GAUT AT HURDWAR. 
245 
for., if the offering be smalls punishment is threatened 
instead of remission promised; so that often the 
poorest wretches give to the covetous priests all they 
possess in the world, in order to propitiate their in- 
fluence with the Deity. On some occasions the 
Bramins have been said to collect in this way upwards 
of twenty thousand pounds at one meeting. The 
influence exercised by them over the superstitious 
Hindoos is that which is inspired by terror, and 
so complete is their ascendancy that their dupes stand 
in greater awe of them than of the Divinity himself, 
and fear them far worse than they do the evil powers 
who preside over their thrice seven Hells. 
The principal gaut, or flight of steps from the 
street to the river, exhibits a most elegant piece of 
plain masonry, and is considered upon the whole the 
most sacred spot upon the Ganges. At the annual 
fair these steps are so crowded, that serious accidents 
sometimes occur; and in the year 1820, many hun- 
dred lives were lost owing to the pressure of the eager 
multitude upon the principal gaut. The single street 
of which Hurdwar almost entirely consists, is parallel 
with the course of the Ganges, and very narrow, 
especially where it terminates upon the large gaut. 
Here the bank is high, and the number of steps 
to the water’s edge considerable ; the descent is wide, 
gradual, and easy. During the annual pilgrimage, 
these steps are immensely thronged at particular times 
of the day, and sometimes, during these seasons of 
concourse, half a million of persons have been known 
to bathe at this consecrated place in the course of 
a few hours. The waters of the river are at this 
y 3 
