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THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH.
THIRD PART.
ft
PAGES 17 TO 20.
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IT
PITTSBURG, SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 1889.
f iTfiE MIGHTY GM3-ES.
'-India's Famous Holy Eiver and Its
f " ' Thousands of Worshipers.
. - THE PEOPLE'S BATHS AT BENAKES.
'How tie Ganges Fertilizes the Extensive
Wheat Plains of India.
f Av EICH COUKTEI ASD POOR PEOPLE
;COEEESPOME2CKOFTintDISPATCa.l
BENARES,
April 8. Dur
ing the past
three weeks I
have traveled 600
, miles around the
'holy Ganges riv
er and the click
of my typewriter
now falls upon
'' the air in unison
with the prayers
; and the splashing
jof the thousands
01 pilgrims wno
are bathing in
A. Hindoo Princess. its water. Ben
ares is the Mecca of the Hindoos and the
Ganges is to the Indian more than the Jor
dan is to the Christian. On the top of a
house boat, with six red-tutbaned, black
faced and bare-legged rowers, I slowly
drifted past the bathing ghats this moraine.
The sun was just rising, and over fields of
green extending for miles away on the left
of the river its rays came to gild ihe brass
jars which each pilgrim carried. It turned
the semi-bare brown skins of the men,
women and children to a rich mahogany
and brought out the shadows in the fort
like walls of the temples lining the other
tide of the river. It was a scene for a
painter. The wonderful colors of oriental
wmm
"feSfBHI
v -v-
tering throng just above the water were
square benches covered with umbrellas as
large as the top of a summer house, and
under these sat wrinkled old priests with
boxes of red paint beside them. .Each wor
shiper came to those priests as he finished
his bath, and the priest, dipping his finger
into the paint box, made one, two or three
marks upon his forehead. These marks were
to remain on until the next day's bathing,
and they were the signs of the gods. Among
the bathers were peddlers of Ganges water.
These carry the holy flnid in jars to vil
lages far out in the country, and each pil
grim who comes takes a load home to his
relatives.
The Ganges Holy Its Entire Lenctli.
But it is not alone at Benares that the
Ganges is holy. Prom its source in the Him
alayas, where it is supposed to flow from the
big toe of the god Vishnu, all along the
winding 1,800 miles of its course, its waters
are sacred and purifying. I found thousands
bathing at Calcutta, and many Hindoos
make a six years' pilgrimage from the source
of the river to its month. There are hun
dreds of places upon its banks which, like
Benares, are especially sacred, and there is
an island at the mouth which is annually
visited by a vast number of pilgrims. This
is known as the island of sugar. At Alla
habad the Hindoos say there are three rivers
which come together. One of these is the
Jumna, the other is the Ganges and the
third comes direct from heaven and is invis
ible to mortal eyes.
The Geocraphr of India.
It is a wonderful river, and how wonder
ful it is, it is impossible to know without
understanding the geography of this semi
continent of India. If you will take your
map of Asia you will find that India is
much the shape of an equilateral triangle,
the base of which is the Himalaya moun
tains and the apex of which rests in the
Indian ocean. Each-side of this triangle is
nearly 2,000 miles long and two sides of it
are almost bounded by water. It is a coun
try of magnificent distances. From Calcut
ta to Bombay is as far as from London to
Naples, or about the distance that New
York is from Denver. The distance between
Iceland and Spain is just about as far as a
straight line from the Himalayas to the
' i
"WORSHIP OF DUEGHA, DBA-WIT BY A NATIVE JLETIST.
J
VT "
humanity, mixed with the glorious red of
nature, filled one almost with a feeling of
worship, and the muttering of the prayers
ot thousands, with their strange incanta
tions and mysterious postures, threw an in
describable weirdness over the scene.
Fantastic and foolish as some of the
actions seemed I could not forget that this
spot is to one-sixth of the human race the
holiest place on the surface of the whole
world, that out of evervsixmen, women and
children on God's good earth one believes
that if he washes here his sins float away on
these waters to the sea, and that if his ashes
are here buried his soul goes straight to
heaven. If the Hindoo in accents of prayer
utters the name of this river within 100
miles of its banks the act atones for the sins
of three previous lives, and if he has his
head shaved at a point which lies two hours
ride by train from where I am now writintr.
and the hairs fall into the strewn, for every
hair that floats away he will have a million
years in paradise. This place is at Allaha
bad, where the river Jumna flows into the
Ganges, and here at certain times of the year
thousands of Hindoos may be seen on the
banks of the river holding" their heads over
the water and allowing barbers to shave
them, as it were, into heaven.
Faith and Works Hand in Hand.
And do the people really believe this? I
assure you they do, and their belief is a
-practical one, too. It is not a faith without
works by any means. This town of Benares
has a population as big as that of Pittsburg,
Cincinnati or "Washington. Jnst now the
mornings are cold and the air is raw and
piercing. It is the duty of everyone of
these people to come before their breakfasts
and bathe in the Ganges. I found the banks
of the river filled with them this morning.
The citT lies close to the river and for three
miles along its banks are great temples,
from the walls of which stone steps lead
down into the Ganges, going under the
water and out into the bed of the stream.
