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 Map of India. 
 
TRYE’S YEAR 
 
 AMONG THE HINDOOS. 
 
 Bry 
 
 JULIA CARRIE THOMPSON, 
 
 AOTHOR op “ ASPENEIDQE ” AND “ LiPK IN NARROW StERETS.” 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 No. 1334 Chestnut Street, 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 
 
 THE TECSTEES OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 In the OfiBce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 Westoott a Thomsow 
 Stereotypers, Philada. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 7AQH 
 
 I. — Bombay 7 
 
 II. — The Parsees 14 
 
 III. — Elephanta 23 
 
 IV. — Bombay to Allahabad 33 
 
 V. — The Hindoos 43 
 
 VI. — A Hindoo Wedding 62 
 
 VII. — The Hindoo Widow 59 
 
 VIII. — In THE Zenanas 66 
 
 IX. — Sight-Seeing 73 
 
 X. — The Mutiny 80 
 
 XL — The Missionary Martyrs 88 
 
 XII. — Futtehgurh and Furrukhabad 95 
 
 XIII. — The Sadhs, and a Baptism 102 
 
 XIV. — The Mohammedans 108 
 
 XV. — The Taj Mahal 115 
 
 XVI. — The Fort and the Pearl Mosque 123 
 
 XVII.— Delhi 132 
 
 XVIII. — Princes and Princesses 138 
 
 3 
 
4 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. . PAQB 
 
 XIX.— The Kohinoor, the Begum aistd the 
 
 Christians 151 
 
 XX. — What we saw at Ambaea 158 
 
 XXI. — Boon, and the Mehters 165 
 
 XXII. — Ambala to Dehra 171 
 
 XXIII. — Home-Life 179 
 
 XXIV. — The Royal Visitor 191 
 
 XXV. — The Girls’ School 196 
 
 XXVI. — Dehra Schoolgirls 202 
 
 XXVII. — Elephant Hunt and the Rajah 212 
 
 XXVIII.— The Sikhs 219 
 
 XXIX. — Street-Preaching 227 
 
 XXX. — Nobility in Tents 235 
 
 XXXI. — Going Up Hill 241 
 
 XXXII. — The Rains 247 
 
 XXXIII. — To THE Doon and back 252 
 
 XXXIV. — The Pariah 257 
 
 XXXV. — Sabathu 262 
 
 XXXVL— Lodiana 271 
 
 XXXVII. — Lahore 278 
 
 XXXVIII. — Itinerating 289 
 
 XXXIX. — Benares, its Sacred Wells and an East- 
 ern Story 302 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The aim of the present volume is to place 
 before the minds of the young a few pictures 
 of the North India of to-day ; principally of 
 its people, their religion and habits, the mis- 
 sion work among them and the great need 
 of more laborers. For some of the finest 
 descriptions and most interesting pages of 
 the volume the writer acknowledges with 
 pleasure her indebtedness to a dear sister 
 consecrated to the missionary service, Mrs. 
 Charles B. Newton, of Lahore, India. 
 
 The historical and other facts here given 
 have all been gathered from authentic 
 sources, and if they be so woven in the let- 
 ters of Trye Grafton as to deepen the 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 reader’s interest in the wonderful land she 
 visited, and lead him to put forth one effort 
 for the good of its poor idolatrous people, 
 the author will have accomplished her 
 purpose. 
 
 Among the books consulted in the prep- 
 aration of this work are the following : 
 Ward’s ‘‘India and the Hindoos;” “Life in 
 Bombay Walsh’s “ Martyred Mission- 
 aries Miss Brittain’s “ Kardoo Lowrie’s 
 “Manual of Missions;” Sleeman’s “Hambies 
 and Becollections of an Indian Official;” 
 Mrs. Meer Hassan All’s “ Observations 
 on the Mussulmans of India;” and Dr. 
 McLeod’s “Days in Northen India.” 
 
 J. C. T. 
 
 f 
 
 Philadelphia, Pa., June, 1871. 
 
Trye’s Year 
 
 AMOI^G THE HINDOOS. 
 
 I. 
 
 BOMBAY. 
 
 Bombay, October 9, 18 — . 
 
 Y DEAR BROTHER ARGYLE : Here 
 at last ! You don’t know how glad I am to 
 be on dry land once more and have room 
 enough to move about. No, nor can I 
 begin to tell you how delighted I was to see your 
 dear handwriting again. If ever letters were de- 
 voured, those awaiting us here certainly belong to 
 that class. I am really in India. Think of it! 
 The sun is shining fearfully bright and hot while 
 you are away around in the earth’s shadow, and, I 
 hope, having pleasant dreams. Yes, I am in India, 
 and that means, too, that I am now to write sen- 
 sible letters to you. Father says that we are ex- 
 pected to learn a great deal this year, if we are not 
 
 in school. He believes that we don’t really know 
 
 7 
 
8 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 anything until we can write it or tell it to another, 
 so he wishes me to put down in black and white 
 what I learn. He told me to think over the mat- 
 ter, and let him know what I considered the best 
 and pleasantest mode of doing this. This is one 
 of father’s ways of showing me just what is best. 
 I wouldn’t like to have him say to me, Trye, you 
 must do exactly so,” but when he tells me to think 
 for myself, I always wish he would give me a sort 
 of hint as to what would be the very best way. 
 
 I want to please him, of course, and I want to 
 do right too, so I set to work thinking. My first 
 plan was to write a diary. I have begun about 
 ten diaries at different times in my life, but my in- 
 terest in them always oozes out before they catch 
 any thoughts worth keeping. 
 
 This project was discarded, and I don’t know 
 what I should have done had not the brilliant idea 
 flashed across my mind that I would write to you. 
 Yes, that will keep up my enthusiasm, I am sure. 
 You will be glad to know just what I do and see 
 and learn. You won’t view me with a critic’s 
 eye,” but will sympathize with me in pleasures 
 and troubles, if I have any, as you have done many 
 a time before. It would be dull business for me 
 to write all these things in a book for no one to sec 
 
BOMBAY. 
 
 9 
 
 but myself. I have enough of my own company 
 without writing to myself. 
 
 I gave father my decision, and, of course, he 
 asked my reasons for rejecting the diary plan and 
 making you the repository of all my Eastern lore. 
 (Don^t that sound grand ?) I told him as well as 
 I could, and he seemed to expect just what I said, 
 and in the order, if there were any, in which it 
 came. He liked my way, and had believed that I 
 would come to the conclusion I did if I only 
 thought the matter over. 
 
 Now, dear big brother, you will have to take 
 all that comes from my pen, good, bad or indiffer- 
 ent. I only wish you could be with us here ; then 
 our family would be complete. If you only hadn’t 
 grown too old for a schoolboy, and got to be a 
 doctor that everybody sends for when we want 
 him most, I don’t doubt that we should have had 
 you with us. 
 
 Father and mother both enjoy traveling very 
 much, and seem several years younger since they 
 have left the cares of home behind them. Chat is 
 as full of fun as ever, and quite a tease. Yesterday 
 afternoon, when a gentleman was calling on father 
 and mother, he came in with a very distressed coun- 
 tenance, and announced to me that sixteen of my 
 
10 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 trunks were safe, but the seventeenth was nowhere 
 to be found. But you know one cannot feel an- 
 noyed with him very long. He and I have some 
 grand good times, and he, being a boy of fourteen, 
 can go anywhere and see everything, which he 
 reports in his own way. Now you have an account 
 of the whole family excepting your humble servant, 
 Trye. You will have enough of her hereafter. 
 You were very kind to remember her sixteenth 
 birth-day, which was passed out of sight of land. 
 
 I wonder how girls get along who have no 
 brothers like mine ? It would be nice to have 
 sisters, but then I wouldn’t have all the teasing 
 and petting and spoiling that I have now. There 
 is only one thing to which I have never been quite 
 reconciled : father, in his fondness for history, gave 
 you boys pretty names of the heroes he admired — 
 Argyle and Chatham — while I have to be content 
 with Tryphena. I know it is a Bible name, and 
 that ought to satisfy me. I suspect mother gave 
 me the name because she found it there, but if they 
 had hunted in history instead, I might have been 
 Maria Theresa, Josephine, Marie Louise, Victoria, 
 Alice Maud Mary or something as stately. But 
 never mind; my friends think quite as much of me 
 as if they called me by a prettier name than Trye. 
 
BOMBA Y. 
 
 11 
 
 Now for Bombay. You know what a bugbear 
 my landing at this place was before I started. I 
 have long before this become experienced in land- 
 ing in small boats, but was a little troubled when I 
 found the tide low, so that even a small boat could 
 not reach the shore, and I must be carried by 
 natives. You should have seen us coming, one 
 after another, on chairs such as we used to make 
 with our hands, our arms around the necks of the 
 two brown men who carried us. Chat had picked 
 up a few Hindoo words while on shipboard, and 
 thought this a good time to use them. He fii’ed 
 his whole vocabulary at the men who carried him, 
 and they, unable to make any sense of it, seemed 
 quite troubled at first, but when he burst into a 
 laugh they felt privileged to follow his example, 
 and enjoyed it amazingly. 
 
 This harbor is a beautiful one. I wish I had a 
 picture of it to send you. The city of Bombay is 
 on an island of the same name, which is about eight 
 miles in length from north to south, and three in 
 width. To the north is the island of Salsette. 
 Colaba and Old Woman’s Island are on the south. 
 With Colaba, Bombay is connected by a causeway so 
 high as to be above the sea at high tide. Between 
 Bombay and Salsette is another causeway with an 
 
 I 
 
12 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 arched stone bridge, besides a second one built for 
 the purposes of the great Indian Peninsular Rail- 
 way. Mlthin the harbor are some smaller islands. 
 Among these are Cross, Butcher, Caranja — which 
 is rocky and barren — Elephanta — green and beau- 
 tiful — Oondaree and Kundaree islands. 
 
 A large part of Bombay is enclosed by walls, 
 and called the fort. It is about a mile long and a 
 quarter of a mile in width. The fortifications 
 in the town and about the harbor are extremely 
 strong, and there appear to be soldiers enough to 
 protect the place well. In fact, you soon perceive 
 that India belongs to the English. They take the 
 lead everywhere, and too often treat the natives 
 with contempt. Chat goes out and talks with the 
 soldiers whenever he can. He is quite taken with 
 their bright uniforms, and asks them all about the 
 forts and their own exploits. You know the 
 British soldiers wear red coats here as in old 
 Britain itself. Chat was out this morning upon 
 Dunjanee hill, which is occupied by soldiers, and 
 commands the town. He says you can see over 
 the city, the islands around and far out upon the 
 water. The view must be grand. 
 
 We rode out last evening, for people do not go 
 out here for pleasure till about six o^clock, the 
 
BOMBAY. 
 
 13 
 
 heat of the sun is so oppressive. In the centre 
 of the town we found a large open space called 
 the ' green, around which are many handsome 
 houses and some churches. On the left is a large 
 showy house, which we were told is the govern- 
 ment house. On the right of the gate is the 
 bazaar. Here the native merchants live. Father 
 told us as we rode along of two great fires which 
 occurred here a long time ago. One was in 1803. 
 It destroyed a large number of buildings and much 
 property of the native merchants. The other was 
 in 1845, in which about two hundred houses were 
 burned. While the fire was raging the police 
 learned that a house with the upper part in flames 
 had in the basement a number of barrels of gun- 
 powder. A party of seamen had been drafted 
 from ships in the harbor to help put out the fire. 
 They forced their way into the burning building 
 and brought out the powder, several thousand 
 pounds in all. I think they were heroes, don’t 
 you? And they saved thousands of lives by 
 their noble act. But my letter is growing long, 
 and I must leave the remainder of my ride for 
 another. Your far-off sister, 
 
 Tkye. 
 
r f4iUi 
 
 
 II. 
 
 ■nkv. ^ 
 
 5;i? :i 
 
 THE PARSEES. 
 
 Ills letter was to be a continuation of the 
 last, so I will begin where I left off. I was 
 so greatly interested in father’s narrative 
 that I almost forgot where I was for the 
 time, till, just as he ended, we turned and looked 
 out upon the west. There was a picture of gor- 
 geous beauty such as I had never seen before ; the 
 sky and water seemed one blaze of glory. Along 
 the beach were a number of men called Parsees 
 prostrating themselves and apparently rapt in de- 
 votion as they kept rapidly repeating their prayers. 
 For the moment it did not seem strange to me 
 that they should fall down to reverence such great 
 beauty. From mother’s lips came the words, ‘^Eye 
 hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered 
 into the heart of man the things which God hath 
 prepared for them that love him,” then I thought 
 why it was father had said that that verse contained 
 the best description of heaven we could have. This 
 
THE PARSEES. 
 
 15 
 
 is what my eyes see, and I cannot imagine anything 
 to surpass it, but there is something above far more 
 glorious than all this — something more beautiful 
 than imagination can picture. 
 
 These were my thoughts as we watched the set- 
 ting sun. When it had sunk behind the water, the 
 worshipers arose and gathered in groups to enjoy a 
 little conversation. Their dress is different from 
 that of the Hindoos or Mohammedans, and had at- 
 tracted my attention before. They wear loose silk 
 trowsers, below which you can see, in many cases, 
 English shoes and silk stockings; their coat, or 
 outside garment — it isnT much like the coat Eu- 
 ropeans wear — is a long tunic of linen or calico 
 reaching about to the knee or below. They do not 
 wear any sash or belt, as most other natives do, 
 although father says their girdle was in former 
 times a badge of their sect. They prize cashmere 
 shawls very highly, and wear them around their 
 shoulders in cool days, instead of giving them to 
 their wives and daughters. They have a peculiarly 
 shaped headdress of dark, spotted muslin, the 
 priests alone wearing a white covering for the 
 head. 
 
 I asked father about these strange people when 
 we reached home, and he told me several things 
 
16 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 which interested me much. He says they are the* 
 descendants of the fire-worshipers of Persia — 
 
 “ Those slaves of fire who, morn and even, 
 
 Hail their Creator’s dwelling-place 
 Among the living lights of heaven.” 
 
 During the seventh century they took refuge in 
 Korassan upon the conquest of their own country by 
 the Moslems. They first appeared in India about 
 the year 766, and their earliest settlement was the 
 island Din on the south coast of the peninsula of 
 Kattywar; from thence they migrated to Surat and 
 Broach, and finally to Bombay. Their religion is 
 very strange; I wonder that people so intelligent can 
 believe such foolish things. Their Bible is the Zend- 
 avesta or Zend Word, which is composed of several 
 parts ; in fact, the missionaries have not been able 
 to find the book in a collected form. Zoroaster they 
 believe to have been the founder of the sect and 
 the writer of the book, but most persons who have 
 investigated the matter think the book a spurious 
 one written since the time of Zoroaster (500 B. c.). 
 
 According to this book, there are two deities, 
 Hormuzd, the author of good, and Ahriman, the 
 author of evil. The Parsees worship not only 
 good and evil deities, but almost everything that is 
 
f 
 
 THE PARSEES. 17 
 
 named in heaven and earth. The earth, fire, water, 
 dogs and some other objects are considered espe- 
 cially sacred by them. According to their code, “ a 
 person who strikes a water-dog is treated to ten 
 thousand stripes, and he must by way of atonement 
 carry ten thousand bundles of dry and the same 
 quantity of soft wood to the fires of Hormuzd; 
 he must furnish ten thousand barsams (trees) and 
 ten thousand zors of pure horn (a kind of tree) and 
 its juice. He must kill ten thousand reptiles that 
 creep on their bellies, ten thousand reptiles in the 
 form of a dog, ten thousand turtles, ten thousand 
 land-frogs, ten thousand water-frogs, ten thousand 
 ants, ten thousand blood-suckers and ten thousand 
 stinging flies, and he must take out ten thousand 
 impure stones from the ground.’^ This is only a 
 part of the penalty. 
 
 Chatham says he wishes they would strike more 
 water-dogs, so as to destroy a few more ten thou- 
 sands of vermin. But just think how terrible it is 
 for human beings to live and die believing such 
 things, when there is no other name under heaven 
 given among men whereby we must be saved 
 None other name than that of Jesus. How I wish 
 they would all believe what the missionaries tell 
 
 them, and love oui dear Saviour ! Some of them 
 2 
 
18 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 are Christians, but, as a class, they are bitter op^ 
 posers of our religion. They have several fine 
 temples here in which they worship at sunrise and 
 sunset ; this they do by repeating prayers and read- 
 ing from the Zendavesta. They are not so devout 
 as the Hindoos, and are often absent from their 
 temple service. 
 
 Father read to me about one of their burial-places. 
 It is almost too dreadful to repeat, but my account 
 is hardly complete without it : A circular un- 
 
 covered building is erected, sometimes from fifty 
 to sixty feet in diameter and thirty feet high. It 
 is built up within, leaving a parapet about one and 
 a half yards high, the interior space sloping with a 
 gentle convexity to the centre, where there is a 
 w^ell five yards broad. Immediately around this 
 well are grooves, in which the bodies of the dead 
 are deposited and left exposed to the vultures. As 
 soon as these voracious birds have stripped the 
 bones, the surviving relatives return to the ceme- 
 tery and cast them into the well, whence they are re- 
 moved at certain periods by means of subterranean 
 passages and flung into the sea.’^ 
 
 Oh how thankful everybody in America ought 
 to be for living where people worship the true God ! 
 I suppose, if we had been taught to worship the 
 
THE PARSEES. 
 
 19 
 
 sun or fire or idols, like these poor people, we would 
 have done as they do, and yet it seems strange that 
 they cannot see how wrong they are. It isn’t be- 
 cause they are ignorant in other things. I used to 
 think that all the natives whom the missionaries 
 went to teach were savages, but they are not in 
 India. Some of these people are among the most 
 intelligent in the world. 
 
 The Parsees are fine business-men, the brokers 
 and factors of the Europeans. They speculate too. 
 Chat says he would like to see them on Wall street, 
 and seems to think that the sharp men there would 
 not be likely to outstrip them in the race for money. 
 They are excellent carpenters, shipbuilders and 
 jewelers too. In fact, they seem to succeed in 
 whatever they undertake. As you may imagine, 
 they are rich and own many of the handsome 
 houses in Bombay ; one of the finest of these was 
 built by the celebrated Parsee gentleman. Sir Jam- 
 setjee Jejeebhoy. What a singular name, isn’t it? 
 He was the first native of India who was made an 
 English baronet. 
 
 At the time of the Crimean war he contributed 
 so largely for the suffering British soldiers that 
 Queen Victoria gave him the title of knight, after- 
 ward that of baronet. According to the Parsee 
 
20 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 custom, his son would take the name of Jamsetjee, 
 and his first name would descend to his son, and so 
 on. In that way the name Jejeebhoy would be en- 
 tirely lost with the death of its owner. In order 
 to retain this last name in the family, a clause in 
 the patent of the creation of that baronetcy makes 
 the heirs to the title all Jejeebhoy s. 
 
 This gentleman built two large hospitals and the 
 magnificent causeway between Bombay and Sal- 
 sette, besides doing many other good deeds. Father 
 has become acquainted with two or three of these gen- 
 tlemen, and called with a friend at the house of one 
 of them. The house is a very large one, and you 
 will not wonder that it is when I tell you that four 
 generations of the family live in it. When the sons 
 and grandsons marry, they bring their wives home, 
 so the family becomes very large. The gentlemen 
 went no farther than the general reception-room, 
 and said they were highly entertained by the old 
 grandfather with several of his sons, grandsons and 
 great-grandsons. 
 
 The women occupy a long room furnished with 
 couches ; the old grandmother rules here, and what 
 she says to her daughters-in-law, her granddaugh- 
 ters and great-granddaughters has to be obeyed. 
 It is said to be a sight to see the jewels these 
 
THE PARSEES. 
 
 21 
 
 people wear, even to the little babies. Strings of 
 large diamonds, emeralds and pearls hang from 
 the neck to the waist, while the arms are almost 
 hidden from above the elbow to the wrist by the 
 numerous bangles or bracelets composed of valu- 
 able jewels.’^ They wear also jewels in the nose, 
 and their ears are much disfigured by being per- 
 forated all around and heavy pendants hanging 
 from them. They wear what they call a saree over 
 their head, so as to hide their hair altogether; they 
 are said to have beautiful hair, and it seems a pity 
 to have it hidden from view. I am sure they 
 would look pretty if they dressed as we do. 
 
 They are kept imprisoned in their own rooms 
 very much as the Hindoo women are. That is their 
 custom, although many of them now ride out with 
 their husbands, and really have as much liberty as 
 other ladies. The girls are married when children, 
 and go to live at the houses of their fathers-in-law. 
 These Parsees form only a small part of the in- 
 habitants of Hindostan ; there are, however, 
 seventy-five thousand of them in Bombay. 
 
 I hope to tell you something of the other j'jeople 
 hereafter, but there is such a variety that I can 
 only attend to one class at a time. You see here 
 Hindoos, Mohammedans, Persians, Armenians, 
 
22 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 Parsees, Portuguese and English. The Portuguese 
 appear to have sunk rather than risen in life from 
 their long sojourn in India. Their complexion is 
 now darker than that of many of the aborigines 
 of Asia. Many of them have residences in the 
 settlement of Goa, some distance south of here, and 
 leave their families that they may become cooks, 
 tailors, and sometimes clerks, for the British at 
 Bombay. 
 
 I begin to understand the saying that “ it takes 
 all sorts of people to make a world,’^ and have 
 learned that I know very little about this same old 
 planet. Probably you will say that you could have 
 told me this latter fact before I left home, but 
 never mind ; I mean to know something before my 
 return. 
 
III. 
 
 ELEPHANTA. 
 
 ERE we are, still at Bombay, and I am glad 
 to have remained longer than we at first in- 
 tended, for we have had a delightful day at 
 Elephanta, which I must tell you about. 
 The party consisted of our English friends, the 
 Stanhopes, who were our traveling companions 
 from Egypt, with Mr. Stanhope’s nephew. Ensign 
 Bartley, ourselves and almost as many servants. 
 The air is now delightful ; the rains are over, and 
 we are sure of pleasant weather every day. It is 
 still very warm, however, in the sunshine, and we 
 new-comers are especially warned against being in 
 it, even when it may be a pleasant change from the 
 cool shade. For this reason, as well as to make a 
 long day, we breakfasted early and started for the 
 famous island while the sun could do no more than 
 peep at us from above the distant mountains. 
 
 Our little boat was about two hours in reaching 
 the island, but the sail was so delightful that the 
 time seemed short. Elephanta is about six miles 
 
 23 
 
24 
 
 THYE^S YEAR. 
 
 in circumference, but it looks larger as we sail 
 toward it, probably because of its hills, which give 
 it a more dignified appearance than have the level 
 islands. We can see from the boat the two ranges 
 of hills running the entire length, and the valley 
 between them. Father said that was the way he 
 liked to study any subject — first, to have a bird’s- 
 eye view (ours was the view of a water-bird — a 
 duck, for instance) of the whole, then examine in 
 detail. I suppose that is the way he has learned 
 so much. For my part, I .wasn’t studying much 
 just then, though I was having a picture photo- 
 graphed on my mind which will always stay there. 
 But the business of the hour was having some 
 lively conversation and a good time generally. 
 Miss Priscilla and I had become pretty well ac- 
 quainted, and the young ensign laughed and talked 
 with Chat. The older people, too, seemed bent on 
 enjoying themselves to the utmost, and so we neared 
 the island — only neared it : the boats could not 
 touch it. 
 
 Here we are !” said Chat. All hands are to 
 wade ashore.” 
 
 No, indeed,” I said. would get on your 
 back, but I don’t dare trust you ; I’d surely go 
 into the water.” 
 
ELEPHANTA. 
 
 25 
 
 By this time the strong brown men weie ready 
 for us, and each took a passenger in his arms as if 
 we were all children. I shrunk back at first — 
 this was worse than being carried by two — but the 
 others laughed, and the man assured us that his 
 arms were strong and his feet sure, so I had to sub- 
 mit. Chat said when I was at Elephanta I must 
 expect to do as the elephants did, which joke was 
 rather too solid for me to appreciate. It was a re- 
 lief, though, when once more on land and the whole 
 day before me, in which I need not think of the 
 return. 
 
 . A steep path leads from the landing to the wide 
 platform from which we enter the principal cave. 
 We all clambered up this, and had our lunch bas- 
 kets and other comforts brought to the cave, then 
 stopped to look at the scenery. The view from 
 this point, embracing the harbor filled with ship- 
 ping and the surrounding islands, is grand. We 
 were as quiet in enjoying it as we had before been 
 talkative, but we were all anxious to see the cave. 
 The entrance to this one is as wide as the cavern 
 itself, and we could see in the interior its whole 
 length of one hundred and thirty feet. 
 
 The massive pillars form a fine perspective, 
 ending in the centre with the figure of a three- 
 
26 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 formed god, or Trimurtri, as it is called. We 
 passed in, examining the pillars as we went. They 
 are very elaborately carved, and so large that we 
 felt no fear of the mountain coming down upon us. 
 Isn’t it wonderful ? These caves are cut out of the 
 solid rock by man ; he has carved these pillars and 
 left them to support the weight above. The walls, 
 too, and ceiling, are covered with fine work. It 
 must have taken many men and much time to do 
 it. Mr. Stanhope says there is a tradition that in 
 former times the Brahmins knew of a process by 
 which the hardest stone could be made soft ; they 
 then worked in it as they chose, and when again 
 exposed to the air it became hard as before. 
 
 ‘^That sounds, sir, like Hannibal’s noted exploit 
 of softening rocks with boiling vinegar,” Chat said. 
 
 Yes ; it is about the same thing, and I suppose 
 one story is as true as the other. I wish the work 
 had been left as it was made.” 
 
 I had noticed that the pillars at the entrance 
 were very much defaced, and as we passed along 
 found all the others in the same state. 
 
 Who has been so rude as to mar this beautiful 
 work ?” asked father. I notice that the British 
 protect them now.” 
 
 ^‘Yes,” sail Mr. Stanho|)e, ^^they do the best 
 
ELEPHANTA. 
 
 27 
 
 tliey can, but a finger or toe will disappear from 
 an image even yet. But, to answer your question, 
 the Portuguese were the iconoclasts who seemed to 
 think it a duty to remove, as far as possible, all 
 traces of any religion at variance with their own. 
 They have broken down pillars and mutilated im- 
 ages all over the island, as you will see. But here 
 we are before the Trimurtri.’^ 
 
 This singular image is immensely large we find 
 in coming near it. It stands on a raised platform 
 approached by steps, and rises eighteen feet above 
 that, Mr. Stanhope said. The three figures are 
 only busts, so you may know that they are enor- 
 mously large. I asked father whom they were in- 
 tended to represent. He said it is the Hindoo 
 trinity. The words startled me ; I asked him if 
 these heathens who worship idols have a trinity, as 
 we have. 
 
 They believe in what they have here tried to 
 represent,^^ he said — a triune deity — and in that 
 fact, as in others of their religion, we see that they 
 have many ideas whieh came at first from the true 
 faith, but their religion is now that of the grossest 
 idolatry. Their principal god is Brahm ; he is 
 supposed to be a spirit, and is not worshiped frotn 
 the fact that after creating the universe he fell 
 
28 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 asleep and takes no further interest in the affairs 
 of men. He gave existence, however, to the three 
 represented here — Brahma, the creator, Vishnu, 
 the preserver, and Siva, the destroyer. These 
 are worshiped separately. You will see in our 
 farther travels those persons who worship each, 
 and the marks which tell you the fact. How 
 unlike our glorious Three in One, whose service 
 is love 
 
 I was looking at the giant figures all this while, 
 and you don’t know how intensely sorry I felt for 
 those who were taught to believe in such gods as 
 these. Brahma, the principal one, has a coarse, 
 hard face ; he occupies the middle and most promi- 
 nent place. He is supported on the one side by 
 Vishnu and on the other by Siva. Siva has a 
 large snake in his hand ; this is a favorite symbol 
 both with him and his wife Parhuttee or Parvathi. 
 There is something in all these faces that would 
 drive you away from them — nothing to make you* 
 love them. 
 
 ^^This room is one hundred and thirty feet long,” 
 father said, after measuring, and one hundred and 
 twenty-three wide.” This width includes two 
 large rooms, one on each side of the Trimurtri. 
 We went into these rooms. 
 
ELEPHANTA. 
 
 29 
 
 They are dedicated to the worship of Siva and 
 Parhuttee/^ said Mr. Stanhope ; that double figure 
 you see in each is Siva and his wife.’^ 
 
 Yes/^ said Chat, there’s the snake; I think I 
 shall know that fellow when I see him again.” 
 Those smaller images,” continued Mr. Stan- 
 hope, ^^are of Brahma and Vishnu, but they are not 
 at all prominent here. Brahma is seated on a 
 lotus — that, you know, is a kind of water-lily. 
 Vishnu is on the back of his favorite eagle Ga- 
 runda.” 
 
 “ There are so few priests to be seen,” said 
 father, that I imagine the people do not now wor- 
 ship here.” 
 
 No,” said Mr. Stanhope; ^^the few Brahmins 
 you see strolling about here are on a visit or pil- 
 grimage to a spot they think no longer sacred. The 
 ruined state in which these temples are now is 
 proof to them that they have been abandoned by 
 the gods. This, as you will see, is the finest one 
 and in the best state of preservation of the many 
 in these hills. A part of them are supposed to be 
 visharos or monasteries for the once numerous 
 priesthood of Buddhism, such as exist now more 
 particularly in Siam.” 
 
 If that be so,” returned father, they cannot 
 
30 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 date back farther than the sixth century before 
 Christ, for then the founder of that sect lived/^ 
 
 ^^It is now generally supposed,’^ said Mr. Stan- 
 hope, that they are of more recent origin than 
 that period, but when the vast work was done, we 
 have no means of knowing. Thousands of men 
 must have wrought here whose very names have all 
 passed away.’’ 
 
 In one of the side rooms is a spring of pure cold 
 water, wkich was a delightful surprise to us. You 
 ought to have seen us as we sat down on broken 
 pillars, or whatever we could find in that place, 
 with the stern gods stariug at us and figures look- 
 ing down upon us from the walls. It gave me a 
 strange sensation, and I looked around to see if I 
 was really with friends. In the mean time. Chat 
 sat looking down upon himself, first at one hand, 
 then at the other, then inspecting his boots one 
 after the other, and finally pulled out his handker- 
 chief in rather a troubled manner and twisted it 
 about every way until he could read his name. 
 Mother said to him, “Chat, what are you doing?” 
 
 “ Only trying to find out ‘ if I be I ;’ mother, 
 have you a looking-glass with you ? I’d like to 
 know for certain,” he said as gravely as a judge. 
 
 You may know that we all shouted at that, and 
 
ELEPHANTA. 
 
 31 
 
 concluded that we were all ourselves, even if we 
 had got into a queer place. Our lunch-time came 
 very early, for we had remarkable appetites that 
 day, and the pure cold water was a luxury truly 
 appreciated. I think that we all tried to follow 
 the rule given in our physiology to promote diges- 
 tion, for we had plenty of cheerful conversation. 
 
 Ensign Bartley gave an experience of his which 
 I must tell you. He arrived here at the beginning 
 of the hot weather, and wore the comfortable fa- 
 tigue-dress which most officers prefer at that season. 
 Meantime, his handsome scarlet uniform arrived 
 from England, and after examining it he folded it 
 up and replaced it in the box until it should be 
 needed. Early in the autumn the governor-general 
 arrived at Bombay, and every officer wanted to 
 appear in his very best at the reception of that of- 
 ficial. The ensign thought himself prepared to 
 make a fine appearance, and drew out the box con- 
 taining the new clothes. You may imagine his 
 surprise and dismay to find the whole suit com- 
 pletely riddled by the white ants. It would not 
 hold together to be taken out of the box. It was 
 a sore disappointment to him, and he had to greet 
 the governor-general in what he had. 
 
 Before returning we visited some of the other 
 
32 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 
 eaves, but iioue are so spacious or in so good a state 
 of preservation as this. The native name for the 
 island is Gareepoori, or place of caves. The name 
 Elephanta was given by the Portuguese from a co- 
 lossal figure of an elephant cut out of solid rock 
 and occupying the most prominent position in the 
 island. AVe could see that the figure had been in- 
 tended for an elephant, but the head and neck are 
 gone and a considerable part of the trunk and lower 
 limbs are buried in the earth. 
 
 How I wish you could have been with us that 
 day ! I know you would have enjoyed it. But I 
 hope you will come here some time and see all these 
 sights for vourself. 
 
 1 
 
lY. 
 
 ^3 
 
 
 BOMBAY TO ALLAHABAD. 
 
 OU will perceive, my dear brother, from my 
 Allahabad postmark, that we have made 
 quite a change in our position since I last 
 wrote you. Yes, it is a much greater dis- 
 tance from Bombay to Allahabad than I supposed 
 when studying the map of Hiudoostan at home, 
 for the map of this country is always made so 
 small compared with that of ours. In this letter 
 I shall not attempt to give any idea of the scenes 
 around me, but will confine myself to the journey 
 here. 
 
 On the afternoon of Monday we took cars for 
 Nagpore, a ride of twenty-seven hours. The coun- 
 try through which we passed is the most beautiful 
 I have seen in India, and reminds me very much 
 of American scenery. The first afternoon we were 
 in the valley of the Western Ghauts, crossing them 
 at sunset. Many of the peaks of the Ghauts are 
 of remarkable beauty, being composed of strata of 
 
 soft rock which has crumbled away, leaving them 
 s 33 
 
34 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 with sharp, square corners as if they had been chis- 
 eled out by human hands. One hill has a high, 
 rectangular base covered with grass or a green veg- 
 etation, surmounted by an immense rocky pile with 
 columns and spires, looking like a great old cathe- 
 dral. On another hill, somewhat similar in form, 
 are columns standing near a huge pile of rock, the 
 whole resembling the ruins of an ancient temple. 
 
 The trees of India are my constant admiration, 
 and I must tell you about them when I know them 
 better. There are the peepul, the bamboo, mango, 
 mimosa, teak, acacia and many others all new to 
 me. The teak is used extensively in shipbuilding; 
 the wood is said to be as hard as that of our live- 
 oak, and it will not corrode iron nails and bolts. 
 
 The shipyards of Bombay obtain much of their 
 lumber from the Ghauts. 
 
 But our sunsets! They are so magnificent that I 
 cannot help speaking of them again and again. I 
 thought the first three I saw in India the most gor- 
 geous I had seen in my life, such richness and 
 mellowness of color combined. Then, they extend 
 over a vast space of sky and are of very long du- 
 ration. But to come back to terra firma. I was 
 struck with the number of English people every- 
 where and their complete control of the country. 
 
BOMBAY TO ALLAHABAD. 
 
 35 
 
 Every place of importance seems to have its bri- 
 gade, or, at least, company, of troops, besides the 
 civil officers. I have seen fewer English tradesmen 
 than I expected ; their settlements are always dis- 
 tinct from the native town. 
 
 For residences they have bungalows and large 
 compounds. The compound is simply the grounds 
 of the house, and is frequently two or three acres in 
 extent. At some central place are the ehakaries, or 
 offices, churches, English stores and public build- 
 ings. The railway stations are provided with sub- 
 stantial buildings; those in Northern India are 
 very fine structures of brick or stone. Between 
 Bombay and Nagpore every d4p6t has its little 
 flower-beds of marigolds, zinias, four o’clocks, cy- 
 press vine and globe amaranths, giving it a bright, 
 cheerful appearance. The natives are very fond of 
 flowers, and frequently cultivate them even in their 
 miserable mud villages. Indeed, almost every hut 
 we saw had its coarse vine running over the roof. 
 Prince’s feather seems to be their favorite. 
 
 We arrived at Nagpore on Tuesday afternoon 
 and remained until Thursday afternoon. How 
 glad we were to see the missionaries there. They 
 seem to us old friends whenever we meet them in 
 this heathen worl 3. Rev. Mr. Cooper and his good 
 
36 
 
 TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 wife, of the free Scotch mission, are at work here, 
 besides the English missionaries. They have a 
 girls’ school in their compound : that is such a 
 singular name for a yard that it will take me a 
 long time to get used to it. AVe visited this school, 
 orphanage, as it is called, and the girls seemed as 
 bright and well behaved as those in our schools at 
 home. They are quite dark, and persons say not 
 as good-looking as the natives farther north. 
 
 They are called Mahrattas, and I have been ask- 
 ing father about them. He says that, according to 
 some writers, they emigrated from the "West of 
 Persia about the seventh century ; others say they 
 are from Arabia or Egypt. At any rate, they are 
 Hindoos of the Soodra or laboring caste, and even 
 their chieftains, the head men of their villages, 
 belonged originally to that low rank. They are 
 not at all strict in religious observances, and eat 
 animal food, with the exception of beef. They are 
 often cruel and treacherous. 
 
 The founder of the Mahratta empire was Sevajee, 
 the son of an officer in the service of a Moham- 
 medan king of Bejapoor. He lived in the seven- 
 teenth century. Having collected an army among 
 the mountains, he overthrew the kingdom of Beja- 
 poor, and gradually united under his rule the mul- 
 
BOMBAY TO ALLAHABAD, 
 
 37 
 
 titude of petty states among which the Mahrattas 
 were divided. In 1819, after a long war, the 
 Mahratta power was overthrown, the peishwa a 
 prisoner, his title and authority abolished.^^ 
 
 The native teacher in this school is a woman 
 named Veranna, whom the pupils like very much, 
 and who is really remarkable. She understands four 
 different languages besides the English, and is a 
 great assistance to the missionaries. During the cool 
 weather it is their custom to leave their home and 
 go out in the country to do good to the people in 
 the wretched mud villages. While Mr. Cooper 
 preaches to the men, Mrs. Cooper and Veranna 
 gather the women around them and talk to them 
 of Jesus. The people about there are a mixed race 
 and speak different languages, so it is often neces- 
 sary for Veranna to act as interpreter. Sometimes 
 she talks to them herself of the Bible and Christ 
 and the way to be saved. Then the poor women 
 listen with great eagerness, and wonder that a 
 woman can know so much. 
 
 Father tried to get bullock gharries to take us to 
 Jubbelpore, but could not succeed. These gharries 
 are a sort of wagon wdth cushioned seats, and are 
 very comfortable, if not so beautiful as they might 
 be. He then obtained what are called daks, for 
 
38 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 which he had to pay one hundred rupees, or fifty 
 dollars, apiece, to take us one hundred and seventy 
 miles. They are convenient little stage-coaches, 
 having a broad seat in each end. They would 
 easily accommodate four persons during the day, 
 but as they are intended for night traveling also, 
 only two grown persons are allowed to occupy one. 
 Over the space between the seats a cushioned board 
 is drawn at night. We take our pillows, wraps 
 and blankets, make a bed and, if possible, sleep. 
 
 Every five or six miles are stations, where we 
 obtain new relays of horses, and for the mode of 
 starting them read Carleton^s Xew Way Around 
 the World. He doesn’t exaggerate in the least. 
 Chat had been reading that part of the book and 
 laughing over it, but we were not expecting quite 
 such an experience. I wish you could have seen 
 us at the first station. In trying to start, we had a 
 man at each wheel turning it, another pulling at 
 the horses’ heads, another at the side of the horse 
 pushing, the driver meantime laying on the whip 
 in an unmerciful way. When we did start, I feared 
 the horses would break everything to pieces, at 
 such a speed they went. 
 
 At one station we took a balky horse. Three 
 different times he lay down on the ground, and as 
 
BOMBAY TO ALLAHABAD. 
 
 39 
 
 often rose with a spring of nearly six feet in the 
 air. A rope -was put around the horse’s body, and 
 two men pulled with all their might at the ends. 
 Many other means were tried and a good hour’s 
 detention was endured before we were started. On 
 Friday we made a three hours’ halt — from eleven 
 o’clock till two — at a bungalow. We had rice and 
 cliicken curry and chapatas (cakes of flour and 
 water) cooked for us. Every one did full justice 
 to the lunch, I assure you. 
 
 While we were eating, a party of jugglers came 
 along, and I wish you could have seen them. Chat 
 said he couldn’t see through ” any of their tricks, 
 and you know he has found out several that he saw at 
 home. A woman began the performance by taking 
 a bamboo twenty feet long and placing it upright 
 on flat stones. She then climbed to the top with 
 the greatest ease in the world. I held my breath 
 as she neared the top, expecting her to fall to the 
 ground ; but no, she stood upon one foot on the 
 point of the pole, balancing it all the while. 
 Around her waist she had a girdle to which was 
 fastened an iron socket. She sprang from her posi- 
 tion and threw herself forward, so that the end of 
 the pole entered the socket in her belt, and she 
 lay upon it face downward. She spun around in 
 
40 
 
 TETE^S YEAR. 
 
 this horizontal position so rapidly as to make 
 you dizzy to look at her. To vary the per- 
 formance, she turned her feet backward till her 
 heels touched her shoulders, and grasping her 
 ankles in her hands, continued to revolve, looking 
 more like a ball than anything else. Finally, she 
 slid down the pole, and stood upon the ground be- 
 fore us as composedly as if she had been there all 
 the while. 
 
 Before we had fairly recovered from our surprise 
 a man came near us and spread upon the ground a 
 cloth about the size of a sheet. In a short time it 
 began to move upward. The man raised it, and 
 several pine-apples had grown there. He gave 
 them to us as a proof that they were the real article, 
 and they certainly were, if we can believe the sense 
 of taste. After showing some more feats as won- 
 derful as these and asking us for backsheesh,’^ 
 they were oflP, and so were we. 
 
 Saturday morning we arrived at Jubbelpore, 
 staved at a hotel till afternoon, when we took cars 
 for Allahabad, where we arrived near midnight. 
 AVe were tired enough to sleep well that night, but 
 were up in good season the next morning and ready 
 to look around us. The house we were in was a 
 bungalow, and such a good specimen of those oc- 
 
BOMBAY TO ALLAHABAD. 
 
 41 
 
 cupied by Europeans that I will describe it. The 
 walls are plastered inside and out and floors ce- 
 mented, so that the only wood-work is the slight 
 door-frames and window-frames, sashes and doors. 
 The roof is thatched and very pointed, covering, 
 besides the house itself, a broad verandah which 
 nearly surrounds three sides of it. From a distance 
 this roof looks like a huge extinguisher placed over 
 the house. 
 
 Entering through a double door at the front — 
 all the doors are double and have windows in them — 
 we are in the parlor. This is a room twenty-two 
 feet high, with the neatest and freshest of walls, 
 white overhead, stained vellow at the sides and 
 having a very neat cornice. The room, being a 
 long one, has a wide screen across the centre, w^hich 
 makes a dining-room of the back part. At the left 
 we enter a large sleeping-room ; back of this is a 
 smaller one, off which is a bath-room. The bath- 
 room in India is an indispensable part of a house, 
 and, I might almost say, of every sleeping-room. 
 The space to the right of the parlor is divided in 
 much the same way ; the floors are covered with 
 native matting ; the windows and doors have cur- 
 tains of red calico, w-hich contrast finely with the 
 dark-stained wood. The pretty, inexpensive ])ic- 
 
42 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 tures on the walls add a charm to the rooms, and 
 the house has a homelike, beautiful appearance. 
 
 That morning we attended native service. How 
 strange it seemed to hear a sermon in an unknown 
 tongue ! The natives, however, listened to it with 
 the utmost attention. Many of them have learned 
 to abandon the false gods of their country, and to 
 put their trust in One ^^able to save.’' In the 
 evening we went to the free Scotch church, where 
 there was a full house. The governor of the 
 north-west provinces. Sir AYilliam Muir, with his 
 wife, occupied the front seat. I hope to see more 
 of the city before writing again, but, for the pres- 
 ent, adieu. 
 
V. 
 
 THE HINDOOS. 
 
 WENT out this morning to walk with 
 father and Chat. It was a beautiful morn- 
 ing, and so many strange things to see in 
 the streets of Allahabad. I wish you could 
 have been with us. There are many sad sights, too. 
 We passed a man who was standing on one foot, 
 and who, they tell us, had been standing there, day 
 after day, for nearly twenty years. He was a very 
 filthy and wretched-looking object. I asked father 
 why he was there. 
 
