MAJOR TIEVAN'S THIRTY YEARS IN INDIA.

Toe author of these volumes left England for India in 1808, as a cadet ; and worked his way slowly up to a captaincy, in despite of ill-luck and lack of influence ; after eighteen years service in the Pindarrie or Mahrattzt war, in the surveying department, and in the routine of out-station duty. In 1832 he embarked, as an invalid, for England; where he married • and, returning with his tinnily to India on the expiration of his leave, he had the irre- parable misfortune to lose his wife and three children, in two days, by an attack of cholera. The service or its prospects had now nothing to offer ; and Major I3EvAN, returning to England with his surviving infant, appears to have endeavoured to divert his mind by composing these Reminiscences; which form two volumes of unaffected, off-hand, pleasant reading.

The subject-matter they contain is varions,—the rapid march,

the hurrying pursuit, and the dashing encounter when engaged with the POdarrie banditti ; the storming of native forts; the con- tending with the lying wiles of Indian diplomates ; and, at Malted- poore, an Indian battle-field and battle's miseries upon a large scale, Imi personal history, or individual incident, We have the :Major's accounrof Ids own career, with his studies it a linguist, a

land-surveyor, and zin engineer ; varied by not of the singular fates of' brother officers, either in life or death. Many native and Etnamean characters, too, did the Major encounter in his Indian pilgrimage ; and many stories—like all collections a stories good, bad, and indifferent—does he tell of wits, wags, or practiezh Jest- ers. Ile has also some curious I Bunion traditions or native tales : and intermingles his higher matters with occasional distinisitions on Indian policy and Indian society, in which, amid stone useful hints of an economical kind, he exhibits a dash of the

" laudator temporis aeti Se poem, castiga• or censorque minortun."

But the Major's strong point is the chase. Ile whiled away the tedium of rem note stations bv field sports; he supplied the mess with game upon the march, or in quarters, NVIIP11 game was to be had ; " by day, by night, in weal or wo,- he encountered the tiger, the rird, the wild boa, and hpuna ; he took a shot at alligators, and shuglotered hecatombs of small things, for any 011e the European sportsman would go wild; he became known through whole districts as " a mighty hunter ;" and per/wps his occupations in this way might reach to I ,eadenhall Street itself. Yet notwithstanding, Alajor BEVAN'S Ni1111Thliall emniumnumec, we prefer zt sporting anecdote of one of his comrades: not that the :Maj(o. lacks incidents as strange, but that there is somethi.ng in the serpent tribe revolting to the Old Adam. Any one would sooner be struck down by a lion, or a noble beast of' prey, than be crushed hi the coils of a snake, however big.

A mm-coNsTzurron.

on his return from Bombay, Lieutenant C. led a still more singular adven- ture near the same place. Ile entered the jungle in search of game, preceded by a thvourite powerful dog, that had courage to seize any thing. The dog ran a little ahead, awl suddenly made a noise, as if choking. " Run, master! a cheetah has caught your dog," said the natives. Lieutenant C. advanced Cautiously, and saw a large heap, just the colour of a royal tiger, black and orange. In a few seconds he beheld the head and neck of an enormous boa- constrictor slowly uncoiling itself and gliding towards him. He waited until half of the snake was out of the coil or lump, and then fired both barrels. One ball entered immediately behind the eye, the other about four inches from the head. The whole coil instantly fell, and revealed the poor dog crushed to death

within the folds. In the mean time all Lieutenant C's followers had fled, and he was forced to go to a village for assistance. Having with some difficulty mustered a little band, he returned and brought out the snake, the dog, and a spotted deer that the snake had killed, the scent of which had probably tempted the unfortunate dog. The carcass of the deer was so bruised that

even the lowest caste in the village refused to touch it, declaninir it was full of zuhar, or venom of the ashgur, as they called the snake. The boa was twenty-three feet eight inches long, and about six feet in circumference. There was a large cake of tat all the way inside from the head to the tail, and of this the natives showed great anxiety to obtain possession, declaring,' that it was an infallible cure for all diseases. The body was hung up on the banyan-tree opposite the choultry, or inn of the village. People flocked from all parts of the country to see the monster, and many of the natives used to try whether it was possible to cut through the carcass with it blow of a sword; but even after it was skinned, no person was found who could penetrate more than half way at a single stroke.

If not better in itself than most practical jokes, the following led to the exhibition of more epigrammatic wit than they usually give rise to.

