Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1891-09-01
EXTRAyAGANT RAJAHS.
LIVE As GRAkDLY AS DID THE
KINGS OF NORTHERN INDIA.


large Armies and Heavy Revenues--Tiey
Wear Diamonds Large a. Hickory
Nuts--A Sample City la the Heart Of
India-The shrewd Merchant.
The traveller who would see India as 1t
Is must go 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
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 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 OPP
presses them the viceroy of India re-
proves him and il 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.
COVER 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 tc
100000 men and their gross yearly rev
enues are about $4,000. 900
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 a fortune. saw two rings yester.
day. one worth two and the other -four
thousand dollars. The first was diamond
of about the size of 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 a Waterbury
watch. The other was the same size as
to the gold, but the central stone was a
r11hy fr1Itv oa hip OH III l..
diamonds about it were very beautiful
The tops of these rings were as large
around as old copper cents, and as !
looked at them | asked the jeweler who
would wear such gorgeous and unwieldy
objects He replied:
"Oh, we sell these to the rajahs. They
want the most extravagant jewelry, and
some of them fairly cover themselves
with gems.
AT another store was told that a 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 new palace and thought nothing OF
FASTING this So 900 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
left hand the fingers were covered with
rings in the same manner. save that cost
ly rubies took the place of the emeralds
At Delhi was shown a dressing gown
set with precious stones, which cost $50,
900, and which had just been made for a
rajah, and here at Jeypore, through the
courtesy of one of the most noted IA jahs
of India, have had a chance to visit his
palace, to get a 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 s.. 000. 900 year. The capital is the
city of Jeypore in which | am writing
1t is said to be the finest native city OF
India, and it is certainly like no other
city have ever seen. 1t is bigger than
Omaha, Denver or Kansas City, and il
laid out as regularly as the city of Wash
ington Its main street is two miles
long and 100 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 macadamized than
those of any city of tue United States
They are as hard as stone and as smooth
as floor.
The houses on the main streets are
regularl, built, and some raJah Of the
past laid out the city and made the prop
erty holders build after fixed regulations
1t is more like a Spanish city than al
Indian town, The houses come close t.
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 delicate pink Imagine miles OF
pink houses with lattice work windows