Across India; Or, Live Boys in the Far East, Oliver Optic [read along books TXT] 📗

desire to make it as attractive as possible, and I have studied to vary it all I could."

"You have turned your ship into a noble and useful institution," replied the guest. "Lord Tremlyn and Sir Modava have both spoken in the highest terms of this feature. And these lectures are mainly for the benefit of Mr. Belgrave, your owner?"

"The plan was introduced principally on his account; but it has grown into an exercise for all the cabin party, and most of them are speakers as well as listeners; for it makes all of them feel a greater interest in the conferences," replied the commander. "To-morrow we are to begin upon India, dwelling upon its geography, civilization, government, and history. Now, I wish to ask you, Doctor, if there would be any impropriety in my asking the members of your party berthed in the cabin to take part in these exercises?"

"Not the slightest, Captain Ringgold."

"Probably you are all better informed in regard to the affairs of the peninsula than any three other men I could find if I were to search for them here and in England," added the commander.

"You are not far from right, sir, as far as my associates are concerned; for officially or unofficially they have visited every part of India, and studied up in detail everything relating to the people, the country, the army, and the institutions, both native and British."

"As you have been with Lord Tremlyn in his travels, you must be very familiar with the affairs of India, Doctor."

"Reasonably familiar; but not so well acquainted with them as my companions," answered the physician. "Perhaps I do not violate any confidence in saying that his lordship and his Hindu friend had a conversation just before dinner to-day, in which they were discussing in what manner they could best assist you in seeing India. As you suggest, they are the two men who know more of India than any others I think of, not excepting the governor-general and his subordinates."

"I came to this conclusion when I learned the nature of their mission."

"Sir Modava is personally acquainted with all the native princes; and he and his lordship are regarded by them as second only to the viceroy, as he is often unofficially designated. Every door in India, except those of a few mosques and Parsee temples, open to them, and procure for them and their friends all the privileges that can reasonably be expected. We respect the religious exclusiveness of the sects, and do not ask them to exempt our people from the operation of their rules and customs. The British government rules India in the spirit of kindness and toleration, and interferes with the religious, or even political, institutions only so far as humanity and progressive civilization require. Both of them propose to volunteer to attend you in your travels in the peninsula, if agreeable to you."

"We should be delighted to have such conductors, and I shall gladly pay all the expenses incurred," the commander declared, with an earnestness that attested his sincerity.

"The expense is a matter of no consequence to the two gentlemen; for both of them would be multimillionaires in America, though pounds don't count so numerously as dollars. I am not at all sure they wouldn't gladly pay the expenses of your party as well as their own; but I am not authorized to speak on this point. I advise you not to mention expense to either of my associates. But you can form no idea of the depths of gratitude in the hearts of the three quartered in your cabin for the timely and skilful service you rendered in saving us from certain death. I base my views on what I have heard them say, and what I feel myself," said the doctor with enthusiasm. "I am certain that any suggestion in regard to expense would hurt the feelings of my friends and companions."

"I thank you, Dr. Ferrolan, for the frankness with which you have spoken, and I shall assuredly profit by what you have said," added the commander.

"In what I said about expense I have been moved by what I should do myself if I had the control of the matter, and were as able as Sir Modava and his lordship to incur a heavy outlay; though I have a sufficient income to support a bachelor, I am a poor man compared with them."

The interview closed, and the doctor retired at the end of his cigar. The next morning Captain Ringgold obtained the ready assent of the two gentlemen to take part in the conference appointed for half-past nine, and later that of Dr. Ferrolan.

CHAPTER IX CONCERNING THE GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA

"Ladies and gentlemen, it affords me very great pleasure to present to you Sir Modava Rao, who has kindly consented to give you a lesson on the geography of India," said Captain Ringgold when the company were seated in Conference Hall.

This announcement was greeted with unusually stormy applause, in which the ladies joined, and then flourished their handkerchiefs as an additional welcome to the handsome Hindu.

"I have also the pleasure to inform you that Lord Tremlyn and Dr. Ferrolan have indulgently permitted me to call upon them for the instruction in regard to India which they are so abundantly competent to give us," continued the commander with a very pleasant smile upon his dignified countenance. "Their subjects have been arranged, and I congratulate you and myself upon the satisfaction with which we shall all listen to these able exponents of the present condition of this interesting country. Sir Modava Rao, ladies and gentlemen."

The Hindu gentleman was again received with vigorous and long-continued applause. His handsome face, the expression of which was intensified by the fascinating smile that played upon his black eyes and around his finely moulded mouth, was not wasted upon the ladies, or even upon the gentlemen; and it was a considerable time before the plaudits of the company permitted him to speak; and he stood upon the rostrum bowing so sweetly that he was irresistible to the assembly.

