The White town, which, however, presents none of the carefully laid-out

streets and compact blocks of houses involuntarily suggested by the word

"town," but rather resembles a gigantic park, in which are situated a vast

number of comfortable ornamental villas, rises at its highest point 20

feet above the sea; whereas the Black town, at several points--for

instance, Popham's Broadway--is hardly 8 feet above the level of spring

floods.

While in Ceylon we had had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the

influence exercised by Buddhism over the political and social condition of

the island; here we, for the first time, found ourselves confronted with

the followers of Brahmah. At the moment of our arrival, the principal

festival of the year was being celebrated in honour of Vishnù, one of the

three godheads of the Brahminical faith. It lasted fourteen days, and was

celebrated with much pomp. Temples were improvised, and some dancing

platforms erected for the female servants of the temple and "_bayadères_."

In one of these dancing saloons, adorned in the most marvellous manner, a

sort of altar rose in the background, richly hung with gold filagree work

and stained cut-glass, and fringed with singular representations of the

god. In the doorway stood, on the left hand side, a copy of the statue of

the Venus de' Medici; on the right, of the Apollo Belvedere; on a small

table were visible butterflies, fire-flies, and conchs, in ornamental

glass cases. On the walls, of plain deal boards, were suspended on one

side, adjoining the portrait of Anthony da Padua, a number of

representations of voluptuous Oriental "_odalisques_;" on the other, near

an engraving in copper of Carlo Barromeo, all sorts of obscene engravings,

such as are offered for sale only in the most abandoned quarters of Paris

and London, and then under the cover of night. For that matter, we believe

that the Hindoo priests, who superintended the erection of this hall

consecrated to the worship of Vishnù, gave themselves less anxiety

respecting the subjects treated of in the pictures suspended round, than

that the walls should appear richly decorated with engravings and

pictures. Adjoining this half-open dancing booth for the women in

attendance on the temple, rises the chief Hindoo temple in Madras, a

stately edifice of blocks of syenite, and surrounded by a lofty wall

painted with the usual white and red streaks; and on which a fleecy-coated

long-tailed baboon was performing his antics. Two gloomy pyramidal towers

shoot up from the wall of the temple, and a beautiful colonnade leads to

the entrance porch. A huge tank, almost resembling a pond, in which the

Hindoos thrice daily performed their ceremonies, and went through their

ablutions, lies in front of the temple, surrounded on its remaining sides

by buildings for various purposes, while a stately elephant, specially

consecrated to the service, is kept on the side next the temple, which

carries up a pitcher of water every forenoon from the pool in front of the

pagoda, one of the servants attached to the temple sitting on his back

holding it, while a second, seated behind him, keeps waving a fan in

either hand. The elephant is first conducted round the temple and then

inside, in order to present the water to the god. This elephant (which

animal it seems is itself an incarnation of Vishnù) had the distinguishing

mark of the sect, as also several other indications of a similar nature

richly tatooed upon his huge broad forehead. Every evening during the

continuance of the fourteen days' festival, the various temples and

dancing booths were brilliantly illuminated with wax tapers and oil lamps,

but admission was refused to the profane, and in the eyes of Brahmah,

unbelieving Europeans, a rule which was everywhere enforced with much

politeness but unvarying firmness. Moreover, everything that the hand of a

European has touched is unclean to the Hindoo. Only the _Pariah_, or

"outcaste," the very lowest class of the people, eats any food that has

been prepared in the kitchen of a Christian.

The most substantial part of the festival, however, was fortunately not

confined to the interior of the temple, but took place in the streets,

through which, during the period the festival lasted, immense processions

of Hindoos, praying, singing, and dancing, used to pass every evening

about 11 P.M. on their way from one temple to another, so that we were in

no want of picturesque objects. First, a band of musicians would lead the

way, with the peculiar little drum or tom-tom, whining pipes, and blaring

clarinets. It was more like the noise of a lot of children's instruments

than music. Next came a Hindoo riding on a gaily-bedizened ox, after whom

appeared a number of girls and "_Bayadères_," dressed in white clothes,

their hair richly dressed, and with rings through their nostrils, while

the flaps of their ears were adorned with richly-gemmed ear-rings hanging

down to the neck, and moving both hands and feet as they danced before the

sacred figure, which was drawn along by 24 sturdy believers in Vishnù. The

image was placed on a daïs thickly overspread with flowers, filagree work,

and small mirrors, approached by steps, and with a parasol outspread

overhead; in a vehicle in front was a sort of figure dressed up in

flowers. On either side a multitude of torch-bearers strode along, with

sulphurous lights and other means of illumination, or iron frames, on

which were disposed in pyramidal form or like a bow, from 7 to 13

fireballs, which, let off at intervals alternately with Bengal lights and

rockets, formed a veritable ocean of light. A tub filled with cocoa-nut

oil was dragged behind, from which the cotton wicks were kept constantly

replenished, so that the flames continued unintermittently. Wherever the

procession passed the by-standers stood with hands reverentially folded.

Many had the thresholds of their houses gaily adorned with flags and

illuminated with paper lamps, others let off sky-rockets. From time to

time, the procession halted for a moment, the female dancers formed two

rows, and some of their number went through a sort of dance, in which they

performed a set of stereotyped motions with their hands, and chanted the

praises of the god in a most monotonous chorus. Thousands upon thousands

of Hindoos joined the procession, so that we could hardly make way through

the crowds. The yelling, heat, odour of oil, and stink of sulphur were

absolutely intolerable. As often as the procession paused, the noise was

redoubled, the confusion became tenfold. Itinerant confectioners, who

offered for sale all sorts of sweetmeats, prepared either from the kernel

or milk of the cocoa-nut, drew back reluctantly when the eye of a stranger

was directed towards their piled-up delicacies, through dread lest a mere

glance from him should blight their stock in trade. On the other hand, we

remarked some of these vendors pressing forward with eagerness to satisfy

the curiosity of strangers by offering small samples of their eatables, so

as the more easily to propitiate and get rid of these dangerous guests,

and leave the poor Hindoo in peace and unharmed! As Christianity makes but

slow progress among the Hindoos, and as the tendencies of the English

residents in India do not point, as of yore among the Spaniards in

America, towards the violent conversion of the heathen natives with the

alternative of annihilation, but rather towards political and commercial

influences, we find the British Government regarding with placid

indifference the abominations of Hindoo worship, which, even to this hour,

take the form of laceration of the flesh and self-immolation, rather than,

by ruling with the strong hand, fan the religious fanaticism of the

multitude, without the possibility of Christianity becoming a gainer.

Among the thousands upon thousands who were celebrating the festival of

Vishnù in such a heathenish fashion, there undoubtedly were many who are

in the employ of Government, which has no scruples about appointing

Hindoos of all sorts to the various posts in the public service. The

English State Church which held that such appointments tended, not very

indirectly, to support heathenism,[102] earnestly remonstrated against the

practice, but the Government becoming daily more convinced that the

doctrines and homilies of the Christian faith continued to be entirely a

dead letter among the Hindoos, seems to hold fast to a policy of seeking

gradually to introduce Christianity and European civilization among the

Indian races, by means of equality of rights and assimilation of laws, by

a system of well-organized national, trade, and industrial education, and,

above all, by the influence of personal example. This, to be sure, is a

very slow and arduous method of conversion, inasmuch as a life of

religious observances is more deeply intertwined with the very foundations

of the social system in India than in any other country of the globe, and

fairly blocks the way against the expansiveness of European civilization.

For as simple as the Hindoo religion appears in its primitive principles,

the proper observance of its various rites is proportionately difficult,

and full of subtle distinctions for the sincere Hindoo believer.

[Footnote 102: The East India Company even undertook the maintenance of the

Hindoo temples, and defrayed the receipts of the annual festival in honour

of Vishnù out of the revenues. There exist in the Presidency of Madras

alone 8292 Hindoo temples, with an annual revenue of about £100,000, all

under the protection and control of the Company. (See "India, Ancient and

Modern," by David O. Allen, Boston, 1856.)]

The worship of Brahma, according to the doctrines enunciated by Brahma's

own lips in the Vedas, or holy books, took its rise in the adoration paid

to the powers of nature, regarded as so many divinities, especially in the

exalted transcendentalism of their ideas respecting the sun, the moon, the

stars, and the firmament. Thence was readily developed the belief in a

sole, eternal, Almighty Creator and Ruler of the world, Brahma,

represented as having four faces looking to the four quarters of the

globe, and reposing on a swan. This simple monotheistic belief was

gradually developed into the divine manifestation of Brahma as a Triune

divinity, namely, as the Creating power (Brahma), the preserving power

(Vishnù), and the destroying, and at the same time renewing, energy of

nature (Siva).

Although the revelation of Brahma has long since been completed, while

Vishnù and Siva are still active agencies in the world as Supporter and

Augmenter respectively, Brahma is assigned a very inferior rank in the

worship of the masses, although, according to the lawgiver Menù, the Moses

of India, he created the Brahmins out of the substance of his head, to

guide and instruct man; from his arms the Chetriyas, to protect and defend

him; from his trunk the Veisigas, to nourish and support him; and, lastly,

from his feet the Sadras, to serve and be the property of all the other

castes.

To Brahma, the fulness of whose existence no earthly notions can embrace,

there are no temples dedicated, these being rather erected in honour of

Vishnù, the Intercessor and Supporter, who manifests himself in the

atmosphere and in water, and Siva the destroyer and regenerator of the

various races, as also to the other divinities whom the Hindoo religion

numbers by millions, although the majority of these have several names,

and the lower classes are simply Avatars, that is incarnations or

manifestations, of the superior deities. This peculiarity of the Hindoo

religion makes it impossible correctly to classify or define Indian

mythology. The god Rama, for example, is frequently named for Krishna, and

the latter again for Vishnù. Vishnù, on his part, sometimes figures as

Rama, when he is to destroy Ravana, the tyrant of Ceylon, or as Buddha, in

order to found Buddhism. Like the Proteus of Grecian fable, the Hindoo

mythology assumes a thousand different shapes,--it is, in short, Pantheism

in its most perfect development.