Each of these temples has perhaps 100 of
inese steps irom its Dase to the water, and
these three miles of such steps were filled
with worshipers. All were Hindoos and
none "Were clothed in anything but the
thlnest of cottons. There were shriveled
old men and women wrapped around in
the single breadth of dirty white cotton,
standing up to their waists in water
and holding their long, thin, bony arms
upward while with chattering teeth they
muttered prayers to the gods Siva, and
Vishnu. Now and then they ducked down
into the water and as they came up they
gasped and looked colder than ever. There
were plump girls, whose nut-brown skins
glistened as the water trinkled down them
and whose bright eyes flashed a half
rongish glance at me between their prayers.
As they raised their arms I noted that each
had gold and silver bracelets upon them,
and some of the country maidens had
bracelets one after another from the wrist
to the elbow and from thence on to the
shoulders. Many wore great nose rings,
and as they threw back their heads I could
see that their ears were punctured with
many holes and that each hole contained a
bit of gold or silver. Most of them, how
ever, hid their faces, and not a few were
high-caste Hindoo maidens. As they
stepped out of the water their bare limb's
shone under the sunlight and against the
dark brown background flashed heavy sil
ver anklets. Ihey did not bathe with the
men, and as a rale they huddled up in little
groups by themselves. At many of the
temples there were ledges built out over the
river, and here men gathered up water in
their hands and muttered prayers over it
Each man and woman naa a brass jar, and
as they left their bathing they carried some
of the holy water to aid them in their wor
ship in the temples. There were thousands
of maid servants carrying great bowls of
Ganges water on their heads and steadying
the burden with one brown, bare arm as
they walked up the steps. The costume of
the Hindoo is a picturesque one. It is one
long strip of cloth wound about the person
so that the legs and arms are bare. Some
times bright colored shawls are added by
Jthetwealthier. and a bright tnrban or can
apex ot the triangle and the area of the
whole is equal to the size of Europe with
out Russia, or nearly one-half of the United
States. It is a country of mountains and
valleys. The lower part and the greater
part of the center is an immense tableland
and between this tableland and the Hima
laya mountains there is a wide strip of vast
plains through which the mighty Ganges
runs And the bulk of which has been made
by the rich fertilizing earth which she has
brought down from the mountains.
There is no doubt but that in the far dis
tant past the greater part of India was an
island, and it you could sink these Ganges
plains 500 feet downward the sea would
rush in and the Himalayas would be divided
from the plateau of South and Central
India. These plains are the richest part of
India. They are the most thicklv popu
lated, and it is from them that the great
bulk of the rice and wheat of India comes.
The wheat area of India is increasing year
by year. It is no w about equal to the wheat
area of the United States, and its product
competes with the American wheat in the
markets of London. Por this reason these
plains are double interesting to Americans,
and the influence of he Ganges is felt more
and more every year in the Stock Exchange
of Chicago.
Egypt the Glit of the Nile
The Ganges not only made but she nour
ishes these plains. She is well called by the
Hindoos "Mother Ganga." From her source
in the Himalayas to her mouth in the Bay
of Bengal she has a fall of more than 2
sunk, but at the distance of 481 feet the
auger broke. At this point the end of this
rich soil had not been reached. The amount
of fertilizing material brought down by the
Ganges has been lately estimated and scien
tific investigation shows that some distance
above the point where it unites with the
Brahmaputra its yearly burden is the enor
mous amount of 355,000,000 tons. A thousand-ton
ship is by no means small, and a
fleet of 350,000 such ships could not carry
this burden.
The average freight car is 34 feet long and
it takes a strong car to carry 50 tons. Sup
pose our freight cars to be each 16 feet
longer than they are. Load upon each car
50 tons of this fertilizing mud and it would
take a train of more than 7,000,000 such cars
to carry tne yearly fertilizing outnnt ot this
great river. If these cars were on a single
track the track would have to be 67,400
miles long. It would reach twice around
the earth and leave enough cars over to run
two continuous trains through the center.
The most of this silt comes down during
four months of the year and if there were
daily fleets of 2,000 ships each containing
1,400 tons ot mud during these four months
they would just carry it
Irrigation aa It Is In Egypt. "
But this is the work of the Ganges alone.
It is five times as much as is carried by the
Mississippi to the gulf, and further down
the river where the great Brahmaputra
joins it and flows out into its hundred
mouths the silt output is still greater. D ur
ine the rainy season alone the river here
carries out enough silt to load 13,000 ships
with 1,400 tons each every day for four
months. During this rainy season this
whole delta of the Ganges is covered with
water to the extent of about 30 feet Ton
see only tops of trees, and villages which
are built .upon the hills; and the river fur
ther up the country is diverted by canals
from its course to every part of these vast
plains. The best ot the wheat is irrigated
and the water being allowed to lie upon the
land drops this fertilizer and enriches it
All over India, or through the part which I
have traveled, I see this irrigation even
now going on. Much of it is done in the
most primitive way. Two half-naked men
stand fust above the river with a basket
hung by long ropes between them. This
basket is water tight, and by a swinging
motion they scoop it down into the river and
lift the water up into a canal above,
from whence it runs off into other
canals over the fields. Here at Ben
ares bullocks are largely used. The
water is stored in great wells and it is
drawn irom them in skin bowls, each 'of
which holds about a bushel ot water. The
bowl is a pig's skin kept open with a hoop
of wood and to its top by four strings is
fastened a rope. This rope runs over a rude
pulley at the top ot the well and at a dis
tance of 20 feet trom it, it is tied to the yoke
of bullock, which, led by a man, raises the
bucket to the top of the Well. Here it is
pulled over into a trough. I am told that
this mode of irrigation is faster and cheaper
than any of the machine methods employed,
and J. seen everywhere.
