Tropical Sketches: Or, Reminiscences of an Indian Journalist, Volume 2

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Hurst and Blackett, 1855

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Page 297 - West of Asia, came mutually to exchange the commodities and productions of their respective countries — a traffic which must have considerably enriched the country in which it was carried on. Of this trade the Moors on the Western, and the Malays on the Eastern side, appear to have been the principal carriers, and from the accounts which they carried back with them, of the Island they had visited, probably arose those Moorish and Malayan invasions, which we have noted as having become exceedingly...
Page 102 - Perfect truth ; perfect happiness ; without equal ; immortal ; absolute unity; whom neither speech can describe nor mind comprehend; all-pervading ; all-transcending ; delighted with his own boundless intelligence ; not limited by space or time ; without feet, moving swiftly ; without hands, grasping all worlds ; without eyes, all-surveying ; without ears, all-hearing ; without an intelligent guide, understanding all ; without cause, the first of all causes; all-ruling...
Page 314 - Batticaloa, for the protection of their trade on the eastern coast. Into the particulars of Boschhouder's embassy to Europe on behalf of Senerat, in 1617-19, we cannot enter ; suffice it to say, that the unfortunate death of that officer on his return to Ceylon, prevented Senerat from availing himself of the aid he had obtained from Christian IV. of Denmark. The death of the nominal sovereign...
Page 330 - King nor Talawe would agree, and the negociations accordingly ended in no important result. In 1802, however, a difference arose between the Kandian and British authorities, which produced a wasting and destructive war. The plunder of some Mohammedan merchants proceeding from the coast into the interior, was made the ground of demanding satisfaction by the authorities at Colombo. This the Kandian court would not give ; and accordingly, early in 1803, General Macdowall and Colonel Barbut were ordered...
Page 17 - A hundred thousand of Muhammeds," said Nanac, " a million of Brahmas, Vishnus, and a hundred thousand Ramas, stand at the gate of the Most High. These all perish ; God alone is immortal. Yet men, who unite in the praise of God, are not ashamed of living in contention with each other ; which proves that the evil spirit has subdued all. He alone is a true Hindu whose heart is just ; and he only is a good Muhammedan whose life is pure.
Page 317 - They were willing, but for some time were unable, to attempt a diversion in favour of the fugitive prince ; and when they did so, the usual difficulties, the inaccessible nature of the interior, and the numbers of Singha's forces, conspired to overthrow the project and defeat Wijayapala's hopes, whilst they gave Singha an additional force of artillery, of which he well knew the importance. Anxious as Singha was to drive the Portuguese from the island, he was yet aware that his own forces and the...
Page 305 - Portuguese, and submission, with the 'promise of a tribute, was the only course left him to adopt. Nor was the invasion of their country the only evil the Singhalese had now to deplore ; for on the death of Prakrama the Ninth, in 1527, the sword was drawn by riva1 claimants for the throne, x2 and the country was plunged in civil war and bloodshed.
Page 302 - Indicopleustes, added little to the knowledge formerly on record with regard to the island, nor was the information picked up respecting it by Marco Polo extensive or accurate. He appears to have been the first, however, who noticed and described the remarkable mountain styled Adam's Peak, on which he informs us the tomb of the progenitor of mankind had actually been found ! Ludovico Barthema of Bologna at the end of the fourteenth century describes the inhabitants as by no means warlike — their...
Page 75 - In 1 842 the Committee of Public Instruction was superseded by the present Council of Education, consisting of civil servants of Calcutta of high grade, two natives of little influence, a judge of the supreme court, all unpaid, and a salaried secretary, who is, de facto, the council itself. This secretary is a striking illustration of the manner and the extent to which offices are heaped upon favourites by an Indian government. Besides being a member and the secretary of the Council of Education,...
Page 313 - Catharina found herself quite unequal to enforce obedience, and, still in the prime of life, looked about for a successor to her late husband. But two princes of the royal family appeared eligible from their influence and authority, and the matter was quickly determined by the murder of one of them. Senerat, the bolder and...

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