LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. MAPS. Sketch Map of India illustrating its History to the Battle of Plassey Afghanistan The Punjab PLANS. to face page Plan of the Attacks by Hyder Ali on Lieut-Colonel Plan to illustrate the Battle of Assaye, Sept. 23, 1803 MANUAL OF INDIAN HISTORY. BOOK I. CHAPTER I. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF INDIA. BEFORE entering upon its history, it may be interesting for the student to know a little of the character and features of the great continent of India; and it is the more necessary that something should be known of them, in order that the histories of its various peoples may be followed with the greater precision. In their general geographical definitions, the present maps leave nothing to be desired, and they are accessible to all. To the north, the great chain of the Himalaya mountains separates India from Tartary, extending eastward to the frontiers of China, and to the west and north-west into Central Asia, whence, by a succession of smaller ranges, elevated plateaux, and tablelands, they descend into the sea eastwards of the Indus. Into the great continent of India the descent from them is broken and precipitous. Deep rugged ravines and beds of rivers separate one chain of mountains from another, leaving in a few instances stupendous natural passes, which have served as a means of communication between India and the countries lying beyond it, on the east, north, and west. To the north and east, such means of access to India are comparatively few. The footpaths which exist, lead over mountainridges covered with perpetual snow, and rise to an immense height, some of them being from 15,000 to 20,000 feet above the sea. It is only in the summer season, therefore, and for a brief period, that they are practicable even for sheep or goats which carry small loads, or for the yâks or mountain oxen of Tibet, that B are used as beasts of burden. These mountains, rude and inaccessible as they appear, are inhabited by various races and tribes ; some Tibetian, others mixed or purely Indian. The rigour of the climate does not affect them; and they are, for the most part, a robust, peaceful, and industrious people, subsisting by agriculture. To the west and north-west, however, the character of the inhabitants changes. They are found to be fierce and warlike, a distinction they have maintained from the earliest ages. The passes which lead into India from Central Asia, through Afghanistan, are practicable for horses and camels, and in some instances for wheeled vehicles; and it is through these passes, and by this warlike population, that the greatest invasions of India have taken place, and the greatest trade with Central Asia is now carried on. Thus, it will be observed, that the northern frontier of India is protected by an almost impassable barrier on three sides. The whole of this tract possesses the most magnificent scenery in the world; its mountains are the highest, and its rivers-the Ganges, the Indus, and the Berhampooter1-among the longest and most famous. Most of the mountains, up to heights which define the growth of trees, are richly clothed with forests; and above these tower the magnificent snow-clad peaks and glacier hollows of the upper ranges, which far exceed in sublimity the most stupendous of the Alpine chains of Switzerland. In some places, indeed, one Mont Blanc piled upon another would not equal the height which the Himalayan peaks attain, and the elevations of some of the loftiest of them have not yet been accurately determined. Along the southern bases of most part of these mountains lie forest tracts, which are filled with deadly malaria, and are unfit for the residence of human beings; but as the lower heights are reached, a purer climate, not unlike that of Southern Europe, is found to exist, healthy and bracing, and in which the inhabitants are robust and vigorous. Many of these lower slopes of the Himalayas have proved well adapted for the culture of tea, several sanitary stations for Europeans have been established, and the whole region produces grain and fruit in abundance. If the map be examined, it will be seen that the northern drainage of these stupendous mountains forms the supply of two noble rivers. From a point near the centre, the Berhampooter flows eastward, piercing the range at a point on the north-east of Bengal, whence it flows to the sea parallel with the Ganges. Nearly from the same central point the Indus takes its rise, and like the Berhampooter finds a passage through the mountains into the 1 Properly Brumha-Pootr, son of Brumha. |