be setting out on their return homewards, and is enlivened by many a witty remark on the vile climate of Bengal, the delights of that of Europe, and the embarrassment which an old Qua-hy feels on being transferred from the one to the other. A good deal is said on the want of Thikauna in the English weather, on the new Hickmuts of steam-coaches and rail-roads, of the present Shouq for improvements, and the number of new Bunaos to be found in the London shops.

And here it may be necessary to explain the uncouth terms which I have introduced into this sample of Anglo-Indian phraseology. The European reader need not be surprised to learn that, among Anglo-Indians, as among every other set of people any-how combined, there exists a sort of slang language, containing a variety of phrases not, it must be owned, of much classical elegance, but yet such as it would be difficult to find substitutes for of equal force and expressiveness. If I be thought to take too much pains in interpreting such of the vocables of this lingua franca, as must occasionally occur, I entreat my readers to observe that one of the difficulties which an Indian finds, on returning home, is that of making himself understood. His friends naturally crowd about him with questions regarding the manners, customs, mode of living, &c. in India, and he attempts his best to gratify their curiosity; but before proceeding beyond the very threshold of his explanations, he finds he has employed a number of words so familiar to himself, that it never occurs they can be unknown to his hearers. This produces a demand for explanation; one explanation requires another, and the business goes on, wheel within wheel, from one degree of intricacy to another, till both speaker and hearer give up the discussion in despair, the former wondering at the dulness of his friends in being unable to comprehend what is so simple and notorious; the latter declaring that no Indian can ever give an account of India. In fact, a vocabulary of the most expressive Eastern words adopted into European conversation, would be a very interesting and entertaining piece, and would cast great light on Anglo-Indian manners and ideas. In the absence of such a work, and for the benefit of those critics and commentators who, in A. D. 2,500, shall publish Variorum editions of the Bengal Annual and Calcutta Magazine, I shall attempt an elucidation of a few naturalized phrases, which our Indian friends will readily recognise as old acquaintances.

I shall begin with Jaut Bhaee, a phrase for which we necessarily want an equivalent, as it implies a person of the same caste; it is derived from Jaut, 'a caste,' (a derivative from the Sanscrit Jun, 'to be born,') and Bhace, the Hindee word for 'brother.' It is used metaphorically by Anglo-Indians to express intimate friends,- -as brother-officers, or brothers of a Free-Mason lodge.

The next word is the well known Bunao. The best elucidation of this term is Peter Pindar's celebrated tale of the Razors. It exactly signifies what is made, not to shave, but to sell. "This Joe Manton is a bit of a bunao," is a phrase often applied to the fowling-pieces sold at Monghyr, the place where, by tradition, the Hindoo Vulcan fixed his earthly abode, and where accordingly the majority of inhabitants are blacksmiths. Similarly, we may say, "this hookah-snake, this palkee, or palankeen, are bunaos;" and, by an easy metaphor, "that story of his is a complete bunao:" it would be difficult to find an English phrase in which to translate this word, in all these instances. To the profounder class of my readers, who may wish to know its etymology, I will add that Bunao is the second person plural of the imperative, used as a substantive, of the Hindee verb Bunauna, 'to make,' and, perhaps, "a made-up affair" would be its nearest, though circumlocutory translation.

The next term we shall mention is Hickmut. This is a very noble word, being the infinitive of the Hebrew and Arabic verb Hakama, he judged,' or 'commanded.' Our readers doubtless all know, that Sir Walter Scott, in his Tales of the Crusaders, makes Sultan Saladin (Salauh-ood-Deen) come to the Christian camp, as a Hakim, or physician. But this is a mistake; Hakim, or more properly Haukim, signifies a judge' or 'ruler.' It is a common title of God, and never would have been assumed as a title by the sultan on that occasion. The word Sir Walter intended is Hukeem, another derivative from the same root, and which is the usual title for a physician, perhaps from some anticipation of the modern discovery, that "knowledge is power." The infinitive Hickmut signifies' wisdom,' or 'philosophy,' and in this sense is degraded by Anglo-Indians to a variety of uses, which, if they be philosophy, are philosophy in its every-day clothes. Thus, I don't understand the Hickmut of this lock;" that is, "I don't understand how to open it." "What's the Hickmut of this new bridle?" i. e." which is the way in which it must be put on the horse?" &c.

While upon this subject, I may as well stop a moment, to complain of the want of prosody which appears in the writings even of our best poets, when using Oriental names. If an error in the quantity of a Greek or Latin word be an inexcusable blunder, why should a similar error in an Arabic or Sanscrit appellation be passed over uncensured? If it would be unpardonable to talk of Cicero or Alexander, why should we persist in speaking of the Emir and Súltăn, instead of Emeer and Sultaun. These, however, are errors that, like the universal use of St. Helena for St. Helena, are too deeply engrained in language to be now got rid of. Still I cannot help wishing, that our great poets had avoided mistakes that necessarily disturb all who know anything of Oriental pronunciation; I cannot resist quoting two instances.

