CHAPTER II.

BOMBAY THE RAJPOOTANA RAILWAY.

BEFORE nine we had taken the pilot on board, and then the Surat wound her way up one of the finest harbours in the world, the capaciousness and grand scenery of which took me quite by surprise; and as soon as she dropped anchor a steam-launch came alongside with a letter from the Viceroy in camp, welcoming me in the kindest and most cordial terms to the shores of India; and another from the Governor of Bombay, to take our party ashore if we desired it. We landed, however, in boats provided by business correspondents. The noise, scramble, and heat were what the Americans would call "a caution."

Stepping ashore at the celebrated quay called Apollo Bunder, the evening resort of the beauty and fashion of Bombay, we drove at once to the Cumballa family hotel on Cumballa Hill, a quiet villa which has the advantage of a northern

BOMBAY FROM MALABAR HILL.

15

aspect and breeze. This Orient is quite different from that which I had seen before; nearly all the trees are new to me, and excepting the poinsettias and bougainvilleas, I do not recognise the flowers. The houses are bungalows, and the manners and customs of the strangelyattired, or rather non-attired, natives strongly impress on us that our time is six hours earlier than that of Greenwich.

I was not prepared for the magnificence of the view of the city and its surroundings from Malabar Hill—the sea of palms, the noble public buildings, the bays and creeks, the peaked and dome-shaped Ghauts; it has a resemblance to the Bay of Naples, but there is more variety, and the mountains are further off. At night there were marriage festivities in the neighbourhood, music and fireworks, preventing some of the party sleeping until the small hours.

On the top of Malabar Hill, and within sight of our windows, are the Towers of Silence: a walled cemetery where dead Parsees are devoured by vultures; and you see those hideous creatures gorged and sleepy on every tree.

We had a most delightful excursion in the afternoon in a steam-launch, one hour from the harbour to the celebrated caves of Elephanta; and the beauty of the sunset on the bay, peaks and islands, port and shipping, can never be forgotten. Then in the evening some of us were entertained to dinner in the Yacht Club. It is a fine airy erection on the Apollo Bunder, now called the Wellington pier, so well ventilated that punkahs are not required; and everything was served just as it would be in the "Carlton" or "Reform.”

The stranger is struck with the great number of policemen stationed along all the streets and roads, who touch their hats to every sahib who passes; and the crowds of servants in every house and counting-house, moving noiselessly about like shadows, impress a European.

It is a very pretty drive to the Government House at the furthest point of Malabar Hill, past innumerable bungalows of merchants and officials-Scotch names greatly predominating— the strange trees and flowers reminding one forcibly how far he is from home.