A zealous Hindoo requires about four hours of each day to get through his

religious ceremonies, these being performed at different periods, as he

must bathe in the morning, at noon, and again at night, in a tank or pool

before the temple, and recite certain prayers. For purposes of

recognition, the two chief castes wear special marks, the worshippers of

Vishnù having a trident painted on the forehead in either white or yellow,

while those of Siva, on the other hand, sport three horizontal stripes, or

one round spot marked with the ash of burnt sandal-wood. Many Hindoos

write on their foreheads the distinguishing insignia of both Vishnù and

Siva, and look thus the more strange and peculiar.

After every ablution these marks are painted afresh, and with much care

upon the forehead, so that paint and rouge-boxes play an important part in

a native household. No Hindoo can partake of his exclusively vegetable

nutriment, if cooked in a European kitchen, such being entirely contrary

to the principles of his faith. Every servant, therefore, leaves his

master regularly at noon, in order to partake of his simple meal of rice

and vegetables, either with his family or in one of the numerous Hindoo

cook-shops. The frequent holidays of the Hindoos, of which there are

twenty-one within two months, seriously interfere with trade among the

natives, and still more with the instruction of the young.

Hindooism, however, appears to have lost much of its originality by

constant contact with Europeans, and by the various political revolutions,

and although many of these ceremonies are still kept up, and the bodies of

their dead are still burned on pyres, yet the modern Hindoo has so far

relaxed from his ascetic austerity, as to admit of his being employed in

the various pursuits of active life. And it is not a little surprising to

see these handsome, tall, brown figures, with their insignia of Vishnù or

Siva marked on their foreheads, and dressed in their sweeping plaited

togas of pure white, employed on the telegraph, the railway, the arsenal,

and even the observatory, all which employments demand the utmost

exactness and punctuality, and thus afford the most gratifying evidence of

the adaptability of the Hindoo race to be impressed and to benefit by

European civilization. With the exception of Major Jacob, the director of

the astronomical and magnetic observatory, the whole of the _employés_ are

natives, who are not indeed employed in making the actual observations,

but are found perfectly competent to compute the various calculations, and

make the requisite reductions. The institution itself is at present of but

little importance as a place of scientific observation, in consequence of

the small support it receives, but it is to be provided with a meridian

circle, similar to that in the Royal Observatory at the Cape of Good Hope,

when it must become an important station. Strange to say, here, as at the

Cape, there are no observations made on the Sundays, which in the course

of a year gives rise to lamentable deficiencies, especially when some

natural phenomenon of rare occurrence happens to fall upon a Sunday.

We were greatly surprised at the flourishing condition of the Central

Museum, with which is united a Zoological Garden, both set on foot in

1851. In the spacious rooms of this stately edifice are ranged costly

Indian antiquities and sculptures, inscriptions in Sanscrit, in stone, or

marble slabs, antique fragments of Indian monuments,[103] as also an

instructive collection of technical and ethnographical subjects, models of

fortresses, ships, agricultural implements, instruments, tools, machines,

and native forts. The geological department of the Museum is the weakest

and poorest department; and as spirits of wine and glass jars are

expensive articles in India, the greatest number of the animals, even the

fish and snakes, are simply stuffed. In the garden which surrounds the

museum buildings are a considerable number of cages inclosing living

animals, such as monkeys, panthers, bears, giraffes, stags, gazelles,

cobras, Indian hens, pigeons, marsh-birds, and singing-birds. In addition

there were _Aquaria_ with fishes arranged in groups at various spots all

round the garden. Of objects of special interest there was a powerful

baboon (_Pithecus Satyrus_), above 5 feet high, fastened to a chain in a

large monkey-house, around whom were gambolling a number of smaller

species, as also a number of cobras in a large box with glass sides, so

that one could examine them at leisure on every side. Here we witnessed

the uncomfortable spectacle of a native engaged in cleaning the panes

inside the cage and directly beneath these formidable animals, which

thronged around him in such numbers that he was continually compelled with

one hand to resist their importunate caresses. Anyone not aware of the

fact that these animals have been rendered harmless by the extraction of

their poison-fangs, must experience a feeling of terror and astonishment

at the sight of this brood of malign, stealthy-moving, hissing serpents,

with a naked Hindoo in their midst!

[Footnote 103: These important inscriptions are explained and described in

the Selections from the Records of the Madras Government, Report on the

Elliot Marbles (p. 191) by R. W. Taylor, Madras, 1857.]

Most astonishing and gratifying is the immense number of casual visitors

that frequent this institution for advancing education. The book for

inscribing names lying in the Museum, showed for a single month no less

than 36,522 visitors, mostly natives, and this it seems has been about the

average number since the foundation of the Museum. There is also a small,

valuable library, which, by means of purchases, gifts, and exchanges, is

being visibly added to with each year, and is accessible to visitors of

all classes, the custodian and inspectors being all natives.

The Madras Literary Society, an offshoot of the Royal Asiatic Society in

London, and now reckoning but a small number of associates, publishes from

time to time the most valuable information as to the latest achievements

of science in India, and serves in a measure as a medium by which to

compare the intellectual progress of Asia and Europe. To the members of

this society the naturalists of the _Novara_ Expedition are specially

beholden for their great attention during their stay in Madras, as also

for their hearty participation in the objects of the Imperial Expedition

as evidenced by their sending copies of their own various and useful

publications.

There are in Madras numerous institutes devoted to the diffusion of useful

knowledge among the masses, part founded and maintained by Government,

part by private enterprise, and this liberality is the more praiseworthy

that the European community of Madras does not comprise much more than

1600 persons, of whom only a very few settle any length of time. The

Europeans resident here are chiefly military men and merchants, who leave

the country after remaining five or ten years, as almost every one regards

his stay in this hot, sandy capital of the desert Coromandel coast, as

purely provisional, and views it as a stepping-stone towards attaining

some better post, or becoming suddenly wealthy by some favourable

conjuncture of circumstances. That the majority of these institutions have

more practical objects in view admits of ready proof, and is but one

instance the more of the moulding power of surrounding circumstances. In

the school of arts for instance, under Dr. Hunter's superintendence, there

are 20 pupils, mostly Hindoos, who are receiving instruction in drawing,

sculpture, lithography, woodcutting, etching, and photography. But in

order to reduce, as far as possible, the expenses of this institution,

there is also included a manufacture of earthenware, the proceeds arising

from the sale of which are applied to the support of the school.

Another eminently useful institution, the Medical College, which, as well

as most of the other professional foundations, we visited in the company

with our hospitable and influential friend, Dr. Kelly, possesses one

division, in which such of the natives as purpose to set up as

apothecaries, are at the same time so far educated as to be able, in case

of necessity, to perform a few of the minor surgical operations. Of the

hundred of an auditory who at the period of our visit were attending a

lecture on chemistry, the majority were half-blooded Indians, dressed in

the European fashion, with a sprinkling of barely 9 or 10 Hindoos in their

white robes, and with the Vishnù or Siva marks on their forehead. We

frequently heard the professors, among whom are several gentlemen of high

scientific attainments, such, for instance, as Messrs. Evans, Lorimer,

Mudge, Montgomery, Mayr, &c., express their regret at the severe check

which the development of science sustained by the outbreak of the late

revolt. Plans for a new university, a hospital, and a medical school to

correspond are all ready, and but for that ruinous catastrophe would have

been by this time in working order.

In other respects the present Infirmary is an ugly and unsuitable

building, making up about 100 beds for patients. Several of these were

occupied by soldiers, who had been severely wounded under Havelock at the

storming of Delhi. The introduction of punkahs, or wind-fans, into the

wards has proved so salutary, that there is an intention to have them

worked without intermission day and night, by means of water power,

instead of by manual labour as hitherto. In order to be able to estimate

the boon conferred by such an improvement upon the condition of the poor

invalids, we must call to mind that the average annual temperature of

Madras is about 94° Fahr., which is slightly in excess of the average

temperature at the equator, although Madras is 10 degrees north of the

line. Under such climatic conditions, it is no wonder that the

invigorating wholesome breeze is known at Madras as "The Doctor."

Among the benevolent institutions visited by us, we found the twin asylums

for male and female orphans of soldiers well worthy of notice in many

particulars. These are for the most part the offspring of European

soldiers married to native women, and are known as "half-castes," or

"Mestizoes." In the Military Female Asylum, there were at this time 216

girls, who were brought up to all manner of female work, as well as taught

reading, writing, and arithmetic, and remained in the institution until

suitably provided for in marriage. The marriage outfit, as also a small

wedding present of Rs. 50 (£5), for each girl is provided by Government,

and the entire working expenses, which amount to about Rs. 30,000 (£3000)

annually, are defrayed by a Government grant of Rs. 1000 (£100) a month,

together with the interest of the funded capital, upon which Government

pays 8 per cent. interest.

The Military Male Orphan Asylum was founded in 1788 by means of voluntary

contributions, supplemented by a Government Subvention, and possesses a

special historical interest from the circumstance that it was here that

Dr. Bell, who held the post of Head-Master in the establishment, first

projected and put into execution the method of imparting elementary

instruction, afterwards so widely renowned as the Lancastrian method of

teaching, which since that period has traversed the globe, and has been

introduced into every capital in Europe. The course of instruction of the

institution includes writing, reading, arithmetic, grammar, geography,

history, English, Tamil, and music. The capital of the institution is

vested by Government in the 4 per cent. stocks, paying 8 per cent.

interest, which, with the large amount realized within the establishment

itself, is sufficient to defray all expenses without any further

assistance. The number of boys is about 242. The head teacher, who

obligingly conducted us over the whole establishment, which is very

handsome, called a dozen boys forward just as we were leaving, who played

a few simple pieces on wind instruments, on which they performed a variety

of national airs with great precision. The music master was a German.

Among its casual attractions, Madras has occasionally flower shows, and

exhibitions of industry, and it is exceedingly gratifying to observe how

European science is even here called in to elicit the treasures of nature,

and administer to the necessities of mankind. The catalogue of the

industrial exhibition of 1857 shows, _inter alia_, 17 sorts of spices, 20

varieties of resin, 64 plants suitable for the distillation of oil, and 41

different drugs, and Dr. Kirkpatrick, a physician in Mysore, has taken the

trouble to enumerate, by their botanical and Indian names, 240 native

drugs, which had been sent to the Madras exhibition, as also their market

value, and at the same time has subjoined the modes in which the natives

use them.

