1848.] The Turaee and Outer Mountains of Kumaoon- 583 



ing phenomena of society, the instance of Kumaoon may be instructive 

 also. So far as his own experience goes, the European may be a Sad- 

 ducee : yet, were the popular belief to guide him, he actually breathes 

 and lives in an atmosphere of the supernatural ; a god, a ghost, an 

 angel, a devil, a witch, lurks behind every stone and bush, and posses- 

 sion by them is a daily affair. All sickness is in fact considered of 

 diabolical origin, and an approved charm for getting rid of it and 

 pegging down the devil, is driving a wooden pin into the ground where 

 four ways meet, and burying certain grains and drugs on the spot ; these 

 are speedily disinterred by the crows, who really profit on these occa- 

 sions, as do the principals occasionally, in virtue of the force of imagi- 

 nation. Last year, the common Prickly Pear, Cactus Indicus, was 

 fortunately annihilated at Almorah by myriads of a species of Coccus : 

 but no such evident cause would satisfy the people : the plant withered 

 and died under the curse of a fukeer, who had suffered from one of its 

 thorns. What appear to our western intellects, the most senseless 

 legends, are here divine, not only probable, but certain, attested by the 

 inspired Moonees, and perfectly consonant with the then order of nature 

 — no small portion of which is believed to be still in force. The grave 

 old Pundit will fall into ecstasies of admiration and approbation of the 

 erotic exploits of Krishn, which in Europe, would place the god in 

 the stocks. One feels the standards of judgment and moral approba- 

 tion shaking under one's feet. Yet in practice, neither the understand- 

 ing nor the conscience of the Hindoo seems to be seriously impaired 

 by his reception of these puerilities. We may laugh at him as a spiri- 

 tual Don quixote, but in the ordinary business of life, he is sensible 

 and shrewd, and, generally speaking, as honest and moral as his judges. 

 In the performance of the pilgrimages and ceremonies built on his 

 fables, he derives a satisfaction and a merit which compensate him for 

 the negation of philosophy. His legends would evaporate before the 

 acid touch of Hume's famous Essay as the system of our Puseyites 

 would fade before an honest perusal of "fiddling Conyers" free 

 Inquiry ; but Cui bono ? in either case. On the ascent to Poonagiri, 

 was a family returning from the pilgrimage; the old mother trembling 

 and crouching along the precipitous ledges — but the sparkle of the 

 spiritual dram was in her eye, which proclaimed her conviction that she 

 had just secured her eternal happiness. How cruel to undeceive her. 

 " No more ; where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." 



