Bushire is built of the materials of Reeshire, a town four miles to the southward, and in the time of the Portuguese a place of considerable consequence. Pieces of cannon, and humam images cut in stone, have been occasionally found among the ruins of this place. The Hindoos resident at Bushire purchase these stones at enormous prices, and, I have heard, are particularly careful in preventing a stranger from polluting them with his hands. If these images be really those of one of their gods, it would almost authorise the supposition, that the Hindoo religion formerly prevailed in Persia.*

But we must recollect that Reeshire was formerly inhabited by a number of Portuguese, and that possibly these images may be the representative of some Christian saint. It is greatly to be regretted, that conjecture must frequently supply the place of fact, and that our scanty and discordant accounts, upon Eastern subjects, will only allow of a diffident and sceptical opinion. The different and inconsistent relations we receive of a particular place, compel us to distrust our own observations: and it frequently happens, that the more earnest we are in our enquiries, the farther does the truth appear to be removed.†

The Hindoos live unmolested by the Persians, and are neither

This has been the opinion of some ingenious and enlightened men, particularly Sir William Jones, who fixes Iran as the centre of migration. Vide Origin of Families and Nations, Sir William Jones's Works, vol. i. It might be proved, I think, from the Shah Namu, that the Bramins once prevailed in Persia. Ky Kaoos, one of their kings, is accused of being a Bruhmun. The Hindoo religion is so pliant, that there is scarcely an opinion it will not countenance.

+ Bushire is a strong instance of the propriety of this remark. Out of three witnesses, two assert that the town is walled, and the third that it is defenceless. One says that it abounds with fine gardens, which is denied by a second evidence. Mr. Jones confirms the latter assertion, and maintains that the neck of land is never overflowed. See Voyage of Nearchus, p. 366-7. Much depends on the time these several evidences visited Bushire. Walls built of mud are soon destroyed and soon rebuilt. Bushire is only an island when the tides rise very high; but in such contradictory accounts as the above, much also depends on the sense attached to words. Thus one person may call a place surrounded with never so little water an island, and another maintain the reverse, because a ship could not sail round it.

insulted nor oppressed by the government. This wonderful and extraordinary race of people are spread nearly over the face of the globe: Mr. Forster makes mention of a colony near the Caspian Sea. The attention of one of the most enlightened characters the last century produced, was occupied in an attempt to discover at what period, or from what country, the followers of Brahma came into India.* The vulgar error, of their being the original inhabitants of India, vanished with those clouds of ignorance and prejudice which so shamefully obscured the writings of former times; but if evidence were still wanting, the Mysore country is said clearly to demonstrate, that at no very considerable distance of time, its inhabitants owned the sway and followed the religion of Bood❜h.†

A respectable author asserts, that the religion of India could not have been derived from Egypt, because "the moon shines forth to the Hindoos a male divinity," which, he says, "is contrary to all other systems of mythology." He would find, however, upon enquiry, that in the mythology of the Saxons and Northern tribes, the moon was considered a male, and the sun a female, though their descendants have thought proper to adopt the more elegant and interesting fictions of Greece. § The Hindoo mythology and history appear to be buried in impenetrable darkness; the faint glimmerings they have reflected, but stimulate our desire to be more intimately acquainted with the laws and sciences of a nation

* Sir William Jones. The magnificent cave at Carli (a village on the road from Bombay to Poonah) contains images of Bood'h, and yet this cave is arched, which, according to Mr. Maurice, would prove that it was excavated after that of Elephanta. It is difficult to conceive that a people who could form statues of exquisite symmetry, should be ignorant of the principles of forming or excavating an arch.

+ A succinct account might be given, upon the authority of the priests of the Bood'h temples in Mysoor, of the introduction of the Bramin religion into that country. This information is more desireable than the fanciful hypotheses which have been framed of this people.

Indian Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 120.

§ This would furnish an argument (of what strength I shall not determine), that the religion of the East was diffused over the Western world.

who boast of such excessive refinement. But since the era of Halhed and Sir William Jones, the existence of the precious manuscripts of Sanscrit learning, has, like the chorus to a popular song, been echoed from author to author, who, though entirely ignorant of Sanscrit, have stamped with credibility a seemingly vague supposition. For what production have we yet seen to justify these extravagant praises? That the Hindoos possess many valuable works is extremely probable; but our being perpetually told so, without one of these works being ever produced, is the most extraordinary of all methods, to convince us of the truth of this assertion.

Unfortunately for the character and reputation of the Hindoo religion and mythology, it has been tortured by etymologists, and embellished by the ingenuity of fancy and of fiction; yet whatever it may have suffered in the purity and orthodoxy of its tenets, has been amply compensated by the illustrations of erudition, and by the powerful and persuasive assistance of poetry and of eloquence. We must not, however, forget, that systems founded on etymologies, and supported by solitary facts, are subject to one insurmountable objection. If one etymology, maintained by the most recondite learning, be proved erroneous, the whole system must inevitably be fallacious; for etymologies on Eastern subjects are like the keystone of an arch, upon whose stability and permanence depends the existence of a vast superstructure. Sir William Jones, who may certainly be considered a sufficient authority, protests strongly against the licentiousness of etymologists; and yet the principles of almost every author I have read on Eastern subjects, rest solely on etymological conjecture.* Mr. Maurice, whose name must be

There is hardly a word which, agreeable to the principles of Eastern etymologists, may not be changed into any other. Thus mul may become lul, or nul, or nun, and possibly be the means of discovering that England was peopled from India. Etymologies are usually brought in support of systems, and ought not to be admitted upon questionable grounds. †

+ See Mr. Gilchrist's Improved System of Indian Orthography, where the barbarous errors of ignorant Europeans are adduced to support the licentiousness of etymologists.

always mentioned with respect, and whose talents command admiration, soars too high, and continues his flight too long, I fear, in the pleasing but unsubstantial regions of conjecture; yet his labours demand our gratitude, for he may be justly considered the only person who would have had the patience, perseverence, and ability to weave so pleasing a story from such a variety of incongruous and discordant materials. How feeble is the thread, how fine is the texture! and a thread once broken destroys the beauty of the whole. Etymologies or conjectures, supported with learning, are like the bubbles we have seen school-boys blowing, gaudy and captivating to the sight, but fleeting and unsubstantial.

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CHAPTER II.

Governor of Bushire—his Father-Trade-Persian Supper-belief in judicial Astrology.

Bur to return, after this digression, (which possibly does not accord

with the character of a traveller) to Bushire. The present governor is Sheikh Nasir, the son of the celebrated Sheik Nusir, who supported the dignity and independence of his situation against the power of Kureem Khan.* Bushire owes the little consequence it possesses to the efforts of this remarkable man, who, although perpetually engaged in war, carried on a very extensive trade with India and Muscat, the profits of which enabled him to keep up a large standing force. At the period of his death, he is said to have left his son two millions of money, three thousand camels, and six hundred brood mares.

This is doubtless an exaggerated account; it evinces, however, the public opinion of his enormous wealth. But the son gave himself little trouble to preserve the acquisitions of his father; and, in consequence, Lootf Ulee Khan deprived him of that wealth and power which he wanted the spirit to defend. On being advised to take into his service a body of Georgians, who had been dismissed by A Moohummud, and who would have ensured the security of his property, he gave, as a reason for his refusal, that they drank rack, and where was he to provide them with intoxicating liquors?

A very considerable sum of specie is annually exported from

Vide Niebuhr..