112 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
Hindoo,, who has both relinquished her caste and her 
religion, and we have lived in the greatest harmony 
together for the last twelve years. She has abjured 
the creed of Brama, and now cleaves to that of Ma- 
homet with the devotion of the most zealous among 
the faithful ; she will yet be a houri in Paradise/' 
“ How,” said I, “ did you manage to overcome 
the prejudices and win the affections of this gentle 
Hindoo ?” 
Master shall hear,” replied the man ; and he im- 
mediately related the following story, which I shall 
beg leave to present to the reader in my own words, 
as it was delivered in very imperfect English, which, 
though sufficiently interesting to hear, would not 
probably be so to read. 
“ About fourteen years ago,” began the Mussulman, 
as soon as he had obtained my permission to tell his 
story, I was a resident in the town which we are 
now approaching, and which was at that time, or 
rather the neighbourhood, infested with those sanc- 
tified vagabonds who, under the general name of 
fakeers, levy contributions upon the charitable, and, 
by assuming an air of austere devotion, often con- 
trive to render themselves the stipendiaries of some 
of the most powerful princes in Hindostan. They 
practise their duplicity upon the ignorance and su- 
perstition of their idolatrous brethren with such 
ingenuity and success, that in numerous instances 
they acquire an absolute spiritual dominion over 
them. They are at once the greatest impostors and 
the most profligate scoundrels upon earth, being fre- 
quently guilty of frightful enormities to obtain their 
