greatest Mahratta prince sit down without scru- ruinous town, overgrown with trees, and interple in his presence; and no trace is to be found || mingled with towers and temples, and over it, in their conversation of those adulatory terms but a little to the left hand, a noble old fortified which the Mussulmans introduced into the north- palace, connected by a long line of wall and ern and castern provinces. Europeans, too, are tower, with a very large castle on the highest very little known here; and I heard the chil- part of the hill. We now descended the ghât dren continually calling out to us as we passed by a similar road to that which had conducted through the villages, "Feringee, ne Feringee !" us thither, among some fine old trees, fragments It was whimsical, however, and in apparent con- of rock, and thickets of thorny underwood, till trast with this plainness of speech, that the term we reached the town, which almost entirely con"Maharaja," or sovereign, is applied by them || sisted of temples, and had few inhabitants but to almost every thing superior.. grim and ghastly Yogis, with their hair in elfknots, and their faces covered with chalk, sit

We would willingly insert the Bishop's description of the city of Jyepoor, and also of the palace of Umeer; but, as we cannot introduce both, we shall give preference to the latter :

We passed together through the opposite gate of the city, the uniformity of which throughout is very striking. My companions told me that it was laid out in quarters, or wards, according to the rules of the Shaster; one being for the Thakoors, another for the Brahmins, a third for the ordinary Rajpoots, a fourth for the caste of Kayts, or writers, a fifth for the Bunyans, or traders, and a sixth for the Gaowalas, or cowkeepers, while the seventh is occupied by the palace. After leaving the city, we proceeded by a wide sandy road, through a succession of gardens and garden-houses, some of the latter of which were very handsome, to the banks of a large lake, covered with water-fowl, and with a small island in the midst, on which were the ruins of a palace. The mere supplies the stream which we had passed on our way up the ghât; it has on this side every appearance of being a natural sheet of water; its banks are more woody and wild than any thing which I had seen since I left Kemaoon, and the steep and rugged road by which we ascended the hill beyond it, contributed to raise my expectation of a beautiful view from the top.

This road led us through an ancient gateway in an embattled and turretted wall which connected the two hills, like that which I described on the other side of Jyepoor, and within we found a street, like that also, of temples and|| old buildings of the same character, one of which was pointed out to me as a shrine, whither the young Raja is carried weekly to pay his devotions, and another as the house where he puts up his horses and reposes on such occasions. Beyond was a still steeper ascent to a second gate, which introduced us to a very wild and romantic valley, with a small lake at the bottom -the crests of the hills on either side crowned with walls and towers, their lower parts all rock and wood, interspersed with ruined buildings in front, and on the margin of the lake a small No. 42.*Vol. VII.

ting naked and hideous, like so many ghoules, amid the tombs and ruined houses. A narrow

winding street led us through these abodes of superstition, under a dark shade of peepul-trees, till we found ourselves on another steep ascent, paved with granite, and leading to the palace. We wound along the face of the hill, through, I think, three gothic gateways, alighted in a large moss-grown quadrangle, surrounded by what seemed to be barracks and stables, and followed our guides up a broad and long flight of steps, through another richly ornamented gateway, into the interior courts of the building, which contain one very noble hall of audience, a pretty little garden with fountains, and a long succession of passages, cloisters, alcoves, and small intricate apartments, many of them extremely beautiful, and enjoying from their windows, balconies, and terraces, one of the most striking prospects which can be conceived. The carving in stone and marble, and the inlaid flowers and ornaments in some of these apartments, are equal to those at Delhi and Agra, and only surpassed by the beauties of the Tagemahal. My companions, none of whom had visited Umeer before, all declared that, as a whole, it was superior to the castle of Delhi. For myself, I have seen many royal palaces containing larger and more stately rooms many, the architecture of which was in purer taste, and some which have covered a greater extent of ground (though in this, if the fortress on the hill be included, Umeer will rank, I think, above Windsor)—but for varied and picturesque effect, for richness of carving, for wild beauty of situation, for the number and romantic singularity of the apartments, and the strangeness of || finding such a building in such a place and country, I am able to compare nothing with Umeer; and this, too, was the work of Jye Singh! The ornaments are in the same style, || though in a better taste, than those of his palace at Jyepoor, and the size and number of the apartments are also similar. A greater use has been made of stained glass here, or else, from the inaccessible height of the window, the glass has remained in better preservation. The

