Page:Views in India, chiefly among the Himalaya Mountains.djvu/170

92 enable him, whenever an opportunity might offer, to convert it into the Hindoo college which he had planned. No such opportunity, however, occurred during the lives of Colonel Mackenzie and Mr. Johnston; but, as the house is still the property of Sir Alexander Johnston, he has offered to make over all right which he has to it, according to the original plan of his father, to any individual or society who may agree to carry that plan into effect; and he is now in communication with a society abroad, who have the intention of sending out to Madura six men eminently distinguished in different branches of science, for the purpose of establishing themselves at Madura, and educating the Hindoos of that part of India, and circulating amongst them the arts and sciences of Europe.

In addition to their magnitude and splendour, the buildings delineated in the accompanying engraving, are remarkable for their dissimilitude to the general style of Hindoo architecture. Upon inquiry it has been ascertained, that the departure from the usual mode exhibited in some portion of the palace was occasioned by the suggestions of the Jesuit missionary, Robertus Nobilius, before mentioned, who, with a view to the introduction of the religion which he advocated, recommended the ornamental appendages of angels, whose appearance has puzzled many of the learned, surprised by the confusion of various styles, which, however, notwithstanding their departure from recognized rules, give to the whole an imposing character.

The great temple covered an amazing extent of ground, and, in addition to the numerous shrines dedicated to the favourite deities; Trimulnaig, the founder, erected a magnificent choultry for the accommodation of travellers and wayfarers within its walls. These remains are now beginning to excite a very great degree of attention, and drawings illustrative of them have_been sent to Rome, a place which will probably furnish many scientific and intellectual travellers, anxious to further the views for the dissemination of knowledge, now directed to so interesting a portion of the British empire in the East.

 SCENE IN KATTEAWAR,—TRAVELLERS AND ESCORT.

The unsettled state of the country, tenanted by wild tribes of a very lawless description, renders it necessary that those who undertake long journeys in Guzerat, should travel well protected. The scene in the plate represents a party just arriving at the halting ground, which, in the absence of better accommodation, has been chosen on a plain thickly scattered over with the remains of tombs. The sepulchres of India are so completely devoid of those revolting features which in other countries render them so distasteful to the living, that no person can possibly have any objection to take up an abode in them: wells are usually found in their vicinity, and they are generally erected in pleasant places; while during the greater portion of the year, the nights in India are so remarkably fine, that the shelter afforded by a pavilion, open, as the one in the plate, to all the winds of heaven, proves quite sufficient for comfort. Fires are speedily lighted in the evening bivouac, animals unloaded, and the baggage piled in a place offering the greatest chance of security. Each person is provided with food, the Hindoos contenting themselves with a simple meal of grain and vegetables, to which the richer portion add butter and spices. The Mohammedan travellers, though allowed a more generous diet, are well satisfied, when upon a march, with the same materials prepared somewhat differently. Water is the common beverage, which, with the 