superb. At the summit we entered on a dead flat
plain or table-land, with no bills, except along the brim
of the valley we had left, where are some curious broad
pyramids, formed of slabs of sandstone arranged in
steps. By dark we reached the village of Boump (alt.
1090 feet), beyond the top of the pass.
On the next day I proceeded on a small, fast, and
wofully high trotting elephant, to Shahgunj, where I
enjoyed Mr. Felle’s hospitality for a few days. The
country here, though elevated, is, from the nature of
the soil and its formation, much more fertile than that
I had left. Water is abundant, both hi tanks and wells,
and rice-fields, broad and productive, cover the ground;
while groves of tamarinds and mangos, now loaded with
blossoms, occur at every village.
The gum-arabic Acacia is abundant here, though not
seen lower, and very rare to the eastward of this
meridian, for I saw but little of it in Behar. I t is a
plant partial to a dry climate, and rather prefers a good
soil. In its distribution it in some degree follows the
range of the camel, which is its constant companion
over thousands of leagues. In the valley of the Ganges
I was told that neither the animal nor plant flourish
east of the Soane, where I experienced a marked change
in the humidity of the atmosphere on my passage down
the Ganges. I t was a circumstance I was interested
in, having first met with the camel at Teneriffe and the
Cape Verd Islands, the westernmost limit of its distribution
; imported thither, however, as it now is into
Australia, where, though there is no Acacia Arabica,
four hundred other species of the genus are known.
The mango, which is certainly the fruit of India,
(as the pine-apple is of the West Indies,) was now
blossoming, and a superb sight. The young leaves are
purplish-green, and form a curious contrast to the
deep lurid hue of the older foliage; especially when
the tree is (which often occurs) dimidiate, one half
the green, and the other the red shades of colours;
when in full blossom, all forms a mass of yellow,
diffusing a fragrance rather too strong and peculiar to
be pleasant.
We passed a village where a large fair was being
held, and singularly familiar its arrangements were to
my early associations. The women and children were
the principal customers; for the latter whirl-you-go-
rounds, toys, and sweetmeats were destined ; to tempt
the former, little booths of gay ornaments, patches for
the forehead, ear-rings of quaint shapes, bugles and
beads. Here, as at home, I remarked that the vendors
of these superfluities occupied the approaches to this
Yanity-Fair. As, throughout the East, the trades are
congregated into particular quarters of the cities, so
here the itinerants grouped themselves into little
bazaars for each class of commodity. Whilst I was
engaged in purchasing a few articles of native workmanship,
my elephant made an attack on a sweetmeat
stall, demolishing a magnificent erection of barley-sugar,
before his proceedings could be put a stop to.
I here visited a small tarn, or more properly the
expanded bed of a stream, art having aided nature in
its formation: it is called Bujubbund (the pleasant
spot), and is edged by rocks and cliffs fringed with the