Seven Legs Across the Seas Part 25

One would not expect to find away off in Bombay the prettiest railroad station, perhaps, in the world; yet Victoria Station, the western terminus of the Great India Peninsula Railroad, in architectural beauty, will withstand critical examination. The style is Italian Gothic, with Oriental designs. The building is elaborately ornamented with sculpture and surrounded by a large central dome. The station was built in 1888, and cost $1,500,000. We know of a number of larger railroad stations, but have seen none to compare with its rich architectural appearance. Though Victoria Station is the prettiest structure in Bombay, other splendid buildings would surprise a visitor on his visit to the Parsi city.

A flat or an apartment for Europeans costs $30 a month. Office rent is nearly as high in Bombay as it is in New York.

Good hotel accommodation can be had from $2 to $3 a day. Usually a room is composed of three "compartments"--a sitting room, dressing room, and bath room, but no running water. Hot water for the bath is brought in copper kettles and emptied into a wooden tub. It requires three Indians to look after a room--a room "boy," bath "boy," and "sweeper." The room "boy" is of higher caste than the bath "boy," and the bath "boy" of higher caste than the "sweeper"; neither will do work out of their caste position. Ceilings are high, and many hotels are lighted by electricity. At sundown the room "boy" sees that the bed is enclosed with mosquito netting, supported on a frame. Most of the beds are of iron, with modern springs.

One will not be in this city long before the large number of black crows, with steel gray backs, flying about comes under observation. At daylight their presence is forcibly brought home, the medley of "caws"

coming from these Indian scavengers preventing further sleep of a newcomer.

America was prominently represented here in a sewing-machine office, a cash register office, and the ever-present American five-gallon oil can.

The native quarters is a black and busy place. Bombay is perhaps more cosmopolitan than other Indian cities. Here are seen the Arab, Afghan, Zanzibar negro, Persian, Beluchi, Chinaman, j.a.panese, Malay, and representatives of other countries and other sections of India.

Bright-colored clothes appear occasionally, but the denizens of the native quarters are more naked than dressed. The bazaars are located here--the bra.s.s workers, coppersmiths, and jewelers; and here everything native-made may be purchased. Candy makers are among the "wallers" of India, and the smell from these shops and the native cooking-places--well, if one were blind, and at all used to Indian life, he would know he were in the bazaar by the odors.

India is the home of the rupee. As stated earlier, its value is 32 cents in United States money. Then there is the half rupee, 16 cents; the anna, two cents; the pice, one-half a cent, and the pie, one-sixth of a cent. Millions of people in India have never had a rupee in their hands, being more familiar with the pice and pie coins and cowrie sh.e.l.ls, the latter being legal currency in some parts of India. The value of cowrie sh.e.l.ls varies from 80 to 85 to the pie, or 500 to the American cent.

European data in connection with Bombay and southwestern India is taken from the year 1498, when Vasco da Gama, the daring Portuguese explorer, sailed around Cape of Good Hope to Calicut. Portugal then a.s.sumed control of this section for twelve years, when it was wrested from her, again coming into her possession twenty-four years later.

In 1608 England appeared on the scene, and in 1661 Bombay was ceded to Britain as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza. A few years later the East India Company established itself here, and it has remained a British possession ever since.

CHAPTER II

Our next move was by rail to Baroda, 248 miles north of Bombay. The railroad coach was of the compartment type, but wide, the road gauge being 5 feet. Fare in India is cheap, first-cla.s.s being three cents a mile, second-cla.s.s a cent and a half a mile for short journeys and a cent and a quarter for 300 miles or more, and third-cla.s.s fare one-sixth of a cent, or a pie, a mile. To learn what heavy pa.s.senger travel is one must go to India and note the jammed condition of the third-cla.s.s cars. Natives seemed to travel on railway trains to show their friends they had money to spend on luxuries. At certain towns a sub-station is located near the regular station, where third-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers cook their food and sleep until the train arrives. If they oversleep, it matters little, as they camp out until the next train stops. Some of the coaches are equipped with shower baths and luxuriously furnished; all of the through trains are lighted by electricity and provided with electric fans. To add to the comfort of pa.s.sengers, ice is carried to cool the drinks. The schedule time of some trains is 40 miles an hour. Coaches are provided with free sleeping berths, as in South Africa.

