Darjeeling

“ Two of them lost brothers, and others their special friends, but not a single man has shown any desire not to return; in fact, in Darjeeling on our return every single man volunteered for the next year. ”

“ Darjeeling is a sanitarium of the greatest benefit to the people of India. The town is made up chiefly of hotels, hospitals and summer bungalows belonging to the mercantile class of Calcutta. Few officials except military officers ever go there. The official society follows the viceroy to Simla, where the summer is always gay, but those who seek health and rest only and are fond of nature prefer Darjeeling. ”

“ Most Labches who come to Darjeeling now-a-days are of the superior tribe of the two. Some people of the inferior tribe sometimes come up to the city, but they are too timid to mingle with others, and unless the utmost care be taken they run back to their old home. But both of these tribes have the finest countenance in the Himālayas, and, sad to say, many of their women at Darjeeling are slaves of soldiers, who are so numerous as to include many of the women of the place in this infamous employment. ”

“ We count this experience among the richest that we have enjoyed. The city of Darjeeling is about seven thousand feet above the sea, and the sides of the Himalayas are so steep at this point that it is only fifty miles down the zig-zag little railroad to the plain where the elevation is but two or three hundred feet. ”

“ Darjeeling is not a large town, but it is filled with interesting people, and on Sunday a market is held in the principal bazaar which is declared to be the most picturesque and fascinating in all India. Throngs of natives in quaint costumes come from all parts of the country around, representatives of tribes which do not often stray so far away from their homes. They come from Nepaul, Thibet, Sikkim and the surrounding countries, and bring articles of home manufacture to exchange for "store goods." The features of the people are unmistakable testimony of their Mongolian origin. ”

“ After a few hours' run through the celebrated Terai jungle, the haunt, and probably final sanctuary, of the big game of India, the track ascends rapidly and picturesquely through the tea district of Kangra, and arrives at Darjeeling, elevation 7500 feet, the summer home of the Bengal Government and the merchant princes of Calcutta and elsewhere. ”

“ The first crime consisted in his having poisoned a well-known Lama at the head of the Dud Kosi. The second — an entirely unforgivable crime — was that he lost my ice-axe within four days of leaving Darjeeling.
Among the other followers of the Expedition were the cooks, a most important part. Having fixed on the men we thought were the most likely, my cousin and I took them out into the mountains and tested them as well as we could. ”

“ I believe, therefore, that the hill plantations of Darjeeling have a better chance of paying than the gardens in Kumaon, but, as stated before, no elevated gardens, that is, none in the Himalayas, have any chance in the race against plantations in the plains, always providing the latter are in a good Tea climate. ”

“ Darjeeling is so near Thibet, Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan that one finds here a motley variety of types and sees something of the native life of the forbidden land that stretches along the northern border of India. The mountain tribes are sturdier in build, coarser in feature and lighter in color than the people of the lowlands, and we saw some types that strongly resembled the American Indian. ”

“ We climbed 1,000 feet higher, then began to descend, and presently got down to Darjeeling, which is 6,000 feet above the level of the Plains.
We had passed many a mountain village on the way up, and seen some new kinds of natives, among them many samples of the fighting Ghurkas. They are not large men, but they are strong and resolute. There are no better soldiers among Britain’s native troops. ”

“ Railway transit between Calcutta and Darjeeling was in the far future.
207 In the near vicinity of Darjeeling numerous hillmen were employed improving and remodelling the road along which my walk lay. The general aspect presented by them was miserable and unpleasant. Tartar in feature and costume, the majority distinguished by queue or “pigtail”; many affected with goitre, others with large foul ulcers on legs or feet, unprotected by dressing of any kind,—​the ulcers said to result from wounds inflicted by a poisonous fly abundantly met with here and hereabout. ”

“ Darjeeling is what is called in India a sanitarium; that is, a resort for Europeans from the plains during that portion of the year when it is too hot to reside in the cities. There is a fixed population of over three thousand. The viceroy's summer quarters are elegant and spacious, and there are churches, schools, and a club-room, with hospitals and barracks for army invalids. We saw groups of natives from the neighboring countries, lingering about the depot, quite willing to trade, and offering us their praying machines for filthy lucre. ”

