AT THE CAPITAL OF THE PUNJAB
An early breakfast was provided for the travellers, and at this repast the
farewells were spoken. Speeches were made by all the principal persons of
the party of Americans, and by the Moroccan magnate, expressive of the very
great enjoyment of the visit, and in praise of the liberality of the kingly
host's hospitality. Captain Ringgold returned his thanks quite eloquently.
The Guicowar again enlarged upon the service the commander had rendered to
India in saving the lives of two of his best friends, who had also been the
friends of his country, and his only regret was that the Americans could
not remain longer. Lord Tremlyn and Sir Modava could not in a lifetime
discharge their obligations to their friends who had entertained them like
princes on board of the Guardian-Mother.
The ladies did not make speeches; but they expressed their gratitude to his
Highness in a less prominent manner for the kindness extended to them, and
at the close of the entertainment Miss Blanche advanced to the king, and
presented to him a package containing the photographs of the whole company,
and that of General Noury, each with the autograph upon it.
"I am very sorry that our party are unable to present to your Highness a
gift in keeping with the magnificence of the hospitality extended to us,"
said the beautiful young lady; "but this package contains the photograph of
every member of our company, and we beg that you will accept them as the
only tribute of our gratitude for your kindness which is available to us at
this distance from our homes. We leave behind us our best wishes for the
prosperity, health, and happiness of your Highness."
The Guicowar declared that he should value the gift more than all the gold
and gems that could have been gathered together, and he should always
remember with delight the fairy who had presented them to him, and it would
afford him the greatest pleasure to look in the future upon the faces of
those whose presence at the palace he had so greatly enjoyed.
The actual parting was the scene of a great deal of hand-shaking, mingled
with pretty speeches. The Guicowar went with them to the station, and saw
them seated in the great carriage that had been prepared for them. The
train moved off, with handkerchiefs waving at every window, and with a
profusion of gestures on the part of the magnificent host. It required some
time to talk about the scenes at the court of the king, though all of the
party were observing the country through the windows.
It was a strange country to the Americans; and they found something to look
at all the time, though it was a wild and rugged region for the first two
hours, with only a single town that was noticeable in that time. As they
were passing out of Baroda, the viscount called their attention to a
building at some distance from the road, and called it a "travellers'
bungalow." It was a very comfortable house, where tourists may find hotel
accommodations, though they are hardly hotels. They are provided by the
government, and are to be found in all the travelled regions of India. They
are sometimes free for the rooms, but the guest pays at a very low rate for
his food.
"We are coming now to Ahmedabad, which is in Gujrat, or Goozerat, for you
take your choice in regard to many of these Indian names; and this city is
its chief town, and the second in the province of Bombay. It was formerly
one of the largest and most magnificent cities of the East, as the ruins
still indicate. It contains several elegant mosques, but the town has not
more than a seventh part of its former population of nine hundred
thousand," said Sir Modava, as he opened a travelling-bag, and took from it
a large bundle of photographs.
"Oodeypore is the capital of a Rajputana state; and its palace is said to
be the largest and most magnificent in India, though the town has a
population of less than forty thousand. The maharajah entertained the
Prince of Wales in it when he made his progress through the country. It is
built in the mountains, and it would be a troublesome journey for us to
reach it. The next city of any importance to which we shall come is
Jeypore, and we shall dine there."
When the train stopped for water a lunch was sent to the compartments, to
which all the passengers now retired for the rest of the day. At Jeypore
dinner was served, good enough, though not elaborate. At the table Sir
Modava passed around some photographs of the place, including the palace of
the Maharajah, the Golden Kiosk, and the temples of the valley of Ambir. It
was impossible to visit all the wonderful structures on the road without
spending at least a year in the country; and a dozen volumes would hardly
contain the description of them. The palace at Jeypore is half a mile long,
and contains one seventh of the area of the town.
Though the railroad passed within fifty miles of Delhi, the train sped on
its way to the north all night and nearly the whole of the next day,
arriving at Lahore at five in the afternoon. No towns of any considerable
importance were passed during this long stretch of 540 miles. Though Lord
Tremlyn and Sir Modava, with their friends, were invited to the residence
of the lieutenant-governor, the party went to the Victoria Hotel, for the
viscount thought it would be an imposition to quarter them on the chief
authority, being eighteen in number.
"We are now in the Punjab, the north-western corner of India," said the
Hindu gentleman, when they were seated in the parlor of the hotel. "It is
watered by the Indus and five of its branches, on one of which, the Ravi,
Lahore is situated. Punjab means five rivers. It has a population of more
than twenty-five million; and, General Noury, it has more Mohammedans than
the whole of Morocco. I will not give you any more statistics, for I fear
you would not remember them."
"Thank you, Sir Modava," added Mr. Woolridge.
"The manufactures of silk, cotton, and metals are very important; for the
soil is not very fertile, though cotton, rice, sugar, indigo, and all kinds
of grains and fruits, are raised. Lahore is the capital of the Punjab, and
has a population of a hundred and seventy-seven thousand, though it once
contained a million. At this point we are near the Himalaya Mountains.
About a hundred and fifty miles east of Lahore is Simla, nearly eight
thousand feet above the sea. This is a noted sanitarium; and in the hot
season it is the resort of thousands of people, including the highest
officers of the army and the government."
