APRIL 26.-My dear wife and elder girl arrived at Bombay after a tedious and distressing voyage, both from weather and sickness. As the journal kept by the former gives a just idea of the principal things which we saw in Bombay and its neighbourhood, I shall merely make a few observations on some of the more striking objects and occurrences.

On the 28th was my visitation (a confirmation of about one hundred and twenty children had occurred a few days before), attended by the archdeacon (Dr. Barnes), six chaplains, and one missionary, being all within a reasonable distance of Bombay.

On May 5th the foundation of a free school, on the same plan with that of Calcutta, was laid. The ceremony was numerously attended, and the institution, which has been for some time in activity, though in a hired and inconvenient building, appears very flourishing, and likely to be productive of great good. The plan and elevation of the intended schools, by Lieutenant Jervis of the Engineers, I think a very elegant and judicious one.

On the 8th we went to see Elephanta, of which my wife has given an account in her journal,* and of which a more

* The principal cave is of considerable extent, excavated out of the solid rock, and the roof supported by pillars, now in a state of decay, carved out in the same manner, and handsomely ornamented. The different shrines which contain the emblems of Hindoo worship are placed on either side, and, generally, their entrances are guarded by colossal bas-relief figures, whilst on the walls are sculptured

regular description is needless after all which Mr. Erskine and others have written on it. I will only observe that the Island of Elephanta, or Shaporee, is larger and more beautiful than I expected, containing, I should suppose, upwards of a thousand acres, a good deal of which is in tillage, with a hamlet of tolerable size, but the major part is very beautiful wood and rock, being a double-pointed hill, rising from the sea to some height. The stone elephant, from which the usual Portuguese name of the island is derived, stands in a field about a quarter of a mile to the right of the usual landingplace. It is about three times as big as life, rudely sculptured, and very much dilapidated by the weather. The animal on its back, which Mr. Erskine supposed to be a tiger, has no longer any distinguishable shape. From the landing-place, a steep and narrow path, but practicable for palanquins, leads up figures of Síva and his wife Parvati, the former

in one compartment with a chaplet of skulls round his neck, and with eight hands, bearing his usual attributes of the Cobra de Capello,

also of colossal size, and some of the avatars of Vishnu, and other mythological fables of their religion. Even now the whole is sadly defaced, and though an European sergeant has been for some years appointed to preserve it from injury by man, the climate does its work of devastation slowly but surely, and it appears probable that at no very distant period little will remain to show what this temple had been in the days of its glory. The view from the mouth of the cavern is very beautiful. Although we were out during the hottest hours of the day, in one of the worst months, we never were much oppressed by the heat. In Bengal such an excursion could not have been contemplated.-Extract from Editor's Journal,

Governor Duncan, a work of great convenience to the natives, who bring

sun being clouded over, we had been already enabled to stay out till eight o'clock.

After breakfast, at which meal we all assembled in the public tent, some Cashmerian singers, with one Nâch man, dressed in female clothes, amused us with their songs and national dances. Some of their tunes were very

pretty, and the dancing was more energetic

than any which I had seen in Calcutta, and generally accompanied the singing; at the end of each verse the performer made a pirouette, and squatted down, forming with his clothes what, in our counties, is called a Cheshire-cheese.

At four o'clock in the evening we set out,

some on horseback, and some in palanquins, to the caves, with which the hill is literally perforated. It was late before we returned. Our path wound along the sides of the rocks, and was hardly wide enough in places for a palanquin to pass. The effect of so large a party proceeding in single file, with torches, occasionally appearing and disappearing among the rocks and woods, with a bright Indian moon shining over head, was picturesque and beautiful in the highest degree. I happened to be the last, and had a full view of the procession, which extended for nearly

half a mile. In northern latitudes one can form no idea of the brilliancy of the moon, nor of the beauty of a night such as this, ren

dered more enjoyable from the respite which

it affords from the heat of the day.

April 25.-We left our tents early the next morning, Mrs. Macdonald and I, with most of the gentlemen of the party, on horseback, to proceed to Tannah, a town with a fort, on the eastern coast of the island. From thence to

Salsette we went in a bunder boat, and there embarked on board the Governor's yacht, where we found breakfast prepared, and sailed for about seven miles through scenery of a very remarkable character. The islands between which we passed lie so close to each other, that I could scarcely believe myself on the sea. On one side the prospect is bounded by the magnificent ghâts, with their fantastic basaltic summits, and the islands are occasionally adorned with ruins of Portuguese churches and convents. In one of these, Gorabunder, situated on a steep eminence, and guarded by a fort, we dined and slept.

April 28.-We embarked after breakfast in the yacht to go to Bassein, formerly a fortified Portuguese town in Arungabad, which was taken by the Maharattas about the middle of the last century, and since ceded to the English. When we arrived under its walls, we found our palanquins were not come; and, as the water-gate was shut, we set off to walk to the opposite side. We walked for nearly two miles, exposed to the noon-day sun, the heat increased by the reflection from the white walls, with the sand, ankle deep, so hot as to be painful to our feet, while to the bare-footed natives it was absolutely insupportable, and they fairly ran off.

vegetables to the Bombay market, but so narrow, and with so inconvenient an angle in its course, that many Europeans object to pass it in carriages, We went over, however, without scruple, as there is, under ordinary circumstances, no real danger. Some persons maintain that the construction of this causeway has done harm to the upper part of the harbour by diminishing its back-water. The thing is certainly possible, but I could not find any naval men who ascribed much weight to it.

