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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 c~> 
 
 
 

 
 IMPERIAL INDIA.
 
 Will your Grace command me any service to the 
 world's end ? I will go on the slightest errand now 
 to the Antipodes that you can devise to send me 
 on ; I will fetch you a toothpicker now from the 
 farthest inch of Asia ; bring you the length of 
 Prester John's foot ; fetch you a hair off the Great 
 Cham's beard. 
 
 — Much Ado About Nothing.
 
 Frontispiece. 
 
 H.H. SUJJAN SING, MAHARANA OF UUDEYPOKK.
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA 
 
 AN ARTIST'S JOURNALS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY NUMEROUS SKETCHES TAKEN AT 
 
 THE COURTS OF THE PRINCIPAL CHIEFS 
 
 IN INDIA. 
 
 YAL. C. PRINSEP, A.R.A. 
 
 SECOND EDITION, REVISED. 
 
 LONDON : 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193 PICCADILLY, W 
 
 1879. 
 
 [all rights reserved..!
 
 Pi 
 
 ^ IS71 
 
 r 
 
 JNfriqaHuH* 
 
 TO 
 
 THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER, 
 
 ONE OF THOSE MEMBERS 
 OF THE 
 
 Honourable East India Company's Civil Service, 
 
 who have made our indian empire 
 
 what it is, 
 
 I DEDICATE 
 
 ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THIS BOOK. 
 
 VAL. C. PRINSEP. 
 
 3081747
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 h.h. sujjan sing, maharana of oodeyporf. . . Frontispiece 
 
 HER HIGHNESS SHAH JEHAN, BEGUM OF BHOPAI 
 
 THE GARDEN OF THE TAJ, WITH THE TAJ MAHAL IN THE DISTANCE 
 HIS HIGHNESS JAIAJI RAO, MAHARAJAH OF GWALIOR 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS THE RANA OF DHOLEPORE 
 
 TANK AT DEEG 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS RAM SING, MAHARAJAH OF JEYPORE 
 
 II. II. JESVVANT SING, MAHARAJAH OF JODHPORE .... 
 
 GUMMER NAUTCH, JODHPORE 
 
 OODEYPORE TOWN AND CASTLE 
 
 THE ISLAND OF JUGMUNDA, FROM JUGNAWAS, OODEYPORE . 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS MANGOL SING, RAJAH OF ULWAR .... 
 
 VIEW OF THE DALE LAKE, FROM THE NISHAT BAGH 
 
 BEGOO, A KASHMIREE NAUTCH GIRL 
 
 THE CHOTA MEAN SAHIB, THIRD SON OF THE MAHARAJAH OF KASHMIR 
 
 BAWAN 
 
 H.H. HIRA SING BAHADUR, RAJAH OF NABHA .... 
 
 H.H. TUKAJI RAO HOLKAR, MAHARAJAH OF INDORE 
 H.H. RAJHURAJ SING, MAHARAJAH OF REWAR OR BAGHEL KHAND 
 H.H. MIR MABOOB ALI KHAN, NIZAM OF HYDERABAD . 
 
 SIR SALAR JUNG 
 
 H.H. JUMNA BAE, MAHARANEE REGNANT OF BARODA . 
 
 TARA BAE, DAUGHTER OF HER HIGHNESS THE MAHARANEE JUMNA BAE 
 
 II. H. SIAJI RAO, GAEKWAR (OR GUICOWAR), MAHARAJAH OF BARODA 
 
 Page 
 
 45 
 54 
 65 
 79 
 84 
 io 3 
 126 
 142 
 
 149 
 170 
 
 185 
 228 
 228 
 
 234 
 236 
 252 
 282 
 288 
 310 
 
 3i3 
 322 
 
 3 2 5 
 322
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTORY ...... I 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 VOYAGE OUT — ADEN — BOMBAY TO DELHI . . 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DELHI ....... 20 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AGRA — FUTTEHPORE SIKREE . . . 50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE . . . .63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE . . . 8 1 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AJMERE — ROAD TO JODHPORE .... 104 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JODHPORE . . . . . . .Il6 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 JODHPORE TO OODEYPORE . . . -143 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OODEYPORE . . . . .150 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CHITORE — AGRA — MUTTRA, AND ULWAR . -173 
 
 vii
 
 viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 LAHORE ..... .189 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RAWAL PINDEE — MURREE. .... 200 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 KASHMIR— SREENUGGER . . . . .212 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 KASHMIR— ACCHABUL — THE LIDDAR VALLEY . . 229 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ACROSS THE PIR PUNJAL ..... 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SIMLA ....... 249 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 HOLY BENARES ...... 267 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DHAR — INDORE — SATNA ..... 277 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BOMBAY — BANGALORE — MYSORE — MADRAS . 29 1 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 HYDERABAD ...... 307 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 NOWSAREE — BOMBAY . . . . 319 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IMPRESSIONS ...... 336 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 353
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 TOWARDS the end of the month of October, 1876, I re- 
 ceived, somewhat unexpectedly, a commission to paint a 
 picture for the Indian Government, as a present to her Majesty 
 the Queen on the occasion of the assumption of the title of Em- 
 press of India. The subject was to be the Imperial Assemblage 
 of Delhi. 
 
 I had to make my arrangements at once, for I was obliged 
 to leave England early in November, so that I might be sure of 
 reaching Delhi before Christmas. 
 
 Such a commission would naturally fill the mind of an artist 
 with anxiety, not so much from the magnitude of the picture to 
 be produced as from the vast amount of necessary memoranda 
 which would have to be collected from a country artistically 
 unknown. The time required for this preliminary labour was 
 most uncertain, and the climate and its evil effects on the con- 
 stitution of a person not inured to it were much to be dreaded. 
 
 To many artists the latter consideration would have caused 
 much apprehension, but I had the advantage of belonging to 
 what is called an Indian family. India was the land of my birth, 
 and, although I left Calcutta at an early age, I was still con- 
 nected with Hindostan by many ties. 
 
 l 1
 
 2 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 My grandfather left his father's vicarage in Warwickshire for 
 the distant East more than one hundred years ago. I have still 
 by me a letter of warning to the country parson, not to send his 
 boy to India, as " Clive was the very devil." Notwithstanding 
 the diabolic character of the ruler of the country, the boy throve 
 there ; while his father, with the seven remaining children, were 
 all swept off by typhus in a few days ! 
 
 Of the next generation no less than seven were in India at 
 the same time. Of these the best known was the fifth son, James, 
 to whom was erected the ghat or landing-place where travellers 
 first put foot on Indian soil at Calcutta. It was James who first 
 started a feeling for historical research in India. 
 
 My father was the third son, and arrived in Calcutta in the 
 year 1809. Of his career of thirty-three years' service, during 
 which he occupied many important offices, rising to be Member 
 of Council in India, it is not for me, his son, to speak. Returning 
 home, he was quickly elected a Director of the East India Com- 
 pany, and at the abolition of that Direction was elected again into 
 the Indian Council, which took its place. Finally, after sixty-five 
 years' service, he retired. His honoured days were spared to 
 welcome my return from India ; but a fortnight after my arrival 
 he fell asleep in the fulness of years, leaving for us, his children, 
 and for his many friends, an example of that unselfish devotion 
 to duty and unassuming ability found in many of those who have 
 by their unrecognized labours made India what it is. One of the 
 things most remarkable in my father was his vast knowledge of 
 everything connected with the East. You might turn to him 
 as to an encyclopaedia, with the certainty of receiving every 
 information on any Indian subject. Persian, Hindostani, and 
 Arabic were familiar languages to him ; and with the literature, 
 especially that of Persia, no one was better acquainted. From my 
 earliest years I have heard tales of the East, and my boyish 
 imagination was excited by maiTy of these which my father 
 had turned into ballads. I was also not quite ignorant of 
 Indian literature, for I was intended for the Indian Civil Service, 
 and, although I gave up my appointment to take to the art of
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 3 
 
 painting before I had completed my two years' residence at 
 Haileybury, my studies for that service were of great use to me. 
 I found, too, on my arrival in the East, my contemporaries of 
 Haileybury already high up in the service, while the honour of 
 the old Indian name of Prinsep was sustained by two brothers 
 and several near relations. 
 
 When, therefore, it was settled that I was to go to India, I 
 was unexpectedly afforded an opportunity for realizing a hope 
 that I had long cherished. But I was familiar enough with 
 things Indian to be aware of the vastness of the undertaking. 
 Lord Lytton's idea (conveyed in a telegram), " that I should 
 be able to make all the necessary memoranda during the week 
 the Assemblage was to last,"' was, I knew well, a delusion. I 
 expected to have much travelling to perform, to have to track 
 the rajah to his lair, and there " fix " him. But how many rajahs 
 were to be " fixed " I did not know. I could form little idea of 
 the distances I had to travel, or of the time required to cover 
 those distances. In this my father could not help me, as in his 
 time to travel merely from Calcutta to Delhi occupied two 
 months ! I allowed, however, six months for my travels. The 
 sequel will show that I was more than double that time in India. 
 Meanwhile I determined to keep a journal, and it is this 
 journal that I now submit with all humility to the public. I 
 found the undertaking in which I had embarked was so much 
 more vast than I anticipated, that I had to deny myself any 
 deviations from the line of journey I was forced to take. The 
 reader will therefore find no thrilling adventures of the chase, and 
 but few hairbreadth 'scapes by flood and field. Where, however, 
 I have come across any information about the peoples and 
 countries in which I was sojourning, I have ventured to borrow 
 from books such tales and descriptions as I thought would inte- 
 rest the public. Especially am I indebted to Tod's " Rajasthan " 
 and Pinkerton's " Voyages." The first, like most English books 
 on India, is so bulky as to frighten the ordinary reader. It is 
 written in the redundant style of the first part of this century, 
 and contains many repetitions and much confusion. It is, how- 
 
 l — 2
 
 4 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 ever, the best authority on the history of the Rajpoots, and that 
 history furnishes almost all that is poetical in the chronicles of 
 Hindostan. In Pinkerton I found the travels of Sir T. Roe 
 (a.d. 1616) and Bcrnier (a.d. 1664), besides much information 
 from Hamilton and Buchanan. I am also much indebted to 
 Malcolm's "Central India" and Grant Duff's "History of the 
 Mahrattas," both books of high standing. 
 
 I think much of the lamentable ignorance of India found even 
 in educated circles in England comes from the forbidding aspect 
 of the old authorities on Indian matters. Why are most Indian 
 books ponderous quartos ? And who is bold enough to tackle the 
 many, and, I fear I must say it, dry volumes of Mill's " British 
 India " ? Surely some readable and at the same time authori- 
 tative writer might undertake the history of this empire, and 
 produce something that would carry a knowledge of India to 
 the homes and firesides of the mass of educated English. At 
 present Indian history, up to the time of the Mutiny, seems to 
 be the property of savants who devote themselves to those parts 
 of history which would please the " Dryasdusts " of Mr. Carlyle, 
 or philologists who content themselves with lengthy reproduc- 
 tions of the vast epics of Hindoo mythology. 
 
 In my travels I have as much as possible avoided the mention 
 of things English. Through want of time I left unvisited Cawn- 
 pore and Lucknow — those places hallowed in our recollection by 
 the sufferings and deeds of our countrymen and countrywomen. 
 I have mentioned but casually the siege operations of Delhi, 
 though the taking of that city was one of the greatest achieve- 
 ments of our army. Such scenes, and the localities where they 
 happened, have been described over and over again by worthier 
 writers. I do not set up as an historian, and only strive to repre- 
 sent in indifferent prose the picturesque things that have caught 
 my eye, both in nature and history ; and surely, in dealing with 
 the picturesque, one may fairly leave English history and manners 
 out of sight. Neither is my journal by any means complete. I 
 could have wished to pay a visit to Mandu, the ancient Moslem 
 capital of Malwa, and Oojein, a still more ancient city, both of
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 5 
 
 which places were within a few miles of towns that I visited. 
 Bejapore and Madura were not far from my line of route, while 
 to examine the Caves of Ellora Sir Salar Jung offered me every 
 facility. But to see all these places I must have turned aside, and 
 my work, doing it as quickly as I could, occupied double the time 
 I had originally assigned to it. I have, however, seen more of 
 India than almost any one man, and, moreover, seen it under the 
 most favourable circumstances, and it is with the hope of con- 
 veying some impression of what I have seen to the general 
 reader that I submit my journals to the public. 
 
 I have thought it better to preserve the familiar and somewhat 
 idiomatic language of my original manuscript, fearing to lose in 
 freshness, if I gained in style, were I to improve and polish the 
 somewhat abrupt utterances of a traveller. The narrative con- 
 tained in a journal must necessarily be somewhat personal ; and 
 though I have as much as possible avoided personal description, 
 I may unwittingly have given offence to some of my friends, 
 either native or English. If I have done so, I humbly apologize, 
 and beg to assure any that I may have offended that no offence 
 is intended. I have received so much kindness and courtesy 
 from both European and native, that my heart is full of kindly 
 feeling for all things Indian ; and although I have spoken out in 
 some matters, I cannot think that anything in this book can 
 irritate even the most thin-skinned. 
 
 Some stories of rajahs and their families I have inserted, as 
 such stories are public property and matters of history. When a 
 person is raised so much above others as is a rajah, he must ex- 
 pect the full blaze of the Eastern sun to shine upon him and his 
 doings. In publishing such tales as I found current I may be 
 doing wrong. The very fact of giving publicity to the doings of 
 the great in India is a novelty ; but to prove to a rajah that he 
 and his doings are not above public criticism will perhaps cause 
 some improvement in his goings on. If once native chiefs become 
 convinced of this, and the light of publicity can be made to 
 fall on the shades of the Zenana, a great public good will be 
 achieved. I confess I have hesitated before I decided to print
 
 6 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 some of the tales which appear in these journals, and which may 
 be thought to be in bad taste, and an evil return for kindness 
 shown ; but I plead guilty only to telling the truth, which I fear 
 has been too often suppressed. 
 
 The reader will find many sketches mentioned in the journals 
 which it has been found impossible to reproduce among the 
 illustrations. The exigencies of the publishers have necessitated 
 a selection, and this selection was somewhat a difficulty to me. I 
 brought back thirty-four sketches of natives — mostly rajahs — and 
 nearly fifty landscape studies. I have been limited to twenty-four 
 woodcuts. I have, however, made a selection of those I think 
 most interesting to the general public. 
 
 In the great question of spelling that has agitated, and still 
 agitates, the Anglo-Indian public, I have found it impossible to 
 confine myself to what has received official sanction. I am not 
 singular in my objection to the new spelling. A high official, on 
 being expostulated with for not adopting the new method, said, 
 " You may do as you please, but I cannot bring myself to spell 
 ' tub ' with an ' a.' " I could no more force myself to spell 
 Hyderabad Haidarabad, than I could pronounce Calais and 
 Paris in the proper way while speaking English. I have no 
 doubt I am wrong, and have already received a tacit reproof from 
 my good friend the publisher, who has supplied me with a map 
 wherein the names are spelt in the orthodox fashion. To enable 
 those who wish to follow my route to find the places I have men- 
 tioned in the map, I have supplied at the side a list of names with 
 the date of my arrival, all spelt correctly. 
 
 In conclusion, let me hope I may, from my descriptions, 
 excite some who do not wish merely to kill tigers and bears, to 
 stick pigs and see nautches, to follow in my footsteps. The 
 Nimrods as form the mass of the unofficial travellers of India 
 are no doubt the pioneers of civilization. They scale the rocky 
 mountains, they traverse primaeval jungle, they even penetrate 
 the heart of Africa. Heat and cold do not deter them, and 
 hardships are rather an incentive. Now, I do not wish to run 
 down sport, for a feeling for sport is a part of the being of an
 
 IN TROD UCTOR V. 7 
 
 Englishman, and has tended to develop our nation into what we 
 are. Neither am I myself without the taste for slaying, as I 
 know from the reluctance I experienced in having to refuse 
 more than one invitation to join in pleasant sporting excursions. 
 But India has many objects of more interest to the rational 
 Englishman than its tigers, bears, and pigs : while Italy, Spain, 
 Egypt, Syria, and even distant Babylon and Bagdad, have attrac- 
 tions for intelligent tourists, it seems hard that India should 
 remain unvisited. Not that I should wish our Eastern empire to 
 be overrun with Mr. Cook's scamperers, whose only object seems 
 to be to say that they have been in a place ; but I would wish 
 the natives to see some of our great nation who are not on the 
 look-out for profitable investments, or separated from ordinary 
 mortals by the brand of officialism. Such intelligent travellers 
 would do more to create a kindly feeling between natives and 
 their rulers than any Minutes of Council or Acts of the Legisla- 
 ture.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 VOYAGE OUT — ADEN — BOMBAY TO DELHI. 
 
 Aden, 29th November, 1876. 
 
 I HAD originally intended to defer the commencement of my 
 diary till my landing in Bombay, thinking that the outward 
 overland journey had been so often described from the time of 
 Albert Smith, that however vivid might be my impressions, I 
 should but re-echo what had been already written. One touch, 
 however, of the real East, and I changed my mind. Not that 
 what I have seen is very different from what I had seen de- 
 scribed. But the bustle and appearance of an Egyptian bazaar, 
 with its wonderful commingling and harmony of colour, the 
 strange fantastic figures met each moment, the very brats in 
 the streets with their sore eyes and horrid squalor, seem to impel 
 me to do something as a memorial, if only to myself, and of my 
 feelings. And as I have not time to make any studies in colour, I 
 must essay a description in writing, even though it should be the 
 veriest prose. 
 
 Of the voyage from London to Brindisi nothing need be 
 written, since even I care not to remember any of its details. 
 One long journey by rail is much like another, one coupe re- 
 sembles another outwardly at least, and the engineer, seeking 
 always level ground, contrives to make his line as little interesting 
 as possible. From Brindisi, however, things changed, for we 
 passed down the coast of Greece, and even where no land is in 
 sight the Mediterranean under a blue sky will, as the advertisers 
 say, well repay perusal. The Albanian coast was most beautiful, 
 all sorts of shades blue and purple rising from the vigorous tones 
 
 8
 
 VOYAGE OUT— ADEN— BOMBAY TO DELHI. 9 
 
 of the sea, while across the hills rolled long lines of wonderfully- 
 drawn clouds, through which, again, the peaks of the more dis- 
 tant mountains reappeared. The whole day was an artistic 
 treat, finishing with the greatest as the sun set amid the most 
 delicate rose-coloured clouds. On the 21st November there was 
 a strong head wind, and the afternoon ended in rain. The heat 
 during the night and day was fearful, as the ports had to be 
 closed. November 22nd was again beautiful. Another wonderful 
 sunset, with curious rags of purple amongst the general gold and 
 crimson, and a moonset of the quarter moon "on her back," 
 sinking like an enormous pig of orange into the sea. 
 
 My fellow-passengers were not very interesting, with the 
 exception of an English family going to Alexandria, of whom 
 the father was most intelligent and well informed, and the 
 daughter, just fresh from school, good-looking and delightfully 
 naive and pleasant ; of the other voyageurs there is not much to 
 be said : there were some of all kinds. In the matter of bores — 
 and there is always a bore — let me describe the one on board, if 
 only to get rid of my pent-up feelings, for she now sits opposite 
 to me against the golden sunset. She is exactly like that fearful 
 " Marquise " in Robertson's play of " Caste." There is a general 
 greyness that pervades her appearance — hair, eyes, everything — 
 which would suggest general negativeness, and this is made 
 intolerable by her husband being an official somewhere, which 
 causes her to give herself young-lady airs — ugh ! I shudder, but I 
 will be ill-natured no more. The others were inoffensive. There 
 was a fat man and a speckly man, and a Bohemian nobleman 
 going to Egypt for consumption, and a man who was dreadfully 
 ill, and whom my American declared to be a missionary, and we 
 believed it so firmly that at last our parson (did I say we had a 
 parson ? — where is there not one ?) went up to greet his fellow- 
 clergyman. 
 
 " Sir," said the other, indignantly, " I am not a clergyman ; I 
 am a lawyer." 
 
 Then there is my friend and fellow-traveller, an American of 
 youthful appearance but consummate self-possession, with a
 
 *° IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 "smile childlike and bland," but with the shrewdness of his nation. 
 Then let me not forget myself: stout, large, and, I am happy to 
 say, in rude health. The cabin does not suit my height, which is 
 considerably beyond six feet, and the narrowness of the sleeping- 
 berths makes it difficult to perch thereon my vast bulk. I fancy 
 when I am in bed I must look like a large volume on a narrow 
 shelf, part of it being outside ; but nevertheless here I am, like 
 Mark Tapley, very jolly. 
 
 We sighted Alexandria by midday on Thursday the 23rd, and 
 as the train did not start till 7 p.m. we had time for a run on shore, 
 and here I got my first impression of the East. Every one says 
 Alexandria is not to be compared to Cairo. I do not know, as 
 I have not seen Cairo ; but all I can say is that to one arriving 
 from Europe, even Alexandria seems wonderful. The weather was 
 fine, of course, and the bazaars were crowded : the noise of strange 
 oaths, the very smells were fascinating and original. Two fellows 
 by the custom house amused me much ; they were disputing and 
 quarrelling. First they rowed each other, both speaking at once, 
 then each turned to a bystander and told his case, which was 
 listened to gravely ; then back they went at each other, with a 
 vehemence which in England would have ended in blows, but 
 here means nothing. Sometimes they would walk apart a little 
 way, then come together with a rush; and so wrangling and argu- 
 ing we left them. The train started at 7 p.m., and arrived at Suez 
 at 4 a.m. We seem to bring English weather with us, for we 
 found a thick cold fog at Suez, so thick that we were told the 
 Siam, our ship, could not possibly get out of the Canal, and that 
 we should have to wait. I did not grudge the delay, for all 
 around was most interesting. The Arabs had their heads wrapped 
 up with white draperies, swathed in most wonderful folds. They 
 did not seem to feel the cold as we Europeans did. The porter 
 at the hotel, " a fine buck nigger," as my Yankee called him, told 
 me his ears were cold, while on his body he had nothing but the 
 thinnest cotton garment. We had on thick great-coats. Presently 
 the fog cleared off ; then what an enchanting view ! All around 
 rose strawberry-cream-coloured hills divinely drawn, while in the
 
 VOYAGE OUT— ADEN— BOMBAY TO DELHI. II 
 
 foreground was a collection of all the tribes of Afric: tall Nubians 
 in long white robes, looking like splendid statues with their faces 
 newly blacked ; donkey -boys, brilliant, shrieking, jabbering, and 
 offensive both to ear and nose ; Bedouins, silent and filthy, but 
 most picturesque ; every sort of Egyptian official and donkey. 
 I had a ride on one of these quadrupeds, and I regret to say he 
 gave way beneath my weight. Happily it was only my dignity 
 that suffered, but to find the donkey gradually sinking head- 
 foremost, amid the jeers of my fellow-travellers, was embarrass- 
 ing. And so the day passed, and at last the good ship Siam 
 was seen in the distance coming through the Canal. After many 
 tiresome delays, all the more tiresome from the fact that they 
 could have been avoided, we finally embarked, in the midst of a 
 glorious sunset — great bars of dark clouds, golden sky, and purple 
 hills. Such things I have seen before in England, but never so 
 vivid and so powerful as here in Suez. I have always heard this 
 place described as a hole, but so far as I saw, it is one of the 
 most picturesque places I ever was in. 
 
 The voyage down the Gulf of Suez was indescribably lovely ; 
 on either side stretched the same wonderfully coloured hills we 
 saw at Suez, fading into a sky of warm blue, but so faint and 
 delicate in colour that the one seemed to melt into the other, the 
 tops only being faintly and beautifully drawn by delicious lilac 
 shadows. Indeed, when you half shut your eyes, the whole 
 seemed of the same tone, with here and there a stronger spot. 
 The Arabian hills were most fantastic in their forms, being cut 
 and scarred all over, with lines of sand right up the sides. The 
 Egyptian mountains were more in peaks. 
 
 You will no doubt think me too general in my admiration. No 
 doubt everything I have seen I have admired : there is, however 
 a reverse to the medal. One's cabin, with port closed and the 
 thermometer at I io°, is simply awful. We have been experiencing 
 the delight of a strong head wind, which has delayed us some- 
 what ; but Perim is passed, and Aden will be reached to-night, 
 and then I shall ship home this scrawl, which has been written 
 under considerable difficulties on deck and in the said wind. I
 
 12 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 cannot stand the cabin, and would rather my writing should 
 suffer, than that I should be put to the discomfort of writing in 
 Purgatory, or worse. 
 
 The lower part of the Red Sea is not to be compared to the 
 upper part. I am getting out my paint-box to have a try at 
 Aden, if we only arrive in time. 
 
 It was rather droll at first to see how the Southampton pas- 
 sengers, who were of course quite at home on board when we 
 arrived, kept aloof from the Brindisi passengers, and what little 
 jealousies have sprung up about chairs and places at table. We 
 are, however, now on speaking terms, and getting sociable. 
 
 There are of course quantities of children on board. The hot 
 Aveather makes them very cross, and sleeping on deck and other 
 discomforts try the tempers even of the ladies. Nevertheless we 
 have got on very well, though my Yankee says it is very different 
 from the ocean steamers, where " tears round " seem to be the 
 order of the day. " This," said he, " is the slowest place on God's 
 footstool ! " The Red Sea produces a kind of languor, which 
 prevents much fun, and also easily reconciles one to idleness 
 generally. I have done absolutely nothing but loaf. Let us 
 hope I have been laying in ideas ! 
 
 Bombay, \oth December, 1876. 
 
 Aden, which has the reputation of being the most detestable of 
 holes, is quite delightful by moonlight, as I saw it. Nevertheless, 
 there is a smell of hot dusty heat which would lead one to suppose 
 that, on further acquaintance, it would not belie its reputation. On 
 arrival the ship was surrounded by crowds of native boats, manned 
 by creatures who looked like the supers in a pantomime. They had 
 long white rags hanging from nowhere in particular, long frizzled 
 hair, and black forms. Their hair was dyed all kinds of colours, 
 and the movements of their attenuated limbs were so weird and 
 uncanny that one rather felt as though one had entered a kind of 
 Pandemonium, to which indeed the Red Sea forms a fitting 
 channel. It being night, nothing much of Aden was to be seen. 
 I did not go to the celebrated tanks or see the lions generally,
 
 J WAGE OUT— ADEN— BOMB A V TO DELHI. 1 3 
 
 thinking I would wait till daylight and my next visit to do them 
 justice. Before daybreak we cleared out, and by the time I got 
 to deck, half-past six, Aden was in the blue distance. 
 
 Our week across the Indian Ocean was a great success. The 
 weather was simply perfect, only slightly too warm. We reclined 
 on the deck, and " do-nothingism " was the order of the day. 
 There was much spooning among the passengers from South- 
 ampton, so that there was many an aching heart by the time we 
 reached Bombay. One of the officers (No. 5) said he had never 
 felt so before, and, poor boy ! sought his consolation in brandy 
 and water. As usual I was the general confidant, and to keep 
 up my character for discretion I will write no more. We reached 
 Bombay on Wednesday, 5 th December. 
 
 Anybody who has made a journey will remember with a shudder 
 the rush of strange forms, faces, and figures in a strange land ; 
 the jabber of unknown tongues, the banging of boxes, the good 
 byes to fellow-travellers, &c, &c. But of all noisy places commend 
 me to Bombay. There are two bunders or landing-places some 
 four miles apart by land, both equally noisy and objectionable. 
 
 The only thing that relieved the monotony of this Babel was the 
 shooting by accident of one of the passengers — the man we called 
 the missionary, whom I think I mentioned before. The poor 
 fellow cannot have a very brilliant souvenir of Bombay. He is 
 an Australian, and last year travelled with his wife and two 
 daughters through India. On arriving in Bombay they all felt 
 unwell, sent for the doctor, and were told they had the small- 
 pox. One of the girls died, and the two old people were fright- 
 fully marked, the lady losing one of her eyes. Well, they come 
 back to Bombay to put up a tombstone to their dead daughter, 
 and, at the very first moment of arrival, the man gets shot through 
 the calf by the awkwardness of a custom-house officer. Truly, 
 some people are not so lucky as others ! 
 
 My friend Melvill sent to meet me, and after much squabbling 
 and row, his peons got me and my luggage through the custom 
 house. What a sight the bazaars of Bombay present to the 
 artistic eye ! All sorts of Indian forms, from black to white ;
 
 14 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 all sorts of dresses, from nothing at all to tinsel and kincaub ; 
 colours of the most entrancing originality, and forms of the 
 wildest beauty. Every day since my arrival have I been wander- 
 ing through these streets, and yet I feel quite dazed and have 
 done absolutely nothing. The infinite variety and " rummyness " 
 of the whole thing quite unhinges one. I trust, however, to come 
 round before long. 
 
 The hospitality of an Indian bungalow is proverbial. This house 
 of Melvill's is one of the best in Bombay. It faces the sea, and 
 has the usual verandah, open to all the winds that blow, only 
 about double the depth of the ordinary verandah. Here we all 
 sit and live, only feeding within doors. There are five other people 
 besides myself stopping in the house, and it is pleasant enough. 
 Life here, however, is much too like the country-house life of 
 England ; it is very pleasant, but not conducive to work, and so 
 I have made up my mind to rough it in the travellers' bunga- 
 low for the future. I had rather be a traveller in the bungalow 
 of the friendless than live in the house of the civilian. The fact is 
 that people are so intensely polite and hospitable, that you never 
 have a chance of seeing the Indian at home. And to see him 
 I have come, so I must give up comfort and prawn curries, and 
 travel with a rezai and pillow. This morning, Sunday, I have 
 been out to see Walkeshwar, where there is an old temple with 
 a tank, of which I hope to make a sketch before I leave. We 
 passed also the Governor's house at Malabar Point, and saw in 
 the distance the Towers of Silence. Here the dead Parsees are 
 taken by their weeping relations. At the door of the tower the 
 priests receive the body, and it is placed on a grating over a large 
 pit in the tower, which is open to the sky. The head priest then 
 gives a cut with a kind of hook at the clothes, shuts the iron door 
 with a bang, and in two hours the bones are picked clean by the 
 vultures. No one but the priest is allowed in the tower, and 
 strangers are not permitted to approach. I confess the whole 
 thing fascinates me much, and I should when dead like to be so 
 picked myself, feeling that I should at least be doing some 
 creature some erood after death.
 
 VOYAGE OUT- ADEN -BOMBAY TO DELHI. I 3 
 
 A very enjoyable life this of loafing. To-day is Sunday; crows 
 caw and pick about. A pedlar is exposing his goods. A general 
 drowsy feeling is coming on me, for it is hot. I kick the pedlar 
 out, resign myself to my fate, and sleep to dream of home. 
 
 On Tuesday, 12th December, I first opened my paint-box. I 
 started at half-past six to Walkeshwar to make a study of the 
 sacred tank. 
 
 Among the things that most strike a stranger in this warm 
 climate are the glorious sunrises. Perhaps this comes from the 
 fact of our rarely seeing the sun rise in England, partly through 
 laziness, and partly from the sun so seldom having fair play in 
 our damp climate. Here one is always up at sunrise, and each 
 morning Aurora appears flushed and ruddy, preparing the way 
 for the Sun God. Alas ! she hurries too quickly by, and then 
 comes the red and angry sun. Up he starts, impatient to assert 
 his supremacy over all. No tenderness here. The gold of the 
 heavenly alchemist is alloyed with copper. But there it is each 
 morning, and surely the blessings and thanks of the artist are 
 due to old Phcebus for a constancy unknown in our country. 
 Such a sunrise awaited me at Walkeshwar, a most picturesque 
 place, and one to which more time ought to have been given. 
 
 A piittezvallah, or "belt-bearer," of the High Court, lent by 
 Melvill, took my things down to the steps, and was of great use 
 to keep off the crowd of young Brahmins ; but I had no sooner 
 begun than the local policeman, with many salaams, intimated 
 to me that I must not stop there, and a learned Brahmin, more 
 or less nude, who happily spoke English, told me that Christians 
 were not allowed near the water. " Religious prejudice," said 
 he. It was a case of " friend, go up higher," and I had to go. 
 Imagine steps cut down to the tank, with temples all round. On 
 the brink of the water, which is bright green, are crowds of 
 devotees: some are shouting what I conjecture to be their morn- 
 ing prayers, some are washing their clothes, some their black 
 persons, others are taking a swim. A pleasant hum of voices, 
 a wonderful mingling of form and colour, and the sun striking 
 obliquely across, making long shadows. Surely a place for an
 
 1 6 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 artist to linger. But, no ; I must be back to Jiazree (breakfast) 
 to bid adieu to my kind hosts; so I have only time to make a 
 hasty dab, and leave just as it is becoming hot. 
 
 Bombay people are rather proud of their climate. During the 
 four days I was there it was delightfully warm ; yet this is the cold 
 weather. I shall probably have further experience of Bombay 
 and its climate, as I must pass through it in going from Hindostan 
 to the Deccan. The first term is properly applied to the broad 
 part of the leg-of-mutton-shaped peninsula we call India, while 
 the Deccan is the narrowing scrag, comprising Hyderabad and 
 the neighbouring states. 
 
 Bombay is, as everybody knows, the first foothold we acquired 
 in India, and formed part of the marriage portion Charles II. 
 received with Catherine of Braganza. Hamilton, who lived and 
 travelled in these seas, A.D. 1688 to 1723, thus gives a description 
 of the taking possession: "After the marriage, King Charles 
 sent my Lord Malberry with four or five ships to take possession 
 of it (Bombay) ; and the King of Portugal sent a Viceroy to 
 deliver it and all its royalties to the said lord, and Sir Abraham 
 Shipman was ordered to be Governor for King Charles. They 
 arrived at Bombay, 1663 ; but the Church withstood the Crown, 
 nor would they acknowledge the Viceroy unless he would come 
 into their measures, which, rather than lose his new dignity, he 
 did, and in January, 1664, my lord went back to England, carry- 
 ing two ships with him, and left Sir Abraham with the rest to 
 pass the westerly monsoon in some port on the coast ; but being 
 unacquainted, chose a desolate island called Aujadiva to winter 
 at. The island is barren, but has some springs of good water. 
 Here they stayed from April to October, in which time they 
 buried above two hundred of their men ! * 
 
 " When the monsoons were over the squadron put to sea, and 
 put into Bombay to try if the Church had considered on the 
 obedience due to the King of Portugal's orders. ... At length 
 
 * The occupation of Cyprus rather recalls this waste of life. As history 
 repeats itself, may the occupation of Cyprus lead to as great results as that 
 of Bombay !
 
 VOYAGE OUT— ADEN— BOMBAY TO DELHI. 17 
 
 their holy zeal abated, and they were content to admit of a treaty. 
 But before the treaty was concluded Sir Abraham died, and one 
 Mr. Humphrey Cook, who was next in commission, continued 
 the treaty, and articled that the inhabitants should enjoy their 
 lands and religion under the King of England, but forgot to 
 insert the royalties appending on Bombay, which reached as far 
 as Vessera, in Salset, which omission has been a bone of conten- 
 tion to both parties ever since." 
 
 To this Mr. Humphrey Cook Bombay owes its fort, which now 
 is not much used for military purposes, but contains all the large 
 warehouses and shops of the city. ' 
 
 Our luck in India has been wonderful. We began with blunders 
 and bad management enough ! Here in Bombay there was a 
 certain Sir John Child, who was as great a tyrant as Aurungzebe 
 himself. He was succeeded by a certain Mr. Vaux, who had 
 originally been sent out as supercargo of a vessel by Sir Josiah 
 Child. On his finally being appointed a Judge, he wrote to Sir 
 Josiah, who I suppose was omnipotent in the East Indian Com- 
 pany, to say " that he would acquit himself with all the integrity 
 and justice he was capable of, and that the laws of his country 
 should be the rule he designed to walk by." In answer, Sir Josiah 
 " wrote roundly to Mr. Vaux that he expected his orders were to 
 be his rules, and not the laws of England, which were a heap of 
 nonsense compiled by a few ignorant country gentlemen that 
 hardly knew how to make laws for the good government of their 
 own private families, much less for the regulating of companies 
 and foreign commerce ! " 
 
 Thus was justice administered at first, when bribery and cor- 
 ruption, extortion and tyranny were common enough. Sickness 
 and disease were rife. " Of seven or eight hundred English that 
 inhabited Bombay before the war, there were not sixty left by 
 the sword and plague ; and Bombay, that was one of the plea- 
 santest places in India, was brought to be one of the most dismal 
 deserts." Yet fate and the genius of one or two men like Clive 
 have overcome all obstacles, and from the time when Lord 
 Malberry was refused Bombay, we have steadily advanced till 
 
 2
 
 1 8 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 our empire exceeds by a great deal that of Aurungzebe, who 
 wrote to Sir John Child: "At the arrival of my phirmaund 
 (firman), receive it with great respect, acknowledging the great 
 glory you have in receiving the same." 
 
 The train started at nightfall, so we missed seeing the famous 
 ghats. We were quickly made aware by the change of temperature 
 that we were rising to a higher level ; a couple of hours in the rail 
 brings you to the cold, and we were glad of rczais, rugs, and coats 
 the very first night out of Bombay. We intended stopping at 
 Jubbulpore (twenty-eight hours from starting), but once in the 
 train I determined to push on for Delhi. It was a happy idea, I 
 found afterwards. The country crossed, with the exception of an 
 hour or two while the train is passing the Nagpore Hills, is flat in 
 the extreme ; and all the way from Khundwa to Delhi it is most 
 of it like a billiard-table. I like the long plain, seemingly with- 
 out limit, studded with mud-walled villages and tufts of trees. 
 Here and there we passed herds of cattle and buffaloes, and many 
 times we flushed troops of antelopes, which went bounding through 
 the country. Blue jays, storks, and cranes we saw in abundance, 
 and flights of green paroquets, and even monkeys. On we steam 
 past Jubbulpore to Allahabad, where we arrive four hours late, 
 at 9 on Thursday, the 14th December, and where, by a stupid 
 arrangement of trains, we are forced to wait twelve hours. I did 
 not regret it. What I saw of Allahabad was most picturesque, 
 and yet I only saw a part of the bazaar, as I drove down to 
 the sacred Jumna, first of the Indian rivers I had seen. The 
 shops are small and low, and arched over with Moorish arches, 
 with many ornaments done in plaster, of most artistic design. 
 Allahabad must be seen again, I inwardly determine. At 9 p.m. 
 Thursday we continue our journey, and arrive at Delhi, four 
 hours late again, at 7.30 p.m. Friday. At the station, Allahabad, 
 we have our first taste of the Indian rajah. While we are wait- 
 ing for the train, suddenly hoarse cries echo through the station, 
 torches gleam and redden, chowrics flash, and behold the Maha- 
 rajah of Rcwah! A stout, burly man is Rewah, painted bright 
 red, for all the ruling family are afflicted with a skin disease.
 
 VOYAGE OUT— ADEN— BOMBAY TO DELHI. 1 9 
 
 I To is carried aloft on the shoulders of his bearers, in a silver 
 throne with wonderful green velvet lining and cushions. As he 
 moves along, he sucks the mouthpiece of a hookah carried by an 
 attendant, while other servants brush away imaginary flies with 
 silver-headed chowrics. Before him arc certain loud-voiced re- 
 tainers, who shout his titles; around are a ragged lot of nobles 
 (I suppose), armed with every sort of weapon used in war or chase. 
 One man proudly shoulders an enormous elephant-gun ; some 
 have spears, most tulwars with silver hilts. Rewah has come to 
 meet Holkar at the railway. Our train is shunted, for the Maha- 
 rajah is due. Presently Holkar arrives, and the place is filled with 
 swarms of the oddest-looking fellows imaginable. Holkar then 
 appears, led by the hand of some official. He is in white, with a 
 white turban, and a magnificent string of emeralds is his only 
 ornament. Rewah, on the contrary, is all gold and green, and 
 has his red face tied up in a kind of gold pocket-handkerchief, 
 to keep his whiskers up, for they should bristle upwards like a 
 tiger's. The rajahs meet and embrace, and probably say that 
 each is dearer to the other than his stomach, which is the dearest 
 portion of a native's body. Each is then borne off to his own 
 camp, and gradually, amid yells and flashing torches, the crowd 
 also scatters. Palanquins come for the women, orange stuffs are 
 spread from the railway-carriages to the palkis (some of which are ' 
 of silver), and, unseen by the eye of man, the ladies slip in and 
 are carried after their lords and masters. Off we go ourselves 
 at last, across plain and river, till in the evening we reach Delhi.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 I HAD telegraphed from Allahabad to Colonel Davies, the 
 Commissioner of Delhi, to whom I was to report myself, to 
 ask what I was to do on arrival ; and he most kindly sent a 
 cJiuprassee (which is the north-country word for puttewallah, 
 mentioned before) to the railway, with a letter asking me to come 
 to stay with him. So here I am at Ludlow Castle, Delhi ! 
 
 The Colonel and his wife are charming hosts. Everything here 
 is the camp and of the camp : I have seen and heard of nothing 
 else. It is situated beyond the celebrated ridge held by our 
 troops during the siege, and even yet in the midst of the camp 
 are the ruins of bungalows destroyed by the war, asserting our 
 empire more surely than all the preparations for the proclama- 
 tion. 
 
 Far away on the plain are the encampments of the different 
 rajahs. Never has there been such a gathering before. Mrs. 
 Davies kindly drove me through the camp on the morning of 
 Saturday, and in the afternoon I went up on my own account. 
 This morning I have been up again, and went on to the place of 
 assembly. Oh, horror ! what have I to paint ? A kind of thing 
 that outdoes the Crystal Palace in "hideosity." It has been 
 designed by an engineer, and is all iron, gold, red, blue, and 
 white. The dais for the chiefs is 200 yards across, and the Vice- 
 roy's dais is right in the middle, and is a kind of scarlet temple 
 80 feet high. Never was there such Brummagem ornament, 
 or more atrocious taste. Everything is designed by the Royal 
 
 20
 
 DELHI. 2 1 
 
 Engineers, and you may fancy what they have done. In another 
 hundred years, unless we can arrest their hands, there will not 
 be a good thing in India. They have nothing to do but to employ 
 themselves on Government works, and having no artistic training 
 nor an atom of taste, they spoil everything. But of this more 
 anon in my report on the Art of India. 
 
 I shall move up to camp to-morrow, and have had a tent 
 pitched next to my brother's. He is Deputy-Assistant-Quarter- 
 master-General, and has a certain number of rajahs to look after. 
 I am to have a shamidna to paint in, and shall be as comfortable 
 as possible, no doubt. 
 
 The Camp, Delhi. 
 
 I moved up from the Commissioner's on Monday, and here 
 I am, getting quite comfortable. I am in a private camp of my 
 brother's, a little off the road, which is fortunate, for the dust is 
 awful, and the soil absorbs moisture so fast that watering is of 
 hardly any use. In some camps they lay down rushes to keep 
 the dust down. It is not sand, but red clay, and penetrates 
 everywhere. The camp itself is a surprising piece of tent-pitch- 
 ing. Tents of all kinds, from the noble tents of the Viceroy 
 and other swells, with broad sJiamianas, or canvas houses with 
 flat roofs held up by poles like the columns of a temple, to 
 every kind of lean-to, inhabited by mahouts and servants. You 
 hear the natives all night long coughing, and their teeth rattling 
 with cold. Poor devils ! The frost lies on the ground every 
 morning. Even I in a double tent have to muster up all my 
 courage to get out of bed at 6 a.m. " The owl (or kite), for all 
 his feathers, is a-cold." The cold does not last, however, and at 
 nine it is quite hot. 
 
 Everything is wonderfully fascinating for an artist here. Irre- 
 gular troopers with wonderful pugrees, fellows on camels with 
 bright trappings, elephants, vultures, coolies, — all sorts of wild 
 odd-looking beasts. Strange noises too : guns, bands, shrieks, 
 cries, yells, — everything to excite the imagination, and this, too, 
 morning, noon, and night. There is a camp of elephants near
 
 22 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 us, and these enormous beasts are continually giving forth the 
 most ridiculous squeaks. It is odd that so majestic a quadruped 
 should be so ridiculous at times. I have been out drawing them 
 and the operation is worse than painting a child, as, notwith- 
 standing their bulk, they are never for a moment quiet. 
 
 To-day we are to have a rehearsal of the viceregal processions 
 and elephants "galore." 
 
 Of Delhi itself I have now seen something. The Jumma Mus- 
 jid, or Mohammedan cathedral, has frequently been described; 
 but no one in writing can convey the impressions it produces on 
 the artistic mind. I say this advisedly, for the Anglo-Indian 
 goes by general report, and never troubles himself with artistic 
 impressions, nor does he see the beauties close under his Anglo- 
 Indian nose, I am sore on the subject, and naturally so. Here 
 these people could have chosen the front of the Jumma Musjid, 
 about forty steps rising to a magnificent plateau, which over- 
 looks a wide maiddn or plain, backed by the ancient fort con- 
 taining the palace of the old Mogul Emperors. From this position 
 the Viceroy could indeed declare the commencement of the new 
 " Raj " ! But the Anglo-Indian has chosen a bare plain, and 
 builds his Brummagen dais with no surroundings or any historical 
 associations. Well, perhaps it is a type of the new Raj — this dais 
 — cold, new, flaunting, and bare, without a rag of sentiment or 
 beauty ; but let us hope the Raj will prove stronger than that 
 abominable erection, which nearly fell down the other day. But 
 to return to the Musjid. Ascending by broad steps — of which 
 there are three flights, one in front and one on each side — one 
 climbs to the inside courtyard, rising high above bazaar and 
 crowd, and open to the blue heaven above, as though lifted from 
 the earth and things earthly. The architecture is not so fine, or 
 rather, not of so fine a period, as (I am told) the Taj.* Yet the 
 dirty red is just the colour to relieve against the sky, and the 
 warm white of the marbles let in gives wonderful variety. I did 
 not go into the mosque proper, which occupies one side of the 
 
 * Having seen the Taj, I venture to differ from the general opinion in this 
 matter.
 
 DELHI. 23 
 
 square, for people were praying. I saw it was only a shallow 
 building, while the square is 150 yards across. The mosque 
 proper is open to the air, of course, and the altar is a wonderful 
 kind of mother-of-pearl colour. It is only alabaster, but this 
 effect is produced by the friction of human bodies and the fall 
 of the light. The people standing in rows before this were some- 
 thing to see. 
 
 I feel in writing home that my continual gush will perhaps 
 bore. I write, however, my own impressions as an artist, and I 
 wish rather to dwell on these things than to mention the horrors 
 my countrymen have stuck up. Everything fine that I have seen 
 has been so " rummy " and bizarre, and unlike anything else, — a 
 continual surprise, in fact. Yet all this sense of beauty is to be 
 found in this people even now ; and we have left it unacknow- 
 ledged, to almost die out. I know it exists, for the other day in a 
 poky little lane out of the Cliandnee Choke, or principal street, 
 attracted by a fine door, I looked into an Indian house, and 
 beheld a kind of small taj, all white marble, worked and carved 
 into all kinds of traceries, and really fine; yet this has been done 
 within the last forty years. 
 
 From the Jumma Musjid was preached the holy war against 
 the English ; and the sanctity of the mosque was so great, that 
 after the Mutiny many were for entirely destroying it, as a 
 warning. Happily Lord Lawrence was wise enough not to give 
 way to the clamour of the many, and the advice of some high up 
 in the service. The mosque was, however, used as a storehouse 
 for years ; and even now, though we have restored it to the 
 Mohammedans, the great bronze central gate is never allowed 
 to be opened, except by permission. The fort and all its beauties 
 I must leave till next post. 
 
 20th December. 
 
 I left off without giving an account of the fort here. Seen 
 
 from the Jumma Musjid, it presents a long red line of building, 
 
 relieved at intervals by small cupolas ; you sec two gates also 
 
 "bccupola'd," and, in addition, a small row of tiny cupolas im-
 
 24 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 mediately above the gate proper. The red is not the red of 
 brick, but a kind of hard red sandstone almost like marble, and a 
 particularly happy colour. Through one of these gates we drove 
 along a covered road of some length, where were formerly the 
 bazaars of the palace, for the Moguls had not only all kinds 
 of shops here, but every kind of workmen and of every trade, 
 employed in large halls, each trade in one, according to Bernier, 
 viz. : " Embroiderers, goldsmiths, picture drawers, workmen in 
 lacca, joiners, tailors, shoemakers, workmen in silk and purpled 
 gold, and in all kinds of those cloths of which they make 
 turbans, girdles with golden flowers, and those drawers for ladies 
 that are so fine and delicate as that sometimes they last but one 
 night, though they cost them ten or twelve crowns." 
 
 Of all this nought remains, and the traveller only finds a kind 
 of howling desert of barracks, hideous, British, and pretentious. 
 Suddenly we come to a row of marble buildings containing the 
 Dewan - i - Khas, the bath, and the Mooti, or Pearl, Musjid. 
 The Dewan-i-Khas is the most beautiful building I have yet 
 seen. All the inside, ceiling and all, is covered with a beautiful 
 raised pattern, seemingly lacquered over gold ; the lower panels 
 are inlaid with wonderful semi-geometric renderings of flowers, 
 mostly lilies and pinks. Tlie bath at the left side looking 
 towards the river is also inlaid, while on the right is a small suite 
 of rooms quite covered with patterns painted. There are a few 
 restorations in awful colours, made for the ball given here to the 
 Prince of Wales, and, alas ! many mutilations. The hand of 
 time, however, has passed lightly over this beautiful work, and 
 left it a perfect delight to the eye. The back of the building 
 looks over what was once the bed of the river Jumna, and is 
 still so when the rains are on. It must indeed be delicious on a 
 hot day to sit in these rooms rising from the mighty river, with 
 the noise of water to soothe one's dreams. 
 
 The Mooti Musjid forms part of these buildings, and is, as its 
 name indicates, a small mosque of white marble, chaste and 
 rather cold in style after the magnificence of the Dewan-i-Khas. 
 In this Dewan-i-Khas the Mogul held his evening assemblies
 
 DELHI. 25 
 
 which sometimes ended in an orgie. There, however, much 
 business was transacted. 
 
 The Dewan-i-Am, which was the place of public audience, 
 formed originally a part of a large square, which has now been 
 demolished, and only the dewan left. This is a stately portico, 
 in the centre of which there is a raised kind of balcony, on which 
 was placed the " peacock " throne, where, according to Bernier, 
 " the King appears seated, having his sons by his side, and some 
 eunuchs standing, some of which drive away flies with peacocks' 
 tails ; others fan him with great fans, others standing there ready 
 with great respect and humility for several services. Thence he 
 seeth beneath him all the omrahs, rajahs, and ambassadors, who 
 are also all of them standing upon a raised ground, encompassed 
 with silver rails, with their eyes downwards and their hands 
 crossing their stomachs. Somewhat farther off he seeth the man- 
 subdars or lesser omrahs, which' are also standing in the same 
 posture and respect as the omrahs do ; and farther off in the re- 
 maining part of the hall, and in the court, he seeth a great crowd 
 of all sorts of people, for there it is where the King every day 
 about noon giveth a general audience to all, which is the reason 
 this great hall is called Am Khas, — that is, place of audience." 
 
 Here is a description of "the King" on his throne, that will form 
 a contrast to the ceremony I am going to paint. " His vest was 
 of white ' sattin,' flowered, and raised with very fine embroidery 
 of silk and gold. His turban was of gold, having a fowl wrought 
 upon it like an heron, whose foot was covered with diamonds of 
 extraordinary bigness and price, with a great ornamental topaz, 
 which may be said to be matchless, shining like a little sun. A 
 collar of big pearls hung about his neck down to his stomach, 
 after the manner some heathens wear here their large beads. 
 His throne was supported by six high pillars or feet, said to be of 
 massy gold, and set with rubies, diamonds, and emeralds. I am 
 not able to tell you aright neither the number nor the price of 
 this heap of precious stones, because it is not permitted to come 
 near enough to count them and to judge of their water and 
 purity. Only this I can say, that the big diamonds are there in
 
 26 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 confusion, and that the throne is estimated to be worth four kou- 
 rours (crores) of rupees (equal to ^4,000,000), if I remember well. 
 Shah Jehan, the father of Aurung-zebe, is said to have caused it 
 to be made to show so many precious stones as successively had 
 been amassed in the treasury of the spoils of those ancient patans 
 and rajahs, and of the presents which the omrahs are obliged to 
 make yearly on certain festivals. The art and workmanship of 
 this throne are not equal to the matter ; that which I find upon 
 it best devised are two peacocks covered with precious stones and 
 pearls, which are the work of a Frenchman that was an admi- 
 rable workman, and after having circumvented many princes with 
 his doublets, which he knew how to make admirably well, fled 
 into this Court, where he made his fortune. 
 
 "Beneath this throne there appeared all the omrahs in splendid 
 apparel upon a raised ground covered with a great canopy of 
 purfled gold, with great golden fringes. The pillars of the hall 
 were hung with tapestries of purfled gold, having the ground of 
 gold, and for the roof of the hall there was nothing but great 
 canopies of flowered sattin, fastened with red silken cords that had 
 big tufts of silk mixed with threads of gold hanging on them. 
 Below there was nothing to be seen but great silken tapestries, 
 very rich, of an extraordinary length and breadth. In the court 
 was set a certain tent they call the aspck, as long and as large as 
 the hall and more. It was joined to the hall by the upper part, 
 and reached almost as far as the middle of the court : meantime 
 it was all enclosed by a great bahtfre covered with plates of 
 silver. It was supported by three pillars of the thickness and 
 height of a barge mast, and by some lesser ones, and they were 
 all covered with plates of silver. It was red, without a line, with 
 those fine diites, or cloth painted with the pencil of Maslipatam, 
 purposely wrought and contrived with such vivid colours and 
 flowers, so naturally drawn, of a hundred several fashions and 
 shapes, that one would have said it was a hanging parterre." 
 
 This, too, was Aurungzebe, the most bigoted of the Mogul 
 kings. Sir T. Roe, who visited as Ambassador the Court of 
 Jehanghire, thus describes a day of the " Great Mogul."
 
 DELHI. 27 
 
 "The Mogul every morning shows himself to the common 
 people, at a window that looks on to the plain. At noon he is 
 there again, to see elephants and wild beasts fight, the men of 
 rank being under him within a rail. Hence he retires to sleep 
 among his women. At noon he comes to the durbar. After 
 supper at eight o'clock he comes to the Guzalchan, a fair court 
 in the midst whereof is a throne of freestone, on which he sits, 
 or sometimes below on a chair, where none are admitted but of 
 the first quality, and few of them without leave. Here he dis- 
 courses of indifferent things very affably. No business of the 
 state is done anywhere but at one of these two last places, where 
 it is publicly convened and so registered ; which register might 
 be seen for two shillings ; and the common people know as much 
 as the council ; so that every day the King's resolutions are the 
 public news, and exposed to the censure of every scoundrel. 
 
 " This method is never altered, unless sickness or drink obstruct 
 it ; and this must be known, for if he is unseen one day, without 
 reason assigned, the people would mutiny ; and for two days no 
 excuse will serve, but the doors must be opened and some 
 admitted to see him, to satisfy others. On Tuesday he sits in 
 judgment at the Jarruco, and hears the meanest persons' com- 
 plaints, examines both parties, and often sees execution done by 
 his elephants." So strict is this custom of showing the person of 
 the sovereign, at least once a day, that Aurungzebe, when sick 
 " nigh unto death" of a fever, showed himself every day, and "what 
 is almost incredible, the thirteenth day after he had re-collected 
 himself from a fit of swooning, he called for two or three of the 
 greatest omrahs and the Raja Jesseyne (Jey Sing), to let them 
 see that he was alive, made himself to be raised in bed, called 
 for ink and paper to write to Et-bar-Khan." 
 
 Nowadays, if a petition has to reach head-quarters, it must go 
 through the district officer to the commissioner, through him to 
 the secretary's secretary, then to the secretary, and so through a 
 member of council to the viceroy. Yet in the end I fancy the 
 petitioner is likely to receive more justice than he did in the old 
 time, when he appealed directly " to Cajsar."
 
 28 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 I have bought some rather handsome gold work here, and keep 
 my eyes well open for all kinds of "finds." The native, however, 
 is very suspicious, and all my inquiries are unavailing to find out 
 the names of the men who have done the good work here. I 
 have talked to several persons in authority, and more to their 
 wives, on my project of reforming the arts of India, and find 
 many of them agree with me; but of this more anon. 
 
 The entry of the Viceroy took place on the 23rd December. 
 A truly magnificent spectacle it was, not so much from the pro- 
 cession of the Viceroy himself, as from native surroundings. I 
 saw it from the Jumma Musjid, sitting between the Ambassador 
 from Siam, who had on a kind of Quaker's hat, and was accom- 
 panied by his wife and granddaughter, and the envoy from 
 Kashgar, a magnificent gentleman, in gold and green, with a 
 belt of metalwork round his somewhat bulky waist that filled 
 my heart with envy. The Siamese women were frightful to 
 behold : like monkeys, and ugly monkeys. Before us lay the 
 plain I have described, bounded by the fort. Round the edge 
 of the plain wound the procession, through rows of troops, artil- 
 lery and cavalry on the maiddn, and infantry lining the streets. 
 First came cavalry, then the Viceroy and Lady Lytton on a 
 splendid elephant, with an abominable English silver howdah 
 made for the Prince of Wales. Then the body-guard, a very fine 
 body of natives, then the governors and swells on other elephants 
 to the number of fifty ; then more cavalry and artillery, &c. All 
 this is very well, but might have been matched by Mr. Myers's 
 circus and tinsel; but nothing I ever saw or have dreamed of 
 could equal the rush of native chiefs' elephants that closed the 
 procession. The chiefs themselves were not there, but their 
 courtiers and retinue were, and they all jostled and pushed 
 together in a most glorious confusion of dress, drapery, and 
 umbrella. I stayed at the Musjid to make a sketch, and two 
 hours afterwards set off for the camp to catch up the procession 
 on the Ridge. The Ridge was the place held by our troops 
 during the Mutiny, and from which we bombarded the city ; 
 now it was held by natives in force. A double line of elephants
 
 DELHI. 29 
 
 lined the way, swaying backwards and forwards, for the elephant, 
 like some huge men I know of, never keeps a moment quiet. 
 On their backs magnificent and sometimes magnificently gro- 
 tesque Jiozvdahs, and in the howdahs a motley crew, — men in 
 armour, men with shields and large swords, men with trumpets 
 8 feet long, all sorts of wild men shouting and scuffling ; and 
 behind all the golden sunset. If my head were not full of other 
 work I should have a try at this. Alas ! I have got more than I 
 can get through as it is, and can hardly dare to make a sketch 
 on the sly. 
 
 All our party dined with the Viceroy on Christmas Day. Lady 
 Lytton is as charming as ever, and very popular, and the entertain- 
 ment good. It is very easy for those in authority to be popular. 
 They have only to give themselves the trouble to look pleased 
 and smile, and the world finds them charming. Some are born 
 with this talent to please, like our Princess of Wales, whose 
 gracious manner has won the love of all, and for whom the world 
 is ready to do and say anything, so that I have seen people wait 
 hours in the park for the chance of a passing smile. Lady Lytton 
 has much of this charm of manner. 
 
 On Tuesday, by-the-bye, I went with the Viceroy to the Place 
 of Assemblage, as it is called, and further acquaintance does not 
 tend to change in any way my first opinion. They have been 
 heaping ornament on ornament, colour on colour, on the central 
 or Viceregal dai's, till the whole is like the top of a Twelfth cake. 
 They have stuck pieces of needlework into stone panels, and 
 in shields and battleaxes all over the place. The size — which, 
 by the way, will make painting it impossible — gives it a vast 
 appearance, like a gigantic circus, and the decorations are in 
 keeping. 
 
 On our return from the dai's we saw poor Clayton on the 
 ground virtually dead, for he died at midnight. It was through 
 an accident at polo, but no one seems to have actually seen him 
 fall. The game had been played most jealously, and Clayton 
 himself remarked that some accident would happen. As the 
 iVceroy passed, two ponies cannoned, and when people turned
 
 30 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 r >und from seeing- the viceregal cavalcade, there lay the poor 
 fellow with a broken neck. No one could be more missed ; lie 
 was most deservedly popular, and the type of a cavalry officer — 
 handsome, well mannered, and excelling in all games, especially 
 polo, of which game he was said to be the champion. He was 
 buried in the old burial-ground of his regiment (the 9th), just 
 behind the viceregal tent, where many another brave fellow 
 who fell at the siege of Delhi lies asleep waiting for the grand 
 " reveille." 
 
 On Wednesday I went for the first time to paint a rajah. I 
 was to have begun with Sindia, but he begged to be excused, so 
 Holkar was my first victim. Of course it was ridiculous to begin 
 making studies before my design was made, but the committee 
 were anxious for me to begin work, so off I went with Captain 
 Barr, the political officer attached to Holkar. We were half an 
 hour late, through no fault of mine, and when we arrived Maha- 
 rajah Holkar was having his bath. We were received in his 
 absence by the Prime Minister, a fat little tub of a man, with a 
 silly manner, but who talked English well. Holkar's elder brother 
 also came to join us. Holkar is the child of the late Maharajah 
 by adoption only. Hindoos always adopt a younger son, leaving 
 the eldest to perform the rites of his father's family. Hence 
 it happens, as in this case, that the elder brother has to do 
 homage to the younger. Barr, while we were waiting, observed 
 Sindia's carriage waiting also ; so he asked whether the rival 
 Maharajah was there. He was. "What is he doing?" "I 
 cannot tell you," said the Prime Minister ; but when Holkar frcre 
 left us he told us in confidence that Sindia had come over to cook 
 Holkar's curry that morning! Some one had said Maharajah 
 Sindia makes the best curry in India. So Sindia, in his delight 
 at the compliment, had come to show Holkar what he could do. 
 Holkar, after keeping me waiting an hour, at last made his ap- 
 pearance. Rather a fine-looking man, 6 feet high, with a dreamy, 
 tired look. They say he suffers from bad health. After an intro- 
 duction, I set to work. Barr said he behaved badly ; but without 
 breakfast, and a Maharajah, what could you expect ? He made
 
 DELHI. 3 1 
 
 some jokes, at which, of course, all the world laughed, and lolled 
 lazily in a chair, as if the world were not worth looking at. 
 People brought bracelets and necklaces, and placed them on 
 him, he hardly moving his arms the while. Then a Bombay 
 merchant brought more jewels to show him, strings of pearls 
 were spread on the floor, for which the jeweller asked ,£20,000, 
 for one diamond he asked ^40,000, &c. The Maharajah looked 
 on sleepily and yawned, whereupon all the Court standing around 
 snapped their fingers to keep the devil from jumping down his 
 Highness's throat. 
 
 I never saw a man so bored, and should have felt more for the 
 breakfastless potentate, but that I was equally bored. Painting 
 in a tent in this climate with a shining and blazing sun is next 
 to impossible, even when you have a good sitter ; and as I could 
 not the least see what I was doing, I did not make a good be- 
 ginning. After I had been painting half an hour, the Maharajah 
 requested me to show him what I had done. "Ah ! " said I, in 
 excuse for saying no, " the great God himself took at least five 
 and twenty years to make your Highness as beautiful as you are, 
 how then can you expect me to reproduce you in half an hour?" 
 Holkar smiled, and was, I flatter myself, " tickled." 
 
 I went straight from Holkar to see the receptions of the Vice- 
 roy. He was mostly polite to the princes of India, and to each 
 he presented a large banner, worked by the order of the Queen, 
 to be carried to the dai's. I saw all the chiefs of Central India, 
 including the Begum of Bhopal ; only she had her veil down, and 
 looked like a ball of clothes. She used to show her face pretty 
 freely ; but lately she has married, and her husband objects to 
 her showing herself. 
 
 In the afternoon I went with the Viceroy to see all the Raj- 
 poot rajahs, and here again a species of artistic delirium tremens 
 supervened. One beautiful sight succeeded the other with such 
 rapidity, that after three rajahs all was a-blaze in my brain. Five 
 minutes was all allowed to the smaller fry, and we topped up 
 with twenty minutes with Kashmir. Oodeypore was most interest- 
 ing to me : I am going to paint him at home. We were covered
 
 32 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 with golden garlands, and smothered with stinking attar, or 
 some other horrible stuff, each rajah giving a garland and "attar 
 and pan." In some places, at the reception of the Bundclcund 
 Rajahs, we were dabbed between the eyes with sandal -wood, 
 which implies an acknowledgment of fraternal affection. Then 
 again the costumes varied in an extraordinary way. Jodhpore 
 was all in petticoats in the old Rajpoot dress, with an enormous 
 head-dress of yellow. Bhawalpore had a diamond head-dress 
 with wings and a top-knot; Kashmir a small turban, an aigrette, 
 and so on. In some camps there were men in full armour ; in 
 some, those of Dholepore and Chamba, the Rajah was a small 
 boy, and looked very funny in the place of honour among so 
 many and such exceeding hairy men. The Viceroy was parti- 
 cularly civil to the little fellows, and as they all have English 
 tutors, and are all supposed to be out of reach of the Zenana, 
 perhaps they will turn out well. There is something very nice 
 about the native child: he is very graceful, and often pretty and 
 engaging. Rajahs, however, get very fat ; I suppose it \sde regie. 
 Almost every one I 've seen (a pretty good lot, I can tell you) 
 has a portentous swelling below the girdle. They "go "An the 
 legs too, and even when quite young have an awkward gait. 
 Some had a regular store of all kinds of rubbish displayed on 
 tables, a jumble of china birds, lamp-shades, dressing-glasses, all 
 kinds of cheap stuff. One venerable gentleman, Nabha, I be- 
 lieve, had a man grinding "God save the Queen" on a hand 
 organ, when we entered his tent. Jheend had a band of bag- 
 pipes, and gave us " God bless the Prince of Wales," played by 
 pipers as black as soot, but with pink leggings on their knees to 
 make them like their Highland originals. We got back to camp 
 only at half-past seven. On Thursday I went to Sindhia, or 
 Scindhia, or Sindia — it is spelt here "promiscuous." Maharajah 
 Sindia of Gwalior, who has an income of ,£3,000,000, and is per- 
 haps the most powerful man in India, next to the Nizam, is a, fat 
 black-looking fellow with very curly whiskers, like an old-fashioned 
 hussar. He had behaved very badly the day before to the Viceroy, 
 who made him Chancellor of the Empire, an English general,
 
 DELHI. 
 
 33 
 
 and gave him the title of Sword of the Empire, and twenty-one 
 guns ; for all which Master Sindia forgot to say " thank you." 
 The fact is he has an awful temper, and moreover stutters, and 
 on that morning had been kept waiting an hour and a half in the 
 sun, with the people crowding "betwixt the wind and his nobility." 
 When " the black dog " is on him, I am told, he is awful to 
 behold, and cannot say a word. His Ministers and Court stand 
 round with their hands clasped, speechless the while. 
 
 This morning he was friendly enough. I buttered him up 
 finely, and put him where he could see his picture as it went on. 
 I did not do a good day's work, for all that. A tent is not the 
 place to paint a life-size head in. In the afternoon I went round 
 again with the Viceroy, who this time presented me to all the 
 swells as his friend and a great artist, from England. This is as 
 it should be ; not that I am overwhelmed with pride, but that 
 these rajahs have many of them paid and subscribed money for 
 my picture, and would otherwise perhaps give themselves airs. 
 
 Thursday. I had Holkar sitting again ; he was gorged this 
 time, having had his breakfast, and could hardly keep awake. 
 I had but a short sitting, and left him with the promise of going 
 to Indore, to paint him and his son. The Maharajah kept me 
 waiting again, so I had only just time to start to meet the Viceroy 
 at the Baroda camp for another series of visits. Alas ! owing to 
 ignorance of the language, I found myself left at the wrong 
 camp ! I wandered about helpless till I stopped a man driving 
 his wife in a buggy. I asked him the way. "Jump up," he said; 
 " I will take you." And so he did, and he turned out to be one 
 of my father's old nominations for the service, so, you see, he 
 repaid the debt of gratitude to the name of Prinsep unwittingly. 
 I was, however, too late for Baroda, and picked up the Viceroy at 
 the Mysore camp. The Mysore Rajah is a boy. It is curious that 
 the three great swells (the Nizam, Baroda, and Mysore) should 
 be all minors. Mysore is the eldest of the three, being a heavy- 
 looking lad of sixteen. This reception was much like the rest, 
 except that a herald came forward with raised arms, and chanted 
 a couple of verses in praise of his Rajah. His voice was good, 
 
 3
 
 34 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 and the whole had a pleasant Homeric effect. I went afterwards 
 to the Khan of Khelat, who is a wild hill man, with long hair. 
 His suite were very wild fellows too, who advanced to be intro- 
 duced to the Viceroy with a fine swing, and a salaam very 
 different from the salutation of the cringing Hindoo. He is 
 under the charge of Major Bradford, who on his arrival sent him 
 up a dinner ready cooked. The Khan, or rather his friends, 
 appropriated all the spoons, and all they could lay their hands 
 on. The story goes that they ate all the soap prepared for their 
 use. They certainly do not look as if they had ever used that 
 article, except as food ; and if shown the way it ought to be 
 applied externally, their civilization may be commenced here. 
 
 All these visits made me late for my letters, and this journal 
 was not written up till a week afterwards. Luckily my memory 
 is pretty good, and my head clear. I will never let my journal 
 run down again, however, for it is very hard work writing up 
 arrears, besides one's other work. 
 
 Saturday. I worked at Sindia again, with an equally unsa- 
 tisfactory result. I am told, however, that his Highness of 
 Gwalior is not to be got at at home. I have wasted many days 
 through my dependence on other people, and that makes the 
 task I have to do doubly difficult. We dined again with Lord 
 Lytton — I beg his pardon, the Viceroy — on Sunday. There were 
 very few people. 
 
 Monday. — The grand day has at last passed. A hurried, 
 dusty, noisy, and to me very unsatisfactory day. Luckily it was 
 not hot; in fact, it was thought by some that rain would be 
 brought down by the salutes. I left camp early in a buggy, and 
 soon got into the string of carriages, all hurrying to the place of 
 assembly. All kinds and sorts of vehicles there were. They say 
 an Irish race meeting presents the most singular collection of 
 means of locomotion, but a grand tomaslia in India, even putting 
 elephants and camels out of the question, would beat even 
 Donnybrook Fair. The dai's I have previously described. On 
 the central erection they have heaped enormity on enormity — 
 the Ossa of bad taste on the Pelion of shrieking colour. The
 
 DELHI. 35 
 
 very ropes were clothed in red, white, and blue bannerets. Hap- 
 pily, I get out of painting it as it is, and find the Viceroy himself 
 anxious that I should make rather a fancy picture of it, and 
 introduce the Jumma Musjid into the background. Of necessity 
 my picture must be a picture commemorative of the Assemblage 
 rather than a faithful reproduction of the scene. Presently the 
 banners began to arrive. They are the work of local men, and 
 some are not so bad for the kind of thing. They form quite a 
 circle round the rajahs, and will help me a bit, I think, in my 
 difficult task. The Rajahs themselves arrive one by one, and as 
 each has a separate entrance and a guard of honour to himself 
 at the back of his place in the semicircle, all collision is avoided. 
 I go round and make my salaam to those I know, and inspect 
 and take down names. I also have the whole thing photo- 
 graphed, but as the figures are very small I fear the photograph 
 will be of little use. 
 
 Presently, the few walking in the magic circle are cleared out, 
 and the Viceroy is announced. On this grand occasion no one 
 is to receive a salute but the Queen ; so, with no noise but the 
 rustling of his blue silk mantle and the clank of his aide-de- 
 camp's spurs (I acted as aide-de-camp on this occasion), preceded 
 by his trumpeters, and followed by Lady Lytton and his chil- 
 dren and suite, Lord Lytton appears on the dais, then trumpets 
 sound out, arms are presented, and all the princes and chiefs arise 
 and salaam. 
 
 Lord Lytton salaams, so the rajahs are pleased, and sit again, 
 on permission being given, as the Viceroy takes his seat on his 
 throne. 
 
 Then Major Barnes, the biggest man in the army, in herald's 
 tabard, takes off his hat and reads the proclamation, informing 
 us that the. Queen has assumed the title of Empress and will use 
 it on all deeds, writs, &c, &c, "God save the Queen." All this 
 was well heard. Then Thornton, who looked small in comparison 
 with his enormous predecessor, read the same in Persian. Then 
 trumpets sounded for the Empress, and thirty-five guns in salvoes 
 of three at the time were fired from the right wing of the army 
 
 a — 2
 
 36 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 drawn up in line. After this rather tedious banging, the infantry 
 fired a feu dc joic, commencing on the right of the front rank, 
 running all along the front, then back along the rear rank. 
 This was splendidly executed and with excellent effect, for it 
 made the rajahs jump, and raised quite a stampede among the 
 elephants, who "skedaddled" in all directions, and killed a few 
 natives. After this another thirty- five guns more, then another 
 feu dc joic, and another stampede among the natives ; then thirty- 
 one more, making the one hundred and one to salute the new 
 Empress. After this came the Viceroy's speech, which was ex- 
 cellently written, but, if I might make a criticism, was much too 
 long, especially as not a word could be heard by the rajahs around. 
 He was quite half an hour praising everybody. After this was 
 over, trumpets sounded again. Then, to everybody's surprise, 
 Kashmir, Sindia, and Sir Salar Jung each addressed the meeting, 
 the two first in their native language, and the last in excellent 
 English. Then trumpets again, and the Viceroy bows and de- 
 clares the meeting over. All this you will have read in the 
 papers probably in choice language, if not so truthfully, and 
 you will ask what I thought of the business. Well, candidly 
 speaking, it was what is called a splendid sight, but so was 
 Batty's hippodrome, and so is Myers's circus : of the really 
 splendid and impressive there was an utter want. 
 
 People said the rajahs had no business to sit down while the 
 Viceroy stood. No doubt this was so. To declare our empire pro- 
 perly we ought to have made them salaam to the ground before 
 the flag. The new school, however, are all for the native, and the 
 rajah has things made easy for him.* Pictorially, as I have already 
 said, this thing cannot be rendered. I must try to put some- 
 thing into it which it had not — more dignity and distinction. 
 
 * I see by the official book by Talboys Wheeler, that a great point is made 
 of the difference of the homage exacted by the Mogul, who forced every 
 tributary prince to crawl up to the throne, and that which we in more en- 
 lightened times expect. The great question is, however, how this difference 
 affects the natives' minds, and whether they are sufficiently civilized to 
 attribute the change to our greater enlightenment and not to our greater 
 weakness. ■
 
 DELHI. 37 
 
 Alas ! there is a frightful amount of detail to be got through, and 
 how or when can I do it ? 
 
 The jog back to camp was very amusing ; but, oh ! the time 
 one had to wait for carriage and buggy, and the bliss of a b.-and-s. 
 when back in the cool ! And so finished the grand day. 
 
 In the evening there was a grand reception at the Viceroy's, after 
 a dinner, at which the new honours were announced. There was 
 much discontent, of course, as might be expected. The reception 
 was very amusing, as all the great rajahs were there. They arc 
 trying to make Englishmen of them. It seems to me they are 
 beginning at the wrong end. The small fry take to receptions 
 and champagne, but the big ones look awfully bored, and do 
 not understand waiting in the cold for their carriages ; and the 
 crowding, both here and at the leva-, was so great that at one 
 time the poles of the shamiana swayed in an ominous manner, 
 Indeed, we were lucky in our escape, for had that weight of 
 canvas fallen upon us and the lamps, we must have all been 
 burnt alive. Then what promotion there would have been ! I 'm 
 afraid the whole thing was wanting in dignity. The entrees were 
 very small, and the lucky individual, English or Hindoo, who 
 was nearest the door, was often shot into the presence by the 
 pressure of the crowd behind in a way calculated to ruffle the 
 most dignified comportment. The exit through an opening in 
 the kkanaut, or wall, of the reception-tent, was, if anything, worse. 
 
 2nd January. 
 
 I find the discontent and dissatisfaction of the European com- 
 munity is much increased by the proceedings of the 1st. People 
 here talk of the "Black Raj," where everything is sacrificed to 
 the native. There have been no balls for the ladies, who have 
 come with trunks full of new dresses, and indeed, no parties 
 without dark gentlemen. I myself do not see much harm in 
 all this attempt to civilize the native, but I fear it does not always 
 succeed.
 
 38 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 To see the great rajahs at a party is pitiable. Their dig- 
 nity is offended, and they sit and sulk in corners. The smaller 
 ones are much more gregarious. The whole lot, with few excep- 
 tions, are quite uneducated, and have no occupation but those 
 of the Zenana and drinking. Some, like Sindia, have a hobby, — 
 his being soldiering. Holkar is a kind of banker, and deals in 
 money. My experience of the gentlemen is getting very ex- 
 tensive. I find the head men very civil, if taken properly, but 
 their dewans, or prime ministers, are bad to deal with. These 
 have to spend their whole time in keeping their rajah in good 
 humour, and of course do it by flattering and pandering to his 
 vanity generally. That such men, so surrounded from their 
 earliest youth, should be unfit for European society, is not to be 
 wondered at. Add to this the fact that they are constantly 
 watched and necessarily snubbed by some political officer, who 
 is often a fine fellow and a gentleman, but who from the nature 
 of his office is viewed with mistrust and suspicion by the rajah, 
 whom he in his turn is continually convicting of conduct not 
 usual in an English gentleman but which a native thinks not 
 unbecoming. It is not everybody who can deal with natives. 
 You must have a presence, and be familiar but very firm. 
 
