467 



hours of devotion, beat a drum, from them called the fakeer's 

 drum. There are enough of these strollers in Surat, to make an 

 army, insomuch that they are almost become formidable to the 

 citizens; nor is the governor powerful enough to correct their in- 

 solence; for lately setting on a nobleman of the Moors, when his 

 kindred came to demand justice, they unanimously arose in de- 

 fence of the aggressor, and rescued him from his deserved punish- 

 ment." 



This portrait is certainly confirmed by too many of these fana- 

 tical vagabonds at the present day. On the continent they are 

 very often complete Gymnosophists. When they visit the Eng- 

 lish settlements, some of them, from a little regard to decency, 

 wear a slight covering. Within my recollection, a party of these 

 naked philosophers, amounting to more than two hundred, crossed 

 over from the temple of Vizraboy to Bombay, under a pretence 

 of some religious visit; they were generally fine looking young men; 

 athletic, bold, and impudent, beyond any set of Indians I ever 

 met with: they became very troublesome even to the Hindoos, 

 and in the English town were perfectly disgusting. The governor 

 wished to get rid of them without offending the brahmins, who 

 rather encouraged their visit. The fosse surrounding the fortifica- 

 tions, of great extent and considerable breadth, at that time re- 

 quired cleaning. A government order was issued for all vaga- 

 bonds, mendicants, and idle persons, who could not give a proper 

 account of themselves, to be immediately employed in cleaning 

 out the town-ditch. The next morning not a travelling } r ogee, 

 gosannee, senassee, or any one of the fraternity, was to be found 

 upon the island. 



