as possible to conceal their treasures. But the immense wealth of India was anciently to be found principally in the temples, and in the palaces of the princes and nobles. In the former were numerous images of massive gold and silver, and many of them enriched with the most precious gems of the east. Almost every individual had his household gods, formed of more or less valuable materials according to the means of the possessor. They who could not afford to have them in the precious metals, had them of brass, and even of clay. In descriptions of palaces that are to be met with, we read of ceilings of rooms plated with pure gold

"In the plains of India, also, not less than in those of Europe, are supposed to lie buried treasures, .principally in bullion, to an incalculable amount, deposited there during the ravages and oppression of successive conquerors, through at least eight centuries of anarchy and tumult; I mean from the seventh century, to the mild and peaceable reign of Akber. These are now and then, though rarely, discovered, and sometimes Greek coins."-Maurice's Indian Antiquities, vol. vii.

p. 546.

and silver, and columns of the latter entwined with vines of gold. Quintus Curtius says, that when the Hindu princes went abroad, they were carried in litters* of gold, ornamented with fringes of pearls, and were preceded by numerous officers carrying censers of silver to perfume the way. In the Ayeen Akbery, we have an account of the jewels and ornaments anciently worn by Hindu women, which serves to give an idea of the variety, quantity, and great value of those ornaments.

But notwithstanding the wealth with which India abounded, it is very possible that the precious metals in circulation, instead of being in proportion to that wealth, were but in proportion to the demands of traffic. It has been observed, that none was employed for the purpose of purchasing the productions of other countries, and

Meaning the palankin. But, supposing the gold and silver of the ceilings, the columns, and the palankins, to have been merely laminæ, which undoubtedly was the case, the quantities of those metals thus employed must have been immense.

with the Hindus, the mode and habits of living never change: from the mildness of their climate, their wants are fewer than those of the inhabitants of colder régions; and the prices of things necessary for food and raiment, are cheaper than in almost any other part of the polished world. The principal food of the Hindus is rice, vegetables, and milk; those who are permitted to eat animal food, are commanded to do it sparingly, and spirituous liquors of every kind are positively forbidden. Scarcity of water naturally lessens the harvests; failure in the periodical rains, may produce famine; but, in the ordinary state of things, a labourer may be supplied with his wants of every kind with about two-pence English a day, in all the parts of India that we have visited.*

*Though the prices at the principal European settlements, even of the productions of the country, are higher than those in places remote from them, yet when the author left India, the hire of one of the best household servants, at Madrass, was two pagodas, or about fifteen shillings a month, for which he fed and clothed himself

and family, if he had any. His dress consisted of a clean white linen robe descending to his feet, a 'sash and turban. "The food of an Indian is very simple; the diet of one is the same with that of millions, namely, rice, with split pulse and salt to relieve its insipidity. Two and a halfounces of salt, two pounds of split pulse, and eight pounds of rice, form the usual daily consumption of a family of five persons in easy circumstances,"*-but to this fare, those who can afford the expense, add refined butter, named ghee, in the cookery, as well as other ingredients, to which Europeans give the general name of curry stuff. All but the several classes of Brahmins may eat certain animal food. It is superfluous to repeat that the use of the cow species is positively prohibited, it is even declared to be a high crime to ill treat or injure the animal. Throughout Hindustan, the wild hog, water-fowl, and various sorts of game are to be met with, and at a very moderate rate. The quality of mutton differs according to the nature of the pasture; in the northern Circars, and particularly near to Masulipatam, it is remarkably good, and the price of a sheep, chosen out of a numerous flock, was, when the author was in India, a rupee, or little more than two shillings English money.

"The hire of a labourer, when paid in money, may be justly estimated at something less than two-pence sterling a day. In cities and large towns the hire of a day-labourer is, indeed, greater, because provisions are

* See Remarks on the Husbandry and internal Commerce of Bengal, 1804, p. 20.

there dearer, and the separation of the man from his family renders larger earnings necessary to their support; but, even, in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, men may he hired for field-labour at the rate of two rupees and a half per mensem, which is equivalent to twopence halfpenny per diem.”*

See Remarks on the Husbandry and internal Commerce of Bengal, 1804, p. 131.