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His views of all things tended to negation, never selves indifferent. And the reason that he felt to the positive and the creative. Hence may be thus careless was the desponding taint in his explained a fact, which cannot have escaped any blood. It is good to be of a melancholic temperakeen observer of those huge Johnsonian memora- ment, as all the ancient physiologists held, but bilia which we possess, viz., that the gyration of only if the melancholy is balanced by fiery aspirhis flight upon any one question that ever came ing qualities, not when it gravitates essentially to before him was so exceedingly brief. There was the earth. Hence the drooping, desponding chano process, no evolution, no movements of self-racter, and the monotony of the estimate which conflict or preparation;-a word, a distinction, a Dr. Johnson applied to life. We were all, in his pointed antithesis, and, above all, a new abstrac-view, miserable, scrofulous wretches; the "strumous tion of the logic involved in some popular fallacy diathesis" was developed in our flesh, or soon or doubt, or prejudice, or problem, formed the would be; and but for his piety, which was utmost of his efforts. He dissipated some casual the best indication of some greatness latent within perplexity that had gathered in the eddies of con- him, he would have suggested to all mankind versation, but he contributed nothing to any a nobler use for garters than any which reweightier interest; he unchoked a strangulated garded knees. In fact, I believe, that but for sewer in some blind alley, but what river is his piety, he would not only have counselled there that felt his cleansing power. There is hanging in general, but hanged himself in no man that can cite any single error which Dr. particular. Now, this gloomy temperament, not Johnson unmasked, or any important truth which as an occasional but as a permanent state, is fatal he expanded. Nor is this extraordinary. Dr. to the power of brilliant conversation, in so far as Johnson had not within himself the fountain of such that power rests upon raising a continual succespower, having not a brooding or naturally philo- sion of topics, and not merely of using with lifesophic intellect. Philosophy in any acquired less talent the topics offered by others. Man is sense he had none. How else could it have hap- the central interest about which revolve all the pened that, upon David Hartley, upon David fleeting phenomena of life: these secondary inHume, upon Voltaire, upon Rousseau, the true or terests demand the first; and with the little knowthe false philosophy of his own day, beyond a per- ledge about them which must follow from little sonal sneer, founded on some popular slander, he care about them, there can be no salient fountain had nothing to say and said nothing? A new world of conversational themes. Pectus-id est quod was moulding itself in Dr. Johnson's meridian disertum facit. From the heart, from an interest hours, new generations were ascending, and "other of love or hatred, of hope or care, springs all perpalms were won." Yet of all this the Doctor manent eloquence; and the elastic spring of suspected nothing. Countrymen and contempo- conversation is gone, if the talker is a mere showy raries of the Doctor's, brilliant men, but (as many man of talent, pulling at an oar which he detests. think) trifling men, such as Horace Walpole and Lord Chesterfield, already in the middle of that eighteenth century, could read the signs of the great changes advancing, already started in horror from the portents which rose before them in Paris, like the procession of regal phantoms before Macbeth, and have left in their letters records undeniable (such as now read like Cassandra prophecies) that already they had noticed tremors in the ground below their feet, and sounds in the air, running before the great convulsions under which Europe was destined to rock, full thirty years later. Many instances, during the last war, showed us that in the frivolous dandy might often lurk the most fiery and accomplished of aides-de-camp; and these cases show that men, in whom the world sees only elegant roués, some-effectually, and yet indirectly, upon conversation; times from carelessness, sometimes from want of opening for display, conceal qualities of penetrating sagacity, and a learned spirit of observation, such as may be looked for vainly in persons of more solemn and academic pretension. But there was a greater defect in Dr. Johnson, for purposes * "Had studied nothing :"-It may be doubted whether of conversation, than merely want of eye for the Dr. Johnson understood any one thing thoroughly, except social phenomena rising around him. He had no Latin; not that he understood even that with the elaborate and circumstantial accuracy required for the editing critieye for such phenomena, because he had a somcally of a Latin classic. But if he had less than that, he nolent want of interest in them; and why? be- had also more: he possessed that language in a way that no cause he had little interest in man. Having no extent of mere critical knowledge could confer. He wrote it genially, not as one translating into it painfully from sympathy with human nature in its struggles, or English, but as one using it for his original organ of faith in the progress of man, he could not be sup- thinking. And in Latin verse he expressed himself at posed to regard with much interest any foreruntimes with the energy and freedom of a Roman. Greek, his acquaintance was far more slender, and had not ning symptoms of changes that to him were them-been much cultivated after his youthful days.

