About a fortnight since, I found myself in
a certain district or province (but little known to Europeans) called
Kattiawar.
Here an adventure befell me, in which (incredible as it may appear) you
are personally interested.
In the wild regions of Kattiawar (and how wild they are, you will
understand, when I tell you that even the husbandmen plough the land,
armed to the teeth), the population is fanatically devoted to the old
Hindoo religion--to the ancient worship of Bramah and Vishnu. The few
Mahometan families, thinly scattered about the villages in the interior,
are afraid to taste meat of any kind. A Mahometan even suspected of
killing that sacred animal, the cow, is, as a matter of course, put to
death without mercy in these parts by the pious Hindoo neighbours who
surround him. To strengthen the religious enthusiasm of the people, two
of the most famous shrines of Hindoo pilgrimage are contained within the
boundaries of Kattiawar. One of them is Dwarka, the birthplace of the
god Krishna. The other is the sacred city of Somnauth--sacked, and
destroyed as long since as the eleventh century, by the Mahometan
conqueror, Mahmoud of Ghizni.
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