In his Vision of Don Roderic, Sir Walter Scott, in a passage that must be familiar to every person of taste, describes, in a blaze of the most animated poetry, the landing of the Moslems in Spain:

They come! they come! I see the groaning land

White with the turbans of each Arab horde;

Swart Zahra joins her misbelieving hands,

Allah and Mahomet their battle-word.

How much is it to be wished that this splendid effusion had not been injured by the introduction of two lines, that sin against all prosody!

The Técbers' war-cry and the Leiles' yell,

The choice they yield, the Kōrun or the sword.

In the first of these, Lelie, though a barbarous corruption of the Arabic profession, "There is no God but God," may be excused, as there is no other word that would express it. But Tecbir ought to be altered

Túcbeers' fierce war-cry, Lelies' cruel yell.

The second line, could the rhyme allow it, would assume far greater magnificence by a very slight alteration:

The choice they yield, the Sword or the Korán.

Mahomet, a barbarism for Mohammad, may be allowed, as it is Don Roderic who speaks, and he may be supposed not well versed in the Oriental tongues.

The other instance I shall give is from Thomas Campbell, who, in that beautiful but sadly fanciful picture of the regeneration of India, which concludes the first part of his Pleasures of Hope, exclaims

The tenth Avātar comes!

This should be again corrected

Comes the tenth Avălăur.

Conversely, he has Ganesa for Ganesha, and so on. Such mistakes, though unnoticed by European, sound very disagreeably to Oriental readers. They might easily be avoided.

Another current Anglo-Indian phrase is Thikauna, a Hindee word, of which it is difficult to give the exact meaning. Its general signification is 'fixture,' 'certainty,' or 'trust-worthiness.' Thus, "there's no thikauna in the English weather; it may be fair and foul a dozen times a-day," "there's no thikauna in that fellow; he may be your friend to-day and enemy to-morrow."

We shall mention but one more, and that is the much-used but utterly untranslateable word, Shouq. The ou is here to be pronounced as in shout, trout. It is the infinitive of the Arabic verb Shaaka, he wished' or 'desired.' It is in some respects similar to our taste,' but not exactly so, as shouq can be used in a ludicrous or perverse meaning, which 'taste' cannot. Thus, "he has a great shouq for pictures," would hardly imply that he has a great taste for or in pictures, but that he has a great rage for buying and possessing them, whether he really be a judge of painting or not. 'Rage,' however, would scarcely answer for shouq, in all instances. Thus, "he has a great shouq for study," would be more properly, "he has a great love for study," and would give an idea of approbation of which "rage" is incapable. "Horses and dogs were his shouq at one time, but there's no thikauna in him; he has given up all his old shouqs, and his only shouq now is for politics." I have a shouq for all sorts of machines, but I don't understand the hickmut of this watch; I think it is rather a bunao, for there's no thikauna in its going, and I know that my Sirkaur and the Ghurree Waula (native watch-maker) are jaut bhaees." Such is the language that is often heard from old Bengalee residents; not classical, certainly, but yet not easy to be rendered with equal force into pure English.

Another class of passengers are of a sadder description than those of which we have yet given an account. They are the parents, generally the mothers, of children of from three to eight years old, whom the irremediable insalubrity of the Indian climate compels their parents to send to Europe. During this last day of their being together, the children may be seen running up and down the poop and deck of the vessel, enjoying the novelty and bustle, and talking incessantly to their Ayahs and bearers about each juhauz (ship) and naoo (boat) as it passes by, while the parents, indifferent to all other objects, follow their little ones constantly with their eyes, endeavouring to arrest their attention and to say or do something that may remain in their own and their children's remembrance as a memorial.

This is, indeed, the most painful part of Indian exile. The insalubrity and oppression of its climate may be guarded against and alleviated; intercourse with Europe may be kept up, by correspondence; subjects with a large development of the bump of politics may have sent out bales of the Times and Morning Chronicle, according as the organs of conservativeness or destructiveness prevail; and they who, in addition to hearing the speculations of others, long to enlighten the world with their own, may at all times do so through the ever open columns of the Calcutta newspapers. Those again who wish to cultivate any particular department of science or literature have always opportunities of doing so, for there are few parts of the world where books are more easily procured than Calcutta. It is true that new English publications are unattainably expensive, but after the lapse of a few months they are found selling in the bazaar, when the gloss of novelty is over, at a tenth part of their

original cost. Besides this, cheap editions of all popular English and translations of French and German books are printed in America, and imported in large numbers into Calcutta, where they sell at an equal or perhaps greater rate of reduction. The savans of France and the professors of Germany are fond of having their names included in the list of donors to the Asiatic Society, and almost universally present copies of their works to its library, which thus contains a vast store of valuable books, that (thanks to our wholesome laws against the importation of such a pernicious manufacture as foreign literature) are hardly procurable even in London; of these particularly are German and French periodicals; and lastly, there is the literature of Calcutta itself, Native, English, and Anglo-Indian, composing a mass of valuable information on all topics relative to India, and forming a vivid picture and genuine record of the opinions and manners of seventy millions of our fellow-subjects, from all knowledge of which the people of Britain (thanks to the operation of the same laws) are completely prohibited. "Malheureusement," says Baron de Sacy, speaking of Macan's edition of the Shah Namah," les éditions de l'Inde parviennent difficilement en Europe;" and for some reason, best known to those at the head of affairs, the shores of Britain are girt as with a wall of iron against the admission of the literary products of our eastern dominions. The consequence is, that no intercommunity of literary feeling exists between us; and that while we are perpetually complaining of the paucity of our information respecting Hindostan, we voluntarily deprive ourselves of that from which alone it can be obtained pure and unsophisticated, the statements of the inhabitants of India themselves, as they are to be found exhibited in every possible shape, by the innumerable newspapers, magazines, tracts and pamphlets, Native, English and Eurasian, that are perpetually issuing from the Indian press.

