ated and diseased figures too plainly indicate the want of wholefome nourishment: unhappily for them, the cocoa-nut, which thrives in the >>utmost luxuriance in the neighbouring ifles, is not to be found here; but they are extremely fond of it; and whenever a nut was left in their way by the fettlers, it was immediately carried off with much apparent fatisfaction. Captain Stokoe, who conftantly refided on the inland, difappointed in his attempts to establish a focial intercourfe, endeavoured to alleviate their wants, by fending, as often as circumftances would admit, fmall fupplies of victuals to their huts, which were ́always abandoned on the approach of his people, but reforted to again when they had withdrawn. A party of fillers belonging to the fettlement enticed a woman, by the allurement of food, to come fo clofe that the was made prifoner: inftead of relieving her hunger, they proceeded to offer violence; the cries of the poor creature brought a nu merous troop of favage friends to her affiftance, who, ruthing cut of the thickets, attacked and killed two of the yet more favage aggref fors. Their bodies were after. wards found disfigured in a fhocking manner. A coafting party one day difcovered a man and a boy ftretched on the beach, apparently in the laft ftage of famine; they were conveyed to the fettlement: unfortunately every effort of humanity failed to fave the man; but the boy recovered, and is now in the fervice of Colonel Kyd at Calcutta, where he is much noticed for the striking fingularity of his appearance. The language of the Andamanerst has not been discovered to poffefs the flighteft affinity to any that is fpoken in India, either continental or iflandic. Captain Stokoe informed me, that what he heard was not at all harfh or dif. agreeable to the ear; their fongs are wildly melodious; and their gefticu. lation, whilft finging, is extremely impaffioned. This is one among the many *This circumflance rather feems to indicate that they are not cannibals; the bodies of the Bengal fishermen were pierced by fharp weapons, and pounded by ftones until every bone was broken; but the flesh was not cut off, nor any limb feverd. + Specimen of the language of Andaman, from the 4th Vol. of the Afiatic Refearches. many evidences to prove that poetry is coeval with the language of man. The only quadrupeds feen on the ifland are, hogs, rats, and the ich heumon; the guana alfo, of the lizard tribe, may be reckoned in this clafs, and thefe proved very deftructive to poultry; there are alfo feveral fpecies of fnakes and fcorpions. Labourers, whilft clearing away the underwood, were frequently bitten; but in no inftance did the bite prove mortal, although the patients commonly fell into violent convulfions: eau de face and opium were the remedies in moft cafes administered. During the prevalence of the north-eaft monfoon, fifh is caught in great abundance, but in the tempeftuous feafon it is difficult to be procured; grey mullet, rock cod, fkate, and foles, are among the best; oyfters have been found, but in no great quantity. The fhores abound in a variety of beautiful fhells, gorgonias, madreporas, murex, and cowries, with many other kinds, of which Captain Stokoe had made a curious and valuable collection. There are feveral forts of trees on the island; among which are, the Ficus religiofa, or banyan tree, the almond tree, and the oil tree, which latter grows to a great height, and from it a very useful oil is thus produced: a horizontal incifion being made in the trunk, fix or eight inches deep, a chip fourteen or fifteen inches long is cut at right angles, and the furface of the incition being hollowed and filled with live coals, the turpentine, or wood oil, exudes copioully from the top of the wound. The penaigre tree alfo is found, and is well adapted for the knees of fhips; and the iron tree, of ftupendous fize, whofe timber almoft bids defiance to the axe of the wood-cutter; the 6 red-wood, which makes beautiful furniture little inferior to fine mahogany. Befide thefe, there are numberlefs creepers and rattans which furround the ftems of the larger trees, and, interwoven with each other, form fo thick a hedge that it is impoffible to penetrate far into the foreits, but by the flow and laborious procefs of cutting a road. The first fettlers in an uninhabited land have not only to contend againft natural obftacles, and the want of feveral neceffary comforts of life, but muft likewife encounter the effects of an unwholesome atmofphere; for no country thoroughly agrees with the human conftitution, until it is cleared and cultivated. The new colonists, notwithstanding every polible attention was paid to the prefervation of their health, became fickly; they were afflicted, during the four dry months, December, January, February, and March, with the fcurvy. This complaint, however, was owing to a change of food, and a want of vegetable diet: as foon as the rains commenced, it mitigated, and quickly difappeared; but it gave way to a dreadful