ves on
me with great importunity. There seemed such a gulf between myself,
in my comfortable house, surrounded by so many conveniences, and the
poor people, around me. The multitudinous administrative duties of
the missionary in charge of a station seemed to leave so little time
for spiritual dealings with inquirers, and at the end of a long day
weariness made it difficult to maintain that very essential equipment
of every missionary--"a heart at leisure from itself to soothe and
sympathize."

Then I had a desire to learn more about these men, who might be
supposed to represent the embodiment of the religious ideals of the
East. The best way seemed to be to adopt their dress and habits, and
travel about among them for a time. A young Afghan, who was a pupil
of mine and a Muhammadan student in the school, begged to be allowed
to accompany me as a chela, or disciple. As the time at my disposal
was limited, it would not have been possible to visit many of the
places where Sadhus most do congregate had we confined ourselves to
the more orthodox method of progression on foot, so we decided to
ride our bicycles. This did not seem to affect the reception we met
with from the fraternity--in fact, it is not at all uncommon to see
Sadhus riding; often pious Hindus seek to gain merit for themselves
by providing them with the means for doing so.

When we left Bannu, we took no money with us; but we seldom were in
want, as we received ungrudging hospitality from Hindus, Muhammadans,
and Christians alike. The ochre-coloured garments are sufficient
passport all over India, and people give alms and offer hospitality
without requiring further evidence of the genuineness of the claims
of the applicant on their charity. In fact, unless the Sadhu is of
known bad character, the Hindu would gain his end--that of acquiring
merit by almsgiving--as much by giving to one as another; and he
would be very unhappy were he not afforded these opportunities of
keeping up the credit side of his account, all the more if his gains
are ill-gotten, or he is conscious of some underhand dealings which
require corresponding acts of merit to balance them.

One of the most interesting places we visited was Hardwar, the holy
bathing-place on the Ganges, which is visited by tens of thousands
of Hindu pilgrims from every part of India every year, and the
neighbouring Sadhu colony of Rishikes. The latter is a village
inhabited only by the Sanzasis and other Sad