to consider that, of these twelve altars, each seventy-five feet high, and erected purposely to transmit the hero's "immortal" triumphs to posterity, not a relic can be found.

At Huree ka Puttun, the city of Krishna,' they crossed the Hyphasis and entered the Punjab; they were received by a Sikh sirdar. In their journey across the Doab (the tract between the Beas and Ravee), they saw some examples of the wanton freaks of the Acalis, who had set a village on fire.

They were kindly received by Runjeet, whose sports, reviews, and social meetings they partook of, and were sumptuously lodged in splendid tents of Cashmere shawls. The conversation of the old chief was full of animation, and when he spoke of his battles and victories, his one eye gleamed with satisfaction. The festival of Bussunt, or spring, was celebrated whilst the visitors were there, with great splendour. We subjoin a description of a festive party in the Maharaja's bed-room.

We sat round his highness on silver chairs. In one end of the room stood a camp bedstead, which merits a description. Its frame-work, posts, and legs, were covered with gold, and the canopy was one massy sheet of the same precious metal. It stood on footstools, raised about ten inches from the ground, and which were also of gold. The curtains were of Cashmere shawls. Near it stood a round chair of gold; and in one of the upper rooms of the palace we saw the counterpart of these costly ornaments. The candles that lighted up the apartment were held in branch-sticks of gold. The little room in which we sat was superbly gilded; and the side which was next the court was closed by a screen of yellow silk. Here we enjoyed the society of our royal entertainer, who freely circulated the wine, filled our glasses himself, and gave every encouragement by his own example. Runject drinks by the weight, and his usual dose does not exceed that of eight pice;* but on this occasion he had quaffed the measure of eighteen. His favourite beverage is a spirit distilled from the grapes of Cabool, which is very fiery, and stronger than brandy. In his cups he became very amusing, and mentioned many incidents of his private life. He had quelled two mutinies among his troops; three of his chiefs had, at different times, fallen by his side; and he had once challenged his adversary to settle the dispute by single combat. The battles of his highness infected the dancing ladies, whom he had introduced, in a later period of the evening, according to his custom. He gave them spirits; and they tore and fought with each other, much to his amusement, and to the pain of the poor creatures, who lost some ponderous ornaments from their cars and noses in the scuffle. Supper was introduced, and consisted of different kinds of meats, richly cooked, and which, in contrast to the surrounding magnificence, were handed up in leaves sewed into the shape of cups.

Mr. Burnes was informed that the converts to the Sikh creed increase at the rate of 5,000 a-year. They are, he says, doubtless, the most rising people in modern India. Their general resemblance to each other he mentions as a remarkable fact, occurring in so short a space of time. With extreme regularity of features, they have an elongation of countenance, 'which distinguishes them strongly from other tribes.

A small copper coin.

They traversed the Punjab from Lahore in a N.W. direction, crossing the Chenab at the usual ferry, and reached the Jelum, or Hydaspes. The country between the two rivers is miserable,—a sterile waste of underwood, the abode of shepherds, whose personal character is very accurately sketched by Arrian. Marching up the right bank of the Jelum, through a rich and fertile tract, between the river and the Salt Range, they came to Julalpoor, supposed to have been the scene of Alexander's battle with Porus. Preceding travellers (Mr. Elphinstone, for example) have found this pass to correspond closely with the scene as described by Arrian. Lieut. Burnes, however, seems to think the village of Jelum the more likely spot. Between these places are extensive ruins, bricks and pottery; and here Mr. Burnes is inclined to place the sites of Nicea and Bucephalia.

The fort of Rotas, one of the great bulwarks between Tartary and India, is described as a place of great strength. From this fortress they entered a mountainous and rugged country of great strength, and reached the village of Manikyala, where is situated the tope, or sepulchre, recently opened. Mr. Burnes does not hesitate to fix upon this place as the site of Taxila. Other topes of a similar kind are mentioned, and some of them have been explored by Europeans since Mr. Burnes' visit. His theory respecting them is, that they are the sepulchres of either the Bactrian kings, or their IndoScythic successors, mentioned in the Periplus of the second Arrian.