2 R

through their cowardice. The god had a pet lion also; and as the favourite animals were kept in the same apartment, the bull was eaten almost every day, in spite of all the noise which the Bhâts could make; greatly to the grief of Siva, and to the increase of his trouble, since he had to create a new bull in the room of every one which fell a victim to the ferocity of his companion. Under these circumstances, the deity formed a new race of men, the Charuns, of equal piety and tuneful powers, but more courageous than the Bhâts, and made them the wardens of his

are cultivated for distillation, and for making "attar." Rose-water is both good and cheap here. The price of a seer, or weight of two pounds (a large quart) of the best, being eight anas, or a shilling. The attar is obtained after the rose-water is made, by setting it out during the night and till sun-rise in the morning, in large open vessels exposed to the air, and then skimming off the essential oil which floats at the top. The rose-water, which is thus skimmed, bears a lower price than that which is warranted with its cream entire; but Mr. Bayley said there is very little perceptible difference. | menagerie. The Bhâts, however, still retained To produce one rupee's weight of attar, 200,000 well-grown roses are required. The price, even on the spot, is extravagant, a rupee's weight being sold in the bazaar (where it is often adulterated with sandal-wood) for 80 S. R., and at the English warehouse, where it is warranted genuine, at 100 S. R., or £10. Mr. Melville, who made some for himself one year, said he calculated that the rent of the land, and price of utensils, really cost him at the rate of five pounds for the above trifling quantity, without reckoning risk, labour of servants, &c.

Otters, we apprehend, might be kept with advantage in other places as well as in India. Near Dacca, observes the Bishop :

We passed, to my surprise, a row of no less than nine or ten large and very beautiful otters, tethered with straw collars, and long strings, to bamboo stakes on the bank. Some were swimming about at the full extent of their strings, or lying half in and half out of the water, others were rolling themselves in the sun on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise as if in play. I was told, that most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood kept one or more of these animals, who were almost as tame as dogs, and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the shoals into the nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth. I was much pleased and interested with the sight. It has always been a fancy of mine, that the poor creatures whom we waste and persecute to death, for no cause but the gratification of our cruelty, might, by reasonable treatment, be made the sources of abundant amusement and advantage to us. The simple Hindoo here shews a better taste and judgment than half the otter-hunting and badger baiting gentry of England.

With one more extract—an account of the Bhâts, or bards, of India-we reluctantly close:

The Bhâts are a sacred order all through Rajpootana. Their race was especially created by Mahadeo, for the purpose of guarding his sacred bull; but they lost this honourable office

|| their functions of singing the praises of gods and heroes; and, as the hereditary guardians of history and pedigree, are held in higher estimation than even the Brahmins themselves amongst the haughty and fierce nobles of Rajpootana. In the yet wilder districts to the south-west, the more warlike Charuns, however, take their place in popular reverence. A few years back, it was usual for merchants or travellers, going through Malwah and Guzerât, to hire a Charun to protect them-and the sanctity of his name was generally sufficient. If robbers appeared, he stepped forward, waving his long white garments, and denouncing, in verse, infamy and disgrace on all who should injure travellers under the protection of the holy minstrels of Siva. If this failed, he stabbed himself with his dagger, generally in the left arm, declaring that his blood was on their heads; and if all failed, he was bound in honour to stab himself to the heart a catastrophe of which there was little danger, since the violent death of such a person was enough to devote the whole land to barrenness, and all who occasioned it to an everlasting abode in Padalon. The Bhâts protect nobody; but to kill or beat one of them would be regarded as very disgraceful and ill omened; and presuming on this immunity, and on the importance attached to that sort of renown which it confers, they are said often to extort money from their wealthy neighbours, by promises of spreading their great name, and threats of making them infamous, and even of blasting their prospects. A wealthy merchant of Indore, some years since, had a quarrel with one of these men, who made a clay image, which he called after the merchant's name, and, daily, in the bazar, and in the different temples, addressed it with bitter and reproachful language, intermixed with the most frightful curses which an angry poet could invent. There was no redress; and the merchant, though a man of great power and influence at court, was advised to bribe him into silence; this he refused to do, and the matter went on for several months, till a number of the merchant's friends subscribed a considerable sum, of which, with much sub

mission, and joined hands, they entreated the
Bhát to accept.
"Alas," was his answer;
"why was not this done before? Had I been
conciliated in time, your friend might yet have
prospered. But now, though I shall be silent
henceforth, I have already said too much against
him; and when did the imprecations of a bard,||
so long persisted in, fall to the ground unac-
complished ?" The merchant, as it happened,
was really overtaken by some severe calamities;
and the popular faith in the powers of the min-
strel character is now more than ever con-
firmed.

