El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-05-07

can see the road cutting terraces on the
mountains below You shoot under
hill and come out into a loop, and then
cross your own track by a bridge over
head. The system is frequently used
and there are double US which elevate
you from one level to another
The cars do not make more than six
miles an hour They are open and you
can see out on all sides. You skirt prec-
ipices covered with green down which
you look for a thousand feet, and climb
along the sides of the mountains above
valleys which are lost IN the plains of
Bengal. The railroad was built upon a
wagon road which led up from OAR
feeling, and you can see as we'll as
though you were in a carriage. There
are villages here and there along the
way, and the trains stop now and then
so that the passengers may pick flowers
and ferns.
Through Jungle Lands.
In this railroad ride came through
the torrid and temperate zones and
stepped out into a land of snow. Cal
cutta is in the tropics We rode over
hot plains through patches of rice and
bananas, into a jungle of bamboos
banyans and other tropical foliage The
foothills are clad with such trees, and
the first ranges, reaching a mile and a
half above the plain, have magnificent
forests bedded in MOSES and ferns. The
limbs Of the trees are loaded with or
chids, and here and there are tree ferns
with trunks as thick as afteIegraph pole
and almost as tall. The fern leaves come
out from the top like those of a palm
AS you rise the color Of the moss on
the trees changes from green TO light
gray; it hangs from the branches in
clusters not unlike the moss of Georgia
and Florida and the green appears to
be busted with silver. Higher still
there are hard woods much like those
OF our American mountains; the roses
bloom and there are tea plantations
clothing the hills. Tea grows to an
elevation of almost mile The trr.ss
and hardy grains rise mile higher and
it is not until three miles that the
hardy shrubs disappear. I am told
few flowers are still found at almost
four miles above the sea.
Tigers of the Foothills.
As we rode through the jungle L
looked out for the tigers, which the
trainmen tell me are frequently seen.
There are many of them in the low
lands, and they hug the base of the
mountains There is a region here COW
cred with bamboo cane and grass which
is infested not only by tigers, but also
by buffaloes, bears, deer and wild hogs.
The cane grows 10 a height of 40 feet
and the grass is so high that sitting on
horseback you cannot reach the tops
Of the stalks. The tigers are hunted
everywhere, but they are still so nu-
merous that. according to the govern
ment records, eight or nine hundred
persons are killed by them every year
The beasts do not usually attack men,
but If they once taste human blood
they are crazy for ii thereafter. One
tiger is known to have killed eighty
of the natives within twelve months,
and another los in a space of three
years One of the agents of the Indian
forestry department tells me that about
1000 tigers are killed every year and
that the government gives a reward for
every beast destroyed.
The tigers of India are magnificent,
out are not equal to those of Manchuria-
They are found in the mountains as
high as two miles, but even that eleva-
ton does not cause the fur to grow so
long as the cold winters of north China
and Mongolia, and the best skins come
from the latter locality. The male
tigers of the Himalayas weigh up to
about 500 pounds each, and the females
to about 100 pounds less. Many are
caught here and shipped to the zoologi-
cal gardens of the worlds great cities,
some Of them SO fierce that they will
jump at you if you come near their
cages, wounding themselves against the
bars.
Darjeeung.
L am well situated here in Darjeeling.
This is summer resort for the British
OF the Indian lowlands. and it has ex-
cellent hotels, fine residences and nu-
merous furnished villas which are let