reat
mass of the people has been pitiably small. India bears the same
relation to the Orient that Italy does to Europe. It is the home of
temples, palaces and monuments; it is the land of beautiful art work in
many materials. Most of its cities have a splendid historical past that
is seen in richly ornamented temples and shrines, in the tombs of its
illustrious dead and in palaces that surpass in beauty of decoration
anything which Europe can boast.

In considering India it must always be borne in mind that here was the
original seat of the Aryan civilization and that, though the Hindoo is
as dark as many of the American negroes, he is of Aryan stock like
ourselves. In comparison with the men who carried Aryan civilization
throughout the world, the Hindoo of to-day is as far removed as is the
modern Greek from the Greek of the time of Pericles and Phidias. Yet he
shows all the signs of race in clear-cut features and in small hands and
feet.

The journey throughout India is one which calls for some philosophy, as
the train arrangements are never good and, unless one has the luck to
secure a competent guide, he will be annoyed by the excessive greed of
every one with whom he comes in contact. But aside from such troubles
the trip is one which richly repays the traveler. If one has time it is
admirable to go off the beaten track to some of the minor places which
have fine historical remains; but a good idea of India may be obtained
by taking the regular route from Calcutta to Bombay, by way of Delhi.

In Benares the tourist first meets the swarms of beggars that make life
a burden. Aged men, with loathsome sores, stand whining at corners
beseeching the favor of a two-anna piece; blind men, led by small,
skinny children, set up a mournful wail and then curse you fluently when
you pass them by, and scores of children rise up out of hovels at the
roadside and pursue your carriage with shrill screams. All are filthy,
clamorous, greedy, inexpressibly offensive. If you are soft hearted and
give to one, then your day is made hideous by a swarm of mendicants,
tireless in pursuit and only kept from actual invasion of the carriage
by fear of the driver's whip.

The feature which makes travel on Indian railways a weariness of the
flesh is the roughness of the cars. Each truck on the passenger cars is
provided with two large wheels, exactly like those on freight cars, and
these wheels have wooden felloes and spokes. With poor spri