would have been glad to take as his model. Their arms were tattoed with many blue lines, and one of them had her forehead slightly marked in a similar manner. They had no bangles on their wrists and ankles, but the children, though perfectly naked, were not without these ornaments. As we could not stop our boat, I rolled up some pice in paper, and gave it to one of the dandees to throw ashore. Unfortunately the paper burst, and the little treasure fell into the river, while the wind freshening at the moment, it was quite out of my power to give more. The dandees expressed great concern; indeed they are, to their narrow means, really charitable; they club a small portion of each mess every day, to give to the beggars who come to the ghâts, and if none appear, they always throw it to some dog or bird. A more touching instance of this nature was told me by a lady, which she herself witnessed in a voyage last year. The Serang of the boat by an accident lost his son, a fine young man. Every evening afterwards, he set apart a portion, as if the young man were yet alive, and gave it in charity, saying, "I have not given it, my son has given it!" I forgot to mention, that just as Mr. Corrie was setting out yesterday, he received a letter in very bad English, addressed to "The Abbot," from a person signing himself" Gopee Mohun Doss, a brahmin, and a true friend of the Honourable Company." The writer requested an interview with him, that he might receive instruction in Christianity. Mr. Corrie returned for answer, that he would see the writer on his return down the river. He says this is not the only indication he has met with of persons in this neighbourhood, who seem not unwilling to inquire into religious subjects. One of the Hill-people at the school has declared, of his own accord, his intention of giving up Sunday to the worship of God; and there are several Hindoos and Mussulmans, who make no objection to eat victuals prepared by Christians, saying, that they think the Christians are as pure as themselves, and they are sure they are wiser." This letter was brought by a very well dressed servant, who spoke of his master as a baboo, so that there seemed no interested motive for the request which it contained. 66 As we advanced, we passed at Janghera two very pretty rocks projecting into the river, with a mosque on the one, and a pagoda on the other; while, in the distance, were the Curruckpoor hills, not so tall or striking as the Rajmahâl, but not inferior to the Halkin mountains, and the range above Flint and Holywell. Such as they are, they are very refreshing to the eye in these vast regions of level ground. The Ganges has here exactly the appearance of an arm of the sea, and a very noble one too. A little to the east of Monghyr, in a pretty garden, is a cele SEETA COOM-MONGHYR. 201 brated hot well, named Seeta Coom,-the fountain of Seeta. I wished to stop to look at it, but gave up the intention, as, should the wind fail, the passage to Monghyr would be difficult and laborious. The water has no medical properties, but such as may arise from its heat and exceeding purity. When cold it is much valued as a beverage, and some persons in Calcutta drink nothing else. Immediately after leaving it we passed a low rocky hill, close to the water's edge, strewed all over with large round masses of fluor and mica. Specimens of both these Colonel Franklin had shown me from the Curruckpoor hills, as also some very fine ones of talc, or lapis specularis, which divided easily into thin but tough laminæ, as transparent as isinglass. Thirty years ago, he said, this was the only approach to glass usually seen in the windows of houses, even of Europeans, in these and the northern provinces. Some other pretty hills followed, of rather antic shapes, particularly one with a house and a high gazebo on its summit. All the hills seem to be of limestone, in a state of considerable decomposition. The north-eastern bank of the river still continues as flat as possible, very naked, and ugly. The loss of the coco-tree does not materially injure the landscape here, since its place is still supplied by the toddy, or tara-palm, and the date-palm. The country, however, the hills excepted, is certainly more open and less verdant than Bengal, though, as a land to live and take exercise in, it decidedly seems to have the advantage. This part, I find, is not reckoned either in Bengal or Bahar, having been, under the name of the Jungleterry district, always regarded, till its pacification and settlement, as a sort of border, or debateable land. Monghyr, and a narrow slip between it and the hills, are the first commencement of real Hindostan, though in popular language, and in the estimation of the people, the Terriagully pass is the boundary. Monghyr, as one approaches it, presents an imposing appearance, having one or two extremely good European houses, each perched on its own little eminence. The ghât offered a scene of bustle and vivacity which I by no means expected. There were so many budgerows and pulwars, that we had considerable difficulty to find a mooring-place for our boat; and as we approached the shore, we were beset by a crowd of beggars and artizans, who brought for sale guns, knives, and other hardware, as also many articles of upholstery and toys. They looked extremely neat, but as I meant to buy none, I would not raise expectation by examining them. There were also barbers in abundance, conspicuous by their red turbans, one of whom was soon retained by some of my dandees, who sat down, one after another, on the green bank, to have their hair clipped as close as possible, as became aquatic animals. A juggler, too, made his appearance, VOL. 1.-26 leading a tall brown goat, almost as high as a Welch pony, with two little brown monkeys on its back. In short it was the liveliest scene which I had encountered during the voyage. I arrived early, and was therefore for some time a prisoner in my boat from the heat, exposed to the teazing of various applicants for custom. As it grew cool I walked into the fort, passing by a small but neat English burial-ground, fenced in with a wall, and crammed full of those obelisk tombs which seem almost distinctive of European India. The fort occupies a great deal of ground, but is now dismantled. Its gates, battlements, &c. are all of Asiatic architecture, and precisely similar to those of the Khitairgorod of Moscow. Within is an ample plain of fine turf, dotted with a few trees, and two noble tanks of water, the largest covering, I conceive, a couple of acres. Two high grassy knolls are enclosed within the rampart, occupying two opposite angles of the fort, which is an irregular square, with, I think, twelve semicircular bastions, and a very wide and deep wet-moat, except on the west side, where it rises immediately from the rocky banks of the river. On one of the eminences of which I speak is a collection of prison-like buildings: on the other a very large and handsome house, built originally for the commander-in-chief of the district, at the time that Monghyr was an important station, and the Mahrattas were in the neighbourhood; but it was sold some years