230 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
the splendid remains of palaces, temples, and mauso- 
leums, pointing, in the triumph of its own decaying 
grandeur, to the pageantries of earlier times, when 
kings and courtiers thronged those halls which are be- 
come the refuge of reptiles or form the lairs of wild 
beasts. Although this once magnificent city was the 
greatest in Hindostan before the Mahomedan inva- 
sion, it now presents nothing but a scene of sublime 
desolation. The soil around it is arid and unproduc- 
tive, and during the dry season the river is not naviga- 
ble but for boats of the lightest burthen. 
Hither the exiled Parsee proceeded with his only 
daughter, a beautiful girl of sixteen, who voluntarily 
accompanied her father in his melancholy exile, and 
beguiled his hours of bitter dejection. Conceiving that 
he had been deeply wronged, he determined to throw 
off all respect for the laws that govern society, and 
signalize his sense of personal injustice by retaliating 
wrong where none had been received. To his daughter 
he did not communicate his intentions ; but, arriving 
at the place which he had determined upon for his fu- 
ture abode, told her that there she must henceforward 
make up her mind to fix her home. She acquiesced 
with buoyant readiness, being always eager to give 
her parent pleasure by implicit submission to his 
wishes. They were alone: two bullocks bore their 
little property, which consisted of nothing more than 
a few household necessaries, their wearing apparel, 
and two hundred rupees in gold. 
The bullocks were driven by the Parsee, his daugh- 
ter occupying the back of one ; and he finally halted 
at the entrance of the Patan’s tomb already mentioned. 
