work, or any work whose beauty may be endangered by hands which cannot be kept at a proper temperature: thread-netting, taking the precaution to use silver implements, is the employment best, adapted to the hot weather, but the fair proportions of many a scarf have been curtailed by the want of a few reels of cotton. The natives twist all the thread they use as they need it from the raw material, division of labour being very ill-understood in Hindoostan,-in consequence perhaps of the dearth of political economists, and Calcutta does not always afford a supply of the precise article wanted to complete some delicate manufacture, which will not admit of any inferior substitute. European shopkeepers vary their prices so considerably, according to the demand, that prudent persons will not indulge in the purchase of goods charged so much beyond their value, The ladies at a jungle station were disappointed of a supply of glazed cotton, in consequence of the enormous price put upon the stock which only one milliner in Calcutta happened to have on hand; six rupees (twelve shillings) per. ounce was asked for what in England sold for half the number of pence, and the gentleman employed to execute the commission, struck with the magnitude of the sum, requested fresh instructions from his fair correspondents, who laid their work aside in despair. Thus, it appears that there are many temptations to idleness and few incitements to industry; and in nine. cases out of ten, where the ladies of a station only meet upon ceremonious occasions, all the work, both useful and ornamental, will devolve upon the native tailor employed in the household. It is difficult to say how the females of Anglo-Indian families, who are only visible upon great occasions, pass away their time. At large stations, it may be supposed that they are really, not at home when such an announcement is made to the visitor; but in the jungles, where every movement must be known at the neighbouring bungalows, there is something mysterious in the seclusion of the lady of the house, and it is to be feared that she does not think her neighbours worthy the trouble of making herself visible: her dressing room forms an impenetralia which is only to be guessed at; if country-born, or transplanted at a very early age, she perhaps finds more amusement in conversation with her native attendants than in that of Europeans of a higher grade of intellect. There are generally a few ladies at every European station addicted to this mode of thinking and acting; but in a large society their habits are of little consequence; it is only when a malign star condemns the members of some family, whose mental acquirements are of a superior order, to drag out two or three years of their existence in a jungle where there can be no reciprocity of sentiment between them and the inhabitants of the neighbouring, houses, that the indulgence of idle and debasing habits can be felt as a grievance. But this is a conjunction which too frequently occurs, and, though quarrelling and ill-will may be avoided, the intercourse which takes place is constrained and heartless.

The observation of the same hours is absolutely essential to the comfort and sociability of a small station, and where the majority of the inhabitants persist in dining at night, as it is called, it is impossible to establish a free.

and friendly intercourse. In the first place, this custom involves the necessity of entertaining dinner company, or not receiving any company at all. You cannot dismiss your guests before dinner, and there is no time to see them afterwards. In these days of reduction and 'retrenchment, there are not many of the servants of the Company who can afford to give frequent invitations to dinner, particularly in the upper provinces, where the European supplies for the table are so expensive, that beer and wine are luxuries which prudent subaltern officers deny themselves. Where people of limited incomes do not choose to meet at tea and spend the evening cheer fully together, invitations must necessarily be restricted, and can only occur at long intervals. These station-dinners, as they are called, which in large cantonments are only given by persons who can afford them, and in extensive societies bring people agreeably together, are the dullest things imaginable when composed of some eight or ten individuals, who have nothing on' earth to say to each other when they meet.

The family of the commandant of a small station, who were willing to promote sociability in any form that would be most acceptable to the circle around them, having failed in an attempt to introduce early dinners and evening parties, were content sometimes to put off their own repast for the convenience of their guests, and to see company occasionally after the most approved fashion. The sacrifice of domestic comfort upon these occasions was very great indeed; the disarrangement of household economy formed but a small part of it, as it was merely necessary to substitute an early tiffin for the four o'clock dinner; but in incurring a certain expense, there was no commensurate gain in the solace of a dull and tedious day, to be got through, as usual, without exterior assistance. There is nothing so fatiguing as ennui, at nightfall, it would have been much more agreeable to prepare for bed than to sit upon the chubootur, or terrace, in expectation of guests, from whose conversational powers little pleasure could be anticipated, and frequent repetition had diminished the amusement at first derived from the great absurdity of making a formal and state affair of a meeting between persons located in the same wilderness, and whose happiness might have been so much increased by a more rational method of spending their time. At the hour prescribed by a goddess destined to reign supreme amidst the untamed savages, the wolves and hyænas, of an Indian plain, these votaries of fashion began to arrive; carriage after carriage drove up to the door, until the whole council of ten were fairly set down from their respective vehicles; the ladies dressed in ball attire, and the gentlement uncomfortable in the prospect of being obliged to sit with their feet under instead of on the table, without their due allowance of cigars. inordinate self-indulgence at home might be traced the difficulties of getting the station together in a sociable and friendly way; the decencies' of life had become irksome to persons who were in the habit of lounging about their houses in deshabille, and this slatternly luxury could only be relinquished for something in the style of those great enter-tainments, which seemed to them to be alone worthy of any sacrifice Asiat.Journ. N.S. VOL. 12. No. 47.

