OUR INDIAN LETTER.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 7708, 16 February 1886, Page 3

OUR INDIAN LETTER.

(FEOMf ODE OWN COP.EEaPONDENT.)

MCEDFfABSDOAE, N.W. Provinces. A little bird has told mo that my New Zealand friends wish to hear more of oar 11 life in India," and leas of politics. It i< indeed moat flattering that they should take an interest in us, but our life ia so bom* dram, so monotonous, that I feared to weary my readers with too much of it. We all know what the colonel of dragoons says ia 11 Patience," “Toffy for breakfast, toffy for tea" in time becomes distastefu 1 . It ia worse than tonjoura perdrix. So pray put down to my modesty that 1 have not given you toffy and partridges. Looking for something to write about, 1 opened my journal, bat, alas, found little to interest one after wo left beautiful Colombo. I am glad that wo did not know that we were nearly coming to grief off the breakwater there. Tho Indua dragged her cable or anchor—l don’t know which ia the worst—and she nearly anticipated the catastrophe which befell her on hrr return voyage. However, of that we passengers were happily igno* rant. At Madras tour next port after Colombo), the breakwater is a dreadful looking barrier, totally inadequate to shelter the shies in harbor. Tho aurf breaks mountains high over the breastwork, smashing the masonry, and leaving the entrance to the harbor a mass of rocks, dangerous alike for vessels going in and out. The P. and O- boats do not venture In. Indeed, I should think tb inducements to go on shore are few. Ihe city looks an aril, red brick staring burnt-np mass of buildings, without a tree or any shelter. I wonder will my New Zealand friends lik to hear how I landed in Calcutta. It was anything bat a triumphal entry. an( J “P to this I have said little of u. Well. we sailed up the Hoogley under convoy of the pilot, Mr L. A. Folishea-mtelligent man-who, I was disappointed to hear, was not in tho position of a geotloraau, ns •‘uncovenanted.” The word nothing definite to my imagination, as I had forgotten in my long absence from India all about^ caste and its variations. The approach to Calcutta is marked by a series of elegant surrounded by pleasure grounds down to the water’s edge—Garden Keaoh it is called. Amongst these palatial residences the ex-King of Glide’s palace forms a striking fea'ure. It u in anything bat good taste, but oriental to a degree, with its many cupola", gilded bainstrades, flags fly log, balconies filled With birds, and hosts ot gorgeously dressed servants loaning about within the railed enclosure, They say tho ex-king is a bumptious, impel ieas person, greatly disliked by the European inhabitants of Caloutta. When be makes his appearance on the wall, his outriders rush in front of his carriage, ordering the course to be cleared for his Majesty —sad his Majesty expects the Europeans to stand aside, hat in hand, till he passes. I believe very fow kow-tow him in this fashion. Off this point (Garden Reach) is the Government dockyard, and the mouth of the canal called Tolly’s Mullah. Higher up we got a view of the arsenal and the world-famous Port William. Bishop Herbert said of Calcutta that it was a city of palaces, but it was not in his day half so palatial as it is now. Such was our bird’s-eye view of it. Behold the view the elite of tho city had of ua } , We were very tired of board ship, and although our vetwel was nob at her moor* Engs, we were so anxious to get on shore, that my son, with a couple of gentlemen and lady passengers, proposed that wo should land at once. Accordingly wo started in a shore boat, all very smartly dressed for the occasion, for the nearest gantil or landing-place. jfr. was 0 o’clock, and all the guy world of Calcutta was out on the coarse, to which fashionable drive we saw with surprise our boat’s crow pulling with might and main, gesticulating and bowling in a very alarming way to new chums. Our alarm and dismay wore increased when we found our boat stuck fast in the mud, perfectly immovable, and thero it must stick till the next tide came in. What ware we to do? We should either have to be carried to shore by the horrid, greasy naked coolies, or etay where we were \ what a dreadful alternative! I never felt so humiliated in my life. One of the gentlemen jumped on the back ot a coolie, just to show us how easy and safe a method of landing it was, and so reached the shore in safety. Wo ladies coaid not ride “ pick-a-back,” like that, and to make it all the more dreadfnj, quite a crowd had gathered on the shore to watch ua. At last my son, prolific ia expedients, pulled ap one of the seats of the boat, and, directing shoulders, I was actually obliged to sit on it, a coolie to support it at each end on their and essay to hold ou by my eyebrows, but they, though beetling and coveted with shame, I found inanScieot support just then in my perilous transit oi the plank. The coolies shouted, “ Amera bale paokero mem sahib," which being translated meant “catch me bv.tha hair, lady,” towhiohinvitationlmuch objeo'ed. The said “ bale-" looked as sticky and deep as the mud bank we were about leaving; but hold on to some thing I must, and, accordingly, choosing the least disagreeable of alternatives, I bent down and clutched my coolies tightly round the neck, and so X landed, tho other ladies following in my triumphal progress. I did not dare to raise ray eye", but one of our party* less ahame*faced, laid m 6 afterward that the spectators were chuckling with laughter. We lost no time in hiding ourselves in a cab, pulled down all the blinds, and in a very humble, humiliated frame of mind, we drove to Spence's Hotel, in Tank-square. The gentlemen of our party inandibly that they wo’.-ld never again laud in India, before the proper time, at least with ladies. My first impressions were not colour da rose, for the carriage was close shnt.andbesidesl felt so sorry for my dear boys's humiliation in our late misadven'ure I did not care for anything till we reached Spence’s. There all the surroundings were bright md graceful. The climate ia the drawback to life in Caloutta. It is fearfully enervating, and it spoils the women j but India, as a rale, turns oat fine men. It takes off the rough edges ; it refines and polishes, and ought to make great scholars and deep thinkers, as well as fine soldiers; for in no country have yon so many spate hours to devote to tho Moses as in India, for in hot weather in the plains you are shut into the house from 7 o’clock a.m. to 5 o’clock p.m. “Shut ap in the house for all these hours,” has a dismal sound to the uninitiated. I shall just describe our suite of rooms in Spence’s, which is about the average style of dwelling house in Calcutta. The higher up. stairs you live, the cooler it is. So up many flights of stone steps we went, and were at length ushered into a reception room, 20£t high by 100 ft long. The doors, of which there were six or eight, were after the French pattern, glazed with green “jalousies.’’ The floor was covered with Calcutta matting, snow white. The consoles, iso., were of white marble, the walls tinted and panelled with mirrors, and at four corners of tho room stood colossal black marble figures supporting lamps, the showy punkah swung across the centra of the room, and the_ luxurious amber satin coaches and chairs wooed you to rest and indulgence. Out of this apartment opened our bedrooms and bath* rooms, all in the same roomy, graceful style. The dressing-rooms led into gardens, heavy with the perfume of oranges, citron, jaeimine, &o. Wo bathed in white marble baths, and by the time we were dressed for dinner, all memory of the muddy Hoogley and the greasy coolies was completely washed away. A. bizarre kind of gong called ne to dinner, Served k la Kn"se —such a perfect little dinner perfeotthn in Ml ite details.' What gluttons tee mast have seamed to the obsequious servant!) four' of whom waited Upon onr little party’ l Wo hadkehn appreciative appetites, sharpened by board-ship fare! and sea air. 2tll this luxury tends to spnij uv; We are tempted to sifik into these lazy chairs placed finder the punkah. We are too tired to work ; besides What "is tho good? The tailor is Sitting in the verandah waiting for work. “ Ayah, take that sewing to the tailor and tell him to harry with it”—so the “ Mem Sahib ’ thinks and says as she selects a trashy novel from the table at her elbow, and so she dreams the hoars away until it ia time to dress and receive visitors, end, as she did to-aay stare at as poor new chums from her carnage on the Mall. Is it any wonder that we deteriorate in such an atmosphere ? With the men it is different. They, aa a rule, have 11 home work ” to do, and they generally have a snug little room apart from aU the noise of the house, and fitted ap as office, study, and smoking-room. Here the sahib can devote himself to any amount of home work, and generally does

