THREE:

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THREE:THE SACRED HILL

Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.

THREE:Further away, in another quite small temple, a young Brahmin robed in white, and very handsome, was reading the Ramayana to two women; the three quite filled the little building. The entrance was screened by a curtain composed of jasmine flowers threaded on fine string, and behind this veil of flowers the three figures looked like the creatures of a legend. Outside the sanctuary, seated on the steps and flagstones and obstructing the street, were a score or so of women redolent of lemon and[Pg 178] sandal-wood, and listening to the scripture distinctly chanted out by the young priest.In front of us were men loaded with bundles or with children; old women gasping as they leaned on long staves; chattering women with green or pink or white veils, their arms full of sheaves of flowers. By each little temple��between which there are[Pg 71] kiosks, sheltering innumerable grinning idols��trees grow, and under their shade the pilgrims break the climb with a short rest. In a palankin, carried by two men, a slim woman's figure was borne past, in a pink gauze dress spangled with silver; her feet and hands, beringed with silver and gold, were exquisitely delicate. For an instant her veil blew aside, showing her face, rigid with horrible white leprosy, only her almond-shaped black eyes��beautiful eyes��were alive with intense brilliancy, full of unfathomable woe.

Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.

THREE:From the roof, consisting of terraces between cupolas, there is a view of many temples glorified in the golden sunset, and nearer at hand stand ten[Pg 123] imposing columns, very tall��the last remaining vestiges of the rajah's elephant-house.

Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.

THREE:When we stopped to change horses, two or three mud-huts under the shade of a few palm trees would emit an escort of little native boys, who followed the fresh team, staring at the carriage and the "Inglis Sahib" with a gaze of rapturous stupefaction.When we left he was in a coppersmith's shop, singing with wide open, staring eyes; his face had a strangely sad expression while he sang a gay, jigging tune to foolish words that made the people laugh.

Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.

THREE:Here, one by one, in came the nautch-girls, dancers. Robed in stiff sarees, their legs encumbered with very full trousers, they stood extravagantly upright, their arms away from their sides and their hands hanging loosely. At the first sound of the tambourines, beaten by men who squatted close to the wall, they began to dance; jumping forward on both feet, then backward, striking their ankles together to make their nanparas ring, very heavy anklets weighing on their feet, bare with silver toe-rings. One of them spun on and on for a[Pg 29] long time, while the others held a high, shrill note��higher, shriller still; then suddenly everything stopped, the music first, then the dancing��in the air, as it were��and the nautch-girls, huddled together like sheep in a corner of the room, tried to move us with the only three English words they knew, the old woman repeating them; and as finally we positively would not understand, the jumping and idiotic spinning and shouts began again in the heated air of the room.In another hut was a woman, brought hither yesterday with her husband, who had died that morning. She had an exquisite, long, pale face and blue-black hair. On her arms were many[Pg 35] bangles, and gold earrings glittered in her ears. For a moment she opened her large gazelle-like eyes, and then with a very sad little sigh turned to the wall, making her trinkets rattle. She was still dressed in her blue choli. A striped coverlet had been thrown over her; by her bed she had a whole set of burnished copper pans and canisters. Charmingly pretty, and not yet exhausted by the disease, which only declared itself yesterday, she was sleeping quietly, more like a being in a storybook than a plague-stricken creature, who must infallibly die on the morrow under the incapable treatment of the Hindoo "bone-setter."

Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.

THREE:On the sloping bank to the river stood a large wooden mosque falling into ruins. In front of this building was a plot full of tombstones, some overthrown, some still standing on the declivity.Down in the streets the houses looked ghostly blue in the moonlight, the cross roads, lighted with the warmer glow of a few lamps in red paper shades, alternating with the black darkness, in which it was just possible to discern cows and goats lying on the ground.

Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.

THREE:In the side streets the natives lay sleeping on the bare earth in the coolness of night. On every house were the spots of red paint that told how many of the inhabitants had died of the plague;[Pg 304] and the smaller the house the closer were the dabs of paint, almost framing the door with a chain of red spots.

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THREE:

Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.

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Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc. Aenean faucibus luctus enim. Duis quis sem risu suspend lacinia elementum nunc.