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Sfottiswood*:, New- Street- Squ are. PRINTEO IM COLOur.S •> HUl.LMANOEL * WALTON THE CUTLEB KIINAR,. OR COLUMN ERECTED BV THE EMPEROR CUTLEB AB DEEN, IN 1L93 . TRAVELS IN INDIA, INCLUDING SINDE AND THE PUNJAB, BY CAPTAIN LEOPOLD VON ORLICH. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, H. EVANS LLOYD, ESQ, IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR. LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER- ROW. 1845. TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. Notwithstanding the numerous works of every description which treat of India, notwithstand ing the marvellous phenomenon presented by the rise, progress, and colossal magnitude of our Indian empire, it was, on the whole, too long before the English nation took an interest in the subject in any degree commensurate with its im portance. The affairs of that country were re garded as the concern of the East India Company rather than as involving any national interest : — India, in fact, was looked upon as an El Dorado, where persons, enjoying the patronage of the Com pany, might acquire immense fortunes ; and when public attention was drawn to abuses, real or supposed, it was, as in the case of Warren Hast ings, rather to forward the views of a party than to vindicate the honour or to promote the interests of the mother-country. Meantime the labours and indefatigable re searches of many men of eminent learning and A 3 VI TRANSLATORS preface. ability were gradually revealing to Europe, not only its natural wonders, its surpassing fertility, its richness in every production that can contribute to the support, the comfort, and the happiness of man, but likewise the treasures of its learning, the condition of its people, and, alas! independently of its absurd general idolatry, the Tantra and Sakta worship, which necessarily brutalised and enslaved a part of its people. A decided change for the better has undoubtedly taken place within a comparatively short period ; and in proportion as the English nation has been more thoroughly informed of the state of India, it has manifested a. more lively sympathy in the affairs of that- empire; hence public opinion has had no little influence in producing a marked im provement in the government of that remote country, which will unquestionably be still further promoted by the rapid communication now obtained by means of steam navigation. Under these circumstances the public are now eager for the most recent and authentic inform ation ; and the work of an intelligent and impartial foreigner like Captain Von Orlich cannot, therefore, fail to be highly acceptable. The circumstance that his letters are addressed to two such eminently dis tinguished characters as Alexander Von Humboldt and Carl Bitter would of itself be sufficient to guarantee their inherent importance; in fact, the translator's preface. vii very cordial reception which this distinguished officer met with from the various civil and military functionaries, and the marked attention with which he was honoured by Lord Ellenborough, together with his visit to the native princes of Sinde, Lahore, and Oude, have enabled ' him to collect ample materials, which he has wrought into a highly interesting narrative. His account of the Ameers of Sinde, to all of whom he had a personal introduction, derives a peculiar importance from the recent transactions in that country — the dethronement of its princes, and its annexation to the British dominions, which have given rise to so many conflicting opinions respecting the policy and justice of that unexpected measure. In the completion of my agreeable task I have had the advantage of the kind and valuable assis tance of Colonel Sykes, a director of the East India Company, a personal friend of the author, and a gentleman who is thoroughly acquainted with the army and administration of India. He has most obligingly revised the proofs of the whole work, and not only supplied the most approved orthography of many of the proper names, but has also thrown fuller light upon some portions of the author's text, more especially relating to the Anglo-Indian army. To this gallant officer I am further indebted for the valuable tables of the revenue of India, which have never before been A 4 viii translator's preface. published. I have also subjoined a few notes and remarks illustrative of several facts adduced by the author. The following pages cannot indeed fail of a cordial reception from the British nation, who will be gratified by the opinion of so enlightened and unbiassed an observer of the stability of the British power in India, which he believes to be very far from having attained its culminating point, — an opinion in which he is borne out by another distinguished German traveller, Baron Von Hugel, who says : — " More than two thousand times has the earth performed its revolution round the sun — a number of years, nearly equal to a third of the period of time that has elapsed since the beginning of the history of the human race — since Alexander the Great crossed the Indus, and conceived the plan of making India tributary to Greece. * * * More than two thousand years after Alexander, his stupendous plan has been carried into execution by a nation whose original possessions scarcely ex ceed Greece in extent. * * * This empire has with in itself the elements of duration ; for the cause of justice and equity, the firm upholding of the law, and implied submission to its ordinance, are the peculiar characteristics of that energetic peo ple to whom Providence has committed the des tiny of so many millions of the human race." TRANSLATOR S PREFACE. IX " Debellare superbos, parcere subjectis " is indeed a proud motto, more truly applicable to England than to Rome. One doubt alone arises to cloud the brilliant prospect that England seems to have before her with regard to India. Has she not too long delayed to perform her duty, holding, as she does, so high a position in the Christian world ? In the schools established and supported by her govern ment no attempt appears to be made to lead the natives to that Divine religion which she herself professes in its greatest purity. According to Captain Von Orlich, the young men trained in her schools, for the most part turn out Deists ; and this assertion is painfully corroborated by the Rev. J. Weitbrecht, in his excellent little work on Missions in Bengal, and by other highly credible authorities. While this state of things obtains the zealous labours of a few pious missionaries will be wholly inadequate to stem the fearful torrent of evil which must result from furnishing the mind of the Indian youth with the superstructure of an ample store of secular knowledge, while the only solid foundation of Gospel truth is wholly wanting ; a mode of procedure which will inevitably involve them in a ruin more fearful than before, while it furnishes them with weapons against ourselves. May we not fear that, unless a radical change takes place, the lines of Homer, so affectingly spoken by X TRANSLATORS preface. Scipio on the fall of Carthage, may be applicable to England ? — " The day shall come, the great avenging day, Which Troy's proud glories in the dust shall lay ; When Priam's power and Priam's self shall fall, And one prodigious ruin swallow all." But let us hope for better things, and rather look forward to the moment (may it soon arrive !) when the British Government shall be able, as it doubtless is desirous, to communicate religious as well as secular knowledge to the people committed to her charge. H. EVANS LLOYD. London, January, 1845. AUTHOR'S PREFACE. Three years ago, when the disastrous events in Cabool were first made known, it was generally believed that a lengthened and serious war must be the inevitable consequence. The Author of the following work participated in this opinion, and anxiously wished to be present at the approaching campaign, for the purpose of acquiring, in the ranks of the British army, that military experience, which a long peace had prevented him from ob taining in the army of his own country. His Sovereign was graciously pleased to grant the Author's request ; but the necessary negotiations with the British Government delayed his departure for India, while the rapid succession of military events in the seat of war surpassed every expecta tion. In consequence of this unavoidable deten tion, the Author only joined the British army at Ferozpoor on its return from its glorious cam paign, when he saw, indeed, how well the laurels graced the brows of the victors, but with the mortifying reflection that he had come too late t<» witness how they had been won. The main purpose of his journey having un happily been thus defeated, by circumstances over Xll AUTHORS PREFACE. which he had no control, it seemed to be an imperative duty to do all that was still in his power to make himself acquainted with that remarkable country, which has been visited by very few of his countrymen. If he has not taken the fullest advantage of the favourable op portunity which he enjoyed, the fault must be attributed to the shortness of the time rather than to any remissness on the part of the Author, who met with treasures far beyond his hopes, which, though fully able to appreciate, he could not in every case turn to account. He relates plainly and faithfully, what he saw ancl felt, and, to supply the deficiency of actual observation, he has added other matter which he heard and learnt from men of unimpeachable credit. The Author has had the privilege of adding to his kind patrons and friends at home, many others both in England and in India, and a grateful re membrance of them will be for ever impressed on his heart. THE AUTHOR. CONTENTS THE FIRST VOLUME. LETTER I. ADDRESSED TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Departure from London to Southampton. — Embarkation on the Tagus steamer. — Falmouth, Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexan dria. — Voyage on the Mahmudie canal to Atfeh. — Steam navigation on the Nile. — Cairo. — Journey across the Desert to Suez. — Voyage in the Berenice war steamer, on the Red Sea to Aden, and thence, on board the Cleopatra, to Bombay. — Entrance into the harbour on the 6th August. Page 1 LETTER LI. ADDRESSED TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Bombay: the town and harbour. — Native town. — Bazars. — Merchants and artisans. — Colabah. — Domestic establishments of Englishmen of distinction. — Excursions in the environs and to Malabar Point and Pareil. — Burning the dead. — The Parsees. — G-ymnastic exercises of the Indians and their Jugglers. — Journey to Poonah. — The chain of Ghauts. — Poonah. — Festivities of the natives in honour of the governor. — Bayaderes. — Mode of life of the English. — Parbutty and the palace of the Peishwa. — Return to Bombay. The rainy season. — Preparations for our journey to Kurrachee. — Establishment of the governor. - 31 XIV CONTENTS. LETTER III. ADDRESSED TO CARL RITTER. Embarkation in the war steamer Zenobia, and departure for Kurrachee. — Fearful ravages of the cholera. — Dangerous landing on the coast at Kurrachee. — Kurrachee. — Alligator Pond, Maggar Talao. — Sinde under the Hindoo princes. — Dominion of the Moguls. — The Ameers of the family ofthe Talpooris. — Inhabitants of Sinde. — The Belooches. — Life and mode of government of the Ameers. — Language of the inhabitants of Sinde. — The English residents. — Voyage to Garrah. — March to Tatta. — Embarkation on board the Satellite steamer. — Hyderabad. — Audience of the Ameers. — ^Journey to Sehwan and Sukkur. — Inhabitants Pro jected for the journey to Ferozpoor. Page 74 LETTER TV. ADDRESSED TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Preparations for the journey to Ferozpoor. — Departure for Roree. — Ruins of Allore. — Wedding fete near Sangeram March through the desert. — Celebration of the 15th October in the village of Retee. — Passing the boundary of Bhawul- poor. — Ahmedpoor. — Hospitality of the inhabitants. — Khaunpoor. — Welcome of the Khan by an escort. — Entry into Ahmedpoor. — Audience of Bhawulkhan at his country- seat in the desert. — Bhawulpoor. — Journey to Memdot. The Khan of Memdot. — Dangerous illness of one of our party. — Arrival at Ferozpoor. - 124 LETTER V. ADDRESSED TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. The Punjab. — The Sikhs. — Runjeet Singh. — His government and position relative to the English. — Suttees. — Burning of the corpse of Runjeet Singh with eleven of his wives. Dheean Singh and the Fakir Uzeezoodeen. — Maharaja Kurruck Singh and the Rani-Chand-Kour. — Sheer Singh. CONTENTS. XV — Ferozpoor. — Entry of the commanding general into the camp. — Hospitality. — Elephants. — Arrival of the Governor- General Lord Ellenborough. — His camp and baggage. — The army of reserve. — General Sale passes the Sutlej. — Generals Pollock aud Nott. — Present from the Indian govern ment of one of the cannon taken at Kabool to the King of Prussia. — Camp at Ferozpoor. — Entrance of the Rajah Heera Singh, and on the 10th December of the crown prince, Perthaub Singh, accompanied by Dheean Singh. — Grand review and festivities* — Departure of an extraordinary em bassage to Lahore under Mr. Maddock, Member of the , Supreme Council. — Journey thither. — The city, and re ception by the Maharaja. — Festivities in Lahore. — Mauso leum of Shah Dura. — -Grand review of 60,000 men and 200 pieces of artillery, — - Chase. — Farewell audience at Shahlimar. * - Page 158 LETTER VI. ADDRESSED TO CARL RITTEE. The Anglo-Indian army. — The Sepoys. — The Hindoo and Mussulman. — The European soldier. — Strength and divisions of the army. — Pay. — The corps of officers. » 239 LETTER VII. ADDRESSED TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Return from Lahore to Ferozpoor.— Journey through the pro tected Sikh states to Samanah. — Chase of the antelope with a leopard. — March with the Governor-General to Dathal, Saqun, Keythul, and Karnaul. — Visit to Paniput and view of the town and of the field of battle — Haunt of elephants. 257 TRAVELS IN INDIA. / / LETTER I. TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Departure from London to Southampton. — Embarkation on the Tagus steamer. — Falmouth, Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexan dria. — Voyage on the Mahmudie canal to Atfeh ; Steam navigation on the Nile. — Cairo.- — Journey across the Desert to Suez. — Voyage in the Berenice war steamer, on the Red Sea to Aden, and thence, on board the Cleopatra, to Bombay. — Entrance into the Harbour on the 6th August. Bombay, August 8. 1842. After a prosperous voyage of thirty-seven days, I arrived on the 6th inst. in this land of wonders ! The fact that I have been conveyed in so short a time into a new world seems like a dream, and I should doubt its reality did not all things around convince me of the truth. However, though my imagination is most powerfully excited, and I have an interminable succession of occupation, I will at once attempt to give you a sketch of my voyage hitherward. I passed my last day in London with our hos pitable Consul- General, Mr. Hebeler, who had invited - ,;- VOL. I. B / 2 EMBARK AT SOUTHAMPTON. some of our countrymen to meet me, and whose amiable lady gave a charm to the social entertainment by her graceful and animated conversation. I was un fortunately obliged to decline an invitation from the Duke of Sussex, with whom I had previously had a long and very interesting conversation ; little thinking that it was the last time that we should meet in this life, for I had to leave London that same day, and, attended by the good wishes of our ambassador, I started by the railway for Southampton. Spite of the sailor's prejudice I embarked on Friday, 1st July, on board the splendid steamer the Tagus, of 350 horse-power. The morning was unpleasant ; light showery clouds driven by the wind covered the sun, and I was wet through before I reached the vessel. Here all was bustle and activity : while the roaring and hissing of the steam announced our speedy de parture, goods of all kinds were hastily put on board, and the porters and sailors ran backwards and forwards, stowing the luggage and making other pre parations. Most of the passengers were on deck sur rounded by their friends ; here was a father giving his last advice and blessing to his son ; there brethren and friends -bade each other a long adieu, while husband and wife parted, perhaps for ever; and a farewell salute was given to others by friends among the crowd assembled on shore. I alone stood like an isolated being ; there was Hone to, press my hand and take my last fond wishes to my friends at home ; but in spirit I sent a thousand kind remembrances to those I love. At six o'clock the first gun gave the signal for separation, and a few minutes afterwards a second announced our departure. The Tagus, which was intended for the passage to Lisbon only, was FALMOUTH. now setting out for her first voyage to Egypt, in the place of the Oriental, which was under repair : as we passed this fine vessel the crew gave us some hearty cheers, which were warmly re-echoed by our sailors. Our company consisted of between fifty and sixty persons, chiefly officers who were going to join their regiments in India, several naval officers, mer chants, and a clergyman with his family, who were bound for Malta. The spacious deck, and the splen didly furnished saloon, which was provided with a library and newspapers, were far preferable to our small uncomfortable cabins, and we all accordingly amused ourselves either with promenading the deck, or with reading, writing, and conversation. While steering our course between the French coast and the lovely Isle of Wight, the sky cleared up, and a light fresh breeze blew ahead ; but the rolling of the vessel compelled many ofthe passengers to pay an involuntary tribute to Neptune ; I, too, felt very uncomfortable, though I did not suffer from sea-sickness either then or afterwards. On the 2d July, at nine in the morning, we came in sight of the rocks which enclose the harbour of Falmouth. Shortly before entering it we took a pilot on board, who con ducted us through the narrow channel, leaving on the left hand a reef of rocks, on which stood a small black tower, and at half-past nine o'clock we cast anchor at about 800 paces from the town. Here we had to wait for the India mail, which was not brought on board till four o'clock, and consisted of fifty-six large chests of letters, and other packages. We immediately weighed anchor, and before sunset we were on the wide Atlantic, bounded on all sides by the bright blue canopy of heaven. B 2 LIFE ON BOARD. A ship life, unless broken by some special circum stances, is so regular, monotonous, and, in long voyages, often so wearisome, that in giving a de scription of one day I make you tolerably well ac quainted with the general tenour of our life. Our captain is a grave, reserved man, and has little inter course with his officers except on matters of duty. At sunrise the crew begin cleaning and scouring the deck ; the ship's bell indicates the hours, and when it strikes nine we assemble in the great saloon, at breakfast, which, according to English fashion, consists of hot and cold meats, &c. After breakfast, and again at about twelve o'clock, the captain and his officers regularly determine the position of the ship, and the passengers eagerly inquire how many miles we have made in the last twenty-four hours, and what is our latitude and longitude ? On Sundays and holydays, we all assemble about eleven o'clock for divine worship, which is performed byv the clergyman : when there is no clergyman on board the captain reads prayers. On other days we each pursue our own occupations, or seek exercise and recreation on deck. At twelve o'clock, we take a second breakfast, and at four o'clock the steward summons us to an exceedingly good dinner which consists of three courses, and a variety of wines. After this we generally spend the evening on the quarter-deck, where tea and conversation while away the time. If the weather be fine, the pure air and the brilliancy of the starry heavens keep many of us on decfe^till midnight. The only interruptions to our life in its monotonous flow are passing vessels, shoals of dolphins, or a storm of wind. We encountered a heavy squall Avhich drove MAFRA, CINTRA, CAPE TRAFALGAR. 5 our ponderous steamer as if it had been a plaything, towards the coast of Spain, which came in sight on the morning of the 5th of July ; and, when we were off Cape Finisterre, a brisk north wind swelled our sails, so that by the aid of wind and steam we pro ceeded at the rate of ten miles an hour. Among my fellow-passengers I was particularly interested with Colonel M'Neile, Captain Forbes, of the Madras army, and Lieutenant Miaulis, a son of the celebrated Greek admiral, who was educated at Munich, and is now serv ing in the British navy. His frank, cheerful manners greatly attracted me ; we mutually communicated our little adventures to each other ; and the enthusiastic Greek, with sparkling eyes and animated gestures, recounted the deeds of his heroic father. On the 7th and 8th we enjoyed serene weather and pure air under the lovely blue of this southern sky. On the preceding day, about noon, we met several Por tuguese schooners, as we were passing between the wild rugged Berlinga rocks, of whose proximity the navi gator is warned by a lighthouse in the little Fort St. Goa, and, at three o'clock, descried the once celebrated Mafra, whose large monastery, situated on an eminence near the city, is visible at a great distance. Soon after wards we passed Cintra ; and at seven o'clock Lisbon rose before us, like a panorama, in its entire extent and all its beauty. From this point we kept at a greater distance from the coast, which we did not see again till the following morning. Several vessels passed us, one of which had lost its foremast in a storm. At sunset we sailed by the celebrated Cape Trafalgar, and approached the Straits of Gib raltar : it was a remarkably fine evening, the air was warm yet refreshing, the sky resplendent with innu- B 3 6 STRAITS OF GIBRALTAR. merable stars, the sea slightly agitated, and profound silence prevailed on board our vessel. This, and the expectation of soon entering another sea, induced me to remain on deck till we should reach the harbour of Gibraltar. About eleven o'clock a stormy wind sud denly arose, which several times extinguished our lantern, and we were very near coming into collision with another vessel, the crew of which set up a loud cry. Their apprehensions were, however, groundless, for notwithstanding the darkness of the night, we had fortunately perceived their ship in time to avoid any accident. The nearer we approached the light house, the more violent did the storm become ; but as soon as we had passed it, and were in the Straits, a complete calm suddenly succeeded. About half past three o'clock on the following morning, a gun was fired as a signal to the inhabitants of Gibraltar that we had cast anchor in the road. We were not able to observe the solar eclipse which afterwards took place, as the sun was obscured by clouds. Gibraltar lies at the foot of a rock 1437 feet high, which declines, more or less abruptly, towards every side ; on the east it rises from the sea like a wall, and runs out in a rugged promontory nearly 500 paces in length into the Mediterranean. On the Spanish side it is perfectly level, and forms a semicircle around the harbour, and, opposite Gibraltar, joins other masses of rock at the entrance. This harbour is one of the finest in the world, and is capable of receiving the largest men- of-war. The town and fortress lie on the declivity towards the harbour : the fortress consists of a wall which surrounds the town with salient angles and bulwarks ; they are most extensive on the flanks, and are commanded by some works situated above them, GIBRALTAR. and by several batteries hewn in the rocks, the guns of which hang in chains. Gibraltar is nearly impreg nable by its natural position, and on the Spanish side may be isolated by inundating the plain. Wherever the rocky soil would permit, orange trees have been planted, and gardens laid out. Cactus and aloes grow luxuriantly to tlie very summit of the rock, the re treat of herds of monkeys, which, like the Capitoline geese of old, were distinguished during a siege, and consequently have ever since been looked upon as sacred animals, which are not to be molested. Accompanied by several of my fellow-passengers, I took a small boat and went on shore. I cannot de scribe to you the elevating yet melancholy feeling that filled my heart as I trod the beautiful soil of Spain, the most southern point of Europe. The busy life of early morning met us on our landing ; mules laden with vegetables, fruit and corn, driven by peasants in their singular costume ; fine vigorous men with the most expressive countenances, wearing the broad- brimmed hat, the cloak, thrown like a toga over the shoulder and presenting a most picturesque appear ance, encountered us at every step. In the markets we were struck with the peculiarities and the ani mated manners ofthe natives of the South, contrasted with the calm serious deportment of the English in their scarlet uniforms and the Scotch in their Highland dress. We spent some hours in viewing the little town and the fortifications, and while we were amusing ourselves with these scenes, the women and girls riding on heavily-laden asses scrutinised us coquettishly with their piercing black eyes. Fatigued by the heat and unwonted exercise, we went into the best inn for refreshment: here they B 4 8 THE AFRICAN COAST. charged us three shillings each for a very indifferent breakfast, and I was therefore not surprised, though rather amused, to hear the English call these people rogues and scorpions. Meantime our vessel had taken in coals and pro visions for the voyage to Malta. We hastened on board, and at twelve o'clock we were already in the Medi terranean, which extended before us as smooth as a mirror ; the air was warm without being oppressive, and the sky unclouded. This fine weather continued till Saturday 13th, and our vessel made ten miles an hour. On Friday evening we approached the African coast, where the lofty Atlas chain. with its bare, rugged limestone rocks rose above the clouds, and long bore us company. We sailed along these classic lands, rich in traditions and historical interest, where Dido founded her States, where iEneas sought protection, and where Hannibal, Scipio, Jugurtha, Cassar, the Vandals, the Arabs, the Spaniards, and the French have borne their warlike arms. What ample stores ofbistory, what busy, varying fortunes of nations and individuals were recalled to our minds as we • glided rapidly onwards ! On Saturday towards evening the wind had col lected dense black clouds over the mountains : while we were watching their ever- changing forms, we sud denly saw a globe of tire fall from heaven ; it was as large as the moon, and bursting in a few seconds, it illuminated the coast and the sea with magnificent though transitory splendour; soon afterwards vivid flashes lightened up the whole scene, so that Mount Atlas often appeared as if standing in an ocean of fire. On Monday the wind and sea became more calm, and we were able to enjoy the view of the coast once more MALTA. 9 at our ease. We saw the Bay of Tunis, the site of ancient Carthage, and passed close to the rocky island of Zembra, and the island of Pantellaria, famed for its wine. On Tuesday we had a brisk east wind, and at five o'clock on the following morning we were in sight of Malta. The entrance into a new harbour in a foreign country is an event full of expectation to a stranger, and we accordingly all came on deck, eagerly making observations and inquiries. Malta has the appearance of a bare, sterile, rocky island, which seems to owe its origin to a recent volcanic convulsion. A few orange trees, some vines and fruit trees, trained against arti ficial walls, and growing in soil which had been fetched from Sicily, was all that presented itself to our view. Close to the shore, at intervals of 600 or 800 paces, there are towers, some round, others square, each provided with a twenty-four pounder for the defence, of the coast. We saw the flags hoisted on the i lighthouse at La Valetta, to announce our arrival to the pilots and to the governor. At half past eight we took on board a pilot, who soon conducted us through a narrow channel into one of the most spacious harbours in the world. It consists of the entrance harbour and three smaller ones branching off to the east, and is bounded by calcareous rocks, from 200 to 300 feet in height, on the most westerly of which the city rises in the form of terraces. A fine sight here presented itself to our view ; a large fleet of men-of-war and war steamers, under the com mand of Admiral Owen lying at anchor. The har bour and town are defended by innumerable works and batteries, which are admirably placed and con structed ; the only fault is that there are too many of 10 MALTA. them. On the side of the principal harbour, separated from the town, is the quarantine-harbour : I refrain from any further description of this island, interesting in so many points of view, because you are well ac quainted with it, and shall content my self with relating the occurrences of the two days which I passed here. We had scarcely cast anchor, when we were sur rounded by boats, from which our ears were assailed with loud, shrill cries, resembling those of Naples when passengers are about to land. I hired a boat and made for the Queen, in order to look for Lieutenant Johnston, whose father, Sir Alexander, had kindly favoured me with a letter to him. He is a fine young man, full of life and spirit, and bid me a hearty welcome, introduced me to his messmates, and con ducted me over every part of this floating palace. The Queen carrying 110 guns, 204 feet long, 60 broad, and 46 deep, with a crew of 1000 men, had been launched only a few months before, and is probably at this time the largest and handsomest man-of-war in the British navy. Here, where the strictest discipline and order prevail, where simplicity with adaptation to the object are combined in the highest perfection, we are irresistibly impressed with the power of England ; these are the fibres which she throws out on every side, with which she encompasses the earth, as with a spider's web, and appropriates to herself the empire of the seas. The spacious saloon and dining-room are well supplied with books and maps ; in the officers' cabins a thirty- two-pounder is placed close to each bed, otherwise each is furnished according to the taste of the respective occupant, and here, too, food for the mind is never wanting. As we passed through the magazines, the arsenal, the store-rooms, and the MALTA. 11 lazaretto, I had an opportunity of remarking the regularity and order of the crew ; but the finest sight was on the upper deck, where the vessel is seen at once in its entire extent, with its intricate network of cordage and ladders. After we had spent two hours in inspecting the vessel, Lieutenant Johnston took me to the Howe of 120 guns, which, however, is nine feet narrower than the Queen ; we next visited the Indus of 84 guns, which bears on the upper deck, as an admonitory warning, Nelson's celebrated words before the battle of Trafalgar — " England expects every man to do his duty." At three o'clock, we were again on board the Queen, where I dined in the company of the highly ac complished officers. Johnston afterwards accompanied me into the town, and showed me the palace, for merly belonging to the grand master, now the re sidence of the governor, the armoury, and the fine church of St. John's. Here we parted: my young friend was obliged by his duty to return to his ship, while I was tempted, by the coolness of the evening, to linger for some time in the town, so that it was dark when I reached the Tagus. The next morning at sun-rise I again went ashore to view the fortifications, and about twelve o'clock returned on board, quite exhausted with my fatiguing excursion. Preparations were already made to put to sea, for the steamer had arrived from Marseilles with the English mail. Meanwhile, we amused ourselves with watching the diving of some lively boys, who willingly went to the bottom of the sea, to fetch up some copper coins. The weather was perfectly fine when we weighed anchor at three o'clock in the afternoon, but towards 12 ALEXANDRIA. evening a westerly wind with rain arose. On Friday the 15th, a south-east wind cooled the air, rain alternated with sunshine, and in the evening continued flashes of lightning, in the west, illumined the sky and the sea; on Saturday, the wind abated, a total calm succeeded, and we were surrounded by a glassy sea under an unclouded sky. On Monday, however, at three o'clock in the afternoon, while we were passing the Arab towers, the sea suddenly became greatly agitated, our vessel pitched, heaved, and the waves dashed over her forepart, with such violence that we could not proceed more than seven knots an hour. We were scarcely eight miles from the coast; a scorching wind passed over the arid plains of Africa, and we saw the hot vapour floating over the dazzling white sand of the desert. Shortly afterwards we descried the light-house of Alexandria. About two miles before the entrance into the harbour, which has a sufficient depth of water, but at one point is scarcely 200 paces broad, we had considerable difficulty in taking a pilot on board, near the vicinity of the coast, where some hundreds of small stone windmills are erected. In boarding our vessel this handsome, long-bearded Turk dropped his slippers, and seemed more disposed to leave us to our fate than to lose them. The sun was sinking towards the horizon as we entered the harbour, which presented a very ani mated scene — the Pacha's fleet, consisting of more than twenty men-of-war of various sizes, lying at anchor within it. While wending our way through this forest of masts a boat with Europeans, who welcomed us with waving their hats and handkerchiefs, came out to meet us ; and before we had cast anchor, we were sur rounded by innumerable Egyptian boats, from which ALEXANDRIA. 1 3 arose such a medley of cries and shouts, that in truth we could not even hear ourselves speak. We were obliged, stick in hand, to force our way through this importunate crowd ; and it Avas only by similar means that the agents of the Company succeeded in trans porting our effects and securing us quiet possession of the boats we had need of. On landing, camel and ass drivers received us in the same riotous manner ; however, 1 was resolved not to employ any of them, but, accompanied by a guide, preferred pro ceeding in the cool of the evening to the inn. I was treading the classic soil of Egypt, so rich in historical reminiscences ; but the images which passed before me in the twilight of evening were not like the creations of fancy. As I wandered, full of thought, through the narrow dirty streets of Alexandria, I every where encountered the Eastern world, with its peculiarities, its singular manners and customs, and its strange natural physiognomy. Here were groups of Mussulmans sitting in their picturesque costume, and smoking their pipes in gravity and silence ; there women and girls closely veiled, with the exception of their eyes, fled at the approach of the infidels ; in the gay bazar illuminated with lamps was seen all the bustle of a little commercial world — men and boys talking and bargaining, while asses were furiously driven amidst the throng, or heavily laden camels* paced with a slow and cautious step through the crowd. No indication of joy or mirth was to be seen or heard. After I had followed my guide for about half an hour, we suddenly entered a large square surrounded by lofty and handsome buildings belonging to the consuls : winding stairs rise to a considerable height 14 VOYAGE ON THE above the flat roofs, and afford an extensive prospect over the city and the sea. Here too our inn was situated. We had barely sufficient time allowed us comfortably to partake of refreshments ; and having regaled ourselves with bananas, melons, and delicious grapes, we were informed that our guides and asses were waiting. A disorderly crowd of boys and youths rushed upon us with their beasts, uttering their loud, incoherent yells in broken English. Before I well knew what was done, I was lifted upon an ass and driven away. My companions were treated in the same summary manner, and our cavalcade galloped, helter-skelter, to embark on the Mahmudic canal. The evening, which the bright light of the moon and the total stillness rendered peculiarly agreeable, was as delightful as the most lively imagination can paint. Our route lay along groves of palm, over which passed a light sea breeze, and wafted pure re viving odours, which invigorated the breast with their balsamic fragrance. On passing through the gate of a small fort, a Turkish officer counted our little company, and we then proceeded full trot between bare stony hills, past Pompey's Pillar, and in less than an hour — it was just eleven — we were under shady sycamores, at the place of embarkation. A covered iron gondola, resembling a cage for monkeys rather than a boat, could with difficulty accommodate all the passengers. I therefore preferred, though the cool damp nights are said to be very injurious to the health, to remain on deck till the morning, wrapped up in my cloak. The Mahmudie canal, the work of Mehemet Ali is eighty-four miles long, fifty paces broad, and was at MAHMUDIE CANAL TO ATFEH. 15 this time from four to six feet deep. It runs from the Nile at the village of Atfeh, to Alexandria, and serves not only for navigation, but likewise for irrigating the adjacent country. Innumerable Persian wheels turned by oxen convey the water to the canals, whence it is carried in every direction over the country, and the soil consequently yields abundance of rice, cotton, tobacco, and corn. On either side is a narrow path way for horses and camels. After tedious altercations we at length commenced our voyage. An Arab steersman, and two rowers ofthe same nation, aided by four horses, set the gondola in motion, and a man stationed in the fore-part spoke through a most discordant trumpet, at the approach of any boat. This always created a commotion ; before they could resolve to which side they should respectively keep, both parties cried, shouted, and heartily abused each other ; sometimes they got so entangled that our rowers were compelled to swim to the bank and take the towing line from the horses. Amidst all this din, which was increased by the monotonous creaking of the waterwheels, and the cries of birds flying over our heads, sleep was not to be thought of. Happily the moon shed so bright a light, that all objects might be pretty clearly distinguished. The navigation on the canal was extremely brisk ; sometimes we met boats conveying travellers, or cargoes of cotton, corn, and mats ; and then again, others laden with water jugs, poultry, and fruit. The villages lying on the banks, like most of those in Egypt, are built of clay, and consist of an irregularly constructed mass : some ofthe buildings are round resembling our ovens, others look like little towers, while others again are square. They are seldom more than twenty feet high, and are often 16 NAVIGATION ON THE NILE. without either roof or window, and in that case have only narrow loopholes. A small court-yard, enclosed by clay walls, in which the cattle are kept, or the threshing-floor is laid, is attached to most of them. The vicinity of such a village is generally indicated by date palms and bananas which surround it, and agreeably diversify the monotonous appearance of the country. Tents are set up in several spots for the troops engaged on the works, and superintendents employed, by Mehemet Ali. On the 19 th of July at nine in the morning, we saw a gondola adorned with flags and streamers, which, as our boatmen informed us, was conveying a daughter of the Pacha. Behind the elegantly carved lattices of the cabin, we saw several veiled females, whose eyes were inquisitively directed towards us. A Turk of distinction, probably the husband, was seated on fine carpets in the open air, smoking a long pipe, and having coffee and various kinds of fruits and sweet meats spread out before him. Their eunuchs, military attendants, and servants, followed in an equally pretty gondola. But this scene of splendour and luxury was succeeded by one of sorrow and misery. A large boat crowded with chained slaves, Arabs and Abys- sinians, who were to be employed in the navy, followed in the track. Many of these poor wretches, we were told, often pull out their teeth or cut off a finger, in order to avoid the hard fate that awaited them. Our voyage was very diversified and animated; — boats and gondolas filled with people in a variety of costume, forming the most picturesque groups — .caravans, riders on horses or asses — post-mes sengers — the working of the telegraphs along the banks, and between whiles the boatmen enjoying the ATFEH. THE NILE. 17 pleasure of swimming. I was particularly struck with the appearance, and splendid dress, of Said Pacha, who, mounted on a bay Arab, with his negro at his side, and attended by several horsemen, galloped past us at full speed. The nearer we approached the Nile, the fuller of life and activity was the scene, in the numerous craft on the canal and in the large encamp ments of troops on shore. The latter amused them selves with now and then wantonly discharging their muskets at us. Our progress now became more slow, as we occasionally struck on the stony bottom, and our boat was filled with water. We were heartily glad on being informed at two o'clock that we had reached Atfeh. Here we left our gondola, and went through the village to the Nile, where the Lotus, a pretty steamer with two engines, each of sixteen horse-power, was ready to receive us, and where our luggage, which had just arrived, was being put on board. Atfeh ranks among the largest and best constructed of the Egyptian villages ; it has a covered bazar, and even an inn, if a dirty house with a sign may be so designated. The Nile is here about 500 paces broad, and gradually increases in width as it approaches Cairo ; in some places it flows in a bed 3000 paces in width, and is studded with sandy and clayey islands. Its banks seldom rise above fifteen feet in height, and the water, which is rendered turbid by the slimy bottom, is of an ash-grey colour. Its bed being subject to continual changes, the navigation is difficult, so that, in spite of every precaution, we twice ran aground on a sand bank, but were soon set afloat again by the power of the engines. The prospect of the richly cultivated tracts on the bank of the river, diversified by small VOL. i. c 18 VOYAGE ON THE NILE. palm groves, whose fan-like crowns rose proudly and majestically above the poor huts, or waved by the side of taper minarets, was refreshing alike to the eye and mind The little town lying on the left bank, behind Atfeh, with its numerous minarets and its neat white buildings, some of which were really handsome, presented an extremely pretty appearance. We set off in about an hour ; our crew, with the exception of the engineers, consisted of Arabs, and while we sat round our dinner table on deck, watching the setting sun, our Mussulmans, one after the other, ascended the paddle-box, where they spread out their turbans, and, undisturbed by the lively conversation of the Chris tians at their repast, performed their stated devotions. A fine starlight night, with a thermometer in the evening of 82° Fahrenheit, was too inviting to allow me- to go early to rest, lost as I was in contemplation on the vicissitudes of human life. These reflections were awakened not only by the ample records of history, but also by the varied circumstances of inha bitants of three quarters of the globe collected toge ther in the narrow compass of a steam-boat. Most of them could look back on a life rich in experience ; but what trials and struggles may its attainment have cost them up to this very moment, and how equally chequered a future might each have to encounter ere he reached the goal ! How few contented, how many dissatisfied ! The epitaph in Westminster Abbey involuntarily rose to my mind : " Life is a jest*, and all things show it : J. thought so once, but now I know it." The rising sun on the 30th of July was the harbinger of * Would not dream be a more appropriate word than jest? — H. E. L. VOYAGE ON THE NILE BULAK.. 19 a fine and serene day, with an atmosphere as pure and invigorating as we had enjoyed on the preceding day. A mosque, surrounded by a grove of shady sycamore mingled with lofty date-palms, first greeted my sight ; there was something mysterious and fairy-like in the magic gloom, and reminded me of the poetical scenes of the Arabian Nights. Near this mosque several of our Arab passengers went on shore, but as there was no boat to transport, them to land, each one tied his scanty garments around his head, leapt naked into the river, and bidding us adieu with a salam alehum (peace be with thee!), swam ashore. Towards eight o'clock we came in sight of the Pyramids ! from a steam-boat ! What a contrast ! A mile below Cairo the country on the right bank of the Nile suddenly assumes a very busy appearance. The first object that strikes the eye is Mehemet Ali's splendid country seat, surrounded by a garden laid out with much skill and taste ; more than thirty large Persian wheels are employed in its irrigation. In its immediate vicinity are some other villas, and adjoining them a row of extensive manufactories, in which, however, we did not observe any great activity. A newly-constructed road, bordered by tall, luxuriant and shady sycamores, leads from this spot, along the banks of the Nile to Cairo. Near this place we met the Atfeh steamer conveying passengers coming from India. Both parties stopped; some hurried questions were put to the few happy individuals who were hastening homewards, letters were exchanged; and we proceeded to Bulak. Just before reaching this little town we completed our voyage of 120 miles. We had scarcely cast anchor, when boys came to meet us with asses, on c 2 20 CAIRO. NEGRO SLAVE MARKET. which we propeeded in the usual fashion, and under a thermometer of 95° Fahrenheit, through the narrow, dirty streets of Bulak to Cairo, a distance of only three miles, which we accomplished in half an hour. On our way thither the increasing bustle and activity indicated our approach to a populous Oriental city. We met heavily-laden camels and asses, riders and pedestrians, fruitsellers, and the troops of his High ness in dirty cotton jackets : before us lay innumer able minarets ; on one side the boundless valley of the Nile, and in the background the proudly towering Pyramids. With much difficulty we forced our way amidst the confused crowd, by means of the clamours and vociferations of our ruthless attendants, and passing through several narrow Little streets, we rode into the courtyard of Hill's hotel. Six hours was all the time allowed us for stopping in this interesting place, and as I did not know whether circumstances ' would ever bring me to Cairo again, I resolved to make the best use of the scanty moments that were meted out to me. In company with Lieutenant Bowen, an experienced traveller, and conducted by a guide, I at once set out. We rode on small asses, as is customary here, through the animated bazars, first of all to the negro slave market, for Europeans are not allowed to see that, where the whites are bought and sold. We passed through a door which was opened to admit us, into a large yard, surrounded with shady chambers, where these un happy creatures were offered for sale, and where man may buy his fellow creature for 81. up to 4:01. Here we saw between thirty and forty male and female slaves, Abyssinians and Negroes. The women and girls, who were any thing but handsome, and clad in dirty gar- CAIRO. — THE MAD-HOUSE. 21 ments which barely covered them, burst into a loud laugh on our approach: they made their observations whispering and tittering, asked us to purchase them, and jeered at us when Ave turned from them to the men and boys. These, Avho for the most part were in the prime of Hfe, vigorous and healthy-looking, lay on rush beds in the shade, partly fettered, partly free. Their countenances bore the traces of grief ancl dejection ; two handsome negro youths, about sixteen years of age, approached me as we were going away, and ad dressed a few words to me. " They want you to buy them," said our guide; " they will serve you faithfully and assiduously." " What is the price of the lads ? " continued he, addressing the slave merchant, who was standing by. " Twenty pounds each," replied he. How gladly would I have given these poor youths their liberty : but this would have been of no use to them, they would have been even more destitute than be fore ! " To give them a trifle is not advisable," said our guide, " for their tormentors would immediately take it from them." Yet still more melancholy, nay horrible, was the sight of the mad-house. In a narrow yard, sur rounded by lofty buildings, the lower rooms of which contained small cells resembling the cages of Avild beasts, with iron bars, in which the inmates had barely room to lie down, there were between twenty and thirty of these unhappy beings, most of them in chains, almost naked, perishing in filth ; labouring under madness which had its origin either in aberrations of hopeless love, in drunkenness, or in bodily disease. The keeper described the method adopted for their cure as very simple : — scanty food, a shower-bath three times a day, and corporal chastisement. Those who are con- c 3 22 CAIRO. — THE CITADEL. valescent are freed from their chains and employed in some light work, and those who can designate the days of the week and the hours of the day are dis charged as cured ! Our ride to the citadel, built on a calcareous rock, about 200 feet high, in the south-eastern quarter of the city, was calculated to chase the gloomy reflections ex cited by the sad scenes we had quitted. From this build ing we enjoyed one of the finest and grandest prospects in the world : Cairo with its fifty-six minarets lay at our feet ; immediately before us the barracks of the troops, and the busy scene of a market ; in the back ground the mighty Nile, with its verdant plains, ships, country seats, and palm groves; toAvards the South the ancient aqueduct, the gigantic Pyramids, Avith a gnmpse into the bare and boundless desert, and in the far distance the ruins of Memphis. A few paces off, a spot surrounded by Avretched huts marks the place where Mehemet Ali destroyed the Mamelukes. From the windows of his small, one-storied marble palace this cold-blooded, artful tyrant overlooks his fine country and his mighty creations. In the vestibule of this palace we found some young men seated on carpets employed in Avriting at the dictation of an old grey- bearded Armenian, who was recounting the deeds of his master. The palace itself consists of a few apart ments with silk divans along the walls, decorated partly in the Oriental and partly in the European style. A billiard-table serves for the recreation of Mehemet Ali, who usually plays with his Mameluke. Another building has been commenced in the vicmity of this palace, consisting of a quadrangular courtyard, surrounded by lofty marble halls supported by round and angular pillars in the Moorish style; in the JOURNEY THROUGH THE DESERT. 23 centre is a covered basin, the vaulted roof of which rests upon columns ; here fountains will be erected to diffuse coolness and freshness around. The whole has a grand appearance, and is executed in a skilful and pleasing style. Near these modern buildings are the ruins called by the natives Joseph's Palace. They are three thousand years old, and but little remains of them except the well, which is so deep that if a stone is thrown into it its fall can scarcely be heard. We were quite exhausted when we reached our inn, in time, however, to fortify ourselves, by a good din ner, for our journey across the desert. Our luggage had already preceded us on forty camels. It was six o'clock when we set out in six two-wheeled carts, covered with a linen awning, and drawn by four horses, each capable of containing four persons. I had for my companions Colonel M'Neile, Captain Forbes, and my worthy subaltern officer Werner. Unfor tunately, our driver was an Italian, who was to-day to make his first essay in coachmanship with untrained horses; we learnt afterwards that he had hitherto gained his livelihood as a tailor and hair-dresser, and now wished to better his condition by breaking-in horses. His setting out did not inspire us with con fidence in his skill, for after spending nearly a quarter of an hour in trying to make the horses move, they broke loose and galloped full speed towards a canal twenty feet deep, into which we must inevitably have fallen, had not the man who was running at their side dexterously saved us. After we had passed through the gate, a luxuriant banana garden with a fence of tall aloes was the last indication of vegetable life that cheered us, for before us lay the stony, c 4 24 JOURNEY THROUGH THE DESERT. boundless desert. A strange feeling was awakened by the sight of half-a-dozen carriages crossing the desert in the stillness of a beautiful moonlight night, sometimes running beside, and sometimes behind, each other, in the track marked by the feet of the camels. It is not a glaring, sandy desert, as you well know, but a waste of stony earth, covered with gravel, broken by small undulating calcareous eminences, and does not assume its wild, rocky character till in the vicinity of the Eed Sea. Indications that this track was once covered by the waves are every where apparent. Before We reached the first station, our horses had refused, more than ten times, to move onwards : this obliged the other carriages to halt ; the running grooms hurried to our assistance, shouted, halloed, and beat the horses ; in the sequel Werner was always compelled to jump out and to set our cart in motion by pushing the wheels. After proceeding nine miles, we stopped at an isolated house, where ten horses only stood ready to relieve the wearied animals ; we now went on as before, the same men running by the side eleven miles farther, to the second station, where we took coffee and rested in two large apartments till three o'clock. It was ten miles further to the third sta tion, where some of the horses were changed, and from this place to the central station, eleven miles distant, the animals were made to exert all their strength, in order that we might reach shelter before the heat of the sun became too intense. A solitary shady thorn, called Mahomet's, tree, because the great prophet is said to have rested here on his journey, and a massive anchor, give peculiar interest to this point. The house is two stories high, very roomy, and furnished with divans, Here we dined, and at five o'clock in SUEZ. — THE BERENICE STEAMER. 