We seem to be losing hold of our check on Greenwich time. We advanced 5 and a half hours to Bombay and then got on all right until we reached Calcutta where there were two times, the Railway time and the Calcutta time. Here we have to alter our watches again and find the times are 2the time” 5 and a half hours ahead of Greenwich M.T; the Railway time and Lilac time. This Lilac time only applies to Delhi and is a kind of daylight saving scheme which seems to confuse matters. After breakfast we went through the Kashmir Gate to the Fort. A very interesting place giving some idea of the splendour in which the rulers of India lived in days past. Marble halls carved and inlaid with precious stones – most of these stones have been levered out, but the work entailed in carving the pillars, panels and floors makes one marvel. The old Magazine, then Skinners Church- “St James” – where the Ball and Cross riddled with shot during the Mutiny now stands in the Churchyard. It was the hope of the mutineers that this cross would be shot down, as they believed that when it fell so would the power of the British fall with it.
Then to the Ridge of the Flagstaff Tower and the Mutiny Memorial. Then on to the Jumna Musjid (Friday Mosque) – the second largest Mosque in the world – and then to the ivory Palace, where we saw men at work carving ivory. The Indians use their toes for holding small pieces of ivory whilst sawing and also for holding threads when doing embroidery.
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