[41] It was a part of the political system of the ancient Indian kings, that they never entered the territories of their neighbours in a hostile manner but upon the most urgent occasions. If they could not possibly avoid it, they at least suffered the people employed in agriculture to remain at peace, and molested neither their temples nor their priests. We are told so by Strabo, and by Adrian in his History of Alexander’s Expedition to India. The policy of the Mahometan conquerors and their allies in India has, on the contrary, been, as far as they were able, to reduce the mightiest sovereigns and kingdoms to obedience, and to endeavour to govern the latter themselves; to leave on the throne only the weakest princes, and to render them tributary; to foment quarrels between them, or bring about a reconciliation according as it suited their interest; never to undertake more than one war at a time; to allow religious liberty in its full extent only to their allies, and to suffer them alone to retain their ancient usages and customs; to take part always with one or other of two contending parties, and in that manner to increase their power; lastly, to furnish their allies with officers to command their troops. _Ossa vides regum vacuis exhausta medullis._ In this manner they suck the very marrow from the bones of kings, says Juvenal in his eighth satire. _A._ [42] The kingdom of _Carnate_ must certainly have enjoyed a long state of peaceful prosperity under its native kings. This we have reason to conclude from the extensive pagodas, regularly built with art and a sort of magnificence, which are found in it; and also from the many old castles and fortified towns on the borders of the kingdom, and in the passes which conduct through the mountains called the Gauts. The duration of the ancient buildings, for so many centuries, may be explained by the nature of the mortar used in India, which is a mixture of oil and viscous substances, and by the dry warm climate. The Mahometan princes first brought poverty into this country, formerly so fortunate; and what they began the Europeans completed, by carrying thither as soldiers the refuse of all nations. _F._ [43] See the bull of Clement VIII. of the year 1600, which begins thus: _In supremo militantis ecclesiæ solio_. Also that of Clement X. issued on the 7th of June 1674. _A._