First Days In India ARTHUR CLI I ;.-'■''• ^i'N i. . -By Book Copyright ]^". GOPnaGirr deposit. MRS. PARKER, FOR FIFTY-ONE YEARS (1910) A MISSIONARY IN INDIA, AND ACTIVELY AT WORK WITH FEW SIGNS OF FEEBLENESS AND NONE OF CHILDISHNESS. FIRST DAYS IN INDIA By Arthur Clinton Boggess, Ph. D. Professor of History and Political Economy in Reid Christian College, Lucknow, India ^ Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham New York : Eaton and Mains <: Copyright, 1912, by Jennings and Graham. £CI.A31[)997 CONTENTS Chapter Page I. A Mela Day, - - - - - 9 II. A MuHARRAM Day, - - - 24 III. A Day in the Streets, - - - 42 IV. A Day in the Bazar, - - 60 V. A Day in the Country, - - 73 VI. A Day with My Students, - 85 VII. A Day at the North India Con- ference, - - - _ _ 105 VIII. Three Days of Travel in the Himalayas, - - - - 118 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Page Mrs. Parker, - - - - Frontispiece The Historic Residency, - - - - 11 The Lumbering Ox-Cart, - - - 15 The Front View of the Great Imambara, 27 Interior of the Great Imambara, - - 31 The Palace of Lights, _ _ _ 35 The Bihishti Comes Along, - - - 45 Musical Instruments Used at Himalayan Weddings, _ . _ _ 45 "I Saw a Man Trying to Split a Rock With a Shirt." — Mark Twain. - 53 Among Tenant Farmers, - - - 53 Reid Christian College, - - - 87 Students in Chapel, _ _ _ _ 87 Rev. J. R. Chitamber, Principal of Our High School, - - - - 95 Christian High School Seniors, - - 95 5 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Mission School Boys in Almora, - - 99 Picnic Group of Missionaries at Almora, 99 Epworth, Almora, _ _ - _ 107 The Deodars, Almora, _ _ _ - 107 Railway Station, - - - - - 121 At 11:30 a.m. We Reached Kathgodam, 121 BojH Coolies, ------ 129 "The Plowman Homeward Plods His Weary Way." — Gray. - - 129 Plowing a Terraced Mountain Side, - 143 Harrowing a Terrace, - - - 143 Hindu Temple near Almora, - - - 149 Suspension Bridge, - - - - 149 A Century Plant, Almora, - - - 153 The Business Section of Almora, - 157 PREFACE Although I came to India determined to be silent until I had spent some years in the country, I find myself deliberately breaking my silence after less than eight months of residence. My reason for writ- ing at this time is that several Americans who have lived for many years in India have told me that no one else is so well able to appreciate the features of Indian daily life that will be of interest to those in other lands as is the new arrival. The reasons for this truth are apparent. I have written of the commonest of commonplaces. A reader who has an active interest in people and who has an imagination sufficiently strong to vitalize the descriptions will probably be interested in the details of Indian life. Although no didactic purpose has prompted the writing of the following pages, I believe that it will be apparent to the thoughtful Christian reader that 7 PREFACE the general acceptance of Christianity by India would do much to lessen the pathos and tragedy of Indian life. Much, indeed, of India's misery results from child mar- riage, the caste system, the pardah system, plural marriage, non-remarriage of widows, dense illiteracy, and the absence of any satisfactory mediator between man and God. Christianity would remove most, and mitigate all, of these evils. It has done so where it has been accepted. What I have written is absolutely au- thoritative in the sense that I have de- scribed nothing that I have not myself seen. Arthur Clinton Boggess. Almora, India, May 24, 191L FIRST DAYS IN INDIA A MELA DAY I ARRIVED In India on the thirtieth of Sep- tember, 1910, and reached Lucknow, which was to be my home, the next day. A very few weeks after my arrival there was an ecHpse of the moon, and as the Hindus beheve that the moon is much disturbed by an ecUpse and that some evil might be- fall their pregnant women if the gods were not propitiated, there must perforce be a mela. A mela is defined in the Royal Dictionary (Hindustani-English) as a con- course of people for religious or com- mercial purposes, and the aptness of the definition will presently become apparent. This was to be a bathing mela. It was to be held at the iron bridge which spans the Gumti River at Daliganj, near the ruins of the historic Residency. Never 9 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA having seen a mela, and being inclined to learn all that I could of Indian life, I re- solved to visit this gathering, especially as it was held within a mile of my residence. The mela day dawned perfectly clear, but I found out later that this fact is not often referred to in this part of India at this time of year, because November may have thirty perfectly clear days and Oc- tober may have almost as many — some- times even more. Nevertheless I reveled in the beauty of the day. Quite early in the morning, with a companion or two, I set out in the direction of the iron bridge. As soon as I reached the main road which runs past Balrampur Hospital and the Residency I found it thronged with a motley crowd. A friend who lived near this highway told me that people had commenced passing his house before day- light. The stream was to continue until nearly noon, soon after which the backward stream began. Two of the many interesting things to observe in this thronging mass of humanity were the means of transportation and the 10 A MELA DAY costumes. Most of the people traveled on foot. Many a mother, and more rarely a father, trudged along with a baby held astride of her hip — the common way of carrying babies in this country. A few fathers had taken their tired children of from two to five years of age on their shoulders, their backs, or astride of their necks, and were thus giving the little ones a needed rest. Blind persons, who are painfully common, were led by relatives or friends. One of the most picturesque of the several varieties of vehicles was the lumbering ox-cart. These carts have enor- mous wooden wheels which are surmounted by a wooden, railed frame work, also of ample proportions. Within the body of the vehicle was food for man and beast, sometimes bedding, which would indicate a journey of more than one day's duration, and a varying number of men, women, and children. Another very common vehicle was the ekka, a kind of light, two-wheeled cart, without any bed, but with a platform and a sort of roof upheld by four corner posts. The ekka is the vehicle most used 13 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA in Lucknow for the transportation of per- sons from place to place. A third vehicle was the gari. This is a four-wheeled, closed carriage, with two seats facing each other, and so strongly built that its top is used for the conveying of baggage. This ve- hicle is commonly used by Europeans and Indians of the upper class. Some of the pardah (secluded) women who came to the mela came in garis. Ekkas are sometimes used by pardah women, in which case the frame that supports the top is enveloped in cloth. A few wealthy Hindus came in phaeton garis — carriages with a top some- what like that of an American carriage, and which are really very good vehicles, comparing favorably with those of Europe. One man arrived on a camel, and reminded one of a wise man of the East. A few came on horses or ponies. Costumes were varied, but the multi- tude was in holiday attire. Jewelry was much in evidence. It was not rare to see a barefooted woman trudging along with at least half-a-dozen anklets on each ankle, rings on several of her toes, many brace- 14 A MELA DAY lets on each arm, one or more rings or pendants in each ear, her fingers fairly loaded with rings, and so large a ring in her nose that when she ate, her food was passed through the ring. The jewelry ranged in material all the way from cheap, colored glass to real silver and gold, ac- cording to the wealth of the wearer. In- dians are afraid of the banking system, and they put any money they save into jewelry and then either pawn or sell it, as occasion may require. The women in many cases wore brightly-colored clothing. Fine silk was by no means lacking. As the greater part of the crowd was more ignorant than wealthy, much of the dressing was not in good taste, as far as the harmony of colors is concerned, but there were notable ex- ceptions to this rule, and it is only fair to say that educated Indian women frequently dress in excellent taste. An Indian woman's holiday costume lends itself to exquisite draping. Beggars are always with us in India. As there is almost no organized system of poor relief, many of the beggars are genuine 2 17 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA paupers; but I saw a most conspicuous case of imposture as I went to the mela. Some days before I had passed on the street a man who groaned, groveled in the dust, foamed at the mouth, and displayed on one of his bare legs a hideous sore. It seemed to me that he rather overdid his attempt to impress passersby with his misery. One evening, when it was almost dark, I came out from behind a high wall near his favorite begging place just in time to see him get up from the ground, look cautiously around, quickly wrap his loose clothing about him, and walk briskly away into the darkness. This same man lay by the side of the road on the mela day. His huge sore was in the same condition as it had been some days before. It was noteworthy that the swarming flies were not attracted by it. Some time later I again came upon this fellow in the early morning. He was just making up his sore preparatory to a begging crusade. A wise American, who has lived many years in India, says that he has several times of- fered beggars a rupee {?>3}4 cents) if they 18 A MELA DAY would unwrap their sores and let him see them. Another person has offered to take afflicted ones to the hospital. Neither class of offers has been accepted. Several ''holy men" came to the mela. They are recognized by their long, un- combed hair, their scanty and ragged and dirty clothing, and often by a covering of ashes. Hindus believe them to be so holy that they have no thought for material things. It seems to an observer that it must take some thought to be consistently dirty and ragged. Educated Hindus ac- knowledge that while some '*holy men" are sincere, many are merely insuperably lazy. Upon nearing the mela ground, which was at a point where five roads met, we saw that each road was thronged with people. One road, leading from a crowded part of the city, lay below the one on which we traveled, so that we got a good view of it for a considerable distance. Here one could see literally thousands of people coming to the mela. A mela is a concourse of people for 19 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA religious or commercial purposes, and the commercial feature of the gathering be- came apparent upon reaching the grounds. The road was lined on each side with booths or places on the ground which served as such. Here one found a lavish display of staple vegetables. There were great heaps of radishes, enormous mounds of popped rice, piles of dot (a common pulse), loads of sugar cane, various kinds of mithai (Indian candy), and, in general, whatever Indians delight in for the satisfaction of the inner man. Sugar cane is chewed in its raw state by the Indians. Bands of laborers can be seen going to their work each with a stalk of cane in his hand to serve as his lunch, and many times one sees them eating as they go. Mithia shops are a perfect marvel of dirt. Flies swarm over the confectioner's stock in trade, and clouds of dust settle on it. A dealer is quite as likely to be in the blazing sun with ab- solutely no protection from flies, insects, and dirt as anywhere else. In addition to eatables, there were also stocks of cutlery, pictures, gods, jewelry, books, boots and 20 A MELA DAY shoes, and various other articles such as could be easily transported. One wonders why gods should be so ugly as most of these were. Books were chiefly in Urdu or Hindi — the prevailing languages here. Amusements were provided in the shape of a Ferris wheel and a number of merry- go-rounds. Both were extremely crude and were propelled by human power. Their crudity did not lessen their popularity. The Ferris wheel looked positively danger- ous, but no accident happened. Missionaries took advantage of the mela to sell portions of the Gospel and to distribute tracts. There was a good de- mand for portions of the Gospel. This mela, although its features were typical, was really a very small one. At the great melas Christian workers congregate in con- siderable numbers and both preach and distribute Christian literature. At this mela the work was done by Indian young women from the Isabella Thoburn College, accompanied by their teachers. There is a Hindu bathing place on each 21 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA side of the Gumti River near the iron bridge. The bathing was really the chief feature of the mela. Men, women, and children bathe together. It might be supposed that such a proceeding would be extremely im- modest. I had expected that it would be so, but in reality it was not. The bathers went into the water with about as much clothing as an Atlantic City group of bath- ers. Although clothing was changed in the open on the river bank, so deftly was the dry clothing used as a shield while the wet clothing was being removed that the ab- sence of a dressing room was not felt. The loose manner in which Indians — both men and women — wear their clothing lends it- self to just such an occasion as was here presented. If there was anything shocking in the bathing it was the internal applica- tion of the water. When the stream was crowded with bathers, the men and women washed their teeth and drank the filthy water. On at least one occasion the out- break of a frightful pestilence was traced to precisely this cause. One shudders at 22 A MELA DAY the practice when he thinks of the number and variety of diseases that are to be found In India. An Indian mela presents a good oppor- tunity for character study. 23 A MUHARRAM DAY Muharram is the first month of the Mo- hammedan year, and during this month the faithful commemorate the death of Husain, the son of AH. That is, the faithful Shias so commemorate, because the Sunnis, who deny the right of Husain to be regarded as the successor of Mohammed, hate the Shias quite as cordially as both hate the Christians. Muharram came in January of 1911, and it will come again in December of the same year. The attendant celebra- tions by the Mohammedans are the most interesting of the periodic Mohammedan demonstrations. For several days the cele- bration lasts, but all of its typical elements can be seen in an evening and a forenoon. One evening two of my colleagues and myself set out on a tour of investigation. We knew that the Muharram celebration had begun. We also knew that it was the custom to announce in the daily paper of 24 A MUHARRAM DAY Lucknow that a certain evening would be especially reserved for Europeans. No such notice had yet appeared, and as we feared that it might not be issued we ceased to wait for it. Setting out from my resi- dence we walked past the city clay works and the police hospital to near the Dali- ganj iron bridge, where we turned to the left and made our way along the river road towards the Great Imambara. After going through the railroad viaduct we found many Indian guards in uniform stationed along the road, which was now crowded with a motley assortment of Indians. The regular police force of the city had been supplemented by police from the outlying places because of the danger of riots. There is danger of an outbreak between Shias and Sunnis — antagonistic Mohammedan sects — and between Mohammedans and Hindus. Near the great Imambara the throng of persons and vehicles was so dense that we could make our way but slowly, notwith- standing the extreme readiness of Indians to open a way for us. Finally we stood before the immense structure. 