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him to be treacherously seized and confined in the strong hold of Gwalior. Here he lingered some years in prison, but was at length ransomed, and resumed his former courses, in which he speedily became as imposing as he had been before. Scindiah, unable to crush him by open force, once more resorted to treachery, and, taking advantage of a quarrel between Kurreem and Cheetoo, assisted the latter, who overthrew Kurreem in a pitched battle, and compelled him to fly for refuge to Ameer Khan. Ameer Khan made him over to Toolsa Bhye, the widow regent of the Holkar family, from whom he has since escaped, and is now at the head of his dhurrah, cantoned near Barseim in Bopaul. Cheetoo, at present the greatest of all the Pindarry chiefs, enjoys the favour and confidence of Scindiah. His force has surprizingly increased of late years, and is stated to amount to twenty thousand horse, a small corps of infantry, and a train of twenty ill served guns. He possesses the forts and districts of Sutwass, which run along the northern branch of the Nerbuddah to the south of Oujeen, and nearly opposite Hindia, the capital of a district of the same name in Candeish, on the south side of the river. Dost Mohummud, the son of Heeroo, is entitled from his birth to hold the chief place over all the Pindarry tribes; he is, however, inferior to Cheetoo, and his troops do not amount to more than ten or twelve thousand horse, a weak body of foot, and a few guns. Wansil Khan, his brother, headed a party which invaded our provinces, and it was strongly suspected that they were accompanied by some of the troops of our ally, Scindiah. Their camp is at Bagrode, half way between Saugor and Bilseih, a district in Bopaul. The last of these leaders whom we shall notice is a remarkable person named Sheik Dullah, who, though only commanding a small number of followers, has rendered himself conspicuous for valour, and daring by his bold incursions into Berar, and his desperate attack on the garrison of Nagpoor with a few hundred horse.

These are the principal Pindarrie adversaries, not of the British interests in India alone, but of the tranquillity and civilization of the entire population of the Peninsula. Social order, and that security which is necessary to human happiness, are incompatible with the existence of such bands of robbers, who are ever ready to enter into the service of any evil-disposed prince or state, or of themselves, under their own fierce captains, carry desolation to the hopes of the husbandman, and misery to every habitation of peaceful man. To sum up their character, though we must allow that they are brave, enterprizing and vigilant, patient of fatigue, and possessing a confidence in their individual powers much beyond what is found in the generality of the natives in India, these qualities but render them the more dangerous, and extend the measure of their cruel

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and barbarous ravages. It is impossible, also, to avoid perceiving that with some degree of discipline, they would prove a most formidable instrument in the hand of an able and ambitious chief. To such an enemy we can only oppose the same alertness and rapidity of movement, which has, in several recent instances, been so successfully employed. They are now too well convinced of their inferiority to our troops ever to risk a battle, and nothing appears necessary to check their customary inroads but the same perseverance of pursuit on our parts which is exhibited by them in their retreat. They must be followed to their fastnesses, and disarmed. Small as their aggregate numbers, even when taken at the highest, must be allowed to be, compared with the amount of the military power now arrayed against them, and singular as it may appear, that the depredations of a band of forty or fifty thousand freebooters should require a vast continent to rise in arms for their suppression, yet the description which has been given of the manners, habits, and composition of these merciless banditti, the character of the country through which their warfare is carried on, the looseness of the tenure by which peace is held, even among the more settled and civilized of our neighbours in India, and the tendency of any disturbance to stir up among those nations the elements of general confusion-these considerations, joined with that of our paramount duty to protect the peaceable and unarmed millions subjected to our sway from havock and outrage, may render it necessary for the Indian government not to desist from the enterprize which it has been compelled to undertake, without having, in addition to the immediate suppression of this pest, provided by extensive combinations and arrangements against the possibility, or at least the near risk of its revival.

ART. XI. Brudstykker af en Dagbok holden i Grönland i Aarene 1770-1778 af Hans Egede Saabye, fordum ordineret Missionær i Claushavns og Christianshaabs distrikter nu Sognepræst til Udbye i Fyens stift. Odensee. 1817.

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[ANS Egede Saabye is the grandson of the well-known Hans Egede, to whose employment he succeeded, and after a residence of about eight years in Greenland returned to Denmark and became a village pastor-his cure is at Udbye, in the diocese of Funen. A visitation was lately held by the bishop of that diocese, during which he became acquainted both with our author, and with his manuscript, which he considered as a valuable memorial' of the Golden Age of the Greenland missions;' and by his recommendation the fragments of Saabye's journal, now published, were given to the press. The work was not unworthy of

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the protection of the Danish prelate; for when the map of the world is spread before the Scandinavian, he may point with an honest and national pride to the dreary shores of Greenland. Uninfluenced by the slightest prospect of temporal advantage, the Danish missionaries abandon all the comforts of social life, nay, the blessed light of the sun itself; but supported by firm yet temperate zeal, their labours become a calling of gladness, and their task of righteousness fills them, amidst their hardships, with happiness and content. Nor is the character of the Northman less honoured, though in a distant age and from motives widely differing, when we contemplate the hardihood and fearless spirit which induced the first settlers of these countries, Erick the Red and his companions, to traverse the unknown and dangerous ocean, until at length they discovered another Thule beyond their own.

