The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-01

homet oveIran and captured the coun-
try from the Hindu kings. The au-
/ thentic history of the country antedates
our Christian era but the old Hindus
were much inferior to their Moham-
medan conQueroTs; practically all Of
the wonderful things you see in India
are of Mohanmedan origin.
The theft Of the missy's cloak at
the mosque this morning reminds me of
an incident. The HinGus. Of course,
hate the Mohammedans, and one morn
ing when the Mohammedans went to
this mosque to pray, they found a big
sow hanging in the hottest place. The
Mohammedans detest pigs, and they
knew the Hindus had committed the
outrage. A big riot resulted, in which
many on both sides were killed.
And this story recalls another. In
the palace at Agra. there is a huge
throne of black marble The palace
was captured by an invading king,
once upon a time, and the new king
sat upon the black marble throne. The
black marble throne was so much IN
censed at the sacrtege that 1t cracked
OMEN. and blood poured from the crack
This is the tradition the guide said;
ladies and gentlemen do not believe
it."
While most of the Mohammedan
palaces of India are in an excellent
state of preservation, they are pelng
restored every day by the British gov
eminent. These old palaces OF marble
have been besieged and captured
many times. and every cOndueror has
carried off something. Therefore the
work of restoration by the govern
ment. At the marble palace IN DEM
fort today we found an Italian artist
restoring the mosaic work. This man
exhibited at the St Louis exposition,
and We had the privilege OF gong
through his workshop, and clinplnB
over his scaffoIds. Roughly speaking,
mosaic work means making pictures
and designs with precious and semi
precious stones. The mosaic work IN
these old palaces is very remarkable,
and wherever Vaudals have been at
work this artist Is restoring 1t as near
as possible to its original condition
He showed US a certain piece of work
that had been in British museum
forty years, but through the efforts
of Lord Curzon 1t was returned 70 rs
original place in the niche back Of the
kings public audience chamber. Lord
CurzOn seems to have been India s
greatest friend among the moderns.
Delhi has a history in connection
with the mutiny of 1851. Ine mu-
tineers took possession of the walled
civ and held it for five months. At
the end of that time it was captured
nv the English The force which be-
sieged and captured Delhi. defeatlhg
$4,000 natives behind foruhcauons'
consisted of 5000 English and ma
tive troops The fighting occurred
during the hot months; one English
man told me that during the siege
the thermometer registered as h1gh
as $50 out in the sun where the Eng
Hsh We're. for the muttneers had the
shade of the fortress. During the
five months. every member of one
English regiment was either killed or
wounded, with one exception rms
regiment was the SiXtieth rifles Even
an American regiment could not beat
that record more than one.
The guide who showed US about to-
day was q young man of seventeen
during the mutiny. He lived in viii
lage few miles from Delhi, and
while he heard the firing night and
day. he kept away from it.
one of the greatest days in the his
tory Of Delhi was three years ago,
when King Edward of England was
crowned Emperor of India The event
occurred on great field near the city
A great many of the rajahs attended
the ceremony, and made magnificent
DISPLAYS The railroad company built
a special track 20 the durbar grounds,
and made a lot of money. Some Of
the rajahs built temporary palaces,
and surrounded them with gardens.
The spectacle has not been equaled
in spIendor in many centuries (You
may remember that the Barnum cir
Gus reproduced it in Atchison. on the
occasion of its recent visit, as its
grand entree" feature. and called it
the Durbar at De1hi.) Forty regi-
ments of English soldiery took part in
the original affair. and the trains of
eighty rajahs.
The guide who attended US today is
a WidoWer of sixty-eight yet he is
married to a girl of twenty. He is a
high caste Brahmin. and tomorrow
he intends to take the missy to see
his wife. who permits 10 man except
her husband to look at her face. The
guide says his wife is very wonder
kin. and she remembers all their
goes home at night she makes him
take a bath before coming near her,
because of his contamination by be
ing with two Kansas Christians.
thought pretty well of the king who
built the Tai until I heard a little Cos
sip about him, The guide says that
when the king took a bath in the mar
BILE bath room of the palace, he was
attended by his concubines; by women.
Nov I an not very particular. but
wifi say that any king who goes into
his bath room naked, and permits his
back to be rubbed by any other woman
be strong language when applied to the
the entire field Of art, but my better
hot