A WINTER TOUR
THROUGH
THE STRAITS
H E. FALK
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-UCSB LIBRARY
WINTER TOUR
THROUGH
INDIA, BUEMAH
THE STRAITS.
A WINTER TOUR
THROUGH
INDIA, BURMAH
AND
THE STBAITS
BY
H. E. F A L K
LONDON
LONGMANS & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW.
1880.
PREFACE.
DURING long voyages in tropical latitudes,.
time does occasionally hang heavy upon your
hands, although the itinerant voyager in
search of health and rest cannot choose a
more delightful mode to attain his object.
An hour per diem set apart for writing, to
record observations and note striking events
of your progress, fills a physical and mental
void admirably.
Many kind friends, both in India and in
Europe, have induced me to make public
vi PREFACE.
property what was but intended for a few
eyes. The burning question of the day is
the policy by which the greatest gem of this
globe, and the most magnificent jewel in the
British crown, is to be directed. Most crude,
most mystical notions pervade the popular
conception of this great country, and the un-
fortunate hypercritical style adopted always
by the unofficial and official Anglo-Indian
does not tend to lift the veil.
If my little book, which does not claim
either perfect accuracy or erudite exhaustion
of the subjects, with which it deals, will give
the reader the reflection of the bright and
pleasant days I have spent during the past
winter, my object will be gained. I do claim
PREFACE. vii
for my notes a perfectly unbiassed conception
and honest relation of my observations. An
active merchant of upwards of forty years'
standing in the great port of Liverpool, I
am not accustomed to book-making or the
experienced rhetoric and phraseology of book-
making ; I must on this plea crave the
kindly consideration of my readers and critics.
H. E. FALK.
CATSCLOUGH, CHESHIRE,
April, 1880.
A WINTER TOUR 1879-80
THROUGH
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS.
IT is October, 1879.
The Clerk of the Weather at Washington
has prophesied a severe winter again. Why,
therefore, stop among the fogs and icicles ?
Away to regions which don't know them !
It was said : and ladies pull their summer
gear from dusty drawers; gentlemen look up
tropical clothing; passages are taken by the
" Cunarder " for Malta, from Liverpool direct,
and the grey skies of Old England are left
behind. We are scudding down channel our
moderate 11 knots on the 31st October. Three
4 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
days bring us into bright blue: the "Bay" you
barely touch in your course from Liverpool ;
hence the passage is preferable to that from
Southampton, as your comfort on board is not
broken into by this proverbially stormy sea.
Finisterre, St. Vincent, grand old " Gib.," Cape
Bone, &c., &c., are left behind, and on the
ninth day we cast anchor in Malta harbour.
The cheerful, bright, and clean island smiles
its welcome, and after having duly settled
the ladies in respectable " Dunsf ord Hotel "
for the winter, to await our return, we take
passage by one of the numerous daily sailers
for Alexandria, to spend a week in Egypt
en route.
A word about Egypt en passant. We
were here five years ago : to our view a great
transformation for the better has taken place,
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 5
and the bondholders' millions, we think, have
been, if not judiciously, at all events well
spent for the purpose of beautifying the cities
and facilitating the internal traffic and com-
fort of the country, which must eventually
bear fruit. We think the old Khedive badly
used, and to talk of the " poverty," " bank-
ruptcy," and other euphonious cant of Egypt
is, to our notion, rank rubbish. The " poor "
fellaheen is a jolly bright specimen of the
sons of toil, and in comparison with our
agricultural labourer would bear a scrutiny
without fear. I am sure an unbiassed, intel-
ligent observer would award him the palm of
the better lot : no wrinkles in his brow, no
pinching care in his eye, and clearly no
anxiety for " house," " coal," and " blanket,"
as none are wanted in these climes. The ride
6 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
through the rail-netted Delta of the Nile is
most instructive and pleasing to the agricul-
tural mind : such soil, such crops, can only
be seen in semi-tropical and tropical regions.
Two crops annually wheat and cotton
one year, sugar and beans the next and
so on in endless succession since the
days of the Pharoahs. Thus has this
wonderful soil proved its self-sustaining
and recuperative powers : there seems, to our
view, no need for improvement by imple-
ments or artificial fertilizers. The plough
to-day is the same which was held by the
peon in the days of Moses, the ox is the
same, the fellah the same ; they have not
changed, and they need not change for the
well-being of the country; the bountiful soil
and the bountiful sun are there, and will
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 7
produce as much as man requires and calls
for. If you don't ask him for anything
more than he requires for his own frugal
needs, he will lie basking in the shade of his
village palm, and, with true philosophy, ex-
claim, " Why should I produce what I don't
need ? " but tax him, as a natural sequence
to the inexorable logic of improvement of the
state, and he will have no difficulty in pro-
ducing as much as you ask for, in reason.
His political friends will, of course, exclaim
<( Tyranny," but, I opine, such exclamations
will be taken quantum valeant.
CAIRO
is a delightfully cheerful place to stay at
for a few days, weeks or months. Every-
thing has been done by the late ruler to make
8 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
it an attractive resort for strangers. The
gardens, the style of architecture of the
new streets, the bridges, the avenues, the
roads all are made with a view to the
comfort of European refinement. The old
town and bazaars have huge attractions,
the latter for ladies especially; the ancient
monuments, pyramids, sacred spots and trees,
(inter alia a mythical fig-tree under whose
foliage the Virgin and Joseph are said to
have rested) for the archaeologists and the
curious. Under any circumstances a few days
on the road to India are well, agreeably and
profitably spent there.
We join the P. and O. mail at Suez a spot
which is unfortunate enough to leave few
friends behind. It is hot, dirty and dull beyond
description. Therefore the half-day or whole
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 9
day which you are compelled to spend there,
awaiting the passage of your steamer through
the " desert ditch," you must count as a blank
in your existence.
A rasping northerly breeze bowls us down
the Gulf of Suez, and having installed our-
selves in our cabin the home of the
next fortnight we begin to take stock
of the company on board. The steamer
is crowded : 130 passengers in the first
class, 40 ladies, 10 children, and their
necessary belongings the chief prevailing
element, of course, civil and military
officers of the Indian Government, a dozen
generals, colonels, and captains, some judges,
some doctors, and some representatives of
great mercantile houses in Bombay, Calcutta,
and Madras. The whole in the course of a
10 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
few days begin to amalgamate, and pleasant
days and evenings are spent, as is usual
when people are bound to make themselves
agreeable, on penalty of being expelled from
society. The enquiring mind has great oppor-
tunities on these trips, and we hear wonder-
ful stories from north, south, east and west
of India, of sporting adventures, travels in
high altitudes, sketches of native and Euro-
pean character in jungle, court and station
life. Well, the time passes ; the northerly
breeze, which carried us down the Red Sea
for two days in grand style, suddenly lulls,
and eventually turns dead ahead, due south ;
the thermometer, which had been kept down
by the norther to moderate 82-85 in the
shade, creeps up to 90-92, and along with
it a depressing atmosphere begins to silence
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 11
the merry hum of the ship. These 48 hours
in the latitudes of the teens in the Red Sea
are always the most trying ; they are the
rainless regions of the earth, not a green
blade or leaf is to be seen, although we have
often most picturesque groups of rocks on
islands or mainland in view. The wind blows
as through a hot blast tube, and you are
fairly melting. In Aden it rains only once
every three years, and there is an apocryphal
story of a place in Egypt, near the second
cataract, where no rain has been known for
70 years. Meantime the water below is as
pure azure as the canopy of heaven above,
not a vestige of cloud, and at night the stars
sparkling, as they only know how in these
regions. There is something supremely ele-
vating and ethereal in these heaven - lit
12 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
nights, and you must go to the East to see
it, for the Western tropics don't give you an
equal chance.
