10 BURDWAN. Chap. I. 



Celtis yields it, and the Peepul very commonly in various 

 parts of India. The elaboration of this dye, whether by the 

 same species of insect, or by many from plants so widely 

 different in habit and characters, is a very curious fact ; 

 since none have red juice, but some have milky and others 

 limpid. 



After breakfast, Mr. Williams and I started on an elephant, 

 following the camp to Gyra, twelve miles distant. The 

 docility of these animals is an old story, but it loses so much 

 in the telling, that their gentleness, obedience, and sagacity 

 seemed as strange to me as if I had never heard or read of 

 these attributes. The swinging motion, under a hot sun, 

 is very oppressive, but compensated for by being so high 

 above the dust. The Mahout, or driver, guides by poking 

 his great toes under either ear, enforcing obedience with 

 an iron goad, with which he hammers the animal's head 

 with quite as much force as would break a cocoa-nut, or 

 drives it through his thick skin down to the quick. A 

 most disagreeable sight it is, to see the blood and yellow 

 fat oozing out in the broiling sun from these great punctures ! 

 Our elephant was an excellent one, when he did not take 

 obstinate fits, and so docile as to pick up pieces of stone 

 when desired, and with a jerk of the trunk throw them over 

 his head for the rider to catch, thus saving the trouble of 

 dismounting to geologise ! 



Of sights on the road, unfrequented though this noble 

 line is, there were plenty for a stranger ; chiefly pilgrims 

 to Juggernath, most on foot, and a few in carts or pony gigs 

 of rude construction. The vehicles from the upper country 

 are distinguished by a far superior build, their horses are 

 caparisoned with jingling bells, and the wheels and other 

 parts are bound with brass. The kindness of the people 

 towards animals, and in some cases towards their suffering 