25 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA An imambara Is a building in which the festival of the Muharram is celebrated. The Great Imambara of Lucknow is by far the largest structure of its kind in the city. It is in a complex of buildings com- prising a mosque, which is closed to all but Mohammedans; a great building used as a tomb, and an extensive series of cells that were built for the use of pilgrims. Everything Is constructed on an immense scale. The structure was erected during a great famine in order to serve as a relief work for the unemployed. Its wealthy builder left so generous an endowment that the place can be kept in good repair. When one turns from the road to enter the imambara grounds he passes through one of two great archways placed side by side. Passing through he finds himself in a large, rectangular courtyard with pil- grims' cells, arranged In two stories, on each of the four sides, their continuity being Interrupted only by the two arches spoken of above and a single similar arch piercing the tiers of cells directly across the quadrangle from these two. The structure 26 THE FRONT VIEW OF THE GREAT IMAMBARA. LUCKNOW. THE GREAT IMAMBARA. A MUHARRAM DAY is profusely adorned with the dome-Hke towers so characteristic of Moslem archi- tecture. The passage under the arch which pierces the second row of pilgrims' cells parallel to the road leads to a second court- yard. To the right of this courtyard stands the mosque, reached by a wide, ex- tended flight of stone steps and enclosed by a fence of iron pickets. To the left are more pilgrims' cells and the ruins of what appears to have been an extensive bath house. On the fourth side, and directly in front of the entrance, lies the great building which serves as the tomb of the builders. Our progress through the courtyards was slow. Part of our slowness was due to the throng and part was due to a desire to observe the novel surroundings. The whole structure, from the outer gateway to the tomb, was ablaze with lights. The effect was the same as would be secured by a multitude of electric lights, but it was a marvel to see such an effect produced by such means as were used. Little glass cups, with a little oil, and the rudest string 29 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA wicks, took the place of electric bulbs. The roadway was lined with wooden frames, upon which these lights were held in place by being put on a little piece of mud; and upon the face of the lofty gateways frames of bamboo had been erected and the lights were held In place by strings or withes. In some parts of the buildings metal holders had been built into the masonry. Each of the thousands of lights had to be lighted by hand. The effect was very pleasing, but the labor involved must have been great. It may be noted here that the pilgrims* cells are not used as such. The Govern- ment has forbidden it — for sanitary reasons. Crossing the second courtyard, and ascending a flight of stone steps, we en- tered the tomb. Now, many an Indian tomb closely resembles a palace, only a very small part of the building being used for burial purposes. This building had an enormous central chamber, wide, enclosed galleries on each side, and a large room at each end. No wood was used in building. The walls of masonry are eighteen feet thick, 30 A MUHARRAM DAY and they support the largest vault of masonry in the world as a roof. In the interior room were two tombs surrounded by railings, some large chandeliers and candelabra of glass, and a few tazias. A tazia is a conventional representation of the tomb of Husain. Tazias are always gay with color. They range in size from almost infinitely small to elaborate struc- tures fifteen feet in height, and in value from very cheap tinsel ones to those in which real gold and silver leaf plays a conspicuous part. For many days preceding the Mu- harram celebration tazias were being car- ried from the homes of the faithful to the various mosques and imambaras of the city. We shall presently see what becomes of them. In the outer side gallery was a silver pulpit from which the Koran was read upon some occasions. The other gallery was almost unfurnished. The two end rooms had been used by the builder as prayer rooms. His prayers were prob- ably private, except that away up near the top of the vaulted dome there were some dozen or more little enclosed plat- 3 3Z FIRST DAYS IN INDIA forms entered from the labyrinthine second story, from which the numerous members of his harem had been graciously permitted to watch their common husband at his devotions. A feature of this building is its ceiling. Each room has a ceiling with a pattern different from that of any other room. The variety of geometric forms, the coloring, the curves and convolutions combine to make them a pleasing study. The Great Imambara as a whole gives a restful feeling of majestic simplicity. It has a refreshing absence of fussy details, while its very immensity gives it impres- siveness. Our next objective point was the imam- hara at Husainabad, some half a mile to the westward of the Great Imambara. As we went through the outer courtyard we noticed several elephants and several torch bearers. These are Oriental signs of an approaching procession, so we went out into the road and awaited developments. Soon a procession began to form. We found, upon inquiry, that its destination, like our own, was the ''Palace of Lights,'' 34 A MUHARRAM DAY as the imamhara at Husainabad is called. The elements of the procession are more important than their order of march. In- dian bands, with their rude instruments, made the usual music. A large number of torch bearers marched along carrying iron forks with three or more prongs, and with rags saturated with oil wrapped about each prong and blazing merrily. Others carried colored banners in various stages of dilapi- dation. Several elephants lumbered along with happy crowds of passengers on their ample backs. Camels, far more awkward than any other beast of transportation that I have seen, were also present in consider- able numbers. Horsemen were also to be seen. None of these, however, were the significant parts of the procession. Husain and his brother were killed shortly after the marriage of Husain, and this proces- sion was to commemorate the wedding of Husain and the death of the two brothers. A richly-caparisoned, riderless horse rep- resented the horse which had been ridden at the marriage; a catafalque palled in black, preceded by male mourners, and 37 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA followed by closed palanquins, representing female mourners, followed the horse. The mourners wailed loudly and beat violently upon their bare breasts during the march and also during the frequent halts. We passed the entire procession on our way to the "Palace of Lights," and we met it again on our way home. It was a weird performance — one that once seen will not be forgotten. The ''Palace of Lights" resembles the Great Imambara in being a tomb, but it differs from it in size and decorations. It takes its name from the fact that it is lit- erally so crowded with glass chandeliers and candelabra with their hundreds of pendants that it has a dazzling effect. In its courtyard are two reproductions of the Taj Mahal. The courtyard has also a small artificial lake. The place gives a beautiful effect by night, when brightly illuminated, although I liked the simplicity of the Great Imambara better. This closed our evening's observations, but the next evening we hired garis and took our wives to these two imamharas A MUHARRAM DAY and also to a third — the Shah Najaf, situ- ated near the river some two miles from the Great Imambara. Shah Najaf at once impressed one with its opulence. Its tombs were surrounded by silver railings, its walls were hung with elegant oil paintings; it had a number of fine mirrors, rich velvet banners embroid- ered with genuine gold and silver lined its walls, a throne of silver occupied a place of prominence, and the general effect was in startling contrast to the cheap decora- tion frequently met with in the East. Here one felt that no imposture was being per- petrated. The only jar to our feelings came when our self-imposed and officious guides loudly demanded backsheesh as we were leaving. One who lives placidly in India soon learns to overlook such a clamor, however. Soon after our visits to the imamharas came the day when the tazias were to be buried. On this day a great many pro- cessions are formed in the city. These processions carry tazias from the various mosques of the city to a piece of unoccu- 39 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA pied ground in the outskirts of the city, where they are buried. The city authorities had ordered all Shia processions to be on their way before noon, and that no Sunni processions should start before noon. This was in order to prevent riots. We took a gari quite early in the morning and started for the burial place. When we came to the main road leading to the burial place we were told by an Indian policeman that our gari could proceed no further, so we got out and went forward on foot. As the various pro- cessions, most of which were small, moved slowly, we passed a considerable number of them. In several, though by no means all, of the processions a horse without a rider was led, as in the procession that had gone from the Great Imambara to the "Palace of Lights." One man carried a pole of such height that the feat of carrying it would have seemed impossible, if one had not actually seen it. Each procession that had mourners made frequent halts, during which the men beat their breasts and cried out violently, in regular cadence, 40 A MUHARRAM DAY ''Hasan! Husain! Hasan! Husain!" — these being the names of the deceased brothers. The ceremony at the burial place was simple, the tazias being merely broken to pieces and buried in shallow graves; but the chief interest of the per- formance lay in the fact that there the lamentation reached its climax. Some of the mourners beat their bare backs with chains until the blood spurted from their wounds, and some of them became in- sensible. The vehemence of their lamenta- tion lost much of its effect when we saw them wipe perfectly tearless eyes, saw them assume a most jovial expression as soon as the burial was over, and learned that they were paid by wealthy Moham- medans to play their part. Such was one celebration by Moham- medans of the deaths of two of their re- vered leaders. 41 A DAY IN THE STREETS A DAY in the streets of Lucknow Is a series of revelations to a newcomer to India. Here people are seen in their natural state — not on dress parade, as at a mela or a Muharram celebration. The street itself is strange to an Ameri- can or a European. There are no side- walks, few street sprinklers, no awnings, no street cars, no delivery wagons, no drays drawn by horses, no tall buildings, no law against stock running at large, and practically no telephones. Lucknow has a few telephone lines connecting government offices. Streets in the Indian quarter of the city are narrow. They are dusty, if it is in the dry season, but it must be said, to the honor of the British Government, that they are kept surprisingly free from garbage. Men of the sweeper class go about the streets with cloths tied over their faces and carefully sweep up all 42 A DAY IN THE STREETS noxious refuse. The refuse is then gath- ered by the men who drive the city refuse carts and hauled to some suburban dump, or else to some place within the city where a fill is being made. These carts are of metal. Each cart is drawn by a single bullock. From time to time the hihishti (water-carrier) comes along with a goat skin full of water slung over his back and flushes the gutters. He sometimes sprinkles the street also, sowing the water broadcast by a dextrous motion of his hand. Loads carried by the water-carriers are cruelly heavy at times. On one occasion a number of water-carriers who were employed by the city pawned their goat skins, which were furnished by the municipality, and went in a body to see the theatrical performance. Most of the carriers can fill their goat skins at the city hydrants. Formerly the water was obtained from wells, from which it was drawn in great skin or leather buckets by bullocks. One prominent factor in cleaning the streets is the fuel gleaners. Women and children come along with baskets on their heads and gather up the fresh cow 43 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA dung, and as bullocks are used for draft purposes, this kind of refuse is common. It is carried home, kneaded into little cakes with stubble, straw, or dry grass, plastered to the side of the house to dry, and then used for fuel. Where the bullocks owned by the municipality are stabled — and this, by the way, is on a principal street — one can see great quantities of these manure cakes drying on the ground in the sun. Women do the kneading, and they also clean the stables with their bare hands. Incongruous as it seems, they are fre- quently loaded with jewels. The scarcity of fuel also leads to the streets being kept almost absolutely free from scraps of paper, sticks, and bits of wood. During the dry season dust is very troublesome. I have not yet experienced a wet season, but I am told that the character of the soil and the violence of the rain are such that there is but little mud on the streets. The common form of dwelling in the distinctively Indian quarter is of mud, brick, or stone. It opens directly upon the street and the poorest of these houses 44 H C 2 ^ O 11 A DAY IN THE STREETS are miserably dark and un ventilated. As the quality of the houses rises one finds them built about a spacious courtyard, tastefully planted with shrubbery. It is a long time before one becomes so accus- tomed to looking through an opening in an unsightly mud wall into a beautiful courtyard that he ceases to be surprised. High walls are characteristic of the East. In passing along the streets it is often the case that a small shop opens directly upon the street, while in an almost dark room at the back one catches glimpses of the charpai (bedstead), which denotes that that is the sleeping apartment of the family. Goats and cattle live in close proximity to their owners. Goats furnish milk for the poor, because the animals are cheaply kept. Flat-roofed houses are much used. The roof is frequently of a material resembling cement. It makes a good place for sleep- ing purposes during the hot weather. One might become a philosopher as he lies on the roof of an Indian house on one of the glorious, brilliant moonlight nights, with the cool breeze gently blowing, if his pro- 47 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA found contemplations were not occasionally disturbed by the loud cry of the night watchman, who calls out periodically in order that each of his subordinates may show by a similar call that he is not asleep, or by the dismal howl of a roaming jackal. House building is an interesting per- formance, especially if the house is of brick. Women carry the bricks on their heads, without any hod, the bricks being merely piled up with the head, protected usually by a cloth pad, as foundation. Mortar is carried in little baskets, likewise placed on the head. Mortar is most com- monly mixed by tramping with bare feet in