THE :N"ORTH STAR THE SOUTHERN CROSS. VOL. II. A SKETCH OF THE AT [ORS CIRCULAR TRIP. & THE NORTH STAR v- a THE SOUTHERN CROSS BEING THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES, IMPRESSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS OF MARGARETHA WEPPNER, IN A TWO YEARS' JOURNEY ROUND THE WORLD FOURTH AMERICAN EDITION. Two VOLUMES. VOL. II. ENGLISH EDITION : PUBLISHED BY SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW AND SEARLE, CROWN BUILDINGS, 188 FLEET STREET, LONDON. AMERICAN EDITION : PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR. 1882. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen hundred and seventy-five, BY MARGARETHA WEPPNER, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. WEED, PARSONS AND COMPANY, PRINTERS AND ST E R E O T Y P E R S , ALBANY, N. V. TO VOL. II. CHAPTER I. PAGE Prince Kaden Salen and his wife Imperial orders Dr. Bloem Obstinate horses Megamendong A glorious sunset Sin- dang-laya Gedeh The golden Preanger Return to Buiten- zorg The snowy white cradle, and the stork Batavia Departure A phenomenon at sea Arrival at Singapore The Glenarthney 1 CHAPTER II. Departure for Calcutta A charming voyage Sunset Peaceful, holy nights The Southern Cross Calcutta A beautiful, spiteful woman Fasting The restaurant Kind country people Benares Lucknow Agra The Taj, a temple of love Futtehpore Sikree My escort, Mr. Ball Delhi The in- tense heat Mr. and Mrs. Moll A sweet baby Saharunpore Raj pore -Ascent to the Himalayas The good and patient natives 37 CHAPTER III. Mussoorie The French convent and a German nun My kind hostess A glorious sunrise Delight and joy Excursions Peaks and pinnacles A pheasant The Cashmere valley The blue atmosphere Three happy days Farewell, peaceful home From the Himalayas back to Delhi Cawnpore and Allahabad The German convent Jubbulpore Nerbudda Death and burial of a pigeon Arrival in Bombay Bishop Meurin Consul Gumpert Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Deimler Goa The Governor Return to Bombay Mr. Seward The con- fession A telegram from Allahabad 102 vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. PAOB The Caves of Elephanta Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva The unex- pected arrival of a lunatic lady A series of telegrams and letters from unknown parties Bishop Meurin, the Lady Supe- rior at Bandora and the pills Difficulties in obtaining a pas- sage for the invalid The opera Sakuntala The superinten- dent of the P. and 0. Company A passage granted Consul Qumpert telegraphs for more passage money Annoying telegrams Departure for Suez The policy of the bishop and the nuns At the last moment Aden The Red Sea Sleepless nights Arrival in Suez 162 CHAPTER V. Suez to Cairo The poor lunatic very troublesome The impu- dent rough Arabs Two kind Frenchmen The Prussian Con- sulate at Cairo Insult of a high-born official His chivalrous colleague The French hospitals Excursions Arrival at Alexandria The French hospital Difficulties in obtaining a passage for the lunatic My poor protegee a very dangerous companion An attack at night The kindness of the English Consul A longing for a change 234 CHAPTER VI. Departure for the Holy Land Port Said Jaffa From Jaffa to Jerusalem A happy, but mysterious night My first impres- sion of the Holy City The Church of the Holy Sepulchre Excursions A dangerous, but lucky fall Gethsemane Mount of Olives Bethany The Valley of Jehoshaphat Bethlehem The grotto of the Infant Saviour The grotto of the Shepherds The Milk grotto Return to Jerusalem Our chatty monk A saddening scene before the old wall of Solo- mon's Temple My farewell to Jerusalem 273 CHAPTER VII. Return to Egypt Some general advice Jaffa Port Said Arri- val in Alexandria Nine days' absence The cross sister CONTENTS. vii PAGE. Found my poor protegee in a very neglected state She betrays a dangerous joy A passage granted at last A kindly letter from the English consul The Lady Superior excited and rude I am mistress here The last of the wild Arabs Departure for Trieste A stifling cabin Corfu Presentiment of danger A terror at night A fire in my cabin My good angel near me Miraculous escape Arrival at Trieste Investigation . . . 315 CHAPTER VIII. A visit from the English consul-general, the vice-consul, and a German doctor Mr. Simpson Two days a prisoner The invalid very weak A letter to his excellency, Sir H. F. How- ard Departure for Munich My huge servant The custom- house officials at Trieste Railroad accident Matrei In Tyrol Innsbruck Rosenheim Rough treatment Arrival at Mu- nich The English ambassador and Professor Dr. Haug Nymphenburg Deceit and falsehood Departure for Belgium Fire again Arrest of an innocent trio Release Along my beautiful Rhine Cologne Arrival at Cortenbergh 345 CHAPTER IX. The unhappy lunatic received at the convent The parting from my protegee grieves my heart I am at home and see my dear mother Return to Munich Illness The convent at Nym- phenburg No clue to the mystery My exhibition at Frank- fort-ou-the-Maine Happy as a queen in the midst of my Oriental treasures At Munich again Observations and re- flections The sad position of the women Officers and soldiers A picture and a retrospect 428 CHAPTER X. Hindoo women Golden rules of life Professor M. W. Gracious sir Gracious lady A mania for titles The baron waiter King William and Count Bismarck True chevaliers The ideal and the real woman The different nations My opinions Comparisons A final conclusion Have not for- gotten my poor protegee With a happy, grateful heart, I close the last chapter of my narrative 467 THE ITOKTH STAR AMD THE SOUTHERN CROSS. CHAPTER I. DB. SCHEFFER introduced me to Prince Raden Salen, a celebrated painter of Java, resident in Buitenzorg, who had lived in Germany at the court of the Duke of Coburg-Gotha for ten years. The prince presented me to his wife, a very youthful Java princess, not half as old as her husband. He ap- peared to be very fond of his young wife, and he told me that she was a thoroughly good child. The prince, as a prince, was very communicative, ex- plaining to us in comical broken German why he had not married a German princess, and why he had married a princess of Java. He knew, so he assured me, many German princesses, countesses, and baronesses at the court of the Duke of Coburg-Gotha, who hovered about him with their speculative flatteries. But the Prince of Raden Salen would marry none of them. He was a prince of Java, and as such he would marry no one but a princess of equal birth of his own race. VOL. n. 1 2 THE NORTH STAR However, the prince had learnt during his stay in Europe to treat a wife of equal birth as his equal, and not as his slave, and he was anxious to show me that he acted on what he had learnt. As I was sitting beside the princess on the sofa, Prince Raden Salen took his wife's hand, kissed it, and said in broken German, " All the women of my race, all the wives of the princes of Java slaves are. My wife not my slave is, my wife my friend is, for my whole life." The princess was dressed in a loose "sarang," of a poor material, but costly diamonds were glittering in her ears. She was very pleasant, but I could not talk to her, and her husband played the part of interpreter. The prince placed very great confidence in me. He showed me a letter from the Duchess of , in the German language, and asked me to read it. He gave me a second and a third letter, which had been sent to him by a friend, Baron H., at the court of the Emperor of Austria. The prince insisted upon my reading the three letters, and I did so. The correspondence between the Prince Raden Salen in Java, and Baron H. in Austria, had reference to a painting and an Imperial Order of Honour. Prince Raden Salen had painted a fine picture for the Emperor of Austria, but before he sent it to him lie wished to make sure through his friend at the Imperial court what Order his Majesty would bestow upon him as a reward for the picture. Baron H. arranged the affair according to the wishes of the prince, and in- formed him by post what Order the Emperor of Austria would grant him in exchange for the picture. Prince AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. ft Raden Salen then sent his Majesty the picture, and the emperor returned the prince the Order. The prince was very anxious that I should know this, and it would doubtless please him that others should learn through these lines of his grand Orders, and how they were obtained. Prince Raden Salen has presented the King of Holland with a picture with similar ends in view, and has received an Order from him also. He showed me an enormous painting, half-finished, which he intended for his Majesty the King of Prussia, now Emperor of Germany. Whether this picture also obtained him an Order I do not know. Oh, what a worthy traffic in Imperial and Royal Orders ! All the time I was conversing with the Prince and Princess, they were both surrounded by a number of slaves, who knelt and crawled to their master on the floor at some distance, whenever he gave them an order, crawling out of the room backwards. The prince's nephew, himself a prince, knelt to his uncle. Prince Raden Salen was of one degree higher rank than his nephew, and it is customaiy for those in high rank to behave to those yet higher than themselves, even when they are blood relations, with humility. The highest, therefore, are alone exempt from having to kneel in princely families. What a stupid princely custom ! The prince wished me to see the beautiful plants and flowers which he had painted, but he felt that it would be beneath his dignity to show them to me himself, so he made a sign to his nephew, who was kneeling on the ground behind a table, to approach. The young prince 4 THE NORTH STAR crawled forward on hands and knees, made a salaam, and then received one drawing after another from the hands of the prince and passed them to me. When he had shown me the last he crawled back to his position behind the table at a sign from his uncle. This servile scene annoyed me, and I told my escort that I wished to go, so we took our leave. I can only say that I considered the prince's whole behaviour very stupid, very arrogant, and very frivolous, and I had no desire ever to meet with such a silly specimen of royalty again. As the prince had told me, he had learnt in European courts to treat women of his own blood as women, and not as slaves. But to condemn the whole system of slavery, and to treat his inferiors and servants as men, the Prince of Raden Salen had not learnt in European courts. Slav- ery still exists among us, and we ourselves are still beneath the yoke of blindly despotic and foolishly servile subjec- tion. Wherever there is a despotic court, there also is a blind fanatical veneration of human gods, there also are cringing slaves, and in such a school the Javanese prince, Raden Salen, had been trained in despotic Germany. I heard so many fine descriptions of the beauty of the grand Preanger districts in the island of Java, that I could not refrain from gratifying my inward longing to pay them a visit. I was not far from the volcano Gedeh, and I had not before been close to a burning mountain. The way to the volcano Gedeh led through one of the finest primeval forests of the tropics, and 1 had never yet strolled through a primeval forest. I could therefore kill not only two but three birds with one stone, and would see in one AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. a tour the beautiful Preanger district, with its golden plains and romantic hills and mountains, the wild primeval for- est, and the volcano Gredeh, 9500 feet high. Dr. Scheffer and his wife, both enthusiastic lovers of nature, were very anxious that I should see this magnificent mountain district, the finest part of which lies between Buitenzorg, Sindang-laya and Bandong. A friend of Dr. Scheffer, Dr. Bloem of Sindang-laya, a celebrated naturalist, was then in Buitenzorg, and was about to return to Sindang-laya, where he had founded a water- cure establishment. My noble host recommended me to the protection of his friend, who promised to take the greatest care of me and escorted me to Sindang-laya. Resident Hogeveen had already recommended me to all the Dutch authorities of the Preanger districts, so that I was certain of being protected. The horses of Java are usually small and often obstinate animals, not easy of control. The reader would have laughed at the sight of the team which was to take me, Dr. Bloem and the coachman to Sindang-laya. There were three of us, and we had a little open carriage. Before this light carriage there were three teams of horses and one team of buffaloes. Between Buitenzorg and Sindang- laya there is a beautiful mountain, the Megamendong, 4500 feet high. Its highest point is the limit of the Residency of Buitenzorg on the one side and of the Preanger districts on the other. We pressed on rapidly to the foot of the Megamendong, but when the animals saw the mountain, they all became refractory. If the buffaloes went on the horses stood still, 6 THE NORTH STAR if the horses went on the buffaloes stopped. We got out of the carriage and all the animals went on, but when we got in again they all stood still. The doctor and three drivers had shouted themselves hoarse and were exhausted. "We had now no choice but to climb the mountain on foot, and the heat was very oppressive. The natives of Java, as I had heard and now expe- rienced myself, are very good-natured, but at the same tune obstinate, indolent, and slow. " I hope," said Dr. Bloem, " that the drivers of the animals will not turn refractory; "but unfortunately they had become refractory. Before we got to the top of the hill the three drivers sat down by the roadside. A11 the animals stood still. Dr. Bloem could not manage the horses and buffaloes single-handed, and the animals were determined to go no further. There was now no one to draw the little carriage. In this obstinate perplexity I was anxious to prove my goodwill and make myself use- ful. The little carriage had only two wheels, and I proposed to Dr. Bloem that I should roll one wheel to Sindang-laya and he the other, and that a portion of the rest of the carriage should be assigned to each of the three drivers ; but everybody except the doctor and myself was obstinate ; my goodwill could accomplish no satisfactory result, and my proposal was not carried out. Dr. Bloem unharnessed the horses and buffaloes ; the animals set off at a brisk gallop for their stables in Sindang-laya, where they arrived some horn's before we did. The little chaise was left standing by the side of the road near the top of the Megamendong. Dr. B. had it brought to Sindang-laya the next day by some other AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 7 buffaloes which had not worked for the last few days, and had refrained from giving way to laziness and obstinacy on the last occasion. The three drivers rested as long as they chose, and I do not know when they got home. On this occasion Dr. Bloem and I had to walk ten miles, but the rare beauty of this wonderful neighbour- hood long kept up my courage as we tramped along on foot. The Megamendong is covered from the foot to the summit with a magnificent primeval forest ; the road winds amongst the most stately trees and the wildest jungle ; an evergreen veil is spread over the luxuriant verdure of the tropics by the moisture of the gurgling mountain brooks murmuring their joyous song. I heard the voices of many such charming little streams, but I could not see them. All around the horizon was shut in by the green-clad summits of mighty mountains. I had hardly made out the grand ^heads of the Panger- ango and his brother Gedeh, before they veiled themselves in a thick mist. And now I witnessed such a panorama as can only be seen from the summit of the Megamen- dong, on the divine island of Java, a scene more beautiful than any I have witnessed on earth. No sooner had the Pangerango and the Gedeh assumed their caps of mist, than the orb of day, as it went down in the west, flung its golden rays upon the shrouded heads of the two mountains. To my unbounded delight, I now saw the thick white masses of mist, in which both moun- tains were enveloped, suddenly converted into a glowing red, fiery veil. Reader, I assure you it was a heavenly sun- 8 THE NORTH STAR set; it seemed to me like a reflection of the Divinity. The glowing vapour which girdled the two mighty moun- tains was the most magnificent image in creation it was indescribable. It seemed to me as if I must be able to see the throne of God through the fiery golden mass, and several times I was tempted to fall on my knees and pray. "Am I not," I said to my companion, " the most happy of mortals, to be able to see the wonderful tropics, and this divine sunset ? " At the top of the Megamendong, a short distance from the road, there is a beautiful lake of clear fresh water, of considerable depth. A few years before, on the fall of a wall of rock, several trees, of from two to three hundred feet high, slid into this lake and disappeared in its depths, leaving no trace behind them. It sometimes happens that a wanderer sitting still near this lonely lake may catch sight of some rhinoceros or tiger which lives by this fresh, sweet spring. This romantic lake is fifty-nine miles from Batavia, and from it we had three miles farther to go to get to Sindang- laya. I was not much accustomed to walking, for this was my first long tour on foot in the East. I had already gone many miles ; my feet were bruised, and hurt me at every step. Moreover, being under the impression that we should be home about noon, we had taken no provisions with us, except some bread and butter. It was already night, and Dr. Bloem and I had divided the bread and butter at ten o'clock in the morning, and our appetites had reached their keenest point. Dr. B. now expressed the sympathy for me he had so long concealed, and said he very much regretted that we had such obstinate horses and AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 9 buffaloes, sucli lazy and refractory servants, and that we had nothing to eat, and confessed to being quite worn out himself. One of the servants had been sent in advance by his master to fetch a sedan for me, but the moon had now risen high and no conveyance had yet appeared. At last we reached the last village; my feet were bleeding, and I could walk no further. I sat down on the trunk of a tree close at hand. Dr. B. called a native woman from the nearest house, and she brought me some boiled rice. Half an hour later the sedan and two bearers arrived, and in another half-hour the bearers set me down in front of the residence of Dr. B., in Sindang-laya. Sindang-laya is a pretty spot which lies 3500 feet above the level of the sea. Its pretty name means resting, or lying down, in English, and was extremely appropriate to my weariness. Dr. B.'s niece at once gave me a good supper, and got a comfortable room ready for me. To my delight, I heard the same evening that the four American gentlemen who had travelled with me from Singapore to Batavia were guests in the house. Dr. B. advised me not to climb the volcano " Gedeh." He told me it was far too irksome a journey for ladies, and he assured me jokingly that if I went I should certainly come back ill. " If I only get up there in health," I replied, " and see the volcano Gedeh, and look from there at the divine landscape of the golden Preanger, I shall be content, and will readily be a little unwell when I come back." After many entreaties, Dr. B. yielded to my wishes, and made arrangements for a trip to the mountain. 10 THE NORTH STAR Dr. Scheffer, of Buitenzorg, had requested the head- gardener at Tipannas, the country-seat of the Governor of Java, to accompany me, and the latter, a very obliging Dutchman, sent everything necessary for my comfort, in case of bad weather, to the mountain beforehand, under the care of quite a little band of natives. I was told that near the volcano there was a rhinoceros stable, where one could spend a night if necessary. This prospect was neither elegant nor agreeable. The head-gardener, however, had received orders from the directors to take good care of me, and, with the help of his housekeeper, he did all he could to fulfil their wishes. Dr. Bloem lent me his best horse, on which I felt as proud as comfortable ; and early in the morning, a nice little caravan struck across Tipannas on the way to the volcano Gedeh. The weather as we rode away was wonderfully beauti- ful, and the Gedeh glittered clear and bright in the lovely morning sunbeams. We had a faint hope of getting back the same day, but it was not to be so. I was to pay dearly for my curiosity to see a primeval forest and a volcano. The Gedeh rose 9500 feet above us ; the road was often very rough, and we had not seldom to climb a perpendicular ascent. The distance there and back was twenty miles, which were almost entirely covered by a dense primeval forest, through which, in many places, there was no path, so that a passage had to be cut with axes and hatchets. But my little horse was good and brave ; his feet never stumbled, and he carried me safely over the most dangerous places and up the steepest declivities. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS.' 11 The wild scenery we passed through in the primeval forest was singularly beautiful ; I was soon in a state of the greatest enthusiasm. I caressed my horse in the ten- derest manner, for it manifested the greatest patience and caution, and advanced from one wildly beautiful spot to another, straining every nerve in its body. How truly romantic, how wild was the beauty on every side ! Here we passed countless mighty trees, proud fore- fathers, which had multiplied themselves in tens and hundreds of descendants, and again and again a fresh access of delight and surprise came over me at the sight of some new group of giant children of the primeval world. How often did I stand before some dense impenetrable labyrinth of interlacing plants, woven and intermingled with the most artistic taste by mother Nature, and that in a manner so masterly, so inimitable, that not one eye in a thousand could discern how her work was done. Nature, Nature! what a wonderful and mysterious goddess art thou! I am wandering in a world full of poetry ! Would that I could express all that I felt on this trip in the sweet language of a poetess ; that I could seize and perpetuate in everlasting verses all that I read in one primeval forefather and his offspring all that here bud and sprout, in one beautiful thicket ! One giant of this forest contains more poetry than a Schiller or a Goethe ever produced. In every tree, in every thicket, hangs a book. I read myself confused ! These rich and prosperous family groups, these mighty giants with breast and brow proudly hung with tastefully festooned chains and garlands, grandsires, parents to the third and fourth generation, alike wear their majestic crowns 12 THE NORTH STAR with calm and stately dignity. These diadems of nature, they bloom for ever and never fade, they descend from race to race, from century to century. Never before on the surface of the earth had I seen so fertile and profuse a ramification of pith, and sap, and branch. A grandsire here sees his descendants to what generation ? But such exuberant fertility is peculiar only to the tropics No European soil brings forth and buda as does this. Moss and flowers adorn these giant trees to the very topmost branch, and the carpet at their feet from which they spring is luxuriantly rich and ever green. Truly creation may well be proud of this primeval forest ! There is scarcely an incli of ground where some little gem does not sprout forth, or where some little plant does not live and struggle upwards. One, bold, and with athletic force, climbs up to the very crown of its grand- sire ; the youth is soon on a level with the old forefather. Another bears its buds and fruits in seclusion, lives and mates with rugged thorns, and remains modestly hidden in the thicket, for ever sighing, unnoticed and unknown in the wild coppice. Often a narrow and dangerous plank led us across a partly hidden and wildly-foaming brook, above which a thick green roof was formed by a luxuriant vegetation concealing the source of the brawling stream. Often, too, in the midst of some impenetrable thicket, a gentle murmuring little brook would wind along beneath a triumphal arch of interlacing boughs, singing its sweet song in wild seclusion ; it was all so solemn, so enchant- ing, so wildly beautiful ! Sometimes, up in the air, far above our heads, the heaviest trees had crossed and AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 13 interlaced their mighty boughs in a manner so artistic, that my little horse and I passed beneath a noble viaduct of athletic giants, upon whose firmly interwoven arms and shoulders rested two or three, and often more, young sons of the forest. Sometimes, too, one of these daring athletes had broken his neck, and the rigid giant lay cold and dead upon the stage of his former triumphs. Many a veteran of the forest bowed his weary head over the cool stream of some brook, as if he would fain once more inhale young life from its eternal freshness. Here and there lay luxuriant stems torn up by the roots in the prime of life. Boreas, with his cruel, deadly axe, had cut down these proud giants ; but it was wonderful to see how much life was begotten by the veterans which had fallen beneath the fury of a storm, or from old age. From the thick moss, encasing the bark of some one of them, lying headlong across the ground, or across some brook, a little tree would start up with true tropical celerity ; so that another giant soon stands on the breast of the one that is dead ; the young sapling will avenge the fall of the grandsire he struggles and climbs till he is as tall as any monarch of the forest. In many places our path was so overgrown and impenetrable, that the servants had the greatest difficulty to thin the bushes with axe and hatchet, and cut a passage before us. Often, too, we had to construct little bridges of boughs or stones across foaming torrents. Several times, when we came to steep and awful ravines, I dismounted from my faithful steed, and a servant led the good creature along the narrow edge of the precipitous mountain-wall. The ascent was often so perpendicular, that the greatest energy 14 THE NORTH STAR and caution were required to prevent me from falling off my horse backwards. The most beautiful and awful passage was above a mighty cataract which dashed down at our feet into a deep black ravine in a perpendicular waterfall. From this spot the photographers of the Novara ex- pedition had a short time previously taken a view of this wild and stupendous waterfall. At another spot my horse stamped its way through the steaming foam of a hot mountain stream, the source of which, my companion told me, was the sulphur crater of Gedeh. Could I help being happy and excited in a scene so novel to me, and of such surpassing beauty and wildness ? Indescribably wild and indescribably beautiful ! All that I can say of my tour through this primeval forest, is, after all, but a poor description of the truth. Now and then some lovely songster concealed in the forest gave us a beautiful serenade. Euterpe Philomela followed us to the very crater. I should so much have liked to see the dear bird, but the little singer flew away through the thick bushes and over the lofty tree-tops where my eyes could not follow him. I heard him for hours, but never caught sight of him. I applauded him, however, in the gladness of my heart. " A thousand thanks, dear singer," I shouted into the deep forest, and Euterpe Philomela sang and trilled " encore" We had already ascended to a great height on the mountain, and were near the celebrated rhinoceros stable, when, alas ! the sky suddenly became overcast and it began to thunder and to lighten. A heavy rain soon drenched us AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 15 through and through, and we rode into the rhinoceros stable as quickly as we could. It was now impossible to reach the top of the crater on this day. After the heavy storm (and it rained here in true tropical style), it was not advisable to venture amongst the thick wet bushes and jungle. The native servants, therefore, constructed a roof of boughs and branches, lit a large fire beneath it, and prepared a good dinner. We no longer felt the intense sultriness of the valley. In spite of the thunder-storm it was quite raw and cold up here, and the warmth of the fire did us good. The rhinoceros stable was not too comfortable ; the thick smoke from the wet wood penetrated into the hut, per- forated as it was with holes, and our stay in it was by no means enviable. The natives went on cooking the whole night through, now rice, now potatoes or tea. They kept up an enormous fire all the time, which, as they said, would keep away wild beasts. The wall of the rhinoceros stable was very much decayed, and had been mended with green boughs. I curled myself upon a mattress for some hours My horse slept quite near to me ; it bit through the leaves of the boughs and sniffed about my face. The too-faithful creature caressed me so much that at last I lost patience ; so I got up and went and joined the native men and women. Dr. Bloem had given one of the servants a heavy Capuchin cloak for me, with a long cowl, in case of bad weather. It was very cold, so I wrapped myself in the cloak and made myself some coffee. At five o'clock in the morning the sky had cleared, but 16 THE NORTH STAR we had hardly mounted our horses before a thick fog came on. It was evidently a long time since any one had been up the crater, for there was no path leading to it. Every- where the ground was densely overgrown, and the servants hewed down hundreds of young trees and bushes. We were obliged to leave the horses behind, for there was no passage for the poor creatures. With almost super- human efforts and endurance we at last made our way through the thick wet wood to the foot of the volcano, and from there over a perpendicular mountain-wall to the open crater on the summit of the Gedeh. The sides of the crater itself were covered with very slippery masses of sulphur and ashes. I often sank in them up to my knees, and my long riding-habit became heavier and heavier. Some places were so difficult to climb that it took several minutes to find firm footing. I felt quite exhausted and could hardly breathe. The good Dutchman and a servant were a step before me all the way, and, holding me firmly by the hand, they dragged me up after them. But the slippery wall of the crater was very lofty, and we were obliged to rest several times. It was very cold ; the servants had brought a spirit-lamp with them, and every now and then we drank some hot coffee. But even the resting and coffee drinking were extremely difficult operations, for the north wind would scarcely let us keep our position on the damp ground. Besmeared as I was with sulphur and ashes, I was about as beautiful as a Cinderella. After such hardships, we certainly deserved that the Gedeh should receive us well and give us the finest view it had to offer. But that it did not choose to do, for we had hardly AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 17 gained its summit, panting for breath, when there and then, " The Gedeh veils his face in cloud, And draws his vapoury mantle on : Mortal, away 1 a misty shroud Now reigns where late the glory shone." A strong wind arose, and my companion's hat flew away into the crater and disappeared in the vortex of the boiling water. The basin of this crater is very deep, and the sides were very soft and slippery, so we did not dare venture too near. A few days previously there had been an eruption, during which, as my companion told me, a strong shock of earthquake had been felt in all the neigh- bouring districts. The southern side of the crater had fallen in, and for a considerable distance everything was covered with fresh ashes. We were standing 9600 feet above the sea-level. The volcano Gedeh has one large and several small craters and sulphur vents. The most recent eruption of lava took place in 1848 on the eastern side, and a large portion of the forest was burnt. In 1866 the volcano emitted quantities of ashes for several days in succession, but there was no eruption of lava. Opposite to us rose the brother mountain Pangerango, 10,000 feet high, which, for the moment, we saw but dimly. It retains fragments of an extinct volcano, and towers above all the neighbouring mountains. From its summit an extensive view is obtainable on a fine day, embracing half the island of Java and a vast extent of the ocean. The flora of the upper regions of the Gedeh and Pangerango resembles that of Europe ; lower down there VOL. n. 2 18 THE NORTH STAR are many Lotocarpus and beautiful Liquidambar, Kima- rah and Rasamala. Not far from the summit of the mountain, I saw many ferns called Padoc-Ridang* the coarse reddish hair on the lower stems of which is a very useful styptic (blood stancher), and is exported to Europe for that purpose. I took several stems of it away with me. I also met with some beautiful roses resembling the Alpine roses of Europe. The botanical name of this flower is Rhododendron Javanicum. Amongst other plants native to the upper regions of the mountain there is a large variety of Primula, first discovered by Dr. Junghuhn, and which is named in his honour, Primula Junghuhniana. The fauna of the primeval forest and mountain of Gedeh includes the rhinoceros, the royal tiger, and the panther; the roe, the stag, and four kinds of monkey, the musk cat, the polecat, &c. On our way home we found a dead polecat ; the smell was horrible, and annoyed us for some distance. I was firmly resolved not to leave the Gedeh until I had enjoyed a look at the golden landscape of the Preanger. It was intensely cold, and I was shivering and freezing, whilst waiting for the ungallant, capricious Gedeh to take off his cap. Presently, however, the sun succeeded in mollifying his ill-humour and in dispersing the mist, though only for a few minutes, for it soon returned and settled about the lofty sides of the crater. We were now standing in a dazzling light, and one glance at the panorama, far and near (a very brief one, though), richly rewarded me for all hardships. It was a Btrange and beautiful sight of a varied character. Our AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 19 own five grotesque-looking figures, standing in the full glare of the sunbeams upon the summit of a crater 9600 feet high, round about us a silvery white mist, and, at the foot of the volcano, the green primeval forest ; in the valley below, a heavy rain, and, in the far distance, bathed in a transparent atmosphere, a perfect sea of glorious fields and mountains. I saw the Megamendong and Sindang-laya, and looked into the very heart of the golden Preanger. A few transient glances over this charming picture I still gaze I still see I scarcely dare to breathe it is too exalted too grand ! But but the wicked Gedeh is grasping at his cap a few invaluable seconds more the curtain falls we are again stand- ing in dense mist alas alas yet thank God! thank God ! for having let me enjoy for a few moments the greatest pleasure possible in this beautiful world to a lover of nature. The descent of the wall of the crater was extremely arduous ; we slipped at every step, filling our pockets with sulphur and pieces of saltpetre. When at last we had made our way down many a slippery path, and had returned through the damp jungle to the rhinoceros stable, I no longer resembled a civilised creature. My long besmeared riding-habit was alike the most comical and most interesting object in the variegated scene in the narrow stall. The whole party of natives burst into a hearty roar of laughter, and neither the good Dutchman nor I myself could help joining in. My long hair had got loose in coming through the jungle, and hung down over my wet shoulders, and I had lost my comb on the side of the crater. My hat and veil were torn. I twisted mv 20 THE NORTH STAR hair together as best I could. The Dutchman lent me his broad-brimmed inountain-hat, and I put on the heavy Capuchin cloak over my riding-habit. In this charming costume I mounted my horse, and we set off on our return home. It thundered and lightened, and the rain came down in torrents. It is more dangerous to ride down a steep mountain than to climb up one. It was really very hard work. Many of the brooks had become so swollen since the previous day, that we had to construct new bridges and foot-planks, and all this in a violent downpour of rain. And to-day Euterpe Philomela did not sing, but now and then the deep voice of some wild animal rang through the forest. Copious streams of water poured down my mountain hat, my Capuchin cloak and my poor dear little horse. Beneath my heavy thick monk's cowl, I was as wet through as if I were standing out of my depth in water. I pitied my faithful, patient animal. I dismounted, a servant led the horse, and I found my way as best I could. Presently we came to the hot stream already men- tioned ; I went right through it, remained standing for a little time in the steam-bath and warmed my cold feet. The most wonderful thing about this wild spot is that the hot stream of water flows over the most beautiful green grass and jungle, and flings itself into an awfully deep ravine, the vapours re-ascending from its depths to the source of the stream, forming, so to speak, an eternal " vale of hot steam," which provides the passer-by with a natural vapour bath, the effect of which is all the more rapid if he gazes down for a few seconds into the fearful depths of the ravine. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 21 It was indeed a good thing that I had enjoyed the full beauty of the primeval forest the day previously, for now all was changed, and I had enough to do to think of myself. I had to prove and sound every step, and I could not once glance upwards. Thus we waded for five hours beneath, as it seemed to me, the heaviest rain which had ever fallen. At last, when the water in my shoes and stockings became too uncom- fortable to be borne any longer, I took off my heavy foot- coverings and went barefooted through jungle, mud, and stream. This was the first time in niy life that I had walked without shoes or stockings, and I comforted myself with the thought that my dear mother could not see me. When at last we entered Sindang-laya, tired to death, Dr. Bloeni met us with an almost paternal expression, and took a long "doctor-like" look at my drenched and comical figure. " Did I not tell you," he said, half reproachfully, " that you would come back ill ? You look as pale as death, and I shall send you to my water cure immediately." "Doctor," I replied, "I have seen the primeval forest, I have seen the volcano Gedeh and the whole landscape of the golden Preanger, and I am content." The doctor's niece at once helped me to undress, and soon had a good meal ready for me. As soon as the doctor thought I had digested my dinner, he had me carried to his hot mineral bath at Tibodas in a sedan. I was ordered to sit in the hot bath a good hour to cure my cold. I sneezed incessantly, and my voice was quite hoarse. 