that it extends a
considerable distance. Please keep to the leeward of the smoke, Captain
Carlisle."

"That is what I am doing, Sir Modava."

"These funeral pyres are burning all the time, night and day. The people
whose bodies are consumed in these fires, and their friends, believe that
the souls of the deceased will pass from this spot into paradise, where, if
they have not been very great sinners they will be transplanted into the
bodies of future Brahmins. Many deceased persons are brought even hundreds
of miles to be burned on the Munikurnika by the Ganges, as their sure
passport to the realms of bliss."

The obliging captain took the steamer near enough to the ghat to enable the
tourists to see the process of burning. An occasional puff of the horribly
offensive odor came to the nostrils of the sightseers; but the captain
sheered off, and they got very little of it.

"It smells just like assafoedita. It is awful-smelling stuff; and I wonder
if they don't make it out of this smoke, for it hits my nose in just the
same way," said Mrs. Blossom. "I took care of old Jotham Beeling when he
had the apoplexy, and gave the stuff to him. The room smelt then just the
same as it does here."

"You are quite right, madam," said Dr. Hawkes, laughing. "It gets part of
its name from its bad odor; but it is not made out of smoke. Asa is the gum
of a tree that grows here. It has a very offensive odor, which gives it the
rest of the name, from _foeditas_, meaning foul, filthy."

The workmen who were operating the burning were nearly naked, begrimed by
the sooty smoke, and looked like so many imps. They were stirring up the
fires with long iron pokers, and throwing vessels of oil upon them. The
boat passed beyond the fumes of the pyres, and came up to the ghat, at the
request of Lord Tremlyn. A multitude of hideous-looking cripples,
humpbacks, and beggars made an onslaught on the steamer; and the boys and
gentlemen pelted them with coppers, with which they had been forewarned to
supply themselves. It was fun to them, and the mendicants enjoyed it quite
as much.

"There is a procession of pilgrims just arrived," said Captain Carlisle,
pointing to the high ground beyond the ghat. "They are coming here all the
time. The Hindus under the umbrellas are Brahmins, who collect the fees for
bathing from the steps; and they sell certificates of purification,
indulgences, and amulets."

The boat continued on her course, and they did not