lawful kinds of food. Nothing, indeed, | seems more generally mistaken than the supposed prohibition of animal food to the Hindoos. It is not from any abstract desire to spare the life of living creatures, since fish would be a violation of this principle as well as beef, but from other notions of the hallowed or the polluted nature of particular viands. Thus many Brahmins eat both fish and kid. The Rajpoots, besides these, eat mutton, venison, or goat's flesh. Some castes may eat anything but fowls, beef, or pork; while pork is with others a favourite diet, and beef only is prohibited. Intoxicating liquors are forbidden by their religion; but this is disregarded by great numbers both of high and low caste, and intoxication is little less common, as I am assured, among the Indians than among Europeans. Nor is it true that Hindoos are much more healthy than Europeans. Liver-complaints and indurations of the spleen are very common among them, particularly with those in easy circumstances, to which their immense consumption of "ghee," or clarified butter, must greatly contribute. To cholera morbus they are much more liable than the whites, and there are some kinds of fever which seem peculiar to the native race. The great difference in colour between different natives struck me much: of the crowd by whom we were surrounded, some were black as negroes, others merely copper coloured, and others little darker than the Tunisines whom I have seen at Liverpool. Mr. Mill, the principal of Bishop's College, who, with Mr. Corrie, one of the chaplains in the Company's service, had come down to meet me, and who has seen more of India than most men, tells me that he cannot account for this difference, which is general throughout the country, and everywhere striking. It is not merely the difference of exposure, since this variety of tint is visible in the fishermen who are naked all alike. Nor does it depend on caste, since very high caste Brahmins are sometimes black, while Pariahs are comparatively fair. It seems, there fore, to be an accidental difference, like that of light and dark complexions in Europe, though where so much of the body is exposed to sight it becomes more striking here than in our own country. At six o'clock in the evening of October the 6th, we went on board, the yacht, which we found a beautiful vessel, with large and convenient cabins, fitted up in a very elegant and comfortable manner, and slept for the first time under mosquito-curtains, and on a mattress of coco-nut coir, which, though very hard, is cool and elastic. The greater part of this day was occupied in ecclesiastical business, so that I had less opportunity for observing the country and people round us. The former improves as we ascend the river, and is now populous and highly cultivated. On the 7th we left Diamond Harbour, a place interesting as being the first possession of the East India Company in Bengal, but of bad reputation for its unhealthiness, the whole country round being swampy. Many ships were lying there. I saw no town, except a few native huts, some ruinous warehouses, now neglected and in decay, and an ugly, brick, dingy-looking house with a flag-staff, belonging to the harbour-niaster. There are, however, many temptations for seamen among the native huts, several of them being spirit-houses, where a hot unwholesome toddy is sold. We proceeded with a light breeze up the river, which still presents a considerable uniformity of prospect, though of a richer and more pleasing kind than we had seen before. The banks abound with villages, interspersed with rice-fields, plantations of coco-palms, and groves of trees of a considerable height, in colour and foliage resembling the elm. We have seen one or two pagodas, dingy buildings with one or more high towers, like glass-houses. The Hooghly is still of vast width and rapidity. Our ship tacks in it as in a sea, and we meet many larger vessels descending. One of these was pointed out to me as an Arab, of completely European build, except that her stern was overloaded with open galle dinner, seated in circles on the deck, with an immense dish of rice, and a little sauce-boat of currie, well seasoned with garlic, set between every they eat is very great, and completely disproves the common opinion that rice is a nourishing food. On the contrary, I am convinced that a fourth part of the bulk of potatoes would satisfy the hunger of the most robust and laborious. Potatoes are becoming gradually abundant in Bengal; at first they were here, as elsewhere, unpopular. Now they are much liked, and are spoken of as the best thing which the country has ever received from its European masters. At dinner these people sit, not like the Turks, but with the knees drawn up like monkeys. ries and verandahs, with three very tall | masts, and carrying more sail than English merchant ships generally do. She had apparently a good many guns, was crowded with men, and had every ap-three or four men: the quantity which pearance of serving, as occasion required, for piracy as well as traffic. Her" rais," or master, had a loose purple dress on, and her crew I thought were