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JUST PUBLISHED 
 
 BY 
 
 €AR£Y, LEA & CAREY, 
 
 I. 
 
 THE 
 
 AMERICAN 
 
 q^UARTERLY REVIEW, 
 
 No. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Atmospherical Phenomena, 
 Hallam’s Constitutional History, 
 Voyage to the Moon, 
 
 Sparks’s Life of Ledyard, 
 Dana’s Poems, 
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 German Literature, 
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 Bausset’s Napoleon, 
 Russian Mission to China. 
 
 II. 
 
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 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS 
 
 INHABITING THE 
 
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 VOL. I. 
 
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3 
 
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 POEMS. By CHARLES WEST THOMSON. 18mo. 
 
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 ' XIX. 
 
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 REUBEN APSLEY. 
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 TALES OF A GrRANDFATHER. By the AUTHOR of WAVERLEY. la 
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In the Press, and will speedily he Published 
 
 By CAREY, LEA & CAREY, 
 
 I. 
 
 The ROMANCE of HISTORY.— ENGLAND.— By HENRY NEELE. 
 
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 FAIRY LEGENDS, and TRADITIONS of the SOUTH of IRELAND.— 
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 ATLANTIC SOUVENIR for 1829. 
 
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 ELEMENTS of PHYSICS, or NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, GENERAL and 
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 VI. 
 
 POEMS OF REGINALD HEBER, D. D. Late Bishop of Calcutta, now 
 first collected: with a Biographical Memoir. 
 
 VII. 
 
 THE AMERICAN PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. By S. JACKSON. M. D. 
 
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 BROUSSAIS ON INFLAMMATION. Translated by J. G.NANCREDE, M. D. 
 
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 PHILADELPHIA in 1828; or, a Brief Account of the various Institutions 
 and Public Objects in this Metropolis; being a Complete Guide for Strangers, 
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 A SYSTEM OF^PERATIVE SURGERY. By WILLIAM GIBSON, M. D. 
 
 XI. 
 
 A MANUAL OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY, &c. By PH. HUTIN, M. D. 
 Translated from the French by JOSEPH TOGNO. 
 
 XII. 
 
 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY THROUGH THE UPPER PROVINCES 
 OF INDIA, FROM CALCUTTA TO BOMBAY. By the Late REGINALD 
 HEBER, D. D. Lord Bishop of Calcutta. 
 
 “ It forms a monument of talent, sufficient, singly and alone, to establish its author in a very high 
 rank of English Literature. It is one of the most delightful books in the language, and will, we can- 
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 ed in our time. Certainly, no work of its class that has appeared since Hr. Clarke’s can be compared 
 to it for variety of interesting matter, still less for elegance of execution. The style throughout easy, 
 graceful, and nervous, carries v. ith it a cliarm of freshness and originality not suiqiassed in any per 
 
 sonal memoir with w^ich we are acquainted.”— Revietv, No.. 73, . 
 
I 
 
NARRATIVE 
 
 OP A 
 
 JOURNEY THROUGH THE 
 
 UPPER PROVINCES OF INDIA, 
 
 FROM 
 
 CALCUTTA TO BOMBAY, 1824—1825, 
 
 (WITH NOTES UPON CEYLON,) 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY TO 
 
 MADRAS AND THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES, 1826 
 
 AND 
 
 LETTERS WRITTEN IN INDIA. 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 RIGHT REV. REGINALD HEBER, D.D. 
 
 LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES.—VOL. I. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 CAREY, LEA, AND CAREY— CHESNUT STREET. 
 
 SOLD IN NEW YORK BY O. AND C. CARVILL IN BOSTON BY MUNROE 
 
 ^ AND FRANCIS. 
 
 1828 . : 
 
ADAM WALDIE & CO. PRINTERS 
 
TO THE 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 CHARLES WATKIN WILLIAMS WYNN, M. P. 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR 
 THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 In dedicating this Journal to you, I have the 
 melancholy satisfaction of fulfilling the intention of its 
 Author. Had he lived to revise and complete the 
 Work himself, he would more ably have expressed to 
 you his sense of the obligations which he felt for his 
 nomination to the Bishopric of Calcutta, for the inva- 
 riable kindness he received at your hands during his 
 residence in India, and for the zeal with which you 
 met and forwarded his views for the welfare of its 
 inhabitants. 
 
 The friendship that you have ever entertained for my 
 husband was met on his part by feelings of no common 
 nature ; and the affection which you bear his memory, 
 makes me sensible that you will highly appreciate this 
 testimony of his gratitude and regard. 
 
 I have the honour to be, my dear Sir, 
 
 Your much obliged and obedient, 
 
 AMELIA HEBER. 
 
 December 31, 1827. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The painful task of editing the works of the late 
 Bishop of Calcutta having devolved upon his widow, 
 she is anxious to state, that her principal object in 
 publishing the following Journal is, that its readers 
 may be made acquainted with the nature and extent 
 of the duties performed by the Bishop during the short 
 time he presided over the Indian Church, as well as 
 with the difficulties he encountered in the visitation of 
 his extensive diocese. 
 
 Although written in the shape of a diary, the greater 
 part of the work formed his correspondence with the 
 Editor, a fact which she hopes will be borne in mind, 
 should some consider that he has dwelt less upon the 
 professional objects of his journey than might have been 
 anticipated. The Letters to his friends in England, fr om 
 which extracts are given, together with the sacrifice of 
 his dearest affections which he was so frequently called 
 upon to make, sufficiently prove that he never lost 
 sight of his high calling, nor suffered any circumstance 
 to interfere with the object for which he left his native 
 land. 
 
 In the unreserved confidence of such communica- 
 tions, it will be supposed that there was much of a 
 nature uninteresting to the public eye, and that omis- 
 sions were consequently necessary. Had it pleased 
 God to spare the Bishop’s life, it was his intention, after 
 revisiting the same countries, to publish, corrected by 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 further experience, an account of his travels from the 
 notes, in which light only he considered the work now 
 offered to the world. If the Editor has retained too 
 many proofs of her husband’s attachment to her and 
 love for his children, or too many traits of that kindness 
 of heart for which he was so eminent, some allowance 
 should be made for the feelings of one whose pride it 
 now is, as it was her happiness, to have possessed the 
 undivided aflFections of that heart whose qualities she 
 so well knew and so fondly valued. 
 
 During a residence of five weeks in Ceylon, the 
 Bishop had not leisure to continue the account of 
 his first Visitation, which concluded in that beautiful 
 country ; but as it was a part of his diocese which, in 
 many points of view, particularly interested him, he 
 intended writing at some future period his recollections 
 of the island, aided by the Editor’s journal, which for 
 that ptirpose was written more in detail. She has 
 endeavoured to supply, in some degree, the deficiency, 
 by inserting a few pages in the second volume. 
 
 Having thus explained the circumstances under 
 which the work was written, and her motives for its 
 publication, the Editor begs to be allowed to express 
 her gratitude for the great and invariable kindness 
 received by her husband and herself during their resi- 
 dence in India. F or the active furtherance of his views 
 in the promotion of Christianity, for the deference paid 
 to his wishes, for the hospitality, friendship, and respect 
 which he met with from his Clergy, and from all the 
 military and civil servants of the Company, in whatever 
 part of the country his Visitations led him, as well as 
 from the King’s Government in Ceylon, she can now 
 but offer her own heartfelt thanks. That the Bishop 
 highly appreciated the reception which he experienced, 
 may be generally inferred from his journal; but the 
 Editor is convinced that the following extract from a 
 private letter will be peculiarly gratifying to the mem- 
 bers of Government in Calcutta, to whom, especially 
 to Mr. Lushington, the Secretary for the Ecclesiastical 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 department, he always considered himself as under 
 much obligation : ‘‘ The members of Government have 
 done every thing for me which I myself wished for, and 
 which was in their power to do ; and Mr. Lushington 
 has just now been exerting himself in Council to carry 
 a point for me of great consequence.” ‘‘ Nothing can 
 be fuller or more considerate than the Letters which 
 have been sent to the different commissariat and mili- 
 tary officers to attend to all my wants in their respective 
 departments.” 
 
 The liberality of the honourable the Court of Direct- 
 ors, in providing the Bishop with a house, and making 
 him an additional allowance for the expenses of his 
 Visitation, was duly estimated by himself, and is now 
 acknowledged with thankfulness by his widow. 
 
 The Editor trusts she may be forgiven for intruding 
 any mention of her own feelings ; but she would find 
 it difficult at this moment to refrain from expressing 
 her deep and grateful sense of the respect and affection 
 shown to her husband’s memory by all ranks, all pro- 
 fessions, and all classes of British in India ; and were it 
 possible that these sentiments could receive a stronger 
 colouring, it would be from the knowledge that the 
 natives of that country participated largely in such 
 feelings ; that sincerely as he is regretted by his own coun- 
 trymen, he is no less so by those for whose eternal wel- 
 fare he sacrificed his life. F rom these sources the bitter 
 agonies of his widow’s grief received all the alleviation 
 of which such sorrow is susceptible: and though time 
 may soften the poignancy of her loss, her gratitude can 
 never be effaced ; and fervent and lasting will be her 
 wishes for the welfare of those whom she has left 
 behind, and to whose personal kindness she was so 
 deeply indebted in the hour of her affliction. 
 
 To the right honourable Charles Watkin Williams 
 Wynn, the right honourable Robert John Wilmot Hor- 
 ton, and those other friends who have contributed so 
 much to the interest of the work by allowing the Editor 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 viii 
 
 to publish the Bishop’s private Letters addressed to 
 them, she returns her grateful thanks. 
 
 For the invaluable and kind assistance afforded her 
 by Sir Robert Harry Inglis in the publication of the 
 work, her warmest acknowledgments are due, and she 
 feels sincere pleasure in thus publicly recording her 
 sense of the obligation she is under to one of her 
 husband’s truest friends. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 VOLUME I. 
 
 Voyage to India. - - - ' - - - p. 13 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Saugor — Tigers — Country Boats — Arab Ships — Village — Maldivian Ves- 
 sels — Garden Reach — Approach to Calcutta — Arrival — Old Government 
 House — Native Household ----- 41 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 Description of Calcutta — Cathedral — Environs — Quay — Child-murder — 
 Barrackpoor — Menagerie — Female Orphan Asylum — Consecration of 
 Churches — Nach — Free School — Botanical Garden — Bishop’s College — 
 Native Female Schools — Distress among Europeans - - 55 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 Pagodas — Barrackpoor — Serampoor — Decoits — Chandernagore — Christ- 
 mas Boxes — Idols — Tittyghur — Suttee — Bore in the River — Salt-petre — 
 Confirmation; — Governor-general’s Native Levee - - 73 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CALCUTTA. 
 
 Rope Bridges — Wedding Procession — Hindoo Festival — Cholera Morbus — 
 'Fruits — Ordination of Christian David - - , 86 
 
 ^ CHAPTER V. 
 
 CALCUTTA TO SIBNIBASHI. 
 
 Departure — Pinnace — Bengalee Boat — Hindoo Fanatics — North-Wester — • 
 Chinsura — Ranaghat — Sibnibashi — Ruins — Raja Omichund — Durbar — 
 Decoits - - - - - - . 100 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SIBNIBASHI TO DACCA. 
 
 Gipsies — Winged Bugs — Matabunga — Fishing — Difficult passage in the 
 River — Brahminy Bulls — Titybania — Ornamented Boats — Strong Cur- 
 rent — Otters — Avalanches — Pawn — Khyzr — Elephants bathing - 112 
 
 VoL. ]. — 2 
 
10 cojrrENTs. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 DACCA. 
 
 Ruins — Visit from the Nawab — Visit returned — Death of Mr. Stowe — 
 Consecration of Church and Burial-ground — Confirmation — Armenian 
 Archbishop— Farewell Visit to Nawab — Meer Israf Ali - 142 
 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 DACCA TO FURREEDrOOR. 
 
 Inundation — -Gun-boat attacked — Mussulman Fakir — Furreedpoor — Sys- 
 tem of Robbery — Domestic Habits of Hindoos— Extract from Calendar 156 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FURREEDPOOR TO BOGLIPOOR. 
 
 Blind Beggar — Crocodile — Ape — Silk Manufactory — Basket for catching 
 Fish — Bogwangola — Strength of Current — Begging Dervises — Ant-hills 
 — Rajmahal Hills — Gour — Rajmahal — Sultan Sujah’s Palace — Pu- 
 harree— Caves — Gossain-r-Boglipoor— r-Schools — Religion of Puharrees 164 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BOGLIPOOR TO MONGHYR. 
 
 Width of the Ganges — (Ilharity of Dandees — Seeta Coom — Monghyr— 
 Fort— Zemindars— Pensioners — Baptist Mission — Desertion of Dandees 
 —Cheapness of Fire-arms -- - - - - 199' 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 MONGHYR TO BUXAR. 
 
 Cattle swimming across the River — Brahmin Labourers — Patna — Banki- 
 poor — Granary— Hackeries — Dinapoor — Cantonment — Digah F arm— 
 Chupra — -Floating Shops — Fort — Native Christians — Schools — Curreem 
 Musseeh— Varieties of Complexion ... - 2G& 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 BUXAR TO BENARES. 
 
 Caramnasa — Ghazeepoor — Lord Cornwallis’s Monument — Palace — Salu- 
 brity — Rose-fields — Suttees — Lepers — Dak Journey — Seidpoor — Benares 
 —Case of Native Christians — Confirmation — Mission School — Descrip- ’ 
 tion of Benares — Native Houses — Pagodas — Vishvayesa — Observatory — 
 
 Jain Temple — Vidalaya — Hindoo Astronomy — Street-preaching — Amrut 
 Row — Visit from the Raja. . - - . - 228 
 
 CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 BENARES TO ALLAHABAD. 
 
 Chunar — Intense heat— Triml)uk-jee-— Hindoo Temple— Confirmation — 
 Invalids-— Departure from Chunar — Large Fish — Retrospect of Benares 
 ■ — Quarrels between Hindoos and Mussulmans — Sitting Dhurna^ — 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 II 
 
 Natives’ Opinions of English Governors— Allahabad — Fort — Jumna Mus“ 
 jeed — Confirmation— Preparations for Marching — Festival of Rama and 
 Seeta - . 262 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ALLAHABAD TO CAWNPOOB, 
 
 Description of Caravan — Armed Peasantry — Camaulpoor — Fyzee Musseeh 
 — Visits from Zemindar and Imam — Mussulman Soldier turned Saint — 
 Ryuts oppressed by Soldiery — Futtehpoor — Serai — Beggars living in 
 Tombs — Stormy march to Kuleanpoor — Dak-journey to Cawnpoor — 
 Hospital and School— Description of Town and Climate - 289 
 
 ' CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CAWNPOOR TO LUCKNOW. 
 
 Entrance into King of Oude's Territories — Increase of Guards — King’s 
 Suwarrs — Aumeen — Entrance into Lucknow — Court Circular — Narrow 
 Streets — Armed Inhabitants — Prime Minister — Rhinoceroses-r-Dil-Kou- 
 shar — Constantia — Deceased King’s Wives — Breakfast at the Palace- 
 Distribution of Money at the Gates — King breakfasts at the Residency 
 = — Private details of the Government — Christians at Lucknow - 311 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 / 
 
 LUCKNOW TO BAREILLY. 
 
 Departure from Lucknow — Gratitude of Sepoys — Illness — Mussulman 
 Suwarr — Sandee — Dispute between two Villages — Shahjehanpoor — 
 Rebel Chief in the Forest — Anecdote of Rohiila Chief — Fertility of 
 Rohilcund — Futtehgunge — Hafez Rehmut — Visit from Tusseldar — Fur- 
 reed poor — Bareilly — Professional Duties — Character of Rohillas — Pre- 
 parations for the Mountains - - - - 34O 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 BAREILLY TO ALMORAH. 
 
 First distant View of the Flimalaya Mountains — Sheesgher — Visit from 
 Raja and Sons — Account of Terai — “ Essence of Owl” — Wretchedness 
 of Inhabitants — Kulleanpoor — Tiger Hunt — ^Ruderpoor — Case of Mala- 
 ria Fever — Burning the Jungle — Tandah — Bamoury — Beemthal — Wa- 
 ter-mill — Khasyah Nation — Ramghur; — Sikh — Mount Meru — Pilgrim to 
 Bhadrinath - - - - - - - 368 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ALMORAH TO MEERUT. 
 
 Trees used as Gallows — Bhooteahs — Kemaoon subject to Earthquakes — - 
 Havelbagh — Vegetation in Kemaoon — Animals and Birds — Wild Dogs 
 — Visits from Vakeel and Pundit — Cold at Pruny — Poverty of Chur- 
 wali — Koosilla River — Description of Okul Dunga — Pillibheet Rice — 
 Emetic Property of Wild Tea — Ghorkha Boy — Manner of catching Fish 
 — Cashipoor — Women Spinning — White Buffalo — Sugar mill — Imperial 
 Tree — Moradabad — Making Ice — Yogis and Tigers — Canes set on fire 
 by Friction — Party of supposed Bheels — Thugs - - . 401 
 
12 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MEERUT TO DELHI. 
 
 Situation of Meerut — Church — Consecration — Valley of the Dhoon — :Con- 
 * dor — Anecdote of Begum Sumroo — School — Hospital— Confirmation — 
 Surgeon appointed — Skinner’s Horse — Heavy rain — Delhi — ‘Tomb of 
 Hamaioon — Aqueduct — Firoze’s Walking-stick — Immense extent of 
 Ruins — Shawl Manufactory — Jumna Musjeed — Presentation to the Em- 
 peror — Palace — Koottab-sahib — Present fl’om the Begum — Late and 
 present Emperors of Delhi - 438 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 , DELHI TO AGRA. 
 
 Ruins of Togligabad — Visit to the Raja of Bullumghur — Dancing Girls — 
 Nawab of Sikre — Hindoo Pilgrimage to Bindrabund — Muttra — Sacred 
 Monkeys — Death of one revenged — Lepers — Party of Fakirs — Escape of 
 Trimbuk-jee — Tomb of Acbar — Public Buildings — Dewanny Aum — 
 Tage Mahal — Abdul Musseeh — French in Central India. - 462 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 AGRA TO JYEPOOR. 
 
 Preparations for the journey through the Independent States of Western 
 India — Futtehpoor — City of Acbar — Great Mosque — Palace — Bhurtpoor 
 — Mode of Sinking Wells — Letter from the Raja of Bhurtpoor — Good 
 State of his Country — Sir David Ochterlony — Sir John Malcolm 
 ■ — Wyre — Mowah — Frontier of Jyepoor — Idol carried to Bindrabund 
 — Deosa — Hindoo Festival — Arrival at Jyepoor - . - 478 
 
JOURNAL 
 
 OF A 
 
 VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 On Monday, June 16th, 1823, we went down by the Ramsgate 
 steamboat, to join the Thomas Grenville at the Lower Hope, 
 accompanied by a party of kind relations and friends who were 
 .willing to let us see as much of them as we could before our 
 necessary separation. Captain Manning had the yards of the 
 ship manned, and fired a salute in compliment to us. The Gren- 
 ville weighed anchor soon after we were on board, but met with 
 an adverse wind, and advanced a very little way down the river. 
 
 On the 17th we had again baffling winds, and could not get 
 round the North Foreland. About two o’clock, on the morning 
 of the 18th, a fine north breeze sprung up, which carried us very 
 soon into the Downs. We lay off Deal about six hours, waiting 
 for passengers and a fresh supply of water, much to the vexation 
 of the old pilot, who bitterly regretted that so fine a breeze was 
 allowed to remain useless. It continued, however, and we set 
 off auspiciously at six the same evening, sailing with the wind so 
 well on our quarter, and through so smooth a sea, that though the 
 breeze grew strong in the night, the motion of the ship was hardly 
 perceptible. 
 
 In the course of the day I had proposed to read evening prayers 
 regularly, which was received with readiness on the part of Cap- 
 tain Manning. Accordingly, after tea, I repeated, with the party 
 assembled in the cuddy, the general confession. Lord’s prayer, 
 petition for all conditions of men, general thanksgiving, &:c. 
 
 On the 20th, the ship’s company were busied, during the early 
 part of the day, in lowering the quarter-deck guns into the hold, 
 and getting up the baggage for the passengers; an operation which. 
 
14 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 . we are told, is to take place once a fortnight. The effect was 
 singular; the whole deck being strewed, during the greater part of 
 the morning, with trunks and packages either shut or open, looked 
 as if we had been boarded and rifled by pirates. To-day 1 finished 
 
 Quentin Durward,” which I had kept as a resource of amuse- 
 ment for the voyage. I began it yesterday, and could not stop 
 till I had quite eaten up my cake. It will, however, bear reading 
 over more than once. I am, certainly, much pleased with it. It 
 has more talent and interest as a story than most which have lately 
 proceeded from the same quarter. Lewis the Xlth is powerfully 
 drawn, though, notwithstanding the superiority of his talents, he 
 does not, as a rich and vivid portrait, so completely please and 
 amuse~me as James I. in “ Nigel.” Yet between the two mo- 
 narchs, there are many points of resemblance. Ludovic Leslie 
 is but a very ordinary daubing of the Scots mercenary soldier, and 
 only serves to remind us, unpleasantly, of Dugald Dalgetty, and 
 most absurdly, and to the ruin of the conclusion of the story, to 
 blunder at its end into the triumph which the wishes of the read- 
 ers had reserved for his nephev\\ Quentin himself is precisely. 
 “ the Page” of “ the Abbot:” a raw lively lad, thrown by accident 
 into situations of great interest and intricacy, and, in no very 
 probable manner, and by no great merit of his own, rising from 
 poverty and obscurity to fame and great wealth, and the enjoy- 
 ment of the object of his affections. The other characters, male 
 and female, are mere sketches, but sketches of great talent and 
 vivacity. 1 like them all, from the grave, courtly, sententious, 
 and tipsy old soldier Lord Crawford, down to the good-natured, 
 stupid burghers of Liege, and the weeping and the laughing exe- 
 xutioner. 1 would except, however, Hayraddin the Bohemian, 
 whose sketch I think a complete failure ; however ambitiously 
 intended, (and he seems to have been a favourite with the author,) 
 he is a very tame compound of Meg Merrilies, of Ronald Mac 
 Eagh in “ the Legend of Montrose,” of Pacolet in “ the Bucca- 
 neer,” and of the dumb lady in the service of the Countess of 
 Derby, as if a man, in his ambition after a new beverage, should 
 pour wine, whiskey, beer, and raspberry-vinegar into the same 
 cup. And after all, Hayraddin, with all his talk about planets, 
 palmistry, and atheism, does nothing but what a mere ordinary 
 spy would have done as well, and what, if he had been employed 
 to do, he never would have attempted under the disadvantage of 
 any peculiarities of dress and manner. But though it is very easy 
 to find fault with Quentin Durward, it is decidedly better than 
 many of Scott’s later works, nor is there any man now living but 
 Walter Scott who could have written it. So ends the last critique 
 Jhat I shall, in all probability, compose for a long time to come! 
 
 On the 21st we had the same gentle breeze, which, though now 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA, 
 
 15 
 
 shifted to nearly due north, answered our purpose extremely well. 
 Our latitude this day at noon was 48° 9' long. W. 7° 21'. The 
 weather fine, though cruelly cold for midsummer. I was this 
 morning engaged by Scoresby’s voyage to old Greenland, in 1822, 
 but I find two cireumstances for which, at sea, 1 was by no means 
 prepared: — that, namely, we have no great time for study ^ and 
 that for me, at least, there is so much which interests and occu- 
 pies me, that 1 have no apprehensions of time hanging heavy on 
 my hands. 
 
 June 22. — This day, being Sunday, the decks were all beauti- 
 fully clean, having been well scrubbed on Saturday night. The 
 awning was spread over the quarter-deck, and the capstan and 
 sides of the vessel concealed and ornamented with flags of difler- 
 ent nations. Chairs were set for the oflicers and passengers on 
 the poop, and round the afterpart of the deck, and spars laid 
 across the remainder as seats for the sailors, who attended church 
 in clean shirts and trowsers, and well washed and shaved. In 
 the space between the capstan and half-deck was a small table 
 set for me and the purser, who acted as clerk, and 1 read prayers, 
 and preached one of my Hodnet Sermons, slightly altered, to a 
 very attentive and orderly congregation, of altogether, I should 
 think, one hundred and forty persons. The awning made really 
 a handsome church, and the sight was a very pleasing one. 
 
 June 24. — This morning we were roused, after a night of much 
 .Vexatious rolling, by the intelligence that a sail was in sight by 
 which we might send letters to England. I had some ready and 
 finished others. She was pretty close with us at about eight ; a 
 small dark-sided brig, of very beautiful build, and with a British 
 pendant, which made her pass for a man of war, though, on a 
 nearer approach, the apparent slovenliness of her equipment, and 
 a crowd of foreign and dirty-looking people on board, gave rise 
 to various conjectures. Captain Manning hoisted out one of his 
 cutters with ten oars, besides the quarter-master and the mid- 
 shipman who commanded, a handsome boat, and making, from 
 the appearance of the men, and their discipline, a show little in- 
 ferior to that of a man of war. He sent our letters, together 
 with tw^o newspapers and two bottles of milk, a present which he 
 said would fairly pay for the carriage of our despatches to Eng- 
 land. She turned out to be a Falmouth packet, nine days out of 
 Lisbon, crowded with diflerent adventurers who had volunteered 
 their services to the Spaniards and Portuguese, and were now 
 returning dispirited and disappointed. 
 
 About noon several porpoises were seen, and a remarkable fish 
 passed the ship, which some of the sailors called a devil-fish, 
 others, I believe more correctly, a sun-fish. It was a very large 
 and nearly circular flat fish, with, apparently, some rather vivid 
 
16 - JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 colours about it, like those tints which are found in the jelly-fish. 
 It impelled itself forward by lashing the water with its tail, and 
 swam exactly on a level with the surface. I at first thought that 
 it was dead, but was soon satisfied to the contrary. The sailors 
 seemed to regard it as a curiosity. The afternoon was cloudy, 
 cold, and rainy, a bad summer’s day in England, and what I should 
 have still less expected in the parallel of Spain. 
 
 June 25. — We had this day a considerable swell with a foul 
 wind, though not much of it. A grampus came close to the ship, 
 and played round us for some time. In his apparent size he dis- 
 appointed me, though every body said that if he had been on deck 
 he would have measured fourteen or fifteen feet. He presented, 
 as 1 should conceive, a complete miniature of a whale, blowing 
 out water in the same manner. I find, indeed, that Captain 
 Manning, and most persons on board, suppose that the grampus 
 is only a young whale ; another, or the same grampus, in the 
 course of the day, was seen chased by a group of porpoises, and 
 a real (or full grown) whale was also seen, but I was not then on 
 deck. The wind quite sunk again before evening ; a number of 
 little birds, like swallows, continued flying on the surface of the 
 water and piping. The seamen called them “ mother Carey’s 
 chickens,” and said that a storm might be expected. Accordingly, 
 on the wind rising a little after sun-set, all hands were called to 
 take in the royal or upper top-gallant sails, and the company were 
 told off with a reference to the duties expected from them with 
 more than usual hurry. It blew hard about ten o’clock, and from 
 two to three the storm was regarded as serious. 
 
 On the morning of the 26th nothing remained but a violent 
 rolling and pitching sea. 
 
 June 30. — Two brigs were seen in the offing in the same course 
 with ourselves, one of which gained on us fast, and overtook us 
 about 3 p. m. She was the Christiana of Liverpool, in ballast, 
 bound for Bahia, and to touch at Madeira by the way. An op- 
 portunity thus offered of sending our letters to the latter place, 
 and thence to England. 
 
 The poop of the ship would be no bad place for air, study, or 
 recreation, (it is indeed used as such by most of our young writers 
 and cadets,) had it not the terrible drawback of a vile stench 
 from the wretched imprisoned fowls, whose hen-coops cover it. 
 These miserable birds suffer dreadfully for the gratification of our 
 luxury. Though less crowded on board the Grenville than in 
 most vessels of the kind, they are even here packed like bottles 
 in a rack, with hardly room to stir. 
 
 July 2. — During the night we made a somewhat better progress 
 than we had done for a good while. The breeze continued to 
 freshen from the M.E. and the day was pleasant. A vessel bound 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 17 
 
 for London, three days from Funchal, passed us at dinner-time. 
 We regretted bitterly that we had sent our packets by the Chris- 
 tiana, and that we had (now that so much better an opportunity 
 occurred) nothing ready to despatch ; but it was not to be helped. 
 Captain Manning hailed the vessel, and asked her Master to re- 
 port at Lloyd’s that he had spoken the Thomas Grenville in such 
 a latitude, “ all well,” so that this, at least, our friends will have 
 the satisfaction of seeing in the newspapers ere many days are 
 over. My wife’s eyes swam with tears as this vessel passed us, 
 and there were one or two of the young men who looked wish- 
 fully after her. For my own part, I am but too well convinced 
 that all my firmness would go if 1 allowed myself to look back 
 even for a moment. Yet, as I did not leave home and its bless- 
 ings without counting the cost, 1 do not, and I trust in God that 
 I shall not, regret the choice that I have made. But knowing 
 how much others have given up for my sake, should make me 
 both more studious to make the loss less to them, and also, and 
 above all, so to discharge my duty, as that they may never think 
 that these sacrifices have been made in vain. 
 
 July 3. — We made an excellent progress during the night. At 
 about five in the evening we saw Madeira on our larboard bow. 
 The horizon was unfortunately hazy, and the night shut in with 
 clouds, otherwise we should, about an hour after, have had a fine 
 view of the land at about twenty miles distance on the beam. As 
 it was, we could barely distinguish its outline through the mist; 
 but the very sight of land, and the sense of progress which it com- 
 municated, were very exhilarating, and kept us all on deck till it 
 was quite dark. During this evening the gale and the sea had 
 continued to increase ; some of the cabins on the gun-deck had 
 shipped water; Mr. Burnet predicted uncomfortable weather; 
 and the Captain, though he did not shorten sail, gave orders to 
 have all the lower ports secured. We went to bed, therefore, 
 not unprepared for a little tossing, though certainly not for all 
 that followed. The wind was high during the night, and the 
 swell more than commensurate ; and our furniture, though we had 
 secured it with unusual care, seemed alive. The moon, during 
 the latter part of the night, was clear, and the view of the follow- 
 ing surge from the cabin windows, was very majestic; but to enjoy 
 it, it was necessary to hold hard with both hands. 
 
 July 4. — The gale and tossing continued all the forenoon ; com- 
 plaints of sleeplessness, broken heads and shins, were universal ; 
 and we were only comforted by the assurance that we had seen, 
 probably, the worst of the ship’s rolling, and that, even off the 
 Cape of Good Hope, nothing more than this was reasonably to 
 be apprehended. Our progress too was very cheering. Our run 
 
 VoL. I. — 3 
 
18 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 daring the last twenty-four hours was computed at two hundred 
 miles, and our latitude at twelve was 31° 10'. 
 
 July 5 . — Nothing very material occurred this day, excepting 
 that some flying fish began to be seen around us, but of so small 
 a sort, that, though they w*ere numerous, it was a long time be- 
 fore I could distinguish them from the spray among which they 
 fluttered. 
 
 July 6. — We had divine service, and 1 read a sermon on the 
 Epistle for the day."^ I did not feel quite sure whether the sub- 
 ject were too diflicult for the major part of my audience or no. 
 But I thought its discussion might, at all events, be serviceable 
 to the educated part of my hearers, and 1 did not despair of 
 making myself understood by the crew. I am inclined to hope 
 that I succeeded with many of them. All were very attentive, 
 and the petty oflicers, more particularly, heard me with great 
 apparent interest. I am, on the whole, more and more confirmed 
 in the opinion which Horsley has expressed in one of his sermons, 
 that a theological argument, clearly stated, and stated in terms 
 derived from the ancient English language exclusively, will gene- 
 rally be both intelligible and interesting to the lower classes. 
 They do not want acuteness, or the power of attending ; it is 
 their vocabulary only which is confined, and if we address them 
 in such words as they understand, we may tell them what truths 
 we please, and reason with them as subtilely as we can. 
 
 The flying fish to-day were more numerous and lively. They 
 rose in whole flights to the right and left hand of the bow, flying 
 off in different dii;ections, as if the vast body of the ship alarmed 
 and disturbed them. Others, however, at a greater distance, 
 kept rising and falling without any visible cause, and, apparently, 
 in the gladness of their hearts, and in order to enjoy the sunshine 
 and the temporary change of element. Certainly there was no 
 appearance or probability of any larger fish being in pursuit of 
 even one hundredth part of those which we saw, nor were there 
 any birds to endanger their flight ; and those writers who describe 
 the life of these animals as a constant succession of alarms, and ren- 
 dered miserable by fear, have never, 1 conceive, seen them in 
 their mirth, or considered those natural feelings of health and 
 hilarity which seem to lead all creatures to exert, in mere light- 
 ness of heart, whatever bodily powers the Creator has given them. 
 It would be just as reasonable to say that a lamb leaps in a meadow 
 for fear of being bitten by serpents, or that a horse gallops round 
 his pasture only because a wmlf is at his heels, as to infer from 
 the flight of these animals that they are always pursued by the 
 bonito. 
 
 * Sixth Sunday after Trinity. 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 19 
 
 July 8. — The sun was now fairly to the north of us, and our 
 trade-wind, though light, was steady. One of the sailors, a lad of 
 about seventeen, was accused of having, in wanton cruelty, 
 stabbed and cut a sheep so severely that it bled to death. He 
 had been cleaning knives near the sheep-pen, and the animal was 
 found in this condition shortly after. He protested his innocence, 
 and said the sheep had thrown down a board on which the knives 
 were laid. The story was a lame one; but, with a very praise- 
 worthy moderation. Captain Manning merely ordered him for the 
 present into confinement, till the business could be more accu- 
 rately inquired into. It is, he says, his general rule, and the rule 
 of most captains in the Company’s service, never to punish with- 
 out a regular trial, or without some pause intervening between 
 the accusation and the inquiry. 
 
 July 9. — The boy’s trial came on, but he Vvas discharged for 
 want of sufficient evidence, with a suitable admonition. The day 
 was fine. We were on deck the greater part of the morning, 
 having transferred our Hindoostanee lecture thither. Our course 
 continues south-west ; our latitude 20° 57', longitude 24° 32'. 
 The favourable breeze almost became a gale towards night ; but 
 we had less rolling than on former occasions. 
 
 July 1 1. — A flying fish fell on deck this morning, and I examined 
 it. with much interest. The form and colours are not unlike a 
 herring, with the addition of the two long filmy fins which sup- 
 port the animal in its short flights. This, however, was, as we 
 were assured, a very small specimen, not exceeding the size of a 
 small sparling or smelt. 
 
 July 13. — We had divine service on deck this morning. A 
 large shoal of dolphins were playing round the ship, and I thought 
 it right to interfere to check the harpoons and fishing-hooks of 
 some of the crew. I am not strict in my notions of what is called 
 the Christian Sabbath ; but the wanton destruction of animal life 
 seems to be precisely one of those works by which the sanctity 
 and charity of our weekly feast would be profaned. The seamen 
 took my reproof in good part, and left the mizen chains where 
 they had been previously watching for their prey. I trust that 
 they will have other and better opportunities of amusement ; this 
 was a truly torrid day. 
 
 July 15. — A hot and close day, with much swell and little or 
 no wind. The sails flapped dismally; the foretop-sail was split; 
 and I saw with interest the dexterity of the sail-maker in repairing 
 the damage without unbinding it from the yard. The evening 
 was such as to portend both rain and wind, and one of the men 
 at the helm said that “ he hoped it would blow its hardest,” so 
 weary were the sailors of this dull and uninteresting weather. 
 Lat. 9° 50'. In the course of this day some of the seamen went 
 
20 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 round to solicit subscriptions from those who had not yet passed 
 the line. They showed considerable anxiety for any decayed 
 finery which the ladies might supply them with, as decorations 
 for Amphitrite ; and 1 was amused to learn that they had a copy 
 of T ook’s Pantheon, which they were diligently consulting, in order 
 to make their costume as like as possible to the authentic dress 
 and equipment of the classical Neptune and his family. 
 
 Juhj 18. — The night was very blustering and rainy, and the 
 motion of the vessel unpleasant. Our progress, however, con- 
 tinued rapid and the wind favourable. A sail was, about ten, 
 seen a-head, steering the same course with ourselves. On nearing 
 her she showed Danish colours. Captain Manning expressed 
 some little surprise at this meeting. The Danish flag, he said, 
 was almost unknown in India, whither, apparently, this vessel 
 was bound. The Danes have, indeed, a nominal factory, and a 
 Consul at Serampoor ; but what little commerce is carried on is 
 in the ships of other nations. In the harbour of Calcutta (and no 
 large vessels mount so high as Serampore) he had never seen the 
 Danish flag, This seems strange, considering how long the Danes 
 have been in possession not only of Serampore, but of T ranquebar. 
 The Swedish flag, he said, w^as never seen in the Indian seas. I 
 have been pleased, in my different conversations with our officers 
 concerning foreign seamen, to find that the American sailors bear 
 a better character now with those of our own country than 1 had 
 understood, or than they really used to do. They are not so 
 grievously addicted to lying as they were once said to be. They 
 have less animosity against the English than formerly, and their 
 character seems to have recovered its natural English tone. One 
 of the officers spoke well of their conduct even during the late 
 war. A Company’s ship, he said, on board which he was serving, 
 had a number of American prisoners to take home, who, for the 
 additional allowance of provisions usual on such occasions, under- 
 took to assist in navigating the ship. In this situation they be- 
 haved extremely well, and, at length, when a vessel, supposed to 
 be an American, hove in sight, and an action was expected, they 
 came forward in a body to desire to be sent below, being equally 
 resolved neither to fight against their country, nor to break their 
 faith with their captors. All the officers agreed in speaking very 
 ill of the French, and of their conduct towards their prisoners. 
 This last they described as being, in the highest degree, brutal 
 and ungenerous. They said, too, that it was the fault of the pri- 
 vate seamen ntiore than of the officers. The latter would often 
 be kinder, if it lay in their power, to the English than they usually 
 were; but they could not prevent their men from insulting and 
 abusing them, pilfering their provisions and water, spitting and 
 pouring filth on them through the gratings, and, whenever an 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 21 
 
 opportunity offered, beating and throwing things at them. An 
 Englishman on board a French ship, they said, was always half 
 starved, and abominably treated, and they spoke of the national 
 temper, as shown in their seamen, as utterly unkind, unchristian,, 
 and unmanly. This is a sad picture, but they who gave it me 
 were neither interested in speaking untruly, nor, that I could 
 perceive, inclined to judge harshly of others. How far the cha- 
 racter of the uneducated French in general may have suffered 
 under the influence of the Revolution and its consequences, or 
 what circumstances may operate to depress the character of their 
 seamen below the rest of the nation, my informants had not the 
 means of judging. 
 
 July 20. — To-day, notwithstanding some threatening appear- 
 ances in the morning, we had our usual prayers and sermon. 
 During the former I found that sea-A:nee5 were necessary, as well 
 as sea-/eg5, since the vessel was so much on one side, that, while 
 kneeling on a chair, (which I was obliged to do rather than on 
 the deck, in order that my congregation might hear me,) I had 
 some difficulty in keeping either myself or my fulcrum from going 
 to leeward. The afternoon and evening were pleasant, but 
 though the congregation at church was very good, there were 
 many absentees at dinner. Two large birds, which the sailors 
 said were “ hoobies,” flew some time round the ship this evening. 
 1 began to-day translating St. John’s Gospel into Hindoostanee. 
 
 July 22. — The day w^as pleasant and the night beautiful, just 
 such an one as a poet or a painter would wish to describe or 
 represent at sea. 1 was pleased, while looking over Gilchrist’s 
 Guide, with a little Ode by Koodrut, of which the following is an 
 imitation. 
 
 Ambition’s voice was in my ear, she whisper’d yesterday, 
 
 “How goodly is the land of Room, how wide the Russian sway! 
 
 How blest to conquer either realm, and dwell through life to come. 
 
 Lull’d by the harp’s melodious string, cheer’d by the northern drum !” 
 
 But Wisdom heard ; “ O youth,” she said, “ in passion’s fetter tied, 
 
 O come and see a sight with me shall cure thee of thy pride !” 
 
 She led me to a lonely dell, a sad and shady ground. 
 
 Where many an ancient sepulchre gleamed in the moon-shine round. 
 
 And “ Here Secunder sleeps,” she cried ; — “ this is his rival’s stone ; 
 
 And here the mighty chief reclines who rear’d the Median throne. 
 
 Inquire of these, doth aught of all their ancient pomp remain, 
 
 Save late regret, and bitter tears for ever, and in vain ^ 
 
 Return, return, and in thy heart engraven keep my lore ; 
 
 The lesser wealth, the lighter load, — small blame betides the poor.’* 
 
 The last two lines are not in the original, which I thought, 
 though perhaps I was wrong, ended too abruptly without some 
 such moral. My little Emily will probably know, before she 
 reads the above, that “ Room” is the Oriental name for the 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 22 
 
 Turkish empire, — that “ Secunder” is Alexander the Great, — -and 
 that the founder of the Median throne is Ky-kaoss, or Deiioces. 
 
 July 25. — To-day the first or introductory part of the ceremony 
 usual on passing the line, took place. Soon after dark Neptune’s 
 boat was supposed to approach the ship, of which notice was 
 given, in the regular form, to the officer on watch. A sailor from 
 the fore-chains, in a dismal voice aggravated by a speaking-trum- 
 pet, hailed Captain Manning as if from the sea, and after a short 
 conversation carried on with becoming gravity, Neptune was sup- 
 posed to take his leave, and a barrel, with a lighted candle in it, 
 was sent off from the fore-chains to represent his boat dropping 
 astern. I was much struck by the time during which this con- 
 tinued visible at intervals, rising and sinking on the swell, till it 
 was, at least, two miles distant, and I grew tired of watching it. 
 Our latitude this day was 2° 10' N. Several large birds were 
 seen, which we were told were “ tropic birds.” 
 
 July 26. — To-day we passed the line, and the greater part of 
 it was spent in the mummeries usual on such occasions, which 
 went off very well and in good humour. The passengers were 
 not liable to the usual interrogatories and shaving, but the male 
 part of them took their share in the splashing and wetting, which 
 make up the main fun of these naval saturnalia. I was a good 
 deal surprised at the contrivance exhibited by the masqueraders, 
 in dressing out (with help of a little oakum and paint, a few fish- 
 skins and decayed finery) the various characters of Neptune, 
 Amphitrite, Mercury, Triton, &c. with far more attention to 
 classical costume than I expected. With the distance and usual 
 aids of a theatre, the show would not have been contemptible, 
 while there was, as might be supposed, a sufficient mixture of the 
 ludicrous to suit the purposes of fun and caricature. 
 
 July 27. — We had again prayers and a sermon. 
 
 July 28. — Our progress continued rapid and our course favour- 
 able. The latitude to-day was 4° 40' S. The night was very 
 beautiful; and from our situation on the globe, we had the oppor- 
 tunity of seeing many of the most considerable constellations of 
 both hemispheres. Those of the southern heaven fall far short 
 of the other in number and brilliancy ; even the cross.^ for which 
 I had looked with much earnestness of expectation, and in which 
 1 had long taken a sort of romantic interest, is neither extensive 
 nor conspicuous except from the comparative paucity of its neigh- 
 bours. The Great Bear still (though on the verge, instead of 
 being at the apex of the sky) retains its splendid pre-eminence 
 over the whole host of heaven. The Pole Star has disappeared. 
 The Magellanic clouds are not yet visible. 
 
 We have now been six weeks on board. How little did 1 
 dream at this time last year that I should ever be in my present 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 28 
 
 situation ! How strange it now seems to recollect the interest 
 which I used to take in all which related to Southern seas, and 
 distant regions, to India and its oceans, to Australasia and Poly- 
 nesia. 1 used to fancy I should like to visit them, but that 1 ever 
 should or could do so, never occurred to me. ISow that I shall 
 see many of these countries, if life is spared to me, seems not im- 
 probable. God grant that my conduct in the scenes to which he 
 has appointed me, may be such as to conduce to his glory, and to 
 my own salvation through his Son ! 
 
 July 30. — Our progress again good. The weather continues 
 pleasant and remarkably cool for the latitude. The wind brisk 
 and sea rough. The evenings now shut in very soon ; and, even 
 at tea, it is necessary to have the lamps lighted in the cuddy. 
 
 July 31. — Our latitude this day was 12° 54'. A fine run, and 
 one of the longest which Captain Manning remembers making in 
 this part of the voyage. Yet, which is remarkable, all the vessels 
 whose track is pricked on his great chart, appear to have made 
 their longest run nearly in the same latitude. Captain Manning 
 thinks that the strength of the wind in this particular part of the 
 ocean is occasioned by the projection of South America, and the 
 rarified state of the air over so large a tract of land within the 
 tropics. 
 
 .August 1. — The wind became very high towards night, and the 
 main top-gallant sail was split in pieces. Two circumstances 
 struck me as remarkable this evening. First, that when the gale 
 grew strong about sunset, the sky was clear in the wind’s eye, 
 while to leeward of us, came a very heavy bank of clouds, which 
 retained its figure and position as steadily as if it were land. 
 The second that, every now and then, there was a total cessation 
 of wind, a lull^ as the seamen called it, for two or three minutes, 
 after v/hich the gale revived with more vehemence. Both these 
 features were pointed out to me as indications of the gale being 
 likely to continue for some time, and to be serious. We have, 
 however, reason to be thankful that, except a good deal of toss- 
 ing, no harm occurred ; nor did the gale increase to such a degree 
 as to become alarming to those who were least accustomed to 
 the sea. 
 
 August 3. — Our day again fine, and the gale at first hardly ex- 
 ceeded a stiff breeze. In the course of the afternoon, however, 
 the wind again rose. The sea was very high, and the motion of 
 the ship great and troublesome, pitching, rolling, and performing- 
 all sorts of manoeuvres. YW assembled to prayers at half-past 
 ten o’clock with some difficulty; the crew all stood in consequence 
 of the inconvenience of arranging the spars as usual, and I there- 
 fore made the service shorter. Instead of a sermon, I gave 
 notice of a communion for the following Sunday; and, in a short 
 
24 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 address, enforced the propriety and necessity of attendance on 
 that ordinance, and answered difficulties, &c. The nights are 
 now completely dark by six o’clock. 
 
 August 4 — 8. — I do not think that any thing very material has 
 occurred during these days. The wind has varied in our favour, 
 and is now N. E. by E. which enables us to make a good deal 
 of easting, and our course is regarded as a very good one. Our 
 progress through the water has been rapid ; at an average, during 
 the last three days, of seven and a half knots an hour, and to- 
 day frequently ten and eleven. The motion is, of course, con- 
 siderable, but the weather is very delightful. Yesterday was 
 downright Mtirch weather, while to-day has all the freshness, 
 mildness, and beauty of an English May. Great numbers of 
 birds are seen round the ship, and we are told that, as we ap- 
 proach the Cape, their numbers will increase daily. Those 
 called “ Cape Pigeons,” are very pretty, not unlike the land 
 bird whose name they bear, and which they are said to resemble 
 in flavour. For these last three days the existence or non-existence 
 of the island of Saxenberg has been a frequent topic of conver- 
 sation. Captain Manning and his officers evidently incline to 
 the affirmative, on the ground that it is more probable that a 
 small isle, a little out of the usual track, may have escaped 
 general notice, than that three different captains of vessels can 
 have told a deliberate falsehood without any apparent motive. 
 That a brig sent out to ascertain the fact may have failed in 
 making the discovery, they do not regard as at all extraordinary. 
 They quote repeated instances of vessels from India having failed 
 to find St. Helena ; and I think 1 can perceive that they do not 
 rate the nautical science of many of the commanders of the navy 
 very highly. They admit, however, that if Saxenberg island 
 exists at all, it must be set down wrong in all the charts, and in 
 the reckonings of its pretended discoverers ; and that if ever 
 met with again, it must be by accident. This, they say, will 
 be the less likely, because delusive appearances of land are so 
 common in these latitudes of the Atlantic, that a real island, if 
 seen, would be very likely to pass, among the rest, as a fog-bank, 
 while the prevailing winds generally confine vessels to one or 
 the other of two courses, according as they are outward or home- 
 ward bound ; so that, in fact, abundance of unexplored room still 
 exists, and is likely to exist, in the southern Atlantic, for two or 
 three such islands as this is represented to be. Captain Manning 
 says that he always, if he finds himself near the supposed situa- 
 tion, keeps a good look-out. He says that all the older charts, 
 particularly the Dutch, abound in islets, rocks, and shoals, the 
 very existence of which is now more than doubtful. Some of 
 these dangers he conceives to have been fog-banks, some to have 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 25 
 
 been a repetition of those named elsewhere, but of which tliey 
 had mistaken the site ; others, however, he thinks, were pious 
 frauds, inserted on purpose to make young mariners look about 
 them. 
 
 August 9. — This morning I saw, or thought I saw, a common 
 white sea-gull, a bird in which 1 hardly could be mistaken, and 
 which, in size and other circumstances, sufficiently differs from 
 the Cape pigeons. It, however, rarely goes far from land, and 
 is therefore considered as a presumption that Saxenberg really 
 exists somewhere in the neighbourhood. Nor is this all ; one of 
 the crew saw this morning a piece of sea-weed, and two of the 
 passengers a large crab, both equally strong evidences of such a 
 vicinity. From that vicinity, however, we are fast proceeding; 
 and this, if Saxenberg exists, is probably all that we shall see of 
 it. While such a topic, however, was under discussion, we almost 
 overlooked, (what else would have drawn general attention,) 
 that the first albatross which we have seen, made its appearance 
 to-day, sailing majestically around us on its wide dusky wings, 
 unquestionably one of the largest birds which I ever saw. 
 During these last two nights the motion of the vessel was so 
 « violent as to throw my cot far beyond its usual bounds, against 
 the cabin-lockers and chest of drawers. After several rude 
 shocks of this kind, I unhooked and stretched it on the deck ; 
 but even there the inclination of the ship was such, that I had 
 some difficulty in keeping myself and my bed from parting com- 
 pany, and slipping or rolling to leeward. 
 
 August 10. — Last night 1 again slept on the floor, and passed 
 it still more uncomfortably than on former occasions, insomuch 
 that I almost determined rather to run the risk of blows and 
 bruises aloft, than to encounter the discomforts of the new 
 method. This morning, however, the wind became again mode- 
 rate, and I finished and preached my sermon, and, afterwards, 
 administered the sacrament to about twenty-six or twenty-seven 
 persons, including ail the ladies on board, the captain, and the 
 greater part of the under officers and male passengers, but, alas, 
 only three seamen. This last result disappointed me, since I had 
 hoped, from their attention to my sermons, and the general de- 
 cency of their conduct and appearance, that more would have 
 attended. Yet, when I consider how, great difficulty I have 
 always found in bringing men of the same age and rank to the 
 sacrament at Hodnet, perhaps I have no reason to be surprised. 
 On talking with one of the under officers in the evening, he told 
 me that more would have staid, if they had not felt shy^ and 
 been afraid of exciting the ridicule of their companions. The 
 same feeling, 1 find, kept one at least, and perhaps more, of the 
 young cadets and writers away, though of these there were only 
 
 VoL. ].— 4 
 
26 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 two or three absentees, the large majority joining in the ceremony 
 with a seriousness w^hich greatly pleased and impressed me. And 
 the same may be said of all the midshipmen who were old enough 
 to receive it. One of the young cadets expressed his regret to 
 me that he had not been confirmed, but hoped that I should give 
 him an opportunity soon after our arrival at Calcutta. On the 
 whole, the result of the experiment (for such it was considered) 
 has been most satisfactory ; and 1 ought to be, and 1 hope am, 
 very grateful for the attention which I receive, and the opportu- 
 nities of doing good, which seem to be held out to me. I am 
 
 the more so, because Mr. B had, a few days before, predicted 
 
 that I should have not above one or two communicants at most ; 
 and added, as a sort of apology for himself, that he was brought 
 up in the Church of Scotland, and therefore held all ceremonies 
 superfluous and unavailing. 1 reminded him that his church and 
 mine agreed in the etficacy and necessity of occasionally receiv- 
 ing the Communion, hut the conversation went no further. Pos- 
 sibly he meant that the forms required by the Church of England, 
 where they differ from those of Scotland, were such as he did 
 not approve of. If so, as I have reason to believe that many 
 persons, both in Scotland and on the Continent, have strange 
 notions of our ceremonies, his having been an accidental specta- 
 tor of them (for he was on the poop all the time) may remove 
 some prejudices. I observed, indeed, that many of the seamen, 
 though they did not join us, looked on after they had left the 
 quarter-deck with much seeming interest, and I almost hope, that 
 if another opportunity occurs before our landing in Bengal, more 
 will attend. Of the young men who did attend, 1 was happy 
 to observe that they had all religious books in their hands in the 
 course of the evening, and that they appeared, indeed, much 
 impressed. 
 
 How different is the treatment which I meet with in the ex- 
 ercise of my duties on ship-board from that of which Martyn^ 
 complains ! A great change, indeed, as every body tells me, has, 
 since his time, occurred in the system of a sea life. Most com- 
 manders of vessels are now anxious to keep up, at least, the 
 appearance of religion among their men ; and, in many cases, 
 the danger is said to be, not from neglect, but fanaticism. To 
 
 • 
 
 * Henry Martyn went out to India, as chaplain on the Bengal Establishment, 
 in the year 1805. He translated the Testament and Book of Common Prayer 
 into Hindoostanee ; <\nd on finding that the existing translation of the former 
 into Persian was unfit for general use, he undertook a journey into Persia, and, 
 with the assistance of some intelligent natives, completed a new version of the 
 Testament, and also translated the Psalms into that language. He died at 
 Tocat, on his return to England, in the year 1812. A memoir of his life, with 
 his journal, has been published by the Pteverend John Sargent. — Ed. 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 27 
 
 this the custom (which is now extremely common, both in the 
 navy and the merchant service) of prayer-meetings among the 
 crew, where each, in turn, delivers an extempore address to the 
 Almighty, must greatly contribute ; and I hardly know whether 
 a custom, (however well meant, and however comfortable, and 
 often most edifying to men thrown into close contact with each 
 other, surrounded by dangers and hardships, and removed from 
 all regular ministry of the Gospel,) has not these benefits coun- 
 terbalanced by the self-conceit, the enthusiasm, and divisions in 
 faith and doctrine which may arise from it. Yet the practice, after 
 all, is one which none could venture to forbid^ and the dangers of 
 which may be materially abated by supplying these good men 
 with some better guides to devotion than their own extempora- 
 neous invention — and, still more, by a regular performance of 
 divine service according to the English Liturgy, wherever and 
 whenever this is possible. On board the Grenville, though the 
 men are extremely orderly, no prayer-meetings have been yet 
 thought of, nor, for the reasons which I have mentioned, do I 
 wish for them. The men, however, are extremely well supplied 
 with bibles, prayer-books, and religious tracts, which many of 
 them read aloud to their less educated messmates every evening. 
 The boys sent by the Marine Society have regular instruction in 
 the Scriptures every day ; and the schoolmaster. Peacock, is an 
 excellent man, who, I have reason to believe, does much good 
 among his messmates, as well as that he is very assiduous and 
 intelligent in teaching those who are immediately under his care. 
 Of Captain Manning himself, 1 had previously heard an excellent 
 character, and find every thing true which had been reported. 
 
 August 11. — We had a good night, and a smooth though rapid 
 progress. I had the happiness of hearing, for the first time, my 
 dear little Emily repeat a part of the Lord’s prayer, which her 
 mother has been, for some days past, engaged in teaching her. 
 May He, who “ from the mouth of babes and sucklings” can bring 
 forth His praise, inspire her heart with every thing pure and holy, 
 and grant her grace betimes, both to understand and love His. 
 name ! 
 
 After writing out my usual translation, I occupied myself daring 
 the morning in mastering, by help of Gilchrist’s preposterously 
 arranged vocabulary, some of the Hindoostanee poetry in his 
 “ Guide.” I have thus more and more convinced myself, that 
 what is called the florid eastern style is chiefly to be found in 
 translations, and that the characteristics of the originals are often 
 rather flatness and vapidity, than exuberance of ornament. But 
 I really feel my liking for these studies increase as, by progress, 
 they become less difficult. This is, however, too early a day for 
 
28 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 me to form any fixed opinion on either Hindoo or Persian litera- 
 ture. 
 
 August 14. — We passed some sea-weed this morning, which 
 was considered as a singular and perplexing occurrence, since no 
 Saxenberg was ever suspected in our present neighbourhood. It 
 probably came from Tristan d’Acunha. Several whales, some 
 of them of a large size, played round the ship for above half an 
 hour. I obtained a very favourable view of one of them, which 
 struck me from its perfect resemblance to the grampus which I 
 had seen before, both in shape, and the colour and smoothness of 
 its skin. The water which it blew through its nostrils appeared 
 in a form something different from what 1 had expected. 1 had 
 imagined, I hardly know why, that it was' to be a small high, slen- 
 der jet-dhau^ whereas it escaped in a thick white cloud, like the 
 steam from an engine, and with pretty nearly the same noise. I 
 W'as pleased to witness the apparent happiness of these poor ani- 
 mals, which were supposed to be two old ones with one or more 
 young; and rejoiced that no southern whaler was in sight. While 
 we were gazing at these leviathans, one of the midshipmen caught 
 a sea-bird on a hook; it was said to be a “Cape hen,” (I believe 
 a Gannet,) a little larger than a large goose, with brown glossy 
 feathers, large white eyes with black pupils, a broad yellow bill, 
 very slender legs, broad webbed feet, and long wings resembling 
 those of a kite. It bled a little, but seemed very slightly injured 
 by the hook. WTen set down on the deck, it looked round with- 
 out any appearance of fear, but endeavoured in vain to rise, its 
 wings being too long to admit of its doing so from a plain and 
 solid surface. Mr. Gresley took a drawing of it, after which it 
 was, by the unanimous consent of the spectators, returned in 
 safety to the sea. During its continuance on deck, it had shown 
 marks of sickness, which Captain Manning said these bifSs gene- 
 rally did in such a situation ; and even when in the water it seemed 
 for some time a little languid. By degrees, however, it began to 
 ply its web-feet and wings at the same time, and scudded rapidly 
 over the surface of the calm sea, with a motion between flying 
 and swimming. Nothing can be more genial than the climate of 
 this day, or more resembling a fine May morning in England. 
 The month, however, answers to our February; so that we may 
 yet look for some bitter March winds before we shall have passed 
 the Cape. In the evening another bird, of appearance nearly 
 similar to the foregoing, but smaller, and with a more crooked 
 beak, was caught, but, less fortunate than the other, was killed 
 for the sake of having his skin stuffed. This last seems to be the 
 bird called the sea-parrot. 
 
 August 15. — Another tine night. The wind has gone consi- 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 29 
 
 derably astern of us, and studding sails are set on the foremast. 
 Lat. 35° 20'. E. Long. 1° 54'. Last night 1 believe we all thought 
 much of home, as we passed (which occurred about nine o’clock) 
 the meridian of Greenwich. It was a pleasing, though almost 
 painful task, to figure to ourselves the different employments of 
 our friends in different places in England. God bless them! 
 While our minds were thus occupied, a chance appeared to have 
 been drawing near of communicating with them sooner than we 
 expected. A vessel this morning came in sight, which Captain 
 Manning apprehended to be bound to the Cape. Every body 
 went in all haste to finish or write their letters. I had already a 
 huge packet accumulating. We came up with the stranger about 
 three o’clock ; she showed English colours, and proved to be a 
 brig belonging to the Mauritius, and bound thither, sixty-four days 
 from Bordeaux. Captain Manning sent a boat on board, with 
 the purser, partly to learn whether she was to touch at the Cape, 
 partly to try to purchase some claret. Major Sackville and I 
 went in her. Our visit was of use to the crew, both as Captain 
 Manning sent them the true longitude, which they had not got by 
 more than two degrees ; and as we undertook the care of a packet 
 of letters which they wished to forward to Calcutta. They were 
 not to stop at the Cape, so that our packets turned out to have 
 been made up in vain. The Grenville looked very well when 
 her stern was towards us. She is really a fine vessel, and looks 
 like a fifty-gun ship of war; she has completely established her 
 character for fast sailing, having fairly distanced every vessel 
 which she has fallen in with, except the Christiana, whom we 
 spoke off Madeira, and who was so much favoured by the light 
 wind and other circumstances, as to make her superior progress 
 no cause of wonder. 1 am glad of this on all accounts, as it not 
 only expedites our voyage, but makes our kind-hearted Captain 
 completely happy. The weather continues beautiful. 
 
 ' I have been reading Hindoostanee to myself, and this morning 
 finished the following translation of one of the poems in Gilchrist’s 
 Hindoostanee Guide. From his paraphrase^ 1 cannot say I de- 
 rived any great assistance. I have, however, endeavoured to be 
 more faithful than he has been, though the “ ruhe ruhe” of the 
 original is, I admit, untranslateable, and only to be imitated afar 
 off. 
 
 SONNET BY THE LATE NAWAB OF OUDE, ASUF UD DOWLA. 
 
 In those eyes the tears that glisten as in pity for my pain, 
 
 Are they gems, or only dew-drops? can they, will they long remain? 
 
 Why thy strength of tyrant beauty thiis, with seeming ruth, restrain? 
 
 Better breathe my last before tliee, than in lingering grief remain ! 
 
30 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 To yon planet, Fate has given every month to wax and wane ; 
 
 And — thy world of blushing brightness — can it, will it long remain ? 
 
 Health and youth in balmy moisture on thy cheek their seat maintain ; 
 
 But — the dew that steeps the rose-bud — can it, will it long remain? 
 
 Asuf ! why in mournful numbers, of thine absence thus complain, 
 
 Chance had joined us, chance has parted! — nought on earth can long remain. 
 
 In the world mayst thou, beloved I live exempt from grief and pain ! 
 
 On my lips the breath is fleeting, — can it, will it long remain ? 
 
 August 17. — Read prayers and preached. The sea was too 
 high to allow the men to sit down, or the awning to be hoisted, 
 and it was extremely cold, a thorough English March morning. 
 Our run since yesterday has been 234 miles. Lat. 35° 23'. E. 
 long. 11° 6'. 
 
 August 1 8. — The same breeze, which has now increased to 
 what seamen call a strong gale, with a high rolling sea from the 
 south-west. Both yesterday and to-day we have had the oppor- 
 tunity of seeing no insufficient specimen of those gigantic waves 
 of which 1 have often heard as prevailing in these latitudes. In 
 a weaker vessel, and with less confidence in our officers and crew, 
 they would he alarming as well as awful and sublime. But, in 
 our case, seen as they are from a strong and well-found ship, in 
 fine clear weather, and with good sea room, they constitute a 
 magnificent spectacle, which may he contemplated with unmixed 
 pleasure. 1 have hardly been able to leave the deck, so much 
 have I enjoyed it, and my wife, who happily now feels very little 
 inconvenience from the motion, has expressed the same feelings. 
 The deep blue of the sea, the snow-white tops of the waves, their 
 enormous sweep, the alternate sinking and rising of the ship which 
 seems like a plaything in a giant’s hands, and the vast multitude 
 of sea-birds skimming round us, constitute a picture of the most 
 exhilarating, as well as the most impressive character; and 1 trust 
 a better and holier feeling has not been absent from our minds, 
 of thankfulness to Him who has thus far protected us, who blesses 
 us daily with so many comforts beyond what might be expected 
 in our present situation, and who has giyen us a passage, through- 
 out the whole extent of the Atlantic, so unusually rapid and fa- 
 vourable. The birds which surround us are albatrosses, and snow 
 peterels. The Cape pigeons have disappeared, being probably 
 driven to shore by the gale. The other birds come from the 
 southward, and are considered as indications of a tremendous 
 storm in that quarter, from which our unusually northern course 
 has exempted us. Lat. 34° 54'. E. long. 15° 30'. This day ends 
 the ninth week of our abode on board the Grenville. 
 
 August 19. — During the night we made considerable southing, 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA, 
 
 31 
 
 and passed the Cape. In the evening we had a distant but tole- 
 rably distinct view of the Cape Aguillas or Lagullos, the most 
 southerly promontory of Africa. Our wind is now lighter, but 
 the swell still great ; such a swell (and indeed much more, all 
 things considered, than we now feel) is to be expected on the 
 banks of Lagullos, a range of submarine mountains, of extent not 
 yet ascertained, which project from the foot of Southern Africa, 
 like a vast buttress to support it against the invasions of the An- 
 tarctic Ocean. The depth of water is considerable in every part 
 of the bank, and consequently fish are scarce at any distance from 
 shore. In the creeks and bays of the visible coast they are said 
 to swarm. And thus we are in the Indian Ocean ! 
 
 August 20 — 23. — We have been these four days beating to and 
 fro on the bank of Lagullos, with a contrary wind or no wind at 
 all, alternately, suffering a good deal from the motion of the vessel. 
 On the 22d we were on the supposed position of the Telemaque 
 shoal, when a boy at the mast-head cried out “ breakers.” They 
 turned out, however, to be only the reflection of the sun on the 
 waves. So that the existence or situation of this danger is still 
 as dubious as ever. 
 
 August 24. — A southern breeze sprung up this morning, and 
 we have begun our progress eastward anew, though at present 
 inclining much towards the south, where Captain Manning hopes 
 to find the wind more settled. We had prayers and a sermon, 
 but the weather was, as on last Sunday, too unsettled to permit 
 the men to sit down, or the awning to be extended. The breeze 
 has, however, put all the party into much better spirits, and con- 
 sidering the degree in which we have been previously favoured, 
 a four or five days’ delay here is a trifling drawback. 
 
 August 30. — Alas ! our flattering breeze left us in a few hours, 
 and from Monday till Thursday we had very little wind, and that 
 adverse ; yet we did not remain absolutely stationary, having got 
 into a powerful, and, hitherto, little known current, from the S. 
 W. which forwarded us on our voyage almost as much as a light 
 wind would have done. On Wednesday evening and Thursday 
 morning more particularly, though the weather was such a per- 
 fect calm that the ship was absolutely her own mistress, and would 
 not answer the helm, yet we found to our surprise that during 
 the twenty-four hours we had advanced two degrees of longitude. 
 On Thursday a light breeze blew, which, with the friendly help 
 of the current, helped us on three degrees more. And on Friday 
 and Saturday we had a stiff gale, which fairly placed us at twelve 
 o’clock the latter day in lat. 36° 52'. E. long. 42° 59'. This was, 
 of course, not effected without considerable tossing. 
 
 The day was rainy, and the sea broke over the quarter-deck 
 fiercely. My wife, however, braved it, and walked a good deal, 
 
/ 
 
 32 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 and all the men on board were in high spirits. Captain Manning 
 said, “ If there was virtue in canvass, he would make the run of 
 the following day better than this which was 246 miles by the 
 log, and I believe the best we have had during the present voyage. 
 The current which so long befriended us is now replaced by 
 another of an opposite tendency, and which appears to have come 
 from the great channel of Mozambique, of which, in this day’s 
 run, we have been crossing the mouth. Our course is east, a 
 little inclining to the north. The climate is very like that of 
 England in spring. The passengers, however, and the young 
 men more particularly, are not healthy, and several absentees are 
 remarked from every dinner. Mr. Shaw says that he has seldom 
 found a ship a favourable situation either for preserving or re- 
 covering health. The want of exercise and of mental employ-' 
 ment sufficiently account for this circumstance. My own general 
 good health, 1 am convinced, 1 owe in no small degree to my 
 persevering walks on the quarter-deck, and my Hindoostanee 
 studies. In these I certainly am not idle, though, alas ! I cannot 
 say much of my own proficiency. On Sunday 31st, we had again 
 prayers and a sermon, though the weather was too much unsettled 
 to admit of the men sitting down, and consequently the former 
 were curtailed a little of their just proportion. Afterwards I 
 went with Captain Manning and Mr. Elliott, the surgeon, to visit 
 the sick seamen, of whom there were three or four more seriously 
 indisposed than usual. One poor man who was recovering from 
 the efifects of a fall a few days before, which had threatened to 
 affect his brain, was very intelligent, and grateful to God for his 
 deliverance. The others were not so favourably disposed. I 
 persuaded them, however, to meet me in the afternoon, and join 
 in a few prayers. 
 
 Friday^ September 5 . — Here follows a version of a part of this 
 day’s lesson from the Gulistan. It was the inscription, says Sadi, 
 over the arched alcove of Feridoon’s Hall. 
 
 Brother ! know the world deceiveth ! 
 
 Trust on Him who safety giveth ! 
 
 Fix not on the world thy trust, 
 
 She feeds us — but she turns to dust, 
 
 And the bare earth or kingly throne 
 Alike may serve to die upon !” 
 
 The next is not so good, but is almost equally literal: both 
 seem to confirm my suspicions as to the real character of Asiatic 
 poetry. 
 
 “ The man who leaveth life behind. 
 
 May well and boldly speak his mind. 
 
 Where flight is none from battle field, 
 
 We blithely snatch the sword and shield ; 
 
33 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 Where hope is past, and hate is strong, 
 
 The wretch’s tongue is sharp and long; 
 
 Myself have seen, in wild despair. 
 
 The feeble cat the mastiff tear.” 
 
 It is strange to see how flowery these passages become in 
 Gladwin’s translation ; yet I can safely say that my rude lines are 
 most like the original. 
 
 On Tuesday the 9th, at twelve, we were in lat. 26° 55', long. 
 76° 44', with a fine wind from the south-east, which every body 
 on board was willing to hope was the “ trade wind.” In conse- 
 quence we look forward to our probable arrival at Saugor 
 anchorage before the 1st of October; and some of our party are 
 almost tempted to murmur at the singular rapidity with which 
 our passage has been favoured, as bringing us into India at an 
 unwholesome season. For my own part, 1 have no. apprehensions 
 either for myself or those most dear to me. We are all, at this 
 moment, in excellent health. Our habits of living have been, for 
 some time back, such as are most likely to enable us to bear a 
 change of climate without injury ; and even during the worst and 
 most sickly time of the year in Calcutta, by all which 1 can learn, 
 little more is necessary to preserve health than to be strictly tem- 
 perate, and to remain quiet during the heat of the day, and while 
 it rains. And, indeed, while we are enjoying and have enjoyed 
 such daily and remarkable protection from God during the whole 
 of our voyage,^ \^ould be cowardice in the extreme to distrust 
 his further mercies, or to shrink back from those dangers which, 
 some time or other, a resident in India must expect to encounter, 
 and which a new-comer is, perhaps, as able to bear as any other 
 person. I therefore feel at present nothing but pleasure in the 
 anticipation of our speedy arrival in that scene where I am here- 
 after to labour ; or if I feel any anxiety, it is only as to the manner 
 in which I may be able to acquit myself of duties so important, 
 and in a situation so new. Deus adjuvet per Jesum Christum ! 
 
 Friday^ September 12. — Few things now occur to insert, except 
 my progress in Hindoostanee. The following lines are also from 
 the Gulistan, rather more loosely translated than some of those 
 which have preceded them. I have, however, sufficiently pre- 
 served their character. 
 
 “ Who the silent man can prize, 
 
 If a fool he be or wise ? 
 
 Yet, though lonely seem the wood. 
 
 Therein may lurk the beast of blood. 
 
 Often bashful looks conceal 
 Tongue of fire and heart of steel. 
 
 And deem not thou, in forest gray. 
 
 Every dappled skin thy prey ; 
 
 Lest thou rouse, with luckless spear, 
 
 The tiger for the fallow-deer !” 
 
 VoL. I.— 5 
 
34 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 A tropic bird was seen to-day, very large, and white as snow, 
 but without the two long tail-feathers which are his principal 
 ornament. The immense distance from land at which these birds 
 are seen is really surprising. The Isle of Bourbon is the nearest 
 point, and that must be a distance of two thousand miles. For 
 many days back the beautiful Cape pigeons have ceased to attend 
 us. 
 
 On Sunday^ September 14, we had again divine service, and I 
 afterwards (as has been my occasional custom for some time 
 back) prayed with the sick below. Their number still continues 
 inconsiderable, and there is no case of absolute danger, though 
 one poor lad has had a very tedious intermitting fever. Symp- 
 toms of our advanced progress are visible in the preparations 
 making in the cutter, which Captain Manning is sheathing with 
 zinc, and fitting up with masts and sails for the navigation of the 
 Ganges. His good-nature and obliging disposition have spared 
 us another preparation which at these times is usual. I mean, 
 painting the ship previous to her appearing in harbour ; an ope- 
 ration which must have made the whole population of the vessel 
 miserable for some days. I am heartily glad to escape this. 
 
 September 18. — This evening we had a most beautiful sunset — 
 the most remarkable recollected by any of the officers or passen- 
 gers, and I think the most magnificent spectacle I ever saw. Be- 
 sides the usual beautiful tints of crimson, flan^g-cglour, &c., which 
 the clouds displayed, and which were strangeljjcontrasted with 
 the deep blue of the sea, and the lighter, but equally beautiful 
 blue of the sky, there were in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 the sinking sun, and for some time after his disc had disappeared, 
 large tracts of a pale translucent green, such as 1 had never seen 
 before except in a prism, and surpassing every effect of paint, or 
 glass, or gem. Every body on board was touched and awed by 
 the glory of the scene, and many observed, that such a spectacle 
 alone was worth the whole voyage from England. One circum- 
 stance in the scene struck me as different from all which I had 
 been led to expect in a tropical sunset. I mean, that its progress 
 from light to darkness was much more gradual than most travel- 
 lers and philosophers have stated. The dip of the sun did not 
 seem more rapid, nor did the duration of the tints on the horizon 
 appear materially less, than on similar occasions in England. 
 Neither did I notice any striking difference in the continuance of 
 the twdight. I pointed out the fact to Major Sackville, who an- 
 swered, that he had long been convinced that the supposed 
 rapidity of sunrise and sunset in India had been exaggerated, — 
 that he had always found a good hour between dawn and sun- 
 rise, and little less between sunset and total darkness. As, indeed, 
 we are at present within three degrees of the line, we must, ct 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 35 
 
 fortiori^ have witnessed this precipitancy of the sun, if it really 
 existed any where, in a still greater degree than it can be wit- 
 nessed in any part of Hindostan. 
 
 September 19. — 1 wakened before dawn this morning, and had 
 therefore an opportunity of verifying, to a certain extent. Major 
 Sackville’s observations on a tropical sunrise. I had no watch, 
 but to my perceptions his account was accurate. Our breeze 
 continues very light, and the heat intense. Our progress, how- 
 ever, is steady, and we were this day at twelve,’ south lat. 1° 16'. 
 We had again a fine sunset which, though inferior to that of the 
 day before, was decorated by two concentric rainbows of con- 
 siderable beauty and brilliancy, the colours of the outer rainbow 
 being arranged in a reverse and succession to that of the usual 
 prism, and which was visible in its companion. A night of glo- 
 rious moonshine followed, with a moderate breeze, and we were 
 supposed to pass the line about 1 1 o’clock A. M. 
 
 September 21. — Nothing remarkable occurred on the 20th. 
 This morning we had divine service, with awning up, and the 
 crew seated, the first time that this has been possible since we 
 passed the Cape. The weather continues fine, but very hot. In 
 the evening we were apprehended to be about 90 miles from the 
 coast of Ceylon, and a trick was attempted on the passengers, 
 which is on such occasions not unusual, by sprinkling the rail of 
 the entrance port with some fragrant substance, and then asking 
 them if they do not perceive the spicy gales of Ceylon ? Un- 
 luckily no oil of cinnamon was found on shipboard, though 
 anxiously hunted for, d^ndi peppermint water ^ the only succedaneum 
 in the doctor’s stores, was not what we expected to find, and there- 
 fore did not deceive us. Yet, though we were now too far off to 
 catch the odours of land, it is, as we are assured, perfectly true, 
 that such odours are perceptible to a very considerable distance. 
 In the straits of Malacca, a smell like that of a hawthorn hedge 
 is^ commonly experienced ; and from Ceylon, at thirty or forty 
 miles, under certain circumstances, a yet more agreeable scent is 
 inhaled. 
 
 September 24. — A violent squall came on this morning about 
 seven o’clock. Happily Captain Manning foresaw it from an 
 uneasy sensation in the ship’s motion, and took in all possible 
 sail, to the surprise of his officers, who saw no reason for the 
 measure. He was, however, only just in time, for a moment 
 after, we were laid nearly on our beam ends, and had we been 
 carrying any thing like our previous sail, must have been com- 
 pletely dismasted. Tremendous rain followed, with some thunder 
 and lightning, and continued the greater part of the day. Towards 
 evening the rain ceased, and the wind became light. The weather 
 was, however, thick and hazy, and 1 never saw so much lightning 
 
36 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 as continued to flash on every side of us during the greater 
 part of the night. Several of the passengers think this symp- 
 tomatic of the change of the Monsoon, the usual period of which, 
 indeed, is not till the middle of next month ; but it sometimes ter- 
 minates prematurely, even as early as our present date. This 
 possibility has a little damped the spirits of our party, since, though 
 there are, 1 believe, several among us who will be almost sorry 
 when our voyage is at an end, none of us can look forward with- 
 out disappointment to the prospect of the indefinite delay, the 
 uncertain weather, and probable hurricanes to which this event 
 would expose us. No observation could be taken this day (Sep- 
 tember 25.) During the early part of the morning we lay com- 
 pletely becalmed, surrounded with very awful and magnificent 
 thunder-storms, which swept past us in all directions, but without 
 coming nigh us. A water-spout was also seen, but at a distance. 
 At length a light breeze arose, but from the N. W., an unfavour- 
 able quarter. We were, however, able to get on with it in a 
 tolerable, though not very direct course : in the evening it drew 
 more aft, and, consequently, resumed in part its proper character 
 of S. W. Monsoon, though so light as to do little good. It is 
 probable, however, that the slow progress of last night may have 
 been a dispensation of great kindness towards us, since the ofli- 
 cers are of opinion that a very severe storm has taken place in 
 our present latitude, within the last few hours. An uncomfort- 
 able swell prevails, indicating something of the sort, and the 
 number of insects and land-birds around us seem to imply a hard 
 gale to have driven them so far out to sea. Among the insects 
 several dragon-flies appear, precisely like those of England, and 
 some very beautiful butterflies and winged grasshoppers. A tur- 
 tle-dove and two hawks perched on the rigging, all so much 
 fatigued, as that the latter showed no desire to molest the former. 
 Tlie day beautifully clear, but intensely hot. Both to-day and 
 yesterday the fragrance of the land, or at least the peculiar smell 
 which denotes its neighbourhood, was perceived by the experien- 
 ced organs of Captain Manning and his officers; but I could not 
 catch any thing in the breeze more than usual. We are all now 
 in good spirits again, and the officers, more particularly, rejoice 
 in having ascertained the latitude correctly, a 'circumstance 
 agreeable at all times, but especially desirable when about to 
 approach a dangerous coast, at a time of the year when the sun 
 and stars are frequently obscured for weeks together. 
 
 Scplemher 27. — At eleven this day the Pagoda of Juggernaut, 
 and the two known by the name of the Black Pagodas, were visi- 
 ble from tlie mast-head, bearing N. W. about eighteen miles, and 
 only distinguishable, on this flat coast, from sails, by those who 
 were previously aware of their forms and vicinity; three or four 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 37 
 
 vessels were seen at the same time, supposed to be small craft 
 engaged in the coasting trade. Our lat. at twelve was 19° 30'. 
 We had light wind with occasional squalls till twelve; after which 
 a dead calm with a heavy and uncomfortable swell. I have been 
 endeavouring, for these last two days, to compose a sermon, hut 
 my head aches, and my feelings are very unfavourable to serious 
 mental exertion. It is some comfort to be assured that very few 
 days in India, are so severe as the weather which we now have, 
 and our confined situation on ship-board makes us feel the heat 
 more oppressive than we should otherwise do. The calm con- 
 tinued all day, and the sea-breeze which arose at night, was by far 
 too feeble to carry us on against a heavy swell and current from 
 the N. E. 
 
 Sunday 28. — Found ourselves to the M^estward of our late sta- 
 tion by a good many miles, and drifting in to the Pagoda of Jug- 
 gernaut. We had prayers as usual, and I preached, I hope, my 
 last sermon on ship-board during the present voyage. Afterwards 
 we cast anchor in twenty-five fathom water, with Juggernaut 
 about fifteen miles to the N. W. visible with the naked eye from 
 deck, and very distinctly so with a glass. Its appearance strongly 
 reminds me of the old Russian churches. To the S. W. of us, at 
 a considerably greater distance, are seen two small hills, said to 
 be near Ganjan. — 
 
 “ Procul obscures colies, humilemque videmus 
 
 Italiam 1” \ 
 
 About three o’clock a little breeze sprung up from the S. W. just 
 enough to enable us to stem the current. We weighed anchor, 
 and crept slowly along the coast E. by N. The evening was 
 cool and pleasant, and we derived some amusement and mental 
 occupation from watching the different objects which we passed. 
 
 ' The immense hostile current and swell were much against us, and 
 the night grew by degrees squally and rainy. The captain and 
 chief mate were up nearly all night and very anxious. The 
 soundings showed a bottom of coarse sand and a little gravel. 
 
 September 29. — In the morning we had the mortification to find 
 ourselves still in sight of Juggernaut and the Black Pagoda, and 
 in fact very little advanced from our station at day-break the 
 preceding day. The breeze was quite incompetent to contend 
 with the swell and current from the N. E., and all which we could 
 comfort ourselves with was, that we did not lose ground, nor, as 
 yesterday, drift to the westward. About noon a light breeze 
 again sprung up from the S. E., and we now advanced slowly to 
 the N., so as to see the Black Pagoda more clearly, and even to 
 distinguish the coco-palms on the coast. Several vessels were 
 
38 
 
 JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 
 
 under the shore, one brig, some sloops, and a kind of galliot of 
 singular rig, besides some boats with large square sails. The day 
 was very pleasant and cool, and the night which followed beauti- 
 ful. Our breeze was good, and our progress would have been 
 excellent, but for the unfortunate current. As it was, after 
 another anxious night of unceasing sounding and exertion to Cap- 
 tain Manning and his officers, we were only advanced, at six in 
 the morning of the 30th, about forty miles, or not quite to the 
 parallel of False Cape ; yet even this was considerable gain, and 
 would have made us very happy, had not a dismal accident over- 
 clouded all such feelings. About ten o’clock, as I was writing 
 these lines in the cuddy, a cry was heard, “ Davy is overboard 
 at first 1 thought they said “ the baby,” and ran to the mizen chains 
 in a sort of Confused agony, tugging at my coat buttons and my 
 sleeves as I went, with the intention of leaping in after her ; when 
 there, however, I found that one of the poor boys apprenticed to 
 Captain Manning by the Marine Society, had fallen from the 
 mizen-gaff, and that one of the midshipmen, Gower not Davy^ as 
 at first supposed, was knocked over by him in his fall ; the boy 
 only rose for a few moments and sunk forever, but the midship- 
 man was picked up when almost exhausted. It was pleasing to 
 see the deep interest and manly sorrow excited' by this sad ac- 
 cident in all on board. For my own part, I w^as so much stunned 
 by the shock of my first mistake, that I felt, and still feel a sort of 
 sick and indistinct horror, which has prevented me from sympa- 
 thizing so deeply as 1 otherwise must have done, in the melan- 
 choly end of the poor lad thus suddenly called away. 
 
 The coast was so low, that we could not discover any tokens of 
 it, and were compelled to feel our way by soundings every half 
 hour, keeping in from sixteen to twenty-nine fathom. All this 
 part of Orixa, as 1 am assured by Major Sackville, who has him- 
 self surveyed the coast, is very ill laid down in most charts. It is 
 a large delta, formed by the mouths of the Maha-Nuddee and 
 other rivers, the northernmost of which insulates Cape Palmiras, 
 and the remainder flow into what is called Cojam Bay, but which 
 is dry at low-water; so that the real line of coast is nearly straight 
 from Juggernaut to Palmiras. The night was fine and starlight, 
 and we crept along, sounding every half-fiour in from seventeen 
 to twenty-three fathoms till after midnight, when we entered sud- 
 denly into a rapid stream of smooth water, which carried us con- 
 siderably to the east. I happened to go on deck during this watch, 
 and was much pleased and interested with the sight. It was ex- 
 actly like a river, about half a mile broad, smooth, dimply, and 
 whirling, bordered on each side by a harsh, dark, rippling sea, 
 such as we had hitherto contended with, and which obviously still 
 ran in a contiary direction. It was, I have no doubt, from Major 
 
JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. 39 
 
 Sackville’s sketch, the fresh water of the Maha-Nuddee, which 
 being lighter, specifically, than the ocean, floated on its surface, 
 and which appeared to flow into the sea at right angles to the 
 Ganges. I sometimes thought of Robinson Crusoe’s eddy — some- 
 times of the wondrous passage described in Lord Erskine’s Ar- 
 mata, but was not the less struck with the providential assistance 
 which it afibrded us. At five o’clock in the morning of October 1 , 
 we were said to be in lat. 20° 38'; and as the wind was getting 
 light, anchored soon after. 
 
 The fresh water of the Maha-Nuddee still remained flowing on 
 the surface, and nearly in a N. E. direction, but too weak and 
 too shallow to contend with the mighty Ganges, which ran like a 
 mill-stream at a fathom or two underneath, and against which 
 nothing but a very powerful gale could contend. Our hope is, 
 therefore, in the flood-tide, and in the smallness of the distance, 
 which we have yet to pass before we get into pilot water. At 
 twelve, encouraged by a little increase of breeze,, we weighed 
 anchor again, the passengers (most of them) lending their aid, and 
 thus successfully and speedily accomplished it. All sails that 
 were applicable were set, and the vessel, to our great joy, an- 
 swered her. helm, and evidently made some little way. This, by 
 degrees, accelerated, and by three o’clock we were going along 
 merrily. Captain Manning burned blue lights, and hoisted a 
 lamp at his mizen-gatf, as a signal to any pilot who might be in 
 our neighbourhood. The signal was answered by several vessels 
 obviously at no great distance, but the doubt remained whether 
 any of these were pilots, or whether they were merely like our- 
 selves, in search of one. Captain Manning, however, sent his 
 cutter with one of the officers and ten men to that light which 
 was most brilliant, and the bearing of which appeared to tally 
 with the situation of a brig which he had observed. 
 
 At^length about eleven o’clock, a vessel was really seen ap- 
 proaching, and, on being hailed, answered “ the Cecilia pilot 
 schooner.” The cutter soon afterwards came to our side, with 
 one of the branch pilots on board. Sir H. Blosset, I heard with 
 much pain, died five weeks after his arrival in India, of an asth- 
 matic complaint, to which he had been long subject. The pilot 
 spoke much of the degree to which he was regretted, and of the 
 influence which, even in that small time, he had acquired over 
 the natives, who were delighted with the pains which he took to 
 acquire their language. 
 
 About seven in the evening of October the 3d, we were safely 
 anchored in Saugor roads. 
 
NARRATIVE 
 
 OF 
 
 A JOURNEY, Ar. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 saugor: tigers — country boats — arab ships — village: Maldivian 
 
 VESSELS GARDEN REACH APPROACH TO CALCUTTA ARRIVAL : OLD 
 
 GOVERNMENT HOUSE I NATIVE HOUSEHOLD. 
 
 At day-break of October the 4th, we had a good view of the 
 Island of Saugor, a perfectly flat and swampy shore, with scat- 
 tered tall trees dark like firs, and jungle about the height of young 
 coppice wood, of a very fresh and vivid green. With a large 
 glass I could distinguish something like deer grazing or lying 
 down amid the swampy grass, and also some ruinous cottages and 
 barn-like buildings. 
 
 ' These are the remains of a village begun by a joint company, 
 who undertook to cut down the thickets and reclaim the marshes 
 of Saugor, a few years ago. They found, however, that as the 
 woods were cut down on this side, the sea encroached, the sandy 
 beach not having sufficient tenacity of itself to resist its invasions ; 
 and the land was again abandoned to its wild deer and its tigers ; 
 for these last it has always been infamous, and the natives, I 
 understand, regard it with such dread, that it is almost impossible 
 to induce them to approach the wilder parts of its shore, even in 
 boats, as instances are said to be by no means infrequent of 
 tigers swimming off from the coast to a considerable distance. 
 This danger is, probably, like all others, over-rated, but it is a 
 fortunate circumstance that some such terror hangs over Saug-or, 
 VoL. 1.— G 
 
42 
 
 COUNTRY BOATS. 
 
 to deter idle seamen and young officers from venturing on shoot- 
 ing excursions, so much as they otherwise would do, on a shore 
 so dreadfully unwholesome as all these marshy islets are, under 
 a sun, which even now intensely fierce, is standing over our 
 heads “ in a hot and copper sky.” The stream of cofifee-coloured 
 water by which we are surrounded, sufficiently indicates by its 
 tint the inundations which have supplied it. 
 
 One of the first specimens of the manners of the country which 
 have fallen under our notice, has been a human corpse, slowly 
 floating past, according to the well-known custom of the Hindoos. 
 About 1 2 o’clock some boats came on board with fish and fruit, 
 manned by Hindoos from the coast. 
 
 They were all small slender men, extremely black, but well 
 made, with good countenances and fine features, — certainly a 
 handsome race ; the fruits were shaddocks, plantains, and coco- 
 nuts, none good of their kind, as we were told ; the shaddock 
 resembles a melon externally, but is in fact a vast orange, with a 
 rind of two inches thick, the pulp much less juicy than a common 
 orange, and with rather a bitter flavour, certainly a fruit which 
 would be little valued in England, but which in this burning 
 Weather I thought rather pleasant and refreshing. The plantain 
 grows in bunches, with its stalks arranged side by side ; the fruit 
 is shaped like a kidney potatoe, covered with a loose dusky skin, 
 which peals off easily with the fingers. The pulp is not unlike 
 an over-ripe pear. 
 
 While we were marketing with these poor people, several 
 large boats from the Maidive Islands passed, which were pointed 
 out to me by the pilot as objects of curiosity, not often coming to 
 Calcutta ; they have one mast, a very large square mainsail, and 
 one top-sail, are built, the more solid parts of coco-wood, the 
 lighter of bamboo, and sail very fast and near the wind ; each 
 carries from 30 to 50 men, who are all sharers in the vessel and 
 her cargo, which consists of cowries, dried fish, coco-nut oil, and 
 the coir or twine made from the fibres of the same useful tree ; 
 and each has a small cabin to himself. 
 
 Several boats of a larger dimension soon after came along- 
 side ; one was decked, with two masts, a bowsprit, and rigged 
 like a schooner without topsails. The master and crew of this 
 last were taller and finer men than those whom we had seen 
 before ; the former had a white turban wreathed round a red cap, 
 a white short shirt without sleeves, and a silver armlet a little 
 above the elbow , the crew were chiefly naked, except a cloth 
 round the loins ; the colour of all was the darkest shade of 
 antique bronze, and together with the elegant forms and well- 
 turned limbs of many among them, gave the spectator a perfect 
 impression of Grecian statues of that metal; in stature and appa- 
 
NATIVES. 
 
 43 
 
 rent strength they were certainly much inferior to the generality 
 of our ship’s company. 
 
 Two observations struck me forcibly ; first, that the deep 
 bronze tint is more naturally agreeable to the human eye than 
 the fair skins of Europe, since we are not displeased with it even 
 in the first instance, while it is well known that to them a fair 
 complexion gives the idea of ill health, and of that sort of 
 deformity which in our eyes belongs to an Albino. There is, 
 indeed, something in a Negro which requires long habit to recon- 
 cile the eye to him ; but for this the features and the hair, far 
 more than the colour, are answerable. The second observation 
 was, how entirely the idea of indelicacy, which would naturally 
 belong to such figures as those now around us if they were white, 
 is prevented by their being of a different colour from ourselves. 
 So much are we children of association and habit, and so instinct- 
 ively and immediately do our feelings adapt themselves to a total 
 change of circumstances; it is the partial and inconsistent change 
 only which affects us. 
 
 The whole river, and the general character of this shore and 
 muddy stream, remind me strongly at this moment of the Don, 
 between Tcherkask and Asof, — and Kedgeree, a village on the 
 opposite side of the river from Saugor, if it had but a church, 
 would not be unlike Oxai, the residence of the Attaman Platoff. 
 
 Several boats again came on board us ; in one of which was a 
 man dressed in muslin, who spoke good English, and said he 
 was a Sircar,"^ come down in quest of employment, if any of the 
 officers on board would entrust their investments to him, or if 
 any body chose to borrow money at 12 percent. In appearance 
 and manners he was no bad specimen of the low usurers who 
 frequent almost all seaports. While we were conversing with 
 him, a fowl fell overboard, and his crew were desired to hand it 
 up again ; the naked rowers refused, as it is considered impure 
 to touch feathers ; but the Sircar was less scrupulous, and gave 
 it up at the gangway. A Panchway, or passage boat, succeeded 
 him, whose crew offered their services for 15 rupees to carry 
 any passengers to Calcutta, a distance of above 100 miles. This 
 was a very characteristic and interesting vessel, large and broad, 
 shaped like a snuffer dish ; a deck fore and aft, and the middle 
 covered with a roof of palm branches, over which again was 
 lashed a coarse cloth, the whole forming an excellent shade from 
 the sun; but, as I should apprehend, intolerably close. The 
 “ Serang,” or master, stood on the little after-deck, steering with 
 a long oar ; another man, a little before him, had a similar oar 
 on the starboard quarter ; six rowers were seated cross-legged on 
 
 A native agent, as well as a inoney-Iender. — Ed. 
 
44 
 
 PASSAGE BOATS. 
 
 the deck upon the tilt, and plied their short paddles with much 
 dexterity ; not, however, as paddles usually are plied, but in the 
 manner of oars, resting them instead of on rullocks, on bamboos, 
 which rose upright from the sides. A large long sail of thin 
 transparent sackcloth in three pieces, very loosely tacked to 
 each other, completed the equipment. The rowers were all 
 naked except the “Cummerbund,” or sash; the steersman indeed 
 had in addition a white cap, and a white cloth loosely flung like 
 a scarf over one shoulder: the whole offered a group which 
 might have belonged to the wildest of the Polynesian islands. 
 Several of these Panchways were now around us, the whole 
 scene affording to an European eye a picture of very great singu- 
 larity and interest. One of the Serangs had a broad umbrella 
 thatched with palm leaves, which he contrived to rest on his 
 shoulder while he steered his canoe, which differed from the 
 others in having a somewhat higher stern. The whole appear- 
 ance of these boats is dingy and dirty, more so I believe than the 
 reality. 
 
 We were now approaching the side of the river opposite 
 Kedgeree : here all likeness to the Don disappeared, and nothing 
 met the eye but a dismal and unbroken line of thick, black, wood 
 and thicket, apparently impenetrable and interminable, which one 
 might easily imagine to be the habitation of every thing monstrous, 
 disgusting, and dangerous, from the tiger and the cobra di capello 
 down to the scorpion and musquito — from the thunder storm to 
 the fever. We had seen, the night before, the lightnings flash 
 incessantly and most majestically from this quarter ; and what we 
 now saw was not ill fitted for a nursery of such storms as Southey 
 describes as prevailing in his Padalon. The seamen and officers 
 spoke of this shore with horror, as the grave of all who were so 
 unfortunate as to remain many days in its neighbourhood; and 
 even under our present brilliant sun, it required no great stretch 
 of fancy to picture feverish exhalations rising from every part of it. 
 As we drew nearer to the Sunderbunds their appearance improved; 
 the woods assumed a greater variety of green and of shade ; 
 several round-topped trees, and some low palms, were seen among 
 them, and a fresh vegetable fragrance was wafted from the shore. 
 The stream is here intense, and its struggle with the spring-tide 
 raises waves of a dark-coloured water, which put me in mind of 
 the river where Dante found the spirit of Filippo Argenti. I 
 looked with much interest on the first coco palms 1 saw, yet they 
 rather disappointed me. Their forms are indeed extremely grace- 
 ful, but their verdure is black and funereal, and they have some- 
 thing the appearance of the plumes of feathers which are carried 
 before a hearse. Their presence, however, announced a more 
 open and habitable country. The jungle receded from the shore, 
 
NATIVES. 
 
 45 
 
 and its place was supplied by extremely green fields, like mead- 
 ows, which were said to be of rice, interspersed with small woods 
 of round-headed trees, and villages of huts, thatched, and with 
 their mud walls so low, that they looked like hay-stacks. 
 
 We anchored a few miles short of Diamond Harbour. The 
 current and ebb-tide together ran at a rate really tremendous, 
 amounting, as our pilot said, to 10 and 11 knots an hour. We 
 were surrounded soon after our anchoring by several passage 
 vessels ; among these was a beautiful ship of about 250 tons, 
 with the Company’s Jack, and a long pendant, which we w^ere 
 told was the Government yacht, sent down for our accommo- 
 dation. 
 
 During this day and the next I made several fresh observations 
 on the persons and manners of the natives, by whom we were 
 surrounded. I record them, though I may hereafter see reason to 
 distrust in some slight degree their accuracy. I had observed a 
 thread hung round the necks of the fishermen who came first on 
 board, and now found that it was an ornament worn in honour of 
 some idol. The caste of fishermen does not rank high, though fish 
 is considered as one of the purest and most lawful kinds of food. 
 Nothing, indeed, seems more generally mistaken than the supposed 
 prohibition of animal food to the Hindoos. It is not from any 
 abstract desire to spare the life of living creatures, since fish would 
 be a violation of this principle as well as beef ; but from other 
 notions of the hallowed or the polluted nature of particular viands. 
 Thus many Brahmins eat both fish and kid. The Rajpoots, be- 
 sides these, eat mutton, venison, or goat’s flesh. Some castes may 
 eat any thing but fowls, beef, or pork ; while pork is with others 
 a favourite diet, and beef only is prohibited. Intoxicating liquors 
 are forbidden by their religion ; but this is disregarded by great 
 numbers both of high and low caste ; and intoxication is little 
 less common, as I am assured, among the Indians, than among 
 Europeans. Nor is it true that Hindoos are much more healthy 
 than Europeans. Liver-complaints, and indurations of the spleen, 
 are very common among them, particularly with those in easy 
 circumstances, to which their immense consumption of “ Ghee,” 
 or clarified butter, must greatly contribute. To cholera morbus 
 they are much more liable than the whites, and there are some 
 kinds of fever which seem peculiar to the native race. 
 
 The great difference in colour between different natives struck 
 me much : of the crowd by whom we were surrounded, some were 
 black as Negroes, others merely copper-coloured, and others little 
 darker than the Tunisines whom 1 have seen at Liverpool. Mr. 
 Mill, the principal of Bishop’s College, who, with Mr. Corrie, one 
 of the chaplains in the Company’s service, had come down to meet 
 me, and who has seen more of India than most men, tells me that 
 
46 
 
 ARAB VESSELS. 
 
 he cannot account for this difference, which is general throughout 
 the country, and every where striking. It is not merely the differ- 
 ence of exposure, since this variety of tint is visible in the fisher- 
 men who are naked all alike. Nor does it depend on caste, since 
 very high caste Brahmins are sometimes black, while Pariahs are 
 comparatively fair. It seems, therefore, to be an accidental dif- 
 ference, like that of light and dark complexions in Europe, though 
 where so much of the body is exposed to sight, it becomes more 
 striking here than in our own country. 
 
 At six o’clock in the evening of October the 6th, we went on 
 board the yacht, which we found a beautiful vessel, with large 
 and convenient cabins, fitted up in a very elegant and comfortable 
 manner ; and slept for the first time under musquito curtains, and 
 on a mattrass of coco-nut coir, which though very hard is cool and 
 elastic. The greater part of this day was occupied in ecclesias- 
 tical business, so that I had less opportunity for observing the 
 country and people around us. The former improves as we 
 ascend the river, and is now populous and highly cultivated. On 
 the 7th we left Diamond harbour, a place interesting as being the 
 first possession of the East India Company in Bengal ; but of bad 
 reputation for its unhealthiness, the whole country round being 
 swampy. Many ships were lying there. 1 saw no town, except 
 a few native huts, some ruinous warehouses, now neglected and 
 in decay, and an ugly brick dingy looking house with a flag-staff, 
 belonging to the harbour master. There are, however, many 
 temptations for seamen among the native huts, several of them 
 being spirit houses, where a hot unwholesome toddy is sold. We 
 proceeded with a light breeze up the river, which still presents a 
 considerable uniformity of prospect, though of a richer and more 
 pleasing kind than we had seen before. The banks abound with 
 villages, interspersed with rice-fields, plantations of coco-palms, 
 and groves of trees of a considerable height, in colour and foliage 
 resembling the elm. We have seen one or two Pagodas, dingy 
 buildings with one or more high towers, like glass-houses. 
 
 The Hooghly is still of vast width and rapidity. Our ship tacks 
 in it as in a sea, and we meet many larger vessels descending. 
 One of these was pointed out to me as an Arab, of completely 
 European build, except that her stern was overloaded with open 
 galleries and verandahs, with three very tall masts, and carrying 
 more sail than English merchant ships generally do. She had 
 apparently a good many guns, was crowded with men, and had 
 every appearance of serving, as occasion required, for piracy as 
 well as traflic. Her “ Rais,” or master, had a loose purple dress 
 on, and her crew I thought were of fairer complexions than the 
 Hindoos. These last perform their evolutions with a great deal 
 of noise, and talk most vociferously : but the Arabs excelled them 
 
MOHAMMEDAT>J SAILORS. 
 
 47 
 
 in both these particulars. They shifted their sails with a clamour 
 as if they were going to board an enemy. The old clumsy Arab 
 Dow, mentioned by Neibuhr, is now seldom seen ; they buy many 
 ships from Europeans ; they build tolerable ones themselves, and 
 even their grabs, which still have an elongated bow, instead of a 
 bowsprit, are described as often very fine vessels and good sailers. 
 In short, they are gradually becoming a formidable maritime 
 people, and are not unlikely to give farther and greater trouble 
 in the Indian Seas to ourselves and other European nations. 
 
 Accidents often happen in this great river, and storms are 
 frequent and violent. The river is now unusually high, and the 
 Brahmins have prophesied that it will rise fourteen cubits higher, 
 and drown all Calcutta ; they might as well have said all Bengal, 
 since the province has scarely any single eminence so high above 
 the river. Whenever we see the banks a few feet higher than 
 usual, we are told it is the dam of a “ tank,” or large artificial 
 pond. The country is evidently most fertile and populous, and 
 the whole prospect of river and shore is extremely animated and 
 interesting. The vessel in which we are, is commanded by one 
 of the senior pilots of the Company’s service, who, with his mate, 
 are the only Europeans on board ; the crew, forty in number, are 
 Mohammedans, middle-sized, active and vigorous, though slender. 
 Their uniform is merely a white turban, of a singularly flat shape, 
 a white shirt, and trowsers, with a shawl wrapped round their 
 hips. I was amused to-day by seeing them preparing and eating 
 their dinner, seated in circles on the deck, with an immense dish 
 of rice, and a little sauce-boat of currie well seasoned with garlic, 
 set between every three or four men ; the quantity which they 
 eat is very great, and completely disproves the common opinion 
 that rice is a nourishing food. On the contrary, 1 am convinced 
 that a fourth part of the bulk of potatoes would satisfy the hunger 
 of the most robust and laborious. Potatoes are becoming gradu- 
 ally abundant in Bengal ; at first they were here, as elsewhere, 
 unpopular. Now they are much liked, and are spoken of as the 
 best thing which the country has ever received from its Euro- 
 pean masters. At dinner these people sit, not like the Turks, 
 but with the knees drawn up like monkeys. 
 
 Their eating and drinking vessels are of copper, very bright 
 and well kept, and their whole appearance cleanly and decent, 
 their countenances more animated, but less mild and gentle than 
 the Hindoos. They do not seem much troubled with the preju- 
 dices of Mohammedanism, yet there are some services which they 
 obviously render to their masters with reluctance. The captain 
 of the yacht ordered one of them, at my desire, to lay hold of 
 our spaniel ; the man made no difficulty, but afterwards rubbed 
 his hand against the side of the ship with an expression of disgust 
 
48 
 
 VILLAGE. 
 
 which annoyed me, and I determined to spare their feelings in 
 future as much as possible. 
 
 We had hoped to reach Fulta, where there is an English 
 hotel, before night ; but the wind being foul, were obliged to 
 anchor a few miles short of it. After dinner, the heat being 
 considerably abated, we went in the yacht’s boat to the nearest 
 shore. Before us was a large extent of swampy ground, but in 
 a high state of cultivation, and covered with green rice, offering 
 an appearance not unlike flax ; on our right was a moderate sized 
 village, and on the banks of the river a numerous herd of cattle 
 was feeding ; these are mostly red, or red and white, with humps 
 on their backs, nearly resembling those which I have seen at 
 Wynnstay and Combermere. Buffaloes are uncommon in the 
 lower parts of Bengal. As we approached the village, a number 
 of men and boys came out to meet us, all naked except the 
 Cummerbund, with very graceful figures, and distinguished by 
 a mildness of countenance almost approaching to effeminacy. 
 They regarded us with curiosity, and the children crowded round 
 with great familiarity. The objects which surrounded us were 
 of more than common beauty and interest ; the village, a collec- 
 tion of mud-walled cottages, thatched, and many of them covered 
 with a creeping plant bearing a beautiful broad leaf, of the 
 gourd species, stood irregularly scattered in the midst of a wood 
 of coco-palms, fruit, and other trees, among which the banyan 
 was very conspicuous and beautiful ; we were cautioned against 
 attempting to enter the houses, as such a measure gives much 
 offence. Some of the natives, however, came up and offered to 
 show us the way to the pagoda, — “ the Temple,” they said, “of 
 Mahadeo.” We followed them through the beautiful grove 
 which overshadowed their dwellings, by a winding and narrow 
 path ; the way was longer than we expected, and it was growing 
 dusk ; we persevered, however, and arrived in front of a small 
 building with three apertures in front, resembling lancet windows 
 of the age of Henry the Second. A flight of steps led up to it, 
 in which the Brahmin of the place was waiting to receive us, — 
 an elderly man, naked like his flock, but distinguished by a nar- 
 row band of cotton twist thrown two or three times doubled 
 across his right shoulder and breast, like a scarf, which is a mark 
 of distinction, worn, I understand, by all Brahmins ; a fine boy 
 with a similar badge, stood near him, and another man with the 
 addition of a white turban, came up and said he was a police- 
 officer (“ police-wala”). The occurrence of this European word 
 in a scene so purely Oriental, had a whimsical effect. It was 
 not, however, the only one which we heard, for the Brahmin 
 announced himself to us as the “ Padre” of the village, a name 
 which they have originally learnt from the Portuguese, but which 
 
MANNERS OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 49 
 
 IS now applied to religious persons of all descriptions all over 
 India, even in the most remote situations, and where no European 
 penetrates once in a century. The village we were now in, I 
 was told, had probably been very seldom visited by Europeans, 
 since few persons stop on the shore of the Ganges between 
 Diamond Harbour and Fulta. Few of the inhabitants spoke 
 Plindoostanee. Mr. Mill tried the Brahmin in Sanscrit, but found 
 him very ignorant; he, indeed, owned it himself, and said in 
 excuse, they were poor people. 
 
 I greatly regretted I had no means of drawing a scene so beau- 
 tiful and interesting; the sketch 1 have made is from recollection, 
 and every way unworthy of the subject. 
 
 I never recollect having more powerfully felt the beauty of 
 similar objects. The greenhouse-like smell and temperature of 
 the atmosphere which surrounded us, the exotic appearance of 
 the plants and of the people, the verdure of the fields, the dark 
 shadows of the trees, and the exuberant and neglected vigour of 
 the soil, teeming with life and food, neglected, as it were, out of 
 pure abundance, would have been striking under any circum- 
 stances ; they were still more so to persons just landed from a 
 three months’ voyage ; and to me, when associated with the 
 recollection of the objects which have brought me out to India, 
 the amiable manners and countenances of the people, contrasted 
 with the symbols of their foolish and polluted idolatry now first 
 before me, impressed me with a very solemn and earnest wish 
 that I might in some degree, however small, be enabled to con- 
 duce to the spiritual advantage of creatures so goodly, so gentle, 
 and now so misled and blinded. “ Angeli forent, si essent Chris- 
 tiani !” As the sun went down, many monstrous bats, bigger than 
 the largest crows I have seen, and chiefly to be distinguished from 
 them by their indented wings, unloosed their hold from the palm- 
 trees, and sailed slowly around us. They might have been 
 supposed the guardian genii of the pagoda. 
 
 . During the night and the whole of the next day the wind was 
 either contrary, or so light as not to enable us to stem the cur- 
 rent; it was intensely hot; the thermometer stood at about 96°. 
 The commander of our vessel went this morning to a market 
 held in a neighbouring village, to purchase some trifles for the 
 vessel ; and it may show the poverty of the country, and the 
 cheapness of the different articles, to observe, that having bought 
 all the commodities which he wanted for a few pice,"^ he was 
 unable in the whole market to get change for a rupee, or about 
 two shillings. 
 
 In the evening we again went on shore, to another village, 
 
 * A small copper coin, about the vahie of our halfpenny. — En. 
 
 VoL. I.— 7 
 
50 
 
 COTTAGES. 
 
 resembling the first in its essential features, but placed in a yet 
 more fertile soil. The houses stood literally in a thicket of fruit 
 trees, plantains, and flowering shrubs ; the muddy ponds were 
 covered with the broad-leaved lotus, and the adjacent “ paddy,” 
 or rice-fields, were terminated by a wood of tall coco-nut trees, 
 between whose stems the light was visible, pretty much like a 
 grove of Scotch firs. I here remarked the difference between 
 the coco and the palmira : the latter with a narrower leaf than 
 the former, and at this time of year without fruit, with which the 
 other abounded. For a few pice one of the lads climbed up the 
 tallest of these with great agility, notwithstanding the total want 
 of boughs, and the slipperiness of the bark. My wife was anxious 
 to look into one of their houses, but found its owners unwilling 
 to allow her. At length one old fellow, I believe to get us away 
 from his own threshold, said he would show us a very fine house. 
 We followed him to a cottage somewhat larger than those w^hich 
 we had yet seen ; but on our entering its little court-yard, the 
 people came in much earnestness to prevent our proceeding 
 farther. We had, however, a fair opportunity of seeing an Indian 
 farm-yard and homestead. In front w^as a small mud building, 
 with a thatched verandah looking towards the village, and behind 
 was a court filled with coco-nut husk, and a little rice straw ; in 
 the centre of this was a round thatched building, raised on bam- 
 boos about a foot from the ground, which they said was a 
 “ GoJiah,” or granary ; round it were small mud cottages, each 
 to all appearance an apartment in the dwelling. In one corner 
 was a little mill, something like a crab-mill, to be worked by a 
 man, for separating the rice from the husk. By all which we 
 could see through the open doors, the floor of the apartments 
 was of clay, devoid of furniture and light, except what the door 
 admitted. A Brahmin now appeared, a formal pompous man, 
 who spoke better Hindoostanee than the one whom we had seen 
 before. I was surprised to find that in these villages, and Mr. 
 Mill tells me that it is the case almost all over India, the word 
 “ Grigi,” a corruption of “ Ecclesia,” is employed when speaking 
 of any place of worship. Many of these people looked unhealthy. 
 Their village and its vicinity appeared to owe their fertility to 
 excessive humidity under a burning sun. Many of the huts were 
 surrounded by stagnant water ; and near the entrance of one of 
 them they showed us a little elevated mound like. a grave, which 
 they said was their refuge when the last inundation was at its 
 height. So closely and mysteriously do the instruments of pro- 
 duction and destruction, plenty and pestilence, life and death, 
 tread on the heels of each other ! 
 
 Besides tamarinds, cocos, palmiras, plantains, and banyans, 
 there were some other trees of which we could not learn the 
 
iVlALDIVIAN VESSELS, 
 
 .51 
 
 European name. One was the neem, a tree not very unlike the 
 acacia, the leaves of which are used to keep moths from books 
 and clothes. Another 1 supposed to be the manchineel, — a tree 
 like a very large rhododendron, but now without flowers ; its 
 thick club-ended branches, when wounded, exuded a milky juice 
 in large quantities, which the natives said would blister the fin- 
 gers. We saw one jackall run into the woods : the cries of these 
 animals grew loud and incessant as we returned to the ship, and 
 so nearly resembled the voice of children at play, that it was 
 scarcely possible at first to ascribe them to any other source. On 
 our arrival at the vessel we found two Bholiahs, or large row 
 boats, with convenient cabins, sent to take us up the river, as it 
 was impossible, with such light winds, for the yacht to stem the 
 force of the current. 
 
 October 10. — At 2 o’clock this afternoon, we set out for Cal- 
 cutta in the Bholiahs, and had a very delightful and interesting 
 passage up the river, partly with sails, and partly with oars. The 
 country, as we drew nearer the capital, advanced in population ; 
 and the river was filled with vessels of every description. Among 
 these, I was again greatly struck by the Maldivian vessels, close 
 to some of which our boat passed. Their size appeared to me 
 from 150 to near 200 tons, raised to an immense height above the 
 water by upper works of split bamboo, with a very lofty head and 
 stern, immense sails, and crowded with a wild and energetic 
 looking race of mariners, who Captain Manning told me were 
 really bold and expert fellows, and the vessels better sea-boats than 
 their clumsy forms would lead one to anticipate. Bengalee and 
 Chittagong vessels, with high heads and sterns, were also nume- 
 rous. In both these the immense size of the rudders, suspended 
 by ropes to the vessel’s stern, and worked by a helmsman, raised 
 at a great height above the vessel, chiefly attracted attention. 
 There were many other vessels, which implied a gradual adop- 
 tion of European habits, being brigs and sloops, very clumsily 
 and injudiciously rigged, but still improvements on the old Indian 
 ships. Extensive plantations of sugar-cane, and numerous cot- 
 tages, resembling those we had already seen, appeared among the 
 groves of coco-nut and other fruit trees, which covered the greater 
 part of the shore ; a few cows were tethered on the banks, and 
 some large brick-fields with sheds like those in England, and here 
 and there a white staring European house, with plantations and 
 shrubberies, gave notice of our approach to an European capital. 
 At a distance of about nine miles from the place where we had 
 left the yacht, we landed among some tall bamboos, and walked 
 about a quarter of a mile to the front of a very dingy, deserted 
 looking house, not very unlike a country gentleman’s house in 
 Russia, near some powder mills ; here we found carriages waiting 
 
52 
 
 APPROACH TO CALCUTTA. 
 
 for us, drawn by small horses with switch tails, and driven 
 by postilions with whiskers, turbans, bare legs and arms, and 
 blue jackets with tawdry yellow lace. A “ saees,” or groom, 
 ran by the side of each horse, and behind one of them were two 
 decent looking men with long beards and white cotton dresses, 
 who introduced themselves as my Peons or Hurkarus ; their 
 badges were a short mace or club of silver, of a crooked form, 
 and terminating in a tiger’s head, something resembling a Dacian 
 standard, as represented on Trajan’s pillar, and a long silver 
 stick with a knob at the head. 
 
 We set out at a round trot; the saeeses keeping their places 
 very nimbly on each side of us, though on foot, along a raised, 
 broadish, but bad road, with deep ditches of stagnant water on 
 each side, beyond which stretched out an apparently intermina- 
 ble wood of fruit trees, interspersed with cottages : some seemed 
 to be shops, being entirely open with verandahs, and all chiefly 
 made up of mats and twisted bamboo. The crowd of people 
 was considerable, and kept up something like the appearance of 
 a fair along the whole line of road. Many were in bullock carts, 
 others driving loaded bullocks before them, a few had wretched 
 ponies, which, as well as the bullocks, bore too many and in- 
 dubitable marks of neglect and hard treatment; the manner in 
 which the Hindoos seemed to treat even their horned cattle, sa- 
 cred as they are from the butcher’s knife, appeared far worse than 
 that which often disgusts the eye and wounds the feelings of a 
 passenger through London. 
 
 Few women were seen; those who appeared had somewhat 
 more clothing than the men, — a coarse white veil, or “ chuddah,” 
 thrown over their heads without hiding their faces, their arms 
 bare, and ornamented with large silver “ bangles,” or bracelets. 
 The shops contained a few iron tools hanging up, some slips of 
 coarse coloured cotton, plantains hanging in bunches, while the 
 ground was covered with earthen vessels, and a display of rice 
 and some kind of pulse heaped up on sheets ; in the midst of 
 which, smoking a sort of rude hookah, made of a short pipe and a 
 coco-nut shell, the trader was squatted on the ground. 
 
 By degrees we began to see dingy brick buildings of more pre- 
 tensions to architecture, but far more ugly than the rudest bam- 
 boo hut, — the abodes of Hindoos or Mussulmans of the middle 
 class, flat-roofed, with narrow casement windows, and enclosed 
 by a brick wall, which prevented all curious eyes from prying 
 into their domestic economy. These were soon after mingled 
 with the large and handsome edifices of Garden Reach, each 
 standing by itself in a little woody lawn, (a “ compound” they 
 call it here, by an easy corruption from the Portuguese word 
 Campana,) and consisting of one or more stories, with a Grecian 
 
ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA, 
 
 63 
 
 verandah along their whole length of front. As we entered Kid« 
 derpoor, European carriages were seen, and our eyes were met 
 by a police soldier, standing sentry in the corner of the street, 
 nearly naked, but armed with a sabre and shield, — a pagoda or 
 two, — a greater variety of articles in the shops, — a greater crowd 
 in the streets, — and a considerable number of “ caranchies,” or 
 native carriages, each drawn by two horses, and looking like the 
 skeletons of hackney coaches in our own country. 
 
 From Kidderpoor we passed by a mean wooden bridge over a 
 muddy creek, which brought us to an extensive open plain like a 
 race course, at the extremity of which we saw Calcutta, its white 
 houses glittering through the twilight, which was now beginning 
 to close in, with an effect not unlike that of ConnaughLplace and 
 its neighbourhood, as seen from a distance across Hyde Park. 
 Over this plain we drove to the fort, where Lord Amherst has 
 assigned the old government house for our temporary residence. 
 The fort stands considerably to the south of Calcutta, and west of 
 Chowringhee, having the Hooghly on its west side. The degree 
 of light which now remained rendered all its details indistinguish- 
 able, and it was only when we began to wind through the different 
 works, and to hear the clash of the sentries presenting arms as we 
 passed, that we knew we were approaching a military post of 
 great extent and considerable importance. We at length alighted 
 at the door of our temporary abode, a large and very handsome 
 building in the centre of the fort, and of the vast square formed 
 by its barracks and other buildings. This square is grassed over, 
 and divided by broad roads of ‘‘ pucka,” or pounded brick, with 
 avenues of tall trees stocked with immense flights of crows, which 
 had not yet ceased their evening concert when we arrived. We 
 found at the door two sentries, resembling Europeans in every 
 thing but complexion, which indeed was far less swarthy than that 
 of the other natives whom we had hitherto seen, and were receiv- 
 ed by a long train of servants in cotton dresses and turbans ; one 
 of them with a long silver stick, and another with a short mace, 
 answering to those of the Peons who had received us at the land- 
 ing place. 
 
 The house consisted of a lofty and well-proportioned hall, 40 
 feet by 25, a drawing room of the same length, and six or seven 
 rooms all on the same floor, one of which served as a chapel, the 
 lower story being chiefly occupied as offices or lobbies. Ail these 
 rooms were very lofty, with many doors and windows on every 
 side ; the floors of plaster, covered with mats ; the ceilings of 
 bricks, plastered also, flat, and supported by massive beams, which 
 were visible from the rooms below, but being painted neatly had not 
 at all a bad effect. Punkas, large frames of light wood covered witli 
 white cotton, and looking not unlike enormous fire-boards, hung 
 
54 
 
 ARRIVAL AT CALCUTTA. 
 
 from the ceilings of the principal apartments ; to which cords 
 were fastened, which were drawn backwards and forwards by one 
 or more servants, so as to agitate and cool the air very agreeably. 
 The walls were white and unadorned, except with a number of 
 glass lamps filled with cocoa-nut oil, and the furniture, though suf- 
 ficient for the climate, was scanty in comparison with that of an 
 English house. The beds instead of curtains had mosquito nets ; 
 they were raised high from the ground and very hard, admirably 
 adapted for a hot climate. 
 
 I had then the ceremony to go through of being made acquaint- 
 ed with a considerable number of my clergy. Among whom was 
 my old school-fellow at Whitchurch, Mr. Parsons, some years 
 older than myself, whom I recollect when I was quite an urchin. 
 Then all our new servants were paraded before us under their 
 respective names of Chobdars,"^ Sotaburdars,"^ Hurkarus,^ Khan- 
 saman,t Abdar,J Sherabdar,§ Khitmutgars,|| Sirdar Bearer,1[ 
 and Bearers, cum multis aliis. Of all these, however, the Sir- 
 car"^^ was the most conspicuous,- — a tall fine looking man, in a 
 white muslin dress, speaking good English, and the editor of a 
 Bengalee newspaper, who appeared with a large silken and em- 
 broidered purse full of silver coins, and presented it to us, in order 
 that we might go through the form of receiving it, and replacing 
 it in his hands. This, I then supposed, was a badge of his office, 
 hut 1 afterwards found that it was the relic of the ancient eastern 
 custom of never approaching a superior without a present, and 
 that in like manner all the natives who visited me offered a “ nuz- 
 zur,” or offering, of a piece of gold or silver money. 
 
 * Men who carry silver sticks before people of rank ; or messengers, all bear- 
 ing the generic appellation of Peons. 
 
 t Steward. | Water cooler. ^ Butler. || Footmen. 
 
 H Head of all the bearers, and valet de chambre. * ** Agent. — Ed. 
 
55 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CALCUTTA DESCRIPTION OF CALCUTTA : CATHEDRAL : ENVIRONS : 
 
 QUAY CHILD-MURDER BARRACKPOOR MENAGERIE FEMALE OR- 
 PHAN ASYLUM CONSECRATION OF CHURCHES NACH FREE SCHOOL 
 
 BOTANICAL GARDEN BISHOP’s COLLEGE NATIVE FEMALE SCHOOLS 
 
 DISTRESS AMONG EUROPEANS. 
 
 October 11. — In the morning as the day broke, (before which 
 time is the usual hour of rising in India,) we were much struck 
 by the singular spectacle before us. Besides the usual apparatus 
 of a place of arms, the walks, roofs, and ramparts, swarmed with 
 gigantic birds, the “ hurgila,” from “ hur,” a bone, and “ gilana,” 
 to swallow, larger than the largest turkey, and twice as tall as the 
 heron, which in some respects they much resemble, except that 
 they have a large blue and red pouch under the lower bill, in which 
 we were told they keep such food as they cannot eat at the mo- 
 ment."^' These birds share with the jackalls, who enter the fort 
 through the drains, the post of scavenger, but unlike them, instead 
 of flying mankind and daylight, lounge about with perfect fear- 
 lessness all day long, and almost jostle us from our paths. We 
 walked some time round the square, and were amused to see our 
 little girl, walking with her nurse, in great delight at the animals 
 round her, but rather encumbered with the number of servants 
 who had attached themselves to her. For her especial service, a 
 bearer, a khitmutgar, a hurkaru,and a cook, were appointed, and 
 there were, besides the two former, one of the silver sticks with 
 her, and another bearer with a monstrous umbrella on a long bam- 
 boo pole, which he held over her head in the manner represented 
 on Chinese screens ; — my wife soon reduced her nursery estab- 
 lishment, — but we afterwards found that it is the custom in 
 Calcutta to go to great expence in the equipage of children. 
 
 A lady told us she had seen a little boy of six years old para- 
 ded in a pony phaeton and pair, with his “ Ayah,” or nurse, 
 coachman, “ Chattah-burdar,” or umbrella-bearer, a saees on 
 each side, and another behind, leading a third pony, splendidly 
 
 * It has since been ascertained by dissection, that this pouch has no connection 
 with the stomach, — but has a very small tube opening into the nostril, — through 
 which it is supposed air is admitted to enable the bird to breathe when the orifice 
 of the throat is closed by any large substance, which it attempts, for some time 
 in vain, to swallow. At such time the pouch is in this way inflated with air, and 
 respiration goes on unimpeded. — E d. 
 
56 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF CALCUTTA. 
 
 caparisoned, not in case the young Sahib should choose to ride, 
 he was too young for that, — but as the saees himself expressed 
 it, “ for the look of the thing.” This, however, rather belongs 
 to old times, when, as a gentleman assured me, he had himself 
 heard at the dinner party of one of the Company’s civil servants, 
 a herald proclaiming aloud all the great man’s titles ; and when a 
 palankeen with the silk, brocade, and gilding which then adorned 
 it, frequently cost 3000^ rupees ; at present people are poorer 
 and wiser. 
 
 The approach to the city from the fort is striking ; — we 
 crossed a large green plain, having on the left the Hooghly, with 
 its forests of masts and sails seen through the stems of a double 
 row of trees. On the right-hand is the district called Chowrin- 
 ghee, lately a mere scattered suburb, but now almost as closely 
 built as, and very little less extensive than, Calcutta. In front 
 was the esplanade, containing the Town Hall, the Government 
 House, and many handsome private dwellings, — the whole so like 
 some parts of Petersburgh, that it was hardly possible for me to 
 fancy myself any where else. No native dwellings are visible 
 from this quarter, except one extensive but ruinous bazar, which 
 occupies the angle where Calcutta and Chowringhee join. Be- 
 hind the esplanade, however, are only Tank-square, and some 
 other streets occupied by Europeans, — the Durrumtollah and 
 Cossitollah are pretty equally divided between the different na- 
 tions ; and all the west of Calcutta is a vast town, composed of 
 narrow crooked streets, brick bazars, bamboo huts, and here and 
 there the immense convent-like mansion of some of the more 
 wealthy “ Baboos” (the name of the native Hindoo gentleman, 
 answering to our Esquire) or Indian merchants and bankers. The 
 Town-hall has no other merit than size, but the Government-house 
 has narrowly missed being a noble structure ; it consists of two 
 semicircular galleries, placed back to back, uniting in the centre 
 in a large hall, and connecting four splendid suites of apartments. 
 Its columns are, however, in a paltry style, and instead of having, 
 as it might have had, two noble stories and a basement, it has 
 three stories, all too low, and is too much pierced with windows 
 on every side. 1 was here introduced to Lord Amherst ; and 
 afterwards went to the Cathedral, where I was installed. This is 
 a very pretty- building, all but the spire, which is short and 
 clumsy. The whole composition, indeed, of the Church, is full 
 of architectural blunders, but still it is in other respects hand- 
 some. The inside is elegant, paved with marble, and furnished 
 with very large and handsome glass chandeliers, the gift of Mr. 
 
 * The highest price of an Eng’lit^ih built palankeen in the present day, is 300 
 rupees. — Ed. 
 
ENVIRONS. 
 
 57 
 
 M‘Clintoch, with a light pulpit, with chairs on one side of the 
 chancel for the Governor-General and his family, and on the other 
 for the bishop and archdeacon. We dined to-day at the Govern- 
 ment-house ; to a stranger the appearance of the bearded and 
 turbaned waiters is striking. 
 
 October 12. — This was Sunday. 1 preached, and we had a 
 good congregation. 
 
 October 13. — We drive out twice a day on the course ; I am 
 much disappointed as to the splendour of the equipages, of which 
 I had heard so much in England ; the horses are most of them 
 both small and poor, while the dirty white dresses and bare limbs 
 of their attendants, have to an unaccustomed eye an appearance 
 of any thing but wealth and luxury. Calcutta stands on an almost 
 perfect level of alluvial and marshy ground, which a century ago 
 was covered with jungle and stagnant pools, and which still 
 almost every where betrays its unsoundness by the cracks conspi- 
 cuous in the best houses. To the East, at the distance of four 
 miles and a half, is a large but shallow lagoon of salt water, being 
 the termination of the Sunderbunds, from which a canal is cut 
 pretty nearly to the town, and towards which all the drainings of 
 the city flow, what little difference of level there is being in 
 favour of the banks of the river. Between the salt lake and the 
 city, the space is filled by gardens, fruit trees, and the dwellings 
 of the natives, some of them of considerable size, but mostly 
 wretched huts, all clustered in irregular groupes round large 
 square tanks, and connected by narrow, winding, unpaved streets 
 and lanes, amid turfs of bamboos, coco-trees, and plantains, 
 picturesque and striking to the sight, but extremely offensive to 
 the smell, from the quantity of putrid water, the fumes of wood 
 smoke, coco-nut oil, and above all the ghee, which is to the 
 Hindoo his principal luxury. Few Europeans live here, and 
 those few, such as the Missionaries employed by the Church 
 Missionary Society in Mirzapoor, are said to suffer greatly from 
 the climate. Even my Sircar, though a native, in speaking of 
 the neighbouring district of Dhee Intally, said that he himself 
 never went near the “ bad water” which flows up from the salt 
 water lake, without sickness and head-ache. 
 
 To the south, a branch of the Hooghly flows also into the Sun- 
 derbunds. It is called, by Europeans, Tolly’s Nullah, but the na- 
 tives regard it as the true Gunga, the wide stream being, as they 
 pretend, the work of human and impious hands, at some early 
 period of their history. In consequence no person worships the 
 river between Kidderpoor and the sea, while this comparatively 
 insignificant ditch enjoys all the same divine honours which the 
 Ganges and the Hooghly enjoy during the earlier parts of their 
 course. The banks of the Tolly’s Nullah are covered bv two 
 
 VoL. 1.— 8 
 
58 
 
 ENVIRONS, 
 
 large and nearly contiguous villages, Kidderpoor and Allypoor, as 
 well as by several considerable European houses, and are said to 
 be remarkably dry and wholesome. To the north is a vast ex- 
 tent of fertile country, divided into rice-fields, orchards and gar- 
 dens, covered with a thick shade of fruit trees, and swarming with 
 an innumerable population, occupying the large suburbs of Cos- 
 sipoor, Chitpoor, &c. This tract resembles in general appearance 
 the eastern suburb, but is drier, healthier, and more open ; through 
 it lie the two great roads to Dum Dum and Barrackpoor. West- 
 ward flows the Hooghly, at least twice as broad as the Thames 
 below London bridge, — covered with large ships and craft of all 
 kind, and offering on its farther bank the prospect of another con- 
 siderable suburb, that of Howrah, chiefly inhabited by ship-build- 
 ers, but with some pretty villas interspersed. The road which 
 borders Calcutta and Chowringhee, is called, whimsically enough, 
 “the circular road,” and runs along nearly the same line which 
 was once occupied by a wide ditch and earthen fortification, raised 
 on occasion of the Maharatta war. This is the boundary of the 
 liberties of Calcutta, and of the English law. All offences com- 
 mitted within this line are tried by the “ Sudder Adawlut,” or 
 Supreme Court of Justice; — those beyond fall, in the first instance, 
 within the cognizance of the local magistracy, and in case of ap- 
 peal are determined by the “ Sudder Dewannee,” or Court of 
 the People in Chowringhee, whose proceedings are guided by the 
 Koran and the laws of Menu. 
 
 From the north-west angle of the fort of the city, along the banks 
 of the Hooghly, is a walk of pounded brick, covered with sand, 
 the usual material of the roads and streets in and near Calcutta, 
 with a row of trees on each side, and about its centre a flight of 
 steps to descend to the river, which in the morning, a little after 
 sunrise, are generally crowded with persons, washing themselves 
 and performing their devotions, of which, indeed, ablution is an 
 essential and leading part. The rest consists, in general, in re- 
 peatedly touching the forehead and cheeks with white, red, or 
 yellow earth, and exclamations of Ram ! Ram ! There are some 
 Brahmins, however, always about this time seated on the bank 
 under the trees, who keep counting their beads, turning over the 
 leaves of their banana-leaf books, and muttering their prayers 
 with considerable seeming devotion, and for a long time together. 
 These are “ Gooroos,” or religious teachers, and seem conside- 
 rably respected. Children and young persons are seen continually 
 kneeling down to them, and making them little offerings, but the 
 wealthier Hindoos seldom stop their palankeens for such a pur- 
 pose. Where the esplanade walk joins Calcutta, a very hand- 
 some quay is continued along the side of the river ; resembling in 
 every thing but the durability of material, the quays of Peters- 
 
CHILD MURDEK. 
 
 59 
 
 burgh. It is unhappiij of brick instead of granite, and is as yet 
 unfinished, but many houses and public buildings are rising on it, 
 and it bids fair to be a very great additional ornament and conve- 
 nience to Calcutta. Vessels of all descriptions, to the burden of 
 600 tons, may lie almost close up to this quay, and there is always 
 a crowd of ships and barks, as well as a very interesting assem- 
 blage of strangers of all sorts and nations to be seen. Of these, 
 perhaps the Arabs, who are numerous, are the most striking, from 
 their comparative fairness, their fine bony and muscular figures, 
 their noble countenances and picturesque dress. That of a 
 wealthy Arab “ Nacoda,” or captain, is pretty much what may 
 be seen in Niebuhr’s Travels, as that of an emir of Yemen. 
 They are said to be extremely intelligent, bold, and active, but 
 very dirty in their ships, and excessively vain and insolent when- 
 ever they have the opportunity of being so with impunity. 
 
 The crowd on this quay, and in every part of Calcutta, is great. 
 No fighting, however, is visible, though we hear a great deal of 
 scolding. A Hindoo hardly ever strikes an equal, however severe- 
 ly he may be provoked. The Arabs, as well as the Portuguese, 
 are less patient, and at night, frays and even murders in the streets 
 are of no unfrequent occurrence, chiefly, however, among the two 
 descriptions of persons whom I have named. There are among 
 the Hindoos very frequent instances of murder, but of a more 
 cowardly and premeditated kind. They are cases chiefly of 
 women murdered from jealousy, and children for the sake of the 
 silver ornaments with which their parents are fond of decorating 
 them. Out of thirty-six cases of murder reported in the province 
 of Bengal, during the short space of, I believe, three months, 
 seventeen were of children under these circumstances. 
 
 Though no slavery legally exists in the British territories at this 
 moment, yet the terms and gestures used by servants to their su- 
 periors, ail imply that such a distinction was, at no distant date, 
 very common. “ I am thy slave,” — “ Thy slave hath no know- 
 ledge,” are continually used as expressions of submission and of 
 ignorance. In general, however, I do not think that the Benga- 
 lee servants are more submissive or respectful to their masters 
 than those of Europe. The habit of appearing with bare feet in 
 the house, the manner of addressing their superiors by Joining 
 the hands as in the attitude of prayer, at first give them such an 
 appearance. But these are in fact nothing more than taking off 
 the hat, or bowing, in England ; and the person who acts thus, is 
 as likely to speak saucily, or neglect our orders, as any English 
 footman or groom. Some of their expressions, indeed, are often 
 misunderstood by new comers as uncivil, when nothing less than 
 incivility is intended. If you bid a man order breakfast, he will 
 answer, “ Have I not ordered it?” or, “ Is it not already coming?” 
 
60 
 
 BARRACKPOOR. 
 
 merely meaning to express his own alacrity in obeying you. They 
 are, on the whole, intelligent, and are very attentive to supply 
 your wishes, even half, or not at all expressed. Masters seldom 
 furnish any liveries, except turbans or girdles, which are of some 
 distinctive colour and lace ; the rest of the servant’s dress is the 
 cotton shirt, caftan, and trowsers of the country, and they are by 
 no means exact as to its cleanliness. The servants of the gover- 
 nor-general have very handsome scarlet and gold caftans. 
 
 The governor-general has a very pretty country residence at 
 Barrackpoor, a cantonment of troOps about 16 miles north of 
 Calcutta, in a small park of (I should guess) from 2 to 300 acres, 
 on the banks of the Hooghly, offering as beautiful a display of 
 turf, tree, and flowering shrub, as any scene in the world can pro- 
 duce. The view of the river, though less broad here than at 
 Calcutta, is very fine ; and the Danish settlement of Serampoor, 
 which stands on the opposite bank, with its little spire, its flag- 
 staff, its neat white buildings, is at this distance a very pleasing 
 object. The house itself of Barrackpoor is handsome, contain- 
 ing three fine sitting-rooms, though but few bed-chambers. Indeed, 
 as in this climate no sleeping-rooms are even tolerable, unless they 
 admit the southern breeze, there can be but fiiw in any house. 
 Accordingly, that of Barrackpoor barely accommodates Lord 
 Amherst’s own family ; and his aides-du-camp and visiters sleep in 
 bungalows, built at some little distance from it, in the park. 
 
 Bungalow,” a corruption of Bengalee, is the general name in 
 this country for any structure in the cottage style, and only of one 
 floor. Some of these are spacious and comfortable dwellings, 
 generally with high thatched roofs, surrounded with a verandah, 
 and containing three or four good apartments, with bath-rooms 
 and dressing-rooms, enclosed from the eastern, western, or north- 
 ern verandahs. The south is always left open. We went to 
 Barrackpoor the 28th of October. The road runs all the way 
 between gardens and orchards, so that the traveller is seldom 
 without shade. Our journey we made before eight o’clock, no 
 travelling being practicable at this season of the year with com- 
 fort afterwards. We staid two days, and were greatly pleased 
 with every thing we saw, and above all with the kindness of Lord 
 and Lady Amherst. 
 
 At Barrackpoor, for the first time, 1 mounted an elephant, the 
 motion of which 1 thought far from disagreeable, though very dif- 
 ferent from that of a horse. As the animal moves both feet on 
 the same side at once, the sensation is like that of being carried 
 on a man’s shoulders. A full grown elephant carries two persons 
 in the “ howdah,” besides the “ mohout,” or driver, who sits on 
 his neck, and a servant on the crupper behind with an umbrella. 
 The howdah itself, which Europeans use, is not unlike the body 
 
ELEPHANTS— PUNISHMENTS. 
 
 61 
 
 of a small gig, but without a head. The native howdahs have a 
 far less elevated seat, and are much more ornamented. At Cal- 
 cutta, or within five miles of it, no elephants are allowed, on ac- 
 count of the frequent accidents which they occasion by frightening 
 horses. Those at Barrackpoor were larger animals than I had 
 expected to see, two of them were at least ten feet high. That 
 which Lord Amherst rode, and on which I accompanied him, was 
 a very noble fellow, dressed up in splendid trappings, which were 
 a present from the king of Oude, and ornamented all over with 
 fish embroidered in ‘'gold, a device which is here considered a 
 badge of royalty. I was amused by one peculiarity, which I had 
 never before heard of ; while the elephant is going on, a man 
 walks by his side, telling him where to tread, bidding him ‘‘ take 
 care,”— “ step out,” warning him that the road is rough, slippery, 
 &c., all which the animal is supposed to understand, and take his 
 measures accordingly. The mohout says nothing, but guides him 
 by pressing his legs to his neck, on the side to which he wishes 
 him to turn, urging him forwards with the point of a formidable 
 goad, and stopping him by a blow on the forehead with the but 
 end of the same instrument. The command these men have over 
 their elephants is well known, and a circumstance lately occurred 
 of one of them making a sign to his beast, which was instantly 
 obeyed, to kill a woman who had said something to offend him. 
 The man was executed before our arrival. 
 
 Capital punishments are described as far from frequent, and ap- 
 pear to be inflicted for murder only ; for smaller crimes, offenders 
 are sentenced to hard labour, and are seen at work in the public 
 roads, and about the barracks, in groupes more or less numerous, 
 each man with fetters on his legs, and watched by police-men, or 
 sepoys. These poor creatures, whatever their original crimes 
 may have been, are probably still more hardened by a punishment 
 which thus daily, and for a length of time together, exposes them 
 in a degraded and abject condition, to the eyes of men. I never 
 saw countenances so ferocious and desperate as many of them of- 
 fer, and which are the more remarkable as being contrasted with 
 the calmness and almost feminine mildness which generally cha- 
 racterizes the Indian expression of features. What indeed can 
 be expected in men who have neither the consolations of Christi- 
 anity, nor the pity of their brethren, — who are without hope in 
 this world, and have no just idea of any world but this ! 
 
 The cantonment of Barrackpoor is very pretty, consisting of 
 a large village inhabited by soldiers, with bungalows for the Eu- 
 ropean officers and other white inhabitants, who are attracted 
 hither by the salubrity of the air, the vicinity of the Governor’s 
 residence, or the beauty and convenience of the river. In the 
 Park several uncommon animals are kept: among them the Ghyal, 
 
62 
 
 MENAGERIE. 
 
 an animal of which I had not, to my recollection, read any account, 
 though the name was not unknown to me. It is a very noble crea- 
 ture, of the ox or buffalo kind, with immensely large horns, and 
 a native of Thibet and Nepaul. 
 
 It is very much larger than the largest Indian cattle, but hardly 
 I think equal to an English bull : its tail is bushy, and its horns 
 form almost a mass of white and solid bone to the centre of its 
 forehead. It is very tame and gentle, and would, 1 should think, 
 be a great improvement on the common Indian breed of horned 
 cattle. There is also another beautiful animal of the ass kind, 
 from the Cape of Good Hope, which is kept in a stall, and led 
 about by two men to exercise daily. They complain of its wild 
 and untameable spirit, and when I saw it, had hampered its 
 mouth with such an apparatus of bit and bridle that the poor 
 thing was almost choked. It is extremely strong and bony, of 
 beautiful form, has a fine eye and good countenance, and though 
 not striped like the zebra, is beautifully clouded with different 
 tints of ash and mouse colour. We met two lynxes, or “ siya 
 gush,” during our ride, also taking the air, led each in a chain by 
 his keeper, one of them in body clothes, like an English grey- 
 hound, both perfectly tame, and extremely beautiful creatures, 
 about the size of a large spaniel, and in form and colour some- 
 thing between a fox and a cat, but with the silky fur and charac- 
 teristic actions of the latter. The other animals, consisting of 
 two or three tigers and leopards, two different kinds of bears — 
 one Bengalee, the other from Sincapoor, a porcupine, a kangaroo, 
 monkeys, mouse-deer, birds, &c. are kept in a menagerie, their 
 dens all very clean, and, except one of the bears and one hyaena, 
 all very tame. The Bengalee bears are precisely of the same 
 kind with that which is described and drawn, but without a name, 
 in “ Bewick’s Quadrupeds,” as said to be brought from Bengal. 
 They are fond of vegetables, and almost exclusively fed on them ; 
 three of these are very good-natured, and show their impatience 
 for their meals, (after which they are said to be very greedy,) 
 only by a moaning noise, raising themselves upright against the 
 bars of the cage, and caressing, in a most plaintive and coaxing 
 way, any person who approaches them. The fourth is a very 
 surly fellow, always keeps himself in a corner of his den, with 
 his face turned away from the light and the visitants, and if at 
 all teazed, turns about in furious wrath. The Sincapoor bear is 
 smaller than the others, and a very beautiful animal, with a fine, 
 black, close fur, a tan muzzle and breast, very playful, and not 
 greedy. All of them climb like cats, notwithstanding their bulk, 
 which equals that of a large Russian bear. They were at one 
 time supposed to be ant-eaters, but. Dr. Abel says, erroneously. 
 They burrow in the ground, have longer snouts and claws than 
 
FEMALE ORPHAN SCHOOL. 
 
 63 
 
 our European bears, and struck me forcibly as a link between the 
 badger and the common bear, though in every thing but their vi- 
 vacity they bear a general resemblance to the sloth, or bradypus. 
 
 While we were at Barrackpoor, a cobra di capello was killed 
 close to our bungalow ; it was talked of by the natives in a man- 
 ner which proved them not to be common. In Calcutta poison- 
 ous snakes are very seldom seen ; nor are they any where to be 
 much apprehended, except one goes into old ruins, neglected pa- 
 godas, or dry and rubbishy places, where Europeans have not 
 often occasion to tread. The water-snakes, which are met with 
 in moist places, are very seldom dangerous. Alligators sometimes 
 come on shore to bask, and there is one in a small pond in the 
 park. They ^re of two kinds, one, which seems like the common 
 crocodile of the Nile, has a long nose, and is harmless, unless pro- 
 voked. The other is somewhat smaller, has a round snubbed 
 head, and frequently attacks dogs and other similar animals, and 
 is sometimes dangerous to men who go into the river. 1 suspect 
 that both these kinds are found in Egypt, or have been so in an- 
 cient times. I cannot else account for the remarkable discrepan- 
 cy of the relations which are given us respecting their ferocity 
 and activity, their tameness and sluggishness. The ancients seem 
 to have paid most attention to the formidable species. The other 
 is that which has been seen by Bruce and Sonnini. 
 
 November 2nd was sacrament Sunday at the cathedral, and 
 there were a considerable number of communicants. In the even- 
 ing we went to see the school for European female orphans, an 
 extensive and very useful establishment, supported by subscrip- 
 tions, of which Mrs. Thomason is the most active manager. It 
 is a spacious and handsome though irregular building, airy, and 
 well adapted to its purpose, situated in a large compound in the 
 Circular Road. The neighbourhood has been fancied unhealthy 
 but we saw no appearance of it in the girls. The establishment 
 seems well conducted ; the girls are not encouraged to go out as 
 ' servants ; when they have relations in England, they usually send 
 them thither, unless eligible matches occur for them among the 
 tradesmen of Calcutta, who have, indeed, few other opportunities 
 of obtaining wives of European blood and breeding. Even ladies 
 going out are not always permitted to take white maids, and always 
 under a bond, that in a year or two they shall be sent back again. 
 The consequence is, that the free mariners, and other persons who 
 go out to India, are induced to form connections with women of 
 the country; yeti never met with any public man connected with 
 India, who did not lament the increase of the half-caste popula- 
 tion, as a great source of present mischief and future danger to 
 the tranquillity of the colony. Why then forbid the introduction 
 of a class of women who would furnish white wives to the white 
 
64 
 
 DUM DUM. 
 
 colonists ; and so far, at least, diminish the evil of which they 
 complain ? Security to a moderate amount, that the person thus 
 going to India should not become burdensome to the colony, 
 would be enough to answer every political purpose of the present 
 restrictions. 
 
 Of opportunities for education there seems no want, either for 
 rich or poor ; there are some considerable schools for the children 
 of the former, of both sexes. There is an excellent free school 
 for the latter, and the children of soldiers and officers have the 
 military orphan asylum, from which, where legitimacy exists, no 
 tint or complexion is excluded. 
 
 November 4. — I went to consecrate a new church at Dum 
 Dum, having previously obtained the sanction of government for 
 the performance of the ceremony, both here and at St. James’s 
 in Calcutta, as also a written assurance from the Governor in 
 Council, that the building should thenceforward be appropriated 
 to the worship of God after the forms and laws of the English 
 church. This I thought a sufficient title, and it was certainly all 
 that could be obtained in this country. Accordingly 1 determined 
 not to lose the opportunity of giving the sanction of a most im- 
 pressive form of dedication to these two churches, as likely to do 
 good to all who shared in the service, and to offend nobody, while 
 if, which is utterly unlikely, any future Governor should desecrate 
 the piles, on his own head be the transgression. 
 
 The road to Dum Dum is less interesting than that to Barrack- 
 poor ; like it, it is a military village, the principal European ar- 
 tillery cantonment in India. It consists of several long, low 
 ranges of building, all on the ground-floor, ornamented with ve- 
 randahs, the lodging of the troops, and some small but elegant 
 and convenient houses occupied by the officers, adjoining an open 
 space like the “ Meidan” or large plain of Calcutta, which is ap- 
 propriated to the practice of artillery. The Commandant, Ge- 
 neral Hardwicke, with whom we spent the day, resides in a 
 large house, built on an artificial mound, of considerable height 
 above the neighbouring country, and surrounded by very pretty 
 walks and shrubberies. The house has a venerable appearance, 
 and its lower story, as well as the mound on which it stands, is 
 said to be of some antiquity, at least for Bengal, where so many 
 powerful agents of destruction are always at work, that no ar- 
 chitecture can be durable, — and though ruins and buildings of 
 apparently remote date are extremely common, it would, per- 
 haps, be difticalt to find a single edifice 150 years old. This 
 building is of brick, with small windows and enormous buttres- 
 ses. The upper story, which is of the style of architecture usual 
 in Calcutta, was added by Lord Clive, who also laid out the gar- 
 dens, and made this his country house. We here met a large 
 party at breakfast, and afterwards proceeded to the church, which 
 
CONSECRATION OF ST. JAMES’S CHURCH. 
 
 65 
 
 is a very pretty building, divided into aisles by two rows of Doric 
 pillars, and capable of containing a numerous congregation. It 
 was now filled by a large and very attentive audience, composed 
 of the European regiment, the officers and their families, and 
 some visiters from Calcutta, whom the novelty of the occasion 
 brought thither. The consecration of the cemetery followed, 
 wisely here, as in all British India, placed at some distance from 
 the church and the village. On our return to General Hard- 
 wicke’s, we amused ourselves till dinner time with looking over 
 his very extensive museum, consisting of a great number of in- 
 sects in excellent preservation, and many of them of rare beauty, 
 collected during a long residence in India, or sent to him from 
 most of the Oriental Islands ; a large stuffed collection of birds 
 and animals, perfect also, notwithstanding the great difficulty of 
 preserving such objects here, besides some living animals, a very 
 pretty antelope, a vampire bat, a gibbon, or long-armed ape, a 
 gentle and rather pretty animal of its kind, a cobra di capello, 
 and some others. The vampire bat is a very harmless creature, 
 of habits entirely different from the formidable idea entertained 
 of it in England. It only eats fruits and vegetables, and indeed 
 its teeth are not indicative of carnivorous habits, and from blood 
 it turns away when offered to it. During the day-time it is of 
 course inert, but at night it is lively, affectionate, and playful, 
 knows its keeper, but has no objection to the approach and touch 
 of others. General Hardwicke has a noble collection of coloured 
 drawings of beasts, birds, fishes, and insects, to the amount of 
 many hundreds, drawn and arranged with great beauty and regu- 
 larity. We returned to Calcutta after dinner. 
 
 November 12. — I consecrated St. .James’s Church, before an 
 equally numerous congregation, but more miscellaneous in its 
 character than that at Dum Dum, and containing a large number 
 of half castes. It stands in the centre of the poorest and most 
 numerous Christian population of Calcutta, and thus attended is 
 indeed most valuable: a great many sailors also come to this 
 church. Mr. Hawtayne officiates here ; he can boast the honour 
 of having converted a Hindoo of decent acquirements and re- 
 spectable caste, who was baptized a few days ago. The Portu- 
 guese are numerous, and have two large churches here. The one 
 1 have seen, which is not however the largest of the two, is very 
 handsome, exactly like the Roman Catholic churches of Europe ; 
 and as being something more obscure and shadowy in its interior, 
 is both more solemn and better adapted to the climate than the 
 Protestant places of worship. Their clergy wear their canonical 
 dress of white cotton. A Roman Catholic Bishop, titularly of 
 Thibet, whose station is in the upper provinces, about this time 
 passed through Calcutta. I did not see him, but he called on 
 
 VoL. I.— 9 
 
66 
 
 HINDOO FEAST. 
 
 Lord Amherst. He is an Italian by birth, but has passed almost 
 his whole life as a priest in Brazil, and since as a bishop in the 
 Portuguese settlements of Congo and Loango. From thence a 
 translation must, I should have thought, have been a great hap- 
 piness, yet. Lord Amherst said, he spoke of his past and future 
 prospects with a sort of doubtful regret and uneasy anticipation, 
 and seemed to stand in very needless fear both of the English and 
 native governments. He is, 1 believe, the only bishop of his 
 church in this country, though there are two or three more in the 
 southern extremity of the peninsula. 
 
 November 18. — My wife went to a Nach given by one of the 
 wealthy natives. Baboo RouplMl Mullich, whose immense house 
 with Corinthian pillars we had observed more than once in our 
 passage along the Chitpoor road. She has given a full account 
 of it in her journal."^ I was kept away by a regard to the scru- 
 
 * I joined La^dy Macnaghten and a large party this evening to go to a Nach 
 given by a rich native, Rouplall Mullich, on the opening of his new house. 
 The outside was brilliantly illuminated, and as the building is a fine one, the 
 effect was extremely good. The crowd without the gates was great. We were 
 ushered into a large hall, occupying the centre of the house, round which run 
 two galleries with a number of doors opening into small apartments, the upper 
 ones being for the most part inhabited by the females of the family, who were 
 of course invisible to us, though they were able to look down into the hall 
 through the Venitians. This hall is open to the sky, but on this, as on all pub- 
 lic occasions, it was covered in with scarlet cloth, with which the floor was also 
 carpeted. All the large native houses are built on this principle, and the fa- 
 thers, sons, and grandsons, with their respective families, live together, till their 
 numbers become too great, when they separate like the patriarchs of old, and 
 find out new habitations. The magnificence of the building, — the beautiful pil- 
 lars supporting the upper galleries, — and the expensive and numerous glass 
 chandeliers with which it was lighted, — formed a striking contrast with the dirt, 
 the apparent poverty, and the slovenliness of every part that was not prepared 
 for exhibition ; the rubbish left by the builders had actually never been removed 
 out of the lower gallery, — the banisters of the stair-case, in itself paltry, were of 
 common unpainted wood, and broken in many places, and I was forced to tread 
 with care to avoid the masses of dirt over which we walked. 
 
 On entering we found a crowd collected round a songstress of great reputa- 
 tion, named Viiki, the Catalani of the east, who was singing in a low but sweet 
 voice some Hindoostanee songs, accompanied by inartificial and unmelodious 
 native music. As the crowd was great, we adjourned into a small room open- 
 ing out of the upper gallery, where we sat listening to one song after another, 
 devoured by swarms of mosquitoes, till we were heartily tired, when her place 
 was taken by the Nach, or dancing girls, — ^if dancing that could be called which 
 consisted in strained movements of the arms, head, and body, the feet, though 
 in perpetual slow motion, seldom moving from the same spot. Some story was 
 evidently intended to be told from the expression of their countenances, but to 
 me it was quite unintelligible. I never saw public dancing in England so free 
 from every thing approaching to indecency. Their dress was modesty itself, 
 nothing but their faces, feet, and hands, being exposed to view. An attempt at 
 buffoonery next followed, ill imagined, and worse executed, consisting of a bad 
 imitation of English country dances by ill-dressed men. In short, the whole 
 exhibition was fatiguing and stupid, — nearly every chann but that of novelty 
 being wanting. 
 
 To do us great honour, wc were now shown into another room, where a sup- 
 
FREE SCHOOL. 
 
 67 
 
 pies of the Christian and Mohammedan inhabitants of Calcutta, 
 many of whom look on all these Hindoo feasts as indiscriminately 
 idolatrous, and offered in honour of some one or other of their 
 deities. The fact is, that there are some, of which this was one, 
 given chiefly if not entirely to Europeans by the wealthy Hindoos, 
 in which no religious ceremony is avowed, and in which if any 
 idolatrous offering really takes place, it is done after the white 
 guests are departed. 
 
 About this time I attended the first meeting of the Governors 
 of the Free School which had occurred since my arrival. I, on 
 this occasion, saw the whole establishment ; it is a very noble 
 institution, consisting of a school where 247 boys and girls are 
 lodged, boarded, and clothed, and some received as day scholars. 
 They are all instructed in English, reading, writing, cyphering, 
 and their religious faith and duties, for which purpose the differ- 
 ent catechisms and other compendia furnished by the Society for 
 promoting Christian knowledge are employed. Some few of the 
 day-scholars are Armenian Christians, whose parents object to 
 these formulae ; and there are one or two Hindoos, who are al- 
 lowed to attend, and who also stand on one side when the Cate- 
 chism is repeated, though they say the Lord’s Prayer and read 
 the Scriptures without scruple. The children of Roman Catho- 
 lics, of whom there are also several, apparently make no such 
 difficulties, and even attend church with the rest of the scholars. 
 They are in fact so ignorant and neglected, that many of them 
 have scarcely any idea of Christianity but what they acquire here. 
 The girls’ school is a separate building of somewhat less extent 
 than the boys’ ; both are surrounded by good compounds, and 
 built on the highest spot on this flat district. 
 
 The system of Dr. Bell is pursued in these schools, except that 
 the climate requires more sitting than he allows, and this there- 
 fore is arranged more according to the Lancasterian system. 
 The boys are very well taught; many of them write beautiful 
 hands, and are excellent accountants, for both which, indeed, they 
 have a strong natural turn. Their reading is not so good, since 
 in fact almost all of them have to learn English as well as reading, 
 it being a curious fact that scarcely any children brought up in 
 this country, either high or low, speak any thing, even with their 
 parents, but the broken Hindoostanee, and vulgar Bengalee, which 
 they learn from their nurses ; while of these poor children, most 
 have Bengalee mothers. They exhibit, according to the head- 
 master, most of them considerable quickness, and a good memory ; 
 
 per table was laid out for a select few, and I was told the great supper-room was 
 well supplied with eatables. I returned home between twelve and one much 
 tired, and npt the least disposed to attend another Nach . — Extract from Editor’’ $ 
 Journal, 
 
68 
 
 BOTANICAL GARDEN. 
 
 but are deficient, when compared with English boys of the same 
 age and rank in life, in common sense, courage, and honesty, as 
 well as in bodily strength. They seldom fight, and are much 
 afraid of pain, but when provoked scold each other most fluently, 
 and use very indecent and bad language. This is a crime which 
 they but too naturally learn from their heathen neighbours, and 
 for which it is most frequently necessary to punish them. The 
 next most frequent crime is theft from each other. Lying, to 
 conceal their faults, and under fear of punishment, is also very 
 prevalent ; but on this I cannot lay much stress, since even in 
 English schools, among little boys of the lower rank, I know it 
 is so common as hardly to be exceeded. 
 
 Leprosy, in both its most formidable kinds, elephantiasis, and 
 leontiasis, are said to be almost as common here as in Syria and 
 Arabia ; and I have seen instances of both kinds among the 
 beggars in the streets, though certainly not so many as the accounts 
 which 1 had heard would have led me to expect. The swollen 
 legs of the former complaint I have noticed in three or four excur- 
 sions ; of the latter only two instances have occurred to me — one 
 a miserable native beggar, the other an European of the lower 
 rank. The first has lost all his fingers, his nose, and several of 
 his toes ; the second is of a hideous mealy white complexion. 
 Among Europeans it is allow^ed to be very unusual, but when it 
 comes, it answers in all respects to the fatal disease described by 
 Michaelis in his “ Ammerkungen fiber die Mosaische Gericht,” 
 &c. and can be only palliated and a little delayed in its course, by 
 any remedies which medicine can supply. 
 
 Mov, 20. — We went to see the Botanical Garden with Lady 
 Amherst. Captain Manning took us down in his ship’s cutter to 
 the “ Ghat,” or landing place, at the Garden Reach, which is on 
 the opposite side of the river, and where we met Lady and Miss 
 Amherst, who were waiting for us with one of the Governor’s boats. 
 Of these there are two ; the largest is called the Sunamookee, and 
 is a splendid but heavy gilt and painted barge, rigged like a ketch, 
 with a dining-room and bed-room. The other, on which we were 
 now to embark, is the “ Feel Churra,” elephant bark, from having 
 its head adorned with that of an elephant, with silver tusks. It is 
 a large, light, and beautiful canoe, paddled by twenty men, who 
 sit with their faces towards the head, with one leg hanging over 
 the side of the boat, and the great toe through a ring fastened to 
 its side. They keep time with their paddles, a>,d join occasionally 
 in chorus with a man who stands in the middle, singing what I 
 was assured were verses of his own composition : sometimes 
 amatory, sometimes in praise of the British nation, the ‘‘ Company 
 Sahib,” and the Governor-General ; and in one or two instances 
 were narrations of different victories gained by our troops in India. 
 
BOTANIC GARDEN. 
 
 69 
 
 The tunes of many of them are simple and pleasing, but the poet 
 has not a good voice. His appearance is singular — a little, thin, 
 squinting man, extremely conceited, with large silver manacles, 
 like those of women, round his naked ancles, which he jingles in 
 cadence to his story. In the fore-part of the boat is a small cabin, 
 very richly ornamented, like the awnings in English barges, but 
 enclosed with Venitian blinds ; and between this and the head 
 the mace-bearers of the Governor stand. The Union Jack is 
 hoisted at the head and stern of the boat, and the Company’s flag 
 in the centre. With oars it would go at a great rate, but the in- 
 feriority of paddles was now fairly proved, by the far more rapid 
 progress of Captain Manning’s boat, though quite as heavy, and 
 with only ten rowers. 
 
