Darjeeling; The Sanitarium of Bengal, and Its Surroundings - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1883. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... HAND-BOOK TO DARJEELING. HE voyager to Darjeeling, whether in search of health (g^, or pleasure, leaves the Sealdah Terminus of the Northern Bengal Railway by mail train at 3 P.m., and after a tolerably rapid run reaches the right bank of the Ganges at Damookdea in the evening, where he finds a ferry steamer in waiting to carry him up the river to Sara on the left bank, where the southern terminus of the Northern Bengal State Railway is situated. A fairly good dinner is obtainable on board the steamer at a moderate price. From Sara to Siliguri, which is the northern terminus of this railway, the traveller journeys along a metre gauge line, and if the oscillation is rather unpleasant to those accustomed to the broad gauge, the carriages are certainly most comfortable, and it is quite possible to enjoy a sound sleep in them all the way to Jalpaiguri, which is reached generally a little before 6 A.m., and where a very acceptable cup of tea or coffee is obtainable. Siliguri is reached in about one hour, and there is a really excellent refreshment-room at the station, where the traveller will find a very good chota hazri CHAPTER I. CALCUTTA TO SILIGURI. waiting for him, and plenty of time to do it justice. At Siliguri the newly completed Himalayan Railway commences, and the traveller is landed at his destination in Darjeeling at 4 P.m.; having travelled the whole distance from Calcutta comfortably and even luxuriously. This is a very great contrast to travelling to Darjeeling in what is miscalled the "good old days." Before the completion of the Northern Bengal Railway, people wishing to reach Darjeeling were obliged to proceed from Calcutta to Sahibgunge, a distance of 220 miles from the Howrah terminus of the E. I. Railway; thence by ferry steamer to Caragola (a ti...