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O'er woods and vallies with delight
The fire-fly bears his wandering light,

Now is his happy hour;

When flowers are left alone for him
To sip their sweets upon the wing
Within each dewy bower.

The buff'loe bellows on the plain,
And makes the forests shake again
As he walks forth and feeds;
For all day long within some pool
He laid his panting sides to cool
Amidst the jointed reeds.

Now prowling jackalls steal abroad;
The tiger and the lion lord

Lurk in the jungles near;

The peacock, brighten'd by yon ray
That decks the heavens at closing day,
Hides his plumed head in fear.

On nullahs' cypress-shaded brink,

The feverish herd come down to drink,

And bathe in waters pure;

The hunting Cheta creeps unseen,

And marks a victim in the stream;

His evening meal is sure.

But hark! what sound is that we hear

So softly falling on the ear?

It is an evening bell,

That swings in yonder mosque's old tower

Rising above the high palm bower,

For day now bids farewell.

The Hindoo to his prayers must go,

The lamps are lit in rows below,

And round about his god;

See now they kneel and make salaam,
Beside their Brahmin, holy man,

And kiss the place he trod,

All prostrate fall and mutter fast
Each prayer as if it were the last

That they should ever say;

While incense burns in niches round,

And flowers are strew'd upon the ground

'Tis thus the Hindoos pray.

Man's labouring hours by shadows known
Upon the wings of time have flown;

He hies him to his cot;

Peace and tranquillity are there;
Regardless of the morrow's care,
Contentment is his lot.

The caves of Elephanta are, as it may be supposed, often visited; the island being only seven miles from Bombay Castle, and five from the Mahratta shore.The English traveller is apt, it is said, to indulge, even here, his strange propensity to possess himself of relics, and is occasionally known to break off a nose or a finger, to carry home with him as a substantial proof of his having really visited this "wonder of Asia," and tiffened under the sacred rock of Gorapori.

The shadows of evening had stolen imperceptibly around us, before we broke up our party; and the rich notes of the cornopia breathed a sweet farewell to cave and hill. As we wended our way along the mountain-path towards the shore, I felt something like regret from the thought, that, in all probability, I should never again visit this beautiful island of the sea; and as we rowed slowly over the star-lit waters towards Bombay, there was something, at this witching hour, so calm and tranquil in the scene around us,

that conversation soon ceased altogether; and each one among us seemed occupied by his own musings. We found our friends in the Fort anxiously awaiting our return; and after an hour or two spent very agreeably, I bade adieu to many who had contributed much to my happiness, both on this memorable day, and on former occasions. A sorrowful feeling oppressed me; for I had a painful conviction that some of us would never meet again in this world-a foreboding which has been realized; but

"There are tones that will haunt us, though lonely

Our path be, o'er mountain and sea;

There are looks that will part from us only,

When memory ceases to be."

CHAPTER V.

Farewell to the Monsoons.

Irri

Silk cotton tree. Palms, Decanna bean. Orderiferous Pandanus, Orchids. Anxiety of the agriculturist. gation. Dry and wet crops of the year. Early risers in Bombay. Muggy days. Heavy dews of night. Drooping of Leaves and Flowers. Insects. Tree Lizard, its habits. Bungalow Lizard. Large Kites. Snakes, Cobra Manilla. Death of an officer from bite of carpet snake. Scorpions. Spiders. Child killed. Centipedes. Hornets and wasps. Natural scavengers, their Visits to your cooking-house. Portuguese traps. Fine sense of smell in Fulvous Vulture. The Woods at noon. Brilliant plumage of birds. Loss of song. Alcedo Asiatica. Emerald Fly-catchers. Green Woodpeckers. Butcher birds, Hoopoe, Sandpiper. Wanton destruction of Indian birds, &c., &c.

THE rainy season has passed away; and the fearful storms that lately swept over the dark waters of the Indian Ocean, and hurled its billows with such terrific force upon the coast, have gradually subsided into a peaceful calm.

"Mercy's voice has hushed the blast,"

and the low murmuring of the morning or evening breeze is alone heard amidst those forests, which, but a short time ago, bowed their sturdy limbs and pathless jungles to the raging of the monsoon. The scared

jackal that fled before this dreaded enemy, the only invader of his profound solitude, returns again to his ancient haunts, and "seeks his food from God."The luxuriant vegetation, which so suddenly clothed the surface of earth, painting the landscape with myriads of glorious blossoms of every hue, and which sprang suddenly into life during that remarkable period, is now fast drooping and dying around us; and the large crimson flowers of the lofty cotton-tree* have vanished, and given place to the bursting capsule with its silky treasure. Innumerable wild annuals have gone through the many stages of their short existence, and now wait the returning rains, to bid them once more spring forth, welcome to man as the voice of the turtle heard in the land. But in this fair country, where summer and winter can scarcely be distinguished from each other, and where the leaves of many trees are only shed to give place to new ones, the fading of the ephemeral visitors which perfect an Eastern landscape, are not regretted, as are, among ourselves, the productions of an English summer, when autumn shows her "sere and yellow leaf." The gorgeous palms, which Linnæus has justly entitled "the princes of the vegetable world," still rear their crowned pillars above us; and the peepul, palmyra, and the banyan cast their grateful shadows over the scorching glades; nor have flowers forsaken us. moist districts in the interior, the Decanna-bean (Butea Superba) lights up with its glowing scarlet

Bombax Ceiba.

In

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