20 4 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
general. There are, nevertheless, an immense number 
of prohibited meats from which they abstain with 
scrupulous particularity. 
So rigid are the Jains in observing the mere 
textual precept which prohibits killing, that they 
have established lazarettos for the security of vermin 
of all kinds, and even of noxious reptiles, to whose 
wants they attend with the most patient attention, 
and would rather suffer death themselves than press 
their finger even upon a musquito. It must be 
confessed that in general the members of this sect 
are remarkable for their mildness and humanity. 
Whatever may be the silly qualities of some of their 
superstitions, they are more than countervailed by 
traits of the noblest kind, which are by no means 
discovered to abound among the mass of the Hindo 
population. 
On the third day after quitting Benares we crossed 
the bridge at Mow, near Bidzee Gur, and ascended 
the hill. On reaching the fort in which the rebel 
Cheit Singh had deposited his treasures in 178], we 
found it in a state of great dilapidation. This me- 
morable fortification is erected upon a table-land of 
some extent, considerably elevated above the level of 
the plain, and inaccessible on all sides but one, where 
the ascent is extremely tedious, The circumference 
of the summit, which is protected by a strongly forti- 
fied wall, is about two miles ; the ground which it 
encloses is abundantly supplied with water and well 
cultivated. We were surprised, on observing the 
strength of the place and the difficulty of approach, 
that it should have so easily yielded to the assault 
