179 DR. HOOKER'S MISSION TO INDIA. 
observatories, and filled them with instruments, whose ‘“‘ exactness was 
all that the heart of man could desire." 
'The more important instruments which I saw you will find sketched, 
they are the Semrat-yunta, or Equatorial dial; Naree-wila, or Equinoc- 
tial dial; and an anonymous equatorial probably a Kranti-urit, or 
circle of declination. Jey-Sing’s genius and love of science seem, 
according to Hunter, to have descended to some of his family, who died 
early in this century, when ** Urania fled before the brazen-fronted Mars, 
and the best of the observatories, that of Oujein, was turned into an 
arsenal and cannon foundry.” 
To myself, the Observatory was the most interesting object in Benares, 
though it is now a dirty, ruined building, and the great stone instru- 
ments are rapidly crumbling away. The building is square, with a 
central court and flat roof, round which the astrolabes, &c. are arranged. 
A naked Astronomer-Royal, with a large sore on his stomach, took me 
round—he was a pitiful object— and told me he was very hungry, 
pinching himself in at the same time, with the air of the starved 
. Apothecary. Truly, I thought, astronomers were well maintained in 
India, at a period when apothecaries starved at home! but the tables 
are turned now. The Observatory is nominally supported by the Rajah 
of Jeypore, who assuredly doles out a too scanty pittance to his 
scientific corps. After all, the Observatory was as good for Benares, 
if not better, than the diegs one used to be immediately previous to 
my active master Professor Nicol’s time. 
In the afternoon, Mr. Reade drove me to the Sar-Nath, a singular 
Boodhist temple, a cylindrical mass of brick-work, faced with stone 
and surmounted by a tall dome, altogether about seventy or a hundred 
feet high. The Boodh idols were originally in niches, all round the 
cylindrical portion ; only one remains, the others having been used by 
recent magistrate of Benares in mending a bridge over the Goomty ! 
The scrolls, on the stone facing, were very beautiful, and as sharp as if 
freshly cut ; from hence the Boodhist monuments, Hindu temple, Mus- 
sulman mosque, and English church, were all embraced by one coup 
d'oeil. On our return, we drove past many enormous mounds of earth 
and brick-work, the vestiges of Old Benares, but whether once con- 
tinuous with the present city or not is unknown. Remains are 
abundant, eighteen feet below the site of the present city. 
Benares is the Mecca of the Hindoos, and the number of pilgrims 
