138 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
and attested by hundreds of modern travellers who 
have not come before the world in the characters of 
authors. 
With respect to the devotees who prowl about 
the temples at Benares, we saw some of the most 
revolting objects that can be supposed to exist in any 
state of human society ; they were disgusting beyond 
description, and Fitch has alluded to these monsters of 
devotion in his narrative already quoted. Of one in 
particular he says, “ His beard was of enormous 
growth, his hair hanging more than half down his 
body, his nails two inches long ; he would cut nothing 
from him, neither would he speak — he would not 
speak to the king.” I shall presently take the liberty 
to describe one among the multitude which we saw at 
Benares, as he was even remarkable among many of 
the most extraordinary objects in human nature ; he 
was what they call an Ooddoobahoo of the Yogue 
tribe. These visionaries live frequently in the depths 
of the jungles, like wild beasts, subsisting on roots 
or fruits, or on the casual benefactions of travellers ; 
they go perfectly naked, having their bodies daubed 
with cow-dung and sprinkled with wood-ashes, neither 
cutting their nails, their hair, nor their beards. 
These monsters, for they are truly so, as well in 
moral as in physical deformity, occasionally inflict 
upon themselves the most intolerable tortures, in 
order to establish a claim, as they pretend, upon the 
Deity to everlasting reward in paradise. Their in- 
flictions are so severe, and sometimes so horrible, 
that they would seem to be beyond the power of 
human endurance, did not almost daily experience 
