and a pedestal, about three feet high, placed
over it, on the top of which stands the figure
of an angel bound to a tree. The remains of
those discovered in the well, after the
recapture of the town by our troops, are buried
in a small plot of consecrated ground, railed off
within the garden, not twenty yards distant
from the well itself.

So we glide along by the eastern shore of
the Dooab, the rich land lying between the
Jumna and the Ganges, and at length reach its
southernmost extremity; where, on a narrow
tongue of land, formed by the junction of the
two rivers, the fort of Allahabad raises its
battlemented walls. This fort is a triangular
construction, one side guarding the Jumna, another
the Ganges, and the third looking northward
over the plains of the Dooab. It is a handsome
and commanding building, its walls of
rich red freestone forming a pleasing contrast
to the verdure of the surrounding country, and
to the bright waters of the rivers that flow
beneath. It was a favourite residence of
Acber's, but its interior presents no striking
memorials of oriental magnificence or luxury,
no beautiful palaces or remarkable rooms.
From the point of confluence of the two rivers,
the vast tubular bridge of the East Indian Railway
may be seen spanning the stream. The
greatness of this work, the enterprise of those
who projected and carried it out, the enormous
difficulties to be overcome in the shifting bed
of the river, render this bridge one of the most
noticeable objects in the neighbourhood.
Allahabad is a spot much visited by pilgrims,
being one of the most celebrated prayagas, or
confluences of rivers, in India. It is said that
here the Ganges, the Jumna, and the Sereswati
unite their waters: an assertion which the
devout Hindoo supports, by explaining that
the latter river, which is entirely invisible, and
of which no traces can be discovered either in
the neighbourhood or in the pages of history,
flows underneath the ground, and rises at the
point where the other two meet.

The river, which has hitherto been running
in a south-easterly direction, now meets the
Vindhya Mountains, and, turning due east,
forms between this point and Bhangulpore a
magnificent reach, studded with most important
and flourishing towns, and adorned with
the most valued crops that grow upon its banks.
Here it is that the indigo plant and the poppy
deck the fields with their dark green leaves,
and their white and scarlet flowers. Here, too,
in some favoured spots, gardens of roses load
the air with their sweet perfume. About sixty
miles from Allahabad the river makes a bend,
and on the northern or outer side of the circle
the ancient town of Benares looks down. The
appearance of this town, as seen from the river,
is most striking. Mosques, with delicate minarets
towering to the sky; temples, with domes
surmounting walls of varied hues and quaint
architecture; street rising above street on the
sloping bank of the river, whose waters lave the
stone-built houses, picturesquely covered with
luxuriant creepers; ghats, with flights of broad
and shallow steps; boats, heavily laden, passing
and repassing on the stream; natives, with
their various and richly coloured garments,
flitting in and out among the buildings; the
whole scene tempered by the dark green foliage
that, sprinkled here and there throughout the
town, betokens the residences of the wealthier
inhabitants; all these things, seen under the rich
light of a tropical sun, form a scene of great
interest and beauty. Benares is a place of
considerable sanctity, and is visited by immense
numbers of pilgrims. The numerous attendance
of these persons, all bent on acquiring
by acts of charity and almsgiving the favour
of their gods and ministers, fills the town with
beggars, who, squatted at the sides of the
narrow streets, utter a perpetual wail of
lamentation, and weary the traveller with
importunate cries for alms. But Benares may
claim pre-eminence over the other cities of the
Ganges in another point. With the exception
of Calcutta, it is the most advanced seat of
learning in Bengal, boasting no less than six
native colleges, the largest of which numbers
more than six hundred scholars. Patna is
another of the large towns lining the banks
of the river in this part of its course. It is the
chief town of the fertile district of Bahar, the
centre of the indigo, cotton, and opium trades,
and the great mart for the collection and sale
of those valuable commodities. It is a flourishing
and busy place, and, with its outlying
suburbs, stretching for nine miles along the
river, presents an imposing front. Mirzapoor
and Ghazeepoor, on either side of Benares, are
two other large and flourishing towns. The
former is a great cotton mart, and at the latter
is a branch of the government stud. It was at
Ghazeepoor that the Marquis Cornwallis died,
when on his way from Calcutta to the Upper
Provinces, only three months after his arrival
in Bengal. His remains are interred in a large
mausoleum, built of stone dug from the adjacent
quarries of Chunar. This portion of the river
formed the chief scene of the movements of
the British forces in 1763, when Meer Cossim
Ali, in the absence from India of Lord Clive,
who had set him on his throne, and during
the maladministration of affairs by those who
had been left at their head in Calcutta,
attempted to throw off his allegiance to his
English patrons. It was in that year that the
adventurer Summers, German, Dutchman, or
devil, who was known by the natives as Somro,
and who was the right-hand man of the rebel
nabob, superintended the massacre of one
hundred and fifty English in Patna; thereby
giving to that town a terrible notoriety, which
has in later years been rivalled by the story
of "the little house of Arrah," a town in the
immediate vicinity. The country to the south,
that here interrupts the river in its direct
progress to the sea for the space of four hundred
miles, is hilly rather than mountainous, its
height nowhere exceeding six hundred feet.
It is inhabited by mountaineers, or hillmen,
who, of hardy and warlike habits, and almost
inaccessible in their rocky strongholds, have