and vocal music, visit every house in the neighborhood which has the image within it. As a token of respect, the master of the house, or his representative, cordially receives this foolish party, and joins their number. You must join them, otherwise they will run after you, put clay on your clothes, and make you come at any rate. As they pass by, it is difficult to recognize them by their faces. Their clothes and whole bodies are so covered with clay, that at the first sight you will take them for some strange creatures, or John for James and James for Charles! Christians, who have no faith in the foreign missions, think the Hindoos are well off. Come! O come and see this single abominable, adulterous amusement of these men, the sad, the mistaken specimens of humanity, and you will find a great gulf lies between you and them. Thank your God and be grateful to his mercy. Spread the light abroad that has been committed to your care, that millions of the Great Human Family may see their course through the precipitous way of life! Now, on the fourth, or last day, the image is thrown into water, with absurd ceremonies and costly shows. Agreeably to the order of exercises performed when a woman leaves her father’s house for that of her husband, the women walk round the image, put some lunch in her hand, and entreat her to come again the next year. The men write their names on some _bāle_ leaves, and deposit them at the feet of the goddess, hoping she will remember them by their individual names. In the afternoon the bands play, the flags are waved, the guns fired, and the image is carried to the river Gunga. Some people throw the images into the water, while others take them on board of boats, and thereby give the goddess a good sail. While young, I used to cry for this treatment toward the “Mother,” and ask my father why it would not be better to send her home by carriage, than sink her into the water. When it becomes dark they return to their homes, the bands playing a melancholy tune. The benediction is offered by the priest at the place where the idol was. A jar with water in it is placed on the same seat which the goddess occupied, people sit on every side, and the priest sprinkles the “peace water” on their heads. Lest the sacred water should fall on their feet, which are regarded profane by the Hindoos, they cover them with their clothes, while their heads are exposed to the shower from the priest.