The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-06-07

- oo n.y. RooI ~ - - o.1S
screen SO hung from the ceiling that
it could be drawn back and forth. A
black Malay did the work jerking the
rope twelve pulls with one hand and
then changing and making twelve
pulls with the other. The dishes were
washed IN a bucket on deck, the plates
being sWabbed off with a brush on the
end Of a stick, and wiped by Il Malay
as dirty as the indian, who did the
cooking.
We were several days on the Bay
of Bengal The water was indigo IN
til we reached the mouths of the
Ganges. These extend for a undre
miles up and down the coast and they
vorit forth SO much salt that it turns
the ocean to Cruel. l took a bath
When we reached the pilot brig. about
a hundred miles from Calcutta. and
upon draining the tub my footprints
were as plain in the mud as those
which frightened Robinson Crusoe on
his desert island.
Tho silt of the Gauges is Us great
as that of the Nile. 1t is said to be
five times as much as that of the Mis-
sissippi-Missouri, amounting to hun
dreds OF millions of tons every year. 1t
builds up great bars along the shore,
and makes the work of plotting the
ships dangerous to an extreme.
A High-paid Monopoly.
The pilots Of Calcutta are q close
corporation. There are only ffty-two
Of them, and they ~monopoIize the
Gauges, or, rather, the Hooghly, for
il Is on the Hooghly branch Of the
delta that the ships 90 up to the city.
The trade Of the river amounts to
more than a hundred million dollars
a year, and there is a procession of
boats always going up and coming
down. The men receive various
wages, the best getting as much as
500 per month. To belong to this
association one must have q first
mates certificate and must have
passed through his apprenticeship. He
spends five years at low wages learn
ing the river. and then graduates IN
the full rank Of pilot The Hooghly
cannot be navigated at night and the
ships go in with the tides. AS the
latter rise there is often a bore which
reaches as much as seven feet, SO that
the risks are great.
Millions in Jute.
AS we coasted the shores Of the
Hooly we passed jungles infested with
tigers. The land is low and maiari-
Gus and wild beasts roam in it at Viii.
A little farther up the houses begin.
and palm trees are frequent The
population grows more and more
dense, and then comes a region Of
mighty jute mills. On each side Of
l}t X al Sho I'M
black volumes into the sky and near
them are brick structures
where the rough bagging for all man
kind is made. Calcutta ships vast
quantities of lutte to the United states,
and much of our cotton crop is baleG
in cloth made here on the banks OF
the Hooly. 4 few years 81 We were
taking more than 60 per cent OF the
product and today the thousands Of
Hindoos working this fiber are depen-
dent upon Us for their wages. There
are now two score iute mills in India
and the jute annually produced is
worth about $50, 100000. There are
cotton factories here and there be-
tween the jute weaving establish
ments and mills of this kind line the
Hcoghly all the way to Calcutta.
The stream is filed with shipping.
Ocean heavily loaded are
going in and out with the tide. The
trade of Calcutta is worth hundreds
of millions, and a large part Of the
Of the empire passes this
way. It's total foreign trade is the
greatest of any country of Asia, the
imports and exports now amounting
to more than S1.200.000,0 600 AID
growing more every year.