Among the most remarkable private museums which have been formed at

Madras for the illustration of the history and monuments of the southern

provinces of the Deccan, must undoubtedly be included the collection of

native inscriptions and manuscripts of the well-known Colonel Mackenzie,

which first attracted the attention of all friends of Oriental science, as

also the British Government, through a memoir[104] of Alexander Johnston,

Esq. It is a magnificent testimony to the conservative spirit of the

British resident among heathen nations, as compared with the barbarous

spirit of destruction that characterized the Spanish colonists. From an

erroneous idea that they were in so doing promoting the interests of

Christianity, these Romanist conquerors destroyed all sculptures and

monuments of the pagan Indian races, and, by this fanatical Vandalism, at

the same time prevented the hand of science from unfolding, as it might

have done from these important vestiges, the history of these very

remarkable races from the most remote ages.

[Footnote 104: On Colonel Mackenzie's Collection, in the Journal of the

Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain. London, 1835, p. 4, vol. ii.]

In the immense old palace, surrounded by adjacent edifices and gardens,

once occupied by the King of the Coromandel coast, the renowned nabob of

the Carnatic, the offices of the English Government _employés_ are at

present located. The last of these sovereigns died a few years since, and

his former minister receives from the British Government a pension of Rs.

1300 (£130) a month. Great men who have fallen do not ordinarily like to

be sought out or gazed at. There is, however, on the contrary, no

difficulty in obtaining access to the last minister of the last monarch of

the Coromandel coast, who seems to feel flattered by a visit from

strangers. On our entering, the venerable old gentleman rose from a rich

thick carpet, on which he was sitting cross-legged, held out his hand in

the most affable manner, and did us the honour of accompanying us through

the palace. He had a long white beard, and wore a white turban on his

head, while his person was enveloped in white linen. A splendid staircase

conducted to a council-room, adorned with a portrait of the late nabob,

life-size, executed in London. A second room has a likeness of George

Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales, dedicated to his friend,

Omadal-Omrah, nabob of the Carnatic, 1st January, 1797, and of Lord

Cornwallis, arm in arm with a nabob, the former represented as walking

among pines, the latter among palms. In the harness-room and coach-house

adjoining, our obliging attendant revealed to us an endless array of

golden howdah trappings, gilt with cunning hand, which seemed to have

formerly borne the mighty nabob, when riding on his elephant. As we

emerged from this lumber room, filled with dust and mud, we perceived in

the square before us an immense dust-cloud, which approached nearer and

nearer in its gyrations, and gradually assumed the shape of an elephant.

It was a gigantic and magnificent specimen, and proved to be the favourite

elephant of the last nabob, which, like the minister himself, was reduced

to eat the bread of charity. His enormous tusks were sawn half off, for

which his attendant assigned the singular reason that the tusks of an

elephant must be cut, just as we pair our nails! This pensioner-elephant,

however, seemed to find himself in very good quarters, and was a

carefully-tended gentle creature, who carried about his chain with his

proboscis, and knelt down at the word of command.

Among the other spacious apartments of this deserted palace was the

banquetting hall, as it is called, which was represented by various

writers as one of the largest rooms in the world, which, however, is a

transparent fallacy. It is hard to believe that above a thousand persons

could find room in it. At the period of our visit this apartment was used

as a barrack for the English troops, in consequence of which the splendid

full-length pictures already mentioned were carefully covered. One of the

soldiers, anxious to show them to us, tore away the covering of one before

we could interfere, when we found it to be a splendid likeness, painted in

London, of Sir Thomas Monroe, a former governor of Madras.

In the first few days of our stay in Madras, we made an excursion to the

fort of Vellore, distant about 80 miles (English) from Madras, formerly a

renowned native fort, which is now reached in a few hours by rail. This

line passes through a flat uninteresting country, which is barely relieved

here and there by a couple of solitary palms or a Hindoo temple, and

altogether presents a strongly African character in its scenery. Only at

those points, at which there are tanks, or artificial basins, either

excavated or formed by damming the water, does there occur a luxuriant

green vegetation covering the parched, brown, dusty soil. These tanks are

filled in the rainy season, and during the dry season, which continues for

months, supply the rice-fields with water for irrigation, the culture of

that plant requiring an unusually large supply of water.

If English railroads are proverbially comfortable in the mother-country,

they certainly fall off lamentably in that particular in the cars used in

India. This deficiency is the more provoking and remarkable, considering

the various other appliances for comfort which are to be found in this

country. The conductor, as well as the other servants of the Company, was

a Hindoo. On the entire line we saw but five or six white men employed.

The fares are pretty moderate, that for the entire distance, 80 miles,

being Rupees 7-1/2 (15_s._), for first-class, and Rupees 3 (6_s._), second

(about 2-1/4_d._ and 1_d._ per mile, respectively). The line is to be

extended from Bejapoor, so as to unite the eastern and western coasts of

the peninsula. There are also lines projected from Madras to Bombay by

Poonah and Bellary, and from Madras to Calcutta. The Governor, who (the

evening previous to our departure, as we were being entertained at his

summer residence, Guindy Park,) had been apprized of our intention to

visit Vellore, was so attentive as to order the commandant to be informed

by telegraph of our projected excursion at a late hour of the evening,

and when we reached Vellore at 11 A.M., Captain Stevens was awaiting us at

the station, to greet the voyagers by the _Novara_ in the name of the

commandant of the fort, and convey them to the fort, three miles off, in a

waggon drawn by oxen, as is the custom of the country. The waggon was

about as large as an ordinary sized sitting-room, and contained several

arm-chairs and cane stools, the position of which could be altered at

pleasure.

Vellore was once one of the strongest fortresses in India, the wells of

which were formerly rendered inaccessible by numerous colonies of

alligators. These Hindoo fortifications have, however, lost their military

importance for Europeans, as they are on all sides "overcrowed," as

Rittmeister Dugald Dalgetty would say, by eminences, from which they could

easily be cannonaded. Within the fort itself are several extraordinary

buildings, once pagodas and houses of entertainment for priests and

pilgrims (_choultries_). The former sanctuary, now used as an arsenal, is

a _chef-d'[oe]uvre_ of architectural skill, with splendid _relievos_ and

figures sculptured in granite blocks. Most of the divinities have four

arms, symbolical of the universality of their power. The various edifices

seem to have been once an abode of Brahmins, a sort of Hindoo monastery in

which, in addition to the pagoda, there were ranged all round, a temple,

colonnades, and halls for the residence of the priests. In some of the

smaller apartments there still are openings for windows, with a finely

carved grating hewn out of the solid granite, the workmanship of which

even the stone-cutters of our own days might feel proud of. Captain

Mitchell, an English officer stationed at Madras, had hit upon the idea of

photographing the most interesting of these monuments.

The fortress of Vellore has been fortified for about 1000 years! Captured

by the English at the close of the last century, the then Nabob, a

Mussulman, was taken prisoner, and his descendants have ever since

inhabited the fort as State prisoners, without ever being permitted to

leave it. We inquired of the officer who accompanied us, whether the Nabob

was permitted at least to make use of the space within the fortress for

exercise in the open air. "The Mussulmen," replied the cautious

Englishman, "do not care to show themselves in public; they prefer taking

their exercise in the court in front of their residence, or in the

garden." Accordingly, the aged prince is rarely known even to take an

airing in a palanquin. The town of Vellore itself is, in a great measure,

another place altogether, whose inhabitants are Mahometans, about 80,000

in number, chiefly engaged in rice culture.

We originally intended to return the same day to Madras, the length of the

journey, as well as the distance of the fort from the railway station,

having been represented to us as much shorter than was actually the case.

Accordingly, we telegraphed to the Austrian Consul, M. Campbell, Esq., an

exceedingly courteous gentleman, that we should not return till the

following morning. How great was our astonishment to find that the

telegraph _employés_ at Vellore, both in the transcribing department, and

in the management of the apparatus, which was on Morse's system, were

Hindoos, with their curious marks upon their foreheads, and their

old-fashioned costume! They went, however, through the duties connected

with this modern invention with great adroitness. The telegraph is already

in operation to Bombay, and in this direction has two separate lines.

There are, moreover, other lines in course of construction,--along the

coast to Calcutta,--along the coast to Pondicherry by Adam's Bridge,[105]

from Madras to Point de Galle, and from Madras to Hyderabad, Bangalore,

and Bellary.

[Footnote 105: Adam's Bridge--called by the Hindoos Rama's Bridge,--is a

bank extending between Ceylon and the mainland of Hindostan, by the

islands of Manaar and Ramisseram. It is about 30 miles in length, running

in a N.W. by W. direction, about a quarter of a mile in breadth, and

principally composed of shelving sand, through which are three main

openings or channels, that admit the passage of boats of very light

draught.]

In proceeding from the fort to the town of Vellore, which is charmingly

situated and regularly laid out, and is inhabited by numerous pensioners

of the East India Company, we must cross the river Palaar (or Peliar),

which, during the rainy season, is a headlong dangerous torrent, while in

the dry season its bed, 1000 feet wide, is but a bare expanse of sand. It

is only by dint of strenuous exertions that the traveller is able to pass

this sand waste in a waggon, as it sinks at some points above the hubs of

the wheels. We had four buffalo oxen yoked, and even then had to be

propelled at certain points by the assistance of some 30 coolies or Indian

porters besides. This serious inconvenience was shortly after our visit to

be remedied by the erection of a splendid bridge of solid masonry, which

was to span the river by 42 arches, and will reduce the time of transit

from the station from 1-1/4 hour to 20 minutes. Hereabouts oxen are

usually employed for draught, which are of the same humped species as

those we had previously seen in Ceylon. These animals trot with uncommon

swiftness, so that the rapidity of transport may stand comparison with

that where horses are employed.

A few miles distant from Vellore, and visible from the hills around, lies

Arcot (Arucati), the residence of the nominal nabob of the Carnatic, who

has long been a pensioner of the British. The population of Arcot are

mostly Mahometans, who speak a dialect of Hindustani, and drive a very

active trade.