No country can possibly afford a richer field than India, for the cultivation of the various branches of natural history, zoology, botany, geology, mineralogy, &c.; in short, the politician, the man of literature, and the man of science, will find abundant scope for the exercise of their respective powers, and were there no counterbalancing circumstances, each of these might live almost as happily in India as in Europe. But to the father of a family, all this can countervail nothing of what there may almost be called the eleventh commandment, thou shalt separate from thy children. For if there be any aphorism at all certain in Indian Hygiene, it is, that children of European parents cannot be reared in India, from birth to adult age, without destruction to their constitutions. No precautions in diet, clothing, lodging, exercise, or exposure, can ward off the irresistible effects of climate. The general course of the young constitution is, that from birth till about the age of three, the child, passing over the usual ailments of dentition, appears tolerably healthy, in some cases even more so than its cotemporaries in Europe; but, after that period, it begins to droop, becomes emaciated, sallow and languid; loses strength, spirits and appetite, and is incapable of partaking in amusement or receiving education. Then it is that parents have to make the choice, between sending their children to Europe, and retaining them in India to see them daily wasting away before their eyes. A cruel alternative! when to the inevitable griefs of parting there is added, as is too often the case, the uncertainty of the treatment which the children are to receive at home, from friends whom perhaps the parents may not have seen or had communication with for many years; who may be utterly indifferent to their long absent relatives, and very little prepared either to receive the “living consignments" with affection, or to watch over them with care.

Such reflections do not of course occur to young men on their arrival in Asial. Journ. N.S.VOL.22.No.85.

L

India, nor are they commonly awakened during the few first years of married life. While the children are young, parents in general, too much occupied with the happiness of possessing them, willingly exclude from their minds all thoughts of parting, and give themselves up to a sort of dreamy persuasion, hardly amounting to belief, that, among the innumerable cases they see around them, theirs may be an exception, and that, though thousands of examples testify to the contrary, some additional care or precaution, or some latent good fortune in the constitution, may preserve their children unaffected by the fiery blasts of May and the steamy exhalations of October. But gradually time steals on, and the infant passes its fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh birth-days; the delusion begins to dissipate; languor, sallowness, loss of appetite and strength, unappeasable fretfulness and increasing emaciation, followed by more serious attacks of fever and unconquerable derangement of bowels, arouse parents to the sad necessity of preparing for their children's departure.

When, after many a struggle between duty and affection, and many an excuse for delay, which the parents, even while making it, perceive to be fallacious, the transmission is finally determined upon and accomplished, it is not to be supposed that all the disadvantages of Indian exile terminate, or that the whole loss consists in a few years of absence. Far more serious evils are often the result. The unnatural separation of parents and children necessarily breaks up the associations which result from youthful intercourse, and the gradual expansion of intellect, during the years of education under the parent's eye. When all this interesting period is passed over as a dreary blank, and the parents meet again with their grown-up offspring, they find themselves estranged from each other; community of feeling is lost, and too frequently there remains but little of affection. Even brothers and sisters, who may have been sent home at distant intervals, rarely attain that warinth of mutual affection which can be produced only by a length of unbroken intercourse during the susceptible years of childhood.

Such are the disadvantages of sending children to Europe; but they are inevitable. Of those who from any cause are kept in India, great numbers perish between birth and the completion of childhood. Some, however, survive: they for the most part appear to recover themselves about the age of ten or twelve, and from thence continue to pass through the usual stages of existence, but with marked debility both of mental and bodily constitution. It would be difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain the average duration of life in this race of men, but there can be little doubt that it is short: many of the females, particularly, fall victims to too early marriage.

A curious circumstance, connected with the infants, is that, where they are much affected by the climate, they absolutely appear to cease to grow, and at the age of from one to three years, will go on from month to month without the smallest increase of bulk their little clothes never require to be enlarged. Yet on being put on board of ship, and sent to sea, they at once take a start, and shoot up to their proper size.

:

Many projects have been entertained, and sometimes carried into execution, of rearing European offspring in Simla and other northern parts of India, and such schemes are generally so far successful as to carry children over the dangerous period of infancy; but this imperfect improvement of climate is altogether insufficient as a substitution for that of Europe, and perhaps no parent has ever trusted to it without having cause to repent. So certain is all this, that it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to find throughout India a single instance of a second generation of European blood existing without having had commu