



Produced by Chris Curnow, Leonard Johnson and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net






                            FROM EDINBURGH
                         TO INDIA AND BURMAH


[Illustration: Ayah and Child]


                            FROM EDINBURGH TO
                             INDIA & BURMAH



                                   BY
                           W. G. BURN MURDOCH

                                Author of
         "From Edinburgh to the Antarctic," "A Procession of the
                        Kings of Scotland," etc.



           _WITH TWENTY-FOUR FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
                     FROM PAINTINGS BY THE AUTHOR_

                                 LONDON
                      GEORGE ROUTLEDGE & SONS, LTD.
                       NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON & CO.


                                  _TO_
                                 ST. C.
                                   C.




                                Contents


                                 CHAP. I

                      Introducing these Digressions.
                          Point of Departure.
                        Edinburgh Street Scenes.
                    Flying Impressions from the Train
                                   to
                                 LONDON.

           Street Scenes there -- The Park and Regent Street.
                       The People in the Streets.
               Our Royalties gone, and Loyalty -- going.
             Piccadilly Circus by Night, and Mount Street.       pp. 1-8

                                CHAP. II

        London to Tilbury, and the Platform at Victoria Station.
                    The Embarkation on a P. & O.
                              A Bugle Call.
                      The luxury of being at sea.
                             The Bay, and
                          "Spun Yarns" on to                        9-18

                                CHAP. III

            Orpheus and the Argo and the Sirens in heavy weather.
                        Down the Portugese Coast.
                       High Art in the Engine-Room.
                          Our People going East.
               A Blustery Day, and the Straits of Gibraltar.
                     Gib and Spain, and "Poor Barbara."            19-26

                                CHAP. IV

                  A Blue Day at Sea, and Castles in Spain.
                     A Fire Alarm, and A Dummy Dinner.
                       The Beautiful French Lady.
                   Marseilles and the Crowd on the Wharf.
              _Bouillabaisses_, and Rejane, and Cyrano, etc.,
                  and the head of a Serang for a tail-piece.       27-34

                                CHAP. V

          About the Crowd on Board, and the discomfort of a voyage
                 first class -- British types -- Reflections
                     on the Deck and on the Sea -- of
                Sky, and People, and of things in general.
                  A P. & O. yarn, Old Junk, or Chestnut.
                         Respectability and Art.
                   It gets warm -- The Punkah Infliction.
                    Egypt in Sight, and the Nile Water.

  Port Said and its Inhabitants -- Jock Furgusson and Ors.
    Corsica, Sardinia, Lipari Islands, Stromboli, Crete,
    and The Acts of the Apostles.                                  35-45

                                CHAP. VI

  The saddest thing in Egypt -- Dancing in the Canal, and
    the Search-light on the Desert -- The fizzling hot blue
    Red Sea, and digressions about rose-red Italian wine, &
    Ulysses, and Callum Bhouie, and Uisquebaugh.                   46-53

                                CHAP. VII

  Is still about the Red Sea -- "The Barren Rocks of Aden,"
    and small talk about small events on board -- a fancy
    dress dance, and sports, and so on to BOMBAY.                  54-62

                                CHAP. VIII

  Is -- without apologies -- of first impressions of India;
    and about the landing and entertainments of their Royal
    Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales -- Great
    people and little people, and their affairs; Royal
    Receptions to snake-charmers -- Illuminations,
    Gun-firing, and the Bands playing God save the King --
    Edward the --?                                                 63-74

                                CHAP. IX

  This chapter continues to deal with splendid Royal Shows,
    and there is the precis of a dream of a Prince and an
    A.D.C., who correct the Abuses of the Privileges of the
    Royal Academies.                                               75-84

                                CHAP. X

  And this is about the arrival of Lord Minto, and the
    departure of Lord Curzon, and the Tomasha connected
    therewith; Vice-regal Receptions, and Processions, and
    more band playing, and gun-firing.                            85-101

                                CHAP. XI

  Chronicles small beer -- things about books and little
    Indian beasts and natives, and there is another
    digression to the subject of "English _v._ British
    Union, and the Imperial Idea," and a sail over the Bay
    with a piratical (looking) crew, to the caves of
    Elephanta.                                                   102-111

