established themselves on the coast of Malabar,
and in the northern part of India, are at present
commonly called _Moors_. The _Patans_, or, as
they are otherwise called, _Afgans_ or _Afguans_,
have nothing in common with these Arabs but their
religion. They are a branch of the Albanians from
Mount Caucasus, as has been already remarked by
Gœrber and Dr. Reineggs, or Ehlich. The Armenians
cannot pronounce the letter _l_ in the middle of
a word, and therefore they call the Albans or
Alwans _Aghwans_. These aborigines of the Caucasian
territories were known to the ancient writers,
Strabo, Pliny, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Dio
Cassius. According to the last-mentioned author
they extended themselves from the Tanais (Don) to
the Ganges. These people, who had thus wandered as
far as India, were subdued by the Saracens, and
converted to the Mahometan Religion by the sword,
but they afterwards recovered their independence.
Some of these Patan chiefs founded in the
neighbourhood of Delhi small principalities; others
penetrated into the Decan, and made themselves
masters of small provinces, which have been since
taken from them by Nizam Aly, the Marattas, and
Tippoo Saib. Even the _Rohillas_ are a race
descended from the Patans. See Edwards’s _Memoir of
a Map comprehending the countries between the Black
Sea and the Caspian_. London 1788, p. 6. and M. C.
Sprengel’s _Allgem. Hist. Taschenbuch_. Berlin 1786.
_F._
[61] This account of the Jews on the Malabar coast is
partly incomplete, and partly doubtful. We know
something more certain respecting the Jews at
Cochin, by M. Adrian Moens, governor and director
of the Dutch East India Company on that coast,
which has been published in Busching’s _Magazine_,
vol. xiv. p. 123-154. The Jews on the Malabar coast
are distinguished into two kinds, white and black.
The former, in their synagogue near Cochin, have
two oblong square plates of copper, containing old
Malabar writing in lines that run across them, and
in a mixed dialect of the Malabar, Tamulic, and
Tulengic languages. The subject of this writing is
a charter granted to _Isup Rabbaan_ at Cranganor,
by _Erawi Wanmara_ emperor of Malabar, in the year
from _Kalijogam_ 3481 (that is 426 after the birth
of Christ), and in the thirty-sixth year of his
reign, in virtue of which he confirmed to _Isup
Rabbaan_ (Joseph Rabbi) the same privileges as had
been before enjoyed by the petty Malabar viceroys.
“He and the seventy-two families (related probably
to each other) were to enjoy them as long as the
sun should illuminate the earth; but all other Jews
and their descendants were to be obedient to his
commands, and to those of his successors.”--In a
Portuguese book, _Notisias dos Judeos de Cochim_,
printed at Amsterdam in 1681, it is said: In the
year of the world 4130, according to the Jewish
mode of computation (that is 369 years after the
birth of Christ), seventy or eighty thousand Jews
were landed from the kingdom of Majorca on the
coast of Malabar. Now, as the Balearic islands
were subdued by the Vandals exactly in the year
425 after the birth of Christ, it is probable
that the Jews who were settled there removed to
Jerusalem and Egypt; and being supported by their
Jewish brethren, were conveyed thence by sea to
India, in the year 426 of the Christian æra. Their
number, however, may perhaps not have been so great.
These Jews established themselves in Cranganor
and the neighbouring districts, and founded a
small kingdom. They purchased slaves, particularly
black ones, and converted them, as well as several
more of the natives, to their religion. These new
converts gave rise to the black Jews, who wished
to enjoy the same privileges as the white, and to
unite themselves with them by intermarriages. As
their claims were not allowed, they disowned the
authority of the white Jews and of their king; and
a war was the consequence, in which the latter were
almost destroyed. They were, however, assisted by
the prince of the country, and the black Jews were
again reduced to obedience. After that period the
black and white Jews had distinct synagogues, and
lived apart from each other. Two brothers of the
royal race ruled in common; but they afterwards
separated, and the native princes raised a violent
persecution against the Jews. They were so much
oppressed by the Portuguese at Cranganor, that they
were obliged, in 1565, to solicit the protection
of the king of Cochin, near which city they still
reside. The ancient royal race, and the descendants
of those who went to India before the year 1371, are
totally extinct. The white Jews, who reside near
Cochin at present, went to India at later periods,
from Palestine, Persia, Constantinople, Bagdad and
Egypt, and even from England, Poland, Germany, Spain
and Holland. The black Jews are the descendants of
the ancient race above mentioned. Their books are
according to the Spanish ritual, and they procure
them from Amsterdam. They have nine synagogues, and
consist of about 460 families, who amount perhaps to
3000 or 4000 persons. _F._
[62] A full account of the migration, incursions, wars,
revolutions, laws and manners of those foreign
nations who established themselves in India, may
be seen in the writings of _Hyde_, _Texeira_,
_Renaudot_, _Barros_, the _Abbe Guyon_, _Raynal_,
_St. Lubin_, _Anquetil du Perron_, and in the lives
of _Tamerlane_ and _Thamas Kuli Khan_; also in the
Persian books _Vakiat-Babri_, _Monte-Keb-el-Tarik_,
_Akbar Nama_, and _Magir-Gehan Guiri_, which are to
be found partly in the library at Paris, and partly
in that of Mr. Samuel Guise. _A._
[63] These philosophers are called properly _Joqui_; from
_Joga_, community; under which name is understood
people who have every thing in common. In the
Samscred they are named _Gòsuàmi_, from _Go_ a cow,
and _Suami_ a lord; consequently lords of the cow:
for they are accustomed to besprinkle and paint
their bodies with dried cow’s dung. They are known
also by a more ancient Samscred name, viz. _Samanà_
or _Shamanà_, that is, the Mild; for they kill no
animal, cut no plants, and never eat fish, but feed
merely on rice, wild herbs, roots and fruit. They
live together in company, under a common chief or
teacher, who in the Samscred is called _Guru_. As
true gymnosophists, they go quite naked, and sleep
on the ground, having nothing under them but mats
made of palm leaves interwoven with each other.
They avoid all intercourse with the world; study
philosophy, theogony, botany and astronomy, and have
written a great many treatises on these sciences
in the Indian languages. They are real stoics, and
often impose upon themselves the severest penances.
They are mentioned by Cicero, Plutarch, Clemens
of Alexandria, and Arrian. The last author says,
besides other things respecting them, that they
were accustomed to walk down into the sea at Cape
Comari, in order to purify themselves;--a custom
which they have retained to this day. _A._----These
_Dschoqui_ or _Jogui_ are therefore the followers of
the old Indian philosophers called Samanæi. Because
they went naked, they were called by the Greeks
gymnosophists, that is, naked philosophers. _F._
[64] This conduct of Fra Paolino seems rather
unevangelical and harsh, and to have been somewhat
in the style of a Boanerges, or those sons of
thunder who wished to call down fire immediately
from heaven. Our zealous monk procured full power
from the magistrate in order to execute his
inquisitorial sentence. This, no doubt, cost him
a considerable sum of money, and must have been
charged under the head of _secret service_. Instead
of advice and admonition, the monk administered a
sound beating! This may properly be called obeying
the command: _Compelle illos intrare!_ The other
means by which the Indians are converted to the
Catholic religion, are no doubt of the same kind as
this church discipline. _F._
[65] An account of the violent measures as well as arts
employed by the Romish Church to make the Nestorians
in India unite themselves to it, may be seen in
the work published by the ingenious and learned
La Croze on the state of Christianity in that
country. The above-mentioned synod at _Diemper_ or
_Udiamper_, at which the violent, enthusiastic, and
despotic Alexis de Menezes effected a pretended
union of the Christians of St. Thomas, is a real and
lasting monument of shame for the Romish Church.
It is impossible to read the history of it without
the most affecting sensations, and without being
sensible that the spirit of enthusiasm is always
combined with ignorance and the most striking
barbarity. Since the reformation the Romish Church
has exhibited very little of its former violence,
and some of its members have learned to know the
importance of ancient monuments, particularly those
of Eastern Christianity. This is sufficiently shewn
by Assemanni and Renaudot in their writings, and
by the valuable collections of the noble Cardinal
Borgia at Velitri. _F._
[66] The decline of the Nestorian monasteries on the
coast of Malabar was not occasioned merely by the
establishment of the Portuguese in that country,
but by the furious persecuting spirit and the
violent conduct of the Portuguese clergy. The mild
beneficent teachers of the Christians of St. Thomas
were either compelled to join the Romish Church, or
suffered to become extinct; as it was impossible
for new ecclesiastics or monks to go to India from
Persia, or the Persian gulph, where the Portuguese
at that time had great power. Afterwards, indeed,
when the Dutch got the better of the Portuguese,
Syrian and Nestorian ecclesiastics went from Persia
and Antioch to India; but these priests, who
belonged to different sects, were always at variance
with each other. See _Relatio historica ad Epistolam
Syriacam a Maha Thome_, _i. e._ _Magna Thoma Indo,
antiquorum Syrorum in India Episcopo, ex Chaddenad
in Malabaria scriptam ad Ignatium Patriarcham
Antiochenum, et ipsa illa Episcopi Indi Epistola
Syriaca, cum Versione Latina, &c. accurante_ CAROLO
SCHAAF. Lugduni Batavorum, 1714. 4to. _F._
[67] The two kinds of potatoes here mentioned by the
author do not probably belong to the real species of
the potatoe, _solanum_, but to some other vegetable
production of the like kind, such as the _Dioscorea
alata L._, the exterior skin of which is black,
but the internal pulpy part, when roasted in the
ashes, is white, or of a purple colour. The round
potatoes may be a kind of the Spanish potatoes,
_Convolvulus Batatas_, or the gold-coloured root of
the _Convolvulus Chrysorrhizus_, which is not only
cultivated, but grows wild also in the islands of
the South Sea, and which has been described by my
son George in his Treatise _De Plantis Esculentis
Insularum Maris Pacifici_. The _Convolvulus Batatas_
was carried from America by the Spaniards to the
Philippines and neighbouring islands; and on that
account the plant there is called _Castile_, because
it was first introduced by the Castilians or
Spaniards. _F._
[68] That in the impenetrable forests of the Gauts there
are wild elephants, is well known; but the people
on the sea-coast content themselves with those of
Ceylon, which are more docile, and easier to be
tamed.--It may be readily seen by the wild buffaloes
that this is the original country of these animals,
which were first brought from India ta Italy in
the time of Agilulph king of Lombardy, between the
years 591 and 616.--The deer mentioned by the author
form probably more than one kind. India produces,
1st, the _Cervus Axis L._ or the spotted deer,
which is somewhat larger than our fallow deer. 2d,
The porcine deer, _Cervus Porcinus L._ brown with
round white spots, and from two feet four inches
to three feet and a half in height. 3d, The elk,
_Cervus Alce L._ Professor Zimmerman, however, in
his _Zoological Geography_, does not allow the
elk, or rein-deer, to be an inhabitant beyond the
50th degree of north latitude; but the former has
been bold enough to overstep the boundaries which
he has drawn on his chart, and has penetrated to
the woody, marshy, solitary valleys of India. See
_Essais philosophiques sur les Moeurs de divers
Animaux étrangers_, par Foucher D’Obsonville, p.
