the next day was sunday, and none of the party appeared in the parlor till quite late; not because it was the sabbath, but because they were all very tired, even the four lively boys, who had done more sightseeing than the rest of the tourists. they were always on the wing, and while the older ones rested, they always found some novelty which drew them away from the hotel. of the four servants only two attended upon them. they had practically retired two of them with some difficulty when they were away from the party, for they were a nuisance to them, so many of them.
sayad and moro were retained, however; for they were more intelligent than the others, spoke english better, and were more enterprising, frequently suggesting some means of amusement to them. they were interested in the boys and girls, and sayad told louis and felix all about them,--about their homes, their schools, their sports; and moro did the same for scott and morris. on this sunday they were conducted to a sunday-school of two hundred scholars, under the direction of the missionaries, though the teachers are mostly natives.
it was a strange sight to them, the variety of races, the strange costumes, and the absence of any considerable portion of costume at all. there were mohammedans, chinamen, negroes, jews, and a few europeans. they fell in with the missionary from england, who told them a good deal about their work, and how interested they were in it, declaring that they could see the fruits of their labors, detailing a number of instances of conversions. they had a day-school also, and they hired a strict hindu because he taught english so well. he hated the christians, and did his work only because he was paid for it; but he had to listen to the prayers and exhortations, and finally he yielded in spite of himself, and became a very useful christian minister.
this gentleman said that the number of christians in india had doubled within ten years. he invited the party to come to the church, and the boys hastened back to the hotel to tell their friends about it. they all went to this meeting, including their three distinguished guides. the service was about the same as at home, the clergyman was a native of the brahmin caste, and he preached a very earnest and sensible sermon. the funds of the mission were increased at least a thousand dollars by this visit.
in the evening the entire company attended the church of england at the invitation of lord tremlyn; and the sermon was preached by the bishop of bombay. the methodists were as much pleased with it as though it had been delivered by one of their own fold. a portion of the day was passed in writing letters to their friends at home, and quite a bundle of them was collected for the post by louis. they were all sealed, with stamps affixed, and morris's servant mobarak was directed to put them in the mail-box. but the fellow shook his head, and declined to obey.
his sahib was proceeding to give him a lecture in rather energetic terms, when sir modava interposed, and explained that the servant had religious scruples, knowing that the stamp had been wet on the tongues of the senders, which made it unclean to him, and he could not touch it.
"i have heard of a young man not older than mobarak who lost his life rather than come in contact with the saliva of a foreigner; but i doubt if many would carry their fanaticism to that extent," he added.
the next morning the party were up at six o'clock, and after they had taken their coffee, carried up to them by their servants, went out to walk by two and threes; but they returned by seven o'clock, and were assembled in the parlor. the sights in the streets had become rather an old story by this time, and there was not much to be said about them.
"have you recovered from the fatigues of saturday, mrs. belgrave?" asked lord tremlyn.
"entirely, my lord. i am quite ready for the next item in your programme," replied the lady.
"how did you enjoy the play, madam?" inquired sir modava.
"as a religious exhibition, from my point of view, it was a failure."
"it does not convey much of an idea of even the mythology of the hindus," added professor giroud. "if krishna was a divinity, or even an incarnation of one, he is a very bad representation of the piety and morality of the gods. the affair was well enough as a love-story, but the conclusion looked like a pleasant satire on those authors who insist that their tales and novels shall have an agreeable ending;" and the professor indulged in a hearty laugh as he recalled the manner in which satyavama had been brought back to life by the divinity in yellow paint.
"i like that kind of a winding up of a story, and i don't like the other kind," added the magnate of the fifth avenue. "we read novels, if we read them at all, for the fun of it, with some incidental information in the right direction. when i was a young man i had a taste for the sea, as most boys have, and i read marryat's novels with immense pleasure. in 'the king's own,' after following the young fellow in his adventures all over the world, his life terminated just as he was reaching home, and i was disgusted. i have read most of this author's books again, but i never looked into 'the king's own' a second time."
"i think we all like to have a story 'end well,' though it was a rather violent bringing up saturday night," said dr. hawkes. "but the actresses in that play were all exceedingly pretty girls, and i did not suppose so many of them could be found in all india."
"that was just what i was saying to govind after the performance, and he laughed as though he would choke himself to death," interposed lord tremlyn, laughing rather earnestly himself. "there was not a single female on the stage; for the custom of the theatre here does not permit women to appear, any more than it did in the time of shakespeare."
"but i saw them!" exclaimed the surgeon. "i think i know a woman when i see one, though i am an old bachelor, and rather a tough one at that."
"not always, doctor; for not one of those you call girls was a female. a woman on the hindu stage is a thing unknown," rallied the viscount.
"i suppose i must give it up, though i would not do so on any less authority than that of your lordship," replied the surgeon good-naturedly.
all the rest of the party expressed their astonishment in terms hardly less strong; and the ladies were even more incredulous than the gentlemen.
"as govind told me, all the female parts were taken by boys remarkable for their beauty and the sweetness of their voices," added his lordship. "but this is understood to be our last day in bombay, though the limitation of time does not come from any suggestion of mine; and we must make the best use of what remains. you have not half seen bombay yet."
"we should need ten years for our trip if we were to exhaust every place we visit," replied captain ringgold. "all we expect is to get a fair idea of a city; and i think we have done that here, especially as we shall see the same things, as far as manners and customs are concerned, many times before we finally take our leave of the country at colombo in ceylon."
"while we are quietly seated here, i should like to ask for some information in regard to juggernaut," said uncle moses. "i used to read the most horrible stories in my sabbath-school books about that idol."
