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opportunity of attending the Lord's supper, of which they all availed themselves, as well, I believe, as all the other inhabitants of the station. The whole number of communicants was 34 or 5, and I never witnessed a congregation more earnestly attentive. On this occasion poor Stowe was to have preached, but that duty now devolved on me.

In the evening I consecrated the burial ground; a wild and dismal place, surrounded by a high wall, with an old Moorish gate-way, at the distance of about a mile from the now inhabited part of the city, but surrounded with a wilderness of ruins and jungle. It is, however, large and well adapted for its purpose, containing but few tombs, and those mostly of old dates, erected during the days of Dacca's commercial prosperity, and while the number of European residents was more considerable than it is at present. One was pointed out to me, over the remains of a Mr. Paget, Chaplain to the Company in July 1724. I then little thought or feared how strangely the centenary anniversary of his interment would be kept up! Some of the tombs are very handsome; one more particularly, resembling the buildings raised over the graves of Mussulman saints, has a high octagon gothic tower, with a cupola in the same style, and eight windows with elaborate tracery. Within are three slabs over as many bodies, and the old Durwan of the burial ground said, it was the tomb of a certain "Columbo Sahib, Company ka nuokur," Mr. Columbo, servant to the Company; who he can have been I know not; his name does not sound like an Englishman's, but as there is no inscription, the beadle's word is the only accessible authority. Another tomb is over a Chinese convert to Christianity and Protestantism, who seems to have resided here about 100 years ago. The remainder are of various, but not very remote date, in the usual Anglo-Indian style of obelisk or pyramid, but all overgrown with ivy, and the destructive peepul tree. Some fine elephants, with their mohouts, were browzing on the trees and bushes round the wall, and amid the neighbouring ruins. Indian cattle occupied the little grassy glades which intersected what would else have been a trackless forest, and the whole had so wild and characteristic an appearance, that I regretted that I had no time to make a drawing.

One evening I drove with Mr. Master to see the prisons. The first we visited was a place of confinement for the insane, which the humanity of Government provides in every district. There were altogether a considerable number, the curable and incurable, the male and female, separated in distinct wards, under the care of the surgeon of the station and several native doctors. The place was airy, well suited to the climate, and the prisoners seemed well treated, though when I praised their cleanliness, Mr.

Master observed, that he feared they knew we were coming. The patients, however, when asked if they had any complaints, only urged (which some of them did very fluently) that they were unjustly confined, and could prove themselves either to have been never mad, or now to be quite recovered. Two only seemed dangerous, and were kept in small grated cells, though several had light handcuffs on. One of these talked incessantly with violent gesticulations, menacing his keepers through his bars; the other was a gloomy and sullen wretch, stretched out on his mat, but now and then uttering a few low words, which Mr. Master said were bitter curses. The first was a Brahmin schoolmaster, and had murdered his brother; the second was in a decent rank of society, and had repeatedly attempted the lives of his wife and children. Melancholy or mere fatuity seemed the most general characters which the disease assumed. Mad persons may be sent hither by their friends, on payment of a small sum, or, if poor, by the "Daroga" of each "pergunnah," (the superintendent of a district,) whose duty it is to apprehend and send to the district asylum, any dangerous or disgusting object of this kind who may be at large.

The prison was very well arranged, with roomy wards, dry and airy apartments, and permission given once a day to all the prisoners to go out on a large plain, within a low outer wall, to dress their victuals. This indulgence indeed, joined to the lowness of even the main wall, makes it necessary to keep them all in irons, but that is, in this climate, a far less evil than a closer confinement, or the increased interruption of the fresh air. The prisoners complained loudly that their allowances were not sufficient. Mr. Master told me that the present dearth of rice made them, indeed, far less than they used to be, but that the original scale was too high, and more than a man could earn by labour. Some Burmans were here, and the only persons not handcuffed (except the debtors). They had been taken in the Company's territory, not in arms, but unable to give any good account of themselves, and therefore supposed to be spies. They seemed, however, poor simple peasants, and Mr. Master said, he had recommended Government to discharge them since in truth, there had always been a little smuggling trade on the Munnipoor frontier for salt and ivory, and these men, he verily believed, had no further or more sinister views. They were middle-sized, well made men, in complexion and countenance half-way between the Indian and Chinese, and a good deal tattooed. The debtors were numerous and very miserable objects. So long as they continue here, their creditors are bound to make them the same allowance as Government makes to the criminals, but a Hindoo creditor, though murmuring grievously at this expense, is generally (Mr.

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Master said, and Dr. Carey had said the same thing before) intensely cruel, and prefers the gratification of revenge, even to that of avarice. Several of the debtors here were very old men, and some had been kept many years in prison.

