accommodation, and pitch their tents without the addition of a second roof; these white pavilions appearing to great advantage when thus grouped amid the leafy bungalows and sylvan retreats, clustered together in this healthful spot. Here the fortunate community, who are enabled to escape from the heat and closeness of the city, enjoy all the benefit of the sea breeze, which is so great a blessing in an Indian clime.

Bombay, from its delightful situation, is exempt from the visitation of those hot winds, which in many other parts of the country render it necessary to exclude every breath of air which does not pass through wetted mats. The animation and gaiety of this curious and fanciful encampment can scarcely be conveyed by description, forming the ride and drive of the whole of the European population; it displays a most attractive spectacle, when equipages, horses, and in fact, every species of conveyance, are assembled for evening exercise. A military band is stationed in a convenient place, heightening, by its exhilarating strains, the enjoyment produced by the gay company, and the splendour and beauty of the surrounding landscape. Many persons, who have had opportunities of forming a comparison between the two, are of opinion that the harbour of Bombay, with its striking adjacencies, exceeds, in pictorial beauty, the scenery of the far-famed Bay of Naples. The magnificent ranges of the ghauts, stretching far into the distance, the fine views which present themselves at every opening on the continent, combined with the romantic beauty of the islands, the remains of convents, churches, and stately houses belonging to the Portuguese, richly intermingled with wood, and diversified by temples and pagodas, with here and there the fragment of a Mahratta fortress, produce effects to which no description can do justice. Promontories projected into the sea, with nest-like dwellings hung upon every ledge of rock-the isthmus of Coleba, with its bold lighthouse, and every where the graceful coronal of the palm-tree, and the clustering feathers of the plantain, add their peculiarly elegant foliage to enhance the splendours of the scene.

The population ruralizing, as it may be termed, without the walls of the fort, form an extremely social community; they are not sufficiently numerous to break into distinct circles, a general acquaintance and good fellowship subsisting among the whole, it being very seldom that any circumstance occurs to disturb the harmony thus happily established. In all confined societies-and every European society in India must be more or less limited-it sometimes happens that disagreements and disunion take place, and that the rivalry of persons ambitious to take the lead will split their supporters into parties. Something of this kind has been recorded of Bombay; but it is by no means the general condition of affairs; and those who have had the longest and best opportunities of forming their judgment, are of opinion that, in true friendship of feeling and simplicity of living, it has the advantage of the sister presidencies. In other respects, perhaps, the eye is the sense which receives the truest gratification; for with all this lavish beauty of prospect, there are great drawbacks to a residence in Bombay. The inhabited portions, with the exception of the scattered garden-houses, are intolerably dirty; and complaints are made of the water, which is not considered wholesome, and in the lower classes occasions a frightful disease, which is very prevalent.

At the commencement of the rains, a sudden and extraordinary metamorphosis takes places in the lately crowded esplanade; all the gay pavilions disappear, the few traces which they leave behind being speedily obliterated by the waters which flood the whole arena, spreading their sullen pools where late the cottage and the garden smiled. When the monsoon sets in with vio

lence, the harbour assumes a new and striking aspect; the adjacent heights are capped with clouds, and though there is little danger to experienced seamen, the waters, lashed into turbulence by the raging winds, wear a menacing appearance; and the fishing-boats, while combatting with these surging billows, seem to the spectator to be in imminent peril. Boats are occasionally lost during this season in the harbour of Bombay; but these wrecks are principally owing to want of skill, or timidity, on the part of the mariners, who have not the reputation of being the best seamen in the world.

