Rogue Elephants

1895

They Leave Devastation and Death In Their Wake When on the Rampage.

The complete history of rogue elephants would make an interesting chapter. They seem to have decided to avenge man's wrongs against their kind. Some years ago one rogue actually took possession of a stretch of country in India 40 miles wide by 100 long and in a businesslike way proceeded to demolish everything in or about it. The animal rushed into the villages, took huts upon its tusks and tore them apart or tossed them until they fell in splinters. It chased the people away or killed them whenever it could, or, standing by the wrecked houses, it ate the grains and stores.

This elephant seemed remarkably intelligent. It entertained, in particular, a grudge against the watch towers or scaffolds. Whenever this rogue saw one, be would creep slyly, spring at it, push it to the ground and kill its occupants.

A famous rogue elephant named Mandla was owned by a rich man near Jubbulpoor, in central India. Suddenly it began to develop the characteristics of a "rogue" and attacked human beings wherever seen. It killed them so cruelly that it became widely known as "the man eater." He was finally destroyed by an organized effort of English army officers.

Another famous rogue took possession of a public road and attacked every passerby. Suddenly darting from the jungle, it would rush up to an ox cart, seize the driver with its trunk and disappear. Repeated raids of this kind so terrified the people that a large tract of land was to all intents and purposes deserted, but finally an English hunter determined to rid the country of the rogue. By careful inquiry he found that the elephant always seized the driver, and if there were two carts in company it chose the driver of the last. So he arranged two ox carts, putting a dummy driver upon the second, while upon the first was a stout bamboo cage, in which the hunter was to sit, rifle in hand. When all was ready, the two ox carts started one day, followed by the hopes and best wishes of the community.

The fatal district was soon reached, and about half way down the road there came a crash, and the monstrous elephant, dark and ugly, dashed upon the party. Making directly for the last cart, with a vicious swing of its trunk it seized on the dummy man and made off, receiving as it went a shot from the cage. But the oxen, alarmed by the uproar, ran away, leaving the road and taking to the open country. They tipped the cart over, nearly killing the caged driver and the English sportsman. What the elephant thought when it tore the dummy into shreds must be imagined. Some months later, however, this rogue was driven away and caught. — C. F. Holder in St. Nicholas.

The Lady and the Cobra

1901

An English woman residing in India one evening found to her horror that a huge cobra had coiled itself about her veranda rails, near which she sat playing the violin. She was too near the snake to run with safety, so she continued playing while she gradually edged away. At first her only idea was to keep the creature thus engaged while she escaped, but when she had gained a safer distance and perhaps fascinated by the unwonted sight a strange inspiration seized her. She played air after air of different characters.

The effect was magical. That snake behaved like an ardent, hot blooded disciple of Paganini. Every variation in the music, whether of volume or of tone, produced instantly a corresponding change in the attitude of the cobra. If she played a lively dance, it swayed its body sideways in quick time and yet in graceful curves. Once she struck a number of false notes in rapid succession on purpose, The cobra winced and writhed in pain as if suddenly struck with a whip.

Thus the creature behaved like a mad musician till the lady, getting tired of the sport, gradually worked herself farther and farther and then made a sudden bolt into her room and banged the door, leaving the cobra to wander disconsolate to its lair in the fields.

England's Boundarymaker

1903

Sir Thomas Holdich leaves England on his mission to lay down the new frontier between Chile and the Argentine Republic. It is not a light task, but Sir Thomas already knows something of the Andes, and he has probably had more experience in mapping out boundaries than any man living.

Much of his work has been on the frontiers of India, which he knows as intimately as we know our London streets. He has written a book called the "Indian Borderland," and if ever he gives us his reminiscences they should be full of agreeable accounts of travel. He was serving in India nearly forty years ago as a young officer of the Royal Engineers.

The Abyssinian campaign took him to another continent, but the Afghan war took him back to the regions which he has done so much to make plain on maps. Sir Thomas is within sight of sixty, but a grand tour of mountainous South America has no terrors for him. He and his staff of engineers expect to be away several months. — London Chronicle.

