XXX 



authority in their districts. Thus the ancient constitution of govern- 

 ment (which, although defective in many points, was favorable to 

 agriculture from the lands being unburthened with revenue) was in a 

 great measure destroyed, without any other being substituted in its 

 room. The rajah was no longer, what he had been, the head of a feudal 

 aristocracy with limited authority, but the all-powerful deputy of a 

 despotic prince, whose military force was always at his command, to 

 curb or chastise any of the chieftans who were inclined to dispute or 

 disobey his mandates. The condition of the inhabitants under the 

 rajahs thus reinstated in their governments was worse than it had been 

 under the Canarese Brahmins, for the rajahs were better informed of the 

 substance of individuals and knew the methods of getting at it. In 

 short, the . precarious tenures by which the rajahs held their station, 

 joined to the uncontrolled authority with which they were vested, 

 rendered them to the utmost degree rapacious ; and not even a pretence 

 was set up for exacting money from all such as were known to have 

 any. There were no laws ; money insured immunity to criminals ; and 

 innocent blood was often shed by the rajahs' own hands under the 

 pretence of justice. In the space of a few years many of them amassed 

 treasure to an amount unknown to their ancestors ; and had it not been 

 for the dread that they entertained of Hyder's calling them to an 

 account of their ill-gotten wealth, their situation under them was better 

 than that which they held before the invasion. The country, however, 

 was daily declining in produce and population, insomuch so that, at the 

 accession of Tippoo, I have reason to conclude, from my own observa- 

 tions, and from the inquiries which I then made, that they were reduced 

 to one-half of what they had been at the time of Hyder's conquest. But 

 still greater calamities were reserved for the unfortunate inhabitants of 

 this country in the reign of the Sultan. During the government of his 

 father, the Hindus continued unmolested in the exercise of their reli- 

 gion, the customs and observances of which, in many very essential 

 points, supply the place of laws. To them it was owing that some 

 degree of order had been preserved in society during the changes that 

 had taken place. Tippoo, on the contrary, early undertook to render 

 Islaraism the sole religion of Malabar. In this cruel and impolitic 

 undertaking he was warmly seconded by the Moplahs, men possessed of 

 a strong zeal and of a large share of that spirit of violence and depre- 

 dation which appears to have invariably been an ingredient in the 

 character of the professors of their religion in every part of the world 

 where it has spread. All the confidence of Sultan was bestowed on 

 Moplahs, and in every place they became the officers and instruments of 

 government. The Hindus were everywhere persecuted and plundered 

 of their riches, of their women, and of their children. All such as could 

 flee to other countries did so ; those who could not escape took refuge in 

 the forests, from whence they waged a constant predatory war against 

 their oppressors. To trace the progress of these evils would carry me 

 too far. I mention them only for the purpose of showing how the 

 ancient government of this country was at last completely destroyed, and 

 anarchy was introduced. The Moplahs never had any laws nor any 

 authority except in the small district of Cannanore, even over their own 

 sect, but were entirely subject to the Hindu chiefs, in whose dominions 

 they resided. Tippoo's code was never known beyond the limits of 

 Calicut. During this period of total anarchy, the number of Moplahs 



