tate, on elephants or camels, by train or on foot, all intent on
securing an increase of religious zeal. The crowds bathing in the sacred
river are a continuous spectacle. There are piers built out into the
stream for convenience, filled with pilgrims of every hue and variety of
dress and undress, some simply wearing the loin cloth, which startled us
at first, but now seemed the legitimate outcome of a lean purse and a
hot climate.

In addition, there is a continuous refrain of voices in solemn
supplication to one or more of the many thousands of Hindu gods, for it
has been stated that there are two hundred thousand divinities in India.
At one point there is a burning ghat, and one morning we witnessed the
preparation for two cremations, one of a poor man and the other of the
wife of a Maharaja. The two ceremonies differed little, except that the
wood for the funeral pile of one cost a mere pittance, while the
sandalwood for the latter cost six hundred rupees. The corpse is carried
on a small litter, or bier, made of bamboo sticks (a man is robed in
white and a woman in red), and deposited in the Ganges, feet foremost;
care is taken that the whole body be immersed in order that purification
may be complete. The relatives arrange the pile of wood, about eight
logs being required. Then the body is transferred to the pyre, and the
torch is applied by one of the family, the others sitting solemnly
around in a circle. When consumed, the ashes are scattered in the river
Ganges. It is a gruesome spectacle, however much it may be in the
interest of sanitary science; but less so to me, who had witnessed the
distribution of the bodies at the Towers of Silence in Bombay.

It will be seen that the principal commodity in Benares is holiness; but
there is one creditable industry, namely, the manufacture of brass.
Several shops were visited, but we liked the modern styles less than the
old Benares brass with which we were familiar.

One thought was uppermost while in Benares; I had pondered over it
before in our visit to India. It was that with the masses Hinduism
to-day means superstition and idolatry, in spite of the fact that the
earlier teaching was of a pure character. That the cultivated Hindus
accept the practices and the priesthood is a mystery as subtle as the
law of caste or the iron law of custom. It is a depressing thought, and
causes a profound feeling of thankfulness that Providence placed us in a
fairer land.

[Illu