 The Botanic Garden is a very beautiful and well-managed 
 institution, enriched, besides the noblest trees and most beautiful 
 plants of India, with a vast collection of exotics, chiefly collected 
 by Dr. Wallich himself, in Nepaul, Pulo Penang, Sumatra, and 
 Java, and increased by contributions from the Cape, Brazil, and 
 many different parts of Africa and America, as well as Australasia, 
 and the South Sea Islands. It is not only a curious, but a pictu- 
 resque and most beautiful scene, and more perfectly answers 
 Milton’s idea of Paradise, except that it is on a dead flat instead 
 of a hill, than any thing which I ever saw. Among the exotics I 
 noticed the nutmeg, a pretty tree, something like a myrtle, wuth 
 a beautiful peach-like blossom, but too delicate for the winter 
 even of Bengal, and therefore placed in the most sheltered situa- 
 tion, and carefully matted round. The Sago-palm is a tree of 
 great singularity and beauty, and in a grove or avenue produces 
 an effect of striking solemnity, not unlike that of Gothic architec- 
 ture. There were some splendid South American creepers, some 
 plantains from the Malayan Archipelago, of vast size and great 
 beauty ; and, what excited a melancholy kind of interest, a little 
 wretched oak, kept alive with difficulty under a sky and in 
 a temperature so perpetually stimulating, which allowed it no 
 repose, or time to shed its leaves and recruit its powers by hy- 
 bernation. Some of the other trees, of which I had formed the 
 greatest expectations, disappointed me, such as the pine of New 
 Caledonia, which does not succeed here, at least the specimen 
 which was shown me was weak looking and diminutive in com- 
 parison with the prints in Cook’s Voyage, the recollection of 
 which is strongly imprinted on my mind, though I have not looked 
 at them since I was a boy. Of the enormous size of the Adam- 
 sonia, a tree from the neighbourhood of Gambia and Senegal, I 
 had heard much ; the elephant of the vegetable creation ! I was, 
 however, disappointed. The tree is doubtless wonderful, and 
 the rapidity of its growth is still more wonderful than its bulk ; 
 
70 
 
 NATIVE FEMALE SCHOOLS. 
 
 but it is neither particularly tall nor stately. Its bulk consists in 
 an enormous enlargement of its circumference immediately above 
 the roots, and for a comparatively small height up its stem, which 
 rather resembles that disease of the leg which bears the elephant’s 
 name than tallies with his majestic and well-proportioned, though 
 somewhat unwieldly stature. Dr. Wallich has the management of 
 another extensive public establishment at Titty -ghur, near Bar- 
 rackpoor, of the same nature with this, but appropriated more to 
 the introduction of useful plants into Bengal. He is himself a 
 native of Denmark, but left his country young, and has devoted 
 his life to natural history and botany in the east. His character 
 and conversation are more than usually interesting ; the first all 
 frankness, friendliness, and ardent zeal for the service of science ; 
 the last enriched by a greater store of curious information relating 
 to India and the neighbouring countries, than any which I have 
 yet met with. 
 
 These different public establishments used to be all cultivated 
 by the convicts in chains, of whom I have already spoken. In 
 the Botanic Garden their labour is now supplied by peasants 
 hired by the day or week, and the exchange is found cheap, as 
 well as otherwise advantageous and agreeable : the labour of 
 freemen here, as elsewhere, being infinitely cheaper than that of 
 slaves. 
 
 During Lady Amherst’s progress through the gardens, I ob- 
 served, that besides her usual attendants of gilt-sticks and maces, 
 two men with spears, also richly gilt, and two more with swords 
 and bucklers, went before her. This custom is, so far as I have 
 seen at present, confined to the Governor and his family ; but I 
 understand it used to be the case with most persons of condition 
 in Calcutta. 
 
 To the north of the Botanical Garden, and separated from it 
 by an extensive plantation of teak-trees, stands the new College 
 founded by the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, under 
 the management, and at the suggestion, of Bishop Middleton, in 
 a beautiful situation, and the building, from a little distance, 
 beautiful also, in the Gothic of queen Elizabeth’s time. 
 
 December 12. — 1 attended, together with a large proportion of 
 the European Society of Calcutta, an examination of the Native 
 Female Schools, instituted by Mrs. Wilson, and carried on by 
 her together with her husband and the other Missionaries of the 
 Church Missionary Society. The progress which the children 
 as well as the grown pupils had made, was very creditable ; and 
 it may show how highly we ought to appreciate Mrs. Wilson’s 
 efforts, when I mention, that when she began her work there was 
 no known instance of an Indian female having been instructed in 
 reading, writing, or sewing ; and that all those who knew most 
 
NATIVE FEMALE SCHOOLS. 
 
 71 
 
 of the country, regarded her attempt to bring them together into 
 schools as idle as any dream of enthusiasm could be.^ She is a 
 sensible and amiable young woman, with patience and good 
 temper sufficient to conquer most obstacles, and who has acquired 
 an influence over these poor little girls and their parents, as well 
 as over her grown pupils, which at first sight seems little less 
 than magical. It was very pretty to see the little swarthy chil- 
 dren come forward to repeat their lessons, and show their work 
 to Lady Amherst, blushing even through their dark complexions, 
 with their muslin veils thrown carelessly round their slim half- 
 naked figures, their black hair plaited, their foreheads speckled 
 with white or red paint, and their heads, necks, wrists, and ankles 
 loaded with all the little finery they could beg or borrow for 
 the occasion. Their parents make no objection to their learning 
 the catechism, or being taught to read the Bible, provided nothing 
 is done which can make them lose caste. And many of the 
 Brahmins themselves, either finding the current of popular 
 opinion too strongly in favour of the measures pursued for them 
 to struggle with, or really influenced by the beauty of the lessons 
 taught in Scripture, and the advantage of giving useful know- 
 ledge, and something like a moral sense to the lower ranks of 
 their countrymen and countrywomen, appear to approve of Mrs. 
 Wilson’s plan, and attend the examination of her scholars. There 
 is not even a semblance of opposition to the efforts which we are 
 now making to enlighten the Hindoos ; this I had some days ago 
 an excellent opportunity of observing, in going round the schools 
 supported by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge 
 with Mr. Hawtayne, and seeing with how much apparent cor- 
 diality he was received, not only by the children themselves and 
 the schoolmasters, though all Hindoos and Mussulmans, but by 
 the parents and the neighbouring householders of whatever 
 religion. 
 
 On all these points, however, and on the great change which 
 seems to be taking place in the character of this vast nation, or 
 at least in the province of Bengal, I have written at considerable 
 length to my friends in England, and therefore shall not repeat 
 my opinions and observations here. 
 
 December 25. — This being Christmas-day I had a large con- 
 gregation and a great number of communicants, I think above 
 300. Now, and at Easter-day, it is the custom in Calcutta to 
 give very splendidly to the communion collection, which is the 
 
 * At the end of the year 1826, Mrs. Wilson had about 600 scholars in various 
 schools in the suburbs of Calcutta. When the Central School is completed, 
 these will all be concentrated. At the commencement of this experiment, Mrs. 
 Wilson thought herself fortunate when she had obtained the attendance of six 
 or seven children. — Ed. 
 
72 
 
 STATE OF EUROPEAN POOR. 
 
 fund for the support of the European poor (for there are no poor’s 
 rates), and is managed with great judgment and attention by a 
 body of gentlemen, calling themselves the select vestry of the 
 Cathedral. There is a good deal of distress among the Europeans 
 and half-castes here, arising from various causes, especially from 
 the multitude of speculations which have been tried of late years 
 in Indigo and other establishments. If a man once begins falling 
 so far as to borrow money, it is hardly possible for him to recover 
 himself, the interest of loans is so high, and the necessary expenses 
 of living so great, while a return to England, except in forma 
 pauperis and at the Company’s cost, is too expensive to be thought 
 of by persons under such circumstances. Nor are they luxuries 
 only that ruin the colonist in Calcutta. House-rent is enormous, 
 and though the poorer classes of Europeans and half-castes live 
 in wretched dwellings, in very unwholesome parts of the town, 
 they are often obliged to pay for these as much as would rent an 
 excellent house in most of the market towns of England, and 
 would furnish them with very tolerable dwellings even in Lon- 
 don. Clothes, too, are dear. On the other hand, provisions, by 
 those who will stoop so low, are to be had for almost nothing 
 from the. remains of the dinners of the principal European fami- 
 lies, which the climate will not suffer to be kept till another day, 
 and are therefore disposed of by the Khansamans at a very low 
 rate indeed. Still there is much real want, and I apprehend that 
 a man who gives as a Christian ought to give, will in Calcutta 
 find little opportunity for saving, and still less for amusement and 
 needless luxury. Deus faxit ut quod debeo absolvam ! 
 
 My wife went a few days ago on a cruize to the Sand heads, 
 for the benefit of our child’s health. 
 
 Captain Manning joined his ship at Saugor at the same time, 
 with a promise that when he next returns here, he is again to 
 become our guest. He is an excellent man, warm and single- 
 hearted beyond most I know, of considerable talent in his profes- 
 sion and in mechanics, and of very pleasing unaffected manners. 
 During the time he has been with us, 1 have had an opportunity 
 of knowing his character thoroughly, and am very glad to be able 
 to rank him among the number of my friends. 
 
73 
 
 CHAPTER 111. 
 
 PAGODAS BARRACKPOOR SERAMPOOR : DECOITS CHANDERNAGORE 
 
 CHRISTMAS-BOXES IDOLS TITTY-GHUR SUTTEE BORE IN THE 
 
 RIVER SALTPETRE CONFIRMATION — GOVERNOR-GENERAL’s NATIVE 
 
 LEVEE. 
 
 On the 27th of December I paid a visit of two days to the 
 Governor at Barrackpoor. I went by water early enough in the 
 morning to preach to the congregation, which, for want of a 
 church, assembles in the great hall of the Government-house. 
 The distance is about 24 miles, which, with a favourable tide and 
 a good set of rowers, may be ascended in two hours and a half, 
 and descended in less than two hours. The river continues of 
 nearly the same width as at Calcutta 5 its banks are covered with 
 fruit-trees and villages, with many very handsome pagodas, of 
 which buildings Calcutta only offers some small, mean, and ne- 
 glected specimens. The general style of these buildings is, a 
 large square court, sometimes merely surrounded by a low wall, 
 with brick balustrades, plastered so as to resemble stone, or in- 
 dented at the top, with two or sometimes four towers at the 
 angles, generally, in the present day, of Grecian architecture, and 
 ornamented with pilasters, balustrades, and friezes. In the 
 centre of the principal front is, for the most part, an entrance re- 
 sembling, in its general character and style of arrangement, 
 the beautiful Propylaeum at Chester castle. When the pagoda 
 adjoins the river, a noble flight of steps, the whole breadth of the 
 portico, generally leads from the water to this entrance. Some- 
 times the whole court is surrounded by a number of square 
 ^towers, detached by a small interval from each other, and look- 
 ing not unlike tea-car isters, having such a propylaeum as I have 
 described in the centre of the principal front. 
 
 In the middle of the quadrangle, or at least in the middle 
 of one of its sides, opposite to the main entrance, is the temple 
 of the principal deity, sometimes octagonal, with pinnacles and 
 buttresses, greatly resembling a Gothic Chapter House, but in 
 some instances taller and larger, with three domes, one large in 
 the centre, and a smaller at each side, with three gilded orna- 
 ments on the summit of each, extremely like the old churches in 
 Russia. All these buildings are vaulted with brick, and the man- 
 ner in which the Hindoos raise their square or oblong domes 
 VoL. I.— 10 
 
74 
 
 PAGODAS. 
 
 seems to me simple and ingenious, and applicable to many use- 
 ful purposes. 
 
 It is very seldom that any thing like a congregation assembles 
 in these temples. A few priests and dancing women live in them, 
 whose business it is to keep the shrines clean, to receive the of- 
 ferings of the individuals who come from time to time to worship, 
 and to beat their gongs in honour of their idols, which is done 
 three or four times in the twenty-four hours. On more solemn 
 occasions, however, wealthy Hindoos give money to illuminate 
 the building, and throw up fire-works, which are to be had in Cal- 
 cutta of great excellence and beauty. And in one instance, which 
 I omitted to mention before, on the celebration of the festival of 
 the goddess Kali at the pagoda of Kalighat, near Russipugla, I 
 saw the towers at the corners of the building hung round with 
 an immense quantity of gilt paper, tinsel, and flowers, the court 
 crowded with coloured plaster statues as big or bigger than 
 life, representing Sepoys, horse and foot, drawn up in the act of 
 presenting arms, and a figure in their front on an elephant to 
 represent the Governor-General, also in the act of taking off his 
 cocked hat. In the middle of the court, and before the gate of 
 the sanctuary, was a very large temporary pavilion, I should sup- 
 pose 60 feet long by about 20, composed of coarse white cotton, 
 but glittering with ribands, gilding, tinsel, and flounces of vari- 
 ous coloured silks, with slender gilded pillars, overshadowing a 
 vast Plateau^ for it had exactly this appearance, of plaster filled 
 with painted gods and goddesses, Kali and all her family with all 
 their respective heads and arms, while the whole building rang 
 with the clamour, tinkling, and strumming of gongs, bells, and 
 stringed instruments. Yet there were not many worshippers 
 even then. These pagodas are often endowed with lands as 
 well as rent-charges on lands, though some of them depend en- 
 tirely on voluntary contributions. Most of the larger ones are 
 kept externally very neat, and diligently whitewashed, while the 
 Grecian ornaments of which I have spoken, and which must 
 have been borrowed from the Europeans, are so many evidences 
 of the repairs bestowed on them occasionally and of late years. 
 
 During my stay at Barrackpoor, I witnessed one custom of 
 the Hindoos which I could not comprehend; a jackall v\ras 
 caught in a trap and killed, and as soon as the breath was out of 
 his body, all the servants of that religion ran forward to wash 
 their hands in his blood, — which 1 am told they always do when- 
 ever they kill, or witness the death of a wild beast. 
 
 The Indian squirrel, which abounds in the park, is smaller 
 than ours, more of an ash colour, with two black and white 
 streaks down its back ; and not only lives in trees, but in the 
 
SERAMPOOR. 
 
 75 
 
 thatch of houses. 1 saw several playing about the «aves of my 
 bungalow, and at first mistook them for rats, which at a small 
 distance they much resemble. 
 
 December 28. — I went this morning to return a visit which 
 1 had received from Colonel Krefting, the Danish Governor of 
 Serampoor, a fine old veteran who has been above 40 years resi^ 
 dent in Bengal, yet still preserves the apparently robust health 
 and florid old age of Norway, of which country he is a native: 
 With him I found his secretary, an officer of the name of Mans- 
 bach, also a Norwegian, whose mother I had met wdth many 
 years back at the house of Mr. Rosencrantz at Hafslan, on the 
 Falls of the Glommer. My conversation with them renewed 
 some very agreeable recollections on both sides, and 1 was glad 
 to hear of the health of some of those who had formerly shown 
 me kindness, while they were much interested by my account of 
 the Knudtzons, of Penrhyn’s travels in the province of Bergen, 
 and of the glacier which he had discovered. 
 
 Serampoor is a handsome place, kept beautifully clean, and 
 looking more like an European town than Calcutta, or any of its 
 neighbouring cantonments. The guard, which was turned out 
 to receive me, consisted of perhaps a dozen Sepoys in the red 
 Danish uniform ; they were extremely clean and soldier-like look- 
 ing men, and the appearance of the place flourishing. During 
 the long war in which England was engaged, and so long as the 
 Danes remained neutral, it was really so, and avast deal of com- 
 merce was carried on under the benefit of its flag. At the time 
 of the Copenhagen rupture. Lord Minto sent two or three com- 
 panies of infantry to take possession of it. Since that period the 
 settlement has grievously declined, and so much the faster, be- 
 cause no stipulation was made by the Danish Government at 
 the time of the general pacification, for the continuance of a 
 grant of 200 chests of opium yearly, which, previous to the rup- 
 ture, the English East India company were accustomed to fur- 
 nish to the Danish Government of Serampoor at the cost price, 
 thereby admitting them to share in the benefits of this important 
 monopoly. This grant has been earnestly requested since by 
 Colonel Krefting, but hitherto without success, and in conse- 
 quence he complains that the revenues of the settlement do not 
 meet its current expenses, and that the Government have been 
 utterly unable to relieve the sufferers by the late inundation. 
 Of Colonel Krefting every body speaks highly *, and 1 have found 
 great sympathy expressed in his misfortunes and those of his co- 
 lony. 1 fear, however, that Government will not be able to grant 
 his petition without authority from England, though they show 
 in other respects what kindness and favour they can. 
 
 Many persons of different nations, who like a cheaper resi- 
 
76 
 
 POLICE AT SERAMPOOR. 
 
 dence than Calcutta, take houses here. One of these was the 
 abode of Mr. Brown, many years senior Presidency Chaplain, 
 and the friend of Henry Martyn. A deserted pagoda near it, 
 once the temporary residence of the latter, attracted my atten- 
 tion. It was in Mr. Brown’s time fitted up with books, and a bed 
 for occasional visiters at his house, but is now quite empty and 
 ruinous. 
 
 The administration of Serampoor, as it respects the police, is 
 extremely good, and does much credit to Colonel Krefting and his 
 Danish magistrates. During the late inundation he was called 
 on for more vigorous measures than usual, since a numerous band 
 of Decoits,” or river-pirates, trusting to the general confusion 
 and apparently defenceless state of the place, attacked his little 
 kingdom, and began to burn and pillage with all the horrors which 
 attend such inroads in this country. The Colonel took the field 
 at the head of his dozen Sepojs, his silver-sticks, police-men, and 
 sundry volunteers, to the amount of perhaps 30, killed some of 
 the ruffians, and took several prisoners, whom he hanged next 
 morning, without deigning to ask aid from his powerful neighbours 
 at Barrackpoor. 
 
 From Serampoor I proceeded to Chandernagore, where 1 had 
 also to return a visit to Monsieur Pelissier, the F rench Governor. 
 It is, I think, a smaller town than the former, and with a less 
 striking appearance from the river ; the houses are mostly small, 
 and the streets presented a remarkable picture of solitude and 
 desertion. I saw no boats loading or unloading at the quay, no 
 porters with burdens in the streets, no carts, no market people, 
 and in fact only a small native bazar, and a few dismal looking 
 European shops. In the streets I met two or three Europeans 
 smoking segars, and apparently with little to do, having almost 
 all the characteristic features and appearance of Frenchmen. 
 
 I had half an hour’s very agreeable conversation with the 
 Governor, and promise myself much pleasure from his acquaint- 
 ance. He is only just arrived at this place from Pondicherry, 
 where he had passed several years, and of which he seems very 
 fond ; of the climate of Bengal he complains as being too hot and 
 too cold, and says that his family have suffered in their healths 
 during their residence here. 
 
 I had about this time an opportunity of observing a custom 
 which prevails with different classes of Hindoos and Mussulmans, 
 of making presents to their masters or superiors at Christmas of 
 fruit, game, fish, pastry, and sweetmeats. Some gifts of this sort 
 came to us from different Baboos of our acquaintance. Our head 
 servants sent presents of plum-cakes, fish, and fruit ; and even 
 our poor bearers came in a body, their faces decorated with an 
 extra quantity of raddle, chalk, and tin foil, to beg my accept- 
 
HINDOO IDOLS. 
 
 77 
 
 ance of a basket of plantains and oranges. The outer gates of 
 most of the houses in Calcutta and Chowringhee are decorated 
 with garlands of flowers, tinsel, and gilt paper. These Christmas- 
 boxes are said to be an ancient custom here, and I could almost 
 fancy that our name of box for this particular kind of present, 
 the derivation of which is not very easy to trace in the European 
 languages, is a corruption of ‘‘ Buckshish,” a gift or gratuity, in 
 Turkish, Persian, and Hindoostanee. There have been undoubt- 
 edly more words brought into our language from the East than I 
 used to suspect. “ Cash,” which here means small money, is one 
 of these ; but of the process of such transplantation I can form 
 no conjecture. 
 
 January 1, 1824. — I this day preached at the cathedral, it 
 being an old and good custom in India always to begin the year 
 with the solemn observation of the day of the Circumcision ; there 
 was a good congregation. 1 received to-day an explanation of 
 some very singular images, which stand in different streets of 
 Calcutta and its neighbourhood, representing a female figure, or 
 at least the figure of a youth, rudely carved in wood and painted, 
 standing erect on the back of a disproportionately little elephant, 
 and with a monstrous sort of spire or shrine on his head. They 
 are used, it appears, as a sort of hatchment, being erected on the 
 death of wealthy Hindoos, near their dwelling houses, but, differ- 
 ing in this respect from hatchments, are generally suffered to 
 remain till they fall in pieces. These are of wood. Most of the 
 Hindoo idols are of clay, and very much resemble in composition, 
 colouring, and execution, though of course not in form, the more 
 paltry sort of images which are carried about in England for sale 
 by the Lago di Como people. At certain times of the year, great 
 number of these are in fact hawked about the streets of Calcutta 
 in the same manner, on men’s heads. This is before they have 
 been consecrated, which takes place on their being solemnly 
 washed in the Ganges by a Brahmin Pundit. Till this happens, 
 
 ' they possess no sacred character, and are frequently given as toys 
 to children, and used as ornaments of rooms, which when hal- 
 lowed they could not be, without giving great offence to every 
 Hindoo who saw them thus employed. 1 thought it remarkable 
 that though most of the male deities are represented of a deep 
 brown colour, like the natives of the country, the females are 
 usually no less red and white than our porcelain beauties as ex- 
 hibited in England. But it is evident, from the expressions of most 
 of the Indians themselves, from the style of their amatory poetry, 
 and other circumstances, that they consider fairness as a part of 
 beauty, and a proof of noble blood. They do not like to be called 
 black ; and though the Abyssinians, who are sometimes met with 
 in the country, are very little darker than they themselves are, 
 
78 
 
 PORTUGUESE IN INDIA. 
 
 their jest books are full of taunts on the charcoal complexion of 
 the “ Hubshee.” Much of this has probably arisen from their 
 having been so long subjected to the Moguls, and other conquer- 
 ors originally from more northern climates, and vrho continued to 
 keep up the comparative fairness of their stock by frequent im- 
 portation of northern beauties. India too has been always, and 
 long before the Europeans came hither, a favourite theatre for 
 adventurers from Persia, Greece, Tartary, Turkey, and Arabia, 
 all white men, and all in their turn possessing themselves of 
 wealth and power. These circumstances must have greatly con- 
 tributed to make a fair complexion fashionable. It is remarkable, 
 however, to observe how surely all these classes of men in a few 
 generations, even without any intermarriage with the Hindoos, 
 assume the deep olive tint, little less dark than a Negro, which 
 seems natural to the climate. The Portuguese natives form unions 
 among themselves alone, or if they can with Europeans. Yet the 
 Portuguese have, during a three hundred years’ residence in India, 
 become as black as Cadres. Surely this goes far to disprove the 
 assertion, which is sometimes made, that climate alone is insuffi- 
 cient to account for the difference between the Negro and the 
 European. It is true that in the Negro are other peculiarities 
 which the Indian has not, and to which the Portuguese colonist 
 shows no symptom of approximation, and which undoubtedly do 
 not appear to follow so naturally from the climate, as that swarthi- 
 ness of complexion which is the sole distinction between the 
 Hindoo and the European. But if heat produces one change, 
 other peculiarities of climate may produce other and additional 
 changes, and when such peculiarities have 3 or 4000 years to 
 operate in, it is not easy to fix any limits to their power. I am 
 inclined after all, to suspect that our European vanity leads us 
 astray in supposing that our own is the primitive complexion, 
 which I should rather suppose was that of the Indian, half way 
 between the two extremes, and perhaps the most agreeable to the 
 eye and instinct of the majority of the human race. A colder 
 climate, and a constant use of clothes, may have blanched the skin 
 as effectually as a burning sun and nakedness may have tanned 
 it ; and 1 am encouraged in this hypothesis by observing that of 
 animals the natural colours are generally dusky and uniform, 
 while whiteness and a variety of tint almost invariably follow 
 domestication, shelter from the elements, and a mixed and un- 
 natural diet. Thus while hardship, additional exposure, a greater 
 degree of heat, and other circumstances with which we are un- 
 acquainted, may have deteriorated the Hindoo into a Negro, oppo- 
 site causes may have changed him into the progressively lighter 
 tints of the Chinese, the Persian, the Turk, the Russian, and the 
 Englishman. 
 
FIRE-WORKS AT SERAMPOOR.—SUTTEE, 
 
 79 
 
 My wife and little girl having returned from their cruize to 
 the Sandheads, much benefited by the change of air, we went, 
 on the 7th of January, 1824, to Titty-ghur, a convenient and 
 comfortable house, in a beautiful situation, most kindly lent to us 
 for a couple of months by Dr. Wallich. It is on tbe banks of the 
 river, about two miles from Barrackpoor, and in the middle of 
 the Company’s experimental botanic garden. The weather is 
 now very delightful, and we are comparatively free from the 
 dense fogs which at this season beset Calcutta and Chowringhee. 
 
 On the 10th of January there was a display of fire-works at 
 Serampoor, in honour of the patron saint at the Roman Catholic 
 chapel, which we saw to great advantage from our bholiah, sta- 
 tioned opposite to it on the river. They were, we were told, 
 procured from China by one of the Roman Catholic Portuguese 
 merchants. I thought them very good, and the forms of most of 
 them were new to me. One was a striking imitation of the foliage 
 of a tuft of bamboos, being in fact really a cluster of long and 
 slender bamboos, with fire-works affixed to them, which very 
 beautifully gave the effect of the graceful curve of that elegant 
 plant, and even the form of its leaves. There was also another, 
 a sort of Roman candle, which sent up flames, in shape and ac- 
 tion, as well as the noise they emitted, not unlike large pigeons, 
 and therefore called Chinese doves. A great crowd of boats and 
 people were on the river to see these fire-works, which are a very 
 popular exhibition with the lower orders. 
 
 Returning one day from Calcutta, I passed by two funeral 
 piles, the one preparing for a single person, the other nearly con- 
 sumed, on which a Suttee had just taken place. For this latter 
 purpose a stage had been constructed of bamboos about eighteen 
 inches or two feet above the ground, on which the dead body 
 had been laid, and under which, as my native servants told me, 
 the unhappy widow had been stretched out, surrounded with 
 combustibles. Only a heap of glowing embers was now seen 
 here, besides two long bamboos, which seemed intended to keep 
 down any struggles which nature might force from her. On the 
 stage was what seemed a large bundle of coarse cotton clotb, 
 smoking, and partially blackened, emitting a very offensive smell. 
 This my servants said was the husband’s body. The woman 
 they expressly affirmed had been laid below it, and ghee poured 
 over her to hasten her end, and they also said the bamboos had 
 been laid across her. I notice these particulars, because they 
 differ from the account of a similar and recent ceremony, given 
 by the Baptist missionaries, in which it is said that the widow is 
 laid by the side of her husband, on the platform, with her arm 
 embracing him, and her face turned to him. Here 1 asked 
 repeatedly, and received a different account. Yet the mission- 
 
80 
 
 SUTTEES. 
 
 aries have had every possible opportunity of learning, if not of 
 actually witnessing, all the particulars of the ceremony which 
 they describe. Perhaps these particulars vary in different in- 
 stances. At all events it is a proof how hard it is to gain, in this 
 country, accurate information as to facts which seem most obvious 
 to the senses. I felt very sick at heart, and regretted 1 had not 
 been half an hour sooner, though probably my attempts at per- 
 suasion would have had no chance of success. I would at least 
 have tried to reconcile her to life. There were perhaps twenty 
 or thirty people present, with about the same degree of interest, 
 though certainly not the same merrirnent, as would have been 
 called forth by a bon-fire in England. I saw no weeping, and 
 heard no lamentations. But when the boat drew near, a sort of 
 shout was raised, I believe in honour of Brahma, which was met 
 by a similar outcry from my boatmen. 
 
 January 15. — Dr. Marshman, the Baptist Missionary from 
 Serampoor, dined with me. Dr. Carey is too lame to go out. 
 The talents and learning of these good men are so well known in 
 Europe, that I need hardly say that, important as are the points 
 on which we differ, I sincerely admire and respect them, and 
 desire their acquaintance. In speaking of the Suttee of yester- 
 day, Dr. Marshman said that these horrors are of more frequent 
 occurrence within these few last years, than when he first knew 
 Bengal ; an increase which he imputes to the increasing luxury 
 of the higher and middling classes, and to their expensive imita- 
 tion of European habits, which make many families needy, and 
 anxious to get rid, by any means, of the necessity of supporting 
 their mothers, or the widows of their relations. Another frequent 
 cause is, he thinks, the jealousy of old men, who having married 
 young wives, still cling to their exclusive possession even in 
 death, and leave injunctions, either with their wives themselves 
 to make the offering, or with their heirs to urge them to it. He 
 is strongly of opinion that the practice might be forbidden in 
 Bengal, where it is of most frequent occurrence, without exciting 
 any serious murmurs. The women, he is convinced, would all 
 be loud in their praises of such a measure ; and even of the men, 
 so few would have an immediate interest in burning their wives, 
 mothers, or sisters-in-law, that they would not set themselves 
 against what those who had most influence with them would be 
 so much interested in having established. The Brahmins, he 
 says, have no longer the power and popularity which they had 
 when he first remembers India; and among the laity many power- 
 ful and wealthy persons agree, and publicly express their agree- 
 ment, with Rammohun Roy, in reprobating the custom, which is 
 now well known to be not commanded by any of the Hindoo 
 sacred books, though some of them speak of it as a meritorious 
 
BORE IN THE GANGES. 
 
 81 
 
 sacrifice. A similar opinion to that of Dr. Marshman I have 
 heard expressed by the senior Judge of the Sudder Dewannee 
 Adawlut. Others, however, of the members of the Government 
 think differently. They conceive that the likeliest method to 
 make the custom more popular than it is, would be to forbid and 
 make it a point of honour with the natives ; that, at present, no 
 woman is supposed to be burnt without her own wish certified 
 to the magistrate, that there are other and less public ways to die 
 (on that account more liable to abuse than the Suttees) which 
 might be resorted to if this were forbidden, and that if we desire 
 to convert the Hindoos, we should above all things be careful to 
 keep Government entirely out of sight in all the means which we 
 employ, and to be even, if possible, over scrupulous in not med- 
 dling with, or impeding those customs which, however horrid, 
 are become sacred in their estimation, and are only to be de- 
 stroyed by convincing and changing the popular mind. When 
 Christian schools have become universal, the Suttee will fall of 
 itself. But to forbid it by any legislative enactment would, in 
 their opinion, only give currency to the notion, that we mean to 
 impose Christianity on them by force, and retard its progress to 
 an almost indefinite period. 
 
 January 21. — We had this morning an opportunity of hearing 
 the remarkable phenomenon, not uncommon in the Ganges, 
 called the Bore, or rush of the spring-tide up the river, with a 
 great elevation of wave, and tremendous noise and rapidity. 
 The sound resembled that of a steam-boat, but was infinitely 
 louder ; we were awakened by it, but before 1 could get out, it 
 had either passed, or else, as it always runs close to one or other 
 of the sides of the river, the high crumbling bank prevented my 
 seeing it. Nothing at least was visible but the water shining 
 beautifully bright under a full moon in a cloudless sky, though 
 the noise continued to be audible for some time longer. 
 
 I went this day to Calcutta, to attend the meeting of the Church 
 Missionary Society, and returned, after an early dinner, with 
 Archdeacon Corrie. 
 
 A very beautiful civet cat was caught this morning in one of 
 the walks of the garden, and was overpowered by a number of men 
 and dogs, after a severe chase from one tree to the other, and a 
 gallant resistance. It is a very pretty animal, like a cat in all re- 
 spects except its size, which nearly equals that of a small fox, 
 and its long pointed nose. The common wild cat often occurs 
 in this neighbourhood, and the civet is not unfrequent. During 
 the fruit season, the garden is sadly pillaged by swarms of mon- 
 keys, which then make their appearance from the jungles, as well 
 as by the huge bats, which entirely live on fruits and vegetables, 
 their vampire habits, as I have before observed, being utterly 
 
 VoL. I.~l I 
 
82 
 
 SALT PETRE— CONFIRMATION. 
 
 fabulous. Though they then abound, not one is now to be 
 seen : probably sleep during the cool weather. 
 
 There is another powder-mill in this neighbourhood besides 
 those near Garden Reach, and half way between this place and 
 Calcutta. The immense quantities of salt petre found in Bengal 
 account for their frequency. The tendency of the soil to pro- 
 duce it is very annoying to the builders and the occupants of 
 houses. It can scarcely be prevented from encroaching in a few 
 years on the walls and floors of all lower rooms, so as to render 
 them unwholesome, and eventually uninhabitable. Half the 
 houses in Calcutta are in this predicament, and their ground- 
 floors useless. Cellars are unknown in this part of India. 
 
 January 25 . — On my return from Calcutta this morning, where 
 I went to preach at the cathedral, I found that I had a fresh rea- 
 son for thankfulness to God in my wife’s safety, and the birth of 
 a fine and promising little girl, to the exceeding delight of our 
 dear Emily, who rejoices in her new play -thing, kissing her little 
 sister over and over again. God grant that they may both grow 
 up in mutual love and equal virtue ! 
 
 February 2 . — I went to Calcutta for a Confirmation, which I 
 held the next day in the Cathedral ; the number of persons who 
 attended were 236, — a good many more than were expected, as 
 barely two years have elapsed since the last performance of the 
 ceremony by Bishop Middleton. Most of them were half castes ; 
 but there were, however, several officers, and from 20 to 30 Eu- 
 ropean soldiers, and three grown up women of the upper ranks. 
 They were apparently very seriously impressed with the cere- 
 mony, which to me, I will own, was almost overpowering. 
 God Almighty grant his indulgence to me, and his blessing on 
 those for whom I then prayed, for Jesus Christ’s sake ! 
 
 February 5 . — I returned to Titty-ghur. I had a curious visit a 
 few days ago from a person who previously announced himself by 
 letter as the Rev. Jacob Mecazenas, lately arrived from Rome, 
 and anxious to wait upon me. I asked him to dinner two days 
 after, but to my dismay, about 10 o’clock on the morning of the 
 appointed day, instead of the smooth well-spoken Jesuit I had 
 made up my mind to expect, I heard a thundering voice in the 
 portico, and was greeted by a tall stout ecclesiastic with a ven- 
 erable beard, a long black cossac, a calotte, and a triangular hat, 
 who announced himself as Father Mecazenas of the Dominican 
 order, and come to pass the day with me! I found-he was a na- 
 tive of Teflis, but brought up in one of the Roman Catholic Ar- 
 menian Convents established in Asia, and that he had passed his 
 latter years at Rome. He spoke wretched Italian, a very little 
 French, no English or Hindoostanee, and scarcely more than a 
 few words of Latin. I had an engagement at the Government 
 
FATHER MECAZENAS. 
 
 83 
 
 House during a part of the morning, which I pleaded, and hunt- 
 ed about to find if I had any books which could enable the poor 
 man to pass his time rather less irksomely in my absence, but I 
 found that the few Latin books which I had unpacked were in 
 Calcutta, that I had no Italian of any kind, and that the old 
 French books which I could get at, were the Tragedies of Vol- 
 taire, — a harmless work certainly, but bearing so formidable a 
 name that I doubted whether, even if he could, he would read 
 them. I was not mistaken, the name was enough for him, and 
 though he made no objection in my presence, I was told that no 
 sooner was my back turned than with a deep groan he laid them 
 down, and desired a servant to take them away. Accordingly he 
 passed the greater part of the morning in walking up and down 
 the room, and looking out at the boats on the Hooghly. I pitied 
 the poor man, and when I had finished my necessary business, on 
 my return renewed my conversation with him, which got on bet- 
 ter than I at first expected. I asked him some questions about 
 Georgia and Armenia, but the most which 1 got was a list of the 
 different tribes of Caucasus, a specimen of the Georgian vocabu- 
 lary for the most common articles, and the Georgian alphabet, 
 which he wrote out for me, and which 1 was surprised to find 
 differ very materially from the Sclavonic, the Armenian, and every 
 other with which 1 am acquainted. At last dinner came to his 
 relief as well as mine, and he soon began to display the appetite 
 of a hardy mountaineer. I have seldom seen any one make such 
 quick despatch with whatever w^as put on his plate, and he made 
 a no less good use of the three French words with which he 
 seemed most familiar, “ a votre sante !” tossing down one bum- 
 per of wine after another, laughing all the time with the voice of 
 a lion, till I began to fear some exhibition would follow, not very 
 creditable either to the Church of Rome or to the table of a 
 Protestant Bishop. He was, however, too strong to be affected 
 by what he drank, except that it a little increased his fluency and 
 ' noisy hilarity ; and as soon as the cloth was fairly off the table, I 
 thought it high time to call for coffee. 1 had been all this time ex- 
 pecting to be asked to subscribe to something or other, since, the 
 dinner always excepted, I could not perceive why else the good 
 man should have shown so much anxiety for my acquaintance ; 
 and accordingly at length he rose, brought out an immense paper 
 book, and after a short complimentary speech, solicited my pa- 
 tronage to a fund he was employed in collecting, to repair the 
 temple of Fortuna Virilis, in Rome, which was, he said, appro- 
 pr ated as a hospital and place of intruction for Armenian and 
 other youths, and pilgrims, but had been grievously injured by 
 certain excavations which the French made while in Rome, in 
 order to examine the nature of its substruction and foundations. 
 
84 
 
 NATIVE LEVEE. 
 
 His paper was to the same effect, but was written in English, and 
 evidently the composition of some of the Calcutta native writers. 
 He then talked of credentials from Rome ; but though I asked 
 for them, both in Latin and Italian, he produced none, but eva- 
 ded the question. However, had he produced them, he would 
 not have been at all more likely to gain his object with me, since 
 I neither quite believed the story of the French having committed 
 an outrage at variance with their general conduct, nor did I con- 
 ceive myself called on to build up churches for the members of a 
 different communion in Rome, when all which I can do is likely 
 to fall so far short of the claims of charity in India. If the poor 
 man, who was very pressing, had asked me for himself, and in 
 the capacity which I suspect really belonged to him, of a mendi- 
 cant, he would have fared better. As it was I was unrelenting, 
 though civil ; and we parted, with at least the satisfaction on my 
 part, that I had given him a good dinner. 
 
 February 7. — I went down to Calcutta this morning, to attend 
 a “ Durbar,” or native levee of the Governor’s, which all the 
 principal native residents in Calcutta were expected to attend, 
 as well as the vakeels from several Indian princes. 1 found on 
 my arrival the levee had begun, and that Lord Amherst, attend- 
 ed by his aides-du-camp and Persian secretary, had already 
 walked down one side, where the persons of most rank, and who 
 were to receive “ khelats,” or honorary dresses, were stationed. 
 I therefore missed this ceremony, hut joined him and walked 
 round those to whom he had not yet spoken, comprising some 
 persons of considerable rank and wealth, and some learned men, 
 travellers from different eastern countries, who each in turn 
 addressed his compliments, or petitions, or complaints to the 
 Governor. There were several whom we thus passed who spoke 
 English not only fluently but gracefully. Among these were Ba- 
 boo Ramchunder Roy and his four brothers, all fine, tall, stout 
 young men, the eldest of whom is about to build one of Mr. 
 Shakespear’s rope-bridges over the Caramnasa. 
 
 After Lord Amherst had completed the circle, he stood on the 
 lower step of the throne, and the visiters advanced one by one to 
 take leave. First came a young Raja of the Rajapootana district, 
 who had received that day the investiture of his father’s territo- 
 ries, in a splendid brocade khelat and turban ; he was a little, pale, 
 shy-looking boy, of 1 2 years old. Lord Amherst, in addition to 
 these splendid robes, placed a large diamond aigrette in his tur- 
 ban, tied a string of valuable pearls round his neck, then gave him 
 a small silver bottle of attar of roses, and a lump of pawn, or betel, 
 wrapped up in a plantain leaf. Next came forwards the “ vakeel,” 
 or envoy of the Maharaja Scindeah, also a boy, not above sixteen, 
 but smart, self-possessed, and dandy -looking. His khelat and 
 
NATIVE LEVEE. 
 
 85 
 
 presents were a little, and but a little, less splendid than those of 
 his precursor. Then followed Oude, Nagpoor, Nepaul, all re- 
 presented by their vakeels, and each in turn honoured by similar, 
 though less splendid, marks of attention. The next was a Per- 
 sian Khan, a fine military-looking man, rather corpulent, and of 
 a complexion not differing from that of a Turk, or other southern 
 Europeans, with a magnificent black beard, and a very pleasing 
 and animated address. A vakeel from Sind succeeded, with a 
 high red cap, and was followed by an Arab, handsomely dressed, 
 and as fair nearly, though not so good looking, as the Persian. 
 These were all distinguished, and received each some mark of 
 favour. Those who followed had only a little attar poured on 
 their handkerchiefs, and some pawn. On the whole it was an 
 interesting and striking sight, though less magnificent than 1 had 
 expected, and less so 1 think than the levee of an European mo- 
 narch. The sameness of the greater part of the dresses (white 
 muslin) was not sufficiently relieved by the splendour of the few 
 khelats ; and even these which were of gold and silver brocade 
 were in a great measure eclipsed by the scarlet and blue uniforms, 
 gold lace, and feathers, of the English. One of the most striking 
 figures was the Governor-General’s native aide-du-camp, a tall, 
 strong-built, and remarkably handsome man, in the flower of his 
 age, and of a countenance at once kind and bold. His dress was 
 a very rich hussar uniform, and he advanced last of the circle, 
 with the usual military salute; then, instead of the offering of 
 money which each of the rest made, he bared a small part of the 
 blade of his sabre, and held it out to the Governor. The attar 
 he received, not on his handkerchief, but on his white cotton 
 gloves. I had on former occasions noticed this soldier from his 
 height, striking appearance, and rich uniform. He is a very re- 
 spectable man, and reckoned a good officer. 
 
86 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CALCUTTA ROPE BRIDGES WEDDING PROCESSION HINDOO FESTIVAL 
 
 —CHOLERA MORBUS FRUITS ORDINATION OF CHRISTIAN DAVID. 
 
 Tn passing Cossipoor on my return to Titty-ghur, I called on 
 Mr. C. Shakespear, and looked at his rope-bridges, which are 
 likely to be most useful, in this country at least, if not in Europe. 
 Their principle differs from that of chain bridges, in the centre 
 being a little elevated, and in their needing no abutments. It is 
 in fact an application of a ship’s standing rigging to a new pur- 
 pose, and it is not even necessary that there should be any foun- 
 dation at all, as the whole may be made to rest on flat timbers, 
 and, with the complete apparatus of cordage, iron, and bamboos, 
 may be taken to pieces and set up again in a few hours, and re- 
 moved from place to place by the aid of a few camels and ele- 
 phants. One of these over a torrent near Benares, of 160 feet 
 span, stood a severe test during last year’s inundation, when, if 
 ever, the cordage might have been expected to suffer from the 
 rain, and when a vast crowd of neighbouring villagers took refuge 
 on it as the only safe place in the neighbourhood, and indeed al- 
 most the only object which continued to hold itself above the 
 water. He has now finished another bridge for the Caramnasa, 
 at the expense of Ramchunder Narain, whom I met at the Dur- 
 bar, and who may expect to reap much popularity with his coun- 
 trymen from such a public benefit, not only as facilitating inter- 
 course, but as freeing their religious pilgrims from a great anxiety. 
 The name of the river in question means, “ the destroyer of good 
 works,” from the circumstance of an ancient devotee, whose 
 penances, like those of Kehama, had exalted him to Indra’s hea- 
 ven, having been precipitated headlong by Siva, till his sacrifices 
 broke his fall half way, directly over the stream in question. He 
 now hangs in the air, head downwards, and his saliva flows into, 
 and pollutes the whole water in such a manner, that any person 
 who bathes in, or even touches it, loses the merit of all his ante- 
 cedent penances, alms, and other acts of piety, reserving, how- 
 ever, the full benefit of his misdeeds of whatever description. All 
 brahmins who are obliged to pass it, (and it lies in the way to some 
 of the most illustrious places of pilgrimage,) are in the greatest 
 terror. They are sometimes carried on men’s shoulders, some- 
 times ferried over; but in either case, if they are in the least 
 
CORPULENCY. 
 
 87 
 
 splashed or wetted, it amounts almost to a matter of damnation, 
 without hope or chance of pardon. The people on the bank who 
 act as watermen, are not influenced by these superstitions *, but to 
 Indians in general Mr. Shakespear’s bridge will be most valuable. 
 The span of this bridge, which is strong enough to bear a field- 
 piece, is 320 feet in length, its breadth 8 ; its flooring is composed 
 of stout bamboos, connected by coir-rope, with a net-work hand- 
 rail on either side, also of coir, as are the shrouds and principal 
 tackling which support the whole. The appearance of the bridge 
 is light and graceful, and its motion on passing over it not suffi- 
 cient to be either dangerous or alarming. 
 
 My wife tells me a curious circumstance which has occurred 
 in my absence, illustrative of the timid character which seems to 
 belong to the Bengalees. The coachman had asked leave to go 
 with me to Calcutta ; and as the carriage-horses were consequently 
 idle, she ordered the saeeses to lead them out for exercise. Some 
 demur took place, and on asking the reason, she was actually told 
 that they were afraid! She insisted, however, and the horses, 
 when they appeared, were quiet as lambs. The men at first, out 
 of pure precaution, had buckled up their heads so tight, that they 
 could scarcely breathe, and when ordered to unloose them, held 
 them as if they had tigers in a leash: yet the horses, as I have 
 observed, were quiet, and these are men who have been all their 
 lives in the stable! I have, indeed, understood from many quar- 
 ters, that the Bengalees are regarded as the greatest cowards in 
 India; and that partly owing to this reputation, and partly to their 
 inferior size, the Sepoy regiments are always recruited from Bahar 
 and the upper provinces. Yet that little army with which Lord 
 Clive did such wonders, was chiefly raised from Bengal. So much 
 are all men the creatures of circumstance and training. 
 
 I had frequently heard of the admiration which the Indians 
 feel for corpulency, but no instance had occurred within my know- 
 ledge. 1 am assured, however, that a young man, whose height 
 and bulk I had noticed to-day at the Durbar, takes a large draught 
 of ghee every morning, in order to contribute to the bulk of which 
 he is vain, and that very frequently the natives contract liver 
 complaints by their anxiety to fatten themselves. 
 
 March 1. — We bade adieu to Titty-ghur with regret, but just 
 as we were on the point of setting out, a severe storm of thunder, 
 rain, and wind came on, which detained us about an hour, being 
 the first regular north-wester which we had seen. It fairly lashed 
 the river into high waves, and produced a delightful effect on the 
 air, laying the dust and refreshing vegetation, as if by magic. My 
 wife and children went by water, and I took in the carriage with 
 me our Sircar. He is a shrewd fellow, well acquainted with the 
 country, and possessed of the sort of information which is likely 
 
88 LANDHOLDERS AND TENANTS.— IDOLS. 
 
 to interest travellers. His account of the tenure of lands very 
 closely corresponded with what I had previously heard from others. 
 
 The “ Zemindars” or landholders, let their lands, sometimes 
 in large divisions, to tenants corresponding to the Scotch tacksmen, 
 who underlet them again, and occasionally, which generally oc- 
 curs near Calcutta, to the cottagers and cultivators immediately, 
 and in very minute portions. The lands are sometimes on lease 
 for a good many years, sometimes from year to year only. The 
 usual rent for rice-land in Bengal, at least in this part of it, is two 
 rupees a begah, or about twelve or fifteen shillings an acre ; for 
 orchards five rupees, or about £l. 12^. for the acre. All rents 
 are paid in money, and the principle of “ metairie,” which 1 ex- 
 plained to him, is unknown. The tenant in most of the villages 
 is at the expense of the buildings, but these are so cheap and frail, 
 as probably to cost less than thatching a stack in England, and 
 can hardly be said to last longer. Land in this neighbourhood 
 sells at about fifty rupees the begah, but did not fetch near so 
 much before the roads were opened, which has been a measure 
 of exceeding utility to the landholders here. The Baboo pointed 
 out two or three large houses which we passed, as the residences 
 of wealthy Zemindars, but who had also still more splendid houses 
 in Calcutta. One of these, who was dignified by Lord Wellesley 
 with the title of rajah, has a really fine villa, surrounded wdth a 
 sort of park, the borders of which are planted with a handsome 
 myrtle-leaved tree, about as large as an English horse-chesnut, 
 which is here very common, but which he has defaced by clipping 
 each individual tree into a regular conical shape. This the Baboo 
 pointed out as a piece of extreme neatness and elegance. Another 
 gateway on the left hand, in a very picturesque wood of coco- 
 trees and bamboos, was guarded by an immense wooden idol of 
 a young man, having only sandals and a sash painted black, the 
 rest being flesh-colour. It must have been, I should think, thirty 
 feet high. The Sircar said smiling, “ that great idol stands sentry 
 to all the gods and goddesses within.” It was in fact the entrance 
 to the pagoda at Kaida, which I had previously seen from the 
 river. A little further by the road-side was a huge tower-like 
 structure, about sixteen feet high, supported on eight or ten mas- 
 sive but low wheels, of wood painted red, and adorned with a good 
 deal of clumsy carving. “ That,” he said, again smiling, “ is our 
 god’s carriage ; we keep it on the main road, because it is too 
 heavy for the lanes of the neighbouring village. It is a fine sight 
 to see the people from all the neighbourhood come together to 
 draw it, when the statue is put in on solemn days.” I asked what 
 god it belonged to, and was answered “ Brahma.” He added, it 
 required between two and three hundred people to move it, which 
 I do not believe, though I can easily suppose that number may 
 
NAWAB OF CHITPOOR. 
 
 89 
 
 usually assist. 1 asked if self-immolation ever took place here 
 as at Juggernaut, but he assured me “ never that he had heard of.” 
 As we passed through Chitpoor, he showed me the house of the 
 “ Nawab of Chitpoor.” Of this potentate I had not heard before. 
 He is now called by Europeans the Nawab of Moorshedabad, 
 where he resides, and is, it seems, the descendant of the Moham- 
 medan nobleman who was the lord of the district before our con- 
 quest, and still retains a considerable appanage of lands and 
 pensions, to the amount of about 100,000 S. rupees monthly, with 
 an honorary guard of sepoys, and many of the exteriors of 
 royalty. 
 
 While he resided in his house at Chitpoor he was always re- 
 ceived by the Governor on state days at the head of the stairs, 
 and conducted, after an embrace, to a sort of throne at the upper 
 end of the room ; and when he took his leave, he was distinguish- 
 ed by a salute from the fort, and turning out of the guard. The 
 Baboo told me all this, and did not fail to point out the different 
 measure which the Mussulmans in India had received from that 
 they had given to his countrymen. “ When they conquered us, 
 they cut off the heads of all our Rajahs whom they could catch. 
 When the English conquered them, they gave them lands and 
 pensions !” I do not exactly know whether he said this by way 
 of compliment or no. I have reason to believe that the sentiment 
 is very common among the Hindoos ; and I doubt even, whether 
 they would or would not have been better pleased, had we, in 
 such cases, been less lenient and liberal. Nevertheless it is evi- 
 dent that in thus keeping up, even at a considerable expense, these 
 monuments of the Mohammedan power, our nation has acted 
 wisely as well as generously. It is desirable that the Hindoos 
 should always be reminded that we did not conquer them, but 
 found them conquered, that their previous rulers were as much 
 strangers to their blood and to their religion as we are, and that 
 they were notoriously far more oppressive masters than we have 
 ever shown ourselves. 
 
 In passing through the village of Chitpoor, I was surprised to 
 see a Jackal! run across the street, though it was still broad day, 
 and there was the usual crowd of market people and passengers. 
 A man followed him laughing, and shaking his apron to frighten 
 him, which the animal however to all appearance scarcel}^ heed- 
 ed. Some carrion had probably attracted him, but it is seldom 
 that they venture to show themselves so early and in such public 
 places. A little further we passed a sort of sepoy, dressed very 
 splendidly in the native style, with a beautiful Persian gun and 
 crooked hanjar, but no bayonet. My companion pointed him 
 out with much glee, as one of the attendants of Baboo Budinath 
 
 VoL. I.— 12 
 
90 
 
 MARRIAGE PROCESSION. 
 
 Roy,^ who lives in this neighbourhood, and has a menagerie of 
 animals and birds only inferior to that at Barrackpoor, This 
 privilege of being attended by armed men is one greatly coveted 
 by the wealthy natives of India, but only conceded to the highest 
 ranks. Among the Europeans no person now claims it in Cal- 
 cutta, save the chief-justice and the commander-in-chief, each of 
 whom is attended in public, besides his silver sticks, by four or 
 five spears^ very elegantly worked, the poles of silver, and the 
 blades generally gilt, with a place for the hand covered with 
 crimson velvet, and a fringe of the same colour where the staff 
 and blade join. The natives, however, like to have swords and 
 bucklers, or muskets carried before them, and some have lately 
 ventured to mount sentries at their gates, equipped very nearly 
 like the regular troops in the pay of Government. One of these 
 the Baboo soon afterwards pointed out to me, at the great house 
 of the Mullich family, near the entrance of Calcutta. I had af- 
 terwards however reason to know that this was without permis- 
 sion, and that Rooplaul Mullich got severely censured for it by 
 the Persian secretary, whose functions extend to the regulation 
 of precedence among the natives throughout India, and indeed to 
 many of the duties of our Herald’s College. 
 
 March 5, Friday . — This evening 1 preached the first of a course 
 of Lent Lectures on the Sermon on the Mount. Unfortunately I 
 have all these to write de novo, my books and papers being as yet 
 inaccessible, and I have very little time for either reading or 
 composition. I must however do my best. The church was 
 extremely well attended, far indeed beyond my expectations. In 
 our way there we passed a marriage procession. The sort of 
 palanquin in which the bridegroom was carried was according to 
 the old Indian fashion, much handsomer than that now in use, 
 but probably not so convenient. The vehicle of the bride was 
 a common mehaniiah palanquin, closed up, and looking like a 
 coffin. The number of torches carried before and on every side 
 of the bridegroom was a practical illustration of the glorious 
 simile of the rising sun in the Psalms. By the way ought not the 
 word inDn, (Canticles iii. 7.) which our translators render-^ bed,” 
 to be “ litter,” or ‘‘ palanquin ?” It appears from what goes 
 before that Solomon had made di journey in it — “coming up from 
 the wilderness like pillars of smoke,” with all the dust of his 
 bearers round him, and escorted by 70 warriors during his nightly 
 journey. Nor are four-post beadsteads used (see ver. 9.) in any 
 
 * He was subsequently made Rajah Bahadur by Lord Amherst, and to his 
 munificent donation of 20,000 S. rupees, is the erection of the Central School 
 for the education of native females in Calcutta, mainly to be attributed. Other 
 charitable institutions are likewise largely indebted to his liberality. — E d. 
 
RHADACANT DEB. 
 
 91 
 
 part of the East. “ Pereant qui nostra ante nos !” I find the 
 same thought in Harmer, though in the midst of so much non- 
 sense, that I am almost ashamed of my own conjecture. 1 believe 
 it, however, to be right, though it has got into bad company. 
 
 March 8. — I had an interesting visit this morning from Rha- 
 dacant Deb, the son of a man of large fortune, and some rank 
 and consequence in Calcutta, whose carriage, silver sticks, and 
 attendants, were altogether the smartest 1 had yet seen in India. 
 He is a young man of pleasing countenance and manners, speaks 
 English well, and has read many of our popular authors, particu- 
 larly historical and geographical. He lives a good deal with 
 Europeans, and has been very laudably active and liberal in for- 
 warding, both by money and exertions, the education of his coun- 
 trymen. He is secretary, gratuitously, to the Calcutta School 
 Society, and has himself published some elementary works in 
 Bengalee. With all this he is believed to be a great bigot in the 
 religion of his country’s gods — one of the few sincere ones, it is 
 said, among the present race of wealthy Baboos. When the meet- 
 ing was held by the Hindoo gentlemen of Calcutta, to vote an 
 address of thanks to Lord Hastings on his leaving Bengal, Rhada- 
 cant Deb proposed as an amendment that Lord Hastings should 
 be particularly thanked for “ the protection and encouragement 
 which he had afforded to the ancient and orthodox practice of 
 widows burning themselves with their husband’s bodies” — a 
 proposal which was seconded by Hurree Mohun Thakoor, another 
 wealthy Baboo. It was lost, however, the cry of the meeting, 
 though all Hindoos, being decidedly against it. But it shows the 
 warmth of Rhadacant Deb’s prejudices. With all this I found 
 him a pleasing man, not unwilling to converse on religious topics, 
 and perhaps even liking to do so from a consciousness that he 
 was a shrewd reasoner, and from anxiety, which he expressed 
 strongly, to vindicate his creed in the estimation of foreigners. 
 He complained that his countrymen had been much misrepre- 
 sented, that many of their observances were misunderstood both 
 by Europeans and the vulgar in India, and that for instance, the 
 prohibition of particular kinds of food, and the rule of caste, had 
 a spiritual meaning, and were intended to act as constant memen- 
 tos of the duties of temperance, humanity, abstraction from the 
 world, &c. He admitted the beauty of the Christian morality 
 readily enough, but urged that it did not suit the people of Hin- 
 dostan ; and that our drinking wine, and eating the flesh of so 
 useful and excellent a creature as the cow, would, in India, be 
 not only shocking, but very unwholesome. I said that nobody 
 among us was required to eat beef if he did not like it. He how- 
 ever shook his head, and said that the vulgar of India would 
 eat beef readily enough if they were allowed to do so. He asked 
 
92 
 
 HINDOOSTANEE PENTATEUCH. 
 
 me several questions respecting the doctrines of the Church of 
 England, on which I hope I gave him satisfactory information, 
 (preferring to remove his prejudices against us, rather than to 
 make any direct attack on his own principles). His greatest 
 curiosity, however, was about the Free-masons, who had lately 
 been going in solemn procession to lay the first stone of the new 
 Hindoo College. “ Were they Christians “ Were they of my 
 Church?” He could not understand that this bond of union 
 was purely civil, convivial, or benevolent, seeing they made so 
 much use of prayer ; and was greatly surprised when I said, that 
 in Europe both Christians and Mussulmans belonged to the 
 society ; and that of the gentlemen whom he had seen the other 
 day, some went to the Cathedral, and some to Dr. Bryce’s church. 
 He did not, indeed, understand that between Dr. Bryce and the 
 other chaplains any difference existed ; and I had no desire, on 
 finding this, to carry my explanations on this point further. He 
 asked, at length, “ if I was a mason ?” “ If I knew their secret ?” 
 
 “ If I could guess it ?” “ If I thought it was any thing wicked or 
 
 Jacobinical ?” I answered, that 1 was no mason ; and took care 
 to express my conviction that the secret, if there was any, was per- 
 fectly harmless ; and we parted very good friends, with mutual 
 expressions of anxiety to meet again. Greatly indeed should I 
 rejoice, if any thing which I can say would be of service to him. 
 
 1 have for these few years past been reading the Hindoostanee 
 Pentateuch, with my “ Moonshee,” or teacher, who has never 
 seen it before, and is highly delighted with its beauty and eloquence, 
 particularly with the account of Paradise, the flood, and the fall 
 of man. “ It must have been a delightful place,” said he, when 
 reading of Eden and its four rivers. He asked me many and 
 some very interesting questions, and I began almost to hope that 
 what I had the opportunity of saying to him, would, joined to the 
 excellence of the Scriptures themselves, have gradually some 
 effect, when one day he manifested a jealousy of the superiority of 
 our Scriptures over those of his countrymen, and brought me a 
 book, which he assured me greatly resembled the work of Moses, 
 begging me to read it, which 1 readily promised. It was a trans- 
 lation into English of the “ Supta a portion of the “ Mar- 
 
 cumdeya Purana,” and recounts the exploits of a certain goddess, 
 named “ Maha-Maya,” (Great Delusion,) produced by the com- 
 bined energies of all the deities united, in order to defeat the 
 demons and giants. Some parts of it are not unlike the most 
 inflated descriptions in the Edda ; and though a strange rhapsody, 
 it is not devoid of spirit. But it has not the most distant approach 
 to any moral lesson, or to any practical wisdom. The translator 
 is a Brahmin from Madras, now in Calcutta soliciting subscrip- 
 tions for the sufferers by famine on the Coromandel coast. He 
 
MOSQUES. 
 
 93 
 
 called on me the other day for this purpose ; for which also he 
 had contrived to assemble a numerous meeting of wealthy natives, 
 an event so unusual as to excite much surprise among those Eu- 
 ropeans whom I have heard mention it. None of the sums sub- 
 scribed were very large, but it is a new thing to see a charitable 
 feeling of this kind awakened among them. I felt myself bound 
 to subscribe, if it were only to show them that in such under- 
 takings Christians would gladly co-operate with them, and even 
 entrust their money to their distribution. On talking, however, 
 with one of the most liberal of the subscribers, (Vomanundun 
 Thakoor,) I found they had not the same confidence in each other 
 which I placed in them. “ Ramaswani Pundit,” he said, “ may 
 be a very good man, but I took care at the meeting that all the 
 money subscribed should be lodged with the house of Palmer 
 and Co., and distributed at Madras by the English committee 
 there. I do not know the Madras Pundits — but I know that 
 Europe gentlemen have character to lose.” 
 
 The external meanness of all the shops, depositories, and ware- 
 houses in this great city is surprising. The bazars are wretched- 
 ness itself, without any approach to those covered walks, which are 
 the chief glory of the cities of Turkey, Russia, and Persia, and 
 which, in a climate like this, where both the sun and the rains 
 are intolerable, would be more than any where else desirable. 
 Yet I have read magnificent accounts of the shops and bazars of 
 Calcutta. But they were in the same authors who talk of the 
 picturesque appearance of its “ Jlfmare ^5,” whereas there is abso- 
 lutely no single minaret in Calcutta ; nor, so far as I have seen or 
 heard, in any of its neighbouring towns. Hamilton’s book, where 
 this is mentioned, is generally regarded as very correct. How 
 could such a mistake occur in a matter, of all others, the most 
 obvious to the eye ? There are many small mosques, indeed, but 
 the Muezzins all stand at the door, or on some small eminence 
 adjoining. Minarets there are none. Perhaps he confounded 
 the church and steeple, and supposed that mosque and minaret 
 were synonymous. But none of the mosques are seen in any 
 general view of Calcutta, being too small, too low, and built in 
 too obscure corners to be visible, till one is close upon them. 
 They rather, indeed, resemble the tombs of saints, than places for 
 public worship, such as are seen in Turkey, Persia, and the south 
 of Russia. Though diminutive, however, many of them are 
 pretty, and the sort of eastern gothic style in which they are built, 
 is to my eye, though trained up to reverence the pure English 
 style, extremely pleasing. They consist generally of a parallel- 
 ogram of about thirty-six feet by twelve, or hardly so much, sur- 
 mounted by three little domes, the apex of each terminated by a 
 
94 
 
 FESTIVAL OF CHURRUCK POOJAIL 
 
 flower, with small but richly ornamented pinnacles in the angles. 
 The faces of the building are covered with a good deal of Ara- 
 besque tracery, and pierced with a small door, of gothic form, in 
 the centre of one of the longest faces, and a small window, of 
 almost similar form, on each side. Opposite to the door, which 
 opens eastward, and on the western side, is a small recess, which 
 serves to enshrine the Koran, and to direct the eyes of the faithful 
 to the “ Kibla” of Mecca. The taste of these little oratories is 
 better than their materials, which are unfortunately, in this part 
 of India, nothing but brick covered with plaster : while they last, 
 however, they are really great ornaments to the lanes and villages 
 where they occur, and might furnish some advantageous hints, 1 
 think, to the Christian architects of India. 
 
 March 25. — Our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Stowe, arrived, well, 
 and in good spirits, after a very tedious voyage. 
 
 April 9. — The Hindoo festival of “ Churruck Poojah” com- 
 menced to-day, of which, as my wife has given an account in her 
 journal,"^ I shall only add a few particulars. 
 
 * One of the Hindoo festivals in honour of the goddess Kali commenced this 
 evening. Near the river a crowd was assembled round a stage of bamboos, 15 feet 
 high, composed of two upright, and three horizontal poles, which last were placed 
 at about five feet asunder. On this kind of ladder several men mounted, with 
 large bags, out of which they threw down various articles to the by-standers, who 
 caught them with great eagerness ; but I was too far off" to ascertain what they 
 were. They then one by one raised their joined hands over their heads, and 
 threw themselves down with a force which must have proved fatal had not their 
 fall been broken by some means or other. The crowd was too dense to allow of 
 my discovering how this was elfected ; but it is certain they were unhurt, as 
 they immediately re-ascended, and performed the same ceremonies many times. 
 
 On the 10th we were awakened before day-break, by the discordant sounds 
 of native musical instruments, and immediately mounted our horses, and rode 
 to the Meidan. As the morning advanced we could see an immense crowd 
 coming down the Chowringhee road, which was augmented by persons joining 
 it from all the streets and lanes of the city. We entered the crowd, taking the 
 precaution of making the saees walk close by my horse’s head, who was fright- 
 ened at the music, dancing, and glare of torches, accompanied at intervals by 
 the deep sound of the gong. 
 
 “ The double double peal of the drum was there. 
 
 And the startling sound of the trumpet’s blare. 
 
 And the gong that seemed with its thunders dread 
 To stun the living and waken the dead.” 
 
 In the midst of this crowd walked and danced the miserable fanatics, torturing 
 themselves in the most horrible manner, and each surrounded by his own par- 
 ticular band of admirers, with music and torches. * * * ^ ^ Their countenan- 
 ces denoted suffering, but they evidently gloried in their patient endurance, and 
 probably were supported by the assurance that they were expiating the sins of 
 the past year by suffering voluntarily, and without a groan, this agony. 
 
 We had considerable difficulty in making our way through the crowd; but 
 when we had arrived at a short distance from the scene of action, the coup d’oeil 
 was beautifully picturesque, and forcibly reminded me of an English race-course: 
 
FESTIVAL OF CHURRUCK POOJAH, 
 
 95 
 
 The crowd on the Meidan was great, and very picturesque. 
 The music consisted chiefly of large double drums, ornamented 
 with plumes of black feathers, like those of a hearse, which rose 
 considerably higher than the heads of the persons who played on 
 them ; large crooked trumpets, like the “ litui” of the ancients, 
 and small gongs suspended from a bamboo, which rested on the 
 shoulders of two men, the last of whom played on it, with a large, 
 thick, and heavy drum-stick, or cudgel. All the persons who 
 walked in the procession, and a large majority of the spectators, 
 had their faces, bodies, and white cotton clothes daubed all over 
 with vermilion, the latter to a degree which gave them the appear- 
 ance of being actually dyed rose-colour. They were also crowned 
 with splendid garlands of flowers, wath girdles and balrics of the 
 same. Many trophies and pageants of different kinds were paraded 
 up and down, on stages drawn by horses, or bullocks. Some were 
 mythological, others were imitations of different European figures, 
 soldiers, ships, &c., and, in particular, there was one very large 
 model of a steam-boat. The devotees went about with small 
 spears through their tongues and arms, and still more with hot 
 irons pressed against their sides. All were naked to the waist, 
 covered with flowers, and plentifully raddled with vermilion, 
 
 flags were flying in every direction — booths were erected with stages for dancing; 
 the flowing white garments of the natives gave the impression of a numerous 
 assemblage of well-dressed women; and though on a nearer approach their 
 dingy complexions destroyed the illusion, yet the scene lost nothing of its beauty. 
 I never saw in England such a multitude collected together ; but this is one of 
 their most famous festivals, and the people had assembled from all the neigh- 
 bouring villages. The noise of the music continued till about noon, when the 
 devotees retired to heal their wounds. These are said to be dangerous, and oc- 
 casionally to prove fatal. One of our servants, a “ Musalchee,” or torch-bearer, of 
 the lowest caste, (for it seems that none of a higher sort practise these cruelties,) 
 ran about the house with a small spear through his tongue, begging money from 
 his fellow-servants; this man appeared stupified with opium, which lam told is 
 generally taken by these poor wretches, to deaden their feelings : and the parts 
 through w’hich the spears are thrust are said to be previously rubbed for a con- 
 siderable time, till numbness ensues. 
 
 In the evening the Bishop walked to the Boitaconnah, the part of the city 
 where the trees for swinging are erected; they are not suffered to be placed near 
 the European residences. He arrived in time to be a spectator of the whole 
 ceremony. The victim was led, covered with flowers, and without any apparent 
 reluctance, to the foot of the tree ; hooks were then thrust through the muscles 
 of his sides, which he endured without shrinking, and a broad bandage was fast- 
 ened round his waist, to prevent the hooks from being torn through by the weight 
 of his body. He was then raised up, and whirled round ; at first the motion 
 was slow, but by degrees was increased to considerable rapidity. In a few 
 minutes it ceased ; and the by-standers were going to let him down, when he 
 made signs that they should proceed ; this resolution was received with great 
 applause by the crowd, and after drinking some water he was again spun round. 
 — Extract from the Editor's Journal. 
 
96 
 
 SWINGING. 
 
 while their long, black, wet hair hung down their backs, almost 
 to their loins. From time to time, as they passed us, they la- 
 boured to seem to dance, but in general their step was slow, their 
 countenances expressive of resigned and patient suffering, and 
 there was no appearance, that I saw, of any tiling like frenzy or 
 intoxication. The peaceableness of the multitude was also as 
 remarkable as its number ; no troops were visible, except the 
 two sentries, who at all times keep guard on two large tanks in 
 the Meidan; no police, except the usual “Chokeydar,” or 
 watchman,^ at his post, near Allypoor Bridge ; yet nothing like 
 quarrelling or rioting occurred, and very little scolding. A simi- 
 lar crowd in England would have shown three boxing-matches 
 in half an hour, and in Italy there would have been half a 
 dozen assassinations before night. In the evening I walked in 
 another direction, towards the Boitaconnah, and the streets chief- 
 ly occupied by natives. Here I saw the “ swinging,” which may 
 be best understood from a sketch, however rude. 
 
 April 15 . — The weather is now very hot, unusually so, as we 
 are told, owing to the want of that refreshment which north- 
 westers usually bestow at this time of year; but my wife and I, 
 by rising at four o’clock, continue to enjoy a delightful ride 
 every morning, though by a little after six the sun is so hot as to 
 drive us in again. We have tried to keep our rooms cool with 
 
 * These watchmen are less numerous, and not more efficient than their breth- 
 ren in the streets of London. They do not cry the hour, but proclaim their 
 wakefulness by uttering loud howls from time to time. They are armed with 
 pistol, sword, and shicld.—Eu. 
 
CHOLERA MORBUS. 
 
 97 
 
 “ tatties,” which are mats formed of the kuskos, a peculiar sweet- 
 scented grass, set up before an open window, in the quarter of 
 the prevailing wind, and kept constantly wet by a “bheestie,” or 
 water-carrier, on the outside. They are very pleasant when 
 there is a strong wind, but this year four days out of five we have 
 no wind at all. They have also this inconvenience, that if the 
 bheestie neglects his work for a few minutes, (and unless one is 
 always watching him he is continually dropping asleep,) a stream 
 of hot air enters, which makes the room and the whole house 
 intolerable. We are, therefore, advised to shut up all our win- 
 dows about eight o’clock every morning, merely agitating the air 
 within by punkahs, and getting rid as much as possible of all 
 outward breezes. Thus we certainly find that the atmosphere 
 within doors is preserved at a much lower temperature than the 
 outward air, ^. e. at eighty or eighty-five degrees instead of a 
 hundred. Thus confined, it is, however, close and grave-like ; 
 hut if we go to an open window or door, it is literally like 
 approaching the mouth of one of the blast-furnaces in Colebrook 
 Dale. 
 
 April 21. — I entered into my 42d year. God grant that my 
 future years may be as happy, if he sees good ! and better, far 
 better spent than those which are gone by ! This day I christened 
 my dear little Harriet. God bless and prosper her with all 
 earthly and heavenly blessings ! We had afterwards a great din- 
 ner and evening party, at w'hich were present the Governor and 
 Lady Amherst, and nearly all our acquaintance in Calcutta. To 
 the latter 1 also asked several of the wealthy natives, who were 
 much pleased with the attention, being in fact one which no 
 European of high station in Calcutta had previously paid to any 
 of them. Hurree Mohun Thakoor observing “ what an increased 
 interest the presence of females gave to our parties,” I reminded 
 him that the introduction of women into society was an ancient 
 Hindoo custom, and only discontinued in consequence of the 
 'Mussulman conquest. He assented with a laugh, adding, how- 
 ever, “ it is too late for us to go back to the old custom now.” 
 Rhadacant Deb, who overheard us, observed more seriously, “ it 
 is very true that we did not use to shut up our women till the 
 times of the Mussulmans. But before we could give them the 
 same liberty as the Europeans, they must be better educated.” 
 I introduced these Baboos to the Chief-justice, which pleased 
 them much, though perhaps they were still better pleased with 
 my wife herself presenting them pawn, rose-water, and attar of 
 roses before they went, after the native custom. 
 
 April 24. — The Cholera Morbus is making great ravages 
 among the natives. Few Europeans have yet died of it, but to 
 all it is sufficiently near to remind us of our utter dependence on 
 
 VoL. 1 . — 1 3 
 
98 
 
 NORTH-WESTERS. 
 
 God’s mercy, and how near we are in the midst of life to death ! 
 Surely there is no country in the world where this recollection 
 ought to be more perpetually present with us than India. All 
 persons experienced in this climate deny that any of the country 
 fevers are contagious. A very blessed circumstance surely, 
 whatever may be its immediate cause. 
 
 June 10. — The time that has intervened since the 24th of 
 April has been spent in a very painful manner. 1 have had to 
 deplore the death of my excellent friend Sir Christopher Fuller, 
 and for a considerable time had also to apprehend that it would 
 soon be followed by those of his widow and son ; but it pleased 
 God to bless with success Dr. Abel’s medical skill, and they 
 embarked for England in the same vessel which, six weeks before, 
 had brought them out with a husband and a father, — all happi- 
 ness, and agreeable anticipation ! May God protect and comfort 
 them ! 
 
 During the greater part of last month the weather was intensely 
 hot and very sickly, though a temporary relief was afforded by a 
 few north-westers, accompanied by heavy showers, thunder, and 
 lightning. These storms were some of them very awful at the 
 time, but as they increased in frequency their fury abated, and 
 recently the weather has not been unlike a close damp rainy 
 autumn in England. The change these storms produced, both on 
 the animal and vegetable creation, is great. The grass and trees, 
 which always indeed retained a verdure far beyond what I could 
 have expected, have assumed a richer luxuriance. A fresh crop 
 of flowers has appeared on many of the trees and shrubs, the 
 mangoes and other fruits have increased to treble and quadruple 
 the b^ulk which the first specimens exhibited, the starved cattle 
 are seen every where greedily devouring the young grass, which, 
 young as it is, is already up to their knees ; the gigantic cranes, 
 most of whom disappeared during the drought, have winged their 
 way back from the Sunderbunds (their summer retreats) ; the 
 white and red paddy birds are fluttering all over the Meidan ; 
 and the gardens, fields, and ditches (and the ground floors of some 
 of the houses too) swarm with the largest and noisiest frogs 1 
 ever saw or heard. One of these frogs I saw, about as large, I 
 think, as a good sized gosling, and very beautiful, being green 
 speckled with black, and almost transparent. Some of the lizards 
 (also green) are very beautiful, but they are less abundant now 
 than they were during the hot season. I have as yet seen in Cal- 
 cutta neither snake, scorpion, nor centipede, nor any insect more 
 formidable than a long thin starveling sort of hornet, or rather 
 wasp, which has now disappeared. Of the fruits which this 
 season offers, the finest are leechees, and mangoes ; the first is 
 really very fine, being a sort of plum, with the flavour of a Fron- 
 
ORDINATION OF CHRISTIAN DAVID. 
 
 99 
 
 tigiiac grape. The second is a noble fruit in point of size, being 
 as large as a man’s two fists ; its flavour is not unlike an apricot, 
 more or less smeared with turpentine. It would not, I think, be 
 popular in England, but in India it may pass for very good, par- 
 ticularly when the terebinthian flavour does not predominate. 
 When not quite ripe it makes an excellent tart. 
 
 June 14. — I have had a very interesting and awful ceremony 
 to perform in the ordination of Christian David, a native of 
 Malabar, and pupil of Swartz, who has been for many years a 
 Catechist in the employ of the Society for Promoting Christian 
 Knowledge in Ceylon, and now came to me, recommended by 
 Archdeacon Twistleton, and qualified with the title of a Colonial 
 Chaplaincy by Sir Edward Barnes, the Governor of the island. 
 David passed an exceeding good examination, and gave much 
 satisfaction to every body by his modesty, good sense, and good 
 manners. He was ordained Deacon on Holy Thursday, on 
 which day also I held my Visitation, and had a good attendance 
 of clergy, and a numerous audience, notwithstanding the early 
 hour at which it was celebrated. On Trinity Sunday I had the 
 satisfaction (though by me it was felt at the same time, in some 
 degree, a terrible responsibility) of ordaining him Priest. God 
 grant that his ministration may be blessed to his own salvation, 
 and that of many others ! He was lodged during his residence 
 in Bengal in the Bishop’s College, and received much atten- 
 tion and kindness from Lady Amherst, and many others. He 
 preached on Thursday evening at the old Church, and it was 
 proposed to publish his sermon ; but this I thought it best to 
 discourage. 
 
100 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CALCUTTA TO SIBNIBASHI. 
 
 DEPARTURE PINNACE BENGALEE BOAT HINDOO FANATICS NORTH- 
 WESTER CHINSURA RANAGHAT SIBNIBASHI RUINS RAJA OMI- 
 
 CHU ND DURBA R DECOITS . 
 
 June 15. — This morning I left Calcutta for my Visitation 
 through the Upper Provinces. This excursion, to which both 
 my wife and I had long looked forwards with delightful anticipa- 
 tions, will now become a dreary banishment to me, as the state 
 of her own health, and the circumstance of her having an infant, 
 are considered as insuperable obstacles to her undertaking such 
 a journey. Accompanied by my domestic chaplain, Mr. Stowe, 
 I embarked on board a fine 1 6 oared pinnace for Dacca, which 
 was to be the first station on my Visitation. After about two 
 hours squabbling with the owner and navigators of the vessel, 
 we got under weigh, with a fine south breeze and the flood-tide. 
 Archdeacon Corrie, with his wife and children, accompanied us 
 in a budgerow, and we had two smaller boats, one for cooking, 
 the other for our baggage. We advanced to Barrackpoor that 
 night, and in order to make up for lost time, I urged the boatmen 
 forwards a good while after it was dark, the river being familiar 
 to us all. The lights in Serampoor and Barrackpoor, the tall 
 massive shadows of the Government House, and of two state 
 barges in the river, which by this uncertain light appeared like 
 vessels of considerable importance, made our anchoring place 
 very beautiful. Soon after we were made snug for the night, a 
 strong storm of rain and wind came on. Our course during this 
 day was pretty steadily north-north-west by quarter west, — the 
 distance 24 miles. 
 
 June 16. — We weighed anchor about half-past four, and arrived 
 at Chandernagore by half-past nine. We there paid the Gover- 
 nor, Mons. Pelissier, a visit, who pressed us to stay dinner with 
 him, which invitation we accepted. The Governor’s house has 
 been much beautified since I was here before, and now has really 
 a very handsome appearance. Between Barrackpoor and Chan- 
 dernagore are some large and handsome pagodas, which are, 
 however, excelled in beauty by one of a smaller size, under a 
 noble grove of tall trees. 
 
 A Bengalee boat is the simplest and rudest of all possible 
 
CHANDERNAGORE. 
 
 101 
 
 structures. It is decked over, throughout its whole length, with 
 bamboo ; and on this is erected a low light fabric of bamboo and 
 straw, exactly like a small cottage without a chimney. This is 
 the cabin, baggage room, &c. ; here the passengers sit and sleep, 
 and here, if it be intended for a cooking-boat, are one or two 
 small ranges of brick-work, like English hot-hearths, but not 
 rising more than a few inches above the deck, with small, round, 
 sugar-loaf holes, like those in a lime-kiln, adapted for dressing 
 victuals with charcoal. As the roof of this apartment is by far 
 too fragile for men to stand or sit on, and as the apartment itself 
 takes up nearly two-thirds of the vessel, upright bamboos are 
 fixed by its side, which support a kind of grating of the same 
 material, immediately above the roof, on which, at the height 
 probably of six or eight feet above the surface of the water, the 
 boatmen sit or stand to work the vessel. They have, for oars, 
 long bamboos, with circular boards at the end, a longer one of 
 the same sort to steer with, a long rough bamboo for a mast, and 
 one, or sometimes two sails, of a square form, (or rather broader 
 above than below,) of very coarse and flimsy canvass. Nothing 
 can seem more clumsy or dangerous than these boats. Danger- 
 ous I believe they are, but with a fair wind they sail over the 
 water merrily. The breeze this morning carried us along at a 
 good rate, yet our English-rigged brig could do no more than keep 
 up with the cooking boat. 
 
 There is a large ruined building a few miles to the south of 
 Chandernagore, which was the country house of the Governor, 
 during the golden days of that settlement, and of the French 
 influence in this part of India. It was suffered to fall to decay 
 when Chandernagore was seized by us ; but when Mr. Corrie 
 came to India, was, though abandoned, still entire, and very 
 magnificent, with a noble stair-case, painted ceilings, &c. ; and 
 altogether, in his opinion, the finest building of the kind in this 
 country. It has at present a very melancholy aspect, and in some 
 degree reminded me of Moreton-Corbet,^ having, like that, the 
 remains of Grecian pillars and ornaments, with a high carved 
 pediment. In beauty of decoration, however, it falls far short of 
 Moreton-Corbet, in its present condition. This is the only visible 
 sign of declining prosperity in this part of the country. The 
 town of Chandernagore itself, though small, is neat, and even 
 handsome. It has a little Catholic church, and some very toler- 
 able streets, with respectable dwelling-houses. An appearance 
 of neatness and comfort is exhibited by the native villages ; and, 
 as an Indian generally lays out some of his superfluous wealth in 
 building or adding to a pagoda, it is a strong mark of progressive 
 
 * A ruinous buildino- in Shropshirc.—Eu. 
 
102 
 
 NORTH-WESTER. 
 
 and rapid improvement to say, as Mr, Corrie did to-day, that all 
 the large pagodas betvsreen “ Calcutta and this place have been 
 founded, or rebuilt, in his memory.” This, however, I must 
 confess, does not tell much for the inclination of the Hindoos to 
 receive a new religion. Indeed, except in our schools, I see no 
 appearance of it. The austerities and idolatries exercised by 
 them, strike me as much, or 1 think more, the more I see of 
 them. A few days since I saw a tall, large, elderly man, nearly 
 naked, walking with three or four others, who suddenly knelt 
 down one after the other, and catching hold of his foot kissed it 
 repeatedly. The man stood with much gravity to allow them to 
 do so, but said nothing. He had the string (“ peeta”) of a Brah- 
 min. Another man passed us on Sunday morning last, hopping 
 on one foot. He was a devotee who had made a vow never to 
 use the other, which was now contracted, and shrunk close up to 
 his hams. Lately, too, I saw a man who held his hands always 
 above his head, and had thus lost the power of bringing them 
 down to his sides. In general, however, I must own that these 
 spectacles are not so common, at least so far as I can yet judge, 
 as, before I came to India, I expected to find them. 
 
 Chandernagore was taken by Lord Clive and Admiral Watson, 
 in 1757, after a gallant and bloody defence: and it is worth re- 
 cording, as a proof of the alterations which have taken place in 
 this branch of the Ganges, that Watson brought up a 74 gun ship 
 to batter it. It was afterwards restored to the French, who lost 
 it again during the war of the Revolution, but who have now 
 received some favours from the English Government, at which, 
 when compared with the severity shown towards the colonists of 
 Serampoor, the latter think they have reason to repine. 
 
 We spent a very pleasant evening with Mons. Pelissier. Our 
 party consisted of his wife, daughter, and son, the physician and 
 secretary of the factory, and an Abbe, whom I supposed to be the 
 chaplain. The little church, which I had seen from the beach, 
 belongs to the “ Thibet Mission,” a branch of the Society “ pro 
 propagande fide,” at Rome, which seems to extend its cares all 
 over India, which it supplies for the most part with Italian priests, 
 though my old visiter, the Rev. Jacob Mecazenas, the Georgian 
 monk, is one of its agents. They have a bishop somewhere near 
 Agra, an Italian, and the priests /(for I understood there were 
 more than one at Chandernagore) are of this nation also. We 
 returned to our pinnace soon after ten. 
 
 June 17. — About two o’clock this morning we had a north- 
 wester, accompanied with violent thunder and lightning. H 
 lasted about two hours, and was so severe, that we could not but 
 feel thankful that it had not overtaken us the night before, while 
 we were under sail. I have never heard louder thunder, or seen 
 
CHINSURA. 
 
 103 
 
 so vivid and formidable lightning. Happily, our attendant boats 
 were close in shore, under the shelter of the high bank, while our 
 own mariners did their work exceedingly well and quietly, letting 
 go a second anchor, and veering out as much cable as they had 
 on board. After having done all that under such circumstances 
 was to be done, they gave the cry of “ Allah hu Allah !” and went 
 to prayers, a circumstance which, unaccompanied as it was by 
 any marks of confusion or trepidation, gave me a very favourable 
 impression of them, though 1 afterwards recollected that it was 
 in fact pretty near the hour when that call is uttered from the 
 mosque, which used to thrill me when I heard it in the Crimea, 
 “ Prayer is better than sleep ! prayer is better than sleep !” Our 
 boat, with this length of cable, rode well and easily, but we had 
 some troublesome work in closing the cabin windows, as our 
 rooms, and all they contained, were getting a complete cold bath. 
 Indeed, there really ran something like a sea in the channel of the 
 river where we now lay. What passed gave me confidence in the 
 vessel and her crew. The latter are numerous, sixteen rowers, 
 four men accustomed to the management of the sails, and the 
 serang, all Mussulmans, and natives of Dacca, and its vicinity. 
 They are wild and odd-looking people, light-limbed, and lean, 
 and very black, but strong and muscular, and all young men, with 
 a fiercer eye and far less civil manner than the Hindoos of Cal- 
 cutta, to which expression of character their dress contributes, 
 (when they wear any, which is the case this cool morning,) being 
 old uniform jackets of the infantry and artillery, with red caps 
 and dirty turbans wrapped round them. As they sat round the 
 fire this morning, cooking their victuals for breakfast, they might 
 pass for no bad representatives of Malay pirates. The wind, 
 though much abated, continued till after five to blow so hard, that 
 the boatmen declined heaving anchor; but having then shifted to 
 the south again, we set off, and sailed with great rapidity by Chin- 
 sura and Hooghly, which form almost one town, with some large 
 and handsome, though deserted-looking, houses. At Chinsura 
 is a church, and beyond Hooghly, at a place I believe named 
 Banda, is a large Italian-looking church, with what appears to be 
 a convent. The river here contracts very much, the banks are 
 higher and more precipitous, and the view of the channel, with 
 our little fleet in it, extremely picturesque and pretty. I hailed 
 Mr. Corrie, and was glad to hear they had sustained no damage 
 in the storm. The river now again expanded into a broad sheet 
 of water, with rice-grounds on each side, and the villages further 
 removed from each other, but each marked out by its wood of 
 tall fruit trees. The country, except that the river is so much 
 wider, is not at all unlike some parts of Oxfordshire and Buck- 
 inghamshire on the Thames. There are fewer pagodas to be 
 
104 
 
 ROBBERS. 
 
 seen, and none so handsome as those we have passed. There is, 
 however, a rather more abundant sprinkling of European-like 
 houses and bungalows, the residences of the indigo planters, as 
 our boatmen tell us. And one of the villages, which has two or 
 three brick houses, and a small low tower attached to one of them, 
 was interesting to us, from the sort of resemblance it offered to 
 some in our own dear England. A little above this village we 
 passed “ a sign of a civilized country,” being a gibbet, with two 
 men in chains on it, who were, as our Serang told us, executed 
 two years ago for robbery and murder in this neighbourhood, but 
 not on the river. The district bears a bad name for all sorts of 
 robbery. A mile or two higher up is a large island, which seems 
 to have been recently deserted by the stream, and not yet taken 
 possession of by man, being mostly bare sand, and bordered by 
 long grass and reeds (not bamboos), a very likely place for wild 
 beasts to harbour. It was indeed in this neighbourhood that Mrs. 
 Corrie saw the fresh print of a tiger’s feet, exactly like those of 
 a cat, but each as large as a good sized plate. Here again the 
 banks of the river are precipitous, and Southey might have taken 
 the spot as the scene of his Kailyal, and the image of her guardian 
 goddess falling down the crumbling steep into the river. A few 
 miles further brought us to a broad channel, which diverged to 
 our right hand from the main bed of the river, being in fact a 
 stream flowing into the Hooghly, and itself derived from the 
 Matabunga, a branch of the great Ganges, which flows from the 
 neighbourhood of Jellinghy to the centre of the Sunderbunds. 
 This, when there is water enough to float large vessels, is the 
 most direct communication between Calcutta and Dacca, and 
 we had some reason to hope we might find it navigable at present. 
 We anchored therefore at the mouth, and sent the jolly-boat with 
 the Serang and Abdullah,"^ to make inquiry at Seebpoor, a place 
 where toll is paid, a little within the entrance. I sent Abdullah, 
 who speaks English, in the belief that an European was stationed 
 there, from whom he was more likely to obtain information than 
 a Dandee. In the meantime, and after they had been gone a 
 quarter of an hour, the wind changed two points more westerly, 
 and began to blow harder, so that I perceived we should have 
 some difficulty to avoid going ashore, from which we were scarcely 
 half a cable’s length distant. I therefore proposed to the boat- 
 men to weigh anchor, and proceed a little farther, while yet we 
 had the power. They readily assented, and were going to do so, 
 when the return of the Serang put a stop to our proceedings. 
 
 * This man was a Mussulman convert of Mr. Corrie’s, who had travelled in 
 Persia with Sir Gore Ousley, and accompanied him to England, from whence 
 he was returning in the Grenville, in a state of great poverty, when the Bishop 
 took him into his service as “ jemautdar,” or head officer of the Peons. — Ed. 
 
PINNACE AGROIJND-^RANAGHAT. 
 
 105 
 
 He, indeed, immediately called to them, on reaching the vessel, 
 to go on with what they had begun, at the same time sending 
 some men with long bamboos to the stern, to stave the vessel off 
 the shore. This was very necessary, since ashore she went in a 
 few minutes, and the wind freshening, and there being little or no 
 tide to help us here, I concluded that we were to continue lixed 
 till the rising of the river from the rains set us free. To my sur- 
 prise, however, the matter was settled in a few minutes ; all the 
 crew but the Serang, who remained to steer, jumped into the 
 water about as high as their waists. Half the party by main 
 strength and weight of pressure, thrust off the boat from the bank, 
 while, as soon as she floated, the rest began to tow a-head. They 
 thus carried her merrily along the lee shore for about 200 yards, 
 when the headland being passed, we had again sea room, and they 
 all swam on board like so many water-rats. This, of course, 
 shows the extreme lightness of our vessel, and how little water 
 boats of her class require. In the meantime I was hearing the 
 report of Abdullah and the Serang, who, as it appeared now, had 
 discovered no “ Chokey” or toll-house, nor any thing of the kind. 
 They found, however, two large native boats which had just come 
 down the river, whose crew assured them there was plenty of 
 water for a vessel of greater burthen than ours, while their ac- 
 count was in other respects so favourable as to distance and time 
 saved, that I made up my mind at once to go this way. .Accord- 
 ingly, as Mr. Corrie’s budgerow was in sight, I got into the jolly- 
 boat, and went aboard to tell him my change of plan. We parted 
 with mutual kind wishes, and in the hope of meeting again at 
 Boglipoor the 20th of July. 
 
 Besides the saving of time which my journey to Dacca by this 
 course will occasion, 1 am not sorry to go through a part of the 
 country which I am told not many Europeans traverse, and where 
 there are no stations or other usual places of intercourse between 
 them and the natives. We set sail about half past one, and con- 
 tinued our course along the new channel till evening. We found 
 it about as wide as the Dee a little below Chester, flowing with a 
 gentle and equable stream from the north-east by north, through 
 fields cultivated to a considerable extent with indigo. Several 
 porpoises were playing round the vessel, and a good many fisher- 
 men came up to offer their wares for sale. We continued our 
 course through a country more bare of trees and more abundant 
 in pasture than those parts of Bengal which I had yet seen, till 
 half past five in the evening, when the men, heartily tired, begged 
 leave to halt for the night at a place named Ranaghat. This is 
 a large village, with two very noble villas, like those of the rich 
 Baboos in Calcutta, the property of a wealthy Hindoo family of 
 the name of Kishnapantee. A little before we reached these, we 
 VoL. 1, — 14 
 
106 
 
 SIBNIBASHL 
 
 had passed a ruined palace of an old Raja of Bengal (the boat- 
 men knew no more of him) and its name Urdun Kali. We took 
 a short walk after dinner, but found it too hot to go far. The 
 scenery is still like that near the Thames, and the likeness is in- 
 creased by the circumstance that there are no coco-trees. The 
 high crumbling bank of the river is full of small holes containing 
 the nests of the Mynas, and 1 saw a field of what I took for millet, 
 which I did not know was a product of India. Our boatmen, 
 who had been in and out of the water like any amphibious crea- 
 tures, sometimes rowing, sometimes pushing, sometimes dragging 
 our bark along the narrow and winding channel, displaying great 
 spirit, cheerfulness, and activity, were seated on the bank dressing 
 for supper the fish which they had bought from the boats I men- 
 tioned ; while apart, at cautious distance, and within their magic 
 circle of chalk, our Hindoo servants were preparing a more frugal 
 repast of rice, currie, and pine apples, which cost exactly a pice 
 a piece. Of the small fish a pice will buy two large handfuls, as 
 much as a man can well keep in his grasp. The fires of these 
 different messes were very picturesque, and the more so, as a little 
 further down, the crews of the cooking and baggage boats had 
 each their little bivouac. I was glad these poor people got their 
 supper over before the usual north-wester and its fall of rain came 
 to drive them under cover. The wind, however, was a mere 
 nothing, and even if it had been a storm, it could not have touched 
 us in our present situation. 
 
 June 1 8. — Our course from Ranaghat was up a wider and a 
 deeper stream, and chiefly to the N. W. a circumstance irrecon- 
 cileable with Rennel’s map, unless the discrepancy can be ac- 
 counted for by an extraordinary alteration of the river’s channel. 
 The banks here are higher and more precipitous, the country 
 woody, and sometimes really very interesting, while coco-trees, 
 of which we supposed we had taken leave, re-appeared, and con- 
 tinued to tower, from time to time, over the bamboos, banyans, 
 and fruit-trees. 
 
 About half-past five we brought to for the night, at a place 
 which our crew called Sibnibashi, but so differently situated, 
 (being further to the south, and on a different side of the river) 
 from the Sibnibas of Rennel, that I at first thought they must be 
 mistaken. We landed, wfith the intention of walking to some 
 pagodas, whose high angular domes were seen above the trees of 
 a thick wood, at some small distance ; which wood however, as 
 we approached it, we found to be full of ruins, apparently of an 
 interesting description. Near our landing-place a row of large 
 Kedgeree pots, with their mouths carefully covered with leather, 
 as if just landed from a boat, attracted our attention. Abdullah 
 said that they probably contained Ganges water from Benares or 
 
RUINS, 
 
 107 
 
 Hurdwar, which the Hindoos of high rank used for washing their 
 idols ; and that, in this case, they might be destined for the same 
 employment in the pagoda before us. As we advanced along the 
 shore, the appearance of ruins in the jungle became more unequi- 
 vocal ; and two very fine intelligent-looking boys whom we met, 
 told me, in answer to my inquiries, that the place was really Sib- 
 nibashi, — that it was very large and very old, and that there were 
 good paths through the ruins. These boys were naked, all but 
 their waist-cloths, like the other peasants ; they had, however, the 
 Brahminical string over their shoulders ; and Stowe, who, as well 
 as myself, was much struck by their manner, pleasing counte- 
 nances, and comparatively fair complexions, observed, that the 
 Brahmins seemed really to maintain a certain degree of superi- 
 ority of intellect over the unprivileged classes. After a few ques- 
 tions, they whispered to each other, and ran towards the jungle, 
 leaving us to pursue our track, which was narrow and winding, 
 through masses of brick-work and earthen mounds, with many 
 tamarind and peepul trees, intermixed with thickets of cactus, 
 bamboo, and a thorny plant a little like the acacia, on the whole 
 reminding me of some parts of the Roman wall at Silchester. We 
 found four pagodas, not large, but of good architecture, and very 
 picturesque, so that I much regretted the having left my sketch- 
 book on board, and the more so because it was now too late to 
 get it before dusk. The sight of one of the peons, who had fol- 
 lowed me, though without orders, with his silver mace, procured 
 us much respect from the Brahmins and villagers, and the former 
 were urgent to show us their temples. The first which we visited 
 was evidently the most modern, being, as the officiating Brahmin 
 told us, only fifty-seven years old. In England we should have 
 thought it at least 200 : but in this climate a building soon assumes, 
 without constant care, all the venerable tokens of antiquity. It 
 was very clean, however, and of good architecture; a square 
 tower, surmounted by a pyramidal roof, with a high cloister of 
 pointed arches surrounding it externally to within ten feet of the 
 springing of the vault. The cloister was also vaulted, so that, as 
 the Brahmin made me observe, with visible pride, the whole roof 
 was ‘‘ pucka,” or brick, and “ belathee,” or foreign. A very 
 handsome gothic arch, with an arabesque border, opened on the 
 south side, and showed within the statue of Rama, seated on a 
 lotus, with a gilt but tarnished umbrella over his head ; and his 
 wife, the earthborn Seeta, beside him. A sort of dessert of rice, 
 ghee, fruit, sugar-candy, &c. was ranged before them on what had 
 the appearance of silver dishes ; and the remaining furniture of 
 the temple consisted of a large gong hanging on the wall, and some 
 Kedgeree pots similar to those which we had noticed. From hence 
 we went to two of the other temples, which were both octagonal, 
 
108 
 
 RUINS. 
 
 with domes not unlike those of glass-houses. They were both 
 dedicated to Siva, (who Abdullah, according to his Mussulman 
 notions, said was the same with Adam,) and contained nothing but 
 the symbol of the deity, of black marble. On paying my fee to 
 the Brahmins who kept these shrines, I was surprised to find that 
 they would not receive it immediately from my hand, but that 
 they requested me first to lay it down on the threshold. I thought 
 it right to explain that I meant it for them, and in return for their 
 civility, not as an offering to their god ; but they answered, that 
 they could not receive any thing except from their own caste, un- 
 less it were thus laid before them. I therefore of course complied, 
 though a little surprised at a delicacy of which 1 had found no 
 symptom in those Brahmins whom I had previously met with. 
 This was not the only unforeseen circumstance which occurred. 
 As the two temples of Siva really contained nothing to see, 1 
 thought one rupee was enough, in all conscience, between them, 
 and told the priests that they were to divide it. No sooner, however, 
 had it touched the threshold, than the two old men began scram- 
 bling for it in a most indecorous manner, abusing each other, spit- 
 ting, stamping, clapping their hands, and doing every thing but 
 striking ; the one insisting that it belonged to him, whose threshold 
 it had touched ; the other urging the known intentions of the do- 
 nor. I tried to pacify them, but found it of no use, and left them 
 in the midst of the fray. Meantime the priest of Rama, who had 
 received his fee before, and was well satisfied, came up, with 
 several of the villagers, to ask if I would see the Raja’s palace. 
 On my assenting, they led us to a really noble gothic gateway, 
 overgrown with beautiful broad-leaved ivy, but in good preserva- 
 tion, and decidedly handsomer, though in pretty much the same 
 style, with the “ Holy Gate” of the Kremlin in Moscow. Within 
 this, which had apparently been the entrance into the city, ex- 
 tended a broken but still stately avenue of tall trees, and on either 
 side a wilderness of ruined buildings, overgrown with trees and 
 brushwood, which reminded Stowe of the baths of Caracalla, and 
 me of the upper part of the city of Caffa. I asked who had de- 
 stroyed the place, and was told Seraiah Dowla, an answer which 
 (as it was evidently a Hindoo ruin) fortunately suggested to me 
 the name of the Raja Kissen Chund. On asking whether this had 
 been his residence, one of the peasants answered in the affirma- 
 tive, adding that the Raja’s grand-children yet lived hard by. By 
 this I supposed he meant somewhere in the neighbourhood, since 
 nothing here promised shelter to any beings but wild beasts, and 
 as I went along 1 could not help looking carefully before me, and 
 thinking of Thalaba in the ruins of Babylon ; 
 
RAJA’S PALACE. 
 
 109 
 
 « Cautiously he trode and felt 
 
 The dangerous ground before him with his bow; 
 
 Hi Hi * * 
 
 The adder, at the noise alarmed, 
 
 Launched at th’ intruding staff her arrowy tongue.” 
 
 Our guide meantime turned short to the right and led us into 
 what were evidently the ruins of a very extensive palace. Some 
 parts of it reminded me of Conway Castle, and others of Bolton 
 Abbey. It had towers like the former, though of less stately 
 height, and had also long and striking cloisters of Gothic arches, 
 but all overgrown with ivy and jungle, roofless and desolate. 
 Here, however in a court, whose gateway had still its old folding 
 doors on their hinges, the two boys whom we had seen on the 
 beach came forward to meet us, were announced to us as the 
 great grand-sons of Raja Kissen Chund, and invited us very cour- 
 teously in Persian, 'to enter their father’s dwelling. I looked 
 round in exceeding surprise. There was no more appearance 
 of inhabitation than in Conway. Two or three cows were graz- 
 ing among the ruins, and one was looking out from the top of a 
 dilapidated turret, whither she had scrambled to browze on the 
 ivy. The breech of a broken cannon, and a fragment of a muti- 
 lated inscription, lay on the grass, which was evidently only kept 
 down by the grazing of cattle ; and the jackalls, whose yells began 
 to be heard around us as the evening closed in, seemed the na- 
 tural lords of the place. Of course, I expressed no astonishment, 
 but said how much respect 1 felt for their family, of whose an- 
 cient splendour I was well informed, and that I should be most 
 happy to pay my compliments to the Raja, their father. They 
 immediately led us up a short, steep, straight flight of steps, in the 
 thickness of the wall of one of the towers, precisely such as that 
 of which we find the remains in one of the gateways of Rhuddlan 
 Castle, assuring me that it was a very “ good road and at the 
 door of a little vaulted and unfurnished room like that which is 
 shown in Carnarvon Castle, as the queen’s bed-chamber, we were 
 received by the Raja Omichund, a fat shortish man, of about 45, 
 of rather fair complexion, but with no other clothes than his 
 waistcloth and Brahminical string, and only distinguished from 
 his vassals by having his forehead marked all over with alternate 
 stripes of chalk, vermilion, and gold leaf. The boys had evident- 
 ly run home to inform him of our approach, and he had made 
 some preparation to receive us in Durbar. His own Musnud 
 was ready, a kind of mattrass laid on the ground, on which, with 
 a very harmless ostentation, he had laid a few trinkets, a gold 
 watch, betel-nut box, &c. &c. Two old arm chairs were placed 
 opposite for Stowe and me. The young Rajas sat down at their 
 father’s right hand, and his naked domestics ranged themselves 
 
no 
 
 THE RAJA OMICHUND. 
 
 in a line behind him, with their hands respectfully folded. On 
 the other side the Sotaburdar stood behind me ; Stowe’s servant 
 took place behind him, and Abdullah between us as his inter- 
 preter, which function he discharged extremely well, and which 
 was the more necessary, since, in strict conformity with court 
 etiquette, the conversation passed in Persian. I confess 1 was 
 moved by the apparent poverty of the representative of a house 
 once very powerful, and paid him more attention than I perhaps 
 might have done had his drawing room presented a more prince- 
 ly style. He was exceedingly pleased by my calling him “ Ma- 
 ha-rajah,” or Great King, as if he were still a sovereign like his 
 ancestors, and acknowledged the compliment by a smile, and a 
 profound reverence. He seemed, however, much puzzled to 
 make out my rank, never having heard (he said) of any “ Lord 
 Sahib,” except the Governor-General, while he was still more 
 perplexed by the exposition of “ Lord Bishop Sahib,” which for 
 some reason or other my servants always prefer to that of “ Lord 
 Padre.” He apologized very civilly for his ignorance, observing 
 that he had not been for many years in Calcutta, and that very 
 few Sahibs ever came that way. I told him that I was going to 
 Dacca, Benares, Delhi, and possibly Hurdwar; that I was to re- 
 turn in nine or ten months, and that should he visit Calcutta 
 again, it would give me great pleasure if he would come to see 
 me. He said he seldom stirred froni home, but as he spoke his 
 sons looked at him with so much earnest and intelligible expres- 
 sion of countenance, that he added that ‘‘ his boys would be de- 
 lighted to see Calcutta, and wait on me.” He then asked very 
 particularly of Abdullah in what street and what house I lived. 
 After a short conversation of this kind, and some allusions on my 
 part to his ancestors and their ancient wealth and splendour, 
 which were well taken, we took leave, escorted to the gate by 
 our two young friends, and thence by a nearer way through the 
 ruins to our pinnace, by an elderly man, who said he was the 
 Raja’s “ Muktar,” or chamberlain, and whose obsequious cour- 
 tesy, high reverence for his master’s family, and numerous apolo- 
 gies for the unprepared state in which we had found “ the 
 court,” reminded me of old Caleb Balderstone. 
 
 We had not yet, however, done with our acquaintance. In 
 about an half an hour’s time the Muktar returned, and had a 
 conversation with Abdullah, apparently to ascertain what my 
 real rank was, and with directions to act accordingly. At least 
 after receiving satisfaction on the points in question, he desired 
 to see me, and announced that his master intended visiting me. 
 
 I at first declined the honour, saying that we were travellers, that 
 I was obliged to be off very early in the morning, and that 1 had 
 no means with me of receiving him as 1 could wish to do. The 
 
THIEVESi 
 
 111 
 
 old man however persisted, saying that his master would come 
 immediately, and that “ where there was friendship (joining his 
 hands and cringing almost to the threshold) ceremony was unne- 
 cessary.” Stowe was gone to bed, however I made ready to re- 
 ceive them ; but the Raja after all excused himself on account 
 of the night air, and only sent his sons, who had by this time 
 completely transformed themselves into eastern beaux, by the ad- 
 dition of white muslin dresses, and turbans of gold brocade. 
 They brought also a present of mangoes, sugar, and pastry, and 
 advanced with the usual nuzzur, after the manner of Calcutta. 
 They sate some time, occasionally answering me in Hindoos- 
 tanee, but generally preferring Persian, of their acquirements in 
 which they seemed proud, and they expressed some surprise that 
 I did not speak it. They were like most of the young Indians I 
 have seen, very lively, gentlemanly, and intelligent, anxious to ob- 
 tain information about Europe, and expressing repeatedly the 
 pleasure they expected from a visit to Calcutta. At length as a 
 sign of their “ ruksut,” or dismissal, I poured some lavender 
 water on their hands and handkerchiefs, apologizing that I had no 
 attar, and saying that it was “ belattee gulab,” (foreign rose- 
 water.) They liked it to all appearance much, and we part- 
 ed excellent friends. On the whole, I have been greatly 
 pleased with the evening’s adventure. It has given me an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the highest class of Hindoo families, in their un- 
 dress and daily habits of life. I had heard much of their sim- 
 plicity, as compared with the Mussulmans ; and even in the 
 present instance, 1 am not quite sure whether it is to this sim- 
 plicity, or to the poverty which I at first suspected, but which 
 seemed contradicted by the appearance of the boys in the even- 
 ing, that I am to attribute the sorry appearance of “ the court,” 
 and the dilapidated state in which the mansion is allowed to con- 
 tinue. I ought to mention, that after the boys were gone, the old 
 Muktar remained for some minutes behind, hoping they had given 
 me satisfaction ; regretting that his master had the asthma, and 
 saying, how grand a present would have been sent, if they had 
 had more notice ; and at length, asking permission to accompany 
 his young lords when they came to see me. So ended the even- 
 ing, but not so the night. The news had probably spread through 
 the village, that a “ burra admee” (a great man) had come to 
 see the Raja, with divers accounts of our riches and splendour ; 
 and about one o’clock an alarm of thieves was given by my sir- 
 dar-bearer, who happening to look out of one of the cabin win- 
 dows, saw three black heads just above the water, cautiously 
 approaching the sides of the vessel. His outcry of “ Decoit ! 
 Decoit !” alarmed us, but also alarmed them ; they turned rapid- 
 ly round, and in a moment were seen running up the river banks. 
 Thus we had a specimen of both the good and evil of India. 
 
112 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SIBNIBASHI TO DACCA. 
 
 GIPSIES WINGED BUGS— MATABUNGA FISHING DIFFICULT PASSAGE 
 
 IN THE KIVER BRAHMINY BULLS TITYBANIA ORNAMENTED 
 
 BOATS STRONG CURRENT OTTERS AVALANCHES PAWN KHYZR 
 
 ELEPHANTS BATHING. 
 
 June 19. — We again proceeded, still for the most part in a 
 northerly or north-westerly direction. The river this day was 
 much broader than we have yet seen it, with sandy banks, cover- 
 ed with low silky rushes. Many cormorants, cranes, and por- 
 poises were seen, but no alligators or crocodiles, though these 
 shores I should have thought were well adapted to them. The 
 day was very hot. We anchored at a place called Kishenpol, 
 where the river had a decidedly western course. This place is 
 not marked by Rennel, who is indeed nearly useless here. The 
 neighbourhood is dry, sandy, and open, but with a good many 
 villages in sight, each with its adjacent wood, and the parts near 
 the river cultivated with indigo, which I am told delights in a 
 sandy soil. Some scattered ears of maize were growing among 
 it. The banks were precipitous, and covered with fine long silky 
 rushes, evidently of a kind which would be very valuable for 
 cordage, &c. like the “ espantq” of Spain. Here they are only 
 used as thatch, for which they are reckoned better than straw. 
 This sort of cover is, I understand, the favourite haunt of the 
 tiger, who likes the neighbourhood of water, and the power at 
 the same time of lying dry and clean. Abdullah told us several 
 circumstances about the tiger, which at least were curious, as 
 showing the popular notions respecting him in India : He not 
 
 fierce, but very civil when he not provoked or very hungry ; he 
 then meddle with nobody.” He ascribed to him in fact many of 
 the noble and generous properties, which, perhaps with equal 
 justice, have been ascribed to the lion. He had been, he said, 
 when he was in service before, at one or two tiger hunts. The 
 tiger once wounded never thought of flying afterwards, and ex- 
 cept a short little roar when he sprung at his prey or his enemies, 
 he was always silent both under wounds and in death. On asking, 
 if a tiger should cross our path, what would he do, he steadily 
 repeated, “ he do no harm, we not fire at him.” “ Would he be 
 
GIPSIES. 
 
 113 
 
 frightened at us?” “Oh, no, he afraid of nothing, and no- 
 body.” 
 
 On the other side of the river was a large encampment of 
 wretched tents of mats, with a number of little hackeries, pan- 
 niers, ponies, goats, &;c. so like gipsies, that on asking what they 
 were, I was not much surprised to hear Abdullah say they were 
 gipsies ; that they were numerous in the upper provinces, living 
 exactly like the gipsies in England ; that he had seen the same 
 people both in Persia and Russia, and that in Persia they spoke 
 Hindoostanee the same as here. In Russia he had had no oppor- 
 tunity of ascertaining this fact ; but in Persia, by Sir Gore Ous- 
 ley’s desire, he had spoken with some of the w^andering tribes, and 
 found that they understood and could answer him. I told him of 
 Lord Teignmouth’s conversation in Hindoostanee with the old 
 gipsy on Northwood, and he said that in Persia it was not every 
 gipsy who spoke it, only old people. He said they were so like 
 each other in all the countries where he had seen them, that they 
 could not be mistaken, though in Persia they were of much bet- 
 ter caste, and much richer than here, or in England, or Russia. 
 But he added, “ I suppose in Russia, before Peter the Great, all 
 people much like gipsies.” There were many curious circum- 
 stances which I deduced from his information : first, the identity 
 of the gipsy race in Europe and India, and their connecting link 
 seemed established by a very observant witness, and certainly one 
 unprejudiced by system. Secondly, on further inquiry, I found 
 the people whom he identified with our gipsies in Persia, were 
 the wandering tribes of Louristan, Curdistan, &c. whom he de- 
 scribed with truth as being of “ good caste,” valiant and wealthy. 
 It therefore follows, that these tribes, whose existence in Persia 
 seems to be traced down from before the time of Cyrus, and 
 whose language is generally understood to differ from the Per- 
 sians of the plains and cities, resemble in countenance and person 
 the gipsies, and that their ancient language has been a dialect of 
 Hindoostanee. The probability is indeed that Persia, not India, 
 has been the original centre of this nomadic population. In that 
 case, however, it is strange that we do not hear of them sooner 
 in Europe, where they could scarcely have existed in ancient 
 times without being noticed by classical writers. It is no doubt 
 true, indeed, that all the principal nations of Europe are derived 
 from the same source with them ; but still their continued adher- 
 ence to a very ancient dialect of the common language, and their 
 steady pursuance of nomadic habits, must have always distin- 
 guished them from the more settled and civilized branches of the 
 same family. But the time and occasion of their arrival in Eu- 
 rope seem the chief problem in their history. 
 
 VoL. I. — 15 
 
114 
 
 FLYING BUGS— ANTS— BIRDS— FISH. 
 
 One of the greatest plagues we have as yet met with in this 
 journey is that of the winged hugs. In shape, size, and scent, 
 with the additional faculty of flying, they resemble the “ grabba- 
 tic” genus, too well known in England. The night of our lying 
 oflf Barrackpoor they were troublesome ; but when we were off 
 the Raja’s palace, they came out like the ghosts of his ances- 
 tor’s armies, in hundreds and thousands from every bush and 
 every heap of ruins, and so filled our cabins as to make them 
 barely endurable. These unhappy animals crowded round our 
 candles in such swarms, some just burning their feet and wings 
 on the edge of the glass shade, and thus toppling over ; others more 
 bold, flying right into the crater, and meeting their deaths there, 
 that we really paid no attention to what was next day a ghastly 
 spectacle, the mighty army which had settled on the wet paint of 
 the ceiling, and remained there, black and stinking, till the ants 
 devoured them. These last swarm in my pinnace : they have 
 eaten up no inconsiderable portion of my provisions, and have 
 taken, I trust to their benefit, a whole box of blue pills ; but as 
 they do their best to clear it of all other vermin, I cannot but 
 look on them with some degree of favour. 
 
 Besides the “ mucharunga,” a kind of king-fisher, which we 
 had seen before, some other birds, whose appearance is new to 
 me, continue to show themselves. One is a small black cormo- 
 rant, or curlew, which we see standing with its wet wings spread on 
 the sand-banks and shallows, praised as excellent eating ; another 
 is in colour and size not unlike a blackbird, but with a long tail. 
 Abdullah says, that early in the morning it “ reads (meaning sings) 
 very finely.” This equivocal use of the two words I have noticed 
 in other Indians, and it probably arises from the chant in which 
 both the Koran and the religious books of the Hindoos are always 
 read. 
 
 The prospect of our little fleet at anchor, of the fires made by 
 the servants and boatmen on the shore, and of a little crowd of 
 villagers who came down, attracted by curiosity, or in the hope 
 of selling milk, was very beautiful this evening, and presented 
 the elements for a picture as perfectly Polynesian as any in Cook’s 
 voyages. 
 
 June 20. — About ten o’clock, some fishermen brought a very 
 noble fish alongside of us for sale, of exactly the shape and ap- 
 pearance of a chub, but weighing at least 20 or 25 pounds. After 
 a good deal of haggling they sold it for 1 2 anas, (about eighteen 
 pence.) The khansaman proposed salting the greater part, but 
 1 made the servants very well pleased by saying that I would only 
 have a little boiled for ourselves, and that the rest should be di- 
 vided among them for their Sunday dinner, an arrangement which 
 seemed to offend no religious prejudices either of Hindoo or 
 
fog— SINGING BOYS. 
 
 115 
 
 Mussulman, inasmuch as the different messes seemed all eager to 
 receive their portions, and in the evening at our bivouac their 
 kettles were all supplied with it. The fish was very good, ex- 
 ceedingly firm and white, like a jack, which it a good deal re- 
 sembled, except that the bones were larger and less numerous. 
 Its name is “ rahoo.” With occasionah supplies of this kind, 
 there is no fear of our provisions falling short, except our bread, 
 which is become mouldy, and which in this part of the country 
 we have no chance of replacing. Our boatmen continued their 
 course to-day later than usual, and it was about seven o’clock 
 when he brought up near a large village, surrounded by marshes 
 and paddy grounds, but with a good deal of pasture intermingled. 
 Its name is Cadampoor, as we were told by an old man, who add- 
 ed the gratuitous information, that he was himself the village 
 “ Gaowala,” or cowman. This he probably said in hopes that 
 we might purchase some milk, but our goats supply us abundant- 
 ly. They are taken on shore whenever we stop, to graze on the 
 florin, which to my surprise grows in large patches on these sandy 
 banks. On our return from our evening’s stroll, we met the 
 Gaowala with his herd, and I had a fresh opportunity of noticing 
 (what had struck me more than once before) the falsehood of 
 the idea, that Indian cattle are particularly wild or surly with 
 white men. These animals in passing us displayed no more shy- 
 ness than a similar herd would have done in England. 
 
 June 21. — Holland itself could not have furnished a thicker 
 or more stinking fog than hung over the banks of the river early 
 this morning. It cleared up towards seven, leaving the promise 
 of a tremendously hot day without a breath of wind. Indeed, for 
 these three days we have had by no means the sort of weather we 
 were told to expect, and if we find water enough for our course, 
 we must, I apprehend, thank the melting snows of the distant 
 Himalaya for it, more than any rain which has yet fallen in Bengal. 
 We had proof this morning of the neighbourhood of Europeans of 
 some description or other, (probably indigo planters,) in two 
 gentlemen, apparently in the pursuit of game, who appeared on 
 the banks, mounted on elephants, and followed by two men with 
 long bamboos, as if to beat the bushes. Though they rode for 
 two or three minutes near us, they showed no disposition to have 
 any communication with our party. I was at first going to hail 
 them, and felt vexed at myself afterwards for the shyness, or 
 whatever it was, which made me lose the opportunity of learning 
 many points respecting our present situation and our future course, 
 on which I wished much to be informed. A number of little boys 
 came to the side of the river, and ran along by our vessel, which 
 the crew were towing slowly along, singing an air extremely like 
 that of “ My love to wards going.” The words were Bengalee, 
 
116 
 
 MUSTARD OIL. 
 
 and unintelligible to me ; but the purport, 1 soon found out, hy 
 the frequent recurrence of “ Radha,” to be that amour of Krishna 
 with the beautiful dairy maid, which is here as popular a subject 
 with the boatmen and peasantry, as the corresponding tale of 
 Apollo and Daphne can have been with the youth of Greece and 
 Hellenized Syria. A few pice were thrown to these young singers 
 by some of my servants. Their mode of begging strongly recalled 
 to my mind something of the same sort which I have seen in 
 England. Dear, dear England ! there is now less danger than 
 ever of my forgetting her, since 1 now, in fact, first feel the bitter- 
 ness of banishment. In my wife and children I still carried with 
 me an atmosphere of home ; but here every thing reminds me 
 that I am a wanderer. This custom of the children singing, I had 
 not met with before, but it seems common in this part of the 
 country. All the forenoon, at different villages, which are here 
 thickly scattered, the boys ran out to sing, not skilfully, certainly, 
 but not unpleasantly. The general tune was like ‘‘ My boy, 
 Billy,” Radha! Radha ! forming the burden. 
 
 The increase of the population is very striking to-day. It is 
 now apparently as dense as in any part of Bengal which I have 
 seen; and the crowds of villagers bathing, washing linen, &c., 
 the lowing of cattle, barking of dogs, and all other rural sounds 
 except the crowing of cocks, enliven our progress between the 
 high mud-banks, which would else be sufficiently tiresome. Dense, 
 however, as the population is, it seems exclusively Bengalee and 
 agricultural. Except the two Europeans, who might have come 
 from a considerable distance, we have seen no symptoms of white 
 men, nor have we passed a single indigo manufactory, since one a 
 few miles on this side of Ranaghat. The barges, which are very 
 numerous, bring salt from Calcutta, and carry back chiefly mus- 
 tard seed, which, in the shape of oil, is one of the most indispen- 
 sable necessaries in a'Hindoo family. “We eat mustard-oil, (said 
 my sircar to me one day, when lamenting an additional tax which 
 had been imposed upon this commodity,) we burn it, — we rub 
 ourselves with it, — it is quite as useful as rice.” 
 
 We have been these last three days in some perplexity about 
 our further progress. The account given us of the depth of water 
 by the crew of the large pulwars which we passed at Seebpoor, 
 appears either to have been exaggerated, or to refer to the largest 
 and most circuitous of three streams which flow out of the great 
 Ganges into that where we are now gliding. The most direct of 
 these, by Catchergatty, is said to be generally at this season tole- 
 rably supplied with water for a vessel of our small draught. But 
 the rain has been for these three days suspended, or nearly so. 
 We have the ill luck to observe, by the mark on the bank, that 
 the river has actually been a few inches higher than it is now ; 
 
INDIGO WORKS. 
 
 117 
 
 and the different boats which meet us hold very different language 
 as to the probability of our reaching Dacca by that course. The 
 second, or next straightest channel, is notoriously shallower than 
 the Catchergatty, so that there only remains the third, which is 
 nearly by three days more tedious : we are, however, likely to 
 obtain some more certain accounts to-night. The two cavaliers, 
 or elephanteers, whom we passed in the morning, and whom I 
 regretted the not having spoken with, it seems hailed the cook- 
 boat after we were gone by, and most civilly and modestly, without 
 introducing themselves, wrote a note, which they committed to 
 my peon, to the native daroga of Catchergatty, ordering him to 
 give me all the assistance and information in his power, and to 
 convey any letters for me, either to Calcutta or Dacca. 
 
 We this afternoon passed a very large tortoise, considerably 
 above afoot, I should think, in length, basking on one of the 
 sand-banks. 
 
 We moored at about half past six, after a very hot day, and a 
 fatiguing one for the poor men, at a place called Bunybunya, a 
 desolate, sandy spot, but which promised good air. On landing, 
 we found that beyond the immediate vicinity of our birth, the 
 country was really pretty. A considerable indigo work, with an ' 
 European bungalow, was at a little distance, the owner of which 
 was gone to Kishnagur, but which afforded us an amusing and 
 instructive occupation in walking round the works, and seeing 
 the manner in which indigo is made, by maceration in water in 
 a succession of brick cisterns, and at last, by kiln-drying, to evapo- 
 rate the moisture from the dye. The daroga, for whom we had 
 the letter, was gone, we found, to a neighbouring village, to hold 
 an inquest over a man who had been found dead in a well. 
 
 June 22. — After unmooring again, we were disappointed to 
 learn that we had passed the nearest way to Dacca. There were 
 still, however, two rivers opening before us, and that which lay 
 to our right, we were told, was nearer than the other by some 
 days: the. Serang went off in his jolly-boat to obtain intelligence 
 from a little village. He brought back word that there was water 
 enough, but that there were some bad and narrow places, where 
 we should have some difficulty in getting the pinnace along. I 
 could not conjecture what sort of narrow places we could have 
 to apprehend, inasmuch as the river was here almost a quarter of 
 a mile broad, and rocks, I knew, were things unheard of in Bengal. 
 But whatever were the hinderance, I determined on proceeding 
 this way, since the rapid rise of the river, which might now inevi- 
 tably be reckoned on, would clear away every thing of the sort, 
 most probably in a less time than would be lost by taking a cir- 
 cuitous route, even if (which we could not be sure of) that route 
 also should not produce its impediments. We therefore turned 
 
118 
 
 FAKIRS. 
 
 into this branch, which tended directly south-east, and where we 
 found the wind indeed against us, but a strong, whirly, dimpling 
 stream, urging us merrily forwards. In both these respects we 
 had previously experienced the contrary ; so that we found that 
 to this point we had been ascending one branch of the Matabunga, 
 flowing westward towards the Hooghly, but that the present was 
 another, which reverted by a southerly course, and with greater 
 rapidity, to the mighty Ganges, from which it at first had issued. 
 Our sails were now useless, but so fine a stream promised our 
 boatmen easy work with the tow-line. If, however, the poor 
 fellows formed any such expectation, they were soon undeceived. 
 They had, indeed, no occasion to urge the boat forwards: stern- 
 foremost, or broadside-foremost, or whirling round and round like 
 a reel, she was hurried on with more than sufficient rapidity. But 
 they had continually to bring her up short by main strength, or to 
 jump into the water, and with long bamboos, or with their arms 
 and shoulders, to stave her off, or push her over, different obsta- 
 cles. This is not a peaceable stream like the one we had quitted, 
 but hurries with it trees and bushes, as well as throwing up nu- 
 merous sand banks, between which our course was indeed very 
 often narrow and perplexing, though in the bed of the river there 
 was always a considerable depth of water, a circumstance which, 
 obliging our boatmen to swim every ten or twenty yards, materi- 
 ally increased their labours. At the more difficult of these places 
 we generally found a Mussulman fakir or two established, who 
 came, or sometimes swam, to beg alms, pleading the efficacy of 
 their prayers in getting us past the dangers, and supplying at the 
 same time, in many instances, some useful hints as to the best course 
 for our vessel ; a service cheaply rewarded by a few pice, which 
 indeed few would grudge, who are aware how often this is the sole 
 resource of unfortunate boatmen, victims to disease or premature 
 old age, brought on by the severity of their labours. Our own men, 
 though all in the prime of youth, well fed, and with figures such as a 
 statuary might delight to model after, themselves show too many 
 symptoms of the ill effects occasioned by their constant vicissitudes 
 of water, sun, and toil. The backs and skins of many of them were 
 scaly, as if with leprosy, and they spoke of this complaint as a fre- 
 quent consequence of their way of life ; though this particular erup- 
 tion, they said, always left them if they remained any time at home, 
 and re-appeared on their return to their aquatic labours. The 
 same thing I have heard of among the boatmen of Madras, where 
 it is, ignorantly enough, mistaken for a saline incrustation from 
 the sea-water. Here the water is fresh, yet the same spectacle is 
 presented, and must therefore, I suppose, be attributed to cheeked 
 perspiration. 
 
 After advancing six or eight miles in this manner, sometimes 
 
FISHINa. 
 
 119 
 
 hanging on the sunken trees, sometimes scraping against sand- 
 banks, but still trundling on at a rate faster than might have been 
 expected, we arrived in a broad deep pool, with unusually still 
 water, on seeing which the Serang immediately brought to, and 
 leapt on shore, exclaiming that we w^ere near one of the difficult 
 places. It was now about four o’clock, and the day pleasantly 
 cool and cloudy, so that Stowe and I followed his example, in 
 the hope of seeing what was the obstacle. We found, about 100 
 yards farther, a regular dam of earth, sand, and clay, thrown up 
 across the river, (a quarter of a mile wide,) by the force of this 
 restless stream, which now struggled on through the impediments 
 which it had itself raised, with great violence and impetuosity, 
 through two narrow and irregular channels, with a considerable 
 fall, into a lower and troubled, but still deep basin, some three 
 feet below. No vessel larger than a jolly-boat could pass these 
 channels in their present condition, and the question was whether 
 we were to return up the rapid stream which we had descended, 
 or get labourers to widen the most promising, though the narrow- 
 est, of these sluices. This was a question, however, very easily 
 decided. The bank was evidently nothing but earth easily 
 worked, and of which the rubbish would be as easily washed away 
 by the stream, and I therefore sent Abdullah to Matabunga, the 
 nearest village, with directions to find the daroga first, or if he 
 were not forthcoming, to hire work-people without delay. In 
 the mean time, I sat down to make a drawing of the scene before 
 me, and to enjoy the delightful sound and coolness of the rushing 
 water, as well as to observe the success of a crowd of people, 
 men, women, and children, who covered every part of the bank, 
 catching fish with long spears, scoop and casting nets. In the 
 use of these instruments they were very dexterous. I never in 
 my life saw a net so thrown, either for the extent of water cover- 
 ed, the precision of aim, or the apparent absence of effort, as by 
 one young man, a very little fellow too, who stood near us. To 
 these people we had in the first place applied to help us, but they 
 excused themselves, saying they had no tools. They were indeed 
 already very fully and profitably employed, since the water was 
 teeming with fish of all sizes, and the young man whom I have 
 mentioned told us that, at this time of year, nobody eat any thing 
 but fish, and that every body might have it. He said that a few 
 days ago there had been no passage here at all, for the river had 
 been standing in tanks all the way to “ Burra Gunga,” but that 
 now the rains had once forced their way, they would soon widen 
 the channel, and that some large vessels which he pointed out to 
 us above and below the fall, had been waiting several days for 
 this to happen, but that now they would get through at our 
 expense. “ Ucha oon ke waste.” “ Good for them,” he added. 
 
120 
 
 BRAHMINY BULLS. 
 
 At length Abdullah returned. No daroga, however, lived nearer 
 than the one we had left behind the day before, and the villagers 
 refused to come on the plea that it was a Hindoo holiday. This 
 objection he in part removed, by assuring them of good pay. 
 One old man, indeed, urged that the Brahmins would curse them, 
 but Abdullah gravely rejoined, “ the curse be on me and mine,” 
 and eight men, being pretty nearly the whole effective force of 
 the hamlet, came off with him. Seven of these were equipped 
 with very large and heavy hoes, (which are here universally used 
 instead of the spade, and in a soil where there are no stones are 
 certainly very serviceable tools.) The eighth had only his stick, 
 but was, according to the strange usage of Bengal, where nobody 
 can do any thing without a leader, the “ sirdar,” or master of the 
 gang, without whom they would not work, and whom they allow- 
 ed (voluntarily, since there is nothing but custom which makes 
 them do so) to receive their wages, and draw poundage on them 
 in consideration of his superintendence. This number fell short 
 of my wishes and expectations. They were, however, as good, 
 dexterous, and diligent labourers as I ever saw. They got on at 
 a great rate in the loose soil, and we had soon the pleasure to see 
 that the stream worked almost as fast as they did. In fact, be- 
 tween five o’clock and nine, they had enlarged the channel so 
 much as to make it almost certain that the stream in the night 
 would do all which yet was necessary. I gave the men three 
 anas each, including the sirdar. They were exceedingly grateful, 
 and it was, indeed, 1 well knew, more than they expected. But 
 they had worked very hard and willingly, at an hour when few 
 Hindoos can be prevailed on to touch a tool, and the latter part 
 of the time up to their knees or middles in water. I bid them, 
 however, come again in the morning at four o’clock, lest they 
 should be wanted. The country round these rapids, (if they 
 deserve the name,) is really pretty, open, and cultivated, but 
 interspersed with groves, and displaying as much variety as Ben- 
 gal is susceptible of. W e saw several tortoises swimming near 
 the bar. On the bank we found a dwarf mulberry tree, the first 
 we have seen in India. A very handsome and sleek young bull, 
 branded with the emblem of Siva on his haunches, was grazing in 
 the green Paddy. He crossed our path quite tame and fearless, 
 and seeing some florin grass in Stowe’s hand, coolly walked up to 
 smell at it. These bulls are turned out when calves, on different 
 solemn occasions, by wealthy Hindoos, as an acceptable offering 
 to Siva. It would be a mortal sin to strike or injure them. They 
 feed where they choose, and devout persons take great delight in 
 pampering them. They are exceeding pests in the villages near 
 Calcutta, breaking into gardens, thrusting their noses into the stalls 
 of fruiterers and pastry cooks’ shops, and helping themselves 
 
PEASANTRY. 
 
 121 
 
 without ceremony. Like other petted animals, they are some- 
 times mischievous, and are said to resent with a push of tlieir 
 horns any delay in gratifying their wishes. 
 
 June 23. — We were up this morning early to see the channel 
 which had been made, and our Serang’s preparations for passing 
 it. The former was sufficiently wide, but the stream rushed 
 through it with a fall at least equal to that at London Bridge. 
 The latter were extremely simple. The boatmen confided to 
 their strength of arm, and long bamboos, which, with the real 
 lightness of the vessel, carried her through triumphantly, preceded 
 by our cooking and baggage boats. The only precaution which 
 the Serang thought necessary, was to fasten a long rope from the 
 head of his vessel to a stake on the little island between the falls, 
 which brought her up after passing the strait, in the deep and 
 agitated basin beneath it. 
 
 From hence we proceeded, during the day, along a deeper 
 and more navigable stream, though still frequently perplexed by 
 islets and bars. We saw several of the tortoises, which I men- 
 tioned, svv^imming round us, and the shells of many more on the 
 sand-banks. The country was extremely pretty, the high banks 
 being fringed almost down to the water’s edge with bamboos, 
 long grass, and creepers, and the shore above covered with noble 
 banians, palms, and peepuls, with very neat villages under their 
 shade, while the figures of the women in coarse hut white cotton 
 mantles, walking under the trees, and coming, with their large 
 earthen jars on their heads, to draw water, gave a liveliness to 
 the picture which was very interesting. Several indigo works 
 were on the river side, and I thought the appearance of the boats, 
 the houses, and the peasantry, all improved as we approached 
 the Burra Gunga. We had a storm of thunder and heavy light- 
 ning to-day about noon. The Serang made fast on the lee of a 
 small sandy point. There was no real occasion for his doing so, 
 but he pleaded that if it came on to blow hard, he could not 
 manage his vessel in a river of so rapid a stream, and the depth 
 and direction of whose channel were so uncertain. This indeed 
 was one of the points on which I had been cautioned, that I 
 should never force a Serang to proceed when he was anxious to 
 “ lugana” (make fast). These people, when engaged by the trip, 
 have no interest in needless delays, and though they may some- 
 times be over-cautious, they always know their own rivers, and 
 the state of the weather, better than we can do. Most, if not all 
 the accidents which occur to Europeans on the Ganges, arise 
 from their making their crew proceed against their wishes and 
 judgment. We made a tolerable progress this day, and brought 
 to for the night under a high steep bank, with some fine old 
 banians, and a small village overhung by beautiful flowering trees 
 
 VoL. I. — 1G 
 
122 
 
 TITYBANIA. 
 
 and tamarinds ; beyond was a large circular space enclosed by 
 a mud wall, which appeared to be the ruins of a manufactory of 
 coarse ea,rthenware. The peasants were civil and communica- 
 tive, and we should have been well pleased to make further 
 inquiries, but a storm of rain drove us to our cabins again. We 
 here had an opportunity of judging of the height to which the 
 annual inundation rises. The river bank rose at least 25 feet 
 higher than the present surface of the water, yet, at this village, 
 they were throwing up mud banks for causeways, and making 
 other provision for communication and security, to the height of 
 three or four feet more ; and all the table-land which the bank 
 supported, was planted with paddy, and obviously prepared for 
 the reception of water. 
 
 The jackalls were very noisy this night, and there was another 
 noise in my cabin so exactly like the bubbling up of water 
 through a narrow crevice, that I felt convinced that our vessel 
 leaked, a circumstance which would not have been wonderful, 
 considering how she had been bumped about during the two last 
 days. On inquiry, however, 1 was told that it was a sort of 
 cricket, or Indian death-watch, which always emitted this sound. 
 This was the first time I had heard it. 
 
 June 24. — We this day made a better progress, the river being 
 deeper and wider, while the stream continued almost equally 
 powerful. In the neighbourhood of the place where we halted 
 for the night, which was chiefly cultivated with rice, with some 
 patches of sunn hemp, were two villages, to one of which we 
 walked, and found it large, populous, and beautifully embosomed 
 in trees, some of them of a kind which I had not before met with. 
 A large tree bearing a small and not ill-tasted fig, attracted my 
 attention from the strange manner in which its fruit grew, 
 attached to the bark both of boughs and stems, like a gall-nut, 
 oak-apple, or similar excrescence. Its name is Goolun. We met, 
 during our walk through the village, the brahmin of the place, a 
 young and intelligent man, who very civilly not only answered 
 our questions, but turned back to accompany us in our walk. 
 He said the name of the village was Titybania, that it, with a 
 property round it, amounting to a rental of 14,000 rupees a year, 
 belonged to a Hindoo family, whose name 1 forget, and who were 
 now engaged in a law-suit. That a muktar was named to receive 
 the rents, and that, as he shrewdly observed, “ The Company 
 get their taxes, the poor people their receipts as usual, and all 
 things go on as before, except the two brothers, who are rightly 
 served for quarrelling.” I asked if indigo was cultivated ; he 
 said no, and that probably the soil might be too clayey for it ; 
 but added, “ The indigo is a fine thing to put money into the 
 purse of the baboo, but we poor people do not want to see it. 
 
NATIVES—BOATS. 
 
 123 
 
 It raises the price of rice, and the rent of land.” The rent of 
 indigo-ground, he said, was above twelve anas the hegah (five 
 shillings an acre). That of rice-ground five (about two shillings 
 the acre). This is far less than in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, 
 but the place is certainly very sequestered. No tigers, he said, 
 are ever seen here. We passed by some Mussulman cottages, 
 distinguished by the poultry which were seen round them, and a 
 very small, but new and neat Hindoo cottage, before whose door 
 its owners were busy preparing a small garden, an unusual sight 
 in India, and at a short distance from which a young banian tree 
 was planted on a hillock of turf, carefully surrounded with thorns, 
 woven into a sort of dead-hedge, with much care and neatness. 
 I pointed out this last to the brahmin, who merely said it would be 
 a great tree in time, and very beautiful in that part of the village. 
 A handsome young woman, adorned with unusual gaiety of silver 
 anklets, &c. went into the house, and the owner himself was a 
 young man, so that probably the banian was a votive offering on 
 occasion of their marriage, or the birth of their first child. At a 
 small distance, and on the brink of the river, was a little wretched 
 hut of straw and reeds, removed from all other dwellings, with a 
 long bamboo and a small ragged flag, stuck into the ground, on 
 each side of its front. It was, the brahmin said, the tomb of a 
 Mussulman holy man. While we were passing on, several other 
 villagers collected round us. Some of them seemed greatly 
 amused with our unusual figures and complexion, and our imper- 
 fect Hindoostanee, but there was not the least expression of shy- 
 ness, nor any real incivility. Abdullah said it was quite amazing 
 to see how familiar the common people had become with English- 
 men during the last twenty years. He remembered the time 
 when all black people ran away from a white face, and the 
 appearance of a single European soldier struck consternation 
 into a village. “ They used to them now,” he said, “ they know 
 they no harm do.” The country people in this neighbourhood 
 seem contented and thriving, for them, though of course their 
 most flourishing condition would be reckoned deep poverty in 
 England. The boats on this river are much neater than those 
 on the Hooghly. Their straw tilts are better made, their sterns 
 not so unreasonably high, their sails less flimsy, nay, many of 
 them are painted, and have copper or gilded eyes fixed into their 
 bows and on each side of the helm.^ We had two beggars by 
 the boat, the one an old man with a white beard, blind, and led 
 by two boys, who were, he said, his children. 1 asked how old 
 
 * These are not merely ornamental. Dr. Abel, when he accompanied Lord 
 Amherst on his embassy to China, observed the same thing, and the Chinese 
 justified it by saying, “ No can see, No can savey.” — En. 
 
124 
 
 INDIAN DOGS. 
 
 he was, but he did not seem to understand my question, merely 
 answering that he had been blind forty years, and had lost his 
 eyes soon after he married. There are surprisingly few beggars 
 in Bengal. Of those whom I have seen, the greater part have 
 superadded some religious character to their natural claims on 
 our pity. This old man, however, had nothing of the sort, and 
 merely asked alms as a helpless and unhappy being. 1 was 
 heartily glad that I had come out provided. The other beggar 
 was a Pariah dog, who sneaked down in much bodily fear to our 
 bivouac, and was exceedingly delighted by a few pieces of 
 mouldy toast which we threw him. He was like a large terrier, 
 and would have been handsome had he been in better plight, 
 and had he had any thing like the confidence and alacrity of his 
 species in England. I have been often struck, and more than 
 ever in these remote districts, by the variety of colours and 
 breeds which Indian dogs display, and their similarity to many in 
 Europe. Terriers and hounds, or something very like them, are, 
 however, the most usual. Are they indigenous, or is it possible 
 that their stock can have been derived from us ? I should think 
 not, considering the recent date of our establishment in the 
 country, and the extreme smallness of our numbers any where 
 but at Calcutta. 
 
 I forgot to notice that this morning, about eight o’clock, we 
 experienced one of those accidents which are not infrequent in 
 Indian rivers, and in small or ill-built vessels perilous. We were 
 skirting pretty near the base of a high crumbling bank, whose top 
 was at least thirty feet above us, when the agitation of the water 
 caused by our oars, and the motion of the vessel, dislodged some 
 of the sandy brink, and immediately a large body of sand and 
 loose earth, weighing perhaps several hundred weight, slipped 
 down in a formidable avalanche into the water, half filled our 
 cabin, and wetted me to the skin with the splash it raised, and 
 though it would hardly have sunk us had it fallen on our deck, 
 would doubtless have swamped the greater part of the boats we 
 see around us. 
 
 June 25. — The river this day rapidly increased in size, and be- 
 came very beautiful and interesting. The banks are still high 
 and precipitous, but the vegetation which overhangs them is 
 splendid, and some of the villages would be reckoned neat even 
 in Europe. Several considerable indigo works also appeared on 
 the banks ; but the bungalows attached to them did not seem to 
 be occupied by Europeans. We ascertained to-day that the tor- 
 toise of these waters is no contemptible eating, having some good 
 turtle-soup at dinner. There was not, indeed, much green fat, 
 but what there was was extremely sweet and good, without the 
 least fishy taste, and the lean very juicy, well-flavoured meat, not 
 
FISHING BOATS. 
 
 125 
 
 unlike veal. We want, in fact, no comfort or luxury but bread, 
 having had none eatable for many days back. 
 
 We stopped for the night at a beautiful village with splendid 
 banian and peepul trees, and surrounded by natural meadows and 
 hedge-rows, so like English, that, but for the cocos, we could have 
 supposed ourselves there. The hedge-rows were of young toon 
 trees, which, to my surprise, I found so like ash, as easily to be 
 mistaken for it. Even the wood, when fresh felled, resembles ash, 
 more than the dark colour which it bears when wrought into fur- 
 niture in Calcutta. It differs, however, from ash, in being ex- 
 tremely heavy. The inner rind, which is white and glutinous, 
 tastes like liquorice. 
 
 We passed through a large paddy field, which the villagers 
 were diligently weeding, and which they had already got extremely 
 clean. Part of it had evidently been eaten down by sheep or cat- 
 tle, a practice apparently common in India. The path which we 
 followed led us at length close to an indigo work, with a small 
 but very pretty bungalow, which on inquiry we found was^occu- 
 pied by Mr. John Davies, belonging to the firm of Palmer & Co. 
 
 I meant at first to call, but found, on entering the compound, that 
 neither master nor mistress was at home, though there was a fine 
 and numerous family of white children, and the usual swarm of 
 black bonnes, &c. 1 thought of leaving my name, but did not 
 
 like to give a man the trouble, on his return home, of coming late 
 in the evening a considerable distance to the pinnace, which 1 
 knew would be the consequence of my doing so. 
 
 June 26. — Soon after day-light this morning we passed an empty 
 pinnace, (empty at least of all but its crew,) proceeding from 
 Dacca to Calcutta. From the Serang, whom I hailed in passing, 
 1 had the disappointment of hearing that we were still three days 
 from the Burra Gunga, and eight from Dacca. It was, however, 
 a satisfaction to find that there was sufficient water, and that (of 
 which we had lately begun to entertain some suspicions) our 
 Serang really was in the right course. 
 
 About nine we passed a handsome upper-roomed house, with 
 large verandahs, the property also, as the workmen near it told 
 us, of Palmer and Co., but occupied by a Frenchman, one of 
 their agents in the indigo trade. An old gentleman with powdered 
 hair, and sundry other whites, male and female, came out, but 
 disappeared again before we could hail them. I sent, however, 
 one of my silver-sticks, with my compliments to the gentleman of 
 the house, requesting him to send us some leaven to make bread 
 with ; and with the further request, that, if not inconvenient, he 
 would favour us with a loaf. The answer came back, to my sur- 
 prise, that they had no leaven in the house, and no bread ! A 
 
m 
 
 ME MATTACOLLY. 
 
 singular answer to receive from a domiciliated European in decent 
 circumstances, and most of all from a Frenchman ! 
 
 The river still continued to increase in size, and was now very 
 little narrower than some parts of the Hooghly, the banks of less 
 beauty than we have lately seen them. Our course for these last 
 two days has been generally S. E. by E., the wind strongly against 
 us, but the current as decidedly in our favour. The fishing-boats 
 here have very few of them oars ; they are moved by small pad- 
 dles, with great swiftness and dexterity. We have had the mor- 
 tification of seeing that they are unwilling to come near us, being, 
 I apprehend, afraid that our dandees will seize their fish without 
 payment. Three of our men took to the jolly-boat just now, 
 to speak one of their canoes, when the poor men on board it, as 
 well as two or three other skiffs in the neighbourhood, paddled 
 off with all speed, and soon distanced their pursuers. This does 
 not tell well for the general character of dandees in India, and 
 indeed it is easy to see that though our crew dare not plunder the 
 country in our presence, their morality is pretty much like that 
 of an English bargeman, — an animal by no means scrupulous with 
 regard to his neighbour’s property. About four o’clock we turned 
 short to the left, leaving the Mohanna river with its broad stream 
 flowing southwards to the Sunderbunds, and ascending a nar- 
 rower and very rapid current nearly due north. This our Serang 
 called the Mattacolly, and he still holds out to us the prospect of 
 reaching the Burra Gunga to-morrow. A large herd of cattle, 
 apparently intended for the Calcutta market, passed us ; they 
 were swimming across the river, a task which they performed 
 very dexterously. They were not fat, hut in other respects fine 
 and well-grown animals. Their white heads and horns had a 
 very singular appearance, all or nearly all the rest of their bodies 
 being under water. We passed one other indigo work to-day, 
 and that was ruined, the bank of the river having given way with 
 the house, which consequently now showed us an architectural 
 section of its inside. We saw an ingenious water-pump, worked 
 by twelve men, and intended, as I conceive, to irrigate a piece 
 of cane-ground. We halted for the night at seven, by the side of 
 a low sand-bank, with a vast extent of open and marshy country 
 round us ; the river with its banks of mud, the flat prospect round, 
 and its own width, a good deal reminded me of the Dee below 
 Chester, in the neighbourhood of the King’s ferry. 
 
 June 27. — The river expanded in about four miles into a noble 
 piece of water, I should think little less than a mile across, but 
 still running with increasing rather than diminishing rapidity. The 
 whole lake literally swarmed with small fishing boats, and we 
 passed some larger vessels loaded with jars of salt. The fishery, 
 we were told by these people, was of the “ Hilsa” or “ Sable Fish,” 
 
THE COMMERCOLLY. 
 
 127 
 
 and the salt was for preserving them. To the north-west, about 
 a mile further, we saw the mouth of another broad stream, which 
 the Serang said was the Commercolly ; colly and nuddee seem in 
 this part of Bengal synonymous. The correctness of this name 
 was confirmed by some people on shore, who told us that in about 
 four hours more we should be opposite the town of Boonshah, one 
 of the few names on Rennell’s map of which we have been able 
 to learn any tidings. Every body laughed at the idea of our 
 reaching the Gunga to-day, indeed with such a current as we are 
 now contending against, we can hardly hope to advance a mile an 
 hour. The northern bank of this new river was flat and grassy, 
 the southern very high, precipitous, and displaying many recent 
 marks of the havoc made by the current, which must, I should 
 apprehend, be at this moment swollen unusually by some violent 
 storm higher up. Instead of a gradual rise, every thing resem- 
 bles the circumstances of a sudden torrent. Trees, sods, bushes, 
 earthenware, all sorts of stray rubbish float past us, the river is 
 covered with foam, and floats rippling and whirling past. The 
 poor men worked like horses at the towing line, but could hardly 
 make head against it. This precipitous bank, however, is very 
 woody, picturesque, and populous, and the fishing-boats mooring 
 under it in great numbers, give a pleasing air of life to the scene. 
 
 We passed to my surprise a row of no less than nine or ten 
 large and very beautiful otters, tethered with straw collars and 
 long strings to Bamboo stakes on the bank. Some were swim- 
 ming about at the full extent of their strings, or lying half in and 
 half out of the water, others were rolling themselves in the sun 
 on the sandy bank, uttering a shrill whistling noise as if in play. 
 I was told that most of the fishermen in this neighbourhood kept 
 one or more of these animals, who were almost as tame as dogs, 
 and of great use in fishing, sometimes driving the shoals into the 
 nets, sometimes bringing out the larger fish with their teeth. I 
 was much pleased and interested with the sight. It has always 
 been a fancy of mine that the poor creatures whom we yvaste 
 and persecute to death for no cause, but the gratification of our 
 cruelty, might by reasonable treatment be made the sources of 
 abundant amusement and advantage to us. The simple Hindoo 
 shows here a better taste and judgment than half the otter-hunting 
 and badger-baiting gentry of England. 
 
 One of the fishing vessels came on board with some fine large 
 fish, and one of the dandees had caught us a turtle in the morn- 
 ing, which turned out extremely well, so that we had a feast to- 
 day. The Hilsa fish I had heard compared to a herring, but to 
 which it bore no resemblance that I could find, either in taste or 
 size, being at least six times as large. It is reckoned unwhole- 
 some to eat in any quantity. In going along I witnessed a disturb- 
 
128 
 
 MATTACOLLY. 
 
 ance on the shore, and found that one of the dandies had carried 
 off a fowl belonging to a Mussulman cottage. I of course made 
 him restore it, and cautioned the whole crew, that if I saw any 
 more misconduct of the kind, I would have the offender before 
 the next magistrate. 1 am not sorry to have had an opportunity 
 of reading them this lesson. 
 
 Between five and six this morning we passed Mattacolly, the 
 town whence this stream takes its name, or vice versa. It was 
 the largest assemblage of native dwellings (for there are no brick 
 houses among them) which I have seen since we left Calcutta, and 
 a very considerable number of native vessels, some of large size, 
 were moored before it. The Serang spoke of it as a place of great 
 trade, being the mart for salt to all the central provinces of Ben- 
 gal, and the principal source whence rice, mustard-oil, salt-fish, 
 and butter were obtained for the Calcutta market. The usual 
 channel of communication with Calcutta was by the Sunderbunds 
 and the Mohanna river, which we left behind, and whose princi- 
 pal stream, as I then noticed, falls into them. Our people com- 
 plain of the dearth of rice. The last harvest was not a very good 
 one, and the famine in Malabar has in some degree occasioned 
 scarcity in Bengal. At least, rice is now more than twice the 
 usual price. 
 
 We had several severe storms of wind and rain during the day, 
 and, unluckily for us, the place where we brought to for the night 
 was a spit of sand cut off from the land by a strong crop of in- 
 digo, almost as high as our heads, and so wet that one might have 
 as well walked through a waterfall. Stowe succeeded in turning 
 a corner, and got into some green meadows beyond^ with a 
 pretty little river like the Cherwell winding through them. 1 was 
 less venturesome, and contented myself with examining some of 
 the peculiarities of the indigo, with which I was previously un- 
 acquainted. It is, I find, a real vetch, having a blossom like a 
 pea, as well as a vetch-shaped leaf. It is chiefly cultivated on 
 the banks of the rivers, as the driest situations. One indigo esta- 
 blishment was near us, and Abdullah had already sent to know if 
 any leaven or bread w*ere attainable. The answer was that the 
 Sahibs had nothing of the kind, and never got any thing better 
 than the unleavened bread of the country. So that it appears the 
 old Frenchman was not singular in his privations. We have 
 lately seen a few instances of a singular hat, worn by the boatmen 
 and peasantry. It is precisely the head of a small umbrella, 
 made of straw, like the umbrellas which they usually carry, but 
 without a handle, and tied under the chin by two strings, which 
 come somewhere from its middle, resembling, in fact, pretty 
 nearly the straw hats worn by the Chinese, except as being more 
 clumsy. It must be very useful, however, both in rain and sun- 
 
RUPERRA. 
 
 129 
 
 shine, and I wonder that it is not more general. Many of the 
 larger boats which we passed this day were painted black, the 
 bamboo pillars which support the platform carved, and the sterns 
 ornamented with large brass studs. 
 
 June 28. — The river takes a remarkable twist here, so that our 
 course lay north-east by north. This indeed threatens to lengthen 
 our journey to Dacca, but is a great relief to the men, as they are 
 enabled to make sail, and our progress is much more rapid, 
 though, certainly, not in so favourable a direction as yesterday. 
 We saw a striking specimen of the precarious tenure of these 
 high djanks, and how slight causes will sometimes make them 
 topple over. One of these cliffs or scaurs, for they pretty nearly 
 answer to the latter name, without any reason that we saw but 
 the agitation of the water occasioned by our vessel, though we 
 were at some distance, fell suddenly to the weight of many tons, 
 and immediately, as if answering a signal, in two other places the 
 bank gave way in the same manner. Had we been under any of 
 them, our vessel must have gone to the bottom, and the ripple 
 was distinctly felt even where we] were. About nine o’clock we 
 passed Ruperra, a considerable village, vvith a large ruinous 
 building. Ruinous as it is, after the specimen which Sibnibashi 
 afforded us, we were not surprised to find it still occupied by the 
 Zemindar of the district. In its present state, and rapidly as we 
 passed it with a favourable wind, it is not very easy to judge of 
 what it originally has been, but from its Grecian architecture it 
 can hardly be old, while it has evident marks of having been con- 
 structed in a striking and picturesque taste. But as I have before 
 observed, a building soon becomes ruinous here, and to repair 
 any thing does not seem the habit of India. Abdullah had more 
 than once told us strange things of the “ Birds of Paradise,” 
 which we were to see as we approached the Great Ganges. I 
 confess 1 was slow to give credit to him, having always understood 
 that the remarkable birds usually so called, were inhabitants of 
 the Malayan and Sooloo Archipelagos only. He described them, 
 however, accurately enough, as large birds, of a gold colour, with 
 a crest and very long tail ; adding, that the feathers were the 
 same with those silky golden ones which he had seen sold in Lon- 
 don. This morning he called to us in a great hurry, that one of 
 them was in sight, perched on a tree not far from the water’s 
 edge. Unfortunately I could not distinguish it, but Stowe, who 
 saw it, though imperfectly, said it appeared to answer his de- 
 scription. 
 
 The nets used for fishing these waters are. very simple and 
 imperfect ; their casting-nets are indeed large, and good of their 
 kind, but of course chiefly applicable to the smaller fry. We 
 have seen no instance of the seine or drag-net, and the rest, even 
 
 VoL. I.— 17 
 
130 
 
 TYNYBANYA. 
 
 their largest, seem on the principle of a scoop, triangular, and ter- 
 minating in a purse. They are extended on two long bamboos, 
 to catch the stream and all it brings with it, and when supposed 
 to be tolerably full, are lifted suddenly. Sometimes they are 
 thus managed in boats in the middle of the stream, where they 
 must require considerable dexterity ; sometimes they are fastened 
 to bamboos in likely eddies, near the banks. In either case the 
 tame otters must be of most essential service to drive the fish and 
 terrify them from escaping. This rudeness of net struck me more, 
 because on the Hooghly very large nets, apparently of the seine 
 kind, are used, with Kedgeree pots for floats. The river con- 
 tinues a noble one, and the country bordering on it is now of a 
 fertility and tranquil beauty, such as I never saw before. Beauty 
 it certainly has, though it has neither mountain, nor waterfall, nor 
 rock, which all enter into our notions of beautiful scenery in 
 England. But the broad river, with a very rapid current, swarm- 
 ing with small picturesque canoes, and no less picturesque fisher- 
 men, winding through fields of green corn, natural meadows 
 covered with cattle, successive plantations of cotton, sugar, and 
 pawn, studded with villages and masts in every creek and angle, 
 and backed continually (though not in a continuous and heavy 
 line like the shores of the Hooghly) with magnificent peepul, ba- 
 nian, bamboo, betel, and coco trees, aflford a succession ofpictures 
 the most riant that 1 have seen, and infinitely beyond any thing 
 which 1 ever expected to see in Bengal. To add to our pleasure 
 this day, we had a fine rattling breeze carrying us along against 
 the stream, which it raised into a curl, at the rate of five miles an 
 hour ; and more than all, 1 heard from my wife. We brought to 
 at seven near a large village, called Tynybanya. The banks near 
 the river were cultivated in alternate quillets with rice and cotton. 
 Then followed long ridges of pawn, which grows something like 
 a kidney-bean, and is carefully covered above and on every side 
 with branches of bamboo, forming a sort of hedge and roof, as 
 high as a man’s head. When these branches and leaves become 
 withered, (which they soon do,) they look exactly like a high mud 
 wall, so like indeed, that when we first saw them in the course of 
 this morning, we both thought they were garden walls, and that 
 the pawn was cultivated within instead of under them. Pawn 
 seems one of the most highly valued productions of India, if we 
 judge either by the pains taken in its cultivation, or the price 
 which it bears : we were told that its retail price was sixty leaves, 
 (each as large as a bay -leaf) for an ana (l^d.), no contemptible 
 rate in a country where all products of agricultural labour are 
 so cheap, and where rice may be had at less than half an ana the 
 seer, a weight of nearly two pounds. Yet the only use of pawn 
 (which has a hottish spicy flavour) is to wrap up the betel-nut 
 
BETEL-NUTS— GUN G A. 
 
 131 
 
 which the natives of India delight in chewing, and for which I 
 should have thought many other leaves would answer as well. 
 Our servants, indeed, have an idea that the root of the pawn is 
 collected by the apothecaries as medicine, and sold at a high rate 
 for exportation, but I never remember hearing of it. I tried 
 chewing the betel to-day, and thought it not unpleasant, at least 
 I can easily believe that where it is fashionable, people may soon 
 grow fond of it. The nut is cut into small squares and wrapped 
 up in the leaf, together with some chunarn. It is warm and pun- 
 gent in The mouth, and has the immediate effect of staining the 
 tongue, mouth, and lips, a fiery orange colour. The people here 
 fancy it is good for the teeth, but they do not all take it. I see 
 about half the crew without the stain on their lips, but I do not 
 think the teeth of the others are better. 
 
