nions, for the purpose of acquiring some information of the geography of these countries, and of the relative boundaries of the several states then assuming a new form and new limits.

10. It would be tedious to relate the difficulties, the accidents, and the discouragements that impeded the progress of this design from 1792 to 1799,—the slender means allotted, from the necessity of a rigid (no doubt, a just) economy; the doubts and the hinderances ever attendant on new attempts; difficulties arising from the nature of the climate, of the country, and of the government—from conflicting interests, and passions, and prejudices, both difficult to contend with and unpleasant to recollect.

11. In the year 1796, a general map of the NIZAM's dominions was submitted to government for the first time, compiled and digested from different materials of various authorities, described in a memoir that accompanied it, and designed rather as a specimen for future correction, and to shew what was wanting, than to prove what was done. It had, however, the use of bringing the subject into one point of view; further inquiry in 1798 and 1799 improved its supplements, and some encouragement was then held forth that induced perseverance in the design, though but little effectual assistance was given; and my removal from any share in the direction of the Dekkan surveys in 1806, put a stop to the further prosecution of this map. It has not, however, been neglected, and it is hoped it may yet be resumed by the revisal of the materials since collected, though on a more circumscribed scale than was once intended.

12. On my return to Haiderábád in 1798, for the third time, tọ resume the investigations of Dekkan geography, measures were proposed, and in part methodised, for describing the whole of that territory; and before 1799 considerable assistance was obtained from a copy of the regular official dafter of the Dekkan, in its provincial and even more minute divisions. This has been since translated from the Persian, as well as certain MSS. of authority, which were proposed as the basis of the plan to be followed in the inquiry and description, The Dekkan was in fact then a terra incognita, of which no authentic account existed, excepting in some uncertain notices and mutilated sketches of the marches of Bussy, and in the travels of TAVERNIER and THÉVENOT, which by no means possess that philosophical accuracy demanded in modern times.

13. This plan was nearly overset at the commencement by the new war with TIPU in the year 1799; it may be satisfactory, however, to know, that the attempts then made were not without their use both in

* See GENTILLE'S Opinion on the Geography of India. Voyages aux Indes.

a military light (as described more fully in official reports), and in anticipating measures that have since been, or may still be, advantageously followed in arranging the history, antiquities, and statistics of that interesting country.

14. After the reduction of Mysore in 1799, and in the arrangements that followed, I was employed in furnishing the commissioners with geographical information, to assist in the arrangement of the limits of the subject of partition. On my return to Madras, the governor-general (the Earl of MORNINGTON) being justly of opinion that a more complete knowledge of these countries was indispensably necessary for the information of government, was pleased, in the most handsome manner, without solicitation or any personal knowledge, to appoint me to survey Mysore, with an establishment suited rather to an economical scale of expenditure than to so extensive an undertaking, intended to be carried through a country so little known, that the position of some of the provinces ceded by the treaty of partition could not be ascertained till this survey was carried forward, and that under peculiar circumstances of embarrassment.

15. In conformity with my original ideas, I considered this opportunity favourable for arranging a scheme of survey embracing the statistics and history of the country, as well as its geography; and therefore submitted a plan for this purpose, which was approved of by the government. Three † assistants and a naturalist were then for the first time attached to me; yet this moderate establishment was immediately afterwards disapproved of in England, and a design that originated in the most enlightened principles was nearly crushed by the rigorous application of orders too hastily issued, which were received in India in the end of 1801, when I had, at very considerable hazard of my health, just completed the survey of the northern and eastern frontier of Mysore.

16. How far the idea suggested was fulfilled, it is not for me to say; from adverse circumstances, one part was nearly defeated, and the natural history was never analysed in the manner I proposed and expected in concert with the survey. The suspense I was placed in from the reduction of the slender stipend allotted to myself, both for my salary and to provide for increasing contingencies, was in itself sufficiently mortifying; and the overthrow of the establishment first

*For instance, Hollollkaira, ceded to the Mahrattas; Gúdikatta, on the N.W. of Chitteldrúg, mistaken for a small part north of Kolar, in the east of Mysore; and many other instances, whence some knowledge of the country rendered a survey indispensable.

+ Mr. MATHER, Lieutenant WARREN, and Lieutenant ARTHUR, assistant-surveyors; and Dr. HEYNE, surgeon and naturalist.

arranged for the work, while other* branches were favoured in the application of the orders of the court, the effects of these measures on the public mind, and even of my assistants, all contributed to deaden and to paralyse every effort for its completion. Notwithstanding these difficulties, however, the success attending the early researches, and a conviction of its utility, induced me to persevere till 1807; the geography of the provinces of Mysore was actually completed to the minutest degree of 40,000 square miles of territory, considerable materials were acquired for the illustration of its statistics and its history, and the basis laid for obtaining those of the peninsula at large, on a plan which has been undeviatingly followed ever since (see the opinion of the Court of Directors on the completion of the work, letter B annexed).

17. Much of the materials collected on this occasion were transmitted home in seven folio volumes, with general and provincial maps; but it is proper to observe, that still more considerable materials for the history of the south are in reserve, not literally belonging to the Mysore survey, though springing from it. Notices of some of these are in the accompanying sheets.

