and who, with a laudable industry, has made an entire translation of the works of Ferishta, besides collating the best MS. of the original text.'

The modern history of India is a clear and accurate summary of a most interesting story: a widely scattered series of events is reduced to perfect order, and compacted into a well-written and impressive story. These details occupy the first two volumes, and part of the third, the remainder of the work being devoted to topographical illustration. We find it difficult to give extracts from a series of volumes themselves made up for the most part of extracts and analysis; but, as a specimen of the composition, and an evidence of the vigorous mind which has presided over the work, we shall cite the striking reflections with which this able Writer closes his review of the ancient history and commerce of India.

This rapid sketch of the commercial relations of ancient India will, it is hoped, assist the reader to form a more correct, as well as more comprehensive notion of the history of the country, than can be ob

tained from the obscure annals of its petty dynasties. It will be seen, in the first place, that India has always been indebted for its political importance and the splendour of its empires, chiefly to the boundless wealth which nature has lavished upon its soil, and next, to its commerce. Yet, it has never been a maritime power; in this respect strikingly resembling ancient Egypt and modern China. The Phenicians, the Arabs, the Egyptian Greeks, the Malays, the Portuguese, the British, those who have successively been the lords of the seas, have been the merchants of India, and have constantly enriched themselves by the monopoly of the trade. The next remark which suggests itself is, that India, in its most comprehensive sense, could never be held as an undivided empire by any but a naval power. To whatever extent, therefore, the nominal sovereignty of its emperors may at any time have been acknowledged, we may be certain, that they could exert no permanent or effective control over the more remote principalities. Even the Mogul sovereigns were never able to extend their empire over the whole of the Deccan; and the peninsular provinces seem to have been always very distinct. The histories of Cashmeer, of Magadha, and of Delhi, must, then, be regarded as only sections of the history of ancient India.

Another striking feature in the general history of this country is, that it has never assumed the attitude of a belligerent power; never sent forth a conqueror to invade other territories by sea or land; never, in the person of its native monarchs, long preserved a substantial independency. In almost every age, India has been a tributary; and the country has not more enriched its princes and its merchants, than it has its foreign conquerors and spoilers. The hereditary claim to this splendid dependency has passed from hand to hand, if we may credit tradition, from the heirs of Japheth to the days of the Great Mogul; and it is remarkable, how little difficulty the Great King of the age has seemingly found in obtaining the recognition of his right and title. The mass of the population have, in addition to this political subjection to a foreign power, been held, from time immemorial, in a state of the most abject social degradation, by the ascendancy of a sacerdotal nobility and the singular institution of caste. That which some learned authorities maintain to have been the primitive religion of the country, now exists only among a depressed and scattered sect; and the ecclesiastical supremacy of the Buddhic world has been transferred from the kings of Magadha to the Tatar sovereign of the celestial empire.

These circumstances amply account for the strikingly peculiar and original character of the Hindoo nation, the fixed character of their institutions, and the unchanged nature of their language. They have never been blended down with other nations by either colonization or conquest. During more than sixteen hundred years, that is, from the fall of the Bactrian kingdom to the arrival of the Portuguese in the East, no European power acquired territory, or established its dominion in that country.' pp. 160-162.

We must now quit this comprehensive digest of whatever is most important and attractive in the historians and explorers of India,

for the purpose of more distinctly introducing Colonel Tod's book to the notice of our readers.

The geography of Rajast-'han is a somewhat perplexing subject. Previously to the conquests of the Mohammedan Shabudin, it extended, probably, beyond the Ganges and the Jumna, up to the very roots of the Himalaya: and subsequently to that period, before the elevation of the states of Mandoo and Ahmedabad on the ruins of Dhar and Anhulwarra, it stretched from the Indus to Boondelkhund, and from the Sutlege to the Vindhya mountains. The divisions of Rajpootana, as given by Colonel Tod, amount to eight; and for an approach to distinct notions respecting their history and statistics, we are mainly indebted to his labours. In 1806, he was attached to the embassy which attended the camp of Sindia, then campaigning in Mewar, the principal Rajpoot state. Up to that period, this province was a mere blank in the map, presenting little more than the names of the two capitals, Oodipoor and Cheetore, well nigh reversed in their relative position: and this nearly total ignorance of geographical detail extended to almost the whole of central and western Rajast-'han. In 1815, the first attempt at a regular map of these countries was presented by the Author to Lord Hastings, which draught has served as the basis of every delineation since made, though some of the worthy makers have felt it quite unnecessary to assign the merit of their efforts to the true source. A very interesting detail is given of the various methods employed by the Author, to obtain materials and secure accuracy.