What an index might be drawn up of subjects interesting to human nature, and suggested by the events of the Johnsonian period, upon which the Doctor ought to have talked, and must have talked, if his interest in man had been catholic, but on which the Doctor is not recorded to have uttered one word! Visiting Paris once in his life, he applied himself diligently to the measuringof what? Of gilt mouldings and diapered panels ! Yet books, it will be said, suggest topics as well as life, and the moving sceneries of life. And surely Dr. Johnson had this fund to draw upon? No: for though he had read much in a desultory way, he had studied nothing;* and, without that sort of systematic reading, it is but a rare chance that books can be brought to bear

whilst to make them directly and formally thesubjects of discussion, pre-supposes either a learned audience, or, if the audience is not so, much dantry and much arrogance in the talker.

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With

DESCRIPTIVE SKETCH OF THE PROVINCE OF BUNDELKUND.

INDIA, considered as one magnificent whole, now fills a large place in the public mind, yet it is only when insurrections, sanguinary battles, or fierce intestine discords, imperatively demand our interference, that its several parts are subjected to a minute and detailed survey. Affghanistan, while our occupation of the province was debated-Gwalior, when it placed the peace of India in jeopardy-and Scinde, during that period in which the cause of its Ameers was espoused by so many Quixotic politicians-became each in its turn an object of all-absorbing interest; and now the Punjaub, from the long series of intrigues, murders, assassinations, and glorious victories, won by British valour, of which it has been the scene, challenges the attention not only of politicians but of all Christendom.

Bundelkund possesses at the present moment no such claims upon our notice. It has relapsed, after centuries of internal and external warfare, into a state of repose; but for that very reason we have seized upon this interval of tranquility to take a calm survey of its aspect and condition. For, from the recent events in the East, we are convinced that the necessity exists of drawing more immediately within the sphere of the general reader's observation, not only those provinces which, having lately been the scene of turbulence and anarchy, are, by this means, as it were, forced upon our notice, but those also lying farther removed from the beaten track, but which may, and that at no distant day, perhaps become themselves objects of interest, by being converted into the field of important industrial operations.

From the moment when Colonel Goddard, with his army, marched through Bundelkund to effect a diversion in favour of the government of Bombay, then engaged in war with the Peshwâ, this province has, in some way or another, proved a constant source of uncasiness to our British rulers. It has been found necessary to put down rebellion after rebellion, to crush outbreak after outbreak, to depose first one rajah and then another, while each succeeding year has ushered in, with its advent, fresh anarchy and renewed scenes of lawless disturbances.

turn was removed by the poinard of the assassin, or the poisoned chalice of a rival, or fell in battle against the ruler of some neighbouring district. The forts scattered over the face of the province are themselves chroniclers, which, with their origin buried in profound antiquity, testify at once to the early date of the battles fought, and the continual apprehension in which princes must have existed, who required strongholds so stupendous to protect them from the incursions of the enemy.

British rule has at length established peace, by dividing the province into small principalities or jaghirs, under so many petty rajahs.

