M A R C H 1 9 4 0 ^ ^ ^ V O L U M E 30 No. 3 - Mines Magazine

for March, 1940
• Mosque ol lohore.
natives Avho wore the most colorful
costumes. As you know, the men
wear a costume that resembles a dress
and may be red, 3'eUow, white,
orange or most any color of the rainbow.
The population is heterogeneous,
and is composed of "Low Country"
and "Kandyan", Singhalese, Tomils,
Moors, and Malays. The men Avear
long hair with large tortoise shell
combs which all add tn the confusion
as to whether they are men or women.
Street scenes of Colombo are very
impressive. Along with the conglomeration
of vivid colored native
dress, one sees the slow-moving, two
wheeled, cocoanut leaf covered carts
known as bullock-bandies. They are
generally drawn by two cream colored
bullocks. The slow traffic is mixed
with bicycles and automobiles (generally
American made.) A trip around
the city shows the European influence
with the large stores mixed among
small shops, beautiful hotels, and a
lovely residential section. The "pettah"
which contains row upon row of
small native shops is very interesting,
and there are many things to buy such
as carved ivory, tortoise shell, silver,
and by far the most interesting are the
precious and semi-precious stones. 1
can assure you it will be hard on your
pocketbook if you take friend wife
along. The truth of the matter is that
you may buy beautiful stones and
gems of the finest quality for much
less than you could hope to purchase
them at home.
The last night we were in Colombo
the rest of the family was dead tired
after a hard day of sightseeing, so I
decided to go ashore and make a few
last minute purchases. A friend of
ours and I hired two rickshas to take
us around town as we wanted to sec
the native market at night. We had a
difficult time convincing the ricksha
boj's that we wanted to go there
but finally got started merrily on our
way. The first we knew we were in
a great mass of natives—probably
somewhere between 10,000 to 20,000.
We told the "boys" to get us out of
there but it was not so easy because all
avenues of retreat had been closed.
After some little time trying to make
ourselves understood, ten ricksha boys
came to our assistance and cleared a
way to a very narrow and dark alley.
The alley was just a little wider than
our ricksha and only once in awhile
could we see a very dimly lighted
window; reminding one of the stories
of an old opium street in China.
After about fifteen minutes of this we
came upon the well-lighted main
street and proceeded directly to the
ferry and the good old SS President
Garfield. Next morning the papers
told of some sixty people being killed
in a labor riot the previous night. We
were glad to have had the experience
hut more glad our names were not
listed among those dead.
About 3:00 A. M. the morning of
July 28 we woke because of strange
sounds. I looked out the port hole
and saw beautiful trees and flowers,
which caused me to rub my eyes
wondering where wc were. I soon
learned we were going thru the locks
at Bombay. After our breakfast we
decided to be real smart and get over
to the American Consulate before the
crowd arrived there. We wanted an
Egyptian visa as well as passes to the
Burning Ghats and The Tower of
Silence. We were informed that
office hours in Bombay, due to the cxtreme
heat, were from 10:00 A. M.
to 11:00 A. M. and from 2:00 P. M.
to 4:00 P. M. We left our passport
with a note explaining what we
wanted and returned the next afternoon
to find our requests had been
very satisfactorily taken care of.
From the Hanging Gardens 180
feet above the sea in Bombay j'Ou will
overlook Mahatma Ghandi Beach
where this well known figure holds
meetings. You will see fishermen
huts along the beach with the
ever present sacred doves. In the
background are the beautiful colleges,
the new apartment buildings that
stretch for miles over mostly reclaimed
ground, and it ail gives one the impression
of a verj' modern and powerful
city. We were amused at a sign
displayed in front of a recently completed
apartment which read, "For
Vegetarians Only". All of Bombay
is not modern, and with its many castes
and creeds, strange and interesting
sights are everywhere. No trip to
Bombay would he complete without a
trip to the Tower of Silence where
the Parees religious practice of feeding
their dead to birds of the air is
carried out. (This religion teaches
that fire, earth, and water are sacred.)
Vultures weighing about 20 lbs. each
are to be seen everywhere around this^
tower. Also a trip to the Burning
Ghats will show you where the
Hindus burn their dead on an iron
grid. In the Mohammedan cemetery
the corpses are buried in the ground
standing up.
During our travels around Bombay
our guide took us to see the holy men.
As to what sect they belong I do not
know, but they lie on a mat with only
# Bombay from Hanging Gardens.
Mahalma Ghandi Beach.
a small loin cloth on and cover their
bodies with ashes. They will pray for
those who come to them for aid. One
of these holy men was supposed to be
108 years old. A street scene in the
native quarters is an ever changing
one of vivid colors. Some of the
women are veiled, while still others
wear large nose rings. Ox carts are
seen everywhere as well as the victoria—^generally
drawn by worn out
horses. The oriental smell and dirt
is ever present in this section of the
city.
An hour in tlie Prince of Wales
Museum will be worth the time spent
there. You will see modern and
antique silver, china, glassware. There
are many beautiful paintings. We
noted a picture of Abraham Lincoln.
There are many shops in Bombay,
most of the smaller ones are dirty
with hundreds of dirty people milling
around. The large meat market
seemed fairly clean, the silk market
was very extensive but we did not
stop. When we got into the silver,
gold, cotton, and foreign exchange 1
thought we were in a riot with
hundreds of men hollering everywhere,
but our guide explained it was
just the wealthy ^brokers at work. We
drove thru the streets one night and
found poor souls sleeping by the
thousands on the side walks, on the
ledges of windows, just anywhere
there was a place to lie down.
Books may be written about interesting
things in Bombay but we must
go on with the story, so we leave Bomhay
for Suez.
The ten-day trip from Bombay to
Suez proved to be one of many cocktail
parties and general good times
aboard ship. Part of the time the
Indian Ocean was very rough, but
after we got into the Red Sea the
water was smoother; however, it was
very hot. An Australian friend of
mine once told me the reason for giving
the Red Sea that name was because
it was so "bloody hot", and I know
that is about right. One afternoon
about 4 o'clock I was standing on the
deck and noticed a very dark cloud
ahead. In only a few minutes the
air was fuil of sand and you could
not see anything without the lights,
and it lasted about three hours. , It
gave one a peculiar feeling to be in a
sand storm at sea.
We arrived in Suez about 9:30
P. M. and hefore we cleared customs,
immigration and quarantine it was
well after 11:00 P. M. We tried to
hire a car to take us across the desert
to Cairo and ran into the worst
oriental cunning and salesmanship
# Dobi Ghats. All washing of Bombay is done in these Ghats.
•f—*
# Gateway to India. From Bombay.
# Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay.