Page:Views in India, chiefly among the Himalaya Mountains.djvu/49

Rh with small enclosures containing piles of barley and straw, heaped up, and ready for sale.

On the sides of the hill to the west, thousands of Seik families are to be seen, with their huts, tents, camels, bullocks, mules, and horses, thrown together, as it were, without order or method. Then come the tents of the better order of visitors, formed into groups of two or three, and constructed of white or striped canvass, gaily fringed, and ornamented with scalloped borderings of scarlet cloth. Then, again, are the tents of the superior horse-dealers, Arab or Persian merchants, who have brought splendid animals of the purest breed, for which they demand enormous prices; men, also, with bears, leopards, tigers, deer of all kinds, monkeys, Persian greyhounds, beautiful cats, and rare birds, for sale. Then there are heaps of assafoetida in bags from the mountains beyond Cabool, sacks of raisins of various kinds, pistachio nuts, almonds, and boxes of preserved apricots, and stalls filled with merchandise of every description, brazen vessels of all kinds, bead necklaces of many colours, rosaries, mouth pieces for pipes, of agate, cornelian, lapis-lazuli, and different kinds of marble, pearls, black and white chowries, or implements for keeping off flies, formed of the long bushy tail of the yak, the cow of Thibet; stones for seals of all descriptions; bangles, bracelets, armlets, and ornaments for the ankles, of silver or pewter; sable, tiger, leopard, ounce, and other skins; stuffed birds, the argus-eyed, golden, and other varieties of pheasant; idols of all kinds, together with their brazen stands, real and mock coral, garlands and necklaces of tinsel, looking-glasses framed in ivory, with mosaic work in imitation of fruits and flowers from Delhi; richly embroidered scarves, scull-caps, and slippers, toys executed in mother-of-pearl, bales of shawls, and jewels of high prices; broad-cloth, stationery, and cutlery, from England; perfumes from Paris, eau de Cologne, and many other articles too tedious to mention.

The crowd and confusion of buyers and sellers, the native groups in every imaginable costume, some shining in cloth of gold, and surrounded by followers splendidly arrayed, others less expensively but picturesquely dressed, and many half naked, or wildly clad, all mixed up with priests, soldiers, and religious mendicants, half beggar, half bandit, with here and there a cluster of Europeans mounted upon elephants, exhibit all together a concourse which no other place in the word can shew.

The noise baffles all description; the shouts and cries of men come mingled with the neighing of horses, the trumpeting of elephants, the grunts of camels, the lowing of cattle, the bellowing of bulls the screams of birds, and the loud sharp roars of the wild beasts; and, as if these were not enough, there are gongs and drums beating, trumpets blaring, conch-shells blowing, and bells ringing, which never cease for a single instant. In the midst of all this discord, regular musicians perform to groups assembled in different parts of the city or fair, the whole population coming out in the evening to enjoy themselves, and, amid the more melodious snatches which are caught here and there, the bugles of the British battalion may be heard, playing some well-remembered air, recalling, perhaps in "Ye banks and braes of bonny Doune," in the neighbourhood of the valley of that name, recollections of that northern land, which is the regretted birth-place of so many of the civil and military servants of the Company.