11.

This is a dream! exclaim'd the incredulous maid, Yet in her voice the while a fear exprest,

Which in her larger eye was manifest.
This is a dream! she rose and laid her hand
Upon her father's brow, to try the charm;
He could not bear the pressure there;... he shrunk,...
He warded off her arm,

As though it were an enemy's blow, he smote
His daughter's arm aside.

Her eye glanced down, his mantle she espied And caught it up; ... Oh misery! Kailyal cried, He bore me from the river-depths, and yet His garment is not wet!

IV.

THE DEPARTURE.

1.

RECLINED beneath a Cocoa's feathery shade
Ladurlad lics,

And Kailyal on his lap her head hath laid,
To hide her streaming eyes.

The boatman, sailing on his easy way,

. With envious eye beheld them where they lay; For every herb and flower

Was fresh and fragrant with the early dew, Sweet sung the birds in that delicious hour, And the cool gale of morning as it blew, Not yet subdued by day's increasing power, Ruffling the surface of the silvery stream, Swept o'er the moisten'd sand, and rais'd no shower. Telling their tale of love,

The boatman thought they lay

At that lone hour, and who so blest as they!

2.

But now the Sun in heaven is high,

The little songsters of the sky
Sit silent in the sultry hour, I
They pant and palpitate with heat;
Their bills are open languidly

To catch the passing air;
They hear it not, they feel it not,
It murmurs not, it moves not.
The boatman, as he looks to land,
Admires what men so mad to linger there,
For yonder Cocoa's shade behind them falls,
A single spot upon the burning sand.

3.

There all the morning was Ladurlad laid, Silent and motionless like one at ease; There motionless upon her father's knees Reclined the silent maid. The man was still, pondering with steady mind,

"The tufted lark, fixed to this fruitful land," says Sonnini, speaking of Egypt, "never forsakes it; it seems, however, that the excessive heat annoys him. You may see these birds, as well as sparrows, in the middle of the day, with their bills half open, and the muscles of their breasts agitated, breathing with difficulty, and as if they panted for respiration. The in

As if it were another's Curse,
His own portentous lot;

Scanning it o'er and o'er in busy thought, As though it were a last night's tale of woe, Before the cottage door

By some old beldam sung, While young and old, assembled round Listened, as if by witchery bound, In fearful pleasure to her wondrous tongue.

4.

Musing so long he lay, that all things seem
Unreal to his sense, even like a dream,
A monstrous dream of things which could not be.
That beating, burning brow,... why it was now
The height of noon, and he was lying there
In the broad sun, all bare!

What if he felt no wind? the air was still.
That was the general will

Of Nature, not his own peculiar doom;
Yon rows of rice erect and silent stand,
The shadow of the Cocoa's lightest plume
Is steady on the sand.

5.

Is it indeed a dream? he rose to try,
Impatient to the water side he went,
And down he bent,

And in the stream he plunged his hasty arm
To break the visionary charm.
With fearful eye and fearful heart,
His daughter watch'd the event;
She saw the start and shudder,
She heard the in-drawn groan,
For the Water knew Kehama's charm,
The Water shrunk before his arm.

His dry hand moved about unmoisten'd there;
As easily might that dry hand avail
To stop the passing gale,

Or grasp the impassive air.
He is Almighty then!

Exclaim'd the wretched man in his despair:
Air knows him, Water knows him; Sleep
His dreadful word will keep;

Even in the grave there is no rest for me,
Cut off from that last hope,... the wretch's joy;
And Veeshnoo hath no power to save,
Nor Seeva to destroy.

6.

Oh! wrong not them! quoth Kailyal,

Wrong not the Heavenly Powers!

Our hope is all in them: They are not blind! And lighter wrongs than ours,

And lighter crimes than his,

Have drawn the Incarnate down among mankind. Already have the Immortals heard our cries, And in the mercy of their righteousness Beheld us in the hour of our distress!

stinct, which induces them to prefer those means of subsistence which are easily obtained, and in abundance, although attended with some suffering, resembles the mind of man, whom a thirst for riches engages to brave calamities and dangers without number."

She spake with streaming eyes, Where pious love and ardent feeling beam. And turning to the Image, threw

Her grateful arms around it,. . . It was thou Who savedst me from the stream!

My Marriataly, it was thou!

I had not else been here

To share my Father's Curse,

To suffer now, . . . and yet to thank thee thus !

7.

Here then, the maiden cried, dear Father, here
Raise our own Goddess, our divine Preserver!
The mighty of the earth despise her rites,
She loves the poor who serve her.
Set up her Image here,

With heart and voice the guardian Goddess bless,
For jealously would she resent

Neglect and thanklessness; ...

Set up her Image here,

And bless her for her aid with tongue and soul sincere.

8.

So saying on her knees the maid

Began the pious toil.

Soon their joint labour scoops the easy soil;
They raise the Image up with reverent hand,'
And round its rooted base they heap the sand.
O Thou whom we adore,

O Marriataly, thee do I implore,
The virgin cried; my Goddess, pardon thou
The unwilling wrong, that I no more,
With dance and song,

Can do thy daily service, as of yore!

