PARASITICAL VINES ON A TREE.
"Some of the trees are covered with parasitical vines that almost envelop the trunk, and it seems to have been the object of the founders of the garden to experiment with these plants in the hope of making themuseful. They have done so in the case of the rattans and similar creeping vines, and in some parts of India the gathering and shipment of rattans form a considerable industry. Unfortunately the parasites are not now in bloom, or we might have seen the trees covered with red blossoms to the complete exclusion of their own.
THE COTTON-TREE.
"The cotton-growing business in India owes a good deal to this garden, as it has helped the distribution of the plants, and made a great many experiments to learn the variety of cotton-tree best adapted to any particular soil. Most of the Indian cotton is grown on a bush, as in the United States, and has to be renewed every year from the seed; but there is one variety that takes the form of a tree, and grows two or three years. It has numerous branches, and when the pods are opened, and the white cotton is hanging out, the appearance of the tree is very pretty. Some of these trees produce a cotton with a yellowish hue, while others are snowy white. It is no wonder that people say 'white as cotton' when they want to make a comparison, as there is nothing of a purer white than the contents of a cotton boll when it is first opened.
"We came back from the garden by the river road, and crossed the bridge to Calcutta once more. Then we went to see Dalhousie Square, or Tank Square, as it was formerly called, and have a stroll around its borders. It is right in the middle of the city, and appears to be twenty or twenty-five acres in extent; there is a fence all the way around it, and the banks are nicely sodded and covered with grass. You will wonder when we say that there is a great reservoir in the centre fed entirely by springs at the bottom, and the supply is so great that it never goes dry. The fact is, the whole city of Calcutta rests on a bed of quicksand, through which the water from the Ganges finds its way with the greatest ease. The tank was originally dug to supply the inhabitants with water, and they had only to go a few feet below the level of the river to find the water coming through the sand and bubbling up perfectly pure. The sand cleansed it from all impurities, and it has always been regarded as the sweetest water in the city.
"When we reached the north-west corner of Tank Square our guide indicated a spot where there was once an obelisk to the memory of the men who perished in the famous Black Hole: the Black Hole was a room in a building close by here, but both building and obelisk have disappeared. You remember the story: On the capture of Calcutta by Surajah Dowlah, in 1746, 146 Englishmen were forced into a room only eighteen feet square, with two small windows on the western side, and left there till morning. The night was hot and damp, and there was no wind blowing,and in the morning only twenty-three of all the number were alive. Several of these never recovered—thirst and foul air caused the most terrible sufferings, ending in death, and the name of Black Hole is frequently applied to a place that is badly ventilated.
BENGALESE WATER-CARRIERS.
"The native water-carriers are a curiosity; they supply houses that are without running water, and are employed to sprinkle the streets when the dust is likely to rise. Their equipment is very simple, as it consists of the skin of a pig or goat—generally of a pig, as it will hold water better than the other. The skin is carefully sewed up, with the exception of the neck, which is left open to receive the water; you frequently see these men going around with their burdens, and the pricethey get for bringing water is so small that they must be very diligent to earn twenty-five cents a day.
"They have a bird here of the buzzard species which is of great assistance in cleaning the streets; he is called 'the adjutant' by the English residents, and, as nobody thinks of doing him any harm, he walks about fearlessly, and sometimes you see him in the very middle of a crowd of natives. A gentleman tells us that when these birds become troublesome around the barracks of the soldiers, several tricks are played upon them. The soldiers will take a couple of bones and tie them together with six or eight feet of strong cord; the bones are then flung to a couple of adjutants, and each manages to swallow one. When the birds find themselves united they rise in the air and endeavor to fly, and their efforts to separate themselves are very amusing to the soldiers. Finding they cannot do it, they come to the ground again, and somebody cuts the string and releases them.
