its course is about 750 miles. The Nerbudda river, though quite as sacred in the eyes of the natives of India, and scarcely less celebrated than the Ganges and Jumna, has not attracted an equal number of European pilgrims to its source, which has only lately been traced by scientific men. As early as 1795, Capt. Blunt, while employed in surveying a route between Berar, Orissa, and the Northern Circars, approached within a few miles of Omerkantuk, on the summit of which the river takes its rise, but was prevented from further advance by the hostility of the native mountaineers. A long time elapsed before any other attempt was made to penetrate the fastnesses of Gondwana, where, on the summit of a wooded hill, 2460 feet above the level of the sea, the sacred river springs to life and light; in these days however of adventure and research, an excursion to the temple of Omerkantuk is frequently undertaken by the Anglo-Indian inhabitants of the neighbourhood. The source of the Nerbudda, therefore, is no longer a terra incognita; and, though the ascent of the hill is still attended with considerable difficulty, since fatigue, hardship, and privation must be encountered by the way, a lady has been found bold enough to join one of these exploring parties. Sportsmen were of course the first to try the adventure, for to the hog-hunters and tiger-slayers of the Indian army we are indebted for many interesting particulars relating to remote and almost inaccessible places, penetrated in the true spirit of the chase. Jubbulpore, a town in the province of Gondwana, to the north of the Nerbudda, and one of the military stations of the Bengal army, generally contains some eager aspirants, anxious to avail themselves of every opportunity to vary the monotony of the scene, by excursions to celebrated places in the vicinity. Some of the best fishing in India is to be

found in the Nerbudda, which is famous for its Mahasseer, and the hunter may encounter nearly every Asiatic zoological specimen in its neighbourhood. The jungles between Jubbulpore and Omerkantuk abound in the fiercest description of savage beast; tigers, bears, leopards, and panthers, bold in consequence of their numbers, and not much disturbed on account of the feebleness and the scantiness of the native population, roam fearlessly abroad in the noon-day, and are sometimes to be found on the public roads. The country about Jubbulpore, which is one of the prettiest stations in India, offers a pleasing contrast to the surrounding wildernesses, the immediate neighbourhood being distinguished for the richness of its cultivation. A march through the valley districts of the Nerbudda from Jubbulpore, towards the hills, conducts the traveller on his first stage to Bamuny, over sheets of cultivation, but the appearance of the face of the country changes at the latter-named place. Instead of the smiling succession of garden-like fields, which attest the skill and industry of the tillers of the soil, the ground becomes rugged, rising over a series of rough and stony eminences covered with forest, and leading through passes or ghauts exceedingly narrow, and difficult to climb; the habitations of men becoming more remote from each other, fewer in number, and degenerating into mere huts. Nothing, however, can exceed the beauty of these woody regions, which teem with animal life, the noblest beasts of the chase making their lairs in the thickets, while the trees are tenanted by innumerable tribes of monkeys and of birds, many being literally full of wild peacocks. The only place of importance on the road from Jubbulpore to Omerkantuk is Mundlah, a celebrated fortress, formerly belonging to the Rajah of Nagpore, which was ceded to the British in 1818, once deservedly

considered one of the strongest places in Central India. Gurrah Mundlah, as it is called by the natives, presents a very fine specimen of the fortresses constructed in ancient times by Indian warriors. It stands out boldly in the centre of the stream, a channel being cut through on the side in which the Nerbudda did not naturally flow. It is situated on the right bank of the river, which is very deep and rapid during the rainy season, rushing tumultuously along with loud and sullen murmurs. Though originally very strongly built of stone, neglect is aiding time and the elements to hasten its decay. In its present stage of existence, however, its tower-crowned bastions, and battlemented walls, afford evidences of former solidity and grandeur. The luxuriant growth of vegetation in India is unfortunately very detrimental to even the most massive buildings, that are suffered to fall into decay; the walls are in many places perforated by the expanding force of the roots of ancient tamarind and peepul trees. This is greatly the case in the town and fortress of Gurrah Mundlah; the former, from which it is divided by the river, is fast mouldering into ruin, the walls being in many places choked up with thick brushwood, or obscured by the pappyah tree, while black-faced monkeys sport from bough to bough, and battlement to battlement. Gurrah Mundlah in former days has been the theatre of many stirring scenes, a field for the exploits of Patan warriors, who established themselves as the Thakoors or chiefs of the surrounding districts; while, during the Pindarree incursions, it was made the frequent halting-place of those daring freebooters in their route from Bundelkhund to Cuttack. Officers who served in the campaigns of 1817 and 1818, were particularly struck by the picturesque appearance made by the enemy upon the wild and rocky banks of the Nerbudda, and