On reaching the Indus, they came in contact with the Afghans, and Mr. Burnes was struck with their manly mien. Fording the river at Attock (this fortress is a place of no strength), they proceeded to Peshawur, and were received by the Afghans and Khuttuks at the frontiers with blunt hospitality. Sooltan Mahommed Khan, the chief of Peshawur, treated them with much kindness. The persons they met with in his society were sociable and well-informed, cheerful and even noisy in mirth, free from prejudice in matters of religion, and many of them well-versed in Asiatic history. The chief himself is described as an educated well-bred gentleman, brave, affable, and who transacts his own business. He spoke to our traveller without reserve of Runjeet, wishing for some change that might release him from his subjection to the Sikhs. On taking leave, nothing could surpass the kindness of the Khan.

From Peshawur they set off for Cabool along the river, which they crossed on a raft supported by inflated skins. "It is important to know," remarks Mr. Burnes, "that there is a water channel of communication from near Cabool to the ocean."

The approach to Cabool is any thing but imposing; nor was it till they were under the shade of its fine bazar that our travellers could believe themselves in the capital of an empire. This bazar, or chouchout, is 600 feet long, and thirty broad, with a painted roof, fountains and cisterns, which are, however, neglected. "Still there are few such bazars in the East." The stock of goods of all kinds is immense; every trade has its separate bazar, and all seemed busy. Cabool is populous (6,000 souls), and compactly built; but the houses have no pretensions to elegance. Tradition

any cere

speaks of its great antiquity. The Afghans of the city are represented as a sober, simple, steady people; idle, but frank and open; they are "a nation of children, and in their quarrels fight and become friends without mony." Mr. Burnes " imbibed a very favourable impression of their national character." He favours the tradition of their descent from the Jews." Dost Mahomed Khan, the governor, received the travellers very graciously, manifesting towards them, during their stay of three weeks, "great politeness and attention."

The Hindu (Shikapoor) merchants of Cabool, who have houses of agency from Meshed to Calcutta, engross the trade of Central Asia; they are a plodding race, who take no share in any other matters than their own, and secure protection from Government by lending it money. These merchants offered our traveller, for his letters of credit, bills on Nishnei Novogorod, Astrachan, or Bokhara!

After visiting the tomb of Baber and other objects, they commenced their journey over the Hindu Koosh, which has been fully detailed in this Journal,* as well as the difficulties they encountered at Khooloom (Khulm), and Koondooz. They arrived at Balkh, "the mother of cities," in June, and remained there three days. The ruins, which extend over a circuit of twenty miles, consisting of fallen mosques and decayed tombs of sun-dried bricks, present no relics of magnificence; none of the ruins are of an age prior to Mohamedanism. Mr. Burnes met with some Bactrian and other ancient coins at this place. Without the walls of this bigotted city are the graves of Mr. Moorcroft and Mr. Guthrie, one of his companions.

In traversing the tract between Balkh and the Oxus, (under a guard of Toorkmans) Mr. Burnes had an opportunity of verifying the correctness of its description by Quintus Curtius. The river, where the travellers crossed it, was 800 yards wide, and 20 deep; its current was at the rate of three and a-half miles an hour. The mode of crossing was peculiar. A pair of horses were yoked to the boat at each bow, and the boat was pushed into the water, a man holding loosely the reins of each horse, and urging him to swim they crossed this wide river by this ingenious and simple means in fifteen minutes.

The journey to Bokhara was fatiguing. On arriving at this city, they were obliged to adopt the distinguishing dress of Franks. The city struck Mr. Burnes with surprise. He walked two miles through the streets before he reached the citadel. The circumference of the city is eight miles; it has a wall of earth twenty feet high, with twelve gates. The interior is filled with lofty and arched bazars of brick, ponderous and massy colleges and mosques, and lofty minarets; there are about twenty caravanserais, and about 100 ponds and fountains of squared stone. The city is intersected by canals shaded with mulberry trees. Most of the private houses are small and of one story, and are built of sun-dried brick on a frame-work of wood; but some are superior, and neatly painted, with stuccoed walls; others had Gothic arches, decorated with gilding; the apartments were elegant and

Vol. xi. p. 114.

comfortable. The population amounts to 150,000. A description of this celebrated city is given by Mr. Burnes in a paper inserted in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which we have abridged and inserted in this Journal.

Mr. Burnes did not deem it prudent to attempt visiting Samarcand, which has now dwindled to a town of 8,000 souls, and gardens and fields occupy the place of streets and mosques. In the vicinity of Bokhara are the ruins of an ancient city, named Khojuoban, where he procured some beautiful coins of the Bactrian kings.

