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liate. Those extensive powers were supported with an authority, and embellished with a splendour, which partook of the dignity and magnificence of regal state." He knew, full well, that the natives of India were accustomed to such a display of magnificence; and that it was essentially necessary both to inspire respect, and to command obedience. All calculators and economists as the Dutch merchants were, they never were fools enough to make the politic splendour, the wise pomp of their Governor-General a subject of complaint against him. Noj; such suicidal ignorance was reserved for the more illuminated æra of the nineteenth century, when a few mechanical traders, with views contracted as the minds which engendered them, but inflated with self-conceit, presume to arraign the conduct of the most enlightened statesman, and to proclaim themselves the only competent governors of an immense empire!

It is curious to observe the different success which attended the first efforts of the rival companies of Holland and England; and certainly, if success were the criterion of merit (as has been sometimes most strangely contended), the English Company must sink very low indeed in the scale of comparison, when opposed to the Dutch.

"The capital stock with which the chartered company (of Dutch) commenced their trade, in 1602, was 600,000l. sterling, a sum which appears small, when considered in the proportion that it bears to the great wealth of the individual merchants of whom the company was composed : but trading on a small capital was suitable to the prudential maxims of their commercial policy, which regulated, without restraining, their spirit of adventure, and of which the efficacy was abundantly proved by the large and frequent dividends that they made. So great and rapid was the success of this company, that, in the course of the first seventeen years, they made nine dividends on their capital stock. After the return of their first fleet from India, they divided 15 per cent.; in two years more (1605), they again divided 15 per cent.; and in 1606, their returns were so immense as to enable them to make a dividend of 75 per cent.; so that the original subscribers were reimbursed 90 per cent. of their subscription, exclusive of the first dividend of 15 per cent. which arose not from the regular profits of trade, but the accidental circumstance of prizes captured from the Portuguese. In the next year, 1607, they di vided 25 per cent.; in 1608, 40 per cent.; and in 1609, 20 per cent.; and in this last year, the institution of the Bank of Amsterdam, as it facilitated the general operations of commerce, greatly contributed to augment and strengthen the resources and power of the company. In the following year they divided 50 per cent.; in 1613, 37 per cent.; and in 1616, 621⁄2 per cent."

Very different was the result of the commercial operations of the English:

"The profits of the company's trade were greatly disproportioned, both to the zeal and industry with which it was carried on, and to the capital employed in it. In the year 1612, when the individual shares of the proprietors were formed into one general capital, or joint stock, the

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sum amounted to 1,500,000l. which exceeded by 900,000l. the joint stock of the Dutch Company. Yet, in the course of fifteen years, from 1617 to 1632, the profits of the English Company amounted only to 124 per cent. on their capital; so that, at the time of which we are now treating (1619), seven years after the formation of their joint stock, they could not have divided more than 6 per cent. The comparison of these profits with those of the Dutch in the same period of time, after making an adequate abatement for the difference between the capitals of the rival companies, shews a striking disparity in the progress of their mercantile prosperity."

Stiil, however, notwithstanding this vast disparity, the English carried on a profitable trade, and had a considerable balance in their favour.

The Indian history is followed by a succinct account of the war in Ceylon, from its origin to the end of 1804. -The remainder of the volume is filled with the state papers, and other usual articles of intelligence. From the Miscellaneous Tracts, we shall extract one article, containing a curious account of a hunting party in the East, which will make our Easter hunters of the metropolis (we mean no pun) stare, and our regular sportsmen smile:

"A Letter to a Friend, giving an Account of a Hunting Party of the late NAWAB, ASUF-UD-DOWLAH.

"Lucknow, Jan. 20, 1794.

" I am just returned from a four-month's excursion with his Excellency the Nawab, and as a sketch of our ramble may afford you some amusement, I shall detail a few of the most agreeable and interesting circumstances which occurred. We left Lucknow on the 4th of October last, and directed our course towards Paraech; our kafela, or party, consisted of about, 40,000 men, and 20,000 beasts; composed of 10,000 soldiers, 1,000 cavalry, and near 150 pieces of cannon; 1,500 elephants, 3,000 carts, or hackeries, and an innumerable train of camels, horses, and bul. locks, great numbers of rutts, or covered carriages for women, drawn by oxen, which were filled with the Nawab's ladies; many large and small boats, carried on carts drawn by 50, 40, and 30 oxen each; tigers, leopards and hawks, fighting cocks, fighting quails, and nightingales; pigeons; dancing-women and boys, singers, players, buffoons, and mountebanks. In short, his Excellency had every thing, every object which could please or surprise, attract admiration, fix with wonder, or convulse with laughter. About goo coolees, or porters, were employed to carry his shooting apparatus, guns, powder, shot, and etceteras: he had above 1,000 double-barrel guns, the finest that Manton and Nock could make; single-barrels, pistols, swords and spears innumerable. Religion constrained him to remain some days at Baraech, to pay homage at the tomb of a celebrated saint, named Salar Ghazee. All good men who are able, resort to worship this holy anchorite once a year, generally in the month of May; his bones were discovered about 400 years ago, and manifested their sanctity by some miraculous marks: the witty and unbelieving say they were the skeleton of an ass, without thinking of the impiety in imagining there is any resemblance between an ass and a saint,

