Arizona republican., 1899-02-18
INCONGRUOUS BOMBAY
Queer Mixtures One Sees in inc
 Eastern City.

Eastern City.
 The first SighC C. india is amazing,
 entrancing, stupefying Of other coun-
 tries you become aware gradually; It.
 ally leads up to the Levant, and Egypt
 passes you on insensibly to the desert. Landed in Bombay, you have strayed into most elaborate dream, infinite in
 variety, blurred with complexity, . gal
 lery of strange faces a buzz of strange
 voices. a rainbow of strange cOlors, a
 garden of strange grOWths, a book of
 strange questions, pantheon of strange gods. Different beasts and
 birds in the street. different clothes to
 wear, different meal times and differ
 ent foOd-'the cry cOmmOpest things are altered. You begin new life in a
 new world.
 It takes time to come to yourself. At first everything is so noticeable that you notice nothing. When things be- gin to come sorted and sifted Bombay reveals itself as a city of monstrous contrasts.
 Along the sea frCnt one splendid pub lie building follows anOther-varie- gated stone facade3 with arch and col Unnade, cupola and pinnacle and stat ocN4 At tuCII 1G6L uUUQIc uIIEoY HULS of mating, thatched with leaves, Wh eli . days rain would reduce to mud and pulp. You sit in 9 1narble-paved club. vast and airy as a Roman villa, and look out over gardens of heavy scarlet and purple flowers toward choking al- leys where half-naked savage5 herd by families together in oDen-frOn6ed rooms aid filth runs down gullies to Tester in the Sunken street. In this quarter you may see the weaver tWirl- ing his green and amber wool on 9 hand lOOm--a skeleton so simple and fragile that a kick would make sticks of it; go to the street corne~, and you see black smoke belching from 2 hun dred mills, 'HhOse competition cuts the throat of all the world In the large, open spaces Parsis bowl each other un- derhand full-pitcheS and cry, Tank you, tank ycu, after the ball; by the rail squats a Hindu, who would Ike, if only the law would let him, to marry ba bies and burn widows.
 Yet, for all it's congruities, Bom- bay never lets you forget that it is a very great city. If it had no mills it would be renowned for it's port; if it had neither it would be famous for it's beauty. And if it were as ugly as it is fair it would still be one of the most astounding collections of human ami mals in the world. Forty languages, it is said, are Eabitually spoken in it's baZaars. That, to him who under stands no word of any of them, is, per aps, more curious than interesting, but then every race has it's own cos tune. So that the streets of Bombay are a kaleidoscope of vermilion tur bans and crimson, orange and flame cOlCr, of men in blue and brown and waistcoats, women in cherry colored satin drawers e mantles. drawn from the head across the bosom tC the hip, Of blazing purple CT green that shines like 9 gras sh3ppar If you check your eye and ask your mind for the master color in the crowd it is bOrde-ed with brown Or fawn or damson legs. But when you for get that and let the eye go again the scarlets and yeliOws and shining greens fill ard dazzle it anew; you are walking in Q ftaring sunset and come out of it blinking.
 Look under the turbans. At first all natives look alike, but soon you be- gin to find distinctions of dress and even of type. The first you will pick i out is the Arab horse dealer. His long robe and hood bound round with cords | and tUrfs of cancels hair mark him off i from the Wisp-clC5hed native Of India. | The Arab gives you the others in focus. 1 He is not much accounted by those ! who know him; yet compared With i-lle ] Indian, his mien is high, his move | ments free and dignified. his features ! cut and reSOlute. The Bag ! lad Jew is hardly 3 type of lofty man lcod but under his figured turban and | feZ his face looks grave ! " wise. TEe blue-5lOUSsd Afghan is a | savage frankly, but fres man also. By | the side Of any one of them the down country native of Bombay is poor and | weak and insignificant. He looks as if you could break him across your . knee. His formless features express nothing; his eyes have the shining Rleekness, but net the beneYolence of the cows; he moves slowly and with out snap, like q sick man. He seldom speaks, and when he does his voice is small. Sometimes he smiles faintly- laughs never.
 To the nervele-sness Of the Bombay native enc race furnishes an excep- -iOn-the Farsi. The Farsi, as his name tells you, comes from Persia. whence he was rersecuted for worship ping fire. Persecuted races develop heir own virtues and their own facul- .ies, and now. under the Bricisl pcace. he Farsi fOurishes exceedingly. He is he Jew of the east; leaves Other pes 3le to make commodities while he makes money. Banking, agency, con- brokerage, middleman's prof ts, are the Parsi's GCiconda He has perceived the advantages wherewith a European education equips him for heEe pursuits, and he has sedul1usly himself inS- the most Euro 1esn Of all As atics. When the young Farsi speaks of going home" he means tot Pe-sia-where he lwould hardly e 'eceived With enthusiasm-tut Eng and
 You can see ft in the dress of two The elderly Farsi wears lis shirt outside his cerise trousers, md on his head weird plum color