ADEN
is reached. Six hours for change of mails, cargo,
and coaling are more than the passenger requires,
as it is a most uninteresting place. And now
we set our course for Bombay direct, seven days
more, through one of the most charming seas of
the world the Indian Ocean. It is hot
85-90 but the air feels crisp and cheery no
depression with the heat. Balls and concerts are
the order of the night daily, and the time glides
on so pleasantly that the general phrase of
regret becomes : " How sorry we shall be
when to-morrow we have to part." The fact
is, these trips in the large passenger steamers
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 13
are the most pleasant pic-nics you can have ;
the ordinary idea associated with our rough
northerly waters finds no place in them, the
ship glides along, as on a lake, and mal de
mer is quite unknown. Impatient minds
would like to go a little faster, and have
less of the leisurely style, which characterizes
all eastern motions, and I must confess, for
the credit of British enterprise, the trip to
Bombay under 6,000 miles across Europe
ought to be done in 14, instead of 18 days,
as now. It would pay the P. & O. well to
make proper arrangements for a swifter
train service across Europe, and swifter
boats from Brindisi to Alexandria and Suez
to Bombay, at all events during the winter
season. Crowds of passengers, who are de-
terred by the ancient three weeks trip, would
14 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
avail themselves of a fortnight service, and
who can measure the benefits which the
additional light let in by ocular demon-
stration to the English public would produce
for both England and India ? How many
absurd theories would vanish ? How many
quacks, who are now trading upon mythical
hearsay, would have to pack up their wares,
and hold their tongues in Indian debate ? The
one universal cry in India, the one great
desideratum is : " British public, come and
look, if you would understand India and its
value to you ! "
BOMBAY
is sighted ; its glorious harbour lies before us; an
hour, and we are landed upon " Apollo Bunder,"
and comfortably installed in " Watson Hotel,"
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 15
as the natives call it its more extended title
being " Esplanade Hotel." Now everything you
see is fresh you realize that you have entered
another world. A grand, imposing town is
before you ; magnificent buildings, wide streets,
and, above all, crowds and multitudes of the
genus homo. This, to our view, is one of the
most impressive characteristics of Asiatic life :
you meet man everywhere in such masses as
you cannot produce in similar circumstances
elsewhere, and you feel that the cradle of
the race must be within the tropics, as its
most genial abode still is there. Serving
spirits surround you wherever you put your
foot on Indian soil ; the white " Sahib "
meets with deference everywhere, and we
confess, the feeling of superiority, which in
the first instance is thrust upon you, and
16 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
but reluctantly accepted, begins to grow, until
you opine at last that that traditional
Assyrian story accounting for the difference
of colour in mankind, viz., " White man, child
of God, black man, child of Adam," may
have, after all, something in it.
In Bombay you enjoy the beauty of the
tropical sunset to perfection ; truly the gor-
geous East is mirrored in it with all its
glorious surroundings of the vegetable king-
dom. The picturesque Malabar Point, with
the Governor's Palace and the Caves of
Elephanta, are most pleasant objects for ex-
cursions. The caves are carved in the solid
rock, Hindoo temples of no great merit ar-
tistically, but showing traces of sculpture,
from which our later Italian artists in
mediaeval times have not beon ashamed to
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 17
borrow. They are worth a visit, if you
have spare time for a day's excursion, as you
are on the island introduced to the real
tropical vegetation. The native town of
Bombay itself contains many quaint build-
ings, and is abundantly ornamented by carv-
ing in wood, which has attained to great
perfection in the district and still flourishes
from ancient times. It is a very busy,
thriving place, and a drive at sunset through
the great bazaar thoroughfare, when all the
mills and factories are sending forth their
toilers, gives the stranger an idea of the
masses which are compressed within these
Indian centres of population.
After a few days' rest in Bombay we
start on our journey to the North- West. A
well-appointed railway, with excellent, roomy
18 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
sleeping - carriages, receives you. Our first
object is the holy city of Hindostan,
BENARES,
about 1,000 miles by rail from Bombay. We
travel in the first instance through the
Ghauts, a small mountain chain in the imme-
diate vicinity of Bombay, and most con-
veniently situated for the Bombayites, who
can afford the change, to get a cool tempera-
ture during the hot season. The mountains
are full of picturesque points of view, and
land you on the eastern side upon the real
vast plain of India, which stretches from the
foot of the Himalayas to the ocean, and is
an almost unbroken plateau of rich alluvial
soil, intersected by rivers and their tributaries,
at distances which call for but very little
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 19
artificial aid to make them flow where man
requires to irrigate his crops.
These schemes of canalization and irriga-
tion have called forth prodigious masses of
controversy and reports, and I am inclined to
lean to the side of a very intelligent native
gentleman, a member of the Bengal Council,
who stated to me that the old rulers of
India had never lost sight of the subject, and
their engineers were as clever as ours. They
studied the rainfall as much, and wherever
a proper locality for impounding waters
existed, they used it. Nature was the best
guide, and canals were but a most ques-
tionable remedy for her so-called objects, as
it was found that epidemics and fevers fol-
lowed the modern work of canalization,
which intercepted the drainage of the coun-
20 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
try, and thus produced anything but an
unmixed good. Although I approach the
subject with great diffidence, as it is dealt
with by such able men as Mr. Hume and
Mr. Caird, I cannot help saying that their
view of the fecundity of Indian soil is of
the most pessimist description. Sun and
water are in my opinion sufficient to recu-
perate any soil, else what would have become
of all Europe ? Manuring is but a very
modern institution in farming, introduced
generally almost within memory of the
" oldest inhabitant." And now about the
chief crops of India, rice and jute : they are
grown almost entirely under water ; what
would be the use of manure to such ? And I
never heard yet of a rice-field producing a
scant crop for want of anything but water !
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 21
We have reached Benares by 36 hours'
travel : we have stayed two days, and seen
most of its hackneyed sights, and we
have had quite enough of them : 5,000
temples, mosques, and shrines, and an army
of lazy, dirty priests, performing foolish,
childish rites, in order to keep the unthink-
ing multitudes in harness for their support
that is about the summum bonum we have
from Benares. The city is fithy and mean,
apart from the palatial residences of the
Hindostanee rulers and princes and other very
opulent Hindoos, who as a matter of re-
ligious faith have to subscribe to the irra-
tional doctrine, that every Hindoo who wants
to die happy must see Benares. However,
we must not be too severe upon these re-
ligious tenets, for after all our own history
22 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
shows that similar notions were prevalent
amongst enlightened Christians in the middle
ages, and the variety of taste which exists
amongst the Hindoos as to the choice of
their inferior deities finds a very opportune
parallel in our own Roman ritual, which has
quite as many saints of masculine and femi-
nine gender as the Hindoo has, although the
latter chooses all sorts of animal and super-
natural objects for devotion, whilst the
Catholic sticks to the human form divine.
Both have the same faith in one Supreme
God. This inferior-deity worship is kept up
unquestionably by the priestly craft, who
have to live by it, and who were even too
strong, as events proved, for the great re-
former, Buddha. He lived some five cen-
turies B.C., and by force of his own strong
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 23
will, blameless life, and powerful preaching
taught the Asiatic nations a purely rational
creed, with the sublime and high doctrine,
" Do unto others as thou would'st be done
by." So rapid was the conversion of all the
Asiatic peoples that nearly the whole of the
Brahministical intermediate deities were swept
away. But priestcraft eventually conquered
again, and, after the Bhuddistic era had run
its course for a few centuries in Hindostan,
the plastic, dreamy mind of the Hindoo was
again brought over to the priestly rule of the
Brahmins, and there we find him now.