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saint, whether dead or alive. From Baraech we proceeded towards Nanpara, a small town in the first range of mountains, commonly called the Common Hills, which extend from the eastern extremity of Bootan to Hurdwar, and divide Hindustan from Tibet and Nypaul. Game of all sorts were destroyed every morning and evening, without number or dis tinction. His Excellency is one of the best marksmen I ever saw; it would be strange if he was not, as one day with another he fires above 100 shots at every species of birds and animals. The first tiger we saw and killed was in the mountains; we went to attack him about noon; he was in a narrow yalley, which the Nawab surrounded with above 200 ele. phants; we heard him growl horribly in a thick bush in the middle of the valley, being accustomed to the sport, and very eager, I pushed in my elephant; the fierce beast charged me immediately; the elephant, a timid animal, as they generally are, turned tail, and deprived me of the oppor tunity to fire; I ventured again, attended by two or three other elephants; the tiger made a spring, and nearly reached the back of one of the ele. phants, on which were three or four men; the elephant shook himself so forcibly as to throw these men off his back; they tumbled into the bush; I gave them up for lost, but was agreeably surprised to see them creep out unhurt. His Excellency was all this time on a rising ground near the thicket, looking on calmly, and beckoning to me to drive the tiger towards him. I made another attempt, and with more success; he darted out towards me on my approach, roaring furiously, and lashing his side with his tail; I luckily got a shot at him; he retreated into the bush, and ten or twelve elephants just then pushed into the thicket, alarmed the tiger, and obliged him to run out towards the Nawab, who instantly gave him a warm reception, and with the assistance of some of his omras, or lords, laid the tiger sprawling on his side; a loud shout of wha! wha! proclaimed the victory. On elephants there is no danger in encountering these savage beasts, which you know from repeated trials. I have been at the killing of above 30 tigers, and seldom saw any one hurt. If you recollect, I was once thrown off my elephant on a tiger, and escaped with a bruise. The next sport we had of any magnitude, was the attack on a wild elephant, which we met a few days after the battle with the tiger; we espied him in a large plain overgrown with grass; the Nawab, eager for such diversions, immediately formed a semicircle with 400 elephants, who were directed to advance and encircle him: this was the first wild elephant I had ever seen attacked; and confess I did not feel very easy; however, I kept alongside of his Excellency, determined to take my chance. When the semi. circle of elephants got within 300 yards of the wild one, he looked amazed, but not frightened; two large must elephants of the Nawab's were ordered to advance against him; when they approached within twenty yards he charged them; the shock was dreadful; however, the wild one conquered, and drove the must elephants before him; as he passed us; the Nawab ordered some of the strongest female elephants with thick ropes, to go alongside of him; and endeavour to entangle him with nooses and running knots; the attempt was vain, as he snapped every rope, and none of the tame elephants could stop his progress; the Nawab perceiving it impossible to catch him, ordered his death, and immediately a volley of above 100 shots were fired; many of the balls hit him, but he seemed unconcerned, unconcerned, and moved on towards the mountains; we kept up an inces sant fire for near half an hour: the Nawab and most of his Omras used rifles, which carried two and three-ounce balls; but they made very little impression; the balls just entered the skin, and lodged there. I went up repeatedly, being mounted on a female elephant, within ten yards of the wild one, and fired my rifle at his head; the blood rushed out, but the skull was invulnerable; some of the Kandahar horse galloped up to the wild elephant, and made cuts at him with their sabres; he charged the horsemen, wounded some, and killed others; being now much exhausted with the loss of blood, having received above 3000 shots, and many strokes of the sabre, he slackened his pace quite calm and serene, as if determined to meet his approaching end; I could not at this time refrain from pitying so noble an animal. The horsemen seeing him weak and slow, dismounted, and with their swords began a furious attack on the tendons of his hind legs; they were soon cut; unable to proceed, he staggered, and then fell without a groan. The hatchetmen now advanced, and commenced an attack on his large ivory tusks, whilst the horsemen and soldiers, with barbarous insult, began a cruel assault, to try the sharpness of their swords, display the strength of their arm, and shew their invincible courage; the sight was very affecting; he still breathed, and breathed without a groan; he rolled his eyes with anguish on the surrounding crowd, and making a last effort to rise, expired with a sigh. The Nawab returned to his tents as much flushed with vanity and exultation as Achilles; and the remainder of the day, and many a day after, were dedicated to repeated narrations of this victory, which was ornamented and magnified by all the combined powers of ingenious flattery, and unbounded exaggeration:

