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and cracking llie joints, after being rubbed over with perfumed 
pastes: champoing affords delightful sensations to the Asiatics; 
and many Europeans, after being accustomed to this singular 
treatment, consider it a luxury. 
The Banian hospital at Surat is a most remarkable institution; 
it consists of a large plot of ground, enclosed with high walls; 
divided into several courts, or wards, for the accommodation of 
animals: in sickness they are attended with the tenderest care, 
and find a peaceful asylum for the infirmities of age. When 
an animal breaks a limb, or is otherwise disabled from serving his 
master, he carries him to the hospital; and, indifferent to what 
nation or caste the owner may belong, the patient is never refused 
admittance. If he recovers, he cannot be reclaimed, but must 
remain in the hospital for life, subject to the duty of drawing water 
for those pensioners debilitated by age or disease from procuring 
it for themselves. At my visit, the hospiLal contained horses, 
mules, oxen, sheep, goats, monkeys, poultry, pigeons, and a variety 
of birds; with an aged tortoise, who was known to have been there 
for seventy-five years. The most extraordinary ward was that 
appropriated to rats, mice, bugs, and other noxious vermin: the 
overseers of the hospital frequently hire beggars from the streets, 
for a stipulated sum, to pass a night among the fleas, lice, and 
bugs, on the express condition of suffering them to enjoy their feast 
without molestation. 
The Banian hospital in Surat has several dependent endow- 
ments without the walls, for such invalids and convalescents to 
whom pasturage and country air may be recommended; and 
especially for the maintenance of the goafs purchased from slaugh- 