China and Japan, however, held fast to
Buddha's teaching in most respects. The
Brahmin faith is very harmless, and not
much more vicious than a good many other
schools with more civilized titles. However it
24 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
sadly interferes with the progress of the
people. For instance : a man becomes an
outcast if he leaves India ; he can't eat or
drink anything that has been defiled by the:
touch of the unorthodox; he won't eat meat
or kill any animal. Progress of Western
civilization must necessarily be slow under
such circumstances, unless another Buddha
rises. But railways are beginning to cut at
the root of the evil, and ere long these
absurd superstitious rules must give way.
Such is also the idea of most enlightened
natives. Side by side with Hindoos live
their ancient conquerors, the Mussulmans. You
can recognise them at first glance by their
wild eyes and more independent bearing.
There is no love lost between the two neigh-
bours, and since we bless both by equal
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 25
laws and never interfere with their harmless
religious amusements we have an excellent
counterpoise to the ambitious plotting of
either sect. The Hindoo generally recognises
the beneficence of the British dominion,
whilst the wild Mahomedan still casts longing
eyes and hopes for a return of the magni-
ficent past, when he rode the country like a
whirlwind, and trampled the industrious
dweller of the plain into the dust. The
wild Tartar must always be an element of
careful study and watchful anxiety to the
Government, and it is for this reason and no
other that the Tartar brother races must be
kept away, or they might join hands and
again destroy the work of a century of peace
and industry, which the great Indian nation
has enjoyed. The Hindoo trader and peasant
26 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
wants security against this ever present
danger of the ancient Mahomedan enemy,
and any government which would be ill-
advised enough to curtail the number of
white troops in the country would retard the
progress of industry and the advancement of
the masses generally. The fashion is to call
India a poor country : -what grounds or
reasons there are for this I have ever failed
to see. A soil teeming with abundance, a
climate fit for any crop, the trees exuding
precious gums, the very leaves and bark
yielding valuable spices, regions where the
earth can be made to yield all the metals
and alkalis, with the most precious building
stones on the surface, and a coast indented
with safe ports and rivers, stretching thou-
sands of miles inland : this is the poor
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 27
country so-called. The fact is the reverse ;
it is so rich that it has always been the
most coveted of possessions, and ruthless con-
querors have made the people suspicious to a
fault. They have pleaded always poverty to
escape the exactions of the Tartar, and I am
told that the bulk of the bullion which un-
doubtedly is poured into the country from
Europe and the New World, is hoarded,
buried, and converted into ornament, whicli
can be hid away easily. To find a remedy
for this great evil ought to be the problem
of the clever administration of the country.
I have discussed the point often, and in many
distant corners of the empire, and the best
remedy, on which all agree, seems to be a
wide extension of railways. If you bring
the means of easy and cheap communication
28 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
with distant parts to the door of everybody,,
he avails himself of it, and the rupee which
is buried will be unearthed to satisfy the
love for travel, which is very strongly de-
veloped in India among the natives. Travel
will educate the ignorant, it will teach him
to use his opportunities, and eventually make
the so-called starveling into an opulent, in-
dependent peasant. Railways can't fail to
pay handsomely in India, for the element of
success is multitude. Anyone traversing
India and seeing the masses of travellers can-
not fail but become convinced. Hitherto
engineering has been very defective needless
expenditure on grand works, studious avoid-
ance of the great centres of population, and
similar errors, of which we have not been
free at home ; but this no doubt will be
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STEAITS. 29
altered, and the cheap metre gauge ought to
net the country by thousands of miles. Local
and provincial guarantees will find the money,
and natives will not be slow to take to good
investments at their doors. The middle trad-
ing class of natives is both prosperous and
opulent, and if you give them a chance of
indulging a little in their pastime of gamb-
ling in stocks, they would sooner invest in
public securities than look to the usurers'
trade which they now more or less all follow.
The iron industries of England should look
this question up, for here is a grander and
far safer field for them than the west affords.
15,000 miles of rails laid over India would
solve many questions, political and social ;
no fear of famines in future if the produce
of one province can be brought with a few
30 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
hours' notice to the other ; no fears of raids
and mutinies if each garrison is within a few
hours' reach of the other. And above all,
the produce would be brought to market and
obtain its legitimate value, instead of wast-
ing and fading unused, and the hoarded
rupees would be brought into circulation and
exchange would resume its ancient standard.
I have been told that there are many dis-
tricts in the North- West and Rajpoot coun-
try where wheat is only worth 2s. a bushel
and a pair of fine bullocks 1. From Benares
we struck into the lovely plains of
OUDH,
on the new railway to Lucknow. It was a
charming sight, the vast green wheat-fields
extending hundreds of miles, which stretches
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 31
on this level plain before your view. They
sow their wheat and peas here as an inter-
mediate crop during the winter in November,
and reap it in March to make room for
sugar, cotton, indigo, etc., etc.
LUCKNOW
is a fine city, and its Immambara and other
old royal palatial buildings are well worth
a visit, although they lack the solidity of
structure which Agra and Delhi can justly
boast. They are very pleasing light speci-
mens of oriental modern architecture. Luck-
now is a large station, and spoken very
highly of by all civil and military officers ;
it has beautiful parks and charming rides.
The country from Lucknow to
CA WNPOBE
and Agra is of the same rich agricultural
32 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
value which we described above : beautiful
to look at, and no doubt yielding most
satisfactory returns. Arrived in
AGRA,
we have before us the wonderful monumen-
tal structures of the past era of grandeur
and magnificence of the " Great Moguls."
Description fails and becomes tame in sight
of such unparallelled specimens of archi-
tecture. They are unique ; and anything else
in the world, aiming at similar objects, pales
by the side of a
"TAJ,"
ASD
"ISMUD UL DALLAH,"
"XECUNDRA."
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 33
The most fervid imagination of the oriental
mind, with its gorgeous and boundless re-
sources, has found expression in these won-
derful specimens of Saracenic architecture.
The white marble, inlaid with lapis lazuli,
malachite, bloodstone, cornelian, agate, and
other precious stones, dazzles you in its
stupendous masses ; the screens, which supply
the place of windows in these structures, look
at a distance like delicate lace curtains, and,
when you come to examine them, you cannot
but be astounded at the patience and delicate
manipulation which thus transformed the
massive blocks of stone into fine lace work.
The whole world can show nothing to equal
these splendid monuments, and Government
have done well to repair the damages which
the mutiny and neglect had wrought. The
34 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
conservative character of the Indian is here
again strikingly manifested ; the descendants
of the original builders of these grand
structures are still there, and following the
same craft hence the restoration of the
mosaic and inlaid work is followed with re-
ligious care and attention by these workmen,
and you can scarcely discern the restored
from the original. Any description, as we
said before, or attempt at description, is in
our opinion utterly futile. No pen can con-
vey an adequate notion of the beauty and
harmony of the tout-ensemble. One must
come and see to enjoy these solid relics of
ages of gorgeous magnificence, which pro-
bably will never return again. From Agra
you generally make an excursion to the for-
saken city of Akbar,
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 35
FUTTEYPOEE SIKKRI.
It is only a three hours' drive on a beautiful
tamarind-shaded road, and no visitor to Agra
should miss it. He will enjoy the novel
sensation of sleeping " all alone " in the old
palace of Akbar, which has wonderfully well
stood its three centuries of desolation, and
surrounded by the ruins of the walled town,
through which you wind your way for more
than half a mile ere you reach the palace.
