201 



much pain. I have goodwill towards men, and wish peace on 

 earth; but I see chiefly under the sun, the two classes of men 

 whom Solomon describes, the oppressor' and the oppressed. I have 

 no fear in England of open despotism, nor of anarchy." 



This distrust and suspicion in some measure accounts for the 

 custom in India, especially among the Mahomedans, that in de- 

 fault of children, and sometimes where there are lineal descend- 

 ants, the master of a family adopts a slave, frequently a Haff- 

 shee, Abyssinian., of the darkest hue, for his heir: he educates 

 him agreeably to his wishes, and marries him to one of his 

 daughters. As the reward of superior merit, or to suit the ca- 

 price of an arbitrary despot, this honour is also conferred on a 

 slave recently purchased, or already grown up in the family ; and 

 to him he bequeaths his wealth, in preference to his nephews, or 

 any collateral branches. This is a custom of great antiquity in 

 the east, and prevalent among the most refined and civilized na- 

 tions. In the earliest period of the patriarchal history, we find 

 Abraham complaining for want of children, and declaring that 

 either Eliezer of Damascus, or probably one born from him in his 

 house, was his heir; to the exclusion of Lot, his favourite ne- 

 phew, (for whom he had just fought with the king of E.Iain and 

 his confederates) and all the other collateral branches of his fa- 

 mily. 



The arrival of our ill-fated countrymen from Mangulore, dur- 

 ing our stay at Tellicherry, replete with anecdotes of Tippoo's 

 cruelty, and the distresses they had sustained in that fortress, ag- 

 gravated by what they heard of the dreadful sufferings of the 



vol. iv. 2 i> 



