relations generally reside in the same house, but each
family has its separate household. The elder boys take their meals
with their father, but the wife, daughters, and younger boys are not
allowed this privilege. Both sexes are extremely fond of tobacco,
which they smoke in pipes called hookas.

At the conclusion of my visit, I was offered sweetmeats, fruits,
raisins, etc. The sweetmeats were mostly composed of sugar,
almonds, and suet, but were not very palatable, owing to the
predominance of the suet.

Before leaving the house, I visited the ground-floor to examine the
room, in which, once a year, the religious festival called Natch is
celebrated. This festival, which is the most important one in the
Hindoo religion, takes place in the beginning of October, and lasts
a fortnight, during which time neither poor nor rich do any business
whatever. The master closes his shops and warehouses, and the
servant engages a substitute, generally from among the Mahomedans,
and then both master and servant spend the fortnight, if not in
fasting and prayer, most certainly in doing nothing else.

The Baboo informed me that on these occasions his room is richly
ornamented, and a statue of the ten-armed goddess Durga placed in
it. This statue is formed of clay or wood, painted with the most
glaring colours, and loaded with gold and silver tinsel, flowers,
ribbons, and often with even real jewellery. Hundreds of lights and
lamps, placed between vases and garlands of flowers, glitter in the
room, the court-yard, and outside the house. A number of different
animals are offered up as sacrifices; they are not slain, however,
in the presence of the goddess, but in some retired part of the
house. Priests attend upon the goddess, and female dancers display
their talent before her, accompanied by the loud music of the tam-
tam. Both priests and danseuses are liberally paid. Some of the
latter, like our Taglionis and Elslers, earn large sums. During the
period of my stay here, there was a Persian danseuse, who never
appeared for less than 500 rupees (50 pounds.) Crowds of the
curious, among whom are numbers of Europeans, flock from one temple
to another; the principal guests have sweetmeats and fruit served
round to them.

On the last day of the festival the goddess is conveyed with great
pomp, and accompanied by music, to the Hoogly, where she is put in a
boat, rowed into the middle of the stream, and then thrown overboard