Madras. July 13, 1930.
Dear Abby:
You have been so good about writing and giving me the news - you and Miss Hinsdale give the best reports of college news. The Botany Department is good at writing and giving department news, but they are all too new to the college to be really good news gathers or to know the scandals - and I do need to be told what is happening in English Literature and its ramifications. For the last 3 months my letter writing has been negligible; travelling, houseboating and camping was too much for my correspondence. It was fine for me. I don't remember of ever feeling better in my life. So far India hasn't hurt me a particle. I toolk a tramp in Kashmir, a one-day trip, which was more strenuous than anything I have ever done - high altitude, snow, etc., - and came out perfectly well, slightly tired the next day, but not too tired to explore the Wangat Valley for several hours, and perfectly fresh the following day. Even with the heat I feel fairly energetic now that I am back in Madras.
It is now 97°-101° by day 79°-82° at night, humidity 65%-75%.
The whole trip was most successful. It was great luck to get Peshawar and the Khyber Pass; we left Peshawar on April 16th and things began to happen on the 20th, so that no visitors have been there since. Edith Coon planned to be there on the 22nd, but, of course had to give it up, alas!
Then we had a most interesting 3 days at Mardan (Hoti-Mardan) which is 40 miles N.E. of Peshawar. We visited the Danish Mission there, where there is a guard of 8 soldiers every night, perhaps more now. The mission did not want it, but there had been threats of abductions by the mountain tribes and the Commandant insisted on sending a guard if the missionaries would not come to the cantonment at night. Imagine leaving a hospital to go to sleep at a cantonment!
We were taken to visit a Pathan village and that is one of my most interesting memories. The people are all Mohammedans but they seem to be sympathetic to the missionaries, at least up to a certain point. We visited at the hom of the headman of the village and had 20 women and as many children assembled to meet us. We were given tea hard boiled eggs and paratas (a large rich pancake), with handwashing before and afterwards; I am with the Mohammedans on that. When we left the headman escorted us to where we had left our tonga (do you know that type of 2-wheeled cart or carriage?) and graciously offered to pay for the tonga, but we tried to be equally gracious, and declined. Eleanor may have given you accounts of all this.
We saw old Buddhist ruins - Graeco-Buddhist remains, with Buddha in Greek drapery which is much better looking than his usual garb - at Takht-i-Bahai, near Mardan, and again at Taxila. Then we went on the Kashmir. Kashmir had a very wet summer last year, with bad floods; then a winter with the heaviest snow-fall in 25 or 30 years, then a spring with heavy rains. Poor Kashmir; it nearly wrecked their gardens and it quite wrecked the roads. The route most frequently used, the Rawal Pindi route was in such dreadful shape that it was open only one day in 3 all spring and it had been closed for 9 days just before we left Kashmir. Landslides galore! In many places we rode within a foot of the edge with a drop of 50-100 down to the raging Jhelum. At one time in my career I would have leaned back and shut my eyes, but I am a changed woman and I leaned over the edge - I was on the outside seat - and admired the view.
It was a gorgeous trip, but not quite so good as the return trip which was by the Banihal Pass route from Srinagar to Jammu. In general that road is better as it is the road which leads from the winter residence of the Maharajah at Jammu to his summer residence at Srinagar. The Maharajah considers that his first duty is to look out for himself and he does it thoroughly, while the Kashmiris get very little attention.
That is the most magnificent ride I have ever seen; up the Jhelum Valley with more and more snow-capped mountains coming into view as the road got higher, zigzagging up one mountain after another, hairpin turns ad infinitum. (This is a trip which makes some people seasick; one person on our lorry succumbed.) We reached 9000 ft. at the Banihal Pass and then went through a tunnel into an entirely different type of valley - no snowy mountains, only green mountains; then wonderful pine woods - deodars and firs and spruces; then rich gorges with maidenhair over the rocks; then curious rock formations and finally a xerophytic region where it was only 1200-1500 ft. high, with vegetation much like that of South India. We made the trip in a lorry - a small motor bus, with 5 European passengers and a varying number of Kashmiris, leaving Srinagar at 9 AM. stopping for the night at a Dak bungalow at Kud; leaving there at 6:15 and arriving at Jammu at 10:00 in time for a train at 11:00. Eleanor and Edith had a more exciting trip of which you may have heard. They left a week before Miss Stevens and I did, two days after a "mountain fell over on the road" as the motor lorry agent described it. It was still falling when they went through, but had quieted and was sitting up when we went, although we all had to get out of the lorry and walk. In most laces the road is wide enough for two cars and there is a small wall along the edge - a low wall, which gave me great peace of mind. But Miss Bain told me afterwards that the wall was usually broken at all the critical places; that hadn't troubled me at all.
