teen miles of the object of their pursuit, his motions, instead of being quickened, were relaxed. Having no authority to act without the Affghans, and Dost Mahomed's escort being too strong for the British party, Major Outram could only employ entreaties and remonstrances with the Haji, who at length represented the rashness of overtaking the fugitive; and hinted. that many of his pursuers were traitors. This course of proceeding was persevered in, aided by some symptoms of an intention on the part of Haji Khan to detain Major Outram by force, "rather than permit him to rush on certain destruction;" till, after crossing the highest pass, in the Hindu Koosh, 15,000 feet high, and reaching Bamean, Major Outram found that the ex-chief of Cabul had obtained an asylum in the territories of an independent Uzbek chieftain at enmity with Shah Shooja. Further pursuit was now fruitless; the pursuers were restricted from passing beyond the Shah's territories, and their horses were incapable of making forced marches through want of food and rest. From Bamean Major Outram wrote to Mr. Macnaghten, the British envoy at Cahul, directly charging Haji Khan with the grossest cowardice, or the deepest treachery; "his backwardness," he observes," having favoured the escape of the Ameer Dost Mahommed Khan, whose capture was inevitable, had the Khan pushed on, as he might have done, as I repeatedly urged him to do, and as his troops were perfectly capable of doing." The consequence to Haji Khan was that, on his return, he was arrested by order of the king, on a charge of treason, and of favouring the escape of Dost Mahomed Khan; and he is now a state-prisoner in India.

We find, in one of the Indian Mofussil papers, a long Memoir of this same Haji Khan Kakur, who is there termed the "Talleyrand of the East," and our readers may be amused with an abstract of it. Taj Mahomed, for such appears to be the Khan's real name, was born in a low condition. Major Outram states that he commenced life as a melon-vendor; but the memoir represents that his early years were occupied in tending goats; his father being a chopan, or gout-feeder, of the Kakur tribe. He first took service with one Azeez Oollah Khan Kakur, with whom he became an adept in cunning, and by a journey to Mecca (whence his epithet Haji), he acquired, with a knowledge of the world, a proficiency in the art of chicane. His adventures during his pilgrimage he frequently relates to his friends with inimitable humour. Having procured money sufficient to buy arms and a horse, he was entertained as a sowar by Nawab Jubur Khan, whom he left, and took service with Mustapha Khan, of Derah, a Beloochee chief. He is accused of prompting this chief's younger brother, Mahomed Ameer Khan, to remove him, and Taj Mahomed became a jemadar of ten horses to his heir, Mahomed Ameer Khan. Having an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the vizier, Futteh Khan of Cabul, Taj Mahomed proceeded with him to the capital, in a command of horse. At the seizure of Haji Feroze (a brother of Shah Shooja), in Herat, our hero was placed in command of the arg, or citadel, where he assumed independence, and for three days defied Futteh Khan; but he managed, notwithstanding, to conciliate

the vizier, and at the battle of Kakur Killah, he behaved so well, that he was restored to full favour and raised to the rank of Khan. When Futteh Khan's star set, in 1818, he became Peshkidmut to Prince Kamran, whom he deserted, on the fall of his fortunes, and rejoined the Barukzye family, with whom he remained, changing, indeed, from one to the other, till the invasion of Affghanistan by the British. He first found service with Sheer Dil Khan, of Candahar, whom he deserted for Mahomed Azim Khan, of Cabul, returning from him to Sheer Dil Khan. By an acceptable act of treachery, he at length grew into high favour with Dost Mahomed Khan, who gave him a jagheer, 500 horse, and the government of Bamean. Here he intrigued with Bokhara and Koondooz, and his tricks being discovered, he was ejected from his government, and was received into the service of Sultan Mahomed Khan, of Peshawur. When this place fell to the Sikhs, the Haji contrived to re-enter the service of Dost Mahomed Khan, whose kindness he repaid by becoming an instrument of the designs of the Sikhs, and he is supposed to have betrayed his master in the great battle with Hurry Sing. The Haji was again obliged to "seek a new master," and he became one of the confidential advisers of Raheem Dil Khan, of Candahar. Here he augmented the discords between the three brothers, and when our army approached Candahar, the Haji was a "faithful" servant of Kohun Dil Khan, the eldest. Up to the moment of his desertion to Shah Shooja, this man was exhorting the Ameers and their people to fight to the last, secretly insinuating suspicions into the minds of the chiefs respecting the designs of their brothers. Whilst Haji Khan Kakur was flattered and rewarded at the camp of Shah Shooja, a letter was found, addressed to Dost Mohamed Khan, encouraging him to resist, which there is every reason to believe was written by the traitor. The extraordinary series of his treasons is now closed. The writer of the memoir admits that Haji Khan is esteemed brave, that he is liberal, and hospitable, a most agreeable companion, and that, moreover, he prays five times a-day in public.

