138 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



may perish; a hundred families may have to 

 retire from its margins and live for a season 

 by digging wild tubers among the granite hills, 

 or by robbing the ants of their underground 

 store of " toa " seed. But if a similar thing 

 happen in India, perhaps ten millions of 

 human beings die a horrible death. 



In the desert, away from man and every- 

 thing that suggested him, the Hebrew Scrip- 

 tures seemed to be too overloaded with ethics, 

 too exigent towards enlisting the services of 

 the deity on the side of tribe against tribe. 

 But the Vedic Hymnist was a worshipper who 

 imposed no conditions upon his gods. He had 

 passionately realised the fundamental fact that 

 his own continued existence, as well as that of 

 all organic life, depended upon the beneficient 

 fury of the sky, so he offered awed and uncon- 

 ditioned adoration to Indra, Agni and the 

 " golden-breasted " Storm Gods through a 

 symbolism of sincere and homely dignity. 

 Submissive, he accepted death or life, the 

 thunder-bolt or the Soma-flower, the drought 

 that slew its millions or the rain that brought 

 a bounteous harvest. 



We started at break of day. Although rain 

 had fallen, we felt it necessary to plan our 

 course carefully, for water was only to be 