The origin and derivation of the Rajpoot tribes are ably traced, and it is curious to observe the evidences of Scythic intermixture with the people of Hindostan. The Jits, or the Getæ of European history, the Hoons or Huns, and the Catti, have found a place in the annals of India; and signs of their existence are still visible. But although the inhabitants of the different regions of Rajast-'han are distinguishable from each other by decided peculiarities of external habit and manners, the great national lineaments are the same: the same religion, the same ardour of temper and intensity of feeling, the same brilliant valour and desperate self-devotion, give a common character to the Rajpoot, of whatever tribe, or to whichever of the kingdoms of Rajasthan he may belong. The Rahtore of Marwar, the Cutchwaha of Ambér, the Sesodia of Mewar, have their different genealogies and their marking distinctions; but their martial system, the modified feudalism of their institutions, their chivalric qualities, are obviously of common derivation. With this brave and romantic people, we are now connected by that complicated and doubtful policy which, under the pretext of non-interference, establishes a surveillance and control of the most offensive kind; and which Colonel Tod appears to condemn as pregnant with

embarrassing and injurious consequences. The system of alliances, on its present footing at least, does not find favour in his eyes. These are questions, however, on which we have no present intention of entering, and we pass on to matters of more immediate interest.

Mewar, of which the annals form the principal subject of the present volume, exhibits, in some respects, a marked difference from the other kingdoms. It is the oldest of the Rajpoot states, and was a long-established dynasty while the others were in their infancy.

We can trace the losses of Mewar, but with difficulty her acquisitions; while it is easy to note the gradual aggrandizement of Marwar and Ambér, and all the minor states. Marwar was composed of many petty states, whose ancient possessions formed an allodial vassalage under the new dynasty. A superior independence of the control of the prince, arises from the peculiarity of the mode of acquisition; that is, with rights similar to the allodial vassals of the European feudal system. The poorest Rajpoot of this day retains all the pride of ancestry, often his sole inheritance: he scorns to hold the plough, or to use his lance but on horseback. In these aristocratic ideas he is supported by his reception among his superiors, and the respect paid to him by his inferiors. The honours and privileges, and the gradation of rank, amongst the vassals of the Rana's house, exhibit a highly artificial and refined state of society. Each of the superior rank is entitled to a banner, kettle-drums preceded by heralds and silver maces, with peculiar gifts and personal honours, in commemoration of some exploit of their ancestors.'

The Hindu tribes yield unanimous suffrage to the Prince of Mewar as the legitimate heir to the throne of Rama, and style him Hindua Sooraj, or "Sun of the Hindus." He is universally allowed to be the first of the "thirty-six royal tribes"; nor has a doubt ever been raised respecting his purity of descent.'

The received genealogy of the Ranas of Mewar traces them up to Rama, from whose eldest son Loh, the founder of Lahore, they derive their remote origin. Keneksén, one of his descendants, emigrated to Saurashtra, and subsequent movements brought the family to Mewar, where they ultimately obtained possession of the sovereignty and of the capital, the celebrated and sacred Cheetore. During eight generations, they ruled over the Bhils, the wild inhabitants of this mountainous region, until, tired of subserviency to a foreign line of princes, those restless savages put to death the reigning sovereign. His infant son, Bappa, was saved, and spent his youth in obscurity, but not without mysterious indications of his future prosperity and fame. At length, a frolic exposed him to the resentment of the Solanki chief; and fearful of discovery, he took measures for concealment.