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[Pellman H. <re...@li...>]

Rs and pilgrims, I saw a small boy possessed of a devil,--an authentic
devil, as of yore, meet for miraculous driving-out. In the midst of dire
din, heathenish and horrible,--dissonant jangle of zogees' bells,
brain-rending blasts from Brahmins' shells, strepent howling of
opium-drunk devotees, delirious pounding of tom-toms, brazen clangor of
gongs,--a child of seven years, that might, unpossessed, have been
beautiful, sat under the shed of a sort of curiosity-shop, among bangles
and armlets, mouthpieces for pipes, leaden idols, and Brahminical cords,
and made infernal faces,--his mouth foaming epileptically, his hair
dishevelled and matted with sudden sweat, his eyes blood-shot, his whole
aspect diabolic. And on the ground before the miserable lad were set
dishes of rice mixed with blood, carcasses of rams and cocks, handfuls
of red flowers, and ragged locks of human hair, wherewith the more
miserable people sought to appease the fell _bhuta_ that had set up his
throne in that fair soul. _Sack bat?_ It was even so. And as the
possessed made spasmy fists with his feet, clinching his toes strangely,
and grinned, with his chin between his knees, I solemnly wished for the
presence of One who might cry with the voice of authority, as erst in
the land of the Gadarenes, "Come out of the lad, thou unclean spirit!"
At the Hurdwar fair pretty little naked girls are exposed for sale, and
in their soft brown innocence appeal at once to the purity of your mind
and the tenderness of your heart. They come from Cashmere with the
shawls, or from Cabool with the kittens,