Having a great affection for his native place, he had, as soon as he could command the means, built the house which we now saw, and in which he always resided during the fair, which was called oories, or the Mungdoom Shaab's cories, at Mahim. After sitting some time with the old man, and admiring the effect of the moonlight among the palm trees, we rose to depart. In taking leave of the spot, I could not repress a wish to see it under a different aspect, although it required very slight aid from fancy to picture it as it would appear in the rains, with mildew in the drip of those pendant palm branches, green stagnant pools in every hollow, toads crawling over the garden paths, and snakes lurking beneath every stone.

Returning to the place in which we had left the carriage, we found the fair more crowded than ever, the numbers of children, if possible, exceeding those to be seen at English places of resort of the same nature. The upper rooms of the superior houses, many of which seemed to be large and handsome, were well lighted and filled with company, many of the most respectable amongst the Hindus, Mohamedans, and Parsees, repairing to Mahim, to recreate themselves during the festival. The shops had put on even a gayer appearance, and though there was no rich merchandize to be seen, the character of the meeting being merely that of a rustic fair, I was greatly surprized by the elegance of some of the commodities, and the taste of their arrangement. It was evident that all the purchasers must be native, and consequently I could not help feeling some astonishment at the large quantities of expensive European toys with which whole booths were filled. Dolls, which were to me a novelty in my late visit to Paris, with real hair dressed in the newest fashion, were abundant; and so were those excellent representations of animals from Germany, known by the name of "Barking toys." The price of these things, demanded of our party at least, was high. I had wisned to possess myself of something as a remembrance of this fair, but as the old moonshee was the only individual amongst us who carried any money about him, I did not like to ask him to become my banker on this occasion, lest he should not permit me to pay him again, and I should by this means add to the disbursements already made upon our account. Upon leaving the fair, we found some difficulty in steering our way through the bullock-carriages which almost blocked up the road, and as we drove along the grand thoroughfare towards Girgaum, a populous portion of the native town, the visitants seemed to increase; cart followed upon cart in quick succession, all the bullocks in Bombay, numerous as they are, appearing to have been mustered for the occasion. In the different drives which I have taken through the island, I have come upon several fine tanks, enclosed by solid masonry of dark-coloured stone; but, with the exception, in some instances, of one or two insignificant pillars or minarets, they are destitute of those architectural ornaments which add so much splendour to the same works in Bengal. The broad flights of steps, the richly decorated temple, or the range of small pagodas, so frequently to be seen by the side of the tanks and bowlies in other parts of India, are here unknown; the more ancient native buildings which I have yet examined being, comparatively speaking, of a mean and paltry description, while all the handsome modern houses are built after the European manner. There is one feature, however, with which I am greatly pleased-the perpetual recurrence of seats and ledges made in the walls which enclose gentlemen's gardens and grounds, or run along the roads, and which seem to be intended as places of repose for the wayfarer, or as a rest to his burthen. It is always agreeable to see needful accommodation afforded to the poor and to the stranger; public Asiat.Journ.N.S.VOL.33.No.131. 2 B

benefits, however trifling, displaying liberality of mind in those who can give consideration to the wants and feelings of multitudes from whom they can hope for no return. These seats frequently occur close to the gate of some spacious dwelling, and may be supposed to be intended for the servants and dependants of the great man, or those who wait humbly on the outside of his mansion; but they as frequently are found upon the high roads, or by the side of wells and tanks.