"When the adjutant has eaten something, he mounts to the top of a post or some other elevated spot, crosses his legs, and becomes motionless while his food is digesting. The soldiers take advantage of this habit by digging the marrow from a beef-bone, and inserting a cartridge in the hollow thus formed. Over the cartridge they put a piece of lighted punk or tinder, and then a cork, and when all is ready they throw the bone to an adjutant who is just finishing his dinner. Finding there is nothing more to eat, the bird mounts a post, and goes to sleep in his usual way; in a little while the fire reaches the cartridge and an explosion follows, resulting in the instant death of the unfortunate bird. Of late years this amusement has been forbidden, greatly to the credit of the officers commanding the garrisoned places.
"We have kept our eyes open to see the native ladies of Calcutta, but have not been very fortunate. Nineteen-twentieths of the natives on the streets are men, and the few women that come out so that we can look at them are of the poorer classes. We have seen some rich ladies riding in carriages, and now and then we encounter a cart drawn by a pair of bullocks, and moving at a dignified pace with a native lady seated inside. The canopy above her head partially conceals her from view, and then we do not think it exactly polite to look at her more than a few seconds at a time. These are probably the wives of wealthy merchants; they spend most of their time at home, and only come out for a ride on very fine days, or to visit the shops where handsome things are for sale. Their garments are generally white, and there does not appear to be any change of fashions among them more than among the men.
NATIVE WOMAN OF BENGAL.
"A gentleman who has lived here for some years, and written about the women of Calcutta, says they are very pretty when young, but their beauty fades quickly; at twenty-five they have 'crows'-feet' around the corners of their eyes, and at thirty they begin to stoop and walk like a man of seventy in America. They all wear rings in their noses, and sometimes you will see a pearl in the side of each nostril, in addition to a hoop of thin gold that almost covers the mouth. Of course they have rings in their ears, and the arms and ankles are not neglected; they wear no shoes or stockings when at home, and make up for the bareness of their feet by covering the toes with rings as American ladies cover their fingers. Their hair is thick and black, and combed behind their ears, with a parting in front such as we see at home.
"Women of the middle and lower classes are as fond of jewellery as the richer ones, and when they cannot afford it of solid gold they have it of silver, or of silver or gold plate. Some of them do not wear ornamentsin their noses, but they make up for the absence of these things by piercing the ears in many places, and loading them down with jewellery. We saw one woman to-day whose ears were thus encumbered with so many trinkets that they appeared ready to fall off, and it is difficult to understand how she could be comfortable with them. Then she wore a heavy necklace of silver, and a part of her dress displayed some embroidery of gold. She was sitting on the floor of a shop examining a beautiful shawl, and probably wondering whether she would look any prettier with her shoulders covered with it.
PART OF BLACK TOWN, CALCUTTA.
"A remarkable thing about Calcutta is the contrast between the native and the foreign quarters. Where the Europeans live the streets are wide, and each house has a garden around it; in the native quarter the streets are mostly narrow, and the houses are crowded closely together, with not the least attempt at gardening or the preservation of any open spaces around them. The native section is called 'The Black Town,' and some parts of it are so dirty that the wonder is they do not breed a pestilence every summer. None but the natives live there, with now andthen a foreigner who has become an outcast from his fellow white men, and prefers the society of natives to a life of solitude. In the outskirts of the city the density of the buildings decreases, but not the dirt and degradation. The huts of the natives are loosely constructed of light frames daubed with mud, and in many places they look as though they had been constructed by a man who never saw a house before he made this effort at building one.
"You change suddenly from the wealthy and aristocratic part of Calcutta to the Black Town; one minute you are among palaces, and the next in the midst of hovels. Some of the grand avenues have wretched little streets leading from them, and the more you look around in Calcutta the more do you find these contrasts. The only relief to the general squalor of the Black Town is an occasional palm-tree, that half looks as if it was ashamed to be here. The native children play in the dust or mud of the streets as though they were a part of it, and their parents encourage them in the sport. It is to their credit that they never pelt strangers with the mud, as they would be apt to do in some other parts of the world.
"One of the native streets is a bazaar for the sale of Oriental goods, and if you go through it you are pestered with peddlers from the time you enter till you leave. They have all sorts of things to sell, such as India shawls of a great many kinds, jewellery from various parts of the country, shell work from Singapore, and numerous things from China, Japan, and other Oriental countries. The peddlers and shopkeepers invariably ask two or three times as much as they expect to get, and of course the purchaser must meet them by offering only a half or a third of what he is willing to give. Then you haggle and haggle, and after a while the medium is reached and the bargain closed. This kind of trading is a great trial of patience, and it is not a wise thing for an ill-natured man to undertake bargaining with a native, as he is very likely to lose his temper.