 He is what is called a fakh'” father said, or 
 a very holy person. He thinks by doing as he 
 does that he will please the gods. You see his 
 long hair ; that is smeared with the manure of the 
 cow, which they consider a very sacred animal.” 
 Yes,” Chat said ; I found that out yesterday. 
 I was looking about me, and the first thing I knew 
 two cows came along and began to help themselves 
 to the things outside of one of the little ovens they 
 
 43 
 
44 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 call shops. I thought it very strange that nobody 
 drove them away, so when I came up one put her 
 nose rather too near me, and I gave her a good 
 crack with the stick I had in my hand. In an in- 
 stant the natives swarmed around me and began 
 talking in a very loud manner, and made me under- 
 stand that I had done something very wicked. One 
 man who spoke English told me what was the 
 matter, and an Englishman w'ho came along just 
 then explained to them, or I don’t know as I would 
 ever have got out of their clutches.” 
 
 ^^Yes,” said father; ^Hhey consider it a great 
 crime to strike these animals. They would have 
 let them trample under foot everything in the shop, 
 rather than touch them.” 
 
 Just in the outskirts of the city we passed a man 
 who had an earthen jar of milk in his hand. Chat, 
 as usual, wanted to see what the man had and what 
 he was going to do with it, so he went toward him 
 till his shadow fell on the jar; it was quite early, 
 so our shadows were long. What do you think 
 the man did ? He stepped aside, so that our 
 shadows would not pollute him, then took up the 
 jar and dashed it to the ground. Father said he 
 was a Brahmin, and could not touch any food pre- 
 pared by one of a lower caste without losing his 
 
THE HINDOOS. 
 
 45 
 
 own, nor could he eat it after another’s shadow had 
 fallen upon it. We should sometimes forget about 
 these things, I am sure, but they never do. Father 
 told us about a man of high caste in the army who 
 ^ell down in a faint. The surgeon ordered a ser- 
 vant of low caste to throw water upon him. In 
 consequence of this, none of his companions would 
 associate with him, and the poor fellow soon after 
 killed himself. 
 
 I asked father more about the Hindoos and their 
 caste last evening as we sat on the verandah, and 
 he told us much of them. He says there are four 
 principal castes, the Brahmins, Kshatnas, Veishas 
 and Soodras, but there are a great many subdi- 
 visions of each of these. The Brahmins are said 
 to have proceeded from the mouth of Brahma, 
 showing that they were to be above all other 
 mortals. They are the scribes and Pharisees of 
 the Hindoos, although many of them attend to 
 ordinary business. They are always honored by 
 those below them in rank, and are very proud and 
 overbearing. 
 
 Since the English have had possession of the 
 country, and especially since railroads have been in 
 operation here, the Brahmins have learned a num- 
 ber of lessons t ) their advantage. They cannot 
 
46 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 have a car all to themselves, so they have to sit 
 where others have sat, and even to be touched by 
 those of lower caste. 
 
 It must be very hard for those of them who 
 become Christians ; they literally have to leave all 
 for Jesus. A Brahmin gentleman here — or babn, 
 as such are called — was converted not long^ ao-o, 
 and was cast out by his family entirely penniless. 
 Is one of his former friends would patronize him in 
 business, so that he was poor and failed for a long 
 time to get employment. His wife came with him, 
 and they struggled along together for some time 
 before they could get a comfortable living. Yet 
 they never once regretted the step they had taken. 
 I thought before I loved Jesus that it would be 
 very hard to give up the world, but I see now that 
 I didn’t know anything about making sacrifices. 
 I will copy something which father read to us of 
 the Brahmins, and which I think will interest you 
 as it did us : 
 
 ^AYhen the young Brahmin is twelve days old, 
 a feast is held, with many curious rites, for giving 
 him a name. AYhen six months old, there is a 
 second feast, to attend to the important step vtf 
 giving him his first solid food. Two years laf?r 
 the child has his head shaved, his nails pared ai d 
 
THE HINDOOS. 
 
 47 
 
 his eai's bored with many ceremonies, to the sound 
 of music. Again, at about nine years of age, comes 
 the more important and complicated ceremony of 
 investing him with the sacred cord of one hundred 
 and eight threads, made of cotton gathered and 
 spun by Brahmins. This cord he ever after wears 
 over his left shoulder, across the breast to the right 
 hip. 
 
 At this time he is first taught the unspeakably 
 sacred prayer called the gayatrij which no other ear 
 must ever hear. Now he becomes a Hwice-born^ 
 Brahmin. AYhen married, he becomes qualified for 
 the duties, honors and privileges of the priesthood. 
 He must eat no meat, nor anything that has had 
 life ; he must drink -no spirituous liquors ; he must 
 use no vessel for cooking or eating that has been 
 used by any one of a lower caste. If a Soodra but 
 look upon the pot in which his rice is boiling, it 
 must be broken. He cannot receive water from 
 any but a Brahmin, nor can he have a Soodra as a 
 servant in his house. A man of any other caste, 
 even though a king, is too impure to hand food to 
 a Brahmin beggar.’^ 
 
 Altliough I have mentioned the Hindoos often 
 in my letters, I have not told you how they look. 
 Of course von know a creat deal about them — 
 
 o 
 
TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 - 48 
 
 perhaps all I can tell you — but what we see with 
 our own eyes appears more true than the same 
 things told by somebody of whom we know noth- 
 ing. It is a wonder to me every day of my life to 
 see these people, who look like the pictures so often 
 shown us. I used to think of them as if they were 
 about as far away as the moon, but now that I have 
 really traveled to their home, the distance from 
 ours doesn’t seem so very great. The pictures give 
 you a better idea of their appearance than all I can 
 say about them. 
 
 Their bodies are not large, and often quite slen- 
 der. Some of the women have very fine forms, and 
 are really beautiful. You know they belong to the 
 same race that we do, and have as delicate features. 
 The Brahmins, ordinarily (not always), are light in 
 color, and the castes grow darker as they descend 
 the scale. You soon learn to know a Hindoo from 
 a Mohammedan, or one of any other class. “The 
 garments worn by the men consist of a loose piece 
 of white muslin, in which there are neither strings, 
 buttons nor pins, wound close about the waist, and 
 falling below the knees, with a second of finer ma- 
 terial, though similar color, thrown across the 
 shoulder, like a Roman toga, and, except the head, 
 arms and feet, covering the entire body.’^ 
 
THE HINDOOS. 
 
 49 
 
 Most of those Nve see here wear a turban on the 
 head. This article consists of a long and narrow 
 strip of muslin wound upon a block of the right 
 size and shape, when damp, as our milliners press 
 hats. Before a Hindoo puts on a new garment, he 
 pulls a few threads from it and offers them to some 
 god, that it may wear well. Sandals are worn on 
 the feet by some of the people, but the most of 
 them go barefoot; stockings are almost unknown 
 among them. Our manner of dressing the feet 
 would greatly hinder them in their work, for they 
 use their toes in very many ways. The tailor 
 twists his thread with them ; the carpenter holds a 
 board with his toes while he planes it ; the driver 
 sometimes pulls the tail of an ox to quicken his 
 pace or picks up what has fallen to the ground in 
 the same way. Then the sewing-men — I know 
 you would laugh if you saw one sew. The men 
 here do the sewing instead of the women. 
 
 If you take the material for a dress to a dersey, 
 and another dress as a pattern, you may be assured 
 that he will make the new one exactly like the old 
 one. It will fit just as well, too, although he has 
 not ripped a seam to aid him in cutting the new 
 cloth. To do all this, he don’t sit in a sewing- 
 
 chair by the window, as we would, but you will find 
 4 
 
60 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 him on the verandah floor holding the work with 
 his toes, and drawing the needle out from him in- 
 stead of toward him, as we would do. It looks 
 very awkward to me, but I suppose it is less dif- 
 ficult to him than our way would be. 
 
 Many of the Hindoos become very well educated 
 and adopt many of our customs. In the cities 
 you will see a number of native gentlemen dressed 
 very much like the Europeans. If it is in cool 
 weather, they will have a valuable camePs-hair 
 shawl around their shoulders. 
 
 The dress of the women is very simple. These 
 poor women I pity every time I think of them ; I 
 will tell you more of them hereafter. The saree 
 is the chief article of clothing, and is a long piece 
 of cotton, muslin or silk, -wrapped around the 
 middle and falling in graceful folds below the 
 knees. One end is gathered in a bunch in front, 
 while the other crosses the breast and is thrown 
 over the shoulder. It is from seven to ten yards in 
 length, and may cost from a dollar upward. The 
 end is thrown over the head, and is called the chud- 
 dah in this part of India. A good many of them 
 wear, besides this, a sacque with half sleeves fitting 
 the form. 
 
 They wear a great many ornaments ; these orna- 
 
THE HINDOOS. 
 
 51 
 
 ments are of gold and silver, precious stones and 
 the imitations of these. Their arms are sometimes 
 loaded with bracelets, and pendants hang from the 
 ear and the nose. The fingers and toes are deco- 
 rated with rings, and necklaces of gold, precious 
 stones, beads of glass or coral are hung about the 
 neck. Children wear but little clothing when quite 
 young, but generally have a number of ornaments 
 upon them. They call their jewels their ^^joys.” 
 Chat says it is mail-time, so I must close abruptly. 
 
YI. 
 
 A HiyDOO WEDDING. 
 
 XE of the missionary ladies told me more 
 about the Hindoo women to-dav, and it 
 made me feel very sad. She says the 
 women of the hiojh caste always live in 
 their houses, and are never seen by any gentlemen, 
 except their fathers, brothers and husbands. The 
 women are never mentioned by the men ; it would 
 be considered an insult to ask one about his wife or 
 daughter. A Hindoo, being asked how many chil- 
 dren he has, gives only the number of his sons. 
 One, in answer to this question, said, “I have no 
 children — only three girls.’’ When a son is born 
 into the family, it is a source of great rejoicing; 
 many rites are performed by the priest and much 
 money is given him for his services, but when a 
 daughter comes the event is generally considered a 
 calamity. The first few years of her life are her 
 happiest. She is usually engaged to be married at 
 five or six years of age, and is married at nine or 
 
 ten. If the parents have not succeeded in finding 
 62 
 
A HiynOO WEDDING, 
 
 53 
 
 a husband for her by that time, they believe that 
 their ancestors for five or six generations will suffer 
 in consequence. If she is married when very small, 
 she remains at home for a few years, going oc- 
 casionally to her husband\s house, but otherwise 
 she is taken there at once, and seldom returns. 
 
 There are a good many ceremonies connected 
 with a Hindoo wedding, and some variety in them. 
 My missionary friend told me of three which had 
 been described to her by the women in the houses 
 where they occurred. One of them is so like the 
 description of one in Kardoo that I will quote 
 from that in trying to give you some idea of the 
 strange performances they have. It is a marriage 
 in high life. 
 
 After the barber, or some other household official, 
 has made the match, and the fathers think it the 
 proper time for the marriage to take place, the 
 bride’s father tells the mother to prepare for the 
 wedding at such a time. Then there is a great ex- 
 citement in the family. Sweetmeats and curries 
 have to be made and presents of fruits, sweetmeats, 
 etc., are exchanged daily. Many thousand rupees’ 
 worth of jewels are bought by the bride’s father and 
 given to her, these forming her wedding dowry. 
 When the bride goes to live at her husband’s house, 
 
64 
 
 TBYE’S YEAB. 
 
 her mother-in-law takes possession of these, and 
 she is never allowed to wear them except by her 
 permission, and then only such as she chooses to 
 let her have. Sometimes a wedding costs so much 
 that the family are impoverished by it for years. 
 
 For two weeks before the wedding the little bride 
 is constantly bathed in perfumed water, her feet and 
 hands dyed each day afresh with henna, and the 
 last four days she is obliged to sit holding in her 
 hand a little instrument with which to blacken her 
 eyelids and lashes. This is in shape like a teaspoon 
 with a cover. Toward evening of her wedding- 
 day she is bathed in rose-water, her feet and hands 
 dyed afresh. She is dressed in a silk saree, some- 
 times embroidered with gold. In her ears, on her 
 head, neck, arms, ankles, and even from her waist, 
 are ornaments of gold and precious stones. In the 
 gods’ house, or the room for worship, the two 
 fathers sit with the goorooy or priest, of each 
 family. This is the first scene. These gooroos go 
 through a tedious set form of an hour or two, 
 telling the fathers-in-law what is their duty, and 
 making all necessary settlements and promises. 
 The babus in the mean time go about among the 
 guests, sprinkling them with rose-water from a little 
 silver vase, and some of the boys present to each 
 
I 
 
 A HINJJOO WEDDING, 55 
 
 guest a bouquet of flowers and throw a wreath of 
 white flowers around each person’s neck. Again, 
 a small silver box is passed among the higher class 
 of guests, filled with exquisite perfume. Into this 
 each one dips his fingers. 
 
 Then is heard a shout, ^^The bridegroom comes !” 
 How like the same announcement in the time of 
 our Saviour, Behold the Bridegroom cometh !” 
 Five or six little girls of the house not over six 
 years of age, with lighted torches, run through the 
 court out into the street, and bring in the bride- 
 groom. He is led in and seated on a handsome 
 carpet, which has been placed for him in the mid- 
 dle of the court. Here he remains sitting for 
 about half an hour. He then stands with a small 
 pan of flaming coals nearly in front him. Near 
 his side is the barber blowing a trumpet at inter- 
 vals. This continues about five minutes; then five 
 women appear, all closely veiled, each having on 
 her head a sort of tray made of wicker-work. The 
 first one is the bride’s mother; in the tray on her 
 head she carries red-hot or blazing coals, something 
 being placed between the tray and the coals to pre- 
 vent them burning through. She also carries in 
 her hand a chattee of water. The women have 
 various kinds of fruit in their trays. They 
 
56 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 pass around the bridegroom several times, the 
 mother spilling the water so as to form a circle 
 around him. At the seventh time, when she is be- 
 hind the groom, she suddenly throws the tray of 
 burning coals over his head, they falling at his feet 
 in front. She then turns the tray wrong side up 
 and stands upon it. With her hands closed to- 
 gether, she touches his forehead, lips and chin with 
 oil, plantain, salt, etc. She moves away, and the 
 little bride appears for the first time. 
 
 She is seated on a board, on which a variety of 
 figures are chalked, and is carried by the barber 
 and his assistants six times around the groom, 
 within the circle marked by the water. She is 
 then placed at his feet, still sitting on the board. 
 He has not moved a muscle. She is now lifted to 
 a level with the groom’s face. A large sheet is 
 brought and held over the heads of all, the bride’s 
 mother and one of the aunts standing under it. 
 They hold lights close up to the pair, who are sup- 
 posed now to look at each other for the first time. 
 They remain in this position five minutes ; during 
 this time the barber varies the performance of 
 blowing the horn by occasionally uttering a wild 
 shriek. This is imprecating curses on whoever 
 should say anything evil of the young couple. 
 
A HINDOO WEDDING. 
 
 57 
 
 The sheet is now removed, and the groom goes 
 through the passage again into the gods’ house. 
 The bride is carried after him. Here they are 
 seated opposite each other on a circle elaborately 
 chalked on the floor. Between them is a choice 
 vase filled with flowers, on which the back of the 
 groom’s hand is placed, while the back of the 
 bride’s hand is placed in his. Wreaths of flowers 
 are then bound around their hands and ten rupees 
 placed on the top. These are for the priests. The 
 gooroo of each family now lays down the law most 
 emphatically to the opposite father-in-law. Not 
 one word is said to either of the parties themselves. 
 Then the bride’s father and one of the priests seat 
 themselves in front of the couple. 
 
 By the father is a large silver dish filled with 
 Ganges water ; in this a beautiful ruby ring and a 
 thin iron bracelet are placed. The ring is given to 
 the groom and the bracelet to the bride ; then some 
 of the water is sprinkled upon them and some of 
 the flowers thrown at them. The bride is carried 
 first to the groom’s right side, then to his left. 
 Here a corner of their sarees are tied toscether : 
 this pronounces them husband and wife. Chat 
 thinks it takes a long time to have the knot tied. 
 
 The groom then stands up, his wife placed stand- 
 
58 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 [ 
 
 ing in front of him and his arms put around her. 
 A plate is placed in her hand with some rice and 
 plantains, and a wisp of straw lighted and placed 
 blazing at her feet. This is to express a wish that 
 the husband will be able to afford at least a wisp 
 of straw to blacken his wife's face when she dies, 
 if he cannot get fuel enough to burn her body. 
 
 She is seated again at his side, some red powder 
 put upon her hair at the front parting and the 
 chuddah drawn over her head. Until she is mar- 
 ried a girl doesn’t wear the chuddah over her 
 head ; that and the red powder, which is put on 
 fresh every day, are a sign that she is married. 
 A widow never wears the powder. So much for 
 the Hindoo way of getting married ; and I must 
 close, for it is about mail-time. 
 
VII. 
 
 THE HINDOO WIDOW. 
 
 HAVE not finished my account of the 
 Hindoos yet, so this letter also shall be 
 devoted to them. I am only telling you 
 a little about them; there is ever so much 
 more that would take more time and space and 
 knowledge than your poor sister can command. 
 
 Each family does not occupy its own house, as 
 with us. At the head of a household is the oldest 
 man, whose word is law to all the younger ones. 
 His wife is at the head of the women, and is called 
 the tuckoo ma. Their sons and grandsons all 
 bring their wives there to live. When the head of 
 the house dies, his oldest son takes his place, and 
 when the tuckoo ma dies, the wife of the oldest son 
 rules’ in the zenana, or women^s apartments. Each 
 daughter-in-law has her rank as wife of the oldest 
 son, the second, etc., then of the grandsons in order, 
 and each has to obey those above her. Sometimes 
 they live very peacefully, but often the tuckoo ma 
 
 is tyrannical and makes the others very unhappy. 
 
 59 
 
60 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 Their principal occupation is to comb out and braid 
 their beautiful hair, put on and off their ornaments 
 and cook their husband’s food. The husband and 
 wife never eat together; she prepares his food and 
 waits upon him while he eats, afterward has her 
 own meal of what is left. If the wife dies, the 
 husband may marry again, but a widow has not 
 that privilege. They believe widowhood to be a 
 peculiar curse sent by the gods for some sin com- 
 mitted in this or a former life, and the poor wddow, 
 often only a child, suffers every indignity from 
 those who should love her best and cherish her 
 most tenderly. 
 
 I said, when I heard this, How cruel they 
 must be !” But my friend said that they are only 
 cruel as their religion teaches them to be. Thev 
 believe the widow to be one cursed of their god, 
 and that he will punish them for trying to inter- 
 fere with the curse. They are naturally gentle and 
 affectionate, only cruel because they believe it to be 
 their duty. Isn’t it terrible to believe such things? 
 The more I see of them, the more I long to do 
 something to lead them to our precious Saviour. 
 It must be such a comfort to tell these despised 
 ones of the many tender passages in the Bible for 
 the widow and the fatherless, and what sympathy 
 
THE HIEDOO WIDOW. 
 
 61 
 
 Christians feel for such. How much they need 
 these ! for their future is all dark and hopeless. 
 
 Among the higher classes the widow has her 
 hair shaved off at once; this, of course, detracts 
 much from her beauty. Her ornaments of gold 
 and silver are all laid aside, and the red powder 
 rubbed off from her forehead. Her fine apparel is 
 changed for a coarse cloth, which she must wear 
 until her death. 
 
 I will read you what a learned Hindoo says ; 
 “From the day of the death of her husband com- 
 mences the widow’s sufferings and privations. She 
 is made to employ herself in the performance of 
 devotional austerities which know no end. Con- 
 stant fasting and bathing, abstaining from the uses 
 of certain articles of food and going around the 
 tulasi (a shrub venerated by the Hindoos), or some 
 idol in a temple, are the mortifications she is to in- 
 flict upon herself. Her appearance on all joyous 
 occasions is considered a bad omen. Even at the 
 marriage ceremony of her brothers and sisters she 
 cannot, consistently with the superstitions prevail- 
 ing among the Hindoos, take an honorable place, or 
 join other females who, because their husbands are 
 living, can enjoy all the reasonable freedom and 
 pleasures of life. The Hindoos invariably consider 
 
62 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 it an auspicious omen to come across the wife of a 
 living husband, when they leave home, for the ac- 
 complishment of their intended purpose, but if they 
 happen to come across a widow, they despair of suc- 
 cess in the design, and proceed with reluctance or re- 
 turn to curse the widow. She cannot talk familiarly 
 with her dearest and nearest relatives. Her every 
 word and every movement is subject to uncharitable 
 construction. Among the Brahmins her diet is 
 rigidly regulated. She is welcome to a meal only 
 once a day, and she must content herself with some 
 unwholesome eatables in the evening merely to 
 prevent the cravings of hunger. 
 
 To be brief, the widow lives a life of toil and 
 mortification. From morn to eve she has some- 
 thing or other to do. Domestic drudgery is her 
 inseparable doom. If she is able to read, she may 
 spend a leisure, wdiich is short and hard earned, in 
 the perusal of a pothee containing tales in honor 
 of some of the Hindoo gods or imaginary deities.’^ 
 ^^That shows you something of the misery of the 
 ■widow’s life,” my friend said, but not all. If you 
 could see with what scorn in some cases the older 
 women in the family treat her, as I have done; if you 
 could see her, when she is sick, lying on the bare floor, 
 with no one to give her even a cup of cold water, no 
 
THE HINDOO WIDOW. 
 
 63 
 
 one to prepare her nourishing food or needed med- 
 icine, and without one kind word or look to cheer 
 her, — it would make your heart bleed for her. Miss 
 Brittan, who has spent years in teaching in the 
 zenanas of Calcutta, said that when she first came 
 to this country she could not believe what was told 
 her — that a widow would prefer to be burned with 
 the body of her husband to surviving him — but 
 after seeing their many sufferings and their dreary, 
 hopeless life, she fully believed it.’^ 
 
 Are the widows ever burned with their hus- 
 bands now V’ 1 asked. 
 
 Not publicly : the authorities will not allow it; 
 but it is sometimes done without their knowledge. 
 No objection is made to their burning their dead, 
 and large enclosures are prepared for the purpose 
 in some places. They often spend a large amount 
 of money in this ceremony. Will you go with me 
 to one of the zenanas to-morrow V’ 
 
 ^^Oh, thank you; I would be delighted to go. 
 But will they allow me to enter their houses 
 
 ^^Some of them will, for they have learned to 
 know me, and to believe that there is something in 
 the gospel I bring them.’^ 
 
 But how did the missionaries first get into their 
 families 
 
64 
 
 TEYE^S YEAR. 
 
 “ The first wedge was fancy-work. Several years 
 since, a young man who attended the school of an 
 English missionary in Calcutta saw the lady work- 
 ing a pair of slippers for her husband. He thought 
 them so beautiful that he urged his mother to let the 
 lady come into their family home and teach her this 
 fine art. After a great deal of persuasion the lady 
 was allowed to enter, and while teaching the fancy- 
 work taught also the precious truths of the Bible. 
 After that others became willing to admit the for- 
 eio^ners for the sake of learning to work in worsted 
 and embroidery. Their life is so very monotonous 
 that they are glad to have something of the kind 
 to vary it. This is a great work that has been 
 opened for women. A man cannot gain access to 
 these imprisoned women. Even a physician has to 
 give directions and write prescriptions without see- 
 ing his patient. The ladies among our missionaries 
 have been laboring in these zenanas as they have 
 been opened to them. 
 
 We visit now in thirty of these families in Al- 
 lahabad, and could go in many more if we had the 
 time or more ladies here to do it. Besides what we 
 do, there are other missionaries here engaged in the 
 same way. 
 
 This is a great work of itself, and yet it is only 
 
THE HINDOO WIDOW. 
 
 65 
 
 one of our many duties. These zenana women 
 form, happily, only a small part of the women of 
 India. You see other women in the streets with 
 their chuddahs over their heads, free to go almost 
 anywhere. They, however, cannot be approaehed 
 by our missionary gentlemen as they could be at 
 home. Sometimes when the padre (minister) has 
 collected a little crowd around him, they draw near 
 enough to hear him, but he cannot address them 
 directly, so that here, too, is work for woman. I 
 wish we could have a whole army of missionaries, 
 men and women, in India ; we are so few among 
 the millions of idolaters, and yet God has greatly 
 blessed our poor efforts.’^ 
 
 5 
 
 \ 
 

 yiii. 
 
 IN THE ZENANAS. 
 
 EAR BROTHER GA^LE : A^ou may be- 
 lieve that I was ready to go with Miss 
 
 at the time appointed, and was greatly in- 
 °e) terested in what I saw. The first house we 
 entered is one of the finest in the city. It is of 
 brick, plastered inside and out like the Europeans’ 
 bungalows. It is painted white, with a cornice of 
 fine checker-work of bright colors. In the second 
 and third stories are windows of stained glass. 
 You enter through the lower door into a narrow 
 passage which leads under the house into a square 
 open court. Two broad verandahs, an upper and 
 a lower one, are on tliree sides of it. A number of 
 rooms open on these verandahs ; the lower ones are 
 used for store-houses, carriage-houses, servants, etc. 
 The upper rooms are used by the babus. The room 
 in which they entertain their friends contains 
 handsome European furniture, but it is not ar- 
 ranged with any taste. Besides, the cobwebs hang 
 in festoons all around. 
 
 66 
 
IN THE ZENANAS. 
 
 G7 
 
 I learned afterward that many Hindoos will not 
 destroy life, and think it wrong even to clear the 
 spiders out. None of the females ever enter this 
 part of the house, unless when very young. You 
 pass from this court back to a second one, wdiich, 
 in most houses, is the women’s court, but this, being 
 an unusually fine dwelling, has three courts ; the 
 one farthest back is the one upon which the 
 women’s apartments open. Here their lives are 
 spent. AVhat a little world they have ! The lower 
 part is used for the cows, cook-rooms, etc. The 
 upper rooms are for the women and children of 
 the family. These rooms have no doors or win- 
 dows on the outside, so that the women never see 
 anything going on in the street. 
 
 From this court we go through a passage under 
 the house into their garden — a small piece of ground 
 with a high wall around it. It contains a tank, or 
 pond, with a few plantain and cocoanut trees 
 around it. The women bathe in this tank every 
 day, according to a command of their religion. 
 We went to one of the rooms and sat near the 
 door. I was surprised to see such a contrast 
 between these rooms and those for the men. The 
 floors are the same as the walls, and on these they 
 sit, without carpet or mats or stool or chair. 
 
68 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 There is a bedstead with a mat covering it for a 
 bed, two or three hard pillows, a box or chest 
 with a padlock, in which they keep their valuables, 
 and a clothes-horse. Besides these is a brass lota, 
 or drinking-vessel, that completes the list. They 
 spend a good deal of time on the verandahs telling 
 wonderful stories to each other. When the hus- 
 band of one comes to his wife’s room, he coughs, 
 or makes some noise, to announce his coming ; then 
 all the women go out of sight. A woman may see 
 the younger brothers of her husband, but not the 
 older ones. 
 
 My friend was made very welcome by the five 
 or six women whom we saw at first. They were 
 ready for the lesson, and seemed eager to learn. 
 Three of them can read very well and have Bibles, 
 which they seem to prize ; one of these is a widow 
 of about sixteen. Oh how sad she looked, and so 
 old, as if her troubles had nearly crushed her! 
 Tlie tuckoo ma has given her consent to the teach- 
 ing, and comes near enough to hear what is taught, 
 but the woman next in authority is very much 
 opposed to it. She treats tlie poor little widow 
 very badly. The girl has friends, though, for as 
 many as three of her sisters-in-law say that they 
 will do what the Bible tells them, and never wor- 
 
IN THE ZENANAS. 
 
 69 
 
 ship an idol again. They treat her with great ten- 
 derness, and often help her in her work. She 
 seemed perfectly happy when she saw the face of 
 Miss . 
 
 After the lesson was over they got out their sew- 
 ing and the teacher told them the story of David. 
 One pretty little girl of ten, who had been married 
 a year, sat down close to me and listened with great 
 attention. Her dress was magenta book muslin, 
 six gold bracelets were on each arm and a heavy 
 chain of gold about her neck. Her mother w^as 
 beautiful, and had much more beautiful jewels than 
 those of her daughter. Before we left she took 
 them out to show me. It seemed like a small 
 jewelry store, and yet she regetted that her hus- 
 band had locked up her best ones in his room. 
 Her teacher told her about the Pearl of great price, 
 and she thought it must indeed be valuable if worth 
 more than all her ornaments. These poor women ! 
 I donT wonder they think so much of such things, 
 for they have little else to interest them. 
 
 The second zenana we visited was quite unlike 
 the first. It was in a narrow lane and up dark 
 winding staircases and passages. The air was close, 
 and I felt like making as short a stay as possible, 
 l3ut here were women and girls waiting for the 
 
70 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 teachet . One woman, seeing that w’e were warm, 
 threw a fan down before us ; she would not let us 
 touch her in any way. Another came from her 
 room soon after our entrance to beg the lady to 
 come and see her poor child, who was sick. This 
 woman had only lately consented to hear the in- 
 struction given in the house. 
 
 Do help my boy I” she said. Pray for him ; 
 your God will hear you.^^ 
 
 She knelt and prayed in Hindoostanee, the woman 
 watching her child meantime to see if he were im- 
 proving. The teacher saw that the child had a 
 fever, and left some medicine for him. 
 
 ^^Make him well !’’ said the woman. “I had 
 another boy once, but he died. I suppose I had 
 taken another w’oman’s babv, and so he was 
 snatched from me.” 
 
 Xo, that cannot be; God took him because it 
 was best. He was never anybody but himself, 
 and when he died he was still only himself.” 
 
 Can that be? Then why was it best for him 
 to go?” 
 
 I don’t know, but God does everything for the 
 best. I pray that he will make this dear little boy 
 w^ell, but if he does not, it will be because he knows 
 best.” 
 
IN THE ZENANAS. 
 
 71 
 
 Your God is a good God, but he don’t want to 
 help us.” 
 
 “Yes, he does; he wants to help you, and he 
 wants you to love him. He loved you so much 
 that he sent his Son to die for you, as I have told 
 you, and he loves you still just as much.” 
 
 Then the teacher took out her little Testament 
 and read some of its sweet promises. After the 
 regular lesson was over we went to the sick room, 
 and found the little sufferer sleeping naturally and 
 sweetly. The mother thought there was some su- 
 pernatural charm in the medicine, and expressed 
 her gratitude again and again. 
 
 As we came home, my friend said that if the 
 child recovered, as she thought he would, the whole 
 family Avould believe Avhatever she might teach 
 them. Yo man being allowed in the zenana, many 
 a Avoman and child suffers and dies for want of 
 proper treatment. These missionary ladies, Avho 
 haA^e only an ordinary knowledge of medicine, do 
 very much good in this Avay. Some of the ladies 
 who come out here ha\^e studied that branch at 
 home ; they gain the confidence and love of these 
 people very soon, and sometimes save life. 
 
 In the evening I told mother about our zenana 
 visits. She is more interested in the missionaries 
 
72 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 and their work than in anything else in India/ 
 She says that a very great work is going on here, 
 and believes that God will raise up others to help 
 the few who are here, and yet it makes her sad to 
 see so many thousands dying every day without a 
 Saviour, These dear missionaries are working so 
 faithfully and live so close to the Master I am sure 
 that God will give them crowns of the very 
 brightest jewels in his kingdom. 
 
 The schools in this city are large and very inter- 
 esting to me. One of them is for training the girls 
 of native Christian families, so that they may teach 
 their own people. The Christian women among 
 them who are already teachers and Bible readers 
 lead many of their people to give up their idols and 
 follow Jesus. Father and mother think that this 
 is the way for India to become Christian. Their 
 own people can do more than we when they have 
 learned the way of life from the missionaries. 
 Now I can see one reason why they are so hopeful. 
 Every one who is converted by their means will 
 tell others, and perhaps lead many others to believe 
 as he does. Besides this, as mother says, “ If God 
 be for us, who can be against us ?” 
 
IX. 
 
 SIGHT-SEEING. 
 
 EAR BROTHER : This morning we were 
 out sight-seeing — the whole family. We 
 first rode about the city, through some of the 
 streets we had not before visited, and find 
 Allahabad to be a pretty large place. The popula- 
 tion is somewhere in the region of forty thousand. 
 The city is supposed to occupy the site of the old 
 Palimbrotha. The modern houses, which are of 
 mean and poor materials, are raised on foundations 
 which show that large and handsome buildings 
 must once have stood where they do. The Em- 
 peror Akbar, the great chief among the Mohamme- 
 dans, lived here and built the fort, so as to com- 
 mand both rivers. The situation of the city is very 
 much like that of Philadelphia, between two rivers 
 which unite below it. Here we have the Ganges 
 and Jumna instead of the Delaware and Schuylkill. 
 
 You know that the Ganges is considered a very 
 
 sacred stream by the Hindoos, and this place where 
 
 73 
 
74 
 
 TEYE’S YEAE. 
 
 the two rivers meet is exceedingly holy. This 
 makes Allahabad one of their sacred cities. Be- 
 nares is the Indian holy of holies/^ but this city 
 stands very high on the list. 
 
 Immersion is a sacred rite of the Hindoos, and 
 you find tanks in most of their temples filled, if 
 possible, with water from the Ganges. Those who 
 bathe here have the benefit of three immersions 
 elsewhere. Many pilgrims drown themselves here, 
 thinking that they will be for ever happy in doing 
 so. If any one dies in sight of the Ganges, how- 
 ever bad he may be or wdiatever his belief, the 
 Hindoos think he will be saved. If even a grass- 
 hopper is drowned in its waters, it goes direct to 
 heaven. I was surprised to think anybody would 
 believe these things when father told me what I 
 have been writing. 
 
 Me rode outside of the city across what is called 
 the Maidan — an open, level plain — to the fort. 
 This is a huge structure of red sandstone, and 
 looks very warlike as we approach it. I almost 
 expected to hear the roar of cannon as we drew 
 near, but all was peace. Me passed through its 
 magnificent gateway amid the pacing sentinels and 
 the scores of other redcoats standing or walking or 
 lounging within. Me entered the great hall of 
 
SIGHTSEEING. 
 
 75 
 
 audience where the mighty Akbar was wont to re- 
 ceive his subjects. We did not linger long in this 
 place — in fact, it was only a glimpse that we caught 
 of the whole fort. One very curious place is an 
 underground temple which is very old : no one 
 seems to know when it was built. Then there is a 
 pillar, or lafj they call it, of asokas ; it w^as placed 
 there three centuries before Christ, and has on it 
 certain laws in characters of the old Pali language. 
 
 Leaving the fort, we go still farther from the city 
 upon the triangle, which is bounded on two sides 
 by the converging rivers and on the third by the 
 fort. Chat wondered why the fort wasnT placed 
 on the point of land where the rivers meet, but 
 father says it can command both rivers where it is. 
 The triangle I spoke of is the place where the 
 melas are held. They are yearly gatherings of 
 Hindoos for worship. One of the missionaries 
 says, It is a picnic, a fair and a great religious 
 festival all combined.^^ Besides the ordinary 
 melas, there are twelve which belong to all Hin- 
 doostan. These are held at different places, from 
 Hard war, where the Ganges escapes from the 
 mountains to the plains, to Sagor, where it meets 
 the Bay of Bengal. The Brahmins have arranged 
 that each of the twelve shall be in turn the prin- 
 
76 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 cipal mela of the year, and pilgrims come to it from 
 all parts of the country. 
 
 Last year this ^twelfth-year mela’^ was held 
 here, and it is said that two millions of people at- 
 tended it. This plain was then a little city — not so 
 little, either, with so many inhabitants. They had 
 canvas-covered shops for jewelers, booksellers, cloth 
 merchants, braziers, shoemakers, grainsellers, con- 
 fectioners, etc. Here could be seen, too, the white 
 mission-tents, where faithful ministers, both native 
 and foreign, gathered the passers-by to hear the 
 word of God. They take such times as these to 
 preach to the natives, many of whom hear of a 
 Saviour for the first time. At the point of the 
 triangle there is a large open space left for the 
 bathers. Here the crowd is very dense. One par- 
 ticular set of persons, called the pragwals, have 
 had charge of the bathing here for centuries, and 
 become very rich, for each bather has to pay them 
 a tax. Every native follows his father’s business, 
 whatever it may have been, so I suppose the people 
 do not think of such a thing as making a change 
 in this respect. 
 
 The fakirs must be a sight to behold. They are 
 men who do a great deal of what the Roman 
 Catholics would call penance, and think they be- 
 
SIGIIT-SEEINO. 
 
 77 
 
 come very holy. The magistrate ordered that no 
 one should go unclothed to the bathing-place, but 
 many of these miserable beings paid no attention 
 to the order. We are told that one man came 
 hundreds of miles by measuring his length on the 
 ground. Standing up, he threw himself prostrate 
 in the direction of the mela, and described a semi- 
 circle on the ground with his hands, as if swim- 
 ming, pressing his forehead in the dust. His little 
 store of food and furniture is in a small box on 
 wheels. Rising, he draws this box forward by a 
 string, then steps to the mark, his hands in the 
 dust, and prostrates himself as before. The faith- 
 ful press forward, with the greatest reverence, to 
 touch the ground over which he has passed, to be 
 touched by his shadow, to present their offerings 
 of money, which he quietly accepts and puts in his 
 little box.’^ 
 
 This is the w^ay one fakir came to the mela. 
 One of the missionaries saw him and gave father 
 this description. I had the whole scene pictured 
 to my mind, when our attention was attracted to a 
 spot across the Ganges. There w^ere four men 
 carrying a bed upon which was a sick woman. 
 Two Brahmin priests with them kept muttering 
 something as they walked, a prayer, I suppose, to 
 
78 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 Gunga — that is, the Gauges, for that is really their 
 god. We watched them as they placed the dying 
 woman near the river where her last glance should 
 rest upon its waters. Poor woman ! she believed 
 that by doing this she would soon be in heaven. 
 Oh, I thought, what a sad, sad awakening it would 
 be for her when her spirit fled to God who gave it I 
 
 The priests walked around the sick woman sev- 
 eral times, now stopping to look’ upon the sacred 
 river, and uttering some words, again turning to 
 the sick one. It was a terrible scene, and I would 
 not like to have been nearer. They must have de- 
 layed this last oflice longer than they thought, for 
 the woman died while we were looking. Then 
 began the lamentation of the living. They pressed 
 around the body, apparently closing the eyes and 
 preparing it, not for its burial, as we would do, but 
 for the flames. The burning-ghats are yards upon 
 the bank of the river with high walls on the three 
 other sides. The corpse was taken to the ghat, 
 which was not far otf. We could see the priests 
 still busy with their ceremonies, and a number of 
 others going about preparing for the last sad rites. 
 
 On our way home we saw the smoke rising from 
 the spot, and knew that but a handful of ashes 
 would soon be all of what so short a time before 
 
SIGHT-SEEING. 
 
 79 
 
 contained a living soul. How horrible it seemed 
 so to die and so to return to dust ! With a cer- 
 tainty of heaven, one would be willing to be taken 
 
 be there to put his arms around us and bear us 
 through the dark valley, but so to die, without 
 hope and without God in the world !’^ I cannot 
 bear to think of it. Sincerely do I pray, “Let 
 me die the death of the righteous, and let my’ 
 last end be like his 
 
 from home to die by the river-side, for Jesus would 
 
 I. 
 
X. 
 
 THE MUTINY. 
 
 E are now in Futtehgurli. We had intended 
 to go from Allahabad direct to Agra, but 
 father decided to visit this point in order to 
 see the spot where our martyrs of the mu- 
 tiny lived and labored; hence our letters from this 
 place. We were all anxious to sail up the Ganges, 
 and were gratified. The boat was a real native one, 
 but a very comfortable affair. It had a cabin ris- 
 ing above the sides of the boat. Upon this were 
 sails, although the wind was not the only power 
 to which we trusted. Long oars projected from 
 each side, by which the dark men could bear 
 us along in spite of adverse winds. Many were 
 the deluded persons we saw making their obeisance 
 to Gunga and plunging into the sacred stream in 
 the belief that their sins were thus washed away. 
 We watched the people and the little mud villages 
 as they came in sight ; we were interested in the 
 
 larger places. We gazed after the birds and noted 
 80 
 
THE MUTINY. 
 
 81 
 
 every new kind of tree, but the scenery is mo- 
 notonous, and we had plenty of time to watch it 
 and think, too, of other things, so we got father 
 to tell us about the mutiny. I will give it to you, 
 as nearly as I can recollect, in his words : 
 
 The native army of India was organized while 
 Lord Clive was governor-general of this country 
 in 1757. The superior officers were always Euro- 
 peans, with native officers under them. The army 
 of the Bengal Presidency, the one engaged in the 
 mutiny, was composed chiefly of Brahmins and 
 Mohammedans. Now, these two classes of people 
 have each a feeling of hatred toward the other, but 
 they both hated the English, and united to crush 
 this controlling power. The Brahmins had been 
 treated as superior beings, receiving respect and 
 even reverence from all the Hindoos, as I told 
 you before, but since the English ruled the land, 
 the law considered a Soodra as good as a Brahmin, 
 and his rights were to be respected as well. 
 
 The Mohammedans had but a short time before 
 been compelled to give up the rule of Oude, their 
 last province in India, to the British. They were 
 ready for anything which tended in the slightest 
 degree to re-establish their sway in the country, 
 
 and are the ones who started the great Sepoy rebel- 
 6 
 
82 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 lion. They reminded the Brahmins of the lisre- 
 gard of the Europeans to their rights, and that caste 
 was givuhig way. Both were ready for the slightest 
 pretext to begin hostilities. What do you think 
 they made a reason for attacking the Europeans? 
 Only a little tallow ! and it must be confessed that 
 wars sometimes arise in Christian countries from 
 reasons as trivial as this. The cartridges sent to 
 be used were said to be greased with either tallow 
 or lard.’’ 
 
 Oh, I begin to see,” said Chat ; the cow is a 
 sacred animal : it wouldn’t do for the Brahmins to 
 use tallow; but how about the lard? Are hogs 
 sacred too?” 
 
 No,” father continued, they are not sacred, 
 but the very opposite. They are held in abomina- 
 tion by every Musselman.” 
 
 ^^But,” said I, they did not have to eat this 
 tallow or lard ; I don’t see how they could object 
 to having the cartridges greased with it.” 
 
 You don’t know much about war, Trye,” said 
 Chat; the soldiers always have to bite the end 
 off the cartridge before they put it into the gun. I 
 suppose that was the trouble, wasn’t it, father ?” 
 Yes, my son ; there was where the difficulty lay. 
 The Brahmins couldn’t put the tallow to such use 
 

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THE MUTINY. 
 
 83 
 
 because it was too holy, and the Mohaaimedans 
 couldn’t use the lard because it was too vile. The 
 mutiny broke out at Barrackpoor, above Calcutta. 
 The Sepoys burned several buildings and held se- 
 cret meetings. The contagion spread, and soon 
 many places were the scenes of fire and bloodshed. 
 At Lucknow an English doctor happened to taste 
 some medicine before giving it to a sick Brahmin ; 
 this was construed as an attempt to break their 
 caste. The whole regiment rose and burned the 
 doctor’s bungalow. 
 
 The first victims of the mutiny fell at Meeroot, 
 on the 10th of May, 1857. ^The next day forty 
 women and forty-four children perished in the most 
 horrible manner at Delhi. At Agra thirty-three 
 more were coolly murdered ; at Cawnpore between 
 three and four hundred.’ Let me read you what 
 Rev. Joseph Mullens, then of Calcutta, wrote : ^ From 
 that time forward began a series of atrocities un- 
 paralleled in the history of our colonial settlements. 
 From that time, in numerous localities in Upper 
 India, men, women, children, of our own nation, 
 were exposed to trials, difficulties and dangers of 
 the most awful kind, and were involved in one 
 common rain. They were hunted down, tied to- 
 gether, fastened to trees and stakes, and, though 
 
84 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 unarmed and defenceless, were brutally slain. For 
 several months, over hundreds of square miles, 
 their houses were heaps of ruins. The highways 
 were destroyed, all traffic ceased, riot and plunder 
 and murder stalked wildly through the laud, and 
 the bodies of about fifteen hundred of our own 
 countrymen and countrywomen lay unburied upon 
 the wastes, a prey to jackals and vultures and the 
 foul birds of night.’ ” 
 
 *^Oh how horrible!” said mother; ^^to think of 
 that happening in this beautiful and peaceful-look- 
 ing land ! May God protect his people here from 
 another such calamity !” 
 
