St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1898-10-12
n the Himalaya Mountains, India.
CALIFORNIAN:

receiyed in the interior OF the Himalava
Mountains forty miles from the first
ranges which rise from the plains. The
oaner reached us here in just about one
month from its date, In this beautiful
Mace surrounded by high mountains,
from the front of our Rest house VIC see
the whole range and many peaks of the
magnificent everlasting SHOWS. In the
morning as we rise before the sun comes
to our view, he kisses the highest peaks
of these grand hills twenty thousand feet
high, and touching peak after peak and
range after range with his brilliant light
soon makes the whole range and every
peak flame with golden magni6cence.
In the evening while we enjoy the most
beautiful sunsets that we have ever
seen, the sun. after leaving us, still.
lights up these beautiful peaks until
leaving them one by n a beautiful
twilight leaves the ranges even more
beautiful than in the sunlight. During
the past year when Bishop Foss from
America climbed the first peak rising
from the plains to behold these wonder
tul mountains of snow as the evening
sun was setting upon them, and as
again in the early morning he climbed
the peaks to see the sun rise upon them,
--..l Lat q, w,a.Ia-c.l noE1...L
ment. And when on returning to the
High Schools where he was stopping, he
was asked what he thought of the
mountains Of snow he called Tor all the
dictionaries in every language which the
school possessed, and then replied that
there were not words enough in all the
dictionaries combined, to express the
magni6cence and glory oithe scene which
he had witnessed. All relt the truth of
his remark.
Between ourselves and these
mountains lie many beautiful valleys
with their little brooklets, narrow mead
ows, small villages and numerous farms
covered with green rice fields looking
very beautiful indeed in the midst oil
these great mountains. The country
would be something like our own beau
tiIul Vermont were it not that the noun
tains are so much higher, the hillsides so
much sleeper, and the farms SC much
smaller than are those in Vermont. No
farmer can use a cart oil any kind for his
field work, but all the produce is carried
to the threshing floor or to the house on
the heads Of men. women and children
and all the wood for burning in'the win
ter is carried home on the heads of the
OF course all the travel is done
on foot among all these farmers, and
very small oxen are used for blowing the
fields. This absence Of all farm wagons
and all c~onveyances and horses, would
not suit our Vermont farmers, with their
many farming machines t~hatcnablc them
to put so much of the hard work upon
their horses. Nor would our Vermont
farmers and their wives be willing to
give up their road carriages and always
walk, carrying their produce on their
heads to the village store.
On the other side Of our Rest house
towards the plains lies the beautiful city
of Almora, the only city in the interior
of this part Of these mountains. Here
also there are nc wheel c~onveyences OF
any kind, although a cart road has been
made by the government to the loot OF
the mountains, winding round and
round the hills making many days oftrav.
eli for the carts which convey heavy pro-
duce to the plairs. Most OF the traffic,
however. is still carried on with the use
oil coolies. This city is a center OF trade
between Bhotan, Thibet and the plains.
The produce for sale, coming over the
passes from beyond the ranges OF snow,
is brought on the backs oil sheep until it
is taken on this side by men. Salt is one
of the principal articles brought down
from the Bhotan and Thibet side.
We are having excellent rains in nearly
every part of India and prosperity and
plenty have taken the place everywhere
of the famine which so short a time ago
afflicted India. All the world is interest
ed in the Plague" which has been
troubling India during the past two
years. This is the most terrible disease
that is known to our world and India
has carried on a hand to hand tight with
this disease ever since it entered India.
Still it is surely spreading. While during
the hot weather the number oil cases is
greatly reduced in the cities which have
been reached by the disease, yet as odd
weather comes on the number OF cases
increase again, and it is greatly feared
that it may yet conquer in the night ana
spread over India. Our daily paper
every morning gives the number OF cases
and deaths in the different parts OF India,
and the area over which the disease has
spread is extending greatly yet surely.
The precautions against the disease are
kept up all the time. Every railway
train coming from an injected city is IN,
spected, and every passenger examined
at various places all the way, ana every
suspected person is taken out OF the
train and kept in quarantine tor a whiie'
and near the entrance to every impor'
tant city not yet infected by the disease
a more careful inspection is held. Our
visitors from America who came TO lnola
during the past season to inspect GU,
mission work were themselves insPec,eo
a great many times, as they Travelled IN
the different parts of India, until It De
came a habit with them to snow tneli