Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1904-05-18
thout. Nearly all officers at deno1

WITHOUT. Nearly all officers at depot
and on trains are natives, bright
and with an added garment or so
We pass barracks of English sol
diers on hot plain, scarcely tree
and no water in sight except half
dried lake. Living thus must be
akin to Punishment. We pass many
villages Of huts, roofs matched,
those little homes are never very far
from one another, all near as if for
defense. We see thousands of goats
and doubtless the abundance of
mutton offered grew disguised as a
goat.
We learn that the coolies have
several wives and the same wives
perform most of the labor. 1t is
interesting to watch them going
home from work in the evening,
many of them followed by their
wives. On one evening we saw
rather an elderly native followed by
three young women, each carrying a
baby. AT the same time | SAW such
a young woman with a babe, its
looks haunt me yet, it was about a
year old and had the face of an old
man.
The names of the stations where
refreshments were obtained, were
more mysterious than the dishes
offered, and l did not try to remem-
Der them. AT one city Of 100000
inhabitants where we waited for our
evening meal, there were only thirty
white people among them. At an
other station noticed the extreme
width Of the table, and all through
the center were potted plants and on
the cloth vine designed Of or with
colored rice. 1t was artistic in a
way, but was labor lost as far as we
were concerned, we were too weary
to appreciate it. At all the wayside
stations efforts were made to cult
vate flowers; vines seem to flourish
but most of the flowers were in pots,
and they can be cared for better
thus where water is so precious and
drouth SO certain.
AS l stated at first, no bedding
is furnished the travellers on trains,
you supply your own or go without.
This we anticipated, and when night
came we fixed up" our beds the
best we could, but the night being
almost as warm as the day we found
little sleep Or rest and was glad to
be up early. There are six of us
who have journeyed in company
from San francisco, one gentleman
and wife shared the compartment
with us; apart from this is dress,
ing room and conveniences to wash
hands and face" but for this favor
even we are thankful and tried to
think it was all Pullman could
offer.
The next morning showed more
fruitful section-green rice fields,
cattle among the palms, lake and
mountains in the distance, and ma
tives at work in the fields before
sunrise. Reached Madras at eight
in the morning-a large city but all
reports says containing very little of
interest to the tourist. At any event
we could not stop, having to go on
to reach our boat that sails from
Bombay April End, the best boat
that will leave that port for some
time.'At nine o'clock a. m. changed
cars and our next stop will be Cal
cutta. At one station passed in the
afternoon, hundreds of natives,
Buddhist pilgrims, were waiting for
trains to carry them to Calcutta
where they were going to worship.
Oh, what a peculiar people! But
this will say, they were clean,
seemed 10 be carrying what they
would need to eat, and each had
their little pack. But the display
of jewelry was as if they had saved
to buy for this especial occasion.
Their ear and nose rings were
wonderful creations.
ITO be continued in our next.