•

in which it is performed by the caravans. As in the dreary and inhofpitable tracts that form the boundaries of the Perfian empire towards India, the face of nature, fince that period, is not changed, and as water is so indifpenfable an article to a caravan, the defcription of the road and stages by this modern traveller is, in all probability, applicable to the period when the ancient caravans travelled this road, to which the afferted building of Candahar, by Alexander, can be no valid objection; for it is unlikely that a poft, fo important as to be called the Gate of India, fhould have been without a fortrefs to fecure and defend it. As the long and beaten track of a caravan in an inland Eaftern country is feldom deviated from, fo poffibly the mode of arranging and conducting the caravans themfelves is not fo greatly altered, but that our author's defcription in one of his journeys to India may afford to the European reader a tolerable idea of the regulations anciently established among them, I fhall transcribe from his entertaining page the principal circumstances enumerated during their progress, It is in Tavernier's Perfian Travels, page 48, of the London folio edition; but is too long for infertion here, and I want the room it would

would occupy for an extract more interesting to the Indian reader.

With refpect to thofe numerous caravans, confifting of loaded waggons, which we have feen, from the Inftitutes of Menu, are fo univerfally eftablifhed in India, for the tranfportation from city to city of the native and inferior productions of Hindoftan, the intelligent author above-mentioned, who refided fo long at Agra and Surat, acquaints us, that this fpecies of internal commerce is carried on almost entirely by means of oxen yoked to the wain, in more or lefs numbers as the wains themselves are more or less heavily laden. Sometimes they use the animal itself for that purpose, without the waggon; and he adds, it is not unusual for them to lay upon the back of thofe oxen 300 or 350 pounds weight. "It is an admirable fight to behold ten or twelve thousand oxen at a time all laden with rice, corn, and falt, in thofe places where they exchange these commodities; carrying corn where only rice grows, rice where only corn grows, and falt where there is none at all. They make ufe of camels fometimes, but very rarely, they being particularly appointed to carry the luggage of great personages. When the feafon requires hafte, and

they

they would speedily convey their merchandize to Surat to ship them off, they load them upon oxen, and not in wains. There is this great inconvenience for travellers, that when they meet with these numerous caravans in ftrait places, they are forced to ftay two or three days till they are all past by. They that drive thefe oxen follow no other calling as long as they live, nor do they dwell in houses; for they carry their wives and children along with them. There are fome among them that have a hundred oxen of their own, others more or less; and they have always one, who is their chief, that takes as much state as a prince, and has his chain of pearl hanging about his neck. When the caravan that carries the corn and that which carries the falt happen to meet, rather than yield the road, they frequently enter into very bloody difputes. The Great Mogul confidering one day that these quarrels were very prejudicial to trade, and the transportation of neceffary provifions from place to place, fent for the two chiefs of the caravan, and, after he had exhorted them, for the common good and their own intereft, to live quietly together, and not to quarrel and fight when they met,

gave

gave to each of them a lack of roupees and a chain of pearl.

"Of these carriers, there are in India four diftinct tribes, each of which may confift of a hundred thoufand fouls. The first of thefe tribes carries nothing but corn, the fecond rice, the third pulfe, and the fourth falt, which they fetch from Surat, and all along down the coaft as far as Cape Camorin.

The caravan of waggons feldom exceeds the number of a hundred, or two hundred at moft. Every waggon is drawn by ten or twelve oxen, and attended by four foldiers, whom the person that owns the merchandize is obliged to pay. Two of them march upon each fide of the waggon, over which there are two ropes thrown acrofs, the extremities whereof they hold in their hands, to the end, that, if the waggon fhould lean on one fide in ill way, the two foldiers on the other fide may keep it from overturning, by pulling the ropes with all their strength."*

After confidering the general route of the caravans paffing from the capital of Perfia to

See Tavernier's Indian Travels, p. 28.

the

the capital of India, we come, in the next place, to inquire what were the principal commodities mutually exchanged, in the ancient times, concerning which we treat, by these two mighty nations. As the light of hiftory, at least so far as the Perfians are concerned, (for, we are well acquainted with what, in all ages, have been the imports and exports of India,) is on this fubject but feeble, from the remoteness of the æra, we must be guided in our researches by examining the natural hiftory of that country, and the bent of the genius of her inhabitants; of what articles fhe ftood moft in need, and with what she could best dispense.

The vaft empire of Perfia, then, in its various regions, exhibited to the beholder a strong contraft of objects. Some of its provinces were arrayed, by the hand of nature and the labour of man united, in the charms of a terrestrial paradife, abounding with flowers, plants, and fruits, of exquifite beauty, brilliancy, and flavour. In particular, they produced grapes of the choiceft kind in luxurious plenty, of which they made variety of wines, with which the ancient Perfians were not denied to regale themselves, as their Mahom medan defcendants are, and one of tran

fcendant