CONCERNING THE GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA
"Ladies and gentlemen, it affords me very great pleasure to present to you
Sir Modava Rao, who has kindly consented to give you a lesson on the
geography of India," said Captain Ringgold when the company were seated in
Conference Hall.
This announcement was greeted with unusually stormy applause, in which the
ladies joined, and then flourished their handkerchiefs as an additional
welcome to the handsome Hindu.
"I have also the pleasure to inform you that Lord Tremlyn and Dr. Ferrolan
have indulgently permitted me to call upon them for the instruction in
regard to India which they are so abundantly competent to give us,"
continued the commander with a very pleasant smile upon his dignified
countenance. "Their subjects have been arranged, and I congratulate you and
myself upon the satisfaction with which we shall all listen to these able
exponents of the present condition of this interesting country. Sir Modava
Rao, ladies and gentlemen."
The Hindu gentleman was again received with vigorous and long-continued
applause. His handsome face, the expression of which was intensified by the
fascinating smile that played upon his black eyes and around his finely
moulded mouth, was not wasted upon the ladies, or even upon the gentlemen;
and it was a considerable time before the plaudits of the company permitted
him to speak; and he stood upon the rostrum bowing so sweetly that he was
irresistible to the assembly.
"Mr. Commander, ladies and gentlemen," he began, "I have no claim upon you
for the exceeding warmth of the reception you have given me, and I thank
you with all my heart for all your kindness to me, a shipwrecked stranger
on board of your ship. I shall give you as briefly and clearly as I can
what I know about the geography of India. I understand that this was the
subject to be treated by Captain Ringgold; and I am confident that he could
have done it quite as well as I can, though I am 'to the manner born.' But
I will proceed with the subject, without wasting any more of your valuable
time.
"India is a vast territory, forming the southern peninsula of Asia, with a
population, including the native states, of very nearly two hundred and
fifty-four million people," continued the speaker, taking a paper from his
pocket. "I have received a hint from your worthy commander that I ought to
give a comparison of my figures with those of the United States, and our
population is about four times as great as that of your country.
"The area in square miles is more than a million and a half, enough larger
than your country to cover the State of Georgia;" and the speaker indulged
in a cheerful smile. "I did not know what I am saying now till this
morning; for I have been studying the 'Statesman's Year-Book,' in order to
comply with the commander's request.
"The name of India came originally from the Persians, and was first applied
to the territory about the Sindhu River, its Sanscrit name, the early
literary language of India. A slight change, and the river was called the
Hind, which is still the language of the natives, while the country around
it is Hind, from which comes Hindu, and Hindustan; but these designations
really belong to a province, though they are now given very generally to
the whole peninsula," continued Sir Modava, turning to the enormous map
which had been painted by Mr. Gaskette and his assistants.
"Hind, or Hindustan, is the territory near the Jumna and Ganges Rivers, of
which more will be said later," as he pointed out these great watercourses,
and then drew his pointer around Sind, now called Sinde, on the border of
Beloochistan.
"How do you spell Hindustan, Sir Modava?" inquired Mrs. Belgrave. "We used
to write it Hindoostan when I went to school."
"I think the orthography of the word is a matter of fashion, for the letter
_u_ in most European and Asiatic languages is pronounced like the
English _oo_; but it is now almost universally spelled with a
_u_. It is now almost generally absorbed in the name of India, and the
application of the term to the whole of the peninsula is entirely
erroneous; and English authorities usually pronounce it so.
"The name India is now given to the peninsula lying to the eastward of the
Bay of Bengal. Siam and Tongking are in native possession, or under the
protection of France, while Burma is a part of the British Indian Empire.
It was only last year that the French had a brush with Siam, and materially
strengthened their position there; and it will not be a calamity when all
these half-civilized nations are subjected to the progressive influences
which prevail in India proper, in spite of all that is said about the greed
for power on the part of the great nations of the world.
"But I am wandering from my subject. India is about 1,900 miles in extent
from north to south, and 1,600 in breadth in latitude 25° north. The
boundaries of this vast country, established by nature for the most part,
are the Bay of Bengal (now called a sea in the southern portion) on the
south-east, and the Arabian Sea on the south-west. On the north the
Himalaya Mountains separate it from China, Thibet, and Turkestan; but some
of these countries are called by various names, as Chinese Tartary,
Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, and so on. On the west are Beloochistan and
Afghanistan, and on the east Siam and China, though the boundaries were
somewhat disturbed last summer in the former."
"We used to pronounce the name of your great northern range of mountains
Hi-ma-lay'-a; you do not call it so, Sir Modava," said the commander.
"I have always called it Hi-mal'-a-ya, the _a_ after the accented
syllable being very slightly sounded; this is the pronunciation of all the
Indian officials," replied the speaker, with his pleasant smile. "These
mountains consist of a number of ranges; they extend 1,500 miles east and
west, and are the sources of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra. The
highest is Mount Everest, the loftiest mountain in the world, 29,002 feet;
and I could mention several other peaks which overtop any of the Andes.
Himalaya means 'the abode of snow,' and the foot-hills are the resorts of
the wealthy to obtain a cool climate in the summer.
"India is remarkable for its fertility, and its luxuriant growth of plants
of all sorts, from the productions of the torrid zone to those of the
temperate in the hilly regions of the north. It is abundantly watered by
the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Jumna, the Indus, the Godavari, and other
great streams. The Ganges, though it does not vie with the great rivers of
America, is 1,557 miles in length. To the natives it is a sacred river, and
the land through which it flows is holy ground. To bathe in its waters
washes away sin; to die and be buried on its shores procures a free
admission to the eternal paradise of heaven.
