Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1871-05-24
RAILWAY TRAVEL IN INDIA.


In a recent contribution to the o.
SerUer, "Eusebius" gives this curiOu:
bit OF information:
THE first train of cars in India wa;
set IN motion in 1852, not twenty
years ago, and now there are more
than 5000 miles Of railway in opera.
tiCn. The East India Railway ex.
tends already nearly 1900 miles from
Calcutta to the northwest. @ the
borders Of Afgh8nistan. The Crest
Indian P~eniusular Railway, from
Bombay to the northeast, with its
branches, is Of almost equal extent.
and besides these, there are several
important roads.
The East Indian had a very prac-
ticable route laid out for it up the val
ley OF the Ganges. That partOf India
Is a vast plain, resembling our West
ern prairies, Orstiu more level and ex-
tensive. After leaving Calcutta for
the North, travelling by rail more than
a thousand miles in one direction. /
do not remember to have assembled an
elevation or seen an embankment ten
teetin hight, OrtO have passed through
an excavation OF any depth. The only
elevation that 1 saw, until coming in
sight Of 1.-THE Himalaya Mountains. was
a succession of knobs some hundreds
of miles up the country. which were
avoided without the necessity of mass.
ing over or through them. This made
the construction Ofthat road very EASY:
but in the western part is some px-
tremely heavy work. For about a
hundred miles out OF Bombay the great
Indian Peninsula railway runs
over and through a n OF
mountains by a succession of
ghaut5, over immense embank-
ments and viaducts Of masonry
and is carried, within a short distance
through twenty tunnels cut in the
solid rock. These works have been
executed at immense expense. An
idea OF the sOlldity Of the railways of
India may be gathered from the fact
that, Notwithstanding so much Of the
country is an open plain, making
their construction, excepting through /
occasional ghauts, comparatively easv.
The average cost of the four thousand
miles completed at the opening of the
year 1869 was SIS, 900 per mile. Thew
were built by private companies, the
Government rendering valuable as
distance and guaranteeing five Der
cent. interest upon the capital in
without which they could not
have been undertaken. The amount
)i interest thus advanced by the Gov
eminent, up to January il, 1869. wss
about Sl2j 900, 600, Of which morethan
half had been repaid from the rev
7nues OF the roads. Throughout the
peninsula the rails were laid
with a Uniform gauge Of five feet six
3" Inc route by rail from Calcutta to
Bombay by way Of Alahabad. a dis.
OF l41O miles, was opened i'm
March, 1870. The event was eonsid-
9red one OF great importance by trav-
'lers to and from the north and east
India. Formerly passengers from
England 10 Calcutta and the cities mn
he Valley of the Ganges had sailed
lirect to Calcutta, by the Cane or
through the Red Sea; but now thew
and at Bombay, where they take the
all to Ailahabad, 845 miles. and
hence to Calcutta, 625 miles, or To tba
Iorth Of India. The time between
and Calcutta, according to
be Indian Bradshaw, was sixty-nine
.Ours. 1t may be shortened ere this.
Contrary to general expectation.
he railways have been immensely
among the natives. They are
travelling people, having been ac-
ustOmed from ancient times to maxi
ng long pilgramages; and as soon as
hley became familiar with the sight
y lhe cars they began to crowd them
= great numbers. The system of
as,S was az hEst an objection, mas.
nuch as nigh caste Rrahmin was !
70 consider himself polluted If /
Yen 1he shadow Of a low caste man
III upon nam, n much more ii he
Oucheu nlm' The companies were
trongIy lmportuned to establish caste
ars, Ii conformity with the social