My Year in an Indian Fort Author:Katharine Blanche Guthrie Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 72 CHAPTER IV. Journey to Belgaum—Railway Travelling — Dyeing in India — Wild Scenery — Incline of the Bhor Ghat—Overpowering Heat—Sanitarium for Soldiers—... more » The Maliratta Mountains—Peculiar Features of the Indian Landscape—View of the Concan—Indian Legend—Karli—Death of Captain Stewart—Camp of Exercise—Founder of the Maliratta Kingdom— Itinerant Merchants—Evening in the Public Gardens —A Drive by Night—Poonah—Murder of Narazan Rao. THE time which Gr was able to spare for Bombay came to an end all too soon. We took leave of such of our Hindoo companions as still remained, and stepping into a flight of shigrams, set forth on our journey. Belgaum, which was our destination, is in the southern part of Mahratta. A few years ago the district in which it is situated formed part of the Madras Presidency, but was handed over to that of Bombay for some reason relating to the better distribution of troops. There were two routes open to us. The easiest would RAILWAY TRAVELLING. . 73 have been to have taken a coasting steamer to Vingorla, which would have placed us within sixty miles of our destination, but this not falling in with Gr 's arrangements, we took the longer but far more interesting line which lay inland. I was delighted at the prospect of journeying for three hundred and thirty miles through a country so new and strange. We were aided as far as Poonah (a hundred and nineteen miles) by the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, the accommodation on which is first-rate. We had previously engaged a saloon carriage, to which was attached a dressing-room, with water laid on—a great luxury. This again led into an airy compartment, set apart for ladies, of which we also took possession, being the only first-class passengers. The fares on this line are naturally high, for it...« less