,,^^;*«^" Set ^V^ 5;'cc cccocr ?RS fCCCCC cccccc: CtCd cc;ccl t: ccccr V LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. §btm i/Ce -' d d. ^^C/fC - <%■£; «^'-c d Cv < d cc c^ d cc be the commonest of crimes. Some were committed in the very neighborhood of Hong Kong, and many on the river between that place and Canton. One of the regular passenger steamers between Hong Kong and Canton, not long before, was the scene of a des- perate encounter with these river pirates, who had come on board with the intention of taking the vessel and mur- dering all its officers. They seized their opportunity, shot the pilot and several of the officers, but the captain, with the aid of a lady, who handed out to him through a win- dow one musket after another, kept them at bay until he had assistance, and the ruffians were overpowered or killed. There are no people that would plan an enterprise more remorselessly than the Chinese, or carry it out in colder blood. Indeed, from all that I have learned of Chinese character, they appear to me more destitute of that element of our nature th-at we call conscience than any other peo- ple I have ever known. While we were listening to the captain's piratical yarns the city of Macao hove in sight. It stretches along a beau- tiful bay and up the hill-sides, and, with its cream-colored stone buildings, looks very much like an Italian town on Lake Como or Maggiore. Its whole appearance, as you approach it, is picturesque. Macao, in reality, is not a Chi- nese town. It was first occupied by the Portuguese in 1557, and is said to have been allowed them as a residence and a trading-place on account of their efforts in destroying the pirates which infested the coast. During the last century, while the trade of the East India Company with Canton was at its height, it enjoyed a high degree of prosperity, and became the resort and the home of foreigners from all nations. It has more than once proved a refuge for for- MACAO, SINGAPORE, AND FUNANG. 185 eign merchants when they have been driven ont of the ports of China, and it was for a long time the resort of Christian missionaries when they could not be admitted into the empire itself. It I'eceived a fatal blow when, by the treaty of 1842, the ports of China were thrown open, and Hong Kong became a British colony. It is now al- most entirely deserted by foreigners for purposes of trade, though still resorted to, especially by invalids, on account of the salubrity of its climate. Its inhabitants are almost exclusively Chinese and mixed-breed, descendants of the Portuguese. Macao was never actually ceded to the Portuguese. They continued very reluctantly to pay the imperial gov- ernment an annual rental of 500 taels until 1846, when an order was given b}^ the Queen of Portugal that the Chinese Custom-house on the island should be closed, and the sem- blance of Chinese authority obliterated. The execution of this order by the Portuguese governor Amiral awakened intense hostility on the part of the Chinese population of 186 AROUND THE WORLD. the island, which was no doubt fostered by the officials of the empire. The governor, soon after, in opening a new street, removed several tombs — a desecration which, in their eyes, afforded good cause for visiting their vengeance upon him. As he was one day riding on the public drive near the Barrier, attended by an aid-de-camp, several Chi- namen rushed upon him, dragged him from his horse, and severed his head and his hand from his body (the other hand having been lost in battle). The whole thing was done so instantaneously that, although in open day, no one could detect the ruffians. The head and hand were sent as trophies to Canton, whence they were afterward obtained by negotiation. This transaction led to the assertion by the Portuguese of exclusive jurisdiction over the island, l)ut the claim has never been acknowledged by the Chi- nese. The island has become the chief seat of the cooHe or Chinese slave-trade, great numbers being shipped from this port. The European aspect of the town, utterly unlike the low, dull, gloomy Chinese cities, makes it very pleasing to the eye after visiting the latter. There are a number of fine buildings, some of them beautifully situated on hills embraced within the city limits, and affording charming views of the town, the harbor, and the adjacent waters. Some of the old Portuguese churches are elaborate speci- mens of architecture. The f agade and ruins of St. Paul's, which was destroyed by fire many years ago, are very pic- turesque. The Church of Our Lady of Sorrow, a quaint old building, occupies the crest of a hill, which affords one of the finest views of the town and its surroundings. A large wooden cross, twenty-five or thirty feet in height, stands in front of the church, and overlooks the bay. A curious legend is related as its history. A devout (or un- devout) sailing-master, some time in the last century, in a violent storm at sea, when he had little hope of again seeing land, made a vow that, if his vessel should be pre- served, he would erect a cross out of the mainmast in MACAO, SINGAPOEE, AND PUNANG. 187 OOOLIE HAEKAOOO^S AT MACAO. front of this churchi, and he fulfilled his vow. The church is called the " Sailors' Church," and a gentleman who has long resided at Macao assured me that it. is a common cus- tom with the sailors to bring various parts of the rigging of their ships up the steep hill to this church to have them blessed. A beautiful though lonely spot is known as Camoens's Garden, where the great poet, the author of the Lusiad, walked, and mused, and wrote. The' grotto which bears his name, and a monument to his memory, is a curi6us forma- tion of rocks in the midst of extensive grounds, that are laid out with great taste, and shaded with large Oriental trees. It is just such a spot as a poet would select for the indulgence of his fancy, and it has probably lost none of its beauty by the lapse of time. Camoens was born in 1524. He came to the East in 1553, and for a satire upon 188 AROUND THE WORLD. the Viceroy of Goa was banished to Macao. Just at the entrance to the beautiful grounds of which I have spoken stands the Enghsh Chapel, and immediately behind it is the Protestant Cemetery, composed of a series of terraces, the whole very carefully and neatly kept. It is just such a quiet and beautiful spot as any one might choose to lie down in and sleep till the final waking. It is consecrated, not for, but by the graves of Morrison, the first and one of the noblest of the band of missionaries to the Chinese, and several members of his family. Other missionaries were also buried here. The last evening of our stay in Macao, Captain Endicott (a name well known in ISTew York), who had resided here more than thirty years, and of whose death I have heard with sorrow since leaving China, drove us out to the Bar- rier, making the entire circuit of the island, a charming drive of several miles, much of it along the sea-shore. On our way we passed the temple in which the treaty with China was concluded and signed by the United States Commissioner, the Hon, Caleb Cushing, and the Chinese Commissioner Keying, the former not being allowed to en- ter China proper. The Chinese, like the Japanese, have no special reverence for their temples, and often use them for secular purposes. We returned to Hong Kong from Macao, and made our preparations for another voyage upon the restless, treacli- erous China Sea, the worst of all seas on which I have had occasion to sail. Before embarking for Calcutta we were assured that at this season of the ^-ear, the last of Novem- ber, we should have a delightful passage to Singapore, with only enough of the northeast monsoon to keep the air from stagnating, and the sea from becoming like mol- ten glass. But I have learned to put little faith in predic- tions of the weather, even by sailors, having been obliged so often to interpret prophecies by contraries. I now wait for the weather to come before building upon it any sub- stantial castles. We found the predictions in regard to IfACAO, SINGAPORE, AND PENANG. ^gQ this voyage as much at fault as ever. But, before writ- ing out my log, let me introduce the reader to our ship, with its passengers and crew. There is no regular line of mail steamers between Hong Kong and Calcutta direct. The English Peninsular and Oriental mail steamer (always called in the East " the P. and O. Line") leaves Hong Kong once a month, touches at Singapore, and then runs across to Point de Galle, the southern cape of the island of Ceylon, where the passen- gers for Calcutta are transferred to another steamer, which touches at Madras on its way up to the Hoogly. The French steamers of the Messageries Imperiales also touch at Singapore and Ceylon, but do not go to Calcutta. There are large, fine steamers, engaged principally in the opium trade, which take passengers back and forth, and, as there is no opium going to India, the voyage in that direction is made very comfortably. They touch at Singapore and Penang. In one of these, the Hindostan, Captain de Smidt, we took passage. Going on board, we stowed ourselves and our luggage away, and then began to look around for our fellow-passengers, who, with the crew, formed such a curious commingling of races, that I took the trouble to ask the captain for his part of the catalogue, which I found to be as follows : The captain was a Bel- gian by parentage, born at the Cape of Good Hope, a Brit- ish subject, and had spent all his life upon the sea, a true cosmopolitan. He was, by the way, a noble specimen of the sailor, well educated and well read, very affable and communicative. The first ofticer was a Scotchman, the others Scotch and English ; the quartermasters were Por- tuguese, the gunner half Malay and half Portuguese, the carpenter a Chinese, the firemen Chittagong Indians, who stand the heat better than any others ; the crew, a sa\'age- looking set of fellows, were Malays, Bengalese, Hindoos, Persians, Arabians, Bombay, Muscat, and Zanzibar men — one or two of them real African negroes. Among the passengers we numbered eight Americans, 190 AROUND THE WOULD. who took possession of one side of the deck, which, in an- ticipation of hot weather, was to be our home day and night for nearly a fortnight. On the opposite side of the deck were several wealthy Jews, the ladies in a blaze of dia- monds as they came on deck ; three Parsees, two of whom, a gentleman and his wife, were our fellow-passengers on crossing the Pacific Ocean. Two Armenians subsequently came on board. The deck-passengers were Chinese, Ben- galese, Hindoos, Mohammedans, and I do not know what all. "We did not want for variety ; but, strange to say, not- withstanding the numerous nationalities, and the fact that the most of our passengers were residents of Oriental coun- tries, the only language that was ordinarily spoken was En- glish. This enabled us all — Jews and Gentiles, Parsees, Hindoos, Mohammedans, and Armenians — to become well acquainted, and we had a very pleasant time during the voyage. Kor was religious conversation debarred. Ori- ental and Western politeness allowed us to speak freely of each other's views without any offense being given. It would be rare to find so many religions represented where such freedom of intercourse and of conversation was en- joyed. We had but fairly got out of the harbor and from under the shelter of the headlands when we caught the monsoon, blowing fresh and strong. It upset all our calculations in more senses than one, but the sweet assurance was given us that the wind would go down as we got farther south. On the contrary, the farther south we ran the more heavily the wind blew. There was one consolation — it was a fair wind, but as it increased, the huge waves came chasing us from behind, threatening all the while to overwhelm us. I^ot being able to move about much of the time, we sat or lay on deck watching the great seas as they towered above the stern, coming on with all their force, as if determined the next time to pounce upon us and wash us all from the deck ; but our ship never failed to obey the law of gravitation which gives the highest place to the lighter body, and just MACAO, SIFGAPOBE, AND PENANG. \^\ at tlie critical moment she would lift her stern gracefully and allow the swell to pass underneath. This she contin- ued to do for five days, the monsoon increasing all the while, and tossing us up and down most inconveniently. In the evening of the fifth day out, when we were with- in about two degrees of the equator, dark clouds were seen gathering in the west, which soon overspread the sky and the sea, the blackness of which was relieved only by fierce flashes of lightning. Presently the rain came down in a tropical deluge ; and while the elements were all in wild commotion, the engine suddenly stopped, the ship swung round into the trough of the sea as helj^less as a log, and then commenced that awful rolling of the vessel which is far more terrible than driving before or even facing a storm. The heat was too great for us to go below, and we preferred to remain on deck, sheltered only by an awning, and take the chances of the storm ; \mt as the ship rolled heavily from one side to the other, as if about to roll com- pletely over, we were thrown abouit or compelled to cling fast to whatever was within reach. Some of the passengers were overcome with terror, expecting by the next lurch of the ship to be pitched into the sea. One poor Jewess, who came on board with a fortune on her person in the shape of diamonds and emeralds, shrieked aloud and called upon God to save her. It was to all of us more or less a scene of terror, aggravated by the absolute blackness of darkness that surrounded us. As soon as the ship began to recover herself, a voice by my side commenced singing, ' ' Tossed upon life's raging billows, Sweet it is, O Lord, to know Thou didst press a sailor's pillow. And canst feel a sailor's woe. Never slnmbering, never sleeping, Though the night be dark and drear ; Thou, tlie faithful, watch art keeping ; 'All, all's well,' thy constant cheer." The moment that the engine stopped I comprehended the cause. I had learned from the captain that we were drawing near a rocky part of the China Sea, in which were 192 AROUND THE WOULD. several islands, and in the thick darkness and descending- torrents of rain it was impossible to see tlie course ; we miglit at any moment strike a' rock or run ashore ; it was safer to let the ship drift than to drive her with the engine. The storm of rain became so severe that we were at length compelled to go below, but all night long the ship was start- ing and stopping, and when the morning came, instead of being to the west of Bintang Island, as we should have been, we had drifted with the currents thirty miles to the east. The morning light was very pleasant to the eyes, and so was the sight of Singapore, with its beautiful groves of palm, and its substantial buildings stretching along the shore for one or two miles. We did not at all regret to say farewell to the China Seas. Three times had we tried them, and found them al- waj's turbulent, although we had taken them at the best season of the year. Often, while tossing on the waves be- tween Hong Kong and Singapore, was I reminded of a voy- age made over the same sea by a beloved friend, Walter M. Lowrie, who subsequently perished by the hands of pirates near Shanghai. He came to China in 1842. On the 18th of June of that year he left Macao for Singapore in a sail- ing vessel, and, after being driven hither and thither by tempests for two months, the ship ]3ut in to Manilla. On the 18th of September he sailed again for Singapore, but on the 25th of the same month the ship struck a hidden rock far out at sea, and was wrecked. The crew and pas- sengers took to the boats, and after spending five days un- der a burning sun without shelter, and with little hope of seeing land, they at length reached the island of Luban. There he found a vessel bound for Hong Kong, in which he returned almost to the point from which he started, hav- ing been gone just four months on a fruitless voyage. Five years afterward, as he was on his way from Shanghai to Ningpo in a native boat, he was attacked by pirates and thrown into the sea. While struggling in the water, he cast the Bible, which he had kept in his liand, into the boat, and MACAO, SINGAPOSU, AND PENANG. ^^93 then sank. This precious relic was saved and restored to his friends, but his body still sleeps in the sea. He was one of the noblest of that band who have devoted their lives to the service of Christ and his Church in the evan- gelization of China. A few miles northeast of Singapore we crossed the 180th meridian west or east of New York, being then precisely on the opposite side of the globe to our home. Neither did we fall from the deck of the ship, nor did the ship fall from the sea, nor did the sea fall off from the land, but all things continued to gravitate as at home. We were just twelve hours in time from the friends whom we had left behind ; it was midnight with us, but high noon with them. This might have been the proper time to drop a day in our reckoning; and right glad should we have been to drop four or five days, if we could have avoided the tossings of the sea. This part of the voyage over, we sailed at length on a bright, beautiful morning into the harbor of Singa- pore. It was a delightful sensation, after five days and nights of incessant tossing, to feel once more at rest, and still more dehghtf ul were our sensations when we stepped ashore and found ourselves in an earthly paradise, the most enchant- ing spot that I have looked upon in any latitude or in any clime. As I wandered among the groves of spice, and palm, and every form of tropical and Oriental vegetation, I caught myself continually repeating the words of the old Mogul inscription, " If there be a paradise on earth, it is this, it is this !" Singapore is situated on an island of the same name, just at the extremity of the Malacca peninsula. It is an English colony, having been ceded to Great Britain in 1824. Some one has explained the name as meaning " the place of lions," rather an extraordinary name for a place where lions never were known. The island once abounded in tigers, which are still occasionally met with. In former times, it is said, they carried off and ate one man a day on 194 AROUND THE WORLD. an average. A resident of more than thirty years, who had made the languages of the East a study, informed me that the word Singapore means a place to touch at, a very ap- propriate name. It is, in reality, the touching-place for all steamers which pass eastward or westward, from whatever quarter they come. Constant communication is kept up with the rest of the world, and scarcely a day passes with- out a visit from one or more of the grand fleet of steamers which are driving sails from the Eastern waters as they have driven them from the Atlantic. Singapore is not an undesirable place for residence, being on the great high- road of the nations east and west. But its chief attrac- tions consist in its delightful climate and its rare produc- tions. Situated only one degree north of the equator, it enjoys perpetual summer, and the atmosphere being moist from the vicinity of the sea, and the frequent showers with which it is visited at all seasons, the heat is never oppress- ive, the thermometer seldom rising above 90°. I have be- fore me the meteorological record of an entire year, in which the greatest heat was 88° and the lowest 73°. In general attractiveness it is very similar to the island of Ceylon, just across the Indian Ocean, with this exception, that while in Ceylon, according to Bishop Heber, " only man is vile," in Singapore the horses are equally vile. On going ashore, we were met by the first crowd of hackmen that we had seen since leaving the Western continent, and they seemed, from their exorbitant demands, to be in correspond- ence with the fraternity in New York ; for when we came to settle accounts, they always had some plea on which the original demand was increased. The horses, too, were mere rats, scarcely able to draw an empty carriage. More than once, in ascending a slight hill, I was obliged to alight and assist them up, or leave the carriage and its other occupants in the interior of the island. But the island itself sur- passed, in the variety and richness of its vegetable growth, all that I had conceived of the natural grandeur of the tropics. MACAO. SINGAPORE, AND PUNANG. I95 Before reacliing the harbor, we saw from the steamer, first with the glass and then with the naked eye, large plan- tations of banana, cocoanut, and other varieties of the palm, stretching along the coast for miles. The cocoanut grows here with great luxuriance, the fruit of enormous size, and the leaves attaining the length of twelve or fifteen feet. It is cultivated for the sake of the oil, which is used for illu- minating purposes. The bananas, although considered very iine, are not so large nor so highly flavored than those from the West Indies. I hesitate not to record the general re- mark, that the fruits of the East Indies, with very few ex- ceptions, are much less rich in flavor than those of the West. It is in spices of all kinds that the East has the superiority, and of these we had a fine specimen at Singapore. At the invitation of the proprietor, we took a morning walk into a grove of nutmegs occupying several acres. The tree grows to the height of about twenty-five or thirty feet, resembles a pear-tree in its general appearance, and bears a fruit about the size and shape of an ordinary Seckle pear. The grove was in full bearing. Every morn- ing a man walks through, carefully examining each tree to see if the fruit has opened, the cracking of the outer shell being an indication that the nutmeg is fully ripe. This opening of the shell reveals an inner case of the brightest vermilion, the ordinary mace of commerce ; and when this is removed the nutmeg is found inclosed in a third shell, much harder than the outer one. I gathered several speci- mens, preserving some of them in their original tri-fold envelopes. Mr. P. Yoakim, a wealthy Armenian merchant, who was our fellow-passenger from Singapore to Calcutta, and to whom I was indebted for much information in regard to his beautiful island home, has an extensive spice plantation a short drive from the town. It will abundantly repay any one who touches at Singapore, and has the time to make the excursion, and the gentlemanly proprietor will give him a hearty welcome. This plantation has on it 196 AROUND THE WORLD. 12,000 cocoanut-trees, 1500 nutmeg-trees, with ciunamoii, clove, and all kinds of spices. The clove grows in large clusters upon the extremities of the branches of a large tree, and was in season when we were at Singapore. Mr. Yoakim has an orchid house of great extent. The Rev. Mr. Keasbury, who has spent more than thirty years as a missionary at Singapore, and who, although not connected with any society, is still prosecuting his work vigorously — preaching, teaching, and superintending a printing establishment that is sending out among the va- rious classes of natives, and into other regions along the Malacca coast and among the islands, a knowledge of the Gospel, has reclaimed from the jungle, about two miles out of town, a small plantation, which yields all the fruits and spices of the tropics, with a profusion of shade, made more delightful by its fragrance. Among the trees and shriibs that I saw in his grounds were the following : pine- apple, cocoanut, bread-fruit, orange, mango, jack -fruit, mangostine, durian, custard-apple, coffee, chocolate, nut- meg, clove, cassia, etc., together with a large variety of shade and ornamental trees, among which was the banyan. The drive to Mr. Keasbury's was one of the most beauti- ful imaginable, the road being lined with bungalows and plantations laid out with exquisite taste, and adorned with all the luxuriance of tropical vegetation. One of the most conspicuous trees upon the island was the fan-palm ; not the palm from which fans are made, but a large tree hav- ing the symmetry and shape of a fan, as flat as if it had been placed in a press, although the circle of the leaves alone is at least twenty feet in diameter. The tree resem- bles the tail of a peacock when fully spread. This singu- lar tree is also called " the traveler's fountain," on account of the large amount of water secreted by it, which flows out when the tree is punctured, affording to the traveler an abundant supply. There is at Singapore a botanical garden or park, over the entrance to which is an inscrip- tion, " Open only to subscribers and strangers." It is well MACAO, SINGAPORE, AND PENANG. ^9^ laid out and well kept, with a large variety of trees and plants from different climes. Houqna's Garden, some miles from the town, is in the stiff Chinese style, distorting instead of cultivating nature — a process which neither in itself nor in its results has any attractions for my eye. One can not go amiss at Singapore in looking for the beautiful. The whole island is covered with what seems a spontaneous growth of all that is graceful and attractive in vegetation, and animal life is not wanting to enliven the scene. The jangle and forest abound in birds of the richest plumage, tribes of monkeys chatter among the branches of the trees, and occasionally a tiger makes his appearance when hard pressed for something to eat. The second morning of our stay we spent in company with Rev. Mr. Grant, a missionary representing the Plym- outh Brethren, and Major Malan, of the British army, sta- tioned here (a grandson of the departed patriarch of Gene- va, Dr. Cffisar Malan), in visiting the Gospel-house, the school for young girls established by Miss Cooke, now in England, which is supported chiefly by the work of the pu- pils. The embroidery is sold at a public annual fair, and is quite equal to that found at the Oriental bazars. Singapore was once a very important missionary station, not so much in its relation to the permanent population of the place as on account of its affording an opportunity to exert an influence upon China and other neighboring- countries. It was TTov (ttCj, a standing-place on which to operate while the Celestial Empire was closed against for- eigners. For a long period there has been a large Chinese population on the island, so large as really to afford a broad field for the missionary to work. If I am not mistaken, there were at one time as many as thirty missionaries here; but just as soon as the Chinese Empire was thrown open, the force moved on, and now the station is almost aban- doned. Mr. Keasbury and Mr. Grant are the only mission- aries whom I met. There are in the town of Singapore four Protestant churches, two of them Chinese ; four Ro- 198 ^-^0 ^^D ^^-^ WORLD. man Catholic, of which two are also Chinese ; one Arme- nian ; one Jewish synagogue ; three Mohammedan mosques ; one Hindoo temple; one Chinese Buddhist temple, and some minor places of worship. For its size, Singapore has the most conglomerate popu- lation of any city in the world, almost every nation being represented. The variety in costimie and general appear- ance strikes the stranger at once. It was the more notice- able to us, coming from Japan and China, where the ordi- nary dress of the people is perfectly uniform, a dull blue cotton. The wharf, as we were leaving, was one of the gayest scenes that we have met with. A large crowd, in all the colors of the rainbow, occupied the bund. There were Jews and Jewesses elegantly dressed and glittering with jewels ; Armenians, the ladies fine-looking and splen ■ didly dressed ; Mohammedans with large red turbans ; Bengalese ; Malays in all sorts of bright colors, and many of them in plain dark color, that in which they were born ; then there were English, and French, and other Europeans in their own national costumes. Besides the j)eople, there was a grand display of gay-colored birds for sale — parrots in green, crimson, scarlet, yellow, white, etc. While we were waiting for the steamer to be off, boys, who seem to belong to some amphibious tribe, amused the passengers by diving from boats for pieces of money thrown into the water, invariably catching them before they reached the bottom, which was six or eight fathoms below. In the midst of this variegated scene the order was given, and we were once more upon the sea. We entered the Straits of Malacca, and had a quiet and pleasant voyage to Penang, which we reached early on the morning of the second day. As it was Saturday, the Jews and Jewesses on board had a long discussion in regard to the propriety of going ashore to spend the day, as it was their Sabbath. Some of them were really conscientious, but others were disposed to treat the question in a very Rabbinical way. One Jew maintained that they might go MACAO, SINGAPORE, AND PENANG. 199 ashore, but not go out in carriages, as that would be con- trary to the command, '''■Seven days shalt thou labor," etc., this being the form in which he repeated it, and according to which he had probably been most accustomed to observe the day. Another thought it right to ride on an elephant on the Sabbath, but not in a carriage. The result of the discussion was that some went on shore and spent the day as they chose, while others, more conscientious, remained on board and played cards for money. Having a note of introduction to the Kev. Mr. Macdon- ald, an Independent missionary at Penang^ I went ashore to p:fesent it. Calling at the bungalow of the chief com- missioner of police to make some inquiry, we were very courteously received. He immediately ordered his car- riage and sent an officer to take us to the residence of the missionary, where we spent the morning in very pleasant intercourse with those whom we had met as strangers. It wks truly delightful to enjoy their Christian society on this other side of the world, and as pleasant to them, they as- sured us, to have a call from travelers, who felt an interest in them and in their work for the Master's sake. Mr. Macdonald is the only missionary now at Penang, and his labors are distributed among the various races which com-^ pose the population of the town, among which, very strange- ly, the Chinese appear to be the most numerous. They oc- cupy a separate portion of the city, forming a distinct com- munity. The Celestials, indeed, are scattered through all the cities east of India. Even Calcutta has a large Chinese population. They are possessed of great enterprise, and, the population of China being so dense, the motive to em- igration is strong. A few years since a fearful riot oc- curred among the Chinese at Penang, growing out of some of their clannish ideas. The whole community became in- volved in it, and it was not quelled until nearly a thousand lives were lost. As our steamer was to lie all day at Penang, Mr. Mac- donald proposed a drive through the town and into the 200 AROUND THE WORLD. coimtiy, a proposition wliich we were, nothing loth to ac- cept. The city itself is even more beautiful, at least some portions of it, than Singapore, and the country has the same luxuriant, tropical appearance, abounding in cocoanut groves, the cocoanut and betelnut being among the chief productions. During our drive we called upon a wealthy Mohammedan, Mahomet ISToordin, the head of the Klings, who owns a large part of the native city of Penang. It was just after noon, and as we drove up to the doorway the servant said his master was asleep, and " no man was so brave as to disturb him between the hours of twelve and three." We insisted on his announcing our arrival, but he was resolute until I produced my card, and Mr. Macdon- ald, writing his own name on it, told him to take it to his master. We waited a few moments, expecting him to return with- out having presented it, but some one had been brave enough to present the card, and we were shown into the private rooms of the chief, where he received us not only with cor- diality, but with Oriental flattery. He expressed great de- light at seeing us, and when we apologized for having dis- turbed his slumbers, he said " it made him very much hap- py to have a visit from us, but that if the lieutenant gov- ernor had called at that hour he would not have received him." He then led us into his public reception-room and ordered cheroots and wine, of which, being a Mohammed- an, he could not partake, but he had it placed before us, each glass on an elegantly-chased silver salver. Mr. Mac- donald at first declined to take wine, saying, " I am very much like the Mohammedans in one respect — I take very little wine." Mahomet ISToordin immediately retorted with a hearty laugh at his own wit, "And I am very much like the Christians — I drink plenty of brandy and water." He talked very intelligently about America and of different Europeans whom he had met at Penang. He asked how long we were expecting to stay, and said if I would come to Penang and live he would give me a bungalow, with ev- IIAC'AO, SINOAPOBE, AND PENAKG. 201 ery thing that could make us comfortable, and that if I would stay for only a week he would have a house made ready for us, and that his horses and carriages should be at my command, all of which generous offers I was obliged to decline. The old gentleman (for he was quite advanced in years) took us around his extensive house, pointed out one large building after another which he had gradually added to his home, and then pointing to one small house in the centre, in which he had first received us, a low and comparatively mean-looking building, said, " That was my father's house." Although he had added house to house, he still retained the paternal roof for his own home. A mountain lying back of the city affords a magnificent view of the town, the country around it, and of the sea ; but it requires the greater part of a day to make the as- cent, and we had not time for the excursion. Besides, a heavy rain came on, in the midst of which we were obliged to make our way back to the steamer in an open boat, the boatmen embracing the occasion to demand an exorbitant fare. Soon after we had reached the steamer the wind in- creased, and, as the tide was running with great velocity, it was with immense difiiculty that some of the passengers reached the steamer and got on board. These tropical regions are as prolific of animal life as of vegetable. The most venomous snakes are quite at home in all these beautiful places, and they do not disdain an in- viting buno-alow for a residence. As we were drivinor through the city of Penang a house was pointed out to me in which the proprietor found, on coming home one clay, two boa constrictors occupying his parlor and waiting to give him a warm embrace ; but he declined the compli- ment, and chose to have them put out of the way. We resumed our sail through the Straits of Malacca. On the third day out from Penang we passed a chain of islands which crop out occasionally from the sea, evidently a con- tinuation into the ocean of the mountains of Burmah. This 202 AROUND THE WORLD. chain runs down to the island of Sumatra, and separates the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Martaban from the Bay of Bengal, which we presently entered. The Andaman Isl- ands are a penal settlement, to which the mutineers from India were sent to the nmnber of several thousands. Some portions of the islands are said to be inhabited by cannibals, into whose hands and jaws some of the mutineers fell in making an attempt at escape. The Bay of Bengal was like a mirror, and scarcely was the dying swell from a wave to be seen. The air was de- lightfully warm, and in the calmness which settled down over the sea great numbers of flying fish, tempted from their native element to try their wings in a lighter atmos- phere, skimmed along the surface in flocks. Immense sea- turtles also came to the surface to sun themselves, and were not roused from their slumbers until we were just upon them. These waters are inhabited by snakes which some- times reach a large size, very inconveniently making their way into cabin windows, or on deck when a stray rope liangs over the side by which they can work their way on board. We saw them, but happily had no visit from them on board. Some of our passengers took the precaution to close their ports, lest they should find in their cabins these unwelcome visitors. While sailing up this sea we were often tantalized like the travelers in the desert, only they are deceived by what appears to be water, while we had the promise of land which never came in sight. I had never before seen a marine mirage, but for days the state of the atmosphere was such that we seemed to be approaching shores which loomed up in the distance. As we sailed on and on, the shores were ever as far off as at first, and ever as near, and finally they would fade away into air. As we w^ere drawing near the mouth of the Hoogly we began to meet the East Indiamen, homeward bound. Their occupation will soon be gone, now" that steam is monopoliz- ing not only the passenger, but the carr^ang trade of the CALCUTTA. 203 ocean, especially if the Suez Canal should prove a success ; but with all the speed and the modern appliances for lux- ury on the steamers of the present day, I do not doubt that there was more of comfort in some of the large East India ships which made the voyage around the Cape. The great drawback to comfort was the length of the voyage, bnt even this enabled those who had weak stomachs to become ac- customed to the sea, and as " hanging is nothing when one gets used to it," so it is of the ceaseless rolling of the sea. CALCUTTA. Calcutta is about a hundred miles from the mouth of the Hoogly, one of the outlets of the Ganges. The greater part of the distance up from the sea the banks of the river are a wild jungle, through which are scattered, sometimes in groves, the cocoanut and other palms, the whole vegeta- tion having a strictly Oriental aspect. The banks of the stream are as flat as those of the Lower Mississippi. Near the mouth of the Hoogly stands a monument, sad as a me- morial, and strikingly suggestive of adventures which are still to be met with in all parts of India. It marks the spot where a young lady once disappeared in the grasp of a tiger. A vessel from home was detained by the tide, and a number of passengers concluded to go ashore and while away the time by a stroll among the palms. One of the party strayed a little from the rest, when a scream was heard ; they ran to her assistance, but only in time to see her carried oif by one of the tigers that still infest the jun- gles, even in the vicinity of the towns. As we approached the city of palaces, the signs of culti- vation, and at length of Eastern wealth, became more fre- quent. For several miles the river on either hand was 204 AROUND THE WORLD: ENTKANOE TO THE IIOOGLY. lined with rich plantations and costly residences. The palms, acacias, and other tropical trees were as fresh and vigorous as if it w^ere not the third day of winter. About two miles below Calcutta, among many of the choice trees of the tropics, stands one of the finest specimens of the banyan tree in all India. I do not know the number of its trunks, but one of these trees is described as having three hundred and fifty large branches that have shot down and become rooted, forming three hundred and fifty large trees, and more than three thousand smaller ones, making from one tree, still joined together by its branches, an im- mense grove. On the opposite shore is the palace of the ex-King of Oude, wdio was dethroned by the East India Company and CALCUTTA. 205 brought to Calcutta as a sort of prisoner of state. He was allowed to retain a large portion of his wealth, and still has a princely, if not a royal revenue. His buildings are very beautiful, extending a long distance upon the river's bank. Among them was a temple, the dome of which was burn- ished gold, dazzling the eyes in the bright sunlight. We were detained several hours opposite his grounds waiting for orders from the Custom-house, and had abundance of time to study all the beauties of the place. ISTothiug in the ample grounds of the dethroned monarch attracted my at- tention like a small but beautiful kiosk which stood di- rectly upon the river's bank. It was about twelve or fif- teen feet square, with a dome-shaped roof ; its sides were open, but grated w^ith iron bars, and within was a royal Bengal tiger pacing up and down in all his majesty. I do not know whether the royal owner of the grounds designed this as a satire upon the power which had dethroned him and taken possession of his territory, but if so, it was, in- deed, a biting satire. The order from the Custom-house came at length, and we steamed up to the anchorage directly opposite Fort Wil- liam, which stands upon a vast open plain, known as the Maidan, quite to the south of the city. As we approached the ghaut, or landing-place, we found gathered on the shore one of the most curious crowds that we ever beheld. All nations and all costumes appeared to be represented, the crimson garments of the Bengalese and Hindoo women pre- dominating, while turbaned, and gowned, and trowsered men and women of all complexions and styles of dress filled up the picture. Awaiting us was a large fleet of native boats, manned by the most voracious cormorants that we have met with in any part of the w^orld. Their shoutings and fightings, one with another, to secure the landing of our persons and our baggage (we were not fifty yards from the shore), would have silenced the builders of the towers of Babel. It became necessary for us to shout and fight as vigorously as they, in order to prevent our bag- 206 AROUND THE WORLD. gage from being carried off into a score of separate boats ; but at length we were landed. Then came another tuff of war. Not one of the boat- men would carry the baggage up the bank to the gharries or carriages, about fifty feet distant, and the same process of fighting and shouting was renewed, the army of the Philistines in the mean while having increased as we reached the shore. I steadfastly refused, in the most ve- hement Orientalisms I could command, to pay one of them a single copper pie until I saw every thing on the gharries, by which time the number of clamorous creditors had still farther multiplied, and each one demanded enough for all, whether he had touched our baggage or not, Never be- fore or since have I found it so hard to pay an honest debt, only because it was impossible to select from a crowd of rapacious Hindoos, who all looked as much alike as if they were the same man, those to whom the debt was actually due. At length, seeing that all was ready, I selected the one who was most violent in his demonstrations, handed him what I thought was right, motioned to the rest to get tlieir dues from him, and, leaving him to be torn in pieces by the crowd, sprang into the gharry and was off for the hotel. I never learned whether the man survived the com- bined charge, but I could do no better. The longer I par- leyed in English, the larger and more imperious the crowd of Hindoos became, and there was neither native nor En- glish police to whom I could appeal. Arrived at Spence's Hotel, we were provided with rooms after stipulating to give them up for the Duke of Edin- burg and suite, who had engaged them for the following week. They were immense quarters. Oriental in style and accommodations. We were abundantly supplied with serv- ants — four, and sometimes five, who seemed gifted with omnipresence, were always at hand to wait on two of us. With their dusky forms clothed from head to foot in white ; moving about without shoes, noiselessly, and without ut- tering a word, they were like so many lost spirits, or like CALCUTTA. 207 Hindoos in grave - clothes. When waiting on us at our table they wore white muslin hats, with immense brims covered, with the same material, and, excepting that they were clothed in white instead of drab, we should have fancied ourselves served by the spirits of some of the fol- lowers of George Fox or William Penn. As the shades of night came on, and we grew anxious to try the effect of sleeping on shore, we found it next to impossible to relieve ourselves of their presence. We signified to them, as well as we could, that their duties for the day were over, and that we were about to retire. We motioned them out of our quarters, and fancied that we had seen the last of them for the night, but scarcely had we turned around when the same dark ghosts in white stood before us. They had stolen, without a sound, through another door into the room, and were waiting for our orders, which were that they should disappear, and at length they did. We were enjoying our first sleep on land, after many days and nights of tossing on the China Sea and the Bay of Bengal, when, just after midnight, we were roused by the most hideous screams that ever assailed our ears. The cries were not altogether human ; they were inhuman, in- fernal. It seemed as if a legion of demons had broken loose from their confinement, with a commission to drive sleep from the pillows of Calcutta. As often as we at- tempted to quiet ourselves to rest, the same shrieks would startle us from our incipient dreams, until we gave up in despair, if not in terror. We could not form a conception of the nature of the beings from which they proceeded. In the morning we learned that it was the nightly sere- nade of jackals, which have the run of the streets after midnight, and which, if not protected by law, are perfect- ly safe from all harm, on account of the valuable service they render as public scavengers. They are quite harm- less themselves, excepting their cries, which rob all new comers of sleep. They are never seen by day, skulking away into sewers and dark recesses, where they lie until 208 AROUND THE WOULD. they are summoned to make their round of the city. ISTor was it in Calcutta alone that Ave heard them, but in every city in India that we visited during the winter, with the single exception of Bombay. Their cries, especially when a whole pack join together, approximate so near to the hu- man, that I have heard it interpreted thus : A large pack of jackals start upon their nightly round in search of their appropriate food. Suddenly one in advance of the rest breaks out into a shrill, hideous scream, " Here's a dead Plindoo." The whole pack immediately scream, " Where '^ where? where?" A score of the ghouls answer with a short, shrill bark, " Here ! here ! here !" and then the whole crowd of jackals send up, in the otherwise still night, a howl over their discovery that may be heard for miles. This was the serenade that awakened us, and scarcely a night that we were in the country did they fail to send a thrill of horror through our souls. The jackals are the night-scavengers of Calcutta. Those of the day are the crows, the kites, and the adjutants. The crows, as in all parts of India that I have visited, swarm throughout the city by myriads, keeping up an in- cessant " caw, caw, caw." They spend the night quietly on the trees, not much less than a thousand sometimes se- lecting a single tree, and taking an hour of fighting and shouting in concert before they become fairly settled for the night. Even after they have become quiet, and you imagine that at last their noise is over for the day, some dispute arises among them, and the whole thousand start up from the tree in violent altercation, and again go through the same course of fighting before they are settled again. Nor are they satisfied with the refuse of the city for a living ; they come boldly into the open windows and lay their beaks upon any food that is within reach. The first morning that we were in Calcutta our breakfast had been set in the anteroom, but before we could lay claim to it the crows had entered, and, supposing it was intended for them, had made way with a good share of it. Once CALCUTTA. 209 thej took it before our very eyes, without so much as say- ing " By your leave." The kites, a species of large hawk, are not so numerous, but they are numbered by thousands, or tens of thousands, and are continually sailing over tlie city or along the streets, excepting when they see some tempting provisions, in which case they do not hesitate to swoop down and bear it off, even from the midst of a crowd of pedestrians or carriages. They have the free- dom of the city in common with the crows. The adju- tant, an immense stork, standing, in his stockings, as high as a man, belongs to the same army, and enjoys the same freedom, but he is a gentleman, carrying himself with as much dignity in his daily walks as if he were a major general instead of a mere adjutant, and never intruding where he does not belong. Much of the time he stands on one leg, with his neck drawn down into his body and his immense visor closed, in a meditative mood, and so per- fectly motionless that you might easily mistake him for a bronze statue. The snakes form a part of his rations. The residents of Calcutta seem as unconscious of the existence of the crows, the kites, and the adjutants, and even of the jackals, as if such specimens in natural history were never heard of within a thousand miles of the city. Calcutta may be called the European capital of Asia. It has been the seat of British empire for more than a cen- tury, and the centre of British influence for the whole East. Its commercial supremacy is probably well-nigh ended since steam and the opening of the Suez Canal have changed the route of commerce between Europe and the East. Bom- bay is now the port of India, as Calcutta is thrown more than ever off the great highway to China. But no other city will ever have such a combination of Oriental and Oc- cidental grandeur as the " City of Palaces," the name it bears in the East. The name is not unmerited, although we do not find either the architectural beauty of the West, or the lavish expenditure of the old dynasties of the East. It was founded by the East India Companv near the close O 210 AROUND THE WORLD. of the seventeenth century, on the site of a small village called Kali-kutta (the village of the Goddess Kali), from which the present name of the city is derived. A temple of the goddess, south of the city, is still frequented by mul- titudes of devotees at the period of the annual worship. The official name of the city, from which public documents, I believe, are dated even to the present day, although exe- cuted at the Government House a mile distant, is Fort Wil- liam. The fort was erected in the reign of William III. of England, and named from this sovereign. It is an ex- tensive fortress, standing in the midst of the Maidan, a vast open plain extending more than two miles up and down the Hoogly, south of the city. The northern portion of the Maidan, known as the Esplanade, is occupied by the gov- ernment buildings, which front upon a well-kept park known as the Eden Gardens. The viceroy's palace occu- pies the most conspicuous site, and, although possessing no great architectural beauty, is an imposing pile. The portion of the Maidan bordering on the river for a mile below the Government House is the great fashionable drive of Calcutta, answering to the Pi'ater of Vienna, or Rotton Eow in Hyde Park. Every evening, just before sunset, when the heat of the day has passed, all Calcutta turns out for an hour's drive up and down the strand. The sight is one of the gayest to be seen in the suburbs of any city, and one of the most peculiar. Nowhere in the East is there any thing to equal it, and nowhere in the West any thing like it. Europeans with gay equipages, from the vice- roy's scarlet and gold, with his Sepoy outriders, down to the unpretending gharry, move on in a steady line, three or four abreast, until night comes on. ISTotwithstanding the occu- pants of the carriages are chiefly Europeans, the scene is decidedly Oriental. Coachmen and footmen, some of them splendid specimens of the various tribes of India, are all in Eastern costume, the colors and style of which are as varied as the races of Hindostan. The wealthy Baboos have their place in the grand procession, and when we CALCUTTA. 211 were in Calcutta there was a grand gathering of Eajahs and native princes from all j)arts of India, who had come down to meet the Duke of Edinburg and take part in the durbar at Government House. One who would study Ori- ental life should not fail to be on the strand at Calcutta an hour before sunset. The residences of the merchants, and those connected with the civil and military ser\dce, are east of the Maidan, the whole of this part of Calcutta being known as Chow- ringee. The d'wellings, many of which may in truth be called palaces, though not architectm-ally beautiful, are iso- lated, standing in the midst of squares, and surrounded by a profusion of the ornamental trees and shrubs of India. The suburbs of the city toward the south, in the du'ection of the palace and grounds of the ex-King of Oade, stretch out into the region of the palms, acacias, mango, bamboo, and peepul trees, which grow with great luxuriance of foli- age. In tropical countries leaves often take the place of branches. The stately palm, the glory of the tropics, is as destitute of limbs as the mast of a ship, but a single leaf is fifteen or twenty feet in length, and each tree is crowned with a drooping mass. Such a tree has no need of branch- es. In the palm-clad suburbs of Calcutta stands the coun- try house of Warren Hastings, where that brilliant though erring statesman, the governor general of India, maintained a splendid hospitality. The place is now among the his- toric scenes of the East ; but one can not recall the events connected with his rule and conquests, even in the midst of the prosperity of India, without a long-drawn sigh. There are few public buildings of much note. The Gov- ernment House, built by the Marquis of Wellesley, and the new government offices on the Esplanade, are the most im- posing. The post-office is a large and fine building, erect- ed in part on the site of one more memorable in history than any other within the limits of the city or in this part of India. It is the " Black Hole of Calcutta." In the year 1756 Fort William was taken by Surajah Dowlah, Nabob 212 AROUND THE WORLD. of Bengal, a feeble gamson being left to defend it after the governor and others had escaped to the ships. The pris- oners, 146 in number, were thrust into a room only eighteen feet square, with two small, obstructed windows, where, in the intense heat of a Calcutta night, on the 18th of June, they were shut up without water or any means of relief. With heat, and thirst, and suffocation, many of them became maddened, and the horrors of that night never can be de- picted. Bribes, and prayers, and the raging of despair were all ineffectual to move the hearts of the guard. In vain the prisoners, in the agonies of thirst and of suffocation, entreated to have the nabob informed of their condition ; they were told that he was asleep, and could not be dis- turbed. In the morning twenty-three ghastly forms had just life enough left to crawl from the room when it was opened; the rest, 123, were piled upon the floor, putrid corpses. No scene connected with Calcutta is more indeli- bly graven on the memory of the world than this ; but all traces of it are obliterated from the spot by the erection of new and stately buildings. The new Cathedral, the seat of the bishopric which has been held by such apostolic names as those of Heber and Wilson, is a fine building, it may be called elegant, finished as it is with such admirable taste and in such beauty. It is already becoming filled with monumental marbles, among which the statue of Bishop Heber is the most striking. There are several fine churches, English and Scotch. The college buildings of the Free Church, and the Scotch Kirk, are worthy of note for their extent, if not for their beauty. The Bishop's College, on the right bank of the Hoogly, two miles below the city, makes more pretension to taste and elegance. The native and the European quarters of the town are distinct, the former having N&rj narrow streets and more or less of squalor in its whole extent, but the portion occupied by foreigners (Europeans have no native-born descendants of pure blood in India) is laid out upon a broad scale, and built up with appropriate magnificence. CALCUTTA. 213 The city is supplied with water from immense tanks, res- ervoirs of one or two hmidred feet square sunk into the ground, but left entirely open. The natives walk down into them, bathe their bodies and wash their clothes, and then fill their jars or goatskins with the water for drinking and other domestic use. This is a specimen of native cleanli- ness.* The streets are watered by a truly Oriental method. Each waterman has, instead of a cart, a goatskin taken oft entire, and forming an immense bottle, left open at the neck. This is suspended by a strap over the shoulders of the coolie, who seizes the neck with one hand, and, as he walks along, deftly throws the water hither and thither. Large numbers of these coolies are kept constantly em- ployed spirting the streets, which are as well watered by this method as by our own. Of the institutions of Calcutta, one of the first that claim- * The following, from an India paper, is a specimen of Hindoo metaphys- ics, and also of the stress that is laid upon ceremonial uncleanness above act- ual filth. ' ' At the last meeting of the Sanatana-Dharma Rakshami Sabha, the presi- dent, Rajah Kali Krishna Deo Bahadoor, read an opinion on the water sup- plied to the Calcutta residents from the municipal water-works. He says that the water, being destitute of the sanctity of the Ganges, can not be used for religious purposes, but can be employed for drinking or domestic use with- out prejudice to caste. Rice, milk, turmeric, and other things become pure by boiling, and can be used by virtue of the authority that says that edible arti- cles become purified by purchase. The water-rate may be considered in the light of value paid, and the water become drinkable. Besides, it is written in the Satatapa vachana that articles prepared in a cow- shed by a shopman or by a machine, though not purified, are not considered unclean ; also that fluid, as in a running stream, is considered pure. The Shruti says that health is most important, and that religion comes next ; and as water is calledju'a- na, or life-giver, and as good, pure water preserves health, the fluid can be used without detriment to caste. The great bulk of water is also a test of purity in the same way, as a number of persons in a boat does not affect pu- rity. The president farther states that he visited the water-works in compa- ny with several respectable Hindoos, and examined the machinery, and found that India-rubber, and not leather, as was supposed, is used in certain parts of the machine ; cocoanut oil is used to lubricate the works, and that no forbid- den substance is used in connection with the pumps. He concludes by sub- mitting to the other members of the Sabha his opinion that the water is wholesome, and that it would be unwise to remain in doubt and sustain loss by not using the same. " 214 ABOUND THE WORLD. ed a visit was Dr. Duff's College, as the great Free Chnrcli of Scotland Institution is called. Although it is many years since Dr. Duff was compelled to leave India by the failure of his health, his indomitable energy and ardent spirit having worn out his comparatively feeble frame in that trying climate, his name still adheres to the college which he founded and brought to a high state of prosperi- ty. He came to India in 1830, and began his educational work with a class of five scholars, which, in a few days, in- creased to more than a hundred. It soon became neces- sary to have permanent accommodations for those who were coming in such numbers to receive instruction in Western science, wliich is quite as different from Oriental science as the fact that the earth revolves around the sun is in advance of the idea that the sun revolves around the earth, or that the earth stands on a tortoise. A site for a college was selected on Cornwallis Square, one of the pleasantest quarters of the city, extensive buildings w^ere erected, a corps of teachers was supplied by the Church at home, and as many as eight hundred scholars were going through a course of instruction. Wlien the institution had reached this advanced stage, the disruption took place in the Church of, Scotland, and the Free Church was organized. The result was that the missionaries, to a man, decided to go with the Free Church. They followed the example of the Free Church ministers at home, wdio gave up churches and manses, and began their work anew. They abandoned the mission property, and every thing connected with the college, to lay another foundation. It was but a few years before the new col- lege numbered nearly fourteen hundred pupils, while the old, which had, in the mean time, been supplied with fresh men from the Kirk of Scotland, had nearly as many. The number has fallen off considerably within the last few years, owing perhaps to the founding of other schools by the government and by private munificence. These insti- tutions are open to students of all religions, and the mass CALCUTTA. 215 of them are Hindoos or Mohammedans. Only in rare in- stances have they renounced the faith of their fathers, while fewer still have become real Christians. It is not the desire to become acquainted with Christian truth, much less to become Christians, that induces so many youth to crowd these foreign seminaries of learning. They are anxious to become qualiiied to fill the various lucrative posts which, in connection with the civil service, and the commerce and business of the country, are open to the na- tives. This is the great stimulus to study, and a successful course and an honorable graduation in the missionary, as well as in the government colleges, is usually a passport to a good situation. But this army of educated men may yet be brought into the Church of Christ, in that great relig- ious revolution that is to pass over India, the promise of which we have in the Word of God, and the signs of which are to be seen all over the land. The Bishop's College, occupying a fine Gothic building, beautifully situated on the botanic garden or park, on the banks of the Hoogly, two or three miles below the city, has a more limited class of students. It was founded by Bish- op Middleton in 1820 for the purpose of training up, un- der the discipline of the Church of England, a corps of preachers and teachers, to be employed by that Church in disseminating the truths of the Gospel in India. The number of students is small, but the arrangements for their education in the languages of the East, and in general liter- ature and science, are very extensive. Besides the institutions I have named, there are several others of a high order. Among these are Doveton College, founded, I believe, by a man whose name it bears ; the Martiniere, founded by General Martin, who amassed a large fortune in the East, and who established a college at Lucknow; the Sanscrit College; the ITundu College; the Mohammedan, etc. There is also a medical college, with a large corps of able- professors, at the iiead of which is Dr. Joseph Fayrer, a distinguished surgeon of the British 216 AROUND THE WOELD. army, who was at Lucknow during the memorable siege, and in whose arms the commanding officer, Sir Henry Law- rence, breathed his last. A large hospital, which I visited in company with Mr. Duff, an eminent merchant of Bom- bay, and son of the Rev. Dr. Duff, is under the charge of this faculty. Dr. Fayrer has been engaged, by a series of experiments upon animals, in endeavoring to discover an antidote to the venom of the snakes that al)ound in India, by which thousands of lives are lost annually, but thus fai- without success. The Asiatic Society, located at Calcutta, was originated and established by that eminent scholar and Christian, Sir William Jones, who went out to India in 1783. Having been appointed to the bench of the Supreme Court of Ben- gal, he devoted himself with intense ardor to the study of the languages of the East as the means of fitting himself for usefulness in India. He is said to have acquired in the course of his life twenty-eight different languages, and to have become familiar with the literature of each. It was he who gave the noble testimony to tlie Bible, all the more weighty because coming from one whose professional pur- suits were not theological, and who was also so well quali- fied by his eminent learning to bear such testimony : " I have carefully and regularly perused the Scriptures, and am of opinion that this volume, independent of its divine origin, contains more sublimity, purer morality, more im- portant history, and finer strains of eloquence than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language they may be written." The Asiatic Society, which he founded, and of which Warren Hastings was the first president, was formed for the purpose of preserving the history and the memorials of India and the East generally. It has now an immense collection of volumes, and manuscripts, and speci- mens in natural history, and relics of all sorts. The large building in which they have been kept was long since over- flowing, so that it was found necessary to store the addi- tions elsewhere. An extensive range of buildings on the CALCUTTA. 