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of personal comfort. The dinner of course, was dull, the conversation confined to those common-place topics which may be made agreeable in a family party, but which offer lenten entertainment to a formal circle. After a few hours, wasted in vain attempts to amuse people who belong to the most difficult class in the world, a sort of universal joy takes place at the separation; the guests are glad to go, the hosts are glad to see them depart; they have been defrauded of a comfortable sleep; they rejoice, that a disagreeable duty has been performed, and that a considerable period will elapse before they shall think themselves called upon to perform it again. The peaceably inclined console themselves with the idea that it is far better to vegetate in this way, than to live in a state of warfare; but there is generally at least one person in the community who thinks otherwise, and who, for the sake of a little variety, contrives to pick a quarrel with his neighbours: no difficult matter where there is a disinclination to conform to the wishes of others. Indeed, it requires no inconsiderable portion of good sense and good temper to avoid giving offence to persons, who expect a great deal and concede nothing; although they may refuse to lend themselves to any scheme proposed by the more active and social spirits, they are highly indignant when are they left out of such amusements as the place may afford. Should any strangers pass through, though they would never think of inviting them to their own houses, they take it much amiss if they should not be asked to meet them at the more hospitable mansions; they have no idea of being made conveniences if sent for when there is nobody else, and to be asked in the evening, when there is a dinner party, is an indignity to which they will not submit. In fact, such is the high tone of society in India, that no consideration of small rooms and limited space would excuse those who, in the attempt to bring a large party together, should ask a certain portion to join it after dinner; it is a thing not to be thought of it

Twenty persons formed the utmost number which could be accommodated at table in the bungalow before mentioned as the grand theatre of the station-dinners at a remote jungle. A regiment passing through, the family were anxious to invite all the strangers as well as the individuals composing their own circle, but it could not be accomplished; not a soul would condescend to come to tea; it was therefore necessary to make a selection: the married people were asked, and the young men were left to their tents. There was no use in giving them an option; they would have been offended by so great, a mark of disrespect, as the supposition that they could be induced to act in a manner so derogatory to their dignity.

This spirit pervades every part of India; in Calcutta, the seats at a dinner party, vacated by any unforeseen contingence, cannot be filled up; intimate acquaintance, who would readily come in a friendly way at a day's notice, will not submit to stop a gap after invitations to others have been sent out; where the party, not intended to be a large one, has been diminished by disappointments, the evil becomes very serious; upon such occasions, illnesses or deaths assume the character of affronts, for the guests who fulfil their engagements are, in nine cases out of ten, annoyed at having so few persons to meet them, and receive the apologies of the master and mistress of

the house with ill-concealed resentment. The Medes and the Persians appear to have given the laws to Anglo-Indians; no innovation can be tolerated, and young men, who in England would feel honoured by being invited to attend the ladies in the drawing-room, must in India be treated with all the respect and consideration due to age and rank; they are offended by any distinction, and the ensign, if invited at all, must be invited with the same form and ceremony observed towards his colonel.