The festival of the Duwallee has taken place since my arrival in Bombay, and though I have seen it celebrated before, and more splendidly in one particular-namely, the illuminations-I never had the same opportunity of witnessing other circumstances connected with ceremonies performed at the opening of the new year of the Hindus. When I speak of the superiority of the illuminations, I allude to their taste and effect; there were plenty of lights in Bombay, but they were differently disposed, and did not mark the outline of the buildings in the beautiful manner which prevails upon the other side of India, every person lighting up his own house according to his fancy. Upon the eve of the new year, while driving through the bazaar, we saw preparations for the approaching festival; many of the houses were well garnished with lamps, the shops were swept and put into order, and the horns of the bullocks were garlanded with flowers, while fire-works, and squibs and crackers, were going off in all directions. On the following evening, I went with a party of friends by invitation to the house of a native gentleman, a Parsee merchant of old family and great respectability, and as we reached the steps of his door, a party of men came up with sticks in their hands, answering to our old English morice-dancers. These men were well clad in white dresses, with flowers stuck in their turbans; they formed a circle somewhat resembling the figure of moulinet, but without joining hands, the inner party striking their sticks as they danced round against those on the outer ring, and all joining in a rude but not unmusical chorus. The gestures of these men, though wild, were neither awkward nor uncouth, the sticks keeping excellent time with the song and with the action of their feet. After performing sundry evolutions, and becoming nearly out of breath, they desisted, and called upon the spectators to reward their exertions. Having received a present, they went into the courtyard of the next mansion, which belonged to one of the richest native merchants in Bombay, and there renewed their dance. We found in the drawingroom of our host's house a large company assembled. The upper end was covered with a white cloth, and all round, sented on the floor against the walls, were grave-looking Parsees, many being of advanced years. They had their books and ledgers open before them, the ceremony about to be commenced consisting of the blessing or consecration of the account-books, in order to secure prosperity for the ensuing year. The officiating priests were brahmins, the custom and the festival-of which Lacshmee, the goddess of wealth, is the patroness-being purely Hindu. The Parsees of India, sole remnant of the ancient fire-worshippers, have sadly degenerated from that pure faith held by their forefathers, and for which they became fugitives and exiles. What persecution failed to accomplish, kindness has effected, and their religion has been corrupted by the taint of Hinduism, in consequence of their long and friendly intercourse with the people, who permitted them to dwell in their land, and to take their daughters in marriage. Incense was burning on a tripod placed upon the floor, and the priests muttering prayers, which sounded very like incantations, ever and anon threw some new perfume upon the charcoal, which produced what our friend Dousterswivel would call

a "suffumigation." These preliminaries over, they caused each person to write a few words in the open book before him, and then threw upon the leaves a portion of grain. After this had been distributed, they made the circle again, and threw gold leaf upon the volumes; then came spices and betelnut, cut in small pieces, and lastly flowers, and a profusion of the red powder (abeer) so lavishly employed in Hindu festivals. More incense was burned and the ceremony concluded, the merchants rising and congratulating each other. Formerly, when our host was a more wealthy man than, in consequence of sundry misfortunes, he is at present, he was in the habit of disbursing Rs.10,000 in gifts upon this day; everybody that came to the house receiving something. The custom of blessing the books, after the Hindu manner, will in all probability shortly decline among the Parsees, the younger portion being already of opinion that it is a vain and foolish ceremony, borrowed from strangers; and, indeed, the elders of the party were at some pains to convince me that they merely complied with it in consequence of a stipulation entered into with the Hindus, when they granted them an asylum, to observe certain forms and ceremonies connected with their customs, assuring me that they did not place any reliance upon the favour of the goddess, looking only for the blessing of God to prosper their undertakings. This declaration, however, was somewhat in contradiction to one circumstance, which I omitted to mention, namely, that before the assembled Parsees rose from the floor, they permitted the officiating brahmins to mark their foreheads with the symbol of the goddess, thus virtually admitting her supremacy. The lamps were then lighted, and we were presented with the usual offering of bouquets of roses, plentifully bedewed with goolabee panee, or the distilled tears of the flower, to speak poetically; and having admired the children of the family, who were brought out in their best dresses and jewels, took our leave. The ladies, the married daughters and daughters-in-law of our host, did not make their appearance upon this occasion; for, though not objecting to be seen in public, they are not fond of presenting themselves in their own houses before strangers.

It is the women of India who are at this moment impeding the advance of improvement; they have hitherto been so ill-educated, their minds left so entirely uncultivated, that they have had nothing to amuse or interest them excepting the ceremonies of their religion, and the customs with which it is encumbered. These, notwithstanding that many are inconvenient, and others entail much suffering, they are unwilling to relinquish. Every departure from established rule, which their male relatives deem expedient, they resolutely oppose, employing the influence which women, however contemned as the weaker vessel, always do possess, and always will exert, in perpetuating all the evils resulting from ignorance. The sex will ever be found active either in advancing or retarding great changes, and whether this activity be employed for good or for evil, depends upon the manner in which their intellectual faculties have been trained and cultivated. It appears to me that, although education is making great progress in Bombay, all it has yet accomplished of good appears upon the surface, it not having yet wrought any radical change in the feelings and opinions of the people, or, excepting in a few instances, directed their pursuits to new objects. I give this opinion, however, with great diffidence-merely as an impression which a longer residence in Bombay may remove; meanwhile, I lose no opportunity of acquainting myself with the native community, and I hope to gather some interesting information relative to the probable effects of the system now adopting at the different national