 The betel is a beautiful tree, the tallest and slenderest of the 
 palm kind, with a very smooth white bark. Nothing can be more 
 graceful than its high slender pillars, when backed by the dark 
 shade of bamboos and other similar foliage. A noble grove of 
 this kind succeeded to the pawn rows at our village this evening, 
 embosoming the cottages, together with their little gardens, and, 
 what I see here in greater perfection than I have yet seen in 
 Bengal, their little green meadows and home-steads. We ram- 
 bled among these till darkness warned us to return. The name 
 of this river is Chundnah. We saw a large eagle seated on a 
 peepul tree very near us. On the peepul an earthen pot was 
 hanging, which Abdullah said was brought thither by some per- 
 son whose father was dead, that the ghost might drink. I before 
 knew that spirits were supposed to delight in peepul trees, but 
 did not know, or had forgotten the coincidence, of the brahmini- 
 cal with the classical 
 
 June 29. — This morning we continued our way with a strong 
 and favourable breeze against “ a broader and a broader stream, 
 that rocked the little boat,” and surpassing the liooghly almost as 
 much in width as in the richness, beauty, and cheerfulness of its 
 banks, which makes me believe that Calcutta is really one of the 
 most unfavourable situations in Bengal. We passed some fish- 
 ing-boats of very ingenious construction, w^ell adapted for pad- 
 dling in shallow water, and at the same time not unsafe, being 
 broad in the beam and finely shaped. They were also clinker 
 built, the first of that kind which 1 have seen in India. About 
 12 o’clock we passed on our left-hand a large and handsome Eu- 
 ropean house, very nobly situated on a high dry bank, with tine 
 trees round it, and immediately after, we saw before us a sheet 
 of \yater, the opposite bank of which was scarcely visible, being 
 in fact Gunga in her greatest pride and glory. The main arni 
 which was visible, strechedaway to the north-west, literally look- 
 
132 
 
 OFFERING TO KHIZR. 
 
 ing like a sea, with many sails on it. Directly north, though still 
 at a considerable distance, the stream was broken by a large 
 sandy island, and to the south, beyond some low sandy islets and 
 narrower channels, we saw another reach, like the one to the 
 north, with a sandy shore, looking not unlike the coast of Lan- 
 cashire, as seen trending away from the mouth of the Mersey. 
 To one of these islets we stood across with a fine breeze. There 
 the boatmen drew ashore, and one of them came to ask me 
 for an offering, which it was (he said) always customary to make 
 at this point, to Khizr^ for a good passage. Khizr,for whom the 
 Mussulmans have a great veneration, is a sort of mythological 
 personage, made up of different Rabbinical fables concerning 
 Eliezer the servant of Abraham, and the prophet Elijah, on 
 which arc engrafted the chivalrous legends respecting St. George I 
 They believe him to have attended Abraham, in which capacity 
 he drank of the fountain of youth, which gave him immortality. 
 This is Rabbinical, but the Mussulmans also believe him to have 
 gone dry-shod over Jordan, to have ascended to heaven in a fiery 
 chariot, and lastly, to be a valorous knight, who helps the arms 
 of the believers, and will return at length on a white horse, a 
 little before the day of judgment, together with, and as the Vizier 
 of our Lord, to destroy Dejjal or Anti-Christ, and subdue the 
 multitudes of Gog and Magog. But as having access to the foun- 
 tain of life, and as having passed Jordan, he is particularly dis- 
 posed to love and cherish the waters, and all which belong to, or 
 sail on them. Dacca, under the Mogul dynasty, was placed 
 under his peculiar protection, and he naturally succeeded to that 
 veneration, which, in the same district, the Hindoos had previous- 
 ly been in the habit of paying to their Varuna, god of the seas 
 and rivers. 
 
 Our vessel found something like a sea running in the mid-chan- 
 nel, and I could observe our two sirdar-bearers sitting close to 
 each other with very melancholy countenances. I observed to 
 mine that this river was greater than the old Gunga, and was 
 amused by the faint and dismal assent he gave, though he endea- 
 voured to conceal his unmariner-like sensations. We stood 
 across to the other side, leaving a large sandy island on the right- 
 hand, and halted to wait for our boats, though in a bad situation, 
 where a heavy sea beat on the shore, and the pinnace thumped 
 continually on the sand. We ought to have anchored further 
 out, but that would have been contrary to the naval tactics of 
 Bengal, which always incline to hug the shore as much as 
 possible ; and what followed made me rejoice that this was the 
 case. A poor miserable-looking man came along-side, and with 
 joined hands, and in accents of deep distress, asked for medicine. 
 On inquiring what was the matter, he said that he and eight 
 
BEGGARS— RELIGIOUS MENDICANT. 
 
 133 
 
 others, a boat’s crew, were all lying within a few yards so ill 
 and weak that they could not navigate their vessel, and only 
 himself and two more had strength to crawl about at all. The 
 complaint he called “ play,” which I was told was a bilious fever. 
 We went to the vessel, which presented, indeed, a dismal scene 
 of misery. I would not let Stowe go into the cabin, which he was 
 about to do, but. made the poor fellows come to the gangway. 
 Their case seemed a very plain one, their tongues white, pulse 
 very quick and hard, and skin much suffused with yellow, and 
 they had almost given up hope of life. Our Serang said it was 
 the Sunderbund disease, in fact a marsh fever. Stowe immedi- 
 ately fell to work to make some pills of calomel and colocynth, 
 which they took very thankfully, and left them more to take if 
 required. 
 
 We soon found indeed, and on their account found with less 
 regret, that many things were to be done before we could resume 
 our voyage. As the wind was full against us, our top-masts were 
 to be struck, and other preparations made for tracking. The 
 boat-men wished to show their gratitude to St. George, (or St. 
 Khizr,) by a little feast ; and as the village where our lot was 
 thrown bade fair to be interesting, we disposed ourselves for an 
 earlier and longer walk after dinner than usual. Meantime we 
 were besieged by beggars : a wretched old leper all over sores, a 
 younger object of the same kind, a blind man, with many others, 
 came down to the beach ; and when, after dinner, we walked into 
 the village, a very small and deformed dwarf, an old man, not 
 above three feet high, was brought on a man’s shoulders. He 
 seemed to set a tolerably high value on himself, and instead of 
 being grateful for the alms I gave him as a beggar, wanted to be 
 paid as a curiosity. The most characteristic, however, of these 
 applicants, was a tall, well-made, but lean and raw-boned man, 
 in a most fantastic array of rags and wretchedness, and who 
 might have answered admirably to Shakspeare’s Edgar. He had 
 a very filthy turban round his head, with a cock’s feather in it ; 
 two satchels flung over his broad shoulders, — the remains of a 
 cummerbund, which had been scarlet, — a large fan of the pal- 
 metto-leaf in one hand, and over the other wrist an enormous 
 chaplet of wooden beads. He came up to our boatman with a 
 familiar air, bade them salam with great cordiality, then, half 
 laughing, but with moments in which his voice assumed a tone 
 as deep as a curfew, appeared to ask their benevolence. He 
 was a Mussulman religious mendicant, and was come to congratu- 
 late his brethren on their arrival, and receive their bounty. That 
 bounty was small : neither his own merits, nor those of Khizr, 
 could extract a single pice either from Serang or boatmen. They 
 gave him, however, a little rice, which he received in a very 
 
134 
 
 FIELD OF CUCUMBERS. 
 
 bright and clean pot, and then strode away, without asking any 
 thing of us, and singing Illah, Illahu ! 
 
 The evening was very fine, and we had a beautiful stroll along 
 the beach and through the village, which, more than most 1 have 
 seen, reminded me of the drawings of Otaheite and the Friendly 
 Islands. It was surrounded by quillets of cotton, sugar-cane and 
 rice, overgrown with bamboos and palms, and on the shore were 
 some fine specimens of the datura stramonium, which, as night 
 came on, opened a magnificent and very fragrant white lily- 
 shaped flower, while all the grass and bushes were gemmed with 
 brilliant fire flies. A number of canoes were building on the 
 beach, many of them very neatly made, and, like those which I 
 have lately seen, clinkered. These were, however, dear, (at 
 least 1 thought so.) On asking the price of one of them, the 
 carpenter who was painting her said 46 rupees. Dragon-root 
 grows plentifully in all these thickets. 
 
 On going at night-fall to inquire after our patients, we found 
 them already better, but very anxious for wine or spirits, which 
 they said always cured the Sunderbund fever. Rhadacant Deb 
 had assured me that no Hindoo ought or would on any account 
 take spirits, or even any liquid medicine, from the hands of an 
 European. Yet these people were all Hindoos; so that it ap- 
 pears that the fear of death conquers all the rules of superstition, 
 or else that these people in general really care less about the 
 matter than either Europeans, or such bigots as Rhadacant Deb 
 would have us believe. 
 
 The river, I should guess, at this place, is about as wide as the 
 Mersey a mile below Liverpool ; but its very flat shores make it 
 look wfider. The place where we lay was evidently frequented 
 by people who either were frightened, or had recently been so, 
 since there were very many traces of that devotion which origi- 
 nates from a supposed dangerous enterprise. I saw no fewer than 
 three turf-built kiblas, for the devotion or thanksgiving of Mo- 
 hammedans ; and a small shed containing the figure of a horse, 
 rudely made of straw plastered over with clay, which I was at a 
 loss whether to regard as Mohammedan or pagan, since the Mus- 
 sulmans of this country carry about an image of the horse of Hos- 
 sein, and pay much honour to that of Khizr. Near it was a small 
 shed of bamboos and thatch, where a man was watching a field 
 of cucumbers, which interested me as being the same custom to 
 which Isaiah alludes in chap. i. ver. 8. I pointed out the coin- 
 cidence to Abdullah, who was greatly delighted, and observed, 
 after some praises of Isaiah, that, surely the old religion of the 
 brahmins must have had some truth, since they all, he said, looked 
 forward to an incarnation of Vishnu, on a white horse, to restore 
 the world to happiness. “ They only not know,” he said, “ that 
 
MONSOON, 
 
 135 
 
 Vishnu already incarnate, and that he come again when they 
 mention, on white horse, as they speak alluding, as he after- 
 wards explained himself, to the description of Christ in Revela- 
 tions xix. ver. 11. This man is certainly intelligent, and, for his 
 situation in life, extremely well-informed. 
 
 And thus we are, literally, in India beyond the Ganges. We 
 have had the mortification, however, of learning that we have 
 come hither too soon, and that our Serang ought to have kept on 
 the western bank till almost opposite Jaffiergunge. Through his 
 ignorance we shall have the greatest strength of the monsoon to 
 contend with to-morrow, instead of having its force broken by a 
 weather shore, or one w^hich partly answers to that description. 
 
 June 30. — This morning we heard a very good account of our 
 patients, and left them with a small stock of bark and wine, 
 enough, I should hope, to set up men who are entirely unaccus- 
 tomed to any stimulant. We found, unfortunately, but too soon, 
 the difficulty of proceeding on our way to Dacca. The men 
 towed us a few miles with much labour against a fierce wind, 
 which thumped us every moment with right good-will, on the clay 
 bank, — then begged leave to rest, — then to try the middle of the 
 river. To this measure we were much inclined, as the stream 
 we thought would of itself be enough to carry our vessel down, 
 while the wind (with the driver and jib) would serve to steady 
 us. We soon found, however, that the pinnace, from its want of 
 keel, had no guidance or stability in the water ; that she neither 
 answered to her helm, nor in the least bore up against the wind ; 
 nay, that the stream itself had not so much hold on her shallow 
 construction as the wind had, even when all the sails were down. 
 I urged them to try their oars ; but the sea ran so high, and the 
 vessel rolled so much in the middle of the stream, that these too 
 were useless, or nearly so. We tried to regain the shore from 
 which we had parted, but found this difficult, without a very se- 
 rious loss of ground. Under these circumstances it seemed still 
 adviseable to stretch over to the western bank, which we had 
 prematurely quitted ; and accordingly we stood across for the 
 sandy island, which, on our arrival, we found divided by a broad 
 channel. Our Serang was very coolly going to establish himself 
 for the night on the first land which he touched ; but I insisted 
 on his at least proceeding over the next broad stream, so as to get 
 in a favourable direction for towing next day, and for remaining 
 with a weather-shore during the night. He obeyed, and we at 
 5 o’clock again took up our quarters on a sandy beach, the very 
 likeness of Southey’s Crocodile Island, being pretty nearly the 
 spot where we should have been yesterday evening, had our 
 Serang known where he was. The only interesting occurrence 
 was the capture of a very large and beautiful iguana, or lizard, 
 
136 
 
 LI21ARDS— JAFFIERGUNGE. 
 
 2 feet 9 inches long, with five toes on each foot, and a forked 
 tongue, beautifully marked with tiger-like stripes of yellow and 
 black. It was basking on the river bank, but was no sooner dis- 
 turbed than it ran into the water, then, seeing the boats, instead 
 of diving, it began to creep up the bank again, when one of the 
 boatmen caught it in a snickle. They were all much afraid of it, 
 and spoke of its bite as poisonous, which, from its appearance, I 
 am little inclined to believe. It did not, indeed, seem to have 
 any teeth at all. Stowe rambled about the island, and waded 
 through a marsh after some widgeons, and shot two ; on cutting 
 them up an egg was found in each. This supply will not be 
 unseasonable to our rapidly decreasing larder. 
 
 July 1. — This morning, the wind being more moderate, we 
 continued our course to the western bank of the river, without 
 any great loss of ground, and then proceeded favourably enough 
 by towing. The river soon became free from islands of any sort, 
 and expanded into the most noble sheet of fresh water I ever saw, 
 I should guess not less than four miles wide. The banks are 
 tolerably high when we are near them, but while we creep along 
 the one, the other is only seen as a long black line on the horizon. 
 Of course, though the view is striking, it is not picturesque, and 
 it would soon weary us, which could hardly be the case with the 
 beautiful Chundnah. 
 
 I had the delight to-day of hearing again from my wife, and 
 this is worth all the fine scenery in the world. 
 
 The fishermen are a finer race here than those in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Calcutta, and their boats better. They have also 
 large seines, like those on the Hooghly. Yet many circumstances 
 in their equipments are extremely rude. Many have for sail a 
 mat, or cloth, suspended between two bamboos, one on each gun- 
 wale, like the New-Zealanders ; and one skiff passed us scudding 
 under a yet simpler contrivance, two men standing up in her, and 
 extending each a garment with his feet and hands. I have seen 
 some such representations of Cupids and Venuses on gems, but 
 little thought that the thing had its prototype in real life, and was 
 the practice of any modern boatmen. 
 
 The noise of the Ganges is really like the sea. As we passed 
 near a hollow and precipitous part of the bank, on which the 
 wind set full, it told on my ear exactly as if the tide were coming 
 in ; and when the moon rested at night on this great, and, as it 
 then seemed, this shoreless extent of water, we might have fan- 
 cied ourselves in the cuddy of an Indiaman, if our cabin were not 
 .too near the water. About half past five we stood across the 
 river, which ran really high, and washed the decks handsomely, 
 and brought to amid rice, indigo, and sugar-fields, near the native 
 town of Jafiiergunge, and had an interesting walk, though it was 
 
VIVACITY OF THE NATIVE INDIANS. 
 
 137 
 
 too late for a long one. The people were cutting indigo, which 
 they then packed in large bundles, and loaded in boats. It both 
 looked and smelt something like new-made hay, though with 
 rather a stronger flavour. A good deal of wild celery was grow- 
 ing on the bank, which Abdullah*said the people of this country 
 boil and eat in large quantities, believing it to be very wholesome. 
 The night-blowing stramonium was also abundant. 
 
 July 2. — We entered the river of Jafliergunge, called Com- 
 mercolly in Rennell’s map, which here, however, as in other 
 places, probably from some alteration in the course of the stream, 
 is utterly useless. The country all populous, highly cultivated 
 with rice, sugar, cotton, and indigo ; and though woody, the banks 
 are not oppressed with such exuberant and heavy arborage as 
 those of the Hooghly. We passed a considerable indigo factory, 
 with a very pretty house attached to it. There seemed more 
 machinery, and more activity here, than in any which we have 
 seen. The appearance of the workmen, whose naked limbs and 
 bodies were covered with the blue dye, was very singular. 
 
 The wind favoured our progress to-day ; and though the Serang 
 did not care to abandon his trusty tow-line, the men had light 
 work, and were in high spirits. On passing a banian tree, where 
 were an old mat and a pitcher, one of them ran forwards with- 
 out giving any notice of his intentions, drew the mat round his 
 loins, placed the potsherd by his side according to rule, and so 
 ridiculously imitated the gestures of a “ Yogi,” (a religious men- 
 dicant,) singing all the time in the dismal tune which they use, 
 putting his hands over his head, sprinkling earth on his face, &c. 
 that his comrades were quite disabled from their work with 
 laughing, and I was myself exceedingly amused. Indeed, not 
 having seen him run forwards, I reallj^ at first supposed him to 
 be the person he counterfeited, and wondered at the irreverent 
 mockery with which so holy a man was treated, till in a few 
 minutes he sprang up, threw his mat and handful of ashes at his 
 comrades, and catching up his truncheon of bamboo, resumed 
 his place in the team with an agility and strength which urged 
 all the rest into a round trot. This is only one out of twenty 
 instances which every day offers, of the vivacity of these fellows, 
 who are, in fact, always chattering, singing, laughing, or playing 
 each other tricks. Yet I have met many people in Calcutta who 
 gravely complain of the apathy and want of vivacity in the na- 
 tives of India. My own observation, both of these men and of 
 the peasants and fishermen whom we pass, is of a very different 
 character. They are active, lively, gossiping, and laborious 
 enough when they have any motive to stimulate them to exertion. 
 Had I an indigo plantation, I would put them all to task-work, 
 and 1 am sure that, with due inspection to prevent fraud, few 
 
 VoL. T.— 18 
 
138 
 
 SAIL TO DACCA, 
 
 labourers would surpass them in steady work, and still fewer 
 would equal them in cheapness. Their habit of coming late to 
 their labour, and breaking off early, arises from the variety of 
 callings which each man at present exercises, and the time which 
 he loses in preparing his food. « Make it worth their while to es- 
 tablish messes, where one should cook for the remainder, and 
 give them facilities of eating a noon-day meal on the scene of 
 their work, and they would, 1 think, be easily persuaded, with 
 far ^greater comfort to themselves, and advantage to their em- 
 ployers, to begin and leave off work at the same time with Eng- 
 lish labourers. Indeed, at some of the indigo works which we 
 have passed, this seems the case ; and 1 am sure that the fisher- 
 men and dandees work as late and early as any people. 
 
 The stream as we advanced became broader, and the country 
 assumed the character of inundation. The villages, on land a 
 little elevated, were each surrounded by its thicket of bamboos 
 and fruit trees. Some fine tall spreading banians and peepuls 
 were scattered on the driest patches of the open country, but 
 the rest was a sheet of green rice, intersected in every direction 
 by shallow streams, which did not as yet cover the crop, but 
 made it look like rushes in a marsh. The low banks of the river 
 were marked out by the bushes of datura stramonium, and long 
 silky tufted grass, which from place to place rose above the water, 
 and here our boatmen waded sometimes mid-leg, sometimes knee- 
 deep. Indigo, in this low country, is confined to the banks round 
 the villages, whence we saw several boats conveying it to the 
 works which we had left behind us. 
 
 About two o’clock we entered on an immense extent of flat 
 and flooded country, stretching as far as the eye could reach to 
 the north-west, without even trees or any similar object to break 
 the line of horizon. Here at Gwalparah we, for the first time 
 since leaving the Ganges, had the stream in our favour. As the 
 wind was not altogether unfavourable, we hoisted sail, and the 
 stream strengthened as we got into the middle of the river. The 
 Serang told me we should do extremely well, provided we could 
 make a particular clump of trees, which we were in a very fair 
 way for, when suddenly the wind drew round to the south-east, 
 and began to blow hard, with rain, v/hich fairly compelled us to 
 bring up on the opposite side of the “ Jeel”"^ to that which we 
 intended, on a rotten marsh, overgrown with beautiful jungle- 
 grass, tall and silky, and at least eight feet high, so as completely 
 to bury the men who endeavoured to get through it. Towards 
 sunset the breeze moderated, when, by help of a little rowing, we 
 got off from shore, and found ourselves in a wide stream of muddy 
 
 In the dry season a jeel is merely a swamp, but during the rains, when 
 near a river, it becomes navigable for pinnaces. — En. 
 
SAIL TO DACCA— TOLLS. 
 
 139 
 
 water, rushing at the rate of eight or ten knots an hour, in 
 which our sails just served to keep us steady, and which carried 
 us in little more than an hour to the point we were anxious to 
 attain* We received two messages from Mr. Master, judge of 
 Dacca, in the course of the day, with a most liberal supply of 
 bread, fresh butter, and fruit. His servants say we may easily 
 reach Dacca to-morrow. 
 
 July 3 . — This morning we advanced about twelve miles with 
 the current, making some little advantage of our sails. About 
 eight o’clock, however, the wind was so strong and so complete- 
 ly in our teeth, that we were forced to bring to, as usual on a 
 lee-shore, but so soft and yielding, being in fact all marsh and 
 reeds, that no harm was likely to happen to the vessel. We lay 
 in this manner till past ten, when, it being very clear that, with 
 such a wind, it was impossible for the pinnace to reach Dacca 
 by church-time next day, I determined on going thither in the 
 jolly-boat, leaving Stowe, whose health would not admit of his 
 joining such an expedition, behind. I accordingly embarked, 
 taking with me, besides my clothes, a pocket compass, and a 
 common Bengalee umbrella, which being of straw 1 thought 
 would keep off the sun more effectually than my own. 1 took 
 Abdullah and four of the best rowers of our crew, leaving on 
 board the pinnace four of Mr. Master’s police boatmen instead, 
 who came to offer their services. The adventures of such a 
 voyage were not likely to be very numerous. We found a really 
 heavy sea in the middle of the jeel, which washed our faces libe- 
 rally. The width of this expanse of water was on an average, 
 1 think, about a mile, showing in many places marks of the vege- 
 tation which it covered, and bordered, mostly, by tall rushes, 
 jungle-grass, and rice fields, as yet only partially inundated. The 
 stream was exceedingly strong, so much so as perfectly to account 
 for the height of the waves, which the wind raised by their oppo- 
 sition. This latter, however, became more moderate after we had 
 rowed about an hour and a half, and the remainder of our progress 
 was very rapid and easy, the men having little more to do than 
 now and then to give a pull at their oars. A striped flag at the en- 
 trance of a smaller stream on our left hand, attracted my attention, 
 and the boatmen told me that a toll was paid there by all boats 
 frequenting a market to which that nullah led. These local taxes 
 are all, throughout the company’s territories, applied to the improve- 
 ment of the districts where they are levied. A little farther we 
 were hailed from the shore by a man earnestly begging to be taken 
 on board. The dandees only laughed, but I told them to pull in 
 and hear his story. He said he was a soldier in the 14th, Colonel 
 Watson’s regiment, that at their last night’s halting place he had 
 missed the boat to which he belonged, and that now all the flotilla 
 
140 APPROACH TO DACCA, 
 
 was passed bj, and unless we gave him a lift, he had no chance 
 of getting to Dacca, the country being all flooded, and he unable 
 to swim even a few yards. I immediately turned the boat’s head 
 to the shore, and he came on board, a very fine handsome man, 
 naked save his waist-cloth, and with a Brahminical string, but with 
 all the carriage and air of a guard’s-man. Nobody could, indeed, 
 mistake his profession, even if he had not made his military salute 
 very gracefully. He said he had begged a passage that morning 
 in six or eight boats, but seeing him naked and pennyless they 
 had all (as he said) “ run over to the other side, as if he had been 
 a tiger.” He added, on seeing a Sahib his hopes revived, but, 
 continued he, “ these cursed Bengalees are not like other people, 
 and care nothing for a soldier, or any body else in trouble.” “ To 
 be sure,” he said, laughing, “ they always run away well.” He point- 
 ed out some budgerows and other large boats dropping down the 
 stream a few miles before us, and said his comrades were there, 
 and he should be very thankful if we would put him on board of 
 any one. We were about an hour overtaking them, but the first 
 we approached turned out to be a cook-boat, and he begged hard 
 that I would not put him in a vessel where he could not escape 
 defilement, (showing his string.) 
 
 We accordingly proceeded through the fleet, which consisted 
 of about twenty vessels, all deeply loaded, with their masts struck, 
 and their long cumbersome oars answering very little purpose, 
 except to keep them steady in the middle of the current. Such 
 of them, indeed, as were in its strength, were only to be approach- 
 ed with caution, since as they dropped down at the rate of five 
 or six miles an hour, and were perfectly unmanageable, they 
 would, if they had struck her, have swamped our little boat in an 
 instant. There was one, however, which we could board with- 
 out difficulty, but this was a washerman’s boat, and our passenger 
 again objected. This second scruple excited such a burst of 
 laughter from the Mussulman dandees, that the soldier blushed up 
 to the eyes as soon as he had made it, and begged pardon of me, 
 saying, “ the boat would do very well;” then jumping on board 
 with another military salam, he left us to proceed with more ra- 
 pidity when freed from his weight. The towers of Dacca were 
 already in sight, at least the dandees could see them at the end of 
 a reach of water, perhaps twelve miles in length, along which we 
 sped merrily. As we drew nearer, I was surprised at the extent 
 of the place, and the stateliness of the ruins, of which, indeed, the 
 city seemed chiefly to consist. Besides some huge dark masses 
 of castle and tower, the original destination of which could not 
 be mistaken, and which were now overgrown with ivy andpeepul 
 trees, as well as some old mosques and pagodas, of apparently the 
 same date, there were some large and handsome buildings, which. 
 
ARRIVAL AT DACCA. 
 
 141 
 
 at a distance, bid fair to offer us a better reception, and towards 
 which I, in the first instance, proposed to direct our course, 
 knowing the difficulty Vhich we should have, if we passed them,, 
 in returning against the stream. The boatmen said, they did not 
 think the “ Sahib Log” lived in that part of the town, hut were 
 not sure, and the appearance of a spire, which, as it seemed to 
 mark the site of the church, confirmed me in my resolution of 
 bearing off to the left. As we approached, however, we found 
 these buildings also, (though of more recent date than Shah 
 Jehanguire, and many of them of Grecian architecture,) as 
 ruinous as the rest, while the spire turned out to be a Hindoo 
 obelisk. While we were approaching the shore, at the distance 
 of about half a mile from these desolate palaces, a sound struck 
 my ear, as if from the water itself, on which we were riding, the 
 most solemn and singular I can conceive. It was long, loud, 
 deep, and tremulous, something between the bellowing of a bull 
 and the blowing of a whale, or perhaps most like those roaring 
 buoys which are placed at the mouths of some English harbours, 
 in which the winds make a noise, to warn ships off them. “ Oh,” 
 said Abdullah, “ there are elephants bathing ; Dacca much place 
 for elephant.” I looked immediately, and saw about twenty of 
 these fine animals, with their heads and trunks just appearing 
 above the water. Their bellowing it was which I had heard, 
 and which the water conveyed to us with a finer effect than if 
 we had been ashore. Another mile or thereabouts of rowing 
 brought us to some buildings of a more habitable description, 
 and pretty much like those of Calcutta. One of these, close to 
 the water’s edge, was pointed out to me as Mr. Master’s, wffio 
 was himself in the court of justice, but whose servants, though 
 surprised to see the style in which I arrived, had an excellent 
 bed-room for me, with every thing ready for bathing and 
 dressing. I found myself in no respect the worse for my 
 boating, except that my face was a little burnt, in spite of my 
 chahtah, by the reflection of the water, while my shins (which 
 had been exposed to the sun, owing to my trowsers slipping up 
 in the uncomfortable situation in which I was compelled to sit) 
 were scorched as if I had laid them before a great fire. These I 
 washed in milk, which relieved them a good deal. Mr. Master, 
 when he returned, said that, though I had, perhaps, done a rash 
 thing in coming through the sun, yet certainly I took the only 
 means of arriving in time for church. He said that he would 
 send a guard-boat to help the pinnace on, but that she could not 
 possibly get to Dacca under twenty -four hours. For my part, 
 except my shins, I never felt better. 
 
142 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 DACCA. 
 
 RUINS VISIT FROM THE NAWAB VISIT RETURNED DEATH OF MR. 
 
 STOWE CONSECRATION OF CHURCH, AND BURIAL-GROUND CONFIR- 
 MATION ARMENIAN ARCHBISHOP FAREWELL VISIT TO NAWAB 
 
 MEER ISRAF ALI. _ 
 
 July 4. — 1 preached to a small congregation, in a very small 
 but pretty Gothic Church. Mr. Parish read prayers, and gave 
 notice of the Consecration and Confirmation for the Wednesday 
 and Friday ensuing. About 4 o’clock the pinnace arrived, but 
 Stowe, to my great concern, sent word that he was too ill to leave 
 it, having had a very severe relapse of dysentery. I took Mr. 
 Todd, the surgeon of the station, to him, who pressed his making 
 the attempt for the sake of a more airy apartment than his cabin, 
 and in an hour’s time, the wind having abated, he got into Mr. 
 Master’s house and to bed, I hope not the worse for the exertion. 
 Nothing can exceed Mr. Master’s kindness to us both, but I am 
 sorry to say, he is himself by no means in good health. 
 
 The river on which Dacca stands, has greatly altered its cha- 
 racter since Rennell drew his map. It was then narrow, but is 
 now, even during the dry season, not much less than the Hooghly 
 at Calcutta. At present it is somewhat wider, but from the upper 
 windows of Mr. Master’s house, the opposite bank may be seen 
 also in a great degree flooded; and though the green rice rising 
 with the water, gives it no other appearance than that of a 
 swampy meadow, small boats are seen every where paddling about 
 amid the crop, which yields them way without difficulty. 
 
 Dacca, Mr. Master says, is, as I supposed, merely the wreck 
 of its ancient grandeur. Its trade is reduced to the sixtieth part 
 of what it was, and all its splendid buildings, the castle of its 
 founder Shahjehanguire, the noble mosque he built, the palaces 
 of the ancient Nawabs, the factories and churches of the Dutch, 
 French, and Portuguese nations, are all sunk into ruin, and over- 
 grown with jungle. Mr. Master has himself been present at a 
 tiger hunt in the court of the old palace, during which the elephant 
 of one of his friends fell into a well, overgrown with weeds and 
 bushes. The cotton produced in this district is mostly sent to 
 England raw, and the manufactures of England are preferred by 
 the people of Dacca themselves for their cheapness. There are 
 
CHITTAGONG. 
 
 143 
 
 still a few Armenians resident in the town, some of them wealthy, 
 with a church, and two priests. Their Archbishop, who makes 
 once in four or five years a journey from Nakitchwan to India, is 
 now in the place, on the same errand with me. There are also 
 a few Portuguese, very poor and degraded. Of Greeks tl\e 
 number is considerable, and they are described as an industrious 
 and intelligent people, mixing more with the English than the 
 rest, and filling many of the subaltern situations under govern- 
 ment. The clerk at the English Church (it happens singularly 
 enough) is a Greek, and the Greek Priest has sent to request 
 permission to call on me. Of English there are none, except a 
 few indigo planters in the neighbourhood, and those in the civil 
 or military service. But the Hindoo and Mohammedan popula- 
 tion, Mr. Master still rates at 300,000, certainly no immoderate 
 calculation, since, as he says, he has ascertained that there are 
 above 90,000 houses and huts. The climate of Dacca, Mr. Mas- 
 ter reckons one of the mildest in India, the heat being always 
 tempered by the vast rivers flowing near it, and the rapidity of 
 their streams discharging the putrid matter of the annual inunda- 
 tion more rapidly than is ever the case in the Hooghly. The 
 neighbourhood affords only one short ride at this season, and not 
 many even when the ground is dry, being much intersected by 
 small rivers, and some large and impenetrable jungles coming 
 pretty close to the north-east of the town. Boating is popular, 
 and they make boats very well here. Indeed I cannot conceive 
 a situation which more naturally would lead men to take delight 
 in sailing. No vessels, however, larger than the small country 
 built brigs ever come to Dacca; during the rains, ships of any 
 moderate burden might do so, but it would be attended with 
 some risk, and the inducements to enter this branch of the Ganges 
 are not sufficient to encourage men to endanger their vessels or 
 themselves, though as far as Luckipoor small European craft 
 have been known to come. The majority prefer Chittagong, 
 though even this last has a harbour little adapted for vessels of 
 burthen. 
 
 Of Chittagong I learnt many interesting particulars. The 
 town of Islamabad itself is not large, and the English society is 
 still smaller than at Dacca. The country round is pretty and 
 romantic, consisting of a number of little round steep hills cover- 
 ed with verdure, coffee, pepper, vines, and bamboos, on the 
 summits of which the villas of the English are generally placed. 
 These are not very accessible, the roads being often too steep 
 and stony to admit of carriages or horses, and the usual method 
 of visiting being in tonjons, and even these, no bearers but the 
 practised ones of Chittagong would be able to carry in such a 
 country. At some distance from the coast are mountains which 
 
144 
 
 NAWAB SHUMSHEDDOWLAH. 
 
 divide this territory from that of the Burmese, and are covered 
 by almost impenetrable woods and thickets. The climate, Mr. 
 Master thinks, has been over-praised. It is certainly cooler 
 during the hot months than Calcutta, but not than Dacca, while 
 during the rainy season and the winter, it is exceedingly raw, 
 aguish, and asthmatic, being subject to continual and very offensive 
 fogs, from the quantity of uncleared land, and the neighbouring 
 mountains. But little has been attempted at Dacca or Chitta- 
 gong for the conversion of the natives, and that little has had 
 very small success. At the former place is a Baptist minister, 
 who is described as a very good and diligent man, and has suc- 
 ceeded in establishing one Christian school (but among the Por- 
 tuguese and Greek children), and some few Bengalee schools for 
 the natives. Blit in these last he has either not ventured to 
 introduce the New Testament, or has failed in doing so ; a result 
 so different from what has been the case in every other part of 
 India, that I suspect some want of address at least in the instructor. 
 He appears, however, to have received considerable encourage- 
 ment from the English families, and 1 apprehend that a Church 
 Missionary establishment of the same sort, would find the situation 
 by no means a bad one. 
 
 July 5. — To-day I had visits from most of the civil and military 
 functionaries of Dacca. I had also a visit from Mr. Lee, a sort 
 of secretary to his highness the Nawab Shumsheddowlah, to 
 congratulate me on my arrival, and to appoint a day for his 
 calling on me. This potentate is now, of course, shorn of all 
 political power, and is not even allowed the state palanquin, 
 which his brother (whose heir he is) had, and which his neigh- 
 bour the Nawab of Moorshedabad still retains. He has, however, 
 an allowance of 10,000 s. rupees per month, is permitted to keep 
 a court, with guards, and is styled “ highness.” The palanquin, 
 indeed, was a distinction to which his brother had no very 
 authentic claim, and which this man could hardly expect, having 
 been very leniently dealt with in being allowed the succession 
 at all. He had in his youth been a bad subject, had quarrelled 
 with government and his own family, and been concerned in the 
 bloody conspiracy of Vizier Ali. For his share in this, he was 
 many years imprisoned in Calcutta, during which time he acquired 
 a better knowledge of the English language and literature than 
 most of his countrymen possess. He speaks and writes English 
 very tolerably, and even fancies himself a critic in Shakspeare. 
 He has been really a man, Mr. Master tells me, of vigorous and 
 curious mind, who, had his talents enjoyed a proper vent, might 
 have distinguished himself. But he is now growing old, infirm, 
 and indolent, more and more addicted to the listless indulgences 
 of an Asiatic prince ; pomp, so far as he caif afford it, dancing 
 
DACCA. 
 
 145 
 
 girls, and opiam, having in fact scarce any society but that of 
 his inferiors, and being divested of any of the usual motives by 
 which even Asiatic princes are occasionally roused to exertion. 
 To such a man a strong religious feeling would (even as far as 
 this world is concerned) be an inestimable treasure. But to 
 inspire Shumsheddowlah with such a feeling, there are, alas ! few 
 if any facilities. 
 
 Government has seldom more than five companies of infantry 
 at Dacca ; but this number is now doubled, and they have also 
 sent a small flotilla of gun-vessels, which are said to be on their 
 way. Had the Burmese really possessed any considerable force 
 of war-boats in the neighbourhood of Teak Naaf, Dacca might 
 easily have fallen their prey ; and the alarm excited lately was 
 very great, and with some better reason than I had supposed. 
 Among other objects of fear and suspicion was the poor old 
 Nawab, whom the English suspected of plotting against them, 
 and sending information to the Burmese. That the Nawab 
 would not weep his eyes out for any reverses of the British army, 
 is, indeed, probable. But as to intelligence, he had none to send 
 which was worth the carriage, and was so far from contemplating 
 the approach of the Burmese with indifference, that he had taken 
 means for removing his family as soon as possible, in case of 
 serious alarm, while he himself requested leave to attach himself 
 to Mr. Master, to remain or go, whenever and wherever he might 
 think proper. 
 
 Dacca, as Abdullah truly said, is “ much place for elephant.” 
 The Company have a stud of from 2 to 300, numbers being 
 caught annually in the neighbouring woods of Tiperah and 
 Cachar, which are broken in for service here, as well as gradually 
 inured to the habits which they must acquire in a state of cap- 
 tivity. Those which are intended for the Upper Provinces, 
 remain here some time, and are by degrees removed to Moor- 
 shedabad, Bogwangolah, Dinapoor, &c. since the transition of 
 climate from this place to Meerut, or even Cawnpoor, is too 
 great, and when sudden, destroys numbers. I drove in the even- 
 ing, with Mr. Master, through the city and part of the neighbour- 
 hood. The former is very like the worst part of Calcutta near 
 Chitpoor, but has some really fine ruins intermingled with the 
 mean huts which cover three-fourths of its space. The castle 
 which I noticed, and which used to be the palace, is of brick, 
 yet showing some traces of the plaster which has covered it. 
 The architecture is precisely that of the Kremlin of Moscow, of 
 which city, indeed, I was repeatedly reminded in my progress 
 through the town. The Grecian houses, whose ruined condition 
 I have noticed, were the more modern and favourite residence 
 of the late Nawab, and were ruined a few years since by the 
 
 VoL.. I. — 19 
 
DACCA. 
 
 146 
 
 encroachments of the river. The obelisk, or “ Mut,” which I 
 saw, was erected as an act of piety very frequent in India, by a 
 Hindoo, who about 25 years ago accumulated a large fortune in 
 the service of the East India Company. Another mut of an 
 almost similar form was pointed out to me a little way out of the 
 town. The pagodas, however, of Dacca, are few and small, 
 three-fourths of the population being Mussulmans, and almost 
 every brick building in the place having its Persian or Arabic 
 inscription. Most of these look very old, but none are of great 
 antiquity. Even the old palace was built only about 200 years 
 ago, and consequently is scarcely older than the banqueting- 
 house at Whitehall. The European houses are mostly small and 
 poor, compared with those of Calcutta ; and such as are out of 
 the town, are so surrounded with jungle and ruins, as to give the 
 idea of desolation and unhealthiness. No cultivation was visible 
 so far as we went, nor any place cleared except an area of 
 about twenty acres for the new military lines. The drive was 
 picturesque, however, in no common degree ; several of the 
 ruins were fine, and there are some noble peepul trees. The 
 Nawab’s carriage passed us, an old landau, drawn by four horses, 
 with a coachman and postilion in red liveries, and some horse- 
 guards in red also, with high ugly caps, like those of the old 
 grenadiers, with gilt plates in front, and very ill mounted. The 
 great men of India evidently lose in point of effect, by an inju- 
 dicious and imperfect adoption of European fashions. An eastern 
 cavalier with his turban and flowing robes, is a striking object ; 
 and an eastern prince on horseback, and attended by his usual 
 train of white-staved and high-capped janizaries, a still more 
 noble one ; but an eastern prince in a shabby carriage, guarded 
 by men dressed like an equestrian troop at a fair, is nothing more 
 than ridiculous and melancholy. It is, however, but natural, that 
 these unfortunate sovereigns should imitate, as far as they can, 
 those costumes which the example of their conquerors has asso- 
 ciated with their most recent ideas of power and splendour. 
 Stowe has been very ill ever since he arrived here ; to-day he is 
 better, but still so unwell as to make me give up all idea of leaving 
 Dacca this week. 
 
 I met a lady to-day who had been several years at Nusseerabad 
 in Rajpotana, and during seven years of her stay in India, had 
 never seen a clergyman, or had an opportunity of going to church. 
 This was, however, a less tedious excommunication than has 
 been the lot of a very good and religious man, resident at Tipe- 
 rah, or somewhere in that neighbourhood, who was for nineteen 
 years together the only Christian within seventy miles, and at 
 least 300 from any place of worship. Occasionally he has gone 
 to receive the sacrament at Chittagong, about as far from his 
 
VISIT OF THE NAWAB. 
 
 147 
 
 residence as York from London. These are sad stories, and 
 in the case of Nusseerabad, I hope, not beyond the reach of a 
 remedy. 
 
 July 6 . — The Nawab called this morning according to his pro- 
 mise, accompanied by his eldest son. He is a good looking 
 elderly man, of so fair a complexion as to prove the care with 
 which the descendants of the Mussulman conquerors have kept 
 up their northern blood. His hands, more particularly, are nearly 
 as white as those of an European. He sat for a good while 
 smoking his hookah, and conversing fluently enough in English, 
 quoting some English books of history, and showing himself very 
 tolerably acquainted with the events of the Spanish war, and the 
 part bore in it by Sir Edward Paget. His son is a man of about 
 30, of a darker complexion, and education more neglected, being 
 unable to converse in English. The Nawab told us of a tine wild 
 elephant, which his people were then in pursuit of, within a few 
 miles of Dacca. He said that they did not often come so near. 
 He cautioned me against going amongst the ruins, except on an 
 elephant, since tigers sometimes, and snakes always, abounded 
 there. He asked me several pertinent questions as to the intended 
 extent and object of my journey, and talked about the Greek 
 priest, who, he said, wished to be introduced to me, and w^hom he 
 praised as a very worthy, well-informed man. I asked him about 
 the antiquities of Dacca, which he said were not very old, the 
 city itself being a comparatively recent Mussulman foundation. 
 He was dressed in plain white muslin, with a small gold tassel 
 attached to his turban. His son had a turban of purple silk, 
 ribbed with gold, with some jewels in it. Both had splendid 
 diamond rings. I took good care to call the father “ his high- 
 ness,” a distinction of which Mr. Master had warned me that he 
 was jealous, and which he himself, I observed, was very careful 
 always to pay him. At length pawn and attar of roses were 
 brought to me, and I rose to give them to the visiters. The Na- 
 wab smiled, and said, “ what, has your Lordship learned our cus- 
 toms ?” Our guests then rose, and Mr. Master gave his arm to 
 the Nawab to lead him down stairs. The staircase was lined 
 with attendants with silver sticks, and the horse-guards, as before, 
 were round the carriage ; this was evidently second-hand, having 
 the arms of its former proprietor still on thepannel, and the whole 
 show was any thing but splendid. The Company’s sepoys were 
 turned out to present arms, and the Nawab’s own followers 
 raised a singular sort of acclamation as he got into his carriage, 
 reckoning up the titles of his family, “ Lion of War !” “ Prudent 
 in Counsel !” “ High and Mighty Prince,” &c. &c. But the 
 thing was done with little spirit, and more like the proclamations 
 of a crier in an English court of justice, than a ceremony in which 
 
14B 
 
 VISIT OF THE NAWAB. 
 
 any person took an interest. 1 was, however, gratified through^ 
 out the scene by seeing the humane (for it was even more than 
 good natured) respect, deference, and kindness, which in every 
 word and action Mr. Master showed to this poor humbled poten- 
 tate. It could not have been greater, or in better taste, had its 
 object been an English prince of the blood. 
 
 July 8. — Stowe, w^ho has had a relapse, is rather better this 
 morning, but his situation is very uncomfortable. There is no 
 probability of his being able to go with me up the country, or to 
 leave Dacca, perhaps for many weeks. This is very distressing. 
 To delay my departure so long will be to endanger the whole 
 prospect of effecting my arrival at Cawnpoor during the rains ; or 
 possibly of performing at all, during the present year, the visita- 
 tion, on which, for so many reasons, I have set my heart, and for 
 which 1 have already given up so much. The prospect of being 
 so long burdensome to Mr. Master is not agreeable. Nor, though 
 this is a minor consideration, can I look forwards without annoy- 
 ance to so large a pecuniary sacrifice as is involved in abandoning 
 a voyage which I have already paid for, and have by so doing 
 largely anticipated the allowance made by Government, and 
 which I can only expect to receive if 1 persevere in my journey. 
 On the other hand, I will not leave my friend so long as he is in 
 danger, or till I see him in a really convalescent state. 
 
 In the afternoon I accompanied Mr. Master to pay a visit to 
 the Nawab, according to appointment. We drove a considerable 
 way through the city, then along a shabby avenue of trees inter- 
 mingled with huts, then through an old brick gateway into a sort 
 of wild looking close, with a large tree and some bushes in the 
 centre, and ruinous buildings all round. Here was a company 
 of sepoys, drawn up to receive us, very neatly dressed and drilled, 
 being in fact a detachment of the Company’s local regiment, and 
 assigned to the Nawab as a guard of honour. In front was ano- 
 ther and really handsome gateway, with an open gallery, where 
 the “ Nobut,” or evening martial music, is performed, a mark of 
 sovereign dignity, to which the Nawab never had a just claim, 
 but in which Government continue to indulge him. Here were 
 the Nawab ’s own guard, in their absurd coats and caps, and a 
 crowd of folk with silver sticks, as well as two tonjons and chah- 
 tahs, to convey us across the inner court. This was a little larger 
 than the small quadrangle at All Souls, surrounded with low and 
 irregular, but not inelegant buildings, kept neatly, and all white- 
 washed. On the right hand was a flight of steps leading to a very 
 handsome hall, an octagon, supported by gothic arches, with a 
 verandah round it, and with high gothic windows well venitianed. 
 The octagon was fitted up with a large round table covered with 
 red cloth, mahogany drawing-room chairs, two large and hand- 
 
DEATH OF STOWE. 
 
 149 
 
 some convex mirrors, which showed the room and furniture to 
 considerable advantage, two common pier-glasses, some prints of 
 the king, the emperor Alexander, lords Wellesley and Hastings, 
 and the duke of Wellington, and two very good portraits, by 
 Chinnery, of the Nawab himself, and the late Nawab his brother. 
 Nothing was gaudy, but all extremely respectable and noblemanly. 
 The Nawab, his son, his English secretary, and the Greek priest 
 whom he had mentioned to me, received us at the door, and he 
 led me by the hand to the upper end of the table. We sate some 
 time, during which the conversation was kept up better than 1 
 expected ; and I left the palace a good deal impressed with the 
 good sense, information, and pleasing manners of our host, whose 
 residence considerably surpassed my expectations, and whose 
 court had nothing paltry, except his horse-guards and carriage. 
 The visit ended in an invitation to dinner, but without fixing a day. 
 
 I said I should be happy, and hinted that an early day would suit 
 me best. So that it does not delay my journey, I shall like it very 
 well. 
 
 Dacca is sometimes visited by earthquakes, though not very 
 severe ones. Mr. Master’s house was much shaken last year. 
 The general run of European houses here is about equal to the 
 second or third rate of those in Calcutta : the rents seem nearly 
 the same. Few are actually on the river, but those are the best, 
 and bear the highest prices. 
 
 July 22. — A long interval has occurred, during which 1 have 
 had neither time nor heart to continue my journal, having been 
 closely occupied in attending the sick and dying bed of my ex- 
 cellent and amiable friend, Stowe, and in the subsequent neces- 
 sary duties of taking care of his interment and property. She for 
 whose eyes I write these pages, wdll gladly spare me a repetition 
 of the sad story of his decline, death, and burial. 
 
 I this morning left Dacca, after a residence of eighteen days, 
 marked by great, and, to me, most unusual anxiety and sorrow ; 
 but during which, I, as well as my poor friend, received in our 
 affliction a degree of hospitality, attention, affectionate and deli- 
 cate kindness from the civil and military officers attached to the 
 station, and their families, and most of all from our excellent host, 
 Mr. Master, which I shall never forget, and for which, I trust, I 
 shall be always grateful. 
 
 I do not recollect any thing very material which I saw or 
 heard during this period, having, indeed, been pretty closely 
 confined to my friend’s sick room. On Saturday, the 9th, I 
 confirmed about twenty persons, all adults, and almost all of the 
 higher ranks. On the following Sunday I consecrated the church. 
 This perhaps ought, in strictness, to have preceded the Confir- 
 mation; but the inversion afforded the catechumens an immediate 
 
15a 
 
 CONSECRATION OF BURIAL GROUND. 
 
 opportunity of attending the Lord’s supper, of which they all 
 availed themselves, as well, I believe, as all the other inhabitants 
 of the station. The whole number of communicants was 34 or 
 5, and I never witnessed a congregation more earnestly attentive. 
 On this occasion poor Stowe was to have preached, but that duty 
 now devolved on me. 
 
 In the evening I consecrated the burial ground ; a wild and 
 dismal place, surrounded by a high wall, with an old Moorish 
 gate-way, at the distance of about a mile from the now inhabited 
 part of the city, but surrounded with a wilderness of ruins and 
 jungle. It is, however, large and well adapted for its purpose, 
 containing but few tombs, and those mostly of old dates, erected 
 during the days of Dacca’s commercial prosperity, and while the 
 number of European residents was more considerable than it is 
 at present. One was pointed out to me, over the remains of a 
 Mr. Paget, Chaplain to the Company in July 1724. I then little 
 thought or feared how strangely the centenary anniversary of his 
 interment would be kept up ! Some of the tombs are very hand- 
 some ; one more particularly, resembling the buildings raised over 
 the graves of Mussulman saints, has a high octagon gothic tower, 
 with a cupola in the same style, and eight windows with elabo- 
 rate tracery. Within are three slabs over as many bodies, and 
 the old Durwan of the burial ground said, it was the tomb of a 
 certain “ Colombo Sahib, Company ka nuokur,” Mr. Colombo, 
 servant to the Company; who he can have been T know not ; his 
 name does not sound like an Englishman’s, but as there is no 
 inscription, the beadle’s word is the only accessible authority. 
 Another tomb is over a Chinese convert to Christianity and Pro- 
 testantism, who seems to have resided here about 100 years agoi 
 The remainder are of various, but not very remote date, in the 
 usual Anglo-Indian style of obelisk or pyramid, but all overgrown 
 with ivy, and the destructive peepul tree. Some fine elephants, 
 with their mohouts, were browzing on the trees and bushes round 
 the wall, and amid the neighbouring ruins. Indian cattle occu- 
 pied the little grassy glades which intersected what would else 
 have been a trackless forest, and the whole had so wild and cha- 
 racteristic an appearance, that I regretted that I had no time to 
 make a drawing. 
 
 One evening I drove with Mr. Master to see the prisons. The 
 first we visited was a place of confinement for the insane, which 
 the humanity of Government provides in every district. There 
 were altogether a considerable number, the curable and incurable, 
 the male and female, separated in distinct wards, under the care 
 of the surgeon of the station and several native doctors. The 
 place was airy, well suited to the climate, and the prisoners 
 seemed well treated, though when 1 praised their cleanliness, Mr. 
 
THE PRISON. 
 
 151 
 
 Master observed, that he feared they knew we were coming. 
 The patients, however, when asked if they had any complaints, 
 only urged (which some of them did very fluently) that they were 
 unjustly confined, and could prove themselves either to have been 
 never mad, or now to be quite recovered. Two only seemed 
 dangerous, and were kept in small grated cells, though several 
 had light handcuffs on. One of these talked incessantly with 
 violent gesticulations, menacing his keepers through his bars ; the 
 other was a gloomy and sullen wretch, stretched out on his mat, 
 but now and then uttering a few low words, which Mr. Master 
 said were bitter curses. The first was a Brahmin schoolmaster, 
 and had murdered his brother ; the second was in a decent rank 
 of society, and had repeatedly attempted the lives of his wife and 
 children. Melancholy or mere fatuity seemed the most general 
 characters which the disease assumed. Mad persons may be sent 
 hither by their friends, on payment of a small sum, or, if poor, by 
 the “ Daroga” of each “ pergunnah,” (the superintendent of a 
 district,) whose duty it is to apprehend and send to the district 
 asylum, any dangerous or disgusting object of this kind who may 
 be at large. 
 
 The prison was very well arranged, with roomy wards, dry 
 and airy apartments, and permission given once a day to all the 
 prisoners to go out on a large plain, within a low outer wall, to 
 dress their victuals. This indulgence indeed, joined to the low- 
 ness of even the main wall, makes it necessary to keep them all 
 in irons, but that is, in this climate, a far less evil than a closer 
 confinement, or the increased interruption of the fresh air. The 
 prisoners complained loudly that their allowances were not suf- 
 ficient. Mr. Master told me that the present dearth of rice made 
 them, indeed, far less than they used to be, but that the original 
 scale was too high, and more than a man could earn by labour. 
 Some Burmans were here, and the only persons not handcuffed 
 (except the debtors). They had been taken in the Company’s 
 territory, not in arms, but unable to give any good account of 
 themselves, and therefore supposed to be spies. They seemed, 
 however, poor simple peasants, and Mr. Master said, he had re- 
 commended Government to discharge them since in truth, there 
 had always been a little smuggling trade on the Munnipoor fron- 
 tier for salt and ivory, and these men, he verily believed, had no 
 further or more sinister views. They were middle-sized, well 
 made men, in complexion and countenance half-way betw'een the 
 Indian and Chinese, and a good deal tattooed. The debtors were 
 numerous and very miserable objects. So long as they continue 
 here, their creditors are bound to make them the same allowance 
 as Government makes to the criminals, but a Hindoo creditor, 
 though murmuring grievously at this expense, is generally (Mr. 
 
162 ARMENIAN ARCHBISHOP. 
 
 Master said, and Dr. Carey had said the same thing before) in- 
 tensely cruel, and prefers the gratification of revenge, even to that 
 of avarice. Several of the debtors here were very old men, and 
 some had been kept many years in prison. 
 
 Another evening I went in a beautiful boat of Mr. Mitford’s to 
 the “ Pagla Pwll,” or Mad Bridge, a ruin four miles below Dacca, 
 It is a very beautiful specimen of the richest Tudor gothic, but I 
 know not whether it is strictly to be called an Asiatic building, 
 for the boatmen said the tradition is, that it was built by a French- 
 man. There is a very fine and accurate engraving of it in Sir 
 Charles D’Oyley’s “ Ruins of Dacca.” 
 
 I had two visits during the week from the Armenian Archbishop 
 of Ecmiazin, (near what they call Mount Ararat,) who, attended 
 by one of the suffragans of the patriarch of Jerusalem, is making 
 a visitation of all the different churches of their communion in 
 Persia and India. The Archbishop has every appearance of a 
 mild, respectable, intelligent man, and he of Jerusalem seems a 
 shrewd fellow. I was anxious to be civil to them both, but they 
 only spoke Turkish and their own tongue. Fortunately one of 
 their Dacca congregation could officiate as interpreter, and then 
 we got on famously, by the help of my Russian acquaintance and 
 recollections. They were both well acquainted with Georgia, 
 and Abraham, of Jerusalem, had been at Mosdok, Nakitchevan, 
 Kalomna, and Mosco. 1 was able to do them some trifling ser- 
 vices, and we parted with mutual good wishes. 
 
 July 20. — I went to pay my farewell visit to the Nawab, who 
 had been really more than civil. Almost every day during the 
 last week, he had sent baskets of fruit, dressed dishes and pastry, 
 some (which is a common eastern compliment) for my own din- 
 ner, others with a special recommendation for my sick friend. 
 All the return I could make, and it was one which I heartily pray 
 God in his goodness may make useful, was the present of my Hin- 
 doostanee prayer-book, which, being splendidly bound, and con- 
 taining much which a Mussulman would not dislike, I cast “ like 
 bread on the waters,” though I fear on a stormy sea, and one 
 turbid with gross indulgences and prejudices. Poor old man! I 
 should rejoice to learn that he had sometimes looked into its pages. 
 This he voluntarily promised to do in his last visit, and as we 
 were alone, we had a good deal of talk about politics and other 
 things, in the course of which he desired I would sometimes write 
 to him. He then said, “ 1 am not going to offer you a valuable 
 present, but only trifles which are here common, but which in 
 Europe would be curiosities. This muslin I do hope you will 
 offer in my name to your lady, and instead of your present stick, 
 now that you are lame, (1 had not quite recovered the effects of 
 the sun on my legs,) that you will walk with my cane.” Of the 
 
VISIT TO MEER ISRAF ALL 
 
 153 
 
 former I am no judge, the latter is very pretty, of a solid piece of 
 ivory, beautifully carved. It is too line for me to walk with, but 
 I shall always value it. I was received and dismissed on this, as 
 on the former occasion, with presented arms. 
 
 I went from the palace to the house of Meer Israf Ali, the chief 
 Mussulman gentleman in this district. He is said by Mr. Master 
 to have been both extravagant and unfortunate, and therefore to 
 be now a good deal encumbered. But his landed property still 
 amounts to above 300,000 begahs, and his family is one of the 
 best (as a private family) in India. He was himself absent at one 
 of his other houses. But his two eldest sons had been very civil, 
 and had expressed a hope that I would return their visit. Be- 
 sides which, I was not sorry to see the inside of this sort of building. 
 Meer Israf Ali’s house is built round a court-yard, and looks very 
 much like a dismantled convent, occupied by a corps of Uhlans. 
 There are abundance of fine horses, crowds of shabby looking 
 servants, in showy but neglected liveries, and on the whole a sin- 
 gular mixture of finery and carelessness. The two young men, 
 and a relation, as they said he was, who seemed to act as their 
 preceptor and as their father’s man of business, received me with 
 some surprise, and were in truth marvellously dirty, and unfit to 
 see company. They were, however, apparently flattered and 
 pleased, and showed their good manners in offering no apologies, 
 but leading me up a very mean stair case into their usual sitting 
 rooms, which were both better in themselves, and far better 
 furnished than I expected from the appearance of things below. 
 After the few first compliments, I had recourse to Abdullah’s in- 
 terpretation, and they talked very naturally and rather volubly 
 about the fine sport their father would show me the next time I 
 came into the country, he having noble covers for tigers, leopards, 
 and even wild elephants. At last out came a wish for silver sticks ! 
 Their father, they said, was not in the habit of asking favours 
 from Government, but it was a shame that the baboos of Calcutta 
 should obtain badges of nobility, while true Seyuds^ descendants 
 of the prophets, whose ancestors had never known what trade 
 was, hut had won with their swords from the idolaters the lands 
 for which they now paid taxes to the Company, should be over- 
 looked. I could promise them no help here, and reminded them 
 that an old family was always respected, whether it had silver 
 sticks or no, and that an upstart was only laughed at for decora- 
 tions which deceived nobody. “ Yes,” said the younger, “ but 
 our ancestors used to have silver sticks, and we have got them in 
 the house at this day.” I said if they could prove that, I thought 
 that Government would be favourable to their request, but advised 
 them to consult Mr. Master, who was their father’s intimate friend. 
 We then parted, after their bringing pawn and rose water in a very 
 VoL. 1. — 20 
 
154 
 
 VISIT TO MEER ISRAF ALL 
 
 antique and elegantly carved bottle, which might really have be- 
 longed to those days when their ancestors smote the idolaters. 
 Mr. Master afterwards said, that if the Meer himself had been at 
 home, I never should have been plagued with such topics ; that 
 he was a thorough gentleman, and a proud one, who wished for 
 the silver sticks, but would never have asked the interest of a 
 stranger. The young men called afterwards to see me to my 
 boat, and brought me some toys for my children, and a travelling 
 cap often worn by Mussulmans in this district. 
 
CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 DACCA TO FURREEDPOOR. 
 
 INUNDATION GUN-BOAT ATTACKED MUSSULMAN FAKIR FURREED- 
 POOR SYSTEM OF ROBBERY DOMESTIC HABITS OF HINDOOS 
 
 EXTRACT FROM CALENDAR. 
 
 Having preserved these hasty recollections of the past week, 1 
 return to my journey. 
 
 Being anxious to prevent Miss Stowe, who I feared had, on 
 hearing of her poor brother’s illness, set out from Calcutta to 
 join him, from coming to Dacca, I did not take the direct northern 
 course by the great Jeels, but sailed eastward across the Dela- 
 serry river and a wide tract of flooded country, which offered a 
 strange and dreary spectacle, from the manner in which the 
 wretched villages were huddled together on little mounds of earth, 
 just raised above the level of the inundation, while all the rest was 
 covered with five or six feet water. I thought of Gray’s picture 
 of the Egyptian Delta, whose peasants 
 
 “ On their frail boats to neighbouring cities glide, 
 
 Which rise and glitter o’er the amWent tide.” 
 
 But these villages do any thing but glitter. At length we passed 
 them all, and entered what might be called a sea of reeds. It 
 was, in fact, a vast jeel or marsh, whose tall rushes rise above the 
 surface of the water, having depth enough for a very large vessel. 
 We sailed briskly on, rustling like a greyhound in a field of corn : 
 while in one place where the reeds were thickest, and I tried the 
 depth with an oar, there was, I should guess, at least ten feet 
 water, besides whatever else there might be of quagmire. 
 
 After this we entered a nullah, with rice only partially flooded, 
 and a succession of woods and villages, till at six we halted for 
 the night, in a very pleasant spot, near a large village, named 
 Nawab Gunge. 1 should have enjoyed my little walk, if my re- 
 collections would have allowed me. 
 
 July 23. — We commenced our journey this morning with un- 
 usual alertness, but ere long it was interrupted. A sudden turn 
 of the river exposed us, about twelve at noon, to so strong a con- 
 trary wind, that after a few trials the men declared they could not 
 proceed, and begged leave to get their dinner, in the hope that the 
 breeze might moderate. I was not sorry for this delay, as I hoped 
 
156 
 
 GUN-BOAT ATTACKED. 
 
 to receive information from Dacca which might set me at liberty 
 to go directly northward, but letters arrived which to my great 
 sorrow established the fact that Miss Stowe was on her way to 
 Dacca, and made it adviseable for me to push on to meet her as 
 fast as possible. I put, therefore, into immediate force the magic 
 of my own silver sticks, and the potent talisman of brass which 
 adorned the girdle of the Chuprassee whom Mr. Master had 
 ordered to accompany me to Hajygunge, and sent to the jemaut- 
 dar^ of the nearest village a requisition for twenty men to drag 
 my boats, with the information at the same time, that the service 
 would not be, as I fear it often is in this country, gratuitous. No 
 sooner, however, were the messengers seen approaching, than 
 half the village, fearing that it was some Government duty which 
 was required, were seen running away to hide themselves, and it 
 was not till the jemautdar had gone round to explain matters to 
 some of their wives, that any tolerable workmen made their ap- 
 pearance. At last the prescribed number arrived, and we began 
 moving with tolerable rapidity, and continued advancing prospe- 
 rously till nine o’clock at night, when the twenty men were ex- 
 tremely well satisfied with two rupees among them ! and willingly 
 promised to attend next morning, so cheap is labour in this part 
 of India. An event has occurred on the Matabunga since we 
 traversed it, which shows the low state of morality among the 
 peasants of India, and how soon and how surely a sudden tempta- 
 tion will transform the most peaceable into banditti. A large 
 boat attached to the gun-boats which arrived the other day at 
 Dacca from Calcutta, loaded with ammunition, got aground 
 pretty near the same place where we had the bank cut through. 
 The country people were called in to assist in getting her off, very 
 likely from the same village whose inhabitants we found so dili- 
 gent and serviceable. The ammunition, however, was packed 
 in cases resembling those in which treasure is usually conveyed 
 in this country, and in consequence as is supposed of this mistake, 
 the boat, being by the accident separated from the fleet, was 
 attacked the following night by (as is said) near three hundred 
 people, armed with spears, bamboos, hoes, and whatever else a 
 tumultuary insurrection usually resorts to. They were repulsed 
 by the sepoys with difficulty, and not till several had been shot. 
 The affair made a great noise in Dacca, nothing of the kind hav- 
 ing been heard of for many years in that neighbourhood. A com- 
 mission had gone to the spot to inquire into the case and one of 
 the small neighbouring Zemindars was said to be in custody. Na- 
 tives, Mr. Master said, are often pillaged, and travel always in 
 
 * This appellation is variously given to a house-servant, the chief man of a 
 village, and to an officer in the army, of a rank corresponding to a lieutenant.— Ed. 
 
MUSSULMAN FAKIR. 
 
 157 
 
 more or less danger.’ But Deceits seldom venture on an Euro- 
 pean boat, and still more rarely on a vessel in the Company’s 
 service, and guarded by soldiers. 
 
 In the course of our halt this day a singular and painfully inte- 
 resting character presented himself in the person of a Mussulman 
 Fakir, a very elegantly formed and handsome young man, of good 
 manners, and speaking good Hindoostanee, but with insanity 
 strongly marked in his eye and forehead. He was very nearly 
 naked, had a white handkerchief tied as an ornament round his 
 left arm, a bright yellow rag hanging loosely over the other, a lit- 
 tle cornelian ornament set in silver round his neck, a large chaplet 
 of black beads, and a little wooden cup in his hand. He asked 
 my leave to sit down on the bank to watch what we were doing, 
 and said it gave his heart pleasure to see Englishmen ; that he 
 was a great traveller, had been in Bombay, Cabul, &c., and 
 wanted to see all the world, wherein he was bound to wander as 
 long as it lasted. I offered him alms, but he refused, saying, he 
 never took money, — that he had his meal that day, and wanted 
 nothing. He sate talking wildly with the servants a little longer, 
 when 1 again told Abdullah to ask him if I could do any thing for 
 him ; he jumped up, laughed, said “ No pice !” then made a low 
 obeisance, and ran off, singing, “ La lllah ul Allah !” His man- 
 ner and appearance nearly answered to the idea of the Arab 
 Mejnoun, when he ran wild for Leila. 
 
 July 24. — 1 met yesterday evening with a severe disappoint- 
 ment. 1 had left Dacca cheered with the hope that my wife, who 
 had expressed great anxiety to accompany me in the event of 
 Stowe’s illness terminating fatally, would be able to join me with 
 our children at Boglipoor ; but I received a letter from her, for- 
 warded by Mr. Master, which made me see that this would be 
 impossible. This news, added to the uncomfortable state of my 
 mind and feelings, kept me awake great part of the night, and I 
 arose ill and unrefreshed. 
 
 The labourers were after their time, and the wind being mode- 
 rate, we set off without them. They overtook us, however, in 
 two boats, in about three miles, and were of very material use 
 in helping us on to the junction of this stream with the great 
 Ganges. Just before we arrived at this point I saw two pinnaces 
 in the offing. In the hope that one might prove to be Miss 
 Stowe’s, I immediately brought to, and sent off a letter to prepare 
 her for the sad tidings of her brother’s death ; but the boats be- 
 longed to another party. 
 
 We now proceeded again with the tow-line : the wind was 
 strongly against us, the stream in which we were running almost 
 full south, but the additional coolies did wonders for us. Including 
 the crew, there were no less than twenty-eight men at the rope of 
 
158 
 
 FURREEDPOOR. 
 
 my pinnace, and eight "to each of the other boats. About half-past 
 one we reached the place where our stream rejoined the Ganges, 
 which lay before us with its vast expanse of water. 
 
 The woods near Hajygunge and Furreedpoor lay like a long 
 dark outline on the horizon, at the distance of about twelves miles, 
 six miles being, I should guess, pretty nearly the width of the 
 river. There dismissed the country people, hut found that 
 though the wind was full south, it was still not over and above 
 favourable, since, though it would carry us up the river, it would 
 effectually prevent our making Furreedpoor. While Moham- 
 med, (the Serang,) and Abdullah were consulting as to what was 
 best to be done, I saw a small pinnace creeping slowly towards 
 us, amid the long reeds, which we hailed ; and as soon as it was 
 ascertained who we were, a young officer jumped into the dingy, 
 and paddled up towards us, whom I soon recognized to be my old 
 shipmate Gresley, who with his companion, Lt. P., dined with me. 
 There were few medical applications which could have done me 
 so much good as a motive for an extra glass of wine, and the 
 lively conversation of two young men, for one of whom I had a 
 sincere regard. We parted soon after four, and I had a very good 
 sail over the river, and might, 1 soon found, have had a better, 
 had not Mohammed, from his exceeding terror of being carried 
 out of his knowledge, or of being compelled to pass anight at sea^ 
 instead of fairly sailing straight for the river on which the villages 
 stand, laboured hard, by keeping his boat as near the wind as 
 her construction allowed, to make the opposite bank as soon as 
 possible. We arrived there in consequence about six o’clock, at 
 least eight miles to the S. of the point we wished for ; and, in 
 the neighbourhood of a little village overhung with palms, we 
 made fast to a green meadow. Our people had learnt caution 
 by the recent events on the Matabunga, and Abdullah came to 
 request that I would give orders for two sentries for the night. 
 
 July 25. — I slept well, and have seldom wakened with more 
 reason for gratitude. My health, which had been for some time 
 a good deal deranged, appeared renovated, and I felt myself ready 
 to adopt any line of conduct which circumstances might claim 
 from me. 
 
 We were obliged to track our boat, the wind having fallen, 
 and it was 10 o’clock before we reached the Hajygunge nullah. 
 Before we had advanced far, a boat came up with a letter from 
 Mr. Warner, the magistrate of these districts, and to my inexpres- 
 sible delight one from my wife, which Mr. Master had forwarded. 
 Her account of herself was comfortable, but I was again forcibly 
 convinced that it would be impossible for her to join me at Bog- 
 lipoor. My main anxiety therefore was, that she should not fret 
 about a separation which was unavoidable, and that she should 
 
GANG ROBBERY. 
 
 159 
 
 be convinced that I am likely to do extremely well, and travel 
 very safely ; and that, though now alone, I should have compa- 
 nions the greatest part of the way. 
 
 Mr, Warner soon after called on me, and I accompanied him 
 to his house, where I found a very well furnished library. At 
 present his house was full of ladies, fugitives from Chittagong ; but, 
 except his own family and inmates, he had no society, no Euro- 
 peans, not even a medical man being within very many miles. 
 In the evening we walked in the garden, and Mr. Warner point- 
 ed out one tree on which two pelicans never failed to roost, and 
 another which had an eagle’s nest. Eagles are, he said, very 
 common on all these rivers, and pelicans by no means rare, and 
 he expressed some surprise at learning how few of either I had 
 seen during my progress. A beautiful and fragrant purple flower 
 was shown me as the jalap plant. Mr. Warner then took me 
 a pleasant drive in the carriage, and I had some very inte- 
 resting conversation with him ; on our return to the hpuse I read 
 prayers and a sermon, and then went to my boat. Onjthe whole, 
 between the hooks 1 found, the things I saw, and the people I 
 met with, I passed a pleasant, and I trust not unprofitable Sun- 
 day. 
 
 Mr. Warner told me, that even now I was, in his judgment, 
 a fortnight too late to succeed in getting up to Cawnpoor, but 
 that to Benares 1 might do very well. 
 
 Among Mr. Warner’s books 1 found in a ^volume of the Edin- 
 burgh Annual Register, a dialogue from an ancient Arabic MS. in 
 the Bodleian, translated six years ago by Dr. Nicol, containing a 
 dispute between a Christian monk and certain leaimed Mussul- 
 mans, at the court of one of the Seljuckian Sultans, which I 
 thought so clever, and so evidently authentic, that it greatly 
 delighted me, and I borrowed it for Abdullah, as more likely than 
 most things which I have seen to do him good, and confirm his 
 faith in Christ. The original Arabic ought by all means to be 
 published, if it is not already, and sent out for circulation in the 
 East by the societies interested in such good works. I here dis- 
 missed the police boat and chuprassee with which Mr. Master 
 had furnished me. It is pleasing to see how popular Mr. Master 
 is ; he is spoken of here in just the same way as he is at Dacca. 
 
 Mr. Warner I find had not heard ^ word of the alleged attack 
 on the Company’s boats on these waters. Such a thing might, 
 he said, have occurred in the Kishnagur district without his hear- 
 ing of it, but he conceived it must have been greatly exaggerated. 
 He said that the Indians can never tell a story without excessive 
 falsification one way or the other. He had frequently had cases 
 of assault brought before him, in which the plaintiff at first stated 
 that he had been attacked and nearly killed by above a hundred 
 
160 
 
 HINDOO PEASANTRY, 
 
 men, when it turned out that he had received a beating from one 
 or two men, twenty or thirty others being possibly present, (as in 
 a village or market,) but taking no part in the quarrel. In the 
 same way if a house or a boat is robbed, the complainant gene- 
 rally exaggerates the number of Decoits to any multitude which 
 he may think likely to excite the magistrate’s attention and pity. 
 Nevertheless there was, he said, a great deal of gang robbery, 
 very nearly resembling the riband-men of Ireland, but unmixed 
 with any political feeling, in all these provinces. It is but too 
 frequent for from five to ten peasants to meet together as soon as 
 it is dark to attack some neighbour’s house, and not only plun- 
 der, but torture him, his wife and children, with horrible cruelty, 
 to make him discover his money. These robbers in the day- 
 time follow peaceable professions, and some of them are thriving 
 men, while the whole firm is often under the protection of a 
 Zemindar, who shares the booty, and does his best to bring off any 
 of the gang who may fall into the hands of justice, by suborning 
 witnesses to prove an alibi, bribing the inferior agents of the po- 
 lice, or intimidating the witnesses for the prosecution. In this 
 way many persons are suspected of these practices, who yet go 
 on many years in tolerably good esteem with their neighbours, 
 and completely beyond the reach of a Government which requires 
 proof in order to punish. Mr. Warner thinks the evil has 
 increased since the number of spirit shops has spread so rapidly. 
 At present these places bring in a very considerable revenue to 
 G overnment, and are frequented by multitudes both of the Hindoo 
 and Mussulman population. They are generally, however, re- 
 sorted to at night, and thus the drunkenness, the fierce and hate- 
 ful passions which they engender, lead naturally to those results 
 which night favours, at the same time that they furnish convenient 
 places of meeting for all men who may be banded for an illicit 
 purpose. I asked what the brahmin said to this. He answered 
 that the brahmins themelves w^ere many of them drunkards, and 
 some of them Decoits, and that he thought what influence they 
 retained was less for good or moral restraint, than evil. Yet he 
 said that they had a good deal of influence still, while this had 
 been quite lost by the Mussulman Imams and Moulahs. He 
 spoke, however, favourably of the general character of the peo- 
 ple, who are, he said, gentle, cheerful, and industrious, these 
 great crimes being, though unhappily more common than in Eu- 
 rope, yet certainly not universal. He had learned, from diflferent 
 circumstances, more of the internal economy of the humbler 
 Hindoo families than many Europeans do, and had formed a favour- 
 able opinion of their domestic habits and happiness. As there is 
 among the cottagers no seclusion of women, both sexes sit to- 
 gether round their evening lamps in very cheerful conversation. 
 
GAOL CALENDAR. 
 
 161 
 
 and employ themselves either in weaving, spinning, cookery or 
 in playing at a kind of dominos. He says it is untrue that the 
 women in these parts, at least, are ignorant of sewing, spinning, 
 or embroidery, inasmuch as, while the trade of Dacca flourished, 
 the sprigs, &c. which we see on its muslins, were very often 
 -the work of female hands. This is a strange and blended tissue 
 of human life and human character ! which it is most painful to 
 hear of, since one cannot contemplate the evening enjoyments of 
 a happy and virtuous family, such as is described, without antici- 
 pating the possibility of their cottage being made, during the 
 night, a scene of bloodshed, torture, and massacre. Y et, alas ! 
 can we forget that in all these respects, India is too like Ireland ! 
 
 July 26. — Still I had no news of Miss Stowe, and I was com- 
 pelled to remain at F urreedpoor. 1 am sadly weary of waiting ; 
 and the worst is, I am told that there will be very little more south 
 wind this year ; if so, my progress will be slow indeed. I got a 
 very pleasant walk this morning, without feeling tired, and break- 
 fasted and dined with the Warners. The interval between break- 
 fast and dinner 1 spent in the study, partly in writing letters, and 
 partly in looking over a curious document which he allowed me 
 to see, being his Gaol Calendar, as to be returned to the Circuit 
 Judge. His “ Cutcherry,” or Court of Justice, the gaol, and a 
 small unoccupied bungalow, are the only buildings, besides his 
 own house, in the station. The huts of the natives are in no 
 compact village, but scattered thinly up and down a large and 
 fertile extent of orchard-garden and paddy-ground. To return, 
 however, to the Calendar. So far as the present quarter, it 
 stands thus. 
 
 Case 1, Affray, and assault on a single person, by fourteen criminals. 
 
 2, One man charged with the murder of his fellow- workman in the fields. 
 
 3, One man charged with forgery. 
 
 4, Five with house-breaking. 
 
 5, Two charged with house-breaking. 
 
 6, Five charged with affray and riot, destroying property, &c. [This is 
 
 connected with the succeeding case of forgery, being an attempt, un- 
 der colour of a forged instrument first, and afterwards by violence, to 
 obtain possession of an indigo work. — See cases 14 and 19.] 
 
 7, Four for house-breaking and attempt to murder. 
 
 8, Three for house-breaking. 
 
 9, Five for child-stealing. [In this case one of the accused parties, in 
 
 whose house the little girl was found, declared in his own justification, 
 that desiring to obtain a wife for his son, (a boy,) he had given some 
 rupees to a neighbour, (one of the robbers,) to buy one ; that the said 
 neighbour brought him the little girl, saying she was his niece, and 
 that he received her as such. But there was little doubt that this was 
 untrue, and that the design of the whole gang was to sell the child to 
 some person at a distance.] 
 
 10, Two for murder by poison, administered in brandy. 
 
 11, Five for false imprisonment and murder. [A man was seen bound and 
 
 VoL. I.— 21 
 
162 
 
 GAOL CALENDAR. 
 
 dragged along by the five prisoners, — was taken to the house of on« 
 of them, and there confined two or three days, and beaten, as it is 
 said, to death. They plead that the man was mad, and his death 
 occasioned by his distemper. It appears, however, that there was 
 previous malice, and that they were not bound to take care of him, if 
 he had been mad.] 
 
 Case 12, Seven for house-breaking, with torture. 
 
 13, Three for homicide, in executing an arrest. 
 
 14, Seven for an affray and riot at another indigo factory, arising out of 
 
 the same dispute with the one formerly mentioned, 
 
 15, Four for piracy and attempt to murder. 
 
 16, One for murder, by striking with a bamboo. 
 
 17, Nine for an attack on a dwelling-house, plundering, beating, and false 
 
 imprisonment. 
 
 18, One for false imprisonment, assault, and compelling the plaintiff to sign 
 
 a paper containing a false deposition. 
 
 19, Seven for forgery and subornation of forgery. See cases 6 and 14. 
 
 20, Six for robbing a boat. 
 
 21, Two for assault, with intent to kill. 
 
 22, Five for piracy arid attempt to kill. 
 
 all 91 prisoners for trial, not including a very curious case 
 now under investigation, in which a wealthy brahmin is accused 
 of having procured his enemy to be seized and carried before the 
 altar of Kali in his private house, and having there cut ofFhis head, 
 after the manner in which sheep and hogs are sacrificed to their 
 deities. This offers certainly no favourable view of the morals of 
 the country, considering that the district of Furreedpoor is not 
 larger than the ordinary run of Welsh counties. Two circum- 
 stances worth notice are, the gangs in which most crimes are 
 committed, and the nature of the defence usually set up, which, I 
 observed, was, in nine cases out of ten, an alibi, being the easiest 
 of all others to obtain by the aid of false witnesses. Perjury is 
 dreadfully common and very little thought of. 
 
 In the evening I again drove out with Mr. Warner. A large 
 lake is at a small distance from the house, which holds water all 
 summer. The natives say it was part of the original bed of the 
 Ganges which used to cover all Furreedpoor, till a Raja requiring 
 a portion for his daughter, implored Varuna to give him one. 
 The god sent a tortoise, which swam out, making a large circuit 
 in the bed of the river, and immediately within that space dry 
 land appeared. I read prayers to Mr. Warner’s family circle, 
 and returned to my pinnace. Furreedpoor used to be a favour- 
 ite station of banditti, and so dangerous, that till a local magis- 
 trate with a strong police was settled here, no valuable boat ever 
 risked the passage. This part of its former history may possibly 
 have made the manners of its present inhabitants more unruly, 
 and account in some degree for the heaviness of the calendar. 
 
 July 27. — This day passed as the preceding. I heard nothing 
 of Miss Stowe, and the disadvantage of any further delay to my 
 
JOURNEY CONTINUED. 
 
 163 
 
 voyage seemed so serious, that I determined, unless some news 
 reached me in the course of this day or night, to go on. 
 
 July 28. — No tidings arriving, and having done every thing I 
 could think of to ensure the gradual impartment of the sad news 
 of her brother’s death to poor Miss Stowe, and provided as far as 
 T could for the comfort and safety of her dismal homeward jour- 
 ney, about noon, w'^hen I w^as hurrying the Serang to make sail, I 
 received a letter from my poor wife, with an account of the severe 
 illness of both our babies, and of the merciful deliverance which 
 our beloved little Emily had received from God. This letter 
 grievously agitated me, so much so that I think for some time I 
 hardly felt or understood what had happened. My first impres- 
 sion was to hurry home to Calcutta. But on reading the letter 
 over again, 1 knew I could implicitly trust my wife when she told 
 me that the danger was over ; that if she had apprehended the 
 probability of a relapse, she would not have concealed it from me; 
 that 1 was engaged at this time in a solemn professional duty, to 
 desert which, without the strongest grounds, would be a criminal 
 distrust of God, and neglect of his service ; that my presence 
 would not help my poor child, and that in case of the worst which 
 I might hear at Bogwangola, I might at all events then return to 
 comfort my poor wife under her affliction. On the wfflole I de- 
 termined to go on, though, when I had made that determination, 
 and was actually on the broad stream of th^ Ganges, it seemed 
 as if I first became sensible of the bitterness \vhich I had escaped, 
 and which might still threaten me. I did not, however, repent 
 of the resolution which I had taken, and I hoped I acted right, 
 and not unfeelingly to my dear wife, in thus preferring a public 
 to a private duty. 
 
164 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FURREEDPOOR TO BOGLIPOOR. 
 
 BLIND BEGGAR CROCODILE APE SILK MANUFACTORY BASKET FOR 
 
 CATCHING FISH BOGWANGOLA STRENGTH OF CURRENT BEGGING 
 
 DERVISES ANT-HILLS RAJMAHAL HILLS GOUR RAJMAHAL SUL- 
 TAN SUJAH’s palace PUHARREES CAVES GOSSAIN BOGLIPOOR 
 
 SCHOOLS RELIGION OF PUHARREES. 
 
 We had a noble breeze, and went on rapidly, all sail spread, 
 when all at once, to my great surprise, the Serang brought up the 
 pinnace so suddenly, that he almost laid her on her beam-ends, 
 and the water flowed in at her lee cabin windows ; a very little 
 more wind, and she would have turned quite over. On running 
 out to learn the reason of this manoeuvre, I found Mohammed 
 pale, Abdullah scolding, and the crew endeavouring, with more 
 haste than good speed, to get in the top and top-gallant sails. It 
 appeared that the steersman had seen a shoal right ahead, and so 
 close under the bows, that even the rapid bringing-up of the boat’s 
 head was barely sufficient to avoid it. The fact is, however, that 
 such mud-banks as are usually met with here would have been 
 less dangerous with our flat bottom, than the expedient which 
 they put in practice. However, I ordered two men forward 
 with long bamboos, to sound wherever there appeared suspicion 
 in future ; and exhorted them, when they found occasion to bring 
 up so suddenly again, always to let the sails go at the same time. 
 
 The river is here, I should think, from four to five miles wide. 
 We advanced up it with our fine breeze at a great rate, till nearly 
 seven, when we brought to in a swampy and inconvenient spot, 
 immediately opposite Jaffiergunge, being very nearly the same 
 place where, with poor Stowe, I had crossed the river a month 
 before. It now swarmed with fishing-boats, but oflered vessels 
 of no other description. Many nullahs branch out of the main 
 stream in every direction. I found to-day that these people do 
 not apply the name of Gunga at all to this stream, but call it 
 “ Pudda.” My ignorance of this fact used to perplex me exceed- 
 ingly, both in asking questions and receiving answers. They 
 know no Gunga but the Hooghly; and the Burra Gunga (Great 
 Ganges), by which I tried to explain myself, was always mistaken 
 by Mohammed for the “ Boori-gonga,” a comparatively insignifi- 
 cant stream near Dacca. 
 
BEGGARS. 
 
 165 
 
 1 forgot to mention in their proper places the things which 1 
 saw while at Furreedpoor. One was a specimen of the native 
 fox, running near Mr. Warner’s house, and so little afraid that one 
 might almost have laid hold of him. He was a beautiful little 
 animal, not much larger than a hare, of a more silky fir and squir- 
 rel-like tail, than the English reynard, and is rather serviceable 
 than otherwise, inasmuch as though he sometimes catches small 
 birds, his chief food is of field-mice and white ants. Another cir- 
 cumstance was, that my boat was visited by a blind beggar, (a 
 young countryman,) with his wife, a fine young woman, her fea- 
 tures not very delicate, but her person remarkably well made, 
 and the tallest female whom 1 have seen in India. I gave them 
 alms, and when she thrust out her hand to receive them, she dis- 
 played massive silver bracelets, worth, 1 should think, at least 25 
 or 30 shillings. Yet these were beggars ; and to judge from their 
 scanty and wretched clothing in all other respects, I doubt not 
 objects of pity. But for this poor woman to sell her bracelets, 
 was a thing which probably never would occur to her as possible, 
 except under urgent and hopeless hunger. She had also rings on 
 her ankles, which, indeed, drew my attention to her sex, for her 
 height made me at first suppose her to be a young man, and her 
 dress, which was a coarse sackcloth mantle, might have belonged 
 either to male or female. Her manner was extremely modest ; 
 she never let go her husband’s hand, and was/ evidently annoyed 
 by the sort of notice she attracted from the boatmen and my ser- 
 vants. The old blind man led by a little boy, whom we saw on 
 the Chundnah, made his appearance also at Furreedpoor, a proof 
 of his wandering habits. The existence of these beggars, as it 
 implies that they obtain some relief, may seem to exculpate the 
 mass of Hindoos from the charge of general inhumanity and sel- 
 fishness, so often brought against them. At the same time, in a 
 country where there is no legal provision for distress, it is almost 
 needless to observe, that in cases of blindness, leprosy, lameness, 
 and helpless old age, to give to beggars as we have the means, is 
 an obligation of justice as well as charity. 
 
 July 29. — Our course the early part of to-day was chiefly along 
 the north-east bank, and in part through a succession of “ aits,” 
 beds of reeds, and overflowed ground cultivated with rice. The 
 weather pleasant, and not very different from an English summer 
 day. Indeed, I have as yet seen nothing to make me lose the 
 opinion that the rains in India are by no means an unpleasant 
 season. Several circumstances reminded me painfully of poor 
 Stowe. At about half past nine we passed what he and I had, in 
 our previous passage, taken for a clump of tall trees ; but which, 
 now that I saw it nearer, appeared to be a single but very majes- 
 tic banian. 1 looked in vain for the islet where we passed our 
 
166 
 
 CROCODILE. 
 
 evening, (his last evening of health and high spirits,) and where 
 he waded after the wild ducks into the marsh, which so unhap- 
 pily affected him. The increasing flood had now covered it; but 
 1 recognised the village where we passed our first night in what 
 we called, in merriment, India beyond the Ganges where we 
 saw the dwarf, and the “ lodge in the garden of cucumbers 
 while, standing out a little, to avail ourselves of the wind in the 
 next reach, we grounded on a part of the same line of marshy 
 islets which we had traversed on foot a few weeks before. 1 
 could not help feeling that now 1 had nobody to compare my 
 impressions with ; none whose attention I might call to singular 
 or impressive objects, — that I was, indeed, a lonely wanderer ! 
 Such thoughts are, however, useless, and perhaps they are hardly 
 innocent ; with a great object before me, with Providence for my 
 guide, and with the power of a constant correspondence with a 
 beloved wife, 1 have no right to regard myself as solitary or for- 
 saken. But having nobody to talk to will probably swell the size 
 of my journal. 
 
 The country improved very much in the course of the morn- 
 ing, and the number of fishing-boats was really extraordinary ; 
 most of them had their sails spread between two bamboos, one 
 on each gunwale, as common in the South Seas ; and the groupes, 
 both of boats and fishermen, skimming past the beautifully wooded 
 bank, afforded subjects for painting such as I should have delight- 
 ed, had I possessed the necessary talent, to transfer to paper. 
 
 About half past one, and when we were not far from the stream 
 which diverges from the Pudda, between Pulna and Radanuggur, 
 Mohammed, in excessive carelessness or ignorance, contrived to 
 lose his way, by going directly north, round a large island in the 
 middle of the river, and consequently in a channel leading back 
 again towards Jaffiergunge. We soon found that we had the 
 stream with instead of against us, and asking some fishermen, 
 learned the mistake. We had scarcely, I think, gone a mile 
 wrong, when we attempted to return; but having both wind and 
 stream against us, and very bad towing ground, it took up the 
 whole afternoon, till past six, to get out of the scrape again, and 
 to moor in the main stream, by some marshy ground, so com- 
 pletely drenched with water, that my bearers were unable to find 
 a place to dress their victuals. This loss of half a day’s fine wind 
 was excessively provoking. The delay, however, gave time for 
 the servants’ boats to join us, which must else have been com- 
 pletely distanced. We passed, this evening, the first crocodile 1 
 have seen. It was swimming leisurely, pretty close to our boat, 
 but I could distinguish little but what looked like a heavy log of 
 wood, drifting down the stream. The people, however, called 
 out, “ Coomer ! Coomer !” and my servants, being Calcutta 
 
G AO W ALE^GIP SIE S. 
 
 167 
 
 people, seemed interested and curious to see it. Abdullah said 
 it was rather a large one, but that I should see enough to tire 
 me by the time we got to Rajmahal. 
 
 After all, our progress during this half day was not inconsider- 
 able ; and I began to entertain better hopes of a timely arrival 
 in the Upper Provinces than I had for some days ventured to 
 cherish. 
 
 July 30. — We still suffered this morning from Mohammed’s 
 ignorance, which had completely embayed us in the curve of the 
 northern shore, so that to get round the point between us and the 
 Pulna reach occupied nearly half a day’s grievous labour, up to 
 their breasts in water, to the poor boatmen. About half-past five 
 we arrived at the mouth of the Comercolly ; the wind had now 
 in a considerable degree died away ; it was still, however, enough 
 to carry our boats in a full west course by my compass, across 
 the opening of the Comercolly, (which is about as wide at this 
 season as the Thames at Vauxhall,) and some small distance 
 along the right bank of the main river, where we brought to on 
 the margin of a fine dry pasture of fiorin grass, one of the airiest 
 and best stations which we have had during the voyage. At a 
 short distance was a collection of very poor huts, with a herd of 
 cattle round them. I walked to them, and found a complete 
 dairy, or rather perhaps, grazier’s establishment, for they had not 
 many milch cows. They were the herds of the village, united 
 under the common care of two or three men “ gaowale,” (cow- 
 men) who kept them in these and similar pastures, this being a 
 celebrated grazing country. The calves and young stock were 
 penned up in two circular enclosures of bamboo and thorns, and 
 the cows and oxen lay quietly ruminating on the outside. 1 saw 
 no dogs, nor did the herdsmen (for there were no females among 
 them) seem to have any weapons or means of defence against 
 wild beasts, a sufficient proof that they are not numerous here. 
 The men, however, seem to be prepared for, and accustomed to 
 watching in the open air, having a greater wrap of turban round 
 the head and neck, and longer and warmer mantles than are usual 
 in Bengal. They are a caste by themselves, tall, robust men, 
 many with long beards, and all wilder looking than the majority 
 of their countrymen. 1 was reminded of Grim Tartary, but 
 missed the long spear, the huge dogs, the high-mettled horses 
 and covered carts of those noble shepherds. These men were 
 very civil, and regretted they had no milk for me, as they only 
 took a very little from each cow once a day, the remainder going 
 to the calf. One old man, however, brought up some milk which 
 he was boiling for his own supper, and willingly sold half of it 
 for a couple of pice, my own goats now supplying me with little. 
 The evening was very fine, and though the night was too dusky 
 
168 
 
 GIPSIES. 
 
 for me to walk far, I strolled backwards and forwards, enjoying 
 the delightful elasticity of the dry turf, the fresh breeze of the 
 river, and the fragrant breath of the cows till near ten o’clock. 
 A great many small boats still continued to glide along the stream, 
 as if engaged in nightly fishing, and the dash of their paddles, 
 and the blowing of the porpoises, were almost the only sounds 
 which broke the general stillness. Altogether it was an evening 
 to enjoy and to be thankful for, and a scene which I left with 
 regret. 
 
 July 31. — About half an hour, after we set out, and while we 
 were close to the shore, we passed by a number of extremely 
 small and mean huts, patched up in a temporary way with boughs 
 and rushes. I asked Mohammed what they were, and he answer^ 
 ed “ they were people from the upper kingdom,"'^ Abdullah said 
 they were a sort of gipsies, who lived by fishing. Some of them 
 came out of their booths as we passed, a race that no man can 
 mistake, meet them where he may, though they are, as might be 
 expected from their latitude and their exposure to the climate, 
 far blacker here than in England, or even than the usual race of 
 Bengalees are. They are the same tall, fine-limbed, bony, slender 
 people, with the same large, black, brilliant eyes, lowering fore- 
 head, and long hair curled at the extremities, which we meet on 
 a common in England. I saw only one woman, and her figure 
 was marked by the same characters. In height she would have 
 made two of the usual females of this country, and she stepped 
 out with the stride and firmness of a Meg Merrilies. Of the 
 gipsey cast of her features I could not, however, judge, since, 
 though half naked, she threw a ragged and dirty veil over her 
 face as soon as she saw us. This trait belongs to the upper 
 provinces. In Bengal a woman of her rank would not have 
 thought concealment necessary. There were no boats immedi- 
 ately near them, but a little further we overtook several filled 
 with the same sort of people. The river was here much narrower 
 than it had been for the last day or two, being, as I suspect, divid- 
 ed by islands. Many birds of the crane and stork species were 
 feeding, and there were two at some distance which I thought 
 were pelicans. But if they were, they were smaller than those 
 of Russia, and had more brown on their wings. We passed 
 several stacks of millet, just gathered and piled up, with a small 
 stage and shed erected in the middle for a watch-house. This 
 is the season I was informed for reaping millet ; they thrash it 
 out with oxen and a small roller. I also observed some maize, 
 of which I have frequently seen the ears at table, plain boiled, 
 and eaten with salt and butter, like artichokes. The rice along 
 the banks was growing very tall, green, and beautiful ; this is the 
 first crop, and to be cut next month as soon as the water has 
 
APE— SURDA^H. 
 
 169 
 
 reached it ;j the rice is reckoned most valuable and wholesome 
 which rem|tins the longest dry. 
 
 At a neighbouring village I saw an ape in a state of liberty, 
 but as tame as possible, the favourite, perhaps the deity, certainly 
 the sacred animal of the villagers. He was sitting in a little bush 
 as we stopped, (to allow the servant’s boats to come up,) and on 
 smelling dinner, 1 suppose, for my meal was getting ready, wad- 
 dled gravely down to the water's edge. He was about the size 
 of a large spaniel, enormously fat, covered with long silky hair, 
 generally of a rusty colour, but on his breast a fine shot blue, and 
 about his buttocks and thighs gradually waving into a deep orange ; 
 he had no tail, or one so short that the hair concealed it ; he went 
 on all fours only, I gave him some toast, and my sirdar-bearer 
 (a Hindoo) sent him a leaf full of rice. I suspect he was often 
 in the habit of receiving doles at this spot, which is the usual 
 place for standing across a deep bay of the river, and I certainly 
 have never yet seen a human Fakir in so good case. To ascend 
 a tree must be to a hermit of his size a wmrk of considerable 
 trouble, but I suppose he does so at night for security, otherwise 
 he would be a magnificent booty for the jackalls. 
 
 We now stood across the bay, passed through another nullah, 
 and then again stood over a wide extent of marsh, of which the 
 long rushes still appeared above the water. Porpoises continued 
 to rise, which, considering the distance from the sea, is what 1 
 should not have expected. 
 
 The extent of water here really surprised me ; we stood north- 
 west by north, and to the west and east I could not, from my 
 cabin-windows, see any land. We anchored on a sandy islet 
 partly covered with reeds, partly with the remains of a crop of 
 indigo, which a herd of cattle were eating down. 
 
 August 1. — Our wind unhappily failed us in a part of the river 
 where we might have derived the most essential service from it, 
 and the greater part of the day we were towed. I feel much 
 regret at occasioning these poor men to labour on a Sunday, but 
 even if I lost a day, that day would not be spent by them in any 
 devotional exercises, and to lose one in my present journey, and 
 at this time of the year, might hazard all my hope of that jour- 
 ney tending to God’s service. Soon after we set out this morn- 
 ing we found the river divided by a large island, and ascended 
 the northern branch, the southern leading towards Jellinghy. 
 About one o’clock we emerged into the broad stream, and con- 
 tinued our progress as far as within two miles of Surdah. The 
 country on this side is very populous, well cultivated, and as beau- 
 tiful as verdure, shade, water, and the splendid variety of Indian 
 shrubs and trees, can make it. 
 
 VoL. I. — 22 
 
170 COMPANY’S SILK MANUFACTORY. 
 
 At Surdah is one of the Company’s silk manufactories, and the 
 river on which it stands is also the usual route from Dacca to 
 the upper provinces. We here stood directly up the Ganges in 
 a north-west direction, favoured by a little breeze. The crew 
 on leaving the shore set up as usual, though I believe I never 
 before mentioned it, their cry of Allah hu Allah.” 1 cannot 
 help admiring in the Mussulmans the manner in which their reli- 
 gion apparently mixes itself with every action of their lives, and 
 though it is but too true that all this has a tendency to degenerate 
 into mere form or cant, or even profanation of holy things, for 
 the constant use of God’s name in the manner in which some of 
 them use it, scarcely differs from swearing, it might he well if 
 Christians learned from them to keep their faith and hope more 
 continually in their minds, and more frequently on their lips, than 
 the greater number of them do. Above all, it seems to be an 
 error, particularly in a heathen country, to act as if we were 
 ashamed of our religion, to watch the servants out of the room 
 before we kneel down to our prayers, or to dissemble in secular 
 matters the hope and trust which we really feel in Providence. 
 By the way, it is only during this journey that 1 have had occasion 
 to observe how strictly the Mussulmans conform to the maxim of 
 St. James, to say, “ if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or 
 that.” All the Mohammedans whom I have heard speak of their 
 own purposes, or any future contingencies, have qualified it with 
 « Insh Allah.” 
 
 Abdullah asked me if the Gunga was one of the rivers of 
 Paradise. I told him it was a difficult question, but that the 
 four rivers of Irak were generally supposed to be those meant by 
 Moses. I instanced the Frat and Dikkel, but had forgotten the 
 modern names of the other two. He seemed sorry the Ganges 
 had no chance, but expressed some satisfaction that he himself 
 had seen them all when with Sir Gore Ousley. While passing 
 Surdah, I could easily distinguish a large brick building, with a 
 long range of tiled warehouses attached, which I was told was a 
 silk manufactory. Had it been another day I should have re- 
 gretted passing it unvisited. The Italian method of curing and 
 managing silk is practised here, having been introduced about 
 fifty years ago, by workmen brought from Italy at the Company’s 
 expense. I know not whether it is now kept up with any spirit. 
 On arriving at the west bank we went on prosperously enough, 
 till at last, near a ruined indigo factory, and by that time of even- 
 ing when the wind usually failed us, we found the stream so 
 strong as to require all hands to pull against it, and the Serang 
 said he could do no more than get to some trees a little further, 
 under which he thought he saw a vessel. What he took for the 
 
RUINED INDIGO FACTORY. 
 
 171 
 
 sail, when we arrived, however, turned out to be the wall of a 
 ruined house, of which the greater part had been swept away by 
 the river, and we found a most inhospitable beach, a fierce cur- 
 rent, and nothing but desolation. Some country people came to 
 us, and said we were in one of the worst places of the whole 
 river, that a large village and indigo-work had been washed away 
 here last year, that ropes were often broken, and vessels some- 
 times lost, and that no boat of any size ever came hither that 
 could help it. This was very provoking, but nothing was now 
 practicable, as it appeared, except to make our vessels as fast to 
 shore as we could, though after we had done so about an hour, 
 and when it was too dark to move again, a fisherman who came 
 up said there was a very tolerable place for bringing to, a few 
 hundred yards further on. Our distance from Bogwangola was 
 seven coss (fourteen miles). The line of coast differs greatly 
 from Rennell, but the changes which the river is making on this 
 shore, are obviously such as to account for very considerable 
 discrepancies. The latter paH of our sail this day, afforded a 
 very striking sea view. As the course of the river is from north- 
 west to south-east, the sun literally set into it without any ap- 
 pearance of land on the horizon in that quarter. 1 was very 
 strongly reminded of a sun-set at the mouth of the Mersey. The 
 Ganges is not really so wide, but the general flatness of its shores 
 makes the distance appear greater, and the large pulwars with 
 sails, gliding in every direction, at a certain distance reminded 
 me of the Manks jagger-boats. I tried to find a place for walk- 
 ing, but did not succeed. The whole country was intersected 
 with ditches and little nullahs, and the evening was shutting in 
 too fast to attempt discoveries. No rain had fallen for some 
 days, but the weather was not unpleasant, though now the 
 night closed in with divers prognostics both of rain and wind. 
 A north-wester in our actual situation would have gone near to 
 wreck us.. The night, however, thank God, passed off in great 
 stillness. 
 
 August 2. — We had little or no wind, and were compelled to 
 continue our toilsome and tedious course for about four miles 
 further. The channel into which we here entered, was full of 
 vessels carrying cotton down from the upper provinces. Their 
 freight upwards consists of European goods, salt-fish, salt, and 
 coco-nuts. I have missed the coco-nut tree for some days, and 
 I am told they are not found to the north of Jellinghy and 
 Moorshedabad. Great herds of cattle are seen on the shore, 
 and the groups of some of them, cooling themselves in the water, 
 intermingled with fishing-boats and pulwars, and with the mea- 
 dows bordered by low cottages and bamboos in the back-ground, 
 would have furnished Cuyp with more beautiful subjects, in his 
 
172 
 
 BAGWANGOLA. 
 
 peculiar style, than any which he could find in his own country. 
 Since we left the Hooghly, we had bidden adieu to those vast 
 Egyptian brick-kilns which are so common on its shores. I had 
 scarcely seen any thing of the kind either on the Matabunga, 
 the Pudda, or the river of Dacca. Here they are beginning to 
 re-appear. Our course continues nearly west, though a little 
 inclining to the south. I saw here a succession of baskets open- 
 ing out of one another, like traps, or rather on the principle of 
 the eel-net in England, for catching fish, which once entered, 
 cannot conveniently turn round, and therefore go on to a cham- 
 ber contrived at the end, the entrance to which is guarded 
 with sharp reeds pointing inwards, like a mouse-trap. The 
 same invention is practised in Russia, and probably in many 
 other countries, though in England I have only seen it applied 
 to eels. 
 
 About nine o’clock, while passing a large collection of boats, 
 the wind suddenly began to blow briskly from the north-east, and 
 I had an example of how soon and suddenly mischief may be 
 done among the weak and clumsy boats of the country. Our 
 pinnace broke from the hold of the men who were towing her, 
 and came against the broadside of a large pulwar laden with corn, 
 with so much violence that I thought she had staved in her 
 quarter, breaking with a great crash the bamboo supporters of 
 her platform, the mat and wicker walls of her cabin, her oars, 
 spars, and every thing else that came in the way. She was no 
 sooner made clear of this vessel, which was done by the united 
 strength of both crews, and with loud cries of “ Ullah,” and “ Ali ! 
 Ali !” than she drifted bodily on our cook-boat, which had she 
 reached she would probably have sunk. The crew, however, 
 seeing their danger, pushed themselves with much readiness and 
 dexterity up between a pulwar which we had just passed, and 
 the bank, breaking, indeed, all their own oars, but avoiding a 
 greater risk. Happily no mischief was done, but such as a few 
 hours would repair, but had the boats been weak, and the wind 
 stronger, both pulwar and cook-boat would probably have gone 
 to the bottom. The pinnace held the place of the brazen pot in 
 the fable, and was more likely to be the breaker than the broken. 
 She, however, had one of her venitians carried away, but luckily 
 it was picked up again. 
 
 We arrived at Bogwangola between four and five, and stopped 
 there for the night. I found the place very interesting, and even 
 beautiful. A thorough Hindoo village, without either Europeans 
 or Mussulmans, and a great part of the houses were sheds or 
 booths for the accommodation of the “gomastas,” (agents or 
 supercargos,) who come here to the great corn fairs, which are 
 held, I believe, annually. They are scattered very prettily over 
 
POLICE. 
 
 173 
 
 a large green common, fenced off from the river by a high grassy 
 mound, which forms an excellent dry walk, bordered with mango- 
 trees, bamboos, and the date-palm, as well as some fine banians. 
 The common was covered with children and cattle, a considerable 
 number of boats were on the beach, different musical instruments 
 were strumming, thumping, squealing, and rattling from some of 
 the open sheds, and the whole place exhibited a cheerfulness, 
 and, though it was not the time of the fair, an activity and bustle 
 which were extremely interesting and pleasing. The houses were 
 most of them very small, but neat, with their walls of mats, 
 which, when new, always look well. One, in particular, which 
 was of a more solid construction than the rest, and built round 
 a little court, had a slip of garden surrounding its exterior, filled 
 with flowering shrubs, and enclosed by a very neat bamboo 
 railing. Others were open all round, and here two parties of the 
 fakir musicians, whose strains I had heard, were playing, while 
 in a house near one of them were some females, whose gaudy 
 dress and forward manner seemed pretty clearly to mark their 
 profession as the Nach girls of the place. After leaving the 
 shore, I followed a very pretty glade, through what was almost a 
 jungle, or rather a woody pasture, though houses were still seen 
 scattered at some distance. I found here, to my surprise, two 
 armed men, the one with a short rusty spear, the other with a 
 long antique eastern-shaped gun. On asking who they were, and 
 what they were doing, they answered that they were “ Burkan- 
 dazes,” (inferior police officers,) and had come into the wood for 
 the sake of sporting. They were very civil, and showed me a 
 dry and pretty, though circuitous road back to the pinnace again. 
 This led me between some closes carefully fenced with bamboo, 
 and planted with dwarf mulberry-trees, about as high and as 
 thickly set as gooseberry-bushes in England, for the use of silk- 
 worms. The whole v/alk was extremely beautiful, and more 
 like the view of a “ Fiatookah” in Tongataboo, in Cook’s third 
 voyage, than any thing else by which I can illustrate it. 
 
 If thou wert by my side, my love ! 
 
 How fast would evening fail 
 In green Bengola’s palmy grove, 
 
 Listening the nightingale ! 
 
 If thou, my love ! wert by my side, 
 
 My babies at my knee. 
 
 How gaily would our pinnace glide 
 O’er Gunga’s mimic sea ! 
 
 I miss thee at the dawning gray, 
 
 When, on our deck reclined. 
 
 In careless ease my limbs I lay, 
 
 And woo the cooler wind. 
 
174 - 
 
 BOGWANGOLA. 
 
 I miss thee when by Gunga’s stream 
 My twilight steps I guide, 
 
 But most beneath the lamp’s pale beam 
 I miss thee from my side. 
 
 I spread my books, my pencil try. 
 
 The lingering noon to cheer. 
 
 But miss thy kind approving eye. 
 
 Thy meek attentive ear. 
 
 But when of morn and eve the star 
 Beholds me on my knee, 
 
 I feel, though thou art distant far. 
 
 Thy prayers ascend for me. 
 
 Then on ! then on I where duty leads. 
 
 My course be onward still. 
 
 O’er broad Hindostan’s sultry mead. 
 
 O’er bleak Almorah’s hill. 
 
 That course, nor Delhi’s kingly gates. 
 
 Nor wild Malwah detain. 
 
 For sweet the bliss us both awaits 
 By yonder western main. 
 
 Thy towers, Bombay, gleam bright, they say. 
 
 Across the dark blue sea. 
 
 But ne'er were hearts so light and gay 
 As then shall meet in thee I 
 
 Bogwangola has been several times, within these few years, 
 removed to different situations in consequence of the havoc made 
 by the Ganges. It has, therefore, no ancient building, and neither 
 pagoda nor mosque of any kind that I could discover. Indeed it 
 has the appearance rather of an encampment than a town, but is 
 not on that account the less pretty. 
 
 August 3. — With little or no wind we proceeded, by towing, 
 to one of the channels which lead by Sooty, from the main Gan- 
 ges, into the Moorshedabad river. Here it was declared impossi- 
 ble to proceed without a breeze, the stream running like a race 
 in a narrow channel between the main land and some marshy 
 islands, the other channel, which might have answered our pur- 
 pose, having been blocked up by an indigo planter, and the 
 country being so much flooded further on, as to make towing im- 
 practicable. Whilst 1 was at dinner, however, the wind arose, 
 and we made sail, but certainly not even in the Hooghly below 
 Diamond Harbour did I ever see such a torrent. All our sails 
 were set, and the masts bending before the wind, the men went 
 a-head up to their breasts in water to help by towing, yet all 
 scarcely helped us on two hundred yards. This sort of work 
 went on for nearly three hours, when the wind began to slacken, 
 and we were forced to try another channel, and got on in the first 
 
BUNIYAN’S SHOP, 
 
 175 
 
 instance without difficulty, passing between rice fields, and close 
 to a modern sized Hindoo village, where I saw some of the finest 
 draught oxen which I have seen in this country, and by their bulk 
 and sleekness doing honour to their proprietor’s humanity and 
 good sense, as well as showing how good and serviceable a breed 
 may be raised in this country with a little cost and care. The 
 farm or cottage to which they apparently belonged, was a mere 
 hut of bamboos and thatch, but very clean, and its sheds and 
 granary, which enclosed as usual a small court, larger and cleaner 
 externally than is usually seen near Calcutta, which neighbour- 
 hood certainly loses ground, in my opinion, the more I see of the 
 rest of Bengal. xAfter crossing this formidable current close to 
 the mouth of the strait, which we had before vainly endeavoured 
 to stem, with great difficulty, we came to a miserable drowned 
 country, without habitations, a great deal of it jungle, and the 
 rice with which the rest was cultivated, looking starved and yel- 
 low with its over supply of water. If the river rose at all higher, 
 the crop I was told would be good for nothing, and that it was 
 now almost spoiled. It was a different kind of rice from that 
 grown near Dacca, and required to be reaped tolerably dry. 
 The water-rice is of an inferior quality. Along this wretched 
 coast it would be almost impossible for the men to tow, and there- 
 fore having a good breeze, I determined to run on till we should 
 get to sound land again. By the light of a fine moon we held on 
 our course till nearly nine o’clock, when hearing the cigalas chirp 
 on shore, which I knew was no bad sign, I told the Serang he 
 might “ lugos.” He did so with great joy, and we found fine dry 
 fields of cotton and silk-mulberries, with a grassy bank to the 
 river’s edge, and a broad sandy path leading to a village at a little 
 distance. “ Now then, Mohammed,” 1 said with some triumph, as 
 I had had great difficulty in making him go on so far, “ and all you 
 dandees, is not a night’s sail better than a day’s tracking ?” 
 “ Yes, my lord,” was the answer of one of the men, “but toil is 
 better than peril, and the eye of the day than the blindness of 
 the night.” It was plain that they were all afraid of getting 
 aground, not knowing this part of the river, but in so fine a night, 
 and with due care, 1 could not think the danger at all probable. 
 
 I walked to the village with Abdullah to get some milk, and 
 to see the place. The soil was light, but apparently good, and 
 we passed through crops of cotton, millet, and barley. We found 
 a large herd of draught buffaloes, tethered two and two, but no 
 milk-giving animal of any kind. The herdsman referred us to a 
 cottage, whence came out an old woman, to say that her cows 
 were gone to another place at some distance ; that the only 
 people at all likely to supply us, were the “ Giriftu,” tacksmen, 
 or chief tenants of the village, and a “ Buniyan,” or trader, whose 
 
176 
 
 AN EVENING WALK IN BENGAL. 
 
 shop we should find a little further. We went along a lane till 
 we came to a large and clean looking hut, with a small shed ad- 
 joining, where, with a lamp over his head, and a small heap of 
 cowries, some comfits, elicampane, rice, ghee, and other grocery 
 matters before him, sat the buniyan of the place, a shrewd, sharp, 
 angular old man in spectacles, being the first naked man I ever 
 saw so decorated. On Abdullah’s stating our wants, he laughed, 
 and said that neither he, nor, to his knowledge, the giriftu, had 
 either cow or goat. “ The land here,” he said, “ is never quite 
 overflowed : it is therefore too good for pasture, and we never 
 let our cows look at it till after harvest.” “ But,” said Abdullah, 
 “ the Sahib will give a good price for it.” “ Whether you give or 
 no,” said the old man testily, “ it does not matter, unless you 
 choose to milk the cat !” Thus ended our search, from which I 
 learnt two things : how to account for the large herds of cattle 
 which we saw in the sandy and less valuable district behind us — 
 and that Hindoostanee here, and not Bengalee, begins to be the 
 common speech of the peasantry, since the old woman and this 
 man both spoke it and conversed in it with each other. 
 
 The boats had in the mean time arrived, so that milk was not 
 wanted ; but the evening was so fine that I continued to walk up 
 and down, till Abdullah besought me not to take so much exer- 
 cise, saying it was that which had turned my hair so gray since my 
 arrival in India. 
 
 AN EVENING WALK IN BENGAL. 
 
 Our task is done ! on Gunga’s breast 
 The sun is sinking down to rest ; 
 
 And, moored beneath the tamarind bough, 
 
 Our bark has found its harbour now. 
 
 With furled sail, and painted side, 
 
 Behold the tiny frigate ride. 
 
 Upon her deck, ’mid charcoal gleams, 
 
 The Moslem’s savoury supper steams, 
 
 While all apart, beneath the wood. 
 
 The Hindoo cooks his simpler food. 
 
 Come walk with me the jungle through ; 
 
 If yonder hunter told us true. 
 
 Far off, in desert dank and rude. 
 
 The tiger holds his solitude ; 
 
 Nor (taught by recent harm to shun 
 The thunders of the English gun,) 
 
 A dreadful guest but rarely seen. 
 
 Returns to scare the village green. 
 
 Come boldly on ! no venom’d snake 
 Can shelter in so cool a brake. 
 
 Child of the sun ! he loves to lie 
 ’Mid Nature’s embers, parch’d and dry. 
 
 There o’er some tower in ruin laid. 
 
 The peepul spreads its haunted shade ; 
 
EVENING WALK IN BENGAL. 
 
 177 
 
 Or round a tomb his scales to wreathe, 
 
 Fit warder in the gate of Death ! 
 
 Come on ! Yet pause ! behold us now 
 Beneath the bamboo’s arched bough, 
 
 Where, gemming oft that sacred gloom. 
 
 Glows the geranium’s scarlet bloom,* 
 
 And winds our path through many a bower 
 Of fragrant tree and giant flower ; 
 
 The ceiba’s crimson pomp display’d 
 O’er the broad plantain’s humbler shade. 
 
 And dusk anana’s prickly blade; 
 
 While o’er the brake, so wild and fair. 
 
 The betel waves his crest in air. 
 
 With pendant train and rushing wings, 
 
 Aloft the gorgeous peacock springs ; 
 
 And he, the bird of hundred dyes. 
 
 Whose plumes the dames of Ava prize. 
 
 So rich a shade, so green a sod. 
 
 Our English fairies never trod ! 
 
 Yet who in Indian bow’r has stood. 
 
 But thought on England’s “good green wood ?” 
 And bless’d, beneath the palmy shade. 
 
 Her hazel and her hawthorn glade. 
 
 And breathed a pray’r, (how oft in vain 1) 
 
 To gaze upon her oaks again ? 
 
 A truce to thought ! the jackall’s cry 
 Resounds like sylvan revelry ; 
 
 And through the trees yon failing ray 
 Will scantly serve to guide our way. 
 
 Yet mark ! as fade the upper skies, 
 
 Each thicket opes ten thousand eyes. 
 
 Before, beside us, and above. 
 
 The fire-fly lights his lamp of love. 
 
 Retreating, chasing, sinking, soaring. 
 
 The darkness of the copse exploring ; 
 
 While to this cooler air confest. 
 
 The broad Dhatura bares her breast. 
 
 Of fragrant scent and virgin white, 
 
 A pearl around the locks of night ! 
 
 Still as we pass, in softened hum. 
 
 Along the breezy alleys come 
 The village song, the horn, the drum. 
 
 Still as we pass from bush and briar. 
 
 The shrill cigali strikes his lyre ; 
 
 And, what is she whose liquid strain 
 Thrills through yon copse of sugar-cane ? 
 
 I know that soul-entrancing swell ! 
 
 It is — it must be — Philomel ! 
 
 Enough, enough, the rustling trees 
 Announce a shower upon the breeze — 
 
 The flashes of the summer sky 
 Assume a deeper, ruddier dye ; 
 
 Yon lamp that trembles on the stream. 
 
 From forth our cabin sheds its beam ; 
 
 * A shrub whose deep scarlet flowers very much resemble the geranium, and 
 thence called the Indian geranium.— Ed, 
 
 VoL. I,™23 
 
 ( 
 
178 
 
 ANT-HILLS. 
 
 And we must early sleep, to find 
 Betimes the morning’s healthy wind. 
 
 But, Oh ! with thank^ful hearts confess 
 Ev’n here there may be happiness ; 
 
 And He, the bounteous Sire, has given 
 His peace on earth — his hope of heaven ! 
 
 1 wrote this endeavouring to fancy that I was not alone. 1 
 believe only one note is necessary. The bird of “ hundred dyes” 
 is the mucharunga, “ many coloured.” I am not sure whether I 
 mentioned the fact before, but 1 learned at Dacca, that while 
 we were at peace with the Burmans, many traders used to go 
 over all the eastern provinces of Bengal, buying up these beauti- 
 ful birds for the Golden Zennanah ; at Ummerapoora it was said 
 that they sometimes were worth a gold mohur each. 
 
 August 4. — We made a tolerable progress the early part of the 
 day, and about ten arrived at the eastern or principal entrance of 
 the Sooty or Moorshadabad river. As we passed, a boat with 
 four dervises, sturdy beggars enough, came after us singing. I 
 asked why they did not work, and was told by Abdullah, that it 
 was one of the miseries of the country, that they were all a caste 
 of beggars from father to son, trained to no labour, and even if 
 they desired it, not likely to be employed by any body. I gave 
 them, therefore, a pice a piece, for which they were more grate- 
 ful than I expected. This entrance, the Bhagirutty, is divided 
 by marshy islands from the other at the distance of about six 
 miles. After we had loosed from the shore, a pretty heavy gale, 
 with thunder and violent rain, came on. Had this occurred be- 
 fore we set out, nothing but a pistol at Mohammed’s ear would 
 have induced him to brave it ; but as it was, it carried us at a 
 rattling rate beyond a very rapid and difficult part of the stream. 
 The banks here are very ugly and miserable, showing nothing 
 but reeds. I here saw, for the first time, a number of those high 
 ant-hills, the work of the white ant, of which I had often heard. 
 Many of them were five or six feet high, and probably seven or 
 eight feet in circumference at the base, partially overgrown with 
 grass and ivy, and looking at a distance like the stumps of decayed 
 trees. I think it is Ctesias, among the Greek writers, who gives 
 an account, alluded to by Lucian in his “ Cock,” of monstrous 
 ants in India, as large as foxes. The lie probably originated in 
 the stupendous fabrics which they rear here, and which certain- 
 ly might be supposed to be the work of a much larger animal 
 than their real architect. The pyramids, when the comparative 
 bulk of the insect which reared them is taken into the estimate, 
 are as nothing to the works of the termites. The counterpart of 
 one of these hills which 1 passed to-day, would be, if a nation 
 should set to work to build up an artificial Snowdon, and bore it 
 
INUNDATION. 
 
 79 
 
 full of halls and galleries. Our good breeze carried us on till 
 about half-past four, when I saw, with a degree of pleasure which 
 1 did not anticipate, but which arose no doubt from the length of 
 time during which 1 had been accustomed to a perfectly flat sur- 
 face, a range of blue elevations on my right-hand. At first 1 
 watched them with distrust, fearing that they were clouds. They 
 kept their ground, however, and 1 ran on deck to ask about them, 
 and was told, as 1 expected, that they were the RajmahM hills. 
 It is, 1 think, Jeanie Deans who complains that, after she lost 
 sight of Ingleborough in her way through Yorkshire, Nottingham- 
 shire, and Lincolnshire, “ the haill country seemed to have been 
 trenched and levelled.” But what would she have said if she 
 had traversed Bengal ? At the place where we stopped for the 
 night there were some fine trees, but the rest of the country, for 
 a considerable space, was mere sand, on which the peasants were 
 raising a few patches of cucumbers and pulse. One of these men 
 who was pursuing his work by moonlight, told me that there had 
 been a very large village on this spot, with its garden, mango- 
 orchards, meadows, &c. ; but that the dreadful inundation of last 
 year swept away every thing, and covered the place with sand, as 
 we now saw it. I walked up and down this scene of desolation for 
 some time, but found nothing to mark that any habitation had ever 
 stood here. The sand lay smooth, yet wavy as we see it on a 
 coast exposed to heavy seas, and there were no marks of any 
 thing living or having lived, except some scattered sculls and 
 bones of animals, probably brought from a distance by the terri- 
 ble stream which had blotted out and hidden the community of 
 this place. Abdullah, who joined me after making some inqui- 
 ries about our morrow’s course, said that the place was very like 
 the deserts, not of Persia, which are stony, but of the Arabian 
 Irak and the country near Bussorah. He observed, naturally 
 enough, that this was a sad place to look upon, and this as natu- 
 rally brought on a conversation about God’s judgments, Hilleh 
 and the Birz ul Nimrouz, or Babylon, and Nunya or Nineveh. 
 He had not seen the first, but had heard of its stinking wells, 
 which burned like pitch when set on fire,” and was much inte- 
 rested to learn that it was the Babylon mentioned in Scripture. 
 The second, as well as the tomb of the prophet “ Yunus” in its 
 neighbourhood, he had seen, and described, I believe, accurately, 
 as a small village near Mousel, chiefly inhabited by Christians, but 
 with no conspicuous remains of antiquity, except what is called 
 the tomb of Jonah. He was less fortunate, however, in his at- 
 tempt to account for the inundations of Gunga, which he ascribed, 
 so far as I could understand him at all, to the combined influence 
 of the north and south poles on the mountain Meru ! I endea- 
 voured to explain the matter a little better, but could not 
 
180 
 
 RUINS OF GOUR. 
 
 convince him that the Ganges did not rise immediately under the 
 north pole. This is orthodox Hindoo geography, and it is curi* 
 ous to find that the Mussulmans in India have so completely 
 adopted it. 
 
 Being now in the great road from Calcutta northwards, the 
 number of large vessels on the river is very much increased. The 
 majestic stream of the Puddah offered few but fishing-boats, but 
 here at every point of land we see a coppice of masts, waiting 
 like us for a wind, and many minutes seldom pass without other 
 vessels, with their masts down and all made snug, drifting past 
 us do wn the stream. The night was very still and close, the first 
 really oppressive one which I had felt since leaving the Matahunga. 
 
 August 5 . — We were tracked this morning along ‘‘ a land which 
 the rivers had spoiled,” and then came to a “ Mohanna,” or chan- 
 nel of the Moorshedabad river, where we were detained several 
 hours for want of wind ; about ten we had a fine breeze, which 
 carried us past this difficulty and another of the same. The ra- 
 pidity of the stream in this part is ascribed to the freshes from the 
 hills, which as we approach them appear taller and larger. They 
 resemble in some degree, in outline, the Peckforton hills in 
 Cheshire, and I could almost have fancied myself at one moment 
 on the estuary of the Dee, with my back turned towards the W elch 
 mountains, and looking across the plain of Chester up to Beeston 
 and the Stannaries. The river is here again divided by a string 
 of marshy islands. The country improved as we advanced, being 
 prettily dotted with small woods, and cultivated chiefly with pulse, 
 a crop which showed that we were leaving Bengal for Hindostan. 
 It still, however, continued as flat as possible, as if all had been a 
 hay of the sea, of which these hills which we were approaching 
 were the termination. And this at some remote period, I con- 
 ceive, must have been the case. Our advance up this part of the 
 river, craves, I find, a greater wariness in one respect than at any 
 period of our former progress, owing to the number of clumsy and 
 ill-managed pulwars through which we have continually to jostle 
 our way. We have been run foul of three or four times in the 
 course of this morning, and though we have received no harm, 
 have, I apprehend, done some, though not of any serious character. 
 
 We passed a manufactory of small rope on the shore, carried 
 on, as might be expected, in the simplest manner, but the fabric 
 appearing remarkably good. Our progress during the latter part 
 of the day was uncomfortable and tedious enough, and we were 
 forced to stop just as we had rounded the island and opened on a 
 broad bay, on the other side of which was Rajmahal. It was too 
 wet to walk, and altogether the halt was very uncomfortable. I 
 could not help feeling some regret that I was to pass so near the 
 ruins of Gour without visiting them, though, by all accounts, they 
 
RAJMAHAL. 
 
 181 
 
 are mere shapeless mounds, covered with jungle, and haunted, 
 as usual, by snakes and wild beasts. Yet the great antiquity of 
 the place, which is said to be mentioned in the oldest Hindoo 
 poetry, its size, which seems almost to have rivalled Babylon or 
 Nineveh, and the circumstances which led to its abandonment, are 
 all striking. 
 
 “ It was not in the battle, no tempest gave the shock.” 
 
 The same mighty river whose active, powers of destruction we 
 witnessed yesterday, by a different process turned Gour into a 
 wilderness. The main advantage of its situation was, that the 
 Ganges rolled under its walls ; two hundred years ago the Ganges 
 deserted its old bed for that which it at present occupies, six or 
 seven miles south of the former, and Gour began to decay. The 
 governors of Bahar and Bengal deserted it for other residences, and 
 
 “ Now, pointed at by wisdom and by wealth, 
 
 Stands, in the wilderness of wo, Masar 1” 
 
 It is impossible to pass it without recollecting that what Gour is, 
 Calcutta may any day become, unless the river in its fresh chan- 
 nel should assume a more fatal direction, and sweep in its new 
 track our churches, markets, and palaces, (by the way of the Loll 
 Diggy and the Balighat,) to that salt-water lake which seems its 
 natural estuary. The length of the ruins of Gour, as marked on 
 Rennelks map, is eighteen miles, and their breadth six. 
 
 August 6. — After passing for some time through a channel be- 
 tween a newly-formed island and the south-western shore, we 
 emerged on the broad river again, and found ourselves close upon 
 the town of Rajmahal ; apparently not much of a place, but very 
 prettily situated, though still on the same perfect level, the hills, 
 to my surprise, being yet at a considerable distance. I had always 
 understood, and the maps had confirmed the idea, that the town 
 was at their foot ; and I could now easily believe that I had un- 
 derrated their size, when I saw what an interval still separated me 
 from them, observing how indistinct the objects on them still ap- 
 peared, and knowing how much apparent distance is abridged by 
 the brilliant sun and clear skies of India. The banks of the river 
 are, however, here a little higher than I have seen lately, and a 
 few boulder-stones, and small masses of granite may be observed 
 here and there, brought probably by water from the hills. 
 
 As soon as it was cool, I walked to see the ruins of the ancient 
 palace built by Sultan Sujah, brother to the emperor Aurungzebe, 
 in 1630. I ascended what, for Bengal, was really a steep place, 
 passing a little brook, in which I almost fancied I saw gravel, a 
 phenomenon which I had not seen since I left England. The 
 
182 RUINS. 
 
 path wound among cottages, toddy palms, and other fruit trees, as 
 well as some little ruinous mosques, and a cutcherry, which struck 
 me as simple and elegant. It was merely a thatched shed, like an 
 Otaheitan house, with an earthenware ornament at each end of 
 its ridge-pole ; hut it was supported on a basement of stone, 
 (another novelty,) with some broad, easy steps, and a small raised 
 platform in its centre. Its situation, surrounded as it was by 
 trees, reminded me of the Crimea, or might have been such a 
 place as Samuel or Saul sate to do judgment in, in Ramah. From 
 hence we ascended a little further to a large court, surrounded by 
 ruinous buildings, some of them not inelegant ; but of all, the 
 desolation was too recent, — the beams and pillars of the verandahs 
 remaining naked but entire, — to be beautiful or picturesque ruins. 
 It looked like a great house which had been lately burned. I was 
 a little at a loss to find my way through the ruins and young 
 jungle, when a man came up, and in Persian, with many low bows, 
 offered his services. He led me into a sort of second court, a little 
 lower on the hill, where 1 saw two European tombs, and then to 
 three very beautiful arches of black slate, on pillars of the same, 
 leading into a small but singularly elegant hall, opening immedi- 
 ately on the river, though a considerable height above it, through 
 three similar arches to those by which we entered. The roof was 
 vaulted with stone, delicately carved, and the walls divided by 
 gothic tracery into pannels, still retaining traces of gilding and 
 Arabic inscriptions. At each end of this beautiful room was a 
 gothic arch, in like manner of slate, leading into two small square 
 apartments, ornamented in the same way, and also opening on the 
 river. The centre room might be thirty feet long, each of the 
 others fifteen square. For their size, I cannot conceive more 
 delightful apartments. The view is very fine. The river, as if 
 incensed at having been obliged to make a circuit round the bar- 
 rier of the hills, and impeded here again by the rocks under the 
 castle, sweeps round this corner with exceeding violence, roaring 
 and foaming like a gigantic Dee. The range of hills runs to the 
 left hand, beautiful, blue and woody, and 1 quite repented the 
 injustice I had done them in likening them to the Peckforton hills. 
 They do not fall short of the average of Welch mountains. On 
 leaving this room we turned to the right upon a short but striking 
 terrace, carried on the same level, and terminating with a sort of 
 bastion, which seems as if it had been the foundation of a kiosk, 
 which by its projection affords the most favourable view of the 
 whole building, and the fine range of hills beyond it. What I was 
 shown after this would hardly bear looking at. It consisted of a 
 dining-room, about thirty feet by twenty, lined with white marble, 
 with many remains of gilding and inscriptions in the Cufic cha- 
 racter ; a small, but pretty mosque, in a romantic situation, and a 
 
RUINS, 
 
 183 
 
 handsome gateway, but none of them well worth going out of one’s 
 way for. I was, however, much pleased with a ruined caravan- 
 serai, to which 1 was next conducted, and which is a noble spe- 
 cimen of that style of building, with two fine gothic gates, opposite 
 to each other, a great court, as large at least as Peckwater 
 Quadrangle, surrounded with cloisters, and the whole in that state 
 of verdant decay which is most agreeable to an artist’s eye. I 
 was here going to offer my self-appointed cicerone some trifling 
 payment, but he stopped me, by putting a petition into my hands, 
 with the humble request that I would give or send it, when I got 
 to Boglipoor, to Mr. Chalmers, the senior judge. I said I was 
 not acquainted with Mr. Chalmers, and that knowing nothing of 
 him, (the petitioner,) I could not recommend his case. But he 
 said that all he wished was, that his case might meet Mr. Chal- 
 mer’s eye, without going through the post-office here. As I knew 
 not what reason he might have for the request, I told him I would 
 either give or send his paper to the judge, but could do no more. 
 
 In my return to the river I met a large party from one out of 
 three budgerows which arrived at the same time with my pinnace. 
 They had been twenty-four days coming from Calcutta, had had 
 a disastrous voyage, having seen their baggage-boat go down be- 
 fore their eyes ; and their stock of European comforts being nearly 
 exhausted, I was glad to be able to supply them with some trifles 
 out of my store, as also to lend them my peon to show them the 
 way to the ruins. We had a smart storm of wind and rain in the 
 night, and when 1 looked out in the morning of August 7, 1 feared 
 that Mohammed would be afraid to launch from the shore. He, 
 however, ventured, but owing to the weight and size of the ves- 
 sel, and in part to the tardiness of the Clashees in getting up the 
 sails, we were driven by the eddy among the rocks and the ruins 
 which had fallen from the old palace into the river, and remained 
 beating for five or six minutes before we were disengaged. I was 
 disappointed to find that our approach to the hills was still to be 
 delayed, the wind being unfavourable to advancing directly up 
 the river. We were forced to proceed along a nullah winding 
 through marshes. We had in fact our backs to the hills, and 
 should not have come near them again till near their termination, 
 had I not told the Serang 1 wanted to see Sicligully, which by his 
 own statement was just as near as the course he wished to pursue. 
 We therefore turned short to our left hand, and came down right 
 on Boglipoor, enjoying a noble view of the hills, which in extent, 
 indeed, as in height as well as beauty, far exceeded what I had 
 expected. They rise from the flat surface of Bengal as out of the 
 sea ; a large waterfall is seen from a very considerable distance, 
 tumbling down the mountain in several successive cascades, that 
 nearest the plain of very considerable height. 
 
184 
 
 PUHARREES. 
 
 The people of these mountains, and of all the hilly country be- 
 tween this place and Burdwan, are a race distinct from those of 
 the plain, in features, language, civilization, and religion. They 
 have no castes, care nothing for the Hindoo deities, and are even 
 said to have no idols. They are still more naked than the Hin- 
 doo peasants, and live chiefly by the chace, for which they are 
 provided with bows and arrows, few of them having fire-arms. 
 Their villages are very small and wretched, hut they pay no taxes, 
 and live under their own chiefs under British protection. A 
 deadly feud existed, till within the last forty years, between them 
 and the cultivators of the neighbouring lowlands, they being un- 
 tamed thieves and murderers, continually making forays, and the 
 Mohammedan Zemindars killing them like mad dogs, or tigers, 
 whenever they got them within gun-shot. An excellent young 
 man, of the name of Cleveland, judge and magistrate of Boglipoor, 
 undertook to remedy this state of things. He rigorously forbade, 
 and promptly punished, all violence from the Zemindars (who 
 were often the aggressors) against the Puharree (Mountaineers ;) 
 he got some of these last to enter his service, and took pains to 
 attach them to him, and to learn their language. He made shooting 
 parties into the mountains, treating kindly all whom he could^ get 
 to approach him, and established regular bazars at the villages near- 
 est to them, where he encouraged them to bring down for sale 
 game, millet, wax, hides, and honey, all which their hills produce 
 in great abundance. He gave them wheat and barley for seed, 
 and encouraged their cultivation by the assurance that they should 
 not be taxed, and that nobody but their own chiefs should be their 
 Zemindars. And to please them still further, and at the same 
 time to keep them in effectual order, and to bring them more 
 into contact with their civilized neighbours, he raised a corps of 
 sepoys from among them, which he stationed at Sicligully, and 
 which enabled him not only to protect the peaceable part of 
 them, but to quell any disturbances which might arise, with a 
 body of troops accustomed to mountain warfare. This good and 
 wise man died in 1784, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. A 
 monument was raised to his memory near Boglipoor, at the joint 
 expense of the highland Chiefs and lowland Zemindars, which 
 still remains in good repair, having been endowed by them with 
 some lands for its maintenance. A garrison of these Mountaineers, 
 which was then kej)t up at Sicligully, has been since discontinued ; 
 the corps being considerably reduced in numbers, and partly 
 quartered at Boglipoor, partly, during the late call for men, at 
 Berhampoor. Archdeacon Corrie’s principal business at Bogli- 
 poor was to learn whether any encouragement existed for forming 
 a mission among these people. Their being free from the yoke 
 
MUSSULMAN TOMB. 
 
 185 
 
 of caste seems to make them less unlikely to receive the Gospel, 
 than the bigoted inhabitants of the plains. 
 
 Sicligully is a little town, or rather village, of straw huts, with 
 the ruinous bungalow and ruinous barracks of Mr. Cleveland’s 
 corps, at the base of a high rocky eminence at an angle of the 
 Ganges, and commanding a fine view of two ranges of hills, that 
 which we had been approaching, and another which now opened 
 on us. The shore is rocky, and the country rises gradually in a suc- 
 cession of hill and dale, to the mountains, distant about three or four 
 miles. The rocky eminence which I mentioned is quite insulated, 
 and rather higher than the Red Castle Cliff at Hawkstone, which, 
 from the fine timber growing on and round it, it k good deal re- 
 sembles. I saw some ruins on the top, and concluded a fort had 
 been there, but on inquiry found that they v/ere the remains of 
 the tomb of a Mussulman saint, one of the conquerors of Bengal, 
 and as devout as he was valiant. 
 
 I climbed up the hill by a pretty good, though steep winding 
 path, ending in a flight of steps, in the hope of getting a noble 
 prospect, but I found the jungle so thick all round the edge of the 
 rock, that I could only have here and there a view of the blue 
 summits of the hills, and nothing of which I could make a sketch. 
 The tomb itself, however, is well worth the trouble of climbing 
 the hill ; it stands on a platform of rock, surrounded by a battle- 
 men ted wall, with a gate very prettily ornamented, and rock 
 benches all round to sit or pray on. The “ chamber of the 
 tomb” is square, with a dome roof very neatly built, covered with 
 excellent chunam, which, though three hundred years old, re- 
 mains entire, and having within it a carved stone mound, like 
 the hillocks in an English church-yard, where sleeps the scourge 
 of the idolaters. The ancient honours of the lamp kept burning, 
 &c., have long been discontinued, but I was told that it was the 
 general opinion both of Mussulmans and Hindoos, that every 
 Thursday night a tiger comes, couches close to the grave, and 
 ' remains there till morning. This is a very picturesque legend, 
 and it is one which it was not dangerous to invent, since it would 
 be difficult to persuade either Mussulman or Hindoo to watch all 
 night in a tomb, to verify the fact of such a visitant. Either the 
 tiger, however, or some pious Mussulman, keeps the tomb very 
 clean, for both chamber and platform I found well swept, and free 
 from the dung of bats, or any other animal, an attention which I 
 have not seen paid to other ruins in this country. 
 
 As I went up the hill, and while still amid the houses of the 
 village, one of the Puharree was pointed out to me, — a middle 
 sized, well made young man, very black, but easily distinguishable 
 from the Hindoos by his long narrow eyes, broadish face, and flat 
 nose. His hair hung very thick, wild, and long, about his ears 
 VoL. I. — 24 
 
186 
 
 PEER POINTEE. 
 
 and shoulders, but he was unarmed, and had nothing wild or 
 fierce in his appearance. I asked him if henvas a Puharree, and 
 he readily answered in the affirmative, so that some of them at 
 least understand Hindoostanee. I have a good chance of seeing 
 many more between this place and Boglipoor. 
 
 After this I rambled for some time on the hill at the back of the 
 town, which is all uncultivated except in a few patches. It is 
 rocky, and covered with a good turf, and 1 know not why, except 
 that I had been thinking of Bodryddan all morning, put me in 
 mind of the crag at the back of Dyserth. It is, however, not so 
 steep, nor, perhaps, so high as the last, and is much more woody, 
 having many fine trees and a great many bushes, among which two 
 jackalls passed us, with as much fearless familiarity as dogs would 
 have done. The walk was a very pleasant one, and I was glad to 
 find that I can scramble here as well, and I think with as little fa- 
 tigue as in England. I had one warning, however, to walk more 
 warily in this country than in my own, which will not be thrown 
 away upon me : wishing to get by a near way to the river side, I 
 passed down through the jungle by a narrow gully, which had, I 
 apprehend, been a water-course. I had not, however, gone far 
 before a close and strangely noisome smell of confined air and 
 decayed vegetables drove me up again, and almost made me sick. 
 It did me no harm, but 1 shall keep away from all such dens in 
 future. 
 
 A number of alligators were swimming all evening round my 
 boat, lifting from time to time their long black heads and black 
 fore feet above the water. The expanse of the Ganges is at this 
 season truly magnificent, and being confined on one side by rocks, 
 it seems to spread itself so much the more proudly on the low 
 grounds on the north-east bank. 
 
 August 8. — I was disappointed to find that the wind was too 
 weak this morning to contend with the rapids in the direct line 
 of the river, and that we must again go away from these beautiful 
 hills, and enter the nullah which we had traversed the evening 
 before. Still, however, we had a fine though more distant view 
 of the range, but I was vexed to miss the celebrated pass of 
 Terriagully. About two o’clock we returned across a very large 
 jeel to the main stream of the river at Peer Pointee, but the chain 
 of mountains was now fairly left behind us, and we were no longer 
 in Bengal. 
 
 Peer Pointee is at the foot of a detached hill, which I should 
 have admired in Bengal, but I had just been looking at something 
 better. I was glad to observe, as we turned its promontory, that 
 there were yet some eminences beyond it, and that we were not 
 entering another so complete a plain as that enormous one which 
 we had just traversed. Peer Pointee, Father or St. Pointee, was 
 
CAVE. 
 
 187 
 
 the name of a Mussulman saint, who lies buried here. His tomb, 
 resembling that at Sicligully, though less picturesquely situated, 
 stands on a little cliff above the river, with some fine bamboos 
 hanging over it. 1 was struck both yesterday and to-day with 
 the beauty of the bamboos on this rocky soil, which I should not 
 have supposed favourable to their growth; but on inquiry, I was 
 told that though the plant in a warm dry soil never grew so tall 
 as in a moist one, yet they are well known to be stouter, healthier, 
 and better timber in the former than in the latter, so that the 
 bamboo of such situations is always preferred for spears, oars, 
 masts, &c. 
 
 We halted for the night in a very pretty and pleasant place. 
 On the left hand was a beautiful green meadow, ascending with 
 a gentle slope to a grove of tall trees, in front of which was a 
 pagoda, so like an English church, that 1 was tempted to believe 
 it was really taken from some of the models which the Christians 
 have given them. On one side of this, and just in front of the 
 vessel as it lay, was a high woody promontory, jutting into the 
 river, among the trees of which other buildings or ruins showed 
 themselves. Beyond, and in the bed of the river, rose some high 
 naked rocks, forming some rapids which are dangerous to pass at 
 this season. As soon as 1 had assented to his stopping, Moham- 
 med begged leave to show me a wonderful cave in the hill before 
 us, of which nobody had ever seen the end. I am not curious in 
 caves, unless they are very fine and extraordinary indeed, but 
 went, in the hope that I should at least see something interesting 
 by the way. I scrambled up the hill, followed by about half a 
 dozen of the boatmen, by a rugged path, such as might be ex- 
 pected, till pretty near the top, where they introduced me to 
 certainly a larger and finer cave than 1 had anticipated, in a lime- 
 stone rock, overhung with ivy and peepul-trees in a very graceful 
 and picturesque manner. The entrance was rude but large, and 
 it has, I suspect, been a quarry for lime-stone, or at least enlarged 
 ' for that purpose, the apartments within branching off two or three 
 ways, and bearing, so far as I could perceive by the imperfect 
 light, marks of art. There is also a sort of shallow cistern cut 
 in the rock, which seems very like a place for making chunam. 
 The air had every appearance of being perfectly fresh and plea- 
 sant, and I should have liked to explore it ; but we had no flam- 
 beaus ; candles would soon have been extinguished by the water 
 which dropped very fast from the roof, and I knew too much of 
 caves to expect to find any thing in this worth catching cold for. 
 I therefore declined the offer of one of the dandees to run to the 
 village to fetch “ Mussauls,” (torches,) much to their regret. 
 
 I was told that there were many other very pretty religious 
 places about the rock, to which I desired Mohammed to lead me. 
 
188 
 
 CAVE. 
 
 He took me round the base of the hill, and then showed the way 
 up a sort of ladder, half natural of roots of trees, and of rocks, 
 half artificial, where the stone had been cut away into rude steps, 
 to a small rocky platform, half way up the cliff, facing the river. 
 There were some other small caves, evidently the w^orks of art, 
 with low doors, like ovens, and some rude carving over and round 
 them. I crept into one, and found it a little hermitage, about 
 twelve feet wide by eight, having at each end a low stone couch, 
 and opposite the entrance a sort of bracket, either for a lamp or 
 an idol. The boatmen, on my coming out, eagerly crowded in, 
 hut seemed disappointed to find nothing more. They had heard, 
 it seems, that the cavern above communicated with one of these 
 recesses, and as we went along, kept peeping, as English school- 
 boys or seamen might have done, into every hole and corner of 
 the cliff, in the hopes of verifying the report. 
 
 I climbed from this place a few steps higher to another and 
 larger platform, with a low wall round it. Here I found two little 
 temples to Siva and to Kali, kept by an old “ Gossain,” (or 
 Hindoo hermit,) with two disciples, one a grown man, the other 
 a boy. The old man had long white hair and beard, and was 
 sitting naked, with his hands joined and his eyes half shut, amid 
 the breezes of the river. The boy was near him, and the man, 
 on hearing our voices, had got up in a hurry, and begun to mur- 
 mur prayers, and pour water over the lingam. A small gratuity, 
 however, brought him back to the civilities of this world, and he 
 showed me not only Siva’s symbol, but Kali, with her black face, 
 scull chaplet, and many hands. He also showed me the remains 
 of several other images, cut on the face of the rock, but which 
 had been broken by the Mussulman conquerors. Under these 
 last were two small holes like those below, which they told me 
 were, in fact, their lodgings. I asked if they knew any thing 
 about the cave on the other side of the hill ; on which the old 
 gossain, with an air of much importance, said, that nobody had 
 ever seen its end ; that 2000 years ago a certain Raja had desired 
 to explore it, and set out with 10,000 men, 100,000 torches, and 
 100,000 measures of oil, but that he could not succeed ; and, if 1 
 understood him rightly, neither he nor his army ever found their 
 way back again ! These interminable caves are of frequent 
 occurrence among the common people of every country. But 
 the centenary and millesimal way in which the Hindoos express 
 themselves, puts all European exaggeration to the blush. Judg- 
 ing from the appearance of the cave, and the size of the hill which 
 contains it, I have no doubt that a single candle, well managed, 
 would more than light a man to its end and back again. A little 
 beyond these temples, descending by a similar stair, is a small 
 village inhabited chiefly by religious beggars of the same descrip- 
 
( 
 
 WATCHMEN. . 189 
 
 tion, and a very curious little hermitage or temple, built of brick, 
 in the hollow of a huge decayed peepul tree, in a beautifully 
 romantic situation, where the Ganges runs roaring through the 
 rocks with great noise and violence. Mohammed, who was 
 greatly pleased with the interest I took in his curiosities, now told 
 me there was nothing more to see, and I returned, extremely 
 amused and gratified, by the light of a fine moon. 
 
 Abdullah, on my expressing a wish I had had a torch to explore 
 the cave, said that he had never liked caves since he saw the won- 
 derful one of Secunderie in Persia, which he visited with Sir Gore 
 Ousley and Mr. Morier. He said it was a very fine and lofty cave, 
 but after they had got down to a certain level, the poisonous air 
 rose as high as their knees first, and afterwards their breasts, that 
 a fowl held there died immediately, and if a man had knelt or 
 fallen down, he must have died too. I thought of Legh and his 
 companions. But in the sort of cave I had just left, there was, 1 
 conceive, no danger of the kind. The name of this interesting 
 spot is ‘‘ Puttur Gotta,” I suppose from “ Puttur,” a rock or stone, 
 evidently the same word with “ petra,” or “ petros.” 
 
 Sunday^ August 9. — 1 had flattered myself till within these few 
 days that I should have passed this day at Boglipoor; and I might 
 have done so, had it not been for the unlucky detention between 
 Bogwangola and the Moorshedabad river. As it was, the poor 
 men had not only a day of labour, but of hard labour, the wind 
 failing us very soon after setting out. 
 
 The dry land which we passed was chiefly bare of wood, and 
 cultivated with millet, pulse, and Indian corn. Each quillet of 
 this last had its little stage and shed for the watchman to scare 
 away the birds, “ with sling and shout,” as mentioned in Kehama. 
 I wondered to see so many when a quarter of the num*ber would 
 have been amply sufiicient, and asked why they did not take it 
 by turns, one or two at a time, to watch the whole field. The 
 answer was, that they could not trust each other : surely an un- 
 ' favourable trait in the popular character. What wood there is, 
 is, I think, of finer quality than that of Bengal, consisting of large 
 round-topped trees, peepul and tamarind, with an underwood of 
 bamboo ; and though the soil seemed fertile, there were very large 
 and numerous herds of cattle, of a better size and figure than those 
 which I had been accustomed to see. There were an unusual 
 number of hurgilas, and a good many vultures on the banks. 
 Some of our dandees passing through a field of Indian corn, 
 plucked two or three of the ears, certainly not enough to consti- 
 tute a theft, or even a trespass. Two of the men, however, who 
 were watching, ran after them, not as the Bengalees would have 
 done, to complain to me with joined hands, but with stout bam- 
 boos, prepared to do themselves justice, “ par voye de faict.” 
 
190 
 
 BOGLIPOOR— PUHARREE SCHOOL. 
 
 The men escaped by swimming to the boat, but one of my ser- 
 vants called out to them, — “ Aha ! Dandee folk, take care ! you 
 are now in Hindostan ! the people of this country know well how 
 to fight, and are not afraid!” 
 
 The peasants here all walk with sticks as tall as themselves, 
 and wear black, rough-looking blankets, thrown over their heads 
 and shoulders. They are, I think, a more manly-looking race 
 than the Bengalees, or at least the length and thickness of their 
 beards, and their dark Circassian mantles, give them that appear- 
 ance. 
 
 There are, I think, more buffaloes in proportion seen in Bahar 
 than Bengal ; but the number of cattle of all kinds is certainly 
 greater. 
 
 Our day’s course had hitherto lain through jeels and nullahs, 
 and we had some little difficulties and delays in getting back to 
 the Ganges, and afterwards from the Ganges to the branch on 
 which Boglipoor stands. We could not reach this place, but 
 stopped short of it at a rather pretty village, named Tingypoor, 
 with some green, English-looking meadows, hedges of cactus, and 
 tall, round-topped trees. 
 
 August 10. — I arrived at Boglipoor, or Bhaugulpoor, about 
 seven o’clock in the morning, and found, to my great joy, my 
 friends the Corries still there, established very comfortably in the 
 circuit house (a bungalow provided in each of the minor stations 
 for the district judges when on their circuit), which had been lent 
 them by the judge and magistrate Mr. Chalmers. I breakfasted 
 with them, and went afterwards with Mr. Chalmers to see the 
 objects principally worth notice, — the gaol, a very neat and cre- 
 ditable building, with no less than six wards for the classification 
 of the prisoners, Mr. Cleveland’s house and monument, and a 
 school established for the Puharrees by Lord Hastings. Mr. 
 Cleveland’s monument is in the form of a Hindoo mut, in a pretty 
 situation on a green hill. The land with which it was endowed, 
 is rented by Government, and the cutcherry, magistrate’s house, 
 circuit house, &c. are built on it, the rent being duly appropriated 
 to the repair of the building. As being raised to the memory of 
 a Christian, this last is called by the natives “ Grige,” (Church,) 
 and they still meet once a year in considerable numbers, and have 
 a handsome “ Poojah,” or religious spectacle in honour of his 
 memory. 
 
 The school is adjoining to the lines, and occupies a large and 
 neat bungalow, one room in which is the lodging of the school- 
 master, a very handsome and intelligent half-caste youth; the 
 other, with a large verandah all round, was, when I saw it, filled 
 with Puharree sepoys and their sons, who are all taught to read, 
 write, and cypher in the Kythee character, which is that used by 
 
PUHARREE SCHOOL. 
 
 191 
 
 the lower classes in this district for their common intercourse, 
 accounts, &c. and differs from the Devanagree about as much as 
 the written character of western Europe does from its printed. 
 The reason alleged for giving this character the preference is its 
 utility in common life, but this does not seem a good reason for 
 teaching it only, or even for beginning with it. No increase of 
 knowledge, or enlargement of mind, beyond the power of keep- 
 ing their accounts and writing a shop-bill, can be expected from 
 it, inasmuch as there is no book whatever printed in it, except 
 Mr. Rowe’s spelling-book, and no single Hindoo work of any 
 value or antiquity written in it. I urged this to the school- 
 master, who said that by and by, when they had made some pro- 
 gress in the Kythee, he might teach them the Nagree, but they 
 might, I am convinced, easily learn both together, or if one at a 
 time, then the printed character, as simpler, is to be preferred. 
 In the Kythee I heard several, both men and boys, read fluently, 
 and I could understand their Hindoostanee very well. They are 
 described as quick and intelligent, fond of learning, and valuing 
 themselves on their acquirements. This school was originally 
 set on foot by Mr. Cleveland, but till Lord Hastings’ visit had 
 been shamefully neglected by his successors in office. It was 
 revived by Lord Hastings, and is now very carefully and judi- 
 ciously attended to by the adjutant. Captain Graham, an intelligent 
 Scots officer, on whom the whole management of the corps has 
 for the last five years devolved, the commanding officer. Captain 
 Montgomerie, being in the last stage of a decline. The corps 
 consisted originally of 1300 men, w^ho for many years were armed 
 with their country weapons, the bow and arrow. And it is an 
 instance of Cleveland’s sound judgment and discrimination, that 
 he named for their first native commandant, in opposition to the 
 remonstrances and entreaties of all the Zemindars of the place, 
 a chief named Jowrah, who was the Rob Roy, or perhaps, more 
 strictly speaking, the Roderic Dhu of the Rajmahals, the most 
 popular of all others among his own countrymen, and the most 
 dreaded by the lowlanders. The choice was fully justified by 
 the event, Jowrah having remained through life a bold, active, 
 and faithful servant of the Company in different enterprises 
 against outlaws, both in the Ramghur hills and his own moun- 
 tains. After some years the men were armed with muskets 
 instead of bows, and are now in all respects on the same footing 
 with other native regiments, and equally available for general 
 service. It had become a mere rabble, addicted to all sorts of 
 vice and disorder, till Lord Hastings placed them on their present 
 footing. In the first instance, he proposed to arm two companies 
 with rifles, but the men disliked the service exceedingly, having 
 a great objection to wear green ; they now therefore are fusileers. 
 
192 
 
 HILL CHIEFS. 
 
 but trained to light infantry manoeuvres, in which they are said 
 to excel. Their numbers, however, are reduced from 1300 to 
 700, of whom 200 are not genuine mountaineers, but Hindoos 
 from the plain, — a mixture which is not found advantageous to 
 the former, and which must, from their superstitions, materially 
 impede the efficiency of the unfettered and unprejudiced Puhar- 
 ree ; these last are said to be admirably adapted for soldiers, and 
 to be very fond of the profession. Having no caste, and eating 
 any food indiscriminately, they would be available for foreign 
 service at a shorter notice than any Hindoo could be ; accustomed 
 to mountains and jungles, they would be extremely valuable on 
 the eastern and northern frontier, as well as on the Nerbuddah 
 and in Berar, and in the possible event of any general insurrec- 
 tion in India, it might be of great political importance to have a 
 force of native troops who prefer (as these do) the English to the 
 Hindoos, and whose native country occupies a strong and central 
 place in the British territory, — a sort of little Tyrol. 
 
 At the school 1 met the present native commandant, one of 
 Mr. Cleveland’s surviving pupils, an old man, much reverenced 
 by his countrymen, and who passes a great deal of his time there, 
 being extremely proud of his people, and interested in their 
 improvement. He has also the character of a smart and intelli- 
 gent soldier. His influence has been very valuable in getting the 
 school together again, much pains having been taken by a Por- 
 tuguese or two in the neighbourhood to persuade the Puharrees 
 from attending, or sending their children. Even now, though 
 many of the younger children of the mountain-chiefs are sent, the 
 eldest sons are kept away, owing to a notion circulated among 
 them by these people, that they would forfeit the reversion of 
 their pensions by receiving any benefit from the Company of 
 another kind. This is an utter mistake, which Mr. Chalmers 
 hopes to rectify, but it has already done some harm. Captain 
 Graham is very popular among them, and by all which I hear, 
 most deservedly so, and when once or twice he has talked of 
 leaving them for some other regiment, they have expressed 
 exceeding distress and concern. Those whom 1 saw were mid- 
 dle sized, or rather little men, but extremely well made, with 
 remarkably broad chests, long arms, and clean legs. They are 
 fairer, I think, than the Bengalees, have broad faces, small eyes, 
 and fiattish, or rather turned up noses; but the Chinese or Malay 
 character of their features, from whom they are said to be de- 
 scended, is lost in a great degree on close inspection. I confess 
 they reminded me of the Welch ; the expression of their coun- 
 tenances is decidedly cheerful and intelligent, and 1 thought two 
 or three of their women whom I saw, really pretty, with a sort 
 of sturdy smartness about them which I have not seen in fheir 
 
PUHARREES, 
 
 193 
 
 iowland neighbours. These tribes have a regular administration 
 of justice among themselves, by the ancient Hindoo institution of 
 a “ Punchaet,” or jury of five old men in every village, and as I 
 mentioned before, they remain free from all taxes, and are under 
 the government of their own chiefs, but in all other respects 
 they were great sufferers by Mr. Cleveland’s death ; all his plans 
 for teaching them the simple manufactures, as well as for furnish- 
 ing them with seeds and implements of husbandry, fell with him. 
 Even the school was dropped. The pensions which had been 
 promised to the Hill Chiefs in consideration of their maintaining 
 peace and the authority of the Company in their districts, though 
 regularly paid by the Supreme Government, never reached their 
 destination, being embezzled on various pretences. And the old 
 encroachments of the Zemindars on their frontiers were allowed 
 to be renewed with impunity. The only man who, during this 
 interval, appears to have done his duty towards these people, was 
 Lieutenant (afterwards Colonel) Shaw', who was appointed to the 
 command of the Rangers in 1787, and whose memory is still 
 highly respected by them. He published an account (which I 
 have not seen) of their customs, in an early volume of the Asiatic 
 Researches. 
 
 Lord and Lady Hastings went on a short excursion into the 
 hills in their return from the upper country, and were greatly 
 interested by them and their highlands. Lord Hastings promised 
 their chiefs to send a good stock of the most useful tools of 
 husbandry (they have at present no implements of this kind but 
 sharpened stakes) and a quantity of seed potatoes. He did not 
 forget the promise, and Captain Graham heard him give orders 
 for its performance after his return to Calcutta. But a sovereign 
 can seldom do all the good he desires ; nothing in fact was done, 
 and the chiefs have since more than once complained that they 
 were forgotten. They are, however, better off now than at any 
 time since the death of Cleveland, for Mr. Chalmers, who is an 
 ' active and honourable man, has seen justice done to them in the 
 payment of their little stipends, which had frequently been em- 
 bezzled on various pretences by the native agents ; and Govern- 
 ment are making a fresh survey of the debateable land, with a 
 view to an equitable arrangement of the claims both of the 
 Puharrees and the Zemindars, by which it is said the former will 
 be great gainers. Mr. Chalmers, and Captain Graham, with 
 Colonel Franklin, well known as an excellent Oriental scholar 
 and antiquarian, who is inspecting field-officer of this district, 
 think very favourably of the Puharrees. Notwithstanding their 
 poverty, their living chiefly by the chace and always going armed, 
 the general conduct both of chiefs and people has been orderly 
 and loyal ever since their fathers swore allegiance. They are 
 VoL, I . — 25 
 
194 
 
 PUHARREES. 
 
 hospitable according to their small means, and have no sort of 
 objection to eat with or after Europeans. They are a little too 
 fond of spirits, a taste which Cleveland unfortunately encouraged, 
 by sending them presents of the kind, and allowing them to drink 
 when at his house. Though accustomed to make predatory in- 
 roads on their lowland and hereditary enemies, among themselves 
 they have always been honest ; and what is an immense distinc- 
 tion indeed between them and the Hindoos, they hate and despise 
 a lie more than most nations in the world. The soldiers who 
 have committed any fault, own it readily, and ’either ask pardon 
 or submit to their punishment in silence ; in the Cutcherry, the 
 evidence of a Puharree is always trusted more than that of half 
 a dozen Hindoos, and there is hardly any instance on record of a 
 chief violating his word. Though dirty in their persons in com- 
 parison with the Hindoos, they are very clean in their cottages, 
 and their villages are kept free from the vile smells which meet 
 us in those of Bengal. The men dislike hard work, and are 
 chiefly occupied in hunting, hut the women are very industrious 
 in cultivating the little patches of garden round their villages. 
 They are also generally chaste, and it no doubt contributes to 
 keep them so, that the premature and forced marriages of the 
 Hindoos are unknown ; that their unions take place at a suitable 
 age, and that the lad has generally to wait on the lass during a 
 pretty long courtship. They make very good and faithful house- 
 hold servants, but are not fond of the way of life, and do not 
 agree well with their Hindoo fellow domestics. Both men and 
 women are intelligent and lively, but rather passionate, and they 
 differ from most of the Hindoos, in being fond of music, and 
 having a good ear. Captain Graham has instructed some of 
 their boys as fifers, and found them apt scholars. They are fond 
 of pedigree and old stories, and their chiefs pique themselves on 
 their families. No clanship, or feudal subjection, however, ap- 
 pears to exist. If a man is dissatisfied with the head of his village, 
 there is nothing to prevent his removal to another. In short, 
 Emily, they are Welch, and one of these days I will take you into 
 their hills, to claim kindred with them ! 
 