At Vellore we resided in the house of the hospitable Lieut.-Colonel

McCally, who, in the absence of the Commandant, did the honours of the

Fort to the members of the _Novara_ Expedition. Here we experienced a most

cordial reception, and passed a few most delightful hours in the domestic

circle of his amiable family. In the evening we made out an excursion to

an adjoining eminence, 1400 feet above sea-level, 300 above Vellore, from

which there is a commanding view over the town and neighbourhood. Seen

from this point, the Fort looked charming, presenting itself to us,

surrounded as it is by moats and watercourses, like an island in the

foreground. On the top of this hill is the bungalow or country-seat of the

collector of revenue, W. A. Sulivan, Esq., where we revelled in the

enjoyment of the exquisite natural scenery, and partook of refreshment.

In the evening a number of officers, with their wives, met us at dinner at

Lieut.-Colonel McCally's house. The gaieties were prolonged till far in

the evening, music and songs alternating with round games and dancing, so

that we had hardly composed ourselves to sleep ere we were awakened by the

servants, in order to avoid missing the train, which leaves Vellore for

Madras at 6.30 A.M. By 11 A.M., we were once more in the chief city of the

Carnatic.

The same afternoon the officers of the _Novara_, and the naturalists of

the Expedition, were invited to an Indian fête, which Lord Harris gave

every year at this season in his palace at Guindy Park, and to which it

was customary to invite the majority of the European residents at Madras,

together with their families,--military, civil service, and mercantile

community, all being honoured with cards. This festival originated in a

children's entertainment, which the governor had been in the habit of

giving on the birthday of his son; the latter had long since gone to an

English University, but the custom had survived, and the day was equally

carefully observed this year also, having been looked forward to for

months before by the "white" young folks of Madras. The entertainment

still retains the character of a children's party, inasmuch as on the

present occasion there were assembled above 250 children of both sexes,

varying from 5 to 12 years of age. The total number of guests who, in

addition to these, shared in the festivities was probably more than a

thousand. The fête began with the performances of some 30 Indian jugglers

and acrobats, on a large lawn in the park. These, as may be conceived, had

been selected from among the most athletic and skilful. They presented a

singularly-picturesque appearance, from the diversities of age, agile

boys, athletic young men, slender voluptuous-looking _Bayadères_, old

grey-headed men, and marvellous-looking old hags, with streaming white

hair, and dark, piercing, gleaming eyes, recalling in their manners and

appearance our own gipsies. All played at once, and performed with the

most astonishing precision a succession of breakneck feats, that set the

spectator's hair on end. It was a spectacle entirely _sui generis_,

thoroughly Indian in short, to behold these wild-looking brown figures,

unawed by the presence they were in, going through their various

performances and feats of agility. In front of us knelt an old man who

played with a dozen knives, which he kept circling around him with wild

yells, apparently without looking at them, till he finally turned them in

such a manner that it seemed as though the sharp points of the knives had

transfixed his hand. Next youthful acrobats sprang through paper balloons

set on fire,--girls in boys' dresses climbed up bamboo poles 100 feet

high, in the midst of continual yells,--boys executed on the damp meadow

ground the most extraordinary feats of agility and contortions of the

limbs, while one old fellow, to the intense astonishment of the assembled

children, swallowed swords, as also tow and other combustible matter,

whereupon flames presently seemed to issue from his month. These, indeed,

are feats of conjuring which have been performed in Europe, _usque ad

nauseam_, but here all was done with such precision and dexterity (each

man especially playing entirely _con amore_, evidently not to impress the

spectators, but because he felt a pleasure in it himself), that the whole

exhibition left quite a different impression from anything of the sort

elsewhere.

After this introductory amusement, the children invited were regaled with

a refection under an enormous tent. This was for the grown-up guests

another source of great amusement. More than 300 children took their seats

at a long well-covered table, while their fathers, mothers, governesses,

&c., stood behind the benches, and took special care to supply the little

watering mouths with a sufficient supply of the many delicacies before

them.

A distribution of souvenirs to the various children present succeeded the

repast, the various articles being fastened to a gigantic tree under a

tent. The tree was profusely hung with elegant paper lamps, and although

there were no pine-branches, only palm leaves, the "_tout ensemble_," bore

a strong resemblance to a genuine Christmas tree. Fathers and mothers

expressed to us their own feelings of pleasure at beholding the glee of

their children, and, indeed, seemed to think this the most entertaining

part of the fête. The distribution lasted a considerable time, and many of

the children affected to coquette disparagingly with the presents of

their neighbours, which these latter held fast with both hands, till at

length the whole joyous train were dismissed homewards, thoroughly pleased

with the day's proceedings.

After this interlude there were fireworks on the lawn for the grown-up

children, which seemed intended to serve merely as a stop-gap to while

away the time between the distribution of the presents to the children and

the supper, which was laid out in the brilliantly-illuminated dining-room

of the palace. The fine band, which a few days previously had so pleased

us by its performances during dinner at Guindy Park, drew up on the large

lawn fronting the ball-room, and during this interval played a few select

pieces with admirable precision. At last, supper was announced by a

flourish of trumpets. Despite the spacious proportions of the apartment,

the company was too numerous to admit of all sitting down at once. We

calculated the number of guests still remaining at at least 500. The

ladies supped first, and afterwards the gentlemen--the Governor, Lord

Harris, doing the honours in person, in the most courteous and kindly

manner. After supper the party proceeded in couples to a splendid

ball-room, where dancing speedily began, while over their heads an

omnipresent punkah, of rich tapestry-paper, and elegantly adorned with

beautiful arabesques, swung to and fro, and kept the half-breathless

dancers continually fanned by its currents of air.[106] In spite, however,

of this artificial ventilating machine overhead, one must have had an

extraordinary love for the dance to find pleasure in a polka or galop at a

temperature of 86° of Fahrenheit.

[Footnote 106: In many English families in India there prevails a sort of

punkah mania, so that there is a regular hurricane incessantly blowing

over their heads. Undoubtedly these artificial gales are particularly

agreeable in apartments where, a large number of persons being assembled,

the atmosphere becomes intolerable--as, for instance, courts of justice,

churches, hotels, and hospitals. Under such circumstances, they are,

indeed, a most valuable contrivance. But their application is entirely

overdone; and there are persons who, even while they are sleeping, have a

Hindoo servant continually working the punkah, which, under such

circumstances, is usually worked from an adjoining room by means of silken

cords, so that the motive power is not visible from the apartment, but

only the effect felt. Strangers at first find these artificial currents

very apt to superinduce headache, until continued residence makes him

regard the punkah as a most necessary article of furniture.]

Lord Harris had taken measures for ensuring our proceeding direct from his

residence in Guindy Park upon the favourite excursion from Madras--that,

namely, to the Seven Pagodas. We had accordingly provided ourselves with

only what was indispensable in the way of luggage; and towards 1 A.M., we

left the ball-room, and proceeded on our way to the renowned Hindoo

Temples to the south of Madras. A waggon conveyed us to the Adyar bridge,

where a Government boat was in waiting for us, together with some Hindoo

servants of the Governor, who were to be our guides to the Seven Pagodas.

One of these _peons_, as they are called in India, named Iritschapa,

presented us with a document, in which he was commissioned to place

himself at our disposal during the whole period we were absent, and

anticipate all our requirements without further authorization, to the best

of his ability, so as to ensure our comfort and assist the objects we had

in view. The Government boat was supplied with everything that could

minister to our comfort, a second boat following us exclusively for the

conveyance of our heavy baggage, personal effects, tents, and provisions.

Towards 2 A.M., we embarked on the Eastern Coast Canal, which goes as far

as Sadras, and by which we reached the Seven Pagodas, called also

Mahamalaipuram, the city of the Great or Holy Mountain, at 9 A.M.

[Illustration: THE HOLY MOUNTAIN.]

These singular and majestic specimens of architecture are about 3 miles

from Sadras, being situated on the coast northwards, and about 500 paces

from the canal. They consist of temples, grottoes, bas-reliefs, cisterns,

stone-benches, and thousands of sculptures in long ranges of bas-reliefs,

which afford an abundant store of antiquarian research. They go by the

name of the Seven Pagodas (from _Baghavati_--Holy House, whence the

European corruption, Pagoda), from the circumstance, that there are, upon

the very brink of the ocean, seven temples hewn out of one piece of rock.

The Brahminical legends speak of an entire city having existed here, of

which only the fragments are now washed by the sea. But, according to

Babington's and Heber's minute researches in this neighbourhood,[107] there

seems no doubt that there never existed any large city here, but that the

whole was a mere myth of the Brahmins, who procured a royal gift, an

Agrabaram in this neighbourhood, and with subtle forethought left here a

caste of stone-cutters, who from time to time, under the guidance of their

priests, executed these sculptures for the adornment of their sanctuary,

which are justly the objects of wonder to their descendants. To this day,

even, there dwell here certain families of stone-cutters, who work these

singular rocks as granite quarries, and make money by the trade. The Seven

Pagodas, specially so-called, are monolith temples, hewn on the spot out

of massive blocks of rock. The mountain itself, a huge block of granite,

to which the entire locality owes its reputation as a site of works of

art, is covered, behind as well as in the front slope, with innumerable

figures.

[Footnote 107: Benjamin Guy Babington. An Account of the Sculptures and

Inscriptions of Mahamalaipuram, illustrated by Plates I.-XVIII., in the

Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, London, 1819,

p. 258. Bishop Heber's Narrative, London, 1828, Vol. III., p. 216.]

After our arrival, we made a hasty circuit through the place, so as first

of all to be able to identify them, and be in a position to recognize the

various sculptures and bas-reliefs cut out in the solid granite rock. The

greater number of the sculptures represent either the one or the other

descriptions of the Avatars (the incarnations or transfigurations) of

Vishnù, to whom the larger proportion of the temples is dedicated. In one

of these temples, we perceived the god Vishnù in the fifth, or Dwarf

Incarnation, in the course of which he had, under the guise of a

Brahminical dwarf, begged of King Balitscha-Kravathi--who, by his piety,

had acquired so much power over the gods, that they had to transfer to him

the dominion of sea and land, and had in consequence waxed arrogant--as

much soil as he could traverse in three steps! The wealthy Rajah made no

objection to complying with the apparently moderate request of the pigmy

being before him. On the opposite wall of the temple we now see, in a

large admirably executed bas-relief, how Vishnù, represented on this

occasion with eight arms, at once embraced heaven and earth with his left

foot, and as there was thus no more room left for the next step, Vishnù

released the haughty Rajah from his promise, on condition that he should

descend to the infernal regions. From this feat, Vishnù bears the name of

Triwikrama and Tripadas (thrice-stepper).

