Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/329

 Nov. 8th.—Last night we dined at Mr. F's; a Capt. W, who is rather a curiosity, was of the party; he brought us a letter of introduction from Col. Gardner. He is the brother of Sir H. W, the late ambassador in Persia; he wears a native dress, with a long beard that hangs half way down his breast; and his imitation of native style is good. He commenced his travels in 1829, passing through Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Persia, and so on to Allahabad, and will return viâ Constantinople; he is a captain in the navy.

This morning, it being a holiday with the Hindoos, and a great bathing-day at the junction of the rivers, we agreed to meet Capt. W on the spot before sunrise, to witness the tamāshā. He, having started before us, rode down to the bathing-place, and getting into a quicksand on the banks of the river, had a roll in the mud. Mr. B and I rode down to meet him, and coming on a daldal (quicksand), my horse sank into it up to his tail, struggling violently, and beating up and down like a boat in a short sea; I rolled off, or rather Mr. B pulled me from the horse, which, with great exertion and difficulty, at length scrambled out. Mr. B's grey Cabul horse refused to pass the daldal; he snorted, beat the ground with his forefeet, and stood firm, evidently alarmed. Remounting my horse Trelawny, we pursued our way to the Triveni, where we met Capt. W, and laughed at our misfortunes. This is the first time my horse and I have parted company; I used to boast of never having quitted my saddle.

Capt. W went to the bathing-place, to see the junction of the three rivers, the Gunga, the Jumna, and the Saraswati; the two first are above ground, the third joins them underground,—at least, so say the pious Hindoos. Capt. W keeps a journal; if he publish it, I fear he will immortalize this quicksand adventure, and say, "being unable to discover the river Saraswati above ground, we were searching for it in the regions below."

Nov. 13th.—We were out riding about 5 ; the sky was cloudy, with a rainy appearance, and we saw a great number of meteors falling in every direction; at first I did not know what