of fairer complexions than the Hindoos. These last perform their evolutions with a great deal of noise, and most vociferously, but the Arabs excelled them in both these particulars. They shifted their sails with a clamour as if they were going to board an enemy. The old clumsy Arab dow mentioned by Niebuhr is now seldom seen; they buy many ships from Europeans; they build tolerable ones themselves; and even their grabs, which still have an elongated bow instead of a bowsprit, are described as often very fine vessels and good sailers. In short, they are gradually becoming a formidable maritime people, and are not unlikely to give farther and greater trouble in the. Indian Seas to ourselves and other European nations. Accidents often happen in this great river, and storms are frequent and vio lent. The river is now unusually high, and the Brahmins have prophesied that it will rise fourteen cubits higher, and | drown all Calcutta; they might as well have said all Bengal, since the province has scarcely any single eminence so high above the river. Whenever we see the banks a few feet higher than usual, we are told it is the dam of a tank," or large artificial pond. The country is evidently most fertile and populous, and the whole prospect of river and shore is extremely animated and interesting. The vessel in which we are is commanded by one of the senior pilots of the Company's service; he and his mate are the only Europeans on board; the crew, forty in number, are Mohammedans, middle-sized, active and vigorous, though slender. Their uniform is merely a white turban of a singularly flat shape, a white shirt and trowsers, with a shawl wrapped round their hips. I was amused to-day by seeing them preparing and eating their Their eating and drinking vessels are of copper, very bright and well kept, and their whole appearance cleanly and decent, their countenances more animated, but less mild and gentle than the Hindoos. They do not seem much troubled with the prejudices of Mohammedanism, yet there are some services which they obviously render to their masters with reluctance. The captain of the yacht ordered one of them. at my desire, to lay hold of our spaniel: the man made no difficulty, but afterwards rubbed his hand against the side of the ship with an expression of disgust which annoyed me, and I determined to spare their feelings in future as much as possible. We had hoped to reach Fulta, where there is an English hotel, before night; but the wind being foul, were obliged to anchor a few miles short of it. After dinner, the heat being considerably abated, we went in the yacht's boat to the nearest shore. Before us was a large extent of swampy ground, but in a high state of cultivation, and covered with green rice, offering an appearance not unlike flax; on our right was a moderate-sized village, and on the banks of the river a numerous herd of cattle was feeding; these are mostly red, or red and white, with humps on their backs, nearly resembling those which I have seen at Wynnstay and Combermere. Buffaloes are uncommon in the lower parts of Bengal. As we ap- | proached the village a number of men and boy's came out to meet us, all naked except the cummerbund, with very graceful figures, and distinguished by a mildness of countenance almost approaching to effeminacy. They regarded us with curiosity, and the children crowded round with great familiarity. The objects which surrounded us were of more than common beauty and interest; the village, a collection of mud-walled cottages, thatched, and many of them covered with a creeping plant bearing a beautiful broad leaf, of the gourd species, stood irregularly scattered in the inidst of a wood of cocopalms, fruit, and other trees, among which the banyan was very conspicuous and beautiful; we were cautioned against attempting to enter the houses, as such a measure gives much offence. Some of the natives, however, came up and offered to show us the way to the pagoda," the Temple," they said, "of Mahadeo." We followed them through the beautiful grove which overshadowed their dwellings, by a winding and narrow path; the way was longer than we expected, and it was growing dusk; we persevered, however, and arrived in front of a small building with three apertures in front, resembling lancet windows of the age of Henry II. A flight of steps led up to it, in which the Brahmin of the place was waiting to receive us,—an elderly man, naked like his flock, but distinguished by a narrow band of cotton twist thrown two or three times doubled across his right shoulder and breast, like a scarf, which is a mark of distinction, worn, I understand, by all Brahmins; a fine boy, with a similar badge, stood near him, and another man, with the addition of a white turban, came up and said he was a police-officer (" police-walla "). The occurrence of this European word in a scene so purely Oriental had a whimsical effect. It was, not, however, the only one which we heard, for the Brahmin announced himself to us as the "Padre" of the village, a name which they have originally learnt from the Portuguese, but which is now applied to religious persons of all