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and that the clamour which I heard was partly from the animals themselves, partly from the watchmen, who were endeavouring to scare them away. The noise was quite equal to that of an immense pack of hounds, with half the rabble of a county at their heels, except that the cry was wilder and more dismal. If his Excellency Count Falkenstein, "the wild huntsman," still keeps up his aerial chase in Germany, it is exactly such a cry as I should expect from his hounds.

August 12.-We passed this morning another encampment of gypseys, only differing from the former in having no boats. The name by which they go in this country is "Kunja." The men, many of them, wore large pink turbans; three of the women, and the children, followed us begging. These did not conceal their faces, and indeed had no clothes at all, except a coarse kind of veil thrown back from the shoulders, and a wretched ragged cloth wrapped round their waists like a petticoat. They are decidedly a taller handsomer race than the Bengalee. One of the women was very pretty, and the forms of all three were such as a sculptor would have been glad to take as his model. Their arms were tattooed 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

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CHARITY OF DANDEES.

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 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 enquire 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

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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.

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 celebrated 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 Francklin had shewn me from the Curruckpoor hills, as also some very fine ones of talc, or lapis

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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 datepalm. 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

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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, leading a tall brown goat, almost as high as a Welch poney, 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 most 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, oc

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