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INDIA

ment of luggage which is both bulky and inconvenient.
The accessories of a night's rest, however, are only a
small portion of the usual impedimenta of the British
‘raveller in India. I have seen a whole camp equipment,
with the result of two or three days’ sport, all massed
together in one first-class compartment, together with
several dogs. Moreover Indian railway officials of the
higher grades travel in special carriages, sumptuously
appointed and fitted which serve as permanent quarters,
and which are very necessary in the wilder districts.
Thus it happens that first-class traffic on the Indian
railways does not pay, nor has it, so far, been expected to
pay. It is too vicarious and too intermittent for steady
relurns on most lines, With the increasing influx of
European travellers, however, during the cold weather, it
may in future add its quota to the excellent dividends
sarned by Indian railways in the more populous districts.
it is the extraordinary development of the third-class, or
native, traffic that sustains the ever-increasing returns for
passenger service,and this is perhaps one of the most striking
features of modern Indian travel. For it must be remembered
 that fifty years ago there were neither railways nor
good road communications in the country. Fifty, or even
forty, years ago India was the India of the previous century
in the matter of communications. For two centuries and a
half India had stood still, and all the conditions of European
 life in that country in 1850 were much the same as in
1650. The Europeanising of India has developed with
the railways. The English atmosphere which pervades
the house and household arrangements, the adaptation of
Englishmen to the requirements of civilised existence in
manners, in dress, and in morals is coincident with the
advent of English women and English daily newspapers ;
of clubs regulated on English principles, and the constant
interchange of ideas with fresh arrivals from English soil.
It is railways and roads which have effected this change.
Soon the weary monotony of the jolting progress of the
palankin will be an unknown and forgotten experience,
the lumbering dak ghari will be found only in museums,