DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5828#0185
A MOHAMMEDAN ROMANCE.
155
other beasts of prey lay upon the ground, exhibit-
ing1, with terrifying reality, the direful effects of the
storm.
In the very heart of the forest, whither the tra-
veller, and even the adventurous hunter, seldom pe-
netrated, a lofty teak-tree reared its gigantic bulk
above a huge rock, at the base of which a small recess
had been hollowed by the patient industry of an aged
female, just of a size to enable her to sit upright, and
of depth sufficient, when her legs were crossed under
her, (the mode of sitting common among the natives
of India,) to shelter her from the severity of those
tropic storms which, especially at certain seasons of
the year, prevail to a dreadful extent nearly through-
out the whole continent of Asia. She was
—-" A wither'd hag, with age grown double.
Her eyes with scalding rheum were gall'd and red ;
Cold palsy shook her head; her hands seeui'd wither'd;
And on her crooked shoulders had she wrapp'd
The tatter'd remnants of an old striped hanging,
Which served to keep her carcass from the cold;
So there was nothing of a piece about her.
Her lower weeds were all o'er coarsely patch'd
With different-colour'd rags—black, red, white, yellow,
And seem'd to speak variety of wretchedness."
The tree grew just beyond the rock, which it
canopied with its mighty arms, casting a constant
shadow over it, and sheltering it at the same time from
the ardent rays of the sun and from the impetuosity
of those tropical rains which fall in such abundance
and with such extreme violence while the monsoons
Prevail. During the tempest just described, the aged
h 6
155
other beasts of prey lay upon the ground, exhibit-
ing1, with terrifying reality, the direful effects of the
storm.
In the very heart of the forest, whither the tra-
veller, and even the adventurous hunter, seldom pe-
netrated, a lofty teak-tree reared its gigantic bulk
above a huge rock, at the base of which a small recess
had been hollowed by the patient industry of an aged
female, just of a size to enable her to sit upright, and
of depth sufficient, when her legs were crossed under
her, (the mode of sitting common among the natives
of India,) to shelter her from the severity of those
tropic storms which, especially at certain seasons of
the year, prevail to a dreadful extent nearly through-
out the whole continent of Asia. She was
—-" A wither'd hag, with age grown double.
Her eyes with scalding rheum were gall'd and red ;
Cold palsy shook her head; her hands seeui'd wither'd;
And on her crooked shoulders had she wrapp'd
The tatter'd remnants of an old striped hanging,
Which served to keep her carcass from the cold;
So there was nothing of a piece about her.
Her lower weeds were all o'er coarsely patch'd
With different-colour'd rags—black, red, white, yellow,
And seem'd to speak variety of wretchedness."
The tree grew just beyond the rock, which it
canopied with its mighty arms, casting a constant
shadow over it, and sheltering it at the same time from
the ardent rays of the sun and from the impetuosity
of those tropical rains which fall in such abundance
and with such extreme violence while the monsoons
Prevail. During the tempest just described, the aged
h 6