MONSOON. Vishnu already incarnate, and that he come again when they mention, on white horse, as they speak;" alluding, as he afterwards explained himself, to the description of Christ in Revelations xix. ver. 11. This man is certainly intelligent, and, for his situation in life, extremely well-informed. And thus we are, literally, in India beyond the Ganges. We have had the mortification, however, of learning that we have come hither too soon, and that our Serang ought to have kept on the western bank till almost opposite Jaffiergunge. Through his ignorance we shall have the greatest strength of the monsoon to contend with to-morrow, instead of having its force broken by a weather shore, or one which partly answers to that description. June 30.-This morning we heard a very good account of our patients, and left them with a small stock of bark and wine, enough, I should hope, to set up men who are entirely unaccustomed to any stimulant. We found, unfortunately, but too soon, the difficulty of proceeding on our way to Dacca. The men towed us a few miles with much labour against a fierce wind, which thumped us every moment with right good-will, on the clay bank, then begged leave to rest,-then to try the middle of the river. To this measure we were much inclined, as the stream we thought would of itself be enough to carry our vessel down, while the wind (with the driver and jib) would serve to steady us. We soon found, however, that the pinnace, from its want of keel, had no guidance or stability in the water; that she neither answered to her helm, nor in the least bore up against the wind; nay, that the stream itself had not so much hold on her shallow construction as the wind had, even when all the sails were down. I urged them to try their oars; but the sea ran so high, and the vessel rolled so much in the middle of the stream, that these too We tried to regain the shore from were useless, or nearly so. which we had parted, but found this difficult, without a very serious loss of ground. Under these circumstances it seemed still adviseable to stretch over to the western bank, which we had prematurely quitted; and accordingly we stood across for the sandy island, which, on our arrival, we found divided by a broad channel. Our Serang was very coolly going to establish himself for the night on the first land which he touched; but I insisted on his at least proceeding over the next broad stream, so as to get in a favourable direction for towing next day, and for remaining with a weather-shore during the night. He obeyed, and we at 5 o'clock again took up our quarters on a sandy beach, the very likeness of Southey's Crocodile Island, being pretty nearly the spot where we should have been yesterday evening, had our The only interesting occurrence Serang known where he was. was the capture of a very large and beautiful iguana, or lizard, 136 LIZARDS-JAFFIERGUNGE. 2 feet 9 inches long, with five toes on each foot, and a forked tongue, beautifully marked with tiger-like stripes of yellow and black. It was basking on the river bank, but was no sooner disturbed than it ran into the water, then, seeing the boats, instead of diving, it began to creep up the bank again, when one of the boatmen caught it in a snickle. They were all much afraid of it, and spoke of its bite as poisonous, which, from its appearance, I am little inclined to believe. It did not, indeed, seem to have any teeth at all. Stowe rambled about the island, and waded through a marsh after some widgeons, and shot two; on cutting them up an egg was found in each. This supply will not be unseasonable to our rapidly decreasing larder. July 1.-This morning, the wind being more moderate, we continued our course to the western bank of the river, without any great loss of ground, and then proceeded favourably enough by towing. The river soon became free from islands of any sort, and expanded into the most noble sheet of fresh water I ever saw, I should guess not less than four miles wide. The banks are tolerably high when we are near them, but while we creep along the one, the other is only seen as a long black line on the horizon. Of course, though the view is striking, it is not picturesque, and it would soon weary us, which could hardly be the case with the beautiful Chundnah. I had the delight to-day of hearing again from my wife, and this is worth all the fine scenery in the world. The fishermen are a finer race here than those in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, and their boats better. They have also large seines, like those on the Hooghly. Yet many circumstances in their equipments are extremely rude. Many have for sail a mat, or cloth, suspended between two bamboos, one on each gunwale, like the New-Zealanders; and one skiff passed us scudding under a yet simpler contrivance, two men standing up in her, and extending each a garment with his feet and hands. I have seen some such representations of Cupids and Venuses on gems, but little thought that the thing had its prototype in real life, and was the practice of any modern boatmen. The noise of the Ganges is really like the sea. As we passed near a hollow and precipitous part of the bank, on which the wind set full, it told on my ear exactly as if the tide were coming in; and when the moon rested at night on this great, and, as it then seemed, this shoreless extent of water, we might have fancied ourselves in the cuddy of an Indiaman, if our cabin were not too near the water. About half past five we stood across the river, which ran really high, and washed the decks handsomely, and brought to amid rice, indigo, and sugar-fields, near the native town of Jaffiergunge, and had an interesting walk, though it was VIVACITY OF THE NATIVE INDIANS. 137 too late for a long one. The people were cutting indigo, which they then packed in large bundles, and loaded in boats. It both looked and smelt something like new-made hay, though with rather a stronger flavour. A good deal of wild celery was growing on the bank, which Abdullah said the people of this country boil and eat in large quantities, believing it to be very wholesome. The night-blowing stramonium was also abundant. July 2.