Of late years the English have been spend
ing immense sums in irrigating India, and
millions of acres of new land have been
brought under irrigation. In 1882 more than
825,000,000 were spent "in Bengal alone, and
the wheat lands are found to produce best
in those provinces which can be irrigated.
I do not remember the average wheat pro
duction of the United States per acre, but I
think it is larger than that of India. Here
it is only 13 bushels per acre, and the wheat
is not more than a foot high. The heads of
the grain, however, are well filled out,
though it is not worth as much in Mark:
Lane as the better classes of Australian or
California wheat
NYE AND BASEBALL
William Attends the Opening Game
at the Hew League Grounds,
LOOKING TflEOUGH A KNOT HOLE.
Borne Other Thoughts Which Are Kow Used
for the first Time.
STATEN ISLAND IK THE EET0LUTI0H"
11
rWBITTEK 70S TUI filSrATCH.'!
STATEN ISL
AND, where the
New York League
games will be play
ed this season, is an
oblate Bpheroid
where the Demo
crats, last fall, were
flattened at the
polls. St. George,
which is 25 minutes from New York, via the
Statute of Liberty, is the point where the
disemboweled umpire may be found. St
George is not really a town. It is not even
a postoffice; it is only a name. It has a fine
base ball ground, however, a bank, a bright
and handsome paper called the Staten Isl
ander, and a telephone, by means of which
one can converse with parties in New York,
but it has no inhabitants.
I desired one evening to converse
with Mr. Chauncey Depew upon a
normnril matter, so I asked for the
New York Central ofiice. I got
it
Elce Not the Only Food.
I had always looked upon India as a rice
eating country. I find that a great number
of the people here eat wheat and grain. In
Northwestern India only about 10 per cent
of the people eat rice, and in the prison at
JW-mh yli
L J I ijP TyOaTyjrTTTtl fit k I 1 Mfi
The Royal Equipage.
tor.
Me Labors With ihe Telephone.
Ganges Pleasure Barge.
VEBHafioven th h1
HHbtedgiUsiKaMiaingsMj
miles, and as a fertilizing bearer she sur
passes any river on-the face of the globe.
Egypt is the gift of the Nile. You conld
lose Egypt in these plains, which are the
gift of the Ganges. The mighty Nile, with
its unknown source, does not carry down as
much water as this holy river of the Hin
doos, and her maximum discharge at a
distance of 400 miles from the sea, with
many of her tributaries yet to hear from, is
one-third greater than that of the Missis
sippi. "Where the Ganges rises bursting
from a Himalayan glacier it is 27 feet
wide. It falls 3,500 feet in the first ten
miles of its course, and it has an average
depth of 30 feet 500 miles from its mouth.
Its delta is as wide as the distance from
New York to Washington, and hundreds
ot months run from this width back in a
sort of a parallelogram for 200 miles more,
where they unite. The water of the Bay of
Bengal is discolored for miles by the mud
brought down by the Gangesnd the whole
country is fertilized by it
An Excellent Fertilizer,
The water is the color and thickness of
pea soup and the silt or mud is so rich that
these vast plains use no other fertilizer. The
crops are harvested by pulling the stalks
out of the ground. No cows or horses are
allowed to pasture in the fields and their
droppings are mixed with straw and mud
and then dried and used as fuel. In this
Ganges valley nature is always giving, but
never getting. Every atom of natural fer
tilizer, save this Ganges silt, is taken from
the soiL Still the land is as rich as guano
and produces from two to fonr crops every
year.' Abont Calcutta tbe'Jalluvial deposit
is ay leec aeep anajuuexperimentwas late-
i?1 thread of ityATjreUE
Agra I found that the prisoners were fed
upon grain. Everywhere the mass of the
people seem to be underfed and the leanest,
scraggiest specimens of humanity I have
ever seen I find in this rich valley of the
Ganges. Where nature has done everything
the people are starving, and yon can' have
no idea of the skin and bone men and boys,
whom I see daily by the thousands. The
costume of the people is such that the arms
ana legs and often the breasts and waists
are bare. There seems to be nothing but
skin, bone and sinew, and the average
thigh is not bigger than a muscular Amer
ican biceps. There are no calves whatever,
and the joints at the knees and the ankles
are extraordinarily large.
Nearly every man you meet, if he be
poor, has wrinkles all over his body, and at
every ranroau siauoa you una gaunt, GarK-
faced, piteous, lean men, who slap their
bare stomachs to show that they are hollow
and ask for backshish. Wages are misera
bly low. Farm laborers get from 6 to 8
cents a day. Even travelers, who have to
pay the highest wages, can get good English
speaking servants who will travel with
them and feed themselves for 33 cents a day
and less than that if taken by the month.
Too Hany People to Support.
This valleyof the Ganges has more people
than it can support, and it is probably the
most densely populated part of the world.
The people live in villages, and the average
country town consists of one-story mud huts
too poor and illy-ventilated for American
pig pens. You would not think of having
such outhouses as the residences of the
majority of this vast popnlation wonld
make, and in a large part of India, and es
pecially in the best part of this Ganges
country, the holdings average from two to
three acres apiece. At four to the family,
this represents a half acre per perspn, or
over 1,200 persons per square mile. When
it is remembered that these people live by
agriculture, it will be seen that this condi
tion is far worse than that of China or any
part ol Europe. And still the people are
bright. They are brainy, too, and you
will find few sharper business men.
better cut faces and more polite people
than these people of India. Their faces in
this part of India have much the same char
acteristics as those ot tne Anglo-Saxon.
