The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-04-26
IN AN ORIENTAL SLEEPING CAR.
An american Traveller Finds Much
New and Undesirable.
From the Baltimore Sun.

NeW anu
From the Baltimore Sun.
Dhubri. Assam, Feb. PA sleeping car
on an Oriental railway is death 10 aris-
tocratic airs. The early morning (the
tourist joyfully rises with the SUM finds
his meekness only exceeded by his shah
biness. and during the long, long night
how often does he wish that he was
sleeping amid the jungles through which
he is passing, instead of tossing up and
down. round and round, over and over.
in this wabbling, rafting, snorting, creak-
ing thing that is carrying him ten or
fifteen miles an hour
1 am sure that the Indian sleeping car
possesses a patent of It's own, and that
ing to that part of humanity that does
not enjoy the nightmare while taking
nocturnal trips. through this country.
The car itself is wonder In inconven-
lent workmanship. When 1t remains still
long enough to be measured you find
that 1t measures about 10 by feet, con-
two stationary and two hanging In a
threatening manner from above by lea
th1 e ropes; Is nsnted by & SIN n
read by and too bright TO sleep by,
and is entered by the tourist through
side door, which is often too narrow for
the bundle of bedclothes that the rail-
road kindly allows him 10 furnish
Having as my companion during the
first night out on my way to the noun
from the City of Brotherly Love, the
trip was crowded with incidents, some
of which were very laughable several
days after they happened.
Far in the dark night IL turned suddenly
very chilly, and we were aroused to find
everything in a stiff gale, and fearing that
the monkeys in the jungles would have
the joy of appearing next day in some of
our garments, we arose to seize them in
the midst of their wild career as they
10, In la aHr1rr Ind 70
prise we found that our door was swing
ing wide open, and from the mountains the
cold air was sweeping through the car
from door to window and window to door.
These sleeping cars encourage domestic
economy in that they require you to carry
about with you all the bedclothing that
you use, and make up your own bed when
you desire to use It'll AS my good-natured
friend possesses a passion for such art,
and as II is my creed that everyone should
be encouraged in developing his talent in
any given direction, l allowed him to prac-
tice on my bed; but when the time came
to blow up my newly-patented air-pillow,
then came the tug of warl We blew into
that perversely empty pillow by turns un-
til our heads grew dizzy, and we seemed
to be blowing our brains out, but as we
held ii up after every windstorm, ii resem-
bled in diameter pancake rather than a
pillow.
At last my companion, thinking, per-
haps, that II was not worth while to put
on airs while trying to put in air, assum-
ed an attitude of strength rather than
grace, and turning himself into verita-
BILE bellows, inflated the pillow to an
which he now handed to me with an air
of triumph.
In the morning we expected a scene of
desolation to greet us, as we would be in
the mountains, but, as we looked through
the windows everything was green. Not
only the trees and grass, but our eyes
could not rest upon anything that was
not green-green birds, green cows, green
pigs, green goats, green ducks, green skies
and, stranger still, "a sight which we look
for in vain in our country, green men and
women
What kind of a country is this, anyhow?
In mute wonder we gaze upon the green
panorama, fearing to speak lest we eX-
posed our greenness.
In a few moments the window-pane was
dropped, and the yerdant delusian came
colored glass, and the greenness, alas was
not outside, but inside of the carl
dominant characterstic Of these trains IS e ess
pecially in Northern India. While riding
horseback with a party near Darteelng
the steed Of one of the young men be-
came unmanageable and succeeded in get
ting away from the rider, who had dis
mounted. The engineer stopped his train
and the brakeman caught the horse, which
had run some distance away!
While on a railroad near the boundary
line of India and Assam the conductor was
asked why there were not more collisions,
as there was only a single track. 1.-The
reason is very simple" he replied; 1--WE
To pass away the time during a tedious
delay of the train in the wilds of Assam
my friend from Philadelphia and tossed
small coins in the grass and the violent
scramble that followed on the part of the
natives was a remarkable sight. l counted
sixty-seven grown men struggling in a
heap over coin valued at about one-half
of our cent.
When the amusement became little
monotonous, l exclaimed: rs ii not time
for US to be going, or what causes the
long delay?" A gentleman near me said:
"Yonder is the engineer scrambling with
those other men for the coin just thrown
| out" and sure enough there he was, with
| his fireman, in the midst of the melee.
In order to test the speed of these fast
running Assamese. l placed a man with a
few coins in his hand about 200 yards from
a group of fifty or sixty men, and told
| them that the first who reached the holder
of the money could have it. At the drop
of the handkerchief they all started. but
what was my surprise when / saw the
man to whom / mad given the coins to
hold, just before the swiftest runner
reached him, turn about and run off with