CALCUTTA, CONTINUED.—DEPARTURE FOR BENARES.
The letter about Calcutta continued as follows:
"From the Hoogly bridge we went to see the famous Burning Ghaut, where the Hindoos dispose of their dead. Ghaut means 'steps,' and the Burning Ghaut is nothing more nor less than a series of steps on the bank of the river, with a wide platform at the top.
THE BURNING GHAUT AT CALCUTTA.
"When we entered the place the sight that met our eyes was anything but pleasing. The Burning Ghaut is the place where the Hindoos burn their dead, and it is situated on the banks of the Hoogly, a branch of the Ganges, in order that when the cremation is finished the ashes may be thrown into the sacred river and swept away to sea. The bodies to be burnt are placed on piles of wood, and the torch is applied by one of the relatives of the deceased. If the person was wealthy there is generally a large assemblage of mourners, some of them being relatives, and others hired for the occasion; all are dressed in white robes of a peculiar pattern, such as are worn only by mourners, and the sounds of lamentation are often very loud and prolonged. But if the deceased individual was poor the ceremony is very brief, and there are no mourners, nor is the funeral pile as large as in the other case.
"It is said that formerly the priests used to put out the fires before the bodies were half consumed, in order to save the wood; the remains were then thrown into the river and floated down among or past the shipping. There were so many complaints of the disagreeable sights forced upon those who were coming up the river, that the Government has of late years stationed an officer at the Burning Ghaut to see that the work is properly done, and only the ashes find their way into the Ganges.
"As we came into the place we saw the body of a man lying upon a pile of wood from which the flames were rising; near the head of the pile stood a crowd of mourners singing a funeral song or chant, and two or three vultures were perched on the wall above them. A funeral party had just arrived, and the men who attended to the burning were rushing about to prepare the pile for the new-comer. We only remained a few minutes, as a very brief survey of the scene was quite enough to gratify our curiosity.
"The worst sight of all was in a bamboo shed at the side of the ghaut farthest from the river, where two or three dying persons were lying on mats, and evidently near the end of their lives. Doctor Bronson says it is the custom of the Hindoos, when a man is supposed to be sick unto death, to carry him to the bank of the river, so that he may die with his eyes looking on the sacred waters. They pour water in his face, and stuff his mouth with mud from the bank of the stream, and his death is generally hastened along pretty rapidly. If he should recover, which sometimes happens, after this ceremony is performed, his friends will not recognize him, and he is ever after treated as an outcast; his property is divided among his heirs, and he is considered legally dead, without any rights whatever. No one will associate with him, and he finds life such a burden that he is usually glad to end his troubles by throwing himself into the river.
"A far more enjoyable excursion than this was to the botanical gardens which are on the opposite bank of the river, about three miles from the Hoogly bridge. We went there in a carriage and had a delightful drive, not only on the road but through the garden. The garden contains nearly 300 acres, and has a front of a mile on the river; it was laid out a hundred years ago as an experimental garden, to ascertain what foreign plants would grow to advantage in India. This garden was the cause of the introduction of tea into India, and also of the cinchona-trees, from which quinine is made.
"One of the finest banyan-trees in the world is in this garden; it is a hundred years old, and its trunk is fifty-one feet in circumference, while it has 170 roots that descend from the branches to the ground. It makes a whole grove by itself, and is a wonderful thing to look at and sit under.
"There are avenues of mahogany-trees and palms, the latter in great variety, and there are groves and avenues of trees whose names are quite unknown to anybody in America except to botanists. There are flower-beds in great number, and there is a conservatory, 200 feet long, filled as full as it can be with all sorts of floral products. In some respects the garden is finer than the one at Kandy, Ceylon, while in others it is hardly equal to it.
PARASITICAL VINES ON A TREE.
"Some of the trees are covered with parasitical vines that almost envelop the trunk, and it seems to have been the object of the founders of the garden to experiment with these plants in the hope of making them useful. They have done so in the case of the rattans and similar creeping vines, and in some parts of India the gathering and shipment of rattans form a considerable industry. Unfortunately the parasites are not now in bloom, or we might have seen the trees covered with red blossoms to the complete exclusion of their own.
THE COTTON-TREE.
"The cotton-growing business in India owes a good deal to this garden, as it has helped the distribution of the plants, and made a great many experiments to learn the variety of cotton-tree best adapted to any particular soil. Most of the Indian cotton is grown on a bush, as in the United States, and has to be renewed every year from the seed; but there is one variety that takes the form of a tree, and grows two or three years. It has numerous branches, and when the pods are opened, and the white cotton is hanging out, the appearance of the tree is very pretty. Some of these trees produce a cotton with a yellowish hue, while others are snowy white. It is no wonder that people say 'white as cotton' when they want to make a comparison, as there is nothing of a purer white than the contents of a cotton boll when it is first opened.
