nel or watery lane, we could
scarcely breathe, and were rejoiced to enter the open air
again,--although, when we came out, the sun "flamed in the forehead of
the morning sky," and beat fiercely and hotly upon the parched ground,
from which every blade of grass had been scorched away.

The village of Tamblegam, to which we soon came, is inhabited by a
colony of Hindoo emigrants from the coast of Malabar. It is a neat
little place, of which the huts, formed chiefly of branches of the
tamarind-tree and leaves of the plantain, standing under prodigiously
high cocoa-nuts, are so very diminutive, that the whole looks more
like a child's toy-box village than the residence of grown people. The
principal edifice is a pagoda built of stone, exactly ten feet square.
Not fancying there could be any harm in taking such a liberty, we
entered the pagoda unceremoniously, and one of our artists set to work
sketching the bronze image which the natives worship as a deity, a
figure not quite three inches in height; but the Hindoos were shocked
at our impiety, and soon ousted the Admiral and his party. Close by
was a little tank or pool of water, beautifully spangled over with the
leaves and flowers of the water-lily. Here several groups of Indian
girls had assembled to enjoy the coolness of the water in a style
which we envied not a little. Instead of plunging in and swimming
about as with us, one person sits down, while others pour pitchers of
water over the head. We took notice also of one particularly
interesting party of young damsels, who waded in till the water
reached nearly to their breasts. Each of these girls held in her hand
a chatty, or water-pot, shaped somewhat like an Etruscan vase, the
top of which barely showed itself above the level of the pool. Upon a
signal being given by one of the party, all the girls ducked out of
sight, and at the same time raised their water-jars high in the air.
In the next instant, just as their heads began to re-appear above the
surface, the vessels were simultaneously inclined so that the water
might pour out gradually, and in such measure that by the time the
bathers again stood erect, the inverted jars might be quite empty.
Nothing could be more graceful than the whole proceedings; and we sat
in the shade of the pagoda looking at these water-nymphs for
half-an-hour in great admiration.

In the mean time a slender pole, forty feet in height, had been
erected by a set of native tumblers, who