Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/92

 64 HISTORY OF THE PARLIAMENT. Buddhists, and whose slight, lithe person was swathed in pure white, while his black hair fell in curls upon his shoulders. There were present, also, Mohammedan and Parsee and Jain ecclesi- astics, each a picturesque study in color and movement, and all eager to explain and defend their forms of faith. The most gorgeous group was composed of the Chinese and Japanese delegates, great dignitaries in their own country, arrayed in costly silk vest- ments of all the colors of the rainbow, and officially representing the Bud- dhist, Taoist, Confucian and Shinto forms of worship. In dark, almost ascetic garb, there sat among his fellow Orientals, Pro- tab Chunder Mozoomdar. Mr. Mozoomdar, the leader of the Brahmo-Somaj or Hindoo Theists in. India, visited this country some years since, and delighted large audiences with his eloquence and perfect command of the English tongue. Another striking figure was the Greek Archbishop of Zante, his vener- able beard sweeping his chest, his head crowned with a strange looking hat, leaning on a quaintly carved staff, and displaying a large silver cross sus- pended from his girdle. A ruddy-cheeked, long-locked Greek monk from Asia Minor, who sat by his side, boasted that he had never yet worn a head-covering or spent a penny of his own for food or shelter. The ebon-hued but bright faces of Bishop Arnett, of the African Meth- odist Church, and of a young African prince, were relieved by the handsome costumes of the ladies of the company, while formmg a somber background to all was the dark raiment of the Protestant delegates and invited guests.* The following is a list of the personages assembled on the platform : Hon. Charles C. Bonney, President of the World's Congress Auxiliary, Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D., Chairman of the General Committee on Religious Congresses, Bishop D. A. Payne, African Methodist Episcopal Church. His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore. Rev. Alfred Williams Momerie, D.D., of the Church of England. Siddhu Ram, Punjaub, India, Mohammedan. Carl von Bergen, Ph.D., President of the Swedish Society for Psychical Research, Stockholm, Sweden. Virchand A. Gandhi, B,A., Honorary Secretary of the Jain Association of India, Bombay, P. C, Mozoomdar, of the Brahmo-Somaj, Calcutta, India. H. Dharmapala, General Secretary of the Maha-Bodhi Society and Del- egate of the Southern Buddhist Church of Ceylon, Colombo-Ceylon. Miss Jeanne Sorabji, a convert to Christianity from Parseeism, Bombay, India,
 * From a sermon by the Rev. Mr. Wendte, of Oakland, California.