Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1904-01-20

rachi to Bombay.
A cycHst who has ridden round the
world on his bicycle once described it as
1900 miles of the finest cycling track on
| earth.
1t is made of kunkar, kind OF stony
growth found on sandy ground and re-
sembling sandstone. When ground fine
and mixed with water, this yields NOR
! tar like substance which gives a surface
! to the road as hard and smooth as a bill
( lard table.
| But once this surface is worn through
/ the kunkar revertS TO its native sand
Hence the center of the Grand Trunk
road which is always kept in repair for
| light traffic, is like asphalt, while on each
side of this track is broad lane for
heavy country traffic, where the dry sand
lies a foot thick and the broad wheeled
OK carts raise pillar of dust as they pro-
| ceed and leave a trail like the wake of a
! ship behind them.
| On each side of the main track is 4
row OF trees, and on each side of the side
| track is yet another row. There are thus
| four rows Of trees in all to shield the
Wayfarers from the intoerable heat and
glare Of the vertical sun.
! Along this great highway the many
sided life Of India flows and eddies 1t
| is peOpled almost entirely by the natives
in their dirty white cotton clothing, with
bare brown legs showing beneath.
The sahib keeps to his iron railroad
and leaves the people of the country to
their prehistoric slow moving rate of
progress. Here and there the crimson
garments OF the lower class women, and
the different hued trousers of the Mo-
mammalian women in special, make a
| splash of color amid the crowd of white
| robed pilgrims.
| There goes the graceful figure of a
woman, straight as a dart beneath her
brass fotah Of water Better however,
not to look at her face: very few of the
Indian peasant women have any beauty
of feature, and the hard labor of work
In the fields under an eastern sun leaves
| them old and shrive'ed up before their
| time
| Here comes a native lady in burka.
and you could not look upon her features
! If you would. The burka is a long.
/ shapeless garment of unbleached calico,
which completely envelopes the figure
| from the crown Of the head to the feet:
1t has lacewOrk mask for the face,
through which only the eyes are visible
/ 1t is astonishing now seldom this or any
| other native raiment seems to get
| washed
| A herd of goats struggle INTENDED
down the highway. Farther along some
immense cattle with branching horns
black the traffic A fast trotting little
/ bullock of the humpbacked breed har-
messed to an ekka, bumps merrily along
the center of the road
| A boy flying a kite cannons into the
passersby Two professional singers.
surrounded by small crowd Of women
and children. stand under a branching
pipal tree, opening and shutting their
mouths alternately Gs they give vent to
| monOtOnOus chant.
A fakir stalks by, naked except for
oin cloth, with long matted hair and his
| j. IL
withered arm held straight in front of
him. Look at those Pathan soldiers with
| their baggy white breecles and huge
! black puggarls, staggering through the
crowd with the contempt of the warrior
for the country pumpkin.
| Along the portion of the Grand Trunk
which lies between Allahabad and
Benares, one day in late September two
Englishmen were strolling at their ease
It was just at the change Of the seasons
when there was still some bite III the sun
III the daytime, and it was not too cold
to sleep in the open air at night. The
two men were clad in native garb of
dhoti and puggari, partly for lightness
and ease in travelling, and partly to con-
ceal their fallen fortunes from their own
compatriots.
But though their faces were burnt to
the hue Of the natives themselves, their
nationality was evident at glance to
the passersby. There is something in the
swing of an Englishmans walk that dis
tinguishes him from the down-trodden
Hindu, while the size of his chest and
calves alone would mark him out from
the narrow built, red shanked natives of
the plains.
The simple villagers salaamed to them
as they passed. the Mohammedan women
with trousers tight from the knee to the
ankle, the sign of ''the oldest profession
in the world bestowed on them the leer
specially reserved for the ''sahibs,'' and
even the soldiers saluted them. Although
they were but two penniless tramps.
their progress was that of the conqueror
through a conquered land.
The men. whose names were Spencer
and Mitchell, were conjuror and his
advance agent. They had been engaged
i'll an up-country tour when the. hot
be found, funds were exhausted, and
hnally they were obliged to take to the
road
With the homing instinct of English
men they We're making for Calcutta and
the sea. They levied their living from
The, fields of wheat and grain by the
roadside furnished them with grain,
which they ground between two stones
and baked into chupaties. The mango
tops Yielded their luscious fruit to add
SAVIOR to the frugal meal.
AS it grew toward midday and the
heat of the sun became overpowering,
the two travellers took refuge in shady
grove, while the villagers retired to their
houses for their midday sleep. Spencer
remarked as they sank down under a
tree:
M deuced hungry \ vegetarian
diet doesn't satisfy me at all I wish
had something more substantial to eat"
Have a chew of opium said Mitch
ell, producing block of the drug about
two inches square from his pocket THE
natives say it's very staying
''No. thanks said Spencer. "a beef
steaks more in my line. Where did you
ret it? | didn't know you were a drug
aater!''
Il am not ( picked this IN in the