CHAPTER XVI.CALCUTTA.Calcutta, India, Jan. 1, 1890.WE arrived here yesterday, after a delightful trip from Madras, and at once went to our rooms at a first-class hotel, engaged some time ago. Mine happens to be a wooden barn-like structure built on the roof of a six-story building, which gives me a chance to look down upon the famous city of palaces and immense parks—a great show, particularly at night, when the streets are illuminated by gas and electricity.
Calcutta, India, Jan. 1, 1890.
WE arrived here yesterday, after a delightful trip from Madras, and at once went to our rooms at a first-class hotel, engaged some time ago. Mine happens to be a wooden barn-like structure built on the roof of a six-story building, which gives me a chance to look down upon the famous city of palaces and immense parks—a great show, particularly at night, when the streets are illuminated by gas and electricity.
We were told that Calcutta was a dreadfully hot place, but last night I had my overcoat on, and was very comfortable, the thermometer being seventy-two degrees.
I have just returned from a tramp about the city, and find it one of the finest I have seen—population one million; splendid government and other buildings, great parks,fine wide streets and sidewalks, and every appearance of advanced civilization.
The natives are a handsome race, dressed in their picturesque costumes. White and native soldiers in brilliant uniforms are to be met everywhere, and the whole scene is one of great beauty.
A royal prince is here to-day, the stores are shut, and a great review of soldiers is going on. The rush for rooms at the hotels is so great that I hear of a Major-General of the British army who is to sleep in a bathroom near us to-night. On the morning of the 2d instant we took a carriage drive around the city, starting at 10A.M.and returning at 1.30.
The Botanical Gardens established in 1792 are very fine and well kept, but nothing like the one in Kandy, Ceylon. We saw the famous banyan tree, one hundred years old, the main trunk of which is 42 feet in circumference, the crown 850 feet in circumference; there being 234 roots which strike down from the branches into the earth. These roots and branches become little trees themselves. In the garden were two beautiful avenues of palm trees, each a quarter of a mile long. I was much interested in abridge of boats that we passed over. It was twelve hundred feet long and seventy feet wide, rising and falling with the tide sixteen feet. I have seen several bridges made of boats in different parts of the world, but none so large and substantial as this.
We went in the afternoon to the great fort, and inspected the immense fortifications, with their great guns and piles of balls. A marriage had just taken place in the garrison church, and the party were out on the lawn waiting for the arrival of carriages. The brilliant uniforms of the officers and the handsomely dressed ladies made a fine show. The church is an exceedingly beautiful one, with many costly monuments erected to keep in memory the glorious deeds of England's heroes, statesmen, and scholars.
In the great Cathedral there were many splendid monuments, one to the good Bishop Heber, a name dear to the hearts of all Christians for the beautiful hymn he wrote, "From Greenland's Icy Mountains," and though I have heard it sung in many churches all over the world, it always seems fresh, inspiring, and beautiful.
There was a beautiful monument to Lord Elgin, who was Governor-General of India,and before that, of Canada, in whose history I had a personal interest, having seen him and obtained from his hands a marriage license at Montreal in 1847.
We went to a public building, in the yard of which was marked out the size of a prison known as the Black Hole. It was underground, 18 × 25 feet, where the 20th of January, 1756, one hundred and forty-six persons were confined, and the next morning only twenty-three were alive. In one of the churches near was a monument erected to the memory of Job Charnock, a sailor, who, before Calcutta came into the possession of England, came ashore with a boat-load of companions to see the sights. They saw a widow placed on a funeral pyre all ready to ignite and burn her alive, which was the custom in those days. The natives set fire to the wood, which was too much for the gallant sailor; so he rushed in and saved the woman, and, it is related, subsequently married her, and settled down as a merchant in Calcutta, where he became rich.
Returning along the road beside a park a mile or two long we met many fine turn-outs, containing Indian and English nabobs, and among them was a coach and four withthe widow and children of the late King of Oude, who were taking an airing. The ladies and children were in very gay costumes, and looked exceedingly pretty. The show was a very brilliant one, far surpassing any thing of the kind to be seen in any other country.
CHAPTER XVII.DARJEELING.Darjeeling, India,Jan. 4, 1890.AT 4P.M.yesterday we left Calcutta, passing through the city, which was everywhere decorated for Prince Victor, who will be a king of England, if he lives, and who was to arrive at the same hour we left. We took possession of the car engaged for us, and I noticed that the next one was engaged by two Indian princes, their names being on the car. Presently they appeared, handsomely dressed in long colored robes and turbans, and soon after there arrived two palanquins carried by coolies, and completely shut up, containing their wives. They held up a carpet screen to prevent outsiders from getting a look at the women, but I caught sight of two figures, completely covered from head to foot with white garments, gettingout of the palanquin into the car. The car-blinds were instantly drawn down. I was much interested, it being my first look at Mohammedan women.
Darjeeling, India,Jan. 4, 1890.
