sterne’s maria. 
295 
as it is rather narrow, the exility of the half-starved 
devotee renders that comparatively little laborious to 
him which is really a matter of difficulty to the more 
bulky sybarite. This act of devotion is attended with 
some danger during the monsoons, for the cliff being at 
a great elevation above the beach, and among rocks 
at no time easy of access, the lashing of the surge 
at their base, when the sea dashes over them, some- 
times almost to the brow of the cliff, renders the 
footing of the penitentiary frequently precarious, and 
requires much caution to perform this act of silly 
superstition. 
Near this spot is an agreeable village almost entirely 
inhabited by Brahmins, where there is a fine large 
tank, walled all round with beautiful masonry, with a 
descent to the water by a broad flight of stone steps. 
Here these holy men — holy at least by profession, if 
not by nature —pass their lives in indolent enjoyment, 
which for the most part consists in indulging, without 
stint, the suggestions of appetite. Some of them are 
said never to pass beyond the immediate neighbour- 
hood of their homes, yet the spot is so healthy that 
they generally attain to a good old age. 
Not far from Malabar Point stood the house for- 
merly occupied by Mrs. Draper, the celebrated Maria 
of Sterne. This circumstance has consecrated it to a 
certain extent in the eyes of many persons ; but there 
is nothing else to signalize it, and probably by this 
time it no longer exists, though when I left Bombay, 
it was still in a very habitable state, occupied by a 
subaltern officer and his family. 
There is a large village at Bombay called Maza- 
