67 



vocabulary, although tlie luxury of an Asiatic encampment often 

 equals that of the most refined cities. Our cooking was very sim- 

 ple ; the fowl being frequently roasted on a wooden spit, supported 

 by two branches from the nearest tree ; boiled meat, vegetables, rice, 

 and curry, were dressed in earthen pots supplied by the village, 

 and placed over little fires made between sods, or in holes in the 

 earth. In such rural encampments our provisions were in no dan- 

 ger of being taken by the natives, who would not have tasted the 

 greatest dainties. It was not so easy to guard against the monkeys, 

 who slily purloined bread, fruit, and country beer, a liquor made 

 with English porter, palm-wine, and water, of which those animals 

 are extremely fond. We had still a bolder and more ravenous ene- 

 my in the hawks and brahminee kites, constantly hovering near, 

 ready to dart on a roasted fowl, or quarter of kid, while actually 

 carrying by the servants from the temporary kitchen to the dining 

 tent. There are vultures in Guzerat, but not so common as at 

 Bombay, where the parsee sepulchres are their great attraction ; 

 but the dogs, with which all the Indian towns and villages abound, 

 clear away every offal. They are numerous, noisy, and trouble- 

 some, especially to travellers. They are called pariar-dogs, have 

 no respective owner, generally subsist upon charity, and are never 

 destroyed. They frequently hunt in large packs like the jackals, 

 which they resemble in many other respects. 



We left our umbrageous dormitory near Corelli at an early hour 

 the next morning, and immediately descended the banks of the 

 Mahi at the pass of that name. The bed of the river is six miles 

 broad, although the stream, even at spring-tides, does not exceed 

 two ; but during the floods from the Malwa mountains, where this 