AT 4P.M.yesterday we left Calcutta, passing through the city, which was everywhere decorated for Prince Victor, who will be a king of England, if he lives, and who was to arrive at the same hour we left. We took possession of the car engaged for us, and I noticed that the next one was engaged by two Indian princes, their names being on the car. Presently they appeared, handsomely dressed in long colored robes and turbans, and soon after there arrived two palanquins carried by coolies, and completely shut up, containing their wives. They held up a carpet screen to prevent outsiders from getting a look at the women, but I caught sight of two figures, completely covered from head to foot with white garments, gettingout of the palanquin into the car. The car-blinds were instantly drawn down. I was much interested, it being my first look at Mohammedan women.
After a tolerable night's sleep in the car we crossed the Ganges on a ferry-boat, and then took a narrow-gauge, two-feet-wide railroad, called the Darjeeling and Himalaya, which is perhaps one of the greatest feats of engineering skill in the world. It is run mainly on a cart-road previously built, and cost only fifteen thousand dollars per mile, and is fifty miles long.
We passed through a flat country for some miles, and then commenced to go up, around, through, and over mountains with terrible-looking precipices, now on one hand and now on the other. It has been a bright and splendid day, one in a hundred they tell us. We were in an observation car, and we consequently could see every thing to the best advantage. Elephants were at work in the fields on the plains, and immense tea plantations lined the hills and mountains.
At 4P.M.we reached our destination, 7,400 feet high and looked upon the mighty Himalayas, four ranges rising each one above the other, the two highest covered withsnow, and the one most remote appearing to be fifty miles off, one of the peaks of which is the famous Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world. The atmosphere was exceptionally clear, and the panorama spread before us was magnificent, and would require the poetical pen of Bayard Taylor to do it any thing like justice. We were soon in our rooms at an excellent hotel, which had been engaged as usual. Mine had an open coal-fire and a man soon brought a delicious cup of tea and some toast which were very welcome. I could hear the jackals crying in the near woods. The country is thickly populated and highly cultivated, the people bright and smart but clothed in rags and looking very poor, beggars being everywhere. Darjeeling is the sanitarium of Bengal. There are several hotels, and numerous fine dwellings scattered along on the mountain sides, and far up there are large barracks and hospitals for soldiers. We remained two days, and on the morning of the second day Mr. Kolish, Mr. Jackson, and I became ambitious to see Mount Everest from a nearer point of view and in all its glory, so we were called at 5A.M.On getting out I found my two friends mounted, but the uglybeast waiting for me did not approve of the excursion, and first tried to kick me, and then to bite, but I finally mounted and succeeded in making him understand that he had better mind me. Away we went, up the steep but excellent roads for an eight-mile trip to the top of one of the mountains. My horse proved a good roadster, sometimes trotting and then galloping, and in one and a half hours we reached our destination, and looked upon a great range of snow-covered mountains; Everest, the monarch of all, was among them, but much to our disappointment, clouds settled about the tops of the range and we did not see the greatest mountain in the world.
We stopped there an hour or so and took our fill of the grand sight, and then rode down the mountain at the same fast pace we had come up, for the train left at ten and we had none too much time. On our way down we met a Chinese marriage procession. They were making an awful din with tomtoms and drums, and a great show with banners and flags, which scared my horse, but the good-natured Chinese stopped their noise and we galloped on, reaching the hotel at nine, having enjoyed a fine morning ride.
CHAPTER XVIII.BENARES.Benares, India, Jan. 12, 1890.ON the evening of the 10th we left Calcutta, travelled all night, and reached here at 1.30P.M.yesterday. The railroads in India are mostly six-feet gauge, substantially built, but very slow, twenty-five miles an hour being the usual speed.
Benares, India, Jan. 12, 1890.
ON the evening of the 10th we left Calcutta, travelled all night, and reached here at 1.30P.M.yesterday. The railroads in India are mostly six-feet gauge, substantially built, but very slow, twenty-five miles an hour being the usual speed.
We brought along our own bedding, and stopped at stations for meals, every thing being very primitive compared with accommodations found in America or Europe. We passed through a country thickly populated, the fields being highly cultivated, and planted with wheat, rice, cocoa-nuts, etc. Parrots were flying about in flocks, or perched on the telegraph wires. Elephants could be seen in the fields, and bullocks were everywhere drawing carts or ploughing.
The two days we have been here havebeen very active ones, seeing the wonders of this "Holy City." Yesterday morning, at seven o'clock, we went out on the Ganges in a big boat. Splendid palaces were along the shore for a mile or two, and thousands of pilgrims from all parts of India and beyond were bathing and praying. At length we came to the cremation places. The boat stopped within fifty feet of the shore, and we saw the bodies of four dead persons in different stages of the process of cremation: one where the ashes were being swept into the river, and another just being brought down; this one was covered with a red cloth, showing, as they said, that it was a female. The men who carried the body first dipped it into the water, and then placed it on a pile of wood and brush, and set fire to it. Each of the other two piles of wood had a body on it, and both were being burned.
