FTER a voyage from England of twenty weeks, we landed here on the 26th of this month, in a thick fog, which presaged the coming on of the rainy season in this part of India. On the new bunder, or pier, we found palankeens waiting to convey us from the shore. These palankeens are litters, in which one may either lie down or sit upright, with windows and sliding doors: the modern ones are little carriages, without wheels, those anciently used were of a different form, and consisted of a bed or sofa, over which was an arch just high enough to admit of sitting upright; it was decorated with gold or silver bells and fringes, and had a curtain to 'draw occasionally over the whole. The palakcen-bearers are here called hamauls (a word signifying carrier); they for the most part wear nothing but a turban, and a cloth wrapped round the loins, a degree of nakedness which does not shock. one, owing to the dark colour of the skin, which, as it is unusual to European eyes, has the effect of dress. These people come chiefly from the Mahratta country, and are of the coombee or agricultural caste. Their wages are seven or eight rupees a month; they are a hardy race, and, if trusted, honest, but otherwise they consider theft innocent, if not meritorious.

varieties of attitude and motion in the picturesque figures of the koolies employed in washing at their appropriate tanks or wells, which are numerous on the esplanade, each tank being surrounded by broad stones, where groupes of men and women are continually employed in beating the linen, while the better sort of native women, in their graceful costume, reminding one of antique sculptures, are employed in drawing, filling, or carrying water from the neighbouring wells. The Hindoo women wear a short boddice with half sleeves, which fastens behind, and is generally made of coloured brocade. The shalie or sarie, a long piece of coloured silk or cotton, is wrapped round the waist in form of a petticoat, which leaves part of one leg bare, while the other is covered to the ancle with long and graceful folds, gathered up in front, so as to leave

one end of the shalie to cross the breast, and form a drapery, which is sometimes thrown over the head as a veil. The Mussulman and Parsee women have nearly the same clothing, in addition to which they wear long loose trowsers. The hair is drawn back from the face, where the roots are often stained red, and fastened in a knot behind. The hands and feet of the native women are in general delicately shaped, and are covered with rings and tangles or bracelets, which sometimes conceal the arm as far as the elbow, and the leg as far as the calf. the food, lodging, and dress of the lower class of natives cost very little, K

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it is common to see both the men and women adorned with massy rings and chains of gold and silver, round their necks, arms, waists, and legs, and the toes and fingers decked with fine filigree rings, while the ears and nose are hung with pearls or precious stones. The vanity of parents sometimes leads them to dress their children, even while infants, in this manner, which affords a temptation, not always resisted, to murder these helpless creatures for the sake of their ornaments or joys. The custom of laying out the whole, or at least the greater part of their wealth, in ornaments for the person, has probably arisen among the natives of India from the miserable state of society for so many ages. Where the people were daily exposed to the ravages of barbarous armies, it was natural to endeavour to keep their little wealth in that form in which it could with most ease be conveyed out of the reach of plunderers: for this purpose, jewels were certainly the best adapted; and though the recessity for the practice has in a great measure ceased, custom, which has perhaps more influence in India than in any other country, continues it.

"On entering the Black Town, which is built in a coco-nut wood, I could not help remarking the amazing populousness of this small island; the streets appear so crowded with men, women, and children, that it seems impossible for the quiet bullock hackrays, or native carriages, to get along without doing mischief; much less the furiously driving coaches of the rich natives, who pride themselves upon the speed of their horses, which are more remarkable for beanty and for swiftness than for strength. I was informed that Bombay contains up

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wards of two hundred thousand inhabitants. The Europeans are as nothing in this number, the Parsees from six to eight thousand, the Mussulmans nearly the same number, and the remainder are Portoguese and Hindoos, with the exception of about three or four thousand Jews, who long passed in Bombay for a sect of Mahometans, governed by a magistrate called the cazy of Israel; they willingly eat and converse with the Mussulmans. number of them are embodiedamong the marine sepoys, but most of them are low traders. The dwellings of the rich natives are surrounded by virandas, equally neces sary to guard against the intemperate heat of the sun and the monsoon rains; they are generally painted in flowers and leaves of a green or red colour; those of the Hindoos have usually some of the fables of their mythology represented on their walls. The houses are necessarily of great extent, because, if a man has twenty sons, they all continue to live under the same roof even when married; and uncles, brothers, sons, and grandsons, remain together till the increase of numbers actually forces a part of the family to seek a new dwelling. The lower classes content themselves with small huts, mostly of clay, and roofed with cadjan, a mat made of the leaves of the Palmyra, or coco-nut tree, plaited together. Some of these huts are so small, that they only admit of a man's sitting upright in them, and barely shelter his feet when he lies down. There is usually a small garden round each house, containing a few herbs and vegetables, a plaintain tree, and a coco-nut or two. The coco-nut is the true riches of a native Indian.

