AN EPITOME

OF THE

ARTS AND SCIENCES.

CLASS VI....LESSON I.

OF ASIA.

2. WHAT of the island of Bombay? A. It is the seat of the British government on the Malabar coast, but subordinate to the governor general of India, who resides at Calcutta. The island is small, but the territory annexed to it by the conquest of Mysore is very considerable. This island came into the possession of the British, as part of the dowry of the princess of Portugal, who married Charles II. king of England. Adjoining it is Salsette, an island wherein are some of the most extraordinary remains of antiquity in a cavern evidently wrought by human hands out of the solid rock; and of an antiquity much greater than any existing history can account for.

2. What is the country of the Nizam and who is he?

A. The name is a title answering to the word lieutenant or deputy governor; and was conferred by Nadir Shah, upon the first of the present race, a native of Samarcand, under the name of Nizam and Soubahdar of the Dekkan. He originally held the territory of Malwa, the present Mahrattah country, Oude, Guzzerat, and the

whole peninsula, but successive revolutions confined him to the remotest realms of Bajapour, now Dowlutabad, Visiapour, and Golconda, of which the capital is at present Hydrabad. 2. What is its position?

A. In relation to the other modern states, it is bounded on the north and west by the Mahrattahs, on the south and west by the Mahrattahs and Mysore; and on the south and east by Orissa and the five northern sircars, a narrow range of territory, a continuation of the coast of Coromandel which terminates with the Balasore river, in the bay of Bengal.

What is the country of Orissa?

A. It is one of the three provinces which the English obtained from the Mogul; but only a small part of it was in their actual possession till 1803. It is neither so populous nor productive as the other two provinces.

2. Is Bahar populous?

A. It is a flourishing rich province, in population, agriculture, arts, manufactures, and valuable mines; it is watered by numerous rivers, and extends on both sides the Ganges. Patna is the capital of Bahar; as Balasore is of Orissa. 2. What is Bengal?

;

A. It was in ancient times, an independent country, with a distinct language, and on account of its fertility was called the Paradise of nations and is now one of the most fruitful, rich, and populous, in Hindustan. The ancient capital was Moorshedabad, but upon the usurpation by the English, the town of Calcutta became the seat of power, and is now the actual capital of all Hindustan.

2. What are the countries adjoining Bengal?

A. 'On the sea coast is Arracan, a petty nation alternately dependant on, or in revolt against the Birmans. The immense river Burrumpooter divides Bengal from Asam ; north of which is Coos Bahaar, conquered by the English in 1792 the range of mountains that divides Bengal from Boutan or Lower Thibet, begins there, dividing it from the valley of Nepaul. These mountains go in almost a direct line, north west, to Cachimere. On the west, Bengal is bounded by part of Orissa, and a considerable part of Bahar.

2. What are the countries which bound Bahar? A. The charming countries of Allahabad and Benares, with a strip of the Oude country.

2. Describe Benares and Allahabad?

A. Benares is the most sacred place of the Hindus; it is their Mecca; their Jerusalem; there the most learned Bramins have various, colleges, and thither thousands of pilgrims annually resort. Allahabad is at the confluence of two rivers, and is sometimes spoken of under the name of Doaub, from the words dou two, and aub water the country on the ancient Oxus, is. called the Paunjaub, or five waters. Allahabad presents vast ruins, which bespeak a very high state of civilization and arts, at a remote age.

2. What other countries are adjoining?

A. South of Allahabad and Orissa are the Berar and Cutac countries, subject to the Bonselah Mahrattahs, the capital is Nagpoor; and further west, the small remnant of Candeish ; to the northward of both, is Malwa, and other countries of the Mahrattahs: the capital of Scindea is Ougein: the capital of Holkar is Endore.

2. We have once more, I find, got into the middle of India....proceed with the other countries?

A. North of Malwa, are, on the west side, Agimere, adjoining Guzzerat, subject to the Rajepoots and Mahrattahs; on the north eastward is the Agra country, and still farther north east is Oude; the capital is Lucknow, a very celebrated city, once the capital of the vizier of the Mogul empire.

Beyond Agimere is the country of Moultan, and still further north, Lahore, or the Paunjaub ; which name signifies the five waters or rivers, and these are the rivers over which Alexander of Macedon passed in his wild and desolating scheme of ambition to conquer Asia. Those rivers are the Oxus, &c. of Alexander.

2. What is the country west of Lahore or the Paunjaub.

A. Caboul, or what we have before noticed as the original country of the Rohillas and Jaats, under the name of Afghanistan. It is bordered by Persia on the south, Khorassan on the west, and Bochara on the north.

2. Is this country remarkable?

A. Yes....for a very warlike people, who have several times overrun Hindustan within the last 30 years the people are sometimes called Touréen Oudals, and Abdallies; and sometimes Douranies, from Douran a celebrated leader of theirs who seven times invaded India.