425 



•knowledge; whether acquired or accidental, is to be hereafter 

 proved. It will only open an additional, neglected mine, for 

 the curious and the learned; and will be another proof that the 

 East has been the seat of wisdom " where learning flourished, 

 and the arts were prized;" however much the neglect with which 

 this knowledge has been treated in this country, may reflect upon 

 the modern degeneracy, or the prejudices of the Indian character; 

 which may, however, be all accounted for, from the effects of the 

 various revolutions to which their country has, for so many ages, 

 been a prey; leaving thence room to the liberal construction of 

 the unbiassed of every nation to conclude, that before the intro- 

 duction of a foreign sway into Hindostan and the Deccan, its 

 Hindoo inhabitants were versed in the arts and sciences, far be- 

 yond the other parts of the world, at the same remote period of 

 time." 



Translation of a written memorandum from the nabob Mirza Meliady 



Ali Khan. 



" During the period of my abode in the dictrict of Benares, 

 my eldest son being taken ill of a bad kind of the small-pox, and 

 my friends interesting themselves for my comfort and his relief, 

 one of them, named Slookum Chund, a Hindoo, pointed out to 

 me that there was in the city of Benares one Alep Choby, a brah- 

 min from Oude, Avhose practice was chiefly confined to this 

 maJady. Him, therefore, I lost no time in sending for to the 

 town of Ghazeepoor, where I dwelt; and he arrived on the ninth 

 day of the eruption; on seeing which, he observed, that if the 



VOL. III. 3 I 