How "All Men Are Born Equal"

1905

The woman born beautiful doesn't bother to educate her intelligence, is spoiled by flattery, is unable to hold the men she attracts; the woman born homely is driven to develop her character and her mind, and so more than overcomes her handicap as against her pretty sister.

The man born clever loses because he wins too easily and has no incentive to that sustained effort which alone achieves success; the man born "slow" develops patience, assiduity, balance and, best of all, tenacity.

It comes near to being a universal rule that strong points and weak ones just about offset each other in any human being at the start, and that the development is a matter for the man himself to determine. And there is no fatal handicap except the disposition to regard one's handicap as fatal. — Saturday Evening Post.


Use Pipes of Pure Gold

There is an endless variety of substances of which pipes are made. In China the stems are of bamboo. In India leather stems are used, in Persia sweet jasmine, in Asia Minor cherry wood. In the Philippine Islands a richer material is available, for the natives hollow out sold nuggets which they find in the torrent beds, and use them as pipe bowls.

How to Cook Rice

1905

Physicians and others who have eaten rice cooked by a Hindoo, a Chinaman or a southern darky must have remarked the difference between the results obtained by these artists and those of the benighted cooks of the north. We learn from an authoritative source that the secret lies in the following recipe:

The rice should be carefully washed and placed in a kettle of boiling water, which should be set on the back of the range over a low fire, where the rice should simmer slowly until done. Stirring is not only useless, but harmful. If there is any water left, it should be drained off carefully and the rice should then stand in a hot place for some time.

Nothing should be added during the cooking, no salt, sugar, milk or butter. If the cooking has been done properly, each grain of rice will stand out by itself, plump, dry and beautiful. Served very hot at the table the rice should then be reverently treated with cayenne pepper and butter, after which, will be revealed to the consumer one of the secrets of the success of the Japanese army. — New York Medical Journal.

Queen Victoria Spoke Hindustani Fluently

1900

An Aged Student

Monarchs can never afford to leave off learning, whatever their subjects may do. A striking instance in point is furnished by an article in Pearson's Magazine, an article the proof-sheets of which were corrected by Queen Victoria herself.

From this article it appears that in spite of all her duties and responsibilities, in spite of the fact that she has devoted so much time to the study of politics as to have become one of the greatest living authorities on the practical politics of Europe, Queen Victoria has within the later years of her reign, acquired an intimate acquaintance with a difficult language spoken by a large number of her subjects.

She makes it a custom, we are assured, to note in Hindustani the daily events of her life, keeping a diary for this special purpose. She speaks the language fluently, having devoted a part of every day for the last ten years to instruction in it, and to acquiring a knowledge of the intellectual treasures of the East.

The queen has surprised many of her Indian visitors by making unexpected observations in good Hindustani. As everybody knows, she is always attended, when at home, by one or more of her picturesque Indian servants. It is not, however, so generally known that she always speaks to them in their own tongue. However small the remark, or however serious the command, it comes to them in Hindustani.

Universal admiration has been expressed at the determination of the queen at an advanced age, not only to learn to speak Hindustani, but also to take an interest in the literature of India, and to acquaint herself with the ideas and aspirations of her Oriental subjects. — Youth's Companion.

Woman Sees Ghostly Visitor Shoot Himself

1908

Spirit Tragedy Enacted In India Occurred As She'd Witnessed It

This is the tale of a ghost who shot himself. The woman who relates it had accompanied her husband to Tirzapur, India, says the Kansas City Star. He had been sent there to undertake the duties of an agent who had gone home on sick leave. The only accommodation they could find when they arrived was an inspection bungalow.

They retired about ten o'clock, but Mrs. S. remained awake for some time reading a novel by the light of a lamp. She was just thinking of turning it out when suddenly a man holding a revolver appeared in the room, she says:

"Before I could move or speak he said: 'Don't stop me; I am going to shoot myself.' As he put the revolver to his head I shut my eyes and was nearly deafened by the report that followed. My husband jumped up, wide awake at once, with a cry of 'Who fired?' and I opened my eyes expecting to see a ghastly heap on the floor.

