Meer Hassan Ali, B.: Observations on the Mussulmauns of India: descriptive of their manners, customs, habits, and religious opinions ; made during a twelve years residence in their immediate Society (Band 2) (London, 1832)

382 MEMOIR OF

tionate mother had no suspicion that I was ill,
although she was much distressed that play
had destroyed the appetite of her son. I had
dozed for some hours; when the agony of my
arm awoke me as from an uneasy dream ; I
could hardly recollect the last evening's adven-
ture, for my mind seemed much bewildered.
My groans, however, brought my mother to
my bed-side, whose tender care was exercised
in fomenting my arm, which she found much
swollen and inflamed.

" The secret of my enterprize was never
divulged by me' until the news of my sudden
illness was reported in the neighbourhood;
when some of my young friends told the tale,
and it was conveyed by one of the gossiping
old women of the city to the zeenahnah of my
mother. My arm was for a long period ren-
dered useless, and I was under the care of doc-
tors for many months; the whole skin peeled
off, and left me cause for remembering the
circumstance, although it did not cure me of
that preference for enterprize, which afterwards
drew me from my home to visit other places,