New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-02-08
ABORIGINAL INDIA AND THE WESTERN
WORLD,


ABORIGINAL INDIA AND THE WESTERN
WORLD.
In every nook and corner OF the city. under the
palms and banyans dotted about the streets the
old wonderful life Of the East thrives end prospers
unchecked Needless Of all the civilization OF Mala-
bar Hill and the port Here you may find the HE OF
mfienniums ago; the Brahman sage. sqnatted
mat. his pupils around him. intoning the Nedic
Nturgies in the old Sanskrit tongue here you may
find yogees and wld-eyed devotees, fakirs and
fanatics unnumbered. who have taken on them
selves strange fantastic vowsto stand on one foot
with arms upfted. for ten years: 10 hold the hands
clenched till the nails grow through the palms 10
gaze the fierce sun by MONDAY; TO stand exposed
TO the wild impetuosty of the seasons with un-
sheltered heads and whatever otner eXuasagahSe ,
subtle minds can GSnesye ond g e T Su Europe
life in the greet square OF me e rses on one side
and the huge building of the Grea. Western Hotel
on the other while the rest of the square is lined
MIN EHTo SSil o o ana more the
gardens of Malabar Hill. The old life of India WITH
within hearing of the grand terminus Of the PENN
sula Railway, within hearing of the port ana dockS
Of Mazagon from which the mails or lnda are
every week dispatched. by way Of Aden and suez'
Marsees or Brndis the pSIi from opra wed the the
plague now ravaging Bombay may spreap1 o. we e.
ward nrst 10 Aps a'S 10 Egvpt and how much
f RGrhs 'R whc d Re1f te, 10 AS'p'' anu
/ have just received from Of the best.knoWn
editors in India letter from which extract t the
following as fully bearing out the most gloomy
apprehensons ! have expressed l.
more serious than l like 10 think or Wri!e ana
vastly more serious than the published reports
might lead TO suppose Instead or forty or MY
a day the deaths. there is little DOUBT are nearer
go or goo and the city is being rapidly deserted
and rightly l take ii. for the only remedy for the
plague is now. ii In the days OF Erasmus; 20
Chief Inspector of Conservancy has succum1o ed
ard telegram has just come in that one OF the
leading European doctors is down. 49, ,
But this is only the beginning, Kurrachee and
Poona are also now affected, and sooner or later
every popuous place in India will be When me
turn of Calcutta comes its fate Will suspect De d
good deal worse than that OF BOMBAY. :.
Europe may or may not escape; out II ~ ooes ~
will not be because her cities are clean The peller
that cleanliness is protection is very ntte more
than a mere dogma of the modern sanitarians Inc
historical evidence on which ii is based, inductvey,
is suspectible Of other interpretations . .
They discovered df they have discovered the
bacillus only two years ago ana as yer Know nom
from which they might arrive at snGh th n;
particular kinds But. for aught any one has ascer-
f"On the other hand the plague being contagious,
overcrowding doubtless favors It's spread, ana an
i-nourshed condition may. likely enough. favor
susce ptbility-facts which would sufficlentiy ac-
count for the poorer quarters OF towns sunering
most without calling in the help of dirt to ex-
plain II. ,,,
However. this is a depression. and not lively
one"
It is evident that the fight Of the population OF
Bombay to other parts of India far from securing
their safety. is a direct menace TO the wnole
country. IT would only need the association at
Mecca OF Indian Mussulman pilgrims with ther
form a connection by which the plague might rap
' CHARLES JOHNSTON,
Indian Civil Service (Ret)
New-York Feb G. 1897.