p. 252 | Untitled article by Elder S. N. Haskell

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 20, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 16.

INDIA. NO. I.

By Elder S. N. Haskell

BY ELDER S. N. HASKELL.

THERE is a romance in history, and a still greater romance in the study of those countries where the customs of the people have remained unchanged for thousands of years. And when we consider that among those who read these lines there are probably scores of individuals that will in a brief period of time come in contact with the customs of the various peoples, it intensifies the interest.

India is an interesting country as respects its physical features, its boundaries, its people, and climate. The paths which lead over the mountain ridges, covered with perpetual snow, rise to an immense height, from 15,000 to 20,000 feet above the sea. It is only in the summer season, and for a brief period, that they are passable, and even then only for the yaks, the mountain oxen of Thibet, and sheep and goats, and these can only carry small loads as beasts of burden. It is this Himalayan Range of mountains that forms the northern boundary of India. There is a passage, however, at the east and west ends, through which hordes of people in centuries past found their way into India. At the foot of these mountains there is the most magnificent scenery in the world. The mountains are the highest, and the three principal rivers, the Ganges, the Indus, and the Brahmapootra, are classed among the longest and most famous.

Portions of the country near the foot of these mountains are among the most healthful districts in the world, while along the southern bases of some of them lie forest tracts which are filled with deadly miasma, and are unfit for the residence of human beings. But when the lower heights of these mountains are reached, there is a pure climate, healthful and bracing, and the inhabitants are robust and vigorous. Many of the lower slopes of the Himalayas have proved well adapted for the culture of tea, and several sanitary stations for Europeans have been established; and the whole region produces grain and fruit in abundance.

The valley of the Ganges and all central India nearly as far as the line of the Nerbudda River is called Hindustan, signifying "settled habitation;" adjoining it to the south and east is what is called Bundelkhund and Orissa; and still farther east the great provinces of Bahar and Bengal, while to the west and south is the country of the Rajputs, called Rajpootans, and Malwah, with the provinces of Guzerat and Kutch. There are other portions which are divided up into territories and provinces.

A very general impression is that the climate of India is uniformly hot, but this is not the case. The northern portions during the winter months are very cold. The heat increases from the month of March to June with great intensity, especially in the southern portion. During this time the hot, scorching winds blow day and night. The earth is parched, vegetation withers up, and many trees shed their leaves. In Hindustan proper, and Bengal, and other low valleys, the heat is more especially felt. In the central table-land and in Deccan the heat exists in a less degree, and the nights are for the most part cool and pleasant. When the heat is at its greatest, in the month of June, the sky becomes overcast with clouds, which rise every day, and generally disperse at night. During this time suddenly the southwest monsoon bursts upon the land in all its grandeur. Thunder and lightning are accompanied by furious storms of wind and heavy torrents of rain; but this war of elements does not last long. Soon the gloomy sky gives place to light clouds and cheerful sunshine; and after these rains the whole land bursts into the vivid green of new vegetation with a rapidity and beauty which can hardly be conceived. Then there will be pleasant showery weather. This southwest monsoon does not reach the Coromandal coast. In November from the northeast across the Bay of Bengal comes another monsoon similar in character to that of the southwest. This is a curious provision of nature, resulting from certain causes of the wind currents, and the existence of the two great oceans which bound the eastern, western, and southern shores of India, to furnish periodical seasons of rain, while at other times rain seldom falls, and, indeed, is hardly needed. Then for months the skies are almost without a cloud; but heavy dews of the cold season descend plentifully, and preserve the vegetation which the monsoon created. When the monsoons close, the air becomes colder.

These differences of climate and soil produce a variety of vegetation. On the Malabar coast and the southern part of the peninsula in the Koncan rice is the principal food of the people. Artificial irrigation is almost universal. Rice, however, is the only product which needs a regular supply of water, as the plants require to live in water until the seed or grain begins to ripen. But sugar cane, indigo, mulberry trees for silk, ginger, and turmeric, and gardens with their numberless provisions for the luxuries and necessities of man, all require more or less water. The poppy is also quite generally cultivated in India, and its products have resulted in the destruction of more lives, and have been a greater hindrance to the gospel in China, than any other one thing. China would have been a professedly Christian nation to-day had not a Christian civilized nation interfered on account of the opium traffic. In those places where irrigation from rivers and artificial reservoirs is wanting, wells are used, and the water raised by cattle. This storing up of water was known to the people long before the Christian era, but it is by no means universal in India.

The people of the central and northern portions of India do not use rice except as a luxury. They feed upon wheat, barley, and many kinds of millet, which grows in great abundance in certain portions of India. Portions of India contain all that can be imagined of beauty, of gorgeous flowers and luscious fruits, forests, rivers, and streams; but this is by no means general. The traveler may pass for miles without seeing a tree to break the monotony of the scene, or afford a shelter, and yet the soil may be covered with waving crops of grain and cotton. While great rivers run through different portions of India, they often run in deep channels, flooded to their brim in the monsoons, and dwindled to small rivulets and pools in the dry season. Towns and villages occur every few miles throughout India. As one writer expresses it, "India is a noble, gorgeous land, teeming with natural wealth, and possessing an orderly, industrious population of varied races and character."