TRICKS UPON "GRIFFINS."

A gentleman in the Company's service, equally eminent for his hospitality and his love of practical jokes, derived almost incessant amusement from play- ing tricks on the fresh comers front Europe. No sooner had he heard of the arrival of a batch of griffins, than he hastened to the beach, and as he was somewhat of a physiognontist, selected the most simple and innocent-looking for the exercise of his talent. He once met a young cadet, exceedingly puzzled about his luggage, which he was unwilling to trust to the coolies or porters, who ply between the beach and the town. 'The crafty old civilian with affected sympathy inquired the nature of his distress, and related so many stories of trunks disappearing and coolies running away, that the young cadet was quite terrified, anul was easily persuaded to have his baggage placed inside the palan- quits, while he proceeded to town seated on the outside. This was just as Win the days of sedan-chairs. a person had placed his baggage within, and astounded the chairmen liv perching himself on the top. In 'this singular guise, much to the amazement and amusement of all who met him, the young man proceeded to report his arrival at the Town-Major's office, where he was informed of the trick that had been played upon him, by which he was made the laughing- stock of Madras, and exposed to the danger of a coup de soled into the bargain.

RETRIBUTION.

Some years elapsed, the cadet became an officer in command of an outpost, and one day examining the passports, without which, until very recently, no European was allowed to travel through the interior, he recognized the name of the civilian who had given him so uncomfortable a ride. He went to the gentleman's tent, planning various .,cheincs of retaliation, and found that he had gone to enjoy the luxury of bathing, in a tank beyond the village. The officer immediatt:lv had all the civilian's clothes removed so craftily that he did not discover his litss until he left the water. The scorching sun soon began to blister his naked body, and yet he could not venture to take the shortest road to his tent through a populous village, but was forced to make a circuit through thorny and pathless tracks. In the evening the clothes were restored with a polite note, and the following lines- " Yon gave me a side 011 a palatiquin, " Yon gave me a side 011 a palatiquin, I gave you a walk in the sun. "Now, neither can lam,h at tho other, I wren, For both liave been properly dune. The iliffereue, between us I thus may express.

I was done very raw in the town;

And whet' yuu reflect, I am sure you'll confess, lu the country that you were thne brown."

Here is a picture of glory, when the glare is past.

AFTER THE BATTLE.

Near midnight, when about to retire to rest, an order was received front the Commander-in-Chief to detach an offieer and one hundred pioneers for the purpose of collecting the wounded, and also such arms and accoutrements as could he finnul on the field of battle. This severe duty devolved upon me, as the other officers were all laid up from the fatio.ue they had undergone through- out the day. Several palanquius belonging to the head-quarters and staff were kindly sent to hring in the wounded, as, none of the public dooly boys could be ',weaved, they having dispersed in search in plunder. The scenes of 1'.'0 and iniery1 exits:deuced d iring this dark and dismal night, in my iirogrosS OVV1' the ti Old ct 13attit: :1111111,4 the carnage of the day, will never be effaced from my memory.

The groans toul sersams of the wounded and dying constantly struck my ear, as alsoit

t,le p..eous avalliti,ss of the wives. daughters, fathers, or sons of Moss?P ho had fallen, or the cries of others in ssoralt,tf their missing relatives. With these heartremlins. sounds were often mixed the wild execrations of the dying, who were at to repel the marauders who came for the purpose (if plunder and rapine. We found many bodies of ottr own soldiers in a perfect state of nudity, which plainly evinced they 11;1,1 not eseapsd those indignities offered to the dead and dying by the proffigate followers of a camp. Our enemies were treated in the same manner ; the wretches who wandered over the field in seareit of plunder spared neither friend nor foe when there was a prospect of booty. W e rescued a con,iderable number of the wounded from this lonely death, the most terrible to the imagination ; but several of th,a, had tittle') 'ti ii to the cowardly a,sassins or the inclemency of the weather belOre we Cuilld alrOrd them re,sme (Jr relief. The ground was Sat day, which had 1 ietmm sat urated hy time heavy 11111 sI Ill trodden into a quagmire by the pa,,si.ig and reistssing of men, animals, and carriages; a misty, drizzling ruin fell ine, s,antly, :tad these eireutil,tances render. d our toil exceedingly Mt- ficult and tc lions. We had to wait a con ,dderable t hoe for the return of the palanquins from the fiehl-hospital, whither our wounded were conveyed, so that the morning dawned ere 0U War.: e01111)10ted. The scenes which I witus,ssd in the hospital were scarcely less harrowing to the feelim,s than Iii I, in the field. l.tr. A. and the rest of the medical staff employed all that skill a energy could suggest for the relief of the suf- ferers. 1 51111 nem perform several very difficult operations and amputations, and especially 1111e 011 Lieutenant II., %%hose knee was severely shattered. He sustaitted the operation with unflinching is oil-age, hut expired soon after it had, iwen col itpleted. rew, indeed, of those w ho had received gun-shot woutols survived, for the frac( ores they had suffered were generally so extensive as to bring on lock-jaw. Many young aspirants for military fame, dazzled by " the pride, pomp, dud circumstance of glorious war." would have their ardour sadly damped by witnessing the seems on the field and in the hospital of Malted- poure.