"There are many other things in Calcutta we would like to write about, but we are too busy to put everything down; and, besides, if we told you of all we saw, it would be necessary to have a couple of clerks to take our notes and fill them out. Then, too, there is much to see in other parts of India, and we must move on. We leave to-night on the train for Benares, and, as our time is limited, we shall not stop on the way. We send this letter by the weekly mail that leaves Bombay every Saturday when the south-west monsoon is blowing, and every Monday when there is no monsoon. The train from here takes sixty hours to go toBombay, and so we must post our letter three days in advance of the steamer's sailing."
They left according to their programme: the regular mail-train for passengers going through to the northward or to Bombay starts at ninep.m., and has always done so since the line was first opened. While they were waiting at the station Doctor Bronson told the boys of an interesting occurrence connected with the departure of the train. It was about as follows:
"At the time of the Mutiny, as I have already told you, the railway from Calcutta terminated at Ranegunge, 120 miles away. As soon as the Mutiny assumed serious proportions, urgent appeals for aid were sent to Madras, Bombay, and other points, and orders were issued for all available troops to be put in motion as fast as possible for the scene of the trouble. The Madras Fusileers, Colonel Neill, were the first to reach Calcutta; they arrived late one afternoon, and immediately proceeded to the railway-station. The train for Ranegunge was just ready to start, and there would be no other for twenty-four hours.
"Colonel Neill asked for a delay of ten minutes, and promised to have his men and baggage on board at the end of that time. The station-master refused, and said the train must start immediately.
"'Give me five minutes only,' said Neill.
"'No,' answered the station-master, and he raised his hand to give the signal for departure.
"Neill raised his own hand at the same time, and greeted the astonished official with an emphatic 'I arrest you!'
"Two soldiers were called to stand guard over the station-master, and two others mounted the locomotive and performed the same service for the engine-driver. In a quarter of an hour the men and baggage were on the cars, the prisoners were released, and the train moved away. The day thus gained enabled the Madras Fusileers to reach Benares a few hours before the time fixed for the revolt of the native garrison, and the murder of all the Europeans in the place. The outbreak occurred at the morning parade, as it had been appointed; but it did not last long, owing to the presence of Neill and his regiment of English soldiers. Many a life was saved by this sudden proclamation of martial law in the railway-station of Calcutta."
From the terminus at Howrah, opposite Calcutta, the railway follows the right or western bank of the Ganges, sometimes quite near the stream, and again miles and miles away from it. As it was night when our friends started, there was little to be seen on the way, and they soon devoted their attention to the problem of sleeping.
RAILWAY TRAVELLING IN INDIA.
The railway-carriages are quite comfortable when not too crowded, and the Doctor and his young companions were fortunate in finding only one passenger in the compartment they occupied. Each of the first-class compartments is arranged with a wide sofa or stuffed bench on each side, and there is a shelf or bunk above it that can be lowered, something after the manner of the upper berth in a Pullman sleeping-car; consequently four persons are nicely accommodated, provided they have plenty of blankets and other coverings to keep them warm. Our friends had sought advice before leaving Calcutta, and each of them bought arezie, or thick quilt, for use on the railway; these rezies, with their travelling shawls and overcoats, kept them comfortable during the long night that ensued after their departure from the Howrah station, and the boys declared it was the best kind of fun to travel by rail in India.
The company makes no extra charge for the use of these sleeping accommodations, but it does not provide any kind of bedding, and there is no colored porter to attend to the wants of passengers. By the rules posted in the carriage, a compartment is intended for eight persons, and when there happens to be this number of passengers the journey is anything but agreeable, as there is not room for all to lie down. At the end of the compartment is a wash-room with a supply of water, but no towels, soap, or any other toilet requisite. The Pullman car has not yet found its way to India, and there is a vast chance for improvement over the present mode of railway travel.