the neighbourhood of Gurrah Mundlah in particular. More than once the sudden starting up of mailed figures from the tall grass, or grey stones, the bristling of spears where a moment before leaves alone had stirred in the breeze, realised the poet's description of the martial array of Roderick Dhu, emerging at a call from crag and heather. Had the skill of the defenders of these passes been equal to their valour, the country, so profusely supplied with natural defences, might have been made impregnable; but, either overlooking or despising these advantages, they ventured to give battle upon the open plain, and were defeated at every point. Gurrah Mundlah was also a great haunt for pilgrims, who came from distant countries to worship on the banks of Nerbuddajee, the very sight of the sacred stream being supposed to cleanse the soul from all impurity. This splendid but solitary place is, however, no longer the resort of warriors or of numerous devotees; its beautiful ghauts and temples, dedicated chiefly to Mahadeo, being deserted, excepting by the dwindled population of the neighbourhood, and a few poverty-stricken strangers. Numerous wild and striking tales are told concerning the saints and soldiers who have made the ancient city famous; but the most interesting of the traditions connected with the place records the warlike deeds of an Amazonian queen, said to have reigned over a district to the eastward, and to have held a splendid court in a large and populous city, now wholly effaced from the surface of the earth, not a vestige remaining to show its former magnificence. The people of Gurrah Mundlah are fond of talking of this female warrior, who they describe as being beautiful beyond compare, and brave as the bravest hero of her day. Ramnuggur, the ancient capital of the Goauds, is situated about fifteen miles from the above renowned for

tress, 'on the left bank of the Nerbudda; little, however, remains of this once celebrated place, excepting the palace of the rajah, which, though in ruins, still consists of two stories, and contains some curious inscriptions, which, when deciphered, will in all probability throw considerable light upon the history of the place. The Nerbudda, throughout the whole distance from Mundlah, is wide; free from rocks, transparently clear, and unruffled in its course: the banks on either side are soft and verdant, with a back-ground of luxuriant forests; but all is desert, not a single village or trace of human habitation being at present to be seen. Though portions of Gondwana have been frequently subjected to the Mahomedan rule, the population is essentially Hindoo; and close to Mundlah the waters of the Nerbudda are held so sacred, that even the fish, which in many places are eaten without scruple by the most orthodox believers in the doctrine of metempsychosis, are under the protection of the Brahmuns, who feed them with parched grain and balls made of flour. Thus feasted, the Rhoee, in particular, grows to an enormous size; but woe to the profane wretch who should presume to make a dinner of one of these monarchs of the flood, the crime of slaughtering beef being considered scarcely less heinous. The sacrifice of the sacred cow is looked upon as a crime of the greatest atrocity by the dwellers upon the banks of the Nerbudda, who attribute every evil that befals the country to the conversion of its sacred flesh into an article of food. They show trees which they allege to have withered in consequence of beef having been hung upon, or cooked under their branches, by the European and Mahomedan troops stationed in the country, and they say that even the marriages contracted by the widows of Brahmuns are less calculated to bring down divine vengeance than

the slaughter of the cow. The temple of Omerkantuk, situated on the tableland of the hill or mountain of the same name (q. v.), is five days' march from Gurrah Mundlah. A small cistern, near the temple, contains the first wavelets of the Nerbudda and the Soane: bamboo pipes, pointing east and west, seem to give somewhat of an artificial direction to the course pursued by these impetuous rivers, which, uncurbed by man, rush onwards to their destination, fretted only by powers as mighty as themselves. In the present settled state of the country, there are no difficulties of any importance to prevent European travellers from exploring the source of the Nerbudda, but these districts can only be traversed, without injury to the health, at a certain season of the year, that is, the months between January and May. The commencement of the rains in June, and the consequent rapid growth of every description of vegetation, occasion jungle fever to all who are exposed to an atmosphere loaded with deleterious matter, a southeast wind prevalent at the time adding its influence to other causes. The breeze, heavy with miasma, produced by decaying foliage exposed to constant and baleful damps from the mists which rise in places where not a single sunbeam can penetrate, and where there is no free circulation of air, brings death upon its wings. The water is equally unwholesome, being a decoction of rank weeds and poisonous foliage, highly charged with the worst description of gas; proving that shade and water, however beautiful and delightful, have their disadvantages, and are not always conducive to health. At Jubbulpore, the evil influences of the pestilential air of the jungle are felt whenever the wind comes from the east or the south. Fortunately, during the greater part of the rainy season, it takes a westerly direction, blowing steadily up

the valley of the Nerbudda, and rendering the climate both healthy and agreeable; when it changes, as it does occasionally, and sweeps over the extensive jungles to the east and south, sickness generally follows. The effect of a south-east wind on animal and vegetable life, and the influence it exercises upon the physical and mental energies, are proverbial all over the world; but it comes armed with tenfold power when it passes across an impenetrable jungle in its progress. Nearly all the unhealthiness which is endured in India may be traced to the same cause: malaria frequently travelling over vast tracts, and causing sickness in places usually supposed to be free from its influence. NERIAUL, an implement for smoking.

It is nothing more than a cocoa-nut, with the pipe-stem thrust through a hole at its top, and a piece of reed, about a cubit long, applied to another hole lower down. The nut-shell being half filled with water, the air, or rather the smoke, is cooled. These little hookahs are even used without any reed to conduct the smoke; the lips being, in that case, applied to the small lateral aperture into which the reed should be fitted. One of these usually serves half-adozen men, who pass it round with great glee: it often forms an appendage about the feet of a palankeen, if the opportunity offers for securing it there without "master's knowledge."