22 THE NORTH STAR In spite of the bath, however, the doctor's prophecy was only too truly fulfilled. I was ill ; the trip to the Gedeh had been too much for me to endure without evil consequences. The long and difficult ascent and descent, the intense cold in the rhinoceros stable and on the summit of the mountain, which I had had to endure in garments wet through and through, and the five hours' baptism iii pouring rain, were more than I could bear, unaccustomed as I was to such hardships. I was wrong, too, to bathe my feet in hot water, and then to walk barefoot through cold. Never in my life had so much rain poured down my shoulders as in Java on the journey from the summit of the Gedeh to Sindang-laya. I had quite lost my appetite, but I did not wish to betray the loss before any one, especially not before the doctor. I therefore did all I could to appear well and bright. The second evening after my dreadful trip, when the good doctor thought I was pretty well re- covered, he wished to show me a native custom, and ordered the attendance of a certain number of Javanese male and female dancers. There were ten young girls and ten young men. The musical instruments sounded poor and inartistic ; their tone was monotonous, without variations. The music had neither taste nor feeling. The dancing girls wore a sarang, with a short body without sleeves, and a long red echarpe over their shoulders, which occasionally served them as a pocket-handkerchief. The dancers did not dance with their feet, but with their head and arms and hands, singing meanwhile a AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 28 low song with a great deal of repetition. The girls often went to the men and lit their cigars at those of their partners with indelicate pantomimic gestures. They then ran away into the dark, and the men followed them. Whilst dancing, both parties twisted their heads about in a slow and comical manner. The whole affair was too tasteless, stupid, and monotonous to be looked at long without feeling ennui. The dance took place in the open air by torchlight. I had still a longing desire to see more of the glorious landscape of the Preanger. I hoped, too, that a drive in the free, bracing mountain air would do me good, and restore my appetite. Dr. Bloem had a good carriage and his best horses got ready, and the head gardener of Tip- annas, who had accompanied me to the Gedeh, drove with me to Tyandjur, the official seat of an inland Gov- ernor and a Dutch assistant Resident. The road to Tyandjur leads through one of the most charming districts in the world. The little town is thirteen miles from Sindang-laya. It is impossible for me adequately to describe the luxuriant vegetation of the Preanger, and the perfect and unequalled develop- ment of its natural scenery. I had already witnessed many beautiful scenes on the island of Java, but what I now saw between Sindang-laya and Tyandjur was to me a new, a glorious experience of the splendour of the tropics. Language fails me, dear reader, to bring before you, as I fain would do, the beauty of that scene, as it is for ever impressed upon my memory. The beautiful and blissful impression made upon me 24 TEE NORTH STAB by the luxuriant vegetation and the glorious ever-verdant mountains and heights, no description, either verbal or written, can convey to you in all its truth and vivid reality. The recollection of the tropics is one of the greatest treasures of my soul, and will form, until death, a lasting portion of my mortal life. Everywhere we drove we passed diligent reapers, busily cutting and binding the ripe rice into sheaves. The rice fields glittered upon the romantic heights in a form resembling an amphitheatre. Wherever I turned I saw reapers and binders of sheaves, and everywhere swayed golden fields of grain. This romantic height was bounded by meadows bright with many-coloured flowers. I here admired the greatest variety of floral specimens I had ever seen. In vale and dell gurgled streams and brooks, and the tops of the green-clothed mountains towered to the very clouds. The form and shape of the fields and meadows, and of the hills and mountains, are of so artistic a variety, that from the plain to the mountain tops, one glance comprises a most charming panorama of natural beauty. The earth, with its luxuriant decorations and its unequalled collec- tion of flowers, presented an enchanting and fascinating scene, such as I never beheld in any land of Europe and in the East, only in the golden Preanger district of Java. Here, in one glance, I saw the noblest works of the Creator; and looked upon Mother Earth under her most prosperous conditions. Arrived in Tyandjur we drove to the residence of the prince regent, to whom I was recommended. The prince was in his harem, and invited us, through AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 25 the superintendent of his household, to dinner, which would be ready in the course of a couple of hours. I had no wish to remain, and I sent my thanks to the prince. 1 dreaded a stiff ceremonial and empty conversa- tion, nor did I want to see any cringing slaves, for none of these things suited my taste or my character. I would gladly have waited two or even more hours tc see a man of genius ; but for an indolent prince, who was in his harem ; for a false god, who permits poor slaves to crawl to him on hands and knees, I would not wait, and we left his palace. I may add, that in the prince's recep- tion-room I saw several of Paul de Kock's obscene pictures, which hung up uncovered, the Javanese prince apparently not having delicacy enough to feel ashamed of them. We took a purely Dutch repast in a cheerful villa, be- longing to a friend of my companion ; towards evening we drove back to Sindang-laya, and I once more enjpyed the beauties of the Preanger. It was now the 13th of February, and on the 20th o the same month I intended to return to Singapore. I was therefore compelled to start, in order to reach Batavia a few days before my embarkation. Dr. Bloem wished to take me back to Buitenzorg him- self, but his niece's little daughter was dangerously ill, and he could not leave. It was the wish of his friend Dr. Scheffer, of, Buiten- zorg, that I should travel nowhere alone, and so the head gardener escorted me back, and the director paid him many a grateful compliment for his kindness and attention to me in our various excursions. I was very uneasy at 26 TEE NORTH STAR the evil results of my trip to the Gredeh, and I came back to Buitenzorg quite ill. Mrs. Scheffer sent for her doc- tor at once, and he ordered me different medicaments, which, however, I did not take. I hoped that the sea air would restore me, and I hurried back to Batavia. My very kind friends, Dr. Scheffer and his wife, had done their best for me during my absence, and presented me with a number of most interesting things. I received a Javanese village in miniature, an artistic representation of the houses of the rich and poor on a small scale, together with the rice granaries, rice warehouses, and the temple of the village, built of bamboo wood and rice straw. Dr. Scheffer packed up a quantity of rare and curious articles and plants and fruits for me, including over fifty sorts of the rarest and most beaiitiful tropical plants, which he had carefully dried, and to each of which he had given the botanical name. He also gave me a large number of tropical fruits, some dried and some preserved in spirits. I brought the coffee berry and nutmeg to Europe in flower, and in exactly the same condition as I had seen them in Java on the trees. My kind friend also presented me with more than a hundred different kinds of miniature weapons, from Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, as well as ricepaper-wood, and cinnamon ; several bottles of curious snakes and other reptiles, a colossal rhinoceros-bird, and an enormous tortoise. All this the good gentleman gave me for my museum, and he had everything packed so carefully that when I opened the cases in Frankfort several months later, I found not a single article broken or damaged. The wife of the head gardener of the botanical AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 27 garden at Buitenzorg gave me a large bag full of cocoa nibs of her own growing, from which twenty-five pounds of the finest cocoa was prepared for me, after they had served the purpose of my exhibition. Mrs. Theissen sent me a quantity of vanilla, prepared by herself, and a dozen edible swallows' tiests. After my return from Sindang-laya, I only remained three days in Buitenzorg, during which Mrs. Scheffer showed me the greatest kindness. But my illness in- creased, and when I left the romantic spot of Sans Souci I was unfortunately not so well as when I arrived. Resident Hogeveen, of Batavia, had known how to ascer- tain from the director at what time his guest would leave, for when I asked to have a carriage ordered, I was aston- ished to hear that a post-chaise was already waiting, Resident Hogeveen having ordered it by telegram. Before I left the picturesque villa, my beautiful hostess led me to a cosy room in which stood a snowy-white cradle, adorned with the loveliest flowers, and the prettiest little bed I ever saw. Mrs. Scheffer had been married but. twelve months, and both she and her husband were wishing very much to have a little girl or boy. Gentlemen readers will please pardon me for mentioning the little girl first. The windows of the cosy room were left open day and night, so that the Stork might see the lovely cradle from his airy abode, and come and lay a little angel in its flower- bed. I kissed my beautiful hostess, expressing my best wishes for her future and her happiness. With the deepest gratitude I took leave of Doctor Scheffer and his amiable wife; and I hold my Dutch friends in Buitenzorg in the most grateful remembrance. 28 THE NORTH STAR My post-chaise met with various mishaps ; we lost the right fore-wheel three times, the left wheel twice, and stopped at a smithy five times. In spite of this, having started early in the morning, I reached Batavia at twelve o'clock, and the good Lady Superior received her enfant with a hearty kiss. In the afternoon I had a visit from Monsignor Classens, a very talented, noble-minded Catholic, highly esteemed by all the Catholics and Protestants of Batavia. He honoured me with an introduction to his Grace the Archbishop of Calcutta. In the evening there was a fearful thunder- storm, and I must here remark that this phenomenon of nature attracted my special attention in Java. Never in Europe, or America, or in those countries of Asia which I visited before coming to Java, had I seen the lightning so grand, so bright, or so vivid as in Java. Every evening while in Batavia, I admired the sheet lightning, the whole horizon being often brightly illuminated by it, and that, when the sky was perfectly clear, and no storm was troubling the heavens. I had met with so much kindness and liber- ality on my excursions in the interior, that of the three hundred guldens which Mr. Yolz, of the firm of Dummler & Co., had placed at my disposal, I had only laid out fifty guldens so that I could give back two hundred and fifty florins on my return to Batavia. Mr. Yolz wrote me a few friendly lines, telling me not to trouble myself about the balance of the sum, it was as good as paid. The American consul, Mr. Pell, head of the trm, sent me, through his brother, a whole dozen edible swallows' nests. Mr. Vilmer also presented me with some very valuable curiosities, and a billet from Batavia to Singa- AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 29 pore worth seventy-five Dutch guldens, for which, how- ever, I imagine myself to be indebted to his own kindness, to that of Mr. Yolz, and of the American consul, Mr. Pell, and the Grerman consul, Mr. Silken. After the receipt of these presents, and of the free pass, I had no time left to thank these gentlemen in person, but did so by letter. And I now avail myself of this opportunity of again returning my most sincere thanks to them all. On the last evening I had the pleasure of dining with Mrs. C., the Kesident's sister. On the morning of the 20th February an open carriage drove into the court of the convent. Resident Hogeveen alighted, and sent a servant to tell the Lady Superior that he would take her guest down to the steamer, and see that she was well taken care of. The Lady Superior gave her enfant a few appropriate travelling luxuries, such as a beautiful chest of the finest tea, an immense pot of costly nutmeg jelly, and added to them a truly motherly kiss. With tears in her eyes she took my hand : " Mon enfant, Dieu vous protege ! soyez heureuse ! " " Merd, ma chere mere" were my last words, and the carriage rolled down to the harbour. Here I again met the four American gentlemen, who were also going back. Resident Hogeveen placed me under the protection of the Dutch captain, and remained on board until the last signal for departure was given. I thanked him heartily for his friendliness and great kindness to me. The gentleman went back to his carriage, and not until the steamer was leaving the harbour did he return to town. 30 THE NORTH STAR I had hardly looked at the sea before I was sea-sick ; but this was what I wished, as I hoped thus to cure the indisposition from which I had suffered since my memo- rable promenade in the primeval forest, and to get back my appetite at sea. I wanted to bring about a reaction- ary struggle ; and this was effected : I again felt my long- lost appetite, took a hearty meal, and then, to refresh myself completely, I seated myself in the cool breeze facing the equator. I felt really better, and thought in calm repose of the lovely island which Heaven had permitted me to see. My imagination revelled with the deepest enjoyment in the glorious pictures of the tropics, which I was bearing with me to far distant lands. They are my own for evermore, and through the secrets of inexhaustible nature I have learned to love my God and Creator more than ever. And because of the sweet recollections of this tropical Eden, the reader will readily excuse me for not distiirbing my poetic dreams with cold and witless prose. I will there- fore say nothing of the Dutch mode of government, nothing of the " coffee monopoly." Other travellers in the Eastern world may tell with what policy the Dutch government rules the natives, and by what means it draws capital from the rich productions of the golden island. I was only one mouth in Java, and so short a time is not long enough to learn to know and understand the com- mercial relations of the Dutch and their political attitude towards the natives, or the material and spiritual progress of the latter. Politics, I would say, are the affairs of men, and to me they are the most indifferent "lari-fari" of human life. AND THE SOUTHERN GROSS. 31 I went to Java to see the beauties of the island, and not to study the coffee monopoly and the politics of the Dutch. I was only able to judge of the outward appearance of the natives of Java, and, as far as that goes, I may say that I found them not only good-humoured, unaffected, and polite, but also apparently perfectly contented and happy. The Dutch and other Europeans of Java live in the most charming harmony, and a truly Christian spirit prevails amongst them. There is none of that haughty pride and arrogant assumption of superiority which I noticed among the various castes of European merchants and officials in other settlements in Asia. What the little peaceful kingdom of Holland is to Europe, that the beau- tiful Dutch island of Java in the Eastern Archipelago is to Asia. Both are under the government of one monarch, and snug little Holland is a bright star of peace, order, and quiet amongst the restless aspiring nations of "Western Christendom, whilst the island of Java, with its peace- loving, hospitable children of the mother country, is the most beautiful Eden of the East. There is but one thing which troubles my remembrance of this Eden, and detracts from the glory of this bright pearl. Oh, that the good Europeans of Java, who received and dismissed me so generously, would prohibit the ceremonies to the honour of the false gods of the natives of Java; would that they would recognise that their dependents are men like themselves, and that, in the interests of humanity and freedom, they would establish a law that no civilized Christian, no European planter, 32 TEE NORTH STAR merchant, or officer should possess the despotic and execrable right of making his poor servants appear before their lord and master on their knees, as I have seen them do. Then, only, when I hear that the Christians on the island of Java are no longer slave owners, shall I be able to contemplate this Eden upon earth with pure untroubled joy- One ever delightful recollection is the pleasant thought that my countrymen at Batavia and the rest of Java were the first Germans in Asia of whom none has declared war against me, and who all have received and treated me in an unselfish genial spirit, like that of my dear fellow- countrymen in America. The love of our mother country and of the brothers and sisters of our home, is innate in us all. This love is part of our nature, which none can deny. 1, too, feel this deep imperative love, wherever I am ; I dearly love the land of my birth, and all the children of men who live beneath the same sky as my father, my mother, and all who are dear to me. It is with true pleasure that I bear witness to the good which I experienced amongst my fellow-countrymen abroad ; and I feel pained, when, in the interest of truth, and the honesty of my narrative, I have to report any- thing to the contrary. On my return voyage to Singapore, I saw one of the most beautiful phenomena of the wonderful deep. On the second evening, soon after we had passed the equator, Mr. Curtis, an American gentleman, and I were sitting together on the deck. There was no moon, but the sky was studded with the most brilliant stars. The sea was AND THE SOUTHERN GEOSS. 33 extremely calm, and nothing broke the solemn stillness but the movement of the rudder and the cry of the men on watch. Suddenly we heard a soft surging in the water, and in the twinkling of an eye, as if by a stroke of magic, the surface of the sea became of a light fiery red colour. We sprang from our seats in wild excitement, and exclaimed with one voice, " How magnificent ; what a splendid sight ! What is it, what is it ? " Before us was spread out a sea of phosphoric light studded with thousands of beautiful stars of various mag- nitudes, sparkling and twinkling like Jupiter and Yenus in the sky. An enchanting scene ! a firmament upon the sea ! The distance from star to star was small perhaps a foot. The floating golden luminaries were extremely beautiful, and I was in the greatest delight. For the moment the whole of the mighty universe had disap- peared, and I drank in the enchanting scene before me. The blinding reflection of the dazzling constellations penetrated to the deepest depth of the ocean. Alas, alas ! this unrivalled beauty did not last long. Only a minute, and the twinkling stars had disappeared. I applauded in mad delight " encore ! " and I felt as if they must appear again. But no ! the stage remained empty ; not one of the glowing bodies came back. Once more did ocean hide all this rare beauty in her bosom ! For some time afterwards the surface of the water retained a bright phosphorescent light, the steamer seemed to make its way through fire, and the waves, as the paddle-wheels parted them, emitted bright dazzling rays of light. About a quarter of an hour later, as we were standing VOL. n. 3 34 THE NORTH STAR at the end of the steamer, we noticed a light on the distant horizon which lit up the sea for a considerable distance, and resembled the moon. But there was no moon in the heavens. What could this light be? As we were asking each other this question in the greatest astonishment, an ever-brightening mass of light seemed to roll towards us over the sea from the distant horizon. A few moments and the whole surface of the water round about us glowed for the second time in phosphorescent beauty. " They are coming back !" I cried, delighted. But no, the twinkling stars of the first apparition were not visible again. Rare beauty soon passes ; rare flowers seldom bloom long. The first phenomenon was the finest scene of its kind I ever witnessed between heaven and earth. The captain of the steamer Batavia, on which we then were, told me that even in tropical seas, where phosphorescence is a phenomenon of such frequent occurrence, it is very sel- dom that a star-studded ocean sky, a positive sea of stars, is visible in the phosphorescent light ; and yet more rare is such perfect grandeur and bewitching beauty as we had witnessed this evening. There are sailors and travellers who have sailed all round the world, and yet have never had the good fortune to see so rare a phenomenon. I have seen the most fascinating spectacle of ocean's depths, and all that I have read relating to phosphorescent lights, the few lines by Byron, or by Tadd, do not express what I saw that evening in the tropical sea between Batavia and Singapore. I went to bed much excited, and often woke up in the night to hasten to the window of my cabin, hoping that brilliant Jupiter and Venus had come back once more AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 35 but no, no, to this day 1 have never again seen them. Our return voyage from Batavia to Singapore was extremely pleasant; this time we had no four-footed passengers, and none of us missed the odour of the good creatures called swine. How often I feasted my eyes on the beauties of the rich Spice Islands standing out clearly in the distance on every side. This Archipelago includes a great many different countries which are the golden sources of trade for the Western world. Round about me lay Sumatra, Banca, Borneo, Java, Celebes, Timor, New Guinea, and others, the names of which have escaped my memory. As we neared the harbour of Singapore, I saw, to my astonishment, the elegant steamer Glenarthney, of the firm of Jardin, Matheson & Co., of Hong-Kong, for which I had a free billet to Calcutta. On landing, the American gentlemen at once ascertained when the steamer would leave Singapore, and they came to tell me that it would put to sea in a few hours. I had arrived just in time, and had now nothing to do but to make haste and get ready to start again. My travelling effects were scattered on every side. One trunk and my money I had left in the French convent, ten cases were in the warehouse of Messrs. Boustedt & Co., and one trunk and five cases I brought from Batavia. All this had to be carried on board the steamer Glenarthney, which was soon leaving. It was very hot and oppressive, and too much haste was not advisable. I took a carriage, drove to the convent, and collected my goods, taking a grateful farewell of the worthy Lady Superior. From there I drove to the German consul, 36 THE NORTH STAR Mr. Mooney, who gave me a letter to the German consul in Calcutta. Then I drove rapidly to Mr. Young, of the firm of Boustedt & Co., who, as I should have no further need for Mexican money, changed my little property into Indian rupees. My Californian treasure I kept as it was. Mr. Young was very kind to me ; he at once relieved me from all further trouble with my numerous trunks and cases, and sent a workman of the house who saw everything safely on board, and, like a good-hearted Scotchman as he was, who had treated me through- out in a most disinterested manner, hearing, after my departure, for what object I was collecting curiosities, sent me some very handsome specimens of stuffed Birds of Paradise, addressed to the care of the German consul in Bombay. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 3? CHAPTEK II. I HAD arrived at Singapore at one o'clock in the after- noon, and at five o'clock in the evening the Glenarthney steered through the Straits of Malacca, making for Penang via Toco Island. The steamer was a fine large vessel, and the commander, Captain Bolton, an extremely dignified and cultivated Englishman, whose regularity, punctuality, and vigilance we had good reason to admire. Some three months before, the good captain had lost his wife and a little daughter on the voyage from England to Calcutta ; both were buried beneath the waves. A dear little son had outlived the poor mother, who had been brought to the much afflicted father by his foster-mother, and was now on board with him. The sweet child was only five years old, and his innocent jokes and games served to while away many an hour, and I became very fond of him. My cabin was large and elegant, and I noticed, with the deepest gratitude, that in all the American and English vessels on which a free passage was given to me, I was treated with the most delicate and friendly consider- ation. It was not only that I, a solitary lady, travelling 38 THE NORTH STAR over so many seas alone did not experience the least annoyance, but my very loneliness was the cause of increased respect from American and English sailors, and my helpless position was a positive advantage to me. The four American gentlemen who had come with me from Batavia were again my fellow-passengers on the Glenarthney. I can truly say that all of them were gentle- men in the truest sense. I met them six or seven times on my journey, met them together, and alone, and they always showed me the same genuine and chivalrous courtesy as I experienced in their own land, where respect for women is universally considered the chief grace of a man. We had the most lovely tropical weather ; no waves disturbed the blue surface of the peaceful sea ; the heat was bearable ; a cool breeze blew about the masts ; the mornings, evenings, and nights were most beautiful. The flying punkah was kept in motion in the dining-saloon at meal- times ; there were plenty of delicious tropical fruits kept cool by the application of ice ; and we had an excellent table. There was a good bath-room on board, and twice a day I cooled myself in the ever-fresh spring of Neptune. On the deck hung bright cages containing the choicest tropical birds, which sang and twittered from morning till night, and were tended with the greatest solicitude by the officers and sailors. A Cochin China tiger was a pas- senger on the Glenarthney. He was travelling to Calcutta. The tiger was a wild bloodthirsty beast, which had to be looked after with the greatest vigilance. The captain's little darling had a wonderful little horse, AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 39 a very young foal, on which the young rider, secured by straps, rode from one end of the vessel to the other. There are a good many flying-fishes in the Straits of Malacca, and I often admired their rapid flight. On one occasion I saw one take an unbroken flight of at least an English mile. , The captain and officers took great trouble to catch one for me, but unsuccessfully. Later, in the Red Sea, I had myself an opportunity of catching one, and I took the curious fish-bird home with me in a bottle of spirits. On this sea-voyage I saw the sun rise and set with the greatest splendour, and I enjoyed the most beautiful nights ever met with beneath the tropical sky. But alas ! in the happiest moments of my journey there ever remained one wish unfulfilled, frustrated by my own powerlessness. I could never admire anything grand or beautiful in nature without cherishing a fervent desire to share each glance with my dear ones, and with all lovers of nature. Generally we stood at the bow of the vessel when the sun was setting ; it was like a solemn meeting in a church of God, and truly ! we were in the most beautiful temple beneath the sky. If it would not take thirteen years and a half for a mortal's prayer to reach the sun, I might perhaps have become a Parsee in the Straits of Malacca, and have worshipped the luminary of the day. The glowing orb, forming an ever grander ball of fire, was surrounded by all those charming colours which will ever remain the secret of the Heavenly painter, and are among the grandest phenomena of the beauteous tropics. A diverse variety of the most beautiful shades of red a diver- 40 THE NORTH STAB sity of the tenderest green tints, a play of yellow rays, an enchanting halo of the softest blue, in short, a collec- tion of the most perfect colours ; I cannot enumerate them. And now, behold ! suddenly a magic change in their situation ; the colours cross each other and fade away in the twinkling of an eye it is the last glance of the orb the gates open the orb enters and is seen no more. But the play of changing colours is still beautiful about the portals of the sun, and I see wonder after wonder which I cannot describe. The sky was still red, green, blue, and yellow, when lovely Yenus modestly stept forth, leading the way for the other planets, but soon silently retiring herself. And now how rapidly are the glories of the solemn scene spread out ! thousands of diamonds glitter in the light blue firma- ment. The Holy Cross ! I again see it in the South ; it rises slowly. It ascends to the highest point of heaven, and stands out gloriously amongst the starry hosts. Again it has so much to say to me ; and my heart experiences min- gled grief and bliss. What a delight the tropical sky was to me, the reader may judge when I tell him that every night on this voyage I spent from one to three o'clock on deck, drinking hi the glories of the planets and stars, in silent admiration, and watching the course of the Southern Cross. After midnight the constellations were much clearer and brighter, and the sky more brilliant than before. The foui' glittering stars which form the Cross were at the zenith of their beauty, and at their highest point in the heavens in the dead of the night. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 41 And the air was pure and Bweet ; all creation so still and solemn, heaven and the world were so holy, and my God was so near me. Beautiful, glorious nights ; never more upon earth shall I again enjoy such a peaceful holy time. But my longing spirit often turns back to the grand world of the South, and I live again in the enjoyment of many sweet hours of the past. A thousand times I look back to that wonderful sky. to those glorious stars, and the holy Cross, and I pray again as I did in the lonely hours of those lovely nights. On the sixth day we crossed the Bay of Bengal, and we ran into one of the mouths of the Ganges. This spot is very dangerous on account of the shifting sandbanks. Unfortunately many fine ships are there wrecked. Captain Bolton was most careful, and the last night he did not leave the deck for a moment. We made a safe entrance, however, on the evening of the 1st of March, anchoring in the harbour of Calcutta, after a delightful voyage of seven days. I had two letters of introduction to his Grace the Right Rev. Walter Steins, Archbishop of Calcutta, which Captain B. forwarded to their destination the first thing in the morning. To these two letters I added a few lines, in which I begged his Grace to recommend me for a few days to the care of the Lady Superior of the Loretto Convent. Shortly afterwards a gentleman considerably advanced in years arrived, whom I at once saw to be a devout inonk. The good brother in formed me that he had orders to take me to the Convent U. instead of the Convent Loretto, but 42 THE NORTH STAR that his Grace wished to see me first. His carriage was waiting on shore, and the good brother and 1 drove to the palace of the archbishop. My companion led me to the reception-room. His Grace, a tall, noble-looking man, came and greeted me in High German, and his pure accent led me to suppose him to be a compatriot, although he really was a Dutchman by birth. His conversation and bearing were alike extremely dignified, kind, and sympathetic, and I was entirely spared those scrupulous religious questions which are the first thought of most ecclesiastics after the first greet- ings, and during which I always felt so oppressed and uncomfortable. His Grace had only just returned from the council at Rome ; he told me much of the beauties he had seen on his journey, and, in return, I related some of the particulars of my travels. I then took leave of his Grace. He placed his carriage at my disposal, and brother A. drove with me to the post, from there to the German consul, and then to Convent U. The good brother said much to me by the way in praise of the excellency of the convent and of the Lady Superior and the sisters, and told me I should be sure to be happy amongst them. But it was not so. I gladly own that I was received by one of the sweetest and most beautiful of those who hide their charms and graces within the walls of a convent; but this is the best I can say respecting the Lady Superior of the Convent U. In society I never met with such foolish eagerness foi flattery and admiration from others, such excitability, AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 4b egotism, and heartlessness as in this ecclesiastical lady. The kisses bestowed upon the hands of this ambitious woman must have mounted up to many millions in the course of her life. On the veiy first day, I observed that all Christian uprightness, all truth-loving rectitude, which should adorn the ecclesiastical state, were wanting in this convent. Between the beautiful, but disagreeable, Lady Superior and the different nuns and other female inmates of the convent, there was a party jealousy very painful to witness. The smooth-tongued and flatterers were willingly received and preferred, whilst others were passed over. The beautiful Lady Superior was very young too young for her position. She slept in an elegant little bedroom, and she was, or wished to be considered, suifering, and she required a doctor. She received all the female inmates of the convent in her bedroom, as well as gentle- men and priests. The incessant, almost regal, attendance, the excessive flattering veneration, the humble bowing, and constant hand-kissing, bestowed by all upon the beautiful suffering Lady Superior, were indeed little short of idolatry. The building was enormous, and so was the disorder in it. On the first evening, as I had been forgotten at the supper table, I went to the room assigned to me, dis- appointed and hungry. When I saw the neglected, dirty rooms and miserable night quarters, I could not help being astonished at such disorder, and slovenliness being tolerated in a house full of healthy women. That I should have come to this convent by the wish and at the recom- 44 THE NORTH STAR mendation of his Grace the Archbishop of Calcutta, was a riddle to me. That exalted ecclesiastical dignitary knew the Lady Superior very well, and ought certainly to have been aware how she governed her house, for the convent was under his jurisdiction. I felt surprised that his Grace had not sent me to the Convent Loretto, to which I desired to go. I had only a wretched breakfast towards noon on the first day, and that I was obliged to ask for, as nobody offered me anything. All I got to eat on that day was not enough for a person in health, and the next night I was kept awake by my hunger. On the second and third days I had a good deal of difficulty and trouble with the English custom house, and had to pay duty on all my cases and boxes of curiosities before I could transfer them from the Glenarthney to another steamer. It was but early in March, yet the sun was glaring and powerful, and every time that I came back to the convent after a trip to the steamer and custom house I was completely exhausted. I had nothing to refresh me ; the meals, for which there was no fixed time, were too poor and insufficient to keep up my strength. I had already heard in China and other parts of the East, that Calcutta was a very stiff aristocratic city, and I found this to be true. In an American town, where the notion is stih 1 cherished that even ladies sometimes require refreshment to keep body and soul together, sensible measures have been taken to provide suitable places where ladies who are alone may take a meal without breach of decorum. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 45 Calcutta is an English city, and in my travels I have learnt to honour and admire the English nation, but I cannot re- frain from remarking that amongst the English of some places in India I met with many customs which are alike contrary to reason and inhuman. I was very hungry, and I let a young lady of the con- vent, who had a pair of beautiful honest eyes, into the terrible secret of my hunger. I asked her if she could show me some restaurant where I could take a good meal without offending against the customs of the place or in- juring my own character. " It is an English city," said the young lady, " and it is not proper for a true lady to go into a restaurant alone." It is true that I had commenced an undertaking foreign to my nature in travelling round the world alone, and it may strike the reader as ridiculous that I would not go into a restaurant alone and that at a time when I was very hungry. But I was not yet emancipated from considering public opinion with reference to rny actions, the full burden of which I first realised when I stood in the middle of the brook, and had to go either forwards or backwards to get out of it ; nor was I bold enough to show myself inde- pendent of the regulations of a civilised society, and to overstep the bounds of an established custom. Moreover, I was very proud, and did not wish to incur blame. I recognised very well the evil and absurdity of many cus- toms, but my modesty and my sensitive pride rebelled .against any humiliation in consequence of their non- observance. But, as I said before, I was hungry, and what was to be done ? I took courage, went into the room of the Lady 46 THE NORTH STAR Superior, openly complained to her of having so little to eat, and said I felt very wretched. The sweet and beau- tiful lady told me it was the holy fasting season, and it was the duty of a good Catholic to deny herself something for the love of God and of Christ. With that the beauty drank off a glass of Bordeaux, whilst on her table stood a delicious breakfast. I was provoked, and told her that I did not set up for being one of the best of Roman Catho- lics, and that I could not fast easily. Nor did I hesitate to add how much this reception and treatment surprised me, for I had told his Grace that I would pay for what I had in the convent. The beautiful Lady now suspected that I meant to bring a complaint against her to his Grace. She reddened with anger, and said in a haughty coquet- tish manner, " And if his Grace should hear the truth, he will fling it on the ground and trample it underfoot, for he has long known that in my dominions I rule and govern as I please." I now knew enough. The coquettish Lady Superioi was as spiteful and heartless as she was young and beautiful. I would not complain to the archbishop, neither would I fast for the sake of a beautiful coquette. Aijd so, not to offend against propriety, and yet to appease my hunger, I asked the young lady with the honest eyes if she would take me to a restaurant. This request was welcomed by her, for she confessed to me that she herself, in consequence of the long fast, was very weak and hungry. Now, it is customary in Calcutta, ae in some other English settlements in Asia, that well-bred ladies should not walk, and although, on the day in question, a cooling rain having fallen, it would have been AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 4? very pleasant to walk, I was determined not to offend against any established customs, but to fulfil them to the last syllable. The beautiful Lady Superior was in her bedroom, and concerned herself little with what went on in the convent, either before her face or behind her back. The porter went and called a carriage, and the young lady and I drove away. I knew of no restaurant, and spoke no Hindostanee, so my companion told the coachman to take us to the first restaurant of the city. Arrived there, we did not get out, but I opened the window, beckoned to an English waiter in a dainty costume, who was walking on the pavement before the hotel, and ordered two beefsteaks a Vanglaise and a bottle of pale ale. In about eight minutes the long-desired dish arrived, two plates, two forks, two knives, napkins, glasses, &c. A good many " lords and gentlemen " were walking about outside the grand restau- rant, but I observed no ladies. We did not wish to be seen, so I drew down the curtain of the carriage window, and we thoroughly relished our beefsteak and pale ale. I paid the bill, and we drove back to the convent. The whole affair cost six rupees ; three for the restaurant, and three for the carriage. Carriages are very dear in Cal- cutta, as everywhere else in India. But this refreshing meal did me a hundred rupees' worth of good, and the renovating sleep I enjoyed the next night, unbroken by any cravings of hunger, was worth quite as much. The city of Calcutta, bearing the imposing title of the City of Palaces, contains little of interest, and is not worthy of its name. The British government buildings, and the first-class private residences, are certainly stately and 48 THE NORTH STAR solid, but they are by no means elegant. The native quarter is very unsightly .and mean-looking, very dirty and slovenly. The organization of a police watch would be no wasted expenditure on the part of the British authorities. The general appearance of this Anglo-Indian city is monotonous and stiff. The inhabitants are principally Hindus and Europeans. It struck me as remarkable, that in this great seaport, which is in commercial relations with so many islands and countries, I saw so few different races. The Chinese and Siamese, the Javanese, Cingalese, and Malays of the south migrate to Bombay, the rival capital of Imdia, rather than to Calcutta. The rendezvous of the titled and moneyed magnates of Calcutta is the so-called "Eden," a fashionable public garden ; not until sunset and twilight, however, does the show of the Anglo-Indian aristocratic world begin, and one evening the young lady with the honest eyes was kind enough to take me there. Of course, we drove there and back. Here Britannia's dainty daughters, with their stately and graceful figures, pace to and fro ; here Rajahs, decked out in theatrical style, and thickly studded with jewels, eye their more humble fellow-men with stupid haughti- ness. Every glance from the rich Baboo betrays that he understands opium and cotton, and is a prince on 'change. But his costume is modest ; nothing but white cambric adorns the "mercer son of Croesus." Ma- hommedans, taking their promenade, kneel down in the twilight in the beautiful garden, and turn their faces towards Mecca. The sun has gone to rest ; the eyes of the AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 49 pious Parsee gaze after the beautiful god, whilst it is still pursuing its career in the West. " God save the Queen " sounds from amongst the palms and cypresses, and a full chorus from loyal hearts rings out in the cool evening air. I visited the Botanical Garden, but after having de- scribed that of Buitenzorg, I can spare no words for it. The green parrots and the horrible screaming wrens were novelties to me. Both varieties of birds are as common in Calcutta as sparrows are on the Rhine. Calcutta, although, like Canton, it is beneath the twenty- third degree of north latitude, is much hotter than the latter city. The sun, at this season of the year, was already broiling hot, and it was dangerous to expose oneself to its rays without protection. What merchants and workmen, even the most careful, must endure throughout the year, in spite of all artificial coolness, in Calcutta and other places in tropical India, can only be realised by those who know the power of the Indian sun from experience. The German consul, Mr. Schmidt, introduced me to Messrs. Wolff, Wilmar & Co., one of the first German firms in Calcutta, who were despatching the first German steamer from Calcutta to Bremen. Mr. Oldemar and Mr. Wilmar, two members of this firm, were very obliging to me, and offered to send my fifteen cases and boxes from Calcutta to Bremen free of cost. As I have already stated, the transshipment of my curiosities, and the declarations at the custom house, gave me a great deal of trouble. Nevertheless, I must commend the courtesy and friendly consideration of the English officials. Had I come to the custom house as an English princess, the inspector and VOL. n. 4 50 THE NORTH &TAR other officers with whom I had to do could not have been more obliging and polite than they were to me, when they found that I was an unprotected lady travelling alone. It was very hot, and the gentlemen regretted that I should have so much trouble, and in my journeys from one office to another, one of the first officials always accompa- nied me, and if he could spare me any errand, he did so. The English, in spite of their apparent coldness and their many strict customs, are an honourable, noble race, and I met with the kindest and most warm-hearted friends amongst them wherever I went. The German consul much regretted that he could do nothing for my journey on English railways. For this, however, I was prepared before I came to India, and I therefore took no steps to obtain a free journey. However, Consul Schmidt, who had heard of the object of my collection, sent me fifty rupees through Messrs. Wolff, Wilmar & Co. For this sum I subsequently bought some delicate specimens of sandal- wood work in Bombay, which were afterwards sold in Germany for the benefit of the poor soldiers and widows of the Franco-Prussian war, bringing in double the sum which Consul Schmidt had presented to me. Many of my cases were not so well packed as I could have wished, and I now repacked them. To do this I had to go on board the steamer Quito, which was to sail for Bremen in a few days, and take my Oriental treasures home. I did my work in the broiling heat of the Bun, and every one who saw me warned me of the danger of a sunstroke. But I could not rest satisfied without seeing to the packing myself, and with the help of the carpenter of the steamer Quito, who opened AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 51 and nailed down the cases, I had soon finished. The steersman, a very obliging Englishman, numbered all the cases and painted my name on them, and two months later they all arrived in good condition, and free of cost, at Bremen, care of Mr. Claussen, the agent of my kind friends in Calcutta. Messrs. Wolff, Wilmar & Co. recommended me to their agents at both Agra and Delhi. His Grace the Eight Reverend Archbishop "Walter Steins, to whom I thought it useless to complain of my disagreeable experience in the Convent XL, gave me letters of recommendation to all the ecclesiastics and the Ladies Superior in India, under his apostolic seal. He treated me as nobly as did his fellow-countrymen in Java. A more stately-looking man than the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Calcutta I have never seen, and the Holy Father in Rome himself cannot have a more dignified bearing than his Grace "Walter Steins. The sweet and beautiful Lady Superior, in acknowledge- ment of all my suffering and fasting in her convent, pre- sented me with a little picture and a medal of the Holy Virgin. She told me I was very good and sincere, and that she loved me for my straightforward conduct. The beau- tiful woman and all the nuns kissed me at parting, said that they would pray for me, and begged that I would do the same for them, to which request, however, I made no positive promise. On the evening of the sixth of March, I left Calcutta by express train. At the station I met Mr. Hardenfeldt, of the firm of Wolff, Wilmar & Co., who was good enough to see about my ticket, luggage, &c. I was very glad to 52 THE NORTH STAR have met as kind and sympathetic fellow-countrymen in Calcutta as in Batavia. I once more sent my thanks through Mr. H. to the head of the firm, and set off to Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus, with a mind at ease. It seemed strange to me to be again travelling by rail, for since I had left America, I had not seen a single steam- engine. This was a change, however, which soon lost its charm in the hot climate of India. The heat and dust in the close prison of the carriage were extremely oppressive, and I often longed for a breath of cool air on the pure fresh ocean. The direct line through East India, from Calcutta to Bombay, is 1500 miles in extent; and by express train the peninsula may be traversed in three days and three nights from one end to the other. The railways of India are the worst on which I ever travelled, and I heard many complaints against the Anglo- Indian railway companies. First-class carriages in India are not as good as second- class in Germany, and there are no sleeping-rooms or other comforts requisite in a hot climate. The wealthy company will have to be more generous than it is now, and to improve many things, before it will please the travelling public. At the time of the year there was nothing much to admire in the vegetation of the districts through which I travelled ; plants and grass were neither alive nor dead, neither green nor decayed. All nature betrayed signs of a long drought, and the exhausted earth was evidently languishing for a refreshing rain. Sometimes I saw the golden tops of ripe rice, or the white leaves of the poppy. The only beauties of the AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 55 route were the mango-trees, then in flower, the artificially irrigated rose gardens, and the green ivy, creepers of which climbed over the windows of all the houses, whilst the proud rose, the queen of flowers, was the ornament of every garden. The chief productions between Calcutta and Benares are rice, millet, opium, cotton, bananas, tamarinds and mangos. After a journey of twenty-six hours I reached Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus, on the banks of the equally sacred river Ganges. My recommendation there was to an amiable English lady, whose husband was stationed at Benares, and who had come from cool England to the fiery sanctum of the Hindus but three months before, bringing with her two rosy-cheeked little daughters. The good lady received me with every kindness ; she saw how exhausted I was, and had a cooling bath prepared for me. After that I partook of some refreshment, and then, as I had not slept for two nights, I went to lie down. On account of the great heat, the whole house was dark- ened, all the doors and shutters being kept closed during the day. I soon fell asleep, and slept from nine o'clock in the morning until six in the evening. The next day Mr. Thompson showed me everything worth seeing in the holy city. First we drove to the principal temple of Siva, on the banks of the Ganges. From there we went to the temple of Doorga. A whole troop of monkeys were clambering from the gateway of the building to the top of the tower. From every niche of the lofty temple-walls protruded the outstretched paws and the dangling tails of these horrible animals. We were not admitted to the temple, but the entrance to it was so 54 TEE NORTH STAR dirty that 1 had no strong wish to see the interior. A number of Hindu men and women, their faces, hands, and clothes smeared with blood, were sitting between high baskets of ivy and flowers, weaving wreaths and hanging them over their blood-stained breasts and shoulders. During this fantastic and repulsive flower-work they sang mad songs, shouted enthusiastically to the monkeys above them, and every now and then smeared themselves with blood, which was kept in a pot standing in the midst of the flowers. The sacred monkeys are to the people of Benares the living representatives of the god Doorga. In one temple the god worshipped is a black stone ; in another monkeys are the objects of devotion. "Which sym- bol does my reader call the most absurd ? The ugly mon- keys, as I can myself bear witness, are held in the highest esteem in Benares. Siva, as my companion told me, when we were in a temple dedicated to him, is the symbol of destruction and reproduction. But if Siva is nothing more than what I heard him to be, he is a very unimportant god. His wife, Kali, is a savage goddess, who brings the human race nothing but evil. Her offspring, which are also included in the category of Hindu gods, are but miserable abortions of weak and deformed deities. Siva and Kali are esteemed and honoured by the Brah- mins according to the value of the materials which their temples and the idols themselves are constructed. A golden Siva is, in their opinion, a higher god than one of silver or bronze, so that the character of the god is of little account. The cupola and towers of the temple of Siva are of AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 55 molten gold. Through the open door, in the centre of the paved floor, Mr. T. showed me a black stone, about ten inches in diameter, representing the god Siva. The num- ber of pilgrims was considerable ; many brought rose- water and other perfumes, and poured them over the black stone over the god Siva. Siva appeared to me a very poor and insignificant god ; Kali, his savage wife, I never saw ; she did not come in my way in India, so that I did not make her acquaintance. Three beautiful white sacred cows were walking about in the temple of Siva, wearing tastefully-woven garlands of orange leaves and lotus flowers, and eating the ivy and lotus leaves thrown to them with great relish. Benares, bearing the imposing title of the " sacred city of the Hindus," did not interest me as I expected it would have done. I there witnessed the worship of Buddha in its most degraded and shameful form. Sarnath, a suburb of Benares, is the birthplace of Buddha, where stood his cradle 2400 years ago. If it had not been too hot, I should have visited the site of Buddha's home. Mr. T. took me to Queen's College, an institute for natives, under the superintendence of English professors. The gentleman who conducted us over the building and through the classes of aspirants, who were all natives, gave me a very useful book, containing the best information re- specting Benares and Sarnath. Buddha, according to tradition, was an Indian prince. He left the pleasures of the world, renounced crown and sceptre, kingdom, honours, and friends, and lived for five years in the greatest seclusion. By the constant practice 56 THE NORTH STAR of virtue and the strictest self-abnegation he attained to the perfection of a supreme god and became the redeemer of mankind. After five years of the most solitary and holy life, he commenced his teaching in Sarnath, the place where he was born. His divine truth spread through the whole of the East, and he redeemed the fourth part of the inhabitants of the whole world. His saving doctrines will, according to prophecy, spread farther, and farther, and finally redeem all mankind. But the pure and holy teaching of Buddha left not the slightest trace of purity and holiness behind it in the place where it was first preached. What representatives of Buddha are Siva and his wild wife Kali or Doorga ! What monster apes introduce ua to the poor Buddha of whom I had heard so many pretty things in Japan, China, and the Eastern Archipelago ! How much dishonoured is the prophet and redeemer in his own fatherland ! When I visited the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, some months later, and witnessed the lawless- ness which is tolerated and practised in the holiest place of the Christians, my thoughts flew back to Benares, the sacred city of the Hindus. Sarnath, in the neighbour- hood of Benares, was the birthplace of the redeemer Buddha, who, as people say, redeemed the eastern world, and in Benares, the true Buddha is altogether ignored and forgotten. Bethlehem, near Jerusalem, was the birthplace of our Redeemer, Christ, the Son of God. But is there one spot in western Christendom where the birthplace and death of the Saviour of the Christians are more AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 57 shamefully dishonoured, more shamefully desecrated, and where His divine teachings are more ignored than in the scene of His sufferings and death in the Holy Sepulchre and in the City of Jerusalem ? Corruption in the East ; corruption in the West ! On the third day I bade Mr. and Mrs. T. farewell ; the dear lady gave me an Indian present in remembrance of her ; and her little daughter of three years old presented me with a fine bouquet and the photographs of papa, mamma, baby, and herself, telling me that she would not forget Miss Weppner. I started in the cool of the evening, and the whole family accompanied me to the station in a large open carriage. I held the pretty smiling baby on my knee, and it played with the roses and flowers its little sister had given me. I had often had the good fortune to meet with happy mothers and innocent babies. It was part of my very nature to attach myself only too quickly and warmly to pure true souls, and I often took leave of them with tears. God protect the good friends who received me so kindly ; God bless the dear little ones ! Mrs. T. gave me a letter of introduction to friends in Lucknow, and I went by night via train from Allahabad to Cawnpore. At a principal station I was told there was a restaurant, and time would be allowed for supper. I went to the place pointed out, and had hardly sat down when Messrs. Palmer and Curtis walked in, whom I had not seen since our arrival in Calcutta. We had a very pleasant meeting, and again parted, as the gentlemen were not travelling by the same route as myself. 58 THE NORTH STAR I reached Cawnpore before the break of day, and travelled by a branch line to Lucknow, where I arrived beneath the broiling sun. My introduction there was to a Portuguese family, and I became acquainted with a vener- able old gentleman and his beautiful young daughter, whose mother had been killed in her own house by a ball from the enemy during the massacre of 1857. The good old gentleman was full of kindness to his guest, and as he knew all that was worth seeing in the town, and had himself gone through all the horrible scenes of the late deeds of blood, the opportunity was afforded me of obtaining the most reliable information respecting the old royal city and its recent history. But many English and other authors have already written so much about India, that it would be presumptuous and intrusive on my part if I, a mere passing traveller, were to attempt to describe the recent horrors in Lucknow and other Indian towns. In what I say here I am but making the fugitive remarks of a traveller on the way to the greatest pillars of the universe : the chief aim of my journey to India was to see the glorious Himalaya mountains. My good host took me to all the places of importance in the history of ancient and modern Lucknow. "We went to the English cemetery, where rest many gallant Britons, and he showed me the battleground of the last massacre, the mound of the dead and the monument to the brave warriors. He related to me many of the heartrending deeds of blood of the cruel Sepoys. One of the greatest works of modern times is the " Imperial Bagh " at Lucknow, which was built during the reign of the last king of Oude, between the years AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 59 1848 and 1850. The building, with the internal decora- tions and fittings, &c., cost eighty lacs of rupees. This lavish profusion is a proof that the last King of Oude was one of the selfish despots of the nineteenth century, and that his poor subjects were blind fanatical slaves, who, no doubt, had to work hard to satisfy the extravagance of their king. Kaiser (Csesar) is one of the titles assumed by the rulers of the kingdom of Oude, and the word is used on the royal seals. On the third day my worthy host and his amiable daughter accompanied me to the station, and I continued my journey to Agra via Cawnpore. When I arrived there the sun was at its zenith, and the glare was so great that I felt quite giddy when I stepped from the carriage into the open air. In spite of the enervating and exhausting heat, the English officials were everywhere very obliging. The station-master happened to be on the platform, and when he noticed that I was alone he came and asked me if I required a carriage. I said yes, and he conducted me himself, under a fearful sun, to a comfortable carriage, and told the coachman where I wished to go. As I did not know whether the agent of Messrs. Wolff, "Wilmar & Co., of Calcutta, to whom I had an introduc- tion, was a married man, I drove first, although reluctantly, to the French convent. I gave the woman who opened the door the letter from his Grace the Archbishop of Calcutta, and asked for an interview with the Lady Superior. I must confess that I was afraid of again entering a convent as a guest, for I 60 THE NORTH STAJK dreaded the strict rules and peculiarities and especially those of the fasting season, which had but just com- menced. I never again met with such a far-sighted, sensible, and liberal Lady Superior as the one with whom I became acquainted in the Dutch convent of Batavia. I therefore preferred, when I was able to do so, to turn to happy families, where I made the acquaintance of dear mothers and sweet babies, rather than to go to convents, which I only did when I was short of recommendation to families, in order to have a respectable abode and to avoid going to hotels. The Lady Superior, in the present instance, was at prayer in the chapel, and let me wait a good hour for an answer. The Hindu coachman informed me that the burning sun was bad for the horses. In the oppres- sively hot carriage I suffered greatly from giddiness, and as I was about to ring at the bell of the convent for the third time, I lost consciousness and fell upon the steps The coachman came to my assistance, and helped me up. I thought it was very unmerciful to let me wait so long, for the nuns knew well enough how hot it was. I pitied the poor animals, and I offered the coachman his money that he might drive them to a cooler place. In that very moment, however, after I had waited an hour and a half, the Lady Superior appeared, and told me that the Arch- bishop's recommendation was very strong, and she was very pleased to see me. The Bishop of Agra, however, who was shortly expected back from the Council at Home, had established a rule that no lady belonging to the laity, who was not a pupil of the Institution, should spend the night at the convent. But during the absence AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 61 of the Bishop, he had entrusted the superintendence of the convent to the Rev. Father Seraphim. She had no doubt, she said, that that gentleman would give permis- sion for me to be received after he had the recommenda- tion from the Archbishop of Calcutta, and she advised me to go myself to the Rev. Father Seraphim, and hand the letter of his Grace to him. The good, patient coachman drove me there ; Father Seraphim, a Frenchman, read the lines in my favour from the archbishop, and told me in the most friendly words that I could be the guest of the Institution. But, he added, it was the most emphatic and strict command of. the absent bishop that no lady belonging to the laity should enter the convent, and he would therefore see that I had a comfortable room in the front building of the Institution. The Father then said I should drive back to the gate of the convent, and he would follow me immedi- ately, so the coachman drove me back from the convent of the monks to that of the nuns, which are quite near to each other, and are only divided by a wall. To my astonishment the Rev. Father Seraphim arrived before me. He had come through a passage of communi- cation which leads from the convent of the monks to that of the nuns. Father Seraphim and the Lady Superior were standing at the gate of the convent, and led me into a large room, which was to be my bedroom ; and adjoin- ing which was a spacious reception room, also at my dis- posal. The Hindu servants carried in my box, and I gave the coachman, who had had to wait so long, a gratuity in addition to his fare, and told him to get himself and his poor horses a good supper. 62 THE NORTH STAR To my horror I now found that there was no one in the large front buildhig but some half-dozen native watch- men, and with them I was left quite alone. This was a new experience ; and it was no flattering feeling for me that I, as a lay-woman, was not worthy to enter the sanc- tum of the nuns. For all that, however, I was not conscious of anything for which my soul had reason to be ashamed, and I hope that God in heaven will have more mercy on non-ecclesiastical women than the Catholic Bishop of Agra in the East Indies. Presently a nun came and brought me some supper, remarking that it was the Catholic fasting season. I started at these words, and feared I should fare the same here as I had done in Calcutta. Lent, as I have person- ally experienced, is the most unfavourable time to be the guest of a Catholic convent. The monks and nuns, I presume, do not like fasting themselves, and are anxious to find some one to do it for them. But unfortunately and fortunately it was even hotter in Agra than in Calcutta, so that what was given to me to eat, with conscious consideration for the sacred season of fasting, was enough to content me in the intense heat, which had lessened my appetite considerably. The Rev. Father Seraphim asked me what he could do for me, and I begged him to forward the letter which had been given to me by Messrs. WoLff, Wilmar & Co.. of Calcutta, to their agent, Mr. Edward Ball, in Agra. The title of the firm in Agra was Kohn, Feilheim & Co., one of the most important European firms in India. When I gave the Rev. Father Seraphim the letter, he AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 63 read the address, and I noticed that he suddenly changed colour, but why, I did not know. An hour later, a light cabriolet drove to the gate of the convent, and a gentleman gave his card to a servant. I had him shown into the reception-room, and a few moments later we made each other's acquaintance. Mr. Ball, for it was he, told me it would give him great pleasure to comply with the wishes of Messrs. Wolff and Wilmar, and he would show me everything in Agra of interest to strangers. I explained to him that I only intended to remain three days in Agra, and he therefore arranged that we should make our first excursion the next morning. Directly after the cabriolet of the young gentleman had stopped at the gate, some nuns had come through the long garden into the front building, and it astonished me to see that they were walking up and down the passage, purposely listening to all that passed between us. The Englishman was a fine-looking man, and I thought the sight of a handsome layman was a pleasant change for the poor nuns. But in this 1 did injustice to the good women; they had left the sanctum of the convent for another reason. The Rev. Father Seraphim had forwarded my letter to the Englishman, and from him the Lady Superior and the nuns knew whom I expected. I noticed that Mr. Ball had something par- ticular to say to me; but the observation of the nuns, who carried on their promenade in the corridor, close to the open drawing-room door, prevented him from doing so. At last he wished me good evening, mounted his cabriolet^ and drove rapidly away. I had hardly 64 THE NORTH STAR returned to my room, when the Rev. Father Seraphim and the Lady Superior came in. They seated themselves, and told me in a most significant manner who this " dread- ful young man " was. He was a Protestant, and had a beautiful young sister, who had married an advocate in Agra a few years before, and was, as I learnt from her brother the next day, very happy with him. But this sister had been stolen from the convent by her brother, and he had prevented her from becoming a Catholic and a nun. The brother and sister had lost their parents when very young ; but an uncle had charge of their property, and looked after their education. As there was no Protestant school in that neighbourhood, the uncle entrusted the young lady to the Catholic nuns of the convent of St. Marie, in the front building of which I was staying when this little romance was related. In a short time the eccle- siastical ladies had so far won the youthful heart of their beautiful pupil, that she professed herself ready to become a Catholic and take the veil. There could be no doubt that her property would at the same time be transferred to the convent. The brother, who noticed the growing coldness and the increasing bigotry of his sister, and learnt from herself what she had determined to do, decided on a bold step. Accompanied by his uncle, he went to the convent, and the two asked to see their young relative. The Lady Superior and a staff of nuns brought the sister and niece to her brother and uncle, and that in the very same room in which I met Mr. Ball, the hero of this little episode, for the first time. AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 65 During the conversation, the Lady Superior discovered what was the object of their visit, and she made a secret sign to the young lady to come and follow her. This sign was not, however, lost upon the watchful brother ; and as his beautiful sister was about leaving the room in obedience to the gesture of the Lady Superior, the strong and loving brother suddenly took her in his arms. The uncle protected him and his charge against the enraged nuns, and the brother carried her through the corridor, down to the gate, and into his carriage. The beautiful young lady was gone, and with her her beautiful money ; both were lost to the convent. The good brother and her other relatives soon brought the young lady to reason ; and she is now the wife of a gentleman of good position, and the happy mother of several pretty children. The little history which I have here only briefly related, played at the time of its occurrence an important part in the English newspapers of India. The Rev. Father Seraphim and Lady Superior complained to me that the young gentleman and his uncle had compromised the convent and all the nuns. The heroic brother, who now visited me as the guest of the convent, could not, there- fore, be a very welcome visitor. The nuns who had come through the long garden to the passage in the front building, had done so, less to see the handsome gentleman than to listen to what he said to me. Under the circum- stances it was natural that the ecclesiastical ladies should take every possible means to make me share their hatred of the young Protestant gentleman, my cicerone in Agra. Mr. Ball therefore offered to take me to his sister ; but as I was only going to remain three days in Agra, I YOL. n. 5 66 THE NORTH STAR thought it more advisable to leave the convent in peace, and I managed to offend neither party. The first morning Mr. Ball escorted me to the mausoleum of King Akbar, at Secundra, eight miles distant from Agra. Passing along a fine road, between ruins of mighty palaces and handsome tombs, we came to the stately entrance of a fine garden, bounded on the north, south, east, and west by lofty portals. From each of these four portals a broad and finely-paved garden-path, with beautiful palm, orange, mango and banana trees on either side, leads to a platform of dazzling whiteness, about 400 feet in diameter. At the end of each crossway are large artificial tanks, and fountains in play. In the centre of this elegant platform a lofty pyramidal mausoleum, one hundred feet high, rises in regular gradations. The elevation forms five separate terraces, and along each terrace runs a towering gallery, on the summit of which, on beautiful pillars, rest a row of proud cupolas. The ground of the highest terrace is of the finest white marble, that of the others of red sandstone. On the top of the mausoleum, Mr. Ball pointed out to me a little marble pavilion with a gilded dome, in the middle of which, on an artistically carved sepulchral monument, the ninety-nine names of the invisible god are engraved in rich scroll-work in fine Arabic writing. At each corner of the marble terrace are two marble turrets, standing side by side, with small, round gilded towers. An artistically carved marble screen, divided into separate panels, runs round the edge of the marble terrace ; each separate piece of carving displaying a different fine-art pattern. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 6? Close by, the holy river Jumna flowed along in sacred quietude ; and through the tops of the trees glittered the spire of the French cathedral near the convent, the front building of which was then my home ; but the town of Agra was hidden by the thick foliage of the wood. In another direction glowed in the gold and purple of the dawn a vast silver-white cloud, the majestic mass hovering lightly, and extending from the green earth to the horizon. Glancing sunbeams danced in the clear blue air ; the cloud rocked softly up and down, tinged by Aurora's beams with blue and red ; and when the sun rose clear in the heavens the distant cloud trembled in a glow of the tenderest rose-colour. I gazed steadfastly at the huge mass, which acquired ever fresh beauty, and was like a fairy castle resting in the arms of the free breezes of heaven above the green landscape. Full of enthusiasm, I looked back again and again and I thought of all the fairy tales of my childhood of the " Thousand and one Nights," with their palaces and castles in the air, which chased each other through my excited brain. " That," said my companion, " is the ' Taj,' that white marble building with the lofty cupola, between the green trees in the distance." I looked at it again, admired it, and rejoiced in its silent beauty. "It is poetry and enchantment combined," I said at last. " It fills me with awe. I feel captivated by the distant picture, Mr. Ball, and you must not take me to the ' Taj ' until I have seen everything; for I fear that the poetic im- pression made upon me by the picture this morning will be dispelled by close approach to the reality." " The 68 TEE NORTH STAR reality," replied Mr. Ball, " will not disappoint you ; it will but add yet more to the poetry of the distant view." It was with difficulty that I tore myself away from the glorious scene, and we descended the steps of the mausoleum. A long, deep passage led to the vault of King Akbar, in the inside of the building. Through a small crevice in the uppermost dome, a faint light pene trates into the dark chamber ; and I made out a simple grave in the form of a sarcophagus. A garland of fresh flowers, still wet with morning dew, lay above the quiet resting-place of the once powerful king. Beneath this sarcophagus lie the ashes of the great Akbar, the successor of Tamerlane (Timur), and predecessor of the emperor Shah-Jehan, the wisest and most powerful monarch of this glorious race. The grave of the Begum Marie, a Portuguese princess, and the wife of King Akbar, is situated a little distance from that of her husband. But this grave is held in no honour whatever; and the building, which was a good deal injured during the massacre of 1857, is now used as a chapel by the Christian missionaries. I was most gratified with my first excursion in Agra ; and the next day Mr. Ball escorted me to the celebrated ruins at Futtehpore Sikree, once the magnificent summer residence of King Akbar. In order not to suffer too much from the heat, we had to start very early. "We had good brisk horses, and reached Futtehpore Sikree, twenty-two miles from Agra, in three hours. At the end of a row of red sandstone hillocks some four miles long, which in many places had fallen, or were threatening to fall, stretched a vast field, strewn AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS, 69 with the ruins of walls, terraces, palaces and cupolas. At the entrance towers a majestic portal, which gives access to a path through the mighty ruins of glorious days gone by, leading to a solitary bungalow, where an old Mussulman received us with a friendly salaam, and offered himself as a guide. I was quite astonished at the extent and magnificence of the ruins in the midst of which we were now standing. To form a notion of the glory of the past in India, one must see Futtehpore Sikree. The ruins at Yuen-ming- yuen, formerly the imperial summer palace in the north of China, are but a miniature picture compared with the ruined summer palace of King Akbar. Palaces, mosques, countless pavilions, cupolas and turrets, some entirely, some only partially ruined, and others still perfectly upright, rose from this wild and pic- turesque chaos. Often I looked across a perfect sea of ruins; it was a wildly grand picture of splendour and desolation. .Yet this singular scene, bathed in rays of the dazzling Indian sun, awoke no feelings of genuine sorrow. Not a cloud upon the vast expanse of heaven not a shadow upon earth. Standing, as I was, beneath the vertical rays of the glowing orb, I had never seen my shadow so small. The mighty ruins of the red sand- stone buildings here, an entire wall or a pavilion with blue towers there, a portion of a palace with a golden cupola, all alike, the lofty and the low, were absolutely shadowless, and glowed in the scorching brightness of the vertical sun. The spectacle was indescribably grand, and all sense of gloom or of desolation was lost in the glory of the 70 THE NORTH STAR sunbeams. The Mussulman was a very polite, inde- fatigable escort, whose explanations were endless. He wore a thin white robe, and the end of his white turban hung down over his left shoulder. He led us through an endless labyrinth of vestibules, terraces, ruined palaces, tanks and wells, and in this wild chaos we often stood beneath a still solid roof in some beautiful corridor or apartment. Our guide showed us the undestroyed residence of the Christian wife of King Akbar, where we saw the finest fresco paintings, and in the different niches above the towers and windows I saw several Christian pictures. On one side of the tower of the palace I noted a whole company of Indian gods and goddesses, and an elephant. Near the Christian palace stand the five Mahal palaces, resting on as many quadrangular platforms, rising one above the other in pyramidal form, and supported by sculptured pillars. Behind these build- ings the Mussulman showed us a curious labyrinth, in which the ladies of the emperor's "zenana" once played at hide and seek. Near this place, and amongst a heap of ruins, stands a well-preserved chapel with fine cupolas, in the centre of which is an enormous column, adorned with the most magnificent sculptures. At the four corners of the chapel are four little terraces, forming a square. According to history, Akbar held consultations with his chief counsellors on religion and science in this chapel. Ascending some steps we entered a beautiful pavilion, with a pyramidal canopy resting on four pillars ; from whence we inspected the palace of the Sultan of Constantinople with its lavish sculptured decorations. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 71 All that I have hitherto mentioned stands in the midst of ruins ; but in this labyrinth of destroyed buildings much more remains which I cannot describe. I saw a whole world of concentrated art in this chaos, for it includes buildings in the walls of which there is not an inch of undecorated surface. The fine sandstone is every- where sculptured and carved with so infinite a variety of artistic designs, that I called them a " Museum of exquisite patterns." Many of these sculptured works are as well preserved as if the master had finished his task but yesterday. In no spot in the world had I seen so rich a collection of the productions of art and talent as amongst the ruins at Futtehpore Sikree ; here imagination seems to have been taxed to the very utmost in order to produce new combi- nations of ornaments. But this favoured spot has other attractions besides fine ruins. At a little distance from the wild scene of desola- tion above described, a lofty staircase leads to a large open court. This court is 428 feet long by 406 wide, and is surrounded by a peristyle fifty feet high. I was as much astonished at the beautiful symmetry and magnifi- cent decoration of this court, as at the peculiar grandeur of the ruins which I had already seen. On one side of the corridor is an imposing gateway, 120 feet high, above which, right and left, rests a mosque with three towers. In front of the gateway, on the out- side of the court, is a large tank with a fountain in the centre. Opposite to the gateway, in the inside of the court, is the mother-of-pearl tomb, in which the Moslem Sheikh, once a favourite of King Akbar, is buried. The 72 THE NORTH STAB grave is under a canopy six feet high ; and the material of both is mother-of-pearl, but the floor of the tomb is of jasper, and the walls are of white marble, studded with cornelians. Upon the grave lies a silken shroud, inter- woven with gold. Fresh and withered flowers lay about in profusion. The outer wall of the mausoleum is sur- rounded by a marble screen, which is considered the finest specimen of decorative art in India. This costly tomb is moreover adorned with rich ivory pillars, wreathed with garlands of wondrous floral designs and with marble filigree-work. The entire mausoleum of the holy Moslem Sheik is said to have cost 350,000 pounds sterling. This vast court, with the colossal gateway and the costly internal structures, presents an appearance alike grand and artistic. The inside of the Tuilleries or of other princely courts of Europe sinks into insignificance beside the magnificence of this building. Close to the colossal gateway we ascended through the peristyle on the right side of the palace of Akbar, and from thence we had one of the finest views in the whole world. Before us was outspread all that gold or silver, intellect or art could create for crowned human gods all that envy or time could destroy. A little world of glory and greatness, a wilder- ness of sumptuous ruins, a museum of sculpture, of art and talent ! We descended and made our way to the edge of the splendid tank. There several Hindu boys made the awful offer to jump from the battlement of the palace into the tank for a reward of one rupee. I turned away, as I did not wish to see it, but Mr. Ball offered not only one but two AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 73 rupees, and in a few minutes the reckless boys were on the high roof of the palace, not far from the great gateway ; I saw them spring, and gave a loud cry but they were already in the tank, and in the twinkling of an eye they had dived, risen to the surface, and, swimming to the steep steps of the tank, they ran up, dripping, and came to us for the promised fee. As they started on their journey through the air from the roof of the palace the bold boys held their feet wide apart, and in their precipitous descent they had the presence of mind to bring their feet close together when they touched the water. One of Mr. Ball's servants prepared a good meal for us in a cool bungalow, and at the request of the faithful Mus- sulman who had conducted us over these romantic scenes I wrote a glowing testimonial for him in his note-book. After dinner he took us to the Elephant Gate, at the foot of the mound of ruins. On a fine pedestal on either side of the gate reclines a colossal elephant. The tower is 90 feet high and is studded with elephants' tusks from the base to the summit. Much gratified with the grand sight of the mighty rums, we left Futtehpore Sikree, and at six o'clock I stepped into the deserted reception-room of the front building of the convent of St. Marie. Not until late in the night, when my weary eyelids closed, did the noble ruins of Futtehpore Sikree cease to haunt my busy brain. I dreamt of palaces and pavilions, of golden cupolas and colossal gateways, and as I dreamt, the glowing sunlight, in which the relics of royal glory and royal dust had been bathed at the time of my visit, was replaced by dark shadows which enveloped 74 THE NORTH STAR everything in their gloom Futtehpore Sikree now lay in the dark bosom of black Night. The most beautiful work ever produced by human skill was reserved for the third day, and I was to see in reality the charming ideal picture, the vast silver white cloud, which had so fascinated me in the distance, when viewed from the heights of Secundra. I awaited the hour of the unveiling of the magic scene with deep and solemn awe; my spirit anticipated a religious festival, and it was with great delight that I received the gallant cavalier who was to escort me. The dawn was now breaking, and our gaily caparisoned horses sped rapidly along in the cool morning air. Presently the fairy castle arose before us as from a green ambush we approached the carriage stopped. Through an imposing gateway we passed into a court adorned with lofty trees, and found ourselves at the chief entrance of the magnificent building. Entering a fine gateway, and descending several broad steps, we gained a finely paved avenue in a large and beautiful garden, and as we wandered beneath the shade of lofty Italian cypresses we came to a row of elegant fountains in the centre of the avenue, which, like those of Versailles, play on Sundays only. These fountains were set in a framework of what we may call " mosaic verdure," light feathery bamboo, dark palms, banyans, cypresses, orange and citron trees alternat- ing with each other in a charming manner. Twittering songsters, hidden in the branches, were singing most sweetly ; roses and violets filled the air with their delicate perfume. "With this poetical vista spread out before us we approach the most superb work in the universe, and ascend- AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 75 ing a flight of marble steps at the end of the garden, we gained a handsome platform of the same material,of a bluish- white colour, from which, resting on a marble pedestal, rises the world-famous " Taj Mahal," the marble mau- soleum of the Emperor Shah-Jehan and his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. So dazzling is the effect of the sunbeams on the glittering white marble building and the brilliant platform that the eyes soon become dim. We were obliged to take care not to fall, for the costly floor is as slippery as it is elegant. I stood at the entrance of this famous resting-place, I looked up my ideal had disappeared, but my solemn awe and my admiration remained. I saw no fairy castle, but I saw reality. I was standing before a sanctuary of love, before a heaven of poetry and art ! This reality is indeed the most beautiful and noble poem ever composed to human love. It was the love of the Emperor Shah-Jehan who dedicated this poetic tomb to his beloved. And truly the " Taj Mahal " at Agra is the most poetical resting- place in the world. Who could approach this tomb without emotion ? Where upon earth is there a greater triumph of mortal love, a more beautiful proof of the genial and artistic spirit of the human race! Deeply moved, I entered the sacred hall ; my companion led me down into the subterranean tomb where the beloved " Mahal " rests beside her lord and husband. The stairs were very slippery, and a cool air rose from the dimly- lighted sepulchral chamber. The light from the entrance door falls direct upon the grave. I was now standing before the most elegant sarcophagus known to mortals, constructed of the purest marble, inlaid with agates, cor- 76 THE NORTH STAR nelians, lapis lazuli, and other precious stones. The actual tomb is girt about with a wonderful screen of light trellis- work, representing lilies, irises, and other flowers. The design of this trellis-work is extremely beautiful. Slumber- ing beside his queen, in a similarly decorated but somewhat simpler tomb, rests Shah-Jehan, the hero of this romantic sepulchre. A profusion of bouquets and garlands lay about the tombs ; and the scent of roses, jasmine, and sandal- wood filled the lonely sacred spot. From this sepulchre of love we went to the chamber cor- responding with it above, ascending the same steps we had before descended. In this second hall are two other tombs, called the " Jawabs " or "Answers." They are of a similar form to, and as costly as, those beneath. I counted more than thirty different precious stones in a single sculptured flower. Above the second chamber rises a majestic dome, which has a wonderful echo. I shouted out a few fine sounding words, and my voice reverberated in a long soft sustained murmur above my head, finally dying gently away in the heights of the dome. In- credulous, I looked about on every side in the empty space, to see if some stranger were trying to deceive me. But there was no one near; the echo was that of my own voice. The magic charm of this sweet death chamber affected me with a tender melancholy ; my companion, too, was deeply moved and full of reverence, and as long as we were inside this sacred hall of love, we spoke but little and very softly. "Speak 'neath your voice, and hardly breathe a sigh, For every sound is hidden here, and voice obliged to fly ; But say a prayer as softly as you can, Ten thousand angels will respond AKMAN." AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 77 It is a sacred tradition that angels dwell in the upper portion of the vacant space, and it was formerly the custom to hang a bouquet set with precious stones in the centre of the dome on a golden thread ; which was the symbol of the world hovering in the infinity of space ! To this day I still hear the wonderful echo in the dome of this sanctuary, and whenever my truant spirit flies back to this temple of love, I again explore in fancy the lofty vacant space to see if the echo of my own voice is not that of some stranger. Long does my spirit listen to the mimic sounds as they gently die away. Soft music, such as that of a harp, would sound divine in this hall. "What more shall I say to you, reader, of the exalted beauty, of the charming harmony, of this sacred spot ? It forms one mighty whole, of such poetic and artistic per- fection, that the most fertile imagination must feel satis- fied here. Futtehpore Sikree is a memorial of the past riches and glory of India, and in the " Taj Mahal" we have a second monument of the poetry and art of the kingdom which has now passed away. Neither Paris nor London, Rome nor Constantinople in short, no civilised spot in the world can boast of such riches as India once possessed nay, still possesses in spite of the havoc wrought by the cannon-balls of " civil- ised" races. The " Taj Mahal " is an image of heaven upon earth it will be the wonder of all ages. It was with the melancholy and solemn feelings which every sensitive nature must experience on parting from the good and beautiful that I left this sacred mausoleum 78 THE NORTH STAR of love, and Mr. Ball explained to me all the details of the outside of the building. Everything was so exquisitely finished that I remarked to my companion, "the great f Taj Mahal ' is as scrupulously executed as the delicately carved ivory basket I brought from China." The building is of an octagonal form, and in the Moor- ish style. The outside terminates in a central Oriental dome, with a smaller dome at each of the four corners. On either side is a stately entrance, and on the right and left of each entrance rise two small arches, one above the other. The "Taj" itself is 262 feet, and the minarets are 200 feet high. The material of which the outside of the building is composed is solid white marble ; whilst the inside is of the same materials of various colours, white, light brown, and deep blue being artistically combined. The designs and carving of the flowers and precious stones are so beautiful as to defy description. If heaven possesses so charming a dome, such wonder- ful flowers, and so beautiful an echo as the " Taj Mahal " at Agra how happy may we be there ! what glorious visions we may there enjoy ! Our examination of this charming abode of love had occupied us two hours. The sun was scorching hot ; the dazzling platform emitted fire ; the white marble building glittered and glowed with all manner of colours. Shah- Jehan and Mahal rested calmly in their flower-strewn beds, whilst the angels in the dome watched over them. Adieu, happy royal pair; adieu to your sacred tombs: may ye love one another to all eternity ! As I turned once more to gaze at the poetic spot, and AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 79 indulged in a last lingering look, Mr. Ball brought me a fine bouquet of roses, violets, and jasmine. " I wish," said that chivalrous gentleman, to " crown your delight with a little bunch of flowers, and thia evening I will hold a little fete in your honour here. I will invite my sister and a few friends. The moon will be at its full to-night, and the ' Taj ' is the most wonderful sight when seen in its light. You shall see it this evening under its most charming aspect." I thanked Mr. Ball, and when I got back to the con vent of St. Marie, I told the Lady Superior what I had already seen, and what more I hoped to see the same evening. The Lady Superior left me, and, as I conjectured, went to the Rev. Father Seraphim, for that gentleman soon came to inform me that the rules of the convent would not permit him to allow me to go out in the evening. " All the inmates of the convent must be in bed at nine o'clock," added the good Father. I pointed out to him that I was not staying in the convent itself, but only in the front building of the same, and I begged very earnestly to be excused from obeying the rules of the back building, and to be allowed to go out, as Mr. Ball had arranged a little f6te. I wanted, I said, to see the " Taj " in full moonlight, and the moon did not shine by day. But all my entreaties were in vain. The Reverend Father Seraphim spoke very sweetly indeed, but he would not permit me to go. The reason of this was not so much because of the rules of the convent, but because of the secret hatred of Mr. Ball, " the dreadful young man " who had torn away his beautiful sister and her beautiful money from the convent. I was to have spent the evening with this 80 young lady, and that the Lady Superior and the Reverend Father Seraphim were bent 'on preventing. They had both, however, as well as all the nuns of the convent of St. Marie, seen the " Taj Mahal " by moonlight, for the Rev. Father Seraphim told me so himself, and the evening they did so, neither the Reverend Father nor the nuns were in bed by nine o'clock. But my patient reasoning with the good gentleman accomplished nothing ; I was obliged to stay at home, and although I was staying in the front of the convent, I had to conform to the rules of the back that is to say, of the convent itself. The Reverend Father Seraphim and the Lady Superior told mo not to tell Mr. Ball why I could not go out. This request annoyed me, and I replied without hesitation, "I shall tell Mr. Ball the truth, and nothing else." I felt very disappointed ; for the moon rose in full glory that evening, and the sky and atmosphere were beautifully clear. At hall- past eight o'clock a carriage drove up to the door, contain- ing Mr. Ball, who had come to fetch me. Once more I saw some nuns coming from the garden, and again they walked up and down the passage in front of the door, and listened to every word. When Mr. Ball heard that I could not go on account of the rules, he was very angry, for he had made all the preparations for the f 6te, and his sister and brother-in-law, and some of his friends had already gone to the "Taj" to wait for us. But I was not to go, and for the sake of peace I had to submit. The in- dignant gentleman drove away and informed his friends why .1 did not come. I had had the best of oppor- tunities to see the marble " Taj " in full moonlight, and because of the malignant and jealous caprice of the AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 81 Reverend Father and the Lady Superior I had to forego that pleasure. But to make up to me for my disappoint- ment and for my enforced obedience, the nuns were all very friendly and good to me before my departure, indeed Father Seraphim even offered to be my escort himself, which I declined, telling him I would see nothing more, and that I was very angry with him. I was now actually con- sidered worthy to enter the back building behind the garden in a word, the convent itself, even the inside of the sanctuary ! This, of course, gave me no pleasure, but I was firmly resolved to do everything to ensure a peaceful parting. The nuns who invited me to go through the convent with them and into the chapel were extremely bigoted, and made many low obeisances as they passed along, whilst I behaved naturally, paying no attention to flattering or bigoted remarks. The distortion of religion in many convents is truly painful to witness. In the convent of St. Marie, at Agra, I met with a whole labyrinth of minor deities, amongst whom the belief in one true God and Saviour is almost lost. The nuns, putting the good God quite on one side, enumerated to me so many saints in whom they trusted, and consequently worshipped, and told me of so many prayers which they had to offer up daily to this or that saint, that but little or no time can have been left to them for praying to the true God. Listening to these nuns, one would suppose that heaven and earth, judgment and eternity were not in the power and righteousness of the one God and Judge, but in those of the saints committed to Him. From what the nuns said I could only gather that omnipotence, omniscience, and omni- VOL. n. 6 32 THE NORTH STAR presence are not in their opinion the exclusive attri- butes of one invisible God, but the general character- istics of all the heavenly spirits, whom men that consider themselves infallible have chosen to canonize. One of the good nuns, as we stood in a passage of the convent, showed me a statue of St. Joseph decked with many flowers and ribbons. She knelt down and prayed, and as she rose from her knees she said, "Miss Weppner, do you love St. Joseph? " My answer was candid, and not what the nun expected. She looked at me angrily, and with her hand upon her heart, and an enthusiastic loving glance at the statue of the saint, she said, " Mbi, je Vaime d la folie" (I love him to distraction)! I could not help laughing heartily, and said, " Sister M., we ought not even to love God like that ; if we lose our senses in our love to the saints to begin with, there will be no one left to love God but fools, and are you," I added, smiling " as passion- ately in love with any female saints as you are with St. Joseph?" " Quelle petite mechante ! " (what a naughty little thing you are !) said Sister M., sprinkling herself and me with a handful of holy water. But the most absurd thing of all was yet to come. This was reserved for the moment of my departure. Several nuns came into my room and offered me various new medallions, with the names and virtues of which I had hitherto been unacquainted. They also showed me an " indulgence prayer," of which I had never heard, and which was a modern discovery of a nun in Agra, and had received the sanction and seal of the Church of Eome. I must here enumerate the qualities of this special indul- gence, the rules and prayers of which were printed on a AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 83 paper folded double. On the first side of the paper was a clock, with the hours numbered from one to twelve. This clock represented a twelve hours' guard of honour in the court of heaven. Those who wished to be members of this guard of honour and to win the blessings of the indulgence, chose one of the twelve hours, during which they must 'pay the heavenly court the worship prescribed in the said indulgence, and on a day irrevocably appointed, they must confess and communicate; and for this the members receive a full indulgence and the forgiveness of all the sins of their whole life. One of the nuns explained to me that a guard of honour in the court of heaven exactly resembled in form a similar guard in an imperial or royal court upon earth, and she asked me if I wished to be a lady of honour, and would choose an hour for worship, and earn the full indulgence and for- giveness of the Church. I had heard a good deal of nonsense from Catholics, but never such nonsense as this. I hardly knew what to reply to such absurdities. I have never been able to act a part, and have always spoken out what I think- I could not treat the matter seriously, I therefore treated it as a joke, and told the nun I had no wish to win a post in the court of heaven by such selfish services, and that a paltry guard of honour introduced into the court of heaven, such as that of an Imperial or Koyal court on earth, seemed to me absurdly speculative and egotistical. I told her that I was already a lady of honour, without any interested motive, or any special hours for winning that distinction, and that I always strove to honour God by a worthy and honourable life. 84 THE NORTH STAR My cool and unflattering treatment of the matter dis- appointed and annoyed the nuns. Perhaps, however, although he did not own it, the Rev. Father Seraphim was pleased with my reply, for when I left he gave me a very nice unclosed letter of introduction to the Reverend Dr. Keegan, of Delhi, and told me that the Lady Superior of the convent of St. Marie, Mussoorie, was informed of my approaching arrival. For the last time the cabriolet of Mr. Ball drove up to the gate of the convent. The nuns were determined once more to see the handsome and dreadful young man who had carried away his wealthy sister, and they came with Father S. to wish me good-bye, the dreadful young man standing in the midst of the scene with the calmness, pride, and dignity of which a native of Great Britain alone is capable. He led me to his cabriolet, and when seated, we had a pleasant review and a hearty laugh at the " romantic r61e " he had played during my stay at the convent, and meantime we arrived at the railway station, where he telegraphed to a friend in Delhi, to whom I was introduced by Messrs. Wolff, Wilmar & Co., of Calcutta, begging him to meet me on the arrival of the train. Although only six o'clock in the morning, it was already oppressively hot, but Mr. Ball gave me a basket of refresh- ing fruits, and tied a bottle of soda water outside the car- riage door, that the breeze created by the motion of the train might keep it cool. I thanked the good gentleman for all his kindness to me, and the rapid express soon whirled me away. The heat quickly became unbearable, yet it was but the AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 85 14th of March. I laid a wet cloth on my head, and as I was alone, I opened both windows ; but even the current of air produced by the flying train was hot and scorching. The vertical sun cast no shadows, but seemed to shine in at both windows of the carriage at once. I now closed them and the shutters, but still the sun poured through them from the top ; the wood became burning hot, and so did the handkerchief in the pocket of my dress, so before I used it I waved it about. My dress and everything around me was so hot, that I did not know where to lay my hands. The skin of my face was blistered all over, and it peeled off a few days after. I lost my voice, became very hoarse, and sank into a state of thorough stupefaction. Of the country through which I passed, I saw nothing. At one of the stations some English ladies entered my carriage, but nobody spoke a word. One of the ladies was nearly fainting ; so I silently offered her my eau-de-cologne, which she used, giving it back to me with a mute gesture of thanks. We reached Delhi without having spoken a single word. Mr. Ball's friend, Mr. Kosenheim, a German gentleman, head of the firm of Kohn, Feilheim & Co., of Delhi, re- ceived me. " So this is Indian heat," I said in a hoarse voice. " The heat is bad to-day," he replied ; " but this is nothing to what is yet to come." I knew that Mr. Rosenheim was unmarried, and lived alone. I therefore asked him to take me to the Reverend Doctor Keegan, which he did. Here I once again met a kind and liberal-minded priest. The Reverend Doctor Keegan is a very learned and celebrated theologian, who has obtained the title of Doctor of Divinity. He studied in 86 TEE NORTH STAR Rome, and lived for seven years in the neighbourhood ot the spiritual court. He had arrived in Delhi many years before my visit, and was held in the highest esteem alike by Catholics and Protestants. The reverend gentleman spoke to me very kindly, and when he learnt my wish to be received for a few days in a respectable family, he made the liberal reply: "I am a Catholic priest; I have lived for many years in this place, and know every single family in it. I could not recommend you to any one who would receive you better than Mr. and Mrs. Moll ; they are both Protestants, but, for all that, they are my best friends in Delhi." Thereupon Dr. K. wrote a few lines to Mr. and Mrs. Moll, and my fellow-countryman, Mr. E,., drove me to their residence, which happened to be close to his, the neighbours being well acquainted with one another. Mr. and Mrs. Moll were very pleased that Dr. K., the hon- oured friend of their house, had sent them a guest, and they received me in the kindest manner. Here I again made the acquaintance of a sweet little baby only seven weeks old. Her father and mother were both from Eng- land ; Mr. Moll was a celebrated architect, Mrs. Moll a sweet young lady, and their baby a very beautiful little girl. I felt much happier in the residence of this happy little group than in the front building of the convent of St. Marie at Agra. It was partly my kind host, and partly my good fellow- countryman, Mr. R,., who showed me what was worth seeing in the old royal city of Delhi. Each had his own equipage and horses, and not to tire the poor creatures too much in the great heat, one pair was used one day and the other the next. AND THE SOUTHERN CBOS8. 8? The celebrated ruins of this ancient capital are forty-five square miles in circumference, but as I have described those at Futtehpore Sikree, I will not weary my reader with an account of those of the ancient city of Delhi, which are to a great extent merely a repetition of the former. The visitor of the modern town of Delhi, formerly called " Shahjehanabad," will find it a rich fountain-head of traditions of the past, and for the student of the history of India, a journey to Delhi would be of the greatest interest. Here, too, amidst the endless chaos of a glory which has passed away, we catch glimpses of the degrada- tion, the depravity, and the ruin brought about by the lust of conquest of a cruel ruler. Whilst the crowns of these haughty despots are rusting in the dust, whilst the once glorious East lies in ruins, similar despotic rulers lusting for conquest are rising in the "West. The world holds them in the balance. At first the former was uppermost, but it is now undermost, whilst the latter is rising. Every- thing has its season ; kingdoms, kings, and crowns dis- appear, heaven and earth remain, and God and righteous- ness govern time. I will only notice here a few of the most noteworthy places in Delhi, and those shall not be ruins. I had not as yet seen a Mahommedan temple, and Mr. R. took me to the most celebrated mosque of the east, called the " Jumma Musjid," which is situated between the Cashmere and Delhi gates, on a rocky height. Although I had already seen so many temples in Japan, China, and India, the Mahommedan temple at Delhi was quite a new and interesting sight. We happened to find the faithful Mahommedans at prayer, kneeling on a cool 88 THE NORTH STAR and elegant marble floor, with their faces towards the east, I must here remark that the reverent manner in which Mahommedan devotions are conducted, as compared with the abject behaviour of the Hindus at Benares, excited my admiration and respect. Three lofty and elegant steps led up to the three doors of this noble temple. The chief entrance faces the east, and is higher and more richly decorated than those towards the north and south. The doors lead into a large open quadrangle constructed of sandstone. In the centre is an enormous water basin of the most costly marble. On the western side of the open quadrangle rises the " Jumma Musjid," of oblong form, 200 feet long by 120 wide. The stately hall is surrounded by three magnificent marble cupolas with richly gilded spires. To the right and left of the temple stand two light towers corresponding with the principal one. The materials of which they are built are dazzling white marble and red sandstone, arranged in alternate stripes, the appearance of which was very striking, glittering as they were in the brilliant sunbeams. At a distance about equal to that between each tower and the cupola, rise three projecting galleries, each with a white marble pavilion. The effect of their artistic symmetry is especially fine. Three sides of the open quadrangle are surrounded by an elegant colonnade of red sandstone, and in each corner of the colonnade a white marble pavilion rests on red columns. The mosque itself rises above the fourth side of the quadrangle. The atrium or forecourt of the mosque is paved with white marble, and along the cornice run compartments, ten feet AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 89 long by two and a half wide, of white marble, in which the " Niski " characters are to be read, inlaid in black marble. The floor of the inner court consists of slabs of marble three feet long by one and a half wide, bordered with black marble, on which the Mahommedans were kneeling in prayer. The spot indicating the direction of the holy city of Mecca is a very beautiful niche adorned with rich frieze-work. On the north and south-east of the quadrangle are small columns with white marble tablets. On one of them I saw the eastern hemisphere artistically engraved, and on the others the hour lines. From each line rises an erect gnome or imp, and their shadows, as cast by the sun, show the faithful Mahomme- dans when it is the hour of prayer. From the Jumma Musjid we went to the Pearl Mosque and the royal baths. The latter, though beautiful, are not nearly equal to the one I saw at Futtehpore Sikree. The marble baths of the kings of Delhi and the ladies of the Zenana are very fine, and although much injured, are the most costly I have seen. My companion pointed out to me the marble throne of the king, which had been much injured in the massacre of 1857. Some of the beautiful mosaic works of the great master, Austin of Bordeaux, are still preserved. Delhi possesses a numerous class of remarkable miniature painters, and its gold workers and cashmere manufactories are no less celebrated, but the prices of the productions of all three are very high. I saw various mausoleums in the neighbourhood of Delhi, which, however, after having described the Taj, are of no importance to my narrative. 90 THE NORTH STAR A drive to the Kootub Minar is interesting to a visitor to Delhi, for it is the highest tower in the world. It is on the road to Goorgaon, eleven miles from Delhi. On account of the great heat, we left that city at one o'clock in the morning, and, as we had very good horses, we arrived at our destination long before sunrise. The tower rises in five galleries to a height of 238 feet above the ground ; the lower round is 47 feet, and the upper not quite 9 feet in diameter. By the time the east began to redden, I had climbed up the enormous ascent. I sat down at the top in the cool invigorating air, and awaited the dawn. But no sooner had the orb of day arisen from his fiery bed than 'I ran away and crept quickly into the cool tower. The descent of the spiral staircase was not so easy as the ascent. We took a breakfast of bread and fresh asses' milk in a bungalow, and drove rapidly home, for we dreaded the broiling sun behind us. From the 15th to the 20th of March it was so dreadfully hot that the houses were kept entirely closed throughout the day. Inside the house twilight constantly prevailed. The punkahs above the table were worked by the servants during meals, and those over the beds during the night. But all these artificial alleviations did but little to relieve the oppression of the heat. The worst of it is that many people lose their appetites and have no strength left to endure it. Nor is there any ice to be had, so that cool drinks cannot be enjoyed. I was quite hoarse, and felt so weak that I hardly knew how to stand upright, and the doctor told me that both these symptoms were the result of the heat, to which I was not yet accustomed. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 91 Not until the evening, long after sunset, could the doors and windows be opened and the rooms aired, and even then it was often still very hot. Before sunrise, the entire house was again opened and aired, after which operation everything was shut up, and darkness prevailed for the whole of the rest of the day. The atmosphere out of doors in the middle of the day was like the fumes of a hot furnace. - One day I was invited out to dine. After dinner I left the house and just walked from the drawing-room to the carriage which was standing close to the verandah. The contrast between the atmosphere of the inside of the house and that of the open air was so great, that I fell down stunned beside the carriage. In the vehicle it was as broiling hot as in an oven. I had almost entirely lost my voice in this accident, and for several days I could only make myself understood with great difficulty. How fortunate I was, under such circumstances, in having found a comfortable temporary home ! I was not treated as a stranger, but a friend. In spite of my weakness, I often took the darling baby from the arms of her weary nurse, laid myself down on the sofa in the darkened drawing-room, and played with the little angel. I really do not know which baby to call the sweetest of all those I met with on my journey round the world, they all were so very sweet and angelic. The burden of being a mother in the heat of India must be very 'great, much more so than in more favoured lands. When little babies cannot be sent out of doors, but must be kept in a room day and night, it is very fatiguing for the poor weakened mother, who has herself 92 THE NORTH STAB constantly to contend with the inconveniences and sufferings of the enervating and oppressive heat; she loses her appetite for strengthening food, and has no recreation in the fresh air, no change from the house to the beauties of nature. Even the pleasures which a garden in front of the house might afford can only be enjoyed in the middle of the night during the worst part of the heat, and the poor little babies are often fretful. They can do less to help themselves in the heat than others ; they do not know what ails them, and they cry lustily and fling out their little hands and feet, thereby greatly increasing their sufferings. Poor little things ; if they could but understand the simple words, "Keep quiet, darling." In spite of the inconveniences of the climate, we see the same numerous families of little children in English homes in India, the same tender care and love of fathers and mothers as in English families beneath the cool skies of Britain. The indefatigable long-suffering love of English mothers in India reminded me of some of a different quality, whom I had seen in France and America. One day I made a comical mistake with a " salaam," the usual salutation in India, and which consists in raising a hand up to the forehead. Mr. R., my countryman, sent his servant to me with a message and a " salaam." The Hindoo knew a little English, and I asked him some questions, to which he again and again lifted up his hand to his forehead. At first I was at a loss to know what he meant, but presently I came to the conclusion that his master had a headache. I sat down and wrote a note of Bympathy, advising him strongly to nurse himself, and AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 93 not to take me out on that day, as the almost unbearable heat would certainly make his headache worse. Some moments after the servant had carried my note, I heard the noise of a carriage, and Mr. Rosenheim stepped in. " What," I said, " in this fearful heat, and with the headache you have ! " To this followed an explanation, and it turned out that I had construed the " salaam " he sent me into a headache ; but my countryman said he was very much pleased with my kind note of sympathy, and with the mistake. After spending five days in Delhi, I drove away one evening to Saharunpore, which is the northern railway terminus for the Himalaya Mountains. The Rev. Dr. Keegan, of Delhi, gave me a letter to the Lady Superior of the French convent at Mussoorie, a little town in the. Himalaya Mountains, to whom I had already been recom- mended by the Rev. Father Seraphim. Mr. and Mrs. Moll had a little daughter in that school, for there is no Protestant school in Delhi. They wished me to see their child, and let them know on my return journey how I found her. "When I left Delhi I had a very bad sore- throat, and could not speak ; but my friends comforted me with the assurance that the pure air of the Himalayas would cure me. The next day about noon I reached Saharunpore. The Rev. Dr. K. had introduced me to his friend, the telegraph inspector of the district. But this gentleman had left for Lahore in the morning, and I was therefore obliged to make my own arrangements for my further journey. I was told that the post to Rajpore, at the foot of the Himalayas, would start at twelve o'clock at night, so 94 THE NORTH STAR that I had time to rest. A gentleman of the telegraph office took me to a bungalow, where I found every comfort at a moderate cost. Such bungalows are to be met with in many small and large towns of India. They are for the convenience of the travelling public, and are under the direction and protection of the English government. The tariff is fixed by government, and is very low ; the traveller knows everywhere what he has to pay, and is not likely to be cheated. Besides this, the bungalows are quite private, and therefore not so inconvenient as a hotel. They are under the superintendence of native men and women, and are thoroughly comfortable, cool, and particularly clean. How renovated I felt when I passed from the broiling heat out of doors into the shady bungalow, and found refreshment in a cool room ! Every breath did me good, and the very sight of cold water was a blessing. And when the polite old Hindu showed me an adjoining room with a large bath in it, I felt quite poetic, and the thermometer of my drooping spirits rose from one to a hundred. 