The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, June 1883Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 03, June 1883
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
Much of the scenery in India is monotonous and uninteresting, but
the tropical vegetation is always attractive. We pass palms in all
stages of growth, stalwart, untutored banyans, graceful, delicate
bamboos, plantains, the scarlet-blossoming cotton tree, the feathery,
fir like casuarina, some squares of sugar-cane and covered spaces for
the cultivation of the betel-nut, which has a smooth green leaf, not
unlike the plantain, and which, mixed with a preparation of lime and
spices, is used by the natives for chewing, quite as much as tobacco
is with the western nations. The scarlet lips, tongue and gums, which
result from using this leaf, are quite as disagreeable to see as the
disgusting effects of tobacco chewing.
White paddi birds hover over the marshes, and groups of cattle are
grazing in the meadows. At the tanks, which abound everywhere in
India, and which are often partially covered with a green scum, the
natives are bathing, or washing soiled linen, or carrying water away
for cooking purposes! The railway stations remind one of England, they
are so neat and tasteful and attractive with their blossoming shrubs
and potted plants. Dracænas grow here seven feet high, and these with
other foliage plants, and the showy, scarlet poincettia and magenta
bougainvillia are oftenest seen at the railway stations. Occasionally
we pass near a small village. The mud huts, with their drooping
thatched roof, are surrounded by palms and plantains, and stand near a
tank of water. The native Indian has no idea of privacy. One sometimes
sees a whole population out in the streets cleaning their teeth. No
man in India thinks of shaving himself, but instead of our luxurious
modern appliances, the barber and his victim go out on the sidewalk,
sit opposite each other on their haunches, and the deed is done in the
face of the world. The barber is an important member of the community.
He often acts as village doctor, and, in some parts of India, helps
to arrange marriages. There are very few beggars to be seen in India,
except such as are religious mendicants by profession. There is no poor
law, but the patriarchal system obliges every wealthy head of a family
to provide for his poor relations to the twentieth cousin.
In Delhi, Cawnpore, and Lucknow memories of the Sepoy mutiny of 1857,
and all its attendant horrors, fill the air. Cawnpore is pre-eminently
a memorial town. Every trace of the buildings where the fiendish
massacre occurred has vanished, and now one looks abroad on shaded
avenues, beautiful gardens, a quiet cemetery, and broad stretches of
green turf. Over the ghastly well stands the colossal white marble
figure of an angel leaning against a cross and bearing palm branches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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