 Mr. Corrie has obtained a little vocabulary of their language, 
 which, certainly, differs very remarkably from the Hindoostanee, 
 and T am told from the Bengalee. The old commandant, 
 who has been on service towards the Berar frontier, says he 
 could converse perfectly with the Bheels and Gooand tribes, so 
 that they are apparently different branches of the same great 
 family which pervades all the mountainous centre of India, the 
 “ Gaels” of the east, who have probably, at some remote period, 
 been driven from all but these wildernesses, by the tribes pro- 
 fessing the brahminical faith. 
 
PUHARREES. 
 
 195 
 
 The following is Captain Graham’s account of their religion. 
 The Hill-people offer up frequent prayers to one Supreme Being, 
 whom they call “ Budo Gosaee,” which in their language means 
 “ Supreme God.” Prayer to God is strictly enjoined morning 
 and evening. They also offer up propitiatory sacrifices of buffa- 
 loes, goats, fowls, and eggs to several inferior, and some evil 
 deities. 
 
 “ Malnad” is the tutelary genius of each village ; “ Dewannee” 
 the household god. ‘‘ Pow” is sacrificed to before undertaking a 
 journey. They appear to believe in a future state of rewards 
 and punishments chiefly carried on by means of transmigration, 
 the souls of the good being sent back to earth in the bodies of 
 great men, and those of the wicked in brutes and even trees. 
 
 The great God made every thing. Seven brothers were sent 
 to possess the earth ; they give themselves the credit of being 
 descended from the eldest, and say that the sixth was the father 
 of the Europeans. Each brother was presented, on setting out, 
 with a portion of the particular kind of food which he and his de- 
 scendants were to eat. But the eldest had a portion of every 
 kind of food, and in a dirty dish. This legend they allege as their 
 reason for observing no restriction of meats, and for eating with 
 or after any body. They say they are strictly forbidden by God 
 to beat, abuse, or injure their neighbours, and that a lie is the 
 greatest of all crimes. Hogs’ blood appears to answer with them 
 all the purposes which holy water does with some other nations. 
 If a person is killed by a tiger, it is the duty of his relations to 
 avenge his death by killing one of those animals in return, on 
 which occasion they resort to many strange ceremonies. They 
 are great believers in witchcraft ; every ache which the old com- 
 mandant feels in his bones, and every disappointment or cala- 
 mity which befalls him or any of his friends, he imputes to this 
 cause, and menaces or bribes some old woman or other. They 
 have also many interpreters of dreams among them, whom they 
 call “ Damauns,” and believe to be possessed by a familiar spirit. 
 When any of these die, they expose his body, without burial, in 
 the jungle. They also suppose certain diseases to be inflicted by 
 evil spirits, to whom they expose the bodies of such as die of 
 them, those who die of small-pox are cast out into the woods, 
 those who die of dropsy into the water. 
 
 They have no idols or images of any kind; a black stone found 
 in the hills, is by some ceremonies consecrated and used as an 
 altar. They have several festivals which are held in high rever- 
 ence. The Chitturia is the greatest, but seldom celebrated on 
 account of its expense. It lasts five days, during which buffaloes, 
 hogs, fruits, fowls, grains, and spirits are offered up to the gods, 
 and afterwards feasted on. This is the only festival in which 
 
196 
 
 PUHARREES. 
 
 females are permitted to join. During its continuance they salute 
 nobody, all honour being then appropriated to the gods. Poly- 
 gamy is not forbidden, but seldom practised. The bridegroom 
 gives a feast on occasion of the marriage ; the bride’s father ad- 
 dresses a speech to him, exhorting him to use his daughter well ; 
 the bridegroom then marks her forehead with red paint, links 
 his little finger in hers, and leads her to his house. The usual 
 mode of making oath is to plant two arrows in the ground thus, 
 
 the person swearing taking the blade of one and the feather of the 
 other between his finger and thumb. On solemn occasions, how- 
 ever, salt is put on the blade of a sabre, and after the words of the 
 oath are repeated, the blade being placed on the under lip of the 
 person sworn, the salt is washed into his mouth by him who 
 administers it. 
 
 Thus far 1 have learnt from Captain Graham ; Mr. Corrie tells 
 me that further particulars of this interesting race are given in the 
 Calcutta Annual Register for 1821 ; what follows I learnt from 
 different persons in the course of the day. 
 
 The Hill country is very beautiful, and naturally fertile, but in 
 many parts of it there is a great scarcity of water, a want which 
 the people urge as an excuse for their neglect of bathing. As so 
 much rain falls, this might and would by a civilized people be 
 remedied, but the Puharrees neither make tanks, nor have any 
 instrument proper for digging wells. The thick jungle makes the 
 hills unwholesome to Europeans during the rains, but at other 
 times the climate is extremely agreeable, and in winter more than 
 agreeably cold. Mr. Chalmers one night had a jug of water 
 completely frozen over to a considerable thickness in his tent, 
 and close to his bed. The Puharrees are a healthy race, but the 
 small-pox used to make dreadful ravages among them. Vaccina- 
 tion has now been generally introduced ; they were very thankful 
 for it, bringing their children from thirty to fifty miles off to Bog- 
 lipoor to obtain it. Wild animals of all kinds are extremely 
 
BOGLIPOOR. 
 
 197 
 
 abundant, from the jackall to the tiger, and from the deer to the 
 elephant and rhinoceros. Their way of destroying the large 
 animals is, generally, by poisoned arrows. The poison is a gum 
 which they purchase from the Garrows, a people who inhabit the 
 mountains to the north of Silhet, at Peer-pointee fair. 
 
 No attempt has yet been made to introduce them to the know- 
 ledge of Christianity. The school at Boglipoor has scarcely been 
 in activity for more than eighteen months, and being supported by 
 Government, it cannot, in conformity with the policy which they 
 pursue, be made a means of conversion. Mr. Corrie is strongly 
 disposed to recommend the establishment of a Missionary at 
 Boglipoor; but I am myself inclined to prefer sending him imme- 
 diately, (or as soon as he may have gained some knowledge of 
 the Puharree language,) into one of the mountain villages. I also 
 would wish to employ some person to accompany the Missionary 
 or Schoolmaster, who may instruct the natives in weaving or pot- 
 tery ; and to choose, in either of these capacities, some one who 
 had himself a little knowledge of gardening. Civilization and 
 instruction will thus go hand in hand, — or rather, the one will 
 lead the way to the other, and they will think the better of a 
 religion whose professors are seriously active in promoting their 
 temporal interests. The Puharrees seem to have no prejudices 
 hostile to Christianity, any other than those which men will always 
 have against a system of religion which requires a greater degree 
 of holiness than they find it convenient to practise. The discreet 
 exertions of Missionaries among them will give no offence either 
 to Hindoos or Mussulmans, and a beginning may thus be made to 
 the introduction both ofChristianity and civilization, through all the 
 kindred tribes of Gundwana and the Western Bheels, who are, at 
 this moment, in the same habits of rapine and savage anarchy 
 which the Puharrees were in before the time of Cleveland. 
 
 Boglipoor is a pretty situation, and said to be one of the 
 helathiest stations in India. It is, however, much infested by 
 snakes, particularly the cobra di capello. It stands nearly half 
 way between the Rajmahal and Curruckpoor hills, and commands 
 a distant view of Mount Mandar, an insulated conical mountain, 
 apparently about as large as the Wrekin, renowned as a place of 
 Hindoo pilgrimage, and as having been employed by the gods to 
 churn the ocean with, in order to procure the “ amreeta,” or 
 drink of immortality. It is. Colonel Franklin assures me, re- 
 markable as being a mass of granite, whereas all these nearer hills 
 are of limestone. He also told me that he had been to the end 
 of the cave of Puttergotta, which has been used as a temple to 
 Siva. It is pretty, and very accessible, but by no means deep. 
 The hills to the south of Boglipoor, beyond Mandar, towards 
 Deogur, are very wild, and now almost entinely uninhabited, but 
 
198 
 
 PALIBOTHRA. 
 
 are full of vestiges, not of Brahminical but Buddhist worship. 
 Colonel Franklin has himself a curious collection of idols of this 
 latter kind, dug up in this part of India, and is employed in a dis- 
 sertation on the subject. 1 forgot to mention that all these hills 
 are full of wild poultry, exactly in crow, figure, and plumage, 
 resembling bantams. Their flavour is superior to the domestic 
 fowl, and resembles that of the partridge. They might, no doubt, 
 be easily domesticated. The Rajmahal hills stand in a detached 
 cluster, containing, perhaps, as much ground as Merionethshire 
 and Carnarvonshire. They are bounded on all sides by a plain, 
 or nearly plain country ; after which, on the east, are the Cur- 
 ruckpoor hills, and on the south the very impracticable districts 
 of Beiboom, Dranghur, &c. 
 
 August 11. — I had a drive with Mr. Corrie this morning, and 
 got a pretty good distant view of Mandar and the Curruckpoor 
 hills. Colonel Franklin supposes the ancient Palibothra — a cele- 
 brated city and metropolis of Gangetic India, in the time of the 
 ancient Greeks, to have stood in this neighbourhood, and has 
 published several learned essays to prove it, which I remember 
 looking at many years ago, when 1 had little curiosity about the 
 question. He is a very agreeable and communicative old man, 
 and his collection curious and interesting. His opinions are 
 opposed to the alleged antiquity of the brahminical worship, and 
 he coincides in general with the late Mr. Bentley. 
 
199 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 BOGLIPOOR TO MONGHYR. 
 
 WIDTH OF THE GANGES CHARITY OF DANDEES SEETA COOM MON- 
 GHYR FORT— ZEMINDARS PENSIONERS BAPTIST MISSION DESER- 
 
 TION OF DANDEES— CHEAPNESS OF FIRE-ARMS. 
 
 At noon I again set off, with Mr. Corrie’s budgerow in com- 
 pany. This part of the Ganges has undergone great alterations 
 since Rennell’s map was made. Boglipoor is laid down by him 
 as standing on a separate nullah ; but now nothing remains of the 
 separation except a few marshy islands, immediately opposite the 
 town. I find that instead of exaggerating, as I feared to do, I 
 have, in my previous descriptions, underrated the width of this 
 noble river. Last year, at the height of the inundation, a little 
 below Boglipoor, it was nine measured miles across ; and this 
 year, though far less ground is covered, it is supposed to be full 
 seven ; and here we are perhaps six hundred miles, reckoning the 
 windings of the river, from the sea ! 
 
 During this night I was completely wakened by the uproar 
 which the jackalls made. On asking if any reason could be given 
 for such an unusual concourse, I was told that there was a field of 
 Indian corn adjoining, of which they are very fond, and that the 
 clamour which I heard was partly from the animals themselves, 
 partly from the watchmen, who were endeavouring to scare them 
 away. The noise was quite equal to that of an immense pack of 
 hounds, with half the rabble of a county at their heels, except 
 that the cry was wilder and more dismal. If his Excellency Count 
 Falkenstein, ‘‘ the wild huntsman,” still keeps up his aerial chase 
 in Germany, it is exactly such a cry as 1 should expect from his 
 hounds. 
 
 August 12. — We passed this morning another encampment of 
 gipsies, only differing from the former in having no boats. The 
 name by which they go in this country is “ Kunja.” The men, 
 many of them, wore large pink turbans ; three of the women, and 
 the children, followed us begging. These did not conceal their 
 faces, and indeed had no clothes at all, except a coarse kind of 
 veil thrown back from the shoulders, and a wretched ragged cloth 
 wrapped round their waists like a petticoat. They are decidedly 
 a taller, handsomer race than the Bengalee. One of the women 
 was very pretty, and the forms of all three were such as a sculptor 
 
200 
 
 GIPSIES. 
 
 would have been glad to take as his model. Their arms were 
 tattoed with many blue lines, and one of them had her forehead 
 slightly marked in a similar manner. They had no bangles on 
 their wrists and ankles, but the children, though perfectly naked, 
 were not without these ornaments. As we could not stop our 
 boat, I rolled up some pice in paper, and gave it to one of the 
 dandees to throw ashore. Unfortunately the paper burst, and 
 the little treasure fell into the river, while the wind freshening at 
 the moment, it was quite out of my power to give more. The 
 dandees expressed great concern ; indeed they are, to their narrow 
 means, really charitable ; they club a small portion of each mess 
 every day, to give to the beggars who come to the ghats, and if 
 none appear, they always throw it to some dog or bird. A more 
 touching instance of this nature was told me hy a lady, which she 
 herself witnessed in a voyage last year. The Serang of the boat 
 by an accident lost his son, a fine young man. Every evening 
 afterwards, he set apart a portion, as if the young man were yet 
 alive, and gave it in charity, saying, “ I have not given it, my son 
 has given it !” 
 
 I forgot to mention, that just as Mr. Corrie was setting out yes- 
 terday, he received a letter in very bad English, addressed to 
 “ The Abbot,” from a person signing himself “ Gopee Mohun Doss, 
 a brahmin, and a true friend of the Honourable Company.” The 
 writer requested an interview with him, that he might receive 
 instruction in Christianity. Mr. Corrie returned for answer, that 
 he would see the writer on his return down the river. He says 
 this is not the only indication he has met with of persons in this 
 neighbourhood, who seem not unwilling to inquire into religious 
 subjects. One of the Hill-people at the school has declared, of his 
 own accord, his intention of giving up Sunday to the worship of 
 God ; and there are several Hindoos and Mussulmans, who make 
 no objection to eat victuals prepared by Christians, saying, that 
 they think the Christians are as pure as themselves, and they 
 are sure they are wiser.” This letter was brought hy a very 
 well dressed servant, who spoke of his master as a baboo, so that 
 there seemed no interested motive for the request which it con- 
 tained. 
 
 As we advanced, we passed at Janghera two very pretty rocks 
 projecting into the river, with a mosque on the one, and a pagoda 
 on the other ; while, in the distance, were the Curruckpoor hills, 
 not so tall or striking as the Rajmahal, but not inferior to the Hal- 
 kin mountains, and the range above Flint and Holywell. Such as 
 they are, they are very refreshing to the eye in these vast regions 
 of level ground. The Ganges has here exactly the appearance 
 of an arm of the sea, and a very noble one too. 
 
 A little to the east of Monghyr, in a pretty garden, is a cele- 
 
SEETA COOM— MONGHYR. 
 
 201 
 
 brated hot well, named Seeta Coora, — the fountain of Seeta. I 
 wished to stop to look at it, but gave up the intention, as, should 
 the wind fail, the passage to Monghyr would be difficult and labo- 
 rious. The water has no medical properties, but such as may 
 arise from its heat and exceeding purity. When cold it is much 
 valued as a beverage, and some persons in Calcutta drink nothing 
 else. Immediately after leaving it we passed a low rocky hill, 
 close to the water’s edge, strewed all over with large round masses 
 offluorand mica. Specimens of both these Colonel Franklin 
 had shown me from the Curruckpoor hills, as also some very fine 
 ones of talc, or lapis specularis, which divided easily into thin but 
 tough lamina, as transparent as isinglass. Thirty years ago, he 
 said, this was the only approach to glass usually seen in the win- 
 dows of houses, even of Europeans, in these and the northern 
 provinces. Some other pretty hills followed, of rather antic 
 shapes, particularly one with a house and a high gazebo on its 
 summit. All the hills seem to be of limestone, in a state of con- 
 siderable decomposition. The north-eastern bank of the river 
 still continues as flat as possible, very naked, and ugly. 
 
 The loss of the coco-tree does not materially injure the landscape 
 here, since its place is still supplied by the toddy, or tara-palm, 
 and the date-palm. The country, however, the hills excepted, is 
 certainly more open and less verdant than Bengal, though, as a 
 land to live and take exercise in, it decidedly seems to have the 
 advantage. This part, I find, is not reckoned either in Bengal or 
 Bahar, having been, under the name of the Jungleterry district, 
 always regarded, till its pacification and settlement, as a sort of 
 border, or debateable land. Monghyr, and a narrow slip between 
 it and the hills, are the first commencement of real Hindostan, 
 though in popular language, and in the estimation of the people, 
 the Terriagully pass is the boundary. 
 
 Monghyr, as one approaches it, presents an imposing appear- 
 ance, having one or two extremely good European houses, each 
 perched on its own little eminence. The ghat offered a scene of 
 bustle and vivacity which I by no means expected. There were 
 so many budgerows and pulwars, that we had considerable diffi- 
 culty to find a mooring-place for our boat ; and as we approached 
 the shore, we were beset by a crowd of beggars and artizans, 
 who brought for sale guns, knives, and other hardware, as also 
 many articles of upholstery and toys. They looked extremely 
 neat, but as I meant to buy none, I would not raise expectation 
 by examining them. There were also barbers in abundance, 
 conspicuous by their red turbans, one of whom v/as soon retained 
 by some of my dandees, who sat down, one after another, on the 
 green bank, to have their hair clipped as close as possible, as be- 
 came aquatic animals. A juggler, too, made his appearance, 
 
 VoL. 1.— 26 
 
202 
 
 MONGHYR. 
 
 leading a tall brown goat, almost as high as a Welch pony, with 
 two little brown monkeys on its back. In short it was the liveli- 
 est scene which I had encountered during the voyage. 
 
 I arrived early, and was therefore for some time a prisoner in 
 my boat from the heat, exposed to the teazing of various appli- 
 cants for custom. As it grew cool I walked into the fort, passing 
 by a small but neat English burial-ground, fenced in with a wall, 
 and crammed full of those obelisk tombs which seem almost dis- 
 tinctive of European India. The fort occupies a great deal of 
 ground, but is now dismantled. Its gates, battlements, &c. are all 
 of Asiatic architecture, and precisely similar to those of the Khit- 
 airgorod of Moscow. Within is an ample plain of fine turf, dotted 
 with a few trees, and two noble tanks of water, the largest cov- 
 ering, I conceive, a couple of acres. Two high grassy knolls are 
 enclosed within the rampart, occupying two opposite angles of 
 the fort, which is an irregular square, with, I think, twelve semi- 
 circular bastions, and a very wide and deep wet-moat, except on 
 the west side, where it rises immediately from the rocky banks of 
 the river. On one of the eminences of which I speak is a collec- 
 tion of prison-like buildings : on the other a very large and hand- 
 some house, built originally for the commander-in-chief of the 
 district, at the time that Monghyr was an important station, and 
 the Mahrattas were in the neighbourhood ; but it was sold some 
 years since by Government. The view from the rampart and the 
 eminences is extremely fine. Monghyr stands on a rocky pro- 
 montory, with the broad river on both sides, forming two bays, 
 beyond one of which the Rajmahal hills are visible, and the other 
 is bounded by the nearer range of Curruckpoor. The town is 
 larger than I expected, and in better condition than most native 
 towns. Though all the houses are small, there are many of them 
 with an upper story, and the roofs, instead of the flat terrace or 
 thatch, which are the only alternations in Bengal, are generally 
 sloping, with red tiles, of the same shape and appearance with 
 those which we see in Italian pictures ; they have also little 
 earthenware ornaments on their gables, such as I have not seen 
 on the other side of Rajmahal. The shops are numerous, and I 
 was surprised at the neatness of the kettles, tea-trays, guns, pis- 
 tols, toasting-forks, cutlery and other things of the sort, which 
 may be procured in this tiny Birmingham. I found afterwards 
 that this place had been from very early antiquity celebrated for 
 its smiths, who derived their art from the Hindoo Vulcan, who 
 had been solemnly worshipped, and was supposed to have had a 
 workshop here. The only thing which appears to be wanting to 
 make their steel excellent, is a better manner of smelting, and a 
 more liberal use of charcoal and the hammer. As it is, their 
 guns are very apt to burst, and their knives to break, precisely 
 
MONGHYR. 
 
 ^203 
 
 the faults which, from want of capital, beset the works of inferior 
 artists in England. The extent, however, to which these people 
 carry on their manufactures, and the closeness with which they 
 imitate English patterns, show plainly how popular those pat- 
 terns are become among the natives. 
 
 August — Mr. Templer, the judge and magistrate, break- 
 fasted with me this morning, and gave me such an account of 
 Monghyr and its spiritual concerns, as made me decide on stay- 
 ing over Sunday. There are, besides his own family, five or six 
 others here of the upper and middling classes, and above thirty 
 old English pensioners, many of them married and with families, 
 without any spiritual aid except what is furnished by a Baptist 
 missionary, who is established here. Of him Mr. Templer spoke 
 very favourably, but said that the members of the Church of 
 England, though in a manner compelled to attend his ministry, 
 would value extremely an opportunity of attending divine ser- 
 vice, and receiving the sacrament in their own way, while the 
 number of children of different ages, whose parents might be ex- 
 pected to bring them for baptism, was far from inconsiderable. 
 
 I therefore requested Mr. Templer to give publicity to my arri- 
 val, and intention of performing divine service on the Sunday. 
 
 I dined with him, and he afterwards drove me through what is 
 really one of the prettiest countries that I have seen, very popu- 
 lous, but cultivated in a rude and slovenly manner. The rent of 
 the best land is about two rupees for a customary bega, nearly equal 
 to an English acre, or to three Bengalee begas. They get three 
 crops in succession every year from the same lands, beginning with 
 Indian corn, then sowing rice, between which, when it is grown to 
 a certain height, they dibble in pulse, which rises to maturity after 
 the rice is reaped. The district is very fertile, and most articles 
 of production cheap. The people are quiet and industrious, and 
 the offences which come before the magistrate both in number 
 and character far less, and less atrocious, than is the case either 
 in Bengal or farther on in Hindostan. Theft, forgery, and house- 
 breaking, being the besetting sins of the one, and violent affrays, 
 murders, and highway robberies, being as frequent among the 
 other people, and all being of very rare occurrence in the Jungle- 
 terry district. The peasants are more prosperous than in either, 
 which may of itself account for their decency of conduct. But Mr. 
 Templer was inclined to ascribe both these advantages in a great 
 degree to the fact that the Zemindarries in this neighbourhood 
 are mostly very large, and possessed by the representatives of 
 ancient families, who, by the estimation in which they are held, 
 have the more authority over the peasants, and as being wealthy 
 have less temptation to oppress them, or to connive at the op- 
 pression of others. Though a Zemindar of this kind has no legal 
 
204 
 
 MONGHYR. 
 
 control over his people, he possesses greater effective control 
 than a great land-owner in England exercises over his ten- 
 ants. Most of them still hold cutcherries, where they attend 
 almost daily to hear complaints and adjust differences ; and though 
 doubtless oppressions may sometimes occur in these proceedings, 
 yet many quarrels are stifled there, and many mischievous per- 
 sons discountenanced, who might else give much trouble to the 
 magistrate. 
 
 In the upper parts of Bahar, and in the neighbourhood of Be- 
 nares, the Zemindarries are small, and much divided between 
 members of the same family. In consequence the peasants are 
 racked to the utmost, and still farther harassed by the law-suits 
 of the joint or rival owners, each sending their agents among them 
 to persuade them to attorn to him, and frequently forcibly eject- 
 ing them from their farms unless they advanced money, so that 
 they have sometimes to pay a half-year’s rent twice or three 
 times over. Nor are the small freeholders, of whom there are, it ap- 
 pears, great numbers all over Bahar, so fortunate in their privi- 
 leges as might have been expected. They are generally 
 wretchedly poor ; they are always involved in litigations of some 
 kind or other, and there is a tribe of Harpies, of a blended cha- 
 racter between an informer and a hedge-attorney, who make it 
 their business to find out either that there is a flaw in their origi- 
 nal title, or that they have forfeited their tenure by some default 
 of taxes or service. These free, or copy-holders, have been de- 
 cidedly sufferers under Lord Cornwallis’s settlement, as have 
 also been a very useful description of people, the Thannadars,” 
 or native agents of police, whose “ Jaghires,” or rent-free lands, 
 which were their ancient and legal provision all over India, were 
 forgotten, and therefore seized by the Zemindars, while the peo- 
 ple themselves became dependent on the charity of the magistrate, 
 and degraded altogether from the place which they used formerly 
 to hold in the village society. The permanent settlement was 
 regarded by some as a very hasty and ill-considered business. 
 Many undue advantages were given by it to the Zemindars, at the 
 same time that even so far as they were concerned, it was ex- 
 tremely unequal, and in many instances oppressive. Like our 
 old English land-tax, in some districts it was ridiculously low, in 
 others, though the increase of cultivation had since brought the 
 lands more up to the mark, it was first ruinously high, so that, in 
 fact, quite as many of the ancient Zemindarrie families had been 
 ruined, as had been enriched, while taking all the districts to- 
 gether, the Company had been losers to the amount of many 
 millions. I should have supposed that by its permanency at least, 
 it had been the chief cause of the prodigious extension of cultiva- 
 tion, which every body allows has occurred in Bengal and Bahar 
 
LAND TAX. 
 
 205 
 
 since they were placed under the immediate government of the 
 Company. But that increase, I was told, might be accounted for 
 by other causes, such as the maintenance of public peace, the 
 perfect exemption from invasion and the march of hostile armies, 
 and the knowledge that a man was tolerably sure of reaping the 
 immediate fruits of his labour, and that the acquisition of wealth 
 did not expose him to the malignant attention of Government. 
 In Bahar, at least, the Zemindars had not, even yet, any real con- 
 fidence in the permanence of the rate, and in fact there had been 
 in so many instances revisions, re-measurements, re-examinations, 
 and surcharges, that some degree of doubt was not unnatural. In 
 these cases, indeed, fraud on the part of the original contractors 
 had been alleged by Government, but as some of the Bahar land- 
 lords had observed, they did not hear of any abatement made 
 by the Company in those instances where the advantage of the 
 bargain had been notoriously on their side, while, they also ob- 
 served, so long as, in the recent measure adopted by Mr. Adam, 
 the Government possessed and exercised the power of taxing the 
 raw produce of the soil to any amount they pleased in its way to 
 market, it was of no great advantage to the landholder that the 
 direct land-tax remained the same. 
 
 On the whole, what I heard confirmed my previous suspicion, 
 that the famous measure of Mr. Law was taken on an imperfect 
 acquaintance with the interests of India, and that in the first in- 
 stance at least, a decennial valuation, executed in a liberal spirit, 
 would have avoided many inconveniences without losing any great 
 advantage. Mr. Templer surprised me by what he said of the 
 size of farms in this part of India. A wealthy “ ryot,” or peasant, 
 on one of the large Zemindarries, often holds as much as two 
 hundred English acres. 
 
 August 14.- — 1 had this morning one christening, and Mr. Corrie 
 had several. The child I christened was a very fine boy of two 
 years old, the son of an invalid serjeant, who came, attended by 
 his wife, a very pretty young half-caste, and by two of his com- 
 rades and one of their wives as sponsors. All these were very 
 well-behaved decent old men ; they stayed talking with me some 
 time ; they spoke well of India, but complained of the want of 
 some occupation for their minds. A lending library, they said, 
 would be a great comfort to their little society. I afterwards 
 mentioned the subject to Mr. Templer, and, 1 hope, put him in 
 the proper way to get one from Government, as well as a school 
 for these poor men’s children, such of them as, by any accident, 
 were prevented from going to the Military Orphan Asylum. I 
 understand that these old soldiers are in general men of very de- 
 cent character, and though poor, brought up their families very 
 decently. Some of them, however, are liable to sudden fits of 
 
206 
 
 DANDEES. 
 
 drunkenness or infatuation, sometimes after many months of 
 sobriety, during which nothing can keep them from brandy so long 
 as they have either money, credit, or clothes. Monghyr is the 
 station generally chosen by the more respectable characters, the 
 reprobates preferring Moorshedabad. The Company give them 
 the choice of residing either at Moorshedabad, Monghyr, Buxar, 
 or Chunar, and they sometimes change repeatedly before they fix. 
 
 In consequence of the intention I had expressed to have service 
 to morrow, Mr. Templer told me that the Baptists had given no- 
 tice that their own meeting should not open, so that he said we 
 should probably have all the Christian residents of the place and 
 vicinity. The Baptist congregation in this neighbourhood was first 
 collected by Mr. Chamberlain, an excellent man and most active 
 missionary, but of very bitter sectarian principles, and enter- 
 taining an enmity to the Church of England almost beyond belief. 
 He used to say that Martyn, Corrie, and Thomason, were greater 
 enemies to God, and did more harm to his cause, than fifty stupid 
 
 drunken “ Padre ” inasmuch as their virtues, and popular 
 
 conduct and preaching, upheld a system which he regarded as 
 damnable, and which else must soon fall to the ground. The 
 present preacher, Mr. Lesley, is a very mild, modest person, of a 
 far better spirit, and scarcely less diligent among the Heathen 
 than Chamberlain was. He has, however, as yet had small suc- 
 cess, having been but a very short time in the country. Mr. J. 
 Lushington, whom I found here, has been detained some days, 
 owing to the dandees belonging to the horse-boat running away, 
 ^a practice very common on this river, these people getting their 
 wages in advance, and then making off with them. One of the 
 party asked Mr. Lushington whether there had been any quarrel 
 between the dandees and his servants, or himself ; on his answering 
 in the negative, it was observed that one fertile cause of boatmen’s 
 desertion was the ill conduct of Europeans, who often stimulated 
 them to do things which, in their weak and clumsy boats, were 
 really dangerous, and, against all law or right, beat them when 
 they refused or hesitated. A general officer was some time since 
 heard to boast, that when his cook-boat lagged behind, he always 
 fired at it with ball ! I suppose he took care to fire high enough, 
 but the bare fact of putting unarmed and helpless men in fear, in 
 order to compel them to endeavour to do what was, perhaps, be- 
 yond their power, was sufficiently unfeeling and detestable. They 
 are, I suppose, such people as these who say that it is impossible 
 to inspire the Hindoos with any real attachment for their em- 
 ployers ! 1 am pleased with all 1 see of Mr. Lushington, who is 
 
 gentlemanly, modest, and studious ; he is going to Nusseerabad, 
 so that it is possible we may see a good deal of each other. 
 
 August 15. — Mr. Corrie read prayers, and I preached and 
 
MONGHYR. 
 
 207 
 
 administered the sacrament in the hall of Dr. Tytler’s (the gar- 
 rison surgeon’s) house. There were, 1 should guess, sixty persons 
 in the congregation, among whom were two or three natives. The 
 Monghyr proselytes were very young persons, probably brought 
 over by the Baptist missionaries ; Mr. Lesley and the greater part 
 of his flock attended, but did not stay the sacrament. There 
 were, however, between twenty and thirty communicants, all 
 deeply impressed and attentive. In the evening I again preached 
 to pretty nearly the same congregation. During this stay at 
 Monghyr, I was advised by many old Indians to supply myself 
 with spears to arm my servants with in our march. Colonel 
 Francklyn particularly told me that the precaution was both useful 
 and necessary, and that such a show of resistance often saved lives 
 as well as property. Monghyr, I was also told, furnished better 
 and cheaper weapons of the kind than any I should meet with up 
 the country : they are, indeed, cheap enough, since one of the 
 best spears may be had complete for twenty anas. 1 have con- 
 sequently purchased a stock, and my cabin looks like a museum 
 of Eastern weapons, containing eight of the best sort for my own 
 servants, and eight more for the Clashees who are to be engaged 
 up the country. These last only cost fourteen anas each. This 
 purchase gave me a fair opportunity of examining the fire-arms 
 and other things which were brought for sale. My eye could cer- 
 tainly detect no fault in their construction, except that the wood 
 of the stocks was slight, and the screws apparently weak and 
 irregular. But their cheapness was extraordinary ; a very pretty 
 single barrelled fowling-piece may be had for twenty S. rupees, 
 and pistols for sixteen the brace. 
 
208 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MONGHYR TO BUXAR. 
 
 CATTLE SWIMMING ACROSS THE RIVER BRAHMIN LABOURERS PATNA 
 
 BANKIPOOR GRANARY HACKERIES DINAPOOR CANTONMENT— 
 
 DIGAH FARM CHUPRA FLOATING SHOPS FORT NATIVE CHRIS- 
 TIANS SCHOOLS CURREEM MUSSEEH VARIETIES OF COMPLEXION. 
 
 August 16. — There was no wind this morning till near twelve 
 o’clock, but we had then just enough to help us out of the eddy 
 of Monghyr and across the river to the other side, along which our 
 boatmen had a painful day’s tracking against a fierce stream. The 
 Curruckpoor hills on the left hand continued to offer a very beau- 
 tiful succession of prospects. A chain of marshy islets seemed to 
 extend nearly across the river towards the end of our course, by 
 the aid of which a large herd of cattle were crossing with their 
 keepers. The latter 1 conclude had been ferried over the prin- 
 cipal arm, but when I saw them they were wading and swimming 
 alternately by the side of their charge, their long gray mantles 
 wrapped round their heads, their spear-like staves in their hands, 
 and, with loud clamour joined to that of their boys and dogs, 
 keeping the convoy in its proper course. The scene was wild 
 and interesting, and put me in mind of Bruce’s account of the 
 passage of the Nile by the Abyssinian army. The bank at the 
 foot of the hills seemed fertile and populous as well as beautiful ; 
 that along which we proceeded is very wretched, swampy, with- 
 out trees, and only two miserable villages. Several alligators 
 rose as we went along, but I saw none basking on the many reedy 
 islets and promontories, which, during the hot months, are said 
 to be their favourite resorts. Mr. Lushington’s budgerow kept 
 up with my pinnace extremely well, but the Corries were far 
 behind. 
 
 We moored for the night adjoining a field of barley, the first I 
 had seen in India; the ground was recovered, as it seemed, from 
 a sand-bank in the river, and full of monstrous ant-hills, looking 
 at a little distance like large hay-cocks. The peasant had just 
 finished thrashing his barley, and was busy burying it in the dry 
 soil. A small shed as usual stood to watch where the straw with 
 the grain in it had been collected. The high ground of Peer 
 Puhar above Monghyr was still in sight. Just before we stopped 
 a very large crocodile swam close to the boat, and showed him- 
 
CROCODILE— FRUIT-TREES. 
 
 209 
 
 self to the best advantage. Instead of being like those we bad 
 seen before, of a black or dusky colour, he was all over stripes of 
 yellow and brownish black like the body of a wasp, with scales 
 very visibly marked, and a row of small tubercles or prominences 
 along the ridge of his back and tail. He must, 1 should think, 
 have been about fifteen feet long, though, under the circumstances 
 in which 1 saw him, it was by no means easy to judge. My cabin 
 was extremely infested with insects this evening, particularly with 
 a large black beetle which 1 had not seen before, and which was 
 very beautiful, having a splendid mixture of jet, copper colour, 
 and emerald about it. I had also a pretty green lizard, which I 
 carefully avoided injuring, knowing it to be an enemy to ants and 
 cockroaches, both of which plagues are increasing, and unfortu- 
 nately do not now seem to check each other. Yet 1 was a little 
 perplexed how the “ honest man should have found his way into 
 my closet.” 
 
 August 17. — We had a fine breeze part of the day, and stood 
 over to the other bank, which we found, as I had expected, really 
 very pretty, a country of fine natural meadows, full of cattle, and 
 interspersed with fields of barley, wheat, and Indian corn, and 
 villages surrounded by noble trees, with the Curruckpoor hills 
 forming a very interesting distance. If the palm-trees were away, 
 (but who would wish them away?) the prospect would pretty 
 closely resemble some of the best parts of England. In the after- 
 noon we rounded the point of the hills, and again found ourselves 
 in a flat and uninteresting, though fruitful country. The last 
 beautiful spot was a village under a grove of tall fruit-trees, among 
 which were some fine walnuts ; some large boats were building on 
 the turf beneath them, and the whole scene reminded me forcibly 
 of a similar builder’s yard, which I had met with at Partenak in the 
 Crimea. Many groups of men and boys sate angling, or with 
 their spears watching an opportunity to strike the fish, giving 
 much additional beauty and liveliness to the scene. 
 
 I have been much struck for some days by the great care with 
 which the stock of fruit-trees in this country is kept up. I see 
 every where young ones of even those kinds which are longest in 
 coming to maturity, more particularly mangoes, and the toddy or 
 tara palm (the last of which I am told must be from thirty to forty 
 years old before it pays any thing) planted and fenced in with care 
 round most of the cottages, a circumstance which seems not only 
 to prove the general security of property, but that the peasants 
 have more assurance of their farms remaining in the occupation 
 of themselves and their children, than of late years has been felt 
 in England. 
 
 The village near which we brought to for a short time in the 
 
 VoL. I. — 27 
 
210 
 
 BRAHMIN LABOURERS---CATTLE SWIMMING. 
 
 evening, belonged to brahmins exclusively, who were ploughing 
 the ground near us, with their strings floating over their naked 
 shoulders ; the ground was sown with rice, barley, and vetches, the 
 one to succeed the other. Abdullah asked them to what caste of 
 brahmins they belonged, and on being told they were Pundits, 
 inquired whether “ a mixture of seeds was not forbidden in the 
 Puranas?” An old man answered with a good deal of warmth, 
 that they were poor people and could not dispute, but he believed 
 the doctrine to be a gloss of Bhuddha, striking his staff with much 
 anger on the ground at the name of the heresiarch. The brah- 
 min labourers are now resting after their toil, and their groups 
 are very picturesque. The ploughman, after unyoking his oxen, 
 lifted up his simple plough, took out the coulter, a large knife 
 shaped like a horn, wiped and gave it to a boy, then lifted up the 
 beam and yoke on his own shoulders, and trudged away with it. 
 These brahmins, I observe, all shave their heads except a tuft in 
 the centre, a custom which not many Hindoos, 1 think, besides 
 them observe. 
 
 Having a good wind we proceeded a little further before sun- 
 set; we passed a herd of cows swimming across a nullah about 
 as wide as the Dee ten miles below Chester, the cowman sup- 
 porting himself by the tail and hips of the strongest among them, 
 and with a long staff guiding her in a proper direction across the 
 stream. We soon after passed a similar convoy guided by a little 
 boy, who, however, did not confine himself to one animal, but 
 swam from one to another, turning them with his staff and his 
 voice as he saw proper. So nearly aquatic are the habits of these 
 people, from the warmth of the climate, their simple food, their 
 nakedness, and their daily habits of religious ablution. I saw a 
 very smartly dressed and rather pretty young country-woman 
 come down to the Ghat at Monghyr to wash. She went in with 
 her mantle wrapped round her with much decency and even 
 modesty, till the river was breast high, then ducked under water 
 for so long a time that I began to despair of her re-appearance. 
 This was at five o’clock in the morning, and she returned again 
 at twelve to undergo the same process, both times walking home 
 in her wet clothes without fear of catching cold. The ancient 
 Greeks had, 1 am convinced, the same custom, since otherwise 
 the idea of wet drapery would hardly have occurred to their sta- 
 tuaries, or, at least, would not have been so common. 
 
 We again brought to about seven o’clock, by a field just 
 ploughed ready for the rising inundation ; we are now not quite 
 half way from Monghyr to Patna. The women here are still 
 more adorned with trinkets than those in Bengal. Besides the 
 silver bracelets, their arms are covered with rings of-a hard kind 
 
FESTIVAL OF JUNMA OSMEE— DERVISES. 
 
 211 
 
 of sealing-wax which looks like coral, and another ornament either 
 of silver or bright steel is common, in shape something like a per- 
 forated discus ; it is worn above the elbow. 
 
 August 1 8. — This morning, after leaving the nullah, we pro- 
 ceeded with a fine breeze, along the left-hand bank of the river, 
 which is very fertile and populous, with a constant succession 
 of villages, whose inhabitants were all washing themselves and 
 getting on their best attire, it being the Hindoo festival of Junma 
 Osmee. 
 
 The day was a very brilliant one, and, though hot, rendered 
 supportable by the breeze, while the whole scene was lively 
 and cheerful, — all the shops having their flags hoisted, — little 
 streamers being spread by most of the boats which we passed, 
 and a larger banner and concourse of people being displayed at a 
 little pagoda under the shade of some noble peepul and tamarind 
 trees. 
 
 The river is all this time filled with boats of the most picturesque 
 forms ; the peasants on the bank have that knack of grouping 
 themselves, the want of which I have heard complained of in the 
 peasantry of England. Two novel circumstances were seen this 
 morning ; the one the appearance of considerable herds of swine, 
 of a small kind resembling the Chinese breed, which were grazing 
 near most of the villages ; the other a system of planting tara 
 palms in the trunks of decayed peepul-trees. The first which I 
 saw 1 supposed had been sown there by accident ; but I soon 
 found that the practice was frequent, and that the peepul thus 
 treated had generally the greater part of its branches, and all the 
 tops cut away to favour the intruding plant, which stands as if it 
 were in a rude flower-pot. The hollow part of the tree must, I 
 suppose, be previously filled with earth. A very excellent fence 
 is thus obtained for the }'oung tara plant ; but I conclude that 
 they are not Hindoos who thus mangle and violate the sacred tree 
 of Siva. 
 
 Towards noon the banks became again, though not rocky, high 
 and precipitous, and full of holes for the Muenas’ nests. We are 
 fortunate in having a breeze, for the towing here would be dan- 
 gerous, the bank being crumbling and undermined, and the stream 
 flowing with great rapidity. A friend of Mr. Corrie’s had two 
 dandees drowned in this place last month. 1 was astonished 
 when he told me this, since it seemed almost as possible to drown 
 an alligator as men of their habits. I was answered, however, 
 that the poor fellows were worn out with towing, and that the 
 current washed them under the boats, whence they had not 
 strength to recover themselves. 
 
 Two dervises, strange antic figures, in many-coloured patched 
 garments, with large wallets, begged of us to-day. I gave a trifle 
 
212 
 
 BUFFALOES. 
 
 to the elder, a venerable old man, who raised his hand with rnuch 
 dignity and prayed for me. 
 
 At Bar, where I dined, is an old ruined house, with some little 
 appearance of a palace, once the residence of the Jemautdar of 
 the district, under the Mohammedan government. We brought 
 to about half-past six near an indigo-field, which filled my cabin 
 with bugs. The night was very hot and close. 
 
 August 19. — Another intensely hot day, but made bearable by 
 a breeze. 1 found a young scorpion in my cabin this morning 
 among my books. It seems to prove that such pests are not so 
 common in India as is often supposed, that I have now been ten 
 months in the country without seeing more ; and that, though I 
 have walked a good deal, and never particularly avoided places 
 where such things are to be looked for, I have only seen one 
 cobra di capello. I had supposed scorpions to be black, and 
 was surprised to-day to see an animal white and almost trans- 
 parent. 
 
 The pinnace got aground in passing from the chain of nullahs 
 and jeels which we entered yesterday, into the main river, and 
 we were obliged to call in the assistance of some fishermen to 
 help her off ; they laboured hard for near an hour, and were 
 grateful for a gratuity of two pice ; they were nine in number, 
 besides a brahmin, who came down from a village while we were 
 just getting disengaged, and extending a basket full of scarlet 
 flowers, applied for a thank-offering to his god, in consideration 
 of our escape from danger. 1 thought he was merely asking for 
 alms, not quite hearing what he said, but Abdullah explained his 
 meaning. However, he had obtained his request. 
 
 Our halting-place was on a pleasant open shore, opposite to 
 Futwa, but still short of Patna. The country round is bare of 
 wood, but well cultivated and very populous : the land laid out 
 in alternate patches of grass-fallow, covered with cows, buffaloes, 
 and swine, and fields of millet and Indian corn, among which 
 appear also some patches of the castor-oil plant, which, now that 
 the coco-nut is no longer found, is the usual supply for their 
 lamps. 
 
 I walked about a good deal, the evening being pleasant, and 
 was much interested. The buffaloes were all buried in the 
 water, scarcely showing more than their noses and horns above 
 its surface, but as the sun went down they came out, sleek, black, 
 and glossy ; too wild and timorous to suffer an European to ap- 
 proach them, but showing no degree of fierceness. The pigs are 
 small, black, and shaggy, of a very wild appearance. At the 
 nearest village to which I walked were two or three cottages, 
 which, though mere hovels of mud and thatch, yet from the size 
 of their out-buildings, and the treading of many cattle all round 
 
FUTWA. 
 
 213 
 
 them, I should conceive were really the residences of tolerably 
 wealthy farmers. One of these, an old man, was thrashing out 
 a small kind of millet, by driving oxen over it round and round 
 in a circle. They were just leaving off work as I came up, and 
 a hind was bringing a large bundle of green Indian corn, weeded 
 from the thick crop for their provender. I observed, however, 
 that the animals, during their previous employment, were not 
 muzzled, according to the Scriptural rule, at the same time that 
 they were kept so constantly moving that a few mouthfuls were 
 all that they could get. While I was examining this heap of grain, 
 and asking the old man some questions, his cows came up for the 
 evening, and I pleased him exceedingly, when the cowman ran 
 forward to beat them from my path, by forbidding him to strike 
 them. ‘‘ Good ! good !” he said, with an air indicative of much 
 satisfaction, “ one must not beat cows.” It seems to me that the 
 tender mercies of the Hindoos towards animals are exhausted on 
 cow^s only ; for oxen they have no pity, — they are treated with 
 much severity, but I have not here seen them show such marks 
 of cruelty as those near Calcutta. Comfortable, on the whole, 
 as this village seemed, many of the houses must soon be rendered 
 uninhabitable, if, as seems by no means impossible from present 
 appearances, the river rises a single cubit higher. Their round 
 granaries, however, are all raised considerably above the other 
 buildings, and must, I should suppose, be tolerably safe. When 
 I asked what was to become of the others if the river rose, the 
 answer was, they hoped it would not rise more than a few inches 
 higher, which would be sufficient for their fields, without starving 
 their cattle. 
 
 Futwa, which was directly opposite to us, is a large and ancient 
 town, on a river for which the people of the town seem to have 
 no other name than “ Futwakee Nuddee.” Futwa is famous for 
 a very long and handsome old bridge, (an object of some rarity in 
 India,) and a college of Mussulman law and divinity, the Moula- 
 vies of which are widely renowned. The night was very cool 
 and pleasant. 
 
 August 20. — ^We arrived at the south-east extremity of Patna 
 about nine o’clock ; it is a very great, and from the water at some 
 little distance, a very striking city, being full of large buildings, 
 with remains of old walls and towers, and bastions projecting into 
 the river, with the advantage of a high rocky shore, and consider- 
 able irregularity and elevation of the ground behind it. On a 
 nearer approach, we find, indeed, many of the houses whose 
 verandahs and terraces are striking objects at a distance, to be 
 ruinous ; but still in this respect, and in apparent prosperity, it as 
 much exceeds Dacca as it falls short of it in the beauty and gran- 
 deur of its ruins. As we approached, I proposed slacking sail to 
 
214 
 
 PATNA. 
 
 give the Corries time to come up, but Mohammed said that oppo- 
 site the old castle was one of the most rapid and difficult passages 
 of the river between Hurdwar and Saugor, and that if we did not 
 use the fine wind we now had, we might be kept for weeks. We 
 therefore proceeded along this noble expanse of water, which I 
 really think grows wider instead of narrower as we advance, and 
 which here, between wind and stream, was raised into waves little 
 less than those which the Mersey sometimes exhibits below Liver- 
 pool; my boat for this sort of service is really a very fine one. 
 At the eastern extremity of Patna is a large wood of palms, and 
 fruit-trees, pointed out to me as the gardens belonging to a sum- 
 mer palace, built and planted by the Nawab Jaffier Ali Khan. 
 They are renowned for their beauty and extent, being two or 
 three miles in circuit. We also passed a large and dilapidated 
 palace, which had been the residence of the late Nawab of Patna, 
 Abbas Kouli Khan, a splendid and popular person ; he left no 
 successor, but his nearest heirs are two very intelligent young 
 men, who are said to hold some lucrative employment under the 
 English Government, and to be much in its confidence. The 
 houses of the rich natives which we passed, pretty much resemble 
 those of Calcutta. They have, however, the advantage of imme- 
 diately abutting on the river, and I saw one which, beneath its 
 Corinthian superstructure, had a range of solid buildings of the 
 eastern gothic, with pointed arches and small windows, contain- 
 ing a suite of apartments almost on a level with the water, unin- 
 habitable, I should suppose, from damp during this season, but 
 which must be coolness itself during the hot winds. The con- 
 tinued mass of buildings extends about four miles along the river, 
 when it changes into scattered cottages and bungalows, inter- 
 spersed with trees, till some more large and handsome buildings 
 appear about three miles further. This is Bankipoor, where are 
 the Company’s opium warehouses, courts of justice, &c., &c., and 
 where most of their civil servants live. 1 had an invitation from 
 Sir Charles D’Oyley, and stopped my boat literally at the gate of 
 his house, which stands very pleasantly on a high bank above the 
 river. I met here a F ranciscan friar, a remarkably handsome and 
 intelligent-looking little man, whom I immediately and rightly 
 guessed to be the Italian Padre, “ Giulio Cesare,” of whom so 
 much mention is made in Martyn’s Life. I found great amuse- 
 ment and interest in looking over Sir Charles’s drawing books ; 
 he is the best gentleman artist I ever met with. He says India is 
 full of beautiful and picturesque country, if people would but stir 
 a little way from the banks of the Ganges, and his own drawings 
 and paintings certainly make good his assertion. The D’Oyleys 
 offered me very kindly a bed-room on shore, which, as my boat 
 was under the shelter of a high bank, 1 found much cooler than 
 
GRANARY, 
 
 215 
 
 the cabin. Soon after I arrived I received a large packet of 
 letters, and, thank God ! a more comfortable account of those 
 dearest to me. 
 
 The wind and the sea^ for the river really deserves the name, 
 continued to rise during a greater part of the day, so that the 
 Corries, it was very plain, could not get past the rock on which 
 the fort stands. Indeed we afterwards heard that at Dinapoor, 
 where the stream is also usually violent, a budgerow and even a 
 pinnace had been very nearly lost, and the latter actually almost 
 filled with water, and driven ashore. 
 
 After dinner Lady D’Oyley took me round the only drive which 
 is at this time of year practicable, being, though of smaller extent, 
 much such a green as the race-ground at Barrackpoor. We 
 passed a high building shaped something like a glass-house, with 
 a stair winding round its outside up to the top, like the old prints 
 of the Tower of Babel. It was built as a granary for the district, 
 in pursuance of a plan adopted about thirty-five years ago by 
 Government, after a great famine, as a means of keeping down 
 the price of grain, but abandoned on a supposed discovery of its 
 inefficacy, since no means in their hands, nor any buildings which 
 they could construct, without laying on fresh taxes, would have 
 been sufficient to collect or contain more than one day’s provision 
 for the vast population of their territories. It is not only in a time 
 of famine, that, in a country like India, the benefit of public grana^ 
 ries would be felt. These would of course be filled by the agents 
 of the Company in those years and those seasons when grain was 
 cheapest, and when the cultivator was likely to be ruined by the 
 impossibility of obtaining a remunerating price. But the presence 
 of an additional, a steady and a wealthy customer at such times 
 in the market, to the amount of l-365th of the whole produce, or 
 even less than that, would raise the price of grain ten or even 
 twenty per cent, and thus operate as a steady and constant bounty 
 on agriculture, more popular by far, and, as I conceive, more 
 efficient than any Corn Law which could be devised. It appears 
 to me, therefore, that a system of such granaries, even on a very 
 moderate scale, throughout the Provinces, would not only essen- 
 tially relieve famine, if it came, but, in some degree, prevent its 
 coming ; that it would improve the situation both of Ryot and 
 Zemindar, and make them more able to pay their dues to Govern- 
 ment, while, as there is no necessity or advantage (but rather the 
 contrary) that the corn thus hoarded should be given away, the 
 expense to the Company would not be very much more than the 
 first cost and subsequent repair of the buildings, and the wages of 
 the needful agents and labourers. I am well aware of the usual 
 answer, that it is better to leave these things to private compe- 
 tition and speculation, that much of the grainlhus collected would 
 
^16 
 
 PADRE GIULIO. 
 
 be spoiled, and become unfit for use, &c. But the first assumes 
 a fact which in India, I believe, is not correct, that there is either 
 sufficient capital or enterprise to enable or induce individuals to 
 store up corn in the manner contemplated. As for the second, it 
 would obviously be, in years of over production, an equal benefit 
 to the cultivator to have a part of his stock purchased and with- 
 drawn from present consumption, even though what was thus 
 purchased were actually burnt, while, though to keep the grana- 
 ries full of good grain would of course be more expensive to 
 Government, from the perishable nature of the commodity, yet it 
 would be easy so to calculate the selling price as to cover this 
 charge, and avoid the necessity of imposing fresh public burthens. 
 On the whole, therefore, I am inclined to believe that the measure 
 was a wise one, and well adapted to the state of India, though it 
 is one, undoubtedly, which could only be carried into effect in 
 peaceable times, and when there was a considerable surplus reve- 
 nue. I know my dear wife has no objection to this sort of 
 politico-economical discussion, and therefore send it without fear- 
 ing to tire her. The building which has called it forth is said to 
 have many imperfections, which made it very unfit for its desti- 
 nation. The idea itself, which is to pour the corn in at the top, 
 and take it out through a small door at the bottom, I think a good 
 one. But it is said to be ill-built, and by far too weak to support 
 the weight of its intended contents, while by a refinement in 
 absurdity, the door at the bottom is made to open inwards, and 
 consequently when the granary was full, could never have been 
 opened at all. It is now occasionally used as a powder magazine, 
 but is at this moment quite empty, and only visited sometimes for 
 the sake of its echo, which is very favourable to performances on 
 the flute or bugle. Underneath its walls I had a good deal of 
 conversation with Padre Giulio, who speaks French, though not 
 well, yet fluently. He is thoroughly a man of the world, smooth, 
 insinuating, addicted to paying compliments, and from his various 
 accomplishments an acceptable guest at all English houses, where 
 French or Italian is understood. He spoke with great affection 
 of Martyn, who thought well of him, and almost hoped that he 
 had converted him from popery. 
 
 He was apparently much pleased with the notice which I paid 
 him, and I certainly was much amused and interested with his 
 conversation. I found him a great admirer of Metastasio, and 
 of course not fond of Alfieri. He himself is, indeed, a Milanese, 
 so that he feels for the former as for a countryman as well as a 
 brother ecclesiastic. This sect, he said, had had a heavy loss in 
 India by the recent death of the Romish Bishop of Thibet, who 
 came out a little before my arrival, and who was also an Italian 
 of good family, and a very elegant and accomplished scholar. 
 
- DINAPOOR. 
 
 217 
 
 He died in this neighbourhood about two months ago. I recollect 
 Lord Amherst speaking of him, and he on his part, Giulio said, 
 spoke much of Lord Amherst’s good nature, and good Italian. 
 
 August 21 . — -The Corries arrived this morning ; with the Arch- 
 deacon and Mr. Northmore, who came over from Dinapoor, 1 
 had to arrange the duties of the next day. The distance, it ap- 
 pears, from Bankipoor to Dinapoor is full seven miles in the dry 
 season, at present between eight and nine, and through roads often 
 impassable for a carriage. The majority of the Europeans in the 
 neighbourhood (now that the 44th regiment is no longer quar- 
 tered here) live in Bankipoor and Patna, so that Sir C. D’Oyley 
 was anxious that I should preach here rather than at Dinapoor. 
 I thought of doing both, but was dissuaded from a journey in the 
 heat of the day, and I settled to remain here till Tuesday morn- 
 ing, and then go to Dinapoor to preach, and administer confir- 
 mation. I find that the river, which offers at this moment so 
 noble a sheet of water close to the garden-gate, is, in the dry 
 season, two miles off, and scarcely visible, there being only some 
 small nullahs in the intervening space, which is then cultivated 
 with rice and oats. 
 
 August 22. — Mr. Corrie read prayers, and I preached to a 
 congregation of, I should suppose, fifty people, all of the upper 
 or middling ranks, of whom I think thirty staid to receive the 
 sacrament. The service was performed in a large and convenient 
 room, the Court of Appeal, and a handsome service of commu- 
 nion plate was produced, preserved from the time that the Com- 
 pany’s chaplain, now removed to Dinapoor, was stationed at 
 Patna. A very earnest and general wish was expressed that 
 Government would allow them a chaplain still. This, with the 
 present establishment, and the great demands on it, is, I fear, never 
 likely to be granted ; but it would be a very great advantage and 
 convenience to the place, and would be attended with little ex- 
 pense in comparison, if an allowance were made the chaplain at 
 . Dinapoor for a lodging and palanquin hire, and he were enjoined 
 to visit Patna once a month. Some measure of the kind, with 
 regard to this and many other stations almost similarly situated, 
 I hope myself to suggest to Government, as soon as I am better 
 informed in the necessary details of the plans. 
 
 Lady D’Oyley took me this evening through some of the bazars, 
 and a part of a long avenue of trees extending several miles into 
 the country. Many of them are of great size, but the whole she 
 said were planted by the senior judge, Mr. Douglas, an old man 
 who has been a resident in or near Patna for more than thirty 
 years, during which he has only been once from it as far as Dina- 
 poor. The houses of the natives here are almost all of mud, 
 but their tiled roofs and verandahs give them a better aspect than 
 
 VoL. I. — 28 
 
218 
 
 DINAPOOR. 
 
 the common Bengalee cottage. The hackeries are very different 
 from those of Calcutta, being little tabernacles, like the moveable 
 military shrines represented on ancient monuments, with curtains 
 and awnings, and drawn either by one horse or two oxen. 
 
 We had a very pleasant quiet evening, such as a Sunday even- 
 ing ought to be, and concluded with family prayers. On the 
 whole 1 have been greatly pleased and interested with this visit. 
 
 I observed in the course of the day a singular custom among 
 the Europeans here ; they have no regular burial-ground, but 
 inter their deceased relatives in their gardens and pleasure- 
 grounds. Little urns and obelisks of this kind meet the eye near 
 most of the bungalows, and there is one of the former under a 
 fine tamarind tree, close to Sir C. D’Oyley’s windows. 
 
 August 23. — This day, like those which had gone before it, 
 was passed very agreeably, so much of it as I could spare from 
 business, in the society of my new friends, but offered nothing 
 remarkable. There was a large party to dinner, which broke 
 up early, and I spent the rest of the evening in very agreeable 
 conversation with the family circle. 
 
 August 24. — Sir C. D’Oyley sent me in his carriage half-way 
 to Dinapoor, where Mr. Northmore’s carriage met me. The 
 Archdeacon went in a ‘‘ Tonjon,” a chair with a head like a gig, 
 carried by bearers. The whole way lies between scattered 
 bungalows, bazars, and other buildings, intermixed with gardens 
 and mangoe groves ; and three days without rain had made the 
 direct road not only passable, but very reasonably good. As we 
 approached Dinapoor, symptoms began to appear of a great Eng- 
 lish military station, and it was whimsical to see peeping out 
 from beneath the palms and plantains, large blue boards with 
 gilt letters “Digah Farm, Havell, Victualler,” &c. “Morris, 
 Tailor.” “Davis, Europe Warehouse,” &c. The cantonment itself 
 is the largest and handsomest which I have seen, with a very fine 
 quay, looking like a battery, to the river, and I think three ex- 
 tensive squares of barracks uniformly built, of one lofty ground 
 story well raised, stuccoed, and ornamented with arcaded win- 
 dows, and pillars between each. There are also extensive and, 
 I understood, very handsome barracks for the native troops, which 
 1 did not see, those which I described being for Europeans, of 
 whom there are generally here one King’s regiment, one Com- 
 pany’s, and a numerous corps of artillery. Every thing, in fact, is 
 on a liberal scale, except what belongs to the church, and the 
 spiritual interests of the inhabitants and neighbourhood. The 
 former I found merely a small and inconvenient room in the bar- 
 racks, which seemed as if it had been designed for a hospital- 
 ward ; the reading-desk, surplice, books, &;c. were all meaner 
 and shabbier than are to be seen in the poorest village chapel in 
 
DINAPOOR. 
 
 219 
 
 England or Wales ; there were no punkahs, no wall-shades, or 
 other means for lighting up the church, no glass in the windows, 
 no font, and till a paltry deal stand was brought for my use, out 
 of an adjoining warehouse, no communion table. Bishop Mid- 
 dleton objected to administer confirmation in any but churches 
 regularly built, furnished and consecrated. But though I do not 
 think that in India we need be so particular, I heartily wished, in 
 the present case, to see things more as they should be, and as 1 
 had been accustomed to see them. Nor, in more essential points, 
 was there much to console me for this neglect of external de- 
 cencies. I had only fourteen candidates for confirmation, some 
 of them so young that 1 almost doubted the propriety of admit- 
 ting them, and there were perhaps a dozen persons besides in the 
 church. It is very true that the King’s regiment (the 44th) was 
 absent, but the Company’s European regiment, most of them 
 young men, might have been expected to furnish, of itself, no 
 inconsiderable number, when the conduct of those at Dum Dum 
 on similar occasions is recollected. There are, likewise, several 
 indigo-planters in the neighbourhood, many of them with families, 
 and many others who had themselves never been confirmed, to 
 whom the chaplain of the station had long since sent notice, but 
 who had none of them given any answer to his letters ; he, in- 
 deed, (whom I found extremely desirous of contributing to the 
 improvement of the people under his care,) lamented in a very 
 natural and unaffected manner the gross neglect of Sunday, the 
 extraordinary inattention on the part of the lower classes to all 
 religious concerns, and the indifference hitherto shown by the 
 Company’s military officers now at Dinapoor to every thing like 
 religious improvement. While the 44th was here, a very differ- 
 ent and admirable example was set by Colonel Morrison and his 
 officers, and the men themselves were most of them patterns of 
 decent conduct and regular attendance in church, not only in the 
 morning, but in the evening, at which time their attendance was 
 ' perfectly voluntary. 
 
 There had been a school for the European children and those 
 recruits who could not read, but this had fallen to decay, because 
 nobody would subscribe, and the chaplain alone could not support 
 it. The Government sent, six months ago,a lending library for 
 the use of their European soldiers, and allowed eight rupees a 
 month to the clerk for keeping it ; but the brigade major, to whom ; 
 the books were consigned, had never unpacked them, alleging • 
 (of which he was not the proper judge) “ that they were too few 
 to be of any use,” and “ that there was no place to put them in,” 
 as if a corner of the room now used as a church would not have 
 answered the purpose perfectly. 
 
 Of the European regiment, though it was “ in orders” that the 
 
220 
 
 DINAPOOR. 
 
 men should attend church every Sunday, very few ever came, 
 and seldom any officer but the adjutant; and the neighbouring 
 planters seemed utterly without religion of any kind, never ap- 
 plying to the clergyman except for marriage, burial, and the 
 baptizing of their children. Mr. Northmore, who gave me this 
 account, complained that he was often sadly discouraged, and led 
 to fear that some deficiency in himself was the cause of this ne- 
 glect of his ministry, but that he was comforted to find his attend- 
 ance both acceptable and useful to the sick men in the hospital, 
 where, indeed, I hear his conduct is marked by very great diligence 
 and humanity. For the lamentable state of things of which he 
 complains, there are many reasons for which he can in nowise be 
 accountable, and which, to prevent his being discouraged, I took 
 care to point out to him. One of these I shall probably find but 
 too prevalent throughout the Indian army, where the early age 
 at which the officers leave England, the little control to which 
 they are afterwards subjected, and the very few opportunities 
 afforded to most of them of ever hearing a sermon, or joining in 
 public prayer, might be expected to heathenize them even far 
 more than we find is the case. 
 
 But at Dinapoor something may be also ascribed to the 
 exceeding bad conduct of the late chaplain, which must have 
 driven many from the church, whom it would be very difficult for 
 the most popular preacher to entice back again. And the want of 
 a decent church is the strongest cause of all. The present room 
 barely affords accommodation for half the soldiers who might be 
 expected to attend, without leaving any for the officers’ families, 
 or the neighbouring planters. These, therefore, though room is 
 generally to be had, have an excuse to offer to their consciences 
 for not attending ; and it is really true, that for women and chil- 
 dren of the upper class to sit jostling with soldiers in a small close 
 room, without punkahs, with a drive of perhaps three or four 
 miles before and after service, is not a prospect which would 
 make a man very fond of bringing his family to attend divine 
 service. A spacious and airy church would greatly remove these 
 difficulties. Government did, I understand, promise one some 
 time back ; but the military officers, to whom the preparation of 
 the estimate and plan were left, took no trouble in the business. 
 On the whole, what I saw and heard, both at and after church, 
 made me low and sad, to which perhaps the heat of the day, the 
 most oppressive I have yet felt in India, greatly contributed. 
 
 On my return to the pinnace, which had meantime come on 
 from Bankipoor, I found that, to avoid the fury of the stream, they 
 had moored her in a narrow nullah, which constitutes the harbour 
 of Dinapoor, and which was filled with all kinds of vessels, while 
 one of its banks was covered with warehouses, and the other 
 
DIGAH FARM. 
 
 221 
 
 occupied by a great cattle-fair. The heat was intense, and no breath 
 of air could visit us, whilst, as evening came on, we were sure of 
 being devoured by musquitoes. I soon made up my mind, and 
 told the Serang to leave the nullah and anchor in the middle of 
 the river, when I had dressed and left the pinnace, and to have 
 the jolly-boat waiting for me at night, on the beach, below the 
 battery. 
 
 In the evening Mr. Northmore called to take me a drive 
 before dinner. We went to “ Digah Farm,” the place 1 had 
 passed in the morning, which is extremely well worth seeing. It 
 is a tavern, a large ground-floored house with excellent rooms, 
 very handsomely fitted up, surrounded with some of the most 
 extensive ranges of cow-houses, pig-styes, places for fattening 
 sheep and cattle, dairies, &:c. that I ever saw, all kept beautifully 
 clean, with a large grass court full of poultry, and in the middle 
 a very pretty flower-garden. To the back is a large kitchen-gar- 
 den, and beyond this stacks of oats and other grain, not unworthy 
 of an English farmer. The keeper is named Havell, a very 
 respectable man. He is the butcher, corn-dealer, brewer, wine- 
 merchant, confectioner, and wax-chandler of all this part of India. 
 
 During the drive 1 endeavoured to put Mr. Northmore in the 
 way of getting some of those aids from the military officers of the 
 cantonment, to which, by the regulations of Government, he is 
 entitled. And afterwards at dinner, where were present most of 
 the officers now in garrison, I succeeded, I hope, in getting the 
 re-establishmenj: of the school, together with the assurance from 
 the colonel of the European regiment, that he would urge his 
 recruits to attend, and promote only those men to be non-commis- 
 sioned officers who could read and write ; a measure which would 
 soon make reading and writing universal. The brigade-major was 
 not present, but I said all I could to the colonel about the lending 
 library, and a more regular attendance of the troops in church, 
 and was glad to find what 1 said extremely well taken. The 
 library I think 1 have secured, since every body present seemed 
 pleased with the idea, when the nature of its contents and the 
 system of circulation were explained. The heat was something 
 which a man who had not been out of Europe would scarcely 
 conceive, and the party, out of etiquette on my account, were all 
 in their cloth uniforms. I soon put them at their ease, however, 
 in this particular ; and I am almost inclined to hope that the white 
 jackets which were immediately sent for, put them in better 
 humour both with me and my suggestions. 
 
 I was much pressed to stay over the next Sunday, or at least 
 a few days longer ; but it is only by going to-morrow that 1 can 
 hope to reach Ghazeepoor, or even Buxar, by Sunday next ; and 
 
222 
 
 CHUPRAH— FLOATING SHOPS. 
 
 all agreed, on telling them what I had to do, that 1 had no time 
 to spare in order to reach Bombay before the hot winds. 
 
 August 25. — I parted from Dinapoor under a salute of artillery, 
 and sailed along the northern bank, which, where we first ap- 
 proached it, presented an outline far bolder and more abrupt than 
 most which 1 have seen on the Ganges, being a precipitous bank 
 of red earth overhung with trees and shrubs, with a native house 
 of some consequence on its summit. 
 
 About noon we arrived at Chuprah, a large town on the north 
 bank of the river, or rather on an arm of the river divided from 
 the main stream by some marshy islands. Chuprah was the scene 
 of a defeat received by Mr. Law, from, 1 believe. Sir Eyre Coote, 
 (then Capt. Coote.) It is now" the chief town of the district of 
 Sarum, and the residence of. the Judge and Collector; and con- 
 tains also a good many large, handsome, native houses, and one 
 very pretty mosque, or pagoda, I know not which. Its architec- 
 ture resembles the first, — but there are a peepul-tree, ghat, and 
 other things near it, which lead me to suspect the latter, and I 
 do not think its entrance tallies with the regard shown in all 
 mosques to the Kibla. While I was in this place, vainly waiting 
 for the Corries, a very fine and fast sailing budgerow arrived with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Anson, on their way to join his regiment at Meerut, 
 and we proceeded together. 
 
 Near our halting place, which was a very pleasant one, was a 
 little open shed occupied by a Hindoo ascetic, with a double 
 quantity of dung and chalk on his face, who was singing in a 
 plaintive monotonous tone to a little knot of peasants, who seem- 
 ed to regard him with great veneration. He did not beg of us, 
 but suspended his hymn while we passed between him and the 
 Ganges. He had not the tiger-skin, which those whom I saw at 
 Boglipoor appeared to take particular pleasure in displaying. A 
 village was near, and a fine orchard of mangoe-trees ; a number 
 of bearers passed with packages of various kinds, belonging, as 
 they said, to a certain potentate named the “ Dum-Raja,” who 
 was crossing the country to pay a visit somewhere in this neigh- 
 bourhood. I was in hopes of an opportunity to see an Indian of • 
 rank on a journey, but it appeared that the great man had already 
 passed. We overtook a number of vessels to-day, two of them 
 of a curious and characteristic description. One was a budgerow 
 at Chuprah, pretty deeply laden, with a large blue board on its 
 side like that of an academy in England, inscribed “ Goods for 
 sale on commission,” being in fact strictly a floating shop, which 
 supplied all the smaller stations with, what its owners would 
 probably call, “ Europe articles.” The other was a more ele- 
 gant vessel of the same kind, being one of the prettiest pinnaces 
 I ever saw, with an awning spread over the quarter-deck, under 
 
FILIAL PIETY OF NATIVES. 
 
 223 
 
 which sate a lady and two gentlemen reading, and looking so 
 comfortable that 1 could have liked to join their party. I found 
 that it was the floating shop of a wealthy tradesman at Dinapoor, 
 who, towards the middle of the rains, always sets out in this manner 
 with his wife, to make the tower of the Upper Provinces, as high 
 as his boat could carry him, ascending alternate years, or as he 
 finds most custom, to Agra, Meerut, or Lucknow, by their respec- 
 tive rivers, and furnishing glass, cutlery, perfumery, &c. &c. to 
 the mountaineers of Deyra Doon, and the Zennanas of Runjeet 
 Singh and Scindeah. We passed in the course of this day the 
 mouths of no less than three great rivers falling into the Ganges 
 from different quarters, the Soane from the south and the moun- 
 tains of Gundwana, the Gunduch from Nepaul, and the Dewah 
 from, I believe, the neighbourhood of Almorah : each of the three 
 is larger, and of longer course than the Thames or Severn. What 
 an idea does this give us of the scale on which Nature works in 
 these countries ! 
 
 The heat all this day would have been intense, had not the 
 breeze tempered it. No rain has fallen for many days. 
 
 August 26. — Our fine wind continued, which was the more 
 fortunate since the sun was intensely hot and bright. In our way 
 to Buxar the Sirdar came to me with hands joined, and that sort 
 of anxious smile which signifies that its wearer is about to ask a 
 favour. He said that his parents lived close to the place where 
 we now were, and requested a two days’ leave of absence, (pro- 
 mising to join me on Sunday night at Ghazeepoor,) and also that 
 I would advance him a month’s wages to leave with them. I could 
 not refuse him, though he is a very valuable person on board, and 
 mention it because it seems to show that among these poor peo- 
 ple there is at lea^t filial piety. The calling to see them was, in- 
 deed, natural ; but the gift of the month’s wages was what many 
 valets-de-chambre in England would have thought, I fear, “ quite 
 out of character.” I forgot to mention in the proper place that 
 . the Sota-burdar had made a similar request at Bankipoor, where 
 he had, he said, a wife and three children still at home, and that 
 Abdullah, whose friends also live in Patna, had been to see them, 
 and brought back with him divers books, clothes, and other things 
 which he had left behind him, when he undertook that voyage to 
 England, in his return from which we met him. He, however, 
 did not ask for any advance of money, as he said his relations 
 were pretty well off, and more able to help him than he them. 
 He did not seem to anticipate much kindness of reception, but 
 returned in good spirits, and asked for another day’s leave of 
 absence. 
 
 I found Buxar, (which I had expected to see a little ruinous 
 fort, remarkable only as the scene of the battle which confirmed 
 
BUXAR. 
 
 S24 
 
 the British in the possession of Bengal and Bahar,) a large and 
 respectable Mussulman town, with several handsome mosques — 
 one of the largest and neatest bazars which I have seen, and some 
 good looking European bungalows. We had some difficulty, 
 owing to a crowd of boats, in getting our little vessel moored in a 
 nullah, (or colly, as they call them here,) which is the usual 
 harbour of the place. 1 could have preferred the open river, but 
 the beach was very inconvenient, and the stream so strong that I 
 did not like to press the point. Nor was the creek in question by 
 any means so close and hot as that at Dinapoor. As soon as we 
 touched ground, I sent a letter to Captain Field, the fort adjutant, 
 requesting him to make my arrival known to the Europeans in 
 garrisori, in order that, if there was any clerical assistance wanted, 
 they might call on me in the forenoon of the next day. 1 was 
 soon afterwards visited by Captain Field, who said he had imme- 
 diately sent round the requisite notice, and apprehended that there 
 would be some glad to avail themselves of it. He told me, to my 
 surprise, that he had no fewer than 1 50 Europeans in garrison, 
 his whole force amounting to 600 men. He also apologised for 
 not having saluted me on my arrival, and on my telling him that 
 I always supposed his fort was dismantled, he said that it was 
 still so far in good order that nothing but an European force 
 could take it, except by a very long siege. On hearing the num- 
 ber of Europeans, I expressed my regret that I could not, without 
 great inconvenience, stay over Sunday ; to which he replied, that 
 he was convinced, (as they had so very seldom an opportunity of 
 attending divine service,) they would thankfully assemble if I 
 would give them prayers and a sermon at ten the next day, to 
 which, of course, 1 gladly consented. A welcome shower of rain 
 fell this evening. 
 
 August 27. — 1 went in the morning with Captain Field to see 
 the fort, which is a small square, with a high rampart cased with 
 turf, four circular bastions, a deep and wide ditch, a good glacis, 
 and a sort of lower fort, extending to and commanding the river. 
 The view from the ramparts is pleasing and extensive. There 
 is one quarter which is, I think, extremely assailable, and which 
 Major Dugald Dalgetty would unquestionably have pressed him to 
 fortify. Still, as he truly said, it might stand a siege of some 
 length from a native army, and its situation on the Ganges in its 
 nearest approach to the Goorkah territories, might make such a 
 defence by no means unimportant, in the event of a rupture with 
 those mountaineers. It is this possibility, indeed, which now 
 constitutes the principal value of the great stations of Dinapoor 
 and Ghazeepoor. 
 
 After breakfast I went to Captain Field’s house, which he had 
 arranged, as well as it admitted of, as a church. The principal 
 
MRS. SIMPSON. 
 
 225 
 
 room, and the adjoining verandah, were filled with old soldiers : 
 two little rooms on each side contained, to my surprise, a number 
 of natives, mostly women and children, while some officers and 
 their wives were ranged round my desk. All were very attentive, 
 and the old soldiers more particularly, (who had almost all prayer 
 books,) joined in the responses with a regularity, an exactness 
 and a zeal, which much affected me, and showed how much, in 
 their situation, they felt the blessing of an opportunity of public 
 worship. I more than half repented of my intention to leave 
 them before Monday. But 1 was aware that Ghazeepoor had at 
 least an equally numerous congregation, equally without a clergy- 
 man ; and it occurred to me that the archdeacon might stay here, 
 and join me in time for the confirmation on Tuesday. This good 
 man had never told me of the native Christians at Buxar ; yet 
 they are most of them the children of his own quiet and unwea- 
 ried exertions in the cause of God. Some of them came up after 
 church to beg for Hindoostanee Prayer-books and Gospels, a few 
 of which 1 was able to supply them with. 
 
 The schoolmaster, too, a Mussulman convert of the name of 
 “ Curreem Museeh,” mercy of Messiah, came up to offer the 
 report of his scholars, and to hope.l would come and see them 
 assembled. I went in my Palkee, after consigning to Captain 
 Field some Bibles and tracts for his men, through some pretty 
 green lanes and shady places, resembling the neighbourhood of 
 an English village, escorted by Captain Field in his Tonjon, with 
 full pomp of orderly serjeant, spear-men, and other equipments 
 of an up-country commandant, and followed by a marvellous 
 crowd of women and boys whom my silver-sticks attracted. 
 Being one of the great days in the feast of Mohurrun, we found 
 the tomb of a Mussulman saint decorated with three green ban- 
 ners, and other preparations for their prayers ; but when we passed 
 nobody was there, and its appearance was so like a cross in a 
 market-town during fair time, that it did not detract from the 
 ' English appearance of the view. 
 
 We stopped at the door of a very neat native cottage, sur- 
 rounded by a garden of plantains and potatoes, with flowers trained 
 round the gate, and a high green hedge of the prickly pear. Here 
 lived a Mrs. Simpson, a native of Agra, and one of Mr. Corrie’s 
 converts, now the widow of a serjeant in the Company’s service, 
 and getting her bread by teaching a few girls to read and work. 
 She asked anxiously about Mr. Corrie, but there was no appear- 
 ance of cant about her ; indeed her stock of English did not seem 
 very extensive. Here one of the English serjeants, with his wife, 
 a very pretty native girl, baptized, as I understood, by Mr. Pal- 
 mer of Ghazeepoor, brought their son, a fine boy of four years old, 
 for baptism ; and during the ceremony a number of females and 
 VoL. I. — 29 
 
2^26 
 
 BUXAR SCHOOL. 
 
 children remained in the garden and verandah, carefully kneeling 
 when we kneeled, and bowing at every repetition of the name of 
 Jesus. The scene was very interesting, and the beauty of the 
 ])ack-ground, the frame of the picture, and the costume of the 
 worshippers, added to its picturesque beauty. At the close of the 
 ceremony Curreem Museeh went out to speak to them, and they 
 ran off, I did not know why. Mrs. Simpson said she had a very 
 small subscription raised by some ladies in the neighbourhood, 
 amounting to four rupees a month for her school, but that her 
 neighbours sometimes helped her. She owned that she had 
 seldom more than six or eight scholars, children of the European 
 soldiers chiefly, to whom she taught reading and working. She 
 asked for nothing but a prayer-book (she had a very good Hin- 
 doostanee New Testament and Pentateuch, and some spelling- 
 books for her school), but accepted a small donation with much 
 thankfulness. 
 
 Curreem Museeh’s house, which we next visited, was still 
 smaller than Mrs. Simpson’s, and had not the few old pieces of 
 European furniture, which, in hers, marked her husband’s nation 
 and profession. Adjoining it was a little school-house, which we 
 found full of women and children (about 30 or 35) on the ground, 
 which was spread with mats, with their books in their laps. This 
 served as their church also, where they and a few of their hus- 
 bands, mostly European soldiers, who understood Hindoostanee, 
 met three times a week in the evening for prayer. This school 
 is supported, and Curreem Museeh’s salary paid, by the Church 
 Missionary Society, and they have been sometimes, though very 
 rarely, visited by a Missionary in orders. I regretted greatly that 
 I could not address them with any effect in their own language, 
 though I was strongly tempted to try ; they, many of them, indeed, 
 knew a little English, but so little that they could not have been 
 at all the better for any thing said to them in that tongue, nor 
 except a few words, could they have understood the service this 
 morning. 1 heard them read, however, and (by choosing such 
 chapters of the New Testament as I was best acquainted with) 
 was able to follow them, and to show them that I did do so. They 
 read extremely well, distinctly, slowly, and as if they understood 
 what they read ; they afterwards answered several of the questions 
 in Watts’s catechism, and repeated the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, 
 and the Ten Commandments, giving a sort of exposition of 
 each. I was extremely pleased and surprised at all I witnessed 
 here. 
 
 On my return to the pinnace, I found that the Corries were 
 not visible even from our mast-head, so that they plainly could 
 not arrive before night, while two oflicers, who had just come in 
 a budgerow from Ghazeepoor, said that if the wind failed ever so 
 
VARIETIES OF COMPLEXION. 
 
 227 
 
 little, I should not get there in one day. I therefore wrote a few 
 lines to Mr. Corrie, explaining my plans, and advising him to stay 
 over Sunday at Buxar, and set olf, finding as an additional reason 
 for quitting my present situation, that the water in the river had 
 fallen nearly a cubit in the course of the night, and that if I re- 
 mained, I might have some difficulty in getting the pinnace out of 
 the colly. 1 had the usual salute from the garrison, and left 
 Buxar after a day of great and unexpected interest. 
 
 The attendants in the school were of all ages, several young 
 j 3 oys, some little girls, but the majority full grown women. The 
 boys were in the usual attire of other Indian children ; the women 
 and girls were decently wrapped up in their long shawls, bare- 
 footed, with the anklets and armlets usual with their country- 
 women, but with no marks of caste on their foreheads. I heartily 
 wished for some of the enemies of missions to see, in this small 
 and detached instance, the good, which, in a quiet and unpretend- 
 ing way, is really doing among these poor people. Curreem 
 Museeh was, I believe, a havildar in the Company’s army, and 
 his sword and sash were still hung up, with a not unpleasing vanity, 
 over the desk where he now presided as catechist ; he is a very 
 decent looking, middle aged man, his white cotton clothes and 
 turban extremely clean, and his colour like that of most of the 
 inhabitants of these provinces, not very much darker than the 
 natives of the south of Europe. 1 am indeed often surprised to 
 observe the difference between my dandees, (who are nearly the 
 colour of a black tea-pot,) and the generality of the peasants 
 whom we meet with on the shore or in the bazars. The differ- 
 ence of climate will not account for this, for I have never in Ben- 
 gal felt the sun more powerful than it has been within these last 
 few days in Bahar ; nor, though the people here wear rather more 
 clothing than the lowest ranks of Bengalees, does this amount to 
 more than a mantle over the head and shoulders, which after all 
 they put on during the rain and breeze, not in the sun. I cannot 
 ' help believing that as the language is different, so their race is 
 also, and that in Bengal are some remains of an earlier, perhaps 
 a Negro stock, such as are now found in the Andamian islands, 
 but who have been subdued by, and amalgamated with, the same 
 northern conquerors who drove the Puharrees to their mountains. 
 
228 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 BUXAR TO BENARES. 
 
 CARAMNASA GHAZEEPOOR LORD CORNWALLIs’s MONUMENT — -PALACE 
 
 SALUBRITY ROSE FIELDS SUTTEES LEPERS DAK JOURNEY— 
 
 SEIDPOOR BENARES CASE OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS ^CONFIRMATION 
 
 MISSION SCHOOL DESCRIPTION OF BENARES NATIVE HOUSES PA- 
 GODAS VISHVAY ESA OBSERVATORY JAIN TEMPLE VIDALAYA 
 
 HINDOO ASTRONOMY STREET PREACHING AMRUT ROW VISIT FROM 
 
 THE RAJA. 
 
 A LITTLE to the south-west of Buxar we passed a large town 
 with some neat mosques and the remains of a fort, named Chow- 
 sar, and a little further the mouth of a considerable river, the 
 Garamnasa, whose singular properties 1 have before mentioned. 
 It is for this river, which crosses the great road from Calcutta to 
 Benares, that the rope-bridge exhibited by Mr. Shakespear at Cos- 
 sipoor was intended by the Baboo Ramchunder Narain. At this 
 place it is the boundary between the provinces of Bahar and Alla- 
 habad, and was, till the administration of Warren Hastings, who 
 pushed on the border to Benares, the extreme limit of the Com- 
 pany’s territories. How vastly have they since been extended ! 
 The river is here much contracted in width, as might be expected 
 after getting above the junction of so many great tributary streams, 
 and the banks are generally high and abrupt. The country has 
 but little timber in comparison with Bengal, but would not be 
 thought deficient in this respect in most parts of Europe. The 
 trees are round-topped, few palms being seen, and the cultivation 
 wheat, oats, and pulse, intermixed with grass leys, covered with 
 vast herds of cattle. 
 
 In passing along a colly, which we entered a little after we left 
 the Caramnasa, 1 heard some disputing on deck, and suddenly 
 found the boat going over to the other side of the stream. On 
 inquiry, the venitians being closed on the side where the difficulty 
 was, I was told that some European serjeants, with some Com- 
 pany’s boats under their charge, who had put up for the night on 
 that shore, had sent a message warning us off, lest our tow-line 
 should occasion them some little trouble. I was angry, and asked 
 the Serang why he attended to such an impertinent order, and 
 why he obeyed it without consulting me. He answered that one 
 side of the stream was really as good as the other, and that as he 
 
COTTON-GRASS— GHAZEEPOOR. 039 
 
 expected soon to lugana for the night, he had no desire to be in 
 the neighbourhood of such people. However it is, I fear, a spe- 
 cimen of the way in which these gentry order about the natives, 
 and even the European traders ; not seeing any uniforms or white 
 people in the boat, they perhaps took it for one of the floating 
 shops which 1 have mentioned. 
 
 We brought to about a quarter of an hour afterwards, by a vast 
 grass field, divided into butts by rows of the tall and beautiful 
 cotton-grass. It is cultivated for the “ Choppers” thatched roofs, 
 of bungalows, and also for ropes, and even for a coarse but strong 
 kind of canvass. It evidently was regarded as a valuable crop, 
 from the exactness with which it was planted. As no cows would 
 eat it except in extreme hunger, it is safe from their attacks, and 
 the intervening stripes of grass afford a rich and noble pasture. I 
 never saw, I think, finer land. The banks of the river are all a 
 light, marly loam, like garden-mould, dry, sound, and friable, with- 
 out any intermixture of stones or cold clay, and with very little 
 sand. Abdullah, who is a warm patriot, so far as his admiration 
 of the climate, soil, and productions of Hindostan goes, and who 
 is much pleased to observe the interest which I take in these 
 matters, said, “ Ah, my lord, why not get leave to buy land in 
 this good place and good climate, my lady and children always 
 have good health here, settle it on young lady, native of country, 
 and call it Harrietpoor.” 1 laughed, and told him the reasons of 
 the law which hindered the English from buying land in India ; 
 he owned that it was a very good law to prevent the English col- 
 lectors and magistrates from being tempted to extort lands, as the 
 Mussulmans had done, from the people by false accusations, and 
 added, that it was wonderful how the English parliament took 
 notice of every thing, and every body. 
 
 August 28. — It is quite extraordinary to see how much and 
 how fast the waters are subsiding; surely the rains have not ceased 
 thus early! If they have it would augur ill for my getting to 
 Cawnpoor by water, and (what I am far more afraid of) would 
 make the neighbourhood of Calcutta very unhealthy. I have 
 been visited within these few days by several large wasps or hor- 
 nets, of greater bulk and duller colours than those of England, 
 but not so numerous as to be troublesome. 
 
 Ghazeepoor, w^here I arrived this day, is another large town 
 or city, and from the river very striking, though, like all the 
 Indian cities I have passed, its noblest buildings on approaching 
 them turn out to be ruins. The river, though narrower than I 
 have been lately accustomed to see it, is still as wide as the 
 Hooghly at Cossipoor. At the eastern extremity of the town is a 
 very handsome though ruined palace, built by the Nawab Cossim 
 Ali Khan, the most airy and best contrived, so far as can be 
 
230 
 
 LORD CORNWALLIS’S MONUMENT. 
 
 perceived from its outward appearance, of any of the eastern build- 
 ings which I have seen. Its verandahs are really magnificent, but 
 its desolation is so recent, that it is very far from being a pleasing 
 object on approaching near enough to perceive its decay. It 
 might still at no great expense be made one of the handsomest 
 and best situated houses in India. At the other extremity of the 
 town, and separated from it by gardens and scattered cottages, 
 are the houses of the civil servants of the Company, mostly with 
 ground-floors only, hut large and handsome; and beyond these is 
 the military cantonment, ugly low bungalows, with sloping roofs 
 of red tile, but deriving some advantage from the trees with which 
 (very different from the stately but naked barracks of Dinapoor) 
 they are surrounded and intermingled. The most conspicuous 
 object among them is the monument to Lord Cornwallis, who 
 died here on his way up the country. It has a white dome like 
 a pepper-pot, but when the young trees, which are growing up 
 round it, shall have got a little higher, it will not look ill from the 
 river. 
 
 Almost immediately as my vessel came to shore, Mr. Melville, 
 who had seen it in its approach, came on board to say that he 
 had given up his own house, and was staying with Mr. C. Bayley, 
 who hoped for my company also. In their agreeable society 1 
 passed the three days which I remained at Ghazeepoor, and 
 from them obtained so much valuable information that I cannot 
 help regretting I had not time, and have not memory to put 
 down half of it. Some difficulties were felt about a proper place 
 for divine service next day, the place (an old riding-house) which 
 had been used as a church before the station lost its chaplain, 
 being in so ruinous a state that the quarter-master had reported 
 it sometime since to Government as unsafe for any persons to 
 assemble in. A Mr. Watson, a tradesman in the place, however, 
 offered his long room, generally used for auctions, and sometimes 
 for assemblies, which, now that the European regiment was 
 absent, and the probable congregation less numerous than it 
 otherwise would have been, answered the purpose extremely 
 well, being large, airy, and furnished both with seats and punkahs. 
 
 During our drive this evening 1 had a nearer view of Lord 
 Cornwallis’s monument, which certainly does not improve on 
 close inspection ; it has been evidently a very costly building ; its 
 materials are excellent, being some of the finest free-stone 1 ever 
 saw, and it is an imitation of the celebrated Sybill’s temple, of 
 large proportions, solid masonry, and raised above the ground on 
 a lofty and striking basement. But its pillars, instead of beautiful 
 Corinthian well-fluted, are of the meanest Doric. They are 
 quite too slender for their height, and for the heavy entablature 
 and cornice which rest on them. The dome, instead of springing 
 
LORD CORNWALLIS’S MONUMENT. 
 
 231 
 
 from nearly the same level with the roof of the surrounding 
 portico, is raised ten feet higher on a most ugly and unmeaning 
 attic story, and the windows (which are quite useless) are the 
 most extraordinary embrasures (for they resemble nothing else) 
 that I ever saw, out of a fortress. Above all, the building is 
 utterly unmeaning, it is neither a temple nor a tomb, neither has 
 altar, statue, or inscription. It is, in fact, a “ folly” of the same 
 sort, but far more ambitious and costly, than that which is built 
 at Barrackpoor, and it is vexatious to think that a very handsome 
 church might have been built, and a handsome marble monument 
 to Lord Cornwallis placed in its interior, for little more money 
 than has been employed on a thing, which, if any foreigner saw 
 it, (an event luckily not very probable,) would afford subject for 
 mockery to all who read his travels, at the expense of Anglo^ 
 Indian ideas of architecture. Ugly as it is, however, by itself, it 
 may yet be made a good use of, by making it serve the purpose 
 of a detached “ torre campanile” to the new church which is 
 required for the station ; to this last it would save the necessity 
 of a steeple or cupola, and would much lessen the expense of 
 the building, but the times are, I fear, unpropitious for any 
 grants of this nature from the Indian Government. Yet the 
 wants of this station are so urgent, for when they have European 
 soldiers here again they will have no building of any kind to 
 receive them for worship, and the representation which the 
 principal civil and military servants have made to me, is so strong, 
 that it is absolutely my duty to urge the case, and I will certainly 
 do so. 
 
 Sunday^ August 29. — Mr. Corrie (who from illness had been 
 unable to undertake the whole duty at Buxar, and had arrived 
 here yesterday) read prayers, and I preached and administered 
 the sacrament this morning., to a small but very attentive con- 
 gregation, almost exclusively of the higher class. Afterwards I 
 examined some children from the regimental school, which seems 
 well managed. Though the fathers are absent, the wives and 
 children of the 38th Regiment remain here, and Government is 
 also forming a considerable force of sepoys. 
 
 August 30. — In the evening I drove with Captain Carter, the 
 quarter-master, to fix on the best spot for a church, and found 
 none so good as that which I have already mentioned. The pre- 
 sent, or rather the late church, is a very large building, thatched 
 like a barn, with a wide span which has forced the side-walls 
 out of the perpendicular ; indeed, the w^hole is in a very forlorn 
 condition, and I am surprised it has stood through these rains. 
 
 August 31. — This morning early Mr. Melville took me to see 
 the prison, which, like all the Company's gaols which I have 
 seen, is very clean, airy, and apparently well managed, — and the 
 
232 
 
 PALACE. 
 
 old palace, now used as a custom-house, which I had so much 
 admired coming up the river. The town, through which we 
 passed, has no large houses except one, the property of a wealthy 
 Mussulman, which is extremely like some of the old houses in 
 Scotland, as represented in prints and described by the author of 
 Waverly. Like all other native buildings it looks dingy and 
 neglected, but appears in good substantial repair, and is a striking 
 object, more so, perhaps, than most of the Corinthian verandahs 
 of Calcutta. The bazars, through which we drove, are neat ; 
 and one of the streets so wide that one might have supposed 
 oneself in an English country town. There are the remains of 
 an old castle here, now reduced to little more than a high green 
 mound, scattered with ruins, and overhung with some fine trees. 
 But the palace is, indeed, a very handsome building. It is ap- 
 proached from the land through a fine gateway, which, though 
 differing in a few particulars from the English gothic, certainly 
 belongs to the same style of architecture, and excels the cor- 
 responding structures of Dacca, in being, instead of brick, of 
 excellent stone. It is in good repair, and has still its massive teak 
 folding-doors clenched with iron studs, and with the low-browed 
 wicket in the middle, like an English castle or college. 
 
 The most striking differences between the English and Asiatic 
 gothic, lie in the broad projecting stone cornices which adorn 
 the latter, and to which I recollect no counterpart in Europe, 
 though something approaching to them may be found in the heavy 
 but picturesque eaves of the Florentine palaces, and though they 
 are pretty closely imitated in wood, in some of our old English 
 black-and-white houses. In their gate-ways, likewise, and most 
 other of their buildings, they avoid all those flanking projections, 
 round or octagonal turrets and stair-cases, which our ancient 
 English architects were so fond of;, and, instead of these, cut off 
 the corners of their buildings into an octagonal form. There is 
 good sense in both these variations. In a climate where every 
 breeze is precious, those projections, which are useful shelters in 
 England, would be only nuisances ; and the depth of shadow and 
 architectural effect of which they thus deprive themselves, is 
 supplied in a great degree by the projection of their kiosks and 
 cornices, which are, at the same time, extremely convenient in 
 a country so hot, and at certain seasons so rainy. There are two 
 or three courts within the palace, surrounded by ruinous build- 
 ings, with an appearance, at first sight, of meanness, but offering, 
 in detail, many beautiful specimens of architecture. The arches 
 here, however, are few of them gothic, being mostly of that kind 
 which is generally called Moorish, specimens of which may be 
 seen, if I recollect right, in Murphy’s prints of the Alhambra. 
 The columns are slender and octagonal. The arches semi-circular, 
 
GHAZEEPOOR. 
 
 233 
 
 but indented, and the bases of the columns are ornamented 
 with flowers and leaves which seem interposed between them 
 and their plinths. The tops of the windows are like those of the 
 arcades, but generally enclosed in a square tablet like what we 
 see in Tudor gothic, — the doors the same. The banqueting-house 
 is a very striking and beautiful building in the form of a cross, 
 open every way, and supported by a multitude of pillars and 
 arches, erected on an under-story of an octagonal form. Its 
 south-east side abuts immediately on a terrace rising from the 
 river ; the four projections of the cross seem calculated to answer 
 the double purpose of shading the octagonal centre, and giving 
 room for the attendants, music, &c., and the double line round 
 the centre is a deep trench, which used to be filled, we are told, 
 with rose-water, when the Nawab and his friends were feasting 
 in the middle, which still shows the remains of a beautiful blue, 
 red, and white Mosaic pavement. It is now used as a ware- 
 house to the custom-house, and the men with swords and shields 
 who yet mount guard there, are police peons. The building, 
 however, is in a rapid state of decay, though it still might be 
 restored, and, as a curious and beautiful object, is really worth 
 restoring. 
 
 I set off for Benares after breakfast, but made little progress, 
 both the stream, and, by an unfortunate chance, the wind, being 
 unfavourable. Ghazeepoor is celebrated throughout India for 
 the wholesomeness of its air, and the beauty and extent of its 
 rose-gardens. Perhaps these in a good degree arise from the same 
 cause, — the elevated level on which it stands, and the dryness of 
 its soil, which never retains the moisture, and after the heaviest 
 showers is in a very few hours fit to walk on with comfort. That 
 this must contribute to health is evident ; and 1 suppose, from all 
 which I have observed, that it must be favourable to the growth 
 of flowers. It is also another auspicious circumstance in the situ- 
 ation of the city and cantonment, that it has a noble reach of the 
 Tiver to the south-east, from which quarter the hot winds gene- 
 rally blow. Be this as it may, the English regiments removed 
 hither from the other stations, have always found their number of 
 deaths diminish from the Indian to the European ratio ; and the 
 apparent health of the inhabitants, both English and native, really 
 struck me as doing justice to the favourable reports of the air. 
 The country round is as flat as India generally is, and the roses 
 were not in bloom. There was, however, a very brilliant display 
 of flowers and flowering shrubs of other kinds in the different 
 lanes and hedges, as well as in the pleasure-grounds of the Euro- 
 pean residents. 
 
 The rose-fields, which occupy many hundred acres in the neigh- 
 bourhood, are described as, at the proper season, extremely 
 
 VoL. I. — 30 
 
234 
 
 ROSE-FIELDS. 
 
 beautiful. They are cultivated for distillation, and for making 
 “ attar.” Rose-water is both good and cheap here. The price 
 of a seer, or weight of 2lbs. (a large quart,) of the best, being 
 eight anas, or a shilling. The attar is obtained after the rose- 
 water is made, by setting it out during the night, and till sunrise 
 in the morning, in large open vessels exposed to the air, and then 
 skimming off the essential oil which floats at the top. The rose- 
 water which is thus skimmed bears a lower price than that which 
 is warranted with its cream entire, but Mr. Bayley said there is 
 very little perceptible difference. To produce one rupee’s weight 
 of attar, two hundred thousand well-grown roses are required. 
 The price, even on the spot, is extravagant, a rupee’s weight 
 being sold in the bazar (where it is often adulterated with sandal- 
 wood,) for 80 S. R., and at the English warehouse, where it is 
 warranted genuine, at 100 S. R. or £10! Mr. Melville, who 
 made some for himself one year, said he calculated that the rent 
 of the land and price of utensils really cost him at the rate of five 
 pounds for the above trifling quantity, without reckoning risk, 
 labour of servants, &c. 
 
 The whole district of Ghazeepoor is fertile in corn, pasture, 
 and fruit-trees. The population is great, and the mosques, and 
 Mussulmans in the shops and streets, are so numerous ,and there 
 are so few pagodas of any importance visible, that I thought I had 
 bidden adieu for the present to the followers of Brahma. Mr. 
 Melville, however, assured me, to my surprise, that it was in the 
 large towns only that the Mussulmans were numerous, and that, 
 taking the whole province together, they were barely an eleventh 
 part of the population, among the remainder of whom Hindooism 
 existed in all its strength and bigotry. Suttees are more abundant 
 here than even in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, but chiefly 
 confined to the lower ranks. The last yearly return amounted 
 to above forty, and there were several of which no account was 
 given to the magistrate. It has been, indeed, a singular omission 
 on the part of Government, that, though an ordinance has been 
 passed, commanding all persons celebrating a suttee to send in 
 notice of their intention to the nearest police officer, no punish- 
 ment has been prescribed for the neglect of this order, nor has it 
 ever been embodied in the standing regulations, so as to make it 
 law, or authorize a magistrate to commit to prison for contempt 
 of it. If Government mean their orders respecting the publicity 
 of suttees to be obeyed, they must give it the proper efficacy ; 
 while, if suttees are not under the inspection of the police, the 
 most horrible murders may be committed under their name. 
 This struck me very forcibly from two facts which were inci- 
 dentally told me. It is not necessary, it seems, for the widow 
 who offers herself, to burn actually with the body of her husband. 
 
SUTTEES. 
 
 235 
 
 His garments, his slippers, his walking-staff,— any thing which 
 has at any time been in his possession, will do as well. Brahmin 
 widows, indeed, are, by the Shaster, not allowed this privilege, 
 but must burn with the body or not at all. This, however, is 
 unknown or disregarded in the district of Ghazeepoor, and most 
 other regions of India. But the person of whom I was told was 
 no brahmin ; he was a labourer, who had left his family in a time 
 of scarcity, and had gone to live (as was believed) in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Moorshedabad, whence he had once, in the course 
 of several years, sent his wife a small sum of money from his 
 savings, by a friend who was going up the country. Such remit- 
 tances, to the honour of the labouring class in India, are usual, and 
 equally to their honour, when entrusted to any one to convey, are 
 very seldom embezzled. Some years after, however, when the 
 son of the absentee was grown up, he returned one day from a 
 fair at a little distance, saying he had heard bad news, and that a 
 man unknown had told him his father was dead. On this authority 
 the widow determined to burn herself, and it was judged sufficient 
 that an old garment of the supposed dead man should be burned 
 with her. Now, it is very plain how easily, if the son wanted to get 
 rid of his mother, he might have brought home such a story to 
 induce her to burn ; and it is also very plain, that whether she was 
 willing or no, he might carry her to the stake, and (if the police 
 are to take no cognizance of the matter) might burn her under 
 pretence of a suttee. How little the interference of neighbours 
 is to be apprehended in such cases, and how little a female death 
 is cared for, may appear by another circumstance which occurred 
 a short time ago at a small distance from the city of Ghazeepoor, 
 when, in consequence of a dispute which had taken place between 
 two small freeholders about some land, one of the contending 
 parties, an old man of seventy and upwards, brought his wife of 
 the same age to the field in question, forced her, with the assistance 
 of their children and relations, into a little straw hut built for the 
 purpose, and burned her and the hut together, in order that her 
 death might bring a curse on the soil, and her spirit haunt it after 
 death, so that his successful antagonist should never derive any 
 advantage from it. On some horror and surprise being expressed 
 by the gentleman who told me this case, one of the officers of his 
 court, the same, indeed, wffio had reported it to him, not as a hor- 
 rible occurrence, but as a proof how spiteful the parties had been 
 against each other, said very coolly, ‘‘ why not? — she was a very 
 old woman, — what use w^as she?” The old murderer was in 
 prison, but my friend said he had no doubt that his interference 
 in such a case between man and wife was regarded as singularly 
 vexatious and oppressive ; and he added, “ The truth is, so very 
 little value do these people set on their own lives, that we cannot 
 
236 
 
 CHARACTER OF HINDOOS. 
 
 wonder at their caring little for the life of another. The cases of 
 suicide which come before me, double those of suttees ; men, and 
 still more, women, throw themselves down wells, or drink poison, 
 for apparently the slightest reasons, generall}' out of some quarrel, 
 and in order that their blood may lie at their enemy’s door; and 
 unless the criminal in question had had an old woman at hand 
 and in his power, he was likely enough to have burned himself.” 
 Human sacrifices, as of children, are never heard of now in these 
 provinces, but it still sometimes happens that a leper is burnt or 
 buried alive ; and as these murders are somewhat blended also 
 with religious feeling, a leper being supposed to be accursed of 
 the gods, the Sudder Duwannee, acting on the same principle, 
 discourages, as I am told, all interference with the practice. The 
 best way, indeed, to abolish it, would be to establish lazar-houses, 
 where these poor wretches should be maintained, and, if possible, 
 cured, or at all events kept separate from the rest of the people, 
 a policy by which, more than any thing else, this hideous disease 
 has been extirpated in Europe. 
 
 All these stories have made a very painful impression on me. 
 If I live to return to Calcutta, it is possible that by conversation 
 with such of my friends as have influence, and by the help of 
 what additional knowledge I may have acquired during this tour, 
 I may obtain a remedy for some of them. And it is in order that 
 this anxiety may not pass away, but that I may really do some 
 little for the people among whom my lot is thrown, that I have 
 put down more fully the facts which have come to my knowledge. 
 I have on a former occasion noticed the opinions of most public 
 men in India, on the important question of putting down suttees 
 by authority. Whether this is attempted or not, it seems at 
 least highly necessary that the regulations should be enforced 
 which the Indian Government itself had declared desirable, and 
 that those instances which are really murder, on Hindoo as well 
 as Christian principles, should not escape unpunished. Of the 
 natural disposition of the Hindoo, I still see abundant reason to 
 think highly ; and Mr. Bayley and Mr. Melville both agreed 
 with me, that they are constitutionally kind-hearted, industrious, 
 sober, and peaceable, at the same time that they show themselves, 
 on proper occasions, a manly and courageous people. All that 
 is bad about them appears to arise either from the defective 
 motives which their religion supplies, or the wicked actions which 
 it records of their gods, or encourages in their own practice. 
 Yet it is strange to see, though this is pretty generally allowed, 
 how slow men are to admit the advantage or necessity of propa- 
 gating Christianity among them. Crimes unconnected with 
 religion are not common in Ghazeepoor. There are affrays, 
 but such as arise out of disputes between Mohammedan and 
 
HINDOO LAW OFFICERS. 
 
 237 
 
 Hindoo processions at the time of the Mohurrun, in which blood 
 is sometimes drawn. The police is numerous and effective, and 
 the Thannadars, &c. though they had been here also, in the first 
 instance, forgotten in the perpetual settlement, have been better 
 provided for since, than those of Bahar; but the tenants on the 
 small and divided estates in these provinces, are worse off than 
 those on the larger properties in Bahar. Estates here are seldom 
 large, and the holdings very minute. 
 
 The language spoken by the common people is Hindoostanee, 
 of a very corrupt kind. The good “ Oordoo” is chiefly confined 
 to the army and courts of justice. When a person under exami- 
 nation once answered in it with unusual fluency and propriety, 
 Mr. Melville’s native chief officer said, with a sagacious nod, 
 “ That fellow talks good Oordoo ! He has been in prison before 
 to-day!” All legal writings, records, &c. are in Persian, a rule 
 which Mr. Melville thinks good. Persian holding in India the 
 place of Latin in Europe, in consequence of this regulation, all 
 the higher officers of the courts are educated persons. Persian 
 is, as a language, so much superior in clearness and brevity to 
 Hindoostanee, that business is greatly facilitated by employing it; 
 and since even Oordoo itself is unintelligible to a great part of 
 the Hindoos, there is no particular reason for preferring it to the 
 more polished language. The honesty of the Hindoo law-officers 
 is spoken very ill of ; they seem to become worse the nearer 
 they approach the seat of justice. The reason perhaps is not 
 hard to discover ; they are in situations where they may do a 
 great deal of mischief: their regular salaries are wretchedly 
 small, a part even of these arise from fees often oppressive and 
 difficult to obtain, and they are so much exposed to getting a 
 bad name even while they exact merely what is their due, that 
 they become careless of reputation, and anxious by all underhand 
 means to swell their profits. Much evil arises in India from the 
 insufficient manner in which the subaltern native servants of 
 Government are paid. In the case of the town duties, a toll- 
 keeper, through whose hands the dues of half a district pass, re- 
 ceives as his own share three rupees a month ! For this he has to 
 keep a regular account, to stop every boat or hackery, to search 
 them in order to prevent smuggling, and to bear the abuse and 
 curses of all his neighbours. What better could be expected 
 from such a man, but that he should cheat both sides, withholding 
 from his employers a large portion of the sums which he receives, 
 and extracting from the poor country-people, in the shape of 
 presents, surcharges, expedition and connivance-money, a far 
 greater sum than he is legally entitled to demand ? 
 
 September 1. — We advanced this day across the river by the 
 aid of a favourable wind, which just lasted long enough to induce 
 
238 
 
 CHUCKEEPOOR. 
 
 me to decline a very kind invitation sent by Mr. Bayley and Mr. 
 Melville to return to them (being still within sight of Ghazeepoor) 
 and proceed by Dak on Friday afternoon. The wind, however, 
 was of considerable service, since the place where we now w^ere, 
 Zermineeh, is famous for the time w^hich boats are often detained 
 there. After crossing the river, we proceeded a very little way 
 against the stream. 
 
 September % — In addition to the stream, we had now the wind 
 against us, but notwithstanding were dragged on with much 
 difficulty six or eight miles, as far as a village named Chuckee- 
 poor, where further progress, without great additional help, be- 
 came impossible, the banks being high, steep, and crumbling, and 
 the river perilously rapid. There were at least twenty vessels 
 of different sizes already set fast and moored, a little a-head of us, 
 waiting for a westerly wind. I therefore sent to the Jemautdar 
 of Chuckeepoor to desire him to hire fifty men for the next day, 
 to pull the boats past the difficulty, and, since Mohammed con- 
 fessed that he now saw no chance of the pinnace reaching Benares 
 before Sunday evening, to hire bearers also to carry me to Seid- 
 poor, on the regular Dak road, where I felt convinced that my 
 Ghazeepoor friends, knowing how the wind was, would have 
 relays stationed for me. The Corries arrived at the same point a 
 little before me, as in tracking, a budgerow, even of the heaviest 
 kind, has an advantage over a vessel with sails and rigging. 
 
 September 3. — Forty-five men attended this morning, of whom 
 some were dispersed among the other boats, but with the addition 
 of her crew, the Cora had forty men at the drag-line ; of these 
 we had two, lest one should break, both new and strong ones. 
 This was a necessary precaution, because if the tow-line breaks, 
 the boat is in considerable danger. The country-people said, 
 that they had seen a budgerow literally dashed to pieces the year 
 before in the very place where we were lying. The people were 
 saved with great difficulty, but every thing on board was lost, and 
 hardly two planks of the boat remained together. The stream 
 is indeed like that of a cataract, and the bank so high and crum- 
 bling, that the trackers work at a great disadvantage, as they dare 
 not come close to the edge, and have to wind their way through 
 trees and brushwood, and among the pillars of an old pagoda. 
 At length, having occupied four hours in advancing nine miles, 
 the current becoming slacker, the boatmen said they could get on 
 without further help. 1 therefore dismissed my labourers, well 
 satisfied with a present of four rupees to be divided among them, 
 and set out on my first dak journey. I had twelve bearers, the 
 road between this place and Seidpoor lying through fields and 
 broken country, a double number being, as I was assured, neces- 
 sary, particularly as it was not certain that I should find a relief 
 
DAK JOURNEY—SEIDPOOR. 
 
 239 
 
 on this side Benares, a distance of 24 English miles. I had my 
 clothes and writing-desk in two petarrahs, (a sort of wicker box,) 
 which one man carried slung on a bamboo across his shoulders, 
 my mate-bearer to run with me, and, besides light refreshments, 
 I was told to take my pistols. Such is the usual style in which 
 dak journeys are made in India ; and it may serve as an addi- 
 tional proof of the redundant population and cheapness of labour, 
 that this number of bearers are obtained for such severe and un- 
 pleasant work, at about 12s. for the stage, varying from 6 to 12 
 miles. The men set out across the meadows at a good round trot 
 of about 4 miles an hour, grunting all the way like paviours in 
 England, a custom which, like paviours, they imagine eases them 
 under their burthen. The road, however, soon became too uneven 
 for a rapid progress, and we were above three hours in reaching 
 Seidpoor, a distance of 8 miles. There were indeed some diffi- 
 cult fords by the way, owing to the late rain, and no better road 
 than the paths leading from one village to another. The Ganges 
 was in sight almost all the time, though our course lay a little 
 inlsPnd. The country is fertile and populous, with a good deal 
 of fine timber, but very few palms ; the cultivation chiefly of 
 millet, pulse, and Indian corn. In coming to any deep nullah, 
 or steep bank, the bearers displayed considerable adroitness in 
 supporting their burthen. Only four can usually put their shoul- 
 ders to a palanquin at the same time. But those who were not 
 under the poles thrust stout bamboos under the bottom of the 
 palanquin, and took hold of the ends on each side, so that the 
 strength of six men more was, for the time, brought into action. 
 They required indeed such aid, since the road was certainly far 
 from good, while the bearers were not a very stout set, and pro- 
 bably were agricultural labourers, not in the habit of dak travel- 
 ling. The motion is neither violent nor unpleasant. It is incessant, 
 however, and renders it impossible to draw, and not very conve- 
 nient to read, except a large print. 
 
 Seidpoor I found a little country town, with very narrow 
 streets, having verandah’d ranges of shops on each side ; the 
 houses generally one story above the ground, built of clay, with 
 red tile roofs, and extremely projecting eaves. There were a 
 little old mosque and a pagoda, both of stone. The latter, like 
 most in this neighbourhood, was surmounted by a sort of pyra- 
 midal spire, which, seen amidst the tall peepul trees, by which it 
 was surrounded and overtopped, gave the place some little air 
 of an English village. I made the men set me down under the 
 shade of the peepul trees, and sent my bearer to the dak-master 
 of the place. A very good looking young man soon made his 
 appearance, with pretty much the air of a smart young farmer, 
 who had a commission in a volunteer corps. His dress was the 
 
240 
 
 DAK JOURNEY. 
 
 common shirt and cummerbund, but his turban was very neat, 
 he had embroidered shoes, his sword, the mark of his office, was 
 tied with a military belt round his waist, and had a silver-hilt 
 and red scabbard, and his beard was trimmed very sprucely, a la 
 militaire. He was followed by two police burkandazes, with 
 their usual equipment of sword and shield, and a number of 
 bearers, whom, he said, the dak-wala, being obliged to go from 
 home, had left ready for me, by his orders, in consequence of a 
 letter he had received from Mr. Melville. He was, he added 
 with a low bow, the jemautdar at my service, and asked if I 
 wished either himself or his men to guard me. 1 thanked him, 
 but said this was quite unnecessary ; but he replied, he would, 
 however, see me through the town, and, in fact, was of consider- 
 able use in clearing the way through the baskets, bags, and 
 hackeries of a small but crowded market-place. He had brought 
 eight bearers, beside two more with a sort of flambeau, wrapped 
 up in coarse canvass painted red and white, useless enough in 
 the middle of the day, but who always accompany dak travellers. 
 
 We set off at the same round-trot as before, but along a rrmch 
 better road, being smooth, wide, and straight, through corn-fields 
 and meadows, with an evident, though abortive attempt, to rear 
 a row of young trees on each side. The English magistrates of 
 India are fond, and with reason, of such avenues, and many have 
 been planted of late years ; the young trees are each of them 
 surrounded with low mud-banks by way of fence, but the pre- 
 caution appears very often insufficient to save them from the 
 cows, and, still more, the goats of the common people. After 
 proceeding about four miles, we came to the ferry of the Goomty, 
 which is, at this time of the year, a considerable river. I expected 
 to be delayed here, but nothing of the kind occurred. The boat, 
 a broad and substantial one, had a platform of wood covered 
 with clay across its middle. The palanquin, with me in it, was 
 placed on this with its length athwart the vessel, the mangee 
 steered, and some of the dak-bearers took up oars, so that we 
 were across in a very short time. Two men, mounted on camels, 
 were at the same time endeavouring to ford the stream. I saw 
 them making a long circuit among some marshy islands, but did 
 not witness their ulterior progress. They crossed, however, for 
 they overtook me at the next village. 
 
 About three o’clock we came to a pleasant village with a good 
 bazar and some fine bamboos, where I determined to wait for my 
 baggage, which had fallen behind. I sate accordingly in the 
 shade, amused by the usual little sights and occurrences of a 
 village, and only diflering in the costume and complexion of the 
 people from what one might have seen in England. Several 
 country lasses passed with their kedgeree pots of water on their 
 
DAK JOURNEY, 
 
 241 
 
 heads, their arms loaded with alternate rings of silver and red lac, 
 their bare ankles also in silver shackles, their foreheads dyed red, 
 and their noses and ears disfigured by monstrous rings of the same 
 metal. A set of little naked boys suspended their play at a sort 
 of prison-bars, and came near to look at me ; the two camels, which 
 I had passed, came slowly up the street, and a little boy smartly 
 dressed, and mounted on a very pretty pony, I suppose the son 
 of the Zemindar, came out to take his evening ride, conducted by 
 an old rustic-looking saees, with a leading rein. At length a 
 young man in a sort of Cossac military dress, and with a sabre by 
 his side, ran out in a great hurry from a little shop, and with an 
 air and manner which well became one who had been passing 
 some time in an ale-house, asked me if 1 knew any thing of the 
 “ Lord Padre Sahib.” On telling him I was the person, he 
 checked “ his faltering voice and visage incomposed,” joined his 
 hands, and gave me the “ buhoot salaam” of Mr. Brooke, that he 
 had charged him to go and meet me, to let me know that dinner 
 was at four o’clock, to ask whether he could be of any use to me, 
 and if not, to bring back word how soon 1 might be expected, and 
 if there were any gentlemen with me. 1 told him I was waiting 
 for my baggage and servant, on which he ran off as if he were 
 “ demented,” and pulling out a trooper’s horse from under a shed, 
 scampered away towards the Goomty, with a zeal which made 
 my bearers burst into a laugh. He returned, however, almost 
 immediately, having met some farmers, who, seated on their little 
 ponies, with their coarse cotton mantles over one shoulder, and 
 their long naked legs and broad feet thrust into short rope stir- 
 rups, were returning, I believe, from Seidpoor market, and who, 
 as well as the camel riders, who now came up, assured me that 
 no petarrahs or servant had yet crossed the ferry. The horseman 
 now begged his dismissal, that he might carry the news of my 
 approach to Mr. Brooke, and asked again whether I should be 
 there to dinner. At this question, which, considering what he 
 had said before was absurd enough, the bearers again laughed, and 
 1 begged him to tell Mr, Brooke, with my salaam, that I hoped 
 to be at his house before night, on which he set along the 
 Benares road at full gallop. 
 
 I was a good deal annoyed at the non-appearance of my lug- 
 gage, till one of the camel men told me that it was quite safe, for 
 he had seen it, before he left Seidpoor, under the care of the 
 jemautdar, who had been unable to get bearers for it. I therefore 
 again set out, and was soon after greeted by a second trooper, an 
 elderly man, with a long beard dyed a carotty red, which made a 
 whimsical contrast with his dusky skin, but which, as I afterwards 
 learned, is no infrequent piece of foppery in Asia with those who 
 do not think the “ hoary head a crown of glory.” For his services 
 
 VoL. I.— 31 
 
242 
 
 SECROLE. 
 
 I found I was indebted to the kindness of Mr. Macleod, the ma- 
 gistrate of Benares, and, either naturally or accidently, I found 
 him a much clearer-headed fellow than the other. He offered to 
 go on to Seidpoor to inquire about my baggage, till I told him it 
 had been left in the care of the jemautdar. “ Good, he is a good 
 man,” said he ; “ but as night is coming on I will tell the burkandaz 
 of this village to go to meet it at the Goomty, and bring it safe on 
 to the next dak-house, where we can give further orders, and I 
 will soon overtake your honour.” These mounted gens d’armes 
 are the usual attendants of magistrates of the higher rank in all 
 the Upper Provinces, who have also an apparatus of spears in their 
 train, more imposing, in my eyes, than all the silver sticks of 
 Calcutta. 
 
 At the dak-house, where I arrived about dusk, Mr. Macleod’s 
 kindness had stationed bearers, and mussaulchies, whose lights 
 were now really useful. Mr. Brooke, too, had stationed four 
 burkandazes, with swords and shields, to see me safe and show 
 me the way, so that my last stage, which lay chiefly through a 
 wide avenue of tall trees, was very picturesque, from the various 
 tints and groups seen by the light of the flambeaux, the sabres, 
 the whiskers, turbans, and naked limbs of my bearers, guards, 
 and conductors. We left Benares considerably to the left, in 
 order to reach Mr. Brooke’s house at Secrole. Mr. Brooke has 
 been fifty-six years in India, being the oldest of the Company’s 
 resident servants. He is a very fine healthy old man, his manners 
 singularly courteous and benevolent, and his tone, in speaking 
 Hindoostanee and Persian, such as marks a man who has been in 
 the habit of conversing much with natives of high rank. Though 
 1 was his guest, I was not in his house, but in one he had bor- 
 rowed from Dr. Yeld, the surgeon of the station, a very good 
 house, and extremely well qualified either for lodging guests or 
 giving entertainments. 
 
 At dinner to-day were, besides Dr. Yeld, only Mr. Frazer and 
 Mr. Macleod, whose care of me on the road I mentioned, and 
 whom I had met at Ghazeepoor. I remember to have known him 
 by sight in^Uxford, as rather my junior, and a great friend of 
 Wilson, since well known as author of the “ City of the Plague.” 
 I now find him a very agreeable and well-informed man, less 
 altered, I think, in exterior, than most of my college contempo- 
 raries. On the whole the day was a very interesting one, and the 
 details of my little journey, though unmarked by any important 
 event, had introduced me to scenes and situations which were 
 new to me, and which I have not been sorry to write down while 
 the effect of the first impression remains unpalled by repetition. 
 Mr. Frazer is chaplain of this station, and, I am told, extremely 
 popular and exemplary. 
 
SECROLE. 
 
 243 
 
 September 4. — This morning was chiefly passed in arranging 
 with Mr. Frazer, Mr. Morris the Church Missionary, and other 
 gentlemen, the ceremonies of the following day. In order to give 
 the persons confirmed an early opportunity of receiving the com- 
 munion, it was desirable that the confirmation should, as at Dacca, 
 precede the consecration of the church. This evening was the 
 time first fixed on by me for the former, but it was found that the 
 Mohammedan fast of the Mohurrun, now just terminating, which 
 always concludes with processions, firing guns, beating drums and 
 other music, would make it impossible for anybody to hear what 
 was said, inasmuch as the principal processions pass usually close 
 to the church-yard. It was therefore at length determined, as the 
 only arrangement suited to the circumstances of the time and 
 climate, that the morning prayer and confirmation service, with- 
 out the communion, should be read at seven o’clock on Sunday 
 morning, and that the church should be consecrated and the com- 
 munion administered at seven o’clock the same evening. 
 
 September 5 . — At six this morning I attended the Hindoostanee 
 place of worship, a small but neat chapel, built by a subscription 
 raised when Mr. Corrie was here, and under his auspices. The 
 congregation consisted of about thirty grown persons, and twelve 
 or fourteen children. Mr. Morris, the Church Missionary, read 
 the morning service, litany, and commandments, from the Hin- 
 doostanee compendium of our liturgy, which unfortunately is as 
 yet without the Psalms. I gave the benediction for the first time 
 in Hindoostanee, and then hastened to the church which 1 found 
 a small but very neat building. The candidates for confirmation 
 were thirty, of whom four were young artillery-men, and fourteen 
 native Christians. To the latter I repeated the question, and 
 pronounced the benediction, in Hindoostanee. The case of one 
 of these men had occasioned me some perplexity the day before, 
 when Mr. Morris stated it to me; but I had now made up my 
 mind. He was a convert of Mr. Corrie’s, and six years ago 
 married a woman who then professed herself a Christian, but soon 
 afterwards ran away from him and turned Mussulman, in which 
 profession she was now living with another man. The husband 
 had applied to the magistrate to recover her, but, on the woman 
 declaring that she was no Christian, and did not choose to be the 
 wife of one, he said he could not compel her. The husband, in 
 consequence, about two years ago applied to Mr. F razer to marry 
 him to another woman. Mr. Frazer declined doing so, as no 
 divorce had taken place; on which he took the woman without 
 marriage, and had now two children by her. For this he had 
 been repelled from the communion by Mr. Morris, but still con- 
 tinued to frequent the church, and was now very anxious for con- 
 firmation. After some thought, I came to the conclusion that the 
 
244 
 
 MISSION SCHOOL. 
 
 man should be reproved for the precipitancy with which he had 
 formed his first connection, and the scandal which he had since 
 occasioned ; but that he might be admitted both to confirmation 
 and the communion, and might be married to the woman who 
 now held the place of a wife to him. It seemed a case to which 
 St, Paul’s rule applied, that if an unbelieving husband or wife 
 choose to depart, on religious grounds, from their believing part- 
 ner, this latter was, in consequence, free. At all events, as the 
 runaway woman was, if a wife, living in open adultery, it was 
 plain that he had a right to “ put her away.” Though the laws 
 of the country provided him no remedy, yet, as a matter of con- 
 science, this right might be fitly determined on by his religious 
 guides ; and I conceived myself warranted to declare him divorced 
 and at liberty to marry again. My determination, I found, gave 
 great satisfaction to Mr. Frazer and Mr. Morris, both of whom 
 said, that without some such permission the state of new converts 
 would be often very hard, and that the usual remedies supplied 
 by the canon law would be, to men in such circumstances, utterly 
 unattainable. I had some conversation with the man, who spoke 
 a little English, and saw no reason to repent my decision, since 
 I found him tolerably well informed in the principles of Chris- 
 tianity, and, to all appearance, earnest in its profession. 
 
 We dined between services. In the evening the church was 
 extremely full, and there were, I think, fifty communicants, almost 
 all who had been confirmed attending. To the natives I gave the 
 communion, with the accompanying words, in their own language. 
 
 September 6. — I went this morning with Mr. Frazer to the 
 Mission School in the city, which is kept in a large house well 
 adapted for the purpose, and made over to the Church Missionary 
 Society, together with other tenements adjoining, by a rich Ben- 
 galee baboo, not long since dead in Benares, whom Mr. Corrie 
 had almost persuaded to become a Christian, but who at length 
 appears to have settled in a sort of general admiration of the 
 beauty of the gospel, and a wish to improve the state of know- 
 ledge and morality among his countrymen. In these opinions he 
 seems to have been followed by his son, Calisunker Gossant, now 
 living, and also a liberal benefactor to this and other establish- 
 ments for national education in India. The house is a native 
 dwelling, containing on the ground-floor several small low rooms, 
 in which are the junior classes, and, above, one large and lofty 
 hall supported by pillars, where the Persian and English classes 
 meet, besides a small room for a library. The boys on the esta- 
 blishment are about 140, under the care of &n English school- 
 master, assisted by a Persian Moonshee, and two Hindoostanee 
 writing-masters, the whole under the inspection of a catechist, 
 Mr. Adlington, a clever young man, and a candidate for orders. 
 
BENARES. 
 
 245 
 
 ♦ 
 
 The boys read Oordoo, Persian, and English before me extremely 
 well, and answered questions both in English and Hindoostanee 
 with great readiness. The English books they read were the 
 New Testament, and a compendium of English history. They 
 also displayed great proficiency in writing (Nagree, Persian, and 
 English), arithmetic, in which their multiplication table extended 
 to 100x100, geography, and the use of the globes. To judge 
 from their dress, they were mostly belonging to the middling class 
 of life. Many, I think the majority, had the brahminical string. 
 
 I asked the catechist and schoolmaster if any of these boys or 
 their parents objected to their reading the New Testament. They 
 answered that they had never heard any objection made, nor had 
 the least reason to believe that any was felt. The boys, they 
 said, were very fond of the New Testament, and 1 can answer 
 for their understanding it. I wish a majority of English school- 
 boys might appear equally well-informed. The scene was a very 
 interesting one ; there were present the patron of the school, 
 Calisimker Gossant, a shrewd and rather ostentatious, but a well- 
 mannered baboo, his second son, a fine and well-educated young 
 man, Mr. Macleod and Mr. Prinsep, the magistrates of the place, 
 both very acute critics in Hindoostanee and Persian, some ladies, 
 and a crowd of swords, spears, and silver-sticks on the stair-case, 
 (whose bearers, by the way, seemed to take as much interest as 
 any of us in what was going on.) One, however, of the most 
 pleasing sights of all, was the calm but intense pleasure visible on 
 Archdeacon Corrie’s face, whose efforts and influence had first 
 brought this establishment into activity, and who now, after an 
 interval of several years, was witnessing its usefulness and pros- 
 peritj^ 
 
 In our way to and from the school I had an opportunity of 
 seeing something of Benares, which is a very remarkable city, 
 more entirely and characteristically eastern than any which I 
 have yet seen, and at the same time altogether different from any 
 thing in Bengal. No Europeans live in the town, nor are the 
 streets wide enough for a wheel-carriage. Mr. Frazer’s gig was 
 stopped short almost in its entrance, and the rest of the way was 
 passed in tonjons, through alleys so crowded, so narrow, and so 
 winding, that even a tonjon sometimes passed with difficulty. 
 The houses are mostly lofty, none I think less than two stories, 
 most of three, and several of five or six, a sight which I now for 
 the first time saw in India. The streets, like those of Chester, 
 are considerably lower than the ground-floors of the houses, which 
 have mostly arched rows in front, with little shops behind them. 
 Above these, the houses are richly embellished with verandahs, 
 galleries, projecting oriel windows, and very broad and overhang- 
 ing eaves, supported by carved brackets. The number of temples 
 
246 
 
 RELIGIOUS MENDICANTS. 
 
 • 
 
 is very great, mostly small and stuck like shrines in the angles of 
 the streets, and under the shadow of the lofty houses. Their 
 forms, however, are not ungraceful, and they are many of them 
 entirely covered over with beautiful and elaborate carvings of 
 flowers, animals, and palm branches, equalling in minuteness and 
 richness the best specimens that I have seen of Gothic or Grecian 
 architecture. The material of the buildings is a very good stone 
 from Chunar, but the Hindoos here seem fond of painting them a 
 deep red colour, and, indeed, of covering the more conspicuous 
 parts of their houses with paintings in gaudy colours of flower- 
 pots, men, women, bulls, elephants, gods, and goddesses, in all 
 their maiiy-formed, many-headed, many-handed, and many-wea- 
 poned varieties. The sacred bulls devoted to Siva, of every age, 
 tame and familiar as mastiffs, walk lazily up and down these 
 narrow streets, or are seen lying across them, and hardly to be 
 kicked up (any blows, indeed, given them must be of the gentlest 
 kind, or wo be to the profane wretch who braves the prejudices 
 of this fanatic population) in order to make way for the tonjon. 
 Monkeys sacred to Hunimaun, the divine ape who conquered 
 Ceylon for Rama, are in some parts of the town equally nume- 
 rous, clinging to all the roofs and little projections of the temples, 
 putting their impertinent heads and hands into every fruiterer’s 
 or confectioner’s shop, and snatching the food from the children 
 at their meals. Faqueer’s houses, as they are called, occur at 
 every turn, adorned with idols, and sending out an unceasing 
 tinkling and strumming of vinas, biyals, and other discordant 
 instruments, while religious mendicants of every Hindoo sect, 
 offering every conceivable deformity, which chalk, cow-dung, 
 disease, matted locks, distorted limbs, and disgusting and hideous 
 attitudes of penance can show, literally line the principal streets 
 on both sides. The number of blind persons is very great, (I was 
 going to say of lepers also, but I am not sure whether the appear- 
 ance on the skin may not have been filth and chalk,) and here I 
 saw repeated instances of that penance of which I had heard 
 much in Europe, of men with their legs or arms voluntarily dis- 
 torted by keeping them in one position, and their hands clenched 
 till the nails grew out at the backs. Their pitiful exclamations 
 as we passed, ‘‘ Agha Sahib,” “ Topee Sahib,” (the usual names 
 in Hindustan for an European) “ khana ke waste kooch cheez 
 do,” “ give me something to eat,” soon drew from me what few 
 pice I had, but it was a drop of water in the ocean, and the im- 
 portunities of the rest, as we advanced into the city, were almost 
 drowned in the hubbub which surrounded us. Such are the sights 
 and sounds which greet a stranger on entering this “ the most 
 Holy City” of Hindostan, “ the Lotus of the world, not founded 
 on common earth, but on the point of Siva’s trident,” a place so 
 
AMRUT ROW. 
 
 247 
 
 blessed that whoever dies here, of whatever sect, even though he 
 should be an eater of beef, so he will hut he charitahle to the poor 
 hrahmins^ is sure of salvation. It is, in fact, this very holiness 
 which makes it the common resort of beggars ; since, besides the 
 number of pilgrims, which is enormous, from every part of India, 
 as well as from Thibet and the Birman empire, a great multitude 
 of rich individuals in the decline of life, and almost all the great 
 men who are from time to time disgraced or banished from home 
 by the revolutions which are continually occurring in the Hindoo 
 states, come hither to wash away their sins, or to fill up their 
 vacant hours with the gaudy ceremonies of their religion, and 
 really give away great sums in profuse and indiscriminate charity. 
 Amrut Row, for a short period of his life Peishwa of the Maha- 
 rattas, and since enjoying a large pension from our Government 
 in addition to a vast private fortune, was one of the chief of these 
 almsgivers. On his name-day, that is, in Hindostan, the day on 
 which his patron god is worshipped, he annually gave a seer of 
 rice and a rupee to every brahmin, and every blind or lame per- 
 son who applied between sun-rise and sun-set. He had a large 
 garden a short distance from the city with four gates, three of 
 which were set open for the reception of the three different classes 
 of applicants, and the fourth for the Peishwa and his servants to 
 go backwards and forwards. On each person receiving his dole, 
 he was shown into the garden, where he was compelled to stay 
 during the day lest he should apply twice, hut he had shade, 
 water, company, and idols enough to make a Hindoo (who seldom 
 eats till sun-set) pass his time very pleasantly. The sums dis- 
 tributed on these occasions are said to have in some instances 
 amounted to above 50,000 rupees. His annual charities alto- 
 gether averaged, 1 was informed, probably three times that amount. 
 He died the second night of my residence at Secrole ; Mr. Brooke 
 said he was really a good and kind man, religious to the best of 
 his knowledge, and munificent, not from ostentation hut principle. 
 There are yet, I understand, some living instances of splendid 
 bounty among the Hindoos of Benares, indeed Calisunker is no 
 bad specimen, and on the whole my opinion of the people im- 
 proves, though it was never so unfavourable as that of many good 
 men in Calcutta. “ God,” I yet hope and believe, in the midst 
 of the awful and besotted darkness which surrounds me, and of 
 which, as well as its miserable consequences, 1 am now more 
 sensible than ever, “ God may have much people in this city!” 
 By the time the examination at the school was over, the sun 
 was too high to admit of our penetrating further into these 
 crowded streets. Close to the school, however, was a fine house 
 belonging to two minors, the sons of a celebrated baboo, who 
 had made a vast fortune as Dewan to some Europeans high in 
 
248 
 
 NATIVE’S HOUSE. 
 
 office, as well as to some natives of rank resident in and near 
 Benares, which we had time to see. It was a striking building, 
 and had the advantage, very unusual in Benares, of having a 
 vacant area of some size before the door, which gave us an op- 
 portunity of seeing its architecture. It is very irregular, built 
 round a small court, two sides of which are taken up by the 
 dwelling-house, the others by offices. The house is four lofty 
 stories high, with a tower over the gate of one story more. The 
 front has small windows of various forms, some of them project- 
 ing on brackets and beautifully carved, and a great part of the 
 wall itself is covered with a carved pattern of sprigs, leaves, and 
 flowers, like an old fashioned paper. The whole is of stone, but 
 painted a deep red. The general effect is by no means unlike 
 some of the palaces at Venice as represented in Canaletti’s 
 views. We entered a gateway similar to that of a college, with 
 a groined arch of beautifully rich carving, like that on the roof 
 of Christ Church great gateway, though much smaller. On each 
 side is a deep richly carved recess, like a shrine, in which are 
 idols with lamps before them, the household gods of the family. 
 The court is crowded with plantains and rose-trees, with a raised 
 and ornamented well in its centre ; on the left-hand a narrow 
 and steep flight of stone steps, the meanest part of the fabric, 
 without balustrades, and looking like the approach to an English 
 granary, led to the first story. At their foot we were received 
 by the two young heirs, stout little fellows of thirteen and twelve, 
 escorted by their uncle, an immensely fat brahmin pundit, who 
 is the spiritual director of the family, and a little shrewd-looking, 
 smooth spoken, but vulgar and impudent man, who called himself 
 their Moonshee. They led us up to the show-rooms, which are 
 neither large nor numerous ; they are, however, very beautifully 
 carved, and the principal of them, which occupies the first-floor 
 of the gateway, and is a square with a gothic arcade round it, 
 struck me as exceedingly comfortable. The centre, about fifteen 
 feet square, is raised and covered with a carpet, serving as a 
 divan. The arcade round is flagged with a good deal of carving 
 and ornament, and is so contrived that on a very short notice, 
 four streams of water, one in the centre of each side, descend 
 from the roof like a permanent shower-bath, and fall into stone 
 basins sunk beneath the floor, and covered with a sort of open 
 fret-work, also of stone. These rooms were hung with a good 
 many English prints of the common paltry description which 
 was fashionable twenty years ago, of Sterne and poor Maria, (the 
 boys supposed this to be a doctor feeling a lady’s pulse,) the sor- 
 rows of Werter, &c. together with a daub of the present Emperor 
 of Delhi, and several portraits in oil of a much better kind, of 
 the father of these boys, some of his powerful native friends and 
 
FAMILY PAGODA. 
 
 249 
 
 employers, and of a very beautiful woman of European com- 
 plexion, but in an Eastern dress, of whom the boys knew nothing, 
 or would say nothing more than that the picture was painted for 
 their father by Lall-jee of Patna. I did not, indeed, repeat the 
 question, because I know the reluctance with which all Eastern 
 nations speak of their women, but it certainly had the appearance 
 of a portrait, and, as well as the old baboo’s picture, would have 
 been called a creditable painting in most gentlemen’s houses in 
 England. 
 
 I have, indeed, during the journey, been surprised at the pro- 
 gress which painting appears to have made of late years in India. 
 I was prepared to expect glowing colours, without drawing, per- 
 spective, or even shadow, resembling the illuminations in old 
 monkish chronicles, and in the oriental MSS. which are sometimes 
 brought to England. But at Sir C. D’Oyley’s, I saw several 
 miniatures of this same Lall-jee, dead some years since, and by 
 his son now alive, but of less renowned talent, which would have 
 done credit to any European artist, being distinguished by great 
 truth of colouring, as well as softness and delicacy. The portraits 
 which I now saw, were certainly not so good, but they were evi- 
 dently the works of a man well acquainted with the principles 
 of his art, and very extraordinary productions, considering that 
 Lall-jee had probably no opportunity of so much as seeing one 
 Italian picture. 
 
 Our little friends were very civil, and pressed us to stay for 
 breakfast, but it was already late. We looked, however, before 
 we went, at the family pagoda, which stood close to the house, 
 and was, though small, as rich as carving, painting, and gilding 
 could make it. The principal shrine was that of Siva, whose 
 emblem rose just seen amid the darkness of the inner sanctuary, 
 crowned with scarlet flowers, with lamps burning before it. In 
 front, and under the centre cupola, was the sacred bull richly 
 painted and gilt, in an attitude of adoration, and crowned likewise 
 ' with scarlet flowers, and over all hung a large silver bell, sus- 
 pended from the roof like a chandelier. I thought of the Glen- 
 doveer and Mount Calasay, but in the raree-show before me 
 there was nothing sublime or impressive. One of the boys in 
 the Mission school, whose quickness had attracted my notice, 
 and who appeared so well pleased with my praise that 1 found 
 him still sticking close to me, now came forward, showed his 
 brahminical string, and volunteered as cicerone, telling us in 
 tolerable English the history of the gods and goddesses on the 
 walls. The fat pundit seemed pleased with his zeal, but it was 
 well, perhaps, for the little urchin, that the corpulent padre did 
 not understand the language in which some of the remarks were 
 made. They opened my eyes more fully to a danger which had 
 
 VoL. h— 32 
 
250 
 
 SCHOOLS— BENARES. 
 
 before struck me as possible, that some of the boys brought up 
 in our schools might grow up accomplished hypocrites, playing 
 the part of Christians with us, and with their own people of 
 zealous followers of Brahma, or else that they would settle down 
 into a sort of compromise between the two creeds, allowing that 
 Christianity was the best for us, but that idolatry was necessary 
 and commendable in persons of their own nation. I talked with 
 Mr. Frazer and Mr. Morris on this subject in the course of the 
 morning ; they answered, that the same danger had been foreseen 
 by Mr. Macleod, and that in consequence of his representations 
 they had left off teaching the boys the Creed and the Ten Com- 
 mandments, as not desiring to expose them too early to a conflict 
 with themselves, their parents, and neighbours, but choosing 
 rather that the light should break on them by degrees, and when 
 they were better able to bear it. They said, however, that they 
 had every reason to think that all the bigger boys, and many of 
 the lesser ones, brought up at these schools, learned to despise 
 idolatry and the Hindoo faith less by any direct precept, for their 
 teachers never name the subject to them, and in the Gospels, 
 which are the only strictly religious books read, there are few if 
 any allusions to it, than from the disputations of the Mussulman 
 and Hindoo boys among themselves, from the comparison which 
 they soon learn to make between the system of worship which 
 they themselves follow and ours, and above all, from the enlarge- 
 ment of mind which general knowledge and the pure morality of 
 the Gospel have a tendency to produce. Many, both boys and 
 girls, have asked for baptism, but it has been always thought right 
 to advise them to wait till they had their parents’ leave, or were 
 old enough to judge for themselves ; and many have, of their own 
 accord, begun daily to use the Lord’s Prayer, and to desist from 
 showing any honour to the image. Their parents seem extremely 
 indifferent to their conduct in this respect. Prayer, or outward 
 adoration, is not essential to caste. A man may«believe what he 
 pleases, nay, I understand, he may almost say what he pleases, 
 without the danger of losing it ; and so long as they are not 
 baptized, neither eat nor drink in company with Christians or 
 Pariars, all is well in the opinion of the great majority, even in 
 Benares. The Mussulmans are more jealous, but few of their 
 children come to our schools, and with these there are so many 
 points of union, that nothing taught there is at all calculated to 
 offend them. 
 
 September 7. — This morning, accompanied by Mr. Macleod, 
 Mr. Prinsep, and Mr. Frazer, I again went into the city, which I 
 found peopled as before with bulls and beggars ; but what sur- 
 prised me still more than yesterday, as I penetrated further into 
 it, were the large, lofty, and handsome dwelling-houses, the beauty 
 
T3ENARES. 
 
 251 
 
 and apparent richness of the goods exposed in the bazars, and 
 the evident hum of business which was going on in the midst of all 
 this wretchedness and fanaticism. Benares is, in fact, a very 
 industrious and wealthy as well as a very holy city. It is the great 
 mart where the shawls of the north, the diamonds of the south, 
 and the muslins of Dacca and the eastern provinces, centre, and 
 it has very considerable silk, cotton, and fine woollen manufac- 
 tories of its own ; while English hardware, swords, shields, and 
 spears from Lucknow and Monghyr, and those European luxuries 
 and elegancies which are daily becoming more popular in India, 
 circulate from hence through Bundlecund, Gorruckpoor, Nepaul, 
 and other tracts which are removed from the main artery of the 
 Ganges. The population, according to a census made in 1803, 
 amounted to above 582,000, — an enormous amount, and which 
 one should think must have been exaggerated ; but it is the nearest 
 means we have of judging, and it certainly becomes less improba- 
 ble from the really great size of the town, and the excessively 
 crow^ded manner in which it is built. It is well drained, and stands 
 dry on a high rocky bank sloping to the river, to which circum- 
 stance, as well as to the frequent ablutions and great temperance 
 of the people, must be ascribed its freedom from infectious 
 diseases. Accordingly, notwithstanding its crowded population, 
 it is not an unhealthy city ; yet the only square, or open part in it, 
 is the new market-place, constructed by the present Government, 
 and about as large as the Peckwater Quadrangle in Oxford. 
 
 Our first visit was to a celebrated temple, named the Vishva- 
 yesa, consisting of a very small but beautiful specimen of carved 
 stone-work, and the place is one of the most holy in Hindostan, 
 though it only approximates to a yet more sacred spot adjoining, 
 which Aulum Gheer defiled, and built a mosque on it, so as to 
 render it inaccessible to the worshippers of Brahma. The temple- 
 court, small as it is, is crowded like a farm-yard with very fat and 
 very tame bulls, which thrust their noses into every body’s hand 
 and pocket for gram and sweetmeats, which their fellow-votaries 
 give them in great quantities. The cloisters are no less full of 
 naked devotees, as hideous as chalk and dung can make them, and 
 the continued hum of “ Ram ! Ram ! Ram ! Ram !” is enough to 
 make a stranger giddy. The place is kept very clean, however, — 
 indeed the priests seem to do little else than pour water over the 
 images and the pavement ; and 1 found them not merely willing, but 
 anxious to show me every thing, — frequently repeating that they 
 were Padres also, though it is true that they used this circumstance 
 as an argument for my giving them a present. Near this temple 
 is a well, with a small tower over it, and a steep flight of steps 
 for descending to the water, which is brought by a subterraneous 
 channel from the Ganges, and, for some reason or other, is 
 
25^2 
 
 OBSERVATORY. 
 
 accounted more holy than even the Ganges itself. Ail pilgrims 
 to Benares are enjoined to drink and wash here ; but a few years 
 ago, a quarrel having occurred between the Hindoo and Mussul- 
 man population of the town, arising from the two religious proces- 
 sions of the Mohurrun and Junma Osmee encountering each other, 
 the moslem mob killed a cow on this spot, and poured her blood 
 into the sacred water. The Hindoos retaliated by throwing 
 rashers of bacon into the windows of as many mosques as they 
 could reach ; but the matter did not end so : both parties took to 
 arms, several lives were lost, and Benares was in a state of uproar 
 for many hours, till the British Government came in with its 
 authority, and quelled the disturbance. 
 
 In another temple near those of which I have been speaking, 
 and which is dedicated to “ Unna Puma,” supposed to be the 
 “ Anna Perenna” of the Romans, a brahmin was pointed out to 
 me, who passes his whole day seated on a little pulpit about as 
 high and large as a dressing-table, only leaving it for his necessary 
 ablutions, and at night, though then he sleeps on the pavement 
 beside it. His constant occupation is reading or lecturing on the 
 Vedas. The latter he does to as many as will hear him, from 
 eight in the morning till four in the evening. He asks for nothing, 
 but a small copper basin stands by his pulpit, into which any one 
 who feels disposed may drop the alms on which only he subsists. 
 He is a little pale man, of an interesting countenance, which he 
 does not disfigure by such ostentatious marks of piety as are usual 
 here, and is said to be eloquent, as well as extremely learned in 
 the Sanscrit. 
 
 One of the most interesting and singular objects in Benares is 
 the ancient observatory, founded before the M ussulman conquest, 
 and still very entire, though no longer made any use of. It is a 
 stone building, containing some small courts, cloistered round for 
 the accommodation of the astronomers and their students, and a 
 large square tower, on which are seen a huge gnomon, perhaps 
 twenty feet high, with the arc of a dial in proportion, a circle 
 fifteen feet in diameter, and a meridional line, all in stone. These 
 are very far from being exact, but are interesting proofs of the 
 zeal with which science has at one time been followed in these 
 countries. There is a similar observatory at Delhi. 
 
 From the observatory we descended by a long flight of steps to 
 the water’s edge, where a boat was waiting for us. I had thus 
 an opportunity of seeing the whole city on its most favourable 
 side. It is really a very large place, and rises from the river 
 in an amphitheatrical form, thickly studded with domes and 
 minarets, with many very fine ghats descending to the water’s 
 edge, all crowded with bathers and worshippers. Shrines and 
 temples of various sizes, even within the usual limits of the river’s 
 
JAIN TEMPLE. 
 
 ■253 
 
 rise, almost line its banks. Some of these are very beautiful, 
 though all are small, and I was particularly struck with one very 
 elegant little structure, which was founded, as well as the ghat on 
 which it stands, by the virtuous Ali Bhaee. On rowing past this, 
 Mr. Princep said that he had, as a special favour, obtained per- 
 mission for me to see a Jain temple. These Jains are a body of 
 sectaries held in detestation by the Hindoos, but who agree with 
 them in their adoration of the Ganges, and in their esteem for 
 Benares. They are not very numerous, and are themselves 
 divided into two sects, who hold each other in great abhorrence, 
 and were recently in arms in the streets of Benares, and were 
 only parted by the same strenuous peace-makers who interfered 
 in the war of the cows and swine. Those who reside here are 
 chiefly from Bundlecund, and many of them very rich merchants, 
 who are exceedingly jealous of their religious mysteries, and had 
 never been known to admit strangers into the penetralia of their 
 temple. Mr. Princep had, however, called most good-naturedly 
 on the high-priest, and on one of the leading members of the con- 
 gregation, the day before, and had said so much about me, both 
 personally and ofiicially, that they offered to admit me, at first 
 alone, and at length relaxed so far as to receive him and Mr. 
 Macleod as interpreters. Mr. Frazer was not specially included, 
 but Mr. Prinsep did not doubt he might go too. The high-priest 
 is himself regarded as an incarnation of the deity. 
 
 After climbing a steep flight of steps, and threading a succession 
 of the narrowest alleys I ever saw, we arrived at the door of a 
 large and lofty but dingy house, at the top of which peeped out a 
 little gilt cupola. Here we climbed another steep stair-case, and 
 were received in a small but neat vestibule, without furniture, 
 except three or four chairs, and with a beautiful oriel window 
 looking on the river, by the priest, a tall, large man, with a very 
 shrewd and intelligent countenance. He begged us to be seated, 
 and observed he was sorry he could not converse with me in any 
 ' language which I was sufficiently acquainted with, to make me 
 understand all I should see. Two or three others, Jain merchants, 
 now entered, and the priest led us into a succession of six small 
 rooms, with an altar at the end of each, not unlike those in Roman 
 Catholic chapels, with a little niche on one side, resembling what 
 in such Churches they call the “ Piscina.” In the centre of each 
 room was a large tray with rice and ghee strongly perfumed, appa- 
 rently as an offering, and in two or three of them were men seated 
 on their heels on the floor, with their hands folded as in prayer 
 or religious contemplation. Over each of the altars was an altar- 
 piece, a large bas-relief in marble, containing the first, five, the 
 last in succession twenty-five figures, all of men sitting cross- 
 legged, one considerably larger than the rest, and represented as 
 
554 
 
 PURNAVESA. 
 
 a Negro. He, the priest said, was their god, the rest were the 
 different bodies which he had assumed at different epochs, when 
 he had become incarnate to instruct mankind. The doctrines 
 which he had delivered on these occasions make up their theology, 
 and the progress which any man has made in these mysteries, 
 entitles him to worship in one or more of the successive apart- 
 ments which were shown us. 
 
 They call their god, I think, Purnavesa^ but he is evidently 
 the same person as Buddha, being identified by his Negro features 
 and curled hair, and by the fact which the priest mentioned, that 
 he had many!worshippers in Pegu and Tibet. Yet when I asked 
 if he was the same with Buddha, he did not expressly allow it, 
 merely answering that his proper name was Pumavesa. Mr. 
 Prinsep asked one of the merchants, what was the difference 
 between their religion and that of some other persons whom he 
 named, and who are their religious opponents. The man coloured 
 up to the eyes, and said with bitterness, “ As much as between 
 the Hindoo and the Christian, as much as between the Christian 
 and the Mussulman.” “We worship the same God,” the priest 
 said more calmly, “ but they are ignorant how to worship him.” 
 Mr. Prinsep afterwards told me that the merchant to whom he 
 spoke had been one of the most active in the recent disturbance, 
 and had been “in trouble” on that account. On our return to 
 the vestibule, where we first entered, the priest expressed his 
 satisfaction at the interest which I had taken in their temple, 
 and the hope of his congregation and himself that 1 would accept 
 a trifling present from them. One of the laymen at this raised a 
 cloth, and displayed two large trays, one full of sweetmeats, fruit, 
 sugar, &c. the other of very handsome shawls. The latter were 
 far too valuable for me to accept with propriety, and I told them 
 that the first would be quite sufficient, and that it did not become 
 a priest to be greedy of costly apparel. I then picked out some 
 of the raisins, and begged them to send the fruit to Mr. Brooke’s, 
 but to excuse my taking the shawls. The merchants looked 
 heartily glad, I thought, that they were let off so easily, and 
 accompanied me down stairs with many compliments and offers 
 of service in any way that I would command them. With the 
 priest I had a friendly parting at the stair head. 
 
 There yet remained to be visited the mosque of Aurungzebe, 
 and the Vidalaya or Hindoo College, which fortunately both of 
 them lay pretty nearly in our direct way home. The former is a 
 handsome building in a very advantageous situation, but chiefly 
 remarkable for the view from its minarets, which are very lofty, 
 and derive still greater elevation from the hill on which they stand. 
 The day was not favourable, but we still saw a great distance. 
 The Himalaya range may, as I was told, be sometimes seen, but 
 
SELF-IMMOLATION. 
 
 255 
 
 nothing of the sort is now visible, nor any mountains at all in a 
 horizon of great extent. The ground, however, of this part of 
 Hindostan is not without inequalities, and though it is certainly 
 for the most part one immense plain, it is such a plain as one sees 
 in miniature in England or on the Continent of Europe, not such 
 a mere dead level as Bengal. The bank on which Benares itself 
 stands, is of some height, and there were several ridges of hills, as 
 at Chunar and other places within sight, which would fully rank 
 on a level with Hawkstone. 
 
 The whole country seems in cultivation, but less with rice than 
 wheat. The villages are numerous and large, but the scattered 
 dwellings few, and there is but little wood. Fuel is, conse- 
 quently, extremely dear, and to this circumstance is imputed the 
 number of bodies thrown into the river without burning. Suttees 
 are less numerous in Benares than many parts of India, but self- 
 immolation by drowning is very common. Many scores, every 
 year, of pilgrims from all parts of India, come hither expressly 
 to end their days and secure their salvation. They purchase two 
 large kedgeree pots, between which they tie themselves, and when 
 empty, these support their weight in the water. Thus equipped, 
 they paddle into the stream, then fill the pots with the water 
 which surrounds them, and thu5 sink into eternity. Government 
 have sometimes attempted to prevent this practice, but with no 
 other effect than driving the voluntary victims a little further down 
 the river ; nor indeed when a man has come several hundred 
 miles to die, is it likely that a police-officer can prevent him. 
 Instruction seems the only way in which these poor people 
 can be improved, and that, I trust, they will by degrees obtain 
 from us. 
 
 The Vidalaya is a large building divided into two courts, galle- 
 ried above and below, and full of teachers and scholars, divided 
 into a number of classes, who learn reading, writing, arithmetic, 
 (in the Hindoo manner) Persian, Hindoo law, and sacred literature, 
 ' Sanscrit, astronomy, (according to the Ptolemaic system) and 
 astrology ! There are two hundred scholars, some of whom of 
 all sorts came to say their lessons to me, though, unhappily, I was 
 myself able to profit by none, except the astronomy, and a little 
 of the Persian. The astronomical lecturer produced a terrestrial 
 globe, divided according to their system, and elevated to the 
 meridian of Benares. Mount Meru he identified with the north 
 pole, and under the southern pole he supposed the tortoise 
 “chukwa” to stand, on which the earth rests. The southern 
 hemisphere he apprehended to be uninhabitable, but on its con- 
 cave surface, in the interior of the globe, he placed Padalon. He 
 then showed me how the sun went round the earth once in every 
 day, and how, by a different but equally continuous motion, he 
 
256 
 
 HINDOO ASTRONOMY. 
 
 also visited the signs of the zodiac. The whole system is pre- 
 cisely that of Ptolemy, and the contrast was very striking between 
 the rubbish which these young men were learning in a Govern- 
 ment establishment, and the rudiments of real knowledge which 
 those whom I had visited the day before had acquired, in the 
 very same city, and under circumstances far less favourable. 1 
 was informed that it had been frequently proposed to introduce 
 an English and mathematical class, and to teach the Newtonian 
 and Copernican system of astronomy ; but that the late super- 
 intendant of the establishment was strongly opposed to any 
 innovation, partly on the plea that it would draw the boys off from 
 their Sanscrit studies, and partly lest it should interfere with the 
 religious prejudices of the professors. The first of these argu- 
 ments is pretty much like what was urged at Oxford, (substituting 
 Greek for Sanscrit) against the new examinations, by which, 
 however, Greek has lost nothing. The second is plainly absurd, 
 since the Ptolemaic system, which is now taught, is itself an 
 innovation, and an improvement on the old faith of eight worlds 
 and seven oceans, arranged like a nest of boxes. 
 
 The truth is, that even the pundit who read me this lecture, 
 smiled once or twice very slily, and said, ‘‘ our people are taught 
 so and so,” as if he himself knew better. And Mr. Prinsep after- 
 wards told me that learned brahmins had sometimes said to him, 
 that our system was the most rational, but that the other answered 
 all their purposes. They could construct almanacs, and calculate 
 eclipses tolerably by the one as well as the other, and the old 
 one was quite good enough, in all conscience, to cast nativities 
 with. Nor can we wonder at their adherence to old usage in 
 these respects, when we consider that to change their system 
 would give them some personal trouble, and when we recollect 
 that the church of Rome has not even yet withdrawn the Ana- 
 thema which she levelled at the heresy that the earth turned 
 round, as taught by Copernicus and Galileo. There are in this 
 college about two hundred pupils, and ten professors, all paid 
 and maintained by Government. 
 
 During my progress through the holy places 1 had received 
 garlands of flowers in considerable numbers, which I was told it 
 was uncivil to throw away, particularly those which were hung 
 round my neck. 1 now, in consequence, looked more like a 
 sacrifice than a priest, and on getting again into the gig, was glad 
 to rid myself of my ornaments. On talking with Mr. Macleod 
 on the civility and apparent cordiality with which I had been 
 received by these heathen priests, he said that my coming had 
 excited considerable curiosity, from the idea that 1 was the patri- 
 arch of Constantinople ! He had heard this from a learned 
 Mussulman Moulavie, Abdul-Khadur, who spoke of it as the 
 
BENARES. 
 
 257 
 
 current news that such a person was to arrive, and asked when 
 he might be expected. The origin of the idea, when explained, 
 was not an unnatural one. Of the Bishop of Calcutta, eo nomine, 
 I had previously reason to believe nothing had been heard or 
 known in Hindostan, or any where out of the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the Presidency ; but the news now was that the 
 “ Sirdar Padre,” or “ Mufti,” of all the “ Sahib log” was coming 
 to visit the different churches. The only two persons they had 
 heard of answering to this character were the pope and the 
 patriarch. They were not ignorant of the religious differences 
 between the English and the Roman Catholics, so that they could 
 not suppose me to be the former. But they are not equally well 
 informed as to our discrepancy from the second; and many of 
 them believe, that, though we abhor images, we still pay some 
 reverence to pictures. The Moulavie himself thus explained his 
 meaning, saying, (in consequence of Mr. Macleod’s expressing 
 his surprise at his first question, Whether the Papi Roum were 
 not coming?”) that he did not mean old but new Rome, or 
 Islambol, and that he meant the head of those Christians, who, 
 like his honour, abhorred images, but not pictures. 1 know not 
 whether he quite believed Mr. Macleod’s disclaimer of such wor- 
 ship, but he professed himself ignorant till that moment of the 
 existence of a third sect among the Nazarani, and glad to find 
 that the Sahibs differed, even less than he had supposed, from the 
 true believers. None of the gentlemen most conversant with the 
 natives apprehended that my arrival had created any suspicious 
 or jealous feeling, or that my avowed errand, (to see that the in- 
 ferior Padres did their duty,) was thought other than natural and 
 commendable. It is, however, thought that the natives do not 
 really like us, and that if a fair opportunity offered, the Mussul- 
 mans, more particularly, would gladly avail themselves of it to 
 rise against us. But this is from political, not religious feeling ; 
 and it has been increased of late years by the conduct of Lord 
 'Hastings to the old Emperor of Delhi, a conduct which has been 
 pursued by succeeding administrations, but w^hich entirely differed 
 from the outward respect and allegiance which the Company’s 
 officers had professed to pay him, from Lord Clive downwards. 
 The elevation of the Nawab of Oude to the kingly title, and 
 Lord Hastings’s refusal to pay him the same homage which all 
 his predecessors had courted every opportunity of doing, and 
 which even the Maharattas did not neglect when the late Shah 
 Aullum was their prisoner, have awakened questions and scruples 
 among the fierce Mohammedans about obeying an unbelieving 
 nation, which were quite forgotten while the English Company 
 acted as the servant and “ Dewan” of the house of Timur. 
 The behaviour of l^ord Hastings was very disadvantageously 
 VoL. I.--33 
 
258 
 
 BENARES. 
 
 contrasted in Benares with that of Warren Hastings, who, in the 
 height of his power and conquests, gained infinite popularity by 
 riding publicly through the city, as usual with the high functiona- 
 ries of the court of Delhi, behind the howdah of the hereditary 
 prince, with a fan of peacock’s feathers in his hand. This, how- 
 ever, is a digression. 1 am satisfied, from all I hear, that the 
 natives of this neighbourhood have at present no idea that any 
 interference with their religion is intended on the part of Govera- 
 ment ; that if any thing, they rather esteem us the more for 
 showing some signs of not being without a religion ; and that any 
 fancies of a different tendency which have arisen, on this subject, 
 in Bengal or other parts of India, have been uniformly put into 
 their heads by ill-designing persons among the Portuguese, half- 
 caste, or European residents. Nevertheless, all my informants 
 here, as well as in most other places where I have heard the 
 question discussed, are of opinion that a direct interference on 
 the part of Government with any of the religious customs of the 
 country, (the suttees for example,) would be eagerly laid hold 
 of and urged as the first step in a new system, by all who wish 
 us ill ; and that though it would probably not of itself occasion a 
 rebellion, it would give additional popularity, and a more plausi- 
 ble pretext, to the first rebellion which such disaffected persons 
 might find opportunity for attempting. Meanwhile 1 cannot learn 
 that the missionaries and the schools which they establish, have 
 excited much attention, or of an unfavourable nature. Their 
 labours, after all, have been chiefly confined to the wives of the 
 British soldiers, who had already lost caste by their marriage, or 
 to such Mussulmans or Hindoos as of their own accord, and 
 prompted by curiosity, or a better motive, have come to their 
 schools or churches, or invited them to their houses. The num- 
 ber of these inquirers after truth is, I understand, even now not 
 inconsiderable, and increasing daily. But I must say, that of 
 actual converts, except soldiers’ wives, I have met with very few, 
 and these have been all, 1 think, made by the Archdeacon. 
 