25 the afternoon proceeded on our journey, the thermo meter being 93° Fahr. If the road through the desert had hitherto been marked by dead camels, asses, and horses, or the graves of unfortunate travellers, it was increasingly so on this part of the journey. A large pile of stones indicated the place where only a few days before five Arabs had been struck' dead by a coup de soleil. In two hours we reached the next halting-place, ten miles off, but hastened without stopping to the last station, which is eleven miles further on, and where we waited for the camels coming from Suez Avith water ; we then travelled at a brisk pace to that town, which is thirteen miles distant, and alighted at the caravansary at Suez at seven o'clock in the morning. Suez is a small dirty town, built of stone and brick, surrounded by a decayed wall, with scarcely 2000 inhabitants, who subsist by fishing and trade. It is the staple place for the coffee from Mocha, which is sent on camels to Cairo. After our luggage had been shifted and we had refreshed ourselves with sleep and food, a large boat conveyed us, at two o'clock, with the thermometer at 96°, to the war steamer Berenice, which lay about two miles off. This vessel be longs to the East India Company : it is of 646 tons burden, has an engine of 230 horse-power, and seven guns, and is commanded by Captain B , a well- informed, able seaman, who inspired confidence by the decision of his manner, and maintained the strictest order among his crew, which consisted of thirty-six Europeans and twenty-two Lascars. A stout Arab, who has acquired great reputation by his knowledge of this sea, served as our pilot ; he was the only one among the Mahometans who regularly performed his 26 THE RED SEA. — MOCHA. — BAB-EL-MANDEB. devotions on the paddle-box, at sunrise and sunset. All the arrangements were in the Indian style, and the servants were all Mussulmans and Parsees, one of whom was employed during meal-time in keeping up a fresh circulation of air by means of a large punca. On the 2 2d of July at five in the afternoon we put to sea, in a dead calm ; during the first thirty- six hours we saw at the same time the rocky coast and mountain chains of Egypt and Arabia. We then approached the sharp and singularly peaked eminences of Abyssinia ; passed on Wednesday the 27th, at nine in the evening, the volcanic island of Zebaya, which is scarcely 800 feet high, and on the following day, the partly rocky, partly sandy islands of Jibbel, Zuger, and Harnish. Off Mocha a gun was fired to announce our arrival, and soon afterwards a boat put off which received the letters for the agent at that place. Mocha with its closely- built houses and clay huts, above which rise two minarets, surrounded by a few date-palms, appears to lie in a desert. Our voyage on the unruffled sea would have been very agreeable, had we not .been oppressed by a constant heat of 100° Fahr., which even at night fell only to 89°, and was not tempered by any breeze. Neither baths nor any other artificial means were of the slightest aArail ; eau de Cologne alone afforded momentary refreshment ; and we passed our days in a state of languor without being able to procure sleep. But on the evening of the 28th, when we passed through the Straits of Bab-el- Mandeb into the agitated southern ocean, a cooling monsoon blew in our faces, by which the temperature ofthe air and sea was mitigated 10°, ADEN. — THE CLEOPATRA STEAMER. 27 as you will perceive from the accompanying observa tions. The next morning, at 8 o'clock, we entered the Bay of Aden, which is surrounded by bare rugged rocks 1780 feet in height. We were not even allowed sufficient time to go ashore, because the Cleopatra steamer, of 700 tons burden and 220 horse-power, was waiting for us, and we were to proceed on the voyage as soon as ever the baggage was moved from one vessel to the other. Fifty Sepoys, invalids of the regiment stationed here, together with their wives and children, were embarked with us. These brown, naked, sickly-looking people, most of them Hindoos, were uncomfortably lodged in the fore part of the vessel ; and as their religion forbids them to cook on board, their only food was rice moistened with water and seasoned with spices, of which they partook s*o sparingly that it seemed barely sufficient to sustain life. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon we weighed anchor. A violent storm arose at the mouth of the bay, as we put to sea ; and scarcely had we passed the last rocks when the cry of fire was raised by the terrified Lascars. The engine was instantly stopped, and I saw some of the crew pouring pailfuls of water on the engine," which, not having been properly oiled, had become ignited. Matters were, however, soon set to rights, and in a quarter of an hour we were able to proceed on our voyage. The sea continued very rough ; the Avind, however, was not so violent as before, but the sky was covered with a grey veil, through which the sun shed only a faint melancholy gleam. Though the Cleopatra was in other respects so admirable in its arrangements, yet the cleanliness peculiar to the English was lamentably wanting. The provisions 28 WOMAN DROAVNED. were scarcely eatable, and during the eight days we passed on board I lived almost wholly on rice and wine. In the afternoon of the 31st we reached the region of the Monsoon: the engine was now stopped, the sails hoisted, and a strong wind carried us rapidly forward, at the rate of eight knots an hour. We had not proceeded long, and the sun was already setting, when a loud cry arose of some one overboard. It was the wife of one of the Hindoo soldiers, who, in preparing her bed for the night, lost her balance, and feeling herself going, exclaimed, " My husband ! my husband ! " The ship passed over her, and she in stantly disappeared. The captain immediately had the sails furled ; but before the vessel could be stopped and the life-boat put out, full a quarter of an hour had elapsed. An officer wrth six seamen, carrying a lantern as a signal, hastily steered towards the spot where the poor Avoman had sunk. In the darkness of the night the little boat soon vanished from our eyes, and we waited long and anxiously for its return : it was nearly half an hour ere we saw it approach us, but, as might be expected, without the body of the unfortunate Hindoo. Two days after this we buried one of our sailors. As the sun was sinking into the ocean the ship's bell was tolled; the sailors, dressed in their best suit, carried the corpse on a simple bier, charged with cannon balls and covered with a flag, to the side of the vessel : here the cap tain having read the incomparable burial service and pronounced the blessing, the sailors lowered the body of their comrade into its ocean-grave. It was a solemn moment ! But I was shocked and astonished to see some of our passengers stand with their coffee- ARRIVAL AT BOMBAY. 29 cups in their hands to witness this mournful cere mony [ From this time slight showers of rain occasionally passed over us, but, contrary to expectation, the nearer we approached Bombay the more pure was the air, and the more serene and lovely was the sky. The wind had abated so much that, on the 4th of August, it was found expedient to set the engine at work again. At length, on the 6th, we descried in the hazy distance the coast of Bombay ; from this time we met many fishing-boats, which often go out as far as twenty miles to sea. In joyful expectation, we all stood on deck with our eyes riveted on the rocks and lighthouse of Bombay ; but before we could clearly discern them, total darkness set in. The captain sent up blue lights from time to time, which were answered from the pilot-boats, by which such a magic brightness was spread around, that the ocean was illumined to a great distance, and our vessel seemed to swim in a sea of light. Towards 8 o'clock, we approached the harbour, which was full of vessels, saluting them as we entered with the thunder of our guns, and ere long the loud clank of the ponderous anchor chain, announced the happy termination of our voyage. You may imagine that I was all impatience to set my foot on shore. Lieutenant Bowen and myself accordingly engaged the first boat ; our luggage was speedily stowed in it, and in less than an hour, I trod the soil of India. But how shall I describe the im pression which almost overpowered me at this moment ! To find myself in the land which was the cradle of the human race, the land of poetry, and of the Arabian Nights ! I could scarcely conceive that the 30 LAND AT BOMBAY. f dreams of my youth were realised. Though it was dark, the naked forms that flitted before me, the style of the architecture of the houses, and the foreign character of the scenery, told me that I was indeed in a new world. An officer, who was riding the rounds, was the first European whom we met ; we of course overwhelmed him with questions respecting the army, and I was glad that he gave me hopes of being an eye-witness of some military operations. We were soon afterwards lodged in the Victoria Hotel, the only inn in this place, which much resembles our German post-houses, while the charges are on the scale of the first-rate hotel in London. We were, however, heartily glad to partake of a good supper, after which I took possession of a bed covered with a mosquito net, and soon fell into a profound sleep, from which I was awakened by the rising sun and the screams of innumerable crows. BOMBAY. 31 LETTER II. TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Bombay: ihe town and harbour. — Native town. — Bazars. — • Merchants and artizans. — Colabah. — Domestic establishments of Englishmen of distinction. — Excursions in the environs and to Malabar Point and Pareil. — Burning the dead. — The Parsees. — Gymnastic exercises of ihe Indians and their Jugglers. — Journey to Poonah. — The chain of Ghauts. — Poonah. — Festivities of the natives in honour of the governor. — Bayaderes. — Mode of life of ihe English. — Parbutty and ihe palace ofthe Peishwa. — Return to Bombay. — The rainy season. — Preparations for our journey to Kurrachee. — Establishment of the governor. Bombay, August 3d, 1842. Having accompanied me till my arrival in Bombay, permit me to give you some account of this delight ful island, before I proceed to relate any particulars of my diversified mode of life within the last few weeks. At the foot of the Western Ghauts lies a small group of islands, of which Bombay is the most impor tant. It is situated in 18° 58' N. L., and 72° 55' E. L. from Greenwich, and is connected on its northern side by an arched stone bridge Avith Salsette, the larger island. It is surrounded by several others of a lofty rocky character, the most remarkable of which is Elephanta, famed for- its ancient colossal Hindoo or Buddah temple, hewn in the solid rock. Back bay, as it is called, is formed by two peninsulas which 32 BOMBAY. stretch far into the sea: the northern of these is the rocky promontory of Malabar Poinf, and the southern, the narrow Colabah, is of coral formation, and scarcely rises above the surface of the water. The harbour is spacious, and is situated between Colabah, Bombay, and Salsette ; four miles from its eastern extremity is Butcher's Island, Avhich is ap parently connected with Elephanta, anda little to the south lies Caranja, five miles to the south-west of which, between Toll Point and Colabah, is the entrance into the harbour of Bombay. The light house stands upon a rock 150 feet above the level of the sea, at the extreme point of Colabah. The harbour is defended by numerous batteries, which would render a hostile landing next to impossible. The coast is every where adorned with palm-trees, and I was especially struck Avith the beauties of the slender, lofty cocoa palm, which lifts its graceful crown towards the skies. Bombay is divided into two towns, one lying next to the sea, and surrounded by the fortifications, and the other called the Black or Native town, situated to the west, and built upon an alluvial soil. The streets of the former are narrow, the houses three stories high, and built of wood or brick ; their ex ternal appearance is not unlike that of the houses in the towns of Southern Italy. They all have verandahs which rise one above the other, and are supported by Avooden pillars, and small bow windows, which are adorned with neat trellis-work. In the lower part of the town are the bazars, which are narrow and dirty, and are chiefly kept by the- Parsees. The only remarkable building in Bombay is the Government- house ; it has a fine colonnade, and in front of it is BOMBAY. 33 a square planted with trees, with a fountain rising in the centre. It comprehends the several govern ment offices, a library, and a spacious saloon, adorned with marble statues of the excellent Mountstuart El- phinstone, and Sir John Malcolm. Adjoining this building are the extensive arsenals and docks. The fleet of Bombay consists of 22 war-steamers, six of which are armed for service ; there are also 18 sailing vessels, 11 of which carry 98 guns ; three of these are sloops, four brigs, four schooners, and four •cutters ; there are besides 11 iron steam-boats for the navi gation of the Indus and the Euphrates. I must not forget to mention that a school-house has been recently erected, and I am happy to say that much attention has lately been paid, both by, the government and private individuals to the education of the natives. I hope to be able to give you some particulars respect ing it on a future occasion. A road leads from the extensive fortifications through a gate towards the west, across a broad esplanade to the Black Town, which is about a mile distant. On our way thither we saw several hun dreds of men and women, standing in the most pic turesque groups round brick wells, • drawing water, washing linen, and refreshing themselves by throwing large pitchers of water over each other. The streets in the Native town are very narrow, and consist of small brick houses, two stories high : the lower story is raised but little above the ground, in which the open bazars are kept, where the dealers sit cross- legged behind their merchandise, which is piled up in baskets. Here a scene of the most busy and noisy activity constantly prevails, but especially in the evening, when the streets and bazars are lighted by VOL. I. D 31 THE BAZAR. numerous small lamps. Thousands of natives throng the stalls, examining the goods of the dealers, among^ Avhom the Bannia (corn chandler), and the Mittie- " Avalla (confectioner), have the chief custom. The Bannia has every variety of grain, wheat, rice, barley, iowary (Holcus Sorghum), bagera (Panicum spi- catum), Gram (Cicer arietinum), &c. exposed for sale in baskets, and in dry weather it is piled up in heaps in the street, in front of his booth. He generally has an iron pan at his side ; this he keeps constantly hot, and pours maize into it, which is thus heated and roasted. It is a favourite food of the Indians, but their choicest delicacy is a cake made of flour and sugar, seethed in Ghee (clarified butter) : these the Mittie- Wallas (p. 35.) arrange with much taste, and attract great numbers of women and children. It is, however, too sweet and indigestible to suit our THE BAZAR. 35 refined palates, though the natives indulge in it, till they actually become ill. MITTIE-AVAILA. The Soottar (carpenter) (p. 36.) employs only five tools, namely a hatchet, hammer, saw, gimblet, and knife, and with these, in a very awkward sitting pos ture, he not only makes the neatest furniture, but the prettiest boxes of Sandal-wood, inlaid with steel and ivory, in the most delicate and elegant patterns. At his side is seated the Moochee (shoemaker) (p. 37.), manufacturing singularly formed pointed shoes, and it is remarkable that he generally works with his head uncovered. A loud hammering indicates the workshop of the Lohar (smith and locksmith) (p. 38. ), who performs his hard labour in a similar, inconvenient sitting posture. The Seikelgar (stone and glass grinder) (p. 39.) D 2 36 THE BAZAR. works in a less constrained position, and sets his small stone wheel in motion by means of a tight string. {Hi j / k ^fe^ite CGSjl &C SOOTTAR. As soon as the cool season sets in and refreshing winds prevail, the harvest of the Pattangh-walla (the kite-maker) (p. 40.) commences, because old and young delight in flying the kite ; and while the Mussul man selects those which are adorned with the crescent, the Hindu chooses those which are ornamented with stars and painted in gay colours. The Bazars (calico printer) (p. 41.) displays much skill in printing from wooden blocks, which he holds in his hands ; but his goods are not so much in vogue since the handsomer and less expensive English prints have come into fashion. Next to the Bazars, the Ruiwalla (the cotton beater) (p. 42.) and Sellogry (the cotton weaver) (p. 43.) gene rally take their place. The former beats the cotton, THE BAZAR. 37 just as it is taken from the husk, against a tightened cord, till it, becomes-loose. MOOCHEE. The Sellogry prepares the finest and most delicate tissue on a loom, taking off the flocks with a brush and arranging the threads. Among the most Avretched-looking people are the Dahl-Bechnewallce (poor Avomen, sellers of dhal, Cytisus Cajan) (p. 44.), who s^t at the corners of the bazars, and carry on a little trade in fruit, spices, or flowers. The Batty-walla (candle maker) (p. 45.) looks almost equally miserable ; during the cool evenings he sits by his hoops, which are suspended in the open air, and to which the wicks are fastened. The hoops he turns diligently over a vessel filled with hot wax or tallow, which he pours over the wicks with a ladle, and the current of air thus created quickly hardens them. Candles are, however, in request only in the p 3 38 THE BAZAR. cool season, and then chiefly by Europeans; lamps made of clay or glass are in general use. LOBAR. S-7^4t The Parsee is distinguished among the busy crowd by his lofty, vigorous form, aquiline nose, large, fine eyes, and noble Greek physiognomy, set off by his high turban. The Parsees are the most industrious of all classes ; they are the best shipAvrights, the most able merchants, and the richest, of the natives. Their chief men are distinguished by their intellectual ac tivity, and give entertainments in the European style. One of them, the philanthropic Sir Jamsitjee Jee- jeebhoy, a man worth a million, has been knighted by the Queen, on account of his benevolent character, and has been honoured with a gold medal. Most of the Parsees are acquainted with the English language and are very conversant with English literature. THE BAZAR. 39 The Hindoo is distinguished by his smaller and more elegant figure, particularly the upper part of the SEIKELGAR. S~lv*t~ '('¦¦¦' .-. r. .'L.- / - body, and his mild expressive features : like the Parsee, he has mustachios, and wears an upper gar ment of white cotton, and wide pantaloons of the same material, but his turban is flatter. The Marwarees (corn-dealer) (p. 64. ) are of a more robust frame of body, and wear high red turbans, and girdles ornamented with heavy, gay tassels and tufts, and the women wear ivory bracelets on their arms. The Mussulman costume is very similar ; .he is more animated in his movements and gesticulations than the Hindu, and suffers his beard to grow. Bombay includes several villages and many hand some country seats. Immediately behind the Black ToAvn begins a series of the finest country houses, en- D 4 40 THE BAZAR. closed by beautiful gardens ; both stories being sur rounded by a verandah supported by pillars. As soon PATTANGH-WAXLA. /, [f^ , >,«.!«. r~ as the hot winds set in, screens lined with aromatic reeds are placed between the pillars, and constantly kept moist by running water. These villas, which are de- MALABAR POINT- ¦ POPULATION. 41 tached, are built with every accommodation and regard to the climate, and extend as far as Pareil, the residence ofthe governor, Avhich is four miles distant. /?!-// BAZARS. '.', I Malabar Point is adorned with equally handsome country seats, the situation of which is yet more healthy and beautiful ; it is the residence of the Europeans and the most distinguished of the natives. If you will bear me company in my excursion thither, you will become better acquainted with this lovely island, which is 181 square miles in extent, and is inhabited by about 200,000 persons, increased by a floating po pulation of 70,000 seamen, merchants, pilgrims, and peasants. Nearly two thirds of the population are Hindus; about 20,000 Parsees, and the remainder Mussulmans, Jews, and Portuguese Christians. The latter, who have a darker complexion than the natives, 42 COLABAH. were recommended to me as servants, because they are Avilling to perform any kind of Avork, and are more faithful and trustAvorthy than the Europeans and Mussulmans. '^^zfuEcfs? RUTWALLA. The first day that, I passed in India was Sunday. My companion Lieutenant Bowen, who had quitted me early to join his regiment, which had landed three days before, and was quartered in the barracks at Colabah, sent me a polite invitation to join his officers' mess. Itwas quite out ofthe question to walk thither in the burning heat ofthe sun ; and indeed it would have been a violation of all etiquette. I therefore engaged six palanquin bearers, who carried me in an hour's time to Colabah. The motion was very pleasant, but it was quite repugnant to my feelings to be carried by my felloAV beings ; though these broAvn men (who wear no other dress than a white cotton garment COLABAH. 43 round the waist) are used to it, and gladly offer their services for one rupee the whole day.* SELLOGRY Colabah is joined to Bombay by a causeAvay, which gives it the appearance of a peninsula ; as soon as we crossed this causeway, aProtestant church met our eye, and immediately behind it commenced the Bungalows. These are spacious wooden houses, of which those nearest the sea are taken down during the Monsoon. Most of them are surrounded with small gardens ; and * A rupee is equal to 16 annas, or 2 shillings sterling ; a lack is 100,000 rupees, or 10,000Z. sterling ; a crore is equal to 100 lacs, or a million sterling. 44 MAZAGON HOUSE GENERAL BARR. the neat buildings are overshadowed by mangoes, palms, and tamarinds. I was greatly pleased with the society of my new comrades, and did not leave them till late in the evening. Tavo of these gentlemen, with whom I had been particularly taken, fell victims to the cholera a few days afterwards ; and my travelling companion Lieutenant Bowen and some others were attacked by fever. OAHL-BECHNEWALLEE. f ¦ ,\ - :. • , , ¦' ' As neither the governor nor the commanding general were here, I paid a visit on the following day to General Barr at Mazagon House, to whom Colonel Sykes had introduced me by letter. The general and his family were at breakfast, and I was received by all with the greatest kindness. General Barr is one of those fine, noble, manly persons who instantly produce a favourable impression ; his deportment is grave and dignified ; he is wholly devoted to his country and to his profession, and greatly beloved by his family, to whom, indeed, he is in every sense the GENERAL BARR. 45 kindest of husbands and fathers. His lady is the most warm-hearted and benevolent of women, and has no thought but that of ordering her family as in the sight of God. Three sons, officers in the army, and tAvo daughters, who closely resemble their es timable parents, and one of whom has been recently BATTY. WALLA. ^fcV^d. •¦• ')¦ married, completed this happy family circle. After some conversation, I Avas invited to take, up my resi dence in the house, and you may imagine that I considered myself fortunate to be received into such a family. The same evening I was surrounded with all the comforts and conveniences of a wealthy Indian country seat. The general has four-and-twenty servants, one of whom stands at the foot of the stairs in the hall to 46 DOMESTIC SERVANTS. receive visiters; near him is generally seated the Durzee (man tailor), busily occupied in embroidering, or making articles of dress for the ladies. The man with a stick in his hand, and wearing a metal plate on his breast, is the Chuprassy, (p.47.) who is employed as messenger or letter-carrier. He is also engaged by rich natives to precede them, and proclaim to the crowd the virtues, powers, and noble qualities of his master in flowing and poetical phrases. Another servant, who always Avears a bunch of keys at his side, is the Sirdar (p. 48.), called the Trea surer and Superintendent, and sometimes the Butler. The Byhishti (water-carrier) (p. 49.) is always seen with his leather water-bag at his side. Early in the morning, shortly before breakfast, the Mahli (gardener) (p. 50.) brings a nosegay and a small basket in which fruits and vegetables are tastefully DOMESTIC SERVANTS. 47 arranged; his master expresses his satisfaction by touching what he brings with his right hand. The sole business of the Ilookaburdar (p. 51.) is to attend to his master's hookah or pipe ; he carefully rolls up the tobacco, which is composed of flowers and spices, moistened with rose-Avatcr, and throAvs it on the CHTJPRASSY. charcoal fire. By means of a long tube, which is wetted from time to time with rose-water, the fumes are drawn through the water, Avhich is in the stand, and diffuse an aromatic odour. When the heat is very great, another servant, the Chowree burdar, stands behind his master's chair, 48 DOMESTIC SERVANTS. coohng the air with a fan made of the silky hair of the tail of the Nepaulese cow. All the washing is done by men, and the Dobys (p. 52.), though they wash the linen in cold water, and only beat it, far sur pass our laundresses in the execution of their labours. SIRDAR " /u-&3 ~ W-C/^df- Fresh cool beverages are a great luxury, or, I should rather say, are quite indispensable ; great pains are therefore taken to cool water in porous vessels or in ice, and wine is cooled by means of saltpetre and salt, or the bottle is covered with damp linen and ex posed to a current of air. The Abdar (p. 53.), who has the charge of this department, is the only servant DOMESTIC SERVANTS. 49 who is permitted to keep on his shoes Avhile perform ing his office, to prevent him from taking cold. BYHISHTI. UrtJa i •- . tJ^-Y^w The Babatschy (cooks) (p. 54.) are well acquainted with English cookery, and are very cleanly and teach able. There are many other servants employed in the household, and others in the stables, each horse having its own groom, who runs by its side when the master either drives or rides out. The lowest of all in rank is the Mather (p. 55.) : his name is indeed princely, but he is, as it were, the Paria, because it is his VOL. I. E 50 DOMESTIC SERVANTS. business to clear away the dirt, and to perform all the drudgery of the house. MAHLI. The Ayah (nurse or confidential servant) (p.56.) of the mistress ofthe house is generally represented with a casket of jewels in her hand, and those who have the charge of the younger children are usually accompanied, when they go out walking, by two men-servants, that the little ones may have protection at hand if needed. In this singular country every one attends exclusively to his own particular duty ; the Hindoo is commanded to do so by his religion, and the Mussulman follows DOMESTIC SERVANTS. 51 the example as a matter of convenience. Each there fore thoroughly understands his oaati business ; and the consequence is, that you are admirably waited upon, though the greater part of these useful people are content Avith eight rupees or sixteen shillings per month. HOOKABUDRAR. Ikrt/lc*- - 'hw I now pass my time quite in the Indian fashion. In the morning, before sunrise, I take a ride with H , the eldest son of my excellent host, to different parts of B 2 52 DOMESTIC SERVANTS. the island ; the refreshment of a bath succeeds, and immediately after, about half-past nine o'clock, we assemble for breakfast, after which every one follows his own occupation till two, when a slight luncheon once more unites our circle. About five o'clock we again make some Httle excursion, and at eight we meet DOBY, M/tui/ji-KTrKW at dinner, where we relate to each other the little adven tures of the day, and in the evening we amuse our selves at the billiard-table. Receiving and paying visits give some diversity to our daily life. Although this is the rainy season, Ave continue to have the finest weather; slight showers of rain falling only in the DOMESTIC SERVANTS. 53 night, so that we are frequently able to extend our rides to the most distant parts of the island. A new causeway leads from Mazagon House through the west end of the Black Town, across the marshy soil ofthe island, past the cemetery ofthe Mussulmans ; not far from which it is intended to build a theatre. Immediately beyond the plain commences the Mala bar peninsula ; at the entrance of which stands the handsome country house of a wealthy Hindoo gold smith, with a pagoda in front of it. The peninsula is very rocky and extends far into the sea : it is adorned with a pleasing variety of country seats, interspersed Avith groves of cocoa-nut trees, and traversed in all direc tions by good roads. We followed a winding direction round the northern extremity, and the nearer we ap proached the sea the more wild and rude the scenery became ; shattered masses of rock lay scattered around, 54 MALABAR POINT. and the palm tree rarely enlivened this district There was something sublime in the appearance of BABATSCHY. OrK this tract washed by the dashing billows of the ma jestic ocean. Malabar Point is formed by a rock, 60 feet high, projecting into the sea, upon which Mr. Elphinstone built a small summer residence ; and not far off, close upon the beach, are the ruins of some very ancient Hindoo temples. From this point we enjoyed one of the most beautiful prospects in the world, closely resembling that of the Bay of Naples, but far exceeding it in grandeur. Before us rolled the boundless ocean, breaking with fury against the rocks, and dashing its waves aloft into the air. A fine view presented itself of the tAvo towns which MALABAR POINT, ISLANDS. 55 form Bombay, Colabah, and, beyond it, the port, ani mated with numerous ships, with the islands of Ele phanta, Caranja, and Butcher's Island, scattered hke fairy flower-gardens on the bright bosom of the ocean. One evening at sunset, as we were riding home along the road leading to the south, enjoying this varied prospect, we saAV a poor Hindoo, with a small box. in his hand, carefully feeding with sugar the ants that were crawling across the path. Masses of rock painted red indicated this, and some other sacred E 4 56 MALABAR POINT, ISLANDS'. spots. At a distance on the strand, in a bay formed by Colabah and Malabar Point, we saw bright flames AYAH. *frt-.ll^ ascending in several places ; they were the funeral piles of those who had died in the course of the day. As soon as a person expires the corpse is bathed, anointed with fragrant essences, and then placed on a bed of holy grass before the door of the house. Hymns and prayers are addressed to the dead body, which is strewn with sacred leaves and flowers, and the relations, Avith concise exclamations of grief, in stantly bear the deceased to the funeral pile. In Southern India the procession is accompanied with BURNING THE DEAD THE PARSEES. 57 music, and the face of the departed is coloured Avith crimson paint. The mourners, who are members of a religious order, sit cross-legged in damp garments round the fire, seemingly lost in contemplation, with their eyes fixed on the dead body which is placed between blocks of wood ; and, when the last remains have been burnt up, the ashes are collected, and every one returns to his home in silent meditation. The pile is not more than five feet high, and is adorned with flowers ; ghee and fragrant oils are poured upon the Avood to cherish the flames ; and in a few short hours every trace has been effaced by the wind or the waves. The Parsees meanwhile, turning towards the ocean, gaze upon the setting sun, and worship that luminary and the watery element ; many of them holding manu scripts in their hands, the language of which they do not understand. Their burying-place is not far distant : it is planted with palm trees and surrounded by a wall ; thither they bear the corpse, which, like the Hindoos, they deck with flowers, and place in the open air, and wait patiently till it is devoured by the birds. As soon as a limb has been eaten by them, and espe cially if they have commenced with the eyes, these poor ignorant people imagine that the Hfe of the deceased was acceptable to God, and that his spirit is in bliss ! On one occasion I visited the temples and the fakirs, the Hindoo saints. My young friend told me of two of these men, who, for fifteen years, had subjected themselves to the greatest bodily pain. One of them held up a flower-pot in his right hand, and had performed his vow with such energy of wiU that his nails had grown into it ; the other Avho, likewise naked, had suffered his hair and beard to grow, and 58 THE FAKIRS. THE BRAHMINS. held a lotus flower. Neither of them could put their arm into any other posture ; they were held in great veneration by the members of their own religion, who daily brought them food and drink, and per formed the necessary ablutions. On our arrival at the pagoda my friend inquired after them : Ave were sorry to learn that they had quitted the temple only the day previous, as the term of their probation had expired. We then rode to some other pagodas ; in front of nearly aU of them was a tank or walled pond, with flights of steps leading into the Avater, in which the people bathe, to wash away their sins. The Brah mins are distinguished by their foreheads being painted in a particular manner, generaUy red, by their white garments, and a cotton skein of thread fastened to their left shoulder and brought across the breast. The fakirs are perfectly naked, emaciated, and very dirty ; their faces are deformed by aU kinds of paint, and their lank, matted hair gives them a very disgusting appear ance. They are regarded as saints, and every temple can boast of some of them. Others perform their de votions in luxury and indolence, satisfying themselves with frequent bathing and silent meditation, or with smoking the hookah with grave indifference. In front of the temple is the sacred buU, hewn in stone, and within the building are some of their divinities with burning lamps placed before them. Having determined to undertake a journey to Poonah, in company with the younger son of my ex ceUent host, the General's lady contrived to let me see some specimens of the dexterity of the natives. First of all, several men, women, and children appeared in the garden, to exhibit their skiU in balancing ; it is impossible for you to form any conception of the GYMNASTIC PERFORMANCES. — JUGGLERS. 59 agility, distortion of limb, and pliability of body of these people : our rope-dancers avouIc! have been quite abashed in their presence ; but I can tell them, for their comfort, that they would have displayed more grace in their exhibitions. They represented almost aU kinds of remarkable animals, in doing which several bodies were so interlaced, that the different individuals could scarcely be distinguished. They also performed feats of strength, and one man bore on his shoulders six others, standing two and two above each other- These performances Avere succeeded by a band of jugglers, consisting of a long-bearded old man, accom panied by three boys and several women. They first exhibited various tricks with tamed serpents, among which was the venomous cobra de capella; these animals sometimes danced to the sound of a pipe, twined themselves together, and then suddenly disap peared. They then exhibited the most extraordinary transformations, some of which were wholly inexpli cable. Thus a strapping boy fifteen years old con trived to creep into a round basket, two feet high and three feet broad, in such a manner that when the basket was opened there was nothing to be seen of him ; he must have managed most cleverly to cower down into the veriest nook on that side of the basket which was nearest us. The exhibition closed with thrusting daggers down their throats, and flames issuing from their mouths. I have likewise had an insight into social life in India, for which I am indebted to the hospitahty of some of the principal families ; it consists chiefly of dinners, musical entertainments, and, in the cooler season, of balls. At the former, a stranger is much struck by the appearance of the numerous attendants 60 SOCIAL LIFE IN INDIA. — PAREIL. in their national costume, each guest being obliged to bring his own servant. Everything is in the English style, with the exception of the Punca, which is suspended over the table, and keeps up a constant circulation of air. I cannot omit speaking of the mango. This gold-coloured fruit, Avhich is larger than our nectarine, has a most deficious fra grance, and combines in its taste the ambrosia of the pineapple, the flavour of the orange, and the juiciness of the peach. The mango of Bombay is the finest in India, and is sent by messengers to great distances ; preserved in sugar, it is one of the most deHcious fruits imaginable. One fine morning, the air having been cooled during the night by a fall of rain, we rode to Pareil. On the way thither, we crossed several eminences which afforded beautiful prospects over the island and the sea towards the Ghauts. We met many country people carrying various kinds of fruits, or large vessels fuU of Hquor (called by the English toddy), an intoxicating beverage, extracted from the palm. A mile to the left of this road is the Bo tanic Garden, which was formed two years ago by voluntary contributions. PareU is a large, irregular building, and was formerly a Portugese Jesuit CoUege ; it contains some very fine and richly ornamented apartments, and is surrounded by an extensive, but ill-arranged garden. The governor generaUy spends the hot season at this place, and the rainy season in his country seat near Poonah. He receives the superior officers and strangers at breakfast, every Saturday. On the evening of the same day Ave visited the lighthouse of Colabah. An adjacent churchyard JOURNEY TO POONAH. 61 contains the graves of the many persons who have suffered shipwreck on this coast. Two years ago, some vessels with troops from England stranded here, on board of which were several officers with their families, and above 500 men, few of whom could be saved. It was a heartrending moment to the sea men and spectators on shore, to see the despair of the people on the wreck struggling with the waves, with out being able to render them the slightest assistance. I was told that in June 1837 the monsoon set in Avith such violence that most of the vessels in the harbours were dismasted. The prospect from the lighthouse towards Malabar Point is most beautiful : in other directions the objects lie too scattered to be comprehended in one view. Between the burying- place, to which I have before alluded, and the walls of the lighthouse, innumerable serpents have their retreat. On the 14th of August we commenced our journey to Poonah : at 11 o'clock we went on board what is called a Banderboat, Avhich had a small cabin, with a crew of five Mussulmans, a steersman, and four rowers. We expected to be able, by the aid of wind and tide, to reach the village of Panwelly, above thirty miles distant, in eight hours; but we had scarcely sailed a league beyond Elephanta, when we Avere driven between Butcher's Island and Salsette, where the wind gradually abated, and we were obliged to have recourse to our oars. A monotonous singing, and the Gurguru, or pipe producing a guttural sort of sound, passing from mouth to mouth, broken by the exhortations of the steersman, animated our indolent crew : but our misadventures had retarded us so much, that we were obliged to cast anchor at eight o'clock at 62 PANWELL. — THE GHAUTS. the mouth of the PanweU river, where we Avaited for the next tide, with Avhich we reached the Mole at four o'clock in the morning. We found our one-horse buggy waiting for us at a bungalow near the bank ; and we drove along an excellent road, made by Mount- stuart Elphinstone, through the neat and cheerful viUage of PanweU. As soon as we had passed the village, we entered a richly cultivated valley, between the most luxuriant rice fields, and at our side and in the background rose the picturesque, singularly formed chain ofthe Ghauts. A dingy funnel-shaped mountain, which rises like the chimney of a forge from the centre of a table mountain, in wild, jagged masses, forms a most strange contrast with the bright verdure of the foHage and meadows. This striking object is sur rounded by ragged masses of rock, which toAver ma jestically above the large-leaved teak-tree, and appear from a distance exactly like ruins of ancient castles. They rise about 3000 feet above the level of the sea. We saw scarcely a bird, excepting some green parrots and the dazzling white, long-legged Paddy bird (Ardea), which was seeking its food in the rice plantations. The inhabitants were ranged round the fire in their wretched clay huts, or walking in the fields covered with a mat of palm-leaves, which runs to a point above their heads, and hanging down over their shoulders, serves as a protection against the rain. Every now and then we met long trains of amply- laden Hackeries drawn by oxen carrying sacks. The creaking of the wheels of these clumsy and heavUy- buUt Hackeries, or farmer's waggons, is heard at some distance. These wheels are made either of a soHd piece of wood, or have eight spokes, two and two, placed close to each other, and traverse the axle-tree KANDALLA FIXE PROSPECT. 63 nearly at right angles. The Hackeries are used by the farmers to bring home their harvest, and to carry their productions to market. In those districts, Avhere manure is employed in tiUage, a basket is hung on the Hackery to convey it to the fields. We also oc casionally met Brinjares, driving oxen, carrying sacks of corn upon their backs. After proceeding nine mUes, we reached our first stage close to a hideous Maharatta idol hewn in stone, and painted red. Here the road rises more and more, the eminences are more thickly wooded, and the vaUey gradually closes in at the viUage of Kampuly, at the side of which stands an ancient temple, dedicated to Mahadeo (the God of Death), surrounded by a large waUed tank. From this place, the road leads in many windings up the Kandalla pass to the viHage of Kandalla or Kindalla, which is about 3000 feet above the level of the sea. Here we left our buggy, which was drawn up by men whUe we were carried to the summit in palanquins. The morning was delightfully cool, and the sun from time to time darted his beams through the breaking clouds : the scenery which surrounded me was luxu riant in the highest degree, and the flowery carpet of the mountain parterres lay before me in such fresh ness and beauty, that I found it impossible to remain any longer in my palanquin, borne on the shoulders of men. At one point of view we suddenly overlooked the whole of the valley through which we had just passed. On one side ten beautiful waterfalls, — the largest of which, the CaUiani, is about 1400 feet high, — rushed down over ledges, and broken masses of rock presented a most magnificent sight which can be enjoyed only in the rainy season ; whUe at the bottom, 64 MARWAREES. POONAH. * 65 deep down in the valley, lies Kampuly Avith its solitary temple. Turning to the other side, the chain of the Ghauts, running tOAvards the south, and the distant wide-spread ocean, lay before us. At this moment " a solemn silence and sublime repose " reigned over the whole landscape ; as if all nature was rapt in mute adoration before God. We breakfasted Avith a Parsee in a bungaloAV at - KandaUa, a little Aollage buUt on the top of the Ghauts, on the most picturesque points of which stand several country houses, belonging to British officers. From hence the road gradually declines, and passes over a table land from 3000 to 4000 paces broad ; the emi nences at either side assume more and more an undu lating character, retire to a greater distance in the vici nity of Poonah, and at length appear only in isolat ed masses. We found post-horses ready at every ten miles ; but, as we were unfortunately obliged to reach Poonah the same day, we were forced to defer our intended excursion to the celebrated cave-temples of Carli. We did not arrive at our destination tUl 9 o'clock in the evening, when I was welcomed in the kindest manner in the bungaloAV of Captain St. Clair. Poonah, the former residence of the Peishwa, or supreme Rajah of the Maharattas, lies on an extensive bare plateau, about 2000 feet above the sea, surrounded by strangely formed trap mountains, on the rocky summits of which are scattered ruined castles of the Maharattas. On account of the salubrity of the climate, Poonah is one of the chief stations of the British. Five thousand men were garrisoned here at this time, and Sir Thomas M'Mahon, general-in-chief, and Sir George Arthur, Governor of Bombay, were also at Poonah. The city, which in the height of its VOL. I. F 66 POONAH. splendour contained a population of more than 140,000 inhabitants, now scarcely numbers 60,000. Most of the houses are two stories high ; and are built of stone, Avood, or brick. The principal streets are macadamized and very clean ; the bazars broad, and planted with trees. A considerable trade is carried on, and we every where saw indications of increasing prosperity. The barracks, a Protestant church, and innumerable country houses and bungalows of the civil and military officers, surrounded with the most beautiful flower gardens and orchards, lie in a semi circle towards the east, immediately without the city,. which has no gates. Besides bananas, oranges, man goes, and pomegranates, grapes and apples grow here in perfection. Roads run in every direction, and bridges, with several arches supported by stone piers, are thrown across the Moota and Mola, which flow in a broad and stony bed. It was a happy coincidence for me, that, on the very first day after my arrival, the principal inhabit ants were preparing to give a festive reception to the Governor, who had lately arrived from Europe. Accompanied by my friend, I rode through the city to the house of a wealthy Hindoo merchant: the houses were att adorned with flowers, and crowds of persons dressed in white were standing in the streets, anxiously waiting to see the Governor pass. He was seated with Sir Charles Napier in an open carriage, preceded by a body of cavalry, and his servants, who were dressed in bright scarlet liveries ; his suite followed in several other carriages, and a detachment of cavalry closed the procession. Though I had not yet been presented to Sir George Arthur, he had the goodness to invite me to be present at this interesting # FESTIVITIES. 67 and unique ceremony. The houses of the gentlemen who gave the entertainment were distinguished by particularly rich garlands of floAvers. Amid the sound of unharmonious music, the host received his distinguished guest at the threshold of his gate, which opened into a quadrangle surrounded by open arcades. A narrow, dark staircase led to the very simple, low, reception room on the second floor. Here the gentlemen of the fannly and the servants were standing. As soon as we were seated on divans and chairs, the music (consisting of a small drum, a pipe and a kind of guitar) immediately struck up. Some of the Bayaderes commenced dancing, AvhUe others at the same time crowned us with wreaths of flowers, and sprinkled us with ottar of roses. At the desire of the host, the company were presented with various kinds of gilded spices on silver salvers, and the beetle-nut, neatly folded in beetle leaves and mixed with catechu and chunam, were handed round. The Bayaderes were very much ornamented with jewels, and wore massive rings in their ears and noses and around their ancles: they were dressed in gay garments, which feU in ample folds around them ; and a scarf of the finest texture covered their neck and bosom, whUe their beautiful silky black hair hung down in braids over their shoulders. During their dance, which consisted partly in a revolving movement, partly in a springing step, they flung the shawl in va rious graceful forms about the body, and accompanied the music with a monotonous song. To heighten the beauty of their eyes, they had blackened the eyelids with antimony. Their hands and feet were small and delicate, and the contour of the figure and of the countenance extremely elegant and noble : if not ac- F 2 68 FESTIVITIES. tuaUy beautiful, these Bayaderes had a very attractive, feminine appearance. After Ave had looked at the dancing for about a quarter of an hour, our host conducted us to the in terior small floAver garden, enclosed by the Zenana, in the centre of Avhich was a basin with a foun tain. Festoons and garlands, interspersed with innu merable lamps and painted paper lanterns, diffused a magic charm over the whole scene. While gazing around on these elegant decorations, we saw the wivTes and daughters of our host peeping through a wooden lattice in the second story ; but no sooner did they perceive that they were remarked, than they imme diately vanished from our inquisitive eyes. After taking leave of our host, we visited several other persons of distinction, and every where met with a similar reception : the more wealthy, of course, dis played greater splendour and profusion in the decora tions of their houses, and likewise brought forward more numerous Bayaderes. I am living in a continual round of military and other festivities. When the gun is fired at the daAvn of day, I join the troops, and much of my time is taken up with visits, and all kinds of fetes. I cannot speak in sufficiently high terms of the hospitality of the Governor, of the general in command, and of Sir Charles Napier, and of the courtesy of the officers of all the troops, who indeed treat me like a comrade. I am particularly pleased with Dapoory, the country seat of the Governor, Avhich is about five miles from Poonah : it is most agreeably situated, and is sur rounded Avith a delightful floAver and botanic garden. Close to it lies the village of Kirkee, where the 14th regiment of Dragoons is stationed. I have HkeAvise PARBUTTY. — 1IEERA BAUGU. 69 attended a ball given by the officers of the 1st Eu ropean regiment in their mess room. Indian luxury was here combined Avith European comfort. The novel sight of Indians of distinction in their picturesque costume, moving gravely and silently among the hand some ladies, and the military in their rich uniforms, furnished matter for various reflections and compa risons on the characters and manners of different nations. In the adjoining garden arbours made of ar tificial flowers, and tents adorned with festoons, were lighted up in every variety of style, and all the Avalks Avere laid Avith the richest carpets : the night was so beautiful and cool, that the company prolonged their enjoyment tiU the morning dawned. Captain Keith Erskine, one of my new acquaintances, whose wit and humour is a constant source of amuse ment to us, undertook the wearisome task of a cicerone, and rode Avith me one fine morning to Parbutty, a mile south-west of the city. A short distance before reaching Parbutty we visited Heera Baugh, formerly the summer palace of the PeishAva ; it is situated in a luxuriant flower garden, by the side of a large pond shaded with pipal (Ficus religiosa), mangoes, tamarinds, and banyan trees. We were received by Manackjy Carsetjy, a young Parsee, who had raised himself by his talents from the subordinate condition of a writer, to that of an Indian grandee. After the publication of some tolerable poems, he received, by Avay of encouragement, the distinguished ap- peUation of " the Byron of the East." This, toge ther with his subsequent travels in Europe, — where the title of prince is so lavishly bestowed upon every Indian, and where the pope and the great men of England and France, received him with special marks F 3 70 PARBUJTTY. — BLIND BRAHMIN. of distinction, and presented him with costly gifts, — tended to make him such a conceited dandy, that we can only pity the vain young man, who now reaUy fancies himself a second Byron, for having acquired some knowledge-of the civilised Avorld. Parbutty is an isolated peak, about 300 feet high ; there are some very picturesque prospects from the sum mit, where several temples of Parvati, wife of Mahadeo, are built. Before us lay the pond, surrounded by a mea dow, which was covered with land-crabs, and on one side of which stood the deUghtful Heera Baugh. Close to this palace is the Elephant park, where the Peishwa used to have combats of tigers, and behind it rose the town and numerous bungalows, amidst a forest of mango trees, above which gleamed the bright tops of the pagodas ; while in the remote distance the rocky eminences were covered with Maharatta castles. Our guide was a blind Brahmin, who gave us such a vivid description, in English, of the mode of life of the Peishwa at his country-seat, of the decayed temples, and of the fine natural scenery around us, that we could scarcely persuade ourselves that he did not actu ally see the objects which he depicted so well. As we were going away, one of his companions asked us for an alms for him ; but he himself merely expressed a wish to know our names, that he might keep us in remembrance. We returned through the iU-built and dirty south-end of the town to the old palace of the Peishwa, which is surrounded by a high watt and a moat. It is a large quadrangular building, with colonnades of elegantly carved wooden pillars, and has a kind of tower shaded by a verandah ; but the Avhole is in such a state of decay that it is not Avorth the expense of repair. RETURN TO BOMBAY. 71 The short period of eight days allotted to our stay passed rapidly away, amidst such an ample variety of objects to engage my attention. I spent the last evening at a cheerful repast with the officers of the 14th regiment of Dragoons, where, according to Enghsh cus tom, we had numerous toasts and speeches. "W ith these agreeable impressions, accompanied with many good wishes, I took leave of S , for Avhom I had conceived a great regard, and in two hours I was on my road to Bombay, in company with the Governor's aide-de-camp. Orders for post-horses having been sent on before, Ave reached PanweU early on Monday the 2 2d, but we were detained several hours, because the Governor's gondola did not come to fetch us till eleven o'clock. It was quite dark by the time we landed at Trombay on Salsette, whence a smaU carriage conveyed us along a causeway towards Colabah. The day had been very rainy, but was succeeded by a starHght night ; luminous insects fluttered on every side, and every now and then some poor bird, startled by the noise of our carriage, flew across our path from the thickets, and the numerous ruined temples and Por tuguese churches along the road. Our journey, Avhich had hitherto been so prosperous, was suddenly inter rupted by a slight accident : we had scarcely passed the bridge when our coachman, to avoid some carts, turned too ' far aside and overturned us into a ditch. My companion leaped out of the carriage win dow in a trice ; but I waited very patiently till the door was opened, and was thankful to find myself on my legs again. Our light vehicle was soon raised by the assistance of some persons passing by at the time, and at midnight I arrived safe and sound at Mazagon House. 72 ARRANGEMENTS. PAREIL, The foUowing days were spent in the cheerful so ciety of the amiable circle, in relating our adventures, and in preparations for my journey. Incessant rain, which feU like a water-spout, and obscured the sun for fourteen days, rendered it quite impossible to stir abroad. At such time the air is always so fuU of aqueous particles, that clothes, linen, and indeed every thing, is damp, and it is impossible to preserve arms and other articles of steel from rust : in order, in some degree, to lessen the unpleasant effects of these va pours, pans of charcoal must be constantly kept burning in the room. With respect to my arrangements, I regret that I did not provide for them in Europe ; for, Avith the ex ception of tents, every thing is incredibly bad and dear in this place. I was several days looking out for a horse, as the Arabs demand a hundred pounds for a serviceable animal, and I was obliged to rest satisfied with having procured one for 817 rupees. It is equally difficult for a stranger to obtain good servants : I have hired two Mahometans ; the first, who is my butler, speaks English with tolerable fluency : he took part in the campaign in Affghanistan, and is to receive 42 rupees per month ; and the latter 14 rupees. I intend to hire the other servants whom I shall want as soon as I reach the Indus. I passed two days with the Governor at Pareil, where I had ample opportunity of making myself ac quainted with the splendid establishments and luxury, of persons filling the highest offices in India. His ExceUency has a band of twenty -five musicians, which performs every evening during dinner : a bodv guard, consisting of an officer and twenty-five men, accom panies him on his travels and on state occasions ; and THE SEAT OF THE GOVERNOR. 73 he has about two hundred servants, of whom more than forty are clothed in scarlet liveries. Several Parsees and Mahometans are about his person ; forty are employed in the gardens, the rest in the stable and in various other departments. Our departure for Sinde is fixed for the 10th of September at the latest ; and we may hope that before that time the fury of the monsoon may have passed, and that the breakers may not prevent our landing on that coast. My next communication wiU probably be from the mouth of the Indus. Commending myself to your continued kindness, I beg you heartily to greet my relations and friends. 74 LETTER IU. TO CHARLES RITTER. Embarkation in the war steamer Zenobia, and departure for Kurrachee. — Fearful ravages of the cholera. — Dangerous landing on the coast at Kurrachee. — Kurrachee. — Alligator Pond, Maggar Talao. — Sinde under the Hindoo Princes. — Dominion of the Moguls. — The Ameers of the family of the Talpooris. — Inhabitants of Sinde. — The Belooches. — Life and mode of government of the Ameers. — Language of the inhabitants of Sinde. — The English residents. — Voyage to Garrah. — March to Tatta. — Embarkation on board the Satellite steamer. — Hyderabad. — Audience of the Ameers. — • Journey to Sehwan and Sukkur. — Inhabitants. — Pre parations for the journey to Ferospoor. Kurrachee, September 11. 1842. When you bade me farewell, I did not anticipate that the next indication of my being alive, would be sent to you not far from the mouth of the Indus ; on Avhose banks your indefatigable spirit has spent so many hours in learned research. But stiU less could I have imagined that I should send you descriptions which, in their awful reality, reminded me of the terrific scenes delineated by Boccaccio, in such fearful colours, of the desolation of the plague at Bologna ; for I, too, alas ! have been an eye-Avitness of such melancholy scenes; You wiU have learnt from my letter to Alexander \'on Humboldt, that I intended to go with seAeral officers in the early part of September to the Indus, DEPARTURE FOR KURRACHEE. 75 on board a war steamer belonging to Govrnment. Accounts however of disturbances in Sinde, induced the Government to hasten our departure, and the more so, as Sir Charles Napier was appointed general in command of all the troops there, and was naturaUy desirous to proceed as speedUy as possible to his new destination. The General had the goodness to offer me, in case of hostihties, a place on his staff, which, of course, I most gratefully and joyfuUy accepted. With deep regret I bid fareweU to the amiable family at Mazagon House, and kindly accompanied by the General and his sons, I embarked on Saturday the 3d of September at three in the afternoon, on board the Zenobia steamer of 670 tons and 284 horse-power. Besides Sir Charles Napier, we had on board 22 officers, 150 soldiers of the 28th, or Queen's regiment, 50 seapoys, 23 European soldiers' wives, 27 children, Werner, and about 60 servants. Our horses were in a boat, which was towed by the Zenobia. We weighed anchor at sunset ; a small mizzling rain, with wind and a hollow sea, rendered our voyage very disagreeable. It was especially trying to the soldiers and women, children and servants, who were obliged to remain on deck closely crowded together without any covering. Happily the weather cleared up when we had passed the last light, and got into the open sea. But towards midnight the sky again became cloudy, a tropical rain feU in torrents, and with such violence that I was roused by it from my sleep, and, taking my cloak, I went to see how it fared with the poor people on deck. Only picture to yourself such a multitude of men, women and chUdren, crouching together in the narrow com pass of the deck, in the open air. without protection X 76 RAVAGES OF THE CHOLERA. against the rain, standing in water, and at the same time completely drenched by the dashing of the waves ; the wind was bitterly cold, and not a dry spot, either to lie down, or to stand upon, was to be found. The soldiers of the 28th regiment, who had arrived three days before, with their wives and chil dren from New South Wales, could not have suffered so much on that long voyage, as during this single night. We had besides no means of cooking warm food for so many persons; biscuits, tea, and brandy, was aU that we could give them. It was a scene of misery and distress ; and alas ! I little thought that in four days the third part of these poor sufferers, and in less than fourteen days more than the half of them, would be launched into eternity. On Sunday the 4 th, at daybreak, the rain abated, and Hght clouds, through which the sun darted his scorching rays, travelled rapidly across the sky. The exhalations of the wet decks and clothes of the people crowded together, and the heat of the engine, rendered the atmosphere so suffocating, that I was obhged to give up an attempt to go to the forecastle, About nine o'clock it was reported that the cholera had broken out on board, and that three persons had been seized with it : two of them were only sHghtly attacked ; but a Avoman died in the course of the same day. We had scarcely committed her to the sea on Monday morning, when nine men were seized by this frightful pestilence : in a few hours this number was so fearfully augmented, that a portion of the deck was fitted up as an hospital, and above forty of the sufferers received into it. Death often followed the attack in less than four hours; and, in order to make room for fresh cases, it was necessary to cast the RAVAGES OF THE CHOLERA. 77 dead into the sea, sown up in their beds, charged with shot, Avithout delay, and without the usual prayers. Two medical men, the officers, and the soldiers, did their utmost to afford relief to the unhappy sufferers ; but alas ! neither friction nor medicines, port-wine, sago, arroAV-root or brandy, were of the slightest avail. Some of these scenes of woe can never be effaced from my memory. One fine young woman, in the prime of life, with an infant at her breast, threw herself on the ground in an agony of pain ; though already strug gling with death, she would not resign her beloved babe, and before sunset, the bereaved husband had com mitted both his treasures to the deep. Another woman, weeping and sobbing by the side of her husband, knelt down to Avarm his benumbed limbs Avith her body ; " 0 my husband, my husband, you must die," she exclaimed, wringing her hands in the anguish of her heart, but she soon held only the cold corpse inher arms. Most affecting was the separation of a young woman from her husband and child, only three years old : in the agonies of death she embraced both ; neither would let go of the other till death had cast his dark shadow over the distorted countenance. Not less moving and painful was it to see the engineer, a fine young man, in his dying moments : he was married only two days before our departure, and implored God Avith tears to grant that he might expire in the arms of his beloved wife. These heart-rending scenes, the cries and lamentations of the dying, the AvaH of the living, and the frightfully distorted countenances of the dead, must soften and move the stoutest heart. In four days we buried forty-five European soldiers, two natives, three sailors, four women, and three children, j and brought about thirty cholera patients on shore. ' 78 ARRIVAL AT KURRACHEE. On Tuesday the disease was at its height ; on Wednesday, the 7th, the sea was more calm, and from that time we had fine weather. Under a brilhant starry heaven, but in a dark night, we came within sight, of the rocky coast at midnight. The Captain, desirous to ascertain his position, ordered the vessel to steer as closely as possible to it, and sound ings to be taken, when the steersman suddenly caUed out with aU his might, in an almost un intelligible language, that we were close upon a most dangerous reef. A gun was fired twice, but no answer was returned. Luke a stray wanderer pur suing a beaten tract in a forest, we steadily pursued the direction of the coast, with the rocks constantly on our left hand, sometimes just touching the rocky bed of the sea. At last, we threw out an anchor, when it appeared that, as the ebb had set in, we should not have sufficient depth of water ; we, therefore, quickly weighed anchor, and again put out to sea. At length, at one o'clock A. M., we succeeded in casting anchor in a creek. When the morning dawned we perceived that we had passed Kurrachee, and had anchored ten mUes beyond it, in an arm of the sea, running N. W. into the land. Accordingly, about 7 o'clock we steered our course towards that town, and in two hours came to anchor opposite the ruins of a small fort situated on a rock fifty feet high. We were soon surrounded by a host of sharks, which raised their greedy jaws out of the sea : they are ever on the watch to profit by the accidental faU of a man over board, or the rash attempt of any person to swim to the boats coming to take the people on shore. They are, however, not so dangerous to the natives as to the Europeans. Though the sea did not appear to be KURRACHEE — SLAVE-TRADE. 7 9 much agitated, yet the breakers Avere so violent, that the first boat we let down was dashed against our vessel, and the poor sailor Avho was in it had his breast-bone broken, and he died soon after. Lord Alta- mont, who had had a slight attack of cholera during the preceding night, Captains West and Bennet, and myself, chose the first boat that approached, which we could only reach by means of a weU-calculated leap. From the old fort which projects into the sea a bay runs three mUes inland, in an easterly direction, which, in some places, is so thickly studded with clumps of mangroves (Rhizophora), that, at a distance, they look Hke Httle islands. WUd swine have their retreat in these bushes, between which the wind drove us with such rapidity that in the space of an hour we reached the flat, sandy coast, and were carried ashore by our boatmen. The town of Kurrachee, which is only 300 paces from this bay, in the vicinity of the ancient Crocola, is a small, closely- built, dirty place. The inhabitants, 14,000 in number (9000 Hindoos and about 5000 Mahometans), subsist by trade, navi gation, and fishery. The slave-trade formerly carried on by Muscat, from Zanzibar to Sinde, in Hubshys and Abyssinians, was so considerable that 600 to 700 young people, of whom three-fourths were girls, were imported here every year: Georgians were occasionally imported for the harems of the rich. The price of a handsome Abyssinian girl was sometimes as high as 250 rupees : boys were sold at from 60 to 100 rupees.* At the "eastern outlet of the town is a mosque and a pond, which, however, is often dry : .but a few * The slave trade is entirely abolished under the British rule in India. 80 KURRACHEE. date palms, bananas, tamarinds, and tamarisks, indi cate that nature is not wholly dead. Two miles to the east of the city are the cantonments of the troops, of which there were at this time 2000 men. At pre sent only a few houses are built of stone, most of them being constructed ' of clay and wood. The place marked out for the barracks of the European troops, has been very injudiciously selected in the sultry plain ; a far preferable situation would have been along the elevated coast of Ghisry creek, which is con stantly fanned by a pure, cool air, and where a view- of the sea is refreshing alike to mind and body- Fresh Avater is supplied by a subterraneous spring, which runs from the town to the cantonments in a bed fifteen feet broad : every where else there is only a brackish ground. Bare, undulating, calcareous moun tains extend from east to west, and form, as it were, a barrier on the north side. The sky is scarcely ever clouded except in the rainy season, and the tempera ture seldom rises above 95° Fahr. ; as a whole year fre quently elapses without a fall of rain, the small quan tity of corn grown here is nourished by irrigation with Persian wheels. From May till September a dry wind prevails, and incessantly carries dark clouds of dust across the sandy plain. We waited in a small guard-house for the servants and horses of the officers, to whom we had sent our introductions ; and we expected them with the greater anxiety, because Lord Altamont's iUness became more serious, and nothing short of the most careful attend ance and treatment seemed likely to preserve his life. It was noon before I reached the tents of Lieu- « tenant Manbee ; and here, too, I met with the kind est welcome from the officers of the Engineers and THE ALLIGATOR POND. 81 Artillery, and those of the 2 2d regiment requested that during my stay here I would consider myself their guest. I did not see Werner tiU the next day : he had nearly lost his life on quitting the vessel, and, in order to save himself, was compelled to sacrifice my barometer In this camp, where nearly all live in tents, our time passes away quite in a military style, and the intercourse with such a general as Sir Charles Napier, cannot faU to be highly instructive and profitable. It unfortunately happened at a trial of rockets, two days after our arrival, that the General was wounded in the calf of his leg, by the bursting of a rocket in the tube ; though I stood at the charger's side, I escaped, singularly enough, without receiving the sHghtest injury. I occasionally make excursions on horseback in aU directions, and often ride to the town. I have been particularly struck with the ath letic appearance of the men, who are very handsome, and who set off their fine countenances by a towering cap of cotton or sUk, embroidered with gold and silver ; the women are not nearly so handsome, but they are tall and slender, and wear very long, dirty dresses. In a moral point of view, the inhabitants have, I regret to say, a very bad reputation. One of my most interesting excursions Avas a ride to the Alligator Pond at Maggar Talao, or Peer Mangar, ten miles to the north of this town, and a place of pilgrimage for the natives. Captain West, who accompanied me, chose a camel, while I mounted a horse, and we agreed to change places on our return. Our guide, a handsome Arab, dressed in white, with his sabre at his breast, sat on the saddle in front : my friend occupied the seat behind, and I VOL. i. g 82 THE ALLIGATOR POND. foUowed, sometimes keeping pace with the rapid trot ofthe camel, sometimes galloping on before, enjoying this novel exhibition. TWO RIDERS ON A CAMEL. Soon after quitting our tents, we came to a few huts lying in the shade of date palms, bananas, and stunted tamarisks, and surrounded with very poor- looking corn fields, then crossing a dried arm of the Indus, fifty feet in width, we had stiU two miles of the plain to cross. Barren calcareous hiUs, to the height THE ALLIGATOR POND. 83 of 200 feet, rose before us, in undulating lines from east to Avest ; and from their highest summits we had a fine vieAV of the town of Kurrachee, the valley of the Indus, and the ocean. During our ride amidst these broken fragments of rock, along a narroAV path, sometimes ascending, and then descending, we saw only wild pigeons, some vultures, and herds of goats, which subsist on the scanty blades of grass Avhich grow between the boulders. The herdsmen, as weU as the few travellers whom we met, were armed. After proceeding about two hours, we reached an eminence, from which we overlooked a fine vaUey above 1000 paces broad, enclosed between mountain chains running parallel to each other ; far below, at our right hand, lay a flourishing wood of date palms, skirted by a beautiful little grove of tamarinds. Blue and white cupolas which covered the graves of the saints, glimmered amid the luxuriant verdures, and it seems evident that a high degree of cultivation formerly existed here. After passing some huts, we stopped at a pond 200 paces long and 50 paces broad, which is overgrown with grass and reeds, and contains but little water. It is suppHed by a mineral spring, which issues from the rock about a mile from this place, and which is so warm that a person cannot bear his hand in it. After issuing from its source, the water flows only a few paces above ground; it then forces its way through a rock, from which it discharges itself, at a temperature of 90° Fahrenheit, at the foot of the graves into a small bricked basin, and thence into the pond above mentioned. In this pond above fifty aUigators are kept, several of which are more than twenty feet long. These animals are accounted sacred, and the pilgrims must offer a goat a 2 84 THE ALLIGATOR POND. to obtain a sight of them, and to satisfy their rapacity. They are under the special charge of fakirs, and we had scarcely dismounted, when several of these dirty, naked men came to offer their services. One of them broke off some reeds to keep at bay the eager aUigators, and cried in a mournful tone, owh ! owh ! " come, come ! " Above thirty of these reptUes instantly crept out of the water, and, like so many dogs, lay in a semi circle at the feet of their master. It was a strange scene to see these animals with wide gaping jaws, not more than four steps from you : but they were so docile that they drew back at the sHghtest touch with the reed. Meantime, our guide had purchased a goat for a rupee ; it was slaughtered on the spot, and thrown in large pieces to the aUigators, which greedily tried to snatch the morsels from their com panions, and in so doing their scaly bodies struck with such violence against each other, that some of them roUed completely over. After they had finished their repast, the fakir drove them back into the pond. The largest and most sacred of these aUigators, which we estimated at nearly twenty-five feet in length, was kept by itself in the basin. Turning aside from this disgusting sight, Ave visited the tombs of the saints. They are built of stone, with mosaic work of coloured grey tUes, and, as I said before, are furnished with cupolas. They are scarcely 20 feet high, and have only sufficient room within- side for the stone sarcophagus, and to accommodate a few persons. Before the entrance is a smaU proj ection in the form of a canopy, supported by elegantly carved wooden pUlars. The sarcophagus is decorated with painting and aU sorts of fanciful ornaments, feathers, ostrich eggs, ribbons, Httle bells, and lamps. An old ANCIENT TOMBS. 85 grey-bearded fakir, who lay at the entrance ofthe prin cipal tomb, rose slowly at our approach, and on our asking him the date of these buildings, gravely assured us that we were looking upon monuments 2000 years old; and seemed much mortified when we intimated our incredulity. By the side of the pond stands a lofty, strikingly beautiful tamarind tree, the stem of which at the height of five feet from the ground measured 22 feet in cicumference. We sat down under its light, elegant feathery foliage, which spreading on aU sides formed an impenetrable canopy, and here par took of some refreshment, and drank to the health of our friends at home. We set out on our return in a temperature of 90°, but happily under a somewhat clouded sky : I found my seat on the back of the camel very unpleasant, but by its rapid trot it brought me home so speedUy, that I soon forgot the inconvenience, and in little more than an hour I was comfortably seated in my tent. Our departure for Sukkur is fixed for the 15th; but before I ask you to accompany me through these hitherto imperfectly known countries, you must allow me to give you a short historical sketch of the princes and the people who formerly inhabited them, as well as of those who now occupy them. Sinde derives its name from the river Sinde or Indus, which flows in a course of 320 German miles, and in the last 100 miles traverses this country. The Indus is to Sinde, what the NUe is to Egypt : its stated inundations, when the snow melts in the Himalaya mountains, and the heavy rains faU, diffuse fertiUty over the country, which might be one of the richest in the world, had not the destructive spirit of the Mahometan usurpers deprived it of its strength. G 3 86 SINDE UNDER THE HINDOO PRINCES. The traditions of the priests unfortunately give us but scanty information respecting the Hindoo dynas ties who formerly reigned here. It is said that in the seventh century Shash, a Brahmin priest, won the' heart of the consort of the reigriing Rajah Sazee by his great personal beauty. He was a confidential friend of the prince, and the queen happening to see him one day from behind a curtain in her husband's apartment, fell so deeply in love with him, that she resolved to take him for her husband Avhenever the rajah should die. An understanding Avas soon come to between them ; the rajah died shortly after, whether from poison, or from a natural cause, is not stated : the artful priest, however, became the" heir of the fine and extensive kingdom of Sinde. The jealousy of many of the neighbouring princes was, indeed, aroused by this, and they endeavoured to enforce their pretensions to the throne, but were either defeated or put out of the way. Shash is said to have reigned forty years, and was succeeded by his eldest son Dahir. During his reign several vessels, richly laden with costly goods and beautiful female slaves, which came from Ceylon and belonged to the Caliph of Bagdad, were driven into the Indus and plundered by the inhab itants. The Caliph Abdool Mulik in vain demanded satisfaction, and took up arms, but he died during the preparations for war, and left his son Valid to take vengeance upon the spoilers. This prince sent a large army furnished with all kinds of ammunition by sea and land to the Indus, under the command of the young and handsome Bin Cassim. Bin Cassim ad vanced victoriously in 711 to Allore, the capital of the kingdom of Sinde. Here he Avas met by Dahir with SINDE UNDER THE HINDOO PRINCES. 87 an immense army; 30,000 infantry were placed in front of his numerous cavalry and elephants to repel the first shock of the enemy. Dahir himself, history informs us, mounted on his largest elephant in a richly ornamented howdah, attended by two beautiful female slaves, who occasionaUy presented him with wine and refreshments, rode between the ranks of his warriors, encouraging them to the combat. The battle commenced with equal fury on both sides ; but the elephants, driven to madness by the firing, turned round, destroyed everything in their way, and spread terror and consternation among the Hindoos. The rajah's elephant also fled, Dahir was mortally wounded in the neck by an arrow, and he expired in a few mo ments : in order to conceal his body from the ven geance of the enemy, it was buried on the spot ; but his female slaves betrayed the melancholy end of their master. His body was instantly disinterred, and hia head fixed as a trophy on the point of a spear, whilst thanksgivings for the victory were offered to AUah on the ruins of the Hindoo temple. Two daughters of tbe rajah fell into the hands of the conqueror, who, on account of their surpassing beauty, sent them to hi& master for his harem. When they appeared before Vahd they accused his general of infideHty towards his master, by an outrage upon their persons ; sen tence of death reached Bin Cassim in his victorious career : he patiently submitted to the most dreadful tortures, and died in the space of three days. His dead body was shown to the princesses as a proof of the power, and strict justice of the caliph. Contemplating it with looks of satisfaction, they confessed that he was innocent, that their object had been to take ven geance on the murderer of their father, and that they G 4 88 SINDE UNDER THE MOGULS. were now ready to suffer any kind of death themselves. The caliph caused the rajah's daughters to be tied by their beautiful hair to tails of horses, and torn to pieces in the streets of Bagdad ; while he erected a splendid monument to the memory of his faithful- general. Sinde remained in the hands of the Omiades tiU the invasion of India by Mahomet the Ghaznivide ; after which the country became the prey of tbe Ghoorur and the Moguls. The dissensions at the court of Delhi, the weakness of its princes, and the great dis tance of the seat of government from Sinde, made it easy for the viceroys appointed to this country to de clare themselves independent of the great Moguls. From the times of Aurengzeebe we find the sovereignty in the hands of one tribe or famUy, the Kaloora or Abassys, said to be descended from the Abassyde caliphs ; they subsequently became tributary to Nadir Shah, at his death to Ahmed Shah Dooranee, and finaUy to the Mahrattas. The Kaloora, who had rendered themselves odious to the people by their cruelties, having murdered the ambassador from Judpoore, a near relative of the Beloochee family of the Talpoor dynasty in Hyderabad, in 1785, Meer Futteh AH, the head of the famUy, supported by several Belooche chiefs, went against the Kaloora, succeeded in expel ling them, and made himself master of the country. Only a few of them escaped, some of whom found an asylum in Judpoore, and others in Caboul with Timour Khan, and obtained the gift of jaghires, or feudal tenures. Meer Nusseer Khan, who is stiU aHve, and was at that time a boy of only ten years of age, was witness to the dreadful ravages and desolation, with which the country was at that period afflicted, and from which it has not recovered to the present hour. THE AMEERS. 89 He observed to an Englishman that he should never forget the ruin of the flourishing, populous town of Sukkur, and in anticipation of his fate he often ex pressed a desire to dictate the history of his own times to some learned man. Meer Futteh Ali, whom some old people affirm to to have seen tending his flocks, was at first dependent on the Affghans, but by the help of the Beloochees, many tribes of whom he invited into the country and invested with jaghires, he was enabled not only- to maintain himself on the throne, but to become master of the whole country of Sinde. He however gave up two fifths of it, to two of his earHest adherents — Sohrab, to whom he gave Khyrpoor and Northern Sinde, and to Thara, Meerpoor. He retained the remaining three fifths with Hyderabad as the capital, under his own government, with the title of Ameer, and reigned in conjunction with his three brothers, Meer Gholaum AH Khan, Meer Karam Ali Khan, and Meer Murad-AH Khan. It was agreed that the eldest of the family should always reside at Hyderabad, and exercise sovereignty over aU. Meer Futteh Ali undertook not only the payment of the tribute to Caboul, but also the expenses of the government and the maintenance of the whole Talpoor famUy. On his death in 1801 his next brother, Gholaum AH Khan, became chief of the family, and on his decease in 1811 the sovereignty was assumed by Meer Karam Ali and Meer Murad Ali, after a contest with Meer Sobdur and Meer Mohammed, which ended in their submission. Karam Ali died in 1828, with out male posterity, and Meer Murad Ali, the only survivor of the four brothers, contrived to maintain the sovereignty. He had four sons — Noor Mohammed, 90 THE AMEERS. Meer Nusseer Khan, Mohammed Khan, and Ahmed . Khan, of whom the two last died without children. When Futteh Ali and his brothers expelled the Kalooras, Khyrpoor, situated in the north, fell into the possession of Meer Sohrab Ali Khan, who had taken part in the insurrection: he died in 1830 in consequence of a fall from a verandah, and left five sons, the eldest of whom, Meer Rustam, succeeded him. Khyrpoor Hes on both sides of the Indus, extends northwards to Shikarpoor and Mitan, southwards to the desert, and yields a revenue of between five and six lacs. Meerpoor, the other territory separated from Sinde in a direct line between Cutch and Hyderabad, is the most inconsiderable of the three portions, and produces a revenue of scarcely fiA^e lacs. It was assigned by Meer Futteh AH to two brothers, the Ameers, Meer Thara and Meer Baga : the former survived his brother and retained the so\rereign power in favour of his sons, Meer Ali Morad Khan and Meer Ali, and suc ceeded in excluding his nephew Mallea Khan, from aU participation in the government. Both Khyrpoor and Meerpoor are connected with each other, and with Hyderabad by intermarriages ; and although they have at times been in a state of hostility, the Ameers of Hyderabad have hitherto Haaintained their influence and superior authority. These three principalities, Hyderabad, Khyrpoor, and Meerpoor, form the country governed by the Ameers, among Avhom, properly speaking, only the eldest of each of these families has a right to the title of Ameer. It is remarkable that Meer Futteh Ali and two of his brothers were Sunnites ; whereas Meer Morad, through the influence of his minister Isman Khan, a Persian, was educated as a strict Sheeahs. THE INHABITANTS OF SINDE, 91 Meer Morad Ali died in 1834: after his death a tri umvirate, consisting of Meer Nur Mohammed, Nusseer Khan, and Sobdar, assumed the government ; and after the death of the first in 1839 we find five Ameers in Hyderabad, the eldest of whom, Meer Nusseer Khan, was recognised as the head of the family. A HINDOO BANKER IN SINDE. The inhabitants of Sinde are Mahometans and Hindoos ; of the former, the Belooches belong to the caste of warriors, and the Juts to that of the peasants : and it may be assumed that the fifth part of the 92 THE INHABITANTS OF SINDE. inhabitants of the cities are Hindoos. Though so greatly oppressed in their religious and civil relations, the wealth and commerce of the country are never theless chiefly in their hands; and -they probably form a sixth part of the million of inhabitants said to reside in this country. They suffer their beard to grow, and wear the turban of the Mussulmans, whose manners and customs they have adopted; they have the submissiveness and servility of the Jews of Europe, and are as handsome, but even more dirty than the Juts. As bankers, they enjoy such confidence that their bUls pass current throughout India. THE JUTS, PEASANTS OF SINDE. The Hindoos and the Juts are the only people on whom^the British government can depend. The Juts, who are a taU, vigorous, and handsome race of people, were originally Hindoos, and, properly speaking, are the Aborigines of the country; the women are distinguished by their beauty and modesty, which cannot be said of the Mahometan females. As they form the agricultural class, they lead a quiet and peaceful life. Besides the cultivation of the soil the THE INHABITANTS OF SINDE. 93 Juts are occupied in the breed of buffaloes, goats, and camels. The camel is as valuable and useful to the Jut, as the horse is to the Arab. A BELOOCHE ON FOOT. The Miani are employed in navigation and fishery ; they Hve as much upon the rivers and lakes as on shore — nay, some of them have no other dwelling than their boat. The women are as vigorous, and muscular as the men, and share in their hard labours ; and while the husband is mending his nets, or smoking 94 THE BELOOCHES. his pipe, and the child is suspended in its network cradle to the mast, the wife guides the boat with a large oar. The Belooches, who form scarcely a tenth part of j the population, are the freebooters of the desert, and j originally came from the mountains and steppes in i the north-west. Their manners, and many of their j customs are conformable with the mosaic laAvs, and their oral and written traditions, as well as their general appearance, have so much resemblance with those of the Jews, that the Belooches have been looked upon as the descendants of the lost tribes of Israel. Thus for instance, on the death of the husband, his brother is bound to marry his widow, and the chUdren are the heirs of the deceased ; and again, a man may divorce his wife, according to the forms usual among the Jews. They consider them- ' selves as the masters of the country, and devote themselves to arms, robbery, and the chase. Some few of them engage in agriculture, and aU attend to the breeding of horses and camels. Their ignorance, and the uncivilised state in which they Hve, renders it difficult to reduce them to obedience and discipline : each tribe obeys only its chief; but if danger threatens any one tribe, messengers on camels and horses, are despatched in every direction to summon all that can bear arms. These camels are so hardy and fleet, that it is affirmed, on credible authority, that, on the entrance of Lord Keane into the country, a camel belonging to Meer Nusseer performed the journey from Hyderabad to Sukkur, a distance of between fifty and sixty geographical miles, in two days ; the rider contrived to keep up its strength by giving it plenty of rice, ghee, and intoxicating liquors. THE BELOOCHES. 95 The houses of the Belooches are as wretched, dirty, and confined, as those of the other inhabitants ; and only those of the chiefs are rather more roomy, and ornamented with carpets. The women are en gaged in domestic occupations, while the men enjoy themselves in smoking, drinking, sleeping, or playing with the chUdren. The Belooches are robust, though not taU ; their complexion is of a dark brown colour: they have fiery eyes, and a fine, noble ex pression of countenance. The men wear a coloured cap of cotton or silk, embroidered with gold and silver, an open shirt, a yeUow or red silk waistcoat, Avide pantaloons, and pointed shoes. They are armed Avith a long matchlock, sabre, shield, and bow and arrows. They do not shave either the head or the beard ; and they either suffer their hair to fall in ringlets over their shoulders, or they tie it in a knot on the crown of the head. They consider the beard a great ornament, and pay much attention to it ; old and holy men are fond of dyeing it red, and the Sheeahs, like the descendants of the Prophet, prefer green to every other colour. The women wear wide pantaloons, and a garment which reaches to the ground and fits close to ¦ the body, a kerchief loosely wound round the head, and their hair falls in long plaits. They very seldom change their clothes, and are so dirty that neither the colour of their dress nor even that of their face can be distinguished. These Belooches, in their capacity of executors of the commands of the Ameers, are the blood-suckers of the poor, oppressed peasant, who is obhged to de liver to the princes more than the half of his produce. The revenues ofthe country, which formerly amounted to 90 lacs, have now decHned to between 40 and 50, but 96 THE PRESERVES OF THE AMEERS. with good management this might be increased to three times that sum. The Ameers are as ignorant as the people: their time is spent in the harem, or in hunting, and the latter is pursued with such eager ness that the country isthereby daily more and more de populated. In order to enlarge their preserves, which consist of Babul trees, a species of Mimosa Arabica, tamarinds and tamarisks, they have recourse to the most arbitrary measures. Thus Meer Futteh Ali ex pelled the inhabitants from one of the most fertile districts of the Indus, near Hyderabad, which pro duced a revenue of nearly two lacs, because it was the favourite haunt of the Babiroussa; and Meer Murad AH caused a large viUage to be totally des troyed, in order that the lowing of the cattle and crowing of the cocks, might not disturb the game in an adjoining preserve belonging to his brother. In the middle of this preserve is a smaU isolated building with a pond in front of it ; thither the game is driven and kiUad by the Ameers who are stationed behind the waU. When Lord Keane entered the country with the army, three of his officers took possession of a building of this kind, which was closely surrounded with trunks of trees : here they intended to pass the night, and to enjoy the pleasures of the chase on the foUowing morning ; but the wood, which was dried up by the sun, was set on fire, probably by design, and all three perished in the flames. Each of the Ameers has his own preserve, which they visit in great style, attended by their chiefs and a number of servants, with dogs and falcons. They are either mounted on camels or horses, or go in their large state barges along the river. The people along the road thither are compelled to provide for the nu- LANGUAGE OF SINDE. 97 merous train, and the inhabitants of the villages in the immediate vicinity of the preserves are forced to beat up the game; and it not unfrequently happens that some of them are shot instead of the game, or torn to pieces by the Barbiroussas. In hunting, the Ameers use long muskets, inlaid with gold and jewels, to which the locks of the guns presented by the Eng hsh are fixed, though they do not esteem them as they ought. It is considered a great honour to a stranger if he is invited to one of their hunting parties. The language of Sinde, both oral and written, differs very much from that of the rest of India, but the princes and people are so ignorant, that very few Mahometans are able to write it. The characters are catted Khada-wadi, and are found in the letters of the merchants. Compared with most of the alphabets of Hindostan, that of Sinde is very poor : there are but two characters which designate vowels, and these are only used as initials. Hence the written language is used merely in letter-writing, and the few books in Sinde are written in Persian characters. The pro nunciation of the Belooches is so uncouth, that the Sindians say they learnt it from their goats, when they were herdsmen in the mountains of Kelat! There are two different dialects; that of Lar, which is used in Hyderabad and the environs, and that of Sar, spoken in Upper Sinde. The first British settlement in Sinde appears to have been formed in the year 1758, when the demand for woollen and other manufactures, for which the countries, watered by the Indus were celebrated, invited the English -to open a trade Avith them; and the profitable sale of these goods seemed to promise a VOL. I. H y 98 TREATY WITH THE AMEERS. favourable result. These connections were, however, broken off again in the year 1775, because the government in Sinde threw great obstacles in the way of the trade. But repeated attempts to pass through the channel of the Indus induced the East India Company to renew the commercial connection with Sinde in 1799. Mr. Crow was accordingly • sent thither, and succeeded in establishing a factory, and in obtaining from the government of Sinde permission to fix his residence in Tatta, or in Kurrachee. On this occasion, too, the Ameers manifested great repug nance to the introduction of a factory in the latter place, and were urgent that the settlements of the English should be confined to the harbours of Shah Bunder and Tatta. Mr. Crow had scarcely established himself in Kurrachee when, in August 1800, he suddenly received orders, probably at the instigation of the native merchants, to repair immediately to to Tatta, and to confine his factory to that place. The goods had been formerly sent to Dehra- Jamka or Aurungabunder, and thence to Shah Bunder, distant twenty miles to the Avest. There must have been at that time a pretty brisk trade with Mooltan and Lahore, for the factory of Shah Bunder had twelve boats, each of 30 or 40 tons, and two vessels for traveUing merchants. At length, on the 22d August 1808, a formal treaty was concluded with the Ameers of Sinde, and, on the 19th November 1820, it was reneAved, Avith the additional clause that neither any other European nation, nor the Americans, should be aUowed to trade there. It was stipulated, at the same time, that no encouragement should be given to the robberies of the Khosas,' and other tribes in Cutch. It is weU TREATY AVITH THE AMEERS. 99 known that the British government sent Captain Alexander Burnes, in 1821, to the Indus, to obtain a knowledge of the country, and especially of the navigation on that river. His accounts made the Indian government still more desirous to secure the free navigation of the Indus. Accordingly, Sir Henry Pottinger was sent by Lord Bentinck, the Governor-General, with proposals to the Ameers to place the navigation and trade on the Indus on a secure foundation. Sir H. Pottinger succeeded in concluding, on the 19th June 1832, a treaty with Ameer Morad Ali of Hyderabad, and Rustum of Khyrpoor, in Avhich continued friendship was pro mised, and the merchants of India assured of un disturbed trade on the Indus ; the Ameers, however, reserving to themselves the right of granting passes to merchants for a moderate toll, with the condition that no armed vessel should navigate the river, and that no person should settle in the country. This treaty was modified in 1839 by a stipulation that the EngHsh should be allowed to have garrisons in Tatta, or at some other points, AArhile they engaged, on the other hand, to defend Sinde against foreign invasion of every kind. When Lord Keane advanced towards Affghanistan, he was induced, for the security of his rear and of the navigation, to put garrisons into Kurrachee, Sukkur, and Shikarpoor. The necessity of making the Indus the frontier of the vast empire of British India, became more and more important. In the conclusion of aU these treaties, the Ameers manifested more compliance with the British government than their Belooche chiefs, Avho very clearly perceived that the establishment of so great a power" as that of the English would put an end to their influence and H 2 100 SUKKUR. their extortions. The Belooches, therefore, on several occasions, acted in a hostile manner, in opposition to the wiU of the Ameers. Since that day, the princes of Sinde have been dependent on the British government, and are directed and watched by a political agent at their court. Sukkur, October 10. 1842. The preparations for my journey to this place, and the difficulties I encountered, obhged me to break up my communications, and the fresh orders to depart for Ferospoor prevented me from resuming my letter till to-day. On the 13th September my effects were sent on before to Tatta, laden on four camels, under the care of my servants. Two days later, at four in the after noon, my palanquin-bearers brought me to Gisry Creek, three miles from Kurrachee, where I found a boat waiting for me in the Garrah Creek, which here empties itself into the sea. There is no doubt that the main arm of the Indus, once flowed in the pre sent bed of the Garrah ; and may we not suppose that the few ruins on Gisry Creek indicate the site of the ancient Pattala ? My traveUing companions had preceded me in another boat. The tide carried us on the Garrah, which is here some hundred paces broad, and winds through a desert country, between tamarisk bushes and acacias; an ancient round tower was the only building visible on its banks. Two mUes below Garrah the breadth of the river was di minished to one hundred paces, and it graduaUy be came so narrow, and, as the ebb set in, so shaUow, that we were 'obliged to leave our boat at a short distance before we reached Garrah, and to walk to GARRAH. 101 the viUage. The soil on both sides is alternately the most fertile mould, and sand covered with salt. Before I reached Garrah, I was joined by my feUow-travellers : we proceeded together through the dirty viUage, built on a gentle declivity, to a caravan sary at the eastern end. Our way led by the house of a tanner, and I accordingly stopped to examine his operations. The hides are sewed together in the shape of the body of the animal, and suspended to three stakes, over a small bricked basin, with the neck upwards ; a constant flow of water and some bark of the Babul tree (Mimosa) is then poured through the neck of the skin, and graduaUy forces its way through the small apertures. From time to tiine the hide is let doAvn into the basin to be made more pHable, and the hair is scraped off with a long knife. As soon as the hide is properly tanned and oUed, it is dried in the shade ; the leather of Sinde is some of the best in India, and not inferior in softness and dura bility to that of Europe. All the houses here are built of clay ; they are scarcely twenty feet high, have flat roofs, from which a kind of ventUator sometimes rises, and air holes supply the place of windows. Long-continued rain would destroy these huts, and sweep away entire viUages. The caravansary is a smaU open apart ment, with a court-yard enclosed by a mud waU, and is kept by a Parsee, who is commissioned by the British government to provide for the accommodation of traveUers. We resolved to wait here tiU the afternoon: carpets were accordingly spread in the haU, and, whUe we took some repose, the servants prepared a repast, consisting of tea, rice, and fish. When the sun was near setting, our Httle caravan H 3 102 gon&ah. commenced its march to Tatta, some on camels, some on horseback. Our road lay through a desolate tract, first by the side of a dried-up branch of the Indus, then through a fertile district between high tamarisk bushes, and over numerous ditches, partly dry, partly fuU of water. After riding two hours we found the landscape more diversified by lofty trees and detached farm houses, round which the land was cultivated. We saw a jackal standing by the road side, behind a tamarisk bush ; his large eyes were directed towards us, and he was so bold, that we might have shot him with a pistol. It was 10 o'clock when we arrived at the viUage of Gongah, but having the advantage of the bright moonlight, we were enabled securely to traverse the country, which was more and more intersected with ditches. • It is a large place, with several brick houses, situated in a very fertile plain. We found the officers who had set out the day before, encamped by the side of a pond, under tamarisk and mango trees ; and we took up our quarters next to them. At 3 o'clock in the morning we resumed our march through a plain traversed by deep ditches, between corn fields of Jowaree (Holcus sorghum) twelve feet high, and Bajeera (Panicum spicatum). Three miles further on, we found ourselves on a broad road in an impenetrable jungle of tamarisks and stunted tamarinds, only now and then relieved by a babul or banyan (Ficus Indicus) tree rising above it. Half way there was a smaU cara vansary by the side of a pond, under the care of a priest and some fakirs. The ground about it was cultivated, and a small garden with bananas and mangoes, and a few tamarinds, overshadowing the water, afforded a refreshing and agreeable object in this wilderness. THE BELOOCHES. TATTA. 103 At 7 o'clock Ave approached a rocky chain about 150 feet high, on which an extensive town appeared to be situated, but it was a mass of numerous large and small sepulchres, with lofty vaulted roofs like cupolas, covered Avith glazed tiles, chiefly blue, and adorned within and without, Avith mosaic work, made of china. Some of them were in perfect preservation ; others had suffered by violence, or by the lapse of time, for they are said to be 200 years old. As we rode past them we met the first Belooches I had seen ; they were handsome, vigorous men, with dark, fiery eyes, and long beards ; wore a shield on their back, a sabre by their side, and a long gun over their shoul der. One of them had a boy, about eight years old, on the horse behind him, and looked at us with an air of defiance. We asked if they were Belooches ? " Yes, fighting Belooches," was his insolent reply. From this elevation we suddenly came in sight of the ruins of Kulan Cote, Tatta, and the Indus in its broad channel, flowing through a boundless fertile valley. Tatta, whether it is the ancient Patala, or Minagara, is uncertain, lies three miles from the Indus, on an emi nence slightly elevated above the valley, and affording a surprisingly beautiful prospect from a distance : the streets are narrow, irregular, and very dirty; the houses, which are built of clay, wood, or brick, are from twenty to thirty feet high, and resemble square towers with flat roofs, on which the inhabitants are accustomed to sleep, in the open air, during the warm nights. Cakes of dung, used for firing, and prepared by the women and chUdren, -are piled up against the waUs. There are only a few mosques in the place, which are built of stone and painted white, but they have H 4 104 TATTA. the same dirty and ruinous appearance as the town ; and there are no traces of the extensive trade which was formerly carried on. The silk and cotton manu factures of the Lundshis, wrought with gold and silver, which were formerly so much in request, are now nearly exploded by those of Mooltan, and the few that are stUl manufactured here, are usuaUy taken by the Ameers, who pay barely sufficient to enable the weavers to live. The inhabitants are about 10,000 in number ; they wear wide garments, Sinde caps, or turbans, and the women long cotton dresses reaching to the ground ; poverty and dirt everywhere prevaU. We traversed the town in its whole length, passed through the vaUey, which is irrigated by water wheels driven by oxen or camels, is highly cultivated, and produces corn and cotton. We reached the place of embarkation, four mUes to the east, at ten o'clock. Here we found our servants, who had already arrived and pitched our tents ; but we were unable to obtain any repose, as they did not protect us against the scorching rays of the sun, and the thermometer was 110° of Fahrenheit (in my tent it rose to 118°). Indeed in Sinde the sun is fierce enough to dye white men black, and is sufficiently powerful to roast an egg ; an experiment which has been tried with success. The British government has four iron steamers on the Indus, which are 120 feet long, 35 broad, and of 70 horse power : they draw only three or four feet water, and are armed with o-uns (three pounders) and waU-pieces. Along the coast are dep&ts of tamarisk wood for fuel, which consumes rapidly, but gives very great heat. In the afternoon some boats arrived to convey us, and our effects to the steamers, two of which were to PERSIAN WATER-WHEEL WORKED By A CAMEL. > O 106 NAVIGATION OF THE INDUS. start for Sukkur the next day. We were obliged to send the horses by land, by way of Hyderabad. I embarked with four officers on board the SateUite, the others on board the Planet. The captain undertakes to supply the passengers with provisions at four rupees a day, but the table on board was so indifferent, that I was obliged to content myself with rice, biscuit and tea. We set out at day -break on Saturday the 17th September. The river, which was 600 feet in breadth at the place of embarkation, soon became twice as wide. The sun emerged from its wide watery expanse, and Ulumined once more the shining summit of the city of the sepulchres. On both sides groves of babul and tamarind, alternated with corn-fields and villages. In the middle of these corn-fields is a high scaffolding, on which a poor fellow is sta tioned all day long, without any protection against the sun, to scare away the birds, by continued hallooing, and throwing missiles at them with a sling. It is extremely amusing to see how the inhabitants of the opposite banks visit each other, supported by a goat's skin, fiUed with air, which they fasten to their waist and neck, and swim across from one side to the other : it is very rare indeed that any one is drowned in doing this, or faUs a prey to the aUigators. The navigation of the Indus, is very difficult on account of its shifting bed and violent current, which runs four miles an hour : we were therefore obhged to cast anchor every evening, and every day to take on board a new pUot. The shmy and dirty water of the river, when clarified by alum, becomes as clear as crystal, and very pleasant ; but the cook on board the steamer would not take this trifling trouble, which HYDERABAD. 107 would have added so greatly to our comfort. On the 18th, in the forenoon, the thermometer being at 98° Fahrenheit, Ave proceeded along the right bank ; beautiful woods diversify the monotony of the coun try, and the fresh verdure of the meadows covered Avith yeUow floAvers enlivens the eye. We passed a preserve three miles in length, ornamented with the finest babul trees, and surrounded with hedges and a clay wall. This preserve abounds with barbiroussas, antelopes, jackals, hyenas, black and red partridges, parrots and other birds. On this day we twice stuck upon a sand bank, from which however our engine, and the strong current, soon set us free. In the evening we anchored in a beautiful wooded inlet ; the moon behind the shadowy trees, between Jupiter and Yenus, pouring her silver Hght through the foliage, while a cooHng breeze wafted the perfume of the babul flowers towards us. Our Hindoos soon made a fire under the trees, to cook their food, while we rambled through the thickets, gun in hand, in search of game, but were soon obliged to give up our intention, as the ground Avas excessively damp and marshy. On the 19th, at ten in the morning, Ave landed opposite Hyderabad, near a mango grove, in which the house of Mr. Mylne, the political agent, is situ ated. He received me in the kindest manner, and promised to further my wishes to pay my respects to the Ameers, and immediately sent his moonshee with a message to that effect to the palace. Mean time I proceeded to the dwelling of Dr. Leith, some hundred paces distant, to whose lady I had a letter of introduction. Here too I met with a cordial wel come. The time passed away in conversation and 108 PRESENTATION TO THE AMEERS. music, and on the banks of the Indus I heard the accomplished Mrs. Leith sing to the piano, " Herz, mein Herz, warum so traurig;" which pretty little song, though already forgotten in Germany, awakened in me the liveliest recollections of home. Then came an interesting group of Myrcasis or Luris, the Minne singers of Sinde, who, in the neighbourhood of the capital, sung an eulogium on Lord Keane's expedition to Affghanistan, and the might of the English. Their instruments consisted of guitars and small drums ; their singing was monotonous and mournful, much resembling the noise of water wheels ; and where the voice was insufficient, the defect was made up by pantomimic gesticulations. The moonshee brought word that the Ameers would be happy to receive me at six o'clock. An hour before that time their Highnesses sent four horses, richly caparisoned, their bridles adorned with gold and silver, and their Delhi housings finely embroidered ; while the girths were torn and in part mended with dirty ropes. I rode Dr. Leith's horse, while my companions mounted those sent by the Ameers, and, accompanied by an escort of irregular cavalry, we proceeded to Hyderabad, which is more than five miles distant. The sun was already setting, and the moon was high above the horizon, when we obtained a clear view of the city. On our arrival at the decayed fort, a small, square, clay buUding, with semicircular towers in the middle of the lines, and surrounded by a moat eight feet broad, we were received by the moonshee of the Ameers, Meer Nasseer Khan, and sixteen of the prin cipal chiefs. These handsome men, in their pictur esque costume, and armed with matchlocks, pistols, THE AMEERS. 