He was not very punctual to his time, but there was enough to amuse the visitors; more especially in the arrival of the women, who came up as near as they could to the building, in all sorts of odd vehicles. Several were like those I had seen on the bridge at Pera, but one was very fine indeed. It was more like a waggon than a carriage, and painted bright blue, with red wheels and awning. In it were five ladies of the Sultan's harem, very gaily dressed, and laughing loudly as the vehicle shook them about over the rugged road. It was drawn by two buffaloes, and they had a singular arrangement of worsted tufts over their heads, of various bright colours. This was the first waggon of the kind I had seen, but I afterwards found them very common. Other women were on foot, and a number of these had collected upon a hillock under a tree, where they talked and quarrelled incessantly. One very pale and handsome girl arrived alone, in a car, preceded by two or three attendants: and, whilst trying to pass a narrow thoroughfare amongst the other vehicles, the wheel of her own got smashed to pieces. She was then close to the Frank visitors, and, as she appeared likely to be overturned, two or three gentlemen from Misseri's hotel, ran forward to offer their assistance. In a minute they were put back by the attendants, who could not think of allowing their mistress to be touched, even from chance, by a Christian. The carriage was propped up, as well as it could be; and its inmate, who had remained perfectly tranquil during the accident, fixed her large eyes on the enclosure, and never moved them again, to the right or left."
CURIOUS INDIAN COMB.
At the foot of the Himalayas, and not far from the European station of Darjeeling, there is a tract of country which is still inhabited by a tribe of very ancient origin, called the Mechs; they are rapidly degenerating, and indeed may be said to be even now almost worn out as a distinct tribe. They are but rarely visited by Europeans; but Dr. Hooker inspected their district in 1850, and gives the following brief description of its appearance:—
"We arrived on the third day at the Mechi river, to the west of which the Nepal Morung begins, whose belt of Sal forest loomed on the horizon, so raised by refraction as to be visible as a dark line, from the distance of many miles. It is, however, very poor, all the large trees having been removed. We rode for several miles into it, and found the soil dry and hard, but supporting a prodigious undergrowth of gigantic harsh grasses that reached to our heads, though we were mounted on elephants. Tigers, wild elephants, and the rhinoceros are said to be found here; but we saw none.
"The old and new Mechi rivers are several miles apart, but flow in the same depression, a low swamp many miles broad, which is grazed at this season, and cultivated during the rains. The grass is very rich, partly owing to the moisture of the climate, and partly to the retiring waters of the rivers; both circumstances being the effects of proximity to the Himalayas. Hence cattle (buffaloes and the common humped cow of India) are driven from the banks of the Ganges 300 miles to these feeding grounds, for the use of which a trifling tax is levied on each animal. The cattle are very carelessly herded, and many are carried off by tigers."
We give a sketch on previous page of a pocket-comb which Dr. Hooker obtained from one of the natives: it is, at all events, much more tasteful in its form and ornamentation than the usual run of English pocket-combs.
SINGULAR HINDOO VOW.