Of the native community, as it has been already stated, a large majority are Parsees, who, at a very remote period-the eighth century of the Christian era-were driven by the persecution of the Mohamedan conquerors of Persia, to take refuge in Hindustan. In seeking protection in a foreign soil, the fire-worshippers, while stipulating for the free exercise of their own religion, agreed to respect the prejudices of the followers of Brahma. They therefore entered into an engagement not to slaughter the sacred cow; and, in consequence, abstain from eating beef to this day, though without imbibing the Hindu reverence for the animal which affords this prohibited article of food. The adoration of the Parsees, which was originally confined to the Almighty Creator-the fountain of light, whose appropriate emblem is the sun-has, with the corruptions common to the religious faith of uncultivated nations, degenerated from its sublime and simple forms into gross idolatry. Some species of worship is paid to Zoroaster and other sages. The sacred fires in the temples are never permitted to go out, and many of the more scrupulous are unwilling to extinguish any flame, or even to snuff a candle, lest it should endanger its existence. The lower classes of Parsees are in great request as domestics at Bombay; they are far less intolerant in their principles than either Musulmans or Hindus, and will, therefore, perform a greater variety of work, and are more agreeable to live with; but in personal appearance, they cannot compete with the Bengal servants, whose dress and air are decidedly superior. The greater portion of the wealth of the place is in the hands of Parsee merchants, who are a hospitable race, and though not extravagant, liberal in their expenditure. The houses of these persons will be found filled with European furniture, and they have adopted many customs and habits which remain still unthought of by the Musulmans and Hindus. The women, though not jealously excluded from all society, are rather closely kept; they have no objection occasionally to receive the husbands of the European ladies who may visit them, but they do not mingle promiscuously with male society. The Parsee females are not distinguished for their personal appearance, being rather coarse and ill-favoured; but many employ themselves in a more profitable manner than is usual in native women. Work-tables, fitted up after the European mode, are not unfrequently found in their possession; they know how to use English implements in their embroidery, and they have English dressing-cases for the toilette. Considerable pains, in some instances, are bestowed upon the education of the daughters, who learn to draw, and to play upon the piano; and one Parsee gentleman, of great wealth, contemplated the introduction of an English governess, for the purpose of affording instruction to the young ladies of his family.

The Jews are more numerous, and of a higher degree of respectability in Bombay than in any other part of India; they make good soldiers, and are found in considerable numbers in the ranks of the native army. There are Armenians also, but not nearly so many as are settled in Calcutta: added to these strangers domiciled in the country, are Arabs and Chinese, who, with the

Mahrattas, Rajpoots, Moghuls, and the Portuguese and British residents, make up a very motley assemblage.

The markets of Bombay are well supplied; there is always an abundance of fish, and one variety in particular, the bumbelow, is greatly in request; it seems peculiar to this coast-a sort of sand-eel, rich, nutritious, and by some persons compared to a mass of flavourless jelly. Immense quantities are dried in the sun, some of which find their way to England, and when thus prepared, the fish become a considerable article of commerce with the countries in the vicinity. Shell-fish, such as oysters, limpets, prawns, sea cray-fish, &c., are also brought to market. The mutton, as in Bengal, requires to be fed on gram in order to obtain the delicacy and flavour which fits it for an English table. The Portuguese inhabitants rear large quantities of poultry; but game is not plentiful on the island, in consequence of its limited extent: red-legged partridges are, however, found, and, on some occasions, snipes. The climate of Bombay being of a more equable temperature than that of Bengal, neither suffering from the extreme heat of one season, nor enjoying the delightful cold of the other, little or nothing can be done in the way of salting and preserving provisions. Throughout the cold weather in Calcutta, and more particularly the upper provinces of Bengal, pork and beef will take the salt quite as readily as in more northern climates; and the hump of the bullock, common to India, when properly cured, forms a delicacy for the table which must be imported at Bombay. The same European vegetables, however, which are cultivated with such great success in Bengal during the cold weather, thrive equally well at Bombay; the potatoe, a comparatively late introduction, is abundant in all the adjacent countries, and peas, lettuce, and cauliflower, are grown with ease. The grapes are very fine; but the cultivators are obliged to make an artificial winter, by laying the roots bare at one season of the year. The European inhabitants are usually supplied with their fruit and vegetables from the bazaar, as there are comparatively few gardens attached to their houses; great quantities of the productions sold in the markets are brought from the neighbouring island of Salsette, which is, as it has been before stated, united to that of Bombay by a causeway—a work for which the inhabitants are indebted to Governor Duncan, who constructed it over a small arm of the sea. This communication, which has a drawbridge in the centre, is a great convenience both to the cultivators and to the residents of Bombay, who are thus enabled to extend and diversify their drives, by crossing over to Salsette. Nothing can easily be imagined more picturesque than the country passed upon these occasions; the inequality of ground, the redundance of the wood, and the intermixture of tombs, temples, tents, and the remains of monastic buildings, affording objects of interest at every step. A great portion of Salsette is now under cultivation, the Par sees, and other wealthy natives, possessing large estates on the island. The gardens belonging to rich natives in Salsette, and the neighbouring continent, are proverbial for their beauty and luxuriance, and the superior quality of their productions. The fruits embrace all that flourish in tropical climates, while the pine-apple and the mango are to be found in greater perfection than in any other part of India; the latter, in particular, has obtained so just a reputation, that, now that the facilities of reaching Bombay are so materially increased by the introduction of steam-navigation through the Red Sea, we may expect to hear of parties being formed for the express purpose of eating mangoes there. With rare exceptions, this celebrated fruit, when grown in Bengal, where it is found in great profusion, is coarse, stringy, and strongly tinctured with turpentine. In Bombay, its pulp is compared to the richest and most deli

