IN THE EAST INDIES. 61 
enemas ie me 
we expected, in order to get one particularly good 
boat which makes the Caleutta-Rangoon trip in two 
and a half days. We might better have the extra 
day ashore than on one of the B. I. boats, which 
are not notoriously good. Stories about the heat here 
are vastly exaggerated ; of course, the sun is hot, but 
this time of year is neither the hottest nor the cool- 
est, so we get along swimmingly. Bombay was warm 
and steamy, 94 in the shade one day, about like the 
Red sea, which really was fearful for a while. Up 
about Delhi and Agra it is cold at night and very hot 
in the sun at midday, but is it dry and you hardly 
notice it once you get used to it. Ros. does not mind 
it now in the least. The weather here in Caleutta 
has been bad lately, warm and much rain, but the 
people think the spell is over. Certainly today is 
fine. The vegetation about here is wonderful, a great 
change from Jaipur, where they had no rain to 
speak of for seven years, or from Delhi without rain 
for three years. 
In Jaipur a famine is quite inevitable, indeed it 
is almost in full swing, but as it is on a railway line 
no great suffering will result, as most people of this 
—a protected native—state live in or hear the 
eity. About Delhi they irrigate from Jumma and 
get about the lack of rain locally in that way. Be- 
nares, our last stop, was vile, but most interesting; 
dirt, filth, superstition, galore. People drinking wat- 
er within a few feet of dead men, dogs, etc., just be- 
cause the water is so holy as to make everything all 
pure and clean. Good bye, love to all. 
Yours, 
Tom. 