"The Ganges Canal, constructed in 1854, is 445 miles long, and is used for
both navigation and irrigation. Doubtless you will sail upon it, and learn
more about it. Near the Indus are two deserts, one 500 miles long, and the
other 400, though the grains may be cultivated in the valleys and other low
places; and perhaps these regions will be reclaimed by artificial
irrigation. In ancient times gold-mines were worked in the south-west, and
the currency consisted of this metal instead of silver, as at the present
time; but the veins were exhausted, and the Mysore mines are all that is
left of them.
"I suppose you Americans have been accustomed to regard India as an
exceedingly hot country; and this is quite true of a considerable portion
of it. In a region extending from the almost tropical island of Ceylon,
nearly 2,000 miles to the snow-capped summits of the highest mountains in
the world, there must necessarily be a great variety of climate. India has
three well-defined seasons,--the cool, the hot, and the rainy. The cool
months are November, December, January, and a part of February.
"The rainy season comes in the middle of the summer, earlier or later, and
ends in September. Winter is the pleasantest season of the year; but
autumn, unlike England, is hot, moist, and unhealthy. Monsoon comes from an
Arabian or Persian word, meaning a season; and you have learned something
about it by this time. It is applied to the south-west winds of the Indian
Ocean, changing to the north or north-east in the winter. This wind
produces rain, and when they infrequently fail, portions of the country are
subjected to famines.
"At an elevation of 7,200 feet the temperature is an average of 58°
Fahrenheit, as I shall give all readings of the thermometer. At Madras, on
the south-east coast, it is 83°; at Bombay, 84°; Calcutta, 79°; and in
Delhi, in latitude 29° (about the same as the northern part of Florida), it
is 72°. These annual average temperatures will not seem high to you; but I
beg you not to form a wrong impression, for the heat of summer is generally
oppressive, and the average temperature is considerably reduced by the
coolness of the winter months. In Delhi, quoted at 72°, the glass often
indicates over 100°.
"The rain varies greatly in different regions. In the north-east it exceeds
75 inches, and in one remarkable year 600 inches fell at an observatory in
north-east Bengal. In some of the western parts it is only 30 inches, while
it is hardly 15 on the southern shores of the Indus. I think I must have
sufficiently wearied you, ladies and gentlemen."
"No! No! No!" almost shouted the company with one voice; and perhaps there
was something so fascinating in the manner of the distinguished Hindu which
exorcised all weariness from their minds and bodies.
"Thank you with all my heart; but really you must permit me to retire, for
I am somewhat fatigued, if you are not, and I shall be happy to contribute
to your entertainment at another time," replied the speaker; and he retired
from the platform.
"I shall next call upon Mr. Woolridge, who will speak to you of the fauna
of India," said the commander.
The magnate of the Fifth Avenue, not much accustomed to speaking in public,
was somewhat diffident about addressing the company in the presence of
those who were so well versed in Indian lore; but he conquered his modesty,
and took his place on the stand. In expressing his appreciation of the last
speaker, he mentioned that he occupied a difficult position in the presence
of those who knew India as they knew their alphabet, and begged them to
consider his talk as addressed only to the Americans of the party. The
guests declared that they should be very glad to hear him; and he bowed,
smiled, and proceeded with his remarks:--
"Fortunately I have not much to say, for it will consist mainly of the
mention of the names of the principal animals in the fauna of India," he
began.
"Are all the animals fawns?" asked Mrs. Blossom, who evidently mistook the
meaning of the term used.
"No, madam; some of them are snakes. But I shall refer the serpents to Sir
Modava; for I am very anxious to hear the views of a native on that
subject. The cattle are cows, buffaloes, and oxen, the two latter used as
draft animals, and as agricultural workers. Bulls and cows are sacred
beasts, and the Hindus never kill them for food."
"Except Christianized natives, like myself," interpolated Sir Modava.
"Thank you. The native breeds of horses have been greatly improved under
the direction of the horse-fancying Briton; but they are never used on the
farm. Ponies, donkeys, and mules are in use for various purposes. There are
plenty of sheep and goats--so there are of hogs; but the higher of the
middle class, like the Jews, regard them as unclean beasts, and would as
soon take poison as eat the flesh of a pig. I don't sympathize with them,
for I like roast pork when it is well brought up and kept clean.
"Monkeys are as tame as they are mischievous; and doubtless they are tame
because they are held to be sacred, and have a better time than they do in
Africa and elsewhere. But all the fun of the fauna is concentrated in the
wild animals, such as the tiger (about the gamiest 'critter' that exists),
the panther, cheetah, boar, bear, elephant, and rhinoceros. Two kinds of
crocodiles (not alligators) live in the mud and water of the rivers; and I
suppose they snap up a man or woman when they get a chance, as they do in
the Philippine Islands and other countries. I advise you all to give them a
wide berth; for their bite is worse than their bark, like that of some men
we know of.
"There are plenty of deer to furnish a dainty and healthy diet for the
meat-eating wild animals, including the lion, which is not much of a king
of beasts here, the hyena, the lynx, and the wolf. All of these last take a
back seat compared with the tiger. Game and other birds would make a
hunter's paradise if it were not for the snakes and tigers, which are
unpleasant to an American when his piece is loaded with only birdshot.
"In the towns on the sea the fish are excellent, and an important industry
is curing and smoking them for the markets. In the mountain streams the
fishing is very good; but in the warm waters of the streams on the plains,
as in Egypt, the fish are soft, and neither palatable nor healthy. Leaving
the snakes to the tender mercies of the gentleman from Travancore, I will
make my bow," which he did, and stepped down.
He was politely applauded, and the strangers seemed to enjoy his discourse
more than the rest of the party.