n6 



by this impassable flood, I found the evening approach, when I 

 had neither food, fire, nor hovel to afford me shelter. A volume 

 of Pope's Homer had beguiled the journey. We doubly enjoy the 

 similes of the Grecian bard when read in a country of similar manners 

 and customs. While contemplating the scene just described on the 

 banks of the Dahder, the following passage was truly impressive, 



" Thus when in autumn, Jove his fury pours, 

 " And earth is loaden with incessant showers, 

 " From their deep beds he bids the rivers rise, 

 " And opens all the flood-gates of the skies : 

 " Th' impetuous torrents from their hills obey ; 

 " Whole fields are drown'd, and mountains swept away : 

 " Loud roars the deluge 'till it meets the main, 

 V And trembling man sees all his labours vain !" 



While sitting on the elephant's houdah, waiting for the fall of 

 the river, or for some means of crossing it, this scene ceased to be 

 ideal: at sun-set, a darkness resembling that at the setting in of 

 the monsoon covered the horizon, and a deluge of rain fell the 

 whole night. The houdah, or covered throne, which at first served 

 for my habitation, being soon broken by the tempest, and filled 

 with water, I sheltered myself to the leeward of the elephant, and 

 remained until day-break, with the faithful animal and his driver; 

 the wet sod our bed, the watery clouds our only canopy. When 

 the morning dawned I beheld the river rising still higher, and, 

 being unable to hold any communication with the camp, I re- 

 turned to Dhuboy through a continued flood, impassable by 

 any other conveyance than a boat or an elephant. 



During my next visit at Ragobah's camp, a circumstance oc- 



