Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XVI. India—Its People, Religion, Etc.—The Fertility of the Country—The Climate—The Dwellings—Punkah—Costumes—Calcutta—Dalhousie Square—Life in the Streets
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IS 168.2
Story of an Emigrant.
position entitled me not only opened the doors of the
palaces and temples to me, but also paved my way to the
humblest houses.
India has over five hundred cities. Of these Calcutta is
the largest, and has a population of about eight hundred
thousand. It is called 14the city of palaces," but only
certain portions of the city deserve that name. Owing to the
warm climate, the buildings in India, as in all other warm
countries, arc low, seldom more than two stories high, and the
«valls and roofs are very thick. The building material
gen-erallv consists of brick and cement, the roofs being mostly
made of the latter. There arc verandas on the sides of the
houses, and these, as well as the windows, are protected by
heavy Venetian blinds. In the evening the doors and
windows are thrown open so as to let in the cool night air, but
in the morning they are closely shut, so as to keep as much
of it as possible. Inside there are many contrivances lor
protecting the people against the excessive heat. The most
important of these is the punkah, consisting of a wooden
framework which is stretched with heavy canvass and is
about two and a half feet wide, and from ten to twenty feet
long, according to the size of the room. It is suspended
from the ceiling, and reaches down to the heads of people
sitting oil chairs. By means of pulleys this punkah is kept
man oscillating motion by coolies stationed in the back of
the house or on the back porch, and it creates such a
pleasant breeze that one forgets all about the heat. Every room
or ollice in the houses of Europeans and Americans has its
punkah, and even the churches have a great number of them
during the hot season. From March till October the
punkahs are kept in motion all night over the beds of those who
can afford the luxury of four 44punka walla" (pullers); for
it always takestwo pullers for each punkah in the day-time,
and two others at night to relieve each other every hour or
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