Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/15



So many admirable works have appeared of late, illustrating scenes in India, both with pen and pencil, that I offer these sketches in all humility, pleading the force of example.

For four-and-twenty years have I roamed the world,—

The Frontispiece represents the idol Gănésh, the deified infant whom I have invoked.

The sign Sri, at the top of the page, implores his triple eyes to look with favour on the undertaking,—in the same manner that this sign, ♃, the old heathen invocation to Jupiter, sought his blessing; and is equivalent to the usual invocation of the poets to the Muses,—the Muhammadan authors to the Prophet,—or the "Laus Deo," with which merchants' clerks formerly began their books,—a practice not yet quite extinct.