cious cream, while nothing can be more delicate than the flavour. With some persons, the delight in mangoes almost amounts to a passion; and the proper method of eating them forms a subject of discussion amongst professed epicures. Like one or two other Indian dainties, their full enjoyment is perfectly incompatible with those nice decorums so strongly insisted upon in the rules for etiquette with which the world has lately been favoured. Many persons are unwilling to be seen while indulging in all the luxury of eating mangoes; but two or three kindred spirits will sometimes congregate round a basket, and having basins, towels, and a plentiful supply of water at hand, commence their operations by baring their arms to the elbow: they then take the mango in one hand, and making an incision in the peel-which is of a thick texture, and cannot conveniently be pared by the knife-they pull it off, and then scrape away the pulp beneath with their teeth; the juice, of course, gushes down on either side the mouth in golden streams, the hands are also saturated, and an ablution is, therefore, necessary after every mango. From this slight description, it will be seen that a party over a gridiron, in some snug sanctum at home, eating sprats, with head and tail in either hand, and dispensing with plates, forks, and dishes, would make an appropriate pendant to this oriental sketch. Though not an unwholesome fruit, too great an indulgence in feasting upon mangoes is considered prejudicial to Europeans, and apt to produce boils. The natives, however, eat them in large quantities, requiring little other sustenance during the period in which they are in season; they are reckoned very nutritious, and are usually sold at a very cheap rate. Bombay is likewise celebrated for a still more useful vegetable production-its onions, cultivated, in all probability, from seeds brought, in the first instance, from Portugal, and under the superintendence of Portuguese gardeners, being highly esteemed all over India. All the European vegetables which have been acclimated in the East flourish in these gardens, which are adorned with a profusion of flowers. Although landscape-gardening has not been much studied in India, and there is, consequently, great room for improvement in all the ornamental portions of native pleasure-grounds, yet, from the exceeding beauty of many of the forest-trees, and the abundance of the flowers, which grow wherever they please, every cultivated spot presents many attractions. In England, the kitchen-garden, as it is called, is usually perfectly distinct from the orchard and the pasture, and when upon a large scale, and conducted scientifically, nothing more frightful to the eye can easily be imagined. In India, on the contrary, where a separation between the useful and the ornamental has not taken place, a great deal of gratification is afforded in roaming over a spacious garden, in which the mere culinary part of the vegetables may be overlooked while admiring the lofty trees, bending under the weight of the fruit or blooming with blossoms, and the rich flowers which cluster in every direction. The numerous palm-trees of various kinds, which adorn the groves, and fling their imperial coronals over the gardens of Bombay, add very considerably to the beauty of the foliage; while the magnificent plantain, with its pale green feathery leaves, so lovely, and so tropical in its appearance, is an embellishment of so graceful a nature, that it can never fail to afford delight.

