92 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
pediments it surmounts,, the extent of country through 
which it flows, the distance to which its waters are 
transported by the superstitious and devout, its com- 
mercial importance, the veneration in which it is held 
by so many millions of people, or the fertility and 
populousness of the districts through which it winds 
its majestic way. 
Upon commencing our voyage up this magnificent 
river, we were particularly struck by the exquisite 
delicacy of form and grace of motion displayed by the 
young Hindoo women, who were continually seen 
performing their daily lustrations in the sacred stream, 
or bearing away its consecrated waters with a sedate 
reverence, either for domestic or devotional purposes. 
They carry the water on their heads in three globular 
vessels of brass or of earthenware, placed upon each 
other, each diminishing in size, and forming the figure 
of an indented cone with the apex flattened, and 
nothing can exceed the ease and elegance of their 
movements under these becoming burthens.* I am 
indebted to the kindness of Sir Charles Wilkins t for 
the following melancholy narrative of one of these 
beautiful Hindoos : As he was once passing up the 
Hoogly, he saw an immense alligator plunge in 
among a party of bathers, and seize a lovely girl just 
rising into womanhood, with whom he dashed into 
the middle of the current that was then running at 
the rate of eight miles an hour. The creature darted 
through it like an arrow, defying pursuit, which was 
* See frontispiece. 
t Sir Charles is the celebrated Dr. Wilkins, one of the pro- 
foundest Oriental scholars in Europe. He was knighted the 
latter end of last June. 