217 Chowringee Road was approaching completion when I left Calcutta, and when it is opened it will be one of the most interesting museums in the world. I made the acquaint- ance of the scholarly superintendent, who expressed an earnest desire to establish some system of exchanges with similar institutions in this Western world. Excepting in what is known as the Zenana Mission, the Americans are not represented among the institutions of Calcutta ; but that work is one of great importance, and in India is absolutely essential as the complement of Christian missions. It is not altogether new, but in its specific form was undertaken only ten years since by the " Woman's Union Missionary Society of America for Heathen Lands," whose head-quarters in India are at Calcutta, under the superintendence of Miss Hook, a lady of rare culture and refinement, and of great energy of character. Their field of operation is the zenanas, the homes of the women of India. Of course I was not able personally to observe the prosecution of this work, but I became familiar with its character and prospects, and was happy to learn that it is full of promise. The ladies of the mission, who go out daily among the zenanas, are cordially received, and many of the wealthy natives express an earnest desire that their mves may be instructed. There is no spot in India more sacred in the eyes of the Christian world than Serampore, beautifully situated on a bend of the Hoogly, about fifteen miles from the city of Calcutta. Every one who is at all familiar with the his- tory of missions in the East knows how intimately this place is associated with the names of the earliest and some of the best men that have gone out to preach the Gospel in Asiatic countries. In the beginning of the present century it was the cave in which the prophets were hid when they were forbidden to preach in British India. Being a Danish pos- session, it was not under the control of the East India Com- pany, and here Carey and Ward set themselves down to study the languages of the East. Here they planted their 218 ABOUND THE WORLD. printing-presses, and from this spot they sent forth millions of pages of Christian truth into all parts of Asia and the Islands of the Sea. Here, too, the apostle Jndson, several years later, f onnd a temporary refuge when he was forbid- den to land at Calcutta, as if he and his companions from America had conspired against the peace of the country. The history of Carey and his labors is known the world over. He was born in a small interior town in England. His parents, being poor, apprenticed him at the age of four- teen to a shoemaker, whose trade he seems never to have mastered ; for, in after years, when dining at the governor general's in India, as he overheard some supercilious En- glishmen speak of him as a shoemaker, he turned and cor- rected him, saying he was only a cobbler. (On his death- bed he was ministered to by the wife of the Governor Gen- eral of India, and the Bishop of Calcutta came to ask his dying blessing.) While learning his trade in England, he indulged his thirst for knowledge by a course of reading, and at length turned his attention to languages, and en- larged his field of study, until he became a well-read Bib- lical scholar, and at length was licensed to preach the Gos- pel in the Baptist connection. In reading the accounts of Cook's voyages around the world he was deeply moved in heart toward the heathen, and stirred up his brethren with his own zeal until they resolved on a mission to the pagan world, and Carey himself was sent. On arriving in India he ,vas obliged to conceal himself from the knowledge of the East India Company, whose policy was altogether op- posed to efforts for the conversion of the natives. For many years he labored in great seclusion, supporting him- self by working on an indigo plantation. In the year 1800 he was joined by Marshman and Ward, from England, when they established themselves under Danish protection at Se- rampore. They seemed almost to be endued with the gift of tongues, so successfully did they devote themselves to the acquisition of languages and to the translation of the Word of God into the numerous tongues of the East. They CALCUTTA. 219 established presses on which the Word of God was printed in languages spoken by at least half the pagan world. They laid the foundation for a college of a high order, and erect- ed for it a building which even now is regarded as one of the finest structures of its kind in India. They procured a choice and extensive library, which is still a rich repository of learning and a monument to their own enlarged ideas and acquisitions. A great part of the expense of these enterprises they bore themselves. It is wonderful that a few poor mission- aries could do such a work ; but they were earnest men of genius, and they lived not unto themselves. Dr. Carey re- ceived for thirty years more than a thousand rupees a month (equal to $6000 a year) for his services as professor in the College of Fort William, at Calcutta, and translator to the East India Company; Mr. Ward received as much more from the printing-office, and Mr. and Mrs. Marshman about the same from teaching ; and yet, while they were receiving these princely sums, they ate at a common table, and drew from the common fund only twelve rupees each, or four dollars a month. The remainder was devoted, by a mutual contract, to the purposes of the mission, and was employed in spreading the Gospel. The cost of the Chi- nese version alone, which they prepared and printed, was 20,000 pounds sterling, or $100,000. The words of the agreement which they signed when they entered on their work were, " Let us give ourselves up unreservedly to this glorious cause. Let us never think that our time, our gifts, our strength, our families, or even the clothes we wear, are our own. Let us sanctify them all to God and his cause." Now that life's labor is over, these devoted men sleep together on the spot consecrated by their many years of toil in the service of the Master. Here, too, Henry Martyn, of blessed memory, lived for a time and studied, fitting himself for his short but important life-service in India and Persia. Nor is this spot without special interest for Americans. When the first band of 220 ABOUND TEE WORLD. missionaries from our o"wn country to the East reached India, this was the only spot in all the land in which they could find a resting-place even for a day. All these associations were so many powerful attractions, and I gladly accepted an invitation from Dr. George Smith, the accomplished and learned editor of the Friend of In- dia, to visit him at his home at Serampore. I found him awaiting me at the station, and we drove first to the ceme- tery, known as the Westminster Abbey of India, where Carey, and Marshman, and Ward were buried. Carey wrote his own epitaph, which is inscribed on a plain ceno- taph : WILLIAM CAREY : BORN 17TH OF AUGUST, I761, DIED 9TH OF JUNE, 1834. "^ wretched, poor, and helpless worm, On Thy kind a?-ms Ifalir I visited the college where those prophets taught; I stood in the pulpit where Carey preached, and saw the room in which Marshman died. Dr. Smith pointed out to me the site of the pagoda in which Henry Martyn devoted himself with such assiduity and success to the study of the languages in which he afterward preached the Gospel. The college building is still in excellent repair, and the li- brary was most tempting in its choice collection of books, among which I would fain have lingered. But, as else- where, I suffered from the bane of travelers, want of time, and I could not linger in any of the many interesting scenes in which I found myself. We drove out to the grounds of a wealthy Baboo to wit- ness a Hindoo festival that had been in progress two or three days, and which was then at its height. It was in honor of some one of the multitude of gods which the Hin- doos reverence, but in the form of an entertainment for the people, who had come together in great numbers in holiday attire. In various places by the roadside and in booths, or under canopies, were groups of statuary formed VERNMENT OF mDIA ; EUROPEANS, ETC. 221 from the plastic mud of the Ganges, which is superior to the finest statuary clay. Some of the groups were in cari- cature, but others were perfectly life-like, evincing real ge- nius in the extemporaneous artists. In a large inclosure, separated from the crowd of natives, a sort of musical drama was in progress, the music and the words appearing improvised, but falling on the ear with pleasing effect. Every thing was conducted with strict decorum, and the whole scene, as I witnessed it for a few moments while the shades of evening were falling — its perfect novelty, its strictly and strangely Oriental features, and its surround- ings of bamboos, and palm-trees, and other tropical vegeta- tion — formed a picture which can not easily be forgotten. Crossing the Hoogly to Barrackpore, and passing through the grove of an immense banyan-tree, I reached the station of the East-side Railway, and was shortly in Calcutta again. GOVERNMENT OF INDI^ ; EUROPEANS, ETC. v The Hindoos claim for their country and nation an an- tiquity which ought to satisfy the most enthusiastic advo- cates of the long geologic periods. They make it out that things have been going on somewhat after the present or- der for indefinite ages — four or five thousand millions of years ; that in the early days of their race people used to live a hundred thousand years ; that they were the matter of thirty-five or forty feet in height, etc. ; but the records of those ancient times are not very authentic. Nothing satis- factory is known either of the country or the people before Alexander the Great crossed the mountain barrier on the noj'th and extended his arms onward toward the peninsula. This was a little more than three hundred years before the Christian era. From that time to the present we have rec- 222 AROUND THE WOELD. ords more or less autlientic, first, of the Hindoo rule of about thirteen centuries, and then of the Mohammedan, in- cluding the reign of the Mogiil emperors, exceeding in splendor all that the world has seen out of liindostan, and reaching down to the complete occupation of the country by British power. It was the wealth of the Mogul dynasty which first led European cupidity to turn its eyes toward the East. The discovery of the passage to India around the Cape of Good Hope, six years after the discovery of America by Colum- bus, opened up the whole of India to the commerce of Eu- rope. In the year 1600 a commercial company was char- tered in England under the name of the East India Com- pany, which continued to increase in power, and to extend the objects and limits of its sway, until it had taken posses- sion of all India, and at length was compelled to turn it over completely to the crown of Britain. The East India Company, which had been a mine of wealth and an engine of almost unlimited power to its corporators, was abolished by act of Parliament in 1858, the year after the great mu- tiny, having been gradually shorn of its privileges and pow- er by the same authority in successive renewals of its charter. Its immense wealth and power may be inferred from the fact that its gross revenue for the year 1850 was £135,000,000, or nearly $675,000,000. Its expenditures were at a corresponding rate. The Empire of India, which includes a number of prov- inces or presidencies such as Bengal, Bombay, Madras, etc., and extends over a territory of a million and a half square miles, with a population of two hundred millions of people, is now administered by a viceroy, or governor general, who has under him, in the several provinces, governors, lieuten- ant governors, and commissioners, some of the native prin- ces retaining a semi-independent position in their own ter- ritories. All the great native rulers were dethroned and their territory appropriated in the conquests made by Brit- ish arms. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA; EUROPEANS, ETC. 223 For two centuries and a half India was ruled for the ben- efit of the East India Company. This was a commercial enterprise, undertaken for the sole purpose of making gain ; it did not pretend to establish itself for the purpose of do- ing good to the inhabitants of India ; trade, and gold, and diamonds were the objects sought, while the welfare of two hundred millions of people was among the last things con- sidered. Even the claims of religion, humanity, and justice were too often treated as if they had no binding force in that longitude. Not the splendors of successive conquests of territory from native kings and princes, nor the brilliant administration of such men as Warren Hastings, can blind the world to the wrongs and crimes which marked the prog- ress of British empire in the Eas*". It is in many respects a dark record, unworthy of a Christian or a noble people. But that is all changed since the East India Company was abolished, or, if not all, the purpose and the general admin- istration of the government is changed. India is now ruled, not for the sake of extorting money from an unwilling, sub- jugated race, but for the good of the people of India. It is with great pleasure that I bear testimony to the high character of the men who have the administration of affairs in that empire, as well as to the promising aspect of the country in its material, educational, social, and religious in- terests, as being full of promise. I doubt if any country has more conscientious and intelligent public officers con- trolling its destinies. There are reforms yet to be consum- mated. The extreme caution of the rulers prevents them from taking the bold stand assumed by the home govern- ment in favor of Christianity and against some of the enor- mities of idolatry and heathenism ; many evils growing out of the peculiarities of the people, the variety of races, the inveterate nature of hoary prejudices, yet remain to be re- move^ or remedied; but, judging from the promise of the present, India bids fair to become again a mighty empire in the East, and to outshine in real glory the splendor of the old Moguls. 224: AROUND THE WORLD. The viceroyalty of India is the liighest office under the British crown, and, considering the extent of its sway, and the population over which it is exercised, is the most im- portant delegated office in the world. The power is not as absolute as was that of the governor general in the palmy days of the East India Company. Being directly respon- sible to the home government, the viceroy is under statu- tory checks ; general legislative power also is in the hands of councils, provincial and general, so that a uniform and complete system of government, and one which might be called constitutional, extends over the whole of India. The outward dignity of government is maintained by a liberal provision for its support. The viceroy has a salary of £25,000 (five times that of the President of the United States), with as much or more for incidental expenses ; an extensive palace and complete establishment at Calcutta, with provision for a country residence and a summer cap- ital on the Himalaya Mountains, to which the governor general and the supreme council remove during the hot season. The salaries of officials in India are generally large, and the immense army of office-holders employed in all the de- partments of government, the revenues for their payment being drawn from the country itself, makes this possession one of incalculable value and importance to Great Brit- ain. It is the source from which a large representation of the higher and middle classes obtain their support. The younger sons of the aristocracy who can not be maintain- ed in affluence, and a large force of others who are able to obtain appointments, are sent to India to fill the offices in the various branches of the military or civil service. There is a charm about Oriental life which makes it at- tractive. The pay is liberal. Some officials receive enor- mous salaries, with the promise of pensions after the term of service has expired ; and at the end of seven years, as a rule, officers high and low have a furlough of a year on half pay, with the expenses of a journey homeward paid. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA; EUROPEANS, ETC. 225 This rule, in the form of a custom, extends even to clerks in banks and other private corporations. It is not strange, therefore, that India is regarded at home as a sort of El Dorado. I have spoken of the great change which has come over the administration of affairs in India since it became more directly dependent upon the British crown. The change is noticeable every where, but in no respect more than in the extent and thoroughness of the educational work car- ried on by the government. I was aware that a system of public instruction had been organized, and that institutions of learning had been established at various points, but I was not prepared to find that these institutions were of such a high order; that so many of the youth of India, Hindoo and Mohammedan, were enjoying and profiting by these advantages, or that such liberal provision was made by the government for their support and for general edu- cation. "Within the last ten years the progress of the work has been rapid. The appropriations for this object by the government for the year previous to my arrival in the country amounted to nearly nine millions of rupees, or more than $4,000,000. This was distributed over the whole of the empire, so that every school conforming to the requisitions of government received its share. A University is established in each of the three presi- dencies of Bengal, Bombay, and Madras. These are ex- amining bodies only, but colleges and schools of various grades are established in all the different provinces. In Calcutta alone there are eleven colleges of a high order, including the institutions of the Kirk and Free Church of Scotland, the students of which, on completing their course of study, appear before the University on examination for their degrees. In Lower Bengal there are five colleges, and in the northwest provinces and the Punjaub, seven. There are, besides, similar institutions in Bombay and Mad- ras. These colleges are all thoroughly equipped with pro- fessorships filled by scholars who have had a university P 226 ABOUNJ) THE WORLD. education at home, some of them men eminent for their attainments, and have all the appliances for a complete ed- ucation in the arts, scieUQes, and languages. In the year above referred to there were, in the colleges and schools taught, aided, or inspected by the state, 662,537 scholars. These were, with very few exceptions, natives. Too much attention and .too large a proportion, of the appropriations have beep 4pvoted to the higher institu- tions, without suitable provision for the education of the masses. One reason f or thi^ is, that it has been the policy of the government to edu(?ate native youth for its own ser- vice in the various departments of civil life, and for this purpose mainly the colleges were originally founded; but, now that so large a nu^nber have enjoyed these advan- tages, it would accord with. the general policy of the gov- ernment to elevate the people by diffusing the blessings of a sound education. Such a course, I believe, is to be pur- sued. A general system of schools for the country, ap- proaching our own public - school system, has been under consideration, and will probably soon be adopted. The standard objection against the government schools and colleges of India is that they are hot Christian in their character ; that the course of instruction has tended rath- er to favor than to oppose idolatry. There is too much ground for the objection; but, after becoming more famil- iar with the character of the people, and with the peculiar circumstances of the government, I could better appreciate the difficulties of establishing a system which should be avowedly hostile to the religious convictions of the people. It is not considered as the, i province of our own govern- ment to teach religion in afe, public schools, and there are difficulties in India in the way of teaching Christianity through governmental institutions of which we know noth- ing. Since being in India I look with more hope than be- fore to the results of the work of education which is car- ried on by the government,., , It must aid in the overthrow of idolatry, and of other forms of false religion which GOVERNMENT OF INDIA; EUROPEANS, ETC. 227 have so long prevailed in the land. Many, it is true, be- come infidels on becoming convinced of the absurdity of the science which has formed a part of their own religious systems, but this may be only a transition state, not unnat- ural as the effect of correct scientific instruction without the pervading and prevailing influence of Christian con- viction. This conviction must come from a higher source than mere human instruction. The general attitude of the government toward the sys- tems of idolatry has undergone an entire change. The time was, and not many years ago, when the East India Company derived a large revenue from the temples and places of pilgrimage for devotees; when English soldiers were compelled to bow down and do reverence before the false gods for the sake of securing the favor or avoiding the hostility of the natives. A long indictment was re- corded against the former rulers of the land, and they were convicted not only of wickedness, but of folly, when, in the great mutiny of 1857, the very men whose favor they had courted became their deadliest enemies ; and when, from the beginning to the end of the rebellion, not a single Chris- tian convert in the land was known to lift his hand or give any information against the English. The authorities have learned wisdom and righteousness by this terrible experi- ence.* * Meadows Taylor, in his History of India, speaking of the administration of Lord Auckland, says : "All connection between the English government of India iind Hindoo temples and their idolatrous ceremonies was abohshed under imperative or- ders from the Court of Directors and the Board of Control. All revenues derivable from these sources were abandoned, and the temples and their en- dowments placed under the management of their own priests. It will hardly now be credited how much honor had used to be accorded to idols and their worship before this most necessary exactment of April 20, 1840. Up to this time troops had been paraded at festivals, salutes fired, and offerings by the Company presented to idol deities, and the Eui'opean functionar}' of the dis- trict was obliged, often most unwillingly, to take a part in heathen ceremo- nies originally conceded to conciliate the people, but which had grown by usage into a portion of the ceremonies themselves. It is still stranger to record that it was not till the lapse of years that a final disseverance from and abandonment of pilgrim taxes was effected." 228 ABOUND THE WORLD. The European population of India, of whom the natives of the British Isles form by far the largest part, is about 160,000. They are chiefly engaged in the public service, military and civil, although in the principal cities there is a large mercantile population. There are very few Euro- peans in India who were born there, and scarcely one whose parents were natives of the country. From a remote period the children of English or Scotch parents have been sent home, not merely to be educated away from the evil associations of the land, but to be raised in a more health- ful climate. Children of foreign parents are more exposed to the injurious influences of the climate than those who come to India in adult years. It was mentioned to me also as a singular fact, that women born in India of European parents seldom become mothers, a proof of the deleterious effect of the climate upon the constitution ; consequently one rarely sees children in the families of the foreign resi- dents, or much more i"arely than in other countries. They have either not been born, or they have been sent home. The trial which missionaries have been called so often to endure in sending their children from the home circle and from parental care is one which is shared by a large part of the foreign residents, who are engaged either in the pub- lic service or in mercantile business. There is another class, the children of European fathers and native mothers, called Eurasians, East-Indians, Half- castes, etc., numbering about 80,000. Being a sort of con- necting link between the two races, they are commonly ac- quainted with the foreign and the native languages ; many of them have had special advantages of education, and many of them occupy positions of usefulness, as clerks or agents of the government. They are easily distinguished by their European features from the natives, and, being almost as dark as the natives, are never confounded with Europe- ans. They are not reputed to possess the same mental or physical vigor, or tO- have as much enterprise of character as foreigners. GOVERNMENT OF INDIA; EUROPEANS, ETC. 229 During the hot season all business requiring active exer- tion is crowded as much as possible into the early morning, es^jecially if it makes exposure to the sun necessary. The army-drill is over by eight or nine o'clock, traveling is done by night, and during the middle of the day the struggle for existence is most wisely managed by ceasing the struggle altogether, and giving one's self up to perfect quiet. The slightest exercise instantly produces violent perspiration, and the same effect follows the suspension of the punha. The punka is a broad fan suspended overhead, and usually stretcliing across the room ; in the dining-room reaching the length of the table. It is moved by coolies in an ante- room, who, by means of a cord attached to the pu?ika, draw it back and forth. Every private house, every place of business, and every assembly-room is supplied with this in- dispensable requisite. The churches have immense punkas suspended over the heads of the congregations, which wave back and forth majestically during the entire service. The first time that 1 was called upon to address a congregation through such a medium, I found it far less suggestive of ideas and suitable emotions than if I had been speaking to the people face to face. But even the heat of a church would be unendurable without thepunkas. They are quite as essential at night in the homes during the hot season. No sleeping can be done without them, ^or are they such a severe tax upon the coolies as might be supposed. The coolies are paid for the service; it is their only support; they luxuriate in the heat as do the natives of Africa, and they have their time for rest. Few natives of any country in the East die of hard work. Europeans in India live much more freely in respect to eating and drinking than is generally supposed to be con- sistent with such a climate, but it may be that the waste of the human system demands a generous supply to repair it. 1 have never been in any land where free indulgence with- in the bounds of temperance was more generally the rule. Foreign residents rise early all the year round, and take a 230 AROUND THE WORLD. cup of tea, with toast, or some light food, immediately on rising. This is called chota hazril, or the little breakfast. About nine or ten o'clock comes the real breakfast, usually an elaborate meal of fish, eggs, and some preparation of rice, with meats. At one o'clock tiffin, a still more hearty meal, is taken, and at seven or eight o'clock dinner, which is the meal of the day, and which is much after the pattern of an English or American dinner. This generous style of living seems to agree with the people ; for, instead of the yellow or dark-skinned, shrunken, liver-diseased race that I expect- ed to see, I found the gentlemen robust and rosy-faced, to my great astonishment, and the ladies equally well favored. (I speak of health, not of beauty, for in this respect the la- dies always and every where bear the palm.) They assured us that we found them at their best, in the midst of the cool season, when they were luxuriating in a genial temperature ; but, from the general aspect of the foreign residents, I felt convinced that India had been greatly belied, or that for- eigners had learned how to adapt themselves to its climate better than in years past. The subdivision of labor is carried in India to its very utmost limit. Every servant has his own sphere, and it would be about as diificult to move him from it as to turn one of the planets from its orbit. It almost reaches the point that one servant who takes up an article must have another to lay it down for him. This necessitates the em- ployment of a large number to do the work of a household. Fortunately, the I'ate of wages is very low, or it would re- quire a fortune to live at alb A family, however small, living in any style, must have a kansuma, a butler or stew- ard ; Mtniutgar, a head table-servant, besides a table-serv- ant for every member of the family ; hohagee, or cook ; tnee- ta, man-sweeper ; metrane, female sweeper ; musalche, to clean knives and wash dishes ; surdar, head bearer, with eight common bearers if he keeps a palanquin, to pull pun- ka, etc. ; durwan, gate - keeper ; dobey, washerman ; hhees- tie, to bring water : abdar, to cool the water ; chuj[>rasse, a GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ; EUROPEANS, ETC. 231 confidential messenger; coolies, to cany marketing and other burdens ; chohedar, watchman ; if he keeps a carriage he must have a gharry-walla, or coachman, with a syce, or groom, for each liorse, who runs with the horse ; and so on, ahiiost without end. Some of the servants must be Mo- hammedans, for the Hindoos will not touch certain dishes, and the Mohammedans, on the other hand, have their an- tipathies in household service which must be consulted. Among the chief objections to a residence in India is the extreme heat during the greater part of the year. Frost seldom occurs south of the Nerbudda, and even in the far north the winter season is known as such only by the cool nights. This season is very short, and from March to June the heat increases with great intensity. Hot scorching winds prevail, the earth becomes parched, and vegetation withers. J^or is the degree of heat gradu- ated by the latitude, excepting that it is more intense in the extreme north than in the central or southern parts. The great plain of Hindostan suffers most. I was inform- ed by a gentleman who has resided near the Himalaya Mountains, on the plain, for thirty years, that he had often seen the thermometer for weeks standing at midday in the shade at 110, 120, and 130, and at night it seldom falls, during the hot season, below 90 or 100. This would be al- most insupportable but for the punkas, which are kept mov- ing night and day. The mountains and the high table- lands afford a refuge, like " the shadow of a great rock in a weary land," to those who are able to remove. In June, when the heat is at its greatest, the clouds pile up, and the southeast monsoon bursts upon the land, attended with ter- rific storms of thunder and lightning, and torrents of rain. Every thing becomes saturated or swollen with moisture, as it was parched and warped with heat before. This rainy season is not of long continuance, and under the influence of the succeeding heat the land bursts forth into vegeta- tion, which advances, under occasional rains, with wonder- ful rapidity and beauty. The southeastern coast is not reached by the monsoons until late in the year. 232 ABOUND THE WOULD. The quantity of water that falls in the rainy season va- ries greatly in different localities, according to distance from the coast and the mountains, the sea and the low- marshy lands supplying moisture which the mountains condense. Sometimes a short distance makes a vast differ- ence in the rainfall. At Bombay, the average fall in the year is about 75 inches ; on the Ghauts, south of Bombay, it is 254 inches ; while a little farther inland, at Poonah, over the mountains, it is only 23 inches. According to the same authority, the fall of rain on the Khasia hills is 600 inches, fifty feet. This immense fall of water is attributed to the passing of the air from the sea over 200 miles of swampy country, by which it becomes surcharged with moisture, that precipitates itself when it strikes the mountains, and falls in toiTents as long as the monsoon prevails in that di- rection. Only twenty miles farther inland the amount is 200 inches. I met in India a veteran army officer who had spent twenty years in Assam, the eastern part of India. He gave me an extract from the meteorological record that he had kept in that country for many years which contain- ed some remarkable statistics. In one year, 1862, there fell at Chorra - poongee 725 inches of rain, a little more than sixty feet, probably the heaviest rainfall ever noted at any place on the earth. The sand-storms of India are even more remarkable than the rain. They are violent whirlwinds, occurring occasion- ally in the dry season, gathering up the dust and carrying it over the country in such volumes as actuallj^ to make midday as dark as midnight.* * Lady Baker, in her Letters from India, gives the following description of one of these sand-storms : ' ' Scarcely had the servants fastened firmly to the ground the large curtain which formed our tent door, and which was generally festooned back with green wreaths of mango-leaves, when the tent shook and swayed backward and forward, and in a few moments every thing was covered more than an inch deep with the finest dust, which had filtered through the numerous folds of the canvas. It was impossible to read or work ; the candles only gave a little gleam of light through the thick atmosphere, and all we touched was gritty. For four long hours our imprisonment lasted, and it was not until sunset that the servants pronounced it safe to release us. As soon as the G VEBNMENT OF INDIA ; EUROPEANS, ETC. 233 A BAI^D-STOKif. One of the greatest luxuries in India is American ice, which at the principal ports is received in large quantities, and is freely used. It comes fi'om Boston, and is no incon- siderable item in the trade with Bombay and Calcutta. A tent-flaps were lifted up, we all burst out laughing at each other — such ob- jects you never saw ! No one had an eyebrow or an eyelash to be seen ; the bronzed and red complexions which outdoor life had produced were all hid- den under a thick coating of dust, and we needed only a few streaks of paint to have looked like Clown in the pantomime, for our faces were quite as white as his. We could see the dense cloud moving on to the southwest, but all was beautifully clear behind it ; only a slight haze between us and it show- ed that the atmosphere was not quite free from dust a little beyond us. I looked at the horses : they were all as white as if they had been powdered with flour ; and the water-carriers were busy filling the large goatskins which serve them as water-jugs, to give every live thing which had been outside a good drink, and to wasli the dust out of their eyes and ears. The camels had buried their noses in the sand, and did not appear to have suffered at all.'' 234 AROUND THE WOULD. cargo of ice will waste from one third to one half in the passage to India by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, , but even with this waste it is a profitable shipment. Tlie raw material costs little ; a cargo is very speedily packed in a vessel, and when it reaches its destination in the East it is sold at an immense advance. The price of ice at Bom- bay and Calcutta varies from two and a half to five cents a pound, according to the supply, and even at these rates it is accounted as indispensable to living as in American cities, and the luxury is inconceivably greater. Owing to the extreme heat it can not be sent far into the country, but in former times it was sent to the wealthy nabobs and English residents on the heads of relays of coolies, fifty or sixty miles in the course of a night, and it is now sent much farther by rail. It is also manufactured artificially in the interior at no greater expense than its importation. At Allahabad there is a large establishment where the manufacture has been successfully and profitably carried on. If it be a blessing in America, where the thermometer sometimes reaches 95 as the extreme heat of the day, what a boon must it be in the north of India, where for days and nights together the thermometer does not fall as low as 100, and where it often reaches in the day 120 and 130 de- grees ! But the most of the people in the interior of India never saw ice, and comparatively few know any thing of its use. It is a 'miracle in their ideas. PUBLIC WOEKS ; PEODUCTIONS. The material development of India has gone forward with great rapidity within the last quarter of a century, more especially since it came directly under the control of ■the home government. One of the first enterprises under- PUBLIC WORKS; PEODUCTIONS. 235 taken was the construction of public roads. As the milita- ry and civil power of the English became more extended, it was found necessary to have better modes of transporta- tion, and the old East India Company undertook the con- struction of carriage-roads over the country. The work was vigorously prosecuted, and at great expense. The Grand Trunk Road extends from Calcutta to Peshawur, on the borders of Afghanistan, a distance of 1400 miles. These roads are no insignificant works. They are laid out by the best engineering skill, and executed in the most substantial manner. For more than a thousand miles from Calcutta northwest. no grading was required, excepting on very short distances, .but farther north the work was heavy. From Lahore to Peshawur, a distance of a little more than 250 miles, the road passes over 103 lai'ge bridges and 459 small- er ones, through six mountainous chains, and over immense embankments on the marshy borders of rivers. Its esti- mated cost was more than one million sterling. There are branch roads over the Sewalic range of the Himalayas,, in Bengal and the Punjaub, some of which are admirable specimens of engineering and grading, the surface being as smooth as the roads of England or of France. The soil it- self furnishes the material for their construction. Through a great part of the plains of India, small nodules of lime- ston'e, called hunkei', are found in large quantities a foot or two below the surface. It looks, when taken from the ground, as if it might have been broken up for making a Macadam road. When packed with the soil and watered, it forms a concrete, making a hard road-bed as smooth as it is durable. There are several thousand miles of these Mac- adam roads, frequently shaded with trees on either side to protect travelers from the raj^s of the sun. A work of still greater importance to India has been the opening of extensive canals, designed not so much for trans- portation as for Irrigation. The rains are very unequally distributed over the country ; they are not altogether equal in amount from year to year in the same locality, and the 236 ABOUJfJ) THE WOULD. seasons are so uniformly divided into rainy and dry that the soil and the crops frequently suffer, and the people in consequence, for the want of natural irrigation. Undei" che old Mogul emperors extensive canals were dug for the purpose of watering the plains, but the East India Compa- ny had been long established before any systematic attempt was made to supply the deficiency. In the mean time great scarcity of rain, and floods in other seasons, had brought on destructive famines, which more than decimated the popu- lation in large districts. The distress and loss of life were fearful. This suffering stimulated the government, though but too tardily, to provide against such calamities by an ex- tensive system of irrigation. The Ganges Canal, the chief work of this nature, reaching from Tlurdwar, near the sour- ces of the river, to Cawnpore, where it re-enters, 810 miles in length including its main branches, was an immense un- dertaking, but it has been an immense benefit to the coun- try. The main canal is 150 feet wide, is the channel of a rapid stream, and in its course crosses the Solani Kiver by what is said to be the most magnificent aqueduct in the world. This structure alone cost a million and a half of dollars. The Bari Doab Canal, between the Sutlej and the Ravi, nearly 500 miles in extent, cost the government more than seven millions of dollars. The Ganges Canal alone irrigates a million and a half of acres, and is not only a great public benefit, but a source of large profit to the gov- ernment. The telegraph was early introduced into India, connect- ing the principal cities north and south, east and west. During the mutiny it proved of incalculable importance. Wooden poles being less durable in that climate than in our own and many other countries, the wires to a large ex- tent are erected on stone or brick pillars. There are now 14,000 miles of telegraph wires in India, all under the con- trol of government, and subject to a uniform tariff, without regard to distance. A message of ten words may be sent from one end of the empire to the other for one rupee, about \ PUBLIC WORKS; PRODUCTIONS. 237 fifty cents in our money. "Within the last few years the telegraph service has brought a small profit to the govern- ment. The postal service is a source of revenue, although the postage is cheaper than in any other country, being a half anna (or one cent and a half) for any distance in the empire. The greatest change of a material nature that has taken place in India has been through its railM^ays. In no other part of the world has this improvement wrought such a revolution in travel, or made such a general innovation upon established customs. In Oriental countries time is a commodity that has no appreciable value. In making a journey, as in any and all the business of life, it has been a matter of no account to the natives whether weeks or hours were consumed; it was all the same to them. Even after Western ideas had taken root, speed was a plant of very slow growth. An American missionary informed me that when he first went to India he was three months in making the journey from Calcutta to Allahabad, a distance of 630 miles, which is now made regularly in about twenty-four hours. I met another gentleman in the north of India who said that, when he came to the country, less than twen- ty years ago, he was five months in making the passage from Calcutta to Dehra. When the railroad was opened from Delhi to Umballah in 1869, making a continuous line from Calcutta about the same distance as to Dehra, .and not far from it, a special train made the entire distance, 1154 miles, in forty-one hours— not a slight reduction from five months. In old times, the common mode of travel up country was by the River Ganges, in boats which were pulled and poled against the current at the rate of a very few, if any, miles a day. Sometimes the progress was rap- idly backward with the current. If great haste was re- quired, the palanquin was resorted to ; and in India coolies are not the most rapid travelers in the world. The introduction of railways was at first strongly op- posed by the natives and by some Europeans, but under 238 AROUSD THE WORLD. the encouragement and substantial aid of the East India government the work was undertaken. Yery few persons out of India appear to have any idea of the extent to which this branch of internal improvements has been car- ried. The first train of cars in India was set in motion in 1852, not twenty years ago, and now there are more than 5000 miles of railway in operation. The East Indian Eail- way extends already nearly 1500 miles from Calcutta to the northwest, near the borders of Afghanistan. The Great Indian Peninsular Eailway, from Bombay to the northeast, with its branches, is of almost equal extent, and, besides these, there are several important roads. The East Indian had a very practicable route laid out for it up the Valley of the Ganges. That part of India is a vast plain, resem- bling our Western prairies, or even more level and exten- sive. For more than a thousand miles .there is scarcely a single embankment or cut of any extent. Indeed, from Calcutta to the Himalaya Mountains one rarely meets the slightest elevation. This made the construction of that road very easy ; but in the west is some heavy work. For a hundred miles out of Bombay the Great Indian Peninsular Railway runs over and through a range of mountains by a succession of ghauts, over immense embankments and via- ducts of masonry, and is carried, within a short distance, through twenty tunnels cut in the solid rock. These works have been executed at immense expense. An idea of the solidity of the railways of India may be gathered from the fact that, notwithstanding so much of the country is an open plain, making their construction, excepting through occasional ghauts, comparatively easy, the average cost of the 4000 miles completed at the opening of the year 1S69 was $85,000 per mile. There are now more than 5000 miles in operation. They were built by private companies, the government guaranteeing five per cent, interest upon the capital invested, without which they could not have been undertaken. The amount of interest thus advanced by the government up to January 1st, 1869, was about PUBLIC WORKS; PRODUCTIONS. 239 $125,000,000, of which more than half had been repaid from the revenues of tlie roads. Throughout the entire peninsula the rails were laid with a uniform gauge of five feet six inches. The narrow gauge, I learn, has since been adopted. The weight of the rails varies from sixty to eighty-four pounds the yard. The route by rail from Calcutta to Bombay via Allaha- bad, a distance of 1470 miles, was completed in March. 1870, a month too late for me to avail myself of its facili- ties for a part of the distance; but the event was consid- ered one of great importance by travelers to and from the north and east of India. Formerly passengers from En- gland to Calcutta and the cities up the valley of the Gan- ges had sailed direct to Calcutta by the Cape or through the Ked Sea ; but now they land at Bombay, where they take the rail to Allahabad, 845 miles, and thence to Cal- cutta, 625 miles, or to the north of India. The time be- tween Bombay and Calcutta, according to the Indian Brad- sliaw, was sixty-nine hours. It may be sliortened ere this. Contrary to general expectation, the railways have been immensely popular among the natives. They are a travel- ing people, having been accustomed from ancient times to make long pilgrimages, and, as soon as they became famil- iar with the sight of the cars, they began to crowd them in great numbers. The system of caste was at first an ob- jection, inasmuch as a high-caste Brahmin was wont to con- sider himself polluted if even the shadow of a low-caste man fell upon him, and much more if he touched him. The companies were strongly importuned to establish caste cars, in conformity with the social regulations of the coun- try ; but the government wisely forbade it, and the advan- tages of this rapid mode of travel were found to be so great that these stern prejudices were overcome ; and now, all who are not willing to pay for the exclusive use of a car are packed together promiscuously. Mohammedans and Hindoos, Brahmins and Pariahs, may be seen sitting cheek by jowl as composedly as if they had all been made 240 AROUND THE WORLD. of one flesli. The railroads of India are thus havina: an important influence in breaking down the power of caste. The cars in India are after the European pattern, divided into compartments, but not equal in comfort to those of the same classes in England, and altogether inferior to those of our own country. The report of the Commission sent to the United States by the East India government to exam- ine our railroads, to which I have already referred, was al- together favorable to our system of construction and man- agement of cars, and especially of the Pullman cars. Im- mediately upon the publication of the report, an order was given for the remodeling of the carriages and the construc- tion of others having the accommodations of the Pullman cars. An application was also made, through the British minister at Washington and our own Secretary of State, for a competent American engineer to aid in remodeling tlieir whole railway system. Not in our own country have I heard more enthusiastic praises than I heard all over India of the grandeur and success of the great enterprise which laid an iron band across our wide continent, and built upon it those rolling palaces which pass from ocean to ocean with the fleetness of the wind and almost with the ease of a balloon. In making mention of some of the productions of the country, the one to be named of first importance as a source of revenue is the great curse of China. Opium had been raised in India long before it came imder British rule, but in 17Y3 the East India Company, becoming aware of its great pecuniary value, assumed the monopoly. It has ever since been raised under the direction and for the benefit of government. The amount exported, nearly all to China, in the financial year of 1869-70, was in value $58,466,650. The rulers of India and its merchants talk about the opium market, and the profits of the sale, as they do in London of consols, and as we do of our government securities, just as if it were not an unmitigated curse to the Chinese, who were compelled at the cannon's mouth PUBLIC WORKS; PBODUGTIONS. 241 to take it when they steadfastly refused. The government auction sale at Calcutta is a scene of more excitement than I ever witnessed at the Paris Bourse or among the brok- ers of New York. I came one day, in the business quar- ter of the city, upon a crowd of thousands of Mohammed- ans, Hindoos, Parsees, and other natives, not to speak of Europeans, who were wild with excitement. For a mo- ment I imagined that a riot had broken out ; but I soon learned that it was the monthly opium sale, in which more persons are interested than in the sale of stocks in our markets. Opium is produced almost exclusively in Bengal, in a district lying along the Ganges, about 600 miles long and 200 broad. It is the dried juice of the capsules of the common white poppy, extracted before the seed is fully ripe. The poppy-iields, when in full bloom, resemble greeii lakes studded with white water-lilies, the tract of country in which they grow being perfectly level. The following- account is given of the raising of the poppy and the man- ufacture of the drug : " The seed is sown in the beginning of ISTovember ; it flowers in the end of January, or a little later, and in three or four weeks the capsules or poppy-lieads are about the size of hens' eggs, and are ready for operating upon. The collectors each take a little instrument called a nushtur, made of three or four small blades of iron notched like a saw ; with this they wound each full-grown poppy-head as they make their way through the plants in the field. This is done early in the morning, before the heat of the sun is felt. During the day the milky juice of the plant oozes out, and early on the following morning it is collected by scraping it off, and transferred to an earthen vessel which the collector carries. When this is full it is carried home and transferred to a shallow brass dish, and left for a time tilted on its side, so that any watery fluid may drain out. This watery fluid is very detrimental to the opium unless removed. It now requires daily attendance, to be turned Q 24:2 AROUND THE WORLD. frequently, so that the air may dry it equally, until it ac- quires a tolerable consistency, which takes three or four weeks. It is then packed in small earthen jars and taken to the go-downs, or factories, where the contents of each jar is turned out, and carefully weighed, tested, valued, and credited to the cultivator. The opium is then thrown into vast vats, and the mass, being kneaded, is again taken out and made into balls or cakes. This is done in long rooms, the workmen sitting in rows, carefully watched by the overseers to insure the work being properly perform- ed. The balls are wrapped in layers of poppy petals and taken to a drying-room, placed in tiers on latticed racks, and continually turned and examined, to keep them from insects and from other injury. After being fully dried they are packed in chests for the market." The drug is supposed to cost the government, laid down in Calcutta, 400 rupees ($200) per chest. On arrival at the government go-downs in Calcutta, it is sold by public auc- tion, in lots of five chests, to the highest bidder. On the fall of the hammer the buyer has always the option of there and then securing as many succeeding lots as he wishes at the same rate as the lot he has just bought. The purchaser of any parcels has to pay, on the fall of the hammer, bargain - money at the rate of 50 to 100 rupees per chest, and the balance of purchase - money within a fortnight. It is not compulsory, however, to take imme- diate delivery of the opium, as the government allows it to remain, free of warehouse charge, for an indefinite period. These auctions take place once every month, a price of 400 rupees per chest being placed on the drug. All it realizes over and above this price goes toward increasing the revenue, and is a profit to the government. No pri- vate individuals are allowed to store opium in their go- downs ; all so found is looked upon as smuggled, and con- fiscated. When a buyer wishes to export his purchases, they are shipped for him by the government agent. For this production and traffic the government alone is respon- sible. PUBLIC WOBES; PRODUCTIONS. 243 Another of the important and somewhat peculiar pro- ductions of India takes its name from the country, indigo. It is the product of a plant of the order Leguminosce, and genus Lidigqfera, of which there are between one and two hundred species. The species cultivated in India, Tinc- toria, grows to the height of three or four feet. The dye was known to the ancients, being taken to Greece and Rome from India, from which it was called Iiidicum, and hence indigo. The coloring principle is contained in the stems and leaves, which yield a colorless fluid, that is changed into the beautiful dye by fermentation. The seed is sown in drills ; the plants are tender, and require great care ; in about two months they begin to flower, producing a pale red flower, when they are cut and laid in mass in great stone cisterns, covered with water, and kept down by heavy weights. In the course of twelve or fourteen hours fermentation commences, the whole mass appears to be boiling, and bubbles of air of a purple hue begin to rise. When this process is complete the liquid is drawn off into another vat, and violently agitated until the coloring mat- ter begins to precipitate itself, when it is left to settle. The water is again drawn off, and the indigo dried and prepared for commerce. The production for the financial year 1869-70 amounted in value to $15,890,225. More is produced in India than in all other countries together. The good housewives, who are well acquainted with the mode of testing indigo by putting a lump into water to ascertain whether it is good or bad, but who do not pre- cisely know whether the good will sink or swim, and vice versa, may be informed that the best quality will float on water. The poorer qualities, having much earthy matter, sink. The finest indigo, in a dry state, will scarcely make a mark on white paper. 244 AROUND THE WORLD. XVII. THE NATIVES OF INDIA ; CASTE, ETC. Befoee reaching India, I met with a very intelligent gentleman who had spent many years in that country. In the course of conversation I made some remark in regard to native society, to which he immediately replied, with an exclamation, " Native society ! Why, there is no such thing. The women (referring, of course, to the more wealthy class- es) never see any one, and the men spend their time be- tween eating and sleeping." This is a strong way of putting the matter ; but, with exceptional cases, it is the truth. There is no social life among the native population of India. The woman is no society to her husband, the only man whom, as a rule, she ever meets ; the man is no society to his wife : he regards her as belonging to an inferior order of beings, created only to minister to liis pleasure and comfort as a servant ; there is nothing like social intercourse between brothers and sisters ; and outside of the family, society, in our un- derstanding of the term, has no existence. Life is a dreary waste, judging it by the standards which prevail in all countries with which we are most familiar. It is not for the want of people that there is no society in India. Within the compass of 1900 miles in one direc- tion and 1500 in another (taking the diamond-shaped coun- try in its greatest length and breadth) there are two hun- dred millions of people thrown together. The most nu- merous of these are the Hindoos, who compose three fourths of the population, or about 150,000,000. Then come the Mohammedans, who number about 25,000,000. The remaining eighth is made up of the aboriginal tribes, whose immediate descendants still number several millions, THE NATIVES OF INDIA; CASTE, ETC. 245 the Parsees, the Buddhists, the Jews, and the Christians. There is also the same sprinkhng of other nations which is to be found in almost every part of the world where an exclusive system has not prevailed. The Hindoos are not the original possessors of the soil. When they came into the land, some thousands of years ago, they found it already occupied by a people who had strayed over there not long after the dispersion. These tribes, after some twenty-five or thirty centuries, may still be found a distinct people in Orissa and other parts of In- dia; but they are so small a part of the population that the Plindoo may be regarded as the native race; and not merely because the most numerous, but because it has for so long a period given character to the country. Though not always the reigning element among the people of In- dia, the Hindoo has been the pervading element; his relig- ion, the Brahminical, has been the catholic religion ; and the great feature of Hindooism, caste, has stamped itself upon the country as its prevailing type, a social system of greater power than any other that has appeared in our world, save only the divine system of Christianity, which is destined to triumph over all. The Mohammedans, who, many centuries before the in- troduction of European commerce and power, established themselves by successive conquests, and at length became the ruling class, retain their religious characteristics, though adapting themselves in many of the habits of life to the country of which they took possession. They introduced a splendor of architecture and a gorgeous style of life, which culminated in the magnificence that marked the Mogul dynasty, the monuments of which have not passed away with the destruction of their power in the East. It is one of the marvels of Oriental life that these differ- ent races, having religions not only different, but diametri- cally opposed, have lived together mth so little outbreak- ing hostility. The Hindoos are the grossest idolaters that have ever existed. Their forms of idol- worship and service 246 AROUND THE WORLD. have reached the lowest degradation, and yet the Moham- medans, whose religion is essentially a protest against idol- atry, have lived with them for long centuries, and each have maintained their own religion intact. The Moham- medan power came into India with its chief weapon of conversion, the sword, in hand, and for a time it was plied not without effect. Some succeeding emperors exhibited the spirit of proselytism, but, as a general thing, Moham- medans and Hindoos have lived together with remarkable tolerance of each other's antagonistic faiths. The Sikhs, who were once a powerful community in the north of India — powerful with their swords, and even now physically the finest race in all the land — were the product of an attempt to combine the two religions. After this new religion had been well established, it ended in attack- ing both Hindooism and Mohammedanism ; but, though it developed a hardy, warlike community, who are still distin- guished as soldiers, it has never had any great influence upon the religious thought or faith of the country. Of the Parsees, the followers of Zoroaster, and descend- ants of the ancient Fire-worshipers of Persia, who are con- fined chiefly to the city and vicinity of Bombay, I shall speak in another place. This brief enumeration of some of the constituent ele- ments of the population of India will give little idea of that curious piece of mosaic upon which one looks when he lands in that interesting country. In Eastern Asia, in China or Japan, for instance, every thing is of one type. The Japanese or Chinaman that you meet on entering his country is the Japanese or Chinaman that you meet every where. His face is the same. His form is the same. His dress is the same. But every thing is different in India. The mixed crowd that we saw on the banks of the Hoogly as we reached Calcutta, with their varied costumes of di- verse colors, was only a picture of the great multitude that one sees in traveling through the country. The very as- pect of the people is a study of which one never grows THE NATIVES OF INDIA; CASTE, ETC. 247 weary, it is so diversified. The many languages that he hears will remind him of the confusion of tongues at an earlier period of the race. The occupations of the people, so different from those to which he has been accustomed, will be to him an endless source of entertainment, if not of instruction. If he goes into their bazars and market-places, his curiosity will be still more excited. Their habits and customs, as far as he is allowed to observe them, will keep awake all his powers of observation. The costumes of the Hindoos are the same that were worn long centuries before the Christian era. That of the men usually consists of two pieces of wide cotton cloth, one of which is wrapped around the waist and falls to the calf of the leg, the other thrown loosely over the shoulder. A shawl or turban of some kind upon the head completes the dress. The women have a single piece of cloth, silk or cot- ton, plain or colored, eight or ten yards long, which is first partly tied around the waist, forming a garment that reach- es to the feet ; the rest is then passed around the body and over the head, falling down the back. A tight bodice is fi'equently worn underneath. The dress, especially that of the women, has a graceful appearance, and, as the colors are often bright, a company together presents a striking appearance. Until after the Mohammedan conquest no clothes that were cut or sewn were worn, and by some they are still regarded as unlawful. But loose trowsers are now frequently worn, even by Hindoos. The wealthier classes among the natives, both Mohammedan and Hindoo, indulge freely in dress, wearing the richest brocades and finest mus- lins, trimmed with gold and silver lace. They are all and equally fond of jewels and other ornaments, the women having no Hmit to their decoration except the extent of their means. The most valuable gems are usually set un- cut, some of them having been handed down in their rough state through many generations. The natives of India have an almost instinctive appreciation of pure and valuable gems, which are estimated, not according to their outward 248 AROUND THE WOULD. aspect, but their intrinsic worth. The common people ex- hibit their fondness for jewehy by a profusion of orna- ments. They have rings in their ears and rings in their noses, necklaces, armlets, and anklets without number, wind- ing off with rings on their toes. The rings worn in the nose are usually put through the side of the nostril, and sometimes are several inches in diameter — extremely incon- venient, to say the least. The different races and religions may all be distinguished by their dress, even though it be of the same general style. The Hindoos, for instance, fast- en the tunic, or vest, upon the right side ; the Mohammed- ans on the left. The condition of woman among the natives of India, as in all the East, has been very defective'ly represented. She is nowhere elevated to her true position as the equal com- panion of man ; she is excluded from the ordinary social intercourse of life ; her apartments are usually in striking contrast with those of her assuming lords, barren of furni- ture, and cheerless in appearance ; her person is decked with costly apparel and more costly jewels, but only as a doll is ornamented to gratify the pride of the possessor ; among the poorer classes she is often made a mere beast of burden ; by none is she deemed worthy of education ; and yet, with all this, I was surprised, after all I had heard, to find that she exerts so great an influence, and that so many women, breaking through all the disadvantages and obsta- cles which surround them in Oriental life — not by ste23ping out of the narrow sphere assigned them, but by mere force of intellect and character — make their power felt. The truth is, that since the foundation of human society, woman has been a power in the world the world over. In India, as in China, the mother, ignorant as she is, has the mould- ing of the rising race, and not a few hold the sceptre in the household even over those who claim to be of a higher or- der by virtue of their sex. In the records of all the ages there are evidences of the great influence of woman among the Hindoos, and still to THE NATIVES OF INDIA; CASTE, ETC. 249 more among the Mohammedans. The most beautiful, cost- ly, and magnificent monument ever erected to a mortal stands to-day in the heart of Hindostan. It was built by one of the Mogul emperors as the tomb and memorial of his wife. While she lived she held his heart and his throne in her hands, and when she died he poured out his wealth upon her grave. A still more remarkable woman was the wife of the Emperor Jehangeer, of whoiii the historian writes, " Her influence over the emperor must have been as great as the most ambitious of her sex could desire. He took no step without consulting her, and on every affair in which she took an interest her will was law. Previous to his marriage the emperor had been intemperate, capricious, and cruel. Through her influence his habits and conduct were greatly improved, if not entirely reformed. The cer- emonies, manners, and usages of the court were remodeled by her ; its splendor was increased by her arrangements, while its expenses were diminished by her management." These are exceptional cases ; but the influence of woman in the East, notwithstanding her general degradation and her disadvantages, is far greater than we are often told. Nor are the women of the higher classes so unhappy as is gen- erally supposed. Their wants are fewer than those of wom- en in more enlightened countries, and such as they feel are usually well supplied. Not being educated, they are gen- erally content, if not happy in their lot. There is still a large amount of wealth among the na- tives, although so many kings and princes have lost their territories and their revenues by the encroachments of the latest conquerors of the country. Some of them live lav- ishly, after the style of former sovereigns. I saw recentl}" a statement in one of the India papers that the Maharajah of Travancore (" May his weight never be less," exclaimed the editor), in anticipation of his investiture with the dig- nity, was weighed in scales against gold, and the gold dis- tributed among the Brahmins. The gold was coined into pieces varying from 9.28 grains to 78.65 grains. The whole 250 AROUND THE WOULD. expense of the ceremony, inclnding the feeding of some ten thousand Brahmins, was acknowledged to be 160,000 rupees, which, with other ceremonies that must be per- formed before the Maharajah's elevation, would amount to more than $150,000. The subject of food is one of paramount importance with all classes of the natives, not merely as to how it shall be obtained, but still more as to what shall be eaten. The Brahmins eat no animal food of any kind, having a relig- ious abhorrence of the destruction of life. Some of them have the water they drink carefully strained lest it should contain a gnat. Even eggs are forbidden, as possessing the germ of animal life. All Hindoos of every caste ab- stain from beef. Mohammedans, of course, eschew pork. Brahmins and others of high caste abstain from all intoxi- cating drinks, using only water or pure milk. In Bengal the people live largely upon rice, but in the north of India wheat, and barley, and other cereals are the staples. Very little animal food is used by any of the natives. The most striking characteristic of Hindoo society, if so- ciety it may be called — that which constitutes its very frame-work, as much as do the bones and tendons of the human system, the like to which is found among no other people, from the civilized to the savage — is caste. Most nations and tribes have their distinctions, some of them hereditary and strongly marked, but nowhere else is there such a system of caste as that which is found in India. It is very difficult to describe it so that it may be compre- hended by those who have not seen its workings, although its rules are well defined and more unchangeable than the laws of the Modes and Persians. The term caste is of modern origin, derived from the Portuguese in the thirteenth century, but the thing itself is as old as the Aryan invasion, centuries before the Christian era. The Aryans, from whatever quarter of Asia they came, brought with them a well-defined, social, and civil polity, which at once took root in a congenial soil, and has THE NATIVES OF INDIA; CASTE, ETC. £51 continued to flourish until the present time. Its roots run deeper and are more firmly fixed than those of any other social system in existence. Caste, which is not without its advantages in such a state of society as that which has pre- vailed in India, is, nevertheless, the mighty barrier which opposes all progress and elevation, and the great obstacle in the way of the Gospel of Christ. According to the Laws of Menu, a work supposed to have been written about nine hundred years before Christ, Hindoo society is divided into four grand classes : 1. The Brahmins, who are said to have emanated from the mouth or head of Brahma, the Creator, and who are the chief of all created beings, the head of society, the teachers and priests for all others. A Brahmin is to be treated with the most profound respect even by kings; his life and person are protected by the severest laws in this world, and by the most tremendous denunciations for the world to come. They are supposed to have the power of blessing and curs- ing all others. 