Wrought by Kali's evil influence to desert his lovely wife.
Of himself without a garment-and of her with only one
As he thought, approached he near her― to divide that single

robe.

"How shall I divide the garment-by my loved one unperceived?

Pondering this within his spirit-round the cabin Nala went; In that narrow cabin's circuit-Nala wandered here and there, Till he found without a scabbard - shining, a well-tempered sword.

Then when half that only garment-he had severed and put on, In her sleep Vidarbha's princess with bewildered mind he fled. Yet, his cruel heart relenting-to the cabin turns he back; On the slumbering Damayanti-gazing, sadly wept the king; "Thou that sun nor wind hath ever- roughly visited, my love! On the hard earth in a cabin-sleepest with thy guardian gone. Thus attired in half a garment-she that aye so sweetly smiled, Like to one distracted, beauteous-how at length will she awake!

How will❜t fare with Bhima's daughter-lone, abandoned by her lord,

Wandering in the savage forest-where wild beasts and serpents dwell!

May the suns and winds of heaven- -may the genii of the

woods,

Noblest, may they all protect thee-thine own virtue thy best guard."

To his wife of peerless beauty-on the earth, 't was thus he

spoke.

Then of sense bereft by Kali-Nala hastily set forth;

And departing, still departing-he returned again, again; Dragged away by that bad demon-ever by his love drawn

back.

Nala, thus his heart divided-into two conflicting parts,
Like a swing goes backward, forward-from the cabin, to

and fro.

Torn away at length by Kali-flies afar the frantic king, Leaving there his wife in slumber—making miserable moans. Reft of sense, possessed by Kali-thinking still on her he left, Passed he in the lonely forest-leaving his deserted wife.

The first and greatest of the sons of Sevee is Pollear: he presides over marriages: the Indians build no house without having first carried a Pollear on the ground, which they sprinkle with oil, and throw flowers on it every day. If they do not invoke it before they undertake any enterprise, they believe that God will make them forget what they wanted to undertake, and that their labour will be in vain. He is represented with an elephant's head, and mounted on a rat; but in the pagodas they place him on a pedestal, with his legs almost crossed. A rat is always put before the door of his chapel. This rat was a giant, called Gudja-mouga-chourin, on whom the gods had bestowed immortality, as well as great powers, which he abused, and did much harm to mankind. Pollear, entreated by the sages and penitents to deliver them, pulled out one of his tusks, and threw it against Gudja-mougachourin; the tooth entered the giant's stomach, and overthrew him, who immediately changed himself into a rat as large as a mountain, and came to attack Pollear; who sprung on his back, telling him, that hereafter he should ever be his carrier.

The Indians, in their adoration of this god, cross their arms, shut the fist, and in this manner give themselves several blows on the temples; then, but always with the arms crossed, they take hold of their ears, and make three inclinations, bending the knee; after which, with their hands joined, they address their prayers to him, and strike their forehead. They have a great veneration for this deity, whose image they place in all temples, streets, highways, and in the country, at the foot of some tree; that all the world may have an opportunity of invoking him before they undertake any concern; and that

travellers may make their adorations and offerings to him before they pursue their journey.-SONNERAT.

This word is altered from the Grindouvers of Sonnerat, who describes these celestial children of Casyapa as famous for their beauty; they have wings, he adds, and fly in the air with their wives. I do not know whether they are the Gandharvas of the English orientalists. The wings with which they are attired in the poem are borrowed from the neglected story of Peter Wilkins. At a recent sale of manuscripts, the author's assignment of this book to Dodsley for ten guineas was brought to light, and it then appeared that his name, which till then had been unknown, was R. Paltock. Nothing more has been discovered concerning him. His book, however, is a work of great genius, and I know that both Sir Walter Scott and Mr. Coleridge thought as highly of it as I do. His winged people are the most beautiful creatures of imagination that ever were devised. I copy his minute description of the graundee, as he calls it;-Stothard has made some delightful drawings of it in the Novelist's Magazine.

