324 COFFEE. 



coining money, and exercising all tlie other principal attributes 

 of sovereignty — a government which, in its relations to the Eng- 

 lish nation, vras a sort of government within a government — an 

 im/perium in irnperio. The controlling power was vested in a 

 court, or board of directors, elected by the stockholders, and for 

 a long time its affairs were ably and honestly managed, but after 

 a time it became unwieldy, abuses set in, and after the mutiny it 

 was thought that the interest of the entire nation in India had be- 

 come so great, that it was better the country should come under 

 the direct management of the Crown. This was done, and thus 

 ended the greatest commercial venture the world has ever known. 



The impression that a traveller gets of India in December is 

 that by far the greater area is a dusty, arid, sterile waste ; but 

 this apparently unproductive soil is really very rich, and, when 

 irrigated, produces, under even the careless cultivation of the 

 natives, enormous crops of rice and various other grains ; rape, lin, 

 and other seeds ; hemp, cotton, coffee, pepper, indigo, opium, 

 sugar, tea, and many other products. 



The Hindoo race or races are among the oldest of which we 

 have any historical record, and the wealth and culture of ancient 

 India was long the wonder of the Eastern woi-ld. It was not, 

 however, until the invasion of l>[orthern India by the Mahome- 

 dans and the establishment of the " Great Mogul " dynasty, that 

 the attention of western nations was so strongly drawn to it ; but 

 the semi-barbarous magnificence of these remarkable rulers soon 

 became proverbial throughout the civilized world. This was dur- 

 ing the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, after which their star 

 gradually declined, and their power was finally broken by the war- 

 like tribes of the Northwest. After that came a period of anar- 

 chy, the inhabitants of the different provinces constantly fighting 

 among themselves for spoils and power, until finally, in the 

 eighteenth century, British power began to make itself felt, and by 

 dint of hard fighting and wise diplomacy it was steadily advanced, 

 until it reached its present magnificent proportions. I say steadily 

 advanced, for the mutiny in 1857 can hardly be called a serious 

 check to the advancement of British power. It was promptly 

 quelled, and the difiiculty of communication during that episode 

 has led to the construction of an extensive system of railways and 



