ple, but found that though the wind was full south, it was still not over and above favourable, since though it would carry us up the river, it would effectually prevent our making Furreed poor. While Mohammed, (the Serang,) and Abdullah were consulting as to what was best to be done, I saw a small pinnace creeping slowly towards us, amid the long reeds, which we hailed ; and as soon as it was ascertained who we were, a young officer jumped into the dingy, and paddled up towards us, whom I soon recognized to be my old shipmate Gresley, who with his companion, Lt. P., dined with me. There were few medical 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. 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 shown 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 unprofitable Sunday. Mr. Warner told me, that even now I was, in his judgment, 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 Saljuckian 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 Kishnager 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 HINDOO PEASANTRY. 163 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 riband 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 daytime 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 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 brahmin 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 se clusion of women, both sexes sit together round their eve ning 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 that the women in these parts, at least, are ignorant of sewing, spinning, or embroidery, inasmuch as, while the trade of Dacca flourished, the sprigs, &c. which we see on its muslins, were very often the work of female hands. This is a strange and blended tissue of human life and human character! which it is most painful to hear of, since one cannot contemplate the evening enjoyments of a happy and virtuous family, such as is described, without anticipating the possibility of their cottage being made, during the night, a scene of bloodshed, torture, and massacre. Yet, alas! can we forget that in all these respects, India is too like Ireland! July 26.-Still I had no news of Miss Stowe, and I was compelled to remain at Furreedpoor. I am sadly weary of waiting; and the worst is, I am told that there will be very little more south wind this year; if so, my progress will be slow indeed. I got a very pleasant walk this morning, without feeling tired, and breakfasted and dined with the Warners. The interval between breakfast and dinner I spent in the study, partly in writing letters, and partly in looking over a curious document which he allowed me to see, being his Gaol Calendar, as to be returned to the Circuit Judge. His "Cutcherry," or Court of Justice, the gaol, and a small unoccupied bungalow, are the only buildings, besides his own house, in the station. The huts of the natives are is no compact village, but scattered thinly up and down a large and fertile extent of orchard-garden and paddyground. To return, however, to the Calendar. So far as the present quarter, it stands thus. Case 1, Affray, and assault on a single person, by fourteen criminals. 2, One man charged with the murder of his fellow-workman in the fields. 3, One man charged with forgery. 4, Five with house-breaking. 5, Two charged with house-breaking. 6, Five charged with affray and riot, destroying property, 7, Four for house-breaking and attempt to murder. 9, Five for child-stealing. [In this case one of the accused in his own justification, that desiring to obtain a wife for his son, (a boy,) he had given some rupees to a neighbour, (one of the robbers) to buy one: that the said neighbour brought him the little girl, saying she was his niece, and that he received her as such. But there was little doubt that this was untrue, and that the design of the whole gang was to sell the child to some person at a distance.] Case 10, Two for murder by poison, administered in brandy. 11, Five for false imprisonment and murder. [A man was seen bound and dragged along by the five prisoners,—was taken to the house of one of them, and there confined two or three days, and beaten, as it is said, to death. They plead that the man was mad, and his death occasioned by his distemper. It appears, however, that there was previous malice, and that they were not bound to take care of him, if he had been mad.] 12, Seven for house-breaking, with torture. 13, Three for homicide, in executing an arrest. 14, Seven for an affray and riot at another indigo factory, arising out of the same dispute with the one formerly mentioned. 15, Four for piracy and attempt to murder. 16, One for murder, by striking with a bamboo. 17, Nine for an attack on a dwelling-house, plundering, beat- 18, One for false imprisonment, assault, and compelling the 20, Six for robbing a boat. 21, Two for assault, with intent to kill. 22, Five for piracy and attempt to kill. In all 91 prisoners for trial, not including a very curious case now under investigation, in which a wealthy brahmin is accused of having procured his enemy to be seized and carried before the altar of Kali in his private house, and having there cut off his head, after the manner in which sheep and hogs are sacrificed to their deities. This offers certainly no favourable view of the morals of the country, considering that the district of Furreedpoor is not larger than the ordinary run of Welsh counties. Two circumstances worth notice are, the gangs in which most crimes are committed, and the nature of the defence usually set up, which, I observed, was, in nine cases out of ten, an alibi, being the easiest of all others to obtain by the aid of false witnesses. Perjury is dreadfully common and very little thought of. In the evening I again drove out with Mr. Warner. A large lake is at a small distance from the house, which holds water all summer. The natives say it was part of the original bed of the Ganges which used to cover all Furreed poor, till a Raja requiring a portion for his daughter, implored Varuna |