Colombo (Ceylon) to Bombay
A MONTH'S TOUR, INCLUDING MADURA, TRICHINOPOLY, TANJORE, MADRAS, CALCUTTA, DARJEELING, BENARES, LUCKNOW, CAWNPUR, AGRA, DELHI, JEYPORE AND AHMEDABAD..
| 1st day | Leave Colombo by steamer for Tuticorin ( about thirteen hours), in the presidency of Madras, and thence take train for Madura. |
| 2d day | Madura (five hours by rail from Tuticorin) was formerly the political and religious capital of southern India. The great Pagoda, or Temple of Shiva, is a superbly decorated structure, of which the new gallery alone is said to have cost fifteen million rupees. The old Palace of Tirumala Nayak, used as public offices, is one of the finest public buildings in southern India. The popular drive is around the Teppa Kulam, or Tank, which has a temple in the center. |
| 3d day | Trichinopoly (four hours and a half by rail from Madura). Inside the fort is the Rock, rising abruptly to a height of 273 feet. At the top of this is a small temple. A short distance away is Seringham, where there is a remarkable temple dedicated to Vishnu, and a little farther on, a temple to Shiva. |
| 4th day | Tanjore (two hours by rail from Trichinopoly) was the last capital of the Chola dynasty. The great Pagoda in the little Fort is considered the most remarkable of all the temples of the Madras Presidency. In the outer enclosure is a shrine to the son of Shiva, a wonderful piece of decorative building. The Palace of the Rajah contains a library of some 18,000 Sanscrit manuscripts, of which 8,000 are written on palm- leaves. Schwartz's Church contains a fine group of figures in white marble by Flaxman, representing the death of the aged missionary, Schwartz |
| 5th day 6th |
Madras (ten hours by rail from Tanjore), the third city and seaport of British India, the seat of government of the presidency and headquarters of the Madras army, stretches for nine miles along the coast and three miles and a half inland. Among the principal buildings are the Cathedral, the Scotch Kirk, Government House, Senate House, Memorial Hall, Chepak Palace and the Arsenal. The Observatory, founded in 1792, gives the standard time to all India and is the fixed point of departure of the Trigonometrical Survey. If there is a steamer leaving conveniently for Calcutta, the traveler had better take passage on it rather than go by rail to Calcutta. |
| 7th day 8th 9th 10th |
Calcutta (forty-five hours by rail from Madras). The winter capital of the government. The Palace of the Viceroy is in the center of the city, as is the Maidan, the great recreation ground of Calcutta, which is bordered by the Chowringhee, the principal residential street, where is also located the Museum. The botanical and zoological gardens are very fine and interesting. |
| 11th day 12th 13th |
Darjeeling, a notable hill station at the foot of the Himalaya Mountains, is twenty hours by rail from Calcutta. The journey hither by the railroad is very interesting, starting as it does from the tropical, humid heat of the capital, and in twenty-one hours landing the traveler in a region of snow-covered mountains. The altitude of Darjeeling station is 7,000 feet, and commands magnificent views of the highest peaks of the Himalayas. |
| 14th day | Return to Calcutta. |
| 15th day 16th |
Benares (thirteen hours by rail from Calcutta), the holy city of the Hindus, on the Ganges. The great sight is that of the bathing ghats along the river front, in the early morning. The bright river, the ghats crowded with thousands of dusky-hued bathers, and the gorgeous sunlit temples backed by the bluest of skies, combine in one of the most fascinating sights of India |
| 17th day 18th |
Lucknow (six hours by rail from Benares), the ancient capital of the kingdom of Oudh, is a handsome city. The chief object of interest here is, of course, the ruined, battered Residency, over which the Union Jack constantly waves, as reminder to the natives of the heroic and successful resistance of a few hundred half- starved Britons against the countless thousands of mutinous sepoys, in 1857. (See page 154.) |
| 19th day | Cawnpur (one hour by rail from Lucknow) . Here was enacted, by the infamous Nana Sahib, the foulest, cruelest and most treacherous of the dreadful tragedies which followed the outbreak of the great Mutiny. Over the well into which many scores of the outraged and mutilated victims were thrown, has been erected a monument in marble of purest white, representing the Angel of the Resurrection, and around the screen walk which marks the circumference of the well is this inscription: " Sacred to the perpetual memory of a great company of Christian people, chiefly women and children, who near this spot were cruelly murdered by the followers of the rebel Nana Dhundu Pant, of Bithur, and cast, the dying with the dead, into the well below, on the i5th day of July, 1857." |
| 20th day 21st 22d 23d |
Agra (six hours by rail from Cawnpur) . The Paris of India, and for a time the capital of the Mogul empire. The Fort, built by Akbar, contains the beautiful private apartments of Shah Jehan. The wonderful Taj Mahal, the Pearl Mosque and other noble edifices here are masterpieces of art in marble. A short distance out is the Mausoleum of the great Akbar, and Fatipur-Sikri (the Versailles of Akbar), with its beautiful Panch' Mahal and the most magnificent gateway in'the world |
| 24th day 25th 26th |
Delhi (four hours by rail from Agra), the latest of the capitals of the great Moguls. In- side the Fort are the Pearl Mosque and the Di- wan-i-Khas, in which stood the famous peacock throne, of whose costly ornamentation the great Kohinoor diamond once formed a part. The Great Mosque is one of the largest in India, and should be visited during prayer time. Outside the city is the Ridge, from which the British operations against the mutineers were conducted during the heroic siege of 1857; the Tomb of Humayun, the father of Akbar; and the beautiful column or tower, the Kootub Minar. |
| 27th day 28th |
Jeypore (eight hours by rail from Delhi), the capital of the native states of Rajputana, handsomely laid out with wide streets, a striking contrast to most of the other cities of India. The traveler should try to be here on some public occasion, and see a real oriental procession of elephants, camels and magnificent horses, be- longing to the rajah. A trip to the Amber Palace is an experience which the traveler should not fail to take and enjoy. |
| 29th day 30th |
Ahmedabad (fourteen hours by rail from Jeypore) is a very beautiful and interesting city. The number and the varied character of the architecture of its mosques will greatly attract the visitor. |
| 31st day | Bombay (nine hours by rail from Ahmedabad). The greatest commercial city of India, and the port of departure for Europe. The Apollo Bunder is handsomer than the Battery at New York, which city Bombay somewhat resembles, topographically, and New York has no Malabar Hill, which is the aristocratic quarter of this city. Strange to say, it is on this hill that the Parsees have their unique cemeteries, the Towers of Silence.
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