1 then remembered that romance by Goethe, in which the hero, in the midst of the sufferings of consuming heat, expresses his longing for cooling water. The nymph of the stream who extols the delight of the cool waves to the fishermen in such fascinating terms, I saw her here. A nymph was reclining in the bath of the bungalow. She beckoned to me and refreshed me. I rose from the waves a new creature, drank a glass of fresh milk and lay down upon a soft bed of gossamer. It was twelve o'clock at noon. I had told the old AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 95 Hindu to wake me at the right time, and to take me and my chattels to the post-carriage, which was to start for Rajpore at twelve o'clock in the night, and he promised to do so. The bungalow was pretty dark, and I soon fell asleep, for I had not slept the previous night. I slept for many hours, and when I woke it was very dark. I thought the good old man would come and awake me, as he had promised ; but nobody came. I had no light, no match, and I could not open the shutters. I became possessed with the notion that I was alone in the large bungalow, and I was frightened. But I did not mean to miss the stage coach, and I dressed myself. Like a blind Jacob, I felt for water, towels, &c., and in so doing tumbled over a heavy jug full of water in the bath-room,, and after a series of various small and great misfortunes, I stood there quite equipped and ready. The good old man had not come, and what was I to do ? I had a pretty heavy trunk, travelling-bag, &c. Who was to take them to' the stage-coach? I took courage, and went to see if the outer door of the bungalow was open. It was ; so I stepped into the open air, and stood in the full moonlight, of which I had seen nothing in the dark room. I only knew two words of the Hindu language, and those were " baboo " (merchant) and " salaam " (good morning and good-bye). Not far from the bungalow stood a little house with two windows. I went first to one and then to another, and, as I did not know the name of the good old man, I shouted " salaam" several times, as a sign that I wanted to go, and to pay my bill. Nobody answered my " adieu," and fear- ing that I should miss the stage-coach, I determined to go, and pay on my return. With the greatest trouble I 96 TEE NORTH STAR carried my heavy trunk out of the dark bungalow into the open field. I took my bag and parasol in one hand, and with the other I pushed the trunk along the smooth ground towards the lighted lamps of the railway station in the distance. But the way there seemed to me much farther than it had seemed the day before, when in a com- fortable carriage. Pushing the trunk was hard work ; it slid badly. I often sat down on my heavy burden and rested. 1 felt very warm though ; the night air was very keen and cold. It is the great contrast between the tem- perature of the days and nights in India which is so dan- gerous to the body, enervated by the intense heat of the day. I now shivered from cold; a sudden pain in my throat seemed likely to choke me. My trunk became heavier and heavier, and when I had dragged my burden to the station, two fingers of my right hand were bleeding. But the stage-coach was still there, and when the conductor, a Hindu, saw that I was too hoarse and cold to speak, he procured me a glass of hot milk, for the restaurant was open. One train was just starting to Lahore, and another to Delhi, Agra, and Allahabad. I paid for my journey to Rajpore, seated myself in the coach, and wrapped myself in my shawl and travelling- rug. My throat was very painful, and my teeth chattered with cold. It was already one o'clock. The passengers were behind time, and the conductor paced up and down impa- tiently with a lamp giving a feeble light, and breathed on his cold hands to make them warm. It was difficult to believe, after the broiling heat of the day before, that WQ could be so cold as we now were beneath the self -same sky. Presently a gentleman, warmly wrapped up, came and AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 97 paid his fare to Rajpore. I recognised his voice, and my first thought, in spite of my painful hoarseness, was to play the hypocrite, and take the gentleman by surprise. He sat down beside me, but my head was entirely envel- oped in my shawl, and he did not recognise me. Two Englishmen also got in and took places opposite to us. We all packed ourselves as best we could, and, although no one spoke, we knew that we were all freezing ; our teeth chattered dreadfully. The stage-coach was in a bad condition ; the front was open, and the two sides were only partially covered in. As the day broke, it was bitterly cold ; nobody showed his face or ventured on a peep into the open air. " Good morning, Mr. Snyder," exclaimed a hoarse voice from a deep recess. Mr. S. looked round, startled, and said, " Is that your voice, Miss W. ? " A hoarse " yes," was my answer. " "What a pleasant surprise ! " he added ; " why did you not tell me you were here before ? " Mr. S. was travelling as the agent of the American government, and had come to Calcutta on the steamer Glenarthney, on which I had last seen him. The gentle- man showed great pity for my hoarse throat, and when we reached the first bungalow, he went and brought a glass of hot milk for each of us, and this he did at all the bungalows we passed. The early morning was even colder than the night, and, for the first time in India, I was glad to see the sun. I basked myself in his warm beams like a frost-bitten plant. We were now approaching the Ddk bungalow, at the entrance of the picturesque " Mohure Pass," forty miles north of Saharunpore. We already felt the pure air of the VOL. n. 7 98 THE NORTH STAR Himalayas. It was a fine bracing morning, and as my coldness decreased in the growing warmth, my spirits rose and my enthusiasm increased. With the rising sun, the most glorious mountains of the world, the loftiest peaks of the earth, rose before me, shrouded in the loveliest blue mist. This day was to be one of the most enjoyable of my journey, and my heart, full of joy in the lap of Nature, delighted in the thought that to-day I should approach those lofty peaks which are the greatest wonders of creation. I gazed and gazed ; the tops of the Himalayas were struggling through the transparent vapour. But now we were driving through a charming narrow valley, shut in by a picturesque chain of hills which cut us off from the rest of the world. The wall of rock on the right of this romantic valley is one of the finest masterpieces of artistic Nature, and resembles the solidly built wall of a fortress, although it is merely a long piece of rock. The valley winds along the Sewlick range of hills, between Mohure and Dehra, and is fourteen miles long. But what a glorious sight met my eyes, at the egress of this romantic valley! A far-stretching chain of lofty inaccessible mountains, their venerable white heads stand- ing out against the azure blue sky in the brilliant cradle of the dazzling sunbeams. " There they are, the highest peaks of the earth," I said to myself, in the delight of my happy, joyful heart. It is another seven miles from Dehra to Rajpore. The valley now becomes very wide, and wherever the eye falls, new beauties greet the sight. The colossal pillars, which here so illusively unite heaven and the earth, how AND THE SOUTHERN CEOSS. 99 vividly do they bear witness to the omnipotent God ! How can the atheist or scoffer, who sees these proofs of omnipotence, still doubt of the existence of a God ? How can he venture to declare that the whole universe sprang from empty space, without the mandate of a higher power ? How poor and pitiable, how foolish is the man who can see this mighty universe and all its wonders without be- lieving in a Creator ! Arrived in Rajpore, at the foot of the Himalayas, we took a hearty meal in an English hotel. In the pure air of the glorious valley I suffered but little with my hoarse- ness ; in the charms of nature bodily ills must fade away. A being who is enchanted casts off all mortal suffering. The proprietor of the hotel ordered two comfortable sedans for us, and we were soon being carried by lusty sons of the mountains up to the little town of Mussoorie, which is situated on a peak, seven miles high, of the immense range of the aerial Himalayas. The mountain path was very steep, and there were eight bearers for each sedan, who took turns to carry it, four at a time. The sun, though more endurable than at Saharunpore and Delhi, was nevertheless dreadfully hot in the lower part of the ascent. But the air was cool and pleasant, and the bear- ers carried their load with evident care. The higher we ascended, the loftier rose the sky and the mountains, the wider our range of vision, the vaster the sea of majestic columns of wild ravines and deep valleys. We had attained to about a height of 5000 feet. In the far distance, at the foot of the eastern chain of mountains I saw the proud head of the sacred stream, the Ganges, a true son of the Himalayas. 100 TEE NORTH STAR The little town of Mussoorie, although small, is much scattered, and embraces several miles. Many houses are at wide distances from each other, some on a height and others on a declivity of this rugged ground, which had been found suitable for a building. This pretty little town, on this lofty height, presents a very charming appearance. There one lives removed from the everlasting confusion, struggle, and noise of life in the ordinary world, beneath the beautiful wings of the highest and most peaceful bat- tlements of the universe. One of the first buildings in this romantic town is an English hotel, which Mr. S. entered, telling me he was going back the next da} 7 , and hoped to meet me at the stage-coach at Rajpore. " Mr. S.," I replied, " you will not see me in the valley to-morrow ; it is too beautiful up here. I must enjoy the glories of the Himalayas for three good days. Therefore I wish you good-bye." Mr. S. was one of those brisk Americans who do every- thing on wings. He was taking a scientific journey round the world, and that in a flying tour of only six short months ! Whenever I met him, he spoke of haste ; he was now still in the north of India, and he intended to be in Alexandria, Egypt, in three weeks. This scientific journey was so exactly mapped out, that he could not spend long enough in any one place to get more than a cursory superficial knowledge respecting it. My strong bearers carried me without a murmur to the last and highest of the buildings of Mussoorie. This building is an offshoot of the French convent at Agra. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 101 The nuns and pupils live in the winter at the little town of Dehra, in the plains, and at Mussoorie in the summer. The summer however begins early in India ; it was only the 20th of March, and already, on account of the great heat, the school had been moved to the Himalayas. The emigration of the nuns and schools going up from Rajpore to Mussoorie formed a long caravan. But an hour before, the priest and Lady Superior of the Institution had arrived, and the bells of the convent chapel were still ringing out the tidings of the arrival of the honoured pair. "Wearisome transportations such as this take place every- where. The work is done by the good-natured natives, who, as I could not but recognise in all countries in the East, are neither more nor less than the wretched slaves of the Europeans and of their own high-caste fellow- countrymen. Fortunately, the lower caste of Hindus are born with the notion that they are the servants and slaves of the higher. India, above every other country of Asia, possesses a class whose regular business it is to serve ; it is the destiny of their caste, and they know no better state. They are consequently very humble and patient, easier to govern, and less despotic than other classes of servants who were not born in this narrow faith. The caste system in India is a truly terrible institution ; it is a cruel relic of the despotic idolised rulers and grandees of the past and present, whose best and noblest notions of righteousness, and most exalted ideas of art and knowledge, are combined with the most depraved and shamefu. precepts of despotism ; a strange union ! 102 THE NORTH STAB CHAPTER III. WE had now reached the highest building of Mussoorie. the French convent, and I sent my letter of introduction to the Lady Superior. The assistant Lady Superior came and led me into the drawing-room, where I found the Lady Superior. I greeted her ; but the grand lady, instead of replying to my greeting, lookeji at me sharply, and said in an excited manner,"' Are you a Catholic ? " " Yes," I replied. " But you are a Prussian ; you are a Germ an," she added angrily. " You belong to that barbarous nation which is ruining France. It is enough for me to know that you are a Prussian, but, besides that, I receive no married or unmarried secular ladies in my convent, and the Bishop of Agra has forbidden me to do so. I am only surprised that the Archbishop of Calcutta and the Rev. Dr. Keegan, of Delhi, should have introduced a secular lady to us." The ecclesiastical lady who thus spoke to me in so charm- ing and Christian a manner, must, to judge from her ap- pearance have been at least seventy-five years old. A nun came into the drawing-room for a moment, knelt before her, kissed her hand, and in this kneeling posture she AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 103 received a few orders from the Lady Superior. As she rose, I bowed politely and left at the moment the Lady Superior was saying something most insulting about the country of my birth. I felt that I had every right to reply to her in the same strain, but her grey head exhorted me to respect, and I held my tongue. The assistant Lady Superior, who must have felt that the Lady Superior had grossly insulted me, followed me, and begged me to excuse the venerable mother's rough treatment, adding that she was a Frenchwoman with a very hasty temper, and that it was the fact of my being a Prussian which made her so angry and led her to refuse to show me any hospitality, for she had the right to make exceptions to the rules in receiving or turning away strangers. The assistant Lady Superior was very talk- ative, and told me further of another reason why the Lady Superior would not receive me. She had heard of my approaching arrival some days before, but there was a German nun from Prussia in the convent, whose brother had taken part in the war against France as a Prussian officer. The war, which had begun eight months before, was still a secret to the German nun. The Lady Superior had intercepted all the letters which her parents in Prussia, and her brother from the seat of war, had for- warded to the convent in India since the outbreak of the war. But lately the brother had written no more, and it was supposed that he was dead. The Lady Superior had issued a stern command that nobody should tell the Ger- man nun that war was going on between Prussia and France, and that her brother had taken part in the bloody 104 THE NORTH STAR struggle. And the Lady Superior was afraid that I should talk too much in the convent, and should let out the secret of the war to the German nun. Such was her second reason for giving me, a secular Prussian lady, no reception. The assistant Lady Superior, like a regular female gossip, also informed me that the Prussian nun was very highly cultivated, and one of the most useful nuns of the convent. She was suffering from home-sickness, and loved her parents and brother very much, and was very unhappy at not having had any news from home for so long. But the Lady Superior could not give her the letters from her parents and brother which had been kept back; the brother wrote no more, she repeated, and had probably fallen on the field of battle. This the nun was not to know, as she was very useful to the Institution ; and her grief at the death of her brother would make her unfit for her occupations, and hinder her in the fulfilment of her duties. How Catholic, how Christian, and how egotistical, I thought to myself. Roman Catholics are taught to pray for the dead, and here, in a Roman Catholic convent, the death of her only brother is concealed from a poor nun, and she is robbed of the sweet duty of praying for him ; and this merely out of absurd selfishness, because of the mourn- ing which would ensue on the revelation of the secret to the poor nun. She is a useful member of the sacred order, and her grief would prejudice the benefit of the convent, derived from her talents as a teacher. Egotistical, deceitful, Roman Catholic agents ! Such egotism, in defiance of all Christian love and AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 105 truth, I had never before met with in Roman Catholic convents. It is scarcely possible to believe that when the Franco- Prussian war had been going on for eight months, and all the Europeans, of the East, with the Japanese, Chinese, Malays, and Hindus were aware of the progress of European affairs, that a poor sister, whose brother was a soldier on the field of battle, actually did not know that such a war was going on in her own country. Yet the matter was exactly as above reported. In her communicativeness the assistant Lady Superior used several words of double meaning, and it is my belief that the Lady Superior had had certain intelligence of the death of the poor nun's brother, but that she kept it a secret. The poor daughter and sister was not to have any mourning ; she was not to long after the heavily afflicted old parents, she should not weep nor grieve, nor neglect her duties, but she should work as she had worked hitherto. There were wealthy pupils in the convent ; the school, although between sacred walls, was no exception to the usual run of human life. Earthly wealth is struggled for in it ; the convent is anxious to heap up riches upon riches. The French Lady Superior hates the Prussians, but a highly cultivated Prussian nun helps to collect together the mammon of this world. She is indispensable, and everything must be done to keep her as she is. This is Roman Catholic renunciation of the world, Roman Catholic love and truth ; and worldly treasures are the chief aspirations of these spiritual women, whilst they are apparently seeking nothing but God and heaven. "When the assistant Lady Superior had again asked me 106 THE NORTH STAR if I would forgive the Lady Superior, and I had replied, yes, from all iny heart, she told me that in honour of the arrival of the Lady Superior the most precious relics had been brought out, and she invited me to go in and pray. " No," I replied positively ; " I am in no mood to pray. "What you have told me concerning my poor country- woman makes me indignant, and grieves me. If I am not worthy, as a secular lady and a Prussian, to be the guest of a spiritual home, a French convent, how can you con- sider me worthy to enter your chapel, where the most sacred relics are brought out to be worshipped? Here, on this proud and beautiful height," I added, " I see the loftiest point of heaven ; I need not enter your chapel and kneel down to your relics, for here 1 pray to the highest God ! " The assistant Lady Superior now understood to whom she was speaking. She went back to the convent ashamed, and I went down the ascent. The Rev. Father Keegan, of Delhi, had told me that the Lady Superior at Mussoorie was a true Frenchwoman, who was often very excited and hasty, and that she could then be very unjust. As a precaution he had therefore given me a second letter to an English widow, who lived on the hill on which the convent stood, and who received me very warmly. Here, too, they knew about the poor German nun, and Widow S. told me that the nun often wept and bemoaned not having had any letters from her parents or brother. But the French Lady Superior had exacted a promise from all the Catholics who entered the convent, not to tell the nun that she had received letters from her AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 107 parents and brother, and that the latter had joined the army against France. The widow was also of opinion that the nun's brother was dead. The poor parents, who could not be comforted, would have to wait all their lives for the answer from their mourning daughter. They might write hundreds of letters more, but these would all remain in the hands of the Lady Superior. And if she should die before the poor deceived nun, her successor would do the same. And so, perhaps, the nun's poor old parents might die too, and the beloved daughter never know it. I made many efforts to see the little daughter of my friends. in Delhi, who was in the convent, but I was sent away each time with an excuse and a falsehood ; now it was against the rules to see the little girl, now she was somewhere else, but one rule always held good, and that was never to tell the truth. One day the good widow took me to Mass in the chapel, in the hope of seeing the child. When Mass was over, she pointed the little girl out to me, who was just leaving the chapel, and drew me towards her. But on a sign from the Lady Superior, who had noticed us, a nun took the child away in a great hurry, before our very eyes, and went through the garden into the convent. But now I have done with this untoward affair at the convent, and return to the beautiful glorious Himalayas. The weather was delicious, the atmosphere cool and pure ; no darkened rooms now; no stifling air, like that down in the plains. Up here, I was told, it is never oppressively hot in summer, as there is always plenty of fresh air ; and although in the upper atmosphere one sees 108 THE NORTH STAR nothing but ice and snow, not a flake of snow ever falls in winter in the little town of Mussoorie or on the lower mountains. The winter on this height is very mild and extremely healthy. In spite of the rough unchristian welcome I had received in the convent, I went to rest with a light heart. I was indeed upon the Himalayas, and felt happy. I had long desired to be where I now was, and what I saw was more than I. had expected, more than I had ever before seen. The grand imposing aspect of the Himalayas is a picture of nature of which the sight of the Alps or of the Pyrenees gives us no idea. I was, as Widow S. expressed it, always in rapture and feverish with delight. I had quite got rid of my hoarseness, which did .not return until I was back in Delhi. It was so pleasantly cool on the Himalayas, that Mrs. S. lighted a little fire in my room. I covered myself over with three blankets and slept oh, such a delicious sleep. I had not used a blanket for more than a year. I begged Mrs. S. to wake me early, and before retiring I pushed back all the curtains of the windows, so, that I might see the first glimmer of the dawn, and not sleep through the sunrise. The widow was a sympathetic woman, and took care of me like a good mother. She was very much annoyed that the Lady Superior had treated me so badly, and she had found out that I had been crying before I came to her house. I was very restless in my sleep, and she thought I had a serious fever, so she and her daughter took it in turns to watch in :ny room. But my fever was nothing more than the result of the happy excitement of my feelings, to which, as the widow informed me in the morning, I bore witness in AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 10& my dreams in a most lively manner. When in the soundest sleep, as Mrs. S. told me, I folded my hands, and said, " Mr. Snyder, it is so beautiful here. I must see the Hima- layas for three good days, good-bye." I very seldom talk in my sleep, but my mother had noticed, even at home, that if I had been much excited, I dreamt very vividly, and sometimes spoke very distinctly. After I had vented my joy in my dream, I slept on quietly, and my fever disappeared. It was not necessary to wake me. I dressed myself in the morning twilight, went to a lofty point of view, not far from the widow's villa, and awaited the sunrise. The effulgent orb rose be- hind a lofty mountain, which, according to my estimation^ was at least from 5000 to 6000 feet higher than the Pan- gerango, in Java. But this mountain peak in the east looked small beside the high and yet higher towering mountains of the north. The sun seemed to find it difficult to rise above the colossal heights. For about half an hour I saw nothing but a diameter of glowing beams ; the orb itself was still behind the gigantic mountains. The silvery white sea of snow on the highest peaks swam in the glory of the dawn, forming one wide expanse of dazzling light beneath the blue canopy of the beautiful sky. How loftily, how majestically towered the glistening surging fields upon each pillar! I was still standing in the shadow in the tranquil undisturbed morning mist. How exalted was the scene ! above me an ocean of glory, the orb of light yet hidden behind the colossal structures of the mountains, and below me the vast green world of shadows. With every breath I drank in the holy joy of sacred nature. My position that morning on the height 110 THE NORTH STAR I had chosen was the most beautiful beneath the far stretching firmament. Come, marvellous orb, above those mighty giants ! come, descend into our world ! It rises, and rises, and now it rests upon the shoulders of the Colossus ; it rises higher, and now it has reached its summit. A running wave of light flows rapidly down the sides of the mountains ; the height on which I am standing is illuminated, and the shadows retreat ever lower down into the valley. In the Himalayas I was possessed by the strange feel- ing of being outside the world, on the boundary-wall between heaven and earth. It seemed to me that I heard the noise of men in the distance, but that noise was far, far away. I went from the height back to the villa, and said to Mrs. S., " The sun is gone down into the world ; I saw it climb up the peak there in the east, and descend to the depths of the valley." The good widow laughed, and was pleased to see me so happy. I was most anxious to climb the " Kinchin janga," or the " Dhawalaghiri," to see how far I still was from heaven. It was behind this mighty gulf behind the eternal sea of snow of these giant mountains, which tower some 28,000 feet, perhaps even more, into the regions of the air that the first human race is stated to have appeared. After breakfast Mrs. S. took me to a lofty point. The weather was extremely clear, and I obtained a view some hundreds of miles in extent. But I ever longed to attain to a yet loftier height, and when I had reached it, I AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. Ill wished to climb still further. There, too, I discovered new peaks, and above them more airy pinnacles. " Am I not happy ? " I kept repeating to my hostess ; " am I not happier than all the kings and queens of Europe, for none of them have seen the Himalayas, none of them have stood so high in the world as I? " Mrs. S., who had an accurate geographical knowledge of the far-stretching heights, pointed out to me the direc- tion of the Cashmere valley, on the north-west, where, as the children of men suppose, Adam lived with Eve, so that I had a glimpse towards the birthplace of the ances- tral pair of all mankind. There I saw a glowing mass of snow, the summit of which was lost in the loftiest clouds, such as form the silvery crown of I know not how many mountains. The Cashmere valley, as an English traveller told me, is a fertile corner of the world, and is one hun- dred miles long by sixty wide. According to tradition, Cashmere was once a lake, shut in all round by mountains. An earthquake rent open the wall of rock, the water of the lake flowed away through the opening in the mountain, and a few little streams and pools remained behind in the valley. An evergreen field now occupies the site of the former lake, a blooming Paradise, decked with roses, narcissus flowers, violets, &c. Beautiful heights, with splendid trees, bound the valley, and above this glorious Eden, in a thousand fantastic forms, rise the heroes of nature, with a dazzling breast- work of eternal snow. As Abul Jazl tells us, there are no less than 12,000 rock-cut caves in the heart of the Himalaya mountains, decorated with the most beautiful sculptures and plaster- 112 THE NORTH STAR work. These caves form the town of Baumian. In one of them is a sepulchre containing a sarcophagus in which is buried the body of a man, but who this man was when alive the oldest native does not know ; for all that, how- ever, all the inhabitants of the neighbouring districts rev- erence his corpse. In this town of Baumian, a temple richly decorated with carvings and paintings was discov- ered cut into the living rock. A Persian tradition indicates this region as the abode of the progenitors of mankind. The Brahmins, when they pray, turn themselves with superstitious reverence towards the city of Baumian, towards the north of the Himalayas. The Mahomme- dans, as I saw, turned towards the east, towards the city of Mecca. So that the superstitions of the two sects differ but little from each other. The Himalayas extend right across the north of India, and form the boundary between that country and Thibet. On the journey between Saharunpore and Rajpore I saw a few Thibetans who were coming direct from their native land. They much resembled ^the Chinese of Northern China ; they were of comely appearance, and their man- ners were very polite. They wore costumes of some coarse woollen material, and seemed to be very mild, good-humoured people. A road leads to China across the Himalayas and through Thibet, which is, however, of very little use as yet. The Chinese who live in the fron- tier districts are described as very shy and wild. As I lay in bed the second night I heard a distant howl, and Mrs. S. told me it was the voice of leopards, which not rarely approached quite close to the houses of Mus- Boorie, especially in the winter time. AND THE 80UTHEEN CROSS, 113 The next morning, after I had again watched the orb of day rise from behind the Colossus in the east, I visited Captain Gordon, the famous hunter of the Himalayas, with Mrs. S. This bold courageous Englishman had already brought down many tigers and other wild beasts, and in his residence I saw the choicest collection of wild beasts' skins. One of the most beautiful tiger-skins he ever obtained adorns the cabinet of the King of Italy. Captain Gordon has rare courage, even for a hunter ; he pursues the dreadful creatures up the steepest heights and cliffs, and for years he has met with no accident in this venturesome life. Every hunter, however, has not such good fortune, and on the day on which I arrived at Mussoorie, an English officer died, who had been so dreadfully torn by a wounded tiger, that he lay for seven days in his death agony, and yielded up his spirit after the most heartrending sufferings. Mussoorie is a station to which the English military resort for health. Two officers who had come here to recruit, went out on a tiger hunt. They found a huge tiger and fired at him. One shot struck, the other missed its mark. The wounded animal, in foaming rage, sprang upon the pursuers, and, as already related, tore one of them so dreadfully that he died of his wounds in indescribable agony. The tiger would no doubt have torn the unfortunate man to pieces, had not his friend struck the beast on the wounded place with a second well-aimed shot. I was told that the torn body of the wounded man presented a most horrible sight. VOL. n. 8 114 THE NORTH STAR The Himalayas are the home of wild elephants, tigers, bears, leopards, apes, &c., and many of the most beautiful species of birds. Once, when I was standing on a high mountain, I was surprised by the apparition of a Himalaya pheasant, whose gleaming feathers have more numerous and beautiful colours than the rainbow. I was quite overwhelmed with the beauty of the bird, in the rays of the sun, and burst into a cry of delight. On the Himalayas everything which I saw was lovely and sweet, and everything I tasted was delicious. Every morning I went down a hill near the villa and drew a cup of sparkling water from a bubbling well, bringing it back to the breakfast-table with delight. And then how inviting was everything which the good widow set before her guest ! Fresh milk, fresh butter, the most delicious cream and cheese, home-made bread with crisp crust, roasted chicken or mutton. Fresh cream, good milk and butter I had not tasted since I left the prairies of America. And everything was reared and prepared by the widow herself and her servant, an innocent mountain lad. The latter was the baker and butcher; Mrs. S. had her own cows, goats, sheep, lambs, and chickens ; and of game and other feathered fowls, there is a super- fluity on the Himalayas. In the garden near the villa grew vegetables, salad herbs, &c. The widow and her daughters lived peacefully an d happily ; they seldom went down into the world, and Mrs. S. told me that she would not change her little Eden on the Himalayas for any princely castle of Europe. Mrs. S. was the widow of an English officer who lost his AND %HE SOUTHERN CROSS. 115 life in the massacre of 1857 at Lucknow. She had a small property, and received a good pension from the English government. After her daughters left school, she retired from Lucknow to the Himalayas, and chose Mussoorie for her home. In order to remain au fait of all that was going on in the near and distant world, she takes in several Indian and English newspapers, and her library is supplied with the best books. On the third day, the last of this never-to-be-forgotten and charming visit, I did not want to lose an instant. I wished to spend every moment in the mild, blue air of the Himalayas. Truly in no district of the whole wide world had I found the air so deliciously fragrant and of such a rare and pretty blue as here on the Himalayas. And the blue mist was so pure and clear, that it did not interfere in the least with the view in the distance ; on the contrary, it was good for the eyes in the glare of the sun, acting, as I said, as blue spectacles to protect the sight. On the last day I undertook a long excursion to the higher heights, and saw hundreds and thousands of different forms and waves of the endless ocean of mountains, valleys, and ravines. Here, in the heart of some mighty pillar, the most awful abyss ; there, a giant with a moun- tain on either shoulder, a wildly dashing brook on his right, a green flower-clad valley on his left, a terrible hump upon his back, and an enormous column surmounted by a brilliant crown upon his head. From every green valley rises a hero pressing to his breast a young Goliath, lifting his arms to the sky and leaning against its silvery grey clouds. Another giant stands by in full armour ; what a mighty Colossus ! he 116 THE NORTH STAf stretches his feet, thousands of ells long, down into the valley beneath ; his whole body is covered with wounds, with broken bones, whilst the crystal locks of his reverend head are concealed behind the horizon. A whole army of such giants ! mountain above mountain, rocks above rocks, piled up in marvellous profusion in the blue air ; dark thickets of old shady trees clothe the hills from the depths of the ravines to the very foot of the glacier. Mighty waterfalls dash down from the clefts of the rocks into the awful chasms. Wild mountain brooks rush stormily through the lovely green meadows, whilst many little baby streamlets run by in humble timid loneliness. High up I saw hundreds of isolated rocks, bounded by no ravines, no chasms, no valleys, with their summits rent and splintered and their mighty ribs laid bare. Other solitary rocks bent their broken heads towards the deep precipices. I stood upon the edge of an awful abyss, whose fearful bosom resembled a hell. From the steep perpendicular sides dashed a stormy stream ; from its gaping throat a young giant rose into the upper world. In another place I saw one pyramid piled upon another, and upon the highest stood a snowy mountain which reared its silvery head to the vault of heaven above. What startling alternations ! what wild magnificence! I was standing at least 10,000 feet above the earth, and from here how much higher I must yet look to see the loftiest peaks of the world ! And on every side what a manifold picture of exalted power and skill ! Mountains and peaks, pyramids and towers, valleys and ravines, hills and rocks, alternating in a thousand changing forms ; what majestic disorder 1 How artistically finished is this wild and beautiful AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 117 picture ! I once stood upon the " Pic du Midi," in the Pyrenees, and I thought then that I could enjoy no more beautiful view on earth. Yet what I once saw from the " Pic du Midi " is but a miniature picture of the panorama which I now saw from the Himalayas. But the scene I paint for the reader with my feeble pen, what is it to the reality ! He who sees the Himalayas, he who sees this stronghold, of the Creator, must believe in a God. Even if his tongue deny the existence of that God, his heart must believe. The wicked world and godless men of science have much book learning, but when they deny God and His omni- potence, they know nothing. There are many fools who tell us God did not create the world, but none of them tell us who did create it. On my journey I met a clever and accomplished atheist, who told me everything had been evolved out of vapour. I asked him out of what the vapour had proceeded, and he had no reply to make. But as we have got so far already, and have heard that everything proceeded from vapour, those who deny a God and Creator will soon find out for us now, and will tell us from what vapour proceeded. But even then, when they have told us that, they still know nothing and can tell us nothing. Fool- ish wise men, who deny God and who consider themselves the heroes of the intellect, cannot create a single lifeless stone. The beginning of time, the creation of the world and all of us who dwell upon this earth, are insoluble riddles, known to the Creator alone. Throughout all periods of human existence the most ingenious intellects have striven to penetrate this secret, and in vain ; it belongs to the Deity, and no mortal will ever attain to the truth. Men of 118 THE NORTH STAR science all dive to a certain depth, and then thus far and no farther. Wise fools ! So that to-day we really know no more than others knew a thousand years ago. Yes, even after all the osteological and geological f4tes of this en- lightened century, the secrets of humanity, of heaven and earth, remain as far off, and as deeply hidden as in the first century. For all that sa/oants say against the existence of a God and the omnipotence of the Creator are but empty conjectures which lack every proof of truth. When a wise man of the West says there is no God, he says and knows just as much as a Siamese sage, who teaches the existence of a whole regiment of gods. I con- versed with many wise fools, I heard the most profane speeches and doctrines of the most presumptuous deniers of a God, but nothing could destroy in me the results of the teaching of a religious mother. My second teacher was Nature ; in Nature, in that most holy temple of the mysterious and marvellous creation, I found that God of whom my mother had taught me from my cradle. In Nature I recognised omnipotence, and I learnt to believe in the immortality of the soul, in heaven, and eternity ; and I shall believe until death in the God in whom I believed as a child. How poor is man who can gaze upon Nature and still doubt, who lives but to vanish for ever, who never has a higher aim, who never learns to know a nobler ambition ; how poor is such a man ! Ah, reader, how painful to me was my departure from the Himalayas 1 Three such happy exquisite days ; three fete days on the Himalayas, red letter days of my life. On the fourth day, after once more admiring the apparition AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 119 of the marvellous orb of day, I bade my dear hostess and her daughters farewell. The kind-hearted lady gave me her own and her children's photographs, and surprised me with a present of a magnificent and beautiful stuffed Hima- laya pheasant, just like the brother bird I had admired in the blue air, when standing with Mrs. S. on a lofty height. The present gave me the greatest pleasure, and is a much- valued souvenir of my dear hostess and her peaceful home on the glorious Himalayas, where I was so happy. Warmly I pressed the hand of the good widow, and as the cheery bearers carried me away from the villa, I kissed my hand to her with tears of gratitude. " So leb denn wohl, du stilles Haus, Ich zieh betriibt von dir hinaus, Und find ich einst das grosste GlQck, Ich denke doch an dich zuriick." How solemn and festive and how bitterly sweet was this morning ! For the last time I gazed upon the glorious Himalayas, which now will live for ever in my mind. "We came lower and lower, and alas ! how heavy grew my heart. With what delight and with what pain I looked back agajn and yet again for one last look ! I had picked a number of beautiful large leaves upon the Himalayas ; I wrote the date and a litte verse under each, and sent some to my friends, preserving the others as a souvenir of the sweetest period of my long voyage. Really in those three days I was inspirited and happy in the highest degree. Once down again in the ordinary world, I reached the hotel at Rajpore, and engaged a seat in the post-chaise for the journey back to Saharunpore. Two gentlemen, who saw me in the distance, came to meet me and shook hands. 