96 THE GOSPEL AND THE PLOW 



38,000 square miles in extent. Mysore is a very pro- 

 gressive state. Large hydro-electric power is being de- 

 veloped and used to foster industry. It has a well or- 

 ganized department of agriculture. 



Gwalior is 28,000 square miles in extent, population 

 3,000,000, a country of marvelous possibility. The ruling 

 family is Mahratta, one of the most famous warrior 

 castes of Western India. As most of the state was won 

 by conquests it is scattered and not in one continuous 

 tract. It lies in larger or smaller patches roughly be- 

 tween the Nerbudda and Chambal rivers. It has some 

 beautiful scenery. Water power and irrigation are be- 

 ing developed on a large scale. A tiger population of 

 about four hundred, with leopard, panther, not- 

 enumerated black bear, black buck and deer and wild 

 pig in abundance. 



Bikanir is 25,000 square miles, one solid block of 

 desert. About one-third in the northern part will soon 

 be under irrigation. I have never seen richer land and 

 water will transform it into a wonderful garden spot. 

 These are the largest and most important of the native 

 states. In all, there are about seven hundred, ranging 

 from larger than Minnesota down to the size of an Ohio 

 farm. 



Colonel Sir James Roberts, Surgeon to Lord Hardinge, 

 the Viceroy, visited the leper asylum in company with 

 his old college classmate, Colonel Hudson, the superin- 

 tendent of the Naini Jail which is right next to the leper 

 asylum. Sir James was much interested in the garden- 

 ing which the lepers were doing. In order to give him 

 more information, Colonel Hudson was kind enough to 

 invite me to dinner one hot April evening. The dinner 

 hour is eight. We sat on the lawn and talked until 

 nearly three in the morning when Sir James said, "When 