 There is no denying the fact that lately the distance between 
 the races has been much increased, especially on the English side. 
 Through the effort to exalt the native unduly, the unthinking part 
 of the English community is up in arms against the "Black Raj." 
 I hear all kinds of stories about the British subalterns. I myself 
 was witness to their behaviour at the Viceroy's levee. They made 
 loud remarks about the rajahs there present, and expressed a 
 wish to cut their ears off to get their jewels, or bonnet them, &c. 
 — quite forgetting that many of the rajahs understand English. 
 This was, no doubt, mere silly chaff of a lot of young fellows 
 who were hot and uncomfortable, and kept up their spirits by a 
 running fire of badinage. But I doubt whether rajahs understand 
 chaff. One cannot be surprised if they, like the worm, wish 
 sometimes to turn. 
 
 At the races the other day, for the Viceroy's cup, we had an
 
 DELHI. 39 
 
 instance of a rajah's generosity, which, I think, is worth record- 
 ing. The horse that won the cup was disqualified through some 
 slight cause. The next horse was, of course, then entitled to 
 the prize ; but the Rajah of Jodhpore, to whom this horse be- 
 longed, at once went up to the other horse's owner, and said, 
 "Your horse beat mine fairly, and I must beg you will accept the 
 cup from me." They say he did the thing capitally, and it was 
 a nice thing to have done, considering that he had brought his 
 horse from England for this particular race. Rajahs are not all 
 so generous. 
 
 My time from the first has been mostly spent in rajah society. 
 I have begun, as I said, Sindia ; but he once forgot all about my 
 appointment, and once, after sitting a quarter of an hour, calmly 
 announced that the Nizam was coming to see him, and that he 
 must go and dress. I was obliged to say to him, " If you do not 
 sit better, I shall have to represent you very poorly in my picture ;" 
 whereupon he invited me to Gwalior ; and I shall have to go, 
 bad luck to it ! 
 
 My next sitter was Orcha, then came Dattia — both Maha- 
 rajahs of Bundelcund, anjd living in parts of the country very 
 difficult of access, as do all the Bundelcund wallahs. It would 
 take three months' travelling to do them, I am told ; so I had to 
 content myself with such water-colour drawings as I could 
 manage here at Delhi. Orcha is a decidedly handsome fellow 
 — a great chasseur, they say. He wears his turban quite close 
 to his right eye, and the consequence is that the corner of his 
 eye is rather drawn up. This rajah sat beautifully, but alas ! his 
 coat is so elaborate that I could hardly do anything but the 
 merest blot of it. And this applies equally to each of these 
 fellows. I have been knocking them off in two sittings, which 
 is perfectly absurd. I have got a tolerable likeness of head and 
 pugree ; the rest is quite hopeless, for to do each properly 
 would take a month. Orcha's is one of the oldest families in 
 India. It is said that the Rajahs of Orcha never did homage to 
 any superior till the arrival of the Prince of Wales. They were 
 once very powerful, and owned a great deal of territory ; but
 
 40 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 their obstinate independence has been fatal to their power, and 
 the family possessions arc now driven back to the hilly and 
 inaccessible parts of Bundelcund. The Orcha retinue was 
 conspicuously splendid in different kinds of armour. 
 
 Dattia, the other Bundelcund Rajah, is not handsome. He has 
 a largish nose, pig eyes, and an enormous stomach. He was 
 very inquisitive, wished to see the whole process of painting, and 
 examine the colours, &c. A rajah sitting is a wonderful sight. 
 He has his ministers round, who speak to his Highness with 
 clasped hands. Then he has sweetmeats brought him, or rather 
 some beastly stuff in a leaf, which he chews.* Then he has a 
 turn at his hookah. Meanwhile I curse inwardly. All round 
 there are strange noises — tom-toms, flutes, or horns being prac- 
 tised on, till I get nearly distracted. Sometimes his Highness 
 says, " I am hungry, and must eat." Away he goes. In fact, it 
 is the privilege of the great to eat and sleep when and where 
 they wish. You see mine is not a bed of roses. 
 
 I have lately taken three a day, beginning with Sampthar and 
 Panna. Sampthar, another Bundelcunder, is a thin, consump- 
 tive-looking Rajah, and the only Rajah of his nation, viz., Gooja, 
 or Herdsmen. When I arrived at his tents, his dewan declared 
 his master must sit on his throne, which was an enormous erec- 
 tion with a hood. I said he should not, whereupon the Minister 
 said it would never do for the Rajah to sit anywhere else. "Very 
 well," I said, "then I will not do him at all;" and the Minister 
 yielded. Sampthar himself made no bones about sitting in an 
 ordinary chair ; so I painted him. Then came Panna's turn. 
 A sharp little fellow is Panna, stout and short, and, strange to 
 say, intelligent. He has diamond mines of his own, and has a 
 gorgeous collection of precious stones generally. Panna has an 
 amusing stutter, and has to slap his leg to get out his words. 
 He paints his eyes, and speaks English. 
 
 * This is fnhi, and consists in an assortment of nuts, aromatic and astrin- 
 gent, and a dab of lime, all wrapped in a leaf of the betel-tree. Some of the 
 nuts are rather pleasant to chew in very hot weather, as they moisten the 
 mouth, and render drinking unnecessary.
 
 DELHI. 41 
 
 I ought next to have painted Bijawar ; but lie was away 
 larking with Rcwah, so Ajigurh sends for me and I draw a hasty- 
 sketch of him. He is a neat little chap, with a most elaborate 
 dress, which it was madness to attempt in the time. My drawing 
 w r as most slight, and will only serve for his head. 
 
 To-day I was to have done Bijawar, Chatterpore, and Chirka- 
 ree. The first was not up, and declared he was ill, so I have 
 cut him off my list. Chatterpore is a little boy, with no nose to 
 speak of, and is generally frightful. Fancy this youth of twelve 
 demanding his hookah ! It appears he used to smoke cheroots, 
 but the political agent very properly stopped that. He was 
 covered with jewels, yet for all that was a miserable object. Chir- 
 karee has the reputation of being a little wanting. I went there 
 an hour and a half too soon, in consequence of the failure of 
 Bijawar. His Highness sent to ask me to lend him my watch 
 to see the time, and, after keeping me a short while, turned up 
 fully dressed and very polite. He was the only one of the whole 
 lot that presented me, during my tour of sittings, with attar and 
 tan, and a magnificent garland of tinsel or harJi. 
 
 I have thus done six rajahs, and begin two more to-morrow. 
 These Bundelcund chiefs were all kept in Delhi to enable me to 
 paint them. Some of them had struck all their tents but one 
 little one, in which it w r as almost impossible to work. All were 
 anxious to know when I should have done, and showed as much 
 joy at being let off as schoolboys going for their holidays. To- 
 morrow I pause, before I begin her Highness of Bhopal. 
 
 I went out last Friday to see the march past of the native 
 troops, which closed the tomaslia for the swells. It was really 
 a curious sight. Fancy Myers's circus, only the real thing. Ele- 
 phants are here much painted both on trunk and body, and 
 have their tusks completed with false ivory. They trumpeted and 
 salaamed as they passed. One elephant waved a pocket-hand- 
 kerchief; one had two rose-coloured bell : glasses on the end of 
 his false tusks. There were squadrons of men in armour, bands 
 playing impossible tunes, and finally one contingent who marched 
 by with presented arms. The only drawback to all this was that
 
 42 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 it lasted two hours, and we went away, all of us, heartily tired, for 
 the sun was very hot. 
 
 Delhi camp may now be said to have ended its troubled exist- 
 ence. Of many camps not a tent remains, and soon the whole 
 plain will assume its usual monotonous appearance, and nought 
 will remain to tell of all these great doings but chimneys built of 
 mud, arranged tn rows, and even now tumbling to ruin. There 
 were at least four Delhis before our time. Three are in ruins : 
 the one that exists (properly called Shah-Jehanabad) is the fourth. 
 We have built a fifth, that has lasted a shorter time than any of 
 its rivals ; but a fortnight, butterfly-like, with many colours — 
 making much noise with banging guns and martial music — and 
 now nothing! And as if to wipe out all sight of it, last night 
 the weather changed, and rain has set in. It blows great guns — 
 the only great guns we hear — for all is over. " Long live the 
 Empress and Empire of India ! " and off go chiefs and officials 
 to their homes far away. The curtain falls, for the great and 
 imperial spectacle-drama is ended. Turn down the lights. 
 
 To-day, despite the wind, I drove out to the Kutub, or Minar 
 of Kutub-ood-deen, as it ought to be called, eleven miles from 
 Delhi. Along all the way from the present Delhi you see ruins 
 of the former cities. Indian houses are mostly made of mud, 
 easily effaced by the heavy rains of the country ; so all these 
 eleven miles are huge formless mounds of earth, on which great 
 vultures perch, but where no grass grows. Only here and there 
 are the tombs of the former owners of all this power. These 
 are mostly in ruins too, but being built of stone, still rear their 
 proud heads o'er the forgotten dead they were raised to immor- 
 talize. Some few of the principal ones alone have names. There 
 are the tombs of Humayun and Sufter Jung ; the former is the 
 tomb of an emperor, but is better known among Europeans by 
 being the place where Hodgson took the two sons of the King 
 of Delhi. A grim story, that. Nothing is finer in history than 
 that figure of a single Englishman among those three thou- 
 sand courtiers of Delhi, who were all desperate from the failure 
 of their plans, but yet surrendered their two leaders at his im-
 
 DELHI. 43 
 
 perious demand without a struggle. So Hodgson rode off, and 
 would that the gallant sabrcur had ended there ! But he who 
 had not quailed at the tomb of Hamayun declared he was afraid 
 of a rescue from the rabble of Delhi, and bid his royal prisoners 
 alight. "Surely the bitterness of death is past!" they cried, 
 with Agag. " Take off your coats ! " was the stern reply ; and he 
 pistolled one, while his sowar killed the other, and their bodies 
 were thrown before the kolwal, or police station, in the Chandnee- 
 chowk, the principal street of Delhi. 
 
 I have never seen anything more impressive than these cities 
 (for there are more than one) of the dead. The Kutub itself, 
 built to assert the sway of Mahomet over India, stands in the 
 middle of an Indian temple. By it was a magnificent mosque, 
 but mosque and temple are alike ruins, and the Kutub alone 
 remains perfect to assert the power of Mahomet over dust. Truly 
 Delhi is a city of tombs ! 
 
 As to the Minar itself, I can only say that I have seen most of 
 the splendours of Italy, yet nowhere — not even in Florence, where 
 they can boast of Giotto's Tower — have I seen so perfect a work. 
 Ring or belt after belt of delicate tracery, interwoven with texts 
 of the Koran, rises to the height of 250 feet, while the whole is 
 a beautiful reddish colour, slightly mottled, not by time but in- 
 tentionally. I have not seen the Taj : I go there next week ; 
 but if it equals what I have already seen, it must be a wonder 
 indeed ! The Jumma Musjid, the Dewan-i-Khas, and the Ku- 
 tub have sunk deep into my imagination ; why, then, am I to 
 paint Cremorne and the Crystal Palace and Brummagem iron- 
 work ? 
 
 The night I dispatched my last, we had a tremendous down- 
 pour and thunder-storm. It began while we were at dinner, and 
 lasted all night. Before we had finished dinner the rain-water 
 was streaming through the tent. I never saw such rain ! Most 
 of the tents were flooded, and some were a pitiable sight in the 
 morning. Our neighbour, Major Bradford, had a nullah or stream 
 3 feet deep, formed through the middle of his child's sleeping- 
 tent ! Where the ladies of our camp had their tents there were
 
 44 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 1 8 inches of water. Luckily, all our ladies had left or \vc should 
 have been in a pretty state. This was on Thursday night, nth 
 January. On Friday we left camp, and are now living at the 
 Northbrook Hotel. 
 
 I had my first sitting of the Begum of Bhopal on this day. I 
 
 went down to see her with the "political" in charge, Captain C . 
 
 The Begum has taken a house in the city for a week. We entered 
 through a dirty doorway in the Lalpure Road, and passed through 
 one still dirtier courtyard into another, where we found a crowd 
 of natives and a guard with presented arms to receive us. Here 
 we alighted, and passing through another door, we came to a 
 larger courtyard, in the middle of which there was the usual stone 
 canal surrounded with trees. It was a pleasant place. Across 
 it was drawn the purdah, behind which the Begum resides. To 
 the left was an open verandah, where we found the Nawab, the 
 Begum's Prince Consort. He is a stout, good-looking fellow, with 
 a determined face, and eyes rather fiercely scowling from under 
 his knitted brows. He has just been recognized by our Govern- 
 ment and now receives seventeen guns. The Begum, like the 
 Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, chose her Fritz from the lower 
 classes. His Highness the Nawab was originally a schoolmaster 
 and copier of books. Even now, report says, he drops the 
 Prince Consort, returns to his pedagoguish habits, and corrects 
 the Begum soundly. He is polite enough to us, and after a 
 little delay and a thunder-storm, he finally announces her High- 
 ness. 
 
 Straightway the court is cleared of males. Poor C is 
 
 placed behind a column, with his back turned, and I am left to 
 receive the hitherto invisible lady. All this is nonsense, but the 
 habit of the country. Before marriage the Begum was very 
 visible, but since the advent of the Nawab she has become a 
 purdah lady. I had seen her, as I have described, at the audience 
 Lord Lytton gave her ; and now the same little figure, like a 
 blue ball with thin red supporters, or legs, comes waddling across 
 the court. The Nawab gallantly advances, and conducts her to a 
 chair placed on a carpet, and down she sits. I look aghast ; she
 
 DELHI. 
 
 45 
 
 wears a veil. After a moment I call out to C that her High- 
 ness has forgotten an important ceremony. He explains to the 
 Nawab, who advances and throws back the veil. Well, I am not 
 
 HER HIGHNESS SHAH JEHAN, BEGUM OF BHOPAL. 
 
 dazzled. The Begum is decidedly plain, and not young. Pre- 
 sently I perceive she has good eyes, but her mouth is pinched, 
 and traces of age are on her cheek. She is only thirty, but 
 natives of that age are somewhat passe. Her dress is not par-
 
 46 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 ticularly becoming, and she has none of the jewellery and pre- 
 cious stones found on the ruling male, whether Moslem or 
 Hindoo. Her Highness has a heavy, weary look. She keeps 
 continually glancing towards the Nawab. 1 fancy she is awfully 
 afraid of him ; and I feel for the poor thing : even Begums are 
 human, and dislike the stick. I have had several sittings since 
 then, and she has always the same frightened, stolid look when 
 
 he is by. To the second sitting C did not come, and the 
 
 " Master Sahib " was called on to supply his place. This gentle- 
 man is a native, called to teach the Nawab's sons (by a former 
 marriage) English. You may imagine his proficiency when I 
 tell you what he said to me after the sitting. With enthusiasm 
 he cried, seizing me by the arm, " Ah ! you are a wonderful 
 painter, I do not think." This man's pupils are a nuisance, as 
 they keep chanting their lessons close by, swaying their bodies 
 after the manner of all Eastern children at school. The Begum, 
 like all natives, is fond of noise, and there are about twenty 
 parrots immediately outside the verandah that serves me as a 
 studio. You cannot conceive the effect all this has on the nerves 
 when work is not turning out well. 
 
 I find, on a second visit to the Dewan-i-Khas, that the deco- 
 rations are more knocked about than I thought at first. We 
 have restored one of the ceilings, and the restoration is awful. 
 The restoration of ruins is a very serious question. It always 
 seems to me that it is much more difficult to repair than to 
 design, — to enter into another man's plans, than to invent for 
 oneself. A real artist would have retouched without repainting. 
 Here, of course, the Engineers advise on the matter, and " fools 
 rush in where angels fear to tread." 
 
 On Saturday, 13th January, we had some jugglers in our sit- 
 ting-room at the hotel here. I have heard all my life of Indian 
 jugglers, and was prepared to see marvels. These are the second 
 I have seen ; and the head man, apparently very well known, 
 was furnished with innumerable chits, or letters of recommenda- 
 tion. Every native who comes near you asks for a chit. Some 
 this man showed me, in his simplicity, were very amusing. One
 
 DELHI. 47 
 
 said, " Rumchund fleeced me out of thirteen rupees and half a 
 bottle of brandy, after performing some indifferent tricks." His 
 tricks were of the usual kind : he was certainly a clever presti- 
 digitator ; but as he had two women and one man accomplices, 
 his tricks, to any one accustomed to conjuring, were not very 
 wonderful. The basket trick he did not do. The mango trick 
 he performed ; but as the mango produced was anything but 
 fresh, and could easily have been produced by one of the above- 
 named accomplices, there was nothing astounding about it. 
 Descriptions of such things never convey the right impression. 
 After the conjuring we had some Nuts, or gipsies, to tumble. 
 We had invited some people in the hotel to see the tricks, and 
 
 among them Major and Mrs. C . Mrs. C was rather 
 
 disturbed by the announcement of the conjurors that ladies some- 
 times objected to this performance, and more so when both men 
 and women began taking off their clothes. She stopped, how- 
 ever, to see the beginning. First, these two men, entirely nude 
 except the thinnest cloth round the loins, threw somersaults 
 through hoops in a really wonderful way ; then came the woman's 
 turn, and here Mrs. C fled. She might have stayed, how- 
 ever, for there was nothing the least shocking in the performance. 
 The woman merely contorted herself very much in the way one 
 sees on classical vases. Altogether she was very graceful, and 
 well worth seeing. 
 
 To-day I have received visits from the artists of Delhi : they 
 are three in number, and each appears to have an atelier of 
 pupils. The best is one Ismael Khan. Their manual dexterity 
 is most surprising. Of course, what they do is entirely traditional. 
 They work from photographs, and never by any chance from 
 nature. Ismael Khan showed me what his father had done 
 before photographing came into vogue, and really a portrait of 
 Sir C. Napier was wonderfully like, though without an atom of 
 chic, or artistic rendering. I pointed out to the old man 
 certain faults — and glaring ones — of perspective, and he has 
 promised to do me a view of the Golden Temple without any 
 faults.
 
 4^> IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 " These," said he, pointing to his miniatures, " are done for 
 the sahibs who do not understand. I know they are wrong, but 
 what does it matter ? No one cares. But I will show you that 
 I can do better." * 
 
 It is a pity such wonderful dexterity should be thrown away. 
 Some means of really educating these fellows might be hit upon. 
 If only they could see better work, they would quickly improve. 
 At present the talent seems to be hereditary, and father, son, 
 and grandson are necessarily painters, and all with the same 
 mechanical capacity and admirable patience. " Time is of no 
 more value here than it is to a sitting hen," said my Yankee. 
 
 Some of this young fellow's sayings are very funny. One of 
 our party who went to see the jugglers was a man who looked 
 
 anything but 'cute. " Well," said G , " that man is hardly 
 
 capable of getting out of his own way." 
 
 Describing a shot he made at a quail to-day, he said, " I made 
 the meanest shot ever made by a white man." 
 
 To-morrow we leave Delhi for Agra, and I confess I leave 
 with great regret. I had calculated on two or three days' sketch- 
 ing, but, alas ! it has taken to raining, so I have quite failed. 
 Indian landscape under a cloudy sky does not do. I do not 
 suppose I shall ever find time to return to do what I wanted, 
 
 so my good intentions must go to that well-paved place 
 
 below. I trust, however, to-morrow may be fine, and give me 
 one chance. 
 
 It never rains long together in India at this time of the year, 
 and I had a fine day, which I devoted to making a sketch of the 
 Jumma Musjid. Jumma Musjid means general mosque, in fact 
 cathedral. I have described the one at Delhi before. My sketch 
 was necessarily slight, as Eastern architecture, and Indian in 
 particular, goes into such minute detail, that it is impossible to 
 give anything but the vaguest idea of its colour; but with the help 
 of photos and my own sketches for figures, I think I shall be able 
 to knock up a picture of the mosque. 
 
 * This better miniature I never received ; perhaps my friend Ismael found 
 it not so easy to do a perfect picture.
 
 DELHI. 49 
 
 That afternoon I had to go and thank the Commissioner for 
 his hospitality, and to pay a visit ; and on the 16th January, in 
 the evening, we left; and arrived at Agra by 7.30 a.m., Wednes- 
 day, 17th January.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AGRA. 
 
 YOU reach Agra by a bridge across the Jumna. Some few 
 minutes before you get there, out of the left window of 
 the carriage you see in the distance the celebrated Taj. The sun 
 was rising when we first saw it, and the white domes told in faint 
 lilac against the golden sky. The outline of the Taj, I frankly 
 admit, I do not like : other domes or cupolas rise from a square 
 or hexagonal base, but the dome of the Taj rises from a circle, 
 and swells straight away. The view from the railway prepared 
 me for disappointment on a closer inspection. Crossing the river, 
 the railway takes you close to the fort. Like the Delhi fort, 
 the fort at Agra is built of red sandstone, and the Red Sand- 
 stone Gate, close to which you find yourself upon leaving the 
 station, is very imposing. We had little time, however, to inspect, 
 for breakfast has great charms for the traveller who has sped all 
 night long by rail, and our lodgings had to be secured. Off we 
 went to the club, of which, owing to the foresight of my brother, 
 we had previously been made honorary members. We drove past 
 many comfortable-looking bungalows, whose inhabitants were 
 many of them starting for their morning ride. Unfortunately 
 the club bungalow was full, and we had to content ourselves with 
 two rooms in an indifferent hotel called the "Agra Cantonment 
 Hotel." There we breakfast, and by eleven o'clock are ready to 
 start sight-seeing. 
 
 First we go to the fort. It is not so big as the Delhi fort, but 
 more irregular in shape. As at Delhi, towards the river are the 
 royal buildings, and, as at Delhi, the hand of the Englishman 
 has done its best to destroy. At the summit of the rising 
 
 50
 
 AGRA. 51 
 
 ground on which the fort is built, the pious Mohammedan has 
 erected to his deity a mosque of white marble, which is called, 
 as usual, Mooti Musjid, from its white colour. It is much larger 
 than the mosque in the fort in Delhi, and has been lately cleaned 
 and repaired. This perhaps may account for a certain cold, chilly, 
 unsympathetic look. From the mosque we went to the Dewan-i- 
 Am, and found it entirely spoilt by the restorations. It looks some- 
 thing like a railway station ; but behind this outer abomination 
 there is a series of courts which defy description. As this is not 
 intended for a guide book, I will not attempt to describe in order 
 the different things to be seen ; indeed, having been only once 
 to the fort, it would be impossible for me to give such a descrip- 
 tion. I can only record my impression of the thing as a whole. 
 
 There is, then, an inner deivan built of marble, and sumptu- 
 ously inlaid with cornelian and lapis, and from the back of this 
 you come on a white marble balcony looking over the river, which 
 is a perfect gem. Fit indeed is it for a king ! One can imagine 
 Shah Jehan gazing fondly at the Taj, seen some mile and a half 
 distant, rising over the remains of his beloved Mumtaz-i-Mahal, 
 the mother of his children. Behind this deivan you come to a 
 series of splendid buildings. One of them was decorated with 
 ornamental flowers painted on marble, like those in Dewan-i-Khas 
 at Delhi, and which are still singularly beautiful in their faded 
 colour. Alas! the hand of the English Engineer has been here also! 
 One corner of the lovely room was repainted to show the Prince 
 of Wales what it was when new. Ye gods ! what a sight ! — the 
 most tinselly gold, the crudest reds and yellows, the coarsest 
 possible work. If this is what it was when new, let us have no 
 more like it ; let us at least leave what is picturesque and 
 beautiful to delight the eye as long as there remains a trace of 
 the pattern. Let us keep up the building and keep out the rain. 
 But for Heaven's sake, O ye higher powers who direct such 
 matters ! spare us the decorations of the unartistic and the wild 
 imaginings of the Engineer, which are not only horrible in them- 
 selves, but replace the traces, the beautiful traces, of former art. 
 
 Yet I heard a high official asking whether it was not very fine ! 
 
 4 — 2
 
 52 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Thank Heaven, the experiment was so costly that, in the present 
 state of Indian finance, it is not likely to be repeated for the 
 next year or two, and by then I hope the authorities will have 
 awakened to the necessity of having some responsible artistic 
 advice in such matters. 
 
 In the tracery of the beauteous balcony I mentioned above 
 are some great holes, torn by the cannon-shot of the victorious 
 rebels during the Mutiny. Such random damage is easy to re- 
 pair ; it 's only that inflicted at leisure by the hand of the skilled 
 labourer that it is impossible to restore. 
 
 Beyond these chambers and courts, which are of the later Mogul 
 period, there is a corner of the fort where are the ruins of a palace 
 built in an early and more robust style, inspired, and no doubt 
 carried out, by Hindoo workmen. Some of this is very fine, and 
 I must say, in justice to the Engineers whom I have before roundly 
 abused, that the portion already restored seems done in a good 
 spirit, and with a feeling for the original work. It was time 
 this was done, for there has been much wanton destruction, and 
 the place was in absolute ruins. To restore a building stone for 
 stone, when there is a pattern to go by, is much easier than to 
 restore a decoration, for colour is more subtle than stone. Not 
 only has this portion fallen into a dilapidated state, but some 
 one has built a European house in one of the most prominent 
 corners. 
 
 Behind this portion of the palace, which is built of red sand- 
 stone, there is a beautiful garden, and out of this opens the cele- 
 brated bath, decorated with talc and looking-glass, called the 
 Shis-i-Mahal ; it is curious, but to my mind somewhat childish in 
 taste. 
 
 Agra is celebrated for its inlaid stonework, which art, they say, 
 was introduced into India by Italian workmen. It is said that 
 the Taj, and all the work of that date, was done by Italians. I 
 don't think this can be so. At first, no doubt, the Mohammedan 
 work was an adaptation of the Hindoo style, but finer and rather 
 bolder in its original design. Then came the later style, which 
 has much more delicacy of finish, and employs much more ex-
 
 AGRA. 53 
 
 quisite material — where everything looks like a precious gem, 
 but which to my mind loses in grandeur and originality. Never- 
 theless it has a beauty of its own, very different from any Italian 
 Renaissance work that I have seen ; and I am convinced that, 
 though some Italians may have been employed on it, an Oriental 
 designed it — and a very clever fellow he must have been. The 
 palace at Agra, and that of Delhi, in their fanciful decoration, 
 give one quite a thrill of pleasure. They are all roses and lilies, 
 Swinburne's poems, with melodious rhythm, meaning Heaven 
 knows what, and no one cares what ; but they have not the 
 settled beauty that sinks into the mind and lasts. 
 
 The fort at Agra has been more spoilt than that at Delhi. At 
 Delhi the ground upon which the buildings stand is flat. At 
 Agra the ground rises till it reaches the Mooti Musjid, which the 
 pious Emperor meant to stand as the crown of his work ; and 
 surely no more fitting crown to man's work could be found than 
 this marble temple to the One God. The English Engineer has, 
 however, thought otherwise, and the ensemble of this glorious 
 building has been needlessly spoilt by the erection, on an equality 
 with the Musjid, of two stupendous and horrible barracks. 
 
 The famous Taj-Mahal is the most perfect specimen I know 
 of the " roses and lilies " art I mentioned above. Not only is it 
 complete in itself, but all its surroundings, and even the approach 
 from Agra, tend to increase its peculiar charms. You leave Agra, 
 and drive under the red and frowning walls of the fort, called in 
 Hindoo poetry the Lal-Kehlah, or Red Fort ; then along the banks 
 of the Jumna, with ruins and bare mud hillocks on your right- 
 hand side, the river on your left, and the Taj glittering in the 
 distance ; then you turn round to the right and are amidst ruins. 
 On you drive, till you pass under a ruined arch, into a spacious 
 but ruined court; then you stop at a tall gate, mount some steps, 
 and Taj is before you. No ruins there ! — a beautiful garden, 
 with a well, paved walks on either side, a long strip of water, 
 flowers, bright-foliaged trees, and dark cypresses, — all that could 
 render the wonderful white marble more white and dazzling by 
 contrast; and above all the blue heaven, or glittering white clouds,
 
 54 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 that are positively out-glittered by the whiter marble of Shah 
 Jehan. 
 
 It is all this that impresses the multitude, and causes them to 
 exclaim, " See the Taj, and die!" It is idle to criticize : the thing 
 is most beautiful, and far be it from me to exclaim, as the French 
 critic makes Michael Angelo's Adam exclaim, "A quoi bonf 
 " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die !" Did Shah Jehan 
 forget Mumtaz-i-Mahal in the glories of the tomb he erected to 
 her memory, even as Mr. Shandy forgot his grief for the death 
 of his firstborn, in thinking of the many beautiful things that 
 had been said, or could be said, on the subject ? And Mumtaz-i- 
 Mahal, whose very name has been forgotten by the multitude, 
 who assert that the sepulchre raised by Shah Jehan was built for 
 Noor Jehan, his mother (who they say was his wife), instead of 
 Mumtaz-i-Mahal, the Exalted of the Palace! — did Shah Jehan 
 think, when he was weeping for her, that one of his sons would 
 wage bitter war against him, and imprison him ? Roses and 
 lilies! thorns and poisons ! Let us enjoy the Taj and such things 
 while we can. — By all this you will see that I am out of spirits, 
 and have been reading my history. 
 
 Of the Taj itself there is no need of description. Every one 
 has seen photos innumerable of its white domes : let guides and 
 guide books give the number of rupees it cost, and enumerate 
 the number of workmen employed on it during the seventeen 
 years it was being built. Think not of the misery of the myriads 
 forced to labour without pay, and starved meanwhile by wretched 
 grasping contractors. All these things are for others. For me, 
 the two or three days I spent in the gardens of the Taj were 
 truly delightful. What a change ! the smell of roses instead of 
 betel-nut and frowzy rajahs ; the wild shrieks of the kite, the 
 cooing of doves, instead of the noise of tom-toms or the gurgle 
 of hubble-bubbles. Nature, in fact, and art. Ah, me ! in a day 
 or two I must " rajahfy" again. 
 
 The Taj has certainly a wonderful effect on everybody. While 
 painting in the gardens, hundreds of British soldiers tramped in 
 to see " one of the wonders of the world," as I heard one say.
 
 AGRA. 55 
 
 "Tommy Atkins V remarks were curious. One youth ex- 
 claimed, "Lor', Jim ! what a lot I shall have to say when I next 
 write home." I should like to see the boy's letter : he was 
 young, and has, no doubt, dear ones at home who will wonder 
 at all the things written by their scapegrace. And possibly the 
 Taj will make him write the sooner. Blessings on Shah Jehan ! 
 not in vain have all those tears been shed ! 
 
 Another youthful warrior said, pointing to some repairs that 
 rendered scaffolding necessary on one of the minarets, " It re- 
 minds me, Bill, of Lichfield Cathedral : they was always a-doing 
 some repairs to that, I remember." " Home, sweet home." The 
 Taj and Staffordshire ! 
 
 " I should like to have it in New York as a show, for fifty cents 
 a head," said my matter-of-fact American ; but then he is a citizen 
 of the world. 
 
 Within the beauteous building side by side lie the royal pair, 
 their tombs inlaid with precious stones. The Faithful even now 
 place flowers on these tombs, and pray to Allah, and to the burra 
 sahib for rupees. The English treat the Taj well, and spend 
 much on keeping it in repair ; and the grateful Mussulman shows 
 with a shudder the gashes made by the Rajah of Bhurtpore as he 
 forced out the cornelian and jasper flowers from the inlaid tomb 
 with his heathen and ruthless dagger. Maharajah Sindia, or 
 Maharajah Holkar, the cherished and well-hugged friends of His 
 Excellency Lord Lytton, would probably follow the example of 
 His Highness of Bhurtpore had they his chance of occupying 
 Agra. 
 
 I am happy to see by the best authority that it was not an Italian 
 that designed the Taj, but the Turk. There is, however, authentic 
 record of one Italian who was employed on the decorations. 
 
 On Saturday, 20th January, we left Agra for a couple of days 
 to see Futtehpore Sikree, which is twenty-four miles distant. 
 
 The drive thither is delicious ; the roads are good, and trees 
 on either side lend their grateful shade. The country, like all of 
 Hindostan I have hitherto seen, is as flat as a pancake ; but the 
 plains are green, and Agra and its neighbourhood boast many
 
 56 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 beautiful trees, some of which are remarkable for their size, and 
 picturesque with their gnarled ancl twisted trunks. Two hours and 
 a half, and we see the city of Akbar before us. On we roll 
 through the ruined gates, and as we go glance on the formidable 
 walls, seven miles in circumference, which were made for a mag- 
 nificent city, but where no city ever stood. Up, then, to the fort. 
 On either hand we see two small villages : that to the right 
 Futtehpore, on the other side Sikree, but neither of them cover- 
 ing a fifteenth part of the vast space within the walls. Then we 
 reach the outer court of Akbar's palace, and alight at one of his 
 pavilions, now the dak bungalow. 
 
 Then I go round the sights. Akbar, be it remembered, was 
 the contemporary of Queen Elizabeth. He was wedded to a 
 Hindoo princess, who gave him the great Jehanghire. Probably 
 this lady influenced his taste in architecture, for he of all the 
 Moguls was the most ready to employ Hindoo architects and 
 Hindoo forms. Do not think, however, that the great Akbar was 
 a model husband. Far from it. All round his central palace are 
 the small houses of his wives — Turks, Persians, and even, report 
 says, one Christian. Only the largest palace was reserved for the 
 mother of his boy, and goes by the name of the Hindoo Court. 
 Perhaps there was more than one Hindoo princess. On the 
 highest ground, as usual, rises the mosque, and a magnificent one 
 it is, worthy of so great an Emperor. But first for the palace. 
 Truly the ruins are superb. Red sandstone almost as good as 
 marble is the material universally employed, and not a bit of 
 wood for floor, rafter, or roof have I found. This red sandstone 
 takes a wonderful finish, and seems very easy to work. Court 
 after court, pavilion after pavilion have I seen, all wonderfully 
 wrought over with ingenious and beautiful patterns, and all as 
 fresh and sharp in detail as the day they were done ; only here 
 and there has it been found necessary to build a prop to support 
 the great weight of all this stone on the roof; and so it all remains, 
 almost as perfect as when the great Emperor left it in disgust. 
 Yet it has been for years uninhabited — in fact, Akbar alone 
 lived here.
 
 AGRA. 57 
 
 " Men say the lion and the lizard keep 
 Their watch where Jamseed revelled and drank deep ;" 
 
 So here, where the great Emperor feasted, there is no dread, 
 and where the mighty voice gave judgment and the whole 
 world trembled, nought is seen but the timid little grey squirrel, 
 or heard but the cry of the green parrot or the coo of the inno- 
 cent dove. Two reasons are recorded in history for this de- 
 sertion. Some say that Akbar lost a favourite son at Futteh- 
 pore Sikree, and left the place in disgust. The more likely 
 reason is the want of good water. There is a green and dirty 
 tank, certainly, into which for a small sum certain natives plunge 
 from the height of 80 feet ; but I can well imagine, if that is the 
 only water (and I saw none other), that it would not be either 
 pure or wholesome. 
 
 They show a most curious dewan, in the centre of which rises 
 a broad column, with swelling capital* From this radiate four 
 causeways leading to the four corners of the room. On the 
 centre column sat Akbar, while the four ministers sat in the 
 four corners. The column is about 12 feet high, and the room 
 is by no means large, 25 feet square at most. This was the 
 Dewan-i-Khas, or Cabinet of Akbar. The Dewan-i-Am, or 
 Public Audience Place, is a large courtyard, particularly plain in 
 its decoration — good enough for the public of his day, no doubt. 
 The whole palace is of Hindoo architecture. 
 
 One cannot help wondering at the smallness of the rooms in- 
 habited by this great people. Akbar's room, or rather the one 
 shown as Akbar's room, is 12 feet square. In none of his wives' 
 pavilions are the rooms larger, and the largest has only six such 
 small rooms. I remember, however, when I went round the 
 tents of the Jummoo Maharajah, which were magnificent in size, 
 finding that his Highness of Kashmir himself slept in a tent 
 8 feet square. What astonished me most was the enormous 
 wealth of ingenious design displayed all over the palace. There 
 was hardly a chamber undecorated with carved work, yet rarely 
 
 * A cast of this column is in the South Kensington Museum.
 
 5S IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 a pattern repeated. Every fruit and flower was represented, and 
 in one pavilion birds and beasts ; but the bigoted Aurungzebe 
 had, they say, with his own hand chopped off and obliterated all 
 trace of their heads. Apropos of Aurungzebe, in my historical 
 reading I came across a curious protest against the religious 
 persecutions of that monarch, addressed to him by one of his 
 sirdars, the Maharana of Oodeypore, which I wish to record. It 
 ends thus : 
 
 " Pagans and Moslems stand alike before the great God. In 
 your mosques it is in His Name that the call to prayer is uttered. 
 In the house of idols, where the bell is rung, it is still He that 
 is the object of adoration. To vilify the religious customs of 
 other men is to set at nought the will of the Almighty. When 
 we deface a picture we necessarily incur the resentment of the 
 painter." 
 
 The mosque here is one of the most famous in India, and is 
 certainly one of the most beautiful. The courtyard is nearly as 
 big as that of the Jumma Musjid at Delhi, but the great gate 
 does not face the mosque proper, which is curious ; the gate, 
 however, was built fifty years after the rest of the mosque. 
 
 On the south side is the celebrated marble tomb of Selim 
 Shisti, a saintly man, who was Akbar's parson. The traceries of 
 his tomb are the most elaborate I have yet seen, and inside are 
 what I imagine to be the earliest attempts at mural painting 
 on white marble. I was very pleased to see these, as they are 
 clumsier than either the decorations at the Dewan-i-Khas at 
 Delhi or in the fort at Agra, and, though the same kind of thing, 
 clearly the work of Hindoo artists. This proves to me that the 
 later work was not, as some people suppose, inspired by Italians- 
 The tomb proper of the saint is like a large four-post bedstead, 
 and has been beautifully inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Alas ! the 
 upper part has been ruthlessly destroyed, and the legs alone 
 remain perfect to show the beauty and delicacy of the design. 
 
 They tell a curious story of Selim Shisti. One day his infant 
 son asked his father why he looked so sad. "Alas!" said the 
 saint, " I have had a revelation that our lord and master, Akbar
 
 AGRA. 59 
 
 will never have a son unless some sinless being is willing to 
 sacrifice his life." " That I will do," said the boy, and straight- 
 way died, and here he lies ; and, after three hundred years, 
 ladies who desire male heirs make pilgrimages to his tomb, and 
 branches of a tree that grows thereby are, if plucked and taken 
 away, sure preventives against fever and all the ills flesh is heir 
 to. Even the traceries around the Saint Selim's tomb are covered 
 with little bits of worsted, tied there by heirless ladies ! 
 
 The mosque proper is on the west side of the courtyard, 
 looking, therefore, east. It is of the usual shape, one large arch 
 leading to an inner shrine. All the courtyard round is Hindoo 
 in character, but this mosque has the pointed arch of the Moslem. 
 The decorations inside are most beautiful, — not roses and lilies 
 here. Every part of the walls, roof and all, is covered with 
 designs, all of them most original and fine : some are geometric 
 patterns, made of inlaid marble and painted pieces of vitreous 
 tile ; some are panels painted on the stone itself. But the rich- 
 ness and beauty of the whole has, so far as I have seen, never 
 been surpassed. Apropos of tiles, I have never seen a painted 
 tile in India : all I have seen have been cut into shape, are of 
 one colour, and are used as mosaic to make the pattern. 
 
 One thing I noticed in this mosque as differing from anything 
 I have seen in India, and yet recalling an English tradition — 
 the whole of the great gate, as far as a man can reach, is covered 
 with Jiorse-shoes nailed on the wood of the door, and making a 
 curious decoration. 
 
 While I have been busy looking round the wonders of the 
 
 place, my friend G has been out shooting. He was much 
 
 excited on the way here by seeing a herd of antelopes. 
 
 " I am not going to look at ruins, while there is anything to 
 shoot," said he ; and off he started, with a shikaree from the 
 village, and several coolies. Late in the evening he returned. 
 
 " Well, where is the black buck ? " 
 
 " I haven't got any." 
 
 " What ! not a shot ? " 
 
 "Why, yes," he said; "I saw one herd, when all my coolies
 
 60 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 shouted 'Harrin ! harrin ! ' as if they were all stark staring mad, 
 and I hadn't got eyes to my head, and of course away they went. 
 I let 'em have it, but missed 'em. I caught one of those coolies 
 I beckoned to, and cuffed him round a ten-acre lot." 
 
 " Good gracious ! " cried I ; " recollect you are in India, and 
 might have ruptured the man's spleen." 
 
 " I did not care," he said. " I was so riled, I ' booted ' him, I 
 can tell you." 
 
 He is a very good fellow, and most useful at a bargain, only 
 sentiment is not his line. 
 
 For myself, I have made two sketches of the Taj, which I hope 
 to finish to-morrow, when I return to Agra, and here one sketch. 
 I have also drawn many of the patterns here, which will be very 
 useful in many ways. 
 
 On Monday, the 22nd January, we returned to Agra, and I 
 spent the afternoon again on the Taj. On Tuesday I went to the 
 jail, which is one of the best places for the manufacture of carpets 
 in India. I had never been in a prison before. Here they have 
 2,400 human beings, all dressed alike. They all squat down as 
 you pass, smack their hands, and produce their prison number. 
 One poor feeble old fellow was lying in the corner of one of the 
 sleeping-huts. Dr. Tyler, the obliging superintendent of the jail, 
 touched him with the end of his stick, and he raised his poor old 
 hands and pitiful face, crying, " I am cold and ill?' Dr. Tyler 
 ordered him to be taken to the sun. 
 
 "He is an old prisoner," he said; "he has been here since 
 eighteen thirty-seven." 
 
 Fancy, the year before I was born ! He was a Thug, and con- 
 sequently did not benefit by the declaration of the empire, when 
 two hundred prisoners were released by the Empress's kindness. 
 
 The carpets here are very good — but too good. As specimens of 
 manufacture they would hold their own against any carpets made. 
 Dr. Tyler showed us by the backs how well every thread was 
 brought home, &c. ; but I was obliged to confess, artistically, 
 they were a sad falling off from the carpets of other places, which 
 as manufactures were much inferior. I saw some made for
 
 AGRA. 6 1 
 
 R , K , and others, where the colours were rather crude, 
 
 and the manufacture looked like drugget. This place is one of 
 the instances of well-intentioned effort failing from want of artistic 
 knowledge. I was informed that the men who were taught 
 carpet-making here, when liberated invariably went back to their 
 old pursuit, generally agriculture, although they could earn more 
 than twice as much by making carpets. 
 
 In one court we passed a man condemned to death for the 
 murder of a boy. He was shamming madness, and his gestures 
 and cries as he squatted on the ground in the sun (watched by 
 two warders and chained heavily) were very weird. He had 
 committed an atrocious murder. One could not have much pity 
 for such a wretch, but the sight of him continued to haunt me 
 all day. 
 
 At twelve I was back again at the Taj, where, by the courtesy 
 of the gentleman who looks after the garden, water had been run 
 into the straight tanks leading up the central avenue, which have 
 been lately dry, owing to their leaking. The long reflections of 
 the white marble much improve the magic of the effect. 
 
 The gardens are particularly well managed. There are two 
 rose gardens and lawns, quite English, with good turf. Perhaps 
 they may be out of place here, but the green must be grateful 
 even to the eye of the native, and to the Englishman recalls 
 many pleasant places in the old country. Mr. Smith, the gardener, 
 showed me one tree, a cotton-tree, which he says was four hundred 
 years old, and consequently stood here before the Taj existed. 
 Possibly this is so, and Akbar and Shah Jehan feasted and drank 
 (they did drink, though Moslems) beneath its shade. Yet here 
 it is, green and flowering. What a life ! The tree is 45 feet in 
 circumference. 
 
 By eleven o'clock on Tuesday evening we found ourselves in two 
 dak gharries, bumping along towards Gwalior. A dak gharry is an 
 extraordinary-looking vehicle, something between a four-wheel 
 cab and a hearse. It is painted green, has a double roof, and 
 solid blinds instead of glass windows. The centre between the 
 seats is boarded up, and the traveller reclines at full length, and
 
 62 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 sleeps if he can. Into this strange vehicle two little horses are 
 harnessed, one in the shafts and one on the near side, and off 
 we go at a gallop, while the driver blows a horn to prepare the 
 way. They change horses every six miles, and manage to get you 
 along, including stoppages, about that distance every hour. On 
 the roof your luggage is piled, and your servant with it. It is 
 extraordinary how these fellows curl themselves up, and sleep 
 anywhere, in balcony or passage. No one ever pays the slightest 
 attention to them, and they look like bundles of clothes lying 
 about. I am reminded, by finding my bearer in all sorts of 
 corners, of the account in St. Simon, of the death of Mon- 
 seigneur, eldest son of Louis XIV. He and some others were 
 talking rather openly against the lately deceased man, thinking 
 no one was by, when one of them touched a bed in the passage 
 where they were, and out of it rose a half-dressed Swiss Guard. 
 They all hurried away in great fear lest they had been over- 
 heard. Well, these fellows, if they understand the language, 
 must hear funny things, for they sleep everywhere. 
 
 The road from Agra to Gwalior is not bad, luckily, yet even 
 on these roads the jolting of the gharry was such as to " give me 
 to think " of the many miles I have to travel thus during the 
 next month or two. I slept notwithstanding, but in a fitful way, 
 constantly awakened by the wretched too-tooing of the driver's 
 horn. At 3.30 we crossed the famous river Chambal, and at 
 eight sighted the still more famous port of Gwalior, about which 
 so much has been written lately, and at half-past nine reached 
 Gwalior itself, from which place I am writing.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE. 
 
 26th January. 
 f~~^ WALIOR is the capital of Maharajah Sindia. It may be 
 ^-^ said to consist of three parts — modern Gwalior, which is 
 called by the natives Luskar, or The Camp ; the old fort and 
 town ; and the cantonments, or Morar. Coming in by dak, we 
 stopped at Old Gwalior, on the north of the fort. Here there is 
 nothing but a dak bungalow and a few houses. South rises the 
 long line of sandstone on which is built the fort, and which is a 
 mile and three-quarters in length. We quickly perceived that 
 this would not do, had our things re-packed in the gJiarries, and 
 drove to the cantonments, six miles off. Of Luskar, or Gwalior 
 town, we saw nothing, except the glitter of Sindia's new palace 
 in the distance. We stopped and breakfasted with Sir Henry 
 Daly, who is Governor-General's Agent in Central India, and 
 then drove to the dak bungalow, in the cantonments. Sindia 
 ought to have put me up at his own dak bungalow, but he ex- 
 cused himself by saying that he had lately enclosed it with a 
 wall, and that it was now in his women's garden. Altogether, 
 the Maharajah has behaved very badly to me. The policy of 
 the Government appears to humour him in all things, and I have 
 been partly sacrificed, as the sequel shows. 
 
 Morar, where the Europeans live, is a pleasant place enough ; 
 the roads are broad and good, the trees shady, and the bungalows 
 pleasant. Sir Henry, too, was personally most kind, and invited 
 us to dinner. He said that Mohurrum was being celebrated (it 
 took place yesterday and to-day), and that he had great difficulty 
 in getting the Maharajah to give a sitting for the 25th, but that
 
 64 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 on the 26th it was impossible, as it was Durwaza bund* and 
 he could see no one during the Mohurrum. I amused myself 
 during the day by painting a copy of the head I had begun at 
 Delhi, and had got it into a good state to be worked upon the next 
 day, Thursday, 25th January, when I was to go with Daly to the 
 palace, by appointment, at one o'clock. I had brought a Parsee 
 boy from Bombay, who came with a good character, but who 
 turned out utterly useless. On Thursday I told him to pack up 
 my new picture, and particularly not to take my old one. Off 
 we started, and, after half an hour's drive, came to the new 
 palace. This has been built by a European in the Maharajah's 
 service. It is of considerable extent, and was got ready first for 
 the Prince of Wales during his visit. Architecturally it is not a 
 triumph, being a base sort of Renaissance ; but it is considered 
 something quite extraordinary here, where such things are rare. 
 We drive into a courtyard, go up a staircase of marble, and are 
 received by Sindia in person. Of all the rajahs, he is most 
 powerful, but certainly, of all I have seen, has the least etiquette. 
 He is very comic in his own palace, where he looks like a re- 
 spectable baboo. The palace itself is an odd jumble of all 
 kinds of funny decorations. Hanging from the stairs are lines 
 of chandelier-drops. The principal room is a fine large place 
 with white and gold decorations, and two enormous chandeliers, 
 which cost, they say, £2,000 apiece ; altogether, His Highness 
 is great in cut glass. The room is lighted with semicircular 
 windows, filled with the common coloured glass which one 
 sees in lodging-houses at home. They say the decorations 
 (white and gold) were all done here in Gwalior, and that it was 
 a wonderful feat. Like Doctor Johnson, I felt inclined to say, 
 " Sir, I wish it was not only wonderful, but impossible." Round 
 this central room are several handsome apartments, in one of 
 which down squats the Maharajah, the courtiers group around, 
 and I am to begin. Imagine, then, my horror at finding 
 that my brilliant Parsee had left my new picture, and only 
 
 * Durwaza bnnd means literally " door closed," or as we would say, :< not 
 at home."
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE. 
 
 65 
 
 brought the old one covered with dust, and sunk in! I confess 
 I lost my temper as I have not done for a long time, and cursed 
 him audibly. If the Maharajah had not been there, I believe I 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS JAIAJI RAO SINDIA, MAHARAJAH OF GWALIOR. 
 
 should have kicked him, and run the chance of rupturing his 
 spleen. Here was I, after ten hours' dak and several days' travel, 
 with my only chance of painting the great Sindia, and utterly 
 unprepared ! 
 
 5
 
 66 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 I was so angry that I could not work even at my old study. 
 Meanwhile, Sir Henry Daly, one of the burra sahibs of the ser- 
 vice, was doing his best to amuse Sindia, and talking of all sorts 
 of things. It was too sad. 
 
 Sindia is the worst sitter I have yet had to contend with. He 
 is not steady for a moment. " If Sir Henry were not here I 
 wouldn't sit at all," he said; also, " This is worse than the hardest 
 day's pooja (praying) I ever had ; and after all, what is the use ? 
 I don't get anything by it." With all this, however, he was not in 
 a bad humour, and laughed a great deal. Meanwhile here was I 
 toiling away, I felt, to no purpose. I shall not forget that morn- 
 ing, I can tell you. I tried in vain to pull myself together, both for 
 Daly's sake and my own, but it would not come. I was obliged 
 to say at last, when I saw it was impossible to keep him any 
 longer, " There, that will do," with the happy consciousness of 
 having made a "mull." 
 
 In the room were two very comic full-length portraits of the 
 Maharajah, one by a native, done from a photograph, extra- 
 ordinarily worked up to look like a nightmare, and the other by 
 Mr. M. W., which looked like a picture from the New Road. 
 
 If anybody in future tries to paint Sindia, let him do it from 
 a photograph, for Jaiaji Rao Sindia will, I am convinced, never 
 give an artist a chance of painting him from nature. The 
 moment Daly said the sitting was over, up jumped the Maha- 
 rajah and bolted from the room. 
 
 When talking and animated, Sindia has rather a pleasing face. 
 He can be charming and do graceful things. At the Delhi 
 Assembly he made a very good speech, which — as it was never, 
 I believe, reported — I give from Sir Henry Daly's translation. 
 After the Viceroy's address, Sindia had to speak. 
 
 " Are you ready ? " said Daly, who was sitting next to him. 
 Sindia nodded. " Let it be short, and with plenty in it." 
 
 Up jumped His Highness and said (and I heard every word, 
 though, of course, I did not understand) : " Shah-in-Shah, Padi- 
 shah ! the Princes of India greet you. May you enjoy long life 
 and happiness, and may your Raj last for ever ! "
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE, 67 
 
 Nevertheless His Highness does not know what is due to an 
 artist who has come a hundred miles for a sitting. I am now to 
 get a photograph of him in his jewels, and a coat and a hat, from 
 which to paint him. 
 
 The first Sindia was slipper-bearer to the first Peishwa. One 
 day, so goes the tale, the Peishwa coming out unexpectedly 
 found Ranoji Sindia asleep, with his slippers firmly clutched in 
 his arms. Conceiving a high opinion of one who was so faithful 
 to a small trust, the Peishwa gave him a post in his body-guard ; 
 from which he rose. The Sindias, though so proud now, are 
 descended from this slipper-bearer of this Peishwa, who was him- 
 self only Prime Minister or rather Mayor of the Palace to the 
 descendants of Sivaji. Madaji Rao Sindia, whose genius first 
 formed the power of the family, and who was at one time all- 
 powerful from Delhi to the Nerbudda, always acknowledged the 
 superiority of the Peishwa. On one occasion when the master 
 had reason to be dissatisfied with the servant, Sindia suddenly 
 appeared at Court. He approached the Peishwa with great 
 humility, and said he had never forgotten he was but his slipper- 
 bearer. He then stooped, drew off the Peishwa's slippers, and 
 furnished him from beneath his clothing with a new pair. The 
 old ones he carried away with him : they say they are still at 
 Gwalior. It would be well if Jaiaji Rao, the present Sindia, could 
 have them presented to him when he is in some of his haughtier 
 moods, to remind him of what his ancestors were. 
 
 We were invited with Sir Henry to go with Sindia to see how 
 the Mohurrum is kept in Gwalior. We drove to the palace, and 
 there took elephant. I do not know what Gwalior, or rather 
 Luskar, is by daylight ; by torchlight it is the most picturesque 
 thing I have seen. Sindia is a Maratha, and consequently a 
 Hindoo by religion. But Marathas have made a compromise 
 with Mohammedans, and keep all their feasts, the Mohammedans 
 returning the compliment. 
 
 This compromise was made when Madaji Rao first made con- 
 quests in Hindostan. Sivaji, the first Maratha sovereign, was 
 the starter of the great Hindoo revival that changed the state of 
 
 5 — 2
 
 68 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 India; but his revival was essentially Hindoo, and none but 
 Hindoos filled all the offices of trust and command in the new 
 Maratha confederacy. Madaji Rao first somewhat broke through 
 this rule. Finding so many Moslems, Patans, and Pindarrees 
 joining his standard, he trimmed his religion to the breeze of 
 fortune. He was always in search of popularity, and never gave 
 himself any of the airs of a sovereign, though he was virtually 
 much more powerful than the Peishwa he served. Both he and 
 Holkar wished to be considered merely potails or head men of 
 villages in the Maratha State; hence it is a common saying in 
 Hindostan that "Madaji Sindia made himself the sovereign of 
 an empire by calling himself a potail or head man of a village." 
 When the Peishwa was going to war with the English, he wrote 
 to Daolut Rao, Madaji's adopted son and real great-nephew, who 
 was supposed to be friendly to the English, "Your father, Madaji 
 Sindia, agreeably to the orders of the Sircar (the Peishwa), went 
 to Delhi, was made a vizier, and acquired a high reputation. He 
 served us with his heart and soul. When you became his suc- 
 cessor you entered into an alliance with the English. Thus you 
 govern in Hindostan, and thus you show your gratitude. In thus 
 serving us it is befitting you to put bangles on your arms, and sit 
 down like a woman. After my power is destroyed, is it possible 
 yours should stand ? "* 
 
 Daolut Rao, when he read the above, was in much distress for 
 two hours ; he then went to sleep. But he sent no answer. Daolut 
 Rao had none of the great qualities of the son of the slipper- 
 bearer. Jaiaji Rao, the present Sindia, is ever a seeker of popu- 
 larity. Does he hope to rival Madaji Rao in greatness ? Who 
 knows ? 
 
 Now all was gay in Gwalior. The Mohurrum is, I believe, 
 instituted to commemorate the death and martyrdom of Hassan 
 and Hosein, the sons of Ali and grandsons of Mahomet. Why 
 everybody should be in a state of wild delight I do not know, or 
 why the Hindoos and Moslems alike should build enormous 
 
 '* This is from .Malcolm's ''Central India," a capital and most entertaining 
 book.
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE. 6g 
 
 temples of gold and silver tinsel, at great expense, to be after- 
 wards buried or tossed into the river, I have failed to discover. 
 Anyhow, everybody was shouting, " tom-toming," and excited, 
 and the streets were full of these glittering temples. The Maha- 
 rajah on an elephant, preceded by torchbearers, and followed by 
 us also on elephant-back, with difficulty worked his way through 
 the crowd. Up to the housetops, every place was crowded. Long 
 rows of squatting men and women in all kinds of shining drapery 
 are the best artistic decoration I know ; the houses, too, are most 
 picturesque, with many pierced windows and balconies. Besides 
 the torchlight, ever and anon some one would fire Bengal lights, 
 and show the houses and their many-coloured lines of squatting 
 natives to great advantage. " Wah Maharajah Sahib ! " cry the 
 natives, and bow to the ground before Sindia. The sliroffs or 
 money-dealers of Gwalior are said to be the richest in India, and 
 accordingly we had the usual barbaric display — coloured glasses 
 and cheap pictures, to be found in every well-to-do native's house, 
 and on occasions of this kind hung all over the walls outside. 
 At the door of each house was its owner, to salaam to his Maha- 
 rajah, and many received a greeting from his Highness in return. 
 How different this would be in the English states, with their 
 cold, unsympathetic rule ! 
 
 At length we come to a kind of place where the elephants are 
 wheeled round, and, at a sign from Sindia, a kind of march past 
 of these miniature temples begins. How they manage to get 
 through the crowd is a wonder, for the whole place, from our 
 elephants to the elephants which lined the opposite side, was a 
 sea of heads. The turbans were all kinds of colours and shapes, 
 and looked, being packed close together, like a box of roses pre- 
 pared for a journey. On passed temple after temple, some 20 
 feet high, and all turned round before the Maharajah. All too 
 were accompanied with tom-toms, drums, horns, and a peculiar 
 cymbal worked on a kind of stick with tremendous energy. Before 
 some of these temples there went a devotee, who swayed himself 
 backwards and forwards, continually crying in an agonized voice, 
 "Hassan, Hoscin ! Hassan, Hosein!" He was always supported
 
 /O IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 by two men, or he must have fallen. Once the procession stops 
 for a curious display of sword dance, and once to show the con- 
 tortions of some excellent tumblers ; and there Sindia sat for 
 hours, — the same Sindia who could not sit ten minutes for his 
 picture,— and there we left him to make a night of it. I hear he 
 ■was out again the next day. Verily there is no accounting for 
 taste. The scene was one of the most striking sights I have ever 
 seen, yet two hours of it and it became somewhat monotonous. 
 Temples of tinsel are much alike ; once only we had a variation 
 in the shape of a wonderful animal, with the body of a bird and 
 the head of a white woman; and once too a case with two figures, 
 also white, which looked like women, but possibly might have 
 been intended for Hassan and Hosein. 
 
 \\ hat the natives enjoyed in the business was the row and 
 tomasha. Our servants went out to see it next day, but none of 
 them knew what it was all about. One, a Mohammedan, knew 
 that some one had died that day, but could not say who it was. 
 
 The architecture here is very curious ; the patterns of the win- 
 dows and balconies most original and beautiful. I asked Daly 
 whether it would be possible to get any made like them. He said 
 Jeypore was the place to see such things, and as everybody says 
 the same thing, I must wait till I get to Jeypore. I was dis- 
 appointed of my carriage on Friday, and spent the day trying 
 to relieve my mishap of Thursday, and make something of a 
 portrait from memory and from what I had already done. I 
 think I have somehow painted something recognizable. 
 
 On Saturday again the carriage promised by Sindia did not 
 come, which was too bad. Yesterday he sent to say that all the 
 carriages had been out all night at the Mohurrum, but that excuse 
 could not apply to to-day. There was to be a garrison meeting 
 and sports in the afternoon, called the Sindia Sports, as Sindia 
 had given the prizes, and this, with rage in my heart, I had re- 
 solved to attend. His Highness was there, and as it was the first 
 time for five years that he had been into the cantonments, he 
 was well received. I had determined to start that night for 
 Dholepore, my next rajah; but as Sindia said he would certainly
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE. 71 
 
 sit for his photo the next day, and promised also to send a 
 carriage to take us to, and elephants to take us over, the fort, 
 I relented. 
 
 The sports were but poor fun, the only good show being the 
 tent-pegging and camel race. I had never seen tent-pegging 
 before. It is a fine sport, and well worth seeing, though I believe 
 the fellows here do not do it so well as the Punjaubees. The 
 race of the day for Sindia's cup was a mile race, open to Euro- 
 peans and natives. To the surprise of all, natives were first and 
 second ; the third was an artilleryman. He was much done on 
 reaching the post, and could only gasp and point to the winner. 
 It turned out that No. 1 had quietly sat down half-way, and 
 joined the runners on their return journey, and that there were 
 great doubts as to whether No. 2 had been round the post. 
 Verily the native is a slippery and artful being. 
 
 28///. — At 7 a.m. the promised carriage arrived, and off we 
 started. At the foot of the hill we took elephant. Gwalior 
 fort is approached by a very steep incline, with several gates. 
 On the top is a very fine old palace, with curious decorations, 
 consisting of bands of blue, green, and yellow tiles let into the 
 stones ; one band is composed of ducks and geese, and one has 
 occasional elephants. The whole is much out of repair. The 
 perpendicular sides of the great rock on which is the fort (for for- 
 tifications proper there are none) are much carved. Many temples 
 are hollowed out, and there are some colossal figures, showing, 
 as one might expect from its situation, that it was a stronghold 
 and place of residence in most remote ages. On the plateau, 
 at the top, there are two temples very highly decorated and 
 most interesting from the sculptures on them, which are full of 
 " g°-" * There are also several tanks. The British have marred 
 the whole by their abominable barracks. 
 
 This fortress of Gwalior was used as a state prison by the 
 Moguls. It was here that the unsuccessful competitors for the 
 
 * There is a very full description of the temples and architecture of Gwalior 
 in Rousselet's " Rajahs of India." He attributes all the buildings to the 
 Jains, who were no doubt the great builders of India.
 
 /2 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 imperial throne were consigned to a lingering death. Bernier, 
 who was an eye-witness, describes the interview between Soliman 
 Chekouh, the son of Uara, Aurungzebe's elder brother, and the 
 Emperor. It must be remembered that Dara had been defeated, 
 hunted down, and killed shortly before. 
 
 "Aurungzebe, that nobody might doubt it was Soliman Che- 
 kouh himself, commanded him to be brought before him in the 
 presence of all the grandees of the Court. At the entry of the 
 gate the chains were taken from his feet, leaving those he had 
 about his hands, which seemed gilt. When this proper young 
 man, so handsome and gallant, was seen to enter, there were a 
 good number of omrahs that could not hold their tears ; and, as 
 I was informed, all the great ladies of the Court that had leave 
 to see him come in, fell a-weeping. Aurungzebe, who appeared 
 himself to be touched at his misfortunes, began to speak very 
 kindly to him and to comfort him ; telling him, amongst other 
 things, to fear nothing, that no hurt should be done to him ; 
 that he had caused his father to be put to death for no other 
 reason than that he had turned kafir, and a man without reli- 
 gion. Whereupon this young prince returned him the salaam 
 and blessed him, abasing his hands to the earth, and lifting 
 them as well as he could up to his head, after the custom of his 
 country ; and told him, with resolution enough, that if he were 
 to drink poust, he entreated him that he might die presently, 
 being very willing to submit to his fate. But Aurungzebe pro- 
 mised him publicly that he should drink none of it, that he 
 should rest satisfied of that, and not entertain any sad thoughts 
 about it. This being said, he once more repeated the salaam, 
 and was sent to Gwalior with the rest. This poust is nothing 
 else than poppy expressed and infused a night in water. And 
 it is that potion which those that are kept at Gwalior are com- 
 monly made to drink ; I mean those princes whose heads they 
 think not to cut off. This is the first thing that is brought them 
 in the morning, and they have nothing given them to eat till 
 they have drunk a great cupful of it ; and they would rather let 
 them starve. This emaciates them exceedingly, and maketh
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE. J^ 
 
 them die insensibly, they losing little by little their understand- 
 ing, and growing torpid and senseless. And by this means it is 
 said that Sepe Chekouh and the grandchild of Morad Baksh, and 
 Soliman Chekouh, were dispatched. Morad Baksh," Bernier pro- 
 ceeds to say, "was thought so dangerous that his head was given 
 to the family of a certain Syed, or descendant of Mahomet, who 
 had himself suffered death by order of the unfortunate Morad. 
 when Governor of ' Amadevat ' (Ahmedabad). This retributive 
 justice was carried out in Gwalior." What other tales of smaller 
 victims to imperial policy these walls could tell ! And if they 
 were given up to Sindia, to what use would they be put ? Surely 
 the most innocent things ever imprisoned in Gwalior are those 
 45 -pounders shut up in store, but ready for use, should occasion 
 require it ! 
 
 As a fortress against a civilized foe, Gwalior would be of little 
 use, since it could be bombarded from at least two sides from 
 adjacent hills, and there are, as I said above, no real fortifications. 
 Its only strength is from its position, rising as it does from the 
 plain, with only two possible ways of entering; also from the fact 
 that neither Sindia nor any other rajah has artillery of sufficient 
 calibre to silence the 40-pounders we have there. No wonder 
 it is a sore thorn in the poor Maharajah's side, for it commands 
 not only his palace, but the new town of Gwalior (Luskar), and it 
 would be easy to destroy either in half an hour. 
 
 At 2 p.m. I was punctually at the palace, and found Bulwant 
 Rao (Sindia's natural son, and a very good lad, who talks English), 
 with his photographic machine ready. 
 
 While waiting for Sindia to put on his jewels, I had the honour 
 of being photographed myself, and, judging from the negative, 
 the result was pretty successful. 
 
 I have been anxious to get a turban, ox pugrcc, of the Ma- 
 harajah's, and a coat; but Bulwant Rao informed me that he 
 thought there was a religious prejudice against giving any such 
 things. Presently in comes Sindia; he was in a capital temper, and 
 I had a long conversation with him, and finally, on my leavino- 
 I received my turban from my friend Bulwant Rao, with an inti-
 
 74 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 mation that the Maharajah, as a special mark of favour, gave it 
 to me to show the people of England how the Marathas were 
 dressed. 
 
 I saw some of Sindia's jewels, diamonds, with very fine inlaid 
 work at the back, which inlay is generally supposed to be the 
 speciality of Jeypore. Sindia, however, assured me that it was 
 all done here in Gwalior, but that the process was a secret. 
 Altogether, I was more pleased with His Highness on this visit 
 than I expected. He is very fond of children : one little chap 
 of about five came up and saluted him, and the Maharajah's face 
 quite lit up. It is a pity he came to the throne so soon, and had 
 no education. 
 
 Some months after this I was painting the Rajah of Nabha 
 Sikh. He sat beautifully, so well that I said, "You sit much 
 better than Maharajah Sindia, who said sitting was harder than 
 the hardest day'sfloq/a." 
 
 Nabha laughed, and said, " It was not sitting Sindia found so 
 unpleasant, it was being obliged to sit." 
 
 Nabha was no doubt right. In my experience of great rajahs, 
 I always found my position, as accredited painter to the Govern- 
 ment, led to my being viewed with suspicion. This, of course, 
 should not be. But rajahs are but children. 
 
 To-morrow morning I go to Dholepore. 
 
 2gt/i January. 
 
 Dholepore is a small strip of country about eighty miles by 
 thirty, lying along the river Chambal, which divides it from 
 Gwalior. Originally, the Rana of Dholepore possessed a large 
 tract, called Gohad, on the farther side of the Chambal ; but 
 Madaji Rao Sindia and his descendants annexed it during the 
 Maratha troubles. There is, therefore, no love lost between the 
 Rana of Dholepore and Sindia, and this hereditary enmity has 
 been increased by the fact that when the English took Gwalior 
 Fort, they handed it over to the charge of the ancestor of the 
 present Rana. 
 
 Dholepore is thirty miles from Gwalior on the Agra road. It
 
 GWALIOR AND DHOLEPORE. 75 
 
 took us five hours to reach it, and we found a hearty welcome in 
 Major Dennehy, the political agent, and his family, whose hospi- 
 tality is proverbial through this part of India. 
 
 The Rana is a small boy of thirteen, who speaks English as 
 well as an English boy, and runs about the Dennehys' house as 
 if he were one of their children. He is not pretty, having a very 
 retreating chin and rather projecting teeth, but he is very intelli- 
 gent, with a great feeling for humour. Altogether, he is a very 
 attractive boy, and we got on splendidly together. 
 
 Of Dholepore I have very little to say, as the town is poor and 
 squalid, with no good buildings. There is a good tomb of one of 
 Akbar's generals, Sadik Mohammed Khan ; and a curious tank, 
 supplied by a spring, which is said to have sprung up at the 
 bidding of Krishna ; it is consequently surrounded with temples, 
 and is considered a very holy place. 
 
 The little Rana tried to give us some cheetah hunting, but it 
 would not come off, as, when we found deer (and they were scarce 
 enough), we could not get the cheetah, and of course vice versa. 
 
 The Dennehys live in truly patriarchal style. Their home at 
 present is the place which, when the Rana grows up and comes to 
 his own, will be used as a durbar house. The house, therefore, is 
 really one large room. In this room are found during the day all 
 kinds of sirdars and officers waiting for an audience, and among 
 all romps the little Rana. 
 
 Three years ago, when we undertook the management of 
 Dholepore, he was a sickly lad, who required three men to hold 
 him on horseback : now he is strong and healthy, rides to hounds 
 which he hunts himself, plays polo, and is up to any fun. His 
 mother, the ruling Ranee, is a sister of the late Rajah of Puttiala. 
 At first she objected to the English education for her son, but 
 being a reasonable woman (fancy that !), she has quite given in ; 
 and, except when eating and sleeping, the boy is always at the 
 Dennehys'. The difficulty is to get him to go home at all. If 
 he had been left to his mother and Indian ways, he would have 
 been married, and quite ruined in health and mind ; so in some 
 things we English have done some good.
 
 jG IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 The Ranee has a curious history. She was married at twelve 
 to the son of the then reigning Rana of Dholepore, a boy of the 
 same age, and took an extreme dislike to her husband at first 
 sight ; indeed, the first interview between them resulted in a 
 right, and the high priest had to be called in to separate them. 
 A marriage begun under such unfavourable auspices could not, 
 of course, be expected to turn out well. Luckily, the father-in- 
 law became very fond of the Ranee, and took her part. Now, 
 the lady had brought from Puttiala thirteen ladies of honour, 
 and on one of them the husband fixed his amorous eyes. The 
 Ranee was furious, and such a row ensued that she was sent in 
 disgrace to a fort, which was to be a prison, some distance off. 
 From this she contrived to escape to Puttiala, and there the boy 
 was born. The Rana (pcre) was naturally anxious to have the 
 charge of his grandchild and heir, but the lady was resolute, and 
 only consented to return when her woman (the favoured of her 
 husband) should be given up to her. The husband yielded ; 
 the lady returned ; and the favoured one was sent to the fort 
 instead of the wife. She took the precaution of cooking her own 
 food, poor woman ; but, curiously enough, died three days after- 
 wards. It is curious, too, that the present Rana succeeded his 
 grandfather. 
 
 This is only one of the stories of the Zenana that I have heard. 
 Fancy what a world of intrigue it must be, and a world into 
 which no man able to record its life, with its passions, joys, and 
 tears, has ever been able fairly to penetrate. Unhappily, most 
 of these Indian ladies are too uneducated to write their ex- 
 periences. 
 
 Early marriages are the curse of the country. Husband and 
 wife are both children ; they have, of course, never met before 
 marriage, and are often weary of each other before either has 
 arrived at the age when Europeans marry. I was pointed out a 
 young fellow of seventeen who had been a father three years ! 
 Of course children of such marriages are far from strong. The 
 lady's only anxiety is to keep the matrimonial couch from any 
 lawful rival, and she encourages all other peccadilloes so long as
 
 GWAIJOR AND DHOLEPORE. 77 
 
 she is not disturbed in her supremacy in the Zenana. The in- 
 trigues by which all this is kept up are wonderful. The follow- 
 ing story is worth recording as trait des mosurs, even at the risk 
 of offending not only the high and mighty persons therein con- 
 cerned, but the Indian Government. 
 
 A great Maharajah, then, had once a favourite, of whom, in the 
 course of time, he grew tired. To save expense, she was allowed 
 to return to her relatives, with a small pension. There she at- 
 tracted the attentions of a worthy baboo,* who married her. The 
 husband was a sharp fellow, and rose in the Government service. 
 Meanwhile the Maharajah heard that his quondam favourite was 
 married, and being worked on by his courtiers to consider himself 
 insulted, he started, with a small retinue, and incog., for the city 
 where the fair one resided with her baboo husband, in order to 
 bring her back. The lady, however, heard of his coming, and 
 received him with shut doors. In vain His Highness tried to 
 persuade her, by promises, to return to him ; probably she knew 
 what would be her fate, and she remained firm. He then tried 
 threats, and proceeded to batter down the door. But the husband 
 was by, and had taken the precaution to have some police handy, 
 and the Maharajah was actually taken prisoner to the police 
 station. He was of course recognized, and escaped in disgrace, 
 after having been soundly rated by the representative of the 
 English Government. 
 
 These princes are all like boys, and spend their whole time in 
 trying to aggrandize themselves and improve their position, not 
 in an open way, but by intrigues. Of course there are honourable 
 exceptions. 
 
 One of these was Puttiala, and this is how he was said to have 
 ended his days: — He was very popular, and was thought to be 
 quite above all his fellows, — in fact, quite English at heart. Well, 
 he had one European fault, a weakness for brandy. He invented 
 a drink, which goes by the name of the Puttiala Peg,f consisting 
 of half champagne, half brandy ; and this you may imagine had 
 
 * Hindoo gentleman of the middle class. 
 
 t A Peg is in India ordinarily composed of brandy and soda-water. The
 
 JS IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 very rapid action in this country ; and if the Maharajah had not 
 delirium tremens, he had something so very like it that he may 
 be said to have lost all control over his actions. He imprisoned 
 a number of people without any reason ; he is said to have 
 killed his wife, the mother of his children, — but of this I have no 
 proof, — and finally he died from some disease brought on, as the 
 English doctors say, by drink, but the natives firmly believe by 
 poison. It is curious how very seasonably many chief swells die 
 here. Probably toxicology is practiced in other places than 
 Baroda.* At Dholepore much native prejudice has been broken 
 down by the open style of living practised by Major Dennehy. 
 Not only is the Rana always there, but even the high priest is 
 constantly to be seen playing at Indian backgammon, and 
 otherwise making himself at home. It would have done some 
 fox-hunting parsons good to have seen the reverend gentleman 
 on a strong nag out cheetah hunting ; and I have even seen him 
 playing at lawn tennis. The Rajah's constant attendant is a high- 
 classed Brahmin called Gopi, who acts as his Master of the Horse, 
 and not only goes out hunting, but looks after the hounds, and 
 "whips." He is, moreover, a most merry and obliging person. 
 The day we went out cheetah hunting, owing to the stupidity 
 of my servant, I had not been called before sunrise, and while I 
 was at my early toilet, who should appear but His Highness and 
 G6pi, and the Brahmin actually buttoned my braces for me ! 
 Yet the Ranee, when asked why she did not show herself to the 
 world, said, " I have no objection myself, but I am afraid. My 
 brother (Puttiala) would probably kill me." 
 
 We had an audience with her in the palace, if palace it can be 
 called. We were taken to a small verandah, opening into which 
 
 name is supposed to imply that every time it is imbibed a peg is driven into 
 your coffin. 
 
 * Every compound or garden has growing in it the datura, a. most deadly 
 poison, whose effects depend on the quantity used. Many people are drugged 
 with this, and, losing all command over themselves, are robbed with impunity. 
 One case I heard of where'several men had been robbed ; it was being in- 
 vestigated while I was at Ulwar. The men recovered from the effects of the 
 prison after a time, but were quite out of their minds for some (lays.
 
 GWAL10R AND DHOLEPORE. 
 
 79 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS THE RANA OF DHOLEPORE. 
 
 were two pierced windows, and a door on which hung a thick 
 wadded silk purdah or hanging. On each side of one of the 
 windows were placed chairs ; inside the window was quite dark ; 
 probably there, too, was a purdah. Major Dennehy talked 
 through the window, and presently a voice answered. It sounded 
 like a sweet voice ; but even Ranees suffer from cold, and a 
 "snuffle" would destroy the voice of a Grisi. 
 