115. In the same work much information may be
obtained respecting the black and white kinds of
apes, which inhabit the Indian forests in flocks of
thousands.--The real Indian striped (not spotted)
tyger, which is from nine to ten feet in length,
and from four to four and a half in height, is not
common even in India, and is to be found only in
the thickest forests. He gives place to no animals
but the lion, elephant, and rhinoceros.--The Indian
parrots are, in a literal sense, almost innumerable,
for every traveller brings home new kinds to Europe.
The old Grecian name ψιττακη, seems to be of Egyptian
origin: Π-ϹΙΤΤΑΚΗ. The Π is an article: the Germans,
therefore, have omitted it, and converted the word
into _Sittich_. _F._
[69] Many instances may be found, both in ancient and
modern history, of great changes having been
produced on the surface of the earth, and on the
coasts of the ocean, by hurricanes and earthquakes,
as well as by the waters of the sea and by rivers.
That piece of water, known by the name of the Dead
Sea, arose by a fiery eruption from the earth; and
in Egypt, along the northern bank of the Delta, and
on both sides, there are large lakes, particularly
the lakes Mœris and Serbau, which were indebted for
their origin to storms, earthquakes, and inundations
of the Nile. In Peloponnesus, or the present Morea,
the cities of Helice, Bura, and some others in
Achaia, were swallowed up by the sea, two years
before the battle of Leuctra. Even in the eighteenth
century, Callao in Peru was overwhelmed, and, with
all its houses, inhabitants, and the ships in the
harbour, became a prey to the waves of the ocean.
The great changes effected by the earthquake in
Calabria, are still fresh in the memory of every
one: during that horrid catastrophe whole mountains
and rocks were precipitated into the sea. _F._
[70] The low inundated land at the bottom of the Gauts,
which consists of marl or clay and strata of chalk,
together with the higher strata where the mountains
are steep towards the sea, being violently torn away
in the rainy season by the streams and currents
collected in the mountains, form, at their influx
into the sea, banks and accumulations which are
still raised higher, and are driven back by the sea
towards the land. In this manner are formed plains,
islands, and little hills; the origin of which can,
in this manner, be very naturally explained. _F._
[71] In the time of the Romans a freedman of Annius
Plocanus experienced a similar fate. See _Plin.
Hist. Nat._ lib. vi. c. 22. _A._
[72] More information respecting Cochin may be found
in Philip Baldæus’s _Description of the Coasts of
Malabar and Coromandel_, Amsterdam 1672, fol. p.
111-136; Francis Valentin’s _Beschryving van’t
Nederlandsch Comptoir op de Kust van Malabar_, Amst.
1726. fol. in the fifth part of his _Oude en Niewe
Oost-Indien_; and in Hamilton’s _New Account of the
East Indies, from 1688 to 1723_. Lond. vol. I. and
II, 1739. 8vo. p. 321, &c. _F._
[73] The reproaches thrown out by the Protestants against
the celibacy of the Catholic clergy is so far right,
as that state gives rise to immoral conduct and
dissipation, of which too many instances may be
found, both among the higher and lower clergy of
the Romish church. The immorality, however, of the
English and Dutch is no less worthy of censure. _F._
[74] See _Istoria della Vita e Fatti illustri del Ven.
Monsign. Giuseppe di S. Maria de’ Sebastiani_.
Roma 1719. l. xi. p. 254. where these excesses are
particularly described. _A._
[75] In the map published by Faden, in 1788, entitled
_The Southern Countries of India from Madras to Cape
Comorin_, by Capt. Wersebe, this place is called
_Tripunctare_.
[76] It is no wonder that the native princes should
endeavour to lay the trade open to foreign nations,
when the merchants of the neighbouring factories
raise the price of their own goods, and pay as
little as they can for those of India. These
monopolies must, in the end, induce the petty
princes of India to adopt wiser regulations, more
conducive to the prosperity of their dominions. The
English even, though so powerful at present in that
country, must excite the hatred of the natives and
princes if they do not alter their conduct. _F._
[77] Respecting the ancient state of _Cranganor_, the
reader may consult the before-mentioned works of
_Baldæus_, _Valentin_, and _Hamilton_. In regard
to its present condition, I know as little as the
author. _F._
[78] On the before-mentioned map of Capt. Wersebe this
place is called _Gnareca_. _F._
[79] On Wersebe’s map _Palipuram_ is called _Paliporto_;
_Aycotta_, _Aicotta_, or _Chuvocat_; and _Paravur_
is named _Parour_. _F._
[80] We know from various accounts, published by the
English and the missionaries, with what cruelty
the followers of the Brahman religion were treated
by the inhuman Tippoo Sultan, and in what manner
he endeavoured by the rack and famine to make them
embrace the Mahometan faith. He was, however,
deprived of a full third of his dominions, which
he had enlarged by robbery; and he is now closely
watched, to prevent him from entering into any
treaty of alliance with the other Indian powers, or
from disturbing the tranquillity of India. _F._
[81] That pirates formerly resided in the neighbourhood
of Mount _Illi_, which is mentioned by Ptolemy under
the name of ΕΛΑΓΚΩΝ, or EΛIΓKΩΝ, as an emporium, or
place of trade, and that even in the present century
the pirate Angria had established himself on this
coast, is well known. For an account of Angria, see
Clement Downing’s _History of the Indian Wars, with an
Account of Angria the Pyrate_. London 1737, 8vo. The
appellation of _Molandis_ given to these sea-robbers
is to me entirely new. _F._
[82] All the Indian languages and characters used on
this side the Ganges, seem to be derived from the
Samscred: and even the religious ideas of the
natives are only here and there modified in a
different manner. The Indian literature, branched
out into so many languages, merely on account of the
great extent of the country, was introduced at the
same time as its religious worship. _F._
[83] That the post has been introduced into India, and
distinguished by the name of _Angelà_, was before
unknown. A kind of post was established formerly in
Persia. Certain persons, employed by the king for
carrying letters, small articles, and dispatches,
and who were called Αγγαροι (Angari), had a right
to require of all those whom they met to remove out
of their way; to take from them horses, ships, and
carriages, &c.; and to compel the owners themselves
to carry burdens. This compulsive service the Greeks
distinguished by the name of Αγγαρειον, a word derived
from the Persian, which is to be found in the New
Testament, Matth. xxvii. This old Persian word,
_Angaros_, seems to have an affinity to the Indian
word _Angelà_; and it is not improbable that the
Persians borrowed their establishment of the post
from the Indians, or the latter theirs from the
Persians. I am almost inclined to think that it was
first introduced among the Indians. The above-mentioned
couriers are called in Persia, at present, _Tschaptar_,
that is, those who ride on a full gallop. _F._
[84] This population, in a country so small as the
coast of Malabar, or Malayala, is undoubtedly very
great. About forty _coss_ or Malabar miles make a
degree. This coast, therefore, contains at most
450 geographical square miles, and to each of
these there are consequently almost 3703 persons.
In other parts of India a far greater number of
persons live on a square mile; but we must take
into consideration the mountains, forests, lakes
and rivers in Malabar, and also the devastation
occasioned in the country by the merciless Tippoo
Saib. _F._
[85] The author ought not to have called milk, butter and
coco-nut oil food easy of digestion. The continual
use of milk renders it at length very heavy for the
stomachs of most people. The fat parts of butter
and coco-nut oil are indigestible; and as the acid
parts of fat separate from it, this acid attacks
the stomach and the bowels. Now the Indians use no
flesh, which contains abundance of alkaline parts,
and therefore the acid cannot be neutralised by
these parts. It is, however, true in general, that
the great moderation of the Indians, though indeed
often occasioned by want, contributes greatly to
their healthfulness. That such moderation promotes
the generative powers is very doubtful. _F._
[86] Monogamy, the great care employed by parents to get
their daughters married, the want of nunneries, the
great honour in which marriage is held in India,
and the little expence required for educating and
clothing children, are the real causes of the
increase of population in that country. Even among
us the middle and lower classes would produce more
children were they not afraid of the expences of
education. _F._
[87] I have, in general, observed, that the small-pox
are malignant where the body, in order to prevent
perspiration, is frequently rubbed over with fat or
oily substances. Dirtiness, immoderation, or luxury
in eating and drinking, and particularly the use
of heating things, greatly increase the malignity
of the disease. A confirmation of what I have here
asserted, may be found in America, at the Cape of
Good Hope, in Africa among the Negroes, and among
the Calmucks in Russia. Among people who employ the
warm bath, as the Russians, Turks, Persians, &c. the
small-pox are less malignant. _F._
[88] That the polygamy of the Mahometans and Indians of
higher rank does not contribute to population is
certain: for, 1st, polygamy deprives many a male
of a female; 2d, it occasions more female children
to be born, and consequently destroys the true
proportion so well suited to monogamy.--Perhaps
the polyandria of the women among the Nayrs causes
more males to be brought into the world, and thus
supplies the deficiency.
