their tents near a village, and levy a contribution of kids, poultry, 
fruit, and vegetables, and many of Ali Aga’s accompaniments for 
themselves and attendants. Not always contented with what is 
produced with inconvenience and ill-will, these officers frequently 
extort money from the oppressed inhabitants, which, after the usual 
exactions of government, they are very little able to furnish. How 
few of them can make the appeal of the venerable prophet to a 
people among whom he had walked from his childhood: “ Behold, 
here I am, old and gray headed! whose ox have I taken, or whose 
ass have I taken? whom have 1 oppressed, or of whom have 1 
received a bribe, to blind mine eyes therewith?” 
The transaction at Mandava, which gave rise to these obser- 
vations, concluded our adventures: the next morning we embarked 
for Bombay, and arrived there in a few hours: on taking leave, 
we offered our conductors a present, which the}' respectfully re- 
fused; saying, their prince’s favour was beyond any other conside- 
ration, and they should forfeit it by accepting our bounty. 
This was my first journey on the continent of India; I found 
it replete with novelty and entertainment: I recorded characters 
and events as they occurred; wishing on all occasions to be di- 
vested of prejudice, especially in a country famed for its serenity 
of climate, luxuriance of soil, and the mildness of its inhabitants: 
a country, which, perhaps, precedes Egypt as the nurse of science; 
and by its arts, manufactures, and valuable productions, has con- 
tributed from time immemorial to the comfort and luxury of other 
civilized nations; various reasons, however, induce me to prefer 
“ My native isle belov’d 5 by sounding waves 
“ Bosom’d remote,. and hallow’d from the world!” 
