[57] The oldest pagodas in India, and a great many of the ancient Egyptian temples, are cut out in the solid rock. This mode of architecture, peculiar to the oldest nations, was derived from the nature of their own dwellings. It is probable that the first men lived in mountainous districts, and that holes or cavities in the earth, partly natural and partly formed by art, were their earliest habitations. The _Troglodytes_, that is, the inhabiters of holes, dug out places of the like kind for performing their religious worship. At later periods they ventured to quit the mountains to reside on low hills and plains; and, that they might not suffer from inundations, to build houses and towns on artificial eminences, and to dig canals and ditches in order to procure earth for making these artificial mounts. In places destitute of stones they built habitations of brick dried in the sun, which they cemented together by means of lime, bitumen, and other substances. It was not till periods much later that burnt bricks and cut stone began to be employed for building temples and palaces. _F._ [58] All rivers which have their sources in high mountainous districts generally flow with great impetuosity after heavy rains, so that it is sometimes dangerous, if not impossible, to cross them. Various instances of the truth of this observation may be found in Vaillant’s _Travels into the interior Parts of Africa_. _F._ [59] It is, indeed, worthy of remark, that the many petty princes on the Malabar coast have maintained their independence, notwithstanding the great revolutions by which the whole face of India has been changed, and though each singly was not sufficiently powerful to withstand a formidable enemy, and though they are seldom in such a state of friendship with each other as to oppose with united forces any antagonist that might attack them from the north and the east. The author explains this phenomenon very properly. The conquest of these small states is, however, possible: 1st, by fomenting quarrels between the princes, and then espousing the cause of one of the parties: 2d, by establishing strong posts and erecting fortresses in the defiles of the mountains and places where the rivers are fordable: 3d, by employing artillery and troops acquainted with the European discipline. The last method was employed by Tippoo Saib, in order to reduce some places on the sea coast. _F._