the shore, is one of the most important places in the city. The great power won here by the English, in 1757, was due almost entirely to the genius of Robert Clive. The story of his life, told by Lord Macaulay, should be read by every schoolboy.

Clive was first a clerk of the East India Company and was stationed at Madras. Although but twentyfive years old he saw clearly the vast possibilities of an English empire in India, and he urged upon the directors of the East India Company the necessity of decisive action. His plan was approved and, with the rank of captain, Clive was placed in command of a small force of English soldiers. It was not long before he became commander of the British forces in India. The stories of his battles, in which he was always victorious, sometimes, too, with a few hundred soldiers conquering a large army, - remind us of the brilliant campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte. "The siege of Arcot," "the defense of Trichinopoly" (see page 104), and "the battle of Plassy" have given to Clive a high rank among great soldiers.

There are many other places of interest in southern India. It is the region of all others in which to see real Hindu life.

The railroad from Madras passes by many famous temples. Those at Tanjore and Madura are among the most interesting. The temple at Madura is one of the largest and most imposing, while that at Tanjore is, next to the Taj Mahal, the most beautiful structure in India.

From the train we see the native farmers plowing

with just such rude plows as were used by their ancestors, and lifting water in buckets to irrigate the land in the same primitive fashion which has been the practice in the East for thousands of years.

"Two women grinding at a mill " are to be seen here, as in other parts of India. The mill is made of two circular stones, the lower one fastened to the earth while the top one turns on a pivot. The grain is poured into a hole in the center of the upper stone, and comes out as flour at the edges of the mill. Each family grinds its own grain, the women, of course, doing the work.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE SEPOY MUTINY.

WHEREVER We go in India we are reminded constantly that it is no longer the land of Mohammedan emperors or Indian princes, but an important part of the great British Empire.

We see British troops in charge of all the forts established by the East India Company, and of the military posts which have been founded since that greatest corporation known to history resigned its rule to the crown. This brave show of British power was made necessary by the mutiny of a part of the native troops in 1857. Before that date the army in India was made up very largely of sepoys (native soldiers), under the command of English officers.

For a long time a spirit of uneasiness among the native troops at certain stations in Bengal had been observed by the officers in command. The causes of this discontent were but little understood by English

men.

For years the native Indian princes had been working secretly among the people, arousing them to rebel against the hated English, hoping, of course, in the end to regain the thrones of their ancestors. The wildest rumors of the intention of the English government to abolish caste, and to convert the whole of India by force to the Christian faith were circulated.

During the year preceding the mutiny a mysterious signal was given to the people living in the villages. It was known by the English officers that messengers had appeared in the villages along the Ganges and Jumna rivers, bearing small flour cakes to the headman, commanding him to have similar cakes prepared and forwarded to the next village. The messenger then disappeared, but his order was obeyed.

For many months this continued, until the secret information, whatever it may have been, was conveyed far and wide.

At the same time, as it happened, the native troops were furnished with rifles of a new pattern, in loading which it was the custom of the soldiers to bite off the end of the cartridge.

Like wildfire the rumor spread from rank to rank that these cartridges were greased with the fat of cows and pigs (the one abominable to the Hindu, the other to the Mohammedan), with the intent to destroy the