Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-09-12


which made us grave enough.
A thin, care-worn man, in the dress Of
an ordinary Hindoo peasant, followed by
five or six others who seemed to be his
friends, approached us with low
salaam, and holding up the wasted, sick
Unlocking child that he carried in his
arms, entreated me to heal it with a
touch-a feat which he evidently
thought quite within the power of one Of
the woodworking "Inggrez Sahib-log"
English masters).
The poor fellows imploring look, and
the silent, wistful appeal in the hollow
eyes of the poor little sufferer itself, made
me long for the power of working mira
cles as l had never longed for in my
childish reading of the healing exploits
of medievel saints or magicians. With
some difficulty contrived to explain to
the afflicted father that was no "Hakim"
doctor, and advised him to carry his
sick child into the hospital, in front of
which we were standing, giving him at
the same time silver rupee (fifty cents).
The Hindoo acknowledged my present
with another profound salaam as he
turned away; but could see that his dis
appointment at my refusal more than bal
anced his pleasure in my gift.
A few minutes later we came up to the
main entrance of the palace itself-one of
the architectural wonders of Rajpootana.
Nor was the famous building unworthy
of its renown, although here, not less
than in the city below, the pink battle
ments, white cornices, and fantastically
carved turrets disturbed us with haunt
ing vision of French candies. Even with
out its wonderful accumulation of striking
details, the mere height and size of the
great structure would have sufficed to
make it remarkable. Beneath the colder
skies of Europe this truly Eastern lavish
ness of barblric decoration would seem
extravagant and absurd; but when seen
amid this burning tropical sunshine and
this riotous luxuriance of tropical vegeta-
ton it was emphatically "the right thing
in the right place"
Even here, however, the sturdy spirit
of Western civilization had forced its
way, and the matter -of-fact traces of it
which cropped up here and there amid
all this romantic splendor had very
grotesque effect. Through deep,
shadowy, fretted archway, worthy of the
Alhambra in the days of its pride, we
caught sight of a printing press worked
by Hindoo printers, running off sheet
after sheet of primers and books of refer
ence ;or the native college and school of
art established in the city by the Mahara-
iah himself. The vast, manipulated
"Durbar" (audience halD had as its centre
piece, a huge, clumsy wooden packing
case marked with the label of a we'll
known Anglo Indian railway company.
Above the door of a bed chamber that
seemed to have come bodily out of the
"Arabian Nights" figured a lithograph
portrait of the Empress of Austria! An
English billiard-table stood conspicuous
in the midst of curtained hall that
flashed back the sunlight from walls
wholly formed of tiny countless mirrors
and from the centre of paved court
with carved Eastern gateways and walls
frescoed with green peacocks (the Ma
harajah's family cresD, rose monster
gas-lamp, which our Hindoo guide
pointed out to as proudly as if gas had
Just been invented and he himself was
the inventor.
But as we went deeper and deeper into
this wonderful place, all these modern in
congruities melted away, and the whole
scene became thoroughly Oriental onc'
more. The panorama of the palace
garden itself, with its shady walks EN-
powered in rich tropical foliage, its mar
BILE fountains glistening in the sun, it
dainty little pavilions, and its gorgeou
flowers dropping languidly on the warm
dreamy air-all framed in the bold, rock.
outline of the distant Aravulli Hills
which shut in the charming little Jey
poor Valley-carried us back at once t.
r the far-off days of Haroun Al-Raschit
J and Mahmoud of Ghazni. And when W
. stood in the middle of the inner couet
l yard and looked upward, we saw abov
t us a seemingly endless mass of carved bat
Elements, marble columns, clustering tur
=, rets, curtained balconies, fower-crowne'
terraces, sculptured cornices, and bright
S ly painted walls, piled up against the clea
l blue sky like the ridges of some might
f mountain, while high over all this blaz
n of many-colored glory tioated from tn
g topmost pinnacle the golden standard
t Jeypoor.
n But all this time there was no sign {
d the famous "pet crocodiles' of which W
had heard so much, and we were just be
n ginning to wonder whether they migl
n not be, after all, mere travellers tall
e when our Hindoo guide suddenly hurrie
s. us with marked alacrity up broad ma
Is BILE stair, on to raised terrace near
l. midway along the garden-face of IL
s. palace, and then, leading us forward to
re low white parapet that ran along the flu
y ther side of the terrace itself, pointe
N over it and bade us look down.
!" At sight of the horrible pit below, v
u both drew back with an irrepressib
tie start and shiver of disgust. What v
We beheld was just what we had expecte
lg and had come purposely to see; but
st frightful was the sudden revelation of th
ne foul, Shiny pool, crawling with monstro
W and hideous reptiles, in the very midst
f. this splendid palace, with all its gracef
u architecture, and beautiful ornamentatio
r. and glittering pomp of Eastern luxur
d. that had we seen herd of swine riotil
II f.