H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence and Avondale in Southern India. By J. D. Rees ... With a narrative of Elephant-catching in Mysore by G. P. Sanderson ... With maps, portraits and illustrations

Front matter

H. R. H. THE DUKE OF CLARENCE AND AYONDALE IN SOUTHERN INDIA PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON H. R. H. THE DUKE OF CLARENCE AND AVONDALE, K.G. H. E. H THE DUKE OF CLARENCE & AVONDALE IN SOUTHERN INDIA UY J. D. EEES COMPANION OF THE MOST EMINENT ORDER OF THE INDIAN EMPIRE FELLOW OF THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, MEMBER OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF PARIS, MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY FELLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS, AND SOMETIME TRANSLATOR TO THE MADRAS GOVERNMENT IN TAMIL, TELUGU, PERSIAN, AND HINDUSTANI AUTHOR OF 'JOURNEY FROM KAZVEEN TO HAMADAN (ECBATANA)' ETC. WITH A NAEEATIVE OF ELEPHANT-CATCHING IN MYSOEE BY G. P. SANDERSON LATE SUPERINTENDENT OF KEDDAHS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL SUPERINTENDENT OF KEDDAHS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF MYSORE AUTHOR OF 'TWELVE TEARS AMONG THE WILD BEAST3 OF INDIA' ETC.

WITH MSP, PORTRAITS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRtTBNER & CO. Ltd. PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD {The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved) DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO H.E.H. THE DUKE OF CLAEENCE AND AVONDALE E.G.

Preface

The following narrative is intended to form a record of the recent visit of the Duke of Clarence and Avondale to Southern India, and particularly to give an account of his Eoyal Highness' visit to Hyderabad, and of his experiences when shooting in Mysore and Travancore. The fourth chapter is written entirely by Mr. Sanderson, the Superintendent of Keddahs in Mysore, who conducted the elephant-catching operations. It is hoped that this portion of the little book, and that relating to sport in Travancore, may be of some use to sportsmen, who intend to shoot in India. I have, by per mission of the editors of ' Macmillan's Magazine ' and of the ' Asiatic Quarterly Eeview,' availed myself of articles I have written for those periodicals in treating of Mysore and Travancore, I have profited by extracts from the mine of information contained in Ball's new edition of ' Tavernier's Travels,' and I have to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Talboys Wheeler, Mr. James Fergusson, Mr. E\riu-onjke THE DUKE OF CLAEENCE IN INDIA VIII Jamshedjee, Mr. Willmott, and Sir Mountstuart Grant Duff for information extracted from their writings, and contribu tions to various Eeviews.

I have also made use, in some places, of ' Narratives of Tours in India,' written by myself, and have noticed, as fully as the nature of my subject allowed, the administration of the three great Native States of Hyder abad, Mysore and Travancore, besides endeavouring to give, by the way, some idea of the life of the people of Southern India. J. D. EEES. OOTACAMfJfD : 1890. PAKE CONTENTS