My compartment companion was a sepoy (soldier) and a Mohammedan, who had seen 24 years' military service, and spoke fairly good English. He had laid in a supply of food before leaving Bombay, and, when eating small cakes, offered to share them with his European traveling companion; next a cigar was proffered, and, not being a smoker, this kindness was also declined. Indians are vain concerning scented water, and this sepoy had saturated himself so thoroughly with lavender or rose-water that the compartment smelled like a perfume factory. He next offered fragrant water to put on my handkerchief, but I did not take kindly to his taste. He carried two pillows, and was disposed to divide these with his companion. Some interesting facts concerning Mohammedan customs were gathered from him during the journey, and when Baroda was reached the sepoy asked, apologetically, if his presence had been objectionable. In answer, he was handed a picture of one of the high buildings in New York City.

One-third of the area of India is composed of what are termed native States, the State of Baroda being among these. The Gaekwar of Baroda rules over 2,000,000 subjects, and is reputed to be the second wealthiest man in India. The richest native ruler is the Nizam of the State of Hyderabad (Deccan).

A much better appearance was offered by the Gaekwar's subjects than by the natives seen in Bombay. Baroda has a population of 100,000, and a street-car line is among the city's attractions, the cars being drawn by horses. Away from the bazaar, or business center, Baroda is provided with good streets, with trees growing on each side. A creditable park is located near the city, the grounds containing a museum, an art gallery, and a zoo.

A visit was made to the palace, in which is included the legislative halls. We had been through palaces in Europe, but the Gaekwar's bed was the most costly seen anywhere. It is of solid silver, the posts being two inches in diameter, and everything else connected with this democratic ruler's bed was fully in keeping with the silver frame.

Electric fans are placed throughout the palace; while mosaic-tiled floors, mahogany furniture, most expensive rugs, and drapings were also seen about this Indian ruler's dwelling-place. The palace is surrounded by attractive grounds.

Native rulers may govern their States, but England really holds the reins of power. The ruler of the State of Mysore, for instance, had his domain taken from him, but it was afterwards returned. That will serve as an indication of what is likely to take place if a maharaja opposes England's idea of how to conduct her dependencies. The Gaekwar himself was scotched by the British whip for turning the wrong way in the presence of the King of England at the Durbar held in Delhi several years since. Previously the Gaekwar's standing had been recognized by a royal salute of 21 guns, and seven of these were cut off. He now receives but a 14-gun salute for his unfortunate turn at the Durbar.

Dak bungalows take the place of hotels in the smaller cities of India, but even these are absent in remote towns. In order that European visitors to Baroda may not be put to any inconvenience concerning accommodation the Gaekwar has built a special hotel, called the Rest House. Financially it is a loss, but the Gaekwar is too big-hearted to allow his European friends to undergo any discomfort while staying at his capital.

Large monkeys, two feet high, inhabit the trees here. They are sacred animals to the Hindu, and, although destroying garden and flower plants, no Hindu would venture even to strike one of the tricky animals. If one of them was killed by a European, that person, probably, would not get out of the place alive.

The next stop was at Ahmedabad, where some of the best temple and mosque architecture in India is to be seen. The city has a quarter of a million inhabitants, and is noted for its goldsmiths, jewelers, ivory carvers, lacquer workers, cotton-cloth factories, calico printing, gold and silver lace, and other industries that require high skill.

Feeding-places for birds--boxes on posts--ornamented with carving and sometimes brightly painted, naturally arouse the curiosity of visitors to Ahmedabad. A sect of the Hindu faith in this city is known as the Jains; they erected the feeding-places and supply food for the birds.

This Buddhist sect believes all inorganic matter has a soul, and that a man's soul may pa.s.s into stone; but it is their concern for animal life, more than their other beliefs, that interests. They will not kill an animal, bird or insect. To maintain life in flies, bedbugs, mosquitoes, fowl, dogs, and monkeys is a strict tenet of their religion; they also believe bodily penance is necessary to salvation.

This sect numbers a million and a half.