2. The second class, the Kshatryas, who sprang from the shoulders and arms of Brahma, are the military class, and have something of a sacred character ; they are the executive class. The Brahmins draw up and interpret the laws, but the Kshatryas administer them, so that these two classes are in a measure dependent upon each other. 3. The third class, the Vaishyas, sprang from the thighs or loins of Brahma, and are the mercantile class, the men of business. It is their province to carry on trade, cultivate the soil, keep cattle, and to acquire and practice all useful knowledge. 4. The fourth class, the Sitdras, sprang from the feet of Brahma. They are the servile class ; they are to serve the three higher classes, especially the Brahmins, and never to aspire to the dignity or priv- ileges of the others ; they are neither to acquire property, nor to acquire knowledge by reading, but to remain in an abject condition all their days and through all generations. These may be called the ideal laws of caste as found in the ancient books, but the two middle classes have now no 252 AROUND THE WORLD. very distinct existence. The Brahmins are the only high caste, the otlier three having been subdivided until there are eighteen principal and more than a hundred minor classes, every trade, and profession, and employment form- ing a separate caste, from which no one can rise to a high- er, or even descend to a lower.- A man, by breaking the rules of his particular order, as by eating or drinking with a person of a lower caste, becomes an outcast, and will be equally spurned by those above and below him. The dis- tinction is hereditary, and does not depend upon any ac- quired position. No outward social rank confers the priv- ilege. The poorest Brahmin in India would consider him- self defiled for all time, and would be so considered by all others, if he were to eat with the Emperor of the Eussias. The Governor General of India could not find a man of the lowest caste who would be willing to partake of his hospitality. Brahmins are often found in comparatively humble positions in life, but the loftiest Hindoos who do not belong to their caste must pay them reverence. At Calcutta I saw a high-caste Hindoo who was employed by a wealthy merchant as a porter, but the rich Hindoo could never pass the high-caste man who was waiting at his door without making a humiliating sign of obeisance and of real subjection. The rules of caste are broken not by crime. A man may commit murder, adultery, theft, or perjury, and even be convicted of such crimes, without losing caste ; but if he violates any of the ceremonial laws, especially if he should eat with a European, or even with a Mohammedan of India, or with any one not belonging to his class, he would be degraded, and only by the most humiliating pro- cess of atonement, and by paying an enormous sum, could he be restored, if at all. A Brahmin was once forced by a European to eat meat. Although his offense was involun- tary, he could not be restored after three years' penance, even by the offer of forty thousand dollars ransom. He subsequently regained his former position by the payment THE NATIVES OF INDIA; CASTE, ETC. 253 of a hundred thousand. While I was in India a high- caste Hindoo was present at an entertainment, partly so- cial and partly official, given by Europeans, and partook of some article of food in their society. He was afterward compelled to pay a heavy fine, and to eat the excrements of beasts, and humble himself before an idol with costly presents, before he could be recognized by those of his own caste. It is not merely the pride of a clan, or the rule of a sect; there is an inborn, ingrained feeling in a Hindoo which makes the laws of his caste seem inexora- ble and essential. He is bound by an invisible but mighty chain, which it is next to impossible for him to break. If he violates the rules of caste he is driven from home, and friends, and society, an object of contempt and execration, and any friend who should give him shelter or counte- nance would become an outcast. Neither parents, nor wife, nor children would be allowed to hold intercourse with him. This is the penalty that every Hindoo incurs who be- comes a Christian, and caste thus proves one of the most serious obstacles to the progress of the Christian religion. Even the lowest Sudra becomes an outcast if he enters into fellowship with Christians ; and partaking of the holy communion is an act which would effectually cut him off from all future intercourse with his own people. It is a severe test, but just such a test as was indicated by the promise of the Sa^dor : " Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and sliall inherit everlasting life." The Ro- man Catholics, on coming to India in the sixteenth cent- ury, finding the power of caste so strong, conformed to it, employing low-caste priests to minister to those of low caste, the Jesuit fathers carrying the sacraments to the sick and dying only in secret and by night. But it was justly said of them that they became Hindoos instead of making the Hindoos C]^ristians. Swartz and other Ger- 254 ABOUND THE WORLD. man missionaries made some concessions to caste, but all English and American Protestant missionaries have con- sistently and persistently refused to give it any place in the Christian Church. Pariahs, a numerous class, are lower than the Sudras ; they are literally outcasts; but even they have their dis- tinctions and their rules, to vs^hich they rigidly adhere, al- though they occupy the lov^^est depths in the social scale. The system of caste is becoming undermined by educa- tion and by the influence of Christianity. Intercourse vdth intelligent Europeans is slowly operating upon the public mind to weaken its power. The introduction of railways, as I have abeady mentioned, by compelling men of all castes to sit together, often crowded into a compact mass, has done much to overcome the senseless notion that one man is spiritually defiled by touching another, or by any sim- ple act of social intercourse. TJie destruction of the sys- tem does not seem so hopeless or so remote as it once did. XVIII. CALCUTTA TO BENARES. I HAVE interjected some information in regard to the government and people of India in order that I may be more free to continue the narrative of the journey as far north as the Himalaya Mountains, and thence to Bombay. Down to the last hour of our stay in Calcutta, which had been protracted many days, our visit was full of interest. We had entered it perfect strangers, but among the Scotch and English residents, as well as among the American rep- resentatives, we had found warm friends, whose acquaint- ance we would gladly have cultivated longer, but our plans of travel through India made it necessary to improve the cool season. In that far-off land-there is a warmth of hos- CALCUTTA TO BENAMES. 255 pitality that is all the more welcome so far from home, and we recall with great delight the pleasant social scenes in which it was our privilege to mingle. JSTationality was quite forgotten until we were invited specially to meet a party of American friends, when thoughts of the Stars and Stripes, and talk of cities and scenes over which they wave, and of mutual fiiends whose home was beyond all the seas, quick- ened the pulsations of our hearts. The United States have some noble representatives in Calcutta, of whom I would speak did not the rules of hospitality forbid. We regretted being obliged to leave just at the time we did, as we should miss the grand durbar to be held in hon- or of Prince Alfred, who was to arrive within a day or two. We had seen the displays at Shanghai and Hong Kong ; but his coming to Calcutta, the capital of England's richest possession, was the occasion of one of the most bril- liant scenes witnessed in India since the days of the old Mo- gul emperors. The ruling dignitaries from all parts of the empire were summoned to the capital, and with them were invited the native princes and rajahs of high degree, who came prepared to join in the demonstrations with all the show of Eastern pomp and circumstance. Trains of ele- phants had been sent from the north, and the procession was to be one of true Oriental magnificence. The scene at the Government House, when all the princes appeared in full costume and dignity, was dazzling beyond description. It was a beautiful moonlight night when we were driven to the banks of the Hoogly, to cross over to the cars of the East India Railway that were to take us twelve hundred miles to the north. The shadows had fallen over the streets of the City of Palaces ; the noisy tumult of the day, in which thousands of Orientals and Europeans had joined, making the thoroughfares a scene of gay confusion, was over ; in almost profound stillness we passed up the Chow- ringee Poad, by the Government House, through the main streets, past the site of the Black Hole, now occupied by stately buildings, and reached the bank of the river. The 256 ABOUND THE WORLD. tide was out, and we were obliged to commit ourselves to tlie arms of the coolies, who carried us through the deep mud of the river to the small boat in which our luggage was awaiting us. We were not subjected to the trick which the boatmen played upon some other travelers. The price of ferriage had been agreed upon beforehand, but in the middle of the stream the ingenious Hindoo boatmen de- manded more pay, and gave their passengers the choice of complying with the demand or leaving the boat. The latter alternative was not altogether convenient in the circumstan- ces, and they were compelled to hand over the extra pay. Howrah, the terminus of the East India Railway, is di- rectly opposite Calcutta. It is a place of no importance in itself, but the railway station and the works of the road, with its extensive business, have built up a small town on the borders of the jungle. Here, in a dimly -lighted depot, and still more dimly-lighted cars, we arranged ourselves for a journey of twenty-four hours, our first experience of rail- way traveling since leaving the shores of America; Although the day had been exceedingly warm, and the sun's rays oppressive, if not dangerous, before morning we wrapped ourselves, in the sleeping-car, with all the clothing we could find, including traveling -shawls and blankets. During the winter months, over a great part of India, the nights become extremely cold, so that the warmest covering is agreeable. Not until the next morning, and after we ,had noticed that the outside of our car attracted special at- tention at each stopping-place, did we discover that it bore the following placard : " Whole carriage, two compartments to Benares reserved : party of American ladies and gentle- men." For its exclusive use (though not on the principle of caste) we were indebted to the Idndness of a friend at Calcutta and the politeness of the railroad officials at How- rah. Our railway guide-book was to us something of a curios- ity from the novelty of the names of the towns that we passed : Pannaghur, Raneegnnge, Seeterampore, Ahmood- CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 257 pore, Maliarajpore, Sahibgunge, Bhangulpore, and many other pores, not including Putty -muddy -fudge -pore, of which I have read. The ^wSixpore is as common in India as tow7% or ton in our own country, and the signification is much the same. There is httle in the scenery going north from Calcutta that is attractive. At one or two points the country breaks out into some demonstrations of grandeur, but the vast plain of the Ganges is almost wholly without variety. It is generally in a state of cultivation — not high cultivation, for the whole country has the appearance of exhaustion from its effort to sustain so many millions for thousands of years. Occasionally we passed through rich rice-fields, and the crops were green as in summer-time, but nowhere did we see the signs of good, thrifty tillage. One reason doubt- less is that the people are not landholders, and are not stim- ulated to keep the land up to the maximum of its produc- ing capacity. It was a novelty in agriculture to see cam- els yoked to the plow like oxen, and elephants working in the field with the sagacity of farmers. They are frequent- ly employed in the East to perform work which requii-es a discriminating eye and good judgment, and this, too, with- out an overseer. They are trained to lift and pile lumber with their trunks, which they do with as much exactness as if they used a plumb-line. A striking peculiarity of the great plain of India, and indeed of the whole of Asia, from the east to the west, as far as I have seen it, is the destitution of forests. With all the beauty of verdure and foliage which marks Japan, 1 did not see, within the thousand miles of the emjDire that I traversed, a single forest of any extent. The whole coast of China, along which I sailed more than a thousand miles, and the interior, as far as I penetrated it, had only sparse- ly scattered trees. Farther inland there are heavily-tim- bered districts, but I saw none. There is not the sign of a forest from Calcutta to the mountains, although a large part of the country is in jungle. Even the Himalaya R 258 ABOUND THE WORLD. Mountains that I subsequently crossed, and the second range that I ascended, were only sprinkled with trees, in comparison with the grand old dense forests of magnificent growth which form one of the sublime features of Ameri- can scenery. And to anticipate still farther ; Syria, includ- ing tlie mountains of Lebanon, is almost destitute of trees. All that remain of the cedars of Lebanon can be counted in a few moments. The plain of India, which led me into this digression, has scattered groves of palm, and acacia, and guava, and mango, and many other Oriental trees, but they are all planted for shade or fruit. Centuries ago the forests were cut down to supply the necessities of an im- mense population, but the soil does not appear to have the reproductive power that is a marked feature of our own. The night had gathered around us before we reached Mogul-Serai, where we were transferred to another short road, by which we reached the bank of the Ganges oppo- site Benares. Crossing by a bridge of boats, we entered by moonlight that ancient and magnificent city — in the eyes of a Hindoo, the holiest spot on the face of the globe. India has three capitals, although two of them are more historic than real ; Calcutta, the actual capital, the seat of the British viceroyalty ; Delhi, the Mohammedan capital, the seat of the old Mogul dynasty ; and Benares, the an- cient Hindoo capital, still regarded by Brahminists as the centre of the world. It is the Mecca of the Hindoos, the point to which their most sacred tlioughts turn, and where, of all places, they think it blessed to die. Indeed, it is an article of Hindoo faith that the vilest sinner, if he dies with- in a circle of ten miles around Benares, is sure of passing at once into everlasting bliss. Thousands are brought to the shores of the Ganges at this spot, that they may drink and bathe in its waters, and die within the charmed circle, with their eyes resting on the sacred river. As soon as the breath has departed, their bodies are burned upon its banks, and the ashes thrown to mingle with its waters. CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 259 Water taken from the ghauts is carried by pilgrims over the whole land, and every where regarded as holy water. The city, one of great antiquity, has passed through many and great mutations. Hindooism, and Buddhism, and Mohammedanism have here successively reigned, the former all the while clinging to the soil as its own sacred inheritance. One ancient city, about five miles from the present site, has passed away, almost from memory, leaving scarcely a trace behind. I spent a morning among its sparse but massive ruins, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Sher- ring, the learned antiquarian and historian of Benares, and the Eev. Mr. Hutton, both of the London Missionary Socie- ty, to whom I was indebted for most of the pleasure and interest of my sojourn. The modern city, if I may apply such a term to one that has stood unchanged for centuries, is the most magnificent in its architecture, and the most strictly Oriental in aspect of all the cities of India. There are grander structures at Agra and Delhi, and there is more of show at Lucknow, but nowhere else does the traveler find himself dreaming over so constantly the fancies which filled his imagination when, as a boy, he read the tales of the East, or when, in riper years, he lingered over the pages of its history. Per- haps I should make some qualification in speaking of the grandeur of this or of any Oriental city. In no other part of the world does distance lend so much enchantment to the view as in the East. Domes and minarets, and palaces with lofty, fretted porches, and palm-trees, and Oriental skies, form a picture that is truly enchanting; but when one attempts to thread the narrow winding alleys that are called streets, and is jostled at every step by men, and wom- en, and donkeys, and camels, and sacred bulls, to say noth- ing of an occasional elephant, whose huge dimensions ap- pear to require more than all the space between the walls, he loses sight of the magnificence, and is absorbed with the realities of the place. But, even with these quahfications, the views of Benares 260 ABOUND THE WORLD. Avhich linger in my memory are the grandest recollections of all the cities of the East. As seen from the lofty min- aret of the Mosque of Aurungzebe, the domes of a thou- sand temples, the minarets of three hundred mosques, and palaces without number, which princes have built, that they may live and die in sight of the holy river, make up a magnificent picture. Tlie city is skirted with palms and acacias, and the deified peepul, all which add to the beau- ty of the scene. But, to see its real grandeur, one must look upon it from the Ganges. Benares is situated on a bluff, rising precipitously from the river. Its most massive structures have their foundations laid in the river itself, and rise up a hundred feet by terraces or ghauts, broad stone stair- ways, so that the palaces, and mosques, and temples over- hang the river. The style of architecture is gorgeous, and the whole scene so enchanting that, as one floats down the stream, he seems to be gazing upon a city built in fairy land. Even now, as I look back upon it, and attempt to trace with my pen the impressions that were made upon my mind, I seem to be dreaming. The city stretches two or three miles along the Ganges ; but its cliief magnificence is crowded into a single mile above the bridge of boats. Tlie English town known as Secrole stands entirely by itself, and is laid out with broad streets finely shaded, and a grand esplanade for military evolutions. In driving toward the river for the purpose of making the passage down the Ganges in an open dinghy to obtain this view, we came at length to the city proper, from which, by the narrowness of the streets, carriages are excluded as effectually as by impenetrable walls. Order- ing the carriage to make a circuitous route in order to meet us below, we took to our feet, and soon came to the DoorgTia Khond, a temple dedicated to the goddess Door- gha, but actually devoted to monkeys. Hundreds and thousands of these caricatures of humanity, made more im- pudent by being petted, if not worshiped by the Brahmins, CALCUTTA TO £ENAIiUS. 261 wlio are their humble servants, filled the temple and the adjoining courts, and swarmed into the streets and neigh- boring grounds, and grinned at us from every house-top, and garden- wall, and tree. They have the perfect freedom of this part of the town. Taking a boat, we slowly descended the river, admiring the splendid panorama of Oriental architecture as it seemed to move past us. First comes the Mem Mandil, the observ- atory of Jai Singh, a grand structure, which still has, on its broad stone roof, charts of the heavens drawn by Indian astronomers in the days of the Mogul emperors. Large in- struments that were in use centuries ago are in its galleries. Here is the ghaut leading to the Golden Temple of Shiva, the reigning divinity of the city, where, on the following day, we saw the worshipers, some of them of high degree, bringing their offerings in successive groups, to be laid on the altar and washed with the water of the sacred stream. Hindoo temples cluster thick around, and sacred places, holy wells, and shrines, all visited by devotees, reminded us of Paul's visit to Athens, where " his spirit was stirred wdthin him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." The idols of Benares number more than half a million. Then comes a succession of ghauts, broad terraces and flights of steps of hewn stone which line the river's bank, and overhanging balconies, from which the princely pro- prietors look out upon the river which seems to them so near to Paradise. Here we reach the great Mosque of Aurungzebe, the Mohammedan pride of the city, whose foundation walls rise up from the water's edge, the build- ing towering up in massive beauty, and the minarets pier- cing the air still higher. Great numbers of Hindoos, men and women, have come down the long flights of steps to bathe in the Ganges, and all along we see them performing their ablutions with religious solemnities, hoping thus to wash away their sins. Others are worshiping the river itself, bowing often and repeating their prayers, absorbed in their devotions, and apparently unconscious of the pres- 262 AROUND TEE WORLD. THE 6KAHD MOSQUE. ence of others. Every now and then we come to a land- ing-place devoted to the burnmg of the Hindoo dead. We pass pile after pile made ready for the cremation. From some the smoke and flames are ascending to perfume the city, making this quarter of the town almost unendurable excepting to a. Hindoo. Leaving the river, we climbed one of the ghauts by a flight of more than a hundred steps, and re-entered the city, threading our way through the narrow streets. Pres- ently we encountered one of the Brahminy bulls, a race of animals held sacred as the gods, and, knowing the fanati- CALCUTTA TO BENABES. 263 BtrENING THE DEAD. cism of the Brahmins, who adore them, and the imperious nature of the bulls themselves, we gave him a wide berth. These animals, from time immemorial, have enjoyed the freedom of the city, no one being allowed to molest them in any wise, or even to interfere with their predatory hab- its. If they choose to enter a china-shop, no one must say nay, and if a grocer's stock happens to strike their fancy, the proprietor would not dare to interfere with their claims. 264 AROUND THE WORLD. They are, consequently, always in good condition, living on the fat of the land. A few years since they had multiplied to such an extent, and had become so imperious in their exactions, that the English local authorities determined, if possible, to rid the city of the nuisance, or at least to tliin them out. But how to do this without exciting the horror of every Hindoo, and, perhaps, raising a rebellion, was the problem. To kill the Brahminy bulls would be a thousand times worse than to behead so many princes. At length the problem was solved ; it was decided to turn them out to graze in the jungle, where the tigers, who have no Brah- mmical scruples, made short work with them, and the city was relieved. We had ordered our carriage to meet us at the bazar, near the residence of the Rajah Sir Deo IS^arain Singh, a distinguished native prince. During the terrible mutiny of 1857 he had remained faithful to the British govern- ment, and had rendered important service, for which he was made a Knight Commander of the Star of India. The queen had made personal acknowledgment of his services by sending an elaborate piece of silver plate bearing an ap- propriate inscription. The gentleman w^ho accompanied us, a resident of Benares, being on terms of familiar ac- quaintance with the rajah, proposed a call, and, nothing loth, we complied. Passing through an outer court-yard, in which several elephants were in waiting, we entered a large flower-gar- den, rather stiiBy arranged, but admirably kept, and, as- cending a flight of steps, were met by the rajah's eldest son, who has since succeeded to the title and honors of the father. Giving us a cordial welcome, and inviting us to the reception-room, he ordered refreshments and enter- tained us with conversation in English, expressing great re- gret that his father was absent on his estates in the conn- try. He gave an order to one of the servants, who pres- ently returned with two glittering silver garlands called malas, and the young rajah, throwing them over our necks. CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 265 said, " This is the way we express hospitality in our coun- try." We retained them and wore them away. Another servant brought perfumery for our handkerchiefs, and, as we were leaving, we were presented with bouquets of flow- ers from the garden. The next morning, as we were at breakfast, word was brought that the rajah's servants were entering the com- pound with baskets on their heads, and they appeared with presents from the young prince. There were all sorts of vegetables, a box of Cabool grapes, raisins, nuts, a large cir- cular cake of rock candy, etc., etc. About two o'clock he called upon us in a carriage, with his attendants. Being a high-caste Hindoo, we were unable to show him the usual rites of hospitality, but we entertained him according to the best of our ability, and gave him a hearty invitation to visit our country, where we might reciprocate his atten- tions. As he was leaving, he informed us that one of his ele- phants should be at our service if we would like to make an excursion into the country. Soon the elephant, with mahout and another attendant, appeared. He was a noble specimen of his species, and, somewhat peculiar, mottled or spotted on his breast. Obedient to command, he came down upon his belly, and even then we required a ladder to mount to the howdah, the tower upon his back. This was our first experience in elephant riding, and, although the excursion was one of great pleasure, the motion was just about as agreeable as that of a boat in a short chop- ping sea, or, to draw a comparison from the land, it was very much like making an excursion upon the back of a small mountain. I find that in the East the elephant, while he has full credit for his sagacity, does not bear the high reputation for fidelity which is current in the West. Even the best of the race, and those which have been long domesticated, are liable to freaks which have the appearance of insanity, in which they sometimes attack their most tried friends. 266 ABOUND THE WOULD. The year before, an old schoolmate of my own, who has been many years in Siam as a missionary physician, and whom I expected to visit on my way. Dr. S. K. House, hav- ing occasion to go out several days' journey from Bankok to perform a surgical operation, took the usual mode of con- veyance for a long journey, with suitable attendants. Oue morning, having spent the night in his tent, as he was pre- paring to start, he passed by his elephant, which, for some unaccountable reason, struck him down with his trunk and tore him fearfully with his tusks. He was obliged to per- form for himself the office of a surgeon, sewing up his own wounds, and it was several days before he could be moved from the scene of his injury. This treachery on the part of elephants may be owing to the fact that they are usually taken wild and subdued by severe discipline, and probably are not thoroughly tamed. They may lay up the remem- brance of their subjugation and injuries, and watch for an opportunity to avenge themselves. But to return to the rajah. I was pained, on reaching home, to receive the intelligence of the death of the noble Hindoo, the father, through the following tribute to his worth which appeared in the Friend of Iiviia : "The death of Rajah Sir Deo Narain Singh, K. C. S. I, which occurred at Benares suddenly on Sunday evening, Au- gust 28th, is a great loss, not only to the city, but to India generally. During many years he occupied a foremost place among the natives in all matters connected with the prosper- ity of the country. He was a man of very liberal views. His mind was noble and benevolent, and he had no sympa- thy whatever with those mere party questions which injure one class of the people by benefiting another. Of good nat- ural intelligence, frank and courteous, enthusiastic and enter- prising, his opinions on all matters that came before him were those of a thoughtful, fearless, and honest man. Sin- cerity — valuable every where, and especially so in India — was his distinguishing characteristic. He has been cut off in the prime of life and in the maturity of his powers. On sev- eral occasions of difficulty and danger he rendered invalu- able assistance to the government, and, indeed, he was ever a CALCUTTA TO BUNABES. 26T stanch and loyal friend. In the year 1857 he was the chief native adviser of the English officials in Benares, and it is not too much to affirm that the safety of the city and neigh- borhood during those perilous times was, to a large extent, secured by his devotion and counsel. For the important services he then rendered, the government conferred upon him the title of rajah. He was one of the first native mem- bers of the Legislative Council of India. The part which he took in the debates of the council, during his term of office, proved him to be a man of independent thought, of clear judgment, and of earnest sound convictions. No man in Benares was for a moment to be compared with him in zeal for public welfare. His house was open to all comers who visited him for consultation and advice. For eight years he presided over the Benares Institute, and was the life and soul of that society. His death gave a sudden shock to the city, and both Europeans and natives alike felt that they had lost their truest and most faithful friend." I subsequently received a copy of the Friend of India containing an account of the investiture of the son with the titles and dignities of the father, " in recognition of the faithful and eminent services of the late rajah." He is now the Eajah Sumbhoo Narain Singh. May he long wear his honors as worthily as his father ! The last morning that we spent in Benares we devoted to visiting some of the Hindoo temples, in which the city abounds. They are erected in honor of all sorts of gods ; many of them by private munificence, in fulfillment of vows or under some religious impulse. Some of the tem- ples of Benares are costly, and have a show of splendor about them, especially the Golden Temple ; but it is more in show than reality. Even the Golden Temple, which is the pride of the Hindoos of Benares, and which more than all others is resorted to by pilgrims from afar, is not at- tractive either in its external or its internal appearance. The pointed dome, which is characteristic of this style of buildings, is not without beauty of outline, but there is usu- ally nothing in the surroundings of these temples to make them pleasing, and they are far from being neatly kept. 268 AROUND THE WOULD. A UI^D^O ILMILL In almost all respects they are in striking contrast with the mao;;niiicent mosques of the Mohammedans in the same cities, and there is a good reason for the contrast. When the Mohammedans subdued and took possession of India, they destroyed the monuments of the ancient religion, using the material for building their mosques, and at the same time prohibiting the erection of temples, excepting of very limited dimensions. Throughout the North of India, therefore, the Hindoos scarcely have any thing that can be called temples; they are all diminutive structures — mere shrines. Out of the hundreds or thousands that I saw, I CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 269 think there was not one that would measure more than twenty-five feet in its greatest diameter. It is different in Southern India, where some of the most extensive struc- tures in the world are to be found. The ordinary services at the temple are not elaborate. The worsliipers present offerings of flowers, fruits, jewels, money, etc., which become the perquisite of the priests. The life of a Hindoo is one of ceaseless devotion to his re- ligion, and the visit to the temple may be only the last act in a long service or pilgrimage, or the initial step to some such enterprise, and consumes but little time. There are, indeed, occasions of grand ceremonial when the gods are taken out for an airing, but the shrines themselves afford no room for any gathering of the people. The assem- blages take place at some consecrated spot, like the banks of the sacred rivers. As we approached the Golden Tem- ple, we found it occupied by a small party of distinguished pilgrims from the up-country ; and when they had retired it was flooded with the water of the Ganges, which had been poured upon their offerings to sanctify them. The temple, within and without, was in a very filthy condition. Benares has a distinction in Asiatic history as the spot where the founders of Buddhism co-mmenced the propaga- tion of that religion. At one period it was firmly estab- lished in various parts of India, but at length was driven out to seek its home in more Eastern countries, where it is still exerting its sway over hundreds of millions. The ru- ins of Sarnath, an extensive Buddhist establishment near Benares, and the monasteries cut into the rocky mountains in the west of India, which I subsequently visited from Bombay, bespeak the firm hold which it once had upon tlie people among wliom it originated. The gold brocades of Benares are among the most costly and elegant fabrics of the world, rich and exquisite beyond description, and as costly as they are beautiful. As the merchants took them out of the safes and displayed them to us, we could almost imagine that the Mogul dynasty, in 270 ABOUND THE WOBLD. BLINS NEAR 1 r> \KrS all its gorgeous splendor, was to be re-established ; we could not imagine how otherwise there could be a demand for such fabrics. Some of them were held at 900 rupees, or $450, the square yard. BENARES TO ALLAHABAD. 271 XIX. BENAEES TO ALLAHABAD. The night is the time for travel in India at all seasons of the year. As there was little that was attractive in the scenery through which we were to pass, we left Benares at the same hour of the evening at which we had entered it. We crossed the Ganges in the beautiful moonlight, which spread a wondrously weird sheen over the massive monu- ments to the false prophet, upon its thousand diminutive Hindoo temples and shrines, and along its magnificent ghauts. Were we in the mystical land of the Arabian Nights, or in tlie dream-land of Hindoo mythology, or in the midst of the splendor of the old Mogul dynasty ? We could scarcely say until we had crossed the Ganges, and entered the d^pot to take our seats in the railway cars. This was a modern reality. At Chunar we passed a fortress celebrated alike in Mo- hammedan history and Hindoo mythology, near which, upon a lofty eminence, the Supreme Being is supposed to be seat- ed personally, though invisibly, a portion of every day, and the remainder of the day at the sacred city of Benares. Near Mirzapore, a few miles farther north, is the temple of the Goddess Kali, which in former times was the resort of the Thugs, the discovery of whose existence as a com- plete and extensive organization not many years since struck terror into the hearts of all the residents of India. To this temple they came to worship, and to present their offerings to their tutelary divinity before entering on any murderous expedition — a fearful instance of the power of a false sys- tem of religion to blind its devotees to the nature of crime. The goddess is represented in Bengal with a hideous black face and mouth streaming with blood, a very fury in ap- 272 AROUND THE WORLD. pearance. Tliuggism, if not a religious organization, was the next thing to it. The fraternity, while living by mur- der and robbery, were scrupulous in all their religious ob- servances. They were even more pious in their way than the banditti of Italy, who would not for all the world eat meat on Friday, while they would not hesitate to cut off the ears of a refractory traveler, after robbing him, on any day in the week. The Thugs never undertook a criminal expe- dition until they had propitiated their Goddess Kali, with whom they afterward divided the spoil ; and, being intense- ly superstitious, they were easily deterred from the commis- sion of a crime, not by any enormity which it involved, but by the slightest evil omen. If one of their number hap- pened to sneeze as they were starting upon an expedition, or if they met a woman with an empty pitcher, or heard an ass bray, the expedition was abandoned. Tliey were not ordinary robbers. Their depredations were made only upon travelers, natives as well as foreigners, and murder was al- ways the first step in the robbery. This is the explanation of the secrecy that they maintained so long. The pirate's maxim, " Dead men tell no tales," was one of their funda- mental principles. They invariably put their victims to death, usually by strangling with a cord, and then buried them out of sight. Each gang had its, je?nadar, or leader ; its guru, or teacher ; its sothas, or entrappers ; its hhuttotes, or stranglers; and its lughaees, or grave-diggers. These would usually meet at some town, often as pretended stran- gers to one another, select their victims, fall into company with them, and travel for days before seizing the opportu- nity for their meditated crime. The discovery of this extensive organization was made in the year 1829. Individuals, and even gangs, had been de- tected from time to time, and, on being convicted of mur- der, had been executed, but it had never been known that all over India a secret association existed, with officers, and regulations, and pass-words, which had been devoted to this species of crime. One evening in the year named above, BENARES TO ALLAHABAD. 273 as Major Sleeman, the Deputy Commissioner of the English for the Saugor District, was seated at the door of his tent, a native came np to him in great haste, threw himself at his feet, and begged to make a communication of great im- portance, but to his ear alone. Mrs. Sleeman, who was present, retired, and the man then confessed that he was the leader of a gang of Thugs, who were near, and that the grove in which Major Sleeman's tent was pitched was fill- ed with the graves of those who had been murdered from time to time. A search was made, and his words proved to be true. The gang was apprehended, information was ob- tained from one and another source until the proof of the existence of the organization in nearly every province and district of India was obtained. A knowledge of their pro- ceedings, their regulations, their secret signs, and of the fearful extent of their crimes, was obtained and laid before government. The most thorough measures for their sup- pression were adopted, and carried out, it is now believed, with perfect success. Every known Thug throughout India was apprehended, and although the number was so great that condign punishment could not be meted out to all, the organization was broken up. The least guilty were formed into a sort of penal colony at Jubbulpore, where they were kept employed at various trades, secluded from intercourse with their former companions and with the community gen- erally. It is hoped that, in the course of time, the traditions of this iniquity will so die out as to preclude the possibility of its revival. No statistics of the number of its victims during the ages in which it has had an organized existence could possibly be obtained, but the number must have been very great. The following case, which I find in the records of Colonel Sleeman, will give an idea of the course which these mur- derers pursued, and of the remorseless perseverance with which they followed up their victims. It is drawn from the confessions of a Thug who had been apprehended and convicted of the crime. S 274 AROUND THE WORLD. "A stout Mogul officer, of noble bearing and singularly handsome countenance, on his way from the Punjaub to Oude, crossed the Ganges at .Gurmuktesur Ghaut, near Mee- rut, to pass through Mei-adabad and Bareilly. He was mount- ed on a fine Turkee horse, and attended by his Mtniutgar and groom. Soon after crossing the river he fell in with a small party of well-dressed and modest-looking men going the same road. They accosted him in a respectful manner, and attempted to enter into conversation with him. He had heard of Thugs, and told them to be off. They smiled at his idle susJDicions, and tried to remove them, but all in vain ; the Mogul was determined; they saw his nostrils swelling with indignation, took their leave, and followed slowly. "The next morning he overtook the same number of men, but of a diflerent appearance, all Mussulmans. They accost- ed him in the same respectful manner, talked of the dangers of the road, and the necessity of their keeping together and taking the advantage of the protection of any mounted gen- tleman tha4 happened to be going the same way. The Mo- gul officer said not a word in reply, resolved to have no com- panions on the road. They persisted; his nostrils began again to swell, and, putting his hand to his sword, he bid them all be off, or he would have their heads from their shoulders. He had a bow and quiver full of aiTows over his shoulder, a brace of loaded pistols in his waist-belt, and a sword by his side, and was altogether a very formidable- looking cavalier. "In the evening another party that lodged in the same se- rai became very intimate with the butler and groom. They were going the same road, and, as the Mogul overtook them in the morning, they made their bows respectfully, and be- gan to enter into conversation with their two friends, the groom and the butler, who were coming up behind. The Mogul's nosti'ils began again to swell, and he bid the stran- gers be off. The groom and butler interceded ; for their master was a grave, sedate man, and they wanted compan- ions. All would not do, and the strangers fell in the rear. "The next day, when thay had got to the middle of an extensive and uninhabited plain, the Mogul in advance, and his two servants a few hundred yards behind, he came up to a party of six poor Mussulmans sitting weeping by the side of a dead comj)anion. They were soldiers from Lahore on their way to Lucknow, worn down by fatigue in their anxi- ety to see their wives and children once more after a long and painful service. Their companion, the hope and prop of BENARES TO ALLAHABAD. 275 his family, had sunk under the fatigue, and they had made a o-rave for him ; but they were poor unlettered men, and una- ble to repeat the funeral service from the holy Koran ; would his highness but perform this last office for them, he would, no doubt, find his reward in this world and in the next. The Mogul dismounted. The body had been placed in its prop- er position, with the head toward Mecca. A cai-pet was spread ; the Mogul took off his bow and quiver, then his pis- tols and sword, and placed them on the ground near the body ; called for water, and washed his feet, hands, and face, that he might not pronounce the holy words in an unclean state. He then knelt down and began to repeat the funeral service in a clear, loud voice. Two of the poor soldiers knelt by him, one on each side, in silence. The other four went off a few paces to beg that the butler and groom would not come so near as to interrupt the good Samaritan at his devotions. All being ready, one of the four, in a low under- tone, gave the shirnee (the signal), the handkerchiefs were thrown over their necks, and in a few minutes all three, the Mogul and his servants, were dead, and lying in the grave in the usual manner — the head of one at the feet of one be- low him. " All the parties they had met on the road belonged to a gang of Jumaldehee Thugs, of the kingdom of Oude. In despair of being able to win the Mogul's confidence in the usual way, and determined to have the money and jewels which they knew he carried with him, they had adopted this plan of disarming him— dug the grave by the side of the road in the open plain, and made a handsome young Mussul- man of the party the dead soldier. The Mogul, being a very stout man, died almost without a struggle, and his servants made no resistance." It was past midnight, but a night almost as bright as the day, when we rolled over the magnificent bridge that spans the Jumna at Allahabad, just above the imion of its waters with those of the Ganges. The bridge is one of the most costly railway structures in or out of India. It is built of iron imported from England. The foundations of the high stone piers on which it rests were laid in the ooze of the river, which, in laying the foundations, seemed to be almost without bottom. The rise of water in the rainy season, which sometimes reaches forty feet, made it 276 AROUND THE WOULD. necessary to have elevated piers, and the bridge, which is three quarters of a mile in length, makes a fine appearance in the ordinary stages of the' river. We were delighted, on reaching the station at so late an hour of the night, to find the Rev. Mr. Walsh awaiting lis. I had known him when a boy, but long ago he turned his steps eastward to preach the Gospel in the land of the Hindoos and the Mohammedans. Since the death of an- other friend and classmate, the Rev. Dr. Owen, Mr. Walsh has been the father of the American Mission at Allahabad. Taking us in his gharry, we drove mile after mile through the broad streets of this capital, until it seemed that the streets had no end ; and when under these quiet Eastern skies, in the beauty of the night and in our pleasant con- verse, we almost wished they were endless. At length we reached the bungalow of the American Mission, and found a resting-place in an American home. Allahabad (which means the City of God), a name given to it by the Mohammedan conquerors of India, is one of the sacred places of the Hindoos. It has been a point of much importance in all the changes which have occurred among the rulers of Hindostan, and has been fortified from time to time under different dynasties. The present for- tress, a mile and a half in circuit, situated at the junction of the Ganges and Jumna Rivers, was built by Akbar, one of the Mogul emperors, three hundred years ago, on the site of an ancient Hindoo fortification. It has been re- modeled and strengthened by the English, and has been of incalculable value to them. During the mutiny of 185Y it proved the salvation of many of the English residents at Allahabad, and contributed greatly to the final recovery of British power in India. It has acquired much importance within a few years by the removal of the capital from Agra to this place. A new city, with broad avenues and spa- cious squares, has been laid out, and large public buildings, including some of the finest barracks in India, have been in course of erection. Many beautiful bungalows have BENARES TO ALLAHABAD. '277 been bnilt, and are surrounded by extensive grounds ; and although, like our own Washington, Allahabad, for the pres- ent, " is a city of magnificent distances" rather than an im- posing capital, it bids fair to become one of the finest towns in the peninsula. In the mutiny, every foreign residence was destroyed, with every public building, excepting the Masonic Hall, which the natives did not dare to attack on account of the spirits that were supposed to guard it. This building was pointed out to me in a remote part of the town, a lonely monument of the terrible scenes which it survived. Allahabad has long been one of the most important mis- sion stations of the American Presbyterian Church. It was selected not only on account of its large population, but as a centre of influence for the whole north of India, and in one respect it has a peculiar importance. It is the chief place of pilgrimage, and through the multitudes that gather liere every year an influence may be sent out into every part of the land. Situated at the confluence of the two most sacred rivers of Hindostan — the Ganges and the Jumna — the spot is regarded by all Hindoos as one of the holiest places in the world. They come to it from all parts and at all times of the year to bathe where the two rivers meet, and thus to wash away their sins. There is an annu- al mela or gathering at this place in the month of January, when hundreds of thousands come together; and every twelfth year, owing to some propitious conjunction of the stars, there is a special gathering, when the number of the pilgrims is sometimes counted even by millions. I first reached Allahabad in December, on my way to the north ; but, after visiting the Himalaya Mountains, I returned to be present at the opening of the great mela on the 12th of January. It is held on a vast plain — a tongue of land lying between the two rivers, which in the rainy season is completely overflowed. When the pilgrims as- semble they pitch their tents upon the plain, and for the space of a month it is the most populous city in India. I 278 ABOUND THE WORLD. learned afterward, from one of the missionaries, that two millions were present at one time, and I could easily com- prehend it from what I had seen. I took my stand, one day, in a thoroughfare leading to the grounds, to see the people pouring in by crowds, many of whom came from hundreds of miles up and down the countiy. I had seen them far up to the north, the w^eek before, coming down in large companies. They continued to arrive at all hours of day and night for days and even for weeks, like a continuous procession. Some of the wealthier people came on elephants, others on camels, many of them, especially the aged and feeble, in carts drawn by bullocks or cows, but most of them on foot, with the dust and dirt of their long pilgrimage upon them. In the vast crowd were thousands oi faquirs or devotees who were almost naked and covei-ed with dirt, their hair matted with filth, more disgusting in their appearance than swine, and accounting themselves all the more holy be- cause of the excessive filth ' in which they had chosen to live. Bathing in muddy streams and living in abominable filth seem to be the two prominent articles in the creed of the Hindoos, at least of those who pretend to eminent holi- ness — the very reverse of the Christian maxim that " clean- liness is a part of godliness." More abominable or more horrid specimens of human nature than these faquirs can scarcely be conceived ; and the more painful part of it was, that the poor ignorant people had been taught to re- gard these filthy, depraved brutes in human shape as pre- eminently holy. Some of the devotees had made their pil- grimage all the way upon their hands and knees, others by dragging themselves along the ground, and one man, per- haps more, by measuring his length like an inch worm, ly- ing down, making a mark at his head, and then lying down with his toes at the mark, and so making his slow progress toward the consecrated spot. One man whom I saw at the mela had held his right hand above his head eleven years, and was, of course, accounted an eminent saint. BENABES TO ALLAHABAD. <^ij^ The Brahmins keep up these festivals for the sake of making money out of the pilgrims. Each one is required to pay his tax as he comes to bathe, and so a large revenue comes to the coffers of the Brahmins of the district. The faquirs, too, extort money from the people on the ground of their sanctity, but a more transparent set of knaves 1 never looked upon. They showed it in their countenances ; but long practice and established custom had given them an ascendency and power over the people. One of the first acts of a pilgrim (the faquirs excepted) is to have his head shaven by regularly appointed barbers, under the as- surance that for every hair he loses he secures to himself a million of years in Paradise ; a favor for which he is com- pelled to make a return in money according to his means. By this operation the pockets of the pilgrims are as well fleeced as their heads. Then comes the bathing; and a sorrowful sight are those tens of thousands of poor, sin- burdened heathen, going down into the water and devout- ly washing themselves, in the vain hope of washing away their guilt. All classes and all ages go down into the wa- ter ; even the women of the higher class being exempt, for the time, from the law of custom which compels them to live in seclusion. I longed for the gift of speaking, not only to their ears, but to their hearts, of that fountain for sin and for uncleanness which has been opened by a dying Saviour, and which is free and near to all, without any pain- ful pilgrimage. But this is done by faithful missionaries, who have their tents pitched at various points among the crowd, and who improve this occasion for imparting relig- ious instruction, and not without success. After the pilgrims have been shaven, and have bathed and performed other religious services, they devote them- selves to social intercourse, to traffic, and often to all man- ner of wickedness, so that the mela becomes a mixed scene, the religious part bearing but a slight proportion to the whole. I believe that the whole system of idol- atry in India is now sustained more by the avarice of 280 AROUND THE WORLD. Brahmins, who become wealthy from their perquisites and by the incidental gains connected with it, than by the re- ligious feelings of the people. Priestcraft has a mighty power in keeping up rites which, if left to the choice even of ignorant people, would speedily come to an end. At the great mela at Allahabad I heard many confess that Christianity was better than their religion, but they are bound by education, and custom, and caste. It is not a slight evidence, though only one of many, that the religion of Christ has taken hold of the people of India, to see preaching-tents established by the Hindoos, with readers and preachers, who endeavor to counteract the preaching of the Gospel by drawing away and holding the attention of the people. I had seen the same thing in China. In the city of Canton the Chinese have built a beautiful chajD- el, in all respects like the Christian, where they have regu- lar preaching. Amid the melancholy scenes connected with this great aggregation of heathenism at Allahabad, there is much that gives promise of a bright day at hand, when the gross darkness that has so long covered the peo- ple will be dispelled. The only witness against the British government for its complicity with the idolatry of the Hindoos that I saw re- maining in India was at Allahabad. In the fort there is a passage leading to extensive subterranean vaults, which from time immemorial have been regarded with great ven- eration by the natives. They pretend that the passage leads to Benares, nearly a hundred miles distant, and that a third sacred river once coursed through it. The multitudes who come on pilgrimage to Allahabad all enter this vault, pay their devotions, and make some offering, on which they pour the water of the Ganges and the Jumna to consecrate the gift. There are numerous shrines, all, I believe, of the Lingmn, the obscene object of Hindoo worship, which are constantly covered with flowers and kept wet with the holy water. Formerly the pilgrims who entered were required to pay a tax of one rupee each to the government, whicli THE MUTINY; CAWNPORE AND LUCENOW. 