 But had they no leader, father?” asked Chat. 
 
 ^^They can hardly be said to have had one leader. 
 In this region a prominent leader was the Nana 
 Sahib. He was the adopted son of the peishwa of 
 Poonah, who, though very unworthy of it, was 
 granted a pension of eighty thousand pounds a 
 year, with the fine property of Bithoor, near Cawn- 
 pore. Nana became heir to all the peishwa’s prop- 
 erty, and was allowed a guard of five hundred cav- 
 alry. He was, however, refused the extravagant 
 pension which had been given to the peishwa. This 
 infuriated him, and during this reign of terror he 
 seems to have acted more like a demon than a man.” 
 
THE MUTINY. 
 
 85 
 
 As we came in sight of Cawnpore we were 
 shown the ghat (or landing) of the massacre. About 
 a mile back from the river is the place where, in the 
 .hot days of June, 1857, seven hundred and fifty 
 Europeans, men, women and children, were gath- 
 ered to defend themselves from the four native reg- 
 iments who were constantly firing upon them. It 
 is now a garden of roses, but then a flat, dusty 
 space surrounded by a parapet of earth about five 
 feet high. Father said that twenty days they held 
 their position. One after another fell under the 
 constant fire. Hospital stores were destroyed, 
 houses set on fire and many persons burned to 
 death. Not a drop of water was to be obtained, 
 except from one well in the open plain, upon which 
 the fire of twenty marksmen was brought to bear. 
 
 The English dead were thrown into another well, 
 because to bury them was impossible. One hundred 
 at least were killed, and all the artillerymen among 
 them ! Then the Nana offered terms of surrender, 
 and promised them safe-conduct down the Ganges 
 to Allahabad. Sick and wounded, pale and care- 
 worn, they marched to the landing and embarked. 
 Twenty huge boats, each some twenty feet long 
 and twelve feet broad, with thatched poops, were 
 awaiting them, and the little party hoped soon to 
 
86 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 reach a place of safety. But ah ! the treachery of 
 Nana and his counselors ! AVhen fairly out in the 
 stream, yet in water so shallow that they ran 
 aground, the boats were fired and the boatmen fled 
 for the shore. Immediately the poor refugees were 
 fired upon by the Sepoys from every direction. 
 Only two or three men of that company escaped ! 
 
 More than a hundred women and children were 
 marched back to Caw n pore. After being impris- 
 oned for two weeks they were all butchered by the 
 orders of Nana Sahib, and their bodies thrown into 
 a well. Soon after this time our missionaries 
 from Futtehgurh reached Cawnpore. 
 
 But we had arrived at the landing of the latter 
 place by this time, and stopped for a few hours to 
 see the spot where so many noble ones had suffered 
 and died. We found natives ready to guide us to 
 the spot, or take us there in almost any way we 
 chose to go, for a small sum of money. We found 
 the well into which the victims were cast covered 
 with a beautiful white marble monument, a white 
 angel of peace standing over it. A large space 
 around it is enclosed by^a high wall of Gothic de- 
 sign. Around this is a beautiful park, or garden. 
 It seemed almost impossible to believe this the 
 same place as that of the horrible massacre, but we 
 
- J 
 
THE MUTINY. 
 
 87 
 
 knew it was, and I felt almost as if the Sepoys 
 might be lurking about, ready to pounce upon us 
 at any moment. I asked father if there were any 
 danger from them now. 
 
 You are not afraid, Trye, are you?” lie said, 
 smiling. 
 
 No, sir, but I was wondering if these men 
 would not try the same thing again some time.” 
 
 I think not, my dear; they have learned that 
 the English have power to crush any such rebellion, 
 and I hope, besides, that they have more confidence 
 in their pale rulers now than then. The men who 
 were the leaders in this terrible tragedy have gone 
 to their account. Those who led the soldiers in 
 doing the deed were discovered and hanged. Tan- 
 tia Topee, an intimate friend of Nana Sahib and a 
 very bad man, was chased for months, and at last 
 cauijht and hanged. The Nana and his immediate 
 followers have doubtless died before now. Years 
 ago they were wandering in terror among the 
 jungles and forest of Nepaiil ; that is the last they 
 have been heard from by the authorities. Truly, 
 
 ^ the way of the transgressor is hard.’ ” 
 
 But the short twilight has come, and soon the 
 darkness will settle down upon us, so I will leave 
 the remainder of my story “ to be continued.” 
 
XI. 
 
 
 THE 3IISSI0NARY MARTYRS. 
 
 E were so much interested in the account of 
 the mutiny that when we were again on the 
 boat we asked father to tell us about the 
 missionary martyrs. He said : There was 
 
 only one native regiment at Futtehgurh — no Euro- 
 pean soldiers at all. These had fought bravely in 
 Burmah and in other places, and were considered 
 very reliable. The people had greater fear of those 
 from other places, and were constantly on their 
 guard. This regiment, however, after pledging 
 themselves by a most solemn oath to remain true 
 to the British, joined the mutineers. On the third 
 of June the missionaries heard that the troops at 
 Bareilly and Shahjehanpore, only forty miles dis- 
 tant, had mutinied, and that a body of the Oude 
 mutineers, consisting of an infantry and cavalry 
 corps, were marching into the station. At Shabje- 
 hanpore they had murdered the minister. Rev. J. 
 
 McCalluin, and his congregation while they were 
 88 
 
p. 88. 
 
 1 
 
 L 
 
 Memorial Monument over the Cavnpore M"ell 
 
THE MISSIONARY MARTYRS. 
 
 89 
 
 at worship on the Sabbath. Only one escaped to 
 tell the tale. 
 
 knowledge of these things spread consterna- 
 tion through the place. On the night of the third 
 a consultation was held, and it was thought neces- 
 sary to go to Cawnpore as soon as possible. The 
 boats were secured, and they started early in the 
 morning. Our missionaries had spent the night at 
 the house of Mr. McLean, who lived near the mis- 
 sion premises and close to the river. They did 
 what they could to encourage and strengthen the 
 native Christians. Mr. Campbell walked several 
 hours of the night in the garden with the native 
 brethren. He told them that he felt less concern 
 for himself than for them. I^one of the Hindoo 
 or Mohammedan servants would accompany them, 
 on account of leaving their families in danger, so 
 three native Christians went with them. 
 
 ^C4.nd now the company of Englishmen and 
 Americans, with their families, start, the mission- 
 band consisting of Rev. Messrs. John E. Freeman, 
 David E. Campbell, Albert O. Johnson, Robert 
 McMullin and their wives, with little Fannie and 
 Willie Campbell, the whole party numbering about 
 one hundred and thirty. They pass on in peace for 
 eight miles, when at Rawalganj they see the vil- 
 
90 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 lagers preparing to attack them. They are not 
 armed, however, and the boats look formidable, so 
 no harm is done. At Singarampore a number of 
 Sepoys and desperate characters have assembled, 
 who open a heavy fire on the little fleet. The fire 
 is returned, and the boats move on. 
 
 ‘^After passing this place it is determined to have 
 all the mission party occupy one boat and use the 
 other three for the luggage ; this luggage is scanty, 
 and soon plundered. They approach very near to 
 Kasampore, a Mohammedan village, for the channel 
 is on that side. They are fired upon, and one in 
 one of the boats is severely wounded. They re- 
 turn the fire, and succeed in passing the village, 
 though they are followed for nearly an hour and 
 fired upon whenever the boats are near enough the 
 bank. On the evening of the third day they go 
 ashore to cook some food, and are closelv watched. 
 One of the zamindars, or landholders, musters his 
 men and surrounds the party. They have to pay 
 him five hundred dollars to be released ; he is then 
 willing to offer them all assistance in his power. 
 They accept his offer of five men for a guard, but 
 of the five only one remains on the boat. 
 
 They start again, and on the evening of the 
 fifth dav the boat strikes an island five miles below 
 
 tf 
 
THE MISSIONARY MARTYRS. 
 
 91 
 
 BItlioor, the residence of the Nana Sahib, and 
 the same distance from Cawnpore. They made 
 every effort to send a note to General Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler in Cawnpore, entirely unconscious of the 
 fact that Nana Sahib had entered the ranks of the 
 mutineers. But Sir Hugh was besieged in his own 
 entrenchments by the Nana and his party, and, of 
 course, the efforts of the missionaries were without 
 success. On the twelfth of June, their fourth day 
 on the island, ^ they saw some Sepoys crossing the 
 bridge of boats connecting Oude with Cawnpore, 
 but supposing they were on their way to Luck- 
 now, it did not excite their fears, or even cause a 
 suspicion that evil threatened their party.’ 
 
 They soon became aware of danger by receiv- 
 ing a heavy fire, which killed a child and a lady, 
 with her native nurse. The party then left the 
 boats and took shelter in the long grass. They 
 wandered from place to place until they came to 
 some trees and native huts near which was a well. 
 Thev were refused water, but one of the native 
 Christians with them brou2:ht some from the river. 
 
 . o 
 
 Weary and hopeless as to escape from death, to 
 whom could they look but to their heavenly 
 Father? Bev. Mr. Freeman read a portion of 
 Scripture — words, doubtless, of promise and com- 
 
92 
 
 TRYE’S TEAR. 
 
 fort. They sang a hymn. Yes, a Christian may 
 sing, even at the gate of death ! Then they all 
 knelt, and Mr. Freeman poured out his soul in 
 supplication to God. They find it good to draw 
 near to God, and he draws near to them. Another 
 hymn is sung, and Mr. Campbell speaks of the 
 riches of grace in Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God 
 who taketh away the sins of the world. The 
 meeting closes with prayer, the last public one 
 offered by any of the one hundred and twenty-six 
 souls there assembled. 
 
 They decide to throw their weapons into the 
 river. Soon a boat-load of Sepoys arrives, and 
 they are made prisoners. They are taken to Cawn- 
 pore, where they tell the Sepoys of their peaceful 
 occupations, and protest against being molested. 
 Some wish to let them go, but others say, ‘ No. 
 Take them to Yana Sahib, and let the unclean 
 foreigners be rooted out !' These were the strong- 
 er, and prevailed. The prisoners were bound with 
 a small cord two by two — husband and wife, 
 brother and sister. Mr. Campbell, thus tied to his 
 wife, carried in his arms his little boy, Millie, and 
 a friend took his little daughter, Fannie. These 
 were the only children in the missionary party. 
 
 The native Christians were told to make their 
 
THE MISSIONARY MARTYRS. 
 
 93 
 
 escape, and messages were sent to the church-mem- 
 bers at Futtehgurh. It is now almost evening, 
 and they are about to start, when their old friend, 
 Mr. Maclean, makes a final effort for the release 
 of the party. Knowing their love of money, he 
 offers the Sepoys three hundred thousand rupees, 
 or about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
 if they would give the party their freedom, but 
 there is no hesitation manifested in the reply made : 
 ^ It is blood we want, not money !’ 
 
 ^^All hope is now gone. The march is begun. 
 Guarded and watched in all their movements, they 
 pass on slowly. They are helpless, and insulted 
 by coarse remarks and jeers. Exhausted by 
 anxiety and fasting, they go on languidly. At 
 last some declare their inability to go farther. A 
 halt is made, and the party, surrounded by their 
 Sepoy guard, are permitted to remain all night. 
 Water is offered, but nothing to eat. What a 
 night that must have been to those poor, tired 
 sufferers ! It was a night of prayer, and God gave 
 them strength for their day. 
 
 ‘^They set out early in the morning. They have 
 not gone far on their way when they meet three 
 carriages sent by the Kana for the ladies, who are 
 unable to walk farther. The party continue their 
 
94 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 journey until they reach the station, when they are 
 all shut up for an hour in a house by themselves. 
 What occurred in that house and during that hour 
 none can testify. That it was a solemn hour all 
 must feel. At seven o’clock that morning (June 
 13th) ^they were released, marched to the parade- 
 ground and ruthlessly shot. Peace be to their 
 unburied ashes ! No cold marble monument can 
 be erected over their mutilated bodies, but their 
 memory will not be lost.’ ” 
 
 Father had in his hand ^‘The Martyred Mis- 
 sionaries,” by Pev. Mr. Walsh, of Allahabad, and 
 had read us parts of the story from that, telling us 
 the remainder. I have read the book myself since, 
 and wish every one else could do so. They would 
 see how those dear men and women labored and 
 suffered for Jesus. 
 
 I find that I have written another long letter, 
 and still have not finished our journey. Have 
 patience; I will bring you to this spot in my next. 
 
XII. 
 
 FUTTEHGURH AND FURRUKHABAD. 
 
 I river, past Kasampore, past other villages, 
 almost looking for the Sepoys to fire upon 
 ^ us. But nothing could have been more 
 
 Y DEAR BROTHER : On we went up the 
 
 peaceful than the appearance of the country. The 
 mutiny happened years ago. At Singarampore we 
 take a good look. This is considered a very holy 
 
 and its fakirs. A few hundred of these disgusting 
 beggars live here, and are called “ sons of Gunga.’^ 
 They have a story which runs in this way : One 
 
 of their gods. Ram, once cursed a fakir and caused 
 a horn to grow out of his head. This fakir, hap- 
 pening to bathe at this place, found the -water so 
 efl&cacious that at the very moment he immersed 
 his body in it his horn dropped and he was cured. 
 In consequence of this the place immediately ac- 
 quired a celebrity, and many temples were erected. 
 A village of some two thousand people is now the 
 
 place; it is noted for the number of its temples 
 
 95 
 
96 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 result, and nearly all the pilgrims stop there to 
 take away in bottles some of its holy water.” 
 
 We pass Rawalganj, and are told at last that 
 the place of our destination is in sight. Futteh- 
 gurh is situated on what our countrymen would 
 term a bluff. The name is given to the military 
 cantonment, which extends about two miles along 
 the bank of the river. The bungalows of the 
 Europeans are scattered and surrounded with 
 grounds laid out with taste and embellished with 
 pretty hedges and flowers of both hemispheres.” 
 The public buildings are there, as in other towns, 
 plain and substantial. The kuchchery, or court- 
 house, occupies here its usual position — a central 
 and commanding one. Here we land for a stay of 
 two or three days. That was day before yesterday, 
 and we have enjoyed the time since in riding out 
 and conversing with our friends the missionaries. 
 
 In one ride we went through the cantonment, 
 then north to Furrukhabad. The old walls first 
 attract the attention of a person from a free country. 
 It was formerly a walled town, but since the British 
 have ruled in India, the inhabitants have felt more 
 secure than before, and have allowed the walls to 
 fall, and in some places to disappear. As you 
 enter the city a large Hindoo temple attracts your 
 
Mission House near Furruckhabad 
 
 1 
 
1 
 
 V 
 
 .I-*i ■ 
 
 I 
 
 - '< ■/ 
 
 V - * • * ' ■ 
 
 ' .. '•■ ■ C 
 
 
 
FUTTEHGURH AND FURRUKHABAD, 97 
 
 eye. This is the most expensive and elaborate of 
 all their numerous temples, and was built with the 
 profits of the distillery opposite the temple, both 
 of which are owned by the same person. The city 
 is well laid out, and is noted for its brass and copper 
 works. It is also the point from which goods from 
 Calcutta are distributed to the other northern cities. 
 
 We rode through the main street, a delightful 
 drive of three miles. This street is very wide, and 
 in some parts of it there are trees, very old and 
 large, completely overshadowing the street and 
 houses. I was surprised to see the crowd, though 
 I need not have been, for the people of India seem 
 to be absolutely innumerable. It was toward 
 evening, when. Chat said, everybody and his 
 grandmother were out.’’ They were dressed in 
 their brightest colors, too ; I can give you no idea 
 of the scene. The nearest we ever come to it in 
 our cities is when the flags are all flying and every- 
 body in holiday attire. We had to send a man 
 ahead of the carriage several times to open the way 
 for us, and then were detained many minutes before 
 he could make a passage for us through the dense 
 throng. There are a number of gateways on this 
 street which divide the city into sections. Like the 
 
 v-’qlls, they are now unused, but under the native 
 7 
 
98 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 government they were of great advantage in pro- 
 tecting the citizens during a night attack. 
 
 When a native becomes a Christian, and is bap- 
 tized, he is from that hour an outcast, shunned and 
 despised by all his former friends. Just think 
 what a Hindoo has to give up if he is known to 
 be a child of God! He can gain employment no 
 longer among his own people; they will have noth- 
 ino; to do with him. Near Futtehgurh there is a 
 village of these native Christians, and they are 
 doing very much good. Let me tell you a little 
 about these people. When the missionaries first 
 came here, they started an orphan asylum. As 
 these children grew up and married, the mission 
 built them houses on a separate piece of land, so as 
 to have them still near them, and where they could 
 find something to do. This grew to be a village, 
 and a very neat one it is. It consists of two rows 
 of mud-walled buildings divided by a wide street 
 which is lined with a row of trees on each side. 
 At the end, facing the main road, there is a large 
 gate, and at the other end, opposite the gate, is a 
 very respectable-sized village hall, which is used 
 for holding public meetings, chiefly, however, for 
 those of the Bible classes and panchaiyat or court 
 of inquiry. 
 
TTKiKJinni Mission Sijiiool. 
 
FUTTEHGURH AND FURRUKHABAD. 99 
 
 At the time of the mutiny there were two hun- 
 dred of these people, and they showed how sin- 
 cerely they loved the Saviour by remaining true to 
 their profession. We were told about a number of 
 these faithful people, but I will repeat the story of 
 only one. Rev. Gopee Nauth Nundy was one of 
 the first members of the mission church. He and 
 his wife were forced to fly from home, and wan- 
 dered, not knowing whither to turn, until their feet 
 were blistered and fatigue, heat and hunger had 
 almost exhausted them. Accompanied by three of 
 their little ones, they had to endure the agony of 
 their piteous crying and suffering. At one time 
 robbed of their clothes and Bible and at another 
 time beaten with many stripes. They were con- 
 fined to the stocks and made to sit in a burnino; 
 sun, and during this more than once threatened 
 with instant death. Life was offered, and wdth it 
 emoluments of the highest character, on condition 
 that they would deny their faith and accept in its 
 stead the doctrines of Mohammed, but all without 
 avail, for Jesus and eternal life were worth more 
 than life and all its honors. If you would like to 
 read his story, you will find it told in The Martyrs 
 of the Mutiny,’’ which you may have seen. 
 
 Rev. R. S. Fullerton, one of the missionary 
 
100 
 
 TBYE’S YEAB. 
 
 band, who has since entered his glorious rest, vis- 
 ited the native vdllage at FutLchgurh after the mu- 
 tiny. He found it a desolate scene. The survivors 
 pressed around him with delight, and told with 
 tears what they had suffered and how the Lord had 
 spared them. He found six blind orphan girls and 
 one man named Lullu, besides a leper named 
 Khurga. They had been driven from their homes 
 at the beginning of the rainy season. But I will 
 use the words of Mr. Fullerton : 
 
 ^^The Hindoos turn away from those of their 
 own caste who are afflicted in this manner, because 
 they look upon their sufferings as the just retribu- 
 tion of heaven upon them for their sins in a former 
 birth. What, then, could these poor Christians 
 expect from them? They, no doubt, expected lit- 
 tle, and little they received. They were sometimes 
 days and nights without shelter, and had it not 
 been that He who hears the young ravens when 
 they cry sheltered them and provided for them, 
 they must have perished. I found them living 
 under a miserable shed. All were there but one. 
 Their poverty surpassed anything that I ever saw. 
 All they possessed in the world would not have 
 been sold for twenty-five cents in the streets of 
 New York or Philadelphia. Hearing my voice, 
 
FUTTEIIGURH AND FUBRUKIIABAD. 101 
 
 they were overjoyed. At one time they no doubt 
 felt that their friends and teachers had all been 
 killed, and that they would never meet any of us 
 again, and hence we need not wonder at their joy. 
 I found poor Lullu lying on the ground, sick of 
 fever, and with nothing but a few rags to cover 
 him. I asked him if he had found Christ precious 
 during the long months of suffering through which 
 he had passed. His reply was, ‘ Oh yes ! in dukh 
 (pain) and in sukh (joy) he is ever the same.’ 
 
 ‘^As I was returning I met poor blind Susan, 
 who, I had heard, was in search of me. A little 
 boy was leading her. I asked her who she was, 
 and her reply was, ‘ I am a poor blind girl ; I have 
 been looking for my padre (minister), but cannot 
 find him.’ AYhen she learned who I was, her lips 
 trembled with emotion, while she thanked me for 
 coming to see them. 
 
 ‘ Oh, sir,’ she said, ^ it is very kind of you to 
 come so far to look after poor blind people like us.’ ” 
 Have I written too much about the terrible mu- 
 tiny, my dear brother? I know that it is not a 
 pleasant subject to dwell upon, but I feel so much 
 for those who have suffered in it that my account 
 would become longer than I meant to have it. aiy 
 next letter will be of new people and new scenes. 
 
XIII. 
 
 THE SADHS, AND A BAPTISM. 
 
 EAR ARGA^LE : Chat was out this morn- 
 ing, looking around as usual, and gave us 
 an amusing description of a man whom he 
 saw in Furrukhabad. He had a piece of 
 thin muslin tied over his mouth. Chat asked some 
 one what it was for, and was told that the man did 
 it to prevent inhaling insects. We learned that he 
 belonged to a class of people called Sadhs. Dear 
 me ! I shall never learn all the kinds of people in 
 India ; there seems to be no end to the variety. 
 Well, these Sadhs do all such funny things as tying 
 up their mouths. The water they drink has to be 
 strained through several fine cloths for the same 
 purpose. They reject all the usual forms of salu- 
 tation, and say that they believe in one God, but 
 the missionaries think they are atheists. They 
 have no book like our Bible or the Koran, and 
 have no churches or temples. Their meetings are 
 secret, and little is known of them. There are not 
 manv of them. 
 
 102 
 
THE SADIIS, AND A BAPTISM. 103 
 
 We are told that some of them have learned to 
 believe in Jesus. One old man, who was a banker 
 of great wealth, bought a New Testament from one 
 of the ministers. He read it very diligently, and 
 asked the minister to explain what he did not un- 
 derstand. On finishing Matthew, he said, What 
 is the reason that every one speaks against this 
 book ? It is incomparable ! I have never seen a 
 book like it ! Never have I seen or heard of a 
 character like that of Jesus Christ ! Such love and 
 such patience ! There is not one among you Chris- 
 tians who at all equals him ! This book has de- 
 stroyed all my religion ! Your Christ seems to 
 shut rich men like me out of heaven Hearing: 
 the old gentleman praise the book in this way, sev- 
 eral of his friends have begun to read it. These 
 Sadhs welcome the ladies of the mission into their 
 houses, and the only trouble is that there are so few 
 to go to teach them the way of life. That is the 
 difficulty at every station, they say — there are so 
 many ready to hear, but so few to teach them. I 
 do hope the good folks at home will give a great 
 deal of money this year and send out a number of 
 missionaries. 
 
 One of those stationed here has written a descrip- 
 tion of the baptism of a family near Chibra Man, 
 
104 
 
 TEYE’S YEAE. 
 
 one of the out-stations a few miles distant. I think 
 you would like to hear it, so 141 give you a part of 
 it, after telling you something of the man. He lives 
 in a little village about a mile from Chibra Man, 
 and his name is Ratn Das. He was a fakir, and 
 went from one place of pilgrimage to another, 
 hoping to find peace to his troubled mind, but all 
 in vain. Finally, he gave up that kind of life, 
 bought a little place and married. Still he was 
 not satisfied. Then he became acquainted with 
 the catechist of Chibra Man, the Pundit Mohan 
 Lai (pundit means teacher), who told him the good 
 news of salvation. He felt that he had found at 
 last what he had so long sought, and became a 
 Christian. The people told him that he had done 
 two very foolish things. They said, After mak- 
 ing so many pilgrimages and laying up so much 
 merit, you destroyed much of that merit in aban- 
 doning that life and marrying a wife, but now you 
 have utterly undone all^ in that you have left the 
 religion of your fathers to become a Christian ; you 
 are now” only a Bunghi (outcast). The writer 
 says : 
 
 “ On Mondav I received a letter from the Pundit 
 Mohan Lai, our excellent catechist in charge, of a 
 part of which the following is a translation : 
 
THE SADHS, AND A BAPTISM. 
 
 105 
 
 ‘ May the grace of God be ever on you, honorable 
 people ! Let it be known to your honor that it is 
 exceedingly proper to giv’e baptism to the inquirer, 
 liatu Das, nor is there any kind of hindrance in 
 his family ; so it is well that your honor make no 
 delay, but read Acts xi. 11, 12, and come as 
 quickly as possible/ The minister with a friend 
 went at this request. They traveled by night, as 
 the day was too hot, in a covered ox-eart. They 
 were cordially received by the pundit, at whose 
 house they spent the heat of the day. AVhen the 
 sun began to decline, they went to the village of 
 Ratn Das. 
 
 “ Arriving there,’^ we read, we found a large 
 audience of village people, men and women, assem- 
 bled to see what was to be done, for it was rumored 
 everywhere that the Padre Sahib had come, bring- 
 ing some filthy stuff with which to feed Ratn Das, 
 and thus make him a Christian. There is no pul- 
 pit or table or chair or bench, but a clean white 
 spread on the ground in the front of the house, on 
 which we take our seats. Ratn Das and his wife 
 are examined as to their faith in Christ and object 
 in seeking baptism. Their examination is clear 
 and satisfactory. The missionary then reads the 
 story of the prodigal son, and instructs the people 
 
106 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 that here are prodigals returned to their Father’s 
 house, entreats them also to arise and go to their 
 heavenly Father. Then we sing a hymn, and now, 
 in the presence of all the people, Ratn Das and his 
 wife, leading their little one, come forth and kneel 
 down on the white cloth before the missionary, the 
 little wondering child between them. 
 
 The missionary asks them, ^ Do you believe in 
 and confess one only God, Maker of heaven and 
 earth ? You have believed in and worshiped many 
 gods and many idols : do you renounce them all ? 
 Do you confess yourselves to be sinners against 
 God, needing to be saved from sin? You have 
 done many things : you, Ratn Das, have made 
 many pilgrimages to do away your sins; do you 
 believe that you have done anything whatever of 
 merit by all you have done, or do you, abandoning 
 all hope from your own works, trust only in the 
 Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave his 
 life for our salvation ? And this your child, do 
 you promise to bring her up as a disciple of Christ, 
 to teach her, pray for her and with her that she 
 may with you inherit eternal salvation ?’ 
 
 As they answer these questions one by one be- 
 fore the people, the water — in no silver chalice, but 
 in a brazen cup — is handed to the missionary. The 
 
THE SADHS, AND A BAPTISM. 107 
 
 solemn words so often uttered since the Lord first 
 sent forth preachers of his gospel are heard again : 
 ^ Ratn Das, I baptize thee in the name of the 
 Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
 Amen/ Again we pray that the Lord would bless 
 these new disciples, and bless the people who have 
 beheld the holy ordinance. 
 
 The other minister then made a short address to 
 the congregation. Yet a few more words, and we 
 sang to a native tune a favorite hymn, beginning, 
 
 ‘ To take away the punishment of sin, 
 
 Jesus endured the agonizing cross P 
 
 The benediction pronounced, the audience 
 quietly dispersed. Yot an unseemly act had dis- 
 turbed the first baptism in Jorka’s Nagara.’’ 
 
 Good-bye, dear brother ; when you hear from us 
 again, we shall probably have gone farther on our 
 way. 
 
xiy. 
 
 THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 |EAK BROTHER: Here we are at Agra 
 with our beds aud baggage. The former 
 we have learned never to forget if we want 
 anything more than a bedstead to rest upon. 
 An American wonders at first at the great bundle 
 covered with native carpet, looking like a peddler’s 
 pack, which he sees every European take into his 
 car. The fact is, when a person goes away from 
 home, he must take his bedding and frequently his 
 bed with him. People consider India such a tem- 
 porary abode that they provide themselves with 
 only personal necessities. Consequently, when you 
 go to visit a friend, you are shown a room with a 
 low single bedstead, which you must furnish your- 
 self. If you go to a hotel, it is the same. A party 
 who stopped at this same hotel a few months since 
 were furnished with only three sheets for seven 
 persons, and were even accused of stealing one of 
 
 these. 
 
 108 
 
THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 109 
 
 AVe have been talking about the Taj Mahal as . 
 if we were making a pilgrimage to it. I have not 
 yet seen it, so in this letter I will tell you something 
 of the people. 
 
 The majority of those we have seen before in 
 India are Hindoos, but this is decidedly a Moham- 
 medan city. You see the tall, dignified Mussel- 
 mans going about the streets as if they were the 
 rulers of the land. They never forget that they 
 once did govern India, nor that they may some time 
 in the distant future regain their former position. 
 They make me think of the Pharisee who prayed 
 Lord, I thank thee that I am not as other men 
 They look down with contempt upon the idol wor- 
 shipers of the land, and think us but little better 
 because we do not believe in the great prophet, 
 Mohammed, and we do believe in Jesus as the 
 Saviour of our souls. 
 
 Some of the elderly men look as we might have 
 pictured to our minds the old prophets with their 
 long, flowing beard and lofty bearing. Their 
 beard, by the way, must be worn, for their religion 
 does not allow them to shave. Some of the 
 younger men, however, do shave all but their 
 mustache, which. Chat says, represents the whole 
 growth. I suppose that is the way they reason ; I 
 
110 
 
 TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 don’t know how else. When they go on a pilgrim- 
 age to Mecca, or during their great yearly fast, they 
 do not use the razor. They wear loose pyjanaas, or 
 trowsers, sometimes of silk or other costly material, 
 a flowing gown of cotton or silk, with a turban 
 and shoes. The turban seems to be a fixture on 
 the head during the day. The grossest insult a 
 Mohammedan can receive is to have his turban 
 knocked off or taken off in any way. 
 
 Of the women, except the lower classes, we have 
 seen nothing yet, and as our stay is to be so short, 
 we shall probably have no chance to see them at 
 home. Mother has been reading an account of . 
 them by Mrs. Meer Hassan Ali, a lady who spent 
 twelve years among them. She shows us what is 
 taking place in the zenana. The married women 
 apply a preparation of antimony, called missee, to 
 their lips, gums, and occasionally to the teeth, so 
 as to produce a ^^rich black.” The eyelids are also 
 penciled with prepared black, or karjil, composed 
 chiefly of lampblack. The eyebrows are examined, 
 that no stray hair shall destroy the beauty of the 
 arch. The mayndhie is applied to her hands and 
 feet, which restores the bright red color considered 
 so becoming and healthy. Her jewels are numer- 
 ous and costly. In the nose is a ring, often as 
 
THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 large as one of her bangles or bracelets, though 
 much lighter. It is made of gold wire, with pearls 
 and a ruby between them of great value. At 
 meals the lady often has to hold the ring aside 
 with her left hand while she conveys food to her 
 mouth with the other. This is only removed 
 during the mohurrim (a religious anniversary, 
 lasting ten days, commemorating the death of tw^o 
 early leaders of the Mohammedans), at widowhood 
 or at her death. 
 
 Her ears are pierced in several places. Gold 
 and silver rings form a broad fringe on each side 
 of her head. AVhen dressed for some great event, 
 as paying a visit or receiving company, these rings 
 give place to strings of pearls and emeralds, which 
 fall in rows from the upper part of her ear to her 
 shoulder. Her hair, which is black and beautiful, 
 is washed, dried, oiled and put up so as to remain 
 for a week. They are very particular about their 
 teeth, but will not use English brushes because 
 they are made of hogs’ bristles, the swine being, iu 
 their estimation, about the most unclean of all 
 animals; with no part of it will they have any- 
 thing to do. 
 
 Now for the dress. The pyjamas are of various 
 materials, but often of satin, gold cloth, striped 
 
112 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 washing silk, fine chintz, etc. They are worn 
 quite full, falling over the feet, and are confined at 
 the waist by a wide ribbon of gold or silver tissue, 
 the ends of which hang down before, finished with 
 rich tassels which reach below the knee. These 
 tassels are often ornamented with pearls and jewels. 
 The waist worn is close-fitting and usually orna- 
 mented. Over this boddice is thrown the courtee 
 of thread net, falling over, but not concealing, the 
 rich finish of the pyjamas, and itself adorned with 
 gold or silver ribbons, used as trimming on the 
 seams and hems. The deputtah, or chuddab, is 
 the outside covering and most graceful of the 
 whole. In shape and size it is like a large sheet. 
 On ordinary occasions it is simply bound with 
 silver ribbon, but for dress it is richly trimmed 
 with embroidery and gold bullion. It is worn on 
 the back of the head, and falls in graceful folds 
 over the person. When standing, it is crossed in 
 front, one end partially screening the figure, the 
 other thrown over the opposite shoulder. They 
 rarely stand, but when distinguished guests or 
 their elders among their relatives are announced, 
 they never omit this mark of respect. They arise 
 and arrange their drapery, advance a few steps 
 from their place and embrace their visitor three 
 
THE MOHAMMEDANS. 
 
 113 
 
 times in cine form. Thev end bv salaaming, with 
 the head bowed very low, the open hand raised 
 *to the forehead three times in succession with 
 solemnity and dignity. 
 
 They never wear stockings, and only cover their 
 feet with shoes when pacing across the courtyard 
 of their house. Their walks do not extend beyond 
 this, for, like the Hindoo ladies of high caste, they 
 are })risoners for life. They, however, live in more 
 luxury than the Hindoos, and have more fancy-work 
 to occupy their time. There is one fact which is in 
 favor of the Hindoos : they usually have but one 
 wife; the Mohammedan often has many. Still 
 there is one who is the chief lady of the harem, 
 and though neglected by her husband for some 
 more beautiful wife, she retains her position. In 
 receiving visitors, which in fine weather is in the 
 courtyard, she sits on her musnud or throne in the 
 centre. They salaam as they enter her presence. 
 
 None of the other ladies are allowed a musnud. 
 The rank of the lady is usually indicated by the 
 structure and appearance of the carpet and the mus- 
 nud. The latter consists of a large cushion, covered 
 with gold cloth or embroidered silk and velvet, and 
 is placed upon a carpet about two yards square. 
 
 Two smaller cushions are placed upon the larger to 
 8 
 
114 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 support the knees, as the Jady sits with her limbs 
 crossed. To be invited to a seat upon the musnud 
 indicates equality in the visitor, or profound respect 
 in the hostess. Should the visitor be of very su- 
 perior station, or the hostess anxious to show her 
 the highest possible form of respect, she resigns her 
 cushions altogether, which the visitor occupies. 
 A scat even upon the. carpet is an honor; how 
 much more, then, the resignation of the musnud 
 itself! In the houses of those of high rank each 
 wife has her own harem, her own musnud, her own 
 reception-rooms and halls. 
 
 Mrs. Hassan Ali speaks of these purdah women 
 (or women behind the curtain — purdah means cur- 
 tain) as contented with their lot, and apparently 
 happy in their secluded life. I am sure they must 
 be different from American girls and women if 
 they are so, for we should want to see what was 
 going on outside, and would give the lords of crea- 
 tion more trouble than if they allowed us to be 
 free; dofft you think so? 
 
XV. 
 
 THE TAJ MAHAL. 
 
 E have been out to see Agra. It comes nearer 
 the ideal I had formed of an Oriental city 
 than any one we have before visited. It is 
 Oriental, but verily not Hindoo — a splendid 
 exotic, flowering in beauty and brilliancy beside the 
 dark and ugly forms of Vishnu and Siva.^^ So says 
 Dr. Macleod, and yet the city is not so grand in 
 appearance as one would think from a distant view. 
 It contains about sixty thousand or seventy thou- 
 sand inhabitants, and extends along the river in the 
 form of a semicircle over a space about four miles 
 long and three in width. We go first to the Taj 
 Mahal, three miles from Agra, on the west bank 
 of the Jumna. 
 
 There is a beautiful carriage road leading to it, 
 and while we are driving out I will tell you what 
 this famous building is. It is a mausoleum or 
 sepulchre reared by Shah Jehan for his wife, and 
 contains his own dust also. Do you ask who 
 
 115 
 
116 
 
 TEYE^S YEAR. 
 
 Shah Jehan was? Biographers usually begin with 
 the father or grandfather, so I’ll first mention his 
 grandfather, who was the famous Akbar. His 
 father was Jehanghir. He was the first ruler in 
 India who received an ambassador from England. 
 That was in the reign of James I. Jehanghir 
 married a famous beauty, Kiher-ul-Xissa, the 
 widow of Sher Afgan, who, four years previously, 
 had been assassinated by this same Jehanghir. 
 Her name was changed first into Xoor Mahal, Hhe 
 light of the harem,’ and afterward to Xoor Jehan, 
 ^ the light of the world.’ Jehanghir had iw.paled 
 eight hundred of the race of Timour who were ^in 
 his way’ to the throne. Shah Jehan succeeded 
 him, having murdered his own brother in order to 
 do so. He married Arzuniund Banoo, the niece of 
 ‘ the light of the harem ’ — the daughter of her 
 brother. Upon her elevation to this position her 
 name was changed, according to Oriental cus- 
 tom, to Mumta.zee Zumanee, ‘ the paragon of the 
 age.’ ” 
 
 The Taj and all the fine buildings of Agra and 
 Delhi were planned by a Frenchman named Austin 
 de Bordeaux. He had finished the Taj and begun 
 a similar sepulchre for Shah Jehan on the other side 
 of the river, which was to have been connected with 
 
THE TAJ MAHAL. 
 
 117 
 
 this Taj by a silver bridge, when he died, and the 
 work was never resumed. He had built the palaces 
 of Delhi and Agra, and was engaged in designing 
 a silver ceiling for one of the galleries of the latter 
 when he was sent for by the emperor to settle some 
 affairs of great importance at Goa. He died at 
 Cochin on his way back. He is supposed to have 
 been poisoned by the Portuguese, who were jealous 
 of his influence at court. 
 
 The “paragon of the age’’ was laid to sleep in 
 her magnificent resting-place, and not many years 
 after her husband was laid beside her. Father says 
 the Taj cost upward of three millions of pounds 
 sterling. Just think of it! fifteen millions of dol- 
 lars ! Twenty thousand workmen were engaged 
 upon it for twenty-two long years. In our country 
 we know nothing about wealth compared with that 
 of some of those old moguls. 
 
 But we are approaching the famous Taj Mahal, 
 “ the gem of India and the world, the koh-i-noor 
 of architecture.” We first see white marble min- 
 arets rising above the trees, then we come to a 
 grand portal of the extensive grounds around it. 
 This entrance of itself is a beautiful building of 
 red sandstone, inlaid with white and black marble 
 and various colored stones. Its rooms are arched 
 
118 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 and spacious. We are taken to the upper story, 
 and from a great open arch we behold the Taj. Dr. 
 Macleod, whom I have quoted before, says at this 
 point, All sensible travelers here pause when at- 
 tempting to describe this building, and protest that 
 the attempt is folly, and betrays only an unwar- 
 ranted confidence in the power of words to give 
 any idea of such a vision in stone.’^ Bishop Heber 
 said that after all he had heard of the Taj, its beauty 
 far exceeded his expectations. 
 
 Surely, if such were the feelings of these great 
 men and finished writers, you cannot expect me to 
 give you any idea of the magnificence of the place. 
 This I will, of course, not attempt, but will write 
 some plain words of description that may point out 
 to your mind the general direction of the beautiful 
 in this work of art. In doing so I shall some- 
 times use the words of others more competent for 
 the task than I. 
 
 We are looking out through the great arch over 
 the gateway. Before us is a broad white marble 
 canal, often full of clear water. At its end rises 
 the platform on which the Taj is built. Each 
 side of the canal is bordered by tall dark cypress 
 trees, and on feast days about eighty fountains — 
 twent*'-two being in the centre — fling their cooling 
 
The Taj Mahal, Agra. — View prom the River Jumna. 
 
THE TAJ MAHAL. 
 
 119 
 
 spray along its whole length, while trees of every 
 shade and plants of sweetest odor fill the rest of 
 the garden/^ The first platform of the Taj is of 
 red sandstone, and a thousand feet square. At 
 each of two opposite sides is a mosque facing in- 
 ward. Only the one on the left, or west side, can 
 be used for wmrship, because the faces of the people 
 must be turned toward Mecca (west). The pulpit 
 is always against the dead wall at the back, and 
 the audience face toward it, with backs to the open 
 front. 
 
 Above this platform rises a second one about 
 twenty feet high, and occupying a place of three 
 hundred and fifty feet square. Upon this are the 
 celebrated structures that form the Taj. These 
 buildings consist of the tomb itself, which is an 
 octagon (or rather a square with the corners cut 
 off), surmounted by an egg-shaped dome of about 
 seventy feet in circumference, and of four minarets 
 about a hundred and fifty feet high, which shoot 
 np like columns of light into the blue sky.’’ All 
 this is of pure white marble — as pure and fresh as 
 when first erected. This climate does not affect it 
 as ours would. I said all was white; the pavement 
 of the platform on which the buildings rest is of 
 white and yellow marble, laid in alternate squares, 
 
120 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 and there is one other exception — the precious stones 
 inlaid in ^^the ornamented work of an exquisite 
 ilower pattern which wreathes the doors and wan- 
 ders toward the dome, one huge mosaic of inlaid 
 stones of different colors.” 
 
 We walk along the central marble canal, ascend 
 the platform, cross the marble pavement and enter 
 the Taj. It is more beautiful on close inspection 
 than at a distance, so finely is it finished. It is 
 grand, and shows us what man may do. I felt as I 
 stood there something of the power which God gives 
 us. If we would but employ our talents under his 
 direction, we could all build, in one way or another, 
 something which would far surpass the Taj when 
 viewed from the heavenward side of Jordan. Yes, 
 I thought, we are building constantly : is it only a 
 tomb to cover our decaying bodies, or a part of the 
 temple above composed of living stones? 
 
 But I must not stop to moralize. We enter the 
 central hall. This room is noted for its exquisite 
 workmanship. The walls, screens and tombs are 
 crowned with flowers and inscriptions from the 
 Koran in beautiful mosaic of precious stones. 
 Just before us as we enter is the screen which is 
 so celebrated a part of the Taj. “ Divided into 
 several compartments and panels, it sweeps around 
 
THE TAJ MAHAL. 
 
 121 
 
 the marble cenotaphs that lie within it and repre- 
 sent the real tombs seen in the vault beneath. It 
 is of purest marble, so pierced and carved as to 
 look like a high fence of exquisite lace- work, but 
 is really far more refined and beautiful, for every- 
 where along those panels are wreaths of flowers 
 composed of lapis lazuli, jasper, heliotrope, chal- 
 cedony, cornelian, etc., so that to make one of the 
 hundreds of these bouquets a hundred different 
 stones are required. The Florence mosaic-work 
 does not surpass it.’’ 
 
 We lingered long in this room. Every brilliant 
 flower upon the screen or the high-arched walls was 
 a study and a delight. The carving on the ceno- 
 taphs and the sides of the platform they occupied 
 showed us the perfect work of the chisel. Over 
 the tomb of the famous woman occupying the centre 
 of the room, amid wreaths of flow’ers, worked in 
 black letters, are passages from the Koran. One 
 ends with, ^^And defend us from the tribe of unbe- 
 lievers.” This was planned by Shah Jehan. His 
 tomb is at the side, and has nothing from the Koran 
 on it, only flow^ers of mosaic-work, his name and 
 the date of his death. 
 
 This was erected by his son, Aurungzebe, who 
 was called the man of prayer.” He was very at- 
 
122 
 
 TEYE’S YEAE. 
 
 tentive to the forms of his religion, never forget- 
 ting the five prayers a day, yet one who reads of 
 his treatment of his father and his own brothel's 
 can see that he was far from doing right at all 
 times. His reverence for the Koran was such that 
 he would not put its holy words anywhere, even on 
 his father’s tomb, if there were a possibility of the 
 foot of man ever touching them. 
 
