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children, dwelling under the same roof: the females did not ap- 
pear; but, in all respects, as far as oriental manners and religious 
tenets permitted, he entertained us with the greatest hospitality, 
and exhibited a striking picture of the patriarchal age. We dined 
in a garden refreshed by fountains, surrounded with flowers, and 
shaded by caringe trees; whose purple blossoms, in rich festoons, 
diffused a sweet perfume: the fruit affords a delicate lamp-oil. 
The cassia-fistula, a tree of nearly equal beauty, abounds in this 
country; exclusive of the medicinal value of the fruit, the blos- 
soms are fragrant and clustering; it is esteemed among the sacred 
trees of the Hindoos, who erect altars, and offer flowery sacrifices 
under its shade to Marialalee and the sylvan deities. 
Our venerable friend at Ram Rajah was one of the most re- 
spectable Mahomedans I ever knew; although greatly advanced 
in age, he retained all his faculties, and had not lost the cheerful- 
ness of youth: this I mention, because the natives of India seldom 
live to old age; few of the men exceed threescore years, and still 
fewer of the other sex attain that period: many causes may be 
assigned for this brevity of life; especially early marriages. As 
longevity among the Indians is not common, neither is it, per- 
haps, very desirable: when declining years render the superior 
classes of Asiatics incapable of enjoying the ambitious, avaricious, 
and sensual pleasures, which in their estimation comprise the 
summum bonum of life; with minds untaught by learning and 
experience, unstored by science and literature, and uncheered by 
a warm and benevolent religion, they have no relish for those calm 
delights which soften the declining path of the pious Christian, 
and gild the rays of his setting sun. Possessing a mind at peace 
