THE OUTER HIMALAYAH. 25 



of this divine law by Mr. M k n was not to be 

 allowed, (for what caste can be lower than an English- 

 man's?) and the domestic retirement of the Brahmin 

 was not defiled. It seemed to us, however, that unless 

 Mr. M k n's eyes had been of that peculiar construc- 

 tion to which millstones would form but an agreeable 

 stimulus to exertion, he could scarcely have penetrated 

 into the family secrets of his sacred fellow-subject. 

 But, as the owners of the land had a right to do with 

 it what they thought fit, nobody can blame them for not 

 sacrificing their conscience to their interest ; still it will 

 be clear from the above instance what obstacles such 

 individuals prove to the progress of civilization. 



Some people gave the late Honourable Company the 

 credit of cherishing the interests of the dark inha- 

 bitants of the soil and their ancient church, with the 

 little innocent bigotries and time-honoured prejudices 

 appertaining to it, somewhat at the expense of poor, 

 good-natured John Bull and his peculiar and absurdly 

 recent tenets. They also thought that the latter found 

 it difficult to obtain the same freedom for his persuasion 

 that was so gracefully conceded to the Hindoo mum- 

 meries. The rejoicings of these evil-tongued harpies 

 over the at last prostrate body of old John Company 

 fill me with horror, and I gladly revert to my subject. 



Our path lay along a now disused watercourse, which 

 had been built in old times by a rajah, as a work of 

 great piety. It is formed of large stones built up 

 against the hill-sides, where the solid rock has not been 

 hewn out to form it ; earth now covers the surface, so 

 that it makes a pleasant grassy road, which winds 