descrip tions all over India, even in the most remote situations, and where no European penetrates once in a century. The village we were now in, I was told, had probably been very seldom visited by Europeans, since few persons stop on the shore of the Ganges between Diamond Harbour and Fulta. Few of the inhabitants spoke Hindoostanee. Mr. Mill tried the Brahmin in Sanscrit, but found him very ignorant; he, indeed, owned it himself, and said in excuse, they were poor people. I greatly regretted I had no means of drawing a scene so beautiful and interesting. I never recollect having more powerfully felt the beauty of similar objects. The green-house like smell and temperature of the atmosphere which surrounded us, the exotic appearance of the plants and of the people, the verdure of the fields, the dark shadows of the trees, and the exuberant and neglected vigour of the soil, teeming with life and food, neglected, as it were, out of pure abundance, would have been striking under any circumstances; they were still more so to persons just landed from a three months' voyage; and to me, when associated with the recollection of the objects which have brought me out to India, the amiable manners and countenances of the people, contrasted with the symbols of their foolish and polluted idolatry now first before me, impressed me with a very solemn and earnest wish that I might in some degree, however small, be enabled to conduce to the spiritual advantage of creatures, so goodly, so gentle, and now so misled and blinded. "Angeli forent, si essent Christiani!" As the sun went down, many monstrous bats, bigger than the largest crows I have seen, and chiefly to be distinguished from them by their indented wings, unloosed their hold from the palmtrees, and sailed slowly around us. They might have been supposed the guardian genii of the pagoda. During the night and the whole of the next day the wind was either contrary, or so light as not to enable us to stem the current; it was intensely hot; the thermometer stood at about 96°. they said was a "Goliah," or granary; The commander of our vessel went this morning to a market held in a neigh-round it were small mud cottages, each bouring village, to purchase some trifles to all appearance an apartment in the for the vessel; and it may show the dwelling. In one corner was a little poverty of the country, and the cheap- mill, something like a crab-mill, to be ness of the different articles, to observe, worked by a man, for separating the that having bought all the commodities rice from the husk. By all which we which he wanted for a few pice,* he could see through the open doors, the was unable in the whole market to get floor of the apartments was of clay, change for a rupee, or about two shil- devoid of furniture and light, except lings. what the door admitted. A Brahmin now appeared, a formal pompous man, who spoke better Hindoostanee than the one whom we had seen before. I was surprised to find that in these villages. and Mr. Mill tells me that it is the case almost all over India, the word “Grigi,” a corruption of "Ecclesia," is employed when speaking of any place of worship. Most of these people looked unhealthy. Their village and its vicinity appeared to owe their fertility to excessive humidity under a burning sun. Most of the huts were surrounded by stagnant water; and near the entrance of one of them they showed us a little elevated mound like a grave, which they said was their refuge when the last inundation was at its height. So closely and mysteriously do the instruments of production and destruction, plenty and pestilence, life and death, tread on the heels of each other! 66 In the evening we again went on shore to another village, resembling the first in its essential features, but placed in a yet more fertile soil. The houses stood literally in a thicket of fruit-trees, plantains, and flowering shrubs; the muddy ponds were covered with the broad-leaved lotus, and the adjacent 'paddy," or rice-fields, were terminated by a wood of tall coco-nut trees, between whose stems the light was visible, pretty much like a grove of Scotch firs. I here remarked the difference between the coco and the palmira: the latter with a narrower leaf than the former, and at this time of year without fruit, with which the other abounded. For a few pice one of the lads climbed up the tallest of these with great agility, notwithstanding the total want of boughs, and the slipperiness of the bark. My wife was anxious to look into one of their houses, but found its owners unwilling to allow her. At length one old fellow, I believe to get us away from his own threshold, said he would show us a very fine house. We followed him to a cottage somewhat larger than those which we had yet seen; but on our entering its little court-yard, the people came in much earnestness to prevent our proceeding farther. We had, however, a fair opportunity of seeing_an_Indian_farmyard and homestead. In front was a small mud building, with a thatched verandah looking towards the village, and behind was a court filled with coco-nut husks, and a little rice straw; in the centre of this was a round thatched building, raised on bamboos about a foot from the ground, which *A small copper coin, about the value of our halfpenny.