mud cabins. In
what is called the silversmith's quarter, amid filthy lanes, full of
dirty children, mangy dogs, and moping cats, we find hovels containing
finely wrought silver ornaments manufactured on the spot by the natives.
So original and elegant are these wares that they have a reputation
beyond the borders of India. Trichinopoly has over sixty thousand
inhabitants. But however much there may be to interest us, we must not
tarry long. Two hundred miles still northward bring us to Tanjore, a
large fortified city, where we find a mammoth and gorgeously decorated
car of Juggernaut, the Indian idol. It makes its annual excursion from
the temple through the town, drawn by hundreds of worshippers, who come
from great distances to assist at the ceremony. Pilgrims, delirious with
fanaticism, used once to throw themselves under the wheels of the huge
car and perish. This self-immolation is now almost entirely suppressed
by the government, as is the kindred one of the burning of widows upon
their husbands' funeral piles. From 1815 to 1826, published statistics
show that fifteen thousand widows perished thus in India!

The great temple of Tanjore is fourteen stories in height, and measures
two hundred feet from base to top. These temples all resemble each other
in general design, and are characterized by grotesqueness, caricature,
and vulgar images, as well as by infinite detail in their finish. Though
they are gorgeously decked in colors, and gross in ornamentation, still
they are so grand in size and on so costly a scale, as to create
amazement rather than disgust. It would seem that a people equal to such
efforts must have been capable of something better. In all grosser forms
of superstition and idolatry, carnal and material elements seem to be
essential to bind and attract the ignorant, and this is undoubtedly the
governing policy of a religion, embodying emblems so outrageous to
Christian sensibility. This grand pagoda at Tanjore, taken as a whole,
is the most remarkable religious monument in India. In passing through
the southern section of the country, we see many ruined temples in
unpopulated districts, which belong to past ages; many mammoth stone
elephants and bulls, crumbling by the wear of centuries. Large flocks of
goats tended by herdsmen are seen distributed over the plains, and so
level is the country, that the eye can make out these groups for miles
away on either side of the railroad. Well-cultivated plant