The most sacred of all the four-footed animals in this land are the common humped cattle. These animals have a great fleshy hump between the shoulders which, like that of the camel and the yak, is supposed to act as a reservoir of food and drink.

In this land there are birds of the most brilliant plumage, and reptiles without number. Among the latter is the cobra, the most dreaded of all serpents. Many hundreds of the natives are killed every year by these serpents, so numerous are they, and so deadly is their sting.

The mineral wealth of India is mostly to be found. in the plateau of Deccan. Coal is mined there, and beds of iron ore and copper are worked to some extent. Within this district was the once famous kingdom of Golconda, so noted for its trade in diamonds. In the river beds gold has been found, and now gold mining is made a profitable industry.

We may well think of India as a miniature of the whole earth, since within its borders are to be found every variety of surface as well as of climate. Here are snow-capped mountains, forest-clad hills, deep valleys, broad plateaus, barren deserts, and fertile plains. In going a distance of a few hundred miles, from the valley of the Ganges to the summit of the Himalayas, one may pass from the heat of the torrid zone to the region of eternal snow.

The native population of India is principally divided into two great sects, the Hindu and the Mohammedan. But there are among these people very many classes, speaking more than a hundred different tongues and

dialects.

The early history of these races, their wars, the establishment of the empire of the Great Moguls, and the conquest of the land by the English, is a fascinating story, and we shall read it, in part at least, later on in our journey through India.

What is the present government of India? This great land, with its fruitful plains and navigable rivers, its stores of precious gems and costly fabrics, and its millions of dark-skinned inhabitants, belongs to the empire of Great Britain. It has been called "the richest jewel in Queen Victoria's crown."

To tell how England gained control of this far-away land would introduce to us many important and thrilling events in the history of India. The names of John and Sebastian Cabot are associated with the early history of our own country. We know of their explorations along the Atlantic coast from Labrador to Virginia, and that this was not the discovery they had hoped to make. They sailed from England expecting to reach the East Indies by passing through some unknown channel in the Arctic Ocean to the north of the New World. They failed in their attempt to open a new way to the Far East, but gained lasting fame in the history of America. From this earliest effort by Englishmen to find a shorter route to India, to their final conquest of that vast empire, is a long story, and we can take time only to glance at a few of the most important events that occurred in that eventful period.

In 1600 a company of English merchants were given a royal charter for the purpose of trading with the East Indies. Here was the beginning of the famous East

India Company, destined to become, in time, one of the greatest commercial powers of the world.

The first object of the great Company was to control trade with India. Little by little the territory of most value for commercial purposes was acquired, and thus the power of the Company was established in this remote land. Forts were built and an army was formed, to protect the English settlements and to make new conquests. From these small beginnings nearly the whole of central and southern India came under the power of the East India Company.

Among the noted governors of the great Company, the names of Lord Clive and Warren Hastings are the most famous. The foundations of British rule in India were laid broad and deep by these men and their associates.

After a history of more than two hundred and fifty years, the rule of the East India Company ended with the terrible Sepoy Mutiny, of which we shall learn more later, and the government of British India was then transferred to the English crown.

On New Year's Day, 1877, Queen Victoria was formally proclaimed Empress of India.

The government of India is now under the immediate authority of a governor general, appointed by the queen, and a council of fifteen members. The gov ernor general bears the title of Viceroy. The whole country is divided into provinces, each of which has a governor acting under the direction of the Viceroy.

There are numerous small states which still have their native rulers. These kings and princes are

called Rajahs. They are rulers only in name, but are allowed to live in their palaces, in all their former luxury, so long as they obey English rule. Several of these native princes attended the Columbian Exposition, at Chicago, in 1893, and then made a tour of our country, visiting the principal cities.

With this brief survey of the Indian Empire, we are to visit this ancient land, see a few of its interesting cities, learn something of the manners and customs of its strange peoples, and look with wonder upon its splendid palaces, temples, and tombs.

CHAPTER III.

THE WESTERN GATE OF INDIA.

STATELY Bombay is the second city in size in the whole British Empire, and has been appropriately called the Western Gate of India. It is exceeded in size by the city of London alone. Its harbor is one of the finest in the world, and well merits the name, said to have been given to it by early Portuguese sailors, of Bom Bahia, or "Beautiful Bay." It is crowded continually with the ships of all landsChina, Japan, Africa, and Australia, as well as England, America, and the countries of the Mediterranean.

The commercial supremacy of Bombay is due largely to its favorable situation. It is the first important port in India reached by steamers from Europe, and, since the opening of the Suez Canal, it has grown rapidly,

until it is now the most important modern city in Asia.

Bombay is situated upon an island about eighteen miles square, not far from the mainland, to which it is joined by a breakwater, or embankment. As we enter the harbor we seem to be approaching an English city. Our attention is attracted at once by the fine docks extending along the city front, the massive warehouses, and the immense public buildings — all reminding us of Liverpool. Because of its commercial importance, Bombay is sometimes called the Liverpool of India. We soon learn that nearly all of these great docks and buildings have been made at an immense cost by the English people, and represent, in some degree, England's interest in the Indian Empire.

Our first experience on landing at Bombay is with the customhouse; and this, except for the presence of so many Hindus in native costume, is not a novelty, but is, in fact, attended with the vexatious confusion and delay common to all customhouses. Leaving the customhouse, we find ourselves within one of the most important and interesting quarters of the city-known as "The Fort." It is in reality the business section, and during business hours is a scene of incessant activity. Here is transacted the immense trade in cotton and other staples for which Bombay is a center.

"Go to The Fort at seven o'clock in the morning, says a recent writer, "and traverse those long, dark, narrow streets; you will find them abandoned, except by the policemen on duty. But about ten o'clock a change comes o'er the spirit of the dream! At the