in defence of their factories. The example and rivalry of a powerful foe, the French East India Company, first led them to take an active part in the political intrigues of the numerous native chiefs, and from this, step by step, a simple body of traders has been transformed into a recog nised branch of the British Government, exercising supreme authority over the whole of India from the Indus to the
Malay peninsula.
151. The French Company, established in 1664, had existed side by side with that of the English in complete harmony for 70 or 80 years, though the two nations had been repeatedly at war in Europe. But in 1744 the war which then broke out was carried into India by the French, with consequences which the most far-seeing could not have predicted. The French governor of Pondicherry, Dupleix, a man of genius and ambition, formed the project of found ing a French empire in the Deccan, a project which, under the efforts of a succession of able men, at one time seemed about to be realised. But after a struggle of fifteen years, during which both sides formed alliances among the more powerful native states, the English finally defeated the French in 1760, and destroyed their settlements. Two years later, on the restoration of peace, the French were permitted to re-occupy their former factories. But the opportunity of taking a place as the paramount political power in India was gone, nor were their later efforts, which were continued till 1802, more successful.
152. On the other hand, the English Company, with the military aptitudes and experience developed among its servants in these contests, was brought more and more into contact with the many self-constituted chiefs who with more or less pretence of a nominal allegiance to the puppet emperor of Delhi, had carved out for themselves kingdoms from the ruins of the Mogul empire, and subjected all parts of India to rapine and violence. The results of the conflicts that ensued were to add fresh strength to the Company. The battle of Plassy, in 1757, gained by the British under the celebrated Clive over the viceroy of Moorshedabad, made them masters of Bengal and its dependencies. From that date the history of the Company is a record of British the gradual subjugation of all their opponents. The Delhi become sovereignty had already entirely fallen to pieces, and the British became by the force of events the paramount power in India, and on them have devolved all the duties and responsibilities of that position.
153. From the commencement of the present century the main scope of the action of the East India Company was the introduction of order and good government into the countries that had fallen under its rule; and since the final destruction of the predatory armies of the Pindarees in 1817-18, India has enjoyed, with few and short exceptions, a condition of internal peace such as had never been approached in any part of its previous history. Under such circumstances the wealth of the country has enormously increased, and the progress of civilisation in all its branches has been great and continued ; and it may be truly affirmed that nowhere has there been established by any race of foreigners a rule more beneficent and unselfish, or better designed to advance the best interests of the subject population, than that which has now existed under Great Britain for upwards of a century over a large part of Southern Asia.
(r. s.)
Alphabetical Index.
(The numerals refer to the paragraphs.)
Afghanistan, 23 ; flora of, 90. Akbar, 139 ; successors of, 140. Ala-tau, 29. Altai, 29. Andaman islands, 21; people of, 115. Arabia, 25; forms of life In, 71; flora of, 88 ; cultivated plants of, 89 ; fauna of, 100; races of, 113, 114; language, 121. Arabia Felix, 89; flora of, 89. Aral sea, 42. Ararat, 23. Areas of Asia, Africa, Europe, America, 4. Armenia, 23. Aryan races, 121, 122, 126. Asia, Central, climate and forms of life in, 71 ; flora of, 94. Asia, Northern, zoology of, 96, 97 ; races of, 112, 117; language of, 117. Asia, Western, language and religion of, 122 ; early history of, 130. Asia Minor, 23 ; flora, 91 ; people of, 113; language, 121. Assyrians, 127. Australian region, zoology of, 102, 103. Australioid group, distribution of, 114, 