Benares is the Hindus' sacred city, and the sacred Ganges River is lined with temples and bathing and burning ghats.
Hindus come from afar to die at Benares, where their bodies may be burned and their ashes consigned to the sacred waters of the Ganges. And after Benares, by easy stages, Lal and I reached Delhi, the old capital of India, until the seat of government was shifted to Calcutta, to be again brought back to Delhi three years ago. And here is some English "as she is spoke" in Delhi, handed out by an enterprising shopkeeper to both Royalty and Plebeian:
"Useful value, Save Your Money
(Defy Competition)
"We have much pleasure to inform the Ladies and Gentlemen, Officers and visitors and prince and the public in general who have always been our customers or who wished to make the shopping they must not use the Hotel and traveling guides and Hotel Carriages at the purchasing time because they always Carried the visitors to those places where they getting 25 per cent Commission, now it is a great point to think that when they will get so High Commission from the shop keepers then the visitors cannot get the things worth of a rupee only they will be extorted and will get the things 4 ans. worth in a rupee, now it is useful advice for them that the visitors should not make any purchases without having inspected our prices and charges, as we are not going to any Hotel to distribute our cards and never use to give them any Commission that is why we are ready to sell our articles at comparatively prices, our firm oldest and reliable has been established in 1860 in Chandni Chowk now we have shifted our shop from there to here near the Jama Masjid No. 1 for the convenience of our customers.
"No use to get the money from your pocket and to give these guides and Ghari-walas."
XXXI
A FIVE DAYS' SAIL AND A MEASLY POEM
We are nearing Aden in Arabia, en route from Bombay.
Bombay was all stirred up over the war and my itinerary is knocked into a cocked hat.
I had planned to go through Palestine to Constantinople and cross Europe to London, but I can't get my passport viseed—I'm no war correspondent, anyway. I'm strictly a man of peace.