Chapter I Hyderabad

The Premier Native State, its area and population— Hyderabad, a truly Oriental city — The Nizam's ancestry — The great nobles of the State — Lord and Lady Eeay — The Shums-ul-Umrah family — Sir Asman Jah — Sir Arthur Wellesley on Hyderabad — Sir Lepel Griffin on Native States in India — Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk's reply in the ' Nineteenth Century ' — Administration of Sir Salar Jung the First — Lady Dufferin's beneficent work — The minister's lieutenants — The Duke of Clarence's arrival at Bombay, and journey thence to Hyderabad— The ruins of Gulburga — An anecdote of its king — Kharabgaoun — Conditions of British and Native rule — Raja Sir T. Madava Row on Native Governments — Poverty of India — Recent improvements in Hyderabad — Sir Oliver St. John on Hyderabad— Increasing prosperity in British India — Relative condition of the masses of India — Hyderabad as ' Dar-ul- Ziyafat ' — Sir Asman Jah meets His Royal Highness at Bombay — 'The full moon of the State ' — Prince's arrival and reception at the railway station — Parsee names — Nawab Afsar Jung — The weather — A case of coup de soleil — Party that accompanied the Prince— The Nizam's railway saloons — ' Bushir Bagh ' — Exchange of visits between his Highness and his Royal Highness — The Nizam's installation — His private and public life — His capacity for public business — The loyalty of his House — His help to the British in times of war and proffered contribution to the Indian frontier defence — The ' Times ' on the offer — Lord Dufferin's reply thereto — Sir Salar Jung the Second — The present minister — Memorable scene at the installation durbar — Lady Grant-Duff's description of the Nizam in 1884 — His Royal Highness's escorts at Hyderabad — Sketch of the lives of Nawab Akbar Jung and Ali Abdoola Saheb — Prince Alamayu — X THE DUKE OF CLAEENCE IN INDIA PAGE 1 Ceremonial functions at Hyderabad — Ancient history of the city — En croachments of the Mogul — Hyderabad sacked — Tavernier's account of a Dutch surgeon's visit to the king — His Royal Highness's visit to the Nizam — The Royal cortege — Inscriptions on archways — The walls of the city and the bazaars — The durbar-hall in his Highness's palace — The palaces of Hyderabad — Amazon guards — Ball at the Residency — Anec dote of a former Nizam — Large maps — Buck-shooting — The hunting leo pard and the deer — Hyderabad entertainments — The Salar Jung palace — The Nizam's State banquet — Prince's visit to Golconda — Its fortress — Tavernier's account of Mir Jumla — The Koh-i-noor diamond — Siege of Golconda — Fabulous wealth of the king — Character of the Hindus — Decay of Hyderabad manufactures — The Warangal carpets — The delicate buck rams — Hyderabad noted for its diamonds — Bidar work — Steel manufacture — Young Afsar Jung's horsemanship — The Nizam tent-pegging — Falaknumah — Mir Alam tank — Secunderabad — The ' Vicar's ' banquet-breakfast — His Ro3'al Highness snipe-shooting — Banquet at the Nizam's — Hyderabad by night — The

illuminations — The Prince's speech — Departure from Hyderabad — Present security of life at Hyderabad — Mr. Talboys Wheeler's observations on the Sunnis and Shiahs — The Chloroform Commission and its result — The habits and customs of the inhabitants of Hyderabad — Indian agriculture — Mr. Faridonjee Jamshed jee's description of the cultivators — Hindu patience — Killing an offender — Nizam's proclamation of 1884 — Sir Asman Jah's administration

Chapter II Madras

The Prince's journey from Hyderabad — The East Coast Railway — The Deccan Mining Company — Its enterprise — Gold-prospecting — Diamond-prospecting — Singareni coal-fields — Visit of Governor of Madras — An erratum — Output of the coal-mines — Condition of people depends upon locality — ■ Rich portions of Madras Presidency — Gooty fortress — A gruesome accident — Prince's arrival and reception — Presentation of municipal address — Prince's reply — Procession to Government House — Sir Thomas Munro's equestrian statue — A humorous description of Madras — Its army — The recruiting-sergeants' material — The Sappers and Miners — His Royal Highness snipe-shooting — A good bag — Chingleput — Difficulties of snipe-shooting — State reception at banqueting-hall — Le grand Stradiot — His Royal Highness at Fort St. George and St. Mary's Church — Striking inscriptions — Foundations of St. Mary's Church laid — Mr. Master — Enforced attendance at church in 1678 — The then Civil Servants — Madras in the olden time — The day's work then, and now — From factory to fort — Anecdote of Governor Pitt — His horse-dealing transactions — CONTENTS XI PAGE 44 Madras now — The conservancy of the city — Its abnormal death-rate — Incidents of processions — Prince's visit to Sir Ramasawmy's lying-in hospital — The Peabody of Madras — ' The Prince Albert Victor ward ' — Prince at the Harbour — Lines suggested by the Madras Harbour — King Theebaw — Queen Soopayalat — Construction of railways — The ' Times ' on the ' Benighted Presidency' — The Presidency town — Agriculture and commerce in Madras in 1800 — Primary education — Complaints against higher education — Comparison of the Presidency capitals — The Queen's statue — Its presentation to the city by Raja Gajapathi Row — The late Duke of Buckingham — 'Blind man's buff' around the Queen's statue — Prince's visit to museum — Amaravati marbles — Sindbad the Sailor — Buddhism — Arnoldian Buddhism — Sculptural Buddhism — Tree and serpent worship — Mr. Fergusson on Buddhism — Observations on objects of Indian worship — Prince plays polo — Origin of polo — Its first intro duction into the East and West — At Calcutta — At Aldershot — Differ ences between ancient and modern game — Playing by electric light — Played by Emperor Akbar — Polo at Constantinople — The Lord High Polo Stick — The sides — The local paper's opinion — Sir Charles Lawson — Move to hills — Ball in banqueting-hall — The Madras centenarian — The Prince and Maharaja of Vizianagaram exchange visits — Prince of Wales's complimentary visit to him in 1875 — Dr. Russell's description of Maharaja's father — Feud between Bobbili and Vizianagaram .