281 became an immense revenue. The tax lias been abolished, but I saw these obscene pagan shrines still standing, and the devotees in crowds presenting their offerings and pay- ing their worship before them with the British flag flying over their heads on the fort. It is a reproach and a shame to a Christian government, and the more so because con- nected with a fortress which belongs exclusively to the government. THE MUTINY: CAWNPORE AND LUCKNOW. After I had been several weeks in India, the question was asked me, by one who naturally enough wished to know how I had been impressed with the country and its people, " What, of all that you have seen, has struck you most for- cibly ?" I replied, " The fact that no two persons seem to entertain the same ideas with regard to any subject." I was never in a country where there is such a diversity of sentiment in regard to questions of public policy, the right mode of dealing with social problems, or even in re- gard to many matters of fact. Scarcely any thing appears to be settled in the general opinion of the people — the Eu- ropeans, I mean. The very names of places and things are without any established rules. Every writer has his own orthography, and every speaker his own pronunciation of native words. The languages of the country have never yet found their equivalents in the English tongue. I was told that there are sixty-four different ways of spelling the name of Lodiana, a town in the north of India, and that each one has good authority for it. I have seen the name of the beautiful valley of the Dehra Doon, that I visited among the Himalaya Mountains, written Dehrah, Deirah, Deira, Deyra, Deyrah, Dera, and so on ad lihitum. But in no respect was I more struck with the diversity 282 AROUND THE WORLD. of sentiment among intelligent and well-informed persons than in regard to the cause of the terrible mutiny of 1857, which came so near extinguishing the power of the English in the East. I not only felt a strong desire, in going over the ground where its fearful scenes were enacted, to learn more than I had known before of the causes which led to it, the impelling motives which fired the natives, but I im- agined that I should be able to obtain such knowledge by personal intercourse with the residents, many of whom had been there during its progress and suppression. But al- most every intelligent man in India seemed to have his own theory in regard to the matter, and very few, on com- paring notes, would be found to agree. It certainly speaks well for the independence of thought in that land, but it shows also that this awful episode in the history of the British occupation of India is still involved in much mys- tery. And this is just about the truth in regard to the matter. I doubt if any rebellion of equal extent and im- portance ever before occurred which could not be traced more directly and more clearly to its origin. The nearest approximation that I made to a definite opinion of my own, after careful investigation of all the sources of information, and all the opinions current, is, that the mutiny was a sort of blind movement on the part alike of Mohammedans and Hindoos (though more the former than the latter) to cast off the foreign yoke which had been placed on their necks by a series of usurpations, too often attended with the very crimes of which the natives them- selves had been guilty in past ages. One monarch after another had been dethroned by the agents of the East In- dia Company, and his territory added to the Company's possessions, or made tributary. It had become clear that the same power, unless absolutely destroyed, must cover the whole land, and the opportunity was seized, when the En- glish military force was reduced to its lowest limits, to rise and attempt to annihilate the foreign element. In the spring of 1857 there were only about twenty thousand THE MUTINY; GA WNFOHU AND LUCKNU W. 283 British troops in all India. The army was composed al- most altogether of native troops. There was not a Euro- pean regiment at Calcutta, nor at Benares, nor at Delhi, nor at many other important points. There must have been conference or conspiracy for some time previous, for the mutinous spirit manifested itself almost simultaneously from one end of Hindostan to the other. The train had been laid, and the explosion passed with frightful rapidity from one city and district to another. The occasion for such a rising, too, was opportune in more respects than one. A prophecy had long been in cir- culation among the natives that on the hundredth anniver- sary of the battle of Plassey, which secured the supremacy of the English in India, their power would be destroyed. That battle took place June 23, 1757, and the eventful day was drawing nigh. The success of such a revolt seemed the more assured by the defenseless state of the English in the country at the time. The introduction of greased car- tridges was another coinciding element. This has been re- garded by some as the actual cause of the mutiny, but it was simply a coincidence, and was made use of as an incite- ment to revolt. Artfully was it seized upon, and success- fully was it employed. To make use of the new cartridges according to regulation, the soldiers must bite off the end before inserting them in the musket. The report was cir- culated through the whole army that they had been greased with a composition of tallow and lard — the former an abom- ination to the Hindoo, and the latter to the Mohammedan. The Hindoo would as soon draw a razor across his throat as put a particle of the fat of the cow to his lips, and a Mo- hammedan would perish before he would have any thing to do with the fat of the swine. The report was circulated that by this means the English intended to compel both classes to abjure their religion, and it was effectively used as one of the instruments by which the troops, Hindoos and Mohammedans, were stirred up to revolt. It is a very remarkable fact that no satisfactory evidence 284 AROUND THE WOMLD. has ever been found that the rebellion had any real head or leader, or that it was designed to re-establish any one of the old dynasties, or to fonnd a new one. Conspiracy there must have been, but there were no arch-conspirators, and there was no well-executed plan of action. Some have im- plicated the effete family of the old King of Delhi ; some have regarded the ex-King of Oude, a sort of state prisoner at Calcutta, as being its moving spirit; some have given the same position to the monster Nana Sahib ; but I do not think there is any proof that any one of these, or others who have been named, played any such ambitious part in the terrible drama. The mutiny was more Mohammedan than Hindoo in its origin and in progress ; but this, perhaps, was owing to the fact that the Mohammedans had been so long the ruling race. Equally mysterious with its origin were the means used in preparing for a concerted movement throughout India. At the commencement of the year 1857 it was noticed that a peculiar kind of small cakes of unleavened bread, called chupatties, were distributed through the whole country. A messenger appeared at a village with these cakes, he sought out the head man of the place and gave him six, with the charge that he was to send six more to the next village, and so they passed from one end of the land to the other, and exerted a talismanic power which has never been ex- plained. Just about the same time lotus flowers were sent to the native soldiers at the various cantonments, and they, too, passed from hand to hand with the same effect. Strange to say, the peculiar significance of these tokens has never transpired, so profoundly have the secrets of the mutiny been preserved. The history of the world will scarcely furnish a parallel to the anomalies and mysteries connected with this whole matter. The first serious signs of disaffection appeared at Dun- dum, near Calcutta, in January, 1857. The Sepoys object- ed to the greased cartridges, but they professed to be satis- fied when they were excused from using them. The same THE MUTINY; CAWNPOBE AND LUCKNOW. £85 disaffection showed itself, and from the same ostensible cause, soon after at Barrackpore, opposite Serampore, on the Hoogly, where incendiary fires also occurred. A gen- eral order for the whole army was then issued allowing the soldiers to tear off the end of the cartridge instead of biting it, but it had no good effect. All this time the English au- thorities slept, as it were, in profound security, ignorant of the storm that was so soon to burst upon them. Other and more serious disturbances took place, but without awaken- ing apprehension. It was not until April that the country was roused. Scenes of insubordination and violence oc- curred at Meerut, far to the north, extended to Delhi, and spread with fearful rapidity until the whole army was in revolt. Forts and towns were seized by the rebels, the En- glish officers and residents slaughtered without mercy, or subjected to the most horrible outrages that fiends could in- flict. The magazine in the great fort at Delhi, which con- tained a vast amount of stores of all kinds, guns, and am- munition, was defended by a small force of English against a horde of rebels until the unequal contest could no longer be maintained, when, instead of surrendering to the enemy, the feeble garrison applied the torch to the train, and thou- sands of the assailants perished with the besieged in the explosion. Straggling Europeans escaped destruction at Delhi and other places to wander for months in the jungle, some to be preserved almost by miracle from all horrible forms of death. Incidents of this character occurred which are too harrowing to be repeated. At Allahabad, a native regiment stationed in the town suddenly revolted ; shot down the superior officers and bay- oneted the yonnger ; attacked the residents, men, women, and children, cutting them in pieces while alive ; children were tossed on the bayonets of the native soldiers before the eyes of their mothers, and atrocities committed which the pen can not record. The remnant of English who es- caped took refuge in the fort, which was besieged by the Sepoys. A train of powder was laid, and the besieged 286 " AROUND THE WORLD. were prepared to blow themselves up and perish in the ex- plosion, as at Delhi, the moment the fort should be taken. But English troops arrived f i^om below, and they were pre- served. All through the mutiny the fort was a rallying- point for the English. From Delhi, and from other cities where the English families were congregated, women and children made their escape from the general massacre — sometimes in small com- panies, but generally alone — and wandered for days ex- posed to the intense heat of the summer sun, when they could scarcely exist in the shade, and at night lay down in the jungle without shelter, and at last perished from hun- ger, fatigue, terror, the stroke of the sun, or the wild beasts. At Agra, the foreign population, with few exceptions, suc- ceeded in reaching the fort, where they had time to shut themselves in before the bursting of the storm ; and here they endured a voluntary but fearful imprisonment more than four months, not knowing any thing of the fate of their friends or what might be going on in other parts of India. I met at Delhi a lady who passed through this long siege, enduring the agony of suspense in the fear that all the rest of India was in the hands of the Sepoys. But the chief horrors of the mutiny centred at Cawn- pore, and were perpetrated under the orders of the mon- ster Nana Sahib. This station was occupied by Sir Hugh Wheeler "with a small body of English troops, who had un- der their protection several hundred women and children belonging to the families resident in the city and the neigh- borhood. Having no fortress, they hastily intrenched them- selves by throwing up earth-works on the open plain. The space they occupied was about two hundred yards square, and included a few small buildings. There were nine hundred persons in all Mdthin this narrow space. A mur- derous fire was opened upon them by the Sepoys, which, with famine, the burning sun of June, the close confine- ment, and other causes, told fearf ull}^ upon their numbers from day to day. Many died, and some went raving mad. THE MUTINY; CAWNPORE AND LUCKNOW. 287 At length the enemy began to pour upon them red-hot shot, which fired the buildings, the sick perishing in the flames. The soldiers would have cut their way through the multi- tude of Sepoy soldiers, even at the risk of all perishing in the attempt, but for the hundreds of women and children who were under their protection. While in this extremity, they received an offer from the rebel leader, Nana Sahib, that if they would abandon the intrenchments and the treasure which they had been guard- ing, the survivors should be furnished with boats and an escort to take them down the Ganges to Allahabad. It was not until JSTana Sahib had signed the contract and con- firmed his promise with a solemn oath that the offer was accepted. Conveyances were provided for taking the wound- ed, the sick, and the feeble to the river, about a mile dis- tant. They were in the act of embarking, when, by the or- der of Kana Sahib, a battery opened upon them and num- bers were slain. A few boat-loads hastily rowed across the river, but they were seized by the Sepoys, the men all sa- bred, and the women and children carried back to the camp of the monster who had thus violated his pledge. For weeks they were incarcerated in a building at Cawnpore, where they were subjected to the brutality of the Sepoy troops. A rumor having reached the rebels that a military force was on the march from Allahabad to rescue the cap- tives, an order was given that they should be slain — not an unwelcome order to those who Avere suffering a thousand deaths. At sunset on the 15th of July, volleys of musketry were fired into the doors and windows of the building, after which the bayonet and the sword did their work, until all were supposed to be dead, and the building was closed for the night. The next morning it was found that a number were still alive, who, upon being brought out, either threw themselves or were thrown into a large well in the com- pound, with the dead of the night before. Thus perished all who had survived the slaughter of the ghaut, nearly two hundred in all. The whole number of victims at Cawn- 288 AROUND THE WORLD. pore was about one thousand. The army, under Havelock, entered Cawnpore the day after the massacre, driving out the rebels before them; and-when they reached the build- ing which was the scene of the massacre, found it strewed with the relics of the departed ones — remnants of clothing, ladies' and children's shoes, locks of hair, and other memen- toes — and the floor covered deep with their blood. The brave soldiers were almost maddened by the sight. On the plain at Cawnpore is one of the most beautiful parks in the East, laid out in exquisite taste, and planted with trees, and shrubbery, and ever-blooming flowers. In the midst of this park rise the marble walls of a sacred in- closure, in the centre of which, over the fatal well, stands a marble statue — an angel having in his arms the palm- leaves, emblematical of martyrdom and victory. This park was laid out and planted after the mutiny, and called the Memorial Garden ; but it seemed designed as much to mit- igate with its beauty, as to preserve by its monuments, the memories of the spot. The pedestal, on which stands the angel, bears the following inscri23tion : "sacked to the pekpetual memoky of a geeat com- pany OF CHRISTIAN PEOPLE — CHIEFLY WOMEN AND CHILDREN WHO, NEAR THIS SPOT, WERE CRUELLY MASSACRED BY THE FOLLOWERS OF THE REBEL NANA DHOONDOPUNT OF BITHOOR, AND CAST, THE DYING- WITH THE DEAD, INTO THE WELL BE- LOW, ON THE 15th DAY OF JULY, 1857." While General Wheeler and his command, with his pre- cious charge, were still in their frail intrenchment, the mu- tiny broke out at Futteghur, higher up the Ganges. This has long been one of the chief stations of the American Presbyterian missions to India. All the Mission buildings, including a valuable printing-ofllce, were destroyed. The foreign residents were put to the sword, the English officers and civilians being the first to suffer. The survivors, in- cluding four American missionary families, attempted to escape in boats, hoping to reach Allahabad. The Ameri- cans were Rev. Messrs. Freeman, Campbell, Johnson, and TEE MUTINY; CAWNPOBE AND LUCKNOW. 289 McMnlleii, with their wives, and two children of Mr. Camp- bell. Mr. Freeman had been my classmate and intimate friend at Princeton Seminar}''. The large party, one hundred and thirty in all, floated down the Ganges, all the while in terror of the natives. Twice they were fired on by the Sepoys, and a lady, nurse, and child were killed. Once, as they landed at evening to cook some food on the shore, they were surprised by a zemindar, who made them his prisoners ; but they were re- leased on the payment of a large ransom. On the fourth day the boats ran aground near an island a few miles above Cawnpore. The whole party went ashore and concealed themselves in the long grass, where they remained in con- stant apprehension of discovery, and with little hope of es- cape. In this hiding-place they assembled for prayer and preparation for death, the missionaries leading them to the throne of God's mercy to seek grace for the hour of greater trial that awaited them, and exhorting every one to stead- fast trust in Him who would bring salvation even in death. The record of those solemn scenes was derived from four native Christians, who were the only survivors. Near the close of the fourth day they were discovered by a body of Sepoys, who came upon the island, made them prisoners, and, deaf to all appeals for mercy and offers of ransom, took them across the river on the way to Cawnpore. Though exliausted with long fasting and anxiety, they were tied to- gether with ropes, and men, women, and children compelled to take up the line of march on foot. Night overtaking them, it was spent on the plain in the open air, the Sepoys keepiug guard over them to prevent their escape. Early the next morning they were taken into Cawnpore to Nana Sahib, who ordered them to be drawn up in line on the parade-ground, where they were indiscriminately shot down. Those who survived the volley of musketry were dispatched with the sabre. "When they were first seized by the Sepoys, the missionaries dismissed the four native Christians, ad- vising them to seek their own safety, but in no circum- ' T 290 AROUND THE WORLD. stances to deny theii' Lord and Master. One of them, a man who had been a servant to the Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, disguised himself, followed the captive party, and was a witness to the last fearful scene in which tlieir lives were offei*ed up. From him the knowledge of their fate was obtained. The remarkable fact tliat from the breaking out of the mutiny to its close not a single Christian convert took any part in the fearful outbreak, is the most emphatic condem- nation of the blind and fatal policy of the East India Com- pany in discouraging the propagation of Christianity among its dependent population in India, and especially in the army. The chaplains of the army, Christian ministers, were strictly forbidden to interfere in any manner with the religion of the native troops. This tenderness was repaid by the revolt of those who had been dealt with in such mistaken policy. The whole conduct of the native troops during the rebellion was strikingly characteristic of Ori- ental and Indian character. The most of them joined in the mutiny at the very commencement, many of them ex- hibiting the ferocity of wild beasts. Some hesitated for months, and at length joined the mutineers. Some regi- ments remained loyal to the English during the rebellion, resisting all inducements to engage in the revolt, even when it promised to be successful, and at the very last mutinied when it was evident that it must be suppressed. Some, though comparatively few, remained faithful to tlie end. So made up of contradictions and mysteries is the native character. What became of the monster Nana Sahib is one of the mysteries, of the rebellion. Whether he perished in the suppression of the mutiny, or escaped to die in exile, no one knows to this clay. It was evening when we reached Cawnpore. By twilight we drove across the parade-ground where so many brave and tender hearts had ceased to beat. It was late before we were all arranged for the night at ISToor Mahomed's THE MUTINY; CA WNFOBE AND L TJCKNO W. 291 iiotel in a distant part of tlip town; but the moon came out to look upon the scene once so fearful, now so placid, and I could not resist the impulse, even at that weird hour, to visit the places so full of interest to all who have read the story of the Sepoy rebellion. I wandered down to the Ganges, to the Suites Chowra Ghcout, where General Wheeler's force was treacherously slain. It was a lonely spot, and the stillness of the grave reigned over it, broken only by the ripple of the flowing river, the cry of the night- birds, and an occasional howl of a jackal. In that quiet hour, with the personal and the historic recollections which came thronging upon the heart, the interest of all India seemed to centre in Cawnpore. The next morning, after spending an hour in the Memo- rial Garden, w^e took leave of Cawnpore and went on to Lucknow, the scene of the memorable siege. Lucknow is about forty miles to the northeast of Cawn- pore, with which, and with the East Indian Railway, it is connected by a branch road. The Cawnpore Station is on the opposite side of the Ganges, which we crossed by one of the usual bridges of boats, which are much better adapt- ed to these swift-flowing and rapidly-rising streams than one might suppose. As we crossed the bridge early in the morning, I looked up the stream for the island on w^hich one of the large companies that had been massacred by the orders of Nana Sahib had been seized on their flight down the river from Futteghur, after lying concealed for three days in the grass. The same river on which they had float- ed still flowed on in its course ; the same landmarks were scattered along its shores, but the fearful scenes which they had witnessed were among the things of the past. It was near noon when the domes and minarets of Luck- now rose into view, and grand was the sight. Few of the cities of India could compare in outward splendor with the capital of Oude as it was before the mutiny, or even as it now stands. It lays claim to great antiquity, dating far back in the shadowy periods of Hindoo history ; but the present city has all been built within the last century. 292 AROUND THE WORLD. The King of Oude, whose possessions were the last to he seized by the East India Company, reigned here in great splendor. He had just completed the Kaiser Bagh — the extensive palace which forms the most striking feature in the view of the city, having expended in its construction and embellishment eighty lacs of rupees (about four mill- ions of dollars) — when the British authorities informed him that they required his extensive and rich dominions, and that he must lay down his sceptre and his crown. Lord Dalhousie, who was then governor general, proposed to settle on him a large pension ; but the king, very natu- rally, was reluctant to resign his authority and his reve- nues, and steadfastly refused to put Jiis hand to any deed of conveyance. When compelled to retire, he sent his queen to England to plead his cause before another queen, Victoria ; but before she returned the mutiny of 1857 iDroke out, and his fate was sealed. He now resides, a sort of prisoner, on his own purchased estate, two or three mile.- below Calcutta, on the Hoogly. By many this seizure of the territory of Oude and the sale of the personal property of the king is regarded as the immediate cause of the re- bellion. There is more of show in the city of Lucknow than of solid grandeur, such as we see at Benares, or of the exqui- site taste and almost inconceivable costliness that we find at Agra and the old Mogul capital at Delhi ; but with its domes, and minarets, and imposing structures, it is a real- ization of all one's dreams of Eastern magnificence. The palace, gorgeous in its style of architecture, and colored to resemble a vast structure of gold, with its lofty dome of real gold, looms up before the eye ; the Hoseinabad Imaicm- hm'a, built by Ali Shah, and elaborately ornamented ; the Jwnma Musjid, the Grand Mosque ; the magnificent mar- ble tombs of former kings, more beautiful than the pal- aces ; the Great Imcmmbara, the architects of which were commanded to produce a building which should be unlike any others ever built (in which they succeeded), and which THE irUTINY; CA WMPOBE AND L UCKNO W. 293 should sur23ass them all in beauty and magnificence (in which they failed) ; the DilJchoosha palace, where the he- roic soldier, Sir Henry Havelock, breathed his last; the Martiniere, from the dome of which the mountains of Ca- bool are seen, though a hundred miles distant — these, and many other striking buildings, set like gems in the midst of Oriental foliage, give a grandeur to the views of the city which can not be transferred to the written page. A drive through Lucknow and its suburbs is one of rare beau- ty and of indescribable interest. Notwithstanding all this Eastern splendor, I felt won- derfully like entering a familiar city when entering Luck- now. Years before I had become familiar with its appear- ance and -localities in reading the history of the memora- ble siege, in which the garrison of British soldiers, protect- ing hundreds of women and children, were surrounded by 50,000 Sepoys, and subjected to a murderous fire day and night, without any communication with the outer world for 113 days. I had followed the noble Havelock and his brave troops in their long march under the burning sun of India, and as they cut their way through the multitudi- nous Sepoys into the Residency, only to find that their force was still too feeble to compel the enemy to raise the siege. I had read with the same intense interest the story of the final relief of the besieged, by Sir Colin Campbell, with his Highland brigade ; of their going forth by night, leaving the city in the hands of the rebels ; and of its final capture the following year by the most heroic fighting recorded in the annals of war. All these scenes were so familiar that I did not feel like being in a strange city. After finding quarters at the Imperial Hotel (it bore about the same relation to a genuine republican hotel that a marble tomb, with its one lonely couch, does to a cheer- ful home), our first visit was to the Residency, the scene of the siege. It was the former residence or palace of the British commissioner, and occupied a slight elevation, an area of a few acres, within the city. At the breaking out 294 ABOUND THE WORLD. of the mutiny, tlie Mucliee BTiowan fort, being found un- tenable, was blown up, and the garrison retired to the Res- idency, where they threw up earth- works, and endured the long siege. By the kindness of Dr. Fayrer, of Calcutta, former sur- geon at the Residency, I had been furnished with diagrams and notes made during the siege, which greatly aided me in reviewing its memorable history. The original garri- son, as it left the fort, numbered about 1700 men, of whom nearly half were native troops. At the relief there were left, including sick and wounded, only 350 Europeans and 133 natives. Several hundred women and children spent the five months of the siege chiefly in the cellars of the buildings, where they awaited their rescue in anxious and protracted suspense. It was a mystery I could not solve, excepting in the re- flection that the Almighty had thrown a shield over this company of imperiled souls, that for so many months they not only could endure the privations, and suspense, and anxiety, and heat, in such quarters, but still more that they could survive the storm of iron hail which day and night was poured upon them by tens of thousands of infuriated native troops. Their numbers were greatly reduced by death, but the preservation and final escape of any seemed the next thing to a miracle. At any hour within the many months of the siege, the enemy, by mere force of numbers, might have carried the whole place by storm, and put the entire garrison, with the women and children, to the sword. But they had no leader of sufiicient courage, and the hand of God held back the mutineers. With melancholy interest I went into the Dilkhoosha Palace, where General Havelock, after escaping uninjured the perils of war, sank under an attack of dysentery, and died while the British forces were making their success- ful escape from the city. I visited also the summer pal- ace of the king, Alum BagJi., two or three miles out of town, to which the body of Havelock was carried, and TRE MUTINY; CA WJSfPOBE AND L UCKNO W. 295 where a force was left to hold the place until the recap- ture of the city the following year. The tomb of the hero stands in the centre of the garden, and bears a long and very ina23propriate inscription. The inscription on the stone that marks the grave of Sir Henry Lawrence, in the cemetery of the Residency, seem- ed equally infelicitous : " Here lies Henry Lawrence, who ti'ied to do his duty. May God have mercy on his soul." The explanation should be made thait these were words which this excellent man uttered as he was sinking into the arms of death. Like Havelock, he was a man of de- cided Christian character. After being struck by the fa- tal shell, as he was lying in the open veranda of Dr. Fay- rer's house, to which he was carried, and while exposed to the constant fire of the enemy, he asked to have the holy communion administered to him, many of the officers join- ing in the service. He expressed his firm trust in the atonement of Christ for the pardon of his sins, and his hope of heaven through the merits of the Savior. He spoke in words of deepest tenderness, and with bitter tears, of his absent wife and daughter, whom he should not see again on earth. He then earnestly entreated all around him to prepare for the realities of another world, remind- ing them of the vanity of all earthly distinctions, and, re- ferring to his own honors, asked, " What is it all worth now V and died. It is an ungracious task to spoil a romantic story, but the thrilling incident connected with the siege of Luck- now, read the world over with such intense interest — the hearing of the pibroch of the Highlanders under Sir Colin Campbell by a Highland girl long before any sound or tidings of the approaching army reached any other ear, re- lated as an instance of the Highland second-sight or hear- ing — was a pure fiction. Two or three weeks after I was at Lucknow, and while I was still in the country, I received by post a copy of a newspaper in Persian, printed at Lucknow, which contain- 296 AROUND THE WORLD. ed the following notice of our visit at that place. I have the original now before me, but I give a translation made by a Hindoo friend who had not yet attained to a very ac- curate use of the English language : " VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. " Dr. Prime, with few of his friends, left New York in August, 1 869, and. after visiting few places in America, came to Pacific ; from thence on a steamer to Japan and China, and, after seeing some famous cities, he left for Calcutta, and reached in December. From there he came up country ti) Lucknow via Allahabad. He has now left for Agra and Delhi, and after- wards he intends to visit Egypt, Constantinople, and Turkey, and then direct to his native land. We think that this will take about fourteen months. "What a nice thing is this, that people can journey throughout the world with great ease and comfort. And from this we find a strong proof that the earth is round. " XXI. AGRA AND THE TAJ. ' From Lucknow we returned to Cawnpore, and took the cars of the East India Railway for Agra. At Toondla Junction, where we were to make a change, we had the only rain that fell w^hile Ave were in India, and this was out of season. We reached Toondla after midnight, and, while waiting for the train, the heavens grew black, and shot forth shafts and sheets of lightning, accompanied with heavy thunder. It rained heavily until morning. On reaching Agra we made our way to Beaumont's East Indian Hotel, pleasantly located in the midst of a charming compound outside of the native town, and we flattered ourselves that we had reached a delightful reti-eat, in which we could spend a few days luxuriously in this old capital of the Timours. But, alas ! — We had a bungalow all to oiu'selves, but the bungalow was nearly all that we had. Our sleeping-rooms were without furniture except- ing a bedstead and mattress. We found that we were ex- AOSA AND THE TAJ. 297 pected to furnish the bedding ourselves. In India Euro- peans have been in the habit of traveling with tents, taking with them all the comforts and necessaries of life. When I first reached Calcutta I wrote to an old friend in the extreme north, informing him of my arrival, and asking him to secure accommodations for our party at a hotel or government bungalow in the city in which he was residing. I received in reply a hearty welcome to the country, with the assurance that, as there was no hotel in the place, he would arrauge for the accommodation of the entire party at private houses jprovided we brought our own beds and bedding with ns. When we reached Agra we had not laid in a supply of linen, and inquisition was at once made at the principal hotel in the city, but, after the most diligent search, only four sheets could be mustered for seven persons, not all mated. Of course, no one could have more than a single sheet, and not every one could have even that. We found it almost as difiicult to make a living at the table, the commissariat being as poorly supplied as the wardrobe. The servants were all natives who had nevei* found it convenient to cultivate the English language, and we had no time to cultivate the Hindustani, Persian, Mah- ratta, or any of the numerous dialects of the region, so that we fared ill while we were guests at the East Indian hotel. After a vain attempt to gather up the fragments of the sleep which we had lost on the rail and at the stations dur- ing the night, we sallied forth to visit the, renowned fort and palace of the emperors, Agra, or, as it was once called, Akbarabad, first rose to importance in the beginning of the sixteenth century, and from 1526 to 1658 it was the capital of the house of Timour. Here, for more than a century, the Moguls lavished their wealth on costly buildings to be occupied while they lived, and erected still more costly structures in which to repose after they were dead. The fortress, which is a mile and a half in circumference, and which contains the palace, was built by the Emperor Akbar. It stands upon the banks of the Jumna, the mass- 298 ABOUND THE WOBLD. ive walls ou the river side being sixty feet in height, and commanding a magnificent view of the river and country. When it was built it was a fortress of immense strength, but the mode of warfare has changed in modern times ; it would not now be regarded as impregnable. It served, however, as a shelter to the European families during the four or five months of the mutiny in which they were shut up and shut out from all communication with the rest of the world, but kept secure from the hordes of mutineers that swarmed around them. jSTearly six thousand refugees from the city and the neighboring country were thus pro- tected. As a specimen of the manner in which the old emperors" were accustomed to fortify their palaces, it may be mention- ed that when Agra was taken by the British in 1803, among the spoils found within the fort was a cannon of twenty- three inches bore, the metal eleven and a half inches thick at the muzzle, fourteen feet and two inches in length, and weighing ninety-six thousand j)ounds. It carried a ball of cast-iron weighing fifteen hundred pounds. This stupen- dous piece of ordnance was blown into fragments by the orders of a British ofiicer, who perhaps had some fear that he might live long enough to feel the weight of one of its balls. The entrance to the fortress is strongly protected by tow- ers and passages elaborately constructed, such a gateway as none but a powerful assault could force. We drove through it into the grand court, and alighting, entered the Diwan-i-maum, the ancient judgment-hall in which the Mo- gul emperors dispensed justice after the manner of the times. Strange as well as splendid scenes had passed with- in those walls, when an empire rich beyond all precedent yielded its immense revenues to fill the coffei'S and swell the state of those despotic monarchs. The palace stands in the same inclosure, one portion of its walls, with its stone balconies, overhanging, at a dizzy height, the walls of the fort itself. It was built by Shah AGUA AND TEE TAJ. 299 Jehan, grandson of Akbar, and, like every thing in archi- tecture "that he midertook, was executed at immense ex- pense and in exquisite taste. This emperor celebrated his accession to the throne by a festival which, according to Khafi Khan, cost more than fifteen millions of rupees (a sum equal to $7,500,000) ; and although he expended hun- dreds of millions on costly structures and their adornment, and hundreds of millions more upon his army, he had in his treasury, when he died, more than $100,000,000 of coined money, besides a vast accumulation of the precious metals in bullion, jewels, and precious stones. The palace was laid out upon a scale of great magnifi- cence, designed alike for the entertainment as well as the luxurious living of its inmates. One of the court-yards was arranged in mosaic for a game resembhng chess, in which thfe men, living persons, made the moves according to the order of the emperor and his guests, who were seat- ed in the fretted marble balconies above. The bath, a suite of marble rooms, was set with thousands of convex mirrors, which multiplied the artificial hghts by myriads, making it a scene of splendor indescribable. The Motee Mtisjid, or Pearl Mosque, standing near the Judgment Hall, is an exquisite specimen of architecture and of the sculptor's art, of the finest marble, the interior carved in flowers and vines, chaste and simple, but sur- passingly beautiful. It is not alone the Pearl Mosque ; it is the pearl of mosques, unequaled in purity and beauty by any similar structure. But all that we had seen in the forts of Akbar and the palace of Shah Jehan was eclipsed by another structure, the most sublime and beautiful that now stands npon the face of the earth. This, I believe, is the unqualified testi- mony of every one who has seen the Taj. About a mile to the south of the fort at Agra, upon the right bank of the Eiver Jumna, lies a beautiful park, about a quarter of a mile square, planted with the choicest trees, and shrubs, and fiowers of the East. More than eighty 300 AROUND THE WORLD. fountains, scattered along the avenues of this park, tliroM- their jets into the air, which sparkles with the falling drops as with a shower of diamonds. It is surrounded by a high wall, and guarded by a magnificent gateway, a building fifty or sixty feet in height, which, with any other surround- ings, would be studied and admired for its architectural grandeur, and the beauty of its carving and mosaic orna- mentation. No one would imagine it to be simply the portal to greater beauty and grandeur, but such it is. We enter beneath this majestic arch, and find ourselves within the park. A broad avenue, skirted with lofty cy- presses, acacias, and other Oriental trees, and tanks of aquatic plants and jets cVeau, reveals, at its extremity, an object which at once rivets the eye, and steals over the heart like a strain of delicious music, or like the melody of sublime poetry. It is the Taj, the peerless Taj, the mauso- leum erected by the Emperor Shah Jehan as the tomb of his favorite begum, Noor Mahal, in which they now sleep side by side. She died before him in giving birth to a child, and it is stated that, as she felt her life ebbing away, she sent for the emperor, and told him she had only two requests to make : first, that he would not take another wife and have children to contend with hers for his favor and dominions ; and, second, that he would build for her the tomb he had promised, to perpetuate her memory. The emperor summoned the medical counselors of the city to do every thing that was in their power to save her life, but all in vain. Shah Jehan, who was devotedly attached to her, at once set about complying with her last request. The tomb was commenced immediately, and, according to Tavernier, who saw its first and last stones laid, it was twenty-two years in building, with twenty thousand men constantly occupied upon it. It cost, in actual expense, in addition to the forced labor of the men, more than three hundred lacs of rupees, or about fifteen millions of dollars. Such a build- ing, including the cost of materials, could scarcely be erect- A6BA AND THE TAJ. 301 ed by paid labor at the present time, even in India, for $50,000,000. As this building is acknowledged by every traveler to be unrivaled, and the sight of it declared by many to be worth a journey round the world, I will give a more minute de- scription of its situation and its prominent features. At the extremity of the beautiful park or Oriental garden of which I have spoken, on the river side rises a terrace of red sandstone twenty feet in height, and a thousand feet broad. The walls of the terrace on all sides are of hewn stone, and its surface is paved with the same material. At the extreme left of this terrace stands a magnificent mosque, an appendage to the main structure, the Taj. It is the place of prayer for the faithful, who come to visit the tomb of the favorite of the Mogul emperor. This building alone must have been very costly, but as it w^ould destroy the symmetry of the grand mausoleum by occupying one side of the central building, the emperor had another mosque, a perfect counterpart, erected on the opposite extremity of the terrace, a thousand feet distant, of no use excepting as ^joivah, or answer to the first. The one is held as a sacred place ; the other, in the eyes of a Mohammedan, has noth- ing sacred about it; it is simply the complement of the first. On the lofty terrace of sandstone rises another terrace of pure white marble, its walls of cut stone laid as regular- ly as the courses of a marble building. This terrace is three hundred feet square. At each of its four corners there stands a circular marble minaret, about twenty-five feet in diameter, diminishing in size until at the height of a hundred and fifty feet it is crowned with an open cupo- la, commanding a magnificent view of the Taj with its sur- roundings, of the River Jumna, the city and fort of Agra, and of the adjacent country. I ascended to the top of one of these minarets, and had photographed upon my memory a view which I am sure no time can dim. In the centre of this marble terrace, equidistant from 302 AROUND THE WORLD. the four lofty and graceful minarets, stands the bnildmg which for more than two centuries has been the admira- tion of every eye that in all that period of time has rested on it. It is an octagon, or it might perhaps be more cor- rectly described as a square with each of the four corners slightly cut off, and is crowned with a high swelling dome, having the gracefulness of outline which seems to have been an inspiration in the Mohammedan and Oriental styles of architecture. The building is one hundred and fifty feet in diameter ; the crescent upon the summit of the dome nearly two hundred feet above the pavement. The structure is built from foundation to topstone of the purest marble, so perfect in its preservation and so unspotted in its whiteness that it looks as if it might have been erected only yesterday. Standing upon its marble pedestal, it vies in purity with the clouds that are floating by. A cupola of the same material rests upon the roof on each side of the dome. The exterior of the building is carved in grace- ful designs, the front elaborately wrought, bat in such per- fect taste as to fill the eye like a picture in colors. Ko de- scription will convey to the mind any idea of the effect of the engraving on the arched doorway. It is elaborate, but not florid, giving to the solid marble almost the lightness of a cloud. Indeed, the whole building, as you look upon it, seems to float in the air like an autumn cloud. Let us enter — but breathe softly and tread gently as you step within. It is the sleeping chamber of Noor Mahal, the cherished wife of the Mogul emperor. Shah Jehan, and here, beneath this magnificent dome, they lie side by side, each in a couch of almost transparent marble, set witli pre- cious stones, and wrought exquisitely in tracery of vine and flowers. Nowhere else has human dust been laid away to slumber in such superb repose — so beautiful, so silent, so sacred, so sublime. In such perfect, exquisite taste is every thing within as well as without, that it is more like a creation than the work of man. The whole interior, which is lighted only from the lofty doorway, is open from AGUA AND THE TAJ. 303 wall to wall, and from the pavement to the summit of the dome, with the exception of a high marble screen standing abont twenty or thirty feet from the outer wall, and ex- tending entirely around the building. This is cut in open tracery, so as to resemble a curtain of lace rather than a screen of solid marble. One who has seen the veiled statue of a master artist can appreciate the deception, if decep- tion it can be called where none was intended. The sarcophagi containing the remains of the empress and of her faithful lover, the Mogul emperor, lie in the crypt below, which is reached by a marble stairway. That of the former has inscribed upon it, in the graceful Arabic characters, " Moontaj-i-Mahal, Ranoo Begum" (Eanoo Be- gum, the Ornament of the Palace), with the date of her death, 1631. The other has inwrought the name of the emperor, with the date of his death, 1666. To this day they are covered with fresh flowers, strewed by faithful hands, in recognition of the fidelity which reared the struc- ture. Upon the main floor, directly over these marble slabs, and under the canopy of the open dome, stand the ceno- taphs, designed simply as the representatives of those be- low, but carved in tracery and set with gems in no osten- tatious or gaudy style, but so beautifully and tastefully that one lingers around them as he stands before some masterpiece of art, never satisfied with looking. Upon the cenotaph of the queen, amid wreaths of fiowers, worked in gemmed mosaic, are passages from the Koran, in Arabic, one of which reads, " Defend us from the tribe of unbe- lievers." This inscription was made by the Emperor Shah Jehan, who seemed to think no words too sacred to be re- corded upon the tomb of one wdiom he loved so devotedly ; but his own son, Aurungzebe, who placed the marble in memory of his father, in accordance with Mohammedan custom regarded the words of the Koran as too holy to be engraved — the difference between conjugal and filial love. In the same devotion to his wife. Shah Jehan caused the 304 ABOUND THE WORLD. Koran to be inscribed npon the interior of the Taj, in mo- saic of precious stones, jasper, lapis lazuli, heliotrope, chal- cedony, carnelian, etc. The whole of the Koran is said to be thus inwrought, and yet it has the appearance of a light and graceful vine running over the walls. With the sen- tences of the Koran, thus traced upon the marble in such costly material, are interspersed fruits, and flowers, and running vines, all of precious stones inlaid, designed to represent one of the bowers of Paradise in which the em- peror had laid the light of his life to sleep her last sleep. While we were standing beneath that lofty dome, the silence of the tomb reigning even over its exquisite beauty and grandeur, voices at my side commenced singing : " In the hour of pain and anguish, In the hour when death draws near, Suffer not our hearts to languish, Suffer not our souls to fear. And when mortal life is ended, Bid us in thine arms to rest, 'Till, by angel bands attended, We awake among the blest." The singing ceased, but far up in that snow-white vault, as if among the fleecy clouds of heaven, an angel band caught up the strain, not as an ordinary echo of reflected sound, but as if prolonging the notes. It continued as long as the original song, and at length gradually died away, only as the song of angels would cease to be heard when they en- ter the portals of heaven. This echo is as marvelous and as celebrated as the Taj itself, and I know not in what building or in what part of the world another like it can be heard. All this description may seem to the reader simply ex- travagant, but not if the reader has ever looked upon the building described. Every one who has seen it will simply say that words are powerless to express the ideas which its sublimity and beauty inspire. I could only compare the emotions which it excited to those awakened by list- ening to exquisite music, and the building to some sub- AGBA AND THE TAJ. 3O5 lime poem, whose words transport the soul out of itself. The very first glimpse of the structure, as I entered the gateway a quarter of a mile distant, and looked down the long avenue of acacias and cypress, was overpowering, and I felt at every step as I drew nearer that I must withdra-w my gaze or be overcome. Often, as I stood within the Taj , its silent grandeur was equally overpowering. Moonlight is said to add greatly to the effect of the whole scene, giv- ing to the building the appearance of a cloud-castle built in air. According to the records, Shah Jehan had planned an- other structure precisely similar to this for his own tomb, on the opposite side of the Jumna, to be connected with it by a bridge, but he wisely concluded to sleep by the side of his beloved begum. As we left the Taj and lingered in the park, we found it vocal with the song of birds. Richly-colored paroquets made their homes along the cornices of the surrounding buildings and upon the gateway, and, by a singular though somewhat sentimental coincidence, the only turtle-doves that I saw or heard in India were two mates that sighed their melancholy notes upon the evening air as a requiem over Shah Jehan and his beloved I*»[oor Mahal. On Christmas morning we rode out several miles from Agra to Secundra, a station of the English Church Mission- ary Society known as " the Christian Yillage." We heard, long before reaching it, the sound of the church-going bell, a strange sound in a heathen land. This missionary sta- tion, which comprises a considerable community, has been organized on the principle of separating the native Chris- tians from their ordinary associates in order to protect them from the evil influences by which they are surround- ed among their own people, and also to give to the natives at large an illustration of the influence of the Gospel of Christ upon a community, important ends to be accom- plished, but only at the expense of losing the leavening and aggressive power of religion working through the relations U 306 AROUND THE WORLD. of society. It has too much of the community principle about it to commend it to general adoption. But in this case a great and beneficent work has been done, and this Christian community has become a light in the land. Be- fore we reached the place the congregation had assembled at the neat English church, whither we at once directed our steps, and where an interesting and impressive sight greeted our eyes and moved our hearts. The building, which was well filled, had no benches, the whole congrega- tion, according to Oriental custom, being seated upon the floor, each one clothed in pure white, the women and girls with their long muslin garments drawn over their heads as veils. All devoutly engaged in the service, joining in the responses, and in prayer bowing their foreheads to the pave- ment. The services were conducted in the Hindustani tongue, and were unintelligible to us, but before us was a congregation of people who had been called out of the grossest idolatry, now devoutly engaged in celebrating the birth of the Saviour of the world, joining with Christians of all lands in the song of the heavenly host, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." As I looked upon them in their devotions, the vision of the Apostle John in the Isle of Patmos came up before me, and I seemed to hear the inquiry, " What are these which are ^ arrayed in white robes, and whence came they ?" and then the response, " These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." This was one of nu- merous scenes witnessed in India, which show that the Gos- pel of Christ, through the power of the divine Spirit, is making its conquests and giving promise of a day when it shall completely triumph over idolati-y and superstition. The tomb of Akbar, one of the Mogul emperors, stands near Secundra, in the midst of a quadrangular court a quar- ter of a mile square. A heavy wall surrounds the square, making the inclosure a fortress. The mausoleum in wliich lie the remains of the great emperor is three hundred feet AQBA AND THE TAJ. 3O7 square, and vies in magnilicence, though not in beauty, with the Taj, rising to the height of a hundred feet in five ter- races, with cloisters, galleries, domes, and cupolas elaborate- ly wrought. The roof of the highest elevation is flat, one hundred feet square. In the centre stands a cenotaph of pure marble, elaborately carved with the N'ow Nuhhey If am, the ninety -nine names of God, from the Koran. It is covered with a cupola, not for the protection of the ceno- taph, but to guard the names of God from the storm. The roof is surrounded by a lattice of carved marble, and at each corner is a beautiful marble cupola, light and grace- ful. The sarcophagus which contains the dust of the em- peror, on the ground floor, is reached by a descending pas- sage similar to that of the great pyramid of Egypt. The whole structure is almost as massive as the pyramids. Akbar was the most powerful sovereign of his day, and a man of independent if not enlightened views. He open- ed the places of honor and responsibility to all races and all religions, and by his liberal and tolerant policy secured to a greater extent than most Oriental monarchs the affections of his people. His sons having all died in infancy, he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of a celebrated saint at A j mere to sue for an heir. He went with his whole familj^ on foot a distance of three hundred and fifty miles, at the rate of four miles a day. Walls of cloth were put up on each side of the road, and carpets spread for the royal pilgrims the entire distance. On reaching the shrine, he was referred to another saint still living at Secree, where he was prom- ised an heir that should live to a good old age. The em- press afterward gave birth to a son, who became the re- nowned Jehangeer. Akbar then took up his residence at Futtehpore Secree, about twenty miles from Agra, where he founded a summer capital, covering the hills with mag- nificent buildings, the very ruins of which are among the most impressive testimonies to the grandeur of the Mogul court. When he died, the treasures that he had heaped to- gether — coin, jewels, plate, brocades, etc. — were estimated 308 AROUND THE WORLD. at seven hundred millions of rupees (about $350,000,000). His crown, studded with jewels, was valued at twenty mill- ions of rupees. One of the historians of India thus de- scribes the splendor of his reign : "The greatest displays of Akbar's grandeur were at the vernal equinox and on his birthday. They lasted for several days, during which there was a general fair, and many pro- cessions and other pompous shows. The emperor's usual place was in a rich tent, in the midst of awnings to keep oiF the sun. At least two acres wei'e thus spread with silk and gold, carpets and hangings, as rich as velvet embroidered with gold, pearls, and precious stones could make them. The nobility had similar pavilions, where they received visits from each other, and sometimes from the emperor. Dresses, jewels, horses, and elephants were bestowed upon the nobles. The emperor was weighed in golden scales against gold, silver, perfumes, and other substances in succession, which were dis- tributed among the spectators. Almonds and other fruits of gold and silver were scattered by the emperor's own hand, and eagerly caught by the coui'tiers. On the great day of each festival the emperor was seated on his throne in a noble palace, surrounded by his nobles, wearing high heron-plumes, and sparkling with diamonds like the firmament. Many hun- dred elephants passed before him in companies, all most rich- ly adorned, and the leading elephant of each company with gold plates on his head and breast set with rubies and eme- ralds. Trains of caparisoned horses followed, and after them rhinoceroses, lions, tigers, panthei's, hunting leopards, hounds, and hawks, the whole concluding with an innumerable host of cavalry glittering with cloth of gold." Intending to leave for Delhi in the afternoon, we short- ened our stay at the tomb of Akbar, and hastened back to- ward Agra. But, alas for human calculations in Oriental lands ! our horses were factors or tractors in the calcula- tion which we had not taken fully into the account. One of the miserable beasts gave out, and, after walking about two miles, we impressed an ekha, one of the rough carts of the country, and so reached our hotel. Here a new mis- fortune awaited us, revealing visions of the Black Hole of Calcutta, or some vile prison, not at all agreeable to our fancy in that land of the Moguls and the Hindoos. AGBA AND THE TAJ. 399 ~ Having hastily arranged our baggage, our bills duly paid (with the usual necessary abatements), our luggage all upon the gharries, we stepped in and gave the order to start, on which I settled back into my seat in the vain ex- pectation that it would be obeyed. Again I looked out and repeated the order, using the strongest Hindustani words that I could command, but it was of no avail. Step- ping out to see what was the matter, I was confronted by a native policeman, whose orders had been more forcible than my own, and I at length learned that the whole party were under arrest for stealing one of the four sheets that we had been able to muster on the day of our arrival. Of course we were very indignant, but police officers the world over seem to have a common understanding not to regard indignant looks and high words as conclusive proof of in- nocence, and our warm expressions were received with great coldness. I had once, in a strange city in my own country, been arrested for passing counterfeit money, but then I was near enough to my own friends to communi- cate with them, and establish my innocence. Now we were ten thousand miles away from those who would cer- tify to our previous good character in regard to thieving, and the circumstantial evidence was decidedly against us. When our party of seven arrived at the hotel, there were four sheets distributed among us as the extent of the ac- commodations of the first hotel in Agra. As we were about to depart, only three sheets could be found, and what sup- position was more reasonable, what proof could be more positive than this, that we had stolen the fourth, and that it had been secreted somewhere in our baggage. Of course it was not to be thought of for a moment that one of the dozen Hindoo servants, or one of the traveling merchants or mendicants who had been coming and going through the bungalow all the day long, had taken it. We were the culprits beyond all question, and must submit to an exami- nation. Cooling down in a measure, we ordered the trunks to be taken from the gharries, and full search to be made ; 310 ABOUND THE WORLD. but, wnen we consented to have it done, tliey did not wish to do it, like the Frenchman who, in a financial panic, made haste to draw out all his deposits from the bank, but when he found the teller ready to hand it over, he declined to take the money ; he wanted it only in case the bank was not willing to pay. The next order of the police was to have the ladies' satchels searched. By this time matters grew somewhat serious, and we made inquisition for the host, Mr. Beaumont, who had not appeared on the scene, whether privy to it or not. To him we could talk in round English, and we improved the opportunity. lie became our bail, notwithstanding we gave him the assurance that after such treatment we certainly should not stop at his ho- tel the next time we came to India. The whole affair was undoubtedly a ruse on the part of the servants, who had secreted the sheet, thinking they could extort money from us, in payment for the loss, by calling in the police to ar- rest us. After the affair was all over, there came an ap- prehension on our part that, as the sheets had been folded in the morning in anticipation of our departure, one of them might possibly have been packed unnoticed with our baggage. We reached the cars in season, and at midnight, by moonlight, crossed the lofty iron bridge over the Jumna at Delhi, and entered the renowned capital of the Mogul emperors, more than a thousand miles from Calcutta. "We made deliberate inquisition, but not a trace of the missing sheet which had occasioned our arrest at Agra was found, and we had the proud satisfaction of feeling that we had not only escaped the prisons of Agra, but were guiltless of the felony. DELHI. 2,W XXII. DELHI. The vicinity of Delhi is a field in which the antiquarian may revel in endless delight. Within a circle of less than twenty miles, one dynasty after another has established its capital and ruled in splendor, and then passed away, leav- ing the field to the conqueror, who, instead of occupying the same site, has founded a new city, and left the old to crumble into ruins. In this way numerous cities have been scattered over the plain, the monuments of some remaining to this day, while the very history of others has been lost. One monument, the loftiest single column in the world, stands about ten miles from Delhi, in the midst of magjiifi- cent ruins, of which there is no satisfactory account in the records of India. Old Delhi, as it is called, the last forsa- ken site, is in greater perfection ; the walls remain, and much of the city is yet standing, but its halls are deserted : vagabonds and beasts of prey share its hospitality alike. But if the region is a field for the antiquarian, the present city, for a long period the capital of the Mogul empire, is the home of fancy and the field for romance. Delhi was founded by Shah Jehan about two centuries and a half ago. When his golden sun arose he determined to mark the day by erecting a monumental city. Leaving Agra, which had been built chiefly by his grandfather, the renowned Akbar, although greatly beautified by himself, he came to Delhi and laid the foundations of the gorgeous capital. It is inclosed by a wall of granite five and a half miles in circuit, and is entered by twelve strongly fortified gates — the Calcutta, the Cashmere, the Lahore, etc. • One of these, the scene of an heroic and successful assault by 312 AROUND THE WOULD. the English during the mutiny of 1857, hke the fort and the citv itself, has a modern tragic history of the deepest interest. One principal street, the Chandnee Chowk, 120 feet wide, divides the town, and is daily the scene of more strictly Asiatic display than any other street in India. It is alike the Boulevard and the Broadway of Delhi. On either side are shops and warehouses of the wealthy mer- chants ; the centre is a broad terrace or promenade, shaded with acacias and other ornamental trees. During the day the Chandnee Chowk is a busy mart of trade, but toward evening the loaded trains of camels and other beasts of bur- den disappear, the hum of business dies away, and a scene of Oriental leisure and display ensues. The promenade is thronged with persons in all the varied costumes of the in- terior of Asia, while richly-caparisoned Arabian horses, ele- phants with gayly-dressed riders, and not a few English car- riages belonging to natives, pass up and down the broad street. Other parts of the city are equally curious in their way. The grain markets are one of the sights. Camels and buffaloes, with their heavy freights, come and go like ships entering and leaving port, and a noisy multitude, scarcely less bewildering and far more entertaining than the crowd of a Western produce exchange, almost fascinate a stranger. The people of the city at all hours of the day, but still more toward evening, may be seen at home on the Hat roofs of their houses, apparently unnoticed by and un- noticing their nearest neighbors. One feels, in treading the streets of Delhi, that he has reached the heart of Asia, and every thing is so intimately associated with the old Mogul dynasty that its ancient scenes of barbaric splendor are continually rising up before him. The fortress, built by Shah Jehan for a palace, extends nearly a mile along the river, and is protected on all sides by a strong wall forty feet in height, flanked with bastions and turrets. The main gateway, the Lahore, is a tower of great strength. Entering through the archway, which once was richly ornamented with flowers in mosaic and with in- DELHI. 313 scriptions from the Koran, and passing into the grand court, we came to the Diwan-a-irrh^ the hall where the emperor gave free audience to all who had any petition or cause to present. It is an immense canopy, supported by pillars of stone, with an elevated throne on one side, the wall inlaid with mosaics of precious stones representing flowers and fruits, birds and beasts. The Diwan-i-khas, or hall of pri- vate audience, is smaller, but it is a gem of beauty. It is an open marble pavilion, resting on massive pillars and Mo- resque arches, the marble highly polished, and having almost the transparency of alabaster. The marble balustrade is exquisitely carved in elaborate perforated work. At each corner of the roof stands a marble kiosk with a gilded dome ; the ceiling was once composed of gold and silver filigree work, for which the goldsmiths of Delhi are celebrated to the present day. One side of the Diwaii-i-Mias opens on / the court by which we entered, and commands a view of the whole interior of the fortress ; another looks out upon the palace gardens, which are still kept in great beauty ; a third affords a charming view of the River Jumna, while the fourth, which is closed, rests upon the walls of the royal zenana. On the side that is closed once stood the famous " Peacock Throne," the admiration, if not the envy, of the world in the days when the Mogul dynasty was at the ze- nith of its splendor. It is thus described : " The throne was six feet long and four feet broad, com- posed of solid gold inlaid with precious gems. It was sur- mounted by a gold canopy, supported on twelve pillars of the same material. Around the canopy hung a fringe of pearls; on each side of the throne stood two chattahs., or umbrellas, symbols of royalty, formed of crimson velvet richly embroid- ered with gold thread and pearls, and with handles of solid gold, eight feet long, studded with diamonds. The back of the throne was a representation of the expanded tail of a pea- cock, the natural colors of which were imitated by sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other brilliant gems. Its value was es- timated by Tavernier, a French jeweler, who saw it in its per- fection, at six millions of pounds sterling, or thirty millions of dollars." 314 AROUND TEE WORLD. This famous Peacock Throne was taken away by the Per- sian conqueror, Nadir Shah, who not only stripped the pal- ace, but signalized his conquest and the subjugation of the Mogul capital by ordering the slaughter of a hundred thou- sand of its helpless inhabitants, men, women, and children. He sat with the conquered emperor in the Diwan-i-khas, sipping his coffee, while the dead were piled in the streets. As we trod this marble hall, once the scene of imperial splendor, memory and fancy bringing up the contrasts of grandeur and cruelty, glory and humiliation which had here been witnessed, and as we thought of the many changes which had come over the face of things since Shah Jehan sat upon his throne of brilliants, we could only look in sad- ness nj)on the delusive inscription which the emperor had engraved in the beautiful Arabic characters upon the mar- ble walls : " If there be a paradise on the face of the earth, it is this — it is this — it is this." Only a portion of the adjoining seraglio remains, but the Hummaums, or royal baths, rooms of the purest white marble, with inlaid borders, marble floors and tanks, and a fountain in the centre of each room, have a richness and exquisite beauty that is almost inconceivable in connection with such simplicity of material. The Motee Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, a miniature of the Pearl Mosque at Agra, is a pearl itself, built exclusively of white marble, and giving one an idea of purity such as no other material suggests. The Jumma Musjid^ accounted the grandest mosque in the East, stands upon an eminence in another part of the city. Its paved court, 450 feet square, having in the cen- tre a large marble reservoir of water, is skirted on three sides by a colonnade of red sandstone, with a marble pa- vilion at each corner. The building is very imposing, and, with the lofty minarets, forms one of the most striking ob- jects in the city, whether seen from a distance or near at hand. The view from its summit, taking in the city and fort, the river and a vast extent of the surrounding coun- try, is sublime. Long did I linger upon it to study the DELHI. 