ship, and the noise of the wind, sailors' voices,
and pulling ropes. Called out to Isaac to
inquire if it was a storm, but could not awake
him. Very unwell. Slept till near tea-time.
Heard that Cape Finisterre was again in sight.
"We were just where we had been three days
ago! Rolled about all this time to no purpose
—still we lay, in the Bay, and unable to get
out of the wretched place.

WEDDING BELLS.

HEERA LALL, a shroff (native banker) of
Allyghur, in the upper provinces of India,
had contracted his only daughter,
Luchmuneea, when she was five years old, in
marriage with Naneckchund, the eldest son of
Narein Bysack, a shroff of Muttra. Both
families were of the Brahmin caste, and were
very wealthy.

According to the Hindoo custom, the bride
when she becomes twelve or thirteen years of
age is consigned to the guardianship of her
husband's parents; but Luchmuneea did not
leave her paternal roof till she had nearly
completed her fourteenth year. During the
preparations for her journey—a distance of
about fifty miles—there was great grief in
her family, with whom she was about to part,
most probably for ever; for, after the
completion of their marriage, Hindoo women of
good estate rarely or never leave their homes,
even on a visit to their nearest relatives.

The equipage in which Luchmuneea was to
travel was such as most native ladies use on
these occasions,—a long cart, with a canopy of
dark red cloth, thickly wadded with cotton,
as protection from the heat of the sun during
the day, and from cold during the night. The
interior is lined and tastefully decorated.
This cart is usually drawn by huge snow-white
bullocks, their horns and hoofs fantastically
painted, or dyed red, blue, and yellow;
and their bodies adorned with showy
trappings of scarlet and gold. Several other
vehicles, containing Luchmuneea's retinue,
were to precede her by a short distance, she
having the carriage which she occupied all to
herself.

The Brahmin priests, who are always
consulted on such occasions, had fixed upon the
hour of five in the afternoon as the most
propitious for Luchmuneea's departure; and at
that hour the marriage procession moved
from the house of Heera Lall. Little
children threw garlands of jasmine flowers in the
way and alms were distributed amongst the
numerous poor people who were present to
offer up their prayers for the bride's happiness.

The procession travelled all night, and
halted next morning at about eight o'clock,
beneath a shady grove of large mango trees,
not far from the high road. It was here that
I happened to see the bride. I was attracted
by the unusually picturesque character of the
scene The number of servants, in their gay
and many-coloured dresses and turbans—the
size and wonderful docility of the oxen—the
variegated gaiety of the carriages—formed a
group which excited my curiosity. On
inquiring minute particulars, I was informed
by one of the native attendants that the
traveller was Heera Lall's daughter, going to
Muttra to complete her marriage with
Naneckchund, eldest son of Narein Bysack. While
questioning my informant, I looked towards
Luchmuneea's covered carriage, and beheld
her peeping at me from behind a curtain. I
could only see her face and bust. She was an
extremely pretty girl, and fairer than any
native I had ever seen. Her eyes, fringed with
lashes of extraordinary length, were truly
captivating; her nose was prettily curved, her
mouth very small, with pretty pouting lips;
her chin and throat were more like what we
see in a statue than in a living creature; her
arms, which were perfectly bare, were
beautifully rounded, and had the appearance of
being very firm, without being stout; her
hands, like those of most natives, were
diminutive and pretty. She had a melancholy
cast of countenance, but that was no doubt
owing to the sorrow she experienced in leaving
her home. She was decked in pure gold
ornaments of every description; but her dress
was a simple Dacca muslin, which she wore
in the graceful manner peculiar to women in
the East. I looked stealthily at the little
Hindoo beauty until her eyes met mine, when
she suddenly drew the curtain and concealed
herself. As she did this, I saw her blush and
laugh at the thought of being seen. I am not
quite sure that I did not wish myself the
eldest son of Narein Bysack. With the view
of allowing the Hindoo party to prepare their
food, I left Luchmuneea's encampment
ground and returned to my tent.

At about four o'clock in the afternoon,
when the sun had begun to lose his power,
Luchmuneea and her attendants resumed
their journey. I watched them turn into
the road, and heard the little bells, which were
strapped round the necks of the bullocks,
jingling merrily, long after the carriages had
disappeared. The wedding bells, thought I,
of pretty Luchmuneea!

These bells had not rung more than a couple
of miles further, when the procession overtook
a very old woman, apparently overcome by
illness and fatigue, crying bitterly, and invoking
the Almighty's aid. Her hair was of a
yellowish grey; she had scarcely a tooth in her
head, and even the few that were left to her
were loose, and in the last stage of decay; her
skin was shrivelled, and hung in bags about
her neck and breast; on her arms and legs
there was barely an atom of flesh. She was
nothing but skin, bone, and nerve. But,
miserable as was her appearance, she had
quick bright eyes, and an intelligent and
prepossessing expression of countenance, which
served to heighten the sympathy of those
who beheld her lean and poverty-stricken