The consequences of the escape of Dost Mahomed Khan, it would appear, were mischievous to Major Outram, who, if we may believe the statements in the Indian newspapers (for not a syllable of this appears in the work before us), fell thereby under the displeasure of Sir John Keane, to which cause is imputed the omission of his name in the public despatches. "This act of injustice," says one of the papers, "has been fully compensated by the Local Government, who have appointed him to the important post of Resident at the Court of the Ameers at Hyderabad.”

After his unsuccessful pursuit of the ex-chief of Cabul, Major Outram conducted an expedition into the Ghiljee country, the object of which was to seize the refractory chiefs, to establish the new Governor of the country, to reduce the forts belonging to Haji Khan, and to punish the perpetrators of the cold-blooded murder of Colonel Herring. This service appears to have been most gallantly and successfully performed. Then followed the attack and capture of Khelat. The "zeal and ability" of Major Outram, who volunteered his services on General Willshire's personal staff, are highly commended by that officer.

The major was deputed to take a duplicate despatch, announcing this event, from Khelat to Bombay, by the route of Sonmeanee, the sca-port of Lus, and we have the journal of this rather hazardous expedition.

It being of importance to ascertain the existence of a practicable road for troops from Candahar and Shawl, through Beloochistan, viá Khelat, to the sea, and that by Wudd having been already reported upon by Colonel Pottinger, Major Outram resolved to explore the Nal road. Disguised in Affghan costume, assuming the character of a peer, or saint, and accompanied by two holy syuds of Shawl, he departed on the night of the 16th October 1839, the party consisting of six persons, mounted on four ponies and two camels. They overtook parties of women (some of whom had never before left the harem) flying from Khelat, and various other fugitives. The sensation created by the news of the fall of this fortress and the fate of Mehrab Khan was very great, and many were the curses poured out upon the Feringhees, and the vows of vengeance and retaliation. It was, however, well understood that no further obstruction to the British arms would be attempted, and that no body of Beloochees would venture to unite for that purpose. The travellers were glad to get in advance of the Khelat news, and thus escape questioning, and at length they entered an uninhabited country, without the trace of human abode for thirty miles. Then succeeded mountain ranges, the road winding along beds of dry water-channels, leading to that of a magnificent river, totally destitute of water, the country still exhibiting no signs of inhabitants, except a solitary Beloochee, who surprised our traveller when seated in a dell reading a Bombay newspaper, which he had obtained from a captive at Khelat. An open country succeeded; but, "owing to the want of population, the whole tract, from Beila to the coast, although perfectly level, and containing a rich soil, which is well watered by the Poorallee, is in fact little better than a desert." They arrived at Sonmeanee, 355 miles from Khelat, on the 23d, and embarked for Kurachee in the evening, whence Major Outram embarked for Bombay, and learned there, a few days after, that a party had been in pursuit of him, who had missed their prey at Sonmeanee only by a few hours.

This simple and unvarnished tale of adventures cannot be unacceptable to the European reader. We have been informed that Dr. Burnes is the editor of the work.

THE ANGLO-BURMESE PROVINCES.

No. I.-MOULMEIN.

MOULMEIN, the capital of the British possessions on the coast of Tenasse rim, occupies a tongue of land at the junction of the Salwein-Gyne and Attaran rivers, opposite the old city of Martaban, and in a line with the northern point of Bruxe Island or Buloo-kyoun. At its cession to the English, in 1826, it contained only a few huts; it is now three miles in length, and numbers a population of upwards of 17,000 souls. The bulk of the inhabitants are Taliens, an orderly and well-disposed race, emigrants from Martaban, Siriam, and Dalla; the remaining portion is made up of adventurers from all parts of India, but chiefly petty Choliah dealers, Arab and Persian merchants, and a few enterprising Europeans: the former find ample employment as shipwrights, sawyers, and foresters; the latter have miscellaneous dealings. In addition to the above, there is usually a fluctuating population of about a thousand Burman and Talien labourers, who leave their villages for a time, and repair to Moulmein in search of employment. The staples of export are teak timber, paddy, and rice; the first is felled on the banks of the numerous minor streams which feed the above-mentioned rivers, distant by the circuitous water-journey from fifty to a hundred miles: it pays a duty upon its arrival at Moulmein of fifteen per cent. in kind. The rice is the produce of Bruxe Island and some of the neighbouring plains, which are put under cultivation during the rainy monsoon, and yield sixty-six fold, without the expense and cares of artificial irrigation. At present, the cultivation is of no great extent, but it may be increased to any amount. The timber hitherto exported has been almost entirely the production of the natural forests on the banks of the Attaran and its tributaries, from three to eight days' journey by water to the south-east of Moulmein; it is light, of moderate size, and tolerably durable. A few ponies are occasionally shipped to the Mauritius and other places; but these are not reared in our provinces. The inland trade to and from Moulmein is carried on principally by the Shans, who people the extensive regions to the north and north-east. Caravans of these people arrive annually from the interior; those from the west side of the Salwein bring with them ponies, lackered boxes, and coarse silks; those from the fortified city of Zimmay and its neighbourhood come with bullocks (which are in great demand for the European troops), and occasionally elephants, which they sell or barter for English piece-goods, coarse cloth, fire-arms, cutlery, salt, and a few other articles, none of which pay duty either on their importation or transmission. A considerable internal communication is kept up, by means of the rivers, with the people who are scattered on their banks. This traffic appears to be in the hands of Bengallees, who barter away their goods to the villagers, at a high premium, for market supplies and other produce, upon which a second profit is made at Moulmein.

