THE SPELL OF THE EAST.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 990, 3 December 1910, Page 11

THE SPELL OF THE EAST.

~ ; AN INTERVIEW. . Of all tlie countries..that ono reads i. 'Or hears.about it'is quite: probable that ; India is the one that has the most com..'pelling fascination.- Its.. gorgeousness, .. ' its,, magnificence, .the history .of its past splendours,", audits.:" all-pervading : sense of mystery, .combine to. throw a , spell over the Western imagination that ..cannotbe ...resisted.'' Those "who have lived there once, can never get. away ; from its inasic' charm",and always feel tho "East a callin'" no matter where. V they may be afterwards. It must be ah .experience well, worth the having to /have once lived there.; Life In Simla. ; .■ Mrs. Dentonj. who has just come over 'from India,, where .'she. has lived for several years, on al/v'isit to her people in Wellington, 'is still very - enthusias,tic over her ; life tliere in'- spite of the great heat: and the inevitable draw backs that exist in :such;"a hot: country. People have learnt How to order 'their lives so as to escapo .giuch of its ill-effects. From March' to., November, tho hot season, she aha her household - remove to up among the hills, .while the southern part of India lies broiling un- . denieath a' ; sun like a furnace. Promptlyto a day—November. 15—the cool season commences, and all the people • who have'-fled ">to Simla for something . . that, resembles 'coolness, return- to their ■ different.' stations' on tho. plains. . It ~ Beems a remarkable tliing that the sea- . sons should,' have thoir , limit so regularly fixed .as-to have; a day on which . one is inded'and the other begins, but bo it. is; On November'ls all the . ■ punkahs cease fanning and by. and bve . the snows commenco and lie feet thick upon the ground. . Only among, the ' hills,, though, for further south they never get anything that can reasonably .be/called winter.. In Simla life.is never ..'lacking /in gaiety ..and; excitement. ■ : r .,Where, vice-royalty and tlio heads of the. '.Briny are there are ..always , brilliant functions; and-much in theway of «uJtertainment. Strange to say .it is in ;tho hot .weather : that all tho most, energetic' games are. played, beginning - from'half-past five and ending usually about eight; in-, the evening;! Football, polo, everything in the way of 'sport, is most vigorously, prosecuted. ,K. of K. , From twelve to two are the visiting (hours, and quite a great dial of tho , irisitirig is done by post, tho people never meeting the wholo time 1 ; ithey are in the same place.. Theatres, ' and things of that description (begin at a -quarter to ten and - end ■about two or half-past two: in the morning, while dances beginning about the ".••same time: last till, about fonr. or .-halfpast four. . Thero are only thrco carriages in tho whole, of-Simla that are ..allowed to go out driving—the Viceroy] s, ~ *ihe Commander-in-Chief's, and some ' other high official's. Other.people nsui ally go about in. rickshaws for . the roads ■'aro very narrow. *. The. Ladies' Mile. is, '•. iiho. place - whero iiiese three carriages - drive' and. here it. was that, Mrs., Den- ■ ' ton often saw Lord Kitchener out for ' walk .'with« two beautiful black dogs vthat went everywhere with him.. Unless one;taew- that it was Lord Kit- . chener, and heedless to say there Were few who 'did'not know, it was very ,wwy to' think: him' quite an. undistin- ■. guished man, for he;was often'in plain f:civilian' dress .with, "a < Baden; ,;Powell ' slouch hat on. .He is. knowi 'as being ' .passionately fond of gardening .and.Juts' • n most beautiful place six miles out, of . ' Simla.. ; - Mrs. Denton had rather a. quaint experience befalling her while up, in the. hill country. One of her husband's men ; happened to bo an important man among. his, people,. owning at least two ;. villages'. . Mrs. Denton was' asked to be , present at the opening ccremony.-of one .of these, .which, was a'recently-acquired '.property, and she was taken away up Vamong the hills, and down precipitous / mountain sides till, the village, was V 'reached. Here the . people gazed at her in J wonderment, for so out of the way Svas it that they: had never seen a white ' "woman; and they at once performed all ' Borts of obeisances. She was then taken to where .a goat was' tied up. Water : was .then thrown three times upon, it, . the people intently watching its conduct.;. Naturally the animal shook itself free of the. water, but, alas for tho goat! ' This was taken for a.sign that it approved of.its own sacrifice for tho • good of. the village, and promptly, before Mrs. Denton realised .what was. to : happen, its head was cut off in one clean stroke. Thus were the gods propitiated.- T Beyond the' Arabian Nights. • Mrs. Denton was in Calcutta. when the present King visited it on his tour , through the British Dominions beyond ■ tho seas, and was present' at some of the State functions. . The -gorgeousness of them was beyond the wildest con.ooption. The x wonderful jewels . and . dress of the, women present,, tho uniforms of the militap' men, the decorations and the magnificent dresses of the | Indian prinoes formed a. scene that was ■ the nearest approach to scenes in the; j "Arabian. Nights" that'could happen in these days; They were clad in the richest silks, their turbans wero of wonderful colours, and they simply blazed with jewels of fabulous .value. Probably it is only in India that such precious stones can be seen. Tho Indian women are" very beautiful and very graceful, and in their dress they blend the most exquisite colours. Mrs. Denton was also at a great bazaar that was organised in aid of Lady Minto's scheme"' for raising funds for the providing of nurses to_all parts of India,'and somfc of 'the prizes varied from an elephant and a motor-car to tho most trivial thing ono - could think of. .■

■ Labour is, of 'course, easily obtained and very cheap, the only thing being that caste can sometimes cause a great deal of inconvenience; Each man has his own particular: work, and will not step outside it, even if it were the bringing to one of a cup of tea.' The men, at least the men wboso work it is, sew' most beautifully, and do wonderful things in the way of embroidery, and of the most delicato work. 'J hoir method is most peculiar to watch,.. f;r they sit upon the floor, and if it is a Beam they are .sewing, placo it between their big toes and the next, and sew in quite tlio opposite direction to the one in which we do. They are usually employed for the month in a household, and their rate of pay is most moderate.

The ayahs aro most devoted to their "babas," and would give' them the moon if they could to play with. They ruin a child that way just because they canot say no to them. Sons :iro above all the object of their special adoration, and if it were only because ■ of their powerlessness to say "No" to them, it would be necessary to send ■ children eway from their influence.