Inquiry into Bundela history was first prompted by the remains of the forts of Kalinghur and Ujee Ghur, which were supposed to contain antiquities belonging to a very remote period. The most diligent account entered upon with enthusiasm for some time, appeared destined to be attended with little or no success, yielding, as it did, information of a vague and doubtful character, which seemed rather to excite than allay curiosity. An ancient manuscript, termed the Kshurl Purk-ash, at length came to light, which recorded at once the succession of the early rajahs, and the wars in which they were engaged, thus affording a brilliant opportunity for the bard Lal to expatiate in glowing terms on the intrepedity and heroism of the brave Bundelas, whose valour, however, has for ages been expended in the internal quarrels periodically arising among its various rulers, and the resistance of incursions made by marauders from the neighbouring districts, and to which the country has long been subject.

Bundelkund is an elevated table-land, lying between the 24th and 26th degrees of north latitude, extending over a space of eleven thousand square miles, bounded by the river Jumna to the north, by portions of the great Vindyan chain on the south and south-east, with Malwah to the west, and Allahabad to the east. It is watered by the Jumna, the Sone, the Betwah, the Tonse, and the Ken, which intersect the whole district in a northerly but meandering course. Four parallel ranges of the Vindyan hills, each successively supporting a table-land rising one above the other, and separated by narrow valleys and slips of cultivated country, sweep in an irregular course round Bundelkund proper, which forms the valley at their feet, and undergoing, as it pro

The cession of Bundelkund by the Peshwâ did not at once suffice to restore tranquility. Nor can we feel much surprise at the difficulty experienced by a state so long the hotbed of intrigue, and which has passed through so lengthened an ordeal of misrule, in accom-ceeds, several changes of name, the grand chain being modating itself to so entirely a new order of things. Peace could only be established when the tribes, weary of warfare, determined to apply themselves to the pursuits of agriculture, and guide the plough over the fertile valley, instead of wielding the sword in defence of predatory chiefs or turbulent rajahs.

called the Tamean hills, from Talada to Belehrea, while thence eastward it takes the appellation of Kinwarra.

The aspect presented by these mountains, viewed from the table-lands of Bundelkund, is bold and striking in the extreme, reminding us of a fine sea-coast landscape. The eye rests upon a succession of mural precipices, towering to the height of seven hundred feet above the valley, in so abrupt and perpendicular an ascent, that a man possessed of a steady eye, and boasting a tolerable amount of nerves, might stand on the summit and sus

Our intention is not just now to dwell upon the events of Bundela history. Suffering our eyes, however, to revert for a moment to the past, and setting aside the fables which are entangled in the early history of Bundelkund, we discover the same string of revolts, dethrone-pend a plummet in his hand that would reach the botments, assassinations, insurrections, rebellions, family contentions, intestine discords, and petty intrigues, which more or less mark the annals of all eastern provinces. Rajah after rajah ascended the musnud, and each in his

tom uninterrupted in its course by any projecting cliff. Occasionally the rocks receding from the main line form in their course onward a rugged bay, others again suddenly stretch forth towards the table-lands, a point of rock

The most valuable commodity of the province, its superb cotton, in full bloom, waves its white blossoms in the wind. At intervals, a stupendous mountain rises abruptly out of the cultivated land, and majestically towers aloft, cased in jungle, with its heights crowned by a fringe of brambles and bushes, straggling over the black rock encircling its rugged head.

which resembles a rude promontory. Here and there | leums and temples, whose domes glitter in the sunbeams. the continuity of the range is disturbed by the rending in twain of a giant crag almost from the summit to its roots, thus forming a huge chasm, apparently split by some sudden eruption of waters from the country lying beyond, which, having as suddenly subsided, left traces alone in the shape of yawning gulphs. The summit line of the mountains is, in general, neither very broken nor very irregular; occasionally gradual descents may be seen, but, for the most part, the hills abruptly terminate in small level plains, fringed with overhanging black rocks, as though by some convulsion of nature the cones had been carried away.

