were exclusively devoted to uses of law, learning, and religion;
the Hindus cherished their Sanskrit and Hindi for their own
purposes of business or worship, while the Emperor and his Moghul
courtiers kept up their Turkish speech as a means of free
intercourse in private life. The Chaghtai dialect resembled the
Turkish still spoken in Kashgar.

Out of such elements was the rich and still growing language of
Hindustan formed, and it is yearly becoming more widely spread
over the most remote parts of the country, being largely taught
in Government schools, and used as a medium of translation from
European literature, both by the English and by the natives. For
this purpose it is peculiarly suited, from still possessing the
power of assimilating foreign roots, instead of simply inserting
them cut and dried, as is the case with languages that have
reached maturity. Its own words are also liable to a kind of
chemical change when encountering foreign matter (e.g., jau,
barley: when oats were introduced some years ago, they were at
once called jaui — "little barley").

The peninsula of India is to Asia what Italy is to Europe, and
Hindustan may be roughly likened to Italy without the two
Sicilies, only on a far larger scale. In this comparison the
Himalayas represent the Alps, and the Tartars to the north are
the Tedeschi of India; Persia is to her as France, Piedmont is
represented by Kabul, and Lombardy by the Panjab. A recollection
of this analogy may not be without use in familiarizing the
narrative which is to follow.

Such was the country into which successive waves of invaders,