Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/250

214 of its idolatrous temple rears its head. Populous as is India, it is not by any means fully peopled; more than one-half of the soil is untilled. Owing to wars, the oppressiveness of taxation, and the sorer oppression of tax-gatherers, together with the want of irrigation, vast portions of this rich country lie completely waste. Thus has it been in this district since the ferocious Hyder Ali fulfilled the vow of vengeance formed "in the gloomy recesses of a mind capacious of such purposes," and left the Carnatic a wilderness devoid of life. It is a sad spectacle, fit emblem of the moral desolation that rests on India; but, by the word of God, both shall pass away, and the desert blossom as the rose. When Christianity shall have given purity, industry, and truth to the Hindus, these plains, now so bare, will be the abode of beauty and plenty.

Our palankeens soon overtook us, and rolling in, we pursued our way in the silent night watches, soothed to sleep by the song of our bearers. An easy run of twenty-four miles brought us to Bala-chetty-chattiram, several hours before sunrise. Spreading our palankeen mattresses on the verandah, we slept till daylight; then going into the village, we made known to the people the truths of the Bible.