which were crowded with endless rows of people coming out or going into
the temples on either side. To some of these a few steps led downward,
to others upward.

In some of the nooks and niches formed by the outer walls of the temple
sat peddlers selling ornaments, flowers, fruit, boiled rice, popcorn,
confectioneries, and small idols, of stone, porcelain, or metal.

[Illustration: DYING BRAHMIN.]

We stepped into the so-called golden temple, dedicated to Bishashar, or
Shiva, the most prominent deity of Benares. Like most of the temples it
is built of brick, and has a gray coat of plastering on the outside. It
has three domes which are covered with colored metal, and the interior
is divided into three rooms, in each of which is a stone image
representing the creative principle. The worshipers throw rice and
flowers at these images, and officiating Brahmins continually pour over
them water from the Ganges. Within a separate inclosure is a sacred well
called "Gyan-Bapi," or the well of knowledge, into which the rice and
the flowers from the images are washed by a continual stream of water.
Out of this well rises an intolerable stench from the putrefying mass
which poisons the air in and around the temple, for it is not permitted
to take these offerings out of the well. Around the well is a colonnade
of small beautiful pillars, back of which, on the east side, is a
seven-foot-high stone statue of a bull consecrated to the god of
Mahadeva.

Another temple is divided into stalls which contain well-fed sacred
animals, such as bulls, cows, goats and birds, all of which are objects
of worship of the faithful. This temple was kept more clean than the
former, but the bellowing of the animals and the jostling and crowding
of the worshipers made the visit to those deities intolerable.

One of the finest temples in Benares is called "Durga Kund," and is
devoted to the goddess Durga. It is a large and beautiful pyramidal
structure with a number of towers and steeples of different sizes, and
the whole building is adorned with fine works of sculpture, representing
the sacred animals of Hindoo mythology. Inside the temple, facing a wide
entrance, stands a large stone statue of Durga with the face of an ape,
and in front of this is a well into which the faithful throw flowers.
But the most interesting feature about this temple is the great number
of monkeys which are kept there. A large, square court surrounds the
temple, and in thi