schools. As far as I can judge, a little of Uncle Jonathan's fervour in progressing is wanting here; neither the Anglo-Indian or native residents seem to manifest the slightest inclination to "go ahead;" and while they complain loudly of the apathy evinced at home to all that concerns their advantage and prosperity, are quite content to drowze over their old dustoors (customs), and make no attempt to direct the public attention in England to subjects of real importance. Though unwilling to indulge in premature remarks, these are pressed upon me by the general complaints which I hear upon all sides; but though everybody seems to lament the evil, no one exerts himself to effect a remedy, and while much is talked of individually, little is done by common consent. One great bar to improvement consists, I am told, of the voluminous nature of the reports upon all subjects, which are heaped together until they become so hopelessly bulky, that nobody can be prevailed upon to wade through them. In England, at all public meetings, a great deal of time and breath are wasted in superfluous harangues; but these can only effect the remote mischief threatened by Mr. Babbage, and produce earthquakes and other convulsions in distant lands, in distant centuries; whereas the foolscap is a present and a weighty evil, and has probably swamped more systems of improvement, and more promising institutions, than any other enemy, however active. The intellectual community of India seem yet to learn the advantage of placing all that relates to it in a clear, succinct, and popular form, and to bring works before the British public which will entertain as well as instruct, and lead those who are employed in legislating for our Eastern territories to inquire more deeply into those subjects which so materially affect its political, moral, and commercial prosperity.

THE PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES OF INDIA.*

THE "public mind," to use the common and colloquial phraseology, resembles not a little a mass of inert matter, which requires some powerful external force to set it in motion, and then rolls on blindly in the direction of the impulse given to it. This law of moral mechanics, which was employed with such terrible effect in the French Revolution, is still acted upon at this time, in our own country, with much success, though with more innocent objects, by those who patronize agitation. If a body of wellmeaning persons have some point to carry which, in their opinion, will be beneficial to the community, they begin by "agitating the public mind," and are not always scrupulous in the means; if an individual desire to lift himself into notoriety, he selects some supposed political abuse or popular grievance, upon which, with the help of confederates, he strives to "agitate the public mind," and if he succeeds in doing this, his end is accomplished. This course of proceeding is founded upon an accurate knowledge of human nature. "It is a total mistake to suppose," observes Mr. Alison, "that the great body of mankind are capable of judging correctly on public affairs: no man, in any rank, ever found a tenth part of his acquaintance who were fitted for such a task." We are not prepared to say that this short way of arriving at results is, in emergencies, to be altogether rejected; but, as a general practice, it is pernicious, because it precipitates many measures which require to be preceded by slow and thoughtful deliberation; it substitutes the will of a few, implicitly adopted, with imperfect means of knowledge, by the many, for the solemn decisions of legislative wisdom, which can alone ascertain the nature and extent of the evil to be corrected, and the suitableness of the remedy to be applied.

If there was any topic upon which we should have been tempted, notwithstanding its doubtful fruits, to countenance agitation, it is the claims of India upon this country; but recent examples have shown that agitation upon this subject is but another name for the propagation of the most shameless misrepresentations on the part of those who, at least, have the means of knowing the utter falsehood of the statements with which they soil their tongues, or which they suffer to be propagated with their sanction. At a meeting at Manchester, on the 26th August last, for the purpose of forming a "Northern Central British India Society," it had been deemed necessary by the projectors to "agitate the public mind," and who so competent to effect this salutary purpose as the arch-agitator of Ireland ? Accordingly, the attendance of Mr. O'Connell, who can have obtained but a very superficial knowledge of India from his own inquiries, was secured, and he is represented by the newspapers to have uttered the fol

* Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to consider of the Petition of the East-India Company for Relief; and to report thereon to the House: with the Minutes of Evidence, &c. Ordered to be printed 4th June 1840.

Report from the Select Committee [of the House of Commons] on East-India Produce, together with the Minutes of Evidence, &c. Ordered to be printed 21st July 1840.

Essay on the Productive Resources of India. By J. F. ROYLE, M.D., F.R.S., &c. London, 1840. Wm. H. Allen and Co.

↑ Alison's Hist. of Europe, vol. i. c. vi.