Twelve spare camels (or other carriage) being supplied from the Commissariat.

The difference, therefore, in the ordinary monthly expence in the field, between the present system of doolies and the proposed establishment for litters, will be, in the first case, 900 Rs. per mensem, and in the second, Rupees 2370, in favor of the latter arrangement.

With respect to the extraordinary charges for Batta on Foreign Service, the reduction in the amount of expense would not only be in the ratio of the diminished number of followers (in itself) no less sum than Rupees 3045 or Rupees 8775 respectively, according as bearers or other carriage may be employed under similar circumstances, but from the corresponding reduction in demand, the price of food, and of carriage for it, would also be proportionally lessened.

The comparative cost in cantonments of the present system, and of an Hospital Lascar Establishment, such as I have proposed, is the only point on which the difference is in favor of present arrangements.

For an European Corps, the establishment now required costs only Rs. 46, while the expense of an establishment of Hospital Lascars would be Rs. 250 per mensem, exclusive of occasional clothing and pensions for service.

In regard to expense, therefore, it remains a matter of simple calculation, whether this monthly difference, in Cantonments, of say Rs. 220, (including the contingencies I have above mentioned) may not be more than compensated by the large saving in the field, or even during the ordinary relief of corps which the adoption of the proposed system can effect; or whether, in a military point of view (if this additional expense in cantonments be an insuperable objection), a corps with a disciplined establishment of Hospital Lascars, at all times ready for the field, may not be much more efficient with two men less per company in its ranks, than it can be under the present system, when its numbers are complete.

There, lastly, remains to be noticed, the comparative compactness with which the litters and doolies can be carried in the field.

With respect to the doolies, I have already alluded to the difficulties experienced in transporting a large train of them across a broad river, or in defiling through a narrow pass; that, in the latter case, those attached to one European Corps occupy a space of no less than 600 yards in length, and that, whether full or empty, they cannot be more compactly carried.

With litters, on the other hand, from their smaller size, not only would the space taken up by them, under similar circumstances, be reduced by one third; but as the spare litters can be packed up into one-sixth the space occupied by the present doolies, when carried spare the reduction may ordinarily be estimated at half. Moreover, as no difficulty would be experienced, when bearers are employed in carrying up the laden doolies, on the flank of the column, the baggage train will be still further reduced, and the litters will be carried, on the line of march in two compact divisions, the laden ones with the troops, and the spare ones with the baggage train.

In transporting the sick across a broad river, the advantages of the litters will be especially obvious; as from their admitting of being packed up so easily, at least four times the number of laden litters, and a still larger proportion of those which are spare, may be conveyed in one boat, from that which can be done under the present system.

The advantages which I have here pointed out in respect to compactness of carriage, when litters are employed, apply in a peculiar degree to those, which are required for the use of the Field Hospital.

In concluding this memoir on the carriage of the sick and wounded in the

Indian Army, I may observe that my attention was first directed to the subject in 1838-39, when attached to the Horse Artillery of the army of the Indus.

Subsequently during my residence at Herat with the Mission under Major D'Arcy Todd, and my journies through different parts of Affghanistan, among others in the Kohistan with the late Major Eldred Pottinger, I had very favourable opportunities of observing the modes in which the sick may be conveyed under different circumstances in these countries.

In 1842,* shortly after my return to India, I was induced to commence some experiments on different descriptions of litters for the carriage of the sick and wounded, and through the kindness of the late Lieut. Colonel Edward Sanders, whose zeal in promoting every thing tending to the good of the service was ever most conspicuous, these experiments were brought to the favorable notice of Lord Ellenborough shortly before the commencement of the Gwalior campaign.

Although then in a very imperfect state, and in many respects most different from that in which I now present them, these litters were so much approved of as to induce his Lordship to order several of them to be prepared by the commissariat at Cawnpore to accompany the force to Gwalior.

Unfortunately, however, I had it not myself in my power to superintend the preparation, although I gladly acknowledge the kind interest taken in their success by the officer under whose directions they were constructed; nor with litters so prepared, and adapted to camel carriage, was there any one sent in charge of them. They were made over to the different Regiments without, I believe any instructions whatever, as to the manner in which their uses were to be tested. Under such circumstances, it is not to be wondered at, that they received a very unfair trial. Instead of having their defects carefully observed, and suggestions for their improvement offered, as soon as complaints were made by the sick of their uneasiness as a camel litter from the too great slope of the back frame, and the distance of the points of suspension, they were, without any attempt to rectify these defects, which might easily have been done, or without any trial of their uses in other respects, at once summarily set aside as unsuitable.

