the authenticity of this treaty, the Frith. Mahonimed the prophet writes this to all men, in order to announce and make known to them the word of God; and that the law of God may remain fixed according to the Chriftian rite, as well in the eal as in the weft, in all civilized and in barbarous nations, near or far off, known or unknown. He depofits with them this writing as a treaty to be ftriatly obeyed, and a fipulation publicly made; fo that the law refulting from it fhall become the bafis of juftice, and an engagement that must be cxactly fulfilled. Therefore he who follows Mahomme danifin and shall refufe to obey,and violates this treaty, fo comporting himself like the unfaithful, will be confidered as having rejeeted the conditions of the treaty of God, as having renounced the promises therein made, and as having been wanting to his own confcience, whether he be a fovereign, or any other man amongst the Believers and Muffulmans. Therefore in granting to the Chriftians this treaty mutually binding, and which they required, not only from me, but in the name of all other Muffulmans, wifhing that I fhould make a treaty with them in the name of God, and a general covenant with the Prophets, the Envoys, the Elea, the Saints, Believers and Muffulmans, anterior and future; I then in the name of God, and with a refignation as fincere as a prophet fhould have, and a mellenger endowed with the fame attributes, namely thofe of the divinity, do ordain the following claufes and conditions: I will protect the Judges of the Chriftians in my provinces with my cavalry, and with my infantry, my auxiliaries, my difciples, my believers, in whatever place they fhall be, againfl the enemy, either at a diflance or near, in peace or in war: I will take them under my protection, I will keep the enemy from their churches, their chapels, their oratories, from the hofpitals of their pilgrimages, in whatever place they fhall be, upon a mountain, or in a valley, or in a grotto, or in a houfe, or on the plains, or on the fands, or in any building whatever. I will protect their religion, their properties, wherever they fhall be, in the caft or in the weft, on land and at fea, as I would defend my own perfon and feal, and the Believers and Muffulmans. Under my protection they shall be fafe from all vexation, violence, offence, op preffionand trouble. I fhall be behind them and around them, defending them againft auxiliaries, and my people in general. the common enemy with my difciples, my Thus having the fovereignty over them, and by that bound to be their guardian, I will defend them from all grievances, and nothing fhall befall them that will not befall likewife to my people, who will affift in frengthening my undertaking. I will exempt them from all charges, even thofe which the allies will bear by the commuta tions and contributions; and in this refpect they fhall do nothing but from free will. They fhall not then bear any charges, nor fuffer any confiraint on this fubject. A bifhop fhall not be expelled from his fee, nor a Chriftian from his church, nor a monk from his monaftery, nor a pilgrim difturbed in his pilgrimage, nor a hermit driven from the folitude of his mountain. No part of their churches fhall be taken and employed in building a temple or an habitation for Muffuimans. He that fhal! do fo will thereby violate the treaty of God, injure his Prophet, and infult the fanctity of God. Hermits fhall not then be taxed, nor bifhops, nor in general those who are not fubjected to taxation: they fhall give only what they themfelves choose. The rich affociated merchants, the pearl fifhers, thofe who fearch the mines for diamonds, for gold, for filver; thofe who have a great trade in harness for horfes; in herbs: rich Chriftians in fhort fhall only be taxed twelve deniers a year in what ever dwelling-place they may be where they are fixed and fettled. But if they have no habitation, and are only paffing without having any fettled dwelling-place, they fhall not be fubject to any contribution on tax, unless they poffels a part of the land of fome perfon who pays a tax to the legi timate fovereign. In that cafe they fball be fubject to the fame contribution as any other in the like fituation. No perion fhall be taxed but in propor tion to their means. Those fhall not be in confiderately taxed who are taxed for land, habitation, or the produce of the foil.Nothing fhall be required of any one but what what any other tributary of the fame clafs would pay Thofe who are comprifed in this treaty fhall not be compelled to march with the Mullulmans against the enemy, to fight, or to act as fpies to difcover their force, for war does not belong to these people; and this treaty is to release them from being conftrained to it; for