Their Women Come In Troops Of 10, 20, And 30 Together To
The Water Side Singing, Where They Wash Themselves And Go Through Their
Ceremonies, And Then Mark Themselves, And So Depart Singing.
Their
daughters are married at ten years of age, and the men may have seven
wives each.
They are a crafty people, worse than the Jews. When they
salute one another, they say, _Rame_, _rame_.
From Agra I came to _Prage_[407], where the river Jumna enters into the
mighty Ganges, and there loses its name. The Ganges comes out of the
north-west, and runs east to discharge its waters into the gulf of
Bengal. In these parts there are many tigers, and vast quantities of
partridges and turtle-doves, besides many other kinds of birds. There
are multitudes of beggars in these countries, called _Schesche_, which
go entirely naked. I here saw one who was a monster among the rest. He
had no clothes whatever, his beard being very long, and the hair of his
head was so long and plentiful, that it covered his nakedness. The nails
on some of his fingers were two inches long, as he would cut nothing
from him; and besides he never spake, being constantly accompanied by
eight or ten others, who spoke for him. If any one spoke to him, he laid
his hand on his breast and bowed, but without speaking, for he would not
have spoken to the king.
[Footnote 407: At the angle of junction between the rivers Jumna and
Ganges, the city of Allahabad is now situated.
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