"A beautiful specimen of an alligator's head was here given by Mr.
Alexander to Lord Combermere. He was rather a distinguished monster,
having carried off at different occasions, six or eight brace of men
from an indigo factory in the neighbourhood. A native, who had long
laid wait for him, at length succeeded in slaying him with poisoned
arrows. One of these notoriously ghaut-frequenting alligators is well
nigh as rich a prize to the poor native who is fortunate enough to
capture him, as a Spanish galleon is to a British frigate; for on
ripping open his stomach, and over-hauling its freight, it is not
unfrequently found to contain 'a choice assortment'--as the Calcutta
advertisers have it--of gold, silver, or brass bangles and anklets,
which have not been so expeditiously digested as their fair owners,
victims of the monster's voracity. A little fat Brahminee child,
'farci an ris,' must be a tempting and tender _bonne bouche_ to these
river gourmands. Horrific legends such as the above, together with a
great deal of valuable advice on the subject, were quite thrown away
upon me; for ninety degrees of Fahrenheit, and the enticing blueness
of the water generally betrayed me into a plunge every evening during
my Gangetic voyage."

Nocturnal Bathing.

"On the occasion of a grand nocturnal bathing ceremony, held at the
great tank called the Indra Damân, I went with a party of three or
four others to witness the spectacle. The walls surrounding the pool
and a cluster of picturesque pavilions in its centre were brilliantly
lighted up with hundreds of cheraugs, or small oil-lamps, casting a
flickering lustre upon the heads and shoulders of about five hundred
men, women, and children, who were ducking and praying, _à corps
perdu,_ in the water. As I glanced over the figures nearest to me,