 'SS e went out again, and walked around the build- 
 ing on the marble pavement. Many new beauties 
 and more exquisite carving appeared than we could 
 see at a first glance. Me looked up at the minarets 
 that stand as mighty sentinels at the corners. Each 
 one is a lofty tower. Me passed down the twenty 
 steps and saw the paneling of the sides of the great 
 base of the structure, and began to have some idea 
 of its grandeur. Me took our station at different 
 distances from it to view it once more. Finally 
 we stood again in the arch over the gateway, and 
 the pure white buildings rising out of the rich 
 dark foliage were so impressed on one mind at 
 least as to make a fiideless picture there. For 
 some of the other sights of Agra, wait for my next. 
 I cannot begin anything else on the same day that 
 I have written of the Taj. 
 
XVI. 
 
 THE FORT AND TEE PEARL MOSQUE. 
 
 FTER viewing the Taj, the next object of 
 interest in Agra is the fort, and thither 
 we bent our steps to-daj. Chat was very 
 anxious to see it, for you know he en- 
 joys anything in the military line, but I had not 
 much curiosity on the subject, for I expected to see 
 an ordinary fort such as I had seen before. You 
 may imagine my surprise, then, when father ex- 
 plained to me on the way what I might expect to 
 find in this one. It is a custom in India, he says, 
 as it is in some other countries, to have the royal 
 palaces within the fort for protection. Here, then, 
 I was to see the palace of the great Sultan Akbar, 
 with the royal mosque and all the buildings neces- 
 sary for royalty. 
 
 The fort itself is very imposing. It is built of 
 
 red sandstone, the walls about eighty feet high. 
 
 Within we find the audience-hall, the rooms for the 
 
 numerous retainers, the zenanas, the mosques, the 
 
 123 
 
124 
 
 TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 dwellings of the soldiery and buildings for arms 
 and for stores of provisions for man and beast. 
 These buildings are not crowded, either; there is a 
 good deal of space for walking, so you may imagine 
 the fort to cover a large piece of ground. Dur- 
 ing the mutiny, upward of five thousand fugitives 
 found refuge within a comparatively small portion 
 of its interior.^’ Some of our missionaries were of 
 these, and remained until it was safe for them to 
 depart. 
 
 We entered the audience-hall of Akbar, which is 
 now an armory. It is said to be one hundred and 
 eighty feet long and sixty wide, and is supported 
 by graceful arches. The throne is still there, but 
 without an occupant. We were shown a great 
 curiosity in this room, the sandal-wood gates of the 
 Hindoo temple of Somnauth. They were carried 
 away from the temple as trophies by Mahmoud of 
 Guznee in Afghanistan more than a thousand years 
 ago. They were recovered by English soldiers 
 under General Nott, which fact greatly rejoiced the 
 Hindoos. The chief objects in the fort are the 
 buildings erected by Shah Jehan, the Pearl Mosque 
 and the apartments of the zenana. The plan and 
 decoration of the palaces reveal the same mind as 
 the one that originated Shah Jehan’s sepulchre. 
 
THE PEARL MOSQUE. 
 
 125 
 
 The Mootee Musjed, or Pearl Mosque, is a perfect 
 gem of art. It opens into the marble court and 
 garden, which are bounded on the opposite side by 
 the palace of the zenana. This palace forms a 
 striking contrast to the zenana apartments of most 
 of the dwellings in India, either of the Hindoos or 
 Mohammedans. You pass through a series of 
 rooms, opening one into another, all of pure mar- 
 ble. There are balconies with delicate pillars and 
 projecting roofs ; balustrades in lacelike open pat- 
 terns with no ornaments but gilding. There are 
 ^Yivulets of water streaming from room to room 
 along marble beds ; gardens of flowers and precious 
 exotics, the creepers running over trellises and 
 shading from the heat the pathways across the mar- 
 ble floors, and mingling with the flying spray of 
 fountains ; and this on and on, from room to room, 
 from balcony to balcony, from court to court. And 
 then there are two recesses impervious to heat 
 whose walls are formed of innumerable small mir- 
 rors, with lamps without number, by which tiny 
 waterfalls used to be illumined from behind, as 
 they flowed into marble fonts, and thence issued in 
 bubbling rivulets or sprang in fluttering jets of 
 spray of delicious coolness.’’ 
 
 I said at once that the people who lived here in 
 
126 
 
 TEYE^S YEAR. 
 
 such splendor ought to have been happy, if any one 
 could be, but mother reminded me that they had not 
 the true happiness, and I pitied them instead. I 
 pitied them that they had to leave this delight with 
 no other for their future. Father said we must see 
 the dark side of their earthly lot as well as the bright 
 and beautiful, and we descended to a lower story. 
 Farther down still we went into empty cells and 
 dark caverns that made me shudder. Deep down 
 go the mysterious stairs and winding passages. 
 There are many evidences, we are told, of beings 
 having been taken to some of these unearthly places 
 and executed. Some who have explored these hid- 
 den recesses tell of a well or pit with ropes hung 
 from poles across its mouth, from which hung skel- 
 eton bodies of females. 
 
 “ In the time of Lord Metcalfe, some engineer 
 officers found their way blocked up by a wall where 
 no wall should be. They pierced through it for 
 about eleven feet, and then emerging upon the 
 other side, found the skeletons of a young man and 
 of an old and voung woman. A well was there, 
 but no means of drawing water from it. A beau- 
 tiful view could be had from the spot, but no way 
 of escape.” We saw this place ; how cruel he 
 must have been who walled up these poor wretches 
 
THE PEARL MOSQUE. 
 
 127 
 
 thus to pine away and die of starvation. Mother 
 said, as we stood there, ^^^The tender mercies of 
 the wicked are cruel.^^’ 
 
 But enough of this. I was glad to get out to 
 the daylight, and something of the same feeling 
 comes over me as I write. Again we stood in the 
 beautiful palace, which seemed miles away from the 
 horrid vaults beneath it. Me looked out from a 
 balcony upon a magnificent prospect. There w^as 
 the Jumna winding its way through the country; 
 there the pure stately Taj in its setting of green, 
 and in another direction the city of Agra. We were 
 just outside the fort, when from the minarets of the 
 various mosques we were startled by the call to 
 prayer. It was sunset. This has been mentioned 
 so often by travelers among the Mohammedans 
 that I need say but little about it, though it deeply 
 impressed me. At the sound every Mohammedan 
 falls upon his knees for prayer. 
 
 We stopped the carriage to watch them. One 
 man near us first rubbed his hands, knees and head 
 with dust. Father says it is enjoined upon them 
 to bathe as the first act of worship, but if no water 
 is near, this rubbing with dust answers the purpose. 
 He then spread his prayer-carpet of fine matting on 
 the ground and faced Mecca. At first he stood 
 
128 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 erect, bis hands lifted up, the palms held out toward 
 heaven, where his eves also turned. Then he pros- 
 trated himself, his forehead touching the ground. 
 The prayer here used expresses unworthiness of 
 the creature permitted to approach and worship the 
 Creator.’’ He then knelt in prayer, after which the 
 prostrations were resumed. Another man repeated 
 these five times. He was more devout than they 
 usually seem to be, but they never forget the times 
 of prayer. AVhen the call comes from the minarets, 
 they always obey it. I don’t know what they 
 would think if they knew how often Christian 
 people allow something to keep them away from 
 worship, in public or in private. Yesterday, Chat 
 saw some men who were building. They had a 
 heavy stone raised almost to the height they wanted 
 it. Just then came the call to pray, and they let 
 the stone go down, losing all their hard labor. 
 Two or three more minutes would have put the 
 stone in its place. 
 
 Father says they divide their time into four 
 equal parts or watches, called purrhs. The night 
 is divided in the same way. The watches are sub- 
 divided into ghurries, or hours, which vary with the 
 change of season. The day is from the earliest 
 dawn to the last decline of the light. In this lati- 
 
THE PEARL MOSQUE. 
 
 129 
 
 tilde the twilight is very short. Their way of 
 measuring time is this, although clocks have come 
 into the country with other European conveniences, 
 and are used. Tliey have a brass vessel with a 
 small aperture at the bottom. This being floated 
 on a tank or a pan of water, one drop forces its 
 way every second through the hole into the floating 
 vessel. Marks are made upon the vessel, outside 
 and in, to show the number of ghurries by the 
 depth of water drawn into it. In some places a 
 certain division of time is marked by the sinking 
 of the vessel. Every hour, as it passes, is struck 
 by a man on duty with a hammer on a broad plate 
 of bell-metal suspended to the branch of a tree or 
 to a nail. The durwan (gatekeeper) or the cho- 
 keedars (watchmen) keep the time. 
 
 In most establishments the w’atchinen are on 
 guard two at a time, and are relieved at every 
 watch, day and night. They are punctual in this, 
 if they do appear to take their own time in other 
 matters, for their services of prayer are scrupu- 
 lously performed at the appointed time. They 
 have five prayers a day — one at dawn, the second at 
 the second watch, or mid-day, the third at the third 
 watch, the fourth at sunset and the fifth at the 
 fourth ghurrie of the night. Mohammed observed 
 
 d 
 
130 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 another, called tahnjjoot, at the tliird watch of the 
 night. Those who are very devout follow his ex- 
 ainj)le. 
 
 Father says there are two sects of Mohammedans 
 who think very little of each other; they are 
 called Sheahs and Soonies. The leaders of the 
 former are called imaums, those of the latter, 
 caliphs. The Turks are Soonies, the Persians, 
 Sheahs. IMost of the Mussulmans, from the river 
 Euphrates to the Atlantic, are Soonies ; those east 
 of the Euphrates, Sheahs. 
 
 Here both are represented, and perhaps in nearly 
 equal numbers. The Sheahs observe ten days of 
 the Arabic month, called Mohurrim, as ‘^a period 
 of deep humiliation and sorrowful remembrance,” 
 being the anniversary of the death of two of their 
 early leaders, Hassan and Hosein. The Soonies 
 look upon these leaders as having been usurpers 
 and lawfully put to death by the reigning caliph. 
 This being the case, there are usually contests 
 between the two parties at the time of the Mohur- 
 rim. Those who observe the Mohurrim lay aside 
 all ornament and live on the plainest fare during 
 the time. They spend large sums of money, how- 
 ever, on the processions and trappings, the gifts to 
 the poor and the valuable mourning and em- 
 
THE PEARL MOSQVE. 
 
 131 
 
 broidery, never used again. It is said that tlie 
 wealth of the Mohammedans in India may gener- 
 ally be estimated by the display they make at the 
 Mohurrirn. 
 
 There is another period of the year considered a 
 ])eculiarly solemn one, and observed as a fast by all 
 the faithful.’^ It is called the Ramazan, and has 
 just begun. The Mohammedan year has in it 
 twelve lunar months. As ours has thirteen, the 
 Ramazan in so many years makes the complete 
 circuit of our calendar. It lasts just a month, 
 during which time the Mussulmans fast from sun- 
 rise to sunset, nor do they use their favorite hook- 
 ah, or pipe, but make up for it by eating very 
 heartily at night. It is said that, even with this 
 privilege, the wives complain that their husbands 
 are very irritable during the time. 
 
 So much for Agra, which we expect to leave 
 to-morrow. I hope we shall hear from you at 
 Delhi 
 
XVII. 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 ELHI is a strange old place. The natives 
 call • it Shahjehanabad, as it was chiefly 
 built by Shah Jehan. Chat thinks the 
 bad is the right word to end the name of 
 a city, for there is bad enough in all of them. 
 The old patriarchs here would not like his trans- 
 lation of the word, though. Take, for instance, 
 Allahabad, the city of Allah — that is, the city of 
 God. They would be shocked to have any one 
 hint that it is otherwise than holy. This Shahje- 
 hanabad was once the grand capital of the Mo- 
 hammedan government, and is still the home of 
 the faithful.’’ You see some stately Afghans 
 and milder Sikhs in the street, but not many Hin- 
 doos. The present city is a walled one, of about 
 seven miles in circumference, and contains not far 
 frDm one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. 
 
 We have been out several times seeing the sights. 
 They are new to us, though many of them are in 
 
 132 
 
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DELHI. 
 
 133 
 
 reality very old. The two points of interest are 
 the palace and the Great Mosque, and they are 
 magnificent. Here is the same mind that planned 
 the Taj and the same royal wealth that built it. 
 A writer says that Shah Jehan literally found 
 Agra and Delhi brick and left them marble.’’ 
 The palace is three thousand feet long and eighteen 
 hundred wide. It can afford space in its great 
 open court for ten thousand horsemen. When 
 the mutiny broke out, there were in it five thou- 
 sand persons, including three thousand of the blood 
 royal. A Mohammedan king found it necessary 
 to have a large guard, which, with his numerous 
 wives, officers and servants, occupied considerable 
 space. 
 
 We passed through the entrance, a splendid 
 building, into the interior court, beyond which is 
 the great hall of audience, or diwan-i-Jcass, two 
 hundred and eight feet long and seventy-six broad. 
 It is all of white marble, and once contained the 
 famous peacock throne. It is said that untold 
 jewels have been plundered from this place. The 
 private hall of audience has inlaid in its marble 
 precious stones of every hue, and grouped in ex- 
 quisite patterns. We passed through the court of 
 the harem, with its balconies looking down into 
 
134 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 once beautiful gardens on the banks of the Jumnu.” 
 We went through marble halls, and saw ^rhere lux- 
 urious baths had been ; we had glimpses at every 
 turn of the splendors of the mogul court. 
 
 The Jumna Musjid, or Great Mosque, rises in 
 spotless purity with its dome and minarets like 
 other mosques, yet with greater size, more beautiful 
 courts around it and more exquisite finish through- 
 out. The dome and minarets are becoming quite 
 familiar to me. I like these mosques; they are 
 beautiful without and cheerful within, just such 
 structures as seem to me fitted for the worship of 
 the true God. I only wish he were worshiped here 
 in spirit and in truth. 
 
 Outside of the new city is what is left of the old. 
 Acres and acres of ruins are here ; they cover an 
 area of forty-six square miles. It is said that 
 Delhi has three times changed its site since it was 
 founded in 57 B. c., which accounts for the large 
 space covered. About nine or ten miles from the 
 palace is what is called the kootab minar. This is 
 a large tower two hundred and fifty feet in height, 
 with four projecting galleries or balconies at differ- 
 ent distances from the ground, and of different de- 
 signs. A stairway of three hundred and eighty 
 steps winds within and leads to the top, where a 
 
DELHI. 
 
 135 
 
 splendid view is obtained. Father says that some 
 suppose this to be a great column of victory, while 
 others think it to have been intended for one min- 
 aret of an immense mosque ; the others were never 
 finished. At its base are ruins of a large mosque, 
 which would seem to confirm this last opinion. 
 
 Here are carved pillars which once belonged to 
 a palace. Here, too, are the famous arches of 
 Delhi, three larger ones and three smaller ones, 
 belonging to the same building. They are the 
 pointed arch, beautifully carved, the central one 
 of the large ones being fifty-two feet high and 
 twenty-two feet wide. 
 
 Near the kootab is a pillar fifty feet high (twenty- 
 t'wo above ground), one single piece of wrought 
 iron and entirely without rust. But the greatest 
 of the ruins are the tombs. The Mohammedans 
 think more of building enduring houses for the 
 dead than for the living. In this vicinity is the 
 tomb of the Emperor Altumsh, who died 1235 
 A. D. ; he built it himself, and gave orders to have 
 no purdah (screen) between himself and heaven. 
 His wish w^as obeyed, so there is no dome to the 
 sepulchre. 
 
 We paused before the tomb of Nizamudeen 
 Ouleea, who defeated the Transoxonian army in 
 
13(5 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 1303. Tliere were a number of men around it 
 who had come on pilgrimage from different parts 
 of the country. It is a small building with a 
 white marble dome, and kept very neat. Beside it 
 is the grave of the poet Khusroo, his friend. 
 Khusroo sang to the music of the lyre, and seems 
 to have delighted the royal court. His songs are 
 still popular. His grave I'eceives as much atten- 
 tion as that of any of the old saints. About 
 halfway between the great tower and the new city 
 is the tomb of Munsoor Ally Khan, built after the 
 model of the Taj. It is composed of three kinds 
 of stone, white marble, red sandstone and fine 
 flesh-colored sandstone. The marble is very in- 
 ferior to that in the Taj. 
 
 But there is no end to these tombs. I will men- 
 tion only one more, the one which interested me 
 most — that of Jehanara Begum, daughter of Shah 
 Jehan. Her remains are covered with a marble 
 slab, hollow at the top and exposed to the sky. 
 The hollow is filled with earth covered with grass. 
 Upon the marble is this inscription, said to have 
 been written by herself : “ Let no rich canopy cover 
 my grave. This grass is the best covering for the 
 tombs of the poor in spirit. The humble, the 
 transitory Jehanara, the disciple of the holy men 
 
] 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 137 
 
 of Christ, the daughter of the Emperor Shah 
 Jehan/’ She is said to have learned the Christian 
 religion of her brother Dara, and from her epitaph 
 it would seem that she may have died a Christian. 
 I became very much interested in her, and, in fact, 
 in all that royal family. Father promised to tell 
 me their history, and I will write something of it 
 in my next. Till then, adieu. 
 
XYIII. 
 
 rmXCES AND PRINCESSES. 
 
 BROTHER ARGYLE : I was to in- 
 uce the family of Shah Jehan to you 
 time ; well, here they are. I will write 
 t father has told me of them. The old 
 emperor had four sons and three daughters. The 
 eldest son was Dara Shakoh. He is said to have 
 been one of the handsomest men in the empire. 
 He studied the religion of the Europeans, and is 
 thought to have become a convert to Christianity. 
 He cultivated the society of these foreigners, and 
 was not liked so well by the Mohammedans, in con- 
 sequence. Jehanara was older than Dara, a person 
 of great beauty, wit and accomplishments. She 
 was very much attached to Dara, and always took 
 his part. Sultan Shoojah, the second son, was not 
 so handsome, high-minded or intelligent as Dara, 
 but equal to him in courage. He changed his sect 
 from Soonnie to Sheah, to gain favor with the Per- 
 sian noblemen. 
 
 138 
 
PRINCES AND PRINCESSES. 
 
 139 
 
 Auruiigzebe, the father of Lalla Rookh, and 
 third son of Shah Jehan, was of middle stature, 
 slender figure and long features, particularly the 
 nose. The expression of his countenance was said 
 to be mild and pleasing, though always sedate. His 
 conversation was generally on religion and the laws 
 of the prophet. He always carried the Koran 
 under his arm and prayed five times a day. He 
 never appeared in public except in a clean white 
 dress, and always without ornaments. His name 
 he inscribed among the fakirs, and he lived like 
 one, on rice, roots and water. This all sounds very 
 well, but he was really as great a rascal as any in 
 the land. Dara knew him well, and said, ‘^Of all 
 my brothers, I fear only that man of prayers.^’ 
 Shoojah also understood him, but their youngest 
 brother became his dupe. 
 
 Roshunara Begum was the second daughter and 
 fifth child of Shah Jehan. She had less beauty 
 than Jehanara, but more cunning. She resembled 
 Aurungzebe as much as Jehanara was like Dara, 
 and was as fully devoted to him. Moorad Buksh, 
 the youngest son, was a brave, headstrong man 
 who devoted all his time to the sports of the field, 
 military exercises and the pleasures of the table. 
 He prided himself on his strength and courage. 
 
140 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 Miller Omissa Begum was the youngest child. She 
 was not attractive in mind or appearance. Dress 
 and trifling amusements occupied her time. 
 
 In 1651 the sons of Shah Jehan were appointed 
 to govern certain provinces. Dara was made vice- 
 roy of Cabul and Lahore, with permission to live at 
 Delhi and assist his father as the heir-apparent to 
 the throne. Shoojah was viceroy of Bengal, Bahar 
 and Orissa. Auruugzebe was to o-overn the Dec- 
 can, or the imperial dominions south of the Xer- 
 budda Biver, Moorad Buksh, the provinces of 
 Guzerat and Malwa. At the time of these ap- 
 pointments the emperor was at Cabul with his 
 court. Moorad set out for his dominions alone ; 
 Shoojah and Aurungzebe went as far as Delhi, 
 where they remained a few days. A daughter and 
 son of the former were there betrothed to a sou and 
 daughter of the latter. The two brothers swore 
 upon the Koran to continue through life the good 
 feeling then existing between them. 
 
 I can only tell you a few of the principal events 
 in the history of this family, for the whole of it 
 would make a large book. In 1658, Shah Jehan 
 became suddenly and dangerously ill, and for some 
 time he was supposed to be dead. Then the four 
 sous all prepared to flght for the throne. Here is 
 
J^RINCFS AXn PRINCESSES. 
 
 141 
 
 wliere tlie hypocrisy of Aurungzebe begins to show 
 itself. He apparently tried to have Moorad ]3ro- 
 claiined emperor, while he was really laying his 
 plans to place the crown upon his own head. 
 
 In Golconda there was a man bearing the pretty 
 little name of Mohammed Mouzzin Ameer Jumla. 
 He was a native of Persia, handsome, graceful 
 and learned in all the education Persia could fur- 
 nish. He had come to Southern India as an at- 
 tendant on a Persian merchant, and entered the ser- 
 vice of the king of Golconda. Here he became 
 viceroy over the richest province of the kingdom 
 and a man of great power in the land, and of im- 
 mense "wealth. 
 
 Aurungzebe, through the entreaties of Poshu- 
 nara, prevailed on Shah Jehan to invite this man 
 to his court at Delhi. He did so, and Ameer 
 Jumla brought many valuable presents to the em- 
 peror. Among these was the famous Koh-i-noor, 
 or mountain of light,’^ which he had gotten from 
 one of the mines of Golconda. Ameer was soon 
 after appointed prime minister, and told Shah 
 Jehan that there wxre many such diamonds in the 
 Deccan. He had only to entrust him with an army 
 for the conquest of that part of the country to have 
 unbounded wealth. The emj^eror had become very 
 
142 
 
 TEYE^S YEAR. 
 
 avaricious, and was dazzled with this brilliant pros- 
 pect. He immediately placed an army at the dis- 
 posal of his new prime minister. 
 
 Dara and Jehanara saw that this was a snare 
 laid by Aurungzebe. Such an army under such a 
 leader would give Aurungzebe the empire when- 
 ever he might seize upon it. They urged their 
 father not to take the step, but he only attributed 
 wrong motives to them. He was angry at Dara at 
 the time, because he tliought that Dara had poisoned 
 liis minister Sadoollakhan, so he would not listen 
 to him. Unable to prevent the emperor from send- 
 ing out the army, they persuaded him to make 
 Ameer’s command independent of Aurungzebe, and 
 to confine the latter to his own dominions, also to 
 insist on Ameer’s leaving his wife and children at 
 court as hostages for his fidelity. Ameer hesitated 
 about accepting this last condition, but the emperor 
 promised to send his family on after him, so he 
 yielded the point. His eldest son was made prime 
 minister in his absence. 
 
 Aurungzebe was displeased with the king of Be- 
 japore, and got Shah Jehan’s permission to invade 
 his territory. Aurungzebe then sent for Ameer to 
 join him, but Ameer feared that his family would 
 be killed by Dara if he did so, and declined. Now 
 
PRINCES AND PRINCESSES. 
 
 143 
 
 we come to a time of terrible war amontr the 
 brothers. Aurungzebe addressed Moorad as ‘^yoiir 
 imperial majesty.’^ At their first interview in 
 front of the army, Aurungzebe got ofip his elephant 
 and walked some distance to meet him. He seemed 
 so sincere and so pious that Moorad trusted him 
 fully. Aurungzebe knew that his father had long 
 been out of danger, but took good care that Moorad 
 should get no news from Delhi or Agra. 
 
 Dara sent out an army against Shoojah, who was 
 marching on the capital, and who exclaimed as he 
 did so, Death or the throne He proclaimed 
 that Dara had poisoned his father and he was 
 hastening to revenge the murder. Aurungzebe 
 and Moorad defeated their father’s army near 
 Ojeyne. AVhen Shah Jehan heard of this defeat, 
 he raised his eyes to heaven and exclaimed, “ O 
 Lord, thy will be done ; it is for my sins that I am 
 afflicted, and much heavier punishment have they 
 merited.” 
 
 Dara demanded vengeance on the family of 
 Ameer Jumla, but his father would not allow them 
 to be arrested. Dara marched in person against 
 his brothers with an army of one hundred thou- 
 sand horse, fifty thousand foot and one hundred 
 pieces of artillery. He took his family with him. 
 
144 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 his camp equipage being carried on the back of 
 five hundred camels. He was defeated, and retreat- 
 ing toward Lahore, was robbed by the Jats. 
 
 Shah Jehan kept armed women (Calmuck women) 
 in his seraglio, as has been done by the native kings 
 since his time. He intended to have Auruno:zebe 
 and IMoorad imprisoned by them, but these undu- 
 tiful sons imprisoned him instead. Aurungze.be 
 now made extensive preparations for the coronation 
 of Moorad at Mathara — at least, so he made the 
 people believe. After consulting the stars, the day 
 of the ceremony was fixed for June 27, 1658. 
 The spot chosen was the great plain in front of the 
 old mosque. The descriptions we have of this 
 scene give us an idea of grandeur such as is only 
 witnessed in the East. Tents formed of richest 
 gold brocade were pitched all around the plain, 
 and the whole space within covered with canopies 
 of rich colored cloth supported upon poles fastened 
 to the ground by ropes of silk. Upon a throne 
 under these magnificent canopies, and in the midst 
 of the armies, Moorad was to receive the turban 
 and the imperial sabre from the hands of the great 
 Kazee or chief priest of the Mohammedans. 
 
 The evening before this event was to take place 
 Aurungzebe asked Moorad to sup with him. 
 
PRINCES AND PRINCESSES. 
 
 145 
 
 Moorad was warned by some of Aurangzebe’s 
 attendants not to put himself in his brother’s 
 power, but he saw no reason for fear, and accepted 
 the invitation. He was urged to drink to intoxi- 
 cation, and while in that state was fettered and im- 
 prisoned by servants of Aurungzebe, who stood 
 ready for the deed. Aurungzebe was crowned 
 emperor on July twenty-third in Shalamar garden, 
 near Delhi, and the next day after set out in pur- 
 suit of Dara. Dara’s army was again defeated, 
 and he was slain. His two sons were imprisoned 
 and killed. Aurungzebe met Shoojah in battle 
 in Bengal and destroyed him with his whole 
 family. 
 
 Princes were frequently put to death in those 
 days by giving them poust to drink. This poust, 
 an old writer says, is poppy expressed and infused 
 a night in water. It is that potion which those 
 that are kept at Gwalior are commonly made to 
 drink — I mean those princes whose heads they 
 think it fit not to cut off They drink it the first 
 thing in the morning. It emaciates them and 
 maketh them die insensibly, they losing little by 
 little their understanding and growing senseless.” 
 This drink was given to Moorad at first, but the 
 
 bloody usurper was afraid to leave him to die by 
 10 
 
- 146 
 
 TEYE^S YEAE. 
 
 this means, and so had him executed. Aurungzebe 
 had now destroyed all his brothers, and held un- 
 disputed sway. 
 
 The Princess Jehanara shared the captivity of 
 her father, and remained with him until his death. 
 During this imprisonment, Jehanara spent most of 
 her time in writing the lives of the celebrated 
 saints in the valley of Cashmere. Ou Shah 
 Jehan’s death, in 1666, she became reconciled to 
 Aurungzebe, who restored to her all the estates 
 and governments she had enjoyed under her father, 
 amounting to an annual revenue of a million pounds 
 sterling, and gave her the title of Shah Begum, or 
 Sovereign Princess. She died six years after her 
 father, in the fourteenth year of the reign of 
 Aurungzebe. 
 
 Father closed the book he had referred to several 
 times while giving us these facts, and asked, 
 
 “ What now do you think of this royal family ? 
 Would you like to be a Mohammedan princess, 
 Trye 
 
 “ Is ot for the world, father,^^ I said. This is a 
 terrible story. I wonder that Aurungzebe could 
 have a moment’s peace after all the crimes he had 
 committed.” 
 
 ^^Such are the triumphs of the world, my 
 
PRINCES AND PRINCESSES. 
 
 147 • 
 
 daughter, and the tender mercies of the wicked, 
 which you know are cruel. This is a fair speci- 
 men of the lives of those who reigned here in the 
 olden time. You need not want to know the' 
 history of many of the Mohammedan princes.’’ 
 
 I don’t see why they let Aurungzebe live,” 
 said Chat ; the miserable old fellow ! I wouldn’t 
 have been one of his subjects; I would have run 
 away first.” 
 
 I think Dara ought to have had the throne,” I 
 said. I like him and Jehanara too ; they would 
 have done finely.” 
 
 ^^Yes; I would have fought for him and got 
 Aurungzebe out of the way somehow, if I could,” 
 said Chat. He ought to have been hung on one 
 of those silk tent-ropes after he had lived on poust 
 for a month.” 
 
 It is a pity you were not there to have righted 
 matters,” father said, quietly. 
 
 Chat laughed, and said that he only meant that 
 he would have done all he could to put the right 
 king in his place and the wrong one in his place. 
 
 I don’t see why such men as Aurungzebe are 
 ever allowed to have control of affairs,” I said, 
 for they surely do harm instead of good.” 
 
 Do you think the Lord makes mistakes in not 
 
148 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 checking these wicked men before they have done 
 any injury?’^ mother asked. 
 
 ^^Oh no!” I said — ^^no, he cannot do wrong, 
 but — but — I don’t understand it.” 
 
 Ah, there it is ! she said. ^Ye are too apt to 
 think things are wrong because we do not under- 
 stand them. Look at the life and death of our 
 dear Redeemer. He suffered from the indifference 
 and insolence and ill-treatment of the men of his 
 time. ^ He was despised and rejected of men,’ and 
 Mie was brought as a lamb to the slaughter,’ just 
 as Isaiah had foretold. Now, it was necessary that 
 he should live our life and have all these trials 
 from man ; it was necessary that he should die as 
 he did — forsaken and beyond, the reach of sym- 
 pathy — for us. The sin of those who despised 
 him and those who participated in his crucifixion 
 was terrible to think of, as is that of those who re- 
 ject him now, but their doings formed a part of 
 the great plan of salvation. They would not 
 believe, and God allowed them to carry out their 
 own wicked schemes, and thereby to show his 
 glory. God will make even the wrath of man to 
 praise him, and what is beyond the needed measure 
 he will restrain.” 
 
 ^^But, mother,” said Chat, ^^you do not think 
 
PRINCES AND FEFNCESSES. 
 
 149 
 
 that wicked men, the heathen and savages, for in- 
 stance, are working out God’s purposes when they 
 are doing all they can against him, do you ?” 
 
 Most assuredly I do. They do not do it to aid 
 his cause, but they do aid it, nevertheless. Those 
 mogul emperors at war with each other only 
 thought of their own gain, but they were them- 
 selves overthrowing a very corrupt government 
 and paving the way for the religion of Christ and 
 for a better state of affairs temporaHy.” 
 
 Mother had given me new ideas in this explana- 
 tion. I believed before that God reigned and did 
 all things well,” but could not see why he didn’t 
 put down at once all opposition to his law. Now 
 I could see the reason, and could tell why mother’s 
 faith is always so strong and why she is always so 
 hopeful. It is, as she says, a blessed thought that 
 God reigneth, and that be is a God of love. I re- 
 member thinking of this one day last summer 
 when we had a very severe thunder-storm, and the 
 whole scene returned to my mind with this conver- 
 sation. It seemed as if this whole universe were 
 shaken, and yet it was only a commotion in one 
 little part of our ocean of air. I spoke of this, 
 and father said, So of the strifes and destructions 
 of men. When in the midst of them they are 
 
150 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 terrible to us, but viewed from afar, as we look 
 down the ages of history, they may be only the 
 showers that purify the moral air, or the tempests 
 that bring devastation to prepare the way for noble 
 building/^ 
 
 But my letter is growing very long, so I will 
 not attempt to give you more of our conversation 
 on this subject. 
 
XIX. 
 
 THE KOHINOOR, THE BEGUM AND THE CHRIS- 
 TIANS. 
 
 evening as mother, Chat and I sat on 
 the verandah of our temporary home in 
 Delhi, Chat said he had been thinking about 
 ^ ^ the Kohinoor, and asked mother what be- 
 came of it after it was given to Shah Jehan. 
 cannot trace it through all the details of its wan- 
 derings,’’ she said, ^‘and it would be too long a 
 story were I to do so, but I will tell you something 
 about it. It lay in the imperial treasury for nearly 
 a century, when it was taken by Xadir Shah, king 
 of Persia. He invaded India durino; the reio;n of 
 Mohammed Shah in the year 1738. This king, in r 
 one of his mad fits, had put out the eyes of his son. 
 
 He himself was afterward assassinated, and the 
 conspirators gave the throne and the diamond to 
 his son’s son, Shahrookh Mirza, who lived at Mees- 
 heed. Shah Mirza lost his eyes some time after 
 that, during a civil war in his dominions. Ahmed 
 Shah marched to his relief, put the rebels to death 
 
 151 
 
152 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 and united his eldest son, Timoor Shah, in nivir- 
 riage to the daughter of the unfortunate prince. 
 Ahmed took the diamond from Mirza, reasoning 
 that it could be of no use to a blind man. 
 
 He established his son Timoor at Herat, his own 
 residence being at Cabul, where he died. Timoor 
 succeeded his father, and was succeeded in turn by 
 his eldest son, Zurnan Shah, who after a reign of a 
 few years was driven from the throne by his younger 
 brother Mahmood. Zurnan went to his friend, who 
 commanded a distant fortress, for protection. As- 
 heek betrayed him to the usurper and put him in 
 confinement. He hid the great diamond in a crevice 
 of the wall of his prison, and his other jewels in a 
 hole made in the ground w'ith his dagger. 
 
 As soon as Mahmood heard from Asheek of the 
 arrest, he sent for his brother, had his eyes put out 
 and demanded the jewels, but Zurnan pretended to 
 have thrown them in the river as he passed over. 
 Two years after this the third brother, the Sultan 
 Shoojah, deposed Mahmood and ascended the throne 
 by the consent of his elder brother. He blew from 
 the mouths of cannon Asheek, his wife and all his 
 children. 
 
 He intended to put out the eyes of his brother 
 Mahmood, but was deterred from doing it by the 
 
THE KOHINOOR. 
 
 153 
 
 persuasion of his brother and Znman. The latter 
 told him where he had concealed the great diamond, 
 and Shoojah soon took possession of it. Mahmood 
 escaped from prison, raised a party and drove out 
 his brothers, and once more became king. The two 
 brothers went to the territories of the East India 
 Company for protection, and from that time lived at 
 Lodiana upon a pension assigned them by the 
 British government. On their way through the 
 territory of the Sikh chief, Runjeet Singh, in 1813, 
 Shoojah was discovered to have the great diamond 
 with him, and was compelled to surrender it to his 
 host. In 1849, when the Punjaub was united to 
 the territories of the East India Company, it was 
 stipulated that the Kohinoor should be surrendered 
 to Queen Victoria, in whose possession it has been 
 ever since. It is certainly the most celebrated dia- 
 mond in the world. It has been so cut that it is 
 smaller now than then, but of greater brilliancy, 
 owing to the greater number of faces to refract the 
 light. 
 
 That is a wonderful history for a little stone/’ 
 said Chat ; it ought to be able almost to tell its 
 own story by this time. And even this piece of 
 carbon (I haven’t studied chemistry for nothing) 
 couldn’t be told about without an account of those 
 
154 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 old fellows* fighting and putting each other’s eyes 
 out. Well, they were a wretched set, and there are 
 plenty more like them in the world now, I suppose. 
 I saw a Musselman in the street the other day with 
 a long nose and very sedate. He looked exactly as 
 I think Aurungzebe must have done, and I felt 
 like going up to him and knocking off his turban.” 
 I should like to see the wonderful diamond 
 that has had such an eventful history,” I said ; I 
 am more interested in it than in those fellows you talk 
 about who treated each other so shamefully.” And 
 yet I have been very anxious to see some one who 
 had belonged to royalty here, or who is a descendant 
 of any of the noted characters of whom I have 
 written. 
 
 A missionary lady told us that several members 
 of the late royal family were numbered among their 
 pupils, and asked me to go with her to see one fam- 
 ily closely related to the dethroned king. We saw 
 two girls, rather pretty-looking, but not any more 
 royal than many others I had seen. The most in- 
 teresting personage to me was their grandmother. 
 This old lady, named Imami Begum, told us a 
 very pitiful story about her former greatness and 
 present poverty. Her father, brother and nephew 
 had each occupied the throne of Delhi, and the last 
 
THE KOHINOOR. 
 
 155 
 
 of these, as she said, had ^^joined his kingdom to 
 the dust.’’ She liad once robed lierself with silks 
 and valuable ornaments, but now she wears an old 
 blanket around her body, and lives upon the two 
 dollars and a half a month given her as a govern- 
 ment pension. 
 
 The court of her house is nearly full of elegant 
 marble tombstones, beneath which lie buried vari- 
 ous members of the family. It was sad to see the 
 old lady doing the work of a servant where she 
 had once had numbers of attendants to wait upon 
 her. The lady said, after we came out, It makes 
 us feel very tenderly toward her, a;id many times 
 do we endeavor to convey to her weary heart the 
 rich and priceless consolations of the gospel of 
 Christ. At times she seems touched, but I fear her 
 heart is too much absorbed in her earthly troubles 
 to realize her spiritual need.” 
 
 The missionaries have been at work here for a 
 number of years, and not without doing much good. 
 I have been listening to the story of Walayat Ali, 
 a native Christian who was killed here in the time 
 of the mutiny. He belonged to a respectable and 
 once wealthy Mohammedan family of Agra, and 
 was led to read the Bible by the words of Col. 
 Wheeler, a pious officer in the British army of In- 
 
156 
 
 TBYE’S YEAB. 
 
 dia. This unsettled his mind in regard to his for- 
 mer belief, and yet for a long time he clung to it. 
 At length he went to a moulvi who W’as consid- 
 ered very holy, and sought to become one of his 
 disciples. ^^For this the priest required a fee of 
 twelve shillings, but after hard bargaining came 
 down to two shillings, at the same time cautioning 
 him against telling any one of the small price he 
 had paid, and exhorting him to say to all that he 
 had paid the full price, twelve shillings.^’ This 
 did not certainly appear right, and he thought, “ I 
 can sin enough without the aid of a priest : sin is 
 the burden under which I am groaning; and yet 
 this man would have me tell lies in order to fill 
 his pockets 
 
 He then turned to the missionaries for help, and 
 was baptized by a Baptist minister in 1838. From 
 that time to his death he was persecuted continu- 
 ally. He was sent to Delhi as a native preacher, 
 where he was still stationed w’hen the meeting be- 
 gan. When threatened with death by some Mo- 
 hammedan soldiers and taunted with being a Chris- 
 tian, he said, boldly, Yes, I am a Christian, and 
 I am resolved to live and die a Christian. As a 
 Sepoy aimed a blow at him with a sword which 
 ended his life, he said, O Jesus, receive my soul 
 
THE KOHINOOR. 
 
 157 
 
 Ilis wife was in great danger, but was protected 
 in one way and another until the danger had 
 passed. Her words were in the same spirit as 
 those of her husband: ^^No, I cannot forsake 
 Christ. I will work to support my children, and 
 if I must be killed, God’s will be done.” It is a 
 sad, sad tale, but one that shows what good, true 
 Christians there are among those whom the dear 
 Lord has set free from the slavery of heathenism 
 to be his own children. The great Kohinoor is 
 not to be compared to these jewels, which will shine 
 in the palace of glory for ever and for ever. 
 
 This is probably my last letter from Delhi. I 
 feel that I have had only a bird’s-eye view of it, 
 but we must be off to-morrow, so good-bye to the 
 old ruins and the sleeping dust of the mogul kings 
 wliose reigns were written in blood. They are be- 
 yond our help, but the living, the thousands u^on 
 thousands of mortals here going to the same cheer- 
 less doom — oh, it makes one’s heart sick to think 
 of it. Do pray for these poor misguided people, for 
 the Lord is able to save to the uttermost.” 
 
I 
 
 
 WHAT WE SAW AT AMBALA. 
 
 i 
 
 "3 
 
 it. 
 
 E have taken another step northward, and 
 reached Ambala, where we will remain for 
 several days, if nothing happens to prevent 
 Chat and I were out bright and early 
 
 We stood 
 
 for a long time on a bridge quite near a heathen 
 temple. I am surprised to find myself becoming 
 so accustomed to seeing the heathen and their wor- 
 
 this morning, and had a delightful w’alk. 
 
 ship. It used to seem like something to read about 
 and hear about, but actually to be where men 
 worship idols is something I then did not 
 expect. 
 
 Between us and the temple is a pool of the 
 clearest water. This is not the main tank for 
 bathing; that is on the other side of the temple. 
 This has been formed by digging for brick material. 
 Many of the temples are built with a large court, 
 within which is a tank filled with water. Steps 
 lead down to the water from all sides. If the 
 people would only come to the true Fountain for 
 
 158 
 
WHAT WE SAW AT AMBALA, 
 
 159 
 
 siu and uncleanness, how clearly they would see 
 that their bathing, even in the Ganges, is of no 
 avail ! — that all their offerings to the idols they 
 have formed will not cancel one sin ! How glad I 
 am that there are such noble men and women work- 
 ing for their salvation here, as also at our other 
 mission stations ! Were every Christian so entirely 
 Christ’s as they, how much more raj^idly would the 
 gospel be borne to the ends of the earth ! 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Morrison, of the mission band, has 
 a service every Saturday morning in a house for 
 lepers and blind people. Last Saturday we all at- 
 tended it after taking chotahazan(][tt[e breakfast). 
 This consists of tea and toast, and is one of the reg- 
 ular meals in this country. The service was held 
 out of doors, the poor creatures seating themselves 
 on the ground. It was chilly, and they were well 
 wrapped up in their blankets, but occasionally a 
 fingerless stump of a hand would come out, or a 
 partly-eat6n nose in the small portion of the face in 
 sight would show the progress of that most loath- 
 some disease. Oh, it was heart-sickening to be 
 there. But the preaching among them has not 
 been in vain. Some of the brightest Christians of 
 the station are of their number. 
 
 How great was the contrast between that audi- 
 
160 
 
 TEYE^S YEAR. 
 
 ence and the one I saw the next dav in the English 
 church at the cantonment ! The couorregation con- 
 sisted chiefly of red coats/’ but there were some 
 civilians, and as much dress among the ladies as we 
 ever see in our most fashionable citv churches at 
 
 ml 
 
 home. He who looketh not upon the outward ap- 
 pearance doubtless saw true worshipers in each 
 place. 
 
 Here I find some of another kind of natives, the 
 Sikhs, who ruled in what is called the Punjaub, to 
 the north-west, and who are now scattered over 
 Xorth India. I have just been with a dear lady 
 of the mission to visit some Sikh women livino^ in 
 an old dilapidated fort in the city. Their families 
 were formerly Sirdars, or chiefs, but have no power 
 now and little or no property. The most interest- 
 ing of them was a young woman not long married. 
 Her manners were quiet and easy, and she seemed 
 quite intelligent. She wore the true Sikh costume 
 of her caste, a dress of thin red and white plaid 
 silk with a flounce of green, and a red silk chuddah 
 with a tinsel band around it. This she drew over 
 her face whenever her husband came through the 
 court. 
 
 We were completely shut in by the mud walls 
 of the surrounding apartments. The place was 
 
WHAT WE SAW AT AMBALA. 
 
 161 
 
 not such as to give very romantic ideas of mission 
 work, yet far superior to some houses we see. In 
 another court we saw a little mud arrangement for 
 cooking, and the lady, knowing that it was not the 
 one in general use, asked what it was for. A wo- 
 man told her that their husbands cooked their meat 
 there, that being a thing the women were not al- 
 lowed even to touch. A little boy five years old 
 was having his hair combed by a servant. It 
 seemed to be a tedious task, as his hair was very long, 
 and, I judge, the combing not an every-day occur- 
 rence. The Sikh men are very proud of their 
 hair, and never cut it. They are very delicate- 
 looking, and, like natives in general, are very fond 
 of dress. 
 
