Feb. 1848. SCENES ON THE TRUNK-ROAD. 11 



relations, is very remarkable, and may in part have given 

 origin to the prevalent idea that they are less cruel and 

 stern than the majority of mankind; but that the "mild" 

 Hindoo, however gentle on occasion, is cruel and vindictive 

 to his brother man and to animals, when his indolent 

 temper is roused or his avarice stimulated, no one can 

 doubt who reads the accounts of Thuggee, Dacoitee, and 

 poisoning, and witnesses the cruelty with which beasts of 

 burthen are treated. A child carrying a bird, kid, or 

 lamb, is not an uncommon sight, and a woman with a dog 

 in her arms is still more frequently seen. Occasionally 

 too, a group will bear an old man to see Juggernath before 

 he dies, or a poor creature with elephantiasis, who hopes 

 to be allowed to hurry himself to his paradise, in preference 

 to lingering in helpless inactivity, and at last crawling up 

 to the second heaven only. The costumes are as various 

 as the religious castes, and the many countries to which 

 the travellers belong. Next in wealth to the merchants, 

 the most thriving-looking wanderer is the bearer of Ganges' 

 holy water, who drives a profitable trade, his gains increas- 

 ing as his load lightens, for the further he wanders from 

 the sacred stream, the more he gets for the contents of 

 his jar. 



Of merchandise we passed very little, the Ganges being 

 still the high road between north-west India and Bengal. 

 Occasionally a string of camels was seen, but, owing to the 

 damp climate, these are rare, and unknown east of the 

 meridian of Calcutta. A little cotton, clumsily packed in 

 ragged bags, dirty, and deteriorating every day, even at 

 this dry season, proves in how bad a state it must arrive at 

 the market during the rains, when the low wagons are 

 dragged through the streams. 



The roads here are all mended with a curious stone, 



