curious part of the business, if you purchase at all, is
the elastic character of the prices, since no one pretends to pay that
which is first charged, the dealer does not expect it, and the running
fire of barter, chaffing, and cheapening is most laughable. The vendor
begins by asking at least double what he will finally offer his goods
for, and in the end probably gets twice their intrinsic value. If one of
the natives were to offer his articles at a fixed and reasonable
valuation, he would be mobbed on the spot by his companions. Dickering
is the poetry of trade to a Hindoo.

CHAPTER VIII.

From Agra to Jeypore.--An Independent Province.--A Unique Indian
City.--Wild Animals.--Elephant Traveling.--Trapping Tigers.--A
Royal Palace.--The Harem.--Native Rule.--Wild Monkeys and
Peacocks.--Long Journey across Country.--Bombay.--The Rival of
Calcutta.--The Parsees.--Towers of Silence.--Feeding the
Vultures.--A Remarkable Institution.--Island of Elephanta.--Street
Jugglers.--Crossing the Sea of Arabia.--The Southern
Cross.--Aden.--Passage up the Red Sea.--Landing at Suez.--Traveling
in Egypt.

If the reader will consult the map of India it will be seen that few
regions in the world present such an array of remarkable cities as have
sprung up and flourished in the Ganges-Jumna valley, of which we are now
writing. Here we have Agra, Delhi, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Allahabad,
Benares, Mirzapur, Patna, Decca, and Murshedabad. What historic
associations arise at the bare mention of these Indian cities, each one
of which affords a record reaching so far down the corridors of the past
as to fascinate the archaeologist by its very mystery.

We left Agra regretfully; one would like more time to examine and become
familiar with all its monuments, and yet they seem as deeply impressed
upon the memory as though we had known them for years, and had lived
long in their midst. The Rajpootana State Railway was taken for Jeypore,
situated a hundred and fifty miles from Agra, and justly reputed to be
the finest native city in the country: in many respects it is unique.
The route thither lay through a very level country of great fertility,
showing line crops of cereals, with frequent and vivid fields of yellow
mustard in full bloom. Jeypore is the capital of the territory belonging
to the Maharajah Mardozing, whose independent possessions are just about
the size of the State of Massachusetts,