r supports the Brahminic caste, obey servilely their clergy,
whose prescriptions enjoin upon them never to touch a man who does not
belong to their caste, and also absolutely prohibit a stranger from
fixing his attention upon anything belonging to a Hindu. Keeping himself
to the strict letter of this law, the Hindu imagines that his food is
polluted when it receives a little protracted notice from the stranger.

And yet, Brahminism has been, even at the beginning of its second birth,
a purely monotheistic religion, recognizing only one infinite and
indivisible God. As it came to pass in all times and in religions, the
clergy took advantage of the privileged situation which places them
above the ignorant multitude, and early manufactured various exterior
forms of cult and certain laws, thinking they could better, in this way,
influence and control the masses. Things changed soon, so far that the
principle of monotheism, of which the Vedas have given such a clear
conception, became confounded with, or, as it were, supplanted by an
absurd and limitless series of gods and goddesses, half-gods, genii and
devils, which were represented by idols, of infinite variety but all
equally horrible looking. The people, once glorious as their religion
was once great and pure, now slip by degrees into complete idiocy.
Hardly does their day suffice for the accomplishment of all the
prescriptions of their canons. It must be said positively that the
Hindus only exist to support their principal caste, the Brahmins, who
have taken into their hands the temporal power which once was possessed
by independent sovereigns of the people. While governing India, the
Englishman does not interfere with this phase of the public life, and so
the Brahmins profit by maintaining the people's hope of a better future.

The sun passed behind the summit of a mountain, and the darkness of
night in one moment overspread the magnificent landscape we were
traversing. Soon the narrow valley of the Djeloum fell asleep. Our road
winding along ledges of steep rocks, was instantly hidden from our
sight; mountains and trees were confounded together in one dark mass,
and the stars glittered in the celestial vault. We had to dismount and
feel our way along the mountain side, for fear of becoming the prey of
the abyss which yawned at our feet. At a late hour of the night we
traversed a bridge and ascended a steep elevation leading to the
bengalow Ouri, which at this height