the Muffulmans fhall guard them, and protect them from all offence. They fhall not then be under any obligation to accompany the Muffulmans, who alone fhall march against the enemy, and give them battle. Neither hall any fubfidy be exacted from them, either in cavalry, or in arms; what they furnifh fhall be voluntary. We fhall be grateful to them for it, and they fhall be indemnified. No Muffulman fhall practice any extortion, or be guilty of any other offence against the Chriftians, or feek to take any advantage of them, unless it be that of rendering them fervice. He fhall fpread the wing of mercy over them, fhall keep all evil from them, and all offence wherefoever they may be. If a Chriftian commit a crime or offence of any fort, the Muffulmans hall go to his affiftance, hall hinder the completion of his crime (if it be vet poflible), or fhall interpofe in his behalf, and act as a mediator between him and the perfon or perfons offended. If he be able to purchafe the redemption of his crime, that redemption fhall be facilitated; he fhall not be abandoned, he fhall not be rejected. In fhort, I grant this treaty to the Chriftians, that every thing that is in favour of the Muffulmans may be alfo fo to the Chriftians, as every thing that is unfavourable to the Muffulmans ought likewife to be fo to the Chrif tians; fo that the advantages and difadvantages may be common. In virtue of this treaty, the grant of which could not be refused to a reasonable demand, and a fincere refolution of faithfully fulfilling its tenor; the Mulfulmans are obliged to defend the Chriftians from all grievances, and to fhew every fentiment of humanity in their favour; fo that both Muffulmans and Chriftians fhall neceffarily participate in the fame advantages and difadvantages. Concerning marriage nothing fhall be done inconfiderately. The parents of a young girl fhall not be ill-treated or injured in order to force them to marry her to a Muffulman. No violence shall be done them, though they should oppose the union of the betrothed perfons; for that union fhould only be with their good-will, and their full approbation and confent. If a Chriftian woman lives with a Muffulman, he fhall allow her to follow her religion, according to the doctrines of her priests and fuperiors, to the end that the may receive their inftructions. He fhall by no means conftrain her to renounce her religion, by threatening to fend her away. He fhall not force her to abjure her faith; if he does fo, and to that end ill treats her, from that moment he violates the treaty of God, breaks this flipulation of his Prophet, and appears before God in the number of the liars. If the Chriftians wifh for a contribution or any other affiflance from the Muffulmans to repair their churches and monalleries, the Muffulmans fhall contribute; but this fhall not be confidered as a debt contracted by the Chriftians, it fhall be confidered only as affiftance given them in fupport of their religion and faith, bv virtue of the treaty made by the Prophet of God, and purely as a prefent made them in order to fulfill the treaty between them and the Prophet of God. If a Chriftian is in the company of Muffulmans, they fhall not fhew him any enmity; they fhall not fay to him with a tone of authority: Be my meffenger, my guide; they fhall not opprefs him with any forced commiffions, or do any thing that may give rife to a bloody fray. He that fhall fo conduct himself, fhall be confidered as an impious man, a rebel to the will of God, and a violator of his commandment. But the conditions of this treaty, by which the Prophet of God engages the Chriftians by their religion and confcience, to adhere under the feal of the good faith with which he has granted it, are thefe: No Chriftian fhall give fhelter in his habitation to any military man enemy to the Muffulmans, either fecretly or openly; they fhall admit none of their enemies, nor receive them hofpitably in their caves, nor in the places confecrated for their worfhip. The Chriflians fhall not furnish the enemies of the Muffulmans either with men or arms, either cavalry or infantry; they fhall give the enemy no pledge, nor fhall receive none from them; they fhall not correfpond with them, nor make any treaty with them; and if these enemies retire to any place, they hall leave them to defend themfelves; then it will remain to these enemies to defend their lives, and their religion at the price of their blood, wherefoever they may be, or fhall be found. The Chriftians may not prevent the Muffulmans from taking fubfiftence for three days, both for them and for their people, and for their beafts of burden; they ! fhall even give them variety in their provifions, and refufe them nothing in this refpect. They fhall defend