The isolated mountains and solitary hills, which rear their heads at intervals in the midst of green cultivation, are extremely picturesque. They seem, indeed, to be entirely unconnected with any other mountains, but this appearance is deceptive, for they constitute, in fact, portions of ranges stretching out to the north, which alternately disappear and emerge again, sometimes in continuous chains, diverging from the apex of the bay, like the rays of a star, or, to use a more familiar expression, like the spokes of a wheel.

On two of the most stupendous mountains detached from the Vindyan range are erected the celebrated forts of Ujeeghur and Kalinghur.

In this province the variety of scenery is infinite. Casting a hurried glance around, as we pause in our descent down the hill on which Dhamonee with its fortress is erected, the eye wanders over scenes of extreme loveliness, unshaded by mist or floating vapours, but standing forth in that rich distinction of outline so peculiar to Indian landscape.

Our imagination is now awed by the majesty and grandeur developed on one side, and fascinated by the sylvan pictures unfolding themselves on another. To our right and to our left, immediately below, we gaze down into two deep glens, in which the murmuring sound of gushing waters makes a continual music, as it rolls on its sullen course to join the river on the plain. The cool freshness constantly maintained in these recesses, seldom, if ever, visited by the sun's rays, favours the growth of plants and vegetation which would not thrive in more exposed positions. A rich cultivation consequently extends over the strip of level country running on either side, down to the very verge of both branches of the Dussera river, which, after passing through the glens, again unite and pass onwards through a deep chasm to water the plain of Bundelkund.

Everywhere evidences of the care bestowed upon the processes of agriculture, the attention given to cultivation, manifests itself. All up the slopes of the smiling valleys, formed by the undulating surface of the country, foliage of the richest and brightest hues may be seen. The lively green of the small coppice wood and stunted bushes melts away into the darker shades of the jungle, extending in patches over a great portion of the province. Every now and then a meandering rivulet sparkles as the sun shines upon it, and winds its glittering course, like a thread of gold, through valleys, and woods, and forests, at whose feet often stretches a broad clear sheet of water, partially covered with the red lotus, and fringed at its edges with delicate shrubs, fragrant and beautiful beyond description. Mango groves cluster beyond, and from above their rich foliage peep forth mauso

These solitary hills are thickly strewn over the portion of Bundelkund contiguous to the Vindyan range; some lying to the left, others to the right; some scattered apart; others, again, standing close to each other, thus forming narrow rounding defiles, and now offering to view a chasm, through which we obtain glimpses of more tranquil scenery beyond; green plains, rich slopes, cotton plantations, wheat and barley fields, lakes and rivers -on whose banks are strewed towns, filled by a bold and daring race of men, and villages, in which the several processes of industry are carried on. Permitting our thoughts to wander further, and allowing our imagination to penetrate into these hamlets, we behold, as sunset melts over the landscape, the children at play beneath the trees, on whose boughs the beautiful baya bird, with its rich plumage, nestles unmolested within the reach of the hands of these youthful Bundelas. We hear, in the hush of twilight, the sweet tones of the guitar,* blended with a rich mellow voice, above which occasionally rises the roar of the tiger in some neighbouring jungle, the scream of the monkey, the thrilling notes of the forest birds, or the ceaseless murmur of the distant waterfall.

This fertile province is irrigated by several large rivers, and innumerable rivulets, which, taking their rise on the hill sides, are met in their passage down by numberless smaller tributaries triekling over the rocks. Uniting together, these mountain torrents form a stream of moderate size, which, flowing out over the rich loamy soil, serves to increase its productiveness, and, it has been supposed by some, to render the labours of irrigation almost unnecessary. In some parts of the province, however, this method of fertilising the earth is certainly carried on to some extent.

The Jumna takes its rise in the vast Himalayan range, and, running in a parallel line with the Ganges, skirts the northern side of Bundelkund. Many tributary streams swell its waters as it rolls on; amongst others, the Chumbul, a river of some size. After a winding course of 780 miles, in a bed deeper and broader than that of the Ganges, the Jumna unites near the city of Allahabad with the holy stream, which henceforth absorbs its name.