Being perfectly prepared for this result, as soon as I had learned the circumstances under which the trial was to be made, I have not been in any way deterred by this failure; but have continued my experiments without any doubt that, eventually, success MUST attend them!

Although I by no means, presume to say that the litter, which I now propose, is in every respect perfect, or, that it has nearly approached what it may be made, by a good workman, I think, that the progress I have made is sufficient to shew, that much may be done to improve an important branch of the field equipment of an Indian Army, and to reduce to a very large extent the enormous mass of marauders now attached to it.

The accompanying sketches, having been made by a Native artist, are not always in correct proportion or on an equal scale, but they will serve to illustrate the various modes of litters to which the litters can be adapted."

*My attention was, at this time, drawn to the subject by Mr. George Archer, of Lucknow, who was then engaged in some experiments on different modes of carrying common doolies. To his skill and ingenuity I have been greatly indebted, for many most useful suggestions, but in particular for the manner in which the litters may be best suspended on camels.

It is by no means my intention, by this remark, to attach any blame to the commissariat department; unfortunately the time allowed for making up the litters was so short, as to render it almost impossible, to complete every arrangement for a satisfactory trial.

We hope that we have shown sufficient necessity for the assembling of a committee of experienced officers at Cawnpore or Lucknow, in communication with Dr. Login, with full power to try experiments with materials of different sorts; the committee to have at command a few carriage cattle and a small party of Hospital Lascars; so that the lightest and simplest litter may be prepared, and that it may then have a fair trial in all positions and carried by all sorts of animals on marches of not less than twelve miles. We recommend to the notice of the committee the Almorah and Eastern Hill Dandee as a part of the equipment for mountainous countries; they are not so comfortable as litters, but can be taken over any gronnd that a man can climb and are usually carried by only two men. If our magazines were kept well supplied in peace with the stores required in war, there would not be the unseemly hurry-skurry in every quarter on the first breath of hostilities, tending to create alarm, and at least derogatory to the power of a great Government. If we are always ready in all branches to take the field, we are less likely to be disturbed, more likely to remain in peace, and if war does take place it will be at less expence to Government and at less discomfort to the soldier than as at present, when equipments and arrangements are left to the last moment and every thing being done hastily, nothing is done well.

Memoirs, Voyages, and Travels illustrative of the Geography and Statistics of Asia. Edited by Major T. B. Jervis, F. R. S. Travels in Kashmir and the Panjab, containing a particular account of the Government and the character of the Sikhs, from the German of Baron Charles Hügel. With notes by Major T. B. Jervis, F. R. S. together with characteristic illustrations, &c. Published under the patronage of the Honorable the Court of Directors of the East India Company.

IN a former article on the Panjab, mention was made of the Travels of the celebrated Prussian traveller, Baron Hügel. We are happy to have it in our power to announce, that the more valuable part of these travels, including the entire narrative or journal, has now been rendered accessible to the English reader, in the form of a well executed translation. For this seasonable and important contribution to our descriptive Literature, we are indebted to Major Jervis, late of the Bombay engineers a gentleman, the amplitude of whose attainments in Litetature and Science, peculiarly qualifies him for the task which he has undertaken. It may be in the remembrance of many of our readers that, about four years ago, the Major,-who was then appointed Provisional Surveyor General of India, but has since resigned the service -projected an immense work on the Geography and Statistics of Asia. For such a work he had succeeded in collecting vast materials, and in engaging the assistance of most of the best and ablest writers in the country. Great and unexpected difficulties, however, interposed toprevent

the immediate execution of his great and comprehensive design. And, in the mean while, without wholly abandoning the original plan,' the Major has adopted the less arduous and more practicable one, of publishing a series of important works, in the form of Memoirs, Voyages, and Travels illustrative of the Geography and Statistics of Asia. Of this series, the present volume is the first; and if due encouragement be afforded, it is intended to follow it up, by the fitting sequel of a volume on "the ancient and modern History" of Kashmir and the Panjab, drawn from Prinsep, Hügel, and other trust-worthy authorities. Hereafter, it is proposed to publish the Travels of Vincenzio Maria from Rome, by way of Syria, Mesopotamia, and Persia, to India, translated from the Italian, with notes and a map.This too, is isa highly important work, which has not yet appeared in the English language. It is full of interest and information, as respects the countries and people it describes, as well as the pleasing anecdotes with which it abounds. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the leading members of our Indian community, will, with their wonted liberality and praise-worthy zeal in seconding enlightened enterprize, come forward and largely support the present undertaking. If they do, its intelligent and spirited projector, Major Jervis, will be encouraged to persevere; in which case, the result must be, a vast accession of original and otherwise inaccessible matter to the store-house of our Historical, Geographical, and Statistical knowledge of the different countries and kingdoms of Asia. If they do not, the enterprize may, from want of support, languish or fail altogether; in which case, the result must be, a great and perhaps irremediable loss to the cause of our Asiatic Literature, in one of its most useful, interesting, and practically important departments.