[89] It is well known, that the ancient Greek authors
have observed, in regard to the Indian literati
and persons of rank, that they lived in woods, and
places planted with palm-trees.--The intelligent
reader will here recollect Otaheite, where those who
are under no necessity of exposing themselves to
the sun and the sea air, have a pale-brown colour,
inclining to yellow; and where the complexion of the
most beautiful women approaches nearer to the colour
of the Europeans than that of the men, so that an
agreeable ruddiness can be seen to flush in their
cheeks when they are animated. The _Tautaus_, or
labouring class, are much browner; so that one might
believe they belong to another race. _F._
[90] Bruce also, during his travels through Arabia,
observed that the women soon acquired every mark of
old age, and that they left off child-bearing at
an early period. This, perhaps, has given rise to
polygamy in Arabia. _F._
[91] There are various reasons which prevent the Indians
from imitating the household furniture and cooking
utensils of the Europeans. The poorer sort of people
cannot do it, on account of their circumstances; and
the rich will not, because they hate and detest the
whites, by whom they are oppressed. Besides, many of
the European customs, articles of furniture, &c. are
not suited to the climate of India. The attachment
of the Indians to every thing handed down to them by
their ancestors, arises from that pride prevalent
among all little cultivated nations, who, like the
Chinese for example, consider what they themselves
possess as the best in the world. _F._
[92] The object of agriculture in India is almost
exclusively rice, and that kind of it the growth
and increase of which are particularly promoted
by inundating the fields. As the chief point is
to devise proper means for watering the land, the
large rivers have been divided into small streams,
and conducted by ditches and canals to the nearest
plains. When the rivers are not swelled up by
abundant rains, so as to overflow their banks,
the water is raised by machines put in motion
by men or oxen; or large reservoirs are formed,
which the Europeans call _Tangs_ or _Tanks_. In
these reservoirs the rain water, which pours down
in torrents during the time of the monsoons,
is collected, and afterwards conveyed through
different channels to the rice fields. A great
deal of sesamum is sown on account of its oil; and
poppies, particularly in Bengal, are cultivated,
in order to produce opium. Millet, maize, and the
kind of rice which grows in dry soil, are less
generally cultivated. Rice, when freed from the
husk, is called _Nella_. Every Indian has in his
house a wooden mortar and pestle for reducing it
to that state.--Horticulture, in India, consists
only in planting certain portions of ground with
palms and different kinds of fruit trees. The
fruits are figs, oranges, lemons, pomegranates,
&c. The coco, areca, and butter-palms are the
trees most common in gardens: roses, jasmin, and
different kinds of lilies, are reared on account of
their smell.--Botany is comprehended only in the
_Upaveda_ books, written in the earliest periods,
in the Samscred language; one division of which,
the _Adschurveda_, gives an account of the uses
of the Indian plants, together with the method of
cultivating them. This part of the sacred books
is, however, studied by very few of the learned
Brahmans. It is not improbable that it contains a
number of observations carefully made and collected
in the most remote ages, though it may readily
be supposed that a great deal of useless and
superstitious matter must be interspersed throughout
them; for every plant and flower is dedicated to
one or more of the Indian deities. Lovers in India
have the art, as may be seen in the play called
_Sacontala_, to express various ideas by flowers,
and by the method of arranging them, or interweaving
them into garlands; and this art is, no doubt,
taught in the before-mentioned work.--Hunting is the
occupation of great men and princes, who employ,
for that purpose, tamed leopards (_Tschittahs_),
falcons, dogs, nets, and a great number of
attendants.--Fishing is the employment only of the
_Mucoas_, or persons of the meanest and lowest
classes.--The architecture of the Indians, in their
large public buildings, and particularly those
devoted to religious worship, or the sciences,
such for example as observatories, is far from
being contemptible. Their cement, with which they
mix oil, is durable, and almost indestructible.
Their style in their oldest edifices, such as the
temple of Elephanta at Bombay, has a great likeness
to the Egyptian. Whether the Indians were taught
architecture by the Egyptians, or the Egyptians by
the Indians, will always remain doubtful, until
better and more decisive proofs are produced to
determine the question. _F._
[93] The Teka wood (_Tectona grandis_ LINN. GMEL.)
employed in India for building houses and ships,
is indeed strong and durable; but the dry climate
of that country is one of the chief causes why
edifices constructed of such timber stand so long.
The common people in India build houses of mud and
loam, the walls of which are infested by centipedes
(_Scolopendræ_), scorpions, and snakes; so that it
is not only unpleasant, but dangerous, to reside in
them. _F._
[94] Such readers as are acquainted with the different
voyages to the South Seas, will here be struck with
the similarity between the Indian manners and those
of the natives of Otaheite. _F._
[95] The great respect paid to superiors and preceptors
among the Indian nations, shows that they possess a
certain degree of cultivation, and a delicate sense
of moral obligation and gratitude. _F._
[96] Since the English have taken from the Dutch the
island of Ceylon (_Singhala_), and got possession
of the real cinnamon tree, _Laurus cinnamomum_
LINN. they will make little or no use of the
Malabar cinnamon, _Laurus cassia_ LINN. which is
perhaps only a variety of that of Ceylon. The
Malabar cinnamon will in time be totally forgotten
and banished from commerce; as the real cinnamon
tree, as well as those which produce nutmegs and
cloves, have been raised from the seed, and planted
several years ago in the isles of Reunion and France
(Bourbon and Mauritius), and also in the Sechelle
isles, Guadaloupe, Jamaica, and the northern
Circars. This much is certain, that the Malabar
cinnamon has not so aromatic a smell, and does not
contain so many particles of ethereal oil, as that
of Ceylon. The former, hitherto, has been imported
to England only through necessity, in order to
prevent the sale of the latter. _F._
[97] A lack amounts to about 12,500 l. sterling.
[98] Kings of the first, rank were, the _Samuri_,
and _Perumpadapil_, or the king of Cochin. To
the second rank belonged the kings of _Tannur_,
_Codungalur_, _Parpurangàri_, _Airur_, _Cannanur_,
_Edapallì_ or _Rapolim_, _Cajamcollam_, _Temàli_,
_Parur_, _Punettur_, _Alangatta_, _Angamàli_, and
_Ayanicurra_, Those of the third rank were called
_Karttàva_, that is, princes or lords. Such were
the _Karttàva_ of _Panamucatta_, _Nandielette_,
_Ciangracòtta_, _Puducòtta_, _Maprànam_, _Muriata_,
_Cunateri_, _Codacèri_, _Cettatur_, _Puttenpidia_,
_Curumbilaga_, and _Cettuà_. Several of these petty
princes and lords still existed at the time I
arrived in Malabar. _A._
[99] This information is of the utmost importance to the
modern history of India; and the author is entitled
to thanks for having communicated it to the public.
_F._
[100] It is here evident, that confounding the different
casts was assigned as a reason by the Roman
Catholic clergy, why women of the inferior casts,
who differed themselves to be kept as concubines,
by _Nayrs_ of the higher casts, ought to be
punished. By these means they supported a Pagan
custom, totally inconsistent with the spirit of
true Christianity, which considers all mankind as
children of the same father. This syncretism of the
Pagan and the Christian religion has at all times
been allowed by the church of Rome. In China, for
example, the Jesuits declared the heavens to be a
divinity, and permitted their adherents to worship
it, as well as allowed different kinds of oblations.
_F._
[101] That the Christians on the coast of Malabar
received their first teachers, as well as their
religious notions, customs and expressions from
the Syrio-Nestorian Christians at Bagdad and Basra
(Bassora), has been fully proved by La Croze, in his
State of the Indian Church. The deviations from the
Roman Catholic Church, here mentioned, may serve to
shew how many innovations it has gradually made in
the Christian worship without the least necessity.
_F._
[102] Of this Alexis de Menesez, or Menezes, I have
already spoken in the note, p. 91. The acts of the
council of _Udiamper_, which are extremely scarce,
clearly shew that this archbishop was a violent
overbearing man. It cannot excite any surprise, that
people united by force to the Romish church should
make themselves independent as soon as they could.
_F._
[103] This conduct, in regard to the re-admission of
excommunicated persons into the Church, is extremely
partial. Those who are rich, are merely fined. A
great many of the Roman Catholic clergy, who are as
avaricious as they are fond of power, behave in the
same manner. _F._
[104] These _Agapæ_ have been retained also in the Greek
church, and Christians of other sects are readily
admitted to them. _F._
[105] Making provision for young women in poor
circumstances is indeed praise-worthy. Were this
conduct imitated by the Christians of the west, many
a destitute girl would be saved from prostitution.
_F._
[106] The Romish Church is acquainted with no other means
than force to retain men in its bosom. If the clergy
do not possess this force themselves, they procure
by money or flattery the support of the Pagan
priests, in order to punish those who think too
freely or see too clearly. _F._
[107] It is a very just observation, that since the
establishment of Christianity, nothing has
contributed so much to its propagation, as the
singing of sacred hymns and songs. Even in the
New Testament, Eph. v. 19. we find some traces of
church-singing; and Pliny the younger, in one of his
letters to the emperor Trajan, informs him that the
Christians sung hymns in their religious assemblies.
Arius, by his talent for composing harmonious
verses, and his tender pathetic songs, gained over
many Christians to his party. It is also well known,
that the Moravian brethren, or Hernhuters, as they
are called, gain many partisans by their soft and
agreeable melody. This circumstance may be easily
accounted for by the effects produced on the greater
part of mankind by music. _F._
[108] In this method of converting the Pagan Indians there
is not much to be condemned: the secrecy employed
is, in my opinion, the only objectionable part.