The Sonar river intersects the whole province in a northerly direction, passing near the town of Banda, and finally projecting itself into the Ken. The source of the latter river is in a portion of the Vindyan range, near the village of Mohar, and about twenty-five miles from the Nerbudda. It meanders in a north-easterly course, passing through the Banda hills, and forming a cataract near Ripariya. Its course is then westerly, until joined by the Pahil Bearma and Mirhassya rivers, the united streams are precipitated over a cataract near the village of Senghora. The Ken foams henceforward through a deep narrow channel, worn

* A favourite instrument among the Bundelas.

through the rocks, and, overhang by high banks, passes occasionally into two ravines. The red, honey colour, and black jaspar, with the agate, abound in its channels, and though somewhat inferior to those discovered in the Sone, are of considerable value. Its course, after passing through two mountain ranges, is northerly, and at length falls into the Jumna, after having flowed two hundred and thirty miles. It is too rocky to be navigable, but is well stocked with fish. Light boats, however, in the rainy season, have proceeded up as far as Banda.

Near the village of Derdurra the Tonse takes its rise, and being joined in its passage by innumerable rivulets, flows on through the district of Rewah, in reality a portion of Bundelkund. The falls formed by this river, though they have seldom been allu led to by the traveller, may be regarded as among the most magnificent objects to be witnessed in any part of the habitable globe, not even excepting the falls of Niagara, which have even been pronounced vastly inferior, both in grandeur of outline and actual height.

The existence of the Bundela falls, indeed, was only acknowledged after a considerable amount of amusing incredulity had been manifested upon the subject. Some years ago a traveller in the district, on his return to Calcutta, transmitted to certain journals a brief account of the cataract of the Tonse, to which insertion was given. And here the matter for the time dropped; but the editors of these papers subsequently reflecting, began to fancy that they must have been imposed upon by some clever disciple of the Baron Munchausen. They did not, could not calculate that it was possible for any but an American river to possess a fall, the hereditary tradition passing down from father to son, and which fixed Niagara as the only natural exhibition of the kind worth visiting, was respected, and accordingly, when more full and satisfactory accounts were transmitted by subsequent travellers, no attention was paid to the communication.

In 1813, an army encamped in Rewan during the campaign, at no great distance from Sumarenli, the capital of the country, at that period ruled over by Jugat Mohun Singh. The officers as well as men were wholly unconscious of their near proximity to the falls, with whose existence, indeed, they were unacquainted, those of the Behar being ten miles distant from the Tonse falls, and eight from those of Chycheya.

As surely, however, as the wind blew in the direction of the camp, a strange and incomprehensible noise came borne upon the breeze, resembling the heavy, sullen roar of waters, or the muttered rumbling of thunder in the distance. During the rains, beautiful white hazy clouds, reflecting on their edge the golden beams of the rising sun, sometimes floated upwards, now wavering gently to and fro, now appearing stationary, or seeming to dissolve in the air around. The whole camp were struck with these singular appearances, and made them the subject of incessant conversation.

One morning, a small foraging party, under the command of an enterprising officer, set out for the purpose of reconnoitering along the banks of the Tonse river, in order to discover the cause of those appearances which had excited so much curiosity in the camp. As they advanced, the unceasing murmur swelled gradually upon the ear. Nearer and nearer came the music of

the waterfall, as they kept their onward progress, until at length the sound so evidently betokened the fall of an immense body of water, that they felt convinced that they should soon discover cataracts in the river. Nor were they disappointed.

