ch renders it so graceful, seems nothing
more than a loose bed-gown, coarse in materials and tasteless in
shape: this forms the most common costume. The higher classes of
Parsees wear an ample and not unbecoming dress; the upper garment
of white cambric muslin fits tightly to the waist, where it is bound
round with a sash or cummurbund of white muslin; it then descends in
an exceedingly full skirt to the feet, covering a pair of handsome
silk trowsers. A Parsee group, thus attired, in despite of their mean
and unbecoming head-dress, make a good appearance.

The Arabs wear handkerchiefs or shawls, striped with red, yellow, and
blue, bound round their heads, or hanging in a fanciful manner over
their turbans. The Persian dress is grave and handsome, and there
are, besides, Nubians, Chinese, and many others; but the well-dressed
people must be looked for in the carriages, few of the same
description are to be seen on foot, which gives to a crowd in Bengal
so striking an appearance. In fact, a Bengallee may be recognized at
a glance by his superior costume, and in no place is the contrast more
remarkable than in the halls and entrances of Anglo-Indian houses. The
servants, if not in livery--and it is difficult to get them to
wear one, the dignity of caste interfering--are almost invariably
ill-dressed and slovenly in their appearance. We see none of the
beautifully plaited and unsullied white turbans; none of the fine
muslin dresses and well-folded cummurbunds; the garments being
coarse, dirty, scanty, and not put on to advantage. Neither are the
countenances so handsome or the forms so fine; for though a very
considerable degree of beauty is to be found of person and feature
amid many classes of Parsees, Jews, Hindus, and Mohamedans, it is not
so general as in Bengal, where the features are usually so finely cut,
and the eyes so splendid.

Nevertheless, although my admiration has never been so strongly
excited, and I was in the first instance greatly disappointed, every
time I go abroad I become more reconciled to this change, and more
gratified by the various objects which attract my attention; and there
are few things that please me more than a drive to the Fort.

It is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to convey any idea of
the lively scene which is presented in this excursion, or the great
variety of features which it embraces. Enclosures sprinkled over with
palm-trees, and filled with a herd of buffaloes, occur c