 Mrs. Dennehy says she is very handsome and regal in her 
 manner, and also full of talent. Fancy such a woman spending 
 her whole life behind a thick curtain !
 
 8o IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Native women are, amongst themselves, tremendous gamblers, 
 and spend most of their time at backgammon or cards. 
 
 I painted a tolerable study of the little Rana, of which even the 
 Ranee expressed her approval, and on ist February left Dhole- 
 pore with great regret. It has been quite a contrast from the 
 difficulties I had with Sindia, to find here a Rajah who asked 
 me to fix my own time, and sat well. The Dennehys, too, were 
 most civil and hospitable, and seemed to have brought the 
 customs of Ould Ireland to the wilds of Rajpootana.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 
 
 yd February. 
 
 ON arriving at Agra I found a telegram from the Maharajah 
 of Bhurtpore, asking me to come to Deeg to paint him. 
 As Deeg is one of the curiosities of this part of India, and only 
 twenty-one miles from Bhurtpore Station, I was not sorry to have 
 the chance of seeing it. We left Agra by the 6 a.m. train, and 
 travelled by the Rajpootana Railway, which is one of the new- 
 fashioned narrow-gauge lines said to be singularly adapted for 
 India. If slowness forms a qualification, surely the narrow gauge 
 is well qualified, for we were really three hours going thirty-two 
 miles ! 
 
 At Bhurtpore we were met by a vakeel of the Maharajah's, 
 who took us to his dak bungalow to breakfast. A dak bungalow 
 is one of the institutions of India. It is generally a well-built 
 house, with tolerably clean rooms, each room having an outer 
 room for washing, &c, and as furniture, a table, two arm-chairs, 
 always of the same cane-bottomed pattern, and a cJiarpoy or 
 Indian bed — a frame of webbing on four short legs. None of 
 the dak bungalows I have seen have more furniture. To one 
 just arrived from England all this is desolate in the extreme, but 
 one gets used to it, and in this climate what more do you want ? 
 
 A gharry was quickly produced, and, followed by an escort of 
 two sowars, as became the guest of a maharajah, off we started. 
 
 I regret that I have not been able to examine Bhurtpore more 
 at my ease. We passed the celebrated mud walls from which 
 alone in all India British troops were repulsed, drove through 
 some well-to-do and well-attended bazaars, and that is all I saw 
 
 81 6
 
 82 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 of the town. Then out we went into the usual plain. All this 
 part of Hindostan is the same parched arid plain, interspersed 
 with patches of green, where corn is already in car, or where the 
 ground has been artificially irrigated. Here in Bhurtpore the 
 monotony is pleasantly relieved by the size of some of the trees 
 near the road, and by the villages being raised, artificially I fancy, 
 and surrounded by mud walls. The inhabitants of this part of 
 the country are J Tits, and have always been husbandmen. They 
 are of the same caste as the Sikhs. A short, truculent, sturdy race 
 they have always proved, and seem so still. Much trouble have 
 they caused both to Mogul and British in times gone by. In- 
 creasing in might during the confusion of the later Mogul empire, 
 under Suraj Mul Bhurtpore was a most formidable state. But 
 the paramount Power has been too much for them : their territory 
 has been curtailed, and however much they might wish it, Agra 
 is safe against their malice. For some years, however, it was in 
 their hands ; and I have told you before how one of their rajahs 
 treated the tomb of poor Mumtaz-i-Mahal in the Taj. 
 
 With the Maharajah's horses, and amidst the salaams of the 
 Jats, the twenty-one miles from Bhurtpore to Deeg were soon 
 passed, and three hours brought us to historic ground. There 
 have been two battles at Deeg or Digh, and both have been de- 
 cisive in the history of India. Once the conquering Jats were 
 overthrown by the last general the Mohammedan empire pro- 
 duced ; and again, Lord Lake, in what he thought his hardest 
 battle, vanquished the ancestor of my friend Holkar, and checked 
 the tide of Maratha victory. There is still a considerable fortress 
 with mud walls, which must have been very formidable before 
 the science of artillery was developed ; and I could see on the 
 ramparts some odd-looking guns, which have probably been 
 there since the time of Nujuf Khan. Past these we drove, and 
 stopped at the palace gate. 
 
 The Palace of Deeg is a collection of pavilions, like all native 
 palaces ; but these are scattered about in spacious gardens, 
 bounded on two sides by considerable tanks. One of these the 
 Maharajah sets apart for his guests, and here we are now. The
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 83 
 
 Maharajah is most hospitable ; he readily receives here any 
 officers from Muttra, where there is an English cavalry regiment, 
 and provides them with sport in his preserves, which are full of 
 wild boar and deer. Neilghau (wild blue bulls) and peacocks 
 are sacred, and must be spared. Pigs are, of course, sacred to 
 the cavalry officer under ordinary circumstances ; but at Bhurt- 
 pore. the woods are so thick that pig-sticking is impossible. 
 
 In front of us is the pavilion, where his Highness holds his 
 durbar; on our right is his Zenana. Both these are built of the 
 sandstone of the country — not, alas ! the beautiful red sandstone 
 of Futtehpore Sikree, but a pale pink, which is rather sickly in 
 tone. The pavilion we live in is of white marble. 
 
 Deeg is a summer palace. In the summer heats white marble 
 floors and walls, and doors impossible to shut, would be nice 
 enough ; and there are pavilions hanging over the placid tanks, 
 which must be cool and delightful in the hot season. 
 
 To-day has been grey and decidedly cold, and whilst I am 
 writing, the well-known splash of rain reminds me of "other 
 climes," and I feel marble out of place. The rooms are very low, 
 and surrounded with funny little passages, through which my 
 bulky frame can with difficulty pass. There is, however, a sense 
 of " rummyness," not unmixed with romance, about it all, that is 
 delightful ; and after the shabby treatment I experienced from 
 Sindia, I feel thankful to His Highness of Bhurtpore. 
 
 The Maharajah announced his intention of coming himself to 
 see me on the very evening of my arrival, and, notwithstanding 
 the rain, was as good as his word. Wrapped up in a thick police- 
 man's coat, with a common sword sticking out behind, the Maha- 
 rajah does not present a very distinguished appearance. He is 
 a young man, I believe, but he looks much older than he is, and 
 has a worn-out appearance. If report speaks true, he is a very 
 naughty boy, and much given to debauchery. He is also accused 
 of being unfriendly to the English, and, like Sindia, too fond of 
 soldiering. I can only say he was most polite and friendly, and 
 offered me as many sittings as I wished. We shall see how he 
 will redeem his promise. 
 
 G— 2
 
 8 4 
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Next morning was fine, and I had another opportunity of 
 seeing the gardens. There are, as I said, four pavilions, Gopal 
 Bawhun, where the Maharajah transacts his business ; Sudra 
 Bawhun, where we live ; Krishna Bawhun, where the ladies are 
 cooped up ; and Nuno Bawhun, of the inhabitants of which I 
 know nothing. There is also a kind of open summer-house, called 
 Sawun Bawhun, looking over the sacred tank. The whole thing 
 
 TANK AT DEEC 
 
 was built by Suraj Mai, one of the earliest Rajahs of Bhurtpore, 
 and the first to take that title. I have begun two sketches, one 
 looking down the principal walk (which is a kind of imitation 
 of the Taj), towards the Sawun Bawhun, and the other of the 
 largest tank : the latter is really a wonderful place, frequented 
 by innumerable blue pigeons, which here, as in Venice, are sacred. 
 There are also many peacocks strutting about : they are sacred 
 to Khrishna, as indeed are all blue things ; Khrishna himself 
 being represented as a blue man. 
 
 I had a good sitting from His Highness. He was very polite,
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 85 
 
 and, as he talked English, I could keep him amused. I had 
 hard work, however, for it was after breakfast, and he was very 
 dozy at first. 
 
 The learned say that these Jats are relations of ours, being 
 the same as the Getae and Massagetae of the ancients, and Jutes of 
 Europe, who settled, many of them, in England in early Saxon 
 times. It may be so ; but I am inclined to say, as Spurgeon 
 said when lecturing on the gorilla, "Some say you are my cousin, 
 but I say, ' between you and me there is a great gulf fixed.' " 
 Anyhow, Deeg is a delightful place, and I wish his English 
 cousins had as pleasant a palace as the Maharajah of Bhurtpore. 
 
 I have but little to add to the above, and this must be but a 
 small batch of journal. It has to close two days before the 
 usual time, and as I get farther from the great highways of India 
 my time will get shorter and shorter. 
 
 My Maharajah here is done as far as I require him. On the 
 whole, he has behaved very well. He has bothered me a great 
 deal to know what the Government are going to give him for 
 sitting, whether he is to have a copy (great Heavens !) of the 
 picture, or an engraving. Most of these gentlemen have sub- 
 scribed, and it is rather hard that I should have to explain to 
 them that they get nothing for their money. 
 
 We left Deeg, as we came, with the Maharajah's horses, and 
 escorted by his Highness's sowars. This season appears to be 
 the season for marriages. All day the singing-women are chant- 
 ing about, and, preceded by tom-toms, conduct the well-veiled 
 bride to the — let us hope — impatient bridegroom. It was very 
 pleasant as we drove along, both here and at Bhurtpore, to come 
 upon a flash of crimson and scarlet, a kind of flame of singing- 
 women, whose monotonous chant in itself had something in 
 character with the scene. Thus we sped on to Bhurtpore, chang- 
 ing horses at Koombhere, a considerable place, conveniently half- 
 way ; where, too, the Maharajah has a palace, which towers over 
 the town. 
 
 We had an opportunity of seeing more at our leisure the town 
 of Bhurtpore. It seems well-to-do and flourishing, with broad
 
 86 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 streets, and good stone-built houses the whole length of its 
 crowded bazaar. There was nothing, however, to tempt me in 
 the shops, and I had not time to devote to searching. Hindoo 
 shopkeepers, like all Easterns — except Jews, by-the-bye — and 
 unlike European tradesmen, seem to have a great dislike to show 
 any of their best things. You have to go into the shop, talk 
 of the weather, &c, and by degrees things are brought to you. 
 Everything takes time here, as I know to my cost in travelling. 
 
 At Bhurtpore, too, we saw the Rajah's palace, which consists 
 of a large courtyard with buildings on two sides. Facing you, 
 as you enter, is the open deivan, where the Maharajah holds his 
 Court on grand occasions. On the left is a staircase conducting 
 you to the show-rooms, which are on the first floor of the left 
 block as you come into the courtyard. 
 
 The principal room is a long gallery, with windows looking into 
 the court. Behind this are many smaller rooms — dining, draw- 
 ing, and billiard-rooms — all darkened and having few windows 
 on account of the heat, but profusely furnished with European 
 carpets and knick-knacks of the most tawdry kind. In the long 
 gallery there are lots of pictures and prints ; a colossal daub 
 of the late Highness, done like " Carver in oils " by a native, 
 and several others of the same Highness in many attitudes — in 
 durbar, on horseback, &c. — all equally monstrous. One of the 
 present Rajah, by Mr. M. W., I believe, is better (owing to the 
 invention of photography, I fancy), but still pretty bad. There 
 are four large prints — all the same — of Mr. Batty driving his six- 
 teen horses to his circus, and many other pictures of that kind. 
 
 These people, directly they touch European tastes, seem to 
 lose their inherent feeling for the right thing. The worst 
 " shoddy" is not so bad as the masses of objects heaped together 
 in their palaces ; yet they have beautiful things, and dress them- 
 selves with some feeling for colour, barring a taste for aniline 
 dyes which I see growing all over the country. Is it, perchance, 
 that they see so little good taste among the Europeans out here, 
 whom of course they copy ? If so, the Europeans have much 
 to answer for.
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 87 
 
 Leaving Bhurtpore by the 10 p.m. train, you arrive at Jeypore 
 at 8 a.m. The morning of the 8th broke with unusual splendour ; 
 for lately there has been cloudy weather, and to make either a 
 good sunrise or sunset you must have clouds. " Towards six 
 o'clock in the evening or morning chrome yellow thrusts itself 
 into nature," lectured the French landscape painter. On the 8th 
 there was both chrome and madder mapped out on the blue sky ; 
 and, moreover, such hills as I have not seen for a long time. A 
 solitary ridge there is at Delhi, and at Gwalior the fort and a 
 few low hills have more pretension. These at Jeypore are the 
 beginning of the range which I shall find again at Ajmere, and 
 farther on between Jodhpore and Oodeypore, and which form 
 the backbone of the plains of India. 
 
 The acting political agent, a certain Captain B y, was on the 
 
 eve of his departure for England on sick leave. He had never 
 answered my letter, and I did not know whether the Rajah of 
 Jeypore was here till I arrived. At the station, however, I found 
 
 a carriage, and drove to breakfast with B . I heard that 
 
 the Bundi Maharajah was here, and that he of Jeypore could 
 not sit that day. Rajahs have been much stirred up by the 
 Delhi business, and are on the trot all over the country. Like 
 muddy water, they require time to settle. Jeypore is very reli- 
 gious, and takes all the morning to say his prayers : he can only 
 be seen at 4 p.m., said the agent. I had found the last two 
 mail-letters here, so I was content to wait and digest the home 
 news, which proved not very good, and I was therefore not in 
 the cheeriest mood. 
 
 I spent the afternoon in reading and making arrangements for 
 future journeys. The Oodeypore agent is away travelling through 
 the Bheel country, in Mewar. Jodhpore must therefore be done 
 first, and has to be written to to prepare dak, &c. While writing 
 my letters I hear the most extraordinary sounds, which I find 
 proceed from a man who has the next room to mine. Once 
 he appeared in the verandah in his shirt-sleeves, and quickly 
 disappeared. These roarings continued, and by-and-by I rind 
 they are principally demands for brandy-and-soda. By the
 
 88 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 evening Mr. is in a state of complete inebriation; but alas! 
 
 his drunkenness is not speechless : I wish it had been, for all 
 night long the roaring continued, and at 6 a.m. the noise was 
 
 awful. Thank Heaven ! it was Mr. preparing to depart, and 
 
 demanding more "Pegs ;" and so he remains in my memory as a 
 kind of "hideous noise." 
 
 Such are the trials the traveller is subjected to here, where 
 brand)- pawnee and D. T. are anything but uncommon among 
 the lower class of Europeans. 
 
 On Friday, 9th February, I went to see the sights of Jeypore. 
 The political agent had applied for a carriage for me, and last 
 night a common palki gliarry appeared from the Maharajah. I 
 returned my thanks to His Highness, and told him I could get a 
 better one here, and preferred to pay. This morning, however, 
 a better trap with two horses turned up. Rajahs have fine 
 carriages for swell occasions, but those they lend are of the 
 shabbiest description, nor have they any idea of turning out either 
 carriages or servants. This one was like the flies one sometimes 
 sees at country towns, which are traps bought second or third- 
 hand, but which have once been handsome and probably belonged 
 to some neighbouring squire. In this "has-been" off we go. 
 
 Jeypore* was built early last century by the then Rajah Jey 
 Sing. It is, I believe, the only Indian town built on a settled 
 plan, for Jey Sing was not only a rajah, but a mathematician 
 and a scientific man. The city was planned actually by a certain 
 Vidhyadhur, a Jain, who also assisted the Rajah in his astrono- 
 mical pursuits. It has, then, two broad straight streets, crossing 
 each other at right angles. They have pavements on either side, 
 and gas (!) which the present ruler has introduced and manu- 
 factures from castor oil. The houses have a curious appearance, 
 the fronts being all plastered, and painted pink with white pat- 
 terns. This gives a rather trumpery and toylikc appearance 
 to the whole town, which from its size and regularity lacks the 
 charm and picturesqueness of many Indian places I have de- 
 scribed. When the eye gets used to the colour it is not unpleasing ; 
 
 * The foundation was laid by Jey Sing, A.D. 1728.
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 89 
 
 and, after all, I do not know but that the Rajah Jey Sing was 
 right ; for in this climate, had all the houses been white, the effect 
 would have been too dazzling. The lime from which this plaster 
 is made is the same employed for the roads all over Northern 
 India, known as kunkur, and is singularly fine. The plaster has 
 almost the look of marble, and is used for making all kinds of 
 pierced windows of geometric patterns. I have not, however, 
 seen any that equalled those of Gwalior for beauty and intricacy 
 of design, and regret much that I believed those who told me 
 Jeypore was the place to find such things, and dissuaded me 
 from ordering a whole balcony from Sindia's city. 
 
 Jeypore has a school of art, and being of course much interested 
 therein, I stopped there, and was shown over by the principal — a 
 worthy and well-to-do baboo* It turned out to be a kind of 
 general school for trades ; and turning, watchmaking, carpentry, 
 pottery, electrotyping, and many others are taught there. So far, 
 no doubt, it does good, but there is also a school of drawing, and 
 over this I should wish to cast a veil. Of all the feeble insti- 
 tutions here, it is the feeblest. The master is an Indian ; the 
 things turned out, so many nightmares : large copies of photo- 
 graphs of the Prince of Wales, Lord Northbrook and other 
 Governors-General, with the ghastly stare such things have 
 when done by beginners ; drawings done from nature without 
 an atom of art : in fact, a perfect artistic Bedlam. The baboo, 
 however, seemed satisfied, which is a great point. He showed us 
 with considerable triumph some small heads copied in needle- 
 work from photographs. Poor Lord Northbrook ! if he could 
 
 * It may be indiscreet to give the history of this gentleman's appointment : 
 I may give offence to some of his relatives, who are high up in the public 
 service of Jeypore ; but the appointment is so characteristic of the way such 
 things are done in India that I cannot refrain from recording it. Our excel- 
 lent friend, then, was sent to Calcutta to study medicine ; but for medicine 
 he had no turn, and time after time was plucked in his examinations. At last 
 he returned to Jeypore as a failure, and by the interest of his relatives was 
 put in charge of the newly-started art school. " T'es firo^re a rien, feus 
 toi artiste" exclaims the exasperated mother in Gavarni's inimitable carica- 
 ture.
 
 90 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 only see himself, he would not, in his recent speech at a dis- 
 tribution of prizes in England, have been so laudatory of Indian 
 schools of design. 
 
 The only good thing in the place was a silver goblet, un- 
 finished, which G has bought, and of which I have ordered 
 
 a replica.* In encouraging individuals who are good workmen 
 to take pupils, as is done here, the Maharajah has done the right 
 thing. It is what I should propose in my report on the influence 
 of English art on natives. Art schools as we have them in 
 England are of no real use to the native. Government should 
 look out the best workmen in different art manufactories, and 
 spend the money now spent in making indifferent artists in pay- 
 ing premiums to such workmen, and creating thereby a good 
 school of ornamental art. 
 
 I was disappointed of my sitting again to-day, and, owing to 
 the dilatoriness of my friend at the Residency, who is a good 
 deal exercised on the great salt question, which at present agi- 
 tates all this portion of Rajpootana, I was not given timely 
 notice, so that another day has passed sine lined, or nearly so. I 
 went, however, to the Residency, and was introduced to the 
 Maharajah, who was paying a visit there. Ram Sing of Jeypore 
 is about forty-five, and wears spectacles. He seems a cheery 
 old fellow, and was very civil, fixing a sitting at 2.30 p.m. to- 
 morrow, when I shall have an opportunity of seeing him more at 
 my leisure. 
 
 lot J 1 February. 
 
 This morning I went over Jeypore again. It is certainly a very 
 interesting place, and the busiest Indian town I have yet been 
 in. Behind our hotel, which is outside the town, are a number 
 of poor wretches encamped. These I find to be the sweepers of 
 the city, who have all struck on account of some ill usage alleged 
 to have been received from the authorities. They all crowded 
 round me, and humbly begged me to do something for them. 
 
 • Which, of course, I have never received.
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 9 1 
 
 Such is the belief in the sahib justice. They are now lying in 
 miserable bundles round the walls of our compound. The Prime 
 Minister was for imprisoning the whole lot, but the Maharajah 
 said " No, that will cost money : better to imprison the leaders 
 only." And so trades unions and strikes exist, you see, in Jey- 
 pore, and I fear will avail but little. Meanwhile the streets have 
 been unswept for three days. 
 
 In the afternoon I went by appointment to paint the Maharajah. 
 Jeypore Palace is a vast pile, said to contain three thousand per- 
 sons. The late Maharajah and his predecessor left twenty-seven 
 widows between them, each of whom is attended by many women : 
 the present man has seven wives ; and the result is all this swarm 
 of human beings living unproductively. Ram Sing, the present 
 Rajah, has no children. He is, as I said above, very religious, and 
 spends regularly from ten to four at pooja or prayers. He had 
 appointed half-past two with me, and about that time I appeared. 
 I had great difficulty in getting in, as all the attendants said the 
 Maharajah was still at pooja. Finally I was ushered through 
 many dark passages into a courtyard, where there were a dozen 
 fellows with hawks ; from that again to another court, and then up 
 some steps, when I found myself in a comfortable room, where the 
 Maharajah spends his leisure time photographing. Praying during 
 the lightest hours of the day, he can have but little time for any- 
 thing that demands light. He has, however, several Europeans 
 in his service, and with them I had to spend an hour and a half 
 waiting. I do not like this sort of thing, and if it happens again I 
 shall make a row. The windows of this photographic-room look 
 over a charming garden, beyond which rise the hills that encircle 
 Jeypore, on whose precipitous sides I can yet trace in gigantic 
 letters the "Welcome to Jeypore " placed there for the visit of 
 the Prince of Wales. This garden contains fountains and tanks. 
 One of the latter I see covered with a net, which I am told is to 
 protect the goldfish from kites and hawks. These fish are much 
 esteemed in some parts of India. Sailors bring quantities of them 
 from China, and even from England, to Bombay, where they are 
 eagerly bought by rich natives, who on grand occasions are fond
 
 92 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 of serving up a curry made of them, and swagger about their 
 having cost a shilling or eighteenpence apiece. 
 
 The garden has also a green and pleasant-looking croquet 
 and Badminton lawn ; and the whole thing is kept in a way 
 very creditable to His Highness, and would be worthy of a 
 Scotch gardener, were it not for the Maharajah's dogs, which 
 every afternoon are let loose here, and career over beds and 
 flowers after the manner of dogs all the world over. They are 
 a motley pack — English spaniels and greyhounds, mixed with 
 Rampore and other native breeds noted for their excellence. 
 With these the Maharajah tells me he hunts boar, and deer, and 
 leopards, and even tigers, as they fear nothing. It is amusing 
 to see His Highness — who, notwithstanding his prayings, is a 
 keen sportsman — standing on his balcony and calling each dog 
 by name. This, however, happened on another occasion, as you 
 shall hear. 
 
 Presently the Maharajah is announced, and in he comes. A 
 funny little fellow is Ram Sing, short and frail-looking, with a 
 very hooked nose and spectacles. As I have painted him, I had 
 of course time to study his expression. A sharp, shrewd man he 
 seems, — and is, by all accounts, — with a brisk bright eye, notwith- 
 standing his spectacles ; withal a very unhappy look. As he 
 sits the first time, all merriment fades from his face, an ascetic 
 pinched look contracts the upper nose, and his eyebrows are 
 raised with an anxious expression. This is heightened by the 
 poq/a-ma.rks across his forehead, and the two round spots in the 
 centre; moreover, there is a black line indicating his having 
 finished pooja, and the space between his eyebrows and his eye 
 is whitened to a sickly hue. The first day I could not get a 
 word from him, but I heard afterwards that this Saturday, ioth 
 February, was the eve of a festival, and that even while sitting to 
 me, the Rajah was at his prayers and religious meditation. 
 
 Ram Sing is a curious instance of a man who is strict, even 
 bigoted, in his religious observances, but who is singularly tole- 
 rant to other creeds. I hear, however, to those of his own way of 
 thinking he is not so tolerant. The Maharajah worships Siva ;
 
 BH.URTPORE AND JEYPORE. 93 
 
 many of his subjects follow Vishnu. The other day he confis- 
 cated some land belonging to the opposite sect. They protested 
 in vain, and finally, instigated by their priest, left the town, to the 
 number of 30,000. Amongst these were most of the merchants 
 of the town. Ram Sing was firm, and, like the strike of the 
 sweepers I mentioned before as now camped near us, this strike 
 was all in vain. Finding they could not get any satisfaction here, 
 the whole band went off to the Rajah of Bikaneer, a neighbour- 
 ing Rajah of very old family, but whose country is principally 
 desert. Here, again, they were met with coldness, and sent away, 
 as his Highness of Bikaneer was afraid of being eaten out of 
 house and home; so they returned to Jeypore, and the merchants 
 gradually saw the error of their ways, the thirst for gain getting 
 the better of their religion. The priests were soon left alone, 
 and having sworn they would never go back to Jeypore till their 
 property was restored, are living now miserably a few miles 
 off. 
 
 Ram Sing prides himself, and with reason, on his enlighten- 
 ment. Jeypore town, when he came to the guddce, had its streets 
 — wide though they were — much obstructed by small shrines, 
 sacred to different deities. These the Rajah has gradually cleared 
 away, and but a few of those most esteemed by the vulgar herd 
 remain. Yet this is a man who prays six hours a day ! 
 
 After a good sitting, I left him till Monday, as Sunday was 
 the great feast of the Hindoos, and the Maharajah would be 
 busy all day " feeding Brahmins," all this caste receiving gra- 
 tuitous meals on the nth February. Ram Sing has to feed 
 50,000, they say. Arrangements were, however, made to take 
 us to Amber, and I had a most charming day at the ancient 
 capital of Jeypore. Amber is .six miles away : you drive through 
 a delightful valley, and pass half-way a lake, where jey Sing 
 built his first city. The space, however, was found too small, 
 and he moved to the larger plains of the present Jeypore. Of 
 this first town nothing now remains but a palace in the midst 
 of the lake, and one or two houses. Presently we came to a 
 steepish ascent, and as Indian coachmen (and I suppose horses
 
 94 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 too, as olive-eating and alpine climbing are matters of educa- 
 tion) object to hills, we had to mount elephants. 
 
 At the top of the first hill \vc sight Amber, built on the other 
 side of the valley, on the banks of a small lake. The town is 
 very picturesque, but mostly in ruins, and one sees that Jey Sing 
 had reason on his side in wishing to forsake the mountain home 
 of his ancestors, for the hills crowd close in on the town, and 
 prevent any possible expansion on any side. The site is, how- 
 ever, admirably adapted for the stronghold of a mountain chief, 
 and all these Rajpoot Rajahs were no more than heads of clans 
 at the commencement of their history. The palace is well kept 
 up, and the Rajah twice every year visits the cradle of his race. 
 
 Built on the spur of the hill, Amber Palace hangs nearly pre- 
 cipitously over the lake on its south-eastern side ; towards the 
 north and north-west is a large fort on the top of the hill, the 
 celebrated Nahrgurh, which towers over both palace and town, 
 and commands the whole country. In architecture the palace 
 is much as such places usually are in India. There is a fine 
 dewan built by Jey Sing, which was so magnificent that his 
 suzerain of Delhi was jealous, and sent down ambassadors to 
 find out if report spoke the truth. The shrewd Jey Sing, how- 
 ever, had timely notice, and managed to cover up his beautifully 
 carved columns with plaster before the Emperor's messengers 
 arrived, and so they are to the present day ; that is, all but two, 
 which have been uncovered, to show the truth of the tale, The 
 ceiling of the dewan is decorated with talc and looking-glass, and 
 is to my mind better done than the celebrated bath, the Shis Ma- 
 hal, at Agra. I made a sketch of the palace from the lake below. 
 Monday. — I had another sitting from his Highness, who, not- 
 withstanding his night-long praying, was quite brisk and talka- 
 tive. We became great friends, and finished the afternoon 
 playing billiards together. Among the curiosities of Rajpoot 
 Courts are the nautcli girls, who are a kind of privileged people, 
 and wander through the palaces unveiled and unmolested. I 
 had noticed a number of them here, and, presuming on my inti- 
 macy, got the Rajah to order one of the girls, whose photograph
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 95 
 
 I saw, to sit. On Tuesday, then, I had a sitting from her. She 
 is not young, but has a remarkably fine head. Her costume is 
 very handsome, though, of course, rather bizarre. She wears a 
 long flowing robe, and winds her drapery round her with the air 
 of a queen. Never did I regret more my want of knowledge of 
 the Hindoostani language than here. The Rajah, as I have said 
 before, is surrounded by a lot of English of not the highest 
 education, and to them I have to leave the translation of my 
 most polite speeches. I cannot help feeling that these lose much 
 when expressed by those vulgar fellows, who give themselves 
 most odious airs. Ram Sukee, this nautch girl, is a great friend 
 of the Rajah, and soon he came to see how I was getting on, 
 and pottered around me, arranging drapery and fancying he 
 was of great assistance, whereas he generally spoilt everything. 
 My model is not only a dansense, but a singer. She is from 
 Marwar, generally called Jodhpore, from its capital, as this State 
 is called Jeypore, instead of Dhoonder, and Me war is called 
 Oodeypore from its capital. The Indian airs are some of them 
 very wild and pleasant, though of course all sung through the 
 nose. I do not know that they have ever been written down for 
 the English public. Like the Arab airs, they ought to be col- 
 lected, and would, I am sure, give some ideas to our musicians, 
 as the Hungarian music has already done. 
 
 On my return home I found a card : " Thakoor Futteh Sing 
 requests the honour of Mr. Prinsep's company to dinner." This 
 being the Rajah's Prime Minister, and hearing that the dinner 
 was given to the Resident, I wrote back " Mr. P. would be de- 
 lighted." At seven I started, and after a long drive through the 
 town arrived at the Minister's house, in a narrow lane off the 
 principal road. All the nobles have their houses off the main 
 road, the palace alone being permitted to face the street. The 
 host, smoking a cigarette, politely received me at the door and 
 ushered me in. Futteh Sing's house has just been rebuilt. The 
 part we saw consisted of three large rooms, of which the first 
 served as anteroom, being the largest ; the second, smaller, as 
 dining-room ; and the third as drawing-room. They were all
 
 96 IMPERIAL IX DLL 
 
 lighted, though not very brilliantly, with gas which is made from 
 castor oil. On the assembly of the guests we sit down, to the 
 number of twenty. Dinner is served in the European style. It 
 is cooked, I believe, by the political agent's cook, and is pretty 
 good. The natives, of course, do not eat with us, as thereby they 
 would lose their caste. Our hosts, father and son, sit outside 
 the circle of the guests and converse over the backs of the chairs 
 on which the convives sit. Other native swells drop in, and pre- 
 sently the room is full. After the dinner is over, the Maharajah 
 comes in, and he and some of the greater men have champagne 
 and drink the health of the company, after which they smoke 
 cheroots much like Christians. 
 
 This is an awful blow to the old ideas of caste — the greatest, 
 indeed, since this very Rajah's ancestor, a Rajpoot of Rajpoots, 
 gave his daughter to the great Akbar in marriage. This was 
 thought at the time such a disgrace, that the Rajahs of Oodey- 
 pore have always refused to eat with either this Rajah or him of 
 Jodhpore. We were told yesterday that the Rajah of Bhoondi, 
 who is here, would not eat in a room in which a European had 
 been, and regularly washed his hands after shaking hands with 
 one. He is an old man of sixty-six. 
 
 Jeypore is, however, nearer to Delhi, and much more acces- 
 sible, than Oodeypore or Bhoondi ; so perhaps the Maharajah 
 Bhagwandas was right to sacrifice his prejudices to his worldly 
 prosperity. 
 
 We English cannot understand the character of the native, 
 nor enter into his prejudices, and his ideal is quite incomprehen- 
 sible to us. That the marriage of a daughter should lower a 
 man's caste is astonishing ; but what can we say to the tenet that 
 if a Brahmin allows his daughter to come to the age of puberty 
 unmarried, he and his family are consigned to the lowest hell 
 for ever ! 
 
 This Ram Sing, the most enlightened Rajah in India, accord- 
 ing to the Indian officials, is very strict in secluding the women 
 of his rawala or Zenana. No one has ever seen any of his wives. 
 Even English ladies are not allowed within the sacred precincts,
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 97 
 
 and a doctor told me he had to prescribe without seeing his 
 patient, and was informed he might, if he liked, feel the pulse 
 of one of the servant women, but not the pulse of the Ranee. 
 The nautch girls I have mentioned above do all the shopping 
 and commissions for the Zenana. 
 
 After dinner at Thakoor Futteh Sing's, we had a nautch, which 
 was the first I had seen. It is generally supposed that a nautch 
 is an improper sight, and in England such things are talked of 
 with bated breath. There were ladies present during this nautch, 
 and I can assure you, on my honour, that it was eminently re- 
 spectable. The women, too, were not pretty ; but the mono- 
 tonous chant they kept up and the movements of their hips were 
 curious ; and although I should no doubt get heartily tired if I 
 saw more of it, I confess I was amused. This monotonous slow 
 movement is adapted for a hot climate, where the whirls and 
 bounds of more active dances would be out of place, impossible 
 or at least irksome to the dancer, and disagreeable to the looker- 
 on, who could not fail to feel hotter from seeing such violent 
 exercise. 
 
 The party broke up at half-past ten. The Rajah, however, 
 slept at Futteh Sing's, as I found out to my cost, for he never 
 turned up at the palace for his sitting. I contented myself with 
 his nautch girl, and, if I can only get drapery made like hers, 
 shall paint a picture from my sketch on my return home. 
 
 My American friend leaves me to-day, and I shall miss him 
 much. He is of a practical turn of mind, without much poetry ; 
 but in matters of business has been of great use. He continues 
 his "globe trotting" via Calcutta, Madras, and Ceylon, and will 
 eventually reach home via somewhere. 
 
 I have here made the acquaintance of Tod's " Rajasthan," a 
 book full of information of these parts, and, though published 
 nearly fifty years ago, still the great authority on Rajpoot affairs. 
 
 The Rajpoots are all divided into clans : the four greatest 
 divisions remaining are — the Sesodias, who rule at Oodeypore ; 
 the Rahtors, of Jodhpore; the Cuchwahas, of Jeypore ; and the 
 Haras, of Boondhi and Kota. 
 
 7
 
 93 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 The Cuchwaha, the ruling clan of Dhoonder or Jeypore, take 
 
 their name from cuchwa (a tortoise), came originally from La- 
 hore, and were the sons of Cush, the second son of Rama, King 
 of Koshula, who emigrated from Ayodea, or Oude, to the Punjaub. 
 Several generations afterwards Rajah Nal, his descendant, mi- 
 grated west, A.D. 295, and settled at Nurwar. The thirty-third 
 in descent from him was Sora Sing, on whose death his brother 
 usurped the throne, depriving his son Dhola Rae of his inheri- 
 tance. Dhola Rae was an infant, and his mother, fearing the 
 usurper, placed her child in a basket and carried him on her head 
 till she reached Khogong (a place five miles from Jeypore), then 
 inhabited by the Meenas. Overcome with hunger and fatigue, 
 she placed her precious burden on the ground, and was plucking 
 some wild berries, when she observed a hooded serpent rearing 
 its form over the basket. She uttered a shriek, which attracted 
 an itinerant Brahmin, who bade her be in no alarm, but rather 
 rejoice at this certain indication of future greatness in the boy. 
 " What may be in futurity I heed not while I am sinking with 
 hunger," replied the mother of the future founder of Amber. 
 The Brahmin directed her to Khogong. Taking up her basket, 
 she reached the town, where, accosting a woman, who turned 
 out to be the slave of the Meena Rajah, she begged for any 
 menial employment. By direction of the Ranee she was enter- 
 tained with the slaves. One day she was ordered to prepare 
 dinner, of which Ralunsi, the Rajah, partook, and he found it 
 so superior to his usual fare that he sent for the cook, who re- 
 lated her story; and as soon as the Rajah discovered her rank, he 
 adopted her as his sister, and Dhola Rae as his nephew. When 
 the boy attained the age of fourteen (which is the age of majority 
 among the Rajpoots), the Meena Rajah sent him to Delhi with 
 the Khogong tribute. After a residence of five years there, 
 Dhola Rae determined to kill his benefactor and usurp his power. 
 But first he consulted the Meena dhati, or bard, as to the best 
 means and time for carrying out his project ; and this worthy re- 
 commended the Festival of the Dewali, when it is customary to 
 perform ablutions en masse in a tank. He accordingly brought
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 99 
 
 a few of his Rajpoot brethren from Delhi, and accomplished 
 his object, filling the reservoirs in which the Mcenas bathed 
 with their dead bodies. It is a satisfaction to know that " the 
 treacherous bard" did not escape : Dhola Rae with his own hand 
 put him to death, observing, " He that has proved unfaithful to 
 one master could not be trusted by another." The grandson of 
 this gentleman founded Amber. After all, most empires begin 
 in the same way. 
 
 Fifth in descent, again, we come to a rajah of the name of 
 Pugoon, who was well known in Rajpoot chivalry, and was im- 
 mortalized by Chund in the poetic history of the Emperor Pirthi 
 Raj, the last of the Hindoo Emperors of Delhi. Pugoon, how- 
 ever, was killed before the final struggle. The story, as far as I 
 can make it out, bears a considerable resemblance to the Homeric 
 legends. The lovely Princess of Canooj has to choose a husband ; 
 her father, Jeichund, Emperor of Canooj, accordingly summons 
 all the great of Hindostan ; but Pirthi Raj, of Delhi, deeming 
 himself the equal of the Emperor of Canooj, treats the summons 
 with disdain. The insulted Emperor thereupon has an image 
 made of gold to represent Pirthi Raj, and at the great feast, 
 when all the chiefs are assembled, and when to each is assigned 
 some office (for, in the rite of Leonir, every office must be per- 
 formed by royal persons), to the Emperor of Delhi, or rather to 
 his image, is assigned the post of porter, being that last in rank, 
 by the door of the hall. The princess enters, bearing in her hand 
 a garland which she is to give to the man of her choice. She 
 passes by all the chiefs, and presents her garland to the image 
 of Pirthi Raj. In duty bound, the Chohan prince accepts the 
 " quest ; " in open daylight he bears off the princess from 
 Canooj, and a desperate fight of five days' duration takes place. 
 To use the words of the bard, " he preserved his prize ; he gained 
 immortal honour ; but he lost the sinews of Delhi ;" and Pugoon 
 was one of the sixty-four chiefs chosen to help in the rape of 
 this Rajpoot Helen. With him was Govind, a chief of the Newar 
 house ; and thus sings Chund : 
 
 "When Govind fell, the foe danced with joy. Then did 
 
 7—2
 
 IOO IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Pugoon thunder on the curtain of fight, with both hands did he 
 ply the karg (sword) on the heads of the barbarians. Four hun- 
 dred rushed upon him ; but five brothers, Kehuri, Pccpa, and 
 ■ , with Barsung and Cuchra, supported him. Spears and 
 daggers are plied — heads roll on the plain — blood flows in 
 streams. Pugoon assails Itimad ; but, as his head rolls on the 
 plain, he receives the Khan's lance in his breast. The Coorma 
 (or Cuchwaha) fell in the field, and the Apsaras* disputed for the 
 hero. Whole lines of Northmen strew the plain : many a head 
 did Mahadeo add to his chaplet. When Pugoon and Govind 
 fell, one watch of the day remained. To rescue his kin came 
 Palhan, like a tiger loosed from his chain. The army of Canooj 
 fell back ; the cloud-like host of Jeichund turned its head. The 
 brother of Pugoon, with his son, performed deeds like Carna ; but 
 both fell in the field, and gained the secret of the Sun, whose 
 chariot advanced to conduct them to his mansion. 
 
 " Ganga shrank with affright, the moon quivered, the Digpah 
 howled at their posts ; checked was the advance of Canooj ; and 
 in the pause the Coorma performed the last rites to his sire 
 (Pugoon), who broke in pieces the shields of Yeichund. Pugoon 
 was a buckler to his lord, and numerous his gifts of steel to the 
 heroes of Canooj. Not even by the bard can his deeds be de- 
 scribed. He placed his feet on the head of Shesnag ; he made 
 a waste of the forests of men ; nor dared the sons of the mighty 
 approach him ! As Pugoon fell, he exclaimed, ' One hundred 
 years are the limit of a man's life, of which fifty are lost in night, 
 and half this in childhood ; but the Almighty taught me to wield 
 the brand ! ' As he spoke, even in the arms of Yama, he beheld 
 the sword of his boy playing on the head of the foemen. His 
 parting soul was satisfied." 
 
 And well it might be. After all this " losing of the sinews of 
 Delhi," Pirthi Raj could not wonder at his defeat by Shabudin 
 of Ghoree. 
 
 The most powerful Rajahs that succeeded the above-mentioned 
 Pugoon were Maun Singh, who was a great general in the time 
 
 * Evidently akin to the " Valkyra" maidens of the Northern Sagas.
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. IOI 
 
 of Akbar, being brother to the wife of Jehanghire, and after him 
 Jey Sing, commonly called the Mirza Rajah, who, in the days 
 of Aurungzebe, took prisoner the great Sivaji, the originator of 
 the great Maratha revival. He was said to have been poisoned 
 by his son at the instigation of Aurungzebe, in consequence of an 
 idle boast. He sat in durbar with two glass globes, one in each 
 hand. The one he called Delhi, the other Sattara (the capital of 
 Sivaji) : the latter he dashed to the ground, crying, "There goes 
 Sattara ! The fate of Delhi is in my right hand, and this, with 
 equal ease, I can cast away." 
 
 It is pleasant to turn from the Homeric, or rather Ossianic, 
 butchery described above to the deeds of Jey Sing II., better 
 known as Sevai Jey Sing. This Rajah built Jeypore, and was 
 the astronomer of India. He erected - observatories at Delhi, 
 Jeypore, Oojein, Benares, and Mathura. Great buildings they 
 are, but alas ! now in ruins. In these places his observations 
 were so accurate, that he detected errors in the calculations of all 
 the astronomers of Europe. He caused to be translated into 
 Sanskrit " Euclid " and Napier's " Logarithms," and by his book 
 all almanacks are still constructed — at all events, in India. Hear 
 the preface of the learned Jey Sing, and recollect it is a Hindoo 
 who writes : 
 
 " Praise be to God ! — such that the minutely discerning genius 
 of the most profound geometers, in uttering the smallest particle 
 of it, may open the mouth in confession of inability ; and such 
 adoration that the study and accuracy of astronomers, who 
 measure the heavens, may acknowledge their astonishment and 
 utter insufficiency. Let us devote ourselves to the altar of the 
 King of kings, hallowed be His Name ! in the book of the register 
 of whose power the lofty orbs of heaven are only a few leaves, 
 and the stars and that heavenly courser, the sun, small pieces of 
 money in the treasury of the empire of the Most High ! From 
 inability to comprehend the all-encompassing beneficence of His 
 power, Hipparchus is an ignorant clown, who wrings the hands 
 of vexation ; and in the contemplation of His exalted majesty, 
 Ptolemy is a bat, who can never arrive at the Sun of Truth. The
 
 102 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 demonstrations of Euclid are but an imperfect sketch of the forms 
 of His contrivance! But since the well-wisher of the works of 
 creation, and the admiring spectator of the works of Infinite 
 Wisdom, Sevai Jey Sing, from the first dawning of reason to his 
 mind, and during its progress to maturity, was entirely devoted 
 to the mathematical science, and the bent of his mind was con- 
 stantly directed to the solution of the most difficult problems, by 
 the aid of the Supreme Artificer he acquired a thorough know- 
 ledge of its principles and rules." 
 
 Besides his mathematical knowledge, Jey Sing had a con- 
 siderable knowledge of the world, and managed to preserve his 
 state in the midst of Tat uprisings and Maratha invasions ; and 
 I think, if what I hear is true, his descendant Ram Sing has in- 
 herited with the state some of the "canniness " we find in several 
 of his predecessors. 
 
 The great question of the day in these parts is salt. This 
 necessary article of consumption is manufactured all over this 
 part of Rajpootana. On the borders of Jeypore and Jodhpore 
 there is a salt lake called the Sambhur Lake, from which our 
 friend Ram Sing makes a good sum annually. Now, salt is a 
 Government monopoly in British India, and one of the great 
 sources of revenue ; so the English have actually put a fence of 
 prickly pear round Rajpootana. We passed it on the way from 
 Agra to Bhurtpore. It is I don't know how many hundred miles 
 in length, and I suspect about as effective as its great prototype, 
 the Great Wall of China. 
 
 The Government have been trying to come to an agreement 
 with Ram Sing in the matter of his salt. Last year he was 
 invited up to Simla to discuss this business; and the Viceroy, 
 with his usual extreme friendliness for Orientals, said, taking his 
 hand in both his : 
 
 " Maharajah, if there is anything I can do for you, please 
 mention it." 
 
 "There is one thing," answered Ram Sing: "please not to 
 mention the word salt," — by which reply, I think, the Rajah got 
 the better of the Viceroy, albeit a quondam diplomat.
 
 BHURTPORE AND JEYPORE. 
 
 103 
 
 I am writing this in a Rajpoot State where I find a railway 
 and an hotel. Surely the prejudice of the Hindoo can never 
 resist these two levellers ! It is true they use the railway, but 
 never the hotel. Oh, Caste ! Caste ! how long wilt thou resist 
 the so-called civilization of the nineteenth century ? 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS RAM SING, MAHARAJAH OF JEYPOEE
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AJMERE — ROAD TO JODHPORE. 
 
 Bcaur, 3 3 miles on the ivay from Ajmere to JodJipore. 
 
 I LEFT Jeypore with anger and vexation of spirit, and view 
 the old Rajah as a "pious fraud;" for I delayed my de- 
 parture a day to have one sitting from him in his robes, and 
 when I went to the palace, I was told the old man was ill, and 
 could not sit. Perhaps it may be said that this was not his 
 fault. Certainly it wasn't, but then I had been a week at Jey- 
 pore, and he might have given me another sitting. Pooja and 
 his Highness of Bhoondi were against me; indeed, I fear that 
 the former is much used by the Jeypore wallah as an excuse 
 when he is wanted for important business. Somehow, too, either 
 from a chill, or what is more likely, from exposing myself too 
 much to the sun, I had a touch of fever, so that when I arrived 
 at Ajmere I felt " all over like." As this was my first experience 
 of fever, and as such attacks are very common in India, though 
 happily rare in England, let me bear witness to the unpleasant- 
 ness of the sensation. A couple of quinine pills and a day's rest 
 quite set me up again, only my stay at Ajmere was not as pro- 
 fitable as it might have been had I been in my usual robust 
 state of health. 
 
 I arrived at 2.30 a.m., and had difficulty enough in waking 
 the sleepy inmates of the only and indifferent hotel of the 
 place, where I threw myself on a charpoy, and finished my 
 night's rest. I had not been dressed an hour before I received 
 a visit from the Commissioner, Mr. Saunders, with whom I had 
 been at Haileybury, who kindly asked me up to his house, or 
 
 104
 
 AJ MERE— ROAD TO JODHPORE. 105 
 
 rather to a tent in his garden, as his house was under repair. 
 Gladly did I accept, and as I felt rather seedy, as gladly did I 
 defer my departure for a day. 
 
 Ajmere is most picturesquely situated at the foot of a high 
 nil 1 , with other beautifully shaped hills all round. The clearness 
 and blueness of the air make the colour of these truly delight- 
 ful. The city was an early Moslem conquest, and was for a long 
 time the summer residence of the Emperors of Delhi. The 
 Commissioner's house was formerly a palace built by Jehanghire, 
 and yet contains two rooms, inlaid with marble, and a dewan, 
 built for that monarch. It is on the bund, which encloses a good- 
 sized lake, on two sides of which rise hills of 1,000 feet, so that 
 the view from the windows is most lovely. Although I was not 
 in a very bright state, or fit for much artistic enjoyment, I was 
 glad to be taken out for a drive through the town, the streets of 
 which have not been spoilt by British improvement, though we 
 have been in possession over fifty years. Many of the houses 
 are very beautiful, rising with pierced windows and balconies 
 several storeys high, and some having the pierced work painted 
 with excellent effect. There is a very holy Mohammedan shrine 
 here, to which pilgrimages are made from all parts of Hindostan ; 
 and deep down in the rock, with irregular steps leading thereto, 
 is a curious tank, also sacred. I did not go into the shrine, as 
 even Europeans have to take off their shoes, and I felt feverish 
 and unwell. 
 
 The Mosque of Ajmere is the oldest in India, being of the 
 time of the Kutub of Delhi. It is formed, as was that at the 
 Kutub, from a Jain temple, having -a. facade of early Moslem work, 
 with five arches, two on each side of equal size, and a large one 
 in the middle, all carved with intricate patterns, over which is 
 an elaborate inscription — I suppose quotations from the Koran. 
 At the Kutub but one arch remains, and as the Jain temple is 
 unconnected with the Moslem facade, you cannot understand the 
 mixture of architectural styles till you have seen the mosque 
 here. This mosque commonly goes by the name Arkai din ka 
 Jhompra, which means "built in two days and a half." This title
 
 106 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 evidently applies to the Jain temple, which was probably cleared 
 out and prepared for a Moslem place of worship by decapitation 
 of all representations of living things. The screen of five arches, 
 built by Altumsh {vide Fergusson's " Indian and Eastern Archi- 
 tecture ") A.D. 1211 — 1236, must have taken along time to carve 
 and place in situ. The mosque is being very carefully restored 
 under the eye of my friend Saunders, who is most anxious lest 
 too much should be done. The centre arch is still down, but all 
 will shortly be finished, and be a great credit, both to the Govern- 
 ment who pay the expenses, and to the Commissioner and those 
 employed on the work. It is a great pleasure to me to have to 
 record these rare occasions where good work has been carefully 
 and well done. Fergusson notices the state of decay and filth in 
 which the mosque remained till very recently. He also tells a 
 story of a zealous officer at the time of the arrival of Lord Mayo 
 at Ajmere. To make a triumphal entrance for the Viceroy, this 
 gentleman utilized one of the beautiful arches, but it was put 
 together so carelessly that the Viceroy was not allowed to pass 
 under it ! It is probably owing to the expostulations of Mr. Fer- 
 gusson that the Government undertook the necessary repairs. 
 
 My ddks having been laid by the Marwar Rajah, and my 
 quinine pills having worked my cure, I started on the morning 
 of the 19th February for Jodhpore. His Highness sent his own 
 coachman, one Roopjee, and six horses. These were good enough, 
 but I trust his Highness does not travel in the carriage he sent 
 for me, which is like an open hearse, and has no blinds to keep 
 out the sun. However, one is told not to look a gift horse in the 
 mouth, so why a gift carriage ? And here I am resting in mid- 
 day, as jolly as possible, and looking forward with keenest ex- 
 pectation for the next two days to take me to Jodhpore, and out 
 of civilization. 
 
 The route this morning has been an agreeable change from the 
 landscapes hitherto seen by me while ddking. There was no lack 
 of variety in this landscape, for on all sides rose beautifully 
 shaped ranges of hills, round whose jagged peaks were all kinds 
 of lovely blues and pinks in the morning sun. No wonder the
 
 AJMERE—ROAD TO JODHPORE. 1 07 
 
 Rajpoots have a vein of romance and poetry in their disposition, 
 not found on the flat plains of Hindostan. Like the Britons, 
 the Wejsh, the Scotch, the Norsemen, they have their bards and 
 poets, who are held in high estimation amongst them, though 
 of course the deeds they extol and the examples they cite for 
 imitation are principally murder, rapine, and revenge ; and if 
 anything tender does find its way into their heroic lays, it takes 
 the terrible form of suttee for a dead husband, or the yet more 
 terrible jogir, where the whole of the women of a city go forth 
 to cheerful immolation, while their male relatives don " their 
 saffron robes and rush on their foes.'"' After all, the beginning of 
 all poetry was this, and old Homer's " Siege of Troy " might find 
 an echo in the sack of Chitore, the capital of Me war or Oodey- 
 pore. 
 
 The spirit of clanship still exists here, I am told, the chiefs 
 still holding their lands in feudal tenure from the rana or rajah. 
 They live like the Highland chiefs of old, and want but a 
 magician like Sir Walter Scott to clothe their feuds and legends 
 with a mantle of romance. Are such people capable of what we 
 call civilization ? I should almost doubt it. From what I hear, 
 the Rajpoot pure and simple, like the Highland chief, is a gentle- 
 man according to his lights, one who would rather do anything 
 than work. They are, of course, the owners of the soil; how long 
 will they keep it against enterprising capital and the steam 
 plough of improvement ? 
 
 I left Beaur (where the above was written) at 3 p.m., in the 
 same carriage, with five horses, four harnessed as usual, and the 
 fifth with a postillion in front. About three miles out the road 
 begins to ascend, and for the rest of the way winds through a 
 kind of pass. In many places it is very bad, and the jolting- 
 considerable. 
 
 These twelve miles were most curious. The hills here can 
 hadly be called mountains, but yet are very jagged and abrupt. I 
 know nothing of geology, I wish I did, but though I have travelled 
 among mountains before, never have I seen such formations oi 
 rock. Right up to the summits are all kinds of wonderful squirms
 
 108 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 and holes, and steep hill-sides are marked like the beds of tor- 
 rents in Scotland and other mountainous countries. Some great 
 Gulf Stream must have rolled over all this for ages, to have 
 caused the effects I have seen to-day. Geologists have, no 
 doubt, noted all this before. I can only record my impression 
 of astonishment at the effects left everywhere by the waters of 
 the great deep. This is the backbone of the great Indian plain, 
 and 2,000 feet high at least. The balcony of Saunders's house 
 at Ajmere was 1,700 feet above the sea, and we must have risen 
 considerably since then. At the top of a high hill I could see 
 a great squirm hollowed out 20 feet deep in the solid rock, 
 evidently by water, and as if done yesterday. I wish I was 
 learned enough to know what it all meant. 
 
 At six we arrived here at Burr, a very small village on the 
 frontier of Marwar (capital Jodhpore), where there is a very com- 
 fortable dak bungalow, from which I am writing. 
 
 The sun sets with its usual beautiful pink and gold, and tom- 
 toms and gongs send forth their hideous discords ; for this is the 
 time for the Hindoo marriages, and the great Hindoo Festival 
 of the Full Moon approaches. I am the only white man within 
 a radius of thirty miles. Truly the British Raj is a wonderful 
 thing : if we have not won the native love, we have gained his 
 respect or inspired him with a wholesome fear. The numerical 
 inferiority of the ruling race must always strike the traveller in 
 India. It is true I have not been to many garrison towns, where 
 English troops may form a good per-centage of the population. 
 In this state of Marwar, with its 1,700,000 inhabitants, there are 
 two white people, one a doctor at Jodhpore, and the other an 
 artist at Burr, the extreme frontier town, distant from each other 
 sixty miles ; yet we are both as safe as if we were in London, 
 and safer, for no native would think of garotting or offering 
 violence to a saJiib. 
 
 20th February. 
 
 An early start was my order last night, so the sun had not shown 
 his red face over the squirmy pass of yesterday ere the things
 
 AJM ERE— ROAD TO JODHPORE. 109 
 
 were packed on my carnage (which, by-the-bye, from my last 
 night's sad experience, I might call " the buggy," though not the 
 shape of that vehicle), and off we trundled over a fiat plain again. 
 There are mountains still to be seen, and high ones, to the south ; 
 but for sketching purposes the landscape has no capabilities, 
 from an absence of foreground. 
 
 Villages are scarce and hidden away, I suppose, to escape the 
 notice of marauders, who overran the country as late as the early 
 part of this century. In some places there are great signs of 
 prosperity, wells being worked and crops well forward ; but the 
 country is not only fiat, but covered with most characterless little 
 trees, dotted about in a most tiresome way. At the only large 
 village we passed I saw the first signs of the cultivation of opium, 
 and very beautiful did my old friend the poppy look, spread, all 
 white and red, like a gorgeous carpet, two or three acres in 
 extent, and blazing under an Indian sun. The Rajpoot is a great 
 opium-eater, and can do nothing without his little dose, which 
 accounts for his contempt of death, and possibly for his love of 
 poetry. 
 
 I do not know who fixed on the spots for the dak bungalows 
 of India. I have observed many beautiful landscapes near these 
 establishments, but the houses themselves are all placed where 
 nothing can be painted. They generally stand some way from 
 the village. This one at Chondawal, where I am resting my 
 horses and now writing, is in the usual dull situation, surrounded 
 by frightful pepul-trees, with only an occasional glimpse of blue 
 mountain to be obtained through their uninteresting foliage, and 
 no sight at all of the village. We make a short dak to-day of 
 only thirty miles. Having done sixteen by 11 a.m. I shall stay 
 here four hours, and would have sketched had there been any- 
 thing to do. 
 
 I had not been here ten minutes when the thakoor of the 
 village, a feudal tenant of the Maharajah's, came to pay his 
 respects to his Highness's guest, and present his gift of milk and 
 butter. He is a fine-looking fellow, nearly 6 feet high, with an 
 aristocratic aquiline nose, and a pair of piercing black eyes ; his
 
 IIO IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 whiskers and beard are brushed at right angles to his face to 
 give him the appearance of a tiger; and with plenty of opium in 
 his stomach, and a tulwar in his hand, I dare say he would be 
 
 capable of deeds to be recorded by the bards of Rajasthan. Of 
 what these fellows were capable, take this, culled from the pages 
 of the gifted but somewhat redundant Tod, who relates it in his 
 account of Mewar or Oodeypore. 
 
 " The heroic, or right of leading an assault, was held to be a 
 great honour by the braves of Mewar. The right belongs to the 
 tribe of Chondawat, whose chief lives at Saloombra, and this is 
 how they got it. The Rana was besieging a town, and decreed 
 the assault : the head of the Chondawats claimed the right to 
 lead the way, but his right was disputed by the Saktawat clan. 
 Now, the Chondawats were very numerous, but of the Saktawats 
 there were only sixteen, but all men of approved valour, sons 
 da A grandsons of Sakta, a relation of the Rana. Neither party 
 would give way, and it seemed likely at one time that, instead of 
 taking the town, the Rajpoots would turn their swords on each 
 other. At last out spoke the Rana : 
 
 " ' To that clan shall belong the heroic for evermore whose 
 first man is first over yonder wall.' 
 
 " To this both parties agreed. At an hour before sunrise the 
 great drum was beaten, and each clan under its leader rushed to 
 the town. The Chondawats, in the dark, got into a marsh, and 
 lost the way to the gate, but rushed to the walls themselves. 
 The Saktawats, more lucky, reached the gate. Alas ! in their 
 haste they had forgotten to bring ladders, and the gates were 
 spiked outside, so that elephants were no use. Delay was dis- 
 honour. The chief of the Saktawats slid down from his elephant 
 and placed himself with his back against the spikes, calling on 
 the mahout to bring the elephant against his chest. The gates 
 yielded, and over the dead mangled body of their chief the sons 
 of Sakta rushed to glory. At that moment a shout from the wall 
 proclaimed their defeat. The Chondawats, arrived at the wall, 
 placed their ladder, and up rushed the chief: at the top of the 
 wall he was shot, and fell back. The next to ascend was a
 
 AJ MERE— ROAD TO JODHPORE. I 1 1 
 
 mighty hunter, and called from his feats in the chase the Tiger 
 Thakoor. Grimly smiling, he seized his chief's body in his mus- 
 cular arms, and reached the top of the wall : ' The heroic to the 
 Chondawats ! ' he cried, with a voice of thunder, as he pitched 
 the body of the dead chief inside the wall of the town, and the 
 clan shouting their war-cry, 'The Portal of Mewar! ' followed the 
 Tiger chief. So the Chondawats gained the hcrole by a second. 
 
 "When the town was being sacked, two Moslems were found 
 so intent on a game of chess as to be unconscious of the noise 
 of the assault. Being told to prepare for death, they begged to 
 be allowed to finish the game. The chivalrous Rajpoots delayed 
 their vengeance, and the game being finished, the Moslems cheer- 
 fully submitted to their fate. The Saktawats were very angry 
 at the granting of the above war-cry, saying nothing was left for 
 them, till a bard gave them their war-cry, ' The Bar that closes 
 the Portal' These clans exist now."* 
 
 These waitings during the heat of the day are very tiresome. 
 There are no c/iicsf to the doors — or windows, for they do duty 
 for both — and flies are innumerable ; the intolerable tickling 
 makes it difficult to collect one's ideas. The hum of noises out 
 of doors lulls one's senses, and invites sleep. Alas ! drat the 
 flies ! — on the hands and face alike they settle and bite. I wander 
 out, hoping to find something to do : no, nothing I could do with 
 profit ; so I sit down to my journal again. 
 
 Have I ever introduced you to my man Noor Khan ? fie is a 
 Moslem, and a very strict one too. Nothing will he eat that has 
 not been killed in the orthodox way. On arrival here, he asked 
 me to shoot some pigeons for him, — there were a quantity on a 
 tree. As it 's for the pot, I let fly into the middle, and down flop 
 four. " Cut their throats ! " cries Noor Khan ; and he and the 
 khansamah here, another Mohammedan, fly about to make the 
 necessary sacrifice. " See," cries Noor Khan in triumph, holding 
 
 * This story I find in Rousselet's book, but having taken it from Tod's 
 " Rajasthan," the Frenchman puts it into the mouth of a wandering chariot, 
 or bard. 
 
 t Chics; thin rush blinds costing four rupees each ; hence, in slang, a chic 
 means R. 4.
 
 112 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 up the bloody spoils of the chase to Roopjee, the Rahtor coach- 
 man, "see what a good shikdr my sahib has made ! " 
 
 The Hindoo turned away without a word, and with evident 
 disgust. He wouldn't touch one were he starving, such are the 
 different prejudices of these people. I found out afterwards I 
 had done a very shocking thing. All blue things are sacred to 
 the Hindoo, and these pigeons were " blue rocks " ! 
 
 At Jeypore I had to blow up Noor Khan for being out all day 
 in the bazaars, leaving my traps unguarded, while I was away 
 painting the Rajah. Coming back at 6.30 the next day, I find 
 him on guard. 
 
 " May I go get something to eat ? " he cried faintly. 
 " What do you mean ? " I asked. 
 
 " I not eaten since yesterday afternoon, and master say no go 
 to bazaar." 
 
 " Good gracious ! cannot you get anything to eat here ? my 
 other bearer can." 
 
 " He and G Sahib's servant eat anything ; they Chris- 
 tians ; eat what master leave. I cannot." 
 
 So to provide himself on the journey here, he procured at 
 Ajmere half a sheep, of which he has cooked curious -looking 
 joints for his sahib each day. Last night, to my astonishment, 
 he produced a very tolerable pudding, and as I chipped off the 
 brown round the dish, I thought of home, and how as a child I 
 had been fond of such things years ago, and I blessed Noor Khan. 
 He has his weaknesses, — a tremendous love of finery, espe- 
 cially in pugrces ; a great love of buying things, in which, as he 
 generally succeeds in anticipating one's most confirmed dislikes 
 in the way of Manchester abominations, he has to be checked. 
 He has also a wild delight in illuminations, and has produced 
 and broken more lamps than it is possible to conceive. Even 
 now, when I have restricted his luggage to a minimum, he not 
 only brings out my usual hurricane lantern, but two or three 
 bottles with candles stuck in them. These are amiable weak- 
 nesses, you will say. His worst weakness is his fearful jealousy of 
 my other servant, the Madrassee Manuel. He hates the sight of
 
 AJ MERE— ROAD TO JO DH TORE. 1 13 
 
 him, and his eyes glitter with rage whenever Manuel approaches 
 me. Poor Manuel, being a Christian (?), is a mild specimen of an 
 
 elderly man on whom all contrive to trample. Even G 's 
 
 Bombay " boy," who was really a boy, ordered him about with 
 great hauteur. He is very slow : not so Noor Khan, who is 
 always rushing about, a most comic figure, with his head, on 
 which is folded an enormous and resplendent pugree or turban, 
 thrown up, and his elbows brought back. So enormous is his 
 pugree, that he looks like a large ninepin. 
 
 With these two I shall have to spend my time for the next 
 three weeks, and speak to none others, intelligibly at least ; so 
 it 's right you should make their acquaintance. Noor Khan I 
 got at Bombay ; he comes from Cawnpore. Manuel, or " boy," 
 as all Madrassee and Bombay servants, notwithstanding their 
 age, are called, is a " treasure " recommended by my brother from 
 Calcutta. Manuel has gone with my heavy luggage to Jodhpore 
 by camel-carriage ; and for the time Noor Khan is delighted. As 
 a rule the latter looks after my clothes and person, and the former 
 cleans my palette and waits at table. Prestongee, my Parsee boy, 
 I have sent back home, as he was a great expense and a useless 
 incumbrance; being neither man nor master, neither fish, flesh, 
 fowl, nor good red herring. I should have retained the little 
 man, who was a useful slave, but for his extreme insouciance. 
 The fact is, he bored me to extinction. 
 
 At 3 p.m. we started from Chondawat for our second stage 
 that day. Again we sped along a sandy plain stretching on 
 our left towards the south, far away to the mountains on the 
 borders of Mewar, across which I must pass on my way to 
 Oodeypore. On our right were several villages, with tanks or 
 ponds, and of course rich vegetation. The whole country wants 
 but water to be a Paradise. So I have heard that the Suez Canal 
 has done wonders in Egypt : that you have only to upset a cup 
 of water, and the next day you have grass. 
 
 On this plain were quantities of black buck, at which I popped 
 away, but without success. An accident had bulged my Purdy, 
 and with a smooth bore it is hopeless to try to hit at more than
 
 I 14 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 70 yards, and these shy creatures never let me get within 120 or 
 200. However, the excitement of trying to hit relieved the 
 monotony of the journey, and the afternoon passed pleasantly 
 enough. At six we arrived at Soojut, where we were to pass 
 the night. The secretary to the hakim, or principal man of the 
 town, was waiting for me, and I had barely time to wash myself 
 before the hakim himself came to offer his salaam and two 
 trays of almonds, sugar-candy, and fresh vegetables. Having 
 dismissed him with honour, I strolled out to a camp of people 
 on their way from Delhi back to Baroda, hoping to find some 
 British with whom to fraternize. The British were not such fools 
 as to come so long a journey, and I found the " colonel sahib " 
 decidedly black. He told me they had been five months going to 
 Delhi and back. This gives an idea of the size of India, and 
 how long it took in the olden days to do your travelling: people 
 were three months doing what we now do in thirty hours by rail ! 
 
 Soojut has a fort and two funny-shaped rocky mounds, which 
 have formerly been fortified, but which are now covered with 
 ruins. I suppose it is an important place, since the hakim seems 
 to be a swell. Don't confuse this gentleman with a hakim or 
 physician. He is the Maharajah's officer in charge. 
 
 To-morrow we are to start at six, and I am promised relays 
 enough to take me to Jodhpore by three. I must to bed and 
 prepare for my forty miles' jolt through the sand. We have had 
 at present what is called in India & puckah road, that is, a made 
 road ; but to-morrow we have only aiclia, so I must steel my 
 bones to many a bang.* It has got very hot to-day. I keep 
 wonderfully well, and am quite set up from my Jeypore cold. 
 
 Jodlipore, 21st February. 
 
 Up to Soojut, the travelling had been pleasant enough ; but 
 from Soojut here the roads were said to be bad, and they did 
 not belie their reputation. I think I explained in my last the 
 difference between puckah and cucJia. These roads were cucJia 
 with a vengeance ! My old hearse of a carriage swayed and
 
 AJMERE—ROAD TO JODHPORE. 115 
 
 lurched like a small boat in a storm. The timbers of its old 
 frame shivered and trembled, and I thought every minute they 
 would part company and leave me flop on the sand. The 
 shaking I got was a sensation, I can assure you; and when I 
 finally sailed into Jodhpore, I offered up a prayer to the divinity 
 to be invoked by dak travellers for my safe arrival. The dis- 
 tance from Soojut to Jodhpore is fifty-six miles. We had four 
 relays of six horses to do the journey. 
 
 The last half of the time a hot wind arose, and with it a storm 
 of dust ; so I had my first view of the city of Jodha as if 
 through a thick London fog. Jodhpore is a considerable city 
 of some 100,000 inhabitants, over which towers the palace and 
 fort. The streets are very narrow, and my hearse, albeit a 
 narrow carriage, had great difficulty in forcing a passage along 
 the crowded thoroughfares. Ever and anon we had to wait till 
 an unlucky bullock-cart was shunted, with screams, shouts, and 
 imprecations, out of the way of the Maharajah's guest. The 
 architecture, as usual with purely Hindoo cities, is most pictu- 
 resque, with endless varieties of pierced window and balcony. 
 Many very splendid temples we passed, all which I hope to see 
 more at my leisure ; and then, going out of the farther gate, we 
 went up a terribly steep hill, and finally stopped at the Residency. 
 
 8—2
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JODHPORE. 
 
 HERE 1 found the Maharajah's servants waiting for me with 
 many salaams. The Residency has been one of the old 
 palaces, and is surrounded by a high wall. Within are two large 
 buildings : the largest, in which I now reside, being inhabited by 
 the political agent, who is at present absent, and the other by 
 the doctor. 
 
 I was received with all courtesy by the latter, who is himself 
 going on furlough next month, and, so to speak, camping in his 
 house. Soon the Maharajah sends a deputation with the usual 
 dholle — a number of trays with vegetables, sweetmeats, flour, 
 rose-water, &c, which I graciously receive ; and shortly His High- 
 ness's private secretary follows to offer his salaam. Pundit Sheo 
 Narain talks English, and we get on beautifully. He informs 
 me that the Maharajah holds his race meeting the next day, so 
 cannot sit then. He invites me to the Jodhpore Races, and 
 with many compliments we part. It is no use being in a hurry 
 with these people, and I must kick my heels, happy if I can 
 book his Highness for the day after. 
 
 I here received three mails from England. Those who have 
 never been out of the way of posts can little imagine the avidity 
 with which home news is devoured, and how the longest letters 
 seem all too short. This morning I have been inspecting my 
 new home. The pavilion in which I live is large, and strongly 
 built of stone. A long room, running the whole length of the 
 house, is lined with marble ; this forms a handsome sitting- 
 room. The bed-rooms, of which there are two, are large and 
 
 116
 
 JO DH PORE. 117 
 
 cool ; in fact, for a native-built house, this is most comfortable. 
 The garden, which lies between this house and the doctor's, is 
 well kept, the paths being raised masonry, with little water- 
 courses running by their side. The Indian gardener's work con- 
 sists entirely of watering. He constructs little water-courses and 
 earthen dams all over his beds, and you see him squatting all 
 day long on the ground changing the course of the water, so 
 that each tree and plant may have its share. The water has to 
 be drawn from the well. Two bullocks and their driver work 
 here, and contrive, by primitive machinery, to supply the main 
 water-course from which the supplementary ones are fed. 
 
 This gardener has many enemies to contend with in the 
 monkeys. There are swarms of them here, of the huge grey 
 and black kind. The walls round the gardens are high, but 
 nothing is too high for them. They swing from the tops of the 
 trees on to the roof of my present abode, on which they drop 
 with a heavy thud. They climb down into my balcony, and fill 
 me with dread lest they should find their way to my paints and 
 canvases, when, indeed, they would play what my Yankee friend 
 would call "merry hell." My friend the doctor here told me 
 that they got into his room one day after his servant had laid out 
 his clothes for dinner, and ran off with the whole lot. One old 
 monkey was seen on the top of a tree trying on the Medico's 
 best inexpressibles, while many portions of raiment were found 
 scattered about the country for a mile round the house. Monkeys 
 being sacred, one is not allowed to revenge himself as human 
 nature would suggest. 
 
 At 2.30 we were bound to go to the Maharajah's race meet- 
 ing, and off we (the doctor and myself) started, in a carriage 
 and four. There are certainly wonderful things to be seen here. 
 The city does not, like Jeypore, lack picturesqueness through its 
 regularity. Every turn in the street gave you a fresh picture, 
 and every picture would be worth painting. The houses are 
 built of the red stone of the place, which is whitewashed over. 
 The fort and palace were newly whitewashed for Lord North- 
 brook, who was here about a year ago. The white is still on the
 
 II 8 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 walls, for whitewash holds well here, since there is so little rain — 
 only 4 inches a year. 
 
 Right through the town we drive, past palace, temple, and 
 tank. The syces shout and distribute their blows on obstinate 
 bullocks, inattentive drivers, or innocent passers-by alike ; we 
 jostle the corners of the streets, but happily the carriage is strong, 
 and we survive ; and finally, passing through the opposite gate 
 of the city, we reach the race-ground on the farther side of the 
 town. The first thing I perceive is a placard with "Jodhpore 
 Race-ground " written in English thereon. Everything is done 
 in English style, and all the directions and names written in 
 English ; and yet I have reason to know that in all the crowd 
 there were but two who could read the directions on the boards. 
 This is one of the many instances of the extraordinary desire of 
 the native to imitate the European. I wish this would lead them 
 to sacrifice any of their prejudices ; but, I fear, as yet the desire 
 is only to conform outwardly. The Maharajah has built a grand 
 stand of solid stone, for which five rupees admittance is charged ; 
 we, happily, are admitted free. Most of the Maharajah's 
 jockeys are the Maharajah's brothers, and the horses belong to 
 them or to the chief. It is a pleasant sight to see the enthusiasm 
 they display in riding a race ; and as riding is a manly exercise, 
 and these brothers are fine young fellows, all this is very well. 
 I only trust the want of communication will preserve Jodhpore 
 from the professional ring man, who is the scum of the popula- 
 tion. 
 
 The Maharajah receives us with great cordiality, and conducts 
 us to his grand stand, seating us to his right and left in places of 
 honour. His delight in his new amusement is too strong for 
 his politeness, and he soon leaves us and joins the crowd of 
 amateur jocks and others by the weighing- house. We are, 
 however, plied with cheroots and brandy-and-soda by his orders, 
 and, as it is impolite to refuse, are forced to take more than 
 we want. He also sends from time to time to apologize for 
 his absence. 
 
 Jeswant Sing, head of the Rahtors, and Maharajah of Marwar,
 
 JODHPORE. 119 
 
 is a good-looking man of, I should say, forty ; probably he is not 
 so old. His father, Tukt Sing, succeeded the famous, or rather 
 infamous, Maund Sing in 1843. He was chief of the Rahtors of 
 Amednugger, and was invited to give up that principality for 
 Marvvar, on the death of Maund Sing without children. Jeswant 
 Sing was born in Amednugger. Now, the next brother was born 
 here, and has caused much trouble both during his father's life- 
 time and at his death, by claiming the guddce on that plea. The 
 father, too, was an unsatisfactory rajah, difficult of access, and 
 full of strange quips. It was he who caused all the row at Lord 
 Mayo's durbar at Ajmere, in 1867, by refusing to sit below 
 Jeypore, though the matter had been settled by treaty years ago. 
 The durbar was held with Jodhpore's place vacant, and the old 
 gentleman was packed off, bag and baggage, the very next day, 
 and had two guns taken from his salute — a terrible punishment 
 for a rajah. The real reason for his absence I heard from his 
 "political:" Tukt Sing was too drunk to appear. In truth, he 
 was a truculent and absurd old thing, and played " ducks and 
 drakes" with his property. He gave most of the crown jewels to 
 a lady whom he delighted to honour, and who has them still, and 
 sticks to them. He left ten legitimate sons, and of the baser kind 
 five times as many. There were many of these of both kinds at 
 the races, some quite lads. 
 
 Jeswant Sing succeeded to the guddee only a few years since, 
 and found a considerable amount of debt, and much discon- 
 tent, left as a legacy by the truculent Tukt. He had to com- 
 mence by exiling his brother, Suroor Sing, who claimed the 
 throne. He is, however, a very good fellow himself, and very 
 popular : you can always see whether a rajah is a good fellow by 
 his treatment of his brothers. Now, these here, except the 
 before-named Suroor, are very good friends : the only fault I 
 have to find with Jeswant Sing is, that he has, as usual, no idea 
 of time, and I have been kept waiting two days for a sitting. I 
 wrote a most touching and "high-faluting" letter to his secre- 
 tary, saying "that I could only stop a certain time here, and 
 during that time my services and talents were at the Maharajah's
 
 120 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 service, but that I could not lengthen my stay, since other rajahs 
 were waiting for me ;" that " I was particularly anxious that the 
 head of the Rahtors, of whom I had read such glorious things, 
 should be well represented in the picture to be hung up for ever 
 in the palace of the Empress; and that, although it might be 
 irksome to sit, it was a small price to pay for the immortality I 
 should confer!" and suchlike. As Wigan used to say when he 
 played the Frenchman in " The First Night," " I think that will 
 tickle him." 
 
 I had a visit from Bigi Sing, the Prime Minister, yesterday, 
 and made a sketch of the old man. It is the first drawing I 
 have tried here, and the discomfort of such efforts is great. The 
 heat was tremendous, and the bread dried between one's fingers, 
 so that it was impossible to pick out high lights in the way one 
 can in England. The dryness of the atmosphere is wonderful. 
 You may slop on your oil colours with pure oil to any extent, 
 and, of course with the exception of the lakes, all is dry the next 
 day: even lakes only take two days. The curse is the dust, 
 which penetrates everywhere. Flies, too, are very annoying. 
 At Ajmere the wind blew at night off the lake, on the bund 
 of which Saunders's house is situate. The plague of midges 
 set in, and I assure you it is no exaggeration to say that lamps 
 were put out by them. Their mangled little corpses strewed 
 the table two inches thick, and there was quite a smell of burnt 
 midge ! 
 