"We came back from the garden by the river road, and crossed the bridge to Calcutta once more. Then we went to see Dalhousie Square, or Tank Square, as it was formerly called, and have a stroll around its borders. It is right in the middle of the city, and appears to be twenty or twenty-five acres in extent; there is a fence all the way around it, and the banks are nicely sodded and covered with grass. You will wonder when we say that there is a great reservoir in the centre fed entirely by springs at the bottom, and the supply is so great that it never goes dry. The fact is, the whole city of Calcutta rests on a bed of quicksand, through which the water from the Ganges finds its way with the greatest ease. The tank was originally dug to supply the inhabitants with water, and they had only to go a few feet below the level of the river to find the water coming through the sand and bubbling up perfectly pure. The sand cleansed it from all impurities, and it has always been regarded as the sweetest water in the city.
"When we reached the north-west corner of Tank Square our guide indicated a spot where there was once an obelisk to the memory of the men who perished in the famous Black Hole: the Black Hole was a room in a building close by here, but both building and obelisk have disappeared. You remember the story: On the capture of Calcutta by Surajah Dowlah, in 1746, 146 Englishmen were forced into a room only eighteen feet square, with two small windows on the western side, and left there till morning. The night was hot and damp, and there was no wind blowing, and in the morning only twenty-three of all the number were alive. Several of these never recovered—thirst and foul air caused the most terrible sufferings, ending in death, and the name of Black Hole is frequently applied to a place that is badly ventilated.
BENGALESE WATER-CARRIERS.
"The native water-carriers are a curiosity; they supply houses that are without running water, and are employed to sprinkle the streets when the dust is likely to rise. Their equipment is very simple, as it consists of the skin of a pig or goat—generally of a pig, as it will hold water better than the other. The skin is carefully sewed up, with the exception of the neck, which is left open to receive the water; you frequently see these men going around with their burdens, and the price they get for bringing water is so small that they must be very diligent to earn twenty-five cents a day.
"They have a bird here of the buzzard species which is of great assistance in cleaning the streets; he is called 'the adjutant' by the English residents, and, as nobody thinks of doing him any harm, he walks about fearlessly, and sometimes you see him in the very middle of a crowd of natives. A gentleman tells us that when these birds become troublesome around the barracks of the soldiers, several tricks are played upon them. The soldiers will take a couple of bones and tie them together with six or eight feet of strong cord; the bones are then flung to a couple of adjutants, and each manages to swallow one. When the birds find themselves united they rise in the air and endeavor to fly, and their efforts to separate themselves are very amusing to the soldiers. Finding they cannot do it, they come to the ground again, and somebody cuts the string and releases them.
"When the adjutant has eaten something, he mounts to the top of a post or some other elevated spot, crosses his legs, and becomes motionless while his food is digesting. The soldiers take advantage of this habit by digging the marrow from a beef-bone, and inserting a cartridge in the hollow thus formed. Over the cartridge they put a piece of lighted punk or tinder, and then a cork, and when all is ready they throw the bone to an adjutant who is just finishing his dinner. Finding there is nothing more to eat, the bird mounts a post, and goes to sleep in his usual way; in a little while the fire reaches the cartridge and an explosion follows, resulting in the instant death of the unfortunate bird. Of late years this amusement has been forbidden, greatly to the credit of the officers commanding the garrisoned places.
"We have kept our eyes open to see the native ladies of Calcutta, but have not been very fortunate. Nineteen-twentieths of the natives on the streets are men, and the few women that come out so that we can look at them are of the poorer classes. We have seen some rich ladies riding in carriages, and now and then we encounter a cart drawn by a pair of bullocks, and moving at a dignified pace with a native lady seated inside. The canopy above her head partially conceals her from view, and then we do not think it exactly polite to look at her more than a few seconds at a time. These are probably the wives of wealthy merchants; they spend most of their time at home, and only come out for a ride on very fine days, or to visit the shops where handsome things are for sale. Their garments are generally white, and there does not appear to be any change of fashions among them more than among the men.
NATIVE WOMAN OF BENGAL.
"A gentleman who has lived here for some years, and written about the women of Calcutta, says they are very pretty when young, but their beauty fades quickly; at twenty-five they have 'crows'-feet' around the corners of their eyes, and at thirty they begin to stoop and walk like a man of seventy in America. They all wear rings in their noses, and sometimes you will see a pearl in the side of each nostril, in addition to a hoop of thin gold that almost covers the mouth. Of course they have rings in their ears, and the arms and ankles are not neglected; they wear no shoes or stockings when at home, and make up for the bareness of their feet by covering the toes with rings as American ladies cover their fingers. Their hair is thick and black, and combed behind their ears, with a parting in front such as we see at home.