-We entered the river of Jaffiergunge, called Commercolly in Rennell's map, which here, however, as in other places, probably from some alteration in the course of the stream, is utterly useless. The country all populous, highly cultivated with rice, sugar, cotton, and indigo; and though woody, the banks are not oppressed with such exuberant and heavy arborage as those of the Hooghly. We passed a considerable indigo factory, with a very pretty house attached to it. There seemed more machinery, and more activity here, than in any which we have seen. The appearance of the workmen, whose naked limbs and bodies were covered with the blue dye, was very singular. The wind favoured our progress to-day; and though the Serang did not care to abandon his trusty tow-line, the men had light work, and were in high spirits. On passing a banian tree, where were an old mat and a pitcher, one of them ran forwards without giving any notice of his intentions, drew the mat round his loins, placed the potsherd by his side according to rule, and so ridiculously imitated the gestures of a "Yogi," (a religious mendicant,) singing all the time in the dismal tune which they use, putting his hands over his head, sprinkling earth on his face, &c. that his comrades were quite disabled from their work with laughing, and I was myself exceedingly amused. Indeed, not having seen him run forwards, I really at first supposed him to be the person he counterfeited, and wondered at the irreverent mockery with which so holy a man was treated, till in a few minutes he sprang up, threw his mat and handful of ashes at his comrades, and catching up his truncheon of bamboo, resumed his place in the team with an agility and strength which urged all the rest into a round trot. This is only one out of twenty instances which every day offers, of the vivacity of these fellows, who are, in fact, always chattering, singing, laughing, or playing each other tricks. Yet I have met many people in Calcutta who gravely complain of the apathy and want of vivacity in the natives of India. My own observation, both of these men and of the peasants and fishermen whom we pass, is of a very different character. They are active, lively, gossiping, and laborious enough when they have any motive to stimulate them to exertion. Had I an indigo plantation, I would put them all to task-work, and I am sure that, with due inspection to prevent fraud, few VOL. 1.-18 labourers would surpass them in steady work, and still fewer would equal them in cheapness. Their habit of coming late to their labour, and breaking off early, arises from the variety of callings which each man at present exercises, and the time which he loses in preparing his food. Make it worth their while to establish messes, where one should cook for the remainder, and give them facilities of eating a noon-day meal on the scene of their work, and they would, I think, be easily persuaded, with far greater comfort to themselves, and advantage to their employers, to begin and leave off work at the same time with English labourers. Indeed, at some of the indigo works which we have passed, this seems the case; and I am sure that the fishermen and dandees work as late and early as any people. The stream as we advanced became broader, and the country assumed the character of inundation. The villages, on land a little elevated, were each surrounded by its thicket of bamboos and fruit trees. Some fine tall spreading banians and peepuls were scattered on the driest patches of the open country, but the rest was a sheet of green rice, intersected in every direction by shallow streams, which did not as yet cover the crop, but made it look like rushes in a marsh. The low banks of the river were marked out by the bushes of datura stramonium, and long silky tufted grass, which from place to place rose above the water, and here our boatmen waded sometimes mid-leg, sometimes kneedeep. Indigo, in this low country, is confined to the banks round the villages, whence we saw several boats conveying it to the works which we had left behind us. About two o'clock we entered on an immense extent of flat and flooded country, stretching as far as the eye could reach to the north-west, without even trees or any similar object to break the line of horizon. Here at Gwalparah we, for the first time since leaving the Ganges, had the stream in our favour. As the wind was not altogether unfavourable, we hoisted sail, and the stream strengthened as we got into the middle of the river. The Serang told me we should do extremely well, provided we could make a particular clump of trees, which we were in a very fair way for, when suddenly the wind drew round to the south-east, and began to blow hard, with rain, which fairly compelled us to bring up on the opposite side of the "Jeel" to that which we intended, on a rotten marsh, overgrown with beautiful junglegrass, tall and silky, and at least eight feet high, so as completely to bury the men who endeavoured to get through it. Towards sunset the breeze moderated, when, by help of a little rowing, we got off from shore, and found ourselves in a wide stream of muddy In the dry season a jeel is merely a swamp, but during the rains, when near a river, it becomes navigable for pinnaces.-ED. SAIL TO DACCA-TOLLS. 139 water, rushing at the rate of eight or ten knots an hour, in which our sails just served to keep us steady, and which carried us in little more than an hour to the point we were anxious to attain. We received two messages from Mr. Master, judge of Dacca, in the course of the day, with a most liberal supply of bread, fresh butter, and fruit. His servants say we may easily reach Dacca to-morrow. July 3.-This morning we advanced about twelve miles with the current, making some little advantage of our sails. About eight o'clock, however, the wind was so strong and so completely in our teeth, that we were forced to bring to, as usual on a lee-shore, but so soft and yielding, being in fact all marsh and reeds, that no harm was likely to happen to the vessel. We lay in this manner till past ten, when, it being very clear that, with such a wind, it was impossible for the pinnace to reach Dacca by church-time next day, I determined on going thither in the jolly-boat, leaving Stowe, whose health would not admit of his joining such an expedition, behind. I accordingly embarked, taking with me, besides my clothes, a pocket compass, and a common Bengalee umbrella, which being of straw I thought would keep off the sun more effectually than my own. I took Abdullah and four of the best rowers of our crew, leaving on board the pinnace four of Mr. Master's police boatmen instead, who came to offer their services. The adventures of such a voyage were not likely to be very numerous. We found a really heavy sea in the middle of the jeel, which washed our faces liberally. The width of this expanse of water was on an average, I think, about a mile, showing in many places marks of the vegetation which it covered, and bordered, mostly, by tall rushes, jungle-grass, and rice fields, as yet only partially inundated. The stream was exceedingly strong, so much so as perfectly to account for the height of the waves, which the wind raised by their opposition. This latter, however, became more moderate after we had rowed about an hour and a half, and the remainder of our progress was very rapid and easy, the men having little more to do than now and then to give a pull at their oars. A striped flag at the entrance of a smaller stream on our left hand, attracted my attention, and the boatmen told me that a toll was paid there by all boats frequenting a market to which that nullah led. These local taxes are all, throughout the company's territories, applied to the improvement of the districts where they are levied. A little farther we were hailed from the shore by a man earnestly begging to be taken on board. The dandees only laughed, but I told them to pull in and hear his story. He said he was a soldier in the 14th, Colonel Watson's regiment, that at their last night's halting place he had missed the boat to which he belonged, and that now all the flotilla |