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of shrines to Siva placed in little recesses all mund the court 

 yard. The surrounding walls are covered wit'i frcscotiS illus- 

 trating scenes in his life. In the middle of th ■ c airt is a colossal 

 sacred bull, carvfd out of a single block of st ine. A curio-ity 

 unicjue in India, is the head of an Englishman covered with the 

 Conventional bowler hat, carved in one ot the niches of the 

 great tower, and looking very incongruous amidst the surround- 

 ing Hindu gods and goddesrfes. 



We visited the rnjah's palace « ith itsc'stly collection of 

 jewels audits interesting old library st):k.'l wit i mm/ rare 

 and antique books, and afterwards vvi'kel out into ihe c 'lutry. 

 It was amusing to watch the ant-lions {Mijrine^.eja) e-ach waiting at 

 the bottom of his tiny pit in th* s.m ly wasiii, for any uahippy 

 insect which might be passing. The native boys catc ■ these 

 ant-lions very cleverly, letting dovv i pieces of htriii<x ''I'i* the 

 pits and jerking them out when the creaure.s in a moiuc-nt of 

 mistaken identity have taken firm hold. 



We now reached Madura, th' southernmost point "f our 

 journey. Work was plentiful here, but we found time t ■ visit 

 the Madura temple, the finest of its kind in India. The archi- 

 techture is similar to that of the temples of Conjeevcram, 

 Sriringam and Tanjore. but the designs are far moin daring. 

 Huge monolithic columns from ten to twenty feet in heig!it are 

 elaborately carved to represent hor.-emen and horses tr;impling 

 on their foes. The great gopura far exceeds in height that of 

 any other temple. We also went into the old palace, and were 

 amused to hear a Bengali babu recount the tale of his fancied 

 wrongs, and descant upon the good time coming when the 

 National Congress should give self government to the down 

 trodden people of India. It may, perhaps, be as well to mention 

 here that it is only necessary to go into one or two Indian native 

 states to appreciate how vastly superior is the condition of the 

 lower classes under British rule, to their lot when governed by 

 their own rajahs. 



Besides the great temple there is little of interest in Madura. 

 There is no cold weather, and the sun is despt-rateiy hot, so 

 that no European cares to expose himself to ihe ruys, more ihiin 

 is necessary. The blanched faces of English Avomen and children 

 testify to the number of hours which have to be spjiit daily in 

 the darkened houses. Madura Is not one of the favoured spots 

 on this earth. 



Hitherto all five members of the Commission had been 

 travelling togethQr, but we now decided to divide in older to 

 cover more ground in the time at our disposal. Surgeon- 

 Major Barclay and Mr. Kanthack accordingly proceeded to 



