Benares has been famous for centuries for its manufacture of gold
and silver embroideries. I remember that Macaulay speaks of them
in his essay on Warren Hastings as decorating alike the court of
Versailles and the halls of St. James. We went to the native
village and saw the work carried on. How such exquisite fabrics
come from the antiquated looms situated in mud hovels it is hard
to understand, but they do. We saw one man who had no less than
thirty-three different tiny spools to work from in a piece not
more than a yard wide. All of these he had in turn to introduce in
the web, and pass through a greater or lesser number of threads,
the one starting in where the other left the woof, before one
single thread was complete from end to end of the warp and could
be driven into the pattern. The people of Benares also excel as
workers in brass.
To-day we had a unique experience indeed, being carried through
the principal streets of Benares on State elephants, kindly
provided for us by the Rajah of Benares. Mr. H., of New York, whom
we have met on his way round the world, and Vandy and I were the
riders. We were driven to the palace, and found there two huge
animals, gayly caparisoned, awaiting our arrival, surrounded by
servants in resplendent liveries. The elephants very kindly got
upon their knees, which rendered a short ladder only necessary for
us to mount by.
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