"To my amazement the room was empty and there was no sign of the tragedy that had just taken place in front of me. My husband said he had been awakened out of a sound sleep by the noise of the shot and when I told him what I had seen we searched the house together. Neither the punkah coolie, who was sleeping in the veranda, nor the servants, whose houses were close by in the compound, had heard anything. Even the dogs chained in the veranda had not been disturbed. It all happened so suddenly that I had no feeling of fright or terror. The man seemed to come from the direction of my husband's office, where there was a door connecting with the bedroom, in front of which we had placed a heavy wardrobe. He was a shortish, unpleasant-looking man and he held the revolver in his left hand. Neither my husband nor I were at all nervous people and when we could find nothing to explain what had occurred we decided that it must have been imagination and that our being in strong sympathy with each other had caused us to share the same hallucination."

Now for the sequel. Shortly afterward Mrs. S. accompanied her husband on a tour of the district. Among the bills they met a Mme. de Bevery, who had been a widow for several years. In the course of a conversation with her Mrs. S. discovered that at one time she had lived in the bungalow at Tirzapur where the spectral suicide had manifested itself.

"On hearing that she knew our bungalow and had actually lived in it," Mrs. S. adds, "I was impelled to relate our strange experience there, which hitherto my husband and I had kept to ourselves. She listened without comment, but when I ended my narrative by saying that we had come to the conclusion it must have been either indigestion or imagination she turned very pale and said, 'You have related something that really happened; my husband shot himself there before my eyes exactly as you have described.'

"I was terribly distressed at having, all unwittingly, reminded her of such a painful episode, but she reassured me by saying: 'It is many years ago and I can talk about it now, though I was ill for months afterward from the shock.'

"She then told me that her husband had gone into the bedroom through the door which we kept closed and had used the very words I quoted and the whole affair coincided exactly with what I had seen, down to the smallest detail. Mme. de Bevery spoke very calmly about her husband and said that he had been ill and mentally unsound for some time. I heard long afterward that he was a confirmed drunkard and had ill-treated her in every way."

Great Irishman To Visit United States

1908

Sir Anthony MacDonnell Coming To America

New York. — Sir Anthony Patrick McDonnell, permanent under secretary for Ireland, is on his way to the United States, but just what his mission to this country is, is known only to himself. It is safe to conjecture, however, that it is to explain to the Irish leaders on this side of the water why he has failed to get Ireland home rule and a land act that would turn the property of the land owners over to the peasantry. These were the aims he had in view when he entered his present position under Mr. Wyndham.

Not only was he a staunch Roman Catholic and home ruler, but an intense radical as well, and the conservatives writhed in horror at the idea of their leaders making MacDonnell virtual dictator of Ireland. For Mr. Wyndham was not a strong man, while Sir Anthony is strength personified. He had learned in India how to take the land from the big land holders and return it to the people. Before accepting the office he stated his views to Mr. Wyndham and insisted upon a written pledge that he should have a free hand. Immediately he set to work to make himself solid with the Irish people. He won the support of the clergy, he manipulated the police in a way that won him the affection of the people who regard the police as their natural enemies, and he traveled the whole length of Ireland to plead with rapacious landlords not to evict helpless tenants.

It was not long, however, before the tories of the old school raised a howl against the unlimited power given to Sir Anthony, and Mr. Wyndham had to drop out after the reading of the agreement in parliament. This made no difference to Sir Anthony, for he remained in his office under Mr. Long, who succeeded Wyndham, and was as much of a power as ever. The party papers denounced the under secretary and all his works, but the government still retained him. It found itself in the position of the man who had a bear by the tail — he couldn't hold on and he dare not let go.

When the Balfour government was defeated Sir Anthony remained as the adviser of the liberal government. Mr. Bryce became his chief and at the same time his tool. Mr. Bryce was no more successful than either of his predecessors, for the Sinn Fein movement, which sought to separate Ireland by strictly legal means, had grown up and was working at cross purposes with Sir Anthony. Prof. Bryce gave up and Mr. Birrell took his place. Sir Anthony advised the "devolution" bill, which the Irish people, investigated by the Sinn Fein, refused to accept. Nor were his land measures more popular, and Mr. Birrell came to the conclusion that Sir Anthony was the champion of a lost cause. It came to a test of will power between a dour Scotchman and an obstinate Irishman, and the former seems to have prevailed. Hence Sir Anthony's trip to America.

