THE CONTRIBUTOR. VOL. XV. NOVEMBER, 1893. No. I. RAMBLINGS AROUND THE WORLD. VII. DESCENDING the Himalayas the thin air of which can tire even the flight of the condor, the traveler comes to the district of Nepaul. Torrents dash foaming down the slopes, their position indicated by clouds of spray floating above the tree tops. Far away to the south the plain stretches like a sea, overhung by vapors wafted from the Indian Ocean, many leagues distant. The bridle-path winds through ravines covered with dense jungle, peopled with giant ants, and vocal with the ceaseless hum of the shrill cicada. Elephants, tigers, leopards, wild boars and rhinoceroses inhabit the jungle, though in no great numThe paths trodden through the forest by the elephants are the most available roads. At the edge of the jungle we come to a modest Hindoo temple with the usual Buddhist formula painted on the walls Om Mani Padmi om- Hail to him of the lotus flower and the jewel." Changing our jaded horses for fresh ones, the girths are tightened once more and, trending south-west, we ford the Ganges and enter Benares, the sacred city of India, and one of the holiest sites of the Hindoo religion, a city so ancient that its origin is lost in the mist of ages. It stretches for several miles along the banks of the Ganges from which ascend numerous flights of stone steps. gether, and frequently fantastically painted in gaudy colors with groups of mythological figures from the Hindoo pantheon, with roof terraces and small windows, the latter to prevent glare, and what is more important to a Hindoo household, inspection from the street; their thoroughfares as a rule are very narrow, the opposite sides of a street in some instances approaching so near as to be united by galleries; through these tortuous lanes no carriage can pass. You walk in the wake of your guide, who warns the people, that they may stand aside and not be defiled by your touch, for that is the real secret of the apparent respect paid to foreigners; but sacred bulls, celestial cows and holy monkeys with their attendant priests are so numerous in the narrow, filthy passages that one must perforce, at times, contaminate them by contact. Phew! how the rank odors of those reeking streets float across the memory. The city contains over a thousand Hindoo temples, and upwards of three hundred Mohammedan mosques, exclusive of numberless small shrines in and out of the houses or wherever a hole in the rock or cave in the earth exists. There are monasteries and some of the monks cut off their hair, while others preserve a tuft or scalplock upon the crown of their head, go naked, and are destitute of any kind of clothing. Some, as in Calcutta, smear their bodies with ashes, and practice severe austerities, in The houses are of stone, close to la order to obtain release from death. Devotees and pilgrims, separated or in groups, are seen entering or departing from the city constantly throughout the year. They come from all parts of India. Many carry with them on their return, the sacred water of the Ganges in small bottles hermetically sealed, placed in baskets hanging from the extremity of poles, borne upon their shoulders. The poor deluded sensualist, or the usurious Mahajan, or native banker, enriched by a long cruise of grinding extortion, or the fanatical devotee, simple as a babe, yet guilty perhaps of the foulest crimes, still come as they came long ago, from the remotest corners of India, as the sands of life are slowly ebbing away; and fearful lest the last golden grains should escape before their journey's end, make pitiful efforts to hold on their course, till at length, arriving at the sacred city and touching its hallowed soil, their restless spirits become suddenly calm, a strange sense of relief spreads over their tired frames and they are at once cheered and comforted with the treacherous lie that their sins are forgiven and their souls are saved. One of the Hindoo temples on the banks of the river is known as the Napalese temple, and is altogether unlike the other shrines erected by them for the practice of their religion. On its frieze many stone figures are sculptured so vile in attitude and design as to preclude description; on my asking the attendant priest why the builders had been permitted to so debase their art, he replied "in order to keep away the lightning." Aside from the many mosques, temples and minarets, the city is celebrated for the manufacture of cloth of gold and silver brocades, and for peculiarly elegant designs in brass and copper ware, lavishly carved or beaten. Many of the textile fabrics are rich and exquisite beyond description, and as costly as they are beautiful, some designs being held at four hundred and fifty dollars the square yard. Benares is thought by Anglo-Indians to be the most magnificent and the most strictly oriental in appearance of all the cities of India. Domes and minarets, palaces with lofty, fretted verandahs, palm trees and oriental skies form a picture that is a marvel and a wonder. The city is best seen from boats on the river; its most massive structures have their foundations laid in the stream itself, and rise up to one hundred feet by terraces or ghats, and broad stone stairways, thus many palaces which princes have built, that they may live and die in sight of the holy stream, and mosques and temples as well, overhang the yellow, rolling river, until time itself, never halting elsewhere, seems to have lingered here. At times a Mohammedan mosque and a Hindoo temple are found close together; this formerly occasioned many conflicts between the sects, but thanks to the liberality of the British rule which sanctions the undisturbed propagation of religious opinions where they involve no crime and occasion no damage to society, the disputes have ceased to exist. In the early morning hours the ghats are crowded with hundreds of persons of both sexes, indifferent to each other's presence, engaged in their religious baths. It certainly does not speak well for the liberality of the wealthy Hindoos of Benares, that there is not a single ghat where their females might bathe secluded from the gaze of the other sex. A couple of miles below the city on the opposite side of the river, stands the palace of his highness, the Maharajah of Benares; it is furnished in European style and foreigners, properly introduced, are permitted to visit the palace and grounds; the structure is pretentious and rambling as viewed from the river, and its walls are curiously in |