The reader will hereafter see, that to convert
these people is a transgression of the laws of the
country; and the missionaries ought by all means to
be bound by them. _F._
[109] The Protestant missionaries in India boast also of
having brought over many Catholic Christians to
their church. This, however, is no proof in favour
of either party. _F._
[110] The appellation _Tupasi_ is derived from the
Samscred word _Duibhasbi_. _Dui_ signifies two,
and _Bhasbi_ a man who speaks two languages;
an interpreter. This name, indeed, may with
propriety be given to the _Tupasi_; for, besides
their mother tongue, they speak some one of the
European languages, either English, French, Dutch,
or Portuguese. At Cochin they are called _Gens
de chapeau_, because they wear a _Topi_ or small
hat; whereas the other Indians, not descended from
Europeans, make use of the _Romali_, that is, a
white turban of the finest muslin. These people
have the upper part of their bodies quite naked;
but bind round their loins a piece of white linen,
which is called _Bastra_. As long as this cloth
is new, it is named _Codi_. If it has interwoven
in it red stripes, it is called _Sòmen_, _Tòmen_,
and _Pudava_. If such stripes are painted on this
linen, it is called _Tùvaden_ or _Toren_. If
it consists of yellow or red silk, it is named
_Pattupudava_.--_Ciatta_ or _Penncupayan_ is the
name of a jacket lying close to the body, worn
by Malabar female Christians when they appear in
public. It reaches no lower than the girdle, to
which the _Pudava_ is fastened, and which they
wear as well as the men. On the head they have no
ornament whatever, but turn up their hair smooth
behind, and fasten it in a roll on the crown. How
much would these Indian dames be astonished at the
ornamented head-dresses of our European ladies! _A._
[111] In the above observations may be found one of the
reasons why neither Hayder Aly nor Tippoo Sultan
could maintain their ground against the English and
the king of Travancor, on the coast of Malabar. The
great number of Christians residing there, whom
Hayder and his son every where persecuted, and often
compelled by violence to embrace Mahometanism,
always took part with the English. _T._
[112] This will serve to explain the cause of the
before-mentioned secrecy observed in regard to
conversion. It is, indeed, very improper that
the Pagan princes should assume power over the
consciences of their subjects, and over their
freedom of thought; but many of the Christians
act no better, in being attached to the foolish
prejudice that the voice of truth can be silenced by
prohibitions. _F._
[113] The assertion, that all the Arabian and Persian
horses are small, I do not consider as just. I have
seen several Arab horses, particularly a stallion
and mare of considerable size in the stud of Lord
Grosvenor. Both these animals had been brought to
England by the way of India. _F._
[114] Cheese made of buffaloes milk is highly esteemed
by the Italians, notwithstanding their celebrated
Parmesan (Lodesan.) It is called _Caccio di
cavallo_. _F._
[115] The veterinary art of the Indians highly deserves
to be studied by the Europeans who apply to the
Samscred language. It no doubt contains good
prescriptions founded on experience. _F._
[116] The red colour of these goats relates to something
of a like kind in Egypt, traces of which may be
found in the writings of Moses. _F._
[117] The fine shawls made in Cachemir, and sold chiefly
to the Indians, are, as far as I know, made of
sheep’s wool, and not of the hair of wild goats. _F._
[118] The flesh of animals used as food is totally changed
by their way of feeding; and therefore it may be
very true that the flesh of the tame swine, which
feed on pilchards near the sea-coast in Malabar, may
be ill tasted and unhealthful. It is well known,
that the hams brought from Bayonne are firmer and
better tasted, because the swine are fed at the
bottom of the Pyrenees on chestnuts. _F._
[119] In _Coschotey_, between the latitude of 40° and 30°
north, there are wild camels with two bunches on
their backs; but I never heard of any other wild
kind of these animals. _F._
[120] The above-mentioned wild urus, ten feet in height,
with large horns, and ash-grey silver-coloured
hair, belongs probably to the same kind as that in
the northern forests of India, which rove about in
large herds. The latter, however, are fourteen feet
in height; weigh from 3000 to 4000 pounds; are of
a perfect black colour, except a tuft of red hair
between the horns; and in the northern part of India
are called _Arni_. Skulls of these monstrous oxen
are found in Russia among the bones of the elephant
and rhinoceros. See Dr. Anderson’s _Bee_ for
December 1792, and Pallas’s _Nordische Beiträge_,
vol. vi.
[121] Whether the animal here mentioned belongs to the
species of the wolf, or the hyæna, cannot with
certainty be determined. The wolf, in general, is
not such a terrible animal; whereas the hyæna, of
which there are two or three kinds in Asia and
Africa, is exceedingly fierce, and will even attack
men. _F._
[122] The striped tyger is properly the real tyger (_Felis
Tigris L._). The _Puli_ is not the _Kuguar_, which
is a ravenous animal in South America of the cat
species, but the real Leopard (_Felis Leopardus
L._). The third kind, of a chestnut colour, and
striped also, seems to be a species not yet known
to zoologists, and very inaccurately defined. The
fourth kind, of a white colour, with black spots,
(_Felis Uncia L._) is represented by Schreber in
_Tab._ C.--The animals of the cat genus, both of
the old and new world, are in general not yet
defined and described with so much accuracy as
might have been expected from the progress lately
made in zoology. The Europeans, whom avarice
induces to visit India, being engaged in trade or
war, have neither time nor inclination for the
study of natural history, which in the end would
be productive of riches were it sufficiently
cultivated. _F._
[123] The squirrel here described is different from the
_Taguan_, the _Sciurus petaurista_ of Pallas, and
the _S. sagitta_ of Nordgren. It appears to be a
kind not yet known; for the northern _S. volans_,
_S. volucella_, and _S. Hudsonius_, are none of them
so large. _F._
[124] The Malabar _Marapatti_ is by no means the Serval
of the naturalists. The latter, as is well known,
is a kind of lynx; whereas the Marapatti is an
Indian variety of the _Viverra ichneumon_, for
it is improper to make a distinct kind of the
_Mungo_.--The ichneumon climbs up the palm-trees and
eats the fruit of them, as well as cats, mice, and
particularly snakes, but especially the poisonous
kind, Naja, called in the Portuguese _Cobra de
Cabelo_. _F._
[125] The antelopes have never yet been systematically
known in a proper manner, notwithstanding the
trouble which Pallas has taken, in his excellent
works, to give an accurate description of them. The
first here mentioned, black or brown, with crooked
twisted horns, seems to be the _Orcas L._ found at
the Cape of Good Hope. The second, if it be the
_A. cervicapra_, has not red but yellow hair, and
is larger than a goat, or about the size of the
fallow-deer. _F._
[126] The bezoar goat, _Antelope Gazella L._--Which of the
antelopes of the ancients this _Kuran Antelope_ is,
cannot with certainty be determined. _F._
[127] The civet cat is the _Viverra Zibetha_, and _V.
Civetta L._ for I am convinced that these two
varieties have been unnecessarily made distinct
species.--The _Kirri_ is the small variety of the
_Viverra Ichneumon L._ and the above-mentioned
_Marapatti_ is a larger. The red variety, mentioned
afterwards, belongs also to this species. _F._
[128] Of the two kinds of squirrel, here mentioned, one
probably is the _Sciurus maximus L._ a figure of
which is given in Sonnerat’s _Voyage aux Indes_,
vol. ii. tab. 87. The second seems to be a new
animal not yet known. _F._
[129] These species of the mouse, according to the
imperfect account here given of them, are not to be
found in the system. _F._
[130] It is well known that the European cats do not
attack the Norway rat, _Mus decumanus L._ _F._
[131] This kind of hedge-hog is the hystrix, or _Erinaceus
Malaccensis_. The bezoar procured from this species
of animal is that called by the Portuguese _Piedra
del porco_, which was formerly sold at a dear rate,
but at present is of little value. _F._
[132] The above-mentioned _Coringuranga_ is without doubt
the _S. Silenus L._ or the _Ouanderou_ of Buffon.
The other apes mentioned by the author, for want of
a more accurate description, cannot be referred to
their proper place in the system. _F._
[133] The _Adibe_, or _Adive_, is the jackal, well known
in every part of the East. These animals rove about
in flocks; and when one of them sets up a cry at a
distance, he is imitated by all the rest who hear
him. In the book of Judges, ch. xv. v. 4. the hyæna
is called _Schualim_. _F._
[134] The _Cenna_ (Tschenna), with red hair, which the
author here describes as a wolf, may perhaps be
a yellowish coloured kind of that animal, as his
_Adibe_ is the real hyæna.--The mountain civet cat,
_Malaweruva_, and the _Naypulla_, are without doubt
varieties of the common civet cat. A few differences
in colour and spots are not sufficient to make new
species. _F._
[135] See the note, p. 212. Lucullus caused large ponds to
be dug, and to be filled with sea-water, in order
to keep in them conger-eels. Some of the Romans fed
these fish with the flesh of their slaves. Ducks,
which eat nothing but fish, acquire a fishy taste;
but when they have been again fed for some time with
corn, and other things of the like kind, their flesh
becomes excellent. _F._
[136] India and Ceylon are the real native country of the
common peacock. There can be nothing more beautiful
than a flock of these animals flying in the
sun-shine. This spectacle I have often seen. John
Blackburne, Esq. of Oxford Hall, near Warrington,
had a great number of peacocks in a park, which was
at least two miles from his house, yet they often
flew thither. _F._
[137] The wild cock, found in the Gauts, and the
neighbouring forests, has been fully described
by Sonnerat in his Voyage to India, vol. ii. p.
116-125. A very good engraving of it may be seen
also in plate 94. One of these birds stuffed
is preserved in the Royal Cabinet of Natural
Curiosities at Halle. It is a great rarity, and its
feathers are remarkably beautiful. _F._
[138] The falcon and sparrow-hawk were in Egypt
consecrated to Horus.--As the Nayrs, or warriors,
in the time of peace, lead a very indolent life,
they commonly employ themselves in hunting, to
which they train falcons. It is not improbable,
therefore, that the art of falconry was conveyed
from India to the Saracens. The emperor Frederic
II. learned it from the Saracens and his Arabian
subjects in Sicily during the time of the crusades,
and wrote a book on it, entitled, _Ars venandi cum
avibus_, which was continued by his son Manfredus,
and which the learned Professor Schneider published
at Leipsic, in 1788 and 1789, in two parts, 4to;
because the first edition, in 8vo, of Augsburg, was
out of print. The most valuable part of this work
are the additions and illustrations of that learned
naturalist; but one cannot help being surprised that
the above-mentioned emperor should have possessed
so much knowledge, and even of anatomy.--It is
impossible to determine to what class the _Kaka_ and
_Cembòtta_ belong, but the _Wesbambel_ is the large
Asiatic pelican (_Pelecanus onocrotalus_.) _F._
[139] The _Magnakli_ is probably the _Oriolus galbula L._
or our golden thrush, which is found every where in
the old world; but the Indian bird is a variety.
That the small bird of paradise, _Paradisea regia
L._ is to be found in the Gauts, is an observation
entirely new, which requires to be confirmed by
eye-witnesses; for, as far as is yet known, all
the different kinds of the bird of paradise are to
be found only in New Guinea, and the neighbouring
islands, particularly Aru. _F._
[140] Without doubt Buffon’s _Poule sultane_ (_Fulica
porphyrio L._) a very beautiful bird. _F._
[141] It is rather singular that the author should class
bats among the birds merely because they can fly,
when they are _mammalia_. Those here mentioned
are probably the same as Buffon’s _Roussette_
(_Vespertilio vampyrus_, or, according to
Blumenbach, _V. caninus_.) They live entirely on
fruits, and are not blood-thirsty, as we might be
induced to believe from Gmelin’s assertion in _Linn.
