ning curiosity to know
what this music was for. I tethered poor Ali to a tree, and though he
seemed to be greatly distressed at being left alone, plunged into the
undergrowth that surrounded the sides of the temple.

The whole place appeared to be in darkness. I groped my way at last to
the foot of a flight of steps leading up to the front, and finding
nobody on guard climbed up softly on all fours, only staying now and
then to breathe deeply, and to try and still the excessive beating of
my heart. The drums continued to sound, the notes becoming harsher and
more distinct as I approached. At the top of the steps I found myself
before a little stone doorway, through which a very faint dusky
glimmer emerged. I passed in, treading on tiptoe, and came along a
narrow stone passage, down which the sound of the drumming made a
dismal echo. At the further end of the passage the way was closed by a
thick curtain made of a substance that felt like stiff leather, and
was, I believe, the hide of an elephant. I pushed this back far enough
to let me through, and passed straight into the midst of the place.

As I did so the beating of the tom-toms broke on my ears with such
vehemence that I was well-nigh stunned, and a waving dance of torches
and cressets bewildered my eyes. I stood on the edge of a range of
steps looking down upon an amphitheatre crowded with men. On the other
side, over against me, rose a hideous idol, as high as the roof, with
many heads, each grinning horribly, whilst from its body there
protruded a monstrous array of clutching arms and hands, with other
disfigurements too loathsome to be set down. The persons underneath me
were all leaping and whirling round, with many gestures of homage to
the idol, and they uttered cries and screams which were drowned by the
noise of the drums.

In the midst of their frenzy I saw a man dart out stark naked,
prostrate himself for a moment at the idol's feet, and then inflict a
terrible gash on himself with a knife which he had in his hand.
Instantly the yellings and drummings were redoubled, the mass of
worshippers whirled themselves round more furiously than ever, and
then another and another man leaped forward and cut himself, each one
more savagely than his fellow. Though I have never known what it is to
be faint or sick in battle at the sight of wounds, nor even in a
hospital, the spectacle of these ghastly mutilations offered up by
these Indians in their madness to the i