en again narrower, deeply indenting
the sides of both shores, and so forming a haven that has no equal in
the world. It was not without reason that the Portuguese, expelled in
the course of time by the English, used to call it "Buona Bahia."

In a fit of tourist exaltation some travellers have compared it to the
Bay of Naples; but, as a matter of fact, the one is as much like the
other as a lazzaroni is like a Kuli. The whole resemblance between the
former consists in the fact that there is water in both. In Bombay, as
well as in its harbour, everything is original and does not in the least
remind one of Southern Europe. Look at those coasting vessels and native
boats; both are built in the likeness of the sea bird "sat," a kind
of kingfisher. When in motion these boats are the personi-fication of
grace, with their long prows and rounded poops. They look as if they
were gliding backwards, and one might mistake for wings the strangely
shaped, long lateen sails, their narrow angles fastened upwards to a
yard. Filling these two wings with the wind, and careening, so as almost
to touch the surface of the water, these boats will fly along with
astonishing swiftness. Unlike our European boats, they do not cut the
waves, but glide over them like a sea-gull.

The surroundings of the bay transported us to some fairy land of the
Arabian Nights. The ridge of the Western Ghats, cut through here and
there by some separate hills almost as high as themselves, stretched all
along the Eastern shore. From the base to their fantastic, rocky tops,
they are all overgrown with impenetrable forests and jungles inhabited
by wild animals. Every rock has been enriched by the popular imagination
with an independent legend. All over the slope of the mountain are
scattered the pagodas, mosques, and temples of numberless sects. Here
and there the hot rays of the sun strike upon an old fortress, once
dreadful and inaccessible, now half ruined and covered with prickly
cactus. At every step some memorial of sanctity. Here a deep vihara,
a cave cell of a Buddhist bhikshu saint, there a rock protected by the
symbol of Shiva, further on a Jaina temple, or a holy tank, all covered
with sedge and filled with water, once blessed by a Brahman and able to
purify every sin, all indispensable attribute of all pagodas. All the
surroundings are covered with symbols of gods and goddesses. Each of the
three hundred and thirty millions of deities of the Hindu Pantheo