When we struct Sringagar April 21 it was wet and cold, but the day we left it June 23, the temperature was just one degree lower than that of Madras, 92° vs. 93°, as given in the newspaper. The houseboat was great fun at first, especially when we were being towed or poled up the river, but after we had been in camp it seemed somewhat tame. It was also getting hot in Srinagar where we were tied up in Dal Lake. Moving about is the real fun, but unfortunately it is expensive; it took 6-10 coolies at Rs.1 each per day to move our fleet.
Our retinue of servants gave me great entertainment. Ali Goosani, who owned the boats, was our "Bearer" which seems to correspond to the "Boy" of South India. He managed all the other servants who were mostly, if not all relatives of his - all but the Bihisti (water-carrier) and sweeper who are the lowest type of servants. Ali Goosani is a choice person, a perfect dear - one of the motor agents called him the "Saint of Kashmir." He made everything run smoothly and kept a beautiful atmosphere. He also provided us with good food which was properly handled. He was provided before we arrived with potassium permanganate. We did not eat our first salad being uncertain about it, but when we spoke to him, he said he always washed the salad, vegetables and fruit in "pink water." Kashmir has a bad reputation for enteric and it is necessary to be careful. We had no sickness at all, and only one cold. We also had Ali Goosani's cousin, Khasru as a sort of second Bearer; he wasn't officially on our list of servants, but we gave him a "present."
We had an uncle who was the shikara wala - boatman, and managed the shikara when we went out. Everyone of the servants used the paddle, but "Uncle" was the chief and did the steering. He has a beautiful face and was also a dear. Then we had Ali Goosani's aunt's husband who was the official cook, although Ali Goosani did the critical things such as birthday cakes, of which we had 3, and the bread when we were in camp. we had a charming and beautiful young boy of 19 or 20, Marda, who was assistant to Ali Goosani and Khasru, and helped wait on the table. We also had Suitana, a young thing who wasn't as charming as Marda nor as useful. Then there was a flock of female relatives - Ali Goosani's mother and sister and I don't know who else; they made themselves useful in various ways but never came on our boats. Mohammedan women do not act as servants. We were not even allowed to take a picture of them.
Our [sic] retinue had very definite ideas of how we should live and we had no choice about it. We thought we would have a simple Sunday night supper but we never succeeded in it. We had to sit up properly with at least two servants; and a clean dish for everything - no mixing of courses! It was amusing the style we had to maintain in camp, no matter how cold it was nor how rainy. It did gum the works when we tried any simplification. But they were all so nice - we had 6 with us in camp - and took such good care of us that we did not make a serious effort to spoil their good training.
How I do wish you could have been with us on the camping trips; we had a 6 day trip up the Liddar (Lider) Valley with perfect weather, but very imperfect roads. We had hoped to go to the Kolahoi glacier, but never got beyond Aru; we did it, but the pack ponies could not make it. I marvel to this day how we managed to pass the "Impassable place" in the road without any accident to any of us. I lay awake almost a whole night after we had gone across a steep clay and gravel landslide wondering how we did it, although I wasn't much frightened at the time. Fortunately I had a fine view of Scorpio that night - I was sleeping out of doors - and it helped to pass the night.
Then we had 3 weeks in the Sind Valley with a side excursion to the Wangat. We got as far as the Zoji La Pass, but had to take the winter route over the snow. That was most interesting, especially to see the caravans of coolies, ponies, and even yaks, coming through from Ladakh with apricots, raisins, silks, and woolen rugs. They are distinctly Mongolian in appearance, not at all like the Kashmiris. They have a terribly hard life but are a very cheerful jolly lot. We bought their zakmaks (flint & steel for striking lights) and brass and cooper spoons which they wore at their belts. The Pass isn't dramatic like the Khyber because you can't see beyond and down, but it is 11,300 ft. high and white with snow, very beautiful. It was very cold at Sonamarg and Baltal which was more worse for the servants than for us, as we had plenty of bedding, but they did not, so we cut short our stay at both places, and went to the Wangat which was warmer.