 The feud between Jodhpore and Oodeypore dates back from 
 the time of Akbar, in the sixteenth century. Jodhpore early 
 succumbed to the blandishments of Delhi, and gave its princesses 
 to the arms of the Emperor. Not so Oodeypore ; and on one 
 occasion, when Jodhpore went to Oodeypore after his loss of 
 caste, the Rana refused to eat from the same platter as the Rajah. 
 Wars innumerable succeeded, but the final split occurred as late 
 as 1804 {vide Colonel Tod, who was then at Oodeypore). Bhim 
 Sing, the reigning Rana, had a daughter Krishna Komari, " the 
 virgin Krishna," whose fame for beauty went forth throughout 
 Rajpootana. She was the daughter of a princess of the Chawara
 
 JODHPORE. 1 2 1 
 
 race, the ancient Kings of Annulwara of Southern India. In 
 infancy she was betrothed to the Rajah of Jodhpore ; but the 
 bridegroom died, and his brother and successor claimed the bride. 
 Meanwhile Jujgut Sing, the dissolute Rajah of Jeypore, sent to 
 demand her hand, and was secretly favoured by the Rana. But 
 neither Rajah would give way, and with the help of a certain 
 Amir Khan, who alternately sided with one or the other, the 
 whole of the Rajpootana, including Oodeypore, was laid waste. 
 Amir Khan, a kind of Mohammedan freebooter, finally laid siege 
 to Oodeypore, and through his agent, a certain Agit (on whose 
 head the curses of the Rajpoots will for ever rest), persuaded the 
 Rana that the only way to heal the wounds of his country was 
 to sacrifice his daughter. The Rana, a weak man, consented. 
 Daulut Sing, a relation, was sent for, and told to " save the 
 honour of Oodeypore." "Accursed be the tongue that com- 
 mands it ! Dust on my allegiance, if to be preserved at such a 
 sacrifice ! " he cried, and rushed from the presence. Jowanda, 
 an illegitimate brother, was then called on. The dire necessity 
 was explained, and it was urged, for the honour of the family, 
 that no strange hand could be permitted to perform the sacrifice. 
 Unwillingly he accepted ; but at the sight of Krishna Komari, 
 her beauty so overcame him that the dagger dropped from his. 
 hand. His emotion betrayed the purpose for which he had come, 
 and soon the cries and lamentations of the mother resounded 
 through the palace. But the danger was not past : poison, pre- 
 pared by female hands, was presented in the name of the father. 
 Krishna bowed and drank, sending up prayers for his prosperity; 
 and to the imprecations poured on the head of her father by her 
 frantic mother, sweetly replied, "Why afflict yourself, my mother, 
 at this shortening of the sorrows of life ? I fear not to die : am 
 I not your daughter ? Why should I fear death ? We are marked 
 for sacrifice from our birth.* We scarcely enter the world, but 
 
 * It was usual for the Ranas of Oodeypore to kill their female children. 
 When a child is born, his or her birth is notified to the Rana. If it proves a 
 girl, the Rana, by turning down his thumb, silently decides the poor thing's 
 fate. The nurse presses her finger on the top of the poor infant's skull, which 
 at birth is little thicker than skin, and the child ceases to exist.
 
 122 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 we leave it. To my father I owe my life ; let me thank him that 
 I have lived so long." But Mata, the preserving goddess, watched 
 o'er her life, and the poison refused to assimilate with her pure 
 blood. Twice more was the bitter potion prepared, and three 
 times the goddess averted the decrees of fate. One would have 
 thought that even the enemies of the Rajpoots would have been 
 appeased. But no ! Amir Khan insisted, and Agit, said to have 
 been a most pious man, still urged the necessity of the sacrifice 
 on the reluctant parent. This time opium, against which neither 
 gods nor men can contend, was the poison tried, and it was mixed 
 with kasumba, a soothing draught. With a smile, the poor girl 
 drank again, wishing all was over. She slept, never to wake, as 
 pure a victim as ever fate demanded or poetry has recorded ; 
 and her mother, overcome by her anguish, followed her daughter 
 to her funeral pyre. 
 
 Agit, who had worked all this desolation, when he reported the 
 sacrifice, was spurned from the presence of the freebooter Amir 
 Khan. "Is this Rajpoot valour ?" cried the Moslem. Four days 
 after, Sangram, of the clan of Sakttawat, the rival of Agit, 
 arrived at Court. A true Rajpoot, he feared neither the swords 
 of his enemies nor the wrath of his sovereign. Forcing his way 
 into the presence of the Rana, he found Agit there, seated. " O 
 coward," cried Sangram, "who hast thrown dust on the race of 
 Sesodia! the blood which has flowed in purity through a hundred 
 ages has now been defiled, its course is now checked ! Alas for 
 the blot so foul that no Sesodian can again hold up his head, for 
 the sin no punishment can wipe out ! the godlike race of Bappu 
 Rawal is at an end ! The gods have decreed this for our destruc- 
 tion ! " The conscience-stricken Rana covered his face. " And 
 thou, Agit, impure of Rajpoot blood ! dust be on the head that 
 brought this shame on us all ! Mayest thou die childless, and 
 thy name die with thee ! Why this haste to consummate the foul 
 sacrifice ? Had the Moslem stormed the city and violated the 
 sanctity of the Zenana ? If he had, you could have died as your 
 ancestors the Rajpoots have ever died. Was it thus they gained 
 a name among heroes ? Was it thus they opposed the might of
 
 JODHPORE. 123 
 
 kings ? Have you forgotten the sa/cas (sackings) of Chitore ? 
 You are no Rajpoots. Had the honour of your females been in 
 danger, had you sacrificed them all, and, putting on your saffron 
 robes, found death in the ranks of the enemy, the Almighty 
 would have found means to continue the divine race of Bappu 
 Rawal, and you would have gained immortal honour. You did 
 not wait the threatened danger, you owed your safety to an un- 
 hallowed deed ! Alas, the end of our race approaches ! " 
 
 Strange to say, the curse was nearly fulfilled. Of ninety-five 
 sons and daughters, but one lived to succeed his father as Rana 
 of Oodeypore, and he died childless ; and the line of Bappu has 
 had to be perpetuated by two adoptions in the last fifty years. 
 
 The fate of Agit was still more dramatic. Within a month 
 his wife and two sons were numbered with the dead. For years 
 he wandered a mendicant through the shrines of India, with 
 " Rama ! Rama ! " constantly on his tongue, and the hatred of all 
 true Rajpoots on his head. Not all the waters of the sacred 
 Ganges can wipe off the blood of the virgin Krishna, and for 
 ever will he live the execrated and loathed theme of Rajpoot 
 poetry. 
 
 The story reminds one of Iphigenia ; and if it does not yield 
 in poetic interest to the Greek tale, it has one additional merit : 
 it is true, and happened in this very century, attested by an 
 Englishman on the spot. 
 
 Since then Jodhpore and Oodeypore have not been friends, 
 and I have told how the late Rajah behaved when he met the 
 Rana at Ajmere. At Delhi, however, they became reconciled, 
 and now, I believe, consider each other " friends of the stomach." 
 
 2$th February. 
 
 To my pathetic letter of yesterday I received an answer that 
 the Maharajah would sit at four to-day, and being freed, I went 
 out and made a sketch of the palace and citadel, that rise high 
 over the town. Jodha, the founder of the town, was very wise 
 in the selection of the site. From the plain or plateau between
 
 124 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 this and Soojat, the ground falls, and, after two or three miles, 
 rises again in several respectable hills, on the highest of which is 
 the palace and fort. It was, of course, a place of immense strength 
 in olden times, before men had digged "villanous saltpetre out ot' 
 the bowels of the harmless earth." During the troubles produced 
 by the Rajpoot Helen, mentioned above, Amir Khan besieged 
 this place, and, planting his guns on a hill near this house, sent 
 several shots plump into the palace. Such ungentlemanly con- 
 duct had not been foreseen by Rajah Jodha, who planted his 
 palace on a precipice, and trusted to its height for its protection. 
 Probably the tough old Rajpoots of that date would have resisted 
 even at the expense of the destruction of the palace. Not so 
 Maund Sing, who surrendered at once. The havoc made by 
 Marathas at the beginning of this century (Amir Khan was 
 nominally the commander-in-chief of Jeswant Rao Holkar) is 
 still to be traced throughout Rajpootana. Villages are only just 
 starting up and ground being re-cultivated ; for now the seventy 
 years of peace given by the paramount Power, and secured by its 
 firmness, have begun to produce their natural effects. And the 
 Rajpoots are grateful too ; for in the Mutiny, when the troops 
 throughout Rajpootana mutinied, the Rajpoot princes stood 
 firm, and even the truculent Tukt Sing, father of the present 
 Rajah, protected all European refugees, and gave his assistance 
 in every way. 
 
 I have been to my first sitting since writing the above. A 
 picturesque but decidedly hot drive round the outside of the 
 town took me to the Rae-ka Bagh, a palace built for himself 
 by Jeswant Sing, the present Rajah. Pundit Sheo Narain, his 
 private secretary, informs me that his Highness did not like 
 the old palace in the fort of Jodha, because the rooms are small 
 and confined, and so he set to work to build a palace of his own, 
 after European style. It is not finished even now, so I ought 
 not to criticize. 
 
 Like most Indian palaces, the Rae-ka Bagh is a collection of 
 pavilions in a garden, round which there is a high wall. After 
 being kept waiting some time in the hot sun, I was shown into a
 
 JODHPORE. 125 
 
 pavilion of two storeys. The lower one, open to all the winds 
 that blow, was littered with bundles of linen ; so I thought 
 " The Rajah is having covers made for his furniture." What was 
 my astonishment at finding these heaps of linen were all re- 
 cumbent Rahtors, probably suffering from the effects of opium ! 
 Above this open loggia was a largish room, fitted up with Euro- 
 pean articles according to the habit of rajahs. On the table in 
 the centre were two large clocks, endless cases for photographs, 
 and knick-knacks of all kinds ; on other tables similar orna- 
 ments. To the ceiling hung three chandeliers and about twenty- 
 five lamps ; in the four corners of the room were four large 
 photos of the Prince of Wales, all the same, in the uniform of 
 the 10th Hussars. Soon I was joined by Pundit Sheo Narain, 
 the private secretary, &c. We cleared out a small room at the 
 side, where the window was somewhat larger, and thus made a 
 rough sort of studio. The Maharajah uses this room for a bed- 
 room sometimes, and it was nearly filled with an iron bedstead. 
 These people are full of caprice, and will sleep anywhere if the 
 fancy seizes them. A charpoy and a rezai, a rough four-legged 
 bedstead and a counterpane, are enough for the greatest rajah. 
 They have no love of home or chez soi — no household gods — no 
 comforts. How can they understand England and English lite- 
 rature, where these things occupy such a prominent place ? 
 
 I have to wait for the Rajah. Alas ! one has always to wait. 
 Presently in he comes, in his undress — spotless linen and muslin, 
 so that you can see the colour of the brown skin underneath ; 
 bare legs and a common-looking pugrce : such is the get-up of 
 the chief of Marwar, the head of the Rahtors ! He is a good- 
 looking man, but very shy, I should think. He won't talk much, 
 and to me only remarks that he would like to be taken the 
 other way round, as then the jewels of Marwar would show. To 
 humour him, I turn him so that he will look out of the picture. 
 Most of these fellows — like Henry VIII., by-the-bye — dislike to 
 be taken in profile. All around, on the floor, squat, as usual, the 
 Rajah's courtiers ; and as ever fresh numbers join the throng, they 
 salaam to the ground. The Maharajah takes no notice of the
 
 126 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 salaams, and, enlightened prince though he is, according to his 
 private secretary, and good fellow as he is reported to be by all 
 who know him, he looks heartily tired of everything, and has 
 the usual ineffably bored look that all such people acquire. 
 
 Merry laughter comes from outside ; I hear shouts of " Wah ! 
 wah ! " and am aware of the fact that the brothers are playing 
 at Badminton on a piece of green sward I had noticed. The 
 Rajah does not care for Badminton. Perchance he thinks it is 
 infra dig. for a Rajah to rush about and get warm. I should 
 like to work him up and amuse him. I make feeble starts in 
 conversations; I try all kinds of subjects. No, there he sits, 
 bored and placid, a Rajah all over. 
 
 His Highness having been late, the sitting is soon over, as it 
 gets dark. 
 
 The next day I have another sitting. As usual, the Rajah is 
 late again, later than ever, and I am in despair ! He sends a 
 swell thakoor to make his excuse, and with him I try to con- 
 verse. My Hindoostani is very feeble. I wish to say I hear 
 the Rajah is very fond of dogs. The thakoor looks confused. 
 What have I said ? I am afraid of having committed myself, 
 and stated the Rajah is a beautiful dog. I 'd better hold my 
 tongue. I look from the window. All about me are pigeons, 
 some with silver bangles round their red legs. What am I to 
 say? The thakoor is as bored as I — as the Rajah. What a 
 nuisance that I cannot communicate my ideas ! I gaze from the 
 windows again. On the opposite window I see an inscription ; 
 it looks in a strange character; but, no surely, though half worn 
 out, that must be an "A" and that an "L" Yes! I have it! 
 " Ladies' superfine cloth," — that is what I read on the Rajah's 
 blinds, in rather worn golden letters. It is twenty minutes past 
 five, and I cannot see beyond six. Confound all Rajahs ! — Ah ! 
 here he comes ! I must smile and be happy, with black rage at 
 my heart. These are my suffering, O my friends ! and should 
 anybody wish to paint rajahs, I should say, " Don't ! " Yet the 
 man does not appear to be rude. Verily rajahs have no more 
 idea of the value of time than sitting hens. G is right.
 
 p. 126 
 
 H.H. JESWANT SING, MAHARAJAH OK JODHPOKE.
 
 JODHPORE. 127 
 
 " Hooli," the great festival of the Hindoos, being now on, and 
 there being an eclipse of the full moon, the Rajah has asked to 
 be excused sitting for two days. More delays ! However, it 
 can't be helped, and I must employ my time sketching. 
 
 These Rahtors are descended from Seoji, a grandson of 
 Jeichund, the Emperor of Canooj mentioned before. By the 
 sword, like every other empire, was the State of Marwar gained, 
 and if any one reads the pages of Tod, he must own it was 
 plentifully cemented with the best Chohan blood. The Rahtor 
 is essentially a man of the sword. One Rahtor is equal to ten 
 Cuchwahas, and the Rao and Rajahs of Marwar are mighty 
 warriors rather than statesmen, like the Jey Sings of Dhoonder. 
 If the feudal system is prevalent in Rajpootana, it is all-powerful 
 in Marwar. From Jodha the land was divided among eight great 
 clans, called in the language of the poet "the Eight Pillars of 
 Maroo;" and although in the main the chiefs of these clans were 
 faithful to the crown, the Rahtor blood was easily fired, and 
 many a time the throne itself has been shaken for a sarcasm or 
 imagined slight to heads of the Champawats or Koompawats. 
 Moreover, these chiefs seem always to have reserved the right of 
 deposing their liege lord if he should prove unfit for the ''cushion 
 of Jodha." This right was exercised in the choice of a successor 
 to Rajah Guj, who left two sons, Amra and Jeswant. Amra was 
 of a most violent and impracticable disposition, and at a solemn 
 convocation of the feudal chiefs of Marwar, he was solemnly de- 
 posed. "This ceremony, which was marked as a day of mourning, 
 was performed with funereal pomp. As soon as the sentence 
 was pronounced, that his birthright was forfeited and assigned 
 to his younger brother, the kliclat of banishment, consisting of 
 sable garments, was brought forth. In these he was clad ; a 
 sable shield was hung on his back, and a sword of the same hue 
 girded round him ; then, being mounted on a black horse, he 
 was commanded, but not in anger, to depart whither he listed 
 beyond the limits of Maroo." 
 
 Jeswant Sing, the other brother, was the great Rajah of 
 Marwar. "Jeswant," sriys the bard, " was unequalled amongst
 
 I 28 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 the princes of his time. Stupidity and ignorance were banished, 
 and science flourished, when he ruled ; many books were com- 
 posed under his auspices." He was much employed under the 
 Emperors Shah Jehan and Aurungzebe, but his policy was that 
 of Jey Sing, viz., to ruin the power of Delhi as much as he could 
 without -actually breaking with the Emperor. Gallantly was the 
 pancJi ritiiga * carried through many a hard-fought field ; as 
 many times did the Rajah treacherously deceive his sovereign, 
 and fail at the last moment. Yet the vassal was too powerful to 
 be punished by the cunning Aurungzebe, and if any monarch 
 deserved to be outwitted, surely it was the cruel persecutor of 
 the Hindoo. That Aurungzebe duly appreciated the power of 
 Marwar, and hated the ruling house, is shown by the cruel way 
 he tried to massacre the family of Jeswant Sing, who had died in 
 his service amidst the snows of Cabul. But first let us glance at 
 the fate of Amra, which at least justified the preference given by 
 the chiefs of Manvar to his younger brother. These tales are 
 not given as history, for this is not a history : I only recount or 
 quote from Tod such stories as I think are good traits of the 
 Rajpoots among whom I am staying ; and let me add that at 
 each of the Rajpoot agencies I have found Col. Tod's volumes, 
 which are indeed the great authority on the affairs and history 
 of Rajpootana. 
 
 Amra, then, with a considerable following, went to Delhi, and 
 was well received by the Emperor Shah Jehan, who gave him 
 the Munsoob of 3,ooo, with the grant of Nagore. But Amra 
 was of an independent turn of mind, and once, while the Court 
 was at Agra, absented himself a whole fortnight from his duties, 
 hunting the boar and tiger — his only recreation. Shah Jehan 
 reprimanded him for his absence, and threatened him with a 
 fine. Amra proudly replied, putting his hand to his sword, that 
 that was his sole wealth, and left the presence. Shah Jehan 
 then sent Sallabut Khan, his paymaster, to Amra's quarters to 
 enforce a fine. This w T as refused, and the observation of the 
 Syud not suiting the temper of Amra, he unceremoniously told 
 
 * The five-coloured flag of Marwar.
 
 JODHPOEE. 1 29 
 
 him to depart. The Emperor, thus insulted in the person of his 
 officer, issued a mandate for Amra's instant appearance. He 
 obeyed, and having reached the Am Khas, beheld the King, 
 " whose eyes were red with anger," with Sallabut in the act of 
 addressing him. 
 
 Inflamed with rage, Amra then passed the omralis, or lords of 
 five and seven thousand, who stood between him and the throne, 
 as though to address the King (or Emperor) ; then with a dagger 
 which he had concealed in his sleeve he stabbed Sallabut to the 
 heart. Drawing his sword, he made a blow at the King, which, 
 descending on a pillar, shivered the weapon to pieces. The King 
 abandoned his throne, and fled to the inner apartments. All was 
 uproar and confusion. Amra continued the work of death, in- 
 different upon whom his blows fell, and five Mogul chiefs of 
 eminence had fallen, when his brot er-in-law, Mjoon Gore, under 
 pretence of cajoling him, inflicted a mortal wound. Nevertheless 
 he continued to ply his dagger till he died. To avenge his death 
 his retainers, headed by Bulloo Champawat .md Bhao Khoom- 
 pawat, put on their saffron garments, and iiesh carnage ensued 
 in the Lai Kelah (red fort at Agra). " The pillars of Agra bear 
 testimony to their deeds, nor shall they ever be obliterated from 
 the record of time ; they made their obeisance to Amra in the 
 mansions of the sun." So sang the bard. The faithful band 
 died to a man ; and Amra's wife, a Princess of Bhoondi, came in 
 person and carried away the body of her husband, with which 
 she committed herself to the flames. The Bokhara Gate, through 
 which they gained admittance, was closed, and called Amra- 
 Sing's Gateway ; neither was it opened till the English came to 
 Agra. 
 
 This " running a-muck " was not an uncommon thing with the 
 Rajpoot, whose undaunted spirit was sustained by plentiful closes 
 of opium, which rendered them insensible to pain, and I fear 
 sometimes to reason. 
 
 Agit, the son of Jeswant, was born amid the snows of Cabul 
 after the death of his father. The faithful Rahtors bore him 
 towards their home. On their arrival at Delhi, Aurungzebe 
 
 9
 
 13? IMPERIAL IX DLL 
 
 offered to divide the state of Manvar among the feudal chiefs 
 who attended their infant sovereign, if they would deliver up 
 their charge. Now, land has irresistible charms for the Rajpoot, 
 and many are the deeds of what seems to us the basest treachery, 
 that have been perpetrated to gain landed property. But the 
 Rahtors were true to their trust. "Our country," they replied, 
 " is with our sinews, and these can defend both it and our lord." 
 With eyes red with rage they left the Am-Khas. In a basket of 
 sweetmeats they sent away their young prince, and then prepared 
 to defend their honour against the hosts of the Emperor ; they 
 made an oblation to their gods, took a double portion of opium, 
 and mounted their steeds. " Let us swim," they cried in the 
 song of the poet, " in the ocean of fight ; let us root up the 
 Azures, and be carried by the Apsaras to the mansions of the 
 sun ! " Then Soojah, the poet, took up the word. " For a day 
 like this/' said he, "you enjoy your fiefs, to give in your lord's 
 cause your bodies to the sword. As for me, who enjoyed his" 
 (the deceased Jeswant Sing's) "friendship and his gifts, to-day 
 will I make his salt resplendent. My father's fame will I up- 
 hold, and lead the death in this day's fight, that future bards may 
 hymn my praise!" Then spoke Doorga, son of Assoh. "The 
 teeth of the Yavans is whetted, but by the lightning of our 
 swords shall Delhi witness our deeds, and the flame of our anger 
 shall consume the troops of the Shah !" 
 
 They thereupon set fire to a train of gunpowder, and the raja 
 ioca, or their wives and children, were sent to inhabit siverga, or 
 heaven. Lance in hand, with faces resembling Yama,* the 
 Rahtors rushed on their foe. Then the music of swords and 
 shields commenced ; wave followed wave on the field of blood ; 
 and Sankra completed his chaplet in Rajpoot history, as he had 
 many occasions of doing. 
 
 Most of these faithful Rahtors fell that day. Some few, with 
 the faithful Doorga, succeeded in cutting their way through the 
 Moslems, and escaped to their infant chief, whom Doorga, a 
 great name in Rahtor history, conveyed to Mount Aboo, into a 
 
 * The Hindoo Pluto.
 
 JODHPORE. 131 
 
 place of safety known to him alone ; and for years the country, 
 overrun with invading Moslems, was content to know that 
 " Dhunni," their lord, was living. Doorga was a constant thorn 
 in the side of Aurungzebe ; so much so, that upon one occasion 
 " rage so got the better of his religion, that he threw the Koran 
 at the head of the Almighty." Six years the Pillars of Maroo 
 sighed for their chief, till they could resist no longer ; " without 
 the sight of our lord bread and water have no flavour." At length 
 they had their wish ; then, " as the lotus expands at the sun- 
 beam, so did the heart of each Rahtor at the sight of his infant 
 sovereign. They drank in his looks, even as the pipaya in the 
 month of Asoj sips drops of im ritsu (ambrosia) from the blossoms 
 of the champa!'* Verily — 
 
 " I had a dream of chivalry, 
 And large white plumes are dancing in my eye." 
 
 Yet this is in 1687 ! 
 
 Through his long reign of forty-three years Agit was the beloved 
 ruler of his people. Fearless in war, his strength was only 
 equalled by his courtesy. At the age of eleven he dared to pre- 
 sent himself at his enemy's palace, and in the most ceremonious 
 of courts behaved with the dignity worthy of the head of the 
 Rahtors. Yet was he foully murdered, and by his eldest son 
 and declared heir. From that day the chivalry of Marwar 
 declined. The bard from whom I have quoted was the cele- 
 brated Kama, who played a great part in the deeds he recounts. 
 His " Surya Prakas" consists of 7,500 stanzas; but in it he 
 merely says, "At this time Agit went to heaven." Abhye Sing, 
 his successor, and Bukhta Sing, his brother, but for that foul 
 murder, would have been worthy of their father and grand- 
 father. But their children, Ram Sing and Behem Sing, ruined 
 their country ; and their successors, Beyz Sing and Maun Sing, 
 finally succeeded in reducing Marwar to the level of the other 
 native states of India. Alas for feudal chivalry! Three gene- 
 
 * There is a tradition that the peacock (pipaya) gets quite inebriated from 
 sipping the blossoms of the mango-tree when it is in full bloom ' 
 
 9—2
 
 132 IMPERIAL I.XDIA. 
 
 rations of tyrants or fools will reduce it by natural selection to 
 nothing. As yet nothing has taken its place, but a nation with 
 such traditions, which has produced men like Doorjadas and 
 Agit, may yet bring forth heroes in a better cause. 
 
 The wonderful circumstance to me is that this should have hap- 
 pened in the last century. Agit was killed in 1728! Fancy Richard 
 Cceur de Lion, Bayard, or Lancelot in the eighteenth century ! 
 
 Yesterday morning, 29th February, we went to see the fort. 
 I was conveyed up the steep incline in a palki by several old 
 fellows, who must have found a considerable difference between 
 my 18 stone and the weight they generally have to carry. 
 
 The fort is perched on a high rock. From it you get a most 
 extensive view of the plains of Marwar stretching far away, as 
 far as the eye can reach, as fiat as a pancake. At the foot lies 
 the town of Jodhpore, a dense mass of small houses, with no 
 trace of streets and open places except where you can trace the 
 large square of the Maharajah's stables and the occasional green 
 splash of a tank. On the top of the cliffs are many guns, the 
 worn-out relics of what must have been formerly good artillery. 
 I should be sorry now to fire the old things in wrath, though I 
 suppose the sight of their honeycombed old muzzles may inspire 
 awe in the town which they seem to command. 
 
 In the steepest part of the fort is the palace and Zenana. Most 
 picturesque and old are they, and built up many storeys, with 
 beautiful old windows of pierced stonework. Many a funny 
 story could those walls tell, since they were fixed by Rajah Jodha 
 in the fifteenth century. At the entrance to the fort I noticed 
 on each side of the gate rough impressions of many hands. Small 
 were they, and evidently feminine, and silvered over with great 
 care. On my questioning the obliging old commander of the 
 fort (who is also Master of the Horse to his Highness), he told 
 me they were records of former satis performed by ladies of the 
 ruling family. Poor little silvered hands ! belonging to wretched 
 creatures who possibly had never been out of the walls of that 
 Zenana for years, till they made that sad journey to the Chatries 
 of Mundore, and their horrible deaths. The tom-toms are sound-
 
 JODHPORE. [33 
 
 ing now, for it is Hooli, the Saturnalia of the Hindoos, — the same 
 tom-toms which beat loud to stifle the screams of the victims to 
 Brahminical tradition. No more little hands will be added to 
 that ghastly record ; never more will a rajah be carried out with 
 all his robes and jewels, to be burnt with those he loved. Make 
 up the number, finish the tally, and turn over a new leaf. 
 
 Listen to the description my friend Kama, the bard, gives ot 
 the sati performed after the death of Agit. 
 
 "On Asar the 13th, the dark half-moon of 1780 (a.d. 1728), 
 1,700 warriors of the eight ranks of Maroo for the last time 
 marched before their lord. They placed his body in a boat,* 
 and carried him to the pyre made of sandal-wood and perfumes, 
 with heaps of cotton, oil, and camphor. But this is a subject of 
 grief: how can a bard enlarge on such a theme? The Nazir-\ 
 went to the raivala, and as he pronounced the words, 'Rao 
 Siddoel the Chohani Queen, with sixteen damsels in her suite, 
 came forth. ' This day,' said she, ' is one of joy. My race shall 
 be illustrious. Our lives have been passed together : how, then 
 can I leave him ? ' 
 
 " Of a noble race was the Bhattiani Queen, a scion of Jessul, a 
 daughter of Berjung. She put up a prayer to the Lord who 
 wields the discus.J ' With joy I accompany my lord : that my 
 fealty (sati)\ may be accepted rests with thee, O Krishna!' In 
 like manner did the gazelle of Derawal and the Tuar Queen of 
 pure blood, the Chaori Ranee, and she of Shekhawati, invoke the 
 name of Heri, as they, too, determined to join their lord. For 
 these six Queens death had no terrors ; but they were the 
 affianced wives of their lord. The curtain wives of affection, to 
 the number of fifty-eight, also determined to offer themselves as 
 a sacrifice to Agni (fire). ' Such another opportunity,' they cried, 
 ' can never occur if we survive our lord. Disease will seize and 
 make us a prey in our apartments. Then why quit the society 
 
 * A vehicle shaped like a boat — perhaps figurative of the sail across 
 Voiturna, or the Styx of the Hindoo. 
 
 t Nazir, the officer in charge of the rawedi or chief Zenana. 
 X Krishna. § Or " suftee" as it is pronounced.
 
 134 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 of our lord when, hap what may, we must fall into the hands of 
 Yama, for whom the human race is but a mouthful ? Let us 
 leave the iron age behind us.' ' Without our lord even life is 
 death,' said the Bhattiani, as she bound the beads of toolsi 
 round her neck, and made the Mac with earth from the Ganges. 
 While thus each spoke, Rahoo, the Nazir, thus addressed them : 
 ' This is no amusement. The sandal-wood you now anoint with 
 is cool ; but will your resolution abide when you receive it with 
 the flame of Agni ? When this scorches your tender frames 
 your hearts may fail, and the desire to recede will disgrace your 
 lord's memory. Reflect, and remain where you are. You have 
 lived like Indrani,* nursed in softness amidst flowers and per- 
 fumes ; the winds of heaven never offended you, far less the 
 flames of fire.' But to all he said they replied, ' The world 
 we will abandon, but never our lord.' They performed their 
 ablutions, decked themselves in their gayest attire, and for the 
 last time made obeisance to their lord in his car. The ministers, 
 the bards, the family priests (purohcts) in turn expostulated with 
 them. The chief Queen, the Chohani, they told to indulge in 
 affection for her sons, Abhye and Bakhta, to feed the poor, the 
 needy, the holy, and lead a life of religious devotion. The Queen 
 replied : ' Koonti, the wife of Pandu, did not follow her lord ; she 
 lived to see the greatness of the five brothers, her sons : but was 
 she to be envied ? This life is a vain shadow ; this dwelling one 
 o( sorrow ; let us accompany our lord to that of fire, and there 
 close it.' 
 
 " The drums sounded, the funeral train moved on. All invoked 
 the name of Herif. Charity was dispensed like falling rain, 
 whilst the faces of the Queens were radiant as the sun. From 
 heaven UmiaJ looked down ; in recompense for such devotion 
 she promised they should enjoy the society of Agit in each suc- 
 cessive transmigration. As the smoke emitted from the house 
 of flame rose to the skies, the assembled multitudes shouted, 
 ' Khaman ! khaman ! ' (well done ! well done !) The pile flamed 
 
 * The Queens of Heaven. t Khrishna, the Intercedes 
 
 J The Hindoo Juno.
 
 JO DH PORE. 135 
 
 like a volcano. The faithful Queens laved their bodies in the 
 flames, as do the Celestials in the Lake of Mansurwar. They sacri- 
 ficed their bodies to their lord, and rendered illustrious the races 
 whence they sprang. The gods above exclaimed, ' Dhiin, dhun,* 
 Agit ! who maintained the faith and overwhelmed the Asures! ' 
 Savitri, Gouri, Saravasti, Gunga, and Goomtif united in doing 
 honour to these faithful Queens. Forty-five years, three months, 
 and twenty-two days was the space of Agit's existence when he 
 went to Amrapoora, an immortal abode." 
 
 The poet forgot to give the dying speech of the Chohani 
 Queen, who, as she ascended the pile, exclaimed, " May the bones 
 of the murderer be consumed out of Maroo ! " — the direst curse 
 a Rahtor could utter. Bukhta, the actual murderer, the son of 
 Agit and brother of his successor, remembered it when his day 
 came, and the curse was fulfilled. 
 
 Having given a description of a sati taken from the poem of 
 an Indian and therefore prejudiced writer, let me here quote 
 again Bernier : — " When I was passing from Amadevat to Agra, 
 over the land of the rajahs that are in these parts (Rajpootana), 
 there came news to me that a certain woman was upon the point 
 of burning herself with the body of her husband. I presently 
 rose, and ran to the place where it was to be done, which was a 
 great pit, with a pile of wood raised in it, whereon I saw laid a 
 dead corpse, and a woman, that at a distance seemed to me 
 pretty fair, sitting near it, on the same pile, besides four or five 
 Brahmins, putting fire to it on all sides, five women of a middle 
 age, and well enough dressed, holding one another by the hand, 
 and dancing about the pit, men and women looking on. The 
 pile of wood was presently all on fire, because stores of oil and 
 butter had been thrown upon it ; and I saw at the same time, 
 through the flames, that the fire took hold of the clothes of the 
 woman, that were imbued with well-scented oils, mingled with 
 powder of santan and saffron. All this I saw, but observed not 
 that the woman was at all disturbed ; yea, it was said that she 
 
 * Dhun means riches, but in this sense glory, which is, according to Hindoo 
 ideas, associated with riches. t The five celestial Queens.
 
 136 IMPERIAL IX MA. 
 
 had been heard to pronounce with great force the words, ' Five, 
 two,' to signify, according to the opinion of those that hold the 
 transmigration of souls, that this was the fifth time she had burnt 
 herself with the same husband, and that there remained but two 
 times for perfection, as if she had at that time this remembrance, 
 or some prophetic spirit. But here ended not this infernal 
 tragedy. I thought it was only by way of ceremony that these 
 five women sang and danced about the pit ; but I was alto- 
 gether surprised when I saw that the flames, having taken hold 
 of the clothes of one of them, she cast herself with her head 
 foremost, into the pit, and that after her another, being overcome 
 by the flame and smoke, did the like ; and my astonishment re- 
 doubled afterwards, when I saw that the other three took one 
 another again by the hand, continued their dance without any 
 apparent fear, and that at length they precipitated themselves 
 one after another into the fire, as their companions had done. It 
 troubled me sufficiently that I knew not what that meant, but I 
 learnt shortly after that these had been five slaves, who, having 
 seen their mistress extremely afflicted at the death of their 
 master, and heard her promise not to survive him, but burn her- 
 self with him, were so touched with compassion and tenderness 
 towards this their mistress, that they engaged themselves in a 
 promise to follow her in her resolution, and to burn themselves 
 with her. Many persons whom I consulted about this custom 
 would persuade me that what they did was from excess of affec- 
 tion, but I afterwards understood that it was only an effect of 
 opinion, prepossession, and custom, and that mothers, from their 
 youth, besotted with this superstition, as of a most virtuous and 
 most laudable action, such as was unavoidable to a woman of 
 honour, did so infatuate the spirit of their daughters from their 
 infancy ; although at the bottom it was nothing else but an art 
 of the men, the more to enslave their wives, and thereby make 
 them have more care to their health, and to prevent poisoning 
 them. 
 
 " She that I saw burn herself at Surat, in the presence of many 
 Dutch and English, was of a middle age, and not unhandsome.
 
 JO DH PORE. 1 37 
 
 To represent to you the undaunted cheerfulness that appeared in 
 her countenance, the resolution with which she marched, washed 
 herself, and spoke to the people, the confidence with which she 
 looked upon us, viewed her little cabin made of very dry millet 
 straw and smallwood, went into this cabin and sat down upon 
 the pile, and took her husband's head in her lap and a torch into 
 her own hand, and kindled the cabin, whilst I know not how 
 many Brahmins were busy in kindling the fire round them ; to 
 represent to you, I say, all this as I ought, is not possible for me ; 
 I can at present scarce believe it myself, though it be but a few 
 days since I saw it. 
 
 " 'T is true that I have seen some of them which at the sight 
 of the pile and fire appeared to have some apprehension, and 
 that would perhaps have gone back, but 't is often too late. 
 Those demons of Brahmins that are there with their great sticks 
 astonish them, and hearten them up, or even thrust them in, as 
 I have seen it done to a young woman that retreated five or six 
 paces from the pile, and to another that was much disturbed 
 when she saw the fire take hold of her clothes, these executioners 
 thrusting her in with their poles. I remember amongst others 
 that at Lahore I saw a very handsome and very young woman 
 burnt ; I believe she was not above twelve years of age. This 
 poor creature appeared more dead than alive : when she came 
 near the pile she shook and wept bitterly. Meanwhile three or 
 four of those executioners, the Brahmins, together with an old 
 hag that held her under the arm, thrust her on, and made her 
 sit down on the wood ; and, lest she should run away, they tied 
 her legs and hands, and so burnt her alive. I had enough to 
 do to contain my indignation," said worthy M. Bernier, and I 
 hope my readers sympathize with his feelings. 
 
 It was not an uncommon thing for other persons besides wives 
 to sacrifice themselves with the great. When Rajah Maund was 
 burnt, in 1843, seventy-eight persons committed sati with him, 
 — not only his wives, but aged and infirm persons, who thought 
 thereby to secure their salvation, and sneak up to heaven in the 
 train of the great Rajah !
 
 138 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Yet the doing away of this custom has its inconveniences. 
 Each wife has, on marriage, a certain number of villages given to 
 her as a portion. In olden times these, on her death, reverted 
 to the reigning rajah, so that a clean sweep of all the wives of 
 his predecessor, sometimes fifteen or sixteen in number, was 
 decidedly useful, as it naturally swelled his Highness's income. 
 
 Into the Zenana I did not of course penetrate, but the palace 
 I saw. Here is the marble platform on which the Rajah receives 
 his teeka or mask of succession : that marble seat is the cushion 
 of Jodha, where the sword is girt about the Rajah, and the toora 
 bound round his head. Here is the chamber where oldTukt Sing 
 breathed his last ; here is the hall he decorated, and there is his 
 picture, and those of many of his sons, with their whiskers black 
 and well turned up, after the manner of the Rajpoots. A curious 
 room this, and a good specimen of late Hindoo work. Barbarous 
 in its aspect, with rather raw colours, but still with a character 
 of its own, infinitely preferable to what Jeswant Sing, the pre- 
 sent Rajah, is now doing at Rae-ka-Bagh, some of the work in 
 this room is really good. The ceiling is an elaborate gold carved 
 pattern over glass, and I have no doubt in the evening lights up 
 well. The whole has an odd look from the walls being built 
 at all kinds of angles to suit the exigencies of the ground. As I 
 said before, the traceries of the windows in the palace are par- 
 ticularly good. I hope to get some carved here, as Sheo Narain, 
 private secretary, tells me he has made my wish known to the 
 Maharajah, and his Highness says he will help me to carry out 
 my wishes.* 
 
 Jodhpore is a very hot place, and already the heat in the 
 middle of the day is getting very great. I don't go sketching 
 then, but sketch in the evenings. Even then the heat seems to 
 rise from the ground. I shall take very good care and keep out 
 of the sun as much as possible. 
 
 I leave here on the evening of the 2nd, having deferred my 
 departure one day, to enable me to attend an entertainment 
 given in my honour by the Rajah. I shall travel as much as 
 
 * Vain hope ! rajahs never perform promises of this kind.
 
 JODHPORE. 1 39 
 
 possible by night, by bullock-cart, and I shall take four days to 
 get to Oodeypore. 
 
 ^rd March. 
 
 I am still lingering at Jodhpore. On the 1st I went out at 
 6.30 a.m. to Mundor, the old capital of Marwar. The road, if 
 road it can be called, was awful. Imagine the stony bed of a 
 Highland stream, and then fancy yourself dragged over such 
 stones by six horses. Nature around, as old travellers used to 
 say before Sir Walter Scott introduced a feeling for romantic 
 scenery, was horrible and shocking, and melancholy in the ex- 
 treme. At Burr, as I remarked in my letter from that place, all 
 looks as if a great Gulf Stream had rolled over it for ages. Here 
 the hills appear burnt up, as though scorched by some mighty 
 fire. They are quite bare, except where here and there a most 
 impassable prickly abomination, of which I don't know the name, 
 rears itself up, like an array of green serpents, from the ungene- 
 rous rock. Through these hills we plunged and bumped for 
 four miles, when we emerged on the plain, which reaches right 
 up to the confines of Oodeypore, and of which I shall have some- 
 thing to say when I cross it. After some tough dragging for 
 the six horses, we arrive at last at Mundor. A pleasant little 
 green nook in the barren hills it seems. There is but little town 
 left, and it could never have been much of a place, as the space 
 is limited. A few houses and the celebrated chatris, or burial 
 memorials of former rajahs, are all that remain. When a rajah 
 dies at Jodhpore, he is placed, with all his splendour, in his state 
 chair — formerly, surrounded by his wives — and carried to Mundor, 
 and there burnt. His ashes are taken by his heir, and deposited 
 in the sacred Jumna. His people, the males at least, show their 
 sorrow and respect by shaving their heads, beards, and whiskers, 
 only the successor being allowed to retain his prized locks. Over 
 the place where his body was burnt is built a cfiatri, or half tomb 
 half temple. And here they are, sacred to the memory of many 
 rajahs, some small and poor, some really fine and beautiful ; the 
 two best are those of Jeswant Sing and Abhye Sing. Gradually,
 
 140 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 however, the sacredness of the edifice seems to be forgotten, and 
 many of the cliatris are used for different domestic purposes ; 
 only those of the two last rajahs had altars. At the tomb of 
 my friend Tukt Sing I had to offer a rupee, according to custom, 
 they said. The Maharajah has a summer residence and a very 
 pleasant garden at the upper end of the valley, over which I was 
 shown. Attached to this residence is a curious temple and arcade, 
 in which are arranged colossal figures of the gods. Brahma, the 
 God-father ; Suraj, the Sun-god ; Siva, the Avenger, with his 
 wife, the convivial Sati; Rama and Krishna, the two incarnations 
 of Vishnu, the latter with the wives of Gopio, or Herdsman, with 
 whom he is said to have behaved in a most compromising way, 
 entirely destroying those ladies' reputation for all time ; and a 
 guru or saint whose name I could not catch. In another gallery 
 are the effigies of many rajahs, all alike, mounted on their 
 steeds, and turning round to stare at you. 
 
 I 've let my journal run down two days, and now, while wait- 
 ing for my breakfast at a wretched dak bungalow, must see 
 whether I cannot write it up. 
 
 I was to have had a sitting from the " Jodhpore Wallah," as he 
 is sometimes called, on the afternoon of the first ; but on my 
 return from my expedition to Mundore, I found a message, saying 
 that the Rajah did not feel well, and hoped I 'd excuse him. 
 The fact is, Hooli is a kind of Saturnalia, when it is considered 
 the right thing to commit any folly, and his Highness had pro- 
 bably what is vulgarly called " coppers." I again gave vent to 
 my feelings, and cursed all rajahs. The whole day was wasted, 
 and I consequently felt in a rage. In the evening we were to dine 
 with the Rajah (" we " means here self and the doctor, with 
 another doctor, Inspector-General of Hospitals, who had arrived 
 the day before). I did not see that there was much the matter 
 with our august friend when we arrived at the palace. He re- 
 ceived us with great friendliness, and after a little ceremonious 
 " talkee-talkee," conducted us to the upper room of the pavilion 
 I have previously described. Of course he could not dine with 
 us, but he sat behind us and talked convivially all the time, pro-
 
 JODHPORE. 141 
 
 ducing his guns, &c, for us to examine. Guns are always pro- 
 duced, and afford subject for endless talk, as sport is what most 
 excites the enthusiasm of the Englishman and native alike. I 
 was waiting for him to say something about the sitting, but it 
 was not till much later in the evening that he expressed his re- 
 grets ; and he behaved so well on the two subsequent days, that 
 I have forgiven him. 
 
 The dinner, after one or two mishaps, such as rum being served 
 round as sherry, &c, comes to an end, and already we hear 
 sounds of singing and music below, for we are to have a grand 
 nautch. Then we follow the Rajah downstairs, and sit in state. 
 The nautch is arranged on the Badminton ground and the walk 
 at the side, both covered with red cloth for the occasion. 
 
 First comes the prima donna, who chants an interminable love 
 song, vvith an occasional slow wave of the hands. 
 
 But Jodhpore is celebrated for its dances, and we, not under- 
 standing the words of the song, which is the best love poetry of 
 Rajpootana, grow impatient. Meanwile a quantity of dark squat- 
 ting figures are dimly seen on the lawn. The Rajah gives the 
 order. Torches are lit all round ; a big drum sounds; the women 
 stand in a circle, and the dance begins. It is called the glim- 
 mer, and was instituted in memory of a former Rajah, one Rao. 
 Rinmul, who headed an expedition, and came decidedly to grief. 
 This the Pundit would not allow, saying it was another Rao 
 Rinmul. The character of the dance was quite enough to prove 
 to me that I was right, and I shall refer to the pages of Tod as 
 soon as I can lay hands on his bulky volumes for confirma- 
 tion.* One hundred women dance round in a kind of stately 
 measure, with "woven paces and with waving hands." They 
 keep beautiful time, and in the strong light and shade of torch- 
 light, with the glitter of many a bangle, armlet, and anklet, the 
 effect is most striking. Ever and anon the great drum in the 
 centre gives a boom, when the women all throw up their arms 
 together, and behind all, the great moon rises over the dark 
 trees. I never was more " fetched." To the gummer succeeds 
 
 * I can only find one Rao Rinmul, and he is the one I alluded to.
 
 I4 2 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 the darorver, danced in threes by about thirty women, which 
 is also very pretty. In this the women veil their faces. Then 
 we have the pugree dance, danced to the tune of " Pinnee 
 Minnee," which I had seen before ; and then; refreshed with 
 "brandy pawnees" and much be-attared and be-panned, and with 
 garlands round our necks, we take our leave. The two doctors 
 go off to Ajmere straight away, and I return to my "Residency" 
 through the moonlight, with the glimmer still ringing in my 
 ears and filling my imagination. I should like to paint it very 
 much. 
 
 On the 2nd I go to the Rajah at 3 p.m., and a very hot drive it 
 is. Yesterday the thermometer was 84 in the cool of the house. 
 The Rajah is punctual, and appears in the state dress of the 
 Rajpoots. A kind of bishop's mitre is on his head and a won- 
 derful stiff kilt round his waist. The latter he gave me, and I 
 shall take it home to astonish the Scotch, and to prove that my 
 study of Jeswant Sing is not pure invention, as wicked people 
 might suppose.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 JODHPORE TO OODEYPORE. 
 
 On the morning of the 3rd I got my long-wished-for telegram 
 from the political agent at Oodeypore. To-day all the daks are 
 ready laid, and I determine to start to-night and bump through 
 the cool. I had a good sitting, and I have bumped, and here 
 I am, much shaken and terribly hungry. The worst is that I 
 have outstripped my servant and my luggage, and am solitary, 
 famished, and dumb, for I cannot explain to these fellows what 
 I want. 
 
 The last six hours I have travelled by bullock-cart — a new 
 experience, and one I do not relish. I must go on, however, in 
 the same vehicle, which is a coffin, as usual, but on two wheels 
 instead of four, and consequently bumps and jumps in a way to 
 break limbs less sturdily constructed than mine. My next stage 
 is Dessoori, the border town of the states of Marwar and Mewar, 
 and in the mountains. 
 
 I manage to get a fowl from the old man at the bungalow, 
 and I sit and write and growl many hours. Round goes the sun, 
 and down he finally sinks, and still no luggage. I wander forth 
 disconsolate, for I want to get on to the next stage — Dessoori — 
 this night, and the time is passing. Finally I hear shouts in the 
 distance. I shout too, and find my servant, Noor Khan, with a 
 native and a bullock harnessed together, and himself pushing 
 behind. " Couldn't get bullocks," says he. " Rajah's letter only 
 to the hakim of Palli and Dessoori, and an intervening hakim 
 says it doesn't apply to him." Red-tapeism in the state of 
 Marwar! I am determined this shall not happen again, and 
 
 143
 
 144 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 when we start, as we do finally at 10 p.m., I mount my man on a 
 camel, with strict injunctions that if he can't keep up he is to 
 stop my bullock-hearse and get in with me. Alas! Lliommc 
 propose ct Dicu dispose. By-the-bye, why do people always say 
 this when things turn out " contrairy " ? I arrive, after much 
 bumping, at Dessoori, to find no servant again ! I had seen him 
 cheerily trotting after me half-way, and he had said he had 
 been getting on well. He passed me and disappeared. He had, 
 indeed. 
 
 Dessoori is a small fortified place, with a wall much like that 
 of a town in North Italy. Through the streets I wandered, in- 
 quiring for luggage and servant. In vain I went to the fort. 
 Nothing had been heard of him, but I catch the words " Oodey- 
 pore ! Tasvcrc sahib!" * and make out that there are men waiting 
 for me at a certain gate. I get there to find two sowars and eleven 
 palki zcai/ahs, with palki> who say they have been waiting three 
 days, and propose starting off at once. I explain (?) that without 
 servant or luggage this is impossible. We sit and stare at each 
 other. They ask whether they may prepare their midday meal. 
 " Certainly." They eat. I am famished. This is worse than Palli. 
 There at least was a bungalow and a tough fowl : here nothing. 
 Mustering my best Hindostani, I ask for milk, and get it. Em- 
 boldened by this refreshing draught, I determined to go to see 
 the hakim or head man. It 's awfully hot, but I won't starve. 
 Off I start, wandering through the streets of the little town to my 
 friend the fort. Here they tell me the hakim is at catcliery ; 
 so there I go too, and find catcliery a broken-down shed. I wish 
 any one could have been by and seen the Jiakim and me, both 
 very polite, and both incomprehensible. I ask for my " zioka," 
 well-remembered name ! The Jiakim doesn't know. I essay all 
 kinds of conversation, which is anything but Hindostani, for 
 the hakim looks puzzled. Finally I salaam and go, but he sends 
 after me to ask what he can do for me. " A fowl," I cry, "and 
 cliapattis." So a live fowl is brought, and cJiapaltis, covered with 
 some beastly green stuff that makes them uneatable. However 
 
 * Literally " picture gentleman," or painter.
 
 JO DH PORE TO OODEYPORE. 1 45 
 
 I eat and sinoke, and wait for my luggage, and hope for Noor 
 Khan. Still the sun revolves ; I try to sleep in a temple, and \\\ 
 vain; I long for the flesh-pots I know to be in my luggage; alas ! 
 in vain. Towards evening I make up my mind to slaughter my 
 fowl and cook him myself. But how ? I have no saucepan, no 
 plate, nothing. I go to the palki wallahs, who are reclining, full 
 and happy, under the shade of some neighbouring trees, and ask 
 them, with much politeness, whether anybody can cook a fowl. 
 They look shocked. Have I offended their caste ? Will they 
 leave me and go ? No matter. I must try myself. Here one 
 of the soivars comes up ; and seeing my fell purpose, for I am 
 looking murder at the poor fowl, which the kind Hindoos have 
 been feeding up, and which is clucking about unconscious of its 
 fate, the palkl-bearers gather round. I determine to do the deed, 
 and dread failure. I seize the neck of the fowl and give a pull. 
 Oh, horror ! the head comes off, and the headless carcass goes, 
 still fluttering, amongst the /^//v'-bearers, who fly shrieking in all 
 directions. I then proceed to pluck my evening's meal, but one 
 of the soivars brings a low-caste native, who performs this task 
 for me. Fire is made ; the fowl, indifferently plucked, and with 
 a stick stuck through him, is placed on the fire and actually 
 roasted ! They say anything will taste well to the person who 
 cooks it, but this fowl was an exception. Never did I taste any- 
 thing less appetizing ! I had cooked it, and was eating it with 
 my pocket-knife, holding it with the stick or spit resting on my 
 knees, but it was disgusting. I ate pieces from the breast from 
 a sense of duty, and then threw the rest to the crows. 
 
 Will my luggage never come ? Some accident has probably 
 happened to Noor Khan. The sun goes down. I pace about 
 in the dark, thinking my luggage will come as yesterday. But 
 no! I retire to my palki, bar the door with my shut-up chair, 
 the only thing I have with me except a travelling-bag with my 
 money, and I go to sleep. At two a noise. Oh, joy ! it is my 
 luggage. I decree a start at half-past five, and turn in again. 
 Presently I am roused by the most diabolical row all round, and 
 I jump up crying "All right." No ; the moon shines clear; it is 
 
 10
 
 146 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 3.30. Around are the recumbent figures of my native auxiliaries, 
 each sleeping peacefully, wrapped head and all in the folds of his 
 drapery ; and the noise is only the peacocks amusing themselves. 
 There are hundreds roosting in the trees beneath which I am 
 lying, and the devil seems to have entered into them. " How I 
 should like to eat them," I think to myself; but they are sacred. 
 I gaze fondly at my long-lost luggage lying there in its bullock- 
 cart, and determining never to leave it again, turn in. 
 
 At dawn we start, but I leave a letter to be forwarded to the 
 Maharajah, asking him to set on foot inquiries for my missing 
 servant. A bullock-cart and one sowar are told off to luggage, 
 and eleven palki wallahs essay and actually do carry me through 
 the Dessoori Pass into Mewar. The Pass itself has no par- 
 ticular beauties. It is mildly mountainous and very well wooded. 
 Neither is it very steep ; but ten miles with 18 stone must take 
 it out of their brown backs. They trot along, however ; but 
 their joy is, I feel, sincere when they clap their hands as they 
 finally land me under a large banyan-tree at Jeelwarra, on the 
 Oodeypore side of the Pass, shouting as they place me on the 
 ground, "Ram! Rain! Rani!" When I tipped them afterwards, 
 they declared they thought nothing of the weight. 
 
 At Jeelwarra I find an elephant waiting for me, and I hear 
 there are three more at ten miles apart, and then a carriage to 
 take me to Oodeypore. I determine to travel during the night, 
 leaving at 6 p.m. Meanwhile I demand milk, and breakfast off 
 milk and bread, of which my luggage contains a store. I think 
 dolefully of the day I have to pass, and the cooking I must do ; 
 neither are my spirits raised by seeing on the trunk of the tree a 
 slice of bark cut off, and the sad inscription: "Under this tree 
 died Dr. John Hunter, 1872." But joy! three sowars appear, 
 under ^.ditjfadar, who hands me a letter from the political agent 
 at Oodeypore, saying he hears the arrangements of the durbar 
 are very bad, and I shall find it difficult to get my servants and 
 baggage through, so that he sends three camels to help. 
 
 The duffadar is evidently a man in authority. He orders people 
 about ; coolies, milk, fowls, butter, everything comes pouring in;
 
 JODHPORE TO OODEYPORE. 147 
 
 and he insists on cooking my dinner himself. It is tough, but I 
 eat it, with my grizzly friend gazing at me like a father. I am so 
 relieved that I am emboldened to make a sketch, and feel quite 
 happy. Presently, while sketching, I hear a noise of blows and 
 shouting, and behold the missing Noor Khan belabouring a 
 prostrate native. 
 
 " Come, come ! " I shout, "what 's this ? " 
 
 "Sir, he takes me thirty-six hours about the country; he breaks 
 the rein of a camel," &c, &c. 
 
 Well, the camel-driver got a sound thrashing, and may have 
 deserved it, but I was so glad to regain some one who could in- 
 terpret, that I thought it better not to inquire into the merits of 
 the case. 
 
 After a visit from the hakim of Jeelwarra, and a good deal of 
 noise and bustle with coolies who are to carry some of the luggage, 
 off we go. A goodly procession ! First come sundry coolies, two 
 carrying my canvases on their heads, the said canvases having 
 been strapped on a cliarpoy or bedstead requisitioned from the 
 village ; next a boy with a lantern ; then the sahib on his ele- 
 phant, followed by two sowars ; then his retinue on three camels; 
 and, finally, two more sowars. Violet lights lie on the mountains 
 as we start, for the sun has just gone down, and it is six o'clock. 
 The night gradually sets in, and the stars sparkle with unwonted 
 brilliancy. Shall I forget that night in March upon the plains of 
 Mewar ? No, I don't think I shall. The howdah is a square box, 
 with iron bars round, well stuffed with mattresses. It is con- 
 structed to carry a gent who can sit cross-legged, or rather on his 
 heels. Now, I cannot do so, and am gifted with an abundant 
 supply of lower limb; consequently after a time my legs go over 
 the end. " That 's better," think I, and I am beginning to enjoy 
 the solitude and the changes in what ought to be a beautiful 
 country if seen, and to look at the stars and think of home 
 (who has not done all this ?), when I become aware that the 
 howdah is slipping. I observe the same to the mahout, who gets 
 up, giving the elephant's head a kick as he does so, and then 
 
 hangs over the side to right the howdah. It 's no use. What 
 
 10 — 2
 
 I ;S IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 good is 8 stone against i8? I am obliged to hang over myself, 
 and gradually get things straight. I try cross legs again, and 
 begin to enjoy, or think I begin to enjoy, the motion. There 
 is something tremendous in the power of the great brute whose 
 quarters you can feel heaving beneath you through many a pad 
 and mattress. But oh ! how cramped my legs become ! Then 
 my second elephant was a long-legged devil, who would not go. 
 He had a swing that would have made some people sea-sick ; 
 but never mind if he would only go on. 
 
 We have passed the land of romance — of nullah and tiny lake, 
 of trees that look hobgoblin against the sky, and of little pool 
 reflecting sky and tree in strips, where the stars look double their 
 natural size in the midst of the dark — and are now crossing a 
 great plain, dotted with scrubby bushes. The moon is shining, 
 and in the distance there appears a large lake, made from famine 
 labour, and which is, I believe, 14 miles long. Strange noises one 
 hears. " What 's that ? " I ask, to a shout of many voices in the 
 distance, and a roar. " Tiger !" says the mahout. I should like to 
 see him, and so strain my eyes, and think every bush a tiger. But 
 the elephant won't move on : he trumpets so that you can feel 
 the vibration through his mighty frame, through pads and all ; 
 he strikes the ground with his trunk; then he stops. The mahout 
 hits him on the head, to no purpose, with his iron hook ; he goes 
 on awhile, then stops again ; then more hitting, more shouting 
 "Hut/ hut!" and much abuse in choice Hindostani, till at last, 
 after many a struggle, we reach the second halting-place at 4 a.m. 
 instead of 2. The third elephant is a first-rate beast, and puts 
 on the steam, and nearly does his five miles an hour ; but the 
 faster he goes, the more he jolts ; my cushions tumble off, every- 
 thing goes, and when I arrive here (Duspore) I am in a pulp. 
 "Ram/ ram!" say I with joy, and strive to jump from the 
 ladder : my legs are all gone, and I fall flat. My back is as 
 though beaten, and my neck stiff. I sink on a bed, and try to 
 sleep. Alas ! no. However, the very lying down is a relief, and 
 after all, now, two or three hours after, I am, but for the flies, 
 writing in comparative comfort. Can I forget ? I thank thee,
 
 JODHPORE TO OODEYPORE. 1 49 
 
 Aide ; but no, decidedly no, I shall never forget that night. I 
 am off to Oodeypore by carriage at three o'clock this afternoon, 
 so away with romance, and I hope discomfort too. 
 
 I may here remark that in travelling through India the unit 
 by which they measure distances is a variable quantity. It is 
 generally a koss. Now, a koss is supposed to be two miles, and 
 from Jeelwarra to Duspore was said to be fifteen koss, or thirty 
 miles, yet was I from 5.30 p.m. to nearly 10 a.m. doing the dis- 
 tance, and during the latter part going at least five miles an hour. 
 
 T- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ai 
 
 H 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - * 
 
 M. /^' ^ 
 
 ^s^^&aJSi 
 
 
 
 
 5F- 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 - - - 
 
 fe 
 
 WB 
 
 OODEYPORE TUWN AND CASTLE. 
 
 After bumping four hours more in a carriage, I arrive at Oodey- 
 pore. I don't mind jolting, if I know I am progressing ; and 
 these Oodeypore coachmen get along well. The carriage has 
 been once a lady's pony phaeton. It has now four horses ; on the 
 off leader is a postillion, the driver sits sideways on the front seat, 
 and we go at full gallop. I am not timid, luckily, for I see that 
 the coachman, as often as not, has his reins under his horses' tails. 
 Bang, bang ! thump, bump ! over a cucha road for three hours, 
 then one hour over pucka, and we arrive. Here all is delightful, 
 my host Impey most hospitable, my bed soft and clean (and did 
 not I enjoy it !), and I am just writing for the post ; while Noor 
 Khan is snoring in well-deserved sleep outside my room,
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 OODEYPORE. 
 
 \otli March. 
 
 OODEYPORE resembles all the old capitals of Rajpootana in 
 this, that it has a citadel and palace towering far above the town. 
 But Oodeypore is surrounded by mountains, and, moreover, 
 palace and town rise from the bed of a considerable lake, which 
 is artificial, the town being built on the bund that encloses the 
 waters. 
 
 Mewar generally is very fertile. Round here the corn — and 
 
 a splendid crop too — is quickly ripening. Water is plentiful, 
 
 and in India, where water is, there are always good crops. I 
 
 have seldom seen a more picturesque place. From the lake the 
 
 palace rises abrupt and vast. Every rana is expected to add 
 
 something to this palace, so that it is really a very considerable 
 
 pile. All along the east shore of the lake stretch the houses of 
 
 the town, while above them appear some large temples, one of 
 
 which is really very fine. On the lake itself are several islands, 
 
 of which two contain palaces of the Maharana. The enthusiastic 
 
 Tod describes these palaces as built of the purest white marble, 
 
 "whose arched piazzas are seen through the foliage of orange 
 
 groves, plantain, and tamarind." Alas ! the white marble is but 
 
 plaster ! But Tod is not the first that has taken imitation for 
 
 the real. "All is not gold that glitters," even in the wilds of 
 
 Rajpootana. Though it is not marble, it is still very beautiful, 
 
 being a kind of plaster called cliunam, made of pounded shells 
 
 and white of eggs, which takes a beautiful polish and looks like 
 
 the finest marble. To the west of the lake rise some really high 
 
 mountains, and hills surround the happy valley of Oodeypore 
 
 510
 
 OODEYPORE. 151 
 
 on all sides. I shall, I trust, be able to do a good deal of 
 sketching here ; but the weather is getting very hot, and I keep 
 from exposing myself to the sun, having received divers warn- 
 ings from the faculty not to sketch outside of the house during 
 the heat of the day. 
 
 The family of the Rana is descended from Rama, who had 
 two sons, Loh and Cush. The eldest, Loh, was the ancestor of 
 the Sesodians, while the Cuchwahas of Jeypore are descended 
 from Cush, the second son. Tod has a large sheet of genealogy, 
 giving the names of all the Rana's progenitors up to B.C. 2200. 
 No Sesodian would doubt one of these names, but the mist of 
 time has passed over all their deeds, and has left nothing but 
 the name. From Vishnu sixty-three names bring one to Ram- 
 chunder ; from him to Bappu Rawal there are eighty more, and 
 this carries us to A.D. 714. This Bappu first seized on Chitore, 
 and was the founder of the Sesodian house. His loin-cloth 
 {dhoti) was 500 cubits in length, his sword {khanda) weighed 
 64 pounds, and he was himself 20 feet high ! In early life, his 
 father having been killed, he was adopted and brought up by 
 the Brahmins of Eklinga, where is worshipped Mahadeva under 
 the form of the sacred bull. This brazen bull is supposed to be 
 the one still in existence whose flank shows the blow inflicted 
 by the terrible mace of Mahmood of Ghuznee, who himself broke 
 the brass of the image to discover whether there was any trea- 
 sure inside. 
 
 At this moment India is preparing to invade Afghanistan : 
 will any Hindoo dare to avenge his country's gods on the temples 
 of Ghuznee ? 
 
 Bappu, like many conquerors down to the time of Barbarossa, 
 is said still to be alive. After founding the power of Mewar, he 
 overcame the kings of the west, married their daughters, and left 
 them one hundred and thirty grandsons. Well done, Bappu ! 
 
 The power of the family continued to increase, though not 
 without some interludes of misfortune and defeat, till we come 
 to Samarsi, who was a contemporary of our friend the Pirthi 
 Raj, a.d. 1 193. On the invasion of India by Shabudin, an em-
 
 152 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 bassy was sent to Samarsi, asking for aid. Chund, the poet, 
 gives a description of Samarsi, who, a worthy son of Bappu, had 
 not laid aside the office of " Regent of Mahadcva." A simple 
 necklace of the seeds of the lotus adorned his neck ; his hair 
 was braided, and he was addressed as "Jogindra," or Chief of 
 Ascetics. He is represented as the Nestor of the host assembled 
 to defend India. Nevertheless, in that fatal battle where Pirthi 
 Raj was defeated and killed, Samarsi fell " asleep on the banks 
 of the Caggar, in the wave of the steel." Then came confusion. 
 Many victories were claimed over the Moslem, and much blood 
 shed in domestic warfare. Six out of nine ranas perished in 
 the field, and we may be assured that they did not perish alone. 
 Then came Lakumsi and the sacking of Chitore, A.D. 1275. 
 Hamir, A.D. 1301, restored the fortunes of the family, and we are 
 told that though his reign lasted sixty-four years, his sword was 
 never sheathed. He also regained Chitore. For two hundred 
 years the princes of Mewar ruled over not only Jeypore and 
 Marwar, but Boondhi, Gwalior, and many other places, and were 
 by far the most powerful princes in India, repelling all the in- 
 vasions of the Moslem, and even carrying war into the enemy's 
 country. Their glory culminated in the defeat and capture of 
 Mahmood Sutanof Malvva,an event which led to the building of the 
 Tower of Victory at Chitore, so dear to the hearts of Sesodians. 
 
 The murder of Khumboo, the conqueror of Mahmood and 
 the builder of the Tower of Victory, by his son, may be placed 
 with the murder of Agit, narrated in the account of Jodhpore. 
 Ooda, this parricide, is always known in history by the name of 
 " Hatiaro," the Murderer. 
 
 The heavens revenged the death of Khumboo, his murderer 
 being slain by lightning as he was quitting the royal presence at 
 Delhi, where he was seeking aid to recover his own provinces. 
 Raemul, the next Rana, was the father of Pirthi Raj, who is the 
 Orlando of Sesodian poetry ; and if any one would wish to form 
 an idea of what the Hindoo esteems true chivalry, let him read 
 in Tod the deeds of this maniac. Incited by his uncle, Sooraj- 
 mull, he attempted to kill his elder brother Sanga, to whom a
 
 OODEYPORE. 153 
 
 prophet had predicted the throne would descend ; neither did 
 Sanga escape without the loss of an eye. Then Soorajmull, 
 becoming too powerful, was attacked. Uncle and nephew met 
 in fight. The uncle was covered with wounds, but both being 
 worn out, they mutually retired to repose. Soon Pirthi Raj 
 quietly goes to see his uncle, and he finds him having his wounds 
 sewn up by a barber. 
 
 Pirthi Raj. Uncle, how are your wounds ? 
 
 Soorajmull. Quite healed, my child, since I have the plea- 
 sure of seeing you. 
 
 Pirthi Raj. But, uncle, I have not yet seen the dewanji (his 
 father, to whose rescue Pirthi Raj had come). I first ran to see 
 you, and I am very hungry : have you anything to eat ? 
 
 Dinner is brought, and the two eat off the same platter, nor 
 does the nephew refuse the pan at parting. 
 
 Pirthi Raj. You and I will end our battle in the morning. 
 
 Soorajmull. Very well, child, but come early. 
 
 The uncle is defeated, and flies to the wilds of Balurro, where 
 he and his party form a stockade of trees. One night the neigh- 
 ing of horses is heard. " That is my nephew," observes Sooraj- 
 mull. In dashes the nephew, and an indiscriminate slaughter 
 commences. Soorajmull at last calls a parley. "If I am killed it 
 matters not. My children are Rajpoots; they will run the country 
 to find support ; but if you are slain, what will come to Chitore ? 
 My face will be blackened, and my name everlastingly repro- 
 bated." The sword was sheathed in a moment, and uncle and 
 nephew embraced. Nevertheless, next morning, at a temple hard 
 by, during sacrifice, the impetuous Pirthi Raj attacked and finally 
 killed Sarangdeo, his uncle's adviser, and offered his head at the 
 shrine of the goddess Kali. Soorajmull fled, and founded the 
 state of Pertabgurh. 
 
 Pirthi Raj was poisoned by his brother-in-law, whom he had 
 punished for cruelty to his sister ; and Raemul dying soon after, 
 Sanga, who had been quietly living in seclusion, succeeded to 
 the throne (A.D. 1565). Eighty thousand horse, seven rajahs of 
 the highest rank, nine Rao, and one hundred and four chiefs
 
 154 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 bearing the title of Raival and Rawat, and five hundred elephants 
 followed him to the field. He defeated the King of Delhi, but in 
 a.d. 152S he met a greater foe, the Emperor Baber, who had just 
 established his power in Hindostan. The success of the Rana 
 was great at first. The van of the Moslems was cut to pieces, 
 and Baber was compelled to throw up entrenchments and chain 
 together his cannon. Yet was the mind of the conqueror un- 
 easy as to the result of the fight. " On Monday," he says in his 
 memoirs, " I mounted to survey my posts, and in the course of 
 my ride was seriously struck with the reflection that I had always 
 resolved to make an effectual repentance, and that some traces 
 of a hankering of forbidden works had ever remained in my 
 heart. I said to myself, ' Oh, my soul, 
 
 " ' How long wilt thou continue to takc'pleasure in sin ? 
 Repentance is not unpalatable — taste it.' 
 
 Having withdrawn myself from such temptations, I vowed 
 never more to drink wine." The wine-cups were broken up, and 
 given to dervishes and the poor. The army was sworn on the 
 Koran to conquer or die. Nevertheless, for a month the battle 
 did not take place, and the delay was fatal to the Rajpoots. A 
 Tuar Rajpoot was bribed, and deserted to the enemy during the 
 battle ; and Sanga, when victory seemed to incline to his side, 
 was forced to retire with the loss of most of his bravest chiefs. 
 He died shortly afterwards. During the reign of his son, Bikra- 
 majit, who succeeded his brother, but was a bad ruler, Chitore 
 was again sacked by Bahadur of Guzerat, and again were all 
 the women killed. The Rana, however, recovered his capital by 
 the help of Hamayun. Bunbeer, the bastard son of Pirthi Raj, 
 succeeded to the throne by the murder of the Rana, but the real 
 heir, Oody Sing, was saved by his nurse. " He had gone to sleep 
 after his rice and milk, when his nurse was alarmed by screams in 
 the rawalla, and the bari (barber), coming in to take away the 
 remains of the dinner, informed her of the assassination of the 
 Rana. The faithful nurse put her charge into a basket, covered 
 it with leaves, and placed her own son in its place. Scarcely
 
 OODEYPORE. 155 
 
 had she done so when Bunbeer, entering, inquired for the son of 
 the Rana. Her lips refused their office ; she pointed to the 
 cradle, and beheld the murderer's steel buried in the breast of 
 her babe. So was the life of Oody Sing saved, that he might 
 ruin Mewar, and give a name to its future capital." In his reign 
 Cheetor was again sacked — this time by Akbar. The Rana 
 shirked the responsibilities of a campaign ; indeed, unless history 
 deceives, we must confess that the capital of Mewar takes its 
 name from a coward. Oody Sing's own son said, " Had Oody 
 Sing never been, or none intervened between me and Sanga 
 Rana, no Toork would have given laws in Rajasthan." From 
 this time the history of Mewar is one long series of struggles 
 with the Moguls. One story more. Pertap Sing defended Mewar 
 against Akbar, but his allies fell off, and he was left alone. 
 Maund Sing, the Rajah of Amber (Jeypore) and brother-in-law to 
 Akbar, was mortally offended by the refusal of the Rana to eat 
 with him. " He could not eat with a Rajpoot who had given his 
 sister to a Toork, and probably eaten with him," said the Rana. 
 " It was for the preservation of your honour that we sacrificed 
 our daughter," cried Maund Sing. "Abide in peril if such be 
 your resolve, for this country shall not hold you. If I do not 
 humble your pride, my name is not Maund Sing." So the forces 
 of Delhi and the north bore down on Pertap, and bravely he 
 faced them. In vain through the battle he sought Maund Sing, 
 but he made good his passage to where Selim (Jehanghire, the 
 son of Akbar) commanded. His guards fell before Pertap, and, 
 but for the steel plates which defended his hoivdah, the heir of 
 Akbar would have fallen by the spear of the Rana. The maliout 
 was slain, and Selim was only saved by the flight of his elephant. 
 Conspicuous by his red umbrella, which distinguishing mark he 
 would not (like Lord Nelson) put aside, Pertap was thrice with 
 difficulty rescued from amid his foes. Finally Manah seized the 
 insignia of royalty and drew off the battle, whilst his prince, who 
 had received seven wounds, was forced from the field. With all 
 his followers this brave vassal fell, and from that day his de- 
 scendants have borne the royal insignia, and enjoyed the right
 
 156 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 hand of their sovereign. It was artillery alone that won for the 
 Moguls the battle of Huldighat. 
 
 Pertap fled on the gallant Chytur, the steed that had borne 
 him all the day, pursued by two horsemen. But Chytur was 
 wounded, and the pursuers gained on Pertap; already the sound of 
 the hoofs on the hard flints sounded in his ears, when he heard, 
 in the broad accents of his native tongue, the salutation, " Ho, 
 rider of the blue horse ! " He turned : there was but one pursuer, 
 and he his brother. 
 
 Sukta, whose enmity to Pertap had made him a traitor to 
 Mewar, had beheld the blue horse flying unattended. " Blood is 
 thicker than water ! " He joined in the pursuit, but only to stay 
 the pursuer, who fell beneath his lance. For the first time the 
 brothers embraced in friendship. Here Chytur fell to the ground, 
 and as the Rana was mounting Unkarro, presented by his brother, 
 the noble steed breathed his last. An altar was afterwards erected, 
 which still marks the spot where Chytur fell. Sukta was attached 
 to Selim's body-guard, and had great difficulty in explaining his 
 absence. At last, on that prince's assurance of forgiveness, he 
 owned " the burthen of the kingdom is on my brother's shoulders, 
 nor could I witness his danger without defending him from it." 
 Selim kept his word, but dismissed the future head of the Suk- 
 tawats. Thus were the resources of the Sesodians wasted in 
 constant struggles against the Moslem, until at last even the 
 energies of the Rajpoots gave way. It is not my intention to 
 give a history of the country ; I only give extracts, which are 
 illustrative of Rajpoot character, showing the mixture of staunch 
 fidelity under all trials, mixed with fickleness and childish incon- 
 sistency. For an imagined insult many a rana has been killed, 
 while the very name of the descendant of Bappu has called back 
 many a Rajpoot to his allegiance. This name is not without its 
 power nowadays, though the ranas are sadly shorn of their power. 
 The bright light of Maratha usurpation has dulled the lustre of 
 the sun of Mewar, but I fancy any one would prefer dealing with 
 a Rajpoot, even at this date, than with a Maratha. The one is a 
 gentleman, and the other a parvenu. But let any one in treating
 
 OODEYPORE. 157 
 
 with natives remember that their code of honour is not the same 
 as ours. Even Colonel Tod, whose book on Rajasthan I have so 
 freely quoted, and who is a firm and enthusiastic believer in 
 Rajpoots, in his private letters to the Government, which I have 
 seen, has no term of abuse too great for the conduct of the 
 Rana and his son. Surely, the native is a difficult study ! 
 
 The first day of my stay here the Maharana came to see my 
 host, Colonel Impey, his political agent. Sujjan Sing, Maharana 
 of Oodeypore, and the representative of the oldest dynasty in 
 India, dating from the sun (who dare go farther back ?), is 
 eighteen years old. He is a large, stout, heavy-looking lad, with 
 a curious face, having the long almond eyes one sees in old 
 native pictures, said to be the characteristic of the Sesodian race, 
 of which he is the head. He has, unfortunately, suffered much 
 from small-pox, and his face is considerably disfigured.* He is 
 decidedly amiable-looking, and not devoid of intelligence. I had 
 met him at Delhi ; so that he received me as an old friend, and 
 willingly undertook to sit, though he seemed somewhat to dread 
 the operation. He has just come into " his own ; " the state has 
 been handed over to his charge, and he is very anxious to do the 
 right thing. 
 
 In the afternoon, on our way to row on the lake, we drove 
 through the town. I should say that Oodeypore is smaller and 
 its streets much less crowded than Jodhpore, neither is there so 
 much to see in the town. The tracery windows do not here 
 exist, for easily-worked stone cannot be had on the spot, as at 
 Jodhpore. There are many handsome ornaments, however, made 
 of chunam. 
 
 The evening on the lake was delightful ; we were rowed about 
 by four men in a broad fiat-bottomed boat ; and finally we landed 
 at Jugnawas, one of the islands mentioned above, and were shown 
 round the palace, or rather villa. Here there are several very 
 
 * Many rajahs are much disfigured by this disease. On my first interview 
 with the Maharana, he told me that he had been many months ill and suffered 
 greatly. I took the opportunity of urging the advisability of enforcing vacci- 
 nation.
 