On the scaffold, which was about twenty feet in width, was a wheel resembling those of a small chaise, with an axletree in the centre, and a piece of sharp iron at the extremity ; and beside it stood the executioner, not attired à la Jack Ketch, but in a costume not unlike that once belonging to a profession which, although satirists have compared them to executioners, would feel indignant at the allusion. A suit of black, with a steel-handled sword and steel buckles, a ruffled shirt, and cocked hat, gave to this operator a resemblance to a well-dressed physician of some half century ago, when such a dress was considered as indispensable as a diploma. His assistants, however, were less trimly, perhaps more appropriately attired; for, from their blue frocks and their caps, they had a good deal of the appearance of butchers, and, from their sang froid, seemed perfectly accustomed to such scenes of blood.

In announcing the appearance of two volumes of "Travels in Russia, &c., by William Rae Wilson, Esq., F.S.A., Author of Travels in Egypt, &c., illustrated by Engravings," we find it necessary to do little more than remark, that the production is of the same quiet, tame character, by The criminal was drawn in a cart, escorted on which the former works of this writer-each side by hussars, and attended by a venerable works which have repeatedly fallen under our notice are distinguished. It contains, however, some useful and agreeable details; and we shall make from it one or two slight extracts. The first shall be an account of a public execution at Mun

ster:

On departing from Munster, although at the early hour of six o'clock in the morning, we found the whole town in motion, and crowds proceeding along the great road to witness the execution of a criminal; an event that excited a great sensation, no such punishment having occurred since 1812, when the guillotine was used, as at that time the town was occupied by the French. The spot to which the throngs were repairing, to gratify their morbid curiosity, was about two miles beyond the town; and on hearing that the malefactor was to be broken on the wheel, a mode of punishment we had never witnessed, we also yielded to the same feeling; and on arriving at the place, alighted, and joined the crowd. The multitude here collected formed a dense mass, and all the trees around were occupied by eager spectators. It does not say much for the tenderness of the softer sex, who, at least, are supposed to be more susceptible of pity, and more averse to sights of pain and horror, that the majority of the assembly were females. Surely, whether phrenologists have yet discovered it or not, there must be some organ of cruelty, the development of which incites the ladies of Spain to take delight in witnessing the tortures of a poor animal, maddened to desperation by its cowardly pursuers, at a bull-fight; and which led the dames and beldames of Munster to indulge in the luxury of an execution..

He

personage, his confessor. The whole cavalcade
reached the fatal spot about eight o'clock. A
solemn silence ensued whilst the criminal ascend-
ed the scaffold, and during the time he was en-
gaged in prayer with the priest holding a large
crucifix in his hand. After they had been a
short time engaged in devotion, the latter made
the sign of the cross; on which the miserable
victim was desired to lie down, when he clasped
his hands, and appeared to offer up a final ejacu-
lation to that Being from whom alone salvation
for his immortal part could be obtained.
was then placed horizontally on the scaffold, and
his arms and legs widely extended. Under
these, at the wrists and ankles, and below each
of the thighs, were placed blocks, hollowed in
the centre. Cords were then tied round his
wrists and legs, and the ends of them were in-
troduced through holes in the scaffold, and there
made fast underneath. After this, a rope was
put round his neck, and the end of it, which
was of considerable length, made to pass through
the scaffold in a similar manner. After tying
the cords, the executioner put a stick between
them, which he twisted with all his strength;
and the priest then stooped down over the face
of the sufferer, holding up the cross. The hands
and face of the wretched sufferer became ac-
tually red and blue; and although it might have
been supposed that strangulation was sufficient
to have satisfied the ends of public justice, yet a
different idea appears to have been entertained
by the authorities, for one of the assistants gave
three loud stamps with his foot, as a signal to
proceed to the more dreadful part of the pro-
ceedings. He then took up the wheel, and lift-
ing it near to his chin, plunged the extremity of
the axletree, with great force, on each of the