"those stories, as i have been informed by elderly englishmen, were published in the united kingdom, and all of them are inventions or gross exaggerations," replied sir modava, with his pleasant smile. "puri, or juggernaut, is in the district of orissa, on the western shore of the bay of bengal. it is one of the holiest places in india among the hindus. it contains a temple of juggernaut, in honor of vishnu, in which is an idol of this hindu god, called jagannath, which is mentioned in history as far back as a.d. 318. vishnu is the preserver of the hindu trinity, and therefore in an especial sense the god of the people; and sometimes 100,000 natives gather at this shrine, bringing offerings to the value of nearly £40,000.
"the town has a population of twenty-two thousand, and it contains six thousand lodging-houses for the pilgrims who visit it. the chief temple has a hundred and twenty others in an enclosure, with a tower one hundred and ninety-two feet high. juggernaut's car, of which you have read, mr. scarburn, is a sort of temple, thirty-five feet square, and forty-five feet high, with wheels seven feet high. the car-festival is the chief of twenty-four held every year, when the idol is dragged to the country house. though the distance is less than a mile, the sand is so deep in the roadway that it requires several days to complete the journey.
"the idols in the temple are hideous-looking objects, with enormous eyes and crescent-shaped mouths, the horns pointing upwards. but they are very richly ornamented; for the idol has an income of over £30,000 from lands and religious houses. it used to be currently reported and believed that fanatical, crazy devotees cast themselves under the wheels of the car, and were crushed to death, immolating themselves as an offering to the god. but these statements have been strictly investigated, and branded as the calumnies of english writers. two distinguished savants have declared that self-immolation is utterly contrary to the worship of juggernaut, the very unusual deaths at the car-festival being almost invariably accidental."
"it is a great pity that these horrible stories were ever poured into the minds of children, and i am thankful that the libraries contain nothing of the kind now," added uncle moses.
the company breakfasted with excellent appetites after the exercises of the morning; and then lord tremlyn conducted them to the large saloon where the nautch had been given, and they were astonished to find that one end of it was occupied by no less than fourteen men, not one of whom was more than half clothed, though the tom-tom player had on a pair of short trousers. this fellow began to beat his instrument with frantic energy, moaning and howling at the same time as though he was in great agony.
"oh, dear!" exclaimed mrs. belgrave, putting her fingers into her ears. "can't you stop that hideous noise, sir modava?"
"no more howling!" protested he in hindu.
the chief juggler declared that they could not go on, and uncle moses suggested that they had to overwhelm the senses of the audience to enable the jugglers to deceive them. their hindu guide talked with them, and then ordered them to leave the hotel. the performers were not willing to forego the rich reward expected; and a compromise was effected by which the tom-tom was to be used, but the howling was to cease. lord tremlyn had announced the nature of the entertainment as they entered the apartment, and most of the tourists had heard of the wonderful skill of indian jugglers.
a couple of the performers produced two swords twenty-six inches long, and pushed them down their throats to the hilt, and then asked dr. hawkes to feel the point in their stomachs. another put a stone in his mouth, and then began to blow out smoke and a cloud of sparks from his nose as well as his mouth. turning a somerset, he cast the stone on the floor. one took an iron hoop from a pile of them, and set it to spinning on a pole in the air. he continued to add others, one at a time, till he had eighteen of them whirling above his head.
another set a lot of small swords circling in the air, till he had ten of them buzzing about his head. at the same time a sleight-of-hand man was doing a variety of tricks very skilfully, and acrobats were mounting on each other's shoulders, and pitching themselves about very promiscuously. while the party were wondering at the skill of the performers, though many of them had seen most of the tricks at home, a boy about eight years old came into the room with a good-sized basket in his hands, which he placed on the floor as the men spread out into a semicircle. the child stepped into the basket, which did not seem to be big enough to hold him, even when reduced to his smallest dimensions.
the drummer played a new tune, and sang in a low tone. the boy seemed to have a fit, and writhed as though he were in convulsions, finally dropping down into the basket very slowly. mrs. blossom was sure the basket was not big enough to contain him, and wondered what had become of him. then the performers threw themselves on the basket, closed the lid, and began to punch it in every direction with long and wicked-looking knives. the ladies were appalled at the sight; but they were assured that it was all right.
the hindus finally crushed down the basket till it was almost flat, and it did not look as though there was any space in it for a kitten, much less an eight-year-old boy. then the men formed a circle around the basket, and began a sort of chant. something like a voice seemed to be sounding in at the open windows. it continued to come nearer, and at last appeared to proceed from the basket, which began to be distended, till it was restored to its full size. then the lid was removed, and the child sprang out, to the great relief of mrs. blossom.
then one of the jugglers set a top to whirling, placed the point on the end of a stick, and balanced it on his nose. so far it was no new thing; but one of the spectators was asked to say stop at any time he pleased. captain ringgold gave this command; and when he did so, the top ceased to whirl, though, upsetting the bicycle theory, it kept its place on the stick. "go!" added the commander, prompted by sir modava; and the plaything began to whirl again, as though its gyrations had not been interrupted. it was stopped and started again several times, till the spectators were satisfied.
the stick and the top were critically examined by the whole party, but not one of them could suggest an explanation of the trick. the last two acts were the most surprising; and the rest of the performance, though skilfully done, did not amount to much. his lordship gave the chief juggler a handful of silver, and they left the hotel with a profusion of salaams; for they did not often make in a month what they got for an hour, the hindu gentleman said.