120 THE NORTH STAR They were Messrs. Palmer and Curtis, of New York, whom I had met a fortnight before on my return from Benares. They had arrived at Mussoorie only the day be- fore, and were already going back. I chid them for not paying the beautiful Himalayas a longer visit. I heard from them that they had met the first American gentle- man, with whom I had come from Saharunpore to Mus- soorie, in the first-named place, from which he was going to Bombay. I call that rapid travelling, but one cannot enjoy or learn much in it. At ten o'clock in the morning we left Rajpore. In the post-chaise sat the two Americans and I, with Captain Gordon, the celebrated hunter of the Himalayas. When I came down from the proud heights into the valley, I was as healthy as a fish, but when back again in the heat of the lower world, my complaint returned. "What had been cured in the lofty healthy atmosphere of the Himalayas, was brought on again by the oppressive air of the plains, and when I got to my friends in Delhi the next morning, I was as hoarse and unwell as I was when I started for the north. As we passed along the Sewlick range of hills we saw many wild apes close to the path. They had long bodies and enormously long tails. They looked at us in a mock- ing and insolent manner, and following us in threes or fours, from one tree to another, threw stones back after our carriage. Monkeys are certainly the most hideous of all animals that resembles man : a pleasant idea, that sug- gested to us by Mr. Darwin ! Late in the evening we reached Saharunpore. During the drive I had told the incident of the night when I AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 121 was left in the darkness of the bungalow, and had no opportunity to pay my reckoning. On our arrival we went to the same bungalow and took dinner. The good old Hindu came to me, laughing, and I paid him what I owed him. Captain Gordon entertained us with some very interesting anecdotes of his hunter's life in the wild ravines and abysses of the Himalayas. This hunter is of gigantic stature, and every movement of his body is full of elasticity and power ; he has the appearance of the most robust health, and was full of the merriest wit and humour. Captain G. and the two American gentlemen started for Lahore at one o'clock in the morning. At half -past twelve the gentlemen went to the telegraph office with me, and I let my friends in Delhi know that I should start at mid- night, and should arrive there the next day. I arrived in Delhi at five o'clock in the morning, and Mr. Moll met me at the station. Mrs. Moll and her pretty baby were ill in health from the great heat, and so was I. And yet people called this terrible enervating heat only the beginning of the hot season. Judging, therefore, from what India was in March, it must be an awful furnace in the summer. I rested, if it could be called resting in such a scorching atmosphere, for a few days. Mr. and Mrs. Moll were extremely good to me. The poor baby cried a great deal, and I pitied the little angel and her dear mother from my heart. The ayah, a young Hindu girl, also went about in a languid listless manner, and was not of much use to her mistress. Mr. and Mrs. Moll were indignant at hearing that the Lady Superior had treated me in such a harsh and un- 122 THE NORTH STAR friendly manner, and had refused to let me see their little daughter. Mr. Moll at once wrote to the Lady Superior and expressed his dissatisfaction in the strongest terms. But the letter was hardly sent to the post when Mrs. Moll received one from her little daughter. " This letter is not from my child," said Mrs. Moll, when she had read the lines through ; " a child of seven years old cannot write like this ; the letter is the sweet well-considered dictation of con- ventual smartness." The innocent child told her mother how grieved she had been not to see the dear German lady who had come from her mother in Delhi, but the dear lady had always wished to see her at a time when the rules of the convent did not permit her to leave her lessons. The letter was untrue, for I was close to the child in the chapel, and she was taken away on a sign from the Lady Superior. Throughout the lines of their innocent child Mr. and Mrs. Moll recognised the lying dictation of a nun, and Mr. Moll at once wrote a second letter to the Lady Superior, and told her that he wished his child to learn truth, and to have truth dictated to her, not lies, otherwise he would be compelled to have her sent home. He would have done so at once, but there was no Protestant school in Delhi, and it was not desirable to take her away from the Himalayas in the great heat. The child's letter did not surprise me, for since I had been in the convent at Augsburg, in Bavaria, I have firmly believed that truth is no principle of Catholic convents, and no principle of conventual education. In plain language, the virtue of truth does not exist in convents, and the most beautiful doctrines of Christ are not followed. Convents have their own laws, and only that is said which is to the advantage AND THE SOUTHERN GROSS. 123 of the convent. Much may be found in convents, but truth can never be found there. The day before I left, my hostess invited the Rev. Father Keegan to tea, and I could not avoid telling him how the Lady Superior at Mussoorie had treated me, and how the poor German nun was deceived and imposed upon. " That is conventual," said the gentleman, in a dis- satisfied tone ; " that is quite conventual." The Rev. Dr. Keegan was, as I have already stated, very liberal minded, and a true Catholic; he thought it no crime to sit at table and pray with Protestants, and I told him with readiness of all the sufferings I had endured through the bigotry and fanaticism of some people I met, and in consequence of the severe rules and fasts in some convents. The conversation was as amusing, as interest- ing, and finally the Rev. Dr. Keegan spoke of a German convent in Allahabad. He told me the Lady Superior there would certainly receive me better than the Lady Superior* at Musoorie had done. On further inquiry I learnt that the German convent in Allahabad was the same as that about which Madame Amalie von Engel, at Frankfort-on- the-Maine, had told me something five years before, when I was her guest. The convent at Allahabad belonged to the same order as that in which I had stayed at Augs- burg. Madame Amalie von Engel had been a true and motherly friend to me, and I was very fond of her. I knew that she took great interest in the progress of the convent at Allahabad, and I determined to visit it, so that I might be able to tell her something which would interest her on my return to Frankfort. The Rev. Dr. Keegan recommended me to the Lady Superior, and gave me a 124 THE NORTH STAR letter to the Jesuit father, the Rev. Mr. Francis, of Allahabad, and another to the Jesuit Father, the Rev. Mr. Cooke, of Bombay. On the 24th of March I left my good friends in Delhi. The poor baby was ill, and her mother was in great trouble. My countryman, Mr. R., presented me with two pairs of the beautiful snow-white dancing pigeons, of which one sees hundreds in the Delhi markets. The pretty h'ttle creatures gave me a great deal of pleasure. Mr. R. had clipped their wings, and they could not fly away. I was alone in my carriage, so I let them out of their cage, and they danced about as nicely as possible. I passed Cawnpore, and wished to avail myself of the opportunity of seeing the chief scene of the dreadful massacre of 1857. But when I stepped out of the carriage into the full light of the glowing sun, I lost all energy. Fortunately I saw two gentlemen, a German and an Englishman, whom I had previously met in Agra, and I screwed up courage to go with them to the English cemetery. Near the cemetery is the beautiful and melancholy monument, beneath which rest thirty English women and children who were murdered by the Sepoys in the massacre of 185T. I stood for a long time before the monument, and turned away with emotion from the angelic figure holding the palms of peace. I left Cawnpore the same evening, reached Allahabad early the next morning, and drove to the convent of St. Alarie, which is about three miles outside of the town. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 125 I gave the Lady Superior Marie von Hoffmann the letter of introduction from the Rev. Dr. K. of Delhi. The Lady Superior told me that she had lately, with the approval of her spiritual adviser, established a rule to receive no married lady, but as I was not married, she would consider whether she could receive me. I then told her that I was a friend of the Lady Superior Amalie von Engel, of Frankf ort-on-the-Maine, and that my wish to bring her the latest news of the progress of the convent on my return home had induced me to interrupt my journey and to call at the convent. To my great grief I had now to learn that my good friend was dead ; the Lady Superior of Allahabad had had news of her death two months previously. I felt very sad, for the dear lady who was gone had shown me much kindness and affection, and in her position as the superior of a Catholic convent she was a Catholic of rare qualities and great liberality. I say rare, for she loved truth as the highest virtue, and truth in convents is a very rare virtue ; besides, she had always spoken kindly to me regarding Protestants, and in her opinions and judgments had shown a very liberal spirit. As my friend was no more, I could tell her nothing on my return home, and I saw no reason for remaining in the convent at Allahabad. I was indeed very tired ; the dreadful heat and the night journey had quite exhausted me. But the Lady Superior Marie von Hoffmann treated me very coldly, and her way of speaking discouraged me from staying. My carriage was waiting at the door, and I prepared to drive back to the station. The Lady Superior, however, after keenly examining my appearance, seemed to form a favourable judgment, and 126 THE NORTH STAR just as I was leaving, she begged me to excuse her coldness, and to stay one day and rest. Whether this sudden change was the result of natural feeling or any egotistical afterthought I do not know. I stayed, and the consequences of my doing so were numerous. The Lady Superior Marie von Hoffmann took me into a dark, cool room ; I fed my dear little pigeons, after which they danced and promenaded about in the bath- room adjoining my room ; I took a pleasant bath, ate and drank a refreshing meal, and went to bed. The Catholic bishop of Allahabad had returned from the council at Rome on this very day, and in the evening a grand reception was given in the German convent in his honour. It was fearfully hot, and the fete did not begin until late in the evening. The entrance to the convent and the building itself were brilliantly illumin- ated, and on the arrival of the bishop and the priesthood, I heard joyful music and singing. I could not sleep ; I dressed myself and went into the garden close to the convent. Nearly all the nuns of the convent were German. Many fellow-countrywomen passed by me, but none of them seemed to notice me ; not one of them told me the reason of the nocturnal fte, and I learnt it from the native servants who arranged the lights and looked after the numerous burning lamps about the garden and convent. Here I realized once more that I was the guest of a convent, and treated as a secular lady, unworthy to take part in a festivity of spiritual men and women. As the guest of a family, I was everywhere esteemed and honoured, and took part in all the enjoy- ments of the family. But in convents it was different, AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 127 and as I had already long known the egotistical spirit of the elect children of God in convents before I came to the German convent of Allahabad, this oversight of me at the fete gave me no particular pain. The next day the Bishop wished to see the German lady, and I asked him if the fete had pleased him. He then inquired why I had not appeared at it, and I told him I had received no invitation to do so. At this remark the Lady Superior, who had brought his Lordship to me, looked very much annoyed. Unfortunately I cannot forbear from here expressing my great abhorrence of the divine honours paid to the Lady Superior of the German convent at Allahabad, and the servile submission of the poor sisters. Here I saw again how my own fellow-countrywomen, how the poor lay-sisters of the convent who did the menial work, ap- proached the Lady Superior on their knees, and with folded hands. I saw how they kissed her hands, when they approached her, and received the commands of their idolised mistress with heads bent in reverence. Then the mighty lady again stretched out her sacred hand to be kissed ; the poor sisters kissed it with closed eyes, rose from their knees with folded hands, and bending low, left their goddess. " The same thing here," I said to myself, " as at the convent of the Angelic Sisters at Augsburg," the sister convent of the one where I was now staying. I cannot help feeling indignant when observing the domineering pride, the haughty position attained by Christian women who leave the world and wear the veil of renunciation. What a mockery of the teaching of a humble Christ ! 128 THE NORTH STAR Allahabad, with the beautiful bye-name of the " City of God," contains little of interest; I drove once through the town, and what I saw deserves no description. The town is situated near the banks of the Jumna; the inhab- itants, formerly Mahommedans, are now mostly Brah- mins. Allahabad is of importance merely as a central point of the traffic of the Eastern, Western, and Northern lines of the East Indian Railway. In this neighbourhood and on the entire route to Bombay there are a great many parrots ; I often saw from fifty to one hundred fly out of a single tree or bush. I carried quite a young parrot away with me from Allahabad, which I had taken out of a nest in the garden of the convent. The Lady Superior Marie von H. seemed from her manner to gain confidence in me, and she prevailed upon me to remain a day longer. Through her I became acquainted with a German merchant of Allahabad, who introduced me to a friend in Jubbulpore. When I left Allahabad on the third day, the Lady Superior apparently liked me, her language being very sweet and flattering. She offered me a little box of Indian curiosities, and gave me a letter to his Lordship the German Bishop of Bombay, as well as a recommendation to the Lady Superior of the convent of St. Joseph, in that city, and other letters to several spiritual ladies at various convents of the Angelic Sisters in Bavaria. I cannot refrain from adding a word or two respecting the inhuman, cruel rule existing in the German convent at Allahabad and in others, viz., not to receive and give shelter to married women. They are looked upon as beings made impure AND THE SOUTHEBN CROSS. 129 by marriage and by motherhood, and unworthy to live under the same roof inhabited by their " virgin " fellow- Bisters. Maybe this last paragraph is sufficient to show the inhumanity, the horror of this rule in all its dimensions. Dear reader, be you man or woman, if you love the mother who has borne you in sorrow, what have you to say, what do you feel in reading this ? As for myself, I could not express my indignation against the women and men who have established such a rule in any human tongue, and if such a rule did but exist in one convent on earth, this one and all others, for reason of its abominable example, should be razed to the ground. But, as I have learned in different convents at home and abroad, it is the inhuman, the " wicked policy " of many virgin nuns to exhibit in their look and speech, and in presence of their weak-minded pupils, a "seemingly pious" contempt for married women in order to win the unmarried for their so-called " holy cause." From this we must naturally draw the conclusion, that they abhor their own mothers, who have lived according to the holy laws of God and nature. Allahabad is about midway on the route from Calcutta to Bombay. The journey to Jubbulpore takes seven hours. The heat was unbearable; every traveller had a bottle of water, but it was so hot in the carriage that the water soon became undrinkable. At every station we had our bottles filled, and fastened them outside the carriage, that the draught might keep the water cool enough for us to have at least one drink before our arrival at the next station. I wore a wet cloth on my head, and sat, quite unnerved by the heat, looking like a mummy. The carriage VOL. II. 9 130 THE NORTH STAR was as hot as an oven ; my face and hands and my linen travelling dress were burning hot. I was told that there would soon be coffins at all the principal stations of India standing ready to receive the dead bodies of those who should die of the great heat in the carriages, and in the summer the dead are often, as I am told, very numerous. I can easily believe it, after having experienced the March BUTT in India. I cannot call existing in such heat living, but languishing, and this wretched enervation is not only bad for the health, but for the mind. My hoarseness was again very severe, and an English doctor told me I should not be able to stand the Indian climate much longer, and he advised me to travel to Bombay as quickly as possible, where the sea air would do me good. I had previously had nervous fever in my own home, and a weakness in my throat and voice had resulted therefrom, so that I was liable to become hoarse easily. But I never felt this weak- ness so much anywhere as in the interior of India. The air there is so dry, that the skin is always quite rough and never moist, so that it loses all elasticity. My introduction in Jubbulpore was to the manager of Kellner's Private Hotel, who received me very kindly. His wife was an amiable Englishwoman, and her kindness led me to remain a few days longer than I had at first in- tended, for she wished me to enjoy a good rest and to get rid of my hoarseness. Here, too, I found the house and room darkened, and at the door of every sleeping-room, and in the drawing and dining-rooms, sat or stood servants who worked the punkahs. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 131 NERBUDDA. The aim of my journey to Jubbulpore was to see the celebrated marble rocks of the Nerbudda river, at Behra Ghat, twelve miles from the town of Jubbulpore. Mrs. K. was kind enough to arrange an excursion to Behra Ghat, and this gave me an opportunity of seeing the rare beauty of the Indian moon, which was now at the full. A moon- light night beneath an Indian sky has its special charms ; nowhere is the firmament of a clearer or purer blue ; no- where are the constellations grander than in India. The blue vault of heaven seemed to be higher above the earth there than in any other spot in the East or in the West. At ten o'clock in the evening our little party left Jub- bulpore ; and at midnight we stood upon the banks of the romantic river Nerbudda, at the Behra Ghat. An English officer, Captain M., and one of our party, hired a boat, and the gondola left the shore in the most glorious moonlight. Easily we glided over the still water, the high white gleaming marble rocks on either side reflected in its clear depths. The Nerbudda winds through a long unbroken marble chain of hills, the fantastic rocks of which, in the ever-changing light and shade, formed the most deceptive pictures. Here, in the full glory of the moonbeams, rose a stately palace ; there, in the shadow, a majestic dome or a tower with a cupola ; and the moon shone so clearly and brightly that we could see and read as well as if we were seated near a lighted oil-lamp. A truly solemn silence reigned upon the river, and for some time none of us spoke. Often a sudden bend in the river brought our boat into the full light of the moon, and the effect of the quivering 132 TEE NORTH STAR reflection of the gondola upon the white marble of the rocks was fairy-like. It reminded me of nothing so much as the changing scenes of a magic lantern the delight of all children. And now, after remaining for a time in the most illusive light, a fresh turn brought us once more into the solemn shadow ; here and there a wild bird roused by the splash of the rudder, rose from its nest in the marble heights and hovered, bewildered, about our boat. Truly every pulse of the lover of romance is stirred by a moon- light boating excursion, and my spirit was fascinated by the sweet mysterious beauty of the scene it made my heart beat quickly, I longed to give vent to my feelings in poetry but I could not. The spacious firmament, studded with thousands of gem- like stars, the smiling moonbeams, the gentle ripple of the stream as the gondola cleft its transparent waters, with the dragon-flies skimming the surface of the river, and the images of the silvery marble heights, moving softly in its mirror, set in the framework of the solemn night, combined to form a picture of unrivalled nocturnal beauty. Gently, silently sped the gondola to the end of the stream, and as silently made its way back again. We had cruised about for a good hour altogether, our little vessel passing now through narrow, now through wide passes between the marble rocks. "Would that the scene could have been fixed on canvas by some painter's hand, as it was on that night ; would that we, our boat, the silvery mountains, the blue diamond-studded sky, and the gentle moon could have been perpetuated for all as for us ! We refreshed ourselves with some fresh milk in a cosy little bungalow on the banks of the Nerbudda, and in the AND THE SOUTHERN CMOSS. 138 early twilight our horses galloped back with us to Jubbulpore. An hour after our return, I rode to the station on an elephant, accompanied by Mr. R., who was so kind as to see after my ticket, give me a basket full of provisions, and put me under the care of the guard of the train, that I might not want for fresh water by the way. I started from Jubbulpore in bright and happy spirits ; but the next night one of my dear little pigeons died, a pretty little wife, and the best dancer of the four. The rash little creature had flown into my bath at Jubbulpore, and the water being cold and the pigeon heated, it had taken a chill. I did all I could for it, but in vain ; my dear little pigeon died. The poor bereaved husband went about mourning and looked piteously at me. I was sad too, and I had not the heart to throw away the little corpse. An Englishman, noticing my grief, offered to give my pigeon decent burial, and when the train stopped towards evening, for the pas- sengers to take supper, he went with me to the station garden, carrying the corpse, and we buried my poor little pigeon beneath a rose-bush. So that I had the comfort of having the innocent little creature buried with proper respect. I noticed but little of interest between Jubbulpore and Bombay ; everywhere the vegetation was parched and brown, waiting for the refreshing rain which still held back. The line runs over the plateau of the Ghauts bounding the western coast of India, and is 2,000 feet in height. 134 THE NORTH STAR In the afternoon of the second day we approached Bombay, and I inhaled the cool bracing salt sea breeze which blew from the no-longer distant ocean. We all roused ourselves from our listless attitudes, and the spirits of the whole party rose perceptibly. It affords me great pleasure to remark here that the English railway officials all over India were very polite to me, and that the best arrangements are made at all the stations for the accommodation of ladies. In short, I was made very comfortable everywhere. There are private ladies' rooms open day and night, under the care of re- spectable female servants, at all the principal stations. When a train arrives at night, a lady, instead of being compelled to go to a hotel, can very well remain in one of these rooms ; and if she wishes to start in the early morning, or at night, she can go to these rooms in the evening, and wait there until the train starts. Padded sofas are provided in the waiting-rooms, and in connection with them there are dressing-rooms and cool-bath-rooms. Food will also be procured, if required, by the servants in the ladies' rooms. There is no charge for the use of the rooms or for attendance, the servants being in the pay of the railway company, but it is usual for travellers to give a fee to the women who wait upon them. I have already remarked above that Indian railway carriages are not well kept, and are not made sufficiently comfortable for such a hot climate. These disadvantages were, however, more than made up to me by the privileges I enjoyed as a lady travelling alone. I had now traversed the greater part of India, and was fortunate enough to be AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 135 able to say that neither from natives nor Europeans did I ever receive a single insult ; indeed a respectable lady, under English or American protection, is always sure to be respected and well cared for. A friend of Mr. Ball was a passenger in the same train with me, and when we arrived at Bombay he had my luggage taken to a carriage, and directed the Hindu coachman to drive to the convent of St. Joseph, at Fort Chapel. The woman who answered the door at the convent took my name to the Lady Superior, to whom I sent my letters of introduction, begging for an interview. I must add that his Lordship the Catholic Bishop of Bombay, who came from Berlin, and the Rev. Father Cooke, both members of the Jesuit order, lived in the same buildings at Fort Chapel, the nuns occupying one half, the fathers the other. The chapel was on the same floor on the right of the entrance. After I had waited a good hour in the carriage, the Lady Superior had me asked into the parlour, and told me she had not been able to come before, as she had been at prayers. After this excuse she surprised me with the question : " Did not the Lady Superior Marie von Hoffmann, of Allahabad, as she tells me in her letter, give you a large packet of music for me ? "Will you give it to me I have already been waiting for it a whole year ? " I was very much worn out after the long hot journey, and told the Lady Superior the music was in my trunk in the carriage, that I was too tired to get it out at that moment, but would do so as soon fts I opened my trunk. As the Lady Superior said nothing of the further con- 136 THE NORTH STAR tents of the letter, I ventured to remark, " The Lady Superior at Allahabad told me that you would receive ladies for payment," and I added a request that I should be allowed to remain for a few days, observing at the same time that I had in my possession a letter of recommenda- tion from the right reverend Archbishop of Calcutta, besides letters to his Lordship Bishop Meurin and the Rev. Father Cooke. The Lady Superior told me, his Lordship was not at home, and that there was no vacant room in the convent. But she gave me to understand that she had another con- vent under her direction outside the town, and it was very possible that I might be received there on the usual terms. She then apologised for not being able to offer me any re- freshment, saying that it was the holy fasting season, she had therefore no stock of provisions by her. Finally she wrote a few lines to the Lady Superior of the other convent, and I drove there. As I reached the carriage, the woman who had let me in came and told me if I should not be received there, to come back again to the Lady Superior at Fort Chapel. The other convent was several miles off, but I got on no better there than in the first. The Lady Superior so said the woman at the door was in Retreat she was f or- didden to disturb her, and she would see no one. So I drove back to Fort Chapel, and returned her letter of introduction to the Lady Superior. It was now four o'clock in the afternoon ; I had kept the coachman in my service since twelve o'clock, and carriages are very dear in Bombay. This was, however, but a repetition of what I had experienced in the convent AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 13? at Agra, and had I not had the greatest prejudice against hotels, I should have lost all patience with the inhuman rules and caprices of nuns. To tell the truth, my expenses in convents were often as heavy as they would have been in hotels, but, having had one lesson in Japan of what hotel life might be, I had firmly resolved never to enter a hotel again, if I could possibly avoid doing so, and my taking temporary refuge in monastic institutions, when the connecting links between private families happened to be broken, was but the result of that resolution. Of course, no one will suppose I found much enjoyment or happiness during my visits to convents, but I did find in them the shelter I needed, and was shielded from the harsh judgment and persecution of inquisitive and thoughtless men, to which a lady staying alone in a hotel is usually more or less exposed. I am naturally very proud and sensitive, and I became yet more so during my travels; I recognised but too well and too often my position as a single lady, not yet entitled to be called old, BO that I did all that in me lay to avoid any offence against propriety, and to escape undeserved censure. When I arrived at Fort Chapel the second time, the Lady Superior again kept me waiting three-quarters of an hour. I had tasted nothing since the day before, and was suffering greatly from thirst, yet I was afraid to ask for a glass of water. Every humane person, who knows what it is to live in a hot climate, is well aware of what is required by a body exhausted as mine was, and it passes my compre- hension how heartless and unfeeling nuns can treat their fellow-creatures as so many of them do. Secular ladies, with a very few exceptions, received me hospitably every- 138 THE NORTH STAR where, and gave me many a proof of their kind and womanly hearts ; they became, and will ever remain, my friends. But amongst nuns I rarely met with true kind- ness or sympathy ; they lead an unnatural lif e, devoted exclusively to God, or, to speak plainly, to the interests of the convent and themselves, and they become one- sided and apathetic. Such unfeeling nuns, the bitter enemies of the sawed mission, the beautiful calling of women, should they enter heaven, what cold uninteresting angels they must be ! But there is no doubt that virtuous, self-denying, and long-suffering mothers, who love God and the world like reasonable creatures and according to the will of God, who provide society with useful citizens, and give worthy heirs to Heaven, will some day be like the most beautiful, the most glo?*wus, and the best beloved angels before the throne of God. After I had waited another three-quarters of an hour, the Lady Superior told me she could not receive me without the permission of the bishop, and he had not yet returned from his walk, but she had little doubt I might remain, as I had the highest recommendations, and she advised me to wait till the bishop came in. So I paid the coachman, who demanded five rupees (half-a-sovereign). As soon as my trunk was brought into the verandah, the Lady Superior again asked for the music, and I gave it to her, to do which I had entirely to empty my trunk, tired as I was, for it was at the very bottom. I remained sitting in the verandah, and, having had no sleep for thirty-six hours, I found it impossible to keep awake. I must have slept some time, for it was already late when I was awoke by a woman's voice, and opening my AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 189 eyes I saw the Lady Superior standing before me, who in- formed me, in the name of the bishop, that he could not consent to my remaining in the convent, I must go to a hotel. This unexpected and heartless order from a man whom I had never seen, and, therefore, could never have offended, was incomprehensible to me, and it brought the tears to my eyes. It was now eleven o'clock, and a beautiful young Eng- lish-woman with whom I had a little conversation in the twilight, and who was boarding in the convent, was still walking up and down the verandah. She now approached, and, without showing the slightest fear of the Lady Superior, she said, in a truly independent and English manner, "That is cruel of the bishop; no English gentleman would treat a lady in such a manner," adding, " I much regret that I can do nothing for this lady, for I am myself only a stranger here and a helpless orphan." This beautiful lady who showed me so much sympathy had been engaged to an English officer of high rank, and had recently come from England to be united for ever with her lover. After a prosperous voyage the steamer arrived in the harbour of Bombay, but as she was expecting her bridegroom with eager longing, the sad news was brought to her that he had succumbed to a fever a few days before. The beloved of her heart, he who was to have been the companion of her life, was no more, and his body was already beneath the sod. The broken-hearted bride had no relations and no friends in Bombay, but through some friends of him who was dead, she had found an asylum in the convent of St. Joseph, where she led a lonely life of tears. She was an amiable 140 TEE NORTH STAR and very highly cultivated lady, and she related her melancholy history to me with evidently a very painful effort. She was awaiting a reply to a letter to some distant relations in Benares, and intended to start for that city in a few days. As the Lady Superior declared positively that the bishop insisted on my going to a hotel, I ordered a carriage, and I whispered to the English lady that I should not go to a hotel, but return to the station, where I should iind suitable accommodation for the night in the ladies' room, and that I should be able to get advice the next day. I had a letter of introduction to the German consul, besides one from an English clergyman of high standing which warranted me to call in person on any Protestant clergyman. Just as I was going to the carriage, a Catholic lady came out of the chapel of the convent, and the kind-hearted English lady complained to her of the insult I had received, and of the unfeeling conduct of the bishop, and she asked the lady to take me to her house. My beautiful friend also whispered to the lady that I was unaffected and truthful, she knew that by my behaviour, and it was very wrong of the bishop to make me leave so late, and to order me to a hotel. I then told the lady the reasons why I would not go to a hotel, and offered to pay her the highest sum demanded for accommodation in the hotels of Bombay. By this means, the question of payment was quickly settled, and the lady took me to her house, which was in the same street and opposite to the convent. She was a widow with one daughter, and appeared to be in good circum- stances. She had a comfortable bed made ready for me, AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 141 and I was soon sound asleep. When I awoke in the morning I remembered the bishop's heartless behaviour with fresh pain, and the thought suddenly struck me that the Ladj Superior might not be altogether blameless in the matter, for I recollected her eagerness for me to leave the convent, which eagerness was a puzzle to me. My luggage was still at the convent, and, after breakfast, I went to the Lady Superior and asked for an audience of the bishop. As the nunnery and Jesuits' convent are beneath one roof, it was easy for the Lady Superior to take me to his Lordship herself ; after going down one flight of stairs from the nunnery, and up another to the Jesuits' convent, she pulled a bell, a servant appeared, and she told him to let his Lordship know that I was there. The Lady Superior then retired, and I was alone in the corridor. In a few minutes the bishop came down from the second story, and I bowed to him. His Lordship then opened the door of a large drawing-room, made a sign for me to enter, and 1 sat down on a sofa to which he motioned me, whilst he took a chair opposite. I then gave him the letters from the Archbishop of Calcutta, and from the Lady Superior, Marie von Hoffmann, of Allahabad. Having read them all, his Lordship told me that the recommendations were very strong, but that he had heard with regret that I had not treated the Lady Superior and the nuns of the convent with the customary respect ; he had, he said, been very much annoyed, for any offence against his nuns was an offence against himself, and this want of respect had been the cause of my being dismissed from the convent and sent to a hotel. 