This city and palace were abandoned by
Akbar on account, it is said, of the in-
salubrity of the situation, which is, nevertheless,
charming to look at, and probably from some
other unknown cause : hence there is no evidence
of wilful destruction of anything. The magni-
ficent solid and carved stonework of this
36 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
palace seeks its equal all over India: it was
never surpassed. After you have spent your
night and morning in this extraordinary
place, and also witnessed the feat of agile
divers jumping from the ramparts of the
palace, 80 feet high, into the tanks, you
take the road to
BHUETPUE,
a railway station, and a typical Indian town,
governed still in the old style by an inde-
pendent rajah: a fine palace beautifully
situated ; buildings abounding with carved
stonework and most quaint picturesque archi-
tecture. Hence you take train to
JEYP UE,
likewise the seat of an independent sovereign,
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 37
the "Maharajah." The country through which
the railway winds is evidently splendid soil,
from the produce of cotton and other plants
which the cultivated spots carry ; but you
see everywhere the evidences of slothful
government : no order, no cleanliness. This
is clearly a vast volcanic region : mounds of
rocks and deep ravines everywhere. It is
the home of the beautiful mottled sandstone
which you see in the monumental structures
of Agra, Delhi, etc., and this beautiful
material will no doubt find its way further
afield when the Trunk Railway, on which we
are now travelling, is completed. The fields
are overrun with deer, game and peacock,
the latter being a holy bird, which no
sportsman is allowed to kill. They look
very picturesque in droves, but we fear they
38 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
make great havoc with the seeds of the
farmer. Jeypur is a new town : it looks as
if it were built to order by a manufacturer
of Nurnberg toys; the streets straight, wide,
crossing at right angles, where great squares
are formed. The town boasts of water and
gasworks, and is painted all one colour. The
palace is a grand modern structure, where
you can see the real life of lazy Orientals ;
thousands of palace hangers-on crowd the
various squares, corridors, verandahs, and
apartments. The gardens are most extensive
and beautiful. Another novelty we noticed
in this palace : although it has some eight or
ten stories there was not a single staircase
the roads upwards were all inclined planes,
zig-zag or winding in towers, and very easy
of ascent. The boudoirs of the harem were
INDIA, BUKMAH AND THE STRAITS. 39
wonderful glittering specimens of tawdry
imitation of the real grandeur of the old
mosaic ornamentation of the Mogul palaces
of Agra and Delhi. There is a fine park at
Jeypur, and a grand collection of wild
animals ; the latter seems a favourite amuse-
ment of oriental rulers. We had to ride an
elephant to view the town and suburbs, as
the best mode of taking in all the sights.
A railway to Delhi branches off the main
line, and we took this means to reach the
latter by a day's journey. We must confess
we are here in the same predicament as we
were at Agra. The massive, monumental
structures of past ages, the enormous extent
of the ancient ruins, and the wonderful state
of preservation in which they are now found,
are beyond our capacity to describe. The
40 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
pen cannot convey what the eye takes in
everywhere, as it roams over the landmarks,
of ages of civilization which existed at a time
when Europe was a howling wilderness. Fol-
lowing these, are spread before you the
monuments left by the last Tartar conqueror,
the Great Mogul, who is said during his reign
to have made this Delhi the great centre of
Asiatic trade, when the town's inhabitants
were counted by millions, and its revenues
were said to amount to .150,000,000 sterling
per annum. Such a town one must see : to
read about it conveys but a faint glimmer of
the reality. You will spend many days here
ere you exhaust the multifarious sights of
ruins and buildings and sites, which the few
meagre guide-books give you ; but you may
spend weeks profitably if you go roaming
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 41
among the ancient forts, mosques, palaces,
temples, &c., which lie before you at every
point of the compass. The fort of New
Delhi is probably the most massive and im-
posing structure of the kind in Asia. It
contains the most luxurious palace of the
Moguls. Its Dewan-Khas is most gorgeously
ornamented, as becomes the site of the once
far-famed "Peacock Throne," which was said
to be worth 6,000,000 sterling, and was car-
ried off to Persia during one of the numerous
raids with which the history of Delhi is
teeming. There is no city in the world that
has changed hands so often and been the
centre of so many conflicts ; and as you tread
its historical soil you cannot fail to become
interested. A view from the Khutoob Minar,
a central unique tower, some 240 feet high,
42 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
lays before you the whole site of ancient and
modern Delhi; you can trace the city walls,
with a radius of some twelve miles, from this
tower, and form an idea of the magnitude of
this wonderful "Centre of the World," as it
was called in ancient Mogul times.
The trade of the modern Delhi, which yet
contains 500,000 inhabitants, is considerable ;
it is the place of interchange of all the pro-
ductions of the lowlands with the manufactures
of the mountainous regions and tableland of
Central Asia. The shawls of Cashmere are
marketed here, and the craft of the Delhi
goldsmiths is still world-famed. Ladies, espe-
cially, will find ample scope to exercise their
taste, and their purses, in the great bazaar
street, the Chaudney Chauk.
The climate of the whole of this monu-
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 43
rriental region, in winter, is simply delicious.
The days are warm and sunny, without being
oppressive, as the air is dry, crisp and pellucid,
and the nights are most pleasantly cool cold,
as the Indians call a temperature of 50 to
60. We had pleasant wood fires at the hotels
always after dinner. You find numerous
travellers generally at the hotels chiefly civi-
lians and military " leaves" in search of health
by change from insalubrious stations; and
your society, therefore, is generally most intel-
lectual and agreeable, as you have the
opportunity of hearing much of all parts of
India. I cannot here refrain from paying
the " Defenders of the Country " in India
the well-deserved compliment, that they are,
in India, the most agreeable, pleasant com-
panions, earnest and appreciative of their
44 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
important duties, free from the absurd,
frivolous presumption which, in idle garrison
life at home, makes the cloth so unpopular
among the industrial classes. They feel
in India the weight of their mission ; upon
their tact and temper depends the safety of
the countless millions of peaceful inhabitants ;
for the great " gros " of the population are
men of peace, and will accept any ruler who
will leave them undisturbed in their daily
avocations. On the other hand there is the
turbulent class of the ancient alien conqueror,
the Mahomedan Tartar, who is ever ready to
take advantage of any commotion that pro-
mises plunder, rapine and excitement. These
latter it is the province of our battalions to
keep in check, and they must therefore
remain in the land, in imposing and com-
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 45
manding force, even if there is not a breath
of disturbance in the air. The Afghan
troubles are looked upon by all military
critics whom I have had the advantage of
conversing with as a simple outcome of the
British situation in India. Peace all over
the vast frontier, with a host of lawless,
depredatory tribes for neighbours, can never
be ; but alarm at the ability of our forces to
cope with them need never be felt. Exag-
geration is a natural sequence, with such
elements of gossip, and thus trifling incidents
are laid hold of at home for party pur-
poses, and what was a paltry skirmish is
dignified by the name of battle. All testi-
mony concurs in the contemptible character
of the Afghan forces, and no properly organ-
ised body of troops need apprehend disaster
40 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
by such opponents. The mental enquiry
has often occurred to me, when I have
watched the habits and ways of the afore-
said Mussulmen, whether there would ever
be a time, a sort of millennium, when this
hereditary scourge of humanity would disap-
pear. These followers of the Prophet, who
preached the religion of hatred in contra-
distinction of Christ's sublime doctrine of
love, seem to be the direct descendants of
" Shaitan," as the Hindoos call his infernal
majesty. They seem to be born to give
trouble to peaceful mankind. Their one end
and aim of life seems murder and plunder;
work they loathe, their province is to dictate
to slaves, whom their plundering raids have
made their own. Surely the vengeance of
an outraged Deity must descend some time,
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 47
and clear the most fertile regions of the
globe, which they have plundered and desolated,
from the Mahomedan scourge. In India we
hold them in check, but that is all ; convert
them to real habits of peace we never shall ;
and we shall never be able to relax our
guard. The expense of these frontier wars
is a necessary charge upon the Indian
revenue, and it ought always to be borne in
sight by the Finance Minister. To talk of
exhaustion of resources and inability to bear
further taxation is, in my humble opinion,
betraying either great ignorance of the coun-
try or singular want of enterprise in the
financier who propounds such doctrines. In
India Government is the owner of the fee
simple of the soil, and it is said that the
average rental of the whole of this rich
48 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
country, including all assessed taxation, is
below 3s. per acre per annum : this is the
so-called land tax which rests on the poor
peasant for the use of the land; the only
other tax in India which affects him is the
salt tax, and that amounts to the in-
significant sum of sixpence per head per
annum. Hence, we say, talk like the " limit
of taxation being arrived at " is nonsense.