Chapter III Mysore

The Prince starts for Mysore — Visit to Seven Pagodas abandoned — Seven Pagodas — Lady Jersey's lines — Customs of modern Jains — Edicts of Asoka —Prince's arrival at Mysore — Halt en route at Seringapatam — The fort and town — Mr. Basappa, the apothecary — The Daria Dowlat — Homeric contests — Colonel Baillie bites the thumb of disappointment — Count de Lally — The secret of the downfall of the French — Tippoo's general — The mausoleum of Hyder and Tippoo — Tombs of British officers — The lonely bungalow — Mr. Basappa's opinion of local ladies — Citizen Tippoo's appeal lo the French Republic — Anecdote of Hyder — Cauvery bathing ghat — Prince's reception at Mysore — Ancient history of Mysore Raj — Maharaja's installation in 1881 — His government — Mysore since the rendition — Sir James Gordon — Dewans Rungacharlu and Sheshadri Iyer — Famine in Mysore in 1877 and 1878 — Impoverished exchequer — Increasing prosperity — Railways — Hospitals — Gold-fields — Companies engaged thereon — Superior quality of the quartz — Gold-mines of future — Prospector's method of procedure — Native superstitions — Terms of leases of gold-mines — Sir M. E. Grant-Duff's survey of Madras — The military PAGE 78 forces of the State — Rungacharlu's representative assembly — The Dus sorah festival — The gatherings on the occasion — Objects of representative assembly — The Dewan's last annual statement — The ' rush to alcohol ' — Irrigation-works — The education department — Advance of female education — The Dewan's announcement of the Prince's visit to Mysore — Rela tive positions of different Native States — Attitude of the paramount power towards each — Travancore — European officials in Mysore — Visits to and from Maharaja — Maharani's caste girls' school — Curriculum of study — Maharani of Mysore — Lady Dufferin — Eastern and Western sisters — The Queen's interest in Indian women — Her Majesty's kindness to her Indian servants — The Duke of Connaught's courtesy — The Native press on Prince Albert Victor's visit — Permanent memorials of his Royal High ness's visit — The Prince of Wales — Sir Edward Bradford — Mr. Bradford — Interest of Prince of Wales and of Prince Albert Victor in lepers — The Anglo-Indian press on the Prince's visit — Mysore forests — The Maharaja's palace — The riding-circus — The State jewels — The gold and silver howdahs — Weapons — The library — The picture-gallery — State banquet — Prince's drive around Mysore — The illuminations — An Indian superstition — An English superstition — Tigers in Maharaja's stables — The Piccadilly goat — Entertainment at town hall — Transpa rencies of representative inhabitants of Mysore — The Prince starts for keddahs — One secret of Mr. Sanderson's success .....