In the next rock grotto we came to, we beheld the Life of Krishna, the

shepherd-god, represented, first as tending his sheep, surrounded by cows,

goats frisking about, &c. Walter Elliot names this representation

"Krischna's Choultry," or the abode of the priests. The temple has a

frontage of 50 feet, is from 30 to 40 feet in depth, and has about twenty

figures.

From this spot, our guide, a Brahmin, brought us to what is called the

Ganeza Temple, a monolith Pagoda. When we expressed a wish to touch the

face of Ganeza (a son of Siva), cut in stone and plentifully besmeared

with oil and lard, one of the Hindoo attendants hurried forwards to

prevent us from being guilty of insult to this much-beloved divinity. The

inscription to the right, in front of the niche in which Ganeza, hewn out

of a single block of granite, is represented in a sitting posture,

consists of verses and prayers to Siva, written in Sanscrit.

[Illustration: THE GOD GANEZA.]

We also remarked, on our way to the village, an ellipsoidal block of rock,

68 feet in circumference, by 25 in height, which, from its very peculiar

position, seems to shift every moment, and presents a very extraordinary

appearance.

As we were proceeding to the beach, we came upon the Pagoda of

Kovulgobrom, which is at present in use (first constructed in the days of

Rajah Apatsch, 400 or 500 years since), situated on a large oblong plot of

ground, which is surrounded by a wall from 6 to 8 feet high. We were not

permitted to cross the threshold of the pagoda, the door of which always

stands wide open, and the minor apartments of which, so far as we could

discern at a little distance away, were quite empty. We could just descry

a few sculptures on the walls.

The whole village contains at present about 400 inhabitants,[108] who

reside in eighty small dwellings. Of these, three, built of bricks and

with tiled roofs, belong to the caste of Brahmins, thirty to the Pariahs,

five to families occupied in fishing, and two mere hovels of palm-wood to

the Willis, the lowest and most wretched caste of all. The families of

stone-cutters reside outside the village. One remarks here that the walls

of the houses are hidden by heaps of cow and horse-dung, which the

inhabitants, as in Egypt, use for fuel, and which they pile up to dry

against those of the walls which are most exposed to the sun. The _peon_

of the settlement, by name Randghajaneik, a sort of overseer, gave us a

drawing of the various groups of houses, their inhabitants, and also the

names of the various castes in Tamil, engraved as usual with an iron tool

upon palm-leaves, and very elegantly rolled up in a small envelope. Among

the customs and fashions of the inhabitants which attracted our notice, we

were informed that they always burn their dead from four to five hours

after life has departed--usually four hours and forty minutes--alleging

that the released soul takes that length of time to reach heaven! The

bones are collected and thrown into the sea. Widows are no longer

required, on the death of their husbands, to ascend the pyre with them.

Accordingly, the mortality upon this score is small enough in

Mahamalaipuram. All seem hale and hearty, although for the most part they

live upon rice and fruits, tasting flesh but seldom, as it is never used

by the Brahmin caste. The Brahmins will not even eat eggs, because they

are the produce of hens; nor drink milk because it is procured from cows!

The girls generally marry at thirteen. They are, however, usually

betrothed from the time they are two or three years of age, the

bridegroom-elect taking the bride-elect to reside with himself.

[Footnote 108: Of these inhabitants 50 belong to the Brahmin caste, 250 to

the Malabar, Sentù, and Siva castes, and 100 are Pariahs.]

All the natives whom we fell in with could read and write, but the

Sanscrit inscriptions on the rock-temples were quite unintelligible to

them, as they only spoke Tamil, Telùgu, and Malabar. The greater number

had their foreheads painted according to the caste they belonged to. Those

worshipping Siva wore, suspended by a cord round the neck, small silver

amulets, called Lingams, which have images of Siva enclosed. The adherents

of Brahma, as already mentioned, wear no distinguishing mark upon the

forehead, except that those that are married wear a five-ply cord

(_panul_), tied obliquely across the upper part of the body. One must not,

however, attach too much faith to these varieties of external markings,

since many tattoo their foreheads with red, or yellow, or ashen-gray

punctures, which usually have no special signification, but simply imply

that on account of the pressure of business requiring frequent absence,

they have neither time nor opportunity to have the distinguishing insignia

of their caste properly designed. According to the natives, the yellow

colour is procured from the crushed, yellow-tinted root of the _Curcuma

longa_, (a species of spice), the red from the Cardomum (_Amomum repens_),

citron-juice, and red rice; while the white is prepared from common chalk.

[Illustration: BIVOUAC AT MAHAMALAIPURAN.]

Lord Harris had, with true Indian hospitality, made the most admirable

arrangements for our accommodation while at the Seven Pagodas. When, after

our first survey of the locality, we came down to the beach, we found two

large and two small tents ready pitched, and a number of men collected

round a fire preparing our breakfast. But how great was our astonishment,

on entering the first tent, to find it spread with carpets, with an

elegant sleeping-apartment with two large commodious bedsteads, and fitted

up with all the usual necessaries for the toilette; while, in the passage

which ran between the inner and outer walls of the tent, stood two immense

baths ready filled with soft water to reinvigorate our exhausted frames!

Ere we had recovered from our surprise, we were advised of the voice of

the Government Peon, apprising us that breakfast was served in the second

tent. This was used exclusively as a dining and reception room, and was

also furnished with every conceivable appliance to promote our comfort.

His lordship was even so attentive as to send his own travelling canteen

for our use on the excursion. This tent, likewise, had double walls, with

a passage between; the exterior wall being lined with blue, by means of

which the glare of the sun and of the blinding white sand was rendered

less painful and more tolerable to the eye. A number of coolies were

employed in sprinkling water from time to time upon the fine-grained sand,

which produced a most refreshing coolness all around. The Government Peon,

as also the chief of police of the district, wore their best uniforms of

white, with bran new bandoliers over their shoulders, of broad deep-red

scarves, with gold-lace edgings, and, in the centre, a gilt plate, with

the words, "Government Peon" engraved on it. A number of men and children

ran hither and thither,--in a word, the whole village seemed in an uproar

to see the strange gentlemen, and supply them with flowers, in the hope of

receiving some trifling present. At 12.30 P.M., the thermometer suspended

within the tent marked 84° Fahr., although a gentle breeze was blowing

from seaward through the fragrant luxuriant grass (_Kus-kus_, or

_Vetiveyr_), which hung like a curtain over both entrances. It is an

exceedingly happy idea to use this fragrant _Kus-kus_, (_Andropogon

muricatum_) in the manufacture of mats, which are intended to be suspended

in the entrance-halls of houses, and to be sprinkled with water, whereupon

the penetrating, hot, parching wind is passed through the fine damp

texture, which thus at once tempers the heat, and fills the air with

perfume.

Towards 5 P.M., the heat having somewhat abated, we strolled to the Five

Pagodas, distant about one English mile from our encampment. The prevalent

tree in this locality is the _Palmyra_ palm, which, though it does not

boast the majestic proportions of the _Oreodoxia Regia_, or the cocoa-nut

palm, presents, nevertheless, a very imposing appearance. Generally

speaking, however, the district is quite bare and destitute of trees; and,

in short, like all the rest of this coast, has very much the appearance of

the flat coasts of Africa.

Of the five monolith temples, four were dedicated to the brothers of

Vishnù, Dharma Rajah, Bimen, Nagulan, and Sawadewen, the fifth being

excavated in honour of Dubrotis, the consort of Dharma Rajah. The legend

relates that the four brothers lived in a state of Polyandry, or plurality

of husbands, and had but one wife in common, who was a species of Amazon.

All these temples are tolerably sculptured, which, indeed, constitutes

their chief claim to attention; but they are far from showing the artistic

finish of the bas-reliefs and sculptures, at what is known as the Holy

Mount.

Rhanganatha Swami, for instance, is the finest, though not the most

important of these artificial grottoes. The sculptures here are

incontestably the most highly-finished. The upper portion, to which access

is obtained by some steps cut in the rock, rises above the huge granite

block, known as Jamapuram; the lower portion is a temple hewn out of one

piece of rock, and with the most marvellously-executed allegories.

Among the reliefs on the north wall is perceived Donga, Siva's wife,

riding on a lion (according to the natives, on a tiger), and bending her

bow in conflict with Mahishasura, a giant with the head of a buffalo, who

brandishes a club. According to Elliot's interesting interpretation, this

represents the contest between the matronly Amazon and heroine, Donga, the

representative of active virtue, and the bull-headed Mahishasura, the

personification of brute strength and animal passion. Over the head of

either figure, a parasol, such as is used by the natives, is outspread,

giving a most grotesque appearance to the group.

[Illustration: BAS-RELIEF ON ONE OF THE MONOLITH TEMPLES.]

The relief on the southern wall represents a sleeping Vishnù

(Rhanganatha), 9-1/2 feet high, apparently representing the idea of the

Creation, as the serpent, Sescha, with its five heads, encircles his head.

At his feet one perceives two rajahs or princes, and one female figure, in

a praying attitude, with uplifted hands, only the bust being represented.

In one of the niches at Swami are two busts, life-size, of Siva, and his

wife Paravathi, the latter holding an infant at the breast, his offspring

Supramanión. Above this representation, and, like them, only showing from

the shoulder upwards, are represented on the right Brahma, on the left

Vishnù, each with four arms, symbolical of their power and dominion.

The superstructure of these rock sculptures is a sort of platform of loose

stones accurately fitted to each other without mortar, so as to make an

ornamental whole. The interior is adorned with much more highly-finished

specimens of art, to view which, a large number of Hindoos, doing penance,

annually climb, with great difficulty, into this part of the building, and

make their way into the unfinished interior apartments. While we were

giving free scope to our surprise at all we saw, we were greatly annoyed

in our contemplations by the natives, who offered us bouquets of flowers,

wreaths, and fruit. Also, a couple of flute-players (_Pulanpolen_) who

were passing, made their appearance to give us a specimen of their musical

skill. One old man, of whom we procured a curious figure of Vishnù, neatly

carved in wood, as also several manuscripts, remarked that there was in

the neighbourhood, written upon Palmyra leaves, a manuscript, known as the

_Istálam-purànam_ which gave the history of the Seven Pagodas, written in

Tamil.

