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village with an intimation that a man of consequence is on his 

 way thither, a proclamation is issued to repair the road as far as 

 the next village, and so in continuance. In a light soil it is a work 

 of no great expense, and soon accomplished. 



This established custom elucidates a beautiful passage in the 

 evangelical prophecy respecting the coming of the Messiah, pre- 

 ceded by John the Baptist, as a harbinger, in the spirit and power 

 of Elias, to prepare the way of the Lord, and make his paths 

 straight; when every valley was to be exalted, and every mountain 

 and hill to be made low; and the crooked to be made straight, and 

 the rough places plain. 



Another passage occurs in the same prophet, not easily com- 

 prehended by an English reader, which is clearly illustrated by a 

 common practice among the peasants in Hindostan, particularly 

 in the unenclosed parts of my districts. At the commencement 

 of the rainy season they plant abundance of melons, cucumbers, 

 and gourds, which are then the principal food of the inhabitants. 

 They are not sown in garden-beds, as in Europe, but in open fields, 

 and extensive plains, liable to depredation by men and beasts. 

 In the centre of the field is an artificial mount, with a hut on the 

 top, sufficiently large to shelter a single person from the incle- 

 mency of the weather. There, amidst heavy rain and tempestuous 

 winds, a poor solitary being is stationed day and night, to protect 

 the crop from thieves of various descriptions, but especially from 

 the monkeys, who assemble in large bodies to commit depreda- 

 tions. From thence the centinel gives an alarm to the nearest 

 village, and the peasants come out and drive them off. Few 

 situations can be more unpleasant than a hovel of this kind, ex- 



