Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/93

 was glad to get beyond the murda ghāt; the sight and smell of such horrors made me ill.

Anchored at Buxar, and visited the stud; the only stable I went into was a most admirable one, lofty, airy, ventilated, clean, and spacious. It contained two hundred horses, all looking clean, and in excellent condition; the horses in this stable are all three years old, remarkably fine young animals. You may have the choice of the stable for £100, i.e. 1000 rupees; these horses ought to be good, they come from the best imported English, Arab, and Persian horses, and are reared with great care. The animals stand in a long line, without any separation or bar between them in the stable; the head is tied to the manger, the heels at liberty, no heel-ropes. They appear perfectly quiet, although they stand so close to each other. About six hundred horses are at Buxar, and more on the other side of the river; I derived much pleasure from seeing the stud at this place, and regret I did not visit that at Ghāzīpūr. Every day, from 7 to 8, the whole of the young horses are turned loose into a paddock, to run and gallop about at pleasure; it must be a pretty sight.

23rd.—The melā at Bulliah is held on this day, the last of the month of Kartik. The scene for five miles was very gay; a great Hindū fair and bathing day; boats full of people going to the fair, numbers on the cliff, and crowds in the river, at their devotions,—an animated scene. The gentlemen are firing ball at the great crocodiles, as they lie basking on the sandbanks; they have killed a very large one. When crocodiles are cut open, silver and gold ornaments are sometimes found in the interior; the body of a child—the whole body—was found in a crocodile, a short time ago, at Cawnpore.

25th.—This morning our little fleet passed the Soane river at its junction with the Ganges; I went on deck to look at the kala panī, the black water, as the natives call it, on account of the deep blue tinge of the Soane, which forms a strong contrast to the dingy milky hue of the stream of the Gunga. In this river, agates, amethysts, cornelians, &c., are found. Crossing the river, which was considerably agitated by a very powerful wind, to go to the fair