Mohammedan invaders pulled down. Aurungzebe, who flourished at the close of the seventeenth century, and to whom Benares owes a prominent and picturesque mosque, was the chief among the destroyers of images. To Aurungzebe the Hindoos attribute the overthrow of most of the shrines which made Benares famous in other days. Since the Hindoos have been guaranteed the possession of their temples, the work of rebuilding has gone on with increasing zeal. It is noted, however, perhaps as an effect of what Islam did in its days of empire, — that the monuments of the later Hindoo period are small and obscure when compared with what we see in Southern India, where the power of the idol breakers never was supreme. The temples are small. The Hindoo, perhaps, has not such a confidence in the perpetuity of British rule as to justify his expressing it in stone. It is not in the nature of the Hindoo to find an expression for his religion in stone. All nature, the seas, the streams, the hills, the trees, the stars, and even the rocks, are only so many forms of the Supreme existence. Why then attempt to express it in stone?

I am afraid Benares is not a savory city. The odors that come from the various temples and court-yards, where curs, priests, beggars, fakirs, calves, monkeys, were all crammed, might have been odors of sanctity to the believers in Vishnu, but to us they were oppressive, and prevented as intelligent and close a study of the religion as some of us might have bestowed. Yet our procession was Oriental. The Commissioner, Mr. Daniells, had provided sedan-chairs for the party. These chairs were heavy, ornamented with gold and brass, mounted on poles, and carried on the shoulders of four bearers. They are used by persons of rank, and the rank is also expressed by carrying over the head an embroidered silk umbrella in gaudy colors. When we came to the outskirts of the town our

chair-bearers were waiting for us, and the General was told that he might take his place. But the idea of swinging in a gaudy chair from a pole, with attendants before and behind calling upon the people to make way, and a dazzling umbrella over his head decorated with all the colors of the rainbow, was too much for the General. He preferred to walk. Mrs. Grant was put in one chair, and Mr. Borie, whose health is such as to make every little aid in the way of movement welcome, was in another. The General and the rest of the party made their way on foot. We were accompanied by several officers of the British residency, and, as we wound along the alleys from temple to temple, were quite a procession. In the eyes of the population it was a distinguished procession, for the uplifted chairs, richly decorated, the swaying of umbrellas covered with silver and gold, the attendants in the British Government livery all told that there was among us one whom even the Englishman delighted to honor. Some of these temples were so narrow that even the chair-bearers could not enter, and we made our pilgrimage on foot. You enter a small archway, and come into a court-yard. I should say the court-yard was a hundred feet square. In the centre is a shrine-a canopied shrine. Under this is a god, whichever god happens to be worshipped. It is generally a hideous stone, without grace or expression. Pilgrims are around it, in supplication, and as they pray they put offerings on the altar before the idol. These offerings are according to the means of the devotee, but most of those I saw were flowers. Hindoo urchins come up to you and put garlands of flowers about your neck. This is an act of grace and welcome, but you are expected to give money. In front of the idol, sitting on his feet, is the Brahmin reading the Vedas. You know the Brahmin by the sacred thread which he wears on his shoulder, and by the marks of his

caste on his forehead. These marks are painted every morning after the bath. But even without the painted brow and the drooping loop of thread, you can come to know the Brahmin from his bearing, his clean-cut, intellectual face, his mien of conscious intellect and superiority. Pilgrims pray and chant. On the walls-for our temple is open-monkeys are perching, chattering, and skipping. Around the walls of the enclosure are stalls, with cows and calves. These are sacred-held in reverence by the pilgrims, who feed and caress and adore them. One or two are monstrous births, and they are specially adored. The animals move about among the worshippers, quite tame, somewhat arrogant. Mrs. Grant was wearing a garland of flowers, which a child, who supplied flowers to the worshippers, had thrown over her neck. One of the animals seeing the flowers, and knowing them to be savory, made a rush for the garland, and before any one could interfere was munching and tearing it in a deliberate manner. Evidently that cow had had her own way in her relations with the human race, and if she chose to make as much of a meal as possible out of the decorations and possessions of Mrs. Grant, it was only the force of education. One of the police came to the rescue of our lady, but it was only after a struggle that the cow could be persuaded to abandor her meal. I have no doubt many holy Brahmins were grieved to see the authority of England, in the shape of a policeman, cudgel a sacred animal into its stall.

If I were to tell you of all the wells and temples in Benares, the holy places and the legends which make them sacred, it would carry me beyond bounds. After we had visited several of the temples we went to the observatory of Raja Jai Singh, built at the close of the seventeenth century, and looking down from its battlements we see the sacred river shining in the morning sun, the teeming, busy hive of temples and shrines, from which the hum

of worship seems to arise; masses of pilgrims sluggishly moving towards the river to plunge into its holy waters and be cleansed of sin. We are pointed out the site of the holy well of Manikarnaki, dug by the god Vishnu, consecrated by the god Mahadeva, whose waters will wash away any sin and make the body pure. From here we went down to the water and, on board of a steam-launch, slowly steamed under the banks, and the view of the city as seen from our boat was one of the most striking the world can afford. Here was the burning Ghat, the spot where the bodies of the Hindoos are burned. As we slowly steamed along, a funeral procession was seen bearing a body to the funeral pyre. We observed several slabs set around the burning Ghat. These were in memory of widows who had burned themselves on that spot in honor of their husbands, according to the old rite of suttee. We pass shrines and temples without number, the mere recital of whose names and attributes would fill several pages. All this is lost in the general effect of the city as seen from the river. Benares sits on the sacred river, an emblem of the strange religion which has made it a holy city, and there is solemnity in the thought that for ages she has kept her place on the Ganges, that for ages her shrines have been holy to millions of men, that for ages the wisest and purest and best of the Indian race have wandered as pilgrims through her narrow streets and plunged themselves as penitents into the waters to wash away their sins. It is all a dark superstition, but let us honor Benares for the comfort she has given to so many millions of sinful, sorrowing souls. And as we pass along the river towards our house, and leave the white towers and steps of Benares glistening in the sunshine, we look back upon it with something of the respect and affection that belong to antiquity, and which are certainly not unworthily bestowed upon so renowned, so sacred, and so venerable a city.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA-RECEPTION BY THE CONSUL-GENERAL- THE GOVERNMENT HOUSE-THE CITY-RELIGIOUS PROGRESS ·GENERAL GRANT AT THE UNIVERSITY - THE MONEY-CHANGERS OF INDIA-THE RECEPTION BY THE VICEROY - A PICNIC AT BARRACKPORE-REMNANTS OF INDIAN SPLENDOR- - REFUGEES FROM BURMAH FAREWELL TO CALCUTTA· - RECEPTION OF GENERAL GRANT AT BURMAH· -RANGOON · THE HINDOO FAITHTHE GOLDEN PAGODA.

General Grant and his party next proceeded to Calcutta, where they arrived early on the morning of March 10th. Their arrival is thus detailed:-The American Consul-General, General Litchfield, was present at the station, with a guard of honor from the Viceroy and an aid. The General drove off in the state carriages, with a small escort of cavalry, to the Government House, where preparations had been made by Lord Lytton for the reception of himself and party. The streets had been watered, and there was just the suspicion of a cool breeze from the Hoogly, which, after the distress of a long night ride, made our morning drive pleasant. A line of native policemen was formed for a distance of about two miles, from the railway-station to the door of the Government House, who saluted the General as he drove along. The Government House is a large, ornate building, standing in a park or open square, and was built in 1804. The corner-stone was laid about the time that Washington laid the foundation of the Capitol. The cost of the building was $750,000. It is a noble, stately building, and may rank with any of