Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1910-01-25
LETTER FROM INDIA.
BY Miss Norma Craven, Formerly a
Resident Of Wausau.

we ildu III our society EngllSn man
ners, so gave the stoney stare to all
but established friends. We left at
1:50 and covered the whole distance
in II minutes. Mr.. Stevens had re-
served rickesha for US. We had to
drive right through the city and
passed the new art school. They say
it cost $685. and is really very
beautiful structure, intellectually
speaking. 1t is for high-caste Malays
only, and they sayit has more columns
on the outside than boys on the in
side. The Malays as class do not
care for school. We also passed our
little church. They took us to what,
in America would be the court house.
We met Resident Birch and he told
told US to go right up. The greater
part of the parillim was reserved for
the rajaettias, wives of the different
rajas. No one was allowed up there
except by order of the sultan or Resi-
dent Birch. We spent quite while
looking at the jewels and clothes of
the wives. They were very beautiful.
The most attractive looking wife was
dressed in high heeled shoes, gay saw
ong, black silk kabaya, with diamond
crown. The charmed inner circle
seemed to be beyond swinging doors.
Captain Graham and DR.. Jacques came
up and invited us in where we found
several of our English friends, and
some of the sultan's retinue. Then
we heard the procession coming. First
came company of Malay soldiers, in
all sorts and kinds of colors. Truly
Solomon in all his glory was not ar
ranged like one of these" Then came
the elephants, fifty in number. The
first two carried distinguished looking
Malays; then came four men in uni
forms, their uniforms were the most
imposing ones we ever saw; then the
sultan on big elephant with yellow
satin embroidered trappings and a
most wonderful canopy of yellow
with gorgeous yellow curtains. He
was dressed in black trousers, little
red sayong, long blue coat and
most gorgeous gold embroidered vest.
After him came the Raja- Muda,
Heir Apparently with an attractive
canopy, but of course not nearly as
fine as the Sultan's. The Raja's
diamond in his gold-embroidered cap
is about the size of a quarter. Then
came the minor Rajas and Saltans on
elephants. From there we walked
over to the government house. The
Malay soldiers got into roped in
place in front of the house. An
Englishwoman just behind me asked
her husband why they went inside
those ropes, and he, knowing no other
reason promptly replied: Because
they have spears and are dangerous"
Then all the elephants got down to
let the people off. They keep their
front legs stiff and bend their hind
legs The men then climb down as
best they can and Mr.. E arises in all
his dignity. Mr.. Moss had two of
the elephants, move to make path
for us. Ut was not very wide and |
did not know just when one of them
would take it into his head to move
so l did not do any lettering en- route.)
We stationed ourselves on the veranda
and watched the governor, Sir John
Anderson, and his ald-de-camps being
introduced to all the rajas by Resi-
dent Birch Our Perak Resident, Sir
John, Mr.. Birch and all the English
officers were in white uniforms with
gold tinsel trimmings. They looked
grand The oriental surroundings in
all these displays are Undesirable.
We then were requested TO register,
were given programmes, then went
upstairs. The stair case was simply
lined with ferns and flowers and, con-
trary to the customs of the country,
had a lovely carpet. Upstairs we
found the English crowd and we were
all served with tea and cake. Mrs.
Birch came up and spoke TO us
and introduced us to q lot of
charming English people. The
view from there is simply grand.
The government building is on a hill
and there are great many hills back
of it and or the other side are rice
fields with river winding in and out
among them. There were some of
the funniest little households on the
river. OF course they were decorated
gaily and certainly were great. After
tea we decided to see the city. The
sultan passed us in his motor car.
Later he passed us again and stopped
and spoke to us. Then we went up
TO Barracks Square TO see the Sikhs.
All the militia were out doing honor
to the sultan and Sir John Anderson.
He is governor of the whole peninsula
and has nine or ten letters after his
name. He is very nice, a good Pres
byterian brother. The militia in
dulged in all kinds of maneuvers for
their benefit We had titan and then
went to the lantern drill. This per-
Torrance was most interesting The
Sikhs were in regular English red
coats, instead of the usual paki suits.
The chief officer was all in blue and
gorgeous gilt braid. He was man.
mouth figure "tall, fat and wide. :"
The performance consisted of parallel