Bullagur.-Goopteeparah.

19

On the opposite side of the river is Bullagur, the abode of Gossains and Koolins, of Vaishnavas and Vaidyas. Next is Goopteeparah, the Brahmins of which were once famed for the brilliancy of their wit and the purity of their Bengalee. It was, in those days, the innocent diversion of the rich Hindoos to listen to witty sayings, to laugh at the antics of buffoons, to hear ventriloquists, story-tellers, and songsters, for relaxation after the serious business of the day, all of which have been now banished from their boitukhanas by the brandybottle and its concomitants. Instances are known in which a witty saying has procured grants of land, or release from a bond of debt.

Goopteeparah is also a seat of Hindoo learning, and has produced some remarkable scholars. But it is more famous for its monkeys than its Pundits. The former swarm here in large numbers, and are mischievous enough to break women's water-pots. It has become a native proverb that to ask a man whether he comes from Goopteeparah, is as much as to call him a monkey. Raja Krishna Chunder Roy is said to have procured monkeys from Goopteeparah, and to have married them at Krishnugger, and on the occasion to have invited Pundits from Nuddea, Goopteeparah, Ula, and Santipoor; the expenses of the nuptials cost about half a lac.' If one were to comment upon this now, he must suspect the Rajah to have found a kinship between the two, or he would not have confounded Pundits with monkeys.

February 13th.-In the last century the Ganges

flowed immediately below Santipoor. Now, in front of that town, is a large sand-bank, behind which it rises with all its details. On Rennel's map, the position of Santipoor is at a considerable distance from the river.

Most probably Santipoor has existed from remote ages. But its antiquity cannot be traced beyond the fifteenth century. The earliest known voyage down the Bhageruttee was made in the age of Asoka, who sent his son Mahindra with a branch of Buddha's sacred peepul tree on a mission to the king of Ceylon. But few particulars of that voyage have been preserved in the Buddhistical books. The Chinese traveller, Fa Hian, returned home by this way across the sea in the fifth century, and it would be interesting if any of the places on his route could be identified. There is, no doubt, a small nucleus of truth in the tales of Chand Saodagur's and Sreemunto's voyages, but it is buried too deep in a mass of fiction to be ever able to give us the benefit of its light. The earliest authentic mention of Santipoor is found in the history of Choitunya. It is a place sacred to the Vaishnavas for the birth and abode of his friend and follower, Adwaita.

The sand-bank, now in front of the town, would not be a mile in breadth from the ghaut. But Holwell, who was landed here on his way to Moorshadabad, after the horrors of the Black Hole, says, that 'he was marched up to the Zemindar of Santipoor in a scorching sun near noon, for more than a mile and a half, his legs running in a stream of blood from the irritation of the iron.' Once Santipoor was a large, populous, and manu

facturing town. It was then the seat of the commercial Residency of the East India Company. The Marquis of Wellesley spent here two days, in the magnificent house, with marble floors, built at the cost of a lac of rupees, for the Resident. In 1822, the place is described to have had 50,000 inhabitants at least, and 20,000 houses, many of which were built of brick, and exhibit evident marks of antiquity.' Now it has not half this number of houses. The place, however, still enjoys a great repute for the manufacture of fine cotton cloths-it being, in this respect, next to Dacca in Bengal. There are yet in Santipoor upwards of ten thousand families of weavers and tailors.

The descendants of Nityanundo are Gossains of Khurdah. The descendants of Adwaita are Gossains of Santipoor. There, the principal idol is Shamsoonder. Here, the principal idol is Shamchand. One-third of the people of Santipoor are Vaishnavas. There are yet many toles, or seminaries, in this town, but much fewer than in former times. No Brahmin, however, now marries 100 wives, nor does any widow think of sutteeism, but re-marriage. The Baroary Poojah, that used to be celebrated here with the greatest éclat, has also gone out of vogue. In one of these poojahs a party of Brahmins had assembled to drink and carouse. Under the effects of liquor, one of them proposed to offer a sacrifice to Kali, to which the others assented. But having nothing to sacrifice, one of the Brahmins cried out, Where is the goat? on which another, more drunk than the rest, exclaimed, I will be the goat! and

at once placed himself on his knees, when one of the company cut off his head with the sacrificial knife. Next morning they found they had murdered their companion in a drunken fit, and the halter staring them in the face, they had the corpse taken to the river and burned, and reported that the man died of cholera.

In the Santipoor women are observed that light female form, that slender and delicate make, that graceful shape and elegance of proportions, and that smooth, soft body, which constitute the native beauty of Bengal. They have a great repute for their hair-braiding, to which the poet has done justice in the Biddya Soondra. But Milton's ' amorous nets' are in Bharutchunder 'snaky braids.' Lively conversation, and sparkling wit, also distinguish the Santipoor women.

February 14th.-Set out for Kulna, a fine little town, nestled in the bosom of a rural and picturesque landscape. Though not so large as Santipoor, it is much more neat and elegant, and has better roads and bazars. The river formerly flowed behind the present town, where old Kulna now is. New Kulna is entirely the creation of the Rajah of Burdwan. Here he, as well as his Rances, come to bathe on a festival, and the two places are connected by a road with bungalows, stables, and tanks every eight miles. Tieffenthaler speaks of old Kulna. The river is again deserting the new town, and its gunge or mart has considerably fallen off from its prosperity.

The first thing one goes to see in Kulna is the Rajbaree of the Rajah of Burdwan. It consists of

Kulna, the Rajbaree and the Sumaj-baree. 23

several noble buildings and lofty temples-the latter ranged in two circles, one within the other, enclosing a large circular paved court-yard, and forming a grand amphitheatre. One of the latest temples is most elaborately carved and ornamented. There is an almshouse in which several hundreds of beggars are daily fed.

The next object is the Sumaj-baree, or House of Sepulchre, where a bone of every deceased member of the Rajah's family is deposited. The Rajah belongs to the Khetrya class, and observes the custom of preserving the ashes of the dead. He must have adopted this in imitation of the princes of Rajpootaua, or, otherwise, he cannot find any authority in old Menu to sanction the proceedings. They show you here the bone of the last Rajah, wrapt up in a rich cloth. It is regarded as if the Rajah was living himself, and is placed on a velvet musnud with cushions, and silver salvers, tumblers, hookas, rose-water and uttur-holders in front of the seat, just as the late Rajah used to sit with all the paraphernalia of state about him.

February 20th.-Very bright and beautiful morn. Old Sol, the earliest riser of all, found us to have been already up and moving. There was balm in the pure river air more recruiting than all the iron tonics of allopathy. The bore used to come up as far as Nuddea in Sir William Jones's time. But there is no tide up here in our days; its force is spent below Gooptecparah, and there is only a little swell of the waters as far as Kulna. Proceeded walking along the shore, while the