The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1889-09-27
ExTRAvAGANT FELLOWS.
An American Newspaper Man Tells Ho-
an Indian Rajah Lives


An American Newspaper Man Tells How
Indian Rajah Lives
There is IN Hindostan territory
nearly one-ifth the size of the United
States, and containing population of
more than SO, 600, OOo, which is gov
erned by rajahs- These rajahs have
power Of life and death. They have
revenues Of their own, levy taxation
as they please. and organize their
people and armies on a different basis
from the English portions Of India
- They are subject, in a certain sense,
10 the English, and most of them have
English officers connected with their
establishments. They are feudatory
states TO England. and England does
not allow them to make war upon
each other, nor can they have any re-
latiors with foreign states. II a I-ajah
misgoverns his people or Expresses
them, the Ficeroy of India reproves
him, and if he does not come to time.
secures his removal These states,
however. have none of the new Gus
toms OF English India Few for
eigners visit them, and the peo-
pie are substantially the same as
they were years ago-before the
railroad and the English desire
for business came in TO grind
them up in the mortar of modern civ
ilization. One-third of the whole ter
ritory Of India IS possessed by such
rajahs. and their subjects make W
one-fifth of the inhabitants. TheiI
united armies amount TO 800, 900 men,
and their gross yearly revenues are
about $50, 900. 600. These rajahs live
as frandly as did the Kings of Northern
India in the past, and the English mer-
chants of India cater largely to their
wants Here. at Jeypore, the rajah's
palace covers a great area, and the
palace garden. with its flowing rivers
Of water, formed by fountains squirting
out of a stone bed. would be large
enough for farm. / was shown
through court after court of marble
and taken through room after room
furnished with rich Persian carpets
and with satin-covered chairs and di-
vans Of European make. In one palace
there was an immense billiard room,
and in this and the room adjoining the
skins of tigers and leopards were scat
tered about by the hundred. They lay
in great plies on the floors. They were
hung on the walls, and some of the
diyans were upholstered with them. 1
went through room after room filed
with such skins, and 7 was told that
the beasts were all killed by the rajah,
who is very fond Of tiger-hunting. and
who is an excellent shot.
was also shown the outside of the
palace containing the harem, and the
arrangements for keeping it cool struck
me as rather peculiar. Outside of the
main hall, and running along one
length Of the palace, was a series of
great fanning-mills not unlike those
used by the American farmer. These
were turned by half-naked men. and
they thus kept pumping up draughts
into the rooms beyond
/ visited the rajah's stables, and
took look at his horses. There was
a court for exercise which covered,
judged, something like ten acres, and
around this was built an arcade of
stalls rooted over with thick, heavy
roof to keep off the sun. There was
about a half-miIe of these stalls,
and each Of them was occupied by q
fine blooded steed. There were horses
from Arabia, from Europe, America
aud India, and the tying Of each was
different from any thing 1 had ever seen.
There was a strap from their ha,ters,
which was fastened to rings Just
above their heads, and each of their
fore feet had a separate rope which
was stretched out toward the four
corners in front and behind them and
tied, at distance of perhaps six feet
away, to a post. The ropes were
loose enough to permit them to move
their legs up and down, but they
could not kick nor stand on their hind
legs.-Frauk G. Carpenter, in Louis
Vile Courier-Journal