There are three great cities which may be called English cities, though
in India: because Englishmen built them, and live in them, and rule over
them. Their names are Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay.
The capital city is Calcutta. There the chief governor resides. Part of
Calcutta is called the Black Town, and it is only a heap of mud huts
crowded with Hindoos. The other part of Calcutta is called the English
town; and it consists of beautiful houses by the river-side, each house
surrounded by a charming garden and a thick grove.
Madras is built on a plain by the sea, and is adorned by fine avenues of
trees, amongst which the English live in elegant villas and gardens. Here
also there is a Black town. It is very hard to land at Madras, because
there is no harbor.
Bombay has one of the best harbors in the world. It is built on a small
island covered with cocoa-nut groves.
Now let us compare these places with each other.
_Calcutta_ boasts of her fine river, but then the ground is flat and
marshy; and therefore the air is damp and unhealthy, and there are no
grand prospects.
Madras is very dry, and sandy, and dusty; but then there is the sea to
enliven and refresh it.
Bombay has the sea also, besides the groves, and at a little distance,
high mountains, which look beautiful, and which it is delightful to
visit. There are no such mountains near Calcutta or Madras.
These are the chief English cities. I must now speak of the favorite city
of the Hindoos.
It is Benares on the Ganges.
You might go from Calcutta in a boat, and after sailing four hundred
miles, you would reach Benares. The Hindoos say that it was built by
their god Sheeva, of gold and precious stones; but that, as we are living
in a bad time, it _appears_ to be made of bricks and mud, though really
very different. They say that Benares is eighty thousand steps nearer
heaven than any other city, and that whoever dies there (even though he
eat BEEF!) will go to heaven.
A missionary once reported a Hindoo for telling lies. The answer was,
"Why, what of that? do I not live at Benares?" The man thought he was
quite safe, however wicked he might be.
In walking about Benares a stranger might be surprised to meet every now
and then a white bull, with a hump on its back, without a driver or a
rider, or any one to keep it in order. You must know that a white bull is
said to belong to the chief god of Benares, and it is considered a sacred
animal, and is allowed to do as it pleases.
And how does it behave?
It behaves much in the same manner as a child would who had its own way.
The white bull helps itself to the fruit and vegetables sold in the
streets, and even to the sweetmeats. It has a great taste for flowers;
and it cunningly hides itself near the doors of the temples, to watch for
the people coming out with their garlands of marigolds round their necks.
At these the bull eagerly snatches with its tongue, and swallows them in
a moment. Finding it is petted by every one, it grows so bold, as to walk
into the houses, and even to go up the stone stairs on to the roof, where
it seems to enjoy the cool air, as it quietly chews the cud.
In the spring the white bulls like to wander out in the fields to eat the
tender green grass. A farmer finding one of these bulls in his fields,
made him get into a boat, and sent him by a man across the river Ganges.
But the cunning creature came back in the evening; for he watched till he
saw some people setting out in a boat, and then jumped in; and though
the passengers tried to turn him out, he would stay there. In this way he
got back to the cornfields.
So much respected are these bulls that a Hindoo would sooner lose his own
life than suffer one of them to be killed. An English gentleman was just
going to shoot one that had broken into his garden, when his Hindoo
servant rushed between him and the bull, saying, "Shoot me, sir, shoot
me, but let him go." You may be sure that the gentleman did not shoot the
servant, and I think it probable he spared the bull's life.
There is one more city to be noticed.
DELHI was once the grandest city in India, and the seat of the great
Moguls, those Mahomedans who conquered India before the British came. The
ancient palace is still to be seen: it is built of red stone; but its
ornaments are gone; where is now the room lined with crystal, the golden
palm-tree with diamond fruits, and the golden peacock with emerald wings,
overshadowing the monarch's throne?
The Persians have stripped the palace of all its gorgeous splendor.
We have now described the two most numerous nations in the world, China
and Hindostan. They contain together more than half the world. In some
respects they are alike, and in some respects they are different. In
these respects they are different.