At half-past eight we again entered the palanquin, and started for Balasore, where we arrived at half-past seven the next morning, and were set down at the Circuit-house—a large house belonging to Government, and kept for the convenience of officers, including the chaplain, who have to travel the district every year. I can conceive nothing more wild than the dâk travelling; but I have described it all, except that in each palanquin we carry a brace of loaded pistols. I will relate an instance, and a very remarkable one, of the advantage of carrying loaded pistols in this country. Major M., now the second in command at Midnapore, was one day out with some friends, sitting quietly under the shade of a bank, when suddenly a tiger sprang out of a jungle, seized the Major by the leg, threw him over his shoulders, and trotted off with him. The Major's companions raised a loud shout; but the beast was hungry, and did not choose to be frightened from his meal. The Major, however, fortunately had a brace of loaded pistols in his belt; he pulled out one, and fired it at the head of the tiger as it carried him off. It flashed in the pan; and almost in despair he seized the other, and shot the tiger dead on the spot. The only injury the Major received was a broken and lacerated leg, which has rendered him in some measure a cripple ever since. This story I know to be true, both from the Major himself and from those who were with him.

A HUNGRY BEAR.

A small party went out for a day's pleasure a little while ago from Midnapore. They went to the Ghape, a most beautiful spot at about five miles' distance. After rambling about they went into an old house which is there, with an excellent appetite for dinner. The "cook-room" was about a hundred yards from the house. They waited and waited, and no dinner came; so at last one of the gentlemen went to see the cause of the delay, when lo! as if watching for the dinner, there was an enormous black bear sitting half-way between the house and the cook-room. They shouted, and tried to drive him away; but no, master Bruin only growled; he did not see why he should not have something to eat. None of the party had guns; and they say that they were kept waiting five hours without their dinner before the beast's patience was exhausted and he stalked off. We were, as I before said, set down at the "Circuit-house." This I expected to have found tolerably furnished; but, alas! when we went in, we found nothing but one mat, three tables, and two chairs. We then had the palanquins taken into a bed-room, and determined to make ourselves as comfortable as we could. I then went out to make calls—for in India the new comers call upon the old residents, reversing the English custom. This did not take me long, as the whole station consists of the magistrate and his wife, the excise-officer and his daughter, the postmaster, doctor, and deputy-magistrate.

At night we slept as well as we could in the palanquins, but were kept awake the greater part of the time by the mosquitoes, and the next morning our hands and faces were most beautifully spotted over with their bites. On this the second day one or two people called; and when the excise-officer and his daughter came in, the deficiency in furniture was at once made manifest. There were Mr. and Miss B., Mrs. Acland, and I, with only two chairs amongst us, and these, like all the chairs in India, were arm-chairs, so that we could not even manage by sitting two on one chair; so Miss B. and my wife had the two chairs, and Mr. B. and I sat upon the table—rather a high one it was—so that our feet dangled about half-way between our seat and the floor. However, there was one great advantage in this evidence of poverty, for Mr. B., as soon as he got home, sent us a large bedstead, some chairs, and other things necessary to make us comfortable.

PALANQUIN-BEARERS' SONGS.

I ought to mention the chant of the palanquin-bearers; though they keep to the same sing-song tune, yet they generally invent the words as they go along. I will give a sample, as well as I could make it out, of what my bearers sang the other night; I have tried to render their words as nearly as I could into English, so as to preserve the metre. The poetry must be improved. A palkee means a palanquin: it is the Hindustanee word, though one also generally used in conversation. Each line is sung in a different voice; in the following, for instance, the first line would be sung in the usual voice, the second very high, the third in a sort of gruff tone:—

"Oh, what a heavy bag!
No; it's an elephant:
He is an awful weight.
Let's throw his palkee down—
Let's set him in the mud—
Let's leave him to his fate.
No, for he'll be angry then;
Ay, and he will beat us then
With a thick stick.
Then let's make haste and get along,
Jump along quick."

And then, suiting the action to the word, off they set in a nasty jog-trot which rattled every bone in my body, keeping chorus all the time of "jump along quick, jump along quick," until they were obliged to stop for laughing. The second sample is from the men who carried Mrs. Acland, and is in quite a different metre. I must tell you that "cubbadar" means "take care," and "baba" (pronounced "barba") means "young lady:"—

1.

"She's not heavy,
Cubbadar!
Little baba,
Cubbadar!
Carry her swiftly,
Cubbadar!
Pretty baba,
Cubbadar!
Cubbadar!
Cubbadar!