. After about two months' residence at Bokhara, (whose king they were not introduced to), the travellers took leave of the vizier, who had treated. them with great kindness, though reputed to be of a cunning character. They determined to proceed to the Caspian, but owing to some misunderstanding between the khan of Khiva and the merchants whose cafila they had joined, they were detained at Meerabad, a small Toorkman village forty miles from Bokhara, for near a month, which gave them an opportunity of becoming tolerably familiar with the character and manners of the Toorkmans and Uzbeks. Mr. Burnes says:

I really began to feel an interest in the affairs and prospects of many of the individuals with whom I had been thus associated. The names of tribes and places, which had at one time appeared as far beyond my means of enquiry, were now within its compass. The Toorkmun chief, who was our master of ceremonies on these occasions, was himself a character; he was accompanying the caravan, to instruct his brethren by the way, and prevent our being plundered; but we soon found that he himself had no definite ideas of meum and tuum; since he had already appropriated to himself three gold tillas, which he had asked of me as part of the hire due to the Cafila-bashee, who was also a Toorkmun. Ernuzzar (for that was the name of our friend) was, however, both an useful and amusing companion. He was a tall bony man, about fifty, with a manly countenance, improved by a handsome beard, that was whitening by years. In early life, he had followed the customs of his tribe, and proceeded on allaman" (plundering) excursions to the countries of the Huzara and Kuzzil-bash; and some fearful wounds on his head showed the dangerous nature of that service.

We shall complete our notice of this work in a succeeding article.

CHINA.

(PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.)

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR: There is a case at present in progress here, which is grievous to all the friends of China, of which I desire to be one. I will briefly rehearse it. Some time ago, an affray occurred at a place called Kum-sing-moon, in which a foreigner was deliberately murdered by three or four natives, who overpowered him in the affray; and, to conceal the murder, instead of burying the body, they cut it to pieces, carried it in a fishing-boat out to the roads, and cast it into the sea. This statement was obtained from their own confes

sion: no remnant of the man was ever found. On the other side, a native was wounded in the posteriors with small shot; the parts mortified, and he died within twenty or thirty days. The local government caught the natives who murdered the foreigner; and they demanded that the foreigner, who fired the shot which wounded and caused the death of the native, should be found and delivered up to them. With this demand it was not practicable to comply. Week after week, they reiterated the order to have the "foreign murderer," as they called him, delivered up. At last, despairing of compliance, government has connived at a hong merchant, a leader among that responsible body, having, for four or five hundred dollars, bribed some ignorant, half-foreigner about Macao, to personate the foreign murderer, and have put this confession into his mouth, in order that his life may be safe, and he be banished from China, after the farce of trial and report to the emperor shall be gone through. This is the purport of the confession, which the Chinese admire for its ingenuity: "The foreigner, who was killed at Kum-sing-moon, was my elder brother; when I saw the natives murdering him, I ran up and stooped forward to rescue him; at which moment, a fowling-piece I had fastened on my back went off and shot the native, who has since died. We two brothers were the only children of an old mother, who has now no one to take care of her. I beg for mercy, that I may return home and wait on my mother in her old age."

These circumstances were intended to be kept secret from foreigners; but common fame and some tell-tale divulged them. The foreigners protested against an innocent man being thus implicated, although by his own ignorance and folly, to the governor of Canton. The governor has over and over again denied the man's innocence, but says the man has delivered himself up, in which there is some merit, and has confessed facts which will save his life, inasmuch as the deed was purely accidental-quite unintentional; therefore, he will not be required to forfeit his life. All this, the governor, the judge, the kwang-chow-foo, and other mandarins concerned, as well as the foreign and native public, know is perfectly untrue; but with this fiction of law they are proceeding, and have reported to Peking in substance as above, and are now waiting, with the man in confinement, for the emperor's answer.

Every man of truth and principle must consider such a mockery of justice as extremely odious in itself. It is, moreover, a precedent dangerous for foreigners; and it implies such weakness and wickedness in the Chinese government, as utterly disgrace them.

In Chinese affrays and private wars, when parties are killed, the rich can procure, strange to say, substitutes to suffer death. They are called Tingheung, or 'substitute murderers:' but they are forbidden by law. And the Chinese have a capital crime which they call ke-keun, ' deceiving and insulting the sovereign.' The hong merchant, who has acted in getting up the present farce, by buying the poor ignorant foreigner, has once in his life-time been nearly frightened to death by a Canton judge threatening to convict him of the crime of ke-keun. Should the present fraud be discovered by the emperor, the farce now enacting may be tragical for the parties many years hence. Yet, to get over the present difficulty, they foolishly run this risk.