 There was a white frost this morning, the first I 
 have seen this winter, and the hills,’’ the grand 
 old Himalayas, have had a fall of snow upon 
 their crests. As we returned from our visit to the 
 Sikhs, I could not help exclaiming at the beauty 
 of the mountains. There is something so pure 
 and stately and solemn in their majesty, rising so 
 far above us, that the expression, the eternal 
 hills,” came unbidden to my lips. My friend re- 
 peated the words of Coleridge in apostrophe to 
 anotlier mount : 
 
 11 
 
162 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 
 “ Thou too, stupendous mountain ! thoi:, 
 
 That as I raise my head, a while bowed low 
 In adoration, upward from thy base 
 Slow traveling with dim eyes sufliised with tears. 
 Solemnly seemest, like a vapory cloud. 
 
 To rise before me — rise, oh, ever rise I 
 Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth ! 
 
 Thou kingly spirit throned among the hills. 
 
 Thou dread ambassador from earth to heaven, 
 
 Great hierarch ! tell thou the silent sky. 
 
 And tell the stars, and tell yon rising sun. 
 
 Earth, with her thousand voices, praises God.” 
 
 From the snowy range which rises behind the 
 first row of hills the snow never melts. There’ are 
 two peaks which look from here like tents pitched 
 lip against the sky. The word Himalaya means 
 “seats of snow.’’ The highest peak is twenty- 
 seven thousand feet above the level of the sea — as 
 hio^h as the Green Mountains of Vermont would 
 be if perched on Chimborazo. The Hindoos think 
 they are the chosen residence of Siva, who, it is 
 said, in leaving Ceylon, threw up the Himalayas as 
 his place of retreat. Dewtas, or spirits, are supposed 
 to live in the glens, and by certain sounds lure 
 travelers on to ruin. The extremes of heat and 
 cold are excessive in these mountains. The heat 
 melts the snow and lays them bare, while the cold 
 
WHAT WE AT AMBALA. 
 
 163 
 
 splits off huge masses of rock, Mdiich roll into the 
 valleys and chasms below with a terrific noise. 
 
 As we were looking at the giant mountains a 
 carriage approached. My friend called my atten- 
 tion to it as being the equipage of one of the rajahs 
 of this part of the country. He was a fine-looking 
 man, and his turn-out was decidedly European, 
 showing that he had become used to our forms of 
 luxury. But I was more interested in seeing the 
 salutations given him by some Hindoos who saw 
 him coming. They stopped, slipped off their san- 
 dals, adjusted their dress, and as the carriage passed 
 bent to the earth, carrying their hands rapidly from 
 their head to the ground and recovering their former 
 position. They then put on their sandals and went 
 their way. 
 
 AYe are near a temple,^’ said my friend ; let us 
 stop for a moment to see it and its worshipers.’^ 
 AYe did so. The temple was a small one with a 
 hideous-looking idol inside. I do not understand 
 why they have such frightful-looking objects to 
 worship ; all I have seen are very repulsive. This 
 one was covered with oil which had been poured 
 upon it, and the dust clung to it. There were four 
 or five who had come to worship, while there were 
 six or seven priests. ' One woman was there with 
 
164 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 lier little boy. He had brought a handful of rice, 
 which she taught him to place, as an offering, before 
 the idol. The little fellow seemed afraid of the 
 hideous image, and I do not wonder, but the 
 mother showed him how to prostrate himself before 
 it. As she came out my friend spoke to her in 
 Hindoostanee, telling her of the only way of salva- 
 tion, but she seemed well pleased with her own way 
 of atoning for her sins. 
 
 At the door we saw a man who was only passing, 
 but sto})ped to show his reverence for the god 
 within the temple. He removed his sandals, looked 
 for a minute at the temple, then prostrated himself 
 at full length, so that toes, knees, hands, forehead, 
 nose and chin touched the ground. This is an act 
 of reverence called Sashtangam. He then rose, 
 crossed himself, muttered a prayer, replaced his 
 shoes and went on. All, however, were not so de- 
 vout as he in passing the sacred place. He was 
 evidently a strict Brahmin, and took great care that 
 his clothing should touch no person or object 
 which would defile him. These poor deluded 
 beings, how I do pity them ! They are doing all 
 they can to take away their sins, but all in vain, 
 wdien Jesus died for them as well as for us. 
 
XXI. 
 
 FOON, AND THE MEHTERS. 
 
 lST night I listened to one of the mission- 
 aries as he was telling father and mother 
 about jpoon, I presume you wonder what 
 that is, as I did when I first heard it. It 
 is a Hindoo word, and means religious merit. Xow 
 let me hold fast some of the new ideas I have 
 caught by giving them to you. Isn’t that a queer 
 way we have of fastening things in our memory, 
 by giving them to some one else ? 
 
 Poon is obtained by the performance of all 
 works of benevolence and self-denial which the 
 people of India think are beyond what is required 
 of them in ordinary duty, such as in the Roman 
 Catholic Church would be called works of super- 
 erogation.” 
 
 One of the most important means of obtaining 
 
 jpoon is giving, first to the Brahmins, then to the 
 
 poor of all classes and castes. Xow, you must know 
 
 that the Brahmin priests are a mean, idle set of 
 
 beggars, who seize upon any important event, as a 
 
 165 
 
166 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 i 
 
 >- 
 
 birth, marriage, death or sudden calamity, for ex- 
 tracting gifts from their poor deluded followers. 
 To feed a Brahmin is considered the most merito- 
 rious service. To give him a cow is to furnish him 
 transportation over an imaginary river which all 
 must cross who enter heaven. According to their 
 theory, they are to be saved by clinging to a cow as it 
 swims over to the other side. Of course the reward 
 is very great to the giver. A rajah, or king, occa- 
 sionally presents an elephant; a horse will pur- 
 chase for the giver everlasting happiness in para- 
 dise. The poon is less for giving to ordinary 
 beggars, but so prevalent is the idea of obtaining 
 merit in this way that every one who receives food 
 or money from you supposes he is thereby confer- 
 ring a great favor on yourself. Are you not doing 
 it for poon f’ he will ask. 
 
 Building temples, planting groves and digging 
 wells for the refreshment of weary travelers form 
 fertile sources of merit. The country is in many 
 parts dotted with delightful little groves planted 
 as an act of religion. At a place by the roadside 
 near Dehra a Hindoo kept for several years a 
 number of gJiore, or clay water-pots, filled, where 
 all might drink. There were separate spouts for 
 the different castes, and a glass for Europeans, so 
 
POON, AND THE MEHTERS. 167 
 
 tliat none need defile tliemselves. Still another 
 means of acquiring poon is making long pilgrim- 
 ages to sacred places, as the tomb of a noted Brah- 
 min, a famous temple or a place where one of their 
 gods descended from heaven or performed some 
 mighty act. 
 
 While one of our missionaries was making a 
 tour in the interior of the Himalayas, he met a 
 man carrying his aged and decrepit mother over 
 the snows and narrow mountain-paths to an ancient 
 temple. Doubtless he expected great reward, both 
 to his mother and himself, for this difficult and 
 perilous undertaking. But probably the greatest 
 source of merit is bathing in sacred waters. I 
 have written you of the thousands who gather 
 yearly at Hardwar and Allahabad to bathe in the 
 Ganges. Here they suppose all sin is washed away, 
 and that millions of years of bliss will be added to 
 them in another world for their ablutions. 
 
 But I must not occupy too much space with 
 pooTiy for I want to tell you in this letter some- 
 thing about the Mehters. ^Ye all went out to a 
 Mehter village near by this morning. The 
 ]\[ehters are outcasts from the Hindoos. They are 
 employed to do the most menial service, and, what 
 is greater shame in the estimation of the Hindoos, 
 
168 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 they eat all kinds of food, not excepting beef and 
 p 07 'k. They are consequently not allowed to wor- 
 ship at a Hindoo temple, nor even to live in 
 their cities, but must have towns of their own 
 outside. After a nice little walk on the smooth 
 main road, we turn off into the sand, and soon meet 
 a high mud wall. We walk the length of this, for 
 it only extends around three sides of the village, 
 and enter. Here are narrow streets and little low 
 mud houses with roofs made of branches of trees, 
 leaves, grass, etc. No shops nor stores, for the few 
 things they need are bought in the city. 
 
 But before we have gone far every house is 
 emptied of its occupants. The news of our coming 
 has spread almost instantaneously, and every man, 
 woman and child is out to see us. Those of the 
 men who are best dressed wear a tight-fitting coat 
 coming up close about the neck, like those worn by 
 Hindoos and Mohammedans. The women, who, 
 in this low caste, are not imprisoned in zenanas, 
 have suits of coarse, striped cotton cloth. 
 
 All salute us by touching the hand to the fore- 
 head, saying, Salaam !” or, if very polite, Gee 
 salaam Chat has been practicing salaams, and 
 bowed very low to them, which pleased them 
 much. 
 
rOON, AND THE MEIITERS. 
 
 1G9 
 
 Coming out, we noticed little low shrines made 
 of rick and plaster, with a small niche in each for 
 a native lamp. These are their places of worship. 
 We passed an immense well with a substantial 
 wall about it, which you ascend by tw’O or three 
 steps. This is a public institution, and answers 
 for the Avhole village. [N^ext we entered their 
 school-house. This is behind the village, near the 
 well. Kev. Dr. Morrison had it erected, and I 
 dare say the poor Mehters think it a fine building, 
 for it has a tight roof and wooden doors. Some 
 of these being always open, window-sash is entirely 
 unnecessary. Here were about twenty boys and 
 nine or ten girls seated on the floor ; they rise as 
 we enter, and say, Missi baba salaam,’^ in a tone 
 that would remind you of a primary school at 
 home. None of these children are beyond very 
 short words yet, but Philip, the native Christian 
 teacher, has already taught them some verses from 
 the Bible, and several hymns, which they learn 
 very readily. 
 
 Father and Chat were out to their village the 
 morning after we came here. The women were 
 then all at the well w'ashing their heads and hair. 
 They told father that somebody had died. After 
 a death it is their custom to have a feast, and the 
 
170 
 
 
 . ; 'in 
 
 TBYE’S YEAE. 
 
 women wash their heads. Chat said he wislied the 
 fakirs would lose some friends, so as to )>ecome clean 
 once in their lives. But I am more and more in- 
 terested in the different kinds of people I find here, 
 and realize more and more what mankind is with- 
 out the Bible. How much we ought to pray for 
 the Holy Spirit to show these people their error 
 and the only way of life ! 
 
XXII. 
 
 AMBALA TO DEHRA. 
 
 FTER sending my last letter to you, we were 
 very much surprised and delighted to see 
 Uncle Mansfield and Ella come in upon us 
 at Ambala. Uncle had written us that he 
 would perhaps be able to meet us at Saharanpur, 
 but his coming so far was a complete surprise to 
 us all. He looks very much as I remember him 
 when they were all at our house at home, only his 
 hair has a little more gray in it and his beard is 
 longer. You know I was quite a little girl then. 
 Ella, being only a year older than I, has changed 
 so much that I would not have known her, and she 
 says the same of me. We soon became acquainted, 
 though, and had a good laugh over many of our 
 little childish pleasures and troubles when we were 
 together. Aunt’s health is so much better here 
 than in a colder climate that they seem to look 
 upon this place as their home, for the present at 
 least. 
 
 Let me see : where did I leave off in my last let- 
 
 in 
 
172 
 
 TEYE’S YEAE. 
 
 ter ? I have had so much to enjoy since in meeting 
 these ‘^home folks/’ as Chat calls them, that it 
 seems an age (a short one) since I wrote. I told 
 you of a few of the things I saw and heard at Am- 
 bala ; now for the onward trip. We took leave of 
 our kind friends, the dear missionaries, and started 
 last Tuesday, as we had planned. We were up 
 very early, ate a substantial breakfast — not a chota 
 hazari — and rode to the station before daylight. 
 Prom the car window we watched the rising sun 
 as it painted the sky and silvered the distant peaks 
 of the snowy range. I need not tell you of the 
 many dry river-beds over which we passed — the 
 Jumna only has water in it — nor of the level coun- 
 try through which we traveled. The plains are 
 monotonous, and now, while the grass is dry and 
 withered, have little beside their beautiful trees to 
 save them from being a complete desert. 
 
 It is a three hours’ ride, in the slow Indian 
 trains, to Saharanpur, the City of Groves. We saw 
 some of the beautiful mango groves from which it 
 is named before reaching the city. Here we re- 
 mained two days, and found enough of interest to 
 keep us looking and wondering, as usual in our 
 visits to the cities of India. 
 
 This is a mission station, and just at the time 
 
AMBALA TO BEJTRA. 
 
 173 
 
 we were there the missionaries came fron/ other 
 places to attend presbytery, whieh was about to 
 meet there. The reunion was a delightful one; 
 they seem like so many brothers and sisters. 
 
 Uncle and father and mother were perfectly 
 happy among them, and stayed a day longer than 
 they had intended on that account. Some of these 
 good people came twenty-eight or thirty miles with 
 all the requisites for housekeeping. You ought to 
 have seen them, some on ponies, some in wagons, 
 with bullock carts for tents, furniture, etc. They 
 had been two or three days in coming, having 
 preached in the little villages on their way. It 
 was a very novel sight to me, and a romantic one, 
 as they came into the compound, unloaded, pitched 
 tents, and in an hour looked as homelike and com- 
 fortable as need be. The next day we were taken 
 to a school of Mohammedan girls in the city which 
 Mrs. Calderwood superintends. This is only one 
 of three or four heathen schools she has in charge. 
 
 On Thursday morning we started in a van on 
 our forty-mile ride. This van deserves a passing 
 notice. It is a great broad vehicle with a wooden 
 frame and top and canvas curtains all around. It 
 has two compartments. In the hinder one there 
 are sleeping accommodations for two, in the front, 
 
174 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 for one. I started with a cloth sacque, waterproof 
 and shawl, and needed all in the chilly December 
 morning, but before noon was glad to throw off all 
 but my sacque. 
 
 For a few miles out of Saharan23ur w’e rode 
 through a beautiful avenue of trees; afterward it 
 was an open level road till we reached the Sewalics, 
 a range of high hills. We met hundreds of Paha- 
 sees, or mountain men, with droves of cattle and 
 donkeys laden with rice, birds, musk, etc. We . 
 could distinguish these men from the farmers of the 
 plains by their long sticks with sharp iron points 
 which had helped them over the snow’ and icy 
 steeps of their mountain homes. They are a vig- 
 orous, wdid-looking race, and seemed to regard us 
 W’ith as much curiosity as w’e did them. They 
 w’ould w'heel around and stand still after w’e 
 passed, apparently taking us all in before they w’ent 
 on their way. JNIany doubtless had never before 
 seen a European. 
 
 Before us, as w’e rode, w'ere first the Sew^alics, 
 then the outer range of the Himalayas, and still 
 beyond, over a hundred miles distant, the white 
 peaks of the Snowy Range. We reached the 
 jNIohan Pass in the Sew^alics about noon, and 
 climbed up to the dak bungalow wdth the nice 
 
AMBALA TO DEHRA. 
 
 175 
 
 basket of lunch our Saharanpur friends had pro- 
 vided for us. \Yhile an attendant made our tea, 
 Ella, Chat and I ran up to a high point for a view 
 of the country. The others soon came after us, for 
 the scene was one that could not fail to attract 
 them. 
 
 Much as we admired the beauties of nature, how- 
 ever, one call was sufficient to bring us to tiffin, or 
 lunch, for our appetites were fully prepared for it. 
 Tiffin over, we return to the van, but instead of 
 horses twelve coolies stand readv to take us throug:h 
 the pass. Some push and some pull, and we are 
 over three hours in making the eight miles which 
 bring us to the other side. Now, perhaps, you 
 imagine, from the use of coolies through the pass, 
 that the road is rough and narrow, steep and un- 
 safe. Not at all. It is as much smoother than 
 our macadamized roads at home as they are than 
 an ordinary turnpike. The ascent is very gradual, 
 and wherever there is a bank there is a good 
 guard at the road side. 
 
 Whether human life and strength are considered 
 less valuable than beast life, or wffiether horses 
 are so trained as to be safe only on a dead level, 
 which seems to be the case, I know not, but it is 
 the way adopted by the dak company. At the 
 
176 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 summit of the pass is a long, finely-built tunnel, in 
 'svhich is the most perfect echo I ever heard. It 
 repeats a short sentence with great distinctness. 
 The natives on entering it always send up a prayer 
 to one of their deities. 
 
 The descent on the farther side is very short, and 
 uncle gives a rupee backsheesh to the faithful 
 coolies, and we are ready to take horses again. 
 But before starting we have quite an adventure. 
 Something stirs near where a driver is standing. 
 He sees at once that it is the dreaded cobra di 
 capella, or hooded snake, whose bite is almost cer- 
 tain death. The men move off, but do not offer to 
 kill it. Uncle and father in the mean time see 
 what it is, and very cautiously succeed in killing 
 it. I thought the frightened natives would be de- 
 lighted at this, but they talked away in a very ex- 
 cited strain, and seemed to think something terrible 
 had happened. They were so angry I began to be 
 more afraid of them than I had been of the snake. 
 
 Uncle talked to them very calmly about it in 
 Hindostanee. As I afterward learned, he told them 
 that if anything had come of the deed he would be 
 the one to suffer — that a great many cobras had 
 been killed without bringing harm to any one. 
 They were finally quieted enough to go on with 
 
AMBALA TO DEUBA. 
 
 177 
 
 their business, but were not in a very good humor. 
 I did not understand all this till uncle told me 
 that it is considered a great offence to kill a cobra. 
 The natives always speak of it as the good snake/’ 
 fearing to raise its anger even by speaking ill of 
 it. It is worshiped by many of the people, and it 
 is not strange that they should think it a crime to 
 kill it when they will not take animal life of any 
 kind. 
 
 Uncle said that he ran a great risk in killing the 
 snake so openly, but he feared more to have it run- 
 ning at large than he did the superstition of men. 
 He said that one of tlie missionaries, in coming 
 home one day tow’ard evening, saw what he thought 
 was a riding-whip on the floor, and stooped to pick 
 it up. It then gave signs of life, and he had barely 
 time to escape a bite from the deadly cobra. They 
 are not as numerous in this part of India as in some 
 other provinces, and we do not often hear of per- 
 sons being bitten by them. But enough of snakes. 
 
 Three stages or relays of horses (unless they hap- 
 pen to be mules) brought us to this lovely vale of 
 Dehra Doon. It seemed a delightful rest to be 
 landed here in the midst of so much beauty. We 
 have been going, going, for so long a time that I 
 
 want to stand still for a little and think over what 
 
 12 
 
178 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 I have seen. Debra Doon is just a paradise, if 
 there is such a thing on earth. 
 
 On the very top of the Himalayas — that is, the 
 first range of them, not the snows — are the white 
 houses of Landour and Mysuri, two sister stations 
 about fifteen miles away. They look like little 
 patches of snow. Many English families have a 
 house in Dehra, and another house in one of these 
 places too, spending the cold weather here and the 
 hot weather on the hills. We intend going up 
 there some day to see these places and the Snowy 
 Kange. 
 
 Dehra contains two or three hundred Europeans 
 and a number'of East Indians who are part Euro- 
 pean and part native. The native city is consid- 
 ered very small in this thickly-settled land. It 
 numbers about ten thousand. In the doon, or 
 valley, are found wild elephants, tigers, leopards, 
 .deer, peacocks, pheasants and other game. But I 
 shall have a chance to see more of Dehra and tell 
 you about it hereafter. Now I am tired enough to 
 bring my epistle to a close. 
 
XXIII. 
 
 HOME-LIFE. 
 
 
 S'/ 
 
 d r' 
 
 'm 
 
 HAT do you think? We are housekeep- 
 ing in a nice little kothi in Dehra, and at 
 home to all our friends. Come in now 
 V and then ; we shall be delighted to see you. 
 But about the home, in earnest. It is really home- 
 like, and I am becoming accustomed to our present 
 mode of life, so as to enjoy it much. 
 
 A kothi differs from a bungalow in having what 
 is called a pakka roof, cemented like the floors, and 
 usually flat. But our rooms, with the exception 
 of the drawing and dining-rooms, being arched, 
 the roof is rather uneven. The arches look like 
 the boilers of some immense machine. A part, 
 however, is level and surrounded by a strong wall. 
 This is a flne place in which to sit of an evening. 
 The compound is a large open yard with a nice 
 flower circle in front, where three varieties of roses 
 and some other plants are blooming. There are 
 no trees of any size. 
 
 179 
 
180 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 As to the domestic afiPairs, they are as different 
 from those in America as can be. In the first 
 place, we have about a dozen servants. Xow, don’t 
 open yonr eyes and say we are growing extravagant, 
 living in too much style, and all that, for this is 
 the only way we can get along comfortably. Chat 
 says you cannot turn around here without having 
 a half dozen men to turn you halfway, and as 
 many more to complete the revolution. It does 
 seem as if it takes a great many persons to do a 
 very little here. 
 
 In the first place, the house-servants are all men, 
 except the ayah, or lady’s maid, and none of them 
 board in the family, unless in rare cases when they 
 are Christians. It would be wrong, according to 
 their rebVion, to eat in our houses or of what we 
 had partaken. Then, again, we do not have the 
 whole twelve here at once. One does his work 
 perhaps in an hour, and departs. So of most of 
 the others. All taken together do not do more 
 than a day’s work, and of course are paid accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 'We have a man to bring water for us, fill our 
 bath-tubs, etc., and this is quite a work in itself, I 
 assure yon. He has an old horse, and brings the 
 water in two skins prepared for the purpose. Then 
 
HOME- LIFE. 
 
 181 
 
 he carries one skin over his shoulder. Another 
 does the sweeping, another the cooking, another 
 the washing, another the ironing, others are waiters, 
 and in fact there must be a servant for almost 
 everything to be done about a house. 
 
 One of this little army is Pirbuch, a bigoted 
 Mohammedan. I wish you could see him to-day. 
 The appearance of the new moon last night brought 
 Kamazan to an end, and to-day is a day of feasting 
 called Id. They continue the rejoicing two or 
 three days, and all of the haughty race whom we 
 see are in holiday attire. Pirbuch has arrayed him- 
 self in a new suit consisting of black pantaloons, a 
 long tight-fitting coat of delicate purple-striped silk 
 and a salmon-colored turban. He surveyed him- 
 self with evident satisfaction. Take into consid- 
 eration the high forehead, flowing gray beard and 
 general lofty bearing of this patriarchal individual, 
 then imagine how one feels in ordering him to shut 
 a door, bring in the dinner or do some other similar 
 service. 
 
 Let me give you a specimen of our manner of 
 life. We awake in the morning (that will not 
 astonish you), and have our chota hazari brought 
 into our room. Having disposed of the tea and 
 toast, we proceed to dress. Meantime, the mehter 
 
182 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 (sweeper) comes and sweeps all the rooms requiring 
 it. Afterward our ayah dusts. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, this is done by a bearer, a man-servant who 
 brushes clothing, attends to the lamps, etc. At 
 nine o’clock, or whatever hour mother specifies, the 
 consdmd (cook) or his assistant table-servant comes 
 into her presence, makes his salaam and announces, 
 Hdzari mcz par^^ (breakfast on the table). The 
 Meme Sahiba is supposed to have given her orders 
 for this meal after dinner the night before 
 
 After hazari she does the same for tiffin and 
 dinner, and unless she is particularly fond of 
 making cake or puddings herself — which in all 
 probability she will not do so well as her consdmd — 
 she can attend to whatever else she pleases. 
 
 The lady of the house must frequently, some- 
 times daily, take her consdmd^s hisdb, or account, 
 for he goes to the bazaar and buys tea, sugar and 
 whatever else is necessary in his department. 
 These servants are capital ; they are very attentive, 
 and do not forget easily what you tell them. If 
 one sees you sweeten your tea once, he will put 
 the exact amount of sugar in it ever after, if he has 
 it to do. 
 
 If you were to take tiffin with us, or any other 
 meal, you would find that we have a variety of 
 
HOME-LIFE. 
 
 183 
 
 good things to eat. The gardens of this fertile 
 valley do not fail the whole year round. We have, 
 consequently, peas every day, with other vegetables 
 such as are on our tables at home in summer. 
 Besides these, we have a vegetable called bunda, re- 
 sembling potatoes, but more solid, and richer, and 
 the rice curry used so often here. A cup of Dehra 
 tea with all is considered delicious by the tea- 
 drinkers. 
 
 The native bakers furnish wheat bread which is 
 sometimes good, but not always. They have their 
 shops open toward the street, and at times the wind 
 blows the dust that way while they are mixing the 
 bread. Then they do not always have ^^good 
 luck in baking, as our home cooks say ; still, what 
 we have is pretty good. We have three grades of 
 ground wheat: dalia (pronounced dullia), or cracked 
 wheat, sujiy finer and hulled, and the maida or 
 fine flour. 
 
 We have milk both from the cow and buffalo; 
 it is often mixed together, and butter is made from 
 the mixture. For large quantities of milk a stone 
 churn with a dasher is used. The churn is always 
 placed by a firm pole. A strap attached to the 
 dasher is passed around it, and a man — some- 
 times two men — keen it circulating by pulling the 
 
184 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 ends of the strap. For table use the cream is put 
 ill a bottle and shaken, and fresh butter made dailv. 
 
 Father has been investing in horses, and we are 
 all trying to learn to ride — that is, those of us who 
 didn’t know before. Chat rides finely already, and 
 has no more fear on a horse than anywhere else. 
 I am always afraid he will get hurt, he will go in 
 such dangerous places. Almost everybody rides 
 on horseback here ; it is considered the best exer- 
 cise one can have in this climate. 
 
 The ponies are not fine Arabian steeds, by any 
 means, and cost much less than those at home. My 
 little black mountain nag, Akbar, cost only thirty 
 dollars, and father bought another much more 
 valuable horse for fifty. Of course each pony 
 must have his syce or groom to take care of him, 
 besides another person to cut grass for his horse- 
 ship. Cousin Ella rides finely; she has practiced 
 since she was quite small. 
 
 AVe were out this morning early, father, Ella, 
 Chat and I. I had ridden several times with 
 father, and felt quite at ease in the saddle, but 
 we had not gone far before we met a number of 
 buffaloes. These are the real buffaloes, you know, 
 not the bison or American buffalo of our Western 
 prairies. I was really afraid of them, and found 
 

 185 
 
 them very much in my way, but they did not 
 ofier to harm us, so my mind was set at rest and 
 we rode forward. Chat and Ella were ahead of 
 father and me. 
 
 They touched their ponies with the whip, and 
 off they went at a furious rate, so they reached the 
 waterfall which was to be our destination long be- 
 fore we did. The spot is a beautiful one, where 
 one of the mountain torrents leaps over a high 
 precipice on its way to the Jumna. We alighted 
 from our ponies and walked about to have a good 
 view. Chat climbed up the rocks at the side of 
 the fall to get us some flowers which grew between 
 the stones. Father would not let him go as high 
 as he wished, for it was indeed dangerous. As he 
 descended he came very near stepping on a scor- 
 pion. There were some Brahmins about the place, 
 and one had come quite near the spot to look at a 
 shrub that was growing there. Seeing the scor- 
 pion, he pointed to it, and it soon ran out of sight. 
 
 Why didnT you kill it ?’’ said Chat to him, 
 and went on hunting for the reptile to do the mur- 
 derous deed himself. Happily, the man understood 
 English, and shook his head. Oh no ; I would 
 never do such a tiling/^ said he ; I might take the 
 life of some dear friend now in this reptile.” 
 
186 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 “ But we live in this world only once/’ said 
 father, ^^and Jesus Christ died to take away our sins, 
 that we may be perfectly happy hereafter. We need 
 not fear a return to this world in any other body. 
 Wouldn’t you like to have your sins removed?” 
 
 I have bathed in the holy Ganges ; I am holy ; 
 I have done- many things for ^oon, and I shall per- 
 haps be a part of the great Brahm himself, without 
 having to return to the earth in the form of an 
 animal.” 
 
 ‘^But, my dear friend, all you have done, all 
 you can do, will never make you fit for heaven. 
 Jesus’ blood alone can atone for sin.” 
 
 The man looked thoughtful and passed on to his 
 companions. Father says it is just so that we must 
 sow the seed and water it with prayer. We kno^T 
 not how greatly God may bless it. I did not un 
 derstand fully the man’s ideas about the scorpion, 
 and father explained them on the way home. He 
 says the Hindoos believe in the transmigration of 
 souls. I had heard that phrase before, but did not 
 know what it meant. They think that when a 
 person dies his soul enters some animal, or returns 
 in the form of an infant to pass again through the 
 stages of infancy, youth and manhood. Sometimes, 
 when a child dies, the parents think it is to punish 
 
HOiME-LIFE. 
 
 187 
 
 them for having taken the soul of the child of 
 some one else. 
 
 If the person is virtuous in tliis life, and lays up 
 for himself a great amount of ^oon, or merit, he will 
 enter the world the next time in a higher sphere. 
 If he has done wrong, he will be apt to return an 
 inferior animal, or even an insect. 
 
 Their Shasters teach that ^Hhe slayer of a Brah- 
 min must enter into the body of a dog, a boar, an 
 ass, a camel, a bull, a goat, a sheep, a stag, a bird, 
 a low person or a demon.’^ The Hindoos will, 
 therefore, not take animal life, fearing that by so 
 doing they may be guilty of killing some of their 
 ancestors or friends. 
 
 But,’^ I asked, supposing the man returns to 
 earth a monkey, a dog, a scorpion or a fly, what 
 then r 
 
 He then dies to return in some other form, and 
 so on. If he is good, he will finally be absorbed 
 in the great sleepy god Brahm. That is the height 
 of their ambition.” 
 
 What a future !” I exclaimed ; it makes one 
 tired to think of it !” 
 
 Yes, my daughter; even were it true, how much 
 pity would these poor people deserve from us, who 
 know of ^ a rest that remaineth for the people of 
 
188 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 God/ and how much more when we think of the 
 terrible future before rebellious sinners who do not 
 believe in Jesus ! I think there is no sweeter 
 promise in the Bible than the one to the weary 
 and heavy laden : ‘ I will give you rest/ Jesus 
 doesn’t mean merely I’est in heaven, but rest now, 
 every day. You will feel this more and more, I 
 doubt not, as you have more knowledge of the 
 world, of yourself and of your precious Saviour. 
 
 ^^The Christian only has rest in this restless world. 
 He learns how willing the Master is to bear his 
 burdens, and to let him lean upon his bosom in the 
 midst of the hardest toil or the bitterest sorrow. 
 Do you notice the drift of all these false religions 
 around us ? These people are all trying to rid them- 
 selves of sin, and they think they must do it them- 
 selves. See what they will do, how unceasingly 
 they work, to be holy. If they can but be con- 
 vinced that they are wrong, and that the Saviour 
 of the Christian is such as we represent, then they 
 believe very quickly. 
 
 Is ow, my dear daughter, do you know how 
 they can be convinced of the truths of the gospel 
 when they hear them ? The Holy Spirit alone can 
 show them this, and now comes an important part 
 of our work. ‘God is more willing to give the 
 
HOME-LIFE. 
 
 189 
 
 Holy Spirit to tliem that ask liiin than earthly 
 parents are to give good gifts to their children/ 
 You know how much your mother and I love to 
 give you whatever will make you happy, if it is in 
 our power ; now, think, ^ God is more willing to 
 give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him/ He 
 will give us his Spirit if we ask him, and he will 
 give it to these people in answer to our pleading. 
 
 I believe that what good has been done here has 
 been in answer to the prayers of God’s dear children. 
 There have been both the praying and the working ; 
 they must go together. You have learned how the 
 missionaries are working and how fervently they 
 are praying. Christians in a more favored land 
 than this sometimes forget that they are keeping 
 souls from being saved because they are not pray- 
 ing more. If they could see these poor idolaters 
 trying in their own wrong way to be saved, they 
 would want to do all in their power to point them 
 to the ^ Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of 
 the world.’ ” 
 
 I enjoy these talks with father very much. He 
 clears up a good many doubts for me ; he knows 
 that I want to be a real true, earnest Christian, and 
 he helps me along wonderfully. If my trip to 
 India does not improve me in any way apparent to 
 
190 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 others, it is bringing me nearer my Saviour. I feel 
 it, even though evil is so often present with me 
 when I would do good. Pray for me, Argyle, that 
 I may be entirely Christ’s. 
 
XXIV. 
 
 THE ROYAL VISITOR. 
 
 |1 E are having a real rainy day in Dehra, 
 
 something entirely new in rny experience 
 
 ^ rain, which lasts only a few days in the 
 winter. Dehra is a very convenient place to live 
 in, as far as the weather is concerned. The rains 
 last about two months in the summer. After that 
 you need not consult the clouds nor the almanac, 
 for you will have clear weather for the remainder 
 of the year, with the exception of these little rains. 
 Not being used to all sunshine, I enjoy the dashing 
 of the rain for variety. 
 
 Yesterday we were out making calls, and I must 
 confess that I feel considerably relieved to have it 
 over. They have such a strange custom here 
 among the Europeans. Instead of waiting for 
 jiersons to come to see theni, the new-comers have 
 to go out and pay the first calls. It was for these 
 that we went with uncle, aunt and Ella. Ella and 
 
 This is the chota barsat, or little 
 
 191 
 
192 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 I had our cards writted in the true English style, 
 
 Miss Mansfield and Miss Grafton/’ 
 
 The only proper time for making calls is be- 
 tween the hours of ten A. M., and three P. M., and 
 so we took good care to keep within the proper 
 limits. M^e drove up to the door, gave our cards 
 to a servant, who took them in. He soon returned 
 with his hosts’ salaam, which meant a readiness to 
 receive us, and we entered the house. If they do 
 not wish to receive you as a calling acquaintance, 
 the servant returns with darwazi band hai (door is 
 shut), and you drive on. 
 
 AVe were not so unfortunate as to meet with this 
 kind of reception at any place, for uncle and aunt 
 knew those who would receive us cordially, and 
 with whom we would wish to be acquainted. Aunt 
 says that when a lady is going away from the place 
 for any length of time, she must go all around and 
 bid her friends good-bye, and when she returns, she 
 must make the same round before she may expect 
 them to call on her. Perhaps it will seem strange 
 to you if I say that amid all the idolatry of this 
 land there is an English society here as fashion- 
 able, as frivolous and as gay as that found in 
 the capitals of civilized nations. Then, again, 
 there are those who sympathize with the mission 
 
THE ROYAL VISITOR. 
 
 193 
 
 work, and who do much for it. Some of the 
 English in India are devoted Christians and de- 
 lightful people. 
 
 AVhile I am writing of society I may as well tell 
 you of the honor conferred on this lovelv doon the 
 other day by a visit from Prince Alfred, duke of 
 Edinburgh, the queen’s sailor son. The event has 
 kept the station in a commotion for more than a 
 week, and has been the prominent topic of conver- 
 sation. His coming to Dehra was an uncertainty 
 till Saturday last. All day Sunday and Monday 
 people were engaged in fitting up a house for his 
 reception. Furniture, sofa-cushions, tidies, albums, 
 pictures, flowers and other nice little things were 
 sent in to make it pleasant and comfortable for his 
 Royal Highness; streets were swept, and things gen- 
 erally put in such order as can readily be done in 
 a country where men are so plentiful. 
 
 About five o’clock on Monday afternoon he ar- 
 rived. The next morning he reviewed the troops 
 of the station, afterward held a levee for the gen- 
 tlemen citizens, then went up to liandour to see 
 the Snowy Range. In the evening he invited the 
 officers of the regiment to dine with him. This 
 morning he breakfasted with them, after which, 
 
 with his suite, he set off for Saharanpur. He is a 
 
 u 
 
194 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 plain-looking gentleman of twenty-five, and Chat 
 thinks not more regal in his appearance than any 
 one else. Doubtless the thousands of natives who 
 congregated to see the sardar were much disap- 
 pointed, for they have little idea of royalty in citi- 
 zen’s dress. The girls from the school were out to 
 see him.’ He bowed to them, which pleased them 
 verv much. One of them said to her teacher, 
 
 * ^7 
 
 “ How meek he looks !” Another, Our rajahs al- 
 ways sit straight up and never notice anybody ; how 
 gentle he seems !” 
 
 So much for the prince. We are all studying 
 Hindostanee at home, and begin to use it to our 
 servants. They are more polite than I fear I 
 should be under the circumstances, for we do make 
 some terrible blunders, and they do not laugh at us 
 when it is possible to resist it. But we haven’t 
 made any mistakes worse than that of a missionary 
 lady I heard of the other day. She wanted a 
 dozen bricks for something she was doing, and told 
 a servant to bring her harra iint with the air of 
 one who knew what she was saying. Xow, the 
 word for brick is inf, and that for camel is unt, so 
 you may imagine that the man looked at her in 
 amazement. She repeated the order, whereupon the 
 servant made his salaam and set otf. He was gone 
 
TJJE ROYAL VISITOR. 
 
 195 
 
 a long time to get a few bricks, and the lady won- 
 dered what kept him. Finally the man came and 
 brought, instead of the twelve bricks she had waited 
 for so patiently, a string of twelve camels ! They 
 were fastened together for marching in the usual 
 way — a rope through a ring in the nostril of each 
 tied to the tail of the preceding animal. We had 
 a good laugh over this, and know now the ditference 
 between int and unt. 
 
 Ella helps me along very much in learning the 
 language. She can talk to the servants in Hin- 
 dostanee as fast as in English, and knows how to 
 tell me to speak certain difficult words. We play 
 school quite often, Ella being the teacher and Chat 
 and I scholars. Chat always makes mistakes, and 
 sets us laughing before our lesson is half over. 
 Ella threatens to expel him, but he goes on study- 
 ing aloud, rocking backward and forward in true 
 Eastern style, pretending to be so absorbed in his 
 book as not to hear her. But we have a good time 
 of it, and I hope we learn a little. You will see 
 when I come home how much Hindostanee I can 
 say to you. 
 
XXY, 
 
 THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 EAR BROTHER : 1 have a better oppor- 
 
 tunity of knowing about the principal 
 girls’ school of this station than of those in 
 other places, so I will describe it more fully. 
 It will show you how the dear missionaries in all 
 the stations labor for the boys and girls of this land. 
 
 This particular school at Dehra is like one of which 
 I wrote in Allahabad, but different in some respects 
 from the majority of the schools. It is a boarding- 
 school for girls whose parents have either become 
 Christians or have at least forsaken their false 
 gods. 
 
 They may be qualified here to teach and to un- 
 derstand the mysteries of housekeeping, of which 
 their mothers are entirely ignorant. One of the 
 missionaries savs that some vears ago it was found 
 that, while many of the young men were becoming 
 educated, the girls were not only unable to read, 
 
 but were idle, knowing little or nothing of ordi- 
 196 
 
THE GIBLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 197 
 
 nary household duties, to say nothing of the many 
 little arts of rendering home happy. There were 
 orphanages, which were greatly needed and doing 
 a vast amount of good, but they did not meet this 
 want. A sort of normal school was needed. You 
 know that only women can teach the women here, 
 and an educated native Christian woman can 
 accomplish more than a foreigner. 
 
 After much thought and prayer, it was decided 
 to found this Christian girls’ school, where the girls 
 might learn what would make them useful in any 
 relation in life, not only in mental, but in domestic, 
 pursuits. Above all, it was the desire of its found- 
 ers to teach them the word of God, and to conse- 
 crate the whole to him in humble trust that he 
 would bless it in the conversion of the children. 
 That was eleven years ago. The school had a 
 small beginning and not a dollar in its treasury, 
 but it has gone on steadily increasing in numbers 
 and prosperity. Many have gone out of it who 
 are showing that their teachers have not labored in 
 vain. 
 
 Parents who can afford to pay tuition are urged 
 to do so ; those who can do this only in part are 
 asked for the amount they can afford. Some are 
 supported by persons here or at home, others by 
 
198 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 Sabbath-schools or churches at home. It is very 
 pleasant for a Sabbath-school to have charge of one 
 girl in that way, to do for her and pray for her till 
 she becomes a missionary. 
 
 Every child learns to read her own language in 
 the Roman character first ; meanwhile, other instruc- 
 tions — object-lessons, etc. — are given both in English 
 and Hindostanee. She next learns to read the Eng- 
 lish, in which most of her more advanced instruc- 
 tion is of necessity given. She also learns to read 
 her own language in the Persian character and the 
 Hindoo. 
 
 One who took charge of this school in its in- 
 fancy, Miss C. L. Beatty, has recently passed to 
 her long, glorious rest. She labored constantly, 
 year after year, for the good of these dear girls. 
 She saw the school increase and one after another 
 come out upon the Lord’s side. But her strength 
 was not sufficient for the increasing pressure. 
 Again and again she asked for help, but the means 
 were not in the treasury at home, and she must 
 toil on with the few noble assistants around her. 
 So she worked until compelled to return home. 
 That school is a nobler monument to her memory 
 than one ten times the golden value of the Taj. It 
 is worth living and suffering among the heathen to 
 
THE GIRLS’ SCHOOL. 
 
 199 
 
 liave such a record as is hers, aud her works do 
 follow her/^ 
 
 The school-building is a fine two-story one, but 
 still not large enough for the seventy or eighty 
 girls in the family. There is a house building 
 which will accommodate them better. Kev. Mr. 
 Herron and his wife have charge of the house, and 
 Mr. Herron is principal of the school. They very 
 kindly showed us through the house when we 
 called there. In the centre of it, on the first floor, 
 is a large room used for a chapel and assembly- 
 room for the school. Around this on every side 
 are rooms used for recitation-, dining- and sleeping- 
 rooms for the girls. This tier of rooms, with a hall 
 and staircase, makes the building a large square 
 structure, on each of the four sides of which is a 
 deep square verandah, added like a wing to the 
 centre of each front. 
 
 The second floor is divided in a very similar 
 manner, and used for apartments for the family, the 
 native assistants, the larger girls study-, dress- 
 ing- and bath-rooms. The verandahs, as well as 
 the house, are two stories high. The roof is made of 
 cement, and flat, except in the centre, the middle 
 room being higher than the others. The inner 
 rooms are connected with the outside ones by 
 
200 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 double window-doors, wdiich have to be left open 
 the greater part of the year. It is a sort of out- 
 door life we live in any of the houses here. 
 
 The verandahs have lattice-work half way down 
 from the roof, below* w^hich are hung chicks, or 
 curtains, which can be rolled up or let down at 
 pleasure. Thus by spreading down a carpet and 
 lining the chicks they make a cozy little parlor of one 
 on the second floor, and in hot w^eather delightful 
 sleeping-apartments of the others. 
 
 Of all the pleasant parts of this house the large 
 flat roof, with its substantial w*all around it, is the 
 most delightful. And such a view* of such a coun- 
 try as it commands ! I can give you no idea of it. 
 I almost forgot where I w*as in the midst of such 
 beauty. On the south your eye rests upon the 
 Sew’alics, on the north the higher ranges of the 
 hills,” and betw*een, the beautiful Doon stretching 
 as far as the eye can reach. This is certainly one of 
 the loveliest spots on the face of the earth. 
 
 The compound is a large one, with its proportion 
 of beautiful trees. It has one row* of pines, then 
 the mango, cotton tree and, among many others, the 
 bamboo, in w*hich Dehra abounds. Indeed, if I 
 w*ere asked what impressed me as the striking fea- 
 tures of the station, I should say its bamboos and 
 
THE GIRLS^ SCHOOL. 
 
 201 
 
 its rose hedges. The former grow in clumps, and 
 their long branches curve over on all sides very 
 gracefully. In some places a clump planted at 
 each side of the carriage-way forms an entrance to 
 the compound. The effect of this giant arch, 
 thirty or forty feet high, is perfectly grand. Then 
 the rose hedges, perpetually blooming, you can im- 
 agine, are lovely. In February they take on a new 
 life, and for some months bear more flowers than 
 during the hot season. After the summer rains 
 they again renew themselves, but are never barren. 
 
XXVI. 
 
 DEHRA SCHOOLGIRLS. 
 