A country that yielded three centuries ago,
when the value of money was tenfold,
150,000,000 to the exchequer is said to be
unable to bear a taxation of 50,000,000 !
Who is to blame for coining such stories,
and sending them into circulation until they
pass without question ? Party government is
the culprit ; and an amiable desire of the
Indian civilian to save his charge from any
INDIA, BUEMAH AND THE STRAITS. 49
disagreeable pressure. Well, a bold hand will
come some day and, firmly assert its right to
tax the people, for the people's benefit, and
remove the stain of shabby parsimony which
taints many government transactions in these
days, and brings us into contempt in the
eyes of a people who have ever loved to be
dazzled by splendid and magnificent dignity.
We have to part from our delightful
Delhi at last. Christmas Day is at hand,
and we have promised to take our Christmas
dinner with some friends in Calcutta. Hence
the train direct a distance of 1,000 miles
is taken, and we land with laudable
punctuality on Christmas morn at
CALCUTTA Howrah Station.
The weather is charming, warmer than Delhi,
50 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
but by no means hot. The Great Eastern
Hotel is our abode for the next twenty-five
days, and although we might expect in a
place like Calcutta somewhat more sumptuous
entertainment for man and beast in its best
caravanserai, it cannot be much grumbled at
upon the whole. Its charges are moderate,
and that is a considerable recommendation,
especially in the eyes of officers with what
mercantile men would consider but scant
stipends. The city is most beautifully
situated, and its glorious Maidan and Eden-
gardens, with the Rotten Row of Calcutta
the Strand will seek their equal in the
world, especially when the wonderfully fine
climate of the winter season is put additionally
into the balance. The squares and streets are
always kept in splendid order, well watered,,
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 51
and, in fact, you might fancy yourself, in
December, as being in Paris in Midsummer.
Calcutta, in the winter months, is a delightful
resort, the temperature ranging from 65 to 75 ;
the air is balmy and pellucid, and social
gaieties abound. Garden parties, dinners, and
balls at the palaces and private residences of
the opulent inhabitants abound, and strangers
are ever hospitably welcomed. It would be
invidious to make distinctions where all is
measured without stint, but I can't refrain
from naming two entertainments at which we
had the honour to assist, from their utter
novelty most striking to European eyes. One
was a ball given by the Maharajah of Hutwah
at the Town Hall, to the Viceroy and the
Lieutenant-Go vernor, and to which some 1000
or 1500 of the elite of Calcutta society were
52 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
invited ; and the other a " Nautch" in celebra-
tion of the wedding of a relative by one of
the most opulent citizens of Calcutta, a gen-
tleman named Baboo Durga Churn Law. The
former was a most magnificent entertainment
in the European style. A grand illumination
by many thousand coloured lamps and gas-
lights formed a great feature. The crowds of
magnificently dressed ladies and natives, in
their gorgeous and picturesque dresses, blazing
with jewels, was a sight not to be witnessed
in Europe. But if this European entertain-
ment was grand, the "Nautch" of Baboo
Durga Churn Law was, from its purely Indian
character, a sight even better calculated to
dazzle European eyes. Here we had the
blaze of light in which Orientals delight, both
in the illuminated garden and the magnificent
INDIA, BURMAH AXD THE STRAITS. 53
reception hall, to welcome a thousand guests,
with the native element, in their most gor-
geous attire of silks and cloth of gold, studded
with jewels, preponderating. An utter absence
of ceremony and awkward stiffness, every guest
moving freely at pleasure in the crowded
rooms, corridors and balconies, with a most
sumptuous supply of everything that delights
the heart. Gentlemen belonging to the house-
hold assiduously distributing bouquets and
delicious scents, Indian nautch girls performing
in solos and chorus their quaint ceremonial
dances ; music by bands of richly dressed
native musicians, with a full regimental band
rendering European music ; and everything
joyous and merry ; refreshments and wines
light or substantial, in most sumptuous abun-
dance, suitable to all tastes. Gentlemen at
54 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
home, who repeat the cant phrase of " the
poverty of India," should witness a scene like
this, and we warrant they will be cured.
This splendid host, a man still in the full
prime of life, is the architect of his own
great fortune, honestly gained in lawful com-
merce, and a grand specimen of his race.
The expenditure of a lac of rupees upon one
entertainment, by a private citizen, does not
smack much of the poverty of the country.
The Bengal Government, with Sir Ashley Eden,
Lieutenant-Governor, is deservedly popular in
Calcutta, and you hear only of abundance and
content reigning in the Province of Bengal, over-
flowing exchequer, and great schemes of useful
works, which are but waiting the supreme
pleasure of " Party Government " at home.
There is abundance of money here, and
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 55
ample resources to back further needs, but
the howl at home and the exigencies of the
coming election have stopped all progress.
The tea districts and the jute country are all
badly served with means of modern commu-
nication. There are some patches of country,
with GOO to the square mile, without a yard
of rail, whilst the tea planters are all clamour-
ing for labour. The rail would enable the
population from the thick country to transfer ,
itself easily to the thin. All parties interested
are most indignant at the delays which have
been interposed from home, the reflex of
which can't fail to exercise its atom of in-
fluence at the coming great party contest.
Unfortunately there is no public opinion in
India. The European community is too small,
and split up too much into cliques. The
56 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
discipline of the civil service is too severe to
allow the clever men to express themselves
effectually when they differ from their
superiors. Newspapers, although ably con-
ducted, are so cliquish that they fail to lead.
The commercial element is too busy and
thus it happens that the whole of the Indian
policy discussion is left to " home " profes-
sionals and amateurs, many of whom are
either wedded to some favourite crotchet, or
speak rather from knowledge of the past
than of the present. Many argue from infor-
mation supplied by native outcasts in England,
who have no chance of being accurate, as,
unfortunately, the absurd Hindoo caste rule
makes any native an outcast who leaves
his country over sea, and to be an outcast
means utter and entire separation from the
INDIA, BUKMAH AND THE STRAITS. 57
whole Hindoo community, nearest relatives
included. Hence the Government of the coun-
try is virtually without any check in the
hands of the Civil Service, and it is fortunate
that England has such a band of devoted,
able men as are to be met with in India.
From all accounts, some seasons must be ter-
ribly trying to European constitutions, and I
have heard of instances of trial and devotion
which sound truly heroic : men in charge of
districts with delicate young wives, living
alone in solitudes without a single European
nearer than 100 miles. For services of this
kind no remuneration ought to be grudged,
and still we hear constant complaints by
gentlemen in Parliament of overpaid Indian
civilians. We have never met with an ex-
ception to the general rule of life for Euro-
58 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
peans in India, and that rule is "hard work."
"With this great responsibility of adminis-
tration hanging over their heads it cannot
be wondered at that the Civil Service look
for clear and emphatic declarations of policy
always to the " Home Government," and,
until such come, they carry out the old lines
as suits their convenience and ideas best.
