which crossed it several ways, and confined her hair, which was knotted up behind. On her forehead hung a cluster of colored stones, from which depended a large pearl, and round her face small strings of pearl hung at equal distances. Her ear-rings were very beautiful; but I do not like the custom of boring the hem of the ear, and studding it all round with joys, or jewels; and not even Fatima's beautiful face could reconcile me to the nose jewel. Her large black eyes (the chesme ahoo, or stag eyes, of the eastern poets) were rendered more striking by the black streaks with which they were adorned, and lengthened out at the corners. The palms of her hands, the soles of her feet, and her nails, were stained with henna, a plant, the juice of whose seeds is of a deep-red color."

“Fatima's manner is modest, gentle, and indolent.` Before her husband, she neither lifts her eyes nor speaks, and hardly moves without permission from the elder ladies of the harem. She presented' us with perfumed sherbet, (a drink little different from lemonade,) fruit, and sweetmeats, chiefly made of ghee, poppy seeds, and sugar. Some of them were tolerably good, but it required all my politeness to swallow others. Prepared as I was to expect very little from Mussulman ladies, I could not help being shocked to find them so totally devoid of cultivation as I found them. They mutter their prayers, and some of them read the Koran, but not one in a

thousand understands it.

Still fewer can read their

own language, or write at all; and the only work

they do is a little embroidery. They string beads, plait colored threads, sleep, quarrel, make pastry, and chew betel, in the same daily round. It is only at a death, a birth, or a marriage, that the monotony of their lives is interrupted. When we took leave, we were sprinkled with rose-water, and presented with flowers, and betel nut wrapped in the leaves of an aromatic plant."

Yet where talent exists it has sometimes found means to manifest itself, even within the circumscribed limits of the harem.

Many beautiful designs for Cashmere shawls, embroidery, and printed cottons, have been designed by these secluded women. Mherul-Nisa, afterward favorite sultana of Jehangire, emperor of Hindostan, being shut up with other slaves in a mean apartment of the seraglio, exerted her ingenuity to increase her scanty support. She embroidered splendid tapestry; painted silks with exquisite skill, and invented a variety of fanciful ornaments. These being extensively bought, and much admired in the city of Delhi, excited the emperor's curiosity. He paid her a visit; and from that moment she never lost the extraordinary influence which she suddenly acquired over him. She Decame his favorite wife, under the title of Noor Jehan, signifying the light of the world; her relations were placed in the principal employments of the empire, ranked with princes of the blood, and admitted to the private apartments of the seraglio; her name was stamped on the coin with that of the emperor; and the most expensive pageants, consisting

of inusic, fireworks, and illuminations, were continually kept up to please her.

The discovery of that exquisite perfume called attar of roses is attributed to Noor Jehan. She had not only baths, but whole canals, filled with rosewater, that she might enjoy its fragrance. One fine morning, walking with the emperor along one of these canals, in his magnificent gardens at Cashmere, she observed a fine scum floating on the surface. She took up some of it, and perceived that it yielded a powerful odour. She caused the chemists to examine it, and from it they produced the essence which has ever since commanded so high a price. Jehan gave it the name of Atyr Jehangire, in honor of her husband, and introduced the use of it throughout Hindostan.

Noor

Among the foreign nations settled in India are the Parsees, descendants from the ancient Persians, who, like them, worship fire and sun, not as God, but as his most perfect symbol. There are among them holy women, who keep a perpetual fire burning before their habitations, and are very strict in the observance of religious rites; these women are held in the highest veneration.

The Parsees, like most other oriental women, are in the habit of bringing water on their heads from the rivers and wells. They are well shaped, and almost as fair as Europeans. They have large black eyes, and aquiline noses. They are married very - young, but generally remain with their parents some time after the wedding. The Parsees are allowed to

marry but one wife, and she must be of their own nation.

The Hindoos in general believe in witchcraft. If the crops are blighted, sickness prevails, or any unusual misfortunes occur, they write the names of all the women in the village on branches of the saultree, and let them remain in water four hours and a half; if any branch withers, branch withers, the person whose name is on it is decided to be a witch. Other superstitious ordeals are likewise resorted to, and certain forms of investigation are gone through with, which not unfrequently end in the death of the accused.

They believe in the existence of demons, and use various exorcisms to expel them from those who are possessed. Women are almost always the persons in whom these evil spirits are supposed to have fixed their residence.

The Hindoos people the stars, the air, the woods, and the ocean with deities; among which the goddesses are about as numerous as the gods. The two most conspicuous are Saraswadi, goddess of literature and the arts, and Parvati, goddess of time and of enchantments; the latter, like Venus, was born of the foam of the sea, and is the mother of Love. The Hindoo Cupid is called Camdeo, or Manmadin. His bow is of sugar-cane, his arrows made of flow; ers, and pointed with honey-comb. He is usually represented riding on a parrot, and is particularly worshipped by women desirous to obtain faithful lovers and good husbands.

English residents are numerous in Hindostan,

where they preserve their national customs, slightly varied by climate and surrounding circumstances. India has been a great marriage-market, on account of the emigration of young enterprising Englishmen, without a corresponding number of women. Faded belles, and destitute female orphans, were sure of finding husbands in India. Some persons actually undertook to import women to the British settlements, in order to sell them to rich Europeans, or nabobs, who would give a good price for them. How the importers acquired a right thus to dispose of them is not mentioned; it is probable that the women themselves, from extreme poverty, or some other cause, consented to become articles of speculation, upon consideration of receiving a certain remuneration. In September, 1818, the following advertisement appeared in the Calcutta Advertiser: "Females raffled for. Be it known that six fair pretty young ladies, with two sweet engaging children, lately imported from Europe, having the roses of health blooming on their cheeks, and joy sparkling in their eyes, possessing amiable tempers, and highly accomplished, whom the most indifferent cannot behold without rapture, are to be raffled for next door to the British Gallery. Twelve tickets at twelve rupees each; the highest of the three doubtless takes the most fascinating."

The wives of respectable Hindoos are very rarely seen in the street with their husbands, unless they are going a journey. When they see an Englishwoman walk arm-in-arm with her husband, they are