The San Francisco call., 1897-01-25

any attempts to interfere with their sui
cidal way of living.
Having once gained foothold in such
quarter and among such people nothing
but the most drastic measures can ever
stamp out any epidemic, let alone such O
terrible scourge as the present visitation.
The city OF Bombay or rather the aggre-
cation of densely populated districts which
are called by that name, is situated near
the lower part of. an island OF the same
name, which is one of an archipelago of
seven islands near the mouth OF the Ulas
River, on the west coast of India. Bonn
bay Island is about twelve miles long and
in the upper part three wide, with long
peninsula (Kalaba) narrowing off to the
south on the land side. and a shorter one,
Malabar Point, on he sea side. A range
of hills extends from the latter up the
west side as far as Mahim, and another on
the east side from Mazagon up an equal
distance. The long peninsula is sort OF
low plain, with an eminence of thirty to
fifty feet at the southern extremity.
On the upper part of this peninsula is
the original European town founded by
the Portuguese. This is the commercial
and administrative quarter and goes by
the name of "The Fort" Below 1t is the
town of KaIaba and various hospitals and
Sunita ruins, observatory. barracks, etc.
North and west of THE Fort" comes
tie esplanade, which formerly was en-
tirely open, but of later years has been
devoted to railroad and other industrial
and business purposes. On the east side
from the Government dockyard, on up to
Mazagon, is the port of Bombay, with its
! large basins, spacious docks and vast
warehouses, said to be as extensive as any
in the world. In 'Tbe Fort" along this
qua rter of the city, the business of the
Europeans mainly lies. AS is the custom
in the Far East the hours of business are
short-from 10 A. NJ. to 8 P. Nat which
| hour the Offices and stores are deserted
and the place is quiet and, as it were,
dead till the next day. The Portuguese
and the wealthy Parsees repair to Maza-
| gon Heights, while the other Europeans
betake themselves to Malabar Hill,
| Khum bala Bluff and Mahim, while many
cross over the hills about Tannah on Sal
cette Island, or on by rail to the noun
tains OF Abunath, Matheran and Panwel,
on the road to Madras, where at an
altitude of OVER 1000 feet more comfort can
| be had than on the island.
The impetus given 10 the trade of Bonn
bay in cotton during the American war,
the completion of the Suez canal and the
grand trunk lines of railroad to Calcutta
and Madras, with branches to other parts
of the great empire, has more than
doubled the business and the population
of the city during the last forty years, the
latter now being estimated at about
900, 900. Seventy per cent of these are
Hindoos. The Europeans number about
13, 900, and the rest of the population is
made up OF every nationality and race
under the sun, Parsees, Arabs, Chinese
and Malays being the most numerous.
From the first the other races left "The
Fort" to the Europeans and settled them
selves in the part of the island just to the
north and between Mazagon and Malabar
hills-each nationality race together.
The rapid influx of people caused more
indifference than usual in the location of
these habitations, and streets were not
laid off, but just extended themselves,
haphazard, as it were. in the direction of
travel. Soon all the higher parts of the
plain were taken up with dwellings and
| huts, and when the railroads we're built,
with their great causeways over TO
Salcette and the mainland, much land
was reclaimed and used to raise them
| above the tide water. Over this the town