The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-02-11
HYuYDAW GENAHZ Nl7G0N WINS

Bombay.-India has every right to be
classed as one Of the worlds great
show places. It offers some of the
most unrivaued works Of nature and
many unequaled creations of man. It's
teeming millions Of people, speaking
their babel OF tongues and wearing
their thousand marks of caste, afford a
spectacle that cannot be eQualed any
where. 1t is true that India presents
the most regal splendOr and the most
grinding poverty known to man. A
recollection of a journey through it al
ternates between mental visions of
pOmp and narrowing scenes of beggary
Let US first consider some Of its nat
ural wonders. In Calcutta there is a
banyan tree whose branches are more
than a thousand feet in circumference.
At five and a half feet from the ground
the trunk of this giant is fifty-One feet
in circumference. 1t has 464 aerial
roots, this number of shoots having
dropped from the parent branches and
become fixed in the ground. The leafy
canopy afforded by this monster
growth is So large that several thou
sand people can stand beneath il with
out crowding. This rare freak of ma
ture is 1876 years old
"HIghest Elevation on Earth"
India not only boasts the largest tree,
but also the highest mountain range
in the world. One of the most sublime
sights on earth is the towering pile of
rock and snow that encircles Darrell
ing, the famed northern hill station
that is he mecca of mountain lovers
and place-of-escape for AGglo-Indians
when life becomes uncomfortable on the
sultry plains. The first view of the
Himalayas, rearing their snOW-clad
wall of peaks to the unequaled height
of $4,000 feet, is so amazing that ii
leaves one almost breathless. The play
of the sun upon these veritable ram
parts of heaven is uncomfortable. They
flash and scintiHate and change their
hueS as the cloud wreathS roll over
than. The mists and shadows work
constant alteration as you look, and
the effect is truly majestic.
Sometimes the traveller must wait in
Darjeeling for days while the noun
tains sulk behind the clouds. The view
is not regular and Mount Everest. being
over one hundred miles away, is par
tiCularly shy in showing itself. Of
course the visitor wants to say that he
has seen the latter because it is the
highest elevation on earth: but Kin
chinjunga. 28150 feet high. is only a
little lower than Everest. and on ac-
count of its nearness, is more satisfy
ing. The point from which the best
views are obtained are difficult Of aD-
proach. and most travellers are carried
to them in a ''dandy''-a box with
poles which ere supported on the
shoulders Of coolies.
Dar1eeling itself would be interesting
if it were not surrounded by the great
est wall Of mountains on the globe. As
the little toy train crawls upward
through the jUngles and canyons the
sheeted, barefooted Indians begin to
disappear and people with high cheek
bones and clothes Of Chinese cut come
into evidence. One knows without be
ing told that he is approaching the Dor
der Of Tibet, and that these yellow,
fat-faced people belong to the MOngOl
race. They wear coarse garments,
heavy boots, and have notwithstanding
knives in their belts. They look StOlid
and brutal and 1t is easy to believe the
hard stories told Of them. At one point
the train passes within nineteen miles
OF the Tribetan frontier.
AS in the OIden Times.
Every Sunday morning in the bazaar
or market place in Darjeeling there is