 AVIXG been permitted to go to the school 
 many times and learn about it from the 
 teachers, who are so kind as to give me the 
 information, I have become very much 
 interested in the subject, so you will not be sur- 
 prised at my recurring to it again. The w'ork 
 of the house is so divided as to give something 
 for every child over five years of age to do. The 
 washing, sweeping and cooking are done by ser- 
 vants, but preparing vegetables, setting tables, 
 making beds, dusting, etc., are all done by the 
 pupils. 
 
 Each one tells every school-day morning what 
 she has done, the native teachers reporting on the 
 whole. V ork is assigned to each for three months, 
 and then a change is made. It sounds very amus- 
 ing to hear the little ones say, I ground the 
 salt,’’ “ I helped to dust,” etc. All the smaller 
 
 children are under older ones, who teach them ; in 
 202 
 
DEHRA SCHOOLGIRLS. 
 
 203 
 
 fact, every branch of work has its circle of girls, 
 with a reliable, experienced one at their head. I 
 must tell you something of the native teachers. 
 
 Margaret, or Aunt Margaret, as she is called, is 
 such a good, sensible woman. Her husband and 
 herself were both educated Christians. Her hus- 
 band was something of a poet, and wrote in Hindi. 
 She has such a motherly air as she walks about the 
 house, always in her spotless chuddah. She under- 
 derstands the Hindostanee and the Hindi, but not 
 so much of the English. She spends part of her 
 time as Bible-reader in the city, and bears the 
 Bible truths to many who have never heard 
 them before. Aunt Julia, her sister, who is also a 
 widow, is engaged in the same way, and doing the 
 same good work. Each has a daughter teaching 
 in the school, Lizzie and Sophy. They are very 
 intelligent young women and earnest Christians — 
 a very great assistance in the school. 
 
 Their programme for the day is generally the 
 following : The teachers rise between five and six, 
 take chota hazari, ride on horseback for an hour 
 and a half or two hours — without this exercise 
 they could hardly perform their many duties here — 
 breakfast at eight o’clock, then worship, school at 
 nine, and intermission from twelve to one. They 
 
204 
 
 TBYE’S YEAE. 
 
 close the school at three, ^yhen the girls are taught 
 sewing for an hour. Dinner comes late in the 
 afternoon, then worship. 
 
 I suspect you think I am very minute in some 
 of these details, but I always like to know all the 
 little particulars when persons write to me, so I am 
 doing as I would be done by. I wish I had time 
 to tell YOU of a number of these grirls : I know you 
 would be interested in them ; but can only mention 
 two or three. 
 
 One has had a sad history. Her parents were 
 Mehters. For some slight cause her father stabbed 
 his wife, and was himself arrested and hung. There 
 were two children, Gungia, four years of age, and 
 her little brother, only six months. They were 
 brought to the school, aud Gungia would sit and 
 hold the little baby and fondle him for a long 
 while without wearying of him. Soon after that 
 she was badly burned from her clothes catching 
 fire at the o:rate. It was thouo-ht best to send her 
 to the hospital, where she could receiye the proper 
 treatment. Here her love to her little brother 
 showed itself. He was taken ill, brought to the 
 hospital and died while she was there. 
 
 She has learned to loye her Sayiour, and with 
 many others is greatly endeared to the missionaries. 
 
DEHRA SCHOOLGIRLS. 
 
 205 
 
 There is a gentleness and patience about this 
 people which one cannot but admire. The girls 
 will stand for hours, if you wish it, and chase away 
 headache with the soft, gentle touch of their hands. 
 It seems to be a pleasure to them. Patience is 
 the peculiar virtue of the natives; they seem to 
 regard our impatience very much as we do their 
 lying. 
 
 There is one bright little girl here who keeps 
 the others laughing during their playtime by her 
 witty speeches and perfect mimicry. She is one of 
 the smallest; in fact, she entered younger than 
 pupils are usually taken. Her mother, a deaf- 
 mute, brought her into the compound one day and 
 communicated her desire to have the child taken 
 into the school. She said that she would beg her 
 own way through life, as before. Both were the 
 most abject specimens of humanity you ever saw. 
 
 The child was reluctant to come to the mission- 
 aries, and when brought forward acted as if she 
 were taking her life in her hand ; but while they 
 talked kindly to her the fact of their being friends 
 suddenly flashed across her mind, and she burst out 
 into a loud roaring laugh ; the whole scene was a 
 very touching one. The poor woman went away and 
 left the child, who I hope will learn the true way 
 
206 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 of life. The child was four or five years old, and 
 as wild a little creature as you ever saw. 
 
 The first operation was to bathe and reclothe 
 her, when she showed how bright she was. Her 
 name was Chulchulj which means a little tease or 
 mischief. The poor mothers have a superstition 
 that if they give a bad name to a child it is not so 
 likely to die. Hence it often happens that chil- 
 dren come to the mission with some such name, and 
 in that case it is changed. Little Chulchul .is now 
 Carrie T . 
 
 The other day, in company with her teacher, I 
 visited one of the girls who is sick. She was form- 
 erly one of the happiest of the whole number, but 
 has now an affection of the spine. Finding that 
 she had become too ill to study, her mother asked 
 permission to take her home. She has a house in 
 the city, where we went to see the poor girl. The 
 house is made of unburned brick. It has no glass 
 windows, only two or three doors, which, of course, 
 are left open during the day. I think there are 
 three rooms, one back and two in front. There is 
 little furniture besides the chdrpdis (native bed- 
 steads). These always form seats for the daytime, 
 and are moved about wherever one desires. There 
 are also a few wicker-work stools or mords. 
 
DEHRA SCHOOLGIRLS. 
 
 207 
 
 The yard is surrounded by a high mud wall, 
 with a door or gate, which I suppose is kept locked 
 at night. A large mango tree shades the house. 
 In one corner of the yard a toothless crone ’’ was 
 cooking at a little mud affair for that purpose. 
 She is the family-servant, and wears the dress often 
 adopted, though not always, by the Mehters — 
 striped cotton pants, loose above, but tight-fitting 
 at the ankles, a loose sacque and a chuddah. 
 
 AVe found Charlotte lying on a board with only 
 a thick quilt over it and no pillow. It seemed a 
 very trying position, but was according to the doc- 
 tor’s order. Some of her fellow-pupils had been to 
 see her the day before, and she told us how much 
 she enjoyed their visit. They had talked to her, 
 read to her, sung to her and prayed with her, mak- 
 ing her very happy. She is very cheerful in her 
 suffering, and thankful for these attentions. 
 
 There is a good deal of interest on the one great 
 subject in the school at present. For months some 
 of the girls have met daily, of their own accord, in 
 one of the rooms, to read the Scriptures and sing 
 and pray. Sometimes it is twice a day. Last Sab - 
 bath one of the girls said to a teacher, AVhat a 
 good day we have had to-day !” In the evening 
 some of them were sitting out in the conpound >n 
 
208 
 
 T RYE'S YEAR. 
 
 the mooDlight singing the hymns they have learned, 
 and some of the teachers went out and sat with 
 them. 
 
 I wish you could hear their singing ; they have a 
 natural talent for it, and it is very beautiful. They 
 sing all our sweetest Sunday-school hymns and 
 others, so that you sometimes hear the English 
 words, but oftener the Hindostanee. At this time 
 they had been singing, Blessed are the pure in 
 heart ^AVe shall gather at the river How 
 sweet the name of Jesus sounds !’^ and several 
 others. One asked the minister if he would pray 
 with them. He did so, and it was a solemn scene, 
 those dear children bowing in prayer in the quiet 
 evening in the bright moonlight of this Indian 
 clime. 
 
 One of the pupils of this school who became a 
 teacher, has been married and called to her eternal 
 rest, both within a few months. I will copy the 
 account of her marriage, written by one of the 
 teachers of the school : Parma, one of our native 
 
 teachers, was married this afternoon. Xine vears 
 ago she came into our school, a poor little orphan 
 child, from the Mehters, or very lowest caste of so- 
 ciety. Here she was educated ; here, for some time, 
 she was taught, and here she found a home. Her 
 
DEHRA SCHOOLGIRLS. 
 
 209 
 
 kind, affectionate manner and truly Christian spirit 
 have won for her the love of her teachers and lit- 
 tle pupils, as you would have been assured had you 
 been here to day to witness the preparation for the 
 wedding and the sad leave-taking afterward. 
 
 We had a holiday, of course. Early this morn- 
 ing the girls commenced decorating the chapel with 
 green twigs and vines, roses, jasmine, etc. Mean- 
 while, Aunt Margaret and Aunt Julia were attend- 
 ing to the more substantial preparations of cloth- 
 ing. The bride’s dress was a white muslin with a 
 chuddah, which is much like a veil at home. The 
 girls arranged a wreath of white natural flowers 
 for her hair, and altogether our little bride presented 
 a very nice appearance. The groom’s long coat was 
 of the purest white, also his 'pagri^ or sort of tur- 
 ban, which most natives wear. There were six 
 bridesmaids, Lizzie and Sophy and four of the 
 pupils, all in white. 
 
 “ They were married in the chapel, after which 
 all repaired to the dining-room, where refreshments 
 awaited them, consisting of rice boiled with meat 
 and curry, native sweetmeats and fruit. Then the 
 children had a grand play under the trees, Parma 
 entering into their games with as much zest as any 
 of them. One of their great delights was throw- 
 
 14 
 
210 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 ing strings of flowers unexpectedly over the heads 
 of the bride and groom. But at last the time came 
 for the parties to leave, when all seemed to realize 
 the separation, for with one accord they ‘ lifted up 
 their voices and wej^.^ 
 
 Parma some time ago became a member of the 
 little mission church here, and has lived a truly 
 consistent Christian life. Her husband is a cate- 
 chist, and they go to a new station where a native 
 pastor has but recently been settled. Their work 
 is to break new ground in the mission field. They 
 go to a city altogether given to idolatry, and you 
 will not doubt that our most earnest prayers are 
 ascending to our heavenly Father that he will 
 bless them and make them a blessing. It is thus 
 that girls are being sent out from our school. Do 
 pray for us that we may so train them that they 
 will be fitted for great usefulness, and that God will 
 grant his Spirit to them and us, without which all 
 our labor is in vain.” 
 
 It was but a few months later that the sad news 
 of her decease was brought to Dehra. She had 
 fallen a victim to cholera, or something similar. 
 Her teacher again writes : 
 
 I am sure you have not forgotten Parma, and 
 will grieve with me over the sad news of her death. 
 
DEHRA SCHOOLGIRLS. 
 
 211 
 
 She was ill but one day, and then, to use the lan- 
 guage of her husband, ^ went to rest in the sweet 
 bosom of her Saviour/ It is one of God^s mysteri- 
 ous providences. She seemed to have such a career 
 of usefulness opening before her. But we know 
 that he Moeth all things well,’ therefore I will not 
 give way to discouragement or distrust.” 
 
 I have filled more space v/ith accounts of the 
 girls’ school than I had intended, but I love to 
 dwell upon the mission life and work. It is the 
 bright spot in the vast heathen darkness. Though 
 the missionaries have their trials and hardships, 
 they have a joy of which the world knows noth- 
 ing, and consequently are happy. The suffering is 
 outside. One of the missionaries here says, You 
 have only to pass through one of our bazaars to wit- 
 ness scenes of misery, squalor, suffering and de- 
 basement that would make your heart sick and 
 lead you to feel that such an institution as ours is 
 only one little grain of gold on a "whole mountain 
 of corruption.” 
 
xxyii. 
 
 ELEPHANT HUNT AND THE RAJAH. 
 
 HE most exciting topic of conversation just 
 now in Dehra is a grand elephant hunt 
 which occurred last week. It was led by a 
 native rajah, but several Europeans were 
 of the party. Uncle was one of these, and took 
 Chat with him, much to the young man’s delight. 
 He has been talking about it ever since, but uncle 
 has given us a more connected account of the atfair. 
 The rajah took with him forty shikdris^ or hunting 
 elephants; they succeeded in capturing seventeen 
 wild ones, said to be worth four thousand rupees, 
 or two thousand dollars, per head. 
 
 Most of them were caught singly, but at one 
 time they learned of a herd of eleven which they 
 traced to a narrow valley. They stationed them- 
 selves on the surrounding hills, tired into the trees 
 and jungle, so as to frighten the animals out of their 
 
 hiding-places, from which they came, then began 
 212 
 
 I 
 
THE ELEPHANT HUNT. 
 
 213 
 
 the chase. The elephants kept in regular march- 
 ing order, even though retreating. The bachaSj or 
 young ones, have the central position, the weaker 
 ones next and the largest, strongest fellows are on 
 the outside. 
 
 When they were overtaken, the strong ones 
 showed fight,^’ as Chat says. They are taken by 
 nooses attached to chains, many of which must be 
 in readiness, for they are often broken. Then the 
 wild animal is chained on all sides, when begins 
 the work of taming. He is not allowed to sleep 
 or rest. Food is often presented to him, which he 
 refuses for a long time. Accepting it is the sign 
 of surrender. Sometimes this is the only means 
 used, but frequently his hide is scraped with a 
 long pole, which is shortened day by day as he 
 grows more peaceful, until at last the attendant can 
 stroke him with his hands. Fifteen days is gen- 
 erally sufficient for the taming. 
 
 One of the most valuable elephants was killed by 
 a wild creature that had been noosed. The end of 
 the chain was fastened to the shikdHy and he was 
 dragged over a precipice and had his neck broken. 
 His mahout (driver) was upon his back, and went 
 over with him. Every one expected to see the 
 poor fellow dashed to pieces, but he came down on 
 
214 
 
 T RYE’S YEAR. 
 
 the animal, and was saved. He mourned very much 
 over the dead elephant. Each shikari has his ma- 
 hout, who attends to him, and is with him a great 
 part of the time. He not only becomes very much 
 attached to him, but the elephant shows decided 
 affection for his keeper. Very often an elephant 
 will be perfectly obedient to the mahout, but will 
 not allow any one else to give him orders. They 
 are very intelligent animals. The commissioner 
 of the Doon, who was one of the party, says he has 
 hunted almost all animals that are hunted except 
 the American buffalo, and never found any sport 
 so exciting as an elephant hunt. 
 
 Five of the seventeen immense quadrupeds are 
 about two miles from here, and we rode out yester- 
 day to see them. They are fine-looking beasts, but 
 they have a wild gleam in their eyes yet. Two of 
 them looked really wicked, as if it would give 
 them great delight to trample us under their big 
 feet and then toss us out of their way with their 
 long shining ivories. These two do not show any 
 signs of accepting a civilized life, but the Hindoo 
 baboo whom we saw there savs that a few days 
 only are needed to bring them to terms. The 
 others are almost like those we see domesticated. 
 
 Chat has taken quite a fancy to one young one 
 
THE ELEPHANT HUNT. 
 
 215 
 
 about half grown, and the rajah told him that if 
 he would stay in India this animal should be his. 
 Chat could not promise this, and, should he own 
 one, would be as greatly puzzled to know what to 
 do with an elephant as any one else. 
 
 He comes out to see this particular one quite 
 often, and is already on such good terms with him 
 that he pats the rough skin and receives a look of 
 recognition in return. Father says he would make 
 a capital mahout, for the elephants seem to take to 
 him naturally. Chat says he would like to stay in 
 India more than a year, and have his elephant, 
 even if we did laugh at him. There he comes 
 now; he wants me to mount my pony and ride 
 over to see the elephants again, and I think 1^11 go. 
 
 We had a splendid ride, found the elephants 
 doing finely, especially Joe,’^ the little one. Chat 
 fed him out of his hand. I was afraid to have him 
 go so near, but the animal seemed perfectly harm- 
 less. The others are not tame yet by any means, 
 but I suppose they will be in time. We came 
 home a new way. In passing a temple we heard 
 some one reading, and rode up to the door to listen. 
 Half a dozen priests were seated around an old 
 man with flowing beard and blue spectacles who was 
 
216 
 
 TEYE’S YE.IR. 
 
 reading to them from some sacred book. I hope 
 they were edified ; we certainly were not, for we 
 couldn’t understand a word. 
 
 These Hindoos have such queer notions ! They 
 must be very ingenious to make such stories as 
 they tell and believe. A gentleman who was here 
 last evening told us about the different ages of the 
 world, according to their ideas, and of a great 
 rajah who lived a very long time ago. I have 
 written it down as nearly as I could recall his 
 words, and will copy it for you. They divided 
 time into four grand periods called jugs.’^ Chat 
 thinks they must be pretty large ^^jugs.'^ 
 
 The first of these is the Sat-jug, or age of trutli, 
 the golden age, which lasted for one million seven 
 hundred and twenty-eight thousand years from the 
 beginning of time. Xext came the Treta-jug, the 
 silver age, during which men began to degenerate 
 from the holy and happy condition in which they 
 had lived during the farmer period. It lasted one 
 million two hundred and ninety-six thousand 
 years. Xext came the age of brass, or the Dwapur- 
 jug, the doubtful age, which lasted eight hun- 
 dred and forty-six thousand years. During this 
 period man’s character assumed a very doubtful as- 
 pect, but it remained for the Kal-jugy the last, or 
 
THE ELEPHANT HUNT. 
 
 217 
 
 iron age, in which we live, to witness the total 
 depravity of the race. This last period, which is 
 said to have commenced about three thousand one 
 hundred and one years before Christ, is to last four 
 hundred and thirty-two thousand years, at the end 
 of which time the world is to be destroyed. 
 
 Add the expired period of the Kal-jug to the 
 entire time of the Dwapur, and then away beyond 
 this, at some part of the silver age, we find the 
 times of the good Rajah Karan. This renowned 
 prince is said to have been born of a virgin. He 
 sprang from her ear; hence his name (the word 
 karan ’’ means ear). At his birth his mother deter- 
 mined to destroy him, and with this view threw 
 him into the Ganges. A holy man named Dur 
 Jodin rescued him from death, had him nursed 
 and afterward carefully trained with a view to the 
 high office he was to fill in after life. 
 
 In due time he ascended the throne of Hustin- 
 apur, an ancient capital on the Ganges, not far from 
 Delhi. As a ruler his character did credit to his 
 alleged miraculous descent, but he was chiefly dis- 
 tinguished for his magnificent charities. It is said 
 that he distributed daily about a hundred pounds’ 
 weight of gold in alms, performing, besides, many 
 other works of benevolence, all on the same grand 
 
218 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 scale of princely magnificence. When this good 
 rajah became old, he settled his son oil the throne 
 of Hustinapur, bade farewell to all his friends and 
 turned his face toward Kailas, or the residence of 
 the gods, in the region of eternal snow. 
 
 He at last settled down at the Karn-Pryag, the 
 junction of the river Pindar with the Alaknanda 
 among the snowy mountains. He built several 
 temples, made suitable preparations for his ap- 
 proaching end, and at last, ascending a rock which 
 hangs over the point where the mighty Alaknanda 
 like a devouring monster rushes down upon the 
 feeble waters of the Pindar and apparently swal- 
 lows them up at one mouthful, he threw himself 
 into the stream, and, as the Hindoos say, Hound 
 salvation.’ ” 
 
 The natives seem to have little else to do than to 
 tell and hear these stories. The women especially 
 pass much time in this way, and it isn’t strange 
 that they have such very wrong ideas. I will try 
 to take your advice, and not feel the whole weight 
 of the heathen world on my shoulders, but if you 
 were here, I know you would feel for them as 
 deeply as I do. I cannot help thinking about 
 them. 
 
XXVIII. 
 
 THE SIKHS. 
 
 (EAR ARGYLE: I mentioned the Sikhs in a 
 former letter; we see more of them in Dehra, 
 and I will make them the subject of this 
 epistle. They seceded from the Hindoos 
 about three hundred years ago. Theirs was a pro- 
 test against idolatry, but made in their own strength, 
 and with none to lead them to the only true Object 
 of worship. They soon relapsed into their former 
 state, and were again bowing down to creatures 
 which their own hands had made. They did not 
 return to Hindooism, but remained a separate sect, 
 having become, however, so divided and subdivided 
 that it is difficult to tell what they believe. 
 
 All agree in worshiping the Grunt, a sacred book 
 written bv some of the founders of the sect. The 
 men wear their hair long, as I told you before, and 
 the women are kept behind screens like the Hin- 
 doos. Ram Rai was a fakir, and the sou of an in- 
 fluential priest. He was sent on a certain mission 
 
 219 
 
220 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 by his father, which not performing, he was ex- 
 communicated. Many persons rallied around him, 
 and he became a leader of a large party. This 
 Kam Rai resided in Dehra, hence his temple is 
 here, and at this place thousands of people gather 
 at an annual Sikh mela. 
 
 We ride to the temple frequently. It was built 
 more than a hundred years ago. As is often the 
 case, it is also a tomb, erected to the memory of 
 Ram Rai. Off from the corners of this temple 
 are four lesser ones to his four wives. The Sikhs 
 build much larger temples than the Hindoos or 
 Mohammedans, and this is one of the finest 
 pieces of architecture in the country, though 
 not to be compared with one in Umritser, which 
 rises out of an immense tank, and is overlaid 
 with gold from the water’s edge to the top of 
 its dome. 
 
 This one is square, with four minarets or spires 
 at the corners and a dome in the centre. The 
 former are covered with gold some distance from 
 the top, and, you will readily believe, are very bril- 
 liant in the sunlight. By steps you can ascend on 
 every side the immense platform on which the 
 temple stands, but can go no farther. Here you 
 are likely to meet the mohunt, or priest, a fine- 
 
THE SIKHS. 
 
 221 
 
 looking, showily-dressed man, who will come for- 
 ward and offer you cardamom seeds, this being a 
 part of his religion. The whole temple is very 
 beautifully painted, and has none of the disgusting 
 pictures of idols or representations of transmigra- 
 tion of souls so common on these buildings. The 
 corner temples are much after the same style, but 
 smaller and plainer. 
 
 The Sikhs have just had their mela, which, of 
 course, we went every day to see. On the great 
 day of the mela we went down through the city 
 to see the raising of a pole, which is the important 
 feature of the day. This pole, resembling a flag- 
 staff, is said to be the abiding-place of their god, 
 or, as some say, God himself. A new one is pre- 
 pared yearly, covered with red cloth, raised, and 
 stands till the next mela. 
 
 Hundreds assist in raising it, but so blinded are 
 they as to believe that it comes up by miracle. 
 After it is raised the poor people flock around, 
 each anxious to present his token of silk or worsted 
 with tassels, which is tied on the pole as a decora- 
 tion. Thinking it would afford a better view, father 
 engaged an elephant for Chat and me to ride. I felt 
 rather timid at the thought of mounting so high 
 an animal, but the huge beast moved so slowly and 
 
222 
 
 TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 carefully that I forgot my fears before we had gone 
 far. A carriage could hardly have gotten through 
 the crowd, but our solid pony went through, and 
 gave ns a fine view of all that was going on. 
 
 After leaving the pole we looked about for other 
 sights. Here and there a hollow circle was formed 
 in the crowd, where dancing men were perform- 
 ing, usually to the music of a rude banjo. At one 
 side were twelve circular swings, each having four 
 cars, and each car seating four persons. These 
 were kept in motion by the turning of a crank, 
 and were so suspended as always to remain upright 
 in performing their revolutions. 
 
 Xear the temple sat a priest reading aloud from 
 the Grunt, and all who came within the sound of 
 his voice were supposed to receive untold bless- 
 ings. This book is kept in the temple, wrapped in 
 many covers of silk, cloth, etc. "When taken out 
 for reading, it is laid on a small native bedstead, 
 with silk pillows on each side of it. 
 
 Here and there was a miserable fakir — one with 
 finger-nails left uncut till they had become long 
 hollow tubes curled around his hands, very much 
 in his way. Another had held his hand up till he 
 had no power to use it. The hand and arm were 
 both shriveled and useless. They are disgusting 
 
THE SIKHS. 
 
 223 
 
 objects. I don’t see the connection between holi- 
 ness and filth. 
 
 How glad I was to see the mission tents, and to 
 hear the good men telling all who would listen to 
 them of the Saviour of men ! It was a relief from 
 all the turmoil and excitement of the heathen fes- 
 tival to hear their voices, although but few of their 
 words could we understand. Men and women 
 stopped to listen as they passed along, then went 
 their way, most of them doubtless thinking their 
 own religion the best. But not all so listened. 
 There was one man who stayed close to the speak- 
 ers all the time we were within sight of them, 
 and we learned afterward that he was very anxious 
 to know the true way. 
 
 He had been well educated in a government 
 school, and had read enough of the Bible to be con- 
 vinced that his idolatry was all wrong. He finally 
 came to the conclusion to give up his old religion 
 altogether, and to be a Christian in secret. Lately 
 he has seen that he cannot remain in that position. 
 He will not return to his idols, and to profess to be 
 a Christian would make him an outcast in the eyes 
 of his wife and mother, who are bigoted Hindoos. 
 He fears that, should he have to leave them in that 
 way, he would lose all influence over them, and they 
 
224 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 would be ruined. This troubles him more than the 
 pain of separation, which would be great. 
 
 When he comes home, he finds the women bow- 
 ing before an idol, and his mother, who has charge 
 of the domestic affairs, insists on offering some of 
 the food to the idol before any of the family taste 
 it. It is very hard for the man. They say there 
 are many such cases ; the women are so ignorant and 
 superstitious that they cling to idolatry. If they 
 could be taught the true way, and have more know- 
 ledge, so as to see what senseless errors are in their 
 belief, caste would not long continue. There is 
 work for thousands of Christian women among 
 their dark sisters of India, for you know that wo- 
 men alone can teach them. I asked father if he 
 ' thought it was the duty of the man I just men- 
 tioned to be baptized and leave his family, for it 
 seemed to me that his duties rather conflicted. 
 
 ^^Yes, decidedly,^^ said he; there is only one 
 path to take. Duties never conflict ; it is sometimes 
 very difficult to learn which is the right, but God 
 will show us if we ask him.^^ 
 
 But,’’ I said, God has taught that a man shall 
 remain with his wife, and this Hindoo knows that 
 by professing Christ he will have to leave his wife ; 
 he will be the cause of the separation.” 
 
THE SIKHS. 
 
 225 
 
 ‘^Let us see about that, my little lawyer; you 
 argue very well, but I think a single illustration 
 will show you where you are wrong. In the first 
 place, God reigns supreme. We owe certain duties 
 to him and others to our fellow-beings. Which 
 are the higher 
 
 Those to God, of course.’^ 
 
 “ Exactly ; now, when the question arises in 
 regard to two apparently opposite duties, all we 
 have to do is to obey the ^ thus saith the Lord the 
 Other will take care of itself. Think of Abraham 
 being commanded to offer up his son a sacrifice. 
 There stood the law, ^ Thou shalt not kill.’ Abra- 
 ham would have been just as guilty as any one 
 else if he had broken it, but when God com- 
 manded, he hesitated not for a moment. God’s 
 word was above all law, and though Abraham 
 could see by his obedience only the worst conse- 
 quences and the destruction of the covenant God 
 had made with him, he believed that God would 
 order such a deed only for the best. You know 
 his belief was ‘counted to him for righteousness.’ 
 Oh how long it takes us to learn to believe our 
 heavenly Father just as we believe our earthly 
 parents ! One would think that would be the first 
 thing, but in fact we hesitate and doubt and make 
 
226 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 all sorts of excuses before we Avill lean upon the 
 almighty Arm and be happy by simply taking him 
 at his wordf^ 
 
 I see now, father,” I said ; I believed before 
 that the man ought to come out and be on the 
 Lord’s side, and yet that point was not clear to me. 
 The law is very plain, certainly, as I now look at 
 it : ‘ Believe and be baptized ^ Do this in remem- 
 brance of me.’ ” 
 
 Yes, and hoAV naturally this passage follows 
 the command ! — ‘Casting all your care upon him, for 
 he careth for you.’ Here Ave have our aaLoIc duty : 
 ‘FolloAV Jesus and trust him implicitly.’ I believe 
 that, if Ave seek in earnest, God will shoAv us Avhat 
 to do in every step of our upAvard path.” 
 
 But I Avill not lengthen my letter by giAung you 
 anv more of our conversation. 
 
 
XX tx. • 
 
 STREET-PREA CHING. 
 
 Y DEAR BROTHER : We often stop to 
 hear the missionaries preach in the after- 
 noons when we go out riding. I wish you 
 could take wings and fly over here, so as to 
 go with us this afternoon ; the change would be so 
 great you would hardly know whether you had 
 alighted on your own planet or one of its sisters. 
 You would have the light faces of an American 
 city exchanged for dark ones; the suits of black 
 and gray for pure white robes (this is among the 
 gentlemen : there are some who wear dark clothes 
 here) ; hats for turbans ; the great mercantile houses 
 for little shops ten or twelve feet square having 
 their floors covered with muslins, prints, cloths or 
 other articles, the merchants seated in Oriental 
 fashion in the midst of their wares. This is the 
 world in which we are now living. 
 
 The usual place where we go to hear the preach- 
 ing is before the boys’ school-building, the veran- 
 dah of which is the spot the minister selects. This 
 
 227 
 
228 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 institution, which is principally for Mohammedan 
 and heathen boys, has been in existence several years 
 and is very flourishing. The teachers are all Chris- 
 tians, and the pupils are obliged to attend a service 
 there every Sabbath. Rev. Mr. Herron taught a 
 class there fourteen years ago, nearly all of the 
 members of which are men holding good places in 
 the government service. He has recently gathered 
 some of them into a Bible class — Mohammedans, 
 Hindoos and a member of the Brahma Somaj. 
 
 I may as well tell you here what that last term 
 means, for I suppose if I donT you will ask me in 
 your next letter, no matter whether you know or 
 not. Father says they are little better than deists. 
 Their leader is Keshub Chunder Sen, a learned 
 Hindoo who has given up idolatry and the rites of 
 his old faith, and takes what he thinks the best of 
 other creeds. It is Christianity without Christ, if 
 such a thing could be. 
 
 Father thinks it is the same belief we meet with 
 at home under different names. The idea that, if 
 we try to do our best, God will save us, rejecting 
 the truths that our hearts are deceitful above all 
 things, and desperately wicked,’’ and that “ there is 
 none other name under heaven given among men 
 whereby we must be saved” but the name of Jesus. 
 
STREET-PREA CHING. 
 
 229 
 
 A great many of the Hindoos believe their re- 
 ligion to be wrong, and are ready for a better creed 
 as soon as the opinions of their people will allow 
 them to change without becoming outcasts. This 
 new faith comes to many of them as just the thing. 
 Ours asks them to give up all for Jesus; they are not 
 ready to do that, so they try in this way to serve God 
 and mammon. Some of the good people here fear 
 much harm wdll come from this new element, it con- 
 tains so much that is good, and is so near the truth 
 as to be taken for it by very many. Others think 
 that it will be a stepping-stone to true Christianity. 
 
 Father talked to us a long time about it last even- 
 ing, trying to explain to Chat and me the differ- 
 ence between morality and religion. He said that 
 W’e were condemned criminals, every soul of us, for 
 all have sinned and come short of the glory of 
 God.’’ The punishment for any one of our sins is 
 eternal death. God has provided only one way of 
 pardon, and if we do not accept that way, we are 
 still unpardoned. 
 
 To talk of being saved by being honest and up- 
 right and moral is as if a criminal should say while 
 in the prison awaiting his execution, think I 
 shall not be hung, because I have been honest and 
 done the best I could while here in prison.” AYe 
 
230 
 
 TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 cannot say as much as that, for we do not do the 
 best we can until we obey the command, Believe 
 on the Lord Jesus Christ;’^ then alone comes the 
 sweet promise, And thou shalt be saved/^ 
 
 But to return to the preaching. Yesterday we 
 found a large crowd collected at the preaching- 
 place, and sucl a motley set as I could hardly de- 
 scribe. These audiences are most variable. Some- 
 times but half a dozen are gathered, again a crowd, 
 and the people are continually changing. You, of 
 course, will not think of a studied sermon in con- 
 nection with this preaching. 
 
 The missionary takes his seat, stops some man 
 who is passing — perhaps a traveler — asks him of 
 his business, where he is going, etc. Then having 
 entered into conversation, the great subject is in- 
 troduced. Others stop to hear, and a crowd is col- 
 lected. This is one way. It requires much tact 
 to devise necessary means for gathering and hold- 
 ing an audience, much wisdom and divine assist- 
 ance to make an impression on these dull, 
 hardened hearts. Sometimes small boys are 
 among the most interested listeners. It is won- 
 derful how early they become acquainted with the 
 arguments for their own religion. Yesterday the 
 minister said, in ans\N 3r to an objection, The 
 
STREET-PREA CHINQ. 
 
 231 
 
 Shasters are false/’ A little Hindoo boy called 
 out/^ Aa/im, sa/ii6; Shasters sack haiJ^ No, sahib; 
 the Shasters are true.”) A man asked the sahib to 
 tell something untrue that was in them. He took 
 up the story they contain of the situation of the 
 earth on the horns of a cow, which stands on a 
 turtle that rests on a snake. At this a man asked 
 how earthquakes were caused, if not by the tossing 
 of the earth from one horn to the other when the 
 cow became tired. 
 
 The missionary went over the proofs of the 
 spherical form of the earth, which quite satisfied the 
 child, who had learned geography enough to appre- 
 ciate them. He was convinced that in one respect 
 at least the Shasters were false. Uncle says we 
 could nowhere find minds with finer powers for 
 reasoning than in India ; consequently, the mission- 
 aries have to be thoroughly prepared to meet them 
 in argument. Chat said he couldn’t see why they 
 believed such ridiculous things if they had such 
 good minds. 
 
 ^^What do you think we would believe,” said 
 uncle, if we had never heard of the Bible, and 
 had been taught error all our lives ?” 
 
 I suppose we should be wrong, of course,” Chat 
 said, but I think our common sense would teach 
 
232 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 US that the world didn’t rest on the horns of a 
 cow.” 
 
 I don’t know; I very much doubt our ability 
 to rise above the notions of the Hindoos if we had 
 had their training. We have had examples of men 
 rising to the very highest point to which human 
 wisdom could lift them, and they have always 
 fallen far short of the elevation of the humblest 
 Christian. Men left to themselves are always 
 shackled with prejudice and superstition and vice; 
 it is the glorious gospel alone which sets them free. 
 The gods of the heathen are always supposed to 
 exact from their followers what causes them pain 
 and often crime.” 
 
 Did the Thugs think they were doing right in 
 killing persons ?” 
 
 Yes ; that was a part of their religion. They 
 were followers of the bloody goddess Kali, who is 
 represented with a necklace of human skulls.” 
 
 Did they kill everybody they could ? and are 
 there any of them living now ?” I asked. 
 
 The government has finally exterminated them, 
 I believe, but it took years to do it. To answer 
 your first question, I will tell you something about 
 them. They are also called Phansiagars, the word 
 meaning a strangler. They always strangled their 
 
STEEL T-PREA CHINO. 
 
 233 
 
 victims with a phansi or noose, and worked in 
 gangs varying in number from a dozen to sixty or 
 seventy.” 
 
 “ What caste did they belong to ?” Chat asked. 
 
 They were composed of men of all castes, yet 
 worked together in this horrible business. They 
 were regularly organized and instructed. All they 
 did was done wdth the utmost secresy, so that a 
 man’s friend, or brother even, might be a Thug, and 
 he not know it.” 
 
 ‘^The whole band could not have worked to- 
 gether, then,” said Chat, or they would have been 
 found out?” 
 
 No ; they divided into small parties and scat- 
 tered themselves through the country. One man’s 
 part would be to decoy a traveler to some unfre- 
 quented place, or to detain a man where he was till 
 another, lurking near, could reach the proper place 
 to throw the noose over the head of the unsuspect- 
 ing person. The man could utter no cry, and was 
 a corpse in a very short time. One or two others 
 w’ould be near to dig a grave, gash the body and 
 hide it from view. Each gang had Ms jemandar or 
 leader, its guru or teacher, its sothas or entrappers, 
 its bhuttotes or stranglers, and its lughaees or grave- 
 diggers.” 
 
234 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 ^^Did they murder women and little children 
 too I asked. 
 
 Not the children ; these they kept and trained 
 to their own horrid trade. Their own children 
 were Thugs, as a matter of course, for you know 
 that among these Eastern nations a man always 
 follows the business of his father, whatever it may 
 be. They began early and gradually to accustom 
 their sons to scenes of blood, and when they were 
 sufficiently hardened let them witness the wffiole 
 transaction.’^ 
 
 I am so glad there are none of these terrible 
 men around now,” I said, ^^for I should be afraid 
 every time I stirred out of the house. I expect to 
 dream about them to-night, as it is.” 
 
 But I have written quite enough on this subject,' 
 I hope to have a more cheerful topic for my next. 
 
XXX. 
 
 « 
 
 NOBILITY IN TENTS. 
 
 OW delightful our drives and rides are now 
 that April is here ! The lovely Doon is 
 more magnificent than ever. It is spring 
 with us; the birds are more musical, the 
 fruit trees are covered with blossoms and the air 
 is laden with perfume. I have been interested 
 in noticing the progress of the vegetable world. 
 The bamboo and a few other trees have their leaves 
 tinged with yellow and brown, from the slight 
 frosts of December and January. One kind of 
 tree is totally bare, others are just putting forth 
 their leaves, others, as the willow, are farther ad- 
 vanced, the mulberry still more, but all showing 
 the delicate green of tender spring foliage. Then 
 there is the mango, with its heavy, dark, rich green 
 mantle, and the pine, so that really every season 
 is represented. 
 
 Of fruits we have the plantain, or banana, and 
 
 235 
 
236 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 papita the whole year round. They bud, blossom 
 and bear fruit continually. The papita is a most 
 singular-looking fruit. It grows just underneath 
 the foliage in a circle around the trunk of tree 
 fifteen or twenty feet high. It is near the size of 
 a musk-melon, and resembles it in color and rind.* 
 It has a great number of black seeds, but is not 
 nearly as pleasant to the taste as our melons. The 
 loquots are ripe just now. They grow on a large 
 tree, resemble a large yellow egg-plum and have 
 two or three immense seeds lying close together. 
 Their taste is a pleasant acid. 
 
 In July or August the mango arrives at perfec- 
 tion in this latitude. Few varieties of fruit have 
 as much flavor as the same in other countries. 
 Apples and grapes look very tempting, but are in- 
 sipid. Pears, peaches and other home fruits have 
 little more than the name and appearance of the 
 same elsewhere. Pine apples and many tropical 
 fruits are equally inferior; even the plantains are 
 not equal to those from the West Indies. You 
 must remember that we are in the far north of 
 India, and not apply all that I write about Dehra 
 to the whole of this great land. 
 
 In this beautiful spring-time Dehra has again 
 had distinguished visitors. Sir William Muir, 
 
NOBILITY IN TENTS. 
 
 237 
 
 family and suite have been here on a march from 
 Allahabad. I mentioned in a former letter that 
 Sir William is governor of the north-west prov- 
 inces. Notice was given to the citizens that Lady 
 Muir would have a reception on Saturday last from 
 ten to three. We would not have done our duty 
 nor have satisfied our curiosity if we had not gone, 
 so we went, and had the honor of being presented to 
 her ladyship. They are warm friends of the mis- 
 sionaries, which made me like them all the more. 
 After the reception the governor and his lady 
 visited the girls’ school, and seemed much pleased 
 with it. The girls sang for them, ^‘God save the 
 queen,” in Hindostanee. 
 
 Those who called upon them on reception-day 
 were invited to their tents a few days afterward. 
 We were asked to breakfast. Their great camp 
 was a novel sight, I assure you. Its hundred tents, 
 its cattle, horses, camels and elephants, made me 
 think of Bible times, when people dwelt in tents 
 and counted their riches by flocks and herds. 
 Probably, Lady Muir’s moire-antique and point 
 lace did not correspond with anything Sarah or Re- 
 becca ever wore ; probably the tents were fitted up 
 a little more handsomely than those of Abraham ; 
 but however that may bo, we were made perfectly 
 
288 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 at ease by the true courtesy of our noble host and 
 hostess. 
 
 The station returned the hospitality of the tented 
 party by giving a picnic for them. It was held in 
 one of the wild, romantic spots so numerous in this 
 vicinity, on the banks of what is usually a stream, 
 but is now dry. The lack of water was supplied 
 by an artificial waterfall made for the day from the 
 canal above. The company was scattered over the 
 high banks, seated on rocks. Below, in the bed of 
 the stream, the cloth was spread and covered with 
 all sorts of good things for eating. Servants, mean- 
 while, almost as numerous as the guests, are climb- 
 ing up and down the rocks with plates and glasses 
 to serve the party. 
 
 It is the custom of the country, when one is in- 
 vited to dinner, or to any gathering where service 
 is needed, to take his khitmatgar (body-servant) 
 with him. These servants usually appear all in 
 white — pantaloons, long coat, girdle and turban. I 
 assure you they look very neat. Sir William’s ser- 
 vants wore a scarlet livery. You can imagine what 
 a picturesque appearance it gave the scene to have 
 the red and the white uniforms going up and down 
 the banks and to and fro among the guests. It only 
 needed some in blue to complete our national colors. 
 
NOBILITY IN TENTS. 
 
 239 
 
 Aftei the picnic was over the company assem- 
 bled at the officers’ mess-hoiise. There the grounds 
 were beautifully lighted with Chinese lanterns. 
 The band was playing without, and we had some 
 very sweet music within. Here adieux were made 
 to the Muir’ party, and the next morning they left 
 the station. ' 
 
 The waters of the stream where the picnic was 
 held are considered very sacred. Thousands go 
 there every year, at the time of the Dehra mela, to 
 bathe. What they did this year I do not know, 
 for the stream was dry. Whether they felt that 
 they were going away with the burden of sin still 
 upon them, or whether the dust from the bed, which 
 they sometimes used, was considered sufficient to 
 cleanse their souls, I cannot tell. There are many 
 caves in these banks to which pilgrims come. In 
 one of these, by the constant falling of lime-water 
 drop by drop, a stone is formed which the natives 
 think very holy. The offerings to it in puja 
 make it very dark. Steps have been cut in the 
 rock up to it, and the floor is made smooth. Much 
 labor and money must have been expended for this 
 purpose. 
 
 In another of these caves one of the missionaries 
 once found some men with a poor sick boy. They 
 
240 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 had come a great distance to bring the child, be- 
 lieving that he would find health in this sacred 
 spot. They had been waiting there a long time, 
 but he grew no better. The minister and his 
 friend showed them how foolish they were in ex- 
 pecting help from that source. They told them of 
 the great Physician and the plan of salvation. The 
 men were so far convinced of their folly as to leave 
 the cave at once. AYhether further good ever came 
 of it, we know not. Mother says it is like much 
 of our work in life for others’ good. We must be 
 content to keep dropping seed sometimes, without 
 seeing even the little sprout. But we leave all in 
 good care. The dear heavenly Father knows every 
 etfort made for him, and can bring about the results 
 which will be to his own glory. 
 

 XXXI. 
 
 GOING UP HILL. 
 
 EAR ARGYLE : Uncle’s fiimily and oui*s 
 
 expected to have been settled at Landour 
 for the summer by this time, but have been 
 delayed, and shall still remain here for a 
 week or more. Last Friday, however, I went 
 there with uncle, aunt and Ella, and returned the 
 next day. It was a most delightful trip, ^ye were 
 off at three o’clock in the afternoon ; went in a car- 
 riage to Raj pore at the foot of the mountain, and 
 six miles from Dehra. There is a broad, beautiful 
 road all the way to this place, lined with mango, 
 sisum and other trees. And here one of the most 
 striking illusions of nature is experienced. Riding 
 in the face of the mountain you imagine yourself 
 making a gradual descent, when the fact is, on 
 reaching Raj pore, you are far above Dehra. Even 
 the water in the canal which supplies our station 
 with that element seems to be running up hill, in 
 
 spite of the law to the contrary. 
 
 16 
 
 241 
 
242 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 At Rajpore a jhanpan and coolies were engaged 
 for aunt, she not being able to endure so long a 
 ride on horseback. The others of us had our 
 ponies, which were waiting for us at Rajpore. The 
 jhanpan and dandy form the only alternative to 
 horseback riding on the hills, as the roads are too 
 narrow and steep for carriages. The first is very 
 like a child’s carriage, with comfortable seats and a 
 close top, which can be taken off if desired. It has 
 two shafts at each end, and requires at least four 
 coolies to carry it. 
 
