- siderably exceeded half a million. Benares, according
to the Brahmins, forms no part of the terrestrial globe, but rests upon the thousand-headed serpent Anarta, or Eternity: or, according to others, on the point of Siva's trident, and hence no earthquakes are ever felt there. The Great Lingam, or Phallies, of Benares, is said to be a petrifaction of Siva himself; and the worship of this emblem of the godhead so generally prevails here, that the city contains at least a million images of the Lingam. This holy city, the Brahmins assure us, was originally built of gold, but for the sins of mankind it was successively degraded to stone, and brick, and clay.
From Benares he proceeded through Patna and Rajmahel to Daca, then a flourishing city; whence, having disposed of numerous jewels to the nawâb, he returned to Delhi.
To avoid repetitions and perplexing breaks in the narrative, I have paid no attention to the date of his visits to this or that city; and, indeed, so confused were his notes and his memory, that he does not seem to have known very well himself during which of his journeys many events which he relates took place. Into the particulars of his voyage to Ceylon, Sumatra, and Java it is unnecessary to enter, more full and curious accounts of those islands occurring in other travellers.
On his return to France from his fifth visit to the East, he married an ancient damsel, to borrow an epithet from Burke, merely from gratitude to her father, who was a jeweller, and had rendered him several essential services. After this he undertook one more journey into Asia, with merchandise to the value of four hundred thousand livres, consisting of curious clocks, crystal and agate vases, pearls, and other jewelry. This expedition occupied him six years, during which he advanced farther towards the east than he had hitherto done; and having in this and his other journeys amassed considerable
