home. I met no person in the road but the village chokedar, who at first appeared alarmed, thinking it was one of their gods; but when I spoke to him the man laughed most heartily, and followed me all the way to the gates, where I alighted, and dismissed the sacred bull with two or three pats on his neck; and although my white trowsers bore full testimony to the animal's need of ablution, still I was glad to have escaped the mud I otherwise must have waded through. It is said that the lower orders of the Mussulmans will sometimes decoy one of these animals into the river; where, to avoid detection, they haul him up between two boats; then, cutting his throat, take off the skin, and letting that go with the rolling stream, they dress the carcase and bring it on shore, as if sent to market in the regular way. I have heard an indigo factor say, that one season, when a vast deal depended on housing the crop quickly, his superintendents pressed several of these bulls into the service, and, unknown to the Hindoos around, worked them for many days under Mussulman drivers, and that they performed the duty well. Certain it is, that this would not do near Culcutta, or any large town, as the whole Hindoo population would be horror stricken at the idea. The number of Brahminy bulls is very great at Benares and Nuddea, where they have peculiar honours paid to them, to a degree which is not practised elsewhere. Thus is that glory given to a creature which pertains alone to the Creator.

CHAPTER XI.

"Arches grandly bow'd,

Bold statuary lions, column, dome

Reveal the pride of wealth. But sadly rise
(The long forgotten dead t' immortalize,)
Each black mausoleum and each solemn tomb;
On whose aspiring points, like moveless stone

The ancient crane doth stand, all mute, gloom struck, and

RAH AND CALCUTTA FUNERALS-CHOLERA MORBUS -RAVAGES OF SMALL POX-METHOD OF INOCULA

TION.

THE Mussulman inhabitants of British India are certainly less effeminate in appearance and manners than the Hindoos; and though in many instances they appear to be more licentious and brutal, yet, generally speaking, they are much on a par for morality with their pagan neighbours. Still I must confess, that however mistrustful I might be of a Hindoo's word, yet I always could give credit to it, in preference to that of a Mussulman. Being very much addicted to strong drink and opium, they often manifest the most furious and vindictive dispositions, especially to those of other creeds, at

the times when any of their religious festivals are holden. On such occasions, their enthusiasm is great beyond description, as they seem to have totally given up all their faculties to its despotic sway. The festival of the Mohurrum is kept with as much pomp as their circumstances will allow; and during the ten days that it lasts, all ranks and degrees are totally absorbed in its ceremonies. Different scenes are represented on each day, by means of effigies, gilded thrones, chariots, and various paraphernalia of royal and warlike pageants, attended by hosts of living actors, who manifest at some periods of the festival the most frantic grief, beating their breasts with great violence, and exclaiming in rapid accents, "Oh Hussein, Heif az Hussein." On the first day of the feast, their zeal and enthusiasm are excited by the addresses of the Moulahs, who harangue them on the incidents pertaining to the tragic history of Hussein, as well of his brother Hassan and their father Ali, of which the following is a brief sketch. Ali the caliph was beloved by his subjects, but fell by the hand of an assassin, and the regal power was usurped by his bitterest enemy, who failed in his design of murdering the young princes, Hussein and Hassan. When the usurper died, he was succeeded by his son Yezzed, during whose reign a plot was formed to restore the house of Ali to the throne; and trusty messengers were dispatched to Medina, to invite Hussein to invade the kingdom, and to assure him that the faithful were

anxious to throw off the yoke of their tyrant, and acknowledge him as their rightful sovereign.

The prince hesitated not to comply with the invitation; and, collecting a small army, headed them in person, taking his family with him. Yezzed being informed of his movements, sent a large army to meet him, which having taken a position between Hussein and the river Euphrates, entirely cut off his supply of water, which in that parched country was a more decisive blow than if half his retinue had been slain in battle. The consequence was, that without coming to action, most of his followers forsook him and fled, so that, in a very short time he numbered only seventy-two persons in his train, most of these being relatives. Still, with this little band Hussein performed the most extraordinary feats of valour; but, on the tenth of Mohurrum, they were entirely surrounded by ten thousand of Yezzed's troops, and every one cut to pieces, Asher, the infant son of Hussein, being butchered in his father's arms. The head of Hussein was carried to Damascus, and laid at the feet of Yezzed. By the harangues of the priests, and the scenic representations, such as the horses of Hussein and his brother covered with gashes and stuck full of arrows, scimitars and turbans stained with blood, and pigeons (which carried the sad news to Medina,) with their beaks clotted with gore, the minds of the spectators are often wound up to a pitch of frenzy, bordering on madness, when they sometimes inflict wounds upon

themselves and others, and in some instances many have been slain. Those who are strict in their observance of this festival endure great privations, by an almost total abstinence from water, during the ten days which the Mohurrum lasts. Vast sums are lavished by the wealthy Mussulmans on these occasions, and a great demoralization is promoted in the minds of the people, by the revengeful and blood-thirsty feelings which are excited. Their temporal interests are also much injured by the cessation from labour which is occasioned, and the expensive pageants to which they are all called upon to contribute. Indeed, the whole of the Hindoo and Mussulman systems are pernicious in the highest degree to the present welfare of their followers, so that if no other object was contemplated, but that of ameliorating the temporal condition of the inhabitants of our East Indian territories, the philanthropist would find the most cogent reasons (from the influence which the festivals both of Hindoo and Mussulman have upon their present welfare), for aiding in the great work of evangelizing these distant realms, subject to the British sceptre. So true is the sentiment contained in the following stanza of the immortal Watts, even as it regards temporal prosperity.—

"What if we trace the globe around,
And search from Britain to Japan?

There shall be no religion found,

So just to God, so safe for man."

In most of the years I passed in India, from