the hole in the ground which serves as a mortar pit. As I passed the place where the group of buildings to be occupied by the new medical school was being erected, I saw mortar being mixed by bullock power. A large pole, some fifteen feet in length, was so fastened at one end as to leave it free to turn in a circle and a bullock was hitched to the other end. As the pole moved in a circle it also rotated, and a large wooden wheel, for which the pole 48 A DAY IN THE STREETS served as axle, was fastened near the bul- locks. This wheel moved round and round in a trench in which the materials to be mixed were placed. Instead of block and tackle, elevators or lifts, an inclined road- way is built and the brick and mortar carriers pass to and fro upon it. Many of these carriers are bejeweled from toes to ears. Bricks are brought to the building site on the backs of donkeys, or else in bullock carts drawn by two or three bul- locks or buffaloes. Horses are never used in hauling heavy loads. Costumes will be seen to range from zero upwards. Children up to five years of age may be allowed to go stark naked. They seem to be oblivious to dirt, flies, and heat. What is really more curious than absolute nakedness is to see children that are naked save for a few articles of jewelry, and this is exceedingly common. Often the jewelry is very cheap, but I have seen some children who had sufficient jewelry to indicate that it was not because of poverty that their garments were deficient. Pardah women — those who live veiled — go 4 49 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA about the streets with their entire bodies enveloped in a cloth, with little holes for the eyes — like a horse-blanket. Some have no holes, but only thin places. Fardah beggars are sometimes met with. One also meets pardah women being carried about on a little platform, with a bamboo frame and a net bottom, slung from a long pole, and carried by two men; the frame being closely veiled by a cloth covering. The carriers have forked sticks on which they rest the conveyance when they have to stop for breath. A more expensive pardah conveyance is a box-like compart- ment, with sHding doors, similarly slung to a pole. Why the occupants do not smother when they ride in such a conveyance with the temperature in the sun's rays as high as 170° F., is an unexplained mystery. In contrast to the pardah women are the wealthy Indian men who love to be seen. Their smart carriages are drawn by fairly good horses. Two liveried servants sit on the driver's seat and two more stand up behind the body of the carriage. The gentleman himself is adorned with enough 50 A DAY IN THE STREETS gold lace and silver to satisfy a Spanish grandee. Children swarm in the streets unwashed, uncombed, unclothed, or poorly clad. An occasional Indian, clad in Euro- pean style, is met. Practically all persons so clad can speak English, although not all Indians who speak English dress in European style. A street scene that never loses interest is a potter at work with his clay. His apparatus is extremely simple — a supply of clay; a stone wheel like a grindstone, turning horizontally on a pivot; and his hands. The clay is placed on the wheel, the wheel is set to revolving, the clay is shaped into a cone, and the molding is done by hand at the apex. It is marvelous to see what varied forms of utensils can be- produced by means so simple, and also how many vessels that appear to be pre- cisely alike can be produced. A plate, a vase, a water bottle, a flower pot, a water jar, a saucer, a cup, and a variety of other things which have no English counterparts are produced with equal ease. One can buy a hundred fair-sized flower pots for 51 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA fifty cents! A completed vessel is cut from the lump of clay by deftly passing a string under it. Another familiar scene is women grinding at the mill. A rude mortar has a stone fitted to it, and one or two women work at the task of grinding. The work must be irksome, and, if long continued, very tiresome. It will not be surprising if we meet a marriage procession during our day in the streets. First comes an Indian band, making music which has to Western ears a very monotonous sound. To the band succeeds an elephant and several camels, if the procession be a large one; but if not both elephant and camels may be lacking. A considerable number of bearers of col- ored banners pass along. The groom, who may be of any age, rides on an elephant, if wealthy; a horse, if less so; or goes on foot, if very poor. If the procession is en route to the bride's house the groom is the center of attraction; if the bride is being taken to the groom's house, she will be present. The bride will probably be veiled. She may be of any age less than fourteen years, 52 DHOBI. 'l SAW A MAN TRYING TO SPLIT A ROCK WITH A SHIRT." — Mark Twain. AMONG TENANT FARMERS MUD HOUSES ARE THE RULE. A DAY IN THE STREETS although a bride is rarely more than twelve years of age and is usually considerably younger than twelve. The Government has made cohabitation before the wife is twelve illegal, but it is exceedingly difficult to con- trol what goes on in a zenana, and many an Indian mother is less than twelve years of age. That body lying on a stretcher and carried by four men is not a sick or injured person being taken to a hospital. It is a Hindu corpse being carried to the marghat (burning place). The body is uncoffined. Few male relatives and no female relatives accompany it to the burning place. The nearest male relative will light the funeral pyre. When the body is burned at one of the two burning places on the banks of the Gumti River, the ashes will be cast into the river; and if the family is too poor to buy enough wood to entirely burn the body the charred remains may be pushed into the river. If the person has died from plague, the body may be pushed along on a truck, because coolies are too much afraid of infection to carry it. A Mohammedan procession will terminate at a Moham- 55 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA medan cemetery, as Mohammedans bury their dead. A Christian will be buried in a rude box made by a local carpenter. No coffins are to be had. A Christian may have a hearse, and a number of ve- hicles may be in the procession. All burials take place within a few hours of death. The climate and the fact that many dwellings consist of a single room, as also the prevalence of malignant types of disease, makes this imperative. Lepers are not segregated from other people, and they roam the streets, begging. Blind and lame persons also seem very numerous. This is partly due to the lack of competent medical aid and partly to the absence of asylums for such persons. Children suffer much from the ignorance and superstition of their parents. I saw one little boy with his left arm hanging limp by his side. Upon inquiry I found that he had fallen from a tree and that his parents, who lived across the street from a good hospital, had neglected to take the child to the doctor until it was too late to help him. 56 A DAY IN THE STREETS Goats and donkeys share the streets with humanity. Such goats! Some of them are almost as tall as the donkeys. They have great ears, eight or ten inches long, and teats from four to six inches long. They are much prized for their milk and also for their flesh. People who have religious scruples against eating beef or pork have none against eating goat meat. Donkeys are miserably small, but col- lectively they do a great amount of work. The man who comes along the street with a donkey laden with a pile of clothes larger than itself is a dJiohi (washerman), and is on his way to the river to wash clothes. If our walk leads us near the river we can see him at work. He stands in the water at the edge of the stream and beats the clothes on a stone or a corrugated board. He actually seems to get the clothes much cleaner than the water in which he washes them. Often a dhohi has a bullock instead of a donkey to carry his clothes to the river. A donkey is frequently accompanied by a colt, somewhat larger than a jack-rabbit, but ridiculously small for a colt. Dogs 57 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA roam the streets In a way to suggest Con- stantinople. Monkeys are frequently seen in the trees or on the roofs of houses. Two of the sports that may be seen are pigeon flying and kite flying. Flocks of pigeons are trained to circle about in the air and then to return to their owner at his call. Two owners meet, send out their pigeons, and then call them in. If a pigeon returns to the wrong man it be- comes his property. Kites are flown to a great height. The game in this sport is to make your own kite string cut that of your opponent. A kite cut from the string is common property. The elite way of capturing such a kite is to cause your own to so circle about it as to entangle the loose string of the wandering kite with your own string. Kite flyers become ex- pert, and on fair days scores and even hundreds of kites may be seen above the city. A rectangular bit of masonry about 7x3 feet in area, and with a rounding ridge in the center, is the tomb of a Moham- medan saint. It may be white or blue in 58 A DAY IN THE STREETS color. Gifts of flowers, fruit, or sweetmeats may be upon it. However much the tomb may be in the way it must not be disturbed. In this land of many gods one is not per- mitted by law to tear down a Moham- medan tomb, throw a hog's head into a mosque, defile a Hindu's stock of sweet- meats by touching it, plow over the grave of a Christian, or in any way offer insult to religious feelings. The justice of such a law is apparent. 59 A DAY IN THE BAZAR A bazar, in India, is a market-place. Dif- ferent bazars are known by the names of the districts in which they are located, as Aminabad Bazar, Chauk Bazar. Such a place would be of considerable interest even though it were merely a place for buying and selling, but it gains a double interest from the fact that it is also a manufacturing district. When an exhibi- tion of manufactured articles from India is made at such a place as a world's expo- sition, the visitors have before them visions of large and well-appointed factories where the articles have been made. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Articles worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars are produced in miserable little shops that could hardly be rented for the meanest huckster's stall in America or Europe. Indian manufactures are a marvel, not because similar articles can not be made 60 A DAY IN THE BAZAR elsewhere, but because of the extreme crudity of the appHances used. Manual dexterity reaches a perfection hardly dreamed of in countries where modern mechanical appliances are in use. Time is plentiful in India. It takes days to produce an article here that might be pro- duced in minutes elsewhere. As a result the Indian manufacturer is likely to be a poor man, because when he comes to sell his product he must compete with machine- made articles, and he is thus in precisely the condition of the hand-weavers of Eng- land at the time of the Industrial Revolu- tion. Now for a visit to the Lucknow hazars! Most of the shops in the hazar have the entire front open to the street. At night the folding doors are drawn together and secured with, a stout padlock. A shop is usually but a few feet wide, and the stock rarely occupies more than the ground floor. Three sides of such shops as deal in toys, cloth, or such articles as can be similarly stowed away, are covered with shelves from top to bottom. A shop is usually 61 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA crowded to its utmost capacity, but the keeper has a singular faculty of being able to lay his hand on any article in his shop at any moment. Intersecting alleys are rare, long lines of shops being side by side in an unbroken row. A surprising number of shopkeepers know a little English, and those who know none are adepts at inter- preting the most broken Hindustani. A white visitor is usually given a stool or chair on which to sit. First we shall visit a tailor shop. As we enter, the proprietors rise and stand ready to be of service. If our wants are not immediately stated, chairs are pro- vided for us. It is an advantage to have a lady in the party, because it will take the display of a great deal of goods to satisfy her curiosity or to enable her to select the materials for a new dress. The shelves rise to the low ceiling on three sides of the shop. We shall really find here, what our home dealers always profess to have, good goods at low prices. The price paid for clothing will be the resultant of a number of forces, among them are the original cost 62 A DAY IN THE BAZAR of the goods, the astuteness of the seller, and the generosity of the buyer. Very few shops have one fixed price. I did not men- tion the astuteness of the proprietor as a factor in determining price, because I named variable factors; while the astute- ness of an Indian shop-keeper is a constant factor. We ask how much a suit of a given material will cost, and the proprietor, having previously formed some conception of our financial condition and of our greater or less experience in the East, names a certain sum. If we have neglected to inquire from an experienced European or a reliable Indian acquaintance what the price should be, we may pay what is asked, congratulating ourselves that we are getting the article much cheaper than at home; but if the price asked has been based upon our evident newness in India, we can prob- ably get the suit for from two-thirds to one-half of the price asked. A shop-keeper will never sell below cost. He may sell at any figure above cost that he can secure. Good trousers of stout white drill can be had, made to order, for from three to three 63 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA and one-half rupees per pair. White flannel trousers may cost ten rupees ($3.33^) per pair. These prices are for white persons not in governmental service. There is one price for well-paid government servants, another for missionaries, another for Eura- sians, and another for Indians. There are also minor gradations, such as between an ordinary preacher and a bishop, or between an Indian with a sola topee (pith helmet worn by Europeans, Eurasians, and Angli- cized Indians, and necessary to protect Europeans from the effect of the sun) and an Indian with a pagri (turban worn by Indian men). This method of fixing prices is not confined to either tailor shops or India. It is Oriental. I have encountered it in Japan, China, Hongkong, and in the Straits Settlements as well as here in India. If a purchaser offers a shop-keeper in any of these places a fair price for his goods it is likely to be quietly accepted, but if by offering a very high price he betrays ignorance of local values a great cry for more money at once ensues. A favorite trick is for the shop-keeper to be out of 64 A DAY IN THE BAZAR change; but if the customer merely starts away without paying, the change will soon be found either in the shop where the purchase is made or in an adjoining one. Another kind of cloth shop is the place where chikan work is manufactured and sold. This is embroidery and drawn work. It is a delight to see the workmen make the intricate and beautiful patterns all by hand. In embroidery, threads of real gold and silver are often used, and the workman in a mean little shop may be seen spinning his own threads from the minute films of gold and silver. The cheapness of the articles offered for sale is not the result of poor work or of poor materials, but rather of a skill that