Syst. Nat._ ed. xiii. In this respect they are
confounded with the real Vampyre of Surinam (_Vesp.
Spectrum_). This Vampyre exhales a very disagreeable
smell, and is not eatable; but the former may be
eaten, and are used as food by the natives of New
Holland. They are accustomed to suspend themselves
in the day time by the large hooks of their wings
from the _Casuarina_ trees. I brought down six
of them at one shot in the island of Amsterdam
(_Tonga-Tabu_), and several more remained dead on
the tree; for there was an immense multitude of them
together. _F._
[142] This black-bird is the so called _Mayno_, or _Mayna_
(_Gracula religiosa L._). Numbers of them may be
seen in England, particularly in London. They are
brought from India and the Philippines, because they
pipe exceedingly pretty; are easily taught; learn
whole tunes, and even imitate words. _F._
[143] See a description of this bird in the _Asiatic
Researches_, vol. ii. p. 109.
[144] The _Bajà_ or _Berbera_ is the gross-beak of
the Philippines (_Loxia Philippina L._) already
described by Brission. A great many of these nests
are brought to Europe. _F._
[145] The Indian crocodile (_Lacerta Gangetica_,) has
very long narrow jaw-bones, and is easily tamed.
It is very remarkable that the crocodile is held
sacred in India, as it formerly was in Egypt. Some
of the Malays, for instance, at Batavia, are so
superstitious as to imagine that such a crocodile is
their brother or sister. They endeavour, therefore,
to save some of their provisions, that they may
every day carry food to the crocodile, which
approaches at their call. _F._
[146] These _Candimarams_ are, by the English sailors,
called _Catamarans_. Some of the islanders in the
South Sea venture out to fish in another manner.
Two long bundles of the boughs of trees supply the
place of a log of wood, and some tie into bundles
of the like kind canes or reeds. Several of these
are united together in strata placed cross-wise;
and sometimes the person who directs this frail
vessel ventures to add to it a mast, and a sail
formed of a mat. All vessels of this kind the
English distinguish by the corrupted Indian word
_Catamarans_. _F._
[147] All uncultivated nations formerly built, and still
build their ships without employing sometimes
a single nail. Vessels of this kind are still
constructed at Archangel. In Arabia the planks of
ships were sewed together. See Plin. _Hist. Nat._
lib. xxiv. c. 40. and _Arriani mare Erythræum_.
The latter calls these ships _Madarate_. Niebuhr
saw a ship of this kind from Oman, which was
called _Tarad_. These vessels and their name
have been therefore preserved these 1700 years;
for the syllable _ma_ is a _formativum nominis_,
and _Darate_ and _Tarad_ have a great affinity,
or are the same word. In Otaheite also, and the
neighbouring islands, all the ships, or rather large
war-boats, have their planks sewed together, and the
seams are filled up with the fibres which surround
the coco-nut, in the same manner as our ships are
caulked with oakum. Among the dissolved gums with
which the seams between the planks are daubed over
in India, we are no doubt to reckon resin. As far,
however, as I know, the _Tschinam_, which consists
of coco-nut oil, fresh lime burnt from muscle
shells, and other ingredients, is principally used
for this purpose. It is well known, that, for some
time past, large ships have been sheathed with
copper, to prevent them from being pierced by the
sea-worm (_Teredo navalis L._) or the bottoms of
them are daubed over with a particular mixture of
tar and pounded glass. It has lately been discovered
in England, that tar made from pit-coal is the best
for withstanding the sea-worm. Oil of pilchards is
here recommended for the same purpose; and indeed
it would be worth while for some of the maritime
nations of Europe to make experiments with it. _F._
[148] The Souffleur is the _Delphinus Orca L._ Because
it is often seen at the northern Cape of Europe,
the fishermen gave it the name of the _Nordkaper_.
A figure and description of it may be found in the
_Phil. Trans._ vol. lxxvii. p. ii. tab. 16, 17. I am
rather surprised that the author should have been
so soon acquainted with Professor Schneider’s work
which did not appear till 1795, and that he makes no
mention of John Hunter, whose observations on whales
were translated from the Philosophical Transactions
by my learned countryman Schneider, who added to
them very valuable and useful notes. _F._
[149] The author seems not to have known that the salting
of provisions, and particularly fish, in hot
climates, is attended with great difficulties. The
fishermen are often detained at sea by the wind and
tide; their fish, in that case, are injured by the
heat of the sun, and, if salted, spoil much sooner.
Besides, salt not mixed with too much cathartic salt
is necessary, and that is not at all times to be
procured. _F._
[150] I have seen these so called elephant feet more than
once in Otaheite and the neighbouring islands. They
were hard to the touch, and sometimes red, though
they were often of the natural colour, and like
the rest of the body. The patients were able to
walk without feeling much pain from the swelling.
I had not an opportunity of observing whether this
disease originated from the water. I am, however,
of opinion, that it was occasioned by catching cold
after violent heats, and by intemperance in eating;
for the principal _Erihs_ only were attacked by it.
_F._
[151] The snake, respecting which the author here says so
much, is the well-known spectacle-snake, _Coluber
Naja L._ called in the Portuguese, _Cobra de
Capello_. An account was published, some time ago,
in the Philosophical Transactions, by an Englishman,
that he had cured several persons, bitten by the
_Naja_, with volatile alkali. In five minutes after
a person has been bitten, a locked jaw takes place.
From 30 to 40 drops of spirit of hartshorn must,
therefore, be immediately administered in water;
the mouth must be forced open, if necessary, and
the dose, in the course of a little time, must be
doubled. Death ensues in two or three hours if no
remedy be applied, and all the limbs become stiff,
as the author says. I, however, doubt whether the
_Naja_ be the aspis of the ancients. _F._
[152] The _Amphisbæna_ of the system has not two heads,
but is of equal thickness at the head and tail;
so that it appears as if it could advance both
ways. There are, however, real two-headed snakes;
at any rate, some of that kind have been seen in
America. This monstrosity is perhaps transmitted
by generation, as the _monstra per excessum_
in the families of _Ruhe_ and _Calleja_, whose
descendants have more than five fingers and toes. It
can be determined only by accurate anatomical and
physiological examination, whether these two-headed
snakes form a particular genus. _F._
[153] Rowe’s Translation, book ix. v. 1366.
[154] An account of the different methods employed to
entice snakes from their holes, and to catch them,
may be found in the Philosophical Transactions.
For the tricks which they are taught see Kæmpfer’s
_Amœnitates exoticæ_. _F._
[155] It is impossible that Pythagoras could have been the
preceptor of Plato. The latter was born at Ægina 431
years before the birth of Christ, and the former was
killed 471 years before that period, in a battle
between the Syracusans and Agrigentines. _F._
[156] This goddess _Lakshmi_ is, by Sonnerat, called
_Latschimi_. See his voyage, vol. I. p. 132. She is
the goddess of riches, and, according to the Indian
mythology, married _Vishnu_, and with him produced
_Manmodi_ the god of love. In Fra Paolino’s Latin
work, a German translation of which was published
at Gotha, in 1797, with engravings, may be seen,
Plate XII., three figures of _Lakshmi_, taken from
brass images, preserved in the Museum at Velitri. In
that work she is called the wife of _Vishnu_: and
all the names given to her by the Indians are there
enumerated. Among these are: _the goddess of good
fortune_, _the woman in labour_, _the mother of the
world_. Here the author calls her the _fruitfulness
of the earth_, and, a little farther, _the goddess
of riches_. It will be, in general, necessary in
reading this part of the author’s book, to compare
with it Sonnerat’s Voyage to India; also the _Code
of the Hindoos_, or the _Ordinances of Menu_, by
Jones and Hüttner, Weimar, 1797; and, lastly, the
_Gentoo Laws_, by Raspe, Hamburgh 1778. These works
contain many things which will serve to illustrate
what is here said by the author. _F._
[157] The Indian legislators seem to have been early
acquainted with their climate, and its influence on
the health. In a word, they evidently seem to have
been men of prudence and sound judgement; since in
order to give their laws respecting cleanliness and
health more importance and force, they took care to
interweave them with their religious system. _F._
[158] The climate of India permits new-born children to
be laid quite naked on a mat, and to be washed, as
above, with cold water; whereas in the north it is
necessary they should be defended from the cold. The
mild Indian women, accustomed to obedience, may and
must suckle their children themselves; but among
us, where the women indulge sometimes in the most
violent passions, heat themselves with dancing, and
then expose themselves to the cold, and use sour,
sweet, and salt food at the same time, many mothers
when they suckle give their children poison, and
therefore a sound nurse, subject to few passions, is
better. _F._
[159] This is a new proof that the Indian legislators
were well acquainted with the art of combining many
things with their religion. The astrology, and other
superstitions intermixed with it, can be readily
overlooked in a people of so much mildness and
softness. _F._
[160] The _Kaida_ of Rhude Hort. Malab. as well as
the _Keura athrodactylus_, and the _Pandanus
odoratissima_ is not a wild ananas, but a plant,
the male flowers of which have a farina of an
exceedingly agreeable smell. In Arabia and India
people bestrew their heads with it, as we do ours
with perfumed powder. _F._
[161] Youth destined to be Brahmans, must spend ten years
within the precincts of the temple at _Triciur_, and
avoid all intercourse with the female sex. They are
obliged also to observe the strictest silence, which
continues five years. This is the first degree of
philosophy. _A._
It thence appears, that Pythagoras must have borrowed
his philosophy in part from the Indian philosophers,
or others whose doctrine was similar, for his
scholars were subjected to silence during the same
number of years. See _Diogenes Laertius_, lib. viii.
10. and _Aul. Gellius_, Noct. Att. lib. i. 9. _F._
[162] Sir William Jones is much prepossessed in favour of
the Brahmans at Benares, and the Pagan practices
usual in Bengal. In that country, however, greater
revolutions have certainly taken place than on the
coast of Malabar; and we have consequently just
reason to suspect, that the customs prevalent in
the former have lost much more of their original
purity than those in the latter. On this subject see
D’Anville’s _Antiquités Géographiques de l’Inde_,
Paris 1775, where it is said, among other things, p.
