The portico or entrance to the house of an opulent _Bābū_, a Bengalī gentleman, now appears; it is of native architecture, singular and handsome; the ornaments of some of the pillars are most elaborate, and it is remarkable that each has a separate design. THE NĀCH. The scene now represents the interior of the building during the celebration of the festival of the _Dūrga-pūjā_, or _Dasera_, held in honour of the goddess Dūrga, and the performance of a _nāch_ by the dancing-girls of Hindostān. During the _Dūrga-pūjā_ holidays, which last eight or ten days, the Hindūs lay aside all kind of business, save what necessity renders indispensable to pursue, and shops and offices are shut up while that great religious ceremonial is in course of being observed. The house, as is generally the case, is a four-sided building, having an area in the middle, on one side of which the image of the goddess is raised on a throne, and some Brahmans are in attendance. The area is open to the sky, and a temporary ceiling is formed by fastening ropes across from wall to wall, over which a cotton carpet of native manufacture, called _shatranjī_, is spread, thus forming a roof; the floor is also covered with a gay cloth of the same manufacture, and a Persian carpet. The goddess Dūrga, in whose honour this festival is held, derives her name from the giant Dūrgŭ, whom she is represented in the act of slaying with a trident as he issues from the neck of a buffalo, whose head she has cut off. The image is that of a yellow woman with ten arms, which are stretched out and filled with instruments of war. This goddess has a thousand names, and has assumed innumerable forms. The bright half of the month _Aswina_, the first of the Hindū lunar year, is peculiarly devoted to Dūrga. The first nine nights are allotted to her decoration; on the sixth she is awakened; on the seventh she is invited to a bower formed of the leaves of nine plants, of which the _bilwa_ is the chief. The seventh, eighth, and ninth are the great days; on the last, the victims which are immolated to her honour must be killed with one blow only from a sharp sword or axe. The next day the goddess is reverently dismissed, and her image is cast into the river, which finishes the festival of the _Dasera_. The black figure at the side of the goddess is that of Krishnŭ, one of the most popular gods of the Hindū Pantheon; he is greatly worshipped in Bengal, as well as in all parts of Hindostān, a great proportion of the Hindū population being devoted to him, and he is especially beloved by the women. A black marble figure of this popular deity stands in the Pilgrim’s Museum, as well as a small brazen one of Dūrga; the latter is very ancient. Immense sums are expended by wealthy Bengalīs during the _Dūrga-pūjā_.