a gift would be invaluable for bathing on the
Cornish coast!

The men along the edge are very jolly, they chatter all the time and
splash and wash and enjoy themselves. No English seaside place on a
trip-day can beat this crowd. The fact that dead bones and skulls are
constantly thrown into the water, and that the ashes of dead people, and
much else that is indescribably filthy, mingles with it, doesn't seem to
disturb them at all.

When you have wearied of watching them we will go and visit one of the
innumerable temples in the city, but we shall need a guide for that, as
it is not safe to wander in these streets alone.

No sooner have we landed and fought our way into one of the narrow
alleys, than the road is blocked by an enormous bull who stands placidly
before a greengrocer's stall sampling his wares. The man makes no
attempt to drive him away, but tries to tempt him by holding a choice
bunch of his best stuff. The beast has slavered over much that will be
sold for human food afterwards. What? A good smack on the flank! For
goodness' sake take care! The animal is supposed to be sacred; to touch
him would be to bring out all the inhabitants of these houses on to us
like a swarm of hornets. Luckily the beast is so well fed that he soon
moves on and we can get past.

Now we have reached the most important temple of all, known as the
Golden Temple, and as we pass into the cloisters we see a couple more
animals standing inside, as much at home as if they were in a byre,
which, indeed, the place smells like, with a strange scent of sweet
flowers on the top of it. It is a wonderful place, but oh, so dirty! It
is dedicated, of all things, to the poison-god, Shiva! It stands in a
quadrangle, roofed in, and above rise some of those curious elongated
domes we saw from the boat. If we climb up through that flower-stall
where blossoms are being sold for offerings, we can see these domes,
which really have cost a lot of money, as two of them are gilt all over;
the gilding keeps its glitter here and rises dazzlingly against the hot
sky.

There are other temples by the dozen and mosques too for the
Mohammedans. If we wander round we shall see many strange sights; in one
shrine is the image of the god Saturn, a silver disc, in another that of
Ganesh, the elephant-god, surely the most hideous of all! Look at him! A
squatting dwarf with an elephant's trunk! At another place is the image
of Shiva himself; it has a silver face,