Jemautdar had gone round to explain matters to some of their wives, that any tolerable worlimen made their appear ance. At last the prescribed number arrived, and we began moving with tolerable rapidity, and continued advancing prosperously till nine o'clock at night, when the twenty men were extremely well satisfied with two rupees among them! and willingly promised to attend next morning; so cheap is labour in this part of India. An event has occurred on the Matabunga since we traversed it, which shows the low state of morality among the peasants of India, and how soon and how surely a sudden temptation will transform the most peaceable into banditti. A large boat attached to the gun-boats which arrived the other day at Dacca from Calcutta, loaded with ammunition, got aground pretty near the same place where we had the bank cut through. The country people were called in to assist in getting her off, very likely from the same village whose inhabitants we found so diligent and serviceable. The ammunition, however, was packed in cases resembling those in which treasure is usually conveyed in this country, and in consequence, as is supposed, of this mistake, the boat, being by the accident separated from the fleet, was attacked the following night by (as is said) near three hundred people, armed with spears, bamboos, hoes, and whatever else a tumultuary insurrection usually resorts to. They were repulsed by the Sepoys with difficulty, and not till several had been shot. The affair made a great noise in Dacca, nothing of the kind having been heard of for many years in that neighbourhood. A commission had gone to the spot to inquire into the case, and one of the small neighbouring Zemindars was said to be in custody. Natives, Mr. Master said, are often pillaged, and travel always in more or less danger. But decoits seldom venture on an European boat, and still more rarely on a vessel in the Company's service, and guarded by soldiers.

In the course of our halt this day a singular and painfully interesting cha

racter presented himself in the person of a Mussulman Fakir, a very elegantly formed and handsome young man, of good manners, and speaking good Hindoostanee, but with insanity strongly marked in his eye and forehead. He was very nearly naked, had a white handkerchief tied as an ornament round his left arm, a bright yellow rag hanging loosely over the other, a little cornelian ornament set in silver round his neck, a large chaplet of black beads, and a little wooden cup in his hand. He asked my leave to sit down on the bank to watch what we were doing, and said it gave his heart pleasure to see Englishmen; that he was a great traveller, had been in Bombay, Cabul, &c., and wanted to see all the world, wherein he was bound to wander as long as it lasted. I offered him alms, but he refused, saying he never took money-that he had had his meal that day, and wanted nothing. He sat talking wildly with the servants a little longer, when I again told Abdullah to ask him if I could do anything for him; he jumped up, laughed, said "No pice!" then made a low obeisance, and ran off, singing "La Illah ul Allah!" His manner and appearance nearly an swered to the idea of the Arab Mejnoun, when he ran wild for Leila.

July 24.-I met yesterday evening with a severe disappointment. I had left Dacca cheered with the hope that my wife, who had expressed great anxiety to accompany me in the event of Stowe's illness terminating fatally, would be able to join me with our chil dren at Boglipoor; but I received a letter from her, forwarded by Mr. Master, which made me see that this would be impossible. This news, added to the uncomfortable state of my mind and feelings, kept me awake great part of the night, and I arose ill and unrefreshed.

The labourers were after their time, and the wind being moderate, we set off without them. They overtook us, however, in two boats, in about three miles, and were of very material use in helping us on to the junction of this stream with the great Ganges. Just before we arrived at this point I saw

two pinnaces in the offing. In the hope that one might prove to be Miss Stowe's, I immediately brought to, and sent off a letter to prepare her for the sad tidings of her brother's death; but the boats belonged to another party.

We now proceeded again with the tow-line: the wind was strongly against us, the stream in which we were running almost full south, but the additional coolies did wonders for us. Including the crew, there were no less than twenty-eight men at the rope of my pinnace, and eight to each of the other boats. About half-past one we reached the place where our stream rejoined the Ganges, which lay before us with its vast expanse of water.

The woods near Hajygunge and Furreedpoor lay like a long dark outline on the horizon, at the distance of about twelve miles, six miles being, I should guess, pretty nearly the width of the river. I here dismissed the country people, 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 Furreedpoor. 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; when 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, Lieut. 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 exceed ing 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 awakened 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 ten 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

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 an 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 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

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 ri band-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 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 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

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'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 in no compact village, but scattered thinly up and down a large and fertile extent of orchardgarden and paddy-ground. 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.

his fellow-workman in the fields. 2, One man charged with the murder of

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, &c. [This is connected with the succeeding case of forgery, being an attempt, under colour of a forged instrument first, and afterwards by violence, to obtain possession of an indigo-work.-See Cases 14 and 19.]

7, Four for house-breaking and attempt to murder.

8, Three for house-breaking.

9, Five for child-stealing. [In this case one of the accused parties, in whose house the little girl was found, declared 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.]

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