174 H I N D O 
objeft of convenience and pleafure; and no fituation is 
ever chofen for thefe ftrudlures, where Nature has not 
previoufly furnilhed a plentiful ftore of this valuable ele¬ 
ment. 
In a country v/here open violence and predatory war 
are for ever breaking out between neighbouring ftates, it 
is more neceffary that the dwelling of the prince fhould 
be calculated for fafety and fecurity, than for external 
fplendour and elegance. For this reafon they have no 
apertures or windows, but at a great height from the 
ground; all the lower part appearing as a naked wall, of 
great thicknefs and durability. The entrances are by 
gateways of prodigious ftrength, which are always defend¬ 
ed by-a numerous guard. And for ftill greater fafety, 
thefe palaces are moftly erefred at the foot of fome fteep 
mountain', the afeent to which is fecured on either fide 
by mounds of earth, or walls, reaching to the higheft 
fummit, where an impregnable fort, on all occafions of 
danger or attack in the palace below, affords an imme¬ 
diate afylum for the women and children, and their nu¬ 
merous attendants ; and where the prince himfelf, in cafe 
of defeat, retires for more fafety, or as the dernier refort, 
with all his treafures, and the chofen band which is ufu- 
ally attached to his iortunes. We mult not, however, 
confound the once-fumptuous palaces of Lahore, Delhi, 
and Agra, raifed, as we have leen, by the Mogul or Mo¬ 
hammedan conquerors, with thefe more rugged fort-like 
works of the Hindoo princes. 
Nor is it among the folemn and majeltic ruins of tem¬ 
ples or pagodas alone, that the curious traveller is to look 
for the ample antiquities of Hindooftan. In Alia, of all 
parts of the v/orld the firft peopled, and the firlt civilized, 
the molt ancient remains of the labours of man will natu¬ 
rally be fought; for we may reflect, that the European 
world were hordes of wild barbarians inhabiting the 
woods, when fcience, and the arts of elegant life, flou- 
rilhed in their higheft perfection in the Eaft. Here, there¬ 
fore, the antiquarian may trace the primeval cuftoms of 
men and manners; and leek the origin of all ancient in- 
ilitutions. The legillators, poets, and hiltorians, under 
the early Hindoo monarchy, will be found to claim our 
refpeCt and admiration, for tlieir dignified notions of jul- 
tice and morality; for energy and fublimity of fentiment; 
for purity of language, and extenfive knowledge of man¬ 
kind. The fimilarity of their ancient rites and ceremo¬ 
nies, from what we know of thole of former times from 
the Sacred Writings, is wonderfully linking; and even 
their fuperllitions may, in many inltances, be difcovered 
as flowing from the primeval religion, though unfortu¬ 
nately through very corrupted chaunels. 
Among the ancient records lately found in the Sanlkrit 
language, many valuable difcoveries relative to Indian 
antiquities have been already made; but many more re¬ 
main behind the curtain, which can only be developed 
by the hand of time, and in proportion as thefe antique 
relics' may happen hereafter to be obtained and tranflated. 
Rut the oriental traveller mull be on his guard againil the 
impofition of modern Aliatic antiquities ; for fucli, in con- 
fequence of the avidity for Hindoo curiofities, are now 
manufactured in India, with as much indultry as they 
were heretofore in Italy. 
CLIMATE, COSTUME, AGRICULTURE, MANU¬ 
FACTURES, and POPULAR HABITS. 
The climate and leafons, in fo extenfive a country as 
Hindooftan, are of courfe diverfified by difference of lati¬ 
tude and local fituation. In Bengal the hot or dry feafon 
begins with March, and continues to the end of May, the 
thermometer fometimes riling to no 0 : this intenfe heat 
is often accompanied with violent thunder-ftorms from 
the north-weft, the feat of the grand Alps of Afia. The 
fogs are not only common, but thick and unhealthy. 
Various meteorological journals, kept in Bengal, are pyb- 
lilhed in the Afiatic Refearches, whence a complete idea 
may be formed of the leafons. The rainy feafon conti- 
O S T A N. 
nues generally from June to September: the three Lift 
months of the year are falubrious and pleafant; but ex- 
ceflive fogs often prevail in January and February. 