Those ot the higher castes are more like
those of the Greeks and I see faces every
day which, if the skin were white, any
American might be proud to own. They
belong to the same race germ that we do and
under the same training and Christian in
fluences they would be strong competitors
with ns. But what can a man do on 6 cents
a da, or how can a man learn when he has
to struggle to exist?
The population of India is continually
increasing. England eats the lion's share
of the products of,the country, and though
the people are perhaps better off under her
jt..t.imAnt iTian IllAV liavo Koan in tliA vioat
it is the same old story of her wealth going J
to tne ruiers aau lue people wording meir
flesh off their bones to support them The
Governor General of India, who, by the
wav. is the rich Marquis of Lansdown, gets
$100,000Na year. , Quite a contrast with the
wages of the masses at 6 cents a day! Isn't
"Tr miMli juia n..vtiyiA.tii:r.M xbjs.
promptly, and after revealing a large quan
tity of secrets of the order, includinggrips,
pass words and signs of distress, a voice at
the other end of the line made the statement
"Eats!"
I then learned that I had laid bare my
most precious thoughts to the N. Y. Cen
tral Ofiice of the telephone, not to the N. Y.
C. & H. E. R. K. S., I contributed to the
laughingstock of the telephone company
instead of utilizing the rolling stock of the
road. Back of St. George landing the
ground rises rapidly bjr means of a series
of beautiful terraces, along which may be
found the abode of wealth and beauty.
PLEASING EEATUBES.
Erom these terraces the game of ball may
be seen readily it anyone will step to the
window overlooking the harbor. The rent
of houses goes up every summer along the
terraces, because spectacular shows and
baseball games may be seen freely by means
of a glass from those residences. Laat year
Sig. Blondin gave an exhibition at these
grounds on the tightrope or wire. Those
who did not care to see him were almost
compelled to pull down the blind.
I went down to witness the opening game
oi ball at St George this season, but was
pained to notice that the magnanimous elm
trom which I had heretofore witnessed the
outdoor spectacles, on these grounds, had
been filled full of sharp spikes. This course
will not only hurt the management, but
others who would be glad to foster and en
courage, by voice and pen, all manly nth
letio sports of an outdoor nature. I spoke
to the doortender abont it and said I was
a great hand for snort and would like to
see the noble American game this summer
from time to time on those grounds. He
said not on those grounds. Possibly on
some other grounds, bnt not on those
grounds.
I then pulled a cork out of a knothole in
the fence by means of a corkscrew which I had
ifiiTIl
Hye Views the Sail Game.
brought with me, not knowing what might
happen, and through the aperture I saw the
game, though, of course, imperfectly. When
I left the hole, there was a ring worn around
its circumference quite distinctly, where I
had chafed the board with my nose while
trying to follow the course of the lofty fly.
HOW HE ENJOYED IT.
Early in the afternoon De Cappa's justly
celebrated band played some overtures, in
terspersed with interlndes. The disad
vantage of a knothole as a lorgnette is that
one has to look through it with his ear while
the band plays, or miss the melody. I do
not know much about baseball, and for that
reason, I have been repeatedly called upon
to umpire the game. People are apt, in
choosing their umpires as in choosing their
juries, to confuse ignorance and impartiality.
j.ne game was piayea Detween our own
JSew xorfc club and that of Cleveland, O,
First our club wonld swat the ball and run
around the goals for awhile and then the
other would do so. This was kept up until
Cleveland had five and the New Yorks had J
jusi wnai mey started with.
Speaking of Cleveland reminds me that I
saw Kim- the other day walking up the
street with ex-Secretary Fairchild, between
5 and 6 o'clock, going home like a plain
American citizen from his work, scorning
the horse cars, the elevated road and the
cabs. I had heard that Mr. Cleveland was
very rarely recognized on the street here and
so I kept my eye on the two men for several
blocks. They were absolutely unrecognized
to all appearance and the ex-President actu
allr finds more solitude on Bmadwav than
he did when he quietly went away on his
bridal tour to a secluded place where he J
coma commune witn nimselr, and woke pp
in the morning to find the front vard full of
'artists, correspondents and telegraph in
struments. I presume that nothing makes
a newly married President madder, as Imav
wy,T,taaa twtille strolling about the'grouadfl I
at eventide, looking up into the clear and
quiet sky when the full orbed honeymoon
scoots across the heavens, suddenly to stum
ble over a telegraph wire, connected with a
great paper.
NO PLACE TOE POLICEMKK.
But we were speaking of Staten Island.
Probably Staten Island is, to the majority
or the residents, even in New York, a terra
incognita. It is also a terra to the police
sometimes for being 13J miles long by 1
miles in width. Nine policemen have great
difficulty in being on the ground when
tronble occurs, especially when the roads
are bad. So the Staten Island policeman's
life is not one of luxurious ease as one might
suppose. My heart has hot been so touched
for years as last autumn while strolling
through the beautiful woods which are en
gagedin clothing the hillsides of the island.
The air was crisp and exhilarating; the blue
sea glimmered through the red and gold of
the autumnal foliage.
