You will read in Genesis, 28th chap, and 18th verse, that Jacob, after
his dream, rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had
put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the
top of it. Whether it has happened from this circumstance or not, that
the heathen universally pour oil over their idols, I cannot tell. All I
know is, that they do it. No idol can become an object of worship until
a Brahmin has said his muntrums, or prayers, for the purpose of bringing
down the god to live, as it is said be does, in the image, and until he
has drenched it with oil and liquid butter.

The idols, in the great temples, are clothed with rich garments, and
adorned with jewels, which are enriched with precious stones of immense
value. Sacrifices are constantly made to these idols, consisting of
boiled rice, flowers, fruits, etc., but, above all, of lamps, of which
many thousands are sometimes seen burning. They feed them with butter,
in preference to oil.

The priests of the temples offer up sacrifices twice every day, morning
and evening. They begin the ceremony by washing their idol. The water
which is used is brought from a river or tank. Every morning a
procession, with music, passes before our door, with this water.

Every priest who offers up sacrifices, must have several lighted lamps
with a bell, which he holds in his left hand. With his right hand he
makes an offering to the idol, adorns it with flowers, and rubs its
forehead and various parts of its body with sandal-wood and holy ashes.
While all this is going on, he is alone in the temple, the door of which
is closed. The unholy multitude remain without, silently waiting till
he has done. What he does, they cannot know, only hearing the sound of