109 o 110 HYDERABAD. sabres, and shields, saluted me in the name of their masters, touching their forehead with the right hand, and said that they were commanded to conduct me to the palace. One after the other approached me, addressing me courteously, and making a, number of inquiries ; the moonshee was particularly talkative, and repeatedly expressed his regret that I did not understand the Persian language. Hyderabad, Avhich has 35,000 inhabitants, is situ ated on a gentle, rocky, eminence, 200 feet high, which here bounds the vaUey of the Indus, and Hke aU the other towns in Sinde, is built of clay, wood and brick. The streets are narrow and dirty, the bazars very animated, and hundreds of people were standing by the roadside to look at us as we passed by. The Great Fort likewise forms a quadrangle, with circular projecting towers : in the angles it has clay Avails, forty feet in height, with a moat eight feet broad and five deep, which however is dry. Here our escort halted. Such an immense crowd of people Avas assembled at the huge gates, that the chiefs and the guard had some trouble to keep them back when the gates were opened. Though I rode very slowly in order to get some notion of the interior of the fort, I soon perceived that it Avas quite impossible, because the whole, consisting of huts and smaU houses, appeared to be an irregular mass of confusion. In a few minutes we stopped at an iron grating, the en trance to the palace ofthe Ameer Meer Nasseer Khan, and alighted from our horses. This palace is a square brick building, inlaid with coloured porcelain tiles ; it rises above the platform of a massy high tower, the repository of their treasure. From this platform is a bird's eye view of the beautiful Indus, Avhich is 900 PRESENTATION TO THE AMEERS. Ill paces broad, meandering through a lovely country of forests and groves, interspersed with corn-fields and hamlets, while the city of Hyderabad lies on one side, and the circumjacent country, as far as the eye can reach, is spread out before the spectator. After we had passed through the gate and ascended the platform, the Ameers, headed by Meer Nasseer Khan, surrounded by many of his chiefs, came out to meet us. When Mr. Mylne presented me to them, they all shook hands Avith me, and Nasseer Khan invited me to take a seat, which was placed opposite to him. The Ameers had taken their places on a long silk divan, around which were ranged the chiefs in pic turesque groups, either standing, or sitting cross-legged upon carpets, each with his sword or gun before him, and all eyes turned upon us ; the moon shed a magic splendour over this scene, every object, even in the far distance, was perfectly distinguishable. Meer Nasseer Khan, the eldest of the Ameers, who has a revenue of eleven lacs, is so extremely corpulent, that he is incapable of any bodily exertion, and even on the chase prefers the slow camel to the fleet horse. His Highness is, however, considered by his Belooches to be the handsomest man in the country. Meer Mahomet, an elderly man with a long, flowing, grey beard, is somewhat disfigured by a harelip : he is the same who boasted to Sir Alexander Burns that he had promoted his journey through Sinde, and vaunted himself upon being a great friend of the English. He carried in his hand a magnificent sword, richly adorned with jewels, and a snuff-box which was in constant requisition. Meer Shadad and Meer Hussin Ali are brothers, the former is distinguished by remarkable beauty of 112 PRESENTATION TO THE AMEERS. person, and highly polished manners. He was leaning on a blue velvet cushion, adorned with brUliants ; and when he passed his hand over his carefuUy trimmed black beard, and raised his dark, flashing eye, I felt involuntarily drawn towards him. His younger brother, who is only seventeen years of age, is shy and mistrustful. Meer Sobdar Khan was not present; he is not on good terms Avith his coUeagues, and desired to receive me alone. They aU wore velvet Sinde Caps embroided with gold ; coloured silk gar ments, pantaloons and red shoes ; pearl necklaces and valuable rings were their only ornaments. After having for some minutes reciprocaUy ex pressed our extreme satisfaction at meeting, his Highness asked my name, which I was obhged to repeat several times: he then inquired about my king and my country. Nasseer Khan candidly con fessed that he had never heard of that kingdom, which however must, he thought, be very powerful, as it was on such friendly terms with England. An expression of surprise ran through the whole circle, when on Meer Shadad' s inquiring what was the strength of the Prussian army, one of the officers replied that it consisted of above 500,000 weU dis ciplined troops. His Highness, at my request, sent for his arms ; they were long damasked guns, richly inlaid with gold. While I was admiring them, Abas AH, Meer Assad's favourite son, a handsome youth of sixteen years of age, was introduced ; his Highness observed, when he entered, that he was well acquainted with the English language, in which I might converse with him ; but the prince addressed me in a jargon which neither Mr. Mylne nor I could understand ; SOBDAR KHAN. 113 and when his Highness inquired what I thought of the prince's pronunciation, somebody, observing my embarrassment, replied for me, assuring his Highness that I was quite astonished at the prince's progress, which seemed to give his father much pleasure ! His tutor, it appears, is a subaltern officer, a deserter, and now commander of the artiUery of the Ameers. After having conversed about half an hour, we took leave of their Highnesses, shaking hands, and embracing each other ; and then rode to the residence of Sobdar Khan, a few hundred paces distant. At the entrance of the gate of his palace, we had to pass through a dirty puddle ; which, however, is nothing extraordinary here, where dirt and splendour go hand in hand. His Highness received us under the verandah, attended by his two sons and about twenty chiefs. Meer Sobdar is about fifty years of age, his manners are poHshed, he is chivattous and of a war like spirit. He is the. only one of the Ameers who loves the military profession, and endeavours to im prove himself in it. Here the same questions and salutations were repeated; but I could not forbear expressing to his Highness how much I was struck with the fine appearance of his sons, with which Fatteh AH, the eldest, was so deUghted, that he re peatedly embraced me on our departure. We set out on our return, again surrounded by the chiefs ; as soon as we reached our escort, I thanked each of them for their company, and begged them to recommend me to the favourable regard of their Highnesses. It was already eight o'clock when we arrived at Dr. Leith's residence ; we had scarcely sat down to dinner when the moonshee of the Ameer, Meer Mahomet,' arrived, and brought to me with his VOL. I. I 114 PRESENTS REFUSED. master's compliments several large dishes, with fruits, confectionary, some plain Cashmere shawls, and silks of Tatta, requesting me to accept these trifling pre sents as a remembrance of him. However, as I am travelling here in the character and enjoy the privi leges of the English officers, who are not permitted to accept any present from Indian princes, it ap peared to me to be necessary to decline accepting them. Mr. Mylne was of the same opinion, which he endeavoured to make inteUigible to the moonshee, who, however, was not satisfied, and laid them down at my feet. To avoid the kindness of the other Ameers, from whom similar presents were said to be on the way, I immediately took leave of Dr. Leith and his lady and went to our steamboat, which was lying on the opposite bank. At daybreak on the 20th we were already on the way to Sehwan, but the rudder chain breaking, we were detained an hour, and overtaken by the Planet ; scarcely were we in motion again when we heard the lamentable cries of a poor Dhoby, whose son, a boy eight years of age, had faUen into the Indus. We saw him rise several times, and then disappear. Werner was going to leap into the river, to save him, but the captain would not permit him, because the current of the stream is so strong, that the best swimmer must have perished ; and before the long boat could have been put out, he must have been carried down several miles. The unhappy parents stood mute and thoughtful the whole day on the deck, with their eyes turned towards the direction where their boy had sunk. In the evening both the vessels anchored off the village of Beeah. We took our fowling-pieces and ALLIGATORS IN THE INDUS. 115 rambled through plantations of indigo, cotton, and sugar-cane, but shot only a few birds. There must have been plenty of jackals, for we heard them howling aU the night through. We had scarcely set out on the following day, when we stuck fast upon a sand-bank, and aU our attempts to get off were fruit less ; whUe we were in this predicament a large boat, under fuU saU, passed us, but all our caUing for as sistance was to no purpose, tUl the captain, in order to frighten the uncivU pUot, fired a wall piece in the direction of the mast, on which the boat immediately made towards us ; we fastened our anchor chains to its stern, spread the saUs, and thus by aid of the wind, got afloat again in four hours. On this day we for the first time saw an aUigator on a sand-bank, at which some of our party fired in vain. On the 22d we were frequently only three steps from the bank, passing by beautiful preserves and richly cultivated fields : at the outskirts of the preserves we saw some jackals, one of which was fired at, and kitted ; and also several alligators, which however plunged into the water before we got within shot of them. In the afternoon we passed Batchan and Kotiah, which lie close to the foot of the bare Lukkee mountains, and are so washed by the Indus, that nothing is now to be seen of the road which Lord Keane caused to be made for the army. Two mUes below Sehwan, the Indus, which had hitherto flowed in a bed 5000 paces in breadth, assumes a totally different appearance ; it divides into several branches, the most navigable of which, scarcely 200 paces broad, runs to the town of Sehwan, which we reached at sunset, and landed under some tamarind trees. This town is situated on an eminence about 100 i 2 116 SEHWAN. — TOMB OF A SAINT. feet high, and would have been already swept away by the river, were it not protected by its rocky soil. We immediately proceeded to view the town and the old fort, which lies to the north-east, close to the bank, on an elevation 160 feet in height, which is separated from the town by a deep ravine. Its natural position is so favourable that we may weU take it for granted that Alexander the Great formed a settlement here ; the ruins of the fort are of a later period ; they fully resemble in their construction, particularly in the form of the bulwarks, that at Hyderabad, and are probably of the time of the Moguls. The vaults, the strong walls, and the AveU- shaped bricks indicate the hand of a master. It is not easy to ascertain its shape, which however appears to have been an oval, with broken lines about 2000 paces in circumference. We proceeded from the fort, through the dirty, noisome town, to the tomb of Lai Shah Baz, a saint from Khorasan, who is said to have been buried here 600 years ago ; and whose sanctity and miracles are in such high repute, that pilgrims flock from Afghan istan and India, and even the princes of those countries pay homage to him. The priests assure the super stitious multitude that even the Indus obeys the saint, and,therefore no ship dares to pass by without making an expiatory offering. The entrance is be dizened with ostrich feathers and beUs ; when we came into the paved forecourt, we saw some hundred men and boys dancing to the sound of a drum and pipe, running confusedly about, and throwing up skyrockets amidst songs and shouts. We were soon surrounded by the crowd, who in a very insolent manner insisted that we should pull off our boots ; VOYAGE TO SUKKUR. 117 but my companions would not submit to this, alleging that the Mahometans were not required to take off their turban. As most of these fanatics were in a state of intoxication, we preferred giving up our intention of seeing the tomb, and in the darkness of the evening returned to our vessel. On the 23d we again got on a sandbank, but were afloat in an hour. At times the current was so strong that our boat could scarcely move on ; the navigation became every hour more difficult, because the water had suddenly fallen four feet. The thermo meter at noon was usually 103° F., and seldom feU below 89. Our captain and Heutenant were seized Avith a violent fever, accompanied with frightful retching ; which, however, providentiaUy did not prove fatal. In the foUowing days we passed tracts of country which were weU cultivated, and sprinkled with villages consisting of wooden houses, buUt on stakes to secure them against inundations. The district seemed very populous, for the inhabitants flocked in hundreds to the banks to see us pass. The men were handsome and muscular, and wore a garment round their waist ; the women were uncommonly taU and slender, and by no means ungraceful, and generally carried pitchers of water on their heads. In the river we saw large flocks of pelicans, geese and ducks, and herds of buffaloes wading in the water; on the banks, stags, jackals, foxes, and several tame bears, which in the evening come from the preserves to slake their thirst. At length, on Tuesday the 27th, at half past eight in the morning, we came in sight of the minaret and graves of Sukkur. The landscape here suddenly assumes a totally different aspect : both the banks are bordered by luxuriant forests of date palms, among I 3 118 SUKKUR. which the towns of Sukkur, Bukkur, and Roree, successively appear, surrounded by smaU rocky islands, covered with tombs of the most various descriptions. After the monotonous countries through Avhich we had passed, they had an exceedingly pleasing appearance. A WOMAN OP SINDE. Sukkur, which only eighty years ago was a populous tOAvn, but is noAv covered Avith the ruins of sepulchres and temples, is built on a rocky calcareous spot which rises 100 feet above the river, and is totally barren. It contains scarcely 6000 inhabitants, and, properly speaking, consists of two towns — the bazar, built by BUKKUR. 119 the English close to the bank, and the old town. Between the two towns lie numerous bungalows and the barracks of the regiments stationed here, also erected by the English within the last three years. A minaret about 70 feet high, from Avhich there is an extensive and noble prospect, is situated among tombs on a smaU eminence at the western end. The mighty stream meanders through the boundless arid plain, becoming narrower and narrower the nearer it ap proaches Sukkur ; and smaU calcareous rocks rise on its banks, which are suddenly converted into a smiling landscape, by a forest of date palms, extending for several mUes on both sides. Bukkur and the Island of the Tombs, He in manifold groups, under the shade of ancient fig and tamarind trees ; while on the bare hills of Sukkur the ruins of temples and se pulchres alternate with pretty bungalows. If the eye is attracted here by the bustle of mUitary life, it is equally gratified by the prospect of the Meannee, and the white sails of the boats, which may be discovered at a great distance glistening in the sun. To the north of the town the ground becomes level and fertile, and, on that side, the place with its en virons might be easily converted into an island, by the windings of the Indus. Bukkur Hes opposite to Sukkur, on a limestone rocky island, only 200 feet above the level of the sea, and tAventy feet above that of the Indus. It is enclosed by a decayed waU two feet thick, and contains only a few houses besides the barracks and magazines. Roree, the largest of the three towns, is situated on gentle eminences on the left bank : it is buUt of clay and stone, and has 8000 in habitants. Between the two towns are some small rocky islets, covered Avith sepulchres, fig-trees, and I 4 120 GREAT HEAT. tamarinds. The number of different sea-shells in closed in the calcareous rock, especially near Roree, is very remarkable ; there are also great masses of flint, agate, and jasper. At this place, where Lord Keane had a bridge thrown over the Indus, the river is only 1800 feet broad and 30 feet deep. Immediately beyond Sukkur it makes a bend to the north, so that this place is nearly surrounded by water, Hke a pe ninsula. We anchored by the side of the Planet, which had arrived the day before, without accident. Captain Nott, the commander of the flotilla on the Indus, had the kindness to send me his boat, and I received an invitation from Major CHbborn to take up my abode in his bungalow. I am indebted to the hospitality and kindness of these two officers for the agreeable manner in which I spent my time here. The house of the major, an enthusiastic tiger hunter, lies close to the Indus, on a promontory 20 feet high, connected with an ancient sepulchre. There is a charming prospect from the verandah over the three towns and the banks of the Indus. The silence of , the whole scene was interrupted only by the continued creaking of the water-wheels, the faUing in of the bank, or by the thunder of the cannon of the Ameers of Khyrpoor, who were at this time at variance. The heat is so great and oppressive, being every day above 100, that it is impossible to take exercise except in the early part of the morning, or after sun set. During my stay here, although the sky was every evening covered with thunder clouds, and flashes of lightning illumined all around, yet not a drop of rain fell; only dense clouds of dust were driven through the air. In order to enjoy the coolness and THE PULA FISHERY. 121 to be protected against the water-gnats, troublesome little insects Avith a long sting, the wound of which is very painful, I sleep at night, lulled by the howling jackals, in the open air on the platform of the house. Bathing in the Indus is not refreshing, the warmth of the water being 70°, and it is besides dangerous to Europeans on account of the aUigators. Colonel Booth, Avho is passionately fond of swimming, plunges, notAvithstanding, every morning into the waves, sur rounded by a crowd of his servants, who, by their cries and shouts, keep these animals at bay. At the hour of noon when all is quiet on the river, the alli gators come to the surface to bask in the sun, and we take advantage of this moment to fire upon them. Sometimes we amuse ourselves with the Pula fisheries of the Meannees. PULA FISHERY. The fisherman first of all lays a large, oval, iron vessel in the river, commends himself to the pro tection of Allah, and places himself on it in such a manner that his body covers the opening at the top ; he then by the aid of his hands and feet works his 122 ISLAND OF TOMBS. way on the stream. He carries in his girdle a small spear, and in his right hand a fork nearly fifteen feet long,, to which a wide net with a running knot is fast ened, and which closes as soon as the fish is caught : the fish is then kiUed with the spear and thrown into the vessel. We Hkewise saw some fishermen with a large net thrown over their left shoulder. Before the Meannee goes into the river, he will wander for miles along the banks, and then let himself be driven by the current, because the Pula swims against it. Excursions on the Indus in the cool of the evening are very deUghtful, for in no country are the mornings and evenings so pleasant, or the sunsets so beautiful and sublime, as here. Captain Nott sends me his boat daily, and I need not say that I diligently avail myself of his kindness. One evening when the sun was setting behind dark thunder-clouds, and flashes of lightning illumined the landscape on every side, we visited the Island of Tombs. These monuments, which are supposed to be 800 years old, are under the charge of fakirs. When they saw us approach they lighted the lamps in the dirty sanctuary, but were very much displeased that we contented ourselves with looking at them from the entrance, and did not make them any present. " You wiU split upon the rocks," cried they menacingly. We smiled at their prophecy, and proceeded to the seven sepulchral towers, buUt of coloured porcelain tiles. Here, under the shade of poplar-fig and tamarind trees, are said to repose seven daughters of one of the ancient princes, who are re garded as saints, on account of their beauty and virtues ; indeed they are so venerated that the Indians affirm that even the fish, as they swim past the spot, invariably turn their heads, and never their tail toAvards SIR CHARLES NAPIER. 123 them. Next to these tombs, the lofty vaulted sepul chre, situated at the entrance of the old town, in which the sister of the saint at Sehwan is buried, is the most remarkable. Small beUs, feathers, and ribbons, deck the gaily-painted sarcophagus or tombstone. Several persons were praying before it as I entered, and in the piazzas of the court-yard, children, under the direction of a priest, were singing religious songs. An uncommonly large tiger is maintained here by the people in honour of the saint. Three days before my departure, Sir Charles Na pier arrived, not indeed recovered from the effects of his accident, but with the prospect of being so very shortly. He gave me no hopes of Avitnessing here any mihtary events ; and likewise doubted whether any thing decisive would take place on the Sutlej, though he thought it more probable, and advised me to proceed thither. The people in the country are persuaded that the assembling of the army of re serve, is intended for the occupation of the Punjab, and whatever a man wishes, that he hopes to see reaUsed. Thus, encouraged by a letter from the Governor-General Lord Ellenborough, and by the advice of my friends, I have resolved to join the officers, who are ordered to the army in that quarter. Three of my companions proceed to Bhawulpoor by water. 'Lord Altamont, Captains West and Bennett, and myself, prefer going by land. 124 LETTER IV. TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Preparations for the journey to Ferozpoor. — Departure for Roree.— Ruins of Allore. — Wedding fete near Sangeram.— March through the desert. — Celebration of the 15th October in the village of Retee. — Passing the boundary of Bhawul poor. — Ahmedpoor. — Hospitality of the inhabitants. — Khaunpoor. — Welcome of the Khan by an escort. — Entry into Ahmedpoor. — Audience of Bhawulkhan at his country-seat in the desert. — Bhawulpoor. — Journey to Mem dot. — The Khan of Memdot. — Dangerous illness of one of our party. — Arrival at Ferozpoor. Ferozpoor, November 13. 1842. I arrived here safely yesterday at sunrise ; and make use of this day to describe to you my fatiguing, but most interesting journey of 440 miles. Our little caravan consisted of twenty-four camels, five horses, twenty-eight servants, one camel-leader, four camel-drivers, and an escort of one subaltern offi cer and twelve sepoys. Each of my companions had a large tent ; I had only two small ones, such as are used by the servants. We had to pay forty rupees for the hire of each camel, by which we are reheved from all care, because it too often happens that the drivers neglect the animals, or that they are stolen. The British authorities at Sukkur had given us an open Perwannah *, bearing the official seal, and * Notice is hereby given to the chiefs of the towns and the guards along the river, from Sukkur to Ferozpoor, that four TRAVELLING IN INDIA. 125 tAVO Belooches to the frontiers of BhaAVulpoor. On the morning of the 9th of October, our camels, horses, and effects Avere sent across the river Roree, and in the afternoon we went thither ourselves in a gondola. Our arrangement is always to send on two tents, with the culinary department, and an escort, under Werner's superintendence, to the new station, on the preceding evening, so that, on our arrival, we may have protection against the sun, and find breakfast ready. We encamped here for the night, by the side of a brick wall, under tamarinds and acacias : the owner of the camels took leave of us, cordiaUy shaking hands, commending us and his camels to the pro tection of Rama. The manner in which the European is obliged* to travel in India very much resembles a nomadic Hfe. As the climate does not allow him to expose himself to the sun by day, or to the open air by night, and as he cannot find in the villages either a lodging or the necessaries of life to which he has been accus tomed, he must carry every thing with him. Even our caravan, though we were but a small party, looked like a little wandering viUage. The time of our setting out, was regulated according to the dis tance we had to go. As soon as the signal was given every thing was made ready for the journey ; the tents p ack edup ; the confused talking of the people, and the moaning of the camels, announced the moment English gentlemen of rank are going by the high road from this place to Ferozpoor. It is expected that no one will molest them, but, on the contrary, to the utmost of their power, to provide for their progress, convenience, and security, and will most strictly conform to this order. Dated Sukkur, October 7. In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ 1842. 126 ALLORE. of loading them, and in half an hour we were already on our way. Our Belooches informed us that we could not take the usual road by Subzulkote, as the bridges had been destroyed by the inundations, and that we must therefore go along the edge of the desert, through its whole length. At four o'clock on the morning of the 10th, we set out for the village of Barra, a distance of thirteen mUes. The first few mUes lay along a steep, stony road, through a bare and desert tract. We then passed two handsome sepulchral, vaulted towers, forty feet high. From this eminence is a view of the ruins of AUore, formerly the capital of the Musikanus ; few traces of it remain, but the ground is every where covered with hewn stones and frag ments. In the vaUey, through which a branch of the Indus once flowed, is now a pond, and on the side of an eminence declining towards it, is a small viUage. An arched bridge is thrown over a canal above fifteen paces broad, which runs from this pond, in a north west direction to the Indus. The form of the stones and the excellency of the workmanship, seem to indi cate, that this bridge belongs to a very remote period. It is however in such a decayed state, and so fuU of holes, that we were obliged to be very careful in crossing it. From this spot the country is level, intersected by ditches and smaU canals, with plant ations of millet and cotton. We pitched our tents in the midst of tombs, under some fine tamarind trees behind the village. Two fakirs, who dwelt here in clay huts, offered their ser vices ; but their civility degenerated into importunity, Avhen one of our party gave them some arrack, and we had much difficulty in getting rid of them. Soon SANGERAM. — A MARRIAGE. 127 afterAvards several musicians came to amuse us, and celebrated the poAver of the Queen of England, and the deeds of her ancestors, accompanied by a guitar made of a dry gourd. We sent the Belooches into the village to buy foAvls, Avhich our servants dressed for dinner, with which we had shipatos or aaps instead of bread.* On the folloAving day we were only six miles from the little town of Sangeram ; this place is enclosed with clay waUs, has 2000 inhabitants, and Hes on the border of the desert ; the road to it led through a richly-watered and cultivated low tract of land. A little beyond the town, where we pitched our tents, we found an encampment of several hundred persons, who had come from a great distance to be present at the celebration of a marriage. We were told that a little girl, only six years old, a near relation of the Ameers of Khyrpoor, was to be betrothed to a boy fourteen years of age, the son of an eminent Belooche chief. The father of the bridegroom, a handsome, elderly man, was seated smoking his pipe under a large tent, surrounded by his attendants, while dancing girls and musicians, were exhibiting their performances before him ; and outside the tents the people HkeAvise amused themselves with dancing. Above twenty men, with wooden staves in their hands, went round in a circle, jumped and leaped in the air, and when they met in the centre, turned backwards and forwards, both parties touching their staves, and beating time to the music with their feet. There was something wUd and original in this dance, which was continued for nearly an hour, under the * The flour is kneaded with water, and the dough pressed into a flat cake between the hands, and roasted in an iron pan. 128 A MARRIAGE. — MOOBAREKPOOR. scorching rays of the sun, till they were quite ex hausted. In the afternoon the bride, closely veUed, appeared, seated on a camel under a red palanquin, which was completely covered, in order to thank the company and to take leave. As soon as she retired, the chief made an address to the persons assembled, mounted his horse, and all hastened homewards. Our tents were surrounded the whole day by people, Avho assured us that they had never seen white men before, and gazed with wonder and amazement at our watches, arms, and other things. On the 12th, we had to travel eighteen mUes to Moobarekpoor ; a very fatiguing journey indeed. Our way led through a tract mostly covered with tamarisk jungle, and intersected with numerous ditches and channels ; we had to cross the river Narra, which is eighty paces broad, and, in one place, so deep that my horse was obUged to swim across. After a ride of five hours, we reached the place of destination ; but our camels did not arrive tiU several hours later. Some had faUen into the water, with our luggage, and others were so weary that the drivers were obliged to pack them afresh. Moobarek poor is a large vUlage, at the eastern entrance of which is a square fort, built of clay. Close to our encampment was a band of gypsies : I was quite sur prised to find them sheltered under moveable huts made of reeds, as in Europe, and that they gained their livelihood by basket-making. All day long we were pestered by hawkers, beggars, and musicians, and at night we were disturbed, as usual, by the howHng of dogs, jackals, and hyenas. On the 13th, the Belooches conducted us through unbeaten paths along the borders of the desert ; we every where GHARA-KAKOTE. 129 saw traces of former civilisation, abandoned villages, dry ditches, and decayed walls. An hour after sunset, we met several Belooches armed to the teeth, with their servants, mounted on camels and horses ; our guides told us that they were hastening to Khyrpoor to assist the youngest of the Ameers. A BELOOCHE ON A CAMEL. We did not reach the village of Ghara-Kakote, which was nineteen miles distant, tiU nine o'clock. It lies on the edge of the desert, consists of wooden and reed huts, and was first inhabited, only a few years ago, by some Belooches who preferred agricultural pursuits, to their former predatory habits. We had VOL. I. K 1 30 GHARA-KAKOTE. pitched our tents under a shady plane-tree, close to a channel full of good water. Towards evening, when pur camels were about to be sent on, the leader of the camels came running up in great alarm, and informed us that our Belooches having been affronted by the subaltern officer, had inflamed the inhabitants of the viUage, and that there was every prospect of our being attacked. Soon afterwards we heard a great noise in the vUlage, upon which we ordered our guard to load their pieces, and made every pre paration to defend ourselves. We were told that we should have to encounter more than a hundred weU- armed men ; but happily for us, just at this juncture, the news of the taking and destruction of Cabool reached the village, and the chief succeeded in quiet ing the people, by prophesying that they might expect the same fate. He subsequently came to us, with several of the oldest inhabitants, and promised to furnish us with a guide the next morning, as the Belooches had deserted us. For the sake of security, we deferred our journey through the desert, tiU after sunrise on the following day. It was ten o'clock when we reached the twelve huts of Heyet-Kekote. The viUage, which is built on a sandy eminence, is separated by a pond from a marshy jungle, near to which we encamped. In the evening, on entering my tent, such a sudden weakness overcame me, that I sunk down on the carpet. Werner covered me with my cloak and blankets, and I soon feU into a sound sleep. A profuse perspiration refieved me from this attack of fever, and on the foUowing day I felt quite vigorous. On the 15th of October we started for the viUage of Retee, sixteen miles distant ; our way led through KING OF PRUSSIA'S BIRTHDAY. 131 thick and luxuriant tamarisk bushes, and a country abounding in antelopes, hares, and black and grey partridges. We found our tents pitched in an open field near the village. This being the birthday of our sovereign, I invited my fellow-travellers to dinner, and gave a goat to my servants. A sheep and two fowls were prepared for the festivity, and a few bottles of hock and champagne, which I had carefully brought from Kurrachee for this purpose, gave a zest to the repast. It was certainly the first time that a Prussian kept the birthday of his king between the Indus and the great Indian desert. My com panions participated in my pleasure, and cordially joined in the toasts proposed. The viUage of Dandee, for which we set out on the foUowing day, was only twelve mUes distant. The scenery became more variegated and luxuriant ; we passed through three pretty large villages and several fields of holcus sorghum, which Avere so flourishing that some stems were fifteen and sixteen feet high. The stalks are almost as thick as the sugar-cane ; the sap has a juicy, SAveet taste ; it is eaten by the in habitants, and is a nourishing and wholesome food for horses and oxen. Dandee is a large viUage, but is built of clay, and the waUs of the houses are dis gustingly covered with cakes of dung of the cow or camel, to harden in the sun for fuel. Our guide, a handsome young Belooche, wag the first who, on our giving him two rupees, pronounced the blessing of Allah upon us. Favoured by the finest weather, the thermometer being only at 73° Fahrenheit (whereas yesterday before sunset it was at 82°), we crossed on the 17th the frontiers of Bhawulpoor. The territory of the K 2 132 BHAWULPOOR. Khan begins three mUes beyond Dandee. The soU is better cultivated ; the villages, though buUt in a similar manner, more cleanly, and the inhabitants more friendly and hospitable. We here, for the first time, met a letter carrier; he bore the letters in a leathern bag on his head, and in his right hand carried a long stick, painted yellow and black, with an iron head, to which coloured ribbons and beUs were fastened, by means of which he not only an nounces his approach from a distance, but frightens away the wUd beasts by the sound of his beUs. The stations are seldom more than six miles apart, a distance which these people accomplish, in a constant trot, in an hour and a half. At seven o'clock in the morning we reached the town of Ahmedpoor-Barra, which is surrounded with a clay rampart and rude towers, as a means of defence ; but the rampart is decayed in many places, and would Ul stand a siege. On the platform of each of the towers was a gun. An officer, with a guard of fifty men, was stationed at the entrance gate ; as soon as he saw us approach, he rose and gave us a friendly salam. A citadel, with projecting towers, stands at the north-eastern end of the town, Avhich contains some large brick buildings, and is said to have a population of 6000 inhabitants, and a garrison of one thousand men. It is situated in a very fertUe, low vaUey, planted with corn, cotton, indigo, and sugar-cane ; a few lofty tamarinds, acacias, and poplar figs flourished in the greatest luxuriance ; but the landscape was otherwise entirely destitute of trees. Towards nine o'clock we completed our day's journey of eighteen miles, at the viUage of Katta-Ke-Basta. We had scarcely ahghted, when the Kemda (the BHAWULPOOR. 133 chief of the village), with the principal inhabitants dressed in their best costume, came to welcome us. Our perwannah was read by the barber, a handsome man with a long beard, to his companions ; and when they had assured themselves by its contents, and a few questions which they addressed to us, that we were the parties whom they expected, the Kemda told us that his Highness, had given orders that we should be treated with the greatest attention ; that nine men should keep guard at night before our encampment, and that six horsemen should accompany us from place to place. They supplied us with fowls, eggs, milk, and butter, and did their utmost to comply with our wishes. A village watch is the surest safeguard for a traveUer in the East against robbery, for the vUlage thereby engages to pay in money the value of the stolen goods. It is, however, very singular, that if a traveller is robbed in countries gOA'erned by Indian princes, the British government insists on an indemnity, which must be paid by the place near which the robbery was committed, or by the government in terested ; but that if a robbery is committed in the Bri tish territory, the person robbed obtains no indemnity. The promised watch appeared in the evening — miserable-looking men, some armed with sabres, some with sticks. A guard was placed at each corner of the camp, who, according to the custom of the natives, crouched upon the ground ; to keep themselves awake and to frighten the thieves they called to each other by name all night long, adding, " Are you not happy?" " What an honour ! " &c. &c. You may easUy suppose that Avith all this noise and the howling of the jackals, sleep was out of the question. Our escort arrived early on the following morning. Two K 3 134 BHAWULPOOR. of the horsemen armed with shield, sword, and a long gun formed the vanguard ; the others armed partly in the same manner, partly with long spears, bows, and arrows, followed at some distance. These long- bearded men in turbans and ample upper garments were extremely attentive to us. TraveUers whom we met were informed in a few words of the rank of the strangers, and a respectful salam was offered us by everybody. We were received in the same hospitable manner at Nowshuhur (14 miles and a half), a large, neat village, which contained some houses of two stories, with glass windows, the first we had met with since we had left Sukkur. Throughout the whole of our journey, we were struck with the large number of dogs, and here we were equally astonished at the immense number of asses, which the inhabitants use, both for carrying burdens and for riding. Our tents were pitched under tamarisk trees to the east of the viUage ; the people brought us the customary provisions at reasonable prices, such as fowls, eggs, milk, and a goat ; but we refused the latter, having observed that these animals were excessively dirty feeders. The weather was, as usual, bright, and clear ; the heat before sunrise was 65°, at noon 92°, but in my tent 106°. The beautiful moonlight night invited a pious priest to watch, and he broke the profound silence, by crying in a shrill tone of voice without intermission tiU the morning dawned, "Allah is great!" On the 19th we traveUed along a broad road to Sumaboo-Kote (13 miles and a half). This viUage is distinguished by a far better style of building, and greater cleanliness. Surrounded by flourishing fields of miUet, and under the shade of poplar figs and tama- BHAWULPOOR KHAUNPOOR. 135 rinds, it has a comfortable rural appearance. On the folio Aving day we proceeded to Khaunpoor (14 miles and a half). The road thither lay through a more cultivated country ; the corn fields were surrounded by small woods abounding in game ; but the viUages were hid in a complete mist, occasioned by the smoke of the morning fires, for when the cool season sets in (we had 55° Fahr. before sunrise) the inhabitants kindle a fire in their houses very early in the morning, round which they sit, the women grinding corn be- tAveen two stones, whUe the men are idly smoking their pipe. These handmills are used every where in India, and are unquestionably of the most remote origin. Of equal antiquity are the oU-mUls worked by oxen ; a large rammer crushes the seed, which is placed in a stone vessel, or in the hollow trunk of a tree. Coffee, spices, &c. are pounded in a mortar made of stone or metal, generaUy the former. At seven o'clock we skirted the north end of the town to our tents, which were pitched beyond it. Khaunpoor is a town containing 8000* inhabitants, but, with the exception of a few brick buddings two stories high, aU the houses are built of clay; the streets narrow, unpaved, and very dirty. The most remarkable building is a lofty and beautiful mosque in the centre of the town. A channel fifteen paces broad, the last which issues from the Indus, waters the ground, which produces various kinds of corn, cotton, indigo, sugar cane, melons, and some culinary vegetables. Towards the south, not far from our en campment, is a vaulted powder magazine, with two brass six-pounders in front of it. Nearly opposite is a * Mr. Edward Thornton says 20,000. K 4 136 KHAUNPOOR. mosque, lately buUt by the Khans, . and behind it a hunting-seat of his Highness, lying in a smaU garden. Immediately after x>ur arrival, the postmaster came with his messengers to receive our commands, and to request our names, which he had orders to send to the Khan. In the afternoon we took a walk in the environs, and he accompanied us to his Highness's country-seat, a small brick building two stories high, with a verandah. We, however, saw only the outside, for the keeper refused to show us the interior, because a favourite lady of the Khan resides in it. The garden is very prettily laid out in flower beds, inter spersed with bananas, figs, and oranges. The Khan resides here several days in every year, when he enjoys the pleasures of the chase in the neighbouring jungles, Avhich abound in game, and receives the peti tions and complaints of the people. In the town Ave remarked some traces of an iUumi- nation which had taken place the preceding evening by order of the Khan, to celebrate the storming of Cabool ; for his Highness, who is a faithful adherent and admirer of the English, neglects no opportunity of manifesting his amicable sentiments. We were every where saluted with a respectful salam by the people, who touch their forehead Avith the right hand. In the evening some Bayaderes and musicians came to our tents, to amuse us with singing and dancing. Their movements were graceful and animated, and llieir fine bright eyes, and expressive countenances, corresponded with the feelings expressed by the dance. From Khaunpoor the road leads along the desert, through tamarisk bushes, to the desolate vUlage of Mamoo-Kote (fifteen miles). It was formerly a CHANNI-KHAN-DIGOT. 137 considerable village, but it now consists of only a few wretched huts ; the ground is covered with an incrust ation of salt, and is but little cultivated. We could obtain neither provisions for ourselves, nor fodder for the horses, and were obliged to send our servants to a considerable distance to purchase some. On the twenty-second we passed through a fine hunting ground to the village of Choudurree (eleven miles). Nothing remains of the once large town but some clay huts, and the ruins of deserted houses; a former hunting seat of the Khan, built of clay, surrounded by a wall, with circular towers, Hes completely in ruins, and is covered in part with the sand of the desert. The very simple apartments of the Khan, the harem, the audience chamber, in which he received the people, the apartments for his servants, and his attendants, and the stabhng, may be easUy distin guished. While aU around spoke of ruin and decay, some lofty tamarisks and poplars were growing in the court yard in the greatest luxuriance. We had an extensive view from one of the towers which is twenty feet high : on the one side lay the rich verdant valley of the Indus and the Sutlej, while on the other was- stretched the boundless desert. These decided con trasts of contiguous barrenness and fertility produce a strange effect on the mind. The following day, which was particularly fine, we continued our route to Chan-Khan-Digot (thirteen miles) : we were within a mUe of that place when we met an officer of the Khan accompanied by twenty-five horsemen, who greeted us in the name of his prince, by whom he had been sent to meet us and to conduct us to his residence. He assured us that his Highness was much rejoiced at our arrival, and at the prospect 138 AHMEDPOOR. of seeing us. He was mounted on a fine chestnut stallion, whose bridle was richly ornamented with silver. His upper garment bordered with gold lace, and his coloured silk turban distinguished him from his attendants, who were dressed in very gay apparel, and were armed with guns, spears, shields, and bows and arrows, and showed much dexterity in discharging their arrows, firing their guns at full gallop, and throwing their spears. Channi-Khan-Digot is bounded by the desert on one side, and on the other by the richly cultivated valley ofthe Sutlej, and is a large. viUage ; the houses are of brick, and many are two stories high. When we arrived at our tents we found ten dishes of confection ery, which his Highness had sent us from his harem, together with a present of sheep, fowls, eggs, and milk. It was his Highness's desire that we and our servants, should consider ourselves his guests. Surrounded by the escort provided by the Khan, we made our entrance next day into Ahmedpoor, the residence of Bhawulpoor Khan. We set, out by moon light under a temperature of 64°, first along the borders of the desert, then, as we approached Ahmed poor, through a more and more cultivated country, tiU we at length reached the fertile plain which sur rounds the capital. The town was veUed in a trans parent mist, environed by gardens, in Avhich poplar figs, tamarinds, bananas, and vegetables flourished in luxuriance. The first object that struck us was the stone house of the former British resident, but it is quite dilapidated : of the garden nothing remains but the ruins of the outer waUs ; and the house itself is in a state of decay and uninhabited. Our tents were pitched just at the outskirts of "the AHMEDPOOR. MOOSSA KHAN. 139 town in a plantation of indigo : a crowd of people Avere here assembled to see us arrive. We had scarcely entered the tents, when Moossa Khan, one of the chief nobles of his Highness, arrived, escorted by several soldiers in scarlet uniforms, to bid us welcome in the name of the Khan. Moossa is a corpulent man, and has the most good-natured countenance in the world: he was dressed in a red tunic embroidered with flowers of gold, wore a crimson turban, and red and white striped pantaloons, and a sabre at his side. He addressed us in the highly poetical language of the East. On our invitation that he would enter our tent he did not omit taking off his shoes, in acknowledg ment of his inferiority. His first questions concerned our health, he next congratulated us on having made so rapid and safe a journey, and then very dexterously turned the conversation on politics and news, making inquiries respecting my king, my country, and myself. After we had amply satisfied his curiosity, I asked him what was the strength of his Highness's army. " His warriors," said he, " are more numerous than the grains of sand in the desert." — " And how many guns?" continued I. — "Oh, they cannot be counted : the power of the Khan obscures the sun." Meantime, more presents arrived from the Khan,' consisting of five bottles of rosewater, twenty large dishes of con fectionary, goats, sheep, fowls, &c, which were laid at our feet. This Avas a glorious feast day for our ser vants ! On taking leave, Moossa repeatedly expressed the wish of the Khan to receive us at his palace in the desert : this we gratefully accepted, leaving it to the pleasure of the Khan to fix the hour. Our tents were surrounded the whole day by visiters from the town; most of them attired in their 140 AHMEDPOOR. gala dresses, and aU conducted themselves with the greatest respect. An aged man expressed his grati tude that we permitted them to approach us, as former traveUers would never allow it. After breakfast, Lord Altamont and I rode into the town : it is pretty large, containing above 15,000 inhabitants; but it is confined and dirty, and nearly all the houses are built of clay. The bazars are very extensive and exceedingly animated, though but poorly supphed. The most considerable buildings are a fort with round towers at the west end of the town, within which the residence of the Khan is situated, and likewise a mosque with four smaU minarets. On the south of the town we passed a large court yard, surrounded with a wall, where we saw several carriages and some handsome horses and oxen. On our riding into it, the people met us, crying out that we must instantly turn back, and we subsequently heard that the wives of the Khans alighted at this place, and that some of them had just arrived, to make purchases in the town. On our return we found Bayaderes and musicians ; but their external appearance was so very unpleasant that we declined their performance. At. two o'clock the moonshee of his Highness brought us word that two of the Khan's carriages should be in waiting at about four o'clock, to convey us to his palace. Accordingly, at the appointed time, Moossa appeared at the head of thirty horsemen and the carriages : one of them Avas drawn by horses, and the other by two uncommonly large snow-white bulls. The carriage rested on two wheels, and was covered with a vaulted canopy of red cloth, and profusely adorned with fringes and little beUs. The horses and buUs Avere likewise THE KHAN'S CARRIAGE. 141 142 PALACE OF THE KHAN. hung Avith scarlet trappings, and were guided by a coachman, who sat on the pole. The equipages were of a very antique form, and so contrived, that it was only possible to He down in them. Captain West and myself chose the carriage drawn by buUs. When Ave set out, Moossa with a part of the escort rode before, whUe the others foUowed or surrounded the carriages ; two men ran by the side of each carriage to guide the beasts or to support the vehicle, where the road was rough. The palace of his Highness is situated seven mUes to the south of Ahmedpoor, in a fertile, pleasant Oasis of the desert, which is planted with corn, cotton, and sugar-cane. We rode at a very brisk trot around the town, on a very bad road, which was sometimes rugged, sometimes deeply covered with sand, and generally intersected with ditches, and then crossed a handsome arched bridge across a smaU channel. Here we passed the stabling for the Khan's camels, which consists of several plain buildings and a spacious court-yard surrounded by a high clay wall. The palace of his Highness now came in sight ; for its situation was pointed out at a great distance by lofty tamarinds, acacias, and poplar figs. The approach is by a drawbridge about 10 paces broad : this leads into a forecourt 100 paces long, and 50 broad, sur rounded by a Avail, at the four corners of which rise very neat wooden towers. Crossing this court-yard we entered a quadrangle 300 paces long and nearly as broad, at the north end of which stands the palace. A wooden building raised above the platform, with a projecting roof, and an elegantly carved verandah, appears to be the residence of the women, because I perceived several female figures in white veils behind AUDIENCE OF THE BHAWULKHAN. 143 the lattice. A verandah runs round the palace, which on the side towards the east is 30 paces broad. The lodgings for the domestics and the stabling, which are made of clay, lay on one side, and had red curtains. The whole is surrounded by a high waU and a moat. Three of the Khan's regular regiments, about 1800 strong, were drawn up along both sides from the entrance into the quadrangle to the verandah ; they were clothed in white, brown, and red, and armed with old unserviceable guns of the East India Com pany. On our approach they fired a salute, and the music struck up. The red regiment was com manded by a youth not more than sixteen years of age, a favourite of his Highness. We were received at the steps of the verandah, by three of the principal ministers, who conducted us to the Khan. As we turned the corner of the verandah, to the east side, the most striking image of an Indian Court presented itself to our view. The Khan was seated in the centre of the verandah, on a pure white, silk carpet, supported by large cushions, and surrounded by a semicircle of more than 200 of his chiefs and officers, whose picturesque costume and various groupings and different arms realised a scene of the Arabian Nights. His sword, guns, and pistols lay before him. On our approach he rose, with his attendants, em braced us, shook hands, and invited us to sit down by him. His Highness is a tall, handsome man, between forty and fifty years of age; but the ex pression of his large dark eye is faint and languid in consequence, it is said, of his free indulgence in the harem. He had a long, dark brown, silky beard, and his hair feU partiaUy curled upon his shoulders. He was dressed in a white muslin garment trimmed with 144 AUDIENCE OF THE BHAWULKHAN. gold lace, wide sUk pantaloons, and a rose-coloured turban, with a handsome dagger in his red silk scarf. He wore no jewels except a few rings, and a necklace of large pearls which were fastened by a diamond clasp. As soon as we were seated, a servant with an immensely large fan approached to cool us. The conversation commenced with inquiries respecting our journey, its object, and my country; we next spoke of the chase : his Highness regretted that he could not get up a hunting party for us, but gave us permission to hunt at pleasure in his territory, adding that we should find Hons and tigers in the jungles be yond Bhawulpoor, but that the first were merely a smaU race, and not numerous. Politics too were touched upon, but only slightly ; we then spoke of the troops of his Highness, which seemed to give him pleasure, for he smUed with much complacency when I told him that I had been greatly surprised at the good appearance and discipline of the regiments we had just seen. After having conversed about half an hour we rose to depart, but his Highness requested us to prolong our visit, and probably another hour elapsed ere we took leave, when we repeatedly expressed our gratitude to the hospitable prince, who embraced us and cordiaUy pressed our hands. The ministers accompanied us to the first gate, whUe the troops saluted as before. Moossa conducted us to the car riages, and escorted us back to- our encampment with his cavalry. At a short distance from the town we saw a number of Syedees (rehgious women) standing by the road side ; these females pretend to be descendants of the Prophet, and Avere closely veUed in dirty white gar- A SYEDEE. 