1 150 • • AFGHAUN CHAllACiER.
2 Bat» an EngHi'FK tiwetter fimn Lndia, would view them with a more
3 fiic70iiniUe eye^ He would be pleased with the cold diiiiiite« elevated
4 by the wild and novel scenery, and del^hted by meeting many of the
5 productions of his native land. He would first be iCnick with the
6 thinneBB of the fixed population, and then with the appearance of the
7 people ; not fluttering in white muslins, while half their bodies are
8 naked, but aobeily aad decently attiied in dark coloured woollen
9 clothes; and wrapt up in brown mantles, or in large sheep-skin
10 cloaks. He would admire their strong and active forms, their fkir
11 complexions and European features ; their industry, and niteqinse ;
12 the hospitality, sobriety, and contempt of p!p:i<;ure, which appear in
13 all their habits ; and, above all, the indej)riidriice and energy of their
14 character. In India, he would have left a country where every move-
15 mcnt orijrinates in the government or its agents, and where the peo-
16 ple absohiteij go for nothing ; and, he would find himself among a
17 nation where the controul of the government is scarcely felt, and
18 where every man appc irs to pursue his own inclinations, undirected
19 and unrestrained. Auudbl ihe sLorjuy independence of this mode of
20 life, he would regret the ease and security in which the state of India,
21 and even the indolence and timidity of its inhabitants, enable mo^
22 parts of that country to repose. He would meet with many produc-
23 tioiiB of ait and naibife lliat'do not exist in India; but, in general, he
24 mwM find the aita life less advanced, and many of the luxuries of
25 HindDStao unknown. On the wholes his impression of his new ao^
26 quaintances would be fevonrable; althou|^ he wouM feel, that
27 williout having lost die ruggedness of a bariiaxons nation, they were
28 tainted with the Tioes eommon to aU Asiatics. Yet, he wonld reckon
29 them virtuous, compared with the people to wbom he had been aceus-
30 tonaeds would be inclined to regard them with interest and kindness;
31 nd could scarody deny them « portion of his esteem*
32 Such wonld be the impressions made on an European, and an In>
33 dian traveler, by their ordinaiy intereourae with the A^^unms.
34 When they be^ to investigate their political eonstitntbn, both
35 would be alike peipkied wilh Hs apparent inoonsistendea and eon-
36 Digitized by Google