oly river. Faith must be very
vigorous in these uneducated creatures to induce such sacrifice to
fulfill its requirements; like superstition elsewhere, it is ever
strongest in the ignorant.

These pilgrims are not all beggars or in rags. Now and then a gaudily
dressed rajah may be seen, with a long line of attendants, wending his
steps towards the river's front. Infirm old men and little children,
crazy looking fakirs and comely youths, boys and girls, people of all
ages and both sexes, were represented in the motley groups who went for
moral purification to these muddy waters. There is a singular mingling
of races also, for these people do not by any means speak one tongue.
They are from the extreme north and the extreme south of India, while
the half-starved vagrants of central India could not make themselves
understood by either. A common purpose moves them, but they cannot
express themselves in a common language. Pilgrims are here from Tibet
and Cashmere, the far-off Himalayan country as well as from Tuticorin on
the Indian Ocean. Numberless idols and symbols of the most vulgar and
loathsome character abound all over the town, and along the river's
front, before which men and women bow down in silent devotion. Idolatry
is but the synonym of impurity, and is here seen in its most repulsive
form. The delusion, however, is perfect, and these poor creatures are,
beyond a doubt, terribly in earnest.

The people grovel in this idolatrous spirit, animals forming the
principal subjects of worship,--such as bulls, snakes, monkeys, and
pigeons. One of the peculiar temples of the city is devoted solely to
the worship of monkeys, where hundreds of these mischievous animals find
a luxurious home, no one ever interfering with their whims, except to
feed and to pet them. This temple contains a singular altar, before
which devotional rites are performed by believing visitors, who also
bring food offerings for the monkeys. One of the animals during our
visit was misbehaving himself, considering that he was a veritable god:
rolling, tossing about, and holding on to his stomach with both paws,
while he cast his eyes in an agonized manner upwards, and howled
dolefully. In plain English his godship had eaten too many bon-bons and
sweetmeats, and was paying the penalty from which even sacred monkeys
are not exempt. Another, evidently the mother of twins, ran about with
one under each arm, now and then stopping at convenient places to nu