s are born clerks; they invade all railroad stations, post
and telegraph offices and Government law courts. Wrapped in their
white muslin toga virilis, their legs bare up to the knees, their heads
unprotected, they proudly loaf on the platforms of railway stations, or
at the entrances of their offices, casting contemptuous glances on the
Mahrattis, who dearly love their numerous rings and lovely earrings in
the upper part of their right ears. Bengalis, unlike the rest of the
Hindus, do not paint sectarian signs on their foreheads. The only
trinket they do not completely despise is an expensive necklace; but
even this is not common. Contrary to all expectations, the Mahrattis,
with all their little effeminate ways, are the bravest tribe of India,
gallant and experienced soldiers, a fact which has been demonstrated
by centuries of fighting; but Bengal has never as yet produced a single
soldier out of its sixty-five million inhabitants. Not a single Bengali
is to be found in the native regiments of the British army. This is a
strange fact, which I refused to believe at first, but which has been
confirmed by many English officers and by Bengalis themselves. But with
all this, they are far from being cowardly. Their wealthy classes do
lead a somewhat effeminate life, but their zemindars and peasantry are
undoubtedly brave. Disarmed by their present Government, the Bengali
peasants go out to meet the tiger, which in their country is more
ferocious than elsewhere, armed only with a club, as composedly as they
used to go with rifles and swords.

Many out-of-the-way paths and groves which most probably had never
before been trodden by a European foot, were visited by us during these
short days. Gulab-Lal-Sing was absent, but we were accompanied by a
trusted servant of his, and the welcome we met with almost everywhere
was certainly the result of the magic influence of his name. If the
wretched, naked peasants shrank from us and shut their doors at our
approach, the Brahmans were as obliging as could be desired.

The sights around Kandesh, on the way to Thalner and Mhau, are very
picturesque. But the effect is not entirely due to Nature's beauty. Art
has a good deal to do with it, especially in Mussulman cemeteries. Now
they are all more or less destroyed and deserted, owing to the increase
of the Hindu inhabitants around them, and to the Mussulman princes, once
the rightful lords of India, being expelled. Mussulmans of the prese