Bazaars abounded; and in these were displayed rich wares in infinite
variety and profusion- silks, muslins, the most dazzling cutlery,
the most magnificent jewels and gems. Besides these things, were seen,
on all sides, banners and palanquins, litters with stately dames close
veiled, elephants gorgeously caparisoned, idols grotesquely hewn,
drums, banners, and gongs, spears, silver and gilded maces. And amid
the crowd, and the clamor, and the general intricacy and confusion-
amid the million of black and yellow men, turbaned and robed, and of
flowing beard, there roamed a countless multitude of holy filleted
bulls, while vast legions of the filthy but sacred ape clambered,
chattering and shrieking, about the cornices of the mosques, or
clung to the minarets and oriels. From the swarming streets to the
banks of the river, there descended innumerable flights of steps
leading to bathing places, while the river itself seemed to force a
passage with difficulty through the vast fleets of deeply- burthened
ships that far and wide encountered its surface. Beyond the limits
of the city arose, in frequent majestic groups, the palm and the
cocoa, with other gigantic and weird trees of vast age, and here and
there might be seen a field of rice, the thatched hut of a peasant,
a tank, a stray temple, a gypsy camp, or a solitary graceful maiden
taking her way, with a pitcher upon her head, to the banks of the
magnificent river.
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