Madras, January 21st: We arrived at Madras early on the morning of January 21st. The view of the city from the pier was disappointing, but the drive of about two miles to the Hotel Connemara showed much natural beauty, the trees in particular being very fine. Hot weather met us at Madras, but as it is a city of magnificent distances, driving was a necessity, and hence less exertion was required. In the park and at the Botanical Gardens we saw more natural beauty and took the long drive to the sea front, where the fashionable people of the city of Marina go in large numbers, and which leads past fine municipal buildings, the college, and other places of importance. St. George's Church is pleasing, with its quota of memorial statues, and the close is very attractive, reminding one of England. The drive through the native quarter, called Black Town, presented unusual features. The fort and parks were visited, as were also some rather attractive bazars. The museum is interesting from an historical standpoint and has many statues and bas-reliefs, some relating to Prince Gautama and some to Hindu gods; there are also relics of saints. It is particularly rich in specimens of armor and jewelled swords.
Madras seems quite as unlike the cities of Northern India as does Rangoon, and comparatively few of the thousands of tourists who frequent Northern India ever visit Southern India, a great distinction between the two being made. It is, however, conveniently near the great Seven Pagodas, which we did not visit, and is the gateway to the famous Dravidian temples which presented much interest.
We left early in the afternoon in order to visit Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and Madura, and for two days sleeping-cars were to be our home. There are no hotels in these cities, the wonderful temples serving as a substitute, while the English railway restaurant afforded us a certain amount of sustenance. The ride to Tanjore was through a lovely country with beautiful palms, groves of vari-hued trees, and occasionally a tangle of vines.
Tanjore: On our arrival at Tanjore in the afternoon we went directly to the forts which enclose the temple, palace, and gopuras. The temple is in the little fort. The gopuras claim first attention. They are really gateways, a feature peculiar to Southern India. They were intended as a fortification to protect the temples from foreign invaders, and are imposing in size and structure—towering up (some nine stories high) course after course, and literally covered with carvings of animals and gods, all colored in red and gold. We passed through a gopura ninety feet high, next through a passage one hundred and seventy feet long, then through a small gopura, when we arrived at the large outer enclosure of the temple, four hundred and fifty by eight hundred feet. This is further surrounded by cloisters and open to outsiders, who are not, however, permitted to enter the great temple of the adjacent halls. But even at a distance we could admire their barbaric splendor.
We were also entertained by the gorgeous temple peacock (considered sacred), of enormous size, which, with outstretched tail, posed for us with as much evident vanity as a coquettish girl. There are smaller shrines and temples distributed about the great enclosure, and in one temple is an immense bronze bull. The tower of the great temple is only thirty-eight feet lower than the Kutub Minar described in "Old Delhi." In the northwest corner of the enclosure is an exquisite small temple called Siva Manya and dedicated to the son of Siva. It has a tower fifty feet high and a base forty feet square, adorned with pillars, and these are continued along another cloister, fifty feet long. Mr. Ferguson writes: "It is as exquisite a piece of decorative architecture as is to be found in Southern India." The great fort seems like a continuation of the small one, and in it are situated the palace and Schwartz Church.