 The dandy is a sort of hammock affair, made of 
 native carpeting and attached to a bamboo pole. 
 A very comfortable seat is formed, and it requires 
 but two coolies for an ordinary person. Many pre- 
 fer them to the jhanpans. 
 
 At Raj pore we mount for a ride of eight miles. 
 Our narrow road takes us first through the Rajpore 
 bazaar, now a zigzag course along the unprotected 
 mountain side, making sudden turns where, should 
 the horse shy, you would be plunged down, down, 
 down ; then again we go directly up through steep 
 and formidable ascents. Every few minutes we 
 are coming out in full sight of the Doon, each time 
 with a more extended view, till we are able quite 
 to overlook the Swalics, which bound it on the 
 
9- 
 
 The Jhanpax. 
 
 p. 242, 
 
GOING UP HILL. 
 
 243 
 
 south, and to stretch our vision away down over 
 the plain. 
 
 We reach ^lysurie after a ride of five miles. A 
 long native bazaar forms the connecting link be- 
 tween it and Landour. I can give you little idea 
 of the effect of the houses scattered over the moun- 
 tain sides and perched on top of the many peaks 
 that meet our view. Occasionally you see one where 
 the owner has been aspiring, and the turrets and 
 walls give a very castle-like appearance to his 
 home. 
 
 It was dark before we reached Landour, and the 
 bright lights dotted all over the hillsides were very 
 beautiful. I thought of Longfellow’s Excelsior” 
 as we pressed on, for uncle’s house is on the north 
 side of one of the very highest peaks of this outer 
 range. Long before our arrival there we felt our- 
 selves in a colder climate, and had put on the warm 
 wraps provided ; but not until we were in the snug 
 little parlor, with the closed doors and bright fire, 
 did we realize how different it was from the Doon. 
 We were thankful for such good servants as those 
 who attended so well to our wants there, for we 
 needed the pleasant little fire and the good warm 
 supper they gave us. 
 
 The night reminded me of one of those cold, 
 
244 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 freezing ones at home when you have the misfor- 
 tune, in visiting a friend, to be put in the cold spare- 
 room. I have seldom suffered more. There had 
 been rain, which had increased the cold, and our 
 systems were entirely unprepared for the change. 
 The next morning, however, was lovely. We went 
 on Lai Tiba (seven thousand five hundred feet 
 high), just back of the summit on which the house 
 stands, and looked first over Landour, Mysurie 
 and the Doon, then turned northward to the 
 snows. 
 
 The English shops, the club-house, the library, 
 the hotels, the telegraph wires and the churches 
 tell you that you are not out of the world in Lan- 
 dour, even though the way there leads you through 
 wild and difficult places. Here are fine, level roads, 
 protected by solid walls, winding around the hills. 
 One is called the Mall. Here is the Sanitarium, 
 where invalid soldiers are brought to recruit. 
 
 Casting our eyes again southward, we see the 
 Doon, about fourteen miles in width. There is 
 Dehra in the midst of its beauties. From it you 
 can trace the road to Saharanpur as far as the pass 
 in the Swalics. At the left is the Jumna, at the 
 right the Ganges, or Gunga, but they are distant. 
 Perhaps they could be seen in the most favorable 
 
GOING UP HILL. 
 
 245 
 
 state of the atmosphere, but to us they were not 
 visible. 
 
 But let us turn to the north. It is eighty miles 
 in a bee-line from us to the nearest point of the 
 Snowy Range, which bounds the horizon. Between, 
 lies, not a valley, as I had supposed, but peak after 
 peak of these grand old Himalayas rise like mighty 
 billows of a sea solidified. The deep shadows in 
 the snows surprised me. When the sun shines 
 upon them, they are perfectly dazzling, but in the 
 shade you would be astonished to notice their dark 
 appearance. The deep ravines that separate the 
 peaks are almost black. 
 
 These peaks all have names, but I cannot re- 
 member many of them. One has a name which 
 means ^^Monkey^s Head,^^ another, Monkey’s 
 Tail.” One sharp point rising against the sky is 
 called Tent Peak, and the points from which the 
 Hindoos believe the Ganges and Jumna receive their 
 waters direct from heaven are called respectively 
 Gangootra and Jumnootra. The extent of moun- 
 tain is said to be as great on the north of the snows 
 as on the south, giving them a breadth of one hun- 
 dred and sixty miles. A valley very similar to the 
 Doon lies on the north side. 
 
 Uncle told us many of his adventures among v.h8 
 
246 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 snows which were full of interest. He says there 
 are Hindoo temples at various points among these 
 mountains. One of them, situated at Badrinath, 
 made me think of Mt. St. Bernard and its monks. 
 It is in a very cold place, and the priests come out 
 in the sunshine all wrapped up to keep themselves 
 at all comfortable. 
 
 Many men make pilgrimages to these temples, 
 traveling ov^er snow and ice, with the idea that they 
 will be the better and holier for it. We saw a num- 
 ber of them this morning who had just come from 
 the snows. It seems very strange to stand here and 
 see the Doon in all the verdure of a tropical sum- 
 mer, and on the other side snow and ice and winter. 
 I have received a practical lesson on a grand scale 
 of what I learned in school. I know the fact that 
 as we ascend above the earth the air becomes cooler, 
 but it is a never-ceasing wonder to me. 
 
 On Saturday afternoon, as we returned, we stopped 
 at the shops to make a few purchases, for at this 
 time such establishments are moved up hill, and we 
 in Dehra must go there for what we need in their 
 line. These hills are a great comfort to the 
 missionaries. Some of them are there every sum- 
 mer who might otherwise have to return home to 
 recruit their health. 
 
XXXII. 
 
 THE RAINS. 
 
 Y DEAR BROTHER : I write again from 
 Dehra, for we are not yet settled in Lan- 
 doiir. The rains are really upon us, and 
 for two months we may expect but little 
 else. I love to watch the clouds around the tops 
 of the great Himalayas, sometimes settling down 
 heavy and dark, again light and scattered, as if they 
 were caught in the trees. It is pleasanter to us 
 just now than to those at Landour and Mysurie, who 
 are living literally in cloud-land. The distinctness 
 with which the mountains come out after a shower 
 is wonderful; they seem to be just upon us. 
 
 I feel it a daily privilege to live in sight of these 
 everlasting hills.’’ They afford a constant lesson 
 on the infinite power of God. The weather is not 
 very uncomfortable now, and with the aid of the 
 punkas we get along very well. These are 
 
 a great comfort; they are large fans which are kept 
 
 going to and fro over our heads by means of a cord 
 
 247 
 
248 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 attached to them. A servant sits in the room, or 
 sometimes in another room, and keeps the ma- 
 chinery in motion by pulling the cord back 
 and forth. As I have told you, these natives are 
 very patient, and this is good business for them. 
 
 It rains two or three hours every day on an 
 average, and is cloudy most of the time. The sun 
 beams upon us occasionally, however, giving us an 
 opportunity to dry musty clothes. But I must tell 
 you about the animal world, as the whole country 
 now swarms with animal life. It is the reign of 
 scorpions, lizards, white ants, centipedes and cobras. 
 It isn’t safe to run your hand down in your trunk 
 or bureau drawer out of sight, but you must take 
 up each article carefully and unfold it or shake it 
 out. You will be very apt to shake out something 
 that will run ofiP at a rapid rate. Then the white 
 ants do not improve the flavor of tea or soup when 
 they drop from the ceiling over the table. 
 
 These ants are very curious little fellows. They 
 are really ants, you know — not the termites of Af- 
 rica, which sometimes are called by the same name. 
 They always work under cover, and make most 
 beautiful little archways of earth cemented by a 
 slimy secretion from their bodies. Under these the 
 work of devastation goes on, but, what is more won- 
 
THE RAINS. 
 
 249 
 
 derful, they will throw out a perfect little tubular 
 bridge from the wall to a piece of furniture within 
 four or five inches of it, through which they can 
 pass. One frequently sees large cones, in travel- 
 ing, which mark the place of old stumps that they 
 have first covered with earth, then eaten, and some- 
 times turned them into their dwellings. 
 
 When they get into your trunks, the first inti- 
 mation you have of their presence is generally in 
 finding articles near the top very damp. As you 
 go down you come to the creatures themselves and 
 their work. If they have been there two or three 
 days you will find such a riddling as will defy all 
 efforts at mending. At the beginning of the rains 
 great numbers of them, but not all, take to them- 
 selves wings. Those so favored have grown very 
 large, and thereafter do no harm save to annoy you 
 for a few nights by getting into the light, breaking 
 off and scattering their wdngs in all directions. 
 After this they seem as well contented to craAvl 
 about on their feet as if they had never known a 
 higher sphere. It is said that, like the bee, they 
 have a queen ; if she be killed, their work is hin- 
 dered. 
 
 They are sometimes carried by vessels to distant 
 ports, where, from their rapid increase, they are con- 
 
250 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 sidered far from a desirable importation. We have 
 our trunks set on bricks, which is some protection 
 against the ants, but watchfulness is necessary. 
 Ella and I were startled a day or two ago by the 
 effect of the work of these little pests. I went to 
 the washstand in our room to wash my hands, and 
 had just raised the pitcher to pour out some water, 
 jarring the stand as I did so, when down came the 
 stand very much in the style of the ^^one-hoss 
 shay,’’ though all parts had not given out. The 
 ants ran in every direction, and the wreck was a 
 curiosity. I am going to bring some of the pieces 
 home with me, just to show you. AYe had placed 
 the washstand too near the wall, so the little fel- 
 lows got into it and ate the inner parts of the legs 
 until they were mere shells. They looked perfectly 
 solid, but were so thin that the slightest pressure 
 broke them. 
 
 I am sure that nobody but a Hindoo could prac- 
 tice the Hindoo religion, for there are so many in- 
 sects of all kinds and descriptions that I am con- 
 stantly trying to kill them. A Hindoo has the 
 patience to bear with them, and treat them very 
 civilly too. Many of them would not kill a mos- 
 quito for anything. 
 
 But let me turn to something more enjoyable in 
 
THE RAINS. 
 
 251 
 
 the line of North Indian productions. Our straw- 
 berry season is just over. For two months they were 
 on our table daily. Now we have the mangoes, which 
 are considered the most luscious fruit in India. 
 The ordinary variety is near the size and shape of 
 a turkey’s egg. It has a green rind and a large 
 white stone covered with a long white fibre. The 
 children delight in drying these, combing out the 
 fibre and playing they are sheep. The pulp is of 
 the consistency and color of good rich butter. The 
 trees grow very plentifully ; groves of them may be 
 seen in every direction. The dense evergreen 
 foliage forms a grateful shade for weary travelers. 
 The Bombay mango grows on a small tree, but the 
 fruit is larger and richer than it is here. The stone 
 has no fibre. It is cultivated and flourishes in many 
 parts of India. I wish we could bring a mango 
 grove to America. The fruit is delicious, according 
 to mv taste. 
 
 
XXXIII. 
 
 TO THE BOON AND BACH 
 
 CTOBER finds us in Landour. Our rains 
 are over. The air is cooler and purer. The 
 country is bright and fresh and beautiful. 
 
 ^ We have spent a comfortable summer up 
 here above the great heat of the plains, and even of 
 the Doon, sheltered though it is from the hot winds 
 by the friendly Swalics. Xow we are thinking of 
 making the descent. Uncle and aunt had to go 
 down to Dehra last week, and took Ella and me 
 with them for the change. 
 
 In returning, we started before five o’clock in the 
 
 morning. This was rather early to rise, but we had 
 to do it to arrive before the hot day came on. After 
 our chota hazari we were off, and reached Rajpore 
 about daylight. We passed through the bazaar in 
 time to see the bunyas taking down the boards from 
 the fronts of their little shops. The women were 
 grinding at the mills. These mills consist of two 
 cheese-shaped stones with a handle from the upper 
 one, doubtless such as were used in Bible times. 
 
 252 
 
 % 
 
H ixnoo Women (Grinding at the Mill. 
 
 p. 252. 
 
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 % 
 
 M- 
 
 •5»W* 
 
 f 
 
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 *f^ ’ 
 
TO THE BOON AND BACK. 
 
 253 
 
 They were preparing meal for the day’s use. Then 
 there were combing of hair, bathing and sundry 
 other duties which are interesting to watch in a na- 
 tive city. One man was saying his prayers over a 
 rosary, but with face turned outward, so he missed 
 nothing that was to be seen in the bazaar. 
 
 When uncle, Ella and I had reached the half- 
 way house between Rajpore and our destination, we 
 stopped to wait for aunt, who had not yet come in 
 sight. As she did not arrive, I began to fear that 
 she had been tipped over into one of the ravines, 
 but finally she made her appearance. She had had 
 a very annoying experience. She started with eight 
 men, for whom she had paid at the hotel, but on 
 reaching the head of the bazaar found that four of 
 them had run away. As the jhanpanees would not 
 carry her, she was obliged to walk back to the 
 hotel, a good mile, for more men. 
 
 As a rule, the servants of India are models : I 
 often wish we could have some of them at home ; 
 but -the coolies are a rare exception. They have no 
 principle, and travelers in the hills are quite at 
 their mercy, so they can be independent. The pro- 
 prietor said to aunt when she returned, What can 
 I do ? If I thrash them all round as they deserve, 
 I shall be fined fifty rupees. If I cut their pay, 
 
254 
 
 TBYE’S YEAR. 
 
 I shall not be able to get another coolie.” If he 
 had complained to the superintendent of the Doon, 
 doubtless it would hav^e cost him so much time and 
 trouble that he would lose all he gained, so one 
 couldn’t blame him very much. Those persons 
 living in the hills often keep their own jhanpanees, 
 paying them by the month, and are saved this an- 
 noyance. 
 
 The way up the mountain begins to seem fa- 
 miliar to me, but it is all too grand ever to appear 
 common. The flowers in bloom remind me of 
 home. Lady-slippers, four o’clocks, morning-glo- 
 ries and dahlias- are growing in wild profusion. 
 The summit of Lai Tiba is a perfect garden of 
 wild dahlias of many varieties. I can never con- 
 vey to your mind the picture we have constantly 
 spread before us now. These mountains are so 
 high, the ravines so deep and the prospect so ex- 
 tended that it is painfully grand. For days after 
 I first came here some part of the view would rise 
 before me whenever my eyes were closed. Often 
 have I been wakened out of sleep by falling over 
 an imaginary precipice, but I am more accustomed 
 to the grandeur now. 
 
 It gives one a strange sensation to find in this 
 place the dress and fashion of a European capital. 
 
TO THE BOON AND BACK. 
 
 255 
 
 In shopping here one finds all sorts of beaatiful 
 and costly dress goods to suit the taste of the gay 
 Briton. Here many who have been in the ser- 
 vice/^ or have accumulated wealth in the heat of 
 the plains, retire to spend the remainder of their 
 days in ease and enjoyment. Landour has four 
 Episcopal churches, and a union service is held for 
 dissenters. Here too are heard the chimes of con- 
 vent bells, showing that Rome has also placed her 
 standard among these distant snows. 
 
 In coming down to Dehra this time we saw a 
 tiger, which was quite an adventure. Chat was de- 
 termined to have a good look at him, and I ex- 
 pected every minute to see him come out of the 
 jungle and pounce upon the daring boy. I could 
 only see the glaring eyes of the tiger and his beau- 
 tiful skin in one glance, then got myself as far 
 away as possible. His lordship did not act as if 
 he cared to harm us, for he went in the opposite 
 direction. I never feel quite at ease in traveling 
 about here, on account of the wild animals and 
 snakes. I suppose I should get used to having 
 them in the country if I lived here long enough. 
 Perhaps I could then laugh at timid persons, as my 
 friends here do at me. 
 
 It was in this same trip that we saw some snake- 
 
256 
 
 TEYE'S YEAR. 
 
 charmers. It was wonderful how they would take 
 the cobras in their hands, wind them about their 
 arms and do anything they wished with them. You 
 know I never liked these reptiles, so I didn’t enjoy 
 the fun nearly as much as Chat did. These East- 
 ern jugglers and charmers surpass anything you 
 ever saw. I am not surprised now to see them do 
 almost anything. 
 
 My next letter will be from Dehra, as we expect 
 to move down in a few days. 
 
XXXIV. 
 
 THE PARIAH. 
 
 EAR BROTHER : We are so sc on to leave 
 
 Ella and I enjoy very much. One after- 
 
 noon, not long ago, uncle came into the house lead- 
 ing a Hindoo who seemed hardly able to stand 
 alone. He was a Brahmin, and an intelligent-look- 
 ing man. 
 
 Aunt was astonished when uncle said he would 
 like to have a bed provided for the man, and some 
 nourishing food. ITou know the Brahmins will 
 not touch food prepared by any one but a Brahmin, 
 and would lie on the ground rather than rest on a 
 Christian’s bed. This man, however, seemed to be 
 very grateful for all that was done for him, and 
 when he was made comfortable, uncle explained 
 the matter to us. 
 
 The man was dangerously ill, and when it was 
 
 thought that he could not recover, his friends took 
 
 him down b} the Ganges to die. They stayed with 
 17 267 
 
 Dehra that we have not taken a house 
 again, but are staying at uncle’s, which 
 
258 
 
 TRYE\S YEAR. 
 
 Jiim for a while, hut. found that he got no worse. 
 Then a priest was going to stop his mouth and nos- 
 trils with mud from the holy river to put an end 
 to his life, but the man refused to have it done. 
 
 He was evidently better, and there was a possi- 
 bility that he would recover. This was a fact 
 much more sad to his friends than if he had died, 
 for when one returns to life and health after beings 
 brought to the Ganges to die, he is a pariah or out- 
 cast for ever. His dearest friends cast him off, and 
 will have nothincr to do with him. So with the 
 
 o 
 
 sig:ns of returning; health in this man his friends 
 all forsook him, and he was left alone near the 
 horrible burning-ghat without strength to leave the 
 rough bier on which he had been placed. 
 
 As soon as he could he crawled away to a tree 
 not far distant, and got a little food from some Meh- 
 ters who passed by. He had lost his caste by not 
 dying when his friends thought he ought to have 
 died — that is, Gunga would not receive his spirit 
 when brought to her — so he might as well eat from 
 the band of a low caste Mehter as from a Brahmin. 
 Besides, he had now plenty of time for thought, and 
 he could see how hard and stern and comfortless 
 was his religion. 
 
 He had heard the padre tell of One who died 
 
TJIE FARIAH. 
 
 259 
 
 that man miglit live, and who did this all for the love 
 he bore us. He had once stopped a few minutes to 
 hear this new creed, and passed haughtily on. He 
 had thought himself holy already, with no need of 
 a sin-forgiving Saviour. But now he was spurned 
 by man and spurned by the great Gunga, where 
 should he turn for help ? The words of the padre 
 came to his mind, and he thought them over till he 
 wished to know more of that new religion. He 
 wished that some one would tell him how to find 
 that wonderful Saviour — just such a one as he 
 needed. 
 
 As his strength came, little by little, he made 
 his way farther and farther from the river till he 
 reached Dehra. Uncle found him in a shady spot 
 not far out of the city, and began a conversation 
 with him. He soon learned his history, and talked 
 to him of the blessed Jesus who would receive him 
 when all others despised him. The man listened 
 intently. 
 
 Is all this true, sahib V’ he said. 
 
 All true, and more than this ; let me read you 
 some verses from the word of God : ^ Him that 
 cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out/ ^The 
 blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from 
 all sin / ^ The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. 
 
2G0 
 
 TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 And let him that hearetli say, Come. And let him 
 that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him 
 take the water of life freely 
 
 Uncle explained to him that this Saviour would 
 satisfy all the longings of our thirsty souls. He 
 asked him if his religion had done that. 
 
 Xo, no, sahib ; this is what I want : ^ AYhoso- 
 ever will.^ This must be what I want, but I 
 thought your belief was a very bad one. I must 
 read your little book.’’ 
 
 Uncle told him that he should have one of his 
 own, and was glad to have him read it. He seems 
 much better already, and is fascinated with the 
 ‘kittle book.” He has long talks with father and 
 uncle, who think that he is already a Christian and 
 will be a noble follower of the Master. He told 
 us about his wife, of whom he seems very fond. 
 He had allowed a Christian lady to teach her, for 
 he wanted her to know as much as the other women 
 of the house. This gave him a hope that she would 
 be a Christian, or at least that she would not now 
 reo^ard him as an outcast. 
 
 Uncle wrote to the teacher about it, and we were 
 all rejoiced to hear that the woman had become a 
 Christian soon after her husband left her. Upon 
 hearing this the man was overjoyed. He sent word 
 
THE PARIAH. 
 
 261 
 
 to his wife that if she would leave home to live 
 with him, he would be ready to take her away ou 
 a certain night. The wife, delighted to know of 
 his health and his change of faith, was only too 
 glad to leave the home where she was despised by 
 almost all as the wife of an outcast. They came 
 directly here with their little boy, and a happier 
 family you could not well imagine. She is a sweet, 
 gentle girl of sixteen, and the boy a manly little 
 fellow of a year and a half. 
 
 The man is well educated, and is determined to 
 study theology, so as to preach the gospel he had 
 before despised. For the present they live in a 
 little mud house, and he has obtained work enough 
 among the Europeans. to support him. The Hin- 
 doos would not have him do the least thing for 
 them, as he is a pariah. Uncle says that there is a 
 city made up of these poor outcasts and their de- 
 scendants. It seems that a number of Gunga’s wor- 
 shipers have mistaken the time in coming to her. 
 It makes me sad every time I think of the fol- 
 lowers of such a god. 
 
 But I must close, and thankful am I that I can 
 say adieu.” It is a sweet thought to be able to 
 commit our dear ones to God ” — to the ever-liv- 
 ing God who never slumbers nor sleeps. 
 
■Its;; 
 
 > 'r f ^ \ '.TOX 
 
 
 ■‘i • 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 SABA THU. 
 
 I 
 
 f Y DEAR BROTHER : Take out your large 
 map again and see where we are now. We 
 have left Dehra, that spot more beautiful 
 than any other I have seen or ever expect 
 to see in this world. Ella came with us.‘ Her 
 parents are to meet her at Ambala when we re- 
 turn from our tour in the Punjaub. Then we 
 shall have to bid them farewell. We sent our bag- 
 gage on to Ambala ahead of us, and from that point 
 are now making our sallies. I am not sure that I 
 have used that word quite right, but will let it 
 stand. Chat came in a few minutes ago, and to 
 tease me took up my letter and read off a string of 
 nonsense that isn’t here at all in a very oratorical 
 style. He caught sight of that word, and said I 
 had seen more than he had, for he hadn’t met one 
 Sally yet in all his travels in India. I believe he 
 grows worse instead of better, for sometimes he does 
 tease me unmercifully. This is a digression. 
 
 Mother and I wanted to try the dholi-dah mode 
 262 
 
The Dholi, or Paeaxkeen. 
 
 p. 263 
 
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SABATHU. 
 
 263 
 
 of traveling from Dehra to Saharanpur, so we all 
 came in that way. First, the little man who con- 
 tracts for the journey is called. He comes into the 
 parlor, puts his hands together as natives do in 
 receiving a favor, makes his salaam and is ready 
 for orders. His book is taken, and an order writ- 
 ten in it for a dah of the required number of men. 
 This allows six men to each of us as bearers. They 
 are to be paid four annas (twelve cents) each for a 
 stage of eight miles. An extra coolie is required 
 for torch-bearer, and a responsible one is sent to see 
 that the others do their duty. As there are five 
 stages between Dehra and Saharanpur, it takes 
 thirty men to convey each of us that distance, a 
 fresh set awaiting us at each station, besides the 
 torch-bearer and overseer. The dhoU (or palki, as 
 it is called in some parts of India) is a box just 
 long enough for a person to stretch out in, and is 
 carried on the shoulders of the coolies. 
 
 We pay for the oil and establish ourselves as 
 ^Hwo-anna travelers,’’ which is told from one set 
 of men to another, and we have little trouble. At 
 the end of each stage father is waited on for haeh- 
 sheesh by the departing coolies, and through the pass 
 he is begged for extra men to scream and throw 
 stones at the tiger. The tiger does not seem to 
 
264 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 move him, and as our dholies are raised again, we 
 lie down and go to sleep. This is about the most 
 comfortable mode of journeying I ever tried. The 
 bed is nicely made, the swing of the vehicle puts 
 you to sleep and you get over forty miles in a night 
 with very little fatigue. 
 
 It was a two days’ journey from Ambala here, 
 but we all enjoyed it. We took dak-gharries (or 
 post-coaches) such as we traveled in last year. The 
 ride of thirty miles to Kalka, at the foot of the 
 hills, was an uninteresting one, there being, but 
 little variety in the plains, as this level country is 
 termed. The horses were rather better kept than is 
 usual for dak horses, and were more disposed to 
 start at the proper time. 
 
 Chat said that he didn’t have half the fun he ex- 
 pected, for the horses did not back nor kick nor 
 plunge about half as much as in our other dak ride. 
 Only once was it necessary to burn wisps of straw 
 under their noses, and but once to throw a rope 
 around their bodies and pull them forward. To 
 the others of us, however, the ride was much more 
 agreeable for the improvement. 
 
 We saw little else than sand for many miles. 
 This was relieved by the kikkar [Acacia Arabica., 
 or gum arabic tree), which grows very plentifully 
 
^ABATHU. 
 
 265 
 
 in these parts. It is a very crooked tree, but the 
 foliage is very delicate. It consists of small light- 
 green leaves. The wood makes beautiful furniture. 
 The grain is marked by very pretty contrasts of 
 light and dark. You know, of course, about the 
 gum, and, on the whole, must pronounce it a very 
 useful tree. 
 
 At one place, while changing horses, one of our 
 drivers spread down his blanket aud said his 
 prayers. Father, seeing him so devout, afterward 
 began to talk to him about the Christian religion. 
 He told a strange story which, mother says, shows 
 us one of the ways the father of lies takes to close 
 men’s hearts against the truths of the Bible. He 
 said, A Padre Sahib and a Mohammedan had a 
 discussion as to whose religion was the true one. 
 It was agreed to put a Bible and a Koran into the 
 fire, and the book which remained unburned was 
 to be acknowledged by both parties as the one 
 teaching the true faith. The Koran came out 
 without being scorched, and the Padre Sahib be- 
 came a Mohammedan.” The poor driver seemed 
 really to believe this, and to think it an argument 
 which could not be answered. 
 
 We reached Kalka near nine P. M. As we 
 neared the hills the kikkars gave place to pines 
 
266 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 and species of tall, coarse cactus, very plentiful in 
 these mountains. AVe engaged a suite of rooms 
 (that sounds very grand, but they were extremely 
 plain apartments) at Mrs. McBarney’s hotel. It 
 did not take us long to unpack, spread out our 
 bedding on the native bedsteads, have our supper 
 and retire to sweet slumbers. 
 
 Me were all too tired and sleepy even to wonder 
 what kind of a place we were in. The next 
 morning, though, we were ready to look around us. 
 AVe took a walk, and found Kalka very much like 
 any other native town. After getting permission, 
 we strolled into a private garden which was rather 
 pretty. It is made in terraces, as the whole city is, 
 on the hillside. Eipe oranges were hanging from 
 the trees, plantains growing, and other tropical 
 fruits. But what pleased me most was the bunches 
 of chrysanthemums. They seemed like home, and 
 made me almost homesick. 
 
 AA"e returned to the hotel for a breakfast of beef- 
 steak and hitchery, bread and butter of course in- 
 cluded. Have I mentioned kitchery before? I 
 rather think not. It is a dish made of rice boiled 
 with a kind of oily grain called dhal, spices, etc., 
 and is very much used by Europeans in this 
 country. It is one of the native dishes modified 
 
SABATHU. 
 
 267 
 
 to suit the European taste. AYe find several such 
 in use here. Rice is really the staff of life. 
 
 But to proceed on our way. After having the 
 usual amount of delay and bustle attending the 
 strapping of bedding and starting our cavalcade, it 
 was ten o’clock before we were on our way up the 
 mountain. We left the carriage road, and had to 
 confine ourselves to ponies, dholies and dandies. 
 As you will imagine, it took a small army of 
 coolies for ourselves and our luggage. Distances 
 are recorded here more by marches than miles. 
 Two marches are generally a day’s travel ; that is 
 the distance from Kalka to Sabathu. 
 
 We engaged three ponies and two Bareilly 
 dandies. Father and Chat rode, while Ella and I 
 rode the third pony and occupied the dandy alter- 
 nately. Mother preferred a dandy for the whole 
 way. She is not as fond of horsebaek-riding as 
 the rest of us. A dandy is very much like a ham- 
 mock with a pole at each end which is placed on 
 the shoulders of men. It is intended for lying 
 down. The Bareilly dandy is a variety of this 
 article, and is a very comfortable affair. It has an 
 oval, boat-shaped frame of bamboo with long han- 
 dles or poles at each end. There are cross pieces at 
 the ends of the poles which rest on the shoulders 
 
268 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 , of the bearers. The seat is of carpet or bedding, 
 and takes its shape as you are raised from the 
 ground. 
 
 For nearly five hours we were winding up the 
 sides of the mountain, making a hundred turns, 
 now around this peak, then around that, till at 
 three o’clock we reached Kasowli, the end of our 
 first march. We had planned to be here in the 
 middle of the day for several reasons. One was 
 the fact that, being much higher than Sabathu, the 
 weather is much cooler, and we would have felt 
 the change from the plains had we remained over- 
 night. It was five o’clock when we again took to 
 our ponies and dandies, and four hours more 
 brought us to Sabathu. 
 
 In the morning we had been glad to have every 
 protection from the sun we could get. We all have 
 solar topis or hats made of pith, which we could 
 hardly dispense with in this climate. Mine is cov- 
 ered with light alpaca and lined with green. In 
 addition to these, leaves and parasols were used, 
 but on leaving Kasowli I was glad to make a hood 
 of my breakfast shawl, so much cooler was it in 
 that place. Warmly wrapped up as we were, this 
 last march in the clear moonlight was very delight- 
 ful. The greater part of the way was descending, 
 
SABATHU. 
 
 2G9 
 
 but a long hill had to be mounted to bring us up 
 to Sabathu. 
 
 It is not possible for me to describe this lovely 
 place, so diiferent from any I have before seen. 
 Imagine a large valley surrounded by high moun- 
 tains, then a high, beautiful hill at one side of this 
 valley. On such a hill is Sabathu. Father calls 
 this a vast amphitheatre. Whatever way we turn 
 the mountains rise before us, with deep ravines 
 intervening. Three or four steps from our veran- 
 dah bring us to the brow of the hill, where a false 
 step would send one rolling down a thousand feet, 
 if not stopped by one of the two or three roads 
 which wind around the hill. One takes in so 
 much at a single glance that the eye and mind are 
 wearied by the effort. 
 
 You can count forty native villages on the moun- 
 tain sides. Lying in full view is the territory of 
 a native rajah, with his palace and a small city 
 about it. The cultivated fields shelved out on the 
 mountain side are most beautiful. But the whole 
 scene is so grand I can give you no idea of it. 
 Two marches from here is Simla, a large and im- 
 portant place, which is visible, lying, as it appears 
 to us, nearly under the peaks of snow. The gov- 
 ernment officials leave Calcutta for this place every 
 
270 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 summer, and find a delightful change fiom the 
 heat of the plains. 
 
 Our good missionaries are at work in Sabathu, 
 and though, as elsewhere, it seems a slow work, they 
 are doubtless doing more than they realize for the 
 Master. Two of the large boys of one of the mis- 
 sion schools have a little school of their own which 
 the missionaries oversee. We went one day to this 
 school, and where do you think we found it ? On 
 the roof of a little mud house. Ella and I both 
 laughed at first — we coukhiT help it — to see the 
 little fellows sitting on mats moving backward and 
 forward, studying away like good boys. The 
 teachers had chairs and a table. Mother says that 
 many of them will never forget these lessons, and 
 she does not doubt that some will make mission- 
 aries when they are grown. 
 
 But my letter is becoming long, and I must close. 
 
XXXVI. 
 
 LODI AN A. 
 
 NOTHER new place — Lodiana. We are 
 seeing so much that I can give you only a 
 glimpse of it as we pass along. I wish 
 you were here with us, then you would 
 have the whole, and your big head could hold it 
 better than mine. Lodiana is seventy miles from 
 Ambala by rail — a ride of three hours. We re- 
 turned to the latter .place from Sabathu, starting 
 again from there early one morning. There is lit- 
 tle of interest on the way. You would expect the 
 Punjaub — that is, the country of the five rivers — to 
 be well w^atered, but the soil is so light that it soon 
 returns to powder after the rains. Now all vege- 
 tation without long roots is brown and parched, 
 except where the land is watered artificially. 
 
 We go through a strip of the Patila district, over 
 which is a native rajah. Parts of this district are 
 cultivated, but much of it is a jungle of tall yel- 
 low grass so well represented by the pictures at 
 
 271 
 
272 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 home that I was constantly looking for the wild 
 beasts to put their heads out. AVe pass through 
 several native cities, each containinga fortified 
 or inn. These were built at convenient distances 
 from each other by the old Moguls to accommodate 
 them in their marches. Me stop at four of these 
 cities, and arrive at Lodiana at nine o’clock. 
 
 The desert of Sahara could hardly be more bar- 
 ren than Lodiana without cultivation. This same 
 tall jungle grass seems to be all that grows sponta- 
 neously. Hard, beautiful roads have been made of 
 a kind of limestone called kunkar. Fine large 
 trees line each side of these roads, making delight- 
 ful avenues for walking or driving. The mission 
 compound itself seems a little oasis in the desert. 
 It is not green, like Dehra, or our own America, 
 but has pleasant shaded roads and a goodly num- 
 ber of trees. These keep fresh because their roots 
 strike deep enough to find moisture for their nour- 
 ishment. I heard a minister use this fact for an 
 illustration of Christians, and it seemed to me very 
 beautiful. They can be happy although their 
 earthly comforts all be taken away, for they have a 
 Source of joy which can never fail. 
 
 The garden contains a grove of mango trees 
 which makes a sheltered place for walking or sit- 
 
LODI AN A. 
 
 273 
 
 ting, and the whole settlement has a social, home- 
 like appearance. Four nice little kothis are occu- 
 pied by the missionaries. There is a neat little 
 church, besides a printing-house and book deposi- 
 tory. Outside the compound is a native Christian 
 settlement, the people of which are mostly con- 
 nected with the press. 
 
 One of the ladies of the mission is engaged much 
 of the time in zenana work. Among the families 
 she is now teaching is an exiled royal family from 
 Cabul. Part of them are very anxious to learn the 
 truth, and one wishes to be baptized. Another 
 family is that of a Persian doctor, where she is 
 very warmly welcomed. Wherever she goes she 
 finds women begging to have her teach them, and' 
 only wishes she could do it all. One of the mis- 
 sionaries said that mission work, wherever you 
 go, seems like attempting to level a great moun- 
 tain with one little spade. But with God all things 
 are possible.’’ 
 
 This is the point where the missions of the Pres- 
 byterian Church in India began. That was in 1833. 
 The first missionaries were Rev. Messrs. William 
 Reed and J. C. Lowrie and their wives, but Mr. 
 Ijowrie was the only one of the party who reached 
 
 this place. Two years later. Rev. Messrs. James 
 18 
 
274 
 
 TEYE^S YEAE, 
 
 Wilson and John Newton arrived, and now the 
 work was fairly begun. The latter has ever since 
 been laboring in India, and is now stationed at La- 
 hore. Who can estimate the good he has done? 
 Persons speak of soldiers being brave when they 
 go into battle without flinching, and I think they 
 must be so, but surely no greater heroes could 
 there be than these men and women who then 
 left their homes to live among the heathen. They 
 had the first and hardest of the work to do, the 
 beginnino;. 
 
 o o 
 
 They were in much danger also. Even at a 
 later date the country was so unsettled that the 
 missionaries were requested not to begin to preach 
 at once to the people at Lahore, lest it should be 
 the cause of disturbance, and Europeans were not 
 allowed to live out of certain limits, because, if 
 they did, they could not be sufficiently protected by 
 the military or the police. 
 
 Think of the little band so far from home among 
 the millions of idolaters ! It had taken them six 
 months to come here, and only after another six 
 months could their friends learn of their arrival. 
 They could not hear what w^as going on at home 
 until half a year afterward. Yet they do not re- 
 gret coming, not one of them. It w^as all done for 
 
LODIANA. 
 
 275 
 
 Jesus, and he has said. There is no man that hath 
 left house, or brethren, or sister, or father, or mother, 
 or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the 
 gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundred fold ; now 
 in this timej houses and brethren, and sisters, and 
 mother, and children, and lands with persecutions ; 
 and in the world to come, eternal life.” Now we 
 can come here in a few weeks and hear from friends 
 every week. Persons can go all the way around 
 the world in less than three months, so no one need 
 dread the long distances between them and the 
 heathen as they did formerly. 
 
 Lodiana is also the place where the world’s 
 "Nveek of prayer” originated. The ministers who 
 met here a few years ago asked the Christians of 
 the whole world to pray together the first week of 
 every year, and they do it. In many languages, 
 from millions of hearts, ascend the petitions of 
 God’s people, and God hears them. We should 
 hardly have expected that from the little Christian 
 band in the heart of this idolatrous land this re- 
 quest should have come, and yet it is not strange ; 
 they are men of prayer and feel its power. I am 
 sure that God only can make these people believe 
 the truth. Mother quotes very often the text, 
 God is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to 
 
276 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 them that ask him than earthly parents are to give 
 good gifts to their children this makes me think 
 more about the asking than I am afraid I otherwise 
 should do. 
 
 ^\^e visited the little mission cemetery of Lodiana, 
 where have been placed the mortal part of several 
 dear ones of the mission circle who have gone 
 to the upper Church. Here is the grave of 
 the Rev. Dr. Levi Janvier, whose life was so noble 
 and useful, and whose death so sudden and so 
 sad. He is the only one of the missionaries of 
 our Board in India, except the victims of the 
 mutiny, who has been intentionally killed by the 
 people. One other — the Rev. Isidor Loewenthal, 
 of Peshawar, in the far JN^orth-west, a man eminent 
 for learning — in the same year came to his death by 
 violence at the hands of his own watchman, who 
 mistook him in the night for a robber. 
 
 In Dr. Lowrie’s Manual of Missions ’’ is this 
 short account of the terrible death by which Dr. 
 Janvier entered into his rest’’: ^^He met his 
 
 death on the 24th of March, 1864, at a mela, 
 whither he had gone to preach and distribute tracts. 
 The meeting was closing, and the brethren, having 
 partaken of the Lord’s Supper, were preparing to 
 separate on the morrow. In the evening. Dr. Jan- 
 
LODI AN A. 
 
 277 
 
 vier was met by a fanatical Akali Sikh, and felled 
 to the ground with a club. The murderer fled, 
 but was overtaken and secured. He was afterward 
 tried in a criminal court, found guilty and hanged. 
 His victim languished, speechless and insensible, 
 till morning, when his spirit took its flight.” 
 
XXXVII. 
 
 
 LAHORE. 
 
 E have now arrived at the old capital of the 
 Punjaub. There is very little to interest 
 one on the way from Lodiana, yet we are 
 somethinsT new in this 
 
 al 
 
 ways 
 
 seeing 
 
 strange land. The new iron bridge over the 
 Sutlej, a few miles this side of Lodiana, deserves a 
 passing notice. It is more than a mile in length, 
 and was five or six years in building. When 
 nearly, completed according to the original plan, 
 the river had so changed its channel as to make 
 the addition of several new spans necessary. 
 
 The country itself is sand, sand, sand, and barren 
 enough except where it is irrigated. As you ap- 
 proach Lahore the frans, a kind of tree that grows 
 with very little moisture, and old tombs and temples, 
 in different states of preservation, relieve the mo- 
 notony of the desert plain. The trees decrease, while 
 the old buildings increase, its desolation. You would 
 
 at first mistake the tombs for temples. They are 
 278 
 
LAHORE. 
 
 279 
 
 so spacious often as to be fitted up for dwellings, 
 offices, etc. One of our missionaries lived in one 
 at Lahore for a time. 
 
 Coming nearer the city, signs of life appear, and 
 ere you reach the station you observe not only the 
 change wrought by cultivation, but are surprised 
 at the stirring, business-like air about you. The 
 extensive manufacture of cars and railroad iron is 
 the principal cause of this appearance of enterprise. 
 
 The dep6t would be an ornament to any city in 
 America. It is some five hundred feet long, built 
 of brick, and can be converted into a fortress at 
 short notice. Father pointed out to us the turrets, 
 port-holes, etc., wdiich w’ould be very useful in time 
 of war. The mission property is only a few 
 hundred yards from it, and the dwellers there 
 would be glad of such defence in case of another 
 
 mutinv. 
 
 * 
 
 The station and settlement about are called !Mau- 
 lakha, usually spelled Nowlucka by the English, 
 which indicates its pronunciation. The house is 
 still standing which was formerly occupied by a 
 rich native said to possess nau Idkhs (nine hundred 
 thousand) of rupees, from which the name is de- 
 rived. Two railroads unite and end at Lahore — 
 viz., the Punjaub and Delhi coming in from the 
 
280 
 
 TEYE’S YEAE. 
 
 east, and a short one running south to Mooltan 
 which connects with the Indus valley road. 
 
 South and south-west from the station are twenty 
 acres of land owned by the American mission ; ten 
 of these are under cultivation. There are three 
 comfortable houses for the missionaries, a nice little 
 church and the best built houses for native Chris- 
 tians in the mission, except occasionally one owned 
 by its occupants. Like nearly every house in La- 
 hore, they are built of bricks quarried from the 
 compounds. The city has in this way risen from 
 the ruins of the Lahore of past centuries to be still 
 a centre of power in the Punjaub. 
 
 Lather and Chat are much interested in the dig- 
 ging and building going on about us. They say 
 that the men first find small broken pieces of brick 
 called rordf but digging deeper, they come to brick 
 very well preserved. Chat has just been telling us a 
 story which I was inclined to doubt, but father says 
 he saw it all himself. They are repairing one of 
 the mission houses, and while unearthing bricks for 
 it the workmen found an old well containing sev- 
 eral skeletons. How I wish I knew their history ! 
 It is sad enough, no doubt — a tale of Mogul 
 cruelty; perhaps some old Bluebeard has made this 
 disposition of his wives. 
 
LAHORE. 
 
 281 
 
 Half a mile west of the station is Lahore proper, 
 with its moat, its massive walls and ponderous 
 gates. The principal gates are the Delhi (or Dehli, 
 as the word should be spelled) and Lohari, or 
 Blacksmith’s. The government or municipal com- 
 mittee have had gardens laid out more than three- 
 quarters of the distance around the city. There is 
 a very fine drive through these which we did not 
 fail to enjoy. It is indeed refreshing, after riding 
 through the barren plains of this country, to be set 
 down in the pleasant compound of Americans, and 
 to find these gardens of beauty open to us. 
 
 We rode out about three miles on the Amritsir 
 road to the garden of Halinise, said to have been laid 
 out under the direction of Akbar the Great. It is 
 very large, and has double rows of fountains set in 
 a sort of canals which cross at right angles near the 
 middle of the garden. It contains summer-houses 
 of white marble, a bathing-house with one apart- 
 ment after another, the walls gayly ornamented, 
 and two houses for Europeans. There is also an 
 inclined plane formed of blocks of marble beauti- 
 fully carved with deep semi-circular indentations, 
 over which the water falls, making beautiful ripples 
 thereby. Then there are tropical fruit trees, man- 
 goes, oranges, etc., flowers, and a profusion of roses. 
 
282 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 It has been kept in good repair, though of course 
 much of its original beauty is lost. 
 
 A mile and a half south-west of the station is 
 Anarkali, mostly occupied by Europeans. Here 
 also are very fine gardens. The name signifies a 
 pomegranate flower, and was given to this place in 
 honor of Anarkali, the favorite wife of Rangut 
 Singh. A mile south of the d^pot is the govern- 
 ment house, and four or five miles south-east are 
 the military cantonments of Meanineer. All these 
 and much more are included in the district of La- 
 hore. The palace and tomb of Rangut Singh are 
 within the city walls. 
 