Suddenly I thought I heard a sob. Ever
ready to comfort the distressed, provided it
does not cost anything; always on hand to
ask the suffering if it still hurls, and if so,
where it hurts, and engage the sufferer in
pleasing conversation, I climbed the fence
and penetrated still further into the woods,
wnere jl lound a policeman. Tears were in
his eyes. I can bear anv thing better, than
the sight of a policeman bathed in tears.
i. inquired the cause ot his anguish. He
said that it was so quiet and lonely on his
beat that he had strolled off into the woods,
and in an unguarded momenthe had thrown
his clnb into a chestnut tree to knock down
a few nuts, not having. had a chance to
knock down anything else for a long time,
and the club had remained up there. He
dared not go home or bacK on the beat with
onthis clnb, for It would be a disgrace, and
besides that, hejnight be attacked by some
one on his way home and have no means of
defending himself. It was a sad case.
Later on, however, a bad boy, by turning
State's evidence and getting a promise from
the policeman that he should be free from
arrest for five years, went up the tree and
returned with the Billy do.
HE BECAME HEALTHY.
Staten Island has 19 postofSces and a fort
Port Wadsworth has an excellent site for a
iort, but there is so little fighting to be done
lately, and. there is such close competition
that it is not self-supporting. I am told
that if influential friends at Washington did
not do something for it everv vear it would
have to be abandoned.
South Beach is now getting to be the
Coney Island of the approaching season.
Excursionists can ride from Harlem to
South Beach for 15 cents, which, on the
round trip, gives each excursionist 20 cents
advantage over Coney Island. This amount,
which is carefully invested in beer, will, in
one season, yield large returns. Added to
all this, South Beach has a water front, a
large number of msrry-go-rounds and fresh
baked peannts. Beer can be had by ap
proaching only authenticated parties in the
proper way. Many people are benefited
every year by sitting at the seashore where
they hear the billows burst upon the strand,
while they quaff some more beer. I knew a
man once who went to the seaside a living
skeleton, but by patiently and regularly
'ForForty-Eight.Days;
A ROMANCE OF A MAIDEN
' -AND-
A HISTORY OF A WAR.
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH BY JOAQUIN MILLER.
WWESt
Silent and Unobtrusive Sympathy.
watching the other people bathe every after
noon, his pores were opened, and by drink
ing beer at odd times whenever the idea oc
curred to him, he became so healthy that it
was almost impossible to make the lid of
his coffin stay on.
But those who ride to the ball game or to
South Beach do not see the best part of
Staten Island. The hundreds of beautiful
'walks and drives through the most wonder
fully diversified wealth of verdure, the com
bination of land and sea, the old homes, the
broad grounds, the continual change and
surprise at a new style of landscape with
the sea in the distance, are not understood
by those who skim the borders of the island
and follow the crowd. The crowd is what
Staten Island has fought against for years,
and although it does not invade beyond the
lines of transit and the beach, the tide of
hot humanity from the populous kilns of
the city has set in toward South Beach.
A TORY STEONGnOLD.
Staten Island in Revolutionary times was
extremely Tory in its politics, but is now
friendly to the United States with the ex
ception, perhaps, of a slight bitterness still
felt toward Constable's Hook. Constable's
Hook is like Adams and Jefferson. Though
dead, it still speaks. A man who had lived
for a long time at Constable's Hook might
blow out his gas at night and wake up bright
and refreshed in the morning. Asphyxia
would be a pleasant relaxation for him.
The time is coming,and at no distant day,
when Staten Island and Manhattan Island
will work together more harmoniously, and
as business picks up and trade is encour
aged, many Staten Island business men will
have quiet homes in New York, The feel
ing of rivalry, though keen and active, is a,
purely friendly one, and there is no bitter
ness at all. There is no reason why New
York and Tompkinsville should not walk
together hand in hand in the great march
of progress. Each has her sphere of action.
each her allotted task, each her field ot
work. While some classes of merchandise
may be bought cheaper in New York, owing
to railroad competition between the latter
and Chicago, other lines .oi goods are
cheaper at Tompkinsville.
Though I live on Staten Island I have
not allowed my prejudices to influence me
in any way in what I have said. I have
tried to be fair and truthful iu what I have
said, for I have the kindliest feeling toward
New York and always have had, and after
a hard and active dav in the busy marts of
trade at Tompkinsville, nothing rests me or
builds me np like an evening's romp or a
straw ride on Fifth avenue. BILL Nye.
CHAPTER I.
A PBEFATOEY trKDEESTAITDnrO.
There are Indians and Indians. A man
may fight for some Indians and fight against
other Indians,
and yet not be
at all in the
wrong. At Wa
terloo, France
and England
were not friend
ly. But in the
Crimean War,
less than half a
century later,
they stood
shoulder to
shoulder. If
conditions fof
this sort can exist among the most civilized J
nations it ought not to be counted so very
inconsistent if a boy. thrown among sav
ages, should in the course of his duty, or
even desire, or perhaps in the course of
what might really be called diplomacy."
be found fighting at one time for and with
a certain tribe of Indians and at another
time against another tribe of Indians. And
yet an ungrateful and forgetful world will
perhaps continue to insist that for four
years the writer of this sketch was a savage
among savages, and only there for blood
and plunder. How cruelly wrong 1
Let it be said in a single paragraph that
the hand which Dens these lines has been
raised in several campaigns for the white
men against the Indians; that the writer
was three times terribly wounded in these
wars.
