along the side of the river, thrusts his long bill among the weeds in search of fish, while the paddy-birds," in the shallower parts, are silently watching them, and the fine-plumed king-fisher is darting on his prey. At a small distance, several large alligators present the ridges of their backs on the surface, and ere we have proceeded a hundred yards, we hear the shrieks of a boat's-crew, and the cries of a man, "An alligator has seized and carried off my son!" As we approach another village, we see a man washing clothes, by dipping them in the river, and beating them on a slanting board; a bramhun sits on the brink, now washing his poita, now making a clay image of the lingŭ for worship, and now pouring out libations to his deceased ancestors. Near to the spot where this man sits on his hams to worship, lies a greasy pillow, a water-pot, the ashes of a funeral pile, and the bedstead of the man whose body has just been burnt : how suitable a place for worship, with such monuments of mortality before him would this be, if the bramhun knew the immediate consequences of death, and if there was any thing in the Hindoo forms of worship at all calculated to prepare the mind for the dissolution of the body! In one place we see dogs, crows, and vultures devouring a human body, which had floated to the shore, and in another, several relations are in the act of burning a corpse, the smell of which, entering the boat, is peculiarly offensive; yet this does not prevent the people of our boat from eating a very hearty meal sitting on the grass, in the immediate vicinity of the funeral pile. In another place, the swallows are seeking their nests in the holes of the banks, while a bird of the heron kind stands on a dead tree, fallen by the side of the river, and, spreading his wings, dries them in the rays of the sun. From the Two species of Ardea. 1 ascent of a landing-place, the women of a neighbouring village are carrying home water for their families, the pans resting on their sides. Floats of bamboos are passing by, carried down by the current, while the men in a small boat, guide them, and prevent their touching the side, or the boats, as they pass. Long grass, swamps, and sheets of water, with wild ducks and other game, remind us of the periodical rains which inundate the country. These clusters of trees indicate that we approach a village: the tall and naked palms rear their heads above the branches of the wide-spreading ficus Indica, under which hundreds of people find a shelter, and in the branches of which are seen the monkeys, some carrying the young under their bellies, and others grinning at us, while they leap from branch to branch; and, while nature is drawing the curtains of the evening, in a neighbouring clump of bamboos, the minas* make a din like the voices of a group of women engaged in a fierce quarrel; and the bats, as large as crows, are flying to another clump of bamboos. Entering the village the next morning, we overtake a female, who avoids our gaze by drawing her garment over her face: on one hip sits her child, and on another she carries a large pan of water; the dogs, halfwild, put on the most threatening aspect, and bark most savagely; the men come to the doors, and the women peep at the strangers through the crevices of the mat walls, manifesting a degree of fear and eager curiosity ; the naked children, almost covered with dust, leave their play, and flee at the approach of Gourŭ (a white man). Before a door, near the ficus Indica, where the village gossips assemble, and under which is placed the village. god, or, in other words, a round black stone, as large There are three or four species of these birds which are improperly though commonly called minas. as a man's head, smeared with oil and red lead, sits a man cleaning his teeth with the bruised end of a stick ; and we meet another, returning from a neighbouring field, with a brass water-pot-in his hand; while the third person that meets our eye, is the village barber, sitting on his hams in the street, and shaving one of his neighbours. One or two women are sticking cakes of cow-dung on the wall, to dry for fuel; another is washing the door-place with water, mud and cow-dung, and two others are cleaning the rice from the husk, by pounding it, wet, with a pedal. Not far from the ficus Indica, we see a temple of the lingu, and the people, as they pass, raise their hands to their heads in honour of this abominable image; from thence we go to a mosque, mouldering to ruins, and see near it a mound of earth, under a tree, raised like a grave, and dedicated to some Musulman saint; close to which is sitting a Musulman phŭkēēr, receiving kourees from the passengers, some of whom he has supplied with fire for their hookas: this appears to be a common restingplace for travellers, and several are now assembled, conversing like passengers at an inn. Before proceeding much farther, our ears are offended with a ballad sung by two Hindoo mendicants, who are exalting their god Krishnŭ, having a small earthen pot with them, in which they place the rice and kourees they collect. Another beggar lies at some distance; his legs are swelled, and his fingers and toes, in a state of putrefaction, have fallen off, The Hindoo young men profess to admire the teeth when daubed with the black powder with which they clean them. This article is used for fuel in India to a great extent indeed: it is gathered in the fields by a particular cast of females, and carried about for sale: 1280 cakes are sold for a roopee; the smell in burning is not offensive to the natives, but is far from being pleasant to Europeans. When well prepared and dried, these cakes blaze like wood. the direful effects of the leprosy. We are highly deligthed with the village school: the boys are writing the alphabet, with a stick, or their fingers, in the dust, or chanting the sounds in miserable concert. I forgot to notice the bramhun sitting on the porch of the temple, reading aloud with a book on his knees, and bending his body backwards and forwards as he reads. The amusements of the village are various: some boys are flying their kites, a few other idle fellows are playing at small game with kourees; others are at high play, running after, and catching each other; and in another quarter, some loose fellows are encouraging two rams to fight by dashing their heads at each other; and, to complete the village diversions, here comes a man with a learned cow, and another with a bear in a string, and two or three monkies riding on its back. The serious business of the village appears to be transacted by the oil-man, driving his bullock round to crush the seed; by the distiller; by the shop-keeper, who exposes to sale sweetmeats, oil, spices, wood, betel, tobacco, &c. and by two scolds, proclaiming all the secrets of their families; but, though spent with fury, they never come to blows. The insect called the fire-fly exhibits a beautiful appearance in this country, in a dark evening. When a vast number of these flies settle on the branches of a tree, they illuminate the whole tree, and produce one of the most pleasing appearances that exists in nature. The birds-nests hanging on trees are among the most curious productions of instinct I have ever seen one kind, which is mostly suspended on the branches of the talŭ tree, contains a long round entrance from the bottom to the middle room, and at the top of that is the nest, inclosed and supported by a belt. Another kind has actually a trap-door to it, which the bird lifts up with its beak as it enters, and which falls down of its own accord after the bird has entered or flown out. Another of these hanging nests, equally curious if not more so, is made with fine moss and hair, and inclosed in large leaves, actually sewed together with fibres by the bird, certainly with the greatest propriety, called the taylor bird.-The hornet, bee, and wasp, in this country, often make their nests in trees, though they are to be found also in other situations, One species of ants also makes very large nests in trees. -The great bats, called by the Hindoos vadoorů," are very numerous in some parts of Bengal; and devour some kinds of fruit so eagerly, as to leave scarcely any for the owner. Some pools are so full of leeches, that it is dangerous to bathe in them, and I have heard of the most painful and ludicrous effects taking place on the bodies of persons who have descended into them. SECT. IV.-Proverbial Sayings, Descriptions, &c. WHAT a beautiful form! The very image of Lukshmēē!-In beauty and excellent qualities she resembles the goddess of prosperity.-A female richly adorned with ornaments, is compared to Suchee, the wife of Indru, or to the lightning. Dress, Features, &c. What beautiful hair! It hangs down like the tail of the 2 Many of the lower casts eat the flesh of these bats, and others tie the bills and feathers to their bodies, to drive away diseases. |