The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-05-31

q wash while he goes flying over the
country at twenty-five miles an hour.
say twenty-five miles. That IS
rather fast for India. Many of the
trains do not make twenty mDes ana
some not over fifteen per hour, While
a fast express now and then covers
thirty or so. Everything here Is run
after oriental methods. which means
hat tomorrow or the day after Will
do as we'll as today.
It is interesting to watch the trail
fc on these Indian trains. You now
and then pass a freight car tiled with
cameIs. You may see tigers in cages
or baby elephants and carloads of
ponies. There are stock trains filled
with the sacred bumped cattle and on
the passenger trains special
ments for dogs. The dog rate is j
cents for every fifty miles OF traVei
No dogs can be taken into the cars
except with the consent of the pas
sengers, and then only on double fare
for the dog. Horses are carried at b
cents q mile when they go by freight
train, and return tickets are ISSUED
for polo ponies at is ce1ts per mile
the round trip, two attendants being
carried free with every CARLOAD.
Calves, sheep and goats, il sent sin
gle. mast pay double dog rates, and
small deer cost the same. Wild ami
mails in cages are charged Il cents
per mile per truck. and came1S are
at the same rate per carload, but only
four AN be put IN one car. Full
grown elephants are transported by
special agreement, and elephant calves
not more than four and One-half feet
high are charged 6 cents per mile.
In travelling over India 7 have
found the cars universally we'll filled.
Every tran has its first, second and
third classes. The first Il made up Of
british officials, Americans and we'll
to-do Englishlnen, with now and
then Il rajah, or SOME high native Of
ffCial. The second has the poorer
classes Of the British, army officers
of second rank. with now and then a
soldier or SO, perhaps well-t"-do
natives, and the third las carries the
masses of the peOpf and, as I nave
already said, II brings the profits 1t
constitutes tWO-IhIrds Of the traffic.
the rate being considerably less 1han
,0ne-ha1f cent per mile. During the
past year more than two hundred mil
lion passengers were carried at that
rate, and the traffic is increasing great
~ from year to year.
As to the women passengers, those
OF the first Ind second class have,
cars especially for them 4 Hindoo
lady dare not show her face without
losing caste, and no MohanInedan
woman goeS about Withou her head
Telled- The ordinary compartment for
such people has windows of blue
glass, which permit the women to
look out, but through which the men
cannot see in. The women come TO
the dfpots il close chairs or palan-
QuiIhs. They pull their shaw1s over
their as they walk through the
statIous, and at the same tin1a may
leave their ankles and calves entirely
bare. The ankles often have rings
OF silver and gold Oh them, and the
shippers below may be Of gold thread.
IN some Of the com oartments the
Wfn1isows are SO fixed that the women
cannot see out. and upon one train
which took lue UP the H~iTnaIaya
mountains we had a car covered with
eargas as thick as the tent OF a cir
Gus. This was filled with Hindoo Ia
lie going un 10 Darieeiing. They
were riding through the fines scenery
p The world; but for all that they
might as well have been tied ny in
leather bags and sent Oh as mail.
The Ants Eat the lies.
One Of the greatest enemies of the
railroad in India is the white ant. This
insect eats the ties. the telegraph poles
the posts at the stations, and If a pile
Of timber Is left unprotected it will
soon be carried away or so followed
out that it drops to pieces on touch
ing I have Travelled thousands of
miles over india, and [ have yet to
see many telegraph poles other than
those made Of galvanized iron. The
most pole is q tube three or
fq.,r inches in diameter, and about ten
feet in height. This has iron brackets
with glass i~nsuiators, to which the
wires are fastened. In other places
the poles are made OF iron rails, like
those used for the road, two Of such
rails being fastened together by iron
bars a foot wide. In some of the
stations the fences are of iron rails.
an 11nN-- /. nd +Ir, ~ 49, e
stone posts with barbed wire at
tached.
Railway Employees.
The general idea at home is that
the British hold all the offices Of East
India. This is not so. Many good
places are in the hands of the ma
t1Ves, although the most important
ones SILL 90 In the british Thare