Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1890-08-14
AN ORIENTAL CITY.
WHAT TRAVELLER SAW IN All
MEDABAD, INDIA
Uniquely Decorated Houses-Aefiai
Restaurants-In the Market
bringing House a Bride.

Restaurants-ln tue mafkoI-
Bringing House a Bride.
To an amateur of new impressions,
saws writer IN Harper on 'Street Life
in India.n there is no amusement more
fascinating than to wander aimlessly
about and lose himself in the mazes OF
new Oriental city. One knows before
hand what to expect of Venice, of Cairo,
of Damascus, and one may be sure OF
sitting down to just such table d'hote
and with the same menu as In Paris.
But Ahmedabad is like the city of dream,
as il has never been made familiar to us
by painters or described in guide books.
/ 1t does not matter where one goes; every
street shows us something strange; and,
as one seldom meets European, the
Anglo Indian considering it ''infra dig"
to be seen on foot in the streets of native
city, one might fancy himself in Bagdad
in the golden prime of Haroun-al-Raschid.
This narrow street, which leads us to the
'Manik Chouk, y or principal avenue, is
lined on each side with ancient houses
of carved lakewood. Bombay has nre-
pared US in measure for the street arc IL
lecture of Guzerat; but here the type ex-
lists in its purity. These houses are often
carved all over, up to the broad caves.
There are brackets with with female
figures like caryatides; the sculptured
heads of horses aud elephants, rich with
detail, ornament the ends of projecting
beams. Wherever there is a surface of
succeed wall it is decorated with painted
professions in fresco, wherein elephants
and horses, princes, soldiers and fakirs
are depicted with vivid colors, but rude
in drawing and often laughably gro
tesque. Many of these houses are paint
ed in arabesquc, but the colors on most
Of them are faded or have been washed
away, so that only few patches of blue
and orange remain in the interstices of
the awnings, which, with the gray tones
of the old wood, make an agreeable
harmony of color. As the sun is just up,
the people are opening their doors and
windows and standing up their beds
against the walls; some are performing
their toilet operations in full view Of the
street, and gossiping with their neigh
bors as they squat in their doorways. A
whole row of them are brushing their
teeth with wooden sticks in unison over
the gutter. Brown babies of all sizes 1
are playing in the doorways with the
chickens and kids. Here is a house
carved like a jewel-box: the heavy door
is sumptuously wrought with cross beams 1
or.lmented with projecting metallic
bosses. While we are lost in admiration I
it suddenly opens, and couple Of cows
rush madly out and clatter down the
steps Of the portico; cows in this country
do not object to going up and down
stairs. We are not to suppose, however,
that this is barn; it only happens that
the cows, in coming from their quarters
behind, are obliged to traverse the lower
floor of the family mansion.
There are occasional bird houses raised
on tall poles. One was a curiously carved
structure which stood in a
crowded square; the pillar supporting it
was raised on gayly painted pedestal,
on the top by fence Of wire
netting. 1t had a ladder raised up when
not in use, and little baskets or trays
hung from the house above, containing
food for passing birds These aerial
restaurants are usually monopolized by
the ubiquitous crow. The principal
avenue, or rather boulevard, called the
Manik Chouk, is crowded at this early
hour with country people, as it is market
day. They are already spreading their
awnings, which are like square sails with
4 post at the intersection of two dag
Dnals, so that they can be planted at any
angle. They shelter groups of women
md baskets Of tropical fruits -plantains
md bananas, custard-apples, guavas, and
many strange varieties. There are stands
for the sale of cheap jewelry, clothing
Ind European wares, piles of pottery,
md water jars of every shape. Every
where one notices the pungent aromatic
,dor of guavas. 1t is the prevailing
,dor of Ahmedabad Just now. Across
he avenue towers an imposing trium-
lhal arch, or rather a series of three
riches, forming a superb background
Tin Darvaja," or ''three gate
ways" 1t is of eream-colored stone,
,uilt in the usual style of Ahme-
labad mosques Between each arch pro-
ects buttress, reaching nearly to the
OPP and sculptured after the manner Of
he minarets. Out of a narrow lane q
energies from the shadow of a
,reat gateway, with prolonged and shrill
ooting of horns and beating of drums
hey are bringing home the bride in a
arriagc, the like of which was never
cen out of India. Two great white
ken yoked together advance with stately
read drawing the carriage. Their
branching horns are nearly hidden by I
liver rings. the massive headstalls are of
he same glittering metal, and they are
overcd by scarlet robes reaching nearly
0 the ground. The bulky pole of the
arriage is covered with cloth of the :
anne color, and the yoke is of copper,
nth a row of silver bells tinkling below
J. But the carriage itself is gorgeous,
nd with a dome of heavy gold en-
robbery, glittering like Benares brass,
nd bordering its base, as well as around
D red awning which shelters the
river, hang double rows Of crimson silk
lssels. The wheels have an elaborate
rstem of conner brakes as comnlicafed