The Jain temple--Hathi Singh Temple--is one of the prettiest church buildings we have seen. Though it has not the imposing appearance of the Cathedral of Milan, Italy, a view of the Jain temple of Ahmedabad will long remain in one's mind. The church, built of white marble, surmounted by 53 domes, will bring to mind, as a poor ill.u.s.tration, the handsomely ornamented Christmas or wedding cakes seen in bakers'

windows. Woolen slippers must be worn on entering. The interior is in keeping with the richness of the exterior. The G.o.ds in the temple where the Jains wors.h.i.+p seem to be made of gold, although they may be of bra.s.s; they are two feet high, and some are ornamented with what looks like precious stones.

In a mosque of that city there is a marble window, with delicate tracery on stone of stems and branches. This beautiful craftsmans.h.i.+p is in every detail equal to what one would expect if the same design was worked by a deft hand lace-worker. The window is six or seven feet across, and of the same height. The tracery was executed nearly 300 hundred years ago. Formerly there were two, but one was removed from the mosque and taken to London, and is now in the British Museum.

In all the larger centers of India a garrison, or cantonment, is located just outside the city, some of them composed largely of native soldiers, with European officers in charge. Europeans living in these centers occupy homes near the cantonments.

Ahmedabad streets are well shaded, and some of the houses, though none too tidy in appearance, are beautifully ornamented on the outside with wood carving. Beggars are numerous. A wall, in some sections 40 feet high, with 12 entrances, surrounds the old city. A good park is another feature, and the old wells are an example of art in a high degree in the past. The necessity for these wells will be understood when it is stated that rain does not fall from the termination of the monsoons until rain is again due, a period of eight months; but the sacred tamarind trees do not die. All the cities of India put one in mind of a rosy apple rotten in the center: the outskirts are beautified with nice parks, good roads, and shady trees, but the inside is always spoiled by a dirty, bad-smelling bazaar.

Packs of big monkeys and homeless dogs--pariah dogs, they are called--stand on the roads in the suburbs until a horse almost steps on them. They are waiting for the Jains to come with food. The pariah dog is generally mangy, scaly, starved, and half mad when he is not actually snapping. Though a menace to human life, if a European were to kill one it might lead to an uprising in India. The mortality from rabies is appalling.

Lizards were seen sliding about the walls, crickets were piping from the corners, and frogs were hopping about the floor of the room I occupied in Ahmedabad. No one of this sect will kill a lizard, as he is a house scavenger--puts in all his time catching flies and mosquitoes. The lizard is evidently not a Jain.

A 24-hour ride was ahead of us before Agra could be reached. The country pa.s.sed through was as level as a table, with patches of rice growing on each side of the railway track. Now and again an irrigation trench is seen, and trees in cultivated fields, while often separated by considerable s.p.a.ce, give the landscape a timbered appearance. Four poles, from eight to ten feet above the ground, may be seen standing in fields where grain is growing, on top of which a shaky platform has been built. An Indian is a.s.signed to this "look-out," to protect the growing and ripening crops from invasions of destructive fowl and animals. Rice will grow only in from three to twelve inches of water.

If the monsoons be limited, there will not be enough water to grow the rice, and the dreaded famine results. Though the monsoons had been good, the people looked half starved; so we have no desire to travel through India in a famine year. The Indian plough is perhaps an improvement on what was in use 5,000 years ago, as it has a pointed iron bolt in a stick of wood, but in the murky past the point of the plough might have been wood. Oxen, with big humps on their shoulders, draw the stick and bolt, and two Indians--generally a woman and a man--seem to be required to work the device. A long pole sticking in the air, with half a dozen to a dozen Indians around--each woman with a baby astraddle her hip--is scaled by two or three men, a cloth no larger than a pocket handkerchief about their loins, the top of the pole bending to the ground as the men approach the end of it. A sort of bucket--generally of earthenware, but sometimes an American five-gallon tin oil can--is seen appearing on the surface with water dripping from it. This is the windmill of India. When the monsoons fail them, this is their only hope of getting water from the wells to nourish the rice "paddies," and it is borne on the head for long distances for the purpose of maintaining life.