Beyond, the woody hills of Salsette rise very majestically; and the road, which winds at their feet round the island, offers many points of view of uncommon beauty and interest. These roads are equal to the best in Europe, and are now receiving an additional improvement by the adoption, though but an incomplete and misunderstood one, of M'Adam's system. In other respects the country is strangely unimproved, having no towns except Tannah and Gorabunder (the first of which is indeed a neat and flourishing place, the other not much better than a poor village), very little cultivation, except the tara-palm and coco-nut, which grow almost spontaneously amid the jungle, and displaying in the cottages of its peasantry a degree of poverty and rudeness which I had seen nowhere in India except among the

I do not think the ruins themselves repaid us for the trouble we had taken to see them, as, with the exception of a pagoda, with the sacred bull well carved at its entrance, they were all in the style of conventual architecture common in the early part of the seventeenth century; but I was much struck, on entering the massive and well-guarded gate, with the scene of utter desolation which presented itself; it reminded me of some story of enchantment which I had read in my childhood, and I could almost have expected to see the shades of its original inhabitants flitting about among the jungle, which now grows in melancholy luxuriance in the courts and areas of churches, convents, and houses. We none of us suffered from the fatigue and heat, another convincing proof of the innoxious effects of the sun here as compared with Bengal. On our return to Gorabunder we found all things ready for our journey to Bombay, where we arrived late at night, much interested and gratified by all we had seen and done.-Extract from the Editor's Journal.

Bheels. Notwithstanding, indeed, its vicinity to the seat of government, no small proportion of its inhabitants are at this day in a state as wild as the wildest Bheels, and their customs and manners as little known as those of the Goonds in Central India. These are the burners of charcoal, an occupation exercised by a peculiar caste, who dwell entirely in the woods, have neither intermarriage nor intercourse with the Hindoo inhabitants of the plain, and bring down their loads of charcoal to particular spots, whence it is carried away by these last, who deposit in its place a payment settled by custom, of rice, clothing, and iron tools. This is the account given me by Mr. Elphinstone, the Governor of Bombay, who has made several attempts to become better acquainted with this unfortunate tribe, but has only very imperfectly succeeded, owing to their excessive shyness, and the contempt in which they are held by their Hindoo neighbours. I have felt much anxiety to learn more, under an idea, that among such a race as these, the establishment of schools, and a missionary, would, at least, meet with no opposition. But I have been unsuccessful in my inquiries, and where Mr. Elphinstone, with his extraordinary talents and great opportunities, had learned so little, I was not likely to succeed better.

This neglected and uncivilized state of Salsette is the more remarkable, not only because the neighbourhood of Bombay, and the excessive price of provisions there, would seem to lead to the cultivation of every inch of ground, but because the numerous ruins of handsome churches and houses, remaining from the old Portuguese settlements, prove, no less than the accounts of the island by Fryer and Della Valle, that, in their time, and under their government, a very different face of things was presented. The original ruin of the country would, no doubt, naturally follow its conquest from the Portuguese by the Maharattas. But, as thirty years and upwards have passed since the Maharattas ceded it to us, it seems strange that a country which, as Mr. Elphinstone assured me,

VOL. II.

| is neither sterile nor unwholesome, should remain so little improved. The population, however, poor as it is, and chiefly occupied in fishing, amounts to fifty thousand, a number which might be trebled if cultivation were extended at anything like the rate at which it has been done in Bengal. But Salsette seems a spot where, of all others, European colonization would be most harmless and beneficial. It has, however, been attempted in two instances only, and, to be successful, seems to require a more advantageous and permanent tenure than the Company have yet been induced to grant of their lands, and, perhaps, a freer trade in sugar than the present colonial system of England allows to her eastern empire.

Tannah is chiefly inhabited by Roman Catholic Christians, either converted Hindoos or Portuguese, who have become as black as the natives, and assumed all their habits. It has, also, a considerable cantonment of British troops, a collector and magistrate, for whose use a very neat church was building when I first visited it. There is a small but regular fortress, from which, during the late Maharatta war, Trimbukjee escaped in the manner Í have elsewhere related. Tannah, as I afterwards learned from a Parsee innkeeper at Panwellee, is also famous for its breed of hogs, and the manner in which its Portuguese inhabitants cure bacon. It receives a monthly visit from the chaplain stationed at Matoonga, the head-quarters of the artillery in the island of Bombay.

At Gorabunder is a small but handsome building, nearly in the form of a church, with a nave leading to a circular chancel, covered with a high cupola, and surrounded by a verandah. The whole is arched with stone, and very solidly built. It is generally regarded as having been a Portuguese church, but has not been used as such in the memory of man, and differs from most other churches, in having its entrance at the east instead of the west end. It is now used as an occa sional residence for the governor and his friends, and is, in fact, a very cool

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