'Cane bridge over the Rungheet. Darjeeling. India. October 1878'

Oil painting on paper by Marianne North of the cane bridge over the Rungeet river at Darjeeling, dated October 1878. Marianne North visited India in 1877-79 and completed over 200 paintings whilst there. In her autobiography, 'Recollections of a happy life' of 1892, she wrote, "The famous meeting of the waters is more like English scenery than Indian, and that is the true reason why Anglo-Indians always rave about it. The river rushes on like a whirpool, and the night air is delicious. It made a pretty moonlight scene, with the men round the fire for a foreground. The most picturesque thing down there was a swing-bridge made of canes and rattan, rather higher up the Rungheer. At a distance it looked like a slice of spider's web. I got a sketch of it from two different points. All the ends of the rattan webbing were fastened to different boulder-stones and trees. The bridge was reached by a crazy ladder, and required some nerve to walk over, as the footway was very transparent and loosely put together."