 I 58 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 original decorations, of which I have also since seen specimens 
 in the palace. They are made in panels, the patterns being 
 filled in with pieces of coloured glass cut into shapes. The effect 
 is really very good, where, as is frequently the case, the pattern is 
 composed of flowers or trees; but it is very comic when figures are 
 introduced, the faces being drawn and then covered with coloured 
 glass. There was also a series of scenes of hunting done in bas- 
 relief, and coloured with very harmonious effect. The gardens on 
 the island are very well kept, and are celebrated for their oranges. 
 
 The other island is the one where Shah Jehan, when flying 
 from the wrath of his father Jehanghire, was entertained by the 
 rana of the day. The palace there I have not yet seen, but I 
 am told it is in bad condition. 
 
 The keeper of the Jugnawas said the lake was very deep : "Put 
 one elephant on another, and a third on the top, and you would 
 not reach the surface." Yet was this lake quite dry during the 
 great drought of '67, when thousands of people all through Raj- 
 pootana died of starvation, and no one heard a word. Two years 
 ago the lake overflowed, and caused much damage both to the 
 decorations of the palace and to the town generally. 
 
 Yesterday we (Col. Impey and self) paid a return visit to the 
 Maharana. We were received at the door by a crowd of cour- 
 tiers, and led with much ceremony along several passages, up 
 steep stairs, and through courts, to the presence. There is a curious 
 feature to be remarked in all really Indian palaces, viz., that the 
 doors are ridiculously small and the stairs terribly steep. There 
 was not a door in this palace of Oodeypore through which a 
 moderately-sized man could pass without stooping. Why, I 
 wonder ? Is it to force people to bow when they come into a room ? 
 
 We are led finally into a pleasantly shaded courtyard, where 
 we find the Rana seated with his Court. He rises to receive us, 
 but does not leave his place. I notice also that he has his shoes 
 on. Both he and his Court are all in white, and he wears but few 
 jewels on such occasions, as he says gems are not in good taste ! 
 
 I observe he has thick gold bangles on his feet. In the morning 
 I had been looking at some jewellery here, and asked for such
 
 OODEYPORE. 159 
 
 bangles ; but I was told that no one out of the palace is allowed 
 to wear gold on his feet. 
 
 One great characteristic of all these Sesodians is their hatred 
 of anything Moslem. They say that no rana will use a Persian 
 word if he can help it, and certain it is that many of them took, 
 amongst other titles, that of King of the Hindoos and Enemy 
 of the King of Delhi. The last Rana died young, " of nothing 
 to do, and too much time to do it in," the usual complaint of 
 these people, which leads to the use of stimulants, opium, or even 
 worse. One great chief was heard to declare that it was waste 
 of time to get drunk on anything weaker than cherry brandy ! 
 A celebrated drink called the "Puttiala Peg," which I have already 
 described as consisting of half brandy and half champagne, effec- 
 tually did for its princely inventor in four years. 
 
 The present Rana was chosen by the Court here, on the death 
 of his cousin, his father, who was a man of turbulent disposition, 
 and had been in disgrace, being passed over. The father is 
 yet alive, and lives at some distance from Oodeypore, being for- 
 bidden to see or in any way influence his son. The uncle of the 
 present Rana also put in his claim to the guddee, and had it not 
 been for the influence exercised by the paramount Power, there 
 would have been a nice row in Mewar. 
 
 A sitting was fixed for this afternoon in the Jugnawas, on the 
 island, and we were invited to dine afterwards with the Maharana 
 in the new English palace, built by his predecessor, and newly 
 furnished by His Highness. By-the-bye, this palace is a sad eye- 
 sore on the otherwise beautiful line of the other buildings, being 
 of Indian classic, surely the most debased style of all architecture. 
 
 I was then shown over the palace. There were innumerable 
 small rooms, all highly decorated, with pictures let into the wall, 
 and elaborate patterns made of coloured glass all over wall and 
 ceiling. Several apartments had pigeonholes of looking-glass, in 
 each of which was placed some small glass box, or jug, or vase. 
 The effect was savage ; but the light being, of course, admitted 
 only through the smallest possible windows, and these very often 
 covered with patterns (done in chiinam), the effect, somehow,
 
 160 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 was very rich. There were two rooms done with blue tiles, im- 
 ported, I should say, from Holland ; and one covered all over, 
 ceiling and all, with the old familiar willow-pattern plate ! It 
 really looked very cool and pleasant. It is strange what mate- 
 rials these men will use for decorative purposes. I remember 
 seeing, at one of the camps at Delhi, a looking-glass brought 
 for sale, of inlaid ivory- work, flowers, &c. "Dear me!" said I 
 to myself, " that looks very pretty ! " On examining it, I found 
 the flowers were made from shirt buttons, the holes being filled 
 with metal rivets. In this palace I saw two portraits of one of 
 the later ranas, with very elaborate frames made of glass and 
 plaster, in which were solid glass bosses composed of those well- 
 known paper weights, with flowers and views of Brighton, found 
 at all sea-side bazaars. 
 
 There were many life-sized figures on the walls, sculptured in 
 alto relievo, and coloured ; most of them of ladies ministering to 
 the sacred sun — the royal crest of Mewar. 
 
 Altogether the decorations were the most truly original I have 
 seen in India, and certainly had one of the great elements of 
 beauty discovered by Ruskin, namely, " Surprise." 
 
 My first sitting went off very well, as Impey accompanied me 
 and talked the whole time with the Maharana. I don't think 
 his Highness will be pleased with his portrait, for his complexion 
 is very dark, and I have been truthful in rendering the chocolate 
 tinge of his skin. What am I to do ? Must I sacrifice fact to 
 please my sitters ? There is not one of them that does not wish 
 to be made white skinned like a European ! 
 
 It is extraordinary how quick the mind of man is to take pre- 
 judices, and how soon a chief acquires a knowledge of the forms 
 and ceremonies incumbent on his position. This boy, three years 
 ago, was running about in his paternal village, with his father in 
 disgrace, and with no notion of the honour in store for him. He is 
 now quite the Rana. At Bombay, when the Prince arrived, he got 
 into a great scrape for refusing to walk after the Guicowar; and 
 to-day, while sitting, he said, " There are but few real dynasties 
 of good caste left in India." " There are Sattara, and Nepal, and
 
 OODEYPORE. 161 
 
 Kolhapore," said Impey. " Kolhapore was good caste," said our 
 young friend ; " but they are nothing now, for they have given 
 a daughter to the Guicowar, a mere herdsman." 
 
 After the sitting we bundle off home to dress for dinner. We are 
 driven at 7 p.m. to the palace and up a narrow lane, with barely six 
 inches on each side of the wheels of the carriage, and then still 
 up, amidst the well-known strains of " God Save the Oueen," to 
 the English palace. All around are coloured lanterns and bow- 
 ing officials, who conduct us to our feeding-chamber. The palace 
 is not badly done. It is neither worse nor better than a first- 
 class Indian-European house, and except, perhaps, that there is 
 as usual an over-abundance of musical box, the whole thino- is in 
 very good taste. The dinner table is laid out in high European 
 style, with candelabra and fountain, silver elephant and golden 
 calf, and such things as one might see on the table of Mr. Jones 
 of Manchester. Presently the Maharana arrives, and we sit down 
 to an excellent dinner (cooked by Impey's cook) and first-rate 
 wines provided by the Maharana. Lord Northbrook was lodged 
 here on his visit to Oodeypore last year, and so the service is 
 more complete than any I have seen. 
 
 When the eating is over, the Maharana joins us, and we duly 
 drink the health of first the Empress, and then his Highness, the 
 band playing variations on " God Save the Queen " meanwhile. 
 Then we go up to the first floor, where there is only one room, a 
 very handsome one, leading on to a large terrace, which extends 
 over all the suite we have dined in. Here we are shown fireworks 
 on the lake, with which, of course, we were delighted, but which 
 were no great shakes, and afterwards a nautch. They dance the 
 gummer here, but only with eight women, and with none of the 
 swing of Jodhpore. A dance with sticks was rather pretty. At 
 half-past ten we retire, with garlands and attar and pan, amidst 
 a shower of rockets and fizz of catherine-wheels. 
 
 Yesterday (nth March) I had another sitting, and moreover 
 made a sketch from the Jugnawas before the Maharana arrived. 
 His Highness sat in his durbar dress, all in white, with no orna- 
 
 11
 
 1 62 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 mcnts, but some pearls round pugree and neck* After the sitting 
 the Maharana took us out for a row on the lake. The more I 
 see of him the more convinced I am of his good-nature and good 
 intentions ; and if he can only have the sense to keep clear 
 of the evil advisers who must necessarily be around his throne, 
 and who constantly strive to make him foolishly puffed up with 
 pride, he will make a very good ruler. Alas ! ranas have always 
 been good-natured, but weak. In Tod's time the Rana was con- 
 stantly giving away village after village to favourites, men and 
 women ; and when expostulated with, and told that soon there 
 would be nothing left, he said, "Well, never mind my sunuds 
 (orders), let them go for nothing." Again, when ill, they have a 
 distressingly extravagant way of having themselves weighed, bed 
 and bedding included, against gold, and then flinging an equiva- 
 lent sum amongst the crowd. One-third of the provinces belongs 
 to the Brahmins and "charitable institutions," which means here 
 the support of such idle vagabonds ; one-third belongs to the 
 thakoors, or nobles, and one-third to the Rana ; yet with all that 
 he has to carry on the state, and pay his tribute, &c. The feudal 
 system holds good here a? in all Rajpootana. Each thakoor is 
 independent, and rules his state, administering the laws as 
 though he were king. He owns allegiance and military service 
 to his chief, the head of the state. Only recently we have intro- 
 duced a Court of Appeal, in which cases decided by the thakoors 
 can be re-heard at head-quarters. 
 
 Some of the thakoors are rich, and have titles — Rajah or Rao — 
 with £20,000 a year, and they want constantly keeping in order. 
 I heard that Jodhpore was preparing to carry war and desolation 
 into the country of two disobedient thakoors while I was at his 
 capital. I wish I had time to go to see the fun. The army of 
 Jodhpore mobilized would be a queer sight. 
 
 There are sixteen great thakoors of the highest class in Mewar, 
 of whom the Rao of Baedla is now the head. He is a very 
 pleasant old gentleman, very sharp, having vast influence with 
 
 This simple attire reminded me of the description given before of Sa- 
 marsi, who liked to be called " Jogindra, or chief of the Ascetics."
 
 OODEYPORE. 163 
 
 the Rana, and happily very well disposed towards the English 
 Raj. At Delhi he was given the title of Rajah, but he did not 
 seem very pleased; "For," said he, "the same title was given to 
 a Sith, a mere merchant, at Ajmere." Natives cannot quite un- 
 derstand the levelling tendency of English law. 
 
 On one day of the year, "the 3rd of the month Cheyt," the 
 Baedla Rao is conducted to Court with all the royal symbols of 
 Mewar, and the Rana, advancing to the Ganesa Deori, or Hall of 
 Ganesh, the elephant-headed God of Wisdom, conducts him by 
 the hand to the hall of audience, only the Rao's hand is above 
 that of his sovereign. These honours date from 1569, when the 
 ancestor of Rao did good service at the battle of Huldi Ghat. 
 The Baedla Rao is of the Chohan class of Rajpoots. 
 
 Another of the sixteen whom I saw was the Rawat of Saloom- 
 bra. As the head of the Chondawats, the descendants of Chonda, 
 whom I have mentioned, he has the right of placing his sign — a 
 lance — before the Rana's, which is the palm of a hand, on all 
 treaties. This dates from A.D. 1389, when Chonda surrendered 
 the throne to his younger brother. 
 
 This story is a very remarkable instance of the generosity of a 
 Rajpoot. Lakha Rana was advanced in years, his sons and grand- 
 sons established in suitable domains, when the cocoa-nut came 
 from Rinmul, Prince of Marwar, to affiance his daughter with 
 Chonda, the heir of Mewar. Chonda was absent when Lakha 
 received the embassy. " My son," said the Rana, " will shortly 
 return and take up the gage, for you would hardly send such a 
 plaything to an old grey-beard like me." Here the Rana twisted 
 his moustachios, and the courtiers laughed. Chonda heard of the 
 jest, " and, offended at delicacy being sacrificed to wit, refused 
 the symbol which his father had even in jest supposed might be 
 intended for him." Now, as it could not be returned without gross 
 insult to the Rajah of Marwar, the old Rana agreed to accept it, 
 provided Chonda would agree to renounce his birthright in the 
 event of his having a son by this new wife, and to be to the child 
 but " the first of his Rajpoots." Chonda swore by Eklinga to 
 fulfil his father's wishes. A son was born ; but when he had 
 
 11—2
 
 1 64 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 attained the age of five, Lakha Rana, finding age creeping on 
 him, wished to end his days at the sacred city, Gya. Before he 
 left, however, he wished to settle the succession, and asked 
 Chonda what estates were to be settled on the youthful Mokulji. 
 " The throne of Chitore," was Chonda's reply ; and at the instal- 
 lation he was the first to swear fealty, reserving to himself the 
 right of signing as I have mentioned. His life was one of devotion 
 to his younger brother, whom he saved from the usurpation of 
 his grandfather Rinmul, whose departure from Mundore was 
 celebrated in the gummer dance I described above. 
 
 The present Rawat is a pleasant gentlemanly man of about 
 thirty-five. Alas ! he has a most fearful eye, and will not be 
 operated on. Saloombra, his castle, is a beautiful place, and well 
 worth a visit, but I fear I cannot get there, though he was warm 
 in his offers of hospitality. Others of the sixteen I saw. They 
 are all distinguished by having a gold band round the turban, 
 and sit on the right of the Maharajah on state occasions in a 
 regular order. Below these sixteen sits the eldest son and heir 
 to the throne, and then the rest of the royal family. This law 
 was made when the Rana was obliged to sue for peace from 
 Jehanghire. He was excused personal attendance at Delhi, but 
 the heir-apparent was made to serve in the Imperial Court. A sad 
 blow this to the pride of the King of the Hindoos and Enemy of 
 the King of Delhi, and to mark their sense of the degradation they 
 then underwent,their sons are even yet degraded below the sixteen. 
 
 When we made our treaty, and they acknowledged our 
 suzerainty, they stipulated that they were not to be bound by 
 the treaty should our Raj ever be transferred to the Moslem. 
 On Lord W. Bentinck's visit to Ajmere, the Rana was made to 
 go to see him, but before starting he sent in a list of stipulations, 
 and one was that on this occasion he was willing to go to the 
 G.-G., but that it must not be taken as a precedent, for in future 
 the G.-G. must come to him ! 
 
 Things are changed now : our young friend the Rana has been 
 to Bombay to meet the Prince of Wales, and to Delhi to acknow- 
 ledge the Empress of India. There are those about him who
 
 OODEYPORE. 165 
 
 would still urge the absurdities of the olden time; and I have no 
 doubt that, if left to themselves, they would, as in bygone days 
 they undoubtedly did, make the sacrifice of a Bheel when the 
 Maharana crosses the Matic river. Within the last forty years 
 this sacrifice was certainly made ; the man had his throat cut, 
 and his body was thrown into the river. 
 
 Meanwhile my sittings have gone on well, and I am on the 
 most friendly terms with the Maharana and Court. One of my 
 friends is the cJiarun, or Court Bard. The other day, while the 
 Rana was talking business, this man and the favourite thakoor, 
 Manoa Sing, came to me and said, " We wish you to stop here, 
 for you do not seem as melancholy as the rest of the English." 
 I told them they were only complimenting my digestive organs, 
 which happened to be better than those of most Anglo-Indians. 
 From that our talk fell on poetry, and I was asked to write some 
 for them. I composed that night a doggerel rhyme, which I 
 sent the Maharana, to draw out my friend the charun. 
 
 At the next sitting my lines were produced and read aloud 
 by one of the Court who understands English. Then, line by 
 line, it was translated into Hindoostani, the Court and Maha- 
 rana marking their approval by nodding their heads. When 
 the reading and translation were over, the cJiarun, as if inspired, 
 called for paper and pencil, and after having collected his ideas, 
 pencil in mouth, produced his reply. This was written in the 
 Court- language of Oodeypore, which contains a number of 
 Hindoo and Sanscrit words, and proved a hard nut for the staff 
 of the Residency to crack. However, by laying their heads 
 together, they evolved the following very literal translation. 
 
 "We have heard Prinsep sahib, most excellent and priceless ; 
 If we too knew English, then would we speak with open heart. 
 Men wish to remain near you, Prinsep sahib j 
 But this causes them to hesitate, that he returns to his country. 
 Keep your favours on us like the shadow of an afternoon, 
 Remember us ever in your native land, and forget us not.'' 
 
 The charun or poet was particularly pleased with the simile of 
 the afternoon sun. "The morning shade is not good," he ex- 
 plained ; " since, however great it is, as the sun rises it gets ever
 
 1 66 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 smaller ; but the afternoon shade, though it begins small, ever 
 increases, till thousands can sit in it ! " 
 
 You see I am on pretty good terms with the Court here ; 
 indeed, one of the sixteen, Manoa Sing, invited me to stay with 
 him for good and teach him to paint. Oodeypore has been alto- 
 gether a very pleasant place for me. The political agent, my 
 cousin, and his wife were most hospitable, and the comfort of 
 their house after the roughing I went through on the journey was 
 most acceptable. And here let me bear witness to the universal 
 politeness that I have received from all natives in Rajpootana, 
 from the highest to the lowest. The cordiality with which they 
 greet you in street and market-place is very different from the 
 surly indifference you meet in our own states. No doubt, there 
 things are better administered, and the people ought to be happy, 
 but they do not look so, nor is the amusement and fun of a purely 
 Indian town to be found in our provinces. Perchance they have 
 caught the melancholy of the European, from which happily I am 
 exempt. 
 
 Thursday, the 15th, was a busy day. First my letters had to 
 be finished for the mail, then I had to go to the palace to see the 
 Hooli played. The proper day for the Hooli was a fortnight 
 ago, on the day on which it was kept at Jodhpore; but the Maha- 
 rana, for some reason of his own, postponed it till this day, for 
 the Maharana is above all considerations of time, and, like an 
 admiral who "makes it eight bells" by firing a gun, can make it 
 Hooli when it suits him. The Hooli is, as I said before, the 
 Saturnalia of the Hindoos — a feast to the Bona Dea, in which 
 Priapic worship mingles. " Great people play the fool and feast," 
 said my servant Noor Khan, who is a Mohammedan. At 9.30, 
 then, Col. Impey and myself go to the palace, where a state 
 place is prepared for us in the great square. On the north 
 side rise the towers of the palace, the east is formed by the pic- 
 turesque gate, the south by a line of low buildings, which are 
 crowded, roof and all, with the vulgar crowd; on the western side, 
 in a kind of pavilion, we sit in state. There are some thirty 
 elephants, on which arc mounted all the thakoors and the elite
 
 OODEYPORE. I'V 
 
 of Oodeypore society, for it is the Court alone that keeps the 
 feast to-day. The great game is to pelt everybody with red 
 powder made of cinara nuts, and called abira, and coloured a 
 rich crimson. The Maharana, when we took our places, was 
 playing the Hooli in the Zenana. Presently out he comes already 
 much ruddled. Down goes his elephant : he mounts, and the 
 Hooli begins. The Maharana is in white as usual, but covered, 
 as I have said, with red dust ; he wears the jama or large old- 
 fashioned Rajpoot petticoat, and on his head a high tinselly 
 aigrette. The thakoors are similarly attired. The elephants, 
 already in a line, advance, and each man throws a handkerchief 
 of red powder towards the chief, who advances and returns the 
 compliment. The powder is thrown by means of a handkerchief 
 tied round the wrist at one end, while the fingers hold the other, 
 thus making a kind of sling. The scrimmage now begins: every- 
 body pelts his neighbour. Anon the elephants form a circle and 
 career round ; again they form two lines and engage in mimic 
 fight, till great clouds of red dust arise, and the air is thick with 
 powder. The effect was very extraordinary under the fierce sun, 
 with the blue atmosphere and white buildings around. The 
 Maharana sent us a tray of balls about the size of pomegranates, 
 which were made of some thin brittle substance, and filled with 
 red powder. With these I made some good practice at the Chief 
 and his friends on the elephants, and as the balls fell and popped 
 on the backs of the huge beasts, the crowd below applauded, 
 shouting " Wah ! wah ! " The whole scene reminded me of a 
 carnival at Rome in the old days. 
 
 After an hour a procession is formed, and, all alike as red as 
 blood, follow the Maharana through the town. Passing an enor- 
 mous elephant who is kept in a corner of the palace yard, the 
 Maharana does not forget to salute him with a shower of abira. 
 Of this elephant more anon. Having let them clear off, we return 
 to the Residency, and in the afternoon I go to sketch at Jugnawas, 
 where the Maharana has also a gathering of swells. I discreetly 
 keep to a corner of the island, so as not to disturb the festivities, 
 which are sometimes wild and fast. In some places every one
 
 1 68 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 gets drunk ; here, however, they keep within bounds, as we had 
 an opportunity of knowing", for the Maharana later on came into 
 our boat and went with us to the palace to show us an elephant 
 fight. He is most simple and cordial in his manners, and I 
 should think astonishes people here with his friendliness to us, 
 coming and going with us alone, without any ceremony or fuss. 
 
 It is dark by the time we get to our destination, which is a 
 gallery overlooking the great square, in which the Hooli was 
 held. We are in a corner, and just below us, by help of torches, 
 we discover the great "must" elephant, whose acquaintance I 
 had the honour of making before. He is enclosed by a wall 
 some 5 feet high and 4 feet broad, and as he moves we hear 
 the jangling of the mighty chains round his legs. His mahout 
 is quietly sitting on his back, and making himself comfortable 
 for the fray. Presently more jangling is heard, and another mag- 
 nificent beast appears dragging his chains after him, and sur- 
 rounded by men with torches and spears. His chains weigh 
 some 10 maunds, a maund being 80 pounds. The name of the 
 new arrival is "Ganesh," and he is called after the God of Wisdom, 
 the son of Siva. The story is that Siva, in a drunken fit, cut off 
 his son's head, and when expostulated with by his wife, in grim 
 jest put on the head of an elephant, and so Ganesh, the God of 
 Wisdom, is always represented. The first elephant's name is 
 " Manuk Gudge," or the Ruby elephant, " gudge" being Persian 
 for elephant. The Maharana would never use such a word, but 
 mahouts are all Moslems. 
 
 " Ganesh " quickly sights his rival, and approaches the wall, 
 where old " Manuk " rushes at him. Smash go their heads ; 
 their tusks clash, for " Ganesh " receives " Manuk," with trunk 
 up and mouth open, on his tusks. Backwards and forwards they 
 sway, sometimes lifted off their front legs, sometimes with their 
 hind legs quite flat on the ground. Sometimes they remain 
 locked as though carved in black marble, and it is only by the 
 clank of their chains that one realizes that they are alive. Then 
 they separate and breathe. Then bang goes " Manuk " again, 
 and "Ganesh" is ready to receive him on his tusks as before.
 
 OODEYPORE. 169 
 
 Sometimes they get pushed round, and had there been no wall 
 mischief would have ensued. 
 
 With varying results the combat lasts full an hour, and all 
 the time the rival mahouts encourage their mighty beasts by 
 clapping them on the head with their hands, and shouting. 
 Finally we express ourselves satisfied ; but they have great diffi- 
 culty in persuading " Ganesh" he has had enough. Thus is the 
 battle drawn ; and surlily, surrounded as before by a company of 
 spearmen, he jangles off to his home, and we have to wait till 
 he is well chained before we can venture forth. 
 
 Elephants, when " must," are most dangerous, and, although 
 they can be cured after some months' physicking, they are never 
 quite safe afterwards. The viaJwut can always tell when the fit 
 is coming on from a curious exudation from a hole just above 
 the eye. With all that I should not like to be a mahout. They 
 are all Mohammedans, and never live long, the motion of driving 
 an elephant being most injurious. 
 
 I had a sitting next day, to finish the Maharana's portrait. It 
 is the best I have yet done, as he has given me a better chance 
 than any of the others, sitting both better and longer. He was 
 evidently pleased with my work, and said, "At first I did not 
 think I should like it, but now I like it too well." 
 
 I had arranged to set out on the 17th, but the 18th was the 
 Gungore, or women's festival, and by the especial invitation of 
 the Maharana I graciously consented to stay and witness the 
 tomasha, which is celebrated with special splendour in Oodey- 
 pore. The 17th I spent in sketching. I went also to see the 
 Jugmunda, the farther island, where I had not yet landed. 
 Here is the home built by Rana Kurna for Shah Jehan. This 
 prince, the son of Jehanghire, was the first who subdued the 
 Sesodian pride, and to whom a Rana surrendered. He was then 
 the second son of Jehanghire, and went by his name, Khurm. 
 He was so kind, and softened the disgrace he brought on the 
 Rana with so much consideration, that, when he revolted against 
 his father, Mewar sided with him, and in his subsequent disgrace 
 he found a home in Oodeypore. To avoid the scandal daily
 
 170 
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 brought about by the conduct of his followers in slaughtering 
 sacred animals, it was found convenient to lodge him in an island, 
 and the Palace of Jugmunda was built. A pleasant place this 
 island, with a most lovely view of the blue hills and glistening 
 towers of Oodeypore. Here is the chair of state, prepared by the 
 care of the Rana, for the future Emperor of the hated Moslems; 
 and here, too, is a mosque for him to worship in according to 
 
 THE ISLAND OF JUGMUNDA, FROM JUGNAWAS, OODEYPORE. 
 
 his belief. Pleasant courts and gardens there are, wfth rich de- 
 corations, and some of the best figure work I have seen in India. 
 Alas! the floods two years ago have destroyed much that was 
 good, as in the neighbouring island of Jugnawas, and the gardens 
 have not yet recovered their pristine splendour. 
 
 It was reserved for the Rana to hail Shah Jehan Emperor of 
 Hindostan, and he was crowned in the palace hard by. Em- 
 peror and Rana, in sign of brotherly affection, changed pugrees, 
 and Shah Jehan's is still to be seen in the treasury of Oodey- 
 pore ; while on the island is still kept trimmed the light that 
 burnt before the shrine at which he worshipped ; a curious in- 
 stance of the tolerance of the Hindoo. Fancy a Moslem doing 
 the same for anybody else's gods ! 
 
 On the afternoon of the 18th I drove to the Gungore ghat, 
 where we have usually taken boat for our excursions on the lake. 
 I found the streets full of people, mostly women, who squatted 
 close together on parapet, corner, and housetop, in many-coloured
 
 OODEYPORE. 171 
 
 sari and petticoat, looking like wonderfully arranged bouquets 
 of flowers. I was taken to a room over the archway leading to 
 the ghat, from which there was a good view on the one side of the 
 steep street leading from the upper town to the lake, and on the 
 other of the ghat, or landing-place, with the lake itself. The 
 Gungore, I must explain, is the Feast of Mata, the wife of Siva, 
 the goddess-mother, under her name, Gouri, she being the par- 
 ticular deity of Oodeypore.* On this one day she is brought 
 from the precincts of her shrine in each Zenana to the lake, by 
 the brink of which her image, clad in yellow, is placed, and 
 'midst song and solemn dance the goddess drinks and bathes. 
 Formerly no men were allowed to profane the procession with 
 their presence, and the Rana himself, from his state barge, 
 salaamed to the sacred images. The festival became so popular 
 that it was found convenient to increase the number of the 
 days, and the Gungore at Oodeypore now lasts a week. 
 
 Down the narrow street image after image is borne, surrounded 
 by singing women, for there is no quarter of the town so poor 
 but it subscribes for its figure ; and down, too, on capering and 
 dancing steeds (such as are dear to the heart of rich Hindoos), or 
 on mighty elephants, come the thakoors and swells to wait the 
 coming of the Maharana. By the side of the ghat is moored the 
 state barge of Oodeypore, a large vessel with stem and stern 
 turned up, and rising some 10 feet from the lake. On the bows 
 is the place of the Maharana, and on the steps forming the in- 
 cline, according to their rank, are reserved the places of the six- 
 teen great thakoors. These take their places as they arrive. 
 Presently the chief appears on horseback, with about twenty 
 richly-caparisoned steeds led before him, as becomes a rajah. He 
 bows to me as he passes under the arch over which I am sitting, 
 and, led by two chamberlains, takes his place on the bows. His 
 suite stand in the body of the boat, and about forty gaily-clad 
 nautch girls squat in the stern, forming a most extraordinary com- 
 bination of gaudy colours, which seem somehow to blend into a 
 
 * Gouri means yellow, and although celebrated in the spring, Mata, Isa, 
 Parvati, or Kali— for by all these names is this goddess known— is at this 
 season the Ceres of the Rajpoots.
 
 172 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 harmonious whole. The boat is pushed from the side, and, slowly- 
 paddled by sixteen rowers (eight a side) in crimson and pink, 
 glides over the calm bosom of the lake. It is a ravishing sight. 
 The old Buccntoro might have beaten it for rich harmony, but 
 for originality never was there anything like the state barge of 
 Oodeypore. 
 
 I too get into a rowing-boat, and quickly overtake the more 
 ponderous barge, to have a good look at it by the twilight. Alas! 
 too short a time does the Indian twilight last. By the time the 
 Maharana in all his splendour has paraded himself past the lake 
 palaces, where, carefully hidden by thick purdalis, the queens 
 can gaze on their lord and master, it is dark. Then by the torches 
 on the ghat we know that the palace Gungore has arrived, and 
 we hasten back. The steps are covered with white linen, and 
 to the edge are brought three highly-dressed dolls. Close by lies 
 the state barge, with its freight, tJiakoors, with their voluminous 
 white petticoats and nodding gold and silver plumes, Rajah, 
 nautch girls, and all. The women chaunt a solemn hymn, and 
 occasionally bow to the figures, while ever and anon, in time to 
 the air, many silver cJioivries flash in the light. Imagine all this 
 by torchlight, and you have a scene not to be forgotten. 
 
 The Rana gets up and bows to the figures, and the women, 
 bearing them aloft, troop back home to their solitude, for the 
 Gungore is the .only day they are allowed to leave the Zenana. 
 
 The Maharana then sends for me to his barge, where, advancing 
 through the ranks of the assembled tJiakoors, I receive attar and 
 pan, and a liar or garland, from his Highness's hands. Many 
 civil words are exchanged between us through an interpreter. I 
 don't know whether the Maharana is sincere in his words of regret, 
 but I can vouch for the fact that I am, and that I never was more 
 sorry to leave any place than Oodeypore. The Maharana wishes 
 me " God speed ;" I shake hands with him and with several of 
 the tJiakoors with whom I have made acquaintance, say good bye 
 to my friend the charuii or bard, and rush off to dine with my 
 hospitable friends the Impeys.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 CHITORE, AGRA, MUTTRA, AND ULWAR. 
 
 A T nine I left Oodeypore in a coach and four. I travelled all 
 -^*- night, and, as the roads were good, made considerable way 
 during the hours of darkness. At daybreak I turned round to 
 catch a last look of the Aravalli, but alas ! the mountains had 
 disappeared. Farewell Oodeypore ! farewell Lake Pechola and 
 its fairy islands ! farewell to the land of romance. Good bye! I 
 shall have to say to thee, O Tod ! but once more I must turn to 
 thy bulky quarto, for I am to be at Chitore to-night ; and then I 
 return to Agra and civilization. I am writing still in the land of 
 Me war, at Nembhera, sixty-three miles from Oodeypore. To- 
 wards the north-east and east these lands have been sadly cur- 
 tailed. Towards the north, between Mewar and Manvar, the 
 vegetable limits of Mewar are very exact, they say. It was 
 Chonda who first fixed the boundary with Jodha, the founder 
 of Jodhpore. Hence the Rajpoot distich — 
 
 "Aonla, aonla, Mewar ; 
 Bawal, bawal, Marwar." 
 
 Wherever the aonla puts forth its yellow blossoms, there is Me- 
 war; where the babool begins, there begins Marwar. This division 
 held good for years. I fear, however, the fanciful limit of Chonda 
 does not now hold good to the north, To the south and east, 
 neighbours like Sindia and Holkar have not spared the King of 
 the Hindoos. Many a village and district has been seized by 
 these Maratha robbers, and are still held by their agents, in the 
 midst of the plains of Mewar. 
 
 Pleasant enough it was to drive over these plains in the early 
 
 173
 
 174 IMPERIAL IX DLL 
 
 morning, with the ripening corn all ablaze against the rising sun, 
 and the trees throwing long shadows across the green fields of 
 poppy and maize. The poppies have lost their glory, for of the 
 masses of blossom I saw three weeks ago, but one or two remain, 
 blushing unseen, like the last rose of summer; but to make amends, 
 the fields are full of country-folk — man, woman, and child — all 
 scraping the slit pods for the precious juice which, when dry, is 
 sold as opium, and the bright sarics and dhotis of red, blue, 
 yellow and white, form, as they glitter in the level sun, a study 
 indeed. So I roll along in the Rana's carriage. Too soon, how- 
 ever, does the sun assert himself, and oh ! how hot it gets ! 
 Under sketching umbrella (double best) and hood of carriage I 
 recline, and drink in artistic effects till I reach here (Nembhera) 
 at 10.30. At four I take carriage again, and drive on to Chitore, 
 the ancient capital of Mewar, where I propose stopping the night, 
 that I may inspect the wonders of that city in the morning. 
 
 "While changing horses at a small village, I saw a curious custom 
 of the cultivators of the soil. A group of these, either Bheels, 
 Menas, or Jats, I am not learned enough to decide which, was 
 squatting under a tree by the roadside. Then comes a man, 
 evidently a traveller, but well known. They all stand up, and the 
 newly-arrived goes round to each, placing his right hand under 
 the knee, while the man so saluted places his hand under the 
 armpit. They all cry "Rami Rain!" The land of Mewar belongs 
 of course, to Rajpoots, but it is cultivated by these Bheels, Jats, 
 or Menas, who were the original possessors of the soil. They are, 
 in fact, serfs of no caste. All natives have a pretty way of putting 
 flowers behind their ears or in their pugrees. They have, of 
 course, no button-holes. I once saw a Rajpoot go up to a Bheel 
 who had so stuck a yellow flower, and tear it from his ear. For 
 the ancient treatment of these aboriginal tribes by the dominant 
 Rajpoot I refer you to Tod. Oaths and promises were never kept 
 by the latter, and even when a Mena or a chief of that tribe pro- 
 tected and fed one of these Rajpoot heroes, on the first favour- 
 able occasion the guest turned on his host, who was often his 
 father-in-law, and slew him, and took his land. It is pleasant,
 
 CHITORE, AGRA, MUTTRA, AND ULWAR. 175 
 
 however, to find some exception to this ingratitude. Bappu, the 
 founder of the Sesodian race, and the first Sesodian of Chitore, 
 had to fly from Nagda, about A.D. 720, to escape vengeance for 
 some youthful freak. He was accompanied in his flight by two 
 Bheels, Ballo and Dewa. These faithful companions assisted at 
 the drawing the tecka of sovereignty on the brow of their master; 
 and to the present day the descendant of Ballo draws the tccTca 
 on the forehead of the sovereign of Mewar, and places him on 
 his throne; while the descendant of Dewa holds the tray contain- 
 ing the rice and spice mixed with blood, to make the sacred 
 mark. The blood comes from the thumb of the Bheel. 
 
 The road to-day has been along a plain ; only towards evening 
 do I see hills, and when I arrive at the Chitore bungalow I am 
 aware of a height looming through the darkness. To my horror, 
 when I wake in the morning, I see the ruins of Chitore on a lofty 
 hill some way off! On inquiry, I find Chitoregurh, the modern 
 town, at the foot of the hill, is a koss (two miles) off; and that the 
 old town (alas! don't I see it?) is on a cliff above the modern one. 
 I see, however, the ascent is all in shadow; so, after a frugal break- 
 fast, I start to explore. Half-way to Chitoregurh I meet an 
 official sent by the hakim of that town, to see my wants supplied. 
 This young man accompanies me back to the town, and sends a 
 cicerone with me to explain. Chitore proper, the Old Chitore, is 
 on the top of a high hill that reminds me somewhat of the fort 
 of Gvvalior. I saw the fortifications meandering away in the 
 distance, but in the hot sun and on foot I could not explore suffi- 
 ciently to ascertain the dimensions of the old city. It was evi- 
 dently big, from the ground I walked over, like Falstaff, "larding 
 the lean earth " as I went. 
 
 Here was the bazaar; alas! now a desert, with a palm-tree 
 growing "where merchants most did congregate." Here the 
 palace, here the temple — in good preservation — and here the 
 Tower of Victory. This last is really very fine, not quite so high as 
 the Kootub, perhaps, and not of so precious a material as Giotto's 
 Tower at Florence, but quite as original as the first, and even 
 more wrought than the second. It is built of yellow-looking
 
 176 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 stone, which must be very hard, for the carving is as sharp as 
 ever. But I hear it was struck by lightning some years ago, 
 and some of the upper stones are displaced. I sec also a tree 
 beginning to grow, which is sure before long to bring the build- 
 in^ to the crround. I trust cither the Government of the Rana 
 or the paramount Power will do something for it. 
 
 It was Rana Khoombho who built this " aigrette on the brow 
 of Chitore, which makes her look down upon Meru with deri- 
 sion." The foundation was laid, according to Tod, in A.D. 145 1, 
 eleven years after the victory over the Sultan of Guzerat, which 
 it was intended to immortalize, "when shaking the earth the lords 
 of Goojurkund (Guzerat) and Malwa, with armies overwhelming 
 as an ocean, invaded Medpat (Mewar)." Nearly one million was 
 spent on this tower, round whose summit is a vainglorious de- 
 scription of the glories of Khoombho. Alas for the vanity of 
 man ! Khoombho himself was murdered by his son, and the 
 Moslems have three times sacked Chitore, and even tried to 
 obliterate the inscription of the Hindoo Rana ; and this, like 
 the Kootub at Delhi, remains an empty boast, a priceless work 
 of art surrounded by ruins. By the tower is a cool and refresh- 
 ing spring gushing from the rock in three places, and beyond 
 this, again, is a wall concealing a subterranean chamber, where 
 lie the remains of all the women of Chitore who were immolated 
 the day the sacred city was taken. 
 
 The last time Chitore was sacked was in the time of Akbar, 
 when the degenerate Rana, Oody Sing, forsook the capital 
 of his fathers. Then the tutelary deity of the Ranas left the 
 sacred city never to return. A cruel deity was Mata, the god- 
 dess of Mewar, as evil a bogey as was ever conjured up by the 
 human imagination, ever more easily influenced by fear than 
 love. From that time no rana has entered the sacred precincts, 
 and whenever they have sought to do so, an invisible arm has 
 barred the passage. Yet is Chitore the revered home of Rajpoot 
 tradition, and if a Rajpoot wishes to swear by an oath that must 
 be inviolable, he swears by the sacking of Chitore. 
 
 Before bidding adieu to my constant companion, Colonel Tod,
 
 CHITORE, AGRA, MUTTRA, AND ULWAR, 177 
 
 let me give the grim story of the siege of Chitore, by Ala- 
 oodeen, abridged from his pages. 
 
 When Lakumsi was Rana of Oodeypore, being but twelve years 
 old, his uncle Bheemsi acted as Regent. Bheemsi had to wife 
 Patmani, a daughter of a chief of Ceylon. She was so beautiful 
 that Ala-oodeen, the Pathan Emperor of Delhi, demanded her 
 for himself, and on refusal marched to Mewar and stormed the 
 town of Chitore. The gallants of Mewar rushed to oppose him 
 and after a terrific struggle he was repulsed, but at the cost of 
 three thousand lives of Sesodians. Badul, the nephew of Patmani, 
 a boy of twelve, returns wounded and weary to the palace. 
 
 "And what did Bheemsi ?" asks Patmani. 
 
 " He was the reaper of the harvest of battle," replies the young 
 chief, who had himself done wonders. " I followed his steps as 
 the humble gleaner of his sword. On the gory bed of honour he 
 spread a carpet of the slain. A barbarian prince his pillow, he 
 laid him down and sleeps, surrounded by the foe ! " 
 
 Again the lovely Queen - asks, "Tell me, Badul, how did my 
 love bear himself? " 
 
 " O my mother," replied the youth ; " how further describe his 
 deeds, when he left no foe to dread or admire him ? " 
 
 "Farewell, then!" cried the wife with a smile; "salaam, Badul ! 
 My lord will chide my delay ! " and she sprang into the funeral 
 pile lighted for the slain. 
 
 Thirteen years afterwards the Pathan Ala-oodeen returned to 
 Chitore. Then Mata, the goddess of the race and city, appeared 
 to the Rana, fatigued with battle, and cried aloud, " I am hungry." 
 
 "What! after eight thousand of my race have lately been 
 offered thee ? " 
 
 " I must have kings ! " said the terrible deity. " Unless twelve 
 who have worn the royal diadem bleed for Chitore, the land will 
 pass from thy line." 
 
 So the Rana called a council, and each day a fresh son was 
 crowned, and devoted his life for his country. Only his favourite 
 son remained, when the Rana cried, " Now I, the twelfth, devote 
 my life for Chitore ! " and, sending his son away from the ill— 
 
 12
 
 lyS IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 fated city to perpetuate his line, he rushed to his fate. In vain ! 
 The Moslem conquered. Then the johur is proclaimed, the 
 funeral pile burned high in a vast subterranean cave, and the 
 Queens lead the way; and when Ala-oodeen entered the city, 
 he found nothing but smoking corpses to satisfy his lust. 
 
 A hot walk I had of two hours and a half, and glad enough I 
 was to get back and wash and breakfast. I then dispatched my 
 luggage and made a sketch. A hot wind sprang up in the after- 
 noon, to my no small discomfort, but at 4 p.m. I started in a 
 palki, and was carried thirty miles ; and in this journey I doubt 
 which suffered most, the carriers or the carried. I can only say 
 I was profoundly miserable at 2.30, when I arrived at Bheelwarra; 
 neither did a further eleven hours into Nusirabad improve my 
 temper or ease the cramp in my legs. Anyhow, here I am in 
 Ajmere, in the land of railways and hotels, and I start by the 
 
 2.40 a.m. train for Agra. 
 
 Muttra. 
 
 Agra was a great rest after the fatigues of my last journey. I 
 had here to re-fill my exhausted colour-box and re-stretch can- 
 vases for another campaign. I wanted also to see two tombs that 
 I left unvisited during my last stay here. On Thursday morning 
 I made my first expedition to the tomb of " It-mud-ud-Doulah," 
 which lies in a pleasant garden on the farther side of the Jumna. 
 
 There is never any unpleasant reminder of death in these Mos- 
 lem tombs: all smacks of houris and certain Paradise. 
 
 This one is of marble, beautifully inlaid, the work being of the 
 best period, "Early Jehanghire." It is being repaired by Govern- 
 ment, who I pray may be induced not to do too much. There 
 are four rooms painted in the four centres, where the ruins of 
 former decorations are splendid indeed. Were they equally 
 beautiful when new ? Perhaps not ; but if the hand of the Eng- 
 lishman is put to them, they will be spoilt for ever, and we shall 
 incur additional claim to the curses of posterity. 
 
 Akbar's tomb at Secundra I next visited. This, too, is in a 
 spacious garden, the beauty of which is being restored. Here, 
 as at Futtehpore Sikri, the boldness of the pattern and originality
 
 CHI TORE, AGRA, MUTTRA, AND ULWAR. 179 
 
 of design strikes one very forcibly. Hindoo architecture has a 
 wealth of detail almost distracting. This seems to have been 
 continued by the early Moguls, who had a much greater idea of 
 the fitness of things and grandeur of general design than the 
 Hindoos ; I must, however, make an exception in favour of the 
 Tower of Chitore. Later work is much tamer ; the celebrated 
 Taj Mahal contains but few patterns of originality of detail, while 
 you may find hundreds here at Secundra and Futtehpore. The 
 later men seem to have felt this want of invention, and strove to 
 make up by costliness of material for absence of imagination. 
 Modern Moslem work is utterly without originality, a mere dry 
 echo of what once was. 
 
 I am writing this at Muttra, a city sacred beyond all cities, for 
 it is declared that one day in Muttra is worth a year in Benares. 
 Here Krishna was born, and here the wrath of the pious Aurung- 
 zebe descended, destroying temple, shrine, and idol. Yet have 
 temple and shrine risen again, displaying the same exuberance 
 of design as before ; only the modern sculpture is not up to the 
 old. It seems as though the first designers of the gods had been 
 obliged to study from nature ; consequently there is a sign of 
 humanity and beauty in their work. Those who followed were 
 content to take nature and divinity second-hand, and have neces- 
 sarily gone on getting more and more conventional. 
 
 The same beauties and the same faults are to be seen at Bindra- 
 bun, a very holy place near Muttra, in temples built three hundred 
 years ago and those now building, which are very numerous. The 
 vitality of the Hindoo religion is most surprising, and vast indeed 
 the amount of money lavished on the temples of that religion. 
 The money-makers of India are mostly Hindoos, and perchance 
 they wish to make their salut when old, by spending the money 
 they have saved on their gods. One of the institutions of Muttra 
 is Seth Govend Das. He has innumerable carriages and horses, 
 which he is always ready to lend (one of them brought me here) ; 
 he does everything in Muttra ; yet he has retired to Bindrabun, 
 and lives the life of a fakir in a temple he has built after the 
 Madras style. A sly-looking man is the Seth, with a suspicious 
 
 12—2
 
 [80 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 cast in his eye ; he is grey-bearded now and pious, yet in the 
 Mutiny he was "suspect," and was made to build the magistrate's 
 house in which I am now writing, to save his neck ; so goes the tale. 
 Meanwhile, his temple at Bindrabun is said to have cost 40 lacs 
 (^400,000) ! It covers an enormous space of ground, and through 
 the door of its holy of holies, itself a vast pile, I saw a tall column 
 covered with thick plaques of gold. What a wicked man the Seth 
 must have been once to require so much religious whitewashing ! 
 
 I came over here for two days, hoping then to get on to Ulwar ; 
 but I found a letter to say that the Maharajah had left for a 
 week, to pray ; so I must needs stay here a whole week doing 
 nothing to forward my magnum opus. 
 
 Muttra itself is a snare and a delusion, curious enough to de- 
 serve an afternoon visit, but after what I have seen, stale, fiat, 
 and unprofitable. It is very flat, lying on the Jumna, and from 
 no place can you get a good sketch save from the ghats, which 
 are small, and beset by crowds of greasy Brahmins and dirty 
 pilgrims. Perhaps the rest will do me good. Meanwhile, the 
 hospitality of the English community is unbounded, and were I 
 not in a place where such an act is considered an impiety, I 
 should say that the fatted calf is daily slaughtered for me. This 
 state of things is perhaps a foretaste of Simla, and my journal 
 will suffer therefrom, for it is not my intention to record the stale 
 amenities of civilized life. 
 
 As there is but little to be seen in Muttra, I have devoted some 
 of my time to sports. Yesterday we had the native wrestlers of 
 the town to this house. Wrestling must be thought a noble pas- 
 time here, since all the professors of the art were Brahmins. 
 Some — the great masters — were very fat, their corpulence oozing 
 over their tight loin-cloths. The wrestling itself was somewhat 
 like the French, the object being to put a man clean on his back. 
 The wrestlers begin by trying for the catch, and then they get 
 locked, and over they go rolling on the ground, twisted in and 
 in — writhing masses of brown flesh, out of which emerges from 
 time to time a foot or a hand, coming from the most improbable 
 places. The exhibition was curious, but somewhat monotonous.
 
 CHITORE, AGRA, MUTTRA, AND ULWAR. iSl 
 
 I don't think the men were really trying, but making show. 
 Their muscles were well developed, and the young men were 
 fine-looking fellows, who would have made their fortune as 
 models in London. They seem to be made of a different mate- 
 rial from us, as, though they were undoubtedly strong and active, 
 their flesh was quite soft and pulpy, like a woman's. The taste 
 for the sport seems to be very general. We had a great crowd 
 looking on, who followed the movements of the wrestlers with 
 much interest. 
 
 This morning we went out to see a buffalo fight on the race- 
 course. The great stupid brutes were brought out, each with his 
 attendant cows. When they saw each other they trotted together, 
 locked horns, and pushed and struggled for some time, when all 
 of a sudden one would give way, and run as hard as he could, 
 pressed by the victor. Somehow fear is a greater incentive than 
 rage, for the pursuer never caught the vanquished. One old bull 
 was evidently the champion. On three occasions they brought 
 him opponents, who no sooner saw him trotting towards them 
 than they bolted, and a most exciting chase through the crowd 
 invariably ensued. It was dull work, however, and as the sun 
 was very hot, I was glad to get home to breakfast. 
 
 This afternoon I go to Ulwar, and hope from there to write 
 something more amusing than I have found for this week's budget. 
 I have tried to find some legends of the place, some deeds of 
 Krishna, who was born and brought up here, to record ; but I 
 fear it would interest no one to know how the godlike child 
 allowed himself to be swallowed by a demon in the shape of a 
 snake, and then swelling himself prodigiously, burst his living 
 prison and came forth smiling. And the loves of Krishna ! Oh, 
 fie ! Surely the clironique scandalcuse of no country could furnish 
 such a list ! But these are the favourite and most sacred legends 
 of the people ; and the god is always represented either playing 
 his flute, standing cross-legged, to the amorous Radha, or dancing 
 with the wives of the Gopis. It is curious that the sacred legends 
 of a clever people should be so improper ; and apparently without 
 any poetical interpretation, like the Greek legends. Amongst
 
 1 82 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 the Rajpoots, whose stories I have plentifully stolen from Tod, 
 you find chivalry and poetry, but Rajpoots are both soldiers and 
 opium-eaters. At Muttra (or Mathera), sacred to Krishna, the 
 people are fat Brahmins, and their legends prodigious rubbish, 
 without poetry or charm ; but then this country is fiat and 
 monotonous, and the other full of mountains. 
 
 I left Muttra on Thursday, 29th March, and drove to Bhurt- 
 pore, twenty four miles over the usual fiat. One gets used to the 
 sights of an Indian high-road somehow. Habit is everything, 
 and even those who have to put up with the heat here get used 
 to it, or succumb at last, they hardly know why. Yet as the heat 
 is surprising, so are the sights that meet you at each town. The 
 little children of both sexes, whose dress consists of only a thin 
 thread or a bead (literally), with their stomachs distended in the 
 most frightful manner with rice or chapatti, or some such nasti- 
 ness ; the men almost as naked, but presenting torsos of the 
 most classical form, with the legs of scarecrows or monkeys; the 
 women coming up from well or tank with two enormous chattis 
 or earthenware pots balanced on the head, their movement and 
 draperies worthy of Phidias ; — these are seen at every village. 
 Then, having cleared the village or town, you pass through a 
 belt of cultivation, amid the creaking of the busy water-wheels, 
 worked by oxen, with circular machinery invented in the year one, 
 or more often having a rope drawn over a drum, by bullocks walk- 
 ing down an incline. Then on again into the arid plain, where, the 
 sun being hot, you doze off, till awakened by the shouts of syce 
 and coachman, "Aic gliarry wallah!" or " Barcga Jiatte wallah!" 
 and bullock-cart or elephant are shoved on one side to allow the 
 sahib to pass. No wonder in this country bullocks and cows are 
 worshipped, for by them everything is worked, and worshipping 
 them does not prevent their being ill used. It is a curious sight 
 to see the bullock-waggons and ckhas, or carriages, getting out 
 of the way. The driver, who has the beasts with a rope by the 
 nose, seizes their tails, and screws them the way they arc to turn 
 and bang go the bullocks into the ditch or against a tree, — no 
 matter, so long as they are out of the way of the sahib.
 
 CHITORE, AGRA, MUTTRA, AND ULWAR. 1 83 
 
 Thus I passed the twenty-four miles to Bhurtpore, where I 
 took rail, and arrived at 6.30 a.m. at Ulwar. 
 
 The obliging political agent, Major Cadell, received me with 
 unbounded hospitality, and, owing to his kindness, I have seen 
 all that is worth seeing here. 
 
 Ulwar is a modern state ; it was formed by a certain Pertap 
 Sing, the head of the Naruka clan of Jeypore Rajpoots, on the 
 general break-up of the Mogul power, and was declared indepen- 
 dent in 1776. Pertap Sing, having no son, adopted a child of 
 the Thakoor of Thanna, and the way he fixed on the fortunate 
 youth was characteristic. He summoned to his Court the infant 
 sons of all his nobles, and assembled them in a large room, which 
 he had previously strewn with all kinds of toys and sweetmeats ; 
 and the children were told to take what pleased them. Bakhta- 
 wat Sing chose a sword and shield, and running to the Rana, sat 
 down by his side, and he was forthwith hailed heir to the Raj. 
 
 The right of adoption brings about strange changes in the lot 
 of natives. Sindia (the great Sindia !) ran about the palace as a 
 youth, happy with twelve rupees a month. Sujjan Sing, Rana 
 of Oodeypore, albeit the nephew of the late Rana, little thought 
 he would be called to the guddee, over the head of his father. 
 The father and predecessor of Jeswant Sing was a vakeel, and 
 stood with hands crossed before the sahib, until he was adopted 
 by the Rajah of Ahmednugger, from which place he was called to 
 Jodhpore. Holkar, who puts on more "side" than any rajah I 
 have yet seen, was an adopted son ; so are the Rajah of Mysore 
 and the Guicowar of Baroda. This little Rajah was chosen two 
 years ago from the same Thanna family as Bukhtawat Sing, 
 quite unexpectedly, on the decease of the late Rajah at the early 
 age of twenty-six, through strong drink and excess. The father 
 of the Rajah was alive when he succeeded, and his elder brother 
 has a patrimony of £1,000 a year, while the lucky No. 2 is a 
 Maharajah, and comes into £240,000 a year next November ! 
 
 The state of Ulwar, having been administered by Major Cadell 
 for seven years, is quite a model state. Money has been spent 
 with wise profusion on profitable works, roads, hinds, wells, and
 
 1 84 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 such things ; the stud of horses, elephants, and bullocks is really- 
 worth seeing ; and the city is clean, well kept, and well to do. 
 And all this will be handed over next November to this young 
 gentleman of eighteen, with free power to spend and squander. 
 When the last Rajah succeeded, in 1863, my cousin Impey (now 
 at Oodeypore), who had been managing for him in the same way, 
 handed over a treasury in which there were 20)2 lacs (.£205,000). 
 In 1870 the Rajah was deprived of his property for mismanage- 
 ment : he had spent his income, and the 20^ lacs, and was 18 
 lacs in debt. Pretty well for seven years ! 
 
 The city of Uhvar is prettily nestled into a nook of the hills. 
 Below lies a green and fruitful plain, plentifully irrigated by the 
 waters of a lake formed up in the mountains at Silleser, ten 
 miles away, and which is the work of Bunnee Sing, who reigned 
 from 1 S 1 5 to 1857. Even now there is a saying expressive of 
 great happiness : "As in the day of Bunnee Sing." 
 
 Between the mountains and. the city lies the palace, and be- 
 tween it and the mountains, again, is a tank. I have seen 
 larger and more splendid buildings, but this little nook, with 
 palace, temple, and tank, and the bare hill behind, is as charac- 
 teristic a bit of India as I could imagine. There is no bastard 
 classic or ridiculous Gothic here ; all is true Indian; and although, 
 of course, full of absurd inconsistencies — the squalid jostling the 
 splendid, as is usual in the East — the whole is somehow pic- 
 turesque and original. Yet was all this done within the last 
 thirty years ! 
 
 Mangol Sing, the present Rajah, is a young man of seventeen. 
 Although only called to his throne two years ago, he plays the 
 Rajah to the life. He seems to have dropped into it without any 
 trouble. He talks English very well, yet nothing will make him 
 learn to read or write ; while the two hours a day he spends in 
 study utterly exhaust him. Sitting he thinks a nuisance. But he 
 is a good-natured, good-looking little chap, and delights in riding, 
 driving, and shooting, playing at racquets and such amusements. 
 The other day he was married. He doesn't think much of the 
 society of ladies, however ; for, to my certain knowledge, he was
 
 CHI TORE, AGRA, MUTTRA, AND ULWAR. 1 85 
 
 HIS HIGHNESS 1IAXGOL SING, RAJAH OF ULWAR. 
 
 two days without even seeing his wife. I hear, when he goes 
 down to the palace in the city, his adopted mother and grand- 
 mother make him fooj'a or pray, and he doesn't like it. 
 
 Life in a Zenana must be dull indeed. Each wife has her 
 settlement, and manages the villages forming that settlement 
 through a vakeel, and very good managers some of them are. 
 Beyond this they have no connection with the out-door world, 
 never even leaving the walls of the Zenana, except on rare occa-
 
 1 86 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 sions when they are allowed to perform a pilgrimage. The Ze- 
 nana itself is ruled by the principal wife, or more generally by 
 the mother. This lady is supreme ; and I am told by ladies who 
 have penetrated into the Zenanas of the great, that when the 
 rajah comes into the room all the wives rise and veil themselves, 
 the head ranee alone remaining seated and uncovered. The 
 other wives, however, in some courts are allowed to receive visits 
 (from ladies, of course) in their own rooms, which open generally 
 out of a courtyard common to all. I hear the principal amuse- 
 ment of the ladies is gambling, both at cards and backgammon ; 
 and this is the cause of their eagerness for money, which one 
 would think they could not possibly want, or find occasion to 
 spend. The allowance given to a wife here and also at Oodey- 
 pore is ^2,000 a year, and quite enough, too, I should say. 
 
 Yesterday, the 4th March, we were promised an elephant fight. 
 Major Cadell had never seen one, and indeed had always dis- 
 couraged them, but I persuaded him there was no danger, so he 
 gave way. The grand space of the Hatti Khanah was to be the 
 scene of the entertainment, and there ought to have been a wall 
 for the beasts to fight over ; but the Rajah either forgot to order 
 this wall to be prepared, or thought there would be greater fun 
 without. When we arrived one of the elephants was already in 
 the square, and the Rajah's people were teazing him with scarves, 
 like the torrcadors in Spain. He wanted but little teazing, being 
 very " must," and the " hattiadors? if I might coin a word, would 
 have stood but a poor chance had not the huge beast had vast 
 chains round his hind legs, which dragged well behind. As it was, 
 he swung round his trunk with fury when any of his enemies 
 approached him, and it required all their nimbleness to escape 
 his charge. 
 
 Presently the other elephant was seen approaching. This one 
 was only " must " enough to be dangerous to any one foolish 
 enough to go near him. He was larger than his adversary, but 
 not so furious. No. 1 is "weaving" his trunk, having had a cloth 
 lowered over his eyes by his maJiont. No. 2 is now in the middle 
 of the square. Up goes the cloth, and No. 1 furiously charges.
 
 CHI TORE, AGRA, A1UTTRA, AND ULWAR. 1 87 
 
 Though No. 2 is the larger, he is borne backward, and there was 
 real danger to the mahouts, &c. Major Cadell immediately gave 
 the order : a Catherine-wheel was fired and thrown between the 
 combatants; and both elephants, lately so furious, turned tail 
 and skedaddled, each to his own corner. It was a curious sight. 
 
 I wonder how this Rajah will succeed when he comes into his 
 own ? He is obedient enough now, but I see, or imagine I see, 
 some impatience for the time to arrive when he will be indepen- 
 dent.* The last Rajah, Sheodan Sing, was a very bad lot. He 
 was a very small man. There was very little of him, but all that 
 was, was vicious. Here is a little story of Rajpoot manners. 
 
 Ulwar, the state, was carved partly from Bhurtpore, partly from 
 Jeypore. The Rajahs of Ulwar and Jeypore had never met till 
 my cousin Impey brought about an exchange of civilities between 
 them. Now, it appears that Ram Sing of Jeypore had a beauti- 
 ful nautch girl, whom he delighted to honour, devout though he 
 is. Her name was Ganga. Sheodan Sing hearing of her beauty, 
 offered her vast sums of rupees to leave Jeypore and come to 
 Ulwar. The frail one yielded. All was arranged, and a dak of 
 quick-trotting bullocks conveyed Ganga in an incredibly short 
 space of time from Jeypore to Ulwar and its amorous Rajah. 
 Perhaps Sheodan Sing would soon have tired of his expensive 
 conquest, but the Duke of Edinburgh arrived not long after, and 
 the Rajah was obliged to go to receive him. He was determined 
 that Ganga should not return to Jeypore in his absence; so he 
 married her in a kind of left-handed fashion — that is, she had gold 
 bangles fastened on her feet and was taken into the Zenana. The 
 idea of being a Ranee was too much for the poor nautch girl ; her 
 head was turned, and she consented. Once in the Zenana, and 
 there was no escape. Now, nautch girls are brought up with sin- 
 gular ideas of freedom ; alone of all Indian women, they wear 
 no veils ; and they are treated with respect wherever they go. 
 I have written how, even at Oodeypore, they form a part of the 
 
 * I am happy to see that he is doing well. By the last mail came the 
 news that the Maharajah of Ulwar has offered to fit out a camel corps at his 
 own expense to help the Government in the Afghan campaign. Well done, 
 Mangol Sing !
 
 1 88 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 pageant of the state. Imagine, then, poor Ganga imprisoned in 
 the Zenana, frowned down by rival queens, who, being pucka 
 wives of noble families, looked on the nautcli girl as the dirt of 
 the earth. And Sheodan Sing ? The miserable little man's sole 
 idea was revenge on Jeypore. He swaggered past Ram Sing in 
 durbar, saying, " I have cut off the whiskers of the Jeypore 
 Rajah ; " but he never thought of the poor nautcJi girl, and never 
 saw her again. The political agent here told me he had many 
 touching epistles and messages from the prisoner, begging him 
 to liberate her, brought by her old mother, who threw herself on 
 her knees, imploring him to save her child. But what could he 
 do ? The Zenana was sacred. At last she escaped by the only 
 road of escape from the tyranny of custom — she starved herself 
 to death ! This is a true story, told me by the political agent to 
 whom the mother applied. 
 
 Another story of Ulwar deserves here to be recorded. Two 
 rajahs ago the ruling chief married, or was said to have married, 
 a nautili girl. Rajahs of Ulwar seem ever to have had a passion 
 for the stage ! This lady had a son presumably by the Rajah. 
 Xow, at the Rajah's death, as the wife was a Mohammedan, this 
 marriage was declared illegal, and the child illegitimate. But 
 the mother maintained she was legally married, and, to prove 
 the legitimacy of her child, actually performed suttee with the 
 Rajah ! Yet she was a Mohammedan, not believing, of course, 
 that Paradise was to be attained by self-cremation ! I don't know 
 that history or romance contains a story of more touching maternal 
 sacrifice. The English Government insisted on the acknowledg- 
 ment of the son's legitimacy, and the division of the state of 
 Ulwar, which has only lately become united by the want of heirs of 
 the son, for whose royal line such an awful price had been paid ! 
 
 This is my last Rajpoot state. To-morrow I shall be well on 
 my way to Jummo and the Sikhs. I only trust they will behave 
 as well as the Rajpootana rajahs have done on the whole. Some 
 of them have been quite friendly. From Muttra I sent Oodey- 
 pore a long letter on Indian art, which I trust may do him good.
 
 CHAPTER xrr. 
 
 LAHORE. 
 
 $th to 1 2th April. 
 
 I LEFT Ulvvar, with great regret, on Thursday, 5th April, and 
 arrived at Delhi at 3 a.m. on the 6th. I had determined to 
 pass the hours of the early morning, usually spent in bed, in 
 quietly snoozing in my railway carriage. But I reckoned without 
 my host. The carriage was shunted and re-shunted, and each time 
 I was banged about as though the engine-driver took a delight 
 in preventing a sleep w r hich he by his duties was debarred from 
 enjoying ; so at 4.30 I rose and went to the Northbrook Hotel, 
 which I had left full of guests of the durbar. Now all was deso- 
 late, and when I went to breakfast at the table I had seen 
 thronged with notables, I was alone. 
 
 I had various businesses to attend to during the day, but at 
 4.50 p.m. started again for Lahore, where I arrived at 4.35 a.m. 
 on Saturday, 7th April. Here I am now, the guest of the Go- 
 vernment Advocate, and very comfortable. 
 
 There is a mighty difference between an English station, the 
 centre of an administration like Lahore, and the house of the 
 political agent at a native court. There are no picturesque horse- 
 men waiting in the yard or " compound," no prisoners clanking 
 about the garden, preparing your vegetables and watering your 
 flowers, no suitors with eager look awaiting the pleasure of the 
 agent sahib, no visits from friendly nobles or thakoors. All is 
 respectable, humdrum, unpicturesque, and comfortable. And, 
 above all, there is but little to write about, unless it be personal 
 criticisms and remarks, that might wound the feelings of hospit- 
 able Englishmen and kind friends. I came here to have my 
 
 ISO
 
 190 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 future movements settled for me. I wish myself to do Kashmir 
 at once, and then retire to the cool of Simla ; but I find that 
 the Nawab of Bhawalpore is expected, and that he will probably 
 not be allowed to go to Simla, so that I must do his Nawabship 
 here. 
 
 It is much cooler here than it was at Ulwar or Jodhpore a 
 month ago ; not that Lahore is a cool place, for I believe it may 
 give points to a place nameless in polite circles but well known 
 for its high temperature ; only the heat does not begin so soon as 
 in places more south. We have had moreover two thunderstorms; 
 one on the 6th I caught between Delhi and here ; and there was 
 another on the ioth, which was quite dramatic in its fury, great 
 wind and heavy rain accompanying the incessant thunder and 
 lightning. People here wonder what has come to the weather, 
 as storms at this time of year are almost unknown. I can only 
 be thankful that it keeps cool a little longer than usual. 
 
 Lahore city lies about a mile from the English station at 
 Anarkali. This journal is not intended as a guide book (there is 
 an excellent one of Lahore), so I will not give you all the places 
 worth seeing in the capital of Punjab, but only the things that 
 strike me personally. It is to be noted, in the first place, that 
 the English town derives its name from a slave girl of the Em- 
 peror Akbar — Sharif-ul-Nissar — who had the title or name of 
 Anarkali (meaning " pomegranate blossom ") given her ; but be- 
 cause she was supposed to have smiled on Jehanghire, Akbar's 
 son, she was here buried alive. There was evidently some cause 
 for Akbar's jealousy, since Jehanghire, when he came to his own, 
 erected a tomb to the poor victim, on which he says — 
 
 " Ah, could I behold the face of my beloved once more, 
 I would give thanks to my God till the day of resurrection !" 
 
 The tomb is now the English church, and the white man prays 
 where Jehanghire shed tears and recorded his not very creditable 
 passion. 
 
 Akbar seems generally to have been rather hard upon the 
 loves of his son Jehanghire, who, before he ascended the throne,
 
 LAHORE. 191 
 
 was known by the name of Selim. The unfortunate youth formed 
 a violent attachment for a certain Mher-ul-Nissah, the daughter 
 of a Tatar chief of the name of Mirza-Ghayas-Beg, who was 
 steward of the household of the Emperor Akbar. The lady was 
 already affianced to an officer named Sher Afghan, and Akbar 
 would not have the engagement broken off to please his son. 
 And most unlucky was Sher Afghan. Jehanghire not only re- 
 membered the slave girl, but the wife. He built a tomb for one 
 and he killed the husband of the other ! The lady, however, 
 was taken into the royal Zenana, and became the favourite wife, 
 being first called Nur Mahal (Light of the Palace), and then 
 Nur Jehan (Light of the World). Under the latter title she is 
 best known. She exercised great influence over her husband, 
 who promoted both her father and brother to high places at 
 Court. Her father was It-mud-ud-Doulah, whose tomb I have 
 described at Agra ; her brother, Alif Jah, was well known in 
 history. Nur Jehan we shall meet again, I dare say. 
 
 The fort of Lahore has some decorations in large mosaic on its 
 outer face, built by Jehanghire, that are very good in their general 
 effect. Several panels of elephants, their fightings and general 
 goings-on (and off), are very good indeed in colour — the elephants 
 being bright blue, and the ground brimstone, or white, or green. 
 This coarse mosaic is very common in this part of the country, 
 where stone exists not. A mosque (Wazir Khan's Musjid) is richly 
 decorated in this way, and so are many towers in the neighbour- 
 hood. Nevertheless, Lahore, as a town, has not many attractions ; 
 for, although tracing the date of its foundation to the mythical 
 ages of Rama and his son L'oh, there are not many traces of 
 age in the present city. From the top of the minaret of the 
 Wazir Khan's Musjid you get a good view of the town, which 
 looks like an enlarged village, of which the houses have the same 
 monotonous look we know so well in London, only that they are 
 mud colour, and not smoke-begrimed. The absence of stone 
 probably caused the gradual destruction of what was old. 
 
 Lahore boasts a school of art and a museum. The first is, I 
 am told, and I can readily believe it, in a state of infancy. Let
 
 192 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 us hope it may develop into something if allowed to continue. 
 The museum contains many interesting objects ; among them a 
 quantity of fragments of sculpture dug up near Peshawur, that 
 are remarkably curious, as displaying more plastic power than 
 any sculpture I have yet seen, and even, it is supposed, a Greek 
 influence. These remains are Buddhistic, as are all the finest 
 remains in India. Of course I talk of sculpture. 
 
 The printed cottons are here remarkably good. Some of the 
 finest patterns are printed in tak and all kinds of dyes, not pucka. 
 They are used for marriage ceremonies, and not being pucka 
 implies they will not wash. 
 
 There are too many things brought here by the Central Asian 
 Trading Company, which has its depot at Lahore. The best of 
 these are silks printed in the strangest colours, with the wildest 
 harmonies and discords, which I confess tickle my artistic sense 
 exceedingly. 
 
 The whole talk of Lahore is of the frontier and its policy. I 
 don't know much about it, I confess ; and as this journal is not 
 intended to be political, will not treat you to any of the gossip 
 and stories told of the soldier who is conducting the negotia- 
 tions at Peshawur. He must be either a very great man or a 
 very weak one. I, for one, will give him the benefit of the doubt; 
 at all events, he is a well abused one. 
 
 I have come back from my first sitting of the Nawab of Bha- 
 walpore. As his title implies, he is a Mohammedan. His family 
 were originally tributary to the Afghans, and though they set 
 up for themselves some three generations back, with difficulty 
 succeeded in keeping their independence. They also had to 
 knock under to Runjeet Sing. Luckily for them, during the 
 Sikh troubles, their hatred to that nation proved greater than 
 their dislike of the English ; so that they helped us, and were 
 rewarded by increased estate ; though, of course, they had to 
 acknowledge the paramount Power. 
 
 The present Nawab is a young fellow of sixteen, good looking, 
 though of somewhat weak cast of feature. He was to have met 
 me at Simla, and there sat; but, on arriving here, I found that
 
 LAHORE. 193 
 
 there is some doubt about his being allowed to go to the English 
 Capua. There is a great feeling against permitting native chiefs 
 to congregate at our sanitarium, as they bring up a quantity of 
 followers, who have to be huddled together in close quarters, 
 and are apt to bring cholera and all kinds of sickness with them. 
 However, the Nawab, and especially his white following, are 
 very eager to get there, and make my painting an excuse for 
 their journey. It is natural enough they should wish to escape 
 from the heat of Bhawalpore, one of the hottest places of this 
 oven, to the cool breezes of Simla ; and, although I shall make 
 a study of his head, in case leave be refused, I shall say that 
 I cannot possibly finish here what I want, for the dress and 
 get-up of his Nawabship is fearfully elaborate. 
 
 The Maharajah of Kashmir desires to be painted at Sreenuggur, 
 and telegraphs to that effect. This will necessitate a fortnight's 
 more travelling ; but, on the other hand, will enable me to see 
 the far-famed Valley of Kashmir. Well, I must grin and bear 
 it, and hope that the good will counterbalance the delay. 
 
 At Ulwar I had a curious insight into the superstition of the 
 country. The political agent wished to build for the young 
 Rajah a new grand staircase to his Dewan-i-Am. My friends in 
 England will hardly consider me competent to act as architect 
 even to an Indian rajah ; and I am modest enough to think, and 
 indeed to be certain, that I know little about the noble art ; yet 
 I know more than my worthy friend the political agent, and I 
 gave him what I thought rather a good scheme, which he sub- 
 mitted to the intelligent Hindoo engineer who looks after that 
 department in the state. A model in wood of my plan was made, 
 but the number of steps had to be altered to suit the prejudices 
 of the country. I had noticed before that Hindoo stairs were 
 prodigiously steep, and I now found the reason. It appears that 
 going up and down you must count thus, as the foot comes down 
 on each step: — "Indra" (heaven), first step; "Jan" (hell), second; 
 " Raj " (earth), third : and as you must begin always with "heaven," 
 so must your foot, both going up and coming down, come on 
 "Jan " (hell) on the last step. Unless this is so, no pious Hindoo 
 
 13
 
 194 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 will ascend or descend, as it would be eminently unlucky to 
 do so. 
 
 Another odd superstition is this : — at Muttra and at Ulwar 
 the authorities were building new bazaars, and proposed planting 
 the square with pepul-trees. At both places the banyas or mer- 
 chants protested ; " for if you plant such trees, we shall not be 
 able to deal there." 
 
 - Why ? " 
 
 " Because the pepul (ficus rcligiosd) is sacred, and under it we 
 must tell only the truth ! " 
 
 If this feeling existed in England, how the moral tone of the 
 City might be improved by a few pepul-trees ! 
 
 The following is a true story of Ulwar. It appears that there 
 is a law there that no man is allowed to marry a girl who is only a 
 third of his age. The reason of this law is that old men constantly 
 married girls of ten or eleven, and left them widows, and they 
 had to pass the rest of their lives in forced celibacy, looked down 
 on by their relatives. In the old time sattee put an end to their 
 troubles ; now the laws are changed, and life-long misery takes 
 the place of a glorious death. What wonder, then, if young 
 widows frequently change their ignominious fate for a career of 
 vice ? This law can only be evaded by order of the Council of 
 State. Well, there was a wealthy contractor, who had made his 
 fortune in the British territory, but he was childless. Always 
 hoping to have a son to light his funeral pile, he came to Ulwar, 
 and quickly found a parent who was willing to sell his child of 
 ten ; but the bridegroom was more than three times the age of 
 the bride, — indeed he was sixty, — and permission was refused. 
 The case came before the political agent while I was at Ulwar. 
 He refused to interfere. 
 
 " Let the law, which is a good law, be enforced. If this man 
 likes to marry, let him marry a woman of suitable age." 
 
 " But," urged the worthy baboos who appeared for the eager 
 bridegroom, " there are none of suitable age. It is a disgrace to 
 have an unmarried daughter, and so all our daughters are married 
 at ten."
 
 LAHORE. ! 95 
 
 " There are widows." 
 
 "Yes, but to marry a widow is a sin. What is a poor man to 
 do ? " 
 
 " You ought to let widows marry," cried the sensible agent. 
 
 "Religious prejudice, sahib',' urged the baboo with clasped 
 hands. 
 
 The man was in earnest, and the next day there appeared an 
 English advocate from Agra to plead his cause. He had no 
 locus standi, and was told so ; but he urged that the bride's father 
 should at least be allowed to leave the country, and take up his 
 residence in British territory, where you can marry your child to 
 Methuselah, if he is rich enough. 
 
 " What prevents him ? " 
 
 " Pie is not allowed to leave," said the advocate. 
 
 The agent said, " I will see to it, only if he comes back to 
 Ulwar, he must abide by the laws of Ulwar." 
 
 It was quickly found why papa-in-law could not leave the 
 country ; he was in prison for breach of promise, having already 
 sold his daughter to and received the money from another man, 
 to whom, however, he refused his child on the appearance of a 
 richer suitor ! 
 
 The question of marriages is perhaps the most serious of all 
 the knotty questions we English have to deal with here. The 
 above case is one of many curious cases constantly cropping up 
 and bewildering the courts and judges. From an educational 
 point of view, it is most fatal to allow marriages with girls of ten 
 or even eight years of age, as is common here. In each family 
 there may be seen one or two poor women, who are looked on as 
 lepers, and are, to native ideas, a disgrace and a shame. And 
 why ? Because they are widows. No doubt every aspect of this 
 question has been canvassed and talked over hundreds of times. 
 Nothing can be done in a hurry; and after all, the prejudice 
 against marrying your deceased wife's sister, which is so strong 
 in England, is quite as stupid, or perhaps more narrow-minded 
 than the prejudices of the poor Hindoo against widow marriage. 
 Out here one sees the harm all such prejudices work to the good 
 
 13—2
 
 196 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 of the community at large, so is the mind enlarged by travel, 
 and the traveller encouraged to make priggish and sententious 
 observations ! 
 
