The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1889-05-26

of which four story house OF fifty feet
front could be lost, but which is so regu-
larly cut that it might have been the work
of a Grecian sculptor, and the proportions
of which are such that it seems IN perfect
harmony with the great octagonal tower
below The whole is a mass of fine stones
and white marble so inlaid and carved that
it is more like a jewel of mosaic than an
architectural structure. Its doors are lace
work of the purest white marble. In It's
interior there is enough of this marble lace
to fence in a city block. The whole struct-
ure is
AMARvEL OF WORKMANSHIP
and Bishop Heber has well described it in
saying that its artists designed like Iltans
and finished like jewelers.; 1t would pc as
easy to tell how the birds sing and the
lilacs smell as to describe the Tai" | have
visited it again and again and feel like the
Russian artist who said. 1.-The Tai is like
lovely woman. Abuse her as you lease,
but the moment you come into her presence
YOU submit to her fascination" This
tomb is almost as perfect to-day as it was
when it was built. 1t took 10000 men
seventeen years to build it. The average
life of man in India is fraction over
thirty wears. Estimating this life at thirty
fOur years instead of thirty the work upon
the Tai embraces Just 10000 lives. These
81. 600 workmen got only their food for
their labors. An allowance OF corn was
given to them and their overseers cheated
them in the delivery 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 a space equal TO four
farms of 60 acres each. This fort was
built by the Emperor Akbar, and its in
! terror is filed with grand palaces IN which
! the ladies of his harem reveled III c!oth OF
gold and shOne in priceless diamonds. Inc
! Tai cost about fifteen million dollars, which
| in the purchasing power OF the time OF
! Queen Elizabeth in India must have been
worth ten times as 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
SlOO. 900. 900 year. The kings of his time
took one-third of the produce of the land
and the total revenues of the father OF this
man were $3.50, 100000 per annum. The
| extravagancies OF these times are unrlyaled
! in history but il was only the kings who
were rich. The people 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 exist in southern
as well as northern India, and l found at
! h 1Irr1s.l1
| Madras who looked quite as thin and who
| had come there TO better their wages.
| Many of these were Kings. Lean, black
men, half naked, with long hair hanging
down upon their shoulders-they do the
| work of CeylOn and of many OF the Islands
| of the Indian ocean. They are bright and
! hardy. and are among
THE MOST PICTURESQUE PEOPLE OF INDIA.
The most of them act as coolies, but there
! is one caste which devOtes itself entirely to
| the lending of money, and this caste, by
| banking has grown rich. Its members are
known as entities, and they have their
mOney-lending establishments IN every
! town of Southern India. They control the
capital of Burmah and one street Of Ran
COON is lined with their banks. An Indian
| bank is far different from the mOney-Iend-
| inc establishment in the United States.
! Take low, narrow cell-like, room six feet
high and about one hundred feet long and
put in the centre 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 white cotton cloth
about the lOins. Make them squat upon
the dirt floor and in front of each put nat
table a foot and a half high. upon which
lies a ledger the pages of which are filed
with Indian characters. Behind
EACH OF THESE NAKED FIGURES
pat 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 short pOrtico,
the chief of the bank sits counting out
silver coins 10 a farmer who has come TO
borrow. He counts very rapidly and lets
each coin strike another as it falls into his
hand BY the sound he tells whether they
are good or not. He eXacts big rates OF
interest, and five per cent. month IS moth
ing to him If he can get it. The whole
rice crop of Burmah is owned by these
entities 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 a caste of money lenders The
wives of these entities are gorgeous IN
jewelry and though they wear no clothing
except the two strips of cotton, some of
their earrings are so heavy that they pull
down the ears, and not a few wear nose
rings four inches in diameter.
AS I came out OF the Tai Mahal today !
took
A RIDE on AN INDIAN CAB.
It 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 sulky-like
affair made of bamboo and covered with red
cloth took my seat crOsslegged. These
carts are used throughout India andthey are
single and double. They are rudely put
together with ropes and when completed
they consist of a structure made OF fishing |
rods and clothes-lines swung upon wheels |
with a seat resting high above them and so |
made that they are as easy as any spring
vehicle YOU will find in America My |
driver wore nothing but waist cloth and |
turban and he took me mile for two 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 bullocks are the sacred beasts of |
India and they form in connection with the |
water buffalo the beasts of burden of the |
country. They plough the land and haul |
the carts, and at Benares l visited tenn
pie where there were at least.
AHUNDRED OF THEM IN STALLS
around a court yard and men and women |
were feeding them with flowers and pray
ing before them as they did So They are |
the most beautiful thing have yet seen in |
cattle. With smooth, dove-colred skins |
they have al the delicate outlines of the |
IaI 20 poSa Of