Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1903-03-18
LETTER FROM CALCUTTA
LETTER FROM THE LATE Or, n,
r. PORTER RECEIVED FROM
CALCUTTA.
TELLS OF HIS INTENDED TRIP
ACROSS ASIA TO
BOMBAY.
Describe, Conditions and Sights Seen
in Ceylon and Early Experiences in
Calcutta-Letter Written About Two
Weeks Before His Death in Agra.

Calcutta-Letter Written About Two
Weeks Before His Death in AGRA.
A letter from Calcutta. written by
the late DR.. H r. Porter, Feb. 1S, a
little more than two weeks before
his death at Agra, was received to-
day. In it DR.. Porter tells of his inten-
ton to leave for Darjeeling and the
Himalayas, and then across India by
rail to Bombay, on which trip he en-
gagged at the time of his death. The
letter is as follows:
Calcutta, India, Feb. IS, 1903.
Dear Jewell:-We arrived here to-
day from Ceylon after six days on the
p. e. o. steamer" Samoli." The Bay
of Bengal was smooth-the weather
beautiful and the journey delightful.
The thermometer stands at So de-
grees. Hotels are all full and I'm
sleeping in a tent on the roof of best
hotel in the city. Population one mil
lion. On our left is the coast of India,
and on the right Burmah and Siam.
After a week in Manila I returned
to Hongkong just in time to see the
Chinese celebrate their New Years,
which lasts two days, Jan. 20 and
80. They certainly know how to cele-
brate and have a good time. The
Cnolioc avon u-n,,l1 not u-nr1. for
double pay, but on the contrary came
out in their silk gowns and vests and
pants. and they did look clean and
fine in their gaudy attire. Some wore
green pants, yellow vest and long
flowing pink gown. white stockings.
black skull cap, all silk, and their long
braided pig tail down below their
knees. The Chinaman in China is
very different from the ones We see
in America. Here they are tall, large,
clean, fine looking men. A China
man will not wear a badge of servi-
tude during the New Years festival.
Thought l had seen f%ecrackers
shoot off and fireworks. but we Ameri-
cans are not in it with John. On the
night of Jan. 90, at midnight. l awoke
to hear the beating of tom-tOms, and
the loudest and continuous firing of
crackers ever made. After dressing !
went out in the streets and spent the
balance of the night watching the per
Torrance. In China they never fire
less than a pack and from that up tc
hundreds of packs, yes, thousands, al
one time. Saw hundreds of strings
touched off that were twenty to thirty
feet long and braided close into a cen
trail fuse 80 that tho round br
would be as large as a persons thigh
or ten or twelve inches in diameter
All kinds and sizes of crackers ant
plenty of giant ones which made thu
roar of a cannon. They would go III
to the third story and let this string o
crackers down by a rope run owe
pulley to within four feet of tn
ground and then light the central fuss
and slowly lower it as the cracker
went off and fell on the ground. A
the end or top was a grand explosion
and fireworks of every color and de
scription. 1t seemed as if the inferno
regions were let loose. After n O
these long strings were done anothe
was started and this was kept up 70
three days and nights. Seemed as i
they would tear the city all to pieces
The paper and burnt firecrackers wer
six inches deep in places and me
We're constantly employed to take
away. All the stores were closed an
) everything given up to feasting an
drinking. We were twelve days steam
i ing from Hongkong to Ceylon, remain
l ing at Singapore and Penang Ion
enough to see the cities and to visi
the wonderful Botanical Gardens, sal
to be the finest in the world. L
Colombo | was fortunate enough t
see the wonderful TALBOT palm i
bloom; it only blooms at the age @
about fifty years and only once an
then dies. IT'S in bloom, however, 70
about one year. At some of thes
places it rains SO inches in thirty-si
hours. | went seventy-five miles on
in the jungle from Colombo in CeylO
and saw monkeys, wild elephants an
> horrible looking monsters like snake
with feet. At one place where | n
e NAMED one day in China they wer
= having the bubonic plague very BAT
the people were panic stricken an
concealed the dead bodies and at mic
night they would carry them out l
front of another house and dunn
them in the middle of tn
i street. The authorities were puzzle
!, to know how to stop or to find tn
: proper houses where the dead cam
z from Ono hripht 1ipht whom W