                                CHAP. XII

  Is a somewhat lengthy drawn-out chapter about a train
    journey from Bombay up the Western Ghats, and down south
    on the Deccan (Dekkan) Tableland to Dharwar -- Rather a
    "carpet-bag chapter," to quote Professor Masson.             112-122

                                CHAP. XIII

                                Dharwar.
                         My Brother's Bungalow.
                        Life in a small Station.
                               The Club.
                            Duck-shooting                        123-135

                               CHAP. XIV

         A letter on the subject of DUCK -- And a Cholera Goddess.
                                                                 136-144
                               CHAP. XV

  Last evening at Dharwar, then notes in the train south to
    Bangalore.                                                   145-149

                               CHAP. XVI

  Is of notes and sketches about things you see in
    Bangalore.                                                   150-156

                               CHAP. XVII

  Is of a long journey for a small shoot -- Life on the
    Railway Line, and a letter about SNIPE.

  Our day's shoot is cut in two by the Royal Procession, and
    we go to the Embassy, then to jail, and make a picture
    of the Bazaar by lamplight, and discourse on the subject
    of music with the Maharajah of Mysore.                       157-173

                               CHAP. XVIII

  Is about the Maharajah's Palace at Mysore -- To
    Seringapatam in Trollies -- Remarks about the Siege,
    mosquitoes, and landscape -- Back to Mysore, and Dinner
    on the Track.                                                174-185

                               CHAP. XIX

  Channapatna Village, and a free tip to artists -- Our Camp
    in a railway siding in "beechen green, and shadows
    numberless" -- Thoughts of Madras and the Ocean again --
    How we rule India, and _ghosts_ on the railway track --
    A Bank in India, and about cooking, and the Indian
    squirrel or Chip-monk -- The Maharajah -- Red
    Chupprassies -- The Museum, and Ants, etc., etc.             186-196

                               CHAP. XX

  _En route_ for Madras -- A plague inspection in the grey
    of the morning -- Madras and blue southern ocean,
    through Tamarisks, and the silvery Cooum and fishermen
    seine-netting on the strand -- The Race-course -- The
    Old Fort of the Company -- Dinner at the Fort, and the
    people we saw there; and of those we remembered who once
    lived there -- A Digression from Crows to ancient Naval
    Architecture, and the new Order of Precedence.               197-209

                              CHAP. XXI

  A delightful Fishing Day -- Surf Rafts. -- Making Calls --
    Boating on the Adyar River -- A Sunday in Madras
    Churches, and on a Surf Raft -- End of the Year.             210-220

                              CHAP. XXII

  1st JAN. 1906. -- Call at Government House -- The Fort
    again -- More about Surf Rafts -- Lord Ampthill's
    Government House Reception -- Nabobs and nobodies. --
    Fireworks and pretty dresses, and the band playing.          221-226

                              CHAP. XXIII

  Out of Madras, and on the blue sea again, bound West to
    Burmah -- Packed with Natives -- An unsavoury Passage
    Ruskin's English and Native Essayists.                       227-231

                              CHAP. XXIV

  GOLDEN BURMAH, and the Golden Pagoda -- a gymkhana dance
    -- Sketching at the Pagoda entrance -- Various races --
    Bachelor's quarters -- The Shan Camp -- Princesses and
    Chieftains, and their followings -- Mr Bertram Carey,
    C.I.E. -- The peace of the platform of The Shwey Dagon
    Pagoda.                                                      232-244

                              CHAP. XXV

  "The Blairin' trumpet sounded far," and the Prince comes
    over the sea, and lands at Rangoon -- Receptions and
    processions; pandols, shamianas; and Royal Tomasha --
    Illuminations at night on the Lake, and the Royal Barges
    -- Song about Our King Emperor -- We start for Mandalay
    by river-boat up the IRRAWADDY.                              245-250

                             CHAP. XXVI

  The Flotilla Co. -- Bassein-Creek mosquitoes --
    Searchlight fantasies fairy-like scenes on the river by
    night and day -- Up stream on a perfect yacht -- Past
    perfectly lovely villages and scenes -- The Nile nowhere
    -- Mr Fielding Hall -- Riverside delights -- Prome --
    Pagodas