Sir Anthony entered the Indian civil service as a young man. He rose to the very highest position in the service, lieutenant governor of Bengal, and subsequently governor of the northwest provinces. He did much to reform the land tenure of Bengal. It was his dearest wish to do even more for his native land, and this is why, after retiring on a pension, he accepted the under secretaryship for Ireland.

Carpet Weaving in Persia

1914
Process Seems Tedious, But the Production Is Celebrated Throughout the World
Generally speaking, the carpets of India can never excel those of Persia, as the materials used in the former are not of the same superior quality as those employed in the latter country.

The wool of which many of the best carpets are manufactured is obtained from Kashmir. Sometimes carpets which are mistaken for silk are really of an extremely fine quality of wool known as "pashm." This is obtained from the goats of Kashmir and grows close to the skin, being protected by the long arid coarser wool. It is as smooth and lustrous as silk and is used for the beautiful soft shawls for which Kashmir is famous.

Peculiar methods are employed by the Indian weaver in converting his original design into a textile. Instead of working from a colored drawing or diagram, the weaver has the pattern translated on paper into rows of symbols, each of which expresses the number of stitches and the color. With this written "key" in his hand, the head weaver sits behind his subordinates and dictates the pattern to them, one row at a time, all through the breadth of the carpet. These weavers — generally quite small boys — sit in front of the warp strings and tie in the requisite number of stitches of each color as called out to them by the reader from his ciphered script.

These boys, who perform the actual process of weaving the pile, follow day by day the dictations of the head man, knowing nothing of the pattern they are preparing, but gradually building up in a mechanical way the carpet on the strings before them.

Bereavement in Bombay — Bad English

1906

Lady Curzon made a point of collecting any amusing attempts made by Hindus to write English that came under her notice and had many curious specimens in her scrap book.

Once she got from Bombay a letter that two brothers sent out to their patrons on the death of their father, who had been the head of the firm. It ran:

"Gentlemen: We have the pleasure to inform you that our respected father departed this life on the 10th inst. His business will be conducted by his beloved sons, whose names are given below. The opium market is quiet and Mal. 1500 rupees per chest. O, death, where is thy sting? O, grave, where is thy victory? We remain, etc." — London Standard.

Kashgaria — You Can't Get There From Here

1907

There are few places in the world so difficult to get at as Kashgaria. Though it lies in Chinese territory, the journey from Peking occupies no less than six months. From India caravans take two months, having to cross meanwhile the three highest mountain ranges in the world by way of several passes measuring 18,000 feet above sea level.

Then from the tail end of the Russian railway system in central Asia one may reach Kashgaria in three weeks by several routes, all involving the transit of difficult and storm swept passes.

Kashgaria is said to cover an area of 350,000 square miles — a statement that has little interest until considered in relation to the proportion which is cultivated by man. It is startling to realize that human endeavor has been capable of rendering fertile little more than a hundredth part and that ninety-nine hundredths of it is irredeemable desert. — Blackwood's Magazine.


Books Bound In Lead

A bookbinder was putting a binding of lead on a book. When asked about it, he explained: "This is a naval code book for use on a battleship All such volumes are bound in lead, so that in the event of the ship's destruction the books will sink with it for they contain secrets of immense value, and every precaution must be taken to keep those secrets dark."

Antiquity of Geometry

1907

The Science May Have Existed In India For Long Ages

Did we learn our rule of three and our Euclid from India? Researches have brought to light astronomical tables in India which must have been constructed by the principles of geometry. Some are of the opinion that they have been framed from observations made not less than 3,000 years before the Christian era, and if this opinion be well founded the science of geometry must have been cultivated in India to a considerable extent long before the period assigned to its origin in the west, so that many of the elementary propositions may have been brought from India to Greece.

