idea that they are less cruel and stern than the majority
of mankind; but that the “ mild” Hindoo, however
gentle on occasion, is cruel and vindictive to his brother
man and to animals, when his indolent temper is
roused or his avarice stimulated, no one can doubt who
reads the accounts of Thuggee, Dacoitee, and poisoning,
and witnesses the cruelty with which beasts of
burthen are treated. A child carrying a bird, kid, or
lamb, is not an uncommon sight, and a woman with a
dog in her arms is still more frequently seen. Occasionally
too, a group will bear an old man to see
Juggernath before he dies, or a poor creature with
elephantiasis, who hopes to be allowed to hurry himself
to his paradise, in preference to lingering in helpless
inactivity, and at last crawling up to the second heaven
only. The costumes are as various as the religious
castes, and the many countries to which the travellers
belong. The most thriving-looking wanderer is the
bearer of Ganges’ holy water, who drives a profitable
trade, his gains increasing as his load lightens, since
the further he wanders from the sacred stream, the
more he gets for the contents of his jar.
The Ganges being still the main channel of communication
between north-west India and Bengal, we
passed very little merchandise; such as there was,
principally consisted of cotton, which, clumsily packed
in ragged bags, dirty, and deteriorating every day, even
at this dry season, proved in how bad a state it must
arrive at the market during the rains, when the low
waggons are dragged through the streams.
Occasionally a string of camels was seen, but, owing
to the damp climate, these are rare, and east of the
meridian of Calcutta altogether unknown. The roads
here are all mended with a curious stone, called
Kunker, which is a nodular concretionary deposit of
limestone, abundantly imbedded in the alluvial soil
of a great part of India; and often occurring in strata,
like flints. I t resembles a coarse gravel, each pebble
being often as large as a walnut, and tuberculated on
the surface: it binds admirably, and forms excellent
roads, but pulverises into a most disagreeable impalpable
dust.
The vegetation of this part of the country was very
poor, consisting of a low stunted jungle, and no good-
sized trees being visible : even grasses were few,
and dried up, except in the beds of the rivulets. Bamboos
were however common, and the Cowage plant,
now with over-ripe pods, by shaking which, in passing,
there often falls such a shower of its irritating
microscopic hairs, as to make the skin tingle for an
hour.
On the 1st of February, we moved on to Gyra,
an insignificant village. The air was cool, and the
atmosphere clear; the temperature, at three in the
morning, being 65°. As the sun rose, Parasnath appeared
against the clear grey sky, in the form of a
beautiful broad cone, with a rugged peak, of a deeper
grey than the sky. I t is a remarkably handsome
mountain, sufficiently lofty to be imposing, rising out
of an elevated country, the slope of which, upward to
the base of the mountain, though imperceptible, is
really considerable; and it is surrounded by lesser hills