Emerging suddenly from the woody plain, the most magnificent view of one of Nature's handiworks displayed itself. Awed by the sublimity of the scene, the party paused to survey it in silent but wondering admiration. They had anticipated the sudden projection earthward of a vast stream, but did not expect to behold the broad expanse of foaming waters, stretching far to the left and right, seven hundred feet in breadth, which bounded with deafening roar perpendicularly down a height of four hundred feet, and plunged into a deep natural basin eight hundred feet in diameter. The river flows over a bed of rocks intersected by deep fissures, and in its onward course washes off the thin red soil which covers them. Suddenly arriving at an abrupt descent, the waters, swollen probably by the rains, project themselves in a vast column perpendicularly down, but some escaping from the grand mass, rolling between banks a hundred feet in height, force a way through the fissures, and gradually loosen on either side huge fragments of rock, which roll with more than avalanchine grandeur down into the excavations it forms below, awaking echoes which startle the inhabitants of the country around, like loud roars of artillery. These granite masses violently falling one upon the other in their weighty descent, shiver and splint the rocks below, and now become wedged in between a divided crag. Great unwieldy points protrude here and there from the deep basin, and now a slender fragment rests in an inclined position against the huge sides. The waves, as they fall, leap, and sparkle, and dance like showers of crystal balls, dashing from every rock and crag down the edges of the vast column of waters, whose spray, dashing from the rocks, forms cloudlets tinged with every varied hue of the rainbow. This crystalline spray, it was now discovered, caused the vapours discerned by the camp, and so often admired by them.

The vista obtained of the country beyond is beautiful beyond description. These attractions are, however, scarcely noticed until the eye has ceased to be riveted upon the grander fascinations which majestically rear themselves before it. When the first enthusiastic burst of rapture is over, the gaze wanders to the softer beauties of the scene. The verdure of the grass is so bright, so brilliant, that when attempted to be pourtrayed on canvass the colour appeared too fresh and green to be natural. Every plant around moulds itself into a nosegay of fragrant blossoms no shrub without a perfume, no plant without a flower. The wild vine climbs and clings round the rocks, entwines itself into each fissure, and creeps up the craggy sides, laden with a profusion of rich black grapes. A small lily, like that of the valley, clusters, with its white flowers, at the foot; but amid all the blooming shrubs around, the superba gloriosa stands foremost in its loveliness. Passing on, the river falls into a bed from two to three hundred feet in depth, and about two hundred yards broad. The banks are too steep to permit of a descent close to its edge. Very great numbers of springs, tanks, and reservoirs, are scattered over the surface of the province, which proves the fallacy of the

notion that irrigation is unnecessary. If the necessity | above described, and four more occupied by the miners for it had not existed, the tanks which we encounter at every turn would never have been constructed at so large an expense.

Of the towns scattered over Bundelkund we shall merely notice the principal. Banda, the capital, built by Rajah Goomah Singh, is famous as an extensive cotton mart, and remarkable for a curious well stationed about a kos from the city, on the road to Pannah. It is thirty-seven feet in diameter and fifty-two deep. Two flights of stairs run from each side round the interior.

Kalpee, the ancient seat of government, is a large town stationed on the left bank of the Jumna, and now chiefly remarkable as being the centre of the cotton trade. The plant flourishes luxuriantly round it. Khurroa, the coarse red cloth used for camp equipage, is manufactured in this place, and a kind of sugar-candy, equal to that of China.

in digging out the Khakroo or gravel in which the diamonds are found. The work is then deferred until the rainy season comes round, when abundance of water is furnished for the purpose of washing the gravel, which is thrown into shallow ponds filled for that purpose. When the sandy part disappears, the remaining pebbles are spread upon the ground, levelled and smoothed, and the diamond workers then proceed to separate the useless pebbles with their hands, eight or ten at a time, so that no diamond can escape their notice. Contrary to the generally received opinion, the labourers do distinguish the precious stones by their sparkling beneath the rays of the sun. Many days are frequently spent in useless search, but a comparatively small number serves amply to repay all the trouble taken to secure them. The precious gems never adhere to any other stone or pebble, and may be distinguished generally by their peculiar conformation. The workmen are paid in proportion to the value of the diamonds they discover.

