10 



his head, fill the grave with mould, and immediately erect a tomb 

 of masonry over the devoted victim. A living wife is sometimes 

 thus interred with her dead husband. These superstitious rites 

 seem to be more cruel and absurd than those on the banks of the 

 Ganges, where the Hindoos carry their dying friends, that its sacred 

 stream may receive their last breath. 



When the tide had ebbed a few hours, we were left aground; 

 and before the flood made, the gulf was perfectly dry for many 

 leagues around us. The tides flow there with amazing rapidity, and 

 occasion fatal accidents; when the south-west monsoon blows 

 strong, they are said to rush faster than the swiftest horse can 

 gallop, and sometimes rise to the height of forty feet. The flood 

 carried us on with wonderful velocity, but with a fair wind, fine 

 weather, and skilful pilots, we were not apprehensive of danger. 

 The quicksands in the Cambay gulf are frequently alarming; con- 

 stantly shifting by the conflux of the tides, they render the naviga- 

 tion difficult, and form large banks entirely across, which prevent 

 ships and vessels of heavy burden sailing higher than the Ner- 

 budda; the small craft, convoyed by light gallivats, proceed to 

 Cambay. 



Our anchorage, when the flood rushed up the gulf, like the bore 

 of the Ganges, resembled Alexander's fleet at the mouth of the 

 Indus; which probably consisted of the same kind of vessels, em- 

 ployed for a similar purpose, the embarkation of troops and war- 

 like stores, on an expedition to the peaceful provinces of Hiudos- 

 tan. Arnan mentions several Grecian vessels that were left dry 

 on the sands by the ebb-tide, being overset by the velocity of the 

 flood. Our fleet would have shared the same fate had not each 



