F ogs. T he fogs of this country are horrible, frequent and thick,
and moft unwholefome. Officers fent into the fait marffies for
the purpofe of taking a furvey, have found the vapours fo grofs
and putrid, that every now and then they were obliged to af-
cend the higheft trees for the fake of getting a little refpira-
tion; few efcape without a fit o f illnefs, and numbers die out
o f thofe fent on this horrible fervice * .
“ I t is true indeed that the fair fex in general efcape the
“ cruel fevers of this: climate, which is owing to the tem-
“ perance of their lives, and their not being, obliged to expofe
it themfelves to the violent heats, as our fex is. often under the
M neceffity of doing. But the Englijb women are not without
« their diforders; they are feized with an oppreffion of their
“ nerves, flow fevers, and bile. Thefe, with a conftant per-
“ fpiration, foon makes the rofes on their cheeks to vaniffi.
“ A pale yellow complexion fucceeds, and every fymptom of
“ youth and beauty difappears.”
“ E v e r y thing but cold is in extremes here; the heat is
“ intenfe, the rains floods, the winds hurricanes, and the hail-
« ftones, I dare not tell you how large, left you ffiould think
“ that I take the licenfe of a traveller. But what I always
“ behold with reverence and awe, and at the fame time with
“ pleafure, is the lightning, not an evening paffes without i t ;
“ it is not that offenfive glare of light I have been ufed to fee,
« but a beautiful fire which plays amongft the clouds, and
“ paffes from one part of the heavens to another in every di-
“ rediion, and in every variety of vibration.”
* Phil. T r a n t vol. tvii. p'. 2lS .
I c o n g r a t u l a t e the inhabitants of this burning region,
that the art of ice-making has been difcovered, and moft fuc-
cefsfully purfued. I refer the reader to the account given of
the procefs by Sir Robert Barker, in vol. lxv. p. 252 of the Phi-
lofophical T'ranfaclions, which is in life at Allahabad, Motte Gill,
and Calcutta; places between 251 and 23! of north latitude, the
narrative tedious, and unneceffary to be tranfcribed in a climate,
where the natural cold feldom fails producing ice fufficient for
the luxury of every returning year. By this means the Dives
of this country may have the comfort of cooling his tongue
while he is tormented in that flame; but let me admoniffi him
in time to remember the Lazarufes, leaft hereafter he ffiould
find himfelf tranfported to that Torrid Zone, where no ice-
makers will be found, where the Wretched Pariar will no more
receive his evil things, nor the luxurious Nabob his good !
T h e government of Bengal, and its vaft dependencies,- was G o v e r n m e n t ...
firft veiled in a Governor General, and a fupreme council, confiding
o f a prefident and eleven counfellors.. This mode was
altered by the 13th of George III, or in 1773, into a Governor
General and four counfellors, o f which the firft Governor General
was Warren HaJlingS', and Lieutenant General Clavering,
the Honorable George MOnfon, Richard Barwel, and Philip
Francis, who had the diredtion of all affairs, civil and military,.,
over the territorial acquifitions and revenues in the kingdoms
of Bengal, Bahar, and Orixa, and they or the major part to have
power of fuperintending and controlling the Prefidencies o f
Madras, Bombay, and Bencoolen ; in particular that they ffiould
have no power to make war or peace with any of the Indian
ftates without their approbation;
2 BYi