Chapter IV The Keddahs

Mysore plateau — First capture of elephants in Mysore — ' Koonkies,' or trained elephants — Scene of keddahs — Billigarungun hills — Sholigas — Mysore wars — Hyder Ali — Tippoo — Pindarries and Sookaligas — Hunting castes — First incursion of elephants — Their habits — Their number — Site of keddahs — Elephant paths — ' Neerdoorgi gorge ' — Elephants' abode — Their wanderings — Their gambols — Situation of keddahs — A story of elephants— Capture of elephants in July 1889 — The hunt in honour of his Royal Highness — Jungle council — Jungle deities — Reported presence of elephants — Keddah inclosure — Arrangements — Elephants' drive — Oopligas and Torreas — Hunters' signals — Beacon hill — Royal camp — Boodipudaga — Hunters' rations — A successful drive — Signal fog-horns — Hunters' march — Keddah arrangements detailed — Beaters' posts — Elephants' antipathy to white colour — Disporting elephants — Their movements — Flagsignals — Mr. Morris — My Head Jemadar — Beaters' lines — Jaffer, my jungle companion — Bursting of rockets — Elephants trapped — Keddah gates dropped — Captive elephants — Major Pigott— Prince's camp— Cholera scare — Prince at keddah — A grand CONTENTS XIII PAGE 101 141 stand — Elephants' drive into the small inclosure — Maharaja cuts cord of keddah gate — Signal platform — Prince views the elephants — Their flight into inner inclosure — Elephants secured — Prince's return to camp — Prince at keddah again — ' Koonkies ' — Their docile nature and habits — An accident — Elephants driven and tied up — Lassoing — Captured ele phants marched — Prince starts for bison-hunting — News of bison — Prince wounds a bison — Party return to Mysore — His Royal Highness's bag en route — Liberality of Mysore Government — Great success of keddahs .

Chapter V Mysore To Travancore

Prince's arrival at Bangalore — The city and cantonment — Incident of battery practice — East Indians as farmers — Special features of Prince's reception — 21st Hussars — Fete at Lai Bagh — Groups of Indian characters — Dramatic performance — Prince lays foundation-stone of horticultural exhibition building — Illuminations — A parade — Departure for Travancore — Madras Sappers and Miners — Technical education — Water-supply of Bangalore — A temperance institution — A local legend — Tombstones — Prince's visit to Madura abandoned — The temple at Madura — Trimul Naik's palace

Chapter VI Travancore

Rama — The Ramayana — Railway journey to Tinnevelly — Scenery en route — Indian deities — Brahmin pantheism — Christianity in India — Prince's arrival at Tinnevelly — His departure for CourtaUum — Bishop Caldwell — Missionary labours in Tinnevelly — Reception at Courtallum — The Maharaja — Banquet — Courtallum falls — The illuminations — Travancore — Area — Population — A myth — Succession in Travancore — Missions — Prince's return visit to His Highness — Oil painting of a Nair lady — Nairs — Position of women in Malabar — Shooting arrangements — Tiger tale — Camp in forest — Ariankao Pass — Railway project — Arrival at camp — Beats — Shikari dress — After an elephant — Hillmen — Another camp — A big tusker — A careful sportsman — Three elephants tracked — Snakes — A third camp — Bison-shooting — Elephant-catching in Travancore — After big game — Captain Harvey's kill — The chief tracker — Prince I'AOK shoots a bison — Mr. Tennant's experience of bison-shooting — A solitary fane — A legend — The iguana — Another unsuccessful beat — Prince's de parture for Madras — Travancore — Its prosperity — Government of Madras on its administration — Travancore under Raja Sir T. Madava Row — Its present Dewan 149

