SCENES IN INDIA. 
1 54 
The victor awaited another competitor : in a few 
moments a gigantic fellow advanced, at least six 
feet high, with a broad iron frame, but the muscles, 
though prominent, seemed to want that firmness of 
texture and closeness of tension which are the great in- 
dications of elastic vigour. This man was past the 
middle age, and had gone beyond the prime of his 
strength. His ponderous body seemed, notwithstand- 
ing, to make fearful odds against the lighter candidate, 
already weakened by a long and arduous struggle. 
The big Hindoo advanced with a surly aspect, which 
completely turned the balance of sympathy against 
him, and the bout commenced with many clumsy evo- 
lutions upon his part, and as many active ones on 
that of his opponent. At length they closed, but the 
smaller wrestler clung so close to his Herculean an- 
tagonist, that the latter could not throw him. He 
exerted his great strength to no purpose, the quickness 
and elasticity of his rival foiled all his attempts. He 
snorted with his exertions, and at length became vi- 
sibly excited. He had been a successful champion 
in his better days, and was loth to yield to younger 
men the reputation he had once enjoyed. His limbs 
no longer retained their wonted pliancy ; and though 
from his large muscular frame and superior weight he 
was still a formidable opponent, these, nevertheless, 
could not countervail the superior advantages of youth 
and greater flexibility of limb. He moreover showed 
so much less skill than the man to whom he was 
opposed, that it was evident he owed his former re- 
putation chiefly to his immense strength, of which 
sufficient remained to show that in the prime of his 