The Peguers or Taliens, who form the bulk of the population, are a short, active race, possessing great physical endurance; they have well-developed chests, fine waists, small joints, large legs, small feet, thick necks; those who have intermarried with the Siamese are fairer and stouter than the people of Ava. They are fond of games of strength, delight in shows and plays, are partial to golden ornaments and silks of gaudy colours and fantastic patterns. There is no race in the world whose love of country surpasses theirs; the chief of the Crow nation is equalled by the Peguer in the extravagant enco

miums which he passes upon the land of his birth: "If," says he, "you require fish, the sea and rivers are full of them; if you want salt to season your food, the sea and earth produce it in abundance; if you long for fruits and vegetables, they grow spontaneously wherever you go; the forests yield bamboos for building houses, and teak for making canoes.'

Education appears to be more generally distributed among the males than in any other country in the world, as it is a rare thing to meet with an adult person who is not able to read, and seven out of ten can write also; scarcely any thing, however, beyond reading and writing is acquired by the majority of the men, who remain too short a time under the control of the priests to extend their knowledge further. Those youths who assume the ecclesiastical robe, and who form about a twentieth of the whole, acquire a smattering of arithmetic, theology, metaphysics, law, history, poetry, and the sacred language of Maghada (Pali). Most of the pupils cease to attend the colleges after they have learnt the alphabet and know how to form the letters; and threefourths of those who assume the yellow robe quit the kyoums before they have completed their novitiate; their parents are expected to cook a portion of food daily, and carry it to the college; and if their circumstances admit of it, to contribute to the comfort of the priests, by offerings of robes, cushions, candles, books, &c. &c. The condition of the priesthood is far better than that of even the wealthy inhabitants; the kyoums in which they live are the best dwellings in the country; the food they receive in alms from the people is not only abundant, but usually prepared with much care; and the raiment they wear is always thrown aside before it becomes old: the only hardships to which they are condemned by the rules of their order are celibacy, and refraining from food from noon until the dawn of the morning. With regard to their learning, many of them attain a critical knowledge of Pali, history, medicine, and a smattering of astronomy, law, and poetry; and all are well read in theology.

The exportation of rice has not yet attained any magnitude; but a steady demand has only to be created for it, when the provinces would be capable of supplying the markets of Penang, the Mauritius, and Ceylon. The timber trade is the only one at present of any importance at Moulmein; it is almost exclusively in the hands of Europeans, who hold grants of forest land, upon the tenure of keeping them at work; but the system they have hitherto pursued has been so defective, that not only has the market at various times been badly supplied, but a large proportion of the timber felled has been of an inferior quality. The most wanton destruction has also been carried on in the forests; young trees have been felled, boundaries have not been respected, encroachments have been made both on public and private property, work has been suspended, and the local court has been crowded with suits connected with the trade. The quality of the teak varies much with the situation of the spot upon which it grows; that growing upon the Wengoo, or west branch of the Attaran, is worm-eaten, and generally of an inferior description. The Attaran or Mateekut teak is rather light and soft, but well adapted for shipbuilding. The timber felled near the head of that river is of the finest description. The Gyne produces timber of an indifferently good quality, rather hard, but inferior in size. The teak from the Salwein is usually knotty, hard, and harsh to work: the teak from the English side of the Salwein, near the frontier, is large, knotty, straight, hard, and more suited for masts than any other service. Since the failure of the forests on the coast of Malabar, the teak of Moulmein has come into pretty extensive use at Bombay and on the