vessels. The unskimmed water affords the best, and
it is frequently twice and even oftener distilled ; hut
the fluid deteriorates by too much distillation. The
Attar is skimmed from the exposed pans, and sells at
10Z. the rupee weight, to make which 20,000 flowers
are required. I t is frequently adulterated with sandalwood
oil.
Lord Cornwallis’ mausoleum is a handsome building,
modelled by Flaxman after the Sibyl’s Temple. The
allegorical designs of Hindoos and sorrowing soldiers
with reversed arms, which decorate two sides of the
enclosed tomb, though perhaps as good as can he, are
under any treatment unclassical and uncouth. The
simple laurel and oak-leaf chaplets on the alternating
faces are far more suitable and suggestive.
On the 21st March I left Ghazepore, and dropped
down the Ganges ; the general features of which are
soon described. A strong current, four or five miles
broad, of muddy water, flows between a precipitous
bank of alluvium or sand on one side, and a flat
shelving one of sand or more rarely mud, on the other.
Sand-banks are frequent in the river, especially where
the great affluents débouche; and there generally
are formed vast expanses of sand, small “ Saharas,”
studded with stalking pillars of sand, raised 70 or
80 feet high by gusts of wind, erect, stately, [grave-
looking columns, all shaft, with neither basement nor
capital, the genii of the “ Arabian Nights.” The river
is always dotted with boats of all shapes, mine being
perhaps of the most common description, and the
great square, Yankee-like steamers, towing their
accommodation-boats (as the passengers’ floating hotels
are called), being the rarest. Trees are scarce on the
banks, except near villages, and there is hardly a palm
to be seen above Patna. Towns are unfrequent, such
as there are being mere collections of huts, with the
invariable ghat and boats at the bottom of the b an k ;
and at a respectful distance from the bazaar, stand the
neat bungalows of the European residents, with their
smiling gardens, hedgings and fencings, and loitering
servants at the door. A rotting charpoy (or bedstead)
on the banks is a common sight,—the “ sola reliqua ”
of some poor Hindoo, who departs this life by the
side of the stream, to which his body is afterwards
committed.
Shoals of small goggled-eyed fish are seen, that
spring clear out of the water, and are preyed upon by
terns and other birds; a few insects skim the surface,
and turtle and porpoises tumble along; all forming a
very busy contrast to the lazy alligator, sunning his
green and scaly back near the shore, with his ichthyo-
saurian snout raised high above the water. Birds are
numerous, especially early and late in the day. Along
the silent shore the hungry Pariah dog may be seen
tearing his meal from some stranded corpse, whilst the
adjutant-bird, with his head sunk on his body and
one leg tucked up, patiently awaits his turn. At night
the beautiful Brahminee geese alight, one by one, and
seek total solitude ; ever since having disturbed a god
in his slumbers, these birds are fated to pass the night
in single blessedness. The gulls and terns, again,
roost in flocks, as do the wild geese and pelicans,—the
YOL. I. B