Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1922-06-28
BANKS WRITES OF
MISSION IN india
Former Richmond Pastor, Now
Missionary, Describes Beau
ties of Himalayas

other most interesting letter
from the Rev. G.. B. Banks, who
was formerly pastor at the Sec
ond Christian church of Rich
mond He is now a missionary
to India. The letter follows:
Belle Vue, Landour,
I 3 MuSsoorie, India,
April Is, 1922.
Dear Friends:
We are now in the Hilnlayan
Mountains and the meaning of
the name in the native tongue is
most evident for they are truly
the Home of the Snow" Our
elevation is little over 1000 feet
and we are only eight miles from
plains where Dante's Inferno
would make an excellent refrig-
orator. Since we have been here
Ga little more than a week., it'll
has been very cool and a fire in
the evening is most necessary.
This is a summer resort where
many missionaries come to es-
cape the terrific heat of the plains
which saps the white man of
whatever energy he may possess. |
The mountains are very precipi- !
tious and as yet we have not been
overwhelmed with their attrac-l
tiveness. They seem to lack the
the inspiring element that is so
prevalent in Our Rockies and the !
Sierras. Houses are stuck about
here on the sides of the hills /
where the ground has been ter
raced. There is a road up from
the plains but is far too steep for |
vehicles. Men walk or ride ponies |
to get here while ladies are car
ried in dandys Ga sort of porta-
BILE chair borne by four men with
two extra along for periodical re-
lief. All supplies and baggage
are carried on the backs of men.
These are really miracle men.
Our trunk weighed US pounds Y
and one man brought it here. 4
They put it on the back and fas-
fen band from it around the !
forehead and with short stick
in their hands for support they
come along with comparative
ease. They really object to light
loads because they get paid by
weight. The building material
was brought along in this fashion.
When it is clear we can see a
snow covered range of molNtains
which we have been tod are
something like 10000 feet high Il
and we suppose man has never
set foot on the peaks we behold.
On clear days they seem very |
near us; almost against us; but II
as the crow flies we have been in
formed that the nearest are
something like 90 miles. Often
we watch the cloud playing
around these peaks and below |
them and it requires little mag
ination to also picture the storm
that is in progress as the clouds
swirl and roll themselves about
the white points. 1t almost makes
us slliver! Then in the evening
when the sun is setting as the last
golden rays are reflected, the |
white crystal transforms itself
into a saffron which fades into a
pale blue and then vanishes into
huge dark bulk as twilight envel-
opes It. Here we also have. all
very cosmopolitan population
American, British, Indian, Eilras- /
ian, Punjabi and Tibetan. II
On our way up we had some
very interesting experiences. / /
Two days we spent in visiting Our |
mission station at Mahoba. This \
district is quite historical from
the standpoint of religion. A town
of just few thousand inhabit- III
ants, yet, full of temples and
shrines. Really you were forced
to think of Paul in ancient Athens II
There must be at least a thousand HI
places of worship. Even on the 4
large bouders on the sides of the II
hills are huge carvings of various
of the Hindu theogony IN
We had time to visit few>of thelEI
larger places but were able only III
to get very meager conception
of the place. Hideous nude fig III
ures seem most popular in their II
catalog of theological architec- II
ture; while blood red is a fash \
ionable color. One temple had in
it many rooms and a special god
occupied each separately. But /.
many of the places have become
deserted and gone into ruins and a
are filled with what we call n
Scrambled gods" pieces of t
broken idols. Some iconoclism v
dates back few centuries to the g
MOhamn1ean invasion when these