St. Landry democrat., 1883-08-04
The Temples Of the Gods Of Cholera,
Times-Democrat.

L
tan has long ago been satisfactorily
proven; but it is now doubtful whether
the worst form of the disease has right
to the name AsidHc Cholera. For an
equally virulent pestilence is indigenous
to MOhammedan countries; and the
present epidemic seems to be OF African
or African-Arabic origin. The Soudan
has. always been q focus Of disease, and
it is probable that the frightful book
published upon the normal and physical
tilthiness of the Soudanians by Comte
Raoul de Bisson in 1868 was not exag-
gerated. De Bisson declared that the
last visitation of the cholera he witness
ed had its origin in the 1nntterable
denominations ofcertain Soudanian cities.
. We followed the path of the out
break" he said, from Kassala to Nee
ca, from Mecca to Medina, from Medina
to Paris: and we do not hesitate to call
thoselearned men Missionaries WHO claim
that the cholera was carried to Mecca
by Indian pilgrims. No Hindoo sets
foot in the Soudan. The poison is al
ready in the veins Of the Hddjis before
they depart; it developes during the
pilgrimage; it breaks out before their
arrival at Djeddah. The cholera fol-
lows the Mosleln pilgrims step by step,
and on theirreturn nearly all the VIII
lagos of Asia Minor and the Orient are
attacked by the scourge. When death
unfolds his bloody shroud above such a
city, it may be safely asserted; 'Ihe
children of Mahomet haze passed that
qray.' The air is poisoned merely by
the passing of few pilgrims Yet
fear Of cholera in n0wise deters the
Moslems from making that journey
which every believer is commanded to
accomplish oEce in his lifetime. Or
dinarily one prayer said in the kaaba at
Mecca is held to be equal to 100000 pray
ers said at home; but there are great
years also when special graces are prom
ised to the hadjis-somewhat afterr. the
style of tie Roman "indulgences." In
whosoever should die Of the cholera Oh
his way to Mecca would be the special
object of the Prophets affection the
that year was declaraAequal
to seven ordinary pilgrimages; al ID the
pilgrims travelled joyfully to dshth in
the certainty of enjoying seyen-fold
happiness in paradise and possessing
seven times the number of gazelle-eyed
houris awarded to every true believer.
Twenty thousand corpses soon lay rot
ting at Djeddah ant-Tom thence to
Mecca the route wasl i covered with
bodies tffat the camels
screamed with fear at.tle sight. UT
100000 pilgrims, half were left to the
vultures and hyenas. OF 11,000 Mussul-
mans from British India, only $500 re-
turned to Hindostan. At the seaports
there was a frightful rush to. the yes
sells; the pilgrims sabred and stabbed
each other in their fury to get on board.
On board, nevertheless, the cholera fol-
lowed them; the havoc was terrific;
dead and dying were flung into the sea
together. English captains could not
control the crowd tile steamers had
been literally stormed, sword in hand,
although each one paid his passage.
Vessels considered capable OF carrying
only 800 pilgrims we're th2s packed with
a crowd of between two and three thou
sand passengers. The British steamers
certainly helped, and help every year.
to spread the disease over the face OF
the globe, but 49,. it pays! In 1865 two
steamers belonging to one company
earned by carrying pilgrims something
upward of 100000 in three months.
One horrible ti1thiness connected with
the Meccan pilgrimage is caused by the
slaughter Of sheep. Every wealthy
hadji must slaughter a sheep before the
kaaba. The entrails and offal OF per-
haps $4,000 sheep'are left to putrefy In
vast ps;-the llygienic results may
be imagined.
Scracely less deadly to human life
are the Indian pilgrimages. AS every
good Moslem must once visit Mecca, SO
Benares - the city of two thousand
shrines and five hundrt d thousand
dolls. Myriads of corpses strew the
way. Benares is the Mecca of India !;
out there are hundreds of other places
If pilgrimage-so many indeed that a
arge and curious book has been devoted |
% their enumeration. At Pari in Orls-
ia, is perhaps the most celebrated OF the
esser places of pilgrimage, viz: the
emple of Jagganath, or "Juggernaut.D
the ancient custom of commit
ing suicide by throwing oneself under
he wheels of the gods chariot, has beent
under British rule, the NOR
ality of pilgrims is immense; not less
han 10000 persons die yearly either at
he shrine or upon the voyage, of dis
'ase or fatigue. The revenue OF the
emple is about $350,000 per year,-a
.reat sum, when we remember how poor
he Hindoos are. To PandharEoor, in
he Mahratta Dekkan, there is never
easing torrent of pilgrimage over a
Highway of corpses - the number of
$4,000 visitors day is not uncommon.
let the Orientalist Barth declares that
What occurs at the above shrines is re-
'eated at hundreds of other points
throughout India,-a this, be it re-
nembered, il the fever seasons, and
ften under heat of $50 degrees
Sooner or later, in selbdefense, civil
zed force must check the fanaticism OF.
Arab and Hindoo alike,--even at the
isk of war. These pigrimages which
disseminate contagion over the world
which even threaten the lives OF nations.
lwelling thousands Of miles away from