CHUNAR. 
^13 
miles above Mirzapore. Having dismissed our large boat, mine 
was used for dining ; Mr. Paul occupied my little boleah ; Mr. Salt 
remained as before, and the baggage was distributed. Though 
crowded, we preferred this to the delay and danger attendant on 
the badness of the other, and the ignorance of the mangy. We 
made about thirty coss this day. 
September 1 1 .—We set off at five, and at half after eight were 
opposite to Binde Baasnee, where daily offerings of sweetmeats and 
fruits are made to Cali, the black wife of Siva, instead of the 
bloody sacrifice of animals, and even of the human species ; which, 
though at first sight incompatible with the mild tenets of the 
Brahmins, undoubtedly existed in former times, and is enforced 
in the Vedas. Soon afterwards we passed Mirzapore, the greatest 
cotton mart on the Ganges, a town of considerable extent, con- 
sisting of handsome European houses, and the humble habita- 
tions of the natives, with a cluster of Hindoo temples crowding 
the banks of the river. Thence we were obliged to track till two 
o'clock, as the breeze gradually died away, owing to which circum- 
stance we did not reach Chunar till half after six, having made 
about seventeen coss. The approach to Chunar is marked by a chain 
of low hills, running parallel to the river on its right bank, 
which is covered by plantations and bungelows. The fort itself is 
situated on a rock, which rises abruptly from the plain, and ad- 
vances some distance into the river. It is fortified in the Indian 
manner by walls and towers, one behind the other, and is a place 
of considerable strength. It was of great importance in former 
times ; but as the British frontier has been carried further north, 
Monghyr and Allahabad have each in their turn superseded 