can use threads of such fine- ness that but little of the precious metals is actually used. Goldsmiths and silversmiths also ply their trades in the bazar. A large variety of articles is made from beaten gold or silver. A silver cobra stares at you from the counter. Silver goblets, lined with gold; silver bracelets, silver card trays, silver jewelry of all kinds; gold watch chains, 5 65 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA gold cuff buttons, golden trays, are seen in abundance. The work shop is a scene of much interest as the skilled workmen beat and bend and twist the articles into shape. A large shop may have foot rests, chairs, and even tables made of gold or silver. When an Indian raja (nobleman) goes forth to shop he may pay many thousands of dollars for one piece of furniture. India is miserably poor, but she has some ex- tremely wealthy men, and probably no country in the world could make a more extensive showing of gold, silver, and precious stones. The display in the fine arts building at the United Provinces Exposition in Allahabad in the winter of 1910-1911 looked like a scene from the Arabian Nights; and some of the mag- nificent exhibits came from the obscure shops in the narrow streets of the Chauk Bazar in Lucknow. An inlayer's shop has men at work at inlaying precious stones, ivory, rare woods, gold, silver, and, in fact, the whole cate- gory of materials that are useful for the purpose. After visiting a good shop of 66 A DAY IN THE BAZAR this sort, the fact that the Taj Mahal, that crowning glory of all inlaid work, is situ- ated in India seems eminently appropriate. Much of the work shows by its patterns and the blending of colors that the work- men have a truly artistic sense. Carving is common. The most inter- esting is the carving in ivory, because here the material is of such a character as to make the product exceedingly val- uable. Carving in wood is of a great vari- ety of patterns. God-carving is a flourish- ing industry. One wonders that when the Indians are capable of conceiving such beautiful objects as are often displayed in their shops, they should make such hideous idols as many of them are. Gods are usually of wood or stone. Stamping cloth by hand is a separate business. Fast colors are used. Dies are made on wood, and these are dipped into the coloring matter and then pressed upon the cloth. Weaving is done by hand. I remember coming upon a shop where a large rug, of a complicated design involving many colors, 67 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA was being woven. Behind the rude frame stood four weavers — two men and two mere boys — handUng what seemed to me to be a hopelessly tangled maze of threads of various colors and swiftly forming from these threads the desired design without a flaw. I thought then, as I think still, that when India comes to put into the operation of modern machinery the skill that she now puts into handicrafts she will be a really great manufacturing nation. When that time will come, I do not presume to say. A cabinet maker delights in making first-class products from very unpromising material. With the most meager appliances a broad board one inch thick can be sawed into two half-inch boards, even though the width be a foot or more. A long board can be ripped into narrow strips with great accuracy. Boards of irregular thickness will be planed to perfect uniformity. None of these results would be worth mentioning if it were not for the skill shown in the use of a few very rude tools. It is this, after all, that constitutes the charm of Indian industrial life for the observer. 68 A DAY IN THE BAZAR Our day in the bazar is too short to permit a protracted visit to a typical shop of each kind. What we have seen will enable us to understand that basket weav- ers, chair makers, chik (bamboo screen) makers, brass workers, makers of arti- ficial flowers, shoe makers, iron workers are alike in using rude means to produce good results. A baker makes chapatis (flat, unleav- ened cakes) in the following fashion. He takes a little bit of dough, flattens it on a stone, deftly passes it quickly from one hand to the other with such a motion as to make it continually thinner and thinner, and when it is thin enough he suddenly claps it onto the inner side of an oven shaped like a wide-mouthed earthen jar, the cake adhering to the inside of the oven at the bottom of which is a fire of coals. The process goes on like clock work, and a baker who lets a chapati fall on the coals at the bottom of the oven — apparently the only natural thing to do — would feel disgraced. Mithai (candy) makers also ply their trade in the open. Indian mithai 69 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA is fried in ghi (clarified butter). Ghi is used instead of lard, because both Moham- medans and Hindus use ghi, although neither use lard. It is rare for Europeans to buy mithai in the bazars unless they have seen it made and know that it is fresh and clean. Candy shops are a per- fect paradise for flies, and one wonders whether Indians are germ-proof or whether a part of the awful mortality in India is due to the general neglect of the most fundamental of sanitary laws. Any one who likes ghi is likely to relish Indian mithai, for a ghi taste is found in varying degrees in almost all of the several kinds of candy. I like the candy quite well, as the omnivorous characteristic of boyhood has persisted in me. Fruit shops are usually distinct from mithai shops. India has a considerable variety of fruits, but a description of these kinds that are distinctively Indian would probably be tedious. Of fruits common in America and Europe, Lucknow and its suburbs grow limes, lemons, musk melons (or at least a near relative), and bananas; 70 A DAY IN THE BAZAR while apples, peaches, pears, cherries, apri- cots, plums, and grapes are brought from the Himalayan region, and tropical fruits from Southern India. These, with the distinctively Indian fruits, some of which are delicious, furnish a good supply. One of the largest vegetable markets in Lucknow is situated at the entrance to the Chauk Bazar. Here, every morning, congregate the representatives from the various truck gardens in and about the city. Most of the vegetables are carried to market in great baskets placed on the head of the owner or on that of his servant; but sometimes loads of cauliflower will be brought to market on a truck pushed and pulled by from two to four men. Vege- tables are placed in piles on the ground. The tendency to use everything usable — a tendency exemplified on every hand in India — is seen here in the heaps of Irish potatoes. Some of them are scarcely larger than peas. These small potatoes are used by the Indians in the making of curries. I have never seen a market with ice to keep vegetables cool, nor with screens to 71 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA keep out the flies. Even meat markets are without these things. Purchasers soon learn to go to market early in the morning. The bird market is a lively place. The birds are confined in cages of wicker work. Such small animals as are used for pets are also offered for sale here. Dealers carry their live stock to the market each morning and return to their home with whatever remains unsold in the evening. 72 A DAY IN THE COUNTRY Our day in the country naturally begins with the truck gardens in the suburbs of Lucknow. The most striking thing about them is the method of their irrigation. Such gardens as border the Gumti River, as many of them do, are irrigated from that river with a very simple contrivance. Sweeps, like the old-fashioned well-sweeps with a bucket hanging by a rope to one end of the sweep and a weight attached to the other end, are placed along the river banks, and with these all the water needed for irrigation is raised. Men furnish the motive power. Truck gardens are well irrigated by this laborious method. The gardens themselves are kept almost absolutely free from weeds. When I first visited them, in the early part of April, the chief crops I noticed were onions, some of which had 73 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA already produced seed; a vine producing a fruit much like a cucumber, and serving the same purpose; wheat, which was being harvested; and Irish potatoes. Potatoes were being dug with an instrument re- sembling a chisel. No potatoes were too small to be used. An Indian friend of mine has a truck garden of some three acres, and from him I learn that he pays his laborers three annas (six cents) per day. This rate is a common one, although in some parts of India even lower wages are paid. Leaving behind us the truck gardens, we come into the country proper. India is pre-eminently a land of villages. Isolated farm houses are rarely seen. A group of families collects in a village and men and women and. children go out from it every morning to their work in the fields. There are other reasons than mere love of com- panionship for this grouping of families. One well may suffice for an entire village. One priest, one grain dealer, one chamar (leather worker), one blacksmith, one mid- wife is sufficient. Another striking thing 74 A DAY IN THE COUNTRY seen on a visit to the country is the small size of the land holdings. India is a country of great estates, but these great estates are divided into holdings so small that in some entire provinces the average is less than three acres. This minute par- celing of the land makes it expedient to group dwellings rather than to have a dwelling on each little holding. Among tenant farmers — and almost all farmers are tenants — mud houses are the rule. Whole villages have no other kind of dwelling. These houses are of one low story. Their roofs are usually of a thatch made of the long jungle grass. Windows are almost always lacking, and usually there is but one door. The poverty of many of the dwellings is abject. Life is reduced to absolutely its lowest terms. Many a dwelling has no bed, no chairs, no tables, no stove, no floor except the earth, no carpet — absolutely no furniture except one or two cooking utensils and at least one vessel for holding water. At public auction a family's furniture might bring one rupee (33% cents). The dish in which 75 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA food is cooked Is the dish from which it is eaten. A chapati (an unleavened cake of meal) takes the place of a spoon, if anything requiring the substitute for a spoon is eaten, a bit of chapati being folded about the other food. Chapatis are the chief food of the poor. A bishop tells of being entertained in a poor home, and of being given a dried leaf of a tree to serve as a plate. Wives do not eat with their hus- bands, but cook the husband's food first, and their own afterwards. Cooking is usually done in the open air during fine weather, but in the stormy weather a fire is built on the ground which serves as the floor of the house, the smoke escaping — if it escapes at all — through either the door- way or the thatched roof. The fuel is commonly dried cow's dung, kneaded into cakes with a little straw or chaff when fresh. Little mounds of this fuel are built and coated over with mud during the dry season, to use during the wet season. There is much sufl"ering from the cold in winter. Food, fuel, clothing, and shelter are all so scarce that many of the poor shiver and 76 A DAY IN THE COUNTRY die from diseases induced by exposure to the cold. Over and over, when I have gone for a walk dressed in a heavy woolen suit, heavy underwear, and a heavy overcoat, I have met peasants clad in the thinnest kind of a loin cloth, and with absolutely no other clothing. Rent is high. After paying the govern- ment tax and the landlord's rent the peas- ant frequently finds it impossible to live, even in the fashion that I have described, on what remains. He then has recourse to the village grain dealer, who loans grain to him at a ruinous rate of interest. The normal condition of thousands of culti- vators is that of being hopelessly in debt. It would be thought that in so wretched a state of poverty a man would be con- sistently economical. There is, however, one conspicuous extravagance among all classes of India, and that is the wedding ceremonies. Every wedding must have its paid musicians and banner carriers, and also its protracted feast, not to mention the dowry. A man in well-to-do circum- stances may pay off the debt contracted 77 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA at his daughter's wedding in a few years, but a poor man may never pay his debt. A poor wedding is a miserable show, with its dirty and ragged musicians and banner carriers; but when the expense of even the cheapest wedding is measured in terms of the father's daily earnings it is simply tremendous. Bridegrooms of different types command different prices. A few years ago a father came to a leading Indian college and asked for a list of the men students of a certain caste. He was given the list, and upon being asked why he wished it he said that he had a daughter eleven years of age who must be married within a year, and that he was willing to give 25,000 rupees {$S,333y3) to a man with the degree of Bachelor of Arts who would marry her. Education, family re- lationships, and social standing are de- termining factors in the price paid for a bridegroom. Division of labor is carried on to a consid- erable extent even on an Indian farm. Each village must have a chamar (leather worker) , whose business it is to furnish the leather 78 A DAY IN THE COUNTRY bags for drawing and carrying water, to mend harness, and to provide whips. There must also be a blacksmith, a potter, and a priest. One of the functions of the priest is to light the fire at the time of the cele- bration of the Holi festival — an annual Hindu festival. All of these men are or- dinarily paid so much by each family per year, payment being in grain. When grain is reaped, the farmer must apportion to each man his respective share of the crop. Small grains, among which wheat is the chief but by no means the only one, are the leading crop grown in this part of India. A team of bullocks and a rude plow are used in preparing the ground for sow- ing. The ground is plowed over and over until the soil is in good condition. Sowing is sometimes done by the plowman making a very shallow furrow with his plow, his wife or daughter following after him and drilling the wheat into the furrow by hand and the seed being covered by the plow as it makes the next furrow. The ripe grain is cut with a hand sickle, and threshed by flailing or by trampling with 79 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA bullocks. I have never seen either a horse or a cow used as a work animal on a farm. Bullocks, or else male buffaloes, are used. Irrigation from wells is much in vogue. In such irrigation, bullocks are used in drawing the water from the wells. From the mouth of the well an inclined plane is constructed. • It slopes downward from the mouth of the well, being made by dig- ging a broad trench which increases in depth as the distance from the well in- creases, and being longer or shorter accord- ing as the well is deep or shallow. A rope is fastened to a great leather bucket and run over a wheel above the well, the bullocks being hitched to the other end of the rope. This method of irrigation re- quires numerous wells. Very few of the cultivators are literate, and this makes it difficult to introduce improved methods. An unusually intelli- gent and well-educated Bengali has a farm near Lucknow, which h^ runs by modern methods. He receives each month the bulletin of the New York Department of 80 A DAY