INDIA. 279 



* the purest in the world and sing its praises. This 

 great traveler has immortalized himself with the na- 

 tives of India by lauding the purity of the Ganges water. 

 He may be right from a bacteriologic standpoint, and 

 his position would be upheld by the Chicago Depart- 

 ment of Health, but would meet with violent opposi- 

 tion by the guardians of health of the city of St. Louis. 

 When I saw this sacred stream, its water was about 

 the color of pea soup, and during a boat ride along its 

 shores I saw a number of decomposed, bloated dead dogs 

 floating on the surface of the sluggish stream, and at 

 the place where the corpses of human beings are cre- 

 mated, baskets of ashes were consigned to its sacred 

 water. The soul of the Hindu finds no rest until at 

 least a part of the incinerated remains is deposited in 

 this river. From the ashes of the cremated bodies a 

 few fragments of bones are taken, tied up in a cloth 

 and sooner or later this ghastly bundle must be thrown 

 into the Ganges, even if this part of the funeral rites 

 require days and weeks and no inconsiderable expense 

 incidental to the travel. It is fortunate that this river 

 is inhabited by crocodiles, which can dispose, at least, 

 of some of the bodies and carcasses which are thrown 

 into it by the hundreds and thousands every day. In 

 the inhabited parts of the country through which the 

 Ganges passes, its shores are lined with washerwomen 

 and washermen and human and animal bathers. The 

 amount of human excreta which find their way into 

 this stream is simply enormous, and other sources of 

 pollution are innumerable; hence, if nature's laboratory 

 can cope successfully with so many sources of contam- 

 ination and render the water, if not clean, yet potable 

 and bacteriologically pure, she has done what sanitarians 

 so far have failed to accomplish. 



I have said that the part of India included in my 

 tour lacks scenic beauty. It is monotonous, a great, 

 level, limitless plain, covered by rich marshes on the 

 west coast; deserts, pastures, grain and cornfields in 