We had a most beautiful camp there in a pine grove near ruins of 8th century Hindu temples. It was from there we took our most strenuous climb. We were at Nara Nag, 7500 ft. high. We wanted to go to Gangabal lake, sacred to the Hindus, to which they make pilgrimages in August. August would suit me better. It is thought that the temples were erected as thank offerings for return from the dangerous trip. It wasn't really dangerous but strenuous. We climbed to 11,000 ft. the very first thing, straight up the mountain and all the rest of the day we were between 10,000 and 12,5000, tramping over soft snow, climbing up and down - one place we had to descend 1000 ft. and go up again over snow. We never did get to the Lake although we walked 15 or 16 miles or more. Eleanor and I gave it up before the last climb as it was getting late and we were out of breath - we had to stop so often for breath. The other three climbed until they saw the lake, but they were young things, Miss Adolph and two people from a camp near us. We did not get down the mountain until after dark; it was either rocky or slippery with pine needles and the path was very steep. We had magnificent views. Ali Goosani says it is much easier in August, as there isn't so much snow then and walking is easier.
I shall try to remember to enclose a picture or two, but I need to show my whole album when you have strength to stand it. I did have a good time with my new camera. Edith and I developed our own films; we rigged up a little dark room in our bath-room on the Valley Belle.
We could not go to the Amarnath Caves as there was too much snow and there was great danger from avalanches. We could hear the avalanches begin at Baltal, every afternoon, about 3 o'clock. The custondian [sic] of the Dak bungalow is the regular guide for that trip, but he said it was too dangerous. I really need to go to Kashmir again. The "Vale" did not impress me, but the mountains did - such an opulence of mountains!
I really ought to say something about the political situation in India, but it is hard to tell what it is. So far I have seen no excitement. When we were in Lahore we saw a salt demonstration - not a real salt but something which they gather from the river - but it was more like a baseball crowd than a band of fiery patriots rising up against the tyrant. Lahore has had more or less excitement, but the authorities there do not really expect anything serious. The Punjab is more politically minded than the Madras Presidency. There was one riot in Madras, but it was due to the hooligans and not to the Nationalists. There is more or less trouble due to the efforts of the Hindus to oblige the Mohammedans to observe the hartels. The Mohammedans for the most part, prefer the British to the Hindus, and the affection is returned; so they do not want to join the Hindus; but they sometime do close their shops as a cautionary measure when there is a hartal, to protect their goods.
The Mohammedans in Kashmir do hate the Hindus, most heartily, and are very bitter against the Maharajah who is a Hindu. He is a worthless cuss, according to all reports. We saw a good many Ghandi caps in the north, but I have seen only 2 since I returned to Madras. It is a good thing that we have a man like Lord Irwin as Viceroy. He is universally respected and trusted. The Indians may be bitter against the British (and the British have somtimes given plenty of cause for it) but they trust them more than they do each other. The Indians are born grafters and it will take some generations to get it out of their system. The caste system helps to make them untrustworthy; they have to stick to their own caste and favor their relatives, regardless of justice. Most intelligent Indians do not want independence, but have an excellent appreciation of the dramatic. I don't know what to think about Ghandi. Indians will certainly have much less real freedom under Indian rule than under British. It is possible to have spiritual, religious and intellectual freedom, freedom in culture, without political freedom, if there is such a thing as political freedom. I think that Ghandi is putting the emphasis on the wrong thing. India is not enslaved by the British but by its superstitions, e.g. its worship of the cow, which Ghandi smiles upon. The women of India are certainly much better off for the British rule. Undoubtedly the method does need changing - and it will not be changed until some pressure is put on the British. At present things seem rather quiet. [sic] but no one knows for how long.
College has been going since the 3rd. I have a new lecturer, Miss James, not so charming as Saraswati, but with more training. Saraswati's sister is in my 3rd year class, also a charming young thing; and Saraswati is probably going to do honours work at Presidency College and live at the W.C.C. Work seems much easier this year. I know the plants and I am not trying to make up 5 weeks work. The college is the largest in its history, 147, including non-resident students. Two are Mohammedans.
I am so glad you enjoy Fredda Reed; she is a choice person - I was much impressed last year. She is the Real Thing.
Dresses? No we are wearing them as was. I haven't changed anything. We may skip a period, but I may have to be draped in a sheet when I return.
I'll be glad to get information about scales. Bathroom scales will be better than none. Eleanor has worked under disadvantages! Stones!
Do write when you have time, and tell me how it goes at Copenhagen.
Yours,
Alma
P.S. Many thanks for keeping me supplied with news. It is a help in keeping up with the college.
EDM. with Mt. Haranukk as background. We were about 12,000 ft high but Mt. Haranukk is over 16,000. June 7, 1930.