y in clothing, as little, if
any, is needed. The diet of the native would be starvation in a cooler
clime. A mud hut gives the needed shelter, and the offal of the animals,
dried in cakes on the sides of their hovels, give them sufficient fuel
to boil their rice and other vegetables. The masses have never known
anything but oppression; they are apparently kind to man and beast. We
never heard any wrangling, nor witnessed any street brawls. A native
will step aside, rather than tread upon an ant, which is the pest of the
country.

Benares is sixteen hours' ride from Calcutta, a distance of 450 miles.
We find there Clark's Hotel patronized by tourists, on the outskirts of
the city, a refreshing looking spot and most restful bungalow. We rested
under the cool shades of the palm trees until a favorable hour, and then
drove to the "Holiest of Holy Cities," situated on the Ganges river,
once alike holy to the Buddhist as it is now to the Hindoo. The sacred,
the three-fold divine river, runs, according to their religion, through
Heaven, Hell and Earth. To die on its banks, and to have one's ashes
thrown upon its bosom, is a through ticket to Paradise. Troops of men,
women and children, tired and footsore, are met wending their way to the
shrines. To bathe in the Ganges is to wash away all sins.

Crowds throng the narrow, dusty streets; the women rather gracefully
attired, with a profusion of silver ornaments, ear-rings, nose-rings,
bracelets and bangles; the men nude or with a scant loin cloth. The
houses are built of clay, sun baked, some of brick, stuccoed, ancient as
time in appearance, unfit for habitation, but are grouped among the
shops and temples in close proximity. The monkey temple is especially
interesting, surrounded by well wooded grounds where the monkeys frisk
and frolic all day long and are fed by an admiring crowd, who regard
them as sacred animals. These temples are reached by a long flight of
stone steps, which I found myself slowly climbing, when, without
warning, I was rudely pushed to one side. On looking around, I saw a
diminutive grey cow ascending the steps with great dignity, and it was
the contact with this animal that had so shocked me. I quickened my
gait, and in my attempt to get out of the way. I rushed into the first
opening that met my view, which proved to be the entrance to the temple
grounds, set apart for these sacred cows. The animal was close beside me
and I vaulted like a school boy to