 The custom of street-preaching, of which the Baptist and 
 other dissenting missionaries in Bengal are very fond, has never 
 been resorted to by those employed by the Church Missionary 
 Society, and never shall be as long as 1 have any influence or 
 authority over them. I plainly see it is not necessary, and I see 
 no less plainly, that, though it may be safe among the timid Ben- 
 galees, it would be very likely to produce mischief here. All 
 which the missionaries do, is to teach schools, to read prayers, 
 and preach in their churches, and to visit the houses of such per- 
 sons as wish for information on religious subjects. Poor Amrut 
 Row, the charitable Ex-Peishwa, (whose ashes I saw yet smoking 
 on Ali Bhaee’s Ghat as I passed it,) was, I find, one of these 
 
BENARES. 
 
 259 
 
 inquirers. Mr. Morris, the missionary, had received a message 
 with his highness’s compliments, desiring him to call on him the 
 middle of the week, as he was anxious to obtain a further know- 
 ledge of Christianity !” It is distressing to think that this mes- 
 sage was deferred so long, and that, short as the interval which 
 he had calculated on was, his own time was shorter still. Yet 
 surely one may hope for such a man that his knowledge and faith 
 may have been greater than the world supposed, and that, at all 
 events, the feeling which made him, thus late in life, desirous to 
 hear the truth, would not be lost on Him whose grace may he 
 supposed to have first prompted it. 
 
 I received a visit from the Raja of Benares, a middle aged 
 man, very corpulent, with more approach to colour in his cheeks 
 than is usually seen in Asiatics, and a countenance and appear- 
 ance not unlike an English farmer. My few complimentary 
 phrases in Persian being soon at an end, Mr. Brooke interpreted 
 for me, and I found my visiter very ready to converse about the 
 antiquities of his city, the origin of its name, which he said had 
 anciently been Baranas, from two rivers, Bara and Nasa, which 
 here fall into the Ganges, (I suppose under ground, for no such 
 are set down on the map,) and other similar topics. I regretted 
 to learn, after he was gone, that he resided at some distance from 
 the city on the other side of the river, and where I had no chance 
 of returning his call; but I was told that he expected no such 
 compliment, though he would be pleased to learn that 1 had wish- 
 ed to pay it him. The Maharaja’s equipage was not by any 
 means a splendid one ; he had silver sticks, however, behind his 
 carriage, and the usual show of spears preceding it, but no troop- 
 ers that I saw. He is rich, notwithstanding, and the circumstances 
 of his family have materially improved since the conquest of Be- 
 nares by the English from the Mussulmans. 
 
 September 8. — 1 this morning went to some of the points in the 
 city which I was most anxious to fix in my memory, which had 
 indeed been a little confused by the multitude of objects which I 
 saw yesterday. I rode a very pretty but hot and obstinate Java 
 pony. These ponies bear a high price in India, and deserve it, 
 as, though little creatures, they are beautiful, lively, and very 
 strong and hardy. I am told 1 was wrong in not bringing up my 
 Arab, since I shall find a good horse absolutely necessary for my 
 journey overland, and really good ones are very dear and difficult 
 to procure. A Turkoman horse, if I can obtain one, is said to 
 be the best for my purpose, since, though not very fleet nor hand- 
 some, they are strong, sure-footed, good-tempered, and, when not 
 too much hurried, never tire. The horses of the Dooab and 
 Rajpootana have been lately a good deal improved by an inter- 
 mixture of English blood, and are generally tall and handsome, 
 
260 
 
 BENARES. 
 
 but are dear, and often very vicious, and on the whole better 
 adapted for a hunt or a battle, than the patient and continued 
 exertions of a long march. 
 
 Nothing remarkable occurred during my ride in Benares this 
 morning, except the conduct of a little boy, a student in the 
 Vidalaya, who ran after me in the street, and with hands joined, 
 said that 1 “ had not heard him his lesson yesterday, but he could 
 sing it very well to-day if I would let him.” I accordingly stopped 
 my horse, and sate with great patience while he chanted a long 
 stave of Sanscrit. I repeated at proper pauses, “ good, good,” 
 which satisfied him so much, that when he had finished, he called 
 out “ again,” and was beginning a second stave when I dis- 
 missed him with a present, on which he fumbled in his mantle for 
 some red flowers, which he gave me, and ran by my side, still 
 talking on till the crowd separated us. While he was speaking 
 or singing, for I hardly know which to call it, the people round 
 applauded him very much; and from the way in which they 
 seemed to apply the verses to me, I suspect that it was a compli- 
 mentary address which he had been instructed to deliver the day 
 before, but had missed his opportunity. If so, I am glad he did 
 not lose his labour ; but the few words, which, from their occur- 
 rence in Hindoostanee, I understood, did not at all help me to his 
 meaning. 
 
 This evening I dined with Mr. Sands, one of the circuit judges, 
 at whose house 1 had the pleasure to find Mr. Melville, who had 
 just arrived from Ghazeepoor. He and Mr. Macleod offered again 
 to take me to Benares, which, as they said, 1 had only half seen. 
 I was, however, thoroughly tired with the days of bustle I had 
 gone through. On Sunday I had three services, on Monday one, 
 the consecration of the burial ground, besides the school-examina- 
 tion. On Tuesday 1 had been sight-seeing from five till nearly 
 ten o’clock ; to-day I was out an almost equal time, similarly 
 employed, besides a regular evening drive, and receiving and 
 paying visits, while all the intervals between these engagements 
 were occupied with reading and answering a large mass of papers 
 from Bishop’s College, Madras, and Calcutta. I therefore begged 
 leave to postpone my further researches till my next visit. To 
 see it as it deserves, indeed, Benares would require a fortnight. 
 
 My boats arrived this morning off the mouth of the small 
 river which leads to Secrole, but as the state of the weather was 
 such as to make it probable it would soon be almost dry, they 
 were sent on to Rajaghat, and thence proceeded directly to 
 Chunar, whither I was advised to go myself by land. The 
 weather has indeed been such as is very seldom experienced at 
 this time of year, and such as threatens to be very unfortunate, not 
 
BENARES. 
 
 261 
 
 only for my voyage, but for the country. No rain has fallen for 
 many days ; the wind has blown steadily and very hot from the 
 west, and everything foretells a speedy termination of the “bursat,” 
 or rainy season. In consequence I shall have a very laborious and 
 slow tracking on the river, and what is much worse, the tanks 
 are barely half full, the country but imperfectly irrigated, and 
 famine, murrain, and all their attendant horrors, may be looked 
 for. God avert such calamities from this poor country ! 
 
262 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 BENARES TO ALLAHABAD. 
 
 CHUNAR INTENSE HEAT ^TRIMEUK-JEE HINDOO TEMPLE CONFIR- 
 MATION INVALIDS DEPARTURE FROM CHUNAR LARGE FISH 
 
 RETROSPECT OF BENARES QUARREL BETWEEN HINDOOS AND MUS- 
 SULMANS SITTING DHURNA NATIVES’ OPINIONS OF ENGLISH GO- 
 VERNORS ALLAHABAD FORT JUMNA MUSJEED~CONFIRMATION 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR MARCHING FESTIVAL OF RAMA AND SEETA. 
 
 September 10. — The events of yesterday are not worth record- 
 ing. Mr. Macleod had promised to drive me in his gig half way 
 to Sultanpoor, and at five o’clock this morning he was at my door. 
 My palanquin had been sent on before, so that I had the advan- 
 tage of making a quicker progress, as well as of enjoying his 
 interesting conversation for about seven miles, when the carriage 
 road ended in a little nullah, where we found the palanquin 
 waiting for me, in which I proceeded to Sultanpoor, where I found 
 a boat in readiness to convey me to Chunar, at which place 1 was 
 to be Colonel Alexander’s guest. 
 
 The view of Chunar is, from the river, very striking. Its 
 fortress, which is of great extent, formerly of first-rate importance, 
 and still in good repair, covers the crest and sides of a large and 
 high rock, with several successive enclosures of walls and towers, 
 the lowest of which have their base washed by the Ganges, On 
 the right, as we approached it, is seen a range of rocky and 
 uneven hills, on the left a large Indian town, intermingled with 
 fine round headed trees, with some very good European habita- 
 tions, and a tall gothic tower like that of a parish church in 
 England, which belongs in fact to the Mission Church, and is an 
 imitation of that in Mr. Corrie’s native village. The whole scene 
 is entirely English; the mosques and muts are none of them 
 visible in this quarter ; the native houses, with their white walls 
 and red tiled roofs, look exactly like those of a small English coun- 
 try town ; the castle with its union flag is such as would be greatly 
 admired, but not at all out of place, in any ancient English sea- 
 port ; and much as I admire palm-trees, I felt glad that they were 
 not very common in this neighbourhood, and that there were in 
 point of fact none visible, to spoil the home character of the 
 prospect. But such a sun, thank heaven ! never glared on Eng- 
 land as this day rained its lightnings on Chunar, I thought 
 
CHUNAR. 
 
 263 
 
 myself fortunate in getting housed by ten o’clock, and before the 
 worst came on, but it was still enough to sicken one. There was 
 little wind, and what there was was hot, and the reflection and 
 glare of the light gray rock, the light gray castle, the light gray 
 sand, the white houses, and the hot bright river were about as much 
 as I could endure. Y et, I trust, it is not a little that overpowers 
 me. Breakfast, however, at Colonel Alexander’s, and a good 
 draught of cold water, set me quite up again, and I was occupied 
 the rest of the morning in obtaining details of the schools and 
 mission from Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Bowley. We dined with 
 Colonel Robertson, the commandant of the fortress and station, 
 and met a very large party, including among others Sir G. Mar- 
 tindell, the general in command at Cawnpoor ; he is a fine, mild, 
 unaffected old officer, with an experience of India, and particularly 
 the upper provinces, scarcely shorter than Mr. Brooke’s, and per- 
 haps more various and extensive. 
 
 In the evening Colonel Alexander drove me in a gig a little 
 way into the country, which is really pretty. The European 
 dwellings are all on the side of a steep slope, covered with wood 
 and gardens, with their drawing-room verandahs opening for the 
 most part on a raised terrace. Behind, and rising still higher up 
 the slope, is the native town, the houses all of stone and mostly 
 of two stories, generally with verandahs in front let out into 
 shops, the whole not unlike a Welch market-town, but much 
 larger, and probably containing 15,000 people. Beyond is an 
 open country, intersected by a broad nullah, with a handsome 
 gothic bridge, and beyond this an open extent of rocky and 
 woody country, which is a good deal infested by wolves and bears, 
 but seldom visited by a tiger. The bears rarely do any harm 
 unless they are first attacked. The wolves are apparently more 
 daring and impudent than in Russia ; they are said frequently to 
 come to the houses and sheepfolds, and sometimes even attack and 
 carry off children. The inhabitants of Chunar will not admit that 
 it deserves the character which it usually bears, of excessive heat, 
 but if this day and night were a fair specimen, I have certainly 
 felt nothing to equal it. It happily grew cooler towards morning, 
 and I got a few hours good sleep, which I much needed. 
 
 September 11. — This morning Colonel Robertson called to 
 take me to see the fort, which well repays the labour, though 
 this is not trifling. The site and outline are very noble; the rock 
 on which it stands is perfectly insulated, and either naturally or 
 by art, bordered on every side by a very awful precipice, flanked, 
 wherever it has been possible to obtain a salient angle, with 
 towers, bartizans, and bastions of various forms and sizes. There 
 are a good many cannon mounted, and a noble bomb-proof maga- 
 zine for powder, which has been lately in a great measure stripped 
 
264 
 
 TRIMBUK-JEE. 
 
 for the supply of the Birman war. Colonel Robertson, however, 
 told me, that the ammunition on which he should most depend 
 for the defence of Chunar are stone cylinders, rudely made, and 
 pretty much like garden-rollers, which are piled up in great 
 numbers throughout the interior of the fort, and for which the 
 rock on which the fort stands affords an inexhaustible quarry. 
 These, which are called “mutwalas” (drunkards), from their 
 staggering motion, are rolled over the parapet down the steep 
 face of the hill, to impede the advances and overwhelm the ranks 
 of an assaulting army ; and when a place has not been regularly 
 breached, or where, as at Chunar, the scarped and sloping rock 
 itself serves as a rampart, few troops will so much as face them. 
 Against a native army. Colonel Robertson said, Chunar, if reso- 
 lutely defended, would, he thought, be impregnable, and except 
 in one quarter it would stand no contemptible siege against an 
 European force. Even there the rock which commands it might 
 easily be so much lowered as to prevent any danger ; and the 
 stone of which it consists is so valuable, that the neighbouring 
 Zemindars had offered to cart it away at their own expense, 
 provided Government would give up the duty now laid on Chunar- 
 stone when transported to different parts of India ; but the offer 
 was declined. 
 
 On the top of the rock of Chunar, and within the rampart, is 
 a considerable space, covered with remarkably fine English hay- 
 grass, now nearly ripe for cutting, several noble spreading trees, 
 and some excellent houses for the officers, few of whom, however, 
 when not on duty, remain here, the reflection of the sun from the 
 rock being very powerful, and the expense of bringing water 
 for the Tatties great. Within this principal circle, and on a 
 still higher point, are two inner fortifications, one containing the 
 Governor’s house, the hospital, and the state-prison, now inhabit- 
 ed by the celebrated Maharatta chieftain Trimbuk-jee, long the 
 inveterate enemy of the British power, and the fomentor of all 
 the troubles of Berar, Malw^ah, and the Deccan. He is confined 
 with great strictness, having an European as well as a sepoy 
 guard, and never being trusted out of the sight of the sentries. 
 Even his bed-chamber has three grated windows open into the 
 verandah which serves as guard-room. In other respects he is 
 well treated, has two large and very airy apartments, a small 
 building fitted up as a pagoda, and a little garden shaded with a 
 peepul-tree, which he has planted very prettily with balsams and 
 other flowers. Four of his own servants are allowed to attend 
 him, but they are always searched before they quit or return to 
 the fort, and must be always there at night. He is a little, lively, 
 irritable-looking man, dressed, when 1 saw him, in a dirty cotton 
 mantle, with a broad red border, thrown carelessly over his head 
 
CHUNAR FORT. 
 
 265 
 
 and shoulders. I was introduced to him by Colonel Alexander, 
 and he received me courteously, observing that he himself was a 
 brahmin, and in token of his brotherly regard, plucking some of 
 his prettiest flowers for me. He then showed me his garden and 
 pagoda, and after a few common-place expressions of the plea- 
 sure I felt in seeing so celebrated a warrior, which he answered 
 by saying, with a laugh, he should have been glad to make my 
 acquaintance elsewhere^ I made my bow and took leave. He has 
 been now, 1 believe, five years in prison, and seems likely to 
 remain there during life, or till the death of his patron and tool, 
 Bajee Row, may lessen his power of doing mischief. He has 
 often offered to give security to any amount for his good be- 
 haviour, and to become a warmer friend to the Company than 
 he has ever been their enemy, but his applications have been 
 vain. He attributes, I understand, their failure to Mr. Elphin- 
 stone, the governor of Bombay, who is, he says, “ his best friend, 
 and his worst enemy,” the faithful trustee of his estate, treating 
 his children with parental kindness, and interesting himself, in 
 the first instance, to save his life, but resolutely fixed on keeping 
 him in prison, and urging the Supreme Court to distrust all his 
 protestations. His life must now be dismally monotonous and 
 wearisome. Though a brahmin of high caste, and so long a 
 minister of state and the commander of armies, he can neither 
 write nor read, and his whole amusement consists in the ceremo- 
 nies of his idolatry, his garden, and the gossip which his servants 
 pick up for him in the town of Chunar. Avarice seems at present 
 his ruling passion. He is a very severe inspector of his weekly 
 accounts, and one day set the whole garrison in an uproar about 
 some ghee which he accused his khansaman of embezzling ; in 
 short, he seems less interested with the favourable reports which 
 he from time to time receives of his family, than with the banking 
 accounts by which they are accompanied. Much as he is said 
 to deserve his fate, as a murderer, extortioner, and a grossly 
 perjured man, 1 hope I may be allowed to pity him. 
 
 In the last enclosure of the fortress, on the very summit of the 
 mountain, and calculated to make a defence even after all the 
 lower works had fallen, are several very interesting buildings. 
 One of them is the old Hindoo palace, a central dome surrounded 
 by several vaulted apartments, with many remains of painting 
 and carving, but dark, low, and impervious to heat ; on one side 
 of this is a loftier and more airy building, now used as an ar- 
 moury, but formerly the residence of the Mussulman governor, 
 with handsome rooms, and beautifully carved oriel windows, 
 such as one reads of in Mrs. RadclifFe’s castles. A little further 
 on in the bastion is an extraordinary well or reservoir, about 
 fifteen feet in diameter, and cut to a great depth in the solid rock, 
 
 VoL. I. — 34 
 
266 
 
 CONFIRMATION. 
 
 but the water of which is not sufficiently good to be used, except 
 in case of necessity. In front of the Hindoo palace, in the pave- 
 ment of the court, are seen four small round holes, just large 
 enough for a man to pass through, below which is the state prison 
 of ancient times. Well is it for Trimbuk-jee that his lot is thrown 
 in better days ! This is a horrible dungeon indeed, with neither 
 light, air, nor access, except what these apertures supply to a 
 space of forty feet square. It is now used as a cellar. But the 
 greatest curiosity of all remains to be described. Colonel Ro- 
 bertson called for a key, and unlocking a rusty iron door in a 
 very rugged and ancient wall, said he would show me the most 
 holy place in all India. Taking off his hat, he led the way into 
 a small square court, overshadowed by a very old peepul-tree, 
 which grew from the rock on one side, and from one of the 
 branches of which hung a small silver bell. Under it was a large 
 slab of black marble, and opposite on the walls, a rudely carved 
 rose enclosed in a triangle. No image was visible, but some 
 sepoys who followed us in, fell on their knees, kissed the dust in 
 the neighbourhood of the stone, and rubbed their foreheads with 
 it. On this stone. Colonel Alexander said, the Hindoos all believe 
 that the Almighty is seated, personally, though invisibly, for nine 
 hours every day, removing during the other three hours to Be- 
 nares. On this account the sepoys apprehend that Chunar can 
 never be taken by an enemy, except between the hours of six 
 and nine in the morning, and for the same reason, and in order 
 by this sacred neighbourhood to be out of all danger of witch- 
 craft, the kings of Benares, before the Mussulman conquest, had 
 all the marriages of their family celebrated in the adjoining pa- 
 lace. I own I felt some little emotion in standing on this mimic 
 mount Calasay. I was struck with the absence of idols, and with 
 the feeling of propriety which made even a Hindoo reject exter- 
 nal symbols in the supposed actual presence of the Deity, and I 
 prayed inwardly that God would always preserve in my mind, 
 and in his own good time instruct these poor people, in what 
 manner, and how truly he is indeed present both here and every 
 where. 
 
 We now went back to Colonel Alexander’s, and thence to 
 church, where I had the satisfaction of confirming nearly one 
 hundred persons, fifty-seven of whom were natives, chiefly, as at 
 Benares, soldiers’ wives and widows, but all unacquainted with 
 the English language, and perfectly Oriental in their dress and 
 habits. They were most deeply impressed with the ceremony, 
 bowing down to the very pavement when I laid my hand on their 
 heads, and making the responses in a deep solemn tone of emo- 
 tion which was extremely touching. The elder women, and all 
 the few men who offered themselves, had been Mr. Corrie’s 
 
MUSSULMAN WORSHIPPERS. 
 
 26? 
 
 converts during his residence here ; the younger females had been 
 added to the Church, either from Hindooism, Mohammedanism, 
 or Popery, by Mr. Bowley. Of the last there were not many, 
 but strange to tell, they were, he said, as ignorant in the first 
 instance of the commonest truths of Christianity as the Hindoos. 
 After dinner to-day. Colonel Alexander drove me to a beautiful 
 place about three miles from Chunar, a garden of palm and other 
 fruit-trees, containing a mosque, and a very large and beautiful 
 tomb of a certain Shekh Kaseem Soliman and his son. Of their 
 history I could learn nothing further than that they were very 
 holy men, who died here when on a pilgrimage, and that their 
 tombs, and the accompanying mosque, were built and endowed 
 by one of the emperors of Delhi. The buildings and the grove 
 in which they stand are very solemn and striking, and the carving 
 of the principal gateway, and of the stone lattice with which the 
 garden is enclosed, is more like embroidery than the work of the 
 chisel. A party of Mussulmans were at their evening prayers on 
 one of the stone terraces, all, as usual, decent, devout, and earnest. 
 Colonel Alexander expressed a regret that Christians fell short of 
 them in these particulars. I answered at the moment, that per- 
 haps in proportion to the spirituality of our religion, we were too 
 apt to neglect its outward forms. But on consideration, I am not 
 sure that the imputation, which 1 have heard before, is just, or that 
 Mussulmans when in the act of prayer are really more externally 
 decorous than the majority of Christians. We are all much im- 
 pressed with religious ceremonies to which we are not accustomed, 
 and while as passing and casual spectators of a worship carried on 
 by persons, in scene and dress, words and posture, all different 
 from our own, but all picturesque and striking, we may easily 
 overlook those less conspicuous instances of listlessness or inat- 
 tention, which would not fail to attract our notice where the 
 matter and manner are both familiar. 1 am sure that the Heathens 
 and Mussulmans, and there were many of them, who looked in on 
 our congregation this morning, had no fault to find with the decency 
 and external abstraction either of the native or European wor- 
 shippers. The night was intensely hot, but 1, and by my advice. 
 Colonel Alexander, passed it in very tolerable comfort, by sleep- 
 ing on a couch in an open verandah. 
 
 September 12. — This morning I had the agreeable surprise to 
 find that Messrs. Macleod and Frazer had come over from Benares 
 during the night. We went to church together, where 1 also 
 found Mr. Morris. 1 had consequently four clergymen with me, 
 besides the Catechists Bowley and Adlington, — a more numerous 
 body than could, thirty years ago, have been mustered in the 
 whole Presidency of Fort William. The congregation, too, was 
 more numerous than 1 have seen out of Calcutta. The invalids 
 
268 
 
 SACRAMENT. 
 
 of the garrison who attended, amounted to above two hundred 
 Europeans, besides the officers and civil servants and their families, 
 and I should think one hundred natives. About one hundred and 
 thirty staid the Sacrament, of which the natives amounted to 
 nearly seventy, and I was led to observe that the women of their 
 number who had been Mussulmans, pertinaciously kept their 
 veils down, and even received the bread on a corner of the muslin, 
 rather than expose the bare hand. One of the others, a very 
 young woman, who had been confirmed the day before, instead 
 of extending the hand, threw back her veil, and opened her 
 mouth, by which I guessed she had been brought up a Roman 
 Catholic. All were very devout and attentive, — some shed tears, 
 and the manner in which they pronounced “ Ameen” was very 
 solemn and touching. The Hindoostanee prayers read extremely 
 well, but they are so full of Arabic and Persian words, that those 
 converts who have not been Mussulmans must, I fear, find some 
 difficulty in understanding them. 
 
 After dinner we again attended church, first for Hindoostanee 
 prayer, afterwards for the usual English service. The former was 
 attended by 1 should suppose two hundred persons, many of 
 whom, however, were Heathens and Mussulmans, who distin- 
 guished themselves by keeping their turbans on. Mr. Morris 
 read the prayers, omitting the Psalms and the First Lesson, 
 neither of which, unfortunately, are as yet translated into Hin- 
 doostanee, though the latter is in progress, and Mr. Bowley 
 preached a very useful and sensible sermon. He speaks Hindoos- 
 tanee with the fluency of a native, and I was pleased to find that 
 I could follow the argument of his sermon with far more ease than 
 I expected. 
 
 Chunar, or “ Chunar-Gurh,” that is Chunar Castle, used to he 
 of great importance as a military post before the vast extension 
 of the British frontier westward. It is one of the principal sta- 
 tions for such invalids as are still equal to garrison duty ; and on 
 them at the present moment, owing to the low state of the Com- 
 pany’s army, and the demand for men in the east, all the duty of 
 Chunar depends, which, from their health, they are barely equal 
 to, though they arc, Europeans and sepoys together, above a 
 thousand men. The sepoy invalids have mostly grown old in 
 the service, and are weather-beaten fellows, with no other injury 
 than what time has inflicted. Some of the Europeans are very 
 old likewise ; there is one who fought with Clive, and has still no 
 infirmity but deafness and dim sight. The majority, however, 
 are men still hardly advanced beyond youth, early victims of a 
 devouring climate, assisted, perhaps, by carelessness and intem- 
 perance ; and it was a pitiable spectacle to see the white emaciated 
 hands thrust out under a soldier’s sleeve to receive the sacrament, 
 
INVALIDS. 
 
 269 
 
 and the pale cheeks, and tall languid figures of men, who, if they 
 had remained in Europe, would have been still overflowing with 
 youthful vigour and vivacity, the best ploughmen, the strongest 
 wrestlers, and the merriest dancers of the village. The invalids 
 of Chunar have borne a very bad character for their profligacy 
 and want of discipline ; but Colonel Alexander says that he never 
 commanded men who, on the whole, gave him less trouble, and 
 a favourable character is given of many by the Missionary, Mr. 
 Greenwood. I should judge well of them from their attendance 
 in church, and the remarkable seriousness of their deportment 
 while there.'^ 
 
 September 13. — This morning 1 went again with Colonel 
 Alexander and my two friends from Benares, to see the tomb of 
 Shekh Soliman,t and after breakfast I went on board, taking 
 
 * During the Bishop’s stay at Chunar, a memorial was addressed to him 
 through Colonel Robertson, commandant of the garrison, by the gentlemen who 
 compose the committee for the care of the Church and the Mission premises, 
 expressing a hope that Government would allow a small monthly sum to assist 
 in preserving a building which had been erected, and hitherto maintained, with- 
 out any assistance from Government. To this memorial, the Bishop returned 
 the following answer from Allahabad to Colonel Robertson. 
 
 “ I have to acknowledge the receipt of your obliging letter, as well as the very 
 interesting and important memorial contained in it. In answer to both, I beg 
 leave to say, that among the many circumstances which rendered my visit to 
 Chunar an agreeable one, a principal was the pleasure I derived from witnessing 
 the dimensions, the solidity, and good taste of the church, as well as the highly 
 creditable manner in which divine service was performed, and the numerous, 
 orderly, and devout attendance of the Europeans of your garrison, as well as 
 their native wives and widows. I feel, therefore, no less forcibly than the 
 gentlemen of the church committee themselves, an anxiety, that so striking a 
 proof of the piety and liberality of individuals at the station, should not be 
 suffered to fall to decay through a want of the fostering hand of Government ; 
 and that the gallant men who have spent their health and strength in their 
 country’s cause, should not be deprived, in their age and infirmities, of the 
 comforts which the ordinances of religion are only able to supply. I beg you, 
 therefore, to believe that the objects of your application, so far as I apprehend 
 them to be compatible with some general measures to the same good end, which 
 I have reason to anticipate from the care of Government, shall not want my 
 best recommendation, or my earnest wishes for their success with a Government, 
 which, I willingly bear them witness, to the extent of the means entrusted to 
 them, have always shown themselves anxious for the encouragement and support 
 of such feelings and such conduct as I witnessed in the veterans of Chunar. 
 
 “May I request you to convey to the gentlemen of the church committee, 
 my thanks in the name of the Church of England and religion in general, for 
 the liberality which they have shown, and the judgment with which that liberal 
 expenditure has been conducted ; and to accept, at the same time, my best thanks 
 for all the kindness with which you have personally favoured me?” 
 
 “ (Signed) REGINALD CALCUTTA.”— Ed. 
 
 t The following is an extract of a letter from Colonel Alexander to tlie 
 Editor, dated London, 13th July, 1827 : — 
 
 “ It may, at a time when every thing relating to the memory of such a man 
 is precious, be interesting to you to hear, that during the few days the revered 
 
270 
 
 MIR2AP00R. 
 
 leave of my friends with a more earnest wish to meet again than 
 travellers can often hope to feel. Nothing occurred this day or 
 the next much worth recording. We made a very slow progress 
 with the tow-line, under a burning sun, and without wind. The 
 country is pretty, but the river falling very low, with great bare 
 banks of brown earth visible on each side. The boatmen all cry 
 out that there will be famine in these provinces, though in Bengal, 
 where rice is the staple crop, the harvest will probably be a very 
 fine one, the danger there being of too much, rather than too 
 little water. This heat brings all odious insects out of their 
 lurking-places ; I found in my cabin a large scorpion, not like 
 that which 1 had seen before, but black and hairy, and two more 
 were found by my servants. Near Seidpoor the Corries’ boats 
 were attacked by a swarm of large wasps which stung every 
 person on board ; it is a celebrated place for sugar, which indeed 
 seems cultivated to a great and increasing extent in all this part 
 of the country. At most of the ghats leading to the villages I see 
 large rollers of Chunar-stone, apparently just landed from boats, 
 and intended to crush the sugar-canes. The demand must be 
 great to elicit such a supply. 
 
 September 15. — We passed Mirzapoor, the size and apparent 
 opulence of which surprised me, as it is a place of no ancient 
 importance or renown, has grown up completely since the English 
 power has been established here, and under our Government 
 is only an inferior civil station, with a few native troops. It is, 
 however, a very great town, as large, I should think, as Patna, 
 with many handsome native houses, and a vast number of mosques 
 and temples, numerous and elegant bungalows in its outskirts and 
 on the opposite side of the river, — a great number of boats of all 
 kinds moored under its ghats, and is computed to contain between 
 2 and 300,000 people. 
 
 This is, indeed, a most rich and striking land. Here, in the 
 space of little more than two hundred miles, along the same 
 river, I have passed six towns, none of them less populous than 
 Chester, — two (Patna and Mirzapoor) more so than Birming- 
 ham ; and one (Benares) more peopled than any city in Europe, 
 except London and Paris ! and this besides villages innumerable. 
 I observed to Mr. Corrie that I had expected to find agriculture 
 in Hindustan in a flourishing state, but the great cities ruined, in 
 
 Bishop honoured me with his company at Chunar, in our early drive one morn- 
 ing in my gig, I pointed out to him a large stone idol, of curious manufacture, 
 which had just been sculptured, and was nearly ready for transmission to 
 Benares, to be set up in one of the temples. His Lordship descended from the 
 gig, and surveyed it with deep attention, but said little. Those, however, 
 who knew him, may easily imagine what were the workings of his mind at the 
 sight of such an object, not many months before hewn from the neighbouring 
 quarry.” — E d. 
 
JANGHUJRABAa 
 
 2?1 
 
 consequence of the ruin of the Mussulman nobles. He answered^ 
 that certainly very many ancient families had gone to decay, but 
 he did not think the gap had been ever perceptible in his time, 
 in this part of India, since it had been more than filled up by a 
 new order rising from the middling classes, whose wealth had, 
 during his recollection, increased very greatly. F ar indeed from 
 those cities which we had already passed decaying, most of 
 them had much increased in the number of their houses, and in 
 what is a sure sign of wealth in India, — the number and neatness 
 of their ghats and temples, since he was last here. Nothing, he 
 said, was plainer to him, from the multitude of little improve- 
 ments of this kind, of small temples and bungalows, partly in the 
 European style, but obviously inhabited by natives, that wealth 
 was becoming more abundant among the middling ranks, and that 
 such of them as are rich are not afraid of appearing so. The 
 great cities in the Dooab, he said, were indeed scenes of desolation. 
 The whole country round Delhi and Agra, when he first saw it, 
 was filled with the marble ruins of villas, mosques, and palaces, 
 with the fragments of tanks and canals, and the vestiges of enclo- 
 sures. But this ruin had occurred before the British arms had 
 extended thus far, and while the country was under the tyranny 
 and never-ending invasions of the Persians, Affghans, and Maha- 
 rattas. Even here a great improvement had taken place before 
 he left Agra, and he hoped to find a much greater on his return. 
 He apprehended that on the whole, all India had gained under 
 British rule, except, perhaps, Dacca and its neighbourhood, where 
 the manufactures had been nearly ruined. 
 
 We slept this night off a village called Janghuirabad, in a pretty 
 situation, with a grove of fine round-topped trees, under which a 
 large pulwar was building. Several sugar-mill rollers were on 
 the beach. The bank was very high, and much of it having been 
 recently deserted by the water, the smell was very unpleasant. 
 1 have great reason to be thankful that under this tremendous 
 ,sun, my spirits and appetite remain as good as usual. 
 
 September 16. — We passed an old Gossain, who said his age 
 was 104, and that he had no complaint but dimness of sight. 
 He told me that the last ten years had been remarkable for an 
 interruption, and frequently an entire cessation of the rains in 
 September, which he never remembered before. He thought it 
 would continue two years longer, “ for,” says he, “ every thing 
 changes once in twelve years for good or bad ; the bad is nearly 
 gone now — the good will come, only be patient.” 
 
 We moored at night near a sand-bank in the middle of the 
 river, in company with several other vessels, among others the 
 fleet of General Martindell, but, from the nature of our quarters, 
 with little facility of communication. The heat had continued 
 
272 
 
 SUBSIDING OF THE WATERS. 
 
 intense all day, but about midnight the wind changed to the east, 
 and was refreshing and even cold. 
 
 September 1 7. — After another day’s sailing we moored under 
 a high precipitous bank, which, like all those we now see, was 
 worn into a regular succession of steps, following all the wavy 
 lines of its face, and marking the gradual, though, in the present 
 year, most rapid subsiding of the water. The uppermost of these 
 was at least thirty feet above the present level of the river, and 
 higher still the usual bank or sand-hill arose about twenty feet 
 more. I climbed with some trouble to the top of this for my 
 twilight walk, taking Abdullah with me. After passing the usual 
 margin of high jungle-grass, with its beautiful silky tufts hanging 
 over our heads, we got into a field of Indian-corn with a pretty 
 good path through it, but no other appearance of a village, and 
 the country, so far as the imperfect light allowed me to discover, 
 more wild and jungly than any which I had passed since Sicligully. 
 A brilliant light, however, beamed up among the trees at some 
 distance, and I walked towards it in the idea that it was a cow- 
 man’s cottage, and that I might get some milk, the goats I had on 
 board being dry. On approaching it, however, and when we got 
 within about one hundred yards, it suddenly disappeared, and we 
 found neither path nor village. Abdullah observed, that these 
 people could have been about no good, that it was ‘‘ very like a 
 jugglery fire, and we had better turn back again.” I answered, 
 that I thought they were more like thieves than jugglers, to which 
 he replied, it might be so, for a slip of country near us, either now 
 was, or had been very lately under the Nawab of Oude, and was 
 a mere nest of thieves. “ Well,” said I, ‘‘ if they are thieves, it 
 will not be desirable to have them so near our boats to night, and 
 we will at least go up to the place where the fire has been. As 
 for jugglery, you know we are Christians, and the devil cannot 
 hurt us.” I had not, indeed, the smallest idea that there was risk, 
 inasmuch as we were two of us, and my boat within hail. 1 felt 
 also sure that a village was not far off, or at least a cowshed, from 
 a shepherd’s pipe which I had heard in that direction just before 
 we came to shore. I still wondered we saw nothing, till I came 
 close upon a little shed of straw, out of which a man thrust his 
 head, and in answer to my question of “who’s there?” answered 
 “ a watch.” Abdullah asked him why he had put out his light ; 
 he said that he was watching his cucumbers, that he had lighted 
 a fire to keep off wild beasts, but on hearing our voices, had covered 
 it up with turf, lest its light should attract more company than he 
 desired to his garden. The village, he said, was still at some 
 distance, and with the little light which remained, we should not 
 easily find it. In fact, it was so dark by the time we returned to 
 the bank, that I was obliged to call for a lantern to find my way 
 
SNAKES. 
 
 ^273 
 
 down again. I asked what beasts the man had to apprehend, and 
 he answered, wild hogs and wolves ; the former would certainly 
 be likely to visit his cucumbers, and the fire might keep them at 
 a distance, but the latter must be much more audacious in this 
 country than in Europe, if they would come near a living and 
 waking man. It is probable, however, that the imperfect means 
 of defence possessed by these poor people, together with their 
 fatalist principles and consequent neglect of precautions, may give 
 mischievous animals a greater confidence than they are likely to 
 possess in the neighbourhood of the strong, hardy, and intelligent 
 peasants of Russia or Sweden. 
 
 The district of which Abdullah spoke as subject to the Nawab 
 of Oude, is about four miles a-head of our present station, and is 
 called Lucha-geery. It was a part of the jointure of Saadut Ali 
 Khan’s mother, who refused to alienate it when Allahabad and 
 the neighbouring province were ceded to the Company. Since 
 her death it has been exchanged for a large tract of our conquests 
 in Nepaul. While subject to the Begum and the Nawab, it was 
 indeed a nest of thieves, but is now under the same police with 
 the rest of the Company’s territories. 
 
 The day had been as hot as its predecessor, but towards sun- 
 set a light pleasant air sprung from the east, in which quarter 
 also I saw a collection of clouds with some lightning, and other 
 indications of rain, if not immediately, yet, it might be hoped, in 
 a day or two. 
 
 September 18. — This morning, as I was at breakfast, the alarm 
 was given of a great snake in the after-cabin, which had found its 
 way into a basket containing two caps, presents for my wife and 
 myself from Meer UshrufF Ali of Dacca. It was immediately, 
 and without examination, pronounced to be a large “ Chreetu,” 
 cobra di capello, and caused great alarm amongst my servants ; 
 however, on dislodging it from its retreat, it merely proved to be 
 a water-snake. It appeared to have been coiled up very neatly 
 round the fur of the cap, and though its bite would not have been 
 venomous, would certainly have inflicted a severe wound on any 
 body who had incautiously opened the basket. I had once or 
 twice, since leaving Chunar, fancied I heard a gentle hissing, but 
 the idea of a snake in the boat seemed so improbable, that I 
 attributed it to different causes, or to fancy. Much wonder was 
 expressed at finding it in such a place, but as I have seen one of 
 the same kind climb a tree, it is probable that it had ascended 
 one of the ropes by which the boat is moored at night. I had 
 heard at Patna of a lady who once lay a whole night with a cobra 
 di capello under her pillow ; she repeatedly thought during the 
 night that something moved, and in the morning when she snatched 
 her pillow away, she found the thick black throat, the square 
 
 VoL. 1.— 35 
 
274 
 
 LUCHA-GEERY. 
 
 head, and green diamond-like eye, advanced within two inches 
 of her neck. The snake was without malice, his hood was un- 
 inflated, and he was merely enjoying the warmth of his nest; but, 
 alas ! for her, if she had during the night pressed him a little too 
 roughly ! 
 
 The banks under Lucha-geery are more than usually pictu- 
 resque, being very lofty and steep, covered down to high-water 
 mark with beautiful pendant creepers, and backed by a consider- 
 able jungle. The stream was so rapid that we were obliged to 
 cross to the other side, and fortunately had a light easterly breeze 
 again to assist us. The sun, however, was, I think, hotter than 
 ever. I was amused to find that these boatmen have the same 
 fancy with our English sailors about whistling for a wind. 
 
 Within these few days all the vermin part of Noah’s household 
 seem to have taken a fancy to my little ark. To the scorpions, 
 the cockroaches, the ants, and the snake, were added this morn- 
 ing two of the largest spiders 1 ever saw, and such as 1 regretted 
 afterwards I did not preserve in spirits. In a bottle they would 
 have made monsters fit for the shelf of any conjurer in Christen- 
 dom. About three o’clock, as we were doubling a sand-bank, 
 some fishermen came on board with a large fish, which they called 
 “rooh,” something like a carp, and weighing, I should guess, 
 twenty pounds, for which they only asked six anas, and 1 bought 
 it for my servants. I asked if they had any more, on which they 
 produced two others, between them a fair load for an ass, and of 
 a kind which 1 never saw before. They were ugly fish, with 
 heads a little like toads, a smooth skin without scales, of a pale 
 olive colour, one high dusky-coloured upright fin on the back, and 
 another on each side, with a forked tail ; their name ‘‘ Baghee.” 
 Abdullah said they were eatable and wholesome, so I bought 
 them also as a feast for the dandees. The Mussulmans, however, 
 objected to them on the Mosaic ground of having no scales, so 
 that they fell to the share exclusively of the Hindoos, who form 
 the crews of the baggage and cook-boats, and they were beyond 
 measure delighted and grateful. Two alligators showed them- 
 selves to-day, but at some distance ; they are evidently shy, but 
 fish seem extremely abundant in this part of the river. While I 
 was writing the above, another very fine “ rooh” was brought on 
 board, the fishermen swimming with it from the land; and being 
 content to dispose of it for four anas, I bought this too for the 
 Mussulman dandees, so that every person on board had fish to- 
 day, and the cost did not exceed half-a-crown, no great sum to 
 make forty people happy for the afternoon. 
 
 The east wind blew pleasantly all the afternoon, bringing up a 
 good many clouds, but no actual rain. It helped us across some 
 very bad passes of the stream, where, without its aid, we might 
 
DIHA. 
 
 275 
 
 have been detained many hours, or even days. A little after live 
 o’clock we arrived at a village called Diha, where there is a large 
 nullah, which when navigable affords the easiest and most direct 
 passage to Allahabad. At present the water was too shallow, and 
 we went by the main stream. Mohammed wanted to stop here, 
 but as we had wind and day-light still, I urged him to proceed a 
 little further and to moor on the eastern bank, along which I 
 apprehended the great dak -road to run, and designed to push on 
 in my palanquin to Allahabad that night. Unfortunately the 
 wind soon grew fainter, and the stream being very strong, it was 
 quite dark before we reached the eastern shore. I determined 
 on going myself to ascertain if there was a village near, both as 
 liking to explore, and under the idea that by seeing the Thanna- 
 dar, could any such be found, I should judge better for myself as 
 to the possibility or expediency of engaging bearers, either im- 
 mediately or for the next morning. I accordingly set out, having 
 a dandee with a lantern, Abdullah and one of the Tindals with 
 each a spear, a defence which the former assured me might not 
 be superfluous, and would at all events make me respected. I 
 had only my great stick as usual, but that is a tolerably large one, 
 and, well used, would in this country be no inconsiderable weapon, 
 f had another fruitless ramble through very high corn, some of it 
 literally above my head, and over a broad extent of fallow and 
 pasture, but found no village. Some lights were visible, but they 
 were extinguished as my party drew near, and it was not easy to 
 discover whence they proceeded. I had the caution to mark the 
 position of the stars before I set out, or we should have had much 
 trouble to find our way back again. At length we stumbled on 
 a herdsman’s shed, where we found two men, whom the sight of 
 our spears put, not without some cause, in great alarm, and from 
 whom we could get little for some time but protestations that 
 they were very poor, and entreaties not to hurt them. They had 
 put out their fire, they said, because it was a lonely place, and 
 seeing our light, and hearing our voices, they were afraid ; they 
 spoke of the nearest village as a coss and a half distant, and dis- 
 played great reluctance to undertake to guide us there. There 
 was no Thannah, they said, nearer than two coss. They spoke 
 not Oordoo, but what Abdullah said was the true Hindoo. Milk 
 they called not “ doodh,” but “ gaoruss,” “ cow-dew from “russ,” 
 “ ro5.” Rain they called “ russ'"* simply. They told us of a good 
 path through the Indian corn to the river, in following which we 
 came to another shed of the same sort, where a man with his wife 
 and children were cooking their supper. The man called to us 
 for heaven’s sake not to come near him, for he was a brahmin, 
 and our approach would oblige him to fling away his mess. In 
 answer to my desire that he would sell some milk, he said he 
 
276 
 
 BRAHMIN WATCHMAN. 
 
 could sell us none, but if I chose to take a small jug which stood 
 on one side, I might. “ Nay,” said I, “ I take nothing without 
 paying.” “ I am a brahmin,” he replied, ‘‘ and dare not sell milk, 
 but I give it you voluntarily.” ‘‘ Well, brahmin,” I answered, 
 “ take up the jug and bring it to the boat, and I will give you a 
 present, not for the milk, but voluntarily, and because you are a 
 good fellow.” He immediately started up with exceeding good- 
 will, and went with us, talking all the wa}% but in a dialect which 
 I comprehended but little. I only understood that he boasted of 
 his own courage in not being afraid of us when we came up ; 
 most people would have been so, he said, but he had a brother 
 who was a sepoy, and he had been to see him with his regiment 
 at Sultanpoor, and therefore he was not afraid when he saw a 
 Sahib at the head of the party. He said he was one of the village 
 watchmen, and that it was less degrading for a brahmin to be thus 
 employed, than as a cultivator, which seems to be by no means 
 an usual occupation for them in this part of India, though it is 
 often seen in other districts. 1 returned by a circuitous but level 
 path along the beach, which was sand, and so precisely as if the 
 tide had just left it, I could have fancied myself in one of my 
 evening walks hy the sea-side in England, had not the dark naked 
 limbs, and the weapons of my companions, reminded me that 1 
 was in a far distant land. I was a good deal disappointed at 
 the result of this expedition, since I had been anxious to reach 
 Allahabad in time to have service on the following day (Sunday). 
 That, however, was now apparently impossible, and I was obliged 
 to be content with my walk, and with the good appetite which it 
 procured me. 
 
 The clouds had been gradually rising from the eastward all 
 day, but no rain fell where I was, though some seemed to fall in 
 the neighbourhood. The night was cool and pleasant. 1 find 
 all the people here, particular!}' the Mussulmans, pronounce 
 Allahabad, “ Illahabaz.” Allah is certainly very often pronounced 
 Ullah or Illah, but why ‘‘ Abad,” the Persian word for abode, 
 should be altered, I do not know. 
 
 September 19. — This morning we were gratified by a light 
 sprinkling of rain, 1 trust the forerunner of more. The fine 
 easterly wind, however, failed, and the poor men had a hard, 
 though not a long day’s tow to Allahabad, where 1 arrived about 
 two in the afternoon. As it is here that my journey by water 
 terminates, 1 shall set down some information concerning Benares, 
 which I have learned since leaving it. 
 
 The city of Benares is certainly the richest, as well as proba- 
 bly the most populous in India ; it is also the best governed in 
 respect to its police, whi^h is carried on by a sort of national 
 guard, the Chuprassies, of whom 1 have made frequent mention, 
 
RELIGIOUS TUMULT. 
 
 277 
 
 chosen by the inhabitants themselves, and merely approved of by 
 the magistrates. There are about five hundred of these in the 
 city, which is divided into sixty wards, with a gate to each, which 
 is shut at night, and guarded by one of these people. In conse- 
 quence, notwithstanding the vast population, the crowds of beg- 
 gars and pilgrims of all countries, (of Maharatta pilgrims alone 
 there are generally some twenty thousand in the place, many of 
 them armed, and of warlike and predatory habits,) robberies and 
 murders are very rare, while the guards being elected and paid by 
 the respectable householders, have an interest in being civil, well- 
 behaved, and attentive. 
 
 The army at Secrole is never called in except in cases of ex- 
 tremity, according to an excellent rule laid down and strictly 
 observed by the Government of Bengal, never to employ the 
 military force except in affairs of real war, or where an active 
 and numerous police is visibly incompetent to provide for the 
 public safety. Only one instance of the military being called in 
 has occurred at Benares during the last twenty-five years, which 
 was on occasion of the quarrel I have already noticed between 
 the Mussulmans and Hindoos. At that time Mr. Bird was magis- 
 trate, and he gave me a far more formidable idea of the tumult 
 than I had previously formed. One half of the population was 
 literally armed against the other, and the fury which actuated 
 both was more like that of demoniacs than rational enemies. It 
 began by the Mussulmans breaking down a famous pillar, named 
 Siva’s walking staff, held in high veneration by the Hindoos. 
 These last in revenge broke and burnt down a mosque, and the 
 retort of the first aggressors was to kill a cow, and pour her blood 
 into the sacred well. In consequence every Hindoo able to bear 
 arms, and many who had no other fitness for the employment 
 than rage supplied, procured weapons, and attacked their enemies 
 with frantic fury wherever they met them. Being the most nu- 
 merous party, they put the Mussulmans in danger of actual ex- 
 termination, and would certainly have at least burned every 
 mosque in the place before twenty-four hours were over, if the 
 sepoys had not been called in. Of these last, the temper was 
 extremely doubtful. By far the greater number of them were 
 Hindoos, and perhaps one half brahmins ; any one of them, if he 
 had been his own master, would have rejoiced in an opportunity 
 of shedding his life’s blood in a quarrel with the Mussulmans, and 
 of the mob who attacked them, the brahmins, yoguees, gossains, 
 and other religious mendicants, formed the front rank, their bodies 
 and faces covered with chalk and ashes, their long hair untied as 
 devoted to death, showing their strings, and yelling out to them 
 all the bitterest curses of their religion, if they persisted in urging 
 an unnatural war against their brethren and their gods. The 
 
278 
 
 RELIGIOUS TUMULT. 
 
 sepoys, however, were immoveable. Regarding the military 
 oath as the most sacred of all obligations, they fired at a brahmin 
 as readily as at any one else, and kept guard at the gate of a 
 mosque as faithfully and fearlessly as if it had been the gate of 
 one of their own temples. Their courage and steadiness pre- 
 served Benares from ruin. 
 
 One observation of some of the Hindoo sepoys was remarkable. 
 The pillar, the destruction of which led to all the tumult, had 
 originally stood in one of the Hindoo temples which were destroy- 
 ed by Aurungzebe, and mosques built over them. In the mosque, 
 however, it still was suffered to exist, and pilgrimages were made 
 to it by the Hindoos through the connivance of the Mussulmans, 
 in consequence of their being allowed to receive half of all the 
 offerings made there. It was a very beautiful shaft of one stone, 
 forty feet high, and covered with exquisite carving. This carv- 
 ing gave offence to several zealous Mohammedans, but the quar- 
 rel which hastened its destruction arose, as I have stated, from 
 the unfortunate rencontre of the rival processions. Respecting 
 the pillar, a tradition had long prevailed among the Hindoos, that 
 it was gradually sinking in the ground, that it had been twice the 
 visible height it then showed, and that when its summit was level 
 with the earth, all nations were to be of one caste, and the reli- 
 gion of Brahma to have an end. Two brahmin sepoys were 
 keeping guard in the mosque, where the defaced and prostrate 
 pillar lay, “ Ah,” said one of them, “ we have seen that which we 
 never thought to see, Siva’s shaft has its head even with the 
 ground ; we shall all be of one caste shortly, what will be our 
 religion then?” “ 1 suppose the Christian,” answered the other. 
 “ I suppose so too,” rejoined the first, “ for after all that has 
 passed, I am sure we shall never turn Mussulmans.” 
 
 After the tumult was quelled, a very curious and impressive 
 scene succeeded ; the holy city had been profaned ; the blood of 
 a cow had been mixed with the purest water of Gunga, and sal- 
 vation was to be obtained at Benares no longer. All the brah- 
 mins in the city, amounting to many thousands, went down in 
 melancholy procession, with ashes on their heads, naked and fast- 
 ing, to the principal ghats leading to the river, and sate there with 
 their hands folded, their heads hanging down, to all appearance 
 inconsolable, and refusing to enter a house or to taste food. Two 
 or three days of this abstinence, however, began to tire them, 
 and a hint was given to the magistrates and other public men, 
 that a visit of condolence and an expression of sympathy with 
 these holy mourners would sufficiently comfort them, and give 
 them an ostensible reason for returning to their usual employ- 
 ment. Accordingly all the British functionaries went to the 
 principal ghat, expressed their sorrow for the distress in which 
 
SITTING DHURNA. 
 
 279 
 
 they saw them, but reasoned with them on the absurdity of pun= 
 ishing themselves for an act in which they had no share, and 
 which they had done their utmost to prevent or avenge. This 
 prevailed, and after much bitter weeping, it was resolved that 
 Ganges was Ganges still, that a succession of costly offerings 
 from the laity of Benares might wipe out the stain which their 
 religion had received, and that the advice of the judges was the 
 best and most reasonable. Mr. Bird, who was one of the am- 
 bassadors on this occasion, told me that the scene was very im- 
 pressive and even awful. The gaunt squallid figures of the 
 devotees, their visible and apparently unaffected anguish and dis- 
 may, the screams and outcries of the women who surrounded 
 them, and the great numbers thus assembled, altogether consti- 
 tuted a spectacle of wo such as few cities but Benares could 
 supply. 
 
 Yet even this was exceeded by a spectacle of a kind almost 
 similar, which Benares offered on another occasion. Government 
 had then, unadvisedly, imposed a house-tax of a very unpopular 
 character, both from its amount and its novelty. To this the 
 natives objected, that they recognised in their British rulers the 
 same rights which had been exercised by the Moguls, — that the 
 land-tax was theirs, and that they could impose duties on com- 
 modities going to market, or for exportation : but that their 
 houses were their own, — that they had never been intermeddled 
 with in any but their landed property, and commodities used in 
 traffic, — and that the same power which now imposed a heavy 
 and unheard of tax on their dwellings, might do the same next 
 year on their children and themselves. These considerations, 
 though backed by strong representations from the magistrates, 
 produced no effect in Calcutta ; on which the whole population 
 of Benares and its neighbourhood determined to sit “ dhurna” 
 till their grievances were redressed. To sit “ dhurna,” or mourn- 
 ing, is to remain motionless in that posture,*»without food, and 
 ' exposed to the weather, till the person against whom it is em- 
 ployed consents to the request offered ; and the Hindoos believe 
 that whoever dies under such a process becomes a tormenting 
 spirit to haunt and afflict his inflexible antagonist. This is a 
 practice not unfrequent in the intercourse of individuals, to en- 
 force payment of a debt, or forgiveness of one. And among 
 Hindoos it is very prevailing, not only from the apprehended 
 dreadful consequences of the death of the petitioner, but because 
 many are of opinion, that while a person sits dhurna at their 
 door, they must not themselves presume to eat, or undertake any 
 secular business. It is even said that some persons hire brah- 
 mins to sit dhurna for them, the thing being to be done by proxy, 
 and the dhurna of a brahmin being naturally more awful in its 
 effects than that of a soodra could be. T do not know whether 
 
280 
 
 SITTING DHURNA. 
 
 there is any example under their ancient princes of a considerable 
 portion of the people taking this strange method of remonstrance 
 against oppression, but in this case it was done with great resolu- 
 tion, and surprising concert and unanimity. Some of the leading 
 brahmins sent written handbills to the wards in Benares nearest 
 the college, and to some of the adjoining villages, declaring 
 very shortly the causes and necessity of the measures which they 
 were about to adopt, calling on all lovers of their country and 
 national creed to join in it, and commanding, under many bitter 
 curses, every person who received it to forward it to his next 
 neighbour. Accordingly it flew over the country like the fiery 
 cross in the “ Lady of the Lake,” and three days after it was 
 issued, and before Government were in the least apprised of the 
 plan, above 300,000 persons, as it is said, deserted their houses, 
 shut up their shops, suspended the labour of their farms, forbore 
 to light fires, dress victuals, many of them even to eat, and sate 
 down with folded arms and drooping heads, like so many sheep, 
 on the plain which surrounds Benares. 
 
 The local government were exceedingly perplexed. There 
 was the chance that very many of these strange beings would 
 really perish, either from their obstinacy, or the diseases which 
 they would contract in their present situation. There was a 
 probability that famine would ensue, from the interruption of 
 agricultural labour, at the most critical time of the year. There 
 was a certainty that the revenue would sufler very materially from 
 this total cessation of all traffic. And it might even be appre- 
 hended that their despair, and the excitement occasioned by such 
 a display of physical force, would lead them to far stronger demon- 
 strations of discontent than that of sitting dhurna. On the other 
 hand, the authorities of Benares neither were permitted, nor 
 would it have been expedient, to yield to such a demand, so 
 urged. They conducted themselves with great prudence and 
 good temper. Many of the natives appeared to expect, and the 
 brahmins perhaps hoped, that they would still further outrage the 
 feelings of the people, by violently suppressing their assemblage. 
 They did no such thing, but coolly reasoned with some of the 
 ringleaders on the impossibility that Government should yield to 
 remonstrances so enforced. They however told them expressly, 
 in answer to their inquiries, that if they chose to sit dhurna, it 
 was their own affair ; and that so long as they only injured them- 
 selves, and were peaceable in their behaviour to others. Govern- 
 ment would not meddle with them. They did not omit, however, to 
 bring a strong body of Europeans from Dinapoor and Ghazeepoor, 
 to the neighbouring cantonment, without appearing to watch the 
 conduct of the natives, or putting it into their heads that they 
 suspected them of violent intentions. At last the multitude began 
 to grow very hungry, and a thunder shower which fell made them 
 
SITTING DHURNA. 
 
 281 
 
 wet, cold, and uncomfortable. Some of the party proposed a 
 change of operations, and that a deputation of 10,000 should be 
 sent to address the Governor-General personally. This was 
 eagerly carried by a majority heartily tired of their situation, and 
 the next question was, how these men should be maintained during 
 their journey? when one leading brahmin proposed a tax on 
 houses. A string was here struck which made the whole instru- 
 ment jar. “ A tax on houses ! If we are to pay a tax on houses 
 after all, we might as well have remained on good terms with 
 our Government, sitting under our vines and fig-trees, and neither 
 hungry nor rheumatic.” A great number caught at the excuse 
 for a rupture, and rose to go home, but the remainder determined 
 that all should go to the Governor, every man at his own charge. 
 The seeds of disunion were already sown, and the majority ab^ 
 sented themselves from the muster which was held three days 
 after. From ten to twenty thousand, however, really assembled 
 with such provisions as they could collect, and began their march, 
 still unmolested by the magistrates, whose whole conduct was 
 wise and merciful ; they well calculated that provisions would 
 soon fall short, and travelling become wearisome, and merely 
 watched their motions at some distance with a corps of cavalry. 
 They knew that hunger would make them plunder, and that the 
 hilly and jungly road from Benares to the neighbourhood of 
 Burdwan, afforded few facilities for the subsistence of so great a 
 multitude. Accordingly, in a few days they melted away to so 
 small a number, that the remainder were ashamed to proceed. 
 The supreme Government followed up their success most wisely 
 by a repeal of the obnoxious tax, and thus ended a disturbance 
 which, if it had been harshly or improperly managed, might have 
 put all India in a flame. 
 
 Benares being in many respects the commercial, and in all, the 
 ecclesiastical metropolis of India, I was not surprised to find 
 persons from all parts of the peninsula residing there. But I \vas 
 'astonished to hear of the number of Persians, Turks, Tartars, 
 and even Europeans who are to be met with. Among them is a 
 Greek, a well-informed and well-mannered man, who has fixed 
 himself here for many years, living on his means, whatever they 
 are, and professing to study the Sanscrit. I heard a good deal 
 of him afterwards in Allahabad, and was much struck by the 
 singularity and mystery of his character and situation. He is a 
 very good scholar in the ancient language of his country, and 
 speaks good English, French, and Italian. His manners are 
 those of a gentleman, and he lives like a person at his ease. Pie 
 has little intercourse with the English, but is on very friendly 
 terms with the principal Hindoo families. He was once an ob- 
 ject of suspicion to Government, but after watching him for a 
 
 VoL. I. — 36 
 
282 
 
 GOVERNORS OF INDIA. 
 
 long time they saw nothing in his conduct to confirm their sus- 
 picions, and during Lord Hastings’s first Pindarree war, he 
 voluntarily gave, on different occasions, information of much 
 importance. So few Europeans, however, who can help it, reside 
 in India, that it seems strange that any man should prefer' it as a 
 residence, without some stronger motive than a fondness for 
 Sanscrit literature, more particularly since he does not appear to 
 meditate any work on the subject. He was a partner in a Greek 
 house in Calcutta, but is now said to have retired from business. 
 There is also a Russian here, who by a natural affinity lives much 
 with the Greek. He is, however, a trader, and has apparently 
 moved in a much humbler rank of society than his friend. 
 
 Though Benares is the holy place of India, the brahmins there 
 are less intolerant and prejudiced than in most other places. 
 The eternal round of idle ceremonies in which they pass their 
 time, is said to have produced, in many of them, a degree of 
 weariness of their own system, and a disposition to inquire after 
 others which does not exist in Calcutta. I was told that the 
 Archdeacon, when here, was an object of great interest and 
 respect with them ; and had he resided longer, it is probable that 
 he would have had more converts than at Agra. It is also, gene- 
 rally speaking, loyal, and well affected to the Company’s Govern- 
 ment, though its inhabitants, being in fact superior in rank, wealth, 
 and education, to those of the average of Indian towns, talk more 
 of public men and public matters. 
 
 I was curious to know what Governors of India had stood 
 highest in their good opinion, and found that they usually spoke 
 of Warren Hastings and Lord Wellesley as the two greatest men 
 who had ever ruled this part of the world, but that they spoke 
 with most affection of Mr. Jonathan Duncan. ‘‘ Duncan sahib 
 ka chota bhaee,” “ Mr. Duncan’s younger brother,^’ is still the 
 usual term of praise applied to any public man who appears to 
 be actuated by an unusual spirit of kindness and liberality towards 
 their nation. Of the sultan-like and splendid character of War- 
 ren Hastings, many traits are preserved, and a nursery rhyme, 
 which is often sung to children, seems to show how much they 
 were pleased with the Oriental (not European) pomp which he 
 knew how to employ on occasion. 
 
 “ Hat’hee pur howdah, ghore pur jeen, 
 
 Juldee bah’r jata Sahib Warren HusteenI 
 
 Of Lord Hastings 1 have not found that they have retained any 
 very favourable impression. Yet the extent of his conquests, 
 and his pleasing manners during his short visit, must, 1 should 
 think, have struck them. 
 
ALLAHABAD. 
 
 283 
 
 Allahabad stands in perhaps the most favourable situation 
 which India affords for a great city, in a dry and healthy soil, on 
 a triangle, at the junction of the two mighty streams, Gunga and 
 Jumna, with an easy communication with Bombay and Madras, 
 and capable of being fortified so as to become almost impregnable. 
 But though occasionally the residence of royalty, though generally 
 inhabited by one of the Shah-zadehs, and still containing two or 
 three fine ruins, it never appears to have been a great or magni- 
 ficent city, and is now even more desolate and ruinous than Dacca, 
 having obtained, among the natives, the name of Fakeer-abad,” 
 “ beggar-abode.” It may, however, revive to some greater pros- 
 perity, from the increase of the civil establishment attached to it. 
 It is now the permanent station (the castrum Hybernum) of the 
 Sudder Mofussil commission, a body of judges whose office is the 
 same with regard to these provinces as that of the Sudder Dewan- 
 nee Udawlut for the eastern parts of the empire. The necessity 
 for such a special court had become very great. The remoteness 
 of the Sudder Dewannee had made appeals to it almost i^lpossi- 
 ble, and very great extortion and oppression had been committed 
 by the native agents of the inferior and local courts, sometimes 
 with the connivance, but more often through the ignorance and 
 inexperience of the junior magistrates and judges. They, when 
 these provinces were placed under British governors, having 
 been previously employed in Bengal and Bahar, naturally took 
 their Bengalee followers with them, a race regarded by the Hin- 
 doostanecs as no less foreigners than the English, and even more 
 odiouS' than Franks, from ancient prejudice, and from their 
 national reputation of craft, covetousness, and cowardice. In 
 fact, by one means or other, these Bengalees almost all acquired 
 considerable landed property in a short time among them, and it 
 has been the main business of the Sudder Mofussil Udawlut, to 
 review the titles to all property acquired since the English 
 Government entered the Dooab. In many instances they have 
 succeeded in recovering all or part of extensive possessions to 
 their rightful heirs, and the degree of confidence in the justice of 
 their rulers, with which they have inspired the natives, is said to 
 be very great. They make circuits during all the travelling 
 months of the year, generally pitching their tents near towns, 
 and holding their courts under trees, an arrangement so agreeable 
 to Indian prejudices, that one of these judges said it was, in his 
 opinion, one main source of their usefulness, inasmuch as an 
 Indian of the humbler class is really always under constraint and 
 fear in a house, particularly if furnished in the European manner, 
 and can neither attend to what is told him, nor tell his own story 
 so well as in the open air, and amidst those objects from which 
 all his enjoyments are drawn. At Allahabad, however, where 
 
284 
 
 JUMNA MUSJEED. 
 
 their permanent abodes are, these judges have a court-house, 
 though a very humble one, thatched, and inconvenient. 
 
 The only considerable buildings or ruins in Allahabad are the 
 fort, the Jumna Musjeed, and the serai and garden of Sultan 
 Khosroo. The first stands on the point of the triangle formed 
 by the two rivers, and is strong both naturally and artificially. 
 It has been a very noble castle, but has suffered in its external 
 appearance as much as it has probably gained in strength, by 
 the modernization which it has undergone from its present mas- 
 ters, its lofty towers being pruned down into bastions and cava- 
 liers, and its high stone rampart topped with turf parapets, and 
 obscured by a green sloping glacis. It is still, however, a striking 
 place, and its principal gate, surmounted by a dome, with a wide 
 hall beneath surrounded by arcades and galleries, and ornamented 
 with rude but glowing paintings, is the noblest entrance I ever 
 saw to a place of arms. This has been, I think, injudiciously 
 modernized without, after the Grecian or Italian style, but within, 
 the high gothic arches and Saracenic paintings remain. The 
 barracks are very handsome and neat, something like those of 
 Fort William, which the interior disposition of the fort a good 
 deal resembles. On one side, however, is a large range of build- 
 ings, still in the oriental style, and containing some noble vaulted' 
 rooms, chiefly occupied as officers’ quarters, and looking down 
 from a considerable height on the rapid stream and craggy banks 
 of the Jumna. The Jumna and Ganges are here pretty nearly 
 of equal width ; the former is the more rapid of the two, and its 
 navigation more dangerous from the rocky character of its bed, 
 and its want of depth in the dry season. At present both streams 
 were equally turbid, but in another month, I am told, we should 
 have found the water of the Jumna clear as crystal, and strangely 
 contrasted with the turbid yellow wave of the more sacred stream, 
 which is, however, when allowed some little time to clear itself, 
 by far the most palatable of the two, and preferred by all the city, 
 both native and European. 
 
 The Jumna Musjeed, or principal mosque, is still in good 
 repair, but very little frequented. It stands on an advantageous 
 situation on the banks of the Jumna, adjoining the city on one 
 side, and on the other an esplanade before the fort glacis, planted 
 with trees like that of Calcutta. It is a solid and stately building, 
 but without much ornament. It had been, since the English 
 conquest fitted up first as a residence for the General of the 
 station, then used as an assembly-room, till Mr. Courtney Smith, 
 apprehending this to be an insult to the religious feelings of the 
 Mussulmans, persuaded the Government to restore it to its sacred 
 character, and to repair its damages. The Mussulmans, however, 
 are neither numerous nor zealous in Allahabad, and seemed to 
 
ALLAHABAD. 
 
 285 
 
 care little about the matter. Nevertheless the original dese- 
 cration was undoubtedly offensive and unjust, and the restitution 
 a proper and popular measure. 
 
 The finest things in Allahabad, however, are Sultan Khosroo’s 
 serai and garden ; the former is a noble quadrangle, with four fine 
 gothic gateways, surrounded within an embattled wall by a range 
 of cloisters for the accommodation of travellers. The whole is 
 now much dilapidated, but was about to be repaired from the 
 town duties, when unhappily the Birmese war arrested this excel- 
 lent appropriation of an unpopular tax. Adjoining the serai is a 
 neglected garden, planted with fine old mangoe trees, in which are 
 three beautiful tombs raised over two princes and a princess of the 
 imperial family. Each consists of a large terrace, with vaulted 
 apartments beneath it, in the central one of which is a tomb like a 
 stone coffin, richly carved. Above is a very lofty circular apart- 
 ment, covered by a dome richly painted within, and without 
 carved yet more beautifully. All these are very solemn and 
 striking, rich, but not florid or gaudy, and completely giving the 
 lie to the notion common in England, which regards all eastern 
 architecture as in bad taste and “ barbarous.” 
 
 The houses of the civil servants of the Company are at some 
 distance, both from the fort and the town, extending along a small 
 rising ground, in a line from the Ganges to the Jumna. They are 
 mere bungalows, and less both in size and ornament than at any 
 station I have yet seen in these provinces. The situation is, 
 however, pleasant and healthy. The city of Allahabad is small, 
 with very poor houses, and narrow irregular streets, and confined 
 to the banks of the Jumna. 
 
 I remained ten days at Allahabad, waiting the arrival of tents 
 from Cawnpoor. During this time I had the pleasure of con- 
 firming twenty persons, two of them natives, and of preaching 
 and administering the sacrament to seventy or eighty, of whom 
 some were also natives, or at least in the native dress. The 
 residents here are exceedingly anxious for a chaplain, but that 
 one should be appointed at this time, I entertain but few hopes, 
 though it is very sad that such a congregation should want one. 
 For the present I hope to procure them one of the Church 
 Missionaries. 
 
 Amid the other necessary preparations for my land journey, 
 more numerous by far, and more various, than I had anticipated, 
 I had to purchase a horse for my own riding, no elephant being 
 either to be begged, bought, or borrowed in Allahabad, and no 
 reasonable hope being held out of my procuring one in Cawnpoor. 
 Indeed, most people tell me that a horse, during the greater part 
 of the journey which 1 have before me, will be a far preferable 
 conveyance. To procure a tolerable one was not, however, an 
 
286 
 
 HORSE DEALERS. 
 
 easy matter. Arabs are excessively scarce and dear, and one 
 which was sent for me to look at, at a price of 800 rupees, was a 
 skittish, cat-legged thing, not worth half the money. I went 
 with Mr. Bird, whose kindness and hospitality were unremitting 
 during my whole stay, to look at a drove of up-country horses, 
 just arrived from Lahore and Turkistan, and was exceedingly 
 amused and interested by the picturesque groups of men and 
 animals which met the eye in a crowded serai about nightfall, as 
 well as with the fine forms of some of the colts offered for sale, 
 and the singular appearance and manner of the grazier who owned 
 the “ cofilah,” or caravan, and his attendant saeeses. The former 
 was an elderly man, six feet high, and more than proportionally 
 corpulent, with a long, curling, black beard, spreading over his 
 white peyrahoom. The latter were also large-limbed, tall men, 
 with long hair in black strong ringlets hanging down their backs 
 and over their ears, their little turbans set knowingly on one side, 
 and neither they nor their master much darker than Europeans. 
 Indeed, they exceedingly resembled some of the portraits of 
 Italians by Titian ; they rode well, and showed great strength ; 
 but what most amused me was the remarkable resemblance be- 
 tween horse-dealers all over the world, in turns of expression, in 
 tricks of trade, nay, even in tone of voice and cast of countenance. 
 I had fortunately an excellent judge in Mr. Bird, but even he was 
 perplexed for some time how to advise me. At length I fixed on 
 a very handsome colt, too young, certainly, but strong, and very 
 good tempered, for which I gave 460 rupees. The old man went 
 and came over and over again before he would take the price, but 
 I was pertinacious ; and at last, on Abdullah’s suggesting that an 
 additional present of something besides money would please him 
 better, I gave him apiece of Dacca muslin, sufficient for a turban, 
 and worth about eight sicca rupees, as well as a small phial of 
 laudanum and brandy for an ear-ache, of which he bitterly com- 
 plained. This satisfied him, and we parted very good friends, 
 Mr. Bird being of opinion that the price was really a fair one, and 
 the horse extremely promising. It was also necessary to buy five 
 tattoes for my servants to ride in turns, as there were no baggage- 
 elephants to mount them on. This, however, was easily accom- 
 plished, and the animals, saddles, bridles, and all, were obtained, 
 though very good ones of their kind, for sixteen rupees each. 
 A long string of other necessaries followed, and I had the morti- 
 fication to find that few of the things I had brought with me from 
 Calcutta could be put on the backs of camels. It was with the 
 greatest difficulty that a carpenter could be found in the whole 
 city to drive a nail, or a blacksmith to make a horse-shoe ; it 
 being the festival of Rama and Seeta, all the world was employed 
 in seeing the hero with his army of monkeys attack the giant 
 
FESTIVAL OF RAMA AND SEETA. 
 
 287 
 
 Ravanu. Many other hinderances and disappointments occurred, 
 but the delay they occasioned gave me an opportunity of seeing 
 something of the Ramayuna festival, which consists in a sort of 
 dramatic representation during many successive days, of Rama’s 
 history and adventures. The first evening I went with Mr. Bird 
 to the show^ for as such it is now considered, and so entirely 
 divested of every religious character, as to be attended even by 
 Mussulmans without scruple. I found Rama, his brother Luch- 
 mun, and his betrothed wife Seeta, represented by three children 
 of about twelve years old, seated in Durbar, under an awning in 
 the principal street of the sepoy lines, with a great crowd round 
 them, some fanning them, (of which, poor things, they had great 
 need,) some blowing horns and beating gongs and drums, and the 
 rest shouting till the air rang again. The two heroes were very 
 fine boys, and acted their parts admirably. Each had a gilt bow 
 in his left hand, and a sabre in his right, their naked bodies were 
 almost covered with gilt ornaments and tinsel, they had high 
 tinsel crowns on their heads, their foreheads and bodies spotted 
 with charcoal, chalk, and vermilion, and altogether perfectly 
 resembled the statues of Hindoo deities, 
 
 “ Except that of their eyes alone 
 The twinkle showed they were not stone.” 
 
 Poor little Seeta, wrapt up in a gorgeous veil of flimsy finery, and 
 tired to death, had dropped her head on her breast, and seemed 
 happily insensible to all which was going on. The brahmin 
 sepoys who bore the principal part in the play, made room, with 
 great solicitude, for us to see. 1 asked a good many questions, 
 and obtained very ready answers in much the same way, and 
 with no more appearance of reverence or devotion than one 
 should receive from an English mob at a puppet-show. “ I 
 see Rama, Seeta, and Luchmun, but where is Huniman?” (the 
 famous monkey general.) “ Huniman,” was the answer, “ is not 
 yet come ; but that man,” pointing to a great stout soldier of 
 singularly formidable exterior, “ is Huniman, and he will soon 
 arrive.” The man began laughing as if half ashamed of his 
 destination, but now took up the conversation, telling me that 
 “ next day was to be a far prettier play than I now saw, for Seeta 
 was to be stolen away by Ravanu and his attendant evil spirits, 
 Rama and Luchmun were to go to the jungle in great sorrow to 
 seek for her,” 
 
 (“ Rama, your Rama ! to greenwood must hie !”) 
 
 That “ then (laughing again) 1 and my army shall come, and 
 we shall fight bravely, bravely.” The evening following I was 
 
288 
 
 FESTIVAL OF RAMA AND SEETA. 
 
 engaged, but the next day I repeated my visit ; I was then too 
 late for the best part of the show, which had consisted of a first 
 and unsuccessful attack by Rama and his army on the fortress of 
 the gigantic ravisher. That fortress, however, I saw, — an en- 
 closure of bamboos, covered with paper and painted with doors 
 and windows, within which was a frightful paper giant, fifteen feet 
 high, with ten or twelve arms, each grasping either a sword, an 
 arrow, a bow, a battle-axe, or a spear. At his feet sate poor little 
 Seeta as motionless as before, guarded by two figures to represent 
 demons. The brothers in a splendid palkee were conducting the 
 retreat of their army ; the divine Huniman, as naked and almost 
 as hairy as the animal whom he represented, was gamboling before 
 them, with a long tail tied round his waist, a mask to represent 
 the head of a baboon, and two great painted clubs in his hands. 
 His army followed, a number of men with similar tails and masks, 
 their boies dyed with indigo, and also armed with clubs. I was 
 never so forcibly struck with the identity of Rama and Bacchus. 
 Here were before me Bacchus, his brother Ampelus, the Satyrs, 
 (smeared with wine lees,) and the great Pan commanding them. 
 The fable, however, can hardly have originated in India, and 
 probably has been imported both by the Greeks and brahmins 
 from Cashmere, or some other central country where the grape 
 grows, unless we suppose that the grape has been merely an 
 accidental appendage to Bacchus’s character, arising from the fact 
 that the festival occurs during the vintage. There yet remained 
 two or three days of pageant, before Seeta’s release, purification, 
 and re-marriage to her hero lover, but for this conclusion I did not 
 remain in Allahabad. At Benares, I am told, the show is on such 
 occasions really splendid. The Raja attends in state with all the 
 principal inhabitants of the place, he lends his finest elephants 
 and jewels to the performers, who are children of the most emi- 
 nent families, and trained up by long previous education. I saw 
 enough, however, at Allahabad to satisfy my curiosity. The show 
 is now a very innocent one, but there was a hideous and accursed 
 practice in “ the good old times,''’ before the British police was 
 established, at least if all which the Mussulmans and English say 
 is to be believed, which shows the Hindoo superstition in all its 
 horrors. The poor children who had been thus feasted, honoured, 
 and made to contribute to the popular amusement, were, it is 
 said, always poisoned in the sweetmeats given them the last day 
 of the show, that it might be said their spirits were absorbed into 
 the deities whom they had represented ! Nothing of the sort can 
 now be done. The children, instead of being bought for the pur- 
 pose, from a distance, by the priests, are the children of neigh- 
 bours, whose prior and subsequent history is known, and Rama 
 and Seeta now grow old like other boys and girls. 
 
289 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ALLAHABAD TO CAWNPOOR. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF CARAVAN ARMED PEASANTRY CAMAULPOOR—FYZEE 
 
 MUSSEEH VISITS FROM ZEMINDAR AND IMAM MUSSULMAN SOLDIER 
 
 TURNED SAINT RYUTS OPPRESSED BY SOLDIERY FUTTEHPOOR 
 
 SERAI — ^BEGGARS LIVING IN TOMES— STORMY MARCH TO KULEAN- 
 POOR DAK JOURNEY TO CAWNPOOR HOSPITAL AND SCHOOL DE- 
 
 SCRIPTION OF TOWN AND CLIMATE. 
 
 At length, on Thursday morning the 30th of September, we 
 began our journey, having sent off some hours before our motley 
 train, consisting of twenty-four camels, eight carts drawn by bul- 
 locks, twenty-four horse-servants, including those of the Arch- 
 deacon and Mr. Lushington, ten ponies, forty bearers and coolies 
 of different descriptions, twelve tent-pitchers, and a guard of 
 twenty sepoys under a native officer. The whimsical caravan 
 filed off in state before me ; my servants, all arnied with spears, 
 to which many of them had added, at their own cost, sabres of 
 the longest growth, looked, on their little ponies, like something 
 between cossacks and sheriff’s javelin-men ; my new Turkoman 
 horse, still in the costume of his country, with his long squirrel- 
 like tail painted red, and his mane plaited in love-knots, looked 
 as if he were going to eat fire, or perform some other part in a 
 melodrama ; while Mr. Lushington’s horses, two very pretty 
 Arabs, with their tails docked, and their saddles English (“ Un- 
 grigi”) fashion, might have attracted notice in Hyde-park, the 
 Archdeacon’s buggy and horse had every appearance of issuing 
 - from the back gate of a college in Cambridge on a Sunday 
 morning; and lastly came some mounted gens d’armes, and a 
 .sword and buckler-man on foot, looking exactly like the advanced 
 guard of a Tartar army. Rain, however, long prayed for, but 
 which was now an inconvenience to us, prevented our starting 
 all together, and it was late in the evening before we arrived at 
 Cooseah, sixteen miles from Allahabad, where we found two ex- 
 cellent tents, of three apartments each, pitched for our reception, 
 and the tea-kettle boiling under the shade of some stately trees in 
 a wild country of ruins and jungle, now gemmed and glowing 
 with the scattered fires of our cofilah. 
 
 This was the first night 1 ever passed under canvass, and, 
 independent of its novelty, 1 found the comforts of my dwelling 
 * VoL. L— 37 
 
^90 
 
 CARAVAN. 
 
 greatly exceed my expectation. The breeze blew in very fresh 
 and pleasantly through the tent door, the ground, covered with 
 short withered grass, was perfectly dry, though rain had so lately 
 fallen, and my bed and musquito-curtains were arranged with 
 as much comfort as in Calcutta. The only circumstance which 
 struck me as likely to be annoying even to a lady, was the pub- 
 licity of the situation, — her bed within a few inches of an open 
 door, a body of men-servants and soldiers sleeping all round that 
 door, and a sentry pacing backwards and forwards before it. After 
 all, however, this publicity is more apparent than real. The 
 check of the tent prevents effectually 'any person from seeing what 
 passes within who does not come purposely up to peep, and this 
 the sentry would not allow. 
 
 At five o’clock on the morning of October first we again began 
 our march, and proceeded about twelve miles, to the second 
 customary station, called Cussiah, a grove of neem-trees, more 
 extensive than that which we had left, and at a small distance 
 from a large but ruinous village. We passed through a country 
 much wilder, worse cultivated, and worse peopled than any which 
 I had seen in India. What cultivation there was consisted of 
 maize, growing very tall, but sadly burnt by the continued drought. 
 This, however, was only in patches, and the greater part of the 
 prospect consisted of small woods, scattered in a very picturesque 
 manner over a champaign country, with few signs of habitations, 
 and those most of them in ruins. I was strongly reminded of the 
 country of the Tchemoi-morski cossacks, to which the groups of 
 people in dresses nearly similar, and all armed, who passed us 
 on the road, undoubtedly in a great measure contributed. I had 
 been disposed to wonder at Colonel Francklin’s counsel to buy 
 spears for my servants, and at the escort which had been ordered 
 me ; but I soon found, that, whether necessary or not, such pre- 
 cautions were at least customary. Every traveller whom we met, 
 even the common people going to market, had either swords and 
 shields, spears, or match-lock guns, and one man had a bow and 
 quiver of arrows, in that circumstance, as well as in his dress and 
 person, extremely resembling a Circassian warrior. The road 
 was rugged; nothing indeed, so far as I had yet seen, could appear 
 more unfounded than the assurances which I have heard in Cal- 
 cutta, that an open carriage is an eligible method of travelling in 
 the Dooab, on any other ground than cheapness. I have been 
 often told that the road as far as Meerut would answer perfectly 
 for a gig. The fact is, there are no roads at all, and the tracks 
 which we follow are very often such as to require care even on 
 horseback. By driving slowly, no doubt a gig may go almost any 
 where, but it is any thing but an agreeable pastime to drive along 
 tracks which, when beaten, are so poached by the feet of horses 
 
THE DOOAB. 
 
 291 
 
 and cattle, and so hardened by the sun as to resemble a frozen 
 farm-yard, while if the traveller forsakes these roads, he encoun- 
 ters cracks deep and wide enough to break his wheels. Here and 
 there is a tolerably level mile or two, but wnth a few such excep- 
 tions, there is no fast or pleasant driving in this part of India. 
 
 Both men and women whom we met on the road, I thought 
 decidedly taller, fairer, and finer people than the Bengalees. 
 Some of the sepoys, indeed, of a regiment who passed us, were 
 of complexions so little darker than those of Europe, that as they 
 approached 1 really at first took them for Europeans. Every 
 thing seems to assimilate gradually to the scenes and habits of 
 the eastern and southern parts of Europe. The people no longer 
 talk of their daily Hce, but say “ it is time to eat bread to-day.” 
 Instead of the softness and gentleness so apparent in those Indians 
 whom we first saw, these men have a proud step, a stern eye, 
 and a rough loud voice, such as might be expected from people 
 living almost always in the open air, and in a country where, till 
 its acquisition by the English, no man was sure that he might not 
 at any moment be compelled to fight for his property. Much of 
 this necessity is passed away, but something yet remains. The 
 nation is still one of lawless and violent habits, containing many 
 professed thieves, and many mercenary soldiers, who, in the present 
 tranquillity of the country, are at any instant ready to become 
 thieves ; and the general sense of moral feeling is, in this particular, 
 so low, that one ceases to wonder that banditti are from time to 
 time heard of, and that every body finds it desirable to take his 
 arms with him on a journey. 
 
 I was greatly pleased with my new horse, but I was annoyed 
 in the course of the ride by one of his shoes breaking. At Cassiah 
 I inquired of the “ tussildar,” or tacksman, a very decent sort of 
 gentleman-farmer, where a smith could be obtained, and he told 
 me to my sorrow that the people of the country seldom shod 
 their horses, and that I should not meet with one nearer than 
 Futtehpoor, a distance of three days’ journey. There was no 
 remedy but patience, and I had my horse led as quietly as possible. 
 In other things there was enough to occupy my attention, as I 
 was assailed by complaints from every part of the cofilah, of some 
 deficiency or other in our equipments, or some experienced or 
 apprehended inconvenience. My own tents were found to be so 
 large as to require elephants to carry them, the camels were too 
 few, and some of them very weak, there were no “ sitringees,” 
 or tent-carpets, and no tent for the sepoys. In the midst of all 
 this hubbub, it began to rain hard, and the camp-followers with 
 one consent began to say that we must halt next day to supply 
 these deficiencies, and to dry the tents', which, being so large, 
 could not be carried in a wet state. To halt on a Saturday I 
 
292 
 
 THE DOOAB.. 
 
 was very unwilling, inasmuch as 1 had always proposed to rest 
 ■ on the Sunday following. I did my best, therefore, to persuade 
 them to get on with all w^hich could be done that day, and since 
 the camels were too few, applied to the tussildar for some hacke- 
 ries to help them. Even to this, however, the poverty of the 
 village was unequal, and 1 was glad to obtain four baggage-oxen, 
 to make up the deficiency in the Company’s appointments. Mean- 
 time arrived a sepoy, with sitringees from General Morley, and 
 1 sent back by him some of the most useless articles of our equi- 
 page, thus materially lightening one of the heaviest laden camels. 
 The rest were relieved by the accession of the oxen, and if the 
 tents got dry, the ‘‘ clashees” (tent-pitchers) again allowed that 
 we might proceed in the morning prosperously. The evening 
 was fair and very pleasant, and we all found abundant interest 
 and employment in walking round the motley groups of men and 
 animals which made up our caravan, seeing the camels, horses, and 
 oxen fed, and talking with the tussildar, who, with a little retinue 
 of swords, shields, and spears behind him, again made his appear- 
 ance. I attempted to have some conversation with the jemautdar, 
 who commanded the sepoys, but found him a very shy and 
 modest man, little disposed to talk, while for asking many ques- 
 tions my language was hardly sufficient ; to him and the soldiers 
 I gave up some of the servants’ tents, as they had been completely 
 overlooked by the Commissariate at Allahabad. 
 
 In the course of this evening a fellow, who said he was a Gao- 
 wala, brought me two poor little leverets, which he said he had 
 just found in a field. They were quite unfit to eat, and the 
 bringing them was an act of cruelty of which there are few in- 
 stances among the Hindoos, who are generally humane to wild 
 animals. In this case, on my scolding the man for bringing such 
 poor little things from their mother, all the crowd of camel-drivers 
 and camp-followers, of whom no inconsiderable number were 
 around us, expressed great satisfaction and an entire concurrence 
 in my censure. It ended in the man promising to take them 
 back to the very spot (which he described) where he had picked 
 them up, and in my promising him an ana if he did so. To see 
 him keep his word, two stout wagonner’s boys immediately 
 volunteered their services, and I have no doubt kept him to his 
 contract. 
 
 October 2. — The night was drizzly, so that when I arose at 
 four in the morning 1 found the tent too wet, in the opinion of 
 the Tindals, for the camels to bear it. About eight o’clock, how- 
 ever, a drying wind having sprung up, we were enabled to send 
 off the two small “ routees,” (or breakfast tents,) to serve as a 
 shelter till the arrival of the larger tents, and partly on horseback, 
 partly in my palanquin, I reached a place a few miles short of 
 
CURRAH. 
 
 293 
 
 our destined station before noon. At Coty, our halting place, 
 we remained till the cool of the evening, and then went on to 
 Camaulpoor, near Currah. Here we encamped amid a vast field 
 of tombs and ruins, (of the former our guide said there was “ a 
 lack all save five,”) and the whole scene, with its jungle, and 
 deserted appearance, was singularly picturesque and romantic. 
 The inhabited part of Currah is still, however, considerable, and 
 we soon found that there were people in the neighbourhood, by 
 the number of little shops at once set up under the trees around 
 us, with an eye to our custom. 
 
 Currah owes its fame, it seems, and stately buildings to a cele- 
 brated saint named Camaul Shek, who, with his son and several 
 of his disciples, lies buried here. The tomb is still in tolerable 
 repair, which is more than can be said of any of the others, which 
 have been splendid, but are now mere ruins, in a grave and solemn 
 style of architecture, being a square tower pierced on each front 
 with elegantly formed and carved gothic door-ways, and sur- 
 mounted with a dome of a very judicious form, and harmonizing 
 with the general character of the building, not being semi-circular 
 but conical, and in the same form of a gothic arch, as is displayed 
 in the other arches of the building. Besides this large chapel are 
 many raised tombs, of different sizes, from small terraces, with 
 kiblas for prayers, down to stone coffins as they are sometimes 
 called in England, and as they are found in similar forms, and 
 with nearly the same ornaments, in our old cathedrals. These 
 ruins and sepulchres reminded me of Caffa ; but there was no 
 other similarity ; instead of the bare rocks which surround that 
 ancient city, we had a grove of noble trees, under which our horses, 
 camels, and bullocks were disposed in different clusters, and the 
 tents, the fires, the baskets of fruits, rice, ghee, &c., exposed for 
 sale, and the varied and picturesque costume of the crowd assem- 
 bled under it, the red uniform of the sepoys, the white garments 
 of our own servants, the long veils and silver ornaments of the 
 female villagers, and the dark mantles, dark beards, and naked 
 limbs of the male peasantry and coolies, mingled with the showy 
 dresses, swords, shields, and spears of the Chuprassies, gave the 
 whole scene the animated and interesting effect of an eastern 
 fair ; an effect which the east, perhaps, can alone supply, and 
 which I greatly regretted my want of skill to convey effectually 
 to my friends in Europe. My dear wife will, I trust, sooner or 
 later, see many such scenes in my company. 
 
 These tombs, ruins, and jungles are favourable to robbery, for 
 which Currah and Camaulpoor bear a very bad name, and an 
 additional body of ten Chuprassies, besides the four sepoy sen- 
 tries, were thought necessary by the Zemindar of Currah to keep 
 watch at night over our extensive encampment. 
 
294 
 
 PYZEE MUSSEEH. 
 
 October S.—This day being Sunday was a day of rest to us all, 
 and to none of us I believe was it unacceptable. Its value to the 
 animals, soldiers, and labourers, was never perhaps so powerfully 
 impressed on my mind, as now that I saw them round me, after 
 three days of great fatigue, in the actual enjoyment of a twenty- 
 four hours’ repose and relaxation. I had church in my tent, 
 which, besides our two families and Abdullah, was attended by 
 two of Mr. Corrie’s former converts, Fyzee Musseeh and Anund 
 Musseeh, who joined him at Benares, and are attending him up 
 the country. The latter is a fine young man, who speaks and 
 reads English well. Fyzee Musseeh understands it but imper- 
 fectly, except in reading, but is an interesting and remarkable 
 person. He is the son of a wealthy Ryut near Moradabad, who, 
 though himself a Hindoo, sent his son to a celebrated Mussulman 
 preceptor, in the hope that a knowledge of Arabic and Persian 
 would recommend him to the service of the king of Oude. The 
 lessons, however, which the young idolater received opened his 
 eyes to the absurdity of the religion which he had hitherto pro- 
 fessed. He turned Mussulman, was circumcised, and received 
 the name of Fyzee Mohammed, and was regarded for several 
 years as one of the most promising students among “ the true 
 believers.” His increased knowledge, however, of his new creed 
 was far from satisfying him of its proceeding from God, and he 
 was still more induced to waver by learning that a very holy 
 Mussulman saint in the neighbourhood had, on his death-bed, 
 confessed that he found no comfort but in the words of Jesus the 
 son of Mary. To obtain a knowledge of these words, he went 
 to a Romish priest at Lucknow, and applied to him for a copy of 
 the Gospel. The priest took considerable pains with him, but 
 Fyzee Mohammed no sooner saw the images in his chapel than 
 he cried out that this could never be the religion of which he was 
 in quest, and undertook another journey in search of Mr. Cham- 
 berlain, the Baptist minister, who was then in the service of the 
 Begum Sumroo. He had but little conversation with him, but 
 obtained the book he wanted, which completely convinced him, 
 till he was again dissatisfied with the explication which he ob- 
 tained of some of the difficult passages. He at length went to 
 Agra, another long journey, and after staying some time in Mr. 
 Corrie’s neighbourhood, was baptized into, and has ever since 
 continued a steady member of, the Church of England, under the 
 name of Fyzee Musseeh. He is a little man, middle aged, with 
 a very mild and meditative cast of countenance, of no talent for 
 public speaking, and his whole manner reserved, shy, and timid. 
 He is, however, an admirable scholar in every part of eastern 
 learning, of much disinterestedness and modesty, reads English 
 pretty well, though he is too diffident to speak it, and is still very 
 
FYZEE MUSSEEH. 
 
 295 
 
 greatly respected as a learned and holy man by many both of the 
 Hindoos and Mussulmans. His retired manner and want of 
 oratorical powers have as yet deterred Mr. Corrie from recom- 
 mending him as a missionary or catechist, but 1 am myself 
 inclined to believe that his sterling sense and intellectual powers 
 may well counterbalance any external deficiencies. Fyzee 
 Musseeh travels independently of us on a pony, with one servant, 
 for his circumstances are respectable. He lodges in the caravan- 
 serais, and from time to time calls on the Archdeacon. This 
 morning he brought a singular account of a conversation he had 
 had the night before with a stranger, a Hindoo in outward ap- 
 pearance, who, on entering the serai, drew his carpet near him, 
 and conversed on indifferent subjects till the usual hour of Mus- 
 sulman prayer, when, supposing him to be a Mussulman, he said, 
 “ 1 will pray with you,” and chanted a distich which Mohamme- 
 dans are in this country fond of repeating : 
 
 “ If the grandson of Jesus had died for the sins of men, 
 
 Then all the Christians would have been Mussulmans.” 
 
 The meaning of this couplet is not very easy to make out. All I 
 can conjecture is, that there is some confusion between sister’s 
 son, or cousin, and grandson, the name of Agawzee being, though 
 less properly, applicable to these relations likewise, that an allu- 
 sion is made to the notion entertained by Mussulmans, that our 
 Lord himself was not crucified, but taken up to heaven, and that 
 Judas was executed in his stead, and in his likeness : and lastly, 
 that they confound Judas, or Jude, the relation of our Lord, (not 
 Iscariot,) with the traitor, and that they mean to say, that had the 
 atonement on the cross been what Christians suppose, they would 
 have been the true professors of Islam, and the subsequent mis- 
 sion of Mohammed would have been unnecessary. Be this as it 
 may, the couplet gave occasion to Fyzee Musseeh to set his new 
 acquaintance right as to many particulars in the history of Christ, 
 to which the man listened with profound attention. When he 
 had ended, he asked some very pertinent questions, and at length 
 said, “ May God reward you, sir ! God, I believe, has sent me 
 to this place to meet you, for you have told me much which I did 
 not know before, and much that I was desirous of learning. I 
 am a Hindoo, but have been for some time a searcher after truth, 
 and was inclined to turn Mussulman, if I had not found that the 
 Mussulmans also acknowledged Eesa as a prophet, and that there- 
 fore it was desirable to learn something of his religion in the first 
 place. 1 shall now pray to God and to Jesus to guide me farther.” 
 They prayed together, and parted next morning, the man saying 
 that Fyzee Musseeh should hear from him again. 
 
 This is interesting in itself, and on many accounts ; but it is 
 
296 VISIT FROM ZEMINDAR. 
 
 particularly curious, inasmuch as Fyzee Musseeh says it is only 
 one of many symptoms of a considerable change taking place in 
 the Hindoo mind, a growing contempt of idolatry, and an anxiety 
 after other forms of belief. At present he says the Mussulmans 
 get many converts. Ere long, perhaps, Christianity also may 
 come in for its share of the harvest. 
 
 Fyzee Musseeh was not our only visiter ; the Zemindar, a very 
 well dressed and gentlemanly man, on a good horse, and with a 
 greater retinue than usual, also called and sate some time. Mr. 
 Ward, the collector of Allahabad, had prepared us to expect him, 
 and told us that he was a man of good family, and respectable 
 character. The conversation was, of course, general enough, till 
 I luckily introduced the subjects of field-sports, on which he was 
 eloquent. I observed, that there was much jungle in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and asked if there were any tigers. “ Tigers ! No,” 
 said he, ‘‘not for several years back; and as for jungle, there is 
 three times as much cultivated land now as there used to be 
 under the government of the Vizier. Then there were tigers in 
 plenty, and more than plenty ; but there are better things than 
 tigers now, such as corn fields, villages, and people. However, 
 in the jungle which still remains, we have deer, wuld hogs, and 
 arnu^ This latter name belongs to a species of gigantic buffalo, 
 which 1 had understood to be very uncommon, but which it seems, 
 though rare, is here sometimes to be met with. The thickest 
 jungles, he said, were on the banks of the river, and they were 
 the most abundant in game of every kind. On the whole it is 
 curious and interesting to find both the apparently progressive 
 improvement of the country under the improvement of the British 
 government, as contrasted wdth its previous state, and also how 
 soon, and how easily, in a settled country, the most formidable 
 wild animals become extinct before the power of man. The 
 tiger will soon be almost as great a rarity in our eastern as in our 
 western dominions ; the snake, however, will hold his ground 
 longer. I forgot to mention, that while at Allahabad I was one 
 night roused by the entrance of several men armed with sticks 
 and spears. Abdullah, who was at their head, called out, “ Lie 
 still, my lord ; these people have seen a very large chichta (cobra 
 di capello) creep into your window.” 1 did not lie still, how- 
 ever, but got a stick and joined the party ; after an accurate 
 search nothing was found except a large hole in the floor, into 
 which, probably, the animal had made its escape. The bearers 
 might have killed him when they first saw him, but, unless they 
 are urged to do so, they seldom will, from their superstitious 
 veneration for serpents, a feeling very common among the Hin- 
 doos, and which accounts, in part, for the number of snakes yet 
 found in these provinces. Next morning a farther search was 
 
VISIT FROM AN IMAM. 
 
 297 
 
 made, but nothing found; and 1 could observe that this double 
 discovery of snakes entering my bed room, was considered . by 
 my Hindoo servants as a sign of great good luck, and raised me 
 in their estimation. 
 
 We had yet another visiter ; the Imam of the neighbouring 
 mosque, a very handsome man, with a splendid beard, a cheerful, 
 though rather sarcastic countenance, and two of the merriest, 
 most intelligent eyes that I have seen, called, as he said, in his 
 capacity of Padre, to oifer his respects to his Bishop, He had 
 been a pilgrim to Mecca and Medina, had visited Jerusalem, 
 Mount Sinai, and Cairo, and had testimonials from a Greek 
 Archimandrite at Bethlehem to his good character and good 
 acquirements. He sate with us some time, and I was able to 
 understand him very tolerably. Mr. Corrie was much amused 
 with him, and said he was a good specimen of a travelled worldly 
 Mussulman, with little seriousness in his peculiar creed, and pro- 
 bably few thoughts of religion at all. 1 asked him to drink coffee, 
 telling him that he must know very well that in Turkey, Egypt, 
 and Arabia, Mussulmans and Christians eat together without 
 scruple. He bowed, and answered with a smile, “ 1 know that 
 well, my lord, but it is not the custom in this country.” He was 
 pleased, however, with the offer, and said, with my permission, 
 since we seemed curious about his travels, he would return in the 
 evening and bring his journal, which he had kept regularly. I 
 answered, that if his journal was as entertaining as his conversa- 
 tion, he might find it worth his while to get it printed at Calcutta. 
 In the evening, however, it turned out to be a very short and dry 
 diary, merely curious to a person making a map. Indeed, to do 
 him justice, when I talked about printing it at first, he shook his 
 head, as if he thought it would not answer. He now told us how 
 it came to pass that he first went to Mecca. A certain Mussul- 
 man of good connections, and bred a soldier, had been, after the 
 late pacification of India by Lord Hastings, completely thrown 
 out of employment. In his distress what to do, he applied to a 
 relation high in the service of the Nawab Vizier, for help and 
 advice, whose answer was “ Turn Saint.” “ How so!” was the 
 reply; “ every body knows that my life has not been saintly 1” 
 ‘‘ But your beard,” said the adviser, “ is very much so, and a few 
 weeks will enable you to assume the proper tone and carriage. 
 1 have a brother who is a man of acknowledged learning and 
 holiness; I will get him to countenance you, and introduce you 
 to different devout Mussulmans, and then you have only to get 
 disciples, and you will live very well.” He did so, — put on a 
 coarse raiment and a sad exterior, preached up pilgrimage to 
 Mecca, declared himself ready to conduct a caravan thither, and 
 soon found people enough, among whom our guest was one, to 
 VoL. I.— 38 
 
298 
 
 INDIAN ARMY— CHOUBEE SERAI. 
 
 follow him and subscribe their money for this holy undertaking. 
 The profits, however, he made during the voyage, and by a 
 dustoory"^ on all the alms either given or received by the party, 
 were so considerable, that on his return some of his confidential 
 disciples had a quarrel with him for a more equal distribution of 
 booty, and scandal arose, which compelled the saint to go and 
 make disciples elsewhere. “ Nevertheless,” said the Hajee who 
 gave us this account, composing his face to a due expression of 
 gravity, “ he is doubtless a holy man, and of great eloquence.” I 
 suspect our visiter may have been, on this occasion, not one of 
 the geese, but the foxes. 
 
 October 4. — We went this morning to a station named Choubee 
 Serai, through a country differing little from that which we had 
 passed already. In the march we met a strong column of infantry, 
 about 2,300 men, with a long train of baggage, elephants, camels, 
 bullocks, and camp-followers, on their march from Cawnpoor to 
 the eastward. The groups afforded by the line of march, the 
 little parties halting under trees, the loaded animals, the native 
 women conveyed in “ dhoolies,” or litters, and hackeries, the 
 naked limbs of the baggage-drivers and camp-followers, the 
 different gradations of horse, from the wild shaggy Tattoo to the 
 sleek and gentle Arab, with the uniforms and arms, were some of 
 them beyond description beautiful. What would not W ouvermans 
 have made of an Eastern army? 
 
 Some of the sepoys asked Mr. Corrie’s servants to whom our 
 party belonged, and where we were going. On being told it was 
 the Lord Padre Sahib going to Bombay, one of them exclaimed, 
 “ The Lord Sahib goes to the side of Bombay, we go where 
 fighting is!” It is possible that he had never heard of any Lord 
 Sahib but the Governor-general, and was therefore naturally 
 surprised to hear of his going in a, direction so contrary to that 
 where the stress of public affairs called him. On our arrival at 
 Choubee Serai, we found the people complaining sadly of these 
 troops, who had, they said, taken whatever they wanted without 
 payment, had broken and wasted more than they consumed, and 
 beaten the peasantry for not bringing the supplies faster. The 
 laws of British India are, in these respects, no less just than those 
 of England, and the magistrates, I have every reason to believe, 
 are, to the utmost of their power, anxious to afford complete pro- 
 tection to the people. There are some articles, however, such 
 as grass, fire-wood, and earthen pots of the cheap and coarse kind 
 used once for cooking a dinner and afterwards broken by all 
 Hindoos of a respectable caste, which the Zemindars are expected 
 
 * A customary deduction from all money paid, given, or received on any pos- 
 sible occasion, made by the person through whose hands it passes, and one of 
 the most fruitful sources of cheating in India. — Ed. 
 
CllUELTY TO A CAMEL. 
 
 299 
 
 to furnish gratis to the Company’s troops, and all persons travel- 
 ling with public “ Purwannus,” or Government orders, for which 
 the Zemindars receive a yearly abatement of their taxes, but 
 which may sometimes, when many and extensive requisitions are 
 made, press hard on the poor Ryuts. I was, therefore, as careful 
 as I possibly could be to ascertain the amount of the different 
 things demanded by my people, or furnished by the villagers, to 
 take care that no unreasonable demands were made, and that 
 nothing more than the letter of the law required was either taken 
 or accepted by our people without payment. This was the first 
 thing I did on alighting from my horse, (my arrival in the camp 
 and that of the supplies usually taking place about the same time,) 
 and while a readiness to listen to all complaints obtained me from 
 the peasantry the name of “ Ghureeb-purwar,” (poor man’s pro- 
 vider,) the object was easily accomplished with a caravan so small 
 as ours. With an army, however, of course, the case is very 
 different, and the officers at Cawnpoor to whom I thought it right 
 to mention the complaints I had heard, said that they feared the 
 sepoys often took provisions without payment, when the bustle 
 of a march and other circumstances rendered them secure from 
 the observation of their European officers. Still, they said, the 
 neighbourhood even of these last was a great check to them, and 
 the difference between their minor encroachments, and the open 
 plunder and violence of a native prince’s camp, was what nobody 
 could believe who had not seen it. 
 
 Soon after I had got through the complaints and difficulties of 
 the Commissariate, an elderly European, in a shabby gig, drove 
 up, and entering into conversation with Abdullah, asked him some 
 questions about my horse. On hearing that he had lost a shoe, 
 he professed himself a blacksmith, and said he had been farrier 
 many years to a dragoon regiment, and was now a pensioner, on 
 his way to Allahabad in search of employment in his trade. 
 He produced some specimens of very neat horse-shoes, and 1 
 soon set him to work to remove the Indian shoes, which pinched 
 my horse’s feet, and replace them with some of a better fashion. 
 He was a very good and tolerably reasonable workman, a Lan- 
 cashire man from the borders of Yorkshire, with a dialect and 
 physiognomy rather approaching the latter than the former 
 county. In the evening he went on to the serai a little farther, 
 having, as he frankly observed, “ been in vary gud luck to meet 
 us,” since he found a profitable job without any delay in his 
 journey, and obtained a letter of recommendation, as a neat artist, 
 to Allahabad. In the course of this evening my attention was 
 attracted by the dreadful groans of one of our baggage-camels 
 at some little distance among the trees. I went to the spot, and 
 found that two of the “ Sarbanns,” or camel-drivei:s, had bound 
 
300 
 
 MUNDISERAL 
 
 its legs in a kneeling posture, so that it could not rise or stir, 
 and were now busy in burning it with hot irons in all the fleshy, 
 muscular, and cartilaginous parts of its body. They had burned 
 six deep notches in the back of its neck, had seared both its 
 cheeks immediately under the eye, its haunches and head, and 
 were now applying the torturing instrument to its forehead and 
 nostrils. I asked what they were doing, and they answered that 
 “ it had a fever and wind, and would die if they did not treat it 
 in this manner.” I called Abdullah and asked him if such a 
 remedy was usual. He said it was so in this country and in 
 Persia, but that the Arabs in similar cases found a little warm 
 water-gruel with garlic sufficient. I should have thought so too, 
 but the poor animal’s sufferings were now over for the present, 
 and by-and-by they actually gave it a large ball of garlic. It 
 was better, they told me, some hours after, but on renewing 
 my inquiries in the morning, I heard that it was finally released 
 from its misery. 
 
 October 5. — Another stage of 14 miles to Mundiserai. The 
 parched state of the country had till now threatened a famine. 
 Rain had fallen at Benares and Allahabad, hut none as yet in the 
 country through which we had marched. The fears expressed 
 by the poor people every where had been very touching. One 
 of the Tussuldars had asked me to pray for them, and said with 
 a curious mixture of Eastern compliment and undoubted truth, 
 “ We poor people have had great trouble here, but now your 
 worship is come, if it pleases God, we shall have rain.” I assured 
 him of my prayers, and had, indeed, used, both in the church at 
 Allahabad, and during our morning and evening family prayers 
 of every day for the last fortnight, the Collect containing that 
 petition. This morning, soon after we had reached our encamp- 
 ment, their deep distress was relieved, and several smart showers 
 fell during the day and night, at which we rejoiced most sincerely, 
 since, though for us the dry weather was better, it was impossible 
 to put our convenience in competition with the food of millions. 
 The change of weather, however, seemed to disagree with our 
 people, who were several of them taken ill, but were relieved 
 by proper remedies. 
 
 October 6. — The march before us being longer than usual, the 
 loaded wagons began to set out soon after midnight, and Mr. 
 Lushington and I were on horseback at three, to enable the 
 clashees to take down our tents. The sky was cloudy, and as 
 we picked our way with some difficulty in the dark, through 
 watery roads and a wild open country, my recollection was 
 forcibly drawn to those times when my youngest brother and I 
 used to ride some miles to meet the mail in our way to school, 
 and afterwards to college. Thence I naturally passed to the jour- 
 
FESTIVAL OF SEETA. 
 
 301 
 
 nies of a riper age in the same neighbourhood, my wife's parting 
 adieu and exhortation to take care of myself, and to write as 
 soon as I got to London, at a time when we little thought of ever 
 enduring more than a month’s separation. Hodnet, dear Hod- 
 net, as we left it, and as it is now, Moreton, and all the names 
 and recollections connected with them, combined to make me 
 sad, and I was obliged to turn my attention to Bombay, and the 
 meeting to which I look forwards there, to restrain some emotion 
 which I was not sorry the darkness concealed. We rode on in 
 silence about seven miles, when, in passing a village, we were 
 roused by the lights, tinsel, flowers, mummery, horns, gongs, and 
 shouts of Seeta, Rama, Luchmun, and their followers, in the 
 concluding feast after the destruction of the paper giant Ravanu. 
 The show was really pretty at a certain distance, but the little 
 performers were all sadly tired, and I was not sorry, for their 
 sakes, that this was their last night of acting. 
 
 One of the bystanders told us our road, which we should other- 
 wise have had some difficulty in finding, and we went on through 
 a winding street, and amid the mud walls of cow-houses and 
 sheds, when a coolie came up to me and said that Dinoo, one of 
 my sick servants, had fallen off his horse and was dying. I im- 
 mediately went into the watch-house, arid found him stretched on 
 a mat which they had brought out for him, complaining of great 
 pain, but speaking little and moaning dismally. I was much 
 shocked, and the more so because 1 did not know what to give 
 him ; indeed my medicine-chest was gone on with the palanquin, 
 and all the town, except the watchman, were busy with the show. 
 I asked if they could get a dhooly for him, and bring him on to 
 our next station, Futtehpoor. The watchman, who was now 
 joined by another man, said “ there were no bearers in the 
 village.” ‘‘What,” said I, “ all those men whom I saw following 
 Rama, can none of them put their shoulders under a bamboo and 
 carry this poor man a few coss, when they are sure of being well 
 paid for it ?” “ My lord,” was the characteristic answer, “ they 
 
 are all coolies, not bearers; they can only carry loads on their 
 heads, and cannot carry a man !” 1 grew impatient, and said 
 
 that I insisted upon his being brought some way or other, and by 
 hand, for the motion of a hackery was more than he could bear, 
 and that if he was not brought in three hours time to Futtehpoor, 
 I would complain to the Cutwal. I repeated this to the Jemaut- 
 dar of the village, who now made his appearance, and he promised 
 faithfully that help should be forthcoming. At length (an Eu- 
 ropean would never guess how the matter was settled) four 
 women came forward with one of the country cane-bedsteads ; 
 the patient was placed on it, and the sturdy lasses took it up on 
 their heads like Cariatides, and trudged away with it. 1 left a 
 
S02 
 
 FUTTEHPOOR. 
 
 spearman by way of escort, and went on before, but with little 
 hope that the poor man would reach the camp alive. 
 
 The day was now breaking, and we went on at a brisker pace, 
 my young horse confirming me more and more in my good opinion 
 of him, till, while stopping to let him drink in a plash of water, 
 he all at once lay down and began rolling. 1 was not hurt, and 
 the circumstance would not have been worth mentioning, had not 
 the saees given as a reason for it, that the Turkomans fed their 
 colts with buffalo’s milk, and that my horse had probably thus 
 acquired both the fondness for water and the folly of his foster 
 mother ! Certainly he seemed altogether unconscious of having 
 done wrong, and imagined, perhaps, that the cold bath would be 
 as agreeable to me as to himself; indeed, 1 gave him no reason 
 to suppose the contrary, but shall in future watch him more 
 closely on similar occasions. 
 
 The road for some miles from F uttehpoor lies over an open 
 plain, as level as any part of India, and seeming marked out by 
 nature for the scene of a great battle, which should decide the 
 fate of the country. Here we were met by the Cutwal of Fut- 
 tehpoor, who, in much civility, had come out on horseback to 
 pay his respects, attended by the usual up-country retinue of 
 shield and spear. I could not help smiling as the thought occurred, 
 how different from the “ great man” whom he probably expected, 
 he must have found me, on a horse, without attendants, or even 
 saees, and having on every part of my hat, jacket, and trowsers, 
 the muddy stains of the nullah. However, the interview passed 
 with great propriety on all sides, but as I was still wet and cold, 
 and his retinue could not possibly keep pace with me, I begged 
 him to spare the compliment of accompanying me into the town. 
 
 F uttehpoor is a large place, with more appearance of pros- 
 perity than any town 1 have seen since Allahabad. It contains 
 some tolerably good houses, and a very elegant little mosque, 
 built within these few years by the nephews and heirs of the cele- 
 brated eunuch Almass Ali Khan, long minister to the Nawab of 
 Oude, and who held for many years the whole southern and 
 western Dooab from Merut to Allahabad in farm. He was re- 
 markable for his wealth, his attachment to the English, and, it 
 is said, for his talents. 
 
 Futtehpoor is surrounded, like most of these towns, with 
 tombs, in the midst of which our tents were pitched. Near us 
 was a large but ruinous serai, which had, however, more of its 
 interior detail perfect than most which I have seen in India. It 
 corresponded in many respects with those of Turkey and Grim 
 Tartary, — a large court with two gateways opposite to each other, 
 surmounted by towers not unlike those of a college, with a cloister 
 or verandah all round raised about a foot from the ground, with 
 
SERAIS. 
 
 303 
 
 a pucka floor, and having little fire-places contrived against the 
 wall, just large enough to hold the earthen pitchers in which all 
 the cookery of the country is carried on, and behind this a range 
 of small and dark apartments a step lo wer than the verandah. No 
 payment is required for lodging here, except a few cowries to the 
 sweeper, while for a very few pice grass and water will be furnished 
 to a traveller’s beasts, and wood and earthen pots to himself ; 
 for provisions, the neighbouring bazaar is ready. These serais 
 are generally noble monuments of individual bounty, and some 
 were in ancient times liberally endowed, and furnished supplies 
 of grarn"^, milk, and grass gratis to the traveller, as well as 
 shelter. Their foundations are most of them alienated, but even 
 so far as shelter only is concerned, it is a very great blessing in 
 this country, where the general poverty of the natives, and the 
 prejudices of caste, forbid a stranger hoping for admission into 
 any private dwelling. Even now, though ruinous, they are kept 
 tolerably clean, and their benefit is so great to all persons, whether 
 Europeans or natives, who are not rich enough to possess tents, 
 and occasionally to some even of those who are, that 1 rejoice to 
 learn that their restoration is one of the objects proposed by 
 Government in the application of the internal tolls to works of 
 public improvement. 
 
 The only plague attendant on our present situation arose from 
 the swarms of sturdy Mussulman beggars, calling themselves 
 “ Marabouts,” or holy men, and living in the tombs around us. 
 I gave alms to one old man who addressed me by the claim of being 
 a fellow-servant of the same God, and had, in consequence, my 
 ears deafened for half the morning by continued cries of suppli- 
 cation from people in the full possession of youth, health, and 
 strength, who would not even have thanked me for less than half 
 a rupee, and who had about as much sanctity in their appearance 
 and demeanour as Friar Tuck, or Fray Diavolo. At last the 
 Archdeacon went out, and talked to them in their own way, and 
 they dispersed. Dinoo, to my surprise, arrived in camp about 
 an hour after us, very materially better, and there seemed no 
 doubt but that in a dhooly he would be able to proceed. 
 
 There were some hard showers during the day, and the night 
 was so rainy, that though the morning of October 7th seemed 
 rather more promising, I gave up all idea of attempting to stir 
 the tents, and sent Mr. Corrie word to this effect. He called on 
 me, however, to say that he had no doubt of being able, by the 
 help of the Cutwal, to obtain hackeries from the town to carry 
 the flies, which are the heaviest parts of the tents ; that the camels 
 would have no difficulty with the remainder, and that the loss 
 
 * A kind of vetch on which horses are chiefly fed in India. — Ed. 
 
304 
 
 JOURNEY TO KULEAUNPOOR. 
 
 of a day now would prevent our arriving in time for Sunday at 
 Cawnpoor. I told him that all the natives said the day would 
 be rainy ; but he answered, that he thought the clouds were 
 breaking, and that the natives never were to be depended on 
 when the question was about moving. Under these circumstances, 
 I ordered the camels and baggage to be got ready; having first 
 ascertained that there was a serai at Kuleaunpoor, where we 
 might get shelter should our tents be useless. The routees were 
 gone on ovor-night. Mr. Lushington and I accordingly set out 
 immediately, that we might get in before the morning grew hot, 
 and a dismal ride we had! I had anticipated at least some 
 showers, and was not discouraged by the first or second which fell. 
 But by the time we had got something less than half way, it set 
 in for a thoroughly tropical wet day, with a fierce N.W. wind, 
 and thunder and lightning, the rain falling in a continued torrent. 
 It was in vain to stop, for we were already wet to the skin, and 
 had indeed no shelter within reach, and we had only to keep our 
 horses steadily to the storm, and to be thankful to God that it did 
 not come on before we had day-light sufficient to see our way 
 through a wild and flooded country, where the nullahs were 
 already in many places as high as our horses’ bellies. 
 
 After travelling about five miles in this way, and when we were 
 still four from our halting-place, we fortunately overtook one of the 
 palanquins, in which was a leathern bottle of brandy, which did 
 us both infinite good. The road, too, was now better, and as his 
 horse was fresher than mine, Mr. Lushington galloped on, in the 
 hope of getting a fire lighted. I followed more leisurely, passing, 
 to my concern, the greater part of our baggage on the road, and 
 having, consequently, reason to apprehend that we should find no 
 dry (fclothes ready for us. In fact, I found Mr. Lushington stripped 
 to his flannel waistcoat, and cowering over a little fire of sticks 
 and cow-dung, in a shed of very unpromising appearance, the 
 ground having been by far too wet to enable our advanced party 
 to pitch the routees, and the serai turning out unfortunately one of 
 the worst and most ruinous of the kind. More brandy was not 
 forthcoming, but we added sticks to the fire, and I ordered break- 
 fast, for which, fortunately, the materials were arrived, while some 
 of the advanced party of bearers, stripping themselves naked, 
 volunteered to go back, and by their fresh strength help their 
 companions to bring up the pettarahs with our clothes, more 
 quickly. This answered well, as we had the satisfaction of finding, 
 when they arrived, that they were really dry. Things now looked 
 more promising ; our horses and ourselves were under the common 
 shelter of the ruinous cloister, with just room for a little table 
 between them and the fire. A crowd of poor shivering servants 
 was huddled round this on every side but that which we occupied ; 
 
KULEAUNPOOR. 
 
 305 
 
 and another ghed at some little distance was used by Mr. Corrie’s 
 khansaman as cook-room, and, should they arrive, would serve as 
 parlour and dressing-room for their party. But each successive 
 detachment of the caravan, as they contined to drop in, gave, as 
 might be expected, worse and worse accounts of the road. It was 
 “ knee-deep,” — it was “ middle deep,” — it was “ half a spear’s 
 depth in water.” Still the rain kept , pouring on, but without 
 thunder or wind ; and as we looked from our shed on the swim- 
 ming dung-hills of the serai, and the poor wet camels patiently 
 standing or lying down among them, I thought what a whimsical 
 contrast the scene offered to the description in Irving’s story of 
 the “ Stout Gentleman.” 
 
 Our caravan continued to arrive during the day, which cleared 
 up towards evening, but not time enough to prevent all our 
 bedding from being hopelessly wet through. Meantime we were 
 not quite without employment, since, besides seeing our horses 
 taken care of, we had all manner of complaints to adjudicate 
 between the villagers, our servants and sepoys, and two compa- 
 nies more of sepoys who were also driven to shelter. I could 
 not help feeling very uncomfortable about the Corries and their 
 children. The people who came up said they had obtained 
 shelter in the house of a Zemindar, but whether a gig and palan- 
 quin could get through the waters which were between us, was 
 more than we could form a judgment of. At length, just as we 
 had given them up and were sitting down to dinner, they arrived, 
 happily all well, and having received a hospitable entertainment 
 from the Zemindar in question, at whose house they had asked 
 permission to boil a little gruel for the children, and who had 
 immediately invited them into a comfortable verandah, and, 
 though a Hindoo, sent to purchase them a fowl and currie. The 
 archdeacon expressed much unwillingness to eat these in his 
 house, knowing, he said, how strong a prejudice would, a few 
 years since, have been excited against such a step. But on his 
 saying, “ Oh, do not let us pollute your house,” the good man 
 returned an answer which, Mr. Corrie observed, , showed, more 
 than most things, how fast caste was wearing away, “We have 
 different customs, but are we not of the same flesh and blood ? — 
 My house is much honoured by your company.” 
 
 When the Corries saw what sort of a place they were come 
 to, they at first regretted that they had not accepted the Zemin- 
 dar’s invitation to stay all night. His khansaman, however, had 
 managed matters for them better than could have been expected, 
 and except that their apartment admitted the rain in places, it 
 made about as good a bed-room as a common blacksmith’s shed 
 in England would have done, but clean, and very sufficient for 
 the climate. Our palanquins made excellent beds, and we had 
 
 VoL. I.— 39 
 
306 
 
 JOURNEY TO CAWNPOOR. 
 
 SO many unexpected comforts, my khansaman having provided an 
 excellent dinner of kid soup and bouille, and the chest of wine 
 having come up, that we had abundant reason for thankfulness, 
 which was increased by finding that our sick men were not worse 
 for their journey. 
 
 It was evident, however, that the tents could not again be 
 moved without a thorough drying, and as I had appointed Satur- 
 day morning for the confirmation at Cawnpoor, Mr, Lushington 
 and I agreed with the bearers of our palanquins, for a trifling 
 additional sum, to carry us next day, two marches in one, to that 
 station, should the weather be such as to make it practicable. 
 We left the tents, servants, and the two police men whom we 
 had brought from Allahabad, with the Corries, and set off our- 
 selves after breakfast on the 8th of October. The day was fine, 
 and though the roads were in a very bad state, it was delightful 
 to hear the mutual congratulations of our bearers and the vil- 
 lagers whom we passed, both parties full of thankfulness to God, 
 and considering themselves, with apparent reason, as delivered 
 from famine and all its horrors. One of these mutual felicita- 
 tions, which the archdeacon overheard the day before, was very 
 interesting, as it was not intended for his ear, and was one of the 
 strongest proofs I have met with of the satisfaction of the Hindoos 
 with their rulers. “ A good rain this for the bread,” said one of 
 the villagers to the other. “ Yes,” was the answer, “ and a good 
 government under which a man may eat bread in safety.” While 
 such a feeling prevails, we may have good hopes of the stability 
 of our Indian Government. 
 
 In crossing a nuddee, which from a ford had become a ferry, 
 we saw some characteristic groups and occurrences ; the price of 
 passage in the boat was only a few cowries, but a number of 
 country-folk were assembled, who could not, or would not, pay, 
 and were now sitting patiently by the brink, waiting till the tor- 
 rent should subside, or, what was far less likely to happen, till 
 the boatmen should take compassion on them. Many of these 
 poor people came up to beg me to make the boatmen take them 
 over, one woman pleading that her “ malik our bucher,” (literally 
 master, or lord, and young one) had run away from her, and she 
 wanted to overtake them ; another that she and her two grand- 
 children were following her son, who was a havildar in the regi- 
 ment which we had passed just before ; and some others, that 
 they had been intercepted the previous day by this torrent, and 
 had neither money nor food till they reached their homes. Four 
 anas purchased a passage for the whole crowd, of perhaps thirty 
 people, and they were really very thankful. I bestowed two 
 anas more on the poor deserted woman, and a whimsical scene 
 ensued. She at first took the money with eagerness, then as if 
 
JOURNEY TO CAWNPOOR. 
 
 307 
 
 she recollected herself, she blushed very deeply and seemed much 
 confused, then bowed herself to my feet and kissed my hands, 
 and at last said, in a very modest tone, “ it was not fit for so great 
 a man as I was, to give her two anas, and she hoped that I and 
 the ‘ chota Sahib’ (little lord) would give her a rupee each !” 
 She was an extremely pretty little woman, hut we were inexora- 
 ble, partly, I believe, in my own case at least, because we had 
 only just rupees enough to take us to Cawnpoor, and to pay for 
 our men’s provisions ; however, I gave her two more anas, my 
 sole remaining stock of small change. 
 
 When this was all done, the jemautdar of the neighbouring 
 village came to ask for the usual certificate of his having rendered 
 us assistance. I wrote it out for him on the top of my palan- 
 quin, having provided myself for such purposes with paper and 
 Sir Thomas Acland’s inkstand, when a new scene followed. He 
 was very grateful for the good word I gave him, but he had a 
 brother, a fine young man, now in the service of the Peishwa 
 Bajee Row, in the neighbouring town of Betourah, but who w^as 
 anxious to get into the Company’s service, “ would I have the 
 goodness to give him a recommendation to the judge Sahib of 
 Betourah ?” “ 1 do not know the judge Sahib of Betourah.” “ But 
 Huzoor (your worship) is Malik of the land, and your Firmaun 
 will be obeyed.” ‘‘ Suppose I could do your brother any good, 
 I do not know him, how shall I recommend him ?” “ Huzoor may 
 believe me when I tell him that my brother is one of the best 
 men in the world !” “ But I am only a traveller, and have no 
 
 power.” “ Huzoor is pleased to say so — but” in short, I 
 
 could hardly get him away from the palanquin side, particularly 
 as I did not choose to set off till I had seen the poor people embark, 
 for whose passage I had paid. We then parted, the jemautdar 
 still declaring that he would follow me to Cawnpoor, and bring 
 his brother with him. 
 
 The natives of India seem to attach very great importance to 
 a written recommendation by an European, or person in a public 
 station, in which, as in many other points, they strongly resemble 
 the Russians. The whole scene which 1 have described, mutatis 
 mutandis, (crucifixes for brahminical strings, &;c.) might have 
 occurred at a ferry on the Don or the Dnieper. The mixture of 
 simplicity and cunning, the importunity, the patience and the 
 flattery, seem to belong almost equally to the peasantry of both 
 countries, or more accurately speaking, perhaps, to the state of 
 society in which they are placed. 
 
 W e arrived between three and four at Searsoul, the station 
 half-way between Kuleaunpoor and Cawnpoor, a moderate sized 
 village, with some neat houses, and a handsome serai. Our 
 people, however, were so much tired wnth wading up to their 
 
308 
 
 OAWNPOOR. 
 
 middles in water, that we bade them get their dinners, and go to 
 sleep till midnight, when we should again set off. We ourselves 
 did the same as far as dinner was concerned, and after a little 
 walk round the village, which was completely insulated by the 
 inundation, retired to our palanquins, which for security we had 
 had carried into the court-yard of the tannah or police-office. We 
 also engaged four mussaulchies, less for their light, the harvest- 
 moon being sufficient, than to serve as guides through the flooded 
 country. 
 
 October 9. — The night and morning were again fine, and the 
 waters much abated. Still we were seven hours going sixteen 
 miles, and I had the disappointment to find, on arriving at Mr. 
 Williams’s house, that, despairing of my reaching Cawnpoor in 
 such weather, he had sent round to say that the Confirmation was 
 postponed. It might, however, I found, be easily arranged for 
 Sunday morning, and in the hospitality, cleanliness, and comfort 
 of his house, we found abundant compensation for our recent 
 labours. 
 
 During my stay at Cawnpoor not many events occurred worth 
 noticing. On Sunday the 11th, I confirmed upwards of eighty 
 persons, a considerable proportion of whom afterwards received 
 the sacrament. I visited on Monday the new military hospital 
 and regimental school of the 16th Lancers, both of which are in 
 excellent order. There is one ward of the former furnished with 
 tubes of a new invention, for the admission and refrigeration of 
 air, which is introduced through two great valves like gigantic 
 chimneys with cowls on them, and let off through the roof by a 
 multitude of small iron tunnels with heads like ventilators. It is 
 said to answer tolerably, but not better than tatties, which are 
 here hardly more expensive. Externally the machinery is a great 
 deformity to the building. The regimental school is on the 
 national system, and conducted extremely well. An institution 
 of a wider scope and loftier pretensions was established some 
 years ago in Cawnpoor for the children both of Europeans and 
 natives, which obtained a very liberal subscription from the 
 English residents, and has since received from Government a 
 handsome grant of 400 s. rupees per month. It has an excellent 
 house, with good school-rooms, an English master and mistress at 
 a large salary, and a Persian moonshee, but I found it attended 
 but by few European and half-caste, and still fewer native child- 
 ren, in deplorable want of books and other similar supplies, and 
 with a master who had apparently been brought in as a party 
 measure, who was previously altogether inexperienced in the 
 improved system of education, and actually declined to be 
 examined in any of the points most necessary to his usefulness. 
 Except their catechism, which they said well, there was nothing 
 
CAWNPOOR. 
 
 309 
 
 satisfactory in the appearance, number, or proficiency of the 
 European children. The native boys were learning Lindley 
 Murray’s grammar, without any tolerable knowledge of the 
 language in which it is written, and had for their single class-book 
 Joyce’s Scientific Dialogues, which they stammered over by rote, 
 but could none of them construe into Hindoostanee. 1 asked if 
 they had any Hindoostanee books, and could read them into 
 English ? If they learned geography, mathematics, or even wrote 
 English exercises by double translation or otherwise ? Nothing 
 of the sort seemed to have entered the master’s head. He taught 
 them to write a fair hand, and to work ridiculous and useless 
 sums in fellowship, the double rule of three, and this was all his 
 ambition. Archdeacon Corrie kindly undertook, during his stay 
 at Cawnpoor, to put him into a better train, and 1 wrote out a 
 list of books, which 1 recommended to the committee to supply 
 him with, as well as some of the primary and simplest elements 
 of Bell’s system of education. Thus, I hope, things will be 
 amended ; at present they are bad enough, and when compared 
 with the establishment at Benares, not at all creditable to those 
 who have employed more ample means with so little judgment. 
 
 Cawnpoor is a place of great extent, the cantonments being six 
 miles from one extremity to the other, but of very scattered popu- 
 lation. Its population, however, abstracted from the civil and 
 military establishments, is still considerable ; there are many 
 handsome mosques, and the view of the town from the course 
 gives quite the idea of a city. The European houses are most 
 of them large and roomy, standing in extensive compounds, and 
 built one story high, with sloping roofs, first thatched, and then 
 covered with tiles, a roof which is found better than any other 
 to exclude the heat of the sun, and to possess a freedom from the 
 many accidents to which a mere thatched roof is liable. I re- 
 ceived much civility and kindness from General Martindell and 
 the other military officers, and especially from Colonel Lums- 
 daine, who took great pains in getting our party all which was 
 required from the Commissariate. 
 
 Of the climate of Cawnpoor 1 had heard a very unfavourable 
 account, which, however, was not confirmed by the residents, 
 who said that during the rains it was a very desirable situation, 
 that the cold months were remarkably dry and bracing, and that 
 the hot winds were not worse than in most other parts of the 
 Dooab. The great inconveniences of the place are, as they repre- 
 sent it, its glare and dust, defects, however, which are in a 
 considerable degree removed already by the multitude of trees 
 which they are planting in all directions. There is no regular 
 Christian church. Divine service is performed alternate mornings 
 and evenings in a thatched but convenient bungalow, nearly in 
 
310 
 
 CAWNPOOR. 
 
 the centre of the station, and in a riding-house adjoining the 
 cavalry barracks. Government has sanctioned the building of 
 two churches, but on a scale, I am told, of so rigid inspection 
 and economy, that nobody will undertake the contract. The 
 shops in Cawnpoor are large, and, though far from showy, contain 
 some good things, which are sold very little dearer than in Cal- 
 cutta. The necessaries of life are barely half the price which 
 they are there, and an excellent house may be rented for eighty 
 or ninety rupees monthly. On the whole, it is in many respects 
 one of the most considerable towns which I have seen in northern 
 India, but being of merely modern origin, it has no fine ancient 
 buildings to show ; the European architecture is confined to works 
 of absolute necessity only, and marked by the greatest simplicity, 
 and few places of its size can be named where there is so abso- 
 lutely nothing to see. 
 
311 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CAWNPOOR TO LUCKNOW. 
 
 ENTRANCE INTO THE KING OF OUDE’s TERRITORIES INCREASE OF 
 
 GUARDS king’s SUWARRS AUMEEN ENTRANCE INTO LUCKNOW — - 
 
 COURT CIRCULAR NARROW STREETS ARMED INHABITANTS PRIME 
 
 MINISTER RHINOCEROSES DIL-KOUSHAR CONSTANTIA DECEASED 
 
 king’s wives BREAKFAST AT THE PALACE DISTRIBUTION OF 
 
 MONEY AT THE GATES KING BREAKFASTS AT THE RESIDENCY 
 
 PRIVATE DETAILS OF THE GOVERNMENT CHRISTIANS AT LUCKNOW. 
 
 We left Cawnpoor on Monday afternoon, the 18th of October, 
 having sent our baggage and tents early in the morning to the first 
 station, which is only six miles from the northern 'bank of the 
 Ganges, the passage of which, by camels and elephants, usually 
 takes up a considerable space of time. The Ganges is still a 
 noble stream ; its width, at the usual place of ferrying, is, I should 
 think, not far from a mile and a half, but it is divided at this 
 season by a large sand-bank, and the water is in many places 
 shallow. Its banks on both sides are flat and ugly, but the 
 southern side has the advantage in its numerous bungalows, sur- 
 rounded by their respective gardens. We had heard much of 
 the misgoverned and desolate state of the kingdom of Oude ; boats 
 had been recently menaced, in their way to Cawnpoor, by some 
 of the villagers adjoining the river, and my guard had been 
 increased, without any application from me, from thirty to forty- 
 five sepoys, by the obliging care of General Martindell. The 
 immediate vicinity of the river we certainly found uncultivated, 
 and the peasants who passed us here were still more universally 
 loaded with defensive and offensive weapons than those of the 
 Company’s territories in the Dooab. We found them, however, 
 peaceable and courteous, though our escort was mostly gone 
 forward, and Mr. Lushington and 1 had cantered on by ourselves, 
 leaving the remainder of the party behind, and in fact had 
 repeatedly to ask our way as the evening closed in. 
 
 When we arrived at our tents, a letter was put into my hands 
 from Mr. Ricketts, the resident at Lucknow, stating that the king 
 of Oude had sent a purveyor, or collector of taxes, (I hardly know 
 how to translate the word “ Aumeen,”) with two chobdars, and 
 ten “ suwarrs,” or horsemen, to obtain supplies for us during our 
 march. These persons, however, together with Mr. Ricketts’s 
 
312 
 
 ONNAW. 
 
 own messenger, had expected us at Onnaw, a village four miles 
 further on, but a supply had been obtained by their authority of 
 all which was necessary for our present encampment. 
 
 October 19. — We started early on two elephants, which, after 
 all, the good-natured exertions of Captain Lumsdaine had obtained 
 for us, though not till I had purchased a second horse for my 
 journey, a purchase, indeed, which most of my friends tell me, in 
 such a journey, I shall not find superfluous. The elephants are 
 extremely convenient in the commencement of a march, while 
 it is yet too dark to ride on horseback with comfort ; and by 
 sending on our horses half way to wait for us, we have the relief 
 and pleasure of a ride during the pleasantest time of the morning. 
 It was very dark, and the road excessively bad, through a country 
 naturally broken and marshy, and now rendered almost impass- 
 able by the recent rains. 
 
 In the village of Onnaw, which we reached about half past 
 four in the morning, it was very difficult to find our way, and 
 nobody was awake except one poor foot-traveller, who, himself 
 a stranger, had sat down on the brink of a large pool, in which, 
 apparently, the only track visible terminated, and, wrapped up 
 in his mantle, his sword and shield under him, and at intervals 
 blowing the fusee of his long matchlock gun, was waiting, as he 
 said, for day, and prepared for any possible attack which might 
 in the meantime be made on him. We did not like to wait so 
 long, and began knocking at the door of the nearest house, a cot- 
 tage rather larger than ordinary. No answer was returned, and 
 my spearmen were at once going to break the door, or rather 
 gate, for it was built round a small court-yard. I forbade this 
 step, however, on which one of the followers of the elephant 
 crept like a cat up the mud wall, and dropped down inside of the 
 little enclosure, calling loudly for a guide to show the way. He 
 was received with a volley of abuse in a female voice, which w^as 
 not at all calmed by my assurance that she had nothing to fear, 
 and that, if her husband would come and show us the way, he 
 should be well paid for his trouble. She declared her husband 
 was not at home, but at last, as she said, merely to get rid of us, 
 herself vouchsafed to open the gate, and give us some few direc- 
 tions. Our road we found, in fact, lay through the pool I have 
 mentioned ; and she said, if we kept well to the right hand, with- 
 out ^oing beyond an old tree, it was probable we should find safe 
 footing. With these directions we were fain to be content, and 
 they carried us on safely. 
 
 We wondered all this time that we heard nothing of the king’s 
 people, or Mr. Ricketts’s servant; shortly after, however, as the 
 day dawned, we saw the former galloping after us. They were 
 mounted on very tolerable horses, and armed with sabres like the 
 
PEASANTRY OF OUDE. 
 
 313 
 
 suwarrs of the Company’s magistrates, bat extremely ill-dressed, 
 and more like thieves than peace-officers or soldiers. The 
 Aumeen and Mr. Ricketts’s servant had, they said, gone on to 
 prepare things for our reception at the encampment, where we 
 arrived about eight o’clock, and found it in a grove of trees, as 
 usual, near a half-ruined village, but surrounded with a greater 
 extent of well-cultivated ground than we were prepared to expect 
 in this neighbourhood. 
 
 The Aumeen here called on me, and offered his nuzzur. He 
 was a decent elderly man, looking like an Arab merchant, and 
 was attended by two of the king’s chobdars, also respectable men, 
 and Mr. Ricketts’s servant, one of the tallest and most powerful 
 men I ever saw. They were followed by a troop of country 
 people with the usual supplies, which were, however, yielded 
 very grudgingly, and with bitter lamentations, all the crowd, par- 
 ticularly the women, declaring that they were fleeced to the last 
 penny. They were apparently well satisfied, and certainly a good 
 deal surprised, however, on my telling them that 1 should pay for 
 the fowls and milk, and give a gratuity of two rupees among the 
 wood and grass cutters ; the whole expense only came to three 
 rupees and a half, so cheaply may a great deal of oppression be 
 remedied in this country! 
 
 Nothing remarkable occurred during our continuance here, 
 except the care with which the sarbans, and saeeses, brought all 
 the animals, and every thing which could be stolen, immediately 
 under the eye of the sentries. On ray observing this circum- 
 stance, the reply was immediate, We are in the Nawab Vizier’s 
 country.” Hardly any, even of his own people, call him king, 
 and I must say his name seems to be treated very disrespectfully 
 under all denominations. 
 
 The waters were so deep a few days ago in the rivers which 
 we had passed during this day’s march, that palanquins were 
 floated over by the help of kedgeree-pots, eight of which were 
 competent to support the vehicle, with its contents. It was, 
 however, no very agreeable way of passing a pool of deep water, 
 pushed on by people swimming. 
 
 October 20. — The journey this morning was of seven very long 
 coss, through bad roads, with a deep river, and several gullies 
 made by the recent rain. Our station was a large w^alled village, 
 with gates, and bazar in a much handsomer style than usual, but 
 the walls bearing marks of decay, and many of the houses roofless, 
 though the shops were neat, and the appearance of the people 
 comfortable and thriving. All was quiet when we arrived ; but 
 the servants who had gone on before with the breakfast tents, had 
 found the place in a state of siege. A large sum of money, said 
 to be 30,000 rupees, on its way to the treasury at Lucknow, 
 
 VoL. I. — 40 
 
314 
 
 FALLEN ELEPHANT. 
 
 had attracted a number of the neighbouring peasantry, who were 
 assembled outside the walls with their weapons, waiting for the 
 departure of the treasure, while sentries were posted by the escort 
 on all the old towers, and the gates were fast closed. One of our 
 servants applied for a passage in vain ; the warders were civil, but 
 peremptory, pointing to the lurking enemy, and asking how they 
 should endanger the treasure of “ the refuge of the world.” At 
 last, on more of our sepoys coming up, and finding that we were 
 strong enough to protect them, they gladly opened their gates, and 
 the armed peasantry dispersed themselves. Our camp was fixed 
 beyond the town, near a large pool of water, amid some tall trees, 
 and having at a little distance a grove surrounded by a high wall 
 with a gothic gateway, the garden, as we were told, of a former 
 minister of Oude, named Nawall Sing, who had built the village, 
 and from whom it derived its name. 
 
 Adjoining the pool we saw a crowd of people assembled round 
 a fallen elephant; apprehending that it was one of our own, I 
 urged my horse to the spot. On asking, however, whose it was, 
 a bystander said it belonged to “ the asylum of the world,” and 
 had fallen down from weakness, which was not surprising, since, 
 instead of an allowance of twenty-five rupees a month, necessary 
 for the keep of an elephant, I was told that these poor creatures, 
 all but those in the immediate stables of his majesty, had for some 
 time back, owing to the dilapidated state of the finances, and the 
 roguery of the commissariate, received only five ! They had now 
 given the wretched animal a cordial, and were endeavouring to 
 raise it on its legs, but in vain. It groaned pitifully, but lay quite 
 helpless, and was in fact a mountain of skin and bone. Another 
 elephant of very large size, and in somewhat better plight, was 
 brought to assist; and I was much struck with the almost human 
 expression of surprise, alarm, and perplexity in his countenance, 
 when he approached his fallen companion. They fastened a chain 
 round his neck and the body of the sick beast, and urged him in 
 all ways, by encouragement and blows, to drag him up, even 
 thrusting spears into his flanks. He pulled stoutly for a minute, 
 but on the first groan his companion gave he stopped short, 
 turned fiercely round with a loud roar, and with his trunk and fore 
 feet began to attempt to loosen the chain from his neck. In fact, 
 his resistance and refusal to sanction their proceedings were so 
 decisive, that an immediate cry arose of “ le-jao,” take him 
 away, in which I very cordially joined. I asked them if they 
 could get nothing which the fallen animal was likely to eat, 
 urging that, weak as he was, even if they did get him to rise, he 
 would certainly fail again. They seemed sensible of this, and 
 two of them ran for a great bundle of greens and a pot of water; 
 the greens he ate readily enough, but refused the water, which 
 
PEASANTRY OF OUDE. 
 
 ■ 315 
 
 they accounted for by saying he supposed it ’was physic. He 
 was said to be very old, which the size of his tusks confirmed. 
 Among the group thus assembled were some of the tallest and 
 finest men I have ever seen here, or indeed in Europe. All 
 the crowd were civil and communicative, and I could not help 
 thinking that the peasants of Oude, in every thing but honesty, 
 bore a high rank among those of their own class throughout the 
 world. 
 
 In the course of the day a messenger, mounted on a fast trot- 
 ting camel, (a style of conveyance for couriers very usual in these 
 provinces,) arrived from Mr. Ricketts, his saddle perched high 
 on the top of the hump, his carbine and sabre hanging down on 
 each side, and guiding the animal not with a bridle, but with a 
 small cord fastened to a ring through his nostrils. The message 
 from Mr. Ricketts was that his own aide-de-camp, with one of the 
 king’s, would meet me next morning at about six miles from 
 Lucknow, and that if I chose they would bring with them spare 
 elephants for our party. This wns fortunate, since on inquiry we 
 found that we had still nearly ten coss between us and the Resi- 
 dency, a greater distance than our animals or foot attendants 
 could get through without some rest, or before the middle of 
 the day. Mr. Ricketts’s offer, however, made the arrangement 
 easy. 
 
 October ^\. — We set out at half past three o’clock, and for some 
 time lost our way, there being no other road than such tracks as 
 are seen across ploughed fields in England, the whole country 
 being cultivated, though not enclosed, and much intersected by 
 small rivers and nullahs. The king’s suwarrs were, I found, for 
 show only, since they knew nothing about the road, and as for 
 defence I should have been very sorry to be obliged to rely on 
 them. I was pleased, however, and surprised, after all which 1 
 had heard of Oude, to find the country so completely under the 
 plough, since were the oppression so great as it is sometimes slated, 
 1 cannot think that we should witness so considerable a popula- 
 tion, or so much industry. Yet that considerable anarchy and 
 mis-rule exist, the events of yesterday afforded a sufficient reason 
 for supposing. 
 
 The bulk of the population is still evidently Hindoo. All the 
 villages have pagodas, while many are vfithout mosques ; by far 
 the greater part of the people who pass us on the road, have the 
 marks of caste on their foreheads, and it being now a Hindoo fes- 
 tival, the drumming, braying, and clattering of their noisy music, 
 was heard from every little collection of houses which we passed 
 through. At length, and sooner than we expected, we saw a con- 
 siderable ‘‘Suwarree,” or retinue, of elephants and horses ap- 
 proaching us, and were met by Captain Salmon and the King of 
 
316 * 
 
 ENTRANCE INTO LUCKNOW. 
 
 Oude’s officer, the latter followed bj a train of elephants splen- 
 didly equipped with silver howdahs, and sufficient to accommo- 
 date more than three times the number of our party. A 
 good many suwarrs, in red and yellow, followed Captain Salmon, 
 and a most irregular and picturesque body of infantry, with 
 swords and shields, long matchlock guns, and other guns of every 
 sort and size, spears like spits, composed, sheath and all, of iron, 
 and some silvered over, large triangular green banners, and every 
 thing most unlike the appearance of European war, made up the 
 cortege of Meer Hussun Khan. The whole formed a stage pro- 
 cession of the most interesting and showy kind, in which there 
 was no regularity and little real magnificence, for the dresses of 
 the men and trappings of the elephants were all the worse for 
 wear, and the silver howdahs did not bear a close examination, 
 hut were flowing and picturesque dresses, glowing colours, num- 
 bers ; and the majestic size of the noble animals which formed the 
 most prominent part of the group, produced an effect more 
 pleasing in the eye of a poet or an artist, than the sprucest parade 
 of an English review. 
 
 While I was changing elephants, a decent looking man stepped 
 up to me, and begged to know my name and titles at full length, 
 in order, as he said, “ to make a report of them to the asylum of 
 the world.” I found, on inquiry, that he was the writer of the 
 court circular, a much more minute task, and one considered of 
 far more importance here than in Europe. Every thing which 
 occurs in the family of the King himself, the Resident, the chief 
 officers of state, or any stranger of rank who may arrive, is care- 
 fully noted and sent round in writing. And I was told that the 
 exact hour at which I rose, the sort of breakfast 1 ate, the visits 
 I paid or received, and the manner in which T passed my morn- 
 ing, would all be detailed by the King’s chobdars, for the infor- 
 mation of their master, whose own most indifferent actions, 
 however, are with equal fairness written down for Mr. Ricketts’s 
 inspection. As I mounted my new elephant, the same sort of 
 acclamation of “ Bismillah ! Ullah Acbar ! Ullah Kureen !” was 
 made by the attendants, as I had heard by the Nawab of Dacca’s 
 arrival and departure. It is, I find, the ancient Mussulman 
 fashion, and during their stay in Lucknow, my chobdars and 
 bearers learnt it also from those of the King and the Resident. 
 How long they will continue it I do not know. It seems a very 
 pious custom, and one which T should not wish to check, though 
 1 certainly should not allow them to adopt the proclamation, 
 which followed on this occasion, of my name and title, so mangled 
 as never name was before. 
 
 We now proceeded, three elephants abreast, that on which 
 Mr. Lushington and 1 rode in the centre. Meer Hussun Khfin 
 
LUCKNOW. 
 
 317 
 
 on the right, and Captain Salmon on the left, with the motley 
 multitude before and the spare elephants behind. The Corries 
 had fallen back, being unable to keep up with us. We thus ad- 
 vanced into Lucknow, through a very considerable population, 
 and crowded mean houses of clay, with the filthiest lanes between 
 them that I ever went through, and so narrow that we were often 
 obliged to reduce our front, and even a single elephant did not 
 always pass very easily. A swarm of beggars occupied every 
 angle and the steps of every door, and all, or nearly all the re- 
 maining population were, to my surprise, as much loaded with 
 arms as the inhabitants of the country, a circumstance which told 
 ill for the police of the town, but added considerably to its pic- 
 turesque effect. Grave men in palanquins, counting their beads 
 and looking like Moullahs, had all two or three sword and 
 buckler lacquies attending on them. People of more conse- 
 quence, on their elephants, had each a suwarree of shield, 
 spear, and gun, little inferior to that by which we were sur- 
 rounded, and even the lounging people of the lower ranks in the 
 streets and shop doors, had their shields over their shoulders, and 
 their swords carried sheathed in one hand. 
 
 I recollected Sir W. Scott’s picture of the streets of London 
 in ‘‘ The Fortunes of Nigel,” but I should apprehend that Luck- 
 now offered at this moment a more warlike exterior than our own 
 metropolis ever did during its most embroiled and troublesome 
 periods. As we advanced, the town began to improve in point 
 of buildings, though the streets remained equally narrow and 
 dirty. We passed some pretty mosques and some large houses, 
 built like the native houses in Calcutta, and the bazars seemed 
 well filled, so far as 1 could distinguish from the height at which 
 I sat, and the general narrowness of the area. At last we suddenly 
 entered a very handsome street indeed, wider than the High-street 
 at Oxford, but having some distant resemblance to it in the colour 
 of its buildings, and the general form and gothic style of the 
 •greater part of them. We saw but little of it, however, as we 
 immediately turned up through some folding-gates into a sort of 
 close, with good-looking houses and small gardens round it, and 
 a barrack and guard-house at its entrance. One of these houses, 
 I was told, belonged to the Resident, another was his banqueting- 
 house, containing apartments for his guests, and a third very 
 pretty upper-roomed house in a little garden was pointed out as 
 that which the King had assigned to receive me and my party. 
 Here, therefore, our companions took their leave, and Mr. Lush- 
 ington and 1 found ourselves in a very prettily arranged and well- 
 furnished dwelling, with excellent stables and accommodations 
 for our numerous followers. It was the house usually assigned 
 to the king’s physician, now absent, and was extremely well 
 
318 
 
 LUCKNOW. 
 
 suited to my purpose, both as being near the Residency, and suf- 
 ficiently detached from it to allow me to have some part of my 
 mornings to myself. The Corries arrived in about half an hour, 
 and shortly afterwards we were summoned to breakfast at the 
 ^ Residency, where we found so large a party as completely to 
 give the idea of a watering-place. After breakfast 1 was told 
 the prime minister was come to call on me, and Mr. Ricketts in- 
 troduced us to each other in form. He is a dark, harsh, hawk- 
 nosed man, with an expression of mouth which seems to imply 
 habitual self-command struggling with a naturally rough temper. 
 He is, I understand, exceedingly unpopular. He was originally 
 khansaman to the present King, when heir apparent, and in dis- 
 grace with his father, Saadut Ali. His house is the most splendid 
 in Lucknow, and his suwarree exceeds that of the King, who is 
 said to be so attached to him as to have given himself entirely 
 into his hands. His manners, though not his appearance, are 
 those of a gentleman ; he is said to be a man of undoubted 
 courage, and to be a pleasant person to do business with, except 
 that too much confidence must not be placed in him. He was 
 very civil to me, and very tolerant of my bad Hindoostanee; but 
 I s^iw that he was nursing some ill-humour towards Mr. Ricketts, 
 and found at length that offence had been taken because Lord 
 Amherst had not himself written to the King to introduce me, as 
 had, he said, been the constant custom with other . Governors- 
 general whenever any person of a certain rank in the country 
 visited Lucknow. We explained to him that my regular progress 
 was through those stations where there were chaplains, and that, 
 therefore, it was probable that Lord Amherst did not know that 
 I intended to visit Lucknow, and he seemed satisfied. Possibly 
 Lord Amherst was not aware that such an etiquette was usual, 
 and in my own case it was certainly ignorance which prevented 
 my asking for such credent! als."^ However, the minister seemed 
 
 * The following letter from the Governor-general was subsequently sent to 
 the King of Oude: 
 
 “ TO HIS MAJESTY THE KING OF OUDE. 
 
 “ Written \0th December^ 1824. 
 
 “ I have lately been informed, by a letter from the Lord Bishop of Calcutta, 
 of the gracious reception which his Lordship experienced from your Majesty, and 
 of the gratification which he derived from his visit to your Majesty’s court of 
 Lucknow. 
 
 “ I had no opportunity of making known, previously, to your Majesty, the 
 Bishop’s intention of visiting Lucknow, as his proceeding to that capital was a 
 sudden thought, and he had not beforehand contemplated that the course of his 
 public duties would allow of his deviating so far from his proposed route. This 
 beinfif the case, I feel myself now doubly called on to address your Majesty, both 
 in explanation of the above apparent omission, and to offer my sincere acknow 
 
LUCKNOW. 
 
 319 
 
 satisfied, his dark countenance cleared up, and he said that the 
 introduction of their friend the Resident was quite enough for 
 them, and that the King hoped to make Lucknow not unpleasant 
 to me. The remaining conversation was about the cities and 
 countries which I had visited, how I liked the first sight of Luck- 
 now, and concluded with the minister’s inviting me, on the part 
 of the King, to breakfast with him the Monday following. 
 
 This is the usual way of being presented at this court, and the 
 reason given for not naming an earlier day, was, that the King had 
 a bad feverish cold. I found, indeed, half Lucknow laid up with 
 the same influenza, though of a slighter degree, with that which 
 had prevailed so universally in Calcutta during the rains. In fact, 
 I know not how, the sight of the town, its various villanous 
 smells, and its close population, gave me the idea of a very un- 
 healthy place, though I found the old residents disclaimed the 
 imputation. I felt much chagrined, on more accounts than one, 
 to find that Mr, Ricketts’s marriage could not take place before 
 the 1st of November ; if this were out of the question, however, 
 it was very unlikely I should be able to leave it before that time, 
 from the different things that were to be done. Under these cir- 
 cumstances it was a satisfaction to me to find that, if a week’s 
 notice was given, 1 should be sure of a numerous attendance at 
 sacrament, — that many persons had been asking about confirma- 
 tion, who only needed some days to prepare themselves, and 
 make up their minds to the ceremony, and that a full share of 
 those other opportunities of usefulness might be expected which 
 1 had found at Allahabad, Monghyr, and other places where there 
 was, as here, no resident chaplain. 
 
 The great detentions which I have already met with have not 
 only thrown me much behind the reckoning which 1 formed from 
 my conversation with Colonel Cunliffe, but, joined to the expe- 
 rience which I have already had of marching, have obliged me 
 to calculate on a much slower progress hereafter than I looked 
 forward to when first that reckoning was made. In so long a 
 journey as this I find it evident that a Sunday halt is not only ad- 
 viseable in a religious point of view, but necessary for the animals 
 and men who accompany me. To be useful I must arrange my 
 stay in each station so as to include a Sunday, and shall thus be 
 often kept, besides these halting days, several others, which 1 
 
 ledgments for the flattering and cordial reception given by your Majesty to the 
 head of the British Church in India, of which the Bishop writes in the warmest 
 and most grateful terms. 
 
 » (Signed) AMHERST. 
 
 “ {A true copy) 
 
 ‘‘(Signed) A. STIRLING, 
 
 “ Persian Secretary to Government.'’ — Ed. 
 
320 
 
 LUCKNOW. 
 
 should have employed, more to my liking, in pressing onwards 
 towards the meeting to which I look forward with daily increasing 
 earnestness. To go dak any considerable part of the way would 
 be a great additional expense, and, it so happens, that it would 
 save me very little time, since I must still adjust my stay in the 
 different stations according to Sundays, and wait for my servants 
 and baggage to rejoin me. As, to the best of my calculation, it 
 seems very improbable that 1 can reach Surat before the begin- 
 ning of April, I was well pleased to learn from Mr. Hyde, one of 
 the party at the Residency, who had recently come across from 
 Bombay, that travelling in Guzerat was not only practicable but 
 pleasant till that time. Mr. Hyde is a great traveller, and the 
 only Englishman whom I have heard of, except Lord Valencia, 
 who has visited India from motives, exclusively, of science and 
 curiosity, since the country has been in our possession. All 
 others, however science might engross their attention, have, like 
 Leyden and Sir W. Jones, had some official and ostensible object, 
 whereas this gentleman is merely making a tour. He left Eng- 
 land seven years ago, with the intention of being absent a few 
 months, and has been since rambling on, without plan, and chiefly 
 as his course has been determined by the motions of others. 
 Having attached himself to Mr. Bankes, 1 believe in Spain, he 
 accompanied him into Egypt, Nubia, Syria, and Arabia. Mr. 
 Rich enticed him from Palmyra on to Babylon and Bagdad. 
 From Bussorah he came to Bombay, touching in his way at some 
 of the ports of Oman and Yeman, in the hope of finding an 
 eligible opportunity of returning home by sea ; and then, finding 
 himself in a new and interesting country, determined to make the 
 tour of India. Added to his zeal for seeing new countries, he 
 has an uncommon share of good-nature and cheerfulness, and is 
 exactly the person whom I could conceive Bankes selecting as 
 his travelling companion. 
 
