here side by side with the poverty
stricken. They use the mud of the Ganges in lieu of soap; they scrub
their bodies thoroughly, and then they actually take this foul-smelling
water in their mouths and clean their teeth with it. This creed of
Buddha is a pure democracy, for there is no distinction of class in
bathing. Women bathe by the side of men, although they remain covered
with the gauze-like garments that are a sop to modesty.

The Manikarnika ghat is the most picturesque of all these bathing places
along the Ganges, as the long flight of stone steps is in good
preservation and the background of temples and palaces satisfies the
eye. The river front for thirty feet is densely crowded with bathers who
stand on small floats or go into the shallow water. With a Western crowd
so dense as this there would be infringments of individual rights that
would lead to quarrels and fights, but the Hindoo is slow to anger, and,
like the Japanese, he has great courtesy for his fellows. Hundreds
bathed at the ghat while I watched them and no trouble ensued. Nothing
could be more striking, nothing more Oriental than the picture of scores
of bathers, in bright-hued garments, moving up and down these long
flights of massive steps. In the background were a half-dozen temples,
the most noteworthy of which is the red-domed temple of the Rajah of
Amethi, whose beautiful palace overlooks this scene. Near the water is a
curious leaning temple, whose foundations were evidently unsettled by
the severe earthquake which destroyed several temples farther down the
river.

The busiest men on these bathing ghats are the Hindoo priests, who reap
a harvest from the hundreds of pilgrims who visit the ghats during the
day. These priests cannot be escaped by the poorest Hindoo. They levy
toll from every one who descends these long flights of stairs. One
fellow I watched as he sat under his great umbrella. He had his sacred
books spread before him, but he was given no leisure for reading them,
as a constant stream of clients passed before him. Some of these were
regular daily visitors from Benares, who pay a certain rate every week
or every month, according to their financial standing. Others were
pilgrims who, in their enthusiasm over the sacred Ganges (which they had
traveled hundreds of miles to bathe in), were not careful in regard to
their fees. Others were mourning relatives who applied for prayers for
the corpse which they had brought to the wat