JUMNA AND BHAGIEATHI EITERS. , im- 



crolTed the Unfa Gunga, by an o'd and rotten but better C®n{lmQ;ed 

 bridge than ufual ; the river roars in a cafara(5l of confiderable heighth 

 a great way below with much noife. The village Curfali is clofe ta 

 this bridge ; a fhort afcent led us to it. It is the highefi; village m this 

 glen, and is fituated on the bank of the WMo, Gunge, i/joktt above its 

 il ream, and near the extFcmity of the plain before fpoken'of, Us fornix 

 ing the point between the Jumna dnidi-UntcL Gun gai this plain is of 

 confiderable €xtent3 it may contain 200 acres^ and ia well cultivated ; 

 4here v/ere fevera.1 villages uponitj butnow^ tbc remains of twq> belides 

 Curjali, only are vifible. This lall is large and ' tolerably neat, and 

 probably populous ; but at pre fen t it is full of the inhabitants of all the 

 neighbouring villages, whohave brought the images ©f their gods to 

 bathe. The chief man of the village, with the pundits and brahmins' o£ 

 Jumnotrif attended by a great number of both fexes, came out to meet 

 us. The pundit, a mean and dirty looking fellow, cla'd vtrith th6 reft in 

 coarfe blankets, Game forward, and infifted on marking my forehead 

 with the facred yellov/, a ceremony which I fubmitted to with a good 

 grace as to a high compliment, and which v/as eagerly fought for hy 

 the hindu attendants, who, as well as the Seana and moft of the village 

 ers, received the bleffing after mca and we all proceeded to our 

 quarters. 



The annual ceremony of carrying the images of their gods to wafii 

 in the facred ftream of the Jumna, is, it appears, one of much folemni- 

 ty among the inhabitants of the neighbourhood ; and the concoiirfe of 

 people now alTembled here has been bufily engaged, in doing 

 honour <o it. They dance to the found of l^range mufic, 

 and get drunk on a fort 01 vile fpirit, brev/ed here from grain and par- 

 ticular roots, fomctimes fliarpened, as it is faid, by pepper. The d^ncc 

 u moll grotelque and ftvage; a multitude of men taking hands, fome. 

 limes in a circle and fometimes in line 3 beating tirae with their feet^^ 



