CHAPTER VI
TOUR IN INDIA, 1879–1880
In 1879 I returned to India in company with my brother-in-law, Mr. F.D. Godman, who had never been there. Arriving early in November, we spent two or three days near Bombay before going on to Indore, where the late General Sir H. Daly was then Resident and had invited us to visit him. In his house I met a remarkable man, Aberigh-Mackay, then Principal of the College which had been established for the education of the sons of rajahs and noblemen. He was the author of a book which in its time had a great popularity, and which, forty years later, I have re-read with as much pleasure as I did the first time.* Aberigh-Mackay gave a very interesting account of his work and told us how easy it was to manage and to teach young Hindus in comparison with English boys of the same age. They seemed to acquire learning and manners with great readiness, and in some cases became so fond of the college that they did not want to go home. But he found that when they were again subject to the bad influences of native courts of the old school, and of the harem, they often relapsed into their former habits as quickly as they had for¬ gotten them.
From Indore we went on to Simla, where we hoped to find Mr. A.O. Hume, but as he was away, we made a short trip up the great Tibet road to Narkandah. We were caught in a heavy snowstorm, which obliged us to return to Simla, so that I did not have as much opportunity of comparing the fauna and flora of the North-West Himalayas with those of Sikkim as I had hoped. My general impression was that, though the climate is for most of the year more pleasant to Europeans, and the attractions for sportsmen are much greater, yet neither the birds, insects, nor plants were at all comparable in variety, interest and beauty with those of Sikkim. On leaving Simla we visited Agra and Delhi, and arrived at Darjeeling at the end of November. The weather at this season was usually fine and clear and the nights quite cold. On December 15th the ground was frozen and there was ice half an inch thick, but there was no snow below 10,000 feet and that did not lie long.
I found everything very prosperous at my tea plantation, which had been paying a good dividend for three years past. My friend Mandelh was now part owner of an adjoining plantation which we tried to amal¬ gamate; but difficulties of finance intervened, and the affair was not carried through.
There had been some considerable loss of planted land, owing to land¬ slips, which on slopes lying at an angle of from 35 to 45 degrees are frequent all over the district since so much of the forest has been cleared. The difficulty of getting wood for making tea boxes was increasing, largely owing to the restrictions of the Government Forest Department, which had now established a working plan for the whole of the forest not alienated to planters or in the possession of natives. It seemed to
- Twenty-one Days in India, by G. Abengh-Mackay (Allen, London, 1880).
77