them from all grievances and from all violence, and if it should happen that any Muffulman fhelters himfelf in their habitations, either in one part or another of their dwelling-places, they fhall treat them as friends, relieve their wants, and be folicitous to fhew them every kindness in their misfortune; they fhall never difcover them to the enemy; and they fhall in no manner depart from their duty in these refpects. Whoever among the Chriftians fhall refufe thefe conditions, and breaks them, fhall no longer have any fhare in the articles ordained by the treaty of God and his Prophet, nor to the firm promifes which he has made to the chief ecclefiaftics, to the monks, and to the Chriftians in general, on the part of the people, followers of the Khoran. The Prophet in the name of God adjures his people, by their faith, to obterve this treaty ftrictly in every point, in whatever place they are, or may be: he pledges himself alfo by his own faith, and that of the Muffulmans in this depofit which he leaves them; and he requires an entire obedience, for which the recompence is certain. May this treaty be perpetuated to all ages, to the laft hour, and to the end of the world! And to this writing made between the Prophet of God and the Chriftians with thefe claufes and conditions which they have mutually agreed to, enjoining its ftrict oblervance, have figned: Abubacre-Affadicq. Omar Ben-Al. chatab, Othman Ben Afan, Ali-BenAbi-Taleb, Moavia Ben-Abi-Sofian, Abu-Abdarda, Abu Adrin, Abu Horain, Abdalla-Ben Mafud, Abdalla-Ben-Alabbas, Hamza BenAbdi-Motalleb, Fodail Zaido BenThabet, Abdalla Ben Zaid, Harfus Ben-Zaid, Alzobair Ben Aaulam, Saad Ben Moad, Ben-Matun, Ab dalla Ben-Omar, Alaas, Aben Rabiaa, Hazan Ben-Thabet, Grafar Ben Abi Talch, Aben-Alabhas, Talha Ben-Abdalla, Saad BenAbade, Zaido Ben-Aream, Sahel Ben-Baida, Daud Ben Giobair, Abu-Alaalia, Abu Ahrifa-Ben 0zair, Hafchem Ben-Affia, Omar Ben-Jamin, Caab Ben-Malec, Cab Ben Caab. May the good will of God be with them all! And Moavia Ben-Abi-Sofian, one of the foldiers of the Prophet of God has written this, being fecretary, the last day of the moon of the fourth of the Hejirá at Medina. May God reward thofe that have figned this, as witneffes of what is in this writing; and glory to God, ruler of the world? Narrative of an Eye-Witness to the horrid Cuftom of the Brahman. POONAH, 24th July 1786. This evening about five o'clock I was haftily called to be a fpectator of the fhocking ceremony of felf-devotion fometimes practifed amongst the Brahman females on the death of their husbands. Soon after I and my conductor had quitted the houfe, we were informed the futtee (for that is the name given to the perfon who fo devotes herfelf) had paffed, and her track was marked by the goolal and beetle-leaf, which the had fcat tered as he went along. She had reached the mastal which runs clofe under the tower before we arrived, and having performed her laft abletions, was fitting at the water's edge: over her head was held a punkar, an attendant fanned her with a handkerchief, and the was furrounded by her relations, a few friends and fome chofen Brah. mans, the populace being kept aloof by a guard from government. In this fituation, I learn from good au. thority, the diftributed among the Brahmans Brahmans two thoufand rupees, and the jewels with which the came decorated; referving only, as is usual on these occafions, a fmall ornament in her nofe, called mootee, (perhaps from a pearl or two on it,) and a bracelet of plain gold on each wrist. From her posture I could fee only her hands, which, with the palms joined, rofe above her head in an attitude of invocation. Quitting, therefore, this poft, I removed to an eminence, that gave me an opportunity of obferving the construction of the funeral pile, and commanded the pathway by which I understood the would approach it. The fpot chofen for its erection was about forty paces from the river, and directly fronting the futtee. When I came up, the frame only was fixed; it confifted of four uprights, each of about ten feet high; they food rather more than nine feet afunder lengthwife, and under fix in breadth; foon after, by ropes faftened near the top of the uprights, was fufpended a roof of rafters, and on it again heaped as many billets as it would bear; beneath arofe a pile of more fubftantial timbers, to the height of four feet, which was covered over with dry ftraw, and bushes of a fragrant and faered fhrub called toolfee. The fides and one end being then filled up with the fame materials, the other extremity was left open as an entrance. After this ceremony, the lady got up and walked forward, fupported in the midft by her friends: the approached the door-way, and there having paid certain devotions, retired