FIRST IMPRESSIONS 



which he can avail himself at any time. The chief ad- 

 vantage, and in fact object, of this system being that as 

 i he whole of this leave is on full pay, the recipient can 



Iford the expense of his passage home and back, and if 

 he travels by the mail, gives him six clear weeks at home. 

 But I am afraid I have rather wandered from my story, 



I) must now come back to it. 



Every Englishman landing for the first time in Bombay, 

 must necessarily be struck with the extraordinary con- 

 trast it presents to any city or cities he may be acquainted 

 with either in England or even on the Continent, for despite 

 its reputation as the most European of the three Presidential 



ipitals of India, the Oriental atmosphere about it is quite 



> marked as that of Madras or Calcutta, though possibly 

 its European population — in proportion to its size — is 

 larger and, to use the modern comprehensive phrase, more 

 up-to-date — which is but natural seeing that it lies three 

 days by land and several by sea, closer to London and Paris, 

 the recognized centres of civilization. 



In the matter of public institutions, such as Clubs and 



Hotels, Bombay, at the time I write of, was, and probably 



still, far ahead of its two sister cities; the Byculla and 



V I' ht Clubs being well known for their excellence, while 



\\;il sun's hotel, at that time the only institution worthy 



r the name in India, had a wide and well-merited reputation 

 ior comfort and excellence of its cuisine. 



But even while enjoying these comforts, not to say 

 luxuries, products proper of Western civiliication, the 

 uewly-arrived traveller will find it difficult to forget he is 

 ill the Elast, for the irritating mosquito buzzing continu- 

 ously around him, or a cockroach — two inches long at 

 l< I si —scurrying across the matted floor, would in them- 



«'lves be sufficient to remind him of the fact. 



But there is evidence more conclusive still in the huge, 



lofty rooms, with whitewashed walls all bare and punkahs 



' rhead, to say nothing of the whit- " ' «xi 



> — " Boys" as they are tenned, tho ine 



»em perilously near the limit of three-score years and ten 



-who, barefooted and silent, }>erform their duties with a 

 willingness and promptitude difficult to extract from their 

 smarter brethren in the West. 



5 



