Men, Animals and Birds Take to Hills

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 7240, 21 August 1933, Page 9

Men, Animals and Birds Take to Hills

SUMMER HEAT PAYS VISIT TO INDIA. SIMLA, India. Migratory movements of men, animals and birds to the mountains stir India with the arrival of the hot season in May. The burning sun necessitates. general adjustments .n the mode of living until October. The first creatures to react ts> the great heat are the birds. In flocks they wend their way across the heavens in northward flight with the mountains which form the northern border of India as the'ur destination. The next to movfii are wild animals of the deer class. With them move tigers and leopards. Countless herds and flocks, in charge of semi-nomadic herdsmen and shep: herds simultaneously begin a slow movement from grazing grounds in tho plains to the • Himalayan Mountains, their movements being timed so as to bring them to the passes into the hills as soon as the melting snows leave the passes negotiable and the pastures beyond them ready for use. Masses of the Indian people cannot speed away to the mountains. They must laze through midday hours and lessen their activities to a large extont. In the torrid plains of Upper India, the better houses have tye-khanas, which are cellars or underground apartments, specially provided as refuges from the heat.

But all who can, migrate to the Hills. The old Mongol Emperors, who reigned in Northern India before the establishment of the British Raj (role), used annually to retire into beautiful Kashmir, in the western Himalayas. They spent weeks on the journey. Kashmir still is the summer resort of great numbers of people in non-official capacity. The Government of India moves from Delhi, its winter capital, to Simla. This lies in the Himalayan lower hills, 120 miles by direct road from Delhi.. This region of perpetual snow stretches its shining white band within a few tens of miles its northern front. Its temperature is moderate throughout tho summer. Its height is 7000 fet above sea level. Here tho Viceroy and GovernorGeneral now holds his court and presides over his Government. And all the Provincial (or State) Governments likowise have fled to cool heights somewhere in their own territories —for hills there are in all parts of India.