Twain attends the awarding of Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India to Thakor Sahib Shri Sir Mansinhji Sursinhji. He is impressed with the pageantry and color of the event then goes into a long exposition of the superiority of a dark complexion over sallow white complexions.
Mark Twain visits the seat of English governance in Bombay; the palace of and Indian Royal; and the place of Parsee funerals, the Tower of Silence.
The seven islands that constitute Mumbai were originally home to communities of Koli people, who originated in Gujarat in prehistoric times. For centuries, the islands were under the control of successive indigenous empires before being ceded to the Portuguese Empire and subsequently to
Mark Twain visits Gibraltar. According to McKeithan (1958) Interrogation Point was originally described as "a born ass". This characterization was changed in the book to "a good-natured, enterprising idiot". The full article as printed in the Daily Alta California is included as an image on this page. I cannot find these phrases in the included article so perhaps they are from another in the series of letters.
