The Calcutta correspondent of the Times, who is by no
means a " viewy " man, repeats his telegram of April 16th, in which he reported a strange marking of the mango-trees
in Behar with a plaster of mud and hair. The marking is now spreading eastward and westward, but no explanation is forthcoming. Neither police nor people will speak, though there is one rumour that the priests of Nepaul are in this way advertising a temple shrine at Janakpnr ; an explana- tion which does not seem probable. The Government does not like the affair at all, nor do we, who remember well the circulation of the chapattis which preceded the Mutiny of May 10th,1857. It is possible that the plastering of the trees means nothing, possible also that it is one of those warnings to be ready which precede great native movements. In the latter case, as we have argued elsewhere, grave events are at band, and people at home may congratulate themselves that they are not in India. We shall not have long to wait, for the rising, if there is to be one, will take place this month —the hottest—throughout the Peninsula.
