Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1888-04-21

yet, there IS not IN many ulStrlcIS
enough trade to make the railroads
seif-supporting; and second, because
OF their great possible use to the Gov
eminent in transporting troops III times
of trouble. But although there are so
many thousands of miles of railroad in
India, travelling thereon is very diff
ferent matter to riding in America in
Pullman palace cars. In the first place
the speed, except in few instances,
is so slow as to be compared
to nothing short of Canadian accom-
mediation train, while, in the second
place, frst-class fares are so high as to
exclude all but rich people from II COM
Portable ride. The cars are built in
the English style, and are divided into
first, second and third class. Moguls
and Indian Government clerks can
also be accommodated with saloon car
riages. l proposed to make the trip
from Bombay to Calcutta, by way of
Delhi, distance of 500 miles, the
schedule time allowed being almost as
great as is allowed for the journey from
New York to San Francisco, or rather
more than five days.
Now, as / was neither an Indian
prince nor q ciyil-service clerk in the
employ of Great Britain, | neither took
a saloon carriage nor even bought an
ordinary tirst-class ticket. At first
thought | would travel second class,
but 1 considered that as 1 could not
very well afford forty pounds sterling
for a tirst-class ticket / would travel
third class and so save thirty pounds,
and at the same time take the oppor-
tunity of "sizing up" the native tran
sient population. Bombay itself, like
all the larger Indian cities, especially
those which are seaports, is strange
mixture of European conventional
ties and Oriental magniticence.
TO visitor there is wondroHs
strangeness about these cities of the
Br fish Empire in the East. Side
by side with Moslem mosque, Hin.
doc temple, and Mogul palace, one
sees q substantial British postofice
building, Protestant church-such az
one might expect to see in the western
suburbs of London or up town" in
New York-and an orthodox club, "
patronized by the olcers of her
Ma;esty's army; or in the streets one
sees the true London "hansom," with
large side-lamps and an Irish driver,
followed by wide two-wheeled CHAR
ric, drawn by pair of t.otting oxen.
New York and Chicago are cosmopoli-
tan enough, but the mixture of popu-
lation is not nearly so varied as is
found in Bombay or Calcutta. AS on a
muggy night, with misty rain falling
while the thermometer quicksilver
pointed somewhere in the Eighties, |
stood in the railway station of the
Bombay, Baroda and Central India
Railroad, had good opportunity OF
noticing the medley crowd.
There were, of course, the ever
present Irishman and his natural enc
my, the Chinaman; there were shrewd
Americans from Chicago and Boston
one man | spoke to was from Little
Rock, Arkansas-and swarthy Afghans
from Cabul; three or four saloon car
riages were attached to the train, and
while most of them were for magniti-
cent Hindu princes possessed of fabu-
lous wealth, one was for his EXcellency
the British Lieutenant Governor OF
Bombay; there were Turks and Dutch
men; Arabs from the borders of the
Red Sea elbowing men who We're
familiar with the boulevards of Paris
while greater in number than all these
were Hindus of every kind, represent
ing half hundred tribes of the great
and thickly populated Indian PENN
sula.
But it is not my intent on to write of
Bombay. When the noise and hustle
at the station was fast making the place
regular bubble and confusion OF
tongues, the train pulled out and !
found myself in third class compart-
ment with an old Hindu who had seen
better days, q couple of privates in the
British army on their way to the in
terror, and my friend from Little Rock.
Sometime in the middle of the night
our train reached Surat, the first city
of importance and one of the greatest
cotton markets in India. Here sucl
terrible crowd of dirty natives tool
possession of the third-class car that ]
changed my mind about travelling al
the way to Calcutta as / had started
out. SO l paid excess fare, and was
allowed to exchange into secondclas!
car, where ! found the seats so ar
ranged that they could be turned int
lounges, where one could sleep witt
some degree of comfort during TIL
night. Of course, each passenger ha(
to find his own bedclothes, which most
ly assumed the simplicity of travelin,
rug. l also found that the first an,
second class coaches were provided
with small toilet, with plenty of water
Ny Little Rock friend, who was inter
ested somewhat in the cotton trade, lef
the train at Surat, to inspect the enor
nous mills of the Jafur Alec Spinnin.
and Weaving Company.
The train did not stay long at Surat
/ settled down to sleep, and the frs
thing l knew, on awakening. it wa
morning, and the train was stopping o
Baroda, grand old Indian city, anC
formerly the capital of Western India
However, even at Baroda stayed n,
longer than it took to eat hast,
breakfast. All that day kept my sea
in the train, although l had ample OPP
portunity to cool my heels mt such his
toric places as Ahmedabad and Ajmere
Frequently, as the train crawled on it
way, droves of monkeys and apes anC
birds of rare plumage came into view
Early in the morning the second afte
leaving Bombay-the train stopped a
Jeypore, by which time / was tire(
enough of riding to wish to break M
journey-and this i did for twenty-fou
hours.
Jeynore il thorou0b Indian city