1 race ought to exist, but I could not purchase anv of a similar
2 description. I now regret not having examined the hole where
3 the precious animal was caught, as its companion might have
4 been there, neither did I preserve the skin. Still I hope that
5 the publication of this incident will induce English sportsmen in
6 India to try to obtain the prize which escaped me, although the
7 animal must be very rare, as neither the native physicians nor
8 the druggists possess any knowledge of it. When in search of
9 them, it ought to be considered that these interesting creatures
10 are shy, prefer solitude, and live in copses, where their holes are
11 made deep in the ground, beneath bushes, and thus they are
12 saved from total extermination. Many naturalists are of opinion
13 that the subject in question might perhaps have been another
14 kind of animal, which possessed the same odour, just as different
15 plants emit a similar scent. The exultation I felt on having
16 found a real musk-deer, caused me to neglect making a proper
17 examination of its characteristic marks, its prominent tusks —
18 being satisfied with the scent. To the best of my recollection, the
19 size was that of a hare, and it was of a slender cylindric frame.
20 Whilst I was residing at Wuzeerabad, a young Hindoo lady
21 (katretee) came to call on General Avitabile with presents, as a
22 token of her gratitude for his having preserved her from the fate of
23 a Suttee, i. e.9 being burnt alive with the body of her deceased
24 husband ; which proves that many of these victims of Brahmin-
25 ism feel an aversion to that horrid ceremony. The woman con-
26 fessed, that on the day of the burning of her husband, and in
27 her extreme grief, she was ready to sacrifice her life, hoping to
28 enter paradise with her partner, but that now she felt more happy
29 at having been preserved.
30 Itunjeet Sing related to me that Dr. Allen (an American, and
31 governor of Goojerat) used secretly to employ his time in his
32 fortress in the practice of alchymy. I could not forbear laugh-
33 ing at the idea of his expecting to convert common metals into
34 gold, as the conversion of quicksilver into silver was found to
35 be quite impossible. Subsequently, my assertion was verified by
36 the discovery he made, that the doctor’s alchymy consisted in