15 7 
Bombay are generally called Purvoes; a faithful diligent class, 
much attached to their employer, careful of his interest, accurate 
in their accounts, and very often such exact imitators of his hand- 
writing, that it is impossible in a long letter to discriminate the 
fac-simile from the autograph: such an amanuensis is peculiarly 
useful in a country where the conveyance of letters was then so 
precarious, that both in public and private dispatches, it was 
necessary to send duplicate and triplicate copies. 
When 1 resided at Bombay, early hours prevailed throughout 
the presidency and its subordinate settlements: these are now 
altered to the more fashionable routine of England. The morning 
was then dedicated to business; every body dined at one o’clock; 
on breaking up, tire companj'' went to their respective houses to 
enjoy a siesta, and return after a walk or ride in the country, to 
pass the remainder of the evening, and sup where they had dined. 
Our rural excursions in that climate are early in the morning, or 
after the sun declines: the twilight, so near the equator, is short; 
but the mildness and serenity of the moonlight nights render them 
peculiar]} 7 delightful: there indeed we behold the nocturnal lumi- 
nary “ walking in her brightness,” without a vapour to dim the 
“ sweet influences of the Pleiades, or veil the bands of Orion.” 
Such a spectacle naturally disposes the mind to solemn musings; 
and, while enjoying the western breeze on the flat roofs of the 
oriental houses, and beholding the celestial canopy so gloriously 
adorned, it is impossible not to meditate with pious awe on the 
Great Parent of the universe, 
" Who gives its lustre to the insect’s wing. 
And fills with glory the celestial world l” i 
