ld expect, a sharp wooden spike. As I was wondering
what it was a passer-by explained it. It is not a sun-dial, it is an
impaling instrument. On that spike they used to impale alive goats and
kids and fowls as offerings to the god Siva and his two wives, the
deities to whose honour the three altars stand before the little shrine.
The pillar on which stands this infernal spike has three circles scored
into it, sign of the three divinities.

"The impaling has stopped," say the people, greatly amused at one's
horror and distress, for at first I thought perhaps they still did it.
"Now we do not impale alive; the Government has stopped it." Thank God
for that! But oh, let all lovers of God's creatures pray for and hasten
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ! Government may step in and stop the
public clubbing to death of buffaloes, and the impaling of goats and
fowls in sacrifice, but it cannot stop the private cruelty, and the
still wider-spread indifference on the part of those who are not
themselves cruel; only the coming of Christ the Compassionate can do
that.

. . . . . . .

There was the sound of voices just then, as I wrote, many voices, coming
nearer, shrill women's voices, cutting through one's thoughts, and I
went out to see what was going on.

On the other side of the road, opposite our gate, there is a huge old
double tree, the sacred fig tree of India, intertwined with another--a
religious symbol to this symbol-loving people. Underneath is a stone
platform, and on it the hideous elephant-god. On the same side is a
little house. A group of women were gathered under the shade near the
house, evidently waiting for something or someone. They were delighted
to talk.

We spent half an hour under the tree, and they listened; but we were
interrupted by some well-dressed Government officials with their coats,
sashes, and badges, and one not strictly Governmental got up in a
marvellous fashion, and they joined the group and monopolised the
conversation. I waited, hoping they would soon go away, and I listened
to what they were saying.

"Yes! she actually appeared! She was a goddess." ("A goddess! Oh!" from
the women.) "She came forward, moving without walking, and she stood as
a tree stands, and she stretched out her arms and blessed the people,
and vanished."

A woman pointed to me. "Like her? Was she like her?"

"Like her!" and the Government official was a little contemptuous