aroundworldortra00peebiala-1

230 ABOUND THE WOKLD.
of schools in Ommeraottix, — famous in England only as a
cotton-market.
THE ASIATIC SOCIETY.
No place in Calcutta so completely chained me as the
Royal Asiatic Society, with its Museum of Ancient Art and
Sculpture. If tjie command had read, " Thou shalt not
covet thy neighbor's library," I should long ago have committed
the " unpardonable sin." That eminent scholar, Sir
William Jones, who went to India in 1783, established the
institution, and Warren Hastings was the first president.
In this immense collection of volumes, manuscripts, scrolls,
and unread Oriental rolls, are treasured the priceless
memorials of the past. The original building, long ago overflowing
with its shelved lore, necessitated the storing of
manuscripts elsewhere, with many of the precious relics.
found the
We
assistant secretary, a native Hindoo, a most scholarly
and gentlemanly man. Gladly we exchanged several
books, his
treating of Brahmanism, and ours of Spiritualism.
All library-books were free to us during our stay in the city.
But time was flying. Longingly, regretfully, we left 'this
library, — a very monument of research and reflection, — to
penetrate the heart of the country. It was nearly nightfall
when we left the City of Palaces, crossing the Hoogly to
Howrah, taking the East-India Railway train for the north
and west. The depot was dimly lighted, the confusion
disgusting, but the cars cool and comfortable. Travelers
by English railways painfully miss their accustomed sleeping-cars.
UP THROUGH THE COUNTRY.
The railroad extends along the Ganges Valley up the
country in a north-westerly direction, and ultimately reaching
Allahabad, between the Ganges and the Jumna, where these
rivers form a junction. They both rise in the Himalayas.
The scenery, with its vast unfenced rice-fields, clumps of