ascribe their origin, their institutions, their social laws, and their ritual observances. Intense devotion to Kali is the mysterious link that unites them in a bond of brotherhood that is indissoluble; and with a secrecy which, for generations, has eluded the efforts of successive governments to detect them. It is under her special auspices that all their sanguinary depredations have been planned, prosecuted, and carried into execution. It is the thorough incorporation of a feeling of assurance in her aid, with the entire framework of their mental and moral being, that has imparted to their union all its strength and all its terror. In their sense of the term, they are of all men the most superstitiously exact, the most devoutly religious, in the performance of divine worship. In honor of their guardian deity, there is a temple dedicated at Bindachul, near Mirzapur, to the north of Bengal. There, religious ceremonies are constantly performed, and thousands of animals offered in sacrifice. When a band of these leagued murderers, whose individuality and union have for ages been preserved in integrity, resolve to issue forth on their worse than marauding expedition, deliberately intent on imbruing their hands in the blood of their fellows, they first betake themselves to the temple of the goddess; present their prayers, and supplications, and offerings there; and vow, in the event of success, to consecrate to her service a large proportion of the booty. Should they not succeed, should they even be seized, convicted, and condemned to die, their confidence in Kali does not waver; their faith does not stagger. They exonerate the goddess from all blame. They ascribe the cause of failure wholly to themselves. They assume all the guilt of having neglected some of the divinely prescribed forms. And they laugh to scorn the idea that any evil could possibly have befallen them, had they been faithful in the observance of all the divinely-appointed rules of their sanguinary craft. How must the chief corner-stone of ordinary morality be shaken, in a land where religion is so versatile as to throw the ample shield of divine encouragement and reward over the most murderous banditti that ever appeared in human form!

If such be the general character of this goddess, what are you to expect of a festival held in honor of her lord, in his character as the great destroyer,—a festival in which she, too, is adored, as his destructive energy!

Most of the sectaries that embrace the form of Maha Kala as their guardian deity-belonging chiefly to the class of Shu

dras are busied for several days before the festival with various initiatory ceremonies of purification, abstinence, and exercises of devotion; and those who wish to earn great merit on the occasion are engaged in preparatory operations for a whole

month.

The festival itself derives its name of Charak Pujah from chakra, a discus or wheel, in allusion to the circle performed in the rite of swinging, which constitutes so very prominent a part of the anniversary observances. An upright pole, twenty or thirty feet in height, is planted in the ground. Across the top of it, moving freely on a pin or pivot, is placed horizontally an ther long pole. From one end of this transverse beam is a rope suspended, with two hooks affixed to it. To the other extremity is fastened another rope, which hangs loosely towards the ground. The devotee comes forward, and prostrates himself in the dust. The hooks are then run through the fleshy parts of his back, near the shoulders. A party, holding the rope at the other side, immediately begin to run round with. considerable velocity. By this means the wretched dupe of superstition is hoisted aloft into the air, and violently whirled round and round. The torture he may continue to endure for a longer or shorter period, according to his own free-will; only, this being reckoned one of the holiest of acts, the longer he can endure the torture the greater the pleasure conveyed to the deity whom he serves; the greater the portion of merit accruing to himself; and, consequently, the brighter the prospect of future reward. The time usually occupied averages from ten minutes to half an hour; and as soon as one has ended, another candidate is ready, - aspiring to earn the like merit and distinction. And thus, on one tree, from five to ten or fifteen may be swung in the course of a day. Of these swinging-posts there are hundreds and thousands simultaneously in operation in the province of Bengal. They are always erected in the most conspicuous parts of the towns and villages, and are surrounded by vast crowds of noisy spectators. On the very streets of the native city of Calcutta, many of these horrid swings are annually to be seen, and scores around the suburbs. It not unfre. quently happens that, from the extreme rapidity of the motion, the ligaments of the back give way, in which case the poor devotee is tossed to a distance, and dashed to pieces. A loud wail of commiseration, you now suppose, will be raised in behalf of the unhappy man who has thus fallen a martyr to his religious

enthusiasm. No such thing! Idolatry is cruel as the grave Instead of sympathy or compassion, a feeling of detestation and abhorrence is excited towards him. By the principles of their faith, he is adjudged to have been a desperate criminal in a former state of being; and he has now met with this violent death, in the present birth, as a righteous retribution, on account of egregious sins committed in a former!

The evening of the same day is devoted to another practice almost equally cruel. It consists in the devotees' throwing themselves down, from a high wall, the second story of a house, or a temporary scaffolding often twenty or thirty feet in height, upon iron spikes or knives that are thickly stuck in a large bag or mattress of straw. But these sharp instruments being fixed rather loosely, and in a position sloping forward, the greater part of the thousands that fall upon them dexterously contrive to escape without serious damage. Many, however, are often cruelly mangled and lacerated; and, in the case of some, the issue proves speedily fatal.

At night, numbers of the devotees sit down in the open air, and pierce the skin of their foreheads; and in it, as a socket, place a small rod of iron, to which is suspended a lamp that is kept burning till the dawn of day, while the lamp-bearers rehearse the praises of their favorite deity.