Nearly every Englishman living in India travels with his servant, and the compartment adjoining that of our friends was occupied by acouple of English residents who, as soon as it was daylight, called their servants from the third-class carriage, where they had been riding, to get ready thechota hazree. By means of an alcohol lamp the coffee was easily made, and the travellers were able to extract as much comfort as possible from the journey. Our friends had not thought it worth their while to be encumbered with servants after their experience of chance attendants in Calcutta, and consequently they waited for their coffee until they reached a station where that article was to be had.
The refreshment system of the East Indian Railway is not at all bad, when we consider the newness of the iron road and the comparatively small number of travellers to patronize it. At convenient distances there are refreshment-rooms, where meals of a fair quality are served at reasonable prices: many of these restaurants are managed by one man, who has a contract with the railway company, and is guaranteed against loss on the condition that his service is satisfactory. Most of these restaurants have hotels attached, so that a traveller may be lodged and fed without leaving the station, in case he arrives late at night and does not find the train he wishes to connect with. On the express-trains the conductor will telegraph ahead to a dining-station and order a dinner, so that the traveller will find it all ready for him on the arrival of the train. Our friends did this on several occasions during their travels in India, and were well pleased with the result.
The boys regretted that they were obliged to travel in the night, on account of missing the view of the country. They wanted to have a peep at Chandernagore, twenty miles or so above Calcutta, which, with Pondicherry, forms the French East Indies, as already stated. Frank consoled himself for the deprivation by reading to Fred the description of the place, which is less than two miles square, and has about 20,000 inhabitants, the most of them Hindoos. He learned further that it was the only profitable possession of the French in India, as the British Government gives it 300 chests of opium every year on the condition that the inhabitants will not cultivate that drug or interfere with the salt monopoly. The chief occupation of the inhabitants is to raise cattle for the Calcutta market, and their town has a very dilapidated appearance.
Frank wanted to look at the fields where opium is raised, but the Doctor told him it was not the season for the cultivation of the plant that produces the famous drug, and he would have seen nothing more than the bare earth if his journey had been in the daytime.
Thereupon followed a talk about opium and its peculiarities, which we will give for the benefit of those interested in the subject.
"Opium is raised from the plant we call the poppy," said the Doctor; "it was known as far back as the third century of our era, and before that time extracts of the poppy were in use for medicinal purposes. It is made in Asia Minor, China, Persia, Egypt, and India, the latter producing more than all the other countries together. Experiments at its cultivation have been made in Australia, Africa, Europe, and the United States; but none have been successful, as the best qualities of the drug are to be found only in the Asiatic opiums. Next to the Indian opium comes that of Asia Minor, commonly known as Turkey or Smyrna opium, and some authorities consider it equal if not superior to that from Hindostan."
One of the boys asked if it was raised all over India, or only in a small portion of the country.
"The poppy grows in various sections of the country," was the reply, "but the greater part is cultivated in the valley of the Ganges, in a belt of country 600 miles long by 200 in width. About 600,000 acres are devoted to it altogether, and in some years nearly 700,000. Many of the opium farms belong to the Government, and the cultivation is under its direct management, while others are run on private account, and a heavy tax is imposed upon all the opium produced.
"The English justify their wars to compel the Chinese Government to admit opium as an article of commerce, on the ground that a market for the drug was necessary for the existence of the British Government in India. China was the only market, and therefore the Chinese mustnot be allowed to prohibit the drug that was killing many thousands of their people every year, and making beggars and maniacs of many other thousands. England makes a poison, and her commercial interests will suffer if any possible market is closed to that poison; a weak nation objects to killing its subjects in order that English commerce may prosper, and immediately England makes war on that nation. 'You may choose your way of death,' England said to the Chinese—'perish at the muzzles of British cannon and rifles, or perish by admitting our opium. We are strong and you are weak, and we intend to secure the prosperity of British commerce, whatever it may cost you in the lives of your people.'
