The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-06-22
East Indian Travellers.

x
East Indian Travellers.
Curious to say, the natives of all class
es, castles and creeds, who, as a rule, are
the most difficult people in the world to
adopt any novelty, have taken to railway
travelling as readily as if they had been
born in a land where the steam whistle
had been heard for half century. Where
there is line of rail the natives now
travel by it and by no other means. As a
matter Of course. even the richest among
them select the cheapest mode of transit;
they would not be Oriental did they do
otherwise. The first and second class
traffic is almost abandoned; in fact, the
carriages of the latter are rarely, if ever
occupied save by European officials, or
officers, or others of the white governing
class. To save few rupees even we'll
TODD native will always travel third class;
and what the third-class carriages are
must be seen to be believed. In the
highest packed compartment of the
Southwestern railway on the day of the
boatrace there is ease, luxury and COM
fort. compared to what the third class
carriages in India are, for perhaps hun
dreds of miles.
AS a rule the natives of India, and more
particularly the lower classes, have no
more idea of time than negro in tropi
cal Africa has of skating. Thus, for in
stance, native wants to proceed, let us
say, from Baroda to Surat. He learns
that the train will start at ten O'Clock in
the morning; but to him ten in the morn
ing is like every hour, except sunrise and
sunset-an unknown quantity. He has,
however, nothing particular to do, and so,
determined to be in time, he arrives at
the station about six O'Clock in the morn
ing. If it is summer time he more than
likely arrives an hour or two earlier. He
has with him, perhaps, his wife and two
or three children to sec him off, and to
bid him Godspeed on the route; or he is
accompanied to the station by a dozen or
more neighbOrs or friends. If he is rich
man these friends may number 80, 40, or
so. Should he be going cohsidera-
BILE distance, say to Bombay, 100 or more
of his fellow-townsmen will come to see
him depart. And be it remembered that
he is by no means solitary instance of
traveller whose acquaintance come to see
him start. There are, perhaps, 800, 500,
or 700 going in the same train, and each
of these individuals makes point OF
coming to the station three or four hours
before the train starts, and is accompanied
by score or more friends. OF course
they are not admitted on the platform, or
even into the station, so long before the
proper time; therefore they sit Oh their
hams outside, chewing sugar-cane, eating
sweetmeats, and chattering away to each
other like so many OvergrOwn children.
The noise, the confusion and the stencil
OF this assembled multitude can hardly be
imagined by those who have not seen a
similar assemblage. The patience and
good nature exhibited toward them by
the English railway officials is not the
least surprising part of the whole affair.
But the orders from high quarters in this
respect are very peremptory. 1t is the
third.class passenger traffic that pays the
railway companies in India best, and
therefore it is the third class to which al
most every other traffic has to give way.
Not the least ludicrous of native trav-
elers' peculiarities is the enormous guam
tity OF luggage, or rather of belongings,
that they bring with them. 1t is no un-
common thing to see family, consisting
of one man, his wife, and child, take to
the railway large charpoy, or native
bed, bundle of sugar. cane about half
donkey-load in size, dozen or more cop
per pots for cooking, huge bag-full of
rice, an equal quantity of flour, and per-
haps twenty or thirty pounds of ghee or
clarified butter in which to cook their
food. How all this is packed away, or
how, at the journeys end, each traveller
gets his own property-for it must be re-
membcred none Of it is marked-are
problems difficult, if not impossible, to
solve. As the time for the departure Of
the train draws near, the confusion be-
comes greater and greater, and achieves
its climax when the ticket Office is opened.
In England, as we all know, the deliv-
cry of passenger ticket barely takes up
thirty seconds. The traveller states his
destination and the class he wishes to
travel by; he pays his money; the clerk
clips the ticket in machine, delivers it
over, and the transaction is at an end. But
it is very different in India. The native
fights his way to the window. The clerk
tells him, let us say, that one rupee six
annas is the fare. But the native has all
his life been accustomed to have been
asked one price and pay another for what
he wants. He cannot see why he should
not, at any rate, try to cheaper his rail
way ticket as we'll as anything else. He
first, perhaps, asks whether he would not
take one. rupee two annas.gzT The clerk, as
mattef oR coufse says no, md not nnfre-s
quently uses y ceftain amount of SbAd Ian
guage He then propu one rupee four
ami ilad II Ii only when the policeman
outside the tcket-window threatens to
put him away altogether that he takes out
his mOney-bag and pays out the coin as
slowly and with as much apparent pain as
if some one were drawing his teeth. Nor
does the transaction come to an end then.
To rec0up himself ii sonfe slight manner
he tries hard to pass OF mon the. ticket.
clerk one 81 more f4h less coins, and.
as Mey are Jefused, he gesticulate
screams, swearS and 1aments IN q most
heart broken manner. But let us not be
too hard upon him. His love Of money
is his second nature. He may be Mos
lem, a Parsee, Hindoo or Jew; Brah-
min, Rajpote or a Paria; the rupee is
his god, and the only god which he wor-
ships. Let US imagine fouror five hun
dred natives about to.take their departure
by the train; and we shall have soma
faint idea of what o ttckeEclerk in India
has togothrough ii the performance II
his duty. Esgas.szs.E FEs.
But even when our dusky friend has
got his passenger ticket delivered to him,
the infection he entails upon the railway
establishment is only half over. He has
to 60 to BaDoo, or native writer, to have
his luggage weighed, registered, and to
pay for the excess in weight. If parting
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