The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1895-02-28
NUMBER /.

read. A group of as finely-formed
young men as l ever saw SUR
rounded the venerable instructor.
The last word of each sentence
was intoned. There was in the
whole scene an earnestness which
impressed me. Not able to under
stand word of what was said, there
is look of language and intonation
that is the same among all races. That
the Buddhists have full faith in their
religion no one can doubt. That is, in
their opinion, the way to Heaven.
What Mohammed is to the Mohamme-
dan, and what Christ is to the
Christian, Buddha is to the Buddhist.
We waited for a pause in the recita-
tion, and then, expressing our thanks,
retired.
Near by is a Buddhist temple, on the
altar of which before the image of
Buddha are offerings of flowers. As
night was coming on we came up to a
Hindoo temple. First we were prohib-
tied going further than the outside
steps, but we gradually advanced un-
til we could see all that was going
on inside. The worshipers were MAX
ing obeisance. The tom-toms were
wildly beaten, and the shrill pipes were
blown, and several other Instruments
were in full bang and blare, and there
was an indescribable hubbub, and the
most laborious style of worship l had
ever seen Or heard. The dim lights, and
the jargon, and the gloom, and the fit
ting figures mingled for eye and ear q
horror which it is difficult to shake off.
All this was only suggestive of what
would there transpire after the
toilers of the day had ceased
work, and had time to APP
pear at the temple. That such
things should be supposed to please
the Lord, or have any power to console
or help the worshipers, is only another
mystery in this world of mysteries.
But we came away saddened with the
spectacle, a sadness which did not
leave us until we arrived at place
where a Christian missionary was
preaching in the streets to group of
natives.
But passing up and down the streets
of Ceylon you find all styles of people
within five minutes; Afghans, Kaflirs,
Portuguese. .Moormen, Dutch, English,
Scotch, Irish, Americans; all classes,
all dialects, all manners and customs,
all styles of salaam. The most inter-
esting thing on earth is the human
race, and specimens of all branches
Of it confront you in CeyloE.
The island of the present is q
quiet and dinconspicuous affair compared
with what it once was. The dead
cities of Ceylon were larger and more
imposing than are the living cities.
On this island are dead New Yorils,
and dead Pekins, and dead Edinburghs,
and dead Londons. Ever and anon at
the stroke of the archaeolog lists ham
mer the tomb of some great municipal
ity flies open, and there are buried cit
les that will yet respond to the explor-
er's pickax. The Pompeii and Hercu-
laneum underneath Italy are small
compared with the Pompeiis and
Herculancums underneath Ceylon.
Yonder is an exhumed city
which was founded Ave hundred
years before Christ. standing in pomp
and splen dor for twelve hundred years.
Stairways up which fifty men might
pass side oy side. Carved pillars, some
of them fallen, some OF them aslant,
some OF them erect. Phidiases and
Christopher Wrens never heard of here
performed the marvels of sculpture
and architecture. Aisles through which
royal professions marched. Arches
under which kings were carried.
City with reservoir twenty miles
in circumference. Extemporized
lakes that did their cooling
and refreshing for twelve centuries.
Ruins more suggestive than Melrose
and Kenilworth. Ceylonian Karnaks
and Luxors. Ruins retaining much of
grandeur, through wars bombarded
them, and Time put his chisel on every
block, and more than all, vegetation
in all the crevices. Dagobas, or
places where relics of saints
or deities are kept. Dagobas
four hundred feet high, and their
fallen material burying precious things
for the sight of which modern curi-
osity has digged and blasted in vain.
Procession of elephants in imitation,
wrought into lustrons marble. Troops
of horses in full run. Shrines, chap
els, cathedrals wrecked on the noun
tain side. Stairs of moonstone. Exquisr
ite scrolls rolling up more mysteries
than will ever be unrolled. Over six
teen square miles, the ruins of one
city strewn. Throne rooms on which
at different times sat one hundred
and sixty-five kings, l;igning in au-
thority they inherited Walls that
witnessed coronations, assassinations,
subjugations, triumphs Affairs at
which millions bowed ages before the
orchestras celestial woke the shep-
herds with midnight overture.
Preposterous! says some one, TO
think that any of our American or Eu-
ropean cities which h ave stood so long
can ever come through vice to extinc-
tion. But New York and London
have not stood as long as those Cey-
lonese cities stood. Where is the
throne outside of Ceylon OF which ono
hundred and sixty-fve successive kings
reigned for lifetime. Cities and ma.
ticns have lived far longer imam on1
~. ,.of;ny b.y hoc,