 I do not know that there is any use in writing a regular journal 
 of the manner in which I passed my time at Lucknow. There 
 was, as must be the case, a good deal of sameness, in morning 
 rides, evening sight-seeing, late breakfasts, and later dinners. 
 There were several pleasant people among the crowd, and I 
 was daily more and more pleased with my host and future hostess, 
 and from him I obtained much information as to the manners 
 and customs of northern India. The king very good-naturedly 
 sent an elephant every morning for Mr. Lushington and myself, 
 and a chariot for the Corries, that we might see the sights of 
 Lucknow to more advantage. There is a menagerie with a 
 greater number of scarce and carious animals, but in far worse 
 order, than that at Barrackpoor ; and on the other side of the 
 river Goomty, in a well-wooded park, is a large collection of 
 
DIL^KOUSHAR, 
 
 321 
 
 different varieties of cows, camels, and deer, and five or six verj^ 
 large rhinoceroses, the first animals of the kind I ever saw, and 
 of which I found that prints and drawings had given me a very 
 imperfect conception. They are more bulky animals, and of a 
 darker colour, than I had supposed, and the thickness of the folds 
 of their impenetrable skin much surpasses all which I had ex- 
 pected. These at Lucknow are gentle and quiet animals, except 
 that one of them has a feud with horses. They seem to propa- 
 gate in captivity without reluctance, and I should conceive might 
 be available to carry burthens as well as the elephant, except 
 that, as their pace is still slower than his, their use could only be 
 applicable to very great weights, and very gentle travelling. 
 These have sometimes had howdahs on them, and were once 
 fastened in a carriage, but only as an experiment, which was 
 never followed up. There is, on the same side of the river, a 
 poultry-yard of beautiful pigeons ; and on the river itself is a 
 steam-boat, a vessel fitted up like a brig of war, and other things 
 which show the King to be fond of mechanical inventions. He 
 has, indeed, a very skilful mechanist, an English officer, in his 
 service, and is himself said to know more of the science, and of 
 the different branches of philosophy connected with it, than 
 could be expected in a person who understands no European 
 language. 
 
 Another pleasant ride is to “Dil-koushar,” Heart’s Delight, a 
 small summer palace of the King’s, about three miles from the 
 city. The house is small and ugly, with a high front like a grena- 
 dier’s cap, and two low wings, like some of the old French and 
 German chateaus. It is said to be prettily arranged and furnished 
 inside, but this I did not see. 
 
 The park is extensive, and some parts of it extremely pretty, 
 being sufficiently wild and jungly to offer a picturesque variety, 
 and in parts sufficiently open for air and exercise, as well as to 
 show off its deer and neelghaus to advantage. Some parts of it 
 put me in mind of the few remaining glades of Needwood forest. 
 There are not only neelghaus and the common Indian deer, but 
 some noble red deer in this park, which contribute much, with a 
 broad and excellent drive through it, and the form of its lodge, 
 to give it an English air, wffiich, however, is from time to time 
 destroyed by the tall jungle grass, with its beautiful silver tufts, and 
 the monkeys. These, as well as all which I have yet seen in 
 this country, resemble the corpulent one which I described on 
 the banks of the Pudda in every particular, except that of wanting 
 a tail, which he, I suppose, had lost by some accident. Though 
 they seem better adapted for climbing than running, they are 
 tolerably swift on the ground. 1 have more than once taken 
 them at first for Pariar dogs. They are very tame, never being 
 
 VoL. I. — 41 
 
322 
 
 LUCKNOW. 
 
 shot at or injured, and are not, I think, the lively, frolicsome 
 animal which they are in Europe supposed to be. There is a 
 sort of cage in the middle of the park where they are fed, at least 
 where some gram is thrown to them to scramble for once in two 
 or three days, whether founded by the King or some pious Hin- 
 doo I know not. I suspect the latter, because the people who 
 keep it are Fakirs and beg, and because there is a statue of Huni- 
 man in front of it. 
 
 Another popular drive is to Constantia, a very large and most 
 whimsical house and grounds, in the worst possible taste, but 
 displaying, in its outline and some parts of its arrangements, an 
 eccentric and uneducated genius, built by the late General Mar- 
 tin, a Frenchman, and originally a common soldier, who rose by 
 good fortune more than any brilliant services, to the first rank in 
 the Company’s army. His tomb is in one of the cellars, a marble 
 altar-shaped sarcophagus, with a very modest inscription, and a 
 bust also of white marble. It is surrounded by four figures of 
 grenadiers as large as life, with their arms reversed, in the elegant 
 attitude used in military funerals, and the whole would have had 
 an extremely good effect, had not the grenadiers which, it is said, 
 Martin meant to have been of marble also, been paltry plaster 
 figures, painted after nature in red coats! Whose taste this has 
 been I could not learn. 
 
 There are one or two other very English-looking country- 
 houses near Lucknow, all, I believe, the property of the King, 
 and it may be said that from the Residency all the way down the 
 principal street, and afterward through the park of Dil-Koushar, 
 and the neighbouring drives, Lucknow has more resemblance to 
 some of the smaller European capitals (Dresden for instance) 
 than any thing which 1 have seen in India. The King’s troops, 
 besides the irregular gentry of whom 1 saw a specimen on enter- 
 ing the city, are dressed in the same way that the British sepoys 
 used to be twenty years ago, and as they are represented in Kerr 
 Porter’s “ Storming of Seringapatam.” They are armed with 
 muskets and bayonets, under British officers, and not ill disci- 
 plined, but their numbers are not more than are required for the 
 usual purposes of parade and mounting sentries. His horse- 
 guards are fine tall men, and well mounted, but are in discipline 
 and military appearance a little, and but a little, better than those 
 which attend the Nawab of Dacca. The British subsidiary force, 
 which is at the disposal of the Resident, is, by a strange choice, 
 placed in a cantonment five miles from the town, separated by 
 
 * All the furniture of the house was sold on General Martin’s death, and the 
 looking-glasses and lustres were purchased by the Company to ornament the 
 Government-house in Calcutta. — Ed. 
 
LUCKNOW. 
 
 323 
 
 the broad and rapid stream of the Goomty, where there is indeed 
 a fine old bridge, but one which might in a few minutes be ren= 
 dered impassable by any force without a regular siege, so that in 
 case of a commotion in the city, either King or Resident would 
 have to rely entirely on the single company which is always on 
 guard at the Residency, but which would be as nothing when 
 opposed to such an armed population as that of Lucknow. That 
 they have never yet been exposed to this danger seems a sufficient 
 proof of the quiet disposition of the people, as well as of the 
 opinion which they entertain of the supposed stability of the 
 Company’s empire; yet the English, both at Lucknow and Cawn- 
 poor, often spoke of the anarchical condition, the frequent affrays, 
 the hatred of the European and Christian name, the robberies 
 and murders by which this city is distinguished ; and I was cau- 
 tioned expressly, by more people than one, never to go into the 
 populous parts of the city except on an elephant, and attended 
 by some of the Resident’s or the King’s chuprassees. It so 
 happened that the morning before this counsel was given, Mr. 
 Lushington and I had gone on horseback through almost the 
 whole place, along streets and alleys as narrow and far dirtier 
 than those of Benares, and in a labyrinth of buildings which 
 obliged us to ask our way at almost every turn. So far from 
 having chuprassees, we had as it happened but one saees between 
 us, and he as much a stranger as ourselves, yet we found invari- 
 able civility and good nature, people backing their carts and 
 elephants to make room for us, and displaying on the whole a far 
 greater spirit of hospitality and accommodation than two foreigners 
 would have met with in London. One old man only, when my 
 horse showed considerable reluctance to pass an elephant, said, 
 shaking his head, in a sort of expostulating tone, “ this is not a 
 good road for sahibs.” Some of the instances, indeed, which 
 were related of Europeans being insulted and assaulted in the 
 streets and neighbourhood of Lucknow, were clearly traced to 
 insolent or overbearing conduct on the part of the complainants 
 themselves ; and though of course there are bad and worthless 
 people every where, though where every body is armed, and 
 there is no efficient police, street brawls will be less infrequent 
 than in cities more fortunately circumstanced, and though by night 
 narrow streets ill-watched and unlighted must be dangerous, 1 am 
 not disposed to think that the people of Oude are habitually fero- 
 cious or blood-thirsty, or that they are influenced by any peculiar 
 animosity against the English or the Christian name. It is cer- 
 tain, however, that they have not a good character, and that in 
 no part of the country should valuable property be trusted in 
 their way without proper precaution. 1 had heard of some 
 travellers having been menaced by the villagers on the Oude bank 
 
324 
 
 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 of the Ganges a short time before, and when, on leaving Luck- 
 now^, I ordered my mate-bearer, who had staid with me after the 
 tents had set off, to follow, as I could do without him, he pleaded 
 (though he had a spear) that he was afraid to go alone. Abdullah 
 laughed at this, but afterwards went very gravely to examine into 
 the state of the pistols, and was careful at night to bring them to 
 my bed-head, observing that “ in this country a man does not 
 trust his own father.” This, however, is a digression. 1 return 
 to Lucknow and its public buildings. 
 
 The minister’s house is a very large pile of building, in a bad 
 part of the town, and both in architecture and situation a good 
 deal resembling the house of the Mullich family in Calcutta. 
 There are many stately khans, and some handsome mosques and 
 pagodas scattered in different corners of these wretched alleys, 
 but the most striking buildings in Lucknow are, the tombs of the 
 late Nawab Saadut Ali, and of the mother of the present king, 
 the gate of Constantinople Roumi Durwazu”) and the “ Imam- 
 bara,” or cathedral. The Imambara consists of two courts, rising 
 with a steep ascent one above the other. It contains, besides a 
 splendid mosque, a college for instruction in Mussulman law, 
 apartments for the religious establishment maintained here, and 
 a noble gallery, in the midst of which, under a brilliant tabernacle 
 of silver, cut glass, and precious stones, lie buried the remains of 
 its founder Asuphud Dowla. The whole is in a very noble style 
 of eastern gothic, and when taken in conjunction with the Roumi 
 Durwazu which adjoins it, I have never seen an architectural 
 view which pleased me more from its richness and variety, as 
 well as the proportions and general good taste of its principal 
 features. The details a good deal resemble those of Eaton,"^ but 
 the extent is much greater and the parts larger. On the whole, 
 it is, perhaps, most like the Kremlin, but both in splendour and 
 taste my old favourite falls very short of it. Close to this fine 
 group is a large and handsome, but dull and neglected looking 
 pile, which is the palace or prison appropriated to the unfortunate 
 widows and concubines of deceased sovereigns. Some ladies 
 are still there, as it is said, who belonged to Asuphud Dowlah. 
 Those of Vizier Ali and Saadut Ali are, naturally, many of them 
 alive, though they must mostly be in years. An Indian king, 
 who allows his elephants to be starved, is, I fear, not very likely 
 to attend much to the feeding of his old women, and the allow- 
 ance which these poor creatures receive is said to be always so 
 miserably in arrear, that they have occasionally been reduced to 
 extreme distress. Once they fairly broke loose from their prison, 
 sallied in a body into the adjoining bazar, and carried off all they 
 
 * The Earl Grosvenor’s seat in Cheshire. — Ed, 
 
BREAKFAST AT THE PALACE. 
 
 325 
 
 could lay hands on, exclaiming that they had already pawned or 
 sold all their trinkets, and almost all their clothes, that they were 
 perishing with hunger, and that the King must pay for what they 
 took, as well as bear the disgrace of reducing his father’s wives 
 to show themselves to the people. The measure was a bold one, 
 but, probably, did them good as to their subsequent treatment, 
 for the King is allowed by every body to be a kind-hearted, well- 
 meaning man, and the general sympathy and horror excited were 
 very great. 
 
 None of the royal palaces (there are, I think, three in Lucknow 
 beside this gloomy one) are either very large or striking. That 
 in which the King received us to breakfast, and which is the one 
 which he usually occupies, is close to the Residency ; a cluster 
 of mean courts with some morsels of showy architecture inter- 
 mingled, like the offices of a college. We went there in long 
 procession, the Resident in his state palanquin, made open like 
 the nuptial one which we saw in Chowringhee, I in a tonjon, the 
 rest of the party in all manner of conveyances. The Resident 
 had a very numerous suwarree of armed men, silver-sticks, &c. 
 and my servants were so anxious that I should make a good ap- 
 pearance on the occasion, that they begged permission to put on 
 their new blue coats, though the day was so hot it was painful to 
 see them thus loaded. There was the usual show of horse and 
 foot guards in the approaches to the palace, and the street was 
 lined with the same picturesque crowd of irregular gendarmerie, 
 which 1 had seen on entering the town. We were set down at 
 the foot of a strangely mean stone staircase, resembling rather 
 that leading to a bath-room than any thing else, on the summit of 
 which the King received us, first embracing the Resident, then 
 me. He next offered an arm to each of us, and led us into a 
 long and handsome, but rather narrow, gallery, with good por- 
 traits of his father and Lord Hastings over the two chimney- 
 pieces, and some very splendid glass lustres hanging from the 
 ceiling. The furniture was altogether English, and there was a 
 long table in the middle of the room, set out with breakfast, and 
 some fine French and English china. He sate down in a gilt 
 arm-chair in the centre of one side, motioning to us to be seated 
 on either hand. The prime minister sate down opposite, and 
 the rest of the table was filled by the party from the Residency, 
 and about an equal number of natives, among whom were one 
 of the King’s grandsons, the commander-in-chief, and other pub- 
 lic officers. The king began by putting a large hot roll on the 
 Resident’s plate, and another on mine, then sent similar rolls to 
 the young Nawab his grandson, who sate on the other side of me, 
 to the prime minister, and one or two others. Coffee, tea, butter, 
 eggs, and fish, were then carried round by the servants, and 
 
32 € 
 
 BREAKFAST AT THE PALACE. 
 
 things proceeded much as at a public breakfast in England. The 
 King had some mess of his own in a beautiful covered French 
 cup, but the other Mussulmans ate as the Europeans did. There 
 was a pillaw, which the king recommended to me, and which, 
 therefore, I was bound to taste, though with much secret reluc- 
 tance, as remembering the greasy dainties of the Nawab of Dacca. 
 I was surprised, however, to find that this was really an excellent 
 thing, with neither ghee nor garlic, and with no fault except, 
 perhaps, that it was too dry, and too exclusively fowl, rice, and 
 spices. Mr. Ricketts told me afterwards, that the high-bred Mus- 
 sulmans of this part of India affect to dislike exceedingly, as vul- 
 gar, the greasy and fragrant dishes of the Bengalees and Hindoos, 
 and that the merit of their cookery is to be dry, stimulant, and 
 aromatic. 
 
 During the meal, which was not very long, for nobody ate 
 much, the conversation was made up chiefly of questions from 
 the King as to the countries which I had visited, the length of 
 time which I had been in India, and the objects of my present 
 journey ; as also how I liked what I had seen of Lucknow, with 
 the rest of what Falconbridge calls the “ABC book” of a tra- 
 veller, when such a “piked man of countries” is at the breakfast 
 table of a great man. I took care to thank him for his kindness 
 in sending the guard and the Aumeen to meet me, as also for the 
 loan of the elephant and chariot. I understood pretty well all 
 which he said, though he does not speak very distinctly, but I 
 seldom ventured to answer him without the aid of Mr. Ricketts’s 
 interpretation, being aware of the danger of giving offence, or 
 using vulgar or “ unlucky” words. He said his servants had told 
 him 1 spoke Hindoostanee remarkably well ; I answered that I 
 could speak it to people in the camp or on the river, but I was 
 not used to speak it in such a presence. He said, very politely, 
 I had only to go on according to the progress I had already made, 
 and the next time 1 came to see him he would not allow me an 
 interpreter. The fact is, however, that I have gained very little 
 in Hindoostanee lately, considerably less than before I was con- 
 stantly with the Archdeacon and Mr. Lushington. It is much 
 easier to get them to interpret than my myself to labour at an 
 explanation, and, in marching, I have little or no time to read. 
 Hindoostanee, not Persian, is here the court language ; I suppose 
 this has arisen from the King’s desertion of his old allegiance to 
 the house of Timur, since which it has been a natural policy to 
 frame the etiquette of his court on a different model from that of 
 Delhi. 
 
 After breakfast the King rose and walked, supported as before 
 by Mr. Ricketts and me, into a small adjoining drawing-room, 
 where his crown stood on a sofa-table. It is a very elegant one, 
 
DISTRIBUTION OF MONEY. 
 
 327 
 
 of what heralds call the “ Oriental” form, a velvet cap surrounded 
 with pointed rays of diamonds, and a white heron’s plume in 
 front. T was no judge of the merit of the diamonds, but was able 
 honestly to say, 1 had never, except on the Emperor of Russia’s 
 crown, seen a more brilliant show. He asked me if there was 
 any difference between his crown and that of the King of England. 
 
 1 told him what the difference was, and said his Majesty’s was 
 more like that of the Emperor of Constantinople, “ Padshahi 
 Roum.” The conversation ended by his giving me a copy of his 
 own works, and a hook of some sort to the Archdeacon. We 
 then took leave, and ended the morning by making a tour of the 
 palaces, the new Imambara, the Menagerie, and the tombs of the 
 King’s father and mother. We went as before in our tonjons, 
 and Mr. Ricketts, on going out of the palace-gate, sent me a purse 
 of thirty rupees in quarters, saying it was usual on such occasions 
 to throw silver among the beggars. He had scarcely done this 
 when our chairs were actually swept away from each other by a 
 crowd of miserable objects of all kinds, who had waited our 
 coming out, and had already learned my name. I at once saw 
 that in such a scramble the strong and young would get every 
 thing, and therefore bid the chobdars and other people round me 
 to keep them off, and bring near the blind, lame, leprous, and 
 very old. They executed this work zealously and w'ell. The 
 Cawnpoor sepoys particularly, twelve of whom had begged leave 
 to attend me on this occasion, with their side-arms and ramrods, 
 as orderlies, laid about them with such hearty good will, that they 
 made a very effectual w^ay, and really seemed anxious to bring 
 forward the greatest objects, so that I had the satisfaction of 
 making my hundred and twenty pieces of silver a good deal more 
 useful than they otherwise would have been, as well as advancing 
 with a progress considerably more rapid than I could have done 
 without such tools as iron ramrods. I had, however, the morti- 
 fication to find that some of the weakest and most helpless of 
 those who w^ere admitted to the side of my chair, were hustled 
 on their return to the crowd, to snatch from them the alms which 
 they had received ; and one poor old woman to whom I gave 
 half a rupee on account of her great age and infirmities, was, after 
 1 had passed, thrown down, trampled on, and her hands, arms, 
 and breast dreadfully pinched and bruised, to compel her to un- 
 lock her grasp of the money. The Resident’s people rescued 
 her, or she probably would have been killed. I observed, by the 
 way, that my chobdar and the rest of my escort seemed to think that 
 it w^as strange to give more to a woman than to most of the men ; 
 and 1 had noticed on many occasions, that all through India any 
 thing is thought good enough for the weaker sex, and that the 
 roughest words, the poorest garments, the scantiest alms, the most 
 
3i28 
 
 KING OF OUDE. 
 
 degrading labour, and the hardest blows, are generally their portion. 
 The same chuprassee who, in clearing the way before a great man, 
 speaks civilly enough to those of his own sex, cuffs and kicks any 
 unfortunate female who crosses his path without warning or for- 
 bearance. Yet to young children they are all gentleness and 
 indulgence. What riddles men are ! and how strangely do they 
 differ in different countries ! An idle boy in a crowd would 
 infallibly, in England, get his head broken, but what an outcry 
 would be raised if an unoffending woman were beaten by one of 
 the satellites of authority! Perhaps both parties might learn 
 something from each other ; at least I have always thought it very 
 hard to see beadles, in England, lashing away children on all 
 public occasions, as if curiosity were a crime at an age in which 
 it is, of all others, most natural. 
 
 This custom of throwing away money at presentations and 
 other “ high times,” is said to be the cause of the number of beg- 
 gars in Lucknow. They are, indeed, very numerous, but on no 
 other occasion did I see a crowd of them, and in any large city, 
 the certainty that money was to be scrambled for, would bring 
 together a multitude, perhaps as great as that I saw to-day. 
 
 The King of Oude is rather a tall man, and being long-backed 
 and sitting on a somewhat higher cushion than his neighbours, 
 looks particularly so at his own table. He has evidently been 
 very handsome, and has still good features and a pleasing counte- 
 nance, though he looks considerably older than he is, or than he 
 as yet chooses his painter to represent him. His curling hair and 
 whiskers are quite gray, and his complexion has grown, I under- 
 stand, much darker within these few years, being now, indeed, 
 perhaps the darkest in his court. On Mr. Home’s canvass, how- 
 ever, his locks are still “ like the raven,” and his “ bonny brow 
 is brent.” The same immutability of youth, indeed, I have noticed 
 in other royal portraits. The King of Oude, however, is evidently 
 fond of dress, and is said to be a critic in that of others as well as 
 his own ; and his palaces, his new Imambara, his throne-room, 
 jewels, and all the many other fine things which we visited this 
 day, though extremely costly, and marked by a cultivated taste, 
 and an eye familiarized with European models, are less solid and 
 massive in their properties, and impress the mind with far less 
 magnificence than the proud Roumi Durwazu, and the other 
 works of his more frugal and fortunate father and uncle. His 
 manners are very gentlemanly and elegant, though the European 
 ladies who visit his court complain that he seldom pays them any 
 attention. Lady Hood and Lady Mac Mahon were, however, 
 exceptions to this rule. 
 
 By a recent order of Government all presents of shawls, silks, 
 ornaments, or diamonds, whether made to ladies or gentlemen, 
 
NUZZUR. 
 
 329 
 
 are taken from them on leaving the palace, by the Resident’s 
 chobdar, and sold on the account of Government. Nothing is 
 kept but the silken cords which the King throws round the necks 
 of his visiters at parting, and books, which, as nobody buys them, 
 remain the unmolested property of the presentee. 
 
 Still presents are given and received, when such a public mark 
 of respect is thought proper, but in a manner well understood by 
 both parties. If a person of rank is introduced to the King, a 
 tray of shawls is offered, accepted, and put by in store at the 
 Residency. When the great man takes leave, on departing from 
 Lucknow, he offers a similar nuzzur, which the Company sup- 
 plies, and which is always of rather superior value to that which 
 the King has given. Thus the King gets his own shawls and 
 something more leturned to him in due course of circulation, and 
 except that every such interchange of presents costs the Company 
 about five hundred rupees, the whole is reduced to little more 
 than a bow, and the occasion of a fee to his Majesty’s chobdars 
 and hurkarus. I was asked if 1 chose to go through this mock 
 interchange of presents. But I had no authority to draw from 
 the Company’s funds the presents which I was to return, nor any 
 desire to encroach on the discretion which is, in such case, exer- 
 cised by the Resident. I answered, therefore, that, as a clergy- 
 man, 1 could not be supposed to derive honour from the present 
 of fine clothes and costly ornaments, and that I was anxious for 
 nothing so much as the possession of his Majesty’s works : this I 
 found was well taken. 
 
 I had the usual compliment paid me of an offer to have a fight 
 of animals under my window at breakfast, which I declined. It 
 is a sight that religious persons among the Mussulmans themselves 
 condemn as inhuman, and I did not want to be reckoned less 
 merciful to animals than their own Moullahs. Nor was the King, 
 who is himself pretty well tired of such sights, displeased, I found, 
 that his elephants and rams had a holiday. 
 
 The King, to finish my court-days all at once, returned my visit 
 on the Thursday following at the Residency, and was received by 
 the Resident and myself at the head of the stairs, in all points as 
 he received us, and was conducted between us, as before, to the 
 middle of the long breakfast table, and after breakfast I presented 
 him with a copy of the Bible in Arabic, and the prayer book in 
 Hindoostanee, which I had got bound in red velvet, and wrapt 
 up in brocade for the purpose. The morning went off so much 
 like that which had preceded it, that I remember nothing of im- 
 portance, except that during breakfast he asked me to sit for my 
 portrait to his painter, and that after breakfast he offered me an 
 escort of twenty suwarrs through his territory, of which, in con- 
 formity with the principle on which I acted, of declining all 
 VoL. 1. — 42 
 
330 
 
 KING OF OUDE. 
 
 needless parade, I accepted only ten, stating that I found those 
 his Majesty had sent me before quite sufficient. 
 
 I lastly met him again, under circumstances perfectly similar, 
 at the Residency on the day of Mr. Ricketts’s marriage, at which 
 he had expressed a wish to be present. At this breakfast he was 
 more communicative than he had been, talked about steam-engines, 
 and a new way of propelling ships by a spiral wheel at the bottom 
 of the vessel, which an English engineer in his pay had invented; 
 mentioned different circumstances respecting the earthquake at 
 Shiraz which had been reported to him, but were not named in 
 the Calcutta newspapers, and explained the degree of acquaint- 
 ance which he showed with English books, by saying he made 
 his aides-de-camp read them to him into Hindoostanee. He was 
 full of a new scheme of authorship or editorship in the form of a 
 Hindoostanee and Arabic Dictionary, which he was pleased to 
 find was likely to be well received at the College of Fort William. 
 Captain Lockitt, indeed, said that it would in all probability be 
 a very useful book, for he had men about him quite competent 
 to do it respectably. He asked so much about my publications, 
 that Mr. Ricketts told me I was bound to offer to send them to 
 him as soon as I returned to Calcutta, and, on my assenting, made 
 a very pretty speech on my behalf. The King said he should 
 receive them with great pleasure, and had no doubt he should get 
 their meaning explained to him. I cannot tell how this may be, 
 but am now bound to make the trial. The marriage ceremony 
 went off very well. The King, his grandson, the minister, &c. 
 remained in the room as spectators, and after it, Mr. Ricketts 
 presented him with a splendid velvet and gold saddle-cloth, and 
 housings. Thus ended, after another embrace, and a promise of 
 returning “ one of these days,” my intercourse with one of the 
 very few crowned heads I have ever come into contact with. I 
 have been the more particular in describing what passed, because 
 1 know my wife will not be uninterested in it, and because this is 
 in fact the most polished and splendid court at present in India. 
 Poor Delhi has quite fallen into decay. 
 
 I sate for my portrait to Mr. Home four times."^ He has made 
 several portraits of the king, redolent of youth, and radiant with 
 diamonds, and a portrait of Sir E. Paget, which he could not help 
 making a resemblance. He is a very good artist, indeed, for a 
 king of Oude to have got hold of. He is a quiet gentlemanly old 
 man, brother of the celebrated surgeon in London, and came out 
 
 * The editor has great pleasure in repeating her obligations to Mr. Home for 
 having, unasked, sent to her a co})y of the portrait mentioned in the text; and 
 in adding the expression of the gratification which she has felt on learning that 
 Mr. Ricketts has, at his own expense, transmitted another copy to Calcutta for 
 the bishop’s college. 
 
KING OF OUDE. 
 
 331 
 
 to practise as a portrait painter at Madras, during Lord Corn- 
 wallis’s first administration, was invited from thence to Lucknow 
 bj Saadut Ali a little before his death, and has since been retained 
 by the King at a fixed salary, to which he adds a little by private 
 practice. His son is a captain in the Company’s service, but is 
 now attached to the King of Oude as equerry, and European aide- 
 de-camp. Mr. Home would have been a distinguished painter 
 had he remained in Europe, for he has a great deal of taste, and 
 his drawing is very good and rapid; but it has been, of course, a 
 great disadvantage to him to have only his own works to study, 
 and he, probably, finds it necessary to paint in glowing colours to 
 satisfy his royal master. 
 
 Of the King’s character, and the circumstances which have 
 plunged this country into its present anarchy, I will now detail 
 the outlines of what 1 have been able to learn. He was, by a very 
 common misfortune attendant on heirs apparent, disliked by his 
 father, Saadut Ali, who had kept him back from all public affairs, 
 and thrown him entirely into the hands of servants. To the first 
 of these circumstances may be ascribed his fondness for literary 
 and philosophical pursuits, to the second the ascendancy which 
 his khansaman minister has gained over him. Saadut Ali, himself 
 a man of talent and acquirements, fond of business and well qua- 
 lified for it, but in his latter days unhappily addicted to drunken- 
 ness, left him a country with six millions of people, a fertile soil, 
 a most compact frontier, a clear revenue of two millions sterling, 
 and upwards of two millions in ready money in the treasury, with 
 a well regulated system of finance, a peasantry tolerably well 
 contented, no army to maintain except for police and parade, and 
 every thing likely to produce an auspicious reign. Different 
 circumstances, however, soon blighted these golden promises. 
 The principal of these was, perhaps, the young Nawab’s aversion 
 to public business. His education has been merely Asiatic, for 
 Saadut Ali, though he himself spoke English like a native, and 
 very frequently wore the English uniform, had kept his son from 
 all European intercourse and instruction. He was fond, however, 
 as I have observed, of study; and in all points of Oriental philo- 
 logy and philosophy, is really reckoned a learned man, besides 
 having a strong taste for mechanics and chemistry. But these 
 are not the proper or most necessary pursuits of a king, and, in 
 this instance, have rather tended to divert his mind from the 
 duties of his situation, than to serve as graceful ornaments to an 
 active and vigorous intellect. When I add to this, that at one 
 period the chace occupied a considerable part of his time, it will 
 be seen how many points of resemblance occur between him and 
 our own James the First. Like James he is said to be naturally 
 just and kind-hearted, and with all who have access to him he is 
 
332 
 
 KING OF OUDE, 
 
 extremely popular. No single act of violence or oppression has 
 ever been ascribed to him, or supposed to have been perpetrated 
 with his knowledge, and his errors have been a want of method 
 and economy in his expenses, a want of accessibility to his sub- 
 jects, a blind confidence in favourites, and, as will be seen, an 
 unfortunate, though not very unnatural, attachment to different 
 points of etiquette and prerogative. 
 
 His father’s minister, at the time of his death, was Hukeem 
 Mendee, a man of very considerable talents, great hereditary 
 opulence and influence, and to the full as honest and respectable 
 in his public and private conduct as an Eastern Vizier can usually 
 be expected to be. The new sovereign was said not to be very 
 fond of him, but there seemed not the least intention of removing 
 him till his power was undermined, most unfortunately for all 
 parties, by the British themselves. 
 
 The then Resident at Lucknow was said to interfere too much 
 in the private affairs of the King, and in the internal and regular 
 administration of the country. The minister would not allow it, 
 and the King was so much irritated by this real, or supposed 
 interference, that he sent, by some of his European servants, the 
 private intelligence to Lord Hastings, of which mention is made 
 in the justificatory memoir of the latter. Lord Hastings readily 
 took up the affair ; but in the meantime some of the King’s ser- 
 vants, among whom was his khansaman, worked upon their 
 master’s timidity, by representing the danger of coming to an 
 open quarrel with the Resident, the probability that the English 
 would not credit the complaints brought against their own coun- 
 tryman, and urged him to a compromise before it was too late. 
 In consequence, the King retracted the complaint, and ascribed 
 it to the incorrect information and bad advice of the Hukeem 
 Mendee, who was in consequence deprived of many of his prin- 
 cipal employments, which were transferred to the present minister, 
 with the general consent of all parties, and with the concurrence 
 of the Hukeem himself, as a man personally acceptable to the 
 sovereign, of pliant and pleasing manners, and not likely to aim 
 at, or obtain more power than it was thought fit to entrust to him. 
 Soon after, however, the new influence succeeded in getting the 
 Hukeem Mendee deprived of one profitable post after another, 
 in stripping him of many of the Zemindarries in his hands, and 
 at length in having him thrown into prison, whence he was only 
 released by the interposition of the British Government. He 
 now lives in great splendour at F uttehghur. 
 
 Expecting me to go to Futtehghur, he sent me, through Mr. 
 Williams of Cawnpoor, a very civil invitation to his house, with 
 the assurance that he had an English house-keeper, who knew 
 perfectly well how to do the honours of his establishment to 
 
KING OF OUDE. 
 
 333 
 
 gentlemen of her own nation. (She is in fact a singular female, 
 who became the wife of one of the Hindoostanee professors at 
 Hertford, now the Hukeem’s Dewan, and bears, 1 believe, a very 
 respectable character.) Hukeem Mendee was too powerful a 
 man to be summarily got rid of, but more violent means were 
 taken with others. One man of high rank was murdered in open 
 day in the city ; others were driven out of the country, and every 
 death and every banishment was a fresh occasion of adding a new 
 place, or a new Zemindarrie to the minister’s hoard. 
 
 While he grew rich, the king grew more and more in debt. 
 No check whatever was given either to the receipt or issue of 
 public money. The favourite had succeeded in getting both the 
 secretaryship and treasurership in his own hands ; and all that 
 was known was, that the minister built a magnificent house, and 
 the king lavished great sums in all manner of trinkets, while 
 the troops and pufiic functionaries were without pay, and the 
 peasantry driven to despair by continual fresh exactions. Of the 
 two millions which his father had left, the king had lent one to 
 Lord Hastings to carry on the Nepal war. For this he was to 
 receive interest, but unfortunately for him, he accepted, instead 
 of all payment, a grant of fresh territory under the Himalaya 
 mountains, which is entirely unproductive, being either savage 
 wilderness, or occupied by a race of mountaineers, who pay no 
 taxes without being compelled, and whom he has not the means 
 of compelling. After a second loan. Lord Hastings encouraged 
 the Vizier to assume the title of King. But the worst consequence 
 of both these loans was, that by laying the British Government 
 under a great obligation to the King, they compelled Lord Hastings 
 to suspend all further urging of the different measures of reform 
 in the administration of justice and the collection of the revenue, 
 which had been begun in Saadut Ali’s time, for the benefit of the 
 people of Oude, and which the Hukeem Mendee, Awhile he re- 
 mained in power, had been gradually introducing, by the sugges- 
 tion of the British Resident, and after the models afforded in our 
 provinces. The chief of these was the substitution of a regular 
 system of Zemindarrie collectors for the taxes, instead of a num- 
 ber of “ fermiers publics,” who take them from year to year by 
 a sort of auction, collecting them afterwards in kind or in any 
 way which suits them best, and who, by a strange injustice, are 
 themselves the assessors, and, in many instances, the only ac- 
 cessible court of appeal, as well as the principal persons who 
 derive a profit from the amount collected. This wretched system, 
 it must be owned, is very common throughout the native govern- 
 ments ; but, when a sovereign is himself a man of talents and 
 energy, or when his minister has any regard for his own reputa- 
 tion, it has many checks which, in the present case, did not 
 
334 
 
 KING OF OUDE. 
 
 operate. In consequence, three or four times more than the 
 sums really due were often extorted by these locusts, who went 
 down and encamped in different parts of the country, and, under 
 various pretences, so devoured and worried the people that they 
 were glad to get rid of them on any terms. Nay, sometimes, 
 when one Aumeen had rnade his bargain with the land-owners 
 and tenants, and received the greater part of the payment in 
 advance, a second would make his appearance with more recent 
 powers, (having out-bid his predecessors,) and begin assessing 
 and collecting anew, telling the plundered villagers that they had 
 done wrong to pay before it was due, and that they must look to 
 the first man for repayment of what they had been defrauded of. 
 “ All this has been done,” was said to me, ‘‘ and the King will 
 neither see it nor hear it.” It was not likely, however, to be 
 done long without resistance. The stronger Zemindars built 
 mud forts, the poor Ryuts planted bamboos and thorny jungle 
 round their villages ; every, man that had not a sword sold his 
 garment to procure one, and they bade the king’s officers keep 
 their distance. The next step, however, of Government, was to 
 call in the aid of British troops to quell these insurgents. This 
 the King of Oude had, by the letter and spirit of existing treaties, 
 a right to do. His father and uncle had purchased this right by 
 the cession of nearly one-third of their whole territories, — by 
 the admission of two or three garrisons of subsidiary troops into 
 their remaining provinces, and by the disbanding of by far the 
 greater part of their own army, on the express condition that the 
 English should undertake to defend them against all external and 
 internal enemies. Still Saadut Ali had used this right very 
 sparingly. He was not fond of admitting, far less requesting, any 
 more foreign interference than he could help. And his own 
 guards, consisting of 2000 regular infantry, 1000 horse, 300 artil- 
 lery, and the irregulars whom I have noticed, were enough for 
 all unusual occasions, and were in excellent order and discipline. 
 Now, however, all was changed. The soldiers themselves were 
 so ill paid that it was difficult to keep them together ; the artil- 
 lery, a beautiful little corps, first mutinied and then disbanded 
 themselves to the last man, and the King had really no option 
 between either altering his system, or governing without taxes, 
 or calling in British aid. That aid was demanded and given ; 
 and during the greater part of Lord Hastings’ time this wretched 
 country was pillaged under sanction of the British name, and 
 under the terror of sepoy bayonets, till at length the remon- 
 strances of the British officers employed on this service became 
 so urgent, and the scandal so notorious and so great, not to omit 
 that the number of the disaffected increased daily, and that the 
 more parties were sent out in support of the Aiimeens, the more 
 
KING OF OUDE. 
 
 335 
 
 were called for, while every peasant who lost lands or property 
 in the progress of the system, became a Decoit and made inroads 
 into the Company’s provinces, that a different course was impe- 
 riously forced on government. Accordingly, the Resident was 
 instructed to urge anew on the king the adoption of a regular 
 system of leasing the crown dues for a certain number of years, 
 like that adopted in the Company’s territories, and leasing them 
 to the Zemindars themselves, not to these greedy Aumeens. He 
 was directed also to require proof, before granting the aid of 
 troops, that the sums said to be withheld were really due. To 
 the first of these proposals the king answered, that he would 
 introduce the system gradually and with such modifications as 
 suited his country. He even named a district in which he would 
 begin it ; but, though two years have now elapsed, nothing has 
 yet been done. The second was met by sending a number of 
 documents to the Resident, of whose history and authenticity he 
 could know nothing, but which the officers sent with the detach- 
 ment declared they believed to be often perfect forgeries. Mr. 
 Ricketts, therefore, about a year ago, declined granting any more 
 military aid, unless the King would, first, immediately carry into 
 effect his promised reform ; secondly, unless he would allow an 
 English commissioner, versed in such matters, to accompany 
 each detachment, and determine on the spot the justice of the 
 Aumeen’s claim ; thirdly, unless he would himself, after the 
 example of his royal ancestors, hold frequent and public Durbar, 
 to receive petitions from his subjects, and attend to these specific 
 complaints ; and fourthly, unless, to prevent the constant incur- 
 sion of robbers from his majesty’s into the Company’s territories, 
 he would allow the judge and magistrates of the adjoining districts 
 to pursue and seize Deceits within his frontier. 
 
 To these proposals his answers have been very ingenious and 
 plausible. To the first he says that such great changes cannot be 
 the work of a day ; that when half his subjects are in arms against 
 him, is not precisely the time to obtain a fair assessment or a 
 permanent settlement of the land ; but if the British will first, as 
 he calls on them in the terms of their treaty to do, put down 
 his rebellious Zemindars, destroy their mud-forts, and disarm 
 their people, he will pledge himself to adopt, in course of time, 
 and with due deliberation, such a system as will give satisfaction. 
 To the second he answers with some reason, that the introduc- 
 tion of English judges and revenue officers, for such the proposed 
 commissioners would be, into his country, would make his own 
 officers cyphers, and his own power contemptible, and that he 
 would sooner bid adieu to his crown at once, and turn Faqueer. 
 To the third, that he has not understood it to be the custom of 
 either the King of England or the Governor-general, to hold such 
 
336 
 
 KING OF OUDE. 
 
 an open Durbar as they recommend, nor will those who have 
 seen a Lucknow mob anticipate any beneficial effects from such 
 excessive accessibility. But to prove his regard for his people, 
 he has instructed his prime minister to hold a Durbar for these 
 precise purposes twice a week, who is charged to report all cases 
 of importance to his own ear. The fourth he answers by saying, 
 that it is very hard to accuse him of harbouring robbers, while we 
 refuse him all aid in putting down the very Zemindars whose 
 fortresses and fastnesses are the common nests of robbery and 
 rebellion ; that if we help him to subdue his rebels, he. will keep 
 his robbers in order himself : but that it would be a cruel mock- 
 ery to continue to call him a king, if any neighbouring magistrate 
 might enter his dominions at pleasure. He urges that “ all his 
 difficulties have arisen from his entire confidence in the friend- 
 ship of the Company. That this induced him and his ancestors 
 to disband an excellent army, till they scarce left sentries 
 enough for the palace ; and thus they have become unable, with- 
 out help, to enforce payment of their ancient revenues. That 
 this induced him to lend to the British Government all the money 
 which would else have enabled him to ease the people of their 
 burthens, and to meet without inconvenience whatever loss of in- 
 come a new assessment may, for some time, render inevitable. 
 That he never has refused, and never will refuse, to give the best 
 consideration in his power to any measures of reform which may 
 be, in a friendly manner, proposed to him : but he refers those 
 who represent him as a tyrant, or who speak of his country as 
 depopulated, to every traveller who has marched along its prin- 
 cipal roads, and has observed the extent of cultivation through 
 which they are carried.” He concludes by saying, that “ he is 
 aware, that notwithstanding the tone of equality and independ- 
 ence which in their treaties and official correspondence the Com- 
 pany have allowed him to maintain, he is in fact in their power ; 
 but if he is to reign at all, for which he knows that he has no 
 guarantee but British good faith, he entreats that his requests for 
 the performance of a positive treaty may not be met by stipula- 
 tions which would render that treaty vain, that he may be de- 
 fended from the only enemies he has, or is likely to have, his 
 rebellious Zemindars, and protected in the exercise of functions 
 which are essential parts of that sovereignty which has been so 
 solemnly and repeatedly guaranteed to him.” The statement, 
 of which these are the purport, I thought very curious ; they 
 certainly show strongly the perplexities and mischief arising from 
 the subsidiary system which seems for so many years to have 
 been our favourite policy in India, and to which it must be owned 
 a considerable part of our political greatness is owing. 
 
 I can bear witness certainly to the truth of the King’s state- 
 
KING OF OUDE. 
 
 337 
 
 ment, that his territories are really in a far better state of cultiva- 
 tion than I had expected to find them. From Lucknow to 
 Santee, where I am now writing, the country is as populous and 
 w3l cultivated as most of the Company’s provinces. The truth 
 perhaps is, that for more than a year back, since the aid of British 
 troops has been withheld, affairs have been in some respects 
 growing better. The Zemindars have in a few instances carried 
 their point, the Aumeens have been either driven away entirely 
 or been forced to a moderate compromise, and the chief actual 
 sufferers at the present moment are the King, who gets little or 
 nothing even of his undoubted dues, and the traveller, who, unless 
 he have such a guard as I have, had better sleep in a safe skin on 
 the other side of the Ganges. It should be observed, however, 
 that I have as yet seen no signs of those mud-forts, stockades, and 
 fortresses, on which the Zemindars and peasantry are said to rely 
 for safety ; that the common people north of Lucknow are, I 
 think, not so universally loaded with arms as those to the south- 
 ward, and that though I have heard a good deal all the way of 
 the distressed state of the country, as well as its anarchy and 
 lawlessness, except in the single instance I have mentioned, 
 where the treasure was attacked, 1 have seen no signs of either, 
 or had any reason to suppose that the King’s writ does not pass 
 current, or that our Aumeen would have the least difficulty in 
 enforcing it in our favour, even without the small payment which 
 1 give, and which is evidently accepted as a gratuity, I cannot 
 but suspect, therefore, that the misfortunes and anarchy of Oude 
 are somewhat overrated, though it is certain that so fine a land 
 will take a long time in ruining, and that very many years of op- 
 pression will be required to depopulate a country which pro- 
 duces on the same soil, and with no aid but irrigation, crops of 
 wheat and pulse every year. . 
 
 It seemed strange to me why, since so much of the present 
 calamities of the country were ascribed to the misconduct of the 
 minister, his removal was not demanded in the first instance, after 
 which all subsequent measures of reform might be looked forward 
 to as attainable. But it was apprehended that the King would 
 rather abdicate than be dictated to in this particular, and that it 
 was thought better to urge an effectual change of system, than the 
 mere removal of an individual who might be replaced by some- 
 body not at all better. I asked also if the people thus oppressed 
 desired, as I had been assured they did, to be placed under Eng- 
 lish Government ? Captain Lockitt said that he had heard the 
 same thing ; but on his way this year to Lucknow, and convers- 
 ing, as his admirable knowledge of Hindoostanee enables him to 
 do, familiarly with the suwarrs who accompanied him, and who 
 spoke out, like all the rest of their countrymen, on the weakness 
 VoL. I.— 43 
 
338 
 
 CHRISTIANS IN LUCKNOW. 
 
 of the King and the wickedness of the Government, he fairly pot 
 the question to them, when the jemautdar, joining his hands, ^id 
 with great fervency, “ miserable as we are, of all miseries keeia us 
 from that !” “ Why so said Captain Lockitt, “ are not our 
 
 people far better governed ?” “ Yes,” was the answer, but the 
 
 name of Oude and the honour of our nation would be at an end.” 
 There are, indeed, many reasons why high-born and ambitious 
 men must be exceedingly averse to our rule ; but the preced- 
 ing expression of one in humble rank savours of more national 
 feeling and personal frankness than is always met with in India. 
 He was a soldier, however, and a Mussulman, who spoke thus. 
 A Hindoo Ryut might have answered differently, and it is pos- 
 sible that both accounts may be true, though this only can I 
 vouch for as authentic. It ought to be borne in mind, that the 
 oppression and anarchy to which Oude is a prey, are chiefly felt 
 and witnessed in the villages. In the towns the King’s authority 
 passes unquestioned, and I have not heard that the dustoury 
 levied is irregular or excessive. An insurrection in Lucknow 
 would be a dreadful thing, and most ministers will be careful how 
 they excite it. 
 
 The population of Lucknow is guessed at three hundred thou- 
 sand. But Mussulmans regard every attempt to number the 
 people as a mark of great impiety, and a sure presage of famine 
 or pestilence ; so that nothing can be known with accuracy. 
 It is, 1 really think, large enough and sufficiently crowded to con- 
 tain that number. There are two bridges over the Goomty, one 
 a very noble old Gothic edifice of stone, of, I believe, eleven 
 arches ; the other a platform laid on boats, and merely connect- 
 ing the king’s park with his palace. Saadut Ali had brought 
 over an iron bridge from England, and a place was prepared for 
 its erection ; but on his death the present sovereign declined pro- 
 secuting the work, on the ground that it was unlucky ; so that 
 in all probability it will lie where it is, till the rust reduces it 
 to powder. 
 
 There are, in Lucknow, a considerable number of Christians 
 of one kind or other. Besides the numerous dependants of the 
 Residency, the King has a great many Europeans and half-castes 
 in his employ. There are also many tradesmen of both these 
 descriptions, and a strange medley of adventurers of all nations 
 and sects, who ramble hither in the hope, generally a fruitless 
 one, of obtaining employment. 
 
 1 had numerous congregations, both at the Cantonments and 
 the Residency, the two Sundays which I staid. The Hindoostanee 
 reads well in prayer, particularly those words which are derived 
 from the Arabic, as most of the religious terms in the translation 
 of our Liturgy appear to be. I like the sound of “ Aram Ullahi 
 
LUCKNOW. 
 
 339 
 
 jo sare fahemon se bahur hue “ The peace of God, &c.;” 
 and of “ Khoda Khader, Mutluk, jo Bap our Beta our Ruk 
 Kodus hue “ God victorious, Mighty, the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost.” 1 had also twelve candidates for confirmation, 
 and administered the sacrament to twenty-five persons, and found 
 the people extremely anxious to assemble for public worship. 
 The first Sunday I preached, indeed, three times, and twice the 
 second, besides giving two confirmation lectures on the Friday 
 and Saturday, and some other occasional duty. Mr. Ricketts is 
 himself in the habit of acting as chaplain at the Residency every 
 Sunday ; but the people in the king’s employ, and the other 
 Christian inhabitants, compla'in that Government are very jealous 
 of their attending at that place, and they express great anxiety to 
 establish a similar meeting for devotional purposes among them- 
 selves. It would not be expedient at present to sen^ a missionary 
 here ; but they might have a schoolmaster, furnished by our So- 
 ciety, with a stock of sermons to be read every Sunday. I have 
 requested Mr. Corrie to inquire for such a person. There are a few 
 Roman Catholics, mostly Portuguese, or their degenerate de- 
 scendants, who have a small chapel, and a Propaganda Franciscan 
 priest. And, to show the strange mixture of adventurers who 
 are attracted hither, I had applications made to me for charity by 
 a Spaniard from Lima in Peru, who had come in search of ser- 
 vice, and a Silesian Jew, who pretended that he had been an 
 officer in the Russian army, and had been encouraged to bend 
 his course in this direction by the golden dreams which men in 
 Europe build of the opening for talent and adventurous spirit in 
 India. I should have thought this last fellow a spy, had he not 
 been quite without papers or documents of any kind, or if it had 
 not been unlikely that a Russian spy would have openly professed 
 to have served in the Russian army. He was exceedingly igno- 
 rant, spoke wretched French and German, with a strong Jewish 
 accent, and, instead of having served in the army, had every ap- 
 pearance of having sold oranges all his days in Leipzic. 
 
340 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 LUCKNOW TO BAREILLY. 
 
 DEPARTUEE FROM LUCKNOW GRATITUDE OP SEPOYS — ILLNESS — MUS- 
 SULMAN SUWARR SANDEE DISPUTE BETWEEN TWO VILLAGES 
 
 SHAHJEHANPOOR REBEL CHIEF IN THE FOREST ANECDOTE OP 
 
 ROHILLA CHIEF FERTILITY OP ROHILCUND FUTTEHGUNGE HA- 
 FEZ REHMUT VISIT FROM TUSSULDAR FURREEDPOOR BAREILLY 
 
 PROFESSIONAL DUTIES CHARACTER OF ROHILLAS PREPARA- 
 TIONS FOE THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 On Monday, November 1st, having united my two kind-hearted 
 friends, Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts, and taken leave of them, the 
 Corries, and poor Lushington, whose bad health obliged me to 
 leave him behind, under the care of the Residency surgeon, Mr. 
 Luxmoore, I set off from Lucknow alone, and, I confess, with 
 more regret and depression of spirits than I expected to feel on 
 such an occasion. I had become quite intimate with Mr. and 
 Mrs. Ricketts ; for the Corries and Lushington I feel a sincere 
 regard, and I could not but be painfully sensible how great the 
 probability was, in such a climate, that this might, on earth, 
 be our last meeting. I had the satisfaction, however, to leave 
 the Archdeacon much better than he had been, and to find that 
 Mr. Luxmoore thought favourably of Lushington’s case. But it 
 was, altogether, a sad leave-taking. Lushington was very low, 
 in spite of many endeavours to speak cheerfully, the Corries 
 much agitated, and their little girls in tears ; and I do not think I 
 felt least of the party, though I believe I talked the most on va- 
 rious subjects. 
 
 I had found great difficulty in ascertaining the best road to 
 Bareilly. That marked down in Baton’s routes was declared, by 
 the Dak Moonshee, and the King’s Aumeen, the only persons 
 from whom I was likely to obtain information, to be no longer 
 practicable, the villages specified there being either deserted, or 
 so far impoverished as to afford neither supplies nor shade. A 
 very direct road, which is marked on Arrowsmith’s map, and 
 which runs north-west from Lucknow to Shahabad, was said by 
 the sarbann to be probably good and practicable at this time of 
 year : but the Aumeen declared he ^could not possibly go with 
 me that way ; that it was mostly wild jungle, and inhabited by 
 Zemindars, at present in a state of rebellion. I argued the matter 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY. 
 
 341 
 
 some time, for the difference of distance is really great, and 
 with a guard of fifty men there was no danger to be apprehended. 
 But the old man said that though, perhaps, we might be safe from v 
 open attack, we should certainly get no supplies, — that nobody 
 ever went that way but Faqueers and hunters, and that the King 
 had himself ordered him to take me the ‘‘ Shahi Rustu,” King’s 
 highway. 1 then gave up the point, which I afterwards was sorry 
 for, for the jemautdar of the horse-guards whom the King sent 
 with me, assured me that one was as much a Shahi Rustu as the 
 other, and that 1 should have found the Shahabad road not only 
 three days shorter, but, in his mind, much more pleasant. He 
 owned that there were plenty of thieves and Zemindars, but none 
 that were likely to meddle with us, or of whom any but a timid 
 old Aumeen would be afraid ; and he spoke with a good deal of 
 glee of the deer and the wild hogs which we should have met 
 with in these woodland marches. It must be owned, however, 
 that none of the British officers at the Lucknow cantonments, 
 nor any body at the Residency, or of the Europeans in the King’s 
 service, had ever been this road, or believed it to be practicable, 
 so that we might possibly have been occasionally put to some in- 
 convenience for supplies. As it was, I found it impossible to get 
 the distance to Bareilly divided into less than fourteen stages, and 
 was compelled, therefore, to send off the tents and baggage on 
 Sunday morning, in order that I might reach that place for divine 
 service on the 14th, and rest the intervening Sunday by the way. 
 
 My separation from Mr. Lushington enabled me to send back 
 to Cawnpoor one elephant and six camels, besides the two 
 elephants which belonged to Mr. Corrie’s tent. I also sent back 
 a routee, but kept two small double-poled tents, in order to save 
 trouble and time by pitching them on alternate days. I had still 
 three elephants and twenty-two camels, including two spare 
 ones, a number which was rendered necessary by the length and 
 arduous nature of the journey before me, as well as by the num- 
 ber of tents and quantity of baggage required by my escort. That 
 consisted, besides the King’s ten guards, of forty sepoys, under a 
 “ Soubahdar,” a native officer, and four non-commissioned officers. 
 
 I thought this number unnecessary, but was told it was according 
 to rule ; and it so happened that 1 occasioned no inconvenience 
 to the service, since the officers and men who were assigned me 
 were actually under orders for Nusseerabad, and might just as 
 well accompany me thither. My new Soubahdar was introduced 
 to me on the Saturday by his predecessor, who was himself, 
 against his will, ordered back to Cawnpoor. The new one is a 
 grave, modest-looking old man, with a white beard, a native of 
 Rajapootana, and of high caste, but of far more reserved man- 
 ners, and greater diffidence than the former. He is, however, a 
 
34 ^ 
 
 GRATITUDE OF SEPOYS. 
 
 Hindoo, and they are certainly a less dashing race than the 
 Mussulmans. 
 
 All my tents and baggage being gone, except what clothes a 
 bag held, and all my servants but two, I set out at half past four 
 o’clock, on one of Mr. Ricketts’s elephants, accompanied by 
 Captain Salmon on another, and attended by a third with the two 
 servants. Mr. Ricketts had thought it proper that Captain 
 Salmon and a body of suwarrs should go with me through the 
 city ; and the King, whose howdahs had no tilts to them, had 
 kindly stationed two more elephants half-way, to receive me as 
 soon as the sun should be gone down. In this way I made the 
 journey rapidly and agreeably, and reached my tent at Hussun- 
 gunge, twenty miles from Lucknow, a little after eight in the 
 evening. In the way, at Futtehgunge, I passed the tents pitched 
 for the large party which were to return towards Cawnpoor next 
 day, and I was much pleased and gratified by the Soubahdar and 
 the greater number of the sepoys of my old escort running into the 
 middle of the road to bid me another farewell, and again express 
 their regret that they were not going on with me “ to the world’s 
 end.” They who talk of the ingratitude of the Indian character, 
 should, I think, pay a little more attention to cases of this sort. 
 These men neither got nor expected any thing by this little ex- 
 pression of good will. If I had ofifered them money, they would 
 have been bound, by the rules of the service and their own 
 dignity, not to take it. Sufficient civility and respect would have 
 been paid if any of them who happened to be near the road had 
 touched their caps, and I really can suppose them actuated by 
 no motive but good will. It had not been excited, so far as I 
 know, by any particular desert on my part ; but I had always 
 spoken to them civilly, had paid some attention to their comforts, 
 in securing them tents, fire-wood, and camels for their knapsacks, 
 and had ordered them a dinner, after their own fashion, on their 
 arrival at Lucknow, at the expense of, I believe, not more than 
 four rupees ! Surely if good will is to be bought by these sort of 
 attentions, it is a pity that any body should neglect them ! 
 
 The suwarrs furnished by the King for this journey were a 
 very different description of men from those who previously 
 accompanied me. They were evidently picked for the purpose, 
 being tall, strong young fellows, on exceedingly good horses, and 
 as well armed as could be wished for the nature of their service. 
 
 We passed again through Nawalgunge, and I asked after the 
 sick elephant, but was told he died the same morning that we 
 went on towards Lucknow. 
 
 November 2. — I went five coss to Meeagunge, which was built 
 by the famous eunuch Almass Ali Khan, whose proper name, 
 while in a state of servitude, was Meea. It consists of a large 
 
MALLAON. 
 
 343 
 
 fort of bricks, with eight circular bastions, surrounded by an 
 exterior enclosure, at perhaps five hundred yards distance, of 
 mud, but also in the shape of a fortification, with great gothic 
 gateways corresponding to those in the central enclosure. Be- 
 tween are avenues of very noble mangoe-trees, with which, 
 indeed, the whole intervening space is planted, though at such 
 considerable intervals as not to intercept the breeze. It is a fine 
 old-fashioned park, but now trees, towers, gates, and palaces are 
 sinking fast into rubbish and forgetfulness. Almass had here a 
 park of forty pieces of artillery, and when he received a visit 
 from the Nawab Saadut Ali, he built him up a throne of a million 
 of rupees, of which, when his Highness was seated on it, he begged 
 him to accept. The fort is now filled with the bazar of a poor 
 village, erected under the shade of the mangoes ; the park was 
 laid down, when I saw it, in quillets of beautiful green wheat and 
 barley. 
 
 1 had been unwell for the last two days, and was obliged to 
 perform my journey of the 3d in my palanquin, the best way in 
 which a sick man could make it ; I travelled seven coss to Seetal- 
 gunge, the country level, fertile, and well cultivated. The whole 
 of this day I felt extremely ill, and was in much perplexity what 
 to do, as I was some days* journey from any medical adviser. 
 The application, however, of leeches to my temples relieved me 
 considerably, and 1 was able to get into my palanquin the next 
 morning, intending if possible to push on, so that if I grew worse 
 I might be able to get assistance by sending a servant on to 
 Futtehgunge, the nearest station, on a swift-trotting camel. 
 
 This day’s march, the 4th, brought me to a large town called 
 Mallaon, in the neighbourhood of which my tents were pitched. 
 Here I remained the whole of the next day, being too ill to move. 
 At the time that I gave orders for this halt, I know not why, but 
 the whole caravan seemed to be convinced that I was not long 
 for this world. Abdullah worried me a good deal with his 
 lamentations on my premature end in the wilderness, recom- 
 mending all manner of unattainable or improper remedies, and 
 talking all sorts of absurd wisdom, at the same time that his eyes 
 were really full of tears. The poor sirdar said nothing, but 
 showed a most pitiful face every ten or twelve minutes through 
 the tent door. The “ goomashta,” or master of the camels, the 
 old soubahdar, the Aumeen, and many others, came to offer up 
 their good wishes and prayers for my recovery ; and, perhaps, the 
 best and most useful proof of their good will was, that I heard no 
 needless noise in the camp the whole day; and, if a voice were 
 raised, “chup ! chup !” “ silence ! silence !” followed immediately. 
 Abdullah offered to push on with the camels to procure assist- 
 ance ; and I promised him that, if 1 were not better next morning, 
 
344 
 
 FERTILITY OF OUDE. 
 
 I would send him or some other messenger. But through the 
 mercy of God, the remedies I took, almost in utter ignorance, 
 proved successful, and I found myself so much better on the 
 morning of Saturday, November the 6th, as to be enabled to 
 perform my day’s journey with ease in the palanquin; and I 
 received the felicitations of all the elders of the camp on my 
 recovery. 
 
 I believe my complaint to have been the Calcutta and Luck- 
 now influenza, a little aggravated, perhaps, by my journey in the 
 sun after tiffin on Monday afternoon. I did not feel, however, 
 the same excessive and distressing languor as is said to have 
 haunted convalescents in that disorder, or more indeed of weak- 
 ness than might fairly be accounted for by the discipline which I 
 had undergone. 
 
 Our stage to-day of seven coss, through the same level and 
 fruitful style of country, was to Belgaram, a place remarkable as 
 being the station first fixed on for the British “ advanced force,” 
 as it then was, which was afterwards fixed at Cawnpoor. There 
 are still several traces of what the King’s suwarrs said were bells 
 of arms, and officers’ bungalows, which certainly might be such, 
 but were now heaps of ruins. 
 
 The town of Belgaram itself is small, with marks of having 
 been much more considerable, but still containing some large 
 and good, though old Mussulman houses, the habitations of the 
 tussuldar, cutwall, &c. Here again, after a long interval, 1 found 
 a good many scattered palms, both of the date and toddy species, 
 and there is a noble show of mangoe-trees in every direction. 
 I found myself well enough in the evening to walk round the 
 place, attended by the goomashta, whom I found a very sensible 
 man, willing to give information, and well acquainted with most 
 points which relate to the agriculture, rent, and taxes of this part 
 of India. He said, what 1 could easily believe from all which I 
 saw, that the soil of Oude was one of the finest in the world ; 
 that every thing flourished here which grew either in Bengal or 
 Persia ; that they had at once rice, sugar, cotton, and palm-trees, 
 as well as wheat, maize, barley, beans, and oats : that the air 
 was good, the water good, and the grass particularly nourishing 
 to cattle: but he said, “the laws are not good, the judges are 
 wicked, the Zemindars are worse, the Aumeens worst of all, and 
 the Ryuts are- robbed of every thing, and the King will neither 
 see nor hear.” I asked him the rent per begah of the land. He 
 said generally four rupees, but sometimes six; and sometimes 
 the peasant had all taken from him. I observed that it was 
 strange that, under such usage, they continued to cultivate the 
 land so well as they seemed to do. “ What can they do ?” he 
 answered ; “ they must eat ; and when they have put the seed in 
 
MUSSULMAN SUWARR. 
 
 345 
 
 the ground, they must wait till it comes up, and then take what 
 they can get of it.” I still, however, suspect exaggeration in all 
 these stories. 
 
 We passed a neat garden of turnips and some potatoes looking 
 very promising ; these last, he said, were at first exceedingly dis- 
 liked by the people, but now were becoming great favourites, 
 particularly with the Mussulmans, who find them very useful as 
 absorbents in their greasy messes. Our elephants were receiving 
 their drink at a well, and I gave the suwarree some bread, which, 
 before my illness, 1 had often been in the habit of doing. “ He 
 is glad to see you again,” observed the goomashta, and I certainly 
 was much struck by the calm, clear, attentive, intelligent eye 
 which he fixed on me, both while he was eating and afterwards, 
 while I was patting his trunk and talking about him. His 
 mohout told me, that three or four years ago his trunk had 
 received a very serious wound from the claw of a tiger which 
 sprang on him, and from which he was rescued with great dif- 
 ficulty ; the trunk was nearly torn oflf, but he was recovered by 
 having a bandage applied kept constantly wet with brandy. He 
 was, he said, a fine tempered beast, but the two others were 
 “ great rascals.” One of them had once almost killed his keeper. 
 I have got these poor beasts’ allowance increased, in considera- 
 tion of their long march ; and that they may not be wronged, 
 have ordered the mohout to give them all their gram in presence 
 of a sentry. The gram is made up in cakes, about as large as 
 the top of a hat-box, and baked on an earthen pot. Each con- 
 tains a seer, and sixteen of them are considered as sufficient for 
 one day’s food for an elephant on a march. The suwarree 
 elephant had only twelve, but I ordered him the full allowance, 
 as well as an increase to the others. If they knew this they 
 would indeed be glad to see me. 
 
 As I was slowly returning to my tents, a handsome young 
 Mussulman came up, and seeing an European in plain clothes, 
 with only three unarmed people, began talking civilly in point 
 of language, but in a very free and easy sort of manner ; he was 
 smartly dressed, with a gold-laced skull-cap, an embroidered 
 muslin shirt and drawers, ear-rings, collar, and ring, which pro- 
 fessed to be of garnets with a few diamonds, and a showy shawl 
 wrapped round his body, but none of his clothes clean or well 
 put on, and had that sort of jaunty air about him, which, as it 
 is more unusual, is even more offensive in an Eastern than a 
 Western buck. He was followed by seven or eight very dirty 
 ill-dressed fellows with swords, shields, and matchlocks, and had 
 himself a sword, with a tarnished silver hilt, and a large pistol 
 which he carried in his hand and kept playing with while he was 
 speaking. He was evidently more than half drunk, and had the 
 
 VoL. I. — 44 
 
346 
 
 MUSSULMAN SUWARR. 
 
 manner of a foolish boy who wants to play the great man, but 
 is not sure how he will be received, and undecided whether he 
 is to pick a quarrel or no. He salamed, and asked me what I 
 was about, and where I had been, which 1 answered civilly but 
 shortly; he then inquired whence I came and where I was going. 
 I asked him why he wanted to know ; to w^hich he answered, 
 that he was a man of consequence in the neighbourhood, and it 
 was his business to make. inquiries ; but added more civilly, that 
 seeing a Sahib, he came to offer salutation. I said I was obliged 
 to him, and asked him his name, which he told me, but which I 
 forget, except that he professed to be a Syud, inquiring at the 
 same time what my name was. ‘‘ Lord Padre Sahib” did not 
 explain the matter at all ; he resumed, however, his inquiries 
 about my route next day, and where I intended to halt. I had 
 forgotten the name, and on turning towards the goomashta, he, 
 very eagerly and with an expressive look, said, “ Sandee,” which 
 I knew was not the place ; but as he seemed to wish to see no 
 more of the gentleman, I did not interfere. He then again 
 launched out into an account of his own influence in the neigh- 
 bourhood, “East, West, North, and South,” and added, as I 
 seemed a good man, he would come in the morning with his 
 friends to protect me. 1 thanked him, but said he need not 
 trouble himself, since, besides my own servants, I had already fifty 
 sepoys, and ten of the King’s suwarrs. While 1 said this, a very 
 whimsical change took place in his countenance. His head was 
 before thrown back in a protecting way, and his eyes were half 
 shut. These he now opened very wide, and raised his head to 
 a perpendicular posture so suddenly, that, since 1 had, during 
 the conversation, drawn up pretty closely to him, in order to 
 prevent, if necessary, any further evolutions with his pistol, our 
 noses and breasts were almost brought into contact. He hastily 
 drew back, called me “ Huzoor,” instead of “Ap,” and again 
 renewed his offer, not of protection, but of service. 1 cut the 
 matter short, however, by taking a civil leave of this young de- 
 scendant of Fatima and the Imams. When he was gone, I asked 
 the goomashta if he knew any thing of him. He shook his head, 
 saying that there were many such hurramzadus about the country, 
 who were too proud to enter into the Company’s army, and who 
 could not find employ in the little army of the King, and were, 
 consequently, idle, drunken, and ready for any mischief. I asked 
 if he were a Zemindar ; he said he did not believe that he was 
 either Zemindar or Tusseldar, or that, whatever his family might 
 be, he had any other profession or character than that of suwarr, 
 and a candidate for employment in some of the mercenary armies 
 of India. He concluded with hoping we should see no more of 
 him, which, indeed, seemed most likely. I was a little tired with 
 
SANDEE. 
 
 347 
 
 my walk, but slept all the better for it, and waked at half-past 
 three on Sunday the 7th, with no traces of sickness. 1 had or- 
 dered the tents and luggage to a station seven coss distant, but 
 the foolish khansaman, finding a want of trees and water there, 
 instead of pushing on further, or trying to the right or left, 
 returned two coss to Sandee, so that the animals and people had 
 a nine coss march, while our actual progress was only five ! I 
 was very angry when I came up and found what had happened, 
 but it was then too late to be remedied. 
 
 The country through which we passed to-day was extremely 
 pretty, undulating, with scattered groves of tall trees, and some 
 extensive lakes which still showed a good deal of water. The 
 greater part of the space between the wood was in green wheat ; 
 but there were, round the margins of the lakes, some small tracks 
 of brushwood and beautiful silky jungle-grass, eight or ten feet 
 high, with its long pendant beards glistening with hoar frost, a 
 sight enough, in itself, to act as a tonic to a convalescent European. 
 The morning was very cold, however, to my feelings, and though I 
 had a woollen greatcoat, pantaloons, and worsted stockings, 1 was 
 not sorry to draw my cloak also about me. Sandee is a poor little 
 village, shaded by some fine trees, with a large jeel in the neigh- 
 bourhood swarming with wild-fowl. It was described to me as 
 a very dangerous place for travellers without my present advan- 
 tages, and I was told that from thence to the Company’s frontier 
 the country bore an extremely bad character, and several robberies 
 and murders had taken place lately. For us there could, I should 
 think, be no fear, but when I went to take my usual walk in the 
 evening, the jemautdar of the King’s horsemen and one of his 
 troopers came up with their swords and pistols, and begged leave 
 to join me. 
 
 I had an opportunity, on this occasion, of seeing the manner 
 in which the ground is irrigated from wells, of which there are 
 great numbers. The water is poured into narrow channels con- 
 ducted all over the field, round the little squares into which the 
 land is divided all through India, and the use of which I before 
 understood but imperfectly. I now found that these ledges are 
 adapted to receive and retain the precious fluid with as little 
 waste as possible, each serving as a small lock, in which, when 
 the water has done its duty, a hole is made by the hand and the 
 stream passed on to the next. The industry and neatness exhi- 
 bited in this work were very pleasing, and I rejoiced to see the 
 favourable appearance which the young wheat bore. The lake 
 was half dry already, and would, they said, in three months’ time 
 be quite so ; as it recedes, it leaves a fine bed of grass and aquatic 
 plants, on which a large herd of cattle was now eagerly grazing. 
 The Ganges, I was told, was not above four coss distant, and an 
 
348 
 
 SUROMUNUGGUR. 
 
 angle of the Company’s frontier hardly so far. One of the King’s 
 couriers passed, dressed like a suwarr and well armed, on a good 
 horse, and riding at a great rate with a mounted and armed 
 attendant behind him. There were, the jemautdar said, a great 
 many of these people, who brought news from different quarters, 
 the greater part of which was afterwards inserted in the court 
 intelligencer. The only regular post in Oude is carried on by 
 the British Government, and is under the management of the 
 Resident. This was a lonely Sunday, except that in the evening 
 I said prayers with Abdullah. I hope, however, it was not a 
 misspent one. I hope and believe I was really thankful to God 
 for his late goodness to me. My travelling to-day was not to be 
 avoided, since, otherwise, I could not have reached Bareilly by 
 the following Sunday. 
 
 November 8. — Our march to-day, thanks to the blunder of 
 yesterday, was ten coss, or twenty miles, to a large village with 
 an old fortress, named Suromunuggur. The country improved in 
 beauty, becoming more and more woody and undulating, but was 
 neither so well inhabited nor so well cultivated as that which we 
 had gone through before. The King’s Aumeen had urged my 
 people to pitch their tents two coss short of Suromunuggur, at 
 another village, but the water was bad and dirty, and they remem- 
 bered my recent scolding too well to stop again short of the 
 appointed place. In consequence, how^ever, of their advance, a 
 messenger came from the “Foujdar” (chatellain) of Suromu- 
 nuggur, asking why we were not content with the quarters at 
 first assigned us, adding that the men of their place neither w^anted 
 to see the King nor any of his friends, that they had no supplies 
 to spare, and were able and determined to defend themselves 
 against us. At almost the same time a similar message came 
 from the first village, bidding us go on in God’s name, for they 
 did not want us there ; but if the people of Suromunuggur refused 
 to receive us, they would help us with five hundred men. I was 
 asleep in my palanquin, it being early in the morning when this 
 occurred; but Abdullah, who was a little in advance, answered 
 the first messengers very properly, that “ His Lord did not come 
 there to take any part in their quarrels ; that it was known to 
 all the country that I was travelling peaceably, and that instead 
 of using the King’s authority to strip the Ryuts, 1 had paid for 
 every thing which was brought, and had not allowed either servant 
 or soldier to take a blade of corn without leave of the owner. 
 That if their tradesmen would not furnish us with supplies, we 
 would buy them elsewhere, and content ourselves with telling 
 the King and the Resident the reception we hadmaet with ; but 
 that he (Abdullah) did not dare propose to me to go, in conse- 
 quence of their foolish threats, to any other place than that 
 
SUROMUNUGGUR, 
 
 349 
 
 which I had ordered.” The people seemed satisfied, and ran 
 off. Abdullah, when I came up, said that he thought this would 
 be the case, and that there would be no occasion to trouble me 
 with the matter^ which was probably only a quarrel amongst the 
 villagers themselves. The message from the nearest village 
 came by one of the King’s hurkarus, who accompanied me, and 
 in fact required no answer. I saw no trace of the five hundred 
 men as I passed it, and should be much surprised if one hundred 
 effective men could have been found in it. At all events my 
 escort would have chased them all. At Suromunuggur I found 
 the tents peaceably pitched, the sentries posted, and every thing 
 with the appearance of quiet. The Foujdar, hov/ever, though he 
 had sent some milk, and a fine kid for my use, and a little fire- 
 wood for the kitchen, was still jealous and uneasy at our neigh- 
 bourhood. He did not like to admit us indiscriminately into his 
 bazar, and promised that two of my servants and two of the sepoys 
 should come in, to market for the rest. I returned answer, 
 through Abdullah, that it was my particular order that not a 
 single soldier or servant of mine should leave their places ; that 
 we only wanted food, and the usual necessaries for travellers, 
 and that if his tradesmen would bring their baskets out into the 
 field, they would find us no bad customers. Four or five people 
 of this sort came out accordingly, as well as some labouring men, 
 who, for an ana each, brought as much wood and grass as were 
 sufficient for the party. The only quarrel which occurred, was 
 from the misconduct of one of the elephant-drivers, always a 
 brutish and impudent set, who began to help himself and his 
 animal out of a field of maize. The old man to whom it be- 
 longed, came to me with a lamentable outcry, but was satisfied, 
 since, indeed, no estimable harm had yet been done, with my 
 making the fellow give back the little he had taken, and threaten- 
 ing him with a flogging. The kid which had been brought I 
 saw paid for ; and as I did not want it myself, gave it to the 
 King’s suwarrs, whose conduct and countenance throughout the 
 discussion had been extremely good and soldierly. In the 
 course of the day all jealousies seemed to have passed ; and 
 when I went for my evening’s walk, merely adding a couple of 
 spearmen to my yesterday’s cortege, I asked if they would let 
 me go into the village, and found no objection made ; indeed, 
 they said, the King’s Aumeen and the Foujdar were already well 
 reconciled. 
 
 The fortress is pretty much like a large serai, surrounded by a 
 high brick wall, with round towers at the flanks, and two gothic 
 gateways opposite to each other. That by which I entered had 
 a tall iron-studded door like a college, with a small wicket in one 
 leaf, which alone was now open ; within, on each side of the 
 
350 DESERTION OF A SEPOY. 
 
 passage, was a large arched recess, about three feet from the 
 ground, where were seated twelve or fifteen men, armed as usual, 
 with one or two guns, and matches lighted, but mostly having 
 bows and arrows : all had swords and shields. They rose and 
 salamed very respectfully as I came in, and I passed on through a 
 narrow street of mud houses, some looking like warehouses, and 
 the whole having more the air of a place where the peasantry of 
 a small district were accustomed to secure their stores, than the 
 usual residence of any considerable number of people. Half way 
 along this street I was met by the Foujdar himself, a peasant like 
 the rest, and the old Aumeen, who came out of a house together. 
 The latter had every appearance of having been drinking, but 
 said “he had been at his daily work, arranging with his friend 
 here, matters for Huzoor’s comfort and progress next day !” After 
 salutation I went on to the opposite gate, which was supplied 
 with warders in the same way as the previous one, and then 
 entered a little straggling bazar, which, with some scattered huts, 
 completed the hamlet. I saw no mosque, but a small pagoda, 
 and the warders were, apparently, not Mussulmans, but Hindoos, 
 which 1 had previously found was also the case with my old 
 Aumeen. Thus ended a day which had a commencement appa- 
 rently so formidable, but of which I cannot help entertaining some 
 doubt that the difficulty was, in the first instance, considerably 
 exaggerated by Abdullah and the other servants, partly to increase 
 the apparent dignity and prudence of the answer returned, partly 
 from the love of the marvellous which the vulgar in all countries 
 cherish. I was not sorry, however, to have witnessed this little 
 specimen of the warlike habits of Oude. The jemautdar told 
 me during my walk, that these people and those of the other 
 village had long been on bad terms, and that many men had been 
 killed on each side. This will perhaps account both for the 
 anger of the one party in the morning, when they thought that 
 we were leaving their enemies to sponge, on them, as also for the 
 benevolent offer of the other to lend us their best aid in injuring 
 their neighbours. But, altogether, it was not unpleasant to find 
 myself at the head of so respectable a force as to make it 
 extremely improbable that any of these hot-bloods would court a 
 quarrel. 
 
 Some little adventures had occurred during this journey, in 
 the detail of my escort, which I forgot to mention in their places. 
 A sepoy had deserted with his musket and clothes, which I 
 chiefly notice, because it was regarded as utterly hopeless and idle 
 to pursue, or even to describe him in my report of the circum- 
 stance to the officer of the next station, and still more, because 
 his desertion was spoken of by all in the camp with surprise, and 
 as if it were the voluntary abandonment of a comfortable situation. 
 
OUDUNPOOR. 
 
 351 
 
 Two other sepoys had been ill for several days in much the same 
 way with myself; I had treated them in a similar manner, and 
 they were now doing well; but being brahmins of high caste, I had 
 much difficulty in conquering their scruples and doubts about the 
 physic wffiich I gave them. They both said that they would 
 rather die than taste wine. They scrupled at my using a spoon 
 to measure their castor oil, and insisted that the water in which 
 their medicines were mixed, should be poured by themselves 
 only. They were very grateful, however, particularly for the care 
 I took of them when 1 was myself ill, and said repeatedly that 
 the sight of me in good health would be better to them than all 
 medicines. They seemed now free from disease, but recovered 
 their strength more slowdy than I did ; and I was glad to find that 
 the soubahdar said he was authorized, under such circumstances, 
 to engage a hackery at the Company’s expense, to carry them 
 till they were fit to march. He mentioned this in consequence 
 of my offering them a lift on a camel, which they were afraid of 
 trying. 
 
 Another sepoy, a very fine young fellow, called on me this 
 evening to beg permission to go to see a brother who was with 
 some companies cantoned at a little frontier post, eight coss to 
 our left hand, the name of which I forget. He said that as he 
 was to go into Rajapootana, he did not know when he should 
 meet him again ; and added that he eould easily travel the eight 
 coss that night, and would rejoin me at Shahjehanpoor. I told 
 him not to hurry himself to do so, but to take the straight northern 
 road to Bareilly, by which means he might fall in with me before 
 I reached that city, and that I would give him a pass for four days. 
 He was much delighted ; and I mention the circumstance chiefly 
 to show the falsehood of the common notion, that these poor 
 people will take no trouble for the sake of their kindred. 
 
 A pretty trout stream, named like the large river at Lucknow, 
 the Goomty, winds under the walls of Suromunuggur, through a 
 beautiful carpet of green wheat, interspersed with noble trees. It 
 is strange, indeed, how much God has done to bless this land, and 
 how perversely man has seemed bent to render His bounties 
 unavailing ! 
 
 From Suromunuggur we proceeded, on the 9th, to Oudunpoor, 
 five coss and a half. We passed in our way through Shahabad, 
 a considerable town, or almost city, with the remains of fortifica- 
 tions, and many large houses. Oudunpoor is what would be 
 called a moderate-sized market town in England. It has a fine 
 “ tope” (or grove) of mangoe trees adjoining, where the tents 
 were pitched, covering six or eight acres, with a little shrine of 
 Siva in the middle, and an open shed near it. The country is 
 chiefly cultivated with cotton. This place also, some years ago. 
 
S5^ 
 
 OUDUNPOOR. 
 
 bore a very bad character, and is still dangerous for persons 
 without a guard. On a frontier, it may be well supposed, idle 
 and mischievous people, the refuse of both countries, are likely 
 to establish themselves ; but by what I learned, both here and at 
 Shahjehanpoor, there is little to choose in this respect between 
 the two sides of the boundary line. 
 
 An old man, 109 years of age, was brought to my tent to beg 
 to-day. He had his bodily organs perfect, but was apparently 
 childish. He was evidently regarded with great veneration, both 
 by the country people and my own servants, who said, “ He must 
 have been a good man to be allowed to live so long.” In India, 
 indeed, where the average duration of human life runs so low, 
 such instances are naturally reckoned more wonderful than in the 
 north of Europe. I know not how the idle stories arose, which 
 are found in the ancient Greek writers, of Indian longevity. I 
 remember Malte Brim supposes they must have been taken from 
 the upper provinces ; but here, in one of the finest and healthiest 
 climates of the whole east, the age of man very seldom exceeds 
 seventy. This old man had no means of support but begging, 
 and his character of a religious person ; he was, however, very 
 cleanly and neatly dressed, with a large chaplet of beads, and was 
 attended, to all appearance very carefully, by a man who called 
 himself his disciple. 
 
 Some men came with two young bears, exactly like those at 
 Barrackpoor, and very tame. They wanted to make them fight 
 before me, which I declined, but gave the men a trifle, and the 
 bears my remaining stock of stale bread, for which I had no more 
 human use. I asked where they were caught, and they told me 
 in the mountains of Bundlecund. 
 
 In the evening I walked round the town, before the principal 
 house of which, under a spreading tree, I found the old Aumeen, 
 stripped all but his waistcloth, cooking his supper in the simple 
 manner of a Hindoo. He followed me shortly after, and begged 
 to introduce the principal “ mohajun,” or merchant, of the place, 
 who wanted to see me. He w^as, as it appeared, a dealer in cloth, 
 and in the other multiform commodities which generally stock an 
 English country shop ; a fat man, with a red turban, warmly and 
 plainly, but neatly dressed, and looking \\k^ one well to pass in 
 the world. He told me, in Eastern style, that my fame had gone 
 through all the country, and that 1 was considered as the only 
 great man who had come from foreign parts to Lucknow, with 
 less disposition to take than to give money. “ Most of them,” he 
 said, come to strip us poor people.” 1 certainly found myself, 
 this evening, rather the sheared than the shearer, inasmuch as I 
 had to take leave of the King of Oude’s people, and give them 
 their presents ; they were all well satisfied with what they received. 
 
SHAHJEHANPOOR, 
 
 353 
 
 1 had, again to-day, given up the goat, which was brought for my 
 use, to the suwarrs, and I found that these two successive dinners 
 pleased them far more than even their fee, as being less expected. 
 Nothing, however, seemed to give so much satisfaction to the 
 jemautdar as a certificate under my hand, and with my great seal, 
 of his good conduct. The Aumeen also, who, besides a couple 
 of coarse shawls, got forty rupees, was greatly delighted with a 
 similar paper, kissing the seal, and pressing it to his forehead with 
 high respect. I told them I wished them to see me over the 
 frontier next day, but they said they hoped for my permission to 
 escort me fairly to Shahjehanpoor. 
 
 November 10. — From Oudunpoor to Shahjehanpoor is seven 
 coss, of the same cultivated country. The frontier here is only 
 an ideal line. Soon after I had entered the Company’s territo- 
 ries, I was met by ten suwarrs, very gaily dressed, but neither so 
 fine men, nor so well mounted, as those of the King. They had 
 been sent to meet me by Mr. Neave, the judge of Shahjehan- 
 poor. With them and the King’s people, who would not relin- 
 quish their station, I rode on in high style, Cabul, (the name of 
 my horse,) showing off in his best manner, as being much ani- 
 mated by so numerous a company ; though, as we pranced up 
 the street of Shahjehanpoor, 1 could not help thinking, that in 
 the midst of this barbarous cavalcade, with musketeers, spear- 
 men, and elephants closing the procession, my friends at home 
 would have had some difficulty in recognising me, or believing 
 me to be a man of peace. 
 
 At the entrance of the town I passed the river Gurruk, a quiet, 
 winding stream, over a little mean old bridge, by the side of a 
 much more splendid one, begun some months since at the expense 
 of the ex-minister of Oude, the Hukeem Mendee, who has a 
 house and considerable property within the British territories in 
 this district. The bridge would, if completed, have been a very 
 good and extensive one, but is now much dilapidated, a great 
 part of the unfinished work having fallen in during the rains. 
 
 Shahjehanpoor is a large place, with some stately old mosques, 
 and a castle. These are mostly ruinous, but the houses are in 
 good plight. The bazars show marks of activity and opulence, 
 and I could not help observing that there really is a greater ap- 
 pearance of ease, security, and neatness among the middling and 
 lower classes of the Company’s subjects, than among those of the 
 King of Oude. I found my tent pitched just beyond the town, 
 not far from the gates of the Compound of Mr. Campbell, the 
 collector of the district, whose guest I was to be. I breakfasted 
 and dined with him, and met most of the gentlemen of the 
 station. 
 
 I found no professional duties to perform ; but endeavoured, 
 
 VoL. I. — 45 
 
354 
 
 ROHILLAS. 
 
 during the day, to persuade these gentlemen to remedy, in some 
 little degree, in their secluded situation, the want of a chaplain, 
 (of which they complain, but which I see no chance of supplying 
 at present,) by meeting at some convenient place on Sundays, 
 and taking it by turns to read a selection, which I pointed out, 
 from the Church Prayers, the Psalms, and Lessons of the day, 
 and a printed sermon. 1 urged on them the example of Mr. 
 Ricketts at Lucknow, and hope I produced some effect ; at any 
 rate I am glad I made the trial, and 1 think 1 gave no offence by 
 doing so. 
 
 The conquest of Rohilcund by the English, and the death of 
 its chief in battle, its consequent cession to the Nawab of Oude, 
 and the horrible manner in which Sujah ud Dowla oppressed 
 and misgoverned it, form one of the worst chapters of English 
 history in India. We have since made the Rohillas some amends 
 by taking them away from Oude, and governing them ourselves; 
 but, by all which I could learn from the society this day con- 
 cerning the present state of the province of Bareilly, the people 
 appear by no means to have forgotten or forgiven their first in- 
 juries. The Mussulman chiefs, who are numerous, are very angry 
 at being without emplo}'ment under Government, or hope of 
 rising in the state or army, and are continually breaking out into 
 acts of insubordination and violence, which are little known in 
 the other provinces of the Company’s empire, but are favoured 
 here by the neighbourhood of Oude, and the existence of a large 
 forest along the whole eastern, southern, and northern frontiers. 
 In this forest a rebel chief is by many supposed to have lurked 
 the last seven years, for whose apprehension Government have 
 vainly offered no less a sum than 10,000 rupees. Many robberies 
 are, certainly, still perpetrated in his name ; but the opinion of 
 the magistrates at Shahjehanpoor is, that the man is really dead, 
 and that his name only, like that of Captain Rock, remains as 
 the rallying point of mutiny. The military officers of our dinner 
 party had often been in this forest, which they describe as ex- 
 tensive, and in some places very picturesque, with some few tracts 
 of high land, whence, even in this neighbourhood, the snowy 
 range of Himalaya is visible. 
 
 The Rohilla insurgents are usually very faithful to each other, 
 and, as in Oude there is neither police nor pursuit, it very seldom 
 happens, if they once escape, that they can be laid hold of after- 
 wards. One of the most notorious of them, who had long eluded 
 justice, came into the hands of Government not long since, under 
 very singular circumstances. He had passed over into Oude, 
 and bought a Zemindarry there, which was last year seized on, 
 under circumstances of excessive injustice, by the servants of 
 the favourite, who at the same tim.e carried off one of his wives. 
 
EXPLOIT OF A ROHILLA. 
 
 355 
 
 The Zemindar, equally high-spirited and desperate with Hamil- 
 ton of Bothwellhaugh under similar circumstances, rode imme- 
 diately to Lucknow, scaled, by the assistance of his servants, the 
 wall of the minister’s private garden, and waited there well- 
 armed, but alone, till his enemy should make his appearance. 
 The minister did not himself appear, but his two youngest sons 
 came out to walk with their ayahs. The Rohilla knew them, 
 pounced on them like a tiger, and holding them between his 
 knees, told the terrified women to go and call their master. The 
 palace was soon in an uproar, but he sate still, with his back 
 against the wall, the infants under his knees, and a pistol in each 
 hand, calling out “ draw near, and they are both dead !” The 
 minister wept and tore his flesh, promising him every thing if 
 he would let them go ; to which he answered, “ the restoration 
 of my wife, my own safety, and the guarantee of the British 
 Resident for both !” The woman was immediately brought out, 
 and the minister went like one frantic to the Residency, begging 
 for God’s sake either Mr. Ricketts or Major Raper to go with 
 him. . The latter went, and the Rohilla, after a horrible pause, 
 in which he seemed still to be weighing the sweetness of revenge 
 against the promises held out to him, rose, took his wife by the 
 hand, and led her away. He was not, however, satisfied with 
 the security of his continuance in Oude, but soon after surren- 
 dered himself to the British, saying, that he knew he must look 
 forward to a confinement of some time, but he preferred their 
 severities to the tender mercies of the minister, who, in spite of 
 his promise, had, he was convinced, already laid snares for him. 
 He is now a prisoner in the castle of Allahabad, but it is gene- 
 rally believed that he has made his peace, and that his confine- 
 ment will not be a long one, though his offences before were 
 serious enough, and though it would be a strange reason for par- 
 doning him, that he had been about to kill the two children of 
 the prime minister of an allied power. 
 
 The soil and climate of Rohilcund are very fine ; the former 
 produces every thing which is to be found in Oude, and the com- 
 modities are reckoned better, because, being under a better system 
 of government and lighter taxes, the peasants bestow more pains 
 on them. Their sugar, rice, and cotton are the most high-priced 
 in India, and I was surprised to see not only the toddy and date- 
 palms, but plantains common, while walnuts, strawberries, grapes, 
 apples, and pears likewise thrive here. 
 
 I drove out after dinner, and thought the country pretty. It 
 has the same fine tall trees with Oude, and the cultivation is de- 
 cidedly neater, but the ground is not so agreeably undulating as 
 that which 1 have come over for the last few days. The hot 
 winds are not much felt here, and on the whole it seems one of 
 
356 
 
 TILLHIER. 
 
 the most favoured districts between Lahore and Ava. 1 asked if 
 they ever saw ice formed in the pools ; but I do not think they 
 could positively say they had ; though hoar frost is no unusual 
 occurrence, and ice is obtained without difficulty in shallow 
 trenches, made for the purpose, and filled with water. 
 
 There are five companies of sepoys, at Shahjehanpoor, and 
 several similar detachments scattered up and down the country. 
 They seem, indeed, to have their hands tolerably full of work, 
 and to lead nearly the same lives which soldiers similarly situated 
 do in Ireland. They have, however, not the misery of enforcing 
 revenue laws, and the greater number of cases either arise from 
 civil suits respecting property, the decrees of which it is not the 
 manner of the Rohillas to attend to very scrupulously, or from 
 an inveterate habit of “ lifting” cows and sheep, which the beg- 
 garly Zemindars and idle long-legged “ gillies” of one village are 
 always apt to feel a pride in exercising against those of the next. 
 “ Take care of that long tailed horse of yours,” was the first cau- 
 tion which I received. “ Keep him carefully at night under the 
 sentry’s eye, or you will never carry him over the ferry of 
 Anopshehr.” I, therefore, gave an especial caution to the people 
 about Cabul. The other horse having his tail cut, they are not 
 so likely to meddle with. 
 
 November 11. — From Shahjehanpoor to Tillhier, is seven coss, 
 through a level and extremely well cultivated country, inter- 
 sected by the river Gurruk, another branch of which we crossed 
 by a ferry. At Tillhier our encampment was in a noble grove of 
 tall trees, with a large tank of clear water adjoining, the whole so 
 like some of Poussin’s landscapes, that one might have supposed 
 him to have visited Rohilcund. The tindals, however, in the 
 first instance, have stupidly chosen to pitch my tent where no 
 shade approached, and close by the public track. As the day 
 bid fair to be hot, I insisted on their doing their work over again, 
 and thus gave them a lesson, which, 1 have reason to think, wij[l 
 make them in future more attentive. ^ 
 
 The people here have a curious idea, which I have never seen 
 any sign of in Bengal, that the shade of the tamarind tree is un- 
 wholesome to man and beast. It is certain that trees of this 
 description, though useful in so many ways, are seldom planted 
 in those beautiful groves where cofilas usually halt. 
 
 Mr. Neave and Mr. Campbell had the goodness to send some 
 of their suwarrs with me. I did not see the necessity of it, but 
 was told it would secure me attention from the village Thanna- 
 dars and Tusseldars. 
 
 In the evening, as usual, I walked about the town and neigh- 
 bourhood, but attracted a considerably greater crowd than I ex- 
 pected, or than was quite convenient, though the people were 
 
TILLHIER. 
 
 257 
 
 exceedingly civil, anxious to show me one curiosity after another, 
 and neither asked, nor, apparently, expected any fees for their 
 trouble as ciceroni. I found a large party of Mussulmans cele- 
 brating the vigil of a saint who lies buried by the further side of 
 the tank I mentioned. They had covered his tomb with a green 
 cloth, had planted a number of green banners round it, and were 
 drumming, after a very dissonant manner, to call the faithful to 
 prayers. The congregation already assembled were apparently 
 of the lower class of trades-people. Knowing that such solemni- 
 ties generally produce an attack on the pockets of any great man 
 who goes near them, and being well conversant with the Mussul- 
 man forms of worship, I should not have approached, but 1 hap- 
 pened to turn on them, round a corner, before I was aware. The 
 imam immediately ran forwards, with some fragrants of the sacred 
 tomb in his hand, reciting the “bismillah” as he came along, and 
 pressed me to draw near. I was consequently obliged to put a 
 rupee down on the fragments, and had the honour, in return, of 
 having my name recited in the prayers which followed. 
 
 There is a large but ruinous serai in the centre of the town, 
 some very elegant fragments of the house, which, under the late 
 Patan Dynasty, was occupied by the jemautdar of the district, 
 and a ruinous old fort, pretty much like that at Suromunuggur, 
 within which the present T usseldar has built a small, but very 
 neat, and almost elegant bungalow. Some noble old banyan- 
 trees grow in different parts of the town, and my evening walk 
 was, on the whole, an interesting one. 
 
 A strange receipt was suggested by one of these people for the 
 benefit of Cabul’s health, whose beauty attracts general notice, 
 as well as his docility and fondness for me. It was a boiled 
 sheep’s head once in fourteen days ! and the object was to make 
 him strong and help his digestion. 1 asked Abdullah if he had 
 ever heard of such a “ messala,” or mess, before ? He answered, 
 it was sometimes recommended, and he had tried it himself to 
 his sorrow,jsiftce th^ horse never lived to have the dose repeated. 
 
 The same adviser wanted me to take off a joint of Cabul’s tail, 
 under the hair, so as not to injure his appearance. “ It was 
 known,” he said, “ that by how much the tail was made shorter, 
 so much the taller the horse grew.” I said, 1 could not believe 
 that God gave any animal a limb too much, or one which tended 
 to its disadvantage, and that as He had made my horse, so he 
 should remain.” This speech, such as it was, seemed to chime 
 in wonderfully with the feelings of most of my hearers, and one 
 old man said, that “ during all the twenty-two years that the Eng- 
 lish had held the country, he had not heard so grave and godly 
 a saying from any of them before.” I thought of Sancho Panza 
 and his wise apopthegms, but 1 regretted that, without doing more 
 
358 
 
 FUTTEHGUNGE— ROHILLAS. 
 
 harm than good, I could not, with my present knowledge of Hin- 
 doostanee, tell them any thing which was really worth their hear- 
 ing. Yet, if my life is spared, I trust the time may come ! — They 
 told me the true name of the village is Camaun ; why the Sahibs 
 called it Tillhier they could not tell. I suspect that several mal- 
 entendus of this kind have occurred in Paton’s routes, through the 
 hasty manner in which names are sometimes asked for and set 
 down by young officers on a journey. One of Mr. Neave’s 
 suwarrs had a very handsome white horse, a native of Cutch, with 
 the hollo west back I ever saw, though yet quite young. He said, 
 and Abdullah confirmed it, that all the Cutch horses have this 
 “ neshan,” or mark, but it does not increase with age. The 
 Cutch horses bear a good price, as being supposed to have Arab 
 blood in them. 
 
 I have several times lately made inquiries about tigers, but 
 both in Oude and in Rohilcund they are evidently rare, and 
 unless a man goes into the woods to look after them, are very 
 seldom seen. Fifteen or sixteen years ago they said a man had 
 been killed by a tiger at Shahjehanpoor ; and six or eight years 
 ago, for they were not positive as to the exact time, some cows 
 had been carried off by one in this neighbourhood. The Sahibs 
 from Shahjehanpoor, they added, had a hunt and killed the tiger. 
 They call this animal not “ bagh,” or “ bahr,” but “ shehr,” 
 which is, strictly speaking, a lion ; but there are no lions in this 
 part of India ; and they explained to me fully, that the “ shehr” 
 was, in their acceptation, the same animal which was elsewhere 
 called “ bahr.” 
 
 Kovember 12. — From Tillhier to Futtygunge, is a distance of 
 seven short coss, over a level, open, and comparatively naked 
 country, with few villages, and less signs of cultivation, except 
 that its very nakedness is, in these wooded countries, a sign, 
 which I have not seen since I left Lucknow. The road, how- 
 ever, was very good ; we passed a small river by an excellent 
 new bridge, and notwithstanding all which I had heard of the 
 warlike and predatory habits of the Rohillas, the passengers 
 whom I have met these two last days have been much less uni- 
 versally loaded with offensive and defensive weapons than in 
 Oude, or even in the Dooab. Futtehgunge is a poor village, 
 surrounded by a ruined mud wall, with two handsome brick gothic 
 gateways. There is a noble mangoe-tope adjoining, covering, I 
 should think, from twenty to thirty acres, under which my tent 
 was pitched, and this time in a very convenient situation. 
 
 Here again the increased neatness and apparent comfort of the 
 cottages over those of Oude, struck me forcibly. Undoubtedly 
 a regular government, under which a man may eat the fruit of 
 his labour, and display his little comforts without fear of their 
 
HAFEZ REHMUT KHAN, 
 
 359 
 
 being ta^ken from him, is an inestimable blessing. But it must be 
 observed that I was not struck by any material difference between 
 the villages of Oude and those which I had passed in my way 
 between Allahabad and Cawnpoor, so that other causes, besides 
 a difference of regime, may be supposed to operate in favour of 
 the Rohillas. They have, indeed, the character of a cleanly and 
 industrious people ; and their land, before its conquest and transfer 
 to Oude, is said to have been a perfect garden. From that time 
 it grew worse and worse, till on its cession to us by Saadut Ali, 
 it was a frightful scene of desolation and anarchy. Its subsequent 
 recovery has been rapid, but is not yet complete. 
 
 Within these two days 1 have noticed some fields of tobacco, 
 which I do not think is a common crop in the districts through 
 which I have hitherto marched. The Hindoostanee name is 
 “ tumbuccoo,” evidently derived, as well as the plant itself, 
 through the Europeans, from America. How strange it is that 
 this worthless drug should have so rapidly become popular all 
 over the world, and among people who are generally supposed 
 to be most disinclined from the adoption of foreign customs ! 
 
 The Daroga of F uttehgunge called on me in the course of the 
 morning, a fine looking man, with a full black beard, and a com- 
 plexion very little darker than a southern European. He brought 
 a present of two large geese, and was better dressed than most 
 public functionaries of a corresponding rank in India, I asked 
 him to sit down, which greatly pleased him. He told me that 
 Futtehgunge, which means the Mart of Victory, was founded by 
 the Nawab Suja ud Dowla,in memory of the great battle in which 
 the last Patan Chief, Hafez Rehmut Khan, was slain, and w^hich 
 was fought between this place and Cuttrah in the year 1776, a 
 little to the southward. This unfortunate man was an excellent 
 sovereign, and the country under his government, notwithstanding 
 the anarchy which had preceded it, was highly cultivated. He has 
 been described as a noble old warrior, with a long gray beard, 
 who led his cavalry on in a brilliant style against the allied armies. 
 When his nobles, at the head of their respective clans, either 
 treacherous or timid, gave way, he remained almost alone on a 
 rising ground, in the heat of the fire, conspicuous by his splendid 
 dress and beautiful horse, waving his hand, and vainly endeavour- 
 ing to bring back his army to another charge, till seeing that all 
 was lost, he waved his hand once more, gave a shout, and galloped 
 on the English bayonets. He fell, shot through and through, and 
 the brutal Suja ud Dowla applied for his body, that it might be 
 cut in pieces, and his gray head carried on a pike through the 
 country. The English General, however, had it wrapped in 
 shawls and sent with due honour to his relations. Still a sad stain 
 seems to rest on the English name for the part they took in this 
 
360 
 
 ROHILLA NOBLE. 
 
 business, and this with the murder of Nundemar, and the treat- 
 ment which the Raja of Benares met with, are the worst acts of 
 Mr. Hastings’s administration. 
 
 The noble mangoe-tope was planted by the jemautdar whom 
 Hafez Rehmut established here, and is about thirty-six years old. 
 These trees begin to decay in about sixty or seventy years, and 
 seldom last much more than one hundred. 
 
 The Daroga was followed by the Tusseldar, a man of not 
 so splendid an appearance, but one whom 1 saw, by the bustle my 
 servants made to receive him, was a person of some importance. 
 I found, in fact, in the course of such conversation as 1 was able 
 to carry on with him, that he was of an illustrious family, which 
 in ancient times had been sovereigns of the greater part of Rohil- 
 cund, but had been displaced by the family of Hafez Rehmut. 
 He was also, in comparison with the people of the eastern pro- 
 vinces, a fair man. His address was good and gentlemanly, but 
 he had little to say except what related to the greatness of his 
 ancestors, who had, he said, reigned at Rampoor. He told me 
 one curious fact, however, that the wheat now cultivated at 
 Rohilcund was propagated from seed brought from England since 
 the conquest, by Mr. Hawkins. The English at Shahjehanpoor 
 had not mentioned this circumstance, though they spoke highly 
 of the excellence of the bread made in this district. It answers, 
 indeed, the beau ideal of Anglo-Indian bread, being excessively 
 white, utterly tasteless, and as light as a powder-puff; when 
 toasted and eaten dry with tea it is tolerably good ; but I would 
 as soon bestow butter on an empty honey-comb, which it mar- 
 vellously resembles in dryness, brittleness, and apparent absence 
 of all nourishing qualities. It is lamentable to see fine wheat so 
 perversely turned into mere hair-powder. The native bread is 
 nothing but baked dough, but I like it the best Of the two. The 
 Tusseldar brought as a present three very fine lambs, which, 
 my own dinner being already provided for, I sent to the sepoys 
 and to the other folks of the camp. I meant to have sent them 
 all to the sepoys, but I was assured that two would be sufficient 
 for them, so far does a very little meat go with Hindoos, and 
 when well mixed up in currie ; it is to be owned, however, that 
 a considerable number of the sepoys were likely to scruple eating 
 meat. 
 
 During the last week we have almost every day fallen in with 
 large parties of pilgrims, going to, or returning from, the Ganges, 
 as well as considerable numbers of men bringing water from 
 Hurdwar. The greatest proportion of the pilgrims are women, 
 who sing in a very pleasing, cheerful manner, in passing near a 
 village, or any large assembly of people. Once, as they passed 
 my tents, their slender figui'es, long white garments, water-pots, 
 
iNATIVE DYNASTIES. 
 
 361 
 
 and minstrelsy, combined with the noble laurel-like shade of the 
 mangoe-trees, reminded me forcibly of the scene so well repre- 
 sented in Milman’s Martyr of Antioch, where the damsels are 
 going to the wood in the cool of the day, singing their hymns to 
 Apollo. The male pilgrims, and those who carry water, call out, 
 in a deep tone, “ Mahadeo B61 ! Bol ! Bol !” in which I observed 
 my Hindoo servants and bearers never failed to join them. 
 
 My new acquaintance, the Tusseldar, called again in the 
 evening to ask if he could do any thing more for me, and to say 
 he would see me again at the next station. 1 had in the mean- 
 time happened to find his pedigree and family history in Hamilton’s 
 Gazetteer, and pleased him much, I believe, by asking him which 
 of the six sons of Ali Mohammed Kkan he was descended from ? 
 He said, “ Nawab Ali Khan and added that his own name was 
 Mohammed Kasin Ali Khan. The father and founder of this 
 family, Ali Mohammed Khan, was a peasant boy, saved from a 
 burning village, about the year 1720, by Daood Khan', an Afghan, 
 or Patan freebooter, who came into this country about that time, 
 and after a long course of robbery and rebellion at length became 
 its sovereign. He adopted the foundling to the prejudice of his 
 -own children, and, on his decease, Ali Mohammed succeeded to 
 the throne, and held it to his death. His six sons, as usual in 
 such cases, quarrelled and fought. Nawab Ali Khan, the fourth, 
 was for some time the most successful ; but all were at length 
 overthrown by another chieftain, said to be of better family, 
 Rehmut Khan. He, in his turn, was killed in battle by the 
 English and men of Oude ; and thus ended the sovereignty of 
 Rohilcund. Of such strange materials were those dynasties 
 chiefly composed, on whose ruins the British empire has been 
 erected, and so easily did “ the sabre’s adventurous law” make 
 and mar monarchs in the olden times of Hindostan ! 
 
 A miserable little sickly man, wrapped in a ragged blanket, 
 asked charity, saying he was going with his wife and two children 
 the pilgrimage to Mecca ! What a journey for such a person ! 
 1 advised him to return home, and serve God in his own land, 
 adding that He was every where, and might be worshipped in India 
 as well as by the side of a black stone in Hejaz. He smiled in a 
 melancholy way, as if he were partly of the same opinion, but said 
 he had a vow. At home, indeed, he perhaps, to judge from his 
 appearance, left nothing but beggary. I do not think that this 
 pilgrimage is very popular with the Indian Mussulmans. This 
 is only the fourth person whom I have met with who appeared 
 to have made it, or to be engaged in it ; and yet the title of Hajee, 
 which such persons assume, would, apparently, point them out 
 to notice. 
 
 November 13. — From Futtehgunge to Furreedpoor is seven 
 
 VoL. I. — 46 
 
362 
 
 JOURNEY TO FURREEDPOOR. 
 
 coss, through a country equally well cultivated, and rather preU 
 tier, as being more woody, than that which I saw yesterday. 
 Still, however, it is as flat as a carpet. The road is very good, 
 and here I will allow a gig might travel well, and be a conveni- 
 ence, but it would have made a poor figure in the plashy country 
 on the other side of Lucknow, and have not been very service- 
 able in any part of the King of Oude’s territories. We encamped 
 in a smaller grove of mangoe-trees than the four or five last had 
 been, but the trees themselves were very noble. The chief cul- 
 tivation round us was cotton. The morning was positively cold, 
 and the whole scene, with the exercise of the march, the pic- 
 turesque groups of men and animals round me, — the bracing air, 
 the singing of birds, the light mist hanging on the trees, and the 
 glistening dew, had something at once so Oriental and so English, 
 I have seldom found any thing better adapted to raise a man’s 
 animal spirits, and put him in good temper with himself and all 
 the world. How 1 wish those 1 love were with me ! How much 
 my wife would enjoy this sort of life, — its exercise, its cleanliness 
 and purity; its constant occupation, and at the same time its 
 comparative freedom from form, care, and vexation ! At the same 
 time a man who is curious in his eating, had better not come 
 here. Lamb and kid, (and we get no other flesh,) most people 
 would soon tire of. The only fowls which are attainable are as 
 tough and lean as can be desired ; and the milk and butter are 
 generally seasoned with the never-failing condiments of Hindos- 
 tan, smoke and soot. The milk would be very good if the people 
 would only milk the cow into one of our vessels instead of their 
 own ; but this they generally refuse to do, and refuse wflth much 
 greater pertinacity than those who live near the river. These, 
 however, are matters to which it is not difficult to become recon- 
 ciled ; and all the more serious points of warmth, shade, cleanli- 
 ness, air, and water, are at this season no whore enjoyed better 
 than in the spacious and well-contrived tents, the ample means 
 of transport, the fine climate, and fertile regions of Northern 
 Hindostan. Another time, by God’s blessing, T will not be alone 
 in this Eden ; yet I confess there are very few people whom I 
 greatly wish to have as associates in such a journey. It is only 
 a wife, or a friend so intimate as to be quite another self, whom 
 one is really anxious to be with one while travelling through a 
 new country. 
 
 The Tusseldar called again this afternoon, and brought three 
 more lambs or goats, I am not sure which, for both are called 
 “ buckra” here. 1, however, thought it too bad to take the first- 
 lings of his flock in this unmerciful manner, and declined them 
 as civilly as I could, giving him at the same time a certificate of 
 my satisfaction with his attentions, with my great seal appended. 
 
JOURNEY TO BAREILLY. 
 
 363 
 
 — a distinction of which I have discovered the value in native 
 eyes, and mean only to give it to gentlefolks. He took his leave 
 with a profusion of compliments, having got a “ neknamee,” or 
 character, and kept his mutton. 
 
 The evening was beautiful, and I walked round the village; 
 which, however, had nothing in it worth seeing. 
 
 November 14. — From Furreedpoor to Bareilly is a distance of 
 eight short coss, not much more than twelve miles, but to the 
 cantonment, in the neighbourhood of which my tent was pitched, 
 it is a mile and a half less. Mr. Hawkins, the senior judge of 
 circuit, had offered the use of a large room in a house of his in the 
 immediate neighbourhood of my encampment, for divine service ; 
 and I had the pleasure of finding a numerous congregation of the 
 civil and military officers, with their families, as well as a good 
 many Christians of humbler rank, chiefly musicians attached to 
 the regiments stationed here, with their wives. I had, I think, 
 sixteen communicants. 
 
 Bareilly is a poor ruinous town, in a pleasant and well-wooded, 
 hut still a very flat country. I am told, that when the weather 
 is clear (it is now hazy) the Himalaya mountains are seen very 
 distinctly, and form a^^oble termination to the landscape. IS othing, 
 however, of the kind is now to be seen, though the distance is 
 barely sixty miles. The nights and mornings are become really 
 very cold, and in my tent I find a blanket, a quilt, and my large 
 cloak, no more than enough to keep me comfortable. 
 
 November 15. — I breakfasted and dined to-day at General Van- 
 renen’s, and met a very large family party. They are extremely 
 hospitable, kind-mannered, and simple-hearted people, and the 
 General has seen more of different parts of India than most men 
 whom 1 have met. After breakfast, 1 had a number of children 
 brought to be baptized, three couples to be married, and one 
 young woman, a native, but engaged to be married to an English 
 soldier, who was a candidate for baptism. She spoke English a 
 little, though imperfectly, and to my surprise was not much bet- 
 ter acquainted with Hindoostanee, being a native of Madras. 
 Her intended husband, however, a very respectable young man, 
 had evidently taken much pains to instruct her in her new belief. 
 She repeated the substance of the Lord’s Prayer and Creed very 
 well in English, and afterwards explained, in answer to my ques- 
 tions, the different clauses intelligibly in Plindoostanee. In Te- 
 linga, her husband assured me, she was very perfect in both. I 
 explained to her myself, as far as our means of communication 
 went, and got him to explain to her more fully, the obligations 
 which she was to take on herself in baptism and marriage. For 
 the former she seemed very anxious, and to judge from her 
 extreme seriousness during the ceremony, and the trembling 
 
364 
 
 ROHILCUND. 
 
 earnestness with which, both in English and Hindoostanee, she 
 made the promises, I trust it was not performed in vain. This 
 day I baptized and married her. Her name was Cudjee, but her 
 husband wished that she should now be called Susan. These 
 ceremonies all took place at General Vanrenen’s house, he hav- 
 ing good-naturedly appointed the people to meet me there, as 
 being more roomy than my tent, and more centrically situated 
 with reference to those who were likely to attend. 
 
 I heard, in the course of conversation, many interesting parti- 
 culars respecting the province of Rohilcund. Mr. Hawkins has 
 been here many years, and holds, to all intents and purposes, the 
 situation of civil governor : he has been in India forty-two years, 
 during which time he has never returned home, and is evidently 
 an extremely useful man in his present situation. I have not for 
 a long time met with any one so interesting ; how I wish she for 
 whom I write this may one day see him ! The account which he 
 gives of the Rohillas is not very flattering. They are a clever 
 and animated race of people, but devoid of principle, false, and 
 ferocious. Crimes are very numerous, both of fraud and violence, 
 and perjury almost universal. When he first came here, the 
 English were excessively disliked, and very few would so much 
 as salam to either General or Magistrate ; at present they are 
 brought into better order, and, probably, better reconciled to a 
 government, under which their condition, so far as tranquillity 
 and the impartial administration of justice extend, has been 
 greatly improved, and their land, from a mere desert, to which 
 the tyranny of Oude had reduced it, restored to its former state 
 of cultivation and richness. But the country is burdened with 
 a crowd of lazy, profligate, self-called suwarrs, who, though many 
 of them are not worth a rupee, conceive it derogatory to their 
 gentility and Patan blood to apply themselves to any honest indus- 
 try, and obtain for the most part a precarious livelihood by 
 spunging on the industrious tradesmen and farmers, on whom they 
 levy a sort of black-mail,” or as hangers-on to the few noble 
 and wealthy families yet remaining in the province. Of these 
 men, who have no visible means of maintenance at all, and no 
 visible occupation except that of lounging up and down with 
 their swords and shields like the ancient Highlanders, whom in 
 many respects they much resemble, the number is rated at, per- 
 haps, taking all Rohilcund together, not fewer than 100,000 ; all 
 these men have every thing to gain by a change of government, 
 and both Mr. Hawkins and General Vanrenen said they hardly 
 knew what it was that kept them down, considering the extremely 
 inadequate force at present in these provinces. Twice, indeed, 
 since the English have been in possession, their tenure of the 
 country has appeared exceedingly precarious ; and once when 
 
BAREILLY. 
 
 365 
 
 Jeswunt Row Holcar advanced to the fords of the Ganges, the 
 whole European population of Bareilly were compelled to take 
 refuge within the walls of the jails, which they were prepared to 
 defend to the last extremity. 
 
 The natural remedy for this state of things would be to find a 
 vent for a part of this superabundant population, by raising 
 fencible regiments, who, as they are really faithful to those whose 
 salt they eat, would sufficiently keep their countrymen in order, 
 and materially relieve the regular troops in some of their most 
 unpleasant duties. They should be cavalry, on something like 
 the footing of our yeomanry corps ; they should be commanded 
 by the judges and magistrates, with the aid of an adjutant and 
 major from the regular army ; and should be officered, so far as 
 captains and lieutenants, by the most respectable of the native 
 gentry. Such a measure I am the more convinced, the more I 
 see of upper India, would very greatly contribute to the efficiency 
 of the police, and the popularity and permanency of the Com- 
 pany’s Government, 
 
 A strong impression has lately prevailed in all these provinces, 
 arising I cannot learn how, that the English were preparing to 
 evacuate the country. The people, with whom Mr. Shore has 
 had to deal, have pleaded this to justify their rebellion, or, at 
 least, to account for their temerity. Every movement of troops 
 and officers towards the east has been regarded as a part of the 
 same system of abandonment and abdication ; and it is even 
 thought that my travelling, with a certain degree of official splen- 
 dour, in an opposite direction, as it has attracted considerable 
 notice and curiosity among the inhabitants of those distant regions, 
 has had the effect of giving them more favourable thoughts of the 
 security and permanency of the British Government. 
 
 November 16. — 1 breakfasted and passed the day with Mr. 
 Hawkins at what he calls his country-house, — a large and hand- 
 some building very prettily situated, with a farm of four hundred 
 acres round it, little less neat and English-looking than if it had 
 been in Norfolk. His trees are very fine, but the whole view is 
 
 * The following circumstance is here alluded to : — A strong body of free- 
 booters having committed various devastations in the neighbourhood of Saha- 
 runpoor, a detachment under the command of Captain Young was sent against 
 them, which was accompanied by the honourable F. J. Shore, who held a civil 
 employment in that district, with his suwarrs. The banditti fled into the fort 
 of Koonga, a place of considerable strength, which could only be entered by 
 breaching ; at the suggestion of Mr. Shore a tree was formed into a battering 
 ram, and directed against the gate, he himself manning the foremost rope. 
 When the breach was sufficiently opened. Captain Young, Mr. Shore, and 
 another officer entered, followed by their men. The contest was severe from 
 the superiority of the enemy’s force, but decisive. Mr. Shore was opposed to 
 several single combatants, and received two sabre wounds in the breast. — En. 
 
366 
 
 BAREILLY. 
 
 flat, though here again 1 was told I ought to see the mountains. 
 In our return to Bareilly, I saw some interesting animals : a fine 
 covey of wild peacocks arose at some little distance ; a mungoose 
 or ichneumon crossed the track, and at Mr. Hawkins’s door we 
 found a beautiful and rare animal of the deer kind, which had 
 just been sent him as a present from the hills. It is now about 
 the size of a large fallow-deer, with upright horns, not palmated, 
 but is still young, and is expected to grow so tall and stout as to 
 bear a saddle. It is of a brown colour, mixed with gray and 
 black, and its hair very thick, and as coarse and strong as hogs’ 
 bristles. Mr. Hawkins said he thought it would turn the edge of 
 a sword. It is a gentle and tame creature, eating from and licking 
 the hands of any one who caresses it. It is called goonh, and is 
 considered a great rarity in the plains, though among the moun- 
 tains it is not uncommon, and sometimes used to carry the children 
 of great men. It seems to be as yet unknown to European 
 naturalists, at least I never heard the name, nor saw any drawing 
 like it ; were the horns palmated it would most resemble the elk. 
 
 1 had been for some time in much doubt as to the expediency, 
 after the many delays which I had experienced in my journey, of 
 proceeding to Almorah, but what I heard during these few days at 
 Bareilly determined me in the affirmative. Though an important 
 station, it has never been visited by any clergyman ; and I was 
 very anxious not only to give a Sunday to its secluded flock, but 
 to ascertain what facilities existed for obtaining for them the 
 occasional visits, at least, of a minister of religion, and for even- 
 tually spreading the Gospel among these mountaineers, and 
 beyond them into Thibet and Tartary. The former of these 
 objects I have good hopes of being able to accomplish ; a resi- 
 dence in these cold and bracing regions may, in many cases, do 
 as much good to chaplains and missionaries, exhausted by the 
 heat of the plains, as a voyage to Europe would do; and good 
 men may be well employed here, who are unequal to exertion in 
 other parts of our eastern empire. To the second there are many 
 obstacles, not likely, as yet, to be overcome ; and in encountering 
 which considerable prudence and moderation will be necessary. 
 But there are facilities and encouragements also, which 1 did not 
 expect to find ; and if God spare me life and opportunities, I yet 
 hope to see Christianity revived, through this channel, in countries 
 where, under a corrupted form indeed, it is said to have once 
 flourished widely through the labours of the Nestorians."^ My 
 opinion as to the advantage which might arise from such a visit, 
 
 * The Nestorians are a sect of ancient Christians, who take their name 
 from Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople, who lived in the fifth century, and 
 whose doctrines were spread with much zeal through Syria, Egypt, Persia, India, 
 Tartary, and China. — Ed. 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY INTO KEMAOON. 36? 
 
 was fully confirmed; and I found reason to believe that late 
 as the season was, and much as 1 have to do, the present is 
 likely to be the best, if not the only opportunity for such an 
 excursion. 
 
 The whole skirt and margin of the mountains are surrounded 
 by a thick forest of nearly two days’ journey, with a marshy soil 
 and an atmosphere, during two-thirds of the year, more pesti- 
 lential than the Sunderbunds, or the grotto Dei Cani ; a literal 
 “ belt of death,” which even the natives tremble to go near, and 
 which, during the rains more particularly, the monkeys themselves 
 are said to abandon. After the middle of November this is dry, 
 practicable, and safe ; so that the very delays which have thrown 
 my arrival in Rohilcund so late, have given me an opportunity 
 which I may, under the usual circumstances of my visitation, 
 never have again, of penetrating into Kemaoon. Above all, every 
 body tells me that, except in a case of real necessity, a journey 
 into the Himalaya should never be undertaken by women and 
 children : that camels, elephants, tents, and palanquins, nay, 
 even horses, such as are usually ridden in the plains, must be left 
 behind at Bamoury Ghat, and that nothing but mules, mountain- 
 ponies, the “ yak,” or Thibet cow, and active unencumbered 
 foot-passengers, can make their way along the tracks and beside 
 the precipices which are to be traversed. This, if true, destroys 
 much of the hope which has already reconciled me to leaving 
 many interesting spots unvisited, that I might see them at some 
 future opportunity with my wife and children ; and though I 
 have little doubt that these difficulties are greatly exaggerated, 
 still it is plain that without a previous reconnoitring, I could 
 never take them such a journey, in defiance of such assurances. 
 For the present excursion. Captain Satchwell, the acting com- 
 missary-general of the district, promised me the use of some 
 mules, which Government was sending up to Kemaoon for the 
 public service there. Mr. Boulderson, the collector, offered me 
 the loan of an able and experienced pony ; and 1 received a 
 letter from Mr. Trail, the commissioner for the affairs of the 
 hill countries, offering me every assistance in the last four moun- 
 tain stages. Under these circumstances, I made up my mind not 
 to miss the opportunity, and arranged to send off my tents, &c. 
 on Wednesday evening, being the earliest moment at which my 
 necessary arrangements could be completed. 
 
 November 17. — This day was chieffy taken up in packing. 
 My plan was to take my whole caravan to Bamoury at the first 
 rise of the hills, where the air is good, and supplies are plentiful, 
 and leave them encamped there till my return. Accordingly I 
 sent off in the evening the greater part of my escort, servants, 
 and animals, retaining only ten sepoys, some bearers, my horse, 
 and the suwarree elephant, with his mohout and coolie. 
 
368 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 BAREILLY TO ALMORAH. 
 
 FIRST DISTANT VIEW OP THE HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS SHEESGUR VISIT 
 
 FROM RAJA AND SONS ACCOUNT OF TERRAI “ESSENCE OF OWL” 
 
 WRETCHEDNESS OF INHABITANTS KULLEANPOOR—TIGER HUNT 
 
 RIIDERPOOR CASE OF MALARIA FEVER BURNING THE JUNGLE 
 
 TANDAH BAMOURY BEEMTHAL WATER-MILL KHASYA NATION 
 
 RAMGHUR SIKH^ — MOUNT MERU PILGRIM TO BHADRINATH. 
 
 November 18. — 1 went this morning from Mr. Hawkins’s 
 house to a village named Shahee, about sixteen miles over a 
 country like all which I had yet seen in Rohilcund, level, well 
 cultivated, and studded with groves, but offering nothing either 
 curious or interesting, except the industry with which all the 
 rivers and brooks were dammed up for the purpose of irrigation, 
 and conducted through the numberless little channels and squares 
 of land which form one of the most striking peculiarities of In- 
 dian agriculture. The country is almost entirely planted with 
 wheat, with a few fields of Indian corn, and the pulse called dal. 
 I looked out vainly all the morning for the mountains, which, at 
 the distance of fifty miles, for the nearest range is no further, 
 ought certainly now to be within sight. All I saw, however, 
 was a heavy line of black clouds, in the direction in which I 
 knew them to be ; and when this gradually melted before the 
 rising sun, it was succeeded by a gray autumnal haze, through 
 which nothing was distinguishable. 
 
 At Shahee I found Mr. Boulderson, the collector of the district, 
 encamped in the discharge of his annual duty of surveying the 
 country, inspecting and forwarding the work of irrigation, and 
 settling with the Zemindars for their taxes. His tent, or rather 
 his establishment of tents, was extremely large and handsome. 
 That in which he himself lived was as spacious as those which 
 were first sent me from Cawnpoor, with glass doors, a stove, and 
 a canvass enclosure at one end, which, in Calcutta, would have 
 passed for a small compound. He had a similar enclosure at 
 some little distance, adjoining his servants’ tent for cooking ; and 
 on the whole, my tent, a regulation field officer’s and my whole 
 establishment, which I had till now thought very considerable 
 for a single man, looked poor and paltry in comparison. For 
 such a journey as mine, however, I certainly would not exchange 
 with him ; and the truth is, that to persons in his situation, who 
 
FOREST-WILD BEASTS. 
 
 369 
 
 have no occasion to go far from home, or to make long marches, 
 these luxuries are less cumbersome than they would be to me ; 
 while, on the other hand, they pass so much of their time in the 
 fields, that a large and comfortable tent is to the full as necessary 
 for them as a bungalow. Mr. Boulderson had good-naturedly 
 waited two days at Shahee to give me time to overtake him, and 
 now offered to accompany me to the foot of the hills at least, if 
 not the first stage amongst them. In the passage of the forest, 
 with which he is well acquainted, he says he expects to be of 
 service to me. He strongly recommends our pushing on through 
 the forest in a single march. The distance, he allows, is too great, 
 being 26 miles ; but he regards it as a less evil to ourselves, our 
 attendants, and animals, than remaining a day and night at Tan- 
 dah, the intermediate station, a spot which at no season of the 
 year can be considered as quite safe, either from fever or tigers. 
 Against the former of these dangers I had been furnished with a 
 set of instructions by Mr. Knight, the station surgeon of Bareilly. 
 Natives, Mr. Knight thinks, are more liable to the complaint, and 
 recover from it with greater difficulty, than Europeans, who are, 
 in the first instance, better protected against the damp and un- 
 wholesome air, and whose full habit of living, and the high tem- 
 perature of their health, make the work of depletion with them 
 at once more easy and more effectual, than with men whose 
 pulse is always feeble, and who sink at once into despondency 
 on the attack of a disease which they know to be dangerous. 
 
 As to tigers, though we may possibly hear their roars, and see 
 traces of their feet, it is not often that they venture near the fires 
 of an encampment, or the formidable multitude of men which 
 such an encampment as mine presents to them. Still, if a tiger 
 shows himself, it will, in all probability, be at Tandah ; and 
 though 1 should not dislike to see the animal in its natural state, 
 1 am bound, for the sake of my half-naked and careless followers, 
 and my numerous train of animals, still more than my own, not 
 to linger twelve hours in a spot of so bad reputation. In the day 
 time, at this season, and by those who merely pass along the beaten 
 track, neither fevers nor tigers are usually to be apprehended. The 
 latter, indeed, on any approaching bustle, keep themselves, at 
 those hours, so close in cover, that those who seek them find it 
 difficult enough to start them. Mr. Boulderson is a keen sports- 
 man, and told me several interesting facts respecting the wild 
 animals of this neighbourhood. The lion, which was long sup- 
 posed to be unknown in India, is now ascertained to exist in 
 considerable numbers in the districts of Saharunpoor and 
 Loodianah. Lions have likewise been killed on this side ^he 
 Ganges, in the northern parts of Rohilcund, in the neighbour- 
 hood of Moradabad and Ilampoor, as large, it is said, as the 
 
 VoL. I.— 
 
370 
 
 HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. 
 
 average of those in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good 
 Hope. Both lions, where they are found, and tigers, are very 
 troublesome to the people of the villages near the forest, who, 
 having no elephants, have no very effectual means of attacking 
 them with safety. The peasantry here, however, are not a peo- 
 ple to allow themselves to be devoured without resistance, like 
 the Bengalees ; and it often happens that, when a tiger has esta- 
 blished himself near a village, the whole population turn out, with 
 their matchlocks, swords, and shields, to attack him. Fighting 
 on foot, and compelled to drive him from his covert by entering 
 and beating the jungle, one or two generally lose their lives, but 
 the tiger seldom escapes ; and Mr. Boulderson has seen some 
 skins of animals of this description, which bore the strongest 
 marks of having been fought with, if the expression may be used, 
 hand to hand ; and w^ere in fact slashed all over with cuts of the 
 “ tulwar,” or short scimitar. A reward of four rupees for every 
 tiger’s head brought in, is given by Government ; and if the vil- 
 lagers of any district report that a tiger or lion is in their neigh- 
 bourhood, there are seldom wanting sportsmen among the civil or 
 military officers, who hear the news with pleasure, and make 
 haste to rid them of the nuisance. A good shot, on an elephant, 
 seldom fails, with perfect safety to himself, to destroy as many of 
 these terrible animals as he falls in with. 
 
 In the afternoon Mr. Boulderson took me a drive in his buggy. 
 This is a vehicle in which all Anglo-Indians delight, and certainly 
 its hood is a great advantage, by enabling them to pay visits, and 
 even to travel, under a far hotter sun than would otherwise be 
 endurable. The country, however, in this neighbourhood, and 
 every where except in the immediate vicinity of the principal 
 stations, is strangely unfavourable for such vehicles. Our drive 
 was over ploughed fields, and soon terminated by a small, but, to 
 us, impassable, ravine. We had, however, a first view of the 
 range of the Himalaya, indistinctly seen through the haze, but not 
 so indistinctly as to conceal the general form of the mountains. 
 The nearer hills are blue, and in outline and tints resemble pretty 
 closely, at this distance, those which close in the vale of Clwyd. 
 Above these rose, what might, in the present unfavourable atmo- 
 sphere, have been taken for clouds, had not their seat been so sta- 
 tionary and their outline so harsh and pyramidical, the patriarchs 
 of the continent, perhaps the surviving ruins of a former world, 
 white and glistening as alabaster, and even at this distance of, 
 probably, 150 miles, towering above the nearer and secondary 
 range, as much as these last (though said to be 7600 feet high) 
 are above the plain on which we were standing, 1 felt intense 
 delight and awe in looking on them, but tbe pleasure lasted not 
 many minutes, the clouds closed in again, as on the fairy castle of 
 
HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. 371 
 
 St. John, and left us but the former gray cold horizon, girding in 
 the green plain of Rohilcund, and broken only by scattered tufts 
 of peepul and mangoe-trees. 
 
 November 19. — This morning we went seven coss to Sheeshghur, 
 over a worse cultivated country than the last day’s stage, and one 
 which had, evidently, suffered much from want of rain. The heavy 
 and happy fall which had given plenty to Oude and the Dooab 
 did not extend here, and except in a few places, where irrigation 
 had been used, the rice and Indian corn had generally failed, and 
 the wheat and barley were looking very ill. Where there are 
 rivers or streams, irrigation is practised industriously and suc- 
 cessfully; but there are few wells, and they do not seem, as in 
 the Dooab and Oude, to draw water from them by oxen for 
 their fields. The rain which falls is, in most seasons, said to be 
 sufficient. 
 
 On leaving our encampment we forded the river Bhagool, and 
 afterwards, once or twice, fell in, during our march, with its 
 windings. At last, soon after the sun rose, and just as we had 
 reached a small rising ground, the mist rolled away and showed 
 us again the Himalaya, distinct and dark, with the glorious icy 
 mountains, towering in a clear blue sky, above the nearer range. 
 There were four of these, the names of three of which Mr. Boul- 
 derson knew, Bhadrinath, Kedar Nath, and the peak above the 
 source of the Ganges, the Meru of Hindoo fable. The fourth, to 
 the extreme right, he did not know, and I could not find it in 
 Arrowsmith’s map. Bhadrinath, he told me, is reckoned the 
 highest. From hence, however, it is not the most conspicuous 
 of the four. That we saw the snowy peaks at all, considering 
 their distance, and that mountains twice as high as Snowdon in- 
 tervened, is wonderful. 1 need hardly say that 1 wished for my 
 wife to share the sight with me. But 1 thought of Tandah and 
 the Terrai, and felt, on recollection, that I should have probably 
 been in considerable uneasiness, if she and the children had been 
 to pass the intervening inhospitable country. 
 
 Sheeshghur is a poor village, on a trifling elevation which is 
 conspicuous in this level country. It has a ruinous fort on its 
 summit, and altogether, with the great surrounding flat and the 
 blue hills behind it, put me in mind of some views of Rhydlan. 
 The Clwydian chain, indeed, is not crowned by such noble pin- 
 nacles as Bhadrinath and Gangotree, but I could not help feeling 
 now, and I felt it still more when I began to attempt to commit 
 the prospect to paper, that the awe and wonder which I experi- 
 enced were of a very complex character, and greatly detached from 
 the simple act of vision. The eye is, by itself, and without some 
 objects to form a comparison, unable to judge of such heights at 
 such g distance. Carneth Llewellyn and Snowdon, at certain 
 
372 
 
 VISIT OF A RAJA. 
 
 times in the year, make, really, as , good a picture as the moun- 
 tains now before me; and the reason that I am so much more im- 
 pressed with the present view, is partly the mysterious idea of 
 awful and inaccessible remoteness attached to the Indian Cau- 
 casus, the centre of earth, 
 
 “ Its Altar, and its Cradle, and its Throne 
 
 and still more the knowledge derived from books, that the objects 
 now before me are really among the greatest earthly works of the 
 Almighty Creator’s hands, — the highest spots below the moon — 
 and out-topping, by many hundred feet, the summits of Cotopasi 
 and Chimborazo. 
 
 I had two sets of visiters to-day, the first were a set of Natch- 
 women, accompanied by a man, who beat a small drum, and a 
 naked boy, who seemed the son of the elder of the three females. 
 The whole party were of the “ cunja,” or gipsey caste, with all 
 its most striking peculiarities. The women would have been 
 good-looking, had not their noses been distorted, and their ears 
 lengthened by the weighty ornaments suspended from* them. 
 Their arms, legs, and necks were loaded with rings and chains, 
 and their dress was as tawdrily fine as their poverty would admit 
 of. The man and boy were, in all respects but clothing, the same 
 description of animal which might steal a hen or open a gate for a 
 traveller in the neighbourhood of Norwood. I gave them a trifle, 
 but declined seeing their performance. The second set of visiters 
 were an old Raja and three sons and a grandson, who were intro- 
 duced by Mr. Boulderson. Their ancestors had possessed a con- 
 siderable territory, but the Patan wars had lowered them down to 
 simple, and far from wealthy, landowners, whose main dependence 
 is, at present, on a pension of 4,000 s. rupees a year, allowed them 
 by the Company. The Raja was a homely, cheerful old man, 
 with a white beard and unusually fair complexion ; and excepting 
 the few swords and shields in his train, neither he nor his sons 
 had much which differed from the English idea of respectable 
 yeomen. Their visit was not long: I gave them, at taking leave, 
 lavender-water by way of pawn and attar ; and the old Raja (on 
 account of the supposed sanctity of my character, in which I 
 heartily wish I more accorded with their ideas of me) desired me 
 to lay my hand on his back and that of his sons, and bless them. 
 His business with Mr. Boulderson chiefly respected an embank- 
 ment which he wished to make on the neighbouring small river 
 Kullee, in order to throw the water over many acres of land, 
 some of which we had crossed, which were now altogether de- 
 pendant on rain, and sometimes, as in the present year, unpro- 
 ductive. The embankment had been commenced, but was 
 opposed by the Nawab of Rampoor, a descendant of Ali Mo- 
 
MALARIA. 
 
 373 
 
 hammed Khan already mentioned, and who still holds a very pro- 
 ductive jaghire, as large as an English county, extending from the 
 neighbourhood of Moradabad almost to the foot of these moun- 
 tains. He maintained that the proposed work would drown some 
 of his villages. We went in the afternoon to see the place ; and 
 I endeavoured, by the help of a very rude extempore levelling 
 instrument, made of the elephant-ladder, four bamboos, and a 
 weighted string, to ascertain the real course which the water 
 would take, and how high the dam might be raised without dan- 
 ger of mischief. My apparatus, rude as it was, was viewed with 
 much wonder and reverence by these simple people ; and as I 
 kept on the safe side, I hope 1 did some good, or, at least, no harm 
 by my advice to them. The ryuts of the Nawab, indeed, as well 
 as the Raja and his sons, professed themselves perfectly satisfied 
 with the line proposed. 
 
 Mr. Boulderson said he was sorry to learn from the Raja that 
 he did not consider the unhealthy season of the Terrai as yet 
 quite over. He therefore proposed that we should make a long 
 march of above twenty miles the following day to Ruderpoor, 
 in order to be as short a time in the dangerous country as possible. 
 1 was, for several reasons, of a different opinion. My people and 
 sepoys had already had two long marches through very bad and 
 fatiguing roads. That to Ruderpoor was described as worse than 
 any which we had yet seen. As Ruderpoor is reckoned only a 
 shade less dangerous than Tandah, to halt there on the Sunday 
 would be impossible, and we should have on that day also a march 
 of twenty-five miles through the forest to Bamoury. Besides my 
 reluctance to subject the men to so great fatigue on such a day, 
 I had always understood that lassitude was among the most 
 powerful predisposing causes to fever, and I could not think, 
 without uneasiness, of any of them being tired out and lagging 
 behind in so horrible a country. The direct way to Ruderpoor 
 lay through the Nawab’s territory ; and Manpoor, the intervening 
 station, was by no means a desirable one, either from its air or 
 the mutinous character of its inhabitants. A little to the right, 
 however, was a village named Kulleanpoor, within the Company’s 
 border, and at least not more unwholesome than its neighbours. 
 The distance was eight or nine short coss, which would do nobody 
 any harm. There would remain a stage of six or seven miles to 
 Ruderpoor on Sunday, which might be done without any nightly 
 travelling, and leave both men and cattle fresh next morning for 
 our long march to the mountains. For Europeans there was in 
 either place little risk ; our warm clothing, warm tents, elevated 
 bedsteads, musquito nets, (a known preservative against malaria,) 
 and our port wine, would probably be sufficient safeguards ; but 
 for the poor fellows who sleep on the ground, and are as careless 
 
374 
 
 FORESTS. 
 
 of themselves as children, it behoved me to take thought ; and 
 Mr. Boulderson, for the reasons which I have mentioned, agreed 
 with me in the opinion that Kulleanpoor should be our next stage. 
 
 I asked Mr. Boulderson if it were true that the monkeys forsook 
 these woods during the unwholesome months. He answered 
 that not the monkeys only, but every thing which had the breath 
 of life instinctively deserts them, from the beginning of April to 
 October. The tigers go up to the hills, the antelopes and wild 
 hogs make incursions into the cultivated plain ; and those persons, 
 such as dak-bearers, or military officers, who are obliged to tra- 
 verse the forest in the intervening months, agree that not so much 
 as a bird can be seen or heard in the frightful solitude. Yet 
 during the time of the heaviest rains, while the water falls in 
 torrents, and the cloudy sky tends to prevent evaporation from 
 the ground, the forest may be passed with tolerable safety. It is 
 in the extreme heat, and immediately after the rains have ceased, 
 in May, the latter end of August, and the early part of September, 
 that it is most deadly. In October the animals return ; by the 
 latter end of that month the wood-cutters and the cowmen again 
 venture, though cautiously. From the middle of November to 
 March, troops pass and repass, and with common precaution no 
 risk is usually apprehended. 
 
 November 20. — The way to Kulleanpoor turned out exceed- 
 ingly bad, rugged, and intersected by nullahs and ‘‘ gools,” or 
 canals for the purpose of irrigation ; so that our baggage, though 
 sent off at five in the evening of the 1 9th, did not arrive till five 
 the next morning, and both camel-drivers and sepoys complained 
 a good deal. It turned out, however, that they had been them- 
 selves partly to blame, in not, according to my directions, taking 
 a guide, and consequently losing their way. The country is by 
 no means ill cultivated thus far, but as we approach the forest it 
 gradually grows marshy and unwholesome, and the whole horizon, 
 at some little distance, was wrapped in a thick white mist which 
 Mr. Boulderson called “ Essence of Owl,” the native name for 
 the malaria fever. The villages which we passed were singu- 
 larly wretched, though there is no want of materials for building, 
 and the rate of land is very low. It seems, however, as if the 
 annual ague and fever took away all energy from the inhabitants, 
 and prevented their adopting those simple means of dry and well- 
 raised dwellings, and sufficient clothing, which would go far to 
 secure their health and life. They are a very ugly and miserable 
 race of human beings, with large heads and particularly promi- 
 nent ears, flat noses, tumid bellies, slender limbs, and sallow 
 complexions, and have scarcely any garments but a blanket of 
 black wool. Most of them have matchlocks, swords, and shields, 
 however; and Mr. Boulderson pointed out two villages near 
 
MOUNTAINS, 
 
 375 
 
 which we passed, which had last year a deadly feud, eliding in a 
 sort of pitched battle, in which nine men were killed and several 
 wounded. It was necessary to despatch a corps of sepoys to the 
 spot to settle the quarrel, by bringing a few of the ringleaders on 
 both sides to . justice. So expert are men, even when most 
 wretched, in finding out ways and means of mutually increasing 
 their misery ! 
 
 The only satisfaction to be derived from a journey through 
 such a country, is to look steadily at the mountains beyond it, 
 which increase as we advance in apparent magnitude and beauty. 
 The snowy peaks, indeed, are less and less distinguishable ; but 
 the nearer range rises into a dignity and grandeur which I by no 
 means was prepared for, and is now clearly seen to be itself 
 divided into several successive ridges, with all the wildest and 
 most romantic forms of ravine, forest, crag, and precipice. They 
 are now perceptibly and obviously, even to the eye, the highest 
 mountains I ever saw sufficiently near to judge of them. There 
 may be some peaks of the Norwegian Alps, such as Dovre and 
 Fille Fiel, and there are, as is, I believe, ascertained, some points 
 of Caucasus which considerably surpass them, and take a middle 
 place between them and the Giants in their rear, but the general 
 chain of Norwegian hills, so far as I can recollect, does not equal 
 these now before me ; and the white peaks of Caucasus I saw 
 only from a great distance. N owithstanding the height, however, 
 of this secondary chain of the Himalaya, I could see no snow on 
 it, but Mr. Boulderson assured me that in a few weeks more it 
 would be pretty plentifully powdered, and the probability was 
 that even now I should have some showers of snow in my passage. 
 On the northern side of the hills he had known snow lie till the 
 latter end of May, when nothing could be more strange and 
 sudden than the change in the feelings of a traveller descending 
 from those regions to the hot winds and fiery furnace of the plains. 
 
 At the foot of the lowest hills a long black level line extends, 
 so black and level that it might seem to have been drawn with 
 ink and a ruler. This is the forest from which we are still re- 
 moved several coss, though the country already begins to partake 
 of its insalubrity. It is remarkable that this insalubrity is said to 
 have greatly increased in the last fifteen years. Before that time 
 Ruderpoor, where now the soldiers and servants of the police 
 Thanna die off so fast that they can scarcely keep up the esta- 
 blishment, was a large and wealthy place, inhabited all the year 
 through without danger or disease. Nay, Tandah itself, ten 
 years back, was the favourite and safe resort of sportsmen from 
 Bareilly and Moradabad, who often pitched their tents there, 
 without injury, for ten days together. The forest was, in fact, 
 under a gradual process of reclaimer ; the cowmen and woodmen 
 
376 
 
 MALARIA. 
 
 were pushing their incursions farther every year, and the plain 
 where we were now travelling, though always liable to fever and 
 ague, was as populous and habitable as many other parts of India 
 where no complaints are heard. The unfavourable change is 
 imputed by the natives themselves to depopulation ; and they are 
 no doubt philosophically right, since there seems to be a preserva- 
 tive in the habitation, cultivation, nay, perhaps in the fires, the 
 breath, and society of men, which neutralii^es malaria, even in 
 countries naturally most subject to it. The instance of Rome 
 and its adjacent territory is exactly a similar one, and I recollect 
 being told that in proportion to the number of empty houses in a 
 street, the malaria always raged in it. The depopulation of 
 these countries arose from the invasion of Meer Khan, in 1 805. 
 He then laid waste all these Pergunnahs, and the population, 
 once so checked, has never recovered itself. There was, indeed, 
 in former times, a cause which no longer exists, which tended 
 materially to keep up the stock of inhabitants in the Terrai, in- 
 asmuch as, from the nature and circumstances of their country, 
 they were free from many of the oppressions to which the other 
 peasants of Rohilcund were liable, paying very light taxes, and 
 living almost as they pleased under the patriarchal government of 
 their own Rajas. Their taxes are still light enough, but the hand 
 of the law is, under the present Government, felt here as in other 
 parts of the province ; and as the inhabitants of the more whole- 
 some district have fewer motives than formerly to fly from .their 
 homes to these marshes, so the inhabitants of the marshes them- 
 selves have less powerful reasons for clinging to their uncomfort- 
 able birth-place, and the tide of emigration is turned into a contrary 
 direction. 
 
 Kulleanpoor, (the town of granaries,) is a very wretched place, 
 but stands on an apparently dry and open plain, with one or two 
 clumps of fruit trees, where, certainly, I should not have sus- 
 pected any thing amiss in the air. At this time of the year there 
 probably is nothing unwholesome ; and all the year round, the 
 people of the place said, both its air and water bore a better 
 character than most of its neighbours. Many of them, however, 
 looked very sickly, and the Thannadar, who came to pay his 
 compliments, was yellow as gold, with his nails as blue as if he 
 had been poisoned, and shaking pitifully in the cold fit of the 
 country fever, which had, he said, hung in for some months back. 
 Here indeed, as in other aguish countries, the disease often kills 
 very slowly, and many persons have a regular attack every May, 
 which leaves them wretchedly weak in November, and from the 
 effects of which 4;hey have just lime to recover before the fatal 
 month comes round again. With others, however, it is far less 
 ceremonious, and assumes, from the beginning, a typhus form 
 
LALL SINGH. 
 
 377 
 
 which seldom leaves the patient many days in suspense. Mr. 
 Boulderson has had it twice ; the second time he was left by it 
 in so bad a state of health as to make it necessary for him to go 
 to the Cape. By his account it is precisely an intermittent fever, 
 but of the worst kind, resembling, in most of its symptoms, that 
 of Walcheren and the Sunderbunds, and arising from nearly the 
 same circumstances of soil and climate which may be supposed 
 to produce the latter. 
 
 The natives have a singular notion that it is not the air but 
 the water of these countries which produces “ Owl.” The water 
 is certainly not clear or well-tasted, either at Sheeshgur, or Kul- 
 leanpoor, and Mr. Boulderson has brought a stock of Bareilly 
 water for our own drinking. I cannot, however, see any thing 
 about it which is likely to do so much mischief, and the notion is 
 an unfortunate one, inasmuch as it leads them to neglect all pre- 
 cautions against the other and more formidable causes of disease. 
 I have tents sufficient to shelter all the people who accompany 
 me, and I had offered, at Sheeshghur, if the sepoys found them- 
 selves crowded, to receive the Soubahdar and some of the non- 
 commissioned officers, at night under my own tent. Yet it was 
 with great difficulty that I could persuade either them or the 
 camel-drivers to forsake their favourite system of sleeping with 
 their heads wrapped up, but with the greater part of their clothes 
 off, in the open air, round their fires. They were exceedingly 
 unwilling to pitch their tents at all, saying, it did not signify, that 
 the fog did no harm, and the water was the cause of all the mis- 
 chief. In fact, there was good reason to hope, from what we 
 learned in Kulleanpoor, that the mischief was over for the present 
 year, and that our old Raja of yesterday had been indulging in 
 the very usual amusement of making matters as bad as possible. 
 
 I had to day, again, a princely visiter, in the Raja Gourman 
 Singh, another of these border chieftains, whose father, ‘‘‘ Lall 
 Singh,” (Red Lion,) had been sovereign of all Kemaoon, till he 
 was driven by the Gorkhas to take shelter within the Company’s 
 border. Government gave him a jaghire of eight villages in the 
 Terrai, and his son holds a Zemindarry of twelve or thirteen 
 more. On the conquest of Kemaoon by the British arms, they 
 had hoped to be reinstated, but the conquerors found it conve-^ 
 nient, according to our usual policy in the east, to act as much as 
 possible on the principle of maintaining things as they found them. 
 And their cousin, the Raja whom the Gorkhas had set up, was 
 confirmed in the same dependent sovereignty which he held un- 
 der them. Gourman Singh’s claim to the throne is, however, 
 disputed, and with apparent justice, by another cousin, the son of 
 his father’s elder brother, who has a house near Ruderpoor. The 
 existence of this person, then a child, was unknown, when the 
 
 VoL. 1. — 48 
 
378 
 
 LALL SINGH. 
 
 appointments and jaghire of old Lall Singh were continued to 
 his son, and he remained in great poverty till two or three years 
 ago, when a pension was given him also. Indeed, Gourman’s 
 title of Singh is a proof that he v^as of the second house, the 
 elder, or royal branch, having the title of Chund. Lall Singh 
 was, however, a great favourite with all the English in these 
 parts. Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Boulderson both spoke of him as 
 one of the- finest old men whom they had seen, with considerable 
 talent, an uncommon degree of dignity in his air and countenance, 
 and one of the most heavenly tempers that can be conceived. 
 Though by no means deficient in firmness, he was never known 
 to utter an angry word, or to punish any of his dependents till a 
 day and a night had intervened to give time for reflection. With 
 narrow means he was splendidly charitable to the poor ; and, in 
 fact, as good and holy a man, (a male Alia Bhaee,) as his very 
 imperfect religion would enable him to become. He was regard- 
 ed as a saint both by Hindoos and Mussulmans, and a message 
 from him would have brought together all the population of the 
 border, from the Ganges to the Lohoo Ghat, to lay down their 
 lives in any cause which he might favour. He behaved with 
 admirable fidelity to the English on all occasions, but he was al- 
 most ruined by Meer Khan’s irruption. It was, however, partly 
 made up to him by a pension, to himself and his son, of 10,000 
 rupees, and the latter is considered as wealthy. 
 
 The young Raja had been described to me as a fine animated 
 man, with whom I should be much pleased, but 1 saw him under 
 unfavourable circumstances. He had had the same fever with 
 the rest of the world, was looking very yellow, and, as Mr. 
 Boulderson said, unusually silent and out of spirits. His man- 
 ners and appearance were, however, gentlemanly, and his show 
 of attendants far greater than that of the poor Raja of Sheeshghur. 
 He expressed his intention of meeting us again at Bamoury, at the 
 foot of his owm hills, and wanted Mr. Boulderson to accompany 
 him from thence to a village which, though actually on the verge 
 of the forest, he recommended as more healthy and better adapted 
 for a civil and military station, than Ruderpoor. Ruderpoor is, 
 indeed, his property, and Mr. Boulderson observed, that he was 
 evidently very anxious to remove the Thanna to some distance. 
 The young man said that people in this country liked to live 
 without trouble or interference ; that the police were now con- 
 tinually requiring their attendance either as witnesses or arbitra- 
 tors ; that they sometimes got subpoenas as far as to Bareilly ; that, 
 in short, when the attorney was added to the ague, the place be- 
 came insupportable, and that unless his tenants were left to 
 themselves, they would all desert their homes. 
 
 He mentioned, in the course of conversation, that there was a 
 
TIGER HUI^. 
 
 379 
 
 tiger in an adjoining tope, which had done a good deal of mis- 
 chief, that he should have gone after it himself had he not been 
 ill, and had he not thought that it would be a fine diversion for 
 Mr. Boulderson and me. I told him 1 was no sportsman, but Mr. 
 Boulderson’s eyes sparkled at the name of tiger, and he expressed 
 great anxiety to beat up his quarters in the afternoon. Under 
 such circumstances, I did not like to deprive him of his sport, as 
 he would not leave me by myself, and went, though with no in- 
 tention of being more than a spectator. Mr. Boulderson, how- 
 ever, advised me to load my pistols for the sake of defence, and 
 lent me a very fine double-barrelled gun for the same purpose. 
 We set out a little after three on our elephants, with a servant 
 behind each howdah carrying a large chatta, which, however, was 
 almost needless. The Raja, in spite of his fever, made his ap- 
 pearance too, saying that he could not bear to be left behind. A 
 number of people, on foot and horseback, attended from our 
 own camp and the neighbouring villages, and the same sort of 
 interest and delight was evidently excited which might be pro- 
 duced in England by a great coursing party. The Raja was on 
 a little female elephant, hardly bigger than the Durham ox, and 
 almost as shaggy as a poodle. She was a native of the neigh- 
 bouring w^ood, where they are generally, though not always, of a 
 smaller size than those of Bengal and Chittagong. He sat in a 
 low howdah, with two or three guns ranged beside him, ready 
 for action. Mr. Boulderson had also a formidable apparatus of 
 muskets and fowling-pieces, projecting over his mohout’s head. 
 We rode about two miles across a plain covered with long jungly 
 grass, wdiich very much put me in mind of the country near the 
 Cuban. Quails and wild fowl rose in great numbers, and beau- 
 tiful antelopes were seen scudding away in all directions. With 
 them our party had no quarrel ; their flesh is good for little, and 
 they are in general favourites both with native and English sports- 
 men, who feel disinclined to meddle with a creature so graceful 
 and so harmless. 
 
 At last we came to a deeper and more marshy ground, which 
 lay a little before the tope pointed out to us ; and while Mr. 
 Boulderson was doubting whether we should pass through it, or 
 skirt it, some country people came running to say that the l^ger 
 had been tracked there that morning. We therefore went in, 
 keeping line as if we had been beating for a hare, through grass 
 so high that it reached up to the howdah of my elephant though 
 a tall one, and abnost hid the Raja entirely. We had not gone 
 far before a very large animal of the deer kind sprang up just 
 before me, larger than a stag, of a dusky brown colour, with 
 spreading, but not palmated horns. Mr. Boulderson said it was 
 a mohr,” a species of elk ; that this was a young one, but that 
 
380 
 
 T:y3^ER HUNT. 
 
 they sometimes grew to an immense size, so that he had stood 
 upright between the tips of their horns. He could have shot it, 
 hut did not like to fire at present, and said it was, after all, a pity 
 to meddle with such harmless animals. The mohr accordingly 
 ran off unmolested, rising with splendid bounds up to the very 
 top of the high jungle, so that his whole body and limbs were 
 seen from time to time above it. A little further, another rose, 
 which Mr. Boulderson said was the female ; of her I had but an 
 imperfect view. The sight of these curious animals had already, 
 however, well repaid my coming out ; and from the animation 
 and eagerness of every body round me, the anxiety with which 
 my companions looked for every waving of the jungle-grass, and 
 the continued calling and shouting of the horse and foot behind 
 us, it was impossible not to catch the contagion of interest and 
 enterprise. 
 
 At last the elephants all drew up their trunks into the air, 
 began to roar, and to stamp violently with their fore feet, the 
 Raja’s little elephant turned short round, and in spite of all her 
 mohout could say or do, took up her post, to the Raja’s great 
 annoyance, close in the rear of Mr. Boulderson. The other 
 three (for one of my baggage elephants had come out too, the 
 mohout, though unarmed, not caring to miss the show) went on 
 slowly but boldly, with their trunks raised, their ears expanded, 
 and their sagacious little eyes bent intently forward. “We are 
 close upon him,” said Mr. Boulderson, “ fire where you see the 
 long grass shake, if he rises before you.” — Just at that moment 
 my elephant stamped again violently. “ There, there,” cried the 
 mohout, “ I saw his head !” A short roar, or rather loud growl, 
 followed, and I saw immediately before my elephant’s head the 
 motion of some large animal stealing away through the grass. I 
 fired as directed, and, a moment after, seeing the motion still 
 more plainly, fired the second barrel. Another short growl fol- 
 lowed, the motion was immediately quickened, and was soon lost 
 in the more distant jungle. Mr. Boulderson said, “ I should not 
 wonder if you hit him that last time ; at any rate we shall drive 
 him out of the cover, and then I will take care of him.” In fact, 
 at that moment, the crowd of horse and foot spectators at the 
 jungle side, began to run off in all directions. We went on to 
 the place, but found it was a false alarm, and, in fact, we had 
 seen all we were to see of him, and went twice more through 
 the jungle in vain. A large extent of high grass stretched out in 
 one direction, and this we had now not suffigent day-light to 
 explore. In fact, that the animal so near me was a tiger at all, 
 I have no evidence but its growl, Mr. Boulderson’s belief, the 
 assertion of the mohout, and what is perhaps more valuable than 
 all the rest, the alarm expressed by the elephants. 1 could not 
 
TIGER HUNT. 
 
 381 
 
 help feeling some apprehension that my firing had robbed Mr. 
 Boulderson of his shot, but he assured me that 1 was quite in 
 rule; that in such sport no courtesies could be observed, and 
 that the animal in fact rose before me, but that he should him- 
 self have fired without scruple if he had seen the rustle of the 
 grass in time. Thus ended my first, and probably my last essay, 
 in the “field-sports” of India, in which I am much mistaken, 
 notwithstanding what Mr. Boulderson said, if I harmed any living 
 creature. 
 
 I asked Mr. Boulderson, in our return, whether tiger hunting 
 was generally of this kindj which I could not help comparing to 
 that chase of bubbles which enables us in England to pursue an 
 otter. In a jungle, he answered, it must always be pretty much 
 the same, inasmuch as, except under very peculiar circumstances, 
 or when a tiger felt himself severely wounded, and was roused 
 to revenge by despair^ his aim was to remain concealed, and to 
 make off as quietly as possible. It was after he had broken cover, 
 or when he found himself in a situation so as to be fairly at bay, 
 that the serious part of the sport began, in which case he attacked 
 his enemies boldly, and always died fighting. He added, that 
 the lion, though not so large or swift an animal as the tiger, was 
 generally stronger and more courageous. Those which have been 
 killed in India, instead of running away when pursued through a 
 Jungle, seldom seem to think its cover necessary at all. When 
 they see their enemies approaching, they spring out to meet 
 them, open-mouthed, in the plain, like the boldest of all animals, 
 a mastiff dog. They are thus generally shot with very little 
 trouble, but if they are missed or only slightly wounded, they are 
 truly formidable enemies. Though not swift, they leap with vast 
 strength and violence, and their large heads, immense paws, and 
 the great weight of their body forwards, often enable them to 
 spring on the head of the largest elephants, and fairly pull them 
 down to the ground, riders and all.* When a tiger springs on an 
 elephant, the latter is generally able to shake him off under his 
 feet, and then wo be to him ! The elephant either kneels on him 
 and crushes him at once, or gives him a kick which breaks half 
 his ribs, and sends him flying perhaps twenty paces. The ele- 
 phants, however, are often dreadfully torn, and a large old tiger 
 sometimes clings too fast to be thus dealt with. In this case, it 
 often happens that the elephant himself falls, from pain or from 
 the hope of rolling on his enemy, and the people on his back are 
 in very considerable danger both from friends and foes, for Mr. 
 Boulderson said the scratch of a tiger was sometimes venomous, 
 as that of a cat is said to be. But this did not often happen, and 
 in general persons wounded by his teeth or claws, if not killed 
 outright, recovered easily enough. 
 
382 
 
 MARCH TO RUDERPOOR. 
 
 J^ov ember 21 . — -Our road to-day was, though intersected by 
 two or three water courses, rather less rugged than the day be- 
 fore. The country, however, is dismal enough, leaving every 
 where the marks of having been cultivated at no distant period, 
 but now almost all overgrown with a rank vegetation of a dusky, 
 poisonous-looking plant, something like nightshade, and tall jun- 
 gle-grass, often considerably higher than the head of a man on 
 horseback, through which we pushed our way like Gulliver in the 
 Patagonian corn-field. At last w^e emerged on a somewhat higher 
 and drier ground, where were some of the largest peepul-trees I 
 ever saw, but still offering a wild and dismal shade choked up 
 below with the vile underw’ood which I have mentioned, and a 
 narrow and boggy path winding through it. On the other side 
 we found ourselves among ill-cultivated rice-fields, beyond w^hich 
 was a magnificent range of mangoe-topes, and some tombs and 
 temples peeping out from among them. On my expressing some 
 surprise to see these appearances of wealth and splendour at 
 Ruderpoor, Mr. Boulderson observed that I should soon change 
 my opinion. 
 
 We found, in fact, on drawing nearer, all the usual marks of a 
 diminished and sickly population, a pestilential climate, and an 
 over-luxuriant soil. The tombs and temples were all ruins, the 
 houses of the present inhabitants some two or three score of 
 wretched huts, such as even the gipsies of the open country 
 would hardly shelter in; the people sate huddled together at their 
 doors, wrapped in their black blankets, and cowering round little 
 fires, with pale faces and emaciated limbs, while the groves which 
 looked so beautiful at a distance, instead of offering, as mangoe- 
 topes do in well-peopled and cultivated spots, a fine open shade 
 with a dry turf and fresh breeze beneath it, were all choked up 
 with jungle and nightshade like the peepul-trees we had lately 
 passed amongst. Mr. Boulderson said that every time he had 
 been here before, he had found tigers in these topes, and that he 
 wmuld have now sent an elephant or two through the bushes by 
 way of precaution, had he not known, from the testimony of the 
 Raja Gourman Singh, that there was no other in the neighbour- 
 hood but that which we had pursued the day before, and which 
 was four or five miles off. 
 
