Omaha daily bee., 1889-05-26

beautiful tower upwards for ia feet. Here
10 ends in turrets, and from Its center springs
great bubhle-likc dome of white marble, in
sido OF which a four-story house Of fifty
feet front could be lost but which Is so
regularly cut that IL might have been the
work of a Grecian sculptor, and the proper
tions OF which are such that IL seems in per-
feet harmony with the great octagonal tower
below. The whole Is mass of fine stones and
white marble so lnlaid ahd carved that IL is
more like jewel OF mosaic than an archtec.
tural structure. Its doors arc lace work Of
the purest white marble. In its interior
there Is enough OF this marble lace TO fence
In city block. The whole structure Is n
marvel of workmanship, and Bishop Heber
has we'll described it In saying that its artists
designed like Titans aud finished like Jew
elers. 1t would be as easy to tell how the
birds sing and toe lilacs smell as to describe
the Tai "
! have visited 1t again and again and feel
with the Russian artist who said, "the Tai
Is like lovely woman. Abuse her as much
as you please, but the moment you come into
her presence you submit TO her fascination"
This tomb is almost as perfect to-day as 1t
was when IL was built. 1t took 20 QUO men
seventeen years 10 build It, The average
life of man in India is a fraction over thirty
years. Estimating this life at thirty-four
years instead of thirty the work upon the
Tai embraces just 10, 0O0 lives. These 20, 900
workmen got only
THEIR FOOD FOR THEIR LABoRs.
An allowance of corn was given to them and
their overseers cheated them in the de-
livery of it, 1t was the same with the other
grand structures of the time. Within a mile
of the Tai, in very good preservation, there
now stands an immense fort, the walls of
which are seventy feet high and of red sand
stone carved so beautifully that they would
honor any Fifth avenue residence, enclosed
In square equal to four farms of $40 acres
each. This fort was built by the Emperor
palaces in which the ladies of his harem
revelled in cloth of gold and shone in price
less diamonds. The Tai cost about SIS, ,OO0,-
600, which in the purchasing power of the
time of Queen Elizabeth in India must have
been worth ten times rs much as it is
to-day. This fort cost countless millions
more. Its palaces had interiors walled with
diamonds and emeralds, and the king who
built the Tai had peacock throne which
blazed with rubies, sapphires and emeralds
at the back in the form OF peacock's tail,
and with stones so set that they resembled
the natural colors Of the birds feathers.
This throne alone represented value of
over thirty-two millions of dollars and his
land revenues amounted to 500, 900 a
year. The kings of his time took one-third
OF the produce OF the land and the total rev.
enue of ehe father of this man were $780,
000, 600 per annum. The Sxtravagancies Of
these times are unrivalied in history, but it
was only the kings who were rich. The peo-
pie were as poor then as they are to-day and
the curse of poverty seems to have ever hung
over the Indian peasant.
This condition of affairs exists in southern
as well as in northern India, and 1 found at
Singapore and in Burmah emigrants from
Madras who looked quite as thin and who
had come there to better their wages. Many
half naked, with long hair hanging down
upon their shoulders-they do the work of
Ceylon and of many of the islands of the In
dian ocean. They are bright and hardy, and
are among the most picturesque peo-
act as coolies, but there is one
caste which devotes itself entirely to the
lending OF money, and this caste, by bank
ing, has grown rich. It's members are
known as entities, and they have their
town of southern India. They control the
capital Of Burmah, and one street of Ran
goon is lined with their banks. An Indian
bank is far different from the money-lending
establishment in the United States. Take
low, narrow, cell-like room SIX feet high
and about one hundred feet long and put in
the center of this twenty-five young men as
black as the ace OF spades. Let each have
his head shaved; Let none of them wear
more than a white cotton cloth about the
loins. Make them squat upon the dirt floor
and in front of each put q flat table foot
and half high, upon which lies ledger,
the pages of which are filed with Indian
characters. Behind each of these naked
figures put a chest about the size of the
average trunk, with a heavy lock upon it,
and let all be working away as though their
lives depended upon their calculations. On
the outside of the door, under a sort of
out silver coins to farmer who has come to
borrow. He counts very rapidly, and let's
each coin strike another as it falls into his
hand. BY the sound he tells whether they
terest, and per cent month is nothing to
him, II he can get it. The whole rice crop of
Burmah is
OWNED BY THESE cHITTIEs
before it is harvested, and they own millions
of valuable property in the east. They live
most abstemiously, and it is their business to
accumulate money. They bring up their sons
to follow their business, and they are caste
of money lenders. The wives of these
entities are gorgeous In jewelry, aud though
Of cotton, some Of their earrings arc SO
heavy that they pull down the ears, and not
q few wear nose-rings four inches in di-
ameter.
AS came out of the Tai Mahal to-day 1
took ride on an Indian cab. 1t was drawn
by two great white bullocks with humps
over their shoulders, each of which was six
inches high. The driver sat in front, his
legs resting upon the tongue of the cart and
behind him, in sulky-iike affair made of
bamboo and covered with red cloth, / took
my seat cross-iegged. These carts are used
throughout India and they are single and
double. They are rudely put together with
ropes, and when completed they consist of a
made of fishing rods and clothes
lines swung upon wheels with seat resting
high above them and 80 made that they are
as easy as any spring vehicle you will find
in America. My driver wore nothing but a
waist cloth and turban, and he took me a
mile for cents. He twisted the tails of
the bullocks to make them go, and noted
that the horns Of his bulls were covered
with gold paper. These buliocks are the
sacred beasts Of India, and they form in con-
nection with the wafer buffalo, the beasts of
burden Of the country. They plough the
land and haul the carts, and ut Benares 1
visited o temple where there were at least
hundred Of them in stalls around court
yard, and men and women were feeding
them with flowers and praying before them
as they did 80. They are the most beautiful
have vet seen in cattle. With smoth dove
coloyed skins they have all the delicate out
lines OF the Jersey COW added to a majesty
OF action and grandeur of size, which
makes them nobly beautiful. They have ears
twice as large as our cows, and they walk as
though they contained as tine Indian doubt
less suppose, some of the noblest human
spirits OF the past. In contrast with them
the water buffalo becomes uglier than ever
1t is uglier than the hippopotamus, and is a
COW with wide, fiat, cnrving horns, neck
which comes straight out from tho shoulders,
q belly which is bloated and ill-shapen, and
q thin, struggling, black hair. which looks
more like the bristles Of hog than the hair
Of cow. They delight in wallowing IN the
dirt. and thew aaam m hava nnra nt tha ri,.