Evening star., 1922-09-04
'KARACHI PRESENTS
STUDy'|N CONTRAST
Dry Dock in Modern Port Be.
lies Impression Gained
From Camel Carts.
FAST GAINING ON BOMBAY
Shortest Route From Punjab and
Central Asia-Sea Breezes Bring
Summer Visitors.

"karachi. the Seattle of Hindustan
and neck of the bottle through which
India troops pushed into the Meso-
potamia campaign. further justified
Sir Ross Smiths Characterization, the
aerial gateway to India when Maj
Blake recently landed there in his
globe -girdling flight" says a bulletin
from the Washington headquarters of
the National Geographic Society.
Because thiS great port city of
northwest India is modern, clean and
writer's turn elsewhere for their local
color and dismiss Karachi with
broadside Of statistics. Yet Karachi
is the sort of place where Thoreau
might travel extensively; one may sit
tnere and watch much of India go by.
Interesting Zoo for the Animals.
Consider the Karachi zoo, for ex,
ample. 1t domiciles specimens of the
strange animals of India. but. as one
traveller whimsically remarked. it
must be the most interesting zoo IN
the world for the animals. They can
watch the passing show of Sind mer
chant with his pill-box hat, the Parsi
maid with sari in delicate pastel
shade and lace curtain underwaist
and the Baluchi swain with cork
screw curls.
One of the newest and biggest
buildings is wholly devoted to a dis
play of American automobiles and
American monographs. And another
newer business building is the Serai-
mammoth establishment for cara
van camels and their drivers and
their carts. For in karachi the un-
calmly camel has been subjected to
the last indignity, that of being
hitched to a vehicle As his hump
protsaIdes far above the wagon top.
the beast seems all out of proportion
to his burden. His other principal use
in the Sind desert hides his lank form
under many bushels of scraggy fire.
wood
Projects Into Punjab.
Geographically Karachi is one of
1t is the wrist of the hand of modern
ism which is working it's fingers into
the Punjab-iterally the land of five
waters. Railways as well as rivers
are the arteries of the ever-grow-
ing flow of trade into the region
which ranks with Mesopotamia and
the Lower Nile as an early cradle of
civilized man. Canals spread the
Indus waters over a fertile area to
increase the products which emerge
through Karachi
orchid patch. Grass. just plain
grass. is about the most expensive
flower the city affords. 1t is priced
by the resident because it is a re-
minder of the countryside Of old Eng
land. and by the visitor because it
is the one touch of green against
the dun gray desert.
One typically Indian sight of
karachi is the crocodile, which is
more prevalent in India tradition
than apparent in present-day fact.
Over at the Mugger pier the visitors
from the west watch these slothful.
Shiny creatures. which have gained a
semi-sacred status that means i'm
| munity and food.
Gaining on Bombay.
ITO the casual visitor Ka-achi does
| present broad. clean streets: square,
monofonous houses: new dry dock
| and a western hustle around the
| Bombay in volume of its shipping be-
| cause it is the shortest route from
| the Punjab and central Asia to the
outside world. 1t is nearly 500
miles by sea northwest of Bombay
and about twice that far by rail.
The average of the maximum daily
temperatures in karachi is ninety
four degrees. which fact would hard
ly lead one to suspect that it is not
only the capital. but the summer re-
sort of Sind. Yet the sea breezes
make it the coolest spot in this
driest and hottest region of India.
At Hyderabad, Sind. the average
| maximum temperature is 1O7 degrees
For about 100 years Karachi had
| been mere fort. and its develop
ment into a city did not begin until
! 1912. when the British took it over
from the Talpur amirs Thus free
to develop economically, it began to
grow rapidly and its strategic eco
| nomic position today can be realized by
! tracing the great Northwestern rail-
| way, OF which it is the sea terminus
back 500 miles to Lahore; and fol-
i lowing the mighty Indus. and its
great tributaries as they spread out
| like fan over fertile Punjab"