The Indians have a treatise called the "Surya Sidhanta," which professes to be a revelation from heaven communicated to Meya, a man of great sanctity, about 4,000,000 years ago. This book contains a rational system of trigonometry which differs entirely from the first known in Greece and Arabia. In fact it is founded on a geometrical theorem which was not known to the geometricians of Europe before the time of Victa, about 200 years ago. And it employs methods of demonstration unknown to the Greeks, who used others. The former have been attributed to the Arabs, but it is possible they have received this improvement in trigonometry as well as the numerical characters from India. — Chicago Tribune.

Once in India, The Most Famous of Thrones

1914

That of Indian Moguls in the Ancient City of Delhi a Marvel of Richness

Among bare and ugly British barracks in the ancient capital of the Mogul empire in India known as Delhi are remnants of two famous gems of Oriental architecture. They are the Diwan-i-Am, or hall of public audience, and the Diwan-i-Khas, or hall of private audience.

The Diwan-i-Am is still a splendid building 100 feet by 60, formerly plastered with chunam and overlaid with gold. It was in a recess in the back wall of this building that the famous Peacock throne used to stand. It was six feet long by four feet wide, and was supported by feet of solid gold encrusted with gems. The throne was also of gold, inlaid with diamonds, emeralds and rubies and surmounted by a canopy supported by 12 gold columns decorated with rows of splendid pearls.

The throne was given its name from the figures standing behind it of two peacocks with outspread wings blazing with precious stones, their tails expanded and the whole so inlaid with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, pearls and other gems of appropriate colors as to represent life.

The throne was valued at $30,000,000 and was carried off by the Persian invader, Nadir Shah, in 1739. Presumably it was constructed in the days of Shah Jahan, a decade less than three hundred years ago.

India's Intelligent Women

1895

Mrs. Annie Besant's observations of women in India, during a recent visit to that country, led her to think them very intelligent, and while their standards and methods of education differ materially from those in other countries, according to their own estimate of learning, many of the women are highly educated.

Reading and writing are not a part of their education, however, as all their knowledge is acquired from "pundits," who go from house to house every week to give oral instruction in philosophy and literature to the entire household, so the memory is wonderfully strengthened by this process of training the mind quickly to grasp and retain all the information entirely independent of books for reference.

Indian women are peculiarly simple and childish in character, yet very different from Europeans of the same class. Northern and southern India, says Mrs. Besant, are two distinct countries in all the laws and customs which affect women. In the north the "Purdah" is in full power, and the women look upon any publicity as an outrage, while in the south their position is quite different, yet men and women do not meet freely in society.

Mothers and grandmothers have great influence and authority in the family and home life, and in outside affairs as well, for an Indian will not act in a public matter against the advice of either one. In southern India very young children are married, and if the infant husband dies his youthful widow can never marry again.

Seen and Heard — The Land of the Incas

Council Bluffs, Iowa, 1908

Land of Incas — In order to accommodate those who have other engagements early in the evening, the lecture by Frank R. Roberson at the high school auditorium tonight will begin at 8:30, instead of 8 o'clock. Mr. Roberson's address this evening will take up the subject, "The Land of the Incas," and will, it is expected, treat of ancient history and tradition as well as of modern customs. It will be illustrated with stereopticon views, as have been the addresses delivered by Mr. Roberson before. The subject for Mr. Roberson's lecture a week from tonight has, by request of many persons, been changed to "Imperial India," which is said to be one of the best of the lecturer's addresses. It will begin at 8:30 o'clock in the evening, like the lecture tonight.

Decision Thursday — Justice Cooper will hand down his decision Thursday in the case in which Harry Stein alleges that Richard Foreman gave him a $10 bill and received change for $20. Stein claimed that he received the bill without examining it and that when he demanded that Foreman repay $10, the latter refused. The case was heard by Justice Cooper Monday afternoon.

To Industrial School — Probation Officer Henry DeLong and Tracy Rodwell, deputy clerk of the district court, leave this morning for Eldora, where they will take Henry Rodman, Bertie, Earl and Ernest Zentz, who have been committed to the industrial school for boys. The boys range in ages from 8 to 15 years.