315 strange map which lay before me, and to ponder over the history of strange events which had been written on it by the hand of time through more than a score of centuries. We devoted one day to the Kootuh-Minar, eleven miles from Delhi, and to the intervening monuments and ruins which are thickly scattered over the plain in all directions. The Kootub-Minar is a fluted column 240 feet in height, more than 100 feet in circumference at the base, and grad- ually diminishing to forty feet at the summit. It is di- vided into five stories by projecting balconies, which sur- round the tower and add greatly to its beauty. There are many curious but evidently designed coincidences in its construction. The lowest and upper stories make precise- ly half the height ; the lower story is just twice the diame- ter, and the whole column is five diameters in height. For what purpose the column was erected is a problem which the antiquarians of India have not solved, but their solu- tion is not at all essential to the admiration of a structure which is pronounced the finest of its kind. There it stands, in the midst of the ruins of an almost forgotten city, tow- ering up toward the heavens in solitary grandeur. One is fascinated as he follows up its beautifully fiuted sides un- til the lines mingle at the summit, and as he gazes its pro- portions swell and rise, and his thoughts become lost in the clouds. I have a sort of passion for climbing heights, and could not resist the impulse to travel up the spiral stair- case to the top (there were only three hundred and seventy- five steps), to look out from this elevation upon the ruined cities and magnificent mausoleums, and upon the city of Delhi in the distance. The view was many times worth the climb. At the foot of the Minar are the carved fragments of the Musjid-i-Kootuh-ul- Islam, which was erected as the grand mosque of old Delhi. It was constructed by the Mohammedan conqueror from the spoils of twenty-seven Hindoo temples at the close of the twelfth century. Some of the arches and pillars are exquisitely sculptured. Among 316 AROUND THE WORLD. them stands an enigma in the shape of an iron pillar five feet in circumference and fifty feet in length, cast in a sin- gle shaft. It stands erect, the base by actual investigation liaving been found nearly thirty feet belovs^ the surface of the ground. It has stood there more than a thousand years, but when, by whom, or for what purpose it was erect- ed is unknown. It furnishes sohd testimony, to the weight of fifteen or twenty tons, that heavy castings are not among the modern achievements of art. In all parts of the world there is only a step between the sublime and the ridiculous, and no one must expect to find it widened in Oriental lands. It is rarely that we make the attempt to look through magnificent structures and imposing ruins into the regions of the past, without be- ing called back to the present by some plaintive cry for charity, or a repulsive demand for backsheesh from the pretended lords of these crumbling heaps of stone. On this occasion, after we had descended from the Minar, we were summoned to witness a feat which every traveler must witness, and for which every one must pay. We were taken to an immense well, eighty-five feet in depth and about fifty in diameter. A half dozen nearly naked natives stood upon the wall around the edge, waiting for the nod that seals a contract to pay them for the exploit. We nodded, and at once they sprang with outstretched arms and legs, kept in this position until within about twenty-five feet of the bottom, when they suddenly straight- ened themselves, plunging feet foremost into the water, and soon reappeared, swimming on its surface. They speedily reached the top by an underground passage and demanded their pay, and M^ould not have been satisfied if we had given them ten times the usual amount. But it is their only means of support, and they have followed plunging into the same well from their childhood, and their fathers before them for many generations, and perhaps for centu- ries. I shall not attempt to describe the wilderness of ruined & DELHI. 317 cities, of magnificent tombs and mosques that lie between Delhi and the Kootub-Minar ; nor the ruins of the grand Astronomical Observatory of Jay Singh, the scientific Ra- jah of Jeypore, who erected the complete observatory at Benares. It is on the same grand scale on which these wealthy nabobs and emperors wrought all their works. The dimensions of the gnomon of the equatorial dial as it now stands give an idea of its extent, the hypothenuse be- ing 118 feet, and the perpendicular 56 feet. The English government has done much since the mu- tiny for the improvement of Delhi. The Queen's Gar- dens, in the midst of the town, are laid out with great taste, and carefully cultivated. A collection of living ani- mals and birds, and other specimens in natural history, adds to the attractions of the park. A large ornamental building for public and scientific uses has been erected on the Chandnee Chowk, called the Institute. In its large municipal hall we had the pleasure of meeting several of the native princes. For these improvements the Mogul capital is under many obligations to the Rev, James Smith, an English Baptist missionar}^, who has also held a commis- sion under the government for promoting the scientific ad- vancement of the native population. A costly memorial church has been erected to commemorate those who fell in the terrible mutiny, which burst upon this city with ter- rific force at its very beginning. The revolt commenced at Meerut, forty miles distant, and after the massacre of Europeans, men, women, and children, at that place, the Se- poys set out in a body for Delhi, where the native troops joined them, and commenced the slaughter of their ofii- cers. The magazine, which contained an enormous supply of guns, powder, and warlike stores, was in charge of Lieu- tenant Willoughby. Seeing the state of affairs, he closed and barricaded the gates, and then, laying a train of gun- powder, prepared to blow up the arsenal should resistance prove unavailing. Mne Europeans kept thousands of Se- poys at bay until at length they were exhausted and like- 318 ABOUND THE WORLD. ly to be overpowered, when the match was applied, and more than a thousand mutineers were blown into the air. All the Europeans in the city who had not made their escape on the appearance of the Sepoys were massacred. The English families were tied in rows, and shot and sa- bred w^ithout mercy. The assassinations were accompanied by horrid atrocities. Others, who escaped — tender women and helpless children — wandered for days under the burn- ing sun, lying down at nights in the jungle. Delhi fell completely into the hands of the mutineers, but its recap- ture was one of the most heroic achievements of the recov- ery of British power in India. While at Delhi I had occasion to send homeward letters of some importance, and not being disposed to trust them to the uncertainties of the native servants at the hotel, I determined to deposit them with my own hands in the post. It afforded a new occasion for admiration of an in- stitution the marvels of which seem to be forgotten in the newer and greater marvel of the telegraph. I never cease to wonder at the thought that one can go into almost any remote corner of the earth, and write his thoughts on a slip of paper, and drop it into a little box, even in the dead of night, when every one else is asleep, and that with all the speed of steam the identical slip of paper will travel over land and sea, and search out the friend to whom it is addressed, no matter in what other corner of the earth he may dwell, and deliver the certified message. With the telegraph different and even remote countries are act- ually bound together, and although thousands of miles in- tervene, you may, by means of a wire, hold by the button the one to whom you are speaking. The wire is an abso- lute link. But the postal service depends upon detached messengers, who must traverse sea and land, and seldom do they fail to execute their commission. I do not know that I have ever failed to receive a letter out of the num- bers that have been addressed to me in all foreign parts, or that any one that I have sent has failed to reach its des- DELHI. 319 tination. Some of the former have been great travelers. Several that were addressed to me from home while I was in India, through the sagacity of ISTew York clerks were sent by the way of China, and arrived in the north of In- dia after I had left the country ; but they traveled on, hoping to reach me at Cairo, where they made another halt and search, and then came on to Constantinople, where they overtook me precisely five months after they had started upon their travels. Inquiring at the hotel at Delhi the way to the post-of- fice, I was told it was a short distance beyond the fort. I traveled onward and onward until I almost despaired of reaching the place. At length, after various inquiries of natives of all Oriental regions, made chiefly by holding up my letters, I was directed to a back alley, which I found led to an old temple, or mosque, or something of the sort, and this was the Delhi post-ofiice. A Eurasian who spoke English was in charge, and seemed to be the only living being within the premises. At the window I asked for stamps, and was directed to a sleepy Mohammedan who was lying on the pavement outside, and who was any thing but a promising looking dealer in government securities. When I made known what I wanted, he drew from the folds of his loose garment a muslin bag, from which he produced the requisite amount of stamps, as suspicious in appearance as the dealer himself, but I paid for them, and, aflixing them to the letters, again presented them at the window. The Eurasian advised me to cancel them my- self, adding that if I did not some one in the ofiice might remove them from the letters and sell them again. Their appearance indicated that they had gone through this op- eration several times already. It was a new idea to me, that of canceling my own stamps before mailing my letters, but I complied, and then dropped them into the box, having little faith in their ever seeing America. I learned after- ward that they were all received in due time, and in good condition, and I have now more faith than ever in inter- 320 AROUND THE WORLD. national posts. This is rather a long story about what some may think a small matter, but those who have been 10,000 miles or more from home do not esteem it a small mattei- that by international arrangement they may hold direct and free communication with those they have left behind, and the motto which I have elsewhere recorded as found graven over the arch of the post-office at Hong Kong will recur as among the expressive sentiments of inspired wisdom : " As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." XXIII. AMONG THE HIMALAYAS. At Delhi we were more than a thousand miles from Cal- cutta, but we had not yet reached the northern limit of our journeying in Hindostau. We were bound for the Hima- layas, and in some doubt whether to return by the route we had taken, or to go up to the Indus, make our way to the sea by that river, and so down to Bombay. The weather having become sufficiently cool to travel with comfort by day, we took the cars at 11 o'clock. In the afternoon we passed Meerut, an important military station, and memora- ble as the scene of the first outbreak of the mutiny. Just at evening we reached Saharunpur, where we left the rail to make an excursion of a few days among the Himalaya Mountains. This town is pleasantly situated on the great plain of India. It was one of the earliest sta- tions of the American Presbyterian Mission, and is occupied by the Eev. Mr. Calderwood, who met us at the cars, and who, with his family, made our short sojourn one of great pleasure. An interesting incident connected with our visit was the close of the examination of the mission school, and I regarded it as a peculiar pleasure to be invited to distrib- AMONG THE HIMALAYAS. 321 lite the prizes to a large number of native youth, two of whom bore the familiar names of Alexander McLeod and James T. Wylie. Saharunpur is a military station, and is the location of the government stud. The horses of the country are mis- erable specimens of their race, and it became a matter of necessity to the military service to establish on a large scale a depot where they could be reared from better stock and for hardy service. The stalls were not full, but we found nearly two thousand horses occupying quarters al- most fit for the ofiicers of an army, and altogether superior to the cantonments which soldiers often consider very de- sirable. The horses, when old enough for service, are found to have cost the government from one to two thousand rupees each, and those of Arabian blood from two to five thousand rupees. Some of the Arabians were splendid an- imals. We soon had an opportunity to contrast them with the natives of the country bred in the usual way. Having made arrangements to cross the Sewalic range of the Himalayas from this point, we left Saharunpur in the morning in what the natives called an omnibuchus, but it bore in plain English on one of the panels the following notice : " Omnibus N^o. 1, Gunquaram, Head ofiice Meerut, LicensedatSeharunpur, 10 June 1869, tocarry 5 passengers, with 62 lbs luggage, Drawnbytwohorses." The two horses were comparatively decent animals, and we congratulated ourselves that if we had not found real Arabian steeds, we had at least fallen upon tolerable specimens of the Indian race. But we learned to our sorrow that they were intend- ed only for show, designed to entrap unwary travelers by making a good appearance on leaving town, on the princi- ple upon which strictly honest fruit-dealers inevitably place the finest specimens at the top of the basket. The road, on starting, was as level as a railway track, well metaled, and shaded on either side with bamboo, cassia, and other trees. With our gallant steeds we were promising ourselves a tri- umphant passage over the mountains, but just as we were X 322 AROUND THE WORLD. in the full tide of expectation, only three or four miles out of town, we suddenly hauled up at a post-station, and two miserable rats were put into the carriage. The word of command was given, and the whip duly applied, but the more the persuasive arguments were used, the more they would not start, excepting backward. One of them insisted again and again on putting his heels into the front of the omnibuckus, and the other persisted in attempting to stand erect on his hind heels. And these were a fair type of the horses that we took in at every station on the way, except- ing that some of them were even worse. The East India Company built one of its finest roads over this pass, in order to reach the Dehra Valley and ascend the mountains to the summer resorts of Mussoorie and Landour. It is as skillfully engineered and as sub- stantially built as the roads over the passes of the Alps, and decidedly smoother. The summit is pierced by a tun- nel reducing the extreme elevation. Long before reaching the summit, and when we were approaching the more diffi- cult and dangerous parts of the pass, the horses were de- tached, and sixteen coolies took the carriage in charge, and drew us over and down the descent on the other side, a distance of eight or ten miles. "We were accustomed to being carried by coolies in sedan chairs in Japan and China as well as in India, but not to using them as horses, and, had there been any other way of crossing the mountains, we should have demurred ; but there was no other (I had the offer of elephants on the return), and then these coolies have no other means of making a living. It is the business which they and their fathers have followed. They would lose caste, and lose all means of a livelihood if they should attempt any thing else, so that to employ them was a mer- cy and not a degradation. Besides, we remembered that when some distinguished dancer or singer visits the me- tropolis of our own country, or any of the gay capitals of Europe, it is not uncommon for young gentlemen of the highest breeding to aspire to the level of beasts of burden, AMONG THE HIMALAYAS. 323 and, taking the horses from the carriage of the danseuse or cantatrice, to harness themselves like donkeys and drag her to her hotel. With these precedents in mind, we quieted our scruples in regard to being drawn by coolies over the Himalaya Mountains. In going through the pass we came upon a splendid, full-grown leopard that had just been caught in a trap, and were in the region of wild beasts of all kinds. A gentle- man whom we met had seen, not long before, a huge wild elephant cross the highway on which we were traveling, and, in ascending the second range of the mountains the following day, we frequently saw around us the fresh tracks of leopards in the snow. India, considering the density of its population, is marvelously infested with wild beasts, and not merely in the mountainous regions, but in the jungles of the plain. The government has made great efforts to exterminate them, but without any apparent im- pression upon their numbers. One reason for this want of success is that the natives regard the wild beasts — man-eat- ing tigers in particular — as divinities, whose wrath it is more safe to appease than to arouse, and accordingly they will not hunt or kill them even when exposed to their rav- ages.* Tiger-hunting is still a favorite sport in many parts of India, and it is not uncommon for an ordinary party to bag half a dozen tigers in a single excursion. At Calcutta I met an American gentleman who had shot five the sum- mer previous. Since leaving India, I have received from Dr. Fayrer, of * "In the Chanda district, one of these man-eaters killed, in a short time, 127 persons, and stopped all traffic for many weeks on the road. Another slew 150 people in three years, causing the abandonment of the villages, and throwing 250 square miles out of cultivation. During six years, in Bengal proper, 13,401 deaths were reported by wild beasts, of which 4218 were ascribed to tigers, 4287 to wolves, 1407 to leopards, and 1 05 to bears ; the rest to other animals. The British government, on the other hand, paid in the same time $32,500 in rewards to secure the destruction of 18,196 wild animals. As much as $500 has been offered for the head of a man-eating tiger." — Indian Mail. 324: ABOUND THE WOBLD. Calcutta, who accompanied the Duke of Edhiburg (Prince Alfred of England) on his tour in the north of India, the following account of a tiger -hunt with elephants in the vicinity of Lucknow : '•'•February 23d. The camp is situated just on the river bank, and the exact spot is known as KuUean Ghaut. The narrow stream, divides the British territory from that of Ne- paul, the tract of country on the opposite side having been given over to the ISTepalese since the mutiny. It contains the finest forest land in India. The gift was probably more valuable than it was at the time supposed to be. The royal standard of Britain is hoisted on one side, while that of the prime minister, the virtual ruler of Nepaul, is on the other. The Mohan abounds with alligators and gurrials. On the 22d one of Sir Jung's men was carried off and eaten by an alligator when bathing in the rivei\ " Fourteen years ago this used to be a splendid hunting- ground. It is said to be so still, notwithstanding the en- croachments of civilization and cultivation. A tiger has al- ready been heard of, and after breakfast he is to be sought for. Sir Jung Bahadoor is to cross the river to meet H. R. H. in British territory after breakfast, and will accompany him throughout the day. The weather is getting warm, fleecy clouds obscure the sun, but diffuse rather than intercept its rays. Sir Jung's camp resounds with barbaric music. "After breakfast the Nepalese minister crossed the river on a bridge thrown over for the occasion, and rode up to H. R. H.'s camp. He was preceded by his body-guard and a band of music. H. R. H. and suite received Sir Jung, with Colonel Lawrence, the political agent, Colonel Thomson, the commissioner of Seetapore, Captain Young, settlement ofii- cer, and eight of his principal sirdars, nearly all colonels, who were presented to the duke. The maharajah, who is a slight, active, and wiry-looking man of about fifty-three, with fair Mongolian features, was dressed in a military uniform, and was decorated with the Grand Cross of the Bath. His head- dress was made of the most costly jewels, said to be worth about £15,000. The visit lasted only a few minutes, and shortly after H. R. H. got into the howdah, and, crossing the river, was joined by the Maharajah Sir Jung Bahadoor in a plain blue cotton shooting-dress, with a broad sola hat, and the Maharajah Sir Digbija Singh, G.C. S. I., of Bulrampore, in a dress very like it, only colored green. The combined party. AMONG THE HIMALAYAS. 325 with a line of above four hundred elephants — one hundred and thirty belonging to H. R. H.'s camp — proceeded in the direc- tion of an extensive grass and tree jungle, where the tiger had been marked down, and where, during the last few days, he had killed several buffaloes. On the way some small game was shot, but on approaching the vicinity of the tiger's abode all firing ceased, and arrangements were made by Sir Jung for surrounding the brute. After beating in a long line through a belt of sal forest, skirting the long grass, the line was gradu- ally formed into a circle, and the elephants were brought so close as to touch each other. It certainly was a magnificent sight, and one seldom witnessed. They were all thoroughly trained and stanch, as the result proved when the tiger tried in vain to break the line, or rather circle. The inclosure be- ing complete, H, R. H. on the same howdah, a large square one, with Sir Jung Bahadoor, went into the circle, and the tiger soon revealed himself, although the grass was as high as the howdah, with occasional vacant places. He was fired at by the duke alone, as all the rest of the party were re- quested not to fire unless the tiger got on any elephant's head. H. R. H. wounded him severely, and he made sev- eral charges round the line, but the elephants stood firm, and he could not get out, though he tried hard to break through. He fell at about the third shot from the duke's rifle, and then the whole circle closed in on him. He was soon padded, and proved to be a fine male tiger ten feet one inch in length, and very heavy. "It was a most exciting scene; the wildness of the place, the magnificent line of elephants, and the steadiness with which they and their mahouts carried out the orders of the maharajah, were remarkable, and all were much pleased, none more so than H. R. H., with the sport ; though perhaps, in a strictly sporting sense, the tiger may be considered to have been rather hardly used. The Nepalese elephants are well trained, and are so frequently employed by Sir Jung in tiger- shooting and elephant-hunting that they can not be surpass- ed. They are worked in line by the bugle calls, and are taught to go at a pace that no other elephants can equal. The maharajah is a great sportsman, and spends a considera- ble part of each year in the Terai. After padding the tiger the party moved on the line, and general shooting com- menced. The party returned to camp in the evening, after an excellent day's sport on the banks of the Mohan with a bag of about twenty deer, one tiger, and a quantity of partridges, hares, pea, and jungle fowl. In returning to 326 AROUND THE WORLD. camp just before dark an accident occurred, which was at- tended with very serious consequences to a mahout, and in which two persons in the howdah had a very narrow escape. An old but very famous elephant made a false step, and, be- ing weak, fell over against a tree and crushed the howdah. The native gentlemen jumped out, while the mahout, an old man who, at the time, was not on the elephant's neck, but was trying to drag the howdah over to one side, as it had become crooked, was crushed between the howdah and the tree, and sustained a very serious injury to the left hand. The wound was temporarily dressed, and he was taken into camjD, where it Avas found necessary to amputate part of the hand. But for this unfortunate accident the day had been a most successful one. The weather was fine, a moderate breeze tempered the heat, and the wild scenery of the for- ests, the gi-assy plains on the banks of the river, which are themselves very picturesque, with the ever-varying interest of the working of the magnificent line of elej)hants, made up a scene that has seldom been equaled. '•''February 2Mh. Before leaving camp this morning a cam- el-man of the maharajah's was brought in with a rather se- vere wound in the left thigh, just above the knee. He was wading across the Mohan, Which there w^as not up to his hips, when he was suddenly seized by a large gurrial, and dragged down. Some Sepoys who were close at hand rush- ed to the rescue, and one of them so severely wounded the great lizard that it let go and tried to make its escape ; he followed, thrusting his bayonet into it, and having fired all his (six) cartridges, he clubbed his musket and belabored it until the stock was broken. The brute by this time was so far hors de combat that it turned over as though dead, and was dragged on shore, and brought into camp with the man it had bitten. Fortunately the grip had not been very fii-m, and a portion of integument only, about five inches in cir- cumference, had been torn away, leaving a painful and tedi- ous, though not a dangerous wound. The gurrial was an enormous brute over sixteen feet in length. He was opened, and his stomach found quite empty, with the exception of about twenty or thirty pebbles, from the size of peas or mar- bles to a hen's eggs. These are useful for purposes of diges- tion, and are probably always found in the stomachs of these Saurians. This incident quite settles the question as to whether the gurrial does take other food than fish, although, from the conformation of his jaws, he is not able to seize so large a morsel, or inflict so great a wound as the alligator." AMONG THE HIMALAYAS. 327 But the wild elephants, tigers, leopards^ wolves, etc., for- midable and destructive as they are, may be regarded as rather ornamental than otherwise in comparison with the lesser vermin which swarm over the whole country during the rainy and hot seasons. Of these the most dreaded and the most deadly are the snakes, from the hooded cobra, which sometimes attains the length of ten feet, down to the innumerable venomous snakes no larger than a riding- whip. It is stated on good authority that in the year 1869 there were 11,416 deaths from the bites of snakes in the single province of Bengal. From actual statistics, it has been estimated that in all India there are from 20,000 to 40,000 deaths from the same cause e^Qry year. The snakes live and multiply not only in the jungle and open country, but in the villages and cities. They come into the grounds and houses of all classes ; they make their homes in the thatch and drop down from the rafters ; they creep into the beds ; they lie around among the kitchen utensils, and even ensconce themselves in the parlors. I heard many thrilling narratives of adventures with these unwelcome visitors. The smaller vermin are still more ubiquitous, and a still greater annoyance. Scorpions and centipedes are abundant, and every where dreaded. The white ants move in armies, and are terribly destructive. Scarcely any thing in the shape of furniture or clothing escapes their rav- ages, and their tastes are decidedly literary. They will go through an entire library in an incredibly short space of time, leaving nothing to be perused by those who come after them. If a book is carelessly left within their reach, the form of it may be found, but the entire contents has been devoured. The day was all spent and the night had overtaken us before we had completed the descent of the mountain. For hours we rode on in the darkness, until late in the evening of the last day of the year 1869 we ahghted at the home of the Eev. Mr. Woodside, in the charming valley of the Dehra Doon. This valley is one of the gardens of In- 328 ABOUND THE WORLD. dia, a vale of Cashniere transferred- a little to the south. Sheltered on all sides by the Himalayas, which stretch themselves four and five miles into the skies, it has all the year round a genial climate (if the intense heat of the sum- mers can be called genial), the trees of all climes, the plants of the tropics, and the fruits of the north growing side by side. The bamboo flourishes with great luxuriance, and the palm rears its stately crown. Extensive tea plantations occupy the plain. It was a joy which no words can express to meet in this lonely but lovely valley, in the very heart of Asia, Ameri- can families at home, and to have these homes opened to us with as much cordiality as if we had been their nearest kindred. The days that we spent there were all red-letter days, and when at length we were compelled to say fare- well, it seemed more like taking a new departure from home than going homeward. ON THE HIMALAYAS. It was well into the new year before we could say good- night or think of rest, but we were to be np and on the wing before the morning light. In anticipation of our ar- rival at Dehra, Mr.Woodside and Mr. Herron, of the Ameri- can Mission, had arranged an excursion to the sanitary cities of Mussoorie and Landour, perched upon the very top of the second range of the Himalayas, between seven and eight thousand feet high. They are crowded during the heat of summer, being a delightfully cool resort from the plains below, and, indeed, from all parts of Hindostan, but in the winter, when we made the ascent, they were desei^ted. Simlah, to which the governor general moves his court in the summer, is a hundred miles farther north. ON THE HIMALA YAS. 329 We rose long before the sun to greet the opening year, A drive of five or six miles across the valley, through a charming country, brought us to Raj pore, where the ar- rano-ements for ascending; the mountain were to be made. One of our number, too feeble to endure the day's ride, was taken up in Q,jha7yparh, a sort of sedan chair, the rest mak- ing the ascent on horseback. The cities are in full sight from the plain below, and show themselves at different points during the ascent, but we were long in reaching them. Slowly we toiled upward, encoui'aged by an occa- sional glimpse of the summit, and often repaid for our toil by the views of the Dehra valley, until at length we reached a point where the Sewalic range that we had crossed the day before sank so low that we could look over upon the great plain beyond. The road passed deep precipices, over one of which the wife of an English officer, the year before, had gone down several hundred feet and was instantly killed. Troops of monkeys, looking old and wise enough to be the ancestors of Darwin, sat grinning at us from the trees. Wild peacocks, with plumage as gay as the domes- tic bird, are abundant on the mountain, where they are shot as game. We had dined on them two or three days be- fore. At length we reached JVIussoorie, and, passing through it, were soon at Landour, which is on the very crest of the mountain. I could not but marvel at the boldness of the man who first conceived the idea of building a town upon this lofty ridge. There is not half an acre of level ground any where to be found. It is a simple line of peaks, with here and there a spot on which an eagle might build his nest. It may be a hundred feet down to the next eyrie, but every rock on which a house could be fastened has been seized upon, until towns of considerable extent have grown up. It is a place of great attractiveness to those who are suffering from the scorching heat of the plain, but all the while that I was on the mountain I was haunted with the thought that if I were to spend the night in any one of these numerous homes, I might, simply by stepping A GORGE IN THE HIMALAYAS. ON THE HIMALA YAS. 33]^ out of bed, plunge thousands of feet down the mountain sides. The elevation is nearly three times that of the Cats- kill Mountain House, and it appears as if one might almost step into the Dehra Doon. I can scarcely attempt to describe the magnificent views afforded at this elevation. On one side lies the Dehra Doon, one of the fairest valleys in all the East, smiling in its verdure and foliage, although it was now midwinter. Farther on is the Sewalic i^ange of the Himalayas, and still farther, in full view, the great plain of India, fifteen hun- dred miles in extent. On the opposite side, toward the northeast, peak after peak of the snowy range, stretching out into Thibet and Cashmere, lifts its snowy head into the clouds. One of these, separated by a narrow valley from the point on which we stood, measures 22,330 feet. An- other, in the distance, is 25,700 feet high ; and still another. Mount Everest, reckoned the loftiest point on the surface of the globe, is 29,000 feet by barometrical measurement. Several of these peaks have been ascended by adventurers and scientific parties, but we did not attempt to go so far into the clouds, among the everlasting snows. We were ver}'^ hospitably entertained at Landour by Dr. Kellett, the British surgeon, who had made preparation to receive us, and we left with him a pressing invitation to return our call on the next New- Year's day in New York. Retracing our way down the mountain sides, we were overtaken by the darkness of night, and passed the last hour or two in no little apprehension of the precipices which invited us below. But we reached our home at Deh- ra in safety, having met with no misadventure in this de- lightful and ever-memorable excursion to the top of the globe. The following day, which w^as the day of rest, we spent in this peaceful valley, greatly enjoying communion with the happy circle of Americans whose hearts are drawn closely together in this far-away part of the earth, and who became very near to us before we parted with them. In 332 AROUND THE WORLD. the morning I heard a sound which transported me home- ward. As it fell upon my ear, the tone was so familiar that I exclaimed, " That is one of Meneely's bells ;" and so it proved. It had crossed the ocean, and crossed the plains of India, and crossed the Himalaya Mountains before us, and there, in the heart of Asia, it was calling a congrega- tion of native Christians to the house of God. We wor- shiped with the natives in their own tongue a part of the day, and in the evening, at an English service, I spoke some words of Christian encouragement to the Americans and others to whom om* tongue is familiar, and so we spent the sacred day at the farthest point from home I had ever reach- ed; and yet we were not away from home — we were still among friends. In one respect I almost envied the mission families their lot, for I know not a missionary station in any part of the world more charmingly located. It is one of the fairest spots in our memories of the lands of the East. Rising very early on Monday morning, I rode out with Mr.Woodside to the government tea plantations, and gath- ered the leaf for myself, though not for use. The tea of India we decidedly preferred, while we were in the coun- try, to any that we drank in China or Japan, perhaps be- cause it was made in more civilized style. We came upon a company of Thibetians, one of whom was praying in the early morning with a machine, a small wheel turned upon a handle — a very convenient way of saying one's prayers, and quite as efficacious, no doubt, as using the form of words where the heart is not found. The tongue may become a praying machine as truly as the wheel of this traveler of Thibet. Many urgent and tempting inducements were presented to us, by the English as well as the American residents, to prolong our stay in the beautiful valley, and gladly would we have yielded could time have tarried with us. In an- ticipation of our arrival, various plans for improving the so- journ had been laid. I found that arrangements had been made for a public lecture on the Pacific Railroad, which ON THE HIMALA TAS. 333 A PEAYING MACHINE. bad awakened almost as much interest in that remote re- gion as in the United States. They had read and heard so much about this enterprise, and of the comfort and charm of travel by the Pullman palace cars, that they wished to have it. all confirmed or dispelled by one who had actually traversed the road. Many of the English residents were in- tending to take this route homeward. But, having laid my own plans for a long time to come, I was compelled to de- cline the invitation. Had we yielded to all the tempting propositions to lengthen our stay in many places, to see more that was to be seen and to enjoy more that was to be enjoyed, especially in the society of the friends whom we 334 AROUND THE WORLD. met, we should still be tarrying or wandering far away among Oriental scenes, and perhaps should never reach home at all. The English commissioner sent us a polite offer of ele- phants to take our party over the mountains, but we had al- ready tried this 'mode of conveyance to our satisfaction. We returned to Saharunpur as we came, being taken by coolies over the most difficult part of the route. Mr .Wood- side and Mr. Herron accompanied us several miles on the way, and at the ascent of the mountain we bade them fare- well. Several months before leaving America, in arranging my programme for the year of travel, I decided to spend the first week of January, 1870, in this part of India. My ob- ject in doing so was to 'pass the week with the American Mission families and the native churches in the religious services of the period, now known the world over as " the Week of Prayer." Lodiana, from which the general mis- sion takes its name, is the place from which, in .1858, an in- vitation was sent out to Christians every where to spend the first week in each year in united prayer to God for the conversion of all nations to Christ. That concert is now observed throughout Christendom, and has become a bond of union and of interest among all who look for the reno- vation of the world through the Gospel of salvation. I commenced the week at Dehra Doon, then came to Saha- runpur, where I joined with the native Christians and the mission family in similar services. I spoke to the natives through an interpreter, and, bidding them and our friends of the mission farewell, went on in the evening of Tuesday to Amballa, fifty miles farther north. Here I was wel- comed by an old friend. Rev. John H. Morrison, D.D., who has spent between thirty and forty years in India, and, after joining in the same interesting services at this place, went on with him seventy miles to Lodiana, where we met with several missionaries and the native Christians in the chapel in which, twelve years before, the resolution was adopted ON THE HIMALAYAS. 335 and sent out into all the world to devote the week to this holy purpose. In that distant land, and amid the many sacred associations, it was a week of peculiar interest. I had now reached the extreme northern limit of my travels, having abandoned the jjlan of going to Bombay by the River Indus and the Indian Ocean on account of the low stage of water. Thus far my journeyings had been accomplished in exact accordance with my originaV pro- gramme, and I was not willing to trust to the uncertainties of navigation through a river of shifting bars and shallow waters, when I could lay my course by the hour according to a previously arranged time-table. Before leaving Lodiana I went into the native town to witness the manufacture of the Cashmere shawls, one of the principal branches of industry. I called also upon two Cabool princes, who were living in exile upon a small pen- sion from the British government. They were sons of Shah Shujah, one of the last native possessors of the re- nowned Koh-i-noor diamond, which now belongs to the British crown. The early history of this gem is as roman- tic and as tragic as that of an Eastern princess. It has cost many a prince his eyes, and many a one his life. It was found in the mines of Golconda, in Southern India, and first belonged to the viceroy of the province, a native of Persia, who afterward presented it to Shah Jehan, the Mo- gul emperor who built the Taj for Noor Mahal. After lying in the imperial treasury near a century, it was carried off by Nadir Shah, the king of Persia, who invaded India in 1738. It passed through several royal hands. Some of its possessors had their eyes put out, and others were assas- sinated in the strife to gain possession of the treasure. One of these princes, after he had lost his sight, had it taken from him on the plea that such a gem could be of no value to one who had no eyes with which to see its beauty. The father of the princes whom I met at Lodiana, while sharing the hospitalities of the Maharajah Punjeet Singh, the Lion of Lahore, Avas put to the tortui-e and compelled to give it 336 AROUND THE WOULD. lip to his host. The diamond remained in Runjeet Singh's family until the Punjaub was conquered by the British, when it was seized and presented by the captors to Queen Victoria. Dark has been the history of tliis brilliant, reckoned second among the most valuable gems of the world. When found it weighed 900 carats. It was reduced by cutting, first to 279 carats, then to 186, in which state it was shown in the Great Exhibition of 1851. It has since been recut, and now weighs 123 carats, being valued at about $600,000. LODIANA TO BOMBAY. On the 6th of January we turned our faces southward and homeward, taking the Delhi and the East Indian Rail- ways to Allahabad, where we paused again for a few days. As we passed through Cawnpore, the native and foreign communities were agitated by the recent occurrence of a suttee, the burning of a widow on the funeral pile of a husband. In studying the state of society in India, I found that there is more to commend this practice to Hin- doo widows than is generally supposed. They are not driven by the mere law of custom to immolate themselves when thus bereaved. It is not affection for the husband which leads them to cast their own bodies into the flames which consume the dead. It is the future of the widow, her degraded, hopeless, helpless condition, that makes her choose death rather than life. The suttee was abolished by law in 1829, and now rarely occurs. All who take part in it are regarded as aiding and abetting murder, and are treated accordingly. Our last evening at Allahabad was spent with a pleasant party of English and American residents, our host being a LODIANA TO B03IBAT. 337 veteran English officer who had spent forty years in the military service in India. Pie was apparently unaffected by the climate, which had sent tens of thousands home to England, and many thousands to their long home. The evening passed delightfully, and soon after midnight we took the cars bound for Jubbulpore. By morning we had left the great plain, and were among the hills. There was little that was interesting in the face of the country ; no picturesque scenery; no high cultivation. By noon we reached Jubbulpore, where the only break in steam com- munication around the world occurred, a space of 167 miles to J^agpore. The gap was filled a month or two later by the completion of the rail through from Allahabad to Bombay, connecting Calcutta with the latter place by rail. Jubbulpore is the station to which the Thugs were con- signed when the murderous clan was suppressed. They are organized in a sort of penal colony, under the superin- tendence of British officers. Some of the more desperate and dangerous characters are in irons, and all are kept at hard labor. Even the children of the Thugs are under surveillance, and not allowed to go out into the country, lest the seeds of this infernal band should again be spread over the land, and its horrid crimes be repeated. Here we were to make arrangements for the only formidable jour- ney that we encountered during all our travels, and it was a journey which we have occasion to remember until the journey of life is over. We were not shut up to Hobson's choice in regard to the mode of conveyance, a variety of vehicles and of motive power being presented to our selec- tion. There was the palanquin, the ancient carriage of In- dia, a long black box in which one person can lie down but can not sit up, and which becomes exceedingly tire- some after traveling fifty or a hundred miles. It is carried by coolieSy four at a time, and if the journey is designed to be speedy, relays are required every few miles. They travel niglit and day, though in the warm seasons it is cus- Y 338 AROUND THE WORLD. tomarj to journey only by night, and seek repose and shade during the day. Then there were the bullock-carts, drawn by oxen, which are sometimes very fleet, but which, in a long journey, make slow progress. As time is of little account in Oriental countries, the bullock-carts are a favor- ite mode of conveyance. The distance between Jubbul- pore and Nagpore is made by these carts in four or five days, which was enough to condemn them in our eyes. The conveyance that we selected, chiefly on account of speed, was the daJc-gharry, the government post-carriage, which resembles the palanquin, although larger, is set on wheels, and drawn by animals that are dignified by the name of horses, three abreast. It has this advantage over the palanquin : it can be .arranged so as to enable one to sit up, but in general it is furnished with a flat bottom, on which a mattress is spread. The passengers (each gharry will accommodate two, and no more) lie down with their feet toward the horses, and are driven night and day al- most at railroad speed, and without anj^ regard to bruised muscles or broken bones. The entire distance, 167 miles, we were assured would be made in twenty-four hours, and, as time was something more than money, we made choice of the dak-gharry, not wholly unaware of the severe pommeling to which we must be subjected, though not altogether aware of the se- vere trial of physical strength and endurance that we must pass through. Accordingly, I engaged two gharries at the government post-ofiice, one for myself and wife, and anoth- er for the young lieutenant, paying one hundred rupees, or fifty dollars, for each, a large price considering the wear and tear of flesh, for which no allowance was made. The rest of the party engaged gharries of a private comj)any which run their vehicles over the same route. It was late in the afternoon wlien we were fairly launch- ed. Going out from Jubbulpore for several miles we met large numbers of natives, some of them gayly dressed, re- turning from a Hindoo festival which they had been cele- LODIANA TO BOMBAY. 339 brating on the hills. Four miles from the town we de- scended into the valley of the Nerbndda, where the scenery became more attractive. The " Marble Rocks," situated on the river some miles below the ghaut at which we cross- ed, are celebrated in the annals of this part of India for the bold and striking views of which they form a part, and are a j)lace of great resort. During the whole journey the horses w^ere changed every five miles, and every time that fresh ones were put in it ap- peared as if they had just been caught wild, and were then for the first time put into harness and introduced to the gharry. The first move was for all tliree to attempt to jump over each other at the same moment of time, an ex- ploit the absurdity and impossibility of which they had not learned by years of experiment. The next move was for half a dozen natives to seize hold of the wheels, and two or three to take the horses by the head, while all together set up a hideous shout that frightened the miserable beasts out of their senses, and away they went as on the wings of the wind, under the lash and shout of the driver the whole five miles of each post, seldom going at a less rate than ten, and often, I believe, twelve miles an hour. We were driven with such reckless speed over the plains and down the hills that at every new stage we committed ourselves anew to the care of Providence, confident that, without special pro- tection, we must be dashed into our original elements before the next five miles were up. But we came through alive. A great part of the distance, especially that which we passed in the night, is a jungle, which, like every available spot in India, is still kept for raising tigers. At one of the stations we learned that two soldiers, who were on duty at the place, had been carried off not long before by tigers, and eaten. We concluded that there were two tigers at least in that part that were not hungry ; but, as night was coming on, I took from my traveling-bag, that had been my pillow, an excellent revolver, that I had not loaded since leaving home, and, carefully inserting five metallic car- 340 ABOUND THE WOULD. tridges, lay down to sleep in the gharry, fully prepared, as I supposed, for savage beasts and for still more savage men, of v^hich there are such in India even since the Thugs have been suppressed. The next morning I found, on examina- tion, that in the dim twilight, and in my inexperience with fire-arms, more especially with metallic cartridges, I had inserted the latter with the powder toward the muzzle and the ball toward the stock, so that, if we had been attacked during the night by one of the rovers of the jungle,! should have shot myself, and not the tiger. About two o'clock at night I became delightfully con- scious that we were making no headway in our journey. The sensation was so peculiar and refreshing I did not move to inquire into the cause even after we had been ly- ing still, for half an hour or more. Presently I heard a gentle tap at^the sliding-door of the gharry, and the coach- wan calling "sahihf sahih P'' (gentleman, or sir) in those persuasive tones which in the East usually mean lachshish. Supposing we were merely changing drivers, and that he was rousing me to obtain a fee, which he had no business to do at that unseemly time of the night, I made no answer. The coachwan retired,- but it was not long before I heard the same gentle call — '■^ sahib! sahib P'' I rose, and found that the tire of one of the wheels of the other gharry had broken, and I was summoned to a council of war by the na- tives to determine what was best to be done in the emer- gency. "We were happily in a small native village, and not in a jungle ; but we might almost as well have been in the wilderness, so far as repairing damages was concerned. "We found a miserable little smithy, but our only light was obtained from a string in a cup of oil, which scarcely made the dusky natives visible, and afforded little aid in mending the broken wheel. They had already removed the tire, and were preparing to weld it and put it on again — a very nice operation for an experienced wheelwright, and an impossi- bility in the circumstances. I remonstrated very fluently in good English against their undertaking so diificult an LODIANA TO BOMBAY. 341 operation, assuring them that they conld not accomplish it if they took a week for it, all of which they understood as perfectly as if it had been Hebrew. After three hours spent in ineffectual attempts to repair the break, they aban- doned it as a hopeless undertaking, substituted a mail-cart for the other gharry, and we resumed the journey. At fi-equent stages on the road the government has erect- ed bungalows, where travelers can rest during the day, or spend the night, provided they carry their own beds and bedding. They are supplied with a few articles of furni- ture, the chief of which is a bedstead, and with the neces- sary means of preparing a meal, but they are not intended as hotels. About nine o'clock in the morning we reached the dak bungalow^ at Seonee, midway between the two ends of the journey, and paused for the iirst and only time on the route, excepting during the delay connected with the accident to the gharry. At this place one of the wheels of my own gharry gave ominous signs of failure, and the re- mainder of the journey we made with increased speed, and with increasing apprehensions of a wreck. But, through the merciful care of Providence, we reached the end of our ride in safety — more dead than alive, it is true, but with the vital spark ready to be resuscitated, as it was by a refresh- ing dinner and a good night's rest at ISTagloo's Residency Hotel, in the pleasant town of Nagpore. This was a journey that I would not undertake again for a large part of India ; but, now that it is over and safely ac- complished, we look back upon it with mingled feelings of pleasure and pain, in which the former predominate — pleas- ure in the thought that it is safely over, and that we enjoy- ed one of the last opportunities that could be afforded to any foreigners of sympathizing with the multitudes who, through all the past ages, have been pounded almost into gelatine by traveling in the dak-gharry over the hills of Western India. It is a luxury which can never again be enjoj^ed on any of the long routes. Travelers will hereaft- er pass fi'om Calcutta to Bombay, by the way of Allahabad, 342 AROUND THE WORLD. without leaving the cars. The dak-gharry is among tlie joys departed never to return. We v^ere still 500 miles from Bombay, but we had the rail before us all the way. Our route lay through the Mahratta country, famous in the wars of the past centu- ries, and even in the conquest of the country by the Brit- ish. All dav long, every few miles we came upon the old forts standing in the midst of the plains, some of them having walls of great height. The time was when in this whole region no one was safe unless shut in by the walls of a strong fortress. One conqueror after another has swept over it with his armies, and even rival petty chief- tains have made prey of the people and their substance. It is now devoted to the arts of peace. The country through which we were passing is the great cotton region of India, a large portion of the land having been appropriated to its cultivation since the rebellion in our own country compelled the English manufacturers to look for a supply from some other source than the United States. India is the oldest cotton -growing and cotton- manufacturing country in the world. It produced cotton thousands of years ago, and from the earliest accounts cot- ton fabrics have formed the clothing of the inhabitants. ISTothing equal to the finer qualities and the long staple of our Southern States has been produced, but it affords a large supply of the shorter staple. The production was immensely stimulated by the war in America cutting off the supply. The value of the crop of 1859-60 exported from India was £5,637,624. In 1864-5 it had risen to £37,573,637. After this there was a great falling off in its value, though not in quantity, the exports of the crop for 1869-70 amounting to £19,079,138. We were at Egutpoora, nearly 100 miles from Bombay, early in the morning. From this point onward the road passes through mountain scenery bold and striking, a per- fect contrast to the most of India over which we had trav- eled. Within a few miles we passed through a long sue- B03IBA Y. 343 cession of tunnels, scarcely emerging from one before we plunged into another. This portion of the railway was immensely expensive, but it was among the first projected in the grand system of railways for opening up and forti- fying the country. It connects the port of Bombay not only with the Deccan, but with the whole of northern and eastern India. Arriving at Bombay at eleven in the morn- ing, we found pleasant quarters at the Byculla Hotel, in the suburl3S of the city. BOMBAY. Bombay is situated at the extremity of an island of the same name. It was taken by the Portuguese after the capture of Goa, in the early part of the sixteenth century, and ceded in 1661 to Charles II., of England, as part of the dowry of his bride, the Infanta Catharine. King Charles gave it to the East India Company a few years later, and in 1865 it was made the seat of the chief presi- dency. On the opening of communication with England by the Red Sea route it received a new impetus, and its importance, if not its supremacy as the commercial capi- tal of India, has been secured by the opening of railroad communication with all parts of the country. Its popula- tion and commerce have rapidly increased until it has be- come the successful rival of Calcutta. It is now a delicate matter to express an opinion in India as to which is the chief city, but it will be the fault of the people of Bom- bay alone if they do not take the lead. Admirably loca- ted, both in regard to its internal and foreign trade, at the western gateway of India, it is in direct communication with the richest parts of the country, and at the nearest point of communication with the whole western world. 344 AROUND THE WORLD. Calcutta, on the other haud, is at the far side of India, near the head of the Bay of Bengal, and 100 miles from the mouth of a river which can be entered by large ves- sels only at certain stages of the tide. Bombay has a fine open harbor — a little too open, it is true, during the preva- lence of the southv^rest monsoons, but it may be farther protected without great expense, and the navies of the world might here ride at anchor. As one of the results of the American war, which opened a market for the cotton of India, and other causes, the city became inflated in 1865 with the promises of a golden harvest, and launched out into extravagant speculations, as if the business of the world was to be concentrated at this point. But the bub- ble burst almost as soon as it was blown, and a disastrous collapse occurred. Waste lands, that had commanded enor- mous prices, were suffered to lie waste, and those which were bought at fabulous rates while still under water were never reclaimed from the sea. The people of Bombay be- came sadder, but wiser, from this experience, and now the city is on a career of assured prosperity. All my observa- tions convinced me that it is destined to be the great city of India, if not of the whole Eastern world. In its general aspect Bombay is the most lively city of the Indies. Its population of nearly a million is very mul- tifarious. Nearly all the tribes of Hindostan are repre- sented, Hindoos, Mussulmans, Parsees, Indo-Britons, Indo- Portuguese, Europeans of various nations, Americans, and natives of Western Asia. The costumes of the people are varied and gay beyond description. The streets are throng- ed by a busy multitude on foot, on horseback, and in car- riages, many of the latter gaudily trimmed and drawn by bullocks. The city is not so remarkable for its public buildings or its public institutions as Calcutta, and for the reason that the latter has been the real capital of the country, the seat of the East India Company, where its wealth was concen- trated, and in a great measure expended. But some pop B02IBA T. 345 A UTTLLOCK CAEEIAGE. tions of the town, especially that known as the Fort, which is commensurate with the ancient bounds of the city, con- tain many fine buildings. The town-hall is a massive struct- ure, with apartments not only for the public service, but for scientific and liistorical purposes. .The rooms of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, with its library and museum, are full of in- terest to every intelligent stranger who desires to study the past as well as the present of India. The Elphinstone Cir- cle, named from the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, who succeeded to the Bombay presidency in 1819, is the Wall Street of Bombay, and the centre of its most important commercial operations. The government was erecting new and spacious buildings for public use, and the whole for- eign portion of the town was putting on the promise of coming greatness. The Parsees, numbering more than 100,000 of the popu- lation of Bombay, embody a great part of the wealth of the city, and are the most intelligent and enterprising of the natives of the country, No small part of the mercantile 346 AROUND THE WORLD. business of the East is in their hands, and leading honses have branches in Paris and London, as well as in Eastern Asia. Their dress is peculia;r, partly European and partly Oriental. They have a sort of caste like the Hindoos, and are forbidden to marry excepting among their own people ; nor do they usually eat what has been cooked by one of another religion, A well-educated Parsee gentleman and his wife were among my companions in crossing the Pacific Ocean. They mingled freely with the other passengers and ate at the same table with them. On returning to Bombay, he was called to account for violating the rules of his race, and his situation became so uncomfortable in consequence that he removed to London to take charge of a branch of the house with which he is connected. With all their intelligence, the Parsees are still greatly under the power of their ancient superstitions, and there are no more bigoted religionists among the tribes of Asia, not even among the Mohammedans. In their religion they are dis- ciples of Zoroaster, who lived several centuries before Christ, and they are usually known as fire-w^orshipers, reverencing the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies, and even fire itself, although the more intelligent do not admit that they pay actual worship to these objects. The distinction is very much the same with that of Romanists in regard to the worship of images ; the intelligent and truly devout may use the image as an aid to the imagination, while the ignorant worship nothing but the image. In their temples fire is kept continually burning by priests, who maintain that it has never been extinguished. They feed it with fragrant spices, and treat it as if it were a god. The priests even cover the lower part of their faces with a mask when they approach the sacred fire, lest they should defile it with their breath. Their reverence for fire forbids them even to burn tobacco into smoke. Nothing connected with the Parsees is more peculiar than their treatment of the dead. They have a large cem- etery on Malabar Hill, near Bombay, the highest ground in BOMBAY. 347 the vicinity, selected on this account, that no one may look into it. The very approaches to the spot are guarded with the most jealous care by men who form a distinct class or caste, and who, from one generation to another, are not per- mitted to mingle with the rest of the people. The ceme- tery contains a building devoted to the preservation of the sacred fire, buildings for the priests and those who have charge of the dead, and five round stone towers called " Towers of Silence," each about sixty feet in diameter, and forty or fifty in height. These are the receptacles of the dead. When a death occurs, the body is taken to the gate of the cemetery and delivered into the hands of the priests. No one is allowed to enter the walls with the dead. After a prescribed ceremonial, the body is taken to one of the towers and laid on a grate upon the top of one of these towers. A flock of hideous vultures is always waiting to devour the flesh, and the bones fall into the body of the tower below in an indiscriminate heap. It is the most re- volting mode of disposing of the remains of departed friends of which I have any knowledge, but the Parsees adhere to it with a tenacity which borders on fanaticism. Through the influence of the Parsee gentleman to whom I have alluded, we obtained an order from a high official in their community to visit the cemetery. Even with this order we had much difficulty in gaining admittance, and were constantly followed and closely watched by the at- tendants. We walked through the grounds, which were a picture of desolation, and saw the vultures seated upon the towers, anxiously awaiting their human prey ; but the arca- na of the place were carefully guarded. We had already seen more than often falls to the lot even of the Parsees themselves. The Plindoo mode of disposing of the dead is far less re- pulsive. We had been dining one evening with a friend whose bungalow was on Malabar Hill, the most beautiful of the suburbs of Bombay. Tiie drive was through groves 348 AROUND THE WORLD. of cocoauut palms, and the bungalow was embowered in a luxuriant growth of vines and trees, making the place one like fairy-land. It was late when we returned to town. Across the bay, on the Bombay side, a row of brilliant lights stretched along the shore. In the deep stillness of mid- night and the strangeness of the whole scene, they had a mysterious look, and, on inquiry, I learned that they were the funeral piles on which the Hindoos were burning their dead, a more appropriate use of fire than to worship it, and a more becoming mode of treating the remains of the de- parted, ashes to ashes, than the horrid funeral rites of the Parsees. We devoted one day while at Bombay to a visit to Ele- phanta, a lonely island lying six or eight miles across the bay. which we reached by a sail-boat placed at our disposal by Mr. Kittredge, of the American house of Stearns, Ho- bart & Co. We were accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Hard- ing, and Mr,, and Mrs. Ballantyne, of the American Mission, Mr. Chauntrell, an English barrister, and Dr. Bhau Daji, a Hindoo gentleman, to whom I was indebted not only for many polite attentions, but for much scientific information, as well as for many hours of pleasant intercourse. He has a high standing as a man of science, and is in correspond- ence with men of learning in this country and in Great Britain. The caves of Elephanta are deserted Buddhist temples, immense caverns cut into the solid rock. Colossal Buddhist figures still remain in comparative preservation. Their history is not known with any degree of certainty, but they are supposed to have been made in the sixth cen- tury. Another day was spent, at the invitation of Dr. Bhau Daji, in a visit to more extensive excavations in the moun- tains of Kenhari, twenty miles from Bombay. We left in a carriage before daylight, and drove twelve or fourteen miles to the mountains, where horses and palanquins were awaiting us. I chose one of the latter, and, bestowing my- self in the box, was soon sound asleep, and woke up in the BOMBAY. 