Morning journal and courier., 1884-04-26
AROUND THE WORLD.

AnUUVU lu6 WUnhUs
Travel by Rail in Ins1a-TroubIe with
Proper Names Benarss - Ghastly
Scenes i'm the Ganges-A View Of the
River Front OF Benares-The Sacred
BullS-C3ste-Bom@ Interesting Fig
Ures-Buddhfsm.
BENAREs, India, March 20.
To the Editor Of the JOURNAL AND COURIER:
Passengers for the ''up country" in India
leave Calcutta uniformly by the night ex-
press at nine O'Clock, Madras time. There
are other trains through the day, but they
are slow, being provided largely for native
traffic, and do not make such infallible COZ
nections. An Indian carriage is provided for
sleeping-to q certain extent. There are
shelves which let down In all first and second
class coaches, and these, being covered with
leather cushions, are supposed to yield a
certain amount Of repose to the weary hu-
man frame. There are no pillows, blankets
or sheets, it being taken for granted that
passengers will bring these things for them
selves. The only difference which I can dis
cover, after some cogitation, between first
and sscond-class accommodations is the fact
that you pay twice as much for the former
as for the latter. Sometimes there are other
distinctions, but this seems to be the only
infallible one. Sometimes the frst-class
carriages are milky white, the second-class
dull brewn, and the third and intermediate
bright green or blue (when the dust has been
removed.) Sometimes, too, there is differ
encs in the color of the upholstery in the
carriages. and in some cases the second class
carriages are caned instead of cushioned.
I managed to absorb considerable sleep out
of my bunk, which was q lower one. As
the gauge of the track is five feet and six
inches, there was at least plenty of room.
Starting out at night in this way, the traveller
misses glimpse of some important and in
teresting towns, among them Serampore,
Ohandernsgore and Burdwsn. At Seran-
pore Carey, Ward and Marshman, the famous
Baptist missionaries, lie buried. They Ia
bored in that field in the days of the old
East India company, when missionaries
failed to find welcome any nearer to CAL
cutta. Chandernagore is g French settle
meat, ana is the only colony of France in the
north of India which yields her any income,
the French receiving three hundred chests of
opium per annum from the British for not
engaging in the manufacture of opium, or
interfering with the salt monopoly. Burd-
wan is famous by reason of the wealth of its
MahRrajsh, who pays an annual rental eft
two million dollars to the Indian govern
ment. Ali these towns have become more or
less historical by reason of military move
ments associated with them.
One thing which snnoys the traveller every
where in India is the capricious spelling of
proper names. For example, here are some
of the changes which are rung on one of the
principal streets in Calcutta: Dhurrumtol-
lab, DurrhumtolIa, Duramtalla, Dharmtals,
etc.
1t took us until the afternoon of the next
day at four O'Clock to reach Benares. The
country was an ilIimitable prairie dotted with
palms, maneos and several kinds of cactuses.
The soil has been baked by the scorching
sun of four rainless months, and as there
was but little verdure, it was pain
full to the eyes to look upon
it, even through the medium of our blue glass
windows. There were several immense
bridges over streams that in the rainy season
are rushing torrents half a mile wide, but
which were at this time of the year nearly or
quite dry. At Patna also famous for a Brit
ish massacre, we were in the heart of the
opium country of the Bihar province. In
every direction from the car windows we
could see immense fields of the poppy,
through which nearly naked natives were
walking and working, their black skins con-
trasting picturesquely with the sea of white
poppy-blossoms.
At Jamanea Marquis CORVALLIS. the former
governor-general of India, lies Inferred be-
meath an imposing monument. At Magul
Sersi, six miles from the Ganges, We changed
cars. We had scarcely opened our carriage
doors after the guard had unlocked them, be-
fore horde of hotel runners flowed like
water into the apartment, exactly on the
American plan. Each one vowed that the
places kept by the rest were low foul-smelling
dives, etc. Shutting my eyes picked Que
one of these, and after a sanguinary contest
succeeded in putting the others to rout.
When the cars finally stopped near the Gangss,
this complacent mentor escorted me TO the
Rharry stand and negotiated with the driver
for me on the commission plan for passage
to Akrole or the Cantonment, as the European
part of Benares is called, distance of little
over four miles. The price was fixed at two
rupees and we started. Descending the
sandy bank We crossed the sacred river on a
bridge of boats, the worst ever saw, paying
for this deIectable privilege the extortionate
sum of eight annas, (about twenty cents }
The river is at this point about 600 yards
wide, and some fifty feet deep. In the rainy
season, however, it rises to an additional
height of forty feet, and becomes half mile
wide. Then passengers take a ferryboat
right at the door of the depot. The Oudh
and Rohilkund railway Is now engaged in the
mighty task of bridging the great river, and
ere another year tourists may be takeu direct
to the Cantonment without all the ceremonial
torture which 1 endured.
sDo you see that object Aoating In the river
there?" inquired my escort as We drove upon
the rickety bridge. I assented and he con-
tinued THAT is a dead body. See, there's
another, and there, and right here close to
as, woman. The people who are too poor
to cremate their dead throw them into the
sacred waters of the Ganges. Come down
here in the morning and you will see plenty
of them. 1t is against the law, of course,
but they do it in the night. 1t really can't
be holped Many of the people are too poor
for any other method of disposing of their
dead, however inexpensive. There are al
ways quite number of bodies lodged under
this bridge I looked about me in some be-
There came black carcass
bloated On top of it sat crow,
which, as the drifting mass approached me,
paused in his gorging process. whetted his
me in reflective way, as much as to say
''Ah, there comes a stranger, one of those
green foreigners. I can tell that by his in
experienced air. Let him stay here little
W bile and we'll initiate him." Many people
like to discover utility in everything, and
perhaps it is q happy provision OF nature
that these bodies swell up thus phenomenally
when consigned to their watery sepulchre.
At least the crows seemed to act as though
the toothsomeness of their barbaric repast
was thereby enhanced. Enough!
In striking contrast with this offensive
spectacle was my first view of the river front
of Benares, the sacred city of the Hindoos, |
as seen from this same bridge at the same |
The city of Benares is built along |
the bank of the Ganges with an average
depth of one mile. and a height above the |
river of from eighty to one hundred feet. |
From the waters surface to the summit of |
The cliff are splendid CHATS, built of the |
inest Chunar stone. Owing to the insecure |
" of the foundation. some of these terraces |
are now in somewhat ruinous condition. |
AZ the summit of the cliff rises an amphi-
heatre of magnificent buildings from four to
'ix stories in height, all constructed of stone.
Many of these are the palaces of native prin-
YES and opulent citizens who are wont to
Quincy hither ut certain seasons of the year
o renew their spirituality by dipping them
elves in the holy waters of the Ganges,
,Rnacea for all the vilest sins which a H1ndoo
nay contract in less sacred localities feel
o powerless to approach the task of ade-
Iuately describing this scene that shall sim
'Iy quote from Bsyard Taylor passage
which most of the guides have handy to hurl
1 you when they witness your mute rhapso-
y. It is this: s'When it is recolleoted that
he buildings above are hundred feet or
nora long and four or five stories high that