Passing through the city to Clark's Hotel, where we were stopping, we had plenty of evidence that Benares sustained its reputation of being the most filthy city in India. The Hindoo temples were especially dirty, though some of them had gilded domes, and one, where there was a sacred cow, was the most filthy of them all.
A Vienna friend asked me if I would not like to call on the Maharajah of Benares, he being the ruler of the province, and behind his throne being the Governor-General of India. I said yes, and we sent our cards to the palace and asked an interview. An officer called, I suppose to look us over, and after asking some questions said that His Highness would be pleased to see us at one o'clock, and at that hour the same officer called again, and we went to the palace in a carriage, and were at once shown up to the second story, where we were met at the door by the Maharajah, a young man thirty years old and very fine-looking. He spoke English, and shook hands and welcomed us very politely. He was dressed in brown velvet breeches, coat of yellow silk covered with silver stars, cap of the same, and gold-embroidered shoes; and was smoking an immense pipe with a stem twenty feet long. He led the way to an interior hall, splendidly furnished in Oriental style, and showed us to a seat. We had a conversation of about half an hour, during which I took occasion to tell him something of our country, and invited him to come to New York. He said he would be very glad to seeAmerica, and thanking us for calling said he was sorry we could not stay some time in his dominions. He then shook hands and said good-bye, directing an officer to send us books about his province. Nothing could have been more polite and kind than his attentions to us. I think it proper to say that my republican pulse did not beat any quicker on seeing such a magnificent palace and potentate, though I never saw the like or read of such scenes except in the "Arabian Nights."
In the afternoon the party took another drive around the city, and while the others were examining an extensive embroidery factory, I sat in the carriage in the market-place, and was much entertained by various aspects of Oriental life.
Once a little prince came along, mounted on a splendid horse, led by a man dressed in red robes and with a red turban on his head. The little lad was dressed in robes embroidered with gold, and altogether the scene was one not to be witnessed anywhere except in this country, or at the theatre.
We drove to an ancient city some distance off, and saw several old palaces; passed through great groves of mango trees andplantations of beans, peas, wheat, rice, etc. Natives, beggars, and children in great numbers crowded around our carriages. We met a regiment of native cavalry with white officers and a fine band of native musicians.
CHAPTER XIX.LUCKNOW.Lucknow, January 13, 1890.WE arrived here at twelve last night, after a tedious ride by rail, and I was up at seven this morning, and have been all day seeing the wonders of the city.
Lucknow, January 13, 1890.
WE arrived here at twelve last night, after a tedious ride by rail, and I was up at seven this morning, and have been all day seeing the wonders of the city.
Since a visit to the field on which the battle of Waterloo was fought, I have never spent a day of such absorbing interest as this, for here Lawrence, with one thousand eight hundred men, held the fort against fifty thousand rebels for six months, and up the road we saw came Sir Colin Campbell and Havelock's army of relief. The buildings are riddled with balls, and we saw where Lawrence fell and the room where he died, July 4, 1857. Nothing could be more thrilling than to hear many incidents of the siege related in an admirable manner by a native guide.
We spent some hours in wandering about the building and ground held by the English, and especially examined the big cannons, in front of which five hundred rebels were blown away and killed.
We went to a fine Mohammedan mosque, one of the minarets of which was covered with gold, and would make an architectural sensation if placed in any city in Europe or America.
In the afternoon we took another ride and saw a walled enclosure of twenty acres or so, where Havelock and his Highlanders made a breach in the high wall, shot two thousand rebels in four hours, and buried them on the spot.
We stopped at various mosques and public buildings, and reached the hotel at 5P.M.
It is a fearfully dirty place, and the sun of India, here as elsewhere, is intensely hot, but the evenings are quite cool. I saw many elephants and camels in the streets to-day, though horses and bullocks are generally used, and fine carriages drawn by horses are a common sight.
We have seen Lucknow pretty thoroughly, though one might spend a week here to advantage, especially in visiting the museum,where there are ancient and modern curiosities of the highest interest, and the mosques, which are exceedingly beautiful, in great contrast to the filthy Hindoo temples. One especially reminded me of St. Mark's at Venice.
CHAPTER XX.CAWNPORE.Cawnpore, January 14, 1890.AT ten this morning we arrived here, and have seen all the places where such frightful massacres took place during the Sepoy rebellion of 1857. Mr. Lee, who now keeps a hotel here, acted as our guide, and pointed out the various localities. He was a non-commissioned officer, and accompanied General Havelock's army, which arrived two days after the massacre, and inflicted upon the rebels the terrible retribution of fastening several hundred of them in front of the big cannon and blowing them into pieces.
Cawnpore, January 14, 1890.
AT ten this morning we arrived here, and have seen all the places where such frightful massacres took place during the Sepoy rebellion of 1857. Mr. Lee, who now keeps a hotel here, acted as our guide, and pointed out the various localities. He was a non-commissioned officer, and accompanied General Havelock's army, which arrived two days after the massacre, and inflicted upon the rebels the terrible retribution of fastening several hundred of them in front of the big cannon and blowing them into pieces.
Mr. Lee pointed out the exact spot where these executions took place, and showed how the poor wretches were fastened to the mouths of the cannon. It will be remembered that General Wheeler, commanding the British troops, after defending the fort for weeks against a great army of rebels, wasinduced to surrender under promise of protection from Nana Sahib, who collected the prisoners on the banks of the Ganges and had them massacred. Only four escaped. General Wheeler was seventy-two years of age, married to a native woman, and had by her seven children. He believed that Nana Sahib would keep faith with him, but he and all his officers were collected on some steps leading down to the water of the Ganges, and at a signal from Nana they were all shot down and killed. One of General Wheeler's daughters committed suicide by jumping into a well, and another married a native and is now alive here.
When the rebellion was conquered Nana Sahib could not be found, but Mr. Henry Balantine, now U. S. Consul at Bombay, states that the monster escaped to one of the countries in the north part of India and died there of cholera. Murphy, one of the men who escaped in a boat, had a singular fate. After the rebellion he was made custodian of the public buildings here; but one day he killed a native and was obliged to leave for China, and has never been heard of since.
Like many other places in India, Cawnpore is fearfully dusty, the hotel very poor, and one is glad to get away.
Agra, January 17, 1890.
WE left Cawnpore at five o'clock on the morning of the 15th. The train was delayed, and I wandered about the chilly depot and caught a bad cold. We were several hours on the train looking out upon the Oriental scenery, the people, and the wild and domestic animals near by, and at a distance we saw elephants, camels, droves of small donkeys, big black goats, and long-legged pigs, flocks of paroquets and green parrots, now and then a deer or antelope, and the usual remarkable trees and flowers.
I arrived here well fagged out, but a good night's rest made me all right again, and I have put in two days of hard work, which I regard as among the most remarkable of my life.
We saw many magnificent palaces and mosques, the description of which would alone fill a large book, and I have space only to refer to the Tâj-Mahal, which has been regarded by all who have seen it for the last two hundred years as the most remarkable building of its kind ever erected, and one of the wonders of the world.
Built by the Emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife, it is of pure white marble, 186 feet square, the centre dome being 50 feet in diameter by 80 feet high.
At the four corners stand four towers, each 137 feet high. The architect came from Venice, and his name was Geronimo Verrone.
On the front gateway is the date, 1648, marking the completion of the building, which was twenty years building, and cost ten millions of dollars, nothing being paid to the twenty thousand workmen, who were said to have been employed in its construction, except an allowance of corn daily, and even this was carefully curtailed by rapacious officers, causing frightful mortality among the men. Jewellers were brought from Italy, and they inserted in the marble walls, both inside and out, in the shape of vases and flowers, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, andother precious stones. The more valuable ones were stolen, but since the English have had possession they have inserted artificial ones, and we could see what a magnificent show it must have been.
The remains of the emperor were placed in a tomb by the side of those of his beloved wife. Each tomb had precious stones inserted in the marble, and on the top of one I saw a place where a ruby two inches in diameter was said to have been taken out. Ordinary stones, such as the cornelian and amethyst, were still there. We lingered about the beautiful building for many hours, admiring it from every point of view. My friend, Mr. Jackson, sang a little song under the great dome, which echoed and re-echoed, producing a remarkable effect.
I have been so much impressed with the marvellous beauty of the Tâj that I have purchased an alabaster model of it, and having packed it carefully hope to get it home safely. On the opposite side of the river from the Tâj we were shown the foundation of a building which the emperor intended to erect for his own tomb, and to connect the two by a bridge of solid silver twelve hundred feet long, but the tale they told us was thatthe emperor's son shut his father up in a prison palace for several years, and there he died at ninety-four years of age.
The emperor, knowing that he was about to die, asked to be taken to a marble summer-house, from which he could see the Tâj. They carried him there, and on the spot where we stood he took a last look at the beautiful building, and died. I know no more touching tale in all history, and it being well told on the spot by one of the guides, was very impressive.
This city, like most others we have seen in India, is very dirty, and we are put to many trials and discomforts, especially in eating, for we cannot get what we want, the hotels being very indifferent from an American point of view.
CHAPTER XXII.DELHI.Delhi, January 21, 1890.YESTERDAY at noon we left Agra, passing over the river by a fine iron bridge, from which we had another view of the beautiful Tâj, which was lovely beyond expression. We had an English compartment car to ourselves, and were very comfortable. Highly cultivated fields and frequent great barren plains, with now and then an elephant, were to be seen, and once a long caravan of camels. Monkeys were in the woods, and flocks of parrots flying about, and often the beautiful peacocks were perched on the fences or wandering about the fields.
Delhi, January 21, 1890.