 I was much amused at finding in the handbook of this place 
 (from which I have freely borrowed) a translation of a Punjabee 
 song in the vernacular, which was very popular some ten years ago. 
 It is a complaint against the laws and regulations of the English, 
 which I can well imagine the Indian fails to appreciate or indeed 
 to understand. The following is one verse as a specimen : 
 
 " In the Raj of the Rajahs there were holes, there were hills ; 
 In the Raj of the English level highways appear. 
 We die, oh ! we die, and the worst of our ills 
 
 Is the hard law, Punjabees! the English bring here." 
 
 iyth April. 
 
 For the first time in India I find I have but little to write 
 about. I hope I am not getting blase to the sights around me. 
 I don't think so, for each figure I see in the streets would be a 
 reproach to me. One seems to live among statues here ; each 
 man or woman with his or her drapery around him (or her) is a 
 sight for the Greeks ; and yet I have drawn none of them, and 
 am continually gnawing the file of repentance on the subject. 
 My picture, however, sits like an Old Man of the Sea on me, and 
 takes all the energy for other work out of me. I can only see, 
 mark, learn, and inwardly digest, with the hope that my gazing 
 may have some effect by-and-bye. 
 
 The Punjabees wear much more flowing robes than the Raj- 
 poots. The men dress all in white, wear enormous pitgrees, 
 and very loose and curious trousers, nearly to the ankle. The 
 women wear the same trousers, only coloured, and the saree 
 over the head. I have not yet penetrated the mystery of the 
 trouser. I rather fancy it is made of one piece of voluminous 
 stuff, ingeniously twisted so as to form a nether garment. As 
 the twisting begins from the outside, and the folds lap round 
 inside the leg, the whole population appear bandy.
 
 LAHORE. l 97 
 
 We have had most unusual weather. There has been a thunder 
 storm every day for a week, and quantities of rain. This has, of 
 course, cooled the air, but already the heat has re-begun, and 
 general limpness asserts itself. There is a bird here called the 
 koel, which has the reputation of being a sort of St. John to the 
 summer, appearing always as hot weather sets in. This wretched 
 bird has been singing most lustily for the last two days, the rain 
 having kept him quiet before. A most unpleasant noise he makes, 
 like a mason striking a flagstone with a metal hammer. This noise 
 continuing for hours is apt to get on the nerves. 
 
 Meanwhile I have been getting on with Bhawalpore, and have 
 finished his head. His coat is not here, so I must defer painting 
 it till I meet his Highness at Simla. Like most rajah's coats, it 
 is fearfully elaborate, covered with kincaub pearls and jewellery. 
 He has zpngree of enormous size, that was originally wound round 
 a sort of wide-awake, and now displays two curious ears. Alto- 
 gether he has a kind of theatrical look, and reminds one of 
 Astley's. He is an odd lad, very impulsive, but without any 
 strong affection ; not stupid, but with a stupid, loutish look, the 
 result of his shyness. I have seen a good deal of him, and have 
 come to the conclusion that his surroundings are oppressive, and 
 that the life of a young rajah under tutors appointed by Govern- 
 ment, who may be good fellows, but who are dull and not amusing, 
 must be very very tedious. Of course people who apply for such 
 places are not pucka civilians. There is a young sirdar, Nizam 
 O-Deen, of Mum Dhote, of the same age, who is being educated 
 with the Nawab. This young lad is one of the handsomest boys 
 I ever saw. He and the Nawab are great friends, riding, playing 
 lawn tennis and racquets, and, I hope, studying together. 
 
 Since writing the above I have been again to Bhawalpore, for 
 the last time, and I got him to show me a pair of his inexpres- 
 sibles, which are about six yards across, and gathered up with a 
 string round the waist. As the foot and ankle pass through a hole 
 in the extreme corner of this bag, the drapery between the legs 
 is very voluminous, and getting twisted round the ankle, gives 
 the bandy look I mentioned before.
 
 I9§ IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 To-day I am expecting to leave this for Jhelum, en route for 
 Kashmir. I have telegraphed for a dak gharry to take me thence 
 to Rawal Pindee, and am now waiting an answer. 
 
 My life here has been singularly placid. I rise at 7 a.m., or 
 thereabout, have my chota hazree — a cup of tea and some toast — 
 and read, write, and work till breakfast at ten ; after that meal I 
 go to Bhawalpore, and work at him till tiffin, which meal I gene- 
 rally take with his Highness. I sometimes go on painting there 
 till four; then home, and more work till 5.30, when, weather 
 permitting, I go to lawn tennis, which lasts as long as we can 
 see; then more letters till dinner — and so the days go on. This, 
 putting office instead of work, is the life of a civilian out here. 
 Quiet, monotonous, but not unprofitable. A very good set of 
 fellows they are; wonderfully kind and affectionate to each other 
 when in sickness or trouble, and ever ready, with advice and 
 hospitality, to aid the traveller on his way. 
 
 I had an instance of the extreme kindness of the English 
 community to each other in the case of a poor fellow whom I 
 knew very slightly. The devotion shown to him by his friends — 
 for his wife and belongings were in England — was most touching. 
 Alas ! the best of nursing was of no avail. The stroke of death 
 is swift in India. You hear a man is "down" in the morning, and 
 next morning he is " ' gone,' poor fellow ! " and you frequently 
 follow him to his grave the same day. The English cemetery of 
 Lahore is, like all such places in India, a sad memorial of hopes 
 blighted and promises unfulfilled. Here rest none who have passed 
 long and happy lives, and finally been gathered to their fathers 
 in the fulness of time. Few of these simple graves have been 
 placed by weeping children over silver heads that time alone 
 has laid low. Here are records of widows' tears and husbands' 
 despair, of strong men and loving women, taken in their prime, 
 full of hope, full of love. More touching still are the multitudes 
 of small mounds where so many blossoms lie, that under a 
 cooler sun might have ripened to cheer a parent's home. Poor 
 little children ! one sees them living, pale, thin, and fretful. 
 When the prime of life and strength are no security against the
 
 LAHORE. 199 
 
 insidious foe, what chance have these frail ones ? Happily the 
 hills are close, and communication with hill stations getting easier 
 every day. Let us hope each year the dread Reaper will have a 
 less heavy crop. Who knows whose turn may come next? Strength 
 
 is as nothing, for who so strong as was two days ago, yet 
 
 now ! 
 
 Thank Heaven my life is so busy that I have but little time to 
 think of such things, or perchance mere anticipation of sickness 
 might produce the dreaded evil. Yet such events grow so familiar 
 that they are soon forgotten, except by the sorrowing few. The 
 sober festivities of the station are only interrupted for a day, to, 
 perhaps wisely, recommence on the morrow with steady vigour. 
 
 But English life is not what I want to record here, and the 
 excitement of a flower show or amateur concert does not inspire 
 me to write. I am blase to such things, I own, and have a horror 
 of recording the main of the last dinner I have eaten, or giving 
 a minute description of the company I have met, like a corre- 
 spondent of "Vanity Fair." Therefore will this week's journal be 
 a very short one; and if I miss the next post, do not be surprised, 
 as I am journeying somewhat away from the regions of post ; 
 and as travellers going east have to put on their watches, so 
 shall I have to push on my post-day, till, like the said travellers 
 when they get right round the world, I may find I have missed a 
 post as they miss a day.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 RAWAL PINDEE — MURREE. 
 
 On the Banks of the Jhelum, 22nd April. 
 
 ALTHOUGH I had been very comfortable at Lahore, and 
 reposing in the lap of luxury and civilization, yet I confess 
 to an ungrateful eagerness to depart on my further journey to 
 Kashmir and the backbone of the world. It is not so easy, 
 however, to get there at this time of the year. On the 15th April 
 begins the leave season for the officers of the army, and the 
 subalterns of India swarm to all places where sport is to be had; 
 and where are they promised such sport as in the Happy Valley? 
 Moreover, by reputation these sports are those peculiarly dear to 
 the British subaltern, though condemned, and rightly, by Mrs. 
 Grundy. I found, then, on applying for conveyance from Jhelum 
 (where the railway ends) to Rawal Pindee, that I could not get a 
 gharry for two days ; and there was another delay in prospect 
 between Rawal Pindee and Murree, my next station. It was only 
 on the 20th that I started by the evening train, and safely reached 
 Jhelum at 4 a.m. on the 21st. There I took dak gharry, and after 
 much talking and delay, started at five. As I drove out of the dak 
 bungalow, the east was just beginning to show signs of coming 
 day. It was a limpid barley-sugary effect, but wonderfully striking, 
 for I saw the sun rise behind the Himalaya (a long A, if you 
 please) for the first time. There they were, the famous moun- 
 tains — blue against the early dawn — sharp cut, as though all 
 those jagged peaks were equally distant, while the foot hills 
 (considerable mountains anywhere else) showed a darker blue, 
 and the foreground was a sea of yellowing corn, with here and 
 
 200
 
 Stan/'ordi Gcog^Estab 1 
 
 The Figures denote the height above, the Se.i in thousands, thus 21 mams 21.000 feet;and 9 7 means 9.700 feet . 
 TheFiijiuvs in small type refer to Summits those in larger type f<. Valleys; those in btiukets (18 31 to Pusses. 
 The positions of Mountain Summits und Pusses ore shown In- dots .'. 
 1 
 Sralf 2,027 .">2(l. I :'>'_! Miles to I ln<-l\.i 
 
 English Statute Miles, 
 ici 5 10 5cT so 40 &o
 
 RAWAL PINDEE.—MURREE. 201 
 
 there a dark tree in the distance. It was a simple harmony of 
 colour, one of those things that every artist has essayed ; but for 
 delicacy of tone and wonderful limpidity, I never saw anything 
 to match it. Meanwhile, the sunrise quickening, one or two thin 
 streaks of cloud shine golden on the delicate yellow. The distant 
 snow-peaks are gradually fused in the glowing sky, becoming an 
 extraordinary tender yellow lilac ; and then, bright and hot, up 
 leaps the sun ! Gradually, before the car of Suraj, the abode of the 
 Gods disappears. He is not to be trifled with, this Sun-god of 
 latter April, and the visible presence of him fills all his portion 
 of the sky. But as he rises higher and gilds each peak by turns, 
 one perceives the enormous space between the mountains them- 
 selves. Range behind range show themselves touched by his 
 golden ray, blushing into rosier tones as he passes, and when he 
 has passed and risen much higher, the distant ranges reappear 
 with their snowy peaks now shining in mid-sky, while the lower 
 parts of them are lost in aerial blue. I had seen them during 
 my journey from Delhi to Lahore, like a line of surprising clouds. 
 I have seen, too, the Alps something in the same light; but the 
 Alps are nothing to these, for are not these peaks part of the 
 Kailas, and not one of them under 20,000 feet high ? while those 
 hills in front vary from 6,000 to 8,000 feet : — Kailas, abode of 
 the gods, where the great Brahma passes his time in godlike 
 contemplation ; and Siva, in active malignity ; and Vishnu, in 
 abstraction, only to be roused occasionally to throw his spirit 
 into some fresh incarnation for the good of mankind in general 
 and Brahmins in particular : the Kailas, from which flow the 
 holy rivers, symbols of divine grace, and whence, too, according 
 to modern ideas, has flowed the religion of the whole world ; for 
 is not the Teuton word for " heaven" derived from Himalaya, and 
 is not Kaila the same as caelum ? So say the philologists ; and, 
 gazing at those lofty peaks glistening there a hundred and fifty 
 miles off, as they have shone for ages past, unchangeable because 
 not to be approached, like the high gods themselves, passionless 
 and sublime, far be it from me to say that it is not so. 
 
 Meanwhile the foreground of waving corn has been passed,
 
 202 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 and we go uphill. The surface of the earth is broken up into 
 seams and deep ravines, — shadow and light flecked about in a 
 most indescribable way, telling of mighty rains and much dis- 
 turbance from those far-off masses of snow; but through this cut 
 and scarred surface English civilization has made a straight level 
 road ; and here, amidst all that is sublime in nature, I rattle 
 along at the rate of eight miles an hour, including stoppages, 
 and as I gaze full of artistic fervour at those distant hills, am 
 constantly brought back to this world by the objurgations of 
 the driver and syces and the yells of passers-by, who all join 
 together to urge forward the jibbing horse. Every horse seems 
 to jib, and innumerable are the dodgings employed to get them 
 on : sometimes the syces run in front, with a thong through the 
 bits, and lug them on; sometimes they are pushed on by passers- 
 by ; and sometimes the trace of one is passed round the trace of 
 the other, and the non-jibber pulls along his timid companion ; 
 but always is there shouting and thrashing, and as Bishop Heber 
 
 says, — 
 
 " Every prospect pleases, 
 
 And only man (and horse) is vile." 
 
 And so I travel, with the wondrous mountains on my right 
 hand, and the noise of wheels and natives around, till after eight 
 hours I perceive hideous barracks before me, and arrive at my 
 destination — Rawal Pindee. 
 
 Rawal Pindee is a very strong military station ; not strong in 
 fortifications, but from the number of soldiers here assembled. 
 There is a general and a brigadier-general and an English cavalry 
 regiment, the 4th Hussars (with whom I am stopping), and two 
 English infantry regiments, three batteries of artillery (one horse), 
 a native cavalry regiment, and two of native infantry. It is a 
 pretty station, with mountains close by. Murree, the hill station, 
 is but four hours off, on the foot hills, and I was shown how you 
 could, with flashing-signals, telegraph with ease to the sanitarium 
 of the garrison, forty miles away. 
 
 Thunder and rain seem to be my portion at present. As at 
 Lahore, so at Pindee, it thundered constantly. However, seizing
 
 RAWAL PINDEE.—MURREE. 203 
 
 an auspicious moment on Monday, 23rd April, I left in a hill- 
 cart for Murree. This cart is an extraordinary vehicle, on the 
 principle of a dog-cart, but hung low so as to make it easy to 
 jump in and out. One horse is harnessed into the shafts, and 
 one to each side, and off they start at full gallop, at a fearful 
 pace. We did on the fiat a mile in four minutes, and the whole 
 distance, thirty-eight miles, in four hours and a half; and recol- 
 lect Murree is 7,435 feet high! No bad going. 
 
 Of the way up there is nothing much to tell. The foot hills 
 are much like all hills, and the road itself might be Mont Cenis, 
 or any other pass. We are caught in a thunderstorm, but that 
 again has become so common an occurrence lately, that we take 
 no notice of the lengthened boom of the thunder among the hills. 
 We pass many a bullock-carriage filled with luggage, and many 
 an English family, on the road to the hills and Kashmir. Sports- 
 men have left some time ago; for first come first served, and once 
 occupy a nullah, and no one can shoot there without permission ; 
 but families go to Kashmir for cheapness, as houses can be had 
 for next to nothing, if you do not mind roughing it, and sheep 
 cost two rupees and fowls two annas. 
 
 At length Murree is reached — a long line of houses at the top 
 of a hill, which I believe is a description of most of the sanitaria 
 of India. The prospect from the hotel is very fine and varied, as 
 you have views on all sides. To the north and north-west you look 
 over an endless sea of plain, then the foot hills advance like tiny 
 waves, and, getting bigger as they get towards you, pass on in 
 solemn succession till they seem to beat against a noble range of 
 peaks, the Pir Punjal, which rises 16,000 feet high, and forms 
 the bulk of the mountains I passed on my way to Jhelum. The 
 highest points are on the other side of the Kashmir valley. It was 
 very cold, and a roaring fire quite acceptable. This, after the heat 
 I have suffered, is most extraordinary. At Pindee it is so hot, 
 you find it a labour to move about, and at Murree you are shiver- 
 ing at 4 p.m. 
 
 Alas! I find no news from Sreenuggur, and next morning I get 
 a letter from the resident there, to say that the Maharajah is not
 
 204 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 expected for a month. This, after his telegram, is too bad. How- 
 ever, the weather has been so exceptionally cold that he may have 
 changed his mind, as even maharajahs do so occasionally. Here 
 have I come to the confines of Kashmir, and must I turn back 
 and go off to Jummo in the plains ? That is the question. After 
 some consideration, and a consultation with the Deputy Com- 
 missioner here, I determine not to go back, but to scamper through 
 Kashmir, just to say I have seen it. Meanwhile, the Maharajah 
 has been telegraphed to to provide every facility, and I hope to 
 get from here to Sreenuggur in six or seven days, by doing double 
 marches, and, after staying two or three days there, to go down 
 to Jummo by the Maharajah's private road. Another week ! At 
 Jummo I shall paint the chief, and then get to Simla as quick as 
 I can. This is the first expedition I have made for my own 
 pleasure, but I think I am entitled to it, having got thus far, 
 and I trust to make it pay by the sketches I shall bring back.* 
 There is one thing certain, and that is, by no possibility can I 
 get a letter by the next post, and I shall be lucky if I catch the 
 one after, at Sreenuggur. I have just received the mail of the 28th 
 March, and I shall get no more letters till I arrive at Simla, which 
 if I am fortunate will be about the 26th May. What I am to do 
 at Simla to get through my work there I do not know. 
 
 ON THE BANKS OF THE JHELUM. 
 
 2jth — ^oth April, 1st, 2nd May. 
 
 Having heard nothing of the Maharajah, and having to my 
 disgust wasted four days at Murree, I determined to start for 
 Sreenuggur, and make my way as well as I could on my own 
 account. Not that I was left helpless, for the Deputy-Commis- 
 sioner of Murree was most obliging, and not only helped me to 
 make my arrangements, but sent a clmprassee with me to the 
 
 * This shows how little a traveller can lay out his route beforehand when 
 his movements depend on rajahs.
 
 ON THE BANKS OF THE JHELUM. 205 
 
 borders of British territory. More, of course, he could not do. 
 Well, on the morning of the 27th I sent my baggage off as early 
 as possible' — not very early, however, as the row and talk delayed 
 the departure considerably. At 9.30, after breakfast, I started 
 for Kashmir. I was almost ashamed to mount my pony (tat or 
 tattoo in Indian lingo), as I was the larger animal of the two ; yet 
 the little beast bore me nobly throughout a march of twelve miles. 
 Sreenuggur is by the new route 160 miles from Murree ; the 
 last forty are by boat. The distance is, therefore, really nothing 
 and several active young military men have cantered the whole in 
 one day to save their leave; but for the convenience of travellers 
 it is divided into eleven marches, and it is well this is so, for even 
 the martial youths above mentioned would find it hard at pre- 
 sent to do the distance in anything like good time. This year 
 there has been an exceptionally hard winter. At Murree there 
 was 17 feet of snow ; and the melting of this snow has proved a 
 sad trial to the road. At first, however, we found everything rosy. 
 The day was splendid, although as usual a thunderstorm seemed 
 coming up from. the plains. The road was good, being freshly 
 put in repair, and it wound through the most beautiful trees, re- 
 minding one of the glens (carefully kept and much esteemed) 
 of some Scotch houses, only the trees were if anything finer, 
 and certainly more varied. Through this enchanting scenery we 
 trudged, my pony and I, along the brow of a descending ridge, 
 the road being now on one side, now on the other, each side 
 showing a deep valley and a stream far away below. But I was 
 not to escape. I had expected at starting a storm from the 
 plains ; and now it came rolling down from the hills. Down 
 poured the rain and hail in torrents — thunder and lightning ; but 
 I had lately seen so much of the kind of thing that I found the 
 truth of the proverb, " Familiarity breeds contempt," and I uncon- 
 cernedly continued my journey, till at last my syce begged to be 
 allowed to take shelter, and we stayed under a thick tree. Any- 
 where else this might have been dangerous ; here, however, there 
 were so many trees that I felt the odds were in my favour as to 
 the striking of my particular shelter. I saw after a time that the
 
 2O0 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 storm was very partial, and insisted on going on, and in a quarter 
 of an hour \vc were out of it. A couple of miles farther on there 
 had been no rain at all ! But the downfall while it lasted was 
 very severe, and we were quickly shown what water can do to a 
 road. Splashing and slipping, on we went. Thanks to a good 
 waterproof, however, I was mostly dry, and after walking for the 
 last three miles to dry my boots, I arrived at Dewal, the first stage. 
 Here I stayed for the heat of the day, and made a sketch of 
 another storm that seemed working its way up the valley, but which 
 happily did not reach me, and starting at 4 p.m., I made my 
 second stage in the cool of the afternoon, with great satisfaction 
 to myself and beast. I reached Kohala and my new friend the 
 Jhelum, after dusk, and rode up to the bungalow to find two 
 fellow-travellers finishing their dinner by moonlight. An en- 
 chanting scene! A little lawn, with small trees, through which 
 the moon shone aslant, and two travellers seated at a table, al 
 fresco — a scene for the theatre. But no scene painter could have 
 given the distant roar of the Jhelum, a clay-coloured and much- 
 swollen stream, not more than fifty yards wide at most, roaring 
 and tossing among the rocks with a mighty noise, like a tempest 
 among fir-trees, not in gusts, however, but steady and loud. 
 
 This roar we have had ever since, for our way winds along 
 the banks of the Jhelum for miles. Mountains rise on each side, 
 and the bed is, as I said, narrow ; but there is a sense of power 
 in this mass of water so confined, that fills the mind with awe ; 
 and its roar grows quite familiar to my ears, for it seems to talk 
 far more intelligibly than the dusky fellows around. And so each 
 morning before daybreak I am up, and having dispatched my 
 luggage on the backs of coolies after much noise and bustle, 
 without which no natives can work, I mount my tat as the sun 
 begins to touch the higher hills, and start on my morning's ride 
 of twelve miles. I do a like amount in the afternoon ; indeed, my 
 days' journeys have averaged over twenty-five miles. Delightful 
 rides have they been ; uphill and down dale, following the winding 
 of my friend the river. Sometimes the way (road it cannot be 
 called) would take me far up a gully, till the noise of Jhelum
 
 ON THE BANKS OF THE JHELUM. 20J 
 
 would fall faintly on the ear, and I came on some mountain 
 torrent falling in lofty cascade, or dashing wildly through large 
 boulders, and making a sharper noise than the mighty river I 
 had just left, like the voice of a child to that of a man. Some- 
 times, from lofty tree-top to tree-top below the road, a flock of 
 green parroquets would flash out like a flight of fairy rockets, 
 their yellow tails gleaming fire, and their sharp cry forming the 
 treble to the bass of the falling waters. 
 
 From Murree to Kohala the ground falls rapidly, so that the 
 latter place is nearly as low as the plains of Pindee ; but from 
 Kohala to Baramula the level of the Jhelum rises considerably, 
 and as you approach Kashmir proper, all kinds of well-known 
 flowers greet the Britisher. I do not know anything of botany ; 
 like the Irishman, I can say, " God has denied me that know- 
 ledge ; " but still I recognized much here that recalled the native 
 wilds of Kensington. Clematis of the large white kind was in 
 full blossom ; wild roses, both white and pink, twinkled here and 
 there among the more robust shrubs. On one day's march (a 
 two days' march in guide books), between Chakooti and Ram- 
 nugger, the air was quite laden with the well-known odour of haw- 
 thorn, while under the trees grew great hyacinths, and beneath 
 the bushes the ground was spotted with wild strawberries in full 
 blossom. Here, too, I saw some wondrous birds, some blue * 
 as turquoise, some with bright golden tails, and some with white. 
 Magnificent butterflies — dark purple, with crimson tails — floated 
 over the trees. In fact it was Paradise itself, and reminded me, 
 as the cockney says in Bret Harte, of Greenwich. 
 
 Every medal has its reverse. The landscape was lovely, — so 
 bright, so wondrous in its fantastic variety ; but amidst all this 
 fairy blossom, yet seeming to come from the ground itself, so like 
 do they look, and so earthly, you find the inhabitants of these en- 
 chanting valleys. Fine tall-looking men, with the look of slaves, 
 beasts of burden, and worse ; for beasts of burden at least have 
 
 * This blue bird is the nearest approach to the humming-bird that is to be 
 found in India. The long-tailed birds were, I believe, orioles, who change 
 the colour of their tail-feathers according to their age.
 
 208 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 some one to rub them down, and keep them moderately clean, 
 but these have no one. I have seen gipsies, I have seen Irish, and 
 I thought I had seen the worst ; but no, these people beat them 
 all in filth, and the traveller finds it, to his cost ! Happy is the 
 man who gets quit of the flitting flea, with which trifling though 
 active inconvenience all the Maharajah's bungalows literally 
 swarm. Recollect that these men bear everything one has on 
 their dirty backs, or dirtier heads, and imagine what comes to 
 bed and bedding, which every Indian traveller carries with him ! 
 
 Between Chakooti and Ramnuggur I passed through my first 
 grove of deodars. They are not so big as those I have seen de- 
 scribed in books of travels ; still they were mighty trees, and not 
 only formed a grateful shade, but gave out an aroma, that was 
 not the least pleasing of the delicious scents of the day. From 
 the river the groves rise over a considerable height ; while above 
 the bungalow at Ramnuggur tower lofty cliffs of 600 to 700 feet 
 high. Alas ! here the hand of man has been doing its worst to 
 deface the beauteous work of the Creator. Whole hill-sides have 
 been charred and blackened by fire ; magnificent trees destroyed 
 by wanton carelessness. It appears that the goojas, or herdsmen, 
 in winter are in the habit of chopping their firewood from the 
 stems of these splendid fellows ; and, not content with that, when 
 the hole has become sufficiently deep, actually light their fires in 
 the heart of the tree ! Hence you constantly see trees quite dead, 
 with the hearts of them completely burnt out. Sometimes you 
 pass whole forests of black and charred skeletons, instead of 
 beautiful living forms to delight the eye. 
 
 All along this route I found and passed at every bungalow 
 parties of people hurrying from the hot plains to the cool valleys 
 of Kashmir ; whole families, suffering every possible inconvenience 
 from travel and parasite; sometimes the parent (male) bird, and 
 sometimes even a delicate lady, accompanied by unruly brats (all 
 Indian children are unruly) ; to whom Sreenuggur was a veritable 
 Promised Land, but to whom the daily stage could not have been 
 a pleasure, and whose household gods were constantly falling 
 down aids and beinsf lost in the rivers.
 
 ON THE BANKS OF THE JHELUM. 209 
 
 Finally, after five days' riding, about nine o'clock a.m. on the 
 sixth day, I ascended the sharp incline of the Baramula Pass, 
 and from the top I saw extended before me the real Valley of 
 Kashmir ; a flat rich green-looking plain, with snow-clad hills all 
 round, through which wound our old friend the Jhelum, no longer 
 the roaring, tossing torrent I had ridden by so many days, bur. 
 slow, sleek, and prosperous, double its former size, and much like 
 other rivers I had seen in Europe. Baramula is the one outlet of 
 the valley, and of course there is a tradition that the whole valley 
 was' once filled with water : an immense lake, in fact, inhabited by 
 a fiend in the shape of a dragon. A convenient deity cleft the 
 mountains at Baramula and let out the Jhelum, and the dragon 
 died, &c, &c. The road, unfortunately, does not pass the spot 
 where the Jhelum pierces its mountain barrier, but I am told 
 the cliffs are really very fine ; and I can well believe it, for the 
 fall must be considerable, and the wear and tear of ages will 
 probably have made splendid precipices. In some parts of its 
 course farther down there are tremendous rapids ; particularly at 
 Tinali, where I saw a plucky hill man descend the torrent on a 
 wussock, a skin filled with air. He came down at a terrific pace, 
 bobbing round like a cork amid the foam of the water. There 
 seemed to be no difficulty in the operation, and I confess I had 
 a great longing to try it myself. 
 
 The degradation of the inhabitants both of the valley of the 
 Jhelum and the Valley of Kashmir proper is the more remarkable, 
 inasmuch as they really seem prosperous. It is true I bought a 
 sheep for R.i 8a. (three shillings), and that a coolie gets sixpence 
 for carrying a heavy load ten, twelve, or fifteen miles ; but the land 
 is well cultivated where it is possible for cultivation, to exist, and 
 pleasant great terraces of corn, in giant steps, ascend many of the 
 hills to a considerable distance. Indeed, high up on the moun- 
 tain you can see patches of green and occasional wreaths of blue 
 smoke, telling of the presence of man and his works. Even there 
 corn seems to thrive, and in some places is ripening fast. The 
 crops appear, too, to be quite independent of season, for by the 
 side of fast-ripening corn you see tender plants, hardly struggling 
 
 14
 
 210 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 into existence.*" That these people — industrious, healthy, and 
 prosperous — should be the veriest curs, is a curious instance for 
 Darwin of inherited defects, and can only be explained by the 
 fact that from ages immemorial they have always been kicked 
 and trampled on by invaders innumerable. We added the last 
 straw when we handed them over to the present Maharajah for 
 75 lacs — which, by-the-bye, have never been paid — and thereby 
 lost the finest sanitarium for our troops, and earned the curses 
 of Kashmirians, who, being Mohammedans, were turned over 
 to a Hindoo and a bigot, with whom they have no sympathy, 
 and who grinds them down in every possible way. Not only is 
 beef forbidden in the country, but everybody is taxed in all kinds 
 of vexatious ways, and even the miserable coolie has to give a 
 quarter of his hardly-earned sixpence to swell this alien Maha- 
 rajah's hoard. All this has been talked over and discussed by 
 dozens of travellers lately, for writing of this part of the world 
 has become the fashion, and we have had all kinds of sentimental 
 names given to the Himalaya — "the abode of snow," "above the 
 snow," " the backbone of the world," " the roof of the ditto ; " 
 all these and many more phrases are constantly in the mouths of 
 British excursionists, who also quote freely from " Lalla Rookh," 
 or rather from " Lalla Rookh " second-hand, through the guide 
 book. 
 
 Descending from Baramula Pass, you quickly find yourself 
 on a plain, and by a row of poplar-trees, which trees are found 
 planted together in avenues all over the valley. I was much 
 reminded of Switzerland by the general look of the country, but 
 there were many things to tell one that Europe was far away. 
 Baramula town was on the opposite side of the river. Its houses 
 — indeed most of the houses hereabouts — are flat roofed, or with 
 very slight incline, and covered over with thick grass. On many 
 of them there were thick beds of blue iris, which appears to grow 
 here like buttercups at home. The whole meadow at Baramula 
 was carpeted with them. The bungalow was on the banks of the 
 Jhelum, which is about as broad as the Thames at Maidenhead, 
 
 *' This was rice.
 
 ON THE BANKS OF THE JHELUM. 21 1 
 
 and here you take boat for Sreenugger, and of course come in for 
 the usual noise and bustle. Landing or embarking, there is always 
 the same row, whether it be Dover or Calais, Leghorn or Venice 
 Alexandria, Bombay, or Baramula. Here the row was increased 
 by the number of shawl merchants, jewellers, and other trades- 
 men, who all requested you to put down your name in their 
 books. Natives have a passion for chits or certificates ; not a 
 sweeper or cJiuprassee but wants a piece of paper with something 
 written thereon, and as of course they cannot read English, some 
 times their much-prized certificates are not what they imagine 
 them to be. 
 
 Kashmir boats are long flat-bottomed concerns, of most primi- 
 tive construction, made of long planks of deodar. They are 
 pointed at the end, and turned up somewhat like a gondola, but 
 they are paddled with a short paddle, the rower of course sitting 
 or squatting down. There are two sizes, the smaller ones being 
 called shikarees, the larger ones dongas. I embarked in a shikaree, 
 sending my luggage in a donga. The boat was towed as far 
 as Sopor (ten miles), where the Walla Lake begins. From this 
 point we have to take to rowing, and many anxious glances are 
 cast to windward, to watch for the coming squall ; for these 
 boats, having grass roofs and flat bottoms, are apt to turn "up- 
 so-down " with the least wind. Not that it would have made 
 any difference ; our wary watermen kept so close in to the bank 
 that we frequently ran aground, and seldom were in water deep 
 enough to cause the least danger. At about nine, however, the 
 wind sprang up, and my boatmen refused to go on ; so I rolled 
 myself up in my rug, and slept the best way I could, though it 
 was mighty cold. Long before daylight I woke, to find the moon 
 well up and the weather calm, so routing out my lazy rowers I 
 insisted on their starting again. Thus the hours slid by, till a 
 number of poplars and a fort on the summit of a hill told us we 
 were approaching Sreenugger. Soon we were gliding up the 
 river between dilapidated-looking houses and tumbled-down 
 temples, and had arrived at our destination. 
 
 14 — 2
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 KASHMIR— SREENUGGER. 
 
 SREENUGGER, the capital of Kashmir, is a long straggling 
 city, lying along both banks of the Jhelum, which here is a 
 broad, stately stream, spanned by seven bridges made of logs 
 of deodar. Besides these bridges there are one or two mosques, 
 which, being built of wood and covered with vegetation, do not 
 come up to one's ideas of a public building ; one or two bright- 
 looking temples also appear, built by the piety of the present 
 Maharajah and his son, but they are small and unimportant. 
 The palace, too, is a most tawdry edifice, with painted blinds 
 and verandahs of the gaudiest colours, without an atom of real 
 splendour or artistic merit. The houses are mostly built of wood 
 or small tile, like bricks uncemented. Many of them have a 
 decided twist, and look as if the least breath would bring them 
 down. Altogether the town has a tumbledown, " has been " sort 
 of look, as though its best days were over, and so I fear they are. 
 There are 120,000 inhabitants in the town, of whom 90,000 are 
 Mohammedans, and only 30,000 Hindoos, the ruling class here. 
 
 History, they say, repeats itself; rather, I think, events swing 
 like a pendulum. Thus the Moslems, who for many years were 
 the ruling race in India, and ruled with a rod of iron over the 
 Hindoo, have been ousted by us ; and here in Kashmir, where 
 the rebound of our power did not quite reach, we handed them 
 over to a Hindoo, who avenges the wrongs suffered by his fore- 
 fathers with interest. 
 
 It is a mild form of Islamism here practised, but such as it is 
 it is trampled on in every possible way. The Government is a 
 tyranny of the worst kind, tempered by the character of the 
 
 212
 
 KA SHMIR—SREENUGGER. 2 1 3 
 
 Maharajah, who is a good sort of a man, but weak. Every trade 
 practised by Moslems is taxed fearfully. Each shawl-weaver, for 
 example, has to pay 20 rupees a year for the right to weave- 
 The tax used to be much more in the flourishing days of shawl- 
 weaving. Alas ! the fashion has changed. The middlemen failed, 
 the workmen could not pay their tax, and the Rajah found him- 
 self with the whole trade in his hands, and everybody bankrupt 
 to him. He, poor man, has been trying to resuscitate the trade, 
 but it is easy to pull Humpty Dumpty down, and all the maha- 
 rajahs and all their men cannot put him up again. The shawls, 
 too, have themselves gone off considerably. Europeans have 
 interfered, and, directly they do that, a purely Asiatic manufac- 
 ture seems to fall to pieces. 
 
 No inhabitant of Kashmir can leave the country without the 
 direct sanction of the chief, neither is he allowed to follow any 
 trade but that of his forefathers ; so these miserable weavers sub- 
 sist as well as they can on the poor rations served out to them 
 by the Government. 
 
 Our Government seems to give its support to this one-horse 
 sort of policy, for no officer is allowed to go into Kashmir with- 
 out signing a paper binding himself not to bring away with him 
 any subject of the Maharajah's. Many instances have been 
 known of love-sick subalterns who have tried to evade the law. 
 Kashmiree women have been conveyed out of that territory in 
 kiltas (large leather boxes) on the backs of coolies. The very 
 idea of breaking so stupid a law adds a pleasure to the risk, and 
 after all, from what one hears, there is a brisk trade with the 
 plain in Kashmiree houris, and it is certainly true that hardly ever 
 can one meet a decent-looking young woman in Sreenugger. 
 
 The people themselves are a fine tall race, and are certainly 
 clever. At Murree I broke my watch, and found it such a 
 nuisance to be without the means of knowing the time, that I 
 sent for the native watchmaker here, and ran the risk of having 
 my English works destroyed. The man came, squatted on the 
 floor, took my watch to pieces, cleaned the works with the end 
 of his turban, and prcceeded to put them together. He asked
 
 214 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 me whether I had any gun oil, and finding I had none, sent his 
 man out, who brought some back on the end of his thumb, with 
 which the machinery was well greased. Strange to say, my watch 
 has gone well ever since, and, without any further regulating, has 
 kept most excellent time. 
 
 What plays the devil with the country is the terrible tyranny 
 of the alien dogras. Once a weaver, you must still weave, even 
 if you have to starve ; once a cultivator of the soil, and you must 
 go on : you pay no rent, but half the produce of your land belongs 
 to the Government, and of the other half much is seized by 
 middlemen. A carpenter thinks himself well off with two rupees 
 a month, but can hardly be expected to take much pride in his 
 work when it only brings in one shilling a week. 
 
 I have not yet been in the back part of the town, or seen the 
 Dall Lake, on which are the celebrated floating gardens. I am 
 told the filth is perfectly astounding, and I can well believe it. 
 It is the fashion of well-to-do Kashmirees to leave their drainage 
 before their front door. Verbum sap. 
 
 The English quarter is a mile or two from the town, in some 
 pleasant gardens. There, amid apple, mulberry, and pear-trees, 
 the Maharajah has built some bungalows, of which he reserves a 
 few, and the others are at the service of any English that may 
 come. There is a great scramble for these bungalows. First 
 come first served, is the law, and many squabbles arise when 
 people arrive at the same time. However, there are many more 
 people than bungalows, and all about are to be seen the tents 
 of the English. I, being a guest of the Maharajah, have one of 
 the reserved bungalows, close to the river. From my windows I 
 have a splendid view of the Pir Punjal mountains, rising from 
 11,000 to 16,000 feet, with eternal snow on their summits. The 
 weather having been much like an English May, I have an end- 
 less variety of effects before me. Heavy clouds, gleams of sun- 
 shine, snow glistening through the mist or far above the thunder- 
 clouds, form a never-ending source of study and delight, and if I 
 were inclined to be lazy, I could spend hours sitting at my win- 
 dow gazing with open mouth. From the river to the foot hills is
 
 KASHMIR— SREENUGGER. 2 1 5 
 
 a flat and rich plain, with rows of poplars and splendid chenars or 
 Oriental plane-trees, while immediately under my windows rolls 
 the Jhelum, with many boats floating on its calm waters, and in 
 each boat a number of statues, looking as though they had been 
 ages buried and had not yet had the earth cleaned off them, but 
 superb in fold and limb. In such a place, and amid such sur- 
 roundings, the delay of a Maharajah may be excused, and although 
 I am much put out by the upsetting of all my plans, I am trying 
 to make the best of a bad bargain. The worst is that I do not 
 know if the Maharajah has yet left Jummo ; and he is so super- 
 stitious that he may stop half-way for a month, if only his cunning 
 astrologers say it is not lucky to enter his capital. He wrote to 
 the resident here to say that if I was in a great hurry I could meet 
 him half-way, and he would stay a day for me to make a sketch 
 of him. This would be impossible, for not only is he a most 
 elaborately-dressed potentate, but I have moreover to make a 
 sketch of his little son, who was page to Lord Lytton on the 
 grand occasion, and consequently occupied a prominent place in 
 the ceremony. So I must e'en wait for His Highness here, and I 
 have therefore set to work making studies of the inhabitants of 
 the Happy Valley, and have already got well on with two nautcJi 
 girls, with whose much-bespangled heads I hope to turn an honest 
 penny by-and-bye. I lead a most healthy life, — up by half-past 
 six, when I go out for a ride on a pony provided for my bulky 
 requirements by the obliging Vizier. When I come in, I work 
 or write till half-past ten, and then breakfast. My model comes 
 at eleven, and sits till half-past four or five, when I go out and 
 read the papers and potter about till dinner; and so to bed early. 
 There is a large English colony here ; and there is a reading-room, 
 and polo, cricket, badminton, and lawn-tennis, — everything the 
 world can desire. Added to this, it 's cool, although we have 
 thunder and rain pretty well every afternoon ; so I shall do very 
 well, only, as I said before, drat all rajahs ! With all this English 
 element about, there is a lack of picturesque Orientalism, and I 
 find but little to record. Let me hope by next mail the Rajah 
 may be in. Alas ! it is almost hopeless to expect him.
 
 2l6 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 20th May. 
 " If woman can make the worst wilderness dear, 
 Think, think what a heaven she must make of Cashmere." 
 
 So writes, or rather gurgles, Thomas Moore, and as he is quoted 
 in the guide book, that part of " Lalla Rookh " is at least read I 
 doubt whether " woman's affection " can exist here, and to me 
 such thoughts have no attraction. My eyes are fixed in the 
 direction of Jummo, and I look eagerly for the boats of the Maha- 
 rajah. There is no doubt, however, that the Vale of Kashmir is 
 a very pleasant place in May. In the early morning there is a 
 keen bracing feeling in the air, which is truly delightful. Far 
 away you see clear cut against the sky a snowy range of moun- 
 tains, with fantastic and ever-varied form of Gothic spire or 
 Saracen dome, stretching so far that the farther peaks seem like 
 ghosts in the sky, and around you as you ride (and I do ride) 
 you pass many a most picturesque object, human or otherwise. 
 Along the mountain track finely-draped figures of men trudge 
 by you, with brawny chest and arms of a splendid brown show- 
 ing through their sad-coloured puttoo clothes, which you hope 
 arc the natural colours of the wool, and not filthy ; or women 
 with strongly-marked but handsome features, balancing heavy 
 loads on their heads. These are the Kashmirees proper, the 
 slaves of the soil and its Maharajah, going to work or market. 
 Sometimes you meet a Punditanee or Hindoo lady, with clothes 
 of a rich red (most acceptable to the artist), or men with red or 
 blue pugrees ; and in every pngree — red, blue, or white — do these 
 people stick great clusters of yellow flowers or crimson poppies, 
 which shine like jewels against pugree and skin. Then, as the 
 ground gently rises, you pass over the shoulder of the Tukt-i- 
 Suleiman, and see stretched below you the Dall (or town) Lake, 
 turquoise, and purple as it takes reflection or ripple amidst the 
 greenest meadows ; and, as if the earth were not enough to 
 bear the fruits of teeming nature, the very lake itself is covered 
 with floating islands, on which are grown cucumbers and melons, 
 now only in their first fresh greenery ; while all around tower the 
 lower hills, respectable mountains anywhere else, but here only
 
 KASHMIR— SREENUGGER. 2\J 
 
 hills. Or you leave the broader track called a road here, and 
 branch off along a path through the fields, where the corn is well 
 up and shining with dewy diamonds from beard and leaf, or where 
 there are patches quite ablaze with poppies ; and when the corn 
 ceases, you ride through whole beds of irises, white and blue. 
 Below you see the green valley, and in the blue distance the 
 snowy peaks of the Pir, already, at seven, gathering clouds which 
 at midday will quite obscure their lovely outline. Quite a heaven 
 indeed is Kashmir, you think, till you come to a tumbledown 
 house, filthy and miserable, round which are one or two squalid 
 children deep in muck, but no homestead or farmyard. This is 
 where the people live who till this Paradise, and have to pay 
 three-quarters of their produce to the Maharajah and overseer for 
 the questionable privilege. 
 
 N.B. — An agriculturist would no doubt say that the flowers 
 that delighted me showed either poor land or indifferent cultiva- 
 tion. 
 
 The ride I have attempted to describe above is the one I have 
 taken for the last four mornings, while I have been employed in 
 making a sketch. I can imagine nothing pleasanter than the 
 whole scene, temperature and all, at 5.30 a.m. One morning I 
 rode along the embankment that separates the lower town from 
 the Jhelum. A treacherous friend is the now peacefully-flowing 
 river. In the months of June and July, when the snows melt on 
 the hills, and there happens to come on one of those frequent 
 thunderstorms, the river rises with wonderful rapidity. Three 
 years ago, all the English who live on its banks had to take to 
 boat, or camp as best they could on the Tukt-i-Sulieman, the 
 hill overlooking the English quarter; and the bund that enclosed 
 the Dall Lake and the lower part of the town was nearly washed 
 away. Now everything is green and pleasant. The c/ienar-trees, 
 which give the name of Chenar Bagh ("garden of chenars ") to 
 the low-lying land on the river side of the hind, are magnificent 
 in foliage and shade, and form a pleasant camping-ground for 
 bachelors. But my road farther on led through a part of the 
 town, and truly I may say that in filth Sreenugger has few equals
 
 2l8 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 and no superiors. It has this year been partially cleaned, for last 
 year there was a terrible visitation of cholera. Now, Sreenugger is 
 over 5,000 feet above the sea, and ought to be exempt, especially 
 as draining is comparatively easy, there being a deep and quick- 
 flowing river handy. In India, however, the cholera comes where- 
 ever there is the least encouragement, and here they meet it half- 
 way. Even in Murree, an English sanitarium, the ravages were 
 fearful ; which was hard on those people who sought its pleasant 
 heights to escape the perils of the plains, like the lassies in the 
 old Scotch song : 
 
 " Jenny Lee and Bessie Bell, 
 
 They were twa bonnie lassies ; 
 They bigged a bower on yonder hill-top, 
 And theaked it o'er with rashes. 
 
 " They bigged a bower on yonder hill-side, 
 And theaked it o'er with heather ; 
 But the pest came up fra yonder toun, 
 And killed them baith tagither." 
 
 So the people of Murree had a great scare, and the Government 
 at Simla shook in its shoes, for the cholera was there too; and I 
 am partially affected by the fright of last year, for Lord Lytton 
 will have no Rajah there this summer, as it is supposed they (the 
 rajahs) bring the cholera with them, or at all events produce it 
 by the filthy habits of their over-crowded followers. 
 
 Another morning I went to the Jumma Musjid, which is a vast 
 quadrangle, with four square mosques in the centre of the four 
 sides, built entirely of deodar wood. The pillars supporting the 
 roof are made of single stems, and being very tall, have an ex- 
 ceedingly simple and grand appearance. Alas! all is now in ruin. 
 There is a goodly crop of hay on the roof, interspersed with 
 beautiful irises, which flower grows plentifully on most of the 
 roofs of Sreenugger. But here, besides hay and iris, there are 
 bushes, and almost trees, and of course the roof is quickly giving 
 way, though the building was only built by Shah Jehan, in six- 
 teen hundred and something. 
 
 Beyond these morning rides and excursions I have nothing to
 
 KASHMIR— SREENUGGER. 2 1 9 
 
 record of Sreenuggur. I work all day long ; in the morning at 
 landscape, and in the day from people I have got to sit, generally 
 of that class whose sayings and doings are not to be recorded. 
 They are not very pretty, but lend themselves to picturesque 
 treatment from the richness of their dress and multitude of their 
 ornaments. 
 
 Time goes by rapidly and not unpleasantly, and consequently 
 monotonously. To-day I heard that the Maharajah had really 
 started three days ago, so that if he has not a stomach-ache, or 
 anything to delay him, I may next mail record his entry into his 
 capital, which I hear is worth seeing. 
 
 I believe the resident and I are the only English persons in 
 Sreenugger who have anything to do. The others are come simply 
 to kill time, and spend their six months' leave in a state of vege- 
 tation. Of the visitors here three-quarters at least are Irish. The 
 rich brogue of the West of Ireland is heard everywhere, and if 
 it were not for the mountains, you might think yourself on the 
 banks of the Shannon instead of the Jhelum. Professionally, 
 doctors and artillerymen form the most numerous class ; civilians 
 are rarely seen, I being the only ^tin-military man among the 
 hundred visitors now assembled. Of course picnics, &c, are the 
 order of the day, but I keep away from them, as they are a great 
 waste of time. There are several " spins " here, by which elegant 
 name the unmarried and bachelor-hunting young lady goes in 
 India. Some of them are pretty, or at least look pretty here. 
 
 I am, however, quite safe. It does not require woman to make 
 the wilderness of Kashmir attractive to me. 
 
 ^oth May. 
 
 Still at Sreenugger. Happily I have at last got my sailing 
 orders, and leave on the 3rd June to meet the Maharajah at 
 Islamabad, or rather at Acchabul, a place six miles from that 
 town. It appears that the stars are not propitious, and that 
 His Highness is forbidden by their decree to enter his capital 
 during this month. Now we are only at the 18th of the month, 
 according to the Indian calendar, and I can't afford to wait so
 
 220 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 much longer ; so I am to meet him half-way, and he has consented 
 to give me the necessary sittings there. 
 
 Meanwhile I have made several expeditions to the neighbour- 
 hood. On Sunday last I started at 6 a.m. for a tour round the 
 Dall Lake. It was truly delightful ; everything was calm and 
 delicious, without a ripple to disturb the reflection, so that you 
 were quite unconscious of where the mountains ended or the 
 water began, only here and there were little patches of water- 
 lilies to give the necessary green note amid the blue reflection of 
 the hills. Here is the place where Lalla Rookh lived and spooned. 
 Alas ! the water-lilies are not in blossom, and the famous gardens 
 show signs of neglect and decay. 
 
 When Baber first won Hindostan for the Mohammedan Moguls, 
 he lamented that through the length and breadth of the land 
 there were no fountains or pleasant gardens. Both he and his 
 descendants worked hard to introduce a Persian love of flowers 
 and birds, and wherever they visited there are traces of green 
 delight. The Nishat Bagh, celebrated for its cherries and its 
 delicious view across the lake, owes its formation to the Mogul ; 
 and Shallimar, famous throughout the world, full of pleasant 
 pavilions and shady groves, was built as a present from the 
 amorous Jehanghire to his Noor Jehan. Both are full of mag- 
 nificent trees, — mostly chenars or plane-trees, — and 'tis pleasant 
 to recline in their shade, and think of the mighty monarchs of 
 the past, who here forgot the cares of state amid the beauties 
 of nature and the smiles of their loved ones. Bigoted Moslems 
 though they were, they did not disdain to pledge their favourites 
 in wine-filled bowls ; great kings, but with a true feeling for art 
 and beauty. The present ruler of Kashmir has no such feeling. 
 He cares for nothing but making money, and the sordid and 
 terrible gods of the Hindoos. To him nature smiles not; swift 
 river and blue lake for him have no charm, and are only toler- 
 able as a means of taxation. From the hard-working cultivator 
 of floating garden and from the toiling fisherman alike is ex- 
 acted the half of the produce of his labour ; only before the 
 palace no nets must be spread or lines laid, for the great Maha-
 
 KASHMIR— SREENUGGER. 221 
 
 rajah believes that the soul of his revered father inhabits the 
 body of a fish which now haunts the banks of the river whence 
 rises his former home. 
 
 Shallimar must have cost a pretty penny. Its pavilions are 
 pillared with black marble, which must have been brought a great 
 way, and, with no roads and plenty of mountains, they must 
 have been costly indeed. But what was that to Jehanghire, when 
 a smile of Noor Jehan was at stake ? She was a superior person, 
 no doubt, and fond of power, and on the death of her husband 
 gave his successor a deal of bother. Well, she lies near Lahore 
 in another garden, quiet enough now, or, maybe, filling wine- 
 cups for her beloved in Mohammed's Paradise. Who knows? 
 And will Jehanghire remain faithful there, or will the smile of 
 innumerable Jiouris win him from his earthly love ? 
 
 A rollicking, wine-bibbing, lovesick monarch was this Jehan- 
 ghire, of whom we have a curious account by Sir T. Roe, who 
 was sent "Ambassador from James I. to Jehan Guire, the mighty 
 Emperor of India, commonly called the Great Mogul." Take this 
 account of an evening with the Great Mogul. 
 
 On the 2nd of September was the King's birthday, and Sir T. 
 Roe found him "sitting cross-legged on a little throne, all covered 
 with diamonds, pearls, and rubies ; before him a table of gold, 
 and on it about fifty pieces of gold plate, all set with jewels, some 
 very great and extremely rich. His nobility were about him, in 
 their best equipage, whom he commanded to drink merrily, several 
 sorts of wine standing by in great flagons. He asked whether I 
 would drink with them. I answered that I would do whatever 
 his Majesty commanded, but hoped that it would not be too 
 much or too strong. I drank a little, but it was stronger than 
 any I had ever tasted, insomuch that it made me sneeze, which 
 made him laugh. Then he made merry, and sent me word that 
 
 he esteemed me more than he had ever done Then 
 
 he threw about, to those who stood below, two chargers of new 
 rupees, and to us who stood around, two chargers of hollow 
 almonds of gold and silver, mixed. But I would not scramble 
 as his great men did, for I saw his son take up none. Then he
 
 222 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 gave sashes of gold and girdles to all the musicians and waiters, 
 and to many others. So, drinking and commanding others to do 
 the same, his Majesty and all his lords became the finest men that 
 ever I saw, and of a thousand humours. But his son, Asaph 
 Khan*, two old men, the late King of Candahar, and myself, for- 
 bore. When he could hold up his head no longer, he laid down 
 to sleep, and we all departed." On another occasion the worthy 
 knight records how " the Mogul fell to drinking of Alicante wine 
 I had presented him" with a like result, for presently "he turned 
 to sleep, the candles were popped out, and I groped my way out 
 in the dark." Fancy Jehanghire sleeping " in his boots," like a 
 good gentleman as he was ! 
 
 Sometimes, however, the mornings were not so pleasant. It 
 appears that when Jehanghire permitted any of his nobles to 
 drink in his presence, their names were taken down by an indi- 
 vidual of the name of the bakshi, and they were obliged to drink, 
 whether they wished or no. One morning one of these unfortunate 
 topers remarked what a fine drink they had had the night before. 
 The King, being out of sorts, called the bakshi, and had the names 
 of his last night's guests read over. " Some he fined ; some that 
 were nearer his person he caused to be whipped before him, they 
 receiving one hundred and thirty stripes with a terrible instru- 
 ment, having at the ends of four cords irons like spur-rowels, so 
 that every stroke made four wounds. When they lay for dead 
 on the ground, he commanded the standers-by to spurn them, 
 and after that the porters to break their staves on them. Then, 
 most cruelly mangled and bruised, they were carried out. One 
 of them died on the spot." And no wonder, I should say ! Who 
 would not wish to live at an Eastern emperor's Court ? 
 
 This, too, is a good picture of the Court of Jehanghire at his 
 daily court of justice at the Jarruco window. "Two eunuchs stood 
 on two trestles, with long poles and feather fans at the end of 
 them, fanning him. He bestowed his favours and received 
 
 * Asaph Khan was brother of Noor Jehan the Queen, and Prime Minister. 
 The son was Prince Khurm, who affected to be a strict Mohammedan. He 
 was afterwards King under the name of Shah Jehan (King of the World).
 
 KASHMIR— SREENUGGER. 223 
 
 presents. What he bestowed he let down by a silk string rolled 
 on a turning instrument ; what was given to him, a venerable, fat, 
 deformed old matron, wrinkled and hung round with gimbels 
 like an image, pulled up at a hole with such another clue. At one 
 side of the window were his principal wives, whose curiosity made 
 them break little holes in a grate of reeds that hung before it to 
 gaze on me. I first saw their fingers, and then they laying their 
 faces close, first the one and then the other, I could sometimes 
 discern their full proportion. They were indifferent white, with 
 black hair smoothed up ; but if there had been no other light, 
 their diamonds and pearls had sufficed to show them. When I 
 looked up they retired, and were so merry that I suppose they 
 laughed at me . . ." Then the King starts on a journey thus : 
 " He came downstairs with such an acclamation of ' Health to 
 the King ! ' as would have out-roared cannon. At the foot of the 
 stair, where I met him, and shuffled to be next, one brought a 
 mighty carp, another a dish of white stuff like starch, into which 
 he put his finger, and touched the fish, and so rubbed it on his 
 forehead, a ceremony used presaging good fortune. Then another 
 came and girt on his sword and hung on his buckler, set all over 
 with diamonds and rubies, the belts of gold suitable. Another 
 hung on his quiver, with thirty arrows, and his bow in its case. On 
 his head he wore a rich turban, with a plume of heron's feathers ; 
 not many, but long. On one side hung a ruby, unset, as big as 
 a walnut ; on the other a diamond as large ; in the middle an 
 emerald like a heart, much bigger. His staff was wound about 
 with a chain of great pearls, rubies, and diamonds drilled. About 
 his neck he wore a chain of three strings of most excellent pearl, 
 the largest I ever saw ; above his elbows armlets set with dia- 
 monds ; and on his wrist three rows of several sorts ; his hands 
 bare, but almost on every finger a ring ; his gloves, which were 
 English, stuck under his girdle ; his coat of cloth of gold, without 
 sleeves, upon a white semain as thin as lawn ; on his feet a pair 
 of buskins, embroidered with pearl, the toes sharp and turning 
 up. Thus armed and accoutred, he went to the coach that 
 attended him, with his new English servant, who, clothed as rich
 
 224 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 as any player, and more gaudy, had broke four horses, which 
 were trapped and harnessed in gold velvet. This was the first 
 coach he ever sat in, made by that sent out of England, so like 
 that I knew it not but by the cover, which was a Persian gold 
 velvet. He sat at the end, and on each side went two eunuchs, 
 who carried small maces of gold, set all over with rubies, with a 
 long bunch of horsetail to flap away the flies. Before him went 
 drums, bass trumpets, and loud music, many canopies, umbrellas, 
 and other strange ensigns of majesty, made of cloth of gold, set 
 in many places with rubies. Nine led horses, the furniture some 
 garnished with rubies, some with pearls and emeralds, some only 
 with studs enamelled, &c." Yet I do not envy the Great Mogul 
 in his coach, for I know what the roads were, and can imagine 
 that his dignity was much ruffled by the jolts that I too have 
 experienced. 
 
 This place is getting unpleasantly full ; there are as many as 
 two hundred families here, and the encampments begin to be dis- 
 agreeable. The weather is getting hot too, and soon will every- 
 body flit to the Valley of Gulmerg, a place full of flowers, about 
 4,000 feet higher up the mountains, as its name implies — gul 
 ("rose"), and merg ("a valley between hills"). There is a curious 
 collection here of humdrum married people and wild subalterns. 
 In the next bungalow to me there are four of these roysterers, and 
 the well-known sound of many an English ditty mingles with 
 the gurgle of the Jhelum and the sigh of the wind through the 
 poplars. The other day, the mirth having got particularly furious, 
 one of the youths seized a friend and proceeded to throw him 
 out of the window, and was stayed in his intention of dropping 
 him thence by the remark of an Irishman there, "Arrah, now! 
 don't waste him : wait till some one is coming by ! "* 
 
 Another expedition I made with the resident here, or rather 
 Officer on Special Duty at the Court of the Maharajah, as his title 
 runs. It was to see an old and rich merchant named Billih Shah. 
 We went by boat through a number of small canals, winding 
 
 * The Irishman in question had heard, no doubt, of the same speech made 
 at the Dublin theatre, where the flinger was asked to wait for a fiddler.
 
 KA SHMIR—S REENUGGER. 
 
 225 
 
 among many pollard poplars and willows, and unspeakable stinks. 
 The merchant's house was built, like most of the houses of 
 Sreenugger, of small bricks, and had the windows prettily fitted 
 up with pierced woodwork, which made the whole place look 
 like a toy house. Old Sreenugger (the City of the Sun — sire 
 being suraj) was built of stone. All about one sees huge blocks, 
 the remains of the old, but now used as foundations to the 
 modern city, amongst which you may trace much carving de- 
 stroyed by the iconoclastic Mohammedans years ago. To 
 excuse their laziness, the modern Sreenuggerians say that they 
 cannot build with stone — which is, by-the-bye, close at hand — 
 because of the earthquakes. My notion is that it would require a 
 devil of an earthquake to rouse them from their degraded apathy. 
 
 Billih Shah, being an old man, had his beard dyed a bright 
 purple. He was evidently rather a dandy, and was neatly got up 
 in white. A thin, dapper little man, with a sly little eye, hardly 
 perceptible, so much is it screwed up with a cunning look — and a 
 man must be sly to make his fortune in this benighted country. 
 He treated us sumptuously with tea and innumerable cakes and 
 sweets. Amongst the luxuries he brought for our approval was 
 the brick tea drunk universally in the interior, which I have no 
 hesitation in saying is by far the nastiest stuff I ever put into my 
 mouth, and worse than the worst physic. It is prepared, I believe, 
 with bullocks' blood, or something even more horrible. 
 
 One evening I went to a wedding. I was not allowed to join 
 in the ceremony, but viewed the proceedings from an upper 
 window. Seven days the tomasha had lasted, and day and night 
 were women howling congratulatory verses to the bridegroom 
 who sat feasting with his intimates the while. On a certain day 
 rings are put into the bride's ears and nose; on another her hands 
 are marked with henna, and so on. She lived in a house hard by 
 where the happy man was allowed to see her for a short time each 
 day, being conducted to and fro with much ceremony and many 
 torches stinking and reeking, as I found to my cost. I have taken 
 down many of the distiches sung on the occasion, and am trying 
 to get them translated, when, if they are worth it, I will add them 
 
 15
 
 226 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 to my diary. The continued howling of the women becomes very 
 irksome after a time, and although the sight was curious, I was 
 glad to get away after a couple of hours. The bride was nine 
 years old. 
 
 The following is a translation of the songs sung at a Kashmiree 
 
 wedding : — 
 
 THE BRIDEGROOM'S MOTHER TO HER SON. 
 What savoury dish shall I cook thee ? Fishes of Shallimar ? 
 On thy earring I will string pearls. 
 Thou art green grass, or if not, a red pearl. 
 O Parrot,* thy body is resplendent ! 
 Why dost thou sit leaning thy elbow on the window ? 
 Descend, and I will spread gold for thee. 
 When thou leavest this, sit in a plastered room,t 
 And thou must take a doll J with thee. 
 
 BRIDEGROOM'S MOTHER TO THE BRIDE. 
 
 Mainah ! Mainah ! thou art a scornful Mainah ! 
 
 Thou art the possessor of the riches of thy husband's house. 
 Thy vine§ clings on thee in spiral curves, 
 And round it pearls I will string. 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDE TO THE BRIDEGROOM. 
 All thy companions are youthful, 
 Bearing rods of pearl in their hands ! 
 All of them are wealthy — are great ! 
 Which of them will be the bearer of thy morchal? || 
 Thou didst emerge from beneath the mountains, resplendent as the sun ! 
 
 1 will string pearls on thy beardless chin.1T 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDE TO THE BRIDEGROOM'S FATHER. 
 
 youthful bridegroom's father, who was thy counsellor ? ** 
 Thy face is worthy of a pearl necklace ! 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDE TO THE BRIDEGROOM. 
 
 1 have spread for thee the bed in the public sitting-room. 
 
 cavalier ! make thy heart happy ! 
 
 Had I known thee to be of such distinguished rank, 
 
 We would have spread for thee a couch in the private apartment. ft 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDEGROOM TO THE BRIDEGROOM. 
 Urge on thy steed in every direction. 
 
 1 will prepare thy seat in the garden pavilion : 
 
 * i.e., Bridegroom. f The height of luxury in Kashmir. 
 
 X i.e., The bride. § Curls of hair. || Emblem of rank. 
 
 IT Rather a difficult operation, one would think, but meaning only kissing. 
 ** Who chose this particular bride ? ff Reserved for distinguished guests.
 
 KA SHMIR— SREEN UGGER. 2 2 7 
 
 On thy right the Koran, on thy left the necklace. 
 Thou art worthy to be called Lalla Gopal !* 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDEGROOM TO THE BRIDE. 
 
 Didst thou suffer any inconvenience in thy glass jampan ?\ 
 Accept thy bridegroom's house as a jogeer% to thyself. 
 
 SINGING WOMEN ENGAGED BY THE BRIDE'S FATHER. 
 
 bridegroom's mother ! O kettle of pilau /[| 
 Come forward, sprinkling rose-water ! 
 
 Arouse her (the bride). Early give her to drink of tea. 
 Always consider her the beloved of the house. 
 
 SINGING WOMEN TO THE BRIDEGROOM'S FATHER. 
 
 Before God we have given her over to thee, O father ! 
 What return shall we receive at thy hands ? 
 
 SINGING WOMEN TO THE BRIDE AND BRIDEGROOM. 
 The Parrot of Lahore and the Mainah of Kashmir ! 
 How did you both become mutually acquainted ? 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDEGROOM TO HER SON. 
 Why haltest thou in the warmth of the walnut-tree ? 
 Come and sit in the cool shade of the chenar.\ 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDEGROOM TO ASSEMBLED WOMEN. 
 
 1 spread a carpet for them on the stream's glossy bank, 
 Where Shirisi will be met by Farhad. 
 
 MOTHER OF THE BRIDEGROOM TO THE BRIDE. 
 
 O Mainah ! hast thou seated thyself on the green grass ? 
 Spare kneeling-room** for the Parrot ! 
 
 SINGING WOMEN. 
 
 O bridegroom's father ! O black beard ! 
 
 Roses have blossomed in thy garden ! 
 
 Has the sound of our much singing reached thy ear? 
 
 O father ! it is for thee to give us the guerdon of our song ! 
 
 I am indebted for the translation of the above to the courtesy 
 of Major Henderson, C.S.I., who was political officer in Kashmir, 
 and an excellent linguist. 
 
 The song is a good picture of the manners of the country, 
 and the way that the Moslem and Hindoo customs have acted on 
 
 * Lalla Gopal, one of the names of Krishna, who was supposed to have 
 been the type of loveliness. Curious, this, when sung by a Mohammedan ! 
 
 f Ja7npan is the light palanquin used in the hills. % Jogeer — grant. 
 
 || Term of praise. \ There is a tradition in Kashmir that the shade of 
 a chenar is cooler than the shade of any other tree. ** The bridegroom 
 performs his devotions on a coloured cloth on which the bride sits. 
 
 15 — 2
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 VIEW OF THE DALL LAKE, FROM THE NISHAT BAGH. 
 
 each other. Whilst at Sreenugger I have painted two or three 
 nautch girls, and it was through them that I got to this wedding, 
 as they were amongst the singers. Now these girls, like most 
 nautch girls in India, were all Moslemehs, yet had they all the caste 
 feeling of the Hindoo. Of moral sentiment they were entirely 
 innocent, but they would never permit any one to drink out of 
 their cup or smoke from their hookah, and they always went 
 about with these two utensils, for smoke and tea are the two 
 things necessary to a Kashmiree. So in this song a Kashmirce 
 Moslem is made to say " beautiful as Krishna." 
 
 On the other hand, the Hindoos throughout India, and here 
 especially, shut up their women, and never allow them to go out 
 without the thickest veil ; yet is the Zenana strictly Mohammedan. 
 " Where females are honoured, there the deities are pleased ; but 
 when dishonoured, then all religious rites become useless ;" "Strike 
 not even with a blossom the wife guilty of a hundred faults," say 
 Hindoo sages. Contrast this with the sentiments of Mohammed ; 
 yet Mohammed was a good husband to Cadija when young and 
 poor.
 
 BEGOO, A KASHMIKEE NAUTCH G1KL.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 KASHMIR — ACCHABUL — THE LIDDAR VALLEY. 
 
 AT last I have left Sreenugger. The weather had become 
 hottish, that is to say, j6° in the house : that is nothing, 
 you will think, for India, but the thermometer is no criterion of 
 the oppressiveness of heat. Sreenuggur at j6° was most oppres- 
 sive, and, from the doctor's report, unhealthy. The atmosphere 
 was quite thick and pea-soupy, the lovely range of mountains 
 had faded from sight, and the river stank. So on Sunday after- 
 noon (after church) I gladly got into my boat, and, with Major 
 Henderson, the " political " here, was towed from the bungalow 
 whence I had seen many wonderful effects, and the Moonshee 
 Bagh, where I left many agreeable acquaintances. I don't know 
 whether I shall see Sreenugger again ; possibly not ; but I am 
 glad to have visited the Sun City, with its teeming, lying popula- 
 tion, and its tumbledown, stinking buildings. In a short time 
 the natives will have it to themselves, for the English part of the 
 inhabitants will have fled to the upper valleys. Well, I do not 
 grudge the wretched Kashmirees the rupees they got out of me 
 by lying and cheating ; I only wish them success in a better cause 
 and more self-respect. Alas ! how can they get it under the 
 present reign ? Such, maybe, are my thoughts as I recline in 
 Henderson's barge, which, being the biggest, is used by me as 
 well as by him and his friend ; or maybe I think of England 
 and friends far away, for there is much time to think, as at first 
 we skim noiselessly along. I know this part of the river. By 
 great bends the Jhelum manages to make very little progress in 
 the direct line, and after a couple of hours' hard work you find 
 yourself five minutes' ride from your bungalow. On we go, the 
 
 229
 
 2 30 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 water pleasantly gurgling against the slanting bows of the donga. 
 We talk — we think — my companions are both married, so let me 
 hope they thought of their better halves — we snooze — perchance 
 we dream ; until it is 5 p.m., and tea being wanted, shouts are 
 raised for the boats with the babacy khanah, or cooking utensils. 
 We each have one ; and quickly, one on each side, up they glide 
 to supply our wants. Then on again, the river getting broader and 
 more sluggish, the mountains falling back on the left bank, and a 
 sort of raised plateau appearing. This is the Pampor, celebrated 
 for the saffron, which is grown on the plateau before mentioned, 
 and is the best saffron in the world, they say ; and, dear me ! it is 
 dinner-time, so up come the boats again, and we feed and drink 
 and smoke, and pass a bridge, and lo ! it is dark, and time to go 
 to bed ; so I get back into my own boat and turn in, in hopes of 
 sleep. Alas ! vain hope ! Kashmirees can with difficulty be re- 
 strained from noise by daylight, but if they have to work by night 
 they must shout. So all night long they shouted, and yelled, 
 and squabbled, and the boats bumped together, or scrunched 
 their rush-thatched roofs as they passed each other, and sleep, 
 except at intervals (when I believe the devils left the boats alto- 
 gether), was impossible. Kashmirees do not mind noise them- 
 selves; they roll themselves up in their/?///// cloak, and the last 
 trump would not wake them, nor would anything but a kick 
 administered to a tender part of their persons. (N.B. — We all 
 " cussed " in strange languages " some," that night.) 
 
 By 6 a.m. we were up, to find the river narrowed considerably, 
 and on we "glode," through lovely river scenery, reminding one of 
 the Thames, or the Rhone, or any delightful river of our past ; 
 on by many a tumbledown collection of houses, and one con- 
 siderable town, Bigbehara, with a holy temple, round which were 
 congregated pilgrims from the plains, bright with a refreshing 
 variety of coloured garments, in happy contrast with the uni- 
 versal dull mud-coloured raiment of the Kashmirees; till the river 
 narrows and narrows, and branches appear, and finally, at a bridge 
 over a now quite dwindled stream, we stop, and are at Islam- 
 abad.
 
 KASHMIR— ACCHABUL— THE LIDDAR VALLEY. 231 
 
 At 10 a.m. we alight from our boats, and are received, as in 
 duty bound, by the head man of the district, in the name of the 
 Maharajah. Here we have more shouting, squabbling, and fight- 
 ing, while coolies are loaded. I find, to my horror, that my 
 saddle has been left behind. Henderson's vakeel kindly offers 
 his " real English," as he assures me, and I am comforted ; but 
 when I come to mount, and with my usual lightness place my 
 fairy foot in the stirrup, out comes the lower bar. Another is 
 found, however, and though much inconvenienced by the want 
 of powers of expansion at the base, I finally start. It is six 
 miles to Acchabul, where we are to find the Maharajah. The 
 road leads through Islamabad, which is neither dirtier nor cleaner 
 than other towns of its kind in Kashmir ; then it winds through 
 vast paddy-fields, where the water is lying some three inches 
 deep, and whence proceeds the hoarse croaking of innumerable 
 frogs. Occasionally we come to a group of natives tilling their 
 rice, and this is how they do it : every man and woman holds 
 a long stick in each hand for support, and then has to work 
 the rising rice-plant backwards and forwards with alternate foot 
 in the rich slush. I should have thought they would have up- 
 rooted the tender green shoots, but they have the experience of 
 past ages, and probably know best* 
 
 Finally, about a mile and a half from Acchabul, we come to 
 our camping-ground, a pleasant rising ground close to the main 
 track. It was formerly a Moslem burying-ground, little round 
 stones rising here and there to show where lie defunct believers, 
 who are now possibly feasting with Mohammed and others, in a 
 better place than even Kashmir. Close to the road is a small 
 
 * Alas ! the rice was never reaped : a quarrel arose between the middle- 
 men and the cultivators. The former would not let the latter reap their fields, 
 when finally the snow came and the crops were lost ! This last year a terrible 
 famine has fallen on this fair province, whether from this cause I know not. 
 The people have died by hundreds, I hear. The Government only recognized 
 the danger of the situation when too late, and to introduce grain over the 
 mountains was an impossibility. No English were admitted, and as the 
 money spent by foreigners in a great measure supported the inhabitants of 
 the country, the result was disastrous. Many have emigrated, I hear.
 
 232 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 shrine sacred to the memory of some extra-pious man, — at least 
 I suppose so, for many travellers have I seen salaaming to it as 
 they passed on their way. 
 
 The Maharajah does not care about defunct Moslems, and does 
 not suspect us of a fear of ghosts ; so here are the tents prepared 
 for me, under a magnificent cJienar, and here too Henderson 
 pitches, and we are told to consider ourselves guests of the chief. 
 
 Presently up rides a dandy-looking young gentleman of about 
 twenty- four, with beautifully white nether garments of muslin, 
 and neat little ornamented slippers, but with a military frock- 
 coat on, and sword. This is Lachmansdass, Brigadier-General, 
 and he comes from the Maharajah to know when we should like 
 to pay our visit. We say five, and enter into a conversation with 
 our friend, who, though I fear but a carpet knight, is intelligent 
 and speaks English well. Nor does his dandified appearance 
 belie his character. If he has not had a chance of succeeding in 
 the field of Mars, in that of Venus scandal says much of his ex- 
 ploits. He was even found once with a guitar under the windows 
 of an English lady, who, report says, did not frown on the dusky 
 warrior. (N.B. — He is decidedly good-looking.) 
 
 At five we leave our encampment for Acchabul and the Maha- 
 rajah. For about a mile our way lies between paddy-fields, then 
 gently falls to a delightful valley, full of pleasant flowing waters, 
 amid which, under some splendid chenars, rests the small village of 
 Acchabul. Now the whole place swarms with His Highness's re- 
 tainers, who have to be well shouted at and shoved about to allow 
 our modest cavalcade to proceed. /vr/C'/;'j,soldiers,coolies, Hindoos, 
 and Moslems, — all are treated with like indifference when the sahib, 
 and above all the burra sahib, passes. The scene is very striking 
 with this crowd : — the rushing streams, the trees, and the wind- 
 ing road, with many simple bridges. At last the gate of the villa 
 is reached, and we alight. Acchabul, or Achhabul (from acJiJia, 
 "good," and bid, " source" or "spring") is one of the three principal 
 sources of the Jhelum ; Vernag, about ten miles farther off, being 
 another, and Bawan the third. It is no dribbling little spring, as 
 you may imagine. The water gushes from the rock in vast quan-
 
 KASHMIR- ACCHABUL— THE LIDDAR VALLEY. 233 
 
 titles in two principal streams, which are quite rivers at their 
 birth. Vernag is said to be much the same. The intelligent 
 baboo who acts here as Lord Chief Justice told me that a stream 
 of some size enters the mountains on the Jummo side, and is 
 lost, and that here it bursts forth again. I do not know whether 
 this is an ascertained fact, but anyhow the place Acchabul is a 
 curious phenomenon of nature. 
 
 Such a situation for a garden did not escape the keen eye of 
 the Mogul, and Jehanghire, taking advantage of the natural supply 
 of water, built a pavilion and fountains. Jehanghire's pavilion 
 forms the base of the present structure, which is not much more 
 than a large upper chamber over the gushing stream, with rooms 
 on each side. I believe there is a dwelling-house where the Ma- 
 harajah resides. Meanwhile to the "too-too" of a bugle, and past 
 a very respectable "present arms" of a small company of Sepoys, 
 clad hi brown puttu, we advance up the garden, and in the upper 
 room are received with great cordiality by the chief of Jummo 
 and Kashmir. 
 
 Rumbir Sing is, I should say, between forty and forty-five. He 
 looks stout, but all natives do, from the way they wear their 
 clothes. A pleasant, kindly-looking man, who disarmed my 
 wrathful feelings by at once apologizing for having kept me wait- 
 ing, and explaining that he had been ill. Sittings are arranged 
 for the next day: the son, who was page to Lord Lytton, is to sit 
 at 8 a.m., and the father at 5 p.m. ; and so, after compliments, &c, 
 the meeting ends, and we ride back to our encampment. 
 
 I have on many occasions in this diary been very hard on the 
 ruling powers of Kashmir, but I must separate the system from the 
 character of the ruler. In Kashmir there is a tyranny of the worst 
 kind ; and for ages the people have been ground down by their 
 rulers. But everybody allows that the present Rajah is a kindly, 
 well-disposed man, who has done his best to modify the system 
 he found on his accession to power. Still, when people have been 
 ruled with kicks and stripes oft, it is difficult at once to do better. 
 T believe the Maharajah did send away the Vizier once, and try 
 more pacific measures ; but after a time things came to a stand-
 
 234 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 still, for people would not pay except on compulsion ; and so 
 the old Vizier, with his energetic policy, was reinstated. Only 
 everything is much milder, and punishments are tempered to the 
 shorn Kashmiree. He is not hung for killing a cow, only im- 
 prisoned for life. Apropos of cows, I hear that a great personal 
 friend of the Maharajah's told a lady here that, as a personal 
 favour, the chief asked him to give up eating beef, and that he 
 had taken a pledge that he would. The Maharajah is most 
 laborious, and holds two durbars a day, at which all petitions are 
 heard. Petitions are dictated previously to the moonshee, who 
 writes them out and reads them afterwards ; nor is the original 
 pleader allowed a word, so you may suppose much depends on 
 the moonshee. The Maharajah's great fault is his weakness of 
 character — perhaps good-nature — which makes him a prey to all 
 kinds of people, religious or otherwise. He is surrounded too by 
 members of one family, and that in itself is apt to keep things in 
 a groove. 
 
