Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-03-04

- iH' l'lll anu lll' TWO 'plll'ltlt
plates are bound together with an
IRON bar through which a pin has
nccn driven soaS tokccp them Alright
distance apart. As the rails are
rlaSpod on both sides, their i no
danger of their spreading as is fire.
qucntly the ease in our country.
At Siliguri we changed from the
metre train and took what is joking-
y called the Toy Train for Dar-
lceling. our destination. Although
it had a small engine the train was
hauled up a steep grade as if it had
been ten times the size. The track
vas two feet in width. and when YOU
stand up in the car there is likely to
be Il dent in your Derby if you
are extra tail. The cars are very
close to the ground. and those we
used were of the open type. At stops
all we bad to do was to step out on
the ground and you did not have far
to 20 either. When they built the
cars they were made as convenient
FOR getting out of as any | have ever
seen or expected to gaze upon. The
ride up the mountain. a distance of
d miles, was cracker Jack. - 1t
was one continuous series of curves,
twists and turns. but always going Il
little higher and higher as we Jour
neyed. Sometimes the curve would be
varied by the introduction of switch
back, when such places were reached
that on V this method would accom-
plish the desired result of keeping
on climbing. Mt Tamalpias claims
o have thc crookedcSt railroad in
the world running up its sides and |
Will not say it is incorrect but for Il
collection of twists and turns this lit
tie railroad has it beaten 10y IA safe
margin. At one place they made Il
complete turn in a radius of 60 feet.
At another point there is a double
loop of the same nature. These and
the SwitchbackS make it a more pie
turesquc road than TamalpiaS, cSpc-
cially when the hilSidcs are covered
with tropical foliage and vegetation.
The track is laid on what original
ly was and still is. ii government
wagonroad and is used jointly by the
people and the railway. The rails
being laid next to the hill, at night
when we We're coming down the
mountain the engine was reversed and
run backwards SO the engineer could
see around the sharp curves sooner
tha: if his engine was running the
regular way 1t was a wise prccau-
ticn for in one place he had 10 make
Il quick stop in order to prevent run
ming intOSome oXcarts which were too
close to the tract, and which an abrupt
curve prevented him from seeing till
almost on them. Although they had
a gasolene engine making electric
light for the cars the engine was
equipped with only one headlight and
that was in front, SO when they were
running backwards gaSolenc torch
was the means used for Lighting the
way. They put too much pressure
on the tank and it set fire to the cal
but only a little damage was done
1t was picturesque coming down tn,
mountain side in the darkness witt
the little engine swaying to and fr(
and the big ligh. casting its rays OF
both sides of the track. We passcC
through part of the Jungle (whcr,
the Bengal tigers are founO but saw
none of them although the engin,
drivers said he often saw both tiger.
and lcopards.
All passenger engine drivers ar,
English This little road has an aver
age, gradient of to 20 and in som,
places it is l to %. The highps
point on the line is Ghoom 40,
feet, so you see we climbed quite ;
little.
Early in the morning and long he
fore we got to Darjccling we caugh
glimpse of Mt. Linchinjunga, one o
| the Himilayas, but it was so IA
, away it only made us more eager tt
see the highest mountains in th'
world. Arriving at Darjeeling W,
were surprised to find the natives 81
different in type from those prcvi
OuSly seen in India that if | had beer
brought there blindfolded and thel
have my sight restored and asked
what race the natives belonged to
wonld not hesitate in saying och.
nese. Upon inquiring | Learned
that many were Thibetians or de
soendants of natives of that section
and thus the racial characteristic
were easily accounted for. Thes
people are very strong and a cOoli
will walk away with 250 pounds bal
anced on pole, slung across hi
shoulder. Little children smoke
In fact | saw girls that were no
more than four years of age smokin;
cigarettes and it was common to Sc
women smoking at all times ard il
all places. Here, as in other place
in India, we saw Child Mothers
1t is hard to believe but it is a fac
that children marry here as young a
four years of age, and it is common
I f. / Il