vers enough to kneel
before them and to give them food and money by which means to support
their strange and fanatical self-immolation.

We visit at Benares an ancient observatory of more than ordinary
interest, erected by a famous Hindoo patron of science, Rajah Manu.
Though it is now quite neglected and in partial ruins, a sun-dial, a
zodiac, meridian lines, and astronomical appliances are still
distinctly traced upon heavy stones arranged for celestial observations.
This proves that astronomy was well advanced at Benares hundreds of
years before Galileo was born, and it will be remembered that the
astronomers of India first settled the fact of the rotation of the
earth. The Man-Mundil, as this observatory is called, forms a most
important historic link between the days of the Pharaohs and the
nineteenth century.

[Illustration: MOSQUE AT DELHI, INDIA.]

Five hundred miles of travel by way of Cawnpore will bring us to Delhi,
where a visit to the crumbling palace of the late king will show us the
remains of that famous Peacock Throne, the marvel of the world when the
Mogul dynasty was at its zenith--a throne of solid gold, ornamented with
rubies, sapphires, and diamonds, the aggregate value of which was thirty
million dollars. It was six feet long and four feet broad, surmounted by
a gold canopy supported by twelve pillars composed of the same precious
metal. The back of the throne was so constructed as to represent a
peacock with expanded tail, the natural colors of which were exactly
imitated with rubies, sapphires, diamonds, and other precious stones.
Delhi was for centuries the proudest metropolis of India; within a
circle of twenty miles of the present locality, one city after another
has established its capital, ruled in splendor, and passed away. One
monument, which we find in the environs, has thus far defied the
destructive finger of time,--the Katub-Minar, which stands alone amid
hoary ruins, the loftiest single column in the world, but of which there
is no satisfactory record. It is not inappropriately considered one of
the greatest architectural marvels of India, and whoever erected it
achieved a triumph of gracefulness and skill. It is built of red stone
elaborately ornamented in the form of a minaret, measuring about fifty
feet in diameter at the base and ten at the top, with a height from the
ground of two hundred and fifty feet, divided into five stories, each
fitted with an outer gallery and adorned