I ascended one of the two lofty minarets which flank the principal cupola. It had lately been restored to its original state by the British government, under the able superintendence of Mr. James Prinsep, British Resident at Benares. This was a most critical undertaking; for the minars were more than a foot out of the perpendicular. I enjoyed an extensive and magnificent view of the city and adjacent country, which for ten miles round is held sacred by the Hindoos. Indeed so highly is it venerated, that pilgrims resort to it from all parts of India, and those who, from age, or other circumstances, are unable to perform the lengthened journey themselves, send willing proxies, to whom they pay considerable sums. Many come there to wash away their sins; and not a few to die within its hallowed precincts. Looking down from this dizzy height, upon the almost miniature world below, such a strange sensation came over me, that I could well conceive the propensity of certain minds to precipitate themselves from a lofty elevation. Several melancholy instances of this kind are said to have occurred here; a few perhaps from impulse, others from despair, and some from mere foolhardiness, with a view of immortalizing their names. Among the last, I was told, was a Fakeer, or devotee, who, whether by accident or design, contrived his fall so cleverly that it was broken by his being caught midway by the matting of a roof, and he alighted almost unscathed upon the floor. The people of course considered this as a miracle; and the Fakeer would doubtless have been idolized by them, had not his cupidity exceeded his love of notoriety, and induced him to make his escape with sundry articles belonging to the good Samaritan who had poured oil and wine into his bruises. The city of Benares has long been known as the ancient seat of Brahminical learning; and to this day it retains its fame. The arts and sciences still flourish; and the schools and colleges for the training of the priests are yet celebrated, while the laws of Menu continue to be expounded in Sanscrit. But with all his erudition and research, the learned Brahmin is sunk in the most abject ignorance; and with all his wisdom, he degrades the nobler faculties of his mind, by bowing down to worship the most disgusting of monster-idols. Here, as elsewhere in our Indian possessions, the germs of Christianity have been sown under the fostering care of various British Protestant Missionary Societies, especially of the Church Missionary Society. Benares already boasts of fifteen missionary schools, one of them being founded by a wealthy Hindoo. All these schools are more or less frequented by Hindoo children; and the public preaching of the Gospel has been the means of making many of the natives acquainted with the superiority of the Christian religion.