CHAP. XI. MANNERS AND CHARACTER. CHAP. XI. been stated that Hindostan and the Deckan qual, in extent, to all Europe; except the an part of it, and the countries north of the Difference en different civilised nations are found within in manners and languaget, nearly as much hose inhabiting the corresponding portion of They have, also, about the same degree of general resemblance which is observable among the tions of Christendom, and which is so great that stranger from India cannot, at first, perceive any material difference between an Italian and an nglishman. In like manner Europeans do not at ace distinguish between the most dissimilar of the ations of India. The greatest difference is between the inhasitants of Hindostan proper, and of the Deckan. The neighbouring parts of these two great divi rally resemble each other; but in the of Indian nations. III. BOOK and thread; indigo and other dies; cinnamon and other spices; sugar; diamonds, pearls, emeralds, and many inferior stones; steel; drugs; aromatics; and, sometimes, female slaves. Imports. Inland trade. The imports were coarse and fine cloth (probably woollen); brass; tin; lead; coral; glass; antimony; some few perfumes not known in the country; wines (of which that from Italy was preferred); together with a considerable quantity of specie and bullion. The great facility of transport afforded by the Ganges and its numerous branches has been alluded to; but, as few of the other rivers are navigable far from the sea, the internal trade must always have been mostly carried on by land. Oxen would be the principal means of conveyance; but as, from the earliest Hindú times to the decline of the Mogul empire, the great roads were objects of much attention to the government, we may, perhaps, presume that carts were much more in use formerly than of later years. CHAP. XI. MANNERS AND CHARACTER. CHAP. XI. IT has been stated that Hindostan and the Deckan Ten different civilised nations are found within the above space. All these nations differ from each other, in manners and languaget, nearly as much as those inhabiting the corresponding portion of Europe. They have, also, about the same degree of geneneral resemblance which is observable among the nations of Christendom, and which is so great that a stranger from India cannot, at first, perceive any material difference between an Italian and an Englishman. In like manner Europeans do not at once distinguish between the most dissimilar of the nations of India. The greatest difference is between the inhabitants of Hindostan proper, and of the Deckan. The neighbouring parts of these two great divisions naturally resemble each other; but in the extremities of the north and south the languages + See pp. 278, 279. * Introduction, p. 6. note. of Indian nations. III. BOOK have no resemblance, except from a common mixture of Shanscrit; the religious sects are different; the architecture, as has been mentioned elsewhere, is of different characters; the dress differs in many respects, and the people differ in appearance; those of the north being tall and fair, and the others small and dark. The northern people live much on wheat, and those of the south on rági, a grain almost as unknown in Hindostan as in England.* Many of the points of difference arise from the unequal degrees in which the two tracts were conquered and occupied : first, by the people professing the Braminical religion, and afterwards by the Mussulmans; but more must depend on peculiarities of place and climate, and, perhaps, on varieties of race. Bengal and Gangetic Hindostan, for instance, are contiguous countries, and were both early subjected to the same governments; but Bengal is moist, liable to inundation, and has all the characteristics of an alluvial soil; while Hindostan, though fertile, is comparatively dry, both in soil and climate. This difference may, by forming a diversity of habits, have led to a great dissimilitude between the people: the common origin of the languages appears, in this case, to forbid all suspicion of a difference of race. From whatever causes it originates, the contrast is most striking. The Hindostanis on the Ganges are the tallest, fairest, and most warlike and manly of the Indians; they wear the turban, and a dress Cynosurus Coracanus. * |