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The fruit forms a chief article of food during several months in the year, and from it the oil for the lamp is expressed, after being dried in the sun. The fibrous covering of the nut is steeped, and becomes like hemp, though more harsh; it is then called coier, and is used for making cordage of all kinds. The tarry, or toddy, (which is a juice procured from the tree, by making an incision in the bark near the top, or cutting off one of the lower leaves, and applying an earthen pot to the aperture in the bark,) when distilled, furnishes arrack; that which flows in the night is the sweetest, and drunk before sunrise, it is very wholesome. The leaves cover the houses, and two of them plaited together form a light basketwork cloak, which the peasants wear in the rainy season while transplanting the rice. When no longer capable of yielding fruit or tarry, the wood makes excellent water-pipes and joists and beams for houses. The Palmyra, another tree of the family of palms, here called the brab, furnishes the best leaves for thatching, and the dead ones serve for fuel. The trunk is applied to the same purposes as that of the coco-nut, and is said to resist the attacks of the white ant. The brab grows on hills and stony places. The coco requires a low sandy soil, and much water. In the outskirts of the Black Town we saw the fields already flooded for the rice; they are ploughed in this state. The plough consists of a piece of crooked stick, or two straight pieces joined, so as to form an obtuse angle; it is sometimes shod with iron, but most frequently not; it is drawn by an ox or a cow, or sometimes both. The buffaloes make good draught cattle, and are commonly used for

drawing water; the other cattle are of the kind which has a hump on the shoulders; they are used by the natives to draw carriages called hackrays, to which they are only fastened by a beam, which is at the end of the pole, and lies across their necks; they use no traces.

"As there is but one tavern in Bombay, and as that is by no means fit for the reception of ladies, the hospitality of the British inhabitants is always exercised towards new-comers, till they can provide a place of residence for themselves. We have the good fortune to be under the hospitable roof of Sir James and Lady Mackintosh, at Tarala, about three miles from the fort and town of Bombay. Sir James possesses the best library that ever doubled the Cape. It is arranged in a large room like the cell of a temple, surrounded with a viranda inclosed by Venetian shutters, which admit and exclude the light and air at pleasure. As the apartment is at the top of the house, which is built on an eminence, it commands on all sides charming views; in short, it combines all the agrémens that one can look for in a place of studious retirement, and we feel its value doubly from having been so long confined to the cabia of a frigate.

August 10th.-The rainy sea son, which began in the middle of May, still continues, but we have, sometimes intervals of several days of dry fine weather, so that we have been able to visit most of the villages within the island of Bombay. The first walk we took was to Mazagong, a dirty Portuguese village, putting in its claim to Christianity, chiefly from the immense number of pigs kept there. It is beautifully situated on the shore between two hills, on one of which

is Mazagong house, a leading mark into the harbour. It is interesting to the admirers of sentimental writings, as the house from which Sterne's Eliza eloped, and perhaps may call forth the raptures of some future pensive traveller, as the sight of Anjengo does that, of the Abbé Raynal, when he remembers that it is the birth-place of Eliza.' Mazagong has, however, more solid claims to attention; it has an excellent dock for small ships, and is adorned with two tolerably handsome Romish churches; but its ceebrity in the East is owing to its mangoes, which are certainly the best fruit I ever tasted. The parent tree, from which all those of this species have been grafted, is honoured during the fruit season by a guard of sepoys; and in the reign of Shah Jehan, couriers were stationed between Dehli and the Mahratta coast, to secure an abundant and fresh supply of mangoes for the royal table.