145 ments, with no other aperture than a net- work inserted in it over the eyes. They approached us, importu nately demanding alms, but we had no money about us to entitle us to receive the benefit of their benedictions. A STEMEE. When we reached our tents I found a bay horse, capa risoned with a bridle and saddle richly studded with sUver, and its feet and tail partly painted red, which his Highness sent to me as a token of remembrance ; however, as there is a law which forbids English officers from accepting gifts from the native princes, I thought myself bound to decline this handsome present. VOL. I. L 146 ' BHAWULPOOR. Bhawulpoor is bounded on the east and west by Sinde and the territory of the Sikhs, on the north by the Indus and the Sutlej, and on the south by the desert, and contains a population of scarcely half a milHon of inhabitants. The soil is fertile in the vicinity of the river, but in the interior of the country it is sandy and incrusted with salt. Its productiveness depends on the inundations and on irrigation, as there is often no rain for two years together. As soon as the snow melts in the Himalaya mountains in May and June, the water of the river flows into many canals, and from these into smaller channels, whence it is conducted, by means of water-wheels, over the fields and pastures. At this season of the year the country is nearly impassable. There are tAvo harvests in this part ; wheat and barley are sown in November ; and rice, jowary, bajree, cotton, indigo, sugar-cane, melons, and vegetables, are planted in March. Besides ta marisks, tamarinds, and figs, bananas and oranges flourish ; and the date palm, the fruit, wood, foliage, and fibres of which are invaluable to the inhabitants, begins to spread its bounties over the neighbourhood of Bhawulpoor. The climate is dry ; in December the thermometer falls before day-break to freezing point. On the other hand, the hot season is beyond all con ception oppressive ; clouds of dust fill the air, and the eyes are dazzled by the white sand of the desert. The Bhawulkhan has two wives and six sons ; but he is said to have above a hundred concubines and their forty sons lodged in his harem. Though his revenue does not exceed twelve lacs per annum, he maintains an army of 5000 men, under the command of Captain M , an Englishman, a fugitive from his native land, who took up his residence here. His BHAAVULPOOR. 147 treasure is said to consist of above thirty lacs, and his jeAvels to be of immense value ; but he is tenacious of being seen in them. Since Rundjeet Sing deprived him of the fertile Mooltan, he adheres more and more closely to the English. He spends much of his time in his harem and on the chase, without however being neglectful of the government of his kingdom ; and he may be classed among the best of the Indian princes. The inhabitants of Bhawulpoor are chiefly Mussul mans ; they are superstitious and immoral ; they revere the Khan because he does not oppress them, reserves to himself only twenty -five per cent, of their produce, and exercises a patriarchal authority over them. Many of them are persons of considerable affluence, and I frequently saw the chief magistrate of the viUages decked with costly jewels. In sa luting their friends they touch first, the right shoulder, then the left, cover their brow with their right hand, and stretching out their hands repeat the usual salam. While the Mussulman, after the first salute, examines the weapons of his friends, the Hindoo, on the other hand, invariably inquires the price of provisions, es peciaUy of ghee, his favourite dish. Besides being occupied with agriculture they pay much attention to the breeding of camels, horses, and asses : large flocks of goats and sheep abound here. On the 25th of October, we rode to the viUages of Khyrpoor and Noorpoor, through a narrow road in tersected by ditches and running between cornfields. We pitched our tents on the outskirts of the villages ; and immediately on our arrival, the 9th Bengal Ca valry regiment entered, on its route to Sukkur. It consisted of 590 horse, in admirable discipline. Ac cording to the custom of the natives, one of their i, 2 148 BHAWULPOOR. trumpeters had gone on before, to station himself at the place of encampment, and, by the sound of his little trumpet, to intimate their halting-place to his comrades. Our own Hindoos had hitherto been rather remiss in the performance of their various rigorous observ ances ; but after they had encountered so many of their co-religionists to-day, and among them several Brahmins, each one drew a circle round his fireplace, and incessantly rang a' little bell, whUe he was cook ing his victuals, to scare away the evil spirit. If an uninitiated person happens accidentally to cross the circle, the food is considered to be unclean, and the Hindoo, be he ever so hungry, throws it all away. Above 1200 persons were attached to this regiment — servants, grass-cutters, water-carriers, and camel- drivers ; besides 138 camels, 50 ponies, and 12 carts for transporting the tents and baggage; the greater part of their things having been sent by water. Colonel WiUiam Pattle, the commander of the regi ment, had an elephant, the first animal of the kind which I saw in active employ in India. We spent the evening with the officers of the corps, who had every comfort around them ; even bread, which we had not tasted since we left Sukkur, Avas served at table. It was rather singular that the Colonel spoke to us in the highest terms of the faith fulness and integrity of his confidential domestic, who had been in his service above sixteen years; — but ex perience unhappily proves that the natives are not to be depended upon, and this sad lesson the Colonel too was taught, for, that very same night, the man de camped, carrying off with him several hundred rupees, the property of his master. BHAWULPOOR. 149 On the folloAving morning Ave Avere on the Aving as early as three o'clock, as we Avere anxious to reach BhaAvulpoor, a distance of 15 miles, Avithout loss of time. At first, the country was barren and sandy, but, as we approached the toAvn, it became more fruitful and cultivated. Three miles before reaching BhaAvulpoor Ave saw, on our left hand, a very hand some stone monument, erected by his brother offi cers to the memory of an English colonel, Avho had died here of fever. Immediately behind it is a dry stream tAventy feet in width, with some deserted vil lages lying along its banks. From this point com mences the richest and most luxuriant tract, cultivated Avith various kinds of corn, indigo, cotton and sugar, above which rises the date palm in graceful pride, im parting to the whole scene the character of a tropical landscape. The town, which contains 40,000 inhabitants, is surrounded by an immense wall, nearly four miles in length, and has six gates : the streets are narrow and dirty, and very few of the houses are built of brick ; but, in every place, in every street, as weU as in every garden, the palm spreads her beauteous branches, and flocks of pigeons build in the turrets of the minarets and the old waUs. Bhawulpoor carries on a trade in silk and cotton stuffs, which, Hke those of Mooltan, are distinguished by the richness of their colours and the beauty of the patterns. As our tents were pitched on the other side of the gate, we were obliged to traverse the city in its entire extent. Soon after our arrival we were welcomed by Meer Ibrahim Khan, the political agent of the British government ; a very handsome Mahometan, who, besides being conversant with the Persian and Arabic 150 BHAWULPOOR. languages, is Hkewise master of the Hindostanee. On our interrogating him respecting the news of the day, and especially the reserve army, he assumed the character of a cunning diplomatist, who is acquainted with every circumstance, but is not at Hberty to con verse of any. Ibrahim is one of the very few natives who has some knowledge of Europe ; yet he could not form any conception of Prussia, tUl my companion, Captain Bennet, informed him that I belonged to that kingdom which, under Blucher, had contributed to the downfal of the great Napoleon. He had heard of both, and his interest was so strongly excited in what he heard, that he seized pen and paper, in order at once to take down the replies to some of his many questions. From the ardour and the manner in Avhich Ibrahim sought to obtain instruction, it was evident that he was a very uncommon specimen of his countrymen. We thankfully availed ourselves of his proffered services ; for we had lost three camels on our march, and were obliged to let our servants and cattle have a complete day's rest. We learnt from him that our comrades, who had come by water, had preceded us by three days, and were already on their march to Ferozpoor. Ibrahim invited us to visit him in the afternoon at his own house, which lay in the middle of the town. Passing through a lofty gate, we first entered the court for the caravans, then into a smaller one sur rounded by a wall, Avhich led to his dwelling. In front of this were several flower beds, a fountain, and a basin for bathing. His dweUing consisted of only four apartments, furnished with carpets, a table, and a few chairs, but no other furniture of any kind whatever. Carpets were spread in the court, and chairs placed BHAWULPOOR. 151 for us and a few other guests, the most respectable persons in the town, and three Persian merchants, who had just arrived from Lahore and Mooltan, and intended returning to their oavu country by Avay of Herat. Tea and sherbet were handed round, and the merchants showed us carpets and silks of Mooltan ; the former were made of cotton, woven in the most beau tiful patterns and colours, and seemed almost impe rishable ; the silks had for the most part only a slight mixture of cotton, and were wrought with gold and silver, but they are neither as beautiful nor as durable, and are used by the natives for tunics and turbans. We returned to our tents through the bazar of the toAvn in the evening: this is the time when the ac tivity and trade of the inhabitants is the greatest : the sellers Hght up their booths, the Bayaderes appear, in their gayest dress, music is heard, and the crowd presses forward in quest of barter or amusement. During the night the thermometer feU to 52° F. ; and my porous water-vessels were covered with a hoar frost in the morning : we felt these changes in the temperature the more sensibly, as we still had a heat of 90° in the morning. In the evening the sky was overcast, heavy clouds of dust were carried through the air, and single drops of rain began to faU. Ibrahim, however, came to take leave of us, and requested us to give him a certificate of his readiness to serve us, a request with which we had much pleasure in complying. On Friday the 28th we continued our march through a very sandy country to Bakkedera, about 13t-r miles distant. An envoy from Bhawulpoor entered it at the same time ; he was seated on an elephant, and was surrounded by about twenty 152 VIOLENT STORM. horsemen, falconers, and many servants on foot. He was the bearer of presents to the Governor-General then at Ferozpoor, and Avas deputed to investigate the state of the country on his route thither. About three o'clock in the afternoon the sky suddenly became obscure, and a fearful storm arose. above the Sutlej, clouds of dust, as dense as masses of earth, were carried through the air, and such Egyptian darkness succeeded, that we could not see four steps before us : at the same time a violent rushing and roaring sounded in the air, and the masses of dust were as thick and continued as if the whole desert were in motion. This storm, unaccompanied by rain, con tinued tiU an hour after sunset, and appeared to have been confined to a narrow slip of land, inasmuch as the seiwants, who had been despatched an hour before it arose, had entirely escaped it. As it was, we were thankful that our tent was not overthrown by it. From this time the heat abated during the day : at night the thermometer sank to 54 ° ; and at mid day, on the 29th, it was only 82° F. Got-Nur- Mahomed is very prettily situated, surrounded by date palms, tamarinds, and tamarisks. On our road thither, we met a man . coming from the village howling and screaming ; we inquired the cause of his distress. "Ah ! " exclaimed he, " my brother has just died, and I must bemoan him to-day." In the evening the funeral obsequies were celebrated in the wildest manner, with dancing and singing ; old as well as young were intoxicated with liquor, and rioted till break of day round a fire, near the corpse. On a lovely morning we wandered through the fertUe, richly cultivated valley of the Sutlej to Khyrpoor. This town, which contains about 8000 inhabitants, KHYRPOOR. 153 lies embosomed in a forest of palms, tamarinds, pipala, and plums, about three miles from the Sutlej. To judge by the ruins of deserted dwellings, it must formerly have been a considerable place ; indeed, there are even now many handsome, though dirty, mosques with cupolas, and several lofty structures. The road to the vUlage Kemry-Kekote (fourteen miles), whither we marched on the 31st, leads through steppes rather than through cultivated land; every thing indicated our near approach to the desert. After traversing eleven miles, we reached the viUage of Khanghurh, where a number of priests have shut themselves up within four walls, and lead a sort of monastic life, and stand high in the estimation of the people for their sanctity. The Bhawulkhan has a residence within the citadel of this enclosure, where he annuaUy spends several days to perform his de votions and to follow the chase ; and at that season many valuable presents are made to the monastery by the wealthy. In the village of Kekote, I saw the remains of an ancient castle, constructed of bricks, and surrounded by high walls, but it is completely in ruins. The vUlage itself is extensive, and contains a mosque, with three cupolas and two minarets. On the 1st of November we made a march of twenty-one miles from Hajeepoor to Bhauda, and although we were only four miles from the Sutlej, the ground was covered with jungle and steppes ; and the fruitful, cultivated fields gradually disap peared. A gypsy band had encamped under their reed huts in the outskirts of the village ; they busied themselves during the day Avith platting, but were playing the livelong night on their wretched musical instruments, to the great enjoyment of the villagers, 154 REMMUK. who were all up, dancing and singing. The next night, which we spent in Kassimkee, was an equally turbulent one. As usual, we entered the jungle in the afternoon, gun in hand, but we shot only some hares, partridges, and parrots. Our Mussulmans celebrated the feast of the new moon with dance and song, in the village of Mac- doom. Here we were forcibly reminded of the state of our country in the middle ages, by the appearance of a nobleman and his suite, Avho seemed to be a knight of those days of bygone chivalry. He was seated on horseback in a coat of mail ; his son, riding on a pony at his side, bore a shield and sword, while before and around him were servants and attendants carrying falcons and guns ; his lady, closely veiled, was seated on a camel with her child, followed by camels laden with tents and baggage. On the fol lowing day, the 5th of November, we reached the village Sczacki-Ky (Sikunkaf), the hospitable in habitants of which were most anxious to forward our wishes ; nay, an aged man approached me ¦ as I was Avalking in his jowary fields, and begged me to pluck as much corn as I liked, adding that he should esteem it a real pleasure to show kindness to the stranger ! Next day we pitched at Remmuk, about 400 paces from the Sutlej. The chief of this village brought his son, a fine boy about ten years of age, and begged that Ave would cure him of a wound, caused by the bite of a horse ; we sent him to Dr. Christie, who, with two officers, Avas a day's march in advance, assuring the distressed parent that we thought his child would soon be' restored. The district lying between this village, Tuwukkul and Lukeeke, is the favourite resort of lions and tigers : a few days previous to our arrival MEMDOT. 155 the inhabitants killed a very large tiger ; and on the 7th we saAV the recent traces of a lion, in a tamarisk jungle, on our way to Lukeeke, but we soon lost sight of it. This vUlage consists of only a few mud huts, and lies close to the Sutlej. Here Ave had the plea sure of rejoining our comrades : we partook of a cheerful repast in Dr. Christie's tent, and drank our last bottle of wine to the weal of our country. Towards evening we went to the Sutlej on an alli gator hunt, and saw many of these animals on the sandy downs, but our aim took effect on only two of them : they turned over several times, and then plunged into the water. On Tuesday, the 8th of November, we had crossed the boundary of Bhawulpoor, and, after proceeding five miles, entered the little territory of the Khan of Memdot, Avhich is under the protection of the English. Issuing from a thick tamarind jungle, we entered a cultivated country, where we for the first time saw corn magazines belonging to the natives : they are built of clay, and their shape is like those of the Kirghis, from 10 to 15 feet in height, and 4 to 6 in diameter ; they have an opening on one side towards the top, which is closed with clay, so soon as the magazine is filled ; others look Hke a large clay chest, either round or square, furnished with a lid or cover. About half way, we passed the extensive village of Bahee, which lies on the highest point of the valley of the Sutlej, and from the plateau, which is 80 feet in height, the eye ranged over boundless tracts of jungle spread before it on every side. At the village of Bodlah we were received by the brother of the Khan, who said that information of our expected arrival had reached him some days previously ; that 156 MEMDOT. the Khan was delighted to hear we had had a safe journey ; that he Avas to provide for our accommo dation, and attend us to Memdot. But the Khan's pro fessions and promises did. not correspond with their performance, and we had much difficulty in procuring food for ourselves or provender for our horses, for either love or money. Here we dismissed the escort that had accompanied us from Ahmedpoor, with thanks and presents; we gave the officer a very ample testimonial, and re quested him to repeat to his prince, in our names, our most grateful thanks for his Highness's hospi tality and friendship. We passed the 10th of November in the viUage of Pajaike, where two of our party, Dr. Christie and Captain Nicholson, feU sick ; the doctor, however, soon recovered, while the illness of Captain Nicholson assumed a very unsatisfactory character. Passing through Mohunke, we arrived, on the 11th, at the little town of Memdot. The country round is well cultivated ; the town small and dirty ; but the citadel is by far the best which we have seen throughout our journey. It is situated on the north side, and built of clay and brick, surrounded by a wall 40 feet high, with round projecting towers. The Khan's residence, a simple dweUing with glass windows, lies within the waUs of the citadel. My comrades here received bread and provisions, which had been sent by their friends at Ferozpoor. To our extreme regret, Captain Nicholson was now so severely iU from brain fever that we were obhged to have him carried next day to Ferozpoor. Impatient to reach our destination, we set out the following morning, at 3 o'clock ; at sunrise we came ARRIVAL AT FEROZPOOR. 157 in sight of the fort and the cantonments lying three miles to the south of it, and in an hour after we arrived at our tents, which were pitched among the bungalows. Here have I been engaged since yester day in writing to you. What may next take place is not* known ; many conjecture that the army of reserve, which is to be assembled here in the course of three weeks, is destined to enter the Punjab, and support the Maharaja Sheer Singh, against his re- beUious minister, Dheean Singh. On this my hopes and wishes depend, — but " man proposes, God dis poses ! " Therefore I will fearlessly leave those things, which are concealed from my mortal sight, to the unerring guidance of that Almighty hand, which has hitherto so wonderfuUy led and protected me. 158 THE PUNJAB. LETTER V. TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. The Punjab. — The Sikhs. — Runjeet Singh. — His govern ment and position relative to the English. — Suttees. — Burn ing of the corpse of Runjeet Singh with eleven of his icives. — Dheean Singh and the Fakir Uzeezoodeen. — Maharaja Kurruck Singh and the Rani- Chand-Kour. — Sheer Singh. — Ferozpoor. — Entry ofthe commanding general into the camp. — Hospitality. — Elephants. — Arrival ofthe Governor General, Lord Ellenborough. — His camp and baggage.- — The army of reserve. — General Sale passes the Sutlej. — Generals Pollock and Nott. — Present from the Indian government of one of the cannon taken at Kabool to the King of Prussia. ¦ — Camp at Ferozpoor. — Entrance of the Rajah Jleera Singh, and on the 10th December of the crown prince, Perihaub Singh, accompanied by Dheean Singh. — Grand review and festivities. — Departure of an extraordinary embassage to Lahore under Mr. Maddock, Member of the Supreme Council. — Journey thither. — The city, and reception by the Maharaja. — Festivities in Lahore. — Mausoleum of Shah Dura. — Grand review of 60,000 men and 200 pieces of artillery. — Chase. — Farewell audience at Shahlimar. Lahore, Jan. 12. 1843. From the land of the ancient Cathays, the former Sangala, I will give you a description of reviews, military festivities, processions, elephants, and Indian tales. When the last few weeks, with their rich and ever-varying scenes, pass before my mind, it seems as though I had dwelt for months in another land : I feel as if just awakened from a lovely dream, which transported me into the early ages of the world, with all their golden fairy tales and legends. THE PUNJAB. 159 In no country on the globe, except in China, have the people retained their ancient usages and manners, their ancient customs and habits, so unaltered as in India. Here we behold a state of things which has been recorded by the history of the earliest ages ; — living pictures so antique, that one might fancy they were the revivified images of the clays of old. Before, however, giving you an account descriptive of my journey to Ferozpoor, I must conduct you into the Punjab, the land of the Sikhs, the dominions of the Maharaja Sheer Singh. The Punjab, or country of "five waters" {jpunj, five; ab, waters), covering an area of 6000 geogra phical square miles, Hes between the Indus, the Sutlej, and the Himalaya mountains. The four streams which rise in these mountains, intersect the country, and divide it with the Indus into four distinct doabs. The first district, lying betAveen the Indus and the Jai- lum (Hydaspes), is 147 miles in breadth. The Jailum, a clear stream, from 300 to 400 yards across, Aoavs in a sandy bed, at the rate of two miles an hour. Its temperature in December Avas 45° Fahrenheit at sunrise, ancl rose during the day to 51°. It is the most sterile, the least cultivated, and the least po pulous part of the country; it is covered with un dulating, bare eminences, which rise considerably towards the centre, and is intersected by rugged declivities. The waters flow in deep beds, enclosed by high steep banks, and consequently cannot be employed in irrigation. The numerous defiles and eminences present great obstacles to the traveller in this country, and we rarely find any large towns. -The greater part of the ground is covered with thickets, and among the few 160 THE PUNJAB. fertUe tracts is a most lovely valley, near the Indus, once the favourite abode of the emperors of Delhi. The splendid ruins of their palace lie towards the south, near several sources, which rush impetuously from the rocks, and flow into the Httle river Tombra. In December, when the temperature of the atmosphere was at 69° Fahrenheit, that of these springs was 71°, and of the Indus 63°. The most remarkable places in this doab, are Rotas, situated on gigantic rocks on the banks of a small affluent of the JaUum ; it is a large, extensive fortress, with lofty waUs and towers ; JaUum, which is half a day's march from it, is stiU larger, and is situated on the river of the same name, across which there is a ford, above the town. The rivers JaUum and Chenaub ( Ascisines) enclose the second of these divisions, growing narrower tUl its breadth is only forty-six miles. This district is en tirely level, with the exception of a low range of hiUs, the termination of the beds of rock salt, which run through the JaUum, and for a short distance are pa raUel with its left bank. It is, for the most part, co vered with jungle of Scirpus lacustris, Ziziphus Jujuba, Cappans aphylla, and Erogrostes cynosuroides. Among these tracts of jungle lie dirty viUages, under the shade of tamarinds and acacias, surrounded by fields of wheat, grain, jowary, cotton, and sugar-cane. The soil is in general Hght and sandy, but so overgrown with grass and weeds, that numerous herds of oxen, camels, sheep, and goats subsist upon it. The inhabitants have bestowed much pains in the construction of the weUs in the centre of this doab : they run to a depth of fifty feet ; and, as the. fertiUty of the soil depends mainly on them, Persian wheels are placed near them, for raising THE PUNJAB. 161 the Avater and irrigating the land. The country, in its entire extent, might be easily converted into a most fertile garden by means of large canals ; but this is not to be expected from the present govern ment. The Chenaub is a clear, gentle stream, attains the breadth of 100 yards, and a depth of 10 feet ; in December, when the temperature of the air was 60° Fahrenheit, that of its water was 48°. The third doab, which is enclosed between the Chenaub and the Ravee, or Hydraotes, is 7 6 J? miles in breadth at its widest part; the Ravee is the small est of these rivers, and is not navigable till within a short distance of Lahore : till it reaches that place it is only 200 feet broad, with a depth of 3^ feet, so that it is fordable at many places. This doab con sists of an arid plain, of which only a third part is cultivated. The remainder is overgrown with wUd indigo, sirky (Saccharum munja), tamarisks, and kedchra. This country, also, might be converted into a most fertile tract, if the mountain springs Avere conveyed in canals ; but, unhappily, the land is cultivated only in the immediate vicinity of the toAvns and villages. The large neglected canal proves that cultivation was formerly more extensive than it now is. Besides the Mimosa, the poplar-leaved fig, and tamarind tree, the date palm flourishes here in all its luxuriance and beauty. There are several con siderable towns on the main road from Lahore to Attock, the largest of which is Rhamneghur, on the left bank of the Chenaub, which is inhabited by Mussulmans. The narrowest and most neglected of these four doabs is only 44^ miles broad, and is bounded by the Ravee and the Sutlej, or Hyphasis. Here, too, nature VOL. I. M 162 THE. PUNJAB. has done aU to produce the most luxuriant vegetation, with very Httle help from the hand of man ; but, as in the two above-mentioned districts, this is Avanting, and only smaU tracts are cultivated. Here are the largest toAvns — Lahore, Amritsir (Amritasara, essence of Ambrosia), and Kussoor. The Sutlej is the most considerable of the tributaries of the Indus. It is from 250 to 400 feet broad, and in the rainy season overflows its banks to a great distance, and fertilizes the surrounding country. In December, when the temperature was 74° Fahrenheit, that of its water was 55°. Besides this country, so highly favoured by nature, but so neglected by man, the empire of the Sikhs extends over the fine and rich province of Mooltan, a tract seventy miles wide, along the right bank of the Indus, beyond Mettun-Kote and the province of Peshawar. The territory under the dominion of the Maharaja may be estimated at 8000 geogra phical square miles, with five miUion inhabitants and a revenue of between two and three millions sterling. It is divided into provinces and districts, the adminis tration of which is committed to governors and sir dars, who pay a certain sum to the prince ; and of course, each of them endeavours to extort as much more as he possibly can from the country under his charge. Mooltan, which is governed by a Hindoo, enjoys the best administration, and Kashmir is the most plundered and desolated. At the end of the fifteenth century, there arose in the country of the Kingless tribe (as Arrian designates the inhabitants of the Punjab) a religious sect, that of the Sikhs, at the head of whom was Nanick, who was soon joined by thousands of fanatics and enthu- THE SIKHS. 163 siasts. He was a scholar of Kahir, consequently a kind of Hindoo deist, who asserted the principle of universal toleration ; for he affirmed that God was pleased when men Avorshipped Him, but that He was indifferent under what form they did so. This tolerant religious spirit, was an abomination to the bigoted Mahometans ; and after this sect had flourished during a century, their spiritual chief was killed by them in 1606. This tyrannical proceeding changed the peaceable Sikhs into fanatical warriors, and under Har-Govind, the son of their priest who had been so crueUy sacrificed, they took up arms, as declared enemies and avengers against their op pressors. Being however too weak to oppose the troops that were sent against them, and still more enfeebled by internal dissensions, the Sikhs were driven from the vicmity of Lahore, into the mountainous districts of the north. In the year 1675, Ghooroo-Govind, their tenth spiritual chief, grandson of Har-Govind, succeeded, with the spirit of a Grecian lawgiver, in inspiring the adherents of the Sikhs to unite in a religious and mUitary association. He abohshed caste among his adherents, accorded equal rights to every convert, whatever might have been his previous profession, and, that there might be more harmony and uni formity among his followers, he commanded the adoption of a peculiar dress and manners. All were obUged to serve as warriors and to carry some weapon, to wear a blue garment, and suffer the hair and beard to grow. They despised tobacco because it defiled the body, and, like the Hindoos, they con sidered the buU sacred. This spirit of moderation and tolerance, is however M 2 164 THE SIKHS RUNJEET SINGH. not possessed by the Ghooroos, their present priests, or by the Acalees, their fanatic fakirs, and the Mus sulmans are compelled to perform their refigious observances in secret and retirement. The Acalees acknowledge no superior governor, and merely tolerate their reigning prince, whom they traduce in every pos sible way, and even openly seek his life, if he opposes their vieAvs. They are generally provided with a round quoit, which they wear either round their pointed turban, or at their side. The quoit is a flat iron ring, from eight to fourteen inches in diameter, the outer edge of which is ground extremely sharp ; they twirl this weapon round their finger, or on a stick, and throw it to a distance, with such dex terity and force, that the head of the person aimed at is often severed from the body. Many of these Acalees form a special troop in the army of the Ma haraja. From this nation, Runjeet Singh, the son of an obscure Sikh Sirdar, named Maha Singh, rose to be paramount chief, by means of his wisdom and valour. In India, a bold determined character, has less diffi culty than in any other country to gather a host of military enthusiasts round his banner, and this is especiaUy the case with so warlike a people as the Sikhs. Runjeet Singh was born in Gujuru Walla, a village twenty-five miles from Lahore, on the 2d November 1780 : at the age of twenty he obtained possession of the wealthy kingdom of Lahore, and successively expelled the three chiefs, Ischet Singh, Muhuc Singh, and Sahib Singh, who opposed him. In the year 1805, he penetrated into the doab between the Chenaub and the Indus, to subject a Mussulman chief; and here, by means of the Maha- THE SIKHS. — RUNJEET SINGH. 165 rattas, whom Lord Lake had driven beyond the Sutlej, he first came into contact with the English. Holkar, the Maharatta chief, expected to find an aUy in Runjeet, but the crafty conqueror felt that it would be wiser to be a friend of the British. In the year 1800 the news of an invasion by Napoleon, spread Hke wUd-fire throughout India, which induced the British government to ascertain the sentiments of the independent princes. Among these, Runjeet Singh held an important rank, and Sir Charles Metcalfe was accordingly sent as British agent to Lahore. Runjeet Singh was at that time engaged in the subjection of the several petty inde pendent Sikh princes ; he indeed received the envoy at Kussoor, but broke off the negotiation, and pene trated to the left bank of the Sutlej. On this the British government declared to him, through Sir Charles Metcalfe, that the whole country, from the Jumna to the Sutlej, was under its protection, and that it would not tolerate any superior authority there. A corps under Colonel Ochterlony, and an army of reserve under General St. Leger, the first of whom advanced without opposition to the Sutlej, succeeded in inducing the valorous Runjeet Singh to conclude a treaty. An accidental circumstance favoured the demand of the envoy, and convinced the Maharaja that he had to do with an adversary superior to himself in every respect, especially in the excellence and discipline of the troops. At the end of February, 1801, Sir Charles Metcalfe, with an escort of only two com panies of native troops and sixteen cavalry, was in the camp of the Sikhs at Amritsir. His Mahometans celebrated the festival of Moharrem in honour of the M 3 166 THE SIKHS. — RUNJEET SLNGH. death of Hussein and Hassan. The Acalees considered this an insult to their religion, and tumultuously collected a large body of Sikhs, who, led by the bigoted and fanatic Phula-Singh, attacked the camp of the envoy, with a fire of musketry. The small escort immediately seized their arms, and repulsed their tenfold more numerous adversaries, with great loss. Runjeet Singh, attracted by the uproar, appeared just as the disciplined sepoys had obtained the vic tory. The bravery of this little band made a great impression on him : he expressed his admiration at the disciphne and resolution of the British troops, offered an apology,' and declared himself ready to conclude a treaty. It was signed on the 25th of April, 1809, in four articles, by which a permanent friendship was to exist between the English and the state of Lahore ; and the Maharaja gave up the tract of country which he occupied on the left bank of the Sutlej . In order however fully to secure the position of the Sikh princes, it was agreed that the British government should renounce a tribute from these princes ; and that they on the other hand, should engage to afford the British troops every facUity on any expedition, or march Avhich they might undertake, and in case of Avar should join their forces. Colonel Ochterlony, as superintendent of the affairs of the Sikhs, was only once obliged to act against the Rajah of PattiaUah, who oppressed his subjects most crueUy, and was conse quently placed under strict guardianship. From this time, tiU the year 1830, we find Runjeet Singh without any direct connection with the Enghsh, but unceasingly engaged in aggrandizing his do minions and increasing his army. He conquered Mooltan and Kashmir, sword in hand, and Avas con- THE SIKHS. — RUNJEET SINGH. 167 tinually engaged in contests with the Afghans, the most violent enemies of the Sikhs, till he at length succeeded in getting possession of Peshawar, through the treachery of the brother of Dost Mahomed, whom he bribed with the promise of an*, annual pension of two lacs. Two French officers, Captains Ventura and Allard, who, after the faU of Napoleon, had in vain sought an honourable employment in Persia, repaired to the court of Lahore, in the year 1822. They met with a friendly and brilliant reception, and were employed by Runjeet to organize his army on the French foot ing. Four years afterwards they were folloAved by Generals Court and Avitabile. By the aid of these officers, on whom Runjeet Singh conferred the rank of generals, the Maharaja succeeded in forming a well- armed and tolerably disciplined army of 50,000 men, besides 100,000 irregular troops ; cannon founderies, powder magazines, and manufactories of arms are established in Lahore and Amritsir. Runjeet Singh required the Europeans, who entered his service, to engage not to eat beef, not to shave their beards, and not to smoke tobacco. The latter, however, was allowed them, on their declaring them selves ready to comply with the first tAvo conditions. These officers were respectively placed at the head of a brigade or division ; Ventura and Allard were the founders of his regular cavalry ; General Avitabile was distinguished as an infantry officer, and to the chivalrous General Court, Runjeet is indebted for his artillery. But notwithstanding this great confidence which the Maharaja placed in them, with this ho nourable and extensive sphere of action and princely recompenses in lands and money, they were not ap- M 4 168 THE SIKHS. — RUNJEET SINGH. plied to in any affair relative to the court and the government ; they were not aUowed to sit down in the presence of the Maharaja, and were often obliged to petition for their high pay, from 2000 to 3000 rupees a month. «• When Sir Alexander Burnes, the bearer of pre sents from the King of England to Runjeet Singh, arrived in Lahore, in July 1831, he found the Ma haraja at the height of his power, dreaded by Ms enemies, and respected by the British. The veteran hero was flattered by so distinguished a mark of honour from a nation which he highly venerated, and whose superiority he acknowledged in every respect. The splendid reception which he gave to Sir Alexander Burnes, as weU as the high esteem which he then ma nifested for the English, led to an interview between him and Lord Wilham Bentinck, then Governor- General of India, at Roopoor, 1835. In consequence of this interview a treaty of navigation and commerce between Runjeet Singh and the English was con cluded ; by which it was stipulated that the merchants should pay a certain duty, in order to put an end to the arbitrary exactions which had hitherto taken place. A short time before the opening of the campaign against Afghanistan, in 1838, another interview took place between the Governor- General, Lord Auckland, and Runjeet Singh ; on which occasion the Maharaja promised to give the British some assistance, and granted them a free passage through his territory. But Runjeet Singh was at this time in an enfeebled state of health ; his dissolute mode of Hfe brought on dropsy, and he died on the 27th of June, 1839, of paralysis, in the fifty-ninth year of his age and the fortieth of his reign. THE SUTTEE. 169 The Suttee, or the custom of burning the women on the death of their husband, is extremely ancient in India, though no mention is made of it in the laws of Menu ; but Diodorus gives a description of it, which is quite correct, even at this day. Though the Enghsh have never interfered to hinder the refigious usages of the Indians, they, however, permitted neither the Suttee, nor the crushing of the devotees under the wheels ofthe sacred car of Juggernaut, in the countries subject to their government ; and, according to the assurances which I have received from well-informed persons, it appears that as far as control is possible, no Suttee has taken place Avithin the last ten years in Bengal and in the Presidency of Bombay ; this cruel custom does not prevail to the south of the river Kishna. Even the relations themselves, now often endeavour to prevent the burning of the widows ; and in families of high rank, the prince of the country, in person, undertakes to offer consolation, and, while he is endeavouring to dissuade the widow from her purpose, the corpse is hastUy carried away and con sumed. In Bengal it was customary to bind the dead and the Hving together with ropes to a stake, and to pUe up bamboo canes so high around them, that escape was impossible. The widow was led by a string to the pile, accompanied in solemn procession by the nearest relations of her late husband, with a band of music, and attended by young women and relatives, her male descendants going before. In Orissa the pile is made in a pit, into which the wife throws herself as soon as the flames arise ; and in the Deccan the woman sits upon the pile, with the head of her husband in her lap, till she is either suffocated, 01 170 SUTTEE ON THE DEATH OF crushed by the heavy wooden covering which is placed over it. When a woman intends to burn herself with her husband, her grief assumes a sublime character; she sheds no tear, she makes no lamentation, she lays aside her veil, and no longer conceals her person from the eyes of men ; the thought of entering with her be loved into the blissful state beyond the grave — nay, by this expiatory sacrifice, to have facUitated and pre pared the way for him, gives her the incredible energy to dedicate herself to such a martyrdom. Women have been seen to pray and wring their hands in the flames ; others overcome by their sufferings, have rushed out of the fire, but were immediately driven back by those around them. An Englishman who was witness of such a scene, took the part of the unhappy woman, and stopped the awful sacrifice ; but, what was his surprise, when on the following day she overwhelmed him with the most virulent reproaches, saying that he had robbed her of her salvation, and that she must now be an outcast and a wanderer, neglected and despised by all. According to the custom of the Sikhs, the dead body of the Maharaja was burnt on the day foUowing his decease, before the gates of the palace Hasuree- Bagh, in the presence of aU the great men and the assembled troops. Four of his wives, and seven of his female slaves committed themselves to the flames with his body. An eye-witness told me that nothing had made so deep and lasting an impression on him, as the moment when these female figures issued, in solemn procession, from the palace gate, amid the sound of music and the thunder of the artillery. Almost aU the inhabitants of Lahore were present at RUNJEET SINGH — HIS CHARACTER. 171 this fearful solemnity. The corpse was placed in a sitting posture, betAveen high piles of wood ; and as soon as the flames Avere at their height, the unhappy victims prepared for death. Tavo of the wives, who were only sixteen years of age, and possessed of extraordinary beauty, looked as if they were happy in being able, for the first time, to show their charms to the multitude ; they took off their most precious jewels, gave them to their relations and friends, asked for a looking-glass, and with a slow and measured step Avalked towards the pile, sometimes gazing at the glass in their hand, then at the assembly, and anxiously asking if any change were observable in their countenance. They entered the glowing furnace, and in an instant were caught by the flames, and suffocated by the heat and smoke. The other women seemed less resigned and cheerful ; and, when they caught sight of the frightful element, horror was depicted on their countenances ; but they knew that escape was impossible, and patiently sub mitted to their cruel fate.. The minister, Dheean Singh, appeared to be about to throw himself into the flames, but the descendants of the Maharaja, particu larly Sheer Singh, held him back. Runjeet Singh, who has not unaptly been called the Porus of our days, was a small, mean-looking, de formed man, and blind with his left eye, in conse quence of the small-pox. With aU the magnificence which prevailed at his court, he Avas himself very simple in his attire, and wore but few ornaments ; but he loved to see show and splendour in every thing about him. In battle, he was always seen at the head of his troops, and foremost in combat ; he twice crossed the Indus with his cavalry, in the very 172 RUNJEET SINGH — HIS CHARACTER. face of the enemy, and gained the victory. In energy of will, endurance, and craftiness, he was unequalled by any of his people ; and though he was a tyrant, in the full extent of the word, he was not destitute of feehngs of compassion. When Runjeet Singh con ceived a thought, he never delayed carrying it into effect. Thus, having heard of a fine horse, which was in the possession of an Afghan prince, he offered to the owner an ample remuneration, if he would give up this valuable animal ; but as this was refused, he suddenly feU upon him with his cavalry, and tri umphantly carried off the coveted prize. The want of education was covered by the splendid mental powers with which nature had endowed him ; and prudence and knowledge of mankind enabled him to maintain himself in his high station. Even at the latest period of his life, he endeavoured to acquire instruction, loved to speak of his campaigns and plans, and when a happy thought or some pleasure animated him, he uttered, with youthful enthusiasm, his favourite expression, " Barra tamasha," fine fun. By means of excessive HberaHty, he attached faith ful servants and brave warriors to himself; and, with equally royal munificence, he gave presents to stran gers, but could never conceive why the Enghsh were obliged to dehver them up to their government. To prevent this he once caused a valuable gift to be car ried during the night, into the house of an English ge neral for whom he had conceived a high esteem. His interest in every thing European went so far, that when, on the accession of Queen Victoria, several colonels in the British army were raised to the rank of generals, he nominated an equal number in his army ; and to console one who was passed over, DHEEAN SINGH. UZEEZOODEEN. 173 assured him that at some future time he would make him a lord ! The character of this great man is darkened by his dissolute life, especially the vice of drunkenness, which, at last increased to such a degree that, in his latter years, he could not exist without the strongest spirituous liquors. At the beginning of his course, he once saw a common lancer by the side of his elephant, breaking in a vicious horse; the beauty of this young man struck him, and his bold carriage, skill, and courage, made a favourable impression on Runjeet Singh, and the courteous reply to a question put by the. Maha raja decided the fate of the impoverished young nobleman. This was the handsome Meer Dheean Singh, who was at that time five-and-twenty years of age, and was the descendant of a noble family in the lower regions of the Himalaya. From the post of porter in the royal palace, he rose to that of minister and first vizier, but with aU his apparent submissive- ness he attempted to kiU his own son, Heera Singh (Diamond Lion), the handsomest boy in the country, because the Maharaja appeared to take a liking to him. Dheean Singh, now the aU-powerful minister of the kingdom, is almost the unlimited master of the mountainous country, and has his own troops and his own artillery. In his little forts, built on high rocks, he feels himself secure and independent, and bids defiance to every person or power that attempts to rival him. No less remarkable and important a person is the Fakir Uzeezoodeen, the chief physician and political adviser of Runjeet Singh; the best encomium that can be pronounced upon him is, that he has been able to maintain his high position, for a period of thirty 174 THE FAKIRS. — MAHARAJA KURRUCK SINGH. years. Every embassage to the British Government was. accompanied by Uzeezoodeen ; without him no resolution is formed, and every party seeks his counsel or assistance. He is descended from the Ansaris Arabs of the desert, between Bagdad, Da mascus, and Aleppo, and, like the whole of his fa mUy, belongs to the fakirs of the country. The fakirs lead a very retired life, quite shut out from the rest of the world ; their women are never visible, and but Httle is known of their domestic arrangements./ They intermarry only among each other, and, under a servile and fawning exterior, they make a semblance of extreme poverty, though they have amassed immense riches. Runjeet Singh ex torted large sums from them when his coffers were empty. The younger brother of Uzeezoodeen, Halifi Nu- redden, the owner of Gulabhana, where the distiUed waters, essences, and medicines are manufactured, is a man of no less influence at court, and has free access^ to the Maharaja both morning and evening. He has also the superintendence of the buildings, manufac tories, and royal magazines. A third brother, the Fakir Imameddin, is blind, and fives in Amritsir. He is represented at court by his son Tageddin, to whom, as commander of the fortress of Goorindgher, the treasure deposited there, to the value of six million sterling, in jewels, gold, silver, and Cashmere shawls, is intrusted. The second son of Uzeezoodeen, the Fakir Errikeddin, is agent of the Maharaja at Ferozpoor. Runjeet Singh was succeeded by his only son, who was then thirty- seven years of age, by the title of Maharaja Kurruck Singh. Not favoured by nature, DEATH OF NOU NEHAL SINGH. 175 grown up without education, intemperate and effemi nate, he sought only his pleasures and the harem; and left the affairs of government to the cruel Ceth Singh. But the latter, having formed the plan of putting Dheean Singh to death at a Durbar, he was cut in pieces at the side of the Maharaja by Dheean Singh and the crown prince, Nou Nehal Singh, who had been sent for from Peshawar. Kurruck Singh was seized with a severe illness soon after his accession, and, it is reported that his only son, the favourite of his grandfather, was not unconcerned in his premature death ; for he died, after languishing seven months,/ of a neglected and improperly treated intermittent fever, on the 6th of November, 1840, and was burnt the same day with one of his wives and two female slaves. Nou Nehal Singh, a youth of nineteen years of age, ambitious, expert in aU warlike exercises, spirited, energetic, and full of great plans, was resolved to show the world what he was capable of. He was a sworn enemy to the English, and formed the bold project of declaring against them on the first favour able opportunity. He could scarcely conceal his joy, even at the immolation of his father's corpse, at finding himself the actual possessor of the throne. Guided by Rajah Meer Udum Singh, his friend and coun sellor, he resolved, after the completion of that mournful ceremony, to wash away his sins in the Ravee, but as he was riding through the outer gate of Hasuree-Bagh, a large piece of the archway fell upon them both, from a height of thirty feet, kiUed his friend on the spot, and wounded the young prince so severely in the head, that he expired in three hours, while only a few of the great men, who accompanied them, were wounded. His death was concealed in the 176 THE RANEE CHANDKAUR. fortress for three days, in order to give time to his absent mother, the Ranee Chandkaur, and to Prince Shere Singh, who was residing at his country house, to secure the throne. The body was burnt early in the morning of the third day, on the same spot where he was kiUed, with his two wives in the bloom of youth and beauty. The Ranee Chandkaur arrived in the fortress an hour before Sheer Singh, and occupied the inner part of it, upon Avhich the latter Avith his adherents took possession ofthe garden Hasuree-Bagh. The great men of the kingdom, spent several weeks in deliberating which of the two should ascend the throne ; till at length on the 30th of November the thunders of the artillery announced to Sheer Singh the painful inteUigence, that Chandkaur had been chosen queen. He himself was obliged, according to the custom of the country, to repair to the palace of the sovereign, and, conducted by the ministers, to make the first present of 101 pieces of gold coin, but he left Lahore immediately after. Chandkaur was the first wife of Kurruck Singh : she was at this time between forty and fifty years of age, rather corpulent, but of a pleasing exterior. She governed the kingdom under the guidance of twenty of the principal men, who called themselves coun sellors. She showed herself only to her confidants, among whom the Rajah Gulab Singh, Dheean Singh's elder brother, and the Jemedar Koshal Singh, had the pre-eminence. Full of jealousy and distrust of the dic tatorial, imperious Dheean Singh, these two took ad vantage of his absence, Avhile he was enjoying the diversion of the chase in the forest of Merlebele, to supplant him. They accused him to the sovereign, in the presence of the counsellors, of having issued ACCESSION OF SHERE SINGH. 177 orders of his own authority, and obtained a decision, that aU ordinances, to be valid, must henceforward be signed by Chandkaur's own hand. Two letters (haha sasa) indicated the royal pleasure : but if they related to grants of money, the seals of the three de ceased princes and of the minister were to be added. This proceeding spread discontent through the country : insurrections broke out in various parts of the kingdom, and there was reason to fear, that there would be a rebeUion in the chief city, Lahore. To take advantage of this state of things, Dheean Singh, under pretext of going to hunt in the mountains, repaired, with his younger brother, the Rajah Soochet Singh, to Shere Singh, inviting him to put himself at the head of the movement, and to take possession of the throne. Shere Singh acceded to this proposal ; and they ad vanced with some thousand men against Lahore, and besieged the queen in Hasuree-Bagh. She had shut herself up here with the Rajahs Goolab Singh, Heera Singh, the brothers Itter Singh, and Achet Singh, (sirdars of the Sendooal family, who, as the nearest relations of Rundjeet Singh, had also • pretensions to the throne,) and with 4000 men, chiefly moun tain troops. The besieged gave up the fortress in five days, on the 28th of January, 1841. The Rajahs Goolab Singh and Heera Singh were allowed to retire with their troops to Chauduree, on the other bank of the river Ravee : the two sirdars fled across the Sutlej to the British possessions, and the queen Avas guarded as a prisoner in the fortress. Thus Shere Singh ascended the throne. During his temporary residence at his summer palace, the ex- queen was found in her apartment, mortally wounded. Four of her female slaves had broken her skull with VOL. I. N 178 SHERE SINGH. tiles, and she survived this barbarous treatment only three days. The murderers were sentenced to have their hands, noses, and ears cut off; and were exUed beyond the Ravee. On the day of his coronation, January 27. 