It appears from an account of Greenland, published not long since at Copenhagen, by the Banque Commissair Collin,' who compiled it from the official documents of the Greenland Company, that in the year 1805, the two districts of West Greenland which are under the inspection of the Company, contained six thousand and forty-six native inhabitants. Population is on the increase, but slowly; and Collin supposes that the ignorance of the Greenland midwives is by no means to be left out of view, when we endeavour to ascertain the causes by which it is checked. Almost all the Greenlanders have been baptized, and very few heathens are found, except in Upernavick, the northernmost establishment, and Julianshaab, the southernmost one ;—so that their national divinity, Tongarsuk, will shortly be left without a votary. According to the missionaries, the ideas of the natives respecting Tongarsuk were exceedingly vague. Some considered him as a spirit; others as a man. Some held that he was immortal; others, (as the good Saabye says,) that a certain noise could kill him.' These contradictory accounts must be ascribed to the misapprehensions of the missionaries. False religions may be absurd and foolish, but they are consistent in inconsistency; their articles of belief are always definite; such as they are, the idolater rests on them, nor does he enfeeble his fallacious hope with doubt or uncertainty.

Mr. Collin speaks rather lightly of the benefits derived from the missions; he doubts whether the converted Greenlanders have improved much in morals, or whether they believe less in witchcraft than their pagan brethren. Such remarks are not made in fairness. The bank-commissioner might have recollected, that a thousand years of Christianity have not been able to obliterate the vestiges of the superstitions of pagan times in his own country and as to morals, it will be well if the servants of the Greenland Company exhibit even the small degree of improvement which he allows to

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the natives. In Saabye's time, at least, their agents were far from being patterns of morality in their dealings with the unsuspicious natives. The measure in which they bought the whale blubber from the Greenlanders contained one-third more than it ought, and, not contented with this mode of cheating, the knaves used to knock out the bottom of the tub, and place it over a hole dug in the ground, which of course was first filled with the greasy treasure before the contents rose in the cask. Saabye adds, that if the missionaries, as the protectors of their flocks, dared to expostulate with the servants of the Company, they exposed themselves to the illwill of these important characters; and he himself was vilely calumniated by them on his return, as a reward for his benevolent interference.

The Greenland trade is of some consequence to the Danes. The imports of the colonies amount, on an average, to 85,000 Danish rix-dollars; the staple exports are seal-skins and blubber. Seals are caught by the Greenlanders solely on their own account. The whale, as a royal fish, we suppose, is divided between them and the Company. Till the year 1804, they shared it equally; at present only one-third of the fish belongs to the Company, and the remaining two-thirds reward the captor. Formerly the whale-bone afforded considerable gain to the Greenlanders: but now, scarcely any market can be found for it, as the beauties of Europe have divested themselves of the defensive armour which cramped the bodies and destroyed the health of their grandmothers. The sea affords the Greenlander food and merchandize-the land but little of either. Instead of employing themselves usefully on the coast, during the summer, they prefer chasing the rein deer; but his flesh cannot be preserved for winter stores, and his skin can only be employed in making fruentimmerbeenklæder,' which tremendous heptasyllable, as we find, by the help of Wolff's Ord-bog,' signifies breeches for the ladies.' Where there is woman, there is vanity; and fruentimmerbeenklæder' are as much in request at Kirgartursuk and Omanarsuk as Cashmir shawls at Paris.

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The Greenlanders are paid in goods of different kinds, which are delivered to them by the Company according to a fixed tariff. But, in the year 1801, a circulating medium was partially introduced:- blest paper-credit' has flown even to the huts of Godhaon, where the Inspecteur' was first authorized to pay the inhabitants in bills of exchange of six and seven Danish skil lings each.' This measure has been a real benefit to the Greenlanders; it has taught them prudence and economy; and they are far less improvident and hasty in their bargains than before the inspecteurs therefore wish to extend this currency to the other settlements.

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The Greenlanders are a clear-headed intelligent people; they can all read and write their own language: the chief benefit of civilized society has reached them, while its vices and its wretchedness remain beyond the sea. Saabye kept a school every day, except Sundays, from nine till two. The children flocked to it with delight, and he used to see the parents carrying the little ones to and from the school-house through the deep snow. The scholars could all read 'the Greenland language currently before they were twelve years of age; Saabye employed them in copying 'Pontoppidan's Explanation of the Catechism,' and they amused themselves much by writing letters to each other as well as to him. At the age of thirteen they left the school and were confirmed.

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Like many of the American and polar languages, that of the Greenlanders is distinguished by the complexity of its structure; it has three numbers, and the dual has three persons. The paradigm of their verb, in combination with the various personal pronouns, branches into an infinite variety of forms; and each primitive verb, by means of au affix, gives rise to a host of derivatives, extending through every variety of action; e. g. Narpok, when added to the verb which signifies to wash, causes it to signify, 'he does nothing but wash.' Tarpok, he comes for the purpose of washing. Jekpok, he is almost about to wash.' Llarpok, 'he continues washing.' Karpok, he is just beginning to wash.' This is continued through every mode and tense and person. It seems an instinct in man to pride himself upon his language, just as singing-birds take a pleasure in their song. The merest savage mocks at the stranger who mispronounces his household words. The Greenlanders are critical observers of the purity of their language. If the preacher sins against its niceties in his sermon, they are sure to correct him when the service is over. The difficulty of learning the language is a great obstacle to the missions, as several years elapse before the missionaries can speak it with fluency enough to be able to communicate freely with their parishioners.

Before the year 1792 there were ten missionaries in Greenland, but then the number was reduced to five. During the last war all communication with Denmark was cut off, and at length one missionary alone remained there. The stipend of these good men is very moderate, which must be attributed to the limited resources, rather than to the parsimony of the Danish government; it is paid to them partly in money and partly in provisions, but their fare is coarse and scanty, and they suffer great privations, almost approaching to distress. Saabye has given an unaffected yet forcible delineation of the feelings of the missionary and his family during the long and lonely Greenland year. They have one bright epoch; for it is a blithe and happy time to them, when the ice is

VOL. XVIII. NO. XXXVI.

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