YESTERDAY at noon we left Agra, passing over the river by a fine iron bridge, from which we had another view of the beautiful Tâj, which was lovely beyond expression. We had an English compartment car to ourselves, and were very comfortable. Highly cultivated fields and frequent great barren plains, with now and then an elephant, were to be seen, and once a long caravan of camels. Monkeys were in the woods, and flocks of parrots flying about, and often the beautiful peacocks were perched on the fences or wandering about the fields.
It will be remembered that the Hindoos consider all animal and bird life sacred, and never kill them, and consequently we see them everywhere.
We passed on at the rate of about twentymiles an hour, having forty-three carriages and over a thousand passengers, mostly natives, and stopped at a station at 1P.M.for lunch. The stations in India are all large, this one being more than a thousand feet long, and there were collected in it more than a thousand pilgrims bound for the sacred Ganges with their bags and bedding.
I went among them accompanied by the native guide, and saw that many of them carried painted poles, from the top of each of which was suspended a bag containing the ashes and bones of some relative, which they had brought from their far-off homes, and were taking to the Ganges to be thrown into the (to them) sacred river.
I looked at a group of handsomely dressed women. Among them was a bride, who had a profusion of silver ornaments in her nose and ears, and on her arms and toes. My appearance among this party seemed to entertain them very much, judging by their looks and their chattering.
We passed through great fields of the castor-oil plant, cotton, and mustard, and at 9P.M.rolled into the big station here, and were soon at the hotel enjoying the comforts of a wood fire.
This is the most dreadful climate I know of—eighty degrees to ninety degrees during the day, and down to sixty degrees at night. The hotels have rooms only on the ground-floor, which is paved with stone, and any thing but comfortable.
This city has great historic interest, having been ravaged many times by conquerors, beginning with Tamerlane, who burned it, and killed a hundred thousand of its inhabitants, men, women, and children.
Taking a drive, I saw monkeys running along the walls, and was everywhere beset by a great lot of beggars, dancing girls, and merchants wanting to sell shawls, jewelry, and many other articles.
We have been here several days, constantly driving about and seeing magnificent palaces, tombs, and mosques. In one of the great marble palaces was a large hall in which was erected the famous Peacock Throne in the year 1638.
The following account of it is given by Tavernier, who, in the seventeenth century, travelled extensively in the East, and saw all the wonders that he relates:
"The largest throne, which is set up in the hall of the first court, is in form like one ofour field-beds, six feet long and four broad. The cushion at the back is round like a bolster; the cushions on the sides are flat. I counted about a hundred and eight pale rubies in collets about this throne, the least whereof weighed a hundred carats; but there are some that weigh two hundred. Emeralds I counted about one hundred and sixty, that weighed threescore, some thirty, carats. The under part of the canopy is all embroidered with pearls and diamonds, with a fringe of pearls round about. Upon the top of the canopy, which is made like an arch with four panes, stands a peacock with his tail spread, consisting all of sapphires and other proper colored stones; the body is of beaten gold enchased with several jewels, and a great ruby upon his breast at which hangs a pearl that weighs fifty carats. On each side of the peacock stand two nosegays as high as the bird, consisting of several sorts of flowers, all of beaten gold enamelled. When the king seats himself upon the throne there is a transparent jewel with a diamond appendant, of eighty or ninety carats, encompassed with rubies and emeralds, so hung that it is always in his eye. The twelve pillars also that upholdthe canopy are set with rows of fair pearl, round and of an excellent water, that weigh from six to ten carats apiece. At the distance of four feet, upon each side of the throne, are placed two parasols or umbrellas, the handles whereof are about eight feet high, covered with diamonds; the parasols themselves are of crimson velvet, embroidered and stringed with pearls.
"This is the famous throne which Tamerlane began and Shah Jahan finished, which is really reported to have cost a hundred and sixty million five hundred thousand livres of our money [thirty-two million one hundred thousand dollars]."
The famous and beautiful Cashmere shawls are made in the province north of here, and are mostly sold in this city, where there are many storehouses filled with them. It is said that it takes the labor of two men a year to make one of these shawls of moderate size.
Wishing to purchase, I went to one of the largest establishments accompanied by three friends. The merchant showed me a book in which were written recommendations of his goods by Gen. U. S. Grant and Col. Fred. Grant, and among them was one written in German, which was translated by myfriend from Vienna as follows: "I have bought shawls of this man, and think I got them cheap, but do not offer him a third of what he asks." We spent much time looking at a great variety of the shawls, and finally, aided by the excellent taste of my friends, Mr. Norris of Baltimore, Mr. Kolish of Vienna, and Mr. Jackson of Manchester, I selected two, which I thought very beautiful, and asked the price. The merchant consulted two or three of his sharp, bright-eyed clerks in their own language and said: "I have not sold a shawl to your party; I sell you very, very cheap; you may have those beautiful shawls for 1,400 rupees." Having in mind the German gentleman's remarks, I said, "No; the price is absurd; let us go," and we started out. Then the merchant followed saying, "Don't go; make me an offer," and I said, "I will give you 400 rupees for both shawls." Greatly to my astonishment he replied, "Take them; I will send to your hotel." Fearing a substitution or some other trick I said: "No; hand them to me, if you please. Here are 100 rupees, and you may come to the hotel and get the balance." To this he agreed and the purchase was made.
