llows mostly, tall, straight, military-looking men, with
handsome faces and fierce mustashios. Not a few thoroughbred Jats are
mingled in the crowd--the "stout-built, thick-limbed Jats," the
warlike race with the steel or silver discus surmounting their queer
pyramidal headdress. Under the independent government of their people by
the Gurus, or ruler-priests, of the last century, and particularly under
the regulations of the celebrated Guru Govind, every Sikh was considered
a warrior from his birth, and was always required to wear steel iri some
form or other about his person. The Jats, being the most enterprising and
warlike tribe of the territory acknowledging the rule of the Gurus and
the religious teachings of the Adi Granth as their faith, take especial
pride in commemorating the bravery and warlike qualities of their
ancestors by still wearing the distinguishing steel quoits on their
heads.

Seesum or banyan trees, shading twenty yards' width of luxuriant
greensward on either side of the road, and each and every tree
sheltering groups of natives, resting, idling, washing their clothes in
some silent pool, or tending a few grazing buffaloes, form a truly
Arcadian scene for mile after mile next day. These buffaloes are huge,
unwieldy animals with black, hairless hides, strong and heavy almost as
rhinoceroses. In striking contrast to them are the aristocratic little
cream-colored Brahmani cows, with the curious big "camel-hump" on their
withers. These latter animals are pampered and revered and made much of
among the Brahmans; mythology has it that Brahma created cows and
Brahmans at the same time, and the cow is therefore an object of worship
and veneration.

Taken all in all, the worship of the Hindoos has something eminently
rational about it; their worship is frequently bestowed upon some
tangible object that contributes directly to their material enjoyment. It
is very much like going back to the first principles of gratitude for
direct blessings received to worship "Mother Ganga," the noble stream
that brings down the moisture from the Himalayas to water their plains
and quicken into life their needy crops, or to worship the gentle bovine
that provides them daily with milk and cheese and ghee. Wonderful legends
are told of the cow in Hindoo mythology. The Ramayana tells of a certain
marvellous cow owned by a renowned hermit. The hermit being honored by a
visit from the king, who had with him a numerous retinue,