It is supposed by some that the mines about Pannah

Pannah stands in the midst of a rocky plain, enclosed by a ridge of hills, clothed to their summits in dense foliage, and sweeping round so as to form a sort of amphitheatre. The town is neat and novel in its ap-have ceased to be productive; but this is a complete falpearance, most of the houses being constructed of grey stone, several dwellings of large size, with numerous temples, one of which is reported to contain the images of Kishnu and Vishnu, whose eyes are formed of diamonds of extraordinary size and immense value. Here, by the side of an extensive sheet of water, covered with blooming lotus, and filled with alligators and crocodiles, stand the ruins of the palace where dwelt Rajah Chutter Saul, the hero of Bundela history, and the fame of whose deeds rises above that of all his descendants and ancestors. Two small forts, linked together by a stone wall, protect it in the front and in the rear-the lake stretching before renders approach in that direction almost impossible. Approaching Pannah from Banda the way lies over a level cultivated country, entirely free from rocks and hills.

lacy. There is, indeed, a tradition that the precious stones are only to be found at the distance of ten kos round the town; but this fable was, doubtless, invented by the Rajahs, for the purpose of deterring speculators from opening new mines, and deteriorating the value of the article by overloading the market. We, ourselves, entertain no doubt whatever of the existence of an inexhaustible strata of diamonds, which only require to be worked to yield an inconceivable amount of wealth to the Government, since the process of production is everlastingly going on. It is certain that some mines do exist which have not been worked at all. Captain Pogson, during his residence in the country, opened a mine about three miles from Kalinghur, and penetrated so far as to discover" the brother of the diamond,” as it is styled by the natives, viz., the small angular stones of a green

tain forerunners of the diamonds themselves. Animated by this assurance, Captain Pogson resumed his work with vigour, but on digging below the level of the rivulet, and removing some large stones, a spring burst upon the disappointed labourers, and filled the mine with water. The Pindaree war breaking out at the time, the Captain joined his army, and circumstances prevented him from ever again resuming the undertaking,

When the traveller arrives near the renowned Dia-ish hue, like grains. These are always considered as cermond district, his attention is attracted by a number of pits, from three to twelve feet in depth, scattered over the face of the country. These are the celebrated diamond mines, but the whole of the gravelly plains, stretching around the town for several miles, is said to produce diamonds of four several descriptions—the mohi chul of a clear brilliant whiteness, the manih of a greenish hue, the pannae tinged with orange, and the bunsput of a blackish colour. Others, again, resemble pearls. The On the flooding of the Bhagur Nudee diamonds are mines are worked, for the most part, near the village of frequently discovered. These mines are situated on the Lukareneti, about twelve miles from Pannah, and the banks of the stream, a short distance within the hills, diamonds are there found below a stratum of rock from which rise abruptly, on either side, clad with verdure of fifteen to twenty feet in depth. To cut a way down is, every hue to their summits, while the rippling stream, for the natives, a labour of months and even of years. flowing over an uneven bed, and falling at intervals The following is the process :— over descents of two or three feet, forms gentle cascades, The soil having been cleared from a certain space of which add greatly to the picturesque nature of the scenground, the rock is cut with chisels, or broken by ham-ery around. mers, while a large fire, kindled every night upon the spot, is supposed to render the stone more friable. The appearance is then singularly picturesque. The traveller, approaching Pannah, after darkness has fallen upon the surrounding landscape, may perceive from a distance several of these large fires sending up pyramidal flames, and illumining with their vivid flashes the gloom around.

Scattered through the hills are found blocks of rock with veins of crystalizations as brilliant, frequently, as the diamonds themselves. Some again are occasionally discovered containing various kinds of sparkling particles, and others with pink, green, and purple veins. Discoveries of whole hills of marble are constantly taking place, and porphyry is also occasionally found. The Ken mines, flowing on in its northerly course, form a line of separaSix months are employed by the natives in the labour tion between the diamond and iron mines. The latter

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