Some supposed that he withdrew from the sight of men for the purpose
of more fervent prayer and more holy meditation; others, that he visited
his home, or some other distant country. The more superstitious believed
that he had, by a kind of metempsychosis, taken a new shape, which, by
some magical or supernatural power, he could assume and put off at
pleasure. This opinion was perhaps the most prevalent, as it gained a
colour with these simple people, from the chemical and astronomical
instruments he possessed. In these he evidently took great pleasure,
and by their means he acquired some of the knowledge by which he so
often excited their admiration.

He soon distinguished me from the rest of his visitors, by addressing
questions to me relative to my history and adventures; and I, in turn,
was gratified to have met with one who took an interest in my concerns,
and who alone, of all I had here met with, could either enter into my
feelings or comprehend my opinions. Our conversations were carried on
in English, which he spoke with facility and correctness. We soon found
ourselves so much to each other's taste, that there was seldom an evening
that I did not make him a visit, and pass an hour or two in his company.

I learnt from him that he was born and bred at Benares, in Hindostan;
that he had been intended for the priesthood, and had been well instructed
in the literature of the east. That a course of untoward circumstances,
upon which he seemed unwilling to dwell, had changed his destination,
and made him a wanderer on the face of the earth. That in the neighbouring
kingdom of Siam he had formed an intimacy with a learned French Jesuit,
who had not only taught him his language, but imparted to him a knowledge
of much of the science of Europe, its institutions and manners. That after
the death of this friend, he had renewed his wanderings; and having been
detained in this village by a fit of sickness for some weeks, he was