"Our next excursion was to Sion, nine miles from the fort of Bombay, and at the opposite extremity of the island. We drove through a country like an English park, where I first saw the banian, or Indian fig-tree. It is a large spreading tree, from the branches of which long fibres descend to the ground, and there taking root become new trunks, and thus spread over a very great space. The banian is sacred and is usually to be found near the Pagodas, as the Europeans call the Hindoo temples. I have seen the natives walk round it in token of respect, with their hands joined, and their eyes fixed on the ground; they also sprinkle it with red and yellow dust, and strew flowers before it; and it is common to ee at its root stones sculptured with

the figures of some of the miner Hindoo gods. Sion Fort is on the top of a small conical hill; it commands the passage from Bombay to the neighbouring island of Salsette, and was of importance while the Mahrattas possessed that island, but it now only serves to beautify the scene. It is manned with a few invalids, and commanded by General Macpherson, a Highlander, who was in the battle of Culloden, on the losing side, and who, at the age of forty, came to Bombay as a cadet in the company's army. He retains so strong a recollection of his early years, that when the Culloden, with Sir Edward Pellew's flag, was in Bombay harbour, no entreaties could prevail on him to go on board of her, he always shook his head, and said, he had enough of Culloden.

"At the foot of the little hill of Sion is a causeway, or vellard, which was built by Mr. Duncan, the present governor, across a small arm of the sea, which separates Bombay and Salsette. It is well constructed of stone, and has a draw-bridge in the middle, but it is too narrow for carriages to go along with safety in bad weather; however, it is of great advantage to the farmers and gar deners who bring in the daily sup plies of provisions to the Bombay market. The vellard was begun A. D. 1797, and finished in 1805, at the expense of 50,575 rupees, 26 I learnt from an inscription over a small house at the end next Bombay, where a guard is kept to prevent the introduction of contraband articles from Salsette, which, though under the English government, is still subject to the Mahratta regulations with regard to taxes.

"From Sion we went to Mahaim, passing in the way several neglected

neglected Portuguese churches, Mussulman tombs, and Hindoo temples, but nothing very interesting till we reached the coco-nut wood near the village, where there are two beautiful temples, with large tanks surrounded by trees. These tanks are the great luxuries of the natives; one sees people bathing in them from morning till night, all ages and sexes together; but they wear as much clothing in the water as out of it. There is at Mahaim a Pir's kubber, or Mussulman saint's tomb, with a fine mosque attached to it, both under the guardianship of a Mahometan family of the Sooni sect. The Portuguese church at Mahaim is close to the sea, and is surrounded by trees. Attached to it there is a college for native Catholic priests; but those who pretend to learning, usually study at Goa, where they learn to speak barbarous Latin, and have the advantage of occasionally seeing priests from Europe. A small premium is given at the church for every native child who is baptized, consequently a number of Hindoo women present their offspring for that purpose, who never think farther of Christianity.

"From Mahaim a good causeway leads to Parell, the governor's country house, which was formerly a Jesuits' college. It is said that the holy fathers employed their penitents in the construction of this work.

August 15th.-A longer continuance of fine weather than is usual during the rainy months, tempted us yesterday to go to Malabar Point, at the south-west extremity of the island, formerly a place of singular sanctity, and where a number of pilgrims still annually resort. We left our carriage at the

foot of the hill, and ascended a long flight of irregular steps to the top. Near the summit there are a multitude of small temples, and a few Bramins' houses, whose inhabitants generally beg from the passengers and strangers whom business or curiosity lead to the hill. After walking nearly two miles through gardens, or rather fields of vegetables, we came to a small bungalo, or garden-house, at the point of the hill, from which there is, I think, the finest view 1 ever saw. The whole island lay to the north and east, beautifully green with the young rice, varied with hills and woods, and only separated from Salsette, and the Mahratta shore by narrow arms of the sea, while the bay and harbour to the south, scattered with beautiful woody islands, reflected the grand monsoon clouds, which, as they rolled along, now hid and now discovered the majestic forms of the ghauts on the mainland. Within a few yards of the bungalo is a ruined temple; from what remains, it must have been a fine specimen of Hindoo architecture; almost every stone is curicusly carved with groupes of figures, animals, and other ornaments. Tradition says that the Portuguese, in their zeal for conversion, pointed cannon against this temple, and destroyed it with its gods; its widely scattered remains seem to countenance the report. Close to the ruin there is a cleft in a rock, so narrow, that one would wonder how a child could get through it, nevertheless, there are multitudes of pilgrims who annually come to force themselves through, as a certain method of getting rid of their sins.

Half a mile from the old temple I saw a most beautiful village, entirely