1841, Shere Singh, at the intercession of Dheean Singh, pardoned his brother and son, who were invited to be witnesses of the ceremony of the coronation. The Maharaja was born in the little town of Ve- lateh, in 1807, and, according to the assertion of his reputed father, is said to be the son of a dhoby. Al-_ though educated in warlike, stirring times, at the most splendid court in India, he has never been able to attain to personal importance, and, being effeminate, and utterly devoid of firmness of character, he has been led by the current of events and by the most resolute men of the time. Among the latter, Dheean Singh occupies the most prominent position ; for Shere Singh, independently of a sense of deference for this extraordinary man, is bound to him by the strongest ties of gratitude, inasmuch as he is indebted to him, not only for the throne but also for his life. A plot had been laid by Chandkaur that he should be mur dered in the palace : Dheean Singh gave him timely warning, and defeated the plot. This, together with the immense influence which Dheean Singh possesses in the country, has however made Shere Singh so utterly dependent upon him, that he does not venture to act, even in the smaUest matter, without his appro bation ; nay, he, the Maharaja, the monarch of the land, rises and folds his hands in the presence of his minister ! — a token of the deepest submission among the natives ! Dheean Singh has nominated creatures of his own to aU the highest posts, both in the country and at court. His son Heera Singh, cqmmander-in- SHERE SINGH. 179 chief of the army, is a vain ignorant young man, twenty-five years of age, Avho, properly speaking, be longs to no party, but is carried away by the impulse of the moment, and would be quite capable of betray ing his, OAvn father; he is, besides, disliked by the army on account of his overbearing, tyrannical con duct. It is true that the Maharaja has some ad herents, both in the country and in the army ; but, like their master, they have not the courage to give vent to their sentiments. Shere Singh has three wives, but only one son, the crown-prince Perthaub Singh, an intelligent boy twelve years of age, full of Hfe and energy ; and, much might be hoped for from him, were he not educated accord ing to the custom of the country. He has been placed with the Generalissimo Heera Singh, in order that he may have the opportunity of ingratiating himself with the army; but his guardian has neither the ability nor the inclination to act the part of tutor assigned to him by the court. The other most influential men about the court of Lahore are Soochet Singh, the sir dars Achet Singh, Sham Singh, Tej Singh, and Itter Singh : Goolab Singh stiU remains in the mountains, notwithstanding the numerous invitations he has re ceived to appear at court. So much for this remarkable kingdom, which must soon become a question of life and death for the British power in India. Unless possessed of this, there is no security: — the Indus above Attock, with the moun tain chain beyond Peshawur, and the Himalaya mountains, form the true and natural frontier of the immense dominions of the British empire in India.* When once this has been attained, all her powers can * See note, p. 235. N 2 180 FEROZPOOR. be concentrated in the interior, and civilisation take root and flourish. You must now return with me to Ferozpoor. The town itself is a small cheerful place, built of bricks, and surrounded by a wall: it is about two. miles from the Sutlej, and lies on an eminence, in a boundless plain. At the north-west end, is the square, old citadel, which commands the town and the environs: it is defended by four pieces, and is occupied by an officer and sixty-eight men. At the northern issue from the town is a very fine bricked pond, with a flight of steps, close to which a small pagoda is embosomed in fig-trees (Ficus religiosa) and acacias. Before the English settled here, Ferozpoor and its environs were desolate and ruinous : now the town increases daily, and the plain is every where brought under cultivation ; and, where only a short time ago desolation reigned, and jungle covered the soil, the most luxuriant fields of corn are now flourishing. A dry arm of the Sutlej runs to the south, in many windings, between the town and the cantonment; and many ditches intersect the country, which, as nu merous closed weUs indicate, must have been formerly highly cultivated. Nothing is here wanted but wells, which, at the depth of thirty feet, supply an abun dance of water for irrigation, and the fertile soU yields the richest harvest without manure. A road planted with trees leads from the town to the cantonments, which are three mUes distant to the south, and are divided into streets, which cross each other at right angles. Here are the magazines, which are built of stone, and the barracks of the Europeans, those of the native regiments, and the bungalows ofthe officers, surrounded by gardens, in which tamarinds, oranges, bananas, all kinds of flowers, pinks, roses, mig- FEROZPOOR. 181 nionette, and European vegetables, flourish in abun dance. Lord Altamont and myself have been obliged to hire a bungaloAV for 100 rupees a month — for my tent was not calculated to be set up in the magnificent camp of an Indian army. Here we keep house for ourselves, which is expensive enough, as you will see, when I tell you that a fowl costs one rupee, a bottle of wine, five rupees, and a small ham, weighing scarcely eight pounds, thirty-six rupees : other ne cessaries of life are in the same proportion. When the gun announces the dawn of day, we mount our horses and ride to the camp, to be pre sent at the exercising of the troops, or to witness the entrance of the fresh regiments. Our time is then taken up in visits, in Avhich Captain Ewart's advice and assistance are of great service to me. I pass many cheerful hours in the society of this in- teUigent officer and his accomplished lady, who possesses great musical talent. But, this interesting course of life has been sadly clouded by the death of two of my feUow-travellers. Captain Nicholson died in consequence of the exertions attending his removal, three days after our arrival. He was an excellent officer, beloved by every one, and the third son of whom his mother had been deprived by the destruc tive climate of India. I was no less affected by the loss of Captain West, who feU a victim to the cholera ; and, already foreboding his fate at Sukkur, said to me that he should never see his country again. On the 20th of November, the Commander-in- Chief, Sir Jasper Nicolls, arrived at the camp, with 80 elephants, 300 camels, 136 draught oxen, and above 1000 servants, This immense retinue was N, 3 182 SIR JASPER NICOLLS. merely for his service, and for attendance on the animals, but did not include those domestics and animals which are required for his own person and those of his suite. Sir Jasper Nicolls has two tents, each fifty-six feet long and thirty-two broad ; and several smaller ones, enclosed in a linen fence, in which he and his family reside. Opposite to them is the Durbar tent, which consists of several apartments. The floors are covered with shawls and carpets, and the tent is provided with a canopy, tables, chairs, SIR JASPER NICOLLS. 183 and furniture of every kind; nay, chandeliers are not wanting, so that in these canvass houses, he is as comfortable as at home. A band of one of the regiments performs every evening in the principal street of the camp. Sir Jasper NicoUs and his lady render my abode at Ferozpoor very agreeable by their hospitality, and Lady Nicolls has had the goodness to lend me her elephant several times. I felt a singular mixture of curiosity and anxiety when I mounted one of these animals for the first time. A hair cushion is laid upon his back, for this is the most tender part of the animal, and the greatest care must be taken by his keeper to protect it from injury, because any wound there is very difficult to heal. Over this cushion is spread a covering of red cloth, embroidered with gold, which hangs down on both sides ; on this rests the howdah, which is fastened by cords and girths round the body of the elephant. The howdah is very much like our sledges, and has 'seats for two persons and their servants. The Mahout, who guides the ele phant with an iron prong, one point of which is bent outwards, sits on the animal's neck, while the driver, with a large club in his hand, runs by his side, in citing him to proceed by words and blows. A ladder is suspended at the side of the elephant to enable the riders to ascend and descend.' As soon as the rider is ready to mount this majestic creature, the Mahout cries, Beit ! beit ! (Beittna, i. e. to lie down,) upon which the elephant kneels down ; the ladder is set up, and the rider mounts and takes , his seat. The motion of some of these sagacious animals is most agreeable, and that of others very fa tiguing, for it depends entirely upon his gait. When N 4 184 THE ELEPHANT. he is driven, his step is so long and quick, that a horseman must trot to keep pace with him ; but he soon relaxes in his exertion, and I should think could probably not travel more than twenty-four miles in the course of a day. When much heated and covered with dust, he sprinkles himself from time to time, with the water, which he carries in his trunk, for this seeming purpose. An ordinary elephant costs 1000 rupees, and his keep is about 40 rupees a month ; however, the quan tity of food which he consumes depends on his size : he receives twice as many seers of baked flour (a seer =r 2 lbs.) as he measures feet in height, besides leaves, corn, and hay. This remarkable animal sup plies the "place of carriages; and here, where the ground is covered with ditches and holes*, I find him most serviceable, for it seems to be an impossi bility that an elephant should fall. On the arrival of the General-in-chief the army of reserve begun to assemble : the cavalry regiments were the last to arrive, because there was a scarcity of grass for the horses. The morning always found me amid the bustle of the camp, or attending the exercises of the troops; and, as most of the corps of officers had invited me to their tables, I generally passed the evenings in the camp. At one of these dinners given by the 16th regiment of Lancers, I met Hindoo Row, the brother of Bacza Baee, the favourite wife of the Maharaja Dowlah Row Scindia : he headed his brother-in-law's army fifteen years ago, and on .his death was greatly incUned to possess himself of * There is a sect of the natives who grovel after a large species of lizard, of which they are very fond, on account of its fat ; and it is in consequence of their digging for these reptiles, that the ground is so full of holes. HINDOO ROW. — BARON MEYER. 185 the vacant throne. He now lives at Delhi, on a pension guaranteed to him by the British govern ment from the state of Gwalior. He is passionately fond of tiger hunting, and a great admirer of the English. He amused himself with sitting in perfect sUence at table, admiring our appetite, without touch ing any thing himself. Not long ago he had ad dicted himself to drinking ; but, happening one day to meet a European soldier in a state of intoxication, and being told by his friends that he conducted him self in a precisely simUar manner whenever he had indulged too freely, Hindoo Row vowed that he would never more touch spirituous liquors ; and he has kept his word. At the entertainments given by the General-in- chief, we frequently met the officers who were on their way from Afghanistan, as weU as some of the prisoners.. Among the former I was especially pleased with making the acquaintance of one of my countrymen, Baron Meyer : this brave young officer was wounded in an action at the Khyber Pass, and has not yet recovered from it. We have passed many an hour in talking over events connected with our beloved country. The camp daily assumed a more motley and lively appearance, by the concourse of persons congregated from different parts of India. Yet we were not without scenes of melancholy and distress : we saw numerous sepoys who had just returned from the scene of slaughter, and who were mutilated, more by the cold than by the enemy, and who had lost not only their limbs, but their caste, the most dreadful loss which a Hindoo can suffer. On the 4th December, the temperature before sun rise was 44°, and at noon 77^°, Fahrenheit. I rode down to the Sutlej to look at the bridges of boats 186 ARRIVAL OF LORD ELLENBOROUGH. erected there. They are 290 feet (yards ?) in length, and are built of Dundy-boats, as is usual, both here and on the Indus, with flat bottoms and broad ends. One of these bridges consists of fifty-nine, and the other of forty-seven, such boats ; and they are so strong that the heaviest weights can be borne over in perfect safety. On my road thither the mountain chain of the Himalayas, for the first time, rose before me. The impression produced by these snow-clad masses, sur rounded by a tropical nature and appearing to cleave the clouds, is quite indescribable. Man in vain seeks for words to give vent to the sensations which such a scene produces on his soul — they are thoughts of its inmost recesses — for which no expression can be found ! Lord Ellenborough, the Governor General, made his entry into Ferozpoor on the 9th of December, with 120 elephants, 700 camels, and numerous wag gons. The whole army marched out to receive him, and was drawn up in lines on the road to Lo- diana. I rode with my friend Lord Altamont to wel come his Lordship. We met first an endless train of elephants, camels, carriages, palanquins, waggons, horsemen, and servants of aU descriptions ; next the escort of the Governor General, the 3d Bengal regi ment of cavalry which trotted before him, wearing the Ghuznee medals with which they had been presented the day previously ; and then the king of the country dressed in a civil costume, riding on a splendid Arab, surrounded by his staff. Mr. George Clarke had the kindness to present us to him : we were most kindly received, and invited by his Lordship to reside in the camp as his guests — an offer which we of course very gladly accepted. In front of the tent of the Governor General is a CAMP AT FEROZPOOR. 187 road 150 paces broad, along which are pitched tents of the superior civil and military officers, and aide-de camps, composing the administration : above forty clerks belong to the department of the Secretary of Government alone. At the end of this road or street is the tent which has been put up for me : it is divided into three compartments, with double waUs and roofs, thirty feet long, and twenty broad. The Governor General has a body guard of two officers and 120 cavalry soldiers, and hundreds of servants. A regi ment of cavalry, another of infantry, and a brigade of artiUery, do duty in the camp. THE CHOAVEEE BUEDAE. 188 CAMP AT FEROZPOOR. Lord EUenborough's Durbar tent, consists of three large tents, and is 168 feet long, thirty-two broad, and twenty-eight high. The apartments are covered with the most costly carpets, and are Hghted up in the evening with chandehers ; iron stoves impart warmth and cheerfulness ; and a canopy, in front of which the standard of England floats on a lofty pole, marks the entrance. From this Durbar tent, a glass door leads through a covered passage to the dwelling and sleep ing tents. When we sat down to dinner, which was served on silver, the band of the Governor General struck up " God save the Queen : " a servant in a scarlet Hvery stood behind the chair of each guest, whUe two stately Hindoo attendants fanned his Lord ship with a chowree, made of the tufted taU of the Hindoo ox, in a slow and measured movement. A few days after the arrival of Lord EUenborough, the irregular cavalry made trial of their skiU in the presence of his Lordship. The Governor General, as weU as' aU the superior officers, and the ladies, were seated on a long row of elephants, whUe a number of spectators were ranged on horseback. The riders, dressed in red and yeUow, first riding at fuU gaUop, fired their matchlocks at glass bottles, nine of which were struck ; then, continuing at their utmost speed, they thrust at the tent pins with the lance — a feat which required great dexterity and bodily strength : aU sorts of equestrian exercises concluded the inter esting spectacle. Lord EUenborough presented the victors with handsome arms; such as guns, sabres, and bows. I looked forward with the greatest possible interest to the entrance of the troops returning home from the war, as these vaHant defenders of Jellalabad were CAMP OF GENERAL SALE. 189 to cross the Sutlej, and were to be received Avith pe cuhar honours. General Sale and his brigade had encamped, on the 16th, on the right bank ofthe river close to the bridges. At an early hour in- the morning Lord Altamont and I rode to his camp. We met a number of Afghans, with their wives and chUdren, who had left their native home and had joined the Enghsh ; many British officers, and interspersed among them, several Afghan, prisoners, with their attend ants and followers. Nearly all the people wore the Afghan dress, which is the most picturesque, and at the same time the most convenient costume which- 1 have ever seen. We found Jan Fishan Khan, one of the principal Afghan chiefs, a member of the royal famUy, and a descendant of the Prophet, in his circular, gaily- striped tent. He is a handsome man, about forty- five years of age, and was sitting without the tent, dressed in a red Shoba*, embroidered with gold, attended by his two little sons, and surrounded by his servants. These were employed in repairing ar ticles of dress, while he was amusing himself in play ing with the lively chUdren. His wives were in an adjoining tent ; but one of them stood by his side, completely veUed with a long white garment, which concealed not only her face, but her entire person. He spoke with the highest esteem of the Enghsh, among whom he said he hoped to find a second country; he, however, seemed much concerned about his wife, who had been robbed of her jewels a few days before ; though the loss itself did not appear to affect him. On the foUowing day General Sale crossed the * A wide garment falling to the ankles, with full sleeves, a low collar, and wrought with a great diversity of patterns. 190 GENERAL SALE'S RETURN. Sutlej, and advanced to the camp of the army of reserve: Lord EUenborough had invited me to ride thither with him upon his elephant. It was per fectly dark when our cavalcade of elephants left* the camp ; we were, therefore, preceded by torch bearers, while the body-guard followed. The army of reserve lined the road on both sides, and close to the bridges stood 200 elephants richly trapped and painted. On Lord EUenborough's approach, these sagacious animals saluted him, by kneehng down and raising their trunks in the air, a mark of respect which they had been taught by their Mahouts. The bridges were adorned with flags and streamers ; and at the side of one of them a gallery was erected, under which we took our places. Several Indian princes, and many ladies on elephants and on horseback, imparted a picturesque and poetic charm to the scene. At 8 o'clock General Sale's brigade defiled, the bands playing " God save the Queen," amid the thunder of the artiUery and the enthusiastic cheers of the army. A joyous, yet affecting, sensation pervaded the whole assembly, when the officers and soldiers, led by the heroine of the day, Lady Sale, mounted on a magnificent elephant, saluted their friends. The brave warriors who followed showed not a trace either of the privations of a protracted siege, or of the fatigues of a long march. In the rear of the troops came the baggage, the whole presenting the most strange, but most faithful picture, of a march of crusaders. Invalids mounted on elephants and camels, and others, more seriously iU, in palanquins or doolees ; camels, oxen, and asses heavily laden ; here an Afghan female closely veiled, with treUis embroidery before her eyes, and wrapped in a white GENERAL POLLOCK'S RETURN. 191 * robe, which merely exposed her smaU feet, covered with gold-embroidered slippers ; there a mother with her chUd on a camel ; chUdren on ponies, fondling a cat or a dog, or watching pigeons and fowls in baskets ; fettered game-cocks and fighting rams ; men, women, and children in the strangest cos tumes ; Afghan chiefs with their families ; merchants and servants of the most diverse nations and pro fessions, flocks of sheep and goats, and waggons drawn slowly by oxen. The passage of this motley train of one brigade, across both the bridges lasted fuU four hours ! We were never tired of looking at this diminutive emi gration of the nations, and remained nearly an hour longer lost in contemplation and reflection. We afterwards assembled at breakfast, in a tent, pitched near one of the bridges, where these varied scenes were again brought before us. In the evening the Governor General gave a most splendid entertainment in his tent to the valiant defenders of JeUalabad, and, according to the English fashion, there was no lack of fine speeches and toasts. Lady Sale was present at this feast : she has passed nearly the whole of her Hfe in India, and is a soldier's Avife in every sense of the word; but she has the appearance of a worthy matron rather than of the bold determined heroine of the day. General- Pollock defiled with his corps on the foUowing day ; his baggage train was, of course, much more considerable, and it was evening before it reached the camp. Of the cannon which the troops captured at the storming of the Bala-Hissar of Cabool, the Indian government has committed to my charge a large nine-pounder cast under Dost Ma- 192 GATES OF SOMNAUTH. hornet, for his Majesty the King of Prussia.* The gun wiU travel by the Indus to Bombay, whence it will be sent by the first opportunity to Europe. General Nott crossed the Sutlej with his corps on the 23d of December, the anniversary of the murder of Sir William M'Naughten. He brought with him the famous sandle-wood gates of Somnauth, which were covered with red cloth, embroidered with gold; and drawn by twenty-four oxen. It is said that Mahmood the Ghuznevide took these gates with him to Ghuznee, when he destroyed the temple of Som nauth, in 1025 ; but this splendid Hindoo temple, to which they are to be restored, retains scarcely a trace of its former magnificence, and its remains have been converted into a mosque. The Maharaja, Shere Singh, had not only sent a body guard to receive the gates on British territory, but had given a present of a sum of money to the escort. When I went to examine the gates more closely the next day, I found a number of * " Camp, Ferozpoor, Dec. 19. 1842. " The Governor General of India requests L. von Orlich will have the goodness to take measures for the conveyance to Berlin of one of the Afghan guns, brought by the British army from the Bala-Hissar of Cabool, and to express to his Majesty the King of Prussia the earnest hope of the government of India that his Majesty will be pleased to accept the gun as an acknowledgment of his Majesty's friendship for the British nation, and of the gratify ing mark of that friendship which his Majesty has given in sending Captain Von Orlich to serve with the British army in Afghanistan.1 " Capt. L. Von Orlich, of his Majesty's Guards." 1 This gun was forwarded to Bombay, through the kindness of Major Fraser, but had not reached its destination in October, 1844. GATES OF SOMNAUTH. 193 Brahmins, streAving flowers upon them, who assured me there Avas not the slightest doubt that . they were genuine. They are most skilfully carved with stars and arabesques, and bordered with Kufic characters, but unfortunately the gates are so much injured, that scarcely the half of the beautiful Avork has been preserved.* * So much interest has been excited by the circumstances re lative to these celebrated gates, that the reader will doubtless be gratified by the following extract from the Archasologia, vol. xxx. 1844: — " Letter from C. J. Bichardson, Esq., F. S. A. to Sir Henry Ellis, K. H., F. B. S., Secretary, accompanying a drawing, with details of the sandal-wood gates of Somnauth. " I have the honour of laying before the Society of Antiquaries a drawing of the celebrated sandal-wood gates of Somnauth : it has been made from some elaborate sketches taken by Lieut.-Col. Luard, in the camp of Loodiana, in January last. Independently of the historical interest which these gates possess, they merit consideration from the beauty of their design and execution, proving the high state of art among the Hindoos at the remote period of their construction : they are probably one thousand years old. " The temple of Somnauth in Guzerat was considered by the Hindoos as the holiest in India, and 'it was frequented,' says Vigne, quoting Ferishta, 'in the time of the eclipses by from 200,000 to 300,000 people.' The idol was supplied twice daily, with fresh water from the Ganges, though that river was about a thousand miles distant. The temple is described as being a superb edifice, built of hewn stone, its lofty roof supported by fifty-six pillars, curiously carved, and set with precious stones. In the centre of the hall was the great idol Somnauth, a stone figure five yards in height, two of which were sunk in the ground. " The temple was destroyed by Mahmood of Ghuzni, a.d. 1025. He ordered two pieces of the idol to be broken off, and sent to Ghuzni, that one might be laid at the threshold of the principal mosque, and the other at the gate of his own palace. These identical fragments are mentioned by Mr. Vigne, who visited Ghuzni in 1836, as still to be seen there. Two more fragments VOL. I. O 194 GATES OF SOMNAUTH. During the night both the bridges were destroyed either by the swelling of the river, or, as was generally suspected, by the unhappy Sikhs who are hovering about. From this day there were 53,000 men in arms, and above 100,000 servants of all descriptions were reserved to be sent to Mecca and Medina. It is a well- authenticated fact, that when Mahmood was employed in destroying the idol, a crowd of Brahmins petitioned his attendants, and offered a quantity of gold if the king would desist from further mutilation. His officers endeavoured to persuade him to accept of the money ; for they said that breaking one idol would not do away with idolatry altogether, but that such a sum given in charity among true believers would be a meritorious act. The king acknowledged there might be reason in what they said, but replied, if he should consent to such a measure his name would be handed down to posterity as ' Mahmood, the idol-seller,' whereas he was desirous of being known as ' Mahmood, the destroyer of idols : ' he therefore directed the troops to proceed in their work. The next blow broke open the body of the statue, which was hollow, and discovered a quantity of diamonds, rubies, and pearb, of much greater value than the amount of money offered by the Brahmins. " After the destruction of the temple, the gates were carried by Mahmood to Ghuzni, where for 800 years they adorned the entrance to his tomb. In October, 1842, they were removed and carried away by Major-General Nott, and crossed the Sutlej with the army on the 23d December ; and Lieutenant-Colonel Luard, who writes January 1 7th, says, ' They are now moving in pro cession, to be restored to the temple of Somnauth.' " The gates are eleven feet in height and nine feet in width ; the upper portion is still perfect. Surrounding them is the door case, torn from the tomb of Mahmood. On this portion is an in scription in the Kufic character, which may be thus translated : ' In the name of the" merciful and compassionate God, there is mercy from the habitation of God for the most illustrious Ameer and Surdar (whose ancestors were kings), the right hand of the state, the defender of the faith, and the father of Casim Mahmood son of Subuktugeen : may the merciful God be with him and if God have pardoned, there is mercy for him!'" DISEASES IN THE CAMP. 195 in the camp : thousands, however, were laid up with the cholera, smaU-pox, and fevers. Independently of this, Ferozpoor and its environs were incapable of supplying provisions for the countless multitude of elephants, camels, horses, oxen, and mules, so that nearly 200 of these animals perished in a day ; and, on the road leading to Lodiana, twenty dead camels might be seen lying in one spot, infecting the air to an immense distance. In the distinguished society which surrounded me, I had frequent opportunities of coming into contact with many eminent men, among whom I was par ticularly interested with Generals Pollock, Nott, and Sale. General Nott reminded me, in his personal appearance, of a French marshal of the school of Napoleon. I am indebted to him for many inter esting communications respecting the war in Afghan istan. EquaUy instructive was the acquaintance of several highly accompHshed statesmen ; for instance, Mr. Maddock of the Supreme Council, and Mr. George Clarke. Both have lived in such important spheres of action, and have rendered such eminent services to their country, that I scarcely know whether most to admire their unassuming manner, or their deep pene tration and correct conception of all existing relations. I have als6 had the pleasure of becoming acquainted with Captain Boileau, who superintends the Magnetic Observatory at Simla. He entirely coincides with you respecting the snow-line on the Himalaya, namely, that it extends lower on the southern dechvity than on the northern. I have proposed to him to open a correspondence with you, since no one can have a stronger claim to be informed of the latest discoveries o 2 196 SUN-SET IN INDIA. in the field of natural history than yourself, and I only hope that he may fulfil his intention. Among my daily associates are Colonel Ashburnham, Captain Durand, and Captain Hay. With the former I take long walks every day, even at the risk of being looked upon by our. Hindoos, on account of this vulgar enjoyment, as belonging to an inferior caste. Our usual walk was to the village of Khanga, where a fakir has fixed his abode among old decayed tombs, under acacias and tamarinds. He resembles a skeleton rather than a living being, and depends on the alms of the pious for his subsistence: his only society consists of three monkies and a dog. The setting sun is an object of unceasing astonish ment and admiration to us; perhaps in no other country in the Avorld does it diffuse such an inde scribable magic, and such splendour of colouring over the firmament as in India. This effect is the most beautiful and diversified when light clouds traverse the deep blue sky, for as soon as the sun begins to decline, the beams become fainter and fainter, while the sky in the west is covered with a sea of liquid gold, which glows in ever-varying colours, sometimes changing into purple, then again to crimson and violet, or shining in .all the beautiful tints of the rain bow. The little clouds beam like rubies, and the east glitters in a roseate hue from the reflection ofthe evening red, above which the snowy masses of the Himalaya rise in silver light. We have also horse races here, an amusement of which the English seem as fond as of billiards. There is a race course and a large stand, as at Ascot ; but the chief attraction of that place, namely, the great assemblage of people, was wanting ; and, as I have ARRIVAL OF HEERA SINGH. 197 never taken any pleasure in horse races, I can give you no account of those at Ferozpoor. I must how ever not forget to tell you that our servants adorned the tents on Christmas day with flowers, and in the morning presented us with cakes and nuts for breakfast : of course in this deUcate attention they had an eye to our liberality. During this mUitary and festive life there Avere continual negotiations Avith the court at Lahore. The Maharaja Shere Singh, and more especiaUy his am bitious minister, Dheean Singh, were so fully con vinced that this army was destined to take possession of the Punjab, that they assembled an army of 80,000 men and 200 pieces of cannon between Lahore and Amritsir. They appeared to be the more confirmed in this notion, when the Governor-General refused to receive an envoy of Shere Singh in Lodiana, because he had suffered the troops appointed to escort him to wait two hours beyond the time agreed upon, which, as afterwards appeared, had arisen from a mis take. I looked with anxious expectation for the end of these negotiations, which were conducted by Mr. George Clarke, for it depended upon their issue whether I should become acquainted with this re markable country and people, and visit Kashmir. The court of Lahore held out the hand of recon ciliation. Accordingly the handsome Heera Singh arrived at Ferozpoor on the 28th of December, in the character of ambassador extraordinary, and was in vited to an audience at two o'clock in the afternoon in Lord EUenborough' s tent, which, on this occasion, was decorated with the standards taken in China, and with those which were to immortalise the victories of o 3 198 EMBASSY FROM LAHORE. Afghanistan ; and beneath them was placed the silver chair of state for the Governor-General. The embassy arrived on richly adorned elephants, with gold and silver howdahs, accompanied by an escort, which presented a most strange medley in their costume and arms. They were all lean, mus cular men, with long beards, deep set dark eyes, sHghtly aquiline noses, and. oval countenances. There is something so prominent and marked in the expres sion of the countenance of a sikh, that, like a Jew, he cannot deny his race. Heera Singh has a fine countenance, which may almost be pronounced as perfectly noble, yet his features Tire more expressive of mildness and effe minacy than of gravity and dignity. He wore a rich green shoga, embroidered with gold ; and a red turban, entwined with strings of pearls, and an azure ornament on the forehead, surmounted by a feather fastened by an agraffe of rubies, became him extremely well, and gave him a dashing and coquettish appearance. His companions, the Kajahs Soochet Singh, and Kesry Singh, and the Jemedar Kooshal Singh, were dressed in a similar style ; the latter, Avho was a Hindoo, and originaUy a cook to a private soldier, had already become a sikh and an eminent commander in the time of Runjeet Singh. The cunning old fakir Uzeezoodeen accompanied the ambassador as his counseUor, and, faithful to his order, appeared in a plain and dirty dress. He always caUs himself the poor fakir, but everybody knows that he has amassed great treasures. Heera Singh was attended by about thirty officers, each with a shield on his shoulder and a sabre in his hand ; some of them stood, others sat cross-legged at the EMBASSY FROM LAHORE. 199 feet of their master, and formed the most picturesque groups. The conversation had Scarcely begun, when, ac cording to custom, some bags of money Avere laid at the feet of the Governor- General : each of the chiefs presented in his open hand some pieces of gold coin, which Lord EUenborough touched, and his inter preter, Mr. Maddock, received ; then the presents sent by Shere Singh to the Governor- General were brought in, consisting of a magnificent sabre set with pearls and diamonds, bows and arrows, precious stones, pearls, Kashmir shawls, silks, and carpets. These presents, as well as all others of the kind, belong, by law, to the East India Company ; the Baboo receives them for the Toshakana*, from which they are afterwards sent to be sold by auction. In less than an hour the Governor-General gave the signal for breaking up, by presenting the betel nut wrapped in gilt leaves, and. the ottar of roses. Heera Singh had announced that the Maharaja was prevented by indisposition from offering his salutation in person, but that he would send his son accompanied by •Dheean Singh. Purthaub Singh had passed the Sutlej with 5000 men, and pitched his tents on the banks, four miles from our camp, on the 30th of December. He was invited by the Governor-General to the grand review * The Toshakana is the collection of all the presents received, and all the valuable" articles which the Indian Government buys up for presents in return. It is under the Secretary of the Government, and is superintended by a Baboo, by which name a native is understood who must be acquainted with the English language, and has raised himself by his education and official position above the inferior class. o 4 200 LORD ELLENBOROUGH. — DURBAR. which Avas to take place on the following day. Some gentlemen of Lord EUenborough's suite rode out on elephants to welcome the^new guests, who, accom panied by some hundred officers, a body guard of 200 cuirassiers and 500 infantry, appeared in our camp at 10 o'clock, on 25 elephants. Prince Pur- thaub Singh is a pretty boy ; but weak and delicate, and rather disfigured by a very crooked set of teeth. He carried a shield on his shoulder, and a sabre in his hand ; he was dressed in yellow silk, and his turban, neck, and ears were lavishly ornamented with pearls and diamonds. Dheean Singh, who led him by the hand into the tent, wore under a blue sUk vest a shirt of mail, over that a silver cuirass, light brown leather pantaloons sitting very tight to the leg, and red shoes embroidered with gold, which, according to custom, he put off at the entrance. His silver helmet, wound about with pearls, and yeUow and blue silk shawls which floated over his shoulder, was ornamented with a feather, which was fastened by an agraffe of rubies, and gave him an appearance of great haughtiness. When I saw him, who is the handsomest man of his nation, galloping at full speed on his bay horse, with a golden bridle and a panther skin, with a staff in his right hand, I could have fancied that I saw one of the heroes of antiquity. The at tendants were dressed in the same style of magni ficence, and looked extremely elegant and picturesque ; and the Durbar exhibited a scene which carried us all back to remote ages : it seemed as if the warriors had come to life again who had fought under the banner of Porus. During the audience the band played " God save THE DURBAR. 201 the Queen," six bags of money were laid at the feet of the Governor-General, and the chief men presented gold coin ; while the cunning fakir, with his dirty turban, acted as usual as the spokesman, and de livered an address in flowery language. In half an hour Lord EUenborough gave the signal for breaking up ; and all pressed^ forAvard to obtain a drop of ottar of roses. Most of the company mounted their horses ; some of them, hoAvever, among whom was the effemi nate Shere Singh, chose elephants. As the noble Indians never appear in public without their fal coners, grooms, and other attendants, we were sur rounded by a motley irregular crowd, which the Governor-General's body guard were obliged to keep at bay Avith their whips. The young prince, more taken up with. his fine ornaments and jewels than with what was passing around him, began to be tired, and twice sent a message to Dheean Singh, requesting permission to change a horse for an elephant ; but his request was very positively refused. The defiling of 22,500 men, and 102 pieces of cannon, (the rest of the troops having remained to guard the camp, or being laid up by sickness,) afforded a very uncommon scene. Behind us was ranged a line of 100 elephants, on which the gayest groups of European ladies and noble Indians were seated enjoying the scene : while many Indians who had not taken their places along this line were mounted on horseback. Among the latter Hindoo Row was an object of great interest : he is said to have made the remarkable observation to an officer, "It is not long since I was in a distinguished situation : and these men, who are now glittering in honour and 202 BALL IN THE CAMP. splendour, will, in a few years, be in the same situation as I am ; but thus it must be — the progress of civi lisation demands it." In the evening, Lord EUenborough gave a ball in his tent, to Avhich 800 officers were invited ; but there were only betAveen 30 and 40 ladies. Several of the Indian princes were present, but none of the Sikhs, because their notions of European manners are still so obscure, that the ladies might easily have experienced some unpleasant treatment. It was a carpet dance ; two bands of music played alternately, and the splendid, circle was so animated that they did not break up till the morning. Who would have believed, after the unhappy catastrophe at Afghan istan, that within only a twelvemonth such a fete as this would have followed ! so closely aUied in the his tory, both of nations and individuals, are mourning and joy. Lord EUenborough promised to return the visit of Prince Purthaub Singh on the 2d of January. Ac companied by the body guard and a squadron of Hussars, we repaired thither, on richly ornamented elephants, at two o'clock in the afternoon. Heera ' Singh, Avith some persons of distinction, came to fetch us ; and his father met us half Avay, accompanied by several Indians of rank mounted on elephants. The Prince's camp consisted of two large and several smaU tents, surrounded by a canvass wall six "feet high. The body guard of the Maharaja, consisting of distinguished veteran soldiers, in shirts of mail and helmets, fined the avenue leading to the tents. In front of the tent of reception there was a handsome ' canopy elegantly embroidered with flowers and birds, and supported on silver pillars, and the most costly LORD ELLENBOROUGH AVITH PRINCE PURTHAUB. 203 Kashmir carpets were spread upon the ground. A salute of artiUery announced our approach. The Prince awaited the arrival of the Governor-General, at the entrance of the tent, and conducted him to his seat. His Highness and Lord EUenborough sat down under the canopy, upon golden arm-chairs, and Ave upon sUver seats ; opposite to us several hundreds of the principal chiefs and officers were ranged in a semicircle. They were most picturesquely grouped, and their elegant costume, their various arms, their striking countenances, and long beards, formed a most unique picture. After the customary salutations, the gentlemen accompanying the Governor-General were introduced to the Prince. My uniform, being so different to that of the English, attracted much notice ; and Dheean Singh, and his son especially, made many inquiries respecting my king and country. Meanwhile the chief persons brought gold coins in their open hands to the Governor-General. On these occasions the offering of presents is a matter of great importance : it is a formal act of the state, on Avhich every thing depends. With this, too, the old fakir was busying himself, holding a long list in his hand, and reading aloud the names of those who were so fortunate as to be entitled to receive them. The presents ofthe Indian princes always consist of horses, sabres, jewels, shawls, and silks. Lord EUen borough was first presented with a beautiful string of pearls, rings, and bracelets of jewels, and a sabre richly ornamented with pearls and diamonds, and sixteen large salvers, containing Kashmir shawls and sUks of every kind : the young prince insisted upon throAving the pearls round his Lordship's neck, and 204 LORD ELLENBOROUGH VISITS PRINCE PURTHAUB. placing a ring on his finger. The gentlemen about Lord EUenborough and General Sale next received each a handsome sabre : the attentive fakir seemed also to have included me, but his obsequiousness resulted only in good wishes. However, the whole thing is a . mere matter of form. No one can enjoy his handsome present ; for the Baboo and his associates lay embargo on it, in the name of the East India Government. AU the presents are afterwards sold, and the money pays for the gifts which must be made in return. However necessary such an arrangement may be, there is something extremely disagreeable in it, for it degenerates into a mere barter. We were then conducted into the large tent, where Champagne, Madeira, and the fruits of Cabool and Kashmir (apples, pears, and grapes), were placed in silver vessels upon a long table. The Prince and Dheean Singh did the honours of the table to admira tion ; they helped their guests to wine, and requested some of them to accept the silver goblets and vessels, in token of remembrance. A present intended for the Queen of England was next exhibited : it was a perfectly beautiful green Kashmir tent, embroidered with silk, containing a silver bed and morning dresses for ladies, with pearls, jewels, and other ornaments ; while the floor was covered with the finest, Kashmir shawls. But the Prince seemed to think a great deal more of a wretched portrait of Runjeet Singh, daubed on paper with water colours, which was to ac company the present. The entertainment was con cluded by the entrance of about twenty Bayaderes, among whom were several Kashmerians. AU of them Avere overladen with jewels, and some of them had REVIEW OF THE SIKH BRIGADE. 205 painted, not only their eyelids, but had even dotted their cheeks with antimony. Very few of them had a pleasing exterior : indeed some of them were positively ugly ; and we were astonished that the court of Lahore should have retrograded so much in this par ticular. They were to have entertained us with singing and dancing ; but as we were still to witness a review of the Sikh's brigade, Lord EUenborough re mained only a short time, and presented them with 1000 rupees: they, however, seemed very much dis appointed at being so summarily dismissed. We mounted our elephants, and Lord EUen borough invited the young prince to a seat in his howdah. Dheean Singh, with his son at his side, foUowed close, in order to give a report to the Maha raja of aU that had occurred. The weather had become so cool, being only 57° Fahrenheit, that Dheean Singh very considerately took off his shoba and wrapped it round the Prince. The Sikh brigade, consisting of two regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and two batteries, ma noeuvred with great precision, under the command of General Court: the manoeuvres Avere evidently executed on a preconceived plan, and the movements of the artiUery and cavalry were as rapid as could be desired. The infantry first formed in Hne, then divided into two bodies with sharpshooters in advance, and then formed columns of attack, supported by the cavalry, which advanced round the wings and attacked. When re pulsed, it raUied behind its infantry and artillery, which had formed in squares, and opened a brisk fire. It was quite dark when Ave took leave, highly grati fied by the courtesy and attention of our exalted host. 206 PRINCE PURTHAUB SINGH. The Governor- General presented 11,000 rupees to the troops, who had been six hours under arms : this being the custom of India. The scenes I had witnessed to-day made me wish, more ardently than ever, to become acquainted with the court of Lahore, and the army of the Sikhs ; I was, therefore, highly gratified, when Lord Ellen- borough proposed to me that I should join the ex traordinary embassage, which Avas going thither under Mr. Maddock ; but before setting out, his Lordship invited me to be present at an audience of leave, given to Prince Purthaub and several other princes and ambassadors. With the pomp and mag nificence of an Eastern monarch, Prince Purthaub Singh, surrounded by his grandees and officers, and a train of thirty elephants, appeared in our camp on the following day. He, as weU as his foUowers, were to receive the splendid presents from Lord EUen borough : a star of brilliants, a pearl necklace, and many shawls and silks, borne on twenty-six large salvers, Avere the gifts of the government ; to these Lord EUenborough added three sUver gilt tankards of the time of Henry VIII. Dheean Singh, his son, and sixteen officers, among whom was General Court, likewise received handsome presents ; but the gloomy and discontented countenance of the former betrayed that all was not right ; nor did it assume a cheerful and animated expression, till the Governor- General presented him with a handsome silver sabre. On occasions of this kind, it is customary for the Indian nobles to bring the artist attached to the court, to take the portraits of those present : the painter of Shere Singh was, therefore, incessantly THE CAMP BREAKS UP. 207 occupied in sketching with a black lead pencil those Hkenesses which were afterwards to be copied in water colours, in order that they might adorn the waUs of the royal palace ; and some of them were admirably executed. I was among the honoured few, and the artist was very particular in making a faithful re presentation of my uniform, and hat and feathers. Immediately after the reception given to the Sikhs, the ambassador of the Bhawulkhan was admitted. He was a good-humoured, corpulent Mussulman, at tended, as counsellor, by an elderly man wearing spectacles, who stood in a most humble attitude, with his hands folded, before the king of the country, and assisted his master in the conversation, by furnishing him with replies. The ambassador delivered a writing and presents from the BhaAvulkhan, which consisted chiefly of wrought silks of Bhawulpoor, and received in return, rich gifts of jewels and shawls. Lastly appeared the four Afghan princes, — Jan Fishan Khan, Narib Shurif KuzzUbash, Saleh Ma homet Azahudeen, and Saleh Mahomet Kuzzilbash: the latter, who is the keeper of the prisoners, has a mean hypocritical countenance ; he first deserted from the English, and then defrauded Akbar Khan of a year's pension, which had been promised him, by de livering up his prisoners to Sir Richmond Shakspeare. The Governor-General, attended by his body guard, one regiment of cavalry, two of infantry, and six pieces of artiUery, broke up on the 5th of January for Delhi ; and within a few hours after the extra ordinary embassage, consisting of Mr. Maddock, Lord EUenborough's military secretary, Captain Somerset, myself (I name the persons according to the prescribed 208 EMBASSY AT LAHORE. etiquette), Lord Altamont, General Churchill, the Secretary of Legation, Mr. Greathead, and several other gentlemen, crossed the Sutlej. Our escort, under Major Skinner, consisting of a squadron of lancers, a squadron of light cavalry, and . two pieces of artillery, together Avith our attendants, elephants, and baggage, had been sent forward two days in advance. The escort had orders to wait for us ten miles south of Lahore. Two carriages, several officers, and some cavalry of the Maharaja, were in waiting on the opposite bank of the river, to conduct us to Lahore. Both the carriages, each drawn by four horses, were presents from the British govern ment ; but they were in such a wretched condition, that we lost one of the doors half way, and were obliged to leave it at a village. The country immediately adjoining the Sutlej, consists of corn fields, and resembles a luxuriant valley without trees ; the fresh young green crops, contrasted with the incomparable blue of the sky, had a most soothing, yet enlivening, effect upon my mind. But this fine cultivation continued for about three miles only ; the soil soon presented immense tracts of jungle, interspersed with tamarinds, stunted tamarisks, and bushes, amid the ruins of old mosques and tombs, till the eye became perfectly wearied of the monotony of the. scene. A short distance before Kussoor, we crossed the ridge that encloses the vaUey of the Sutlej, where the ruins of a large city lie scattered about in wild confusion. Some mosques, with handsome domes and a few columns, indicate that they belonged to an age Avhen the arts flourished. The road led be- EMBASSY AT LAHORE. 209 tween the citadel and the town ; the former, which is about 500 feet distant, lies to the left of the road, on a smaU eminence, and commands the place ; it consists of a low watt, narrow ditches, and projecting bulwarks, and is not capable of making much defence. The town is surrounded by high walls and towers, and is closely buUt of brick. A salute was fired from the citadel, to which the attending officer particularly directed our attention. As we had to change horses here, crowds of people had coUected in the streets, and upon the waUs and houses, and we were assailed by numbers of beggars, who implored our compassion with loud cries, and to whom the ambassador threw some handfuls of rupees. At four o'clock we had reached LuUeeana, thirty- four mUes from Ferozpoor, where our tents were already pitched. LuUeeana is a large viUage, sur rounded with clay walls ;• on one side lie corn fields, and on the other jungle. The Maharaja had caused a splendid tent, of richly embroidered green Kashmir, to be prepared for the ambassador. A lofty canopy of the same material, resting upon silver columns, was placed in front of the entrance, and most valuable Kashmir carpets were spread on the ground. Within the tent was a handsome silver bedstead with silk bedding. The foUowing morning the sun poured down its invigorating rays, and we, therefore, break fasted under this canopy. Our Httle circle was extremely cheerful, and we were all in anxious ex pectation of seeing the celebrated Lahore, the most brilliant court in India, before the evening set in. We found our escort and our elephants at Lak- patery Kakote, ten miles from Lahore. We were VOL. I. P 210 EMBASSY TO LAHORE. scarcely mounted when we were welcomed by a handsome old man, the Raja Fateringh Khan, at tended by fifty horsemen, who were to form our body guard. We passed several ruins, and our road lay between the most luxuriant corn fields : we had soon the dehght of beholding Lahore, which extended far from -east to west, and the camp of the army covered the ground on our right hand. At some distance from the camp, we struck across to the west end of the city ; and, near the ruins of a large mosque, quite undermined by an arm of the Ravee, and of which nothing remained but three high octagonal columns, we were received by Dheean Singh, who was accom panied by a squadron of cuirassiers and several great men, who escorted us to the house of General Ven tura, which the Maharaja had caused to be prepared for our reception. This house lies without the city on an arm of the Ravee : it is connected with an ancient sepulchral tower, and is built in the French style, though due regard has been paid both to the cfimate and to the manners of the country. It is surrounded by a smaU flower-garden : there is a harem attached to the vUla ! and the tower not very long since was assigned to a celebrated beauty of Kashmir. In front of the house is a large court-yard, on the east side of which were the one-storied barracks, built by Runjeet Singh. This court-yard was appropriated to the camp of our escort, and five large tents, which were furnished with silk beds, had been put up by command of the Maharaja. The apartments were very luxuriously furnished with carpets and beds ; and it was the first time since I quitted Bombay that I again slept in a house, and in a silver bedstead with silken hangings. LAnORE. 