Attention should always be paid to the advantage to be gained by war. Unless the advantage should fully compensate the loss of men and military stores, it should not be undertaken.

Great care should be used in choosing a field of battle. The strongest ground should be occupied; and ditches or breast-works should never be made, except in cases of extreme necessity; for the enemy will certainly derive an advantage from that conduct.

Every person who distinguishes himself by his bravery should receive the highest honours and rewards.

Coolness and deliberation are necessary in battle; and rashness and precipitancy must be avoided.

One of the greatest mistakes in war is despising the force of your enemy, and acting upon that notion. It is said in the divine book, “A small number often triumph over a large number." After obtaining a victory, let not strict vigilance be relaxed. When it is possible to take the enemy alive, let them not be cut to pieces; for much advantage results from taking prisoners: such as making slaves of them; detaining them as hostages; getting money by their ransoms; having the means of doing a good and gracious act by releasing them :-but in putting the enemy to death there is no advantage.

After a victory is obtained, the enemy who may have fallen into your hands should on no account whatever be put to death or treated with cruelty; for a conquered enemy is in the condition of your own slave or subject.

It is related in the Histories of the Philosophers, that Aristotle having received information that Alexander, after having taken a city, put the inhabitants to the sword, wrote a letter of reproof, in which he said, Though you were excusable in killing the enemy whilst they opposed you, what justification can you have for putting them to death when they were subdued, and had become your own dependants ?”

Clemency is a virtue, which shines with peculiar lustre in kings. The exercise of it in those who have great power deserves the highest praise. A certain author, in treating of clemency, has justly said, "I hold it to be

my duty to forgive all those who offend me, although their offences may have been great. There is no man who does not belong to one of three classes-my superiors, my inferiors, and my equals. I know the respect due to my superior, and I show it to him accordingly. If my inferior use disrespectful language to me, I attend to my dignity, and take no notice of it, however much I may be slighted by the scorners for not doing so. If my equal offend me, I in return do him a kindness; for he who returns good for evil is the superior."

In war, if your force is equal to that of the enemy, no time should be lost in making the attack; for in general those who are attacked in their own dominions are defeated.

If you should not be able to oppose the enemy, all possible exertions should be made to strengthen your fortifications: and in negotiating a peace, money should not be spared, and all possible address and circumvention should be employed.

These are the principles of government.*

* These principles have little novelty to European readers. But it is important to observe the coincidence of the moral and political maxims of distant countries and ages, as well as to remark their differences. The contrast between the liberality and purity of these excellent principles and the ordinary practice of Mahomedan nations is very striking to those who are familiar with the history of the East.

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V.

ACCOUNT OF THE CAVES IN SALSETTE,

ILLUSTRATED WITH DRAWINGS OF THE PRINCIPAL FIGURES AND CAVES.

SIR,

By HENRY SALT, Esq. (now Consul General in Egypt).

Read 25th August, 1806.

Suez, 13th February, 1806.

REQUEST that you will do me the honour of laying before the Society the accompanying account of the caves on the island of Salsette. I am extremely sorry that my journey into Abyssinia and other avocations have prevented the possibility of my completing it in the manner I could have wished: I could only have been induced to send it in its present state, from the delay which would necessarily ensue before I could forward it by any conveyance from England.

I am indebted to Major Atkins, of the Bombay establishment, for the geometrical plan of the hill, and for the ground-plan and sections of the great cave at Kenery; the other drawings are from my own sketches on the spot, which I hope the Society will do me the honour of accepting. I beg leave to repeat, that I shall have great pleasure in executing in London any orders from the Society.

I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant,
(Signed) HENRY SALT.

An Account of the Caves on the Island of Salsette.

JOGHEYSEER CAVES.

About eight miles to the northward of Mahim* is the village of Ambollee, from whence the Jogheyseer caves lie nearly two miles distant in a A small town at the N. W. point of the island of Bombay, whence there is a ferry to the island of Salsette.

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north-easterly direction. Over the sloping path that leads to the western entrance is a natural arch formed by the branches of a banyan-tree, which stretching across the path have taken root on the opposite side, giving a very picturesque appearance to the entrance: a descent of eight steps then conducts to a small ante-room (vide A, in the ground-plan), which is divided into three compartments by two pillars and two pilasters on each side; the figures carved around the walls of this chamber have nearly disappeared from decay, but the frame and cornice of the door through which you pass from it to the great cave have still the appearance of having been once finished with a variety of sculpture neatly executed ; and over the door are groups of small figures, amongst which may be observed two tolerably perfect, in the attitudes in which Ramah and Seta are often represented. The great cave into which you now enter is about one hundred and twenty feet square; at about eighteen feet inwards are twenty pillars of the same order as those at Elephanta, forming an inner square, within which again is a chamber about twenty-four feet square, with doors answering to each other on the four sides. This is evidently a temple dedicated to Mahadeo, as on a pedestal in the centre is the lingam covered with holy red paint, and over it a small bell on a wooden frame decorated with flowers, to which our Gentoo attendants paid the customary homage. The walls of this temple were externally adorned with sculptured figures, the only vestiges of which remaining are on the eastern side, representing dwarfs, which from their situation seem to have supported larger figures as at Elephanta. Though it is now usual to go in on the western side, yet it appears to me that the eastern was formerly the principal entrance, as greater attention seems to have been paid to the decorations of this side than of the other; and the various representations of the deity are such as were likely to impress his votaries with more suitable awe-a circumstance seldom unattended to by the Bramins. The eastern side is more open to the air, to which may in some measure be attributed the better preservation of the figures, which I shall proceed to describe. Over the first door-way (marked in the ground-plan C) is a figure with five heads and twelve or more hands, supporting a throne on