GOLDEN DAYS IN MANY LANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 35, 10 February 1909, Page 6

GOLDEN DAYS IN MANY LANDS.

By WINIFRED H. LETS. CALCUTTA AND DABJEELING: THE BUSY CAPITAL AND THE BEAUTIFUL BETREAT AMONG THE HILLS. As Christmas approached the tourists in India turned their footsteps towards Calcutta, and, wherever duty permitted it, the residents from the up country stations joined in the procession towards the capital. For months ahead all the rooms in the principal hotels had been engaged by those eager to witness the Viceroy's Cup, and the big horse show at Tollygunj, which are as brilliant func/ tions as may be seen outside of the great European capitals. Besides these annual functions Calcutta during the Christmas of 1905 was to have unusual splendours in honour of the visit of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Thus it was that throughout December the trains came rumbling into Howrah. laden with the black and white population of the vast continent, all bent on participating in the festivities and having a thoroughly enjoyable holiday. Coming down from Benares we felt it delightful to pass into the fresh green surroundings once more. During the early hours of the morning as we approached Calcutta, the train ran through country of a somewhat swampy character, but densely vegetated. I was told that gome of the best tiger shooting in India is within close proximity to the capital, but the land is too swampy and too closely covered with, jungle to be safely negotiated, so is not favourite hunting ground. Our first glimpse of Calcutta on driving from Howrah through the filthy streets | of the native city is far from prepossessing; but once we get beyond this to the business quarters, to the Chowringhee,' to Dalhousie Square, and Olive-street,I and their immediate surroundings, the massive solidity of Calcutta is impressive. The European element, too, is very pronounced, and this city of the eastern shores of India has little resemblance to its great rival on the western coast. The brown stone used in the principal buildings of Bombay and the blues and reds used by the natives in their clothes, ; make Bombay a city of rich colouring, bright and oriental ia appearance. Cal- , cutta, on the other hand, is colourless. Truly this is to a large extent due to drabs and whites used almost universally by the natives of. Bengal in their clothing, but this to a certain extent is jn harmony with the grey or dazzling white of the buildings. In Sombaj jrhite

faces are so much in the minority that they attract one's attention. In Calcutta their numbers are surprising, and the busy, go-ahead atmosphere of this great commercial city has little of orientalism about it. The homes of the Anglo-Indians in Calcutta, with their creeper clad windows, shady gardens, and brilliant flowers have lost the bungalow aspect, and evolved into a semblance of the English villa, the whole appearance of the English quarter differing very much from that of an up-country station. Of course, Calcutta is the heart of the administration of the vast Indian Empire, and though the social and political world emanates from stately Government House, which nestles in its lovely garden at the northwest extremity of the Maidan, and from the Legislative Council Chambers near by, none the less the tall mills and factories on the river front, and the massive banks and hugfc shops, give to Calcutta the aspect of a prosperous commercial city. The principal part of the city is 'built in a semi-circle round a bug© open space known as the Maidan. This beautiful tract of land is large enough to accommodate a racecourse in one corner, the Eden Gar-dens in another corner, to ibe crossed and re crossed iby roads, and to still leave a large open, airy space as a breathing place for the teeming population that lives and works dn the 'busy city. The Hughli river waehee one side of the Maidan, and the CJiowringhe road borders it on the other side, and of the glories of Calcutta the Maidan is the greatest. The wisdom that keeps this vast pleasure ground open and unimpaired is the mean? of bringing health to the citizens of the most important city in the Indian Smpire. In thie gay and i&usy city the commercial class mingles but little with the official circle, and the natives, however wealthy, come in little contact with either. There are most stringent rules of etiquette which must not 'be infringed upon, none the less there are few places in which the gay can find more diversion than under the sunny skies at Christmas in Calcutta. Now the residents of India do a long and bitter grumble at the hotels, but I must confess that I think the complaints are eomewhat unreasonable. From Bombay to Calcutta we found the hotels in the various up-country cities to ibe comforta/ble and the attendance good. When starting from Bombay I was given by an Anglo-In-dian such a dreary picture of the discomfort:! which awaited mc :that I confess my ardour was considerably damped, but as we progressed our surprise and relief at the accommodation which we obtained was genuinely great. At Calcutta, however, my glowing opinion dropped somewhat, and, so far as my personal experience went, during a short visit, it seemed to mc ithat the hotels of the great metropolis compared unfavourably with such places as Maiden's at Delhi, or Wutzler's at Luekriow, We spent a few days in Calcutta visiting the Burra Bazaar, and among other things, not omitting to walk round the post ofißceandhavealook at the railed-, in square, which ■represents the known as the Black Hole of Calcutta,! where stood the guard-room in which on