Bounty on Wolf — William Price of Boomer township brought to the office of County Auditor Cheyne one wolf scalp, the result of the wolf hunt there Monday. He received the $5 bounty allowed.

—The Daily Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 11, 1908, p. 3.

Torture in India — The Misery Suffered by Prisoners

1878

Torture in India

A paper published in India says: The following facts, elicited at the trial at the recent sessions in North Arcot of a case in which five natives were charged with having murdered five of their caste people, show that torture is not yet extinct in that part of the world: The prisoners' fields were robbed of a small quantity of cumboo and the deceased and three others being suspected of having had a hand in the robbery, they were, by the orders of the first prisoner, who was the village reddy (headman), seized and tied, some to the trunks of trees and others to large stones.

In the first case the feet of the unfortunate victims were tied above ground, but the mode adopted subsequently was even more cruel, for the men were bound with their faces exposed to the scorching rays of the sun, with their hands tied above their heads. The whole five having been firmly bound, cold water was, by the orders of the first prisoner, poured upon the ligatures with the object of tightening the bonds and thereby increasing the suffering of the suspected men. After this the first prisoner poured scalding water over the hands and arms of the sufferers. The object of this was to extort a confession of their guilt, and a statement implicating others.

After the men had suffered excruciating agony for eight hours, and were released, it was found that one of them was dead, while the others were unable to move. Two of them died in the hospital, whither they were sent for treatment; one expired in his village, while the fifth was able to give his evidence before the committing magistrate, but never rallied from the effects of the torture, and died after the case was committed to the court of sessions. The medical evidence was sickening in its details, as it is described how the arms, hands and lower extremities of the victims had become gangrenous and how the fingers had rotted and dropped off.

The authority and influence a reddy usually has in a village went in a great measure to deter the spectators of this wholesale murder from interfering on behalf of the tortured men. The court convicted the first, second, fourth and fifth prisoners, and sentenced the first to death and the others to transportation for life.

Physician Declares Colors Have Influence on Nerves

1920

A New York physician who gives more credit to nature than he takes for himself in the cures he has wrought is a great believer in the effect of colors on the human race. Nature is the best teacher in these things, he says. You will find in your surroundings in the country no black and very little red. Blue and yellow are combined in the restful, reviving green. There is no doubt, the doctor contends, that the wearing of black has an evil effect on both health and spirits. It is the color of Saturn, the planet of gloom, misfortune, fatality and other evil things. If one wishes to be happy and brilliant, blue is the color to wear. The doctor says that the spirit of evil hates blue intensely and flies at the sight of it. Blue also calms the nerves and therefore it is a good color for room decorations.


Great Musicians of India Care Not for Worldly Things

To the Hindu, music, like sculpture and painting, is a sacred art. Music originated from Siva, one of the Hindu Trinity, and Saraswati is the goddess of music and of learning in general. As people look upon music as something sacred, so it has become a highly specialized art. Amateur musicians are not much encouraged. The public seem to say, "Do it well or don't do it at all; don't play false with music; it is too sacred for light treatment." The great musicians of India are generally ascetics. They care not for name, fame, or wealth. They live a life of comparative poverty. The Hindu is of the opinion that a voluptuous or a luxury loving person cannot be a great musician.

The Pearl Mosque of Agra, India

1878

A traveler in India describes one of the architectural wonders of the country as follows:

The Pearl Mosque of Agra stands inside the fort, and its three domes rise above the crenelated wall so as to be visible at considerable distances. They have been compared to bubbles, which have rested there for a moment and were liable to be blown away by the first breath of wind, and certainly the comparison is not inapt.

Domes, roofs, walls, pillars, floors, and all are of white marble, and the whole work is finished as carefully as if intended for observation under a microscope. It is not a closed building, like the mosques familiar to visitors to Constantinople. One side is quite open to a large quadrangle, and as you stand in the latter, with the sun of India beating down upon you, your eyes can penetrate to the depths of all the arches that support the domes and roof.