"Soothed with the sound, the Prince grew vain,
Fought all his battles o'er again,

And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain."

"From the mountains we directed our course towards Buckra Jeel, where we arrived on the 4th of December. Buckra Jeel is a large lake about three miles in circumference at its most contracted size in the dry season, and about 30 miles in its extensive period, the rainy season; surrounded by thick and high grass at the foot of the Gorruckpoor hills; the jungle or wild which entours the lake is full of wild elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, leopards, wild buffaloes, deer, and every species of aerial game. This was the place destined for the grand hunt, which we were daily taught to expect with pleasing anxiety, by the florid descriptions of his Excellency. On the 5th of December, early in the morning, we were summoned to the sylvan war; a line of 1200 elephants was drawn up on the north of the lake facing to the east, and we proceeded rapidly through the high grass, with minds glowing with the expectation of the grand sport we should meet. Lay down your pipes, ye country squires, who, boast in such pompous language the destruction of a poor reynard or puss, and say in what terms ye could convey an idea of the scene I saw, and now endeavour to describe! When we had arrived at the eastern extremity of the lake, we perceived a large drove of wild elephants feeding and gamboling at the foot of the mountains: I counted above 170. At this critical moment, a Mr. Conway, a gentleman in the Nawab's service, fell off his elephant, owing to the animal's stepping his fore foot into a concealed hole. Mr. Conway was much bruised, pale, and almost senseless; the Nawab stopped to put him into a palankeen, and send him back to the encampment: this gave the wild elephants time to gaze on our dreadful front, and recover from their amaze; many of them scampered off towards the hills. The Nawab divided our line of 1200 elephants into four bodies, and sent them in pursuit of the wild ones, which they were to take or destroy. I remained with the division attached to the Nawab: we attacked a large male elephant, and after a long contest, killed him after the same manner I have already described; we killed also four smaller ones; and our division, including the other three, caught 21 elephants, which we led to our encampment in high triumph. I have only given a short account of this grand hunt, as it is impossible to describe what we saw and felt: the confusion, tumult, noise, firing, shrieking and roaring of 1200 tame elephants, attacked and attacking 170 wild ones, all in " terrible disorder tossed," formed a dreadful melange, which cannot be imagined by the most luxuriant fancy. There were above 10,000 shots fired from all quarters; and, considering the confusion, I am surprized the scene was not more bloody on our side; about twenty men were killed and wounded, and near half a dozen horses. I had two rifles and two double barrel guns, and a boy to load for me in the khawar; yet I could not fire quick enough, though I expended 400 balls. Many of our tame elephants, which were must, and brought to oppose the wild ones, were knocked down, bruised, pierced, and made to fly. The largest elephant we killed was above ten feet high *, and would have sold for 20,000 rupees if he had been caught. Our prize of this day might, without amplification, be estimated at 50,000 rupees; but you know our only object was amusement.

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" From Buckra Jeel we came to Fazabad, where we reposed for three weeks, to recover from the great fatigue we had undergone. After a gay scene of every species of oriental amusement, and and festive estive dissipation, returned to this place, having killed in our excursion eight tigers, six elephants, and caught twenty-one. To enumerate the other kinds of game, would require a sheet as ample as the petition which was presented to Jungaze Khan, and might, perhaps, be treated by you in the manner that Asiatic Conqueror treated the petition.-Adieu. -Your's, &c."

"* Travellers say there are elephants sixteen feet high; but this is the exaggerated language of travellers, who, in general are more anxious to excite wonder, than to convey information. I never saw an elephant eleven feet high, and I have seen some thousands. The Nawab gives ex. travagant high prices for the uncommonly large elephants, and he has none eleven feet high. Their general height is about seven or eight feet."

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