shores, look down on those placid waters through tangled mazes of scarlet rhododendron and oak, each branch of which is matted with rich brown mosses, a soft bed of luxuriant ferns of every species.

Only the houses on the highest levels, however, can catch a glimpse of the snowy range, the grandest view of which is to be had from Almorah, a station somewhat farther in the hills, now chiefly noted as a te-growing district; this is the village which Bishop Heber said reminded him of Chester-one long wide street, paved with slabs of slate and closed at either end by a gate. One half of the street being on higher ground than the other half, the ascent is made by a low flight of steps, up which the hill ponies walk, as easily as the Maltese donkeys do up the streets of stairs. The houses have wooden verandahs, in some cases richly carved. At one end of this long street is an old Ghoorka fort (for Almorah is near the Ghoorka frontier), at the other is a modern English fortification.

Tantalising as was the thought of a visit to Nynee Tal, I was still more sorely tempted southward by Darjeeling, which I am told is the most beautiful of all the "hill stations." It also is in the Himalayas, though fully 800 miles from Simla, and only 361 miles from Calcutta, from which indeed it can now be reached by twenty-four hours of luxurious railway travelling! This railway, which was opened in the summer of 1881, is considered to De a triumph of engineering skill, the terminus at Darjeeling being 7,690 feet above the level of the sea. Some of the gradients mount one in twenty-one feet, and there are curves of seventy feet radius. The line has been described as suggestive of "a snake winding up into the clouds."

But this travelling-made-easy had not become possible at the time of my visit, so when the friend who was to have accompanied me became seriously ill, I gave up the idea. Had we carried it out it is probable that we should have followed it up by a second winter among innumerable quaint native cities; and then such a summer in Cashmere as would have been a memory of delight

FROM HARDWAR TO BENARES.

545

for ever.

And from Cashmere, a rapid run to Southern India, and a third winter spent in exploring its wonderful temples, such temples as are nowhere to be seen in Bengal! In short, there seemed no particular reason for not gliding on for years, in one unvarying summer, and ever passing from one new beauty to another !

However we just drifted along as usual, and so it came to pass that a very few days after we had paid our homage to the Ganges at its source, we awoke to find ourselves within sight of the same broad river nearly a thousand miles farther down the country, at the holy city of Benares.

N N

CHAPTER XXII.

BENARES.

The City of Siva-Ancient History-Grotesque Architecture-Temple of Doorga-Of Ganesa-Of Maha-devah-Tables of Money-changersSacred Bulls and Peacocks-Sarnath, the ancient Buddhist City-Benares from the Ganges-Sale of Holy Water-Mud Idols-The Retention of Breath-A Devoutly Spent Day-The Threefold Cord-Manufactured Brahmans-Undermining by the Ganges-Of various Sunwise TurnsThe Goddess of Small-pox-The Burning Ghaut-Hindoo RosariesShaving-A Wedding-Zenana Mission-Eastern Women-England.

FROM Hardwar to Benares! No words can convey to any western mind the concentrated essence of sanctity conferred on the Hindoo pilgrim by visiting these two most holy cities. Such a pilgrimage would in bygone days have involved many weeks of slow and painful progress, with hardships and difficulties on every hand; and many a pious Hindoo has lived and died without being able to accomplish an act which would have loaded him with merit.

Now the swift railway has so simplified the business that in less than a week he can slip easily from one to the other; and, having worshipped the clear transparent waters of the beautiful Ganga at her source, can, a very few days later, catch his first glimpse of the wonderful city of Siva, with its thousand domes and pyramids glittering in the early light, while the yellow rays of the rising sun lend a halo and a charm to the broad stream, though its waters are now turbid and foul, polluted by the filth of myriad worshippers.

As Muttra and Bindrabund are emphatically the cities of