THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES 139 



ascent of nearly two thousand feet. Both men and women 

 formed the throng, the former stripped to the waist and 

 girded with a clean white cloth, the horizontal marks of 

 red and yellow which distinguished them as worshippers 

 of Siva being newly imprinted on their arms and fore- 

 heads. The women retained their usual costume; but 

 the careful veiling of face and figure, attended to on 

 common occasions by high caste ladies, was a good deal 

 relaxed in the excitement of the occasion (and besides, 

 were they not on their way to be absolved of all sin ?) ; 

 and not inconsiderable revelations of the charms of many 

 of the good dames, of light brown skins and jet black 

 eyes, were permitted by the wayward behaviour of their 

 flowing robes as they turned to stare in astonishment at 

 the saheh and his strangely attired attendants pegging 

 away past them up the hill with double-barrelled rifles 

 on their shoulders. All were talking and laughing gaily — 

 now and then shouting out " Jae, Jae, Mahadeo ! " (Victory 

 to the Great God). The cry raised by each as he took the 

 first step on the hill was taken up by all the forward groups, 

 till it died away in a confused hum among the crowd 

 who had already reached the shrine, far up in the bowels 

 of the lull. Gloom and terror are the last sentiments in 

 the rehgious feeling of the Hindu, even when approaching 

 the shrine of the deity who has been called the Destroyer 

 in their trinity of gods. It is considered sufficiently 

 meritorious to perform such a pilgrimage as this at all, 

 without further adding to its misery by wailing and gnash- 

 ing of teeth. They believe it will do them good, because 

 the priests say so ; but they do not think it necessary to 

 weep over it, and " boil their peas " when they can. But 

 at the best it is a hard clamber for those unused to toil. 

 The old and decrepit, the fat trader, and the delicate high- 

 bred woman, have to halt and rest often and again as 

 they labour up the hill. The path was a zig-zag ; and at 

 every turn some convenient stone or rocky ledge had 

 been worn smooth by these restings of generations of 

 pilgrims. 



For a long way before the shrine was reached the path 

 was lined on either side by rows of religious mendicants 



