applications which could have done me so much good as a motive for an extra glass of wine, and the lively conversation of two young men, for one of whom I had a sincere regard. We parted soon after four, and I had a very good sail over the river, and might, I soon found, have had a better, had not Mohammed, from his exceeding terror of being carried out of his knowledge, or of being compelled to pass a night at sea, instead of fairly sailing straight for the river on which the villages stand, laboured hard, by keeping his boat as near the wind as her construction allowed, to make the opposite bank as soon as possible. We arrived there in consequence about six o'clock, at least eight miles to the S. of the point we wished for; and, in the neighbourhood of a little village overhung with palms, we made fast to a green meadow. Our people had learnt caution by the recent events on the Matabunga, and Abdullah came to request that I would give orders for two sentries for the night.

July 25.-I slept well, and have seldom wakened with more reason for gratitude. My health, which had been for some time a good deal deranged, appeared renovated, and I felt myself ready to adopt any line of conduct which circumstances might claim from me.

We were obliged to track our boat, the wind having fallen, and it was 10 o'clock before we reached the Hajygunge nullah. Before we had advanced far, a boat came up with a letter from Mr. Warner, the magistrate of these districts, and

to my inexpressible delight, one from my wife, which Mr. Master had forwarded. Her account of herself was comfortable, but I was again forcibly convinced that it would be impossible for her to join me at Boglipoor. My main anxiety therefore was, that she should not fret about a separation which was unavoidable, and that she should be convinced that I am likely to do extremely well, and travel very safely; and that, though now alone, I should have companions the greatest part of the way.

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Mr. Warner soon after called on me, and I accompanied him to his house, where I found a very well furnished library. At present his house was full of ladies, fugitives from Chittagong; but except his own family and inmates, he had no society, no Europeans, not even a medical man being within very many miles. In the evening we walked in the garden, and Mr. Warner pointed out one tree on which two pelicans never failed to roost, and another which had an eagle's nest. Eagles are, he said, very common on all these rivers, and pelicans by no means rare, and he expressed some surprise at learning how few of either I had seen during my progress. A beautiful and fragrant purple flower was shewn me as the jalap-plant. Mr. Warner then took me a pleasant drive in the carriage, and I had some very interesting conversation with him; on our return to the house I read prayers and a sermon, and then went to my boat. On the whole, between the books I found, the things I saw, and the people I met with, I

passed a pleasant, and I trust not an unprofitable Sunday.

Mr. Warner told me, that even now I was, in his judgement, a fortnight too late to succeed in getting up to Cawnpoor, but that to Benares I might do very well.

Among Mr. Warner's books I found in a volume of the Edinburgh Annual Register, a dialogue from an ancient Arabic MS. in the Bodleian, translated six years ago by Dr. Nicol, containing a dispute between a Christian monk and certain learned Mussulmans, at the court of one of the Seljuckian Sultans, which I thought so clever, and so evidently authentic, that it greatly delighted me, and I borrowed it for Abdullah, as more likely than most things which I have seen to do him good, and confirm his faith in Christ. The original Arabic ought by all means to be published, if it is not already, and sent out for circulation in the East by the Societies interested in such good works. I here dismissed the police-boat and chuprassee with which Mr. Master had furnished me. It is pleasing to see how popular Mr. Master is; he is spoken of here in just the same way as he is at Dacca.

Mr. Warner I find had not heard a word of the alleged attack on the Company's boats on these waters. Such a thing might, he said, have occurred in the Kishnagur district without his hearing of it, but he conceived it must have been greatly exaggerated. He said that the Indians can never tell a story without excessive falsification one way or the other. He had frequently had cases of assault

brought before him, in which the plaintiff at first stated that he had been attacked and nearly killed by above a hundred men, when it turned out that he had received a beating from one or two men, twenty or thirty others being possibly present, (as in a village or market) but taking no part in the quarrel. In the same way if a house or a boat is robbed, the complainant generally exaggerates the number of Decoits to any multitude which he may think likely to excite the magistrate's attention and pity. Nevertheless there was, he said, a great deal of gang robbery, very nearly resembling the ribband-men of Ireland, but unmixed with any political feeling, in all these provinces. It is but too frequent for from five to ten peasants to meet together as soon as it is dark, to attack some neighbour's house, and not only plunder, but torture him, his wife and children, with horrible cruelty, to make him discover his money. These robbers in the day-time follow peaceable professions, and some of them are thriving men, while the whole firm is often under the protection of a Zemindar, who shares the booty, and does his best to bring off any of the gang who may fall into the hands of justice, by suborning witnesses to prove an alibi, bribing the inferior agents of the police, or intimidating the witnesses for the prosecution. In this way many persons are suspected of these practices, who yet go on many years in tolerably good esteem with their neighbours, and completely beyond the reach of a government which requires proof in order to punish. Mr. Warner thinks the evil has

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increased since the number of spirit shops has spread so rapidly. At present these places bring in a very considerable revenue to government, and are frequented by multitudes both of the Hindoo and Mussulman population. They are generally, however, resorted to at night, and thus the drunkenness, the fierce and hateful passions which they engender, lead naturally to those results which night favours, at the same time that they furnish convenient places of meeting for all men who may be banded for an illicit purpose. I asked what the Brahmins said to this. He answered that the Brahmins themselves were many of them drunkards, and some of them Decoits, and that he thought what influence they retained was less for good or moral restraint, than evil. Yet he said that they had a good deal of influence still, while this had been quite lost by the Mussulman Imams and Moulahs. He spoke, however, favourably of the general character of the people, who are, he said, gentle, cheerful, and industrious, these great crimes being, though unhappily more common than in Europe, yet certainly not universal. He had learned from different circumstances, more of the internal economy of the humbler Hindoo families than many Europeans do, and had formed a favourable opinion of their domestic habits and happiness. As there is among the cottagers no seclusion of women, both sexes sit together round their evening lamps in very cheerful conversation, and employ themselves either in weaving, spinning, cookery, or in playing at a kind of dominos. He says it is untrue