The late president of the Madras Society, the learned Walter Elliot, who

formed an extensive collection of the various valuable Hindoo manuscripts

and inscriptions of Mahamalaipuram, and has partly published a

translation of them,[109] told us afterwards, that this renowned Tamil

Manuscript consisted of nothing but fables, and did not give one single

reliable particular as to the history of the Seven Pagodas.

[Footnote 109: Journal of the Madras Literary Society, 1846, Nos. 30 and

31.]

In Varaha Swami, one of the pagodas at present in use, and surrounded by a

modern walled cemetery, there is visible, on the exterior of the Temple,

an inscription in Tamil, which is, however, utterly unintelligible to the

natives. This inscription, deciphered latterly by Babington, refers to a

donation to the pagoda by a sincere Hindoo believer, and gives the most

complete detail, together with signature of the donor. The name

Mahamalaipur,[110] the "City of the Sacred Hill," occurs frequently in it.

[Footnote 110: Dr. Elliot writes Mamallaipuram; the natives call the place

Mahawalipuram, obviously a mere corruption of the customary mode of

spelling.]

In the course of conversation with some of our Hindoo followers, we

remarked that they made no difference between a "kovül" or praying-house,

in which the divinities are never produced, but are guarded under lock and

key, and a pagoda, which is a residence of the gods, from which they can

be carried forth and afterwards brought back. Hence it is that a pagoda is

more readily accessible than a kovül, the sanctity of which it is

forbidden him to violate.

In 1845, Mr. Elliot, by a private arrangement with the Brahmins, was

permitted, on payment of Rs. 30 (£3), to break away the partition which

divided the inscriptions into two portions, in order to prepare three

copies, and have them translated by three Tamil scholars. One of these

translators was the learned Tandavaraya Mudaliar, of Chingleput. The

inscription contains the history of two donations, on the enlargement and

laying the foundation-stone of the temple, accomplished by the "Kanattan"

of the village, and, lastly, a gift of 90 goats by the Siva Brahmin

Paramesvara-Mahavara, on the stipulation that a lamp should be kept

constantly burning in the temple: the whole dating from the year 1073. It

results from this interpretation that the inscription was put up towards

the end of the 11th century, thus supplying some clue to the age of this

rock temple, which, according to Mr. Elliot's researches, does not exceed

a thousand years.

[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO ONE OF THE TEMPLES.]

To this Vahara Swami, which seems to contain their whole history, the

natives wander regularly every morning, and sometimes two or three times

during the day, to offer flowers, cocoa-nuts, and other fruits. A flight

of steps cut in the rock leads to the highest platform, whence there is an

excellent view over these monumental edifices.

That fancy has been called in to invest these unique unfinished sculptures

with the character of pleasure-grottoes, baths, &c., &c., of historical

personages, is readily intelligible. Thus, for example, the guide does not

fail to point out to the stranger a sort of stone cistern hewn out of the

solid rock, traditionally reported to have been once the plunge-bath of

Dubrotis. This colossal basin has about 2-1/2 feet water during the rainy

season, which gradually evaporates, or is drawn off for use. The water,

tinged with the yellow colour of the soil, leaves a mark behind on the

stone sides, which naturally becomes very visible during the dry season.

This the natives maintain marks the height of the water as often as

Dubrotis, (Dharma Rajah's consort), bathed herself in it. Another similar

block of gneiss was transformed into a stone couch, and is called Dharma

Rajah's bed, at the upper end of which, near the head, a tiger is crouched

to guard it. This gigantic ellipsoidal block of rock, which seems as

though balanced on a sharp point, could neither be displaced nor made to

oscillate by continued leaping. Some masses of rock piled up above the

grottoes were once Siva's kitchen, and so forth. All these spots, however,

have in reality not the slightest historic significance; it is only the

present generation that have tacked on to them legends, traditions, and

interpretations, which assuredly never were in the intention of the

constructors.

On a slope on one side of the mountain are a number of sculptures of

remarkable beauty, representing the history of Tapasa, or the deep

penitence of Ardschuna. On the right hand, close to the figure of the

penitent Ardschuna, one perceives a multitude of people, two elephants as

large as life and wonderfully finished, a tiger, and a figure, half woman

half serpent. This relief, one of the finest we have seen, is a huge

sculpture on the rock, 20 feet long by 30 in height, comprising hundreds

of figures, with an idol in the centre, to which from all sides

worshipping deities, men, and beasts, bow the knee in supplicatory

attitudes; along the edge are elephants, life size, with their young. The

colour of the rock, somewhat resembling that of the animal, tends still

more to deceive the eye, and make the beholder doubt whether he is looking

upon sculptures or upon living elephants. Elliot and others who have

described these rock temples, assign to them, as already mentioned, a

comparatively small antiquity. They are representations borrowed from the

poem of Mahabharata, in the Hindoo mythology. The five roundish temples to

the south of the village are beyond all question the oldest of these

monuments. They are pagodas that have never been completed; solid, and

here and there showing marks of work, but only adorned externally, the

interiors being masses of unhewn granite; each of these temples is 30 feet

in length by 20 in breadth and height. Thus far, the inscriptions have

been ascertained to be in threefold characters, of which two are as yet

undecipherable. Babington was the first to attempt to decipher them, or at

all events to find the key by which to decipher them. The most important

has been copied and interpreted. But neither the inscriptions nor the

various representations give the slightest historical clue as to the

object of these monuments. Taylor's researches seem to establish the fact,

that in the 17th century this district was inhabited by the Corumbas, a

half-civilized race of the Dschaina religion. About this period, or a

little later, in the reign of Abondai, one of the princes, whose capitals

were Conjeveran and Tripetty, the Brahmins were introduced to this

neighbourhood. The extent of these works, however, their nature, and the

immense expense incurred, all point to a long-continued influence of the

Brahmins. Most of these temples seem to have been first erected in the

17th century, under Prince Sinhamanayadu, and Elliot assigns to several

even a much later date.

As for the report of a smaller pagoda, of which only an old pyramidal

pagoda-stone is visible on the very edge of the sea, peering up from amid

the furious foaming surf, it seems to be altogether a myth, so that such

enquirers as Ellis, Mackenzie, and Heber, making allowance for what Hindoo

traditions are known to be, will no longer take the trouble of searching

for any traces of the sunk pagoda, or of seeking to recover the ruins of

the submerged city. Several writers, indeed, are of opinion, that the sea

on the Cormandel coast is retiring; but this appears to be a mistake, for

here the sea seems encroaching rapidly, as is the case at Fort St. George,

which 80 years ago was at some distance from the sea-shore, whereas its

walls are at present washed by the tremendous surf.

But the inroads of the sea could hardly have been so sudden and extensive

as to have swallowed up an entire city, without leaving any traces. Not

one of the natives to whom we spoke in the place could say for certain,

that the sea had materially gained upon the land within the memory of man.

Nowhere are there any traces visible of the ruins of a city. One can

safely assert that there never existed such a city at Mahamalaipuram, but

that it has always been a mere abode of priests, with temples,

sanctuaries, &c., without any more extensive settlement, similar to Copan,

Quirigua, or Peten, in Central America, but altogether larger and more

artistic, and evidencing a far higher culture on the part of the artist.

The supposed antiquity of the sculptures at Mahamalaipuram is too low, to

admit of our supposing that since their erection the greater part had been

swallowed up in the sea. None of the sculptures that we saw belonged to

any period (before the flood extended so far), whereas they are all

susceptible of explanation out of the modern Hindoo mythology, with the

aid of the Epic poems of Mahabharata, all referring to Vishnù and his

world of deities.

While some of the _Novara_ expedition were visiting Mahamalaipuram, others

made out a trip to the Pulicat Lake, near the shore, northwards from

Madras. About 40 or 50 miles on the road thither, the Neilgherries (or

Blue Hills), with their jagged outline, came into view on the gray horizon

to the N.W., the height of which may be about 1,500 to 2000 feet. A narrow

bulwark or quay of unequal breadth, varying from 20 feet to 5 miles,

separates this salt lake from the ocean, the fierce surf of which, at some

narrow places, actually breaks over, and mingles its waters. The lake

varies in breadth, from 5 to 10 miles, and is about 60 to 70 miles long.

The level of its bed is so remarkably regular, never exceeding from 3 to 5

feet, that when the wind fails, the boats that navigate the lake can be

pushed along with poles, and one everywhere sees the naked inhabitants of

the coast standing in the very middle of the water, with their landing or

drag-nets, or busily occupied with rod and line! Being but a few hours

distant from Madras, the lake is connected with the city by an artificial

canal, along both sides of which are a number of outlets, carefully faced

with masonry, so as to convert the adjoining land into lagoons, in which

during the rainy seasons the strongly brackish water enters, and is used

to make sea-salt.

In the canal there is considerable trade, as well by fishing-boats, as by

those laden with wood and fruit, which they convey to the city for

disposal. Most especially remarkable is the enormous number of fen-birds,

which frequent its shores and all around it. At several places where the

shores, for a width of about a mile, are mere swamps with barely a foot of

water, they are literally covered with myriads of curlews, which fly

about in flights of incredible numbers, and stretch out like clouds. Long

rows of flamingoes stand, their bodies half bent to the earth, seeking

their food in the mud; far as the eye can reach, one saw whole ranks of

these birds blending with storks, perched upon scattered stumps; while in

the water itself, vast flocks of sea-mews swam about, and the

sea-swallows, in pursuit of their prey, flew to and fro in the air. As

evening came on, the naturalists of the _Novara_ were sailing as though in

a sea of fire. Hundreds of fish, as they sprang out of the water, left a

fiery wake behind them, like a rocket, while a flame-coloured

ever-widening circle marked the spot at which they struck the water again.

Hundreds of various notes of birds, above, near, and round the boat,

united with the singular melancholy cry of the jackal, which resounded

from the shore, while overhead flights of birds flew restlessly about in

the air, whirring in the ear like the rustling of disembodied spirits.