Some of these battles were fought in
Oregon, some in Idaho, some in Calitornia.
Some are matters of record; but for the most
part they are perishing from the memory of
man as the pioneers who bore part with
him are perishing from the earth. However,
if is one brief record which bears the great
seal of the State of California. It is given
here because it is brief; not at all because it
shows the writer to the best advantage a
fact for which he cares not the snap of his
finger!
Headquarters
Adjutant General's Oitice,
State of California,
SacrAMENTOjCal., December 15, 1883..
loaqnin jauier, new iois.:
Dear Sir: In answer to yonr letter ad
dressed to General, now Governor, Stonetnan,
I have to say that I find, on examination ot the
records on file in this office, that you served as
a volunteer In one of the early Modoc wars,
tnown as the "Pitt River expedition." from
March the 16th, 1857. to May the 2d, 1857. for 43
days. It also appears that you furnished your
own horse and equipments. It farther ap
pears that you ars tho only one who took part
in said expedition that never received any
compensation lor nts services, ins lame is
probably your own. in not applying tor It. Bnt
Pitt Biver Valley, as before narrated, found
excuse for their bloody work.
Of course, I was greatly elated at the
splendid results of the grand elk hunt
which I had organized and led to a finish,
and I at once sent back a runner to bear the
good news and to bring the famishing tribe
to devour the tons of meat where it lay. It
was the return of this runner, with hun
dreds of hungry Indians creeping on after
him up the mountain and through the dense
woods, that bronght me my first news of the
fearful massacre. It seemed incredible. It
seemed utterly impossible that I should now
be the only living white person in a place
that only the season before was teeming
with happy and hopeful settlers. I took
two fine and taithfnl young Indians, and
descending almost with the rapidity of shot
op our snowshoes to the flames and green
grasses of the far off valley, I found only
dead bodies and burned ruins.
Let us hasten on over the peril and the
pain of the tedious return through the melt
ing suns to my own camp. Believing my
self to be the first white man to leam of the
massacre, I hastened on alone to the nearest
white habitation. This was the now famous
Soda Springs, the property of perhaps the
wealthiest man in the world, Senator Stan
ford. I was part owner of the springs at
this early date. We had a little mountain
hotel my partner and myself and took
stock to winter at our ranch deeper in the
mountains. And this was what I was do
ing at the time of the massacre away over
the spurs of Mount Shasta to the east I
chose to take care of the stock, and live with .
of broken manhood feebly tottering back
toward the little city and whisky.
The army had had two days to make tha
distance which I must cover in one or sleep
without my dinner in the snow. But they
had. made a wide trail, these men with nn
steady feet, and it was not hard to lollow.
As the stars began to glitter over tha
steep and stupendous walls of snow which I
was now slowly climbing, I caught tha
cheering light ot many campfires under tha
somber boughs of pine and fir and cedar
trees that dotted the mountain slope. My
splendid horse soon had his nose In a barley
bag alontr with others, and I broke breai
with as motley a set of men as ever grouped
about any campfire on this earth. Conld
Shakespeare have but seen that gangl De
scription at my hand would be impossible!
Perhaps 25 of 'these men had lost brother,
father, friend, fortune, in the massacre.
These were sober and quiet enough. Per
haps a like number had lost nothing, having;
had nothing to lose, and were now merely
adventurers; on their way out to plunder
the dead possibly. Perhaps a like number
were of the lowest form of humanity; for tha,
jails had been given a holidav. Janns and
thejaill The old Bojnan deity, the god of
battles and the Yreka mining camp in Cali
fornia. The world is round and history
keeps on reading the same old page in tire
less repetition t janus and the open jail J'
And these men were to be my companions
through a campaign of long and savags
warfare I
CHAPTEKUL
X IIAIDEX ASD A LETTXE.
The braying pack mules, the bellowing,
cattle, the impatient horses pawing in tha
hard, deep snow, and over and above all this
the yelling of wholly drunken or half sober
men, who now for the first time were con
fronted by the fact that they had to either
cook or go hungry all this along with tho
many bright, big camp fires flashing over tha
mountains of snow under the dense and
somber pines, made a scene Miltonic,
demoniac, majestic To forecast the entire
annihilation of this mob, calling itself tha
"army of Northern California," had not
been a hard task. Most of the men had
-
now, after the lapse of more than a quarter of
a centurr. therB 18 no money in the Treasury
for the payment of such claims. Tour remedy
is by special a
of California.
Is by special act ot the Lecialature of the State
Ueoeoe B. Cbosbt,
I Before the Launch,
w -12
Lanty, the Boatman Now, Bill, yon get
her by the head an' I'll git 'round behind
her, an we'll have her in the water quicker'n
scat.
Aunt Hepsy (sketching)-
tUOf
H-e-llll-pl-
' i"
Respectfully yours,
Adjutant Goneral for the State of California.
(seal of uaiuorma.