 Zth June. 
 
 My sittings are now over. I have had four from the son and 
 three from the father, and in these I have been expected to paint 
 two claborately-got-up chiefs. I do not think I have ever been 
 so "put to" as here. It is not the bore of having to ride two 
 miles backwards and forwards morning and afternoon through 
 the hot sun ; but in every other place I have worked in I have 
 always had a place where I could digest what I did, tickle up 
 backgrounds, &c. ; here I have had nothing but travelling tents. 
 The rooms I painted in had of course an indifferent light, and 
 everything was against me ; but here I have no room at all. 
 
 The little boy, entertained principally by the Chief Justice, sat 
 very fairly, and I hope to make a good thing by-and-bye from his 
 study. What I shall do from the Rajah I know not ; happily I 
 have a photograph. So here I have waited five weeks for three 
 sittings! It is too disgusting ; but unless I choose to wait another 
 fortnight I shall not get any more. What disgusts me more is 
 that I have been unable to make any sketches of this part of
 
 P- -34 
 THE CHOTA MEAN SAHIB, THIRD SON OF THE MAHARAJAH OF KASHMIR.
 
 KASHMIR— ACCHABUL— THE LIDDAR VALLEY. 235 
 
 Kashmir, my painting things having been left at Acchabul, as it 
 was hard to lug them backwards and forwards each day. 
 
 Kashmir in the old day was divided into two provinces : " beau- 
 tiful Kashmir," and "not so beautiful Kashmir." This part was a 
 portion of the first province. I suspect the name was given by 
 the conquering Mogul, who looked to the number of gold mohurs 
 furnished by the province. This part is very rich, being almost 
 all under rice cultivation. But the patches of water, which tell 
 where the rice will be by-and-bye, are not beautiful except where 
 they reflect the flush and sheen of the sunset. The mountains 
 too are only respectable, and have none of the marvellous gran- 
 deur of the long range of the Pir Punjal as seen from Sreenugger. 
 Alas ! since it has turned warm one seldom sees the higher peaks. 
 (Since writing the above we have had a beautiful clear sunset, and 
 I retract. The mountains were too lovely.) 
 
 A thunderstorm of more than usual intensity had cleared the 
 atmosphere, and we started from Acchabul (which I see is the re- 
 ceived way of spelling the place) at half-past six on the 8th. The 
 mountains were all clear and splendid, and despite the heat of 
 the sun there was a pleasant nip in the air. " We " here means 
 
 Col. H , who has joined me here, and self. We are going to 
 
 make a three days' trip to see Martand, a very holy place, and 
 just get a peep at one of the upper valleys — the Liddar. After 
 two or three miles of paddy-field, we cross a high tableland, on 
 one extremity of which lies the old ruins of Martand, said to date 
 from the second century B.C., and showing considerable Greek in- 
 fluence, but overlaid with much rich decoration. The modern 
 Martand, or Bawan, is over the edge of the plateau at another 
 source of the Jhelum, which, having escaped the eye of the gar- 
 den-making Jehanghire, has been turned by the pious Hindoo 
 through two sacred tanks, and is now a holy shrine. The tanks 
 are full of fish, a kind of tench, I should think, which it is the duty 
 of the pilgrim to keep well fed with baked Indian corn. It is de- 
 lightful to see the shoals of these dark green fish in the brilliant 
 azure of the water. I made a sketch of the place from one corner, 
 where squats each day an aged and very holy man, before whom
 
 236 
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 the pilgrims come in flocks to prostrate themselves till their fore- 
 heads touch the ground. Unlike most holy men, this one is clean, 
 and is moreover a very superior person, for seeing me surrounded 
 and inconvenienced by fakirs, he sent his own servant to clear 
 
 them away. I painted him into my sketch as an acknowledgment, 
 and when I had finished made my lowest salaam. The old gentle- 
 man, being probably absorbed in a contemplation of the Deity, 
 did not respond ; or are piety and good manners incompatible ? 
 
 Our encampment is under some superb chenars, and we are 
 soothed by the sound of falling waters, — in fact, it is delightful ; 
 only three days more, however, and I shall be sweltering in the 
 plains. 
 
 I confess to having enjoyed Martand, despite the row of the 
 devotees. All I saw pleased me : the picturesque figures of the 
 fakirs, who rub themselves over with mud or ashes till they are 
 quite blue ; the pilgrims, with their bright dress ; even the chant 
 of the devotees, which sounds in the distance like a strange Gre-
 
 KASHMIR— ACCHABUL— THE LIDDAR VALLEY. 237 
 
 gorian air ; the rush of the waters around ; everything, in fact, 
 but the blowing of some terrible horns, that filled the night with 
 horror, and nearly killed my companion with rage. 
 
 I find that the devout person mentioned above is one Babadass, 
 who was for some years the perohit, or father confessor to the 
 Maharajah, and is thought very highly of by all the country. 
 
 From Martand we rode a nominal eight miles, to a place called 
 Eismakam, and thence fourteen miles on to Palgam, at the top 
 of the Liddar Valley. The road was awfully bad, but the land- 
 scape, especially the foreground, was delicious. Roses every- 
 where ; not only the pale pink rose common in English hedge- 
 rows, but a pure white one, and one deep crimson. Horse-chest- 
 nuts were in full blossom, clematis hung in white clusters, while 
 the path was lined with sweet wild thyme, cloves, wild straw- 
 berries, and other delights which reminded one of home. It was 
 at Eismakam we bade adieu to paddy-fields, and entered into what 
 may be called the true Upper Valley. Yet do not think that all 
 is roses and bliss in this happy vale. The road I have previously 
 described as awful ; what epithet can I apply to the bridges ? 
 Most of the streams one can ford ; some, however, were too rapid 
 and deep, and across these the wretched inhabitants have thrown 
 two beams, which have thin planks about 2 feet 6 inches wide 
 nailed between them loosely, while the whole erection is balanced 
 on piles of large stones on each end. Across several of these 
 perilous bridges I rode with impunity ; but coming to a sort of 
 double one, in which the second rose some 3 feet higher than the 
 first, I met with a mishap. The place was no doubt a nasty one, 
 and I ought to have walked. My pony evidently thought so 
 too, for he hesitated in the middle of the bridge No. 1. I urged 
 him on, — he bungled. Over went his hind legs, after them his 
 body, and of course his rider. Well, the water was cold, and 
 that was the worst, for bar the slightest barking of my shins, I 
 was, wonderful to say, not the least hurt, and the pony was also 
 
 none the worse. H , who saw us go, said it was a terrible 
 
 spectacle, and that he thought at least a limb would be injured. 
 
 " Truly," said my boatman, who was with me, " the reliever of
 
 238 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 the poor," meaning me, "must be the favoured son of Khudah!"* 
 The only discomfort brought on me was a four mile walk in my 
 wet clothes to keep myself from catching cold. You may be 
 sure I shall be more careful for the future. 
 
 Palgam would no doubt be a charming place under favourable 
 circumstances, and, under a bright sky, picturesque ; but the rain- 
 clouds rolled up the valley, and everything became miserable. 
 Tents are not comfortable in rain, the splash of the wet does not 
 tend to cheer one ; and, to add to my discomfort, my companion 
 was really very seedy with fever, and had to go to bed the 
 moment he arrived. 
 
 On the whole, I am confirmed in my dislike of mountains. 
 From a distance, with a plain leading to them, giving straight 
 lines to contrast with their rugged peaks, they are delightful. I do 
 not like the terrible, and the eternal pine makes the mountain- 
 side here monotonous, as it does in Switzerland, only here the 
 pines are finer and larger ; in fact, the far-famed deodars. I have 
 seen the Upper Valley of Kashmir, and have been disappointed ! 
 
 On the morning of the 1 2th, H being better, we started 
 
 on our return journey, and sleeping again at Eismakam, arrived 
 at this place (Islamabad) safely, notwithstanding a ducking we 
 got in a thunderstorm. 
 
 I am now getting ready for a journey across the Pir Punjal, which 
 will land me at Gugerat, and thence I go by rail to Lahore. This 
 
 goes by H to Sreenugger. Thirty-five miles to the nearest 
 
 post-office ! 
 
 * The name for the Deity.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ACROSS THE PIR PUNJAL. 
 
 LEAVING Islamabad on the afternoon of the 12th June, I 
 began my journey to Gugerat, across the Pir Punjal. I have 
 previously explained that the worthy baboo who is Chief Justice- 
 man to his Highness of Kashmir, and looks after the silkworms, 
 had suggested my crossing the Pir, as the Jummo route was 
 stopped by the journey of one of the Maharajah's wives. The 
 Prime Minister said he would make my journey what he called 
 comfortable. Nevertheless, I doubted the comfort of the journey, 
 and my suspicions were quickly confirmed. I trust the travelling 
 wife of His Highness is ugly, or at least that she has a tongue, and 
 makes it sometimes hot for him, for the discomfort I have suffered 
 on his and her account has been very great. It began the very 
 first stage, viz., from Islamabad to Meinpore, for after the first 
 few miles the road disappeared, and I had to slosh my way 
 through the paddy-fields as best I could. How the coolies with 
 my luggage managed, I know not. Even on pony-back travelling 
 was bad enough, as the water was often up to the girths, all the 
 paddy-fields being under water, and many an artificial stream 
 having to be crossed. It was well dark before my camping-ground 
 was reached. At 6 a.m. the next day I started, and before night I 
 had done two marches, passing through Sapion, a large town, and 
 arriving at Hirpore in a downfall of rain. I lodged here in one 
 of the old serais, built by the governors of Kashmir under the 
 Moguls as resting-places all along this route, which was the one 
 they always affected. These serais are mostly in ruins now ; but 
 they contrast well even in their ruins with the mud-built bunga- 
 lows of the present regime. At Hirpore there was a bungalow 
 
 239
 
 240 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 built inside the old serai, but it was not waterproof, and so I 
 lodged in the loft over the stables, having under me coolies and 
 horses, all wet and, I need not to say, reeking. From this point, 
 three marches from Sreenuggcr and ditto from Islamabad, really 
 begins the ascent of the Pir. 
 
 From it to Aliabad Serai the road is awful, in fact a path over 
 the mountains without any care bestowed on it. The stage is 
 put down in guide books as being eleven miles ; I was five hours 
 and a half doing it. No doubt my figure makes it impossible 
 for the Maharajah's ponies to get over really difficult ground, 
 and on foot I am no longer able to bound " from rock to rock ; " 
 neither did I expect to have to do so; but I must for all that, and 
 feeling about as agile as a show bullock, I skip ponderously along, 
 cursing the Maharajah and all his men most heartily. Sleeping at 
 Aliabad Serai, I started at half-past four to cross the Pir, the pass 
 over which is 11,400 feet above the sea. I should advise every- 
 body who wishes to cross high mountains in summer, under a hot 
 sun, to start as I did at daybreak, so as to get over before the sun 
 melts the snow. After four miles steady uphill, but over a kind 
 of down, with ever-more frequent indications of snow in the lower 
 dips, at last we came to real snow, which stretched in one sheet for 
 about a koss, or two miles. Owing to the stupidity of my coolie, 
 I did not strike the regular path, so had to wade about a quarter 
 of a mile through the snow. Riding was impossible, as you may 
 imagine, for at every pace the poor devil of a pony sank to above 
 his knees, neither was walking a pleasant operation. Even in 
 the regular road the snow and the slush were terrible, for along it 
 there is much traffic by ponies, goats, and sheep. On I struggled, 
 slipping and cursing (the Maharajah, of course), till at last a kind 
 of guard-house was reached, and the snow ended. Not so my 
 trouble, however, for the downward road was much more difficult 
 than the ascent. From the guard-house there is a beautiful view 
 of range after range of lower hills, till at last the land gets lost 
 in the sky in one delicate tone of lilac. Neither is foreground 
 wanted for a sketch, for there are crowds of all sorts of picturesque 
 folk, — Bringalees, Googurs (salt-carriers and herdsmen), with in-
 
 ACROSS THE PIR PUNJAL. 24I 
 
 numerable goats and ponies, all resting after their climb ; but I 
 had no time to stay,' as I had what the Yankees would call a 
 " tough " day's march before me. So after a drink of water, 
 downwards I plunged again on foot, for riding was impossible. 
 
 On the top of the Pir there lived, in Bernier's time, a hermit, 
 who " asked alms somewhat fiercely, suffered us to take up water 
 in earthen cups he had ranged on a great stone, made signs with 
 his hand importing that we should speedily march away, and 
 grumbled at those who made a noise, because (as he said to me 
 when I came into his cave and had a little sweetened his looks 
 with half a roupee, which with much humility I put into his hand) 
 a noise raiseth furious storms and tempests. 'Aurungzebe did 
 well in following my counsel, and not permitting to make any 
 noise ; Schah Jehan always took care of the same ; but Jehan 
 Gwire once mocking at it, and causing trumpets and cymbals to 
 sound, was like to have perished here.' " 
 
 The stone bench is still here, and the earthen vessels, though 
 the Mogul and his splendour have disappeared. I heard some- 
 thing of the danger of avalanches, and the necessity of silence. 
 I suspect these were the storms and tempests of the hermit. 
 
 From here the road (the name is a hollow mockery) is six miles, 
 — six miles all downhill, sometimes over great boulders, some- 
 times over the bed of a stream, across which the snow had made a 
 bridge (or rather the stream had made a tunnel through the snow). 
 Climbing, jumping, and "cussing," we toiled along, then another 
 ascent of two miles, and we were at Poshiana ; and my legs ached, 
 I can tell you, for eight miles of such walking I had not done for 
 some time. 
 
 As I have said before, the Great Mogul usually chose this route 
 into his favourite kingdom of Kashmir. I suspect the road was 
 kept in better repair in his day, but even then there was con- 
 siderable danger from all kinds of accidents. Bernier once made 
 the journey in his august company, and speaking of this descent 
 that I have just made, says : " On the day that the King went 
 upon the mountain of Pirepenjale, which is the highest of all, and 
 whence one begins to discover afar off the country of Kashmir, 
 
 16
 
 242 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 on that day, I say, that the King descended this mountain, being 
 followed by a long row of elephants, upon which sat the women 
 in mikdeenbars, one of these elephants was frighted by beholding, 
 as the Indians would have it, such a long and steep ascent, and 
 fell back upon him that was next, and he on the next, and so on 
 to the fifteenth, so that not one of them being able to turn in this 
 way, which was extremely rude and steep, they all tumbled into 
 the precipice. It was good fortune for those poor women that the 
 precipice itself was not very steep, so there were not more than 
 three or four of them killed, but the fifteen elephants remained 
 in the place. When these bulky masses do once fall, with the 
 vast burdens they are loaded with, they never rise again, though 
 the way be ever so fair. We saw them two days after, in passing 
 by, and I observed some of them yet stirring the trunk." 
 
 Elephants do not often go into Kashmir, happily, but I saw 
 many carcases of other animals on this route, some of which were 
 dead and partially eaten, but some still alive. These were generally 
 covered with branches, but I doubt whether they were ever got 
 from the place where they had fallen from fatigue. 
 
 Two hours' rest was all I could allow myself at Poshiana, as 
 there was no bungalow, but only a cattle-shed, and I had to push 
 on for Baramgulla. So I swallowed my breakfast and sent on my 
 traps as soon as I could. For this second march I was promised 
 a better road. Alas ! the Kashmiree idea of a good road is rather 
 vague ! It was most beautiful, and would have been delightful, 
 had I had eyes to see it. My eyes had to look to where my horse 
 was going, for my road was the bed of a torrent, which I crossed 
 and recrossed at least thirty times. It was awfully hot, too, and 
 when I arrived at Baramgulla I was pretty nearly baked. It was 
 then 4 p.m., so that, deducting my two hours at Poshiana, I had 
 been ten hours en route, and I had done something over twenty 
 miles the while, which is not fast travelling. To-day I decided 
 to go only one stage, and shall keep to my decision till I get to 
 Bhimbur, for marching in the sun is more than I can stand. 
 
 We have just crossed a lower branch of the Pir, called the 
 Ruttum Pir, eight thousand odd feet high, and we had six miles
 
 ACROSS THE PIR PUNJAL. 243 
 
 up and six miles down again. I had to foot it most of the way, 
 and, starting at 6.45, came in for a good deal of sun, as I only- 
 arrived at a quarter to eleven. However, there is no other stage 
 to be done, so 1 employ my time writing up my journal. 
 
 I find that the Dewan's, or Minister's, idea of making my journey 
 comfortable was to furnish me with a chuprassee, whom I must 
 pay, and a pony which I have to feed and shoe at my own ex- 
 pense. Perwannas, which cost nothing, were readily supplied ; but 
 all the expense of coolies, &c, I have had to bear, the perwannas 
 stipulating that I was to have what I liked on payment. Truly 
 the Maharajah has a Grand Seigneur way of doing things ! 
 
 It is curious to watch the different zones of vegetable life from 
 the top of the Pir where nothing grows, through the belt of 
 birch-trees which hang on many a mountain-side, scarred and 
 stripped by avalanche, to that of the more solid pine; thence to a 
 region of delightful flowers, roses climbing to the top of tall trees, 
 clematis, strawberry (now getting ripe), and many old favourites 
 and friends. Then you come lower, to pomegranate and peach 
 and pear. To-day's march has brought me to cactus and palm, 
 in fact, to the heat of the plain, at Naoshira (not the Punjab Nao- 
 shira). I shall do my marching now at night, to avoid the heat. 
 I started at 2 a.m. last night, to-night I go at seven ; to-morrow 
 I reach Bhimbur, I hope, and get to good roads and trains. 
 
 It has been a great grind, that 's the fact, on account of the 
 heat of the sun. Still, there has been some pleasure of an artistic 
 kind: sometimes some red-tailed bird would flit across one's 
 path, or a blue creature of the kingfisher tribe would skim along 
 the torrent, and give one an artistic shock in the midst of one's 
 troubles. At one place, Thanna Mandi, there came a wandering 
 poet or bard, who entertained me the whole afternoon with Kash- 
 miree songs, some of which I copied, and will get translated. He 
 was a filthy object, the dirtiest of the dirty; but he had the soul 
 of a poet, and as he played his poor four-stringed instrument, he 
 threw his head on one side, and bent over his guitar, much as 
 first-rate performers do at home. He was grateful too, for when 
 I left at 5 a.m., I found him waiting, and he played to me along 
 
 16 — 2
 
 244 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 a couple of miles of road, with his dirty legs keeping time to the 
 twang of his music, and his nose well in the air ; neither would 
 he leave until I gave hookham or permission. 
 
 My good friend Major Henderson has sent me translations of 
 two of this poet's songs. One appears to be well known as the 
 love-song of Mohammed Garni, a Kashmir poet. 
 
 " Like a flower-bearing plant I have become withered, 
 
 Even I, for thy love, O Bee ; 
 
 I will wail like the nightingale, 
 ' Where shall I seek thee, O Lily ? ' 
 
 Deal gently with me, come to my feast ; 
 
 I will encircle thee with my arms, O Bee ! 
 
 What said I to thee that vexed thy heart with me ? 
 
 By God, I adjure thee, tell me what is in thy heart. 
 
 O dear friend, where didst thou flee from me ? 
 
 Forsaking me, Sundar,* O Bee ! " 
 
 I should like to have imported my poet as he appeared to me 
 in his rags and filth ; yet is his love-song much like such as are 
 sung in the drawing-rooms of Belgravia. The second song is 
 another love-song, and the name of the poet is not known. 
 
 " Go, O bosom friend, bring me my lover, gently, gently. 
 In anger he left me, sore and vexed : what offence could I have caused him? 
 What is to me adornment of the person, antimony for the eyes, or any other 
 
 embellishment ? 
 For wealth and pearls what care I ? or the bells attached to my skirt ? 
 O friend, sit with me in the shade of a wide-spreading chenar ! 
 Let not the calumny of an enemy affect thee. I am helpless. 
 For my beauteous and graceful lover a divan and couch I will prepare. 
 If he is not pleased with me, for whom shall I prepare them ? 
 See what happened to Shuk Sanaa for the sake of the Hindoo maiden ! 
 He wore the sacred thread, he cherished swine with his own hands ! " 
 
 The poet was a Moslem, so this devotion was equivalent to 
 changing his religion. 
 
 At Naoshira, where, as usual, I was spending the afternoon on 
 the fiat of my back, with a coolie to fan me, it suddenly occurred 
 to me that I had not made my will, and that it was everybody's 
 duty to make a will ; so, being in an ill humour, I set to work. 
 
 * Sundar, the name of a songstress, also means " the beautiful one."
 
 ACROSS 7 HE PIR PUN J A L. 245 
 
 I cannot say how it amused me while I was doing it, and what 
 a feeling of satisfaction I enjoy now I have done ! To think 
 of one's goods and chattels, and one's familiar chez soi, on the 
 Pir Punjal route, made one quite happy. Well, it is all over 
 now, and I am at Bhimbur. The last two marches I have done 
 by night, " by sweet Dian's beams ; " and as I ascended the 
 Anutak range, the last wave of hill that beats round the foot 
 of the mighty mountains, I saw in the distant gloaming a blue 
 streak, the Pir Punjal itself, which I have had so much worry 
 to cross, and shall probably never see again. Well, thousands 
 of men and women go over every year. It is nothing of a feat ; 
 only, if the Maharajah wishes to do honour to a stout middle- 
 aged gentleman, he should not send him that way in the latter 
 part of June. Here at Bhimbur it is very hot — a foretaste of 
 what I shall find at Lahore. There is a hot wind, moreover, 
 like the blast one feels on opening the door of a Turkish bath. 
 Of course, there are none of the conveniences I shall find at the 
 capital of the Punjab — no punkahs, or therm-antidotes, or chics; 
 so that even if Lahore is hotter, it will be more tolerable. I do 
 not propose stopping there, however ; but shall go to the cool of 
 Simla as soon as I can. 
 
 From Bhimbur I took the mail-cart, and, leaving at seven 
 o'clock, arrived at Gugerat in time to catch the evening train for 
 Lahore. Oh ! the joy of progressing, even at the rate of eight 
 miles an hour ! The vehicle is a kind of tonga, a machine on 
 two wheels drawn by a pair of horses, one in the shafts, and the 
 other harnessed outside. The road is detestable, being cucJia, 
 that is, unmade ; the coachman shows his contempt of civiliza- 
 tion by preferring the ploughed fields to the regular track ; and 
 the springs are weak, or seem to be so, on my side. One of our 
 passengers is a small bear brought from Sreenugger, who is wild 
 with excitement and terror at his first ride in a carnage, and 
 occasionally stampedes over the back hair and turban of my 
 servant on to my back. Yet I must say that the sense of motion 
 was most enjoyable. On we dashed, thump and bang ! till, pass- 
 ing through the sleeping streets of Gugerat — literally sleeping, for
 
 246 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 all the inhabitants were laid out in charpoys in the open thorough- 
 fare — we at last arrived at Gugerat Station. 
 
 "Sir," says the station-master, a baboo, "why docs your servant 
 beat our coolies ? " 
 
 I find my irascible Noor Khan has assaulted the porter, whose 
 friendly endeavours to put labels on the luggage he interprets 
 into a design to examine the contents. To further get rid of his 
 temper, sorely tried by the long journey in the back seat of a 
 tonga, holding a bear, he proceeds to thrash half a dozen coolies. 
 With the Fuller case before me, I am stern, and give him a tre- 
 mendous rowing. This appeases the baboo. I take my tickets, — 
 one first, two third, and a ticket for a bear. 
 
 " A what ? " 
 
 " A bear." 
 
 " Don't know what that is. Can I see him ? " 
 
 " Of course." 
 
 "Oh, a 'beer'!" cries the baboo, on seeing my tormentor. "One 
 rupee eight annas." 
 
 So they speak English here. 
 
 The bear was a great source of anxiety to me in my carriage, 
 but finally both arrived safely at Lahore, where happily we parted. 
 I gave him away ! But he had previously filled the catalogue of 
 his crimes by biting me through the hand. 
 
 Here I am again in the most comfortable of houses, with every- 
 thing a weary traveller could desire — punkahs, therm-antidotes, 
 ice, and, above all, kindly welcome from my good friends the 
 Plowdens. The thermometer is 92 in the house, notwithstanding 
 all the resources of science. Outside I tremble to think what it is; 
 yet people say it is unusually cool, and I must say that I do not 
 find it so intolerable as I fancied I should. After all, the flesh- 
 pots of Egypt, the society of people one likes, and a healthy 
 state of body, would make even the burning fiery furnace tole- 
 rable. By-the-bye, the famous Three had at least the pleasure 
 of society. Had there been only one, I fancy he would have 
 given in. 
 
 I must have a turn at the Nawab of Bhawalpore's dress this
 
 ACROSS THE PIR PUNJAL. 247 
 
 morning, though I confess I do not like painting in the tempera- 
 ture of 90 . However, to-morrow I leave for Simla, and the cool. 
 I am rather glad I have felt Lahore in this hot weather, as I am 
 glad I crossed the Pir, and have had the measles, &c. One looks 
 back with pleasure to these things in after years, no doubt. 
 
 I found the Nawab of Bhawalpore, who has settled at Lahore, 
 there to complete his education ; so I had another sitting, to get 
 the colour of his dress. Oh! these dresses, they are too irritating. 
 This one is all kincaub, with a collar and large sort of shoulder- 
 straps of purple velvet, embroidered all over with gold and pearls. 
 With the thermometer at 90 , at six in the morning, with the 
 window shut, a punkah going, no light, and a most minute bit 
 of work, my nerves got so upset that I fear I did no good. The 
 experience was, however, useful, for it shows me that working 
 down in the plains during the hot weather is impossible ; not 
 from the heat — though Heaven knows that is bad enough — but 
 from the want of light in all rooms. There is a good photograph 
 of Bhawalpore, so with what I have done I hope to get along. 
 
 On the evening of 26th June, by 7 p.m. train, I left Lahore, 
 where I had received most hospitable entertainment, where I left 
 many friends, and the thermometer at 96° despite the punkah, &c. 
 We had reserved beforehand a good saloon carriage, in which 
 there is a contrivance by which, when the train is in motion, a 
 stream of air is passed through tatties* into the carriage. By lying 
 with your head close in to this apparatus, you feel tolerably com- 
 fortable for a time. But the train stops, the tatties do not work, 
 and you are straightway in hell fire. I never felt so hot in my life. 
 Still, there was enough of the freshness of the hills in my veins to 
 enable me to stand the heat better than my brother and another 
 man who was with me ; and, with plenty of iced soda, we arrived 
 safely, in the cool (?) of the morning, at Umballa, where carriages 
 were waiting to take us on to Kalka, at which place you change 
 your vehicle for the tonga of the hills. From Umballa to Kalka the 
 
 * Tatties are screens made of cushcush grass, which are kept wet and placed 
 at open windows. Should there be a breeze, however hot, on passing through 
 the cushcush tatty the draught becomes delightfully cool.
 
 248 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 road is flat enough ; but long before the forty miles are over you 
 come to low hills, and on arriving at Kalka, find yourself well at 
 the foot of the Himalaya. Thence to Simla is fifty-six miles, 
 almost all uphill. The road has not long been opened, and seems 
 to me to be an admirable bit of ingenious engineering. It 
 ascends all the way gradually, until you find yourself winding 
 along the top of high mountains and the road stretches before 
 you for miles like a dusty thread on their tawny green sides. 
 An eight-hours' drive in a two-wheel conveyance is trying to 
 long legs and bulky figure, however good the road may be. You 
 feel the jogging just where the waist ought to be, and in the 
 knees ; and when at last you see Simla, with its houses and 
 hideous church, in the distance, you feel inclined to offer up a 
 prayer to Mercury, who was, I believe, the God of Travellers, to 
 help you over the last six miles.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 SIMLA. 
 
 HOW can I describe Simla itself? It lies along the top of a 
 high hill, varying from 6,000 to 8,000 feet. In the centre 
 of a sort of saddle is the town, with its busy bazaar, filth, and 
 noise ; on each side for miles are innumerable bungalows, nestled 
 into the hill-side wherever there is any room to build ; while over 
 them and round them grow deodars and rhododendrons without 
 number. Here and there yet lingers a blossom, the last rose of 
 summer, to show what a glory the full bloom of these rhododen- 
 drons must be ; for they are no mean bushes, but trees rising 
 fifty or sixty feet, and the sight a month ago must have been 
 splendid indeed. 
 
 Carriages are not admitted into Simla, and you must progress 
 by the means provided by nature, by pony, or by jampon. The 
 first two are preferred by the males, the latter by females. Through 
 the length of Simla runs the Mall. This may almost be called a 
 road ; all other ways are but narrow tracks, and go up and down 
 from the houses without railing or barrier to protect the passer-by 
 from going over the " cud." At night this is dangerous enough. 
 
 The day after my arrival I went to a ball at Peterhoff, the 
 viceregal lodge, to see the beauty and fashion. I came to the 
 conclusion that there are a great many captains. I forget what 
 jealous husband it was who said he was glad of the Crimean 
 War. " For now," said he, " there will be fewer captains." By 
 " captains " he and I mean people on leave with nothing to do. 
 This place is full of such people, who have a difficulty in passing 
 the day. Of course the devil is busy, and provides mischief. Sad 
 tales are told of the place, no doubt; but like all such tales, there 
 is a great element of exaggeration therein. Of course people 
 gamble, and — do what they ought not. They do that every- 
 
 249
 
 250 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 where. The play is very high, the whist execrable, and I hope 
 the money lost is paid. Rupees stand for shillings, gold mohurs 
 (sixteen rupees) for sovereigns. Well, I suppose this is the blood- 
 letting necessary, after the heat of the plain and the monotony 
 of regimental duty, — excitement provided by kind Nature to 
 restore the equilibrium of the system. 
 
 Meanwhile I have determined to stay here some time. I have 
 never really designed my picture, and shall do it as well as I can 
 here. I shall put my sketches of rajahs in order, and generally 
 digest my last six months' work : to do this at my ease, I have 
 had to take a house at a considerable expense. 
 
 The rains have set in here ; the clouds come rolling up the 
 hill in the most mysterious way, gathering far down in the valley 
 in small masses, and gaining strength as they reach the peaks. 
 Thick mists are common enough, but ever and anon the sun 
 breaks through cloud and mist, lighting up with fantastic gleams 
 alike mountain and cloud, and producing magical effects, such 
 as no artist has yet dreamed of. In my little nest of a house 
 (Cranagh is its name) I shall have plenty of opportunity to watch 
 such effects, and shall try and record them to the best of my 
 power. I feel certain that my artistic friends in England (ex- 
 cepting one or two) will think them the productions of a heated 
 imagination, the result of the fieshpots and champagne of Simla. 
 
 \6th July. 
 
 The rains had gone off in a most unexampled manner, and 
 for the last week we have enjoyed fine weather ; yet people com- 
 plain and find fault. Yesterday and again to-day the clouds 
 rolled up the hill and heavy rain set in, so I hope the grumblers 
 are satisfied. One must get used to it. The weather-wise say 
 that it will last more or less for two months ; and last year it 
 rained twelve days, day and night, without once clearing up. It 
 is pouring down now. The steady drip is most distressingly 
 monotonous, and as there is much thunder in the air, and the 
 booming and rolling among the mountains goes on pretty well 
 all day, it cannot be said to be a bracing climate. However, any-
 
 SIMLA. 251 
 
 thing is better than the heat of the plains now. At Lahore, 
 where I left it 96° I hear they had 106 two days after. Phew ! 
 the very idea makes me moist. 
 
 The gaieties of Simla go on just the same wet or dry. Rink- 
 ing is greatly on the increase, being the only exercise many men 
 and all ladies can take. I have not yet put on the skates, but 
 look on and talk, as it is the general rendezvous in the afternoon 
 after 6 p.m. It is a funny sight, — young and old all hard at 
 work ; now a tiny mite raised high upon her skates, and now a 
 portly dame with most serious countenance, supported in her 
 feeble efforts by aides-de-camp or secretaries. There is a great 
 crowd and constant collisions occur, and it is not an uncommon 
 thing to see a young lady throw her arms wildly round a stranger's 
 neck to support herself. Yet it is exercise, and brings people 
 together. 
 
 I do not feel that my ideas are brightening in this climate. I 
 feel constantly sleepy, and not energetic. However, work must 
 be done, and I am getting new conceptions arranged as well as I 
 can. I shall begin Nabha or the Viceroy this week ; possibly both. 
 My general design creeps on too. I am hesitating about giving 
 way to my imagination entirely.* I suppose people will not 
 quite stand an entire subversion of facts. It is an awfully tough 
 job I have to do. 
 
 This is a story told me by one who was at Jodhpore at the 
 time. The old Rajah of Jodhpore, Tukt Sing, was of a most 
 amorous complexion. It is the habit in the Zenana for the 
 Rajah to hold a durbar each day at midday, and he then decides 
 which of his ladies is to attend on him and give him his food 
 for the next twenty-four hours. Now, Tukt Sing's favourite wife 
 was the mother of his second son, Zuroor Sing, and she was so 
 often selected that the jealousy of the others was excited. One 
 
 * My picture will not be in the least like the real Assemblage. I have 
 made up my mind to give up the truth of general aspect altogether, merely 
 keeping the portraits of the chiefs and rajahs, and the order and general 
 arrangement. Thus I hope to make a better work of art by doing a picture 
 not of the Assemblage of Delhi, but commemorative of the Assemblage. The 
 picture is progressing. — (Nov. 1878.)
 
 252 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 day the amorous Tukt determined to take his Ranee out tiger- 
 shooting with him. They were to watch for a tiger who was 
 known to be in the neighbourhood, and who had been fed there 
 some days. A young buffalo is tied up, and the sportsman takes 
 his stand on a platform built into a tree, and there spends the 
 night. Now, Tukt not only took his Ranee into his tree, but 
 a brandy-bottle with her ; indeed, if report speaks true, it is 
 questionable which he preferred, the flesh or the spirit. So they 
 enjoyed themselves, and became inebriated, and slept ; but when 
 the Rajah woke, the favourite was not there, and was never seen 
 again. The tiger had taken her, they said. If he had, he must 
 have" been a very hungry one, as he ate her, bones, clothes, 
 bangles, and all, for none of these things were ever found. He 
 was a funny fellow, this old Tukt, and was thought to be very 
 extravagant. When he was dying he pointed to his treasury, 
 and said he had 80 lacs of treasure and jewels there ; but when 
 it was opened there was little more than one lac, and it was 
 always supposed that his favourite, another and not his wife, had 
 helped herself during his last illness. 
 
 I have just come back from doing my first rajah here, viz., 
 Nabha. Rajah Hira Sing Bahadur is a very handsome fellow of, 
 I suppose, forty* odd years old, with a fine curly moustache and 
 beard. His turban is superb, and altogether painting him is a 
 pleasant job. He is a Sikh, very different from some of the 
 effete-looking Hindoos I have had to do. He has a fine bass 
 voice and a kindly smile ; moreover he treats one like a gentle- 
 man ; but, then, he is not of the highest. 
 
 Nabha, Jheend, and Puttiala are small Sikh states, which were 
 in the way of being snapped up by that devourer of small states, 
 Runjeet Sing. We, however, interfered, and saved them. Unlike 
 most natives, these chiefs were true to us to the backbone, and it 
 was mainly owing to them that we were not turned out of India. 
 They kept communication open between Lahore and Delhi, 
 during the siege of the latter place, and so enabled us to devote 
 the whole of our strength to taking that centre of revolt. 
 
 * The Rajah, I find, is only thirty-four. Rajahs age very quickly, I fear.
 
 H.H. HIRA SING BAHADUR, RAJAH OF NABHA.
 
 SIMLA. 253 
 
 Nabha has a bungalow here, furnished with many a glass 
 lamp and globe of every colour. He, like most of the small 
 maharajahs, is treated with much more respect outwardly than 
 the bigwigs. " Omer-wa-Doulat Maharajah Sahib ! " announces 
 his entry, his rising and his sitting, whereas Sindia toddles about 
 without ceremony, and even Oodeypore comes and goes without 
 fuss. You see, rajahs are not different from other swells ; the 
 smaller the swell the greater airs he gives himself. 
 
 Let me record an extraordinary fact — it is a fine day to-day. 
 The old stagers are aghast. The seasons have been turned 
 " upside down." The rains will not come down, and the whole 
 country will starve. So say the croakers ; I take a more cheerful 
 view of the matter, and thank Heaven that the wind (and rain) 
 is tempered for the shorn lamb. It is wonderful, on the whole, 
 how very lucky I am wherever I go. This has been the coolest 
 season for many a long year. 
 
 I am very much amused at the English habits joyfully re- 
 sumed by the visitors to Simla. Down in the plains they say 
 that you always know the "Griff," or new arrival, by his morning 
 salutation of " Fine day." It is always fine in India, except in 
 the rainy reason. In Simla, however, the weather is the prin- 
 cipal topic of conversation and anxiety, for the rain occupies 
 every one's thoughts. No wonder! the health of Simla depends 
 on it, to say nothing of the lives of millions down in the plains, 
 where famine threatens unless the god Indra prove propitious. 
 In Simla itself water is very scarce and bad. When there is 
 rain, a torrent forms m what is in fine weather a dry gully in 
 the centre of the town. This torrent quickly runs itself out, the 
 springs dry up, and the wretched bheesties, or water-carriers, 
 have to bring water from miles off. This they will not do ex- 
 cept when forced by the sahib. For their own drinking they pre- 
 fer any water, however impure, which is at hand, to the purest 
 springs of Mahassu. You see the lazy brutes, fifty at a time, 
 sitting round the dry bed of the torrent aforesaid, and waiting 
 patiently their turns, while three or four are employed digging 
 with their hands holes in the bed of the stream, where, after a
 
 254 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 time, a thick muddy tea-cup full of filth percolates, which is 
 carefully put into the skins carried by these blieesties. It takes 
 hours to fill a skin ; but what is time to the Hindoo ? 
 
 2 yd July. 
 
 My journal seems to get more meagre every mail. There are 
 no religious festivals, no gorgeous processions to record ; nothing 
 more than the usual routine of an artist's life, varied by dinners 
 and balls, much as it might be in London and Paris. More 
 rajahs have not yet arrived, and I am still trifling with his High- 
 ness of Nabha, and occupying my leisure with painting Lady 
 Lytton, who will take a prominent position in the picture. 
 
 It is now eight months since I painted a white face, so that it 
 comes rather strange. 
 
 Meanwhile the rains have not really set in ; we have an occa- 
 sional outburst, and then it stops. The old and weather-wise are 
 beginning to despair. If the monsoon does not really break 
 soon, we shall have famine all over the place, which, with an im- 
 poverished exchequer and a war in the distance, is not a bright 
 look-out for the future. 
 
 I have been very lazy personally since I have been here. I 
 have seen none of the views, and called on none of the swells. 
 A quiet, tranquil existence, with work, is a change for me. I 
 hope that, after the excitement of travel, this very quiet will not 
 cause my liver to give trouble. It is the being stuck down in one 
 place, without change, that brings on most of the enlarged livers 
 for which Anglo-Indians are proverbial. At present mine is much 
 as usual ; indeed, except that I do not think Simla bracing, I 
 am as well as ever I was. I am, however, much thinner, being 
 a stone and a half lighter than when in England. 
 
 I hear a rumour that there is to be a durbar of hill rajahs next 
 month, which will be a very picturesque sight. Amongst them 
 will be Sirmor, about whom we know something, only I fancy 
 from what I hear that my old father rather exaggerated the size 
 of his state in his ballad. Still, I shall try and make a sketch 
 of one who bears so well-known a name. He is but a small
 
 SIMLA. 255 
 
 fellow, and but that he has been already immortalized by one 
 of the family, I should hardly desire to paint him in a picture 
 where only swells are to be seen.* 
 
 Other swells are announced for the Council of the Empire, 
 though what they are to do or say at the said Council has pro- 
 bably yet to be settled. The rajahs think that it is to get money 
 out of them. Most of them have vast funds locked up, which 
 might profitably be lent to the Paramount Power ; but then the 
 rajah could not feel it, touch it, and see it when he liked, and 
 would think himself a poorer man. They like to have a thing, 
 like a child, for their very own, and if they lent it, it would not 
 be quite the same thing. The late Rana of Oodeypore was 
 thought to be so badly off, in consequence of the depredations 
 committed in his state by Marathas and others during the pre- 
 ceding reign, that his yearly tribute was remitted on his accession ; 
 yet he owned to the political agent that his predecessor had left 
 him £60,000 hid away; and so even the poorest rajah has secret 
 stores, the place of concealment being known to none but the 
 rajah and one other man. At Dholepore there is believed to 
 be such a treasure hidden, the site of which is known only by 
 the Minister of the late Rajah, who refuses to part with the 
 secret. He is kept in confinement, I think at Benares, but has 
 offered £10,000 for his liberty. Yet Dholepore is but a very 
 small state. 
 
 29//* July. 
 
 Not much to record again this week. I have been busy every 
 day painting Lady Lytton and her eldest girl, who will also 
 figure in my picture. The Viceroy I have not begun ; his robes 
 have not yet arrived from Calcutta, and what is a Viceroy with- 
 out his robes ? 
 
 Till last night the rains have kept off. People say the crops 
 are lost in a great part of India, and that famines are imminent. 
 Last night and again to-day the rain has set in, and although 
 personally very inconvenient for me, I cannot but hope that it 
 
 * See Appendix. I never got to Sirmor.
 
 25^ IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 may continue. One blank cloud envelopes the whole hill, and 
 the drip and splash of the water last all day. It is not so dark 
 as I expected, and will not stop work. 
 
 No fresh rajahs have arrived, nor do I expect they will be fools 
 enough to come up while the rain lasts ; only this being altogether 
 an abnormal year, one cannot tell how long anything will last. 
 
 And so I have nothing to record. One hears tales of rajahs 
 from the officials here, which give one an idea of the kind of folk 
 they really are. Take this : Gholab Sing was the father of the 
 present Rajah of Kashmir, who thinks that his parent is a fish. 
 Gholab, talking to an English friend, was boasting of his good- 
 ness. " But," said the Englishman, " you 're so cruel ; you flay 
 people alive." 
 
 " Now, what a shame to say so ! " cried the Rajah. " I never 
 flayed but one person, and he was a man I really had an affection 
 for. He constantly rebelled against me, and I as constantly 
 forgave him ; but at last I told him, ' If you rebel again, I will 
 flay you alive.' Well, he did rebel, and I caught him ; and what 
 could I do ? I was bound to keep my word, wasn't I ? But even 
 then I liked the man so much that I gave orders he should be 
 only half-flayed. The poor fellow died, however, and I was very 
 sorry for him ! " 
 
 This of the Kashgar Envoy I do not think I have recorded. 
 Passing through Lahore, he was asked to dine with the Lieutenant^ 
 Governor. During dinner he drank sixteen bottles of soda-water. 
 You may imagine that he was watched with extreme interest by 
 both Governor and staff, for if he exploded, adieu to our good 
 relations with Kashgar. When he called for his seventeenth 
 bottle the excitement grew intense; but the Envoy rose solemnly, 
 and squatting down, had No. 17 poured over his hands. 
 
 Maharajah Nabha, who is still here, went to see a burlesque 
 of " Robert Macaire" got up by the amateurs of Simla. In this 
 there is a song sung by Robert Macaire : 
 
 " When my wife, against my will, 
 Goes out, I never stops her ; 
 But when she 's gone a little way. 
 I calls her back and ' whops ' her."
 
 SIMLA. 257 
 
 Nabha asked the Foreign Secretary to tell him what the song 
 meant, so Thornton translated, as well as he could, the above 
 silly words. " We do not do that," said Nabha, gravely ; " we 
 shouldn't let our wives go out at all." He probably thinks that 
 the above song is a picture of an English gentleman's behaviour, 
 and that Lord Lytton continually " whops " his lady. 
 
 $th Align st. 
 
 Another week has passed, with the usual monotony of work 
 and play. I am getting on with Lady Lytton's picture, and have 
 begun the Viceroy. As far as his head goes he will be easy 
 enough to do, for that is decidedly good ; but his drapery is most 
 voluminous, and being of blue velvet with a thick ermine tippet, 
 it is apt to make the Grand-Master of the Star of India look like 
 a bundle of clothes. 
 
 I regret to say that the first conversation I have had with 
 Lord Lytton has been a very disagreeable one for me, for in it 
 he informed me that reasons of state would necessitate his being 
 seated in my picture, especially as I found it necessary to depict 
 him without his hat. Now, I have always had my doubts about 
 his standing while the rajahs were all seated ; but, as he did it 
 at the Grand Assembly, I thought I might do it in my picture. 
 Then, again, for state purposes, I shall have to paint the great 
 officers sitting by their chiefs. This will give me no end of a lot 
 more work, but that no one seems to consider. 
 
 On Wednesday I had my last sitting of Nabha, and in thfc 
 afternoon of Thursday went to bid him adieu. He was most 
 polite, and set me on his throne of state, while he occupied a 
 lowly chair by my side. He was not born in the purple, and 
 was once only the head of a village, till called to the guddee by 
 the death of his cousin. This accounts for his modesty and a 
 certain manliness not found in porphyrogenitous rajahs. 
 
 The Commander-in-Chief was expected ; the dezaau, the only 
 English-speaking member of his Highness's Court, had gone to 
 meet him, so our conversation was necessarily very limited. 
 Gifts in many trays were brought to me, but in the middle of 
 
 17
 
 258 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 the ceremony the approach of the " Chief" was announced. The 
 trays were whisked away to serve again for his Excellency; and, 
 hastily be-attared and be-panned, I was bowed out, to make way 
 for the " Gingi Lord Sahib." I met him and his suite coming 
 down the roadway that zigzags down from the mall — the cud — 
 and had a laugh with him about my being kicked out in his 
 favour. 
 
 On coming home yesterday from reading the papers (in which, 
 by-the-bye, there seems but little news), I found the vakeel of 
 Maharajah Nabha waiting with a letter and a bag. The letter 
 said, " His Highness herewith sends five hundred rupees as a 
 present. Kindly accept," &c, signed by his Highness's Foreign 
 Minister. This is the first present made me by a Rajah. I own 
 at first I felt inclined to send it back ; but then why should I ? 
 Was it intended for a civility, or was it intended that I should 
 return it ? Anyhow, I kept it : not being in the Civil Service, I 
 shall not send it to the State Treasury ; only I wish the present 
 had been in something else, and not hard rupees. 
 
 This last week I have sent away my servant, Noor Khan, 
 whom I have mentioned during my journey. He was a most 
 energetic man, but frightfully jealous. He was always accusing 
 the other servants of all sorts of crimes. Two or three times he 
 had been guilty of most unaccountable explosions of violence ; 
 and once, as I have recorded in my journal, during my journey 
 from Jodhpore to Oodeypore, he had got me into a mess by 
 absenting himself for thirty-six hours. I find this is all owing 
 to smoking opium. 
 
 Since I have been here he has had less to do, and more time 
 to smoke ; so he finally got himself into a state of excitement 
 bordering on madness. He declared that the servants all accused 
 him of robbing me, and that the people of the bazaar pointed 
 their fingers at him, and said, "There goes the man who stole 
 eight hundred rupees." He finally said he could not stand it any 
 more : " I want a little to hang myself." And then I said, " Go." 
 
 Then the next day he repented, came and embraced my knees, 
 and wept.
 
 SIMLA. * 259 
 
 " I look on master as my God," he sobbed. " Other master I 
 no leave till they went away from India. When I go home my 
 friends say, ' Master left ? ' ' No.' ' Then master dead ? ' ' Master 
 no dead.' Then they say, ' Master no dead, then you dam bad 
 fellow ! ' " 
 
 I believe he had made a lot of money out of me — whether 
 honestly or not I do not know ; but anyhow he handed me 300 
 rupees, to be sent to a doctor in Bombay, who recommended him 
 to me. I did not yield to his tears, and he has left. 
 
 These English-speaking bearers are great rogues, as a rule. 
 The servants generally are much like the gondoliers and Italian 
 servants ; they exact "black mail" from all your tradesmen, under 
 the name of destoree, or custom. One anna in the rupee is what 
 they get, that is one-sixteenth, which is no bad percentage. Their 
 English is very funny ; I never heard any of them speak of a 
 beating except as a "dam licking," and "so dam bad fellow," 
 and so on, using the oath as a strengthening adjective. These 
 servants have generally been brought up in regiments, where they 
 learn the language, and, I fear, some of the vices of their masters. 
 I need not say that I have never touched one of my servants ; 
 but I see many others do, and that it seems the habit, principally 
 in the cavalry regiments, to use the stick freely. As excuse, I 
 am told the servants of officers are of the worst class. Perhaps 
 it acts both ways. 
 
 I may here state that while travelling in the native states, I 
 have always found the person in authority very lavish with the 
 stick. Maharajahs' coachmen freely use their whip, and many a 
 bare black back have I seen writhing under a well-delivered blow. 
 I have heard the coachman, if his whip was too short to reach 
 the too active offender, commission the syce to perform the cas- 
 tigation, which he invariably did with a rope he carried to repair 
 harness if necessary. I am told too that native officers are great 
 users of the cane. Of course these are no precedents for us, who 
 should set a better example. During the whole time I was in 
 India I never heard of a civilian, or a man in any authority, using 
 violence to a native, and I must bear evidence to the extreme
 
 260 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 forbearance displayed by such officers under trying circum- 
 stances ; for when the native is stupid, his stupidity is peculiarly 
 aggravating. 
 
 \\tli August. 
 
 Another week has passed, in which I have been occupied in 
 painting Lord Lytton and staff. I am much pressed for time, 
 for the head-quarters leave on Thursday for Madras, to look after 
 the famine. Old Indians are notorious croakers, and they all 
 croak in chorus over the danger incurred by his Excellency in 
 leaving the temperate climate of Simla for the heat of lower 
 India. I myself suspect that the danger is very small, though of 
 course the inconvenience will be very great. When I left Kash- 
 mir, the doctor at Sreenugger took upon himself to croak in the 
 same way, telling me that I ran great risks in the plain from heat 
 apoplexy, and that I did not know what I was doing. I was 
 also told that coffins were kept at all the stations for people who 
 died of heat apoplexy, which was cheering news for a stout and 
 possibly apoplectic traveller ! And yet I did myself no harm, 
 although the heat was very oppressive. 
 
 I must say that Lord Lytton does not consult his personal 
 convenience. Of course the Viceroy travels with much more 
 comfort than the common traveller. He fixes his own time, and 
 everything is made to suit him. Still, he deserves great credit 
 for the personal sacrifice he makes in taking so long a journey 
 before the cold weather sets in. 
 
 I wonder how viceroys and people managed in the old time, 
 when all went about in tall hats and voluminous neckties, and 
 neither ice nor soda-water were to be had ? Are we really gone 
 off? have we got soft and luxurious? In the old time, I suspect, 
 the weak quickly succumbed, and those that have survived to us 
 of the old " qui his " are those with constitutions of iron. 
 
 Lord Lytton has certainly not an iron constitution, but he 
 stands more work than most people, for he does not require 
 exercise to keep him in good health. I doubt whether he ever 
 took exercise even when young. Now he is sometimes days
 
 SIMLA. 26l 
 
 without going out. He writes day and night, and even while 
 sitting to me he does business with secretaries and others. I was 
 much struck by the business-like view he took of the questions 
 discussed before me. Of course, I cannot talk of these, for, like 
 the doctor or the lawyer, there are times when the artist must 
 not betray the confidence reposed in him. 
 
 On the Viceroy's departure I shall be left with little to do. I 
 have, however, the Commander-in-Chief and several of the Vice- 
 roy's staff left. Of course no rajahs are expected while the 
 Viceregal sun is eclipsed. The Foreign Secretary, however, tells 
 me that he will summon them a fortnight before the Viceroy's 
 return, and during that time I shall have an orgie of potentates. 
 
 Meanwhile the rain keeps off, and we are having perfect 
 weather. The wise each morning say there is rain in the air. 
 If there is, it keeps there, as none falls; the more's the pity, 
 for Simla requires constant washing to make it sweet. I know 
 no worse smell than jamponee, and these jamponees, or jampon- 
 bearers, are a large class here. The jampon is a kind of palan- 
 quin, carried with movable cross-poles instead of only one straight 
 one through the middle. Each jampon has from four to six jam- 
 ponees, and in most establishments there are two or more jam- 
 pons, and very often two relays of bearers to each. In fine 
 weather the jampon is open, and in shape is rather like a large 
 shoe. In bad weather or in the evening there is a waterproof 
 square hood fixed over all, that gives it a most funereal appearance. 
 I thank Heaven I have not had occasion to use this means of 
 progression, which my weight would render most difficult for the 
 jamponee, and enjoyment of which is, from the movement of the 
 bearers, decidedly an acquired taste for the person inside. 
 
 The world of Simla jogs on, or rather rushes along, at its 
 usual pace. All are bent on enjoying themselves, and champagne 
 flows on every side. Every evening at eight the roads are full of 
 jampons conveying the fair sex to their festivities. Dinners are 
 nominally at half-past eight, and of course the evening beginning 
 so late, the hour for returning is also deferred. The distances, too, 
 for so small a place, are enormous. It is more than three miles
 
 262 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 from here to Peterhoff, where lives the "Mutike Lord Sahib;" and 
 the " Chota Lord Sahib" or Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab, 
 lives some half-mile farther on this side. The native town or bazaar 
 through which you have to pass from the Viceregal quariier to 
 this is sufficiently dirty and offensive to the nose. It is most 
 thickly inhabited ; and at night, coming home from dinner, one 
 is astonished at the number of inanimate bundles lying on step, 
 shelf, or roof, all of which represent so many sleeping men. Of 
 course these camp-followers of head-quarters, for they are mostly 
 of that class, make a good thing of the Simla season. The other 
 day, going to paint at Peterhoff, I found the long verandah which 
 runs round the house strewn with precious goods, shawls, jewels, 
 and stuffs of all kinds, while all around squatted the inferior shop- 
 men with other bundles of goods. Lady Lytton had signified her 
 intention of buying some presents. 
 
 The English notices and advertisements in some of the shops 
 are amusing. My grocer has written up in large letters, " Licensed 
 to Retail Wonders." 
 
 Simla society is a curious study. Simla itself is like an English 
 watering-place gone mad. Real sociability does not exist. People 
 pair off directly they arrive at a party, as a matter of course, and 
 the pairs, happy in their own conversation, do not trouble them- 
 selves about the general hilarity. Indeed, the muffin system, like 
 that in Canada, is the order of the day. If you have not a pair, 
 as in my case, you are likely to die of social inanition. When 
 such a state of society exists, there must arise most frequent and 
 terrible squabbles, especially among the fair sex, and it is difficult 
 to find two of the dear creatures who are on friendly terms. 
 Theatricals are much in vogue, and I was begged to get up a piece 
 of mine, but I found it next to impossible, since Mrs. M., whom 
 I wanted to act with Mrs. N., refused to do so, while Mrs. X. 
 would act with neither. This would be rather amusing if it were 
 not a bore, for my tastes are catholic, and I do not want to mix 
 myself in cither the local scandals or squabbles.
 
 SIMLA. 263 
 
 igth August. 
 
 The clouds have at length risen, and we are in a fine mist of 
 rain, out of which looms and flashes thunder and lightning. 
 Moreover, the Viceregal sun has left us for Madras, so that I am 
 doubly in the shade. 
 
 Before he went down, I finished the head of the Viceroy, so 
 that in case of accidents the picture is safe. I went up the day 
 before he left to have my final sittings, and see Burne, the Private 
 Secretary. It was a curious sight, for the final Council was sit- 
 ting, and all about flitted secretaries with papers. It is odd to 
 think that the plain-looking gentlemen there assembled should 
 be ruling over two hundred millions of God's images ! 
 
 My interview with the Secretary was somewhat unsatisfactory. 
 They want me to put in many more Europeans, and amongst 
 others these very Councillors. Now, beyond the work it entails, 
 every person I put into the picture renders it so much bigger, 
 and, as far as I can make out, it will be 30 feet already. I should 
 have time to paint them while waiting for the Viceroy, but I 
 tremble at the size of the work. 
 
 On Thursday, thirty-one guns announced the departure of His 
 Excellency. At Delhi most of the chiefs had the number of the 
 guns in their salute increased, and some — Sindia, Holkar, Kash- 
 mir, and Oodeypore — were raised up to the traditional Viceregal 
 salute, viz., twenty-one — to their great delight. Imagine their 
 disgust at finding by the Gazette that the Viceregal salute was 
 increased ten guns, and the Empress's raised to one hundred 
 and one ; so that there was a greater distance than ever between 
 the ruler and the ruled. This is our way of conferring favours. 
 Notwithstanding the departure of the Viceroy, there is no cessa- 
 tion in the gaiety of this place. Dinners begin to pall upon me, 
 since everywhere you get the same thing to eat ; there is always 
 the same preserved salmon or whitebait, the same soups and 
 entries, and nearly the same company. Indians suppose that 
 the Queen and Empress always feeds on preserved meats, and 
 when you dine with a rajah you get nothing else. Kashmir gave 
 me eleven different kinds of preserves. Oh for a good sole or
 
 264 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 some kind of fresh fish ! It is only out here that you can realize 
 the enormous trade some houses do in this preserving business. I 
 never could imagine how Messrs. Crosse and Blackwell manage 
 to keep up their palace in Soho on Worcester and other sauces, 
 which is all one sees from that establishment in England. India 
 is the true source of their wealth, and not Worcester. 
 
 20th August. 
 
 The rains are off to-day, and everything is clear and beautiful. 
 There is also a fresh touch in the air, reminding one of early 
 autumn in England. Under these circumstances, Simla is de- 
 lightful ; ordinarily, it is very relaxing. 
 
 In the lull between the going of the Viceroy and the coming 
 of my rajahs, I have undertaken to bring out a play. 
 
 This will not interfere with my work with Europeans, and any- 
 thing but Europeans I despair of getting ; I should have to go 
 into the interior to get subjects to paint, and, with the rains not 
 well on yet, it is rather hazardous travelling. I am told that the 
 hill rajahs do not hide up their women ; and it is just possible, 
 through the influence of the Deputy Commissioner, I maybe able 
 to get some studies. I am working that official, and waiting 
 anxiously for the result. Meanwhile to-morrow I begin the 
 Commander-in-Chief, who has a very good soldierly head, which 
 I shall enjoy painting. 
 
 What more can I write about Simla, where I spent three 
 months in comfort ? Everything is so English and unpicturesque 
 that, except that the people one meets are those who rule and 
 make our history — a fact one can hardly realize — one would 
 fancy oneself at Margate. 
 
 One of the customs of society here is, I think, peculiar to India. 
 Any one can call without a previous introduction. Indeed, the 
 new arrival is expected to go round and show himself in the 
 station, and this in the morning, for from eleven to two is the 
 fashionable hour of reception. I cannot bring myself to leave my 
 work and rush round, pasteboard in hand, to make new acquaint-
 
 SIMLA. 265 
 
 ances; consequently I have got into much hot water, and am 
 thought an uncivilized prig ! 
 
 Officialism is also rampant. The new order of precedence has 
 just been published, which, if some had their way, would have 
 been taken down to second-class post-office clerks. In this new 
 order everything is settled, as to India ; but the visitor, however 
 high his rank, has no precedence, except by courtesy. I do not 
 find any mention of artists in this document, either with or with- 
 out Government commission, and I am in consequence frequently 
 left in the cold. So much the better : the hot water in which I 
 have got may serve to warm me. 
 
 As the season goes on the weather gets refreshingly brisk. 
 Jheend has arrived, and also Faredkote. The former will only sit 
 in the early morning, so when I start at six for my four miles' 
 ride to his Highness's house, which is in the farthest part of the 
 town, it is quite fresh, and even cold. The rides back are not so 
 agreeable, as the sun is, of course, always warm. 
 
 All these Sikh rajahs are descendants of successful free-lances 
 of the last century. The Sikhs themselves are Jits, cultivators 
 of the soil. Their religion was founded by a Guru or holy man 
 who wrote their scriptures, a book called the Granth. At the fall 
 of the Mogul Empire, the Sikh power rose in the Punjab ; but 
 it consisted of a kind of warlike republic, composed of successful 
 chieftains. Even Runjeet Sing, the Lion of the Punjab, never 
 took the title of King, though he was paramount over the Land 
 of the Five Rivers. In theory the Sikhs are all equal and belong to 
 the KJialsa, or Brotherhood of the Faith. Runjeet merely assumed 
 the headship of the KJialsa, and fought for God and Guru Govend. 
 
 Maharajah Jheend is a cousin of Nabha. Between them I 
 fancy there is no love lost. Nabha's predecessor was supposed 
 to have been not quite loyal during the second Sikh War, and 
 the state was consequently not viewed with favour. Jheend, on 
 the contrary, has always been treated with honour. He has been 
 made a G.C.S.I., along with the late Puttiala, much to Sindia's 
 disgust. 
 
 " What does the Government mean by putting such fellows on
 
 266 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 an equality with me?" said the great Maharajah. "Why, my 
 ancestor used to send orders to them, and never thought of 
 writing with his own hand ! " 
 
 Ah ! Maharajah, think of the Peishwa's slippers ! 
 
 This present Jheend is universally esteemed. He is a good 
 ruler, a kindly old man, and, moreover, has what to me is much 
 more important, a very fine head. He is only forty-tw r o, but looks 
 over fifty. His house is just like Nabha's. 
 
 Faredkote is quite a small rajah. When I arrived at Lahore, 
 Faredkote's vakeel sought me out, and begged me to arrange 
 about sittings. The Rajah was in Lahore, and offered to call on 
 me, or send his carriage, or do anything I washed. I called on 
 him, and found him most friendly, and he decided to come up to 
 Simla to be painted. He has a charming son, who is a great 
 favourite with all Simla. In native society one must never praise 
 a child's looks, as it is thought to bring bad luck. If any one 
 does hazard an observation that the youngster looks well or 
 handsome, the parent assumes at once a most distressed look, 
 and will, if he knows you well enough, give the child a blow on 
 the cheek, to avert the ill omen. Both Jheend and Faredkote I 
 have painted. 
 
 The Viceroy is back; the festivities of Simla still continue; and 
 rain has fallen, at least in the plains. Here we are sadly behind- 
 hand, being some 60 inches short of our normal supply. I am 
 told that it is cooler in the plains, and begin to think of flitting. 
 Meanwhile I fear the journal is neglected. No rajahs are ex- 
 pected, and my time, during the month of September, is spent 
 pleasantly, but, I fear I must own, unprofitably. The modern 
 Capua has decidedly an enervating influence on my artistic 
 energies. I managed, however, to paint both the Viceroy and 
 Lady Lytton, with their eldest daughter, the Commander-in-Chief, 
 and six of the viceregal staff, besides the three Sikh rajahs I 
 have mentioned.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 HOLY BENARES. 
 
 \^th October. 
 
 AT length I have left Simla and its civilized gaieties and 
 scandals, and can resume my journal with some chance of 
 recording therein something more than the flirtation of Captain A. 
 with Mrs. B., or the quarrels and jealousies of C. and his wife, 
 which form the staple conversation of the modern Capua, swelled 
 by tittle-tattle of the Viceroy and his eccentricity, and idle specu- 
 lation as to the doings of the far-off Turk. And yet it is when 
 one has left Simla that one sees the advantage of its delicious 
 climate. On the morning of 15th October, as I rode down to the 
 tonga office, nothing could have been more enjoyable than the 
 morning air, that almost made one long for a great-coat, and 
 rendered necessary a good warm suit, such as one wears during 
 the English autumn. Yet at Kalka, eight hours' drive, it was 
 decidedly warm ; at Umballa, notwithstanding the shower falling, 
 excessively stuffy ; and in the railway, directly the 16th sun 
 rose, most fearfully hot. However, as you rattle along through 
 the flat plains of Hindostan (the Himalaya snows having been 
 long since lost to view), the motion of the railway makes an 
 agreeable substitute for the punkah, and it is only when the train 
 stops that one perceives how hot it really is. Still, I confess the 
 sight of the plains delights me. At each station crowds of white- 
 muslin or linen-clad natives, jabbering, washing, smoking, and 
 even praying, are a constant delight. I marked one evidently 
 superior person, neatly dressed, with patent-leather shoes and 
 gold spectacles, who at every station spread his bit of linen on 
 the ground, took off his European shoes (which he would not 
 
 267
 
 20b IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 have done for any sahib), unhooked from his nose his gold specs, 
 and prayed most fervently. Was it ostentatious piety, to attract 
 notice, or real religious fervour? — "bis or spangles?" Who shall 
 say ? But there, at each stoppage of a quarter of an hour, I was 
 sure to see my friend, and as these opportunities occur at least 
 every hour, he must have got through a "sight of prayers" during 
 the day. So on we sped during the whole of that day and the 
 next night. At Aligurh I was surprised at being recognized by 
 a man I had not seen for twenty-two years, who was at college 
 with me. At Allahabad I met another friend, whom I had last 
 met at the head of the Liddar Valley at Palgam — so small is the 
 world ! Finally, at twelve o'clock on Wednesday, after a good 
 roasting and much shaking, I arrive at the holy Ganges, and see 
 Benares on the other bank. 
 
 I confess I was surprised during the journey to see the country 
 look so green. It has narrowly escaped a tremendous famine, 
 saved by only just enough rain to enable the natives to get in 
 their cold-weather crop ; yet the trees were green, and much of 
 the ground covered with greenery of different kinds. Everywhere 
 the ploughs were at work, drawn by patient little bullocks, scratch- 
 ing up the ground in the primitive way which suffices for such 
 elementary cultivation as it has sufficed from time immemorial, 
 and will suffice till the "three R's " are taught through the land, 
 and India and Indian cease to be a delight to the eye. 
 
 Meanwhile I have to force my way through the squabbling 
 and noise I have always found wherever there is any water, 
 whether river or channel, to be crossed ; and finally, having taken 
 my seat with much dignity in by far the most primitive boat I 
 ever entered, I have time to look around, and to see across the 
 broad bosom of the sacred Ganges, Benares, stretching for two 
 or three miles, with a crowd of boats at its feet, and many fine- 
 looking buildings rising high into the sultry air. Whew ! it was 
 very hot. What beautiful torsos the rowers had — black as the 
 deepest coppery bronze — showing every muscle of the chest 
 and stomach ! It is only when they stand up that one perceives 
 the weakness of their lower limbs, which are decidedly bandy
 
 HOLY BENARES. 269 
 
 And what oars they row with ! — a bit of board nailed on to a 
 broom-handle ! The boat is steered by an enormous oar, worked 
 beautifully by the steerer, who has to throw his whole weight 
 on it to make it act. 
 
 At length we land, and I am conveyed in a close gJiarry 
 through the cantonments — very like the Agra cantonment, or 
 that of Lahore or Gwalior, for all cantonments are alike — to an 
 hotel, which is somewhat out of the way in comfort. I confess 
 that I go to sleep, but then I had not been in bed for three 
 nights. 
 
 At half-past four I sally forth to see the Holy City. First, I 
 am told there is a festival, the Bharot Metta, going on, where 
 I shall see all the rich people and rajahs of Benares, and very 
 glad I am that I arrived in time to see this truly native feast. 
 The streets were crowded with the usual throng of picturesque 
 figures ; but what formed the beauty of the scene was the 
 crowded housetops and balconies, where seemed to be gathered 
 the beauty and fashion of the Hindoo Zenana, who are not gene- 
 rally to be seen ; women with every conceivable kind of coloured 
 drapery, in all manner of wonderful positions, who did not mind 
 showing their faces on the anniversary of the meeting of Ram 
 with his brother Lachsmana. Now and then we passed the bal- 
 cony of some important person, rajah or rich man, where he sat 
 in state with his family, fanned by attentive domestics, and clad 
 in his best. Sometimes this great man was a little child, held 
 by his mother or grandmother, and seeming to enjoy the scene 
 with the dignity that an Oriental inherits at his birth. High 
 over head rose the dust, mixing with the warm sunset tones, 
 and making a delicious "flue," which would have delighted some 
 of our French brother painters ; and at length, the sun being 
 down and the moon well up, I take boat at the Jeypore ghat and 
 float down the Ganges. 
 
 It is the hour of prayer, and along the banks of the river, on 
 planks hardly above the stream, I see dimly innumerable forms 
 of Brahmins doing pooja, wrapped in devout contemplation. At 
 one ghat I see a fire where they are burning the body of a Hin-
 
 270 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 doo, who has been fortunate enough to gain Paradise by dying 
 on the banks of the sacred river. From many a temple rises the 
 sound of bells, not offensively loud, but mixed with flutes and 
 softly-beaten tom-toms. Down the river itself float many lamps 
 in earthenware jars, while over all shines a moon as soft and 
 delicate, amid its white clouds, as any I can remember in far-off 
 England. The air is cool, the sounds and sights blend harmo- 
 niously together. I forget the long journey, the heat and rattle 
 of the railway, and rejoice that I too have been allowed to 
 make a pilgrimage to Holy Benares. 
 
 1 8/// October. 
 
 Up at five, and start at half-past, to see again by daylight 
 what I saw first by the magic light of a silver moon. A de- 
 lightfully cool drive brought me down to the Jeypore ghat, and 
 again we take boat. The early-rising sun gilds the buildings 
 along the bank, among which stand many fine palaces belong- 
 ing to most of the great rajahs. There is Holkar's, where 700 
 pilgrims and Brahmins are daily fed ; there Nipal's ; there the 
 site of Sindia's, splendid in its desolation, for the whole side 
 of the mud-bank has given way, and tower and bastion have 
 fallen, and lie there on the river bank. Here is the palace of the 
 great Jey Sing, by the ghdt from which I embark, and inside is 
 that learned Rajah's observatory. In fact, in number the palaces 
 almost equal those in Venice, and very much resemble them 
 in that each consists of a solid basement, from which rises the 
 palace proper; only at Benares the buildings rise from a high bank, 
 and sloping down from the basements are the ghats, to which even 
 picturesque Venice has no parallel, for these ghats are crowded 
 with devotees and Brahmins doing their morning ablutions. 
 There are 25,000 Brahmins in Benares, and over 100,000 pil- 
 grims, who must all wash in the muddy stream, for the Ganges, 
 like most things sacred, is offensive to the nose. But what a feast 
 for the eye of an artist ! Here a Brahmim wrapt in prayer, 
 there a group of boys splashing about in the river; here a mixed 
 throng of men and women, the latter in every conceivable kind
 
 HOLY BENARES. 27 1 
 
 of colour ; and all are bathing and washing, yet without the 
 least indecency. It is true that the wet made the drapery cling 
 with statue-like fidelity to the rounded limbs of the bathers ; but 
 these ladies have a way of shifting one garment (and they only 
 have one) and putting on another, without showing a portion of 
 their own skin. The high-class Brahmin presents when nude — 
 and he only wears when bathing the scantiest attire — a most 
 comfortable appearance. He is always sleek, and often fat ; in- 
 deed, some presented an abdominal appearance that quite put me 
 in conceit of myself. The Brahmin is moreover fair. The women 
 were many of them a light coffee colour, and some had most 
 divine figures, admirably displayed by the clinging of their wet 
 garments. But alas ! few were young. Is it that the young and 
 pretty think not of pooja and washing? or does the crafty Brahmin 
 consider that his prayers and washing will do for the object of his 
 affections, so long as he divides his attentions to her with prayers 
 to the Mahadeva and the terrible Sati ? There must be young 
 women in Benares, as in other places. Yesterday, at the festival 
 I have described, I saw wonderfully beautiful faces, and one 
 in particular — a great lady, evidently — sitting in state in a balcony, 
 with (let us hope) her husband, was one of the handsomest women 
 I ever saw. She was sitting down, it was true ; perhaps if she 
 moved I should exclaim with AcJiille Dufard in the play, " She 
 have bandy legs ! " But none of these young women show them- 
 selves while bathing. It is true that I saw one or two reserved 
 places, where great people can bathe unseen. Is it possible that 
 these one or two places can suffice for all the beauty of Benares ? 
 All this was most charming to look at, but for the practical artist 
 meant pure distraction : only an amateur could have the pluck 
 to attempt to work in such a scene ; the artist would require a 
 month's study and careful watching, to get himself well imbued 
 with the feeling around ; and even then, which of us could do 
 justice to what I saw in that morning's sun ? I could only make 
 some small scribbles, but shall return and have another artistic 
 orgie to-morrow. 
 
 After a couple of hours on the water I landed, and went to see
 
 272 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 some of the temples. The great one is dedicated to Biseshwar, 
 or Siva, the patron god of Benares, as Vishnu, or rather his in- 
 carnation Krishna, is to Matthcra or Muttra. This temple is 
 rather a collection of shrines, as, though Biseshwar, in the shape 
 of a lingum or conical stone, occupies the place of honour, the 
 whole Hindoo mythology is represented around. In this court- 
 yard is the gold temple raised to Biseshwar by Runjeet Sing. 
 Now, Runjeet was a Sikh, and believed in the Granth, and not in 
 Biseshwar. He was, in fact, a dissenter, but showed his sympathy 
 for the religion of many of his subjects by this good deed. So 
 I have recorded how Maharajah Sindia kept Mohurrum with the 
 Mohammedan, though a Hindoo. Fancy what a scandal it would 
 make among the pious dissenters, if one of their body subscribed 
 to the building of a chapel for the Romanists, or if a British magis- 
 trate were to contribute to a shrine of Siva ! The Mohamme- 
 dans are not so tolerant : our fanatical friend Aurungzebe de- 
 stroyed Benares much as he stamped out Matthera (or Muttra), 
 and erected the mosque, whose beautiful slender minarets are the 
 first things that strike a newly-arrived traveller, on the ruins of 
 the old temple to Biseshwar, and with its materials too. But 
 though Aurungzebe's mosque is there still, the times are changed. 
 Through some decision of our courts, the right of way to the 
 mosque has been stopped. The Hindoos have been too strong 
 for the Moslem. They will not allow him to use the great gate 
 to the courtyard of his own mosque, but force him to enter 
 through a side door. The mosque is therefore seldom used. 
 
 In all the temples I visited there was a crowd of worshippers, 
 — men and women. They bowed and prostrated themselves 
 before the idols, and, those that had any, poured Ganges water 
 over the Linga ; those that had none, dipped their fingers into 
 the water and signed themselves, very much as Roman Catholics 
 do. They then rang, or rather struck, a bell, to wake the god, 
 " lest peradventure he slept." It is curious how much one religion 
 that is cumbered with much ceremonial must necessarily borrow 
 from another. All this bowing and signing and offering sacrifice 
 one has seen a thousand times in Italy and elsewhere. At one
 
 HOLY BENARES. 273 
 
 temple, that to the Holy Cow, and one of the most picturesque, 
 there were at least fifty bulls and cows, every whit as sleek and 
 fat as their attendant Brahmins. Well, at all events, the Brah- 
 mins have that worship to themselves ! 
 
 In England one gets to consider India as a kind of changeless 
 fossil country, but this is not so. No country has been so terribly 
 harried by innumerable conquerors and tyrants. Aurungzebe, 
 who died in the beginning of the last century, seems to have 
 destroyed more buildings than most countries ever possessed. 
 Benares he quite destroyed ; yet, notwithstanding, the priests 
 here say that temples have existed on the present sites from time 
 immemorial ; but it is a well-known fact that none of the temples 
 now extant are two hundred years old, that is, about the age of 
 Kensington Old Church, lately pulled down. One sure sign of 
 this is their extreme smallness, which is accounted for by the 
 fact that Aurungzebe forbad any Hindoo temples to compete 
 with mosques in splendour, and limited their size. This limit has 
 now become the fashion, and, although our Government of course 
 exercises no control in such matters, all the temples, modern or 
 ancient, are wretchedly small, being all built to the scale to which 
 they were limited by Aurungzebe, but which has now become 
 the prescribed form. 
 
 Benares was much out of elbows generally during the reign of 
 the Moslem bigot, and it was only the revival of Hindooism, under 
 Sivaji and the Marathas, that saved it from falling into utter de- 
 cadence. All the finest houses and temples have been built by the 
 Maratha chiefs of that day, and are kept up by their descendants. 
 
