Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 9.djvu/315

 her rule over India will pass away into other hands, and leave nothing behind it but the glory and the shame of a historical remembrance.

The rest of Colonel Tod's proceedings among the Rajpoots may be briefly told. In 1819 he completed the circuit of Marwar, and visited its capital, Joudpoor, by the route of Komulmer, and returned to Oodipoor by the way of Mairta and Ajmer. In 1820 he visited Kotah and Boondi, and on the following year he revisited the latter province, in consequence of the death of his friend, the Rao Rajah Ram Sing, who bequeathed to the colonel the guardianship of his son, the prince of the Haras. It was now time that his personal connection with India should cease, as after a residence of twenty-two years of incessant occupation in that climate, his broken constitution could withstand it no longer. He was accordingly released from his duties as British political agent of Rajast'han, which he had discharged during five years, and allowed to return to England. But instead of instantly availing himself of the opportunity, by hastening to embark when he left the valley of Oodipoor in June, 1822, he crossed the Aravalli to the sacred mountain of Aboo, and explored the remains of that district, so venerated in the religious traditions of Hindoostan. His interest in Rajpootana and love of travel being still unabated, he continued his journey of research, in which he discovered the ruins of an ancient city in the borders of Marwar, explored the ancient capital of the Balhara kings, and crossed the peninsula of Saurashtra, visiting in his way the towns, temples, and shrines that illustrated the ancient history of the country. This journey was so replete with interest that he drew up a full account of it after his return to England. He finally embarked at Bombay in the early part of 1823, and arrived in England the same year.

On returning home, Colonel Tod by no means abandoned himself to a life of rest or recreation. His Indian studies and discoveries, carried over so long a period, and involving such important subjects, were to be arranged and prepared for the press, and to this duty he turned his attention with all his wonted ardour. And how well he discharged his task the "Annals of Rajast'han" will sufficiently attest, independently of his other writings. It opened up new paths in the study of the history, philosophy, and religion of India, which subsequent scholars have entered with the happiest results. But these efforts, upon a constitution already all but exhausted, accelerated the process of decay; and a complaint in the chest obliged him to take up his residence in Italy, where he chiefly abode during the last twelve months of his life. Still his studies were continued, and during the winter while he staid in Rome, he employed himself daily in a work entitled, "Travels in Western India," containing his observations during a journey to the Peninsula of Guzerat, which he had made before his departure for Britain. From Italy he returned to England in the beginning of September, 1835, and on the 14th of November he came from his mother's residence in Hampshire, to London, ready to publish his work on Western India, and retire for the rest of his life to a property which he had lately purchased. But on the 16th, the anniversary of his marriage, while transacting business at his banker's, he was suddenly struck with apoplexy, under which he continued speechless and insensible for twenty-seven hours, when he expired on the afternoon of the 17th, 1835.

—The family of the Traills is of considerable antiquity, and was settled in Fifeshire, where they possessed the estate of Blebo. The first of the name who appears in Scottish history was Walter Traill, son 