Again, before the temple, bundles of thorns and other firewood are accumulated, among which the devotees roll themselves uncovered. The materials are next raised into a pile, and set on fire. Then the devotees briskly dance over the blazing embers, and fling them into the air with their naked. hands, or toss them at one another.

Some have their breasts, arms, and other parts, stuck entirely full of pins, about the "thickness of small nails, or packingneedles." Others betake themselves to a vertical wheel, twenty or thirty feet in diameter, and raised considerably above the ground. They bind themselves to the outer rim, in a sitting posture, so that, when the wheel rolls round, their heads point alternately to the zenith and the nadir. But it were endless to pursue the inflicted cruelties into all their details. of so very singular a character, that it must not be left unnoticed. If the problem were proposed to any member of our own community to contrive some other distinct species of tor*ure, amid the boundless variety which the most fertile ima

diversity of these selfThere is me, however,

gination might figure to itself, probably the one now to be described would not be found. Some of these deluded votaries enter into a vow. With one hand they cover their under-lips with a layer of wet earth or mud; on this, with the other hand, they deposit some small grains, usually of mustard-seed. They then stretch themselves flat on their backs, exposed to the dripping dews of night and the blazing sun by day. And their vow is, that from that fixed position they will not stir,will neither move, nor turn, nor cat, nor drink, — till the seeds planted on the lips begin to sprout or germinate. This vegetable process usually takes place on the third or fourth day; after which, being released from the vow, they arise, as they dotingly imagine and believe, laden with a vast accession of holiness and supererogatory merit.

To the south of Calcutta is a spacious, level plain, between two and three miles in length, and a mile, or a mile and a half, in breadth. On the west it is washed by the sacred Ganges, on whose margin, about the middle of the plain, Fort William rears its ramparts and battlements. Along the north is a magnificent range of buildings, the Supreme Court, the Town Hall, with other public edifices, — and, in the centre, most conspicuous of all, the arcades, and columns, and lofty dome of Government House. Along the whole of the eastern side, at short intervals, is a succession of palace-like mansions, occupied as the abodes of the more opulent of the European residents. In front of this range, facing the west, and between it, therefore, and the plain, is the broadest and most airy street in Calcutta, well known under the name of Chowringhee. Chiefly to the north of the plain, and partly to the east, beyond the ranges of European offices and residences, lies the native city, stretching its intricate mass of narrow lanes, and red brick houses, and "hive-like" bamboo huts, over an extent of many miles, and teeming with half a million of human beings! At a short distance from the south-east corner of the plain, across a narrow belt of low suburban cottages, lies the celebrated temple of KaliGhat. The grand direct thoroughfare towards it, from the native. city, is along the Chowringhee road.

Thither, early, before sunrise, on the morning of the great day of the Charak festival, we once hastened to witness the extraordinary spectacle.

From all the lanes and alleys leading from the native city, multitudes were pouring into the Chowringhee road, which

seemed at every point to symbolize the meeting of the waters, realizing, through its entire length, the image of a mighty confluence of innumerable living streams. The mere spectators could easily be distinguished from the special devotees. The former were seen standing, or walking along with eager gaze; arrayed in their gayest holiday dress, exhibiting every combination and variety of the snow-white garb and tinsel glitter of Oriental costume. The latter came marching forward in small isolated groups, each group averaging, in number, from halfa-dozen to twelve or fifteen, and constituted somewhat after this manner: Most of the party have their loose robes and foreheads plentifully besprinkled with vermilion or rose-pink. Two or three of them are decked in speckled or party-colored garments, uttering ludicrous, unmeaning sounds, and playing off all sorts of antic gestures, not unlike the merry-andrews on the stage of a country fair. Two or three, with garlands of flowers hanging about their neck, or tied round the head, have their sides transpierced with iron rods, which project in front, and meet at an angular point, to which is affixed a small vessel in the form of a shovel. Two or three, covered with ashes, carry in their hands iron spits or rods of different lengths, small bamboo canes or hookah tubes, hard-twisted cords, or living snakes whose fangs had been extracted, -bending their limbs into unsightly attitudes, and chanting legendary songs. Two or three more are the bearers of musical instruments-horned trumpets, gongs, tinkling cymbals, and large, hoarse drums surmounted with towering bunches of black and white ostrich featners, which keep waving and nodding not unlike the heaving, sombre plumes of a hearse; and all of them belabored as furiously as if the impression were, that the louder the noise, and the more discordant the notes, the better and more charming the music. Thus variously constituted, the groups of devotees were proceeding along. On looking behind, one group was seen following after another as far as the eye could reach; on looking before, one group was seen preceding another, as far as the eye could reach; like wave after wave, in interminable succession. Besides these groups of worshippers, who are reckoned preeminent in holiness and merit, there are others that advance in processions, bearing various pageants, flags, banners, models of temples, images of gods, and other mythological figures, with portable stages on which men and women are engaged in ridiculous and often worse than ridiculous pantomimic performances