290 



into insignificance when compared with those recorded of the Mo- 

 gul emperors and sullauns of Dcccan. A peace-offering from 

 Dewal Roy to Sultaun Firozc Shall, consisted of ten lacs of pago- 

 das, a sum amounting to near four hundred thousand pounds 

 sterling; fifty elephants, most probably richly caparisoned; two 

 thousand slaves of bolh sexes, accomplished in singing, dancing, 

 and music. To these were added pearls, diamonds, rubies, and 

 emeralds, to an inestimable value. This magnificent present, so 

 greatly exceeding those usually sent from one oriental sovereign to 

 another, was to effect a reconciliation, and procure the sultaun's favour 

 after a rebellion; but there are many instances of dresses richly 

 set with jewels, Arabian horses shod with gold, in caparisons em- 

 bossed with rubies and emeralds, and other superb presents from 

 eastern sovereigns to their favourites, which realize half the fictions 

 performed by the obedient genii of Aladdin's wonderful lamp. 



Such was the magnificence of former ages : all is now reversed; 

 and it appears as if the courage, magnanimity and generosity which 

 once adorned the character of the Hindoo and Mahometan princes, 

 had vanished with their fortunes. The more I saw of the petty 

 Asiatic sovereigns and their system of government, the less I 

 thought them deserving of estimation. Virtue finds no asylum in 

 an Indian durbar ; sensual pleasure and oppressive tyranny ex- 

 tend through all the higher ranks. To gratify the avarice of men 

 in power and administer to their pleasures, the inferior classes of 

 society submit: the Duans, Pundits, and petty tyrants of every 

 description, are in their turn fleeced by the ruling despot; if his 

 iniquitous demands are gratified, he never inquires by what means 

 the money was accumulated. Thus I have described it in the 



