THE ABOEIGINAL TRIBES 137 



of February numbers of Hindu pilgrims from tbe plains 

 to tbe great sbrine of Siva in the MaMdeo hills began to pass 

 my camp. They usually encamp at the foot of the hill below 

 the shrine ; and, besides the road over the plateau, come by 

 a way which leads through the Denwa valley below the Puch- 

 murree scarp. Several other roads lead in from the south, 

 all of which are rugged and difficult, and are traversed in 

 fear and trembling by the pilgrims. About this time I 

 crossed over from Puchmurree to visit the opposite plateau 

 of Motur, which was also at that time under examination 

 as a possible site for a sanitarium in these provinces. The 

 Denwa valley lay between, necessitating a descent and 

 ascent of about 2500 feet each way. On my return 

 from Motur on the 26th of February I found the httle 

 plain in the Denwa. valley below the shrine, through 

 which my road lay, swarming with the pilgrims, some 

 forty thousand of whom had collected in this lonely valley 

 in a few days, and were now crowding up into the ravine 

 where the cave is situated — a ravine through which a 

 week or two before I had tracked a herd of bison ! 



, Most of these annual gatherings of pilgrims are, to the 

 majority of the Hindiis who attend them, very much 

 what race-meetings and cattle-shows are to the more 

 practical Englishman — an episode in their hard-worked 

 and rather colourless existence, in which a nominal object 

 of little interest in itself is made the excuse for an " out- 

 ing," the amusements of which chiefly consist in bothies 

 for the sale of all sorts of miscellaneous articles, universal 

 gossiping for the elders, and peep-shows and whirligigs 

 for the younger members. It is surprising how the familiar 

 features of a fair at home come out, in an oriental costume, 

 at these so-called religious gatherings. The cow with 

 five legs and the performing billy-goat, adequately repre- 

 sent the woolly horse and the dancing bear of our child- 

 hood. The acrobats are there to the life, tjdng themselves 

 into identical knots we loved so well. The begging gipsy 

 appears in the fantastic Jogee. Ginger-pop and oranges 

 are even faintly typified in Mhowa grog and sticky sweet- 

 meats. Aunt Sally alone is nowhere : there is nothing 

 at all resembling the uproarious mirth of that ancient lady. 



