Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-04-04
NEW PUBLICATIONS

| 1t is difficult to comprehend India. So
| vast is 1T in extent, so densely peopled,
despite the ravages of plague and famine,
so heterogeneous in it's peoples and
ligiOns, so hard to penetrate with what the
west calls comfort, that few travellers
ever secure more than the merest super
fetal idea of the whole, and fewer go to
the places of greatest historical and re-
lgiouS interest Miss Scdmore attacked
India some time ago with the trained
travellers determination to make the best
of what the country offered and to the
most important objects of antiquity. She
chose the winter season offering per-
haps maximum Of comfort, or rather
minimum of discomfort, yet, as she eX-
plains in her preface, winter India is a
relative term, in view of the fact that
the parts Of the great land vary material
ly in climate as in physical features, and
thus it is possible to find there in what
westerners would term winter, weather
which they would regard as decidedly sui
try However, in winter the climate is
less oppressive, although in some of the
northern parts of the country the tenn
perature drops to a decidedly unpleasant
stage. and in general the nights cold
and the accommodations, save in the pri-
vate dwellings of Europeans insufficient to
afford adequate protection. Miss Scid-
mcre's advice to all who may follow in
her Indian footsteps is to avoid the hotels
wherever possible. Yet she confesses that
whatever may be the discomforts when
they have lost their keenest edge years
afterward the tourist will hear the east
a-callin - and be prone to return to 1.-The
sunshine an the palm trees an the tinkly
temple bells, the brilliantly costumed peo-
pie and the miracles of architecture scat
tered so lavishly from end to end of the
empire"
For the most part Miss Scidmore's book
follows the usual course of the tourist
in India. her descriptions vivid as in all
her works and her historic knowledge SUI
perior to that of the average writer of
travel books. Two chapters, however, lead
the reader to new ground, seldom trav-
ersed by tourists or described by writ
ers. This is the area made sacred to all
BuddhistS by the long medtations and
teachings of Siddhartha, later known as
Gautama Buddha. Here in 1.-The Place of
Great Intelligence" as it is styled, grows
the sacred bo-tree, eresent-day repre-
sentative of the original pipul, under
which Buddha sat and thought and preach
ed. OF course, this is not actually the
tree Of the time of Buddha but its lineal
descendant, successive new trees having
been planted within the original stump
from time to time so that the tree of to-
day Is at a much higher level than in
ancient days. In 1851 archaeologists found
that the tree was growing forty-fve feet
above the original level Of the court traces
that many trees had mounted upon the
roots Of preceding trees.
The great temple at Buddha-Gaya is a
structure of rare beauty, rising 100 feet
and fneXpressibly pleasing In outline and
decoration, but too well repaired to impress
the traveller with its great age. It is sur
rounded by the fragments and foundations
of temples and monuments. In former
centuries it was crowded about for a mile
and half with buildings but now all is
deserted save for the pilgrims who come
to worship beneath the bo-tree and in the
temple Very few westerners brave the
difficulties of travel to penetrate to this
shrine of one of the largest religious bodies
in the world. Those who do find little en-
lightenment on the part of guides, most
of whom are Brahmins and consequently
Indifferent to or ignorant of the Buddhist
traditions. The tourist who does not visit
Buddha- Gaya with a full store of knowl-
edge gathered elsewhere will but feebly
grasp the true significance of this re-
markable place, cradle of one of the worlds
Oldest faiths, where, twenty-five centuries
ago. the prince-convert taught his fellow
men.
THE GOLDEN FLEECE q ~ BY David D. avid Graham Phil
lips. New York: Mcclure, Phillips l. Co.
The fortune hunting Englishman of title
has formed the theme of several clever
American novels, but none has hit off the
situation more forcibly pointedly than
this unusually well-written story. The
young Earl of rockingham comes over
quite frankly, but with some genuine
shame at the odous necessity. He seeks
his heiresses right and left, regardless of
social station or pedigree or locality. OF
course he would prefer a fine-looking wife
with money. but when circumstances be-
gin to pinch and his luck has run contin-
uously against him he does not scrutiniZe
features too closely He tries his hand
on the steamer coming over and fails be-
cause the girl penetrates his purpose too
keenly, and thereupon turns about and be-
comes his friend and guide in his hunt
introducing him upon landing to another
heiress. His suit progresses well with this
second one but she weakens in her ad-
miratio at the last moment and throws
him over Then he proceeds to Boston and
has easy sailing until the girls spiritualis-
tic faith obtrudes an obstacle. He comes
to Washington and encounters rivalry from
an Italian prince who first wins the
daughter of millionaire senator and
finally loses her through an exposure of
his true-or rather false-status; Then the
Earl OF rockingham captures the girl for
himself. but finds that owing to certain
political conditions he cannot marry her
for two years. Inasmuch as his creditors
are becoming impatient he withdraws and
goes to Chicago, where he finds really
loveable girl who rejects him. and then
girl who would willingly accept him but for
a sudden newspaper publication. which up
sets all plans Just at this desperate turn
of the case he learns from London that the
girl with whom he had been in love. sister
of a neighboring duke at whose American
wedding he had assisted, has been given
big sum by her brother. and so nothing
will prevent their union. So he hastens
back to England and ''all is WE'LL The
story is briskly told and satirizes the craze
for foreign titles in most effective style.
1t is filed with portraits and incidents that
the reader can easily identify to his own
satisfaction. Its picture of Washington
life is a broad travesty and cannot be
cepted save on the score of the license of
the StairiSt.
RED HEADED GILL. By Rye Owen. New York:
Henry Holt & Co. Washington: William Bal
lantyne & Sens
"Red-Headed Gili' was an Englishwoman
Of title and spirit of the days of Queen
Elizabeth whose life was intensely tragic.
Her restless spirit finds occasional lodg-
ment in the person of fair young de-
scendant. Barbara Trehanna, to whom
ship captain has given a large piece of fine
Indian silk. bought by him from a
who had stolen 1t from a Buddhist shrine.
This cloth has a strange mystical quality.
and it's effect upon Barbara when she wears
any piece of it Is to cause her to believe