Accordingly I embarked in the General Palmer, on the 20th of July, 1828, and was accompanied to the vessel by Mr. Carver, who had displayed the greatest kindness to me during my indisposition, and several brahmin natives, whom curiosity led to visit and examine the ship.

I had then been, within a few weeks, eight years in India, more than six of which had been happily passed in Madras. I could not quit the scene of honourable labour, and some degree of usefulness, without regret; I never revert to Madras without feelings of pleasure; and flatter myself that the additional information concerning it, offered in the following chapter, will not be unacceptable to the reader who has accompanied me thus far.

CHAPTER XXV.

Concluding remarks on Madras-Its present importanceIts former state-Ecclesiastical establishments-Inhabitants-Indo-Britons-Descendants of PortugueseHindoos Ceremony of swinging on hooks-Worship of the Kite-Mahommedans-Native Roman Catholics— Singular method of proselyting-General success of the Mission.

BEFORE entering upon an account of my voyage home, I lay before my readers some remarks on subjects not fully treated upon in the preceding chapters.

Madras is a place of greater political than commercial importance. Though the chief port in the south of India, the circumstance of its possessing no harbour or shelter for shipping, causes it to be shunned at some seasons, and ren

MADRAS.

259 ders it at all times less desirable to trade at than the other Presidencies; the coasting trade is difficult and limited. All goods being embarked and disembarked by Masoola boats managed by natives, English seamen are rarely seen ashore, and it would scarcely be possible to pick up an English boat's crew from amongst the whole population. It is said to have been nothing better than a fishing village, before it was fixed upon by the British as the seat of Government; and it is obvious that a great part of Black Town was formerly a part of the salt ditch, or back-water, which may be observed on the coast, a little within the beach, for many miles both to the north and south; and of which Cochrane's canal is a part, deepened so as to make it navigable for boats as far north as Pulicat.

A view of the ecclesiastical establishments of Madras would afford some assistance in estimating its importance. The Romish clergy are numerous, and are to be seen, as is never the case in England, walking abroad in the habit of their orders, the Franciscan with his gown and the cord about his waist, the Capuchin with his hooded cloak, &c. There are also some of the clergy of the Armenian church, who, (I was informed,) have this peculiarity, that they must be married men to be eligible to these distant appointments, and that for ten years, the period of their engagement, they leave their families in their native land. An Archdeacon and several chaplains supply the churches of the Established Church of England. Two Presbyterian Ministers of the Kirk of Scotland officiate at St. Andrews. The Incorporated Society for the Propagation of the Gospel has two Missionaries in Madras; its affairs are conducted by a Committee of resident gentlemen. The Church Missionary Society has also two Missionaries and a similar Committee. The London Missionary Society has two Missionaries, and the Wesleyan Missionary Society the same number. The Male and Female Asylums, for the support and education of

260

BRITISH COMMUNITY-INDO-BRITONS.

the orphans of British soldiers, contain many hundreds of children, and, with the Free Schools of Fort St. George and Black Town, and those connected with the different Missions, provide for the Christian education of a considerable proportion of the offspring of those persons, British and Native, whose indifference or poverty would have consigned them to ignorance and heathenism. The reading population is supplied with Bibles and Tracts by the active local Auxiliaries of the British and Foreign Bible and Tract Societies.

The British community of Madras consists chiefly of the members and servants of the Government, in active service, and a few lawyers and merchants.

The English congregations of the different Mission Chapels are composed chiefly of descendants of Europeans, or Indo-Britons, a rapidly increasing and important race, forming a link of connection and communication between the British and the Hindoos.

The chief employment of persons of this class is that of clerks in the different offices of Government. Being, in many instances, the children of persons holding high situations, and not having before them the example and circumstances of the lower and middling classes of English society, they are inclined to despise mechanical pursuits, as low and unsuitable to them; whilst, in point of fact also, their adoption of the English mode of living has made it impossible for them to compete with the natives in cheapness of labour, or to obtain a comfortable subsistence in such employments.

The moral and spiritual condition of the thousands of this portion of Indian society has been obviously improving for some years past. One of themselves, a very respectable and intelligent man, told me that twenty years ago he did not suppose there were three families of this description in Madras, in which the sacred duties of reading the Scriptures

DESCENDANTS OF PORTUGUESE.

261

and prayer were attended to; but now we could reckon many, who, in this respect and in the general consistency of their deportment, would bear a comparison with their Christian brethren in any part of the world. Many of them are liberal and active in religious and charitable institutions; valuable auxiliaries and assistants to Missions have been raised up from among them, and we doubt not they will, ultimately, bear a considerable part in christianizing the aborigines of India.

The descendants of the Portuguese are not of such a promising character; these, with few exceptions, are kept in ignorance by their attachment to the religion of Rome, and their indolence secures their poverty. Their credulity and superstition were exemplified by the crowds who, in 1827, visited with offerings and presents the grave of a notoriously wretched woman in Royapooram, where miracles were said to have been wrought, the falsehood of which was so manifest, that the Romish bishop of St. Thomè issued an order that the practice should be discontinued.

The condition of the Hindoos, their prejudices and superstitions, have been, in some large degree, described in the preceding narrative; there is one annual observance of theirs briefly alluded to, p. 101, the full description of which ought not to be omitted, as I frequently witnessed it; the natives term it chedl audl, swinging, or literally, playing on a pole. This play, or sport of heathenism, bears the usual characteristics of absurdity and cruelty.

In Royapettah, where I witnessed the observance for several years successively, a pole thirty or forty feet high was planted in the ground perpendicularly, having an iron pivot on the top, on which rested the middle of an horizontal yard or cross pole, which might also be about forty feet in length; this latter was managed by a rope attached to one end, reaching down to the ground, by means of which it

could be made to turn upon the centre as fast as the people could run near the other end of the cross pole, attached to a short rope, were two bright iron hooks; and at the extreme end was a short rope, about the length of that to which the hooks were attached.

By slackening the rope for the management of the cross pole, the other end, to which the hooks were attached, was lowered to a platform higher than the heads of the assembled multitude, from whence, when it was raised, was borne into the mid-air a man, with no other dress than a waistcloth, and supported only by the muscles and flesh of the middle of the back, into which were thrust the iron hooks! When the cross pole, thus laden, had regained its horizontal position, it was turned quickly on the pivot, by the persons holding the rope at the other end moving round with it at a good pace.

It was impossible to look at the deluded votary of superstition thus painfully suspended, without a sickening horror, not merely from an idea of the agonies endured by him, but also from a fear lest the flesh should tear by his weight, and that, falling from a height which would ensure his destruction, he should, by death, complete the sacrifice thus offered to the infernal gods.

The rising of the flesh taken up by the hooks seemed to threaten such a catastrophe; and the short rope at the extremity of the pole, being within reach of the person suspended, was, perhaps, intended to afford, in such a case, some chance of safety. Some of the persons thus suspended appeared fearful of falling, and held constantly by the rope; or, by this means, they perhaps hoped to relieve themselves of some degree of the pain which must be endured: others, more bold and hardy, made no use of the rope, and, as though happy as well as fearless, thrust their hands into their cloth and taking out a profusion of flowers, provided for the