246 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
season at their lowest, being afterwards swollen by the 
torrents poured from the mountains during the preva- 
lence of the monsoons. In consequence of their repu- 
tation for sanctity, persons of either sex bathe in them 
indiscriminately without the slightest feeling of in- 
delicacy or indecorum, their depth at this particular 
spot not being above four feet. Children, too, of all 
ages beyond mere babyhood, may be seen paddling in 
the consecrated stream, though they seldom venture 
beyond a few feet from the bank. 
It is amusing to mark the difference between the 
general bathers, who make enjoyment the handmaid of 
devotion, and those more rigid devotees who are fas- 
tidiously strict in fulfilling every observance of their 
voluminous ritual ; the former seem to enjoy the 
luxury of the bath, evidently showing that their per- 
formance of a religious duty is a bodily gratification. 
They immerse themselves joyously under the gently 
rippling water, the women carefully cleaning their 
long raven hair, and the men their small but compact 
and muscular bodies. ' The richer pilgrim walks gravely 
into the stream, led on either side by a venerable 
Bramin ; as soon as he reaches the middle of the 
current, the two holy guides plunge him thrice into 
the sacred element, and then silently conduct him 
back to the shore. Their gravity and the profound 
silence which they maintain often produce a solemn 
effect upon the native spectators, who look upon these 
sanctified hypocrites, their priests, as inspired. This 
scene is altogether singular, and is very amusing to 
a stranger, whose excitement to laughter is frequently 
provoked by the bearing of the crowd which throngs 