18. It is also proper to observe, that in the course of these investigations, and notwithstanding the embarrassments in the way of this work, the first lights were thrown on the history of the country below the Ghats, which have been since enlarged by other materials constantly increasing, and confirming the information acquired in the upper country. Among various interesting subjects may be mentioned, 1. The discovery of the Jaina religion and philosophy, and its distinction from that of BUDD'HA.

2. The different ancient sects of religion in this country, and their subdivisions—the Lingavanta, the Saivam and Pandaram Matts, &c. &c.

3. The nature and use of the Sassanams, and inscriptions on stone and copper, and their utility in throwing light on the important subject of Hindú tenures; confirmed by upwards of 3000 authentic inscriptions collected since 1800, hitherto always overlooked.

4 The design and nature of the monumental stones and trophies

* In the regulations of survey of 9th October, 1810, no less than twenty military officers were attached to the quarter-master-general, exclusive of the military institution and the establishment of native surveyors under the revenue department. The results arising from those departments, compared with that of the Mysore survey, would afford the most just means of judging of the utility of either of the works.

found in various parts of the country from Cape Comorin to Delhi, called Virakal and Maástíkal, which illustrate the ancient customs of the early inhabitants, and, perhaps, of the early western nations.

5. The sepulchral tumuli, mounds, and barrows of the early tribes, similar to those found throughout the continent of Asia and of Europe, illustrated by drawings, and various other notices of antiquities and institutions.

19. On the conclusion of the field duties of the Mysore survey, the compilations resulting from it have since at different times occupied much attention. An office was conferred on me in Mysore, which was afterwards confirmed by the Court of Directors, for the purpose of following up the investigations, and digesting and improving the materials in some tranquillity; but on a reform of some branches of the military establishment in 1810, that department was entirely newmodelled, and my appointment ceased, without any compensation, in salary or otherwise, for what I then lost. The Honourable Court in that order had signified their approbation of what had been done, and even sent out other orders encouraging the further pursuit of my inquiries, which have been hitherto but partially attended to, and, from the present aspect of things at this presidency, do not appear likely to be soon fulfilled, either to my satisfaction, or according to the intentions of the Court.

20. At the end of 1810, the government of Madras, on a view of the sudden increase of the expense of surveys in the preceding five years, and the unconnected and confused manner in which these works were executed, without being founded on any general or fixed system, found it necessary to create the office of surveyor-general, similar to one already established at the other presidencies, and was pleased to appoint me (without any previous communication) to this charge, for reasons the propriety of which I had in vain attempted to shew for fourteen years previously. In consequence of the little countenance given to these propositions in Europe,* I had, on the completion of the Mysore survey, relinquished all idea of conducting what would have been gratifying to early habits, and more appropriate to the state of my health and my time of life some years before; and I only undertook the charge at this time in hopes of being useful in assisting to give shape and order to what I had long considered important to the public, and beneficial in an economical point of view to the East India Company.

* And of the measures adopted at Madras in 1806, that I considered adverse and contradictory to the hopes held out to me for years back.

21. I was employed in arranging this office, for carrying on these duties in future, and for combining the execution and results of the several works on one general systematic plan, together with measures for preserving and digesting the various materials resulting from the labours of several years, in connexion with a very considerable reduction* of expense; when, from the exigencies of the military service, my professional attendance on the expedition to Java was required by the concurring authorities of government; and I had only time to deposit the materials then collected in the office, and to propose a plan for its administration during my absence, when my attention was necessarily called to the duties of the expedition. Of that service on which I embarked, with all alacrity, in obedience to the wishes and orders of my superiors, several detailed reports were submitted to government in India, to which my friends need have no scruple in referring.

22. It may not be improper here to observe, that the plan proposed for the surveyor-general's department in 1810, besides a very considerable reduction of the expense previously incurred for different unconnected, and, I may add, inefficient establishments of survey, embraced (at the same time with a gradual extension on one regular system of the usual objects of geographical delineation) the formation of a body of statistical and historical materials, in addition to the mass of geographical and military surveys then collected and deposited by me in one office, for the first time, before my departure. Among these is a copy of the memoirs of the statistical and geographical survey of the Mysore country, with the original sections, charts, and maps constructed from them, on various scales from one to twenty-four miles, which were among the first of the official documents delivered into the office of the surveyor-general, under the inspection of a special committee, early in 1811.

23. Of the Mysore survey, the detailed reports stand on the records of government at Fort St. George, and copies were sent home to England. For the opinions of the authorities at home on the close of that work, the annexed extract is referred to (Letter B). On its final completion in March 1809, the remaining establishment of native surveyors was sent, on my special representation, to the ceded districts, the examination of which has been since effected; thereby

In the very first year, ending 1st December 1810, the annual expense was reduced from 85,000 or rather 100,000 pagodas per annum, to 55,000 pagodas, by the operation of the plan submitted, and this with more effect than in the former unconnected system -as appears from a table of five years' expense, presented to government on 30th April 1816.