"The net revenue from opium is about £10,000,000, or $50,000,000, annually. This money is raised on 100,000 chests, weighing 160 pounds each, and the tax on the article is considerably more than the cost of production. There has been much criticism among enlightened Englishmen of the means by which England raises her revenues in India. The total revenue from all sources is £50,000,000, or $250,000,000, in round figures, of which opium pays £10,000,000, salt £6,000,000, and land £20,000,000, while the rest comes from customs, excise, and stamp duties. You observe that opium pays a fifth of the entire revenue, and it is the struggle for this fifth of the revenue that has involved England in disgraceful ware. The land tax of £20,000,000 is a heavy burden on the population, and the salt tax falls on the poorer classes, to whom that article is a greater necessity than to the rich.
COOLIES GOING TO THE POPPY-FIELDS.
"We will drop the political bearings of opium, and look at the way the drug is made. The plants grow broadcast in the fields, and the laborers thin them out just as cotton-plants are thinned in America. When they are of the proper age the capsule or bulb is gashed with a knife having several parallel blades; this work must be done very skilfully, so as to prevent the knife going through the skin of the capsule, which would cause the total loss of the juice. The cutting is done in the afternoon; the next morning the juice that has exuded is scraped off with an iron spoon and collected into an earthen jar, and the operation is repeated five or six times in succession at intervals of two or three days.
SHOP OF AN OPIUM MERCHANT.
"The juice when collected is like thick cream; a dark liquid calledpasewais drained from it and carefully kept, while the more solid mass settles to the bottom of the jar, and is slowly dried in the shade. When it has reached the consistency of freshly-kneaded dough it is formed into balls, and thickly covered on the outside with a mass composed of pasewa and the leaves and stalks of the poppy plant, which have been dried and pounded to powder. These balls or cakes are about six inches in diameter,and weigh a little less than five pounds; they are dried in the sun, and afterward in the shade, till the outside is like a thick crust of bread, when they are packed in the chests, and are ready for market."
COOLIES COOKING.
Soon after daylight our friends looked out on the landscape through which the train was moving. They saw a flat country, with villages of mud-huts scattered here and there, and with broad fields, where men were at work clearing the ground for the next season's crop. The Doctor said they were in the midst of the opium country, and the fields around them would be waving with poppies a few months later. In some places the villages were close to the track of the railway, and as it was near the hour of breakfast a good many of the natives were engaged in cooking their morning meal. The apparatus they used was exceedingly simple, as it comprised an earthen pot, in which a tiny fire was kindled, and a shallow pan for steaming the rice, which is the universal article of food. The low price of labor in India can be readily understood when we bear in mind the simple process of cooking, and the monotony of the bill of fare. From the beginning to the end of the year the only food of the native is boiled or steamed rice, and it is a remarkable fact that he never wearies of it.
A little after seven o'clock the train stopped at Mokameh station, andthe conductor or guard came to tell the strangers that they would find breakfast there if they wished it, and could have a more substantial meal at Dinapoor, three hours farther on. Accordingly they took theirchota hazreeat Mokameh, "just to hold themselves together," as the Doctor expressed it, and when they reached Dinapoor they had good appetites, that quickened their steps to the table.
SCENE ON THE RIVER.
Occasionally the course of the railway took them near the Ganges, and at some of the points where they reached it the river was full of animation. Boats were moving on the water or tied up to the banks, and in the latter case the boatmen were gathered in picturesque groups along the shore. Some surrounded the cooking-pots, and others were assembled in front of the little shops where rice for their use was retailed. All were lightly dressed, and it was evident to the boys that the outlay of a Ganges boatman for clothing was not very heavy.
BOATMEN ASHORE.
The boats were of a pattern different from any the boys had yet seen. They were sharp at the ends, rising out of the water at an angle of forty-five degrees, and the most of them had the bow and stern exactly alike. A house of woven palm-leaves and with a thatched roof was built over the centre of each boat, partly for protection to the cargo and partly as a sleeping-place for the crew in bad weather. The sails were of coarse cloth or matting, and when a boat was in motion the ends ofthe cords that controlled the position of the sail were held by a man who sat near the steersman. Some of the boats had railings around the roof, to keep the men from falling overboard, while others were without that protection. It is dangerous to fall into the river, as the crocodiles are numerous, and have a fondness for breakfasting on a slightly-dressed Hindoo.