117. _Le Malabar defendu par les Ghattes a été moins
sujèt à des vicissitudes que d’autres parties de
l’Inde_, &c. At _Cangiburam_ in _Carnate_ there is
still a celebrated Brahman school, which, according
to the testimony of Ptolemy, existed in the first
century of the Christian æra; and its members are
certainly equal in celebrity to the Brahmans of
_Vanares_ or _Benares_. The academy of _Triciur_,
on the coast of Malabar, is also in great repute
throughout the whole southern part of India. _A._
The ceremonies by which marriage, according to the
laws of the Indians, is solemnized and rendered
indissoluble, serve as a new proof of the wisdom
of their first legislators. These men clearly saw
that chaste love and good education have a great
and useful influence on a state, and the general
happiness of its members. _F._
[163] In the original, at the beginning of this chapter,
there is an historical and critical dissertation on
the antiquity of the _Vèda_, which occupies no fewer
than ten quarto pages. The author there controverts
the opinion of the celebrated Sir William Jones,
who asserted that this book of laws existed 1000 if
not 1500 years before the birth of Christ. When Sir
William heard that Fra Paolino was of a contrary
opinion, he was so angry that he called him _Homo
trium litterarum_; and the latter, in return, called
him _Homo unius litteræ_. So far the two champions
were on a level. But we are not impressed with so
favourable an opinion of our author, when, after a
panygyric on Sir William Jones, whose early death
he laments, he concludes by saying: “He wished to
explain every thing, but unfortunately left every
thing in the dark.” After such an assertion, the
intelligent reader, it is hoped, will hardly regret
that the translator has left this dissertation in
the dark also. _F._
[164] P. 28. and 29.
[165] Dialog. iv. De Legibus.
[166] The English, since extending their conquests in
India, have found means to gain the friendship
of many of the most learned and most judicious
Brahmans. Some of their Literati have now in their
possession complete collections of the sacred
books of the Indians, and have made themselves so
well acquainted with the languages in which they
are written as to be able to translate several
of them. Thus the laws of _Menu_ were translated
by Sir William Jones; and the _Bhagwat-Dschitah_
(_Geetah_), together with _Hitopades_, was
translated by Mr. Wilkins: the _Ezur-Vedam_ has been
translated into French. It is not improbable that
in the course of time we shall have translations of
the principal and most useful part of the Indian
writings. _F._
[167] This is a Portuguese word.
[168] Whether king _Menu_ be the same person as the Noah
of the Jews, is still very doubtful. In general,
many of the modern Literati lay too much stress on
etymology. Thus Father Georgi, in his _Alphabetum
Tibetanum_, has employed a great deal of learning to
no purpose. Even Sir William Jones, in his papers on
the people of Asia, has committed the same fault.
_F._
[169] A German translation of this _Systema Brahmanicum_
was published at Gotha in 1797, with thirty
copper-plates, under the title of _Darstellung der
Brahmanisch-Indischen Götterlehre_. _F._
[170] These philosophers are not properly priests, nor
do they belong to the family of the Brahmans, who,
however, cause themselves to be received into all
these four classes; yet they have nothing in common
with the Gymnosophists, _Samanæi_, _Yoguis_ and
_Gosua_, who never eat with them, nor enter their
pagodas or temples. The last-mentioned form also
four different classes, for they consist of hermits;
members who live in common, and possess certain
portions of land; mendicants, or the gymnosophists
properly so called; and _Sanyasis_ (_Senasseys_),
who all forsake their wives, and run about naked.
All these philosophers, who, as already said, must
not be confounded with the Brahmans, impose upon
themselves penances which appear almost incredible.
“Some of these people,” says Pallebot de Saint
Lubin, vol. i. p. 25. “remain sitting on the ground
so long that they are not able to move from the
spot. Others keep their arms so long in an erect
posture, that an anchilosis is formed between the
joint of the arm and the shoulder-blade, and they
are altogether incapable of holding their arm out
straight. Some keep their hands always folded
together; so that their nails grow through the
flesh, and appear on the other side. Some drag
after them monstrous chains; others support heavy
beams in the air, and others roll themselves down
from the tops of mountains, &c.” I myself saw one
of these men who had a heavy chain suspended from
his foreskin; another had stuck his head up to the
neck in an iron cage, and a third had held his
arm so long over the fire that it was entirely
withered. The descendants of these philosophers
have spread themselves to Tartary, where a great
many of them are to be found: the _Khutuktu_ of the
Kalkasians, and the _Dalai Lama_ of Thibet, belong
to the same race. Besides the above-mentioned,
there are also a great many other sects in India;
such as the _Pandaras_, or _Phallophori_, of the
ancients; who, at present, are known under the name
of the _Lingamists_: also the _Cabirs_, _Taders_,
_Paramanghas_, and others. These people are very
improperly called _Fakirs_; for that word is not
of Indian extraction, but derived either from the
Arabic or Persian. _A._
[171] That the adherents of Bhudha have spread themselves
in the east, north, and north-west from China,
cannot be denied; but the periods assigned for the
diffusion of the Bhudhist system are very different.
According to Kæmpfer, in his History of Japan, the
Japanese reckoned the year 1690 of the Christian æra
to be the year 2234 after the _Sonkarad_, or death
of _Sammona-Khutama_, who is called also _Prah_,
and _Budha_; so that the first year must have
corresponded with the year 544 before the birth of
Christ. This æra of the Bhudhists seems, therefore,
to fall about the time of Cyrus king of Persia,
whereas the introduction of the Bhudhist system into
the north was 600 years later. _F._
[172] Vol. I. l. 2. p. 153. Edit. Amstel.
[173] The passage is as follows: “Gestant annulum
et baculum (Brahmanes). Vestis eorum in
_superhumeralis_ formam composita est.” _Photius_,
Cod. cxli. p. 999. Edit. Rothomag. 1653.
[174] This external perfection was necessary in every
priest also among the Jews. We cannot, however,
thence conclude, that the one nation borrowed this
custom from the other: it is rather probable that
they both borrowed it from the Egyptians. It is
nevertheless possible that the legislators of many
ancient nations may have conceived the idea of
excluding mutilated persons from the priesthood, as
nations in their infancy hold up their priests as
patterns of perfection, and mediators between the
Deity and man. _F._
[175] P. 45, 46, 47.
[176] There seems here to be some mistake. _E. T._
[177] See a short account of the Gentoos mode of
collecting the revenues on the coast of Coromandel.
_Lond._ 1783.
[178] Many of the oriental languages are distinguished
by this peculiarity, that a small variation in a
character causes a new syllabic variation, with
a different pronunciation. This is the case,
for example, with the Ethiopic alphabet, which
has twenty-six characters, and each of these is
varied by seven vowel marks. There are also twenty
different marks for the diphthongs; so that the
whole alphabet consists of 202 marks and characters.
The Amharic language, generally spoken in Ethiopia,
has thirty-three characters, which are also varied
by seven vowel and twenty diphthong marks; so
that the whole alphabet contains 251 marks and
characters. In the _Transactions of the Academy
of Petersburgh_, vol. iii. and iv. the learned
Theophilus Siegfried Bayer has given engravings of
a great many of these Brahmanic characters. They
amount at least to 525 variations, if not more. _F._
[179] The alphabet of the _Barmans_, in the kingdom of
Ava, was published at Rome by the Congregation _de
propaganda fide_, 1787. 8. I received a copy of it
from the learned Cardinal Borgia, so zealous for
promoting useful knowledge, together with other
alphabets which I still wanted; so that at present
I flatter myself I have in my possession a complete
collection. _F._
[180] See _Phoc._ in _Vit. Apoll. Tian. cod._ cclii.--_L.
Vives Comment. in lib._ xiv.--_S. Aug. de Civitate
Dei_, p. 1734. edit. Paris.--_Euseb. in Chron._ p.
72. edit. Scalig.--and _Philostrat. in Vita Apoll._
lib. iii. cap. 6. and lib. iv. cap. 6. _A._
The appellation _Gymnosophists_ signifies, as is well
known, naked philosophers. It does not, however,
thence follow, that the people so called by the
Greeks must have come from India. The warmth of the
climate would make clothing superfluous to such
men, even on the banks of the Nile. They led a
contemplative life, and from that circumstance also
were called gymnosophists; but they did not bring
the mode of writing by characters from India to
Ethiopia. _F._
[181] See _Historischer Versuch über die Zigeuner_,
Göttingen, 1787. _A._
[182] The richness of a language must not be estimated in
this manner. It is generally said, that the Arabic
is a rich language, because it has I know not how
many words to express a _sword_. The literal meaning
of one of these words is the _man-murderer_. This,
however, is only a metaphorical and figurative
expression; and a number of these may be found
in or compounded from every language which has
attained to any degree of perfection. Thirty or more
appellations of the Sun might be collected from the
Greek poets; but no one ever considered this as a
proof of the richness of the Greek language. _F._
[183] Such Samscred words occur not only in Ptolemy, but
also in Arrian and Strabo. This, therefore, is an
evident refutation of the conjecture of Mr. George
Forster, that the Samscred language was not known to
the Greeks, and has existed in India only since the
birth of Christ. See Forster’s Notes to the Indian
Play _Sakontala_, p. 333, and 334. _A._
[184] See on this subject the Asiatic Researches, p.
116-120. also my _Systema Brahmanicum_, p. 83,
and 279, where this event is represented from an
original Indian painting preserved in the Borgian
Museum. _A._
[185] See the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. i. p. 160, and
vol. ii. p. 123.
[186] See, on this subject, my Samscred Grammar, p. 175.
[187] These three apparitions are evidently a mystic veil,
behind which the Indian philosophers have concealed
the history of the flood, and of the fall of the
wicked angels. The former was believed by all the
ancient nations; and in regard to the latter, the
book _Mahábharáda_ contains the following remarkable
passage: _Asuranguel deivatuam codiciaver_; that is,
“The _Asuri_, or the wicked angels, contended with
the utmost desire for deification.” This passage
stands in the 13th page of the copy of the above
book, which I have in my possession. Compare with it
my _Systema Brahmanicum_, p. 279. _A._
[188] The goddess _Adidi_, or _Didi_, is the mother of
the wicked dæmons, who in the Samscred are called
_Asuri_, and who are exceedingly spiteful. See,
on this subject, Father Hanxleden’s dictionary,
under the articles _Adidi_ and _Asuri_. _Bali_,
who of all these _Asuri_ was the most wicked, and
possessed the most insupportable pride, made it his
continual business to torment the gods and men.
_Vishnu_ therefore assumed the form of a dwarf,
overcame him, and punished him as he deserved.