CHAPTER XXIII.JEYPORE.Jeypore, January 25, 1890.OUR party arrived here on the 23d instant, and permission was obtained from the Rajah, who has the reputation of being the most enlightened ruler in India, to visit his palaces and grounds; and very magnificent we found them. The palace was very large, and fitted up in a costly manner. We were admitted everywhere, except to a big building occupied by his three hundred wives. We then went to see fifty elephants in different places, each tied by the legs; and then we visited the tiger cages, a dozen of them, each containing a savage fellow. We then went to the stables and saw four hundred blooded horses from all parts of the world. The custodian in charge of the stable said that if I wanted to hunt tigers the Rajah would be pleased to loan me a horse, and Iwould be sure to find a tiger from two to six miles from the city wall. The Rajah was good enough to loan us four of his biggest elephants, and in the afternoon we sent them outside the city wall with a photographer. We followed in a carriage and had photographs taken, and afterwards mounted the elephants, four on each, and rode two miles farther to a country palace of the Rajah, and to the ruins of an ancient city, where were formerly great castles, reminding one of Germany and the Rhine. We spent an hour looking over the castle, which is very costly and splendid. On the road and around the palace we were amused by the antics of numerous monkeys and the beauty of flocks of peacocks running wild all over, the screaming of parrots, etc. We then mounted our elephants to return. The one I was on looked as large as Jumbo. Meanwhile my friend, Mr. Jackson of Manchester, who is a great walker and dislikes the motion of the elephant, had ten minutes before started to walk to the carriages, a distance of two miles. He had nearly reached them, when he met a lady and gentleman, who proved to be an English doctor and his wife. They bowed and said "Good-day,"but had not passed on ten paces before they came running back. The doctor took hold of Jackson and said, "Look on top of the wall!" (a stone wall laid in cement five feet high). "And so you went within two yards of yonder tiger!" Jackson looked and saw the big head and paws of a large tiger resting on top of the wall, and then he ran away toward the carriages. Meanwhile, Mr. Kolish, who was on the elephant ahead, had seen the tiger in the field, and shouted to me to look at him, but he went away very quickly, and I saw nothing but a movement in the brush. All this took place before we knew Mr. Jackson had seen the beast. There were six natives with each elephant, and they were much excited and said the tiger must be very hungry, as one seldom came so near the city, and he would most likely get a kid or a man before morning.
Jeypore, January 25, 1890.
OUR party arrived here on the 23d instant, and permission was obtained from the Rajah, who has the reputation of being the most enlightened ruler in India, to visit his palaces and grounds; and very magnificent we found them. The palace was very large, and fitted up in a costly manner. We were admitted everywhere, except to a big building occupied by his three hundred wives. We then went to see fifty elephants in different places, each tied by the legs; and then we visited the tiger cages, a dozen of them, each containing a savage fellow. We then went to the stables and saw four hundred blooded horses from all parts of the world. The custodian in charge of the stable said that if I wanted to hunt tigers the Rajah would be pleased to loan me a horse, and Iwould be sure to find a tiger from two to six miles from the city wall. The Rajah was good enough to loan us four of his biggest elephants, and in the afternoon we sent them outside the city wall with a photographer. We followed in a carriage and had photographs taken, and afterwards mounted the elephants, four on each, and rode two miles farther to a country palace of the Rajah, and to the ruins of an ancient city, where were formerly great castles, reminding one of Germany and the Rhine. We spent an hour looking over the castle, which is very costly and splendid. On the road and around the palace we were amused by the antics of numerous monkeys and the beauty of flocks of peacocks running wild all over, the screaming of parrots, etc. We then mounted our elephants to return. The one I was on looked as large as Jumbo. Meanwhile my friend, Mr. Jackson of Manchester, who is a great walker and dislikes the motion of the elephant, had ten minutes before started to walk to the carriages, a distance of two miles. He had nearly reached them, when he met a lady and gentleman, who proved to be an English doctor and his wife. They bowed and said "Good-day,"but had not passed on ten paces before they came running back. The doctor took hold of Jackson and said, "Look on top of the wall!" (a stone wall laid in cement five feet high). "And so you went within two yards of yonder tiger!" Jackson looked and saw the big head and paws of a large tiger resting on top of the wall, and then he ran away toward the carriages. Meanwhile, Mr. Kolish, who was on the elephant ahead, had seen the tiger in the field, and shouted to me to look at him, but he went away very quickly, and I saw nothing but a movement in the brush. All this took place before we knew Mr. Jackson had seen the beast. There were six natives with each elephant, and they were much excited and said the tiger must be very hungry, as one seldom came so near the city, and he would most likely get a kid or a man before morning.
