ed us since Aden, we, people of the distant North, now
experienced something strange and unwonted, as if the very fresh soft
air had cast its spell over us. There was not a cloud in the sky,
thickly strewn with dying stars. Even the moonlight, which till then had
covered the sky with its silvery garb, was gradually vanishing; and the
brighter grew the rosiness of dawn over the small island that lay before
us in the East, the paler in the West grew the scattered rays of the
moon that sprinkled with bright flakes of light the dark wake our ship
left behind her, as if the glory of the West was bidding good-bye to us,
while the light of the East welcomed the newcomers from far-off lands.
Brighter and bluer grew the sky, swiftly absorbing the remaining pale
stars one after the other, and we felt something touching in the
sweet dignity with which the Queen of Night resigned her rights to the
powerful usurper. At last, descending lower and lower, she disappeared
completely.

And suddenly, almost without interval between darkness and light, the
red-hot globe, emerging on the opposite side from under the cape, leant
his golden chin on the lower rocks of the island and seemed to stop for
a while, as if examining us. Then, with one powerful effort, the torch
of day rose high over the sea and gloriously proceeded on its path,
including in one mighty fiery embrace the blue waters of the bay, the
shore and the islands with their rocks and cocoanut forests. His golden
rays fell upon a crowd of Parsees, his rightful worshippers, who stood
on shore raising their arms towards the mighty "Eye of Ormuzd." The
sight was so impressive that everyone on deck became silent for a
moment, even a red-nosed old sailor, who was busy quite close to us over
the cable, stopped working, and, clearing his throat, nodded at the sun.

Moving slowly and cautiously along the charming but treacherous bay, we
had plenty of time to admire the picture around us. On the right was a
group of islands with Gharipuri or Elephanta, with its ancient temple,
at their head. Gharipuri translated means "the town of caves" according
to the Orientalists, and "the town of purification" according to the
native Sanskrit scholars. This temple, cut out by an unknown hand in
the very heart of a rock resembling porphyry, is a true apple of
discord amongst the archaeologists, of whom none can as yet fix, even
approximately, its antiquity. Elephanta raises high its rocky brow, all
o