Very few people drink water in India, as in most rivers it is polluted by dead bodies, is used by "dobeys" (washermen), and in other ways made unfit to drink, all of which causes typhoid fever. For this reason much whisky, also soda water, is drunk. Soda water on trains sells at four cents a bottle to a second-cla.s.s pa.s.senger and eight cents to a first-cla.s.s pa.s.senger. In this country one pays according to his position for any and everything he buys.

Stations are not announced in India, and noticing "Agra" on a board, in large letters, that place being a Mecca for travelers, we fell in line with custom and left the train.

The chief attraction of Agra is the Taj Mahal, the greatest tomb ever erected to the memory of a woman, and this in a country where women are looked upon as merely servants of men. The monument was erected by Shah Jahan, Emperor of Delhi, to one of his wives, Mumtaz Mahal, "the pride of the palace," as she was termed. Work began on the monument in 1630, which was completed in 1652, 22 years being required to finish the grand pile of marble. The sum of money expended on its erection was $10,000,000.

The grounds in which the tomb stands are entered by an imposing gate that would be a creditable monument in itself to any great personage.

When inside, the visitor is confronted with a beautiful garden. A marble walk, in black and white, leads to the noted monument at the other end, on the bank of the Jumna River, where it rises in striking beauty, its stately marble dome, marble walls, and marble minarets demonstrating the grandeur in architecture for which the Taj Mahal is famed. The marble platform on which the tomb stands is 313 feet square, and the top of the dome rises to a height of 213 feet. At each corner of the tomb is a minaret of white marble, 137 feet high, delineated by black lines. Some parts of the tomb are inlaid with precious stones. Trellis work also plays a conspicuous part in this magnificent monument.

The fort of Agra, built of red sandstone and nearly 70 feet high, with a circ.u.mference of a mile, contains some magnificent buildings of the Moguls, although portions have been demolished. It was behind these walls 6,000 Britishers took refuge during the Mutiny of 1857. The walls of the fort and the buildings were erected between 1550 and 1640. Shah Jahan, the Emperor of Delhi, who built the Taj Mahal, also erected the greater number of fine buildings here within the great sandstone walls. Among the material used in the erection of the palaces is white marble with blue and gray veins worked in with black marble, and white marble inlaid with mosaic and valuable stones, rich reliefs enhancing the design. As in Nero's day, there was an enclosure built, in which wild beasts tore each other to pieces for the amus.e.m.e.nt of the Mogul. Artificial flowers, made of valuable red gems, inlaid in white marble; marble lattice work, treble marble domes, marble fountains, walls embossed with gold--practically all marble--beautified with red sandstone pillars and splendid vistas, with green parrakeets flitting about the surroundings all the day, may also be seen in this grand scheme of architecture. Such elegance, and the vast amount of money spent in erecting these handsome buildings, contrasted strongly with the dirty, squalid living quarters of the poor, low-caste Indian, certainly indicates a striking disregard of their interests.

Here one finds a creditable park, good driveways, shade trees and large lawns in front of Europeans' homes. These dwellings are bungalows, one storied, high roofed, with wide verandas, and often covered with gra.s.s or reeds. The kitchen is not inside, but a building in the rear is used for that purpose. Nearly every one owns a horse and trap of some sort, and there is a stable included in the buildings. A fence generally surrounds the grounds, and the inclosure is called a "compound."

Agra has a population of 200,000, and the articles manufactured are gold and silver embroidery, carving in soapstone and imitation of old inlay work on white marble.

The Mohammedan place of wors.h.i.+p is a mosque, and the Hindu place of wors.h.i.+p is a temple.

A Mohammedan may have four wives, besides concubine slaves. The celebration of a Mohammedan marriage costs the father of the bridegroom about $150, which is used to buy presents for the bride and to furnish a feast for friends. Any prospective father-in-law attempting to shave that sum would be thought little of by the bridegroom's acquaintances. Mohammedans bury their dead, but use no coffin. They place the corpse on the bottom of the grave, build over a frame, which is covered with timber, cloth or stone, and then fill in earth. Prayers are offered five times a day--at sunset, nightfall, daybreak, noon, and afternoon. All work is abandoned at time for prayers. Mohammedan priests use their voices to summon wors.h.i.+pers to prayers, because Jews and Christians use bells and trumpets for the same purpose. Mohammedans believe in a resurrection, heaven, and h.e.l.l, but also believe there is a separate heaven for women. The Koran forbids the drinking of wine or eating of pork. This sect wash their hands, mouth, and nose before eating or praying. Mohammed, the prophet of Allah, was born in Mecca, Arabia, 570 A. D., his father being a poor merchant. Sixty-three million of the population of India are Mohammedans, and the Mogul dynasties prevailed from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries.

