CHAPTER XIII

IN AN INDIAN HILL STATION

To Darjeeling--Railway journeys in India--Protection for solitary ladies--Reappearing rivers--Siliguri--At the foot of the Himalayas--A mountain railway--Through the jungle--Looping the loop--View of the Plains--Darjeeling--Civilisation seven thousand feet high--Varied types--View from the Chaurasta--White workers in India--Life in Hill Stations--Lieutenant-Governors--A "dull time" in Darjeeling--The bazaar--Types of hill races--Turquoises--Tiger-skins for tourists--The Amusement Club--The Everlasting Snows--Kinchinjunga--The bachelors' ball--A Government House ball--The marriage-market value of Indian civilians--Less demand for military men--Theatricals--Lebong Races--Picturesque race-goers--Ladies in India--Husband hunters--The empty life of an Englishwoman--The dangers of Hill Stations--A wife four months in the year--The hills _taboo_ for the subaltern--Back to Buxa 262