Numerous Are The Occasions, Either Of
Holidays Or Other Rejoicings, In Which The Natives Of Bombay Light
Up Their Houses;
Rows of lamps hung along the wide fronts of the
verandahs, upon every floor, produce a good effect, which is
Often
heightened by the flood of light poured out of apartments decorated
with chandeliers and lamps of every description.
In passing through the bazaar at night, every third or fourth house
is lit up upon some festive occasion; one favourite and very pretty
method consists of a number of small lamps, arranged to resemble
bunches of grapes, and hung up in the trees of a court-yard. Sometimes
in the evening, a sort of market is held in the native town beyond
the Esplanade, and every stall is profusely lighted; the hawkers,
who carry about their goods in a more humble way upon their heads in
baskets, have them stuck with candles, and the wild shadowy effects
produced, amid the quaint buildings thus partially lighted, afford a
continual phantasmagoria.
They must be destitute of imagination, indeed, who cannot find
pleasure in the contemplation of the night-scenes of Bombay, either
from its native crowds, or the delicious solitudes of its sylvan
shades. The ear is the only organ absolutely unblest in this sunny
island, the noises being incessant, and most discordant; the shrieking
of jackals by night is music compared to that from native instruments,
which, in the most remote places, are continually striking up:
the drums, trumpets, bells, and squeaking pipes, of a neighbouring
village, are now inflicting their torments upon my distracted brain
in the most barbarous manner possible.
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