Though English gardens are not very numerous at Bombay, still there are several, which are remarkable both for the beauty of their productions and the peculiar advantage of their situation. Occupying the side of a hill, the walks are ledges rising terrace above terrace, and shaded by lofty palmyras, while the air blows freely through their tall, pillar-like stems. These trees are wreathed with magnificent creepers, and, mingled with flowering shrubs of a thousand

scents and hues, give a magnificent character to the scene. Indian gardens are usually more indebted to shrubs and trees, than to the parterre; for numbers of the smaller plants, which, when cultivated in England, attain to a considerable size, and become very beautiful, are here mere weeds, receiving no sort of care or attention. There are, however, some splendid exceptions; many, which we only see in a dwindled state in a hot-bed at home, flourish with astonishing luxuriance, and add considerably to the pride and beauty of the garden. Dahlias have been cultivated at Bombay with great success; and if they do not equal in size and splendour those which adorn the English parterre, it is on account of the neglect of a very essential point, that of taking up the roots after the flowering season is over, and dividing and planting them again at the proper period. Being suffered to remain in the ground all the year, they lose a portion of their strength, and are encumbered by their offshoots: there would probably be considerable difficulty in preserving them, while out of the earth, from the depredations of numerous assailants, including all kinds of vermin; nothing but the greatest care, in addition to a tin receptacle, being sufficient for the purpose. Reptiles of almost every denomination swarm in Bombay large snakes, which crush their victims in their coils, cobra capellas, and cobra manillas, and other poisonous varieties, frequently intrude in the gardens; the frogs are even larger than those to be found in Bengal, and equally noisy, while there are insects innumerable, many being particularly offensive, and even dangerous. As a compensation, however, the climate which produces these noxious creatures, lights up the woods in the evening with the fire-fly, that exquisite creation of nature, which seems scarcely to have received its due meed of celebrity in the songs of the poets. Whole trees are rendered luminous by these living meteors, which look as if the emeralds from some rich mine had taken flight, and were wantoning about in upper air. The birds, which disport themselves in these paradises, are of great variety and beauty, especially the smaller species, which, as they gleam in the sun, may, like the fire-flies, be mistaken for gems.

The favourite residence of the Governor (who has three residences upon the island), is usually a villa at Malabar Point, a particularly beautiful situation, being a woody promontory, rising so abruptly from the sea, that its spray dashes up against the terraces. This retreat, which forms an agreeable refuge in the hot season, commands a splendid view across the harbour, which, with its beautiful islands, its picturesque shipping, and its rich, romantic coast, always affords subjects for delightful contemplation. To the real lover of nature, an extensive prospect, embracing a beautiful country, supplies so many sources of gratification, that unless suffering from mental or bodily anguish, little more seems necessary for the enjoyment of every hour of leisure. Nothing, at least, can better compensate for the absence of society or of books; for so varying is the face of nature, every change of the atmosphere producing some new and beautiful effect, that those who can really appreciate its charm, are never weary of its glorious contemplation. The principal residence of the Governor is at Pareil, about six miles from the city, and here he gives his public entertainments. It is a large, handsome house, well-constructed and appointed, having spacious apartments for the reception of company. The society of Bombay depend, however, more upon private meetings amongst themselves for amusement, than upon the festivals given by the few great functionaries residing among them, and there is comparatively little in the shape of public meetings. Theatrical entertainments are scarcely worth attending, but there are occa sionally grand balls given in honour of distinguished persons.