RAILWAYS

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It is by this latter line that a traveller through India
can gain the most comprehensive idea as to what is meant
by Indian jungle. Hour after hour he will be shut in by
close and occasionally dense forest of undergrown trees
which never rise to the magnificence of European or
American forest growth, but which are nevertheless of
considerable commercial value. The direct Nagpur
route to Calcutta is about 1275 miles in length—the
Jubbulpore-Allahabad route is 1400 miles. i
The lines from Bombay across Southern India to
Masulipatam and Madras need little description. Up
the Bor Ghat and as far as Kalian (33 miles) all lines
eastward from Bombay follow the same track. From
Kalian the Madras lines diverge and run south-east past
the hill sanatarium of Matherian through Karli to Poona.
Poona is 120 miles from Bombay. At Wadi, which is
nearly central between the east and west coasts, there
is a branch line to Haidarabad and Masulipatam, but the
G.I.P. continues south-east to Raichur where the Madras
line meets it. Madras is 793 miles from Bombay.
Three or four great cities claim our attention in this
part of India, and they are cities as diverse in physical
characteristics as in geographical surroundings. They
have this in common: they are all hot. Between the
cities of Bombay and Madras there is little to choose
in the matter of temperature. The enervating climate
of Bombay (which averages about 80° F.) is perhaps a
trifle more enervating than that of Madras, which includes
a double monsoon. Bombay possesses a magnificent
harbour set amidst such lovely surroundings as to rival
even the charms of Trincomali in Ceylon, or of Sydney
in Australia. It might almost be compared to that of
Rio de Janeiro in South America. Bombay is the greatest
trade centre in India, for it gathers together the ends
of all the great railway systems except that of the northwest.
 It is the funnel through which commerce pours
from India to the sea.
Madras possesses no natural harbour whatsoever, and
it 1s still a surprise that, before the construction of artificial