Thefe periodical rains are more llightly felt in the pro¬ 
vince of Sind ; and particularly in Cachemire, where they 
feem to be excluded by the furrounding mountains. In 
the reft of Hindooftan they almoft deluge the country, 
defeending like catarafts from the clouds ; and the Ganges 
and other rivers fpreading to a wide extent, the inunda¬ 
tion ceafmg in September. By the latter end of June the 
Ganges has rifen fifteen feet and a half, out of thirty-two, 
which is the total of its overflown In the mountains the 
rainy feafon begins early in April; but rarely in the plains 
till the latter end of June. By the latter end of July all 
the lower parts of Bengal, contiguous to the Ganges and 
the Burrampooter, are overflowed, and form an inunda¬ 
tion of more than a hundred miles in width ; nothing ap¬ 
pearing but villages and trees, excepting very rarely the 
top of an elevated fpot, appearing like an- illand. 
In the fouthern divifion the chains of the Gauts, or 
mountains of Malabar and Coromandel, fupporting the 
high interior land, intercept the great mal's of clouds ; 
and the alternate fouth-weft and north-eaft winds, called 
the menfoons, occafion a rainy feafon on one fide of the 
mountains only, that is, on' the windward fide. Yet it 
appears that, during the firft part of the rainy monfoon, 
in May and June, on the coaft of Malabar, a confiderable 
quantity of rain falls in the upper region of Myfore, &c» 
Major Rennell oblerves, that at Nagpour, in the very cen¬ 
tre of Hindooftan, the feafons differ but little from their 
ufual courfe in Bengal, and on the weftern fide; that is, 
the fouth-weft monfoon occafions a rainy feafon, though, 
not fo violent. In the parallel of Surat, from the moun¬ 
tains declining in height, and other caules, there is no 
longer that lingularity which occafions rain on one fide of 
the Deccan, while the molt ferene atmofphere prevails on 
the other. The monfoon is from the north-eaft from Oc¬ 
tober to April; and from May to September in the oppo- 
fite direction. The rainy feafon on the coaft of Coroman¬ 
del is with the north-eaft monfoon; and on that of Ma¬ 
labar with the fouth-weft: in general, March, April, May, 
and June, are the dry months. Hence, in the whole ex¬ 
tent of Hindooftan, except in Cachemire, there can hardly 
be faid to be a veftige of winter, except the thick fogs, 
like our December; excefiive rains, or exceffive heats, 
form the chief varieties of the year. The Hindoos, how¬ 
ever, reckon fix feafons, in the following order : 
Seefar, the dewy feafon. 
Heemat, the cold feafon. 
Vasaut, the mild feafon, or fpring. 
Greesshma, the hot feafon, or fumrner. 
Varsaj the rainy feafon, or monfoon. 
Sarut, the breaking up of the rains. 
The fudden change of thefe feafons, and the violent 
heat of the fumrner months, render the climate not only 
unfavourable to the natives, but extremely dangerous to 
foreigners of every defeription, particularly where great 
temperance and circumfpeftion are not obferved. Ac¬ 
cording to thole who have undergone the viciffitudes of 
thefe changes, “ the hot or dry feafon commences with 
a typ/wn, commonly called a north-wcjler , which carries all 
before it. It is to ftrangers moft terrific; the loudnefs of 
the thunder, the terrible flalhes of lightning, the roaring 
of the wind, and the deluge of rain, are altogether tre¬ 
mendous. To this periodical tempeft, lucceeds fo intenle 
a heat, that the inhabitants creep for -relief under the va- 
randas or porticoes, where the-evening dews are cooling; 
but, Ihould they indulge a fleep, death is the certain con- 
lequence. The number of fudden deaths amongft the 
Englifli by the coup de folcil , and the caution they are 
obliged to ufe to preferve life, makes this feafon very un¬ 
comfortable ; and when it happens, as it fometimes does, 
that the rains are late before they fet in, the mortality 
exceeds belief. Life and death fo rapidly lucceed, that 
i medicines 
