place on the Ganges; that for ages her shrines have been holy to millions of men; that for ages the wisest, and purest, and best of the Indian race have wandered as pilgrims through her narrow streets, and plunged themselves as penitents into the waters to wash away their

sins.

It is a twenty-four hours' ride from Benares to Calcutta, with scarcely a single object of interest on the route. The land is poorly cultivated, while no forests relieve the monotony of the vast plain of the Ganges. Camels yoked to the plow like oxen, and elephants working in the fields with the sagacity of their farmer owners, it is true, was a novelty. Grant arrived in Calcutta in the morning, and was received by the American consul with a guard of honor from the viceroy, and driven to the Government House in a state carriage.

The annual convocation for conferring degrees of the University, took place while General Grant was in Calcutta, and he, accompanied by Sir Ashley Eden, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, and Sir Alexander Arbuthnot, the Vice-Chancellor, attended the convocation. The General and the Bishop of Calcutta sat on the ViceChancellor's right, and Sir Ashley Eden on his left. Degrees were conferred upon students from the various colleges throughout India, and the Vice-Chancellor made a speech, which contained some interesting references to education in India.

He then complimented Grant, and held him up to the students as an illustration of what perseverance and tenacity of purpose could accomplish. The viceroy, Lord Lytton, had delayed his annual hegira to the Himalaya Mountains in order to receive Grant. It must be remembered that the viceroy goes every year to Simla, on the first range of the Himalaya Mountains, 1,200 miles distant, for the sake of the air. A similar custom

here would take our seat of government for that length of time into the Rocky Mountains. Lord Lytton had once been attached to the British legation at Washington, under his uncle Bulwer, and hence he and Grant had much to talk about in common. In the evening there was the inevitable state dinner, with toasts and speeches. The next day an excursion was made up the Hoogly twelve miles, to the Viceroy's country-seat at Barrackpore. At the last moment, the Viceroy found he could not go, and deputized Sir Ashley Eden to act in his place. The party was small but select, and a pleasant trip was made on board the Viceroy's yacht.

A dispatch was received in Calcutta by General Grant saying that the "Richmond," which he had been expecting at Galle, had not passed the Suez Canal. All his plans in visiting Asia had been based upon the movements of the "Richmond," and the hope that she would be at some point on the Indian coast by the time he reached Calcutta. Under this impression he had accepted invitations to visit Ceylon and Madras, and was planning an expedition into the Dutch islands. This news led to a sudden and complete change in his plans, and he resolved to leave India and move on to China in the first steamer. Out of this resolution came the visit to Burmah, a country that had not otherwise been in his programme. He left Calcutta at midnight, in order to catch the tides in the Hoogly, on board the steamer "Simla," of the British India Navigation Company. The "Simla' The "Simla" was pleasant and comfortable, and the run across the Bay of Bengal was over a summer sea. The nights were so warm that it was impossible to sleep in the cabins, and they found as good accommodations as they could lying about the deck.

They sailed up the river to Rangoon and arrived at the wharf about noon. A fierce sun was blazing, and the

whole landscape seemed baked, so stern was the heat. Rangoon is the principal city of Burmah, and seen from the wharf is a low-lying, straggling town. Two British

men-of-war were in the harbor, which manned their yards in honor of the General. All the vessels in the stream were dressed, as was the jaunty little "Simla."

RANGOON.

The Burmese look like Chinese, and the women are not shut up as in India, but walk the streets like men. The great object of curiosity in Rangoon is the Great Pagoda. It stands on a hill, or rocky ledge, which overlooks the city of Rangoon and the Valley of the Irrawaddy. It is approached by a long flight of steps, which is occupied by peddlers, lepers and blind men, who stretch out their hands to ask for alms of those who mount the sacred hill to pray. "The Pagoda is a colossal structure, with a` broad base like a pyramid, though round in shape, sloping upward to a slender cone, which tapers at last to a sort of spire over three hundred feet high, and as the whole, from base to pinnacle, is covered with gold-leaf, it presents a very dazzling appearance, when it reflects the rays of the sun. A pagoda is always a solid mass of masonry, with no inner place of worship-not even a shrine, or a chamber like that in the heart of the Great Pyramid. The tall spire has for its extreme point what architects call a finial—a kind of umbrella, which the Burmese call a 'htee,' made of a series of iron rings gilded, from which hang many little silver and brass bells, which, swinging to-and-fro with every passing breeze, give forth a dripping musical sound.

The run down the coast of Burmah and through the Straits of Malacca to Singapore was a pleasant one. This is an English colony, situated on an island of the same name, just at the extremity and close to the Malacca peninsula. It is the touching-place of all steamers going eastward and westward, and here General Grant was to take one and proceed to China. Instead of, however, going on direct, he determined to make a flying visit to Siam.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

SIAM AN UNIMPORTANT KINGDOM-CORDIAL INVITATION FROM ITS KING ON BOARD THE "KONG LEE"-THE GULF OF SIAM-BANGKOK-A CITY OF HUTS-RECEPTION -PALACE OF HWANG SARANROM-THE CELESTIAL PRINCE-THE REAL KINGAUDIENCE AND DEPARTURE.

I'

T was a singular whim of Grant's, crowded as he was for time, and with such important points to visit, that

he should have turned aside to visit the kingdom of Siam, containing only 190,000 square miles, and with a population probably not half as great as that of New York, and that mixed up of three nationalities, without literature, or even a respectable 'language; without a history, except that it rose into existence about six hundred years after Christ, and was allowed to live, because it would be a worthless accession. But, as Burns says, "a man's a man for a' that," so a king is a king for a' that. The King of Siam evidently thought so, and considered it would be a sad depreciation of its dignity if the ex-President of the United States and the greatest military chieftain of the Western World should visit the great empires of the East and pass his kingdom by. It would not look well in future history to see it recorded how this monarch and that emperor received and feted