MOOTEEJERNA. 
101 
blinds, at once to exclude the sun and admit the air. 
Every night we moored beneath the shelter of some 
convenient bank, and got under weigh again in the 
morning. Whenever we landed above Rajemah’l we 
found those religious devotees, so well known in India 
under the name of Gosseins, to be extremely numerous, 
endeavouring, like all the fakeer tribes, to extort bene- 
factions from every one they happened to meet, and 
they were invariably successful among the natives, 
whose superstitious fears of their power and dread of 
their supernatural influence are quite amazing. 
We were induced to land and visit the waterfall of 
Mooteejerna, but it did not at all realize our expecta- 
tions, falling far short of what we had seen in the 
southern extremity of the peninsula. Monkeys were 
very numerous in the neighbourhood of this fall, and 
the print of a rhinoceros’s foot was visible along the 
path we were obliged to pursue, which greatly alarmed 
our native attendants, who have a prodigious horror 
of this formidable forester. We saw, however, no 
beasts of prey, but occasionally heard the dismal 
howlings of the jackals, with which the whole continent 
of Asia abounds, and which may be considered, though 
frequently a great annoyance, one of the blessings 
of a torrid country, since they devour immense quan- 
tities of carrion, which, but for them, would scatter 
contagion and pestilence over its parched though fruit- 
ful plains. On our approach to Colgong, whither we 
proceeded on foot, leaving our budgerow to track up 
the river, intending to join her at a stated spot, we 
were hospitably entertained with new bread and deli- 
cious fresh butter, which was sent to us by an English 
k 3 
