usual trees of the neighbourhood; it is a wild and
pretty spot, not unlike some birch-bordered pool in the
mountains of Wales or Scotland, sequestered and picturesque.
I t was dark before I got back, with heavy
clouds and lightning approaching from the south-west.
The -day had been very hot (8 p .m ., 90°), and the
evening the same ; but the barometer did not foretell
the coming tempest, which broke with fury at 7 p .m .,
blowing open the doors, and accompanied with vivid
lightning and heavy thunder, close by and all round,
though no rain fell.
In the clear dry mornings of these regions, a curious
optical phenomenon may be observed, of a sunrise in
• the west, and sunset in the east. In either case, bright
and well-defined beams rise to the zenith, often
crossing to the opposite horizon. I t is a beautiful
feature in the firmament, and equally visible whether
the horizon be cloudy or clear, the white beams- being
projected indifferently against a dark vapour or the
blue serene. The zodiacal light shines from an hour
or two after sunset till midnight, with singular
brightness, almost equalling the milky way.
On the 7th of March I left Shahgunj for Mirzapore,
the road leading over a dead alluvial flat to Amowee,
about fifteen miles from the Ganges, which is seen
flowing among trees, with the white houses, domes,
and temples of Mirzapore scattered around, and high
above which the dust-clouds were coursing along the
horizon.
Mr. Money, the magistrate of Mirzapore, kindly
sent a mounted messenger to meet me here, who had
vast trouble in getting bearers for my palkee. In it I
proceeded the next day to Mirzapore, descending a
steep ghat of the Bind hills by an excellent road, to
the level plains of the Ganges. Unlike the Dunwah
pass, this is wholly barren. At the foot the sun was
intensely hot, the roads alternately rocky and dusty,
the villages thronged with a widely different looking
race from those of the hills, and the whole air of the
outskirts, on a sultry afternoon, far from agreeable.
Mirzapore is a straggling town, said to contain
100,000 inhabitants. I t flanks the river, and is built
on an undulating alluvial bank, full of kunker, elevated
360 feet above the sea, and from 50 to 80 above the
present level of the river. The vicinity of the Ganges
and its green bank, and the numbers of fine trees
around, render it a pleasing, though not a fine town.
I t presents the usual Asiatic contrast of squalor and
gaudiness; consisting of large squares and broad
streets, interspersed with acres of low huts and groves
of trees. I t is celebrated for its manufactory of
carpets, which are admirable in appearance, and, save
in durability, equal to the English. Indigo seed from
Bundelkund is also a most extensive article of commerce,
the best coming from the Doab. For cotton,
lac, sugar and saltpetre, it is one of the greatest marts
in India. The articles of native manufacture are brass
washing and cooking utensils, and deities carved from
the sandstone.
There is little native vegetation, the country being
covered with cultivation and extensive groves of mango,
and occasionally of guava. English vegetables are