4(52 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



t^i^<jii<T<vm 



Photograph hy William W. Chapin 



INSULT HARNESSED TO THE INJURED 



The camel is accustomed to burdens. Without the twin loads which flank his sides the 

 desert carrier seems gaunt and unimpressive. But to harness him between thills like a horse 

 or a Belgian dog is the last indignity that breaks the camel's pride. 



of bare feet and awkward slippers with 

 huge hanging tongues. Stooping street- 

 sprinklers with swollen water - skins 

 weave back and forth, rescuing a wide 

 roadway from the dusty strand which in 

 summer is hidden beneath the murky 

 waters of the sacred rivers. 



Out beyond the line of religious boats, 

 each with its tinsel shrine, the pilgrims 

 seek the place where the cleansing flood 

 of the Jumna enters the sacred Ganges, 

 and coffee-colored rivers make a coffee- 

 colored people whiter than snow — in 

 their own estimation. 



Like other religious fairs, the Megh 

 Mela at Allahabad is a mecca for money- 

 makers, and the principal thoroughfare 

 is lined with mat-shed shops for the sale 

 of sacrificial brassware, tiny brass idols, 

 holy berries made into dark necklaces, 

 and shining brass water bottles, zoned 

 with mellow-tinted copper, in which holy 

 water can be taken to remote parts of 

 India by credulous people. Here and 

 there one finds men with small furnaces 

 full of heated pitch, sealing the water 



vessels so that not a germ or an atom of 

 holiness can escape. 



I had entered the grounds with my 

 camera without knowing that photogra- 

 phy was forbidden, and near the river I 

 came upon an old man upon whose time 1 

 furrowed face many cabalistic signs were 

 painted. 



He was reluctant about having his pic- 

 ture taken. Then a policeman came up 

 and said that photography was forbidden. 



Evidently the modesty of my time-hon- 

 ored friend had been false or assumed, 

 for at this sign that he could not have his 

 picture taken he began to rail at the po- 

 liceman in terms which defied, but did 

 not require, translation. 



Being endowed with an American re- 

 spect for agents of law and order, I 

 started to put up my camera ; but by this 

 time a crowd had gathered and it was 

 evident that the cabalistic signs on the 

 pilgrim were far more potent than any 

 symbol of police authority, and not only 

 were the three policemen who had joined 

 the first officer overruled by the pilgrims, 



