Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-11-28
IND.vs SUMNER RESORT.


HIGHEST Railroad station In the Old
Wo Id--Nunchinj
At4o'clock we had reached All eleva-
tion Of over !. 400 feet, the highest rail
road station IN the Old World. n RAPID
descent Of o. feet brought us to Oar
feeling, three miles further ON. This Is
a very picturesque town, with pretty
houses. all in gardens, scattered along
the steep side of sort of amphltheatre,
looking down over deep valley ana
over slopes of tea gardens. Over the
valley in front of the town rears sue
cesson of mountains, 5000, l0,0O0 ana
- 600 fee h gh, with magnificent sky
lines. and further over and beyond them,
forty-five miles away, lifts mighty Kun
chlniinga, %. 1856 feet high, and, next TO
Everest. the Hottest peak on the globe.
r)arleeling is summer resort for the
Europeans of the plain, the summer home
of the lieutenant governor of India and
governor of Bengal. and a sanitarium for
the English troops On the top of the
hill. above it 1000 feet, is barrack
and hospital In the town is bazaar, In
which on Sunday we saw most inter
esting mass of 5000 or 6, 600 people from
Nepaul, Sikkim Bhootan, Thibet and
Darjeeling proper. 1t was one Oh the
regular set OF falrs Tor trading, anu was
food for several days study. Unfortu-
natelv however. we saw it only on its
last day, but also its best. Trade was
going ON in sheep, goats and ponies from
Bhootan and a few from Ihibet. People
were there from Slkklm wlth maze,
peas. oranges and gram; people from Ne
paul with knives and produce OF several
sorts
The stocks were small, frequently only
SO much as the dealer had brought on
ms back over the mountain passes. one
had two or three bushels OF indian corn,
a poor article. Another like quantity
of beans or mlllet. Here was a woman
who had Travelled for two or three days
with two bushels of oranges hanging
from her forehead. She had climbed
pass 5000 feet high and slept IN the cold
open ar on the bare ground. She was
happy when she sold her stock out at
retail and received three rupees, or Sl.O5.
There was man who had Journeyed IN
the same way from Just under Mount
Everest, five or SIX days journey. HIS
stock was four Roman nosed sheep and
half dozen Nepaulese knives. The sheep,
which had been the pack horses for his
knives and provender, are worth three
RUPEES each and the knives one. The
dealers were generally squatted on the
ground, with their little stores in baskets
or on mats before them. Their worldly
wealth was small, but yet they had
contented look.
1t made me, ON arrival, almost blush
to permit good looking, soft eyed girl
to take my sachels from the station to the
hotel. One of these makes my arm ache
to carry ii 100 or SO yards, yet this little
girl swung two from her forehead,
Climbed nlubly the high hill to the hotel,
few hundred yards off, and was per-
tectly satisfied when l gave her two an
nas-or less than five cents. There are
many fine rides in the neighborhood of
DarJeelnS-one through dense forest
on steep mountain side gave us fine
insight into the growth of these ATTITUDES.
30 close and dense are they the sun never
penetrates to the ground. and that stick
OF wood never dries. The rainfall there
Is about 30 inches year; the soil is as
rich as loan can be made and the forest
vegetation Is astonishing. | regret that
have not time to describe it to you.
We however, had come to see mighty
snow clad mountains, not to revel in
vegetation nor to delight In forest clothed
valleys anu vine covered slopes.
we reached DarJeellng exactly twenty
iour hours after leaving Calcutta. The
gray ana green mountains around were
VISIBLE but thick clouds shrouded the
snow cad frozen heights. Our landlord
said it was RAPIDLY turning colder. and