COOKING BREAKFAST.
As they passed the town of Arrah the Doctor called the attention of the boys to a wonderful defence that was made by a few Europeans and fifty Sikh soldiers during the Mutiny of 1857. As the rebels advanced, the party, numbering less than sixty, took refuge in a storehouse, and for a week they successfully defended themselves against more than 3000 sepoys, who were armed with muskets and two small cannon. A steady fire was kept up night and day, and it is a remarkable fact that not a man of the defending party was killed, and only one seriously wounded. At the end of the week the rebels were driven away by a column of troops from Calcutta. Near this town the river has changed its course; it formerly flowed in front of Arrah, but is now twelve miles away from it.
While they were riding along in the train the boys proposed, with the approval of Doctor Bronson, to write a history of India. "We will not make a long one," said Frank, "but enough to let those who read our letters know something about the country and what it has been."
"Yes," responded Fred, "and we'll divide the work, as we did in the case of Marco Polo and of Cochin-China."
"An excellent plan," the Doctor suggested: "one of you may tell about India under its native rulers, and the other can write of the conquest by England and the sepoy rebellion. You will thus avoid conflicting with each other's accounts."
Then the youths held a consultation, and agreed upon the division of labor. We shall see by-and-by what was the result.
About three o'clock in the afternoon the train halted at a station called Mogul Serai, where our friends were to change carriages for Benares. A branch line seven miles in length runs from Mogul Serai to the bank of the river opposite Benares, so that in less than half an hour from the time of leaving the through train Doctor Bronson and the youths were in front of the Holy City. The East Indian Railway Company constructed its line with as few curves as possible; and instead of bending it in order to serve the principal cities in the valley of the Ganges, it connects them, where necessary, by branches. Thus there is a branch from the main line to Benares, another to Agra, another to Delhi, and another to Moorshedabad. Doctor Bronson was told by one of the officials of the company that the plan had worked to their entire satisfaction, and they were confident it had materially reduced the expenses of management and the running of the trains.
The Doctor had telegraphed to the principal hotel of Benares to have a carriage at the station, and, as soon as the train stopped, the runner of the house sought them out and presented a card from his employer. The baggage was soon arranged, and in a few minutes the boys were on the bank of the Ganges, and looking at the curious line of temples and bathing-steps that form the water-front of Benares.
They crossed the river on a bridge of boats, and the Doctor informed his young companions that in times of high-water the boats are removed, for fear they may break away and be lost, and the crossing is made by means of a ferry-boat. The front of the city along the river is about three miles in extent, and as one looks at it from the other side there is an almost unbroken view of temples, towers, minarets, palaces, and ghauts, or broad stairways, leading down to the water. The river is about fifty feet deep by 2000 in width, and in time of flood rises thirty or forty feet and increases its width to fully half a mile. The city is on a cliff seventy or eighty feet above the river, and the ghauts rise from the edge of the stream to the crest of the cliff; they were originally magnificent structures, but are now broken in many places, in consequence of the washing away of their foundations.
The buildings that rise on the summit of the cliff are of many styles of architecture, as they owe their origin to several different centuries and epochs. Many of them are spacious palaces, erected by wealthy princes who came here occasionally to bathe in the sacred river and wash away their sins. They are interspersed with temples and mosques, and altogether they present a magnificent panorama. An American traveller has given a fine description of the front appearance of Benares in the following:
"When it is recollected that the buildings above are a hundred feet or more long, and four or five stories high; that the ghauts are eighty feet in height, and are themselves constructions of which any city might be proud; that this row of palaces, temples, and ghauts extends for two miles along the river bank, worthily terminated by the mosque of Aurengzebe, with its graceful minars, and the whole scene was lighted up by an Eastern sun, bringing out the gaudy colors of the dress of the people and the gilded ornaments of the mosques and temples, the reader may perhaps understand and pardon the enthusiasm excited in me by thesplendid architectural effect of this river front, which cannot be paralleled or surpassed by any similar scene in India, or in the world."
A WINDOW IN BENARES.