Unlike Mohammed and the mountain, if one does not go to the Indian bazaar the bazaar is brought to him. On a visitor leaving his room, there will be spread before his door on the wide veranda silk shawls, silk dress goods, and souvenirs of the place; also waiting are snake charmers, jugglers, photographers, "dobeys," tailors, shoemakers, barbers, guides, hackmen, fellows offering themselves as servants--all making salaams--speaking in a low voice, but persistently following their business instincts. One never finds himself at a loss for some one to do whatever he wants done. An Indian may not be within sight or sound, yet if one should make his wants known, the man he requires will immediately appear as if having come out of the ground. It is said that no secret can be kept from the native--he seems to have the power of extracting any treasured thought from the mind of a European.

Since leaving Bombay we had not seen a sidewalk.

We now head northward for Delhi, the country continuing flat, with the same scenes, save for a deer appearing from grain fields on several occasions as the train rolled along. Every time the train stopped a native approached a coach that contained high-cla.s.s Indians or Europeans. He was a "boy" servant, waiting to learn if his master needed his services. Nearly every one traveling in India takes a "boy"

with him, as it gives a person a better standing with both natives and Europeans. The wages for these servants range from $5 to $7 a month.

If one rides first-cla.s.s, the servant rides free in the third-cla.s.s cars. His duties are to wait incessantly on his employer, look after the baggage, and act as interpreter for a European who cannot speak the native language. When in a city the "boy" is no expense to his master, as he provides himself with both food and lodging.

Delhi, the old walled capital of the Moguls, is under course of rebuilding for the ninth time in its history. Calcutta was the capital of India until 1911, when the seat of government was changed to Delhi.

Seven years was the time allotted in which to build the government offices. Owing to the prevalence of malarial fever, and the intense heat of the plains, two capitals are maintained. Delhi is the official city for five winter months of the year, and Simla, in the Himalayas to the north, the summer capital for seven months. In one of the burnings and sackings of this city, in 1756, Nadir Shah carried away with him treasure amounting in value to half a billion of dollars, including the Koh-i-Noor diamond. For a distance of six to eight miles south of the city, pillars, earth depressions, and crumbled walls attest the onetime greatness of the new capital. Delhi was founded by the Aryans more than a thousand years before the Christian era, but modern history dates from the year 1200. This city became British territory in 1803, and a quarter of a million people live within its lines.

The financial year of married Europeans in India is nearer eighteen months than twelve. Owing to one's business, a city home must be maintained, and another, in addition, in the hills--as the mountains of India are termed--for the wife and children, for six months of the year, thus supporting a city home twelve and a mountain home six months. The heat of the plains is so trying to European women and children during the summer that they must go to a cooler climate.

Seldom are white children over 10 years of age seen; they are generally taken to Europe at that age to receive schooling and to acquire a sound const.i.tution, thus burdening the husband with more expense. Few Europeans become wealthy in India.

From eight to twelve servants are required for a European's household.

The servant custom is maintained, even though there is only a Sahib and Memsahib in a family, and one finds what seems a surplus of servants about each home. In addition to the head servant, there is a cook and dishwasher; the husband and wife each have their separate "boy"; also a gardener, and the "sice," who looks after the horse; a servant to cut gra.s.s for the horse, that not being the work of a "sice"; a water-carrier, and a night watchman, or "chokeedar." Each child in a household would have a nurse. The wages of these servants range from $2.50 to $5 a month. One Indian will not do the work of another--he will do only certain things he was engaged to do. One often hears of tyranny of labor unions in America, but the system in vogue in India of getting work places labor unions in the United States in the light of philanthropists by comparison.