TRAVELLING IN INDIA.
I have been more interested in this city, where I have seen only native faces, than in any other in India, and would be glad to spend some weeks here.
The main avenues are one hundred feet wide, lighted by gas, and having water supplied by pumping works. They are linedwith beautiful public and private buildings, and crowded with traffic, numerous caravans of camels coming and going loaded with stone, cotton bales, and all kinds of goods.
This morning we went to the Museum, a large and splendid edifice erected by the present Rajah. As an architectural triumph I know of nothing superior anywhere. It is of white and colored marble from base to dome; and the contents no adjectives can describe. Lovely! charming! splendid! Costly goods from Oriental countries, owned and arranged by the Rajah Mahara Swai Madhosingh.
Over the arched entrance to the exhibition rooms sentences were painted, taken from native books; for instance:
"How much soever one may study science,If you do not act right, you are ignorant.""By contentment make me rich,For without that there is no wealth.""Rectitude is the means of pleasing God:I never saw any one lost on a straight road."
"How much soever one may study science,If you do not act right, you are ignorant.""By contentment make me rich,For without that there is no wealth.""Rectitude is the means of pleasing God:I never saw any one lost on a straight road."
"How much soever one may study science,If you do not act right, you are ignorant."
"How much soever one may study science,
If you do not act right, you are ignorant."
"By contentment make me rich,For without that there is no wealth."
"By contentment make me rich,
For without that there is no wealth."
"Rectitude is the means of pleasing God:I never saw any one lost on a straight road."
"Rectitude is the means of pleasing God:
I never saw any one lost on a straight road."
We are comfortably lodged in a hotel called a bungalow, which is owned by the Rajah and conducted by a native. I wasamused at one of the printed notices in the dining-room, which was: "If visitors are not satisfied with the food or cooking, they can deduct from the bill what they consider fair"; an excellent notice, which I recommend for adoption by hotels elsewhere. In another hotel I saw the following: "Guests are requested not to strike the servants"; and "Guests wishing ice are requested to give a day's notice, and name how much they require."
I walked up the street to look at a hunting tiger with hoods over his eyes, and tied to a tree, and while leaning up against a bungalow gate, a fine-looking young Indian, mounted on a splendid Arabian horse, interviewed me, much as an American newspaper man would have done: Where did I come from? What was my profession? and What was I in Jeypore for?
I told him something of our country, the number of people, the miles of railroads and telegraph wires, the size of New York and Chicago—in all of which he was much interested. I then interviewed him and asked him who he was, and he replied that he was Colonel Fyaz, commander of a regiment of native troops. He could talk the English,Hindoo, Persian, and Oude languages, was delighted to see an American, and asked me where I learned to speak English. He seemed surprised to learn that it was the language of the United States of America.
After a long conversation he asked for my card and invited me to call at his quarters, saying that he would be glad to show me about the city.
CHAPTER XXIV.BOMBAY.Bombay, January 27, 1890.LEAVING delightful Jeypore by the evening train, we were two nights and one day on the road. It was very cold after dark, so much so that I had to get up in the middle of the night and put on my overcoat and shoes.
Bombay, January 27, 1890.
LEAVING delightful Jeypore by the evening train, we were two nights and one day on the road. It was very cold after dark, so much so that I had to get up in the middle of the night and put on my overcoat and shoes.
The train went at a speed of twenty-five miles an hour, stopping at stations for meals, which were quite good, but the native waiters were of the worst, and all the arrangements very primitive compared with the splendid vestibule trains running on the Central Railroad from New York to Chicago.
We obtained accommodations at a first-rate hotel, where I rested for a day, being much fatigued by the trip from Jeypore, but towards night I took a walk along a beautiful boulevard, and through fine parks for several miles, and was much interested inlooking at the strange and wonderful scenes. The highly colored dresses of the native women, the silver ornaments covering their persons; the immense public and private palaces, very costly and beautiful,—all made a great impression on me, and I think that Bombay is one of the finest cities in the world.
There are fifty thousand Parsees in this city, with some of whom I became acquainted, and found them to be very intelligent, and was told that they were very successful merchants, many of them millionaires. They originally came from Persia, where they were agriculturists, but here they are merchants. These Parsees are all worshippers of the sun.
One day we went to their burial-place called the "Towers of Silence," situated in a handsomely laid out park. There were three round towers about one hundred feet in diameter and fifty feet high, without any tops, and around the edges perched some hundreds of black vultures. We were told by the attendant that the dead bodies were placed on slats inside these towers and then devoured by the vultures.
We saw the dreadful creatures all flyingover to one of the towers, and discovered that a body was being carried there by attendants dressed in white. We were not permitted to go near the towers, but were shown by an attendant a working model of one of them, and exactly how the dead bodies were disposed of.
Towards evening a band played in the beautiful park fronting the hotel, and I saw sights probably not surpassed by any other place on earth.