fuc.. ceffor, the intermittent fever and ague, which baffled all power of medicine. An induration and enlargement of the fpleen, a difeafe well known in India by the name of Bofs, was generally its concomitant. The caufe of these fevers, being local, could not be remedied. Situated in the full fweep of the fouth-weft monfoon, and the clouds being obstructed by high mountains, the illand is, for eight months in the year, wafhed by inceffant torrents. According to a meteorological table kept by Captain Stokoe, there appears to have fallen in feven months, ninety-eight inches of water, a quantity far exceeding what I had ever heard of in any other country, An An ACCOUNT of BENARES. (From GLADWIN's Afiatic Mifcellany, never before published in this Country.) BENARES, (otherwife Caufhee,) ftands on the northern fide of the Ganges, and is reputed the most holy city of the Hindû fect. Regarded with the fame veneration as Mecca with the Muffulmans, a pilgrimage to Benares abfolves every fin, and fecures to the Pagan a fettlement in Heaven. A number of Rajahs and opulent Hindûs have contributed to its celebrity, by monaftic inftitutions for Fakeers and Brahmins; by establishments for pagodas; by fine flights of ftone steps down to the Ganges, for the convenience of luftration; by gardens contiguous to the town; by long avenues of trees; and by extenfive tanks. Some of thefe benefactions they were enabled to bestow at a moderate expence, on account of feveral ftone-quarries within the mountains, at no great diftance either from the place, or from the river fide. There are few Hindûs, indeed, of diftinc. tion, who have not their finall pagoda at Benares, in charge of a Brahmin entertained by them, for the purpofe of offering up prayers and facrifice, and of diftributing alms, on their account, at the confecrated city. A pagoda, called Viffwifhor, or Vifshifhor, is the principal place of worship. Though fmall, it is a handsome temple, built wholly of ftone ftained of a red colour, and fculptured, both infide and out, in an elegant manner. The idol within the temple is a black cylindrical ftone called Seeb, or Mah Deeoo, (the Phallus of the ancient Egyptians,) i. e. the Great God. Both men and women refort in crowds, every morning and evening, to the adoration of this image, to which they are fummoned by the ringing of bells. To the homage of this curious divinity, they bear with them Ganges water, rice, beetle, plantains, fugar, flowers, and frank. incenfe, as an offering. They carry also a small lamp filled with ghee, and a little bell. On their entering the temple, they light the lamp and fire the frankincenfe, and place them both, with feveral other articles of the offering, be fore the idol. They then fprinkle the idol with water and part of the rice, and crown the top of it with flowers. After the oblation they pray, and in the interval of every prayer tinkle their little bell. When the hour of prayer is ended, the Brahmins carry away their of ferings, which are confidered as their fubfiftence. There is a ftone figure of a bull within the pagoda, and ufually a confecrated live bull kept within the court of the temple. Fire is not only a facred offering of the Hindûs, but is itself allo worshipped by them, as is its prototype, the Sun. As in other fa cred places of Hindustân, devoted Fakeers are here feen, with their limbs distorted by voluntary acts of penance. Betides the Viffwifhor, there are a multitude of fmaller pagodas in Benares, and a celebrated obfervatory, erected, near a century ago, by a Rajah of Joynagur. But the mofques are few only. The largest was erected on the highest part of the bank, by the Emperor Akbar, but is remarkable for nothing more than its lofty minars. All the principal houses are built of of ftone, in ftreets, (or rather alleys), fo very narrow that a palan keen has barely room to pafs. Abundance of wealthy merchants are refident in this capital, or refort to it. Thefe lanes or paffages, for the fecurity of their property, are clofed every night, at both ends, with thick doors, placed with iron, and filled with nails; fo that though the town be unfortified, it would prove a work of fome difficulty to penetrate into its interior parts. From the upper ftories of many opponite houfes communications are made by fmall bridges. Benares is the principal mart for diamonds on the eastern fide of In dia. It poffeffes alfo a manufactory of gold and filver tissue, atlafs, filks and gauzes, keemcaub, mufhnoo, and gulbuddun. Like other places of fanatic or fuperftitious enthufiafm, it is notorious for unrestricted gallantry and licentious intrigue. From hence to Delhi, the women, above the vulgar clafs, are generally perfonable, many eminently beautiful, and few deformed. Neither France nor Italy can boaft of courtefans more expertly killed in the cofmetic art, or in decoying allurements to captivate, to influence, to fafcinate, and te ficece their paramours. ACCOUNT of LUCKNOW. (From GLADWIN's Afiatic Mifcellany, never before published in this