"She first threw up two long branches, or ribs, of the whalebone, as I called it before, (and indeed for several of its properties, as toughness, elasticity, and pliableness, nothing I have ever seen can so justly be compared to it,) which were jointed behind to the upper-bone of the spine, and which, when not extended, lie bent over the shoulders on each side of the neck forwards, from whence, by nearer and nearer approaches, they just meet at the lower rim of the belly in a sort of point; but, when extended, they stand their whole length above the shoulders, not perpendicularly, but spreading outwards, with a web of the softest and most pliable and spongy membrane that can be imagined in the interstices between them, reaching from their root or joint on the back up above the hinder part of the head, and near half way their

own length; but, when closed, the membrane falls down in the middle upon the neck, like an handkerchief. There are also two other ribs, rising, as it were, from the same root, which, when open, run horizontally, but not so long as the others. These are filled up in the interstice between them and the upper ones with the same membrane; and on the lower side of this is also a deep flap of the membrane, so that the arms can be either above or below it in flight, and are always above it when closed. This last rib, when shut, flaps under the upper one, and also falls down with it before to the waist; but it is not joined to the ribs below. Along the whole spinebone runs a strong, flat, broad, gristly cartilage, to which are joined several other of these ribs, all which open horizontally, and are filled in the interstices with the above membrane, and are jointed to the ribs of the person just where the plane of the back begins to turn towards the breast and belly; and, when shut, wrap the body round to the joints on the contrary side, folding neatly one side over the other.

:

"At the lower spine are two more ribs extended horizontally when open, jointed again to the hips, and long enough to meet the joint on the contrary side across the belly and from the hip-joint, which is on the outermost edge of the hip-bone, runs a pliable cartilage quite down the outside of the thigh and leg to the ancle; from which there branch out divers other ribs, horizontally also when open, but, when closed, they encompass the whole thigh and leg, rolling inwards across the back of the leg and thigh, till they reach and just cover the cartilage. The interstices of these are filled up with the same membrane. From the two ribs which join to the lower spine-bone, there hangs down a sort of short apron, very full of plaits, from hip-joint to hip-joint, and reaches below the buttocks, half way or more to the hams. This has also several small limber ribs in it. Just upon the lower spine-joint, and above the apron, as I call it, there are two other long branches, which, when close, extend upon the back from the point they join at below to the shoulders, where each rib has

a clasper, which reaching over the shoulders, just under the fold of the uppermost branch or ribs, hold up the two ribs flat to the back, like a V, the interstices of which are filled up with the aforesaid membrane. This last piece, in flight, falls down almost to the ancles, where the two claspers, lapping under each leg within-side, hold it very fast; and then, also, the short apron is drawn up, by the strength of the ribs in it, between the thighs forward, and covers as far as the rim of the belly. The whole arms are covered also from the shoulders to the wrist with the same delicate membrane, fastened to ribs of proportionable dimensions, and jointed to a cartilage on the outside in the same manner as on the legs. It is very surprising to feel the difference of these ribs when open and when closed; for closed they are as pliable as the finest whalebone, or more so; but, when extended, are as strong and stiff as a bone. They are tapering from the roots, and are broader or narrower, as best suits the places they occupy, and the stress they are put to, up to their points, which are almost as small as a hair. The membrane between them is the most elastic thing I ever met with, occupying no more space, when the ribs are closed, than just from rib to rib, as flat and smooth as possible; but, when extended in some postures, will dilate itself surprisingly.

"It is the most amazing thing in the world to observe the large expansion of this graundee when open, and, when closed (as it all is in a moment, upon the party's descent), to see it fit so close and compact to the body as no tailor can come up to it; and then the several ribs lie so justly disposed in the several parts, that instead of being, as one would imagine, a disadvantage to the shape, they make the body and limbs look extremely elegant; and, by the different adjustment of their lines on the body and limbs, the whole, to my fancy, somewhat resembles the dress of the old Roman warriors in their buskins; and, to appearance, seems much more noble than any fictitious garb I ever saw, or can frame a notion of to