PATNA THE WAllABEES. 91 



and rearranging their drapery, which is always as 

 gaudy as colour and tinsel will make it, — their ears, 

 noses, arms and ankles are encumbered with rings and 

 glass jewels. The natives are very fond of nautches, 

 and pay the actors handsomely for the display of their 

 art. 



Twenty-five years ago travellers for Calcutta had 

 to make the Ganges their highway and proceed 

 thither by the budgerow, a clumsy rowing boat, 

 carrying sail, with a high poop -deck. They had 

 the opportunity of seeing much pretty scenery, study- 

 ing the character of natives and doing a little shikar - 

 ring or sketching en roiite according to their taste 

 and inclination ; now all the poetry of such a journey 

 is lost by the introduction of railways, one is hurried 

 along and lias little more than a glimpse of the 

 country. We stopped an hour at Dinapore, of unenvi- 

 able notoriety as those will remember who have followed 

 the events of the mutiny, and ten miles farther we 

 reached Patna with its ghats and temples, a small 

 — very small — edition of Benares without the latter's 

 life and w^ealth. The soil of this district is fertile, 

 rice and poppy grow in abundance, and a variety 

 of palm trees enliven the aspect of its extensive 

 plains. 