-ED. Besides tamarinds, cocos, palmiras, plantains, and banyans, there were some other trees of which we could not learn the European name. One was the neem, a tree not very unlike the acacia, the leaves of which are used to keep moths from books and clothes. Another I supposed to be manchineel,-a tree like a very large rhododendron, but not without flowers; its thick club-ended branches, when wounded, exuded a milky juice in large quantities, which the natives said would blister the fingers. We saw one jackall run into the woods: the cries of these animals grew loud and incessant as we returned to the ship, and so nearly resembled the voice of children at play, that it was scarcely possible at first to ascribe them to any other source. our arrival at the vessel we found two "Bholiahs," or large row boats, with convenient cabins, sent to take us up On the river, as it was impossible, with | house in Russia, near some powder mills; such light winds, for the yacht to stem the force of the current. October 10.-At two o'clock this afternoon, we set out for Calcutta in the bholiahs, and had a very delightful and interesting passage up the river, partly with sails and partly with oars. The country, as we drew nearer the capital, advanced in population; and the river was filled with vessels of every description. Among these, I was again greatly struck by the Maldivian vessels, close to some of which our boat passed. Their size appeared to me from one hundred and fifty to near two hundred tons, raised to an immense height above the water by upper works of split bamboo, with very lofty heads and sterns, immense sails, and crowded with a wild and energetic looking race of mariners, who, Captain Manning told me, were really bold and expert fellows, and the vessels better sea-boats than their clumsy forms would lead one to anticipate. Bengalee and Chittagong vessels, with high heads and sterns, were also numerous. In both these the immense size of the rudders, suspended by ropes to the vessel's stern, and worked by a helmsman raised at a great height above the vessel, chiefly attracted attention. There were many other vessels, which implied a gradual adoption of European habits, being brigs and sloops, very clumsily and injudiciously rigged, but still improvements on the old Indian ships. Extensive plantations of sugar-cane, and numerous cottages resembling those we had already seen, appeared among the groves of coco-nut and other fruittrees, which covered the greater part of the shore; a few cows were tethered on the banks, and some large brickfields with sheds like those in England, and here and there a white staring European house, with plantations and shrubberies, gave notice of our approach to an European capital. At a distance of about nine miles from the place where we had left the yacht, we landed among some tall bamboos, and walked near a quarter of a mile to the front of a dingy, deserted looking house, not very unlike a country gentleman's 66 here we found carriages waiting for us, drawn by small horses with switch tails, and driven by postillions with whiskers, turbans, bare legs and arms, and blue jackets with tawdry yellow lace. A "Saees," or groom, ran by the side of each horse, and behind one of them were two decent-looking men with long beads and white cotton dresses, who introduced themselves as my peons," or "hurkarus;" their badges were a short mace or club of silver, of a crooked form, and terminating in a tiger's head, something resembling a Dacian standard as represented on Trajan's pillar, and a long silver stick with a knob at the head. We set out at a round trot; the saeeses keeping their places very nimbly on each side of us, though on foot, along a raised, broadish, but bad road, with deep ditches of stagnant water on each side, beyond which stretched out an apparently interminable wood of fruittrees, interspersed with cottages: some seemed to be shops, being entirely open with verandahs, and all chiefly made up of mats and twisted bamboo. The crowd of people was considerable, and kept up something like the appearance of a fair along the whole line of road. Many were in bullock-carts, others driving loaded bullocks before them, a few had wretched ponies, which, as well as the bullocks, bore too many and indubitable marks of neglect and hard treatment; the manner in which the Hindoos seemed to treat even their horned cattle, sacred as they are from the butcher's knife, appeared far worse than that which often disgusts the eye and wounds the feelings of a passenger through London. Few women were seen; those who appeared had somewhat more clothing than the men, a coarse white veil or "chuddah," thrown over their heads without hiding their faces, their arms bare, and ornamented with large silver "bangles," or bracelets. The shops contained a few iron tools hanging up, some slips of coarse-coloured cotton, plantains hanging in bunches, while the ground was covered with earthen vessels, and a display of rice and some |