 With all this Ruderpoor is a very striking, and, in many 
 respects, a beautiful spot. The soil is evidently of an exuberant 
 richness. The grass far overtopped the miserable houses ; the 
 few slovenly fields of wheat and “ badgerow,” a kind of maize, 
 were uncommonly strong, flourishing, and luxuriant. The plan- 
 tains in the gardens were the tallest’ and broadest I had ever seen, 
 and the castor oil plant, the prickly pear, and the aloe, formed 
 thickets of impenetrable solidity. A bright and rippling stream. 
 
RUDERPOOR. 
 
 383 
 
 which I should never have suspected of yielding unwholesome 
 water, ran round the village ; and our tents were pitched on a 
 grassy lawn, eaten down by cattle, and therefore not trouhlesomely 
 high, under the shade of some enormous old mangoe trees, and 
 commanding a very advantageous view of the mountains, of which, 
 however, the nearer ranges were now all which were visible. 
 Here again we found the village magistrate ill of fever and ague, 
 too ill indeed to come out to meet us. The second in authority, 
 who brought his apology and nuzzur, said, however, that no new 
 fevers were likely to be contracted now, the cold season having 
 set in, and the people having begun to go out to burn the jungles. 
 After breakfast I read prayers with Mr. Boulderson and Abdullah ; 
 and when the day grew warm, the head man of the village ven- 
 tured out to call on me, and beg for some medicine. He was a 
 decent-looking man, very neatly and cleanly dressed, but looking » 
 grievously ill, and I felt very sorry that I had so little skill to help 
 him. His fever had been on him some time, and he had hot and 
 cold fits every alternate day, but both increased at each return in 
 violence and duration. I made him sit down, which he was very 
 unwilling to do, though quite unfit to stand, and he told me his 
 ‘ case very clearly and intelligently. His hot fit was then on him, 
 his pulse high, and his tongue white, with a little mixture of 
 yellow. No saffron could be yellower than his skin. I would 
 have given him an emetic, but was afraid, and judged beside that 
 his complaint had been too long on him to receive benefit from 
 it.^ 1 therefore gave him some calomel pills, bidding him take 
 two as soon as he got home, and one or two every day the fever 
 returned, giving him, for the intermitting days, a bottle of decoc- 
 tion of gentian, having scarcely any bark by me. Nothing could 
 he more grateful than he seemed ; and I am sure that, if faith in 
 a remedy is likely to contribute to its efficacy, that requisite at 
 ^ least was not wanting in him. Mr. Boulderson afterwards told 
 me that gentian was an usual and valuable medicine in the malaria 
 fever. 
 
 We walked about a little in the afternoon, and finished our day 
 with evening prayers. 
 
 November 22. — The march between Ruderpoor and Bamoury 
 is not one which can with propriety be made by night, and we 
 therefore kept our tents and people quiet till four o’clock in the 
 morning, when they all, as I then supposed, set off in admirable 
 military order, with advanced and rear guard, and main body, 
 the venerable soubahdar on his little pony in the centre. Mr. 
 Boulderson could not conveniently march so soon, and, on my 
 tent being pulled down, I went to one of his, which he meant to 
 leave at Ruderpoor to await his return, and read and wrote till 
 he was ready for breakfast at half past seven; at eight we ourselves 
 
384 
 
 ROUTE TO BAMOURY. 
 
 started on our elephants, and under the shade of chattahs which 
 protected us quite sufficiently from the sun. In fact, on an ele- 
 phant’s back a traveller is so well raised above the reflected heat 
 of the plain, and gets so much of whatever breeze is stirring, that, 
 at this time of the year and in these latitudes, I should care little 
 for the sun even at the hottest time of the day. 
 
 Our road lay along an elevated causeway across an open 
 marshy plain, with many marks of former cultivation, but all now 
 neglected except as pasture. Just as we were setting out, the 
 Raja Gourman Singh joined us on his little elephant, with a small 
 train of suwarrs and peons armed with matchlocks, and bringing 
 with him a brace of florikens, which he had shot the previous day. 
 I had never seen the bird before ; it is something larger than a 
 black-cock, with brown and black plumage, and evidently of the 
 bustard species. We thus went on about five miles, when to my 
 great vexation, I found the mules, which I supposed were half 
 way to Bamoury, grazing by the road side, and the muleteers 
 sitting huddled up in their blankets ; I found that, out of pure 
 laziness, and not liking to set off so soon as four o’clock, these 
 people, who were encamped a little separate from the rest, had 
 eluded Abdullah’s vigilance, and had not set off with the cofila ; * 
 that one of the mules had broken his girth at the spot where I 
 found them, and that, on the pretence that they were unable to 
 mend it, they had thus stopped short, in about as bad a place as 
 they could have selected. My mohout undertook to mend ijie 
 girth, which operation indeed was only that of tying a fresh knot 
 on a piece of rope, and I scolded them on as well as I could, in 
 which the mohout joined me, asking them if they meant to remain 
 all night in the forest. They evidently heartily disliked the 
 journey on which they were going, and one of their original 
 number had deserted two nights before. I had, however, no 
 disposable attendants to leave to force them on, and I did not 
 think that they would either venture to desert their mules in the 
 forest, or remain there all night themselves, and trusted to their 
 fear of tigers as a sufficient motive for their following me as closely 
 as possible. They again dropped behind, however, before we 
 reached Tandah, and only two out of four men, and seven out of 
 twelve mules, made their appearance at night at Bamoury. 
 
 About six miles from Ruderpoor the plain became wilder and 
 more forest-like. The grass on either side of the road was almost 
 as high as my elephant, with beautiful white silky tufts. A great 
 many scraggy trees were scattered on either side, whose branches 
 and trunks showed the marks of the yearly conflagration with 
 which the cowmen prepare the pasture for their cattle. The 
 jungle in this place was still too green to burn; but we saw some 
 smoke rising in different places before us, and Mr. Boulderson 
 
TANDAH. 
 
 385 
 
 observed that it was fortunate that the fires were apparently all 
 on the leeward side of the road. The last time he passed the 
 forest, he and his brother had been in considerable danger from 
 the flames, and were obliged to put their elephants to a full gallop, 
 and cross a deep and difficult nullah to avoid them. The process, 
 however, full as much as the cool season, by admitting a free 
 current of air between the trees, contributes to make the forest 
 healthy, and when the young grass has sprung up, and the 
 scorched trees have recovered their leaves, many beautiful glades, 
 Mr. Boulderson said, open on both sides, and the ride is both 
 picturesque and pleasant. As it was, I own, I saw nothing ap- 
 palling or menacing in the “ valley of death.” The grass was 
 high and the jungle thick, so, thick that it was sometimes with 
 difficulty that, even on the raised causeway, we could force our 
 way through it; but there was nothing of that dark, dank, deadly- 
 looking vegetation which we had seen at Ruderpoor; and the 
 majestic trees which from time to time towered over the under- 
 wood, the songs of the birds, and the noble hills to which we were 
 approaching, made me think I had passed very many days in India 
 more unpleasantly. 
 
 Tandah is a small place, from which the woods are cleared, 
 now quite overgrown with long grass, with a little brook winding 
 close to the road, and a hut for a police establishment, which, 1 
 know not why, but at a great expense of human life, is kept up 
 here. This is the only place where water is to be found, till 
 travellers are close on Bamoury. Half way between the two. 
 Government some years since endeavoured to sink a well. They 
 expended a good deal of money, and a sad number of lives, both 
 of natives and superintendents, and after all found no water; 
 though if the workmen had had the wit to dig a small channel for 
 the water from the hills, the object might have been answered 
 cheaply and effectually. As it is, it is something strange that the 
 high road to Almorah has been made, at a great expense, to run 
 this way at all. It is, indeed, some little shorter than either of 
 the other two, by Lolioo Ghat and Chilkeah, and the way over 
 the hills is shorter and more easy. But then Chilkeah is free, in 
 comparison, from malaria ; and the belt of forest so narrow in 
 that direction, that a safe communication might be secured at all 
 times of the year. For this and other reasons I made up my mind 
 to return from Almorah that way. 
 
 At Tandah, Mr. Boulderson had posted his gig, with a fresh 
 horse, further on, about half way through the forest. I accom- 
 panied him, and found the road better than I expected, though 
 we had several delays from broken bridges, thick jungle, &c. and 
 were often obliged to walk some little distance. The day was 
 cloudy and the breeze cool, so that we did not in the least suffer 
 
 VoL. I. — 49 
 
386 
 
 INHABITANTS OF KEMAOON. 
 
 from the heat ; but it was curious to see how carefully my com- 
 panion on such occasions kept his gun, loaded with ball, in his 
 hand. This caution was particularly observable soon after a 
 jackall had crossed our path. The jackall, Mr. Boulderson ob- 
 served, is certainly not, as is said, the provider for large animals, 
 who want no assistance in finding and killing their game. But 
 wherever a tiger is, the jackall and the vultures usually follow 
 him, and pick the bones which the lordly savage leaves behind. 
 They do not, however, venture to do this till he has fairly left the 
 place'; and if hunters or travellers find the carcass of a bullock 
 or deer with the vultures and jackalls feeding, they know that the 
 tyrant has withdrawn : while if the smaller animals are looking 
 round and round, as if desiring, yet afraid to draw near, they 
 prepare themselves immediately for flight, or to encounter a for- 
 midable enemy. We, however, saw nothing of the kind, but had 
 a peaceable and pleasant journey till we came to a tract where 
 the fires had already been active, where little huts and herds of 
 diminutive cattle were seen peeping out under the trees, and we 
 overtook the rear-guard of our caravan, who told us we were near 
 Bamoury. 
 
 The population which we saw were Khasya, or inhabitants of 
 Kemaoon, who yearly come down, after the unwholesome time is 
 over, to graze their cattle and cultivate the best and driest spots 
 of the forest with barley and wheat, which they reap and carry 
 back with them before April is far advanced, when they return 
 to reap the similar, but somewhat later crops, which they had 
 sown before they left their own country. At the same time they 
 obtain an opportunity of disposing of their honey and other com- 
 modities of the hills, and buying different little luxuries with which 
 the plains only, and the more civilized parts of Hindostan, can 
 supply them. Many of them were close by the way-side, very 
 dark and meagre people, but strongly and neatly made, and not 
 so diminutive as the inhabitants of such mountains generally are. 
 They were all wrapped up in the long black blankets of their 
 marshland neighbours, but very few of them had arms. Mr. 
 Boulderson said they merely carried them against tigers, for there 
 was scarcely a more peaceable or honest race in the world. 
 
 We now passed a rapid and gravelly brook of beautiful water, 
 overhung by shady trees, with Khasya tents all round it, by which 
 the main body of our caravan had halted to repose and drink. 
 We pushed on, however, and soon began to rise up a gentle ascent, 
 into the gorge of a delightful valley, with woody mountains on 
 either side, and a considerable river running through it, dashing 
 over a rocky bottom with great noise and violence. 
 
 A little above this beautiful stream, some miserable pucka sheds 
 pointed out the Company’s warehouses and police establishment; 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY TO ALMORAH. 387 
 
 and a sentry in a green uniform, who presented arms as we came 
 up, and a daroga who could hardly speak Hiiidoostanee, showed 
 us that we were already in a new land, and within the limits of 
 the Himalaya. There is a very small and uncomfortable room 
 adjoining the warehouse, which is usually occupied by travellers. 
 Here we took shelter, till our tents were pitched, and the view 
 was so beautiful as they rose, one after the other, in the green 
 but stony meadow beneath, that I was some time in recollecting 
 that I had many things to do ; and that no time was to be lost in 
 preparing for a journey under very different circumstances from 
 those in which I had yet travelled. I found two chuprassees with 
 letters from Mr. Traill and Mr. Adam at Almorah ; the former 
 saying that he had sent down his own pony for my use, together 
 with twenty-one coolies from Almorah, being convinced that I 
 should want nearly that number for the conveyance of my own 
 baggage and that of my people. He added that two new hill- 
 tents, which he had ordered for himself, were now on their road 
 upwards, and that he had halted them at Bamoury in the idea 
 that they might be serviceable to me. 
 
 Mr. Adam spoke of his own bad health which had obliged him 
 to remove from Almorah to Havelbagh ; and said that though he 
 could not be present to receive me, 1 should find his house at the 
 former place ready. While I was reading these letters, the daroga 
 returned with a pretty little boy, his son; they brought two plates 
 of beautiful pomegranates and lemons, with a pot of honey and 
 another of milk, as a present. For the three first of these the 
 lower range of mountains is celebrated. The fourth is, as we 
 afterwards found, a scarce article in this country, and therefore 
 proportionably valued. 1 received them with thanks, as indeed 
 they were all very acceptable, and took an opportunity, shortly 
 after, of giving the little boy a rupee, as a civiller method of 
 making a return, than giving it immediately to the father. To 
 my surprise, the child blushed exceedingly, and said he was 
 ashamed to take it, and that the things were not worth so much. 
 This was very unlike a young Bengalee; however, on my telling 
 him it was not as payment, but out of good-will, and for him to 
 buy “ metai,” sweetmeats, with, his countenance brightened up, 
 he pressed it to his forehead and packed it up carefully in the 
 folds of his girdle. He spoke Hindoostanee hesitatingly, and like 
 a foreign language, but I understood him very well. On going 
 down to the tents I got packed up the things which I was most 
 likely to want for my journey, in the bullock-trunks and the square 
 petarrahs, to be carried by three mules ; another mule was re- 
 quired for the kitchen-furniture, and three more were necessary, 
 that the servants whom 1 took with me might ride in turns. Our 
 seven mules, the remaining five not being heard of, were thus 
 
388 
 
 KEMAOON. 
 
 accounted for. My bed was found, not too heavy for six of the 
 hill-coolies, (bearers from the plain being ascertained to be nearly 
 useless). One man carried my writing-desk ; another two chairs 
 and the physic chest; two had each a basket of provisions and 
 crockery ; two carried a leaf of the folding-table ; six the baggage 
 of the sepoys ; and the remainder were erhployed as muleteers, 
 &:c. Sepoys were not absolutely necessary, but as 1 had them, I 
 thought I might as well take some ; and I directed the soubahdar 
 to inquire what men would volunteer for this service, on which 
 ten privates, a havildar and a naick, two officers answering to our 
 Serjeant and corporal, very readily came forward. The rest of 
 the party I had intended to leave at Bamoury till my return. It 
 appeared, however, that there was no forage for the elephants or 
 camels, the trees which grew in the neighbourhood being all of a 
 kind which they will not eat. This, with the circumstances which 
 I have already mentioned, and the desire to see something more 
 of Kemaoon, determined me to send them to Chilkeah,and I gave 
 directions accordingly. Here, however, a new difficulty arose. 
 The mules which had been described to me as furnished with 
 every requisite for a journey, had neither bridles nor saddles of 
 a proper kind for travelling in a string, or bearing considerable 
 weights. Nor had any body, except Abdullah, ever seen the sort 
 of pannel which was necessary. He lost no time, but sate dowm 
 with a large packing-needle and twine, and, in less than an hour, 
 made out of some of the camel furniture a serviceable saddle and 
 bridle, such as are used in Persia. The camel drivers set to work 
 in imitation, and by night all the seven mules were equipped and 
 ready to be loaded next piorning. While these things were going 
 on, the daroga’s little boy, who had been watching us attentively, 
 came up, and, with joined hands, asked me to take him with me 
 as my servant. I told him I was going a long, long journey, over 
 mountains, and through jungles, and beyond the sea, and that he 
 would be sadly tired; on which he blushed and said “ he was sure 
 he should not ;” I was pleased with his intelligent countenance 
 and manner, and wished that I could have taken him with me and 
 brought him up a Christian. But these people are Rajpoots of 
 very high caste, so that his father would, certainly, have stipulated 
 that his caste should be respected; and above ail, I had really no 
 means, without great inconvenience, of carrying a child of that age 
 in such a journey as I was engaged in. I therefore told him, in 
 as good-natured a way as I could, that he had better stay with his 
 father ; and the little fellow went away very gravely, and appa- 
 rently disappointed. Mr. Boulderson, meantime, had taken his 
 fishing-rod down to the river, and now returned with some, not 
 large, but very beautiful trout, in all respects like those of our own 
 country. These formed an agreeable accession to our dinner ; 
 
SEPOYS— PASSAGE OF THE HIMALAYA. 389 
 
 and the cool mountain breeze, the rustling of the forest, and the 
 incessant roar of the rapid stream, made me feel as if I were in 
 Europe again ; and I again longed exceedingly for her, who of all 
 others of my acquaintance would most have enjoyed our present 
 situation. Mr. Boulderson made me here a present of two sheep, 
 one of which I gave to the sepoys for a feast after their long march. 
 The other was required for the mountains, where, except game, 
 meat of any kind is seldom to be obtained. With soldiers of all 
 countries, these little attentions go a great way, but with sepoys 
 I think more than with any others. General Vanrenen told me 
 that by harshness they were immediately discouraged, but that by 
 speaking to them kindly, and showing a regard to their comforts, 
 there was no exertion which they might not be induced to make 
 with cheerfulness. I, certainly, have not given them extraordinary 
 trouble in general, but a twenty-five mile march in this climate is 
 enough to try a soldier’s temper; and the cheerfulness with w^hich 
 they all answered my inquiries as 1 overtook them on the road, 
 the readiness with which they turned out to go up the hills with 
 me, and other little circumstances, have made me hope that I am 
 by no means an unpopular person with them. 
 
 J^ovember 23. — This morning I mounted Mr. Traill’s pony, 
 a stout shaggy little white animal, whose birth-place might have 
 been in Wales, instead of the Himalaya. Mr. Boulderson w^as 
 on a similar one which he had brought from the hills some years 
 before. He was equipped for the journey with a long spear, had 
 his gun, a double-barrelled one, loaded with ball and shot, carried 
 close to him, and two men with matchlocks who seemed his usual 
 attendants. By his advice I had my pistols, and he also lent me 
 a double-barrelled gun, saying, we might see tigers. After a good 
 deal of trouble in getting the mules and coolies started, we pro- 
 • ceeded on our journey as it began to dawn, a night march being 
 not very safe amid these mountains, and the beauty of the scenery 
 being of itself a sufficient motive to see all which w^as to be seen. 
 The road was, certainly, sufficiently steep and rugged, and, par- 
 ticularly when intersected by torrents,- 1 do not think it was 
 passable by horses accustomed only to the plain. I was myself 
 surprised to see how dexterously our ponies picked their w^ay 
 over large rolling pebbles and broken fragments of rock, how 
 firmly they planted their feet, and with how little distress they 
 conquered some of the steepest ascents I ever climbed. The 
 country, as we advanced, became exceedingly beautiful and 
 romantic. It reminded me most of Norway, but had tile advan- 
 tage of round-topped trees, instead of the unvaried spear-like 
 outline of the pine. It would have been like some parts of 
 Wales, had not the hills and precipices been much higher, and 
 * the vallies, or rather delis, narrower and more savage. We could 
 
390 
 
 BEEMTHAL. 
 
 seldom, from the range on which the road ran, see to the bottom 
 of any of them, and only heard the roar and rush of the river 
 which we had left, and which the torrents which foamed across 
 our path were hastening to join. 
 
 We saw several interesting plants and animals ; Mr. Boulder- 
 son shot two black and purple pheasants, and a jungle hen ; we 
 saw some beautiful little white monkeys, called by the people 
 “ Gounee,” gamboling on the trees ; and heard, which, perhaps, 
 pleased me most of all, the notes of an English thrush. The 
 bird, however, though Mr. Boulderson said it is of the thrush 
 kind, is black. For a short distance the vegetation did not differ 
 materially from that of the plains. The first peculiarities I saw 
 were some nettles of very great size, and some magnificent 
 creepers, which hung their wild cordage, as thick as a ship’s 
 cable and covered with broad bright leaves, from tree to tree 
 over our heads. After about an hour and a half’s ascent, Mr. 
 Boulderson pointed out to me some dog-rose trees, and a number 
 of raspberry bushes, with here and there a small but not very 
 thriving ever-green oak. We soon after saw a good many cherry- 
 trees, of the common wild English sort, in full blossom ; and as 
 we turned down a steep descent to Beemthal, we passed under 
 some pear-trees with the fruit already set, and a wild thicket, I 
 will not call it jungle, of raspberry and bilberry bushes on either 
 side of our path. W e had sufficient proof during our ride, that 
 the country, wild as it is, is not uninhabited. We met two or 
 three companies of Khasya peasantry going down to their annual 
 cultivation in the forest. The men were all middle-sized, slender, 
 and active, of not dark complexions, but very poorly and scantily 
 dressed. All were unarmed excepting with large sticks. The 
 women might have been good-looking if they had been less sun- 
 burnt and toil-worn, or if their noses and ears had not been so 
 much enlarged by the weight of the mettle rings with which they 
 were ornamented. Their dress was a coarse cloth wrapped round 
 their waist, with a black blanket over the head and shoulders. 
 All had silver bracelets, and anklets apparently of silver also, a 
 circumstance which, to an European eye, contrasted singularly 
 with the exceeding poverty of their general appearance. 
 
 Their industry seems very great. In every part wffiere the 
 declivity was less steep, so as to admit a plough or a spade, we 
 found little plots of ground, sometimes only four feet wide, and 
 ten or twelve long, in careful and neat cultivation. Some of these 
 were ranged in little terraces, one above the other, supported by 
 walls of loose stones ; and these evidences of industry and popu- 
 lation were the more striking, because we literally did not pass 
 a single habitation ; and even at Beemthal, besides the Company’s 
 guard-room and warehouses, only one miserable hut was visible. 
 
BEEMTHAL. 
 
 391 
 
 Beemthal is, however, a very beautiful place. It is a little moun- 
 tain valley, surrounded on three sides by woody hills, and on the 
 fourth by a tract of green meadow, with a fine lake of clear 
 water. A small and very rude pagoda of gray stone, with a coarse 
 slate roof, under some fine peepul-trees, looked like a little 
 church ; and the whole scene, except that the hills were higher, 
 so strongly reminded me of Wales, that I felt my heart beat as I 
 entered it. As we alighted, a man came up with another basket 
 of fine trout ; and after a good deal of brushing and patching, we 
 succeeded (no very easy task) in making the ruinous apartment 
 appropriated for travellers look reasonably decent and comfort- 
 able. It was in the first instance more like “ lonesome lodge,” 
 in the old ballad of “ The Heir of Lynne,” than any thing which 
 I have seen. It was a single small room, with a clay floor, two 
 windows without glass, the shutters broken to pieces, and a roof 
 of unhewn rafters of fir, with the bark laid between them. There 
 was a fire-place, however, and some remains of a grate, a pros- 
 pect the more agreeable, inasmuch as even now, though nearly 
 the hottest part of the day, we found the sun by no means 
 unpleasant, and walked up and down in our cloth coats and 
 worsted stockings, as if we had been in England. Beemthal is, 
 indeed, 3200 feet above the level of the sea, and 2700 above the 
 plain of Rohilcund. Yet even now. Mount Gaughur, which 
 closed our present prospect, was 5400 feet higher than we were ; 
 and, if we had been on Mount Gaughur, we should have seen 
 peaks of 16,000 feet above us still ! 
 
 We passed a very cheerful and pleasant evening, round our 
 blazing hearth, and, by help of blankets and great-coats, found 
 our beds extremely comfortable. 
 
 J^ovember 24. — Mr. Boulderson left me this morning, and 1 
 believe we parted with mutual regret ; his pursuits and amuse- 
 ments were certainly very different from mine, but I found in 
 him a fine temper and an active mind, full of information re- 
 specting the country, animals, and people, among whom he had 
 passed several years ; and on the whole I do not think I have 
 acquired so much of this kind of knowledge in so short a time 
 from any person whom 1 have met with in India. I myself 
 remained at Beemthal this day, partly to rest my people after 
 their two severe marches, partly to see another lake or “ Thai” 
 at a short distance, which was said to be finer than that before 
 me. 
 
 I set off as soon as Mr. Boulderson had left me, about six 
 o’clock in the morning, on the white pony, with a Khasyah 
 guide, Mr. Traill’s saees, and two sepoys, who had for some time 
 shown on all occasions a great zeal to accompany me. One of 
 
392 
 
 WATER-MILL. 
 
 these is the man who got leave to see his brother. The other is 
 a brahmin, a very decent, middle-aged man, one of the number 
 who was sick in Oude. He is fond of telling me stories of his 
 campaigns, which he says have many of them been among moun- 
 tains in Malwah and Bundlecund. He owns, however, that the 
 mountains here are larger than any which he has yet visited ; 
 even respecting these I found him not ill-informed, both as to 
 the holy places situated among them, Bhadrinath, Gungootree, 
 &c., the situation of the source of the Ganges, which he cor- 
 rectly stated, in answer to a question which I put to try him, to 
 be on this side of the snowy mountains, and the scenes where 
 battles were fought during the Gorkhali war. The other soldier 
 had not much to say, but was exceedingly civil and willing to 
 oblige, and had a pair of the longest and most nimble legs and 
 the strongest arms I have seen. The latter were of some use to 
 me this morning, our stupid gude having led me along a path so 
 narrow, that Mr. Traill’s pony had neither room to turn nor to 
 advance with me on his back, nor could I conveniently dismount, 
 having one knee pressed against a steep bank, and the oppposite 
 foot hanging over the rocky edge of a brook, some ten feet high. 
 I had nothing for it but to climb the bank, and in so doing I found 
 a most valuable support in this man’s arm, while nothing could 
 exceed his zeal in the cause. The pony still could not advance 
 till his holsters were taken off, and to avoid such risks in future, 
 
 I told the long-legged sepoy to go on next to the guide, and give 
 warning if we were coming to a place where the horse could not 
 pass. The path lay along a very elevated valley, nearly bare of 
 trees, but cultivated with a most persevering industry, almost to 
 the mountain’s top. The bleak appearance of the place, its 
 general features, its strong soil, and the extent of agriculture, a 
 good deal reminded me of that part of Llanarmon which is near 
 the “ Tavern Dwrck.” I passed no village, nor more than one 
 house. This last, however, was very interesting, being a water- 
 mill with an overshot wheel, w^hich is supplied by the brook 
 where I so narrowly missed a tumble. The mill, though ex- 
 ceedingly rude, was of the same sort as in other countries, but 
 was the tiniest specimen I ever saw. The stones were not larger 
 than would serve a reasonable hand-mill ; the building so small 
 that nobody could enter but on their hands and knees ; and the 
 sacks of corn and flour disposed about the door, were all on the 
 same Lilliputian scale. The lake which I went to see, the name 
 of which is Nongungee, disappointed me. It is a very pretty, 
 secluded mountain tarn, with some rock and wood around it, 
 and its surface covered with fine water-lilies, but neither so large 
 nor so beautiful as Beemthal. I was glad, however, that f had 
 
KHASYAHS. 
 
 393 
 
 come, and returning a different way, had a very fine view of the 
 other side of this secluded valley, which is more rugged and woody 
 than that on which I had been hitherto looking. 
 
 The Khasyah nation pretend to be all Rajpoots of the highest 
 caste, and very scrupulous in their eating and drinking. They 
 will not even sell one of their little mountain cows to a stranger, 
 unless he will swear that he neither will kill it himself, nor trans- 
 fer it to any body else in order to be killed : and as these cows 
 give very little milk, and as their abhorrence of feathers leads 
 the cottagers to keep no poultry, a stranger passing through their 
 country, who cannot kill his own game, or who has not such a 
 friend as Mr. Boulderson to do it for him, stands a bad chance of 
 obtaining any supplies, except very coarse black bread and water, 
 with perhaps a little honey. They are a modest, gentle, respect- 
 ful people, honest in their dealings, and as remarkable for their 
 love of truth as the Puharrees of Rajmahal and Boglipoor. As 
 their language is different from that of Hindustan, I was anxious 
 to know whether it resembled that of these other mountaineers, 
 but found that a party who, on one occasion, accompanied Mr. 
 Traill to Bengal were unintelligible to the southern Puharree. 
 Indeed their real or pretended Rajpoot descent would, of itself, 
 prove them to be a different race. Those who went with Mr. 
 Traill, I learned from Mr. Boulderson, who was also of the party, 
 took no notice whatever of the Rajmahal hills, even when passing 
 over them. Mr. Boulderson said, “ Are you not pleased to see 
 mountains again?” “ What mountains?” was the reply. “ These 
 mountains, to be sure,” returned he. “ They are not mountains, 
 they are play-things,” was their answer. In comparison with 
 their own they might, indeed, say so without affectation. 
 
 Kovemher 25. — ^This morning we began to pack by four o’clock, 
 but owing to the restiveness of the mules and the clumsiness of 
 the people, divers accidents occurred, the most serious of which 
 was the bursting of one of the petarrahs. At length we got off, 
 and after coasting the lake for one mile, went for about thirteen 
 more by a most steep and rugged road, over the neck of mount 
 Gaughur, through a succession of glens, forests, and views of the 
 most sublime and beautiful description. I never saw such pros- 
 pects before, and had formed no adequate idea of such. My 
 attention was completely strained, and my eyes filled with tears ; 
 every thing around was so wild and magnificent that man appeared 
 as nothing, and I felt myself as if climbing the steps of the altar 
 of God’s great temple. The trees, as we advanced, were in a 
 large proportion fir and cedar, but many were ilex, and to my 
 surprise I still saw, even in these Alpine tracts, many venerable 
 peepul trees, on which the white monkeys were playing their 
 gambols. A monkey is also found in these hills as large as a large 
 
 VoL. I. — 50 
 
394 
 
 MOUNT GAUGHUR. 
 
 dog, if my guides are to be believed. Tigers used to be very 
 common and mischievous, but since the English have frequented 
 the country are scarce, and in comparison very shy. There are 
 also many vv^olves and bears, and some chamois, two of which 
 passed near us. My sepoys wanted me to shoot one, and offered, 
 with my leave, to do so themselves, if I did not like the walk 
 which would be necessary. But my people would not have eaten 
 them. I myself was well supplied with provisions, and I did not 
 wish to destroy an innocent animal merely for the sake of looking 
 at it a little closer ; I therefore told them that it was not my cus- 
 tom to kill any thing which was not mischievous, and asked if 
 they would stand by me if we saw a tiger or a bear. They pro- 
 mised eagerly not to fail me, and I do not think they would have 
 broken their words. After winding up 
 
 “ A wild romantic chasm that slanted 
 Down the steep hill athwart a cedar cover, 
 
 A savage place, as holy and enchanted 
 As e’er beneath the waning moon was haunted 
 By woman wailing for her demon lover,” 
 
 we arrived at the gorge of the pass, in an indent between the two 
 principal summits of mount Gaughur, near 8,600 feet above the 
 sea. And now the snowy mountains, which had been so long 
 eclipsed, opened on us in full magnificence. To describe a. view 
 of this kind is only lost labour, and 1 found it nearly impossible 
 to take a sketch of it ; such as I was able to make I, however, 
 send with this packet. 
 
 Nundidevi was immediately opposite ; Kedar Nath was not 
 visible from our present situation, and Meru only seen as a very 
 distant single peak. The eastern mountains, however, for which 
 I have obtained no name, rose into great consequence, and were 
 very glorious objects as we wound down the hill on the other 
 side. The guides could only tell me that “ they were a great 
 way off, and bordered on the Chinese* empire.” They are, I 
 suppose, in Thibet. 
 
 Bbadrinath is a famous place of pilgrimage for the Hindoos. 
 The Khasya guide, however, said that the temple was consider- 
 ably on this side the snow, which last none but the deotas had 
 visited before the “ Sahib Log” (Europeans) came into the coun- 
 try. *Mr. Traill has ascended a considerable way up it. Almorah, 
 I was told, might be seen from hence ; the hill on which it stands, 
 they made me see, I believe, but I could not distinguish any 
 houses. On mount Gaughur 1 found the first ice which 1 have 
 come in contact with. The little streams on the northern side 
 of the hill had all a thin crust on them : and the hoar frost, in 
 one or two places, made the path so slippery that I thought it 
 
RAMGHUR. 
 
 395 
 
 best to dismount from the pony. Indeed, though the sun was 
 already high, arid I was warmly drest, a walk down the hill to 
 our halting-place at Ramghur, was by no means unpleasant. 
 
 Ramghur is a very small and poor village, the first which 1 
 had seen in Kemaoon, seated by a fine rapid stream in a narrow 
 winding valley, the sides of which, to a very great height, are 
 cultivated in narrow terraces, with persevering and obstinate 
 industry, though the soil is so stony that many of the little fields 
 more resemble the deposit of a torrent than an arable piece of 
 ground. The Company’s warehouse and guard-house stand at a 
 little height above the village ; and the head man of the place 
 came to meet me with some small trout, and, what to me were a 
 great rarity, some young potatoes. The view much reminded 
 me of Driostuen, in Norway ; and though the snowy mountains 
 were not visible, and though, except on mount Gaughur, there 
 was not much wood, the picture formed was exceedingly striking. 
 
 There was a castle at Ramghur during the time of the Gorkha 
 power, now dismantled and gone to decay. A good deal of iron 
 ore is also forind in the neighbourhood, which the inhabitants of 
 the small village were employed in washing from its grosser im- 
 purities, and fitting it to be transported to Almorah for smelting. 
 Why they do not smelt it on the spot I could not learn, since 
 there is wood enough on mount Gaughur. 
 
 1 walked to the village in the afternoon, and found Mr. Traill’s 
 chuprassee putting all the milch-goats which the poor people 
 possessed in requisition, to obtain some milk for my tea. The 
 goats were very reluctant, but a little was at length obtained, 
 which, much against the chuprassee’s will, I paid for, and also 
 gave a few pice to some of the children, which soon drew a 
 crowd after me. The houses, people, children, and animals, 
 showed marks of poverty. Almost all the children were naked, 
 and the grown persons, except their black blankets, had scarcely 
 a rag to cover them. The houses were ranged in a line, with a 
 row of still smaller huts opposite, which seemed to be for their 
 cattle, though in England they might have passed for very poor 
 pigsties. The houses, indeed, were little better, none of them 
 high enough to stand up in, the largest not more than ten feet 
 square, and the door, the only aperture, a square hole of about 
 four feet every way. The people were little and slender, but 
 apparently muscular and active ; their countenances intelligent 
 and remarkably mild, and one or two of their women were not 
 very far removed from pretty. This tribe of the Khasya nation, 
 the chuprassee told me, are decidedly of migratory habits, dividing 
 their time between the hills and the forest, according to the sea- 
 sons, and it was thus that he accounted for the miserable state of 
 their habitations. They very cheerfully and civilly showed me 
 
396 PASSAGE OF THE NEARER RANGE OF THE HIMALAYA. 
 
 the manner in which they washed the ore, which is done by 
 enclosing it in large wicker baskets, like those made to catch eels 
 in England, surrounded partially by a goat-skin, but with a hole 
 at the smaller extremity. This is placed under a stream of water 
 conveyed in the same manner, and within an almost similar hut 
 as the corn-mill, which I had seen the day before, and the earth 
 is thus washed away, leaving the iron behind. 
 
 Even here are numerous traces of the superstition of India. 
 We passed some rudely carved stones, with symbols of brahmini- 
 cal idolatry ; and three miserable-looking beggars, two brahmins, 
 and a viragee, came to ask alms, in a strange mixture between 
 Khasya and Hindoostanee. A traveller, wrapped in long cotton 
 cloths, with a long matchlock on his shoulder, a shield and sword 
 on his left side, on a pretty good horse, and attended by a ragged 
 saees carrying two petarrahs, passed us and went on to the vil- 
 lage. Abdullah said that he knew him by his dress to be a Sikh, 
 and that he had probably been in search of employment as a sol- 
 dier, either from the Raja of Kemaoon, the Gorkhas, or, perhaps, 
 the Chinese. He was a very picturesque figure, and curious as 
 a specimen of the irregular mercenary troops of India. 
 
 My own sepoys had a grievous quarrel with the “ Goomashta,” 
 or agent of the Company’s warehouse, and I was appeale'd to 
 loudly by both parties ; the soldiers calling on me as Ghureeb 
 purwar, — the Goomashta, not to be outdone, exclaiming, ‘‘ Donai 
 Lord Sahib ! Donai ! Raja.” I found that good flour, which sold 
 at Ruderpoor at thirty-eight seer for the rupee, was here at fifteen 
 seer only, and that the mixture which the man offered to the 
 soldiers was really so full of bran, and even chaff, as to be fit for 
 nothing but an elephajit. The man said, in reply, that he went 
 by the Company’s measure, and the regulation price ; that all 
 flour, except such as we saw, was scarce and dear in this part of 
 Kemaoon ; that he was allowed, in consequence of his situation, 
 to charge more ; and that the people and soldiery of the country 
 desired no better than that which he furnished. I terminated 
 the quarrel at last by paying the difference in price, amounting to 
 no more than one rupee, between the good and the bad, and all 
 sides were satisfied and thankful. 
 
 November — ^This morning we proceeded along a narrow 
 
 valley to a broken bridge over the torrent, so like, in scenery and 
 circumstances, to that called Alarm Brug, in Dovre in Norway, 
 that 1 could have almost fancied myself there. We forded the 
 stream without difficulty, though over a very rugged bed ; but, 
 during the rains, one of the chuprassees told me, a rope, which 
 I saw hanging loosely across the ruined arch, was to transport 
 the postman or any other passenger. He was seated in a basket 
 hung by a loop on this rope, and drawn over, backwards and 
 
PASSAGE OF THE NEARER RANGE OF THE HIMALAYA. 397 
 
 forwards, by two smaller ones fastened to the basket on each 
 side. This is an ingenious though simple method of conveyance, 
 which is practised also by the catchers of sea-fowl on many parts 
 of the coast of Norway ; it was the only way formerly in use of 
 passing torrents or chasms in these countries ; and the stone bridges 
 which the English have erected are very ill able to resist the 
 floods of the rainy season, which rush down these steep descents 
 with great violence and rapidity. Bridges on Mr. Shakespear’s 
 plan are best calculated for this country. 
 
 The snowy peaks had been concealed ever since we descended 
 Gaughur, but the country is still very sublime ; less woody, less 
 luxuriant than the southern side of thaEmountain, but still moulded 
 in the most majestic forms, and such as I hardly knew whether 
 to prefer or no, to the splendid scenery which I had passed. 
 The road is yet more rugged and steep than that over the Gaug- 
 hur, and the precipices higher ; or rather, perhaps, their height 
 is more seen, because the trees are fewer and more stunted, and 
 there is nothing to break the view from the brow to the very 
 bottom, with its roaring stream, and narrow shingly meadows. 
 
 I know not what is the reason or instinct which induces all ani- 
 mals accustomed to mountain travelling, such as mules, sheep, 
 black cattle, and such ponies as 1 was now riding, to go by 
 preference as near the edge as possible. I have often observed, 
 and been puzzled to account for it. The road is, indeed, smoother 
 and most beaten there, hut it has been this predilection of theirs, 
 which has, in the first instance, made it so. My present pony 
 had this preference very decidedly, and I often found him picking 
 his way along, what I should have thought, the extreme verge 
 of safety. I was satisfied, however, that he knew best, and 
 therefore let him take his own course, though my constant attend- 
 ants, the two sepoys, often called out to him, “ Ah, Pearl, (his 
 name,) go in the middle, do not go on the brink.” The fact is, 
 that though there is some fatigue there is no danger in any part 
 of the road, if a person is properly mounted and not nervous. 
 
 The long-legged sepoy, who is, I find, a brahmin, as well as 
 his comrade, is certainly an excellent walker; when I stopped, 
 as I made a point of doing from time to time, for my party and 
 my horse to take breath, he always said he was not tired ; and 
 he fairly beat the Kemaoon chuprassees, though natives of the 
 country. Both he and the elder man profess to like their journey 
 exceedingly ; and the latter was greatly delighted this morning, 
 when, on climbing a second mountain, we had a more extensive 
 and panoramic view of the icy range than we had seen before, 
 and the guides pointed out Meru ! “ That, my lord, (he cried 
 
 out,) is the greatest of all mountains ! out of that Gunga flows !” 
 The younger, who is not a man of many words, merely muttered 
 Ram ! Ram ! Ram ! 
 
398 PASSAGE OF THE NEARER RANGE OF THE HIMALAYA. 
 
 I had expected, from this hill, to see something like a table- 
 land or elevated plain, but found, instead, nothing but one range 
 of mountains after the other, quite as rugged, and, generally 
 speaking, more bare than those which we had left, till the horizon 
 was terminated by a vast range of ice and snow, extending its 
 battalion of white shining spears from east to west, as far as the 
 eye could follow it , the principal points rising like towers in the 
 glittering rampart, but all connected by a chain of humbler gla- 
 ciers. On one of the middle range of mountains before us, a 
 little lower than the rest, some white buildings appeared, and a 
 few trees, with a long zigzag road winding up the face of the 
 hill. 
 
 This, 1 was told, was the city and fortress of Almorah. The 
 other nearer features in the view were some extensive pine forests, 
 some scattered villages of rather better appearance than those 
 which we had left, and the same marks of industry in the suc- 
 cessive terraces by which all the lower parts of the hills are 
 intersected. These have by no means a bad effect in the land- 
 scape. The lines are too short and too irregular to have a formal 
 appearance ; the bushes and small trees which grow on their 
 brinks look at a little distance exactly like hedges ; and the low 
 stone walls, so far as they are discernible at all, seem natural 
 accompaniments to steeps so rugged and craggy. 
 
 The mountains which I passed in these stages were all, so far 
 as 1 saw, of limestone. There are, indeed, vast detached masses 
 of granite lying every where on the«ides of the hills, in the valleys 
 and the torrents ; and the peaks of the mountains, if I had climbed 
 up to them, would doubtless have proved of the same substance. 
 But limestone and coarse slate are the materials of which the 
 road and walls are made ; and the few cottages which 1 have 
 seen of a better appearance than the rest, (I passed two more 
 villages in this day’s march,) are built and roofed with the same 
 materials, as are also the Government warehouses. I saw^ many 
 European plants to-day. Cherry-trees were numerous. I ob- 
 served a good deal of honey-suckle and some hips and haws, and 
 one of the guides brought me a large handful of bilberries. I 
 saw, however, no ice; and, indeed, I had many opportunities of 
 observing, that, high as we had climbed in the course of the day, 
 we were not so high as when on the top of Gaughur. Nothing 
 could be finer than the climate. Though the sun was hot before 
 w^e got to our station, the distance being seven coss, it was not 
 unpleasant at any time of the day ; nor, though in the shade it was 
 certainly cold and chilly, was it more so than is usually felt in 
 England in the finest part of October. 
 
 My sepoys, who, as all water-drinkers are, are critics in the 
 beverage, praised exceedingly the purity and lightness of the 
 little streams which gushed across the road, Mr. Boulderson, 
 
PASSAGE OF THE NEARER RANGE OF THE HIMALAYA. 399 
 
 indeed, had told me that the Khasyas pride themselves much on 
 their springs, and have been known to refuse advantageous 
 situations in the plain, saying, “how can we get good water 
 there ?” This, however, does not seem to militate against their 
 annual emigration. All the villages which we passed were empty, 
 the people having gone to Bamoury for the winter. One or two 
 cottages, however, were still inhabited round the Company’s 
 post, the master of one of which, who, though dressed like a 
 common Khasya peasant, said he was the Zemindar of the dis- 
 trict, brought me some beautiful lemons and some young potatoes, 
 both the produce of his garden. Potatoes are much liked by the 
 mountaineers, and are becoming very common. They are, per- 
 haps, among the most valuable presents which they are likely to 
 receive from their new masters. 
 
 My attention here, as elsewhere, is never quite withdrawn 
 from missionary inquiries, but in these annual emigrations 1 see 
 a great hinderance to their reception of the Gospel, or the educa- 
 tion of their children. At Almorah, however, and in the other 
 towns, the case is, in some respects, different. 
 
 The Company’s post is a small bungalow, with a still smaller 
 guard-room, which latter could only accommodate the Naitch and 
 his party, whom we found in possession, while the stony soil all 
 around would not admit of our pitching the tents. The soldiers 
 and servants were, therefore, obliged to sleep in the open air. 
 
 During the afternoon, and soon after I had finished my early 
 dinner, a very fine cheerful old man, with staff and wallet, walked 
 up and took his place by one of the fires. He announced him- 
 self as a pilgrim to Bhadrinath, and said he had previously visited 
 a holy place in Lahore, whose name 1 could not make out, and 
 was last returned from Juggernath and Calcutta, whence he had 
 intended to visit the Burman territories, but was prevented by 
 the war. He was a native of Oude, but hoped, he said, before 
 he fixed himself again at home, to see Bombay and Poonah. I 
 asked him what made him undertake such long journeys ? He 
 said he had had a good and affectionate son, a havildar in the 
 Company’s service, who always sent him money, and had once 
 or twice come to see him. Two years back he died, and left 
 him sixteen gold mohurs; but since that time, he said, he could 
 settle to nothing, and at length he had determined to go to all 
 the most holy spots he had heard of, and travel over the world 
 till his melancholy legacy was exhausted. 1 told him I would 
 pay the goomashta for his dinner that day, on which he thanked 
 me, and said “so many great men had shown him the same kind- 
 ness, that he was not yet in want, and had never been obliged to 
 ask for any thing.” He was very curious to know who I was, 
 with so many guards and servants in such a place ; and the name 
 
400 
 
 PILGRIM. 
 
 of “ Lord Padre” was, as usual, a great puzzle to him. He gave 
 a very copious account of his travels, the greater part of which 
 I understood prett}' well, and he was much pleased by the 
 interest which I took in his adventures. He remarked that Hin- 
 dustan was the finest country and the most plentiful which he 
 had seen. Next to that he spoke well of Sinde, where he said 
 things were still cheaper, but the water not so good. Lahore, 
 Bengal, and Orissa, none of them were favourites, nor did he 
 speak well of Kemaoon. It might, for all he knew, he said, be 
 healthy, but what was that to him, who was never ill any where, 
 so be could get bread and water ? There was something flighty 
 in his manner, but on the whole he was a fine old pilgrim, and 
 one well suited to 
 
 “ Repay with many a tale the nightly bed.” 
 
 A nightly bed, indeed, I had not to offer him, but he had as com- 
 fortable a birth by the fire as the sepoys could make him, and I 
 heard his loud cheerful voice telling stories after his mess of 
 rice and ghee, till I myself dropped asleep. 
 
401 
 
 CHAPTER XVHI. 
 
 ALMORAH TO MEERUT. 
 
 TREES USED AS GALLOWS BHOOTEAHS KEMAOON SUBJECT TO EARTH- 
 QUAKES HAVELBAGH VEGETATION IN KEMAOON ANIMALS AND 
 
 BIRDS WILD DOGS VISITS FROM VAKEEL AND PUNDIT COLD AT 
 
 PRUNY POVERTY OF GHURWALI KOOSILLA RIVER DESCRIPTION OF 
 
 OKUL DOONGA PILLIBHEET RICE EMETIC PROPERTY OF WILD TEA 
 
 GHORKHA BOY^ MANNER OF CATCHING FISH CASAIPOOR WOMEN 
 
 SPINNING WHITE BUFFALO SUGAR MILL IMPERIAL TREE MORA- 
 
 DABAD MAKING ICE YOGIS AND TIGERS CANES SET ON FIRE BY 
 
 FRICTION PARTY OF SUPPOSED BIIEELS THUGS. 
 
 November 27. — As we had to climb the eastern side of so 
 steep a hill as that on which Almorah stands, I conceived that the 
 sun might possibly be troublesome, and started a little earlier 
 than I had done the two preceding days ; we descended into a 
 valley with a very rapid river, the Koosilla, running through it, 
 over a rugged and stony bottom. The abutments of a bridge 
 w^hich had, as usual, lost its arch, and had only its slack rope, 
 pointed out the place where we were to cross by rather a diffi- 
 cult ford. One of my followers, a poor Pariah dog, who had come 
 with us all the way from Bareilly for the sake of the scraps which 
 I had ordered the cook to give him, and by the sort of instinct 
 which most dogs possess, always attached himself to me as the 
 head of the party, was so alarmed at the blackness and roaring 
 of the water that he sate down on the brink and howled pitifully 
 when he saw me going over. When he found it was a hopeless 
 case, however, he mustered courage and followed. But on 
 reaching the other side, a new distress awaited him. One of my 
 faithful sepoys had lagged behind as w^ell as himself, and when 
 he found the usual number of my party not complete, he ran 
 back to the brow of the hill and howled, then hurried after me 
 as if afraid of being himself left behind, then back again to sum- 
 mon the loiterer, till the man came up, and he apprehended that 
 all was going on in its usual routine. It struck me forcibly to find 
 the same dog-like and amiable qualities in these neglected ani- 
 mals, as in their more fortunate brethren of Europe. The dog 
 had, before this, been rather a favourite with my party, and this 
 will, I think, establish him in their good graces. 
 
 We had two more toilsome ascents, and another deep and 
 black ford to pass before we reached the foot of the hill of 
 VoL. 1. — 51 
 
402 
 
 TREES USED AS GALLOWS. 
 
 Almorah. The town is approached by a very long and steep 
 zig-zag road, which a few resolute nien might defend against an 
 army. On seeing the impenetrable nature of this whole country, 
 one cannot help wondering how it ever should have been con- 
 quered. Its first subjection, however, by the Ghorkhas, was in con- 
 sequence of a disputed succession, and forwarded by the dissensions 
 of the people themselves. Its recent conquest by the British was 
 aided by the good-will of all the natives, whom the cruelty of their 
 masters had disposed to take part with any invader. The Khasyas 
 in every village lent their help, not only as guides, but in dragging 
 our guns up the hills, and giving every other assistance which 
 they could supply. 
 
 I was met by Mr. Traill about half a mile from the. town, 
 mounted on a little pony like that which he had sent me. We 
 rode together under a spreading toon-tree, so like an ash that I at 
 first mistook it for one. There are four of these trees in the four 
 approaches to the town, one or other of which is the usual gal- 
 lows, when, which happens rarely, a capital execution takes 
 place. Upder the Ghorkhas all four were kept in almost constant 
 employment. 1 have, indeed, had reason to find, from the con- 
 versation of my guides with Abdullah, that this province is one of 
 the parts of our Eastern Empire, where the British Government 
 is most popular, and where we are still really regarded as the 
 deliverers of the people from an intolerable tyranny. I men- 
 tioned this to Mr. Traill during our ride. He said that the 
 Ghorkha government had, certainly, been very tyrannical, less 
 from the commands or inclination of the Court of Catmandu, than 
 from its want of power to keep in order the military chiefs, by 
 whom the conquest of the province had been effected, and who 
 not only had divided the lands among themselves, without regard 
 to the rights of the ancient proprietors, but, on any arrears of 
 rent, sold the wives and children of the peasants into slavery, to 
 an amount which was almost incredible, punishing at the same 
 time, with barbarous severity, every appearance of mutiny or 
 discontent which these horrible proceedings excited. He said 
 that, at the present moment, hardly any young persons were to 
 be found through the country who, during the Ghorkha govern- 
 ment, had been of a marketable age. Children there were, in 
 plenty, but only such as had been born shortly before, or since 
 the transfer of the dominion to the British. The Court of Cat- 
 mandu sent repeated edicts against the practice, which Was in a 
 fair way to extirpate their new subjects. But all which they did, 
 or thought it necessary to do, was of no avail, and the country 
 was at the very lowest ebb of misery, when, happily for its sur- 
 viving inhabitants, the Ghorkhas took it into their heads to 
 quarrel with the English. 
 
BHOOTEAHS. 
 
 403 
 
 Nuiididevi, the highest peak in the world, is slated to be no less 
 than 23,689 feet above the sea, and four thousand feet and up- 
 wards higher than Chimboraza. Bhadrinath and Kedarnath are 
 merely two ends of the same mountain, its height is 22,300 feet. 
 The peak which the chuprassees called Meru, is properly Sume- 
 ru, as distinguished, by the modern Pundits at least, from the 
 celestial and fabulous one. It is really, however, pretty near the 
 sources of the Ganges, and about 23,000 feet high, though the 
 three great peaks of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick, 
 whence the Ganges really flows, are from this point obscured by 
 the intervening ridge of Kedarnath. Kedarnath, Gungothee, 
 Sumeru, and Nundidevi, are all within the British territory, and 
 Mr. Traill has been to the northward of them, though the peaks 
 themselves have never been scaled. Nundidevi is, as the crow 
 flies, forty miles from Almorah, but following the winding of the 
 only accessible road, it is eight or nine’ days march. Between it 
 and the Chinese frontier, two remarkable races of men are found, 
 the first the Bhooteahs, a Mongolian tribe, worshippers of the 
 Delai Lama, who are said to be the descendants of one of the 
 hordes who crossed the snowy mountains with Tamerlane ; the 
 other, a savage race, who neither plough nor dig, but live by the 
 chase and on wild fruits only. They call themselves the original 
 inhabitants of the soil, and appear to be the same people with 
 the Puharrees of Rajmahal. I saw some Bhooteahs during my 
 stay at Almorah, who had come down with a cargo of “ chow- 
 ries,” tails of the “yMc,” or mountain ox. They arc a short, 
 square built people, with the true Calmuk countenance and eye, 
 and with the same remarkable cheerfulness of character and ex- 
 pression, by which the Calmuk tribes are in general distinguished. 
 Their dress was also completely Tartar, large boots with their 
 trowsers stufled into them, caftans girded round the waist, and 
 little bonnets edged with black sheep’s skin. 
 
 Beyond them is the Chinese frontier, strictly guarded by the 
 jealous care of that government. Mr. Moorcroft did, indeed, pass 
 it some years ago, and was kindly received by one of the provin- 
 cial Governors, but the poor man was thrown into prison and 
 died there, as a punishment for his hospitality, and, since, nobody 
 has been allowed to go beyond the frontier village. When Mr. 
 Traill visited it they showed him great respect and attention ; 
 brought him fire-wood, milk, eggs, earthen vessels, and would 
 receive no payment; but on his mounting his horse to push on a 
 little further, he was immediately surrounded and brought back, 
 though in the civilest manner, by the Tartar horsemen, who 
 pleaded the positive orders of the emperor. To the north, how- 
 ever, the small independent Tartar kingdom of Ladak has shown 
 itself exceedingly hospitable and friendly. Mr. Moorcroft, when 
 
404 
 
 ALMORA. 
 
 he was there, was treated with unbounded kindness and confidence, 
 and their Khan has since sent a formal offer, which I am sorry 
 was declined, of his allegiance to the British Government. 
 
 To return from this digression. I found Almorah a small but 
 very curious and interesting town. It chiefly consists of one long 
 street, running along the ridge of the mountain from the fort west- 
 ward to a small block-house eastward, with scattered bungalows, 
 chiefly inhabited by Europeans, to the right and left hand on the 
 descent of the hill. The main-street has a gate at each end, and, 
 ' on a small scale, put me in mind of Chester. The houses all 
 stand on a lower story of stone, open to the street, with strong 
 square pillars, where the shops are, looking like son^e of the rows. 
 Above the buildings are of timber, exactly like those of Chester, 
 in one or sometimes two very low stories, and surmounted by a 
 sloping roof of heavy gray slate, on which many of the inhabitants 
 pile up their hay in small stacks for winter consumption. The 
 town is very neat, the street has a natural pavement of slaty rock 
 which is kept beautifully clean : the stone part of the houses is 
 well white-washed, and adorned with queer little paintings ; and 
 the tradesmen are not only a fairer but a much more respectable 
 looking race than 1 had expected to see, from the filth and poverty 
 of the agricultural Khasyas. 
 
 We passed two or three little old pagodas and tanks, as well as 
 a Mussulman burial-ground. The Mussulmans were treated with 
 great rigour here during the Ghorkha government. They are now 
 fully tolerated and protected, but their numbers are very small. 
 Government, on the conquest of Almorah, very liberally built a 
 number of small bungalows in airy situations round it, for the 
 accommodation, gratis, of any of their civil or military servants, 
 who might come to reside here for their health. They are small 
 low cottages of stone with slated roofs, and look extremely like 
 the sea-bathing cottages on the Welch coast, having thick walls, 
 small windows, low rooms, and all the other peculiarities (most 
 different from the generality of Anglo-Indian houses) w^hich suit a 
 boisterous and cold climate. Yet, in summer, the heat is con- 
 siderable, and the vallies very far from wholesome, being, some 
 of them, indeed only a shade better than Tandah, and the rest of 
 the Terrai. On the hill tops, however, there is always a fine 
 breeze, and, even in May and June, the nights are chilly. 
 
 There is another reason why the bungalows of this country are 
 built low. Kemaoon is extremely subject to earthquakes ; scarce- 
 ly a year passes without a shake or two, and though all have been 
 slight since the English came, it would not be wise to build upper 
 roomed houses, unless, like the natives, they made the super- 
 structure of timber. In the best of these bungalows 1 found Mr. 
 Adams, who received me most hospitably. He introduced me to 
 
flAVELBAGH, 
 
 405 
 
 Sir Robert Colquhoun, the Commandant of the local troops of 
 Kemaoon, who invited me to accompany Mr. Adams and himself, 
 on Monday, to his house at Havelbagh, where the native lines 
 are, and where Mr. Adams is residing at present, as being a milder 
 climate than that of Almorah, Mr. Adams had a party to dine in 
 the evening, and I found that almost all the civil and military offi- 
 cers here were Scotch. 
 
 Sunday^ November 28.— This day I enjoyed the gratification of 
 being the first Protestant Minister who had preached and ad- 
 ministered the sacraments in so remote, yet so celebrated, a region. 
 
 1 had a very respectable congregation of, I believe, all the Chris- 
 tian inhabitants of Almorah and Havelbagh. Mr. Adams allowed 
 me to make use of the two principal rooms in his house, wffiich, 
 by the help of the folding-doors between them, accommodated 
 thirty or thirty-five persons with ease. I was, after service, intro- 
 duced to Lady Colquhoun, who is celebrated in the province as 
 a bold rider along the mountain paths. I was also introduced to 
 Captain Herbert, who has the situation of geologist in this pro- 
 vince, and who seems a very well-informed, as he is a very 
 pleasing and unassuming man. He and Sir Robert Colquhoun 
 were just returned from a scientific expedition to the eastern 
 frontier, and gave an interesting account of the Ghorkha troops 
 there, whom they described, as they have been generally repre- 
 sented, as among the smartest and most European-like soldiery 
 of India. We had family prayers. 
 
 I forgot to mention that, during this day, 1 walked up to the 
 fort of Almorah, a very paltry thing, so ill contrived as to be liable 
 to an escalade from any daring enemy, and so ill situated as to be 
 commanded from two points of land on opposite sides, and not to 
 have a drop of water within its walls. It is out of repair already, 
 and certainly not worth mending. 
 
 November 29. — I went down this morning to breakfast, and to 
 remain, during the rest of my stay in Kemaoon, at Sir Robert 
 Colquhoun’s, at Havelbagh, by a steep and winding, but firm and 
 safe road, carried down the northern side of the mountain of Al- 
 morah, into a larger valley than I had yet seen in Kemaoon, where 
 are lines for the provincial troops, and several bungalows for the 
 civil officers. The situation is very pretty, and indeed fine. At 
 a considerable depth below the houses, through a narrow rocky 
 glen, the deep black Koosilla runs with much violence, crossed 
 by one of those suspension-bridges of branches and ropes made 
 of grass, which have been, from considerable antiquity, common 
 in these mountains, and appear to have given the original hint 
 both to the chain-bridges of Europe, and those which Mr. Shake- 
 spear has invented. The situation is striking, and the picturesque 
 effect extremely good, but the bridge at present so much out of 
 
406 
 
 HAVELBAGH. 
 
 repair, (a great many of the branches which compose its road- 
 way being broken or decayed,) that I did not care to trust myself 
 on it, particularly as 1 could not stand or cling so securely as the 
 bare-footed natives of the country, on broken and detached pieces 
 of wood. I saw, however, one of the Khasyahs pass it, but with 
 some apparent difficulty, and Mr. Traill talked of having it taken 
 down to prevent accidents. During the dry season the river is 
 fordable, and by persons on foot passed easily enough. On horse- 
 back, as I had occasion to find some days after, it is by no means 
 a good ford, and none but mountain ponies could keep their legs 
 on a bottom so uneven and rocky. 
 
 Havelbagh is probably 2500 feet lower than Almorah, and, in 
 summer, many of the vegetables of hot climates flourish here 
 extremely well. The sugar-cane, however, does not thrive suffi- 
 ciently to yield sugar, but plantains and mangoes come to some 
 perfection. It is remarkable, that though the summer is much 
 hotter, there is, in winter, more and harder frost here than at 
 Almorah. In the neighbourhood of the snowy mountains, the 
 vegetation, as much of it as exists, is nearly approaching to that 
 of Europe. Raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, and bilberries, 
 are found in considerable numbers. The birch and willow here, 
 as in Norway, are the latest trees which show themselves to per- 
 sons ascending the hills ; but the sides and lower ravines of their 
 feet are covered with noble silver-fir. But few cedars are now 
 found in the province ; tradition describes them as having been 
 once very numerous, and as. having been destroyed owing to their 
 value as building materials, a fact wffiich seems attested by the 
 circumstance that all the beams in the old Raja’s palace at Almo- 
 rah, when that was taken down to make room for the fort, vvere 
 found to be of cedar. In the present forests, fir is the prevailing 
 timber, but, except the silver-firs already spoken of, of a very bad 
 and worthless, though tall and stately kind. Great devastations 
 are generally made in these woods, partly by the increase of 
 population, building, and agriculture, partly by the wasteful habits 
 of travellers, who cut down multitudes of young trees to make 
 temporary huts, and for fuel, while the cattle and goats which 
 browse on the mountains prevent a great part of the seedlings 
 from rising. Unless some precautions are taken, the inhabited 
 parts of Kemaoon will soon be wretchedly bare of wood, and the 
 country, already too arid, will not only lose its beauty, but its 
 small space of fertility. Of the inhabitants every body seems to 
 speak well. They are, indeed, dirty to a degree which I never 
 saw among Hindoos, and extremely averse to any improvement 
 in their rude and inefficient agriculture, but they are honest, 
 peaceable, and cheerful, and, in the species of labour to which 
 they are accustomed, extremely diligent. There are hardly 
 
iNATIVE BIRDS. 
 
 40? 
 
 twelve convicts now in the gaol of Almorah ; and the great ma- 
 jority of cases which come before Mr. Traill are trifling affrays, 
 arising from disputed boundaries, trespass, and quarrels at fair 
 and market. The only serious public cases which are at all 
 prevalent, are adultery, and, sometimes, carrying ofT women to 
 marry them forcibly. They use their women ill, and employ 
 them in the most laborious tasks, in which, indeed, a wife is 
 regarded by the Khasya peasant as one of the most laborious and 
 valuable of his domestic animals. These people, though rigid 
 Hindoos, are not so inhospitable as their brethren of the plain. 
 Even Europeans travelling through the country, who will put up 
 with such accommodations as the peasantry have to offer, are 
 almost sure of being well received, and have no need of carrying 
 tents with them, provided their journey is made at a time when 
 the peasantry are at home to receive them, and not during the 
 annual emigration to the plains. The population of Kemaoon 
 amounts to about 300,000 ; that of Ghurwal, on the other side of 
 the Alacananda, is yet more considerable, and the people in a 
 higher state of civilization and intelligence. Of this latter pro- 
 vince only a small part constitutes the “ reserved dominion of the 
 Raja of Kemaoon.” The capital of his little territory is called 
 Dera. He is described as a mild tempered man, but a careless 
 governor, and too fond of money. 
 
 There are larks in Kemaoon of a sort not very different from 
 the English, as well as quails, partridges, and pheasants. The 
 thrush is, as I have mentioned, black. A little bird, whose note 
 nearly resembles that of a robin, is black and red ; and there is 
 no singing bird here exactly answering to any in Europe, except 
 the goldfinch, which is found at the foot of the snowy mountains. 
 Eagles are numerous, and very large and formidable, and, as their 
 nests are high up in inaccessible crags, and amid the glaciers, it 
 is not easy to abate the nuisance. They do much injury to the 
 shepherds and goatherds, and sometimes carry away the poor 
 naked children of the peasants. 
 
 Of. wild quadrupeds, besides those which I have mentioned in 
 my journal of the way up the hills, there are hares, much larger 
 and finer than in Hindustan or Bengal, and not inferior to those 
 of Europe. The chamois is not uncommon in the snowy moun- 
 tains, but scarce elsewhere. There are also lynxes, and bears 
 are common and mischievous throughout the province. Though 
 they do not, except when pressed by hunger, eat flesh, preferring 
 roots, berries, and honey, they, as if out of capricious cruelty, 
 often worry and destroy a passenger. They are said particularly 
 to attack women, a peculiarity which has been remarked in the 
 hear in other countries, and which is one of the many presump- 
 tions that they belong to the same class of animals with the 
 
408 
 
 NAtlYE ANIMALS. 
 
 baboon and oran-outang. The musk-deer is only found in the 
 highest and coldest parts of the province, and the neighbouring 
 countries of Thibet and Tartary. It cannot bear even the heat of 
 Almorah. The same observation applies to the yak ; they droop 
 as soon as they leave the neighbourhood of the ice. The shawl- 
 goat will live, but its wool soon degenerates, a very unfavourable 
 presumption as to the event of the experiment of colonizing them 
 in Europe, which has been tried in France on so large a scale. 
 On the other hand, the animals of the south seem to do very well 
 among the snow. English dogs, impaired by the climate of the 
 plains, improve in strength, size, andsagacity,amongtheBhooteahs; 
 and, what is very remarkable, in a winter or two they acquire 
 the same fine, short shawl-wool, mixed up with their own hair, 
 which distinguishes the indigenous animals of the country. The 
 same is, in a considerable degree, the case with horses : those 
 which the Bhooteahs bring down for sale are very beautiful, though 
 rather shaggy little creatures, resembling extremely the Siberian 
 ponies which I saw in Petersburg. The tiger is found quite up 
 to the glaciers, of size and ferocity undiminished, but I could not 
 learn whether he has shawl-wool or no. The fact of his hardi- 
 ness, however, proves sufficiently that he, the lion, and the hyasna, 
 (which is also common here,) may have lived in England and 
 France without any such change of climate as my friend Mr. 
 Buckland supposes to have taken place. Another instance fell 
 under my knowledge of how much the poor hyaena is wronged, 
 when he is described as untameable. Mr. Traill had one several 
 years, which followed him about like a dog, and fawned on those 
 with whom he was acquainted in almost the same manner. Mr. 
 Adam, and Lady Colquhoun, had each of them beautiful flying 
 squirrels, which, they told me, are not uncommon in the colder 
 and higher parts of these woods. They w^ere as tame as squirrels 
 usually are, and had all the habits of the European animal. They 
 were, however, a little larger, or perhaps appeared so from the 
 large folds of loose skin, covered with beautiful soft and thick 
 fur, which, when they pleased, they extended by stretching out 
 their hind and fore feet. Mr. Traill had several skins of chamois 
 in his possession. The animal seems nearly of the same size 
 and colour with those which I saw, and with the pictures of the 
 European one. It is, however, I think, more shaggy, and better 
 protected against the cold ; more like, in fact, a common goat, 
 and its horns seem larger. 
 
 Small marmots of the Alpine kind abound in the neighbourhood 
 of the snow, but none of the “ Leming” or Lapland species that 
 I could hear of. If they existed, their numbers and annual incur- 
 sions into the cultivated districts would, probably, soon make them 
 well known. 
 
WILD DOGS. 
 
 409 
 
 The rats of this country are the same with those of India, and 
 are very numerous and troublesome. One of the most curious 
 animals I saw or heard of was a wild dog belonging to Mr. Adam. 
 These animals are considerably larger and stronger than a fox, 
 which, in the circumstances of form and fur, they much resemble. 
 They hunt, however, in packs, give tongue like dogs, and possess 
 a very fine scent. They make, of course, tremendous havoc 
 among the game in these hills ; but that mischief they are said 
 amply to repay by destroying wild beasts, and even tigers. This 
 assertion was at first made, at least in print, in Captain William- 
 son’s Field-sports of India, but obtained very little credit. None 
 of my Kemaoon friends, however, doubted the fact, which, they 
 said, was the universal belief of the Khasya peasants, and was 
 corroborated by the fact of tigers having been found lately killed 
 and torn in pieces, which could be ascribed to no other enemy. 
 Mr. Traill did not, indeed, suppose that they would actually 
 chase a tiger by preference, but that if, in the pursuit of other 
 game, they fall in with either tiger or lion, they had both the 
 power and the will, from their numbers, swiftness, courage, and 
 ferocity, to rush in on him and tear him in pieces, before he would 
 have time to strike more than one or two blows wuth his tremen- 
 dous paws. Each of these would no doubt kill a dog, but in the 
 meantime a hundred others would be at his throat, his back, and 
 sides, and he would sink under the multitude of his comparatively 
 feeble enemies. Mr. Adam’s dog was exceedingly wild and 
 fierce. He was brought for me to see him, led by two men, who 
 held him between them in a long chain, and he struggled despe- 
 rately all the time to recover his liberty. He has begun to endure, 
 with somewhat more placability, the presence of the man who 
 feeds him, but is at present wilder, I think, than any fox I ever 
 saw, who had been so much as two months in captivity. If he 
 were domesticated, I could conceive his being a fine and valuable 
 animal. Of dogs he bears the strongest resemblance to those of 
 the Esquimaux and Kamtchadales, as represented in Bewick’s 
 engravings. 
 
 I had two native visiters during my stay at Havelbagh. One 
 was a vakeel from the Ghorkhali Government, who is now^ re- 
 siding in Kemaoon, and begged to pay his respects. He was a 
 little, stout, square-built man, with a true Calmuk countenance, 
 figure, and complexion, the latter being considerably fairer than 
 those of Hindustan. He had an intelligent eye and frank, lively 
 manner, but my conversation with him was necessarily very limit- 
 ed. He brought some musk, in its form when first taken from the 
 animal, as a present; and I invested him with a shawl, with which 
 the kindness of Mr. Traill supplied me, as usual on such occasions, 
 from the Government storehouse. I had the satisfaction to learn 
 
 VoL. I. — 52 
 
410 
 
 VISIT FROM A PUNDIT. 
 
 that he was much pleased with his visit and the little I was able 
 to say to him. My second visitant was the Pundit of the Criminal 
 Court of Kemaoon, a learned brahmin, and a great astrologer. 
 He had professed to Mr. Traill a desire to see me, and asked rf 
 I were as well informed in the Vedas, Puranas, and other sacred 
 books of the Hindoos, as another European Pundit whom he had 
 heard preach some years before at the great fair of Plurdwar? He 
 evidently meant the Baptist Missionary, Mr. Chamberiayne ; and 
 it pleased me to find that this good and able, though bigoted man, 
 had left a favourable impression behind him among his auditors. 
 Mr. Traill told him that I had been only a short time in the 
 country ; but he was still anxious to see me, and I regretted much 
 to find, when we met, that his utterance was so rapid and indis- 
 tinct that I could understand less of his conversation than of most 
 Hindoos whom I have met wdth. He explained to me, however, 
 that three or four years before the British conquered Kemaoon 
 he had, through his acquaintance with the stars, foretold the event, 
 and that his calculation, signed and dated, was lodged with the 
 Raja at Derea. He said he had now discovered three new stars, 
 in the shape of a triangle, south-east of the great bear, which, by 
 their position, assured the north an ascendancy over the east, and 
 implied that we should triumph in our present struggle with the 
 Birman empire. I asked him some questions about the form of 
 the earth, the source of the Ganges, the situation of mount Meru, 
 and received better answers than I expected. He said that, in 
 old times, the Ganges was supposed to rise from mount Meru, but 
 that modern Hindoos, at least the enlightened, gave the name of 
 Meru to the North Pole, and were aware that Gunga rose from 
 the peaks, one of which I had seen above Gungotree, and south 
 of the great snowy range, which he called, not Himalaya, but 
 Himmachund. He laughed at the fancy of the elephant and tor- 
 toise, whom the Pundits of Benares placed as supporters to the 
 earth, and said it was a part of the same system with that which 
 made the earth flat, and girded in by six other worlds, each having 
 its own ocean. I drew a diagram of the world with its circles, 
 &c. and he recognized them with great delight, showing me the 
 sun’s path along the ecliptic, tie expressed a great desire to learn 
 more of the European discoveries in astronomy and geography, 
 and listened with much attention to my account (in which I fre- 
 quently had recourse to Mr. Traill as interpreter) of the Coper- 
 nican system, and the relative situations of England, Russia, 
 Turkey, Persia, Arabia, and India. He asked if we had yet dis- 
 covered the shorter way to India through the ice of the North 
 Pole, of which, he said, he had heard from a brahmin of Benares, 
 who had his account from Colonel Wilford : and he knew America 
 under the name of ‘Ghe New World,” and as one of the proofs 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR TRAVELLING. 4H 
 
 that the earth was round. He was very anxious to obtain any 
 Hindoo books containing the improved system of astronomy and 
 
 geography ; and complained that Dr. H , when in Kemaoon, 
 
 had promised to send him some, but had forgotten it. He is 
 evidently a man of considerable talent, and extremely desirous to 
 improve whatever opportunities of knowledge fall in his way; arid, 
 like all these mountaineers, he is of a lively cheerful turn, without 
 any of the crouching manner and flattering address which is ap- 
 parent in most of the Hindoos of Calcutta and Benares. 
 
 It is pleasing to see on how apparent good terms Mr. Traill is 
 with all these people. Their manner in talking to him is erect, 
 open, and cheerful, like persons who are addressing a superior 
 whom they love, arid with whom they are in habits of easy, though 
 respectful intercourse. He says he loves the country and people 
 where he has been thrown, and has declined, as Sir Robert Col- 
 quhoun told me, several situations of much greater emolument 
 for the sake of remaining with them. He has probably, indeed, 
 chosen wisely, since, though he may not return home so rich a 
 man, he is far more likely to take with him the power of enjoying 
 life and property. Almost the whole of the dry season he is 
 travelling about in the discharge of his official duty, and it was a 
 mere chance which gave me the advantage of meeting him now 
 at Almorah. 
 
 December 2. — I set out early this morning in company with Sir 
 Robert and Lady Colquhoun for Chilkeah. Mr. Traill had lent me 
 a couple of tents for this journey, which, with a good deal of my 
 heavier baggage, had been sent on the day before. A still greater 
 number of coolies were necessary than in my ascent from Ba- 
 moury, partly on account of some presents of honey, &c. which 
 I had received, and which required to be carried, like the rest, 
 bn men’s heads ; partly because, from the wild and uninhabited 
 character of some part of the country which we were to traverse, 
 it was necessary to give up two mules for the transport of the 
 provisions and necessaries of the coolies themselves. We had a 
 good deal of plague and trouble in dividing the loads to be carried 
 by each man, and were harassed by pitiful complaints, from almost 
 all, of their inability to go through such an expedition, and by their 
 entreaties to be left behind. It seems singular that, among so 
 poor a people, with whom a job of work might at first seem no 
 trifling object, this reluctance should exist, since the rates at which, 
 according to the regulations of Government, their labour is repaid 
 on these occasions, being arranged at two anas for each march, 
 with a similar sum for their return home, exceeds the average 
 rate of agricultural labour through India, and is much above any 
 thing which they were likely to have earned at home. Yet so it 
 is, that they are always pressed to this service; that they almost 
 
412 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR TRAVELLING. 
 
 always endeavour to excuse themselves; that they are apt to 
 desert the first opportunity, even to the forfeiture of their legal 
 hire ; and, which tells well for their honesty at least, that, when 
 any suspicion exists that they feel peculiar reluctance, no way is 
 found so efficacious to keep them as to pay them their money in 
 advance. I can understand their aversion to this employment 
 during the rainy season, when it is really at the risk of life that 
 people descend into the Terrai, or the lower vallies of this pro- 
 vince. But at present, though they may encounter hardship and 
 fatigue, there is, literally, no danger; and I can only account for 
 their reluctance, by supposing that as yet there exists in Kemaoon 
 no sufficient occupation for coolies to induce any number of men 
 to addict themselves to this pursuit alone, and that other peasants 
 feel unwilling to separate from their families, and desert their 
 usual routine of industry for an uncertain and fatiguing, though 
 profitable employment. 
 
 F rom this cause, or from carelessness or corruption on the part 
 of Mr. Traill’s chuprassees, many of the men whom they had 
 levied were found quite unfit for the journey now before us. 
 Three were sent hack as being poor old creatures who could 
 hardly carry themselves, without any additional burthen, and four 
 were boys whom I should have also rejected, if it had not appear- 
 ed that they, of all the party, were almost the only willing recruits ; 
 that there were necessarily some light packages which a boy might 
 easily carry; and if I had not apprehended that, if we lost these 
 coolies, w^e might possibly find much difficulty in getting others 
 in their room. As it was, the party set out so late that they soon 
 found it impossible for loaded mules to travel such roads by such 
 scanty light, and we overtook them little more than half way, 
 under some rocks, where they had been obliged to lodge for the 
 night. In the midst of these movements one of our party was' 
 left behind, for whom I was sincerely sorry. I mean the poor 
 Pariah dog. He had been taking a lively interest, like the rest of 
 his species, in the packing up the day before; and I found him in 
 the morning in his usual post, as if ready to attend me. I missed 
 him when we had gone on about a coss, but even then made no 
 doubt of his following with the servants. He did not come, how- 
 ever, and I suspect that his courage failed him at the first ford 
 w'hich lay in our way, near the suspension-bridge, and which was, 
 indeed, a formidable one. 
 
 Our road was very wild and rugged, by the sides and over the 
 ridges of craggy mountains covered wfith Scotch firs, and bypaths 
 in which pone but mountain ponies, who go almost any where 
 that a dog can go, would have been able to keep their legs. I 
 observed that our little coursers, on arriving at a difficult place, 
 always looked round to see if there were any easier track, and if 
 
PRUNY. 
 
 413 
 
 there were, pulled hard to get at it ; that if this were not the case, 
 they often, particularly in case of a deep descent, stood pawing 
 with their fore-feet some time, as if to satisfy themselves of its 
 practicability, and if they had doubts, usually stood stock still and 
 refused to go any further, under which circumstances it was al- 
 ways wise to dismount. These places, however, did not occur 
 very often, though there were more than one which they went up 
 and down without hesitation, which I could compare to nothing 
 but the broken stair-case of a ruined castle. 
 
 We encamped near a village named Pruny, on a beautiful piece 
 of rocky pasture-ground, situated between the two peaks of a 
 lofty mountain, and surrounded on every side by a forest of fir 
 and cedar-trees. At a little distance from our tents, some people 
 who had been sent on by Mr. Traill to prepare the Zemindars to 
 afford the necessary supplies, had constructed a sort of bower or 
 wigwam of pine branches for the use of our followers. Nothing 
 could be ruder than these leafy screens ; but with plenty of straw, 
 a blazing fire, and sheltered situation, they seemed to satisfy our 
 people ; nor could I help noticing that, though we were now 6000 
 feet above the level of the sea, and it was freezing in the shade 
 almost all day, the sepoys, soon after their arrival, stripped off all 
 their clothes but their waist-clothes, went to wash themselves as 
 usual in the brook, and remained naked all day till the sun was 
 actually setting ; so little reason have we for accusing these peo- 
 ple of effeminacy or softness, even in circumstances most at va- 
 riance with their general habits and sensations. I myself, though 
 I had a good blanket, quilt, and cloak, was so cold at night that I 
 could hardly sleep. My tent, indeed, was small and thin, and 
 scarcely afforded more shelter than the pine-boughs, with the dis- 
 advantage of having no fire and no neighbours to keep me warm. 
 The water in the basin was frozen as hard and thick as it might 
 have been, under similar circumstances, in England, to the great 
 astonishment and delight of my Calcutta servant, who had never 
 ^ seen such a cake of ice before, and, I believe, sincerely regretted 
 that he could not carry it back to Calcutta as a curiosity. 
 
 The reflection of the setting sun on the snowy mountains was 
 extremely beautiful. One of the peaks of Nundidevi was, for a 
 considerable time together, a perfect rose-colour. We had also a 
 magnificent echo near our encampment, which answered with 
 remarkable distinctness, and great power and mellowness, all the 
 different light infantry signals on the bugle of Sir Robert Col- 
 quhoun’s rangers, which he had brought with him. 
 
 December 3. — The name of this day’s encampment 1 have for- 
 gotten. It was also near a mountain-top, on the skirt of a fine 
 fir-wood and near a village, in which we found, what is not always 
 found at this season, a considerable number of inhabitants yet 
 
414 
 
 HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. 
 
 remaining. Their bourses were all of two stories, the lowest was 
 just high enough to allow their diminutive cows and goats to shelter 
 there ; and the upper one which was of timber, with a sloping 
 slate roof, was about as high and in the same shape as an ordinary 
 cottage garret. In front of each cottage were some small stacks 
 of straws, while others were perched on the roof, to be more ef- 
 fectually out of the reach of the cattle ; and all the neighbouring 
 hill-side was built up in narrow terraces, and the subject of 
 assiduous cultivation. The inside of their houses, so well as I 
 could distinguish from the door, was not so dirty as the appear- 
 ance of the people would have led me to suppose ; and the whole 
 had that sort of faint likeness of a Shropshire cottage which, faint 
 as it was, was interesting to me. We passed two fords in this 
 day’s march, the first so bad and stony that it was necessary to 
 unload the mules, and carry the baggage over on men’s heads. 
 There were also more places than one, where to dismount from 
 our ponies was a matter of absolute necessity. 
 
 This is, however, the most frequented road into Kemaoon, as 
 leading from Cashipoor and Chilkeah, the two best attended 
 marts on its frontier ; and we passed every day, I think, above 
 100 Khasyas, all with burdens on their heads, toiling along these 
 rugged paths. In Kemaoon the head and neck seem the constant 
 vehicles ; but the Ghurwali, or inhabitants of the western district 
 of our mountain provinces, who are said to be a more intelligent 
 race than their brethren, carry their burthens on the back, with a 
 truss like that of an English porter. They thus do more work 
 with more ease to themselves. But the adherence to “ dustoor,” 
 or some other cause, it can hardly be povertj^ has as yet kept the 
 Khasyas from imitating them. Of the poverty of these people, 
 however, I had no idea till I saw this day the bread they eat. It 
 is the grain of a kind of holcus, and looks like clover-seed : the 
 flour, bran, husk and all, is made into thick coarse cakes, like 
 those for elephants, and these are not baked as the elephant’s 
 bread is, but laid on the fire and scorched or toasted there, so 
 that part is raw dough, part ashes. To such a people potatoes 
 must, indeed, be an exceeding and obvious blessing. I had a sin- 
 gular instance this evening of the fact how mere children all sol- 
 diers, and I think particularly sepoys, are when put a little out of 
 their usual way. On going to the place where my escort was 
 hutted, I found that there was not room for them all under its 
 shelter, and that four were preparing to sleep on the open field. 
 Within a hundred yards stood another similar hut unoccupied, a 
 little out of repair, but tolerably tenantable. “ Why do you not 
 go thither?” was my question. “We like to sleep altogether,” 
 was their answer. “ But why not bring the branches here, and 
 make your own hut larger? see, I will show you the way.” They 
 
CHOUMOKA DEVI. 
 
 415 
 
 started up immediatelj, in great apparent delight, every man 
 brought a bough, and the work was done in five minutes, being 
 only interrupted every now and then by exclamations of “ Good, 
 good, poor man’s provider!” 
 
 The night was again cold, though not so severe as the last. I 
 was surprised to find so little game, and so few wild animals of 
 any kind in a country of this nature. Sir R. Colquhoun told me 
 that he had, in his preceding journeys, generally both heard and 
 seen more than we had met with, and which were confined to a 
 small flock or covey of jungle fowl, which Lady Colquhoun saw, 
 but which I only heard crowing and cackling. My companions 
 were not able to tell me whether the jungle poultry had ever been 
 tamed. The common domestic fowl, of the country, for the in- 
 habitants, rigid Hindoos as they are in other respects, do not 
 object to the touch of feathers, are almost exactly like those of 
 the wood. Both resemble bantams in every respect, except that 
 their legs are not feathered. Bears, Sir R. Colquhoun and^ll the 
 Khasyas said, are numerous in these woods. We, however, saw 
 none. Tigers are not very abundant, and the appearance of one 
 excites a sort of alarm and outcry in a neighbourhood like that of 
 a mad-dog in Europe. It is not, however, thought desirable to 
 wander far from the usual track, particularly unarmed or alone. 
 I once took a little stroll, though with Mr. Boulderson’s double- 
 barrelled gun in my hand ; and found that my disappearance had 
 occasioned a sort of sensahonin the camp, and that my two faith- 
 ful sepoys were posting aiter me. 
 
 This occurred the next day, the 4th, when, for the sake of the 
 prospect, we breakfasted, half-way in our intended march, on 
 Choumoka Devi, the highest mountain which 1 ever actually 
 climbed, (for I did not go to the peak of the Gaughur,) and barely 
 inferior in height to this last named hill. The Gaughur, Sir R. 
 Colquhoun tells me, is about 8000 feet high ; Choumoka Devi is 
 7800. At the summit, which, like that of mount Gaughur, is 
 ornamented with noble trees, cypress, toon, and fir, is a small 
 temple of not inelegant structure, in the verandah of which we 
 sate during the heat of the day, and again proceeded in the 
 afternoon. The view was very magnificent; nothing which I 
 ever saw equals the majesty of some parts of the mountain 
 scenery which I have passed through in this province. There 
 is, indeed, a want of water, and I could not help thinking how 
 beautifully these hills would have been reflected in the noble 
 lakes of Norway. But over Norway they have the advantages of 
 a more brilliant sky, a warmer and more luxuriant vegetation, a 
 still greater ruggedness and variety of outline, than is found in 
 Dovre or Fille-Fiel ; and above all, the icy mountains are such 
 a diadem and centre to the view, as not even Switzerland can 
 
416 
 
 HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. 
 
 show. I thought them particularly grand when seen in the gray 
 of the morning, while their cold distinct outline was visible along 
 the dark sky, with no refraction to puzzle, or vapours to conceal 
 it. At other times their forms vary according to the shifting 
 lights and shadows ; and if it were not for the identity of situation, 
 I could sometimes have doubted whether the peaks which I saw 
 in the haze of noon, were the same with those which in the 
 crimson light of the setting, or the amber brilliancy of the rising 
 sun, had delighted me in so different a manner. Seen, however, 
 as they may be, they are always beautiful and wonderful ; and 1 
 looked on them from Choumoka Devi with the more admiration, 
 because 1 knew that I was then to bid them adieu. 
 
 We descended thence by a long and rugged declivity of about 
 seven miles, at first through pine woods, then over ground par- 
 tially cultivated, then through a beautiful and awful dell, sur- 
 rounded by high crags, in which limestone again took place of 
 slate and granite, overhung by beautiful trees and underwood, of 
 almost every kind which I have met with in Europe or India, 
 and swarming with the pretty white monkeys of which I have 
 already taken notice. At the bottom of this dell was a torrent, 
 now containing but little water, but by the width of its bed, and 
 the huge granite blocks which it contained by w^ay of pebbles, 
 sufficiently showing what sort of stream it must be in the rainy 
 season. We followed this about half a mile farther, and found 
 our tents pitched in an angle of the overhanging rocks, with a 
 fine old peepul-tree in front of them, and a little lower the tor- 
 rent, which had been our guide, joining the Koosilla, itself a 
 torrent no less rapid and noisy, but wider and deeper than its 
 tributary. The peepul which I have noticed is a sacred tree, 
 and gives name to the place, having been planted by a devout 
 brahmin saint, and therefore called “ puntka-peepul,” the peepul 
 of the caste. We should all of us have liked to have halted here 
 for Sunday ; but it could not be done without endangering my 
 arrival at Moradabad on the following Saturday, and we therefore 
 sent on our breakfast-tent as usual. It was much warmer here 
 than in the high grounds ; and the noise of the rustling leaves was 
 so like rain, that I more than once during the night pitied my 
 poor people under their scanty sheds of fir branches, and was 
 surprised at length when, on calling out to know if it rained, I 
 was told that the night was beautiful. 
 
 December 5 . — This morning we had a very tiresome march to 
 a village named Okul-doonga. Besides divers rocky ascents and 
 descents, and without taking into consideration that what little 
 level ground we. met with was on the side of a torrent, and so 
 paved with large loose stones, as to be worse than most beaches 
 of the sea, we forded the Koosilla no less than twelve times. 
 
OKUL-DOONGA. 
 
 417 
 
 through a rapid stream frequently as high as the middle of our 
 saddles, and over a bottom the most rocky and uneven 1 ever 
 passed. The mules were necessarily unloaded no less than three 
 times ; it was with the greatest difficulty the ponies could keep 
 their legs, and we were all wet and dry three or four times over, 
 to our knees and higher. Nothing could be clearer than the 
 water, or more beautiful than the swarms of trout which we saw 
 playing round us, but under such circumstances we had no great 
 leisure for speculation ; and several complaints were heard, 
 though fewest I think from Lady Colquhoun, that the water was 
 colder than ice. Our sepoys prayed, with chattering teeth, that 
 we might soon get into a sunny place, the mountains having, for 
 the greater part of the march, completely kept us in the shade. 
 They were, however, so fortunate as to find the expiring embers 
 of three fires in different places, the remnants of encampments 
 made by travellers the night before, on which they heaped dry 
 sticks, and soon got into good humour again. 
 
 Okul-doonga is a village of about ten families, situated on a 
 small plain elevated above the river, and surrounded on two 
 sides by deep woody ravines, and on the other by as wild and 
 woody mountains. Though stony, it seemed fertile, and was in 
 a state of rich cultivation, uniting, like Oude, most of the pro- 
 ductions of temperate and tropical climates. We all exclaimed, 
 on first seeing the spot where our tents were pitched, by a clear 
 stream of water, on a green slope, and backed with majestic 
 trees, “ What a place for a house, and how such a spot would be 
 admired in England !” Our admiration was not diminished, when, 
 on taking our evening’s stroll, we heard the braying of deer, and 
 the crowing of pheasants and jungle-bens in the woods ; or, when 
 a basket of bilberries, and a fine dish of trout just caught, were 
 brought to us by a little boy. But a few inquiries at the village 
 damped these pleasurable feelings. The place was described as 
 little less unhealthy than the Terrai. It was, indeed, inhabited 
 hj some of its people throughout the year, but they said they 
 had all sad fevers during the rains ; and that when it was hot the 
 hills shut out the breezes. Their cottages, however, though 
 small, were tolerably neat and comfortable. The people seemed 
 better fed and clothed than most of the Khasyas, and if not so 
 healthy, though of this I saw no visible signs, were apparently 
 wealthier and more intelligent than the generality of their moun- 
 tain neighbours. 
 
 The huts which they had put up for our people, were of a 
 very superior description in point of comfort, and ingeniously 
 calculated to save time and trouble, as well as the waste of pine- 
 branches and straw. They were made of frames of bamboo, 
 each something like a hurdle in shape and size, w^ell thatched, 
 
 VoL. 1. — 53 
 
418 
 
 GHORKHA BOY. 
 
 but light, and easily carried from place to place, which they sup- 
 ported on props when they were wanted, and took away again 
 and laid up in store, so soon as the travellers, for whom they 
 were produced, had left them. Among the Ghurwali, Sir R. 
 Colquhoun said, this was the usual method, but in Kemaoon he 
 had never seen it before. Indeed the style of cultivation, and 
 many other circumstances, implied that the people of this dis- 
 trict, or their Zemindars, were far better managers than those 
 near Almorah. The rice grown in this neighbourhood, and 
 from hence down as low as Dikkalee, is of a very superior 
 quality, and celebrated all over India for its whiteness and firm- 
 ness. It is generally called Pillibheet rice, from a town of that 
 name in Rohilcund, where is a considerable fair at which it is 
 sold, and where it first attracted European notice. It is, how- 
 ever, the product not of Rohilcund, but of this valley, and is to 
 be purchased in most perfection at Chilkeah. The district is 
 also celebrated for its bamboos, which, though small, are remark- 
 ably tough, and seem to gain consistency and soundness from a 
 certain degree of frost. The same is said to be the case with 
 plantains. The tea-plant grows wild all through Kemaoon, but 
 cannot be made use of, from an emetic quality which it pos- 
 sesses. This might, perhaps, be removed by cultivation, but the 
 experiment has never been tried. For the cultivation of tea, I 
 should apprehend both the soil, hilly surface, and climate of 
 Kemaoon, in all which it resembles the tea provinces of China, 
 extremely favourable. 
 
 The history of the poor lad who brought the fish was not 
 without interest ; he was the son of an officer of the Ghorkhas, who 
 during their occupation of the country had been jemautdar of 
 Havelbagh, and had been killed fighting against the English. 
 This boy had been since maintained, as he himself said, chiefly 
 by snaring birds, catching fish, and gathering berries, being in- 
 debted for his clothes only, which were decent though coarse, to 
 his mother, and the charity of different neighbours who had pity 
 on him as a sort of gentleman in distress. He had his forehead 
 marked with chalk and vermilion to prove his high caste, had a 
 little Ghorkha knife, a silver clasp and chain, and a silver bracelet 
 on his arm, with a resolute and independent, though grave de- 
 meanour, not ill suited to this character. His tools of trade and 
 livelihood were a bow and a fishing-rod, both of the rudest kind. 
 He seemed about sixteen, but was broad set, and short of his age. 
 His ambition was now to be a sepoy, and he was very earnest 
 with Sir R. Colquhoun to admit him into his corps. He said he 
 should like much to do it, but doubted his height. He, however, 
 told him to meet him at Havelbagh on his return, and he would 
 see what could be done for him. Meantime we paid him liber- 
 
HINDOO OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY. . 
 
 419 
 
 ally for his fish, and encouraged him to bring us another basket 
 next day at Dikkalee. He said, at first, he feared the fishermen 
 of that place would beat him, but after a moment’s recollection, 
 added — let them do it if they dare — if I have your orders I will 
 tell them so !” He was no uninteresting specimen of a forester 
 born and bred, one who from his tenderest years had depended 
 on his,“ wood-craft” for a dinner, and had been used to hear the 
 stags bray and the tigers growl round the fire of his bivouac. 
 
 We had prayers to-day in our camp, as well as, which indeed 
 we had never omitted, family prayers in the evening. 
 
 I have often noticed among the Hindoos, that many of the de- 
 center sort pay a kind of regard to Sunday. The sepoys, such 
 of them at least as were brahmins, were more than usually busy 
 to-day with their bells, beads, and ashes ; and my long legged fol- 
 lower had decked himself out in all his glory, having powdered 
 his face entirely with chalk and cow dung, and marked his naked 
 body all over with white broad lines, which, on his dusky skin, 
 had the strangest effect imaginable ; and he being a very tall, 
 and though strong and muscular, a very thin, large boned man, 
 made him, at a little distance, look exactly like a skeleton. Had 
 he taken his stand, as he now v/as, in any church-yard, few chil- 
 dren, women or men in the parish, would have doubted his un- 
 . earthly nature. The others were similarly decorated, but with 
 less care, and less dismally. 
 
 December 6. — Salvator Rosa never painted glens more wild 
 and romantic than we threaded to-day in our path to Dikkalee, 
 nor did mules or ponies often pass a worse road. We emerged 
 at length again on the valley of the Koosilla, now considerably 
 increased in size, though fortunately not in depth or rapidity ; 1 
 say fortunately, because we had again to ford it, and if it had 
 been a few inches deeper than where we passed it last, it would 
 have been necessary to swim our horses. The banks are ex- 
 ceedingly beautiful, high rocks crowned with woods, and broken 
 into all the capricious forms which lime-stone in a rainy climate 
 assumes. The valley is broader and more stony, and the fea- 
 tures in general are in a grander and more savage style. I had, 
 indeed, been strongly impressed, during the last three days, with 
 the conviction that this is by far the most beautiful passage into 
 or out of the Kemaoon, and that, except the Gorge of Mount 
 Gaughur, which is without a rival, nothing is seen on the Beem- 
 thal road which equals the valley of the Koosilla. I only hope 
 that, if, three years hence, 1 have the pleasure of taking my wife 
 through this part of India, something like a road will have been 
 made by this passage. It is, decidedly, the most advantageous 
 line, and one in which a track for loaded mules and oxen might be 
 constructed at a very moderate expense. On the other side of 
 
420 
 
 FISHERMEN. 
 
 the river we found ourselves on more level ground, and rode 
 under a shade of walnuts, toon, and ilex, to Dikkalee, a station 
 of grass huts, occupied during the dry season by a small detach- 
 ment of Sir R. Colquhoun’s mountain rangers, but like Tandah 
 and places of the same kind, deadly at other times. 
 
 Of Tandah, however, as well as the rest of this forest. Sir 
 Robert spoke in a less alarming manner than those with whom 
 I had.previously conversed. He said that they were all, unques- 
 tionably, very unwholesome and dangerous places at particular 
 seasons, but in the present or the past month, they were not worse 
 than many of the low vallfes of Kemaoon, which were yet often 
 necessarily traversed by the officers of Government. He ascribed 
 much of the unhealthiness both of the forest and the Terrai, to 
 the sudden changes of temperature, the burning sun and the 
 chilling blasts which often come from the hills. This seemed the 
 only reason why April and May were so pestilential as they were 
 allowed to be. 
 
 The Ghorkha boy came with his fish, as he promised ; but his 
 offering was eclipsed by a large basket-full which some fishermen 
 brought. Sir Robert Colquhoun said it was well worth while to 
 see their manner of catching the fish, and we all three went in 
 the evening to the spot wffiere they had laid their nets. It was a 
 small rapid in the river, more shallow than usual, above and 
 below which was a long net, from the space between which they 
 scooped out all the fish which they could find, having, as I under- 
 stood, drawn their nets in opposite directions up and down the 
 stream, till they had enclosed a considerable number in a com- 
 paratively narrow space. To catch them, however, they had 
 neither casting nor scoop nets, nor any thing but their hands, 
 which, as well as their teeth, they used with much dexterity, 
 hunting the fish among the large stones in a very amusing manner. 
 A splendid haul was taken, from which, after choosing one or two 
 of the best for ourselves, and two baskets-full for the servants and 
 sepoys, we told the people who had assisted in the sport, and who 
 were chiefly our own Khasya bearers, that they might take the 
 rest themselves. A scramble, but in much good-humour, followed, 
 and this addition to their pay seemed, as often happens, to please 
 them more than the pay itself. 
 
 While this was going on, the Ghorkha boy stood by idle. 
 a Why do not you try your luck ?” Lady Colquhoun asked him. 
 “ I can catch fish for myself,” was his answer, “ and what use to 
 jostle with fools ?” He is evidently a singular character. 1 wish 
 he may get honourable employment in our army ; for, if not, he 
 has about him many of the elements of an excellent Pindarree. 
 
 All the fish, except the trout, in these rivers have leather 
 mouths, with a stronger power of suction than is usually observ- 
 
CHILKEAH. 
 
 421 
 
 able. The common opinion is, that they fasten themselves by 
 this means to stones and rocks in order to be secure against the 
 violence of the stream. There are others also like those of Eng- 
 land, but some of them of lighter colour. I this evening took 
 leave of my kind friends, who intended to remain here another 
 day and then to march by the foot of the hills to Bamoury. 
 
 December 7. — ^The way from Dikkalee to Chilkeah is all 
 forest, but by no means level like the tract between Bamoury 
 and Ruderpoor. It is a collection of rocky and woody hills, with 
 a very good road winding through them. The grass is long, and 
 the jungle in several places thick, but the trees, many of them 
 very fine ones, stand a good way apart. At length a steep pitch 
 of rugged road brought us out on the plain, and we saw a wretch- 
 ed village before us, with my tents, white and shining in the 
 morning sun, beside it. The first appearance of the inhabitants 
 of Chilkeah was not prepossessing. They had the same yellow 
 skins, the same dull yet fierce look, the same ragged and scanty 
 clothing, the same swords and shields, as those in the other parts 
 of these inhospitable plains. Their cottages were half buried in 
 tall grass, and the place had not a more auspicious look than the 
 most unhealthy of the eastern villages. 
 
 From the mohout, however, of my elephant, which was sent 
 to meet me, I had the satisfaction of learning that all the people 
 were well ; and in the apparent, and I believe sincere, cordiality 
 which both sepoys and servants displayed on receiving me after 
 this absence, in returning to my own “ accustomed tent” and 
 furniture, in revisiting Cabul and Nesjeed, and in hearing again 
 the ‘‘ ta/am” of the two little children of the mohout, I felt for 
 a moment something like the pleasure of home, till I recollected 
 how far I still was, and how long I was likely to be, separated 
 from those who only make home agreeable to me. The old 
 soubahdar, who received me at the head of his company with 
 presented arms, drum, and fife, gave a short and favourable account 
 of the progress of his party. They had come straight through 
 the forest from Tandah to Casherpoor, remained there a few 
 days, and thence advanced to Chilkeah ; all were well, both men 
 and animals, except one poor elephant, which had been grievously 
 bruised several years ago in helping to carry a field-piece to 
 Almorah, and whose hurts, strange to say, broke out again as 
 soon as she approached the hills ! The loss of her services was 
 at present very inconvenient, but it was fortunate that we had 
 not sent the mules away. 
 
 Chilkeah, though a poor place to look at, is by no means an 
 unimportant one at certain seasons of the year, being one of the 
 principal marts of trade both into Kemaoon, and through that 
 
422 
 
 CASHERPOOR. 
 
 country into Tibet and Tartary. A great number of temporary 
 huts ranged in the form of a regular town, were already built, 
 and many more were building, for the accommodation of the 
 traders who meet in this emporium, and I was surprised io find 
 English cloths and eastern shawls of good appearance, with many 
 other apparently serviceable and valuable commodities exposed 
 for sale in huts, which scarcely equalled a cottage cow-house in 
 Shropshire. When the unhealthy weather returns, all these huts 
 are abandoned, and, during the rains, fall into nearly total ruin. 
 Yet the jemautdar of Chilkeah said their water was good, in 
 which all my people agreed, and considered the place as healthy, 
 that is, for one in the Terrai. Such, however, is the horror with 
 which even this most favoured tract of the lowlands is regarded 
 by the Khasya mountaineers, that Sir R. Colquhoun told me he 
 knew an instance in which six invalid sepoys rather preferred to 
 give up their pensions than go to Meerut through Chilkeah during 
 the bad season ; and another in which a robbery and murder were 
 not prosecuted, because none of the witnesses could be prevailed 
 on by any possible inducement to go to Moradabad, the circuit 
 court. Under these circumstances, it is evident that Kemaoon 
 ought to have a separate jurisdiction, and that her military offi- 
 cers should have such power as to enable them to act, in some 
 cases, independently of their superior officers in the plains. This 
 would, however, he difficult, and the only remedy which seems 
 practicable, is to give a latitude in such cases as I have men- 
 tioned. The separate judicature seems absolutely necessary, for 
 it is a grievous thing to say, “ you shall not obtain justice unless at 
 the great risk of a putrid fever !” The view of the mountains 
 from Chilkeah is very good, but I was satiated with fine scenery, 
 and was only bent on pushing on. 
 
 December 8.— Next morning, accordingly, we proceeded ten 
 coss to Casherpoor. I went on horseback over a very wild, 
 marshy, and jungly plain, overgrown with grass far higher than 
 my head, and scattered with trees and bushes. I have never 
 seen a more feverish or tigerly country, nor was Casherpoor, when 
 I reached it, a bit better looking than Ruderpoor. Surely, if 
 these places are really healthier than those on the other road, 
 and they are certainly more populous, there must be more in the 
 difference of the water than Europeans are willing to allow. 
 
 Casherpoor is a famous place of Hindoo pilgrimage, has divers 
 temples, and a very holy and dirty tank, where the pilgrims bathe 
 in their way to the temples at the foot of Bhadrinath. None of 
 them, however, are particularly Avorthy of notice ; and the most 
 remarkable thing which 1 saw was a quack-doctor, a Mussulman, 
 educated, he said, at Lucknow, and well stocked, not indeed with 
 
SUPPOSED VOLCANO ON NUNDIDEVL 
 
 423 
 
 medicines, for he had only a very little satchel, but with all the 
 usual grimace of a merry Andrew, and a good stock of confidence, 
 with some little English and Persian. 
 
 In walking to a ruinous fort at a short distance from the town, 
 
 I passed, however, after I had written this, some noble mangoe- 
 trees, overshadowing the tombs and temples, of which I have 
 spoken, and two walled orchards, planted, as the village jemaut- 
 dar told me, by wealthy merchants resident in the place. He 
 said a great trade passed through this channel, and the town, 
 from its superior healthiness, was much preferred to Chilkeah by 
 the rich traders. I asked him if the fever never came here. He 
 shook his head, but said that it was chiefly confined to the poor, 
 and those who had scanty clothing and slept on the ground ; a 
 description, however, which comprises nine-tenths of all who 
 ever came into this neighbourhood. He said that Casherpoor 
 was built by a divinity, as 1 understood him, named Cashi, 5000 
 years ago ; that it was a great place in all the wars formerly car- 
 ried on on this frontier, and that this was the best and nearest 
 way to China. Abdullah, who followed us, listened with great 
 attention to his narrative, but interposed a doubt as to the anti- 
 quity of the place being so great as he supposed, on the ground 
 that, according to the Persian Chronicles, Jumsheed Jum, who 
 only lived 4700 years ago, was the first who built either in brick 
 or stone, adding in English to me, that ‘‘ it was he who built the 
 tower of Babel.” I was a little afraid of war between the rival 
 Titans, Cashi and Jumsheed, when the long-legged sepoy, who 
 had also followed, cried out, “ There is Nundidevi !” and all eyes 
 were turned either to see the hill of which such wonders had 
 doubtless been told, or, as in my own case, to take a last leave 
 of one of the noblest inanimate works of Providence. Of the 
 white hills, Nundidevi alone was visible, but he was very dis- 
 tinctly so. I forget whether 1 mentioned in its proper place that, 
 all the natives of the country assert, a smoke is often seen to rise 
 from the lower of his highest peaks. This is, they say, the 
 kitchen of the god Nundi ; but, if it is true, for no European has 
 yet seen it, it is a very curious instance of a volcano situated so 
 far from the sea, the waters of which are, by most chemists, 
 supposed to be necessary to the production of those terrible phe- 
 nomena. The frequency of earthquakes in these regions might 
 countenance the idea of subterraneous fire, but I have not been 
 able to learn that any volcanic remains, whether scoriae or basalt, 
 have been as yet discovered. It is possible that a fleecy cloud 
 may have been mistaken for smoke ; but the labours of Captain 
 Herbert, the mineralogist employed by Government, who is de- 
 scribed as enterprising and indefatigable, may probably soon throw 
 some light on the question. If there is a volcano on Nundidevi, 
 
424 
 
 SPINNING-WHEELS. 
 
 it must, however, be very inert and almost extinct, or it would 
 have placed itself ere this beyond doubt. 
 
 December 9. — We proceeded to Belagary, a poor little village, 
 whither we were obliged to take provisions from Casherpoor, as 
 it neither contained bazar nor tradesman. The road was good, 
 and the country improving in fertility and cultivation, though 
 still inferior to the average of India. One of the camel-drivers 
 here complained of illness, and seemed very feverish ; I gave him 
 medicine, and finding he had no tent or other shelter, I made his 
 companions, a brutish set, and extremely careless of each other, 
 contrive a little shed for him of camel furniture and sacks, and 
 also ordered one of them to sit by him and give him “ congee,” 
 rice-gruel, as often as he complained of thirst. I cannot say that 
 I at all liked either his pulse or his looks ; but though I felt again 
 perplexed, I thought that the path which I was treading was at 
 least a safe one. In fact he found himself better in the evening ; 
 and I hoped that I had provided against a relapse by giving him 
 a birth in the servants’ tent, 
 
 I walked round the village in the evening, merely for the sake 
 of a walk, not anticipating that 1 should see any thing curious. 
 1 was pleased, however, with the appearance of the houses, which, 
 though very humble, were all in good repair, showed abundance 
 of buffaloes in their little court-yards, and were kept with a de- 
 gree of cleanliness and smartness, which, though not inseparable 
 from a state of moderate comfort and plenty, (since there are 
 peasants, like the Dutch colonists of the Cape and the North 
 American farmers, who are at once affluent and dirty,) is at least 
 never seen where some degree of comfort and plenty is not found. 
 I saw also the women spinning cotton on small and odd-shaped 
 wheels. 
 
 The young women seemed more shy than most Hindoos of 
 their sex are. One poor girl, with red trowsers, a saffron veil, 
 and larger silver anklets than her neighbours, ran away as hard 
 as she could when we approached, but by ill luck turning down 
 a wrong lane, fell a second time into the jaws of her enemy. 
 1 thought for a moment that her alarm was counterfeited, and 
 merely d^fuga ad salices, but it was evident that such a suspicion 
 did her injustice. All the people, both here and at Casherpoor, 
 are Hindoos, which, indeed, except the descendants of the Patan 
 conquerors, seems the case with almost all the inhabitants of 
 Rohilcund. 
 
 December 10. — This morning we went to a small town named 
 Boitpoor, or some such name, through a fertile level country, 
 with some groves of very large mangoes and tara-palms. The 
 mangoe tree grows to a greater size in the north-east of this 
 province, than in any other part of India I have yet traversed. 
 
BOITPOOR— WHITE BUFFALO. 
 
 425 
 
 Several which 1 passed to-day equalled those at Ruderpoor. It 
 is certainly, I conceive, the largest fruit tree in the world. 
 
 Boitpoor has a small bazar, and a very minute mosque. It is 
 partly inhabited by Mussulmans, who, I thought at first, received 
 us less civilly than the people of most Indian villages. It turned 
 out, however, that the Zemindar, who had also been jemautdar, 
 was dead, and that his family were not yet visible; consequently 
 the place was without a “ Malik,” or master ; and every body 
 did. what he thought right, which, in the present case, was to 
 do nothing. As this would not answer my purpose, I sent a 
 message to the brother of the deceased, stating that I should 
 not trouble him to come to me, but only to order his tenants to 
 furnish the usual supplies, at the usual rate. He came, however, 
 a gray headed man, apparently in grief, and made many apologies 
 which I could not persuade him were needless. While we were 
 talking, a man came up, throwing dust in the air, and crying out 
 pitifully for “ Justice! justice!” He at first said that “my people 
 had taken his fish, his straw, his bread — that he was plundered, 
 ruined, and must starve, he and his children !” At length 1 asked 
 him if he had been paid for his fish. He hesitated; but two or 
 three of the people ran up to say that he had had seven anas, 
 which I knew was quite sufficient for the whole basket. I then 
 asked the Zemindar the probable value of the straw which had 
 been taken, who answered “ a pice.” I gave him two pice, but 
 still he was not satisfied, though he now confessed he had lost 
 nothing more ; I therefore sent him away, marvelling at the habit 
 which seems to prevail in all these countries, of demanding justice 
 with bitter outcries; and, even when the affair is a trifle, assuming 
 the air and desperation of a ruined man. 
 
 The poor camel-driver was better, but by no means well, and 
 I had a sepoy complaining to-day. In the evening I took my 
 usual walk, accompanied by the old soubahdar and the late 
 Zemindar’s brother, a very stupid old man, who merely knew that 
 ' Boitpoor had once been a flourishing place, but had been ruined 
 in the wars. I saw, however, some things worth notice: first, a 
 white buffalo, a thing which Abdullah, who also followed me, as 
 did my two inseparable sepoys, and nearly half the village, pointed 
 out as a great curiosity, such as he, at least, had never seen before. 
 The second was the manner of weaving and dyeing a coarse kind 
 of chintz, of which there seemed to be a considerable manufactory 
 in the place. The weaving was like other weaving, but the d}^e- 
 ing was done very simply and well, with small types, if I may 
 call them so, made to represent different parts of the pattern, and 
 laid on in succession, after being dipped in different colours. All 
 the colours were vegetable, and I noticed madder, indigo, and a 
 strong good yellow, which they said was extracted from the toon 
 VoL. I.— 54 
 
426 
 
 SUGAR MILL. 
 
 tree. The fabric of the stuff was bad, but the patterns neat and 
 showy. A caftan of this stuff, lined with red or white, and quilted 
 with cotton, is called a “lebada,” from “libd,” a quilt, in Arabic 
 and Hebrew, and is the common winter dress of the people in all 
 these provinces. The third particular was a sugar mill at work, 
 a machine of the simplest construction, but which seemed to 
 answer its purpose tolerably. It consisted of a large vat under 
 ground, covered by a stout platform, in the centre of w^hich was 
 a wooden cylinder, apparently the hollowed stump of a tree. In 
 this was a stout piece of timber fixed as in a socket, w^hich was 
 turned round and round like the stick used in milling chocolate, 
 by a beam fastened to it,oto which two oxen were yoked. A man 
 sate on the beam behind the oxen, and kept thrusting in, betwixt 
 the upright timber and its socket, pieces of sugar-cane of about a 
 foot long, which were necessarily crushed by the timber as it 
 turned round, so that their juice ran down into the vat beneath. 
 They said that stones, on the principle of a common mill, were 
 far better where they could be procured; but here they were very 
 poor, and stones were dear. Fourth, as 1 returned home, I passed 
 a fine tree of the mimosa, with leaves at a little distance so much 
 resembling those of the mountain-ash, that I was for a moment 
 deceived, and asked if it did not bring fruit. They answered no, 
 but it was a very noble tree, being called “ the Imperial tree,” 
 for its excellent properties, — that it slept all night, and wakened 
 and was alive all day, withdrawing its leaves if any one attempted 
 to touch them. Above all, however, it was useful as a preserva* 
 tive against magic ; a sprig worn in the turban or suspended over 
 the bed, was a perfect security against all spells, evil eye, &:c., 
 insomuch that the most formidable wizard would not, if he could 
 help it, approach its shade. One, indeed, they said, who was very 
 renowned for his power (like Lorrinite in Kehama) of killing 
 plants, and drying up their sap with a look, had come to this very 
 tree and gazed on it intently : “ But,” said the old man who told 
 me this, with an air of triumph, “ look as he might he could do 
 the tree no harm !” a fact of which 1 make no question. I was 
 amused and surprised to find the superstition which^ in England 
 and Scotland, attach to the rowan-tree, here applied to a tree of 
 nearly similar form. Which nation has been, in this case, the 
 imitator, or from what common centre are all these common 
 notions derived? 
 
 I had met several men, within these few days, riding on oxen, 
 a custom which I had not remarked elsewhere. The oxen seemed 
 very tolerable nags, little inferior to the common tattoos of the 
 country. 
 
 December 1 1. — This morning we went six coss to Moradabad. 
 It is a moderate sized town, with a handsome garden or two, and 
 
MORADABAD. 
 
 427 
 
 some remains of former splendour, standing on a sluggish river, 
 the Ramgunga, as wide nearly in this place as the Severn at 
 Shrewsbury, but shallow and fordable, apparently, in several 
 places. I was on my elephant, but it might, without the least 
 difficulty^ have been passed on horseback. I found that Mr. Hal- 
 hed and Mr. Parry Okeden were absent from home on duty, the 
 whole station being rendered on the alert by the alarm of a body 
 of armed plunderers having assembled on the skirts of the forest, 
 north of this place, between Chilkeah and Hurdwar. I received, 
 however, very great kindness and hospitality from Mr. Ford, the 
 collector of the whole district, (the northern and southern parts 
 of which are divided between Mr. Halhed and Mr. Boulderson,) 
 who, together with Mr. Scott, the judge and magistrate, called on 
 me early in the forenoon. I had also a visit from Mr. Simms, the 
 junior station surgeon, (who is brother-in-law to our friend Dr. 
 Bliss, of St. John’s,) and I was glad to consult him about my two 
 sick men. I was grieved to find that he considered their com- 
 plaint as likely to turn out the jungle-fever ! His view of the 
 unwholesomeness of the Terrai corresponded entirely with what 
 I had heard at Bareilly, and from Mr. Boulderson. He said that 
 there were many places along the border wffiich were at all sea- 
 sons dangerous ; that Mr. Halhed’s party had already sent in 
 several sick since their pursuit of the freebooters commenced ; 
 and though less dangerous at some times than others, he did not 
 conceive either the Terrai or the forest to be ever wholesome 
 places to linger in. 
 
 Under these circumstances I felt extremely sorry that I had 
 detained my men even a few days at Chilkeah, though in so doing 
 1 acted from the best information in my power. Mr. Simms 
 thought that it would turn out a mild case with both of them ; 
 but it was necessary that they should be immediately removed to 
 the military hospital. The poor sepoy was very unwilling to go, 
 but there was no remedy. The camel-driver was really so ill 
 this morning that he was hardly able to express any choice in the 
 affair. Mr. Simms good-naturedly procured dhoolies to carry 
 them, and promised me to pay them all the attention in his power. 
 
 December 12, Sunday , — I read prayers, preached, and adminis- 
 tered the Sacrament to-day, in one of the rooms of the collector’s 
 cutcherry, to about twenty persons ; a more numerous congrega- 
 tion than 1 expected, considering that so many of the residents 
 were away. Indeed, Mr*. Okeden and Mr. Williams, the assistant 
 register, actually, on purpose to be present, returned from the 
 camp, about forty miles off. 
 
 The cutcherry is a large and handsome house, which was built 
 by Mr. Leicester when he was judge and magistrate here. It 
 is on the same sort of scale with our house in Calcutta, with the 
 
428 
 
 NATIVE CHRISTIANS. 
 
 addition of a very splendid gateway as lodge, which would serve 
 for the gate of a city, and an extent of at least twenty acres of 
 land, formerly laid out in garden, but now totally neglected, ex- 
 cept as a field for making bricks out of. The most curious part, 
 however, of the place to an English eye, is that this fine house 
 (for it really is a very fine one) is surrounded by a mud rampart, 
 with a deep moat, and four small circular bastions, all now much 
 out of repair. On expressing some surprise at this, I was told 
 that when Mr. Leicester built the house, such a precaution was, 
 in this part of India, not undesirable, though it was rather unusual. 
 
 After service I had three christenings, and an interesting visit 
 from a fine gray-bearded old man, who said he had been con- 
 verted by Mr. Corrie to Christianity, when at Agra, and that his 
 name was “ Noor Musseeh,” Light of the Messiah. He came to 
 ask for books, if I had any to spare him ; to introduce his son, a 
 tall, strapping, but not auspicious looking young man, who was a 
 catechumen, and wished to be baptized ; and lastly, to beg me to 
 speak to the collector and Mr. Halhed, that he might not be 
 turned out of a small office which he held, and which, he said, 
 he was in danger of losing on account of his Christianity ! This, 
 indeed, was not the reason given, but he said that his comrades 
 in office, fierce Mussulmans, left no stone unturned to misrepre- 
 sent and ruin him, and that, if he had no protector, he must sink. 
 Abdullah said he knew from his own experience, and from all he 
 had heard from Fyzee Musseeh and Abdul Musseeh, that this was 
 very likely to be true, and I therefore did give the poor man a 
 few lines, stating his case, to both Mr. Ford and Mr. Halhed. I 
 also furnished him with a Hindoostanee prayer-book, (he had 
 already the four Gospels,) and with regard to his son, whom he 
 said he had instructed carefully to the best of his knowledge, I 
 told him 1 could not myself examine him sufficiently to judge of 
 his acquirements in Christianity, which, indeed, did not seem 
 very extensive, but if he would go with me to Meerut, he might 
 put his bed under the connauts of the tent, and 1 would give him 
 his provisions, and that there Mr. Fisher should examine and 
 instruct him more fully. The old man was very grateful, and 
 wanted to kiss my knees and feet ; the young one bowled very 
 low, and asked my blessing, but did not seem to participate in an 
 equal degree in his father’s zeal. This is the third or fourth 
 Christian I have heard of scattered up and down in these moun- 
 tain provinces, and it is likely that, as Mr. Corrie thinks, there 
 are many more believers “in Christ, who dare not, by owning 
 themselves, incur the ill will of their neighbours. 
 
 I went in the afternoon to the hospital to see the sepoy and 
 camel-driver. The former I found' in much distress and depres- 
 sion of spirits, from being in a strange place and without a nurse. 
 
MORADABAD. 
 
 429 
 
 Being a brahmin he could only receive nourishment, and particu- 
 larly water, from one of his own caste, and there was no such 
 person attached to the hospital. He was quite'sensible, but very 
 feverish, and seemed to think himself left to die. 1 encouraged 
 him as well as I could, and wrote a note to Mr. Simms, begging 
 him to get a brahmin for him, which he might easily do from the 
 regiment quartered in the place. The poor camel-driver thought 
 himself better, his fever having intermitted. The hospital is a 
 very comfortable one for this climate, a large thatched bungalow, 
 all in one room like- a barn, with sufficient air, and very well 
 verandahed round. The beds were clean and comfortable, and 
 there seemed no want of any thing, but that peculiar attendance 
 which the prejudices of ftie Hindoos require, and which, I was 
 given to understand, would on my application be immediately* 
 supplied. 
 
 Mr. Parry Okeden called on me in the course of the day. He 
 considered the banditti, whom they had been pursuing, as com- 
 pletely dispersed. They followed them a day or two, and once 
 were very near surprising them in their bivouac, where they 
 found the embers still hot, and the pitchers for cooking not all 
 empty. They had issued promises of reward for the apprehension 
 of the ringleaders, but did not expect much result from the 
 measure. 
 
 I had an opportunity here of seeing the way in which ice is 
 made all over upper India. A number of broad and very shallow 
 earthen pans are placed on a layer of dry straw, and filled with 
 water. In the night, even the small degree of frost which is felt 
 here, is sufficient to cover these with a thin coat of ice, which is 
 carefully collected and packed up. The quantity produced must 
 be, however, very small, and the process an expensive one. 
 Vines seem to thrive well here, but they do not prune them close 
 enough. They are very beautiful objects, but a vine to be pro- 
 ductive should be trimmed till it is downright ugly. Here the 
 climate mig|it answer very well. In Kemaoon it does not ; the 
 rains setting in so early that the fruit has not time to ripen. On 
 the whole, I am rather struck with the apparent similarity in 
 many points of productions, scenery, &c. of Rohilcund with Ben- 
 gal. The climate is certainly different, yet in other respects they 
 resemble each other more than any parts of India which I have 
 yet visited. Rohilcund, however, in every thing but rivers has 
 much the advantage. 
 
 I saw frequently, during the last week, the nest of the tree- 
 wasp, about the size of, and nearly similar in shape to those of 
 the English, but hanging like large withered fruit from the 
 branches of trees. I have not seen any of the insects themselves, 
 at least to distinguish them, nor have I been able to learn whether, 
 
430 
 
 RAMPOOR. 
 
 and in what respects, they differ from their brethren who hive in 
 banks and hollow places. 
 
 Like almost alMhe nobility of India, the Nawab of Rampoor 
 is a mere drunkard and voluptuary. He had, lately, a very clever 
 managing steward, under whom his little territory prospered 
 greatly. But, like the king of Oude, he has now got rid of him, 
 and his Jaghire is pretty much administered according to the 
 ancient Indian maxim: 
 
 “ The good old rule, the simple plan^ 
 
 That they should take who have the power, 
 
 And they should keep who can I” 
 
 Rampoor is described as a large town, chiefly remarkable for 
 ’'the sort of fortification which surrounds it. This is a high thick 
 hedge, or rather plantation of bamboos, set as close to each other 
 as possible, and faced on the outside by a formidable underwood 
 of cactus and babool. The only places of entrance are narrow 
 paths defended by strong wooden barriers, and the defence is one 
 which, against irregular troops, is said to be extremely efficient, 
 since neither cavalry nor infantry can be brought up to act against 
 an enemy whom they cannot see, but who fire at them from be- 
 tween the stems of the bamboos, under cover of tiie thorny and 
 almost impenetrable bushes without. 
 
 December 13. — This morning we left Moradabad, and marched 
 ten short coss, about sixteen miles, to Tyleepoor, a paltry little 
 village, at a considerable distance from the necessary supplies, 
 but which was the best halting place within our reach : that laid 
 down in Baton’s route being above twenty miles, a distance too 
 great to' march without some real necessity. There is a good 
 deal of waste land between Moradabad and Tyleepoor, and the 
 soil seems poor and barren. There are also some marshy pools, 
 and we forded a small river. 
 
 I had another sepoy very feverish to-day, and suspect that he 
 had been ill some time, and had concealed it for fear of the hos- 
 pital. I know not whether fortunately or otherwise, they have 
 acquired a marvellous opinion of my medical skill. This renders 
 them very willing to take my remedies, but it may lead them to 
 trust to me too far. I gave this man a dose of calomel and jalap, 
 being afraid of James’s powder, as it was near night, and he had 
 to march next day. 
 
 I read Hindoostanee prayers this evening with Abdullah and 
 the new catechumen, Jaffier Beg, who has rather risen in my 
 favourable opinion. He has evidently taken a good deal of pains 
 in studying the four Gospels, the only Christian books which he 
 has yet seen ; and his questions were very numerous. He joined 
 in the Lord’s Prayer with much seeming devotion, and said he 
 
MUHAISNA. 
 
 431 
 
 understood the other prayers which 1 read. 1 am, however, 
 vexed morje and more at the little ground which I gain in the 
 language ; and at the little time which I have for improving my- 
 self. i^et the one is the consequence of the other; and for the 
 last 1 have no remedy, now that I have neither secretary nor 
 assistant, and have so much of my day taken up by travelling and 
 the necessary preparations for travelling. Lushington and Arch- 
 deacon Corrie were considerable helps to me in writing, &c. but 
 I do not know that their presence at all forwarded my progress 
 in Hindoostanee. 
 
 December 14. — This day’s march was ten coss, to a small and 
 poor village named Muhaisna ; where we had some difficulty in 
 obtaining supplies, and found the ryuts disposed to grumble and 
 be uncivil. One of the men, who was fiercest and loudest, was 
 a remarkable tall and fine-looking young man, with a silver brace- 
 let of a singular form on his arm, which struck me from its classical 
 character, being two serpents twined together. They complained 
 that hay had been taken without paying for it, which did not ap- 
 pear to have been the case ; and at last the principal farmer of 
 the village owned that their outcries were from fear of what would 
 be taken, rather than from any mischief which my people had 
 already done. 
 
 In our way we passed through the outskirts of Amroah, a con- 
 siderable town, with some neat mosques and extensive gardens, 
 with walls and summer-houses, and surrounded with large plan- 
 tations of sugar and cotton. The generality of the country, how- 
 ever, is poor, sterile, and ill inhabited, with more waste land 
 than is usual in India. The sown land, too, appeared suffering 
 exceedingly from drought, which, indeed, is the case with all 
 Rohilcund. 
 
 This station of Muhaisna was a bad one in another respect. 
 The only grove of trees was on a broken piece of ground inter- 
 sected with gullies, and so overgrown with weeds that the tents 
 could not be pitched there ; and I was obliged to encamp on the 
 plain near two fine peepul-trees, which, however, were by no 
 means sufficient for the comfort of the people, and the numerous 
 animals of our cofila. The groves of fruit-trees are the surest 
 marks, I think, of prosperity about an Indian village ; and in this 
 part of Rohilcund their rarity, and, generally speaking, their insig- 
 nificant size, show that the land is either naturally almost irre- 
 claimable, or that, lying near the Ganges, and the frontier exposed 
 to the usual stream of invasion, the country has not recovered the 
 horrors of that time, when the Maharatta was their near and 
 triumphant neighbour. A strong proof of the recollection which 
 the calamities of that time has left behind is, that when the people 
 of Bareilly were informed not long since that the money raised by 
 
432 
 
 TIGHREE. 
 
 internal duties was to be laid out for the improvement of their 
 town, they expressed a general wish that their walls might be 
 repaired. On asking “ what enemies they feared ?” they replied 
 that all was quiet at the moment, but they could not tell but the 
 Maharattas might one day return. 
 
 I had more applications to-day for medicine, and, putting wor- 
 rying in place of beating, found I was in as fair a way to be forced 
 into considering myself an able physician as Sgagnarelle, in the 
 Medecin malgre lui. The sepoy declared himself quite well ; 
 which emboldened one of his comrades to complain of being 
 feverish ; and a ryut, hearing the application, came forward also 
 to beg something for sore eyes. He was not, however, content 
 with my medical aid, for immediately afterwards he said in a low 
 tone that a man had been killed in the village of which he was 
 thannadar, and he should get into trouble unless 1 stood his friend ! 
 
 The weather was so cool and cloudy that I hoped rain was 
 coming ; I did not indeed wish for a decided fall before I got into 
 Meerut, yet even this I would have gladly borne, to see the poor 
 dry clods moist and hopeful. 
 
 December 15. — This morning we came, a march of eight coss, 
 to a village named Tighree. Half-way we passed another village 
 named Gujrowlie, with a tolerable serai, where one of my horses 
 had been sent on before to giv6 me the advantage of a change, as 
 usual in Indian travelling. The country thus far was cultivated, 
 not well, nor fully, but still there were marks of cultivation, though 
 every thing was grievously parched for want of rain. The re- 
 mainder of the distance lay through a desolate tract, once evident- 
 ly well inhabited, as was apparent by the few palm-trees scattered 
 up and down, but now, and probably for many years, waste and 
 overgrown with high grass-jungle. 
 
 Tighree itself is a poor place, a small village, with a few patches 
 of corn round it, in the midst of the wilderness, without any tree, 
 except one or two scattered palms, and scarcely space enough 
 between the young wheat and the jungle to admit of our encamp- 
 ment. The day was hot, and the people and animals suffered a 
 good deal for want of shade, added to which, all our supplies were 
 to come from Gurmukteser, a distance of three coss, so that it 
 was almost noon before either grass for the horses, or fuel or food 
 for the men arrived, and much later before the poor camels and 
 elephants got their boughs. The jemautdar, however, and tus- 
 seldar of Gurmukteser, were civil, and, at length, furnished us 
 with every thing, except that the kid which they sent had the rot 
 and was uneatable. There was no fire-wood in the neighbour- 
 hood, but the tusseldar sent a cart-load of dung-cakes, and would 
 take no repayment, saying it was no more than dustoor. There 
 was little to tempt me out here, and it was more from dustoor. 
 
HINDOO YOGIS. 
 
 433 
 
 than any thing else, that I walked in the evening to see the vil- 
 lage, which I found neat, though small and poor. The cottages 
 in Upper India have generally the mud walls of their front white- 
 washed, and a rude painting of flowers or some figures of men, 
 animals, or divinities, painted on each side of their doors, a cir- 
 cumstance which I never remarked in Bengal or Bahar, and 
 which has a lively and agreeable effect. They have also, general- 
 ly, on one side of this door, a small platform of clay beaten hard, 
 raised about a foot and swept very clean, on which the family 
 usually sit in the cool of the day, and where at such times their 
 spinning and other household works are carried on. 
 
 The jemautdar of Gurmukteser, who accompanied me in this 
 walk, said that the Ganges, at present, was distant about two 
 coss ; but that during the rains it came up close to this village. 
 He said that Tighree and the jungles round it were celebrated as 
 hunting-ground all over this part of India ; that there was great 
 abundance of wild hogs, deer, and all other animals except 
 elephants. These require a deeper forest and large trees, both 
 for shelter and nourishment. I asked if there were many tigers. 
 He said plenty; but that there was a very wonderful thing in the 
 neighbourhood ; that there were two Hindoo Yogis, who lived in 
 different cells in the wilderness, about two coss from the village, 
 in opposite directions, of whom the one was never hurt by the 
 tigers though living in the neighbourhood where they most 
 abounded, and where no other man would pass a night for half 
 Rohilcund ; while, to the other, a tiger actually came every night 
 and licked his hands, and fondled and lay by him for hours. At 
 first, from my imperfect knowledge of the language, I fancied it 
 was the same sort of story which I had heard concerning the 
 saint’s tomb at Sicligully ; but on asking if it was where the Yogi 
 was buried, he explained himself very clearly, that the saint was 
 still alive, — that he was very old, and went quite naked, with a 
 long white beard and hair, — that his dwelling was a little hut 
 ampng the long grass, not far from the road side, in the way to 
 Gurmukteser, and that there were people who had been there at 
 night and seen him and his tiger together. He added that he 
 lived by charity, but never asked for any thing except he was 
 actually hungry, which was seldom the case, as, from his high 
 reputation, he was generally supplied. 1 asked the jemautdar if 
 he had seen the tiger. He answered “ No, because he had never 
 been there at night, but that there was no doubt of the fact.” I 
 asked, “ If I were to go there now, (it was growing dusk,) should 
 I see him ?” He answered that 1 might have done so, if the holy 
 man had been at home, but that he had gone the day before to 
 Amroah, and that 1 must have passed him on the road. In fact, 
 the saees who had been sent on to Gujrowlie, said that he had 
 
 VoL. I. — 55 
 
434 
 
 BOA CONSTRICTOR. 
 
 seen a very remarkable bid man, answering to the description 
 given, seated in a corner of the serai at that place. The jemautdar 
 was a Mussulman, and had no motive for swelling the praises of 
 a Hindoo saint, so that I have little doubt that he himself believed 
 what he told me, nor, indeed, do I think the fact impossible, or 
 even improbable. Similar stories are told of hermits in Syria, 
 whose cells have been frequented by lions, — and a lion 1 should 
 conceive to be as formidable a chum as a tiger; and it certainly 
 is not unlikely that a man, with no other occupation or amuse- 
 ment, might very thoroughly tame a tiger’s whelp, so as to retain 
 a hold on its affections, and to restrain it, while in his presence, 
 from hurting others, even after it had arrived at its full growth 
 and fierceness. Every animal is, ceteris paribus, fiercer when 
 tied up or confined ; yet the great tiger at Barrackpoor would, I 
 have no doubt, allow his keeper to sleep in the same den with him ; 
 in a wilderness abounding with hogs and deer, there would be little 
 risk of the tiger’s coming home so hungry as to be tempted to 
 attack his friend ; and the principal danger of the devotee would be 
 from the rough fondling of his pet when he was two-thirds grown. 
 As to the supposed safety of the rival saint, that I conceive to be 
 merely luck, added to the fact that, except a tiger be provoked, 
 or much pressed by hunger, or have once tasted human flesh, it 
 seems pretty certain that he seldom attacks a man. 
 
 The poor sepoy to whom I had given medicine the day before, 
 and who was this morning reported much better, was again at- 
 tacked with fever at night. I gave him a rather stronger dose 
 than before, but by no means felt easy about him. 
 
 1 am not sure whether I mentioned in their proper place two 
 curious facts which were told me in Kemaoon respecting the 
 forests and their productions. The one is, that fires often take 
 place in the jungles during the dry season, by the mere friction 
 of the cane stalks against each other in high winds. This was 
 first told me by the Raja Gooman Singh, and it was confirmed, 
 at least as being the usual opinion of the people, by Mr. Tiiaill 
 and Sir R. Colquhoun. A scene of this sort, and arising from 
 this cause, is described in Leyden’s Scenes of Infancy, but I had 
 always, till now, supposed that the poet’s fancy, rather than his 
 reading, had been his prompter here. The other is, that the 
 Boa Constrictor is frequently found, particularly in the wood 
 between Bamoury and Dikkalee, under the immediate feet of the 
 hills. These snakes are of enormous size, but not much feared 
 by the natives, since though they have, in their opinion, sufficient 
 strength to master a buffalo, they are proportionably unwieldy. 
 Many stories are told here, as in Surinam, of persons stepping on 
 them by mistake for fallen trees, and being terrified on finding 
 them alive. 
 
ELEPHANTS SWIMMING. 
 
 435 
 
 December 16. — ^From Tighree to the ferry of the Ganges is 
 about three coss, all wild jungle. Half-way we passed the her- 
 mitage of the tiger saint, a little cottage almost buried in long 
 grass, but both larger and more apparently comfortable, than, 
 from the jemautdar’s description, I had expected. We now took 
 leave of the noble Ganges, not again to see it till our return by 
 sea to Saugor Island. Even here, at this distance from the sea, 
 and in almost the driest season of the year, it is a great and 
 mighty river, not far short, as 1 think, of the Thames at West- 
 minster bridge. During the rains it must, judging from its traces 
 on both sides, be nearly four miles across. I had frequently 
 asked military men whether the Ganges was any way fordable 
 after it left the hills, and had, as usual in India, received con- 
 tradictory and unsatisfactory answers, but the impression left 
 on my mind was, that it was fordable both at Gurmukteser and 
 Anopshehr. On asking the jemautdar and ferrymen, however, 
 they all agreed that there was no ford in its whole course. 
 Here there certainly was not ; since, as the boats could not 
 receive our elephants, and they tried to wade through, even 
 they were, in the middle of the stream, compelled to swum, a 
 sight which I was not at all sorry to have an opportunity of see- 
 ing. All three could swim, which was fortunate, as this is not 
 alw^ays the case with them. I did not think that the one which 
 I remarked, sank so deep in the water as had been described to 
 me, or as the elephant is represented as doing in Captain Wil- 
 liamson’s print. 
 
 In the course of this day’s march, a circumstance occurred 
 which proves, I think, how much the people of this country look 
 up to the English for help and counsel in all emergencies. I was 
 going along a jungly piece of road, for all this day’s march as 
 well as yesterday’s was more or less jungly, when I saw a little 
 cluster of travellers of the lower class surrounding somebody on 
 the ground. As soon as they saw me they immediately ran up, 
 saying, that one of their friends was sick, and they begged me to 
 look at him and give him medicine. The man, as it turned out, 
 had only a little cholic, which was well before my physic chest 
 arrived to enable me to give him medicine. But what struck me, 
 was the immediate impulse which led these men to suppose, on 
 seeing an European riding along the road, that he was likely to 
 help and advise them ! Surely, if this opinion is general, it must 
 be one of the best holds we have on our Indian empire. 
 
 Shahjehanpoor, a common name in India, is a large and pic- 
 turesque town with a ruined castle, several mosques, and some 
 large and fine groves and pools of water. I saw, however, but 
 little of it, for 1 had a good deal of business during the day, 
 getting ready my letters to be despatched from Meerut, and in the 
 
436 
 
 GIPSIES. 
 
 evening having patients again. The sepoys indeed were well, 
 but two ponies, one belonging to Mr. Ford’s Chuprassee, the 
 other, a very pretty one, to Cashiram the goomashta, were taken 
 exceedingly ill. The causes of their attack were variously 
 stated, but I believe that the saees had given them too much and 
 too acid gram immediately after their journey. They had both 
 the appearance of palsy or staggers, had lost the use of their loins, 
 reeled to and fro, and at length fell. Before I heard of it they 
 had given them brandy, pepper, and I know not what, and when 
 I saw them they had every symptom of violent inflammation of 
 the bowels. I advised bleeding immediately ; nobody could do 
 this but Abdullah, and there was no proper instrument but my 
 penknife ; while I w^as hunting for this, one of the horses died, 
 and the other was evidently in extremity. Abdullah opened the 
 usual vein, but very little blood would run ; in fact, they had 
 given it arrack enough to kill an elephant. It died in the course 
 of the night, and all which gave me pleasure in the business, was 
 the exceeding attachment of the poor saees to it. He wrung his 
 hands over it as if it had been his brother, sate by it, supporting 
 its head, and rubbing its ears and neck, till life was actually gone, 
 and, as it appeared, it was his ignorant good-will in giving too 
 large a feed of corn, which had done the mischief. Cashiram 
 bore his loss very well, and said not a single cross word to his 
 servant the whole time. I wish all Christians might have behaved 
 with as much propriety. 
 
 December 17. — To-day we went six coss to Mow, a poor vil- 
 lage without trees, where, however, by the advantage of a firman 
 from the collector of Meerut, and of a very civil tusseldar, w^e 
 got supplies in abundance, and were allowed to pay for nothing. 
 In the afternoon a large troop of gipsies, as I and all my people 
 thought they were, though they themselves disowned the term, 
 came to the camp. They said they came from Ahmedabad in 
 Guzerat, were going on pilgrimage to the Ganges, and had .been 
 eight months on their road. They pretended at first to be brah- 
 mins, to the great scandal and indignation of Cashiram, who is a 
 brahmin, and reproved them with much austerity for their pre- 
 sumption. 1 asked them to show their “ strings,” on which they 
 confessed they had none, but still persisted that they were Raj- 
 poots. “ Tell me the truth,” said I, “ are you Bheels ?” the name 
 of the wild mountaineers near Ahmedabad. My people laughed 
 at this question, and said they certainly were Bheels and nothing 
 else. They, however, stiffly denied it. They were very merry, 
 but very poor wretches, nearly naked, and the leanest specimens 
 of human life I have ever seen; so wretched, indeed, was their 
 poverty, that, I immediately sent for a supply of pice to dis- 
 tribute among them, pending the arrival of which, a man and 
 
THUaS. 
 
 437 
 
 woman, who seemed the Tramezzani and Catalan! of the party, 
 came forwards, and sung two or three songs, the man accompa- 
 nying them on a vina, a small guitar like the Russian balalaika. 
 Theiiv voices were really good, and though they sung in the vile 
 cracked tone which street-singers have all the world over, the 
 effect was not unpleasant ; but it was a strange and melancholy 
 thing to hear a love song, expressive, so far as I could catch the 
 words, of rapture and mutual admiration, trilled out by two 
 ragged wretches, weather-beaten, lean, and smoke-dried. The 
 poor little children, though quite naked, seemed the best fed, and 
 I thought they seemed kind to them, though one old man who 
 was the head of the party, and had an infant slung in a dirty 
 cloth, like a hammock, to a stick, which he carried in his hand^ 
 held it carelessly enough ; insomuch that, till I asked him what 
 he had in his bundle, and he opened his cloth to show me, 1 did 
 not suppose it was a child. 1 gave them an ana each, children 
 and all, with which they went to buy ghee and flour in the village, 
 and soon after made a fire under a neighbouring peepul-tree. I 
 saw them in the course of the evening at their meal, and one of 
 the collector’s suwarrs said he heard them pray for me before they 
 sat down. I should have fancied them very harmless poor 
 creatures, or at worst, only formidable to hen-roosts, and in such 
 petty thefts as gipsies practise in England. But I find these 
 rambling parties of self-called pilgrims bear a very bad charac- 
 ter in Hindostan. They are often described as “ Thugs,” the 
 name given to the practice of which they are accused, that, 
 namely, of attaching themselves, on different pretences, to single 
 travellers or small parties, and watching their opportunity to fling 
 a rope with a slip-knot over the heads of their victims, with which 
 they drag them from their horses, and strangle them. So nimbly 
 and with such fatal aim are they said to do this, they seldom miss, 
 and leave no time to the traveller, to draw a sword, use a gun, 
 or in any way defend or disentangle himself. The wretches 
 who practise this are very numerous in Guzerat and Malwah, 
 but when they occur in Hindostan are generally from the 
 south-eastern provinces. My poor gipsies, I hope, as they ap- 
 peared at least grateful, were not monsters of this atrocious 
 description. 
 
438 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MEERUT TO DELHI. 
 
 SITUATION OF MEERUT CHURCH CONSECRATION VALLEY OP THE 
 
 DHOON CONDOR ANECDOTE OF BEGUM SUMROO— SCHOOL HOSPITAL 
 
 CONFIRMATION SURGEON APPOINTED SKINNER’s HORSE HEAVY 
 
 RAIN DELHI ^TOMB OF HUMAIOON AQUEDUCT FIROZE’s WALK- 
 ING-STICK IMMENSE EXTENT OF RUINS SHAWL MANUFACTORY 
 
 JUMNA MUSJEED PRESENTATION TO THE EMPEROR PALACE 
 
 KOOTTAB-SAHIB PRESENT FROM THE BEGUM LATE AND PRESENT 
 
 EMPERORS OP DELHI. 
 
 December 1 8 . — This morning I proceeded to Meerut, and was 
 met at a little distance from the town by Mr. Fisher, the chaplain, 
 (whom 1 had once, many years ago, heard preach at Knaresbo- 
 rough,) and two of his sons, one a chaplain in the Company’s es- 
 tablishment, the other a lieutenant in the same service, and some 
 officers of the troops in garrison, an accession of society which 
 put Cabul into such high spirits, that 1 almost thought he would 
 have shamed me, as he neighed like a trumpeter, lashed out all 
 ways, reared, jumped with all four feet from the ground, and did 
 every other coltish trick which could show his surprise, and tend 
 to discompose the gravity of his rider. He has, however, no real 
 vice, and his transports gradually subsided. 
 
 I pitched my tent, by Mr. Fisher’s invitation, in his compound, 
 which is an unusually large one. Two other sepoys were this 
 day added to the sick-list, and, with my former patient, removed 
 to the hospital, whither I sent with them a recommendation to the 
 good offices of the surgeon, and directed, since I was myself to 
 stay some time in the place, that one of their comrades should go 
 every day to see that they wanted nothing. 
 
 Meerut is a very extensive cantonment, but less widely scat- 
 tered than Cawnpoor. The native town, too, on which it is en- 
 grafted, is much less considerable. It stands advantageously on a 
 wide and dry plain, all in pasture, which would afford delightful 
 riding-ground, if it were not, like the steppes of Russia, which it 
 much resembles, very full of holes made by the small marmot, 
 which is common there, and called “ suslik.” Its Hindoostanee 
 name I have not learned. A small nullah, with a handsome 
 bridge over it, runs through the town. When I saw it, it was 
 quite dry, and the bridge seemed absurd; but Mr. Fisher said that. 
 
MEERUT—CONDOR. 
 
 439 
 
 during the rainy months, it was not a bit longer than was neces- 
 sary. The church is much the largest which I have seen in India. 
 It is one hundred and fifty feet long, eighty-four wide, and, being 
 galleried all round, may hold at least three thousand people. It 
 has a high and handsome spire, and is altogether a striking build- 
 ing, too good for the materials of which it is composed, which, 
 like the rest of the public buildings of this country, are only bad 
 brick covered with stucco and whitewash. It is the work of 
 Captain Hutchinson. 
 
 December 19. — The church, which I have described, was con- 
 secrated this day with the usual forms. The congregation was 
 very numerous and attentive, the singing considerably better than 
 at Calcutta, and the appearance of every thing highly honourable 
 both to the chaplain and military officers of this important station. 
 I had the gratification of hearing my own hymns, “ Brightest and 
 best,” and that for St. Stephen’s day, sung better than I ever 
 heard them in a church before. It is a remarkable thing, that 
 one of the earliest, the largest, and handsomest churches in India, 
 as well as one of the best organs, should he found in so remote a 
 situation, and in sight of the Himalaya mountains. The evening 
 service was very well attended, and this is the more creditable, 
 inasmuch, as I have elsewhere observed, all who then come are 
 volunteers, whereas attendance in the morning is a part of military 
 parade. 
 
 I had heard Meerut praised for its comparative freedom from 
 hot winds, but do not find that the residents confirm this state- 
 ment: they complain of them quite as much as the people of 
 Cawnpoor, and acknowledge the inferiority of their climate in 
 this respect to that of Rohilcund. The beautiful valley of the 
 Dhoon, since its conquest by the British, affords a retreat to their 
 sick which they seem to value highly ; and it has the advantage 
 of being accessible without danger at all times ; but, except 
 during the dry months, even this lovely valley is not wholesome. 
 Mr. Fisher had some drawings of different parts of the Dhoon, 
 which represented scenery of very great beauty and luxuriance, 
 on a smaller and less awful scale than Kemaoon. The animals 
 seem much the same ; hut Lieutenant Fisher gave me a fuller 
 account than 1 had yet received of the eagle, or, as from his state- 
 ment it rather seems to be, the condor, of these mountains. It 
 appears to belong to this latter tribe from the bareness of its neck, 
 which resembles that of the vulture, and the character of its beak, 
 which is longer and less hooked than the eagle’s, and perhaps, 
 too, from its size, which exceeds that of any eagle of which 1 have 
 heard. Lieutenant Fisher shot one very lately at Degra, which 
 measured thirteen feet between the tips of its extended wings, and 
 had talons eight inches long. He was of a deep black colour. 
 
440 
 
 BEGUM SUMROO. 
 
 ^vith a bald head and neck, and appears strongly to resemble the 
 noble bird described by Bruce as common among the mountains 
 of Abyssinia, under the name of “ Nisser.” This is, no doubt, 
 the bird which carries away the children from the streets of 
 Almorah. The one which Mr. Fisher shot could, he was sure, 
 have carried up a very well-grown boy. Nor have 1 any doubt 
 that it is the “ rok” of the Arabians. In Sindbad’s Way of telling 
 a story, so formidable an animal might be easily magnitied into all 
 which that ingenious voyager has handed down to us concerning 
 his giant bird. 
 
 December 20.— I observed this morning, at the gate of Mr. 
 Fisher’s compound, a sentry in the strict oriental costume, of 
 turban and long caftan, but armed with musket and bayonet, like 
 our own sepoys. He said he was one of the Begum Sumroo’s 
 regiment, out of which she is bound to furnish a certain number 
 for the police of Meerut and its neighbourhood. Her residence 
 is in the centre of her own jaghire at Sirdhana, about twelve coss 
 from Meerut; but she has a house in this place where she 
 frequently passes a considerable time together. She is a very 
 little, queer-looking old woman, with brilliant, but wicked eyes, 
 and the remains of beauty in her features. She is possessed of 
 considerable talent and readiness in conversation, but only speaks 
 Hindoostanee. Her soldiers and people, and the generality of the 
 inhabitants of this neighbourhood, pay her much respect on account 
 both of her supposed wisdom and her courage ; she having, during 
 the Maharatta wars, led, after her husband’s death, his regiment 
 very gallantly into action, herself riding at their head, into a heavy 
 fire of the enemy. She is, however, a sad tyranness, and, having 
 the power of life and death within her own little territory, several 
 stories are told of her cruelty, and the noses and ears which she 
 orders to be cut off. One relation of this kind, according to na- 
 tive reports, on which reliance, however, can rarely be placed, 
 is very horrid. One of her dancing girls had offended her, how 
 I have not heard. The Begum ordered the poor creature to be 
 immured alive in a small vault prepared for the purpose under 
 the pavement of the saloon where the natch was then celebrating, 
 and, being aware that her fate excited much sympathy and horror 
 in the minds of the servants and soldiers of her palace, and appre- 
 hensive that they would open the tomb and rescue the victim as 
 soon as her back was turned, she saw the vault bricked up before 
 her own eyes, then ordered her bed to be placed directly over it, 
 and lay there for several nights, till the last faint moans had ceased 
 to be heard, and she was convinced that hunger and despair had 
 done, their work. This woman calls herself a Christian, of the 
 Roman Catholic faith, which was that of her husband Summers. 
 (“ Sumroo” is the Hindoostanee pronunciation of the German 
 
MEERUT. 
 
 441 
 
 surname.) She has a Roman Catholic priest as her chaplain, and 
 has lately begun to build a very large and handsome church at 
 Sirdhana, which will rival, if not excel, that of Meerut in size and 
 architectural beauty. 
 
 1 dined this day with General Reynell. His aide-de-camp, 
 Captain Meade, is a very accomplished artist, and showed me a 
 portfolio of splendid drawings ; some of them were from views in 
 the Dhoon, and the mountains near Sabathoo. These last bear 
 some resemblance to those of Kemaoon, which they nearly equal 
 in height, but the snowy range of Himalaya is removed to a much 
 greater distance, and only visible from the tops of the highest hills. 
 The lower, parts of the Dhoon seem as like Wales as possible. 
 
 December 21. — I went with Mr. Fisher to-day to a school which 
 he has established in the old city of Meerut; I had previously seen 
 this very imperfectly, but I now found it larger than I expected, 
 with a ruined wall and fort, and some good architectural remains 
 of mosques and pagodas. The school is well managed, and nu- 
 merously attended. The boys are taught reading and writing in 
 Hindoostanee and Persian, and receive, such of them as desire it, 
 which they all do, instruction in the Gospels. They read fluently, 
 and construed Persian very well. Their master is a Christian 
 convert of Mr. Fisher’s. 1 also went to the native hospital to see 
 the three sick sepoys, two of whom I found much better, the third 
 still ill. They seemed very grateful for the visit, and said that 
 they were well treated, and wanted nothing. Mr. Lowther, the 
 judge and magistrate of Bundishehr, with his wife, passed the 
 evening at Mr. Fisher’s. They pressed me, which 1 should have 
 liked much, to take their station in my way from Delhi to Agra. 
 But Muttra is too important a place to be passed by, and this 
 would be the necessary consequence of my accepting their invi- 
 tation. 
 
 December 22. — 1 went with Mr. Fisher to a small congregation 
 of native Christians, to whom, not being able to give them a 
 service on Sunday, he reads prayers and preaches on this day. 
 About twenty people were present, one the “ Naick,” or corporal, 
 whom, in consequence of his embracing Christianity, Government 
 very absurdly, not to say wickedly, disgraced by removing him 
 from his regiment, though they still allow him his pay. He is a 
 tall, stout, plain-looking man, with every appearance of a respect- 
 able and well-behaved soldier. Another was Anund Musseeh, a 
 convert of Mr. Corrie’s, who has a good deal distinguished him- 
 self as a catechist at Delhi, and on whom Mr. Fisher wants me to 
 confer ordination. He is a tall, coarse-looking man, without much 
 intellect in his countenance, but is said to be very eloquent and 
 well-informed, so far as a knowledge of Hindoostanee and Persian 
 
 VoL. 1.— 56 
 
442 
 
 MEERUT. 
 
 enables him. 1 had, afterwards, repeated conversations with hinv, 
 and was pleased by his unassuming and plain manner. 
 
 December 23. — This morning I breakfasted with General Rey- 
 nell. In the evening Mr. Fisher read prayers and preached to a 
 tolerably numerous congregation, it being his custom to have 
 service of this kind every Wednesday and Friday. 
 
 December 24. — -This day I confirmed above 250 people, young 
 and old, of whom between 40 and 50 were natives converted 
 to Christianity by Mr. Fisher. Surely all this is what we could 
 hardly expect in so remote a part of India, and where no English- 
 man had set his foot till the conquests made by Lord Lake and 
 Sir Arthur Wellesley. The rest of the day I was busy writing 
 letters. The sepoy whom I had left sick at Moradabad rejoined 
 me ; but the camel-driver, he said, was still very dangerously ill. 
 The men who were in the hospital at Meerut, were declared 
 convalescent. 
 
 December 25. — Christmas-Day. A very large congregation, 
 and above 200 communicants. 
 
 December 26. — I preached, and after evening service confirmed 
 twelve persons, who had not been able to attend on the Friday. 
 
 December 27. — I received a present of fruit from the Begum 
 Sumroo, together with a civil message, expressing a hope to see 
 me at Sirdhana, to which I returned an answer in an English 
 letter. Though she herself does not understand the language, 
 she has many people about her who do, particularly Colonel 
 Bryce, who acts as a sort of resident at her court. My tents and 
 servants set off this evening. 
 
 I received a very kind offer from General Reynell to assign 
 me a medical attendant in my march to Bombay, there being a 
 Dr. Smith at the time in Meerut, who had just come with a de- 
 tachment of troops from Mhow, and was not attached to any 
 specific service there ; he was highly recommended as an able 
 man, and one who, by his local knowledge, would be very useful 
 to me in my journey. 1 had suffered so much during my residence 
 at Dacca, and subsequently in my own illness, and when my 
 escort and servants were attacked with the fever in Kemaoon, " 
 for want of a medical attendant, that I felt extremely glad of such 
 an offer. Indeed, with upwards of a hundred people in my train, 
 and on the point of commencing a journey through countries of 
 the wildest character, where no medical assistance could be ob- 
 tained in marches of, in one instance, twenty-four, and in another 
 of twenty-three days, such a precaution is most necessary and 
 reasonable. 
 
 December 28. — I set off from Meerut by Dak, as far as Be- 
 gumabad, a large village foiming a part of the^ jaghirc of a 
 
APPROACH TO DELHI. 
 
 443 
 
 Maharatta princess, under the protection of the English govern- 
 ment. Here 1 mounted Nedjeed — did I ever tell you the name of 
 my little Arab horse before ? — and pursued my journey, escorted 
 by five of Colonel Skinner’s irregular cavalry, the most showy and 
 picturesque cavaliers I have seen since I was in the south of 
 Russia. They had turbans of dark red shawl, long yellow caf- 
 tans, with dark red cummerbunds, and trowsers of the same 
 colour. The commander of the party had a long spear, with a 
 small yellow pennon, the others had each a long matchlock-gun, 
 which they carried on the right shoulder, with the match ready 
 lighted. They had all, likewise, pistols, swords, and shields, and 
 their caftans and turbans so strongly quilted, as to secure them 
 against most sabre-cuts. Their horses were very tolerable in 
 size and appearance, but hot and vicious, and the whole caval- 
 cade had an appearance remarkably wild and Oriental. They 
 are reckoned, by all the English in this part of the country, the 
 most useful and trusty, as well as the boldest body of men in 
 India ; and during the wars both of Lord Lake and Lord Hastings, 
 their services and those of their chief were most distinguished. 
 Colonel Alexander Skinner is a good and modest, as well as a 
 brave man. He has just devoted 20,000 sicca rupees to build a 
 church at Delhi. Unfortunately I shall not meet him there, as 
 he is now on the frontier with most of his men, fighting the re- 
 bellious clans of Seiks and Mewatties. The Hindoostanees, who 
 respect him very highly, call him by a whimsical but not ill- 
 applied corruption of his name, “ Seconder Sahib,” Lord 
 Alexander. 
 
 My tents had gone on to the next station, Furrucknuggur, but 
 I was met on the road thither by Mr. Charles Elliott, son of the 
 Resident at Delhi, and assistant collector of Meerut, a 'clever 
 young man whom I had met at Mr. Fisher’s, who pressed me to 
 come and pass the day with him in his tent at Gaziodeen-nuggur, 
 a small ruinous walled town ; we did not reach his encampment 
 ' till near 12 o’clock at noon. But the sun here, though hot, is 
 at this season not mischievous, and I passed a pleasant day. 
 After dinner I had a moonlight ride over a very rough and broken 
 country, and through a river, to my tent. The ford was not deep, 
 but so wide that if I had not had people with me who knew the 
 country, 1 should have hesitated to essay it by such a light. I 
 had no sooner got into my tent than it began to rain, and during 
 the night fell with a violence not very much less than that which 
 preceded my arrival at Cawnpoor; a great and providential 
 blessing to this miserable country, the most miserable which I had 
 yet seen in India. All the way from Meerhut hither is scattered 
 with ruins, the groves of fruit-trees are few, small, and neglected, 
 the villages very mean, the people looking half-starved, and quite 
 
444 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 heart-broken, and the cultivation, always, apparently, of the most 
 slovenly kind, now quite interrupted by the long drought. This 
 rain, it was hoped, would yet save the poor surviving cattle, and 
 keep the wheat from an entire failure. They have had not above 
 three slight showers during the last twelve months ! This, of 
 course, will account for the greater part of their present distress, 
 but I have been sorry to think that the English taxes are really 
 exorbitant here, and the mode of collection short-sighted and op- 
 pressive. Certainly the people are more inferior, in apparent 
 comfort, to those of.Rohilcund, Bahar, and even Oude, than a long 
 drought will of itself account for. 
 
 December 29. — The morning was clear and pleasant, and the 
 air and soil delightfully refreshed by the rain. I rode Cabul, 
 and arrived by about eight o’clock on the banks of the Jumna, on 
 the other side of which I had a noble view of Delhi, which is a 
 larger and finer city than I expected to see. The inhabited part 
 of it, for the ruins extend over a surface as large as London, 
 Westminster, and Southwark, is about seven miles in circuit, 
 seated on a rocky range of hills, and surrounded by an embattled 
 w^all, which the English Government have put into repair, and 
 are now engaged in strengthening with bastions, a moat, and a 
 regular glacis. The- houses within are many of them large and 
 high. There are a great number of mosques with high minarets 
 and gilded domes, and above all are seen the palace, a very high 
 and extensive cluster of gothic towers and battlements, and the 
 Jumna Musjeed, the largest and handsomest place of Mussulman 
 worship in India. The chief material of all these fine buildings 
 is red granite, of a very agreeable though solemn colour, inlaid 
 in some of the ornamental parts with white marble, and the 
 general style of building is of a simple and impressive character, 
 which reminded me, in many respects, of Carnarvon. It far 
 exceeds any thing at Moscow. 
 
