The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1883-10-06
INDIA AND JAPAN.
What Mr.. Boohwalter Has Noticed
In His Eastern Travels.
Japan, the Freshest Child of Modern
es-- What Is Like
Architectural Wonders
Eastern Religion.

Mr.. Bookwalter, the late Democratic can
didate for governor of Ohio, is in New YORK
city, and l met him for the first time last
night. Mr.. Bookwalter has been a reader, a
traveller and a busine man. On some
specinl topics he is almost the only man in
our public life distinctly informed-such as
Asintic matters, which are perhaps destined
to play a large part in the future relations
of our country. He went on the same ship
with myself to Europe abou thirteen months
ago. but was not visible during the passage,
and he explained to me that he mad been a
sick man when he went on board, suffering
from dyspepsia, and had kept his room, being
most of the time sea-sick. He returned last
June to San Francisco, having been
around the world. Although his visit to me
with n friend was a purely social one, L de-
sired to know something about the countries
he had seen, and l will present as near as
possible some of his off hand views and recol-
~lections.
Mr. Bookwalter," 1 asked, (Which OF the
countries you saw is most delightfully."- I'M
pressed on your indF"
Japan. Japan is the sweetest country on
the globe, I suppose, to travel in. If a man
must see but one country in Asia, let him by
all means go to Japan. 1t is the land of
courtesy, of scenery, of art and honor, too.
Japan has but recently emerged from the
feudal condition, and is the freshest child of
modern times. Some of their institutions
had a remarkable influence to compel good
manners; for instance, the Hari-Kari. That
is now abolished, 1 believe, but it was a
strong institution. If you insulted a man he
could go off and commit suicide by that
method, and that compelled you, who in
suited him, to die in the same manner. You
could not leave a stigma on a man and have
it wiped off by his doing some violent thing
to you. He went off calmly, and satisfied
his honor by drawing his knife across his
bowels, while a friend chopped off his head.
The law was that you who hurt that mans
feelings and led him to that sacrifice had to
die in the same way. Hence men were
particular how they behaved to each other,
and even now their n are the perfec-
ton OF both self-respect and magnanimity."
'Did you go into this country where the
French are fightingf'
"Oh, yes; | went up the river with some Of
the French officers. Saigon is the general
port of that AMMAN country, and reminded
me somewhat OF Marseilles in France. though
smaller. One of the most delightful towrs l
saw was Batavia in Java
"What kim of country is Annamf'
at is just like the valley of the Mississippi
All the peninsulas of southern Asia, such as
hlnuOOSldn, Dlhll, Allldlnt ttC-, ART bhc
deltas of the great rivers which rise in the
Himalaya mountains and bring down their
washings. That is why the country is so very
rich. 1t has all the riches of the Missis-
sippi valley, with a more southern and spon-
taneous climate and heat. The large cities
of northern Indin, like Delhi and Benares
and Agra, are about on the latitude
of the mouth of the Mississippi. You
see Asia is a magnificent plateau
several thousand feet high, and from
the enormous mountains there, which are the
loftiest on the globe, these rivers. the Indus,
the Ganges, the B~rahmapootra and the IRA
waddy, come down and bear with them the
elements of the soil, and those are extended
into the Indian ocean,, and continents and
great peninsulas, and toward the coasts the
land is as fat as along our gulf of Mexico.
(which are the great cities of Indiain
'Bombay is that city nearest Europe and
the Suez canal. On the opposite side Of che
peninsula, at the mouth of the Gauges, is
Calcutta. From these two cities, like a great
bow or arch, the railroad system rises into
the loftier land, where Agra, Bennres and
Delhi are. Calcutta and Bombay are towns
of three quarters of u million to a million
apiece. Madras is something near 100000.
The interior towns l have mentioned are per-
haps 1000 apiece"
Said 1: Governor, do you see any thing
in India indicative of a great civilizationF'
why, yes, such architecture as the world
does not show; besides, l think the finest
building in the world is the marble mausoleum
at Agra. It was built in a far remote past,
but there is not a building in New York of
finish of those India buildings. The new
Casino in New York is of the architecture of
thuso India constructions, a mixture Of By
zantine and Sarucen, put it is the only one. >
''What is this building at Agran
at is n nobl mosque or tomb erected by
one of the emperors to his wife, who had
died in child birth, and cost about 81, 0O0, 900,
equal to $50, 600, 900 at the present day. 1t is
said that &c, 200 men worked o it seventeen
years, and their wages was a daily portion of
corn. Every inch of that building is covered
with inscriptions in Arabic from the Koran.
1t is like a vision made out of clouds. 1t is
about 24O feet high to its pinnrcles, and occu,
pies the centre of a noble square in architect
ture.n
Said I: Are the Mohammedans as vigor-
Gus a people as they once weref'
"No. They do not constitute now the
leading race in India. Their power has been
tanned. The old religions of Buddha and
Brahma give the true Asiastic character to
India. The Brahmins IA exquisite faces
and countenances, and you can feel the caste
they profess. The Brahmins and Hindoos
o%utnumber all other religions; then come
the Mohammednns, and next the Buddhists,
who are comparatively small in number,
only nbou. three millions"
"The Buddhists are idolnters, are they
notr
''They have images, but they do NOT wor-
ship them. The religion of Buddha Is six
hundred years older than Christianity, and
1t is the greatest religion in the world, with
A., 600, 900 of followers, but it is not strong in
Hindoostan, where IL was born. 1t is, how
ever, the great religion of Asia. 1t was
founded by a refornier, who, like Christ.
wns of a co~ntemplative spirit, and was born
was something of a republican, aud lived to
bc so years old, and was forty years preach.
ing his doctrine combating the Brahmins as
Jesus combated the Jews. His writings wers
collected by his followers, and the Buddhist
Scriptures arc two hundred and fifty yeari
older than the gospels of Christ. The Chimes,
Buddhists look on India as the Holy Land
| and sent pilgrims there for centuries. ThaI
religion is a humane one, and is based on the
| idea that the soul of man transmigrates, ant
will continue to do so through various ami
mails, and that by sacrifice and doing gooC
we reach better ex~istences, and finally car
Ebecome so wise through purity and knowl
edge that we can remember every stag
through which we passed.
Gas to the BrahminsF" said l.
"Brahma was the father Of gods who mad
tho elements; he is something like our Mosai