Theélitewere out, both native and foreign, in full force, as a public meeting was being held in a beautiful building erected by a wealthy Parsee merchant, in front of which was his marble statue.
The building is called the Bombay University, and an officer, whose coat was covered with decorations, was delivering an address on higher education. Officers and soldiers mounted on fine horses patrolled the streets; companies of Sepoys dressed in native costumes marched along; many white children cared for by native nurses, splendidly dressed native women, and beautiful English ladies and children passed to and fro; carriages and fine horses went by on the road, making a scene of wonderful beautyand attraction. The city, with its many parks, covers a large space, and is elegant and clean, containing more than a million of people, but, strange to say of such an important commercial centre, there has been no United States consul here for six months, and I had in consequence much trouble in shipping home some boxes.
I called upon Mr. Henry Ballantine,[1] who had delivered a delightful lecture on Cashmere before the Geographical Society at New York last winter, and he was good enough to give me such information as enabled me to get my goods off.
[1] Since the above was written Mr. Ballantine has been appointed U. S. Consul to Bombay.
CHAPTER XXV.ON BOARD "THE KHEDIVE."Steamer "Khedive," Red Sea, Near Suez,February 10, 1890.THE morning of the 31st of January was very hot at Bombay, as usual, and I only went out to make a few calls, and some purchases, and at 3P.M.we went on a tender to this steamer, passing two large English troop ships just arrived, and several ironclad men-of-war, and looked at the great forts on the land where we had before seen two 120-ton Armstrong guns with piles of conical balls, each ball weighing half a ton.
Steamer "Khedive," Red Sea, Near Suez,February 10, 1890.
THE morning of the 31st of January was very hot at Bombay, as usual, and I only went out to make a few calls, and some purchases, and at 3P.M.we went on a tender to this steamer, passing two large English troop ships just arrived, and several ironclad men-of-war, and looked at the great forts on the land where we had before seen two 120-ton Armstrong guns with piles of conical balls, each ball weighing half a ton.
The harbor is large and fine, and there were at anchor many large steamers and sailing craft, but I did not see anywhere the flag of our country.
On Sunday there was the usual parade of officers, sailors, and servants, 149 in all, most of the sailors being Lascars, dressed in white gowns, red turbans, and sashes, presenting a clean and picturesque appearance.
The vessel is a fine one, wonderfully clean, and with all modern improvements, including electric lights.
The doctor is a young and handsome man, and spends most of his time with the young lady passengers, who seem to require much medical advice. I notice that on most of the ships where I have been the doctors are very attentive to the ladies.
One night I slept very soundly in the upper berth, but in the morning found my room flooded from the open port-holes, sofa, floor, and baggage wet, but no great harm done, my clothing being hung up. In the morning I knew the sailors were washing the deck, for the water leaked through and struck my face, but one learns not to mind such little matters when travelling, and I turned over for another sleep.
It is rather hot on the steamer, thermometer eighty degrees, but the punkas are going in the cabin, and we are all quite comfortable.
We came from Bombay on the steamerAssam, arrived at Aden on the 6th, and were transferred to this ship, and unfortunately there was not time for us to go ashore, but I think we lost nothing, as it was a poor-looking place, nothing but rocks and fortifications.
We now see for the first time the coast of Arabia, big hills evidently of volcanic formation, and long reaches of white sand. The native boats crowded around the ship, offering ostrich feathers and various things for sale; boys were diving for silver pieces thrown into the water, and generally succeeded in getting them.
The run of four days up the historic Red Sea has been full of interest. One day the air was full of locusts flying over from Arabia to Africa, many of them falling on the deck. They looked like small birds when flying, but were not larger than katydids, and brown in color.
On Sunday the service was read by a clergyman who preached an excellent sermon. He read from the Bible the account of the passage of the Red Sea at a place not far from where we were, and the sermon was about it and Egypt.
The seats at the long tables in the dining-room were filled, nearly all the passengers being in attendance. The weather continues perfect, the water smooth and looking very blue. Captain Loggin, of this ship, says that on his last trip he had a lady passenger who was ninety-one years of age, andon a former trip another who was ninety-two, both of them very jolly and comfortable, and going from England to visit their relatives in India.
The captain said that on another of his trips, two ladies, strangers to each other, were put in one state-room in which were two wash-basins. One basin being a little larger than the other, each lady wanted the larger one, and appealed to him. He gave the matter due consideration, and finally informed them that the elder should have it. As we approach the upper end of the sea it narrows to about three miles, and we have good views of both the Arabian and the African coasts, long stretches of sand on both shores, and then mountains of volcanic origin, but not a sign of a town or of any inhabitants. Early one morning the captain gave notice that we were nearing the Sinai range of mountains, and he showed on his chart all the points of interest, and directly pointed out the historic mountain itself, situated beyond a range which was near the sea, and looming up so that we could see it with the naked eye, and very clearly with the glass. The mountain appeared to be about forty miles off.