Other writers consider the above apparitions as
an allegory respecting the history of the first
king of the Assyrians called _Bel_ or _Belus_, who
reigned at Babylon 1322 years before the birth of
Christ, and caused himself to be worshipped as a
deity. According to this opinion the Assyrians are
to be here understood under the appellation _Asuri_.
The author of the _Masabhàràda_, already often
mentioned, relates, that _Báli_, or _Mahàbàli_,
that is, _Bali the Great_, had a hundred sons, the
first-born of which was _Bánnen_. _A._
[189] This manuscript is preserved in the Borgian Museum.
_A._
[190] The most common forms of prayer addressed by the
Indians to _Shiva_ are: _Shiva Shivaya namà_, that
is, _Shiva_, _Shiva_, adoration to thee!--and
_Maràvana namà_, To thee, O _Vishnu_ or _Naràyana_,
be adoration! Particular names, as I have already
said, are in general given to each god, and
these names serve to express their attributes or
properties. The Indians always repeat them three
times in order, during their devotions; and as often
as they pronounce one of them, they drop a bead of
their rosary. _A._
[191] When the Pagans, during their ablutions, paint marks
of this kind on their forehead, they always repeat
certain forms of prayer, in honour of the deity
to whom these marks are dedicated. At the time of
public ablutions this business is performed by the
priest, who paints with his finger the foreheads of
all those who have already purified themselves. At
private lustrations each person lays on the colours
himself, without being under the necessity of
offering up prayers. No Pagan can assist in any part
of divine worship without being painted with the
above marks. _A._
[192] Four different kinds of years occur in some of the
ancient Grantham or Samscred books. One consists
of 355, another of 365, the third of 360, and the
fourth of 324 days. Besides these, there is also the
year of Saturn, or _Shani_, which always completes
its course in twenty-nine years and six months.
Likewise the year of Jupiter, or _Brahaspadi_, which
consists of 360 days, divided into ten months. In
some of the Indian provinces the people still reckon
by these years. This variety, in determining the
revolutions of the planets, seems to shew that the
Brahmans and _Samanæi_ were diligent observers of
the heavens in very ancient periods. The orbits of
the planets are divided into a certain number of
_Yògiana_, each of which is equal to a mile. _A._
[193] It is very remarkable, that the zodiac of the
Indians contains the same signs as that of the
Greeks and other western nations: that these signs
were, in part, used by the Egyptians; and that the
seven days of the week, which Dio Cassius, _lib._
xxxvii. speaks of as an ancient establishment of the
Egyptians, are named after the same deities as among
them. The Turks, Persians, Tartars and Chinese have
in their zodiac a series of signs totally different,
consequently must have derived their knowledge from
a different source; but at the same time from a
people who had observed the courses of the heavenly
bodies, and who had endeavoured to compare the solar
year with the lunar. I cannot help entertaining an
idea that the people of Upper Egypt and Nubia, who
were considered as Ethiopians, were the first who
had a knowledge of the planets and heavenly bodies;
and that their knowledge, was communicated to the
Egyptians, Arabians, and Indians, and to the whole
East. _F._
[194] _Sandhi_, or _Sandhya_, is the time when day
and night border on each other, the morning and
evening twilight, says Mr. Samuel Davis; to
whose dissertation I am indebted for the above
calculation. _A._
[195] See, on this subject, the _Asiatic Researches_, vol.
ii. § 15, p. 225, _On the Astronomical Computations
of the Hindoos_; and § 16, p. 289, _On the Antiquity
of the Indian Zodiack_, by W. Jones; also Sonnerat,
_Voyages aux Indes_, vol. ii. b. 3. p. 178. and p.
201. _A._
[196] The first astronomical observations in India were
made in the year 1181 before the birth of Christ.
It is evident, therefore, that the Indians are
among the oldest astronomers. See _the Asiatic
Researches_, vol. ii. p. 393. _A._
[197] Lib. viii. cap. 17.
[198] See the _Asiatic Researches_, vol. ii. § xvi. p. 289.
[199] Compare with the above the calendar of the Greeks
and the Romans, published at Basle in 1545, by Lilio
Gregorio Giraldo. It will there be seen that the
calendar of the Brahmans has a striking similitude
to the ancient calendar of the Greeks. _A._
[200] In page 317, the author enumerated several Indian
words which have a great similarity to Latin
words of the same signification; and here we have
another instance in _aghni_, ignis, fire. I shall
take this opportunity of remarking, that several
Lithuanian words have a great affinity to the Latin.
Thus _awis_, ovis, a sheep; _Dièwas_, Deus, God;
_dantis_, dens, a tooth; _senis_, senex, an old man;
_arru_, aro, I plough; _wirs_, vir, a man; _gentis_,
gentilis, a relation; _rossa_, ros, dew; _angis_,
anguis, a snake; _lupus_, lupus, a wolf; _naktis_,
nox, noctis, the night; _tu_, tu, thou; _trys_,
tres, three. _Dus Diewas dantes, dus Diewas dunes_;
dat Deus dentes, dat Deus panem.
[201] Compare with this observation a passage in _Euseb.
Præp. Evang._ lib. iii. p. 102. which may serve as a
proof that Orpheus and his cotemporaries entertained
the like rude conceptions of the Deity. _A._
[202] Among the solemnities established by the Brahmans on
the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, the dedication
of their temples, which is renewed every year,
deserves also to be mentioned. On this occasion
they are accustomed to ornament the _goturas_, or
turrets, with a number of lights and lamps, in the
same manner as is done in China during the feast
of Lanterns. We may add, likewise, the festival of
_Ciangu_, or the Horn, on which the god _Vishnu_
always blows when Nature is about to renew the
business of creation. _A._
[203] _Shuga tarunni_ signifies, in the Samscred, the
female papagay, the symbol of _Sarasvadi_, the
goddess of eloquence. _A._
[204] These voices, it is probable, have an affinity to
our treble, tenor, &c. That the reader may form some
idea of the Indian singing, I have set to music the
above Malabar song. _A._
[205] The instruments employed for an accompaniment to
pastoral songs, are: the guitar (_Vina_), the
spinet (_Kinnara_), the flute (_Vàyanacol_), and
a particular kind of lyre called _Ciura_, which
is described in the first volume of the _Asiatic
Researches_. The Indian war songs correspond with
our heroics, their pastoral songs with our lyrics,
and their theatrical pieces with our dramatic poems;
but there is an essential difference between them,
as appears from the above specimens, both in regard
to the taste and quantity. _A._
[206] One of the favourite pieces of the people is the
_Pàvakali_, or so-called buffoon dance. This word is
compounded of _Pàva_ and _Kàli_, the former of which
signifies a merry-andrew, and the latter a play or
dance. The comedies, in which dancing is always
introduced, are called _Nàdaca_ or _Nadya_. The
dance is called _Nadana_; a comedian, _Nàden_, or
_Nàdaken_; a female dancer, _Nrtagui_; and theatric
singing, _Gàna_, or _Guita_. _A._
[207] Mr. George Forster translated this play into
German, from the English edition of Sir William
Jones, and added to it notes which display talents
and learning. It was published at Mentz in 1791.
_Sakontala_, or more properly _Shakuntala_, was
a daughter of _Vishvamitra_, and married to king
_Dushpanda_. She had a son named _Bharada_, or
_Bharata_, who may be ranked among the most
celebrated of the Indian kings. More information on
this subject may be found in the book _Mahàbharada_,
which contains a circumstantial history of the
heroine _Shakuntala_. If credit is to be given to
this _Mahabharada_, and the poem _Yudhishtira_,
the Indians, about the year 1600 before the birth
of Christ, were engaged in a bloody war with the
_Gebers_, or _Gaurs_; the consequence of which was,
that the _Gebers_, under the command of one of their
kings, fled to Persia, where they remained till they
were expelled by the Mahometans. _A._
[208] Plato, Dial. III. de legibus; also Dial. II. de
republica.
[209] Every body knows that poetry, especially when
assisted by music and singing, has a great influence
over all men whose sensations are not entirely
callous; and therefore it has often been used by the
founders of religious systems, to enable them to
accomplish their views. But mankind, unfortunately,
have abused this noble gift of Heaven, sometimes
to render the most sacred things ridiculous, and
to serve as an incitement to the most sensual
voluptuousness. At present, even people of
respectable talents employ it no better purpose; and
by these means disgrace their character in a moral
point of view. _F._
[210] The Indians have been looked upon with contempt, not
only by the vain Greeks, but even by the western
nations of more modern times. Holwell first directed
the attention of the Europeans to the writings of
the Indians, and the excellent ideas they contain
respecting the Deity, Providence, and Virtue. Since
that period, Hastings, Sir William Jones, Halhed,
Wilkins, and others, have made us acquainted with
many fragments of the Indian wisdom of early times.
_F._
[211] See, on this subject, _Sonnerat Voyage aux Indes_;
Vol. II. chap. 4. where engravings are given of the
principal pagodas on the coast of Coromandel. As the
Brahmans divide themselves into two different sects,
one of which worship fire, and the other water, as
the principal deity, there are also two different
kinds of temples. _Tirunamala_, _Cialembron_, and
_Tiruvalur_, belong to the _Shivanites_: _Tirupadi_,
_Ciringam_, and _Cangipuram_, to the _Vishnuvites_.
The pagoda at _Cialembron_ contains some ancient
inscriptions with Indian characters: and these
serve as a certain proof that the old Indians had
characters peculiar to themselves; for the coast
of Coromandel was never under the dominion of the
Greeks. _A._
[212] 1 Kings, ch. xv. ver. 13.
[213] Vol. III. chap. 4. p. 36. It has been doubted
whether the Venetian Doctor, Gemelli Careri, ever
actually visited those countries which he has
described; and it has been asserted, that having
collected a great deal of information in Europe,
partly from the missionaries and other travellers,
partly from books, he then withdrew himself from
society for several years, and composed his travels
in his closet. This accusation, however, in my
opinion, is entirely groundless. One needs only read
with attention the description which he gives of the
above subterranean temple, to be convinced that it
could be written only by a person who had seen it.
_F._
[214] Were these Greek characters, they might certainly be
explained; but as that is not the case, it thence
follows that neither the temple nor the statues are
of Grecian workmanship. _A._
[215] What will be said to this by the critics, who assert
that the Indians had no proper alphabet before the
Christian æra? _A._
[216] Hist. Nat. lib. xxxvii. cap. 5.