Chapter VII Tra

VANCORE— MADRAS Trichinopoly — The Rock temple — Srirungum — Temple jewels — ' Swami jewellery ' — Decline of South Indian art and manufactures — Garden party — Puthucotta State — Sir Shashia Shastri — ' Dacoity ' defined — Maravars — Hero-worship — Prince's arrival at Guindy Park — The whitest house in the world — An ideal residence — Governor's guests at Guindy — Drive to town — Mylapore — Raja Sir T. Madava Row — Indian Councils Bill — Indian National Congress — Bradlaugh's Draft Bill — Non-representation better than misrepresentation — The elective franchise — British rule — Mr. Justice Muthuswami Iyer — Dewan Bahadur Raghunatha Row — Hindu widow re-marriage — Infant marriage — ■ Ill-usage of widows greatly exaggerated — Prince at Victoria Public Hall — Snipe -shooting — Ball at Guindy Park — Prince of Arcot — Visit to Leper hospital — Condition of lepers — A quiet day — The Marina — Prince embarks for Burma 183 INDEX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS AUTOTYPE POBTBAITS H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, K.G. . .

Frontispiece H.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad, G.C.S.I. . . . To face page 2 H.E. the Minister of Hyderabad, Nawab Sir Asman Jah Bahadur, E..C.I.E. ...... 4 H.H. the Maharajah of Mysore, G.C.S.I. . . . . „ 85 H.H. the Maharajah of Travancore, G.C.S.I. . . . „ 150 PHOTOGRAVURES The Char Minar, or Four Minarets . . . . „ 22 Golconda Fort . . ... . . . „ 30 The Palace ......... 36 Rock Carvings at Seven Pagodas . . . . . „ 78 Gateway where Tippoo Sultan tell . . . . „ 80 The Daria Dowlat, or Sea of Wealth . . . . „ 82 The Keddah Valley ........ H8 Wild Herd in Forest before Drive . . . . . „ 120 Herd in Retreat .-.....„ 124 Herd Impounded in Stockade . . . . . -, > » 130 Tying up in Stockade . .... j Visitor's Platform and Keddah Gate . . . . ,, LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XVI First Operation of Binding a Wild Elephant . . -s [ To face p. 134 Putting on Leg Hawser . ....

J Elephant made Fast . . . . . . . „ 130 Prince and Mr. Sanderson in Jungle Cart . . . „ 138 Raft Tank at Madura . . . . . . . „ 146 courtallum ........,, 156 Nair Lady . . . . . . . . „ 160 Nair Girls ......... 160 Nair House ...... ~1 \ „ 162 Temple in Ariankao Pass ..... J Travancore Forest . . . . . . . „ 164 Prince and Bison . . . . . . . „ 174 Trichinopoly and Rock . . . . . . . „ 184 Guindy Park ......... 188 Group at Guindy . . . . . . . . ,, 190 MAP India: Showing Route of H.R.H. the Duke of Clarence in Southern India .......,, CLAEENCE AND AYONDALE IN SOUTHERN INDIA

Chapter I Hyderabad

The kingdom of the Nizam, commonly described as the premier Native State in India, wTas also the first honoured with a visit by his Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence and Avondale during his tour in India in 1889. It covers an area of upwards of 98,000 square miles (including Berar), on which a population of nearly twelve millions is accommodated ; and its capital is the largest town in India, with the exception of the three Presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay — all of which, however, it greatly surpasses in interest, being the most truly Oriental city in India, and perhaps the only one in which the spectacle of Europeans and Asiatics meeting in friendly and unrestrained social intercourse may be witnessed. His Highness the Nizam is a descendant of the lieutenant of the Great Mogul who in 1713 ruled over the south of India, and whose sub-lieutenants again ruled, under the title of Nawab or Deputy, extensive portions of the administrator's enormous satrapy.

His title, being interpreted, means ' the adminis trator of the country,' and he is the only prince in whose B CLARENCE IN INDIA 2 family the title of Nizam has become hereditary ; this designa tion having been continuously used since it was bestowed upon Chin Kulich Khan, a Turkoman chief, who held high office at the Imperial Court in the days of the Emperor Aurungzebe — a man of proud and haughty disposition who would not brook an insult, not even from the favourite of the mistress of the em peror, before whom the Mogul subjects trembled. After our wars with the French in Southern India were over, we found that the lieutenant of the emperor at Delhi had become an in dependent Mussulman prince ruling over a territory nearly 100,000 square miles in extent, and for the most part inhabited by Hindus.

