A RUN THROUGH KATHIAWAR. 285 



age ; and I got a bar of wood slung below the seat 

 on which to rest my feet, which was a great relief. 

 Though there was no support for the back, yet hold- 

 ing on by the ropes somewhat compensated for that. 

 On the steep, narrow path slanting across the great 

 and almost perpendicular precipice of Girnar, my feet 

 had often to be raised. The dooly was knocked 

 about a good deal, and at one or two turnings I found 

 myself suspended over the precipice for an instant 

 in a way which might be trying to those people who 

 have a nervous horror of looking down great depths ; 

 but there was, in reality, no danger whatever. The 

 bearers were eight in number, four of them carrying 

 me at a time, except at some points where only two 

 could walk together. They were of a Pariah caste, 

 being Dheds, if I recollect rightly. They Avere large- 

 bodied, strong men, and had a remarkable physical 

 resemblance to some of the janpan-wallahs at Simla, 

 who belong not to that place, but to a neighbouring 

 state. Even beside the gate of the city wall I had a 

 foretaste of what was in store for me in the way 

 of devotees, in the shape of some hideously-painted 

 naked Bawas, who sat in the small upper windows 

 of a house leering down upon the pilgrims passing 

 by. There is something very horrible in some of the 

 phases of the Hindu religion, especially in connection 

 with the worship of Siva and Kali. The object seems 

 to be to inspire dread in the minds of the worshippers ; 

 and I do not wonder at European ladies having turned 



