Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-28
INDIA AND JAPAN.
What Nr. Bookwalter Has Noticed
In His Eastern Travels.
Japan. the Freshest Child of MODERN
TImes--- What AMMAN Is Like
Architectural Wonders
Eastern Religion.
r"Gathn in Cincinnati Enouirer.l

| city, and met him for the frSt Time lasI
night Mr. Boozwalter has been reader,
traveller and a business man. On some
| special topics he is almost the only man IN
our public life distinctly informed-sucn as
Asiatic matters, which are perhaps destined
| to play large part in the future relations
| of our country. He went on the same snip
with myself to Europe about thirteen mon1ns
ago, but was not visible during the passage,
and he explained to me that he had been
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 friend was purely social one. l de-
sired to know somethiJ about the countries
he had seen, and will present as near as
possible some of his off hand views and recol-
| lections
'.Mr Bookwalter," asked, (which of the
countries you saw is most delightfully."- lm-
pressed on your mind"
Japan. Japan is the sweetest country on
| the globe, suppose, to travel in. If man
| must see but one country i'll 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
-
| 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
| 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 stigma Oh a man and have
Off Inv n nc violent
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 VINO 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 manners are the perfec
ton of both self-respect and magnanimity."
'Did you go into this country where the
French are fighting::"
ooh, yes; l 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 towns
saw was Batavia in Java"
''What kind Of country is Annam!'
cit is Just like the valley OF the Mississippi.
Hindoostan, Siam, AMMAN, ETC., are the
deltas of the great rivers which rise III the
Himalaya mountains and bring down their
washings. That is why the country is SO very
rich It has all the riches of the Missis-
sippi valley, with a more southern and spon-
taneous climate and heat. The large cities
of northern India, like Delhi and Beuares
and Agra, are about on the latitude
e a. %la
see Asia is magnificent plateau
several thousand feet high and from
theenormous mountains there, which are the
Hottest OH the globe, these rivers the Indus,
the Ganges, the Brahmapootra 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 fiat along our gulf of Mexico"
(Which are the great cities of India?"
Bombay is that city nearest Europe and
the Suez canal On the opposite side of the
| peninsula, at the mouth of the Ganges, is
! Calcutta. From these two cities, Like great
| bow or arch, the railroad system rises into
the loftier land, where Agra, Benares and
| Delhi are. Calcutta and Bombay are towns
| of three quarters Of 4 million to Il million
apiece Madras is something near 50O,O00.
| The interior towns have mentioned are per-
haps 100000 apiece"
Said [: Governor, do you see any thing
in India indicative of Il great civilizations"
why, yes, such architecture as the world
does not show; BESIDES l think the finest
building III the world is the marble mausoleum
at Agra. 1t was built in far remote past,
but there is not a building in New York OF
| finish of those India buildings. The new
| Casino i'll New York is of the architecture Of
those India constructions a mixture of By
zantine and Saracen but it is the only one y
"What is this building at Agra:"
at is noble mosque or tomb erected BY
! one of the emperors to his wife, who had
died in child birth, and cost about s., coo 600,
equal to S2O000,000 at the present day 1t is
said that 20, 900 men worked on it seventeen
years, and their wages was daily portion of
corn. Every inch of that building is covered
with inscriptions in Arabic from the Koran.
1t is like vision made out of Clouds 1t is
about 240 feet high to its pinnacles, and occu-
| pies the centre Of noble square in architect
| ture."
Said 1: care the Mohammedans as vigor-
Gus people as they once werew
''No. They do not constitute now the
idCS III AiAolel. dSii power UGH
tanned. The old religions of Buddha and
| Brahma give the true Asiastic character to
| India. The Brahmins have exquisite faces
| and countenances, and you can feel the caste
they profess. The Brahmins and Hindoos
outnumber all other religions; then come
the Mohammedans, and next the Buddhists,
who are comparatively small in humber,
| only about three millions"
| ''The Buddhists are idolaters, are they
not?'
'They have images, but they do not wor-
ship them. The religion of Buddha is six
hundred years older than Christianity, and
| it is the greatest religion in the world, with
| 10000 900 of followers, but it is not strong in
| Hindoostan, where it was born. 1t is how
ever, the great religion of Asia. 1t was
| founded by a reformer, who, like Christ.
was of contemplative spirit, and was bor1
prince. He made study of human life,
was something of republican, and lived to
be so years DID, and was forty years preach
ing his doctrine combating the Brahmins as
Jesus combated the Jews. His writings were
collected by his followers, and the Buddhist
Scriptures are two hundred and fifty years
older than the gospels of Christ The Chinese
BuddhistS look on India as the Holy Land,
and sent pilgrims there for centuries That
| religion is humane one, and is based on the
idea that the soul of man transmigrates, and
| b.