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 approached the village a number of men and boys came out to meet us, all naked except the cumberbund, 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 midst of a wood of coco-palms, 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 shew 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 the Second. A flight of steps led up to it, in which the Brahmin of the place was waiting to receive us,-an elderly man,

MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE.

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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 descriptions 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; the sketch I have made is from memory, and every way unworthy of the subject.

I never recollect having more powerfully felt the beauty of similar objects. The green-house like smell and temperature of the atmosphere. which

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MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE.

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 palm-trees, 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 96o. The commander of our vessel went this morning to a market held in a neighbouring village, to purchase some trifles for the vessel; and it may shew the poverty of the country, and the cheapness of the