Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1925-08-05

rlftv Washington. d. c.
HAT might be called 1.-THE
w I Main Street Of India" is the
w great roadway Of the ages,
w roughly paralleling the foot
hlls Of the Himalayas,' that stretches
through the heart of Hindustan
from the Af@hanistan border in the
ives. 10 the east coast. There is
nothing provincial about India's Main
street Starting at the Khyber pass,
where the Afghan caravans weave a
temous thread of trade between the
frontier hills, 1t runs to Calcutta,
Where q goody share of the worlds
slipping is idly swinging to the tides
Of the treacherous Hooghly.
Tie railways which parallel its more
than 1000 miles, as they parallel many
Of our own best highways, have di-
yered much traffic from the open road
and cooped it up like Grated fowls in
third class cars But the bullock-cart
still rolls on and the motorcar has
made Its presence smelled from the
northwest frontier province to Bengal.
The broad road" Of Kipling's lama
and his adventurous chela, Kim, runs
through one of the most thickly pop
uated regions In the world. 1t is a
plain road from beginning to end.
From the mud fort Of JamI7ud to the
docks at Kidderpore, this highway rs
low way. Ii passes over the water
shed between the Indus and the
Gauges al an altitude of less than q
thousand feet, and thence runs along
with The Jumna or the Gauges to the
aIIuylal delta in the midst of which
Calcutta proudly reigns as queen.
To the left, throughout the length
OF the road, are the eternal hills, be-
You'd which the snow wall of the
worlds mightiest mountains can some
tunes be seen. To the right is the
Jlmbie Of low hills which bear various
names, but which, if the peninsula Of
india we're slightly lowered, would
form the Irregular northern base of
an arrow-shaped island, with It's point
al Cape Comorln, opposite Ceylon.
Although Main street runs through
region Of rivers, let us not think of
as garden land; for during much
OF the year it is dusty and dry and
al no time does 1t have the lush love
uness which dots the hot southland
with scenes of refreshing beauty.
throughout most OF It's length irriga-
lion has been developed to a high de-
gree,
Hot and Cold, Dry and Wet.
From the arid furnace of ALI Masjid,
10 tie khyber, to the steamy Sundar-
OanS. this road is deadly hot at times
yer along tile watershed between In
lia two most famous rivers the nights
ID winter can be bitter cold, even for
nose Mongollan peoples whose heavy
costumes remind one Of the Himalayan
SHOWS whence they come.
Main street runs from the aridity of
eSS than ten inches of rain annually.
Iear the Afghan border, to the region
u 10 inches, beside the lower Ganges;
ma were It to be continued farther, 1t
would soak in the rains of Chittagong
IT CherrapunJi, where Jupiter PIuvius
always wTinging out his heavy
'ouoS Ike washed towels, and where
" July, 1861 rain fell at the rate of
."' root day Cherrapunji is accus-
"Nea to this form of hydraulic min
"s. which is wearing down the Caro-
una hhasi hills, but with rs feet of
"A IN twelve months, 1861 was
'"""n, sven among those to whom
."'" is no novelty. as the year of the
1ls rain.
throughout the entire plain which
NohSS the great Indian highway the
-. .'o annual temperature is between
e., """ % degrees. In May the mean
.eo'"erm OF all India runs so directly
8 we Grand Trunk road that one
. g ,. 'Hlnk that by stepping into the
.s'uS on either side he would run Off
- 81 degrees to SIS on the right
ward the hot heart of the continental
'""-I'asS and $50 on the left as he
'.''ei aside toward the hill stations
~ 'rpWeries which line the lower
'-,'> ~ the Himalayas from Murree
Oarieeling