Originally, when he came down from the north, the Nizam had been a primus inter pares, and the commander in-chief of the forces, and other great nobles from Upper India were possessed of vast estates, made over to them for the main tenance of their dignity, and still more for the support of troops for the defence and assistance of the Nizam. To this day, the descendants of these nobles occupy positions different to those of ordinary subjects. They raise the revenues in their estates, expend them at will, maintain troops, and enjoy most of the privileges of feudal barons. Such are the Nawab Sir Asman Jah, Minister of Hyderabad, and such was Nawab Munir-ul-Mulk, ' the light of the State,' the last surviving son of Sir Salar Jung, who, since his Royal Highness's visit, has passed away in his early youth.

Others of these great nobles are the Vicar-ul-Umrah and the Amir-i-Kabir, Nawab Sir Khurshed Jah, whose high title proclaims him ' the equal of the sun in dignity ' and ' the chief of the nobles.' The Nawabs Khurshed Jah, Asman Jah, and Vicar-ul-Umrah all belong to the great Shums-ul-Umrah family — that is to say, the family of H. H. THE NIZAM OF HYDERABAD, G.C.S.I. HYDERABAD 3 ' the sun of the nobles ' — who wear the royal plume in their caps, and are related by marriage to the family of the late or present Nizam. Nawab Sir Asman Jah, as minister, naturally takes precedence of all other nobles in Hyderabad. His Excellency is a great-grandson of the second Nizam ; and previously to his appointment as minister he had already for fourteen years occupied the high post of Minister of Justice, the salary of which, however, he declined to take.

He lived on terms of the greatest intimacy and friendship with the great Sir Salar Jung, ' the leader in war,' whose duties he conducted, on more than one occasion, with skill and ability. The Nawab is not unknown in England, for he was deputed, on the occasion of her Majesty's Jubilee, to represent the Government of Hyderabad, and in that year he was appointed to his present high office. To an extensive acquaintance with Persian and Arabic literature he has, in order to discharge more effectually his present duties, latterly added a good knowledge of English. His hospitality is as profuse as it is refined, and he is universally liked and respected by his own people, by the English at Hyderabad, and by his sovereign, to whose sister he is married. In 1804, the Duke of Wellington, then Sir Arthur Wellesley, writing from Jaulna, said : ' The Nizam's territories are one complete chaos from the Godaveri to Hyderabad.

The situation of the country is shocking ; the people are starving in hundreds ; and there is no government to afford the slightest relief.' Up till 1853, when Sir Salar Jung took office, the country continued to be in a more or less chaotic state. Sir -Lepel Griffin, in June 1889, delivered a lecture in London in which he drew, in his usual graphic manner, a somewhat dark picture of the maladministration of Native States in India. E THE DUKE OF CLARENCE IN INDIA 4 One of the most distinguished officials of the Hyderabad State, Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, or ' the benefactor of the country,' has replied with much force in the pages of the ' Nineteenth Cen tury' for October 1889, pointing out that half the country has been surveyed and settled upon terms favourable to the cultivator during the administration of Sir Salar Jung, and that similar measures are now being adopted in regard to the remainder.

He further stated that the assessment paid by the occupier to Government was light, as was proved by the facility with which it was collected. Freely allowing that there was neither law nor justice prior to 1853, he has shown that a fair working judicial system has been introduced, that education has been greatly advanced, and that hospitals and dispensaries are spread over the country ; while the revenue has advanced from 750,000/. a year to 3,250,000/. between 1853 and 1888. Those who have read authentic accounts — and such are easily procurable — of the condition of the country prior to 1853 cannot but allow that the improvements subsequently effected have been indescribable, however the administration of the Hyderabad of the present day may compare with that of other Native States, or with that of British India.