211 The balcony and platform were likewise covered with valuable carpets, and a sleeping tent, hung with Kashmir shawls, was erected on the latter. We had a fine view of the city and its environs from the platform ; the minarets, the winter palace, and the glittering blue domes of some mosques, of the time of the Emperor Jehangir, were particularly striking, bounded in the far distance by the bold out- Hne of the snow-capped mountains of the Himalaya. To the south of the city are hills of debris, formed of the ruins of the ancient Lahore ; and these again are joined by a town lying in ruins, interspersed with decayed caravansaries, sepulchral towers and mosques, of which I counted no less than forty. These once splendid mosques call to mind a wealthy and refi gious age, fond of the arts ! A few buildings, sur rounded with beautiful gardens and overshadowed by the crowns of the date palm, impart increased charms to this image of the past. A melancholy impression was made on my mind by the sight of a red striped tent at the extreme south corner of the barracks, in which the once mighty, dreaded Afghan princes, King Fateh Khan, and the unfortunate blinded Zeman Shah, are now residing, and in consequence of the withdrawal of their pension are reduced to extreme poverty. There is probably no country in the world which can produce such sudden changes of fortune as India. A fence of linen fastened between two of the barracks concealed their harem and their children. After Dheean Singh had made us acquainted with the various localities, and endeavoured to ascertain the wishes of the ambassador, he took leave in order to inform his master of our safe arrival. Shere Singh p 2 212 PRESENTS FROM THE MAHARAJA. had already sent us several hundred baskets, filled with "the fruits of Kashmir and Cabool, and sweetmeats of every kind ; likewise 1500 gold coins (of four rupees each) for the ambassador, 800 rupees for the military secretary and General ChurchiU, and 500 rupees for me and each of the other gentlemen. Similar presents in money were sent several times during our stay here. From the moment of our arrival, not only we, but our escort and all our attendants, amounting to about 5000 men, were his Highness's guests. The steward of the household of the Maharaja had great difficulty in procuring a suf ficient supply of fowls ; his assistants were sent about in the neighbourhood, to lay their Hands on all they could find, and even the Europeans in the service of the Maharaja were dealt with in the same summary manner, except, indeed, that they received payment for what was taken away ; but the provisions which were daily sent, and which consisted of rice, confec tionary, and game, served in China-sUvered dishes and in leaves, were not suited to our European palates, and we merely tasted them from curiosity. The presentation audience was fixed to take place as early as the foUowing morning at ten o'clock, because, as it was said, " his Highness could scarcely await the moment to salute his exalted -guests." Accordingly, on the 7th of January, an hour before the appointed time, the Rajah Soohet Singh, the Sirdars, Fateh Singh and Ghanda Singh, the Khiladar (commandant of Lahore) Mur Singh, and the Kalifa Nur-eddin, seated on elephants, came to fetch us. The moment of our mounting the elephants was an nounced by a salute of artillery, and the squadron of lancers placed itself at the head of the procession. THE HASUREE BAGH. 213 We rode round the waUs on the west side of the town and then turned towards the banks of the Ravee on the north side. On the opposite bank was a battery and regiment of regular cavalry, who presented arms and fired a salute. Immediately outside the gate of the Hasuree Bagh the spot was pointed out to us where Runjeet Singh, his son, and his grandson', together with their wives and slaves, were burnt on the funeral pyre ; a marble monument in the Arabic style, erected by Shere Singh, covers their ashes, and priests were standing about it with flowers, tapers, and fans. We then rode through two colossal arched gates into the Hasuree Bagh ; through the innermost of which Nehal Singh was passing intoxicated with joy, when he was kiUed by the faUing of a ponderous mass. Hasuree Bagh was formerly the residence of the Mogul emperors, and consists of three large quad rangles ; the first is 500 paces in length, and is sur rounded by vaulted buildings, which are now used as magazines ; the western side is occupied by a red sandstone mosque, built by the Emperor Aurungzebe, while a minaret 150 feet in height towers above each of the four angles. This quadrangle leads to the garden court, or the Hasuree Bagh, likewise sur rounded by vaulted, though decayed, open halls, with a pavihon of white marble in the centre. A ponderous gate leads to the third quadrangle or citadel, which is surrounded by numerous buildings, among which the winter palace of the Maharaja, on its northern side, with a winding staircase rising above the highest platform, has a very original appearance. Every where we saw traces of the destruction caused by p 3 214 AUDEENCE OF THE MAHARAJA. the cannonade of Shere Singh, when he ascended the throne. His Highness received us in the garden of the Hasuree Bagh, on the west side of which a broad white marble flight of steps led to a large open gaUery. The approach was most tastefuUy draped with carpets, and the gallery with Kashmir . shawls. Shere Singh, surrounded by several hundred of his great men, had taken his place in this gaUery. Prince Perthaub Singh and Dheean Singh received the ambassador at the marble pavilion, and conducted us between a Hne of cuirassiers and officers to the Maharaja, who, on our being presented to him, shook hands, and cordially saluting us, invited us to be seated. Shere Singh, the prince, and the ambassador took their seats on gold arm-chairs, and we on silver ones ; the grandees standing behind us, and Dheean Singh behind the Maharaja. Shere Singh is rather above the middle height ; he is very corpulent and strongly built, but is Hght in aU his movements ; his features are expressive of good-nature and a love of pleasure, and his fine dark eye beamed with kindness and affection ; his black beard was very carefully dressed. He was attired in a yellow silk gar ment and turban, which was ornamented with pearls and jewels. Nearly aU the attendants were dressed in a simUar manner, yeUow being the favourite colour ofthe court. After the delivery of the credentials*, * From the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India to his Highness the Maharaja Shere Singh. Dated Camp, Ferozpoor, 4th Jan. 1 843. Maharaja, It has been a subject of much regret to me that circumstances should have prevented my having the interview with your LETTER FROM LORD ELLENBOROUGH. 215 with which his Highness touched his forehead, and then handed them to his minister, 11,000 rupees were laid down for the Perwannah. During the conversation, which was almost confined to interrogations and questions of etiquette, and in quiries respecting ourselves, Dheean Singh always took the lead, and when we could not understand each other (for the Sikhs speak only a corruption of the Hindoostanee), the Fakir Uzeezoodeen came to our assistance. We broke up in the course of half an hour, and his Highness conducted us to the lowest step ; a salute of nineteen guns was at the same time Highness, so much desired by us both. Hereafter circumstances will be more favourable. In the mean time, I have had much satisfaction in becoming acquainted with Koonwur Perthaub Singh. I congratulate your Highness on haying a son so amiable and well disposed. I shall transmit by the hands of an officer of the garrison of Jellalabad the splendid presents your Highness has tendered' for the acceptance of the Queen, my most gracious mistress. I doubt not that this proof of your Highness's attention will be grateful to her Majesty. I have directed Mr. Maddock, the secretary of the government of India, who will soon have a seat in the Supreme Council of India, to wait upon your Highness and express the true sentiments of friendship personally, as well as on the part of the British Government, I shall continue to entertain towards your Highness. He will be accompanied by Captain Somerset, my military secretary, and other gentlemen, and likewise by Captain Von Orlich, of the guards of his Majesty the King of Prussia, whom his Majesty had sent to witness the campaign in Afghanistan ; but by God's aid, the war was finished gloriously before he reached India, and he has only witnessed the victorious return of the armies. He has been a witness also to the recent evidences of the mutual friendship of the two allied governments ; and I rejoice that he will be enabled to report to his sovereign that our alliance endures for ever. I pray for your Highness's welfare, and the prosperity of your government. (Signed) Ellenbokotjgh. T 4 216 AKALEES. THE CITY OF LAHORE. 217 fired by the troops stationed on the other side of the river. ' On our return several Akalees jeered at us, at the same time giving us a specimen of their dexterity in the use of their quoit. We were received in front of our house by a band of Bayaderes and musicians from Kashmir, who displayed great adroitness in the Der- wish dance. An unceasing communication was kept up between our residence and the palace ; sometimes mutual in quiries respecting health were made, and sometimes desires to be informed of our wishes. Nay, writers were actually seated in the vestibule, who sent never- ending reports to court, detaiHng aU that we said and did ; and whoever was the happy bearer of some agree able message was rewarded by the Maharaja with a shawl or a present of money ! As Shere Singh had prepared daily festivities for us, I made use of the intermediate time to visit the town and its environs. According to etiquette I could only go to the former on an elephant. Lahore Hes close to the Ravee, and contains 80,000 inhabitants ; it is about eight miles in circumference, and is surrounded by a rampart with indifferent bastions, and a broad moat. Besides Hasuree Bagh, the tomb of Semat, and the handsome, but dirty and decayed, mosques of ¦Padshah and Vizier Khan, the city contains nothing worth seeing. The streets are narrow and dirty ; the houses are high and built of brick, with flat roofs. They have a mean appearance, and the only thing that attracts the eye is the very elegant carving of the wood balconies and low windows. A kennel runs down the middle of the unpaved streets, and renders.. them almost impassable in rainy weather. 218 THE CITY OF LAHORE. The bazars are the most animated part of the city, though nothing remarkable is to be found there ; they furnish Httle beyond eatables, to which our elephant very unceremoniously helped himself with his trunk as he went along. The people ran to the windows and the platforms to look at the strangers ; e\Ten the women and girls appeared without their veUs, so that we could readUy distinguish the women of Kashmir, by their fair complexion, from the natives of India. Very few of them could be caUed pretty, but they all had fine bright eyes ; they had, however, blackened their eye-brows, and had even painted Httle patches of antimony on their cheeks, and were covered with a superfluity of jewels and rings. They laughed and made sportive remarks upon us, which seemed to be provoked by my friend's eye-glass, held fast by the eyefid. Next morning we again proceeded to Hasuree Bagh, where the ambassador intended to deliver to the Maharaja the presents which he had brought. His Highness received us surrounded by an equally nu merous circle of civil and miHtary officers, but the Prince and Heera Singh were absent ; we were told that they were with the troops in the camp. The Maharaja was dressed in red and white, and still more richly adorned with jewels than yesterday, and strings of most costly and rare pearls were twisted round his yellow silk turban. Immediately after the first salutation, the presents were delivered ; they consisted, as usual, of jewels, Kashmir shawls, silks, weapons, chandeliers, tele scopes, and, lastly, a costly sabre and a sUver shield, on Avhich the Goddess of Victory, surrounded by sun beams, was displayed in high relief. This was so TOMB OF JEHANGIR. 219 greatly admired, that Dheean Singh gave orders that it should be shown to every person present. We then went into the quadrangle, where the four horses which we had brought were led out. His Highness then showed us 20 horses of his stud, all with the most costly bridles, and some so richly adorned with gold and jewels that they might be estimated at 90,000 rupees. The horses themselves, with the ex ception of one Afghan horse, were of ordinary breed, large, bony, and too well fed. On the same afternoon General ChurchUl, Captain Somerset, and myself rode to the camp of the Sikh army. The way led us through the ruined city I have before spoken of, past old castles, mosques, and a large caraA^ansary. The camp was pitched at right angles, and perfect order was every where observable, and the discipline was so over strict, that they would not even aUow us to ride along the front. In the evening, while we were at table, some Bayaderes were announced, who danced and sung for an hour in front of our tents. On the foUowing day his Highness was to give an evening fete at his winter palace. We therefore employed the forenoon in visiting the tomb of Shah- Dura, beyond the Ravee, where the Emperor Je- hangir (i.e. the hand of the world) reposes. The morning proved very misty, but at eight o'clock, accompanied by an escort under Colonel Seth Singh, we quitted our encampment on elephants: almost immediately a crowd of Akalees, who were standing by the road side, so grossly insulted us, that the anxious Colonel and his horsemen were obliged to disperse these fanatics in order to make way for us to pass. Our elephants were taken over the Ravee : 220 TOMB OF JEHANGIR. we were rowed across in a small boat to Shah-Dura. The fog had dispersed, and the sun-beams Ulumined the fertUe valley and Lahore, which presents a strikingly fine appearance from this place. In a quarter of an hour we landed near the garden waUs which are already undermined by the Ravee. Shah-Dura consists, properly speaking, of three large buUdings, the principal of which is the tomb, which is buUt of white marble and red sandstone, and Hes in the middle of a garden which is tra versed by four bricked canals proceeding from the centre, and in which innumerable fountains were introduced; but the whole is in ruins. The tomb itself is a large square buUding, surrounded with a piazza, and ornamented with the most elegant mosaic, of precious stones, in white marble, of which the rosettes and arabesques over the arches, which are executed with extraordinary skttl and taste, and are in a perfect state of preservation, are particularly striking. Two rows of black letters inlaid in white marble, over the entrance, contain the name and titles of the emperor, and in many places the word " Allah ! " is inscribed in Persian and Arabic charac ters. The white marble sarcophagus with Arabic and Persian inscriptions stands in the centre, under a dome which Shah Bahadur caused to be destroyed in order that the rain and dew might fall on the tomb of his ancestor. Salthyn Mahomet Khan, brother of Dost Mahomet, has taken up his quarters with his Afghans in the apartments of this fine monument, and has so com pletely ruined it, by kindling fires in the haUs, that in many places the colour of the stone cannot be distinguished. Salthyn Mahomet sent one of his TOMB OF NOURJEHAN. 221 servants, expressing his wish to pay his respects to us, to which we agreed, on condition that it should be without any ceremony and without delay. On quitting the tomb, we found Mahomet under the verandah on the side next the water. His Afghans had hastily spread some Kashmir shawls on the floor, on which he and his attendants awaited our arrival. He had been afflicted with /fever for two months and looked very Ul, but had a very striking resemblance to his brother Dost Mahomet, who, as I was informed, has never forgiven him for surren dering Peshawar. Adjoining the garden is the caravansary which is attached to every grave of an emperor ; it is a quad rangular budding 500 paces in length, with an interior court of 400 paces, containing " 400 dweUings. This caravansary is joined by an equally large quadran gular court, surrounded by an immense wall twenty feet high, and contains a mosque and dwellings for the priests. Near it is the tomb of Nourjehan (i. e. the light of the world), the consort of Jehangir, whose life is equaUy romantic and eventful. Nourjehan was the nurshng of poverty, born in misfortune and under the most melancholy circum stance. Her grandfather, a Persian of Teheran, fiUed an eminent post in that country ; but his son Meerza Gheis was induced by the deepest poverty to emigrate with his wife and children to India. Followed by misfortune on this long journey, he had parted with the last remains of his property, when the caravan, which he had joined, reached Candahar. Immediately after his arrival his wife gave birth to the celebrated Nourjehan ; but, in their destitution, the parents despairing of being able to bring up the 222 NOURJEHAN. infant, exposed it early in the morning on the road by which the caravan must pass. One of the richest merchants in the caravan was the first who saw the abandoned child ; full of compassion, and struck by the beauty of the Httle babe, he took it up and resolved to bring it up as his own. There is a tradition that her own mother filled the place of nurse, and that thus an interest in the infant's family was excited in the breast of the rich merchant. He befriended them, and recommended them to the Emperor Akbar. Meerza and his sons obtained place, and by their wisdom and prudence soon rose to a higher station. Meantime Nourjehan arrived at womanhood, and by her beauty, grace, and loveliness, caused a great sensation at court; for she was the constant com panion of her mother, who had free access to the harem of the emperor. On one occasion she was seen by Prince Selim, afterwards the Emperor Jehangir, who appeared so struck by her beauty that the anxious mother opened her heart to the princess who was used to permit her visits. The affair came to the ears of Akbar, who hastened to remove the dangerous beauty from the sight of his son, and immediately married her to Shere Afghan Khan, a young Persian, who had lately entered his service; at the same time presenting her with a jaghire in Bengal. Jehangir had, however, scarcely been a year upon the throne, when he commissioned his foster-brother, who went as viceroy to Bengal, to procure for him the object of his affection. Jehangir seems to have " entertained a latent hope that he might accomplish his end by an amicable arrangement; but Shere NOURJEHAN. 223 Afghan was most deeply offended and mortified: when compelled to appear before the viceroy, he drew his dagger and stabbed him, and was himself instantly cut to pieces by the swords of the attendants. Nourjehan was brought as a prisoner to Delhi, where the emperor, with the most tender respect, offered her marriage ; but as she was a noble-minded and highly-gifted woman, she rejected his offer, and remained as the companion of the empress-mother. But the passion of Jehangir became more and more ardent, and his attention and love at length awakened kindlier feehngs in the bosom of Nourjehan, and she consented to the marriage. Nourjehan attained a position never before enjoyed by the wife of a prince in India. Her beauty and her virtues went hand in hand with her talents and prudence, and procured her great and lasting influence over the emperor and his counseUors. At the death of Jehangir, this extraordinary woman disappeared from public Hfe. Though she was treated with the profoundest respect and an annual income of 250,000Z. sterling was assigned to her, she Hved in silent retirement, devoted to works of charity, and to the memory of her husband. It is related in the Khafi-Khan, that from the day of her husband's death,, she never put on a coloured dress, but always wore white. She died in 1646 ; and the tomb which she erected for herself, next to that of her husband, now lies entirely in ruins, only the marble sarcophagus is preserved; and the beautiful vaulted rooms are now the abode of cows and oxen ! At five o'clock in the afternoon, one of the chief courtiers arrived, to escort us to the winter palace. We went as usual on our elephants, rode through 224 VISIT TO THE WINTER PALACE. Hasuree Bagh, turned to the left through a large double gate into the quadrangle of the citadel, through a passage twenty feet high, northwards through a second gate into a smaU court-yard, and thence through a third gate into the garden-court. We now alighted from our elephants, and were led by the prince, by a short flight of steps, into a smaU apart ment surrounded by piazzas and covered with carpets and Kashmir shawls. Here, surrounded by his courtiers, the Maharaja was awaiting our arrival, and invited us to rest our selves. It was already quite dark, and, from the bright reflection of light, which increased more and more at one side, we inferred that some extraordinary festivity was being prepared for us. A messenger soon announced that all was ready for our reception, and the Maharaja conducted us by a flight of marble steps to the fountain and the state apartments : here a fairy scene, admirably described in the Thousand-. and-One-Nights, burst upon our view. A square marble -reservoir, containing numerous fountains, in the centre of which stood a colossal silver peacock with outspread tail, and surrounded by parterres of the choicest flowers, formed the refrigeratory. It was enclosed on two sides by lofty walls ornamented with little turrets, while the two others displayed open vaulted marble chambers, sup ported by angular columns and decorated with draperies of the most splendid and costly Kashmir. The whole was illuminated with innumerable lamps and lights, interspersed with devices^ burning suns, mills, wheels, &c. &c, and the most brilHant fire works. His Highness was much delighted to see the sur prise which we manifested, and then led us through HEERA SINGH. 225 all the apartments. In some of them were ranged the presents which had been sent to Runjeet Singh and the Maharaja by foreign princes : services of silver, porcelain, and beautiful cut crystal, and a col lection of arms, which is probably the most select and the most valuable in India. While Shere Singh was explaining every thing to the ambassador, Heera Singh joined me; he speaks so much English, that we could readily understand each other. He appeared to take great interest in Europe, but could not form any clear idea of the military power of Prussia, and only expressed his astonishment how it was possible to keep so many soldiers fit for service. He said that he had a great desire to become acquainted with Europe, upon which I offered to accompany him thither if he liked to go, under my protection. " Alas ! alas ! " replied he, " I dare not leave my country ; I am undone if I turn my back upon it." We were then invited to sit down with his High ness at a long table, which was covered with fruit and champagne. The Maharaja here set us a good example, and showed such dexterity in emptying his glass at one draught that we naturally inferred that this was his daily practice : his Highness was most richly adorned Avith jewels ; he wore on each arm three large golden bracelets : among those on the left arm was the " kohinoor " or " mountain of light," the largest diamond in the world, and round his neck three rows of pearls hanging down to a great length, perhaps the most beautiful and rarest ornament of the kind. WhUe we expressed our admiration of all these treasures, Shere Singh took off all his jewels and made them pass from hand to hand. vol. i. Q 226 THE MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT. The " mountain of light " once adorned the pea cock throne of the great Moguls at Delhi, whence it passed into the possession of the Afghan kings, and Avas at length extorted by Runjeet Singh from Shah Shooja, the ex-king of Cabool, when he was in great distress. It is beautifully cut, of the size of a walnut, and, with the exception of a scarcely perceptible dent on one side, perfectly faultless. It is set between two large diamonds, and this armlet is "estimated at a million rupees. While we were admiring this treasure, highly amused at the childish joy of the Maharaja, who made his treasurer bring several caskets of jeAvels, the cup-bearers took the opportunity of emptying one bottle after another on our account. At length several Bayaderes appeared, some of a very pleasing exterior, but, for the most part, they were very plain, and one of them so extremely cor pulent, that as soon as we heard her voice we could not refrain from laughing. His Highness observed, that indeed she was not pretty, but that she was the best singer at his court. We could not coincide in this opinion, for we thought her voice as disagreeable as her person. In the science of music, however, the taste of the Indians differs very much from ours, for they affirm that, the Europeans are superior to them in every thing except in music. These Bayaderes formed, under Runjeet Singh, a special corps of Amazons, but are now replaced in their original posi tion, and are maintained for the amusement of dis tinguished guests. They are generaUy the first present that is sent to visitors, at this as weUas all the other courts of India ; and, accordingly, when one of our party spoke of the beauty of one of them Shere Singh immediately requested that ^he would GRAND REVIEW. 227 consider her as his property! Attended by many torchbearers, and saluted by a fire of artiUery, Ave re turned home at nine o'clock in the evening. The grand review Avas fixed for the 10th of January. About two o'clock his Highness appeared before our house to conduct us to the camp, and was dressed entirely in white muslin trimmed with gold lace. Dheean Singh was seated in the howdah behind him, holding an umbrella over his head, a matter of some difficulty, as it was six miles to the place where the troops were assembled. After a full hour's ride ,we reached the camp, where the Maharaja and the ambassador mounted another elephant, richly capa risoned, and carrying a gold howdah on his back. The troops, amounting to 60,000 men with 200 pieces of cannon (of which, however, only the half had horses affixed to them), occupied a line of eight miles, and had passed the whole time, from five o'clock in the morning tiU now, before they could be arranged in this manner. In spite of the remonstrances of the European officers in Shere Singh's service, Heera Singh had chosen this position, in order, as he said, the more clearly to exhibit the great number ofthe warriors. The procession was opened by the three carriages of his Highness, among Avhich was the large state carriage, built by Runjeet Singh, drawn by six horses, and surrounded by a verandah in Avhich there is room for twenty Bayaderes, who were obliged to amuse the one-eyed hero during his journies. The turbaned coachmen were dressed in the manner of English grooms, and looked more Hke the outriders of troops of equestrian performers than the Whips of a state carriage. Next followed the riding horses, Q 2 228 REVIEW OF THE SIKH ARMY. Avith gold bridles and saddles and velvet trappings, embroidered in beautiful patterns, with pearls and rubies. Before the elephant of the Maharaja rode the provost of the army, in the uniform of an English officer of the general staff, except that a huge turban took the place of a hat and feathers. Something more than a third part of the army which was assembled here consisted of regular troops, and of these about 5000 were cavalry. They are divided into divisions and brigades, and are under the immediate command of the European officers. The command is given in the French language, but the tactics differ in the various brigades ; those which are under French officers being trained on the French system, while those under British officers, according to the English tactics. Thus unity is wanting, and discipline is defective. A single mishap would cause a complete disruption of these troops, and endanger the lives of their commanders. This, in fact, happened to General Court, who, on the accession of Shere Singh, faithful to his oath, refused to do homage tiU the ex-regent had absolved him from his aUegiance to her ; on this, the general was attacked in his house by his own soldiers, and had a most miraculous escape. These troops are better paid than those of the East India Company, but not so regularly, and two rupees per month are besides deducted from their pay for their maintenance. Their uniform is red and blue : some regiments wear chakos, but most of them turbans ; they are armed in the same manner as the English. The cavalry is in general well mounted, and consists of cuirassiers and dragoons. With respect to the artillery, the guns are scarcely inferior to those THE REVIEW. 229 of the English, but their horses are very indifferent. Their movements are rapid ; their firing very un skilful, for of six shot from six-pounders only one hit the mark at a distance of 800 paces. The irregular troops consist chiefly of caATalry, who are obliged to furnish their own horses, Aveapons, and clothing ; some are armed Avith spears, shields, and bows, and the greater part of them have match lock guns ; they are excellent soldiers, brave and vigilant, and are quickly rallied after a defeat. The irregular infantry, armed with guns and spears, can make no resistance in the open field. The most dis tinguished among them are the Chagaris, led by the Akalees; they are clothed in black and have black standards, with a Hon embroidered on them. We Were a party of between forty and fifty elephants, and rode along the front. Generals Ven tura's and Court's division was on the right wing ; each regiment had its own band of music, and pre sented arms as we approached. Almost every one of the Sikh officers of these regular troops was dressed according to his own taste ; some in English, others in French uniform, or in a mixture of both ; some Avore turbans, or "caps with shaAvls wrapped round them, and others helmets and chakos : some had high boots with coloured tops, others shoes ; some wore white, and others coloured pantaloons. It was al together a strange medley ; General Court wore a French general's uniform, and joined us on his elephant. The irregular cavalry, about 10,000 strong, looked very picturesque, — nay, antique. As we approached the Akalees, those savage hordes set up a scornful shout ; some gallopped out of the ranks and, with uplifted hands, abused the Maharaja ; Q 3 230 THE AMBASSADOR'S INVITATION. his Highness, however, who appeared quite used to this sort of thing, took no notice whatever, and said he was glad that they had not pelted him with mud, as they had frequently done to Runjeet Singh on similar occasions. My elephant, unfortunately, be came tired just at this juncture, which afforded these ruthless clamourers a welcome opportunity to manifest their insolence. I sent my servant to Major Skinner, with the request that he would let me join him on his, but I had scarcely seated myself when the strength of that animal likewise failed. Dheean Singh ob served our embarrassment, and immediately despatched an officer to fetch the state carriage, in Avhich we took our seats, and were joined by General Churchill and Captain Somerset. As the review was over, and nothing remained but for the artillery to fire a salute, Ave returned in Runjeet Singh's Bayadere coach, to our camp. In the evening the ambassador had invited all the Europeans in Shere Singh's service to dinner : those present on this occasion were General Court, Colonel Munton, Colonel Lefaieux and his son, Colonel Stein- eck, Captain de la Roche, and Dr. Honigberger, &c. ; General. Ventura was expected to return from his furlough in Europe, and General Avitabile with Co lonel Van Corthaud, and Captains Argoud and Qui- lette, were in Peshawar. My countryman, Dr. Honig berger, told me that tfie Maharaja had been very busy this morning in looking out the presents, and had said that he was happy to be able to give them at least tp one person who was permitted to retain them. On the following day, Shere Singh sent in the after noon to fetch us to the winter palace. We had to pass through the mews, an open piazza supported by AUDIENCE OF LI5AVE. 231 marble piUars, and up a narrow, dark staircase to the apartments looking into the court-yard. We Avere received, at the entrance, by his Highness, Dheean Singh, Heera Singh, and several great men. We took our seats upon a platform, from which we had a most noble prospect ; the city, in its entire extent, lay at our feet, and beyond it the extensive ruins situ ated amid green corn fields ; on the opposite side was the wide-spread fertile valley of the Ravee, Avith its ruins, villages, and luxuriant fields, while the snow- crowned masses of the Himalaya towering above the clouds, formed a noble background. This incom parable panorama indemnified us for our long and tedious conversation with his Highness and his great men ; and Ave were glad to be able to take our leave at sunset. Our audience of leave was fixed for the 12th, when the Maharaja contrived a further gratification for his guests. We proceeded at noon on elephants to Hoosu- ree Bagh, but to our great surprise found him waiting to receive us at the very entrance, opposite the marble sepulchre of Semal. The ambassador had expressed a desire to visit the tomb of the three kings Avhose remains are interred here. The tombs are situated upon a high, exposed platform, under marble cupolas, which are supported by angular pillars in the Arabic style. As we ascended the flight of steps, priests in white garments came to meet us, with floAvers and garlands ; others stood before the tomb with censers, praying, singing, and strewing flowers on the marble sarcophagi. We took some of the flowers from the baskets which they presented to us, and followed their example, in honour of the memory of Runjeet Singh. This ceremony produced a comic, rather than a Q 4 232 HUNTING PARTY. solemn impression on the unprejudiced observer ; for as we did not wish to detain the Maharaja, who was watching us from his elephant, we, as well as the priests, proceeded with such undue haste that we com pletely jostled each other in trying to get first, and the priests had neither time nor room to exhibit their performances. An old greybearded priest, who held in his hands a book, and a cow's tail, which he kept waving before him backwards and forwards, was the only one of the party who did not suffer himself to be disturbed in his devotions. The ambassador rewarded the priests with a present of 1000 rupees. We next went to the hunt which his Highness had prepared for us, near the Ravee. We tried to force a passage with above forty elephants, through a thick jungle, surrounded by drivers or beaters mounted on horseback, cuirassiers with shields, and lancers, falconers, and other attendants, who could scarcely be seen among the reeds, which were sixteen feet high. So original and attractive a hunting scene could only be produced in the country of the Sikhs. The Maharaja and Dheean Singh possess a cabinet of the finest English fowling-pieces, which we were permitted to use. The chase, however, was very unproductive ; we only met with partridges, hares, foxes, and a few jackals; Shere Singh and his minister proving the most able sportsmen. The chase ended in an open plain near a battery, which practised in our presence with balls, but for the most part missed the mark. At sunset we arrived at the summer palace of Shalihmar. A regiment which was stationed before the garden-gate, with two pieces of artillery, presented THE SHALIHMAR. 233 arms and fired a salute. Shalibagh or Shalihmar, the garden of the Emperor Shah Jehan, who reigned from 1627 to 1656, bears this inscription : " House of Joy:" and is buUt in the same style as the Shalihmar in Kashmir. It is an oblong parallelogram, surrounded by a high waU, 1200 paces in length, and 800 in breadth, with three terraces of equal size rising suc cessively ten feet above each other.- A canal brought from a great distance crosses this delightful garden, and discharges itself in the middle terrace, in to a large marble basin : nearly 500 fountains rise from this basin and from the canal, and cool the air most delightfuUy. In the centre of the garden is a small palace of white marble, and other pavilions' and structures are scattered about in various places ; but they are all going to decay. The garden is full of tall magni ficent trees, but Ave were especially struck with some avenues of oranges which were richly laden with such an abundance of large fruit, that the branches seemed ready to break under the weight. The whole garden, even to the remotest parts, was most tastefully and splendidly illuminated with thousands of smaU lamps, gay paper lanterns, torches and wheels of fire, and from time to time fireworks diffused the most singu lar lights and colours by which the garden seemed to float in an ocean of flame. After stroUing about in this magic scene, we as sembled in the marble viUa round a long table, when we were regaled with fruits and champagne, and some Bayaderes were also there, with the vain hope that they would afford amusement : they were the first handsome women whom his Highness had introduced, and two of them especially were exceedingly beautiful. 234 AUDIENCE OF LEAVE. They sat at the feet of the Maharaja, caressing some times him and sometimes the young Prince, and even extended that favour to any one who .looked compla cently at them. A person present making a remark on their gracefulness, his Highness requested that they might be courted at pleasure ! The Maharaja rose on a sudden and proposed the health of the Queen of England, a compliment which the ambassador returned by proposing the health of the Maharaja. The presents were now brought. Mine consisted of a horse with a golden bridle and saddle, a sabre, a costly pearl necklace, gold bracelets set with brUliants, an agraffe of rubies, six shawls, Kashmir and silk stuffs, a,nd a robe of honour. I committed them to the decision of the Indian govern ment, which they gave in favour of the Toshakana. His Highness himself girded on my sabre, attached the agraffe to my cap, and hung the pearls round my neck, saying, " May the friendship between the Queen of England and me be as permanent and as blessed, as it is between her Majesty and your Master and King ! " At nine o'clock we took leave, amid the most cordial greetings of his Highness and his whole court ; and the Maharaja was sensibly affected when he bade Mr. Maddock fareweU. Heera Singh likewise seemed to feel very much at parting, and even on the foUowing day sent a few kind words in Enghsh to the ambassador. It was nearly ten o'clock before we reached our tent ; and midnight has passed while I have endeavoured to delineate a faint sketch of what I have seen within the last few days. NOTE FROM BARON HUGEL. 235 Note to p. 179. The question, " What is the best boundary for the British empire in India ? " is so important and interesting, that it will perhaps be acceptable to the reader to learn the opinion of another German traveller, Baron von Hiigeh on this subject. He says, " This seems to be a proper place to introduce some observations on the western frontier of British India. This splendid inheritance of the English nation, which was founded by bold adventurers, has natural frontiers in all directions, and only the western boundary is the subject of some doubts. Surrounded towards the south by the ocean, enclosed on the east and north by impenetrable forests and chains of lofty mountains, bounded on the west by the Thuor, or Great Indian desert, there remains only a comparatively narrow stripe in the north-west, which is liable to some difficulties. England, by its perseverance, has acquired such an extensive ter ritory that, in determining its boundaries in Asia, one or two thousand square miles are of little account. " Any person who glances at the map will at once point out the Indus as the proper boundary. It is certainly very convenient for geographers to take a river for a boundary ; but the case is different with respect to a frontier between two nations, and espe cially with a line of defence (such as the north-western frontier of British India must be) on the only side which is open to the approach of an enemy. A river is undoubtedly a good frontier as a line of defence : whereas between two nations it is not a line of separation, but rather a means of communication ; for all over the world, as far as is known, the two banks of a river are inhabited by the same race of men, and the same language is always spoken on both banks. It may, therefore, be worth while to discuss more minutely, the question whether the Indus answers or not, to our preconceived idea as the boundary of the Anglo-Indian empire. " From the moment when the Attock or the Indus penetrates into the mountains, it rushes, like the Jailum, in continual cataracts over rocks, till it reaches the plain of Cutch, at the end of which, near the confluence of the Kabool with the Indus Attock is situated. From this point it again enters the mountains and, after it has broken through the salt mountains, traverses a sandy desert : it flows towards, its Delta through a more or less fertile country. From the mountains to the sea, the Indus gives life to the country on its banks — even in the desert there is a 236 NOTE FROM BARON HUGEL. narrow slip of land fit for cultivation ; but the Indus alone ani mates the country : on its right bank begins the sandy desert which extends far to the west : on the left bank the cultivated slip is rather broader ; but from the Ran, which is itself 150 miles wide, the desert rapidly increases, till, under the 28th degree of latitude, it almost entirely covers a tract 360 miles in breadth. " It would be useless to discuss at length, why from its mouth to the junction with the rivers of the Punjab, the Indus cannot be a line of defence nor a military frontier ; because it may be stated in a few words, that an army cannot fall back on its line of opera tions, which must be beyond the desert, and because an army posted here would leave all Hindoostan exposed to the enemy ; besides, an enemy would scarcely be expected from this side, though the first Mahometans, coming from Kandahar and Ghuznee, penetrated into Guzerat by this route : they, however, came only in detached bodies, while the great armies always cross the Indus at Attock. " From the junction of the rivers of the Punjab upwards, the right bank is the last slope, of a rude and steep mountain chain with scanty cultivation, which is inhabited by savage tribes of Afghans, through which solitary caravans made deep paths, but which are scarcely practicable for an army. Here, too, the Indus would be the very worst frontier, because it must be immediately abandoned, in order to unite the troops at the point where the enemy would appear, which must be Attock, 300 miles distant from the confluence of the rivers of the Punjab. " The fact that the enemy must appear at Attock is what makes the Indus so inviting as a frontier ; but a frontier is good only when it is difficult for an enemy, and easy for your own troops to reach it. Now it would be easier for a marauding party to approach the Indus from the west than from the east ; that is, from its mouth to Attock : on the Indian side the Indus is, in fact, as good as inaccessible to troops, and, a military force stationed there could maintain its communications with Bombay by means of steam-boats, whence the Indus might certainly be used to make a diversion on the enemy's line of communication ; but a General would hardly send his troops in steam-boats up and down the Indus, and deprive himself of their co-operation in Hindoostan. " It is recorded in history as something astonishing, that Alex ander the Great, found the way to India, and even the most in telligent modern historians admire his sagacity, in having entered NOTE FROM BARON HUGEL. 237 it at the very point where it was most easy to be assailed. Others wonder how Vasco de Gama found the way from Mozambique on the east coast of Africa to Calicut, on the coast of Malabar. There is, however, nothing more wonderful in this, than in a plain journeyman mechanic finding his way from Vienna to Paris ; for even in the time of Alexander, the productions of India were brought to Persia and Greece, and the merchants chose, not merely the easiest, but the only road : in the same manner Vasco de Gama met with a pilot who conducted him from Mozambique to the well known commercial city of Calicut. ****** All the sub sequent conquerors, Timour, Baber, Nadir Shah, and Achmet Shah, took the same road to India as Alexander. The cause is simply this, — that this is the only road for an army. " But supposing the Indus to be the frontier of India, it would be extremely rash in a General to risk a decisive engagement there. A finer field of battle than the plain near Attock, which is like a parade, extending 15 or 20 miles in every direction, could hardly be chosen ; but what would be the consequence of a victory to the defenders of India ? that the enemy would retire to the strong positions in his rear, through a country which cannot easily be exhausted, and where the roads are not rendered impassable by the rain, and where the invading army might remain if it pleased a whole year unmolested, while the rainy season would entirely hinder the arrival of supplies on the other side of the Indus. But if the battle should be lost, what would be the consequence to the English troops ? It would be this ; the defeated army would be obliged to retreat through a most difficult and barren country, in which a shower of rain would make it impossible to bring the artillery, and even the beasts of burden through the endless ravines : the army would not be able to rally, till it reached the Jailum, and from thence the rivers are so close together, and subject to such dreadful, irregular inundations, that there would be imminent danger, in case of a second disaster, of losing the remainder of the artillery. From the Indus to the Sutlej, all the disadvantages are on the side of the retreating army, and every position may be turned, while the retreat can be only in one direction. What an undertaking it is to cross a river with an Indian army is manifest from the fact, that for every fighting man there are ten unarmed followers. . " Now, compare with this highly extolled natural line of defence of the Indus, the artificial decried line of the Sutlej. The broad 238 NOTE FROM BARON HUGEL. tract of the Indian desert extends along the Indus and the Sutlej to Ferozpoor, which makes it almost impossible for an army to pass through it, and in which small Eajapoot States form advanced posts, Rajapoots, who have been, at all times, distinguished by unequalled bravery and love of liberty, and who are fully equal to oppose any corps that might find it possible to penetrate on this side through the desert. From the end of the desert and arid tract near Ferozpoor to the Himmalaya, the distance is not much more than 100 miles, and an army stationed behind the Sutlej can more easily move from one place to the other, than can be effected by the enemy on the right bank, who cannot turn the position, either through the Himmalaya or through the desert. What ever may be the frontier of India, the great battle must be fought on the plain of Sirhind, where all the advantages are on the side of the defenders, and where a defeat, exposes the invaders to the same destruction which awaits the former, in case of their losing a battle on the Indus. The most evident proof of this, is afforded by Achmet Shah, who, after losing a battle in the plain of Sirhind, on his first invasion of India, fled, without stopping any where, across the Attock. ***** " Should events (and they will do so) extend the English frontier to the Indus, they must necessarily advance their line of defence further to the west, into the mountains between Kabool and Herat, perhaps as far as Herat itself." — Translat'ok. THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. 239 LETTER VI. TO CARL HITTER. The Anglo-Indian army. — The Sepoys. — ¦ The Hindoo and Mussulman. — The European soldier. — Strength and divisions ofthe army. — Pay. — The corps of officers. Karnoul, January 25. 1843. Kept close prisoner in my tent by increasing torrents of rain, I will employ myself in complying with your request to give you some particulars relative to the Anglo-Indian army : but you must consider these communications merely as a sketch, and not be sur prised if many of your questions remain unanswered. The Anglo-Indian army is unquestionably one of the most experienced in the art of war, because war is its proper and true vocation. Impressed with the recollection of the glorious actions already accom plished, it looks forward, after a short repose, to new combats, fuU of hope and expectation of performing new deeds of chivalry, and of reaping fresh laurels. The British army in India has never been without opportunities in which soldiers were formed, who, in endurance and resolution, are not exceeded by any army in Europe. The Hindoos, of whom the greater part of the army is composed, have no national basis, either in themselves or in their history. India, under its Hindoo dynasties, was split into a thousand petty states, each of which contended with the others for 240 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMT. the supreme power, and in which some. indiAdduals indeed founded kingdoms which Avere equal to the largest in Europe, but their existence was too transi tory to have any influence on the present gene ration. Those days are entirely forgotten ; — the Hindoo of the present day neither knows nor cares to what dynasty his ancestors belonged. He con siders himself merely as a "part of the great race of the Hindoos. Religion and the privileges of his caste, on the other hand, are sacred in the estimation of the Hindoo ; in them alone lies a separate political ex istence, with Avhich the British government has never interfered. The tribes, too, Avhich belong to the military profession, are neither original nor par ticularly distinct from the great body of the Hindoo nation. We find in the ranks of the soldiers, the brahmin, as well as the merchant, the peasant, and the artisan. They are totally ignorant of the manner in which the country is governed: their life passes away, for the most part, in the camp or in barracks, separated from the great mass of the people. A portion of the Hindoos in the Bengal army belongs to petty tributary states, which might certainly make them accessible to political influence. The Hindoo sepoy of the Madras army, is still more alien to the great body of the Hindoo people than the sepoy of Bengal: he is in general of very low caste, born and brought up in the field. Thus every regiment is, as it Avere, a Httle wandering colony, isolated from the rest of the world : but a large proportion of the. soldiers are Mahometans. Hence it has hitherto been easy to send troops of this THE SEPOYS THE MAHOMETANS. 241 army beyond sea, which was done some years ago, to Egypt, and lately to China. The Hindoo of a higher caste would consider this, as a neglect of the precepts of his religion, and he is not permitted to dress any provisions on board a ship. The greatest punishment that can be inflicted on the sepoy of the Bengal army is to expel him from the ranks. The Hindoo and the Jew of the Bombay army are, on the other hand, nearer to civil Hfe than the Madras soldier ; but even here they are often en tirely separated by position, from the greater part of their countrymen. Like the Madras sepoy, he is con tent with his situation in the army, because advantages are offered him there, which he would not enjoy in any other position. The Mahometans of India, both in the army and in towns and vUlages under the British dominion, as weU as those of foreign states, are every where the same. They belong to one great family, united by the same rehgion and the same interests, and will always be ready to defend their national cause with their services and their money. Religion and go vernment are never divided in the mind of the Mahometan, and he wiU never forget that his supre macy in India has been totally overturned by the English. The eyes of the whole Mahometan population of India, will be turned upon him who preaches a crusade against the infidels, and the result wiU be followed and supported with as much anxious ex pectation and interest in the .remotest village of the Deccan, as in Calcutta or Delhi. Symptoms of such a disposition have frequently appeared, even in the VOL. I. R 242 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. army. Yet it is difficult to determine the impression which it would make on the Mahometans in the ranks of the British army. They are more observed by their officers and their Hindoo comrades, than the inhabitants of the towns can be, and we may be certain that they would be the last ofthe Mahometan population, to join in any such movements. At present this is not to be apprehended, nay,„it is almost impossible that a general rising of the Maho metans in India can take place ; they have lost all hopes of it ; and if the Mahometan does not acknow ledge it, yet he feels most sensibly that there is now no existing power to which he could attach himself. Besides, the Mahometans of India are already so in fected with Hindooism, the customs and manners of Avhich they have imbibed from their childhood, vthat they have neither energy nor decision enough to divest themselves of it. The war against the Afghans (the preceding, as well as all the latest combats,) has amply proved the efficiency and capability of the native soldier. The Mussulman is not so effeminate, yet as brave, trustworthy, and enduring as the Hindoo : but he is not so temperate. Both, however, require to be led by an European officer; if they lose their confidence in him, they give themselves up for lost. They are ready to risk their lives for their officers, of which I have been told many instances : and are filially at tached to them. During our march, officers and privates of the native troops frequently came from the distance of many miles to see their European officer, and to recall the good old times. On these occasions there is no important moment which they do not recaU : THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. 243 no circumstance is forgotten, and they part from their officers like children from their parents. They even exchange letters with them, for the native. is very fond of corresponding by letter. ' Ornaments and distinctions are highly valued by the natives; their officers are rewarded with gold neck chains and 'medals ; the latter are also given to private soldiers, who never lay them aside, and even fasten them to their white national dress. With still more pride and satisfaction they look upon their weU- earned standards, and many a regiment has three such tokens of honourable distinction, inscribed with the name of the battle in which the victory was ob tained. With cries of " Ram, Kam-Mahadeo ! " the Hindoo rushes to the battle ; " Jai, Jaii-Kar ! " they cry, encouraging each other in the combat ; and return from the victory in a cheerful, though serious mood, singing " Ramchandre-Kee-jai!" Soldiers are raised partly by recruiting, for which purpose officers are sent to the districts, or by volun tary appHcation; or by the enlistment of soldiers, children above the age of sixteen. When the native distinguishes himself, he may be promoted to the rank of officer, there being in each company two native officers, a subedar (captain), and a jemedar (lieutenant), and in every regiment a subedar-major (staff officer). In general, the native serves as long as his bodUy strength permits, and many grey-headed officers and subalterns are found among them. Wounds, sick ness, and twenty years' service, entitle him to a pen sion, or to be provided for as an invalid. Corporal punishment is not used towards the native soldier ; B 2 244 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. if his crime is dishonourable, he is expeUed from the ranks. In other cases it is sufficient to maintain disciphne among them by a strict enforcement of the duties of the service ; for it may justly be affirmed, that there is no soldier more docUe than the Hindoo. Having said thus much of the native soldier, I will add a few words respecting the European — the English soldier. He forms the real basis of the army in India ; he is the instrument by which the immense power of India has been founded, and by which it is supported. Only 45,000 Europeans ! a mixture of aU the lowest classes of Great Britain, but hardy, ad venturous men who, in hope of a better situation, have sold their lives for twenty years. The English soldier knows that he is in a foreign land, that on decisive occasions he must depend upon himself alone : " to conquer or to die," is his motto, which is so deeply rooted in him, that it seems to him incredible that he should ever be conquered ; coolness and presence of mind are combined in his character with boldness and perseverance. In battle the English soldier is generaUy employed where the hottest combat is expected, and the native takes courage from his valour. On such occasions, there is no want of reciprocal sacrifices, in which no one will be behind the other : and the Hindoo values chivalrous deeds as much as he is grateful for sacri fices made for himself. Thus in the last war, some soldiers of the 13th, or Queen's regiment, rescued some soldiers of the 34th Bengal regiment from the hands of the Afghans, at the hazard of their lives, for which that regiment was saluted by the other on their meeting, and the privates of the 34th regiment pre pared a festive entertainment at Ferozpoor for their THE EUROPEAN SOLDIERS. 