From the lake, a short excursion was made to one of the artificial canals,

which unite this basin of water at various points and in different

directions with the surrounding country, so as to get to the Strihoricotta

Forest, which supplies Madras with fuel. This consists of a sort of

underwood or brush, which grows again within the extraordinary short space

of ten to twelve years. _Sisyphus vulgaris_ (_Rhamnea_), _Gardenia Ficus_,

tamarinds, and several species of Mimosa, form the principal part of the

forest, which is thickly grown with immense quantities of climbers. The

wood is cut by the natives, who have constructed huts in the jungle, into

pieces of about 2 feet in length, which are transported in ox-carts to the

shore, whence they are forwarded by boat to Madras.

When the members of the _Novara_ Expedition had returned, greatly pleased,

from their various excursions, the Madras Club gave a grand banquet in

honour of the captain and staff, to which the _élite_ of Madras society

were invited. Immediately on our arrival the managing committee of the

club had the courtesy to place the officers and scientific members of the

Expedition upon the free list of the club during the ship's stay. The

Madras Club-house, though not so luxurious or magnificent as the Clubs of

London, fairly surpasses them in extent and commodiousness. It is, in

fact, a small portion of the city in itself, in which one finds assembled

all that can conduce to a comfortable, agreeable mode of existence;

parlours, with wide arm-chairs and American rocking-chairs; reading-rooms,

in which are all the best journals and an excellent assortment of the best

and newest literature; dining apartments, in which one can dine in either

the English or French style; billiard-rooms, shower and plunge-baths, and

a large swimming-bath. Members from the country, or strangers, can be

accommodated with lodging as well.

At the splendid banquet in honour of the Expedition, at which above 200

persons sat down, the chair was taken by the Chief Justice Sir Christopher

Rawlinson--next to the Governor, the most influential person in the

community. The extremely friendly disposition manifested on that occasion

found its expression in toasts on all sides, which in few, but appropriate

words, welcomed the foreign guests; while, on the other side, they gave

unmistakable evidence of the admiration and sympathy which the voyagers by

the _Novara_ carried away with them from the hospitable shores of

Madras.[111]

[Footnote 111: After the customary official toasts had been proposed by the

chairman, and thanks returned by the Commander-in-chief of the Expedition,

the health was also proposed of the scientific staff, on which occasion

one of the naturalists present expressed his thanks for this honour, in

his name and that of his colleagues, in the following speech, which may be

permitted to find a place here, as best showing with what impression the

members of the Expedition left Madras.

"Gentlemen,--It is not without some feeling of anxiety that I am rising,

for I have so many things to say, and yet it is but the thousandth part of

what I, of what my fellow travellers all feel! Surely, it is always

flattering to a man to be distinguished by his fellow-men; but such a

distinction becomes the more honouring if those who concur to distinguish

him are--as this is the case with you--a most estimable part of the

_British_ nation! Of a nation, which has done more than any other on the

globe for the propagation of Christianity, the diffusion of knowledge, the

advancement of science, for the progress of civilization, industry, and

commerce. I do not intend, gentlemen, to return with the shiny currency of

flattery the many proofs of attention and kindness which all the members

of the Expedition have witnessed during our short, but most pleasant,

ever-remembered stay in this city, the birth-place of hospitality! What I

say is but truth! Every page in modern history certifies my words! Which

nation has done more for the propagation of Christianity among savage

tribes all over the world? Some years ago, when I was rambling in British

America, and along the north shores of Lake Superior, I often found

villages of 300 or 400 Indians, and but one single white man amongst them.

And who was that white man, who voluntarily shared their misery, their

wants, and their privations? He was an _English missionary_!

"And again! Which nation has made greater and more serious efforts to

suppress the slave trade, and to abolish slavery in all countries where it

still exists, a shame to the nineteenth century?--Slavery! that hideous

leprosy on the limb of the gigantic body, called the United States! Who is

even now anxiously engaged to open, with the heartblood of its noblest

sons, a vast empire--the Chinese kingdom--to civilization, to

Christianity, to the traffic of all seafaring nations of the globe!

"And is not this very city, Madras, where we have been so heartily

welcomed, the best proof of the energy and perseverance of the political

and commercial greatness of the British nation? Nothing but English

steadiness and English perseverance could succeed to build on this barren,

inhospitable, and even most perilous coast, a vast, flourishing city,

rivalling in size and the number of inhabitants the largest capitals in

Europe! And what is still more pleasing and satisfactory, is the

intellectual and physical condition in which one finds the Indians,

especially if compared with the condition of the natives in North and

Central America, &c. There he meets a population, rapidly dying away, in

proportion as the axe of civilization is resounding from the backwoods.

One may almost determinate the day when the last of the red men will have

disappeared from the North American Continent, the land of his ancestors!

Here in India, on the contrary, the traveller meets with a thriving,

industrious population. Who can see Hindoos, Malabar, Sentus, &c., occupy

most important employments at the observatory, at the telegraph offices,

at the railroad, in any branch almost of the public service, and still

believe the Hindoo race like the Indians of North America to be a _doomed_

people--to be a people that has no future? No, it HAS a future, and, under

the wise and humane government of the British Crown, I am sure the

coloured race of India will even have a most _glorious_ future!

"These are the impressions and feelings, gentlemen, with which we part

from Madras, with which I and my scientific colleagues bid you all a most

sincere and heartfelt farewell."]

As a number of our new-found friends expressed a wish, notwithstanding the

difficulties of getting out to, and back from the roads, to visit our

ship, the commodore invited some forty guests, shortly before our

departure, to a "tiffin" on board. Although the frigate rolled pretty

heavily, yet we, nevertheless, had the pleasure of the company of some

twenty gentlemen and ten ladies. After "tiffin," which was served on the

poop, under a tent improvised with flags for the occasion, all felt

sufficiently comfortable to try a dance on the quarter-deck, our band of

music being called into requisition for quadrilles, polkas, and waltzes;

and, indeed, our guests paid so little attention to the approach of

night, that their return was postponed till it was absolutely dark, of

which opportunity we gladly availed ourselves to light our pleasant guests

homewards with Bengal lights.

[Illustration: PLATE VII.--TRACK FROM MADRAS TO THE NICOBAR ISLANDS.]

At length, on 10th February, shortly after noon, we set sail. As the

frigate was perceived, from Fort George to weigh anchor, a thundering

salute was fired of 21 guns--an extraordinary honour and mark of

attention, to which we responded by a similar salute. In consequence of

calms and light winds, we were 48 hours ere losing sight of land; and it

was not till the 12th February we could proceed on our voyage. For several

evenings after, that magnificent, and as yet unexplained, phenomenon, the

Zodiacal light, which is conjectured by the greatest physicist of our age,

to be the beams radiated from a vapour-like, flattened ring, revolving in

the space between the orbits of Mercury and Venus, was visible with much

regularity. What was afterwards observed, however, of this remarkable zone

of light, during the course of our voyage, will be found detailed in the

meteorological portion of the scientific volumes. Unbroken fine weather

accompanied us during our entire voyage to the Nicobar Islands, our next

station. But although, as was rendered necessary by the climate so near

the Equator, we were clothed entirely in summer apparel, and there was

nothing to remind us of its being winter and carnival at home, our sailors

did not let Shrove Tuesday pass over without celebrating that day, to be

marked with a white stone, by masking and dancing according to ancient

custom. Jack has an especially good memory for the return of such

junketings, and is by no means prone to letting the sensible vicinity of

the Equator put him out of his reckoning; so he danced near the line also,

not because he had any pleasure therein, but because it has always been

his custom to do so at carnival-time!

The state of health of the ship's company was excellent, there being but

eight on the sick list, of whom only two were seriously ill.

On the 22nd February towards 10 A.M. the Island of Kar-Nicobar hove in

sight, and towards afternoon we found ourselves but a few miles distant.

The land seemed for the most part level, only a low eminence thickly

covered with frost rising towards the centre. The coast was overgrown with

cocoa-nut-palm. In the N.W. and S.E. we could see three Malay boats at

anchor. On the beach were some huts of beehive-like shape, in and out of

which naked brown figures were seen moving; while, as night fell, numerous

lights glimmered from the shore.

The following morning, Tuesday 23rd February, 1858, we anchored off the

N.W. side of the island, in 14-1/2 fathoms coral sand, about 2 miles

distant from the shore, and just between the two villages of Mosse and

Sàui, each consisting of a few huts. One can approach within 3 or 4

cable-lengths of the shore, where there are still 10 fathoms, with clay

bottom. Several natives, some naked, some with their bodies covered in the

most ludicrous fashion with cast-off European clothes, approached the

frigate while she was being secured, in small but elegant canoes, and

called out anxiously when within hailing distance, in an inquisitive tone

and a broken English, "No fear? good friend?" which we interpreted into an

inquiry as to whether they had anything to fear, and whether we were

disposed to be friendly. When, however, we did not immediately throw them

a rope to make fast their little canoes, and they got sight of our

numerous guns, they speedily turned tail and hurried away.

[Illustration: ARRIVAL AT KAR-NICOBAR.]

END OF VOL. I.

APPENDIX A.

LIST OF THE OFFICERS OF THE "NOVARA" EXPEDITION.

Commodore--B. v. Wüllerstorf-Urbair, Commander-in-Chief.

Captain--Frederick Baron Pöck.

First Lieutenant--Bela Saal de Gyula.

Lieutenants--Maurice Monfroni de Montfort.

" " Alexander Count Kielmansegge.

" " William Lund.

" " Robert Müller.

" " Ernest Jacoby.

" " Eugen Kronowetter.

" " Gustavus Battlogg.

Purser--Antonio Basso.

Principal Surgeon--Dr. Francis Seligmann.

Assistant Surgeons--Dr. Avé Robert Lallemant.

" " Dr. Edward Schwarz.

" " Charles Ruziczka.

Chaplain--Edward de Marocchini.

Midshipmen--Henry Fayenz.

" " Joseph Natty.

" " Gustavus v. Semsey.

" " Richard Baron Walterskirchen.

" " Louis Meder.

" " Alexander Kalmar.

" " Augustus Baron Skribanek.

" " Andreas Count Borelli.

" " Francis Baron Cordon.

" " Frederick Baron Haan.

" " Edward Latzina.

" " Michal de Mariassi.

" " Eugen Prince Wrede.

" " Joseph Berthold.

Engineer--Wenceslas Lehmann.

_Naturalists._

Geology--Dr. Ferdinand Hochstetter.

Botany--Dr. Edward Schwarz.

" Mr. Anthony Tellinek, horticulturist.

Zoology--Mr. George Frauenfeld.