Never, before have I seen a more perfect specimen of the Saracenic arch, and as the arches cut each other at right angles the perspective from any given point is absolutely bewildering. There are twenty four intersecting arches and groined vaults; the structure surprises you at first by its plainness, and then by the splendor of its effect. You cannot understand why it has so captivated you, and I think that many visitors to the Pearl Mosque have gone away with a higher appreciation of Saracenic architecture than ever before.

There is nothing of decoration or ornament about it; nothing but the purest Saracenic art, whether in the mosque itself or in the cloister-surrounded quadrangle. There is no trickery of many-colored stones or elaborate work in mosaic; you see only the pure marble beneath, around, and before you and the blue sky above. As a triumph of architecture it is complete.

A Sunlight Stove — Solar Energy For Warmth or Cooking

1878

A Sunlight Stove

It has been said that when we burn coal we really warm ourselves, or cook the dinner, by the rays of the sun which fell on the earth thousands of years ago — before the Pyramids of Egypt were erected, or Cleopatra's Needle cut out of the quarry. The heat and light of past ages are stored up in another form in the coal, which is fossil vegetation that when alive, as trees or gigantic ferns, owed its growth to the sun.

A successful attempt has now been made to store up the heat of the sun's rays for immediate and practical use. It was carried out in India, where the sun is, of course, much more powerful than here. The rays were first made to pass through glass fixed an inch away from the actual apparatus, which was consequently entirely surrounded by hot air. The enclosed apparatus, a copper receptacle, was blackened outside — a color which is well known to absorb heat, as any one may prove by wearing a black coat on a warm summer's day. The heat thus retained was further assisted by a conical reflector of silvered glass, and a quantity of mutton and vegetables placed within was perfectly cooked.

To further aid in retaining the absorbed heat when the apparatus was removed from the sunlight it was covered with a rug, as ladies place a "cosy" over the teapot to draw the tea. Since then the inventor has improved upon the process, and can now cook chops or steaks in the open air as quickly as by an ordinary fire, and entirely by the sun's rays. The most remarkable point is, perhaps, that the heat is kept in the apparatus for as long as three and a half hours.

In connection with this subject, just to test the power of the sun's rays in our own country, let any of our readers on a hot summer's day place their hand on the slate roofing of an accessible shed. Where they slope to the south, the slates will be found sometimes so extremely heated that the hand can hardly bear to touch them.

India's New Year Days; Celebrated Frequently

1915

INDIA'S NEW YEAR DAYS

They celebrate the occasion frequently by knocking off work and holding funerals. Some bury their dead, some burn them and some feed the corpses to buzzards.

India beats the world for the number and variety of its New Year days and this is so because of the large number of races and religions.

When a traveler who expects to spend some time in the country goes to the bank with his letter of credit, usually a card is handed him on which is printed the various holidays. This is for his convenience, so that he will not let himself get out of funds and go to the bank in a hurry, only to find it closed on account of some holiday. The holiday may be Christian, Mohammedan or that of any one of the numerous Hindu sects.

"When the usual card was given me in Bombay," says a writer, "I noted the number of these holidays which were ascribed to New Year. They did not exactly bear out the humorous description of every day in the year as a New Year day, but there seemed hardly a month of the Christian calendar which did not have at least one New Year designated, and in some months there were more."

Kaleidoscopic Bombay observes all these New Year days because the stream of Asiatic life which circulates through it includes all the civilization and all the races and legions of the Orient, with some additions from the Occident. The spirit is one of catholicity.

All the races and all the religious sects observe the New Year of the Christian calendar, because British rule of India is reflected in this day; but they also observe the New Year of the different races and religions among themselves, at least to the extent of knocking off work.

Whether in Bombay or Benares, the monkey temple has its throng of Hindu worshipers, and the Mohammedans often are not unwilling to share in the observance to the extent of foregoing their business activities. The Hindus on their part are apt to think it a shame to work on a Mohammedan New Year day when the Moslem population may be thronging the Jumma Musquid mosque. So it goes all round the circle of New Year holidays.

