826 Observations upon the past and present [Oct. 



town ; the shade and the view of the ever busy ghats makes this a plea- 

 sant encamping place, and here I pitched my tents. A wall whose gates 

 and bastions give it the. appearance of a fort encloses a square of 150 

 yards. The interior is adorned with summer-houses,terraced walks, foun- 

 tains and a pucka drain to circulate the water. At the south-east corner 

 a domed maqbarek covers the remains of ShamsherKhan the son of 

 Rana Khan. It is a handsome but not a costly building, the black stone 

 is relieved by a red porphyry, (Spec. 5,) the same as that of which the 

 Jour a bridge is built, and which is quarried at Rutlam ; the tomb itself 

 is of common brick without inscription or ornament. The garden of 

 the lucky bhesti* boasts itself the most favorite spot for pic nics in 

 all Oujein. This year (1 write in March) being the predecessor of the 

 Singasta, all the Hindu world was marrying, and there was no end of 

 feasting and tom-toming. As my visit was also partly during the Hulif 

 not a day passed in which the garden was not filled with groups of 

 men and women enjoying themselves under the shade of the trees ; 

 the women walked in procession, some old lady, a curious pyramid of 

 flowers on her head, in the van leading a shrill chorus, in which 

 all the rest joined, from the ancient grandame with her trembling treble 

 to the little child trotting up in the rear. When they reached some 

 suitable spot they squatted down in a circle and eat, chattered and sang 

 till the day waned, when they marched back to their homes in like 

 solemn procession. The gentlemen sat apart and like European 

 gentlemen longer at table than the ladies. Instead of wine after 

 dinner they indulged in the similar luxury of opium, either chewing it, 

 or drinking it out of the palms of their hands. All the walks were 

 strewed with the plates and dishes of these parties, — leaves of the bur 

 neatly joined together. I asked the havildar of the garden whether 

 his fruit trees and vegetables did not sometimes suffer from this crowd 

 of visitors of whom a large proportion are mischievously aged boys ; 

 he seemed indignant at the very supposition, and indeed he evidently 

 enjoyed the fun of the feasting more than any one else, was the 

 constant guest (perhaps 'tis the perquisite of his place) of one or 

 other of the parties, and strutted about the walks with a rubicund 

 visage and clothes all reeking with huli water. 



* See his story in Malcolm's Cent. India 1, 119, Grant Duff, 3, 27 ; seems 

 to doubt the romantic tale, but it is generally believed in Malwa. 



f It is but fair to observe that though my visit was during the Saturnalia, the 

 natives, with hardly an exception, behaved to me with civility and politeness, and 

 this though I passed two or three times every day, a vevposirasra which lay 

 stretched across the principal street and is always the rendezvous of all the 

 wits and blackguards of a town. 