As if I had asked for a certificate of this
record for the money there was
in it. Still let some young financier who is
apt at arithmetic stop here and calculate
how much this one State, to say nothing of
Idaho, Oregon, Arizona and the Federal
States also might be owing me now in gold
coin. For I never, from any one, or Irom
any sonrce whatever, accepted 1 cent for my
services. Take this one account of Califor
nia, which she frankly says, under the great
seal, is due me, and see what it would
amount to at annnal interest for more than
30 years. The pay allowed was S5 per day
for horse and equipments; the same for a
man. But compute and compound, after
ascertaining the amount dne at the rate of
?10 per day "for 48 days." You will find
that a certain great State is owing to a cer
tain humble person not only all the gold on
the great glittering dome of her Capitol,
but the Capitol itself. Aye, the very State
itself. Let her people then, her strong, new
people, who are pushing us older ones off the
globe, not be too eager to accuse and find
fault with the work I have done until that
work is in some sort paid for. And now let
us look into the campaign "for 48 days."
We will have only the plain, true story of
an expedition against the early Modocs
through the gleaming snows and nnder the
somber pines of majestic Mount Shasta.
And why this expedition? Because in
February, 1857, the Modoc and Pitt river
Indians rose up one night and jmassacred
every white person, with the single excep
tion of myself, in all the vast region now
comprised in Modoo county.
CHAPTER IL
THE EXPEDITION. .
I was not at home, that is, not in my own
cabin, at the time the Indians rose up and
massacred all the people in what is now
Modoc county, California, but had taken a
party of young Indians and gone a day's
journey deeper into the mountainous wil
derness on a grand annual elk hunt Pos
sibly my absence from home bad something
to do with the sparing of my lite. But I
think not. As before said, my insignifi
cance, both as a boy and a holder of prop
erty, saved me, perhaps. Yet let it be re
membered, I had friends amongthe Indians-
excellent, true and brave friends. And
they are as faithful to their friends as any
people on earth. Yea, let me say this now
at last over the graves of these dead red
men: 1 owe .them, much; I owe no white
man anything at all. Looking back over
the long and dubious road of my eventfnl
life, I can say this and snap my finger at
the rebuke it may bring. But surely I owe
no white man for favor or iricudship or les
son ot love or forbearance of any sort Yet
to the savage red men that gathered about
the base of Mount Shasta to battle and to
die I owe much, much, much all that I am
or can ever hope to be.
Our great elk hunt had been wonderfully
successful. We had pvertaken a band of elk
in a dense wood, where they had gone into
winter quarters with the snow walled in
around them higher than their high-lifted
and splendid antlers. We had plunged in
upon tnem nere, wnere tney and their an
cestry had been secure forperhaps a tfiou
sand preceding winters. We had poured in
upon them with such impetuosity that the
antlered ranks of the huge bulls, as they
stood on the outer edge ot the vast herd,
were broken up as we rushed right in among
the cons and calves, while the bulls took to
tho hard-crusted snow and wallowed away
as best they could. This left us a perfect
slaughter yard 1 The bulls were'not desira
ble; but the cows and calves even at mid
winter, with the snow breast deep and with
nothing but the bark of willows and birch
and vine-maple to feed upon, were fat. My
excuse for killing 13 huge cows with my
own hand at that time is found in the fact
that a friendly tribe of Indians down the
mountains near my own home was literally
starving. The gold hunters had made the
water in the rivers so muddy that the fish,
on which these Indians had 'largely depend
ed for centuries, had either died or forsaken
the streams in this region. And in this iact
the Indians who auwwwrsd Has, people fof I
STORMING THE ISLAND. -
, ,
only Indians about me, simply because I
liked solitude; and the silent dignity oi the
Indian was always more decent than the
garrulous white men. Besides that, the
white men seemed constantly to seek some
advantage of me. Beyond all that, I had
heen badly wounded in a battle with hostile
Indians near Soda Springs only the sum
mer before, and was not strong enough, to
say nothing of my extreme youth, to do the
work about the springs. And you may be
certain that my penurious and selfish
"pardners" were glad to give me the place
of peril and stay where they could handle
the money.
And no'w, having crowded a whole col
umn into a few paragraphs, let us hasten
forward.
Beaching Soda Springs at early dawn,
after a moonlight walk, or rather run, of
singnlar grandeur under the solemn pines
on the hard crusted snow, I hastily told the
terrible news; and then threw myself into
the saddle, arms in hand, and set out
through the tortuous and tedious mountain
trail for Yreka. This city of Yreka was at
this time a sort of capital of Northern Cali
fornia; a popnlous and most prosperous min
ing town, with banks, miles of brick houses,
hundreds of hotels. A great city was Yreka
in the days of old. I had a ride before me
of more than fO miles. The narrow snow
bound steep and stony trail was simply ter
rible. But I was splendidly mounted. My
horse had all the gathered strength of a win
ter's rest in his long and supple legs, and he
continually bounded along like a ball. At
twilight I struck Yraka. I found the citv
already on-fire with the terrible news, it
had reached them through a man who had
escaped the massacre; and a hundred men
had only that morning, after a single night
ot preparation, set out tor the scene ot death
and desolation.
A wild strange crowd was that which had
journeyed forth from the now drunken
and half-crazed town. I entered the place
at a gallop, plunging through a herd of
bellowing cattle which some howling and
wholly drunk men were trying to drive out
after the little army that had set face for the
almost impassable mountains or snow that
lay between it and the valley of flames and
death. I fell from my horse into the arms
ot Mr. Irwin, the editor of the paper. This
Irwin was afterward governor of Cali
fornia, a good, wise man. He topk me at
once to the judge of that district, Jndge
Boseborongh. Hastily I told him all I
knew. This same Judge is now a neighbor
of mine here in Oakland, California.
