r, with fountains playing in the center, provide refreshing
baths. Halls of public and of private audience are gorgeous with crimson
and gold. Temples for worship are added, both for daily devotion and for
great state occasions. In short, here are all the appurtenances of an
Oriental court, combined with private luxury and seclusion. While the
multitudes must toil and suffer in the plains below, the maharaja may
rest and enjoy himself in his hilltop palace. I would not, however,
imply that this particular monarch is not in many respects a
large-minded and liberal man. The many evidences of his taste and public
spirit in Jaipur rectify any wrong impressions one might gain from a
visit to Amber.

The next day we reached a station called Abu Road, four hundred miles
to the south of Delhi, and about half-way to Bombay. True to its name,
Abu Road furnished us the road to Abu Mountain. Again we proceeded by
motor-car, that great annihilator of distance in a foreign land. This
road, in its gradual ascent, is a noble piece of engineering. It is
exceedingly tortuous, for it follows the contour of the mountain in
marvelously skilful curves. All the way for two hours, and covering an
ascent of four thousand five hundred feet, there are enchanting views.
Tropical birds and trees were on every hand, together with cactus of
many varieties; green and red parrots screamed through the air; peacocks
spread themselves in the sun; and monkeys scampered across our path.

One of the spurs of Mt. Abu is called Dilwarra. It is the seat of the
chief temple in India of the Jains, that Hindu sect which claims to have
preserved the ancient religion of the Vedas, and to have kept it true to
the ancestral faith. As I have before remarked, the Jains aim to escape
the possible miseries of transmigration, and to attain the bliss of
Nirvana, even in the present life. Jainism, like every other heathen
system, is an effort to earn salvation by labors and sacrifices of
one's own. Its works of righteousness, however, are often uncalled-for
exaggerations of natural virtues, such as counting sacred all forms of
animal and vegetable life. The most devoted of the sect wear a cloth
over their mouths, lest they should destroy an insect by swallowing
it. To found hospitals for the care of parrots and monkeys is one of
the most approved works of merit. So also it is a work of merit to
build a temple or to endow it. Jain temples are full of images, and
the chief ob