Another evening I went in a beautiful boat of Mr. Mitford's to the "Pagla Pwll," or Mad Bridge, a ruin four miles below Dacca, It is a very beautiful specimen of the richest Tudor gothic, but I know not whether it is strictly to be called an Asiatic building, for the boatmen said the tradition is, that it was built by a Frenchman. There is a very fine and accurate engraving of it in Sir Charles D'Oyley's "Ruins of Dacca."

I had two visits during the week from the Armenian Archbishop of Ecmiazin, (near what they call Mount Ararat,) who, attended by one of the suffragans of the patriarch of Jerusalem, is making a visitation of all the different churches of their communion in Persia and India. The Archbishop has every appearance of a mild, respectable, intelligent man, and he of Jerusalem seems a shrewd fellow. I was anxious to be civil to them both, but they only spoke Turkish and their own tongue. Fortunately one of their Dacca congregation could officiate as interpreter, and then we got on famously, by the help of my Russian acquaintance and recollections. They were both well acquainted with Georgia, and Abraham, of Jerusalem, had been at Mosdok, Nakitchevan, Kalomna, and Mosco. I was able to do them some trifling services, and we parted with mutual good wishes.

July 20.-I went to pay my farewell visit to the Nawâb, who had been really more than civil. Almost every day during the last week, he had sent baskets of fruit, dressed dishes and pastry, some (which is a common eastern compliment) for my own dinner, others with a special recommendation for my sick friend. All the return I could make, and it was one which I heartily pray God in his goodness may make useful, was the present of my Hindoostanee prayer-book, which, being splendidly bound, and containing much which a Mussulman would not dislike, I cast "like bread on the waters," though I fear on a stormy sea, and one turbid with gross indulgences and prejudices. Poor old man! I should rejoice to learn that he had sometimes looked into its pages. This he voluntarily promised to do in his last visit, and as we were alone, we had a good deal of talk about politics and other things, in the course of which he desired I would sometimes write to him. He then said, "I am not going to offer you a valuable present, but only trifles which are here common, but which in Europe would be curiosities. This muslin I do hope you will offer in my name to your lady, and instead of your present stick, now that you are lame, (I had not quite recovered the effects of the sun on my legs,) that you will walk with my cane." Of the

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former I am no judge, the latter is very pretty, of a solid piece of ivory, beautifully carved. It is too fine for me to walk with, but I shall always value it. I was received and dismissed on this, as on the former occasion, with presented arms.

I went from the palace to the house of Meer Israf Ali, the chief Mussulman gentleman in this district. He is said by Mr. Master to have been both extravagant and unfortunate, and therefore to be now a good deal encumbered. But his landed property still amounts to above 300,000 begahs, and his family is one of the best (as a private family) in India. He was himself absent at one of his other houses. But his two eldest sons had been very civil, and had expressed a hope that I would return their visit. Besides which, I was not sorry to see the inside of this sort of building. Meer Israf Ali's house is built round a court-yard, and looks very much like a dismantled convent, occupied by a corps of Uhlans. There are abundance of fine horses, crowds of shabby looking servants, in showy but neglected liveries, and on the whole a singular mixture of finery and carelessness. The two young men, and a relation, as they said he was, who seemed to act as their preceptor and as their father's man of business, received me with some surprise, and were in truth marvellously dirty, and unfit to see company. They were, however, apparently flattered and pleased, and showed their good manners in offering no apologies, but leading me up a very mean stair case into their usual sitting rooms, which were both better in themselves, and far better furnished than I expected from the appearance of things below. After the few first compliments, I had recourse to Abdullah's interpretation, and they talked very naturally and rather volubly about the fine sport their father would show me the next time I came into the country, he having noble covers for tigers, leopards, and even wild elephants. At last out came a wish for silver sticks! Their father, they said, was not in the habit of asking favours from Government, but it was a shame that the baboos of Calcutta should obtain badges of nobility, while true Seyuds, descendants of the prophets, whose ancestors had never known what trade was, but had won with their swords from the idolaters the lands for which they now paid taxes to the Company, should be overlooked. I could promise them no help here, and reminded them that an old family was always respected, whether it had silver sticks or no, and that an upstart was only laughed at for decorations which deceived nobody. "Yes," said the younger, "but our ancestors used to have silver sticks, and we have got them in the house at this day." I said if they could prove that, I thought that Government would be favourable to their request, but advised them to consult Mr. Master, who was their father's intimate friend. We then parted, after their bringing pawn and rose water in a very VOL. I.-20

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antique and elegantly carved bottle, which might really have belonged to those days when their ancestors smote the idolaters. Mr. Master afterwards said, that if the Meer himself had been at home, I never should have been plagued with such topics; that he was a thorough gentleman, and a proud one, who wished for the silver sticks, but would never have asked the interest of a stranger. The young men called afterwards to see me to my boat, and brought me some toys for my children, and a travelling cap often worn by Mussulmans in this district.