Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/92

 The ruins of the palace of the Nawāb of Ghāzīpūr are situated on a high bank, in front of which the rampart, with four bastions, faces the river. The house is falling into ruins. I admired it very much, the plan on which it is built is charming; what a luxurious abode during the hot winds! It is situated on a high bank overlooking the Gunga; in the centre is an octagonal room; around this, four square rooms alternate with four octagonal rooms, which are supported on light and handsome arches. There are no walls to the rooms, but each is supported on arches. Around the centre room is a space for water, and a great number of fountains played there in former times. Between the arches hung rich pardas; how delightfully suited to the climate! Imagine the luxury of sitting in the centre room, all the air coming in cooled by the fountains, and screened from the glare by the rich pardas! One of the octagonal rooms has fallen in completely. A gentleman of our party, not finding any game in the surrounding fields, shot five anwarī fish that were sporting about on the surface of the river. Rosewater and cloth was brought for sale in abundance. The fields by the river-side are in parts a perfect Golgotha, strewn with human skulls. The Company's stud is here, but we did not visit it.

Off the village of Beerpūr I saw from ten to twenty satī mounds, under some large trees by the river-side; the idea of what those wretched women must have suffered made me shudder.

Off Chounsah I was most thoroughly disgusted; there is on the bank of the river a murda ghāt, or place for burning the dead bodies of the Hindūs; about twenty charpāīs (native beds) were there cast away as unclean, the bodies having been carried down upon them. Some of the bodies had hardly been touched by the fire, just scorched and thrown into the water. The dogs and crows were tearing the flesh from the skeletons, growling as they ate, to deter other dogs that stood snarling around from joining in the meal. A gentleman fired at them, drove off some of the dogs, and killed others; you have no idea how fierce and hungry the wretches were; a bullet from a musket only scared them for a moment, and then they returned to the corpse. I