245 European comrades, in the most affectionate manner, which was afterwards returned by them, with a cor responding feeling. Unhappily, however, the English soldiers are not temperate ; they are addicted to spirituous liquors, by which in this climate, so dangerous to Europeans, death makes fearful ravages among them. It may be assumed, that most of the European regiments lose ten per cent, of their men in the first year of their being here. Thus, to mention only a few examples, 132 men of the 22d regiment died of cholera and fever in the first two months ; the 86th lost in eight days, 1 officer and 23 men ; the 28th in three weeks, 1 officer and 80 men ; the 41st lost in the first three years, 11 officers and 235 men; and the 1st Euro pean Bengal regiment of grenadiers was so fearfully visited by fever on its march from Karnoul to Feroz poor, that of 1000 men not the half were under arms, and 800 palanquins were employed in carrying the sick. The government does all that is possible to preserve the soldier, the loss of whom is of great importance to them as a pecuniary consideration alone, for the Company loses 1000 rupees for every one that dies. In Bengal only two or three regiments generally re main, exposed to the hot climate ; the others are sta tioned in the northern provinces, or in the mountains ; but before they have completed the long march thither, death, in spite of all warning and care, has already thinned their ranks. The strict maintenance of discipline in the British army is proverbial, but it by no means degenerates into despotism. It has often been contemplated to abolish flogging : but it is affirmed that discipline K 3 246 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. would suffer by it ; we must not however believe that this is an ordinary punishment, or executed in a summary manner ; it cannot be inflicted, except after sentence of a court-martial. The Company's army consists, according to the presidencies, of three divisions — the Bengal, the Ma dras, and the Bombay army. The Bengal army consists of 2 regiments of Eu ropean Hght infantry (2000 men); 74. native regi ments (81,400 men) ; 1 Ghurka battahon (1000 men) ; 11 regiments of cavalry (6600 men) ; 7 bri gades of artiUery (7000 men) ; 1 corps of engineers (without men) ; .2 divisions of pioneers (1000 men) ; and 1 regiment of invalids (1000 men). The Madras army consists of 2 regiments of Euro pean Hght infantry (2000 men) ; 52 native regiments (52,000 men) ; 8 regiments of cavalry (2400 men) ; 4 brigades of artiUery (4000 men) ; 1 corps of en gineers (without men) ; 2 divisions of pioneers (1000 men) ; and 1 regiment of invalids (1000 men). The Bombay army consists of 2 European regi ments of Hght infantry (2000 men) ; 26 native regi ments (26,000 men); 3 regiments of cavalry (1800 men) ; 2 brigades of artillery (2000 men) ; 1 corps of engineers ; 1 division of pioneers (500 men) ; and 1 regiment of invaHds (1000 men). Besides these, there are, under British officers, — the corps at Hyderabad, the Deccan, Mysore, Oude, Shekawatte, and the Bheel troops in Kandeish and Malwa. There likewise are in Bengal, Mysore, Guz- zerat, and Sinde, 18 regiments of irregular cavalry. Of royal troops there are in India 30,000 men, of whom one seventh are cavalry. Thus it may be assumed that the Anglo-Indian THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. 247 army is 264,000 men strong, commanded by 820 British general and staff officers, and 5500 subal tern officers, who, according to Major Everest's map, are spread over a kingdom of 1,076,590 square mUes, and are to defend a boundary of 707 geogra phical miles. This includes four Mahometan states : Hyderabad, 8887 geographical square miles, and ten miUions of inhabitants; Oude, 2392 square miles, and 3,000,000 of inhabitants ; Bhopal, 677 square miles; and Tonk, 110^ square miles. Eight Maharatta states : — Satarah, 794 square miles ; Gwalior, 3294 square mfies; Berar, 5673 square mUes ; Indore, 4241 square miles; Baroda, 552 square nodes; Kolapoor, 318 square miles ; Dhar, 146^ square mUes, and the little Dewas. Nineteen Rajpoot states : — Odeypoor, 1178 square miles ; Jyepoor, 13421 square mUes ; Jodhpore 3413 square mUes ; Kotah, 438f square mUes ; Bunda, 229 square mUes ; Alwar, 323 square miles ; Beek- aneer, 1806 square miles; Jaysulmeer, 97*8 square miles ; Kishungurh, 72^ square miles ; Banswara, 144 square miles; Purtaubgur, 145f square miles; Dongurpur, 200 square miles ; Karouly, 187f square miles ; Sirohi, 302 square miles ; Cutch, 739^ square mUes; Rewah, 1031 square miles, and Dhatten Jhansi. Maharatta and Turrah, 1617 square miles. Six other Hindoo states: — Mysore, 2800 square mUes ; Travancore, 457 square miles ; Cochin, 197f square mUes ; Bhurtpoor, 194^ square mUes; Dhoolpoor, 162^ square miles ; and Sanjore, 93^ square miles. The Sikh states under British protection, 1662 square miles ; and those in many small states and jaghires, among which those in Samblepoor and Bundelcund, are the chief. Lastly, the mountain chiefs of Sikkim, Manicpoor, Singboom, Chota Nagpoor, Sirgoojah, 248 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. Sumbhulpoor, Oudepore, Tanjore, Curg, the Bareitsh family, Ferozpoor, and the jaghires in the southern Maharatta country. The area of all these states under British protection, is about 45,000 geographical square mUes ; whereas the countries belonging to the English, comprehend about 62,648 square miles. There are besides, quite distinct from the regular army, about 300,000 men, who are furnished with matchlocks and shields, and employed in the finance, police, and judicial departments. The greater part of this force is regularly organised and trained, and one twentieth is mounted and armed like the irregular cavalry. The pay ofthe officers, as weU as that ofthe privates, is very high, in comparison with that ofthe European armies ; but the considerable expenses to which the European is Hable in this country requires such high salaries. The pay of the general in chief is 10,000 rupees per month, that of a lieutenant-general 6000 rupees ; of a colonel of infantry in the field 1280, and of a colonel of cavalry 1467; of a captain of infantry 411," and of cavalry 560 rupees ; of a lieutenant 254, and of an ensign 200 rupees. The sepoy receives nine rupees monthly, of which one rupee and a half is deducted for his clothing. The clothing is provided for, under the superintend ence of Clothing Boards, for each army. From the surplus funds, each fuU colonel of a regiment derives an annual revenue of 5001. sterling. A European regiment of cavalry costs, in Bengal, 73,778£. sterling per annum ; a European regiment of infantry, 51,754^., a native regiment of cavalry, 35,784^. sterling, a native regiment of infantry, 24,492^. The Bengal army cost in the year 1841, 4,000,000^. THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. 249 sterling (at 40/. per man) ; the Madras army, 2,859,927/. sterling (at 45/. sterfing per man) ; and the Bombay army 1,547,640/. sterling (at 47/. sterfing per man) ; consequently the whole army 8,407,567/. sterling. You are aware that the corps of officers decides the value and the capability of an army ; that it is the chain which gives unity and character to the great moveable body, and that it gives the stamp to the whole army. Through its medium the general directs the instruments which determine the fate of states, and gives a new bias to the events of the world. It is the sound vigorous good sense, and the chi valrous spirit of the corps of officers, which has raised to such a height the power of England in India. High spirits, thirst for glory, conscious independence, self-confidence, a practical mind, and the ability of quickly accommodating himself to every circumstance, are the peculiar characteristics of the Enghsh officer, more perhaps than of any corps of officers of the European armies. But these noble quahties are not merely gifts of his nationality — - no, he is indebted for them to the manifold important vicissitudes of his life, which lead him to almost every country in the world, whereby he becomes acquainted with the most diverse nations, and is initiated into the most complex of relations. India is justly considered as the school for Enghsh officers. Though the wars in that country may differ in many particulars from those in Europe, yet in the most essential points they are nearly, if not quite, the same,, and in other respects they are more difficult. Almost aU the distinguished generals of Great Britain have been trained, and have gathered their experience 250 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. in India. The Duke of Wellington came from that country to the Spanish peninsula, as an accomplished commander. The political position of England in India requires, more than any other country in the world, an army inured to war and ready for combat. Ten years' peace might be more detrimental there, than thirty •years' peace to an European army, because it might be forgotten that India must be governed on mUitary principles ; and, in order to save expense, the unhappy thought might be conceived of reducing the army, diminishing its pay, or otherwise neglecting it. Though the mihtary officer is sensible that the sphere of action of the civil officer is more extensively important, and his task more difficult, yet, as he feels that the latter works and acts under his protection, a degree of iU-will must ensue. In a government like that of India, the whole cannot prosper, unless both act hand in hand, and both enjoy equal privileges and equal honours. It therefore appears inconceivable how power could have been given to pohtical agents to dispose of the troop's at their discretion — nay, even to direct their operations. We have seen times when men, without any experience in the art of war, laid commands upon generals : in such cases the agent should be responsible, but the general was judged ac cording to the result. A peculiar institution, which, with all its other advantages, is very injurious, is what are called the " staff appointments," i. e. appointments for the ser vice of the general staff. These are not merely confined to the troops, but are also appointments in the country. They, indeed, place officers in the most important and most instructive spheres of THE ANGLO-LNDIAN ARMY. 251 • action, but they deprive the regiments of their ser vices, and thus draw the officer entirely away from the troops, a system which cannot faU to have an injurious effect upon the regiments which are so scantily provided Avith European officers.. I became acquainted with a captain, who, in twenty years' service, had been only two years with the troops, had left his regiment ever since, had always resided in one spot, and never yet seen the cavalry or artiUery ! Three years ago Bengal had 406 such staff appoint ments, Bombay 18.9, and Madras 301. I must, however, observe that, every one who aims at such an appointment, must first be examined, by a com mittee, in Persian and Hindostanee. On the other hand, the association of the officers has great advantages, and has a very beneficial in fluence. I have had the good fortune to be ac quainted with most of the European armies, but I have found in none more genuine cordiahty and self- denial than in the Enghsh. In this no one wiU be behind another ; in this they consider themselves all as equals ; the superior officer is not distant from the younger, whose interests are his own -Lin joy and in sorrow they are one. A corps of officers in India is, in the true sense of the word, a large famUy. There is something hearty, confidential in the manner in which the youngest officer at table chaUenges the general to drink a glass of wine with him. At the same time, there is the strictest regard to duty in the service, and never a neglect of that respect which the younger owes to the elder. But the British army in India requires, like most other armies, the vigour and energy of youth at the 252 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. head of the troops. Most of the generals and staff officers are too advanced in age, and never find opportunity to arrange and to move great masses. They have passed the greater part of their lives in India ; some have not visited their native country since they were seventeen years of age ; others, per haps, only for a short time ; the Indian mode of Hfe has become a second nature to them. Even among the captains, young men are seldom found, most of them not having attained that rank tiU after eighteen years' service, though they obtain the rank of brevet captain after fifteen years' service. The difficulties with which the general of an Indian army has to contend, exceed aU our notions of the mode of making war. He has to provide for the maintenance of two armies : the combatants and the train ; the latter being the most numerous, the most irregular, and the most burdensome ; not only, because aU must Hve under tents, but, on account of the large number of servants required for attendance, and for conveying all the necessaries of life, and the strict adherence of the Hindoo to his customs. Each sepoy carries his kitchen utensils with him when he goes into camp, erects his own little hearth, surrounds it with a circle, to keep the uninitiated from the food which he prepares for himself alone, and, in this, no caste may mingle with the other. In a European regiment of infantry, one Serjeant, one corporal, and fourteen privates form a society under one tent, served by a clashy (tent-strfker), a behitshy (water-carrier), and a dhoby (Avasherman), and require four camels : in a sepoy regiment, two Serjeants, two corporals, and twenty-eight men belong to one tent, with two clashys and two behitshys. In THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. 253 the cavalry, each soldier has a groom, who dresses and- feeds the horses ; two soldiers have a Avater-carrier, and, two horses, have always one grass-cutter. The tents and other necessaries foUow on camels and waggons. To every piece of artillery there are four water- carriers, four grass-cutters, four grooms, two washer men, and a tent- striker. The army of reserve, con sisting of five regiments of cavalry, twelve regiments of infantry, and forty-eight guns, was supplied for the conveyance of its baggage, &c, with 164 ele phants, 1745 camels, 2000 draught oxen, and 5422 baggage servants. When the troops, returning from Afghanistan, had joined it at Ferozpoor, there were 36,000 men under arms, with 102 pieces of cannon, 400 ele phants, 25,000 camels, 6000 draught oxen, and nearly 100,000 servants of every description. This army, when in camp, occupied a space of about ten miles, and, on an accurate calculation, extended, on its march, along a Hne of eighty mUes ! That reHsh, for the comfort of Hfe, which the En- glishman so greatly enjoys in his own country, accom panies him to India ; but here, where nature is so lavish of her bounties, where enjoyments are so va rious, where the climate, the manners, and the customs provide so profusely for the conveniences of Hfe, these comforts are found in a much higher degree. The great number of servants required, — a Heu tenant having seldom fewer than ten, a captain ge nerally fourteen, and a general above twenty ; and, the separation from the natives, with respect to whom he is obfiged to conduct himself like a superior being, — compels every one to form his own establishment. Hence, in the cantonments there are as many country 254 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. houses, called bungalows, as there are officers, and where new stations are estabUshed, the handsomest residences, surrounded with lovely gardens, arise within a short time. Behind the bungalows are the clay-built barracks of the natives, looking Hke huts, rather than regular buildings, while the barracks of the European regiments, on the contrary, are built with comparative grandeur, and with every possible attention to climate. Every corps of officers has its own mess bunga low, which consists of a drawing-room, dining-room, bUliard-room, and library; a garden supplies the table with the necessary vegetables, fruits, and flowers. The dinners seldom consist of less than ten dishes, served in sUver and rich porcelain, which is aU carried with them when they travel in this ex tensive country. The mess alone, costs each officer 60 rupees per month ; yet, we must do the Enghsh officer the justice to say, that, when called to use the utmost exertion, he also readily submits to the greatest privations ; he will not renounce these comforts where they are to be had, but he cheerfully dispenses with them when necessity requires it. I think I cannot do better than conclude this sketch by briefly describing the life of an English officer in India. If he is born in India, his parents send him to England before he is eight years old, lest he should faU a prey to the climate. Here we find him in the college at Addiscombe, where he is edu cated for his profession, and, in his eighteenth year, returns to his parents in India. For a few years he is occupied in the service, in learning the native lan guages ; the new sphere of action, the novel impres sions made on him by the natural scenery and the THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. 255 inhabitants, are very attractive to him. But, when this novelty has worn off, his interest in it has dis appeared ; it becomes indifferent to him, and the more disagreeable, when he is bound to a station, and the chmate becomes unsuited to his constitution. In the morning before sunrise, the troops are exer cised, or he takes a ride on horseback, but this must be terminated before the beams of the sun become too powerful. A bath refreshes him after this exer tion, and, at nine o'clock, he meets his comrades at breakfast. After this he passes his time tiU two o'clock at the billiard-table, in reading, working, smoking the hookah, or in a dolce far niente. At this hour he is again in the mess-room, to take a second warm breakfast, tiffin as the English here call it. After this the time gHdes away as before ; and it is not tUl the sun is near setting, that the service again calls upon him, or that he takes bodily exercise, in riding, playing at tennis, or cricket. At eight o'clock dinner is served, which is rarely finished before ten o'clock. The only interruptions to this monotonous life, are horse-races and hunting parties, especially the chase of the tiger and wild boar ; a recreation, and at the same time a danger, which every one desires to enjoy, and spares neither expense nor pains to procure. The Duke of Wellington always looked for such bold lovers of the chase, when some decisive blow was to be struck. Ten years' service entitles the officer to three years' leave of absence, of which he seldom neglects to avaU himself, because in general his health and attachment to his native country lead him to return to Europe; or he seeks for the restoration of his health at one of the five sanatory stations of Mahaba- 256 THE ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY. leshwur mountains, NeUgherries, Simla, Cherra-Punjy (in the Cosseah mountains), and in Darjyling. If he is married and has a family, he probably purchases an estate, and considers India as his second country. Very few- of the officers feel themselves actuaUy happy in this extraordinary country : most of them withdraw after five and twenty years' service, hoping to lead a more congenial life at home, but find that they have become estranged from their relations and friends, and cannot attain the sought-for happiness. RETURN FROM LAHORE. 257 LETTER VII. TO ALEXANDER VON HUMBOLDT. Return from Lahore to Ferozpoor. — Journey through the protected Sikh states to Samanah. — Chase of the antelope with a leopard. — March with the Governor General to Dathal, Saqun, Keythul, and Karnaul. ¦ — Visit to Paniput and view of the town and of the field of battle. — Haunt of elephants. Delhi, 14th February, 1843. I salute you and aU my dear friends at home from the renowned Delhi, formerly the capital^ of the Kuru and ofthe great Moguls. You have, I hope, received my letter from Lahore, and, if so, you will remember that I mentioned that I purposed visiting Kashmir. The British government, and especially Mr. George Clarke, the ambassador at the court of Lahore, were ready to make the necessary arrangements with the Maharaja, but Mr. Maddock seriously urged me to give up my cherished plan. He told me he con sidered that the state of things in that country was extremely insecure, that the government was very weak, and that if a revolution were to break out while I was in those parts my fife would be exposed to the greatest danger. Though the counsel of so judicious a friend would, of itself, have sufficed to induce me to give up my plan, I was stUl more influenced by the apprehension, that my intention might be disapproved, and it was my first duty to VOL. i. s 258 RETURN PROM LAHORE. act accordingly. The expense, besides, is so con siderable, that I feared it would far exceed my abUity, and not be compensated by the advantages. In my last letter I took leave of you at midnight, when I had. just returned from Shalimar, and had had a parting audience of leave of the Maharaja. On the foUowing morning, the 13th January, we set out on our return to Ferozpoor, in the same coaches, and attended by the same escort which had accompanied us hither. We breakfasted at LuUeeana, under a tent that had been sent before, and then, while the horses were being changed, we were again saluted at Kussore by the guns of the fortress. Our escort, commanded by Colonel Sheth Singh, kept constantly at our side ; and the appearance of some of the horse men was so highly picturesque, that I very much regret not having taken a sketch of them. My at tention was particularly attracted by a grey-bearded life-guardsman, who continuaUy kept Avatching us with his piercing eyes, and, without changing his horse, arrived at the same time Avith us on the Sutlej. Here we found boats ready to take us across, and on the opposite bank carriage and elephants were in Avaiting, to convey us to the cantonments at Feroz poor. I found the usual hospitable reception in the bungalow of my friend Captain Ewart ; we chatted away the evening hours in the company of his amiable Avife and of Captain Hay, Avho listened with much interest to my account of the remarkable court at Lahore. The following day was passed in making preparations for my journey through the protected Sikh states to Sunam, and it was arranged that the same men who had carried Mr. Maddock and Captain JOURNEY THROUGH THE SIKH STATES. 259 Somerset should convey me thither the next evening. Mr. G. Clarke had the kindness to lend us a dawk, by means of which Ave were able to overtake the Governor General at that place. The Sikh states (14,000 square miles in extent) are governed by 150 Rajahs and Sirdars, of whom those of Patialah, Keythul, Naba, and Jheend are the most considerable, and "are under the protection of the British government. With the exception of fifteen, they are Sikhs, and the conquerors of the countries belonging to them ; their subjects are chiefly Mus sulmans and Hindoos, whom they govern with great despotism. The revenue of all these petty prin- cipafities and jaghires is estimated at about fifty lacs per annum, and, it is believed, that they could muster 5000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry. Favoured by the finest weather and bright moon light, with a temperature of 56° Fahrenheit, I set out at 9 o'clock in the evening. Eight men bore my palanquin alternately, a torchbearer went by my side, and a man mounted on a camel, armed with a sabre and a gun, trotted on before. Till we reached the first station, we proceeded principaUy through jungles, and the road, which the army had taken, was but too plainly indicated by the immense number of dead camels, which were surrounded by the ravenous jackals, which had been attracted to the spots. This road is never used by palanquin traveUers ; and the bearers were whoUy unaccustomed to this kind of service, for they had been taken from the viUages, but we promised to pay them weU, on account of the insecurity of the roads, which do not enjoy the best reputation. Enghsh officers have often been attacked here, and a few days before an officer had been robbed s 2 260 JOURNEY THROUGH THE SIKH STATES. in the night of his horses, camels, and part of his effects. This induced Mr. George Clarke to appoint Suwars (riders on camels) for our protection, to whom the superintendence over the bearers was also entrusted. After passing the village of Mal wai, I accordingly found two armed riders, and, in lieu of eight bearers, eighteen. But the men, with aU their good will, found the unusual work very fatiguing, and, instead of three miles in an hour, they scarcely carried me two; when the Suwars, therefore, pro posed to me, at Mudkee, to mount one of their horses, and to let my palanquin foUow, I joyfully accepted this offer. We now proceeded by way of Bhaga-Parana, Pa- tokee, Bhadaur, Ugaikee, Hudaya, and Sangawal to Sunam. The country was more or less cultivated; the soil extremely fruitful; and I was more than once reminded of the middle ages of my own country by the many small forts which lay on the side of the road, like knights' castles. In four-and-twenty hours I had travelled a hun dred miles, and at nine in the evening came in sight of the Httle town of Sunam, surrounded with waUs, md the camp of the Governor General beyond it. Having taken no nourishment, and being much fatigued by the heavy motion of the horses, and the inconvenient saddles, I was so exhausted that I was scarcely able to reach the tent of my friend Durand, ' to beg him to procure me some refreshment. Colonel Ashburnham, who had taken care of my faithful Werner during my absence, immediately had a bed made up for me in his tent, where I soon fell into a sound sleep, from which I rose quite refreshed the following morning. ANTELOPES HUNTING WITH LEOPARDS. 261 On the 17th January we set out for the village of Deerbah. We foUowed in the rear of the troops and the camp, who covered the Avhole road of thirteen mUes in extent, and we had considerable difficulty, and Avere obliged to go a good deal about, before we could Avend our Avay amid this vast multitude. We were accompanied by some of the Sikh rajahs, one of whom had an elephant with him, which was only six months old, and which was born in a domestic state; another of the rajahs had a leopard, which had been trained to the chase of antelopes, and we ar ranged for a hunting party with it immediately after our arrival. On these occasions the leopard is hood winked as the falcons are ; as soon as the huntsman is near enough to the game, the cap is taken off from the leopard, the leader strokes his hands several times over the eyes of the animal, and turns his head towards the antelope. Scarcely does the leopard perceive it, when he immediately springs forward, but, if he does not succeed in overtaking the antelope in two or three leaps, he desists and quietly lies down. His leader again takes him up into the cart and gives him some meat and water to strengthen him. The attempt is then renewed, but, if he fails a second time, he is quite discouraged, and is unfit for the chase for some days. The antelope possesses such elasticity that it makes leaps of thirty to forty paces, and, therefore, easily escapes from the leopard, and hence it is indis pensable to get as near to the game as possible. But if the leopard succeeds in catching the antelope, he leaps upon its' back, clings to it with his paws; it falls down; he thrusts his fangs into the neck of his hapless victim, and sucks the blood, and then quietly follows his leader. s 3 262 A LEOPARD EOR THE CHASE. Row aH KO o H ANTELOPE HUNT. 263 We Avere on tAvo carts, drawn by oxen, and the leo pard with its leader was on a third. The Aveather Avas clear and cool, for we had only 69^° F. at noon. Tavo mUes from the camp we perceived a herd of antelopes, and we succeeded in getting within fifty paces of them. The leader feared that the antelopes would not stand stUl any longer, and let the leopard loose, but the ground was too much covered with thorns, and the antelopes made such tremendous leaps, that the leopard, after making two bounds, gave over and lay down. A second attempt was equaUy fruitless, and we were obliged to return unsuccessful. On the foUowing morning I joined the Governor General, who is always the first that sets out for the new camp ; he is followed by the troops and the baggage, and a gun is fired as the signal of his de parture. Accompanied by his staff and a part of his body-guard, Lord EUenborough generaUy leaves the camp an hour before sunrise (the temperature to-day was 47^°), and has torch-bearers to light him on the way tUl day-break ; he is usually joined by Hindoo Row and the Afghan chiefs. At a short distance from the new camp, there are always numerous beggars and fakirs standing along the road-side, who seek to excite the compassion of the passers by, by singing, and thumping on little drums ; an old fakir, who had made it his business to remain as a protector at the side of the king of the country, had followed Lord EUenborough from Calcutta. The road to Dathal, which is eleven miles distant, leads through a plain, but the country is fertile and richly cultivated, and the scenery is rendered very picturesque by numerous small woods, which lie s 4 264 SAGUN. — KEYTHUL. embosomed among the corn-fields. My palanquin, which contained many of my effects, pistols, and money, had not yet arrived here, and Mr. Clarke, therefore, had the goodness to send a messenger on horseback to make inquiries respecting it. I had given up aU hopes of ever recovering my property, when, to my no small surprise, the palanquin was brought to me, perfectly safe, a couple of days after wards; even some money, which was lying loose in it, had not been touched, so great is the influence of the Enghsh, and particularly the respect paid to Mr. Clarke in these protected states. On the 19th January, I rode on an elephant to Sagun, which is ten miles distant. The country is rather overgrown with low bushes, and not weU cultivated, but the road is excellent. Shortly before reaching this place, we passed through the Gagger river, which is enclosed by steep banks twenty feet high. At. this time it was scarcely two feet deep, but after heavy rains it is so much swoUen that it is impossible to cross it, and Lord Auckland was compelled to stop on the bank three days, tUl the water had subsided. On the foUowing day, on the way to the last Sikh town, Keythul (twelve miles distant), we crossed the Sursetee, an affluent of- the Gagger. It was a cool foggy morning, the temper ature was only 42^° F., and the road was generally cultivated and very fertile. Near the entrance of Keythul, the brother of the Rajah was waiting to receive the Governor General ; four smaU mortars were placed by the roadside, and he was attended by several hundred Suwars on camels and on horseback, who were all dressed in yeUow garments. The Rajah himself had been con- KEYTHUL. 265 fined for years by illness. I had gone in advance of Lord EUenborough on my elephant, and had, there fore, the opportunity of witnessing the ceremony of his reception. The gunners in their zeal mistook us for their exalted guests, and instantly dis charged their mortars, but they soon perceived their error, and stopped after firing two shots. Ac cording to the custom of the country, the Rajah sent to the Governor General, flowers, fruits, con fectionary, and provisions of aU kinds, and his Su wars remained near our camp the whole day. Keythul is one of the most beautiful localities in these states. A very pretty piece of water, resembling a lake rather than a pond, for such it is, lies in a semicircle, from south to south-east, round the base of the gentle eminence on Avhich the town is buUt. At the eastern end is a stone citadel, with two round bulwarks fifty feet in height, which project into the water. The palace of the Rajah lies on the same side, and a bridge is thrown across to the other bank, to his summer villa, which is built in the pure Italian style ; the palace and the viUa are surrounded by beautiful gardens, full of flowers, fruits, and palm trees, which stretch along the banks of the pond : and lofty tamarinds, mango, neems (Melia azedirachta) and fig- trees, bend over the water, and their graceful boughs, which were laden with blossom, were agitated by the slightest breeze, and were reflected on the smooth mirror. Under the shade of the luxuriant foliage of these trees, are walled tanks, with a gradation of steps, for the convenience of bathing. From some spots, espe ciaUy the platform of the villa, the eye comprehends at one view the magic charm which is diffused over this delicious landscape. The palace and the harem of 266 THE RAJAH OF KEYTHUL. the Rajah is on one of the bulwarks, and we observed several female figures, in white dresses, toying with flowers, but they instantly disappeared, when we directed our telescopes towards them. We rode through the town on elephants : the streets are narrow and the houses are buUt of clay and brick ; the ba zars were fuU of animation ; silks and shawls from Mooltan and Kashmir were exposed for sale in them, but the latter were of very inferior quality. As I observed before, the Rajah is extremely iU, and, he sent a message to the Governor General, begging for a physician, a proof that he thought his end was approaching. When he dies, his beautiful little country, with a revenue of five lacs, faUs to the British government, because he has no chUdren, nor relations that have any title to it. We were told that his wives look forward to this painful event with much anxiety. From the charming and richly cultivated Keythul, we came, on the 21st, to Futtehpoor (11^ miles), through a country mostly covered with thickets, for Ave saw only one viUage on the road. Futtehpoor is a large but dirty viUage, and is surrounded with ponds and fine bananas and tamarinds. Our Hindoos were bathing all day long in the dirty green sedgy water, and they even drank of it. There are, perhaps, no people more cleanly, and at the same time more dirty, than the Indians. They perform continual ablutions, always dress in neat white garments, but, the very same water in which they have bathed, frequently serves them for drinking and cooking. The road to Nisang (fifteen miles) led us on the following day through a fertile country. Towards the east avc beheld, in aU their magnificence and THE HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS. 267 beauty, the mighty masses ofthe Himalaya mountains, whose snowy summits (six peaks about 20,000 * feet high), seemed to reach the vault of heaven. The Jamnotri peak was especially distinguished. It is a place of pilgrimage for the Hindoos, from which, however, no one dares to return, because the Brahmins say, that, whoever undertakes a journey thither, is con ducted by the gods, into the paradise beyond, but if he returns he loses his caste and is looked upon as a reprobate. Of course it stands to reason that every one who undertakes the pUgrimage perishes Avith hunger and cold. An immoral and artful Hindoo, whose course of Hfe had given great offence, resolved to clear himself from reproach, and to obtain the reputation of sanctity. He took leave of his wife and chUdren, received the benediction of the Brahmins, and, was accompanied by some of them, to the height of 5000 feet, where they left him, and he proceeded alone. But he found the cold intolerable, and his friends were not a Httle surprised to see him return a few days after. Full of indignation the Brahmins asked how he had dared to return. " I had pursued my Avay," he replied, " and was preparing myself to go into the presence of God, when he appeared to me and commanded me to turn back. The more I im plored "him to aUow me to execute my purpose, the more earnestly did he command me to give it up. ' Thou hast a wife and children,' said God, ' who require thy assistance ; announce my decree to the Brahmins, and they wiU take the will for the deed.' " The Brahmins were completely foiled ; they could not * The cone is 21,178 feet high ; the Jamnotri peak, 21,155 ; the Gangotri, 22,798 ; the Budrinath, 23,441; the Moira, 22,062 ; and the Lewahir, 25,749. 268 THUNDER-STORM. answer this address, and the cunning Hindoo ob tained his object. On the 23d we encamped four miles from Karnaul; on the way thither we met a great many antelopes in the jungle : they were so tame that they were not alarmed at the unusual sight of an elephant, and even accompanied us for a long time. In the afternoon the western sky (77° Fahr.) was covered with black thunder clouds, and, while on that side, the landscape was illuminated by flashes of lightning, on the other the beams of the sun silvered the snowy mountains of the Himalaya. A slight indisposition obliged me to drive to Karnaul on the foUowing morning ; before we reached it, we were overtaken by the thunder clouds, and a tropical rain feU without interruption the whole day, by which not only we and the troops were wet through and through, but our tents, too, were so completely soaked, that we were compeUed to halt for five days. When the ground is thoroughly saturated the camels can scarcely move, and in such Aveather the Aveakest animals are often lost, for in falUng their hinder feet slip sideAvays, by which they break the sinews and cannot rise again. It is most melancholy to see these useful, patient animals perish in this manner. Our camp lay to the east of the cantonments, on a plain, near the church ; several tents, and mine among the rest, Avere so surrounded Avith rain Avater, that they stood as in an island, and we could only get to them by means of small dams. The cantonments extend in a semicircle three miles about the town ; besides the barracks they include hundreds of villas and bungalows, many constructed with much skill and taste, and all surrounded by pretty gardens or little parks. Karnaul has unfortunately ceased to be a sanatory KARNAUT.. 269 station for the English, for, within the last half year the most destructive fevers have raged among the European troops, and it was found necessary to abandon a great portion of the villas and bungalows. It is still uncertain whether this is to be attributed to the clearing of the canal, which extends from this place towards Delhi, to the Jumna ; or whether, as is the opinion of good judges, it is a transitory evil, confined to a certain locality, precisely where the barracks of the European troops are situated. The town itself is buUt for the most part of bricks, and is surrounded by an old wall ; it is confined and dirty, and contains scarcely 8000 inhabitants. The canton ments are traversed in all directions by roads planted with trees. The sky did not clear up till the evening of the 26th, tiU which time we were kept close prisoners .in our tents. We now indemnified ourselves by making excursions on every side, and by contemplating the sublime prospect of the Himalaya, whose colossal, mighty forms, had never appeared so clearly relieved by the dark blue of the sky. Lord EUenborough gave entertainments in his tent almost every day, and Hkewise a ball, which, however, from want of ladies was not very animated, and obfiged the gentlemen who loved dancing to enjoy it among themselves. On Sunday divine service was performed in the church ; hitherto we had assembled to thank and praise God in the tent of the Governor General. This was the first church with a belfry that I saw in India, and it forcibly reminded me of my own country. The puncas (hanging fans) rather interrupt one's devotions in the church, but the climate . renders them indis pensable. 270 SINGULAR FEATS OP A WOMAN. On Monday the 30th, the camp broke up to proceed to Garaunda (twelve miles). The road thither was, however, so soaked, that several waggons and camels feU, and evening approached before we had collected all our baggage. On the road from Karnaul the minarets which Akbar the Great caused to be erected, instead of milestones, from Delhi to Kashmir, at the distance of a coss (a coss is two miles) from each other, are stiU preserved. They are tapering, round, stone towers, twenty feet high, and some of them had been repaired by the inhabitants as an act of devotion. Half way to Garaunda there was a handsome, lofty arched bridge,, built by the Emperor Humaioon over the canal to Delhi ; a remarkably large cotton tree near it seems to be also of that age. Garaunda is a small place with an old caravansary, the best preserved parts of which are the large, handsome, turreted gates, on the north and south sides. Taking a walk in the evening through the camp with Mr. Maddock, we saAV a woman performing the most singular feats. She had suspended herself to a high tree, by her hair, and thus hanging in the air she executed all possible manoeuvres with her body and limbs. Though this spectacle was any thing but attractive to us, it very much delighted the crowd, who were kept in good-humour by the comical expla nations of a buffoon, who succeeded in extracting a few coppers from their pockets, by no means an easy matter with the natives, and supposes the receiver to be possessed of great powers of persuasion. On the following day we marched to Paniput (ten mUes). The country is in a high state of cultivation, and the wheat and barley were extremely fine. Paniput is a small cheerful place : it is built of" brick, PANIPUT. — THE GOVERNOR GENERAL. 271 is environed by a wall, and contains 6000 inha bitants ; the bazars are clean and spacious, and are weU supplied with goods from Delhi. On the western side there are small hills, formed by the ruins of deserted houses, mosques, and caravansaries ; indeed, throughout India, and especiaUy in the northern parts, the towns and even the villages are encompassed by such ruins. The town is in some repute among the Mahometans, inasmuch as it contains the tomb of one of their saints, Shah Ali Callandas ; and in the history of India those fields which lie towards the south have been the scenes of bloodshed and victory. Three battles have here been fought; in the last (in 1761) no less than 200,000 of the Maharatta cavalry are said to have combated here. The Governor General, accompanied by his staff, &c, went thither on elephants, attended by an old Mussulman, who acted as our guide, and gave his ex planations according to the. information which he had received from his father, who at that time was actively employed on the scene of action. Men, women, and chUdren, dressed in their holyday clothes, crowded the streets and the platforms of the houses, and very re spectfuUy saluted the great lord as he passed along ; but, in front of the tomb of Callandas, and in the marble court-yard, which is enclosed with a waU, there was so dense a throng that we had great difficulty in passing through it. The people shouted and cried for joy, and drums and pipes resounded as soon as the Governor General appeared. The saint hes in a white marble sarcophagus, with Arabic in scriptions, surrounded by a curiously carved wooden •lattice- work. As Lord EUenborough returned from 272" THE FIELD OF PANIPUT. the sepulchre, an old fakir threw himself on the ground, and stroked his feet in token of his gratitude. From the tomb we proceeded, through the bazar, and around the town to the battle-field. It is an im mense plain, admirably adapted for cavalry ; a weU overshadowed by trees is said to mark the spot where the artillery gave a decisive turn to the issue of the battle. Our guide affirmed that 100,000 men perished here ! ! For several days the temperature has been pretty equal, not below 47° F. before sunrise, at noon not above 74° F., and in the evening generally 63° F. On the first of February, Ave marched fourteen miles to Sumalka, on a fine broad road, through a cultivated country, every where sprinkled with hamlets and villages. The peasantry formed the most picturesque groups, as they stood along the road side and in the viUages, to see us pass ; in the early part of the morning, when it was still chilly, they had thrown their gay-coloured covering about the upper part of the body, or wrapped it round their head, Avhile the lower part of the body was enveloped in the usual white garments, and the feet were bare. Sumalka lies under the shade of fine umbrageous tamarinds, fig-trees, and acacias. At no great distance from Sumalka is the camp of our 120 elephants, which I am very fond of visiting, for the purpose of observing this sagacious animal. In consequence of the persecution it has suffered from man, especially by the chase and by taming him, either for the purpose of adding to the splendours of the courts, as a beast of burden, or as an instrument of war, the elephant has almost entirely disappeared from the interior of India, and is now to be found TAMING THE ELEPHANT. 273 wild only in the lower ranges of the Himalaya, namely, in the Dshemna forest, in Nepaul, in some parts of the Ghauts, in Tarrai, in the kingdom of Ava, and in Ceylon. On the Upper Indus near Attock, where Alexander the Great first chased the elephant, in the Punjab, and on the banks of the Jumna, near Kalpy, where the Emperor Baber an nually enjoyed the pleasures ofthe chase, no trace of that royal animal is now to be found. The first taming of the elephant is not recorded either in the mythology, or in the sculptured repre sentations at AUora ; Hke aU the commencements of Indian civilisation, it is assumed to be already ex isting : however, the manner of taming it, appears to have differed in different places, for, when Jumaway, the king of the Avacenses (1306 — 1330 b. a), was driven into Hindostan, he is said to have taught the Hindoos the best method of catching the elephant. Though this one-handed animal (Hastin or Karin, as it is caUed in Sanscrit from Hasta or Kara, the hand), was employed in war, in the most early times, and rendered thorough obedience, yet it was not possible to rear it in a domestic state. There have certainly been some instances, where the animals have had young -ones in a tame state, and we in fact saw an elephant ten months old which belonged to a Sikh Rajah ; but I wUl not pretend, to say whether it is feared that the animal wiU become degenerate, or whether it is thought preferable to be satisfied with those that are taken in a wUd state. It is said that the elephant in its natural state attains the age of 200 years, and, when tamed, 120 years and upwards. Those of Ceylon and of Tarrai VOL. i. t 274 TAMING THE ELEPHANT. are of the smaller races, and seldom have tusks : a very experienced elephant hunter assured me, that in Ceylon scarcely two elephants in a hundred have tusks. If they catch one of the latter, they saw off his tusks within one or two feet, and the extremity is tipped with gold or silver. The largest I have seen belonged to the Governor General, the Maharaja of Lahore, the King of Oude, and the Rajahs of Bhurt- poor and Alwar, and were scarcely eleven feet high, but they were more fively, quick, hardy, and saga cious, than the generality. Such an elephant costs 5000 rupees or more, whereas an elephant of middling size, about seven feet high, maybe had for 1000 rupees. In general the elephant can carry, five times as much as the camel, and is employed in the army, not only to carry the principal persons and the sick, but likewise to convey the large tents and carpets. The elephant might be employed for draught, with equal, if not greater advantage, for he draws, with the utmost ease, burdens which ten horses can scarcely move; hence he has lately been employed by the English with the greatest success in the artillery. On the other hand, there is some difficulty in em ploying him in passing large rivers, because he re solves upon it with so much reluctance ; it is difficult to guide him when in it, and he sinks so deep in the water, that only the extremity of his trunk, which he then holds aloft, is visible. Whenever he passes over a pontoon bridge, or over a marshy soil, or crosses the river in a boat, he tries its firmness with his trunk, and then steps carefully with one foot, to ex amine the ground that is to bear his weight. It is a sign of joy and satisfaction, when the ele phant raises his trunk perpendicularly in the air, and THE ELEPHANT AND THE TIGER. 275 his Mahout takes advantage of this, and teaches him to show this demonstration of joy and respect, by dropping on his knees at the same time, on the approach of his master or superior. The Hindoos affirm that on moonlight nights he turns towards that luminary, which probably has given rise to the notion that he worships it. The elephant is particularly useful in hunting the tiger, both to carry and to protect the sportsman. This chase is generaUy in the thick intricate jungle, where a person on foot or on horseback would scarcely make his way upon the marshy ground, among thickets and reeds, which are sixteen feet high. The months of AprU and May are the most favourable for tiger hunting, because at this season the tiger goes out more frequently in search of food, approaches the villages, plunders the flocks, and is then far more easUy cap tured. The huntsman has generaUy two tiger guns of larger cahbre than ordinary in his houdah, and his assistant takes the place of the driver Avho usuaUy sits there. Several hunters usuaUy join in the chase, and they always endeavour to manage that some of the elephants whom- they employ are experienced and accustomed to the exertion. As soon as the tiger is traced, he endeavours to slink away, but on the first shot puts himself on his defence, and, if wounded, raises a dreadful howl, and gnashes his teeth. In this moment of excitement all depends on the elephant ; if he turns his back on his enemy, all is lost ; but if he give the huntsman time to fire a second shot, by keeping the tiger at bay with his trunk, in which most elephants show great dexterity, the huntsman makes sure of his prize. As soon as the tiger is killed, the elephant expresses 276 THE ELEPHANT. his joy ; and, experienced sportsmen have assured me that, he becomes bolder and more persevering with every new victory. But should it happen that the huntsman must fly from his elephant, and leave him to maintain the combat with the tiger alone, it is difficult ever to induce him to go upon another expe dition of the same kind. As soon as the elephant is freed from his load, a stake is driven into the ground, to which he is fastened by a chain attached to one of his forelegs ; and though it would be easy for him to free himself, he never attempts it except in the rutting season. On festive occasions the Mahouts take great pains in painting his head and trunk with arabesques, in white, red, yellow, or blue. The sort of reason which he shows in his actions has caused the Indians to choose him as the symbol of the highest knowledge ; Ganesa, the god. of the arts and sciences, being represented with an elephant's head. But this animal is especiaUy honoured by the Hindoos, because they consider him - the companion of the gods, the guardian of the vesti bules of the temples, and the caryatide and ornament of their architecture. They believe, that the souls of penitent princes and brahmins are in the bodies of ele- ' phants, and a Hindoo of the lower caste may perhaps even consider him as superior to himself. According to the law of Menu a bride is to have the graceful step of a flamingo, or of a young elephant ; therefore even now the princes and princesses of the ancient Hindoo dynasties are instructed in the paces of the elephant ! The Mahouts take the greatest possible care of the animals entrusted to their charge, and it is remarkable that they are themselves extremely dull and stupid. THE ELEPHANT. 277 A Mahout will not venture to defraud an elephant of his food, and still less to starve him. His tent, in which he resides with his wife and children, is close to the elephant, so that the animal Hves as it were with the famUy. First of all the Mahout roasts, on an iron plate, the kneaded flour for the elephant, and the animal stands by, and waits very patiently tUl the chipatos or cakes laid before him are cooled, and then he receives his food from the hands of the Mahout and of the family. The elephant is passionately fond of sugar-cane and miUet. While the elephants were being fed with it to-day, one of them lost his patience because he saw his neighbour enjoying this favourite food, whUe his Mahout seemed to have forgotten him. Like a froward chUd, who stamps with his foot when his wishes are not attended to, this creature vehe mently struck the earth with his trunk, but was per fectly quiet as soon as ever he saw the Mahout bringing his food. The elephant is very fond of throwing earth and leaves on his back with his trunk, and this he is constantly amusing himself with, when he is at leisure ; but he takes greater pleasure stiU in splashing about for hours in the water. When his keeper washes him, he Hes quietly down on his knees, or on his side. Near the vUlage of Burke-Choky, where we en camped the foUowing day, we saw a Ficus indica near a weU, which spread its luxuriant dark foliage over a grave ; its descending branches had struck root, and again formed new stems. This wonderfuUy beautiful tree was more than eighty feet in circumference, and forms such a thick and extensive arbour, that several hundred persons can take shelter under it. On the road to Barota, we passed the Httle town of Sompath, 278 RUINS NEAR DELHI. which Hes on hUls eighty feet high, which are formed of the debris of decayed buildings, and we saw on every side the ruins of mosques and caravansaries, among which we could recognise the grand style and the beautiful arches of the gates and cupolas. The nearer we approached Delhi, the more numerous were the ruins ; we were especiaUy struck with the pictu resque appearance of a mosque, close by the road leading to Near-Alfipur, which was most gracefuUy interwoven and encircled with the roots and branches of a banyan tree. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. London : Printed by A. Spottiswoode, N ew ¦ Street- Square. NEW WORKS miNTED FOR LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS. RANKE'S HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. 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