he stopped at Lucknow, Benares and Patna, Without following M. Rousselet step by step-for this would involve a reproduction of the volume itself-we shall present, with slight abridgment and disconnectedly, a few of his picturesque descriptions and instructive paragraphs. religions, could have found a few hundred thousand years quite as ample as three or four millions to beget that obscurity, uncertainty, and contradiction which have afforded ample scope for the exploitation of all sorts of theories and for the construction of systems innumerable. Histories of India, which are rarely, if ever, read, burden the shelves of all libraries. But, if its chronology is to the last degree confusing, and, indeed, incomprehensible, the country itself surpasses all others in that which interests the traveler and fascinates the reader. The terms magnificence, grandeur, and splendor do not reach the limit of hyperbole without the prefix "Oriental," and India is the country, of all countries, which has given this adjective to the vocabulary. Its luxuriant forests and interminable jungles abound in the noblest game that ever falls before the sportsman's rifle. Accounts of travels through the country are therefore sure to be diversified with thrilling Reaching Bombay in the midst of the adventure. Its temples surpass those to be rainy season-in July, 1864—our traveler found in any other country, not only in num- was detained there until it should be practiber, but in colossal grandeur and exquisite cable to penetrate the interior. But the two delicacy of architecture; the antiquity of its or three months spent in this active comruins and their wonderful extent give the arch-mercial city and its vicinity were industriæologist the widest scope for research; and its native princes, although shorn of much of their former glory, still live in a magnificent luxury, which revives the glories of the "Arabian Nights," and makes even those imaginative tales seem at least to be founded in fact. There is a marvelous fascination in accounts of this strange land, and when the narrative is rehearsed by an impressionable and enthusiastic Frenchman, whose imagination is keenly alive to the scenes through which he passed, and who has unusual skill in depicting with pen and pencil the wonders he witnesses, we have a book of travels❘ not only interesting and valuable for the information it conveys, but which, in its external attractions, reaches the dignity of a work of art. Such a volume is that superb quarto, "India and its Native Princes: Travels in Central India in the Presidencies of Bombay and Bengal," by M. Louis Rousselet, just issued in this country by Messrs. Scribner, Armstrong & Co. M. Rousselet's journeys in India covered a period of between four and five years,-from 1864 to 1868. During this time he visited the extreme southern part of the peninsula, reaching Seringapatam and Outakamand, Hyderabad and Aurungabad. To the northward he visited Agra, Delhi, Meerut, and the mountainous region of Peshawur, meanwhile traveling extensively in the interior. Crossing the country, ously improved. A glance at the map will show that the island of Bombay forms part of an important group of islands, which, placed in front of the estuary of a river, appear to form a kind of delta. It is the port of arrival for all who come from Persia, from Arabia, from Affghanistan, and the coast of Africa; and from it the pilgrims from Hindustan, bound to Mecca, Karbala, or Nujiff, take their departure. Besides the indigenous races, which still present great variety, one meets the Persian with his high cap of Astrakhan; the Arab in his Biblical costume; the Tomale negro with fine, intelligent features; the Chinese, the Burmese, and the Malay. The corpulent Buniahs of Kutch or Goojerat, with their pyramids of muslin on their heads, raise their voices in rivalry with the natives of Cabul or Scinde; the Hindu fakir, naked and hideously painted, elbows the Portuguese priest in his sable robe, and the beggar, clad in tatters and repulsive in the extreme, clamors for alms. Bombay supplies the products of Europe to two-thirds of India. The trade of which it has legitimately the command, apparently ought to be sufficient to satisfy the ambition of its merchants, but M. Rousselet reminds us of a time when they boldly grasped after more, and, failing, plunged the community into the disorders of a terrible crisis. The series of events which had this culmination took place in the year 1864-65, and is thus graphically sketched: "America, rent asunder by the horrors of civil war, had deprived Europe of one of the elements most necessary to its industrial existence, viz., cotton; and India, which had comprehended how important it was that she should attempt to step into the place then, for the time being, vacant, had (thanks to her intelligent efforts) become able to supply in a great degree the void that had been produced in the means of feeding the manufactures of the world. Bombay had then become the emporium of all the cotton of India. Availing herself of the immense advantages of her position, she had contrived to attract to herself the whole of this branch of commerce, and had become almost the sole arbitress of it. Incredible fortunes were rapidly accumulated, and then, impelled by the longing after speculation which had begun to possess their souls, the Indians disinterred the treasures that had been buried for centuries, and money overflowed upon the ground. Considering the reconstruction of the United States an impossibility, the Bombayans foresaw for their city a most magnificent future. In stead of seeing