nexs, mild, tranquil, and fèduloufly attentive : in this kit re*
ipeCt they are indeed remarkable, as they never interrupt any
perfon who is fpeaking, but wait patiently till he has concluded
î and then anfwer with the moll perfect reipeCt and
compofùre»
F rom the Ihip a ftranger is conveyed on fhore in a boat
of the country , called a Maffoolah baot : a work of curious
conftruCtion, and well calculated to- elude the violent ihocks
of the furf, that breaks here with great violence : they are
formed without a keel, flat bottomed, with the fides railed
high, and fewed together with the fibres ©f the cpcoa-nut
tree, and caulked with the, fame material : they are remarkably
light, and are managed with great dexterity by the natives s
they are ufually attended by two kattamarans, (rafts) jmddled
by one man each, the intention of which is, that, flxould the
boat be oyerfet by the violence of the lurf, the perlons in it
may be preferved. The boat is drivai,- as the . fâilors fty„
high and dry j and the pàflèngèrs are landed-on a-fine, fandy
• beach : and immediately enter the fort of Madras«
T he appearance o f the natives is exceedingly varied, Ibme
are wholly naked* and others fo clothed, that nothing but the
face and neck is to be difcovered ; befides this, the European
is ftruck at firlk with many other ©bjeCfcs, fuch as women
carried on men’s. Ihoulders on- pallankeens, and men riding,
on horfeback clothed in linen drefles like women which.
united with the very different face o f the country from all he
had ever feen or- conceived of, excite the Itrongelt emotions
of furprifpl
m It is impoflible to*.defcribe the enthufiafm with which I
felfimyielf actuated on this occafion; all that I faw filled my
mind withfeexpeCtations of what was;yet/™&e% I prepared
therefore eagerly for a tour through thdyjpuntry; but my
route was fcarcely -fixed, wheri I was interrupted by the great
fcourge of human nature, the great enemy of thev arts, war,
which, with horrors perhaps unknown to .the civilized regions
of Europe, defended like.a torrent dyer the whole face
pf;the country, driving the. peaceful: buffandman; from his
plow, and the manufacturer from his loom. On the,eighteenth
day" of July, 1,780, I was a melancholy witnefs tfcTits
effects, the ^multitude coming in from all quarters to Madras
as. a place of refuge, bearing on their Ihoulders the fmall remains
of their little property, mothers with infants at their
breafts, fathers leading their horfes burthened with their young
families, others fitting on the miferable remains of their fortunes
on a hackery *, and dragged through the dull by weary
bullocks : every objeCt was marked by confufion and difmay,
from the, 18th to the a iff, the numbers daily increafing: and.
it was fuppofed that within the fpaee of three days not left
• A hackery is a (mail coverfeJcarriageupon fwo wheels, drawn by bulIock*>
and ufed generally for the female'part of the family.