224 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[October i, 1883. 



ertioiis of the railway stafl', that this poi'tiou of tho line 

 is Ijept open duriiin; the rain, ana the greatest credit is 

 dne to them for theii' hardwork. Leaving SUIiKori at 

 7-15 a.m., Teendaria ia readied at 10-45, and Km-seong 

 at 1-30 p.m. The latter place is the centre for a mun- 

 ber of tea estates which adjoin the line, but lower do^vn 

 in the Terai the forest in either side of the road ia all 

 Government reserve, kept for the sake of tho valuable sal 

 timber it contains. 



Leaving Kurseong about 2, Darjilingis reached at 4 p.m. 

 Between these points the soil is clayey, and hence 

 slips are less freijuent. The maximum speed at which 

 the trains are supposed to travel is 8 miles an horn', 

 but as a matter of fact the general rate is 10 miles, 

 both up and down hill, and on one occasion, when 

 tlie train liad been delayed by slips, we reached 14 

 miles an hour on the flat. The actual distance from 

 SiUigori to Darjiling is about 50 miles, which takes 

 8 hours. The stoppages are frequeut and urmeces- 

 arily long, and there can be no question that the 

 jom-ney could be gi'eatly shortened. The general 

 management of the line seems to be exceedingly bad. 

 In spite of tho short time the railway has been in 

 existence, thousands of rotten sleepiers are to be seen 

 along the road, arisiu.g it is said from the contractor 

 who supplied them; having used the right wood, sal, 

 but having cut them from small trees which had no 

 heart wood. The rails iii'st laid down were too light, 

 and have in parts been replaced by heavier ones to 

 stand the strain round the sharp cm-ves. Another 

 compliiiut is the strange way in wliich the engine- 

 (h-ivers are treated. The lino is a very diflioult and 

 risky one, requiring most careful driving and thorough 

 knowledge of tho road, and yet tho cnginedilvers are 

 being constantly changed and replaced by new men. 

 A short time ago some of tlie best and steadiest 

 drivers had an increase of pay from liloO to E175 

 a month, this increase has been suddenly, and, as it 

 appears, capriciously taken away, and the men have 

 lately resigned. Through mismanagement, .and the 

 unfortunate oharactei- of the country, the expense of 

 the line must have very largely exceeded what was 

 estimated, and yet the company is advertised as pay- 

 ing a di'/idtud of 7i per cent. In spite of all faults, 

 the railway must be considered a great success, and 

 it is certainly a wonderful couvenience, and relief to 

 the Darjiling district. I was unable to ascertain the 

 cost of construction, as the returns have not yet been 

 made up, but it is said that they will shortly be 

 published. On our good roads, and with the ex- 

 perience gained by the Darjiling Company, similar 

 lines should be easy of construction in Ceylon, and 

 would prove a great boon to those interested. The 

 questiou of constructing such a line, where no road- 

 way exists, is one for professional opinion, but to an 

 outsider it would appear that such a line, with suf- 

 Hcient tratfio to support it, in a country so little 

 given to slips as ours is, could not fail to be a 

 iiiiancial success, 



When figures regarding the cost of the lino are 

 published they «ill not be a fair criterion as regards 

 the cost of a similar line in Ceylon; large allowances 

 must be n.ade for I he cost of clearing slips, and for 

 the correction of errors in the selection of engines, 

 rails, sleepers, &c. : allowance must also be made for the 

 double constiuetion of the line in many places. 



Two kinds of enjiiucs are used on the line, large 

 and small, but the latttr aie now all being re- 

 placed by the former, which are more suitable. 

 The large engines can take up loads of 500 maunds 

 now, and when the new line is opened throughout 

 they will tuke COO maunds. The scenery on the 

 line up to Darjiling is niaguiticKut and full oi interest. 

 Tlie tirst part of the way lies through forest con- 

 sistin" .'.Imost entirely of sal, the most valuable 

 hard wood tree in this district. The line soou emerges 



from the forest and ccmmences to climb a spur of 

 the hills, M'ith large valleys on either side, at the 

 bottom of which lie the 'J'erai tea gai-dens, with their 

 unenviable notoriety as hotbeds of fever and cholera. 

 At a distance it is difficult to distinguish the cultiv- 

 ated laud in the slopes from the large area' of "chena" and 

 native cultivation with which it is surrounded, but 

 on the plains, which stretch away from the hills to 

 open country, the straight outlines of the tea gardens 

 are plainly marked out in the midst of the heavy 

 forest in which they lie. On the left, two large rivers 

 are clearly distinguishable, the further one being 

 the boundary between British territory and Nepaul, 

 and beyond which any Britisli subject crossing does 

 so at liis own risk. On the right is another large 

 river, the Teesta, swollen like the others by the re- 

 cent ranis, and beyond ■which lie the Dooars, the ris- 

 ing tea district of India. 



At Kursoiig, where a stoppage is made for a late 

 breakfast, there is a comfortable hotel, into the 

 vcrandali of which the train runs by a siding. Here 

 the cold air of the hills begins to be felt, and it 

 becomes advisable to change one's white clothes for 

 something warmer. Between Kurseong an<l Darjiling 

 the highest point reached is at Jorc bungalow, about 

 three miles from the latter place, where the train slops 

 for a short time. 



Darjiling itself, and the scenery around it, has been 

 often describe I by able pens, and I will not attempt 

 to enlarge on the theme. The town is situated in 

 the saddle of a mountain with deep valleys on either 

 side, and commands a iiiagniticent view of the simw- 

 clad Himalayas, with Kinchinjunga standing promin- 

 ent as the highest peak ; Everest the highest mount- 

 ain in the range, cannot be seen from here. Tiles 

 for buildings must be a great difficulty in Darjiling, 

 as every house has to be cut out of the hillside, or 

 built up, and the appearance of the houses dot- 

 ted about in the hillside is most picturesque. In 

 the cold weather, the station is frequently deep in 

 snow, and the forest trees in the ueigbourhood, by 

 the numerous dead branches they bear, give evidences 

 of the very heavy fall of snow ^\■hi■;h occured last 

 winter, wlien most of the roads in the vicinity were 

 covered to a depth of a foot and eighteen inches. 



T. C. OWEN. 



THE . EXTENSION OF INDIAN IMiVIIGRA. 

 TION TO THE NATIVE STATES 

 AT THE STKAITS. 

 From the Stfails Times we quote as follows : — 

 The Official Note published in yesterday's Gazette, 

 embodying the principles on which emigration from 

 India to the Straits Settlements will in future be 

 conducted, is a long and elaborate one. It is signed 

 by the Hon. E. C. Buck and Major Fischer, on 

 behalf of the Indian Government, and by the Hon, 

 Major McNair, the Hon. W. E. Maxwell, and Mr. 

 Sneyd-Kyunereley, on behalf of the Straits Govern- 

 ment, It may be taken, we presume, to represent 

 the views of both Governments upon this long-vexed 

 question, both Governments being now in accord 

 upon the point that Indian Immigration to the 

 Straits is a desirable thing, and should be en- 

 couraged and made as free and unrestricted as the 

 nature of things will allow. It may also, we im- 

 agine, be taken for granted Ihat the views and 

 wishes and experience of the planters of the Straits, 

 who met the Commission iu Penang, have been taken 

 into account, and weighed as fully as they deserved. 

 As it semis lo be intended to pass an Ordinance 

 enacting as luw the principles embodied in the Note, 

 full opportunity will be given of discussing them in 

 tho Legislative Conaeil. From a cursory perueal of 



