The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-05
The Gateway OF India
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.

Copyright, 1910, by Frank G. Carpenter)
CALCUTTA.
I AM in Calcutta, the eastern gateway
of the empire of India and the
- front doorstep of the home of one
fifth of mankind. 1t is a turbulent
fifth and Is likely to stir up the world.
The British have kept this country dead
3-quiet for the last fifty years. They have
inclosed 1t in network of railroads,
watered it's deserts with irrigating canals
lowered its taxes and made two Dlades
OF grass grow where one grew before.
They have brought order out of chaos
and peace out of discord. They nave
begun to make men of those who, when
they took hold of the country a few'
generations ago. were but little better
than beasts. They have given them
schools and stirred them up to think ana
plan for themselves, and now the Indians
are ready to sbite the hands that have
helped them This is one phase OF the
great unrest which I have come to de-
scribe.
The World of India
DO you know what India is? The
country appals me, it Is so big, so varied,
and, withal, so strange. If you could
lift Hindustan up and lay it upon, North
America, with one end at Seattle, it
would reach as far east as Montreal and
It's lower apex would be wedged into
the Panama canal. From north to south
India Is as long as from the Gulf of
Mexico. and from east to west 1t meas
ures 300 miles.
The land is one of extremes. The
IIima1ayas on the north are covered with
perpetual SHOWS, and the icy wastes
about Mount Everest are colder than the
frozen chambers of the Buddhist hell.
The plains below lie in the tropics, and
fthey arc sometimes as hot as the burn
ing deserts of Australia. where Mark
Twain says they feed the hens ice to keep
them from laying boiled eggs.
India is the wettest land upon the
earth, and the driest. 1t has Provinces.
such as Bikaner where 1t does not rain
for thirteen months in succession ana
other places where 1t pours all the time.
There are localities in the Himalayas
where six feet of water have been known
to fall IN the space of twelve months.
The country is one of great deserts and
mighty rivers of soils which have been
cultivated since the dawn of history and
OF wastes which the pillow of man has
never turned. Physically speaking, 1t is
a world.
The People Swarm
1t is also a world from the standpoint
of hun. anty. 1t is one of the most
crowded parts of the globe. 1t has three
Mines as many people as the United
Mates and farming localities where
4
acre.
Altogether India has more towns and
villages than there are people In Boston,
Baltimore or ST. Louis, and 1t has cities
OF large size the names of which we
hardly know. The greater Calcutta, In
Guiding the suburbs and nearby towns
is as large as greater Chicago. Bonn
bay Is bigger than Boston, and Madras
equals Cleveland in size. The popula--
ton is rapidly growing. 1t has Increased
$4,000 900 within the past thirty years,
and is now SO0,o00,0O0 all told.
India is not like China, in that 1t Is
made up of one race of the same color
and features, with the same language,
religion and customs 1t is composed OF
score of nationalities and of so many
religions and castles that they can hardly
be numbered There are tribes here
which look like our American Indians,
others which resemble Chinese. scatter
ing places where the people have blue
eyes ana brown hair, and many localities
whore their skins as black as
negroes. There are more races in Hin
dustan than on the continent of Europe,
and as to tongues there are something
like 200 different dialects, and languages
are spoken by millions which are not
undertood by the others. - -.7...s,.
- Land of Many Gods 80 f's.
AS 10 religions, India has more strange
gods than any continent upon earth.
There is no place where the faith or
the people so varies and none where
mans belief means more to himself and
his family. The religions are SO strange
that book as big as four-dollar bioie
might be written about them and not tell
it ALL India has 200, 100000 Hindoos d.
vided up into castles many of which
number millions. 1t has more Moham-
medans than the Sultan of Turkey has
subjects, and about 100000 Buddhists.
In addition to this there are several
million Sikhs, more than million jams,
and in the neighborhood of 100000 Par
sees who believe in the faith OF Zorro
aster worshipping fire. There are among
the abvrigines of the backwoods nature
worshipers known as Anmists, to the
number of 900 and more; they be-
lleve in spirits and witchcraft and offer
bloody scrifces to their devil-like gods.
There are also $4,000 Jews and 100000
Christians of various sects. 1t surprises
me to find so many Christians In India.
They are mostly Roman Catholics and
HISTORIANS, although there are Method
lists, Baptists, Presbyteriaps and other
branches of the Protestant faith. I see
/. that Bishop Thoburn says that there are
now about millions of native Protestant
christians and that the Christian popula-
5 ton he's increased 900 In the space of
stem years. Our missionaries are alive
aanl theyeare doing great good.
A City of Palaces
5 Calcutta is one of the chief seats of
the Uprests l do not wonder at it. There
Is no place where the difference Of con-
ditions is IRE pronounced. These Hin
docs ay A<fnong the poorest peoples on
eartb/ .fnong them are millions who al
way 60 to bed hungry, and in the sums
lhere>are people who count their bites to
see whether they will have ene'lgh for
the morning, At the same tim Calcutta
hasi its fashionable residence 1arters,