“ Occasionally we passed through the midst of some very dirty bazaar, or settlement of tumble-down huts, crowded together for warmth, and the mutual support afforded to the mud and bamboo-framed walls, which prevail even in these high latitudes. Here live the picturesque and varied mountain tribes belonging to the frontier provinces around Darjeeling, a sturdy, independent population. There are the tall Bhooteas, the short and stunted Lepchas and Limboos, Nepaulese, Cabulese, and stalwart Thibetans, dashing by on their hardy mountain ponies. ”

“ She has the quaintest way of handing her surplus cavaliers on to me, but I really much prefer Victor and Boggley as companions. They don't need to be amused like other men, and are always good-natured and funny.
I am feeling a little pale with all the excitement, and shall be glad of the change to Darjeeling to-morrow. Next mail you shall hear all about it—that is to say, if no person, seditiously inclined, derails the train or does anything horrid. ”

“ I was told that a woman will carry a piano on her back all the way up the mountain; and that more than once a woman had done it. If these were old women I should regard the Ghurkas as no more civilized than the Europeans. At the railway station at Darjeeling you find plenty of cab-substitutes—open coffins, in which you sit, and are then borne on men's shoulders up the steep roads into the town. ”

“ Many of the Darjeeling gwallas, or cattle-owners, come from Yangthang, and the village seems to be a dividing line, as the people living above it are known as notorious robbers and thieves, while below they are supposed to be more reputable. ”

“ The language of the masses is rather mixed, being [Pg 186] composed of Bengali, Hindi, and Nepalese, though English is almost universally understood, even by the humbler classes. We found a very comfortable hotel at Darjeeling, but discovered that the Hindoo milkman knows the trick of judiciously watering his merchandise. The fruits upon the table were bananas, pine-apples, guavas, and oranges. Wild animals are abundant in the hills, including the much-dreaded tiger, which does not confine his operations to the plains. ”

“ All stores, as they were received in Calcutta, were forwarded by the Army and Navy Stores direct to Kalimpong Road, where they were received by one of our transport officers, Captain Morris, handed over to the contractors who had undertaken the transport of the Expedition, and forwarded by them with the greatest possible speed to Phari Dzong. Naturally this took a good deal of arranging, as the stores arrived in no less than four different consignments, the last consignment of all, the oxygen cylinders, actually arriving in Calcutta on or about the date that the Expedition left Darjeeling. ”

“ We were soon in our rooms at an excellent hotel, which had been engaged as usual. Mine had an open coal-fire and a man soon brought a delicious cup of tea and some toast which were very welcome. I could hear the jackals crying in the near woods. The country is thickly populated and highly cultivated, the people bright and smart but clothed in rags and looking very poor, beggars being everywhere. Darjeeling is the sanitarium of Bengal. There are several hotels, and numerous fine dwellings scattered along on the mountain sides, and far up there are large barracks and hospitals for soldiers. ”

“ It is thickly wooded from base to summit. The principal rivers, proceeding from west to east, are the Mahananda, Karatoya, Tista, Jaldhaka, Duduya, Mujnai, Tursa, Kaljani, Raidak, and Sankos. The most important is the Tista, which forms a valuable means of water communication. Lime is quarried in the lower Bhutan hills. The Western Dwars are the principal centre of tea cultivation in Eastern Bengal. The other portion of the district produces jute. Jalpaiguri is traversed by the main line of the Eastern Bengal railway to Darjeeling. ”

“ Several reasons seemed to point to Daryaganj, a district of the city, as the name imports on the river bank, as a suitable spot for this which we felt to be a most weighty experiment, involving as it did in great measure the abandonment of a theory to which we had hitherto held tenaciously. ”