" Mr. John Zelebor.

Ethnography--Dr. Charles Scherzer.

Artist--Mr. Joseph Selleny.

The entire crew, including sailors, marines, gunners, servants, and the

ship's band, amounted to 352 men.

APPENDIX B.

_List of the various Provisions and Stores furnished to the Frigate

"Novara" before her departure from Trieste._

Coals--23 tons (at 260 pounds daily consumption) for 198 days

Water--86 tons (the daily consumption was

furnished by the distilling apparatus)

Biscuit--50,965 pounds (Vienna weight) " 145 "

Wine--(light red Istrian wine), 8777 mass (= 3510 gallons) " 50 "

Rum--7913 mass (= 3165 gallons) " 226 "

Salt Beef--17,800 pounds for 105 days \ Meat

Preserved Meat (in tins) 122 " | (boned) " 264 "

Pork--5760 pounds weight 87 " /

Rice--6850 pounds 77 " \ (for

Essence--3184 pounds 58 " / Soup) " 135 "

Mélanges d'Equipage, 40,000 rations 114 days \

Sour-crout, 16,000 rations 46 " | Vege-

Cabbage, 16,000 rations 46 " | tables " 298 "

Potatoes, 32,000 rations 92 " /

Cocoa--10,290 pounds (Vienna weight) " 610 "

Sugar--3494 " " 156 "

Salt--1000 " " 100 "

Vinegar--831 mass (= 332-1/5 gallons) " 95 "

APPENDIX C.

SUMMARY OF EXPENDITURE

DURING THE VOYAGE OF THE AUSTRIAN IMPERIAL FRIGATE "NOVARA."

KEY:

A - Pay of Commodore, in Austrian currency.

B - Pay of Staff.

C - Pay of Naturalists, and incidental Expenses of this department.

D - Pay of Crew, including extras.

E - Victuals for Crew and Hospital (Sick).

F - For Sundries, Repairs, and Ship's Material.

G - Purchase of Books, Instruments, and Medicines.

H - Pilots and Tug Steamers.

I - Pay of Servants, including extras.

J - Boat-hire, Postages, Travelling Expenses of the Staff, &c.

K - Totals.

----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---

Period of | | | | |

Expenditure. | A | B | C | D |

----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---

| Florins.| Florins. | Florins.| Florins. |

| Kr. | Kr. | Kr. | Kr. |

April to June, 1857 | 2,112 ..| 5,413 51| 1,744 53| 7,522 52|

III. Quarter " | 2,327 10| 8,214 10| 3,302 40| 10,562 37|

IV. ditto " | 3,261 20| 9,604 50| 4,816 57| 10,560 50|

I. ditto 1858 | 3,118 ..| 9,377 ..| 4,073 ..| 10,557 49|

II. ditto " | 3,212 ..| 10,542 30| 4,358 5| 10,755 39|

III. ditto " | 5,102 30| 9,638 30| 5,421 17| 10,245 24|

IV. ditto " | 2,217 10| 6,931 50| 5,272 56| 10,020 6|

I. ditto 1859 | 4,914 20| 16,958 20| 9,578 23| 10,840 43|

II. ditto " | 3,227 16| 11,008 ..| 4,090 20| 11,151 56|

III. ditto " | 3,117 7| 10,911 41| 3,857 14| 11,009 29|

IV. ditto (not full)| 984 18| 2,564 5| 1,990 5| 3,314 16|

----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---

Grand Total |33,593 11|101,164 47|48,505 50|106,541 41|

----------------------+---------+----------+---------+----------+---

----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---

Period of | | | | |

Expenditure. | E | F | G | H |

----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---

| Florins. | Florins.|Florins.|Florins.|

| Kr. | Kr. | Kr. | Kr. |

April to June, 1857 | 133 55| 146 7| 37 10| ... ..|

III. Quarter " | 2,316 40| 362 47| 16 28| 28 ..|

IV. ditto " | 27,344 29| 2,839 3| 644 49| 356 26|

I. ditto 1858 | 2,099 39| 646 10| 36 34| 85 53|

II. ditto " | 21,514 37| 2,170 53| 349 54| ... ..|

III. ditto " | 17,443 32| 5,925 48| 338 14| 645 50|

IV. ditto " | 5,762 30| ... ..| 212 34|2,197 55|

I. ditto 1859 | 30,715 17|18,185 34|2,286 40| 647 54|

II. ditto " | 3,179 24| 767 4| 23 2| 94 23|

III. ditto " | 11,444 ..| 7,551 15| 306 24| ... ..|

IV. ditto (not full)| 2,163 40| ... ..| 33 30| ... ..|

----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---

Grand Total |124,009 43|38,594 41|4,285 19|4,056 21|

----------------------+----------+---------+--------+--------+---

----------------------+--------+---------+----------+

Period of | | | |

Expenditure. | I | J | K |

----------------------+--------+---------+----------+

|Florins.| Florins.| Florins. |

| Kr. | Kr. | Kr. |

April to June, 1857 | 811 34| 5,277 59| 23,200 21|

III. Quarter " | 363 53| 186 18| 27,680 43|

IV. ditto " | 435 9| 2,027 31| 61,891 24|

I. ditto 1858 | 397 28| 96 22| 30,487 55|

II. ditto " |1,144 43| 814 25| 54,764 46|

III. ditto " | 566 8| 1,351 46| 56,678 59|

IV. ditto " | 29 24| 651 59| 33,296 24|

I. ditto 1859 |1,592 30| 1,258 51| 96,978 32|

II. ditto " | 200 5| 1,258 32| 35,000 2 |

III. ditto " |1,910 ..| 793 ..| 50,900 10|

IV. ditto (not full)| 269 46| 5 ..| 11,324 40|

----------------------+--------+---------+----------+

Grand Total |7,720 40|13,721 43|482,193 56|

----------------------+--------+---------+----------+

Thus the Expenditure, during the voyage, amounting to 483,193 florins 56

kreuzer, Austrian currency, which, calculated at the rate of 10 florins to

a pound sterling at par, is equal to about £48,219 sterling. To this sum

must be added the outfit and armament of the frigate for the purposes of

the voyage, amounting to about £6000 sterling, and the expenses for four

months' provisions, taken in at Trieste before our departure, and

estimated at about £4500 sterling, so that the entire Expenditure of the

Expedition, from the time of starting till its return, amounted to about

£58,000 sterling.

LONDON:

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* * * * *

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MESSRS. SAUNDERS, OTLEY, & CO.'S

LITERARY ANNOUNCEMENTS.

THE VOYAGE OF THE NOVARA ROUND THE WORLD. The Circumnavigation

of the Globe, by the Austrian Frigate Novara. English Edition.

Containing an Unpublished Letter from Baron Humboldt. With

numerous wood engravings. Dedicated, by special permission, to

Sir Roderick Murchison. 3 vols., 8vo.

THE MARQUIS OF DALHOUSIE'S ADMINISTRATION of BRITISH INDIA. By

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THE POLITICAL LIFE of the EARL of DERBY.

THE LIFE of the RIGHT HON. BENJAMIN DISRAELI, M.P.

THE SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES of the LORD BISHOP of OXFORD from

1841 to the Present Time. Edited by the Author. 1 vol., 8vo.

THE LIVES of the SPEAKERS of the HOUSE of COMMONS. By William

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England," and Chairman of Ways and Means.

THE LATITUDINARIANS. A Chapter of Church History, from the

Accession of Archbishop Tillotson in 1691, to the Death of

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ECCLESIA RESTITUTA. By F. C. Massingberd, M.A., Prebendary of

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SEVEN ANSWERS to the 'ESSAYS and REVIEWS,' BY SEVEN WRITERS IN

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* * * * *

[Transcriber's Note: Changes to the original document: Footnotes and

illustrations may have been moved. Minor punctuation inconsistencies or

errors have been corrected. To the table of illustrations have been added

entries for the preceding illustrations. The publisher's corrections

listed at the end of Volume III have been applied. The following

additional changes were made:

analagous[analogous] to the mountain chains

to be reaped from European emigation[emigration]

Namely: 9159 Portuguese[Two footnotes were improperly swapped]

we were still able vividly to recal[recall]

If any one desires [to] see a veritable

towards the end of the rainy reason[season],

their bite produces on the the[del 2nd the] hand

that such soundings are only succesful[successful] when

they cannot recal[recall] having perceived,

Terrestrial Magnetism, Liuteenant[Lieutenant] Robert Müllar;

of New Bedford, Massachussets[Massachusetts],

pendant les annés[années] 1791-94

there there[del 2nd there] is nothing resembling a beach

custom that seems to recal[recall] the frightful

This time, morever,[moreover]

and chaunted[chanted] the praises

all to be able to indentify[identify] them,

thirty to the Parias[Pariahs],

Ry[By] T. LEWIS FARLEY, Esq.,

effected. Every other descripion[description]

Also, the publisher on one occasion confused the degrees Réaumur and

Fahrenheit used in measuring temperature with degrees and minutes used to

determine lattitude and longitude:

Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,

the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as 24°

5', (87° 12' Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had

carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means

of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the

current, in December 1824, he found from 16° to 18° (68° to 72°·5 Fahr.);

between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18° to 19° (72° 5' to

74° 75' Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12° 39' S.) and

Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13° 8' to 10° 5' (63°·05 to 5° 62'

Fahr.); between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from

18° 8' to 9° 2' (74° 3' to 52° 7').

The corrected paragraph is as follows:

Between the Gulfs of Guayaquil and Panama, north-east of the cold current,

the temperature of the sea during the month of April rose as high as

24°·5, (87°·12 Fahr.). Within the range of the current, Mr. Dirckinck had

carried on his observations in compliance with my instructions, by means

of thermometers that had been compared by Arago. Everywhere in the

current, in December 1824, he found from 16° to 18° (68° to 72°·5 Fahr.);

between Quilca and Callao, in January, 1825, from 18° to 19° (72°·5 to

74°·75 Fahr.); between Chorillos, near Lima (Lat. 12° 39' S.) and

Valparaiso, in August, 1825, from 13°·8 to 10°·5 (63°·05 to 55°·62 Fahr.);

between Chorillos and San Carlos de Chiloe, in June, 1825, from 18°·8 to

9°·2 (74°·3 to 52°·7).]

* * * * *