142 THE NORTH 8TAR It was now clear to me that I was the victim of the jealous and ambitious nuns, and in reply to the angry- gentleman, who addressed me in such a rough manner, I said quietly and humbly that in my long journey I had been brought in contact with people of every rank and position, from the highest to the lowest, but that this was the first time that I had heard such a complaint. " Besides," I added, " I can only render human and not divine hon- ours to my fellow-creatures." My last remark made the bishop very angry, and his language was most insulting ; indeed, some of the bitter words he used in my own language moved me to tears, and I stood up, bowed, and left the room, sobbing, without a word. Some nuns in India seemed possessed of a mania to invite me to prayer, after they had wronged and offended me. In the court below I found the Lady Superior, who asked me why I was crying, and, like the false hypo- critical woman that she was, wished to take me into the chapel with her to pray, but I looked at her disdainfully, and went my way. The office of Mr. Gumpert, the German consul, was close by, so I went to him and handed him the official recommendation from the German consul at Calcutta. Having read the paper, Mr. Gumpert asked in a friendly manner what he could do for me. I then told him how I had fared in the convent of St. Joseph, confessing to him I had met with a great deal of injustice, and had endured many privations in convents ; that I was over-weary of my experience of conventual caprice, jealousy, and bigotry, and I concluded by begging my listener to ask some respectable family to receive me for the term of my AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 143 stay in Bombay. Widow W., in whose house I might well have remained, was an extremely bigoted lady, and I was anxious to get out of the atmosphere of bigotry into that of healthy Christianity. Although Consul Gumpert was a personal friend of the Catholic bishop, my candid statement of my experiences in convents did not injure me in his estimation, and he complimented me on proving myself, by what I had said, to be no bigoted Catholic, assuring me that he was no bigoted Protestant, and added that he knew the German bishop merely in his capacity of German consul as a social acquaintance, not as a religious friend. Consul G. lived alone and had no family, and whilst he was con- sidering what family would receive me well, he thought of the German clergyman of Bombay, the Rev. Mr. Deimler, and at once wrote a few lines to his wife, a very amiable young lady, recommending me to her hospitality. When I returned to Widow W., after leaving Consul G., I found her in a very bad humour. The first thing she said to me was that she had not a complete but only half a dinner to serve up, for it was the sacred season of fasting, and as a Catholic, I must fast. This, I thought to myself, is in accordance with the orders of the nuns, for I knew the widow was very intimate with them and the Jesuit fathers. I thanked the lady for her half- dinner and assured her that I had not the slightest appetite. At that, the good lady, to my great astonish- ment, began to pour forth a bitter complaint against me. " I wonder," she said, in an irritable, piteous, and at the same time sanctimonious, tone of voice, " that as a Catholic 144 TEE NORTH STAR you do not know better what your duties are. The Lady Superior complained to me this morning that you had greatly annoyed and insulted our bishop." " With what, and how ? " I inquired quietly. " "With what ? " repeated the widow angrily. " You know well enough that when the bishop opened the drawing-room door, you went in before he did, and that when his Lordship first approached you, you did not kiss his ring. You are a Catholic ; and you ought to know that it was your duty to kiss that ring." "I know," I said, "that Catholics kiss the bishops' rings, for I used to do so myself ; but I did not know, and do not believe, that to kiss them is a duty ; to kiss a con- secrated ring is but an absurd assumption on the part of an ambitious priesthood, and the ring is but one of the many symbols introduced into the Roman Catholic Church, which neither Christ nor any of the Apostles taught us to kiss." The widow looked at me with angry eyes, and said that she believed and did all that the Church and the priests taught or required, and that the mere thought whether the laws of the Church were right or wrong was a sin. She further declared that priests and nuns are no ordinary men and women ; they are (she told me) the elect of God, and in honouring them we honour Him. The widow wound up her sermon with the further accusation that I had not kissed the hand of the Lady Superior on my arrival at the convent, adding that she was very much annoyed, and I was no good Catholic. I closed this interesting discussion by remarking that on my entire journey I had never once kissed the ring of an AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 145 archbishop or of a bishop ; that I only kissed the hands of Ladies Superior when their owners were women whom I could love and honour, and that although I was no good Catholic, in the sense of the Roman Catholic Church and of priests and nuns, I strove earnestly to be one in the sense of Christ. In the afternoon I received Mrs. Deimler's favourable answer, forwarded to me by Consul Gumpert, and he promised to call for me himself at Widow U.'s, after office hours, and to take me to the German clergyman's house. I settled my little account with Mrs. U., and did all I could to part from her on good terms. Towards six o'clock I heard' the sound of a carriage, and in a few moments Consul Gumpert was shown in by the servant. He did not remain long, and we drove to the house of the Rev. Mr. Deimler, in Mazagon road, where I received a hearty welcome, and that in my own native language, which has a doubly pleasant sound in a foreign land. I was now once more amongst liberal Protestants, and far happier than with bigoted nuns. All possible kindness was shown to me, and I soon found out that I was in a happy and contented familj T . Mrs. Deimler had not long been married, and had as yet no child, but a few months later Heaven granted her a dear little daughter. I had told Consul Gumpert of my wish to go to Goa, the chief town of Portuguese India, and the very next day he sent me a free pass which he had obtained from a personal friend, the director of a line of steamers running along the Coast of Malabar. Consul Gumpert was also good enough to introduce me to his Excellency Count Januario, the VOL. n. 10 146 THE NORTH STAR Governor-General of Goa. The governor had paid a visit to Bombay not very long before, and had made many friends during his stay. He was described to me as an unassuming, upright, highly cultivated, and extremely honourable man. The steamer had hardly left the harbour, when I was terribly sea-sick, and worse than I had ever been before on any sea. Between Bombay and Goa, I saw nothing either of the sky or of the Malabar Straits, for I did not come out of my cabin at all. On the Monday evening we reached Goa, on the coast of the island of Goa, a neck of land between the rivers Narwar and Mormu Goa. On Tuesday morning, the captain sent my letter of intro- duction to his Excellency the Governor, whose palace was close to the sea-shore, and opposite to our steamer. A tasty little sloop soon put off from land and brought two aristocratic-looking gentlemen to our vessel, to whom I was introduced by the captain, the one being Dom Carvalho, the adjutant, and the other Mr. Mercier, the private secretary of the Governor. The former invited me to the palace in the name of the Governor, and in a few minutes I was on my way to the shore, with my escorts. The Governor received me with a very friendly speech, and made me heartily welcome. His appearance was that of a worthy unaifected man, and his manners were entirely free from unnecessar} 7 ceremony; in short he was just such a man as the description given of him by Consul G. and others had led me to expect. I was very simply dressed, yet the Governor and his entire staff treated me with as much consideration as if I had been a princess in damask and diamonds. As I knew that the Governor had no family, AND TEE SOUTHERN CROSS. 147 and could not therefore offer me, a single lady, any shelter beneath his roof, I told him frankly that I only proposed remaining one day in Goa, and that the director of the Steamship Company had given me permission to make use of my cabin on board the steamer. The Governor accepted this declaration with a few suitable words. I was spared all embarrassing questions, and felt perfectly at my ease. The household arrangements of his Excellency were entirely under the care of Hindu-Portuguese servants, whilst the officials of the palace were European-Portu- guese ; amongst the latter there were several very intelli- gent gentlemen, but not one of them was married, and there was not a single European lady in the whole palace. At five o'clock in the afternoon a sumptuous dinner was served, of which all the chief officials of the palace partook on the invitation of the Governor. I sat at the right hand of my host, with the adjutant on my other side, and Senhor Kiberio, a Portuguese poet, opposite to me. The dinner was a lafrangaise and the conversation was in French. It was an exceptionally hot day, the heat was most oppres- sive, and although the food set before me was so inviting, I had quite lost my appetite and could scarcely eat a mor- sel ; a glass of wine, which I took as a cordial, was almost all I could swallow. One great aggravation of the heat hi Goa is the impossibility of obtaining ice ; the tempera- ture, thev sav, is too hot for ice to be manufactured on / / */ / the spot, and it is also difficult to import and preserve it ; so that a really cold drink of water, or of anything else, is a very rare treat. 148 THE NORTH STAM The most interesting portion of the vice-regal palace at Goa, is a long gallery full of fine oil paintings, amongst which I noticed full length portraits of Yasco de Gama, Dias, Albuquerque, Francis Xavier, and Loyola. After dinner, Mr. Mercier, the Governor's private secretary, a most accomplished pianist, gave us a charming little con- cert. When it began to get dusk the adjutant and secre- tary escorted me back to the steamer, after I had thanked the Governor for his hospitable reception. The next day, in the cool early morning, the two gen- tlemen again came to fetch me, and getting into the Gov- ernor's elegant open carriage, I was driven to Old Goa, eight miles from Nova Goa. The town is on the left bank of the river Narwar, and was founded by the celebrated Portuguese Admiral Albuquerque. In the course of the forenoon we saw all the Portuguese churches of this old town, which is so memorable in the annals of the Jesuit order. Our first visit was to the church of Bon Jesus, in which, on the right of the high altar, we saw the tomb of Francis Xavier, the apostle of the Indies, and one of the great saints of Roman Catholicism. The tomb is only dimly lighted, and it was with deep reverence that I stood before the shrine containing the relics of the great saint, whose self-denying life, and glorious death, must compel the admiration of all who honour the religion of Jesus. A solemn feeling of awe came over me, and kneeling down, I thanked my God with all my heart for having brought me hither safely, and for having given me grace to visit the grave of this great follower of Christ. The mausoleum consists of an oblong pedestal of the finest AND THE SOUTHERN GROSS.- 149 Carrara marble, on which rests a brass gilt sarcophagus, in a costly and richly decorated silver shrine. The .tomb is in a dimly lighted vaulted chamber, the walls of which are hung with the most beautiful sacred pictures. Unfortunately, however, the mausoleum is a little too dark for it to be possible adequately to admire the full artistic beauty of the rich carvings on the tomb, representing the miracles of the saint, or to appreciate the effect of the mural paintings as a whole. Francis Xavier (the companion of Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order) built the church Bon Jesus at Old Goa, which is one of the first churches of that order. All the churches of Old Goa are in the style of the sixteenth century. The traditions current in India, especially in that part belonging to the Portu- guese, respecting the life and miracles of Francis Xavier are innumerable. But the loving reverence in which I have held the memory of the great apostle from my earliest childhood forbids me to introduce these miracles here or to say much about them. There are many Christians who believe that the saints are endowed with divine power, and are capable of working miracles ; others who recognise such divine power in God and Christ alone, and it is to the latter class that I myself belong. Once my belief was different ; I prayed to images and looked into their faces, into their eyes with loving earnest faith, as though they were alive and could see and hear me. When I was a little girl I used often to go to the celebrated shrine of the Mater Dolorosa, near the cemetery of my home, and, as it was rather high from the ground, I stood on the very tips of my 150 THE NORTH STAR toes, that the Mother of Sorrows might see my face and hear better what I had to say to her. Those days are now gone by, but I have knelt and prayed before the most celebrated images of the Roman Catholic world. I have bathed them with tears; I have kissed them and made them offerings of flowers. I have knelt for hours before the miraculous image of the Virgin in the celebrated chapel of Notre Dame des Victoires, in Paris, and have poured out my childish grief to her with bitter tears ; I have besought her a thousand times to touch the heart of one so dear to us all, that he might love God, and those who loved him and were so nearly related to him; often and often I begged the Virgin Mary to staunch the tears of my dearest mother, but her miraculous image, surrounded with inscriptions of the most astounding miracles, never heard me. I bought tapers for the Virgin ; in her name the priests demanded small contributions for the decora- tions of her chapel, for the poor, and for their own prayers to the holy Mother; many a franc did I pay from my hard-earned money, but I was always disappointed, no madonna, no saint, no image of the Roman Catholic world has ever heard me. I began to think for myself. I went on thinking, and still continue to do so ; and I can now only wonder at my own superstition and credulity, and at the number of divinities I believed in besides the one true God. I cannot deny that the superstition was a beautiful one, and, in times of grief, a comfort to my mind ; but it was after all nothing but a pleasing deception. I can never again pray to any saint canonized by the Church of Rome, for I have lost all faith and confidence in them, and, although I honour and love the saints (and AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 151 especially the Mother of God) as the pure spirits of heaven, I no longer ask them for anything, or expect anything from them. I now believe in the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of the one true God alone, and of our divine example, the Saviour Jesus Christ. In God and Christ alone can I now believe, to them alone can I pray, and I am no longer disappointed, but Jappy. All Christians, however, even those who do not believe in the miracles of the saints, must honour and admire the faith, the self- denial, the patience, the philanthropy, the courage, and the endurance of St. Francis Xavier, who was the noblest and truest follower of Christ of whom the Christian Church can boast in any age. / o In no part of the Roman Catholic world had I seen so many ecclesiastics as in Old Goa, in Portuguese India. They form quite a little army, and I believe there are more priests in Goa than soldiers. We went into the sacristy of the cathedral of Old Goa, where I saw no less than thirty-five priests who were preparing for high mass. Most of them, however, were doing so in a manner which testified but little earnestness or reverence, and I could not but wonder that the older priests tolerated such want of respect and such frivolity in the younger. I could only wonder how so many priests as I saw in Old Goa, healthy robust men, too, could endure to lead such a narrow lazy life, and to be of so little use in the world, for their chief occupation is to attend to daily church ceremonies. My companions told me that there were as many nuns as priests in Goa, and wanted me to go to some of the nunneries, but I told them that I was tired of convents, 152 THE NORTH STAR and never went to them now unless I was obliged. We breakfasted in a monastery, and then drove back to the palace of New Goa. The surrounding districts of Goa are infested by venomous reptiles and by tigers, which are a great nuisance to the natives. The tigers are fre- quently hunted. It was very hot in Goa, more so than in Bombay, and the heat was of that oppressive kind which is so exhaust- ing both to body and mind. Not a breath of wind stirred ; the sea was as smooth as glass ; the atmosphere was damp and heavy ; on land one could scarcely breathe, and out in the bay, on the steamer, things were not much better; superhuman efforts were necessary to see the little that I saw, for mind and body were, if I may so express it, under the ban of the elements. All I managed to notice, before I went quite off to sleep, on my return from the shore, was the picturesque landscape on either side of the bay ; but all nature seemed motionless and dead, and this lifeless scene had a most depressing effect upon me. I felt as if I must sleep, and I slept with iny eyes open. The green cocoa-palms and the mango-trees of the beautiful thickets on the neighbouring heights were likewise wrapt in slumber; not a leaf was stirred by a wandering breeze, all vegetation, weary and withered, drooped in dejected inaction. Under these circumstances, my reader will not expect me to have much to tell of what I saw in this state of " living death." To take an intelligent interest in the outer world, one must, above all things, be awake ; and I was not awake in the stifling harbour at Goa, but asleep in broad daylight. The first attack of this lethargy, this living death, I AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 153 experienced in the Bay of Saigon, Cochin-China, and the second in that of Goa, Portuguese India. In both latitudes I was very sleepy ; more like a living mummy than any- thing else, and if any one were to present me with the whole island of Cochin-China, or with that of Goa, I would not live in either, but would rather be a poor shepherdess in one of the healthy, bracing valleys of my native Rhine. Thank Heaven we left this spot, fatal alike to bodily, mental, and intellectual effort, on the second day ; but of the journey back to Bombay I have just as much and no more to tell than of that to Goa, and the programme of my usual concert when at sea is already too well known for any repetition to be desirable. How different I felt when I again saw Bombay ! There, too, people complained of the heat, but in comparison with that of Goa, the temperature of Bombay was pleasant and refreshing. The Rev. Mr. D. 's pretty villa was situated in such a shady spot, and my little room was so cool and comfortable, that I once more felt alive and awake. The mode of life in the clergyman's house exactly suited my feelings and tastes, for in it reigned quiet simple happiness, true cheerfulness and genuine fear of God. The Rev. Mr. D. is a man after God's own heart, and his wife is a well-bred, virtuous woman. The religion of this happy family was manifested in such a simple, unaffected manner, that their society and happiness was an ever fresh delight to me. Every day, without any external pressure, the whole household voluntarily met to pray, and the good clergyman poured forth his supplications in words dictated by his own heart, never using any book but the Bible. 154 THE NORTH STAR While I was absent in Goa, the late Secretary Seward, ot America, arrived in Bombay, and he had the kindness to send me (through the German consul, Mr. Gumpert) an invitation to join his party, but which, unfortunately, reached me too late. I had missed a similar oppor- tunity to make the acquaintance of this venerable statesman at Batavia, when, through a sudden indisposi- tion, I was obliged to decline the Resident's kind request to be his guest at a dinner, given in honour of Mr. Seward. But on his return from Goa, I had the pleasure of seeing him and his adopted daughter, " Miss Olive Risley Sew- ard ; " later, and shortly before his death, I received a veiy friendly letter, in which the kind gentleman who had shown me so much esteem and sympathy, strongly advised me to give the public the benefit of my as the veteran called them " extraordinary experiences." It was now Passion Week, and the sacred season of Easter was approaching. I therefore remembered my religious duties, and, wishing to partake of the Holy Communion on Easter Day, I went to Fort Chapel to confess, as I knew no priests in Bombay, except those of that Institution, who could speak English, German, or French. I was not yet acquainted with the Rev. Father Cooke, to whom the Rev. Dr. K., of Delhi, had given me a note of introduction, for during the few hours I spent in the convent of Fort Chapel, I had had no opportunity of handing him my letter, and since then I had neither cause nor wish to do so. When I entered the chapel, I saw a nun engaged in the decoration of the altar. I approached and asked her if one of the fathers could hear my confes- sion. She went away, but quickly returned and told AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 155 me that the Rev. Father Cooke would come, and she then pointed out his confessional. The father came; I confessed to him ; and when he had given me absolu- tion, I asked him if he would allow me a question outside the confessional. " Certainly," was his reply, and he came to speak to me. I then gave him my name, and told him I was the German lady who had come to the convent with recommendations to the Bishop, the Lady Superior, and his Reverence himself ; and I begged to know if any letters had been addressed to me at the convent. The last word was hardly out of my mouth when he exclaimed in an excited tone : " If you are Miss Weppner, I am compelled to cancel the absolution I have just given you ; you have not rendered the honour due to the Right Reverend Bishop and the Lady Superior ; you have insulted them, and did not own to having done so in your confession to me. With such guilt upon your conscience, you cannot partake of the Holy Communion;" and, he added, "you have withdrawn yourself from Catholics, and are living with Protestants who hate and despise us." Much more did the father say, repeating that he took back the absolution he had given me, and that I could not go to the Communion, adding to this that he had sent a letter for me which had come into his hands back to the post-office. When he had ended his declamation, I told him that I had sinned neither against the Bishop nor the Lady Superior ; that kissing a ring, or a hand, was no command or duty, and that if he took back the absolution, his conduct was not that of one acting in God's stead, but a mere caprice of temper, and that both the giving and the cancelling of the absolution were worthless. With these words I left the 156 THE NORTH STAR Rev. Father Cooke, feeling very indignant, and disposed never ,to enter a confessional again. Ambitious, revengeful, and implacable priests, such as these, call themselves the followers of Christ, and sit in the confessional in God's stead. Had I come to the Rev. Father Cooke as a hypocrite, and confessed to him that I was sorry for not having kissed the Bishop's ring, and for having failed in respect to the Lady Superior and the nuns; had I told him that I regretted having gone to Protestants, and declared that I would leave the heretics, he would have blessed and absolved me without cancel- ling his absolution, and I should have been considered worthy to receive the Holy Communion. And whether I lived with Protestants or Parsees, what could it have mattered to the merciless bishop, my countryman, who treated me in such a heartless fashion? It must have been perfectly indifferent to him where I went, when he turned me out of the convent late at night, and ordered me to go to a hotel. I was anxious to know whether the letter addressed to me at the Convent of Fort Chapel and sent back to the post-office by the Rev. Father Cooke, was still to be had. I therefore went to the post-office, and after being referred a dozen times from one official to another, I was finally assured that my letter was in the dead letter box, and would be forwarded to me by the first post next day. On Sunday morning, when I came home from church, Mr. Deimler handed me the expected letter, which had been originally addressed to me, " Care of the Rev. Father Cooke, Fort Chapel, Bombay," but that gentleman,who had declined to receive the letter, had scratched out the lines AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 157 beneath my name, and written " Left Fort Chapel and gone somewhere else," although he knew very well where I was gone. But then I was with Protestants, or, as he would have said, with heretics, and his Roman Catholic prejudices and jealousy prevented him from saying where I was, and dictated what he wrote. The letter in question was from Angela von Hoffmann, the Lady Superior of the German convent at Allahabad, with whom I had spent two days on my journey between Delhi and Jubbulpore on my way to Bombay, and who had recommended me to the Bishop of Bombay. The contents of this letter astonished me. The Lady Superior, Angela von Hoffmann, after friendly inquiries as to my health and where I was, asked me if I had seen his Lordship, Bishop Meurin, and after several introductory sentences, she went on to say : " There is a young lady about twenty-four years of age in our convent at Patna, whose mind is somewhat deranged, and the doctors say that she would recover in Europe. Her father, an opium merchant of Patna, had some time previously offered to pay the travelling expenses of any lady who would accompany his daughter to Europe, and thought one of us might be able to do so. But as we cannot spare any member of our order, it may, perhaps, be a favourable opportunity for you to go to Europe free of expense. The young lady is to be taken to Nymphenburg, from which place she could be sent to St. Zeno, where there is a bathing establishment, belong- ing to the Angelic Sisterhood, in which guests are received. What do you say to this plan, dear Misa 158 THE NORTH STAR Weppner 2 If it is not too late, will you send me a telegram and engage two passages, either both first class, or, if you are disposed to be economical, one first and one second ? In any case, however, the young lady must never be left alone, but must share your cabin, &c., &c. " Yours truly, " M. ANGELA VON HOFFMANN, " Superior of the Convent of St. Marie, Allahabad" I must here remark that the above-mentioned convent in Patna is German, and belongs to the same order as that in Allahabad, both being offshoots of the mother institution at Nymphenburg (Bavaria), near Munich, and the convent at Augsburg (Bavaria), in which the reader will remember I once stayed, belong to the same order of the Angelic Sisters, all of whom are connected with that at Nymphenburg, the mother institution. I asked Mr. and Mrs. Deimler to read the letter, and tell me what their opinion was, and what they would advise me to do with regard to the request of the Lady Superior of Allahabad. At the time Mr. and Mrs. Deimler had no more idea than I had, that the young lady men- tioned in the letter was in a dangerous condition, for the words " whose mind is somewhat deranged," did not lead me to suppose anything of the kind, and they agreed with me, that I might undertake the charge of a young lady who was, as we. supposed, harmless ; for we could not imagine that the Lady Superior would dare to ask me to take any one to Europe whose malady was dangerous. We concluded that the Lady in question was a Roman Catholic, as she was now in a convent, and was to be sent AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 159 to another, which latter was very well known to me, and one id which I knew the nuns were too scrupulous to receive a Protestant. The offer of a free journey did not weigh with me in the least, for before I received the letter I had the best prospects of a free passage to Europe. And a free passage given to me by one company or another, would have left me entirely at liberty ; whereas, the acceptance of one, under the conditions imposed by the Lady Superior, Angela vou Hoffmann, would be to relinquish my freedom and to undertake a most arduous task, even under the most favourable circumstances, and supposing the lady to be a harmles lunatic. My first impulse, to protect the young invalid on her journey to Europe, was the result of pity, and the indulgence of this impulse led to a very romantic chapter in my journey. " I have no doubt," I said to Mr. and Mrs. Deimler, " that the lady is harmless and easy to take care of, for the Lady Superior knows me. I was quite open with her, and she knows that I was in the convent at Augsburg, which belongs to the same order as those of Allahabad and Patna, in the latter of which the young lady now is. She is aware that I am acquainted with the convent at Nymphenburg, to which the young lady is to be taken. She must be telling me the truth ; she could not be so cruel, so heartless, as to deceive me. If the poor girl's father hopes that his child's health will be restored in Europe, I feel disposed to take her with me. It is true, I know neither him nor her, they are both strangers to me ; all I know is, that an unhappy sufferer is concerned, and such great kindness has been shown to me on my journey, 160 THE NORTH STAR that I am glad of an opportunity of myself bestowing upon another some of that consideration which I have myself so often experienced from good and generous people." With the approbation of my friends, without whose advice I would do nothing, I telegraphed to the Lady Superior at Allahabad on the Monday, telling her that I would take the young lady, and should engage two passages for the ensuing Saturday. But in thinking the matter over seriously in the course of the day, a doubt occurred to me as to whether there might not be some monastic conceal- ment of the truth, some conventual mystery, or some interest of the convent involved in the matter of the young lady thus mentally afflicted. On reading the letter over again the Lady Superior's remark that the father of the lady had offered a free passage some time previously, awoke in me a suspicion of her sincerity. Why, I thought to myself, did she say nothing to me about this young lady when I was in her convent at Allahabad ? She said so much about the convent at Patna, yet she did not allude either to the condition of the young lady, or to her father's offer. Patna is not far from Allahabad. I might have seen the father and daughter, ascertained personally the true state of the case, and decided better what to do, than I possibly could now, when 800 miles off. Why, I thought further, was the Lady Superior so cold at first, and then suddenly so friendly ? Was it not all done on purpose ? Perhaps she had thought even then that I was the right person, and that there was an opportunity to relieve the Lady Superior and nuns of Patna of this unfortunate lunatic. But she would not say anything at the time, in AMD THE SOUTHERN CS08S. 161 order that I might have no opportunity of investigating the matter, and it was probable that it had been decided to send me this letter before I left the convent at Alla- habad. Perhaps some secret, or the dangerous state of the young lady, was the true reason for wishing to send her away. I know how impenetrably artful nuns and monks are, and that the wisdom of the world is nothing to their artifices and stratagems. Harassed by my doubts, I sent a second telegram on the same day, Monday, to the Lady Superior at Allahabad, asking her to let me know by telegraph if the lunatic was dangerous, or if she was harmless and easy to manage, observing that only in the latter case could I undertake the charge of her. The fact of its being a conventual affair led me to be cautious, and I gave my address " Care of the German Consul, Mr. Gumpert, Bombay," for I wished everything which passed to be with the knowledge of an official. Tuesday and Wednesday passed by, and no answer arrived either to my first or second telegram. VOL. II. 11 169. THE NORTH STAR CHAPTER IV. ON Thursday Mr. von Helle, an Austrian nobleman and friend of the German consul, took me to the world-famous Caves of Elcphanta, in the island of Elephanta. It was formerly very difficult to land on this island, but when the Duke of Edinburgh visited Bombay, an unpretending, but safe landing stage was constructed by the municipality of Bombay, since which everybody who visits the caves can go on shore with as much comfort and security as did the royal prince of England. An easy flight of steps leads up from the beach to an esplanade 150 feet high, about which, as, indeed over the whole island, rise the Palmyra, and other beautiful palms, with their thick shady fan- shaped crowns of leaves, bananas, &c. In the very centre of the esplanade is the entrance to the half dark subter- ranean temple, which is a gigantic work of human skill. The outer surface of the rock is cut completely away to a height of 30 feet, the excavated space being 300 ft. broad, and divided into four separate chambers. We entered the principal room of the temple, with its richly sculptured columns and grandly vaulted roof, by a stately gateway of rock. The pillars forming the apparent AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 163 supports of the spherical dome, but, in reality, hewn out of the same block of living rock, are covered from the base to the very summit with carvings of the greatest regularity and beauty of design ; everything is so exquisitely finished that one would imagine each column to have been added separately, whereas, the whole temple, rooms, doorways, columns, &c. , are cut out of one mass of rock. Looking from the principal chamber into the interior of the rock, a second arch is visible, hewn in the living basalt, which gives access to a large inner room 20 feet square, and is the secluded home of various gods One colossal figure represents Brahma, the triune divinity of India, the sym- bol of creative power, with his head raised heavenwards, in calm and dignified contemplation, whilst at his feet crouches an enormous Hon. Here, too, are Yishnu, the symbol of sustaining power, slumbering upon a lotus leaf ; and Siva, symbol of de- structive power, with a sword in the right hand, and a cobra in the left. Round about this noble group crowd the subsidiary deities of the triune god Brahma, and on the ceiling are sculptured some fifty beautiful allegorical figures which resemble the angels of our churches. All the walls of the chapels and rooms of this rock-cut temple are adorned with allegorical representations of incidents in the life of the Brahminical trinity ; such as the trans- formation, incarnation, battles, victories, miracles, and so forth. The Caves of Elephanta were excavated more than one thousand years ago ; they are now, and will probably for ever remain uninjured, for what could destroy the solid basalt walls of this rocky stronghold ? It is true there are 164 THE NORTH STAR enemies of the Brahminical religion who now and then damage' the nose, lips, or ears of one of the basalt gods with a hammer, or menace their tire-proof bodies with cannon, but what, after all, can either weapon avail against the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, in the shelter of their basalt rocks ? What can disturb the great god of this mighty religion in his solid mountain fortress? Neither the north wind nor the flood ; neither time nor man. In a little chamber cut in the wall of rock on the right- hand side there is a spring of the purest sweetest water, and this was the spot I liked best in the Caves of Ele- phanta. "We had two Hindu servants with us, and whilst we were going over the temple, they got a capital meal ready for us. We took our places in the chief room of the rock-cut cave, and gods, lions, and pigmies looked down upon us and saw how much we enjoyed our dinner. I went and drew some water from the Elephanta spring, which flows from the sacred Ganges, from the Himalayas I loved so well, and which, according to the Brahmins, is wholesome for both body and soul. Whilst we were still at our banquet amongst the gods, one of the Hindu servants, wearing a white costume and a plain coloured turban, which fell right down over his shoulders, went to the spring in the rocks to draw water, and as he stood at its edge with the jug in his hand, a sun- beam fell upon him from a chink in the rocks. So startling was the effect of the brilliant light upon the bright red turban and the snow-white costume of the dark- skinned Hindu, with the reflection on the water in the secluded nook, shut in by overhanging rocks, that I sprang AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 165 up involuntarily and exclaimed, " Standstill ; I must have a copy of that picture." My companion, Mr. H., was a painter of talent, and he quickly seized his brush and painted the charming scene with masterly skill ; unfortunately, however, I subsequently lost the picture, but perhaps there will be a painter amongst my readers who will again depict everything just as I have described it. When we returned to Bombay, the tide was low, and we could not wait for it to turn, as the sun was already sinking. Our boat was a long way frpm the beach, as the water was too shallow for it to approach nearer. Close to the edge of the water, however, stood a number of Hindus, who offered to carry us through the shallow water to the sloop. The proposal terrified me, and I declared positively that I could not and would not allow myself to be carried, but, before I could prevent it, two sturdy half -naked fellows had me on their shoulders. I uttered a terrible scream and tried to jump down, but my bearers were already wading through the water with me seated between them, partly on the shoulder of one, partly on that of the other, swaying from side to side like a slight plank. It required great presence of mind to save myself from falling ; my feet touched the surf ace of the water, and in order to keep them dry I had to draw myself together like a cat. This of course destroyed my balance, and as the straddling shoulders of the Hindus formed a seat alike uncomfortable and too wide for my small person, I was in the greatest fear of falling backwards or forwards. In my terror I clutched at the naked chest of the Hindus with both hands, and held fast by their black flesh. My 166 TEE NORTH STAR companion was behind me, in a similarly pleasant position, on the shoulders of two Hindus. Our vessel was a long way out, and I so loathed the black flesh of the Hindus by which I held, that as soon as ever they set me down on my own feet in the boat I hastily washed my hands, at which Mr. H. laughed most heartily ; and on our voy- age back to Bombay he painted me a second picture, which was not however quite so poetic as that of the dark Hindu in the red turban and snow-white costume, standing, water jug in hand, beside the spring in the shadowy rock-cut Cave of Elephanta, with the sunbeam falling full upon him. I, for my part, attempted to draw my companion on the shoulders of the two Hindus ; but, as I never had much time to cultivate the art of drawing, I could not well succeed, and by the time we reached Bombay, the three men, under my pencil, looked crippled and ailing, and tit to be sent to a hospital. On Thursday evening no answer from Allahabad had arrived, and I now no longer expected any news, thinking my second telegram to the Lady Supe- rior must have miscarried. At noon on Friday, however, as we were sitting at table the consul's servant brought me a letter, which I opened and read as follows : Miss WEPPNER, " Have pity on me, I beg of you, and come at once. The poor creature has arrived, and is sitting here in my office. You will sec and marvel. "A. GTJMPEKT." I read the letter aloud, and, as I concluded, we looked at each other in astonishment. "A piece of genuine conventual artifice," I exclaimed, " to leave me to hear unexpectedly of AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 167 the arrival of this stranger, without answering my tele- gram, or giving me any notice ; and then not even to inquire where I am, but to take the poor creature to the German consul ! " This gentleman had sent me a carriage at the same time as the letter, and I immediately drove to his office. Directly I entered it. my eyes fell on oh, what a miserable and pitiable figure ! I was really afraid to approach her, and the consul pointed to a chair near to him and opposite to the unhappy creature, in whose long, thin, and deadly pale face, and vacant wandering looks, I read but too clearly the state of her mind. Her unusually large and bright blue eyes, the beauty of which had been perceptibly marred by her mental malady, now expressed nothing but hopeless, heartrending despair. She was very poorly and carelessly dressed, and her whole appearance was that of a neglected, forsaken, suffering and despairing young creature. I did not even know the name of the poor stranger, for in her letter to me the Lady Superior had mentioned neither it, nor that of her father. When I spoke to her she looked at me long and fixedly, and answered nothing. "What do you think of this unexpected arrival?" I inquired of Consul Gumpert, and he replied, " I don't know what to say." Beside the unfortunate young lady sat a woman who had brought her from the convent at Patna to Bombay. She was, to judge from her appearance and speech, an uncultivated woman, but she had sense enough to profess ignorance as to who the poor girl or her father and 168 THE NORTH STAR relations were. Her own name was Mrs. Foy, and she told me that she had to look after the little girls in the convent at Patna, and that last "Wednesday evening, an hour before she started, the Lady Superior had told her she was to accompany Miss Cosserat to Bombay, and there hand her over to Miss "Weppner, at the German consulate, who would take her to Europe. Mrs. Foy, as it appeared, had received certain instructions from the Lady Superior at Patna which she conscientiously endeavoured to carry out. She maintained that she had never seen Miss Cosserat before they started, and that she knew nothing of her father but his name. The Lady Superior had further charged her to tell me that Mr. Cosserat, the young lady's father, was too ill to bring his daughter to me himself, and the woman declared to me again and again that Miss Cosserat was not a dangerous lunatic. But when, dismayed at the deplorable condition of the miserable girl, I asked Mrs. Foy if she would take her back, either to the convent or to her father, she said with genuine pathos, not for any sum of money not at any price. She then handed me three letters ; one from the Lady Superior of the German convent at Patna, a second from the Lady Superior, Angela von Hoffmann, of the German convent at Allahabad, and a third from Mr. James Cosserat, the father of the lunatic. Through the Lady Superior, Salesia Reimer, of Patna, Mr. Cosserat sent me a sum of money for travelling ex- penses, which sum was, however, inadequate. Finally Mrs. Foy gave me the certificate of a doctor of Patna, which, unlike the first letter from the Lady Superior, Angela von H., of Allahabad, was enough to make one's hair stand on AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 169 end. In this certificate I read more than "somewhat deranged in mind," for the doctor described Miss Cosserat, the daughter of Mr. James Coaserat, of Patna, as a very dangerous lunatic, and he cited several instances of her having not only attempted her own life, but threatened and endangered that of others. He added, moreover, that since the derangement of her intellect, Miss Cosserat had been very fond of quarrelling, very slovenly, and very difficult to manage. She also suffered from sleeplessness, and required constant watching day and night. All this was very far from encouraging; but Miss Cosserat's most dangerous peculiarity which, alas, I did not myself discover, until too late, was not referred to in the doctor's letter at all. He neither said when and how Miss Cosserat lost her reason, nor that the ch'mate of Europe would restore her to health. From what he said in his letter one would conclude that the young lady had begun to show symptoms of derangement of intellect in her father's house, seven months before, but this was altogether contradicted by the declaration of Salesia Reimer, the Lady Superior of the German convent at Patna, from which the lunatic was brought to Bombay. The doctor made no reference to the treatment of the invalid in the convent mentioned above, and in her letter the Lady Superior said very distinctly that she had had charge of her for three years in the convent, and that she was quite harmless ; adding that a German nun, Miss Alexis, by name, who had left the convent at Patna and returned a year ago to that at JSTyrnphenburg, in Bavaria, knew Miss Cosserat. The doctor's certificate and the letters of the Ladies Superior at Patna and Allahabad 170 THE NORTH STAR were so contradictory, that it was impossible to get at the simple truth amongst them, and at the time neither the German consul nor I founji out, as I did, later, in Europe, that the doctor's letter was an old one written a year previously. In his letter to me, Miss Cosserat's father, James Cosserat, of Patna, mentioned the sum of 1800 rupees for travelling expenses ; but Salesia Reimer, the Lady Superior at Patna, through whose hands the money passed, only mentioned 1500. Mr. Gumpert, who read both letters, noticed the difference in the two sums named and called my attention to it. It was easy to see that the father's letter was written under the influence of the Lady Superior at Patna, for her advice alone could have led him to send his poor daughter to the convent of the Angelic Sisters at Nymphenburg, in Bavaria, the mother institu- tion of that at Patna, of which Mr. Cosserat evidently knew nothing. His treatment of the foreign names connected with the Bavarian convent testified to his entire ignorance respecting it. I concluded that the father's letter was dictated by the Lady Superior at Patna, and that the whole affair relating to the poor lunatic was in her hands and those of the Lady Superior at Allahabad. After Mr. Deimler had arrived at the German Consulate, and we had all taken counsel together, Mr. G. advised me to go to the German Bishop, Dr. Meurin, and ask him if he knew of no suitable shelter for the poor lunatic. I told the consul that I could not and would not go to the bishop, and he understood why not. Like a kind-hearted and feeling man, who pitied the condition of the poor creature, he went himself to the bishop. But when his AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. m Lordship heard that the unhappy lunatic had been sent to me, his first thought was to pour out a bitter complaint against me ; after that, however, much as he disliked me personally, he did what he could to help the poor afflicted creature. He probably knew that he was dealing with some artfully contrived monastic affair, the heroine of which was not, as we had imagined, a Catholic, but a poor forsaken Protestant. Bishop Meurin gave Mr. G. a letter for me, which I was to give to the Lady Superior of the convent of St. Joseph at Bandora. His Lordship told the consul that on the receipt of this letter, the Lady Superior would not hesitate to receive the lunatic until her journey to Europe was arranged. 