349 wilderness as we were approaching the object of onr ^dsit. Like the caves of Elephanta, the excavations at Kenhari are involved in mystery, but they are supposed to have formed a Buddhist monastery. They are more than seventy in number — one room a cathedral, with pillars and aisles, all cut into the solid rock as square and smooth as the rooms of a house — are scattered along the mountain in galleries, and are not only deserted, but miles from human habita- tions. No fitter place for anchoretic life and meditation could be found if it were formerly as lonely as it is now. One morning Dr. Bhau Daji invited us to his house, ro- mantically situated in the midst of a grove of tall cocoanut palms, to witness the performances of a troop of Indian jugglers. We had seen a similar performance at Delhi, at the house of an English gentleman with whom we dined, but were in no wise impressed with their superiority to their own craft in other lands. Those at Bombay were more ex- pert, but not one of them could equal Hermann, the pres- tidigitateur, in the variety and skill of his marvelous feats. From what I saw and all I heard, I am inclined to believe that the tricks of Indian jugglers, so celebrated the world over, appear more wonderful as rehearsed in the stories of travelers than when seen on their own ground. The great feat which I have often heard described as the marvel, if not the miracle of such performances in the East, the al- most instantaneous growth of a mango-tree from the seed to fruit-bearing, in the dry earth, before your eyes, I saw twice in India, but I saw enough to make it clear that it was mere sleight-of-hand. There were other performances that were to me more wonderful than this, in which there was no attempt at deception. While w£ were enjoying the delightful shade of the palms in the compound of our host, the servants ran as nimbly as monkeys up the tall cocoanut-trees, and threw down the fresh fruit for our entertainment. But neither the milk nor the meat is at all tempting in any stage. I prefer to leave the cocoanuts to be manufactured into oil, for which purpose they are raised all over tlie East. 350 AROUND THE WORLD. Among the curious places in Bombay was the hospital for aged and infirm animals. It was open to all races save the human, from the elephant down to the smallest domes- tic animal. If any poor dog happens to break his leg, or meets with any disaster, or is overtaken by sickness, he will find provision here for his comfort and relief, if he can bo relieved. A large square in the midst of the city, with suit- able shelter, is devoted to this benevolent though rather sentimental object. The numerous invalids and unfortu- nates were any thing but a pleasing sight, and it appeared to me more of a work of mercy to end their misery than to prolong their days. BOMBAY TO CAIRO. Whatever may be the feelings of the reader, I leave this land of the Hindoo and the Mohammedan, of palms and palaces, with tlie deepest regret that time will not wait while I tarry longer among its strange scenes. Thus far it has been the most interesting country that we have reached, not alone nor chiefly for its Oriental and tropical scenery ; nor for its venerable and varied history, running back through thousands of years, and down through changing dynasties, some of which have been maintained in splendor such as the world has not seen elsewhere ; nor for the re- markably diversified character of its numerous races, wliicli altogether make up one of the most curious pieces of mo- saic that the population of the globe will furnish ; nor for the monuments of the past, which exceed in beauty, if not in magnificence, all that the ages have left in other lands ; but still more interesting in the changes that are now tak- ing place in the condition of its people, and in the promises for the future which every where meet the eye and strike the ear. BUMBA Y TO CAIRO. 351 Not the glory of the past, the age of " barbaric gold and pearls," but a greater glory is yet to rest on India. I have looked with the deepest satisfaction upon the signs of a coming higher civilization, and the evidences that the light that is to lighten all nations is dawning upon its two hun- dred millions. India is not now altogether a land of dark- ness. The mass of its people are still bowing down to its gods of wood and of stone, or following the false prophet, but from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas the Sun of right- eousness is lighting the peaks here and there, and giving sure promise of the coming day when Christianity shall tri- umph over superstition and false religion. I rejoice heartily that India is under British rule. What- ever may be the errors, or even the crimes of the past, in connection with the extension of British arms, and in the complicity of the governing powers with idolatry, now that they have been so fearfully expiated in the mutiny of 1857, and since the power has passed directly into the hands of the home government, a new destiny awaits the land and the people. I had timed our arrival at Calcutta so as to spend in In- dia the only two months of the year in which one can travel with comfort, December and January ; and our de- parture, so as to avoid the stifling heat of the Red Sea, which becomes almost insupportable in summer. On the 24:th of January we went on board the steamer Krishna, which was lying at anchor in the harbor. The waters of the bay were quiet, but outside we had a taste of the sea. As we passed the light-ship, a boat came off to the Krishna to put a passenger on board. It was already dark ; the waves were running high ; and as a sailor in the boat caught the rope that was thrown him, the boat receded with a returning swell, he was jerked into the angry sea and left struggling with the waves, the boat drifting far astern. Almost instantly the first officer of the Krishna jumped into the sea to rescue the man, and then there were two in great danger. They clung desperately to the 352 ABOUND THE WORLD. rope, and twice were drawn to the ship and part way up its side, when a returning wave overwhehned them, and they dropped again into the seething waters, the officer cry- ing out " I'm done," and apparently giving up all hope. It was a frightful scene. In the darkness there seemed little prospect of saving either of them, and w^ith anxious hearts we peered into the black waters, and could only pray that a merciful God might strengthen their arms and rescue them from what appeared an almost inevitable fate. The officer at length caught a buoy which was thrown over- board, the sailor clung to the rope, a boat was lowered, and, to the great joy of all, the men were both brought on board. It was all the work of a few minutes, but it seem- ed an age as I watched them in their struggle for life, and when they were safe I felt as if I had myself been rescued from a watery grave. Once off the coast, the voyage through the Indian Ocean as far as Aden, 1660 miles, was without any striking inci dent. A strong northeast monsoon kept our ship steady, helped us on our course, and suppHed us with plenty of fresh air, a great blessing in these Eastern seas. Our pas- sengers were chiefly East India officers, in the military and civil service, with their families, and as w^e gradually be- came acquainted, the time passed pleasantly away. On the morning of the sixth day the shores of Arabia were in sight, and toward evening we descried the heights of Aden, ninety miles to the east of the entrance of the Eed Sea. It is a mass of rock, connected with the main land by a low, sandy neck, and towering up to the height of 1776 feet. It was held by the Portuguese when they M-ere strekhing their arms and their commerce into the East. It was ca]> tured by the Turks in 1538, and held for three centuries; but in 1839, for an outrage committed upon a vessel sail- ing under English colors, the British government seized the place, strengthened its fortifications, and have kept a large garrison upon it ever since. It is called the Gibraltar of the East on account of its commanding position near the BOMBAY TO CAIBO. • 353 entrance to the Red Sea, and its great natural strength as a fortress. Owing to some peculiarity in its situation, it seldom rains at Aden, three or four years passing without a drop falling from the clouds, even when it rains on the main land near by. To supply this deficiency, the early occupants of the place, how long ago is not known, but it is conjectured as early as the sixth or seventh century, ex- cavated immense tanks in the rocks, collecting the water when it fell, and preserving it for years. These ancient cisterns are still in use, and afford an abundant supply. Not long after we had touched at Aden there came a heavy rain, a flood, which not only filled the tanks, but swept away houses, and caused great destruction of property. We took on board a small flock of Arabian sheep of the broad-tail species, the finest mutton in the East, and an im- portant addition to our commissariat, and were again un- der way. Passing through the Straits of Bab-el-Maudeb (the Gate of Tears, or the Gate of Desolation, as it is va- riously interpreted), we entered the sea which, in all ages, has been a terror to navigators. This narrow strip of wa- ter covers a small space on the map, but it is more than 1200 miles in length, making a voyage of five or six days by steam, during which the shore is seldom seen on either side. Its navigation is difficult and perilous. The water is of great depth, but rocks and islands are scattered. through it, and coral reefs abound, which seldom lift their heads above the waves to warn the sailor of his danger. The shores are almost entirely destitute of light-houses, and are occupied by not the most hospitable races of men, where inhabited at all. High winds prevail a great part of the year, making the navigation particularly undesirable for sailing vessels, which are now seldom seen. Near the Straits, wdiich are about twelve degrees north of the equator, we had another view of the constellation of the Southern Cross, which, in the clear skies of the Red Sea, was very brilliant in the early morning. The first evening we were off the town of Mocha, on the Arabian Z 354 AROUND THE WORLD. side, a name suggestive of good coffee, which lived in our memories, but formed no part of our experience on ship- board. The second day we were off the Zebayer Islands, called the Twelve Apostles, nearly opposite the landing- place of the British expedition against Abyssinia. We had on board one of the heroes of the war, who had served also with distinction in the suppression of the mutiny in India. He bore many marks of his heroism, having, as it was said, been cut to pieces and put together again. "We afterward fell in with one of the original captives of King Theodore. He had his chains with him, and was bearing them home as a trophy. Farther on we passed Djiddah, the port of Mecca. Two or three days before reaching Suez we encounter- ed a fierce north wind, which never subsided until we were on shore. Every few minutes, on the last day or two of the voyage, a heavy sea would break 'over the bow of the ship, washing her decks from stem to cabin, which, with the cold blasts from the north, drove us all under shelter, and many to their berths. Nor were the high winds, and the coral reefs on which the British steamer Carnatic had struck and gone down a few weeks before, a large number of the passengers perishing, our only perils. In the midst of the gale and in the midst of the rocks our captain pre- pared himself to meet the danger by a drunken carousal, and became crazy with rum, one or two of his officers fol- lowing his example. How we came safely through we never knew, excejDting that we had the guidance and pro- tecting care of the great Pilot who holds the winds in his fists and the waters in the hollow of his hand. This cap- tain afterward fell overboard in the harbor of Bombay and was drowned. It was not until the evening of the sixth day from our entering the Straits, and the twelfth from our leaving Bombay, that we dropped anchor at Suez — it may have been upon one of the chariot -wheels of Pharaoh. The sun liad set before we reached the anchorage, which is five BOMBAY TO CAIRO. 355 miles from the head of the gulf and from the town. As we could not go ashore until we had been inspected by the health officer, we fired heavy guns and threw up rockets, but there was no response, and we were compelled to spend another night upon the sea. But we were at rest, and the perils of the voyage were over. Suez is not an insignificant town. It has a population of several thousands; its bazars are well supplied with goods for Oriental consumption, and there is more of an air of activity and business about it than one might expect in such a desert region. When the overland route to In- dia w^as opened a few years since, Suez had a revival of the traffic it enjoyed before the discovery of the route to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope ; but the more re- 356 AROUND THE WORLD. cent opening of the Snez Canal may be another blow to its prosperity, by making all transhipment of passengers and goods needless. Immediately on landing and getting comfortably estab- lished in the Suez Hotel, I took my Bible to read over the inspired account of the Exodus from Egypt, and went out to compare the account with the face of the country. It was the same land over which Moses led the children of Israel more than thirty -three centuries before. The same sands were still there, though the footprints of the depart- ing host had been obliterated ; the same sea rolled before us ; the same mountains frowned from the southeast ; the general aspect of the scene was unchanged. It was not difHcult to obtain a perfectly satisfactory idea of the route by which the Israelites came thus far in following the cloudy pillar, although the precise point at wliicli the mi- raculous crossing of the sea took place is still one of the problems of sacred geography. There is no doubt in re- gard to the route by which they came from Succoth to the sea. The path is clearly defined by the features of the country. A precipitous mountain range stretches from the shore diagonally to the northwest, leaving a sandy plain between it and the sea, from which they could not diverge. All this was so clear that, as I looked over the vast plain, I could almost imagine I saw the great host on their march, the pillar of cloud leading them on by day. and the great curtain hung up by the hand of God to pro- tect them from their pursuers by night. But where was the point at which they heard the command of God to go forward, and were so marvelously delivered from their en- emies ? Dr. Robinson is of the opinion that the crossing took place very near the site of the modern city of Suez ; but his reasoning savors rather of rationalistic explanation than of a full acknowledgment of the grandeur of the miracle by which God effected this deliverance of his people. He explains away the miracle by referring it to natural and BOMBAY TO CAIRO. 357 secondary causes, and in order to do so locates tlie cross- ing where the sea is now scarcely half a mile wide, and only deep enongh to be navigable. It is true there are in- dications that the sand has encroached upon the sea, and that the latter was here more than a mile wide in former times ; but even this scarcely makes the necessity of a stu- pendous miracle evident. From the point selected by Dr. Kobinson they might have moved several miles farther south, or have passed up to the head of the sea farther north, as the shores in either direction are perfectly smooth. Every thing in the divine record shows that they were ^hut up to entering the bed of the sea at the very spot on which they stood when the Lord said unto Moses, " Where- fore criest thou unto me ? Speak unto the children of Is- rael that they go forward ; but lift thou np thy rod and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it, and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground in the midst of the sea." From an examination of these localities, it appeared to me much more probable that they followed the sandy plain to the south, where the sea and the precipitous mountain range converge, and where it was impossible for them to naove excepting in one direction. Pharaoh and his hosts were in their rear ; they had fled until they could flee no farther ; a mountain wall was on one side, and the deep sea upon the other : God divided the waters before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea. At the point to which I refer the Red Sea must be five or six miles in width, and of great depth ; but the M-hole ac- count indicates that the crossing took place where the sea was wide. The Egyptians, pursuing the Israelites, " went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen." It was in the midst of the sea that they proposed to turn back when they found that the Lord was fighting for the Israelites against the Egyptians. They turned and fled ; but when the sea came back to its bed, of the vast army that had gone into it " there 358 ABOUND THE WOBLD. remained not so miicli as one of them." The simple narra- tive, the Song of Moses which he sang with the children of Israel to celebrate their deliverance, the allusions to it in other parts of the Holy Scriptures, show that it was a sab- lime miracle, not accomplished by a concurrence of ordina- ry means, and therefore that there was no occasion for select- ing a place where it could be easily performed, but rather the contrary. The drying up of the waters was not effect- ed alone by the strong east wind, for " the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." In the Song of Moses it is said, " The floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea." This is not all poetic imagery. While 'we were yet in the far East, on the way to Egypt, the ceremonial of the formal opening of the canal connect- ing once more the waters of the Mediterranean and the Red Seas took place, but the passenger lines were not yet established when we reached Suez. In connection with two or three English gentlemen, one of them a member of Parliament who had been sent out to investigate the ex- penses of the Abyssinian War, we chartered a small steam- er at Suez to explore the canal, laid in a stock of provisions at the hotel, and left Suez about eight o'clock in the morn- ing, expecting to be at Ismailia, fifty miles distant, by three in the afternoon. We steamed quietly along, stopping here and there to examine the work, climbing the high walls of sand thrown up on both sides to look out over the desert. We were well on our way toward the end of our inland voyage when an ominous gathering of steamers loomed up before us, very suggestive of one of those dead-lopks pre- dicted before the opening. We would fain have convinced ourselves that it was a mirage of the desert, but it was no unsubstantial apparition. We found, on coming to a halt, that the stoppage was produced by a float made fast in the middle of the canal for the purpose of blasting rock at the bottom, and that no craft could pass until the drilling was BOMBAY TO CAIRO. 359 completed and the blast exploded, which would probably be near midnight— as it proved, and we did not arrive at Ismailia, which is on one of the lakes of the canal, until one or two o'clock in the morning. MGHT ON THE CANAL. The Suez Canal was not a new idea to the man by whose energy and perseverance the seas have now become practi- cally connected. It was projected by the ancient Egyp- tians, who must have had some sort of communication through the lakes across the isthmus. In lY98,]Srapoleon I., then commanding the French expedition to Egypt, pro- posed opening a ship canal through the same route. A commission appointed to make the survey reported that the Red Sea was thirty feet lower than the Mediterranean, which was considered a fatal objection to the enterprise; but the survey of the overland route to India in 1830 es- tablished the fact that the two seas are on the same level. 360 AROUND THE WORLD. M. de Lesseps was then in Egypt, attached to the French consulate. He at once caught up the idea with enthusiasm, and by indomitable perseverance carried it out to its pres- ent success. It was strange to find in old Egypt a city of palaces and parks not more than five years old ; . but such is Ismailia. It has sprung into existence by the touch of the Suez Canal, with as much rapidity and a hundred-fold more stability and beauty than the towns on the Pacific Railroad. From this point we struck out into the desert, and for hours trav- ersed the sandy waste, the picture of dreary desolation. Once in a while we came upon some weary travelers or traffickers, who, with camels or donkeys, were dragging their way through the sands ; but even this did not relieve the prospect, for we pitied the travelers who were making such slow progress, while we were driving onwa,rd by the force of steam over an iron pathway. We were going down to the valley of the Nile by the same route which Abraham took when he went into Egypt to escape famine ; by which the sons of Jacob went down to buy corn ; and by which the grand funeral procession returned bearing the body of the patriarch to its resting- place in the cave of Machpelah (where, I have no doubt, it still slumbers undisturbed). At length we descried in the distance an oasis, a grove of palms, a beautiful sight always, but most beautiful when seen in the distance over a sandy waste, bearing the promise of green fields, upon which we presently came. They lie along the margin of the canal dug to carry the refreshing waters of the Nile over a wider extent of country. We caught sight of Cairo just as the sun was going down beyond the Pyramids. Its golden light streamed over the domes and minarets, pouring itself in a fiood upon the green fields and among the palms, and drawing a beau- tiful contrast between the buildings and the dark foliage in which they were set. The Citadel,with its Grand Mosque, towered above the rest of the city, having for its back- BOMBAY TO CAIRO. 3^1 ground the gray mountain, the mausoleum of long-buried* generations. The broad valley of the Nile, dressed in liv- ing green, was spread out before us. For a while we for- got that we were travelers from a new world, and fell to dreaming of the Pharaohs and the patriarchs, until that in- tensely modern invention, the shrill whistle of the locomo- tive, restored us to consciousness, and summoned us to alight in the city of splendor, and dirt, and donkeys. We had not seen the interior of our trunks since leaving India, and among the most pleasing anticipations of reach- ing Cairo was the general renovation that we were to un- dergo when we should again be admitted to the arcana of our luggage. But, on presenting our tickets, we were in- formed that the luggage had been left behind at Zagazig, half way to Ismailia. All we could do was to repair to Shepheard's Hotel and wait until it should arrive, if it came at all. I had no expectation of seeing it for at least two or three days, being confident that it had gone off to Alexan- dria and perhaps to London, with our English friends who had left us at Zagazig to take the steamer. But, greatly to my surprise, about ten o'clock in the evening the Egyptians came marching into our room with the lost baggage on their heads, and it was like getting home to get into our trunks once more. They have strange chambermaids at Shepheard's. The one who waited on our room and attended to all the vari- ous duties of the calling, even to making of beds, was a courtly Frenchman, dressed as if for a dinner-party, and having the air of a refined and educated gentleman. It was really embarrassing to accept his services. One of the ladies, on arriving at the hotel, rang for the chambermaid. This gentleman presented himself. Supposing him to be the proprietor or chief clerk, she informed him that she had rung for the chambermaid. He very politely replied, in the best English he could command, " Madame, I am she." 362 ABOUND THE WOULD. XXVIII. CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. My first expedition to Cairo, after recovering from the fatigues of onr long voyage and subsequent journeyings by land, was to tlie Citadel ; not so much to see the Citadel it- self or the Grand Mosqne, but for the panoramic view of the city and the valley of the Nile which it commands. This view alone would repay a traveler for coming to this far-off country, even if he should see nothing else. As you stand upon the parapet, the whole of Cairo, ancient and modern, lies at your feet. On the right are the tombs of the Caliphs and the Mamelukes. On the left is what re- mains of Old Cairo — called old by courtesy among the mon- uments of thirty or forty centuries. Beyond the city flows the j^ile, encircling several beautiful islands. Farther on, across the emerald valley, the Pyramids and the Sphinx sit in silent majesty. A few miles up the Nile is the site of ancient Memphis, now nearly obliterated. The hills on either side of the broad vallej^, rising up as walls to say to the overflowing stream, " Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther," are inhabited by a silent multitude, unnumbered millions, unknown and undecayed, who await the coming of the resurrection morn just as they were laid in their tombs thousands of years ago. In the midst of this scene the old Nile flows on and overflows, as it has from the time of the Pharaohs and from the time of the flood, if not from all time. As he gazes one can not help but peoj^le the val- ley with the generations that have come and gone, and fill it up with the grand events that have transpired, until he becomes bewildered with their variety and with the suc- cession. CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 363 Taking a carriage at the hotel, and crossing the Nile by the bridge of boats, we drove directly to the Pyramids, which are about ten miles west from the river. - The car- riage-road is an embankment of Nile mud from ten to fif- teen feet high, making it available during the overfiow and at all seasons of the year. It is shaded by large aca- cias, and the carriage-track is usually in excellent order. The viceroy has shown some sense in sparing a trifle from the vast sums which he is expending upon his numerous palaces for the construction and improvement of this road ; and whether the natives bless him for it or not (it must greatly interfere with the donkey business), all foreigners who have occasion to visit the Pyramids will give him their benedictions. He might immortalize himself by ef- fecting one reform — the abatement or abolition of the backshish nuisance. A horde of Arabs, nominally under the control of a sheikh, who is paid in advance for their services, stand ready to torment the money, if not the life, out of every new victim who falls into their hands. They give him no rest in making the ascent of the Pyra- mid, nor will they suffer him to enjoy, undisturbed, the magnificent prospect from the summit. And woe be to the luckless traveler who is persuaded to enter the chambers with money in his pocket, and without a large measure of courage and firmness. There is no greater abatement to the pleasure of journey- ing in the East than this never satisfied demand of money. It meets the traveler at every turn, like the flies of the an- cient plague, and comes up into his very bed-chamber, like the frogs, and there is no escaping it. Backshish is not asked as a matter of charity ; every one who renders the slightest service, or who only makes an offer of service, or who even looks at you, whether you wish him to look or not, feels that he has established a claim to your purse, and dogs your steps with incessant appeals which it is impossi- ble to thrust aside. The claim is made with such vehe- mence and pertinacity, that you are almost persuaded to 364 AROUND THE WORLD. THE PTEAMIDS. believe that in some way the miserable creatures who swarm around and follow you from place to place have become entitled to every thing you possess. If you could only purchase immunity by paying liberally there would be a satisfaction in doing it, but, like the flies in the fable, if you drive one swarm away, another at once takes its place. I will not tax the reader with a description of the Pyra- mids, with which every one is familiar ; nor of the Sphinx which sits a few hundred yards distant, looking out upon the valley of the Nile as it has looked for thousands of years, a strange monument to the strange ideas of the an- cient Egyptians. After a stroll to the ruins of the old temples — long covered by the sand, but now excavated — we returned to Cairo over the same road, and through the same green valley which, at this season of the year, ap- pears fresher and greener every time that the eye rests upon it. Nor shall I here record our excursions to Old CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 365 Cairo ; or to the new palaces of the Khedive, on which he is expending millions of treasure, as if the wealth of the Indies were his ; or to the island of Rhoda, where we were told the infant Moses was found in the ark of bulrushes — \ r \^ * J In Ufa f ^^S 1 fl' >"r . 'Ill ' *.i; 1 (n ': .. 'C r - V,t\ ill ' -. -c A 8TKEET IN CAIKO. 366 AROUND THE WORLD. all these and other expeditions in the land of the Pharaohs must remain unrecorded for the present. Bright and beautiful was the morning when we left Cai- ro — but what morning is not bright in the East, the lands of the sunrising? With the exception of one shower, of which I have made mention, we had not seen a drop fall from the clouds, and scarcely a cloudy day or hour, for many months. It is not pleasant always to live under a glowing sun, but smiling skies are usually welcome to a traveler. Through the crowd of donkeys and donkey -boys, por- ters, and idlers, we made our way to and into the railway station, and into the cars bound for Alexandria, and were on our way toward the sea and toward other lands. Be- fore leaving Cairo we heard that some home friends were coming up that day, and, meeting the train at the half-way station, I shouted their names while the cars were coming to a halt. There came back a response, and for a few brief moments we enjoyed one of those delightful inter- views which can be had only thousands of miles away from home, after having been strangers in strange lands for many long months of travel. Our words of greeting and parting, our inquiries and replies, our items of infor- mation, which were confined to friends and matters of mu- tual interest, were brief and hurried, but into those few minutes we crowded an amount of pleasure that might be spread over many days of ordinary life. These stolen in- terviews in the wide desert — these snatches of home de- light, as one flits by another in a strange land, are not to be measured by moments. Our time in Alexandria we divided between the Cata- combs, and Pompey's Pillar, and Cleopatra's Needle, and ancient and modern Alexandria. No one who has ever lived in the Republic of Letters can come to this spot and not be harassed with the remembrance of that wealth of learning which was here committed to the flames. What a treasure would the Alexandrian Library be at the present CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 367 day ! If one such repository had escaped the ravages of war, and of barbarism, and of time, what a flood of light would it shed upon the dark past ! More than one million volumes are : oputed to have been gathered in the Library and Museum, the most of which were burned during the wars of Julius Csesar. The Library was subsequently re- stored and enlarged, but again the torch was applied by the Moslem conquerors. When importuned to save it, Omar coolly replied, " If these writings of the Greeks agree with the Book of God, they are useless, and need not be preserved ; if they disagree, they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed." In what remains of ancient Alexandria there is nothing more interesting than the site of ancient Pharos, the first of those towers of light that now stud the shores of every sea, like guardian angels watching over the mariners. The light-house of Pharos is counted among the seven wonders of the world, and well does it deserve a place in the cata- alogue. It was a massive building of pure marble, erect- ed by the orders of Ptolemy Philadelphus, whose name was to be inscribed in the marble in front. The architect made himself infamous, but did not detract from the fame of his emperor, by a deceitful ruse. He engraved his owii name in the marble, covering it with stucco, on which he placed the following inscription : " King Ptolemy to the Saviour Gods for the use of those who travel by sea." When, in the course of time, the stucco fell, it revealed an- other more durable inscription : " Sostratus of Cnidos, the son of Dexiphanes, to the Saviour Gods for all who travel by sea." There is a light-house now standing on the same site. We were now bound as pilgrims for the Holy Land. Embarking at Alexandria on the French steamer, we were at Port Said, the Mediterranean entrance to the Suez Ca- nal, early the next morning. Should the canal be a per- manent success, this port will be an important station be- tween the East and the West. Its formation was one of 368 AROUND THE WORLD. the most difficult parts of the great enterprise. The sea at this point being shallow, scarcely more than a mud flat, it was necessary to construct a harbor, and, at the same time, to excavate it to the proper depth. Two breakwaters were run out more than a mile into the sea, inclosing; a harbor. As there was no stone for their construction, the great projector supplied the deficiency by making conci-ete blocks of sand and cement, which look like blocks of gran- ite. A light-house, wharves, and other structures at Port Said have been built of the same material, and promise to endure the action alike of air and water for ages. We left Port Said at 5 o'clock P.M. Late at night I was sitting on deck, enjoying the swell of the sea in the open air in preference to the confinement of the cabin, and b}^ necessity became a listener to the conversation of two English gentlemen who sat near me. One said to the other, " What a host of Americans we have on board !" (The Americans comprised about two thirds of the passen- gers.) " Yes," replied his friend, " and it is the same wher- ever we go in the East. I should think they had room enough in their own country to wander in without coming over here in such crowds. Why ! they can travel eight days and eight nights in one train of cars without stopping, but they do not seem contented even with that." And they voted that it was an unauthorized proceeding for American sovereigns to invade that part of the world in such num- bers, evidently forgetting that they had stepped off from the little island of Great Britain without any better author- ity. It was gratifying to me to observe that they had be- come so familiar with the geography, or at least the extent of our country, which few have been able to comprehend. Several years since I met, in a social circle in London, a very intelligent English lady, who, in the coui'se of our con- versation, feeling called upon to make some remark in re- gard to the country from which I came, said to me, " I see by the papers that 3^ou have had a fire in America," appar- ently regarding our continent as a small village compared CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 369 with the immense extent of the British Isles. Having re- cently left New York, I felt bound to apologize for not hav- ing been at the fire, or, at least, for not knowing where it was, and replied that I did not know what one she referred to ; that we often burned a large part of our cities over to build them up in better style. (It was a year in which there had been extensive fires in Milwaukie, St. Louis, and San Francisco, and other "Western cities, some account of which had met her eye without making any particular impression.) To account for my ignorance, and to give her some idea of the extent of our country, I stated that not long before leaving New York I had taken a steamer in the interior of Pennsylvania and sailed a hundred miles down the Monon- gahela to Pittsburg, a thousand miles down the Ohio to the Mississippi, another thousand down the Mississippi to New Orleans, and that I was then a hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the stream on which I had first embarked. This statement, although literally true, was such a tax upon her credulity that it suddenly stopped the conversation. She made no reply, evidently regarding me as another Baron Munchausen. But an English gentleman, who had traveled extensively in the United States, saw my unhappy position, and came to my relief. He said he had been on our Western rivers, and knew that what I said was true., A good understanding was restored, and all would have passed off well enough had not a young New Yorker present felt disposed to indulge in a bit of pleasantry and enlarge her ideas of American scenery. Noting her surprise, he said, "Madam, we have lakes in America so large that you might take up the whole of England and drop it into one of them, and it would not make a ripple on the shore." We were then all at sea again, and were both set down as incorrigi- ble illustrations of our national fondness for large stories. The United States of America are much better known to the world at large than they were but a few years since. Our late struggle for national life, affecting as it did, in one way and another, nearly every land, has made the nations Aa 370 AJiOUWD TILE WOULD. better acquainted with our geography, our resources, and our strength, and never did the country or the nation stand higher in the estimation of the world than at the present time, if I may judge from the reception of Americans be- fore and since the war. Fifteen or twenty years ago, as I can testify from personal experience, Americans, in travel- ing abroad, were constantly and often rudely placed upon the defensive when their nationality became known, and they are not in the habit of concealing it. It was not safe, even by the wayside or in a railcar, to address an English- man on the most ordinary topic without an introduction, or unless he had first spoken ; and when the subject of our country came up, it was the next thing to a declaration of war. I have many interviews of this character in mem- ory. Our late war, in all its history and its results, developing the indomitable energy of the people, their invincible at- tachment to the government under which they have at- tained to their present state of prosperity, and their inde- pendence of all foreign alliances, has greatly elevated the country in the eyes of the world. With no other people is this change more apparent than with the children of what we are wont to call the mother country. I take pleasure in bearing the most cordial testimony to the friendly bear- ing of Englishmen in all parts of the world, and to their friendly interest in our land. Time and again, as I have been passing through Eastern countries, where the interests of England are predominant, has the expression of such feeling been made, and with it the acknowledgment that while our war was in progress the sympathy of the more intelligent and influential classes of Great Britain, at home and abroad, was against us. They have as frankly con- fessed the cause ; they thought we were becoming too pow- erful ; they wished to see our strength divided, and for this reason they desired the success of the rebellion. But they now see their error, and heartily express the regret that they held the views and took the course they did. Such is CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. 37]^ tlie logic of success. May this international amity, wliicli on both sides is now hearty, never again be interrupted ! It was evening when we left Port Said. When the morning came 1 rose early, and with no little anxiety look- ed out upon the sea. There is no harbor at Jaffa, and, as the anchorage is a mile from the shore, unless the sea is comparatively quiet, it is impossible to have any communi- cation with the land. In rough weather the steamer does not stop, so that passengers are frequently carried b}^, and those on shore who have come down fi-om Jerusalem to take the steamer are compelled to remain another week, and, perhaps, be doomed to a second disappointment fi'om the same cause. Happily for us, it was calm, and we reach- ed the shore without difficulty. Jaffa is bnilt upon a rocky hill directly on the sea, and the town rises so abruptly that it shows to good advantage. But if there be any beauty in its situation or appearance, the charm vanishes the moment one sets foot upon the shore and enters its dirty, winding streets, to be jostled by its miserable crowd of idle Arabs, camels, and donkeys. Our ex23erience in getting ourselves and our baggage to the hotel in the American colony on the outskirts of the town, attended by nearly a score of porters who demanded back- shish for all sorts of services, actual and imaginary, would make another amusing record, but there is not space for it. So many Americans were arriving that the people were in- dulging "great expectations," and nothing but j)rincely gifts would satisfy them. I tendered the leader of the band that escorted ns what was his due, but he indignantly rejected it, demanding five times as much, and, when I qui- etly pnt the money into my pocket, he and his whole crew lashed themselves into a towering passion in true Oriental style, and made all sorts of threatening demonstrations. Verily, it seemed as if the Philistines were upon us. In the course of an hour or two he expressed his willingness to accept what I offered, said he was satisfied, and added a " Thank you." 372 AROUND THE WORLD. We tarried at this ancient harbor of Hiram and Solo- mon, and of Jonah's embarkation for Tarshish, only long- enough to make an-angements for the journey to Jerusa- lem. A new road had been recently built, well graded, and affording a carriage-track twenty-five or thirty feet in width the whole distance ; but the carriages were wanting, and we must needs take the saddle. The distance from Jaffa to Jerusalem is only thirty-six miles, but very few not inured to the saddle can accomplish it in a single day, while it is often done in eight or ten hours by those who have been hardened to the exercise, and sometimes in less. It was afternoon on Saturday when we were prepared for a start. We had sent forward to engage rooms at the Kussian convent at Ramleh, a few hours distant, where we were to spend the Sabbath — a far more quiet and desirable resting-place than the miserable city of Simon the Tanner. We rode out of Jaffa through the orange-groves that sur- round the city. The trees were still loaded with the gold- en fruit, and more magnificent specimens I have never seen. One gentleman whom I met cut a twig having on it six or- anges which together weighed between seven and eight pounds, and another had two oranges that weighed five pounds. Our course was over the beautiful plains of Sharon, then covered with wheat-fields in the early green, and decked with a profusion of wild flowers, and the ride was one of indescribable interest. We were traversing the plain which for thousands of years had been memorable in history and storied in song ; the plain which had been trod by prophets and apostles ; the plain w^hich, time and again, in ancient and in latter days, had shook to the tramp of marching hosts. The classic sea was behind us ; before us rose the hills of Judea ; on our right,- as far as the eye could reach toward Phihstia, stretched the plains of Ajalon. The gorgeous sun of Palestine had gone down in glory behind the sea before we reached our stopping-place, and, but for the gathering shadows, we would gladly have lin- CAIRO TO JERUSALEM. ^^j^ gered longer on the plains to read upon them, and npon the skies of Judea, the long and sacred history of the past. We followed our dragoman through the winding streets of Eam- leli, and were soon resting in our quarters on the house-top of the Eussian convent. The lower and only story of the convent was appropriated to our horses and the pack-mules, while we ascended to the roof, a broad pavement, around which were rows of small rooms ready for our reception. Here we spent our first Sabbath in Palestine. The stillness of the wide plains surrounded us, scarcely broken by day or by night save by the muezzin's mu-sical voice from the minaret adjoining, sounding forth the call to prayer. More than once were we roused from our slumbers by the solemn chant, "Allah ekber ! Allah ekber ! Eshedon en la Allah ilia Allah !" This is repeated seven times by day, and as often by night. The following is a translation of the usual form, varied only on Friday, the Mohammedan Sabbath : "God is great ! God is great ! I testify that there is no god but God. I testify that Mohammed is the Prophet of God. Come to peace ! Come to happiness ! God is great ! There is no god but God ! " On the Sabbath we gathered from their tents, and from the Latin convent, all the Americans whom we could find, and had our usual services on the house-top. It was liter- ally a sacred day, and one to be consecrated in memory. We could enter into the feehngs of the patriarch when, far away from home, he fell asleep by the wayside, and awoke to say, " Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." We rose at two o'clock on Monday morning to resume our journey beneath a brilliant sky. The stars were out in hosts — the same stars which shone upon the land of Canaan when Abraham first passed through it — the same stars w^hich were shining when One, the brightest of all, was add- 374 ABOUND THE WORLD. ed to their number. The moon was shedding its peaceful light upon the plains as we struck out again upon the track Zionward. Soft as is the evening moonlight, and suggest- ive of sweet and sacred thoughts, the moonlight of the morning is softer and more sacred. Entering, as we were, upon the Holy Land, and traversing the beautiful plains of Sharon up toward the Holy City, an awe of solemnity stole over us, and almost in silence we rode onward, hour after hour, until the east, toward which our faces were turned, became luminous with the advancing day. And now the path became more rugged. We were as- cending the mountains which are round about Jerusalem, and which guard it like the walls of a citadel. We paused but a short time to break our fast, and were again in the saddle pressing on to stand within the gates of Zion. More than once, as we reached an eminence, expecting to see from it the city which was once "the joy of the whole earth," were we disappointed ; it was still beyond. At length our eyes beheld the sight. As we reached the last height, the whole familiar scene, with all its hallowed memories, was before us. We needed no one to point out the various lo- calities. It was a scene on which we had been looking from childhood. We needed no one to say to us. That is the Holy City ; there, to the right, is Mount Zion, the city of David ; there, to the left, where rises the dome of tlie Mosque of Omar, is the site of the ancient temple ; the height beyond, now looking so barren and desolate, is the Mount of Olives — the favorite resort of Him who came from heaven to sojourn upon earth, and the spot last press- ed by his sacred feet ere he ascended to his native skies. The memories of the sacred scenes which made the places so familiar even to our eyes came thronging upon our hearts, until we could scarcely collect our thoughts enough to imagine in what age of this old world we were ap- proaching the Holy City, or whether it had any age other than that in which the most important events in its history transpired. THE HOL Y CITY. 375 And this is Jerusalem ! the mount where Abraham bomid Isaac in the wilderness, and laid him on the altar ! the city of David and Solomon ! the spot which God selected for the display of his glory in the Holy of Holies ! the place where he was long manifest in the flesh — where Jesus lived and taught ! the city in which he was arrested and tried as a malefactor ! This is the spot where he was stretched upon the cross, and where he cried " It is finished," and bowed his head and died ! Slowly and silently we w^ound our way down the hill- side, past the Kussian hospice, along the ancient wall to the Damascus Gate, passing through a strange crowd of frown- ing Mussulmans to the Mediterranean Hotel, and then we rested in Salem, the City of Peace. " Pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and my companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee." XXIX. THE HOLY CITY. In the Hotel MediteiTanean (it sounds almost profane to speak of a hotel in Jerusalem) we found more of comfort than one could expect, and, until another day had come, were not disposed to leave it to explore the city. But with the morning we went forth to trace the scenes which, eighteen hundred years ago, made this mountain so mem- orable in the history of our world and in the records of time. With little faith in the traditions that have mapped out the holy places in the sacred city, I determined to give myself up to the spirit of the scene, and, first of all, to follow, in imagination at least, the path the Saviour trod when he was led as a lamb to the slaughter. According- 376 AROUND THE WORLD. ly, I told the guide to take us first to tlie house of Pilate. The one now bearing this name occupies the same general locality as that of the Roman governor, but there is noth- ing to establish the identity, and as little to assist one in recalling the scene of the judgment-hall. Following the Via Dolorosa, we come to the Chapel of the Flagellation, VIA DOLOROSA. and then to the Arch of the Ecce Homo, said to cover the spot were Jesus came forth wearing the crown of thorns THE HOLY CITY. 377 and tlie purple robe, when Pilate exclaimed to the people, " Behold the man ;" and then we followed, as near as we could, that strange procession which led the holy victim on toward Calvary. Here we are told the Saviour of the world sank under the burden of his cross, when Simon the Cyre- nean was compelled to take it up and bear it after him ; here we pass what are called the houses of Dives and Laz- arus, and presently reach the spot where we are informed Veronica appeared with a napkin to wipe the sweat from the sacred brow, when the portrait of the Saviour was mi- raculously impressed upon it. The pretended relic is pre- served as one of the chief treasures of the Basilica of St. Peter at Rome. Making a slight ascent through a narrow street, we come at length to the open square in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a sort of bazar for the sale of relics, and a CUUECU OF TUB UOLY SEPULCHEE. 378 ~ ABOUND THE WORLD. place of gathering for all sorts of pilgrims. The door of the church is closed. The time for the opening has come and passed, but the Turkish officials who have it in charge delay, and still longer delay, hoping that a party of stran- gers, not having the look of ordinary pilgrims, will tender backshish. At length we are admitted. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre might more appro- priately be called the Church of all the Holy Places. Tra- dition has so conveniently located many of them within a few yards of each other that they are all inclosed under one roof. Near the door is the " Stone of Unction," a marble slab, on which the body of our Lord is said to have been anointed for the burial. The dome of the building covers the Holy Sepulchre, which stands in the centre of the area — not a tomb " hewn out in the rock," according to the Scripture narrative, but a marble structure about six feet square, and the same in height, apparently built on the pavement. It is asserted that the surrounding rock has been removed, and that what remained was incased in mar- ble, accounting for its present appearance. The whole structure is above the floor of the church, and bears no sign of attachment to the original rock. The coincidence of " stooping down" to enter or look within the sepulchre, as did Peter on the morning of the resurrection, is pre- served by a low doorway through which we enter. About one third of the width of the interior is occupied by a mar- ble slab representing the stone on which the body of Jesus was laid. It is fitted up as an altar, and on and above it are costly gifts, set thick with precious stones, presented by different sovereigns of Europe. A Greek priest was stand- ing at the head when we first stepped within. He court- eously gave us the names of the royal donors of the gifts recently made, and handed us from the altar some of the fragrant flowers that are daily placed there in profusion. The priests of the different sects in turn stand guard in the tomb, a necessary precaution with such a crowd of pil- grims and strangers. Free access to the holy places was THE HOLY CITY. 3^9 allowed to all, nor was there any disorder or confusion in the crowd of visitors which thronged the church all day long. A flight of steps leads to an upper chapel, wdiich is said to cover the Hill of Calvary, and a round hole in the rock is pointed out as that in which stood the cross while the Redeemer hung upon it. A cleft in the rock, which is shown, is said to have been made when Jesus yielded up the ghost, "and the earth did quake and the rocks were rent." All the localities, even to the places where Mary, the mother of Jesus, stood wdiile his body was prepared for the burial, and where Christ appeared to Mary Magda- lene on the morning of the resurrection, are pointed out with the same precision. Descending a long stone stairway, we were taken to the Chapel of St. Helena, and then to a still lower recess, ap- propriately called, in English, " the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross." I can have no faith in the miracle said to have attended the finding of the three crosses in perfect preservation three hundred years after the crucifixion. It is without satisfactory proof ; the links in the chain of evi- dence are altogether too wide apart ; and I can see no oc- casion for the miracle. Even the pretence has been used the world over to encourage a superstitious worship of the supposed relic instead of faith in the victim that hung upon the cross. I am equally incredulous in regard to the iden- tity of most of the holy places. Without professing any accurate knowledge of the topography of Jerusalem, I have familiarized myself with the arguments of those who have endeavored to establish their verity, but it seems to me only fancy or superstition can be satisfied with the evidence. On my first visit to the Latin Chapel connected with the Holy Sepulchre, the priests and monks had just commenced the vesper service preparatory to visiting the stations here grouped together. As I entered, a Capucin monk, whom I afterward found to be a jolly Irishman on a pilgrimage to the Holy City, handed me a Latin Breviary, and I joined 380 AROUND THE WOULD. the procession in the entire circuit, reading with tliem the description, of the scenes connected with the death and burial of the Eedeemer. The chants from the Latin Ynl- gate were well rendered, and Avould have been impressive even in other circumstances. At the close of the service, Father Antonio (he gave me his name as soon as it was concluded) conducted us through the chapels in possession of the Latins, showing us the relics which had been left in Jerusalem by the Knights of St. John, and treating us with great courtesy. I must confess I thought him rather pro- fane in his bearing, for he spoke with a levity of the place which was far from being consonant with my feelings, even though 1 could not satisfy myself that I was, without doubt, upon the scene of the great events associated with the re- puted holy places. It is not a pleasant thought, even to those who have no superstitious reverence for any of the localities of the Holy City, that these places are in the keeping of the followers of the false prophet ; and it is still more painful to con- template the scenes of strife, amounting not unfrequently to bloodshed, that have occurred upon this sacred, if not holy ground. I^owhere else is the hostility between Latin and Greek Christians more intense or more ready to break out than on the very spot where, as they profess to believe, the Prince of Peace shed his blood for their redemption, and where his body was laid in the grave. From the Holy Sepulchre we went to Mount Zion, the City of David, which is partially reclaimed from Moham- medan defilement, and from Oriental and Roman supersti- tion, by the establishment of a Christian mission under Bishop Gobat, who has had much encouragement in seek- ing out the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Sad and mis- erable is the condition of the Jews in this city of their fa- thers, as it is in most parts of the world. Their quarter in Jerusalem, as in nearly every Oriental and European city, is the most wretched and filthy of all, and they seem here, as every where, to be suffering the curse which their fathers THE HOLT CITY. 381 invoked upon themselves and their descendants when they cried, " His blood be on ns and on our children." They still cling to the curse, even though they meet once a week to weep over the desolation of the Temple and the city. And even this is with most of them a mere formality. At the appointed hour I went out to the Wailing Place. More than a hundred Jews were assembled, but not more than one in ten appeared to enter into the spirit of the service. The rest were looking around upon the crowd as uncon- cerned, many of them more unconcerned, than the Gentiles who came merely to see the Jews. Even the Kabbi who read the penitential and mourning psalms, and those who joined him in weeping over the stones of the Temple, man- ifested no real grief. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even for- ever." The city itself is set upon a hill, surrounded, except- ing at one point, by deep valleys, while far above its high- est elevation, to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, rises the circle of mountains, hemming it in and guarding it on every side. In looking down upon Jerusa- lem thus peculiarly situated, I was often reminded of a precious jewel deeply set in gold to protect it against all injury and loss, and of the more wonderful setting of the human eye. Of the mountains that are round about Jeru- salem, there is only one from which to view the city to ad- vantage, the one most fraught with sacred memories. The second day after our arrival we crossed the brook Kedron and ascended the Mount of Olives, the nearest point of earth to heaven, if we may make such a comparison, be- cause from this the Son of God ascended to the skies, lead- ing the way for those who are to rise and \i\e with him. Before passing out of the walls we turned aside to visit the Mosque of Omar, on the site of the Temple of Solomon. The mosque itself, and the extensive grounds in the midst of which it stands, in years past were guarded with jealous care by the Mohammedans, and it was with great difficulty 382 AROUND THE WORLD. that Christians could gain admittance; but of late there has been little hinderance or objection. Arrangements hav- ing been made beforehand, we presented ourselves at the outer gate, and, provided with slippers for the more sacred parts of the inclosure, were conducted by a Mohammedan guide through the whole area, into the mosque and even beneath it, to the Cave of Rock, which we were allowed to examine thoroughly. This is one of the ancient places about which there can be no reasonable doubt. Here, within this square, once rose that magnificent building, the grandest and most glorious on which the sun ever shone ; here it was that Jehovah came down and dwelt among men in the visible glory of the Shekinah, long before the Son of God dwelt on earth in the likeness of mortal man. Here the gorgeous Temple service was instituted and celebrated for centuries, until sacrifices and ceremonies were abolished by the offering up of the one great sacrifice, the Lamb of God. It was refreshing to meditate in. the deej) stillness of this sacred spot, where no idling intruders are permitted to enter, as in so many places, to destroy the sacredness of the scene. Leaving the Mosque of Omar and the courts of the an- cient temple, after visiting " the gate that is called Beauti- ful," we passed out of the city walls by St. Stephen's Gate, so named because the martyr Stephen was stoned just out- side the gate._ Descending the steep side of the mountain, we came to the bed of the Kedron, at the bottom of the Yalley of Jehoshaphat. It was simply the hed for a stream, not a drop of water moistening its stones. In the rainy season a torrent sweeps through its entire length. Just as we commence the ascent of the Mount of Olives, we come upon what is called the Garden of Gethsemane, a square plot of ground, perhaps half an acre, surrounded by a high stone wall, and containing a few aged olive-trees, with plants and shrubs. The wall is confessedly modern, nor is there any conclusive evidence that the spot was the scene of the Saviour's agony and of his betrayal, while to my mind THE HOLY CITY. .383 THB BEAUTIFUL GATE. the probabilities are all against it. There is nothing that marks it as a place for retirement. It was doubtless, then as now, on the frequented road from the city to the Mount of Olives, and a public place. The vague tradition connect- ed with the spot is not enough to mark it as that to which Jesus retired for secret prayer, and in which he endured the mysterious agony when one of the heavenly host ap- peared to strengthen him, as his disciples, overcome with fatigue and sleep, left him to suffer alone. The inclosure belongs to the Latins, or Roman Catholics ; but the Greeks, not to be outdone, have a garden near by which they as- sert is the real Gethsemane, thus bringing their rival claims into a sort of contempt. And now we climb the Mount of Olives, in all probabil- ity by the very path so often trod by holy feet — the feet which last pressed the earth upon the summit of this mount. 384 AROUND THE WOULD. ^r- ■t^-'^^'- ■■ .-^F°^E^ r" ?■ jieUh t f. ■ I ffTif ■■■■■■ ' * - • * JERUSALEM AND GETUSEMANE. There is no other of all the sacred places in or near Jernsa • lem that may be visited with more confidence in its being the scene of events associated with the Saviour's life. I care not to know whether this precise rood of earth on which I am standing was the one on which Jesns stood when he spake the words of the Sermon on the Mount, or whether THE HOLY CITY. 335 from this very spot lie beheld the city and wept over it, saying, " If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong to thy peace," or whether on this precise spot he was talking with his disciples when " he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight." It is enough to know that the mountain on which I am standing was the scene of these great events, and that I am brought so closely into communication with the past, with the days of his flesh, and so near to that heaven- ly world in which I hope to see that form that was carried up in a cloud arid hid from mortal sight. Indeed, it is a decided relief to my feelings, I might say an aid to my faith, it certainly with me is conducive to sacred recollec- tions and pious emotion, that there is no one near to say that precisely here these words of Christ were spoken, or that this identical spot was last touched by his sacred feet. I can commune with the past far better without than with such meretricious helps. I found it very pleasant again and again to visit this holy mount, to linger around it, and from its summit to look down upon the Holy City, and backward into the past, and upward into the skies, as if through the opening made by the form of the ascending Redeemer. The summit of Olivet being 300 feet above the Temple area, one looks directly down upon the city which is spread out before him like a map. Every building and every lo- cality can be distinguished. Looking eastward, the Valley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, although nearly twenty miles distant, and about 4000 feet lower, are seen so dis- tinctly that one can hardly believe they are so far off. The surface of the Dead Sea is the lowest point on the face of the globe, being 1312 feet below the Mediterranean and the ocean, and to look into it from the Mount of Olives is like looking down into the depths of the earth itself. I was greatly interested in tracing out the path that King David took when he fled from the treachery of Absalom. " And David went up by the ascent of Mount Olivet, and B B 386 AROUND THE WORLD. wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot ; and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up." Nothing in the record of the reverses which kings have suffered could be more touching. The scene was constantly recurring to my mind as I went up the mountain from time to time, and I almost expected to meet Shimei as I passed over its summit. The Mohammed- ans were there with their curses, if he was not. One day, as we came from the Mount of Olives, we fol- lowed the valley of the brook Kedron, past the tomb of Absalom, to the Pool of Siloam, a rapid fall of between 300 and 400 feet within a mile and a half ; thence up the Valley of Hinnom, past the Jaffa Gate to the Damascus Gate, where we entered as on our first approach to the city. The same afternoon we rode out to Bethlehem, six miles due south from Jerusalem. After passing through the deep Valley of Hinnom, the road over the j^lain is the fin- est in the vicinity of the Holy City. We were in siglit of several ancient villages mentioned in Scripture, that were lying off upon the neighboring hills. The Convent of Mar Elias, said to be erected on the spot where the prophet was ministered to by angels, and the tomb of Rachel, one of the few well-authenticated places in the Holy Land, were directly upon the road-side. And then we came to that spot, the grand illumination of the book of time, on which the Son of God appeared in the likeness of man. I looked out upon the hill-sides for the shepherds, and listened for the voice, " Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people ; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord," and the chorus of the heavenly liost, " Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." We entered the town of Bethlehem, where once the Lord of Glory entered our world in the lowly form of ^ little babe. We rode through the streets to the Church of the jS^ativity, and instead of meeting with the shepherds who THE HOLT CITY. 3g7 said,'" Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass," or the wise men who came to pour out their treasures at the feet of the infant Jesus, we were surrounded by a swarm of imperious mendicants and traffickers in relics, who seemed determined to shut out all sacred thoughts of the place. The star that once "stood over where the young child was" had long since set, though shining briglitly on so many other lands. May it soon arise again in all its glory on Bethlehem and all Judea ! Among the saddest of all the scenes connected with my pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a visit to Bethany, the one spot with which are associated many of the tenderest, sweetest memories of the life of our Lord, and more of our knowledge of his real humanity, his actual sympathy and friendship, than with all other places. Who has not, in reading the words, " Now Jesus loved Martha and her sis- ter, and Lazarus," and of his resorting to Bethany to enjoy their society ; and of the message the sisters sent him when Lazarus was sick, and his going to weep with them when Lazarus was dead ; who, in reading all this in the G-ospels, has not pictured to himself a rural village where he him- self would love to stand, if not to dwell ? But how changed is the present reality from the scene of his imaginings ! It is about two miles from Jerusalem. We left the city by St. Stephen's Gate, descending into the Yalley of Je- hoshaphat, passed Gethsemane, and took the path around the south side of the Mount of Olives, the very road by which, without doubt, the Saviour made his triumphal en- try into Jerusalem, when " a very great multitude spread their garments in the way ; others cut down branches from the trees and strewed them in the way ; and the multi- tudes that went before and that followed cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David ; blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord ; hosanna in the highest." The scene, as it lay before us, was one of mere desolation. Ut- ter sterility, without verdure or foliage save an occasional 388 AROUND THE WORLD. olive-tree, marked the whole way to Bethany. The path and the fields were heaps of stone, and the town of Mary and Martha, a miserable cluster of cheerless huts, with a more miserable crowd of children and grown people de- manding charity, had not the first attractive feature. We looked into the reputed grave of Lazarus, and turned away in sadness at the desolation every where presented. And this is but a type of a great part of Palestine at the pres- ent day. In these rapid sketches of travel over so large a part of the surface of the globe, it will be impossible to give even a continuous account of all our wanderings. I must omit the record of our excursion to the Yalley of the Jordan and the Dead Sea, where we were attacked by the Bedou- ins in the dead of night, as we were encamped on the plains of Jericho. We escaped without injury or loss, but a party of our friends, who went down to Jericho soon aft- er, fell among thieves, who stripped them of their raiment, robbed them of all they had, and threatened their lives. The last day that we spent in Jerusalem was the day of rest. In the morning I attended the English service on Mount Zion, and heard an excellent sermon from the ven- erable Bishop Gobat. In the afternoon we had religious services of a social character at our hotel, attended by about twenty-five, chiefly Americans. Our landlord kind- ly prepared the dining-i"oom for the services, and in this " large upper room, made ready," we joined in pra3^er and praise, and talked of the scenes which transpired in that Holy City nearly 2000 years ago — scenes in which the world has the same deep interest to-day as when they were transpiring on these holy mountains ; which will never lose their interest while the world shall stand, and which will only have gathered fresh interest when the world shall pass away. TO DAMASCUS AND CONSTANTINOPLE. 