There is a simple arithmetical method of calculating the time from the Hegira in the terms of the Christian era, but the easier way is to accept Without question the fact that such and such a day is the New Year of the Mohammedan era. Similarly, the New Year of the Buddhists and the Brahmins and the Jains and the Sikhs may be accepted without bothering about the calendar.

The British New Year in Bombay or Calcutta, or Delhi is much the same as in England

While the Christian New Year is formal and stately on account of British authority, it has less standing than the New Year of the Parsees, because it is a single day's observance, while the Parsees take two days. The year I happened to be in Bombay was the Parsee Yazdezardi, 1276, and the New Year days came on September 13 and 14.

On this day I was afforded the opportunity of witnessing the Parsee religious observances, or Zoroastrian services. It was in the Allbless Bagh, on the Charni road. Their churches or temples of worship are free from architectural pretensions without and within. They are more like an ordinary hall.

In this temple the women were gathered at one end of the room and the men at the other and in the space between was a stand holding a lamp with the eternal fire under glass. The flame was very clear. A venerable bearded priest stood beside the lamp. His discourse was earnest and solemn. Both man and woman hearers were very attentive.

The ceremonies of worship are quite simple, but the mysteries of the faith may be less so. The Parsees who have been educated in England and many of those whose English education has been obtained in Bombay resent the designation of fire worshipers.

One of them gave me a monograph, written by a Parsee barrister in London, which explained the creed of the followers of Zoroaster as one of good thoughts, good words and good deeds, with the sacred flame as a symbol of the effulgence of the deity. It is not denied, however, that contact with Hindus and Mohammedans has caused corruptions to creep into the creed. The Hindus and Moslems regard the Parsees as fire worshipers.

It was on a New Year day that I drove out to Malabar hill, where are located the Towers of Silence, or the Parsee cemetery. Every traveler takes his drive. It is past the other cemeteries, Christian and Mohammedan burial grounds and the Hindu burning ghat. The cemetery of the Christians is no longer used, but on almost any day there will be Mohammedan funerals and Hindu cremations.

On this day there were two Mohammedan funerals and three parties of Hindu mourners, with their respective burdens at the burning ghat.

Malabar hill is the choice spot overlooking the Arabian sea. Within the cemetery grounds are flagstone steps, shaded walks and arbors and bowers, luxuriant vegetation covers the rocks, and there is everything that goes to make a beautiful garden of flowers.

The towers of Silence, of which there are five, are hardly towers at all. They are about 275 feet in circumference and perhaps 25 feet high. The material is whitewashed stone and cement or mortar. A near approach to the towers is not allowed strangers to the Parsee creed, nor entrance permitted to the fire temple, where the sacred fire is kept alive and seven kinds of incense are burned.

A model of the towers is shown in the registry room and an attendant explains them to visitors. The attendant explained to me the circular rows which the bodies were placed — one for the children, one for the women and one for the men. When the bodies have been stripped of their fleshly covering by the vultures, which takes perhaps half an hour, the bones remain for a while, and are then dropped into a well in the center, which is provided with drains and water flushes. Charcoal is the chief purifier.

On this New Year day there was a Parsee funeral, which could be observed only at a respectful distance. There were the four professional body bearers, with the bier on their shoulders, and a procession of perhaps fifty mourners in their white robes walking two abreast, each pair holding a handkerchief. The Parsee accounts say that the body is received by two bearded attendants at the entrance to the towers, and that by them the shroud is removed and then vultures do the rest. This is probably what happened that day.

All I could note on this occasion was a sudden movement of the vultures in the palm trees. There seemed to be hundreds of them. They paused for a minute on the outer edge of one of the towers and then disappeared within. In a few minutes they reappeared.

The Parsee method of disposing of the dead is, perhaps, as the Parsees say, more sanitary than the Christian burial in the earth, or even than the Hindu cremation. It meets the tenet of their faith that fire, water and earth are too sacred to be polluted. But the western mind cannot become accustomed to it.

In conclusion, it may be said that there are other New Year observances in India besides the New Year of the Christians, Mohammedans, Hindus and Parsees. There is a Chinese colony in Bentinck street, Calcutta, and the Chinese there observe the New Year as they do in the United States, or in any other section of the world in which they are found.