DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0320
CHAP. XIV.
THE PUNJAB.
285
riorated Mahommedanism of their neighbours, the
Euzoofzyees: their bravery was coeval with that
religion, and based upon it; their political great-
ness sprang from their change of faith ; and though
that has been again changed, the Seiks are yet left
with peculiar tenets, and continue to all intents a
distinct people.
The dominions of Maharaja Runjeet Sing as-
sumed a consolidated state at an early period, from
a chain of circumstances over which he himself had
little control, but by which he has not failed to
profit. They now stretch from the Sutlege to the
Indus, from Cashmere to Mooltan ; and comprise
the whole of the countries watered by the Punjab,
or five tributaries of the Indus. Throughout he
commands the fastnesses of the mountains and its
alluvial plains. On the east and south, his en-
croachments were opposed by the British; on the
west, he could subdue, but he could not maintain,
the countries beyond the Indus. To the north, his
passage was opposed by snowy mountains; and he
has prudently contented himself by only seeking
Cashmeer, and the other rich valleys which the
lower hills enclose. In a territory thus compactly
situated, he has applied himself to those improve-
ments which spring only from great minds; and
here we find despotism without its rigours, a des-
pot without cruelty, and a system of government
far beyond the native institutions of the East,
though far from the civilisation of Europe. In a
country which has been subdued by an irregular
force, with a due mixture of artifice and courage in
THE PUNJAB.
285
riorated Mahommedanism of their neighbours, the
Euzoofzyees: their bravery was coeval with that
religion, and based upon it; their political great-
ness sprang from their change of faith ; and though
that has been again changed, the Seiks are yet left
with peculiar tenets, and continue to all intents a
distinct people.
The dominions of Maharaja Runjeet Sing as-
sumed a consolidated state at an early period, from
a chain of circumstances over which he himself had
little control, but by which he has not failed to
profit. They now stretch from the Sutlege to the
Indus, from Cashmere to Mooltan ; and comprise
the whole of the countries watered by the Punjab,
or five tributaries of the Indus. Throughout he
commands the fastnesses of the mountains and its
alluvial plains. On the east and south, his en-
croachments were opposed by the British; on the
west, he could subdue, but he could not maintain,
the countries beyond the Indus. To the north, his
passage was opposed by snowy mountains; and he
has prudently contented himself by only seeking
Cashmeer, and the other rich valleys which the
lower hills enclose. In a territory thus compactly
situated, he has applied himself to those improve-
ments which spring only from great minds; and
here we find despotism without its rigours, a des-
pot without cruelty, and a system of government
far beyond the native institutions of the East,
though far from the civilisation of Europe. In a
country which has been subdued by an irregular
force, with a due mixture of artifice and courage in