Indeed, Sir Lepel, in his surrejoinder in the ' Asiatic Quarterly ' for January 1890, disclaims any direct attack upon Hyderabad, and contents himself with throwing doubts upon the actual existence of the progress claimed in the Administration Reports of this and of other States. The present minister, Sir Asman Jah, has specially devoted himself to the improvement of the material condition of the masses of the people, to the inauguration of irrigation works, the extension of survey and settlement, and the amelioration of the condition of those classes who, in the H. E. THE MINISTER OF HYDERABAD NAWAB SIR ASMAN JAH BAHADUR, K. C.S.I HYDEEABAD 5 fabric of Hindu society, are born to hardship and degradation. The improvement of the administration of justice has natu rally been a grateful task to an ex-minister of justice, while education and medical aid to the people have received their full share of attention.

Lady doctors are being educated in Hyderabad and in England, in connection with the beneficent work of Lady Dufferin, which has nowhere received more firm or consistent support than in the Nizam's dominions. The most trusty and able lieutenants of the minister are Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, above referred to, and Nawab Moshtak Hussain, whose honesty of purpose and indomitable zeal have earned for him the well-deserved approval of the minister, and of the Nizam. I would conclude this digression by observing that the State of Hyderabad is far the largest of the three in India whose rulers are entitled to salutes of twenty-one guns, the other two being Mysore and Baroda. Landing at Bombay on November 9, 1889, the anniversary of the day on which the Prince of Wales landed in 1875, and after enjoying, as so many less distinguished travellers have, the kind and thoughtful hospitality of Lord and Lady Reay at Poona, his Royal Highness proceeded at once to Hyderabad, passing Sholapoor and Gulburga, celebrated in the novels of Meadows Taylor, whose active life was spent in this locality.

The ruins of the latter town may be seen from the railway. It was the residence, in the fourteenth century, of a powerful Mussulman king, who was constantly at war with the neigh bouring Hindu monarch, the picturesque remains of whose capital may be seen on the banks of the Tungabadhra at Hampi. In the character of Mahmud Shah, humour and ferocity were combined in an unusual degree. One day a band of dancing women pleased him so much by their per formances that he gave them a draft on his royal neighbour by way of payment. His minister, thinking this a piece of pleasantry, kept back the draft, but next day was taken to task by his master, who said : ' Think you a word without meaning ever escapes my lips ? The order I gave you arose not from intoxication but from design.' The chief musician presented the draft to the King of Vijianagar, whereon war was at once declared, and the Mussulman king slew without quarter all the Hindus who fell into his power.

The strife over, he said : ' Praise be to God that I have performed what I promised. I would not have a light word recorded of me in the pages of history.' Then he died after having slain half a million of Hindus, and on his tomb were engraved the words, ' All is vanity.' Presumably this was not the view of his life taken by the Hindus. His Royal Highness's train entered the Nizam's dominions at Kharabgaoun, or ' bad or ruined village,' probably so called from its want of water, and not to mark its condition, as compared with that of British villages across the frontier. A recent writer — well known in the south of India — has given a long list of excellent reasons why British India should be preferred, as a place of residence, to a Native State. Having recently travelled myself from British India into Hyderabad, all these reasons had not occurred to me, but it io difficult not to speculate on the relative condition of the people in either case, when passing from her Majesty's dominions to those of protected Native princes.

Officials who have spent years on the frontiers of Native States, must have noticed that it docs not occur habitually to the inhabitants on HYDERABAD 7 either side to compare the conditions of British and Native rule, and that migrations from one to another are not very frequent. In fact, the physical conditions of the country must, in a great measure, determine the difference, and the cultivator is not always more highly taxed in Native than in British territory, while he escapes what he cordially detests, the imposition of all taxes devoted to sanitation, all sanitary measures themselves, and the different services of local government. There is, however, one great and all-important difference. It is this. The British Government spends a greater proportion of its revenue in developing the material resources of its districts, in making roads and railways, and in extending irrigation works.