March, 1848. BENARES CITY. 7:; 



and not arranged in radii and arcs, but spun like weaver's 

 woofs. Paintings, remarkable only for their hideous pro- 

 portions and want of perspective, are daubed in vermilion, 

 ochre, and indigo. The elephant, camel, and porpoise of 

 the Ganges, dog, shepherd, peacock, and horse, are espe- 

 cially frequent, and so is a running pattern of a hand 

 spread open, with a blood-red spot on the palm. A still less 

 elegant but frequent object is the fuel, which is composed 

 of the manure collected on the roads of the city, moulded 

 into flat cakes, and stuck by the women on the walls to 

 dry, retaining the sign-manual of the artist in the impressed 

 form of her outspread hand. The cognizance of the Rajah, 

 two fish chained together, appears over the gates of public 

 buildings. 



The hundreds of temples and shrines throughout the city 

 are its most remaikable feature : sacred bulls, and lingams 

 of all sizes, strewed Avith flowers and grains of rice, meet 

 the eye at every turn ; and the city's boast is the possession 

 of one million idols, which, of one kind and another, I can 

 well believe. The great Hindoo festival of the Holt was 

 now celebrating, and the city more than ordinarily crowded ; 

 throwing red powder (lac and flour), with rose-water, is 

 the great diversion at a festival more childish by far than 

 a carnival. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Reade (the Commissioner), 

 I obtained admission to the Bishishar-Kumardil, the 

 " holiest of holies." It was a small, low, stone building, 

 daubed with red inside, and swarming with stone images 

 of Brahminee bulls, and various disgusting emblems. A 

 fat old Brahmin, naked to the waist, took me in, but 

 allowed no followers ; and what with my ignorance of his 

 phraseology, the clang of bells and din of voices, I gained 

 but little information. Some fine bells from Nepal were 