"Women of the middle and lower classes are as fond of jewellery as the richer ones, and when they cannot afford it of solid gold they have it of silver, or of silver or gold plate. Some of them do not wear ornaments in their noses, but they make up for the absence of these things by piercing the ears in many places, and loading them down with jewellery. We saw one woman to-day whose ears were thus encumbered with so many trinkets that they appeared ready to fall off, and it is difficult to understand how she could be comfortable with them. Then she wore a heavy necklace of silver, and a part of her dress displayed some embroidery of gold. She was sitting on the floor of a shop examining a beautiful shawl, and probably wondering whether she would look any prettier with her shoulders covered with it.
PART OF BLACK TOWN, CALCUTTA.
"A remarkable thing about Calcutta is the contrast between the native and the foreign quarters. Where the Europeans live the streets are wide, and each house has a garden around it; in the native quarter the streets are mostly narrow, and the houses are crowded closely together, with not the least attempt at gardening or the preservation of any open spaces around them. The native section is called 'The Black Town,' and some parts of it are so dirty that the wonder is they do not breed a pestilence every summer. None but the natives live there, with now and then a foreigner who has become an outcast from his fellow white men, and prefers the society of natives to a life of solitude. In the outskirts of the city the density of the buildings decreases, but not the dirt and degradation. The huts of the natives are loosely constructed of light frames daubed with mud, and in many places they look as though they had been constructed by a man who never saw a house before he made this effort at building one.
"You change suddenly from the wealthy and aristocratic part of Calcutta to the Black Town; one minute you are among palaces, and the next in the midst of hovels. Some of the grand avenues have wretched little streets leading from them, and the more you look around in Calcutta the more do you find these contrasts. The only relief to the general squalor of the Black Town is an occasional palm-tree, that half looks as if it was ashamed to be here. The native children play in the dust or mud of the streets as though they were a part of it, and their parents encourage them in the sport. It is to their credit that they never pelt strangers with the mud, as they would be apt to do in some other parts of the world.
"One of the native streets is a bazaar for the sale of Oriental goods, and if you go through it you are pestered with peddlers from the time you enter till you leave. They have all sorts of things to sell, such as India shawls of a great many kinds, jewellery from various parts of the country, shell work from Singapore, and numerous things from China, Japan, and other Oriental countries. The peddlers and shopkeepers invariably ask two or three times as much as they expect to get, and of course the purchaser must meet them by offering only a half or a third of what he is willing to give. Then you haggle and haggle, and after a while the medium is reached and the bargain closed. This kind of trading is a great trial of patience, and it is not a wise thing for an ill-natured man to undertake bargaining with a native, as he is very likely to lose his temper.
"There are many other things in Calcutta we would like to write about, but we are too busy to put everything down; and, besides, if we told you of all we saw, it would be necessary to have a couple of clerks to take our notes and fill them out. Then, too, there is much to see in other parts of India, and we must move on. We leave to-night on the train for Benares, and, as our time is limited, we shall not stop on the way. We send this letter by the weekly mail that leaves Bombay every Saturday when the south-west monsoon is blowing, and every Monday when there is no monsoon. The train from here takes sixty hours to go to Bombay, and so we must post our letter three days in advance of the steamer's sailing."
They left according to their programme: the regular mail-train for passengers going through to the northward or to Bombay starts at nine p.m., and has always done so since the line was first opened. While they were waiting at the station Doctor Bronson told the boys of an interesting occurrence connected with the departure of the train. It was about as follows:
"At the time of the Mutiny, as I have already told you, the railway from Calcutta terminated at Ranegunge, 120 miles away. As soon as the Mutiny assumed serious proportions, urgent appeals for aid were sent to Madras, Bombay, and other points, and orders were issued for all available troops to be put in motion as fast as possible for the scene of the trouble. The Madras Fusileers, Colonel Neill, were the first to reach Calcutta; they arrived late one afternoon, and immediately proceeded to the railway-station. The train for Ranegunge was just ready to start, and there would be no other for twenty-four hours.
"Colonel Neill asked for a delay of ten minutes, and promised to have his men and baggage on board at the end of that time. The station-master refused, and said the train must start immediately.
"'Give me five minutes only,' said Neill.
"'No,' answered the station-master, and he raised his hand to give the signal for departure.
"Neill raised his own hand at the same time, and greeted the astonished official with an emphatic 'I arrest you!'
"Two soldiers were called to stand guard over the station-master, and two others mounted the locomotive and performed the same service for the engine-driver. In a quarter of an hour the men and baggage were on the cars, the prisoners were released, and the train moved away. The day thus gained enabled the Madras Fusileers to reach Benares a few hours before the time fixed for the revolt of the native garrison, and the murder of all the Europeans in the place. The outbreak occurred at the morning parade, as it had been appointed; but it did not last long, owing to the presence of Neill and his regiment of English soldiers. Many a life was saved by this sudden proclamation of martial law in the railway-station of Calcutta."