Country.) IT is cuftomary among the Princes of Hinduftân, to remove the feat of government (the refi. dence of their predeceffors) on their acceffion to the fovereignty. Thus Afoph-ud-Dowlah, the prefent Na bob of Oude (1785), quitted Fyzabad, a pleafant fituation upon the banks of the Gograh, on the demife of his father Shujah Dowlah, and fixed his court at Lucknow, an irregular dirty town. Extending, however, along the fouth fide of a small river, called from its ferpentine courfe the Goomtee, or Meander, and decorated by a num ber of gardens lately laid out on its environs, the place is become fomewhat lefs difagreeable. The palace of the Nabob Vizier lies towards the eastward of the town, on the river fide, and front ing it. It confifts of fix principal courts. tendants. The entrance to this area is through two lofty gate ways. Over the first is a room called Nobit Konnah, or orchestra for martial mufic, which plays morning and evening. 2. State apartments, encompaff ing a fquare garden, together with an external enclofure for fmaller rooms, conftitute the fecond court, called Bowly, from a large well within it, which includes a staircafe and fmaller receffes, with openings in the well from top to bottom. Thefe rooms are calculated for cool retirement during the folftitial months; the apertures through the wall of the well, and the driping of the waters, renders the air quite refreshing. At the corner oppofite the Bowly is an arcaded chamber with a piazza, for fleeping in during the fummer heats. 1. Is an area called Putch The dimenfions of it are about Mhullah, for his equipage and at- fourteen feet fquare, with a boarded VOL. 2. * H floor. floor. Perials (falling curtains) of kufh-kath, or jowallah (pecks of fweet-fcented grafs) interworen fill up the arcades. All round the piazza are fountains, falling into a carved marble bafon er trongh, from whence fervants continually fprinkle the perdals. The hot winds blowing on the penlabs perfectly allays the heat, and fometimes, when violent, renders the cold almost intolerable. 3. Parallel to the fecond court, and at the caftz ard of it, is a handfome edifice, railed on an arched terrace, entirely of one. This fabric, called Sungre Dalaum, comprifes a grand hall, furrounded with a domble arcade, crowned with four capolas at the corners, and one at the principal front, covered with copper doubly gilt. At the extremities of the terrace are two wings, for moming and evening refort. From both fronts extends a long flower-garde, divided into partenes by walks and fountains. Along the fide walls runs a corridor, forming one continued arbour of vines, which fhades its whole roof. Into this garden are four entrances; one on the north fide, through a covered paffage, for the accefs of the ladies; two others through fpacious gateways on the eaft and well; and a fourth from the fouth, under another tone building, furmounted alfo by gilt domes. Within the precinct of the gardens is alio a fmall mofque, with gilt minars, commodious offices, and fwings for ladies exercife. 4. To the north of the Sangee Dalaun is another garden court, containing public offices, erected by Shujah Dowlah, called Mutchce Bowen, remarkable for nothing further than being the first ftructure of the Sabahs at Lucknow; for the rell of this palace was built by the prefent Nabob. 5. In a line with the Mutchee Bowan, and to the weft of it, lies the zenana. Three heavy piles of unfhapely houfes, called SheethMehul, Khord-Mehul, and RungMehal (or generally Mehul-Seray!, the walls whereof being high, with few windows, and thole fmall and latticed, nothing of courfe can be difcerned within them. From exterior appearance, how. ever, this haram feems athioned like others of the country, which are, in general, oblong gardens, with fountains, whereof a kind of fummer-boufe forms the centre. At each end is ufually a ball, with four finaller upper apartments, and as many on the ground-floor; the whole fronted with arcades, and feah-bauns, or cloths ftretched out from the top of the arcades, and fapported by poles, in order to fade off the glare of light and heat. Along the fide-walls withit, are offices for female domeftics, and without, and at the gates, rooms for guards and eunuchs. If the women are numerous, feveral zenanas are added of the like form. The ladies of family or diftinction, or who are favourites, have each their feparate dwellings. There being no windows on the outfide, the zenanas become often fo excesively close in the fummer, as to threaten putrid diforders; to obviate which, the women are re. moved to tents in the country. When they travel, their convey. ance is in covered feats on ele. phants, or in covered palankeens. 6. Separated from the palace, by the fireet only, to the eaffward is a flower-garden, called Hoffin Bang, bordering on the river; and enclofed with a brick wall covered with vines. In its front ftands three ftone baftions, the two corner ones fupporting, on arches, two oval-fluted cupolas, covered with copper, |