The number of the good exceeds that of the bad by about 3,000,000.
"Other objects are also considered sacred by the Hindoos, as rivers, especially the Ganges, which is believed to have been formed from the sweat of Shiva.

The water of the Ganges is so highly esteemed, that a trade is carried on in it for many miles inland.
"Among animals, they chiefly look upon the cow, ox, elephant, ape, eagle, swan, peacock, and serpent, as sacred; among plants, the lotus, the banana, and the mango-tree.
"The Brahmins have an especial veneration for a stone, which is, according to Sonnerat, a fossil ammonite in slate.
"It is in the highest degree remarkable that there is no representation of the Supreme Being to be found in all Hindostan.
The idea appears too great for them; they consider the whole earth as his temple, and worship him under all forms.
"The adherents of Shiva bury their dead; the others either burn them or throw them into the river." No one can form an accurate idea of India who has not gone beyond Calcutta.

This city has become almost European.

The palaces, the equipages are European; there are societies, balls, concerts, promenades, almost the same as in Paris or London; and if it was not for the tawny natives in the streets, and the Hindoo servants in the houses, a stranger might easily forget that he was in a foreign country.
It is very different in Benares.

The Europeans are isolated there; foreign customs and manners everywhere surround them, and remind them that they are tolerated intruders.