" India for the Indians " has been so often
and persistently repeated that there is scarcely
an atom of regard left for the taxpayer at
home. India has to pay her way, they say,
that's all. That a conquered country which
has cost England hecatombs of lives and
treasure should be looked upon as justly due
some return to her for the past will never
be admitted as long as the note is not
changed somewhat and translated thus : " India
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 59
for the English and Indians." English traders
have a right to the protection of their in-
terests as well as Indians have a right to use
their own resources upon a fair field and
no favour. Mercantile and manufacturing in-
terests in India, especially those conducted
by Europeans, are much exercised at the con-
tinually widening sphere at which Govern-
ment operations in manufactures, commerce
and agriculture are aiming. Troops of con-
victs in the numerous gaols must be
employed ; but it is contended that they
should not be employed with the aid of
steam and other machinery. Jute mills, oil
mills, and print works are all adjuncts of
the gaols in India, and can, of course, as
they pay no wages, compete most effectually
with private enterprise. The ancient leaven
60 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
of the mercantile character of the Hon. E. I.
Company is still very strong in the old C. S.,
and nothing but the strong hand from Down-
ing Street will reach the cancer. The dignity
of the Government of a great empire is com-
promised by its office-bearers and administrators
being ever on the alert to higgle for a bargain
in the bazaar. An unmistakable note should
be sent forth. The Civil Service are not
meant to be clerks and managers of mills,
manufacturing establishments, and retail
stores or shops. This would conciliate the
industrious public, and heal to some extent
the breach which exists between mercantile
and official circles. We were quite shocked
at the general unpopularity which the
Government of India (in contradistinction to
that of Bengal) at present labours under ; it
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 61
was so different five years ago, when we
were here last, and saw Lord Northbrook's rule
under the full tide of well-deserved popularity.
We left Calcutta on the 18th January
with the British India coasting steamer,
which stays a couple of days each at Rangoon,
Moulmein and Penang, and thus enables
tourists to see the beautiful Burmese country
and coast, as well as enjoy the delightful
sail upon the calm blue waters of the Bay
of Bengal.
RANGOON.
is reached by a long river and difficult navi-
gation between headlands and islands ; but
you have a charming view of tropical vege-
tation all along, and we were much impressed
with the great capacity for extensive busi-
ness which spread itself to our view in sail-
62 A WINTEE TOUR THROUGH
ing up the stream. This town is only some
twenty-five years old, but already it counts
near 100,000 inhabitants. It is regularly
laid out, and will eventually become a very
handsome place. The trade of this port is
increasing at a marvellous ratio ; the export
of its staple, rice, reaches already some
700,000 tons per annum. Although the idea
prevails at home that the interrupted diplo-
matic relations with King Thebaw of Manda-
lay would lead to stagnation of trade with
Upper Burmah, there is no such result in
view at present. The Chinese merchants, who
are the chief traders to Upper Burmah, don't
concern themselves much with British Burmese
politics; they go the even tenor of their ways,
and from all accounts, trade through and with
Upper Burmah is as flourishing as ever. The
INDIA, BUKMAH AND THE STRAITS. 63
steam flotilla, which works the river up to
Mandalay, makes its regular trips, and the
transit trade to Western China, which is
chiefly carried this road, is assuming daily
larger proportions. The Burmese are a remark-
ably pleasant, easy-going people, very different
from the Hindoos. They don't meander half
their lives away in trifling, gloomy religious
observances ; they enjoy their days, and spend
what they earn, freely. The women hold the
purse-strings and are the real "men of busi-
ness" of the country. They bargain, buying
and selling, lending and loaning; in fact, they
are like the Parisian ladies of the bourgeoisie,
everywhere representatives of the trade of their
husbands. They are a race similar to the
Japanese, and when we came into their pagodas,
which are very extensive, and used
64 A WINTER TOtfR THROUGH
chiefly for purposes of feasting, we could
have fancied ourselves in Yeddo, so similar
is the style of architecture, colour, orna-
ment, and the plan of everything. The
great pagodas, which are presided over by
Buddha in effigy, as chief intermediary of their
communion with the Supreme Being, are all
on the tops of hills, in most lovely situations ;
and here they go, many daily, but most only
on holidays, to see and be seen, and amuse
themselves, the old ones by intermittent
forms of prayer, the young ones by showing
their finery.
The political situation need alarm nobody
at home : the Burmese are not a martial
people. A regiment of British troops would
hold Upper Burmah against a dozen Thebaws
if our Government were so minded, as the
INDIA. BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 65
bulk of the people would hail the British
as deliverers from distasteful services to their
hereditary ruler. However, there seems to
be no occasion for action on the part of
our Government, and matters will probably
be left in statu quo, at least such is the
general opinion at Rangoon.
The neighbourhood of Rangoon has some
charming scenery in lakes and woods, and,
as the place is considered very healthy, it
should be one of the most pleasant stations
in the East. A few years will develope it
into a great rival of both Bombay and Cal-
cutta, as far as tonnage is concerned, for,
as we stated before, the trade with the vast
multitudes of Western China will evidently
work itself through this, its natural channel.
MO ULMEIN,
our next point, opens out amongst charming
66 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
mountain scenery, after we have ascended
a long and tortuous river, rather an obstacle
to free navigation. Although beautifully
situated, this place does not bear the same
stamp of coming development and prosperity
as Rangoon does so strikingly. The chief
trade is in the famous teak' timber, and
numerous mills are to be seen upon the banks
of the river, but, like all other towns
the world over, which have been built
upon the strength of a wealth of forest
at their back, time very shortly arrives
when the source of wealth has vanished.
Let us hope that the Indian Govern-
ment, by its forest laws, will arrest the
indiscriminate slaughter of these magnificent
trees, and make it a condition to replant
when the axe is laid at the root of the
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 67
parent tree. We must not forget to name
here the wonderful sight of elephants work-
ing at the saw mills and timber yards. The
sagacity of the animals is truly astonishing.
Their enormous strength is admirably cal-
culated to move and walk off with big
tree-logs as if they were walking-sticks.
It is complained of generally that there is
dearth of labour in Burmah, and both Madras
and Chinese coolies earn great wages, hence
the elephants are pressed into the service
for such ignoble uses. The gaol at Moulmein
seemed to be admirably managed : the art
of wood carving, which seems to be still in
great favour among the Burmese, and of
which their pagodas afford fine specimens,
is practised at this gaol, and ought to be
much encouraged. We were introduced here
68 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
to a Thug, some Dacoits, and other pro-
fessional evildoers, who have a task set them
at some trade which they are taught or
understand, and if they fail to perform this
task, the Inspector told us, the infallible
remedy was the lash or the cane ; this secures
steady work.
P E N A N a ,
in the Straits of Malacca, is reached. It has
grown very warm here, and you find that the
Equator is near. This is a glorious tropical
landscape, as fine as Ceylon : the harbour is
filled with craft of all sorts ; you see plainly
a new region is before you; the Chinese junks
and the Malay trading craft prevail here, with
the long-tailed gentry predominating. Splendid
estates are here owned by an English firm,
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STEAITS. 69
and yield princely incomes. Pepper, nutmeg
and cocoa-nuts are the chief staples of this port ;
they are brought, for shipment to Europe,
from all the surrounding islands, and Penang
is on the high tide of prosperity. Another
thirty hours brings us to
SINGAPORE.
The latitude is 1 40' N. and the temperature
90 in the shade, but this is soon reduced by
mighty showers of rain, which convert the
streets in a few minutes into rapid water-
courses. The climate is generally temperate,
an average of 76 to 78 the year round,
and Singapore bears the character of a very
healthy place. It has a lovely bay, and the
suburbs are delightfully situated in groves of
glorious palms and other tropical vegetation.