IN THE COUNTRY Agriculture. His experience has been that his neighbors are apathetic in regard to any improvement, even though a clear demon- stration is before them. A novel harvest in the country is that of the very tall, coarse grass that is used in making grass houses and thatched roofs. The grass is cut near to the ground, and is subsequently graded according to length. Grass houses can be quickly and cheaply erected. People take refuge in them when the plague is raging. Country people are frequently panic-stricken when plague is prevalent, and they move from place to place in a vain search for a place of safety. When the census of 1911 was taken, the country people felt sure that the Govern- ment was counting them in order to de- termine how many should be killed by the plague. As a proof it was pointed out that very few Europeans died from plague. It was also thought that the Government was determined to drive Hindus and Mo- hammedans to become Christians, because few Christians died from plague. In gen- eral Christians live in more hygienic con- 6 81 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA editions than non-Christians of the same social stratum. Hindus have strict scruples against the taking of life. A consequence is that birds and animals are sometimes a source of much annoyance and considerable damage in farming districts. I have sometimes wondered whether the great flocks of crows that invaded newly-sown wheat fields would leave any seed in the ground. Farmers put up four bamboo poles and erect on them a platform at a considerable distance from the ground. These platforms are used by vigilant watchmen at critical times in the life of a crop. Both the danger of malaria and the danger from wild animals make it expedient to have the platform at a con- siderable height above the ground. A large number of peasants are killed each year by wild animals. Another danger which is ever present in many parts of India is that of snake bite. The cobra and the karait are snakes whose bite is almost al- ways fatal. Their names are synonyms of horror. Even in the great city of Luck- now careful persons will never step out of 82 A DAY IN THE COUNTRY bed in the dark without first striking a match to see whether a snake is on the floor — unless, indeed, a hght be kept con- stantly burning. A missionary in an out- lying station killed thirty-one cobras in thirty days, and that merely in the course of his ordinary work. The poor peasants go barefooted, sleep on the floor, and must often go where the grass and weeds grow thick. It is no wonder that their fear of snakes is an omnipresent one. A mon- goose — an animal like a weasel, but larger — will fight, and almost invariably kill, a snake if the mongoose is itself in danger; but the idea that these animals will hunt snakes and will soon rid a locality of them is false. The most dangerous of the larger animals are the tiger and the leopard. Elephants kill a few people, but very few in comparison with the animals just named. Goats and chickens are an accompani- ment of a farm. Geese and ducks are hardly so common. Peacocks and pheasants are frequently found in a wild state. Swine are seen in many places. It is easy to abstain from eating pork in India after one S3 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA has seen a drove of Indian hogs. They resemble the worst of the proverbial razor backs of the United States. A fat hog seems never to have been thought of. I suppose they stand the heat well, certainly no surplus fat makes them suffer. 84 A DAY WITH MY STUDENTS One who comes from America to teach in any Indian college is at first struck by those things that differ from that to which he has been accustomed. The costumes of the students range from pure Indian to European. The covering for the head is the most distinctive article of dress. My Hindu students usually wear a small, round, bill-less cap; Mohammedans almost always wear a taller, scarlet cap; and Christians may wear any kind of head-dress in vogue in India. Solah topies (pith helmets) are frequently worn by Christians and much less frequently by non-Christians. A Chris- tian who wears a high red cap is almost invariably of Mohammedan descent. The assumption of the solah topie by Indian Christians is for social and economic rea- sons, as is shown by the fact that many Indian Christians do not wear either it or 85 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA any other protection from the fierce heat of an Indian summer. A very few students wear the pagri — a turban made by winding a single, very long strip of cloth about the head. It requires some time to skillfully construct such a head-dress, but when once constructed it must constitute quite an efficient protection from the cold of winter. The wearing of the dhoti, instead of trousers, is not rare. This garment, like a pagri, is made from one long strip of cloth; by winding it first about the waist, then about the legs, and fastening it at the waist behind. The greater part of the legs is left bare. A rather common type of Indian trousers is made to fasten with a drawstring at the waist, is wide at the hips, and so extremely narrow at the ankles and the lower part of the legs that the wearer looks as if he had been molded into them. A very long coat, made with a collar like an outing shirt, and worn with- out a shirt, is much worn. An occasional student wears a long scarf thrown over one shoulder and brought beneath the arm on the other side, thus giving the wearer a REID CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. STUDENTS IN CHAPEL. A DAY WITH MY STUDENTS decidedly Grecian aspect as he strolls along the wide veranda. Low shoes, frequently tennis shoes, are worn. Stockings are among the luxuries rather than essentials. Handkerchiefs are commonly absent — con- spicuously so during the winter months, when during one recitation as many as half-a-dozen students may quietly get from their seat, step to the veranda upon which all class rooms open, and either spit or blow their noses with most audible vigor. A teacher soon learns not to be annoyed by the process, but rather to be thankful that the veranda, instead of the room, is made the scene of action. Christians re- move their hats when in the class room, but non-Christians may or may not do so, as it is not considered impolite for them to remain covered. What has really hap- pened is that Mohammedans and Hindus have adopted the Christian custom of wear- ing shoes within doors, without adopting the custom of uncovering the head. It is a common rule among Indian Christian men that either the head or the feet should be uncovered when within doors — the 89 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA former if European dress is worn, and the latter if Indian dress is retained. An Indian shoe is so made that it is rather easier to take it off than it is to keep it on. Overcoats are but little worn. Many of the students are so poor that they suffer terribly during the vdnter from lack of clothing. This leads me to speak of the health of the students. The health of Indian college students is far below the American standard. It is not strange that this should be so when one considers the conditions in which they live. Vegetarians from principle, and in- sufficiently fed and scantily clothed from poverty, the students have little oppor- tunity to fortify themselves against disease. Dwellings are often unhygienic to the last degree, being deficient in air, light, cleanliness, and in heating facilities for the winter season and cooling facilities for the summer. A student comes to school at half past ten o'clock and remains until after four o'clock without a bite to eat. I have often wondered how the hungry, shivering students could do as good work 90 A DAY WITH MY STUDENTS as many of them do. There is a university regulation requiring each student to be in attendance at as many as three-fourths of the recitations during the school year — a margin for absence unheard of in America • — and yet it is not infrequent for an am- bitious and conscientious student to be ill so much of the time that he fails to make the required attendance. Colds, fevers, stomach, and bowel troubles play havoc. During the matriculation examina- tion of 1911 two students wrote in spite of fever — one of them with a temperature of 103° F., and with a supply of ice water at his side. Repeatedly students have come to me and asked to be allowed to go home, as they were suffering from fever, and usually their appearance has fully confirmed the statement. To the reasons already given for poor health may be added the fact that many students are, from a physical standpoint, poorly born. I once asked a mature student whether girls who were physically weak or de- formed were married. He replied that they were, their fathers marrying them 91 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA to some one who had never seen them. Men, also, who are so weakly that they ought not to marry, do not consider their health a bar to matrimony. Add to this the prevalence of child marriage and it at once becomes evident that many an Indian begins life with a lamentably de- ficient supply of vitality. Indian students are respectful, diligent, and capable of doing good work. They are severely handicapped by having to do their work in a language foreign to them. This may explain to some extent the fact, which soon becomes apparent, that they depend to a great extent upon compen- diums and upon teachers' notes. When a new text-book is adopted, straightway some Indian teacher publishes a digest of it, and all the students use the digest instead of the text-book. Occasionally a digest of a digest is issued. An Indian student ac- complishes great feats of memory, but he is often lacking in assimilation. Amazed at the number of dates given in a certain history test, I counted the numbers in the two papers. One man had given thirty- 92 A DAY WITH MY STUDENTS three dates and the other thirty-five, and had given them correctly. In a hst of questions involving both memory and rea- son, an Indian student would be likely to excel in the former and an American stu- dent in the latter. The conclusion that no Indian students are thinkers would be in- correct, but the general tendency is as above stated. The diligence of the students is such that health is frequently sacrificed to ambition. A custom that is curious to a newcomer is that of allowing students to have from four to eight weeks' vacation before the university examinations in order to allow them to review their work. This time is spent in such close application to work, so far as the expenditure of hours per day is concerned, that a student runs a very great risk of coming to the examina- tion in so nervous and exhausted a state that he is foredoomed to failure. Students would learn much more by applying them- selves more intensely in their work for fewer hours; but this is a difficult thing for them to comprehend. Orientals are proverbially respectful, and discipline in the class room 93 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA is practically unnecessary. Students rise when either the teacher or a visitor enters. Indian college alumni occupy a social position far more important than do col- lege alumni in Western countries. In India education is at once very rare and very much esteemed. The learned pro- fessions occupy a position in the social scale comparable to that accorded to the ministry in New England in colonial days. Our alumni go out to be lawyers, physi- cians, teachers, ministers, or government servants, and as such they are influential. Unfortunately a business career has not yet gained such social prestige as to make it attractive to college men. The influence of the caste system on the social standing of manual laborers seems closely parallel to that of slavery. Most non-Christian college students are married. Marriage in India is not con- comitant with cohabitation, but a public school boy may have from one to three or more children. It is not regarded as good form to ask an Indian about his wife or daughters, but I have frequently talked 94 I'M' REV. J. R. CHITAMBAR, PRINCIPAL OF OUR HIGH SCHOOL, AND HIS WIFE. OUR ALUMNI GO OUT TO BE LAWYERS, PHYSICIANS, TEACHERS, MINISTERS. m CHRISTIAN HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS WITH THEIR Y. M. C A. LEADERS. A DAY WITH MY STUDENTS with my students on the subject. Many a married student fully realizes the evils of child marriages, but he has come to that realization after his own marriage had been arranged for him. My heart has ached for a man as he told me that child mar- riages resulted in loveless homes, incom- patability of temperament of husband and wife, impossibility of intellectual compan- ionship, and that these conditions were reflected in the character of the children; while I knew, and he knew that I knew, that his own life was bhghted by just such a case as he described. Cases are known where a boy has been wise enough to beg his parents to leave him unmarried until his education was completed; where a married man has persistently deferred co- habitation with his wife; or even where a man has refused to accept the wife pro- vided for him, and his parents have been compelled to seek another for him; but such cases are exceedingly few, and I know of no case where a non-Christian student has chosen his own wife. If a non-Chris- tian delays his marriage contract, it means 7 97 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA that he must marry a girl much younger than himself, because no non-Christian Indian bride in good social standing should be over twelve years of age, whatever the age of the bridegroom may be. Such a marriage system effectually precludes the higher education of non-Christian Indian women, unless they attend school after their marriage. Non-Christian students never appear in public with their wives. Many students announced their determina- tion to educate their daughters, and occa- sionally a student declares his intention of sending his wife to school. Christians do not practice child marriage and some of the Christian women are as intellectual and as happy and as competent in their homes as are the Christian women of America. Widow re-marriage is also practiced among Indian Christians. Students are genuinely affectionate if teachers are so. So true is this that care needs to be exercised to keep students from giving to the teacher presents that the student can ill afford to buy. On more than one occasion I have seen a student 98 MISSION SCHOOL BOYS IN ALMORA. TOPEE (SEE PAGE 64) IN FOREGROUND. PICNIC GROUP OF MISSIONARIES AT ALMORA. A DAY WITH MY STUDENTS on his birthday come to the residence of his various teachers, followed by a coolie or servant carrying a large basket filled with fruit and sweetmeats, and present the con- tents to his teachers. Two Hindu students gave an elaborate Indian dinner to the entire faculty upon the occasion of the departure of the principal of the school upon a prolonged leave of absence. Some- times it is deemed best to decline to receive presents from students for fear their affec- tion may outrun their purse. It is un- doubtedly true that in some cases the present is intended as a bribe. To many an Indian absolute honesty is inconceivable. I am inclined to believe that in most cases the presents are given from no base motive. Careful watch is kept over students during examinations. Almost every year, in the university examinations, one or more students are caught cheating, although it is well known that one so caught is at once debarred from further examination during that year, and may be debarred