'You must stay in here," said the Judge.
I was too worn, too nearly dead, to qnite
understand.
"They will kill you in the streetl They
thought the Indians had killed you and
burned your place also. But it seems that
they have not even taken any of your
cattle. This may be all right but the city
is mad and it is drunk also. Yon stav here
to-night"
I slept on the floor of that little bricjc law
office, my feet against the door and a pistol
in my hind. Ah, a queer reward was I
having for my perill What a world this isl
The next morning tne jnage ana the
future Oovernorof California aroused me
early. We breakfasted in the cold, bright
morning on the office table from ham and
eggs and other good" things which the Jndge
had ordered from his residence. Looking
out ol the window I saw that my horse was
already saddled, and was being led up and
down in the sharp, frosty air.
"Everybody is killed,'" said the Judge as
we finished breakfast, "except yourself.
There is not even a guide left to head that
little army that lelt here yesterday through
the snow over' the mountain. Ike Bodgers,
the banker, has been out there, but that was
in the summer time. He will not know the
road with ten feet of snow. Besides, his
father is among the murdered and he is half
insane over it Sam Lockbart Is the same,
for he has lost his brother, and all his
splendid property there is In ashes."
"Well, Judge, what must I do?"
"Mount that horsa instantly and follow,
find them over the mountains down into the
valley. There you will meet volunteers and
also some of the regular army, coming ud
from San Francisco to help destroy these
bloody savages."
The man's cool good sense and confidence
in boy nnd a stranger made me suddenly
proud and strong and resolute. I rode out
of town at a gallop, as I had entered. But
the town was quiet now It seemed like
Sunday. I saw two men only, and these
two were bathing their heads at a pump in
the crisp and frosty-air. A few miles ont I
began to meet stragglers coming from the
little army of volunteers. One day and one
night bad been quite enough tor(them. And
,i asy loss x loaait wm iragiaeswry dim
pistols in their belts; bdttheir gunsleaned
in hopeless neglect, wet and empty, -against
the pines. The Indians could easily glida
in on the rusted snow fromVtlie darkness
that environed us and tomahawk the last
man! T
But the next morning, brilliant with
snow and sunlight, found the men aleepig '"
peacefully. One by one they crawledSfbrth
from their blankets, now sunken heavily in
the snow from theweightand warmthof from
two to tea half drunken forms of humanity,
and stared hopelessly about. The great
roaring fires of the night before had sunken
deep down in the melting snow. Only here
and there the embers of some huge pine loj
still held fire away down in the smoke
blackened pit that yawned at the feet of tha
California volunteers in their blankets.
Erom under the low bonghs of a dwarf yew
tree where I, along with my horse, had
spent the night apart from the tumultuous
crowd, I could see little groups of men
gathering on the side next toward the little
city, away below the snow and a day's
journoy behind us. These little groups
would accumulate like rolling balls of snow,
and then break off and silently, but speedily,
turn their backs on the half-awakened camp
of California.
They had had enough of the first great
campaign against the murderous Modocs.
There remained at informal roll-call onlv
two classes, the best and the worst Tha
worst cared not, or dared not, to return to
prison fare, and the best of the men who had
gotten up the -sudden expedition felt that
the eyes of the State were on them; besides,
that they had the massacre to avenge, to re
cover lost estates; to reclaim once more tor
The Captive Maiden.
civilization a region as large as all New
England. These men could not desert now.
Bnt what a dismal, smoky, donghy, dread
ful breakfast! The "jail-birds" were bribed,
bullied, beaten into doing the cooking. And
there were two big fist fights before it was
hair over!
As we sat or rather stood at breakfast, a
tinenn of coffee in the right hand and a
sandwich of dough nnd burnt bacon in tha
other, two tall and comely Indian warriors
stood over like silhouettes against the rising
sun on the crest of the snowy mountain be
fore us. Instantly I knew tliem for my two
young friends who had gone down into tha
valley of death with me when we had firsts
heard of the massacre. Take a map and
trace the route of my travel since leaving
my own camp, and you will see that in
three days I had made almost the entire cir
cuit of tho grandest and sublimest snow
peak in all the world. I was now not 40
miles from my own camp, my own Indians,
my own cattle and horses. These swift aad
splendid young fellows had kept promise
and were coming to tell me bow thin? row
stood. Their iniormation, who'e'ver it might
be, was of the greatest importance. Did tho
compact with the Modocs still hold good?
Was Pitt Biver and Modoc and Shasta still
friendly; or had they quarreled, over tha
plunder, after the fashion of Thite nations?
All, this was. important to know.
But such a panic! Pistols in the air in
stantly! A dozen. 40,' CO shots! The two -tall
and shapely figures melted back and
away as fhev had come. And that was all;
oil except a "stampede" of hones, cattle,
mules, men I The cattle first took fright at
this apparition, those two shapely and
shadowy savages on the steep deep snow nn
der the pines that lifted before us, and they,
like the men in the early morning, started '
Tor the world below Then the mules, madly
braying, followed the bellowing cattle.
Then the horses. Then the men dashed
bravely down tha ihountain after ttieii.
horses. And they never came back, cattle,1"
nones, mnies or ment
Ike Eodgers, thet banker, whose1 father.
ud fallea In tmyw swore, palled Lt! rem-
:. - v. T b. jij . 1. .. , i J ta -j-r .