Respecting the present volume of Baron Hügel's Travels, the Editor, Major Jervis, in his perface, remarks as follows:

"The German original of the present publication has deservedly procured for its illustrious author the reputation of a diligent and faithful observer of nature, who possesses the happy talent of expressing his thoughts with a taste and perspicuity which imparts peculiar interest to his narrative. Independent of the entertainment which is derived, by readers of every age, from the varied incidents of personal adventure and foreign travel, the appearance of a work thus recommended, is calculated at the present moment to throw great light on the important question which now occupies the public mind, as to the proper line of policy to be pursued by the Government of India, in relation to the Panjab; and although the principal personages in the scenes, so strikingly depicted in the author's progress, have been swept away by the hand of death or the murderous contests for supremacy which have followed each other in quick succession, the country itself and its prominent features, which, in a military point of view, are of primary consideration-the circumstances and constitution, the habits and peculiar character of the mixed population subject to Sikh rule, are still the same, unaffected as to any ulterior purpose by the numerous political changes which have occurred since the death of Ranjit Singh. The system of disclaiming all interference in the internal affairs of the Native Powers has invariably had the opposite effect to that which was in the contemplation of the Home Authorities, and in the ordinary course of events provoked dissensions, which have occasioned their overthrow and

accelerated the aggrandizement of dominion so strongly deprecated by the British Legislature, on every ground of humanity and justice. The extension of this mighty Empire, to judge from its history and the experience of modern times, is obviously entailed in the designs of an Allwise Providence, irrespective of any choice or human counsels, by the natural impulse of conflicting interests; and the great desideratum seems rather to be, how to bring to the administration of a trust of such magnitude all the energy which should actuate an enlightened Christian Government; how to give to every department of the State that increased efficiency which shall ensure the integrity of our territories on any emergency; in what way best to promote the fullest inquiry into their natural resources and capabilities, and admit these possessions to an equal participation in the commercial privileges which are enjoyed by other colonies of the British crown, without detriment to the interests of the state.

The principal objects of the undertaking are succinctly stated in the Preface. The Introduction further specifies the best authorities to which the oriental scholar may refer for information respecting the former state and history of Kashmir, with a brief notice of the several European travellers who preceded the author. The cost of the original, independent of the difficulties of a foreign language, would necessarily preclude a very extensive circulation, and the expensive form in which Jacquemont's Travels have been published by the Committee of Public Instruction, under the auspices of M. Guizot, will limit the perusal of that work to a very small number of those who are conversant with the French language. Under such cir cumstances, the present translation, together with the valuable map which accompanies it, by Mr. John Arrowsmith, will form a most acceptable contribution to the geography of Asia, and be welcomed by those who have looked forward to its publication, as an earnest of the selection and style of an extended series, which is in abeyance only for want of proper encourage ment. In any case the reader will receive it as an additional proof of that spirit of inquiry which is abroad in the world, of the liberality with which every desire for information is met by the Government of India, and the testimony borne by an impartial spectator to the intervention of British rule, and the management of the East India Company."

Of the lively and intelligent style of the Traveller himself, the fol lowing passage, with which he commences his introduction, furnishes a fair and pleasing specimen :

The great mystery of language which by one sound can bring before us not a single image only, but a multitude of objects and events, and fill the imagination according to its capacity, in no case exercises its influence more strongly than in words which express the names of different lands. To the ear of a European, the word England, for example, instantly recals to mind the wealth of that island, and her maritime power; France is ever associated with the turmoils of ambition and faction; Italy, with sunny climes and poetry; and Germany, with our ideas of a staid, conscientious people. True, the images conjured up in the fancy of every individual, will lose much of their truth and charms when experience has shewn him how sorely he has deceived himself in many things; but when the land of which he dreams, is situated far off, his ideas, though equally vague, are less likely to be disappointed. We have no remembrances attached to the name of a New Zealander; we revert only to his character with horror, as a cannibal, while the New Hollanders excite our compassion for the scanty gifts which Providence bas vouchsafed them. Compared, however, with these countries, Kashmir is an object of especial interest. We behold, in