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frozen over to a considerable thickness in his tent, and close to his bed. The Puharrees are a healthy race, but the small-pox used to make dreadful ravages among them. Vaccination has now been generally introduced; they were very thankful for it, bringing their children from thirty and fifty miles off to Boglipoor to obtain it. Wild animals of all kinds are extremely abundant, from the jackall to the tyger, and from the deer to the elephant and rhinoceros. Their way of destroying the large animals is, generally, by poisoned arrows. The poison is a gum which they purchase from the Garrows, a people who inhabit the mountains to the north of Silhet, at Peer-pointee fair.

No attempt has yet been made to introduce them to the knowledge of Christianity. The school at Boglipoor has scarcely been in activity for more than 18 months, and being supported by Government, it cannot, in conformity with the policy which they pursue, be made a means of conversion. Mr. Corrie is strongly disposed to recommend the establishment of a Missionary at Boglipoor; but I am myself inclined to prefer sending him immediately, (or as soon as he may have gained some knowledge of the Puharree language,) into one of the mountain villages. I also would wish to employ some person to accompany the Missionary or Schoolmaster, who may instruct the natives in weaving or pottery; and to choose, in either of these capacities, some one who had himself a little knowledge of gardening. Civilization and instruction will thus go hand in hand,-or rather, the one

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will lead the way to the other, and they will think the better of a religion whose professors are seriously active in promoting their temporal interests. The Puharrees seem to have no prejudices hostile to Christianity, any other than those which men will always have against a system of religion which requires a greater degree of holiness than they find it convenient to practise. The discreet exertions of Missionaries among them will give no offence either to Hindoos or Mussulmans, and a beginning may thus be made to the introduction both of Christianity and civilization, through all the kindred tribes of Gundwana and the Western Bheels, who are, at this moment, in the same habits of rapine and savage anarchy which the Puharrees were in before the time of Cleveland.

Boglipoor is in a pretty situation, and said to be one of the healthiest stations in India. It is, however, much infested by snakes, particularly the cobra de capello. It stands nearly half-way between the Rajmahâl and Curruckpoor hills, and commands a distant view of mount Mandar, an insulated conical mountain, apparently about as large as the Wrekin, renowned as a place of Hindoo pilgrimage, and as having been employed by the gods to churn the ocean with, in order to procure the "amreeta," or drink of immortality. It is, Colonel Francklin assures me, remarkable as being a mass of granite, whereas all these nearer hills are of lime-stone. He also told me that he had been to the end of the cave of Puttergotta, which has been

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used as a temple to Siva. It is pretty, and very accessible, but by no means deep. The hills to the south of Boglipoor, beyond Mandar, towards Deogur, are very wild, and now almost entirely uninhabited, but are full of vestiges, not of Brahminical but Buddhist worship. Colonel Francklin has himself a curious collection of idols of this latter kind, dug up in this part of India, and is employed in a dissertation on the subject. I forgot to mention that all these hills are full of wild poultry, exactly in crow, figure, and plumage, resembling bantams. Their flavour is superior to the domestic fowl, and resembles that of the partridge. They might, no doubt, be easily domesticated. The Rajmahal hills stand in a detached cluster, containing, perhaps, as much ground as Merionethshire and Carnarvonshire. They are bounded on all sides by a plain, or nearly plain country; after which, on the east, are the Curruckpoor hills, and on the south the very impracticable districts of Beiboom, Dranghur, &c.

August 11.-I had a drive with Mr. Corrie this morning, and got a pretty good distant view of Mandar and the Curruckpoor hills. Colonel Francklin supposes the ancient Palibothra,—a celebrated city and metropolis of Gangetic India, in the time of the ancient Greeks, to have stood in this neighbourhood, and has published several learned essays to prove it, which I remember looking at many years ago, when I had little curiosity about the question. He is a very agreeable and

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communicative old man, and his collections curious and interesting. His opinions are opposed to the alleged antiquity of the Brahminical worship, and he coincides in general with the late Mr. Bentley.

CHAPTER X.

BOGLIPOOR TO MONGHYR.

Width of the Ganges-Charity of Dandees-Seeta Coom-Monghyr— Fort-Zemindars-Pensioners-Baptist Mission-Desertion of Dandees-Cheapness of Fire-arms.

Ar noon I again set off, with Mr. Corrie's budgerow in company. This part of the Ganges has undergone great alterations since Rennell's map was made. Boglipoor is laid down by him as standing on a separate nullah; but now nothing remains of the separation except a few marshy islands, immediately opposite the town. I find that instead of exaggerating, as I feared to do, I have, in my previous descriptions, under-rated the width of this noble river. Last year, at the height of the inundation, a little below Boglipoor, it was nine measured miles across; and this year, though far less ground is covered, it is supposed to be full seven; and here we are perhaps 600 miles, reckoning the windings of the river, from the sea!

During this night I was completely wakened by the uproar which the jackalls made. On asking if any reason could be given for such an unusual concourse, I was told that there was a field of Indian corn adjoining, of which they are very fond,

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