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The city of Benares is esteemed so holy, that the pious suppose it to be a jewel or excrescence, placed on, and not a part of, the world. It is situated on the left bank of the Ganges, and is covered with houses to the water's edge; the buildings being intermixed with trees, and separated at intervals by ghauts or landing places, very handsomely constructed of large stones and descending by flights of broad steps into the water, which in many places is thirty feet below the level of the street. The celebrated minarets are attached to a mosque, erected by the Emperor Aurungzebe upon the ruins of a pagoda, and present a proud trophy of Moosaulmaun conquest. The view of Benares from the river is exceedingly picturesque and imposing, affording numberless subjects for the artist's pencil.

"Where ring-doves make their blissful homes,  And the white bull unfettered roves."

The whole surface of the streets of Benares, together with every roof, verandah and porch, are literally covered with an immense variety of pigeons and doves. In addition to other animals held nearly as sacred, the Brahmanee bulls roam at large in vast numbers, obstructing the narrow avenues, and helping themselves without ceremony to all the eatables exposed in the bazars.