 The Jumna, like the other great rivers of this country, over- 
 flows, during the rains, a wide extent, but, unlike the Ganges, 
 does not confer fertility. In this part of its course, it is so strongly 
 impregnated with natron, extensive beds of which abound in all 
 the neighbourhood, that its waters destroy, instead of promoting 
 vegetation, and the whole space between the high banks and the 
 river, in its present low state, is a loose and perfectly barren 
 sand, like that of the sea-shore. I found the ferry-boat in readi- 
 ness, and was received on the other side by Mr. Elliott, who had 
 come to meet me with an elephant and a very numerous suwarree 
 of spears and matchlocks. We went together towards the city, 
 over a similar bed of arid sand with that which I had just passed, 
 forded a smaller branch of the Jumna, which runs close under 
 the walls, and, leaving the palace to our left, went along a 
 
AQUEDUCT. 
 
 445 
 
 tolerably wide street to the Residency, which is a large straggling 
 building, consisting of two or three entertaining rooms, added 
 by Sir David Ochterlony, when Resident, to an old Mussulman 
 palace. Lushington, whom I found just arrived, had his bed- 
 room in this palace, a very singular and interesting little room, 
 with a vaulted roof, richly ornamented with mosaic painting. 
 Behind is a large garden, laid out in the usual formal eastern 
 manner, but with some good trees and straight walks, and the 
 whole has more the appearance of a college than any thing else. 
 
 Mr. Williams, one of Mr. Elliott’s secretaries, is an enterpris- 
 ing traveller, who has penetrated, beyond the snowy mountains, 
 several days’ journey into Ladak, and even beyond the Chinese 
 frontier. He showed me several drawings of the people of these 
 countries, who seem, in most respects of religion, dress, and 
 countenance, to resemble my old friends the Calmuks. They 
 carry on a tolerably regular intercourse with Russia, and sheets 
 of gilt leather, stamped with the Imperial Eagle, were among 
 the presents which the King of Ladak sent down, when he offered 
 his allegiance to the British Government. Their written charac- 
 ter, however, to my surprise, I found different from the Mongolian ; 
 to my surprise 1 found it so, and to my disappointment too, for I 
 had counted on the New Testaments printed by the Russian Bible 
 Society for the use of the Calmuk tribes, being legible by these 
 mountaineers. However the project of doing them good need 
 not be abandoned, though its execution may be more tedious than 
 I anticipated. 
 
 Soon after my arrival in Delhi the rain returned with still 
 greater violence, and continued all that day and night to the 
 great joy of the people, some of whom told Mrs. Elliott, in the 
 usual style of Eastern notions, that “ the Lord Sahib’s coming 
 was a happy thing for Delhi, since now they should have bread 
 to eat.” I found, indeed, that the servants had by no means for- 
 gotten the rain which preceded my arrival at Cawnpoor, and that 
 they had taken care to publish here how very lucky, or “ mobarak” 
 a person 1 was, an opinion in which I believe they themselves are 
 now quite confirmed. 
 
 December 30. — This morning Lushington and 1 rode to the 
 tomb of the emperor Humaioon, six miles from the city, S.W. 
 We passed, in our way to the Agrega gate, along a very broad but 
 irregular street, with a channel of water, cased with stone, con- 
 ducted along its middle. This is a part of the celebrated aque- 
 duct constructed, in the first instance, by Ali Merdan Khan, a 
 Persian nobleman in the service of the emperor Shahjehan, then 
 long neglected during the troubles of India and the decay of the 
 Mogul power, and within these few years repaired by the English 
 Government. It is conducted from the Jumna, immediately on 
 
446 
 
 IMPERIAL PALACE. 
 
 leaving its mountains, and while its stream is yet pure and whole- 
 some, for a distance of about 1 20 miles ; and* is a noble work, 
 giving fertility to a very large extent of country near its banks, 
 and absolutely the sole source of vegetation to the gardens of 
 Delhi, besides furnishing its inhabitants with almost the only 
 drinkable water within their reach. When it was first re-opened, 
 by Sir Charles Metcalfe, in 1820, the whole population of the 
 city went out in jubilee to meet its stream, throwing flowers, 
 ghee, &c. into the water, and calling down all manner of blessings 
 on the British Government, who have indeed gone far, by this 
 measure, to redeem themselves from the weight of, I fear, a good 
 deal of impolicy. 
 
 It most unfortunately happened that, during the present year, 
 and amid all the other misfortunes of drought and scarcity which 
 this poor country has undergone, the Jumna changed its course^ 
 and the canal became dry ! The engineer officer who superin- 
 tends its works, was at the time labouring under the remains of a 
 jungle fever ; his serjeant was in the same condition, and conse- 
 quently there was no one who, when the mischief was discovered, 
 could go up to the hills to remedy it. The suffering of the peo- 
 ple was very dismal ; since the restoration of the canal they had 
 neglected the wells which formerly had, in some degree, supplied 
 their wants. The water which they drank was to be brought 
 from a distance and sold at a considerable rate, and their gardens 
 were quite ruined. That of the presidency had not at the mo- 
 ment when I saw it, a green thing in it, and those of the poor 
 were in a yet worse condition, if wmrse were possible. It was 
 not till the middle of November that the canal could be. again 
 restored, when it was hailed with similar expressions of joy to 
 those which had greeted its former re-appearance. 
 
 Half-way along the street which I have been describing, and 
 nearly opposite another great street with a similar branch of the 
 canal, which runs at right angles to the former, stands the imperial 
 palace, built by the Emperor Shah Jehan, surrounded on this 
 side by a wall of, I should think, sixty feet high, embattled and 
 machicollated, with small round towers and two noble gateways, 
 each defended by an outer barbican of the same construction, 
 though of less height. The whole is of red granite, and. sur- 
 rounded by a wide moat. It is a place of no strength, the walls 
 being only calculated for bows and arrows or musketry, but as a 
 kingly residence it is one of the noblest that I have seen. It far 
 surpasses the Kremlin, but I do not think that, except in the dura- 
 bility of its materials, it equals Windsor. 
 
 Sentries in red coats, (sepoys of the Company’s regular army,) 
 appear at its exterior, but the internal duties, and indeed, most ol 
 the police duties of Delhi, are performed by the two provincial 
 
DELHI. 
 
 447 
 
 battalions raised in the emperor’s name, and nominally under his 
 orders. These are disciplined pretty much like Europeans, but 
 have matchlock guns and the oriental dress, and their command- 
 ing officer. Captain Grant of the Company’s service, is considered 
 as one of the domestics of the Mogul, and has apartments in the 
 palace. 
 
 From the gate of Agra to Humaibon’s tomb is a very awful 
 scene of desolation, ruins after ruins, tombs after tombs, fragments 
 of brick -work, freestone, granite, and marble, scattered every 
 where over a soil naturally rocky and barren, without cultiva- 
 tion, except in one or two small spots, and without a single tree. 
 I was reminded of CafFa in the Crimea, but this was Caffa on the 
 scale of London, with the wretched fragments of a magnificence 
 such as London itself cannot boast. The ruins really extended 
 as far as the eye could reach, and our track wound among them 
 all the way. This was the seat of old Delhi, as founded by the 
 Patan kings, on the ruins of the still larger Hindoo city of Indra- 
 put, which lay chiefly in a western direction. When the present 
 city, which is certainly in a more advantageous situation, was 
 founded by the emperor Shahjehan, he removed many of its 
 inhabitants thither; most of the rest followed, to be near the 
 palace and the principal markets ; and as during the Maharatta 
 government there was no sleeping in a safe skin without the 
 walls, old Delhi was soon entirely abandoned. The official name 
 of the present city is Shahjehan-poor, “ city of the king of the 
 world !” but the name of Delhi is always used in conversation 
 and in every writing but those which are immediately offered to 
 the emperor’s eye. 
 
 In our way one mass of ruins larger than the rest was pointed 
 out to us as the old Patan palace. It has been a large and solid 
 fortress, in a plain and unornamented style of architecture, and 
 would have been picturesque had it been in a country where 
 trees grow, and ivy was green, but is here only ugly and melan- 
 choly. It is chiefly remarkable for a high black pillar of cast 
 metal, called Firoze’s walking-stick. This was originally a Hin- 
 doo work, the emblem, I apprehend, of Siva, which stood in a 
 temple in the same spot, and concerning which there was a tra- 
 dition, like that attached to the coronation stone of the Scots, 
 that while it stood the children of Brahma were to rule in Indra- 
 put. On the conquest of the country by the Mussulmans the 
 vanity of the prediction was shown, and Firoze enclosed it within 
 the court of his palace, as a trophy of the victory of Islam over 
 idolatry. It is covered with inscriptions, mostly Persian and 
 Arabic, but that which is evidently the original, and, probably, 
 contains the prophecy, is in a character now obsolete and un- 
 known, though apparently akin to the Nagree. 
 
448 
 
 HUMAIOON’S TOMB. 
 
 About a mile and a half further, still through ruins, is Humaioon’s 
 tomb, a noble building of granite inlaid with marble, and in a 
 very chaste and simple style of gothic architecture. It is sur- 
 rounded by a large garden with terraces and fountains, all now 
 gone to decay except one of the latter, which enables the poor • 
 people who live in the out-buildings of the tomb to cultivate a ‘ 
 little wheat. The garden itself is surrounded by an embattled 
 wall, with towers, four gateways, and a cloister within all the way 
 round. In the centre of the square is a platform of about twenty 
 feet high, and 1 should apprehend two hundred feet square, sup- 
 ported also by cloisters, and ascended by four great flights of 
 granite steps. Above rises the tomb, also a square, with a great 
 dome of white marble in its centre. The apartments within are 
 a circular room, about as big as the Ratcliffe library, in the centre 
 of which lies, under a small raised slab, the unfortunate prince to 
 whose memory this fine building is raised. In the angles are smaller 
 apartments, where other branches of his family are interred. 
 From the top of the building I was surprised to see that we had 
 still ruins on every side ; and that, more particularly, to the west- 
 ward and where old Indraput stood, the desolation apparently 
 extended to a range of barren hills seven or eight miles off. 
 
 On coming down we were conducted about a mile westward 
 to a burying-ground, or collection of tombs and small mosques, 
 some of them very beautiful, among which the most remarkable 
 was a little chapel in honour of a celebrated Mussulman saint, 
 Nizam-ud-deen. Round his shrine most of the deceased members 
 of the present imperial family lie buried, each in his own little 
 enclosure, surrounded by very elegant lattice-work of white mar- 
 ble. Workmen were employed at this time in completing the 
 tomb of the late prince Jehanguire, third and darling son of the 
 emperor, who died lately at Allahabad, whither he had been 
 banished by the British Government for his violent character, 
 (that of a thoroughly spoilt child,) and his culpable intrigues 
 against his elder brother. The father is said to have been con- 
 vinced at length of the necessity of this measure, but the old 
 empress has never forgiven it, and now cannot be persuaded but 
 that her darling boy, who died of drinking and all manner of 
 vice, was poisoned by the English. The few remaining resources 
 of the house of Timour are drawn on to do honour to his remains, 
 and the tomb, though small, will certainly be very elegant.- The 
 flowers, &c. into which the marble is carved, are as delicate and 
 in as good taste and execution as any of the ordinary Italian 
 artists could produce. Another tomb which interested me very 
 much was that of Jehanara, daughter of Shahjehan. It has no 
 size or importance, but she was one of the few amiable charac- 
 ters which the family of Timour can show. In the prime of 
 
SHAWL MANUFACTORY. 
 
 449 
 
 youth and beauty, when her father was dethroned, imprisoned, 
 and, I believe, blinded, by his wicked son Aurungzebe, she applied 
 for leave to share his captivity, and continued to wait on him as 
 a nurse and servant till the day of his death. Afterwards she was 
 a bountiful benefactress to the poor and to religious men, and died 
 with the reputation of a saint better deserved than by many who 
 have borne the name. 
 
 In one part of these ruins is a very deep tank, surrounded by 
 buildings sixty or seventy feet above the surface of the water, from 
 the top of which several boys and young men jumped down and 
 swam to the steps, in order to obtain a trifling bukshish. It w'as 
 a formidable sight to a stranger, but they seemed to feel no incon- 
 venience except from cold, and were very thankful for a couple 
 of rupees to be divided among their number. 
 
 After breakfast we went with Mr. and Mrs. Elliott to see a 
 shawl manufactory carried on by Cashmerian weavers with wool 
 brought from Himalaya, in the house of a wealthy Hindoo mer- 
 chant, named Soobin-chund. The house itself was very pretty, 
 and well worth seeing as a specimen of eastern domestic archi- 
 tecture, comprising three small courts surrounded by stone 
 cloisters, two of them planted with flowering shrubs and orange- 
 trees, and the third ornamented with a beautiful marble fountain. 
 I did not think the shawls which were shown very beautiful, and 
 the prices of all were high. I was more struck with the speci- 
 mens of jewellery which they produced, which 1 thought very 
 splendid, and some of the smaller trinkets in good taste. I was 
 persecuted to accept a splendid nuzzur of shawls, &c. to the value, 
 perhaps, of 1000 s. rupees, which of course 1 did not choose to 
 take. My pleading my religious profession did not satisfy my 
 Hindoo host, who said that I might at least give it to my “ Zen- 
 nana luckily Mr. Elliott suggested to me to say that I accepted 
 it with gratitude, but that I was a traveller, and begged him to 
 keep it for me : to which I added, that “ what was in the house 
 of my friend 1 considered as in my own.” He quite understood 
 this, and bowled ver}^ low, being, I believe, well pleased to get 
 his compliment over at so easy a rate. The son, however, a lad 
 who spoke a very little English, followed me to the door with a 
 Turkman horse, which he begged me to accept as his nuzzur. 
 The horse was a pretty one, but not very valuable. 1 however 
 got rid of the matter as well as I could, by saying that “ spirited 
 horses were fittest for the young : that I accepted it cheerfully, 
 but begged, as I had no other proper return to make, that he 
 would do me the favour to take it back again !” He smiled and 
 bowed, and we parted. In the narrow street where the house of 
 Soobin-chund stands, we passed a little cluster of Cashmerian 
 women, the wives, I suppose, of his workmen, distinguishable by 
 
 VoL. I. — 57 
 
450 
 
 JUMNA MUSJEED. 
 
 their large and tall figures in comparison with the Hindoostanees, 
 their fair complexions, and their peculiar head-dress, which con- 
 sisted of a large roll of turban under the usual veil, the whole 
 appearance more like the famous pictures of the Babylonian sybil 
 than any thing which I recollect. 
 
 We afterwards went to the Jumna Musjeed and the Kala^Mus- 
 jeed. The former is elevated very advantageously on a small 
 rocky eminence, to full the height of the surrounding houses. In 
 front it has a large square court surrounded by a cloister open on 
 both sides, and commanding a view of the whole city, which is 
 entered by three gates with a fine flight of steps to each. In the 
 centre is a great marble reservoir of water, with some small foun- 
 tains, supplied by machinery from the canal. The whole court 
 is paved with granite inlaid with marble. On its west side, and 
 rising up another flight of steps, is the mosque itself, which is 
 entered by three noble gothic arches, surmounted by three domes 
 of white marble. It has at each end a very tall minaret. The 
 ornaments are less florid, and the building less picturesque, than 
 the splendid group of the Imambara and its accompaniments at 
 Lucknow ; but the situation is far more commanding, and the 
 size, the solidity, and rich materials of this building, impressed 
 me more than any. thing of the sort which I have seen in India. 
 It is in excellent repair, the British Government having made a 
 grant for this purpose, a measure which was very popular in 
 Delhi. 
 
 The Kala Musjeed is small, and has nothing worthy notice 
 about it but its plainness, solidity, and great antiquity, being a 
 work of the first Patan conquerors, and belonging to the times of 
 primitive Mussulman simplicity. It is exactly on the plan of the 
 original Arabian mosques, a square court, surrounded by a cloister, 
 and roofed with many small domes of the plainest and most solid 
 construction, like the rudest specimens of what we call the early 
 Norman architecture. It has no minaret ; the crier stands on the 
 roof to proclaim the hour of prayer. Thus ended our first day’s 
 sight-seeing in Delhi. 
 
 The 31st December was fixed for my presentation to the Em- 
 peror, which was appointed for half-past eight in the morning. 
 Lushington and a Captain Wade also chose to take the same op- 
 portunity. At eight I went accompanied by Mr. Elliott with 
 nearly the same formalities as at Lucknow, except that we were 
 on elephants instead of in palanquins, and that the procession 
 was, perhaps, less splendid, and the beggars both less numerous 
 and far less vociferous and importunate. We were received with 
 presented arms by the troops of the palace drawn up within the 
 barbican, and proceeded, still on our elephants, through the 
 noblest gateway and vestibule which I ever saw. It consists, not 
 
PRESENTATION TO TPIE EMPEROR OF DELHI. 
 
 451 
 
 merely of a splendid gothic arch in the centre of the great gate- 
 tower, — but, after that, of a long vaulted isle, like that of a gothic 
 cathedral, with a small, open, octagonal court in its centre, all of 
 granite, and all finely carved with inscriptions from the Koran, 
 and with flowers. This ended in a ruinous and exceedingly dirty 
 stable-yard ! where we were received by Captain Grant, as the 
 Mogul’s officer on guard, and by a number of elderly men with 
 large gold-headed canes, the usual ensign of office here, and one 
 of which Mr. Elliott also carried. We were now told to dis- 
 mount and proceed on foot, a task which the late rain made in- 
 convenient to my gown and cassock, and thin shoes, and during 
 which we were pestered by a fresh swarm of miserable beggars, 
 the wives and children of the stable servants. After this we 
 passed another richly-carved, but ruinous and dirty gateway, 
 where our guides, withdrawing a canvass screen, called out, in a 
 sort of harsh chaunt, “ Lo, the ornament of the world ! Lo, the 
 asylum of the nations ! King of Kings ! The Emperor Akbar 
 Shah ! Just, fortunate, victorious !” We saw, in fact, a very hand- 
 some and striking court, about as big as that at All Souls, with low, 
 but richly ornamented buildings. Opposite to us was a beautiful 
 open pavilion of white marble, richly carved, flanked by rose- 
 bushes and fountains, and some tapestry and striped curtains 
 hanging in festoons about it, within which was a crowd of peo- 
 ple, and the poor old descendant of Tamerlane seated in the 
 midst of them. Mr. Elliott here bowed three times very low, in 
 which we followed his example. This ceremony was repeated 
 twice as we advanced up the steps of the pavilion, the heralds 
 each time repeating the same expressions about their master’s 
 greatness. We then stood in a row on the right-hand side of the 
 throne, which is a sort of marble bedstead richly ornamented with 
 gilding, and raised on two or three steps. Mr. Elliott then stepped 
 forwards, and, with joined hands, in the usual eastern way, an- 
 nounced, in a low voice, to the emperor, who I was. I then 
 advanced, bowed three tirries again, and offered a nuzzur of fifty- 
 one gold mohurs in an embroidered purse, laid on my handker- 
 chief, in the way practised by the baboos in Calcutta. This 
 was received and laid on one side, and I remained standing for a 
 few minutes, while the usuaLcourt questions about my health, my 
 travels, when 1 left Calcutta, &c. were asked. I had thus an 
 opportunity of seeing the old gentleman more plainly. He has 
 a pale, thin, but handsome face, with an aquiline nose, and a long 
 white beard. His complexion is little if at all darker than that of 
 an European. His hands are very fair and delicate, and he had 
 some valuable-looking rings on them. His hands and face were 
 all I saw of him, for the morning being cold, he was so wrapped 
 up in shawls, that he reminded me extremely of the Druid’s head 
 
452 
 
 PRESENTATION TO THE EMPEROR DELHI. 
 
 on a Welch halfpenny. I then stepped back to my former place, 
 and returned again with five more mohurs to make my offering 
 to the heir apparent, who stood at his father’s left hand, the right 
 being occupied by the Resident. Next, my two companions 
 were introduced with nearly the same forms, except that their 
 offerings were less, and that the Emperor did not speak to them. 
 
 The Emperor then beckoned to me to come forwards, and Mr. 
 Elliott told me to take off my hat which had till now remained 
 on my head, on which the Emperor tied a flimsy turban of brocade 
 round my head with his own hands, for which, however, I paid four 
 gold mohurs more. We were then directed to retire to receive 
 the “ Khelats” (honorary dresses) which the bounty of “ the 
 Asylum of the World” had provided for us. 1 was accordingly 
 taken into a small private room, adjoining the Zennana, where I 
 found a handsome flowered caftan edged with fur, and a pair of 
 common looking shawls, which my servants, who had the delight 
 of witnessing all this fine show, put on instead of my gown, my 
 cassock remaining as before. In this strange dress I had to walk 
 back again, having my name announced by the criers (something 
 in the same way that Lord Marmion’s was) “ as Bahadur, Boo- 
 zoony, Dowlut-mund,” &c. to the presence, where I found my 
 two companions who had not been honoured by a private dress- 
 ing room, but had their Khelats put on them in the gateway of 
 the court. They were, I apprehend, still queerer figures than I 
 was, having their hats wrapped with scarfs of flowered gauze, and 
 a strange garment of gauze, tinsel, and faded ribbands, flung over 
 their shoulders above their coats. I now again came forward and 
 offered my third present to the Emperor, being a copy of the 
 Arabic Bible and the Hindoostanee Common Prayer, handsomely 
 bound in blue velvet laced with gold, and wrapped up in a piece 
 of brocade. He then motioned to me to stoop, and put a string 
 of pearls round my neck, and two glittering but not costly orna- 
 ments in the front of my turban, for which I again offered five 
 gold mohurs. It was, lastly, announced that a horse was waiting 
 for my acceptance, at which fresh instance of imperial munifi- 
 cence, the heralds again made a proclamation of largesse, and I 
 again paid five gold mohurs. It ended by my taking my leave 
 with three times three salams, making up, I think, the sum of 
 about threescore, and I retired with Mr. Elliott to my dressing 
 room, whence I sent to her Majesty the Queen., as she is generally 
 called, though Empress would be the ancient and more proper 
 title, a present of five mohurs more, and the Emperor’s Chobdars 
 came eagerly up to know when they should attend to receive 
 their bukshish. It must not, however, be supposed that this in- 
 terchange of civilities was very expensive either to his Majesty or 
 to me. All the presents which he gave, the horse included. 
 
PALACE. 
 
 453 
 
 though really the handsomest which had been seen at the court 
 of Delhi for many years, and though the old gentleman evidently 
 intended to be extremely civil, were not worth much more than 
 300 s, rupees, so that he and his family gained at least 800 s. ru- 
 pees by the morning’s work, besides what he received from my 
 two companions, which was all clear gain, since the Khelats which 
 they got in return, were only fit for May-day, and made up, I 
 fancy, from the cast-ofF finery of the Begum. On the other hand, 
 since the Company have wisely ordered that all the presents 
 given by native princes to Europeans should be disposed of on 
 the Government account, they have liberally, at the same time, 
 taken on themselves the expense of paying the usual money nuz- 
 zurs made by public men on these occasions. In consequence 
 none of my offerings were at my own charge, except the profes- 
 sional and private one of the two books, with which, as they 
 were unexpected, the Emperor, as I was told, was very much 
 pleased. I had, of course, several buckshishes to give afterwards 
 to his servants, but these fell considerably short of my expenses 
 at Lucknow^ To return to the hall of audience. While in the 
 small apartment, where I got rid of my shining garments, I was 
 struck with its beautiful ornaments. It was entirely lined with 
 white marble, inlaid with flowers and leaves of green serpentine, 
 lapis lazuli, and blue and red porphyry: the flowers were of the 
 best Italian style of workmanship, and evidently the labour of an 
 artist of that country. All, however, was dirty, desolate, and 
 forlorn. Half the flowers and leaves had been picked out or 
 otherwise defaced, and the doors and windows were in a state of 
 dilapidation, while a quantity of old furniture was piled in one 
 corner, and a torn hanging of faded tapestry hung over an arch- 
 way which led to the interior apartments. “ Such,” Mr. Elliott 
 said, “ is. the general style in which this palace is kept up and fur- 
 nished. It is not absolute poverty which produces this, but these 
 people have no idea of cleaning of mending any thing.” For my 
 own part I thought of the famous Persian line, 
 
 “ The spider hangs her tapestry in the palace of the Csesars;” 
 
 and felt a melancholy interest in comparing the present state of 
 this poor family with what it was 200 years ago, when Bernier 
 visited Delhi, or as we read its palace described in the tale of 
 Madame de Genlis. 
 
 After putting on my usual dress, we waited a little, till word 
 was brought us that the “King of Kings,” “ Shah-in-Shah,” 
 had retired to his Zennana ; we then went to the Hall of Audi- 
 ence, which I had previously seen but imperfectly, from the 
 crowd of people and the necessity of attending to the forms 
 
454 
 
 GARDENS OF THE PALACE. 
 
 which I had to go through. It is a very beautiful pavilion of 
 white marble, open on one side to the court of the palace, and 
 on the other to a large garden. Its pillars and arches are exqui- 
 sitely carved and ornamented with gilt and inlaid flowers, and 
 inscriptions in the most elaborate Persian character. Round the 
 frieze is the motto, recorded, I believe, in Lalla Rookh, 
 
 “ If there be an Elysium on earth, 
 
 It is this, it is this !” 
 
 The marble floor, where not covered by carpets, is all inlaid in 
 the same beautiful manner with the little dressing-room which 
 I had quitted. 
 
 The gardens, which we next visited, are not large, but, in their 
 way, must have been extremely rich and beautiful. They are 
 full of very old orange and other fruit trees, with terraces and 
 parterres on which many rose-bushes were growing, and, even 
 now, a few jonquils in flower. A channel of white marble for 
 water, with little fountain-pipes of the same material, carved like 
 roses, is carried here and there among these parterres, and at 
 the end of the terrace is a beautiful octagonal pavilion, also of 
 marble, lined with the same Mosaic flowers as in the room which 
 I first saw, with a marble fountain in the centre, and a beautiful 
 bath in a recess on one of its sides. The windows of this pa- 
 vilion, which is raised to the height of the city wall, command a 
 good view of Delhi and its neighbourhood. But all was, when 
 we saw it, dirty, lonely, and wretched : the bath and fountain 
 dry: the inlaid pavement hid with lumber and gardener’s 
 sweepings, and the walls stained with the dung of birds and 
 bats. 
 
 We were then taken to the private mosque of the palace, an 
 elegant little building, also of white marble, and exquisitely 
 carved, but in the same state of neglect and dilapidation, with 
 peepuls allowed to spring from its walls, the exterior gilding par- 
 tially torn from its dome, and some of its doors coarsely blocked 
 up with unplastered brick and mortar. 
 
 We went last to the “ Dewanee aum,” or hall of public 
 audience, which is in the outer court, and where, on certain oc- 
 casions, the great Mogul sate in state, to receive the compliments 
 or petitions of his subjects. This also is a splendid pavilion of 
 marble, not unlike the other hall of audience in form, but con- 
 siderably larger, and open on three sides only ; on the fourth is 
 a black wall, covered with the same Mosaic work of flowers and 
 leaves as I have described, and in the centre a throne, raised 
 about ten feet from the ground, with a small platform of marble 
 in front, where the vizier used to stand to hand up petitions (o 
 
DELHL 
 
 455 
 
 his master. Behind this throne are Mosaic paintings of birds, 
 animals, and flowers, and in the centre, what decides the point 
 of their being the work of Italian, or at least European artists, 
 a small group of Orpheus playing to the beasts. This hall, 
 when we saw it, was full of lumber of all descriptions, broken 
 palanquins and empty boxes, and the throne so covered with 
 pigeon’s dung, that its ornaments were hardly discernible. How 
 little did Shahjehan, the founder of these fine buildings, foresee 
 what would be the fate of his descendants, or what his own 
 would be ! “ Vanity of vanities !” was surely never written in 
 
 more legible characters than on the dilapidated arcades of 
 Delhi ! 
 
 After breakfast 1 had a numerous attendance of persons who 
 either wished to be confirmed themselves, or to have my expla- 
 nation of the nature and authority of the ceremony. In the 
 afternoon I went with Mr. and Mrs. Elliott a drive round a part 
 of the city. Its principal streets are really wide, handsome, and, 
 for an Asiatic city, remarkably cleanly, and the shops in the 
 bazars have a good appearance. The chief street, down which 
 we drove, is called the “ chandnee chokee,” or silversmith’s 
 street, but I did not see any great number of that trade resident 
 the^re. It is about as wide as Pall-Mall, and has a branch of the 
 aqueduct running along its centre. Half-way down its length is 
 a pretty little mosque, with three gilt domes, on the porch of 
 which, it is said, Nader Shah sat from morning to evening to 
 see the work of massacre which his army inflicted on the 
 wretched citizens. A gate leading to a bazar near it retains the 
 name of “ coonia durwazu,” slaughter-gate ! The chandnee cho- 
 kee conducted us to the gate of Lahore, and we went along the 
 exterior of the town to the gate of Cashmere, by which we re- 
 turned to the Residency. The city wall is lofty and handsome, 
 but, excepting ruins and sun-burnt rocks, there is nothing to be 
 seen without the ramparts of Delhi. The Shelimar gardens, 
 extolled in Lalla Rookh, are completely gone to decay. Yet I 
 am assured by every body that the appearance of things in the 
 province of Delhi is greatly improved since it came into our 
 hands ! To what a state must the Maharattas have reduced it ! 
 
 January 1. — We went to see Koottab-sahib, a small town 
 about twelve miles south-west of Delhi, remarkable for its ruins, 
 and, among the Mussulmans, for its sanctity. It was the scene 
 of very hard fighting between the Hindoo sovereigns of Indraput 
 and the original Patan invaders, and the Mussulmans say that 
 5000 martyrs to their religion lie interred in the neighbourhood. 
 Its principal sanctity, however, arises from the tomh of a very 
 celebrated saint, Cutteeb Sahib, in whose honour the buildings 
 for which it is now remarkable were begun, but never quite 
 
456 
 
 CUTTAB MINAR. 
 
 completed, by Shumshed, the third, 1 think, in succession of the 
 Patan sovereigns. The emperor has a house there, and it is a 
 favourite retreat of his during fine weather. 
 
 We went out at the Agra gate, and rode through the same dis- 
 mal field of tombs as we had formerly traversed, escorted by 
 three of Skinner’s horse. Before we had cleared the ruins, 
 another body of fifteen or twenty wild-looking horse, some with 
 long spears, some with matchlocks and matches lighted, gallop- 
 ed up from behind a large tomb ; and their leader, dropping the 
 point of his lance, said, that he was sent by the Raja of Bullum- 
 ghur, “the fort of spears,” to conduct me through his district. 
 We had no need of this further escort, but, as it was civilly in- 
 tended, I of course took it civilly, and we went on together to a 
 beautiful mausoleum, about five miles further, raised in honour 
 of Sufter Jung, an ancestor of the King of Oude, who still keeps 
 up his tomb and the garden round it in good repair. We did 
 not stop here, however, but proceeded on elephants, which Mr. 
 Elliott had stationed for us, leaving our horses under the care of 
 the Bullumghur suwarrs, of whom, and their Raja, we were after- 
 wards to see a good deal. Our route lay over a country still 
 rocky and barren, and still sprinkled with tombs and ruins, till, 
 on ascending a little eminence, we saw one of the most exten- 
 sive and striking scenes of ruin which I have met with in any 
 country. A very tolerable account of it is given in Hamilton’s 
 India, and I will only observe that the Cuttab Minar, the object 
 of principal attraction, is really the finest tower I have ever 
 seen, and must, when its spire was complete, have been still more 
 beautiful. The remaining great arches of the principal mosque, 
 with their granite pillars, covered with inscriptions in the florid 
 Cufic character, are as fine, in their way, as any of the details of 
 York Minster. In front of the principal of these great arches is 
 a metal pillar, like that in Firoze Shah’s castle, and several 
 other remains of a Hindoo palace and temple, more ancient than 
 the foundation of the Koottab, and which 1 should have thought 
 striking, if they had not been in such a neighbourhood. A mul- 
 titude of ruined mosques, tombs, serais, &c. are packed close 
 round, mostly in the Patan style of architecture, and some of 
 them very fine. One, more particularly, on a hill, and surrounded 
 by a wall with battlements and towers, struck me as peculiarly 
 suited, by its solid and simple architecture, to its blended cha- 
 racter, in itself very appropriate to the religion of Islam, of 
 fortress, tomb, and temple. These Patans built like giants^ and 
 finished their work like jewellers. Yet the ornaments, florid as 
 they are in their proper places, are never thrown away, or 
 allowed to interfere with the general severe and solemn character 
 of their edifices. The palace of the present imperial family is 
 
DELHI. 
 
 457 
 
 at some iittle distance behind these remains. It is a large but 
 paltry building, in a bad style of Italian architecture, and with a 
 public road actually leading through its court-yard. A little be- 
 yond, and amid some other small houses, near a very fine tank, 
 we alighted at rather a pretty little building belonging to Bukshi 
 Mahmoud Khan, the treasurer of the palace, where a room and 
 a good breakfast were prepared for us. 
 
 After breakfast, the day being cool and rather cloudy, we went 
 to see the ruins, and remained clambering about and drawing till 
 near two o’clock. The stair-case within the'great Minar is very 
 good, except the uppermost story of all, which is ruinous and 
 difficult of access. I went up, however, and was rewarded by 
 the very extensive view, from a height of two hundred and forty 
 feet, of Delhi, the course of the Jumna for many miles, and the 
 ruins of Toghlikabad, another giantly Patan foundation, w’hich 
 lay to the south-west. 
 
 We returned in the evening to Delhi, stopping by the way to 
 see Suffer Jung’s tomb. It is very richly inlaid with different 
 kinds of marble, but has too much of the colour of potted meat 
 to please me, particularly after seeing buildings, like those of 
 Kootah-sahib. We were received here, to my surprise, by the 
 son of baboo Soobin Chund, who is, it seems, the agent of the 
 King of Oude in Delhi, and consequently has the keeping of this 
 place entrusted to him. He had actually brought a second and 
 finer horse for my acceptance ; and I had great difficulty in con- 
 vincing him of two things ; first, that I had no power to render 
 him any service which could call for such presents ; and secondly, 
 that my declining his presents was not likely to diminish my good 
 will towards him, supposing me to have such power. ,I succeeded 
 at last, however, in silencing, if not convincing him, and we 
 returned to the Residency, passing in our way by the Observatory, 
 a pile of buildings much resembling those at Benares, and built 
 by the same person, Jye Sing, Raja and founder of Jyepoor in 
 Rajpootana. 
 
 At Mr. Elliott’s we found his son, and the two Mr. Fishefs, 
 come to pass another Sunday with me. 1 also found two presents 
 awaiting my acceptance ; the one from the old Begum consisted 
 of a garland of withered jonquils, intermixed with tinsel, which 
 was, I believe, supposed to pass for pearls ; for after putting the 
 said wreath round my neck, the chobdars who brought it hailed 
 me with an acclamation of “ Ue Motee-wala!” “ O, thou pearly 
 person !” I however had, of course, to receive the gift with 
 many thanks, as a favour from the hand of a princess. The other 
 present, from the King, was more useful to a traveller, consisting 
 of a buck, with his best wishes for my journey. The common 
 
 VoL. 1. — 58 
 
458 EMPEROR OF DELHI. 
 
 deer of this neighbourhood are, indeed, by no means good, and 
 may be had for a rupee a piece ; but this had had some little 
 feeding bestowed on it, and we found it by no means bad eating 
 in our march. 
 
 Of the present situation and character of this sovereign and his 
 family, I had abundant opportunity of acquiring a knowledge ; 
 and I am glad to find that, with some exceptions, the conduct of 
 our countrymen to the house of Timour has been honourable 
 and kind. My dear wife is probably aware that the first direct 
 connection between*the English and the Emperor of Delhi began 
 under Lord Clive’s government, when Shah Aulum, father of the 
 present Acbar Shah, voluntarily, and without any stipulations, 
 threw himself under our protection, as the only means of securing 
 his personal liberty from the dissensions of his own subjects and 
 the violence of the Maharattas. He was received and treated in 
 all respects as a sovereign ; had a residence assigned to him, with 
 a very large revenue of twenty-six lacks a year ; and this was, in 
 fact, the only part of his life which can be regarded as splendid 
 or prosperous. In his anxiety to return to Delhi, however, he, 
 after some years, forfeited all these advantages, and threw himself 
 into the power of the Maharattas, who, about a twelvemonth be- 
 fore, had gained possession of that city, and who were our invete- 
 rate enemies. By these new friends he was made prisoner ; and 
 Ghoolarn Khadir, the Rohilla, who a few years after captured 
 Delhi, put out his eyes, threw him into a dungeon, and murdered 
 all the members of his family who could be found. His own life 
 would probably have soon sunk under his misery, had not Ghoo- 
 1am Khadir been defeated and put to death by Sindia, (assisted 
 by French officers and troops,) who now, in his turn, obtained 
 possession of his person. His condition was, however, very little 
 improved. He was, indeed, suffered to live in his palace, and his 
 surviving family re-assembled round him ; but he and they were 
 treated with exceeding neglect, and literally almost starved, by 
 the avarice of Sindia and the rapacity of the French. It was 
 during this period that most of the marble and inlaid ornaments 
 of the palace were mutilated, since they were actually sold to buy 
 bread for himself and his children. 
 
 In this miserable state he was found by Lord Lake, who re- 
 stored him to the sort of decent dependence which his son now 
 enjoys ; addressing him on all public occasions in the style of a 
 sovereign, — acknowledging the English Government his “ fidoi,” 
 or feudatory, — and placing him, in fact, in every respect but 
 revenue, where Lord Clive had placed him before. His revenue 
 was fixed at ten lacks a year, which was afterwards increased to 
 twelve, and by Lord Hastings to fifteen, a large sum, but which 
 
EMPEROR OF DELHI. 
 
 459 
 
 is said to be, either through mismanagement, or, as is greatly 
 apprehended, the rapacity of the old Queen, who is busy making 
 a purse for herself, barely sufficient for the wants of his very 
 numerous family. By Lord Lake,IMr. Seton, and Sir David 
 Ochterlony, he and his son, the present Emperor, were treated 
 with all the outward respect which even in their best days his 
 ancestors had received from their subjects. Sir C. Metcalf, how- 
 ever, intrenched in many respects on these little outward marks 
 of attention and deference which soothed the poor old man in his 
 inevitable dependence ; and Acbar, the present Emperor, is also 
 said to have been deeply wounded by the demand of Lord 
 Hastings to sit in his presence. He felt still more the insult of 
 setting up his Vizier, the Nawab of Oude, as King, in opposition 
 to him ; and he was hurt by what he supposed to be a continuance 
 of the same conduct on the part of Government, when Sir Edward 
 Paget passed him without a visit. Under these circumstances, I 
 was glad to find that Mr. Elliott paid him every respect, and 
 showed him every kindness in his power. I was glad, also, that 
 I did not omit to visit him, since, independently of the interest 
 which I have felt in seeing the venerable ruin of a mighty stock, 
 Mr. Elliott says that the Emperor had frequently inquired whether 
 the Bishop also meant to pass him by."^ 
 
 Acbar Shah has the appearance of a man of seventy-four or 
 seventy-five : he is, however, not much turned of sixty-three, but, 
 in this country, that is a great age. He is said to be a very good- 
 tempered, mild old man, of moderate talents, but polished and 
 pleasing manners. His favourite wife, the Begum, is a low-born, 
 low-bred, and violent woman, who rules him completely, lays hold 
 on all his money, and has often influenced him to very unwise 
 conduct towards his children and the British Government. She 
 hates her eldest son, who is, however, a respectable man, of more 
 talents than native princes usually show, and happily for himself, 
 has a predilection for those literary pursuits which are almost 
 the only laudable: or innocent objects of ambition in his power. 
 He is fond of poetry, and is himself a very tolerable Persian poet. 
 He has taken some pains in the education of his children, and, 
 what in this country is very unusual, even of his daughters. He 
 
 * In the course of his late progress through the upper provinces, Lord Amherst 
 paid the Emperor a visit : he was received by him in the hall of audience, which 
 both parties entered at the same moment, and, after an embrace, the Emperor 
 ascended the peacock throne, and the Governor-general sate down in a state 
 chair on his right hand. After an interchange of compliments, and the usual 
 form of presenting attar had been gone through, Lord Amherst took leave 
 and was conducted by the Emperor to the door of the hall. On a subsequent 
 day the Emperor returned the visit with similar ceremonies. — Ed. 
 
460 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 too, however, though not more than thirty-tive, is prematurely 
 old, arising partly from the early excesses into which the wretched 
 follies of an eastern- court usually plunge persons in his situation, 
 — and partly from his own subsequent indulgence in strong liquors. 
 His face is bloated and pimpled, his eyes weak, and his hand 
 tremulous. Yet, for an Eastern prince, as 1 have already observed, 
 his character is good, and his abilities considered as above the 
 common run. 
 
 There are, perhaps, few royal families which have displayed 
 during their power so many vices and so few virtues as the house 
 of Timour. Their power had been gradually declining ever 
 since the time of Aurungzebe, and at present, Mr. Elliott once 
 observed to me, that he could not perceive the least chance, that, 
 supposing our empire in the east to be at an end, the King of 
 Delhi could for a moment recover any share of authority. He 
 did not even think that the greater princes of India, who would 
 fight for our spoils, would any of them think it worth their while 
 to make use of the Emperor’s name, as a pageant to sanction their 
 own ambitious views ; and he observed that, all things considered, 
 few captive and dethroned princes had ever experienced so much 
 liberality and courtesy as they had from British hands, and that 
 they could not reasonably hope to gain by any diminution of our 
 influence in India. Yet their present circumstances are surely 
 pitiable, as well as an awful instance of the instability of human 
 greatness. The gigantic genius of Tamerlane, and the distin- 
 guished talents of Acbar, throw a sort of splendour over the 
 crimes and follies of his descendants ; and 1 heartily hope that 
 Government will reverence the ruins of fallen greatness, and that, 
 at least, no fresh degradation is reserved for the poor old man 
 whose idea was associated in my childhood with all' imaginable 
 wealth and splendour, under the name of “ the Great Mogul !” 
 
 January 2. — This day, being Sunday, I confirmed about 
 twenty persons, and I afterwards preached and administered the 
 Sacrament, Mr. Fisher reading prayers ; the congregation was 
 numerous, and there were near forty communicants. In the 
 evening also we had a good congregation. I was persecuted 
 during a great part of the day with people who could not be per- 
 suaded that I had no interest with Government, and who, in spite 
 of my reminding them that I knew nothing of them or their 
 character, kept prostrating themselves before me to get recom- 
 mendatory letters to this judge or that collector. Some of the 
 better sort, such as Soobin Chund, w^ere contented, indeed, with 
 a sort of certificate under my seal, that they had associated with 
 me. These I readily gratified, but this increased the clamours 
 of the rest, till I was obliged to order the sentry at the door to 
 
DELHI. 
 
 461 
 
 turn them all away, and to admit no more natives to me on 
 any pretence whatever. Such were the chief events of my last 
 day in Delhi. 
 
 I forgot to mention in its proper place that the ornaments and 
 shawls which I received from the Emperor were valued to me 
 at two hundred and eighty-four sicca rupees. The horse was 
 reported to be barely worth thirty rupees, but as I declined re- 
 deeming him from the Company’s hands I never saw him. 
 
462 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 , DELHI TO AGRA. 
 
 RUINS OP TOGHLIKABAD VISIT TO THE RAJA OP BULLUMGHUR— DAN- 
 CING GIRLS NAWAB OP SIKRE HINDOO PILGRIMAGE TO BINDRA- 
 
 BUND- — MUTTRA — SACRED MONKEYS — DEATH OF ONE REVENGED 
 
 LEPERS — PARTY OP FAQUIRS — ESCAPE OF TRIMBUKJEE — TOMB OF 
 
 ACBAR — PUBLIC BUILDINGS DEWANNY AUM TAGE-MAHAL — ABDUL 
 
 MUSSEEH — FRENCH IN CENTRAL INDIA. 
 
 January 3. — This morning early I sent off my tents and bag- 
 gage to Furreedabad, a little town about fifteen miles from Delhi, 
 and in the afternoon followed them on horseback, escorted by 
 five of Skinner’s horse, and accompanied by Mr. Lushington and 
 Dr. Smith. We passed by Humaioon’s tomb, and thence through 
 a dreary country full of ruins, along a stony and broken road 
 marked out at equal distances of about a mile and a half, by solid 
 circular stone obelisks, “ coss minars,” erected during the pros- 
 perous times of the empire of Delhi. Half way to Furreedabad 
 we passed the gigantic ruins of Toghlikabad, on a hill about a 
 coss to our right. I regretted that we could not see them nearer, 
 but the stage was of sufficient length for our horses and the few 
 remaining hours of day-light without this addition. Mr. Elliott 
 described them as chiefly interesting from their vast dimensions, 
 and the bulk and weight of the stones employed in them. They 
 were the work of Toghlou Khan, one of the early Patan sove- 
 reigns. 
 
 F urreedabad offers nothing curious except a large tank with a 
 ruined banqueting-house on its shore ; it has a grove of tamarind 
 and other trees round it, but no mangoes ; a few of these, indeed, 
 grow in the province of Delhi, owing to the unusual multitude of 
 white ants, to whose increase the ruins and the dry sandy soil are 
 favourable, and who attack the mangoes in preference to any 
 other tree. The whole country, indeed, is barren and disagreeable, 
 and the water bad. That of the Jumna acts on strangers like the 
 Cheltenham waters, and the wells here are also ^extremely unpala- 
 table. One might fancy oneself already approaching the confines 
 of Persia and Arabia. Our camp is, however, plentifully supplied 
 with all necessaries and comforts, and a servant of the Raja of 
 Bullumghur brought us some fine oranges, and at the same time 
 told us, that his master would not suffer him to receive either 
 
A HINDOO COURT. 
 
 463 
 
 payment or present for any of the supplies furnished, and only 
 hoped that I would call at his house next morning in my way, 
 which 1 readily promised to do. The Raja of Bullunaghur holds 
 a considerable territory along this frontier as a feudatory of the 
 British Government, on the service of maintaining two thousand 
 men to do the ordinary police duties, and guard the road against 
 the Mewatta and other predatory tribes. The family and most 
 of their people are of the Jat race, and they have for many gene- 
 rations been linked by friendship and frequent intermarriages 
 with the neighbouring Raja of Bhurtpoor, who is now our friend, 
 but whose gallant and successful defence of his castle against 
 Lord Lake during the Maharatta war, has raised the character 
 of the Jats, previously a very low caste, to considerable estima- 
 tion for their valour in' all this part of India. The present acting 
 Raja of Bullumghur is only Regent, being guardian to his 
 nephew, a boy now educating at Delhi. I had heard the Regent 
 and his brother described as hospitable and high-spirited men, 
 and was not sorry to have an opportunity of seeing a Hindoo 
 court. 
 
 January 4. — A little before day-break we set of as usual, 
 through a country something, and but little, more fertile than that 
 we had passed. It improved, however, gradually as we ap- 
 proached Bullumghur, which, by its extensive groves, gave evi- 
 dence of its having been long a residence of a respectable native 
 family. I was not, however, at all prepared for the splendour 
 with which I was received. First we saw some of the wild- 
 looking horsemen whom 1 have already described, posted as if on 
 the look-out, who, on seeing us, fired their matchlocks and gal- 
 loped off as fast as possible. As we drew nearer we saw a con- 
 siderable body of cavalry with several camels and elephants, all 
 gaily caparisoned, drawn up under some trees, and were received 
 by the Raja himself, a fat and overgrown man, and his younger 
 brother, a very handsome and manly figure, the former alighting 
 from a palanquin, the other from a noble Persian horse, with 
 trappings which swept the ground. I alighted from my horse 
 also, and the usual compliments and civilities followed. The 
 elder brother begged me to excuse his riding with me as he was 
 ill, which indeed we had heard before, but the second went by 
 my side, reining in his magnificent steed, and showing off the 
 animal’s paces and his own horsemanship. Before and behind 
 were camels, elephants, and horsemen, with a most strange and 
 barbarous music of horns, trumpets, and kettle-drums, and such a 
 wood of spears that I could not but tell my companion that his 
 castle deserved its name of Fort of Spears. As we drew nearer 
 we saw the fort itself, with high brick walls, strengthened with a 
 deep ditch and large mud bastions, from which we were compli- 
 
4G4 
 
 A HINDOO COURT. 
 
 mented with a regular salute of cannon. Within we found a 
 small and crowded, but not ill-built town, with narrow streets, 
 tall houses, many temples, and a sufficient number of Brahminy 
 bulls to show the poor Hindoo descent of the ruler. The popu- 
 lation of the little capital was almost all assembled in the streets, 
 on the walls, and on the house-tops, and salamed to us as we came 
 in. We passed through two or three sharp turns, and at length 
 stopped at the outer gate of a very neat little palace, built round 
 a small court planted with jonquils and rose bushes, with a marble 
 fountain in the ceUtre, and a small open arched hall, where chairs 
 were placed for us. Sitringees were laid, by way of carpet, on 
 the floor, and the walls were ornamented with some paltry Hin- 
 doo portraits of the family, and some old fresco paintings of gods, 
 goddesses, and heroes, encountering lions and tigers. 
 
 After we had been here a few minutes a set of dancing girls 
 entered the room followed by two musicians. 1 felt a little un- 
 easy at this apparition, but Dr. Smith, to whom I mentioned my 
 apprehensions, assured me that nothing approaching to indecency 
 was to be looked for in the dances or songs which a well-bred 
 Hindoo exhibited to his visiters. I sat still, therefore, while these 
 poor little girls, for they none of them seemed more than fourteen, 
 went through the same monotonous evolutions which I had heard 
 my wife describe, in which there is certainly very little grace or 
 interest, and no perceptible approach to indecency. The chief 
 part of the figure, if it can be called so, seemed to consist in draw- 
 ing up and letting fall again the loose wide sleeves of their outer 
 garments, so as to show the arm as high as the elbow, or a very 
 little higher, while the arms were waved backwards and forwards 
 in a stiff and constrained manner. Their dresses were rich, but 
 there was such an enormous quantity of scarlet cloth petticoats 
 and trowsers, so many shawls wrapped round their waists, and 
 such multifarious skirts peeping out below each other, that their 
 figures were quite hidden, and the whole effect was that of a num- 
 ber of Dutch dolls, though the faces of two or three out of the 
 number were pretty. Two sung each a Persian and a Hindoos- 
 tanee song with very pleasing though not powerful voices, after 
 which, as the demands both of curiosity and civility were satisfied, 
 I gave them a gratuity, as I understood was usual on such occa- 
 sions, as a token of their dismissal. 
 
 After this some cake and Persian grapes were brought in, and 
 I took leave, having in the civilest and most cordial way I could, 
 declined the usual present of shawls, and accepted one of fruit 
 and sweetmeats. On going away I told the Raja’s jernautdar to 
 come to the camp in the evening, and he and his fellow-servants 
 should have the usual bukshish, but he answered that neither he 
 nor any of the Raja’s people, except the dancing girls to whouj 
 
CASSIM ALl KHAN. 
 
 465 
 
 it was an usual token of approbation, dared accept any thing of 
 the kind, the first instance which I had met with of a Hindoo 
 refusing money. Soon after 1 had taken leave, and while we were 
 still escorted by the Bullumghur cavalry, a message came from 
 the Raja to say that he had heard of my intended liberality to his 
 people, but that it was his particular request that I would give 
 nothing either to his servants or to the suwarrs, whom he intended, 
 with my leave, to send on with me as far as Muttra. Surely this 
 is what in England would be called high and gentlemardy feeling. 
 
 On our approach to Sikre, where the tents were pitched, I 
 found we had entered another little feudal territory, being received 
 by about twenty horsemen, with a splendid old warrior at their 
 head, who announced himself as the jaghiredar of the place, and 
 holding a little barony, as it would be called in Europe, under the 
 Company, intermixed with the larger territories of Bullumghur. 
 Cassim Ali Khan, the Nawab of Sikre, who thus introduced him- 
 self, was a figure which Wouvermans or Rubens would have de- 
 lighted to paint, a tall, large, elderly man, with a fine countenance, 
 and a thick and curly but not long gray beard, on a large and 
 powerful white Persian horse, with a brocade turban, a saddle- 
 cloth of tiger’s skin with golden tassels which almost swept the 
 ground, sword, shield, and pistols mounted with silver, and all the 
 other picturesque insignia of a Mussulman cavalier of distinction. 
 He said that he had been a tusseldar in command of two hun- 
 dred horse in Lord Lake’s war, and had been recompensed at the 
 end of the contest with a little territory of ten villages, rent and 
 tax free. The Raja, he said, who* had two hundred and fifty vil- 
 lages, nearly enclosed him, but they were good friends. The Raja 
 certainly, though his brother is a fine young man, had nothing in 
 his whole cavalcade to equal the old jNawab’s figure, which was 
 perfect as a picture, from his bare muscular neck and his crisp 
 gray mustachios, down to his yellow boots and the strong brown 
 hand, with an emerald ring on it, the least turn of which on his 
 silver bridle seemed to have complete mastery over his horse, 
 without too much repressing its spirit. He afterwards showed 
 me his certificates of service from Lord Lake and others, and it 
 appeared that his character in all respects had corresponded with 
 his manly and intelligent appearance. 
 
 At Sikre, I found a letter from Mr. Cavendish, collector and 
 magistrate of this district, saying that he was encamped in the 
 neighbourhood and intended to call on me next morning at our 
 next station, at Brahminy Kerar. 
 
 January 5. — The country between Sikre and Brahminy Kerar 
 is uninteresting enough, though rather more fertile than in the 
 neighbourhood of Delhi. Half way, near a village named Pulwul, 
 we passed Mr. Cavendish’s encampment, and were met by an 
 
 VoL. I. — 59 
 
466 
 
 PROVINCE OF DELHI— HORALo 
 
 escort of his suwarrs. 1 had long since had my eyes pretty well 
 accustomed to the sight of shields and spears, but 1 have not failed 
 to observe that, along this frontier which has not been till of late 
 in a settled or peaceable state, and where hard blows are still of 
 no unfrequent occurrence, even the police troopers sit their horses 
 better, and have a more martial air by far, than persons in the 
 same situation in the Dooab, or even in Rohilcund. I begin, 
 indeed, to think better of the system on which the province of 
 Delhi ha^ been governed since its conquest, from all which I hear 
 of its former state. This neighbourhood, for instance, is still but 
 badly cultivated, but fifteen years ago it was as wild, I am assured, 
 as the Terrai, as full of tigers, and with no human inhabitants but 
 banditti. Cattle-stealing still prevails to a great extent, but the 
 Mewattees are now most of them subject either to the British 
 Government, or that of Bhurtpoor, and the security of life and 
 property afforded them by the former, has induced many of the 
 tribes to abandon their fortresses, to seat themselves in the plain 
 and cultivate the ground like honest men and good subjects, while 
 the tranquillity of the border, and the force maintained along it, 
 prevents the Bhurtpoor marauders from renewing their depre- 
 dations so often as they used to do. Highway robberies also 
 sometimes occur, generally attended with murder ; but, on the 
 whole, the amendment has J^een great, and an European, under 
 ordinary circumstances, may pass in safety through any part of the 
 district. The lands are not now highly assessed, and Government 
 has liberally given up half the year’s rent in consideration of the 
 drought. Still, however, som^hing more is wanting, and every 
 public man in these provinces appears to wish that a settlement 
 for fourteen or even twenty years could be brought about, in order 
 to give the Zemindars an interest in the soil and an inducement 
 to make improvements. 
 
 At Brahminy Kerar are a few ruins, but nothing worthy parti- 
 cular notice. The coss-minars still make their appearance, but 
 at very uncertain distances, great numbers having been destroyed 
 or gone to decay. Indeed the road does not always follow its 
 ancient line. 
 
 January 6. — We went on eight coss to Horal. The country 
 along the road side is jungly, but cultivation seems rapidly gaining 
 on it. The road side is, in India, always the part last cultivated, 
 the natives being exposed to many injuries and oppressions from 
 sepioys and travellers. I was told that for every bundle of grass 
 or faggots which the thannadar, or other public officer, brought 
 to my camp, he demanded as much more from the poor peasants, 
 which he appropriated to his own use ; and that, even if I paid 
 for what I got, it required much attention, and some knowledge 
 of the language, to be sure that the money was not intercepted 
 
DIIOTAMA. 
 
 467 
 
 in its way to the right owner. But the common practice of the 
 thannadar was, to charge nothing for what was furnished to the 
 traveller, both from wishing to make a compliment to the latter, 
 (which costs him nothing,) and also to take, without the means 
 of detection, his own share of the plunder. The best way is to 
 insist on a written bill, and request the collector afterwards to 
 inquire of the Ryuts whether the money had been paid. 
 
 At Horal is a very pretty native house, now uninhabited, but 
 used as a court of justice, with a fine tank near it, both the work 
 of a former Hindoo jemautdar, in memory of whom a small tem- 
 ple is raised in the neighbourhood. Within I saw the representa- 
 tion of four human feet, one pair larger than the other, on a little 
 altar against the w^all, and was told that it was the customary 
 way of commemorating that the favourite wife had burnt herself 
 with her husband. This horrible custom, 1 am glad to find, is 
 by no means common in this part of India ; indeed, I have not 
 yet found it common any where except in Bengal, and some parts 
 of Bahar. 
 
 January 7. — From Horal to Dhotana, in the province of Agra, 
 is seven coss, a wild, but more woody country than we had lately 
 traversed. By woody, as distinct from jungle, 1 mean that a 
 good many fine trees were seen. At Dhotana I saw the first 
 instance of a custom which I am told 1 shall see a good deal of 
 in my southern journey, — a number of women, about a dozen, 
 who came with pitchers on their heads, dancing and singing, to 
 meet me. There is, if I recollect right, an account of this sort 
 of dance in Kehama. They all professed to be “Gaopiaree,” or 
 milk-maids, and are in fact, as the thannadar assured me, the 
 wives and daughters of the Gaowala caste. Their voices and 
 style of singing were by no means unpleasing ; they had all the 
 appearance of extreme poverty, and I thought a rupee well 
 bestowed upon them, for which they were very thankful. There 
 are many indications, along all this route, of great distress and 
 poverty arising from the long drought, but less, very far less, than 
 to the north of Delhi ; and what is remarkable, there are few 
 professed beggars or faquirs. Those who have recently asked 
 for charity have been poor women with young children, or men 
 wandering, as they say, in search of work. 
 
 We were this day met by some suwarrs from the Judge of 
 Agra, and I therefore dismissed the horse of Bullumghur. To 
 take with me more than enough was only burdening the people ; 
 and since I was not to pay them, I apprehend they were not sorry 
 to receive their dismissal. 1 sent with them a letter of thanks to 
 the Raja. 
 
 January 8. — From Dhotana to Jeyt, the next stage, is a long 
 sixteen miles, through a wild country. On our left, at a distance 
 
468 
 
 BINDRABUND— MUTTRA, 
 
 of two or three miles, we passed Bindrabund, a large town on 
 the banks of the Jumna, celebrated among the Hindoos for its 
 sanctity, and the wealth of its pagodas. I was sorry that I 
 could not visit it, but I believe there was not really much to 
 regret. The buildings are ancient, but all mean ; and the pecu- 
 liarities of the place are, chiefly, its amazing swarms of sacred 
 monkeys, and the no less amazing crowd of filthy and profligate 
 devotees, who crowd round every stranger, not so much asking, 
 as demanding alms. Through all this country, indeed, notwith- 
 standing its vicinity to the capital of Islam in the East, Hindooism 
 seems to predominate in a degree which I did not expect to find. 
 Few or none of the people have Mussulman names ; there are 
 abundant pagodas and scarcely one mosque, and T have seldom 
 seen any peasantry with so many Brahminical or Rajpoot strings 
 among them. The villages and jungles near them are all full of 
 peacocks, another symptom of Hindooism, since the Mussulmans 
 would soon make havoc among these beautiful but well-tasted 
 birds. Most of the names which I have heard are followed by 
 the affix of “ Singh,” a lion : this ought to belong to the Rajpoots 
 alone, but at present all the Jats claim it, as well as the Seiks 
 who, as having relinquished Hindooism, have no apparent right 
 to any distinction of the kind. 1 know not whether this may be 
 regarded as additional grounds for the suspicion which 1 have 
 some time entertained, that the distinction of caste weighs less on 
 men’s minds than it used to do. 
 
 But though I was easily reconciled to the omission of Bindra- 
 bund, all my party were not so, and five sepoys applied for leave 
 to go there, promising to rejoin me at Muttra, a permission which 
 I readily gave them. This, however, was followed by a similar 
 request from more than half my little army, with the venerable 
 soubahdar at their head, besides the goomashta of the camels, 
 and my sirdar-bearer. This was inconvenient, but it was not 
 easily avoided. Some of them were Brahmins, some Rajpoots, 
 some had vows on them, and all were so deeply impressed with 
 the sanctity of Bindrabund, that they were extremely anxious not 
 to pass it by. I gave, therefore, my acquiescence with a good 
 grace, reminding them only that they must rejoin me on Sunday 
 evening, as 1 meant to make no halt in Muttra. 
 
 January 9, Sunday . — From Jeyt to Muttra is about four coss, 
 the country still wild, but apparently more fertile than most of 
 what we had lately seen. Half-way are the ruins of a very large 
 and handsome serai. At this place I was met by Colonel Penny, 
 the Commandant of Muttra, with several other officers, who rode 
 with us through the town. Muttra is a large and remarkable 
 city, much reverenced by the Hindoos for its antiquity and con- 
 nection with many of their legends, more particularly as the 
 
MUTTRA, 
 
 469 
 
 birth-place of their fabulous Krishna, or Apollo. In consequence 
 it swarms with paroquets, peacocks, brahminy bulls, and monkeys, 
 which last are seen sitting on the tops of the houses, and running 
 along the walls and roofs like cats. They are very troublesome, 
 and admitted to be so by the Hindoos themselves, but so much 
 respected that, a few years since, two young officers who shot at 
 one near Bindrabund, were driven into the Jumna, where they 
 perished, by a mob of Brahmins and devotees. In other respects, 
 also, Muttra is a striking town, and a good deal reminded me of 
 Benares, the houses being very high with the same sort of orna- 
 ments as in that city. There is a large ruinous castle on the 
 shore of the Jumna, and a magnificent, though dilapidated mosque, 
 with four very tall minarets. In the centre, or nearly so, of the 
 town. Colonel Penny took us into the court of a beautiful temple, 
 or dwelling-house, for it seemed to be designed for both in one, 
 lately built, and not yet quite finished, by Gokul Pattu Singh, 
 Sindia’s treasurer, and who has also a principal share in a great 
 native banking-house, one branch of which is fixed at Muttra. 
 The building is enclosed by a small but richly-carved gateway, 
 with a flight of steps which leads from the street to a square 
 court, cloistered round, and containing in the centre a building 
 also square, supported by a triple row of pillars, all which, as 
 well as the ceiling, are richly carved, painted, and gilt. The 
 effect, internally, is much like that of the Egyptian tomb, of which 
 the model was exhibited in London by Belzoni ; externally, the 
 carving is very beautiful. The cloisters round were represented 
 to us as the intended habitation of the Brahmins attached to the 
 fane ; and in front, towards the street, were to be apartments for 
 the founder in his occasional visits to Muttra. 
 
 The cantonments are separated from the rest of the town, by 
 a small interval of broken ground covered with ruins. The 
 buildings are very extensive and scattered over a wide plain, but 
 the greater part of them unoccupied, the forces now maintained 
 here not being half so numerous as they used to be before the 
 establishment of Nusseerabad and Neemuch, and the consequent 
 removal of our advanced corps to a great distance westward. 
 Still Muttra is an important station, from the vicinity of many 
 wild and independent, though, at present, friendly Rajas, and 
 from its forming a necessary link between Agra and the northern 
 stations. 
 
 We breakfasted with Colonel Penny, who had provided an 
 empty bungalow for Divine service. I had a congregation of 
 about twenty-five persons, six of whom staid for the Sacrament, 
 and I afterwards baptized some children. A miserable leper 
 came soon after to ask alms, who said he had heard of my passing 
 through the country and had come two days’ journey to beg from 
 
470 
 
 MUTTRA. 
 
 me. He was quite naked except a very small rag round his 
 waist; his fingers had all nearly rotted off, and his legs and feet 
 were in a wretched condition. I have seen, 1 think, fewer of 
 these objects in Hindostan than in Bengal, but those I have seen 
 are in every respect most pitiable. In addition to the horrors of 
 the disease itself, the accursed religion of the Hindoos hold them 
 out as objects of Heaven’s wrath, and, unless they expiate their 
 sins by being buried alive, as doomed in a future life to Pada- 
 Ion ! They are consequently deprived of caste, can possess no 
 property, and share far less than most other mendicants in the 
 alms which Hindoo bounty dispenses in general with a tolerably 
 liberal hand. 
 
 About two o’clock the soubahdar and the other pilgrims re- 
 turned in high spirits, having all bathed and gone through the 
 necessary ceremonies. I completed their happiness for the day 
 by an arrangement which I made, that a guard of honour which 
 Colonel Penny had assigned me should stand sentry during my 
 stay in Muttra, so that my escort should have the evening and 
 night to themselves. There was no fear of this permission being 
 abused; they were all tired, — they had eaten their meal, — and 
 the only further thing they desired was to sleep the twelve hours 
 round. 
 
 We dined with Colonel Penny, and met a numerous party of 
 officers. The chief subjects of conversation were Nusseerabad, 
 whither 1 was going and which several of the party had recently 
 left, and the late attack and plunder of Calpee. Of Nusseerabad 
 the most dismal account was given, as a barren plain on the verge 
 of the great salt desert, with very little water, and that little bad, 
 and only one single tree in the whole cantonment. I know not 
 from what singular fatality it has arisen, that almost all the prin- 
 cipal establishments of the English in India have been fixed in 
 bad situations. The reason which I have heard given is the un- 
 willingness of Government to interfere with the comforts of their 
 subjects, or to turn out people from their farms and villages, 
 which has compelled them to fix on spots previously uninhabited 
 and untilled, which of course, in an ancient peopled country, 
 have generally been neglected in consequence of some natural 
 disadvantage. But it would be so easy, at a moderate rate, to 
 recompense any Zemindar or Ryut whom a new cantonment 
 inconvenienced ; and the bad effects of an unwholesomd, or other- 
 wise ill situated station are so great, that this is a reason which, 
 though it was gravely given, I could hardly hear with gravity. 
 The fact, however, is certain ; Secrole, the cantonments at Luck- 
 now, nay, Calcutta itself, are all abominably situated. I have 
 heard the same of Madras ; and now the lately settled cantonment 
 of Nusseerabad appears to be as objectionable as any of them. 
 
FURRAH. 
 
 471 
 
 The affair at Calpee has excited great surprise not unmixed 
 with alarm. Many of the party maintained that Sindia was at 
 the bottom of the transaction, and that it was the harbinger of a 
 new war in central India; but one gentleman, who came lately 
 from Mhow, had no suspicion of the kind ; and though he thought 
 it not unlikely that the marauders in question had been assembled 
 in Sindia’s territories, he did not think that the Maharaja was 
 himself inclined to break with us. 
 
 January 10. — This morning’s stage was eight coss, to a small 
 village called Furrah; it is built in a great measure within the 
 enclosure of what has been, evidently, a very extensive serai, 
 whose walls seem to have been kept up as a defence to the vil- 
 lage. They have, however, not been its only defence, since on a 
 little hill immediately above it is a square mud fort, with a round 
 bastion at each flank, and a little outwork before the gate. It is 
 now empty and neglected, but has evidently been in recent use, 
 and might easily be again put into sufficient repair to answer 
 every purpose for which such a little fortress could be supposed 
 calculated. Most of the villages in this part of Hindostan were 
 anciently provided with a similar fastness, where the peasantry, 
 their families, and cattle, might seek refuge in case of the ap- 
 proach of robbers or enemies. The strength of the British 
 Government, and the internal peace which has flowed from it, 
 have made these precautions, as well as the walls and towers of 
 the greater towns, be almost universally neglected, though the 
 recent misfortune at Calpee appears to prove that such means of 
 defence may yet occasionally have their value. 
 
 The people and tusseldar of Furrah were very dilatory in 
 bringing supplies, and the sepoys were so cold, hungry, and indig- 
 nant, that I thought there would have been broken heads. The 
 tusseldar at length made his appearance in a hackery hung with 
 red cloth, and drawn by two very fine bullocks, which trotted 
 almost as well as the common horses of the country. He was 
 followed by the usual aids, and matters were reconciled. The 
 peasantry, my servants complained, were not only negligent, but 
 ftncivil, and seemed to have heard, probably an exaggerated state- 
 ment, of the sack of Calpee. 
 
 Soon after we had encamped, a numerous party of faquirs, and 
 other similar vagabonds, like us, as it seemed, on their travels, 
 appeared, and pitched their tents at a little distance. Dr. Smith 
 foretold that we should lose some property by this contiguity, but 
 there was no avoiding it, since neither in law nor justice could 
 men in the open field object to others, travelling like themselves, 
 taking up their abode in the same vicinity. In one respect, they 
 gave us less trouble than might have been expected, since they 
 did not beg. A party of them, however, came forwards with a 
 
472 
 
 ESCAPE OF TRIMBUKJEE. 
 
 musician, and a boy dressed up in adjutant’s feathers with a bill 
 of the same bird fastened to his head, and asked leave to show off 
 some tricks in tumbling and rope-dancing. On my assenting, in 
 less time than f could have supposed possible, four very long 
 bamboos were fixed in the ground, and a slack-rope suspended 
 between them, on which the boy, throwing off his bird’s dress, 
 and taking a large balancing-pole in his hand, began to exhibit a 
 series of tricks which proved him to be a funambulist of consider- 
 able merit. He was a little and very thin animal, but broad- 
 shouldered and well made, and evidently possessed of no common 
 share' of strength as well as of agility and steadiness. Meantime, 
 while he was gamboling above, the musician below, who was an 
 old man, and whose real or assumed name was Hajee Baba, went 
 through all the usual jests and contortions of our English Mr. 
 Merryman,” sometimes affecting great terror at his companion’s 
 feats and the consequence of his falling, — sometimes bidding him 
 “ Salarn to the Sahib Log,” or challenging him to still greater 
 feats of agility and dexterity. 
 
 Our road, during great part of this day’s journey, had lain by 
 the side of the Jumna, which is here very pretty, a wide and 
 winding stream, with woody banks, and the fields in its vicinity 
 more fertile and green than any which I have for a long time 
 looked on. We saw a small vessel with masts and sails dropping 
 down the river ; but, except during the rains, its navigation is here 
 so tedious and uncertain that few boats ever come up so high. 
 
 I heard this morning an account which interested and amused 
 me, of the manner in which the Maharatta chief, Trimbukjee, 
 whom I saw a prisoner at Chunar, had effected his escape from 
 the British the first time he was seized by them. He was kept 
 in custody at Tannah, near Bombay; and while there, a common- 
 looking Maharatta groom, with a good character in his hand, 
 came to offer his services to the commanding officer. He was 
 accepted, and had to keep his horse under the window of Trim- 
 bukjee’s prison. Nothing remarkable was observed in his con- 
 duct, except a more than usual attention to his horse, and a habit, 
 while currying and cleaning him, of singing verses of Maharatt^ 
 songs, all apparently relating to his trade. At length Trimbukjee 
 disappeared, and the groom followed him ; on which it was re- 
 collected that his singing had been made up of verses like the 
 following : 
 
 “ Behind the bush the bowmen hide, 
 
 The horse beneath the tree; 
 
 Where shall I find a knight will ride 
 The jungle paths with me ? 
 
 There are five and fifty coursers there, 
 
 And four and fifty men ; 
 
 When the fifty-fifth shall mount his steed, 
 
 The Dcckan thrives again !” 
 
TOMB OF ACBAR. 
 
 473 
 
 This might have been a stratagem of the Scottish border, so com- 
 plete a similarity of character and incident does a resemblance of 
 habit and circumstance produce among mankind. 
 
 January 1 1 . — -This morning we arrived at Secundra, nine coss 
 from Furrah, a ruinous village and without a bazar, but remark- 
 able for the magnificent tomb of Acbar, the most splendid building 
 in its way which I had yet seen in India. It stands in a square 
 area of about forty English acres, enclosed by an embattled wall, 
 with octagonal towers at the angles surmounted by open pavilions, 
 and four very noble gateways of red granite, the principal of which 
 is inlaid with white marble, and has four high marble minarets. 
 The space within is planted with trees and divided into green 
 alleys, leading to the central building, which is a sort of solid 
 pyramid surrounded externally with cloisters, galleries, and domes, 
 diminishing gradually on ascending it, till it ends in a square plat- 
 form of white marble, surrounded by most elaborate lattice-work 
 of the same material, in the centre of which is a small altar tomb, 
 also of white marble, carved with a delicacy and beauty which 
 do full justice to the material, and to the graceful forms of Arabic 
 characters which form its chief ornament. At the bottom of the 
 building, in a small but very lofty vault, is the real tomb of this 
 great monarch, plain and unadorned, but also of white marble. 
 There are many other ruins in the vicinity, some of them appa- 
 rently handsome, but Acbar’s tomb leaves a stranger little time or 
 inclination to look at any thing else. Government have granted 
 money for the repair of the tomb, and an oflicer of engineers is 
 employed on it. A seijeant of artillery is kept in the place, who 
 lives in one of the gateways ; his business is to superintend a plan- 
 tation of sissoo-trees made by Dr. Wallich. He says the soil does 
 not appear to suit them ; they grow^, however, but by no means 
 rapidly. For fruit trees, particularly the orange, the soil is very 
 favourable, and the tall tamarinds and the generally neglected 
 state of the garden afford more picturesque points of view than 
 large buildings usually are seen in. 
 
 The next morning, January 12th, we proceeded to Mr. Irving’s 
 house near Agra, about six miles, through a succession of ruins, 
 little less contiguous and desolate than those round Delhi. I 
 noticed, however, that some of the old tombs have been formed 
 into dwelling houses, and Mr. Irving’s is one of this description. 
 I found there a very comfortable room prepared for myself, with 
 plenty of space in the compound for my encampment. 
 
 In the evening, I went with Mr. Irving to see the city, the fort, 
 and the Jumna Musjeed. The city is large, old, and ruinous, 
 with little to attract attention beyond that picturesque mixture 
 of houses, balconies, projecting roofs, and groups of people in 
 the eastern dress, which is common to all Indian towns. The 
 VoL. J. — 60 
 
474 PALACE OF ACBAR— ABDUL MUSSEEH. 
 
 fort is very large and ancient, surrounded with high walls and ‘ 
 towers of red stone, which command some noble views of the city, 
 its neighbourhood, and the windings of the Jumna. The princi- 
 pal sights, however, which it contains, are the Motee Musjeed, a 
 beautiful mosque of white marble, carved with exquisite simplicity 
 and elegance, and the palace built by Acbar, in a great degree of 
 the same material, and containing some noble rooms, now sadly 
 disfigured and destroyed by neglect, and by being used as ware- 
 houses, armories, offices, and lodging rooms for the garrison. 
 
 The hall, now used as the “ Dewanny Aum,” or public court 
 of justice, is a splendid edifice, supported by pillars and arches of 
 white marble, as large and more nobly simple than that of Delhi. 
 The ornaments, carving, and Mosaic of the smaller apartments, 
 in which was formerly the Zennana, are equal or superior to any 
 thing which is described as found in the Alhambra. The view, 
 from these rooms is very fine, at the same time that there are 
 some, adapted for the hot winds, from which light is carefully 
 excluded. This suite is lined with small mirrors in fantastic 
 frames; a cascade of water, also surrounded by mirrors, has been 
 made to gush from a recess at the upper end, and marble chan- 
 nels, beautifully inlaid with cornelians, agates, and jasper, convey 
 the stream to every side of the apartment. In another of the 
 towers are baths of equal beauty, one of which, a single block of 
 white marble. Lord Hastings caused to be forced up from its 
 situation, not without considerable injury both to the bath itself 
 and the surrounding pavement, in order to carry it down to Cal- 
 cutta. It was, however, too heavy for the common budgerow in 
 use on the Jumna, and the bath remains to shame its spoliator. 
 Should the plan, which has been often talked of, of having a 
 separate Government for central India ever be carried into exe- 
 cution, this would unquestionably be the Government house. It 
 might still be restored at less expense than building a new resi- 
 dence for the Governor, and there is, at present, no architect in 
 India able to build even a lodge in the same style. The Jumna 
 Musjeed is not by any means so fine as that of Delhi. It is very 
 picturesque, however, and the more so from its neglected state, 
 and the grass and peepul trees which grow about its lofty domes. 
 
 Archdeacon Corrie’s celebrated convert, Abdul Musseeh, 
 breakfasted this morning at Mr. Irving’s ; he is a very fine old 
 man, with a magnificent gray beard, and much more gentlemanly 
 manners than any Christian native whom I have seen. His rank, 
 indeed, previous to his conversion, was rather elevated, since he 
 was master of the jewels to the court of Oude, an appointment 
 of higher estimation in eastern palaces than in those of Europe, 
 and the holder of which has always a high salary. Abdul Mus- 
 seeh’s present appointments, as Christian missionary, are sixty 
 
TAGE-MAHAL. 
 
 475 
 
 rupees a month, and of this he gives away at least half! Who 
 can dare to say that this man has changed his faith from any 
 interested motives ? He is a very good Hindoostanee, Persian, 
 and Arabic scholar, but knows no English. There is a small 
 congregation of native Christians, converted by Mr. Corrie when 
 he was chaplain at Agra, and now kept together by Abdul Mus- 
 seeh. The earnest desire of this good man is to be ordained a 
 clergyman of the Church of England, and if God spares his life 
 and mine, I hope, during the Ember weeks in this next autumn, 
 to confer orders on him. He is every way fit for them, and is a 
 most sincere Christian, quite free, so far as I could observe, from 
 all conceit or enthusiasm. His long eastern dress, his long gray 
 beard, and his calm, resigned Countenance, give him already 
 almost the air of an apostle."^ 
 
 January 13. — I went to see the celebrated Tage-mahal, of 
 which it is enough to say that, after hearing its praises ever since 
 I had been in India, its beauty rather exceeded than fell short of 
 my expectations. There was much, indeed, which I was not 
 prepared for. The surrounding garden, which, as well as the 
 Tage itself, is kept in excellent order by Government, with its 
 marble fountains, beautiful cypresses and other trees, and profu- 
 sion of flowering shrubs, contrasts very finely with the white 
 marble of which the tomb itself is composed, and takes off, by 
 partly concealing it, from that stiffness which belongs more or 
 less to every highly finished building. The building itself is raised 
 on an elevated terrace of white and yellow marble, and having 
 at its angles four tall minarets of the same material. The Tage 
 contains, as usual, a central hall about as large as the interior of 
 the Ratcliffe library, in which, enclosed within a carved screen 
 of elaborate tracery, are the tombs of the Begum Noor-jehan, 
 Shahjehan’s beloved wife, to whom it was erected, and by her 
 side, but a little raised above her, of the unfortunate Emperor 
 
 * Abdul Musseeh was converted to Christianity, and baptized in the Old 
 Church at Calcutta, when he was about forty years of age. He was, subse- 
 quently, employed for eight years by the Church Missioifary Society as catechist, 
 and received Lutheran ordination in the year 1820 from the hands of the mis- 
 sionaries of that society. In December, 1825, the Bishop conferred on him, to- 
 gether with three other missionaries, the rite of Episcopal ordination, the articles, 
 wthe various oaths, and the ordination service, having been translated, for his use, 
 into Hindoostanee. The Bishop also read a considerable part of the ceremony 
 in that language. Abdul Musseeh, immediately after, went to Lucknow, where 
 he resided, with, the exception- of a visit to Cawnpoor, till his death, which hap- 
 pened on the 4th of March, 1827, occasioned by mortification proceeding from 
 a neglected carbuncle. The Resident, Mr. Ricketts, who had always behaved 
 to him with the utmost kindness and liberality, read the burial service at his 
 grave, and ordered a monument to be erected to his memory, with an inscription 
 in English and Persian. Among other bequests, Abdul Musseeh left liis books 
 to the Bible Society. — Ed. 
 
476 
 
 AGRA. 
 
 himself. Round this hall are a number of smaller apartments, 
 corridors, &c. and the windows are carved in lattices of the same 
 white marble with the rest of the building and the screen. The 
 pavement is in alternate squares of white, and what is called in 
 Europe, sienna marble ; the walls, screens, and tombs are covered 
 with flowers and inscriptions, executed in beautiful Mosaic of 
 cornelians, lapis-lazuli, and jasper; and yet, though every thing 
 is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, 
 the general effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than 
 gaudy. The parts which I like least are the great dome and the 
 minarets. The bulbous swell of the former I think clumsy, and 
 the minarets have nothing to recommend them but their height 
 and the beauty of their materials. But the man must have more 
 criticism -than taste or feeling about him, who could allow such 
 imperfections to weigh against the beauties of the Tage-mahal. 
 The Jumna washes one side of the garden, and there are some 
 remains of a bridge which was designed by Shahjehan with the 
 intention, as the story goes, to build a second Tage of equal beauty 
 for his own separate place of interment, on the opposite side of 
 the river. 
 
 On that side are some interesting ruins of other structures, 
 more especially the tomb of Etmun ut Dowlah, prime minister of 
 Shahjehan. It is said to be very beautiful, but I did not see it, 
 since during the rest of my stay at .Agra 1 was confined by a 
 feverish cold, and was barely able to go out on Friday to hold a 
 Confirmation, with a voice more completely lost than I ever re- 
 member happening to me before. 1 received very great kindness 
 and hospitality from Mr. and Mrs. Irving, and on Sunday, though 
 against Dr. Smith’s advice, I preached and administered the 
 Sacrament, and did not feel myself the worse for it. 
 
 The number of persons confirmed was about forty, half of whom 
 were native Christians, mostly old persons and converts of Mr. 
 Corrie’s during his residence here. Abdul Musseeh told me there 
 were a good many more scattered up and down in the neigh- 
 bouring towns of Coel, Allyghur, and Etwah, whither he went 
 from time to timef but who were too far off to attend on this 
 occasion. Of several he spoke as elderly persons, who had been 
 in the Maharatta service during Penn’s time, of European ex- 
 traction, but who knew no language but Hindoostanee, and wer# 
 very glad to have religious instruction afforded them in that lan- 
 guage. Many of them gladly attend on his and Mr. Irving’s 
 ministry, but others are zealous Roman Catholics, and adhere 
 closely to the Priest of Agra. 
 
 One of these Indo-Europeans is an old Colonel of French 
 extraction, but completely Indian in colour, dress, language, and 
 ideas. He is rich, and has a large family of daughters, two nr 
 
AGRA. 
 
 477 
 
 three of whom he has married, rather advantageously, to some of 
 the wealthy country-born English. Bi# no man is allowed to 
 see any of these young ladies till he has had his offer accepted by 
 the father, and till it is perfectly understood that he is pledged to 
 marry one of them. He is then introduced behind the purdahs 
 of the Zennana, and allowed to take his choice ! The poor girls, 
 of course, are never once consulted in the transaction. Mr. 
 Irving celebrated one of these marriages, at which, except the 
 bride, no female was visible, though he was told that the rest 
 were allowed to peep from behind the curtains. 
 
 1 took this opportunity of inquiring in what degree of favour 
 the name of the French stood in this part of India, where, for so 
 many years together, it was paramount. I was told that many 
 people were accustomed to speak of them as often oppressive 
 and avaricious, but as of more conciliating and popular manners 
 than the English Sahibs. Many of them, indeed, like this old 
 Colonel, had completely adopted the Indian dress and customs, 
 and most of them were free from that exclusive and intolerant 
 spirit, which makes the English, wherever they go, a caste by 
 themselves, disliking and disliked by all their neighbours. Of 
 this foolish, surly, national pride, 1 see but too many instances 
 daily, and I am convinced it does us much harm in this country. 
 We are not guilty of injustice or wilful oppression, but we shut 
 out the natives from our society, and a bullying, insolent manner 
 is continually assumed in speaking to them. 
 
478 
 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 AGRA TO JYEPOOR. 
 
 PEEPAEATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE INDEPENDENT STATES 
 
 OF WESTERN INDIA FUTTEHPOOR — ^^CITY OF ACBAR GREAT MOSCIUE 
 
 PALACE BHURTPOOR— MODE OF SINKING WELLS LETTER PROM 
 
 THE RAJA OF BHURTPOOR GOOD STATE OF HIS COUNTRY SIR DAVID 
 
 OCHTERLONY SIR JOHN MALCOLM WYRE MOWAH FRONTIER OF 
 
 JYEPOOR IDOL CARRIED TO BINDRABUND DEOSA HINDOO FESTI- 
 VAL ARRIVAL AT JYEPOOR. 
 
 January 17. — I sent olf my tents this morning to a small vil- 
 lage about nine miles from Agra, and two on the Agra side of the 
 little town of Kerowlee, and drove over myself in the afternoon. 
 I had found it necessary, during my stay at Agra, to make many 
 alterations in, and some additions to my usual domestic arrange- 
 ments, preparatory to leaving the Company’s territory for my 
 long journey through the independent states of Rajpootana, Mey- 
 war, &:c. My tents were only adapted for cold weather, and 
 would prove a very insufficient protection against either the sun 
 or the storms of central India, being of European construction, 
 and formed simply of one fold of thin canvass lined with baize. 
 The necessity being admitted by all parties, 1 purchased two, 
 which were on sale in the city, on the Company’s account, there 
 being none of any sort at the Depot. My new lodgings were not 
 so roomy or convenient as my old, but they answered very well, 
 and every body tells me I shall find the advantage when the hot 
 winds begin to blow. Another necessary was a fresh supply of 
 live-stock. I had before been content to carry a few fowls on the 
 back of one of the camels, and to trust to the supplies which the 
 villages afforded for a kid or a sheep occasionally. But we were 
 now going to countries where no Mussulmans are found, where 
 there are few great cities, and a very scattered population of 
 villagers, who consume po animal food themselves, — who have 
 no supplies of the kind for strangers, — and, above all, who are 
 now in a state of absolute famine. And though by myself, it 
 must be a desolate country indeed where I should feel want, I 
 was bound to consider that I was not alone, and that my com- 
 panions also required attention. I was advised to buy some 
 sheep, which were to be driven with us and killed as they were 
 wanted. These, with some salt beef and tongues, were thought 
 
PREPARATIONS FOR JOURNEY. 
 
 479 
 
 sufficient to carry us to Guzerat. At Nusseerabad no supplies of 
 any kind are to be looked for. A solar hat and green shade were 
 next recommended, and pressed on my acceptance by the kind- 
 ness of Mrs. Irving. A spare saddle, and a store of horse-shoes, 
 were also declared to be necessary, and, in short, so many things 
 were to be procured, that, had 1 been actually going into the 
 interior of Africa, a less formidable preparation might, 1 should 
 have thought, have sufficed. Some of my bearers, too, declared 
 they neither would nor dared go beyond the limits of the Com^ 
 pany’s Raj ! This was at first likely to be the greatest difficulty 
 of all, since there were at Agra none to be obtained who would 
 undertake to go further than Nusseerabad, and there, there are 
 absolutely none to be had. A small advance of wages, however, 
 induced most of them to promise anew they would “ follow me 
 to the world’s end. The very deep and difficult wells which 1 
 am told to expect in our progress to the south-west, made it 
 necessary for me to hire another bheestie, to draw water for my- 
 self and my horses. All these difficulties 1 had little doubt that 
 I should find extremely exaggerated ; but I was compelled, in my 
 local ignorance, to follow the opinions of those who had local 
 knowledge, and who evidently considered my journey as one of 
 an arduous nature. 
 
 For the alarm and reluctance expressed by the natives of Hin- 
 dostan to go into these western states, many good reasons may be 
 given. But a very few year§ have passed away since the British 
 Government had neither influence nor authority in these districts, 
 which, between the Maharattas, the Rajpoots, the Mewattees, 
 and the Seiks, were in a constant state of intestine war, and as 
 dangerous for travellers as the interior of Arabia is at this mo- 
 ment. At that time a person wishing to go into these provinces, 
 could not, as I am assured, have obtained bearers for less than 
 eight or ten rupees a month ; and the merchants travelled in 
 caravans, paying high rates of protection to every little plunder- 
 ing Raja. Now the Maharattas are subdued and driven out of 
 the country, — the Mewattees are in a great measure reclaimed, 
 — the Seiks are fully employed at home, and the Rajpoot princes 
 and nobles are kept in awe by British Residents and British 
 garrisons. It still, however, is spoken of as a wild, dreary, and 
 inhospitable country, where provisions and water, fruit and forage, 
 are scarce, — where thieves are numerous, and regular inhabitants 
 few, — where a servant must look for inconvenience and fatigue, 
 and where he can expect few of those circumstances of amuse- 
 ment or gratification, which, in Hindostan proper, make many of 
 this class of men prefer a rambling to a settled and stationary 
 service. 1 was told to expect at this place a great desertion of 
 my Bengalee servants also. But nothing of the kind has occurred : 
 
480 
 
 FUTTEHPOOR-SICRI. 
 
 even if they talk with some dismay of accompanying me through 
 the desert and over the sea, they like still less the notion of find- 
 ing their own way back to Calcutta. They all say they never 
 heard of such a journey as mine before, and that “ neither moun- 
 tains nor any thing else stand in my way.” This is all absurd 
 enough at the present moment ; but the recollection of where 1 
 am, and the circumstances of convenience and safety under which 
 I have traversed, and am about, if it please God, to traverse 
 regions which are laid down as a terra incognita in Arrowsmith’s 
 map of 1816, ought to make, and I hope does make, a strong 
 impression on my mind, of thankfulness to that Great God, whose 
 providence has opened to the British nation so wide and so 
 untried a field of usefulness,^ — and of anxiety, lest we should any 
 of us, in our station, fall short of those duties which this vast 
 increase of power and dominion imposes on us. I and often ready 
 to break into lamentations that, where so much is to do in my own 
 peculiar profession, the means at my disposal enable me to accom- 
 plish so little. But I ought to be anxious, far more, not to fall 
 short in my exertions of those means which I have, and to keep 
 my attention steadily fixed on professional objects, in order that, 
 what I cannot do myself, 1 may at Jeast lead others to think of, 
 and perhaps to accomplish. 
 
 The thannadar of Kerowlee is a very intelligent old soldier, 
 with certificates of good conduct from all the officers of distinc- 
 tion who commanded in Lord Lake’s Maharatta war, and able to 
 speak of most of the events which occurred in it. I was sorry 
 to find that during the early part of that war, some of the British 
 officers disgraced themselves by rapacity and extortion. Such 
 instances, I believe and hope, are now neither of frequent nor 
 easy occurrence. 
 
 January 18. — ^^We went on this morning to Futtehpoor-sicri, 
 about ten miles, through a verdant and tolerably well cultivated 
 country, but with few trees. We passed Kerowlee, a small town, 
 with a ruined rampart and towers, seated on a low gravelly hill, 
 with a few poor attempts at gardens round it. The country all 
 seemed to have benefited greatly by the late rain, which is still 
 standing in pools in many parts of the road. There had, indeed, 
 been more, and more recent rain here than what we saw in Delhi. 
 The approach to Futtehpoor is striking; it is surrounded by a 
 high stone wall, with battlements and round towers, like the 
 remaining part of the city walls at Oxford. Within this is a 
 wide extent of ruined houses and mosques, interspersed with 
 fields cultivated with rice and mustard, and a few tamarind trees, 
 and nearly in the middle, on a high ridge of rocky hills, is a range 
 of ruinous palaces, serais, and other public buildings, in the best 
 style of Mussulman architecture ; and to form the centre of the 
 
MOSQUE. 
 
 481 
 
 picture, a noble mosque, in good repair, and in dimensions equal, 
 1 should think, to the Jumna Musjeed of Delhi. 
 
 This town was the favourite residence of Acbar, and here, in 
 his expeditions, he usually left his wives and children, under the 
 care of his most trusted friend. Sheikh Soliman. The mosques, 
 the palace, and the ramparts, are all Acbar’s work, and nearly 
 in the same style with the castle of Agra and his own tomb at 
 Secundra. The two former are, however, plainer than this last, 
 and there is a far less allowance of white marble. 
 
 We found our tents pitched among the ruins and rubbish, 
 about a bow-shot from the foot of the hill, and in full view of the 
 great gate of the mosque, which is approached by the noblest 
 flight of steps 1 ever saw. The morning was still cool, and we 
 determined to see the curiosities without loss of time. The steps 
 of which I have spoken lead to a fine arch surmounted by a lofty 
 tower; thence we pass into a quadrangle of about 500 feet square, 
 with a very lofty and majestic cloister all round, a large mosque 
 surmounted by three fine domes of white marble on the left hand, 
 and opposite to the entrance, two tombs of very elaborate work- 
 manship, of which that to the right contains several monuments 
 of the imperial family; that to the left a beautiful chapel of white 
 marble, the shrine of Sheikh Soliman, who had the good fortune 
 to be a saint a-s well as a statesman. 
 
 The impression which this whole view produced on me will 
 be appreciated when I say, that there is no quadrangle either in 
 Oxford or Cambridge fit to be compared to it, either in size, or 
 majestic proportions, or beauty of architecture. It is kept in 
 substantial repair by the British Government, and its grave and 
 solid style makes this an easier task than the intricate and elabo- 
 rate inlaid work of Secundra and the Taje Mahal. The interior 
 of the mosque itself is fine, and in the same simple character of 
 grandeur, but the height of the portal tower, and the magnificence 
 of the quadrangle, had raised my expectations too high, and I 
 found that these were the greatest, as well as the most striking 
 beauties of Futtehpoor. 
 
 A little to the right is the palace, now all in ruins, except a 
 small part which is inhabited by the Tusseldar of the district. 
 We rambled some time among its courts and through a range of 
 stables worthy of an Emperor, consisting of a long and wide street, 
 with a portico on each side fifteen feet deep, supported with 
 carved stone pillars in front, and roofed with enormous slabs of 
 stone, reaching from the colonnade to the wall. There are four 
 buildings particularly worthy of notice, one a small but richly 
 ornamented house, which is shown as the residence of Beerbal, the 
 Emperor’s favourite minister, whom the Mussulmans accuse of 
 having infected him with the strange religious notions with which, 
 
 VoL. 1 . — G1 
 
482 
 
 PALACE. 
 
 in the latter part of his life, he sought to inoculate his subjects. 
 Another is a very beautiful octagonal pavilion in the corner of 
 the court, which appears to have been the zennana, and was 
 variously stated to us to have been the Emperor’s private study, 
 or the bed-chamber of one of his wives who was a daughter of 
 the Sultan of Constantinople. It has three large windows filled 
 with an exquisite tracery of white marble, and all its remaining 
 wall is carved with trees, bunches of grapes, and the figures of 
 different kinds of birds and beasts, of considerable merit in their 
 execution, but the two last disfigured by the bigotry of Aurung- 
 zebe, who, as is well known, sought to make amends for his own 
 abominable cruelty and wickedness towards his father and 
 brothers, by a more than usual zeal for the traditions and ob- 
 servances of Islam. The third is a little building which, if its 
 traditional destination be correct, I wonder Aurungzebe allowed 
 to stand. It consists merely of a shrine or canopy supported by 
 four pillars, which the Mussulman ciceroni of the place pretend 
 was devoted by Acbar to the performance of magical rites. 
 Whatever its use may have been, it is not without beauty. The 
 fourth is a singular pavilion, in the centre of which is a pillar or 
 stone pulpit richly carved, approached by four stone galleries 
 from different sides of the room, on which the Emperor used to 
 sit on certain occasions of state, while his subjects were admitted 
 below to present their petitions. It is a mere capriccio, with no 
 merit except its carving, but is remarkable as being one of the 
 most singular buildings I have seen, and commanding from its 
 terraced roof a very advantageous view of the greater part of the 
 city, and a wide extent of surrounding country. 
 
 Of this last much appears to have been laid out in an exten- 
 sive lake, of which the dam is still to be traced, and the whole 
 hill on which the palace stands bears marks of terraces and gar- 
 dens, to irrigate which an elaborate succession of wells, cisterns, 
 and wheels, appears to have been contrived adjoining the great 
 mosque, and forcing up the water nearly to the height of its roof. 
 The cisterns are still useful as receptacles for rain-water, but the 
 machinery is long since gone to decay. On the whole, Futteh- 
 poor is one of the most interesting places which 1 have seen in 
 India, and it was to me the more so, because, as it happened, I 
 had heard little about it, and was by no means prepared to expect 
 buildings of so much magnitude and splendour. 
 
 Mr. Lushington was forced to leave me to return to Lucknow, 
 and we parted with mutual hopes that we might often meet again, 
 but in India how many chances are there against such hopes being 
 accomplished ! If his health is spared he will, I hope and believe, 
 be a valuable man in this country, inasmuch as he has memory, 
 application, good sense, excellent principles both religious and 
 
MOSQUE. 
 
 483 
 
 moral ; and, what I have seldom seen in young Indian civilians, a 
 strong desire to conciliate the minds and improve the condition 
 of the inhabitants of the country. 
 
 After dinner I again walked to the mosque, and went to the 
 top of the gateway tower, which commands a very extensive view. 
 The most remarkable object in the distance was the rampart of 
 Bhurtpoor, eight coss from us, and hardly to be distinguished by 
 the naked eye, but sufficiently visible with a pocket telescope. 
 A number of miserable dependants on the religious establishment 
 came up and begged for charity. One was blind, but officiated 
 as porter so far as keeping the keys of the tower and other lock- 
 up places. Another was deaf and dumb, and filled the place of 
 sweeper ; there were also some poor old women who “ abode,” 
 as they told me, “ in the temple gate, and made prayer night and 
 day.” These people, as well as the two principal Muezzins who 
 had been my ciceroni through the day, were very thankful for 
 the trifles I gave them, and begged me in return “ to eat some of 
 the bread of the sanctuary,” under which character they produc- 
 ed a few little round cakes of barley-meal stuck over with some- 
 thing like sugar. On leaving the building 1 was surprised to hear 
 a deep-toned bell pealing from its interior, but on asking what it 
 was, was told that it was only used to strike the hours on. Had 
 1 not asked the question, 1 might have been tempted to suppose 
 (with the ingenious Master Peter in Don Quixote’s celebrated 
 puppet-show) that “ the Moors really used bells in their churches 
 as well as Christians.” As it was, the sound had a pleasing 
 effect, and increased the collegiate character of the building. 
 
 January 19. — We rode this morning ten miles through a toler- 
 ably cultivated country, but strangely overspread with ruins, to 
 a large dilapidated village named Khanwah. In our way we had 
 a heavy shower of rain, and rain continued to fall at intervals 
 through the greater part of the day. On my arrival at Khanwah, 
 I found that this place, though laid down in Arrowsmith’s map 
 as within the British boundary, was in truth a part of the terri- 
 tory of Bhurtpoor, and that for the two following marches 1 
 should also be under the Raja’s authority. Ignorant of this cir- 
 cumstance myself, I had omitted to procure a purwanu, which 
 might have been obtained in a few hours from his vakeel resident 
 in Agra, and without which none of his officers were likely to 
 give me any assistance in my progress through his country ; the 
 people were civil, but pleaded that they had received no notice 
 or instructions concerning my arrival, and that, without orders, 
 they could not venture to levy the necessary supplies on the 
 peasants, who, on the other hand, were not willing to sell the 
 grass and fuel which they had collected for their own use, unless 
 they were called on to do so in a lawful manner. At last, after a 
 
484 
 
 MANNER OF MAKING WELLS. 
 
 good part of the morning had passed away, the Zemindar of the 
 place, a venerable old man like a middling farmer, took the busi- 
 ness on himself and supplied us from his own stores, on the 
 assurance not only of payment, but of a letter of recommenda- 
 tion to the civility and kindness of any English who might pass 
 that way. The business was thus settled for the day, but in order 
 to prevent its recurrence the next morning, 1 sent a letter to the 
 Raja, in which I explained who 1 was, and requested him to give 
 the needful purwanu to the bearer. It was despatched by the 
 most intelligent of the judge’s people to the court ofBhurtpoor. 
 
 Khanwah is at the foot of a remarkable ridge of gray granite, 
 which protrudes itself, like the spine of a huge skeleton half 
 buried, from the red soil and red rock of the neighbourhood. On 
 its top is a small mosque, and, though in a Hindoo country, the 
 great majority of the inhabitants of this village are Mussulmans. 
 As 1 passed through the principal street in my evening’s walk, I 
 saw a very young man naked and covered with chalk and ashes, 
 his hair wreathed with withered leaves and flowers, working 
 with his hands and a small trowel in a hole about big enough to hide 
 him if he stooped down. I asked him if he were sinking a well, 
 but a bystander told me that he was a Mussulman faqueer from 
 the celebrated shrine near Agmere, that this was his dwelling, 
 and that he used to make a fire at the bottom and cower over it. 
 They called this a Suttee, but explained themselves to mean that 
 he would not actually kill, but only roast himself by way of pen- 
 ance. I attempted, as far as I could, to reason with him, but 
 obtained no answer except a sort of faint smile. His countenance 
 was pretty strongly marked by insanity. 1 gaVe him a few pice, 
 which he received in silence and laid down on a stone, then 
 touched his forehead respectfully and resumed his work, scraping 
 with his hands like a mole. 
 
 The houses in this neighbourhood are all of red sand-stone, and 
 several of them are supported by many small pillars internally, 
 and roofed with large stone slabs laid from one pillar to the other. 
 Wood is very scarce and dear. There v/ere no boughs to be had 
 for the elephants and camels, to which, therefore, it was necessary 
 to give an extra supply of gram, and the only fuel which could 
 be found for our camp was dried cow-dung. There are, how- 
 ever, a few scattered trees here and there, one belonging to a 
 species of fir which 1 had never before seen ; and on the road 
 from Futtehpoorwe passed a fine mangoe-tree, the first I had 
 seen since leaving Delhi, except in the gardens of Secundra and 
 the Tage. 
 
 The wells of this country, some of which are very deep, are 
 made in a singular manner. They build a tower of masonry of 
 the diameter required, and 20 or 30 feet high from the surface of 
 
ROAD TO PHARSAH. 
 
 485 
 
 the ground; This they allow to stand a year or more till its 
 masonry is rendered firm and compact by time, then gradually 
 undermine and promote it^ sinking into the sandy soil, which it 
 does without difficulty and all together. When level with the 
 surface they raise its wall higher, and so go on, throwing out the 
 sand and raising the wall till they have reached the water. If 
 they adopted our method, the soil is so light that it would fall in 
 on them before they could possibly raise the wall from the bot- 
 tom, nor without the wall could they sink to any considerable 
 depth. I forgot to mention that the day before we left Agra, the 
 poor camel-driver whom I had left in a jungle-fever at Morada- 
 bad, arrived safely and in restored health to join me. He had 
 been very ill, and spoke with extreme gratitude of the kindness 
 shown him by the staff-surgeon, Mr. Bell, who had, he said, taken 
 great care of him, and had now procured him from the commis- 
 sariat an advance of part of his pay, and a camel to ride on for 
 his journey from Moradabad hither. It was pleasing to see the 
 joy with which this lad was received by his comrades, who had 
 given him up for lost. I wrote to Mr. Bell to thank him. 
 
 January 20. — Before day-break this morning, 1 was told that a 
 vakeel from the Raja of Bhurtpoor had arrived with a letter and 
 present of fruit from his master. The messenger announced him- 
 self as treasurer to the Raja. He was a very tall and fine looking- 
 old man, handsomely dressed, but with a small train of attend- 
 ants. He expressed the Raja’s regret that I did not intend to visit 
 Bhurtpoor, and the pleasure which he had promised himself in 
 showing me some good hunting. The letter was enclosed in a 
 silk bag, and sealed with a broad seal like that of an University 
 diploma. The vakeel said that he had orders to attend me in my 
 remaining progress through the Bhurtpoor territories to procure 
 supplies, but seemed surprised on finding that 1 meant to proceed 
 to Pharsah that day. He said, however, that he would follow 
 me as soon as his cattle could travel, and of course I did not 
 wish to hurry him, particularly since the suwarr had gone on 
 directly from Bhurtpoor to the encamping ground with all neces- 
 sary powers. The vakeel had travelled, not on horseback, but 
 in a covered carriage drawn by oxen. 
 
 From Khanwah to Pharsah is reckoned seven coss. The coss 
 in this neighbourhood are long, and the distance, so far as I could 
 judge, is above fourteen miles. The country, though still bare 
 of wood, has more scattered trees than we had seen for many 
 days back, and notwithstanding that the soil is sandy and only 
 irrigated from wells, it is one of the best cultivated and watered 
 tracts which I have seen in India. The crops of corn now on 
 the ground were really beautiful, that of cotton, though gone by, 
 showed marks of having been a very good one ; what is a sure proof 
 
486 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF BHURTPOOR. 
 
 of wealth, 1 saw several sugar-mills and large pieces of ground 
 whence the cane had just been cleared ; and contrary to the usual 
 habits of India, where the cultivators k*eep as far as they can from 
 the high-way, to avoid the various molestations to which they are 
 exposed from thieves and travellers, there was often only a nar- 
 row path-way winding through the green wheat and mustard crop, 
 and even this was crossed continually by the channels which con- 
 veyed water to the furrows. The population did not seem great, 
 but the few villages which we saw were apparently in good con- 
 dition and repair ; and the whole afforded so pleasing a picture of 
 industry, and was so much superior to any thing which I had 
 been led to expect in Rajpootana, or which I had seen in the 
 Company’s territories since leaving the southern parts of Rohil- 
 cund, that I was led to suppose, that either the Raja of Bhurtpoor 
 was an extremely exemplary and parental governor, or that the 
 system of management adopted in the British provinces was in 
 some way or other less favourable to the improvement and hap- 
 piness of the country than that of some of the native states. 
 
 What the old jemautdar of Khanwah said as to the rent he paid 
 to Government, and the answers which he made to some ques- 
 tions put to him, were not, however, such as would lead one to 
 expect an industrious or prosperous peasantry. No certain rent 
 is fixed by Government, but the state takes every year what it 
 thinks fit, leaving only what, in its discretion, it regards as a suf- 
 ficient maintenance for the Zemindars and Ryuts. This is pretty 
 nearly the system which has produced such ruinous effects in 
 Oude, but which is of course tempered in these smaller states by 
 the facility of bringing complaints to the ear of the Sovereign, by 
 the want of power in the Sovereign himself to withstand any 
 general rising to which his tyranny might in the long run drive 
 his subjects, and most of all, by the immediate and perceptible 
 loss of income which he would sustain, if by dealing too hard with 
 any particular village, he made its inhabitants emigrate to the 
 territories of his neighbour. Nor must the old hereditary attach- 
 ment be lost sight of, which makes the rulers or subjects of a Jat 
 or Rajpoot state regard each other as kindred, and feel a pride, 
 the one in the power and splendour of a chief who is the head of 
 his clan, the other in the numbers and prosperity of those who 
 constitute his society and court in time of peace, and in war his 
 only army. 
 
 The contingent which Bhurtpoor is bound to bring to the aid 
 of the British Government in case of war on this frontier, is 700 
 horse ; but on necessity the Raja might, I should conceive, raise 
 many more, since the much smaller state of Bullumghur rated its 
 means at 500 cavalry, and 1500 infantry. The standing army of 
 Bhurtpoor, however, probably falls short of 300 men. No more. 
 
SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY. 
 
 487 
 
 indeed, are necessary, than will suffice for the purposes of sta.te 
 and to keep down robbers, and the Raja may be supposed to lay 
 by a considerable surplus revenue. 
 
 The present Raja is said to be a young man of very pleasing 
 manners and address. During the Pindarree war he came in per- 
 son to Lord Hastings’ camp with his contingent, but expressed 
 considerable uneasiness as to the light in which he might possibly 
 be regarded by the British Government, and how far his father’s 
 gallant and successful defence of Bhurtpoor might be remembered 
 to his disadvantage. He was much tranquillized on being told 
 that his tribe and himself were only the. more respected and con- 
 fided in by their present allies, for the bravery and fidelity which 
 they had shown to their former Maharatta Suzerains, and the per- 
 fect system of non-interference, which has been since pursued 
 towards him, is said to have gone far to remove whatever jealousy 
 might still be lurking in his mind. At present there seems no 
 doubt that all the smaller princes of this part of India have been 
 great gainers by the rise of the British power on the ruins of that 
 of Sindia and Holkar. They have all of them peace and tran- 
 quillity, which for many years they had never enjoyed for three 
 months together. Many have had additional territory given 
 them, and all have their revenues in a more flourishing state than 
 they had been in the memory of man. The organization, there- 
 fore, of this new confederacy, if it may be called so, may seem to 
 be the most brilliant and successful measure of Lord Hastings’ 
 administration, and one from which, as yet, almost unmingled 
 good has flowed to the people and nobles of Western and Central 
 Hindostan. I confess I am tempted to wish that more of the 
 country over which our influence extends were divided into simi- 
 lar fiefs and petty feudal lordships. 
 
 Sir David Ochterlony, who, as agent to the Governor-general, 
 is the common arbitrator and referree in the disputes of these lit- 
 tle sovereigns, is said to maintain an almost kingly state. His 
 income from different sources is little less than 15,000 s. rup. 
 monthly, and he spends it almost all. Dr. Smith, in his late 
 march from Mhow to Meerut, passed by Sir David’s camp. The 
 “ burra sahib,” or great man, was merely travelling with his own 
 family and personal followers from Delhi to Jyepoor, but his 
 retinue, including servants, escort, European and native aides-de- 
 camp, and the various non-descripts of an Asiatic train, together 
 with the apparatus of horses, elephants, and camels, — the num- 
 ber of his tents, and the size of the enclosure hung round with red 
 cloth, by which his own and his daughter’s private tents were 
 fenced in from the eyes of the profane, were what an European, 
 or even an old Indian, whose experience had been confined to 
 Bengal, would scarcely be brought to credit. All this is at least 
 
488 
 
 PHARSAH. 
 
 harmless, and so far as it suits the habits and ideas of the natives 
 themselves, it may have a good effect But in Agra and Delhi, 
 though Sir David is uniformly spoken of as a kind, honourable, 
 and worthy man, I was shocked to find that the venality and cor- 
 ruption of the people by whom he is surrounded, was a matter of 
 exceeding scandal. Against one of his moonshees it appears he 
 had been frequently warned without effect, till at length, in the 
 course of a casual conversation with the Emperor’s treasurer, Sir 
 David found to his astonishment, that his own name stood as a 
 pensioner on the poor old sovereign’s civil list to the amount of 
 1000 rupees monthly ! The moonshee had demanded it in his mas- 
 ter’s name; to refuse was out of the question, and delicacy had 
 prevented the Emperor from naming the subject to the person 
 whom, as he supposed, he was laying under an obligation! So 
 careful ought public men in India to be that their servants do not 
 abuse their authority. But, how great must be the difficulties 
 attendant on power in these provinces, when, except Sir John 
 Malcolm, I have heard of no one whom all parties agree in com- 
 mending. His talents, his accessibility, his firmness, his conciliating 
 manners, and admirable knowledge of the native language and 
 character, are spoken of in the same terms by all. 
 
 The village of Pharsah stands on the side of a small hill of sand- 
 stone, below which winds what is now a dry expanse of sand, but 
 in the rainy season is said to be a considerable nuddee. The vil- 
 lage contains a fortified house of the Raja’s, now empty and ruin- 
 ous, but built in by no means a bad taste, and having its surrounding 
 court ornamented with a range of handsome stone cloisters, lining 
 the inside of the mud rampart. 
 
 In the evening we walked into the neighbouring fields, the 
 greater part of which were covered with beautiful crops of green 
 wheat. The soil is, however, mere sand, but under the sun of 
 India even sand becomes fertile by irrigation. So sensible are 
 the people of this truth, that, notwithstanding the recent rains, 
 we found them every where busy with their bullocks at the 
 wheels of their wells, raising water to the “ gools,” (small chan- 
 nels) which convey its rills to their fields. The work is toilsome, 
 and must be expensive, but both labour and expense are amply 
 repaid by such crops as their fields now promise. I observed 
 that the men who were filling the gools had their spears stuck in 
 the ground close to them. I asked if this were a necessary pre- 
 caution, and was told that ‘‘ now the times were so peaceable 
 there was no fear, but that the dustoor had begun in time of 
 trouble, and it was well to keep it up lest trouble should come 
 again.” Travellers, as a matter of course, are all armed, but the 
 peasantry in general do not wear so warlike an aspect as those 
 of Oude. 1 had heard a different account of them, but ten years 
 
MARRIAGE PROCESSION. 489 
 
 peace are already enough to have produced a considerable elfect 
 on their habits and feelings. 
 
 1 saw a great number of the pea-fowl and of the beautiful 
 greenish pigeon common in this country. Both the one and the 
 other were as tame as the tamest barn-door fowl, and scarcely 
 troubled themselves to get out of the way. Dr. Smith observed 
 that he had never seen a peacock with its train displayed. This, 
 if generally true, is a curious fact, for their feathers and their 
 habits in other respects resemble exactly those of Europe. They 
 are a great ornament to the country. 
 
 The Jat women are, I think, rather taller and more robust 
 than those of Hindostan ; they are all dressed in red shawl-like 
 mantles, which have a better appearance than the dirty and 
 coarse cotton cloth which the Hindoostanee and Bengalee females 
 wrap round them. We were now completely out of the regular 
 DMc, but the Raja’s vakeel undertook to forward some letters for 
 me to Agra, which city he called Acbar-abad. 
 
 January 21. — From Pharsah to Wuerh is five long coss, during 
 which we gradually approached one of the chains of low hills 1 
 have mentioned ; they are very naked and sandy. The plain 
 was not so well cultivated as that over which we had passed the 
 day before, and seemed to have suffered from drought. We saw 
 two large spaces enclosed with mounds of earth, with good stone 
 sluices, which appeared to have been tanks, but were now quite 
 dry, and partially cultivated within with wheat and cotton. A 
 large herd of deer were grazing on the plain; they were per- 
 fectly tame, and allowed us to ride up near enough to examine 
 them with ease. One of the males was very beautiful and of a 
 singular colour, pie-bald black and white, like what are called 
 in England blanket cows. The others were dappled red, with 
 white bellies as usual. 
 
 We overtook a body of people going to a marriage, with a 
 couple of large banners, two kettle-drums on a camel, several 
 horns and other musical instruments, and two or three hackeries 
 full of men with pink turbans and holiday faces. Our falling in 
 with them was lucky, since we had lost our way, and none of 
 our horsemen could give any guess at the situation of Wuerh. 
 About a mile further, however, an extensive line of groves came 
 into view, and showed that we w^ere approaching a place of 
 some consequence, while the care with which every foot of 
 ground was enclosed and improved, spoke well for the industry 
 of its inhabitants. We found it a large town, surrounded by a 
 high mud rampart, at the gate of which w^e were stopped by a 
 decent-looking elderly man, who salamed to me, and said that I 
 should find my tents by following a path which he pointed out 
 among the orchards and gardens outside the wall. The truth, 
 
 VoL. I.— 62 
 
490 
 
 WUERH. 
 
 however, appeared to be that he did not like us to enter his fortress, 
 for it was not till we had nearly gone half round the town, that 
 we found the tents pitched in a fine tope at a short distance from 
 a gate directly opposite to that which he had preveu^ed us from 
 entering. If he feared to put us in possession of the plan of his 
 castle, he could not, as it happened, have taken a better way to 
 enable us to gain all the military knowledge which was necessary, 
 since our path wound close under the wall, and we saw all its 
 principal flanks and lines of defence. The wall is of earth, 
 high and steep, well flanked by semi-circular bastions, with a 
 wide but shallow ditch filled up in several places, and without a 
 glacis. If well defended, it would scarcely yield to a coup de 
 main, but might be breached, 1 should think, in a few hours. 
 There were loop-holes for musketry in the parapets of the 
 bastions, but I saw no cannon. The rampart was in many places 
 much decayed; but bore evident marks of having recently receiv- 
 ed considerable repairs, — a measure which may have been sug- 
 gested either by the disastrous reports with regard to the British 
 arms in the east, which had been so industriously circulated, or 
 still more likely, by the quarrel between the Rannee of Jyepoor 
 and the British Resident, and the retreat of the latter from the 
 city. It is not necessary to suppose, as some of the Europeans 
 in Agra do, that if our Government had really tottered, the Raja 
 of Bhurtpoor would have rejoiced in an opportunity of helping 
 it down the hill. However well he may wish us, (and he has 
 been, certainly, a gainer by our predominance,) in a time of 
 universal war and trouble, such as would probably follow our 
 evacuation of this part of the country, it would be highly de- 
 sirable that his castles should be found in a state of good repair. 
 And this is a suflicient motive for the repairs which I saw at 
 Wuerh. 
 
 The grove where the tents were pitched was so close and 
 shady, that it would have been delightful during the warmer 
 months ; as it was, I should have preferred the plain, for it was 
 so dark in my tent that 1 could hardly see to write. There was, 
 however, no choice of situation, since the plain for a considerable 
 distance round the town was so highly cultivated and so much 
 enclosed, that no room could have been found for our cofilab. 
 
 As we wound round the rampart to reach the camp, we passed 
 a number of huts occupied by the “ chumars” (leather dressers) 
 and other Hindoos of low caste, who follow professions regarded 
 as unclean by the majority of their countrymen, and are therefore 
 not admitted into any of their towns. Leprous persons lie under 
 the same exclusion, and many gipsies are usually found among 
 this mingled and refuse population, which is generally as immoral 
 as it is degraded and unfortunate. The suburbs of the ancient 
 
WUERH. 
 
 491 
 
 cities of the Jews seem to have been almost similarly inhabited, 
 and I was forcfbly struck to-day (as I rode through the huts of 
 which 1 have spoken, and saw the filthy swine, the dogs gnawing 
 the carcasses of different animals, and the flaunting dress and 
 unequivocal air of the miserable, ragged, and dirty females) with 
 that passage in the Revelations which, though figuratively applied 
 to the pure discipline of the Christian church in its state of glory, 
 is obviously taken from the police of a well-regulated earthly city 
 in that age and country. “ There shall in no wise enter into it 
 any thing that defileth.” “ For without are dogs, and sorcerers, 
 and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever 
 loveth and maketh a lie.” 
 
 I had been much plagued ever since I left Meerut and Delhi 
 by different persons, who, under the name of “ Expectants,” or 
 “ Candidates,” had attached themselves to the camp, and solicited 
 me, day after day, either to take them into my service, or, which 
 was still more impossible, to recommend them to the service of 
 some other person. This practice arises, no doubt, out of the 
 vast and overflowing population of India, abounding, as it does, 
 beyond its due proportion, in persons of a certain degree of 
 education, who are unable or indisposed to earn their bread by 
 manual labour, and who, therefore, have no resource but as the 
 servants of great men, or moonshees in some government office. 
 The number of these petitioners is an exceeding plague to all 
 public men in the north of India, where they often attach them- 
 selves to the door of a cutcherry for weeks and months together. 
 Several of this description followed me from Meerdt to Delhi, 
 including among them a fine showy fellow, a captain of irregular 
 horse, who would not believe that I did not mean to levy a body- 
 guard to attend me across the wilderness to Bombay. I was able, 
 as it happened, to do this poor man, who was well recommended, 
 a good turn, which, though it freed me from his company, had 
 rather the effect of attracting others, who followed me on foot and 
 in misery, and who seemed to think that by wearing out their 
 shoes and spending all their little money in my train, though 
 without any invitation and against my repeated warnings, they 
 established some claim on me to provide for them. At the fron- 
 tier, all dropt off except one, a candidate for a moonshee’s place, 
 the gradual deterioration of whose outward man had been for 
 some time back lamentable enough. When he first preferred his 
 suit at Meerut he was decently dressed, had a good pony, and 
 had himself that appearance of sleekness and good keep, which, 
 in the opinion of a native of this country, is almost synonymous 
 with respectability. Fie and his horse were now lean, his clothes 
 were becoming daily dirtier and more threadbare, and a silver- 
 
492 
 
 WUERH. 
 
 hilted sword was the only remaining memento of the fact that he 
 pretended to the character of a gentleman and man of letters. I 
 asked him this morning “ how long he intended to travel the same 
 way with me,” to which he replied, that “ he was my devoted 
 servant, that he had thrown himself on my pity, and relying on 
 that had spent every farthing he possessed, and might as well gO 
 on with me till he dropt, as die of hunger in the attempt to return 
 to his wife and children at Meerut. If, indeed, 1 would but give 
 him a letter” — 1 told him “ that I could not do,” but offered him 
 a few rupees to get him out of the difficulty to which his own 
 folly had conducted him. He seemed grateful for the money, 
 but still continued so importunate either for employment or a 
 recommendation, to which he would not perceive that my igno- 
 rance of his character was any bar, that I was at length obliged 
 to have him turned out of my tent by “ the strong hand.” Surely 
 this is a sort of mendicant of which we have no experience in 
 England ! 
 
 In my evening’s walk the old vakeel came out to meet me, and 
 inquired which way I chose to go. I asked if any thing was to 
 be seen in the city, to which he answered with more readiness 
 than his previous conduct had led me to expect, “ that there were 
 things worth seeing.” We set out, therefore, towards the gate, 
 over some very solid and well-executed works of stone for carry- 
 ing water to irrigate the neighbouring gardens. I remarked to 
 the vakeel the extent and apparent expense of these canals, and 
 he told me that they had been made at the expense of the Maha- 
 raja’s father. We entered the city by a solidly built arch of stone, 
 with a strong timber iron-clenched door, secured externally by a 
 rude earthen ravelin or barbican, and approached by a narrow 
 stone bridge. The guards at the gate were not above ten or 
 twelve, pretty nearly such peasants as I had seen in the fortress 
 in Oude, with the exception of one sentry, who had on an old 
 sepoy’s red jacket, got up, as I suspect, for the purpose of this 
 visit. They received us not with the Mussulman salutation of 
 “ Salam Alicum,” but with the Hindoo “ Ram, Ram!” a greeting 
 which I had never before heard except from the brahmins in 
 Benares, and from the lowest ranks in some other parts of India. 
 Here, however, we were in a Jat country, and the Arabic salu- 
 tation would be unnatural. Within the gate, nothing was at first 
 visible but a narrow bazar with its usual accompaniments of mud 
 huts, heaps of grocery, fat bunyans, scolding women, brahminy 
 bulls, and all uncleanness. But the Raja’s chobdar led the way 
 to what the vakeel told us beforehand was a fine flower garden, 
 and which certainly far exceeded my expectation. Through a 
 narrow gate we passed into a small court-yard, with a very hand- 
 
WUERH. 
 
 493 
 
 some Hindoo house, of stone coated with marble chunam, in front 
 of it, and were then led into an extremely pretty though not large 
 garden, watered by stone channels, conducted from a large chunam 
 tank with several fountains round it. Some of the trees were of 
 great size and beauty, and the whole place, though evidently 
 uninhabited, was kept in substantial repair, and not the less 
 beautiful in my eyes because the orange trees had somewhat 
 broken their bounds, the shade of the flowering plants assumed 
 a ranker luxuriance, and the scarlet blossoms of the pomegranate 
 trailed more wildly across our path, than was consistent with the 
 rules of exact gardening. At the further end of the garden, we 
 found ourselves on the edge of a broad moat, with some little 
 water still in it, surrounding an old stone-built castle, with round 
 towers and high ramparts of stone. From the side of the town 
 which we approached in the morning, it had been only partially 
 visible, nor did I then suspect the existence of any thing of the 
 kind, though I now recognised one of the higher turrets as having, 
 on my approach to the gates, caught my eye over the mud w^alls ; 
 the water was low, and this part of the scene had a dull and me- 
 lancholy character. We repassed, through a small but elegantly 
 carved gateway, into the city, where we first saw two high arches, 
 carved with gods and goddesses, erected, we were told, in order 
 to hang swings on. A small college was then shown us of reli- 
 gious mendicants, or “ Viragies,” and this concluded the list of 
 rarities in Wuerh, with which I had been greatly interested, the 
 more so, probably, because I had been in no degree prepared for 
 them, Wuerh being at a distance from any great road, and its 
 existence very little known. It is only lately, indeed, that this 
 country has been at all visited by, or accessible to, Europeans, 
 and Deeg, whose palace and gardens are compared to the finest 
 things of the kind in Agra, though only two marches from Muttra, 
 is in like manner quite a new discovery. Zealous Hindoos as 
 the J ats are, they seem to agree very well with the Mussulmans. 
 Many of this latter sect live in Wuerh, and their priest, an infirm 
 old man, a descendant, as he said, of Mahomet, came to pay his 
 compliments to me and to offer the usual salutation of holy bread 
 and sweetmeats. 
 
 The Raja’s chobdar desired and received his dismissal here, 
 but the vakeel said he had orders to see me across the frontier at 
 Peshawer. The chobdar had a handkerchief of printed cotton 
 round his neck which was obviously of English manufacture. 1 
 notice this because I had remarked few symptoms of our com- 
 merce having penetrated thus far for some time before, nor in so 
 remote and secluded a district should I have expected it. 1 re- 
 turned an answer by the chobdar to the Raja’s letter, enclosed 
 
494 PESHAWER—MOWAH, 
 
 in due form in a Kincob* bag with gold strings, and with as large 
 a seal as my Episcopal arms could supply. 
 
 January 22.— From Wuerh to Mowah is about sixteen miles. 
 Nearly half-way is a large village, or small town, named Peshawer, 
 very prettily situated on the side of a little rocky eminence, with 
 a ruinous palace on its summit, and surrounded by trees partly 
 planted in regular troops, partly scattered, as in England, over a 
 considerable extent of arable and pasture land. There were some 
 large herds of deer seen under the most distant shades, the fruit- 
 trees near the village swarmed with peacocks, and the little rocky 
 hills, through the soft fleecy mist of the morning, assumed a con- 
 sequence which did not really belong to them. Peshawer, as a 
 frontier town of this little monarchy, was guarded by a small 
 body of suwarrs, whose horses were picqueted under some trees 
 in its market place, and the men were lounging up and down in 
 the usual picturesque groups which soldiers generally form when 
 off duty. They were tall, bony men, in short jackets of French 
 gray, but sufficiently slovenly and irregular in their appearance. 
 Their long spears, which were ranged before their little guard- 
 house, w^ere the most military part of the show. There appeared 
 to be also a custom-house, for a good many wagons loaded with 
 cotton were drawn up in the street as if to pay toll. The duties 
 exacted from foreign commerce by these petty states are, as 
 might be expected, exceedingly high ; and being farmed out to 
 persons who are under no sufficient control, the burden oil the 
 merchant is such as, in many places, to have put an entire stop 
 to trade, and to all travelling, except of such persons as are either 
 exempt from duty, or have nothing of which they can be plun- 
 dered. A few, and only a few of the native princes have, at 
 different times, perceived their own interest in this respect. 
 Whether Bhurtpoor belongs to the number I do not know, but 
 a considerable trade appeared, from all which we saw at Pe- 
 shawer, to pass through it. From Peshawer to Mowah the 
 country was not so w^ll cultivated, though still very tolerably so, 
 and there were many plain indications that abundant rain had 
 recently fallen. 
 
 Mowah, the frontier village of Jyepoor, has a large mud for- 
 tress with six bastions ; and on the hill at about two miles distance 
 was another, and, apparently, a more considerable castle. We 
 were now, indeed, in a country where, till very lately, a fort was 
 as necessary to the husbandman as a barn in England. The 
 incursions of the Pindarrees, it is true, did not often extend quite 
 so far as we now were, but they were not unknown, and the 
 
 A sort of g’old brocade, very rich, and worn only by natives of high rank. — Ed. 
 
MOWAH, 
 
 495 
 
 army of Ameer Khan, as rapacious, as bloody, as perfidious as 
 any Pindarree, was often for months together in the heart of the 
 country. The reputation of the Jats for courage appears to 
 have preserved them, in part, from the worst of those horrors to 
 which the Rajpoots, feeble and disunited, were exposed ; and 
 now even in Jyepoor, the family may go to rest in peace, and 
 with a tolerable security against murder, torture, and violence. 
 Still, however, in so low a state of society, it is chiefly to a man’s 
 own sword that he must look to guard his head, and cattle-stealing 
 and highway robbery are hardly accounted crimes. At Wuerh 
 we saw all the cows, sheep, and goats carefully driven into the 
 city about sun-set ; and here, and southwards into Malwah and 
 the Deccan, as I am informed, no night passes but 
 
 “ The frightened flocks and herds are pent 
 Beneath the Peel’s rude battlement.” 
 
 At Mowah we found a vakeel from the Rannee of Jyepoor, 
 waiting my arrival with an escort of twenty horse, and a letter 
 from Colonel Raper the Resident. From the vakeel we learnt 
 that Sir David Ochterlony was still at Jyepoor, in high friendship 
 with the Rannee, and occupying apartments in her palace ; and 
 that the Rannee had obtained from the British Government all 
 the points for which she had contended, and more particularly 
 the recognition of her favourite as prime minister. The concession 
 of such a point, after her outrageous conduct towards Colonel 
 Raper, and after the positive appeal to arms which had been 
 made by both parties, is a sufficient evidence of the difficulties 
 in which Government found themselves a few months ago. For 
 me, however, it is fortunate, since, had the war continued, I could 
 not have visited Jyepoor, and it is even probable that I should 
 have found great difficulty in passing through any part of the 
 western and southern provinces. 
 
 In the afternoon we took our usual walk through the town, 
 attended by my silver-sticks, the Rannee’s vakeel, with three or 
 four chuprassies, the two duffiildars of our horse, the old soubah- 
 dar, and the goomashta. I have no liking for all this train which, 
 on this occasion, was even greater than usual, and had the addi- 
 tional effect of drawing after us two or three score boys. Still 
 it is dustoor^ and to emancipate oneself from it would require 
 more trouble, than it does to submit to it. The town is small 
 but has a tolerably good bazar, in the shops of which I saw 
 cutlery, ornaments of gold and silver, and shawls, as well as the 
 usual more rustic commodities of cotton, corn and flour, ghee, 
 and coarse cloth. Yellow seems the most prevalent colour for 
 all garments in this neighbourhood, being the cheapest and most 
 
496 
 
 RAMGHUR. 
 
 durable. The beautiful red and carmine tints with which we 
 sometimes see the cloths dyed, soon wear or wash out, and are 
 obliged to be frequently renewed, which is, however, done with- 
 out difficulty. A pair of common blankets of the same colour 
 and appearance, but coarser and thinner than those of England, 
 cost one rupee and a half. I bought them for my horses, the 
 nights having lately been really cold, and Dr. Smith assures me 
 that on the high level of Central India we shall find it cold all 
 next month. In the course of our walk we passed a sugar-mill 
 of good construction, with a stone to grind the canes. 
 
 This evening our good, careful, old soubahdar had a parade of 
 his men, and a general inspection of their arms. The muskets 
 were all loaded and fresh dinted, and at night, instead of the 
 usual three or four sentries, he fmade twenty men bivouac in 
 two parties of twelve and eight to the north and south of our 
 little encampment. I told him that I thought two additional 
 sentries would be sufficient, observing that we were in a peace- 
 able country. He shook his head, and said that it was never so 
 peaceable, but that people ought to be on their guard ; that the 
 Raja of Bhurtpoor was a good friend, but that such friends as we 
 were now with were all the better for being well watched. In 
 short, he evidently did not much like his neighbours. 1 here 
 dismissed the five suwarrs who had been lent me by the Judge of 
 Agra ; the party of Colonel Skinner’s men would find their way 
 better home from Jyepoor, and I therefore still keep them. If 
 there was danger, indeed, of which 1 see no probability, they would 
 be far more to be trusted than the Rannee’s horsemen. 
 
 January 25. — This morning, being Sunday, was a halting-day. 
 Before breakfast I took a walk towards the rocks, and that more 
 particularly on which the fortress stands which I have described. 
 
 1 went alone by iny express desire, but I was perceived and fol- 
 lowed by the two orderly sepoys, who overtook me before I had 
 got half way across the plain. I asked them why they came, to 
 which they replied that “it was not fit I should go alone.” 
 Others, indeed, seemed to be of the same opinion, for before I 
 reached the further village two of Colonel Skinner’s men and 
 the chobdar came running after me. For all this I am convinced 
 there was not the smallest need, since, during the half hour that 
 I was by myself, 1 had met some of the inhabitants, and found 
 them perfectly civil and ready to answer all my questions. But 
 when people give themselves trouble out of good will, it is 
 impossible to find fault with them. 
 
 Thus reinforced, I walked through this village, which its people 
 called Ramghur, to the rock on which their castle stands. This 
 last, unlike the fort of Mowah, is built of stone, with six round 
 towers perched on a steep eminence, with a double embattled 
 
IIAMGHUR, 
 
 49? 
 
 wall stretching down one side to a wall at its foot. 1 had no 
 great curiosity to see the inside, but the sepoys said they were 
 sure I should not be refused permission, and even doubted whether 
 the place was occupied. I climbed up, therefore, by a steep 
 winding path, at first among cottages, then through the tangled 
 branches of fruit trees and underwood, and lastly through some 
 ruined outworks, till 1 came to the strong iron-clenched door of 
 the fortress. This too stood ajar, but I no sooner put my head 
 through it than two or three men, who were lying down within, 
 started up in great confusion and gave the alarm, on which ten or 
 twelve more ran forwards and inquired what I wanted. I asked 
 if I might see the inside of the castle, to which the principal per- 
 son answered with joined hands and very respectfully, that he 
 could not let any one enter without orders. The sepoys began 
 to remonstrate, and the “ killedar” (governor of a fort) was evi- 
 dently confused, and might, I have no doubt, have been prevailed 
 on. But it was really very little worth while, and 1 did not like to 
 expose the poor man to the chance of a reproof from his supe- 
 riors, or to excite any jealousy of the people among whom we 
 were, by expressing curiosity about their means of defence. I 
 therefore turned round to go down the hill, on which the defend- 
 ers of the fort shut their door with exceeding good-will, and I 
 heard them drawing all the bolts one after the other. From the 
 rocks, without the rampart, I had as extensive a view as 1 could 
 desire over a level country, interspersed with similar little emi- 
 nences, each, as well as I could perceive, with its village and its 
 castle. The principal chain of hills runs pretty nearly north and 
 south. 
 
 On my return by a different track across the plain, I passed 
 several wells, with oxen and men at work drawing water for the 
 fields. The vakeel met me half way, and expressed concern that 
 I had met with any hinderance in visiting the fort. He seemed, 
 however, well pleased with the indifference which I expressed. 
 The night had been very clear and cold, but after breakfast it 
 began to rain, and continued cold and drizzling the greater part 
 of the day. Soon after I had read prayers, the Vakeel called to 
 say that he would fine, or punish in any other way which I 
 thought best, the killedar and his men for repelling me from the 
 fort of Ramghur. Of course 1 told him that these people, not 
 knowing who I was, did^no more than their duty, and that I was 
 not at all displeased with them. This, I suppose, satisfied him ; 
 indeed I exceedingly doubt whether, if I had been fool enough to 
 insist on their being punished, such chastisement would ever have 
 been inflicted. 1 received in the afternoon a message from 
 Colonel Raper, with some baskets of bread and fruit. The bread 
 came at a very good time, as we were just commencing on a 
 
 VoL. I. — 63 
 
498 
 
 RAMGHUR. 
 
 course of Hindoostanee chapatees, which are not a very good 
 substitute. 
 
 A brahmin, with a very large tumour on his wrist, came to ask 
 medical aid. Dr. Smith said it would certainly kill him by de- 
 grees unless his hand was cut off, to which the poor man readily 
 agreed, and said he would follow us to Jyepoor, where Dr. Smith 
 undertook to perform the operation, and I promised him two anas 
 a day for his maintenance during the journey. He seemed very 
 thankful to us both, and said he would bring his wife with him to 
 nurse him and dress his victuals. He was much comforted too 
 by my telling him that there were many brahmins in my party. 
 Indeed 1 had no doubt that they would take very good care of 
 him. It is pleasant to think that our halt this day in his village 
 may have been the means of preserving his life, by encouraging 
 him to apply for help. 
 
 The weather clearing up a little in the evening, we were sur- 
 prised to see, on looking out of our tents, a camp near us still 
 larger than mine, with an elephant feeding under the trees, some 
 carts covered with red cloth, a large double-poled tent, and a 
 considerable body of horsemen, with their spears planted in 
 the ground, and their lean bony chargers tethered in two lines. On 
 inquiry we found that the Maharannee had vowed a golden image 
 to a shrine at Bindrabund, and that “ his lordship the idol” (to 
 use the expression of the vakeel, “ Moorud Bahadur,”) was going 
 to his destination under the care of one of her confidential ser- 
 vants. The principal of the rutts, which had struck our notice, 
 was for his conveyance. Some of his lordship’s” escort came 
 up to say that they were to join me next day, and to be relieved 
 in their present service by a part of the troops now in Mowah. 
 The man who said this was a striking specimen of a Rajpoot 
 chief, young and handsome, but dirty in his dress, boisterous in 
 his manner, talking with a great deal of gesticulation, many winks, 
 nods, beckonings, and other marks of intelligence, and more than 
 half drunk. All the Rajpoots are said to be addicted to opium, 
 and the appearance of these men was far more that of robbers 
 than soldiers, and strikingly inferior, not only to Skinner’s men, 
 but to the Jats of Bullumghur. In the course of the evening 
 some of them straggled into the camp, professing in the dusk to 
 have mistaken it for their own, a blunder which occasioned a good 
 deal of merriment to our sepoys, whq, apparently with truth, 
 ascribed it to intoxication. 
 
 In the course of the day I overheard a conversation among the 
 people of the village, in which they compared the present peace- 
 able times with those in which “ Ameer Khan and Bappoo Sindia 
 came up with their horsemen and spoiled all the land, and smote 
 all the people, and burnt the cities through Meywar and Marwar 
 
MAUNPOOR. 
 
 499 
 
 till thou comest unto the salt wilderness.” I give their own 
 words ; but what struck me most of all, “ corn,” they said, “ had 
 been getting gradually cheaper, and notwithstanding the late un- 
 favourable season, was still not so dear as it used to be in the 
 years of trouble.” When such have been the effects of British 
 supremacy, who will refuse to pray for the continuance of our 
 empire ? Rain came on again as night closed in. 
 
 January 24. — We proceeded to Maunpoor, eight long coss, 
 through an open sandy country. About half way we passed a 
 chain of hills at a place called Balaherry. The hill tops are 
 thickly studded with castles, some of them of a considerable size, 
 and extremely like buildings of the same kind in England. We 
 passed no fewer than seven in the day’s march. The rocks, 
 where visible through the sand and withered herbage, are granite. 
 To the west of the hills we found a plain similar to that which 
 we had left, but I think rather more elevated. It is traversed by 
 a river, now indeed completely dry, called Maungunga, but which 
 from the width of its bed must be, during the rains, a very con- 
 siderable torrent. 
 
 The night had cleared up, and the morning was cool and bracing. 
 The breakfast-tent had not been able to set out so early as usual, 
 and we arrived on our encamping ground at the same time with 
 the people. The spot fixed on was a dry elevated plain about a 
 quarter of a mile from the little town of Maunpoor, without any 
 trees, which at this season of the year are not required, but with 
 a large well close to us, of the water of which the sepoys took 
 care to taste before the place of encampment was determined on. 
 The Rannee’s horsemen again pitched by themselves, and close 
 to the town. I had found them during the march civil and com- 
 municative, but so ill-mounted that they could hardly keep up 
 with us. 1 asked their leader some of the usual questions about 
 game, &c. He said there were many deer, but those of his caste 
 ' never killed any. All animals, indeed, here seem to feel that man 
 is not their enemy. The partridges repeatedly crossed the road 
 close to our horse’s hoofs, the deer raised their heads to look at 
 the cavalcade, and stooped them down to graze again, and the 
 peacocks were quite as tame as in a barn-yard. I would not on 
 any account, except real want of food, have broken this harmony, 
 or injured this unsuspecting confidence. 
 
 Maunpoor is a small town on the plain surrounded by a mud 
 wall, with eight semicircular bastions, and a ditch now dry, but 
 the works are in bad repair. If the present tranquillity were to 
 last ten or fifteen years, it is to be doubted whether any mud forts 
 would remain in the country, save those which the old families of 
 rank and feudal pride might still keep up as monuments of old 
 times. Still there are every year quarrels among some or other 
 
500 
 
 DOOBEE. 
 
 of these Rajpoot nobles; and no season, I am told, has yet passed, 
 in which the troops at Nusseerabad have not been called out as 
 peace-makers, or to inflict chastisement. This is not the case 
 in Malwah, where Sir John Malcolm has established the territo- 
 rial arrangement on so firm a basis, that not a musket h^s since 
 been fired there except against professed and public robbers. 
 
 About noon this day I had an unpleasant discussion with the 
 vakeel, who would not authorise our mohouts and suwarrs to cut 
 boughs for the elephants and camels in the neighbourhood of the 
 camp, but told them they might go to a wood six miles distant, 
 which it was impossible for them to do. The men, in conse- 
 quence, went to look out for themselves in the environs of a de- 
 serted village near us, and while thus engaged were attacked and 
 beaten by some country people. I found that the vakeel’s 
 reluctance arose from the superstitious veneration which all over 
 India is paid by the Hindoos to the peepul-tree, which was the 
 only description of tree proper for our purpose in any part of this 
 neighbourhood. I offered, if he would procure a supply of sugar- 
 cane, meal, and bran sufficient to feed the animals, to let the 
 trees alone, but this it seemed the village could not afford. He 
 said we might if we pleased cut the trees with the “ strong hand,” 
 without regarding the murmurs of the villagers. But this was 
 exactly what I wished to avoid, and to prevent the necessity of 
 which the Rannee had sent him to attend me. 1 urged that I 
 did not require him or any of his people to cut the sacred tree for 
 us, but that I insisted on his sending a chuprassee with my people 
 to acquaint the Rannee’s subjects, that they were her guests, and 
 acting by her authority. He at length yielded, and abundance 
 of forage was brought in without further difficulty. But it is 
 evident that our present guide falls as far short of the Bhurtpoor 
 vakeel in honesty, good manners, and obliging temper, as he does 
 in lofty stature and prepossessing countenance. He is of the 
 ““ kayt,” or writer caste, and 1 have seldom seen a face in which 
 meanness and low cunning were more legibly written. 
 
 The night was clear and very cold, at least for the plains’ of 
 India. A little after midnight two of the tattoos broke loose, and 
 made their escape to the plain — a circumstance the more vexa- 
 tious, since their riders, my chobdar and sotaburdar, were, from 
 lameness and age, unqualified for foot marches. I was obliged, 
 therefore, to leave them behind, with two or three Jyepoor horse 
 to assist in catching their animals. 
 
 We ourselves proceeded {January 25th,) to Doobee, six coss. 
 The country has certainly very much deteriorated since we left 
 the Bhurtpoor territory, though still it is not unpleasant to travel 
 through ; we continued at times to fall in with the bed of the 
 Maungunga, on examining which more closely I saw that a 
 
DOOBEE. 
 
 501 
 
 stream still continued to force its way under the sand, distin- 
 guishable by the line of verdure which its secret rills kept alive 
 amid the surrounding barrenness. In fact I understand that by 
 digging a few feet in the bed of any of these streams, water may 
 usually be procured at all seasons of the year. Some of the Ran- 
 nee’s suwarrs were now changed for others much better mounted, 
 and equipped, and the cavalcade was considerably more respect- 
 able, though Skinner’s horse still kept up their decided supe- 
 riority. 
 
 Doobee is a small town or rather village, fortified with more 
 care and on a better principle than any I had yet seen. A few 
 pieces of ordnance were visible on the bastions, and the place 
 was calculated to defy the attacks of Ameer Khan and his whole 
 army, and, if well defended, to require a regular siege even from 
 European troops. The neighbourhood, however, from its naked- 
 ness, seems to have suffered severely from the Pindarries and 
 other enemies, and the insecurity of property is sufficiently shown 
 by the fact, that during the two last days we have seen no scat- 
 tered dwellings, and no village without its means of defence. 
 Forage was not to be had here either for elephants or camels, 
 but the vakeel on whom my recent remonstrance seems to have 
 produced some effect, had provided a good stock of “ boosa,” as 
 well as of dried cow-dung for fuel. 
 
 The grass when we set out this morning was crisp with hoar 
 frost, and my people complained that it was as cold as if they 
 were still in Kemaoon. I did not quite agree with them, but it 
 certainly was cold enough to make our morning ride agreeable, 
 and to give an appetite for breakfast as keen as I ever felt in 
 England. The kindness of my friends in Delhi and Agra had 
 supplied us with an excellent stock of, what is called, hunter’s 
 beef, and we were supplied with some fresh and very toler- 
 ably well tasted butter from the village — a circumstance which 
 I mention, because in Hindostan out of the large towns, butter, 
 save in the form of ghee, is seldom or never to be procured. 
 
 About eleven o’clock the lost ponies, to my great satisfaction, 
 made their appearance. They had strayed to a considerable dis- 
 tance, and would not perhaps have been so easily recovered had 
 they been very much worth stealing. 
 
 In the evening we walked to a pretty little Hindoostanee tomb, 
 about a mile off, consisting of an octagonal cupola raised on pil- 
 lars, with a basement story containing apartments for a brahmin 
 and his family. A young man whom we met near the spot, told 
 me it was built, about five years before, in memory of a neigh- 
 bouring Zemindar. This young man said he was himself a trades- 
 man in the village of Doobee. Hearing my servants express 
 some surprise at the number of fortified places in this country, 
 
502 
 
 JOURNEY TO DEOSA. 
 
 he began to tell a long story about the horrors inflicted by Ameer 
 Khan and the Pindarries of the Deccan, and seemed fully sensi- 
 ble of the advantageous change which had occurred. His dialect 
 differed a good deal from the Hindoostanee to which I was 
 accustomed, but 1 made out his meaning pretty well. 
 
 January 26.— This morning was extremely cold, and the 
 weather seemed to operate forcibly on all my people. The 
 Rannee’s horse were none of them at their post when we set 
 out, even Skinner’s men were slow in mustering to attend us, and 
 the sepoys having found the remains of a fire by the way-side 
 during the march, hustled all close round it, and allowed the 
 camels to go on with no guard but a single havildar. I found it 
 necessary to check the growth of these irregularities, and gave 
 orders for the better arrangement and government of our little 
 camp in future. 
 
 The country through which we passed in our march to Deosa, 
 about six coss or twelve miles, was very naked and desolate, with 
 no marks of habitation except some castles dotted on the distant 
 hills, and one large village about a mile from our road, within 
 whose mud walls a few trees were visible. The hills are of 
 singular forms, most of them insulated and rocky, in size, shape, 
 and steepness, a good deal resembling that on which Beeston 
 Castle stands. The soil does not seem bad, but the land has lite- 
 rally been “ swept with the besom of desolation,” and the deer 
 which we saw bounding among the low prickly shrubs, and the 
 dead, whose tombs are scattered here and there, seem the natural 
 proprietors of the territory. I should add, perhaps, the ravens, 
 who are here seen in considerable numbers and of large size, 
 though 1 do not remember to have observed them elsewhere. 
 The country resembled extremely a large asstuary, but studded 
 with rocky islands, whose sands were left bare by the receding 
 tide ; except the few thorny shrubs I mentioned, which do not 
 grow higher than common heather, not a blade of verdure was to 
 be seen, and this defect, together with the presence of the rocky 
 hills, sufficiently distinguishes these wilds from the green level 
 steppes of Southern Russia. 
 
 Deosa is rather a large town, built on one side of a square 
 table-like hill with a sharp peak adjoining to it. The hill is 
 crowned by a very extensive fortress, and there are various re- 
 mains of antiquity, such as a large tank, now ruinous and dry, and 
 a good many tombs, which evince that the place has seen better 
 days. From its name, “ Deosa,” or Divine, it should seem to 
 possess a sacred character, and even now we found a consider- 
 able encampment of merchants and pilgrims, with flying chairs, 
 swings, and other symptoms of a Hindoo fair or festival. It turned 
 out to be one which I cannot find in the Calcutta Almanac, but 
 
HINDOO FESTIVAL. 
 
 503 
 
 which they here call “ Pusund,” and it was celebrated in the 
 course of the day with a degree of glitter and show which I did 
 not expect in a place apparently so poor and ruinous. Two little 
 images of a male and female, called, I think, Gungwala and Gung- 
 walee, were carried wrapped up in a piece of kincob, in a very 
 gaudy gilded rutt, drawn by the people to an open tent pitched 
 without the town. A good deal of drumming and singing followed, 
 and the ceremony ended by pelting each other with red powder, 
 as during the Hooly. Meantime the usual traffic and diversions 
 of a country fair went on ; cakes, cloth of different kinds, and 
 coarse trinkets, were exposed in considerable abundance, and a 
 good many of the people whom we met in the afternoon had 
 evidently either been drinking or taking opium. We walked 
 through the town, which had a ruined wall round it, and contained 
 one fine old pagoda, resembling those at Benares, several smaller 
 ones, a Mussulman mosque, and some large and richly carved 
 stone houses, but all verging to decay. The ruin of the town, 
 as of the rest of the country, was laid by the people on Ameer 
 Khan, though they did not seem to have any accurate information 
 about the matter, and owned that it had been always as it is now 
 in their memory. Its dilapidation, I suspect, is of older date. 
 There are some very elegant tombs without the walls, and al- 
 together the place is one extremely characteristic of the ancient 
 habits of India. 
 
 The images which we saw were taken back to their pagoda at 
 night, and after a few days more of similar parade, were to be 
 committed to the nearest river and sunk in it, where, being of 
 unbaken clay, they soon dissolve. It is said that this is the relic 
 of a hideous custom which still prevails in Assam, and was an- 
 ciently practised in Egypt, of flinging a youth and maiden, richly 
 dressed, annually into their sacred river. That such a custom 
 formerly existed in India, is, I believe, a matter of pretty uniform 
 tradition. But this practice of drowning images is not confined 
 to the two figures in question, but is the case with all their idols, 
 except a very few. Kali in her various forms, and the other 
 many-handed, many-headed potentates who are worshipped in 
 Calcutta, are all of clay, and all carried in like manner, after 
 their festivals, to be absorbed in the holy stream, a custom which 
 may seem rather to typify the inferiority, confessed by the Hin- 
 doos themselves, of all their symbols to the God of nature, than 
 to recall the memory of an ancient piece of inhumanity. 
 
 January 27.^ — This morning we marched eight long coss to 
 Mohunpoora. In the way I had an opportunity of seeing some 
 part of the magnificence which Dr. Smith had described, for we 
 passed Sir David Ochterlony and his suite on his road to Bhurt- 
 poor. There certainly was a very considerable number of led 
 
504 
 
 SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY. 
 
 horsps, elephants, palanquins, and covered carriages, belonging 
 chiefly, 1 apprehend, (besides his own family,) to the families of 
 his native servants. There was an escort of two companies of 
 infantry, a troop of regular cavalry, and I should guess forty or 
 fifty irregulars, on horse and foot, armed with spears and match- 
 locks of ail possible forms ; the string of camels was a very long 
 one, and the whole procession was what might pass in Europe 
 for that of an eastern prince travelling. Still, neither in num- 
 bers nor splendour did it at all equal my expectation. Sir David 
 himself was in a carriage and four, and civilly got out to speak 
 to me. He is a tall and pleasing-looking old man, but was so 
 wrapped up in shawls, kincob, fur, and a Mogul furred cap, that 
 his face was all that was visible. I was not sorry to have even 
 this glimpse of an old oflicer whose exploits in India have been 
 so distinguished. His history is a curious one. He is the son of 
 an American gentleman who lost his estate and country by his 
 loyalty during the war of the separation. Sir David himself 
 came out a cadet, without friends, to India, and literally fought 
 his way to notice. The most brilliant parts of his career were 
 his defence of Delhi against the Maharatta army, and the conquest 
 of Kemaoon from the Ghorkhas. He is now considerably above 
 seventy, infirm, and has been often advised to return to England. 
 But he has been absent from thence fifty-four years ; he has there 
 neither friend nor relation, — he has been for many years habituated 
 to eastern habits and parade, and who can wonder that he clings 
 to the only country in the world where he can feel himself at 
 home? Within these lew days I had been reading Coxe’s Life 
 of Marlborough, and at this moment it struck me forcibly how 
 little it would have seemed in the compass of possibility to any of 
 the warriors, statesmen, or divines of Queen Anne’s time, that an 
 English General and an English Bishop would ever shake hands 
 on a desert plain in the heart of Rajpootana ! 
 
 About two coss from Deosa is a good-sized village with a hand- 
 some old house belonging to the Raja, and a little farther a very 
 beautiful well or reservoir, (“ boolee,”) surrounded with cloisters, 
 and with a handsome gateway of three gothic arches. It is said 
 to be the charitable work of a merchant of Jyepoor, now alive. 
 About half way in the march we passed another low line of hills, 
 with granite summits, and sand-stone valleys and sides, like that 
 we saw yesterday, and succeeded by another similar plain. It is 
 easy to observe, that we are rising gradually as we advance, the 
 descent of the hills to the west never being so great as their 
 ascent from the east. 
 
 Mohunpoora is a small and poor village, with a few scattered 
 patches of wheat round it, but neither trees nor forage, while the 
 neighbourhood had been so completely exhausted by the large 
 
MARCH TO JYEPOOR. 
 
 605 
 
 party which had passed the day before, that nothing was to be 
 procured either by money or expostulation, and the Rannee’s 
 vakeel either would not or could not do us any good. At length 
 I sent one of the sepoys, a brahmin and the elder of my two moun- 
 tain attendants, to negotiate with the Zemindars. On these oc- 
 casions a brahmin is always the best messenger, since he may use 
 what language he sees fit without danger, and, caeteris paribus, 
 the people are always more ready to yield to his proposals. The 
 man knew this well, and went therefore without his clothes, in 
 order that his sacred string might be more conspicuous. This 
 measure partially succeeded : about twelve o’clock some hay was 
 brought for the horses who were fasting till now, and a very little 
 fuel for the sepoys who were equally ill off, their religion pro- 
 hibiting them to eat victuals cooked on the preceding day. They 
 conducted themselves with their usual patience and good temper, 
 observing, of their own accord, that the poor people of the coun- 
 try were in want themselves, and could not spare to strangers. I 
 found, however, in consequence, that they were"all extremely will- 
 ing and ready to make a long march the next day to Jyepoor, in 
 order to get out of this “ hungry country.” 
 
 In the night the camp was visited by a thief who crept in be- 
 tween the sentries, and got hold of the clothes of one of the tindals 
 . who was asleep on the outside of my tent. He was not so sound 
 asleep, however, but that he felt the blanket as it was drawn away 
 from him, and starting up put his assailant to flight in an instant. 
 In this case, probably, the robber was not very skilful or despe- 
 rate, for strange stories are told both of their dexterity in stripping 
 a sleeping man, and of the severe stabs which they give with 
 their daggers if detected. Sir John Malcolm has a story of a play 
 which he saw performed by some strollers in the Maharatta coun- 
 try, the plot of which consisted in the robbing a merchant of his 
 goods, after being hospitably received by the treacherous jemaut- 
 dar of a village. After supper, the merchant was represented as 
 going to sleep with his goods all round him, and nothing could 
 be more artful than the manner in which the thief made his ap- 
 proaches, gently withdrawing the shawls a quarter of an inch at 
 a time, while at every slightest movement of the sleeping man his 
 hand was immediately on his dagger. To guard against such 
 surprises, I am inclined to believe, that it is best to have no light 
 in the tent, since, without some such guide, an intruder can neither 
 find his way to objects of value, nor can well avoid making some 
 noise. 
 
 January 28. — This morning was dusky and close, with heavy 
 clouds, which however gradually dispersed, and were succeeded 
 by a good deal of wind. Our march to Jyepoor was one 1 should 
 think of nearly twenty miles. The early part of it was over a 
 
 VoL. I. — 64 
 
506 
 
 MARCH TO JYEPOOR. 
 
 desolate plain of deep sand, traversed by a nullah, the windings 
 of. which we twice fell in with. About eight miles from Jyepoor 
 we came to a deep water-course, apparently the work of art, 
 and with a small stream in it flowing from the hills to which we 
 were approaching. Round its edge some little cultivation was 
 visible, though nothing could exceed the dry and hungry nature 
 of the sand which was under us and around us, and which now 
 began to be interspersed with sharp stones and bits of rock. The 
 hills, as we drew near, appeared higher and steeper than those 
 which \5ie had hitherto crossed, but entirely of rock, shingle and 
 sand, without a blade of vegetation of any kind, except a very 
 little grass edging here and there the stony, ragged water-course 
 which we ascended, and which was our only road. The desola- 
 tion was almost sublime, and. would have been quite so had the 
 hills been of a more commanding elevation. The pass grew 
 narrower, the path steeper and more rugged as we proceeded 
 along it, and the little stream which we were ascending, instead 
 of dimpling amid the grass and stones, now leapt and bounded 
 from crag to crag like a Welch rivulet. Still all was wild and 
 dismal, when, on a turn of the road, we found ourselves in front 
 of a high turreted and battlemented wall, pierced with a tier of 
 arched windows, showing us beyond them the dark green shades 
 of a large Oriental garden. A grim-looking old gateway on one 
 side, built close to the road, and seeming almost to form a part 
 of it, showed us the path which we were to pursue, and 1 was 
 thinking of Thalaba on “the brideless steed” at the gate of 
 Aloaddin’s paradise, and felt almost ready to look round for the 
 bugle-horn suspended in the portal, when the English uniform 
 appeared to dissolve the illusion, and Colonel Raper, who had 
 good-naturedly come out thus far to meet me, rode up to wel- 
 come me. 
 
 On seeing him I at first hoped that we had already arrived at 
 the^ gate of Jyepoor, but he told me that we had still four miles 
 of very bad road before us. The rampart which we now passed 
 is intended to guard the approach, and the garden which I men- 
 tioned is one of several attached to different temples founded in 
 this wild situation by the same sovereign, Jye Singh, who built 
 the city. Of these temples we passed through a little street, 
 with very picturesque buildings on each side of it, and gardens 
 perpetually green from the stream which we were now leaving, 
 and which derives its source from a considerable pool higher up, 
 in the bosom of the hills. Our own track emerged on an ele- 
 vated but sandy and barren plain, in which, nevertheless, some 
 fields of wheat were seen, and, what surprised me, some fine 
 peepul-trees. This plain, which seems to have been once a lake, 
 is surrounded on three sides by the same barren stony hills, and 
 
JYEPOOR. 
 
 507 
 
 has in its centre the city of Jyepoor, a place of considerable 
 extent, with fortifications so like those of the Kremlin, that I 
 could almost have fancied myself at Moscow. The wall is high, 
 with dentellated battlements and lofty towers, extremely pictu- 
 resque, but with no pretensions to strength, having neither ditch 
 nor glacis. Its security must, of course, depend on the forts by 
 which the summits of the surrounding hills are crowned. But 
 though these might ruin it, and prevent an enemy from occupying 
 it when taken, they could not save it against a spirited and well- 
 directed attack from the plain. Nevertheless it stood a long 
 siege from Ameer Khan, a fact which would prove that ruffian 
 to be as bad a general as he was an adroit and merciless plun- 
 derer, had it not been suspected that he purposely delayed the 
 assault on the town, both in the hope of obtaining a large ran- 
 som, which would go into his own coffers, and in the fear that 
 his men, if once enriched by the indiscriminate plunder of the 
 city, would many of them disperse and leave him. 
 
 The trees with which the buildings are intermingled, and the 
 gardens, which, in spite of the hungry soil, are scattered round 
 it, make up a very singular and romantic, or I might almost say, 
 a beautiful scene. The Residency is a small palace, formerly a 
 garden-house of the Raja’s, and surrounded by a high embattled 
 wall. Within which is a good garden of most English vegetables 
 and Indian fruit-trees. Water is every where to be found close 
 to the surface, and with water even the most sterile tracts, in 
 this climate, become tolerably fruitful. My tents were pitched 
 in the plain before the Residency gates, but Colonel Raper had 
 kindly provided an excellent tent for me close to his door, and 
 within his garden, of which I gladly availed myself, both to get 
 out of the way of the glaring white sand and dust of the Meidan, 
 and also to enable Skinner’s horsemen, who had no tents, to take 
 shelter in mine during my stay at Jyepoor, an indulgence for 
 which they were very grateful. 
 
 END OF VOLUME I. 
 
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