They had a long drive to the hotel, as the quarter where the Europeans live is nearly four miles from the end of the bridge of boats. The ride took them through a part of the Hindoo city where they had an opportunity to study features of architecture that were new to them. Frank was attracted by the elaborate carving of some of the windows, and the Doctor explained to him that he was now for the first time coming in actual contact with Saracenic art and its combinations with certain Hindoo forms. Fred attempted to count the temples and shrines theypassed on their way, but soon gave it up, on account of their number; he was not at all surprised to learn that there were nearly 1500 temples in Benares and 300 mosques, or, to be exact about it, 1454 of the former and 272 of the latter. They passed crowds of natives in white or gay-colored garments, encountered an elephant in a part of the road where there were shade-trees, against which the huge beast was brushing his back as he walked along; they drove near several handsome bungalows where the wealthy Europeans reside, and finally reached the hotel, where they were welcomed by the English proprietor and his native wife.
There was only time for a short stroll before dinner, and after that meal was over the plans for the morrow were arranged. What was done by the youths in their excursions in Benares is best told in their own words, in their next letter to America:
"Sight-seers in India must rise early. We engaged a guide, who was recommended by the hotel-keeper, and proved to be a very good one, and his first bit of instruction was that we must be ready to leave the hotel an hour before daylight, in order to see the bathers at sunrise. Accordingly, we went to bed very early, and were ready for the guide when he came for us. The morning was frosty, and we shivered in our overcoats till the sun came up and warmed the atmosphere.
PART OF THE WATER FRONT OF BENARES.
"We had a drive of something more than half an hour to reach the upper end of the city at a place called the Dasasahmed Ghaut. Here we left the carriage, and took a boat that had been engaged by our guide; the carriage was sent to meet us at the lower end of the city, and we were ready to float down the stream in front of the temples. This is a very good arrangement, as the boat goes slowly along, and whenever there is anything to be seen which requires a landing it can be easily brought to the shore.
"Before starting on our boat journey we stepped aside a short distance to see the famous Observatory of Benares. There is a tall flag-staff close by it, and the guide says that the flag waving from it is to indicate that this entire ward of the city belongs to the Rajah of Jeypoor, and that the observatory was erected by his ancestor, Rajah Jay Singh, about the year 1693. The observatory is now very much out of repair, and several of the instruments cannot be used at all. They claim that the Hindoo almanacs are made from the observations taken here, but it is more probable that they help themselves from almanacs of European make.
"The most of the instruments are of stone, and the guide explained their uses; but, as we are not learned in astronomy, we could not makemuch out of them. We went from the observatory to our boat, and then began our wonderful voyage before Benares.
"We passed in front of the burning ghaut, where three or four bodies were undergoing cremation. Evidently they are not as particular here as at Calcutta, as one of the men in charge of the business threw into the river, while we were passing, a lump of charred flesh that must have weighed several pounds. The sights were the same as at Calcutta, and you can easily understand that we did not stop the boat for a moment. The guide told us that they used to burn widows with their dead husbands at this ghaut, but it was not allowed any more, and had not been in his time. We asked how it was done, and he said the widow who had determined to be burnt was dressed in her finest clothes, and when the funeral pile was ready she lay down on it by the side of her husband, and was tied there with ropes so that she could not get away. Then the eldest son of the dead man came forward with a torch and applied it to the pile, which had been saturated with oil so as to make it burn quickly. As the flames arose the crowd raised a great shout and noise of drums and tom-toms, which they pretended was in honor of the heroism of the woman, but was really intended to drown her cries at the terrible pain of being burnt to death.
"The priests used to say that the woman who thus gave herself for a sacrifice would have 30,000,000 of years in paradise, while if she refused she would not get there at all. Before it was stopped the practice prevailed quite extensively; between the years 1815 and 1826, 7154 cases were officially reported, and there were more than twice that number that the Government never heard of. The laws of India are very severe upon it, and any person who takes part in a suttee or widow burning is liable to be tried and punished for murder in the first degree.
"To prove what he said about widows having been burnt here, the guide pointed out several slabs like gravestones, which had been erected to their memory, and it was said the women were burnt on the spots where these monuments stood. He said there were hundreds of them altogether around the various ghauts of Benares.
