e greatest
condemnation of the self-cruelty of the fakeers is--its uselessness.

* * * * *

In her tour through India Madame Pfeiffer visited Allahabad, at the
junction of the Jumna and the Ganges; Agra, where she surveyed with
admiring eyes the lovely Taj-Mahal, erected by the Sultan Jehan as a
memorial to his favourite wife, and the Pearl Mosque, renowned for the
beauty of its carving; Delhi, the ancient capital of the Moguls; the
cave-temples of Ellora and Ajunta, and the great commercial port of
Bombay.

Crossing the border of British India, she sailed to Bassora, and
ascended the historic Tigris--so named from the tiger-like swiftness of
its course--to Bagdad, that quaint Oriental city, which is associated
with so many wonderful legends and not less wonderful "travellers'
tales." This was of old the residence of the great Haroun-al-Raschid, a
ruler of no ordinary sagacity and the hero of many a picturesque
tradition, whose name the "Thousand and One Nights" have made familiar
to every English reader. It is still a populous and wealthy city, with,
we suspect, a future before it not less glorious than its past. Many of
its houses are surrounded by blooming gardens; its shops are bright with
the products of Eastern looms; and it descends in terraces to the river
banks, which are lined with orchards and groves of palm. Over all
extends the arch of a glowing sky.

From Bagdad Madame Pfeiffer made an excursion to the ruins of Babylon.
They consist of massive fragments of walls and columns, lying on either
side of the Euphrates.

On the 17th of June she joined a caravan which was bound for Mosul, a
journey of three hundred miles, occupying from twelve to fourteen days,
and lying across a desert country of the most inhospitable character.
Madame Pfeiffer's experiences on this journey were new and interesting.
One day she repaired to a small village in search of food. After
wandering from hut to hut, she obtained a small quantity of milk and
three eggs. These she laid in hot ashes, covering them completely;
filled her leathern flask from the Tigris, and thus provided regained
the encampment formed by the caravan. She ate her eggs and drank her
milk with an appetite, which, to an epicure, would have been a surprise.

The manufacture of butter at this village was conducted on primitive
principles. The cream was poured into a leathern bottle, and rolled
about on the ground until consolidat