Mangee, was the 
124 
The Hiden preséntly returned, and 
informed me that a *Saheb’s boat had 
been wrecked in the gale, and that he 
and his peapie were in great distress. I 
immediately sent him back with a note 
to the gentleman, offering hima shelter 
for the. night, and the assistance of all 
my people to extricate him from his dif- 
ficulties; presently my gentleman made 
his appearance, in a very miserable 
plight, wet from top to toe, and shivering 
with the cold so violently, that his teeth 
sounded like a pair of castanets; he told 
me in very tolerable English, ‘that he 
was an European Portuguese, proceed- 
Ing from Cal cutta, to Baugilpore, but 
that ke boat (a small Dacca Pulwar) 
having been Jost in the squawl, he was 
utterly at a loss huw to proceed. I soon 
found that he was among the lowest er- 
der of Portuguese, a ise of people I 
have a strong aversion to, from repeated 
‘ Instances of their depravity; but as he 
was in distress, 1 comforted him as well 
asT could, by supplying his immediate 
wants of apparel and refreshment, and a 
promise of taking him in my boat to the 
place of his destin: 1uon. We then walked 
down te examine the wreck, which we 
found measly full of water, part of her 
side and bottom bein@ s taved in; the 
owner of the boat, who was also the 
principa ul toa as it 
did not appear my Portuguese acquain- 
tance had ten rupees worth of property 
on board, and the little he had was all 
saved and taken to my boat, and the 
Signior himself soon lost all recollection 
of his recent disaster in a sound sleep,:in 
my Palanguin. Nextar ‘ning he paid bis 
respects to me at an early hour, : and, aiter 
a few introductor ¥ compliments, informed 
me his name was Lorenzo de Cabral, a 
native of Alentejo, which he had quitted 
when a boy, and gone to the Brazils to 
seek his fortune; but after a trial of some 
years, finding no prospect of bettering it 
in that quarter, he had removed to Goa, 
the principal Portuguese settlement on 
the Malabar coast ; his endeavours there 
pha ing equally unsuccessful; he had 
three or four years back ari rived wn Cal- 
cutta, a om which had becn represented 
to him as the parsitice of the world, and 
where gold mohurs and rupees were to 
be oicked up with very little trouble; but 
unfortunately he found those ¢ pretty 
things as difficult to be acquired there, as 
any where else; and after many attempts 
» 
* * Sabeb is literally a gentleman, but ap- 
pied r more paves to an Europear. 
a” 
Narrative of a recent Four in India. 
<4 P . “ 
[March 1, 
to gain a Lnctthiad he had lately re= 
moved to the Sunderbunds, where he 
maintained himself by sending faggots to 
Calcutia for sale. On enquiring his busi- 
ness at Baugilpore, he told me that he 
was going to visit a countryman settled 
there in the cloth trade, with a view of 
trying if he could do any thing in that 
line "hinheale The Sigmor’s story ap- 
peared so very consistent, and his de- 
meanour'soe mild, aud un assuming, that I 
felt a good deal dinteresied for him, and 
frequently admitted him into my cabin, 
when he used to amuse me with < 
count of the Biazis, and bis various ad- 
ventures in the Sunderbunds, with tigers 
and alligators. In this manner we pro. 
ceeded dn withont any thing remarkable 
occurring, until we arrived at Raaje Ma- 
hul, formerly a considerable. town, but 
noe dwindled into an insignificant val- 
lage, On the south bank of the river, part 
of a palace belonging to the once great 
Sultan Sujah still remains in pretty good 
preservation > the interior of two of the 
rooms is composed enturely of pure white 
marble, inlaid with inseriptions from the 
Kerang be biack marble; the letters are 
seautifully formed, and oe well fitted in 
the white ena as to give them the 
appearance, even after a close inspection, 
of having been done with a camel-hair - 
pencil, by a masterly band; this palace 
is built on a rock, on the margin of the 
river about forty feet above its level; in 
front of the buiiding an’ open area CX- 
tends to the brink of the precipice, round 
which there is a parapet wall breast high, 
erected a few months before my arrival, 
in consequence of a fatal accident hicly 
happened to a military oificer, of the 
name of Van Ristell. At that time a 
wooden railing was the only safeguard. 
Mr. Van Risrell stopped here on his way 
to one of the military stations, and m- 
cautiously leaned onthe railing, which 
not being sutliciently strong to support 
his weight, gave way, aud’ fie fell head- 
long down the precipice on a projecting 
part of the-rock, where his head was li- 
terally dashed to-pieces. I shuddered 
as [looked dewn on the spot, and fancied 
some of the blood still remained on tke 
stones. L knew Van Ristell weil, ‘and 
cous not bat feel some melancholy _sen- 
ations on viewmg the scene of his un- 
cis death; his remains wére buried i in 
a earden adjoining the palace, and a 
plain but decent monument erected to 
bis memory. About the middie of the 
seventeenth century, Raaje Mabul; was 
the seat of the depaaiens of Bengal, 
; unde 
an ac=— 
; 
4 
, 