since by Government. The view from the rampart and the eminences is extremely fine. Monghyr stands on a rocky promontory, with the broad river on both sides, forming two bays, beyond one of which the Rajmahâl hills are visible, and the other is bounded by the nearer range of Curruckpoor. The town is larger than I expected, and in better condition than most native towns. Though all the houses are small, there are many of them with an upper story, and the roofs, instead of the flat terrace or thatch, which are the only alternations in Bengal, are generally sloping, with red tiles, of the same shape and appearance with those which we see in Italian pictures; they have also little earthenware ornaments on their gables, such as I have not seen on the other side of Rajmahâl. The shops are numerous, and I was surprised at the neatness of the kettles, tea-trays, guns, pistols, toasting-forks, cutlery and other things of the sort, which may be procured in this tiny Birmingham. I found afterwards that this place had been from very early antiquity celebrated for its smiths, who derived their art from the Hindoo Vulcan, who had been solemnly worshipped, and was supposed to have had a workshop here. The only thing which appears to be wanting to make their steel excellent, is a better manner of smelting, and a more liberal use of charcoal and the hammer. As it is, their guns are very apt to burst, and their knives to break, precisely the faults which, from want of capital, beset the works of inferior artists in England. The extent, however, to which these people carry on their manufactures, and the closeness with which they imitate English patterns, show plainly how popular those patterns are become among the natives. August 13.-Mr. Templer, the judge and magistrate, breakfasted with me this morning, and gave me such an account of Monghyr and its spiritual concerns, as made me decide on staying over Sunday. There are, besides his own family, five or six others here of the upper and middling classes, and above thirty old English pensioners, many of them married and with families, without any spiritual aid except what is furnished by a Baptist missionary, who is established here. Of him Mr. Templer spoke very favourably, but said that the members of the Church of England, though in a manner compelled to attend his ministry, would value extremely an opportunity of attending divine service, and receiving the sacrament in their own way, while the number of children of different ages, whose parents might be expected to bring them for baptism, was far from inconsiderable. I therefore requested Mr. Templer to give publicity to my arrival, and intention of performing divine service on the Sunday. I dined with him, and he afterwards drove me through what is really one of the prettiest countries that I have seen, very populous, but cultivated in a rude and slovenly manner. The rent of the best land is about two rupees for a customary bega, nearly equal to an English acre, or to three Bengalee begas. They get three crops in succession every year from the same lands, beginning with Indian corn, then sowing rice, between which, when it is grown to a certain height, they dibble in pulse, which rises to maturity after the rice is reaped. The district is very fertile, and most articles of production cheap. The people are quiet and industrious, and the offences which come before the magistrate both in number and character far less, and less atrocious, than is the case either in Bengal or farther on in Hindostan. Theft, forgery, and housebreaking, being the besetting sins of the one, and violent affrays, murders, and highway robberies, being as frequent among the other people, and all being of very rare occurrence in the Jungleterry district. The peasants are more prosperous than in either, which may of itself account for their decency of conduct. But Mr. Templer was inclined to ascribe both these advantages in a great degree to the fact that the Zemindarries in this neighbourhood are mostly very large, and possessed by the representatives of ancient families, who, by the estimation in which they are held, have the more authority over the peasants, and as being wealthy have less temptation to oppress them, or to connive at the oppression of others. Though a Zemindar of this kind has no legal control over his people, he possesses greater effective control than a great land-owner in England exercises over his tenants. Most of them still hold cutcherries, where they attend almost daily to hear complaints and adjust differences; and though doubtless oppressions may sometimes occur in these proceedings, yet many quarrels are stifled there, and many mischievous persons discountenanced, who might else give much trouble to the magistrate. In the upper parts of Bahar, and in the neighbourhood of Benares, the Zemindarries are small, and much divided between members of the same family. In consequenee the peasants are racked to the utmost, and still farther harassed by the law-suits of the joint or rival owners, each sending their agents among them to persuade them to attorn to him, and frequently forcibly ejecting them from their farms unless they advanced money, so that they have sometimes to pay a half-year's rent twice or three times over. Nor are the small freeholders, of whom there are, it appears, great numbers all over Bahar, so fortunate in their privileges as might have been expected. They are generally wretchedly poor; they are always involved in litigations of some kind or other, and there is a tribe of Harpies, of a blended character between an informer and a hedge-attorney, who make it their business to find out either that there is a flaw in their original title, or that they have forfeited their tenure by some default of taxes or service. These free, or copy-holders, have been decidedly sufferers under Lord Cornwallis's settlement, as have also been a very useful description of people, the "Thannadars," or native agents of police, whose "Jaghires," or rent-free lands, which were their ancient and legal provision all over India, were forgotten, and therefore seized by the Zemindars, while the people themselves became dependent on the charity of the magistrate, and degraded altogether from the place which they used formerly to hold in the village society. The permanent settlement was regarded by some as a very hasty and ill-considered business. Many undue advantages were given by it to the Zemindars, at the same time that even so far as they were concerned, it was extremely unequal, and in many instances oppressive. Like our old English land-tax, in some districts it was ridiculously low, in others, though the increase of cultivation had since brought the lands more up to the mark, it was first ruinously high, so that, in fact, quite as many of the ancient Zemindarrie families had been ruined, as had been enriched, while taking all the districts together, the Company had been losers to the amount of many millions. I should have supposed that by its permanency at least, it had been the chief cause of the prodigious extension of cultivation, which every body allows has occurred in Bengal and Bahar |