123. Babylonians, 127. Baluchistan, 23. Biology, C9-72. Borneo, 35. Botany, 73-94. Boundaries of Asia, 5. British India, 16 ; great plain of, 17 ; rivers of, 18 ; population and climate, 19 ; history of, 150-53. Buddhism, 129. Bukhara, 26. Burmah, 15. Camboja, 15. Caspian sea, 42. Caucasus, 23. Celebes, 36; zoology of, 102, 103. Ceylon, 20 ; flora of, 82, 83. Chenghiz Khan, 137, 142. China, 14, 16; geology of, 46; temperature of, 52; forms of life in, 70, 71; flora of, 93; people of, 118; language and religion, 118; history of, 142; Europeans in, 148, 149. Christianity, origin of, 131 ; its influence, 132, 133. Climate of Asia, 50-68. Cochin-China, 15; people of, 119. Crusades, 136. Cyclones, 60, 61, 62. Demavend, 23. Dravidian race, 114; language, 122. Elburz range, 23. Ethiopian region, zoology of, 100, 101. Ethnology, 111-23. European settlements in Asia, 149. Fishes, fresh-water, 108; sea, 105, 106,107. Flora, 73-94. Formosa, 39, 143. French in India, 150. Geography, 1-40. Geology, 41-49. Georgia, 23. Gobi, 30. Greece and Asia, 130. Himalaya, 9, 12; geology of, 43, 47; diurnal winds of, 66; forms of life in, 70; flora of, 76, 84. Hindu chronology, 129. Hindu-kosh, 23. History, 124-53. Ida, 23. India, 16, 17, 18, 19 ; geology of, 42, 44; temperatures of, 52 ; forms of life in, 71 ; flora of, 75, 77-8G ; zoology of, 98, 99 ; people of northern, 113, 122; of central and peninsula, 114, 122; language and religion, 122; history of, 129, 138, 139, 140, 141, 150-53. Indo-Chinese region, 15 ; forms of life in, 71; people of, 119; language and religion of, 119 ; history, 144. Insects, 109. Islands, 6. Japan, 40, 143 ; forms of life in, 71 ; flora of, 74, 93. Java, 34; temperature of, 52. Khingan, 28. Khirgiz, 117. Khiva, 26. Khoten, 27. Laccadives, 22. Language, modification of, 111; of different Asiatic races, 117-122; early Aryan and Semitic, 126. Laos, 15. Lebanon, 25. Mahomet, 133 ; successors of, 136. Mahometanism, 133, 134, 135. Malay islands, 33 ; forms of life in, 71 ; flora of, 75, 92. Malay peninsula, flora of, 79. Malays, 120, 144. Maldives, 22. Mammals, 96, 98, 1GO, 102, 104. Manchuria, 28. Marine mammals, 104. Melanochroi, 113, 121. Mesopotamia, 25; geology of, 42. Mogul kingdom of Delhi, 139, 140. Moluccas, zoology, 102, 103. Mongolia, 28-31; geology of, 46. Mongolians, 112; distribution of, 116; different races of, 117-120 ; irruptions of, 137, 138, 142. Monsoons, 57, 58, 59 ; rains of S.W., 63. Mountain ranges, effect on climate of, 8. Negritos, 115; distribution of, 123. Negroid group, 115. Nicobar islands, 21. Olympus, 23. Origin of the names Europe, Asia, Africa, 3. Ornithology, 97, 99, 101, 103. Ottoman empire. 138. Palæarctic region, zoology of, 96, 97. Pdmir, 27. Papua, 37 ; people of, 115. Paropamisan mountains, 23. Persia, high lands of, 23, 24 ; flora of, 91 ; zoology of, 100 ; people of, 113, 121. Persian monarchy, ancient, 130. Persian plateau, forms of life in, 70. Philippines, 38; people of, 115. Portuguese in Asia, 147, 148. Prehistoric man, 125. Rain, seasons of, 68. Rainfall, 67. Rains of S.W. monsoon, 63, 64. Religions of various Asiatic races, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122; of Ceylon, 20. Rivers of Tibet, 11, 15; of Indo-Chinese region, 15 ; of China, 15 ; of India, 18; of Persian high lands, 23; of PiCmir, 27; of Siberia, 28, 32; of Mongolia, 29. Romans in Asia, 130. Russians in Asia, 142, 146. Semites, 121, 122, 126. Siam, 15 ; people of, 119. Siberia, 32 ; rivers of, 28 ; geology of, 45 ; temperatures, 52, 53 ; forms of life in, 70 ; flora of, 73 ; tribes of, 117. Sindh, f onns of life in," 1 ; zoology of, 100. Stanovoi mountains, 28. Sumatra, 34. Syria, 25; zoology of, 100; people of, 113, 121. Tartars, 117. Taurus range, 23. Temperature, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56. Thian-shan, 29. Tibet, 12, 13; river of, 15; flora of, 76; people of, 119. Tibetan plateau, geology of, 42. Tibeto-Himalayan mountains, 9, 27. Timur, 138. Tonquin, 15. Turkistan, 26. Turkoman desert, 23. Turks, 117. Typhoons, CO. Ural mountains, 32. Vedas, the, 129. Volcanic regions, 21, 33, 36, 48. Wallace s line, 6. Winds, 57-62 ; land and sea breezes 65 ; diurnal mountain, 66. Xanthochroi, 113. Yablonoi mountains, 28. Yarkencl, 27. Zoology, 95-109
