134 FLORAL CEREMONIES. 



HINDOO GIRLS FLOATING THEIR 

 TRIBUTARY OFFERINGS DOWN THE GANGES. 



BY MISS LANDON. 



As they passed along a sequestered river after sunset, 

 they saw a young Hindoo girl upon the bank, whose em- 

 ployment seemed to them so strange, that they stopped 

 their palanquins to observe her. She had lighted a small 

 lamp, filled with oil of cocoa, and placing it on an earthen 

 dish, adorned with a wreath of flowers, had committed it, 

 with a trembling hand, to the stream, and was now 

 anxiously watching its progress down the current, heed- 

 less of the gay cavalcade which had drawn up beside her. 

 LALLA ROOKH was all curiosity; when one of her at- 

 tendants, who had lived upon the banks of the Ganges, 

 (where this ceremony is so frequent, that often in the 

 dusk of the evening, the river is seen glittering all over 

 with lights, like the Oton-tala, or sea of stars,) informed 

 the princess, that it was the usual way in which the 

 friends of those who had gone on dangerous voyages 

 offered up vows for their safe return. If the lamp sunk 

 immediately, the omen was disastrous j but if it went 

 shining down the stream, and continued to burn till en- 

 tirely out of sight, the return of the beloved object was 

 considered as certain. LALLA ROOKH. 



