Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon (1891) (14767790664)

Identifier: indikacountrypeo00hursuoft (find matches)
Title: Indika. The country and the people of India and Ceylon
Year: 1891 (1890s)
Authors: Hurst, J. F. (John Fletcher), 1834-1903
Subjects: Sri Lanka India
Publisher: New York, Harper
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN



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largest elephant in all India. Put on my ele-phants back a spacious and elevated howdah, and then add tothat the distance to the top of my cork helmet, and one has con-verted a man into a conspicuous feature of the Indian landscape.My howdah was rich in tinsel, but it leaned obstinately to oneside. I was told that this augured no ill, as all the straps weretight. But there was a sense of discomfort with every step ofthe great beast. A number of gentlemen rode on the same ele-phant with me, and as we had no clatter of wheels to disturb us,our social intercourse was as undisturbed as if we had been sit-ting on a group of chairs in the Nizams palace. If people ac- GOLCONDA.—AN ELEPHANT RIDE 185 coated us with unsavory epithets, they never went so far u tointerfere with our progress. Perhaps the guard, with the courtlytrappings of our elephants, produced a cautious respecl Haidarabad has thirteen gates. We pass through one andover a bridge which spans the Musi River, and are now ,-, due
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BIB BALAB .1 VNO, l in Mini: procession, makings straighl course through the main Btreel oftin city. All the lesser animals, with the throng of pedestrians,get out of our way. Our elephants seem i<» have all rights, and 186 INDIRA. care for nothing. They pass steadily along, and in due time Iget accustomed to the sag of my howdah. The general architecture is not inspiring. With the exceptionof a few public buildings, such as the mosques and the palacesof the nobles, there is but little architectural merit. Nearly allthe edifices were erected in troublous days. Hence the substan-tial character of all the massive teak-wood gates and wickets,over which are quarters for a guard or small garrison. Everynow and then we pass a spacious bazar. The best of these arethe Cloth Bazar, a handsome row of buildings facing an orna-mental garden containing fountains and great tanks, and theArms Bazar, where one can see old and new armor of everykind, and form some conception of the bloody work the