33 
which, with salt, pepper, and ginger, season their viands, mingled 
in small quantities with the rice, which is the chief article of food 
among all the higher classes of Indians: the poor live principally 
upon juarree (liolcus sorghum), bajaree (holcus spicatus), and other 
inferior grains. 
The rice, or batty, is sown in June, at the commencement of 
the periodical rains; which continue, more or less, until October, 
when the harvest begins. The rice-grounds are enclosed with 
mounds of earth, and contain a great deal of water; for rice will 
not grow in a dry soil; and as it always rises with the water, in 
Pegu, and some other countries, the harvest is reaped in boats; 
and many low lands which can be artificially watered, produce 
two crops of rice in a year, with the addition of a little manure. 
During the rainy season, and for a few weeks afterwards, the 
country in Hindostan is delightful; nothing can exceed its verdure, 
and general beauty; but the fervour of a tropical sun soon clothes 
the earth with a russet hue, which continues until the annual fall 
of rain; in that long interval of eight months not a single shower 
falls; and the nightly dews, though copious, are insufficient to pre- 
serve the grass: yet most of the trees, as in other tropical climates, 
are ever-greens. 
In the temperate climes of Europe, it is difficult to conceive 
the force and beauty of the eastern language respecting fertilizing 
streams and refreshing showers: it is not so with the inhabitants of 
the torrid zone, who look forward with eager expectation to the 
setting in of the rainy season; when cultivation commences, the 
seed is sown, and a joyful harvest anticipated. Should these pe- 
riodical rains be withheld, when the heavens are “ as brass, and 
F 
