THE TOUR 327 



gives it an appearance supposed to indicate the abandon- 

 ment of all worldly enjoyments. The appearance is 

 certainly most ghastly. 



The reason for the habit of drug -eating, in which 

 the Hindoo devotees so indulge, may be that perhaps 

 without some such stimulant their life would be un- 

 endurable. I believe, too, that the drowsiness which 

 these narcotic drugs induce is regarded as favourable 

 to religious contemplation. 



When I came out of my tent next morning I found 

 that all the travellers had departed, and with them also 

 the fakir. The travellers had gone on to their homes 

 or to where their business called them, the fakir to 

 continue while life endured his purposeless, endless 

 wanderings. I wonder if he is still pursuing them. 

 Most likely he has long ere this found rest, for his 

 appearance showed that he had already adopted the 

 habit of indulging in narcotics, and this habit, once 

 adopted, is never relinquished, and has but one 

 termination. 



In my above account of the fakirs I have alluded to 

 the marvellous juggling performances of the Jogees 

 before the Emperor Jehangire. A brief description of 

 them may, I think, interest the reader. The tricks ex- 

 hibited were twenty-eight in number, and the Jogees 

 who performed them amounted to seven. Most of the 

 tricks call for no special notice, for, allowing for a little 

 exaggeration, they do not very much differ from those 

 exhibited at the present day ; but with regard to the 

 rest we may endorse the opinion of the Emperor that 

 they will be accepted as true only by those who have 