[217] I have never seen or heard that gems are polished
in Europe on a flat stone; and that, during this
operation, they are directed merely by the hand. On
the contrary, the lapidaries employ a wheel, driven
by the foot; and having affixed to it small bits of
tin, daubed over with emery and diamond-powder. By
these the stones are cut down till they acquire the
necessary form. In the island of Ceylon the small
gems, which are found chiefly in the sand of the
rivers near _Punto do Gale_, are rubbed backwards
and forwards between two boards of hard wood, one
of which is fixed, with the powder of the Corundam
stone, or so-called diamond-spar, found in great
abundance in the Gauts, near Tirunavati, and at Cape
Comorin or Comari, in the granite rocks, until they
acquire that long round form under which they are
brought to Europe. These Corundam stones are used
also for polishing steel. _F._
[218] Dutens, in his book _Des pierres precieuses et
des pierres fines_, p. 38, says, speaking of the
emerald, that it is exclusively found in America,
near _Manta_ in Peru, or the valley of _Tunka_, in
the mountains of New Granada and Popayan, and was
not known to the ancients. The author of this voyage
asserts, that he found emeralds in Ceylon, and I
myself have obtained some of them from that island.
The French jewellers, however, call these emeralds
_Peridots_, which is the name they give to a bright
green kind of stone, not very hard, found in Arabia,
Persia, and India, the crystallisations of which
have not yet been determined. I shall take this
opportunity of observing, that in the British Museum
there is a beautiful groupe of hexagonal smaragdine
columns in quartz, which was procured from South
America. Dutens, mentioned in the beginning of this
note, the son of a jeweller in London, went to Turin
as chaplain to the English ambassador at that court.
He spoke exceedingly good French; because his father
was a French refugee, and because he had himself
resided a long time at Paris. _F._
[219] Lib. viii. cap. 10.
[220] Hist. Indica, cap. 10.
[221] See _Herbelot. Bibl. Orient._ p. 206 and 456.
_Oberlin. Litterarum omnis Ævi Fata._ Argent. 1789.
Tab. I. _Traité des plus belles Bibliothèques de
l’Europe_, p. 33. and Sketches of the History,
Religion and Learning of the Hindoos, p. 92 and 93.
[222] A certain kind of white East Indian chintz.
[223] It is indeed true, that a great part of the gold
and silver brought from Brasil and Spanish America,
passes first into the hands of the industrious
Norlanders for timber, iron, flax, hemp, linen, and
other merchandize; and then goes to China and the
East Indies for articles of luxury, drugs, &c. But
England, at any rate, does not lose much, as it
draws large revenues from its extensive possessions
in India, and has in its hands almost the whole
trade of that part of the world. _F._
[224] Lib. vi. cap. 17, et 22.
[225] This observation of the author does not display
much penetration. Commerce is the bond which unites
the most distant nations with each other. Without
trade our artists and manufacturers would have much
less employment; and much less opportunity would be
afforded them for exercising their ingenuity and
invention. Ignorance and want of mental culture
prevail in all those countries which are contented
with their own productions. Providence requires more
general benevolence, and less selfishness among men;
and the only means for accomplishing that end, are
the arts and manufactures, navigation and trade.
They are indeed shamefully abused; but the friends
of humanity ought to cherish a hope, that good will
one day arise from this evil. _F._
[226] In the observations with which the author begins
this chapter, he hazards assertions very erroneous.
The intense heat in the tropical regions is
destructive both to men and to animals. At Calcutta,
which lies at a considerable distance from the line,
wild pigeons sometimes drop down dead at noon,
while flying over the market-place. People who
are then employed in any labour, such as writers
in the service of the East India Company, whose
correspondence often will not admit of delay, sit
naked immersed up to the neck in large vessels, into
which cold water is continually pumped by slaves
from a well. Such a country cannot be favourable to
health or longevity. What are properly called the
northern regions, are also a wretched and melancholy
residence for the human race. It is only a moderate
climate, such as that of Greece, Italy, and other
countries lying under the same latitude, that can
exalt men’s ideas, and produce the utmost degree of
happiness. These gave birth to those illuminating
rays which have contributed to the improvement of
the human mind; and which, diffused thence to colder
climates, still exercise their beneficent influence.
_F._
[227] How the Marsians, a people long settled in Italy,
should be here introduced among the Cimbri, the
Teutones and the Huns, is to me incomprehensible.
They inhabited their country so long that they might
be considered as the first people by whom it was
cultivated. Their history may be seen in a very
scarce book, entitled _Mutii Phœbonii Marsi Historia
Marsorum_, Napoli 1678, 4to. _F._
[228] On this very just assertion of Hippocrates, which is
confirmed by Camper, some of our modern philosophers
have founded their system of different races;
according to which, the negroes are incapable of
possessing moral qualities, and exhibit certain
proofs of it in their looks. I have, however, seen
thousands of these men, against whom so partial a
sentence has been passed, and could observe nothing
of the kind in their countenances, which often
displayed great benevolence. Climate, manner of
life, clothing, food, and other circumstances alter
the soft parts of the body, as well as the features
of the face; and the solid parts even, from the same
causes, assume gradually a different form. Thus
whole tribes acquire a peculiar cast of visage;
and the shape, size, and turn of the body become
changed. But this cannot destroy the powers of the
mind, the passions, and the moral qualities, which
alone constitute the character and the valuable part
of man. _F._
[229] The sedentary mode of life which prevailed among
the higher classes of the Grecian women formerly
occasioned diseases of the like kind. In the history
of the Argives, about the time of Megapenthes,
we find that their women, on account of their
sedentary life, occasioned by their spinning,
weaving, embroidering, and other labours of the like
kind, and perhaps also by impure air in confined
apartments, and by the use of wine, brought on
disorders which had some resemblance to the real
_Tarantismus_ (not that occasioned by the bite
of the tarantula). Bias, and Melampus the son of
Amythares, were celebrated for curing this disease.
Music and songs sung by handsome young men, kind
treatment, and perhaps also dancing, brought back to
Argos all the women, who had wandered to the forests
and mountains. _F._
[230] See _Lettre à M. Sonnerat à l’Isle de France, de
l’Imprimerie Royale 1784_, chap. vi. p. 102.
[231] The _Bangue_ is nothing else than our hemp, the
leaves of which, when smoked, have an intoxicating
quality. _F._
[232] See _Tractatio medico-practica de Lue Venerea,
Hermanni Boerhaave_, Lugd. Bat. 1751.
[233] From the name Malabar china, I suspect that the
_Vèppa_ is the _Swietenia febrifuga_, five _rubra_,
lately made known by Dr. Roxburgh. _F._
[234] Perhaps the _Averrhoa carambola_ LINN. _F._
[235] Perhaps the root of the _Cissampelos pareira_ L.
[236] This kind of plums are produced by the _Phyllanthus
Emblica_ L.
[237] See Rheede _Hort. Malabar_. vol. i. t. 57. What the
author here says is incorrect. The wild cinnamon is
the bark of the _Karuvà_, and is the _Laurus Cassia_
L. On the other hand, the true _Cassia lignea_ is
the _Katou Karuà_ in the _Hort. Malab._ vol. v. t.
53, and the _Laurus Malabathrum_ L. _F._
[238] In the _Hort. Malab._ vol. vi. p. 19. and in the
System _Guilandina Moringa_ L. _F._
[239] Amomum Curcuma LINN.
[240] Perhaps the _Melissa officinalis_ L. or our common
balm. _F._
[241] This sensitive plant, according to every appearance,
is a _Mimosa casta_ LIN. _F._
[242] The _Vayambu_ of Rheede, _Hort. Malab._ vol. xi. t.
60, is the _Acorus calamus_ LIN. _F._
[243] Lib. xii. cap. 5.
[244] Lib. xiv. cap. 38.
[245] The author probably here means the order of
Cincinnatus. _F._
[246] All these are now in the hands of the British
government.
[247] This kingdom, as well as the capital of the same
name, was called by the old geographers _Candia_;
but the more modern give it the name of _Candy_. The
translator, however, has adhered to the orthography
of the author.
[248] Lib. vi. cap. 23.
[249] An account of Thibet by Father Giuseppe, chief
of the mission, may be found in the _Asiatic
Researches_. There is also a letter on the same
subject in the _Philosophical Transactions_. _F._
[250] This tree produces a singular kind of berries, which
taste and smell as if a great number of spices were
mixed together. _A._
[251] According to the author’s description we might be
induced to believe that there were burning volcanoes
among these mountains of Africa; but on the southern
coast there are no volcanoes, and the flames seen by
the author arose from the dry grass which the wild
inhabitants of these districts are accustomed to set
on fire. _F._
[252] As the whale is viviparous, and nourishes its young
from the milk vessels which lie on each side of the
matrix, the above substance cannot be the spawn
of the whale. It is rather, as I know from my own
researches, the embryo or eggs of the sea-nettle.
_F._
[253] These fruits do not grow in the interior parts,
but in districts which have been cultivated by the
Europeans, particularly German and French settlers.
The case is the same with the beautiful oranges
and the vines from Schiras, which grow on the
plantations of Constantia. _F._
[254] On the side of the island opposite to the harbour,
where ships generally anchor, or E. by S. there is
a high mountain, which, according to its external
appearance, is of a calcareous nature, and which in
the year 1775 I actually found so. It produces a few
herbs, which afford a wretched support to the wild
goats. In a valley on this mountain there is also
a kind of spring, but it yields very little water.
To the north east of the anchoring place there was
also a spot amidst the volcanic flag, which was well
covered with grass. _F._
[255] The man-of-war bird (_Pelicanus Aquilus_ LINN.)
These birds are so careful of their eggs and
young, that, rather than desert them, they suffer
themselves to be caught by the hand. _F._
[256] I much doubt that these burning holes in the
northern mountains of India are real volcanoes. They
appear much rather to proceed from some inflammable
matter under the earth, like that at _Baku_ on
the Caspian Sea, arising from the remains of old
volcanoes. _F._
[257] See _Lettre à M. Sonnerat par Charpentier de
Cossigny, à l’Isle de France_, 1784, p. 58-60.
[258] It is remarkable that the northern lights should be
seen in so low a latitude as that of the Azores. I
have seen them in Prussia and England, but never in
any part of Europe so far to the south. _F._