Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXIV. Cholera and other Diseases—The Causes of Cholera—How the Soldiers are Protected Against it—Sudden Deaths—Fevers—The Teraj—Contempt for Death—The Cholera Hospital—The Sisters of Mercy—The Princes Tagore—Hindoo Family Customs—Hindoo Gallantry—A Hindoo Fête
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253
Story of an Emigtiant. 272
is seldom or never mentioned, just as if a secret and united
agreement of taciturnity had been entered into by the
survivors. Once I was invited to dine at the table d’hote of
the officers at the military station Dum-Dum, a few miles
from Calcutta. I drove out there in the evening, and at
eight o’clock I had dinner in company with about forty
officers, the majority of whom belonged to the Scotch frontier
regiment. Col. Chapman, one of the party, was a jolly old
Scotch warricr, and Lieut.-Col. Hill was my host. After a
splendid dinner such as India alone can offer, the company
grouped themselves around several whist-tables according
to the custom in the higher circles among the English. Col.
Chapman was my partner, and we parted company at one
o’clock. I accompanied Lieut.-Col. Hill to his villa, and we
went to bed. At eight o’clock the next morning he entered
my room with the sad news that he was just returning from
the funeral of Col. Chapman. The stern old warrior who
returned unscathed from twenty battle-fields was attacked
by the cholera at two o’clock, died at four o’clock, and was
buried at six o’clock. Such is life in India.
At the foot of the Himalayas is a very extensive territory
called Teraj. Its soil is very fertile and adapted for tea
culture. The whole territory is covered with timber, bushes
and other plants, which, with the exception of certain
cultivated portions, form an impenetrable jungle, affording a
natural resort for tigers, leopards, and other wild beasts.
The lofty mountains and the dense jungles shut out the sun,
and the whole region is full of poisonous vapors which arc
never dispelled. It would be almost certain death for an
European to live there for any length of time, and it is customary
even in passing through the country on the railway train to
take double doses of quinine as a precaution. The fever and
cholera which are thus generated in the jungles and spread
through the rice fields cause terrible ravages, not only among
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