I have before stated that the mosque is never allowed to be locked or closed to the public.  Beneath the one I am about to speak of (a very ancient building near to Baallee Peer’s Durgah), is a vaulted suite of rooms denominated taarkhanah[19], intended as a retreat from the intense heat of the day; such as is to be met with in most great men’s residences in India.  In this place, a gang of thieves from the city had long found a secure and unsuspected spot wherein to deposit their plunder.  It happened, however, that very strict search was instituted after some stolen property belonging to an individual of Kannoge; whether any suspicions had been excited about the place in question, I do not recollect, but thither the police directed their steps, and after removing some loose earth they discovered many valuable articles,—­shawls, gold ornaments, sabres, and other costly articles of plunder.  It is presumed,—­for the thieves were not known or discovered,—­that they could not possibly be Mussulmauns, since the very worst characters among this people hold the house of God in such strict veneration, that they, of all persons, could not be suspected of having selected so sacred a place to deposit the spoils of the plunderer.

The process of obtaining nitre from the earth is practised at Kannoge by the Natives in the most simple way imaginable, without any assistance from art.  They discover the spot where nitre is deposited by the small white particles which work through the strata of earth to the surface.  When a vein is discovered, to separate the nitre from the earth, the following simple method is resorted to:—­large troughs filled with water are prepared, into which the masses of earth containing nitre are thrown; the earth is allowed to remain undisturbed for some time, after which it is well stirred, and then allowed to settle; the water by this means becomes impregnated with the nitre, and is afterwards boiled in large iron pans, from which all the dirt is carefully skimmed, until the water is completely evaporated, and the nitre deposited in the pans.

I know not how far the admixture of animal bodies with the soil may tend to produce this article, but it is a fact, that those places which bear the strongest proofs of having received the bodies of both men and beasts, produce it in the greatest abundance.[20]

The retirement of Kannoge afforded me so many pleasant ways of occupying time, that I always look back to the period of my sojourn at the old killaah with satisfaction.  The city is sufficiently distant from the killaah to leave the latter within reach of supplies, without the annoyance of the bustle and confusion inseparable from a Native city.  In my daily wanderings a few peasantry only crossed my path; the farmers and citizens were always attentive, and willing to do us such kind offices as we at any time required.  They respected, I may say venerated my husband; and I must own that my feelings oblige me to remember with gratitude the place and the people whence I drew so many benefits.