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Saharunpore may be called the threshold of the hill districts; and, in addition to its garden, the scientific traveller finds other objects of interest, some gentlemen-residents having opened a rich and inexhaustible mine of fossil remains in the Sewalik hills. This range abounds with relics of a former world, and is also said to be favourable to the growth of the tea plant, which the inhabitants of Sukroudah affirm, upon traditional authority, to have been brought there in former times by a fakeer, but subsequently lost in consequence of neglect. The religious establishment mentioned as being one of the lions of Saharunpore, consists of a body of Gosseins, one of the numerous tribes of Hindoo devotees. This class distinguish themselves by dyeing their hair yellow, and substituting oil and ashes for more decent covering; they present one of those anomalies so frequently found among the people of India, many of them practising the most frightful austerities, for the sake, it would appear, of worldly wealth; for these deformed, miserable-looking wretches are said to be rich, and to indulge occasionally in all the luxuries of life. The Gosseins of Saharunpore are great patrons of monkeys—animals which are held sacred all over India, but are in some places peculiar objects of veneration. It is said that in one of the battles of a favourite god against a powerful enemy, the giant, Humaoon, led an army of monkeys to the assistance of the nearly-worsted deity, and thus turned the tide of fortune in his favour—a service for which they have been ever afterwards tolerated, and, in many instances, worshipped, by the idolatrous portion of the natives of India. Where monkeys reside under the protection of a fraternity like this of Saharunpore, they are subjected to a very necessary degree of control, and learn to conduct themselves with as much propriety as their natural propensities will admit. There are certain limits assigned, which they are not allowed to pass with impunity, whatever may be the temptation to commit a trespass. Every day at noon, one of the Gosseins on whom this duty devolves, rings a bell, which causes the whole of the monkeys attached to the establishment to assemble in front of the temple, where they await their diurnal meal with all the gesticulation and grimace which such a crowd would naturally exhibit. The moment that the priest, bearing an earthen pot filled with grain, is descried, the whole party is on the qui vive, ​pressing forwards to the utmost limit, and endeavouring to get before their brethren, and thus secure the greatest share of the provant. Should any unlucky wight, in his eagerness to approach the tempting vase, overstep the bounds assigned, he is beaten and turned out. The grain being scattered amongst the expectant crowd, a general scramble takes place; each strives to fill his pouch at the expense of his neighbour, and, while biting, scratching, and tearing, is intent upon the grand object of the fray. Amid this fierce contention, the grain speedily disappears, the largest possible quantity being bagged in the shortest possible time; and at the sound of a second bell the monkeys make their exit. There are, however, festival days, on which, in addition to their usual allowance, they are regaled with fruit; the whole scene affording much entertainment to the by-standers, who, whatever their religious creed may be, are allowed to witness it without scruple.