PRANKS 01' A NATIVE rams.

Countless anecdotes have been related of his cruelty, and in no part of the world but Hindustan would such a wretch have been permitted to disgrace a throne. The very commencement of his reign was inauspicious ; for, it being suspected that his father, Lingo Rajah, had died by poison' the Rajah ordered the suspected person, Pundit Ramaya, to submit to the oteal of -boiling oil; to which he consented, monis hand, as might have been expected, was dreadfully scalded. In vain he pleaded that this was the Kali-age, and that ordeals were no longer efficient criterions of guilt ; the Rajah, from an upstairs verandah In which he was sitting, gave a signal, and those who were standing by struck immediately their spears into his body, and lifted him up. in the air. Eleven other Brablnins who were suspected, were wrapped up in mats and beat to death. Au old man named Tuntri Narna Bhutt, and his son Vishnoo, not being acquainted with these circumstances, came from the lo..v country to ISfareara, to see Pundit Ramaya, who was a friend of theirs. Upon their asking a Brahmin," whether Pundit Ramay-a was well," the Brahmin fled in horror; And the question having been overheard by two watchmen, who reported it to the Rajah, both the father and son were summoned into the Rajah's presence and beat to death. Another person, named Kushnor Shastri, who was ignorant of Pundit Ramaya's death, was called by the Rajah, and upon his replying to a question, whether Pundit Ramaya was a good or a bad man," that he WAS a good one, had his ears and nose cut off. In 1828 or 1829, a Parsee, named Horjee was alleged to owe the Rajah 40,000 rupees. He went to bring the money, and left his brother in Coorg. The Rajah, in order to extort the money, caused him for six months to sleep in the open air on the top of a mountain. He subsequently caused a person to strike him with his knee on the back every morning and evening; and finally, as he positively refused to pay the money, his feet were tied, and he was dragged through the town till he died.

The Rajah had formerly five wives, of whom one was a Brahmin, one a Lin- gapt, and three of the Coorg caste. It being an abomination to the Brah- mins and Coorgites to give their daughters in marriage to a person of Lingavut caste, it followed that the marriages of the Rajah were contracted against tkeir will. In 1826, the Rajah wished to add five more wives to his establishment ; and for this purpose employed his dewan, Boloo and Karicar Buswappa, to look out for proper persons. These, foolishly, let out the secret, and on the very day that the news spread amongst the Coorgites, every marriageable -daughter was given in marriage. The Rajah was highly indignant at being disappointed m his object, and immediately caused the elewan Boloo to be flogged and beat in such a manner that he died in a few days; Buswappa cut his own throat; those who had given their daughters in marriage were flogged, and Lad their ears cut off, and those who gave information of the Rajah's inten- tion, had their lips cut off.

Several persons of high rank, including the Rajah's own sister, sought shelter from his tyranny in the British dominions.

The scattered remarks of Major BEVAN on the arts and produc- tions of India, the increasing distress of the natives from the growth of British manufactures, and the best mode of remedying them by -facilitating cultivation, may be read with advantage, but are not sufficiently close in matter to quote. To the modern Indian policy Major BEVAN seems somewhat adverse, especially to the

Affghaun war; but his mind is not of a character to induce much reliance upon his judgment in such matters. Of the difficulties that may have to be encountered, or the force that we have at our disposal to overcome them, we cannot speak; but the prudence of the policy seems perfectly clear, of having a strong and friendly power between Persia and the Indus, instead of a distracted country influenced by Russian intrigues.