Evening star., 1904-03-12

examples Of Indian art work from him
to fill the museum connected with that In
etitution.
He charged us fifteen rupees. which is
equivalent to five dollars in American
| money more or less, according to the huc-
tuations of exchange, for an elephant to
carry us out to Amber. six miles and q
half We have since been told that we
should not have paid but ten rupees, and
some persons assert that eight was a
plenty. and various other insinuations have
been made concerning the way in which the
man imposed upon innocent American globe
trotters, and there are plenty of People
VINO keep reminding us that we might have
obtained an elephant for nothing.
The Sensations Caused.
Beginners usually do not like the sensa-
ton of elephant riding. Young girls giggle,
| mature ladies squeal, middle-aged men grab
hold of something firm and keep quiet,
while impenitent sinners often express
themselves in terms that cannot properly
be published. The acute trouble takes place
just after mounting the beast and just be-
fore leaving the lofty perch occupied by
passengers on his back. A saddle is placed
upon his upper deck, a sort of saw-horse,
and the lower legs stretch at an angle suf-
hcfently obtuse to encompass his breadth of
beam. This saw-horse is lashed to the hull
top of 1t are placed rugs and cushions.
Each saddle is built for passengers, sitting
dos-a-dos. back to back, two on side, and
a little shelf hangs down to support their
rect. In order to diminish the climb the
elephant kneels down in the road. A naked
heathen brings a ladder, rests 1t against
the side Of the beast and the passengers
climb up and take their seats in the saddle
Another naked heathen who sits straddIe
the animals neck, looks around at the
load. inquiries If everybody is ready, jabs
the elephant under the ear with a. sharp
ened iron prong and then the trouble
begins.
An elephant gets up one leg at 6. time,
ana during the process the passengers on
the upper deck are describing par&boas
1sosceles, triangles and neutrality-suspicious. in
the circumambient atmosphere There isn't
much to hold on to and that makes it the
more exciting. Then, when the animal
finally gets under weigh, the motion is SINH
lar to that of a water-logged vessel in
first-clasS Hatteras gale. The uncertainty
of the motion causes apprehension and as
the minutes pass by you become more and
more firmly convinced that something is
wrong with the animal or the saddle or the
road, and the way the beast wigges his
ears is very alarming. There is nobody
around to answer questions or to issue ac-
cidental insurance policies and the heather
talk no language that you know. But after
a while you get used to it, your body un-
consciously adjusts itself to the changes of
position and on the return trip you have a
pretty SOOQ Ilnnp. lou become SO dCcuS-
toned to the awkward and the irregular
movement that you really enjoy the novelty
and are perfectly willing to try 1t again.
But the most wonderful part of all is how
the Hindu mahout steers the elephant 1t
is Of the mysteries that foreigners can
never understand. He carries a goad in
each hand-a rod of iron, about as big as a
poker, with an ornamental handle generally
embossed with silver or covered with en-
amel. One of the points curves around like
half a crescent, the other is straight and
both are sharpened to keen point. When
the mahout driver wants the elephant to
do something, he jabs one of the goads into
his hide-sometimes one and sometimes the
other, and at different places on the neck,
under the ears, and on the top of the head,
and somehow or other the elephant under
stands what a jab in a particular place
means and obeys cheerfully like the great.
good-natured beast that he is. l have
never been able to understand the system.
Elephant driving is an occult science.
The Road to Amber.
The road to Amber passes through an IN
teresting part of the city to Jeypore and
beyond the walls the broad highway is
filled with carts loaded with vegetables and
other country roduce coming into town, and
quite as many loaded with merchandise go
ing the other way. Some of them are drawn
by bu1locks and some by camels; there are
long caravans of camels, with packs and
pannicrs upon their backs. AS you meet
hundreds of pedestrians you will notice
that the women all have baskets or pack
ages upon their heads. The men never
carry anything. On either side of the broad
highway are cultivated gardens and gloomy
looking houses and acres covered with ruins
and crumbling tombs. The city of Amber,
which, as l have already told you was
once the capital of the province and the
scene of great splendor well as frequent
strife, is now quite deserted. 1t once had
10000 inhabitants, but every blessed
house is vacant. The beautiful palace, with
its marble coverings, mosaics and luxuri-
of priests and fakirs who are supposed to
spend their time in meditation upon heav-
emily things, and in obedience to an ancient
custom they sacrifice a sheep or a goat in
one of the temples every morning
Formerly human beings were slain dailv
upon this altar-children, young girls, wom-
en- and peasants, who either offered them
selves for the sake of securing great ad-
Vancement in reincarnation or We're seizad
by the savage priests in the absence of vol
unteers. This business was stopped by the
British century ago, and since then the
blood of rams and goats has atoned for the
sins of Jeypore.
nave neither time nor space to tell you
ABOUT the architectural grandeur of Amber
the wonderful palace and the temples and
the miles of vacant houses that surround
them and were once the gay residences of
the members of the court, but are now
empty and unkept, but although thew re
very extensive and curious we will SEQ
more OF greater interest and beauty within
the next week or ten DAYS