nufactured here a brass ware of such exquisite finish as to defy
competition. In her dark alleys and narrow lanes they also produce a
fine article of silver embroidery of marvellous delicacy and beauty,
greatly prized by travellers as a souvenir. The pilgrims who participate
in the river scenes are by no means all of the lower classes; now and
then a gorgeously dressed official 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 devotees and comely youths, boys and
girls, people of all ages and degrees, are represented in the motley
groups who come to these muddy waters for moral purification. There is a
singular mingling of races also, for these people do not all speak one
tongue. They are from the extreme north and the extreme south of India,
while the half-starved vagrants seen among them, and who come from
Middle India, could not make themselves understood by people from either
extreme. A common purpose moves them, but they cannot express themselves
in a common language. Pilgrims are here from Thibet and Cashmere, from
the far-off Himalayan country, as well as from Tuticorin, on the Indian
Ocean. Numberless idols and symbols of the most vulgar character abound
all over the town, in small temples, before which men and women bow down
in silent devotion. Idolatry is here seen in its most repulsive form.
The delusion, however, is perfect, and these poor creatures are terribly
in earnest.

Animals are worshipped, 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 pet and to feed
them. This temple contains a singular altar, before which devotional
rites are performed by believing visitors. On the Ghats, beside the
river, these Hindoos pass the happiest hours of their sad lives, coming
from the confined, dirty, unwholesome streets and alleys in which they
sleep and eat, to pray and to bathe, as well as to breathe the fresh air
and to bask in the sun. The hideous fakirs, or begging Oriental monks,
make their fixed abode here, living entirely in the open air, most of
them diseased, and all misshapen by voluntarily acquired deformity.
Their distorted limbs are fixed in attitudes of penance until they
become set and immovable. There are pious belie