in that season merely an exceptional piece of good fortune, they thought that nothing could possibly reverse their prosperity. Projects sprang into life on all sides; cotton, while remaining as the basis of their commerce, became merely the pretext for unlimited speculation. Intelligent but inconsiderate men established gigantic companies to develop resources which had already attained the height of their development. A project was organized to enlarge the island, A HINDU BEGGAR. and reclaim from the sea the Back Bay. A company was started; and when, some days after the issue of the shares, they attained a premium of £3,000, the speculation knew no bounds. Many new banks were founded; but all this was on paper only. It was merely a game at which everybody was playing. Merchants, officers, public functionaries, were only too glad to exchange their silver for wretched scraps of paper; some humbled themselves so far as to solicit the lead ers of the movement, and the leading men | were regarded as millionaires and demigods. In spite of the efforts of some honorable men, who foresaw the ruin in which this folly would certainly end, and who endeavored to stop the people on the brink of the abyss, the contagion spread throughout the whole island. Even the ladies, seated in their chariots by the sea-side, conversed together eagerly on the fluctuations of Exchange; servants risked their wages, and workmen their pay, in this insatiable speculation. But when the news of General Lee's defeat reached Bombay, when the banks were closed, when well-established commercial houses collapsed, and all these shares became waste paper, then there was universal ruin-from the greatest to the least, all were struck down. The crash was so severe that even the Bank of Bombay was obliged to suspend payment, and the most prudent were in their turn dragged into the abyss created by the speculators. Bombay has SERPENT CHARMER. raised herself slowly and painfully from this fearful crisis, and now aspires anew, but with more prudence, to become once more the commercial metropolis of India." Everywhere in India one meets with the jugglers and serpent-charmers, whose feats are famous the world over. Matheran, a locality in the table-land of the Ghauts, 1,500 or 2,000 feet above the sea-level, where the English have established sanatoria both for the soldiers and the residents, is naturally one of the leading rendezvous for these jugglers. They assemble during the season on this table-land and perform their tricks from one bungalow to another. Some of them are very skillful. Almost entirely naked, and in the middle of your room, they will make a serpent disappear, a tree grow and bring forth fruit, or water flow from an apparently empty vase. Others will swallow a saber, or play tricks with sharp knives. Each has his special accomplishment. One of their most curious tricks t A is that of the basket and child. child of seven or eight years old, standing upright in the basket, writhes in convulsions under the influence of music, and disappears slowly into the interior, which is barely large enough to contain it. Scarcely is it inside when the musicians throw themselves upon it, close the lid, and pierce the basket in every direction with their long knives. They strike with all their might until, the bamboo giving way, the basket is almost completely flattened, and seems no longer capable of containing anything. They then re-form the circle and resume their chant, to which a voice now responds from the forest. The sound gradually approaches, and at last seems to come from the basket, which becomes more and more distended; the lid is removed, and the child springs out. This trick is very adroitly performed, and, though capable of being explained to Europeans, excites lively astonishment in the Indian spectators. The top trick is likewise very curious. The juggler gives a vigorous impulse to the top, which he places on the top of a small stick balanced on his nose; then, according to the request of the spectator, the top suddenly stops, or again goes on spinning. This last part of the operation M. Rousselet thought by far the most extraordinary. That the top should stop is intelligible; but that it should afterward continue to revolve, without any new impetus, and perform these alternate maneuvers for several seconds, is the inexplicable point. Our traveler attentively examined both the stick and the top, but could discover no trace of mechanical contrivance. These jugglers have a number of secret artifices of this description, which gain them, among the Indians, a reputation for sorcery that proves greatly to their advantage. The acrobats go through all the feats familiar to Europeans at home, such as swinging on the trapeze, climbing and balancing poles, etc.; but that which consists in receiving on the shoulder a ball of stone of great weight dropped from a very considerable height, without the juggler appearing at all hurt, was most astonishing. Religious mendicants of all sorts, each of whom has his special avocation, are little less notable than these jugglers. One excites the pity of the public by showing himself in the streets entirely naked, or covered only with a coating of ashes; another shows proudly his arm, which sticks up bare and emaciated, the nails having grown through the hand; while a number of them stand in the bazaars and sell amulets and charms, and ply many other lucrative trades. But every season there is at least one fakir, who contrives, by some novel trick, to make himself the lion of these religious circles. The year M. Rousselet visited Jeypoor, it was a |