overed, nearly resemble our own peasant
girls. Like the dancers, they are overloaded with jewellery; when
they cannot afford gold and silver, they content themselves with
some other metals. They wear also rings of horn, bone, or glass
beads, on the fingers, arms, and feet. On the feet they carry
bells, so that they are heard at a distance of sixty paces; the toes
are covered with broad heavy rings, and they have rings hanging from
their noses down to the chin, which they are obliged to tie up at
meal time. I pitied the poor creatures, who suffered not a little
from their finery! The eyebrows and eyelids are dyed black while
the children are very young, and they frequently paint themselves
with dark-blue streaks of a finger's breadth over the eyebrows, and
with spots on the forehead. The adult women tattoo their breasts,
foreheads, noses, or temples with red, white, or yellow colours,
according as they are particularly attached to one or the other
deity. Many wear amulets or miniatures hung round their necks, so
that I at first thought they were Catholics, and felt gratified at
the brilliant successes of the missionaries. But, when I came
nearer to one of the people, that I might see these pictures better,
what did I discover there? Perhaps a beautiful Madonna!--a fair-
haired angel's head!--an enthusiastic Antonio of Padua! Ah no! I
was met by the eight-armed god Shiva grinning at me, the ox's head
of Vishnu, the long-tongued goddess Kalli. The amulets contained,
most probably, some of the ashes of one of their martyrs who had
been burned, or a nail, a fragment of skin, a hair of a saint, a
splinter from the bone of a sacred animal, etc.

13th February. Dr. Rolland conducted me to the little town of
Kesho-Rae-Patum, one of the most sacred in Bunda and Rajpootan. It
lies on the other side of the river, six miles from Kottah. A great
number of pilgrims come here to bathe, as the water is considered
particularly sacred at this spot. This belief cannot be condemned,
when it is remembered how many Christians there are who give the
preference to the Holy Maria at Maria-Zell, Einsiedeln, or Loretto,
which, nevertheless, all represent one and the same.

Handsome steps lead from the heights on the banks down to the river,
and Brahmins sit in pretty kiosks to take money from believers for
the honour of the gods. On one of the flights of steps lay a very
large tortoise. It might quietly sun itself there in safe