Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-09-27
KEEPING COOL IN INDIA.
A Country Where Furniture Cracks From
Heat With Hearrrending Grosns.

Heat With HearIrending GroanS
Darkness or the obstruction of glare
and the circulation of air are desiderata.
with the exclusion of the overheateo air
from the outside. In Burmah and Persia
rooms wholly or partially underground
are inhabited during the long hours OF
daylight. Cooled by night, they are
closed by day, food is sent down trap
doors, jealousy shut down immediately,
and with lots of ice and washing punkas,
or great fans, pulled by sBeltering coolies
outside, are Kept at reasonable tempera-
ture.
In India, peopla live in the cities,
chiefly on the upper stories. but With
deep verandas, guarded by heavy green
mat blinds ana inner blinds OF finer net
work or chicks at every door inside, and
the ever waving punkah, coolness AID
gloon are still ught after.
In Calcutta and the regions more i'm
medlately under the Yiceregal sway the
thermantldote Is much il vogue-a sort
OF wind wheel driven by manual labor.
forcing current of cool air through
damped mating, through registers like
ehose familiar II our winter ARRANGE
ments. into every department..
In Madras this affair is little used: per
maps three houses in the Presidency aud
none IN the MofUnil, or country districts,
are so furnished, bat tatties, or mats of
fragrant kurkus grass assiduously wetted
are fixed round the house or Office and
cool the parching breeze, and give rheu-
matism to all in The draft. It is healthier.
and when used to it, perhaps pleasenter
to face the music" and stand the wind.
however scorching, than endure the arti-
fetal chilling imparture of the kurkus
wind. People breakfast late as a rule in
Madras. and in Elizabethan or Franco
English style imbibe bottled ale or claret
cup instead of tea. Those who think like
the writer can find mild amusement by
adding & thermometer to the surroundings
OF their mDrning meal, beginning it al
SO degrees, soft haze pervading the at
mosphere, and gentle zephyrs mildly stir
ring the table cloth; presently comes a
puff as from furnace, succeeded by a
steady pour of heat which keeps the edges
of the tablecoveripg tapping horizontally
bOlls the beer, mElls the Bordeaux and
sends the mercury to ITO, la and 121 de-
grees, plotting paper crackles electrically,
writing paper curls, furniture cracks with
heartrendiDg gr0ans, the flushed count
enance dries like stoker's, and all ma
ture seems at It's last gasp. But this sort
Of thing does not EAST forever. In an
hour or two gentler puffs intermit, and
finally GOODNESS ineffable falls on the
weary scene, seothes all discomfort, and
gives sense Of paradisaical to those who
face this daily sirocco of March, April
and May that cannot be comprehended by
the languid, pale, washed out people who
go IN entirely for GOODNESS and seclusion
in their darkened rooms. The artifi ,ial
GOODNESS encourages mosquitoes, which
ere unpleasant; also eye flies, which hap
PLY we know nothing about here, little
wretches which ''go for" anything bright,
and of course afflict the brightest eyes,
and are veritable fortunes to those unfor-
tunately obliged to wear glasses. The
Red Sea in September is perhaps the hot
test part of the globe at its hottest time.
Then existence hangs on thread, wind
sails extend from every part of steamers,
family catching the breaths of air man
Ufactu"ed by steaming ahead, and the
normal heat in the shade Is over los de-
prees,