The flowers which last I wreathed around thy brow,
Are withering there; and never now
Shall I at eve adore thee,

And swimming round with arms outspread,
Poise the full pitcher on my head,
In dexterous dance before thee,

While underneath the reedy shed, at rest
My father sat the evening rites to view,
And blest thy name, and blest
His daughter too.

9.

Then heaving from her heart a heavy sigh, O Goddess! from that happy home, cried she, The Almighty Man hath forced us ! And homeward with the thought unconsciously She turn'd her dizzy eye.... But there on high, With many a dome, and pinnacle, and spire, The summits of the Golden Palaces Blazed in the dark blue sky, aloft, like fire.

The watchmen are provided with no offensive weapons excepting a sling; on the contrary, they continue the whole day standing, in one single position, upon a pillar of clay raised about ten feet, where they remain bellowing continually, that they may terrify, without hurting, the birds who feed upon the crop. Every considerable field contains several such sentinels, stationed at different corners, who repeat the call from one to another so incessantly, that the invaders have hardly any opportunity of making a good livelihood in the field.

These watchmen are forced, during the rains, to erect, instead of a clay pillar, a scaffolding of wood as high as the

EVENING Comes on: arising from the stream, Homeward the tall flamingo wings his flight; And where he sails athwart the setting beam, His scarlet plumage glows with deeper light. The watchman', at the wish'd approach of night, Gladly forsakes the field, where he all day, To scare the winged plunderers from their prey, With shout and sling, on yonder clay-built height, Hath borne the sultry ray.

Hark at the Golden Palaces 2 The Bramin strikes the hour. For leagues and leagues around, the brazen sound Rolls through the stillness of departing day, Like thunder far away.

2.

Behold them wandering on their hopeless way, Unknowing where they stray,

Yet sure where'er they stop to find no rest. The evening gale is blowing,

It plays among the trees;

Like plumes upon a warrior's crest, They see yon cocoas tossing to the breeze. Ladurlad views them with impatient mind, Impatiently he hears

The gale of evening blowing,
The sound of waters flowing,

As if all sights and sounds combined
To mock his irremediable woe;
For not for him the blessed waters flow,
For not for him the gales of evening blow,
A fire is in his heart and brain,
And Nature hath no healing for his pain.

3.

The Moon is up, still pale
Amid the lingering light.

A cloud ascending in the eastern sky,
Sails slowly o'er the vale,

crop, over which they suspend a roof of straw, to shelter their naked bodies from the rain. - Tennant.

2 Every thing belonging to the Sovereign of Ava has the addition of shoe, or golden, annexed to it; even his majesty's person is never mentioned but in conjunction with this precious metal. When a subject means to affirm that the king has heard any thing, he says, "it has reached the golden ears; " he who obtained admission to the royal presence has been at the "golden feet." The perfume of otta of roses, a nobleman observed one day, "was an odour grateful to the golden nose.”—i -Symes.

And darkens round and closes in the night.'

No hospitable house is nigh,

No traveller's home the wanderers to invite; Forlorn, and with long watching overworn, The wretched father and the wretched child Lie down amid the wild.

4.

Before them full in sight,

A white flag flapping to the winds of night,
Marks where the tiger seized a human prey. 2
Far, far away with natural dread,
Shunning the perilous spot,

At other times abhorrent had they fled;
But now they heed it not.

Nothing they care; the boding death-flag now
In vain for them may gleam and flutter there.
Despair and agony in him,

Prevent all other thought;

And Kailyal hath no heart or sense for aught, Save her dear father's strange and miserable lot.

5.

There in the woodland shade,
Upon the lap of that unhappy maid,
His head Ladurlad laid,

And never word he spake;
Nor heaved he one complaining sigh,
Nor groaned he with his misery,
But silently for her dear sake
Endured the raging pain.
And now the moon was hid on high,
No stars were glimmering in the sky;
She could not see her father's eye,
How red with burning agony;
Perhaps he may be cooler now,
She hoped, and long'd to touch his brow
With gentle hand, yet did not dare
To lay the painful pressure there.
Now forward from the tree she bent,
And anxiously her head she leant,
And listen'd to his breath.
Ladurlad's breath was short and quick,
Yet regular it caine,

And like the slumber of the sick,
In pantings still the same.

Oh if he sleeps! ... her lips unclose,
Intently listening to the sound,
That equal sound so like repose.
Still quietly the sufferer lies,

Bearing his torment now with resolute will;
He neither moves, nor groans, nor sighs.

"At this season of the year, it is not uncommon, towards the evening, to see a small black cloud rising in the eastern part of the horizon, and afterwards spreading itself to the northwest. This phenomenon is always attended with a violent storm of wind, and flashes of the strongest and most vivid lightning and heavy thunder, which is followed by rain. These storms sometimes last for half an hour or more; and, when they disperse, they leave the air greatly freshened, and the sky of a deep, clear, and transparent blue. When they occur near the full moon, the whole atmosphere is illuminated by a soft but brilliant silver light, attended with gentle airs.-Hodges.

* It is usual to place a small white triangular flag, fixed to a

Doth satiate cruelty bestow This little respite to his woe,

She thought, or are there Gods who look below?

