Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1881-01-27
A Visit to Calcutta.

A Visit to Calcutta.
Maiden s ~ E Sas ss S ssssssa Is ss dEs5s
perceived sptg least three thousand Mo,
shoes OH, arranged in rows behind them,
foreheads bare and touching the earth.
in adofa don 81 the prophet Mohammed.
Next we met in narrow street Bengalee
Baboas. gentlemen Of Bengal, without
hats. and arrayed in loose flowing durzas,
shirts with skirts. Some of these Baboas
were perfect Apollost in appearance !;
others bore great resemblance to ideal
pictures of julius Caesar, Antony, and
other noble Romans. We passed q
crowd of painted Hindoos, each very
scantily arrayed, and ornamented with
daub OF paint on the bridge Of his nose,
the inseparable emblem of the idolator.
The Bheasti Wallah was everywhere;
he had tied to his back the skin Of q
goat fllled with water, with which he sup
piled the thirsty multitude and sprinkled
the sparched theroughfares. Marching
by us withiregular military tread was a
squad of native Sepoy police, who looked
quite commanding in their white shirts
and scarlet turbans. We were riding in
a ghamv, sort of closed carriage, but
learned afterward that the popular mode
OF city travel was by palanquins, which
are always available on the Street of any
East. Indian city at a trifling expense.
These palanquins are carried by four
naked Hindoos or painted heathens
called "palkee mallahs,,' wallah or
bearer, who importune every English
man in the following terms, s. Palkee,
Sahib! Juldajow-master palkee," which
interpreted means, 6 Palanquin, sir, I'll
go quick; will you have the palanquin?'
and YOU often hear them chant, as they
bear you at a rapid pace, the Hindoo-
stance words, with now and then an un-
interpretable English term thrown in,
of a popular song, the literal meaning
of which is that the English Sahib is full
of champagne and wants to be taken
home as quickly as possible, and that he
is willing to give extra backsheesh
(moneD for it.
Turning the corner of street which
led from aDhurumtolla Street to jain
Bazaar we met a yelling mob of idol
worshipers carrying on their shoulders
dozens of enormous and hideous-loOking
wooden idols, and amid the din and
noise Of crazy horns, the brassy banging
of gongs and the dull thud-thud of nu-
merous tomtoms, they drew near to the
holy Ganges, where, as we were told,
they were to east these distorted shapes
into the holy stream, and then plunge in
themselves, under the protection of these
inane gods. If crocodile seizes one of
them, or he turns sick and lies down and
dies on the sands, or the tide rises and
sweeps him away, then he is happy; he
is accepted of the gods. But if the tide
refuses him. and the crocodiles reject
him, he is kicked out as vile and I'M
worthy the privileges of his caste.
A first night in India is always full of
prospective horrors for the newcomer.
At midnight, in the principal streets,
the festive jackal holds high carnival
and ennis squalls and runs the discord-
ant gamut, giving forth sounds as of an
or the first attempt of juvenile from
bone player l have actually seen the
effect Of a whole scene of native opera
ruined by these screeching scavengers,
which in droves of 80 and 100 assemble
on the public streets and in front of
churches and theaters, and howl as if in
opposition.
ltS the Mohammedan can never be
Hadggis until after performing his pill
grimaye to Mecca, neither can our mod
ern 1Ilagieians become perfect in their
art until they have visited the Indies to
see the clever manipulation of the native
conjuror. They perform the most mar
velous things in the streets, corridors and
on the decks of vessels, without the aid
of Apprenticeship " basket trick" and
"the growth of the mango tree" being
among their easiest performances. The
growth of the mango tree is Illustrated
by placing seed beneath a little heap
of earth. which is covered for a few brief
moments; the cover is removed and be-
hold, we see a little green shoot just
peeping from the top of the earth. 1t is
again covered and removed at intervals
of three minutes, until we have quite a
pretentious tree of about three feet in
height. The mystery OF the basket trick,
as performed in India, lies in the unac-
countable disappearance of the girl who
is placed beneath an oval cover of retic-
ulated .straws; swords are run through
this covering hilt deep, and in every di-
rection-it is even trodden fiat, and
when raised the girl is gone. A laugh
is then heard, we turn in that direction
and we behold, with open-mouthed as
constituent, the girl running toward us.
Cor. San francisco Chronicle.
Bruin and the Bees.