when her brothers return and inquire after her, you can tell them, I was praying at the time when she went out of my sight, and I know not what became of her. Just as the Devil advised him, Barsisa murdered the damsel, and carrying her body outside the cell, buried it. Soon after, the damsel's brothers returned with their train from hunting; and conceived that they had only to ask the hermit's blessing and take their sister away cured. But not meeting her ready to attend them, they questioned the hermit about her. Exactly as the Devil had instructed him, he answered them; and believing of course what so sanctified a man said, they took his blessing and their leave of his cell. They were proceeding towards the city, and expecting to overtake their sister by the way, when in the mean time the Devil, full of guile, having transformed himself into an old and decrepid woman with a staff in her hand and kerchief round her head, met them on the road. They questioned her and said, Good woman! did you see a lady of such a form and figure? She replied, Peradventure you are inquiring after the daughter of the reigning king? They said, The very same. The old woman fell a-weeping and sobbed aloud. The princes began to suspect that all was not right. They observed, O dame! be circumspect in relating all that thou knowest; for our minds mightily misgive us, from what we have already heard. The woman opened her mouth and said, That personage personage whom you escorted from the city, the hermit defiled; and having after that committed murder on her body, he buried it behind his altar. Then taking them along with her, she proceeded to the grave of their sister; which they dug up, and found the body still weltering in its blood. They rent the garments from their bodies, and in the grief of so horrible an event threw ashes on their heads. After which, they put a halter round Barsisa's neck, and took him with them into the city; while the crowd gathered from all sides expressing their surprise at such a circumstance having come to pass. Then they caused a gibbet to be erected, and brought Barsisa under it: and whatever intercession the holy men of the city could make to get him delivered from punishment, the solicitation of his friends was not listened to by the brothers of the damsel, for they hung him on the gal

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lows in the most ignominious manner. And such as would before that consider it a blessing to catch the water of his ablutions, and use it with the same precious care as they would rose-water, and would esteem the dust of his shoes as a collyrium to be applied to their eyes, were every one collecting and filling the skirts of their garments with stones, that they might hurl them upon him with execrations. In this state of things the Devil made his appearance in the front of the gallows, under the figure of an old man with rays of glory round his head, and said, O Barsisa! I am the God of this earth, and that is the God of Heaven whom thou hast served for such a length of years, and who hath permitted thee to fall so low, that in recompense for such long and faithful obedience thou art making thy exit from a gallows:-make me but one sign of adoration, that may deliver thee from thy present infamy. Barsisa paid obeisance to the accursed Devil by making a sign with his brow. A voice came down from the seventh heaven, saying, Perished as this man is in this world and the next, let him be utterly cut off; let his soul sink to Hell, his carcase be thrown to the dogs, and his brain become the portion of the fowls of the air*.—Brave youth! this is such a mystery as hath been concealed from the servants of God; nor can any comprehend it. The prophet David said, O Lord! let thy secret be divulged to me, that I may have knowledge; for great is my apprehension, and much my confusion. Night and day he was repeating this and crying, when a voice was heard to say, O David! wert thou to weep to that degree that thy tears might penetrate into the hardest flint, I would not interpret this mystery unto thee. O David! expect not in this life to understand this secret of me, till, along with the approach of death, it shall be revealed unto thee.-David asked, When, O my God! wilt thou be pleased to reveal it? The voice answered, My mystery with my servants is comprehended in two words, and these negatives;—either I declare ye have nought to fear, or I affirm have nought to hope. A voice will either come from the right, saying, Do not despair; or break upon the left, crying, Hope no more. From an

ye

* It is unnecessary to remark, that this is the original of the story of Santon Barsisa, told in the 148th Number of The Guardian..

anxious apprehension of those two negatives, at the hour of death no man can retain any colour in his cheek. When the soul knocketh at the breast, the colour is fading and the heart full of woe; and it looketh with anxiety to the right and to the left, to ascertain from which side the sentence may approach. Eternal happiness or everlasting misery is visible in this last agony: moreover, it might be proper that the fortunate should be unhappy, and the happy unfortunate. God is cancelling that which it pleaseth him, and other things he is confirming, and near by him lieth the eternal register. The book of fate lieth by my side, I record and I blot out; but no intimation am I giving what it is that I record, or what I blot out: and I hold counsel with no one. And if God so chooseth, that the last tribunal shall be held, he will assuredly hold it; and it is the Lord who revealeth to such as are directing us in the ways of salvation. Here endeth the fifth Sermon, through the blessing of God and his gracious favour.

O vain boast! who can control his fate?

XII.

ACCOUNT OF THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND MANNERS OF THE RACE OF MEN CALLED BUNJARAS.

By Captain JOHN BRIGGS, Persian Interpreter to the Hyderabad

Subsidiary Force.

Read 25th January, 1814*.

TO WILLIAM ERSKINE, Esq. Bombay.

MY DEAR SIR, Jalna, 8th December, 1813. Ir is a considerable time since you first suggested to me the research into the history of that race of people in the Deccan denominated Bunjaras. At that period I made a rough sketch of some of the most prominent features of their character; and, having traced a faint outline of what I conceived would be new and interesting, sent it down to you, rather to show the nature of this people, and what was to be expected from its traditions, than to exhibit any thing final or conclusive regarding them. Since that, I have been enabled to add something to my former paper; and although the present is still far from being a satisfactory account, yet it embraces all that I have been able to procure concerning them in my insulated and obscure station: if, however, it be considered worthy of a place among the papers of the Bombay Literary Society, you are at liberty to publish it with all its imperfections on its head.

The peninsula of India, commonly called Deccan, whose northern boundary is marked by the rivers Nerbudda and Maha-Nudda, forms nearly an equilateral triangle of about eight hundred miles base. This vast tract of territory (previously to the Mahomedan invasion in the four

* This paper was originally read on the 25th May, 1812; and afterwards in its present state on the 25th January, 1814.

teenth century) was divided among the Hindoos into five nations, each of which had probably a separate monarch; but their manners, habits, dress, and language, which they have retained till the present time, were certainly distinct from each other. These were: The Murhuttas of Murhutt. The Tellingas of Telling. The Cunnuras of Cunnur. The Goonds of Goondwara. The Tamoolas of Tamool.

Each of these people was divided from its neighbour either by broad rivers, thick forests, or stupendous mountains: but still these limits were not always of an insurmountable nature; for we find, from the earliest periods of which we have any satisfactory accounts, that they not only had mutual intercourse with each other by means of commerce, but that their sovereigns frequently united their forces to repel the attacks of foreign enemies.

The spices, salt, and fish of that part of Tamool called Male-bar, furnished supplies to Cunnur, which returned either the gold of its mountains, the manufactures of its looms, or its surplus grain. Cunnur procured also articles from its neighbours of Murhutt and Telling; coarse cloth, cotton, and silks from the former, and diamonds, chintz, and muslins from the latter: but the Goonds being situated in a hilly and woody coun-try, had little communication with their neighbours, and even at the present period are in a state of comparative barbarism.

Mutual intercourse serves to polish and refine the manners of mankind, and society tends to soften the feelings, and, by promoting a love of novelty, naturally begets luxury and progressive improvements in the arts. The rarities of one country are transported to another, more extensive connexions are formed, and in times of peace commerce is improved and manufactures flourish. Independently of trade in articles of luxury, however, the nature of the country, of the climate, and of the inhabitants of India promotes an intercourse even for their very existence. The uncertainty of the periodical falls of rain is frequently productive of famine; and in such a case, the only two alternatives left for the people of one part of the country, are either to emigrate into another, or to have grain brought to them;-the latter therefore is naturally adopted.