Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1857-11-28
SKETCH OF BRITISH INDIA.

From the Parliamentary Report on Indian Ter.
ritories. published 1852. 1t appears that the total
area of British India covers ,36S, ll3 square miles.
OF this territory. the British States contain 677,.
752 square miles with a population OF 90 400 902;
while the native States include 59u.36l square
miles, with a population of 52,350,05l. Prior to
the existing mutiny, the military of all
India numbered 726, 1853 men Of which 435. 229
were in the service of the native princes. This
magnificent country is rich in natura! productions.
1t is watered by numerous rivers, while its coasts
are washed by the ocean from Bombay to Cape
Comorin, and from Cape Comorin to Calcutta. -
The fertile s)il yields coffce and sugar. wheat and
barley, indigo and tobacco, cotton and opium, rice
and various spices. The juice of the mulberry is
there converted into silk by The curious progress
of one of the most wonderful OF insects; and the
fleece of the sheep supplies the natives with wool.
Medicinal herbs abound. Hemp grows wild in
the north western provinces and in the Iimalaya
Large forests furnish wood for useful and ornamen-
tai purposes. The %shipyard OF Bombay are sup
piled with teak from the coast OF Malabar. The
bamboo is used for the construction OF houses and
bridges. Mahogany was only planted in 1875;
but now it is only inferior to the finest qualities OF
Honduras. Maple, logwood, oak, fir, the horse.
chestnut, and almost all the European fruit-trees
flourish; while the mango and the tamarind are
ranged in groves. India yields coal and iron; and
the famous Damascus blades, once so highly priced
by the warrior, are known to have been manufao.
tured in the northwest of Ilindostan; and even in
our DAYS. the wootz steel is imported into England.
for the manufacture of surgical instru ments. The
country can supply nitro for the whole world. -
Precious stones-agates and jnspars. pearls and
diamonds-add to the wealth Of the peninsula
Before the machinery of Lancashire destroyed the
hand loom weavers Of India, they furnished the
most beautiful fabrics to Europe, and did so even
in the time of Augustus Caesar. Their muslins
were so delicate as TO have received the distinctive
titles of running water" and nightly dew" and
,o mas ,,lra ,T tIair Epapauo md tennitu frnp,
the fact that a Persian ambassador, on his return
from India, presented his king with q cocoa nut,
which contained q muslin turbau thirty yards long
and which, when expanded in the air, could hard
ly be felt. The carving of Indian wood. work the
patterns, colors, and texture Of its sbawls and
scarfs, admired for centuries, astonished and
delighted all who visited the Great Exhibition in
Hydepark, in 1851.
From the earliest periods the Hindoos excnlled
in architecture, displayed in their temples and
tombs, and it NAV be read almost with incredibly
that the Hills Of Western India, over the space Of
five thousand square miles, are penetrated by hun
dreds of caves, hewn out Of the solid rock without
the aid of gunpowder, and covered with rich aud
elaborate sculptures, which in size and beauty ri.
val the finest Cathedrals in Europe. The noun
tain Of Aboo, 5 1000 feet high, is covered with a
vast mass of temples. constructed in the seventh
century of the Christian era. According DR.. Blu.
ist, the hills of lIaulitana. are literally crustei
over with temples of the finest arabesque, cut in
the hardest stone. The ruined city OF Betjapoor
contained sixteen hundred mosques. The dome
of the Mausoleum of Ihrahim Adj Shah is q third
than that of st. Paul's. the mosque to which
it belongs is $50 ieot in length, and $50 in breadth;
while the Taj-Mahal of Agra, the monument erect
ed by the Emperor Jehangeer over his wife. the
light of the Harem," built of the purest white
marble, and inlaid with the richest mosaic, stands
unrival!ed among the mausUleums of the world.
These ingenious people were expert in the manu-
flcture of warlike weapons. We have alluded to
their sword blades, so admirably tempered, and
so highly valued by Saracen and Christian knights.
The damask rifles are beautiful, and there are can.
non at Moorshedabad. nacia, and Agra, of prodl.
gi0us Dimensions. That at Agra is a brass fifteen
hundred FOUNDER, of twenty-three inches bore.
In astronomy they were well versed Tor the Brah-
Minis studied the stars and calculated e~clipses, and
their equatorial instruments were 50 COLOSSAL in
size as to allow above three inches and a half to a
degree, each degree being divided into minutes
the gnomons of the sun dials were from a hundred
TO a hundred and twenty feet III length. These
facts alone refute the popular error. that the ma
tives are a semi barbarous people.
The division into Castles has a powerful infu-
ence on the social condition Of Hindoostan. Ac-
cording to the sacred books of the Hindoos, there
are four orders or castles, the Brahmin, the Cshat-
riayas, the Naisyas, and the Sudras. The hrst
proceeded from the mouth of Brahma, the second
from his right arm, the third from his right thigh,
and the fourth from the soles of his feet. The
Brahmin is of the priesthood. and Cshatriayas is
the soldier under the term Vaisyas are ccmpre-
hended The trading classes and the husbandmen,
while the Sudras are the laLorers. This classic.
cation is hereditary. 1t is recorded in the code Of
Menu, written about | 500 years before the birth
of Christ, and from that time 10 the present its
regulations have never been intringed.--Aa'k
Lane Express.