for two years thereafter. A Hindu student was called home to 101 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA perform religious rites in connection with the birth of his second child. Upon his return he explained to me the cause and the character of the rites. As soon as the child was born a priest was called in to cast the horoscope. The horoscope was not propitious, and to counteract it the prescribed rites were performed. The twenty-seventh day after the birth of the child was set by the priest as the time for the ceremonies. As the father was away from home at the time of the birth, he had not seen his child. He reached home in the evening, but he was compelled to re- main outside of the house until morning, because his first introduction to the child must be seeing the reflection of its face in a dish of oil. When morning came the father entered the house, his father brought a dish of oil, the mother of the child held the infant at the side of its father's head in such a position that the child's face was reflected in the oil; then for the first time the father could look upon the child's face. Another ceremony was for the father and mother of the child to sit side by side with 102 A DAY WITH MY STUDENTS the child in its mother's lap while the father's father held above them a specially prepared earthen jar, with twenty-seven holes — one for each day of the child's life — and gave them a bath. Another ceremony was the building of a fire in the room in which the child was born and burning on it ghi, sugar, and various other odoriferous substances. Twenty-seven Brahmans — again one for each day of the child's life — were given a feast. The only thing that saved the father of the child from having to banquet all the men of his caste in his village was the prevalence of the plague. The ceremonies cost two hundred rupees — the wages of a coolie for eight hundred days, or of an agricultural laborer for 1,066/^ days — and the father was a poor man. Students are frequently apt critics of the social and economic conditions of India, sometimes of religious conditions also. From time to time some student is found who has the courage of his convic- tions — a degree of courage that it is difficult for a Westerner who has never been here 103 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA to appreciate. It means courage to be cast out utterly by relatives and friends. The man who was himself a disciple, but secretly for fear of the Jews, has many a counterpart here; and many an Indian Christian takes up daily a cross of such weight as to command our profound respect. 104 A DAY AT THE NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE It is interesting for one who is new in India, and who has seen Hfe in the streets, bazars, melas, and the country districts, to have an opportunity to see some of the effects of Christianity in India. Such an opportunity came to me when the North India Conference of the Methodist Epis- copal Church met in annual session in Lucknow in January, 1911. A first view of the Conference in session shows that its personnel is largely Indian. The few American missionaries who are members of the Conference are almost all in positions where the work is chiefly ad- ministrative — a bishop, several district su- perintendents, and heads of educational institutions. Not all administrative work is done by Americans. Some district super- intendents are Indian, and the head masters of several schools are Indian. 105 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA The district superintendents were called upon one by one to give their reports. Among many other peculiarities was the size of their districts. So few are the workers in comparison to the work to be done that to one man is assigned the supervision over a district comparable in size to some of the American districts of pioneer days. There are other points of resemblance between the two. For ex- ample, the methods of travel, and the facili- ties for securing lodging when en route from one portion of the district to another are not better than in American pioneer days. Many a story of cumbersome bullock cart, swollen stream, miserable road, and disagreeable lodging can still be told by these hardy laborers, who become so ac- customed to the heroic that it seems com- monplace. I believe that the sacrifices of missionary life, which occupy a large place in the thought of Christians in America, occupy a very small place in the minds of the missionaries themselves. Some of the superintendents' reports had the clarion note of victory while others were less en- 106 EPWORTH, ALMORA. the deodars, almora. woman's foreign missionary society rest home. NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE couraging, but none were disheartening. A considerable increase in the number of Christians was shown. Conversions during the year had been from many castes. It is not true, as is sometimes beheved, that in India only outcasts and members of the lowest castes accept Christianity. Through the whole range from the proud Brahman to the meanest out-caste the gospel has won its devotees. It is true, here as elsewhere, that the wealthy and those in the highest social positions do not so readily accept Christianity as do the poor. The centuries have not bulged the needle's eye. Need for more money for the work is an ever-present one. India has so many millions of people that villages are num- bered by the multiplied thousands, and even within the borders of districts nomi- nally occupied by missionary forces there are many villages where the gospel is never preached, and many others where it is preached so irregularly as to give little opportunity to conserve results. When a small group of converts, surrounded by a perfect sea of heathen humanity, including 109 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA in many cases the relatives of the converts, is left without a capable pastor it is small wonder if they fail to grasp in its entirety the teaching of the Bible. There is need here for smaller pastorates than in Chris- tian lands, but of necessity Indian pastor- ates are enormously large. Some of the Indian Churches are self-supporting, and when one considers the awful poverty that is so prevalent, the wonder is not that some Churches are not self-supporting, but that any of them have succeeded in rising to such a position. Many of the Indian ministers work on a salary that is the merest pittance, and that is far less than the same men could secure in other pro- fessions. Both these Indian men and their American and English colleagues prefer low salaries to a restriction of the field of labor. A little money is made to do a great amount of work. Some topics that were discussed in the conference brought one face to face with conditions distinctively Indian. One such question was in regard to the use of the individual communion cup. Any one who 110 NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE has watched the trend in the rehgious world during the last few years knows that the individual cup has been adopted in many places for various reasons, chiefly hygienic. It is evident that any hygienic reasons for abandoning the common cup elsewhere than in India would be intensi- fied here, because the physical conditions and the educational status are such that epidemic and infectious diseases are far more prevalent than in Western countries. So great is the fear of contagion that per- sons sometimes abstain from communion merely for this reason. Still the question of adopting the individual cup in India is a burning one. This is but one of the manifold results of the caste system. When Indian Christians drink from the same cup their caste is broken, hence there are ardent advocates of the common cup. Those who favor the adoption of the individual cup declare that here are abundant other opportunities for breaking caste, without resorting to a practice so manifestly un- hygienic. Another question concerning, communion was raised when one of the 111 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA Indian district superintendents reported that he did not administer the sacrament to his probationers, but only to his full members. He contended that the purpose and the effect of the practice was to make such a distinction between the two classes of members that probationers were anxious to become full members. His opponents declared the discrimination to be unjustified. An evangelist was appointed by the conference. His work seems to be emi- nently successful, as the reports of his vari- ous meetings are invariably enthusiastic. The Rev. Mr. Buck, who visited the con- ference, gave an address in which he de- scribed his remarkable work among the chamars (leather workers). He has had what amounts to a mass movement among them. Although persons coming from all castes intermingle in the same congregation, it is manifestly easier for a man or woman to leave Hinduism and embrace Chris- tianity if many of their own caste in the same neighborhood have done so. It is easy to say glibly that a person should have the courage of his convictions, but 112 NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE when I consider that young men in Chris- tian countries refuse to become Christians for fear of the ridicule of their friends, I find myself with a vast amount of charity for the young Hindu who is called upon to turn his back upon home, friends, rela- tives, fortune — to give up all for his belief. I know an Indian Christian, who was formerly a Brahman, who, when he be- came a Christian, had his wife taken from him, and was himself so severely treated by his relatives that his hair turned gray in a single night. He remained steadfast, succeeded in rejoining his wife, and they began life anew with but a few cents in their possession. From such material a steadfast Church is made. Men of such conviction make fine evangelists. Indi- vidual Indian preachers have won hun- dreds and even thousands from Hinduism and Mohammedanism to Christianity. Reports made by the heads of the various educational institutions supported by the Church showed a wide range of work. Several industrial orphanages, a theological seminary, a college for women, 8 113 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA and a college for men were included in the list. There is special need for educational work, because India has no compulsory education law and school facilities are slight indeed in comparison to those in Western countries. If the educational work of the mission schools is to be judged by its re- sults, its existence would seem to be abun- dantly justified. Even the objection that a large number of non-Christians should not be educated in Christian schools does not seem to be well founded. It is an easily observed fact that non-Christians who are educated in mission schools are rarely hostile to mission work. The years spent under Christian influence make them much less averse to placing their children under such influence, and it will be easier to reach succeeding generations. From the Isabella Thoburn College, the first college for women in India, go out well-trained women who fill a most important place as teachers, physicians, evangelists, or as the wives of such. Considering the centuries of illit- eracy of Indian women, one wonders at the mental aptitude of these young women. 114 NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE They take exactly the same examinations as do the men, and their average scholar- ship is higher than that of the men, although it is only fair to remark that the propor- tion of women who are educated is much less than that of the men. The ordination service was a most im- pressive one. After a sermon by Bishop McDowell on the text, ''Hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father," fourteen men were solemnly set apart to the ministry of the Word by the laying on of hands by Bishop Warne. Thirteen of the men were Indians and one was a young American missionary. Mrs. Parker, for fifty-one years a missionary in India, and actively at work with few signs of feebleness and none of childishness, cordially greeted the young men as they entered into the work in which she and her husband, Bishop Parker, were pioneers so many years ago. A memorial service was held for the members of the conference who had died since the last session. There were four such : three veteran missionaries — Mrs. Wilson, 115 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA Dr. Waugh, and Dr. Humphrey; and the wife of an Indian minister, Mrs. Kidder. As those who had known the deceased told of their labors it was easy to realize the blessedness of a life of service. Still another impressive service was the laying of the corner stone of the Lilavati Singh Memorial Building of the Isabella Thoburn College. India has furnished to the world a number of Christian women of the noblest type, and among them is the late Lilavati Singh. A race that can produce such a woman is worth saving, and a religion that can produce such a woman can save a race. Isabella Thoburn lived in Lilavati Singh, and the building of which the corner stone was laid by Mrs. McDowell is dedicated to the high purpose of develop- ing other such lives. No one capable of expressing an opinion on the subject would declare that the Indian Christian Church has no faults and no crudities. On the other hand, no one who knows Indian heathenism and Indian Christianity would declare that India does not need Christianity. The problems that 116 NORTH INDIA CONFERENCE confront the Church are tremendous. They are not impossible of solution. No force in the world can exert so much of a leavening power as Christianity is exerting in India without having its critics — and its stanch supporters. American and European Chris- tians who have put their money into Chris- tian missions in India have no cause to regret their investment. If they could spend a day at an Indian conference they would go home with an inspiration for yet greater efforts. 117 THREE DAYS OF TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS At fifteen minutes after nine o'clock on the night of the first of May, 1911, my wife, my colleague, Professor Henry, and myself left Lucknow, where we had been sweltering in a temperature of 109° F. in the shade and 157° F. in the sun's rays, for Almora, in the foothills of the Hima- layas. Our departure was picturesque, al- though it was typical of India. We rolled up to the station in two garis, not because there is not room in one gari for three persons nor yet because our homes were far apart, but because our baggage could not be accommodated upon and within one gari. My wife and I had two big rolls of bedding, two steel trunks, a tiffin (food) box, a bread box made of a Standard oil can, a paper bag containing two hats and a cap, two umbrellas, a handbag, a surahi^ full of water, and a second and * Stone water bottle. 118 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS smaller tiffin box; while Professor Henry had ten different articles of baggage, in addition to such things as a camera, a canteen, and several stout sticks for moun- tain climbing, which he carried either slung over his shoulder or in his hands. A gari is a closed, two-seated vehicle, with the seats facing each other. It is built for four adults, but will accommodate more, if they are of good disposition. Its stout top will carry a large amount of luggage, but there is a limit. Two men accompany each gari. One drives while the other stands at the back of the vehicle and sees that none of the numerous articles of baggage roll off. He also assists in loading and unloading. We had come a distance of three miles in the gari, and the regular fare was twelve annas*, but when our baggage had been unloaded and I offered the driver his pay he insisted on receiving one rupee. I went to the ticket window, changed a rupee, and paid the twelve *Four pice=one anna. i6 annas=one rupee. In common calcula- tions one anna is considered to be equal to two American cents, and three rupees to one American dollar. 