6.

Perchance, thought Kailyal, willingly deceived,
Our Marriataly hath his pain relieved,
And she hath bade the blessed sleep assuage
His agony, despite the Rajah's rage.
That was a hope which fill'd her gushing eyes,
And made her heart in silent yearnings rise,
To bless the power divine in thankfulness.
And yielding to that joyful thought her mind,
Backward the maid her aching head reclined
Against the tree, and to her father's breath
In fear she hearken'd still with earnest ear.
But soon forgetful fits the effort broke;
In starts of recollection then she woke,
Till now benignant Nature overcame
The Virgin's weary and exhausted frame,
Nor able more her painful watch to keep,
She closed her heavy lids, and sunk to sleep.

7.

Vain was her hope! he did not rest from pain,
The Curse was burning in his brain;
Alas! the innocent maiden thought he slept,
But Sleep the Rajah's dread commandment kept,
Sleep knew Kehama's Curse.

The dews of night fell round them now,
They never bathed Ladurlad's brow,
They knew Kehama's Curse.

The night-wind is abroad,

Aloft it moves among the stirring trees;
He only heard the breeze,. . .
No healing aid to him it brought,

It play'd around his head and touch'd him not,
It knew Kehama's Curse.

8.

Listening, Ladurlad lay in his despair,

If Kailyal slept, for wherefore should she share Her father's wretchedness, which none could cure? Better alone to suffer; he must bear The burden of his Curse, but why endure The unavailing presence of her grief? She too, apart from him, might find relief; For dead the Rajah deem'd her, and as thus Already she his dread revenge had fled, So might she still escape and live secure.

bamboo staff, of ten or twelve feet long, at the place where a tiger has destroyed a man. It is common for the passengers, also, each to throw a stone, or brick, near the spot, so that, in the course of a little time, a pile, equal to a good waggon load, is collected. This custom, as well as the fixing a rag on any particular thorn bush, near the fatal spot, is in use, likewise, on various accounts. Many brambles may be seen in a day's journey, completely covered with this motley assemblage of remnants. The sight of the flags and piles of stones imparts a certain melancholy, not perhaps altogether devold of apprehension. They may be said to be of service, in pointing out the places most frequented by tigers.-Oriental Sports, vol. ii. p. 22.

A human form in that black night, Distinctly shaped by its own lurid light, Such light as the sickly moon is seen to shed, Through spell-raised fogs, a bloody baleful red.

12.

That Spectre fix'd his eyes upon her full; The light which shone in their accursed orbs Was like a light from Hell,

And it grew deeper, kindling with the view. She could not turn her sight

From that infernal gaze, which like a spell Bound her, and held her rooted to the ground. It palsied every power,

Her limbs avail'd her not in that dread hour,
There was no moving thence,
Thought, memory, sense were gone :
She heard not now the tiger's nearer cry,
She thought not on her father now,
Her cold heart's blood ran back,

Her hand lay senseless on the bough it clasp'd
Her feet were motionless;

Her fascinated eyes

Like the stone eye-balls of a statue fix'd, Yet conscious of the sight that blasted them.

13.

The wind is abroad,

It opens the clouds ;

Scatter'd before the gale,

They skurry through the sky,

And the darkness retiring rolls over the vale. The Stars in their beauty come forth on high, And through the dark blue night

The Moon rides on triumphant, broad and bright. Distinct and darkening in her light,

Appears that Spectre foul,

The moon-beam gives his face and form to sight, The shape of man,

The living form and face of Arvalan !...

His hands are spread to clasp her.

14.

But at that sight of dread the Maid awoke; As if a lightning-stroke

Had burst the spell of fear, Away she broke all franticly, and fled. There stood a temple near beside the way, An open fane of Pollear 1, gentle God, To whom the travellers for protection pray.

I 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 over

With elephantine head and eye severe, Here stood his image, such as when he seiz'd And tore the rebel Giant from the ground, With mighty trunk wreathed round His impotent bulk, and on his tusks, on high Impaled upheld him between earth and sky.

15.

Thither the affrighted Maiden sped her flight, And she hath reach'd the place of sanctuary; And now within the temple in despite, Yea, even before the altar, in his sight, Hath Arvalan with fleshly arm of might Seized her. That instant the insulted God Caught him aloft, and from his sinuous grasp, As if from some tort catapult let loose, Over the forest hurl'd him all abroad.

16.

O'ercome with dread,

She tarried not to see what heavenly Power Had saved her in that hour;

Breathless and faint she fled.

And now her foot struck on the knotted root Of a broad manchineil, and there the Maid Fell senselessly beneath the deadly shade.

VI.

CASYAPA.

1.

SHALL this then be thy fate, O lovely Maid, Thus, Kailyal, must thy sorrows then be ended? Her face upon the ground, Her arms at length extended, There like a corpse behold her laid Beneath the deadly shade. What if the hungry tiger, prowling by, Should snuff his banquet nigh? Alas, Death needs not now his ministry; The baleful boughs hang o'er her, The poison-dews descend. What Power will now restore her? What God will be her friend?

threw 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.

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