1 had already succeeded in winning the confidence of the poor lunatic a little, and everybody was surprised at the affection she manifested for me. While I was sitting near her in the consul's office, she took my hand several times, pressed it warmly in both of hers, and said, looking round on the people about her, "I like this lady, she looks very kind." It was late in the evening when we left the consul's office, and as the convent of St. Joseph at Bandora is about five miles from Bombay, we did not get there until nearly twelve o'clock at night. Miss Cosserat slept the whole way, and did not therefore give us much trouble. The convent was as still as death, and the door was not opened until I had rung several times. I gave the maid-servant the bishop's letter, and begged her to let us come in with the invalid. We had, however, the greatest trouble to get the latter into the parlour ; she was evidently much frightened, and refused 172 THE NORTH STAB to follow us. " This is a convent," she said in a piteous tone, as she looked at the pictures on the walls. " I will not go into a convent ; I will not stay here ; " and running to the window she tried to open it. At this moment the Lady Superior came in, and Miss Cosserat was so terrified by the sight of her, that she ran into a corner with a loud scream, and hid her face against the wall. The Lady Superior at once expressed her readiness to comply with the bishop's wishes. She was, however, anxious to know when the lunatic would be removed from the convent, but this I could not tell her. I was still too much upset with the unannounced and unexpected arrival and the miserable appearance of my protegee, to be able to come to any decision. The well-instructed Mrs. Foy was just as reti- cent and guarded in her communications in the convent of St. Joseph, as she had been in the consul's office. Miss Cosserat remained in the convent, that is to say, she was persuaded to do so with the greatest trouble, and after many complaints. The poor creature begged me, with clasped hands and a most piteous expression of face, to come and see her the next day, and I promised to do so. It was midnight when I left the convent of Bandora with Mrs. Foy. On the way back to Bombay, I tried to find out from her why the lunatic's father, or one of the many nuns of Patna, did not bring the poor girl to Bombay, instead of a stranger. And, for a moment, forgetting her reserve and her instructions, Mrs. Foy said she did not think her charge's father was ill, but neither he, nor any of the nuns, had wished to accompany the lunatic, and the Lady Superior alone had escorted her to the station late in the evening. She added that the invalid had lost her AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 173 mother, that her father was an Englishman, and her grand- mother, now a very old woman of ninety-one, was a half- caste native ; but she confessed that on the evening of her leaving Patna, she had seen neither the father nor the grandmother. Meanwhile we had reached the Rev. Mr. Deimler's house, where we parted. Mrs. Foy went to pass the night in the ladies' room at the station, and promised to see me again the next day, and hand over to me Miss Cosserat's trunk. But I never again saw Mrs. Foy, and I believe she left Bombay during the night, for she had left Miss Cosserat's luggage ticket at the German consul's office without my knowledge. After this exciting day it was impossible to sleep or rest. I felt the deepest pity for the poor young lady, and her sorrow-stricken face haunted me perpetually. Anxious thoughts and doubts chased each other through my mind, but, through them all, my heart pleaded for the unhappy forsaken girl, and in spite of all the possible conse- quences which I pictured to myself, my heart told me again and again not to forsake the poor orphan. True misery never found me unfeeling ; and here was the subject of double misfortune ; here was a poor suffering creature, her spirit darkened by insanity ; a poor feeble woman with no mother ; and a father who, judging from his conduct, did not love her ; for a father who, with cold in- difference, can give over his suffering child to a stranger, whom he does not even care to see or to know, shows no affection, no heart. This father, I reasoned to myself, is a Protestant, yet he wishes and writes that his unhappy daughter should be taken to a Catholic convent in Europe ; he, her own father, sends his despairing child, who was 174 THE NORTH STAR brought up in the Protestant religion, to a fanatical convent far away from him. I asked myself, could a father, could a Protestant, who thus treated his own daughter, love her ? and my heart answered no ! But in any case, I reasoned further, the forsaken suffering child is here ; and the unhappy creature whom I had taken to the convent of St. Joseph but a few hours before was with me in my quiet peaceful room at Pastor Deimler's house. She haunted my imagination, she was my waking dream through the long hours of the night. I felt as if she was approaching my bed, and pressing my hand she pleaded for my love. " I am forsaken," she said, with a hopeless, despairing look ; " no one loves me, my father wants me to go to go to a strange and distant land, and I have no mother ; have mercy upon me, stranger ; pity me ; love me ! " And /, fully realising the sorrows of a child deprived of a father's love, /, to whom Heaven gave the best of mothers, whom I would soon be able to embrace, and /, the happy stranger, who had met with goodness and kindness in every country of the earth, could I forsake this unfortunate child, this orphan, whose mother lay in her grave, whose father repelled her, and who had no friend in the wide wide world ? " No / I cannot," I said to myself ; " I will show the same kindness to this unhappy child which others have shown to me. It is my duty. I will pity her, and will en- deavour to love her as my own sister, for the poor orphan is God's child. I will place her under the protection of Heaven, and am not afraid of the future. The good angel who led me to her will lead us both further in security and peace." While reasoning thus, the sudden thought AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 175 flashed through my mind that perhaps, instead of bringing the insane Protestant lady into a Roman Catholic convent, I could find for her a home in a lunatic asylum, where possibly she could be cured. The hope of doing this encouraged me, and I fully decided to take under my protection the poor forsaken one. I did not sleep at all that night, and I was quite worn out when I joined Mr. and Mrs. D. the next morning. When my friends became aware of the firm resolve I had come to to undertake the charge of the poor creature, and I had confessed to them my true motive for that resolve, the Rev. Mr. D. spoke to me very seriously, urging me to consider well the diffi- culties of the task and the risks I ran in undertaking it. He added, moreover, that even with the most conscientious economy it would be impossible to pay the expenses with the paltry sum sent to me by the father. The Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Deimler had come from Bavaria to Bombay not very long before, so that the good clergyman could tell me exactly what the journey would cost, which I did not know before. According to his estimate the sum for- warded to me would not even be enough for the fares for two by rail and steamer, and nothing would be left for the indispensable incidental expenses. " And," added Mr. D., " suppose the lunatic should be ill in body, or the state of her mind become so much worse that you could not manage her, and had to call in the assistance of others, what could you do without sufficient money ? You ought to have at least 500 rupees more, and even then you would not have enough, supposing you were detained long by the way." Salesia Reimer, the Lady Superior at Patna, had come 176 TEE NORTH STAR from the very place to which Mr. Cosserat was sending his daughter on her advice, and, as I believed, at her wish, and she therefore knew well enough what the journey would cost. At all events, it seemed to me that she was the prime mover in this little drama, and had a notion of doing a little economy with Mr. Cosserat's money ; whether she did so for his sake or that of the convent, it was impossible to say, for, in spite of the inadequacy of the funds entrusted to me, she evidently expected me to have something over ; and the prudent lady, in the name of Mr. Cosserat, told me to give the balance to the Right Reverend Mother in God, the Lady Superior of the convent at JSym- phenburg, on my arrival there. She appeared to have full control over the financial part of the business, and was very parsimonious. However, she knew how to tone down this frugality and this inadequacy of cash with honeyed promises and flattering words, and there was nothing to wish for in her elegantly written letter, which ran as follows : "Mr DEAR AND HONOURED MlSS WEPPNEB, "Pray pardon me, a stranger, for addressing a few lines to you. Angela v. Hoffmann, the Lady Superior at Allahabad, has to-day informed me by telegram that you are so very good as to be willing to take Miss Cosserat to our convent at Nymphenburg. You will be doing an act of great mercy, and Mr. Cosserat pays the expenses of the journey with the greatest pleasure. If, however, you should be able to obtain a free passage, he wishes you to have something for your kindness. He sends 1500 rupees for travelling expenses, and the balance which remains of AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 177 it he desires you to hand over on your arrival' to the Right Reverend Mother in God, the Lady Superior at Nym- phenburg. Mr. Cosserat also desires to receive an account of all you lay out on the journey. " I must ask you to excuse the state of Miss Cosserat's wardrobe ; unfortunately there is no one to take any care of this poor creature. Her grandmother is ninety-one years old, and incapable of seeing after anything. Most earnestly do I beg of you to have patience with the poor invalid. God will richly reward you for your goodness and patience. And wishing you a pleasant journey, " I am, dear Miss "Weppner, " Yours very truly, " SALESIA -REIMEE, Lady Superior" This Christian lady herself confessed that no one took any care of the poor creature, and asked me to excuse her miserable wardrobe. Yet, as Mrs. Foy had told me, the unfortunate lunatic's father was a wealthy opium merchant. Moreover, she came from a rich convent, the Lady Superior of which had money of her father's in hand ; but for all that, his poor child was worse dressed than the lowest maid-servant. In the letter quoted above, the wealthy opium merchant expressed the generous wish, through the Lady Superior at Patna, that I should have something for my trouble, but that " something " was to be deducted from the money for my travelling expenses, in case I should obtain a free passage. This wish was, however, followed by a request to give the balance of the money, which was rather too little than too much, to the Right Reveren d Lady Superior at Nymphenburg. The letter was VOL. n. 12 178 THE NORTH STAR truly conventual, and worded with the greatest care. The Lady Superior urged me to economy. I was to supplement the insufficient sum and " something " for myself by getting a free passage, so that the greater part of it might accrue to the wealthy convent of Nymphenburg. The Lady Superior, for purely egotistical reasons, looked after Mr. Cosserat's interests with the greatest duplicity ; and, as she knew very well that it would be impossible that there should remain "something" for me out of the parsi- monious sum entrusted to me, she enlarged on the rich reward which God would give me, although the balance of the money must be given to the Right Reverend Lady Superior at Nympheuburg. But how could the clever and thrifty administratrix of Mr. Cosserat's affairs have supposed that any captain, agent, or director, of a steamship company was likely to give me a free passage, which would involve the reception on board of a lunatic as well ? My friends, who meant me well, and looked at the matter from a less self-interested point of view, tried to convince me that I was the tool of an avaricious father and egotistical nuns, all of whom had their own private ends to serve in the cleverly calculated consignment to me of the poor lunatic. For if one of the nuns of the convent from which Miss Cosserat came had escorted her to Europe, her father would have had to pay for the voyage there and back of two nuns, as it is a rule of the order of the Angelic Sisterhood that no nun should travel without a companion, unless travelling incognita in a secular dress, which, as I learnt later on, is adopted in particular cases by spiritual ladies on errands outside AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 179 their sacred walls, which errands require discretion and prudence. If Mr. Cosserat had engaged a European lady or a native ayah to take his daughter from India to Bavaria, he would, in either case, have had to pay a good fee in addition to the travelling expenses to Europe and back to India, for without a liberal compensation, no one would undertake such an arduous task. The Lady Superior at Patna probably knew plenty of native ayahs, but they would all be ignorant of European languages, and could not be trusted to accompany Miss Cosserat from the heart of India to the convent of JSTymphenburg in Bavaria ; so that I had appeared at Allahabad in the nick of time. The poor young lady had to be sent away, and I was to serve as a friend in need. For all this, however, I had my own opinion and feelings in the matter. I had no desire to serve the hard-hearted unnatural father, or the selfish Lady Superior at Patna, or the rich convent of Nymphenburg. My one thought was how best to assist the poor creature, and all my efforts were for her benefit. Since that sleepless night after her arrival I had been constantly cherishing the hope of bringing her, not to the Catholic convent of Nymphenburg, but to some medical establishment in Europe, where the poor yor.ng lady could be cured and restored to the world and to society. Whether my hopes would be realised, time will show ; meanwhile to return to my narrative. The very day after Miss Cosserat's arrival, the German consul went to the superintendent of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and asked him for two passages from Bombay to Suez. But the superintendent told him that he could not take the responsibility of 180 TEE NORTH STAR receiving a lunatic as a passenger, and he refused to give her a ticket. This waa on Saturday morning, and one of the vessels of the Peninsular and Oriental Company was leaving Bombay the same afternoon for Suez. On Sunday Mr. Gtimpert came to see me at Mr. Deimler s, and told me he had not the slightest hope of getting a passage for Miss Cosserat. Consul G. was himself an agent of the Austrian Lloyd's Company, whose vessels run between Bombay and Trieste, but the captain of the boat about to leave had told him positively that he could not undertake the responsibility of a mad passenger. On this Sunday, I heard a German sermon and German hymns for the first time on my journey round the world. This treat was provided for the Germans of Bombay by the worthy Mr. Deimler, with the active co-operation of the German consul, who sympathised in all praise- worthy undertakings connected with his own country- people. I could not refrain from complimenting the last-named gentleman on being the first German consul whom I had seen in a church or heard pray since I started on my long journey. It must not, however, be supposed that there is a German church or chapel in Bombay ; so far as I know, there is not yet a German brewery or club, and a church is never thought of until after these buildings have been erected, and sometimes not even then. The Rev. Mr. Deimler per- formed service in an English church, and there being no German hymn-books, Mrs. Deimler and I supplied the deficiency by making some dozen copies of the hymns selected. The congregation had the appearance of one united Christian Church, which our greatest theologians AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 181 are iiow endeavouring to form. Amongst the wor- shippers, besides myself, were two Catholic gentlemen, one Mr. Yon Helle, the other Count Waldstein (of the celebrated race of Wallenstein), who was afterwards guest of the Yiceroy of India, and witnessed his tragical end. On the Sunday in question we three Roman Catholics thought and believed that the God and Saviour to whom the rest of the congregation were praying was our God and Saviour too ; and no doubt our belief was shared by the various members of the different sects who joined in prayer with us. Were all Catholics and Protestants as tolerant as those I saw assembled in the English chapel at Bombay on that Sunday, the unity of the Christian religion, so earnestly striven after and longed for by the great and learned Dr. Yon Dollinger, the head of the Old Catholic party in Germany, would already be achieved. There is but one God, but one Christ, and He taught but one religion ; why, then, have we so many different Christian sects ? On Sunday, Mr. Gumpert forwarded a letter tome, and asked for Miss Cosserat's " pills." He said he could not quite understand what it was the Lady Superior at Bandora wanted, and to avoid mistake he enclosed a letter from his Lordship Bishop Meurin. As this gentle- man had some share in the history of poor Miss Cosserat, and as I have his letter by me, I will copy it here. The letter is dated, Fort Chapel, Bombay, April 18th, 1871, and is as follows : DEAR MB. GUMPERT, " The Lady Superior of the Bandora convent wishes 182 THE NORTH STAR for ' more powders ' for Miss Rachel Cosserat. I suppose the lady who took her to Bandora knows something about these powders. As I do not know where she is, I must make these powders a State affavr for the consul of His Imperial Majesty of Germany, and request his kind help. When is this poor Miss Rachel to leave ? The poor nuns write that they cannot leave her alone by day or by night. I expected her to leave on Saturday night, but it seems you could not settle with the P. and O. Company. If there is yet a great delay to be expected, would you not prefer sending her to Colaba (a lunatic asylum near Bombay) ? I leave it to you, but remark that the poor nuns must not be taxed too much. If you can procure the powders immediately, I can forward them to the Bandora convent. " Tours very sincerely, "R. C. METJRIN, R. C. Bishop." There is no doubt that the bishop knew well enough " where the lady was," for Mr. Gumpert had told him I was the lady hi question, and he knew well that I was staying with the Protestant clergyman, Mr. Deimler. But the great man had a grudge against me. It was too wicked, too dreadful of me not to have shown due respect to his Lordship and to the female inmates of the convent. The bishop could not forget or forgive my having refrained from kissing his consecrated ring, or for having treated him and the Lady Superior like ordinary mortals, instead of like the elect of God. I had not confessed this enormous transgression. I had not asked the pardon of either of the offended dignitaries, and I was, moreover, staying with Protestants. How could the bishop be AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 183 expected to stoop to writing direct to such a woman at a Protestant's house ? The pills in question had been sent to me by Salesia Eeimer; the Lady Superior of Patna, through Mrs. Foy, with directions to give one to the invalid when she was very restleaa and sleepless. I was surprised that the recipe for them had not been given to me, and I purposely left only a few with the Lady Superior at Bandora, putting the glass case containing the others in my bag. I had a strange dread that the pills might be hurtful to the poor lunatic, and I had them tested by an English doctor, who said they were unwholesome. I there- fore took no notice of the Lady Superior's request, and thus saved the bishop the trouble of sending the pills to Bandora. I subsequently showed them to the doctor on the steamship Crolconda, and he confirmed the opinion of his colleague in Bombay, and pronounced the pills to be very dangerous for the invalid, a slow poison, in short, which would weaken the strongest nerves and ruin the most robust constitution, and it was his firm belief that the pills were the chief cause of the poor girl having become such a skeleton. Mrs. Foy, who had brought the invalid to Bombay, administered a dose of the pills to her in the German consul's office, and I noticed the rapid effect on the long drive to Bandora, during which, as before remarked, she slept soundly, her features unnaturally distorted, and looking like a ghost. When she awoke, she was completely exhausted, and we had to lift her from the carriage. Since that evening I had had a horror of the case of pills, and after the doctor on board the Gol- conda had tested them a second time, I threw the pills, case and all, into the sea. 184 THE NORTH STAB Although the poor lunatic had only been five days in the convent at Bandora, it was easy to see, from the bishop's letter, that the nuns were already tired of her. The bishop actually ventured to propose to the consul that she should be sent to the lunatic asylum at Colaba. Yet his Lordship must have known that Mr. Gumpert had certainly neither the right nor the power to act on such a suggestion. The bishop was, however, too cautious to make any allusion to the father's and Lady Superior's neglect of duty and carelessness, nor did he give the more sensible advice that the poor creature should be sent back to the place from which she came. No, she was to be forwarded from one place to another, to be hurried from the convent at Bandora to the lunatic asylum at Colaba, there to remain only until a passage could be procured for her. The ecclesiastical gentleman had also the prudence not to meddle at all with the conventual affair in which the unhappy young lady was so unfortunately involved ; he knew how to advise, but never came forward to do anything himself. It was a significant fact that amongst all the monks, priests, and nuns in the convents of Fort Chapel, at Bombay, and St. Joseph's at Bandora, none took a single step in her interest. Doubtless they knew more than the German consul or I did of the fate of the- Protestant lunatic, and of the cause of her sufferings. They all knew with what eagerness her departure was waited for at Patna, but, for all that, they made no sign, and took no apparent share in anything, playing their parts with the most consummate duplicity and diplomacy behind the scenes, where they could not very easily be observed. AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 185 As I had the bishop's letter in my possession, I went to Bandora, to see Miss Cosserat, and to tell the Lady Superior I could not give her the pills she asked for, as they were bad for the invalid. She inquired when I should start with the lunatic, and, on my saying I did not know, she replied with diplomacy that Miss C. was very quiet, and scarcely required any watching. " If that be true," I rejoined, " what the bishop says in his letter to the consul must be false," and I produced the letter bearing his Lordship's seal, and showing it to her, added, " You can see for yourself what he says." At this, the Lady Superior was confused, and in her embarrassment, she let slip the words that the history of Miss Cosserat appeared to her very mysterious, and no doubt must greatly annoy the bishop. She then begged me not to lose courage, or to forsake the unfortunate lunatic, for my pity for her, she added, was an act of the greatest mercy. After this speech she took me into Miss Cosserat's room, and there I found the poor creature lying asleep, half naked, on a large wooden table. The nun who watched over her told me she had not slept all night, and that it had been impos- sible to persuade her to leave the verandah and go to bed. Presently the invalid awoke, and her wild look and wandering eyes made my blood run cold. She sprang from the table, fell upon my neck, and cried : " Oh take me away from here ; this is a Catholic convent, I hate the nuns ; take me away ! " Then ensued a terrible scene, and I did not know how to get away. The poor creature's entreaties tore my heart, and when I got back to Mr. Deimler's house in Mazagon Eoad, I was still weeping. I could think of nothing but the fate of the unhappy young lady, 186 THE NORTH STAR and I was in a state of perpetual excitement. At the time it was very hot, and my efforts in behalf of my poor protegee kept me out of doors a good deal. I lost my appetite, and my kind host and hostess tried in vain to persuade me to consider my own health, and not to allow my compassion to carry me completely away. But my interest in the poor invalid and my pity for her increased rather than diminished, and I clung yet more fondly to the hope of taking her to some medical establish- ment in Europe, and thus do the best for the young lady that could possibly be done for her. It pained me to the quick to think of sending her back to the convent at Patna ; my heart pleaded for her incessantly, and I yielded to its voice ; but all the time I did not know the most dreadful feature of her condition. On Thursday morning I went to call on Mr. Noelke, a merchant from Hamburg, and agent of the Italian line of steamers running between Bombay and Trieste. He had already heard of me from his German friends, and received me with the greatest politeness. I related to him the distressing circumstances under which the poor lady was sent to me, telling him how sincerely I pitied her, and how firmly resolved I was to protect her. I then earnestly entreated Mr. Noelke to give me a cabin for the invalid and myself on the steamer which would start for Trieste the next Saturday, adding, that the passage-money was all ready at Mr. Gumpert's office. Mr. Noelke's reply was well meant, and merits my best gratitude, but it was not what I hoped it would be. " Miss Weppner," he said, " no matter what sum you offer, or may offer, I cannot, I dare not, give a lunatic a AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 187 passage. Give up, I beg of you, the dangerous task you have undertaken, and if pecuniary motives have influenced you in making this great sacrifice, you can easily be assisted. I am prepared to do anything for you personally which is in my power. I will negotiate with the company, and you shall go to Trieste free of expense. What you propose doing," he added, "would be too much for a strong man to risk, and you are but a weak woman." I listened to all the kind-hearted man said ; I strove to crush down my pity for the forsaken stranger, and for a moment I wavered. But once again my heart prevailed against my own interests, and, whilst thanking Mr. Noelke for his sympathy and kindness to me, I told him that the young lady's unhappy fate had affected me too deeply for it to be possible to forsake her for any selfish reason. " I honour you for it," he replied, " and if you change your mind, the offer I made to you is still at your service." I returned home and wrote a letter to the Director of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, who had already refused to give the German consul a passage for the lunatic, and begged him to grant me an interview. But as I had little hope of securing a passage, in spite of all my efforts, I sent a telegram to Mr. Cosserat, at Patna, in the evening, to prepare him for the possible return of his daughter. This telegram, as I expected, conveyed by no means welcome tidings ; at least, so I judged, from the fact that I received no reply from the poor girl's father. On Wednesday morning I drove to the chief ofiice of the P. and O. Company, and when the director received my card, he came and invited me into his private room. I 188 THE NORTH STAR then told him in a few words how I was circumstanced with regard to the poor stranger, and showed him the letters and telegrams from her father. He saw at once that there were no self-interested motives, on my side at least, and said, " This is a strange and mysterious case, and the sum sent by the father is far too small to cover the expenses of the voyage to Europe." I here remarked that the money for the passage to Suez was waiting at the consul's office, and that I had no doubt the poor lady's father would forward the rest of the money required as soon as he knew that I had succeeded in obtaining a passage for his daughter. The director, as he told me himself, was a Catholic and a friend of the bishop, whom he had seen lately, he said ; but the latter had told him nothing about the poor young lady, and he was very much surprised to hear that she was a Protestant, and had come from a Catholic convent. I had, however, all but won over the director, although his now awakened interest, as I could guess from his manners and speech, was rather more for the bishop, the nuns, and the convent, than for my poor protegee. All this I knew and felt, but I was also sure he was disposed to favour me, for he commended my compassion and dis- interested kindness, repeating, "I am a friend of the bishop, and I will see what can be done," so that when I left him I was almost sure that he would grant the passage. On Saturday of the same week I had an opportunity of hearing the beautiful opera of Sakuntala, which was acted in the Sanskrit language in a Hindu theatre, by the students of Elphinstone College. Mr. Gumpert was anxious that I should see a native opera, and the president AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 189 of the college had sent him tickets for two reserved seats. The conductor of the native orchestra was Mr. Gumpatroa Zaoba, and the singing sounded very powerful, distinct, and clear in the Sanskrit language. I had heard that Sanskrit much resembles German in pronunciation and force of expression, and I now found that I had been rightly informed. It is true I did not understand a word, but the enunciation of the singers was extremely pure and resonant, and I enjoyed Sakuntala in the Sanskrit opera more than Mignon in the Italian. In India, as in China, men play the parts of women. Sakuntala, the beloved of King Dushyanta, was a handsome Hindu youth of about twenty years old, and it seemed rather unnatural to me that a male goddess should recline on a bed of roses, as I have witnessed in the third act. A Baboo, who spoke English well, sat at my left hand, and he translated the most important parts of the opera for us, and pointed out the different characters on the stage. When I returned home from the opera, Mr. Deimler gave me a letter from the director of the Peninsular and Oriental Company, which ran as follows : " Bombay, April 24th, 1871. " To Miss MARGARETHA WEPPNER, care of the Rev. Mr. " DEIMLER, Gunpowder Road, Mazagon, Bombay. " With reference to your application for a passage for an invalid lady by the mail steamer to leave for Suez on Saturday next, I have to inform you that the same can be granted on consideration of its being engaged that the in- 190 THE NORTH STAR valid lady referred to by you be not allowed to leave her cabin during the voyage. " I am, Madam, Yours faithfully, " GEORGE F. HENRY, " Superintendent of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company" On Thursday morning I drove to the consulate, and Mr. Gumpert telegraphed at once to Mr. Cosserat, at Patna, telling him that a passage had been granted to his daughter, and explaining to him that the money sent for travelling expenses would not be sufficient, but that 500 rupees more would be required. He requested Mr. Cosserat to send that sum, and also to write me a letter, legally authorising me to be his daughter's guardian on the journey to Europe, &c. Mr. Gumpert warned me that I might have difficulties, and that, if so, a letter of authority from the lunatic's father would be most useful. In the afternoon Count Waldstein came and escorted me to the native bazaar, where we inspected a very rich collection of the far-famed Indian sandal-wood, and ivory ware. Many of the articles exhibited are inlaid with the most artistic designs in mosaic, ebony, and ivory, and are of exquisite finish, showing both the admirable patience and the rare talent of the natives. I bought a lovely little basket of sandal-wood, ebony, and ivory, inlaid with the finest mosaics, and a very beautifully carved sandal-wood glove-box. I also added a very interest- ing collection of terra-cotta figures to my curiosities, which faithfully represented the various castes of India, including a pious Brahmin, with his earthen water AND THE SOUTHERN CROSS. 191 vessel, starving himself to death with fasting; a snake charmer, with various Hindus, Parsees, Indian princes, Baboos, artisans of all kinds, male and female servants, &c. For a short time after my return home this series formed a very beautiful group in my museum at Frankfort. The numerous races in Bombay are a peculiar and interesting sight. Nowhere, not even in Shanghai, Hong-Kong, Singapore, or in any of the seaports and commercial towns of the East, are the differences between the races so striking as in Bombay. In Calcutta, the port opposite to Bombay, on the other side of India, there are but two distinct races, the Hindus and the Europeans ; whereas, in the bazaar at Bombay, there are, besides Hindus, many half-caste Portuguese from Goa, as well as Persians, Arabians, Syrians, Turks, and Greeks from the Levant. Amongst the southern races I recognised Malays, Chinese, Javanese, and Siamese; and I also met with several typical members of the races with which I had become familiar in Northern India, such as natives of Cashmere and Afghanistan, Sikhs,