339 XXX. TO DAMASCUS AND CONSTANTINOPLE. The morning came on which we were to take our de- parture, and I can not say that I regretted to look for the last time upon the city, filled though it is with holy memo- ries. I never had an intense desire to enter the earthly Canaan, although it had long been one of the unsettled purposes of my life to do so. Knowing its forlorn, desolate state, so different from wiiat it must have been when Abra- ham dwelt at Mamre, or when David and Solomon reigned at Jerusalem, or when a greater than patriarchs and kings sojourned in the land ; knowing how completely the traces of their footsteps had been obliterated, and the sacred scenes connected with their lives changed and desecrated, I could scarcely tell whether I desired most to gratify a common wish, or to cherish in my heart memories of the land de- rived from reading the Word of God. But, journeying homeward from more eastern climes, I could not pass by the land with which is linked all the most sacred history of the past, and with which are associated all the holiest an- ticipations of the future. I entered it ; I traveled and tar- ried in it, and I turned away from it with a feeling of sad- ness, but with no regret. I presume that every traveler experiences a measure of disappointment on entering Palestine, especially in visiting Jerusalem. He comes with all the sacred emotions that were excited in childhood, strengthened and deepened with his growth, now raised to their utmost by the very sight of the land. He does not expect to find it, as in days long ago, flowing with milk and honey, or to see Jerusalem as it was before the glory had departed ; but few are prepared 390 AROUND THE WORLD. to see it so waste and desolate. While in Jerusalem, I found myself continually repeating the words of the la- menting prophet : " Is this the city that men call the per- fection "of beauty, the joy of the whole earth ?" The frown of God is every where resting on the land ; it may be read not only in the desolation of the Temple and of the Holy City, but in the dust of the earth and the stones of the field. The land lieth waste and mourneth, and no Christian trav- eler can fail to weep over it. It seems as if God had been sweeping it with the besom of destruction, obliterating the traces and attractions of its sacred scenes for the very pur- pose of preventing the idolatrous reverence for holy places which is even now carried to such an extent, and to impress upon the world the words of Jesus to the woman of Sama- ria : " Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." Early on Monday morning, our horses saddled and our baggage packed, we waited for the guard. From day to day, after our return from the Yalley of the Jordan, we had accounts of fresh robberies and attacks upon travelers on the road to Jaffa. One poor Jew had been robbed and nearly murdered, and others had suffered in like manner. Through the American consul, Mr. Hay, I had made an ap- plication to the governor at Jerusalem for a guard, unless he would be responsible for our safe passage. He sent us word that we must have a military escort, which he pro- posed to send on his own account. After eveiy thing was in readiness for the journey, we waited an hour, and began to grow impatient, when at length a cavass made his ap- pearance with a message from the governor that we could go without the guard, and he would be responsible for any loss or damage that we might sustain. We could do noth- ing more, and accordingly we passed out the Damascus Gate, ascended the height, turned to take a last look of the city and of the mountains that are round about Jerusalem, TO DAMASCUS AND CONSTANTINOPLE. 39^ and began the descent toward the Mediterranean. As the sun was setting we re-entered Ramleh, where we spent an- other night within sound of the muezzin's voice. With the break of day we rose to cross again the plains of Sha- ron, and early in the morning rode into Jaffa. The French steamer Tage was at anchor off the town ; the sea was calm, i-elieving us of the apprehension that we might be com- pelled to lie over for many days (as were a party who came down the week before), and without any delay, and under the most pleasing promise of a smooth passage, we were taken on board. About midnight we passed Mount Carmel, the scene of that subhme trial between the Prophet Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and early on the following morning were off Beyrout, the most homelike and the most beautiful city on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Indeed, it was a home to one who had been at my side in all my journey- ings, for here, at the foot of old Lebanon, " On that classical sea whose azure vies With the green of its shores and the blue of its skies," she first looked out upon this little world which we had been surrounding, and now, for the first time since early childhood, she was returning to gaze once more upon these sublime mountains, and to look out from their heights upon this cerulean sea. I had no such memories to revive, but, from my first view of Beyrout, I wrote it down as just the place one might choose to be born in, if he should happen to have any choice in the matter. During the many days that w^e spent at this place, I was more and more charmed with its beauty, and never grew weary of looking out upon the blue sea and up the grand heights of Lebanon, or of watching the constantly shifting lights and shades. And when, as once, the brow of Lebanon grew dark and then angry with gathering clouds, and peals of thunder came rolling down its sides and echoing through its chasms, the scene became sublime, No city in the East has been more changed within the TO BA MASCUS AND CONSTANTINOPLE. 393 last half century than Beyroiit. Fifty years ago it was a small town — a collection of mud and stone houses, sur- rounded by a wall, but having nothing imposing or attract- ive in its appearance. It is now a large, w^ell-built city, a place of great and growing importance, having long ago burst through its mural inclosure. It has become also a moral centre for a large part of the East — the seat of ex- tensive missionary operations, which extend over the moun-- tains of Lebanon and far into the interior. When the first missionaries from America, Messrs. Goodell and Bird, with their wives, landed in 1823, they became first objects of cu- riosity, then of bitter hostility, and for a long time their lives were in danger. On the breaking out of the Greek Revolution they were obliged to leave the country for want of protection, but they were succeeded in after years by one of the noblest bands of Christian laborers that has occupied any part of the great field of the world, among whom were Dr. Eli Smith, the companion of Dr. Robinson in his bio- graphical researches in the Holy Land ; Dr. Thomson, au- thor of " The Land and the Book ;" Dr. Van Dyck, the em- inent Arabic scholar ; Dr. Calhoun, now of Abeih ; Dr. Bliss, President of the Arabic College, and others — a gal- axy of shining names. Among the tribes inhabiting the mountains around Bey- rout, the most peculiar and interesting are the Druses. They are a fine, noble-looking race, generally intelligent, and able to read and write. Their sacred rites are performed in strict seclusion, as secretly as the rites of Freemasonry. Among their articles of belief is the transmigration of souls, not into bodies of the lower animals, as some Oriental nations believe, but into those of other human beings. They hold that the number of the race, or at least of human souls, does not increase with the addition of new members to the human family ; that when a man dies, his soul goes into the body of some infant who is born at the same time, and that the souls of all good Druses enter bodies born in China. On this belief is founded a tradition that there is in China 394 ABOUND THE WORLD. an immense army of Druses, 25,000,000 strong, who are coming over to Syria, not only to liberate them from the Turkish yoke, but to put them in possession of this whole country, if not of the whole earth. In a visit which I made to one of the mountain villages, the Druses of the place learned that I had recently come from China, and I was waited on by one and another, among them a sheikh, who came to make a host of inquiries in regard to what I had seen of the country, which is to them, as it was not to me, a paradise. But the point to which I found they were de- sirous to come, and which they finally brought out, was whether 1 had seen any of this grand army of liberation. I assured them that, although I had been in different parts of the empire, I had not seen or heard of a single Druse in all China, and that I was quite sure 1 should have heard something about it if such an army existed there. My words sadly disappointed them, but it was evident they did not carry conviction to their minds. They fell back upon the firm belief that the army was yet to come from that distant country. After the fearful massacre of 1860, in which many of the villages of Mount Lebanon were desolated, the French gov- ernment sent into Syria an army of occupation, or protec- tion to the Christians, which was withdrawn in a few years, but the army left behind it one monument for which thou- sands of travelers have blessed its memory. This is the splendid road across the mountains to Damascus. Such a road was a novelty in the East ; the natives regarded it as a desecration of sacred soil, and an outrage upon the rights of donkeys and muleteers ; but it has been a blessing to wayfarers, and has greatly facilitated traffic, not to say com- merce, between these two cities. The grandeur of the mountains of Lebanon exceeded all my anticipations. Not even after watching them from the sea, and then, day after day, from the city of Beyrout, was I prepared for such sublimity. They attain, indeed, no mean height, being 10,000 feet above the level of the Med- DAMASCUS TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 395 iterranean ; and, as if scorning to turn aside for any obsta- cle, this road mounts some of the loftiest ridges, and for miles runs along the brow of chasms two or three thousand feet deep. It was not at all in accordance with the ancient ideas of Oriental travel to be making the passage of these lofty mountains in a well-ordered French diligence ; but this mode had been chosen out of regard to the more deli- cate members of our party, and those of us who were en- dowed with more strength were nothing loth to exchange the saddle for a comfortable seat in an Occidental carriage. Nor did we enjoy the magnificent scenery any less for the change. We were to start for Damascus at four o'clock in the morning, nearly two hours before daylight. As the dili- gence would not come to our hotel, Mohammed like we concluded to go to the diligence. On retiring, we had given special and repeated charge to landlord and porter to call us by two o'clock, that we might have every thing in readi- ness for our night walk of nearly a mile to the office ; but I had learned that the proverb has double force in the East : " If you wish a thing done, do it yourself," and accordingly I attended to my own waking. If I had not risen and called myself, we should have spent the day in Beyrout in- stead of crossing Mount Lebanon. JSTot very cheerful was that walk through the streets of Beyrout under a cloudy, moonless sky, with a single lantern dimly burning, nor was the first hour or two of our journey much more inspiriting. In the darkness our thoughts were all the while turning to the easy couches we had left more than to the scenery around us, which we could not see, or the views of Damas- cus, its rivers and its plains, which were yet before us. But when the morning fairly dawned, as we were ascending those lofty heights from which Hiram had cut the cedars to build and adorn the Temple of Solomon, and when, in the frequent windings of the road, as we made our zigzag way upward, we looked back upon the plain and the city of Beyrout far down below, and then out upon the sea, the 396 ABOUND THE WORLD. thermometer of our hearts rose as many degrees as did the thermometer of Fahrenheit. And all day long we were catching new glimpses of the sublime heights and sublime depths, until, as we were drawing near to Damascus, the hoary head of Mount Hermon appeared in the distance. The valley of Coelo-Syria is a beautiful episode in the journey. The mountains have little verdure or foliage. Occasionally a garden spot or a vineyard appeared, but the mountains are usually masses of rock, on which no vegeta- tion can take root. After traversing those wild ranges for hours, all of a sudden an emerald valley was seen several thousand feet below, the mountains rising again on the op- posite side. The descent was long, and we went down into the valley only to climb the anti-Lebanon range which lies beyond. About four o'clock in the afternoon we com- menced the descent. In the course of an hour we were in a deep gorge, and suddenly came upon a swift-flowing stream, which we traversed for many miles, its banks shaded with groves and diversified with gardens, the River Abana, of the story of Naaman and the Syrian maid. Following the course of the stream, we were presently at the entrance to the city, and soon found quarters at the excellent hotel of Dimitri Cara. It was Saturday night when we reached Damascus. In the morning we went out into " the street called Straight" (some traveler has remarked very truly that it could have been called so only out of courtesy), and after a long walk we found, at the other extremity of the city, the American Mission, and heard an excellent sermon in Arabic from the Rev. Mr. Crawford. I call it excellent ; I am sure, from my subsequent acquaintance with him, it was so, and his manner was at once so easy, earnest, and eloquent, that I heartily enjoyed his discourse without understanding a word of it. We had a sermon from a stranger, in English, at 11 o'clock ; and in the afternoon went out to visit the ceme- tery of the martyrs of 1860 — the Christian population who, in the fearful massacre set on foot by the Mohammedans DAMASGUS,TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 397 and shared by the Druses, were slain in this city to the number of 2500 men, besides women and children. Far greater would have been the slaughter of the Christians had not the hero of Algiers, Abd el Kader, espoused the cause of the persecuted. -More by his valor than his elo- quence he saved the lives of at least 15,000 whom the Mo- hammedans had sworn to put to the sword. We regretted much that this noble but unfortunate chieftain was not in Damascus during our stay. We desired to pay our respects to the hero who had not only won the admiration of the world by his valor in the wars of Algiers, and its sympa- thy by the treacherous treatment he received from his French conquerors, but w^ho, though a Mohammedan, had stood forth as the defender of the Christians when those of his own faith were fanatically putting them to the sword. We sent him our cards, but he was on the Plains. Damascus is the oldest city now in existence. It is men- tioned in the time of Abraham, the steward of whose house was " this Eliezer of Damascus," and its interesting record reaches down all along the ages to the present time. The city covers a wide extent, and with its suburbs, which are well watered and green, is an oasis in the desert in which it lies. It is a lovely picture as seen from the mountains, the water-courses and the irrigated portion of the plain be- ing thickly studded with trees, and shading off into green fields of grain that at length are lost in the arid desert. We explored its quaint old streets, which have more of magnificence than one could imagine from the distant view. The bazars are busy marts of trade, well supplied with the productions and fabrics of the East. The khans, the ware- houses of the merchants, are many of them solid and mag- nificent stone structures, surrounding open courts, in which the ships of the desert — camels — were discharging and re- ceiving their freights of silk and other goods. The khan of Esaad Pasha was truly gorgeous in its architecture. After going through the bazars and khans, we climbed the moun- tain overlooking the great plain to see the city from above. 398 AROUND THE WORLD. and from the lonely kiosk upon its summit had the view which arrested the Prophet Mohammed when he exclaim- ed, " Man can have only one paradise ; I shall not enter this below lest I should have none above," and turned back without ever entering Damascus. Such is the legend. DAMASCUS. Fresh snow had fallen upon the brow of Hermon the morning that we left Damascus on our way back to Bey- rout, and when the sun rose it shone first with golden and then with silver light, reflecting the glory of the East which was poured upon it. There it stands as it has stood for thousands of years, one of the great landmarks on which the patriarchs and prophets looked long before it was trod by Him who was greater than them all. Mount Hermon, in the opinion of many Biblical scholars, was the scene of the Transfiguration. Even now it shines with an inefi^able brightness, as if still in the light of that glorious One whose DAMASCUS TO CONSTANTINOPLE. 399 raiment, when on the mount, " became shining exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can white them." At Sturza, in the vale of Coelo-Syria, a portion of our party struck off to the north to the ruins of Baalbec, while we returned to Beyrout, reaching the outlook upon the Med- iterranean early in the afternoon of a charming day, and enjoying in a wonderfully clear atmosphere, during the long zigzag descent, one of the most glorious sights of mountain, and plain, and sea that can be found on any of the heights of this world. In descending the mountain I heard an uproar and a din that gathered strength as we proceeded, and presently we were in the midst of one of those clouds of locusts that in all ages have infested Syria. A public order had been issued requiring the inhabitants to turn out and drive the locusts into the sea. The people had formed an extensive line, and with horns, and drums, and pans, and any thing that would make a hideous noise, were pursuing the invaders, which were fleeing before them. The music reminded me of a scene I had witnessed in Bom- bay on the occasion of an eclipse of the moon, when the Hindoos swarmed in the streets armed with the same weap- ons, hoping by their insufferable jargon to drive away the monster that was swallowing the queen of night. They were both successful. The Hindoo monster was compelled to disgorge — the moon came out as bright as before ; and on the mountains of Lebanon the locusts that had been de- stroying all the greenness of the earth, unable to endure the music, moved on in a vast cloud toward the Mediterranean. Whether they reached the sea and were drowned I do not know. Once more we were afloat. We had again said the fare- well, which we have so often found it hard to say ; the an- chor was lifted, and we were steaming onward through the waves ; the city at the foot of Lebanon grew dim in the distance — the city of which the author of the " Cres- cent and the Cross," in his unrivaled sketches of Eastern travel, wrote : " Beautiful Beyrout ! I yield to thee the 400 AROUND THE WORLD. palm over all the cities of the earth ;" the mountains grew darker and dimmer in the twilight, and night at length settled down over the sea. In the morning we touched at the island of Cyprus, the scene of a strange mixture of myths and traditions, and history, reaching down from the days of fable, when Ye- nus rose from the foam of the sea in all her beauty, to the days of Richard Coeur de Lion, when the island passed into the hands of the Templars, and until it was at last cap- tured by the Turks. The third day we anchored off the harbor of Rhodes, where once stood the famed Colossus, one of the seven wonders of the world. The same even- ing we sailed along the shores of " the isle that is called Patmos," to which the beloved disciple of Jesus, the Apos- tle John, was banished in the persecution under Domitian, the scene of the apocalyptic vision. On the fourth day, as the sun was lifting its face above the hills that overhang DAMASCUS TO CONSTANTINOPLE. ^Q^ the city of Smyrna, we entered the deep harbor and an- chored off the town. The country around was greener and fresher than any we had seen since leaving the shores of Japan, always excepting the tropical shores near the equator. The city was smiling in the morning light as if conscious of its surroundings, and of its own beauty as seen from the sea. It had other attractions for one of our number, and a few hours were most agreeably spent in the society of friends, and in an excursion to the hill on which stand the ruins of the ancient castle. Here we received the usual welcome from a score of Mohammedan boys, a general stoning, which greeting was returned until they dispersed over the hill. Smyrna is memorable as one of the many cities in which Homer was born, and still more sacred in the eyes of the Christian as the scene of the martyrdom of Polycarp, to whom, as " the Angel of the Church in Smyrna," accord- ing to Archbishop Usher, one of the seven epistles of the Apocalypse was addressed. He had been bishop of this church more than eighty years, when, in one of the Ro- man persecutions, he was summoned to judgment. As he was led out to the place of execution, the proconsul, ashamed to put to death so venerable a man, besought him to blaspheme Christ and save his life. It was then that he uttered those heroic words : " Eighty-six years have I served him ; during all this time he never did me any in- jury ; how then can I blaspheme my King and Saviour ?" Leaving Smyrna toward evening, we stopped at Myti- lene, touched the next day at Tenedos, Dardanelles, and Gallipoli, and on the following morning at sunrise were in sight of the domes and minarets of Stamboul. Co 402 ABOUND THE WOBLD. XXXI. STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. Almost the only place in all the world where the smile of heaven through pleasant skies forsook us was at Con- stantinople. Circumstances had shortened my stay in Pal- estine and Syria so that 1 reached this stage of the jour- ney a month earlier than I had arranged on leaving home, and a month too soon to enjoy the beauties of Stamboul and the Golden Horn of the Bosphorus. We sailed up the Sea of Marmora and rounded Seraglio Point in the midst of a drizzling rain, which changed to snow soon after we landed ; the snow continued to fall, or rather to drive im- petuously for two whole days ; and for nearly three weeks it was almost incessant rain. Not for a day, no, not for an hour in all this time did the sun come out and shine upon us as it had shone for nearly a year. Those were dismal days in which to see the glories of the Orient, although very conducive to enjoyment in the many circles of friends which we found in Stamboul and scattered along the Bos- phorus. One can appreciate friends five or six thousand miles away from home, when the heavens are weeping over him, and there were many associations that made the society at this place peculiarly agreeable to some of us. Of all the cities that I have visited, Constantinople prop- er is the last to be chosen for a season of rain and mud; but, despite all difficulties, we made the tour of the mosques, palaces, bazars, and other places of renown, and, after wait- ing in vain for the skies to clear, we saw the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn under a cloud. H I do not celebrate the beauties of this part of the Orient, it must be because I saw them only in deep shadows, and other pens will more than STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 4.()3 supply all that may be lacking in these sketches. The next time that we go to Constantinople it shall be on the hrst of May. The political condition of this part of the world remains unchanged, while progress is the order of the day East and West. Turkey is still Turkey. Its government is the most effete, inefficient, irresponsible, and at the same time despotic, with which civilized nations have any thing to do, and Constantinople, in one way or another, is a centre of in- terest to nearly all the nations of the West. In the prov- inces the government is even worse than at the capital. In the vocabulary of Turkish officials Justice has no name, excepting as it is represented by the Turkish synonyms of bribery or influence. What is to be the future of Turkey is still one of the problems over which philanthropists and diplomatists, and especially the powers of Europe, are exer- cised. Almost any change would be for the better; it could scarcely be for the worse. A radical change of some kind is needed to bring Turkey into sympathy with the rest of the world, but the present government is past reform. There are some signs of a waking up among the differ- ent nationalities which compose the population of the cap- ital. The press, and steam, and the telegraph are doing their work. I noticed, in passing up and down the Bos- phorus from day to day, that nearly every man on the steamer had his morning or evening paper. There are now published at Constantinople four daily papers in Turk- ish, one of which has a weekly illustrated edition for la- dies, printed on embossed paper, and another for children. There are three dailies in Greek and three in Armenian, Besides, there are numerous weekly papers in Turkish, Ar- menian, Bulgarian, Arabic, etc., the most of which are own- ed and conducted by natives. The revival of evangelical religion among the Armenian population has been a part of the history of the times, and one of the most remarkable movements in connection with missionary labor in any part of the East. Forty years ago 4-04 ABOUND THE WORLD. ' the Rev. William Goodell and his wife landed at Constan- tinople, the first Christian missionaries to this place from America. Others joined them and took up the work, men and women whose names will not be forgotten so long as the sun and moon endure — Schauffler, Riggs, Hamlin, Dwight, Bliss, with many younger. Some of the early la- borers I found toiling on in the field, but others have gone to their reward, having finished their labors. The work- men die, but the work goes on here as elsewhere. Twenty- five years ago there were only about a hundred Armenians who had embraced the evangelical faith. There are now in Turkey seventy churches, with 3200 members, and the movement has extended all over the empire. Two thirds of the churches which are the fruit of missionary labor have native pastors, and nearly half of these are self-sup- porting. In 184:7 there were only about 500 recognized as Protestants; there are now from fifteen to twenty thousand. Scarcely any other city has such a cosmopolitan popula- tion. This is indicated by the number of languages in which the Holy Scriptures are circulated. I learned from the Rev. Mr. Bliss, the Secretary of the American Bible So- ciety for Turkey, that there had been circulated within the last twelve years 333,415 copies of the Scriptures, includ- ing the whole Bible in Arabic, Arjnenian, Armeno-Turkish, Osmanlee- Turkish, Greco - Turkish, Hebrew, Wallachian, Hungarian, Servian, Judseo-Spanish, English, French, Ger- man, Italian, Latin, Swedish, Portuguese, and Dutch, with the New Testament in Russian, Bulgarian, Albanian, Syri- ac, Slavic, Ancient Greek, and Ancient Armenian, with the Gospels in Koordish — thirty languages in all. These are not all the languages spoken at this cosmopolitan city. : While I was at the hotel at Pera an American gentle- man arrived who had been in Constantinople before. In speaking of his former visit, he said to me very enthusiast- ically, " Th&re is one thing in this city that you must not fail to see. Of course you have been to the Mosque of St. Sophia, and up and down the Bosphorus and the Golden STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 4()5 Horn, and have seen the Sultan and all that, but there is one thing that you must not fail to see." Before he con- cluded his impressive injunction I had become rather im- patient to know what it was, when he added, " It is Dr. Hamlin." He then gave me an account of the circum- stances in which he made the acquaintance of this remark- able man. He came there a stranger, fell sick, and, having heard the name of Dr. Hamlin, sent for him, and was speed- ily cured. Dr. Hamlin happens to be a Doctor of Divinity, but there is scarcely any science or art in which he is not worthy of the highest degree. I assured my friend that I had long enjoyed his acquaintance. Eobert College, so liberally endowed by Christopher E. Robert, Esq., of New York, and now established on its beau- tiful site upon the Bosphorus, owes its existence in a great measure to Dr. Hamlin, the president, by whose persever- ance it secured a local habitation. Year after year the Turkish government, in its usual dilatory way, withheld its sanction for the location and erection of the building. Dr. Hamlin neglected no opportunity to press his application. Once, after a longer interval than usual, he applied through some intercessor, when Ali Pasha, the late Grand Vizier, gave vent to his desires in the impatient inquiry, " Will that Dr. Hamlin never die ?" And so, to get rid of him, seeing he would not die, he gave him permission to build. After once deferring our departure another week in hope of brighter skies, we at length went on board the steamer bound for Athens in the midst of a storm of snow, and hail, and rain, one of the most forbidding days of our sojourn. We had scarcely reached the Sea of Marmora before the sun burst forth from the clouds to cheer us on our voyage, and to tantalize us with the remembrance of all the days of gloom in which his face had been hid. ' But we had the satisfaction to learn that we had escaped a perilous voyage on the steamer by which I had engaged passage the week previous. She was overtaken by a storm on the Sea of Mar- mora, and lay all night in the lee of an island waiting for 406 ABOUND THE WOBLD. the morning, all on board having no little apprehension in regard to the result. We did not trust ourselves to the Turkish or Greek steam- ers, which are to be avoided by all who seek either comfort or safety in sailing on the Mediterranean. Those belong- ing to the Sultan's navy are splendid specimens of naval architecture, and, as they ride at anchor in line on the Bos- phorus, make a formidable appearance, but I heard many stories not at all to the credit of the men who commanded them. A Turkish naval officei', once sent with his ship to Malta, was gone about three weeks, at the expiration of which time he turned up at Constantinople, and reported that he had searched diligently, and there was no such place in the Mediterranean Sea. Another was sent to Jaffa, and, after cruising up and dovra the Syrian coast, returned with the report that he could not find it. It is to be hoped that those who have command of the passenger steamers have a better knowledge of the sea, but I never felt disposed to test their nautical skill. On the Mediterranean I invaria- bly took either the French or the Austrian steamers, be- tween which there was little to choose ; they are both good, well officered, and well managed. We left Constantinople at four o'clock in the afternoon, and had fine weather through the Sea of Marmora and the Archipelago to the shores of Greece. The second night out we retired not expecting to be on shore before morn- ing, but about half past one we were roused with the cry that the lights of the Piraeus were in sight, and that we must be prepared to land within a few minutes. Far worse than starting oif by night in a stage-coach is being roused from sleep to be set ashore in a small boat, on some strange coast, in a dark night. But the same familiar stars on which we had looked at home from early child- hood, and which were as familiar as the faces of sisters and brothers, were looking down and smiling upon us, and si- lently whispering to our hearts that above them was an eye that never sleeps. We dropped anchor about a mile from STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 407 the landing. As we were rowed ashore in the quiet star- light I heard the sound of approaching oars, and, knowing that friends who were some days in advance of ns would probably take the steamer that we were leaving, I called a name, and heard over the waters an answering voice — " All's well !" — and so we passed ; the boatmen not even resting on their oars, we were able only to exchange this transient salutation in the darkness. We found a carriage in waiting on the shore, and within an hour were at the hotel in Athens, about six miles distant, and had a pleasant sleep before the morning appeared. Our steps were first directed to the Acropolis, the centre of Athens and of all Greece. We climbed the heights crowned with the ruins of the most perfect structure of antiquity, and looked out upon the theatre of so many grand events in the history of the classic age ; upon the ruins of temples, and arches, and amphitheatres, and down upon Mars Hill, where Paul stood before an assembly of Athenian philosophers and preached Jesus and the resur- rection; and upon the Pnyx, where Demosthenes enchained with his eloquence the crowds who gathered round the ros- trum ; and out over the grand panorama of Lower Greece to the same old mountains on which the eyes of sages and orators, poets, and sculptors, and warriors had looked cen- turies ago, when Greece was in her glory. The Acropolis, FlUEZB OF THE PABTHEMOW. 40 8 ^-S ^ ^^^ TEE WORLD. with its commanding height, its magnificent temples, its peerless sculpture, and its crowning feature, the colossal statue of Minerva, of ivory and gold, a landmark to the mariner at sea as well as to the dweller on the Plains, might well be called " the eye of all Greece." We were strongly urged to make an excursion to the Plains of Marathon, but I declined for prudential reasons, which soon after had melancholy force. I had escaped the Bedouins in the valley of the Jordan, while others were compelled to pay tribute, and not without risk to their lives. I was well aware, and so was every traveler at the time, that the Greek brigands were no more scrupulous in re- gard to the rights of property, and that they were on the alert for prey. They have a very unhappy way of detain- ing for ransom those who happen to fall into their hands, and occasionally sending back an ear or a finger if the ran- som is delayed. I assured my urgent friends that I was not willing to run one risk in fifty of paying a heavy ran- som, or of losing my ears for the satisfaction of seeing a lit- tle more of the classic soil of Greece, and I was somewhat laughed at for my prudence. At the same hotel where we were staying was a party who determined to make the excursion. Their fate so^n after shocked the whole civilized world. They left in the morning for Marathon in high spirits, but before night they were all in the hands of the brigands. The ladies of the party were released and sent back to Athens. Lord Mon- caster was subsequently sent to negotiate the ransom of his companions, and escaped. The rest were murdered and horribly mutilated. Keturning to the Piraeus by carriage in preference to the rail, we crossed in the night to the island of Syra, and took the Austrian steamer for Corfu. The next day we rounded Cape Matapan, usually a stormy point with a turbulent sea, but on this occasion the elements were enjoying a holiday, the winds were off duty, and the waves asleep. In the aft- ernoon we were off the Bay of Navarino, where the deci- STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 409 sive battle was fona-ht in 1827 between the Turkish and Egyptian navies on the one side, and the allied British, French, and Russian fleets on the other. It was the de- struction of the Turkish power on the sea and the libera- tion of Greece. In the course of the day we passed Cepha- lonia, the Samos of Homer, and, later in the day, Zante, " the Flower of the Levant," of which some writer extravagantly says, "Zante is especially delightful in spring, when the fragrance of the flowering vineyards, orange-trees and gar- dens, floats for miles over the surrounding sea." The next morning we were entering the Gulf of Corfu, and one of the most beautiful scenes that we had looked upon in all our travels, reminding us of the Inland Sea of Japan, was before ns. The day was perfectly serene. The sun rose in great splendor, and poured upon land and sea a flood of gorgeous light. I^ot a ripple, not even a dimple, was on the face of the water to break the reflection of the shores. As we rounded the point of the citadel, a rocky height of great strength and greater beauty, overgrown with vines of the richest green, the picturesqueness of the scene was such as the pen will not describe. The day we spent in driving about the charming island was one of the days to be recalled when we are looking into the memories of the past for some lovely nook in which to find rest from the weariness of toil and care. We could have tarried much longer with great delight, but, finding a steamer that was to sail in the evening, and uncertain when we should be able to leave again, we went on board, and the next morning were landed at Brindisi, a place that has acquired new importance. It is the Brun- dusiuni of the ancient Romans, and was once their chief naval station. It was also the southeastern terminus of the ancient Appian Way, and, in the completion of one of those remarkable cycles which not unfrequently occur in the his- tory of nations and countries, has become the terminus of the great railway from London and Paris to the East. The most direct route to Egypt and India, and the most speedy, 4,10 AROUND THE WORLD. is now through the Mont Cenis Tunnel to Brindisi, whence the steamer leaves for Alexandria. Brindisi is a good place to stop at, provided one is not detained. We tarried just twelve hours longer than was desirable, landing at seven in the morning, and leaving at the same hour in the evening. With nothing to see, and nothing to do but to wait for the evening train, the hours passed on leaden wheels. It was rainy without and damp within ; the new Grand Hotel des Lides Orientales, then scarcely completed, was dripping with wet, and we sat and meditated on fevers and rheumatism until the cars kindly bore us away, bound for Naples. In crossing the mountain range between the eastern and western shores of Italy, we were transferred, for a few miles, from the cars to the diligence, the tunnel not being completed. We were here reminded once more of bandit- ti — the Italian brigands, who belong to the same fraterni- ty with the Greeks and Bedouins, whose hands we had es- caped. They have the same habit of picking off stragglers and picking up baggage. The conductor prepared for them by placing the baggage- wagons under the protection of the passenger train of carriages, and we crossed the mountain without having a sight of their muskets. I know of no other part of Italy, unless it be the plain of Sardinia, that bears the marks of such fertility or of such careful cultivation as the region north of ISTaples, It is a vast plain, the soil is rich and easily tilled, and every rood is improved. The trees are trimmed far up, destroy- ing their beauty to a great degree, but letting in the sun and air upon the fields ; while the vines are festooned from tree to tree above the growing crops, giving the country a holiday aspect. The peasantry of Italy belong to a differ- ent race from the dwellers in the towns. They are more industrious in their habits, and large sections of the coun- try, devoted to corn and the vine, attest their thrift. In entering Naples one is struck with the vagabond, and, at the same time, lively character of the mass of the peo- STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 411 pie. They swarm every where, like bees that are just ready to desert a hive that has become too close to contain them. They live in the open air, not only seeking their amuse- ments and attending to their ordinary business out of doors, but cooking and eating in the very thoroughfares of the city. All seem bent on catching the pleasures of the day as if there were no to-morrow. Formerly the beggars constituted one of the most striking features of Neapolitan street life. They were your escort in entering the city, coming out in crowds, sometimes for miles, to meet the public conveyances. They were unremitting in their at- tentions as long as you staid, never failing to take off their hats to you whenever you made your appearance in the streets, and when you were leaving they followed yon out of town, wishing you every blessing by all the saints if you answered their demands, and cursing you by the whole calendar if you did not. Many of them had a merry way of begging, throwing somersaults, or playing a tune upon their chins, or cutting antics to attract attention, like the merriest creatures alive, when they would tell you, as the next thing, that they were dying of hunger, and ask for a little money for the love of the Madonna. The whole kingdom of Naples, and, for aught I know, adjacent king- doms, had been raked and scraped to gather in the halt, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and all the miserable and disgusting objects that could be found, as so much capital on which to drive the thriving trade of begging, one of the principal branches of business in Naples, and not the least profitable either. But that is now changed, and one can go into and out of Naples, and stay there, with com- paratively little annoyance from this source. The Bay of Naples I regard as, beyond comparison, the finest single view in the world. It has a combination of beautiful features and of interesting associations that clus- ter around no other spot. The bay itself has a graceful sweep of thirty or forty miles within the islands placed at its mouth as sentinels to ward off the towering waves that 412 AROUND THE WOBLD. come rolling in from the sea. Its waters are almost as blue as the vault of the sky above it. At the centre of its broad sweep stands the genius of the scene, the beautiful, majestic, living mountain, that has no equal; graceful in its outlines, and standing alone in its grandeur, like Fusi- yama, the glory and pride of Japan, N^o other mountain has, for my eye, such a power of fascination. I have nev- er looked upon it, from whatever point, or how often soev- er, that it has not had the same strange, fresh interest, as if I had never seen it before. It seems to be a living thing. There it stands, year after year, gently breathing out its vapor, like breath upon the frosty air, that floats away and is soon dissipated. When in a state of eruption the signs of life are far more striking. The top of Vesuvius is the best point from which to take in the beauties of the bay and its surroundings. To the west lie the islands that form an important element in the perfection of the view. To the south are Sorrento and other sunny towns, with the blue mountains towering up behind them. The bright, gay city of Naples stretches for miles along the shore to the north. In the distance stands the tomb of Yirgil, and farther on the town of Pozzuoli, the ancient Puteoli, the terminus of the Appian Way, at which Paul landed on his memorable journey to Rome, when he appealed to Caesar's judgment. Farther on are Baise and Cumge, the summer resorts of the Roman emperors and men of wealth, the Newport of those days, where they erected splendid palaces, and reveled in luxury and dis- play. The ruins of their magnificent summer palaces, which were built out into the sea, and overhung the heights, stretch for miles along the shores. From these same shores and their surroundings Virgil took the scenery of his ^ne- id. Here are Lake Avernus, and the River Styx, and the Elysian Fields, Here, too, are the Sibyl's caves. No part of Italy, not even Rome itself, with its suburbs, was more consecrated by the homes and writings of her emperors, and orators, and bards. STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 413 At the foot of Yesiivius lie the long-buried cities of Herculaneiim and Pompeii, revealed to-day after slumber- ing forgotten for eighteen centuries. A world of interest gathers around them as we look down into the silent, de- serted streets, that so long ago were filled with a bustling crowd, and then in one dark storm were overwhelmed. In what part of the world can so much that is beautiful in scenery, so much that is fraught with classic interest, and so much that stirs the heart with tragic recollection, be seen at a single glance as from the heights of this burning mountain ? And this is an indication of what the traveler has to occupy his time and his attention in his sojourn at the sunny city of Naples. It requires many days to make the various excursions, but I shall not attempt to conduct the reader through them all. Vesuvius was a burning mountain two thousand years before the Christian era. Its fires were extinguished and slumbered for a while, but just about the time that Paul landed at Puteoli it was seized with convulsions ; the whole region was shaken, and several towns were laid in ruins. The memorable eruption in which Herculaneum and Pom- peii were overwhelmed, the former by lava, and the latter by the shower of ashes, occurred in the year 79. The younger Pliny, who witnessed it, states that about one o'clock in the day he saw a strange cloud overhanging the plain of Naples, like a huge pine-tree shooting np to a great height and stretching out its branches. This singu- lar cloud, which seemed to be composed of earth and cin- ders, excited his curiosity, and he embarked in a boat to cross the bay and examine into it. As he approached the coast, the red-hot cinders and stones fell into the boat, and he was obliged to retreat. He proceeded to Stabise to spend the night with a friend, but before morning they were driven to the fields by the shaking of the house. The morning came, but it brought no relief. One shock of earthquake succeeded another, as if the foundations of tlie world were giving way. The sea receded from the 4:14: AROUND THE WORLD. shore. The mountain poured forth a mass of flame and burning rock, and the cloud of cinders spread over the bay and over the land. They attempted again to escape to a safer distance, and joined the crowd that was surging on- ward. Pliny's father had already perished. He led his mother by the hand, and fearing she would be pressed to death, proposed to step aside and suffer the crowd to pass by. He says : " We had scarce stepped out of the path when darkness overspread us — not like that of a cloudy night, or when there is no moon, but of a room when it is shut up and all the lights are extinguished. Nothing was to be heard but the shrieks of women, the screams of chil- dren, and the cries of men ; some calling for their children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and only distinguishing each other by their voices ; one lamenting his own fate, another that of his family; some wishing to die from the very fear of dying ; some lifting their hands to the gods ; but the greater part imagining that the last and eternal night was come which was to destroy the gods and the world together." This was the most fearful eruption on record. Many of less account have since occurred, the most remarkable in 1779, in which, according to Sir William Hamilton, the molten lava was thrown in jets to the height of 10,000 feet. More than once have the sides of the mountain broken in while the melted lava poured out of its sides, and ran in streams toward the plain below. In 1855 I made the ascent of the mountain, reaching the top of the cone, and looking down into the abyss. It was then comparatively quiet ; only the presage of a coming explosion was notice- able. Soon after I had left the pent-up fires broke forth ; the lava came rushing down in broad streams, filling up the ravines, and moving onward toward the sea. At night the mountain cast up a fiery mass, and flames marked the course of the burning tide. The green trees, encircled by the red-hot lava, generated steam, and then exploded with terrific noise, scattering the lava in all directions, and mak- STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 415 ing the scene still more brilliant by setting fire to the trees, which, with the mountain itself, illuminated the whole Bay of Naples, and the surrounding cities and country. Herculaneum was buried too deep in solid lava ever to be excavated to any great extent, but the larger part of Pompeii has been reclaimed, and one may now walk for miles through its streets and among its buildings. He need not lose his way ; many of the streets still have the names upon the corners, as in modern cities. The ancient pave- ment, rutted deep by the carriage-wheels, remains intact, not equal, it is true, to the Belgian, but as firm as when it was laid eighteen centuries ago. Entering the homes of the Pompeians as they were dis- covered, we find in them bracelets and jewels, some of ex- quisite workmanship, gold and precious stones. Here are writing materials ; ink-stands and pens ; lamps, as they went out when Pompeii was extinguished ; thimbles, and distaffs, and spinning-wheels — in short, the whole catalogue of a woman's domestic life, together with all the parapher- nalia of the toilet, even to the rouge and false hair, (The apothecaries' shops have on hand a large quantity of cos- metics, showing that they were in great demand.) The cellars were stored with wine, and, although the old Falernian has long since evaporated, the amphorae, or earth- en jars which contained the wine, stand in rows along the walls. In the house of Diomede, one of the most exten- sive and elaborately ornamented villas, situated near one of the gates of the city, were large numbers of wine-jars of great size. This house, being remote from the centre of the town, was evidently resorted to by the friends of the owner as a place of comparative safety ; but more persons probably lost their lives in it than in any other. The skel- etons or forms of seventeen persons were found in the cel- lars. On the women were found gold necklaces, and brace- lets, and other ornaments. Two were little children, whose heads were still covered with beautiful hair. In one of the houses in Pompeii two of the bodies are kept in a glass 416 AROUND THE WORLD. case, the attitudes and posture of the limbs expressing the mortal agony which came upon them. Diomede himself (or one who is supposed to. have been the owner of the villa bearing his name) was found near the garden gate with a purse of gold and other valuables in his hand, while an attendant stood by his side grasping the key to the gate. Some of the houses have the names of the owners inscribed on the outer wall, especially those of a more imposing char- acter. Among the familiar names is that of " C. Sallust." The house of Pansa, thus marked, one of the largest in the city, contained five skeletons when it was opened. The shops, with their contents, are as great a curiosity as the homes. Some of them are extensive, the property of wealthy citizens, from which they derived their incomes. There are several bakeries, or cook-shops, in perfect preser- vation, from which large quantities of viands have been taken. In some the bread was found standing in the ovens. The notices around the doors and in the interior show that the art of advertising is not a modern invention. In one of the villas was found the following poster : "Julia has TO LET for five years, A BATH, A VENERIUM, NINETY SHOPS, WITH TERRACES AND UPPER CHAMBERS." They are still without tenants, although they have been ad- vertised 1800 years. Nearly every thing found in the houses and shops at Pompeii is preserved in the National Museum at Naples, one of the most interesting collections of antiquities in the world. By its help we can readily refurnish the luxurious but now deserted homes, see how their inmates lived, and learn more of their domestic history than from any other source. One can study and muse for days over this ex- traordinary collection, and find his interest growing deeper every hour that he lingers. Before leaving Naples we drove to the cities of its own dead, among the characteristic features of the place. The Protestant cemetery is a neat church-yard in the outskirts STAMBOUL TO NAPLES. 417 of the town. The cypress here waves over the grave of many a stranger who has died far away from the friends and scenes of home, but flowers also bloom profusely in this sweet resting-place of those who have no more seas to cross, and no farther journey in life to make. After lin- gering to note, by the various inscriptions, from how many lands the sleepers had come, we drove to the Camjpo Santo Yecchio, the great charnel-house of Naples. It contains three hundred and sixty-five pits, under a wide, paved square. Every evening the stone which covers one of these pits is removed, and the common dead of the city for the da}^ are thrown into it, without even a winding-sheet to cover them. The old man and the child, the rough lazza- roni and the tender maiden, are dropped in together, and lie in one indiscriminate mass ; quick-lime is thrown in to consume the bodies, and the pit is sealed for another year, to be opened at its close. We did not wait to witness the revolting scene, although the city carts were arriving with the dead, but drove to the Campo Santo JSTuovo, the ceme- tery for the aristocratic dead, and here I was surprised to find a burial-ground laid out with refined taste, shaded with the cypress and other trees, and adorned with tombs of the most costly description. Many of them were in the form of chapels built of fine Italian marble, elaborately finished. After what I had heard of the burial of the dead at Na- ples, and after what I had seen at the Campo Vecchio, it was a relief to enter one that indicated so much refine- ment of feeling. Dd 418 AROUND THE WORLD. XXXII. EOME TO FLORENCE. The old route from Naples to Rome along tlie sea, through Terracina and Mola di Gaeta, was far more pic- turesque than the present route by rail, and one could fully enjoy it when traveling leisurely by vettura. I was once several days on the way, spending a night at Terra- cina in a storm, when the wild waves came rolling in from the sea, dashing against the walls of the hotel, and threat- ening to wash away its very foundations. It was quite equal to being rocked in the cradle of the deep. The true way to see Italy is not to whirl through it by the rail-car, but to take the old modes of conveyance. But every mode has its advantages, although no gain in time can compen- sate for the loss of the charming Italian scenery, and glimpses of Italian country life Avhich were once enjoyed in traveling throtigli the interior and along the shores. On reaching the Roman frontier, for the first time, and, I may add also, the last time in all our journey around the world, a demand was made for passports. We had trav- eled from one end of Asia to the other, through Egypt and Syria, European Turkey and Greece, and thus far in Italy, without being called upon to declare our nationality, or ob- tain permission to go or come. But now, as we were en- tering the estate of his holiness the Pope, we must needs go through the old investigation. In no respect has a greater change come over the countries of Europe, and es- pecially those having Roman Catholic rulers, than in the abolition of the passport system, and it is one of the many significant indications of the progress of religious freedom, as well as of the principles of free government. Several BOME TO FLORENCE. 4]^9 years since I liad traveled over the route I was now taking, and, upon reaching home, found that my passport had on it eighty-seven vises, or official seals and signatures, as evi- dence of my having been permitted to enter and leave dif- ferent countries and cities, and in nearly every instance it was where Roman Catholic influence was predominant. In going even from Rome to Kaples and returning, fifteen or twenty examinations were required. The fact that in my recent journey, of which I am now writing, my passport was only once exhibited in the entire circuit of the earth, is a volume of testimony in regard to the progress which the world has been making, and also in regard to the waning power of popery as a political element. Passports are no longer required even at the gates of Rome. They belong to an order of things that has passed away even at Rome. It was night when we reached the Alban Hills and came out upon the heights that overlook the Campagna and the city of the Caesars, and we could study the scene only in imagination, peopling it with the multitudes of the past in- stead of the present. As we entered Rome we found it il- luminated in commemoration of the anniversary of the re- turn of Pius IX. from his long but voluntary exile after the occurrence and success of the Revolution of 1848. I call it voluntary because he was in no sense compelled, excepting by his fears, to flee or to remain in exile. When he was chosen pope in 1846, he entered upon a course of reform, and corrected many of the abuses which had become hoary with the lapse of time. He established his temporal gov- ernment on a sort of popular basis, and gave the people a taste of liberty, which led to their taking the government into their own hands. Pius IX. was personally popular, nor was there at any time the least disposition to interfere with his position or power as head of the Church. On the assassination of his minister. Count Rossi, the pope became alarmed, and fled in disguise to Mola di Gaeta, within the territory of King Ferdinand of ISTaples. As soon as his de- 420 AROUND THE WORLD. parture from Kome became known, a deputation of emi- nent citizens was appointed to wait on him and urge his re- turn, with the assurance that there would be no interfer- ence with his dignity or his functions as the head of the Church, But the reactionary cardinals had him in their liands, and would allow no interview, and under their ad- vice he remained in exile until the French army had sup- pressed the rising liberties of the people and re-established the temporal tyranny of a spiritual power. The freedom which the city of Rome is now enjoying is that which its people won for themselves by their own right arms in 1848, and which was subsequently wrested from them by French bayonets alone. Never were claims to temporal power more false than those which are now urged in behalf of the pope, A somewhat striking coincidence marked ray coming to Rome. I had reached the city in 1854 while the council was in session that adopted the dogma of the Immaculate Conception as an article of the faith of the Church, I stood at that time near the high altar in St. Peter's on the day of its public announcement, and heard the pope read it from beginning to end. His heart had been set on mak- ing this declaration, and cardinals, and bishops, and digni- taries of all degrees were called from all parts of the earth to bow to his will and say that it was the will of God. He read the Latin with a feeble voice, weeping as he read it, and it was generally thought at the time that this would be the expiring act of his pontificate, I reached Rome again in season to be present in St. Peter's at the first public ses- sion of the Council of 1870, and heard the same pope an- nounce the dogma De Fide preliminary to the impious claim of infallibility. He was feebler than before, with more than fifteen years added to his age, but there was the same iron will before which all inferior ecclesiastics have been made to bow. The utterance of this impious assump- tion of divine prerogatives was the signal for the providen- tial destruction of his temporal as well as spiritual power. ROME TO FLORENCE. 