 Father is gathering all the information he can 
 get about the education of the young Lahorians. 
 He says that the American mission has a fine boys’ 
 school and nineteen • branch schools which instruct 
 fifteen hundred pupils. 
 
 The church mission medical college has a new 
 building in progress, of semi-Oriental architecture, 
 which is to cost one and a half lacs (one hundred and 
 fifty thousand) of rupees. There are also the high 
 school for Europeans, the government college, gov- 
 ernment boys’ school, male and female normal 
 school (native), Christian girls’ school, boarding 
 and day school for European girls, English school, 
 
LAHORE. 
 
 283 
 
 under native auspices, supported in part by the 
 rajah of Cashmere, and the Oriental university for 
 the purpose of studying Oriental languages and lit- 
 erature. 
 
 One would think that the people might all be 
 learned in Lahore, yet the missionaries tell us that 
 there is a great deal of teaching necessary besides 
 what is done in these schools. Some ladies go into 
 the zenanas and teach there ; some have a class of 
 women who come to their house and learn to read 
 and sew ; others gather children from heathen 
 families and teach them, or have them taught by 
 native teachers. 
 
 At four of the gates are chapels, in each of w'hich 
 religious services are held twice a week. We at- 
 tended one held at the. chapel outside the Delhi 
 gate, and wish you could have been there with us. 
 We were on hand very early, so as to miss no part 
 of the service. One of the missionaries arrived on 
 the ground at the same time with ourselves, and 
 after greeting us sat down outside of the chapel. 
 Some boys were talking when we came, and stopped 
 to look at us. The minister asked one a question, 
 and soon got into conversation with them. Then 
 a man who was passing stopped to see what was 
 going on. The minister was asking what the great 
 
284 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 god which stood in a temple near could do. One 
 of the boys answered with great warmth that he 
 could do everything. 
 
 Can he make you well when you are sick the 
 minister asked. 
 
 ^^Oh yes/’ the man answered, confidently. 
 
 I know a man who is very sick ; will his god 
 heal him if I ask him ?” 
 
 He will if we take him a very, very large offer- 
 ing ; if we don’t pay him enough, or if he isn’t in a 
 good humor, he won’t listen to us : we have to be 
 very careful what we do to him.” 
 
 But I wouldn’t worship a god who gets in a 
 bad humor, and who asks so much for what he does. 
 He cannot be very kind to those who serve him, to 
 treat them so.” 
 
 Several others were around the steps by this time, 
 and one called out, “ He’s very holy, sahib ; he 
 does wonders.” 
 
 “ I can tell you of a God who loves his followers, 
 who loves you and wants you to serve him. You 
 can ask him for what you wish, and he will give it 
 to -you if it is best for you to have it. He treats 
 his children just as you would treat yours. If 
 your son asks you for something good, you give it 
 him if you can, but suppose he wants something 
 
LAHORE. 
 
 285 
 
 that would do him liarm? You keep it from him 
 because you love him too well to have him injured. 
 It is just so when we ask anything of God. He 
 knows what is best for us, and will give it if we 
 ask for it, but he withholds what would injure 
 us.’’ 
 
 The speaker then went on to tell of the great 
 gift of a Saviour, and drew more to hear him. By 
 this time the chapel was lighted, and he asked them 
 inside to listen further to his teaching. We waited 
 to see them go in, and were about to enter ourselves 
 when we noticed a woman who had stood at a little 
 distance, yet within hearing of the minister’s voice, 
 standing there still and weeping. Ella, who could 
 talk to her in her own tongue more readily than 
 any of the others, went to her in her winning way 
 and asked what was the matter. 
 
 I come here every time the sahib comes,” she 
 said, ‘‘and I believe in his God. The dear Jesus 
 who died on the tree loves me — I know he 
 does — but all of our large family pray to an idol ; 
 that is why I weep.” 
 
 “But God hears you when you pray,” mother 
 said ; “ you can pray for them, and you can tell them 
 of the dear Jesus who gave his life for them.” 
 
 “Ah, yes! I do pray every day and every night 
 
286 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 that they may love the true God, but when I say 
 anything about him, they treat me badly and say 
 that I am no better than a foreigner. I don’t care 
 for this if they would only be saved.” 
 
 IMother talked to her several minutes in the way 
 she has of comforting everybody who needs com- 
 fort. I was surprised to hear mother talk so flu- 
 ently in Hindostanee. The woman looked up grate-, 
 fully at her, and was evidently much better for the 
 help and sympathy. AYe asked her to go into the 
 chapel, but she said she must go home. Mother 
 would not let her go until she had told her where 
 she lived, so that one of the ladies of the station 
 could see her and talk with her. 
 
 The chapel was nearly filled by this time, and 
 the minister wns listened to attentively. Men came 
 out and others went in, but many remained until 
 the close of the meeting. There are tv-o other 
 preaching places besides these chapels, where service 
 is held once a week. On Sabbath the ministers 
 each preach twice, once in English and once in Hin- 
 dostanee. 
 
 They tell us that it is warmer here in summer 
 than at Dehra, and cooler in winter. The mission 
 has a sanitarium at Dharmsala in the hills above 
 here. This is a necessity, for the missionaries 
 
LAHORE. 
 
 287 
 
 could not endure the climate year after year with- 
 out the change. 
 
 We young folks wanted to go to Dharmsald 
 very much, but father said we should have to leave 
 that out of our tour for want of time. We have left 
 a great many places out — or, it would be better to 
 say that we have seen only a very few spots of this 
 
 immense country. But I am sure that I have 
 
 % 
 
 learned very much in this year. I hope my letters 
 have shown you that I have added to my very 
 little stock of knowledge by coming to this far-off 
 land. 
 
 I have tried to give you a hint of what I have 
 received, yet there are so many new thoughts, new 
 ways of thinking, new pictures, that I cannot find 
 words for them. This great heathen nation op- 
 presses me; the millions on millions who know 
 not my precious Saviour, and who die without 
 hearing of him, fill me with sadness. If the Chris- 
 tians of America could see this densely-peopled 
 land even in such a glimpse as I have had of it, 
 it seems to me that they would come in a body like 
 the Crusaders, who left their homes for a less 
 worthy object, and teach this people the way of 
 life. I want to return here to do it when my 
 
 school-davs are over. As I think of Jesus on the 
 
 •/ 
 
288 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 cross, he seems to say to me the words which led 
 Count Zinderdorf to him : This I did for thee ; 
 
 what doest thou for me T’ 
 
 It is wonderful how much good the few mission- 
 aries have done here ; mother would say that it is 
 not strange, for God is on their side. It is the 
 bright side of the picture, which is certainly bright 
 enough to encourage any one to work here. 
 
X X X V 1 1 r . 
 
 ITINERATING. 
 
 are enjoying our stay at Lahore very 
 much, especially our intercourse with the 
 missionaries. Since my last letter was- 
 sent we have been out on an itineration 
 with one of the good padres and his wife. They 
 kindly allowed our whole family to form part of 
 the company, and we all had a good time. Chat 
 decided that if he ever became a missionary, he 
 would like the itinerating part best. I should like 
 it for a change, but not for steady employment, I 
 am sure. 
 
 After making inquiries about a station called 
 Chunga Munga, about forty miles distant on the 
 Mooltan Railroad, the minister decided to go there, 
 though his information about the place had been 
 rather limited. 
 
 We learned that there were a city and villages 
 not very remote from the station, and a canal bun- 
 galow somewhere in its vicinity of which we could 
 
 19 
 
 289 
 
290 
 
 TRYE'S YEAR. 
 
 probably get possession. On the strength of this, 
 'sve took the evening train a week ago last Friday 
 for Chunga Miinga, having with us bedding, table 
 furniture and stores to last a week. 
 
 Arriving about ten o’clock, we learned that there 
 were two bungalows a mile and a half distant, one 
 belonging to the canal, the other to the Forest De- 
 partment ; the foraier was unoccupied, and we were 
 quite free to take up our abode there. You must 
 know, in the first place, that the government has 
 taken possession of immense tracts of forest, and be- 
 sides, as in the Punjaub, has planted many hundred 
 square miles of laud in trees. These tracts are 
 divided into sections, and give rise to a class of 
 very desirable civil offices. In this almost rainless 
 district the land must be irrigated. This is accom- 
 plished by a perfect network of canals, which are 
 fed from one of the Punjaub (five rivers). 
 
 The bungalows I mentioned are for the accom- 
 modation of superintendents and sub-officers in 
 their regular rounds of inspection. Our first plan, 
 on arriving at Chunga Mungil, was to spread out 
 our beds at the station and go in search of the bun- 
 galow in the morning, but on afterthought we con- 
 cluded to send coolies and servants ahead with lug- 
 gage while we followed leisurely behind. 
 
ITINERATING, 
 
 291 
 
 The fresh smell from the forest was most delight- 
 ful after snuffing the dust of Lahore, and the bright 
 moonlight revealed to us a view equally pleasing 
 to the eye. Reaching the compound, large and 
 well stocked with trees, we found a comfortable 
 house of seven rooms, large and small, all on the 
 ground floor, furnished with tables, chairs, charpais 
 and matting for the floors. 
 
 After supper, which the consaman (cook) prepared 
 for us, and spreading out our beds, we made the 
 most of the remnant of night left, and awoke deem- 
 ing ourselves almost in a little paradise. As a 
 specimen of Anglo-Indian hospitality, I should tell 
 you that there were two gentlemen of the Forest De- 
 partment at the station when we arrived, one just 
 leaving on the up-train, who regretted exceedingly 
 that they could not have known of our coming, so 
 as to have had dinner awaiting us, etc. The one 
 who remained sent his servant to show us the way, 
 had his horse saddled for the missionary, called 
 twice, and in other ways manifested his good feeling. 
 
 AYe found that the city Chunia was seven miles 
 distant ; our reverend friend intended riding over 
 to it on a tour of inspection with reference to a 
 longer itineration, but we learned that there was a 
 dak bungalow or something of the kind there for 
 
292 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 the accommodation of Europeans, and, as he had 
 brought quite as much work in the way of writing 
 and accounts as he was equal to in his spare mo- 
 ments, he decided to confine his operations to points 
 nearer at hand. He thinks it much better to 
 preach regularly for a week or two in one place, 
 taking up Bible truths in an orderly manner, than 
 to go about from place to place, as is often done. 
 
 There is a village of about three hundred inhab- 
 itants some two miles from the buno;alow. Thither 
 we went on Saturday, the chokidar (watchman) of 
 the compound accompanying us to show us the 
 way. Arriving at the village, the chokidar in- 
 formed the people that the minister was a padre 
 sahib, that the padres were holy men among the 
 Christians whom the people worshiped. The mis- 
 sionary at once corrected this impression by telling 
 them that they were only rah ddklanewalds (literally, 
 showers of the way ; guides). 
 
 The simple-minded people listened with great 
 attention to him. On the Sabbath he was not well 
 and did not go out, but on every succeeding day while 
 we remained went and preached to them. The in- 
 terest seemed to increase rather than diminish to 
 the last. 
 
 The walk from our bungalow was a pleasant one, 
 
ITINERA TING. 
 
 293 
 
 for some distance following a road in the jungle, 
 then along the bank of a canal, finally over broad, 
 open fields of grain to the village. Entering, we 
 came at once upon a sort of open place where the 
 people congregated. This was surrounded by 
 houses and shops, all of mud. I saw nothing sold 
 but flour of different kinds and red peppers, that I 
 remember, though from the numbers of buffaloes 
 and cows which were continually traversing this 
 little dirty square, raising a stifling dust, I conclude 
 that milk forms a large part of the diet of the natives. 
 
 On seeing us come, the people would bring out 
 a charpai for us to sit upon, and, if it were not 
 already gathered, the padre would open his Hin- 
 doostanee hymn book and ^^sing up his crowd, as 
 Chat termed it. Nearly the whole village came 
 out, many women standing back on the outside of the 
 crowd. On going to the village the second or third 
 time, the minister said to father, I shouldn’t wonder 
 if by to-day there would be some organized opposi- 
 tion ; perhaps we shall find a priest with his book 
 ready for a discussion.” 
 
 Sure enough, on entering, we found on a sort of 
 elevated platform by a shop an old Sikh fakir with a 
 a portion of the Grunt (his holy book) open before 
 him, a companion on each side of him, a man on one 
 
294 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 side and a boy fakir on the other. He at once ad- 
 dressed the padre, told him to listen, and commenced 
 reading what to our family was utterly incomprehen- 
 sible, being pure Punjaubi, which language he also 
 spoke ; but the minister got the drift of it, and 
 adroitly taking up some part of what he had read, 
 succeeded in quieting the old man in a respectful 
 manner, and, excepting one or two slight interrup- 
 tions, had no further trouble from him. The fakir 
 did not come again. 
 
 A young Mohammedan who had got a ‘Mittle 
 learning^’ somewhere, and was anxious to display 
 his knowledge of Arabic, tried very hard to start a 
 discussion. Taking up a remark that had been 
 made to the effect that while there had been many 
 prophets and holy men, guides to show us the way 
 to heaven, there had been but one Saviour, One 
 through whose mediation the way was opened, he 
 said that Mohammed was a saviour. The mis- 
 sionary asked him to bring the Koran the next day 
 and show him the place where Mohammed claimed 
 to be such. (It had already been stated that !Mo- 
 hammed had made no such claim.) Of course he 
 was unable to do this. He was not altogether 
 silenced, but on the whole gave little trouble after 
 this. 
 
ITINERATING. 
 
 295 
 
 One evening, after the preaching, an old man 
 came to the minister, saying, Oh, sahib, I am too 
 old to learn, but won’t* you send us a teacher, that 
 these children may learn ?’^ He told him that in 
 Lahore they had hundreds of boys gathered in 
 schools, but how impossible it was to furnish men 
 for little villages where there are so few to learn. 
 
 Returning to the bungalow at dusk, or after 
 dark, many fires were kindled along the edge of the 
 compound, around which were groups of natives 
 sitting, chatting and smoking the kukka. The 
 minister would go and have a talk, usually a quiet 
 one, with one or more of these groups, and father 
 generally accompanied him, while the remainder of 
 us went to the house — not into it, for we enjoyed 
 the veranda more. It was a singular sight to see 
 the fires about the compound, and the dark figures 
 now and then moving about in the lurid light. It 
 was a new, wild life altogether, such as we could 
 hardly have on our hemisphere. 
 
 Those evenings were delightful ones; I shall 
 always remember them. The missionary lady told 
 us so many interesting incidents that had come 
 under her observation, and we were never weary of 
 listening to them. I asked her one evening about 
 a native lady I saw in Lahore, and she gave me her 
 
296 
 
 TBYE^S YEAR. 
 
 history. This lady was a Bengali bibi (lady). Her 
 parents, who liv’ed in Calcutta, were wealthy Hin- 
 doos, and she had been taught to read in her child- 
 hood. She married a man of her own caste and 
 grew up a bigoted Hindoo. Some time after her mar- 
 riage she removed with her husband to Allahabad. 
 Here a kind Baptist lady visited her and gave her 
 instruction, but according to her own account she 
 was very rude to the lady and fully set against the 
 truths of our blessed Book. Meanwhile, her hus- 
 band had procured a Bible, and was studying it, 
 and she finally promised the lady to read it. 
 
 Last year the family came to Lahore, the man, 
 his wife and two sons aged about thirteen and ten. 
 The bibi brought her Bible and read it, according 
 to her promise. She became more and more in- 
 terested in it, till at last she felt that she must con- 
 fess Christ as her Saviour. She knew no Christian 
 here, and it is not strange that, in this large city, 
 no Christian knew anything of her. 
 
 As her husband was out of employment for a 
 time, she persuaded him to take her down to Agra, 
 where she had met with some missionaries. She 
 sought out these friends, who received her kindly 
 and gave her instruction. Soon after this she 
 announced to her husband her intention of being 
 
ITINERATING. 
 
 297 
 
 baptized. He, meantime, had lost his interest in 
 Christianity, was very angry at hearing this and 
 treated her very cruelly. She, however, was firm, 
 but upon her receiving baptism he left her and 
 returned to Lahore. 
 
 She occupied rooms in the house of her mission- 
 ary friends for a few months, when her husband 
 wrote her that he would receive her again, and 
 she rejoined him. Her jew^els, which are numerous 
 and costly, she committed to the care of an English 
 gentleman coming to Lahore, as she did not con- 
 sider it safe to carry them herself. This gentleman 
 informed our missionaries of her arrival, and they 
 visit her frequently. The babu has lost caste by 
 receiving his wife after her baptism, and is not 
 allowed to drink from the same vessel with his 
 Hindoo associates. He is called the Christian 
 babu, and I hope he will become a real Christian. 
 
 Another noble native Christian formed the sub- 
 ject of our conversation one evening. If you 
 could have heard our friend^s account of his 
 earnestness and his trials, you would have been as 
 much interested in him as we were. The man’s 
 name is Maiya Dass; he was a Hindoo, but educated 
 in the government school at Amritsir. A few 
 yeai^ ago he heard one of our missionaries preach 
 
298 
 
 TEYE’S YEAE. 
 
 in the bazaar, and was so impressed that he ob- 
 tained religious books and read them with great 
 care. He became convinced of the truths of the 
 Bible and thought he would be a secret follower of 
 Jesus. 
 
 A native Christian minister came to preach at 
 his station, and after frequent conversations with 
 him persuaded him of his error. Maiya saw that 
 it was his duty to confess Christ before men, but 
 how could he do it ? His mother, one of the most 
 bigoted of Hindoos, according to native custom, 
 had the management of household affairs, and in- 
 sisted upon presenting the food that she had pre- 
 pared for the family, first to idols. Of her he had 
 little hope, but his wife, whom he had taught to 
 read and write, he fondly trusted would, if he 
 waited for her, espouse Christianity, and be bap- 
 tized with him. 
 
 But the decision was made, and he wrote to Bev. 
 C. B. Xewton to come from Lahore and baptize 
 him. We were shown the letter he sent, and it is 
 so full of trust in his Saviour that I will copy it 
 for you. 
 
 My Dear and Eeveeexd Sir : Blessed be 
 the name of the Lord who has so mercifully given 
 me strength and courage to come out boldly and 
 
JTINEMATMG. 
 
 299 
 
 confess his name openly at last ! I am so happy to 
 inform you that I hope to be baptized on Sunday, 
 the 14th inst., and I have made up my mind. It is 
 the Lord that has done all this for me, even for me. 
 I have suffered much in struggling with the worldly 
 concerns which can be more easily imagined than 
 described, but it is all over now; I feel calm and 
 happy as I am ; although a storm does come now 
 and then, it is soon driven away by Him who is my 
 Strength, my Rock, my All. 
 
 “ As I would like it very much that you may bap- 
 tize me in the name of the Lord, therefore I shall 
 be so happy if you could come without putting 
 yourself to a great inconvenience, but I am afraid 
 the heat may be of some hindrance in your way. 
 Mr. Isa Charan says he will baptize me on Sunday 
 if you cannot come. I would have received the 
 holy baptism immediately, but have put it off till 
 the approaching Sunday, that, if possible, you may 
 come, which will, I can assure you, give me great 
 pleasure. 
 
 Hoping you may be able to come without put- 
 ting yourself to much trouble, I remain, my dear 
 sir, 
 
 Your unworthy friend in Jesus, 
 
 Maiya Dass.” 
 
300 
 
 TRYE^S YEAR. 
 
 The minister readily consented to baptize him, 
 but I will give you the account in the lady’s own 
 words : All the city was moyed. Maiya Dass 
 
 was of high caste, had inherited considerable prop- 
 erty from his father, besides having a lucrative sit- 
 uation, was well educated, and withal had so much 
 nobility of character that he was universally es- 
 teemed. Such a person must not be allowed to 
 throw himself away till every means should be 
 exhausted to prevent. On the day before the bap- 
 tism, relatives came from Amritsir to dissuade him 
 from his purpose, and on Saturday morning his 
 friends thronged the house, beseeching him not to 
 leave the faith of his fathers. Finally wearied with 
 this, and desiring quiet for thought and prayer, he 
 took occasion, during an interval in these visits, to 
 drive ofP to the cantonments. 
 
 In the afternoon a party of relatives, headed by 
 the mother, came to the serai where Mr. Kewton 
 was staying, and falling on their faces before him, 
 beating their foreheads against the ground, besought 
 him to give them back the heart of their friend, 
 that had been stolen from them and their religion. 
 It was vain for Mr. Newton to assure them that he 
 possessed no power to do this. They left him, and 
 with a large crowd gathered about the house of Mai- 
 
ITINERATING. 
 
 301 
 
 ya Dass, to await his return. Having found entreaty 
 useless, they determined on another course. Seiz- 
 ing the horse, they first dragged him and his friends 
 from the wagon; they again thrust him in, and 
 one of their number took the reins and drove 
 him to his home in the city. His friends attempted 
 to extricate him, but were so outnumbered that it 
 was impossible. 
 
 After some delay, a squad of policemen went 
 to the house and liberated the prisoner. It w'as 
 not considered prudent to have the baptism in the 
 mission church in the city, so, early on Sabbath 
 morning, a little company went over to the can- 
 tonments, and the ordinance was administered in 
 the Library building. 
 
 According to a previous promise, Maiya Dass 
 returned to his home immediately after his baptism, 
 but the experience of two or three days showed him 
 that it .would be quite impossible to live with his 
 family, so he came back to the rooms he had pre- 
 viously occupied. He occasionally hears from them 
 of their continued desire for his return to Hindoo- 
 ism. Meantime he is fervently praying for their 
 conversion to Christianity, and is striving to do all 
 he can by conversation, giving testaments, tracts, 
 etc., for his heathen friends who still visit him.’’ 
 
XXXIX. 
 
 BENARES. 
 
 « NE more letter, and from Benares, but this 
 is J 30 sitively my last from India. We 
 could not leave the country without a 
 e) visit to the sacred city of the Hindoos, and 
 are detained here a day longer than we had antici- 
 pated, so I have an opportunity of taking my 
 pen in hand,’^ etc. We are near the holy Ganges 
 again, and in the most holiest of all holy places. 
 If even a beef-eater happen to die wdthin ten miles 
 of this sanctum sanctorum, he will go direct to 
 heaven, according to Hindoo theology. It is no 
 wonder, then, that the believers in such a doctrine 
 flock to this place and desire to end their days 
 here. 
 
 An Indian legend says that Benares was for- 
 merly built of gold, but on account of the wicked- 
 ^ ness of the people it became mud. Still, this mud 
 is very sacred ; they call the city the lotus of the 
 world,’^ and according to one story declare it to be 
 
 founded on the point of Siva’s trident. Now, as 
 302 
 
BENARES. 
 
 3GJ 
 
 you may imagine, I am not going to give a regular 
 description of this wonderful place, but I must 
 tell you of some sights we saw ; my letters would 
 be very incomplete without it. 
 
 In the first place, Benares is on the north side 
 
 of the Ganges, and on the outside of the curve 
 
 which the river makes just here. It stretches for 
 
 about three miles along the river, and about a 
 
 mile back from it on ground higher than that 
 
 across the river. The English town known as 
 
 Secrole stands entirely by itself, and is laid out 
 
 with broad streets, but it is of the real Benares 
 
 / 
 
 that I want to write. 
 
 We started out to explore it as soon as possible 
 after our arrival, for we wanted to see all that was 
 to be seen of course. Father got ponies for us to 
 ride, as that mode of traveling seemed to be the 
 safest. I donT mean that we are in danger of 
 our lives from enemies, but the streets are so very 
 narrow and crooked in some places that we really 
 could hardly tell how we were going to come out. 
 We didn’t canter along very gayly, I assure you, 
 for we met constantly donkeys and camels and 
 men and women and sacred bulls, besides an oc- 
 casional elephant whose huge body reached from 
 wall to wall. Then, as we went on, we met hordes 
 
304 
 
 TRYE>S YEAR. 
 
 of religious beggars, and what were more repul- 
 sive than all the animals, the fakirs. 
 
 I thought I had seen them in their worst form, 
 but Benares bears the palm. A traveler has truly 
 said, “ The mendicants from the numerous Hindoo 
 sects, with every conceivable deformity which chalk, 
 cow-dung, disease, matted locks, distorted limbs 
 and disgusting and hideous attitudes of penance 
 can show, literally line the principal streets on both 
 sides.’’ ^Ve saw some with their hands clenched 
 till their finger-nails had pierced entirely through 
 the hand ; others had stood upon one leg till the 
 other was of little use ; others had one arm shriveled 
 and paralyzed from holding it for years in the same 
 position. Oh, it makes me sick at heart to see these 
 poor deluded beings living this wretched life in 
 the vain belief that they will earn eternal happi- 
 ness ! 
 
 AVe rode on until we came to the famous Door- 
 gha Khond, a temple dedicated to the goddess 
 Doorgha, but really devoted to monkeys. Just 
 imagine thousands — ^\^es, thousands ! — of these lit- 
 tle fellows running about the temple, on the house- 
 tops, in the street, everywhere around. Being holy, 
 they are at liberty to do what they please, and are 
 fully aware of the fact, for they are as saucy as they 
 
BENARES. 
 
 305 
 
 can be. As we were standing at the door of the 
 temple, one hanging over it put down his paw and 
 caught Chat’s cap. He had hardly time to look up 
 before the fellow had it up on the roof. It was not 
 a very pleasant position to be in, Chat thought, but 
 he enjoyed the fun, and finally the monkey dropped 
 the cap at his feet. 
 
 But more sacred than the monkeys are the bulls, 
 which are a greater nuisance. No one is allowed to 
 disturb them, though they may eat everything eat- 
 able from a stand or take it into their heads to dash 
 into a china store. They are fat, lazy animals, con- 
 tinually in your way. Father told us how the 
 English managed with them a few years ago ; I 
 think they showed as much ingenuity as a Yankee 
 could in similar circumstances. 
 
 The bulls had multiplied to such an extent that 
 the English decided to rid the place of them if 
 possible. They could not have them killed without 
 raising great opposition, and probably another re- 
 bellion. ^^To kill the Brahmin bulls would be a 
 thousand times worse than to behead so many 
 princes.” At last they hit upon the right plan ; 
 they turned them out to graze in the jungle, where 
 tlie tigers made short work with them. 
 
 We passed a temple at almost every turn; there 
 20 
 
306 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 are hundreds of them, but they are generally 
 neither large nor imposing. It is said that the 
 idols of Benares number more than half a million. 
 From what I have told you, you will be apt to 
 think that Benares is a dull, sluggish old town, 
 given to idolatry, with no thought of business. 
 Strange to say, that idea would be a very wrong 
 one. It is as decidedly a business city as it is a 
 religious one, and you can see the stir and bustle 
 of life and activity by going into the streets. 
 
 Here is the factory of the famous brocade of 
 Benares, where are made magnificent gold brocades 
 worth a hundred dollars, sometimes hundreds of 
 dollars, a yard. Here are manufactories of silk and 
 cotton and fine wool and gold and silver lace. 
 Here is an extensive trade in the fine steel of Eng- 
 lish make, and many other articles of commerce. 
 
 We decided unanimously that riding through 
 the streets, where our ponies were taxed to the ut- 
 most to know how to get through, was not the best 
 means of seeing the city, so we took a boat and 
 sailed around the semi-circle. Then we could see 
 the grandeur of the holy city ; it was before us and 
 around us. Its most massive structures have 
 their foundations laid in the river itself, and rise up 
 a hundred feet by terraces or ghauts, broad stone 
 
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BENARES. 
 
 307 
 
 stairways, so that the palaces and mosques and tem- 
 ples overhang the river/^ 
 
 I shall long remember our sail down the river ; 
 perhaps the rest and quiet were better appreciated 
 
 from succeeding our perilous ride through the 
 
 0 
 
 streets. It was so delightful to glide along, taking 
 in the view before us and having the places of in- 
 terest pointed out and explained. AYe passed 
 numerous ghauts where men and women in great 
 numbers came down the stone steps to the river 
 to wash away their sins. We saw many bowing 
 and repeating their prayers to the river itself. 
 They seemed to be entirely unconscious of what 
 w^as going on around them. Frequently we came 
 to a landing-place where the Hindoo dead were 
 burned. We saw pile after pile made ready for the 
 torch, and some bodies that were already undergoing 
 the cremation, filling the air with a dense smoke 
 and perfume of which it makes me sick to think. 
 
 The principal mosque of the city is the Great 
 Mosque of Aurungzebe, which rises up from the 
 water’s edge, massive and tall and grand. Chat 
 said that they ought to have thrown Aurungzebe 
 from one of the minarets into the river, but I en- 
 joyed the building just as much as if the builder 
 had been a better man. 
 
308 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 When we left the boat to go up into the city, it 
 was indeed up,’^ for a hundred steps were before us. 
 On our return to Secrole we passed the residence 
 of the Rajah Sumbhoo Nargen Singh, who, father 
 told us, has just succeeded to that title on account 
 of his father’s death. His father. Sir Deo Nargen 
 Singh, though a Hindoo, was very liberal in his 
 views, and did much for the good of others. He 
 remained faithful to the British durino^ the mu- 
 tiny in 1857. For this and other services to the 
 government, he was made a knight commander 
 of the star of India. The queen so highly appre- 
 ciated his services as to send him a very valuable 
 piece of silver plate as a gift from her royal self. 
 
 But we have seen so much in Benares that I 
 hardly know what to mention particularly. Per- 
 haps nothing has occupied more of our time and at- 
 tention than the sacred wells, and I think you will 
 be interested in them. 
 
 The first well we visited was the Gydn Bapi, or 
 Gyan Kup, well of knowledge,” in which the na- 
 tives believe the god Siva resides. This well is be- 
 tween the mosque and temple of Bish^war, and is 
 not the pleasantest place in the world to visit for 
 mortals who are provided with olfactories. 
 
 They have a tradition that once upon a time ” 
 
SACRED WELLS, 
 
 309 
 
 Benares was without rain for twelve years, and of 
 coarse the people suffered greatly in consequence. 
 They were relieved at length by a .Rishi, ‘^one of 
 the mythical beings, not exactly divine, and cer- 
 tainly not mortal, who, to the number of many thou- 
 sands, are reverenced by the Hindoos/^ He grasped 
 the trident of Siva, dug up the earth at this spot, 
 and ever since there has been a good supply of water 
 in the well. 
 
 When Siva was informed of this circumstance, he 
 promised to take up his abode in the well and re- 
 side there for ever. It is said that when the old 
 temple of Bisheswar was destroyed, a priest took 
 the idol of the temple and cast it down there for 
 safety, so I suppose the well must be doubly sacred. 
 The natives were thronging the place when we ar- 
 rived, so for a time we could only stand at a dis- 
 tance and watch the deluded devotees. 
 
 They were throwing in the well flowers, rice and 
 a variety of articles in sacrifice to the deity below. 
 The mixture thus formed is in a constant state of 
 decay, and the stench from it is almost insupport- 
 able. The well is surrounded by ‘^a handsome 
 low-roofed colonnade, the stone pillars of which are 
 in four rows, and are upwards of forty in number.^’ 
 This tasteful building was erected in 1828 by Sri 
 
310 
 
 TEYE^S YEAR. 
 
 Maut Baija Bai, widow of Sri Maut Dowlat Ras 
 Sindh ia Bahadoor, of Gwalior. 
 
 Xorth-west from the Gyan Kup is Ad-Bishe’swar, 
 the temple of the Primeval Lord of All.’’ Quite 
 near this temple is Kasi Karwat, a sacred well, to 
 which we next directed our steps. Besides the 
 vertical opening, there is a passage leading down to 
 the water, which formerly was traversed daily by 
 religious Hindoos desirous of approaching the 
 holiest part of the well.” Siva is also the god of 
 this well. A few years ago a man offered himself 
 in sacrifice to him, when the authorities caused the 
 passage to be closed. The priests, however, com- 
 plained that a large part of their income would 
 thus be cut off, so they are allowed to open it every 
 ^londay. 
 
 We visited the Kal Kup, or Well of Fate, but 
 not at the proper time of day to learn anything of 
 our own fortunes. In the trellis-work of the outer 
 wall is a square hole so situated that the sun’s rays 
 pass through it and strike the water in the well at 
 exactly twelve o’clock. At that hour numbers 
 visit it, and those who cannot trace their shadows 
 in the water are doomed to die within six months, 
 according to the Hindoo belief. 
 
 A more famous well is Manikarnika. Its fetid 
 
SACRED WELLS. 
 
 311 
 
 'svater is regarded as a healing balm, which will 
 infallibly wash away all the sins of the soul and 
 make it pure and holy. There is no sin so heinous 
 or abominable but, in popular estimation, it is here 
 instantly effaced. Even for the crime of murder it 
 can, it is said, procure forgiveness.’^ 
 
 Stone steps lead down to the water on the four 
 sides. The seven lowermost steps are said to be 
 without a joining, although we could see several 
 without looking very closely. The people like to 
 delude themselves in this way. The Brahmins say 
 that these seams are only superficial, and that the 
 seven steps are a part of the original work per- 
 formed by divine hands. This well is dedicated to 
 the god Vishnu. There are several stories about 
 its origin, some of which we have either heard or 
 read. I will give you one as very soberly stated in 
 the Kasi-Khanda : 
 
 ‘‘The god Vishnu dug this well with his discus, 
 and, in lieu of water, filled it with the perspiration 
 from his own body, and gave it the name of Chakra- 
 pushkarini. He then proceeded to its north side 
 and began to practice asceticism. In the mean time, 
 the god Siva arrived, and, looking into the well, 
 beheld in it the beauty of a hundred millions of 
 suns, with which he was so enraptured that be at 
 
312 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 once broke out into loud praises of Vishnu, and 
 in his joy declared that whatever gift he might ask 
 of him he would grant. 
 
 Gratified at the offer, Vishnu replied that his 
 request was that Siva should always reside with 
 him. Siva, hearing this, felt greatly flattered by 
 it, and his bodv shook with delight. From the 
 violence of the motion an ear-ring called Manikar- 
 nika fell from his ear into the well. From this 
 circumstance Siva gave the well the name of 
 Manikarnika. Among the epithets applied to it 
 are those of Muktikshetra, ^seat of liberation,’ and 
 Purnasubhakaran, ^complete source of felicity.’ 
 Siva further decreed that it should be the chief and 
 the most efficacious among places of pilgrimage.” 
 Another well which we saw is the ^ Kuan, or 
 Serpent’s Veil, which, father says, is thought to 
 be very old. Steep stone stairs, in the form of a 
 square, lead down to the well, and a broad wall of 
 good masonry, six or seven feet thick, surrounds 
 them at their summit, rising to the height of four 
 or five feet above the ground. Each of the four 
 series of stairs has an entrance of its own. Their 
 junction below forms a small square, in the centre 
 of which is the well. Descending twelve stone 
 steps, you reach the water, which is stagnant and 
 
SACRED WELLS. 
 
 313 
 
 foul. Beneath the water is a sheet of iron, which 
 constitutes the door leading to a still lower well, 
 which perhaps may be the old well in its original 
 state.’’ 
 
 The Nag, or Serpent, is worshiped at this well. 
 There is a figure representing three serpents in a 
 niche in the wall of one of the stairs ; and on the 
 floor is an image of Siva in stone, with a snake 
 crawling up it. It is humiliating to think that 
 human beings worship such objects as these, yet 
 many come here with earnest and sincere hearts, 
 expecting to receive a divine blessing. 
 
 This well is visited only once a year for religious 
 purposes, in the Hindoo month of Sawan, when 
 snakes are most numerous. A festival is held then 
 called the Nag-Panchami Mela. Men and women 
 of all ranks attend the mela and bathe in the 
 well. Persons of respectability do not prolong their 
 stay after they have sacrificed and bathed. 
 
 There are other wells here, the Dharm-Kup, 
 Chandra Kup, or Well of the Moon, etc., but 
 these were about as many as we could endure in 
 one visit to the holy city, and probably as many as 
 you care to hear about. 
 
 While passing one of the temples we noticed an 
 unusual number of persons collected at the door, 
 
314 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 and stopped to learn the cause. A young girl 
 seemed to be the principal actor in the scene, but 
 she looked far from happy. We found that we had 
 come to a wedding, but a very strange one. The 
 parents of this girl had vowed to one of the gods 
 that if he would spare the life of their sick son, 
 they would devote this daughter to him. The son 
 was restored to health, and the poor parents were 
 fulfilling their vow. The girl was married to the 
 hideous idol wfith a great many ceremonies by 
 the priests and sacrifices by the parents. We re- 
 mained until the parents left, and you need not 
 think me foolish when I tell you that I wept to see 
 them depart without their daughter. The mother 
 was almost overcome, but she bore up bravely, for 
 she thought she was doing right. The girl looked 
 so wistfully after her, it must have been so trying 
 for them both. Oh, how hard and cruel their relig- 
 ion is ! and it brings them only bitter disappoint- 
 ment in the end. This girl was left to live about 
 the temple, perhaps to devote herself to idol-wor- 
 ship, but most probably, father says, to live a life 
 of shame and disgrace. There are too many of 
 these forsaken women, who aid in the indecent prac- 
 tices that pass for worship at some of the Hindoo 
 festivals. So much evil has the sanction of the 
 
SACRED WELLS. 
 
 315 
 
 gods that, mother says, the system of idolatry is 
 far more corrupt than we can see in our passing 
 glance. How it makes the religion of Jesus stand 
 out in spotless majesty by the contrast ! Plow it 
 shows our precious Saviour the One ’^altogether 
 lovely,” the One fairer than the sons of men,” 
 and the only One by whom we can be saved ! 
 
 In the first part of this letter I told you of 
 our visit to the Doorga Khoud ; I must add the 
 story of the Doorga, as related by the Hindoo 
 writers : 
 
 “ There was once a famous demon named Doorg, 
 son of another demon named Ruru, who devoted 
 himself to the performance of ascetic rites, and so 
 severely and successfully applied himself to their 
 exercise that he acquired a prodigious stock of 
 merit, and, together with it, unbounded power. 
 By degrees he became superior to all the deities, 
 who fled from his presence and hid themselves; 
 while Doorg, entering their dominions and usurp- 
 ing their authority, began to transact the affairs of 
 the world. Indra himself, the king of the gods, 
 was obliged to surrender his sceptre to him; and 
 in the like manner, Agni (the god of Fire), Pavana 
 (the god of the Winds) and Jala (the god of Water) 
 submitted to his irresistible authority. The demon 
 
316 
 
 TEYE’S YEAR. 
 
 put a stop to religion among men, and injustice, 
 tyranny and oppression spread over the earth. 
 
 ^^He treated the gods most ignominiously, and 
 ordered them to feed his cows. These divine per- 
 sonages, in their distress, went in a body to Siva, to 
 whom they represented their miserable condition. 
 Taking pity on them, Siva commanded Gauri, his 
 M’ife, to go and kill the demon, and deliver the 
 gods from their calamities. Thereupon, Gauri 
 summoned the bloody goddess Mahakali, and in- 
 structed her to slay the demon. In obedience to 
 her instructions, Mahakali set out to attack Doorg ; 
 but Doorg, hearing of her approach, called together 
 his relatives and servants, and said to them, ^ Seize 
 this woman, and take care she does not escape.’ 
 
 “ They then seized Mahakali, and were carrying 
 her off to the house of the demon, but on the 
 way, in her anger, she darted fire from her mouth 
 and burned them all to ashes. On witnessing this 
 mishap, Doorg gathered together a large number 
 of his adherents and sent them to recapture the 
 goddess. But these fared no better than their pre- 
 decessors, and were destroyed in a similar manner. 
 The demon was now exceedingly annoyed, and 
 assembled an immense army, numbering several 
 millions of oersons, and sent it against the goddess. 
 
DOORGA. 
 
 317 
 
 Daunted by such a host, Mahdkall fled, and 
 ascended to heaven in the form of a balloon, fol- 
 lowed by the army, which soared up to the skies 
 in pursuit of her. After a time the army descended 
 to the earth again, and encamped on Bindhyachal ; 
 but Mahakali kept on her way until she came to 
 Gauri, to whom she narrated the circumstances of 
 her journey, adding that a vast army was on its 
 way to capture her. On receiving this intelligence, 
 Gauri became incarnate in a body, possessing a 
 thousand arms, of such gigantic dimensions that 
 it reached from earth to heaven. When Doorg 
 beheld her, he w^as smitten with her beauty, and 
 declared to his people that whoever among them 
 should capture her should sit on the throne of 
 
 X 
 
 Indra. 
 
 Excited by the prospect of obtaining such a 
 high distinction, several regiments of the army 
 made a rush upon Gauri, with so great an uproar 
 that the four elephants which supported the earth 
 on their backs became terrified and fled in dismay 
 to Bindhyachal. Gauri was delighted at seeing 
 them, and in her owm defence immediately created 
 an army of gods and instruments of w^arfare. A 
 large number of the enemy were slain through 
 the powder and activity of the goddess ; and Doorg 
 
318 
 
 TRYE’S YEAR. 
 
 himself, smarting under the loss he had sustained, 
 now took part in the conflict. Holding in his 
 hands a trident, a sword, a bow and arrows, he 
 came on with irresistible impetuosity, and, approach- 
 ing Gauri, inflicted upon her a heavy blow. The 
 goddess fainted, but, presently recovering herself, 
 arose and ordered the gods to engage with the foe. 
 
 The battle between the gods and the demons 
 now became general, during which Doorg and Gauri 
 fought together, and, fighting, ascended to heaven 
 and descended to the earth again. On reaching the 
 earth, the demon seized a stone and threw it at the 
 goddess, who, on its coming near, breathed a curse 
 upon it and reduced it to powder. He then laid 
 hold of an entire mountain, and, raising it up, hurled 
 it at Gauri ; but she crumbled it also to powder, and 
 with her weapon struck the demon, who, uttering a 
 loud cry, fell to the ground. The merciless goddess 
 then cut off the head of Doorg, and all the enemies 
 being slain, the battle was most satisfactorily ended. 
 
 The gods now approacnea Gauri, and began to 
 extol her for her valor and exploits, and showered 
 flowers from heaven on the earth below. The 
 celestial danseuses, musicians and minstrels, Apsa- 
 ras, Gandharvas and Kinnaras, were summoned, 
 and, together with the gods. Munis and Hishis, 
 
DOOROA. 
 
 319 
 
 joined in rendering praise to Gaurl. Gratified 
 with the honor paid to her, the goddess gave utter- 
 ance to these words : ^ Whoever shall repeat what 
 has been written in my praise shall be delivered 
 from pain and fear, and I will make myself present 
 when invoked with eulogies that name me. I will 
 also change my appellation to Doorga, by which, 
 in the future, I wish to be addressed, because I have 
 slain the demon Doorg.’ Having said this, she 
 vanished, and order was everywhere re-established.^^ 
 Such is the story; what do you think of it? 
 Father says it is not more improbable than most 
 of the tales about their gods and goddesses, and 
 there are so many of them. Almost any Hindoo 
 can entertain you with numbers of remarkable 
 stories, all of which he generally believes implicitly. 
 Chat has learned enough of the language to under- 
 stand much of the conversation of the natives, and 
 they tell him a great many tales. He will have a 
 large stock of them to repeat when we see you. 
 Chat has more patience in listening to these tales than 
 I have. By the time I hear two or three I begin to 
 want something more sensible. I hope the time 
 will come when the sweet story of the manger of 
 Bethlehem and the cross of Calvary will be 
 known and loved by every Hindoo. 
 
Now I have touched upon this old city, and that 
 is all I promised you. But a few points have I 
 gathered for you from the grand panorama that has 
 passed before my eyes since I entered this wonderful 
 land. AVould that I had the power to give to others 
 the pictures which my mind receives, in all their 
 fullness and vividness ! Alas that so many of the 
 rays from above are absorbed or refracted by pass- 
 ing through even the purest earthly medium ! 
 
 AVe start upon our homeward journey to-morrow 
 morning, my dear brother, and I must seek my 
 rest to be prepared for an early awakening. Good- 
 bye to India. 
 
 TUfi KND. 
 

 
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