119 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA annas, upon which the driver went off perfectly satisfied. Our tickets were bought for Kathgodam, the terminus of the railway on which it is situated, distant from Lucknow somewhat over two hundred miles, just where the foothills meet the plains. We paid nine rupees, nine annas each for second-class tickets. This is about one-half the cost of traveling first-class, and the accommo- dations are practically identical, first-class existing merely for social reasons. After buying our tickets three coolies carried our baggage to our compartment in the train, stopping on the way to weigh our trunks. The coolies were paid one anna each. Tiffin boxes and rolls of bedding are not weighed when the amount of excess baggage is determined, and as a perfectly obvious consequence they are conglomer- ates in structure. In our bedding rolls we had tennis racquets, hatchets, two rain coats, two steamer rugs, two sofa pillows, a soap box, some towels, and a number of minor articles of clothing. An analysis of a tiffin box would display an equal variety 120 'i »»'ftC RAILWAY STATION. AT 11:30 A. M. WE REACHED KATHGODAM. TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS of elements. Our trunks weighed two mounds, eight seers, and as we were allowed but thirty seers luggage each, we paid one rupee, eight annas excess. We had reserved berths, but the rail- way guard advised my wife to go into the compartment reserved for ladies only, be- cause otherwise she would be in a com- partment with five men ; but as our bedding was so packed that we needed to open but one roll for the night, and as our breakfast was all in one tiffin box, she decided to remain with me. It happened that we had a very good company. Tuesday, May 2, 1911. We got up at about seven o'clock, and as soon as we were washed and dressed we ate our breakfast from the tiffin box. Our first view of the snows of the Himalayas was from the train. Two or three peaks were visible, but they were too far away to be impressive. The scenes from the car windows were varied — threshers, ele- phants, camels, jackals, herons, deer, vil- lages, rice fields, ox carts — all were inter- 123 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA esting to one who loves both persons and nature. At 11.30 A. M. we reached Kathgodam. Here several coolies carried all the baggage for the three of us to the scales in the freight shed for two annas. The next thing on the program was to get ready to go over- land to two miles beyond Almora, thirty- nine miles in all, and not a level mile on the route. A day's journey is called a march, although two or even more marches may be made in a day. The distance from Kathgodam to Almora is divided into four marches, as follows: Kathgodam to Bhim Tal, seven and three-fourth miles; Bhim Tal to Oak View Boarding House, eight and three-fourth miles ; Oak View Boarding House to Peora, ten and one-half miles; Peora to Almora, ten miles. Before proceeding further some terms should be defined. A dandi is a kind of chair and foot-rest, so mounted on a frame- work of wood and iron rods that it can be carried by one man when it is empty, and by four men at a time when it has a pas- senger. The dandi frame is boat-shaped, 124 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS and is carried by attaching to each end pieces that look much Hke neck yokes. The ends of these pieces are then carried on the shoulders of four coolies. Unless a person is very heavy, six coolies is the usual number for each dandi. Eight are used for very heavy persons or very rough roads, and four are sometimes sufficient when the load is light. In either case four coolies are at work at any given time. A hojh is one pack coolie's burden. A regu- lation hojh is twenty-five seers (fifty pounds), but some coolies carry as much as one hundred and twenty pounds over the roughest of mountain roads and travel from eight to twenty miles per day. A dak hunalow is a hotel run by the government. Rates for meals and lodging are prescribed by law. Professor Titus, who was a colleague of mine, and his wife had arrived at Kath- godam a few hours before us. Our plan was for Mrs. Titus and my wife to ride in dandis, Professor Henry to ride a horse and make double marches to join his family at Almora, and Professor Titus and myself 125 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA to take one horse between us and make single marches. When we arrived, the Tituses had gone to Bhim Tal, expecting us to join them there in the evening. Pertab Singh is the man who secures cooHes for people at Kathgodam. After our bag- gage was weighed we found that we would need nine hojh coolies, whereupon we asked to we furnished with nine hojh and six dandi coolies. We were told that no dandi coolies were to be had. Soon we met a woman in the waiting room who had met the Tituses. She said that they, too, had been unable to get dandi coolies, that they had made the first march with one horse, but that such a mode of traveling had not been satisfactory and they had decided to walk from the first dak bungalow at Bhim Tal. When we found that we could not get dandi coolies we decided to each take a horse to Bhim Tal. I had bought a dandi from Dr. Dease, who had sent it down from Naini Tal, so I gave a coolie four annas to carry the empty dandi to Bhim Tal, where I hoped to get dandi coolies. After waiting until 5.30 P. M., we found 126 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS that It would be impossible to get to Bhim Tal that day, because we could not get hojh coolies enough to carry even our bedding and tiffin boxes. After quenching our thirst with bottled lemonade, at three annas per bottle, we paid four coolies one and one-half annas each to carry all our baggage up a steep hill to a hotel, where, after a good supper from our tiffin boxes, we went to bed and soon forgot the troubles of the day. While the travelers sleep, the hojh coolies, who are an important factor in Indian life, may be given a well-merited paragraph. These coolies are strong, ath- letic men whose homes are among the mountains, where most of them are small farmers. Their scarcity at this time of year is at least partially explained by the fact that it is harvest time and they need to work on their small farms. If the supply of coolies becomes very deficient the government drafts them into service. A hojh coolie's stock-in-trade consists of himself, a long rope, and a flat piece closely resembling a saddle girth, also a 127 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA rather heavy piece of cloth. The rope is wound round the load, the girth-like piece is so adjusted as to bear the chief weight of the load upon the head or forehead, and the cloth is placed in such a position as to shield the head and shoulders. When the load is ready the coolie squats down with his back toward it, adjusts his harness, then slowly rises and is off. Rates of pay are prescribed and are about four annas (eight cents) per day. Two hojh coolies carried my two trunks, weighing one hun- dred and seventy-six pounds, over thirty- nine miles of very rugged mountain roads in three days. I paid nine rupees to get all of my baggage transferred from Kath- godam to Almora, a distance of thirty- seven miles. Some of the men have legs like Belgian horses. Many of them were cheerful, but it seemed significant that none of them were old. First Day, Wednesday, May 3, 1911. Early in the morning we were up and ready to begin the journey which had had so protracted a period of preparation. After 128 BOJH COOLIES. 'THE PLOWMAN HOMEWARD PLODS HIS WEARY WAY." — Gray. TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS eating our breakfast, filling our surahi and canteen with boiled water for which we paid the khansaman (cook) one anna per bottle (for even Himalayan Mountain water may bring the dreaded fever or cholera if it is not boiled), rolling up our bedding, packing tiffin boxes, and sending off our hojh coolies with instructions to them to go to the Oak View Boarding House before night, and with strict instructions to the tiffin box coolie to be at Bhim Tal by noon, we were ready to select our horses. Two owners appeared before the door with three horses each. One of the owners had come to see us the night before and had insisted upon our giving him three rupees pay in advance before seeing his horses. Naturally we refused, but he now declared that we had engaged horses from him. We were placidly oblivious to his protests and selected three horses that we thought to be the least bad of the six before us. Not all of them belong to this ambitious, but somewhat unbusinesslike, owner. My wife selected a brown pony. He was warranted to be gentle, and he certainly possessed 131 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA that quality. Professor Henry took a suspiciously sleek, white pony. It later developed that its sleekness was due to a temper that could not be ruffled by any number or variety of blows. After vain efforts to smite the beast under the fifth rib the rider concluded that that member must have been removed by a surgical operation. My own horse was a fair-sized, brown horse, with no distinctive charac- teristics except an insuperable aversion for violent exercise. Before the first march was over we gave names to our horses. My wife's was ''Meditation," Professor Henry's was ''Weary Willie," while mine was "The Orient," because it is impossible to hurry the East. One sais (groom) accompanied Professor Henry, who was to go to Almora on horseback, and one went to bring the other two horses back from Bhim Tal. I paid three rupees for my two horses and two annas to the sais. Our mountain climbing began imme- diately upon starting. The first two miles of our route lay along the road to Naini Tal, a favorite summer resort more easy of ac- 132 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS cess than Almora. This was a wagon road, and it was crowded with tangas filled with people going for their summer's outing. A tanga is a two- wheeled, two-seated, covered vehicle, with the two seats back to back. It is much used in India. Many of our travelers were soldiers of the British army. Several of them had their wives and children with them. After two miles we turned to the right and crossed a suspension bridge that was just wide enough for one pack horse to pass through the entrance. From this time we saw no wheeled vehicle on our journey. A considerable number of mon- keys were playing about this bridge. They found several varieties of wild fruit here. Monkeys are especially fond of living in the vicinity of bridges. A long, steep zigzag began at the farther end of the bridge. As it wound back and forth on the face of the mountain, I thought of the geography pictures of traveling in the mountains. On this zigzag we met several hundred pack goats and sheep. Such use of these animals is common in 133 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA the Himalayas. The animals eat very little and they are sure-footed. Their chief loads are salt and asafoetida. Goats seem to stand the arduous work well, but one feels that the sheep are cruelly over- loaded, and also that so weak and gentle an animal should not be put to such a use. A large flock of such pack animals can be driven by a very few men. Pack mules, ponies and horses, and hojh coolies were also met from time to time. Before the top of the zigzag was reached we passed a bush from which hung a great many bits of colored cloth. These had been tied here by coolies in order to win the favor of the gods. During our journey we had several reminders of the fact that we were in a non-Christian country. At several places on the road we saw dharm- shalas. These are simple stone buildings, built by wealthy Hindus to serve as free resting places for pilgrims to the famous Hindu shrine at Kedarnath and to various other shrines in that part of India. The buildings contain a number of cell-like rooms, absolutely unfurnished, but fur- 134 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS nishing a shelter from heat, cold, and rain, snow, and wild animals. At one point at a considerable elevation and where water was difficult to obtain, a man furnished water free to travelers. This would give him merit with the gods. The huts of "holy men" were seen in at least two places by the roadside. These ''holy men" live in the rudest of shelters, are almost unclad, cover themselves with ashes, and seek by penance to find peace. They are picturesque and pathetic. As their number is some millions, and as they do not work, they are a serious drain upon the resources of India. The Himalayan oak resembles the Amer- ican white oak in its fruit, although its leaves are of a silvery color on the under side. Cacti grow to a gigantic size here, and some of them have beautiful blossoms. Nearing Bhim Tal we began to descend, but the descent was but slight in com- parison with the ascent we had made. Bhim Tal was a small lake, partly artificial. A huge dam confined it at its lower end, and the top of the dam served as a roadway. 