a few yards afide, and was encircled as before. The dead body now brought from the bank (whence it had hitherto remained clofe to the place the futtee lately fat on) was laid upon the pile, and VOL. 2. with it feveral fweetmeats, and a paper bag, containing either flour or duft of fandal. The widow got up, and walked three times flowly round the pile; then feating herfelf oppofite to the entrance, on a fmall fquare ftone, conftantly used on fuch occafions, and on which two feet were rudely fketched, the received and returned the melancholy compliments of her companions with great ferenity: the then ftood up a fecond time, and, having ftroaked her right hand over the heads of a favoured few in a very fervid manner, gently inclining her perfon towards them, fhe let her arm fall round their necks in a faint embrace, and turned from them. Then, with her hands upheld to heaven, but with her eyes caft on the ground, fhe continued for fome time fixed and immoveable; at length, without altering a feature, or betraying the fmallett fymptom of agitation, fhe afcended the door-way unaffifted, and, laying down befide her bufband's corpfe, gave herself, in the meridian of health and beauty, a victim to the flames. As foon as fhe entered, fhe was hid from our view by bundles of straw, with which the aperture was clofed up, and all the actors in this tragic scene feemed to vie with each other who fhould be moft forward in hurrying it to a conclufion. At once, fome darkened the air with a cloud of goolol; fome, darting their hatchets at the fufpending cords, broke the laden root upon her; and others rufhed eagerly forward to apply the fatal torch: at this moment of agony, when the mind must have loft its influence, the trumpets broke forth from every quarter. When the conflagration took place, and not till then, the pile was fed for a time with large quan tities of ghee thrown by the nearest * Z ot of kin; but, except the toolfee and ftraw before-mentioned, no combuftible whatever, that I either faw or could learn, was used in preparing the pile. It is faid to be the custom, that as the futtee afcends the pile, fhe is furnished with a lighted taper to fet fire to it herfelf; and my companion, who was a Brahman, afferted that in this inftance it was the cafe; but I traced the whole progrefs of the cere. monies with fo close and eager an attention, that I think I may fafely contradict him. As curiofity may be excited to know fomething of the fubject of this terrible, though here not un common immolation, I have col lected the following particulars: a The lady's name was Toolefboy; her bufband's, Ragaboy Tauntea; he was about thirty years old, and nephew to Junaboy Daddah, a perfon of diftinction in this place; little girl about four years of age, the fruit of their unifon, furvives them. Tooley was nineteen, her ftature above the middle ftandard, her form elegant, and her features interesting and expreffive; her eyes, in particular, animated and commanding at the folemn moment in which I faw her, these beauties were eminently confpicuous. Defcription of varicus Articles found in the Palace at Seringapatam, and fent to England as Prefents to the Royal Family, and is the Court of Directors of the East India Company. Memorandum refpecting the Hunting Establishment of Tippoo Sultaun, at Seringapatam, with an ac. count of the Chetas fent to His Majefty. The principal amufement followed by Tippoo Sultaun at Seringapatam, for feveral years, was to hunt antelopes with chetas*. His predilection for this diverfion was manifefted in the precautions taken to preferve the game, and the attention paid to render the fport as perfect as poffible. A confider. able tract of ground to the S. W. of Seringapatam, and called the Rumna, was exclufively appropriated for the maintenance of the game, and guarded with the ut moft vigilance. There were feve ral hunting bungalows + in different parts of the rumna for the Sultan to retire to after the fatigues of the day. To each of thefe was at tached a small establishment of fervants, who were refponfible for the care of the buildings and gardens t. The number of chetas in Tippoo's A fpecies of fpotted tyger, and known, in the relations of travellers, under the name of hunting leopard. See annexed account. + A name uled in India for a small light building. Each of thefe gardens contained four finall but neat buildings, regularly dif pofed, and fronting each other; the ground between them being laid out in walks of the Cyprefs trees. The ground adjacent to the buildings was alfo laid out in gardens; and the whole was furrounded by a thick hedge, through which there were entrances and gates. NB. The Sultaun chofe whichever of the buildings he preferred, and the party took the others. |