Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-07-18
EXTRAVAGANT RAJAHS.
LIVE AS eRANDLY AS DID. THE
KINGS OF NORTHERN INDIA.

Wear Diamonds rs LaFEe as Hickory
Nuts-A sample City in tho Heart Of
IndIa-The Shrewd Merchant
The traveller who would sec India as It
is must 80 out of the regular line and
enter the native states. There is in
Hindostan territory nearly one-fifth the
size of the United States and containing
a population of more than fifty-six mill
ions, which is governed 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 different basis
from the English portion of India They
are subject in q certain sense to the Eng
lish, and most of them have English Off
GERS 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 relations with foreign states.
If rajah misgoverns his people or op-
presses them the viceroy of India re-
proves him and if he does not come to
time secures his removal. These states,
however, have none of the new customs
of English India. Few foreigners visit
them and the people are substantially the
same as they were years ago-before the
railroad and the English desire for bust
ness came in to grind them up in the
mortar of modern civilization.
COVE: THEMSELVES WITH GEMS.
One-third of the whole territory of India
Is possessed by such rajahs and their sub
jects make up one-fifth of the inhabit-
ants. Their united armies amount to
800, 900 men and their gross yearly rev.
enues are about $50, 100000.
These rajahs live as grandly as did the
kings of northern India in the past, and
the English merchants of India cater
largely to their wants. Some of the finest
jewelry stores in the world are here in
India, and under every glass counter you
see barbaric jewelry set with diamonds
worth fortune. / saw two rings yester-
day, one worth two and the other four
thousand dollars. The first was diamond
of about the size of q hickory nut, set
around with cluster of small diamonds
as big as peas, and the whole affixed to a
finger ring, containing enough gold to
make hunting case for Waterbury
watch. The other was the same size as
to the gold, but the central stone was a
ruby fully as big as chestnut, and the
diamonds about it were very beautiful.
The tops of these rings were as large
around as old copper cents, and as l
looked at them I asked the jeweler who
would wear such gorgeous and unwieldy
objects. He replied:
"Oh, we sell these to tho rajahs. They
want the most extravagant jewclry, and
some of them fairly cover themselves
with gems"
At another store ! was told that rajah
had just been in and given an order for
200 yards of satin at $40 yard. He
wanted this to paper the walls of room
in newpalace and thought nothing of
pasting this $4,000 upon the plaster. The
sultan of lahore. when visited him in
his palace at lahore, had ropes of gold
about twice the size of clothes line
about his wrists, and upon his fingers
wore diamond rings. The fingers of the
right hand were covered from the
knuckles to the first joints with rings set
with diamonds and emeralds SO that a
diamond alternated with an emerald all
over his hand, and the whole made a
blazing fist of white and green. On the
leftShand the fingers were covered with
rings in the same manner. save that cost
ly rubies took the place of the cmeralds.
At.Delhi I was shown dressing gown
set with precious stones, which cost $685.
900, sad which had just been made for a
ra:aA, and here at Jeypore, through the
courtesy of one of the most noted rajahs
of India. have had chance to visit his
palace, to get glimpse of his wonderful
stables, to take ride on one of his court
elephants, and to see the life and business
of his capital city.
THE CITY OF JEYPoRE.
Jeypore is one of the northwest prov
inces of India. 1t is days ride from
Bombay, not far off from the borders of
Afghanistan and some distance south of
Cashmere and the Himalaya mountains.
1t has population about as large as that
of Ohio, and its rajah's income amounts
to $4,000. .000.a year. The capital is the
city of Jeypore in which I ana writing.
It is said to be the finest native sity of
India, and it is certainly like nc other
city have ever seen. 1t is bigger than
Omaha. Denver or Kansas City, and is
laid out as regularly as tho city of Wash
ington. Its main street is two miles
long and 120 feet wide, and this is inter
sected at right angles by other streets OF
the same width and the whole is cut by
narrow streets into rectangular blocks.
The roads are better niacadamized than
those of any city Of tue United States.
They are as hard as stone and as smooth
as floor.
Thes houses on the main streets are
regularly built, and some ra]ah of the
rast laid out the city and made the prop
erty holders build after fixed regulations.
1t is more like Spanish city than aa
Indian town. The houses come close to
the sidewalks, and they have balconies
over them with oriole windows jutting
out at the second stories above arcades
which run below from house to house;
they are almost altogether two story
buildings, and the painting Of the whole
is a delicate pink. Imagine miles of
pink houses with lattice work windows,
through which you may now and then
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