135 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA Both this dam and the roadway from Kathgodam bore evidence of the abiHty of the English as builders. The huge spill- ways and the massive walls of the dam seemed built for eternity. On the roadway stone parapets were built where the path skirted a precipice, and where there was danger of landslides heavy walls of masonry, sometimes several in succession, had been built to prevent them. We reached the dak bungalow at Bhim Tal at 9.45 a. m., having left Kathgodam at about six o'clock. The khansaman gave us a note from Mrs. Titus saying that, as they supposed that we had had trouble in getting coolies, they had gone on in order to avoid dak bungalow hire and we could join them at Oak View Boarding House. Dak bungalow rates are one rupee, eight annas for a man and his wife for a room for twenty-four hours, or eight annas for each individual for a stay of not more than three hours. We decided to rest for three hours, and then to move on. I made another ineffectual attempt to secure dandi coolies. As my wife was tired by riding, 136 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS to which she was entirely unaccustomed, we decided to send back our horses and pro- ceed on foot. Moreover, my wife had been compelled to ride astride, with undivided skirts, on a man's saddle, and this did not add to the attractiveness of this means of progression. My empty dandi had arrived. I could neither get the coolie who had brought it from Kathgodam to take it to Almora nor could I get another coolie, so I left it in care of the khansaman. As we rested at the dak bungalow, Professor Henry and I sat on the bank of the lake overlooking the road over which we had passed and watched for the appear- ance of the coolie with our tiffin box. We watched and watched and watched, but in vain. Finally, when all hope of his arriv- ing in time for us to eat before our three hours of rest were over was gone, we or- dered breakfast from the khansaman. We got a good hot breakfast for one rupee, two annas each. After breakfast we paid eight annas each for dak bungalow rent, gave two annas to the khansaman for looking after our dandi, gave the sweeper one pice (one- 137 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA half a cent), and set out for Oak View Boarding House, where we hoped to meet the Tituses and our hojh cooHes. Soon after leaving Bhim Tal we skirted an unusually broad valley with wide ter- races; that is, broad in comparison with other valleys of this region where bottom land is almost unknown, the mountains coming together in such a way as to form V-shaped valleys. A considerable number of Boer prisoners were confined in this valley during the South African War. One of their pastimes was the making of sticks for mountain climbers. The need for guards for the prisoners must have been reduced to a minimum. As we climbed the long hill to Ramgarh Pass we got our first view of the long-tailed, large gray monkeys that are common in this part of the Himalayas. Some of the jokes played by them are amusing. A favorite one during the rainy season is to shake the trees above the heads of trav- elers, deluging them with water. For mid-air acrobatics these monkeys are ex- perts. They jump from tree to tree on the 138 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS mountain side in a way that for rapidity, distance, and precision is truly astonishing. Ramgarh Pass is some seven thousand five hundred feet high, and from it we should have been able to get a good view of the plains on one side and the snow on the other, had not a haze prevented our doing so. From the pass we had a descent until we reached the Oak View Boarding House. The distance was about a mile and a half, and this was one of the most beautiful parts of our journey. We saw here the largest rhododendrons that we observed between Kathgodam and Almora. The largest were eighteen inches in diam- eter. I have since seen several that are more than three feet in diameter, these being on the road from Almora to Binsar. It was almost dark when we arrived at the boarding house and joined our friends. Our coolies had not yet arrived, but for- tunately for us the resources of the Titus tiffin box had not been exhausted, and so we fared sumptuously. One's appetite, which has been somewhat quiescent on the hot plains, revives immediately upon reach- 139 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA ing the mountains and we found ourselves ravenously hungry. Soon after we had eaten, our coolies began to arrive, having come sixteen and one-half miles over the steep mountain roads in one day. When I consider what they eat and how they live, their strength and endurance is a marvel to me. They sleep almost any- where, and often with almost no covering except their clothing, which is often scanty, indeed; while many an entire meal con- sists of chapaties — a kind of thin flour cake. The Oak View Boarding House is a private establishment run in competition with the Ramgarh dak bungalow. Its rates are lower. For my wife and myself I paid eight annas for a room, three annas for the use of a lamp, two annas for hot water, and five annas for the services of a table servant, who also acted as a man of all work. Our first day of travel left us tired, but we had enjoyed the novelty and the beauty of our surroundings, and we went to bed in glad anticipation of what the morrow would bring to us. 140 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS Second Day, Thursday, May 4, 1911. The haze that had prevailed the day before had disappeared in the night, and upon going out on the terraces surrounding the house in which we had staid over night we had a good view of the snows; but as we had a better one before the day closed I will not describe the scene now. This day the first part of our journey was down a descent so steep that Professor Henry walked while the groom led his horse. At the foot of the hill our equestrian bade us good-bye and rode on to make two marches and join his family at our destina- tion. He had been a most congenial com- panion and a competent guide, having been over the route twelve times before. Soon after leaving the foot of the hill we came to a place where rice was being irrigated. The crop is not an unusual one in this region. A dharmshala was situated on the level space between the foot of the mountain which we had just descended and the one that we were soon to ascend, and not far from it was a ''holy man" 141 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA under his wretched shelter. One wondered if his dirt was next to godhness. Our second suspension bridge was now passed. In the water below a great many good- sized fish were seen, but an Indian urchin who was probably excellent authority, told us that they hid under the rocks when one attempted to catch them. Near the bridge was a rather extensive ruin of what had been a spacious stone building. We asked an Indian who lived near by what the building had been. He said that it had been an iron smelter. He showed us a number of rocks from the stone wall near his house that were heavy with iron. The smelting had probably been abandoned either because of the difficulty of trans- portation or because of the scarcity of fuel. From near this ruin we commenced a climb of several miles to another pass. At one point we looked back and discovered a village perched upon the mountain side below us. We had passed below it, its only connection with the outside world being by means of a footpath leading to the road. At the same time, looking far 142 plowing a terraced mountain side, (spare ribs are typical.) ^^M harrowing a terrace, (stone house roof in background.) TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS below the road to the mountain stream below, we saw an Indian water mill. Sev- eral such mills were seen during our trip. They are exceedingly simple and are used for grinding wheat. Simple as they are they must be a great improvement over the common hand mills. The situation of the mills was picturesque, but many a mountain farmer must find going to mill a most arduous task. In sight of our first mill we stopped in a little shady spot by the roadside for break- fast. We had taken the precaution to keep our tiffin box coolie near us. He was a Hindu, and as such would not be expected to eat with Christians, Mohammedans, or Hindus of a lower caste, but we concluded to offer him an onion and he took it quite willingly. It was probably orthodox for him to do so, because it is cooked food that is chiefly to be avoided. One who has Hindu servants usually finds that some kinds of food need to be kept under lock and key. The only cuts in the rocks, where rock walls rose on both sides of the path, were 10 145 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA passed soon after breakfast. Near them we stopped in the shade of some hawthorns in full bloom to rest. As we were making but one march on this day we were in no hurry and could afford to take time to enjoy our surroundings. The hawthorn was not the most conspicuous member of the flora seen on this day. Leaving its shelter we crossed the pass and began the descent to Peora, and here we saw for the first time splendid representatives of the wild roses for which the Himalayas should be famous. The bushes are gigantic. I saw one bush that was not less than six inches in diameter and many plants are from twenty-five to thirty feet in height. Among so many beautiful specimens as we saw it seems invidious to select one as being more nearly perfect than another, but if I were to do so I should say that the finest one we observed almost completely covered a very symmetrical tree nearly thirty feet in height. The flowers are in very large clusters, pure white, and profuse in the extreme. To pass abruptly from the beautiful to 146 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS a very different subject will be typical of the order in which things are actually seen when on a journey. We were interested in watching the workmen on the roads use their shovels. Each shovel was operated by two men. One held the handle and guided and unloaded the shovel, while the other manipulated a rope which was fas- tened to the handle of the shovel near the bottom. The latter man furnished most of the power for filling the shovel. We reached the dak bungalow at Peora at about two o'clock in the afternoon. Our coolie had orders to be there at two-thirty, but he actually arrived some two hours later. Although very hungry we were ready to enjoy the view of the snows that we had from the veranda. This was the best view we had during our three days' travel. The sight was one never to be for- gotten. The tremendous magnitude, the shining whiteness, the marvelous lights and shadows, the clusters of gigantic peaks, the varied forms displayed, the solitary majesty of some isolated peaks, the knowledge that, except for a slight break made by the 147 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA Binsar Ridge, we were gazing on the greatest expanse of snow peaks to be seen at one view in the world — all these were elements of a spectacle that must deeply move any one who loves the sublime and majestic in nature. Nanda Devi, with its more than 25,000 feet, was not conspic- uously higher than a considerable number of other peaks. Up, up, up went the heights until it seemed that the very heavens must be reached. We drank in the in- spiration at our leisure, feeling that it was worth coming half way around the world to see such a panorama. Professor Titus and I climbed the hills to get a broader view, and as the vision faded away as darkness came on I instinctively thought of Him of whom it is written, ''The strength of the hills is His also," and I felt then, as I have felt many times, that His is the only strength that can lift the awful load that makes India suffer and lament in spite of her millions of gods 148 HINDU TEMPLE, NEAR ALMORA. SUSPENSION BRIDGE. TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS Third Day, Friday, May 5, 1911. Early in the morning we started out on our last march of twelve miles. Our start was so early that we had our lanterns lighted. Man-eating leopards are not so rare that one wishes to travel in the dark- ness, even if the road can be found. Our way for almost five miles was a descent. Overhead monkeys jumped from bough to bough and from tree to tree. At one point we saw a large group of monkeys, several of which had young ones. The perfect abandon with which a mother scurried over the ground and over the trees with a young one clinging tightly to her was astonish- ing. As day dawned we found ourselves in a region more closely resembling the Rocky Mountains than any we had before seen here. On one side was a rocky gorge, and on the other were great boulders inter- spersed with pines. More and more rugged grew the scene until the culmination was reached at the foot of the long descent where a lofty suspension bridge spanned a narrow 151 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA canyon, while two deep, rocky gorges united just above the bridge. The scene was wild, massive, rugged. Climbing was almost constant from the bridge to Almora. A large flock of pack goats and sheep was waiting to cross the bridge, a group of pack horses and ponies having precedence. One of the drivers had in his arms a lamb that must otherwise have been unable to make the journey. On our way up the hill we met some twenty pack horses with great loads of hides, being taken to the tanneries on the plains. Hides are a leading product of this part of the country. As breakfast time drew near we met a man carrying a large basket of very fine onions on his head. We bought two pice worth (one American cent) from him. Surprised at the quantity that we received we counted them and found that we had twenty-two. Their flavor was excellent, much better than that of the onions in the Lucknow market. At 9 : 30 we selected a shady spot and halted for breakfast, our coolie being on time for once. 152 A CENTURY PLANT. ALMORA. TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS A Mohammedan cemetery is on the hillside near the road not far from Almora. Mohammedans bury, while Indians burn, their dead. Hindus do not keep the ashes of their dead and hence have no occasion for cemeteries. We also passed a leper asylum. Lep- rosy is prevalent in India. Many beggars will show their leprous fingers as they beg. Many have no finger tips left. There are two kinds of leprosy. One makes the en- tire body as white as snow. The other shows only in certain spots or certain por- tions of the body. A soldiers' camp with Its multitude of white tents crowned the top of a hill near the city. It is customary to send different troops here in different summers so as to give to as many as possible the benefit of a change of climate. The life of soldiers in India Is a trying one, and their poor, pale wives must suffer terribly from heat and homesickness. Terraced farms were seen on the moun- tain sides at almost every stage of our three days of travel. I was strongly 155 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA reminded of the terraced farms of Japan. The Himalayan farms are more varied, however. They are irregular in shape and reminded me of the fancy crackers some- times made for children. Terraces were all widths from a few feet to a few rods, al- though the average width would not be more than a few feet. Some single moun- tain slopes had as many as five hundred terraces. The chief crop, at least at this time of year, is wheat, and as it was harvest time we saw women reaping the grain. The grain was put on the stone roofs of the houses to dry before being threshed. Some terraces had rice growing, and some had Irish potatoes, and such fruit trees as are found in America — apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots — but orchards were rare. These farms added a human touch to the landscape. Houses were also of a dis- tinctive type. Even the poorest mountain peasant will be found living in a stone house with a stone roof. That is the cheapest kind of a house where stones are more abundant than soil. In the plains a mud house is the cheapest possible. A 156 TRAVEL IN THE HIMALAYAS stone house has, by far, the more pros- perous look. The commissioner, a British officer of considerable dignity, passed us on his way to Almora. There was absolutely nothing to mark his rank except the uniforms of his dandi coolies. Mountain paths really offer rather circumscribed facilities for os- tentation. Of course this man may have wished to be plain, but it occurred to me to wonder just how a traveler in these regions would be otherwise. Several of the hills around Almora are treeless. They are said to have been cleared by the Gurkhas as a military measure when they conquered the country. The British Government is now systematically reforesting. The forestry department is well organized and is giving to India one of the many good things that she had never given herself under Indian rule. We passed through the business section of Almora, but we did not loiter as we were anxious to reach our destination, two miles further on. As we climbed the hill from Almora to Epworth we met a number of 159 FIRST DAYS IN INDIA women with immense loads of earthen pots on their heads. The pots were water jars and were being carried to market. Professor Henry had sent a servant to Almora to meet us, and had invited us to take tiffin and dinner with him and his family. We were glad to accept the in- vitation, and if a housewife is flattered when her guests eat a hearty meal, Mrs. Henry must have been very much flattered on this day. 160 SEP 28 1912 SSEO LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 010 458 167 5 j**^ m ''1^