the 20th June, 1756, one hundred and forty-six men and women were confined for the night by .the orders of the Nawab of Bengal, of whom one hundred and twenty-three were found dead of suffocation in the morning. But these are gruesome memories. One very pleasant afternoon was whiled away on a trip to the Botanical gardens, where at last we found our* selves amid the real luxuriance of tropical vegetation. Palm bordered paths, huge clumps of tall bamboo, brilliant green and yellow striped leaves, and blazing poinsettias were there, amid countless specimens of tropical (trees from all the states of the Indian Empire. Strangest of all, is the liuge banyan tree. Each branch of the original tree throws out feelers which drop down <and down until they strike the ground. Then the feelers take root, and fhe swaying arms expanding into trunks put out a fresh set of branches which in turn, throw down the earth-seeking feelera. Thus the growth of the tree is practically endless and some banyans are possessed of thousands of trunks, each holding some connection with the central parent tree—a etrange little forest indeed. However, having made our arrangements for accommodation during the Christmas and New Year celebrations in Calcutta, we set off up to Darjeeling, the ihill station which nestles on the first range of the Himalayas, aJbout 7,000 feet above sea level. The journey, which occupies practically a day and & night, was most interesting, as during the last half the train zig-zags up the mountains, amid the heavy jungle, rising several thousand feet dn la few hours. Darjeeling lies on the borders of Nepal, and is almost encircled by the higher range of Himalayas, of which Kinchinjanga 28,156 feet, Janu 25,304 feet, and Kabru 24,015 feet, are the leading features. These mountains are about forty miles distant, but their enormous (height makes them appear no more than twenty miles away. The town of Darjeeling is spread over the spur of lower mountains, so that its streets are all inclines, and its villas and hotels dotted 'here and there peer down or look up at one another, as the homes in ithe mountains must need do. The secretariat, the large sanatorium, the summer residence of the Ldeui-Governor of Bengal, and the two principal hotels are conspicuous; for the rest, little up hill and down dale roads lead from, the Mall and from Auckland road, and on these we find the creeper-clad and garden enshrouded villas which are so full of life and gaiety in May, June, *nd July, and even in October and November. Below the row of English shope ds the mative bazaar, which is dirty and cramped but interesting to us from the striking difference between its population and that of the cities we had been visiting. The Mongol type of features to Jiejre most pronounced, and the clothes worn by the Butias, Tibetans, Nipalese, Lepachas are a marked contrast in quantity and styje to Anything we had encountered on 'the plains. These people of tlje hills are happier ,fatter, and stronger than those of the low country, j Famine seldom touches their districts, and ifhe hot Weather is, of course, unknown, f jjje laughter and joking that resounds "the Darjeeling bazaar is of a heartiness

seldom heard down among the Hindus. But oh! how the women and children work. The coolies are mainly women, up there among the mountains. It is no uncommon sight to see a line of women or half-grown children mounting up, up, up those hilly paths, with bowed backs on which rest some large blocks of stone held in place by a rope sling, one end of which is stretched across the forehead and the other end supporting the burden. This sight always depressed mc, but the workers seemed happy in spite of it all, for scarcely one did I pass who was not winding a bobbin of scarlet thread with her disengaged hands and crooning to herself the while. On the tea plantations which cover the hills around Darjeeling women are found to be admirable workers and are universally employed, (To be concluded.) "SISTER'S BEST FELLOW, My sister's "best feller" is most six-foot-three, And handsome and strong as a feller can be; And Sis, she's so little and slender and small, You never would think she could bom him at all; But, by jing She don't do a thing But make him jump round like he worked with a string; It Just makes mc 'shamed of him sometimes, you know, To think that he'll let a girl bully him 80. He goes to walk with her and carries her muff And coata and umbrellas, and that kind of stuff; She loads, him with things that must weigh 'most a ton; And, honest, he likes it, ai if it was fun. And, oh, Bay I When thsy go to play He'll sit in the panbur and fidget away, And she won't come down till it's quarter past eight, And then eho'll scold him 'cause they get there so late. Hβ spends heaps of money a-buyin , her things like lollies and flowers and presents and rings; But all he's got for 'em's a handkerchief case— A fueeed-up concern made of ribbons and lace— But, my land! He thinks it's just grand, 'Cause she made it, he says, "with her own little hand." He calls her an "angel"*—l heard him— and "saint," And "beautifulest beia* on earth" but she ain't. To go an errand I never am willing, I just make her coax mc and give mc a shilling; But that great, big silly—why, hone3t and true!— He'd run forty miles if she wanted him to. Oh, gee-whiz! I teU you what 'tis! I just think it's awful—those actions of hie. I won't fall in love when I'm grown—no, siree! My sister's "best iellerV a warnin' to mc!. . _ ...... . ;