Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-05

to handicap the Englishman; but apart
from that his task was sufficient to cause
considerable perspiratiOn. | was careful
to secure a translation of every word as it
was uttered on either side, AS / entered
the Brahmin was saying: "YOu say we
must have faith. Well, we have faith"
Missionary-"But you must have the
right fa1th.'
sour faith seems to us as right as your
Christian faith seems to you"
"But you have faith in such things as
the water Of the Ganges."
"But if, as you say, we are saved by
faith, why should not we be saved by
faith in the holy Ganges?'
'How can the Ganges wash away your
sinsy"
''The water of the Ganges has washed
away my SINS"
GLOW do you know that it has washed
away your sinsw
GLOW do you know that the blood of
Christ has washed away your sins ?''
Il know it by the grace Of God in my
heart"
"And l." said the Brahim triumphantly.
'know it by the grace of God in my
heart" A free-thinking Babu remarked
to me, THAT missionary, if he only knew
it. is carrying coal to Newcastle" could
not help smiling that our prOverb should
have travelled so tar. Imay mention here
that on the second day Of the festival,
when l stopped at another tent, l saw and
heard a cleverer missionary, who realized
that he had present in his audience two
part!es-One from the Punjaub, who diff
fered on some pet dogma from more south
ern Hindus. The missionary was SINH
larly hard pressed by his Brahmin adver-
sary-a fine-looking and able man-but he
managed deXterOusly to shift the cOntrO-
Versy round to the point of difference re-
ferred to. The Punjaub men soon rose
against the Brahmins, and the missionary
had the satisfaction of sitting for quar-
ter Of an hour cOmplacently wiping his
brow, while the Hindus disputed with
each other In an animated way. Their
voices were not very loud, but their feel
ing seemed Intense. One of them gesticu--
lated in a Strange way and illustrated
some point which my interpreter did not
quite catch by taking off his slipper, tread
ing on 1t and then putting it on again.
ONLY THE HEADS ABOVE GROUND.
had observed that a good many pill
grims came from a direction in which |
had been told by a Hindu scholar that
there was something peculiar to be seen.
devoted an afternoon to an exploration
thitherward, and presently found myself
amid scenes so unusual that | felt as if.
like Rip Van Wrinkle, l must have slept
away century, but in a reverse direc-
ton, waking up in remote past. |
passed by many old fantastic stone build
ings, some half-decayed temples,on round
and with beautiful turrets. Some of these
were quaint and wonderful edifices,
whose meaning l shall probably discover
when l have the opportunity of referring
again to the works of Ferguson and Cum
ningham. At last l approached a village.
whose name was given to me as Dahar-
wanga. 1t must be four or five miles away
from Allahabad. Having passed through
it | came to sort of a common, where |
got out of my carriage and walked. L
had not moved far before l came upon a
human head living in my path on the
ground. Starting back l perceived that
this painted and ashen head, though its
eyes were closed, belonged to a living
man, the rest of his body being buried in
the earth. A small tent had been raised
over another head farther ON to keep the
sun from beating upon him. Scenes like
these began to multiply. L came upon
several naked bodies, apparently decapi-
tated, their heads being buried and the
gravel being smOothed fiat over them.
There were a number of children in this
situation, stretching out their hands and
evidently expecting gifts. So little respect,
however, did their young companions feel
for these infant devOtees that they some
times put bits of tin or flint stones in their
hands, which were promptly thrown
away. | came to point where a young
woman was just burying a child-appa-
rently her own-up TO the neck. She in
Dictated to me her expectation of pice for
that performance, which, however, she
did not get. | perceived that [ was in
some comparatively unillumined spot
which supplied a habitat for the fatal self
burials once so frequent IN India. The
feeling stole over me gradually that in
this uncanny Dahawanga these half
buried children might, not so long ago,
have been really decapitated, even if a
severe vigilance might not discover some
horror OF the same kind now.
SERPENT WORSHIP.
AS l walked on men and women SEEM
ed to be frantic in the same degree that l
had witnessed when they We're pressing
to the temple of Kali at Kalighat, only
there was something more OminOus in the
faces of the people. They did not clamor
for "backsheesh." They all seemed 10 be
pressing to small, gray, evidently an
cient temple in the distance. Thither /
followed. To my surprise l found no OBJ
stacle to my penetrating as near as /
wished to the altar of this temple. The
image there stood alOne-a huge, five
headed serpent. This mOnstrOus Cobra in
stone, blackened by time. was the sole del
ty of the temple near Daharwanga. A
crowd, mainly women, was PROSTATE
before this weird form. 1t was the
first time l had seen serpent-wOrship
pure and simple. There was horrible
splash of blood on the pavement in front
of the entrance. What poor animal it was
that had there shed its blood as an offer
ing to the Old Serpent l know not, but |
know that there the human heart had
the brute it sacrificed. For two pice l
bought one of the popular prints of the
Allahabad Festival, hawked by the way
side. 1t is a rude and primitive repre-
sentation of krishna standing on lotus,
on the sands; on the surface of the Ganges
a deity floats on a crocodile; on the Jumna
a deity rides on a turtle, while between,
presumably on the unseen Saraswati, a
third rides on goose. 1t appeared to me
fair Triad, and fairly mounted on the
geologic types of cruelty, slOwness
and Stiffness. 1 returned to enlight-
ened Akbar's beloved Illahabad, which
MOslem zealOts changed to AL
lahabad-City of Allah-past the night
camps of innumerable pilgrims, whose
fires and cauldrOns made appropriate in
cidents in the big witches Sabbath l had
witnessed. There were no tents; they
were spreading their straw beds on the
ground IN the open ara motley multitude
of men and women. l passed
by the spot where the great
hearted, catholic-minded Akbar lived,
where the noble Pillar of Aso-
ka with its sublime Buddhist edicts, still
rises, and wondered if they who now
''hOld the fort" which guards that spot
viii ever rise to a corresponding height
and confront the superstitions and degra-
datiOns of India with anything more lu-
minOus than the superstitions and dog
mas of the poor missionary laboring so
vainly in his tent.
MONCTTRE u CONWAv