N'HUT. The nose has its share in the decorations of the Hindostanee woman; it usually bears two ornaments, one, called a n'hut, commonly passed through the left nostril, consists only of a piece of gold wire, as thick as a small knitting-needle, with the usual hook and eye, and having the centre, or nearly so, furnished with several garnets, pearls, &c., perhaps to the number of five or six, each parted from its neighbour by a thin plate of gold, usually having serrated, or escalloped edges,

and being fixed transversely upon the wire, which passes through their centres, as well as through the garnets, pearls, &c. The diameter of the circle of a n'hut may be, ordinarily, about two inches and a half. On the coast of Coromandel, a similar ornament is worn by men of respectability in each ear.

NICOBARS, a group of islands, situated in the south-east quarter of the Bay of Bengal, between the sixth and tenth degree of north latitude, and occupying the space from the Little Andaman island to the north-western point of Sumatra. These islands compose an extensive group, of which those named Nancowry, Car Nicobar, and Little Nicobar, are the only ones which have been much visited by Europeans. They are generally hilly, and some have high mountains. Their chief productions are cocoanuts and betel, for which they are much resorted to by ships from India. The natives are in a very rude state, and have sometimes attacked and murdered the crews of vessels visiting them for traffic. The Danes attempted to form a settlement upon the islands from Tranquebar, in 1756, and many missionaries engaged in the undertaking; but the climate proved so extremely unhealthy, that after many missionaries and other colonists had died, it was found necessary, in 1787, finally to abandon the design. There is also a number of small islands a few miles from the coast of Tenasserim, known by the general name of the Mergui Islands, or the Mergui Archipelago. They are occupied merely by a few Burmese fishermen.

NIJJOTE (neechjote), from neech, under, and jote, to plough; i. e., land in India reserved by the zumeendar, and excluded from the jumma, for cultivation under himself. Either Hindoo or Moslem grant. NIMMUK, salt. Nimmuk-haram and nimmuk-hulall are Persian phrases, expressive of fidelity or unfaithfulness to one's salt. They typify gra

titude or ingratitude. In the East, the circumstance of having tasted salt or food in any dwelling becomes a pledge of union and safety between the host and guest, which is seldom violated even among the worst banditti. The word nimmuk-wallah is a favourite method among the sepoys and other servants of expressing their duty and attachment to the East India Company, whose salt they eat.

NIR NARRAIN, a personage in Hindoo mythology, worshipped by a sect represented as having its rise from Odhow, to whom the charge of the human race was delivered by Krishna when he left this world. The new doctrines were first preached by a Brumacharee called Gopal, and afterwards by Atmanund Swamee. The grand principle of the system seems to be, that the souls of all mankind are equal. The principal observances enjoined are abstinence from what are represented as the four besetting sins of the flesh indulgence in drinking spirituous liquors, eating flesh, stealing, and connexion with other than their own women. NISHUN-BURDAR,

a

standard

bearer. NIZAM, order, arrangement; an arranger; nizam ul mulk, the administration of the empire. NIZAMUT ADAWLUT, the court of criminal justice in India, the principal offices in which are filled by some of the oldest of the Company's servants.

NOKARAH KHAREH, Persian. A band of music which plays on state occasions before a great man," and is usually," says Fraser, "stationed in an apartment over the gateway." NOLKOL, an Indian esculent, partaking of the turnip and the cabbage in flavour, but in form and colour more resembling the former.

NOOH, a place in India, in the province of Agra, in Lat. 27 deg. 51 min. N., Long. 77 deg. 31 min. E., is noted for the manufacture of culinary salt, distinguished by the name of

"salumba," which is procured from salt springs in the neighbourhood. NOONĀ (annona reticulata), the sour sop. A very ordinary fruit in the East; those of the West Indies have a superior flavour. The fruit is eaten both raw and roasted in embers; its bark, or hard external skin, is a powerful astringent and tonic, and of great use in native medicine, particularly amongst the Malays and Chinese, who also use it in some of their dyeing processes. The tree does not grow to any size which would allow its wood to be of any use. The fruit is much coveted by bats, squirrels, monkeys, and other vermin, which in the East so cruelly disappoint the hopes of the gardener.

NOWBUTKHANA, is a tower placed in India over the gateways of palaces, in which the hour is struck, and at particular times of the day, as well as on great occasions, musicians stationed therein play. This was the exclusive attribute of royalty; but now every petty chieftain apes the dignity which no one disputes. At fairs, those who wish to affect great grandeur, erect them on poles, and place two or three screaming trumpets and a large drum on the top, to the great annoyance of their neighbours, though doubtless to their own great gratification. NUGGUR, or BEDNORE, a city in India, in the province of Mysore, the capital of the district so called, was formerly a large and very rich city. It is now in ruins, and almost depopulated. Nuggur is situated on a wide plain, surrounded by hills, and intersected by rivers, so that the level ground should be ever waving with bright green crops; the fine mangoe-trees that cluster round the pretty villages, ever productive; but in Nuggur, as elsewhere, that which should be, is not always so, for droughts reduce the flowing waters to mere occasional pools, wither the corn, slay the cattle, and reduce the strong man to a condition of hollow