"Mr. Commander, ladies and gentlemen," he began, "I have no claim upon you for the exceeding warmth of the reception you have given me, and I thank you with all my heart for all your kindness to me, a shipwrecked stranger on board of your ship. I shall give you as briefly and clearly as I can what I know about the geography of India. I understand that this was the subject to be treated by Captain Ringgold; and I am confident that he could have done it quite as well as I can, though I am 'to the manner born.' But I will proceed with the subject, without wasting any more of your valuable time.

"India is a vast territory, forming the southern peninsula of Asia, with a population, including the native states, of very nearly two hundred and fifty-four million people," continued the speaker, taking a paper from his pocket. "I have received a hint from your worthy commander that I ought to give a comparison of my figures with those of the United States, and our population is about four times as great as that of your country.

"The area in square miles is more than a million and a half, enough larger than your country to cover the State of Georgia;" and the speaker indulged in a cheerful smile. "I did not know what I am saying now till this morning; for I have been studying the 'Statesman's Year-Book,' in order to comply with the commander's request.

"The name of India came originally from the Persians, and was first applied to the territory about the Sindhu River, its Sanscrit name, the early literary language of India. A slight change, and the river was called the Hind, which is still the language of the natives, while the country around it is Hind, from which comes Hindu, and Hindustan; but these designations really belong to a province, though they are now given very generally to the whole peninsula," continued Sir Modava, turning to the enormous map which had been painted by Mr. Gaskette and his assistants.

"Hind, or Hindustan, is the territory near the Jumna and Ganges Rivers, of which more will be said later," as he pointed out these great watercourses, and then drew his pointer around Sind, now called Sinde, on the border of Beloochistan.

"How do you spell Hindustan, Sir Modava?" inquired Mrs. Belgrave." "We used to write it Hindoostan when I went to school."

"I think the orthography of the word is a matter of fashion, for the letter u in most European and Asiatic languages is pronounced like the English oo; but it is now almost universally spelled with a u. It is now almost generally absorbed in the name of India, and the application of the term to the whole of the peninsula is entirely erroneous; and English authorities usually pronounce it so.

"The name India is now given to the peninsula lying to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal. Siam and Tongking are in native possession, or under the protection of France, while Burma is a part of the British Indian Empire. It was only last year that the French had a brush with Siam, and materially strengthened their position there; and it will not be a calamity when all these half-civilized nations are subjected to the progressive influences which prevail in India proper, in spite of all that is said about the greed for power on the part of the great nations of the world.

"But I am wandering from my subject. India is about 1,900 miles in extent from north to south, and 1,600 in breadth in latitude 25� north. The boundaries of this vast country, established by nature for the most part, are the Bay of Bengal (now called a sea in the southern portion) on the south-east, and the Arabian Sea on the south-west. On the north the Himalaya Mountains separate it from China, Thibet, and Turkestan; but some of these countries are called by various names, as Chinese Tartary, Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, and so on. On the west are Beloochistan and Afghanistan, and on the east Siam and China, though the boundaries were somewhat disturbed last summer in the former."

"We used to pronounce the name of your great northern range of mountains Hi-ma-lay'-a; you do not call it so, Sir Modava," said the commander.

"I have always called it Hi-mal'-a-ya, the a after the accented syllable being very slightly sounded; this is the pronunciation of all the Indian officials," replied the speaker, with his pleasant smile. "These mountains consist of a number of ranges; they extend 1,500 miles east and west, and are the sources of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra. The highest is Mount Everest, the loftiest mountain in the world, 29,002 feet; and I could mention several other peaks which overtop any of the Andes. Himalaya means 'the abode of snow,' and the foot-hills are the resorts of the wealthy to obtain a cool climate in the summer.

"India is remarkable for its fertility, and its luxuriant growth of plants of all sorts, from the productions of the torrid zone to those of the temperate in the hilly regions of the north. It is abundantly watered by the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, the Jumna, the Indus, the Godavari, and other great streams. The Ganges, though it does not vie with the great rivers of America, is 1,557 miles in length. To the natives it is a sacred river, and the land through which it flows is holy ground. To bathe in its waters washes away sin; to die and be buried on its shores procures a free admission to the eternal paradise of heaven.

"The Ganges Canal, constructed in 1854, is 445 miles long, and is used for both navigation and irrigation. Doubtless you will sail upon it, and learn more about it. Near the Indus are two deserts, one 500 miles long, and the other 400, though the grains may be cultivated in the valleys and other low places; and perhaps these regions will be reclaimed by artificial irrigation. In ancient times gold-mines were worked in the south-west, and the currency consisted of this metal instead of silver, as at the present time; but the veins were exhausted, and the Mysore mines are all that is left of them.

"I suppose you Americans have been accustomed to regard India as an exceedingly hot country; and this is quite true of a considerable portion of it. In a region extending from the almost tropical island of Ceylon, nearly 2,000 miles to the snow-capped summits of the highest mountains in the world, there must necessarily be a great variety of climate. India has three well-defined