70 A WINTER TOUR THROUGH
The place bears the stamp of great prosperity
and is evidently bound to become the Liverpool
of the East, as it is the convenient depot
and mart of interchange between Orient and
Occident. The products of all the islands
and adjacent Malay mainland find their mar-
ket here, whilst on the other hand Chinamen,
Bornese, Javanese, and all the numerous races
of this populous region come here to supply
the wants tendered them by civilization.
It is a most interesting, pleasant place to
spend a few days, as you see every nation
and race from the face of the globe repre-
sented here. The bay always boasts of
men-of-war of some nation, and the European
inhabitants don't seem to be so anxious to
exchange their pleasant tropical quarters as
Anglo-Indians elsewhere generally are. This
INDIA, BURMAH AND THE STRAITS. 71
was the terminal point of our winter tour,
and we transferred ourselves on board the
passing China mail steamer for Galle and Suez
on the 4th February. It happened, by sin-
gular coincidence, that we met the same
P. & O. which brought us out, and our trip
was therefore made doubly pleasant from
meeting old friends. The voyage along the
Straits and across the blue waters of the
Indian Ocean is most enjoyable, albeit the
temperature keeps all along to 85 upwards.
We are going on the same parallel, and this
is the region of tropical thunderstorms, which
are far from unpleasant. The lightning, which
illuminates the heavens all night long, is a
glorious phenomenon. The rest of our jour-
ney is of the usual pleasant character, and
we are now welcoming Old England, after
72 A WINTER TOUR.
an absence of nearly five months, with feelings
of unmixed delight at having escaped the
severe winter. We have spent a most plea-
sant time throughout, and cannot but wonder
that more winter tours are not laid in the
same direction. The travelling is easy and
luxurious, the hotels fairly good, the feeding
excellent, the climate delicious, and society
everywhere irreproachable and English. The
sights in every respect are novel, and, for
our part, we think them infinitely better
worth investigating than Ancient Rome,
Greece, or even Egypt.
APPENDIX.
Report issued to the Salt Chamber of Commerce, North-
tvich, April, 1880.
SALT IN INDIA.
(No. 2.)
NOTES OF A TOUR, 1879-80.
THE equalization of the salt duties which took place
last year has resulted in unmitigated success, and
ought to encourage Indian financiers to deal with
other fiscal matters, upon equally broad sound grounds,
without being scared by the ancient timid axioms,
that the Indian revenue is inelastic, and that the
country is poverty stricken. The salt revenue might
be made the most convenient and just medium by
which the necessities of the State could be met. The
taxpayer barely feels any slight alteration in the salt
duties, revenue is obtained without direct oppressive
76 APPENDIX.
intervention of the salt collectoi*, the paltry trifle of
sixpence per annum, which is the real sum total per
head of the present salt duty, divided by 365 daily
payments of each taxpayer, (for salt is bought in the
bazaar only for daily consumption by the masses), is
never felt, even if it were added to. But Govern-
ment should give up its odious, ostentatious mono-
poly dealings, and collect the tax, as it does in
Calcutta, indirectly, at the customhouse. The thou-
sands of officials, who are now looked upon as so
many tax collectors, and the hundreds of thousands
of coolies, eking out a miserable existence by manu-
facturing an inferior article, should disappear as they
have done in Bengal, and not offend the taxpayer by
flaunting their occupation in his face. The salt,
revenue will yield this year probably upwards of seven
millions sterling at the equalization rate of 2rs. 8a. per
maund, hence every 4a. would give 700,000 pounds
sterling, and if the finances require a few millions
APPENDIX. 77
extra, a single stroke of the pen would give the
amount to the exchequer, without really adding any
appreciable burthen to the taxpayer.
At Bombay I was informed that the rise of the
duty, viz., from the Ir. 13a. to the equalization rate
of 2rs. 8a. per maund had been simply productive of
a large increase of revenue without affecting con-
sumption in the least. Government had acquired by
bargain with the Portuguese the salt works at Goa,
which were giving them considerable trouble for a long-
time, as they supplied the smuggling trade all along
the coast. It is to be hoped that Government will ter-
minate the manufacture in this region, as it can never
pay, or contribute to the dignity of British Government
to extend monopoly manufacture over foreign terri-
tory. There is already sadly too much of this old
heritage of the " Hon. E. I. Company " in British Indian
territory.
In the North-West Provinces, which are now united
78 APPENDIX.
under one salt district with the Central Provinces and
the Punjaub, there is an enormous increase of quantity
consumed, since the equalization of the duties, and
although the duty has been reduced from 3rs. to
2rs. 8a. per maund the revenue shows vast increase.
To some extent this increase is to be accounted for
by a new treaty with the independent States of Kaj-
pootana, in result of the abolition of the salt line, and
which brings the hitherto untaxed subjects of the
Rajpoot States under the thumb of the British tax
collector. However, the chief cause of the vast
increase of the Sambuhr lake revenue lies, in my
opinion, in the fact, that this salt is most unduly
favoured in the matter of duty, as against its English
competitor. Before the equalization the difference
between the tax in the North West and Bengal (which
is supplied chiefly by English salt) was 4a. per maund,
in order to allow the salt from the Punjaub mines a
chance to meet the salt from the South. When this
APPENDIX. 79
arrangement was made, Sambuhr salt was not con-
sidered, as it belonged to a foreign State, and did not
much interfere with British produce. The equaliza-
tion was determined on, the Sambuhr lake leased by
Government, and since then it has become the great
source of salt supply for the whole of the Central Dis-
trict. And I presume, in order to show a good face
on the revenue accounts, the last budget increased the
difference of duty between the North-West and
Bengal Districts, or in other words between Sambuhr
and English salt to 6a. per maund, i. e., a pound
sterling per ton in favour of Sambuhr to the detriment
of English salt. The harmony of the whole scheme
has also suffered to that extent, inasmuch as the
largest province of the Empire Bengal has been
denied the full advantage of the equalization the
duty having been reduced not to the equalization rate
of 2rs. 8a. but to 2rs. 14a. only, with a promise that
the real levelling should follow. Sambuhr therefore
80 APPENDIX.
is flourishing, as well it may do with a protective duty
of 1 per ton, and English salt is made to hold its own
with difficulty in all the districts where the two meet,
and solely through its superior quality. It was for-
merly stated that the people who were supplied by
Sambuhr salt liked its dirty blue and red colour (the
result of mixture of mud in the brine), but it seems
that this taste is dying out, as the report of the
department states that the white salt which is got in
some parts of the lake now is much preferred. It is
a wholesome sign of the times that Government
officials will at last admit that pure white salt is
really the article most desired and desirable for con-
sumption.
The anomaly of this differential duty, it is hoped,
will be cured this Budget.* I have remonstrated on
the subject at Calcutta, and met at head-quarters
* Since the above was written the Budget is out, but makes no
alteration, it simply deals in an empty promise without a
definite date.
APPENDIX. 81
with every consideration. The letter I append was
addressed by me to the Government of India at the
instance of an honourable member of Council. I hope
it will have the desired effect. Since the equalization
scheme has been carried out, the excise manufacture
in the neighbourhood of Calcutta has also shown signs
of fresh life. The reason is apparent. Notwith-
standing the bargain which the Salt Chamber made
oi-iginally with the Indian Home Government under
Sir Charles Wood, the excise-made article has again
been granted a differential protective duty. Whilst
Liverpool salt pays 2rs. 14a. Pooree only pays 2rs. 8a.
In addition to this highly protective figure of <! per
ton ; considerable privileges have been further granted
to the manufacturers in freeing them from the cost of
police supervision, which they formerly had to pay.
