One singular feature of the Brahmin worship is the ways the worshipers devised to show their zeal. They built great temples, carved immense idols, and brought great riches into the temple treasuries. They would perform the strangest penances, the like of which was never seen elsewhere in all the world. The superior priests never show themselves but with great pomp. With guards of cavalry preceding them they will ride on richly caparisoned elephants through the triumphal arches prepared for them, while the people bow as they pass. The lower priests renounced every display, indeed they sought its opposite; with them the vilest uncleanness was most allied to godliness. There was, and is, one order of priests known as Fakirs, who excelled in self-tortures. They often give up all clothing, sometimes sitting in a bed of ashes. Often they forge great iron collars about their necks, or heavy iron bands upon arms and ankles. Some let their hair grow long and never comb it. Their bodies are covered with vermin; sometimes they will hold an arm or leg in a fixed position, never moving it. Until recently they would often fasten hooks in their flesh on their backs, then be elevated into the air, and be dragged through the streets by the people. By many such horrible acts they hoped to earn an entrance into a happier life. The people regarded these men as unusually holy; they sought them for cures, and for relief from sorrows. At the great idol festivals these Fakirs were present in crowds. [Illustration: THE FAKIR OF THE LONG HAIR.] [Illustration: A FAKIR WHO NEVER HELPS HIMSELF.] In India, China and Japan, there are a great many men called “devotees,” who give themselves up to miserable lives; many of them hoping by this means to obtain the favor of the gods in whom they believe and great happiness after death. Some of them, however, are moved more by a desire to obtain money and honor from their fellow-men, and they think it a respectable and honorable way of getting a living. Most of the people fear rather than respect these devotees, thinking some evil will follow if they displease them, or fail to give them what they want. Many of these devotees, in all three of the countries named, spend their time wandering from place to place, and making long pilgrimages to famous temples. Others torture themselves in all imaginable ways. Some repeat the name of their favorite idol during all their hours of wakefulness. Some bathe very frequently, while others do not wash themselves at all, but permit their hair, beard and nails to grow to great length; they wear little if any clothing, their bodies are covered with ashes, and their whole appearance is dirty and disagreeable. Some of these devotees are really sincere in denying themselves for their religion; they feel the burden and weight of their sins, and, knowing not the true way of obtaining pardon and peace, they take these false ways.