The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1932-07-15

walks or swiftly pass in their foreign
cars with chauffeurs whose costumes
and uniforms represent myriad styles
and colors of the East and West.
Fort William occupies much of the
river side of the Madam. Nearby are
the Eden gardens. In the southeast
corner Queen Victoria has been me-
mOrialiZed by a magnificent building
in Italian Renaissance. It's central
dome of pure white marble came from
the same Quarries from which the mar
BILE for the Tai Mahal was hewn. The
white marble palace of the governor
of Bengal, overlooking the MADAM
from the north, was the residence OF
the yiceroy before the capital was re-
moved to Delhi in 1912. This and the
palatial residences, clubs and public
buildings along the Maidan's eastern
side, gave to Calcutta the name THE
City Of Palaces"
Darjeeling, nesting among the foot
hills of the Himalayas, is BengaPs
summer resort. Like Simla, 700 miles
farther west, and Srinagar in Kashmir,
Darjeeling is a godsend to perspiring
Europeans who must spend the hot
period in India. But it is more than
a cool retreat: it is a matchless OBJ
servation post, when the clouds per-
NIT, for the mightiest mountain seem
cry that the world affords. FOrty-five
miles to the northward, across deep
chasms and beyond tier after tier of
foothills, rises Kinchinjunga, 2S,156
feet high, buttressed by half a dozen
peaks from 10000 to $4,000 feet in al
titude.
Perched on a Ridge.
Darjeeling stands on a sort Of stage
before and above which sweep the
amphitheater slopes of HimalayaD
heights. The town is perched on and
astride steep ridge that rises about
1000 feet from the Bengal plains. On
the side toward the mountains the
ridge drops away for approximately
5000 feet, forming what might, in
American Technology, be called "the
Grand Canyon of the Ranjit;;" but
whose heavily forested slopes and
tropically luxuriant floor earns in In
dia the more poetic name of 'Vale of
Ranjit."
Darjeeling has characteristics unlike
those of most towns. 1t can hardly
be said to have streets. Most of the
buildings face on paths or walks which
run along the main ridge and out on
to it's minor spurs, or work their way
by serpentine routes to other paths
that cling to the steep sides of the
slopes. Steps, too, serve in place of
roads, connecting terraces that rise
one above the other. One of the few
carriage roads is a driveway that
skirts the lower end of the main ridge
and leads below to the suburb Lebong
The villas, bungalows shops, govern
ment buildings, hospitals, churches,
schools, barracks and native huts that
make up Darjeeling and it's suburb
form pendant communities, like giant
saddle-bags thrown over the ridge
Dwellings are scattered down the
slopes for thousand feet. the ground
floors of one tier on level with the
roofs of the next tier below. If one
must cover much space in Darjeeling
he rides on pony back or is carried
in litter by four servants.
The center of Darjeeling is Obser-
vatory Hill, knoll on the crest of the
ridge. Topping the knoll is a Bud
dhist monument and surrounding it is
a small forest of stats from which
prayer flags flutter their applications
From the benches near the monument
one may sit, when mist and clouds do
not interfere, and take advantage of
Darjeeling's best view of mighty Kin
chinjunga and it's fellows. But often
the vigil is fruitless. 1t is only for
relatively brief periods during the
spring and early winter that one may
be sure of long, uninterrupted views
of the towering granite and ice walls
and snowy slopes to the north.
While on the steamy plains of Ben
gal, few miles away, the mercury
climbs in summer above 100 degrees
Fahrenheit, it seldom tops IS degrees
at Darjeeling; and in winter 30 de-
grees marks the low point of the tenn
perature range. The unpleasant fea-
ture of the weather is furnished by the
heavy rains. Ten feet of water fall
each year, and some of the storms are
violent. Darjeeling's name means
"Place of the Thunderbolt." Four
fifths of the years precipitation falls
between the first of June and the last
of September.
One of the sights of Darjeeling is Its
bazaar, especially on Sundays. 1t is
held in little square on the relative
ly level floor of little hollow between
two minor spurs on the west slope of
the ridge. Along the outskirts of the
square are native shops and Hindu
temple. In the open space squat ma
tives from the surrounding hills and
mountains with all manner of goods
beside them. On Sundays the square
is choked with throng of laborers
from the adjacent tea fields One sees
Lepchas. the meek aboriginais of the
Sikkim valleys; Bhutias, more ener-
getic immigrants from southern Tibet.
Who have dominated the Lepchas; and
Nepalese. the most efficient of the lot