e pollution brought by us was only temporary; it
would evaporate in the smoke of cow-dung--the usual Brahmanical incense
of purification--like a drop of muddy water in the rays of the sun.

India is the country for originalities and everything unexpected and
unconventional. From the point of view of an ordinary European observer
every feature of Indian life is contrary to what could be expected.
Shaking the head from one shoulder to another means no in every other
country, but in India it means an emphatic yes. If you ask a Hindu
how his wife is, even if you are well acquainted with her, or how many
children he has, or whether he has any sisters, he will feel offended in
nine cases out of ten. So long as the host does not point to the door,
having previously sprinkled the guest with rose-water, the latter would
not think of leaving. He would stay the whole day without tasting any
food, and lose his time, rather than offend his host by an unauthorized
departure. Everything contradicts our Western ideas. The Hindus are
strange and original, but their religion is still more original. It has
its dark points, of course. The rites of some sects are truly repulsive;
the officiating Brahmans are far from being without reproach. But these
are only superficialities. In spite of them the Hindu religion possesses
something so deeply and mysteriously irresistible that it attracts and
subdues even unimaginative Englishmen.

The following incident is a curious instance of this fascination:

N.C. Paul, G.B.M.C., wrote a small, but very interesting and very
scientific pamphlet. He was only a regimental surgeon in Benares,
but his name was well known amongst his compatriots as a very learned
specialist in physiology. The pamphlet was called A Treatise on the
Yoga Philosophy, and produced a sensation amongst the representatives
of medicine in India, and a lively polemic between the Anglo-Indian and
native journalists. Dr. Paul spent thirty-five years in studying the
extraordinary facts of Yogism, the existence of which was, for him,
beyond all doubt. He not only described them, but explained some of
the most extraordinary phenomena, for instance, levitation, the seeming
evidence to the contrary of some laws of nature, notwithstanding. With
perfect sincerity, and evident regret, Dr. Paul says he could never
learn anything from the Raj-Yogis. His experience was almost wholly
limited to the facts that fakirs and Hatha-Yogis would consent to