“ There are scarcely any carriages but a kind of palanquin called dandies, and small ponies which are so sure-footed that they can climb up and down the mountains like goats. Both men and women ride these or are carried by three strong bearers from Thibet. Darjieling is elevated eight thousand feet above the level of the sea, and at this place black clouds may often be seen sweeping along the western side far below one’s feet. The air is so clear, fresh and salubrious that it seems to infuse new strength, vitality and almost new life. ”

“ We cannot land upon this world or its primary, Dhil,” Darjeeb argued, reasonably. “These people are enemies—savages—I have just escaped from them. It is death to attempt to land anywhere in this system except on my own world Nhal—that bluish one over there.” ”

“ Darabala.—Taken, in the Madras Census Report, 1901, as a sub-caste of Māla. It is a common house-name among many Telugu castes.
Dārāla (thread) .—An exogamous sept of Mādiga.
Darzi.—Darzi or Darjī is a Muhammadan occupational term, meaning tailor. “The east,” it has been said,3 “now sews by machinery. The name of Singer is known from the Mediterranean to the Pacific. In every bazaar in India one may see men—they are always men, not women—in turban or Mussalman cap, crouching over the needle-plate, and working the pedals.” ”

“ Did Dalrymple know anything, or was it an instinctive suspicion, or merely the explosion of helpless temper and dislike?
The ride was brief, and the block in which Dalrymple lived was, fortunately, at that moment free of pedestrians. Wandel descended and rang the bell. When the door was opened George relaxed his grasp. Dalrymple tried to spring from the opposite side of the cab. George caught him, lifted him, carried him like a child across the sidewalk, and set him down in the twilight of a hall where a flunky gaped.
"There's your precious friend," he accused Wandel. ”

“ After awhile at the head of a long valley appear lofty, white objects whose summits rise far up above the mist and the clouds; it is the highest peaks of the Himalaya mountains, from sixty to one hundred miles distant. Thus the journey is continued up the mountains until the train finally stops at Darjieling, which is one of the most noteworthy places in the world. It is a sanitarium, and the summer residence of the government of Bengal, and during the hot season makes a favorite resort for many of the Hindoo nobles and princes as well as Europeans. ”

“ Yes, Djalma, Radja-sing—once more, that is it—such names are not so common," she added, smiling, "that one should either forget or confound them with others. This Djalma is my cousin! Brave and good—young and charming! above all, he has never worn the horrid European dress! And destitute of every resource! This is quite ravishing! It is too much happiness at once! Quick, quick let us improvise a pretty fairy tale, of which the handsome and beloved prince shall be the hero! The poor bird of the golden and azure plumage has wandered into our dismal climate ”

“ Darjieling, Oct. 17, 1882.—Here dwells a tribe of mountaineers who are polyandrists, the reverse of polygamists. Each woman has several husbands, who are generally brothers or near relatives. This practice has locally decreased the population, while in all other Hindoo sects it is rapidly increasing.
The English aristocracy is strongly represented here. The summer residence of the Bengal government, which is located here, as well as the excellent sanitarium, attract thousands of travelers. Excursions, dinners, balls and other festivities follow each other in rapid succession. ”

“ The Lieutenant-Governor gets into his special train at Calcutta at 4 P.M. on Monday, and by noon on Tuesday he finds himself safely in his mountain residence at Darjeling. A steam tramway now runs right up the mountains, and thus Darjeling is much more accessible than Simla, which is not yet provided with a similar tramway. The principal drawbacks to Darjeling are the heavy rain and the dense mists, which too frequently envelop the whole of the mountain ranges. ”

“ I dreamt last night that there would many piastres pass between us this visit.’
‘What is the use of friends unless they help you in the hour of adversity?’ exclaimed Darkush.
‘You speak ever the words of truth. I am myself in a valley of dark shadows. I am travelling with a young English capitani, a prince of many tails, and he has declared that he will entirely extinguish my existence unless he pays a visit to the Queen of the Ansarey.’
‘Let him first pay a visit to King Soliman in the cities of the Gin,’ said Darkush, doggedly. ”