Jeipal embraced his sita, and consented with ready satisfaction to her mode of punishing the atrocious designs of her relatives: they fancying their secret secure, and confident of the success of their scheme, mingled smilingly among the guests, and affected extreme kindness towards the young wedded pair, who received their caresses with repugnant formality at the hazard of raising their suspicion. Those entertainments which were precursors of the feast being introduced, tomtoms, viols, serindas, vinas, and various other instruments, struck up their singular melody, and “ravished the ears” of those who loved such music as would be little grateful to the fastidious refinement of European taste. Nautch girls were first ushered in; they performed their graceful evolutions, tinkled their tiny silver ankle-bells, and did their best for the amusement of the company. Jugglers with their snakes likewise appeared, showing their mastery over those venomous creatures, which they grasped by the neck, tied round their throats, even while their jaws were armed with those instruments of death with which nature had provided them. Their feats of legerdemain were next exhibited, to the general satisfaction of all present; but that which most excited the amazement of the company was the following:--The jugglers “produced a man, whom they divided limb from limb, actually severing his head from his body. They scattered these mutilated members along the ground, and in this state they lay for some time. They then extended a sheet of curtain over the spot, and one of the men putting himself under the sheet, in a few minutes came from below, followed by the individual supposed to have been cut into joints, in perfect health and condition, and one might safely swear that he had never received any wound or injury whatever.