•0. . We had quite an excitement in oar quiet little station yesterday. It was announced In the Pioneer that His Highness the Maha* rajah of Kashmir was to pass thiough by train at 6 o’clock, en route to the Delhi camp of exercises ; he was to be ac.com* panied by four hundred retainers. We were all on the M qui Tire,” and so were our two police officers, looking very warlike in foil dress. Our collector with his wife and family, our doctor and a few other stray Europeans had ample time to adm're the red cloth, carpeting, and.other festive preparations made for his Highqess’ reception; He was to retrain a few hours here to dine, and the dinner was provided at the public expense, Ton mav be sure there v&a &‘gf»s&t fuse over, providing viand? for bis Hlghnes? and his’.4do followers. Three hundred -goats were slaughtered—piles <jf chnpatties reared. their > majestic heads high in air, reeking with the odours of "ghee/’ trays of sweetmeats, . and in’" fact al{ the delicacles of the season .were disposed in the tents prepared close, to the railway.station for their reception.' By-and*by, the lamps were jit, and the •'fecial ” 255 signalled,

and it required all the authority the polico officer*: coaid master to keep a* at a nice diatanco from the train, which pulled up in front of the red carpet. Onr collector disappeared within the compartment, and immediately reappeared leading the Maharajah by the band. Oh ! what a disappointing little person he was. He said to Mr T that he would like to see the size of the railway station, so MrT , still holding him hy ihe tips of his fingers, led him along as if about to dance a minuet, and we had ample opportunity to sse him. He is short— I suppose about sft nothing, with very thin bowed legs—which, to set them off to their best, were encased in tight silk trousers. His bare feet were thrnst into little gold embroidered shoes, and the rest of his garments consisted of white muslin Cheddar, or -beet, and lovely white turban, which could not improve his vacant, besotted face. It seems his father, the late Maharajah, kept biro imprisoned for years as a fool. He certainly looks as if be bad succeeded in making him one. I believe I did a very daring think—as he passed me I could not for the life of me help touching his oheddar. I thought I should find it made of some lovely cashmere fabric, instead of which it was only muslin. As I touched his garment, those of the four hundred who were close behind him, and especially bis “ Pioar Wallah ” (his gams keeper, who was armed with a gun in a woollen case) scowled at me. I believe it was a very rash atnpid thing to do, nor could I tell what pos-eesed me at the moment. The cortege passed out and the Maharajah, after kissing the collector’s hand, and having been introduced to the Native magnates, who were kept outside the station, got into a carriage together with his tutor (the Maharajah is 35 years of age), his doctor, his interpreter, and the chief police officer, and crossed the road to his camp, the followers marching after the carriage. They were fine looking fellows, not darker than many a bronzed European. They all wore a grave, composed, dignified look, quite different from the Bengalee or Punjanbee. Some of them wore red coats—his fighting men, I suppose—but none of them were armed. The others wore white turbans and “ posteeDS,*’ jackets made of sheepskins with the woolly side in. lam sure they will all look imposing at the manosnvring, except the chief.