At the period of the relief, even the jungles participate in the amusements which the cold season produces all over India; they are seldom or never entirely out of the line of march, and the influx of strangers, although only for a couple of days, affords an agreeable variety to those who are happy to avail themselves of the change. Chance travellers pass through occasionally, even at the most hostile period of the year; but in the cold weather, pleasing expectations may be entertained of the arrival of guests, bringing with them the news and fashions of more frequented places. The appearance of a tent is always signified by the servants of a family known to delight in the performance of the duties of hospitality. If double-poled, the inhabitant must be a person of some rank; his name and quality are speedily discovered, and, in nineteen cases out of twenty, this revelation brings with it a tolerably accurate knowledge of the disposition and character. People of India are well known by report throughout the whole of the presi dency to which they may be attached, and there are few whose acquaintance is so little desirable as to exclude them from the houses of social individuals condemned to solitude during a considerable period of the year. Where persons of congenial dispositions meet in this manner, the accidental collision leads to valuable friendships. A well-informed well-educated cívilian, travelling with two or three chests of books, by way of beguiling time, in a lonely journey, proved to be a prize of the first magnitude; the day was spent in lively discussion; an interchange of volumes took place, and as the residence of the owner of an extensive library was only at the distance of three days' march, a prospect was opened of the most cheering kind, since the assistance of a coolee could at any time procure a fresh supply of standard works from the well-filled shelves of this accommodating neighbour. The inhabitants of the station had been accustomed to send to a miserable circulating library, about a hundred miles off, for the " last new work by the author of Waverley," and were often fain to be content with the refuse of the Minerva press: happy were they, when the unconscious messenger deposited at their feet the lucubrations of some popular writer! The exquisite delight of reading a book really worth reading in an Indian jungle is almost worth a journey to the wilds of Hindoostan, especially if it should arrive upon one of those sultry, oppressive days, in which the hot wind blows from a wrong quarter; when weariness and listleness prevail, and each member of the family, stretched at length upon a sofa, can cherish no hope of entertainment beyond that afforded by a reverie, in which he may transport himself to more genial skies. The dreary monotony of time passed in this manner is sometimes broken in upon by the unexpected arrival of a dāk traveller, who makes his appearance without the note of preparation

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sounded by blows upon the tent-pins. A palankeen is seen making its way through the dust; the soiled, travel-stained, weary look of the bearers, the baggage, and utensils heaped on the top of the vehicle, announce that it belongs to a wayfarer, and presently it is deposited at the door The servants in waiting rush in with the intelligence that there is a strange gentleman outside; the master of the house, who is of course sitting without his jacket, makes a hasty toilette, and advances to receive his guest, who enters sometimes more than half-dead, red and roasted, by long exposure to hot air, cramped with lying for so many hours in a palankeen, and so completely covered with dust that it is difficult to determine what has been the original hue and texture of his garment. He is ushered, in the first instance, to the bathing-room, where a plentiful ablution, change of clothes, and a glass of brandy and water, enable him to shake off his fatigue and join the family circle. The transition from a hot jolting conveyance→a moving dungeon to a spacious and comparatively cool apartment, is the most enjoyable thing in the world; the miseries of the past are forgotten, and the lately subdued and jaded traveller soon becomes sufficiently recovered to impart as much pleasure as he receives. A renewal of the journey in the cool of the evening is anticipated without dread: it is only when the great distance from station to station obliges a European to travel through the heat of the day, that much difficulty and annoyance must be endured.

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The natives, Hindoos in particular, choose the most oppressive season for long journeys, which they frequently perform in the hottest hours of the four-and-twenty. Marriage-processions are then to be seen traversing the roads in great abundance, and where a bungalow commands a view of the highway, a good deal of amusement may be derived from the fantastic pomp exhibited upon these occasions. The poorest make a faint attempt at magnificence; but their humble bridals are distinguished only by yellow garments and blaring trumpets; neither noise nor turmeric is wanting, and the eyes are dazzled and the ears split as the revel rout pass along: camels, horses, palankeens, and rhuts, more or less ornamented, accompany the march of the wealthy suitor; but it is only in the marriage-retinue of a great man that there is much display of wealth and grandeur. The wedding, or rather the betrothment of a son of a rich noble (for the bridegroom was a child of eight or ten years old), celebrated with all the pomp and splendour which the rank and fortunes of the parties could command, afforded an agreeable spectacle to the dullest of dull cantonments. The natives affect a great deal of state, and make as much show as possible with the means which they possess; accordingly, the line of march was stretched out to its utmost length. A small troop of camels, jingling all over with bells, and richly bedizened with tufts of various colours, led the van; behind them came bullock-carriages, covered with scarlet cloth; then a company of grave personages mounted on tattoos; next two or three open palankeens, canopied with fringed curtains, in one of which the little bridegroom gleamed and glittered like a rich ornament in a velvet casket. After these, a stately elephant appeared, bearing a silver howdah, screened from the sun by an umbrella of all the colours of the rainbow; this was followed by a