Religious Ablution.

The King Of Beasts In India.

One of our first walks in Calcutta was to the river Hugh, in whose waters a multitude of Hindus were bathing, much as we had seen them at Benares. Here, as there, bathing is a religious duty, and prayers are uttered after each ablution. On the bank were many individuals who had been brought here to die; for this river, being one of the mouths of the Ganges, is sacred, and to expire here insures one's entrance into heaven. I was astonished and saddened to find that many of the disgusting features of Hindu idolatry and superstition are as prevalent in Calcutta as in the cities of the interior. We visited, for example, close by the river, a Hindu temple, known as Kalighat, and there beheld more loathsome sights than any which we had witnessed at Benares. The Goddess Kali, who is worshiped here by hundreds of thousands of people yearly, is represented by a hideous idol, with human skulls around her neck and with a mouth apparently reeking with clots of blood. A draught of warm human blood is believed to make her happy for a thousand years. Here in a court-yard, slippery with gore, we saw a sacrifice of kids and goats which are slain every day to appease the deity. The victims' heads lay about the altar like croquet balls round a finishing stake, and priests, degraded in appearance, offered for a fee to make more sacrifices merely as a spectacle. It should be remembered that this is not an obscure and unimportant temple of Calcutta: on the contrary, it is the most popular Hindu shrine in the city, and the very name Calcutta is derived from Kalighat.

A Retired Thug.

Kalighat.

A Group Of Hindus.

Moreover, the goddess Kali was the special patroness of the Thugs, the professional stranglers of India, who for many years committed murders here in the name of religion. These fanatical assassins used to roam about the country in bands of from ten to two hundred. Each man had a special duty to perform; one was the leader; others were scouts; some were pick-bearers; others were grave-diggers. Disguised as pilgrims or merchants, they would associate themselves with their intended victims in the most friendly style until a favorable opportunity presented itself, Then they would suddenly seize and strangle the doomed men, and hide their bodies in graves dug with pickaxes which had been previously blessed by the priests, and were symbolical of the teeth of Kali. Two-thirds of the booty thus obtained was divided among the murderers, and the remainder given to the goddess. Even now, although the British Government has suppressed the Thugs, the Temple of Kali is as popular as ever, and hundreds of thousands still worship at her shrine, been previously greased in order to retain it. Their hair, matted with filth, reached nearly to their waists, and was painted yellow, and on this they threw occasional handfuls of dust and ashes. Yet when a few of them followed us into the street asking for money, they seemed to attract no attention, although they ran along beside our horse-car, in which were several European women and children. A sickening feeling, similar to that which I had felt in Canton, came over me at the sight of this human degradation; especially when I remembered that there are in India more than a million of these half-crazed mendicants and frauds, who are revered and almost worshiped by multitudes of men and women, who will actually stoop and kiss their feet.

The Taj From The Garden.

It is no wonder, therefore, that after such experiences, forgetful for a moment of the agreeable features of India, the following lines were, in an hour of reaction, inscribed in the author's diary:

The Great Banyan Tree.