d. So the waters were healed unto this day, according
to the saying of Elisha which he spake.'

The learned men call it a zeenahnah, or children's custom; but it is
common to see children of all ages amongst the males, partake of, and
enjoy the festival with as much glee as the females or their juniors.

A bamboo frame is formed to the shape of a Chinese boat: this frame-work
is hidden by a covering of gold and silver tissue, silk, or coloured
muslin, bordered and neatly ornamented with silver paper. In this light
bark many lamps are secreted, of common earthenware. A procession is
formed to convey the tribute, called 'Elias ky Kishtee[30]', to the river.
The servants of the family, soldiers, and a band of Native music attend in
due order of march: the crowd attracted by this childish play is immense,
increasing as they advance through the several streets on the way to the
river, by all the idlers of the place.

The kishtee (boat) is launched amidst a flourish of trumpets and drums,
and the shouts of the populace; the small vessel, being first well lighted,
by means of the secreted lamps, moves down gently with the stream. When at
a little distance, on a broad river, in the stillness of evening, any
one--who did not previously know how these little moving bodies of light
were produced--might fancy such fairy scenes as are to be met with in the
well-told fables of children's books in happy England.

This custom, though strongly partaking of the superstitious, is not so
blameable as that which I have known practised by some men of esteemed
good understanding, who having a particular object in view, which they
cannot attain by any human stratagem or contrivance, write petitions to
the Emaum Mhidhie on Fridays, and by their own hands commit the paper to
the river, with as much reverence as if they thought him present in the
water to receive it. The petition is always written in the same respectful
terms, as inferiors here well know how to address their superiors; and
every succeeding Friday the petition is repeated until the object is
accomplished, or the petitioner has no further inducement to offer one.

I have made particular inquiries whether such sensible people (as I have
seen thus engaged) placed any dependence on this mode of petitioning. The
only answer I have received, is, 'Those who think proper thus to petition,
certainly believe that it will be effectual, if they persevere in it.'

The New Moon is a festiva