"Is this as near the Himalayas as we are to go?" asked Scott.
"About as near, though at Patna you will be about one hundred and fifty
miles from Mount Everest, the highest peak on the earth."
"I should like to go there," added Scott.
"You couldn't climb it; and what good would it do you? I could mention a
hundred places in India I should like to visit; but it is not practicable
to do so," added the commander. "We can only take along with us a few
specimens of the wonderful country, and make the best of them."
After dinner the party divided up according to their own fancy, and went
out to walk, though some were too tired to do so. Louis invited Miss
Blanche to go with him; and she was always glad to be in his company,
especially as Sir Modava was to be his companion. The first sight they saw
in the street was a regiment of Punjab sepoys, a well-drilled body of men,
not very different from the soldiers they had seen in other countries.
They wore frock-coats, buttoned tight to the throat, and a sort of turban
on the head. Their faces were swarthy, but none of them wore full beards.
There were plenty of street sights after the regiment had passed. The
different kinds of vehicles attracted their attention first. In a kind of
gig drawn by a horse, two men and two women were crowded together. The
driver seemed to be seated behind, and one of the women was on the floor in
front of the two who were seated. By the side of the man on the seat was a
girl of sixteen or eighteen, and she was very pretty.
In a two-wheeled cart drawn by a humped bullock were a couple of Hindu
ladies, under a canopy supported by four poles. Then came a camel bearing
two bearded men on his back. Two or three palanquins were seen; but they
were an old story, and they turned their attention to the architecture of
the houses that lined the street. There was an abundance of what we call
bay-windows, and ornamented balconies. There was a great deal of variety in
the construction of these appendages of the houses; and all of them were
occupied by ladies, who wore no veils over their faces, though most of them
were doubtless Mohammedans, and the yashmak had evidently gone out of
fashion.
"There is the dak-bungalow," said the Hindu gentleman as they passed a
building of considerable size.
"What is a dak-bungalow?" asked Louis.
"It is one which answers the purpose of a hotel. I pointed one out to you
at Baroda. Sometimes they are free so far as the rooms are concerned; but
here the guest pays two rupees a day, or fifty cents of your money, and the
food is furnished at a low price."
"But this is not half so much of a place as I expected to find," said
Louis, after they had walked an hour, and it was time to return to the
hotel.
"It is a place of considerable importance, though there are not so many
temples, mosques, tombs, and other fine structures, as in many other cities
of India; and I wondered that the commander had placed it in his list of
places to be visited. Jeypore and Oodeypore would have been far more
interesting to your party," replied Sir Modava. "Yet you will see some of
the finest structures in the country before you reach Calcutta."
The company returned to the hotel at an early hour, and all of them were
tired enough to retire at once. But they were up at six in the morning, and
the four boys went out to explore the city by themselves for a couple of
hours. Even at this early hour the ladies, old and young, were in the
balconies, and they were much occupied in observing the latter. Though the
yashmak, or veil, was not often used to cover the face, it appeared to have
been only thrown back upon the head.
After breakfast carriages were at the door to convey the party to the more
interesting sights of the city. At the request of Lord Tremlyn, they were
driven first to the office of the lieutenant-governor, to whom they were
presented. The government buildings are in Lawrence Hall Gardens, where
there is also a memorial building in honor of Lord John Lawrence, the first
lieutenant-governor, who won his distinction in subduing and ruling over
the Punjab.
They were next conveyed to the mosque of Jehanghir, built of red stone, and
so much like a score of other mosques that they were not much interested in
the building. The mosque of Vazir Khan pleased them more; for it was a
beautiful edifice, though crumbling before the ravages of time. But even
here they were more pleased on observing the loafers around the entrance
and in the court in front of it. An old bald-headed Hindu, with a beard as
white as snow, was a study to the boys; and perhaps it was fortunate that
the subject of their remarks did not understand English, or there might
have been another war in the Punjab.
The cook-shops in the street were instructive to them, and they watched the
customers with interest; but, as they had attempted to eat in a Turkish
restaurant in Constantinople, they were content with looking on. The
minarets of the Vazir Khan pleased all the party, for they were certainly
very beautiful. They went to the Golden Temple of Amritsar in the
afternoon, and were impressed with the beauty of its surroundings.
Lahore was rather a disappointment to the tourists, though it would not
have been if they had not spent some days in Bombay before visiting it. The
train in which they had come from Baroda was to be used by them as far as
Calcutta, and they were ready to leave that night. The journey was by a
different route from that by which they had come, and through a more
densely populated region. It was a bright moonlight night when the train
passed out of the capital of the Punjab.
They had gathered in what they had come to call the Conference Hall
compartment; and as they looked out into the light of the evening they
believed they could see some of the peaks of the Himalayas, though Lord
Tremlyn doubted it. Possibly they saw some of the peaks, for Mount Nauda
Devi was within a hundred miles of the point on the railroad where they
would be in the morning; and this is more than twenty-five thousand feet
high. Mont Blanc is seen in very clear weather at the distance of a hundred
miles, and it is about eight thousand feet less in height.
They were awake very early in the morning, and they certainly saw some high
mountains in the distance, but could not identify them by name. At eight
o'clock the train rolled into the station at Delhi, perhaps the most
wonderful city of India.