421 Once, as we learn from sacred writ, another ruler, " Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne and made an. oration. And the people gave a shout, saying. It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him because he gave not God the glory, and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost." Pius IX. survives, but almost immediately upon the utter- ance of his dogma, and the shout of the people, " It is the voice of a god, and not of a man," his throne crumbled and fell, and his spiritual power over those who acknowl- edged his supremacy is fast passing away. With modern Home and with the remains of the ancient city every intelligent reader is familiar, and I should not attempt any general description even did my space permit. I shall refer only to one or two of its innumerable objects of interest. The first point to which I bent my steps on entering Rome was not the Church of St. Peter, nor the Vatican, nor the Coliseum, but a monument that stands on the an- cient Via Sacra, in some respects the most interesting ob- ject in the ancient or modern city. It is the smallest of the triumphal arches, and is known as the Arch of Titus. It bears the following inscription : Senatvs. popvlvsqve romanvs. Divo. Tito. Divia. Vespasiana. Vespasiano. Avgvsto. This arch was erected to commemorate the conquest of Je- rusalem. While at the head of the army before the walls of the Holy City, Yespasian, upon the death of Kero, was proclaimed emperor. He hastened back to Rome, leaving Titus in command, who, upon the fall of the city and the destruction of the Temple, made a triumphal march into Rome, bringing with him a long train of captive Jews, to- gether with the spoils, among which were the sacred vessels of the Temple. It is this procession which is commemora- ted in the beautiful arch. The great interest of the bas-re- 422 AROUND THE WORLD. lief is in the fact that it supplies a place in the illustration of the Bible which can be filled from no other source. It is the only visible representation that exists of those sa- cred vessels, the patterns of which were received from heaven. The frieze of the arch is ornamented with sculpture — a procession of warriors leading oxen to sacrifice. Upon a side panel of the interior is a group representing Titus in the act of oelebrating his triumph over the Jews. He stands in a chariot drawn by four horses abreast, accompa- nied by the senators of Rome, and ofiicers bearing the fas- ces. The sculptured form of Victory holds a wreath of laurel, with which she is about to crown the conqueror. Upon the opposite side, on a similar panel, is the celebrated group bearing the sacred vessels of the Jewish Temple. First comes a standard-bearer leading the way, with a can- opy or arch supported above his head. The table of shew- bread, with a cup and the silver trumpets used by the priests of the Temple to proclaim the year of jubilee, is borne on staves. Other bearers follow, carrying chaplets of laurel, and the golden candlestick with its seven branches. In size and form these bas-reliefs correspond precisely with the descriptions of the sacred record and the minute de- scriptions of Josephus. Little did those ancient pagans — the Roman senate and the Roman people — when decree- ing and erecting this monument to a deified warrior, imag- ine that they were erecting a monument to the true God in the verification of prophecy and divine history, and little did they suppose that, after nearly two thousand years, the disciples of that faith which they had already begun to per- secute even unto cruel death would come from distant lands to read the record and to be confirmed in their faith. The Jews of modern Rome are said to be the descendants of the captives which Titus brought from Jerusalem to grace his triumph. ISTot one of them, even at this day, will pass un- der the Arch of Titus, although it spans one of the thor- oughfares of the city. They shun it as a memorial of the EOME TO FLORENCE. 423 subjugation of their nation, a fall which has never yet been retrieved. One of the most perfect and most striking of the relics of pagan Rome is the Pantheon. It has lost its external beauty in the covering of marble, but its massive walls and the form of the building remain just as when erected sev- eral years before the Christian era. It is still a wonder of architecture, faultless in its beautiful and grand proportions, and, notwithstanding its simplicity, it is to me the most im- pressive of the ancient or modern buildings of Rome. It stands in what was formerly the Campus Martins, where it was surrounded by the buildings belonging to the Thermae of Agrippa, and was reached by a flight of steps, all of which must have added greatly to its effect. Now it is in one of the meanest corners of the city, and is scarcely on a level with the adjacent streets. The portico, which is re- garded as a model, is 110 feet long, forty-four in depth, and is composed of sixteen Corinthian columns of Oriental granite, each one of which is a single block or shaft. They are forty-six and a half feet in height, and fifteen in cir- cumference. The entablature and pediment are still per- fect, and the frieze bears the following inscription, extend- ing along the entire front : M. AGRIPPA. L. F. COS. TERTIVM FECIT. The massive bronze doors are acknowledged by the best au- thorities to be those set up by Agrippa. Although nearly forty feet in height, and having swung upon their hinges for nineteen centuries, they may still be moved by the hand of a child. The building is circular, 143 feet in diameter, or more than 400 feet in circumference. The walls, which are twenty feet in thickness, rise to the height of seventy feet, when they pass into one vast dome, the centre of which is 143 feet above the pavement. The dome is more im- pressive than that of St. Peter's, and one peculiarity adds a charm to that impression such as I have never found in any other building. The dome is open at its centre, the aper- 424: ABOUND THE WOULD. tnre being twenty-seven feet in diameter. It was never closed, even by glass, and the storms of nearly two thousand years have beaten through it and fallen upon the pavement below. This might seem a defect, but it constitutes, in re- ality, its most beautiful, if not its grandest feature. The circular walls are unbroken by windows, and, when the massive bronze doors are closed, this aperture in the dome is the only source of light, and communicates directly witli the heavens above. One can look up and see the clouds floating by, or gaze into the blue ether, while the lower world is shut out by walls which no earthly sounds can penetrate. The poetry and sublimity of this conception for a temple may be imagined. It excludes all things ter- restrial — opens heaven alone to the worshiper, and that, too, without any intervening medium. An anecdote characteristic of Roman morals is related in a manuscript narrative of the sack of Rome, preserved at the Vatican. When Charles Y. visited Rome in 1536, he ascended the roof of the Pantheon, and looked down through the aperture from above. A young Roman who had been ordered to accompany him afterward confessed to his father that he was strongly tempted to push the mon- arch over on the pavement below, a depth of nearly 150 feet, in revenge for the sack of the city a few years before. The wily old Italian said, " My son, such things should be done, and not talked about." The Pantheon has been stripped of all its costly orna- ments, leaving only its simple gi-andeur to delight the eye. Formerly the outer walls were faced with marble, which is now all gone. The vast dome was covered with gilded bronze, and its interior either lined or profusely ornament- ed with silver. The plates of bronze that covered the roof, and the silver, were removed by Constans II,, A.D. 655, and afterward taken to Alexandria. Pope Urban YIII.. completed the plunder of the building by taking the bronze beams of the portico to form the baldachino of the high altar of St. Peter's, and to cast cannon for the castle of St. ROME TO FLORENCE. 425 Angelo. This pope belonged to the Barberini family, and used a part of the plunder to ornament the Barberini pal- ace. Pasquin, the mediaeval oracle of Rome, made the fol- lowing record of its final desecration: Quod non fecerunt Barhari Roinoe,, feceriint Barberini. (What the Barbari- ans left of Rome, the Barberini destroyed.) The prince of painters, Raphael, who was a great admirer of the sublime structure, requested that he might be buried within its walls. When he died, his body, together with his last and noblest work, the Transfiguration, was exposed for three days in the Pantheon, and visited by crowds, who gazed upon both with equal interest, but with different emotions. His remains were afterward deposited in a niche formed in the walls, and the spot is now marked by a simple slab with an inscription in Latin. For many years the Academy of St. Luke, an association of artists, had a skull in their possession, said to be Raphael's. As doubts had arisen in regard to the actual resting-place of the immortal master of the pencil, it was determined in 1833 to settle the ques- tion by an examination of his tomb. It was accordingly opened in the presence of several ecclesiastical dignitaries and artists, and the skeleton was found entire just as it had been entombed. The relics were replaced, inclosed in an antique marble sarcophagus from the Vatican Museum. Of course the skull in the possession of the Academy of St. Luke lost its value, notwithstanding it had often awakened the admiration of phrenologists, who had found the paint- er's bump strikingly developed. But perhaps it did belong to a great artist. Who knows ? The ardent student of classical poetry and history (which in ancient times were often identical) is greatly scandalized in coming to the banks of the Tiber. Instead of a mighty river commensurate with its fame, he finds a small, muddy stream, scarcely any where two hundred yards wide. The mud, the narrowness, the very swiftness of its current, as if it were hurrying away to the sea to escape observation, are too much for him at the first glance. But as he gazes, 426 ABOUND THE WORLD. the events whicli ages ago crowded around its banks, and which were known and felt the world over, come up before him like a grand procession, and it is no longer the insig- nificant stream, but the river of ancient Rome. That is distinction enough. It matters little to an ordinary trav- eler whether the stories of ^neas, and of Romulus and Remus, are myths or veritable history. Yery few who come to Italy have any purpose or desire to settle the questions of fancy and of fact with which the early days of Rome are environed. This is left for the Niebuhrs whose tastes incline them in that direction. It is far more pleasant (and, for all practical purposes at the present day, it is just as well) to do as we did when school-boys — accept as history the story of the founder of Rome cast by the waters of the Tiber upon the spot where he afterward built the city. The river is always turbid. Virgil is the only author who calls it ccerulean, and this was a stretch of poetic li- cense quite beyond the mark. Upon what the fancy was founded it would be difficult to tell. It often overflows its banks as in ancient times, and the Campus Martius, on which the modern city is chiefly built, becomes inundated. The height of the water is marked upon columns standing on the river bank in the Yia Ripetta, and also upon the f a- gade of the Church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, in the very heart of the city, where the marks are some ten or twelve feet above the pavement. I have seen the pave- ment of the Pantheon several feet under water, so that the building could be entered only by boats. Treasures of art have often found their way into the river, which, if they could be recovered, would bring in the art markets of the world immense prices. Statuary more perfect, and perhaps more beautiful than any of the works of the ancient mas- ters that are now preserved in the Vatican, doubtless lie imbedded in groups in the muddy bottom. The famous banker of the time of Leo X., Agostino Chigi, gave to the pope and his cardinals a splendid and costly entertainment, at which the dishes were all of the precious metals. It is ROME TO FLORENCE. 427 said that when the feast was over they were thrown into the Tiber by the order of the rich banker, that no less illus- trious guests might use them. There is a tradition that the sacred vessels of the Jewish Temple, brought from Je- rusalem, among them the golden candlestick, were lost or thrown from the Milvian Bridge and never recovered. There is nothing connected with the antiquities of Home that Christian travelers visit with deeper interest than the Catacombs, although few venture far into their dark and intricate recesses. These narrow passages, some of which are sixty or seventy feet below the surface of the ground, run in all directions under the city and under the Cam- pagna. The whole country is honey-combed by them, and it is said that in ancient times there was communication through them from Rome to the sea, fifteen or twenty miles distant. The openings or entrances are few, but it is not uncommon for riders over the Campagna to break through into those that are nearer the surface. Their origin is not absolutely known — at least Inhere are no authentic records of their excavation ; but it is alto- gether probable they were formed in the early days of Rome by digging for the volcanic sand q,2^q^ jpozzulana^ which was used extensively in making the Roman cement for the erection of buildings — that mortar which has re- sisted the action of the elements more than two thousand years, and which bids fair to last as long as the stones themselves. The pozzulana was removed in the same way that coal is dug — in long avenues crossing each other at various angles, leaving enough of the earth or rock to sus- tain the superincumbent mass. They have fallen in at many places, completely blocking up the way, and, as there is always danger of such an occurrence, visitors are usu- ally taken only a short distance, just to show how they were formed, and for what purpose they were subsequently used. Sad indeed would be the fate of those who should be bur- ied beneath the falling mass, and sadder yet of those whose retreat should be cut off, while they were left to 428 AROUND THE WORLD. GROUND PLAN OF THE CATACOMBS. wander hopelessly until comj^elled by weariness and weak- ness to lie down and die. Some thrilling incidents are related as warnings to those who enter, and to repress the curiosity of such as might wish to exceed the limits which prudence has assigned to the exploration of these subter- ranean passages. Several years since, fifteen or twenty youth, connected with one of the colleges of Rome, ac- companied by a teacher, descended with candles, taking the usual precautions to secure their safe return to the light ROME TO FLORENCE. 429 of day, but not one of them ever came out to tell the fate of the rest. They either lost their way, and wandered on in hope of finding the path that would lead them back until compelled by exhaustion to lie down and die, or the fall of the earth on the path they had taken cut off their escape. Long and diligent search was made, but to this day nothing is known of how or where in the vast laby- rinth they were overtaken by death. The imaginations of those who go down into those dark recesses picture many a fearful scene which no words have power to express. Later still, an artist entered the Catacombs alone, pro- viding himself with a ball of twine, which he unwound as he wandered on, until he became absorbed with the records and recollections of other days. When he came to himself, the slender thread that bound him to the outer world was missing ; with his dim taper he searched for it in vain ; at last the light grew dim, and was then extinguished. In the horror of despair, he groped from one passage to anoth- er, until at last he stumbled in the darkness, and, in his struggles, his hand caught the thread which brought him back to the world. The peculiar interest attaching to these Catacombs is, that during the early ages of Christianity, in the times of persecutions by the Roman emperors, they were the resort of Christians for safety, and probably, to some extent, for worship. They formed a secure refuge for those who were familiar with their windings, and it is probable that great numbers fled to them to escape the cruel death. to which they were devoted by their persecutors. Either at the time they were thus used, or subsequently, thej^ became sepulchres for the Christian dead. Niches were cut longi- tudinally in the sides of the long corridors, sometimes five or six one above another, in which the dead were deposited ; they were then closed with a slab of marble or terra cotta, and sealed with cement. In this way they became populous cities of the dead. Not thousands, but hundreds of thousands, were here laid to sleep their last 430 AROUND THE WORLD. sleep. When they were first opened the bodies were in all states of preservation or decay. Some retained their form, in other cases the skeletons only remained, while the great multitude had crumbled into dust or had entirely disap- peared. The entrances to the Catacombs, which have all been un- der the strict supervision of the ecclesiastical authorities, are chiefly through or in connection with the churches, and are few in number, notwithstanding the limitless ex- tent of the excavations. The one most accessible and most frequently visited by strangers is at the Church of St. Se- bastian, a mile or more on the Appian Way, outside of the walls of the city. I had several times been into this as far as the old monk in charge consented to act as guide, and as far, probably, as he was familiar with the windings of the way, beyond which it certainly was not safe to venture alone, as a single turn might bewilder any one, and lead him into an endless labyrinth. An ecclesiastic who was visiting Rome to be present at the council entered at one time with our party, but he soon became alarmed, and en- treated us not to go farther, as we must needs keep togeth- er to have the services of the guide. Having seen all that was to be seen of this, I was desirous to make a more ex- tensive examination of those which had not been so com- pletely rifled of their contents, and learning that the Cata- combs in connection with the Church of St. Agnese, in an- other part of the Campagna, were far more interesting on this account, a party was made up, application was made to the cardinal vicar, and, through the intercession of an American lady, permission to enter was obtained. An in- telligent gentleman who was well acquainted with the place and with its history was deputed to accompany us. We spent a large part of the morning appointed for the visit in wandering through the silent vaults, which, unlike the others, are still filled with the crumbling remains of the early confessors of the Christian faith. The excava- tions are much more regular, and on a larger scale than ROME TO FLORENCE. 43;! those which we had previously seen. Instead of being more unsafe, as is generally supposed, they are less liable to crumble and fall. The rock in which the excavations are made is more solid, allowing the passages to be cut with more exactness, and they run often to a great distance in a right line. The roofs are vaulted with regularity, and the sides cut perfectly square. The same niches occur as in the other Catacombs, and rise one above another to the number of five or six, but they have not been touched ex- cepting to remove the slabs and inscriptions. The bones of the dead by hundreds, and even thousands, were lying where they were deposited sixteen or eighteen centuries ago. Occasionally they were in a state of preservation, and not unfrequently were covered with a mineral deposit from the drippings of the rock above, which had assisted in keeping them entire; in many cases it seemed to have produced a sort of petrification, but generally, where the form of a body, or even of a bone appeared, it would sink and almost vanish under the touch, all substance having gone. The teeth were occasionally undecayed, and, as I took one from its socket, the bone to which it had been at- tached sank immediately away. The bodies had been laid in their narrow couches uncof- fined, and, as the slabs had been removed, all that remained of the sleepers was exposed to view ; but there was nothing repulsive in the sight, as there would be in an ordinary charnel-house, nor any thing melancholy in the place itself. The sacred. Christian associations dispelled such thoughts. These bodies, which had been slumbering quietly for nearly two thousand years, had been laid away in the hope of a coming morning — the morning of the resurrection, when the dust into which they would crumble should be gather- ed again and reanimated, to meet at his coming Him who is the resurrection and the life. Many trembling hearts had been driven by the persecutors into' these recesses to escape the sword or the jaws of wild beasts ; but when they ceased to beat, whether through violence or by a natural 432 ABOUND THE WORLD.. death, they were all and forever at rest. The storms of centuries had raged above their heads, armies had met in deadly conflict on the soil above them, but they slept on un- disturbed. Instead of being oppressed with sad or mourn- ful thoughts, a feeling of triumph — of actual joy, came over me in the remembrance of the glorious victories over death and every other foe that had been gained by the host around me. After lighting the good fight of faith, and resisting unto blood, they had gone up to receive the reward and the crown of the martyrs. When the Catacombs were first opened inscriptions were found on the slabs, some of them rudely cut, and not un- frequently they were accompanied with emblematical de- vices expressive of Christian hope or sentiment. The slabs were removed and set in the wall of the long corridor lead- ing to the Museum of the Vatican, where they may now be seen. Among the most common emblems were the Three Children in the Fiery Furnace, and Daniel in the Lions' Den, doubtless used as emblems of martyrdom ; the Good Shepherd, with a Lamb on his shoulders ; Noah at the win- dow of the Ark ; the Dove ; an Anchor ; a Fish, the signifi- cance of which as an early Christian emblem is well known ; with representations of the miracles of Christ, etc. I give but a few specimens of the multitude of inscrip- tions : " Valeria dormit in pace" (Valeria sleeps in peace). "In pace Domini dormit" (He sleeps in the peace of the Lord). " In pace" and " In Christo" occur frequently. The constant occurrence of the word " sleep" as a synonym for death is striking. The following are mere translations of inscriptions : " Lannes, the martyr of Christ, rests here. He suffered under Diocletian." " In the time of the Emperor Adrian, Marius, a young military leader, who had lived long enough : with his blood he gave up his life for Christ. At length he rested in peace. The well-deserving, with tears and fears, erected this in the Ides of December, VI." HOME TO FLORENCE. 433 " Here lies Gordianus, deputy of Gaul, murdered with all his famil}^ for his faith. They rest in peace. Theophila, his maid, erected this." I can not attempt even the briefest enumeration of the places and objects of interest, ancient and modern, which are in and around Eome ; it is a world in itself, and I have found by experiment that months would not exhaust the study. The Vatican, the Capitol, the ancient and modern palaces, the Coliseum, the churches, which are also reposi- tories of art ; the Seven Hills, the Appian Way, the sub- urbs, Albano, Frascati, and a thousand ruins, each one of which has its classic history, all claim the attention of the traveler, but can not have their record here. There is no other city in Europe where an intelligent traveler can tarry so long with so much interest. But we must pass on. I can not do so, however, without expressing my own pleasure in the thought that Eome, which I had seen only under a dark shadow — the shadow of spiritual despotism, is now in the light. The sun is shining on Rome as it has not shone for many long centuries, save in the brief period after the Revolution of 1848. Its people walk the streets breathing the air of freedom — freedom to think their own thoughts and speak their own words, enjoying the protection of a liberal government, even though it be a kingly. Long live Victor Emanuel, and long may he reign over United Italy — at least so long as he pursues the enlightened policy which he has been carrying out since he came to the throne. And ever may the people of Rome rejoice in freedom from ghostly tyranny, the most oppressive of all forms of despot- ism. The temporal power of tlie pope will assuredly never be re-established with " the consent of the governed." As a matter of necessity, owing to the arrangement of the trains, we made a night journey to Florence, entering it in the morning, and greatly enjoying the views of river, and mountain, and vale as we approached the city. Victor Emanuel can not have set his heart upon making Rome the capital of the new kingdom of Italj^ on account of its Ee 4:34 ABOUND THE WORLD. greater beauty. There is no inland city in Europe more superbiy located than Florence. If not a gem in itself, the setting makes it one. The surrounding heights, with the numerous villas, and vineyards, and monasteries that crown the hills, make the sight one to be enjoyed and never for- gotten. The view from San Miniato, which is reached by one of the most beautiful drives in the suburbs of any city in the M'orld, can scarcely be surpassed by any mere inland view. i'LOEESCE, FROM SAN MINIATO. And Florence is as attractive as ever in its works of art. The Uffizi and Pitti Palaces, the treasure-houses of paint- ing, have witnessed revolutions raging around them, but their pictures and other treasures remain where they were. It is a marvel as well as a pleasure, after reading of the many changes in the government of these lands, to find its galleries of art and all that they contain untouched. The first Napoleon ruthlessly despoiled Italy, but the sentiment ROME TO FLORENCE. 435 of the world, as well as his own changing fortunes, com- pelled him to restore what others have not dared to touch. The removal of the court to Rome will make no change in the art treasures of Florence ; they will remain undisturb- ed, and future travelers will find them just where they were found before Victor Emanuel was welcomed to Flor- ence. The days passed quickly away in visiting and revisiting the galleries, where one can linger for weeks;, the Duomo, with its Campanile and Baptistery ; Santa Croce, and San Lorenzo, and the many places and objects of interest which have so long attracted crowds of travelers to the beautiful city, made more attractive than ever before. An excursion to Pisa, distant about an hour, afforded a sight of the Lean- ing Tower, and of the Cathedral in which still hangs the bronze chandelier, the swinging of which suggested to the philosophical mind of Galileo the theory of the pendulum, the first step toward his demonstration of the nature and order of the solar system, for which he came near suffering martyrdom at the hands of the Church of Rome. I great- ly scandalized the priest who attended us when I gently touched the chandelier and gave it a swing, that I might be brought more into communication with the heretic Galileo by seeing it in motion. Florence, since it has passed from under the dominion of the Gran d-d like, has become a centre of light and true re- ligious influence for all Italy. There is something truly sublime and almost inexplicable in the stand which Victor Emanuel has taken in regard to religious liberty. He is not reputed to be a man of religious sentiment or feeling ; quite otherwise ; and yet, since he first came to his father's throne, he has pursued a steady course in securing to his subjects the right to worship God, and in granting to his people equal privileges without regard to their religious opinions. The Waldenses, who for ages suffered oppression even when they were not suffering persecution, are now represented in the Italian Parliament, and enjoy full eccle- 436 AROUND THE WOELD. siastical privileges. It was said in Turin many years ago, when Yictor Emanuel was king of that corner of Italy, that he received the principles of religious toleration as a sacred legacy from Charles Albert ; if so, he has been a faithful executor of his father's will. Not all the threats of excommunication, nor excommunication itself, which has been hurled at his head more than once, has had any effect to turn him from his course. XXXIII. VENICE HOMEWAED. In the journey from Florence to Venice, where once the traveler passed over the Apennines, we passed directly through them, piercing the mountains by more than forty tunnels within the space of two or three hours. We scarce- ly emerged from one before we dived into the gloom and darkness of another, until it really seemed as if the eye of day was simply winking at us — now shut, now open, and now shut again. ITight came on, and the stars came out long before we reached " The City of the Sea ;" but near midnight we landed (if leaving terra firma and taking to the water can be called landing), and glided quietly to our quarters at the hotel a mile or more distant. There are only two cities in the world that I have found just what I expected. When I first caught sight of Jeru- salem in crossing the hills of Judea, and when I looked down upon it from the Mount of Olives, it was the Jeru- salem of my thoughts ; I had been there often before. When I reached the railway terminus on the lagoon at Venice, and took a gondola instead of an omnibus, and was rowed by moonlight through one sti'eet after another, and at length landed at the door of the hotel, into which I stepped from the gondola ; and when, on the following VENICE HOMEWABD. 437 days, I floated througli the liquid streets, into and along the Grand Canal, past the old and now deserted palaces, beneath the Kialto, and under the Bridge of Sighs ; and as I stood in the grand square of San Marco, and entered the Doge's Palace, and walked tlirough its great historic halls, and descended into its subterranean and subaqueous dungeons, I found myself just where I had been a hun- dred times. It was not the realization of a dream — it was the dream prolonged ; every thing was as I had fancied it. Venice is a city so peculiar, so unlike all other cities we have ever known, that we do not base our conceptions of it upon what we have seen of other places, but upon actual descriptions. In this singular city travelers must needs become am- phibious. They sleep in houses, not upon the land, but anchored in the sea. If they step into the street they step upon the water. If they wish to make a call upon a friend, they order, not a carriage, but a gondola. There is not a carriage in all Venice, and only one horse, which is kept on an adjacent island as a curiosity. He would have been, in truth, rara avis if he had not been a horse. Over the streets, which are water, a stillness reigns throughout the year which to many becomes oppressive, absolutely pain- ful ; but to me it is a positive luxury. Here the noise and bustle of life are suspended, the days float along as still as the flight of a bird in the air, or as smoothly as one of the gondolas in which we glide over the surface of the water. Thoroughly to enjoy Venice, one must come at the right season, and have plenty of time. In midwinter the air is too cool to enter into the spirit of the place. In midsum- mer, and all through the warm season, the canals are of- fensive, reminding one of the streets of Cologne ; and if one has been in China, they will slightly remind him of the cities of the Celestial Empire. The month of May, when the air is* balmy, and just warm enough to enjoy the open air without exercise (for exercise here is almost out of the question), is, perhaps, the best time of the year. 438 AROUND THE WORLD. And then to take a gondola in front of the Doge's Palace, and allow your gondolier to row yon gently into the Grand Canal, and through its whole .extent, and give you — as he will, if you secure an intelligent gondolier — the name and the story of each one of the old marble palaces as you glide by it, or pause to read up its history ; to enter these ancient halls of the Venetian princes, as you may by a suitable introduction ; to bring up the days of the Old Re- public, when these water streets were resplendent with na- val displays, with gorgeous regattas, and with the magnifi- cence of Oriental sights — all this bewilders and delights the imagination, until one can scarcely do any thing but give way to the intoxicating influence of the scenes and associations by which he is surrounded. Even visiting and studying the works of art which abound in Venice seem almost too much like servile labor for the atmosphere of the place. Venice itself is the work of art which each one will most delight to contemplate. The evening before leaving Venice, after making a call on some friends on the Grand Canal, we took a gondola to return to aur own hotel. The night was enchanting, and, instead of going directly to our quarters, I told the gondo- lier to row down the bay toward the Lido. The skies were perfectly clear, the stars were out in hosts, looking down upon the placid scene ; the water of the ba}^ was literally like glass, and, as we returned, the whole city, with its bril- liant lights, was reflected from its surface, making two perfect cities, one above and one below the sea. Not a sound came from the city itself, in which no rumbling wheels are ever heard. All was perfect stillness. I di- rected the gondolier to rest upon his oars, and leave us to float. Just then the great historic bell of San Marco, swinging in the lofty Campanile, with its deep-toned voice rung out the hour of midnight, and the bells all over the city echoed the sound. Was it all a dream ? It was not like the common realities of earth. We returned to our hotel to dream in truth, and to bring away with us the re- VENICE H03IEWABD. 439 membrance of this last evening as the most appropriate of all our pleasant memories of the Queen of the Adriatic. Going from Venice to Vienna, we chose the route by rail, around the head of the Adriatic, having had enough of the sea to satisfy our most earnest longings. From Trieste the road leads over the Semmering Pass by one of the grand- est pieces of engineering, and through some of the grand- est scenery on any railroad in the world. We ascended many lofty heights, now passing through dark, rocky gal- leries, now rushing along the mountain side, from which we had charming views of the valleys beneath us, and anon winding down until we were in the very depths of the val- leys preparing to ascend other heights beyond. Vienna, the splendid capital of the Austrian Empire, is becoming more and more magnificent. The internal fortifications were razed in 1858 to furnish room for the growing city, and piles of buildings have been and are still in course of erection. Paris, taken as a whole, is more beautiful, but there is no city in all Central or Southern Europe that is more magnificent. In the old town the streets are narrow; but the new, broad avenues, which stretch for miles and encircle the city, are lined with splen- did blocks of buildings, giving it the aspect of a city of palaces. A great change has come over this capital, and over the whole empire within the last few years. The Austrian government is now carrjdng out the principle which I saw inscribed as a motto on one of the arches leading to the imperial palace — an inscription which was long a dead let- ter — JusTiTiA Regnoeum Fundamentum. The contrast be- tween Austria as it was and Austria as it is I have had oc- casion to test. A few years since, in crossing the frontier, I was taken by the police into a private room, and subject- ed to a long and rigid examination in regard to my birth- place, my family, my destination, my purposes of travel, and many other particulars ; the answers were all commit- ted to writinsr and forwarded to Vienna. But now I en- 4-40 AROUND THE WORLD. tered Austria without a question being asked, and traveled from one end of it to the other without a challenge. When I first entered it, Austria was. in complete subjection to Kome. The Concordat was in force. The educational system of the country was, by treaty, in the hands of Rom- ish priests, whose persons were inviolate, and whose power was almost supreme. Austria is now ruled by its own gov- ernment. The Concordat with Rome has been dissolved. The education of the country has been taken out of the hands of the priests, and is directed by the government. Romish priests and bishops are now required to obey the laws like other citizens, and are sent to prison when they violate them. I know not why the priests should decline to show themselves, since they enjoy equal protection and privileges with others, but I did not see a single one in priestly garb in the streets of Yienna during my stay. It is not the least of the signs of change that the prime min- ister of Austria, whose emperor is a Roman Catholic, is himself a thorough Protestant. Among all that was to be seen in this splendid capital, there was nothing of deeper interest than the crypt of the Capucin Church, in which lie tlie remains of a long line of emperors and princes. Descending a staircase, we entered a long hall, and walked by the side of coffined dust once animated by ambitious spirits struggling for empire, but now sleeping their long sleep, the turmoil of the battle of life all ended with them. The sarcophagi stand in regu- lar order upon the pavement of the long corridor like so many cots spread for repose at night. The Emperor Ma- thias CorvinuSj'Who died at Vienna two years before the discovery of the Western Continent by Columbus, was the first buried. After him a succession of kings wrapped their imperial robes around them, and were laid in this roy- al mausoleum. It is a treasure-house of history, and the stories of some of the royal occupants are romantic and tragic to the last degree. Here lies the Duke of Reich- stadt, only son of the first !N^apoleon, who received from his VENICE HOMEWARD. 442 father, at his birth, the title of King of Rome, that proved but an empty name. lie closed his melancholy life at the palace of Schonbrmm, in the suburbs of Vienna, at the age of twenty-one, attended by his mother, Marie Louise. His last words were a wail of despair : " I am sinking, oh my mother, my mother !" But far more tragic was the end of one of the royal sleepers in this hall of kings. The last deposited coffin, still covered from day to day with fresh flowers, is that of the Emperor Maximilian, the tool of Napoleon in the at- tem]3ted conquest of Mexico. Sad as was his fate, it is to be envied before that of Carlotta, who still lingers in hope- less insanity. There are more than eighty coffins in this corridor of illustrious dead, one of them — that of Joseph I. — of solid silver. It is said that the Empress Maria The- resa, mother of the illustrious Joseph II., descended every day, for thirteen years, into the crypt to mourn for her hus- band Francis I., until at length she was laid by his side. A singular precaution against the premature resurrec- tion of any of these departed monarchs has been adopted. The bodies lie in the crypt of the Church of the Capucins, their hearts are deposited in urns in the Church of St. Au- gustine not far distant, and their bowels are buried in St. Stephen's Cathedral in another part of the city. From Vienna we made our way by rail across the battle- fields of Austria to one of the most curious cities in Eu- rope, and one of the most interesting in its historical inci- dents, the ancient capital of Bohemia. Prague is charm- ingly situated on both sides of the River Moldau, and the variegated surface of the ground on which it is built, es- pecially the bluff on which the old palace stands, gives to it an exceedingly picturesque appearance. A portion of the town is very ancient, and the whole has a more antique and unique aspect than any other European city that I can recall. I was attracted to Prague by its association with the early martyrs of the Reformation — John Huss and his associate, Jerome of Prague ; but I found that I had enter- 442 AEOUND THE WORLD. ed a citj that was filled with curious old buildings and monuments, and with records of stirring events that occur- red all along through the centuries. The Rathaus or Town- hall, which has in one of its towers a famous clock that rivals the celebrated clock of the Strasbourg Cathedral, was the scene of some of these events. As the Hussites, under Ziska, were marching through the city in 1419, they were assaulted with stones from the Rathaus, when they rushed into the council-chamber and threw the councillors, to the number of thirteen, out of the windows. They were caught upon the pikes of the people. This throwing of people out of the windows became so common as to acquire the name of " The Bohemian Fash- ion." In 1483, the people, dissatisfied with the course of the magistrates, entered the Kathaus, pitched the burgo- master out of the window, and then threw several of the senate down upon the spears of the exj^ectant crowd. The Eathaus in the Neustadt was the scene of a similar occurrence, the magistrates, on two separate occasions, hav- ing been ejected from the windows. Two members of the imperial government were thrown from the windows of the palace, a height of nearly eighty feet from the ground, but, falling on a dung-heap, their lives were saved. Their secretary, thrown after them, of course came down atop, and is said to have made a humble apology to his superi- ors for coming into their jDresence in this unceremonious manner. Prague was the seat of the observations of the celebrated Danish astronomer, Tycho Brahe, who was invited by the Emperor Eudolph II. to make the city his home. His ob- servatory was on the castle hill, near the ancient palace, w4iere his nocturnal study of the heavens was greatly dis- turbed by the monks of a neighboring convent ; in conse- quence of which, an imperial order was issued that the monks should finish their prayers and cease the tolling of the bells before the rising of the stars which the astrono- mer was intending to watch. YENIGB HOMEWABD. 443 Tlie palace of Count Wallenstein, the hero of the Thirty Years' War, though now neglected, was once a princely seat, and is said to have been, during the life of that distinguish- ed and eccentric warrior, the scene of splendors such as have been rarely seen in any regal court. He lived in great state ; barons and knights were his attendants, and sixty pages of noble families waited on his orders. But of all the memories connected with this ancient city, none stand out upon the pages of history like those associated with John Huss, and his faithful friend and co- adjutor, Jerome of Prague. Huss was born in the south of Bohemia in the year 1373. He came to Prague to pursue his studies in what was then the first university in Europe. At that time, it is estimated that as many as 20,000 students were present from all parts of Europe, Here, too, he became acquainted with the writings of Wickliffe, and began at once to preach against the errors and iniquities of the Church of Kome, and though threat- ened, and placed under interdict, and excommunicated, he went on with his work, appealing from the pope to a Gen- eral Council of the Church, and to Christ, its only Head. Summoned to appear before the Council of Constance in 1414 on a charge of heresy, he obeyed the summons, pro- tected, as he had a right to believe, by a safe-conduct from the Emperor Sigismund. The emperor was told that a promise made to a heretic was not binding, and gave him up into the hands of the Council, which condemned him and his writings to be burned together. His friend Je- rome, who braved all perils, and came to Constance to de- fend him, was cast into prison, where, after being reduced to utter weakness and the verge of despair by six months of solitary confinement, he recanted, but not long after re- tracted his recantation, and died heroically at the stake. On the 6th of July, 1413, Huss, then forty-two years of age, having boldly avowed his firm belief in the Gospel of Christ as revealed in the inspired Scriptures, was con- demned by the Council to be burned alive. He was strip- 444 AROUND THE WORLD. ped of his priestly garments, and arrayed in fantastic robes on which devils were painted, emblematical of the com- panionship to which his persecutors would fain consign him. While the fagots were piled around him he remain- ed perfectly calm, and as the torch was applied, and the flames sprang up, he broke forth in a hymn of praise which was heard above the noise of the multitude, and, com- mending his soul to the Saviour in words of prayer, his spirit went aloft in the chariot of fire. His ashes were collected and cast into the Rhine, as those of Wickliffe, " the morning star" of the Reformation that had guided him to Christ, were cast into the Severn. Stirring scenes occurred within the city of Prague aft- er this noble martyr had given his dying testimony to the truth, and his spirit still animates the Bohemian people. His name is yet used as a watchword — a sort of synonym for liberty, even by those who reject the doctrines of the Reformation. I searched out the spot where he lived, and found it occupied by a Roman Catholic ; but the house is conspicuously marked with a large medallion likeness of the great reformer in front, while over the door is the following inscription, cut into the stone and gilt : " Here lived Master John Huss." The house has been rebuilt, but a stone window-frame taken from the former building is inserted in the- corridor leading to the court-yard, and in- closes a stone tablet with the words, A Relic of the House where lived MASTER JOHN HUSS, Who preached at Betlemske Chapel. All clerical titles are denied him — he is simply Master John Huss. I found the ancient cha^Del where he preach- ed occupied as a carriage-maker's shop. By another stage of our journey we were, in the course of a few hours, in the former capital of Saxony, a capital only in name, since the kingdom has been swallowed up in Prussia, and, still later, in the German Empire of to-day. Dresden, although charmingly situated on the Elbe, and in VENICE HOMEWARD. 445 the midst of a beautiful champaign, has its chief attrac- tions in the right roj^al gallery of paintings, celebrated the world over, and in its collections of antiquities and arts, many of which are associated with the history of Saxony. Not the gem, but the diadem of the collection, is Raphael's Madonna del Sisto — an exception to nearly all the Madon- nas of fame in the deep thoughtfulness, the almost super- womanly look into futurity which marks her countenance. Artists, in giving us their ideals of the mother and child, have seldom done more than paint the portraits of come- ly women and expressionless infants. But one who looks upon this masterpiece of Raphael may well imagine the mother to be pondering in her heart the deep meaning of those prophetic words of Simeon : " Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." It is a majestic crea- tion of the pencil — the queen of the Madonnas. It was only two months before the breaking out of hos- tilities between France and Prussia when we reached Ber- lin. There was not then a whisper of war, not a breath in the atmosphere which made one apprehend that such scenes of strife were at hand, and yet the whole aspect of things was martial. There was military display in the streets. There was a grand military review at Potsdam, and at even- ing the capital was like a military camp. The people them- selves were talking over the old scores with France which had never been settled. As we rode out to Charlottenberg to see the exquisite statuarj^, by Ranch, which adorns the tomb of Frederick William III. and his lovely wife, the Queen Louise, whose memory is almost adored by the Prus- sians, a German who was witli us gave expression to the national hatred of the first Napoleon, and the desire to re- dress the insults and injuries which had been heaped upon the Prussian royal family and upon the kingdom and ca23- ital. But little did we imagine that another Napoleon Avould so soon afford the opportunity for avenging these wrongs. We devoted a day to Wittenberg, long the home of Lu- 446 AROUND THE WORLD. ther, and the scene of some of the most important events of the Reformation. It is about sixty miles from Berhn. We first went to the Schlosskirche, npon the doors of whicli Luther nailed the ninety-five theses, his protest against the doctrines of Rome, and a confession of the faith of one who had been taught by the Holy Spirit out of the Bible. The doors of the church were burned by the French when they ravaged Prussia,-but they have been replaced by gates of bronze, on which are engraved the whole of the ninety-five theses in the original Latin text. With much difficulty we obtained the keys, and entered the church to stand within the walls which had resounded with the thunders of that voice that stirred all Europe, the echoes of which have roll- ed over the earth, and will roll onward until time shall be no more. Luther and Melancthon were both buried in this church. The spot where Luther burned the pope's bull of excommunication before an assembly of doctors, stu- dents, and citizens, just outside of the Elster Gate, has been inclosed, and is carefully kept as an ornamental garden. An oak-tree marks the spot where tradition says the bull was consumed. The monastery in which the great reform- er lived and taught while yet a monk is now a college foi' educating Protestant ministers, and the houses occupied by Luther and Melancthon are schools. The statues of the two reformers — costly and noble works of art — stand in the market-place, the former bearing the well-known words, in German, " If it be God's work, it will endure ; if man's, it will perish." The University building, in which Luther lived with his wife Catharine, contains many memorials of the reformer, including his chair, the table on which he wrote, and the capacious mug from which he drank his German beer. Kings and nobles many have stood within this room to pay homage to the memory of one who was mightier than kings and princes. The sign-manual of Pe- ter the Great rudely adorns the wall. Another day we devoted to Potsdam, the home of Fred- erick the Great, and in his time the real capital of Prussia. VENICE HOMEWARD. 447 It is a cluster of royal palaces, the grounds of which are laid out with royal taste and on a magnificent scale. Found- ed by Frederick Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, its chief glory was imparted to it by the great Frederick, who erect- ed its finest buildings and enlarged its parks. Here he in- dulged to the utmost his peculiar tastes. The room at the chateau of Sans Souci in which he died is preserved in the same state as when his spirit departed from it nearly a hun- dred years ago. The clock, which stopped the moment at which he breathed his last, remains undisturbed, the hands pointing to the memorable hour and minute. One of the monuments of the place is the famous wind- mill. Adjoining the royal grounds was a field, in which stood a wind-mill, a sort of vineyard of JSTaboth to the great Frederick, who wished to add it to his own parks. The miller refused to sell, on which the king brought an action in the courts to dispossess him. It was decided against the king, who regarded the decision of the judges as so honora- ble to the nation that he built for the miller a fine stone mill that is still standing, although the grounds have been added to the royal domain by purchase. Such triumphs are worthy of commemoration by kings and people. From Berlin w^e crossed the country to Cologne. The city, within the last few ^-ears, has been greatly improved, the " two-and-seventy stenches" of Coleridge being reduced in number and power, while the perfumery establishments have multiplied. Progress has been made in the renova- tion of the Cathedral, which is the grandest ecclesiastical structure in the world.* St. Peter's, at Rome, is larger and more highly adorned with works of art ; the Cathedral at Milan is in some respects more beautiful ; but, take it all in all, in appropriateness and purity of architecture, in sim- plicity and grandeur of effect, in its power of appeal to the heart, it is without a rival among all the structures erected for Christian worship. Disdaining the railway as a profanation of the romance of the Rhine, we took the steamer at Cologne to ascend the 448 AROUND THE WORLD. river, the beauties of which, with the historic tales that are written on its rocky heights, and castle walls, and crumbling ruins, have been sung for ages, but not exag- gerated. BINGEN ON TUB KHINE. The sun had set and the moon had risen as we passed Bingen on the Rhine, and for two or three hours we en- joyed the perfection of the romance of this river, which is more thickly crowded with legendary interest than any other that pours its waters into the sea. As we sat in the soft moonlight on the deck of the steamer, tracing the out- lines of the lofty heights and catching shadowy glimpses of the shores, the nightingales on either bank regaled us with their melody, displaying alike their marvelous power of song and their exquisite taste in preferring moonlight VENICE HOMEWABD. 449 to sunlight for song. We thought of good Izaak Walton's pious ejaculation as he listened to their melod}^, " Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in lieaven, when thou affordest bad men such music on earth !" After spending the Sabbath at Majence, we went to Worms, recalling, as we entered the city, the time when Luther, summoned to appear before the Diet to answer to the charge of being a heretic, and to show cause why he should not be burned, like Huss and Jerome of Prague, made answer to his friends, who dissuaded him from trusting himself in the hands of his perfidious enemies, "Though there were as many devils in Worms as there are tiles on the roofs of the houses, I would go on," and boldly entered, chanting the Marseillaise of the Reforma- tion, ^'■JEinfeste Burg ist %bnser GottP Here it was that, standing up before the Emperor Charles Y. and his nobles, and a multitude of Romish prelates, who were eager to light the fagots around his body, he boldly defended his doctrine, and ended with the declaration, " Let me, then, be refuted and convinced by the testimony of the Scrip- ture, or by the clearest argument ; otherwise I can not and will not recant, for it is neither safe nor expedient to act against conscience. Here I stand ; I can not do otherwise ; God help me." Never, since the Lord Jesus was arraigned before Pon- tius Pilate, has there been witnessed on earth a sublimer judicial spectacle, or one in which the example of the Mas- ter was more nobly illustrated in the bravery of the disci- ple, than Luther before the Diet of Worms avowing, in the face of all his enemies, the truth of Jesus as revealed in his Word. The Episcopal palace in which the Diet was held, near the great Cathedral, has disappeared ; but the memory of that scene is now preserved in a group of mon- umental bronze statuary, erected at great cost, represent- ing Luther surrounded by the early reformers of many lands — Wickliffe, Huss, Savonarola, etc. — and the faithful electors who stood by him while alive. The group stands Ff 450 AROUND THE WOBLD. upon an elevated stone terrace in the open air, at the en- trance to a park or garden, embracing a secluded ravine, in the deep shade of which, even at noonday, the nightin- gales were pouring forth their sweetest lays. From Worms we reached French territory at the town of Weissenberg, where our baggage was overhauled by the officials. This little town, a few weeks later, took its place in history as the spot where the French and Prussian ar- mies first met in deadly conflict, but as we halted on our way it had no presage of its coming distinction. All was smiling and peaceful. An hour later we were at Stras- bourg. By a singular but undesigned coincidence, I found it was fifteen yeai'S to a day, and almost to an hour, since I had entered it once before. The town was not a little changed in the mean while, having lost a measure of its quaintness ; but no amount of polish or paint could make a French city of it. It was German still, and will be more at home in Germany than in France, whether the inhab- itatants are at home or not. "We tarried at Strasbourg over a day to see the grand Cathedral, with its wondrous clock. The Cathedral, as a specimen of Gothic architecture, is not far behind that of Cologne. It is melancholy to know that this monument of many centuries suffered so much in the siege. That it did not suffer more was marvelous. The famous clock, a wonder of mechanism, was but slightly injured. We paid a visit to the Protestant Church of St. Thomas to see the group of statuary erected by Louis XY. in memory of Marshal Saxe — a noble monument to a noble Protestant by a Catholic king. The marshal was represented as de- scending into the tomb ; Death, in the form of a skeleton, stood lifting the lid of the coffin for his reception ; while France, in the form of a beautiful female weeping, w^as holding the hero back dissuasively. Other emblematical devices completed the group. The church and its monu- ments were reported as destroyed in the siege. The afternoon before we left Strasbourg we took a walk VENICE HOMEWARD. ^5 2 outside of the fortifications on the north, and, seating our- selves in the fine old park which stretched out into the country, we speculated more in a sentimental than a seri- ous way upon the effects of war. The great fortress which incloses the city very naturally suggested such thoughts ; but, in the total absence of every thing intimating the possi- bility of war as near, our sympathy was mainly expended upon the venerable trees under the shade of which we were resting. They looked as if they might have been standing there for centuries. We lamented that, if war should ever come into these parts, one of the first measures of defence would be the leveling of every one of those majestic mon- archs of the soil, all which was done very shortly after we had left the city. It was but a few weeks before the French army came into tile region throwing down the gage, and then com- menced that series of disasters to their arms that has sel- dom, if ever, had a parallel in the history of European wars. Strasbourg was surrounded by a besieging force, and one after another of its buildings and monuments disappeared in the long and fierce bombardment. The hotel at which we had lodged was demolished, and the faithful porter who waited on us, and attended us to the cars as we M^ere leav- ing, I afterward learned, had his head carried off by a can- non ball as he was going his nightly round of inspection, lantern in hand. Our way to Paris was through Nancy, Bar le Due, Cha- lons, and other places that became famous in the progress of the war, and through the beautiful champaign that was soon devastated by the opposing armies. It was then cov- ered with luxuriant crops that were smiling in the sum- mer's sun, but they were not gathered before the iron heel pressed them into the soil. As the terrific confiict went on, and the forces of both armies drew all the while nearer to the French capital, we read the accounts with deeper inter- est and more intense sympathy from having so lately seen the fields smiling with the promise of a peaceful harvest^ 452 AROUND THE WORLD. and the cities rejoicing in the quiet and plenty which were to pass away and be succeeded by scenes of blood. Paris was more gay and beautiful than ever. Twenty years of rebuilding under Louis Napoleon, with the purse of the nation at command, had made it the most splendid city in the world. Its palaces and boulevards, its parks and public buildings, its residences and shops, were never so attractive, nor was the city ever thronged with so gay a crowd. There were no signs of the coming storm ; all was the luxury, the intoxication of peace. The wickedness of the city was more unrestrained than I had ever seen it — less garnished with the outward covering of pi^opriety, but no one dreamed that its doom was so close at hand, or that the empire was about to commit suicide by plunging into war. Much sooner should 1 have predicted revolution in Paris than war on the frontier. In the shops, on the streets, and in social circles, curses deep, but not loud, were heard against the emperor whose ambition and extravagance had run their race with the French nation, notwithstanding he had done so much to gratify French vanity. Louis Napo- leon never had the hearts of the people ; they never really believed in him, and they were becoming weary of his iron though brilliant rule. The change in popular feeling was strikingly perceptible — it was scarcely concealed, and was the subject of general remark among foreigners who had been familiar with Paris in the former years of his reign. Weeks passed quickly away in recovering from the fa- tigues of nearly a year's journeying ; in the society of fi'iends who were gathering from the Continent and from home ; in excursions here and there in and around Paris ; and in doing nothing ; and then we crossed the Channel to sojourn for a little season in merry England, and to enjoy the scenery of Scotland and Ireland. An excursion of two days in the Isle of Wight, made from London, I shall ever recall among the most pleasing memories of British soil. The island is a beautiful garden ; some of its scenery, especially the cliffs upon the sea-shore, VENICE HOMEWARD. 453 in the highest degree picturesque and striking ; the ruins of Carisbrooke Castle furnish the romance and history ; and the scenes which have been recorded by the pen of Legh Richmond are invested v^^ith a sacred interest scarce- ly equaled in any other localities outside of the Holy Land. No one who has read his Annals of the Poor — among the most touching and instructive of human biographies, sim- ple though they are — can fail to appreciate a visit to the cottage of the Dairyman's Daughter, and to the home and the grave of Little Jane. Taking it leisurely through the interior of England, go- ing here and there as inclination led us, and stopping now and then as attraction held us, at Oxford, Stratf ord-on-Avon, Kenilworth, Chatsworth, and many other places of interest, we at length reached the Tweed, and made another pilgrim- age to the home and the haunts of Sir Walter Scott. We pansed again at Edinburg, appropriately styled the mod- ern Athens. Its location, in regard to land and sea, is strik- ingly like that of the Grecian capital, its monuments are not unworthy of the ancient city, and it has long embodied much of the learning of Britain. Fresh in our hearts shall we ever keep the memory of the days we spent in the hospitable homes of the ancient kingdom of Fife, among the associations of the early days of Chalmers, where our time for sojourning was so short that we almost wished We had there begun instead of end- ing our travels. But the days would not wait upon us, and leaving reluctantly those delightful circles of friends, we made the tour of the Trosachs and the Lakes. From Glasgow we crossed the L-ish Channel, ended our wander- ings on land by journeying through the Emerald Isle, and took the steamer for home. Gladly would we have avoided the Atlantic had there been any other way of reaching home. Long ago did I come to be of the same opinion with one of the Catos of ancient Home. As he was drawing near his end, he said there were three regrets still lying on his mind. The first 454 AROUND THE WOULD. was, that he had spent a day without bringing any thing good to pass ; the second, that he had once intrusted a se- cret to a woman (in wliicli I differ from him toto coda) ; but the third regret was one that has always commanded my profound respect for tlie old Roman since first I was rocked in the cradle of the deep — that once in his lifetime he had made a journey by sea when he could have gone by land. Had there been any way to make the journey around the world by land, I should have avoided all the seas. Not that I have any fear of the ocean ; nor am I called upon, like most voyagers, to pay tribute to Neptune ; but I greatly prefer the solid earth. With the exception of the China Seas, we found the winds and the waves nowhere so inhospitable as on the At- lantic. It was the month of July — the month and year of the extremest heat recorded on our shores, but, between northerly winds and the icebergs, we suffered intensely with the cold. Not until we had crossed the Banks was there a day on which it was mild enough to enjo}^ the deck. The voyage was boisterous and protracted, a perfect contrast to our experience on the Pacific. But every voyage, not excepting that of life, must have its close. Tlie familiar shores at length appeared, and we hailed Columbia, the sight of which was never so dear as when, after having tossed upon so many seas, and wander- ed in so many lands, the highlands of the coast, and then the green shores of the harbor, and then the spires of the city of New Tork rose into view. And here we are at home again. Thanks to the kind Providence which has been over us in all the perils of the land and of the sea. And more thankful than ever shall we be that this land is our home. Each country that we have seen has its own peculiar features and its own attrac- tions, but nowhere have we found such a combination of all that makes a country attractive in scenery and desirable as a life-long residence : majestic mountains and broad prairies, wide -spreading lakes and rivers navigable for VENICE HOMEWARD. 455 thousands of miles, grand old forests and magnificent wa- terfalls, boundless mineral resources of every kind, all the varieties of climate, and the fruits of the earth poured out vf'ith a profusion scarcely imagined in any other part of the world. If we have learned nothing more in our wander- ings, we have learned to appreciate our own country, and to be thankful to Him who " hath made of one blood all na- tions for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath de- termined the bounds of their habitation," for the goodly heritage he hath given us. The American who can travel abroad and not have his admiration for his own land in- creased can have seen but little of it, and is equally to be pitied with him who can see nothing good or beautiful in other lands. Here evermore may our home be, until our journey ings on earth shall come to an end, and we take our departure to " a better country — that is, an heavenly." THE END. YALUABLE STANDARD WORKS FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE LIBRARIES, Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New Yoek. 3^" For a full List of Books suitable for Libraries, see Harper & Brothers' Trade- List and Catalogue, icMch may be had gratuitously on application to the Pub- lishers personally, or by letter enclosing Five Cents. B^~ Harper & Brothers ivill send any of the following ivorks by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, on receipt of the price. MOTLEY'S DUTCH EEPUBLIC. The Rise of the Dutch Kepublic. By John Lo- throp Motley, LL.D., D.C.L. 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