The result is of course a considerably increased native
manufacture. The administration report gives excise
manufacture
82 APPENDIX.
1877-81,70,986 maunds,
1878-95,84,394
an increase of 241 per cent, or about 16,000 tons.
Along with this increase, of which the district officers,
are justly proud, as it proves their zeal, the ugly
feature of the case is, from a broader point of view,
that this paltry make of about 22,000 tons
per annum necessitated 1,437 prosecutions in the
criminal courts, whereas the whole Calcutta offences
against the salt laws, viz., the Howrah cases, which
deal with about 280,000 tons, comprise only 15 prose-
cutions. The self-evident conclusion of these facts,
is, that this manufacture is liable to considerable
illicit dealings in the article. I therefore ask : is it
sound policy for the Government to protect and hold
out great inducements to such a trade, in order to-
damage legitimate commerce in English salt 1
The aforenamed causes have naturally contributed
to deprive the import of sea-borne salt of its proper
APPENDIX. 83
development. The figures have remained almost
stationaiy, although the pure quality of the English
salt is gaining more favour, and where not unduly
weighted with differential prices, is taking wider
range. I do not for a moment blame the subaltern
officers, who administer the salt department and
manufacture of Government salt, both in the case of
Sambuhr and Excise salt, as it is but natural that they
should endeavour to widen the range and protect
their salt against English imports ; which, from their
point of view, is an interloper and competitor. But
the supreme Government has to take a wider circle of
judgment, both the fiscal and the commercial policy
are involved, and the mercantile interests have a right
to demand fair play. It is likewise the duty of
Government not to force the people indirectly to con-
sume an inferior article as food. The vicious taste of
the people in the districts which afford saltpetre
grounds is manifested and encouraged by the inferior
84 APPENDIX.
salt they are made to consume from the monopoly
manufacture. The Madras report teems with com-
plaints of illicit consumption of so-called "earth-salts."
These are chiefly noxious bittern salts gathered in
places where saltpetre is made, a result in the latter
manufacture, and from the manure heaps of the
villagers, where the ground has become so saturated
with the urine and droppings from the cattle and
their masters, that, in the hot Indian climate, salt-
petre is produced by the simple action of sun and air.
Common salt likewise results in these combinations ;
and this stuff, called "earth salt," the people eat,
because they consider it as good as the Government
monopoly salt. I have nothing to say against the
chemical constitution of the Sambuhr salt, although it
is dirty and mud-mixed, and cannot compare with
English salt ; but I say again, as I have said before,
the sea salt on the Bay of Bengal coast is a simple
abomination, and it is unworthy the name of a whole-
APPENDIX. 85
Borne article of food, ismed ivith the stamp of the
British Empire, which still clings tenaciously to the
monopoly manufacture in Madras. I am fully aware
that it is of little use repeating the old arguments
Commissions have sat and cavilled with details, and
may sit again and recommend ; but they will alter
nothing. A strong hand alone, at Downing Street, will
produce the salutary effect, and we shall have to wait
for another Sir Charles Wood, who dictated the
despatch which sent the similar pet manufacture of
Bengal to sleep, with a result upon which everybody
congratulates the people and the administration. The
same arguments were current then, in opposition, as
you find now in the mouths of the defenders of the
Madras monopoly. It was then said the people will
rather eat the dirt made at their own door, than the
pure white salt brought to them over the sea. Let
them go to Calcutta to-day, and they will see that the
market value of each cargo is appreciated by the
nicest comparisons of shades of white.
86 APPENDIX.
A few facts and figures which I have taken from the-
last administration report of the Madras Salt Depart-
ment will speak for themselves ; they require no
comment.
The monopoly manufacture, which is in round
numbers nearly equal to the sea-borne salt trade of
Calcutta about 250,000 tons employs in Madras
2,787 police prosecuted last year 9,563, and con-
victed 8,252 persons, for illicit dealings in salt. In
Calcutta the number of cases was 15, as I stated
above. The analysis of the produce in 1876 showed
au average of but 84*82 per cent, chloride of sodium
or common salt, organic matter 1'8S. Chloride of
magnesium and other foreign salt, 4*12; moisture
9 '18 100. At two important stations the chloride
of sodium was as low as 74 '6 at Neidavagal, and 77 '8
at Negapatam.
Any return of the real net revenue derived from
salt in Madras, as compared with that for an equal
APPENDIX. 87
quantity obtained from Bengal, of sea-borne salt, would
be very instructive.
There is a general call for Madras coolies all over
the East ; Burmah, Assam, Bengal, all are short of
labour, and the former excuse, that the salt manu-
facture gives bread to a great number, won't apply
now. The salt manufacture pays starvation wages,
compared to what men earn in the above district as
labourers.
I arn happy to report of Burmah that English salt
is gradually and firmly asserting itself, both for the
consumption of British as well as Upper Burmah and
the districts adjoining, belonging to China and the
Shans. There is now a very extensive transit trade,
growing, with rapid strides, through Rangoon via
Mandalay, with the caravan routes of Western China.
Chinamen will buy entire cargoes of salt for transport
up the Rangoon river, via Mandalay. The duty is
only one per cent, ad val. for transit, whilst for con-
88 APPENDIX.
sumption in British Burmah it is 3a. per rnauml.
From all I have heard on the spot, and the investiga-
tions I made, I shoidd consider any alteration of these
figures at present hazardous ; it might destroy the
growing trade with China. The native manufacture
of Burmah, although still at a considerable figure
16,000 tons is evidently doomed to die at an early
date, before the advancing lights of purity of the
imported salts. Their mode of manufacture is very
elaborate, in small earthen pots stacked like a bee-
hive, and fired with junglewood. The produce, like
all salt produced from the water of the Bay of Bengal,
is dirty and impure.
The Straits Settlements, Penang, aftd Singapore, are
both considerable importers of salt for manuring the
cocoa-nut tree, which, it seems, cannot nourish without
salt. They take 6,000 to 7,000 tons annually each,
and have their wants supplied partly from the French
manufacture at Saigon, and occasionally also from Cey-
APPENDIX. 89
Ion, which is likewise a British Colony monopoly manu-
facture. Private trade can't of course succeed in
lines of traffic where Government chooses to compete,
and under one name or another gives advantages
which the individual can't afford to contend against.
It will, however, be well for the salt trade of England
to keep its eye on these places, as they are growing
markets, and Government some day or other, whether
Indian or Colonial, will possibly return from its mono-
poly predilections.
Salt Chamber of Commerce of Northwich,
Dated Calcutta, 8th January, 1880.
B. B. Chapman, Esq., Secretary to the Government of India,
Financial Department.
SIR, I take the opportunity of my presence in India to draw
the attention of Government to the urgent desirability which
exists for carrying out the settled policy of equalization of the
Salt Duties, to its final and complete conclusion.
The Government is aware that this Chamber has for ten
years advocated the measure, and they cannot but frankly acknow-
ledge that their views have been concurrent with the Government
measure of last Budget, and they have therefore accepted without
remonstrance, as a temporary measure, which the immediate
future would rectify, the disadvantage at which sea imports were
placed.
90 APPENDIX.
However, the interests of the English Salt Trade are begin-
ning to suffer seriously, and the Chamber cannot, consistently
with the interests which it guards, refrain from urgent pressure
upon the Government to take the next step in the forthcoming
Budget, and reduce, as far as financial considerations will permit,
the Bengal higher duty on sea imported salt. English salt simply
asks for fair play, and it is not just, after the experience of the
past 30 years, to handicap it again, in favour of the native produce
to the extent of nearly a pound sterling per ton.
I hope the Government will give due consideration to my
respectful remonstrances and apply the remedy.
1 have the honour to subscribe myself,
Your obedient humble servant,
H. E. FALK.
l/C r>n
A 000 457 503 1
