Page:The empire and the century.djvu/665

 theocratic enthusiasm; the Rohillas, the Pathans, the Assamesi, the Biluchees, and the other wild and martial tribes on our frontiers; the Hillsmen dwelling in the folds of the Himalayas; our subjects in Burma, Mongol in race and Buddhist in religion; the Khonds, Mairs, and Bheels, and other non-Aryan peoples in the centre and South of India; and the enterprising Parsees, with their rapidly-developing manufactures and commercial interests. Again, amongst these numerous communities may be found at one and the same moment all the various stages of civilization through which mankind has passed from the prehistoric ages to the present day. At one end of the scale we have the naked savage hillman, with his stone weapons, his head-hunting, his polyandrous habits, and his childish superstitions; and at the other the Europeanized native gentleman, with his refinement and polish, his literary culture, his Western philosophy, and his advanced political ideas; while between the two lie layer upon layer, or in close juxtaposition, wandering communities, with their flocks of goats and moving tents; a collection of undisciplined warriors, with their blood feuds, their clan organization and loose tribal government; feudal chiefs and barons, with their picturesque retainers, their seigneurial jurisdiction, and their medieval modes of life; and modernized country gentlemen, and enterprising merchants and manufacturers, with their well-managed estates and prosperous enterprises.'

And what are the territorial limits of the Empire which contains this microcosm, this history, like the growth of the embryo in the womb—of the development of the human race from primitive savagery to twentieth-century civilization? It is in form a huge triangular peninsula, the base resting on the great ranges of the Himalayas and the Hindu Kush, and the apex stretching far down into the Indian Ocean, and dividing the Arabian Sea from the Bay of Bengal. To this must be added the great Province of Burma, which takes our boundaries up to the higher reaches of the Mekong, and