hould attempt to
escape.'[9]

'This is all very true, Mir Sahib, but you must admit that, though
there is a great deal of absurdity in their customs and opinions,
there is, on the other hand, much that we might all take an example
from. The Hindoo believes that Christians and Musalmans may be as
good men in all relations of life as himself, and in as fair a way to
heaven as he is; for he believes that my Bible and your Koran are as
much revelations framed by the Deity for our guidance, as the
Shastras are for his. He doubts not that our Christ was the Son of
God, nor that Muhammad was the prophet of God; and all that he asks
from us is to allow him freely to believe in his own gods, and to
worship in his own way. Nor does one caste or sect of Hindoos ever
believe itself to be alone in the right way, or detest any other for
not following in the same path, as they have as much of toleration
for each other as they have for us.[10]

'True,' exclaimed Salamat Ali, 'too true! we have ruined each other;
we have cut each other's throats; we have lost the empire, and we
deserve to lose it. You won it, and you preserved it by your _union_-
-ten men with one heart are equal to a hundred men with different
hearts. A Hindoo may feel himself authorized to take in a Musalman,
and might even think it _meritorious_ to do so; but he would never
think it meritorious to take in one of his own religion. There are no
less than seventy-two sects of Muhammadans; and every one of these
sects would not only take in the followers of every other religion on
earth, but every member of every one of the other seventy-one sects;
and the nearer that sect is to its own, the greater the merit in
taking in its members.'[11]

'Something has happened of late to annoy you, I fear, Mir Sahib?'

'Something happens to annoy us every day, sir, where we are more than
one sect of us together; and wherever you find Musalmans you will
find them divided into sects.'

It is not, perhaps, known to many of my countrymen in India that in
every city and town in the country the right of sweeping the houses
and streets is one of the most intolerable of monopolies, supported
entirely by the pride of caste among the scavengers, who are all of
the lowest class. The right of sweeping within a certain range is
recognized by the caste to belong to a certain member; and, if any
other member presumes to sweep within that range, he is
excommunicated--no other member will smok