and so were all the Reformers. So
perhaps it was not wonderful that, beset by doubting letters from home
and a certain amount of not unnatural incredulity in India, we sometimes
almost wondered if we ourselves were dreaming. "Well, if they do exist,
I hope you will be able to find them!"--varied by, "Well, if you do find
them, they will be a proof of their own existence!"--were two of the
most encouraging remarks of those early days.

From the beginning of this work, as stated before, we have tried to
collect facts about the traffic and the customs connected with it. Notes
were kept of conversations with Hindus and others, and these notes were
compared with what evidence we were able to gather from trustworthy
sources. These brief notes of various kinds we offer in their
simplicity. We have made no attempt to tabulate or put into shape the
information thus acquired, believing that the notes of conversations
taken down at the time, and the quotations from letters copied as they
stand, will do their work more directly than anything more elaborate
would. Where there is a difference of detail it is because the customs
differ slightly in different places. No names are given, for obvious
reasons; but the letters were written by men of standing, living in
widely scattered districts in the South. The evidence contained in them
was carefully sifted, and in many cases corroborated by personal
investigation, before being considered evidence: so that we believe
these chapters may be accepted as fact. Dated quotations from the
_Madras Mail_ are sufficient to prove that we are not writing ancient
history:--

_January 2, 1909._--"The following resolution was put from the chair and
carried unanimously: 'The Conference (consisting of Hindu Social
Reformers) cordially supports the movement started to better the
condition of unprotected children in general, and appreciates
particularly the agitation started to protect girls and young women from
being dedicated to Temples.'"

_May 8, 1909._--"Once more we have an illustration from Mysore of the
fact that the Government of a Native State are able to tread boldly on
ground which the British Government in India are unable to approach. At
various times, in these columns and elsewhere, has the cry raised
against the employment of servants of the gods in Hindu Temples been
uttered; but, as far as the Government are concerned, it has fallen, if
not on deaf ears, on ears stopped to appeals of t