TEMPLE AT MANIKARNIKA.
"We landed at the Manikarnika ghaut to see several things of interest, and among others the holy well which is said to have been dug by Vishnu, one of the Hindoo gods. Thousands of pilgrims come to see it every year, and it is said to have the property of bringing immediate forgiveness for every crime, no matter what its character, to any one who washes in its water. The water has a disagreeable smell, but this does not deter the pilgrims who come to it; there is a flight of stone steps oneach of the four sides leading down to the water, and these steps were placed there, according to the tradition, by Vishnu's own hands. Close by the mouth of the well are several altars where the pilgrims place their offerings; and if any of them are worth taking, they are carried away by the priests as soon as the worshipper's back is turned.
"The steps of the ghaut were crowded with pilgrims who had come there to bathe, and to say their prayers to the rising sun. The sun was just coming above the horizon as we reached the ghaut and paused to look at the multitude. There were many groups scattered along the ghaut, some of men and others of women, and they showed by their manner that the occasion was a solemn one. They left their heavy garments on the steps farther up, and walked down to the water's edge, clad only in white robes, and repeating their prayers as they went along. Some paused on the steps and stood motionless before small idols, andothers, too poor to bring idols, placed little heaps of mud on the steps and worshipped them instead. They brought bunches of jasmine and other flowers to sprinkle on the steps and in the Ganges, and though the morning was frosty, and the water must have been cold, not one of them shivered in the least on entering the sacred river.
"There is a curious stone here which is said to bear the impression of Vishnu's feet; of course it is highly venerated, and is visited by every pious Hindoo who comes to Benares. There are temples and shrines all around here, and every foot of the ground is holy in the eyes of the natives. One of the temples contains a figure of the god Ganesh; he has three eyes and a trunk like an elephant, and when he goes about he is supposed to ride on a rat.
"We passed ghaut after ghaut, and saw thousands of pilgrims and residents taking their morning bath, and finally came to the mosque of Aurengzebe the Great. At its foot, as at many other points along the bank, there were dozens of great umbrellas, under which the priests sit to give absolution to the faithful who are willing to pay for it; the umbrellas protect them from the sun, and at a little distance they resemble enormous mushrooms. We asked the guide if there were any accidents in bathing; he said a few persons were drowned every year by getting beyond their depth, and once in a while a crocodile came and carried away somebody. He told a story we had heard before, that a thief who was an expert swimmer once fixed up the skin and head of a crocodile so that it was a very good counterfeit; he would swim around near the bathing place and watch his chance to drag some of the women under water, where he drowned them for their gold and silver ornaments.
"Every day one or more would be taken away, and the fear of the crocodile was great. But one time there came along a real crocodile, who ate up the counterfeit; the dried skin and head were found a few miles farther down, and then it was found how the murders had been perpetrated.
"As we walked in the crowds we thought they were very respectful, as they made way for us wherever we went; we afterward learned it was not respect, but fear of pollution, that made them move out of our path. You must remember that nearly all the people we see are pious pilgrims, who have come long distances to worship at the shrines of Benares, and have a cordial hatred for our race and color. As our guide walks along in front of us he says something to the people in Hindostanee which, of course, we do not understand; we are told that he warns them to get out of our way, so that they will avoid being polluted by our touch!
MOSQUE OF AURENGZEBE THE GREAT.
"We went inside the mosque, but did not climb to the top of the minarets, from which there is said to be an excellent view of Benares and the country around it. The mosque is identified with the history of Benares, as it dates from the time the Mohammedan rulers of Northern India captured the city, destroyed nearly all of its Hindoo temples, and built their own places of worship from the ruins. The mosque stands on the site of an ancient Hindoo temple, and after the Hindoos came in possession of the city again they allowed the building to remain, though it might have been expected that they would tear it down. The Mohammedans make very little use of the mosque, and of all the 400,000 inhabitants of Benares there are less than 40,000 who adhere to the religion of the Prophet of Mecca. There is nothing remarkable about the building except the minarets, and we only remained there a few minutes.