 The Hindoo religion takes a very realistic view of the god- 
 like offices. There is one Deity, Sakhi Binayaka, whose duty it 
 is to record the visits of the pilgrims — sakhi meaning "witness- 
 bearing ;" and no pilgrimage is valid unless the pilgrim goes to 
 this shrine and puts in an appearance by ringing the sacred bell. 
 Again, another deity, Bhairmath, is the kotwal or magistrate 
 appointed by Siva to look after everything in Benares, and there 
 is a temple dedicated to his club, a kind of huge policeman's 
 baton in stone. There are sacred wells of the most stinking 
 
 18
 
 274 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 kind, which are supposed to cure all diseases ; but as the bathers 
 have to bathe in them for twelve years before they can be cured, 
 Nature generally decides one way or the other before the period 
 of bathing is over, and spares the priest responsibility. Thus has 
 priestcraft overlaid the original fine idea of Brahminical religion 
 with all kinds of absurd tradition tending to increase the power 
 of the Brahmins, and bring money into their pockets — that is, if 
 they have any. Yet is Hindooism anything but moribund ; on 
 the contrary, to my surprise, I hear it is converting all the wild 
 tribes by incorporating their deities into the already crowded 
 Hindoo mythology. They say there are three or four times more 
 gods than mortals in Benares itself. Certainly the fervour I wit- 
 nessed both yesterday and to-day, at the bathing and in the 
 temples, was very surprising. People I saw, both men and women, 
 wrapt in thought, holding their nostrils to make their prayer more 
 efficacious, and spending whole hours in religious contemplation ; 
 before smearing themselves over with ashes and ochre, to prove 
 that pooja is over. I have been reading a handbook of Benares, by 
 an English padre, sneering at all these things and at the foolish 
 traditions and stories of these simple folk. If the Brahmins 
 chose to retort, they might find much to sneer at in the religion 
 of the sahib. Far be it from me to say which is the most over- 
 laid with superstition. 
 
 Some people laugh at the poor Hindoo for his worship of idols. 
 Intelligent Hindoos will tell you that they do not worship the 
 image, but view it as a symbol, and that something tangible is 
 necessary to fix the wandering mind of the worshipper ; much 
 as I remember a calculating boy requiring a slate on which he 
 described circles all the time he was mentally calculating, to keep 
 his eye from catching view of anything that might distract his 
 thoughts. In India often the idol is not an object of much vene- 
 ration, except to the uneducated. I saw myself a well-dressed 
 woman make a lingum from Ganges mud, and pray to it for 
 some time. When her prayers were over, she broke up the mud 
 and threw it away ! 
 
 I must conclude with an amusing story of Indian servants,
 
 HOLY BENARES. 275 
 
 which happened to a friend of mine on leaving Simla. This lady 
 had engaged several servants during her sojourn in the hills, and 
 on leaving wished to discharge them. They of course all de- 
 manded chittis (written characters) ; and these characters were 
 given. What, then, was the ladies' astonishment, on arriving at 
 the luggage-booking office, whither she had sent her luggage 
 the day before, to find that it had been refused as " insufficiently 
 labelled." Insufficiently indeed ! The labels were the servants' 
 characters — " Gundha good bearer for three months," &c. ; while 
 the servants had gone off contentedly with the labels, " Mrs 
 , passenger to Umballa." 
 
 2\th October. 
 
 The only temple I visited in Benares after the dispatch of my 
 last journal was the famous Monkey Temple. I went to it at 
 sunset through the outskirts of the town, past many handsome 
 houses belonging to the rajahs and swells, who seem to like to 
 congregate in this truly Hindoo city. Some of these houses had 
 fine gardens attached, which were kept with considerable care, 
 and looked green and pleasant amid the heat and dust of the 
 city. The temple itself is like most temples, a red central build- 
 ing, much covered with carving, standing in the centre of a 
 cloister by the side of a tank. It is dedicated to the goddess 
 Durga, another name for Sati, the wife of Siva. The goddess 
 seems to have a liking for monkeys ; possibly because of their 
 repulsive likeness to human kind and especially Hindoos, for 
 she is represented as a destroying and pitiless deity, who would 
 delight in the lowering of man to the level of brutes. Monkeys 
 abound in the vicinity of her fane. On the payment of a rupee, 
 which is spent in sweet biscuits, to the call of administering 
 Brahmins, thousands of them rush headlong into the temple : 
 meres de famille with young ones clinging to them ; small mon- 
 keys ; large dittos, and every kind of green-grey abomination, all 
 scrambling, kicking, and screaming. Presently they scatter in 
 all directions, and a gigantic male appears. He is the Rajah, and 
 woe betide any one of his subjects who comes within reach of 
 
 18 — 2
 
 276 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 his terrible paw! for this worthy representative of the terrible 
 deity of the place spares neither age nor sex. It was a scene 
 not without its comic or even moral side. 
 
 I remarked that the very young monkeys did not seem to 
 know the use of their hands. When they fed, they took their 
 food with their mouths like dogs. I wonder whether all monkeys 
 do this in their wild state, and only use their hands in imitation 
 of that great ape — man ? Those that I saw, who had arrived at 
 an age of discretion, certainly fed themselves with their hands, 
 but then I only saw them where men could have shown them 
 how to eat.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DHAR — INDORE — SATNA. 
 
 ON Saturday I left Benares and its sweltering heat, and 
 journeyed all one day and night ; past Allahabad, where 
 we were four hours late, owing to the blocking of the line 
 through an accident ; past Jubbulpore ; and across the plains 
 of Hindostan. On Sunday we see the Nagpore hills in the 
 distance, where there is a sanitarium, Puchmurree, much fre- 
 quented by the gasping English of these parts. 
 
 It is very hot, very dusty, and most disagreeable travelling. 
 There are clouds over the hills, and we long for a shower to cool 
 the air and lay the dust ; but no rain comes, and somewhat 
 pumped out I arrive at Khundwa (thirty hours from Benares) 
 some three hours late. Here I am hospitably entertained by 
 the railway magistrate. Khundwa is in the midst of a very wild 
 country, and is the station whence the Holkar State Railway 
 leaves the main line, and travels up the ghats to Indore. Our 
 host, after dinner — or rather supper, for we do not arrive till 
 io p.m. — tells us one or two tales of the jungles around. This 
 one, which I remember, is original. The following telegram 
 was received at Khundwa Station : " Tiger dancing on platform. 
 Pointsman run away. Line not clear. What for do ? " The 
 tiger was shot the next day to prove the truth of the baboo 
 stationmaster's telegram. 
 
 On Monday I journey on by the Holkar State Railway, and our 
 road lay through thick jungle — on seeing which I can well believe 
 the above story — and very much uphill, so that the fifty-six miles 
 to Chozal take over four hours. The line is laid all the way 
 to Indore, except in one place, where for about two hundred yards 
 
 ^77
 
 27S IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 there is nothing but sand. Here they have tried every means, 
 both tunnelling and cutting, but everything falls in, and they are 
 now trying to dig out the objectionable bit, and build in the gap. 
 This little break necessitates a drive of twenty-three miles. The 
 first part of the drive (six miles) is an ascent like the rail, after 
 that you arrive at a level plateau, only broken by several isolated 
 flat-topped hills, and this plateau is the richest part of Holkar's 
 land. 
 
 Indore itself is hidden by trees, and I have not yet seen it. I 
 drove straight to the Residency or Agency, a large strongly- 
 built house, which played a part in the Mutiny, when, by-the-bye, 
 Holkar narrowly escaped being hung by the uncompromising Sir 
 H. Rose. At the door I was received by Captain Barr, who, as 
 Sir Henry Daly, the Governor-General's agent, was at Simla, was 
 deputed to do the honours. 
 
 My travels, however, were not over. After a good rest that 
 night, we started the next morning for Dhar, thirty-six miles off. 
 We " railed " to Mhow, and then drove thirty-three miles over a 
 flat plain to our destination. 
 
 Dhar is a small remnant of what was a large Maratha state. 
 The founder of the family was one of the original leaders of the 
 Hindoo revival, under the great Sivaji, and ought to rank with 
 the Guicowar of Baroda ; but, unfortunately for the present repre- 
 sentative of the family, the founder died before he consolidated 
 his family and state, and both were much preyed on by the subse- 
 quent leaders of the Marathas, Sindia, and especially Holkar. 
 Indeed, if the British had not interfered, Holkar would, in the 
 most neighbourly way, have quite swallowed up Dhar. 
 
 It is a curious fact that both Sindia and Holkar of that day, 
 although they destroyed the state of Dhar, always acknowledged 
 the superiority of the Rajah's family, and in durbars, &c, at the 
 Court of the Peishwa, occupied places of lower rank. The present 
 Sindia and Holkar have, I fear, forgotten their origin, and would 
 be surprised indeed if required now to give the precedence to the 
 Rajah of Dhar, which was readily conceded by the founders of 
 their families, Madaji Rao Sindia and Jeswant Rao Holkar.
 
 DHAR—INDORE—SATNA. 279 
 
 The Maharajah is, like his state, very small, but a most cheerful 
 and friendly little man, who received Barr and myself with the 
 utmost cordiality, and granted me a sitting the very afternoon we 
 arrived. He is a very good little man, and very popular among 
 his people, who say, "The Maharajah may be small, but he has a 
 large heart." He is, I believe, a careful and intelligent ruler. 
 
 The town of Dhar presents a comfortable and, for an Indian 
 town, quite clean appearance. There is a fort, of course, but 
 how unlike the feudal fortresses of Rajpootana ! This is a solid 
 walled and bastioned summit to a hill, strong enough once, before 
 artillery had arrived at perfection, and the art of killing risen to 
 a science. 
 
 Times are sadly changed now. In the Mutiny, when the Maha- 
 rajah was a boy, the Dhar army, only a handful of men, mutinied 
 too, purely from funk, and took refuge in this same fort. We 
 brought up troops, and breached the walls, but by some strange 
 carelessness allowed the mutineers to escape. There, however, is 
 the breach, and it was only this year that the Maharajah had 
 leave to repair our handiwork. The poor little man hid his face 
 when we asked him why he had not rebuilt it, and said the 
 damage we had done would cause him the outlay of a lac, and 
 that at present he could not afford the money, even though he 
 viewed the breach in his ancestral walls as a disgrace. 
 
 Here is a curious story — quite true. On our arrival here the 
 dezuan, or Minister, came, as in duty bound, to pay his respects. 
 Talking to Barr (who is assistant agent), he said of a neighbouring 
 rajah, " Wultum ki bemare hat" (He has the Wultum sickness). 
 And what do you suppose is " Wultum " ? Why, " Old Tom " 
 gin ! a common sickness among the dusky potentates. 
 
 Dhar, the Maharajah, not the place, has a passion for photo- 
 graphs, and has had himself taken in every conceivable position. 
 He sent up for our amusement eight large books, in which, with- 
 out exaggeration, there were fifty photographs of himself. He 
 is proud of his family too, and hates Holkar, who, he says, is 
 not a Maratha, but only a Bania. The Dhars are Puar Rajpoots, 
 and belonged to the first wave of Marathaism under Sivaji, who
 
 280 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 was a scion of the Oodcyporc family, and consequently a close 
 relation of the sun. 
 
 On Friday the Maharajah, having been refused our company 
 to dinner in consequence of our short stay, gave us some sports. 
 We had previously surprised him at a buffalo fight, of which he 
 seemed rather ashamed, as the present Agent of Dhar is some- 
 what of a serious turn, and tries to prevent any amusement of the 
 kind. There is no such feeling with me. I confess I like to see 
 a good fight, even between buffaloes. These in Dhar fought better 
 than those I saw at Muttra, and came together once or twice with 
 a great crash. I do not suppose they really hurt themselves ; 
 the buffalo is not a very plucky beast, and soon runs away. Not 
 so the rams we saw on Friday; they were most plucky, and 
 caring not for weight or size, got knocked head over heels in 
 the most joyous way. 
 
 We saw too some feats of horsemanship, which to my mind 
 were infinitely more cruel than any fair fighting, for the poor 
 horse is bitted most cruelly, and tied in in every conceivable way. 
 It is wonderful to see them walk across the maidan on their hind 
 legs, but not beautiful ; and as they approached, we saw that 
 their mouths were full of blood, from the horrible bits employed 
 to keep them up to their work. 
 
 After the sports I bade adieu to the Maharajah of Dhar, who 
 did all he could for me, and presented me with a curious attar- 
 sprinkler of silver, made at his capital, and a tulwar, that must 
 have been manufactured to his size, so small is it. 
 
 On Saturday we drove back to Mhow, and again railed to Indore, 
 and I am ready to do Holkar and Dewas this week, and, I hope, 
 Sir Henry Daly, who ought to arrive on Thursday from Simla. 
 
 INDORE. 
 
 On Monday, 25th October, I began my rajahs here. Dewas 
 (junior branch) was my first. He is a youngster of about six- 
 teen, who is at school here, being brought up under the eye of 
 the burra sahib ; a thin, sickly youth, cousin to Dhar, and, like
 
 DHAR—INDORE—SATNA. 28 1 
 
 him, a Puar Rajpoot. The grandfather had two sons, whom he 
 loved equally well, and could not bear to give all his broad acres 
 to one, leaving the other in the cold ; consequently he split his 
 property. The two Rajahs were to live at Dewas, and every- 
 thing was to be fairly divided ; and the saying in Dewas is 
 that if a lemon is brought in as tribute, it must be cut in two, 
 that each Rajah may have a share. The Dewas of the elder 
 branch, who is a kind of half-uncle to the younger, is in disgrace. 
 He " raised merry hell " in his portion of the property, so that 
 it has been taken from him to be managed, and he has to live 
 on £2,000 a year, and was not allowed to go to Delhi. 
 
 My sitter is rather a prig; he is not without brains, and fancies 
 himself vastly. 
 
 "What is your favourite study?" I ask him. 
 
 " Political economy, for that is the study of the most use to a 
 rajah." 
 
 He is always talking of his studies, yet two years ago he was 
 a miserable specimen of humanity, who could not speak in the 
 presence of the sahib without crying ! I fancy he tries to say 
 the right thing, and is sly. I hear some little time ago he got 
 very drunk just to see what it was like, and had to be soundly 
 scolded ; now, therefore, he is on his P's and Q's. 
 
 " What is that great garden in London ? " 
 
 " Garden ! Do you mean the Crystal Palace ? " 
 
 "No; I mean where there are so many animals and other 
 things to be seen." 
 
 " Oh, the Zoological Gardens ? " 
 
 " Yes, that 's what I mean. Is your picture going there ? " he 
 asked. 
 
 He intends to go to England, he says. Well, he has a fine esta- 
 blishment of about £40,000 a year, and has had a long minority, 
 so he may be able to gratify his tastes for a few years at least. 
 
 " When are you going to make a railway to Dewas ? " I ask. 
 
 " Never ! " cries my young Conservative ; " for then I should 
 lose all my transit dues on opium." 
 
 "And how about your political economy, Rajah Sahib?"
 
 2S2 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 " ( >h, but the transit dues on opium arc very valuable." 
 
 So the Rajah is, I fear, no exception to the rule. Theory is 
 all very well, but it requires a bold man to practise what he 
 learns. Notwithstanding his speaking English, the little man 
 bores me. I cannot help thinking him a humbug, and resent 
 having fair sentiments stuffed down my throat. 
 
 On Tuesday I go to Holkar. Tukaji Rao Holkar has been 
 ill since Delhi ; he has even now fever, the result of cold, and 
 requested me to paint him as fat as he was at the Assemblage, 
 rather than as he is now. He prides himself on his flesh, and 
 can, they say, eat a whole wild boar unassisted at one meal ! I 
 must say I saw but little change in his vast bulk ; he looks a 
 little greyer, but that may be that he has forgotten the dye this 
 morning. However, he is certainly seedy, and that does not 
 render his society or conversation any more fascinating. 
 
 I described Tukaji Rao at Delhi. I have since then seen 
 many rajahs. His Highness is the twenty-fourth I have painted. 
 Holkar is, however, the bean ideal of a rajah. He sits lolling 
 about in his big chair while flies are brushed away by attendant 
 slaves, and if his Rajahship leans back, a cushion is put under 
 head or elbow ; in fact, a rajah for the Surrey Theatre — " the 
 Great Mogul called Bello " — the dream of one's youth ; yet as 
 sharp as a needle, and as cheeky and proud as the King of the 
 Cannibal Isles with nothing on but a club and a few beads. The 
 second day I went there the Rajah had to put on his jewels, and 
 what a sight ! It takes at least six men to dress him. There is 
 the Hereditary Master of the Jewels, an old man with spectacles, 
 who puts them on with the care of a real artist, while four men 
 stand around with trays, on which are displayed jewels worth I 
 do not know how many lacs. 
 
 "What shall I wear?" says the Rajah. "I think this hand- 
 some." And he holds up a kind of peacock made of diamonds 
 and pearls. " Yes, that will do." 
 
 And the peacock is " offered up " to his head while he lazily 
 turns from side to side, gazing with self-satisfied look into a 
 glass, which originally cost eight annas (one shilling), and which,
 
 p. 282 
 
 H.H. TL'KAJI KAO HULKAK, MAHARAJAH OK INDORE.
 
 DHAR-INDORE—SATNA. 283 
 
 held by a sixth man, contrasts strangely with the jewels it is 
 called on to reflect. Squalor and magnificence are found side by 
 side in all these rajahs' abodes. None of them have any sense of 
 fitness — in fact, no native has. 
 
 "We won't put on these pearls," cries the Maharajah, "for 
 without them this looks more like a crown." 
 
 And this in India, the land of caste, changeless through suc- 
 ceeding ages ! Why, this man's ancestor was a goatherd, and he 
 himself, for all his airs, would cheerfully pay any sum of money 
 to be considered a Rajpoot ; and while many Brahmins stand 
 around with clasped hands, and probably his cook is of Brah- 
 minical caste, not one of them would eat with him, Rajah though 
 he be. 
 
 And Indore ? Well, it is, like many other Indian towns, well 
 to do and modern. Driving from the Residency to the palace, 
 you pass through the same kind of dirty suburbs ; you cross one 
 rather good bridge over a river which, r this'dry year, has ceased to 
 run, the water remaining only in pools, filthy and stinking, but 
 thronged, nevertheless, with people washing, bathing, and praying 
 as usual ; then you pass a square, in the centre of which is a statue 
 of the Resident before the Mutiny, Sir Robert Hamilton, erected 
 by the grateful Holkar to the memory of the man who undoubtedly 
 saved him from being hanged by Sir Hugh Rose. Then you are 
 in Indore proper, a thriving, bustling city, but without any cha- 
 racter apart from other Indian cities. Everywhere is the same 
 feeling for decoration, some of the better houses even here having 
 really good carving on them, but nothing is really fine or striking. 
 You require some aid from nature to make a place really pictu- 
 resque. Pile up the rocks, raise a high cliff, perch a castle on the 
 top, and straightway you have a dream for handbook makers, 
 whether it be Edinburgh, Heidelberg, Jodhpore, or Oodeypore. 
 A town on a flat always starts with a disadvantage from the 
 picturesque point of view, although of course it is easy to make 
 it fine with broad streets and big houses. Well, Indore is on the 
 flat, and since the streets are not broad nor the houses high, it is 
 not picturesque or striking.
 
 284 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 The palace in the centre of the town is not large for so wealthy 
 a Rajah. It is irregularly built, and rises some five storeys high, 
 but then the rooms arc very low, and the windows little holes. 
 Of course the room in which I painted the Maharajah was singu- 
 larly unfit for a painting-room ; what room in India is suitable 
 for a studio ? 
 
 I have done what I want from the Rajah, and am now painting 
 Sir Henry Daly, the Governor-General's Agent here, who is one 
 of the Europeans who are to figure in my picture by the side of 
 the rajahs, to prove that the Assemblage was not got up entirely 
 for my dark friends. Sir Henry is a Lieutenant-General and an 
 officer of some distinction. He commanded the Guides through 
 the siege of Delhi, and was there badly wounded. He is, more- 
 over, an agreeable man of the world, and Irish, so I am bien 
 tombe. 
 
 I do not know what to do after I leave this, or when I do leave 
 it. Rewah, whom I really want to paint, has been telegraphed 
 to, and it is just possible he may come here. If he does so, I 
 shall, while waiting for him, go out and do Rutlam. If I have 
 to go to Rewah, Rutlam will have to be left out. Meanwhile I 
 am expected at Mysore. 
 
 Jt/i November. 
 
 On Sunday there was a Hindoo festival, — the Dewali, when 
 the pious Hindoo regulates his affairs, counts his rupees, and 
 dedicates the whole to one of his innumerable deities, I forget 
 which. When Holkar was sitting, I remarked that I had kept 
 the Mohurrum with Sindia, and the Hooli and Gungore with the 
 Rana of Oodeypore. 
 
 " Then," said Holkar, "you shall keep the Dewali with me." 
 But he forgot to send for me, and I was not sorry, for there was 
 but little to sec. I walked down to the bridge to see the illumi- 
 nations, which were certainly pretty. The river is very low, as I 
 said before, and only a series of pools reflected the innumerable 
 little lamps ; but the dark spaces between, caused by the drought, 
 rather added to the effect. Everything had its little illumina-
 
 DHAR—INDORE—SA TNA. 285 
 
 tion ; the molly or gardener had his lamp in the garden, the 
 syce in the stable, and so on. There was a continual bang and 
 splatter of squib and cracker, and of course tom-toms and flutes 
 were ceaselessly exercised, for natives love noise. 
 
 Monday I employed in painting Daly, and on Tuesday I went 
 again to the palace, to make a study of the Bala Sahib, or the 
 eldest son of Holkar. He is a youth of nineteen, a fine big 
 fellow, with a good deal of " go " in him ; possibly he may grow 
 into a solid lump of inert flesh, like his father. He talks English, 
 and wishes much to go to England. I fancy his " paternal " does 
 not care about "shelling out" for the trip. 
 
 Holkar, they say, is a tremendous bajiia, a financier of the first 
 water. He lends money wherever he can get good security; has 
 his agent at Bombay, and his quiet flutter in that speculative 
 market. Moreover, he has a way of screwing his ryots known to 
 him alone, and gets more out of the land than any other chief 
 I was talking to the head of the police (Khundwa) here, and re- 
 marked that there was no famine in Indore. 
 
 " Don't you know what the Rajah does ? " said he. "He has 
 his agent at Choral (the present terminus of the railway), who 
 gives every distressed ryot his railway fare and two rupees, and 
 ships him off to the British territory. So he saves the expense of 
 keeping his famine-stricken ryots." 
 
 I fear he is not the only man who tries to shunt the responsi- 
 bility of the famine, or rather scarcity (for it is not a famine yet 
 in Malwa), on to the broad shoulders of the British administra- 
 tion. Down the Neemuch road (by which I passed from Oodey- 
 pore, or rather from Chitore, to Ajmere) thousands of people 
 have passed to Neemuch, where British territory begins. They 
 say as many as 130,000, with their beasts and household goods, 
 are there congregated : not yet are they famine-stricken, but at 
 any moment, should grass fail, all these people would be on our 
 hands. 
 
 Meanwhile, during the whole time I was at Indore the sky 
 was of the most limpid blue, and not a cloud was to be seen. 
 The sun rose cloudless, and without a cloud he sank in the red
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 west, hot and scorching, drying up tank and river. They cannot 
 have rain before Christmas, and that is two months off — alas ! 
 
 On Tuesday, 6th November, I left Indore with regret ; for there 
 I met capital living, pleasant people, — all, in fact, that makes life 
 enjoyable ; but I must not linger, and, considering I have painted 
 three rajahs and the Agent to the Governor-General in a fort- 
 night, I do not think I have done badly, especially as I had to 
 go to Dhar, which took more than two days out of the said fort- 
 night. I must say it was with intense regret that on Wednes- 
 day I turned up the line away from Bombay, instead of to that 
 point of happy departure. Rewah had to be done, even though 
 he was sixteen hours' by train out of my way ; and at Rewah, 
 or rather Satna, I arrived at half-past two on Thursday morning. 
 Satna is the residence of the Political Agent, Major Bannerman, 
 and is only a small modern town round the railway station. 
 Rewah is under British administration. The Maharajah, who is 
 of one of the most ancient families in India, is a great muddler, 
 and wasted his substance horribly. If a Brahmin came to him 
 and said a good prayer, the Rajah would say, "That is a good 
 word," and give the holy man a village. And so, after a long 
 reign, villages have become scarce, and poor Raghuraj Sing 
 had to come to the British for 1 1 lacs, and place his realm 
 under a political officer. The state of Rewah, or rather Baghel 
 Khand, is of vast extent, and, like all the old states, belongs in 
 a great part to thakoors and feudal chiefs, who are virtually in- 
 dependent. The Rajah is the head of the Baghele Rajpoots, 
 descended, like Oodeypore and Jeypore, from the sun. I do 
 not think that the Rana of Oodeypore would quite allow either 
 family a direct descent from the sun or Suraji ; but, then, each 
 family naturally thinks itself allied to Oodeypore, who is ac- 
 knowledged head of the Rajpoots. 
 
 Orcha, whom I painted at Delhi, is the head of the Bundelis 
 — enemy of the Bagheles. Years ago the rajah of these parts 
 lost, one after the other, all his sons, and was so distressed that 
 when a new one was born he sent him out into the jungle. There 
 he was found by a holy man being suckled by a tigress, and
 
 DHA R—INDORE—SA TNA . 287 
 
 taken home to his unnatural parent, who, on being sternly re- 
 proved, became repentant and hopeful. This son succeeded, and 
 afterwards founded the clan of Rajpoots called " Baghele," after 
 his nurse ; baghel being " tiger " in the patois of this part of 
 India. So, you see, the story of Romulus and Remus is repeated 
 in Hindoostani. 
 
 There have been thirty-five rajahs in direct descent to the 
 present one, Rajhuraj. 
 
 Baghel Khand is of course a very wild country, and full of odd 
 customs and funny people. The resident or political agent told 
 me that when he first arrived he had great difficulty in convincing 
 them that justice and truth were inseparable from the British 
 Raj. Brahmins, of course, are the great obstructives. They are 
 the Irish of India. However, Major Bannerman hung one for 
 murder the other day, and they have, as the Yankees say, " sim- 
 mered down." Amongst the curious customs may be cited that 
 of bansmaree. When two people quarrel and have words, one 
 will go home and in cold blood cut the throat of one of his 
 children, and the blood of that child is supposed to be on the 
 head of the man who caused the quarrel. Another custom is a 
 kind of Jiari kari, like the Japanese. You offend a Brahmin, 
 and he commits jangJunaree, that is, literally, " thigh-cutting," — 
 sometimes cutting his thigh, sometimes even stabbing himself in 
 the stomach — and his blood is on you. One Brahmin actually 
 did this in court, before the present agent ; but he, a stolid and 
 determined Scot, had him cured, and then gave him two dozen 
 to teach him better manners. 
 
 Among all these people lives the agent, who manages Baghel 
 Khand without a guard of any kind by day, and only one police- 
 man by night. 
 
 I have lost no time here. The very first day, at 2 p.m., the 
 Rajah arrived. I have described him elsewhere. If Holkar is 
 like a rajah at the Surrey, what is Rewah like? Imagine a tall 
 burly man, having his face painted bright red with some kind of 
 earth. He talks English in a curious disjointed way, and can 
 even read it. Altogether he is rather a learned man, up in the
 
 288 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Vcdas, the Vedantas, and Vedangas, but withal a somewhat bur- 
 lesque personage. His painting himself arises from his belief 
 that he has leprosy. The doctors say he has nothing of the kind. 
 1 1: kin is singularly fair, his hands quite like a European's, and 
 large and well formed. When young he was a very strong man, 
 and he is a great shikaree even now, though much given to pooja. 
 He says, "When tiger come, pooja must wait ! " 
 
 This curious individual arrived in a palki with the oddest 
 get-up, his head being bound in a handkerchief to keep the 
 whiskers up in the fashionable manner. Behind him was the 
 usual tagrag and bobtail always found in the suite of a maha- 
 rajah. He then proceeded to dress. What the looking-glass 
 conveys to him I cannot imagine, but with what he sees he 
 seems much satisfied. He has more clothes than any other 
 maharajah, and no end of jewels. His crown, a most eccentric 
 sort of hat, is worth ^40,000. He talks of it with affection, and 
 points out each individual jewel. In fact, he is a kind of mixture 
 of childishness and cleverness, and is moreover a very good fellow. 
 Talking of Jallawar, he said, " He little child, and stupid." 
 
 " Silly ? " said the agent. 
 
 " No ; stupid. He a ass." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 "He come to me and say, 'Maharajah well?' I say, 'I quite 
 well.' Then he say again, ' Maharajah well ? ' I say, ' Quite 
 well.' He say again, ' Maharajah quite well ? ' I say, ' No ; 
 Maharajah ill.' Oh, he a ass ! " 
 
 The poor little Rajah was probably frightened at Maharajah 
 Rewah's appearance, and well he might be. 
 
 "And what do you think of Maharajah Ulwar?" 
 
 "He ignorant — oh ! very ignorant. Not read. He say to me, 
 ' Where live ? ' I say, ' Know capital of Jeypore ! ' He say, ' No.' 
 I say, 'Not know capital of Jeypore ! What for want to know 
 where I live ? ' " 
 
 The old sinner has thirteen wives, but only one son alive. He 
 has had many, but they always die about two years old. In the 
 Zenanas I fancy they stuff them with sweetmeats, and give them
 
 p. 28S 
 
 H.H. RAJHURAJ SING, MAHARAJAH OF REWAR OR BAGHEL KHAND.
 
 DHAR—INDORE—SA TNA . 289 
 
 no end of opium to keep them quiet. When his last child died, 
 he did not even shave himself to prove his grief. 
 
 "What use? T bit philosopher; leave crying to women. I 
 no cry." 
 
 They laughed here when I told them what Daly had said, that 
 he had shaved himself for the death of his mukter or minister. 
 He had bad gout, that was all. I have had three sittings, and am 
 off to-morrow morning at 4 a.m. It is absolutely absurd to paint 
 so elaborate a potentate in the time : a month at least would 
 be required to paint his coat and jewels ; but I have done some- 
 thing like, and he at least is satisfied. 
 
 "I like much picture — oh! very much. I say, sir, I like 
 picture. I want copy of big picture." 
 
 He has no idea of what he wishes. When at Calcutta he goes 
 into a shop, and literally buys everything ; a most burlesque old 
 chief, but a gentleman, and very different from Holkar. 
 
 "Maharajah Holkar he say to me, 'Want to be Rajpoot' Oh, 
 very difficult ; first Rajah Jeypore, then Jodhpore, then Oodey- 
 pore. Perhaps pay one crore (one million), and we talk about it." 
 
 The old fellow would take the money, no doubt, but it could 
 never be done. He is a most staunch supporter of the British. 
 In the Mutiny he stuck to us like a man, and he attends every 
 durbar. 
 
 "Are you going to Calcutta, Maharajah?" 
 
 " Yes, I go." 
 
 " And Jeypore ? " 
 
 " He not go. He very thoughtful." 
 
 " Why ? " 
 
 "Because Maharajah Jummo sit higher. I say what matter? 
 Government mean not harm. Government know. But he 
 thoughtful : that not good word." 
 
 He has just sent me a ring, to remind me of Rewah. He told 
 me, "When see it on finger, think of Baghel Khand. I say, sar 
 when I sitting, I put on durbar face." 
 
 " What is that ? " 
 
 " Like angry tiger." 
 
 19
 
 290 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 "Hungry tiger?" said I, misunderstanding him. 
 
 " No, sar, not hungry ; that mean passion. Angry tiger ; that 
 good word." And he proceeded to call up an expression more 
 comic than any I ever saw . 
 
 And so I bid adieu to this eccentric but kind old man, for whom 
 I confess I entertain a warm feeling of friendship. I fear from a 
 business point of view he is not satisfactory. He changes his 
 mind every minute, and is most impulsive ; but he is, according 
 to the natives' ideas, a perfect rajah. Should British capital ever 
 flow into Baghcl Khand, Rewah may become very rich. There 
 are minerals of all kinds in the country, and untold wealth amid 
 its vast jungles, where even elephants are yet to be found. Alas ! 
 there are no roads. Under British management these no doubt 
 will be made, but if in the time of the present Rajah, he will no 
 doubt squander his money, as he has done hitherto, on Brahmins 
 and splendour. They say he has elephant-chains made of solid 
 sold.
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BOMBAY — BANGALORE — MYSORE — MADRAS. 
 
 HAVING again reached civilization, it is difficult to find 
 anything to record in my journal ; and, moreover, the 
 last batch went away on Monday, and this has to leave on Friday 
 morning, when I start on another journey, against the post, to 
 Bangalore. 
 
 This place is so full of bustle and noise, that sitting here, in by 
 far the most uncomfortable hotel I have yet been in, I can fancy 
 myself back in Europe. But heat, and above all prickly heat, 
 quickly recalls me to a consciousness of self and India. Happily 
 the land-breeze does set in towards afternoon, to make things 
 tolerable. Bombay feels generally like a hothouse, and even this 
 delightful breeze resembles the draught of air from an open door 
 in a Turkish bath, not cool in itself, but cooler than what one has 
 been through all the day. Yet Bombay people like it, and even 
 get ill when removed to a more exhilarating climate. So I find 
 Calcutta people sicken at Lahore, and up-country folk cannot 
 stand either Calcutta or Bombay. I myself feel quite incapable 
 of exertion, either mentally or bodily, here. Perhaps I might get 
 used to it, as the shrimp said to the hot water ; meanwhile, like 
 the shrimp, I am getting a good red colour all over. Never mind, 
 to-morrow I leave for something better. 
 
 I have been painting Sir R. Temple, the Governor of Bombay, 
 who was at Delhi as Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal. It would 
 not do for me to paint a picture of an Indian ceremonial and 
 leave out his marked and energetic features. I have therefore 
 been these last three days to Malabar Point, to do his portrait. 
 
 291 19 — 2
 
 IMPERIAL IADIA. 
 
 " I have a palace at Parel," H.E. explained, " but I prefer this 
 villa, since it's cooler." 
 
 I cannot, in such a climate as Bombay, fancy a more delightful 
 place. It is on a headland, and has the sea on three sides, so 
 that it catches all the cool breezes that blow. There is actually 
 no house. There is a central bungalow, with three large sitting- 
 rooms, and round are seven other bungalows, with sleeping accom- 
 modation, and all in a delightful garden. Each bungalow has a 
 broad verandah, in one of which I immortalized the Governor. 
 It is very hot even there, but after a few hours of fever-heat there 
 comes a cheerful tinkle. You look up, and find it is the glass drops 
 of the chandelier moving in the breeze. The tinkle becomes louder, 
 and never is music more welcome. "Blow, gentle Zephyr, blow!" 
 At nights, even in my hotel the wind blows steadily, and luckily 
 it does, for when it stops you quickly wake, and toss about and 
 fight with mosquitoes, and use bad language (shocking mine was 
 the first night !) in vain, until Zephyr comes again, and you sleep 
 and dream of — her ?— no, but home ! Very pleasant, but very 
 ungrateful. Melvill, my former host, is away, and being left to my 
 own devices, I have seen more of the town, or — forgive me, Bom- 
 bayans — city. Around this hotel are enormous blocks of build- 
 ings, with high-pitched roof and pointed windows, built for public 
 offices at vast cost. Well, I do not like them. They look heavy 
 and out of place ; but then they are like home, and cheer the 
 hearts of the English here, who are very proud of their new 
 buildings. " It was the very best butter," said (I think) the Hatter 
 in " Alice in Wonderland." Yes, but why use it for the works of 
 a watch ? So our friends here have sent to the very best archi- 
 tects for designs, and the very best architects have sent designs ; 
 only those admirable gentlemen have never been out here, and 
 know nothing of the requirements of the country or of the art 
 that exists here, so the result is far from satisfactory; and between 
 ourselves, I do not think the designs, even from an English point 
 of view, are of the best. Quite good enough for India, I fancy, 
 some people would say. On this I have my own opinion. I, 
 being of cold and unsentimental nature, prefer the barbaric
 
 BOMBA Y— BANGALORE— MYSORE— MADRAS. 293 
 
 originality of some of the houses in the bazaar to the Church- 
 warden Gothic I see around me, though such Gothic does remind 
 me of my beloved country and far-off home. There is something 
 absurd in building in India houses with high-pitched roofs. In 
 Europe such roofs were raised to cast off the snow. Fancy snow 
 in Bombay! In India, at all events in the plains, the roofs are flat, 
 for a good reason : the people during the hot weather invariably 
 sleep on the tops of their houses, to catch the breeze if possible. 
 
 BANGALORE. 
 
 lgth November. 
 
 I left Bombay on 16th November (Friday) at half-past two. 
 I need not say the weather was fine. Towards evening we reached 
 the ghats, or mountains, that form the edge of the vast plains 
 forming India proper. I have been up them and down again, 
 but each time have made the journey after dark. This time I 
 had a chance of seeing the beauties of these mountains: strange 
 weird forms of granite, notched and worn into all kinds of curious 
 peaks and pinnacles, all aglow with the setting sun or violet 
 against a golden sky ; while down below are the valleys, deep 
 blue, and fading - into the plains or fiats of the sea-coast. The 
 scene was wonderful, and the traveller going up had every chance 
 of studying its varied effects, for the ascent of the ghats is very 
 steep, being among the engineering triumphs of the age, and one 
 which has only lately been equalled by some of the American in- 
 clines on the Pacific Railway. And so I enjoy myself much, with 
 my head out of window to see the view and get as much air as 
 possible, as the engine puffs slowly along. But evening must 
 come at last, and the finest prospect fade, and I settled myself 
 down for the night, with a hope of seeing something of Southern 
 India at waking. When I do wake I find a flat plain and nothing 
 else. For hours we glide along, still nothing but plain ; then 
 here and there come little mounds of boulders, as though some 
 giants of bygone age had been collecting rocks and piling them 
 in heaps. When the railway passes close to any of these heaps,
 
 294 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 one is astonished to sec the size of the stones. At Raichore, 
 which I reach on Saturday afternoon, there is a whole range of 
 these rock)- hills, and, moreover, a collection of low houses, iron- 
 roofed and English-looking, inhabited by the officials of the 
 railway. This is after more than twenty-four hours' rail. We 
 have stopped at many stations, but, on my honour, I do not 
 think we saw a single house, excepting the station and perhaps 
 one or two houses near. I was told afterwards that there were 
 towns near, but that there had been a quarrel between two 
 engineers as to the proper course of the railway, and it had 
 been decided to take a different course from either of those 
 recommended, and wait for the towns to come to the railway ! 
 Well, the towns have not come, and do not seem in a hurry to 
 come. 
 
 This is famine country, although it looks bright and green 
 now, and fresh with growing crops. By-and-bye two Englishmen 
 come into my carriage, — one evidently a military man, and the 
 other a civilian. I find they are both employed on famine work. 
 I must say I have been rather sceptical about the famine, so I 
 asked my friends, 
 
 " Have people actually died about here ? " 
 
 " By hundreds," says the military man. " When the famine 
 first began, Government would not believe the reports of the 
 collectors. After a time the people began to die so fast they were 
 obliged to believe." 
 
 " What ! " said I, " actually of want of food, or disease ? " 
 
 " Of want of food. When I came here, the place was quite- 
 stinking with the smell of dead people, who lay along the road- 
 side. I do not know what we should have done without the 
 dogs and vultures." 
 
 " I low did you manage to keep well amidst all this ? " 
 
 "Well, I had a touch of cholera, and my assistant died of it ; 
 but it 's all right now." 
 
 " And you have now plenty of food ? " 
 
 " More than we want. There are fifty thousand tons of grain at 
 head-quarters."
 
 BOMBA Y— BANGALORE— MYSORE— MADRAS. 295 
 
 " Yes," said the civilian, who wore green spectacles, " so there 
 is in my taloog, and much of it is rotting." 
 
 " And don't the people bury the dead ? " I asked. 
 " Generally they do not, being too weak ; and if they do, when 
 we insist, they only put them in loose earth, which is no good." 
 
 " Not a bit," said Green Spectacles. " I nearly lost my eye- 
 sight through a fly getting into my eye, which the doctors said 
 must have come from a dead body." 
 
 " Yes," said the other, " I don't know what we would have done 
 without the dogs and vultures." 
 
 " And when you had grain, was there any waste ? " I asked. 
 " I have seen the grain just thrown off the trucks amongst the 
 people ; but this was at the beginning : when we were sent down, 
 we quickly stopped it." 
 
 " And do the people work now ? " 
 
 "They wouldn't at first. They said, 'What's the use? the 
 Queen feeds us.' But we refused to feed them unless they did 
 something, so now they are obliged to work. Of course they 
 don't do half the work of an ordinary coolie, you know." 
 
 " I suppose it 's all over now ? " said I, looking on the green 
 and smiling landscape, so little like famine, where I see crops 
 growing and people working. 
 
 "Yes," said he, "it's only the sick and feeble that suffer now." 
 " And how about the money from home ? " I asked. 
 "We've been distributing it, and a great discussion we've had 
 over it. Our collector is for giving it to everybody. ' John Bull 
 mustn't be trifled with ; it must be given away at once,' he says. 
 Then some missionaries and others say some ought to be kept 
 for charitable institutions, to provide for the future. But we 've 
 decided to give it away, and let the future look after itself. I 'm 
 very much against giving to everybody," he said. " The labouring 
 classes are much the same as they were before, if you give them 
 a cloth and repair their houses. It is the small holders who re- 
 quire the most, for they have lost all power of employing labour, 
 and have no cattle, or houses, or seed. These are the proper 
 objects for home charity."
 
 296 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 I was much struck with my friend's observations. Still, one 
 could hardly believe in such a thing. Every station was crowded 
 with natives, all seeming to enjoy themselves, chattering and 
 making a noise, and, as I said before, the fields looked so green 
 and bright. That night I again spent in the train, and arrived at 
 Arconum, where the rail branches off to Bangalore, at 4.30 a.m. 
 Here I had to stop till 9 a.m. Then on again. Now I find the 
 country changed for the better, and, oh, joy ! at Arconum, before 
 I start, it rains. The whole day is grey and delightful, not only 
 because the rain lays the dust, which is most intolerable, but 
 because the grey is so unlike India, and reminds me somehow of 
 England and home ; and the landscape too has a familiar look. 
 There are high hills and much water ; not lakes, but tanks, only 
 so large as to look like lakes, and the whole scene with its drift- 
 ing clouds and scraps of sunshine recalls the landscape of Scot- 
 land, or perhaps of North Italy about Brescia. Of course there 
 is an occasional black figure to remind us we are in the East, 
 and now and then a grove of palms. Yet I feel sure that if I 
 had done a landscape of that part of the country, no one in 
 England would have thought it was India. 
 
 All Sunday I speed on, and arrive at last at Bangalore at 
 7 p.m. — fifty-three hours from Bombay. This is a long way to 
 come for one rajah ; but on arriving at Bangalore, where I am 
 most hospitably received, I hear that my journey is not at an 
 end, and that I have eighty-seven miles' carriage drive to My- 
 sore, where the Rajah lives. I decide on twenty-four hours' rest, 
 which I think is well earned. 
 
 Bangalore is delightfully cool. It is one of the best stations 
 for climate in India. After the steam of Bombay I quite revel 
 in this temperature, and hope to get rid of my irritating prickly 
 heat, picked up at what its inhabitants call the " First City in 
 India." 
 
 At Bangalore I renewed my inquiries about the famine. 
 
 " Was it bad ? " 
 
 " Bad ? This was one of the worst places ! — the dead bodies 
 used to lie all about the cantonment. I have seen as many as
 
 BOMB A Y— BANGALORE— MYSORE— MADRAS. 297 
 
 thirty collected in one night out of holes and corners by the 
 road, into which the poor creatures had crawled to die." 
 
 " It is all over now, I suppose ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes, it 's all over now ; the crops are splendid." 
 . " I should have liked," said I, — not out of vulgar curiosity, I 
 hope, but because I had seen photographs of the famine-stricken, 
 and they were such very awful specimens that I thought they 
 must have been selected from their improbability, — " I should 
 like," said I, " to see some famine camp ;" and so I was sent to 
 a kitchen. A large quadrangle, surrounded by a high wall, and 
 with one large guarded door, and inside, round the wall, sheds 
 with pens made of bamboo ; and down the middle were two rows 
 of sheds, and under the sheds and in the pens, little huddled 
 heaps mostly asleep. "Are these animals or human beings ?" I 
 think, and then a thing comes towards me — a skeleton ! It is 
 easy to say a skeleton, — to realize it with all its ghastliness is 
 impossible. The limbs with no flesh, and the joints with nothing 
 to conceal their articulation, are horrible enough ; but far more 
 dreadful the head, — mostly shaved here, — showing not only bone 
 but suture; and, worst, the poor ribs back and front, with the 
 shoulder-blades sticking on as if they had been an afterthought ; 
 and the poor stomach, now full, but with skin stretched on so 
 tight that one can fancy one can trace the organs within. 
 
 Now, this is not exaggerated in the least. I have described 
 one ; they are all the same. Add to this horrible skin diseases 
 that would make even a Scotchman scratch himself; and ima- 
 gine 490 of these beings in one relief kitchen! Yet the famine 
 is over, and many of these are convalescent and making sheds 
 for the rest. 
 
 The superintendent, who showed me as much of this misery 
 as I could stand, told me that these were only bad cases — men 
 and women who had wandered from the relief works, from a 
 desire to escape working, and been picked up by the police. 
 
 " These," said he, pointing to the pens, " are those brought in 
 last night. We give 'em lots to eat, but, Lord, sir ! there 's no 
 satisfying 'em. They lie and steal to get more, and that 's what
 
 298 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 makes them ill with fever and dysentery and diarrhoea. They're 
 sure to get it if they eat too much." 
 
 " Do many of them die ? " 
 
 "About ten a night on an average, — sometimes as many as 
 eighteen." 
 
 I pointed to one woman with swelled feet, and asked whether 
 that was dropsy. " Yes, sir, that 's dropsy. That 's what they 
 get last. When they have that bad, there 's no saving them. 
 These are the orphans ; they're well looked after," said he, with 
 a smile ; and I saw a Sister of Charity wandering about them, 
 who was anxious to save their bodies that she might have a turn 
 at their souls. Then we came to the women. I was much struck 
 by the patient silence of all those I had seen, but the women 
 were not silent. Many of them had petitions to make. One old 
 creature was most clamorous. " She wants to be let out, and 
 prefers begging about in the bazaar to being here," said the 
 superintendent. " It 's useless feeding up the old people. Give 
 'em as much as you like, you cannot fatten them." 
 
 " Do parents care much for their children ? " I asked. 
 
 " Not much, sir. I 've known 'em steal their children's food, 
 saying they were certain to die, and the food could do them no 
 possible good. It's astonishing what they'll eat. Now, this little 
 chap," said the superintendent, tapping a little boy on the head, 
 " he '11 eat enough for two grown-up men, and it don't seem to 
 do him any good either." 
 
 The superintendent is a tall stout Eurasian, who was evidently 
 a credit to his feeding, and the contrast between him and the 
 mite was terrible. The boy was scarcely human, squatting on 
 the ground, and progressing in that squatting position, like a 
 monkey. He crawled thus up to us, and laid his upturned palms 
 on the ground, and cried. He was covered with filth, and per- 
 fectly naked : a truly horrible spectacle. 
 
 " It's no use clothing him ; he won't keep on anything. He's 
 mad, sir, and this is not the right place for him." 
 
 The poor boy cried on, making creases in his thin face like a 
 hideous caricature.
 
 BOMB A Y—BA NGALORE—M Y SO RE— MA DRA S. 299 
 
 " Poor boy ! " said I. 
 
 " We have great trouble with him sometimes. He can be most 
 abusive, I assure you. Would you like to see the infirmary, sir ? " 
 But I had had enough of horrors. Infirmary ! were these not 
 infirm enough ? So I left, with an impression I shall never forget. 
 The whole thing, hideous as it was, was rendered almost grotesque 
 by the inhuman aspect of these poor creatures. If they had been 
 white, I could not have stood the sight a moment ; as it was, I 
 could hardly realize that I was of the same genus as these ape- 
 like beings. And the famine is over ! There were double the 
 number here formerly, and ten times the number in other camps! 
 Only a fourth of the famine-stricken here were men. 
 
 My host, a high official, told me that the famine had been 
 coming on for a year, that up to August there had been no 
 showers, and that then the bravest-hearted despaired, for all hope 
 of rain was past. Happily in August it poured hard — a most un- 
 usual thing — and the country was saved. I saw the food being 
 given out to these poor people. Their rice and meat to me did not 
 look appetizing, but I was told that it was better than what they 
 usually had. God help them ! I wonder how many of them will 
 live ? They seemed all treated with kindness, though of course a 
 small amount of discipline has to be exerted. Famine seems to 
 deprive the poor creatures of all sense of respect or decency. 
 
 With Bangalore itself I was rather disappointed. The scenery 
 on the way from Arconum here had been so pretty that I had 
 anticipated finding Bangalore surrounded with hills, and highly 
 sketchable. But the place itself is on an elevated plateau or 
 rolling prairie ; well wooded, no doubt, but without a character 
 of its own. 
 
 On Monday night (19th November), after dinner, I start by 
 moonlight for Mysore. Thirty miles had to be done by carriage, 
 then twenty-seven by bullock-cart, and another thirty by carriage. 
 I have frequently remarked that it is not pleasant for a tall man 
 to travel by bullock-cart, and I experienced all the misery of 
 being doubled up for eight hours. However, the longest night 
 must end, and on day breaking I found myself driving through
 
 300 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 a pleasant country, along a good road shaded by fine trees. At 
 about five I arrive at a place famous in history — Seringapatam. 
 I well remember an engraving of a picture of the death of Tippoo. 
 The usurper has fallen to the ground, still grinding his teeth, 
 and surrounded by equally furious Sepoys ; behind are tall 
 walls and minarets, and, I think, a palm-tree; for what is a 
 picture of India without a palm-tree? Well, Seringapatam is 
 very unlike that picture. I had but a short glimpse of the town 
 or fortress as I drove by, but on my return was enabled to make 
 a longer visit. The country round about is green and flourish- 
 ing, -the rice nearly fit to cut, and nothing remains of the wars 
 of years past, or indeed of the famine of the present year. Seven 
 miles farther on we come to Mysore, so pleasantly situated 
 among green trees, amidst which the roofs glint in so familiar a 
 manner, that I can almost fancy myself in England. 
 
 Mysore, the capital (nominally) of the state of that name, is 
 called after a devil. Close to the town is a hill, rising about 
 1,000 feet from the town level, called Chamundi, on which is a 
 temple sacred to Kali, the wife of Siva. She is reported to have 
 slain here the demon Maheshawar, and this demon's name was 
 contracted to Maisur or Mysore. Kali is of course the tutelary 
 deity of the Rajah. Her sacred rites, including human sacrifices, 
 used to be freely performed here; in fact, Kali is as diabolical a 
 bogey as ever was elevated to the godhood. 
 
 Having refreshed myself after my fifteen hours' coaching, I 
 went with Captain Wilson, His Highness's tutor, to the school to 
 see my subject. 
 
 The school is a summer-house of the late Maharajah's, where 
 a certain number of lads of good family are educated with the 
 present Rajah, and here I found His Highness sitting in class, 
 learning geography. 
 
 Chamrajcndra Wodear is a very stout lad of fourteen; he was 
 the adopted son of the late Maharajah, and succeeded, when of 
 course quite a child, in 1868. In Mysore there are no large land- 
 owners ; probably Hyder Ali and his son swept them all away. 
 But there is a kind of ruling- clan — the Ursu — who call them-
 
 BO MBA Y- BANGALORE— M YSORE— MADRAS. 30 1 
 
 selves Rajpoots, and from this clan the late Maharajah chose his 
 successor. It was curious to see His Highness sitting with his 
 class of less fortunate Ursus. "Turn, Fortune, turn thy wheel." 
 Here is one suddenly made heir to 5,000,000 of subjects and 
 75 lacs a year, and the others have nothing. With him are his two 
 elder brothers, fat, like him, and too old for school, whose occu- 
 pation consists in looking after the fortunate youth. Among 
 the most intelligent of the class-fellows of the Rajah was the 
 Delwai, or hereditary Commander-in-Chief of Mysore. In old 
 time the Delwai was a kind of Mayor of the Palace, and, be- 
 sides being very powerful, had vast landed estates. Hyder and 
 Tippoo quickly seized this nobleman's property, and the family 
 is reduced to comparative poverty. The present Delwai is a 
 charming boy, rather younger than the Rajah. 
 
 I was asked to put a question to the class, and heard from the 
 Maharajah the names of the five rivers of the Punjab, the source 
 of the Ganges, Burhampootra, and Indus, and many other things 
 useful to rajahs. One rather forward youth readily undertook to 
 show me the course of the Congo, though Stanley had only by 
 that week's mail decided that much-vexed question. 
 
 The Maharajah has no pride or swagger. In the evening I 
 went to see the boys play at cricket ; they play right well, bowl- 
 ing round-hand, and "swiping" freely, and all but the Maharajah 
 barefooted ; they actually rink, and put their skates on their 
 bare feet ! Each boy had a long lock of hair hanging behind, 
 while all the rest of the head is shaved; and, as they mostly wore 
 long white raiment, they looked like a lot of demented school- 
 girls when playing. 
 
 They shout and cheer in English, both at cricket and at polo, 
 which game I witnessed the next day. 
 
 The Maharajah is certainly a most amiable lad. He does what 
 he is told without hesitation, and is thoroughly Anglicized. Of 
 course there was the usual struggle with the Zenana. He was 
 taken to Ootacamund, the hill station of this part of India, 
 quite a sickly, mealy-faced youth, and brought back bronzed and 
 healthy.
 
 302 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 " What ! " cried the head Ranee, " I entrusted you with a Maha- 
 rajah, and you bring me back a black boy ! " 
 
 He is, however, quite emancipated from the influence of the 
 Brahmins, as the following incident will prove. The Maharajah 
 has his head shaved (all but one lock) once a month. Now the 
 month was nearly up while I was at Mysore, and underneath the 
 royal pugree there was quite a show of black hair. 
 
 "You must not paint him so," said one of the Brahmin atten- 
 dants. 
 
 " Then he must shave," said I, " for I can only paint what I 
 see." 
 
 "It cannot be! His Highness can only be shaved on a pro- 
 pitious day chosen by the astrologers, and they won't be hurried." 
 
 And so the discussion went on. The Maharajah said nothing. 
 But when he was resting, he said, " Would you mind leaving the 
 hair? I think it is better so." 
 
 His rooms in the palace are quite like a European's, and as he 
 is brought up with every kind of healthy instruction, I trust he 
 may turn out well. I regret the European furniture, though I 
 fear that is unavoidable. 
 
 The palace was built by the late Rajah, who was put on the 
 guddce in '99, and died only a few years ago. It contains some 
 curious bits of Oriental work, in the way of carved ivory and 
 silver doors and thrones, and also the most remarkable collec- 
 tion of atrocious pictures I have ever seen. There are portraits 
 of all kinds of people from the time of Colonel Wellesley, strange 
 specimens of art. 
 
 There is one throne which is viewed with religious awe. It 
 is of solid gold, and belonged to an ancient dynasty of rajahs, 
 from whom the family we put on the throne claim their descent. 
 During the reign of the Moguls, the Rajahs of Mysore actually 
 sent to get permission from the Kings of Delhi to use this 
 throne, and Aurungzebe, after the payment of a large sum, gave 
 them the required authority. And yet I fancy Aurungzebe's 
 authority never reached beyond the Deccan. I was shown this 
 throne, of which the workmanship is curious, and in parts very
 
 BOMB A Y— BANGALORE— MYSORE— MADRAS. 303 
 
 fine. It is supported on three beasts, two, the outer ones, sup- 
 posed to be horses, while the centre one is a dragon, with red 
 glass eyes. On his head was a sprinkling of red powder, show- 
 ing that some one had recently been doing pooja here. 
 
 The town of Mysore was entirely destroyed by Tippoo, who 
 transferred the Government to Seringapatam. No doubt he 
 thought by obliterating all trace of the former Raj to consolidate 
 his own. The family of the Rajah were kept close prisoners in 
 the palace of the usurper, and, when we took Seringapatam, were 
 found in the Hindoo temple, trembling for the result. The son 
 was quite a boy when raised to the guddee, and it was he who 
 built this palace. All these curious carved doors and ornamental 
 work were done in his reign, which lasted seventy years. These 
 show the artistic proclivities of the Southern Indian. Moreover, 
 I saw some modern work that was extremely good ; but of 
 course, as no one now encourages it, and this young Rajah is 
 brought up with English ideas, and will probably look down on 
 everything Oriental, such art will in a few years cease to exist. 
 
 I left Mysore after my afternoon sitting, and drove out to 
 Seringapatam. This well-known place, or rather fort, is sur- 
 rounded on two sides by the river Cavery. The two sides un- 
 protected by the river have been most carefully fortified, I suspect 
 by the French, and are very strong ; in fact, to the old guns of 
 '99 the place must have been nearly impregnable. Our attack 
 was made on the corner at which the river bifurcates. Our bat- 
 teries were placed on the farther side of the river, and across it 
 we stormed. All this is a matter of history. The breach has been 
 repaired, though by the new masonry its situation is still to be 
 traced. 
 
 The town of Seringapatam owes its prosperity of a few years 
 to the Sultans Hyder Ali and Tippoo. There was formerly but 
 a village here, round the temple of Vishnu, from which the town 
 takes its name, — Sre-ranga-patana, " City of the Sacred Sun." 
 The richness of the country round about probably led to its adop- 
 tion as the capital. The river Cavery, unlike most of the rivers 
 of Southern India, was even when I saw it a considerable stream,
 
 304 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 and by irrigation its waters are carried over much of the adjacent 
 country. This year has been a time of unprecedented drought, 
 but around Seringapatam the crops are magnificent, not only 
 rice being grown, but sugar-canes in great abundance. 
 
 We held the city and fort for several years, but the climate was 
 so very malarious, and the number of deaths so great, that our 
 garrison had to be removed, and now we have only one regiment at 
 a place about ten miles off, called French Rocks.* This unhealthi- 
 ness is said to arise from the effects of the sun on the rocks in 
 the bed of the river. Seringapatam has therefore fallen from its 
 greatness, and only boasts the tombs of the two men who first 
 raised it to the rank of capital of a province. But owing to the 
 injustice of posterity, while Hyder Ali, the really great man, is 
 nearly forgotten by the Moslems, whom he raised to power, 
 Tippoo, who was a bigot and a tyrant, and whose conduct was 
 almost that of a madman, still lives in their memories, and his 
 tomb is much frequented by the pious, who can read there, in an 
 inscription carefully preserved by English money, that he died a 
 glorious martyr for his religion, and will live for ever in the 
 hearts of his co-religionists. 
 
 About a mile from Seringapatam is the Durya Dowlat, or 
 pleasure-house of Tippoo, a small palace in a pleasant garden 
 reaching down to the river. This palace is covered with rich or- 
 namentation, and is a most successful specimen of Moslem art. 
 Every corner is decorated with painted arabesques and patterns, 
 while the lower storey (did I say there were two ?) contains a 
 series of mural pictures of the triumphs of Tippoo. Here his 
 army, with his French auxiliaries, all with moustaches, are going 
 to the wars. Here they attack, with artillery, the English, who 
 are forming square, though evidently getting much the worst of 
 it. In the centre of the square is the English commander, Colonel 
 Bailie, represented with whiskers (all the English have whiskers), 
 in a palanquin, with his finger in his mouth, clearly quite non- 
 
 * Anybody who has read that interesting book, " The French in India," 
 by Colonel Malleson, will recollect this place, where some of our severest 
 struggles with the French took place.
 
 BOMBA Y— BANGALORE -MYSORE— MADRAS. 305 
 
 plussed ; while Tippo is painted holding a rose in his hand, 
 calm and triumphant. On one side there is a series of portraits 
 of Moslem swells, past and present. The whole place has been 
 thoroughly repaired.* Probably the sun has harmonized the 
 colours, but the effect of the decorations is most harmonious and 
 excellent, though somewhat barbaric.f 
 
 This place has a very bad reputation for health. They say 
 that -the rocks in the bed of the Cavery give out a miasma here 
 too, but I suspect it is the rich paddy land, irrigated by the river, 
 that causes fever. The Duke of Wellington lived here while he 
 was Commissioner, and must have had many a laugh over the 
 Indian Vernet's attempts at military art. 
 
 I continued my journey to Bangalore after I had satisfied my 
 curiosity at Seringapatam, and in carriage and bullock-cart got 
 through my eighty miles by 8 a.m. on the 24th. Here I rested 
 a day, and left again on the evening of the 25th for Madras, 
 where I arrived at 6 a.m. of the 26th. Madras is decidedly the 
 land of palms. In no other place have I seen them grow so 
 luxuriantly. Of the town I can only speak from a ten hours' 
 visit. I drove along the beach ; saw the catamarans and the 
 surf ; drove out a long way to pay a visit ; and have come away 
 with the impression that the distances are enormous, the houses 
 large and handsome, the club most comfortable (the best I have 
 
 * Lord Dalhousie paid a visit to this interesting building, and wrote a 
 minute, through which a fund was instituted for keeping the place in thorough 
 repair. 
 
 f In Buchanan's journey through Mysore, ad. 1800 (" Pinkerton's Voy- 
 ages"), I find a curious account ol the way the gilding in this palace was 
 done. It appears no gold was used, but lead and glue. The lead is beat 
 very fine dry, and then in water is beat up with the glue, and mnde into cakes. 
 " This," says Buchanan, " can at any time be dissolved in water, and spread 
 thin with a hair brush on common white paper. The paper must be put on a 
 smooth plank v and rubbed with a polished stone till it acquires a metallic 
 surface. The edges of the paper are pasted down, and the metallic surface 
 is rubbed with the palm of the hand, which is smeared with an oil called 
 gurna, and then exposed to the sun. This has to be done two days, when the 
 paper acquires a metallic yellow colour, which, however, more resembles the 
 hue of brass than of gold." 
 
 20
 
 306 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 seen in India), and the climate decidedly hot. They say the 
 town is very poor, and indeed it docs present a rather tumble- 
 down, dilapidated appearance ; but there are numerous new- 
 official buildings, and these have at least the merit of being 
 original, and not Gothic. There are no rich native houses such 
 as one sees at Bombay and, I am told, at Calcutta ; neither are 
 there many rich natives in Madras, as little business is done 
 there. On the evening of the 26th I left, and, after a very hot 
 journey of nearly thirty-six hours, arrived at Hyderabad, and 
 here I am at the Court of the Nizam, our faithful ally.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 HYDERABAD. 
 
 T WAS received by Sir Richard Meade, the Resident, and am 
 J- still at the Residency, though Sir Richard and his family 
 have gone out to their country house at Bolaram, about ten 
 miles from Hyderabad, beyond Secunderabad, where we have 
 our cantonments. The Residency is a palace, with fine lofty 
 rooms built by a former Nizam for the then resident, about 
 sixty years ago. 
 
 At 8 a.m. I left to pay my first visit to the Nizam, so you see 
 I lost no time. 
 
 Our faithful allies the Nizams have always been the most inde- 
 pendent and powerful of the chiefs of India. Like most ruling- 
 powers, they are the descendants of usurpers, the first beino- but 
 lieutenants of the Emperors of Delhi. As the Mogul Empire 
 became weakened by dissensions, and the Marathas conquered 
 the country to the north, the Nizams asserted their own indepen- 
 dence, and were wise enough to help us against the usurpers of 
 Southern India, Tippoo and the French. They were gainers, for 
 they were confirmed in their possessions ; but they voluntarily 
 gave up the Berars to pay their share of the expenses we had 
 incurred conjointly. These provinces were to be held by us 
 until these debts were paid, certain portions of their revenues 
 being spent to keep up the Hyderabad contingent. The debts 
 have long since been paid, but the Berars have been retained 
 by us, and under our rule have greatly increased in value. The 
 contingent is still kept up at considerable cost, while from 15 to 
 20 lacs surplus is yearly handed over to the Nizam. It is to re- 
 gain the Berars that Sir Salar Jung made his journey to England. 
 
 30V 20 — 2
 
 308 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Unfortunately he could not have done a more foolish thing. He 
 was led 1))' the friends of the Prince of Wales to believe that by 
 advocating his rights at head-quarters he must gain the day. He 
 ought to have known that nothing angers the Administration 
 here so much as appeals direct to Parliament, and even publicity 
 is disliked by the mighty officials of the Calcutta Foreign Office. 
 Sir vSalar Jung has caught it hot. He is supposed to have 
 been spoilt by his English friends. He has been snubbed, and 
 struggles on in vain. Even now Hyderabad is a whirlwind of 
 political intrigue. An English secretary of Sir Salar Jung's has 
 been told to go, and no reason assigned. His fellow-minister 
 died, and he has been forced to accept one who has always been 
 acting against him. Every one is in a state of high excitement ; 
 and as I am an outsider, and have no bias for either party, I hear 
 stories on both sides. All I can clearly make out is that since 
 the death of the late Nizam, the English have been determined 
 to break down the barriers of etiquette that surrounded the chief. 
 Up to that date, even the Resident, on approaching "the pre- 
 sence," had to take off his shoes and squat on the floor. The 
 last Nizam's successor was quite a small child, and the then Re- 
 sident, Mr. C. B. Saunders, Sir R. Meade's predecessor, declared 
 he intended to go into durbar with his shoes on, and sit on a 
 chair. Sir Salar said it was as much as his life was worth to try 
 any such thing, as the nobles of the Court were a set of wild 
 Arabs and Pathans. The Resident insisted. He had a telegraph- 
 wire laid on from the Residency to the camp at.Secunderabad ; 
 the troops were then kept under arms, and an official left with 
 orders, if he heard one gun fired, to give the signal to sack 
 Hyderabad. Sir Salar, informed of this, said he would do what 
 he could. He lined the streets with his own men. The Resident 
 left, paid his visit, sat on his chair, did not take off his shoes, and 
 was not killed. 
 
 Since then the Nizam has been accessible to all, but Sir Salar 
 naturally thinks, as an Indian, that some of the prestige of his 
 chief is gone. He is accused of having left his old enlightened 
 ways and of wishing to retrograde ; but I think there is some
 
 HYDERABAD. 309 
 
 excuse for Sir Salar, who is sharp enough to see how gradually 
 English manners and customs undermine Eastern dynasties. 
 After all, though the Indian Government have taken upon them- 
 selves the guardianship, he is the real guardian of the boy, and 
 but does his best to keep his kingdom and honours together till 
 he comes of age. That he saved this part of India during the 
 Mutiny there is no doubt. He may have been shrewd enough 
 to perceive that an Indian anarchy would be worse for him than 
 hard British rule, but he did stick to us. He has done, more- 
 over, an enormous amount of good to the state. All the lawless 
 Moslem nobles, some of whom are very powerful and rich, are 
 completely under his thumb ; the streets of Hyderabad have 
 been broadened and modernized, though still retaining Eastern 
 architecture, and you may, as I did this morning, drive safely 
 along them, though every man you meet is armed with tulwar, 
 gun, and innumerable pistols and knives. Much traffic seems 
 streaming along : swells in palanquins, whose bearers have a 
 queer chaunt (very different from my friends in Rajpootana, who 
 only ejaculate "Hum, hum, ha, ha ! "), preceded by a host of their 
 retainers with swords and spears aloft; elephants, carriages, and 
 foot passengers, — although it is only 8 a.m. Finally, my carriage 
 stops at a large gate of unpainted wood. There is a pause. 
 
 " How do you do ? " says a stout gentleman in brown silk, 
 giving me his hand. 
 
 I alight, and answer his civility ; but I find that the above 
 sentence and " Quite well " are all my friend knows of English ! 
 However, he takes my arm affectionately, and we enter a garden 
 between high walls, in which there is a pavilion. Stopping at the 
 steps to take off his shoes, my friend leads me forward to a good- 
 sized room, where I find the Nizam's tutor, Captain Clarke, who 
 welcomes me, and tells me that the Nizam is putting on his coat. 
 Then, after a minute, the little man enters, salaams, and shakes 
 hands. 
 
 Mir Maboob Ali Khan (the Beloved of Ali), Nizam-al-Mulk, 
 who has titles that would occupy three lines, is a boy of twelve, 
 and small for his age. He has a decidedly sharp face, with eyes
 
 310 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 running upwards, like a Mongolian ; his complexion is fair, and in 
 his small white pugree and red velvet dress he looks like a gen- 
 tleman. He is much improved since I saw him at Delhi, looking 
 stronger and altogether bigger. Captain Clarke makes him take 
 exercise and ride, and, above all, eat wholesome things. As a 
 Moslem, he can eat with us English, and this makes it much 
 easier to look after him than- after a Hindoo boy, like his High- 
 ness of Mysore, who is stuffed with ghee, sugar, and rice in the 
 Zenana, where we dare not penetrate, and who is not allowed by 
 caste to eat with his tutors. This boy is most active and plucky, 
 as I will tell you by next mail. 
 
 $th December. 
 
 My first visit to the Nizam was merely one of ceremony, to ap- 
 point the hour of sitting, &c. ; and, having fixed for 8 a.m. the 
 next day, I made my salaam and retired. I was to breakfast with 
 the Minister, Sir Salar Jung, at ten, and have a sitting from His 
 Excellency afterwards. In the afternoon I drove out to a dinner 
 at Holaram, given by the 12th in honour of the Meades. Bolaram 
 is beyond the Secunderabad cantonment, where we have a strong 
 division of troops to overawe the supposed discontented popu- 
 lation of Hyderabad. It is ten miles out. The road is pretty, 
 rising gradually 400 feet, with ridge after ridge of stony ground. 
 Secunderabad is of course, like all other cantonments, a gather- 
 ing of ghastly white barracks, which even the gold of the setting 
 sun could hardly render picturesque. However, the hospitality 
 of the 1 2th was unbounded; the dinner was followed by a dance, 
 and the evening passed pleasantly enough. I was not home till 
 1.30 a.m., and, as I had not been in bed for two nights, I was 
 not sorry to draw my mosquito-curtain round me and sleep. 
 
 Up at half-past six to go to the Nizam. The same drive 
 through the streets, the same affable gentleman to take me by 
 the arm, and I am in the palace again. I find the Azure,* as 
 he is called, playing at lawn tennis. He will make really a good 
 
 I spell this as pronounced, but I suppose it should be, more properly, 
 "huzoor," meaning "the presence," or " His Highness."
 
 H.H. MIR MABOOB ALI KHAN, NIZAM OF HYDERABAD.
 
 HYDERABAD. 31 l 
 
 player, — hits straight and volleys well. Soon we are at work, and 
 I find that His Highness is a most fidgety subject. In vain the 
 gentleman who brings me in, who is a sort of chamberlain, Mus- 
 tafun Jung by name, tells him stories : he cannot keep quiet ; 
 he sits on the arm of his chair or on the back — anywhere but in 
 the right position. He is most inquisitive, wants to know about 
 my colours, and, having selected some of my brushes, whispers 
 something to Captain Clarke, his tutor. "Ask him yourself," 
 says Captain C. Then Mustafun Jung whispers something to 
 Captain C, and I perceive that the Azure wants my brushes, 
 which I give him ; and he sends for a paint-box and commences 
 a picture of the chamberlain. I find afterwards that it is against 
 etiquette to refuse the Azure anything, and it was this that Mus- 
 tafun Jung had whispered. 
 
 The Nizam is of a most acquisitive turn of mind, and extremely 
 careful. Salar Jung, when I told him about the brushes, said that 
 the little man always took all the nuzzars* presented to him, and 
 as every one who approaches the Nizam presents a nuzzar — gene- 
 rally money — he (Sir Salar) thought his Highness had been put 
 up to it by the women of the Zenana, but on inquiring he found 
 the little fellow locked away all he got himself. He produced a 
 large bunch of keys one day, with which he locks up his savings, 
 which must be, even now, of considerable value. The desk he 
 works at is also kept carefully locked, and one day when I 
 looked inside I found the books, copybooks, and papers beau- 
 tifully arranged. After the first sitting he called for a cloth, and 
 himself folded up his newly-acquired brushes most carefully. He 
 has too a great feeling for arrangement generally, ordering about 
 the servants and boys around him with great abruptness. 
 
 In all affairs of state it is the Nizam first, and the rest no- 
 where. Nearly every day Sir Salar, who, as Minister, has managed 
 the Nizam's state for the last twenty-five years, calls on the little 
 
 * Nuzzars are gifts given by an inferior to a superior. Sir Salar gave one 
 to the Queen, of course ; but the newspapers said " Sir Salar Jung then pre- 
 sented a handsome mugger to Her Majesty, which was graciously received.' 
 "Mugger" is the Hindoostani for a crocodile— rather an unpleasant gift.
 
 312 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Azure. He advances to the foot of the steps, and salaams three 
 times to the ground, while the Nizam stands bolt upright, with 
 his hand raised to the top of his turban. It is a curious sight 
 to see the grown man and powerful Minister humbling himself 
 before the child. After twelve the Azure retires to the Zenana, 
 and tyrannizes over 400 women, who spoil and pet him, as a 
 matter of course. Zenana influence is the principal thing against 
 which the tutors of one of these boy princes has to contend. 
 When Clarke first undertook the education of this boy, only 
 a year ago, he was a very weakly specimen of scrofulous child- 
 hood. He was always surrounded by domestics, so that he 
 could hardly ever breathe fresh air. He was fed on sweetmeats 
 and unwholesome things, and of course permitted to eat what- 
 ever he wanted. Little by little this evil influence has been over- 
 come, and now the Nizam always has a good wholesome meal 
 every morning with his tutor and any other gentleman present. 
 He will not have any servants near him if he can help it, order- 
 ing them away with great hauteur. He rides, plays at lawn 
 tennis, and is anxiously preparing for cricket. In fact, in a year 
 or two he will be as acomplished, in games at least, as any 
 English boy of his age. His health too, as 1 have said before, 
 has wonderfully improved. 
 
 At 10 a.m., after painting the Nizam, I have been each day to 
 breakfast with the Nizam's Minister. Everybody in London is 
 familiar with that tall sad-looking man, with his small white 
 turban and simple long black or dark cloth coat. Everybody 
 agrees that Sir Salar is the best dressed native in India. With- 
 out going quite to that length, I must say that both in appearance 
 and manners he is quite the polished gentleman. To every one 
 he is most polite and courteous, and to me he was most friendly. 
 As I breakfasted with him five consecutive mornings, I saw a 
 great deal of him, and all that I saw I liked. He sometimes had 
 his visitors in while sitting, and transacted business before me. 
 Then, when he was interested or excited, his eyes, ordinarily so 
 sad and heavy, would flash out and show that there was no want 
 of spirit beneath that calm and placid exterior.
 
 HYDERABAD. 
 
 313 
 
 SIR SALAR JUNG. 
 
 There is one thing about Sir Salar that I thought I discovered, 
 and that is that his confidence in himself is so strong as some- 
 times to deceive him. For instance, there is no doubt that he 
 speaks English remarkably well, and has every reason to be 
 proud of the knowledge he possesses ; but I am sure that very 
 often he does not understand what is said to him. Talking with 
 one who seems to understand everything so well, an Englishman 
 is apt naturally to talk as though he were speaking to another 
 Englishman, and employ all sorts of idioms and colloquial ab- 
 breviations, which I am sure even Sir Salar does not understand, 
 but which he is too proud to ask to have explained. I am told 
 he always will conduct his business with the Resident in English, 
 and I am equally certain that many of the difficulties into which 
 he has found himself plunged have resulted therefrom. 
 
 Sir Salar's house is an irregular pile of buildings without any
 
 3 H IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 architectural elevation whatever. The place in which I painted 
 him was entirely English, with pictures, books, and furniture, 
 such as you would find in any wealthy Englishman's house. Sir 
 Salar has, too, a gallery of pictures, about which I would rather 
 not trust myself to speak. He has also an English library and 
 librarian, and an Oriental library, and a sisti mahal, or looking- 
 glass hall, &c, &c. ; in fact, there is court after court of reception- 
 rooms. He has an embarrassing way of saying, " And what do 
 you think of that picture?" otherwise I always enjoyed my visit 
 to him very much. 
 
 I have heard now so much of the questions that agitate 
 Hyderabad society, and have heard too both sides, that I begin 
 to have a clear opinion of their character and importance. There 
 is no doubt of one thing, viz., that Sir Salar has the Berars on 
 the brain. For years he has thought of nothing else. In vain 
 the Government here have told him that the time for the recon- 
 struction of our treaties with the Nizams has not yet arrived. 
 Sir Salar will not take that for an answer. He has committed 
 the unpardonable fault of agitating at home. He has had all 
 kinds of petitions and statements presented to all kinds of august 
 persons unknown to the Indian Government. 
 
 Now, it must be clear to everyone that the Indian Government 
 must be paramount here, and that, if the Nizam is under them, 
 it is wrong to communicate with those at home, except through 
 the Foreigh Office in India. But, unfortunately, Sir Salar has 
 been influenced by the visitors whom he has received here, some 
 of them peers and M.P.s, and has put himself undoubtedly in the 
 wrong. When his late colleague died, he was asked who was fit 
 for the post, and he said there was only one person, but that he 
 was his enemy. Well, the Government, having suffered much 
 from Sir Salar lately, thought it was not right to leave him alone 
 in the management of the state, so said they, " As you acknow- 
 ledge there is but one person who is capable of helping you, we 
 must perforce appoint that one person, although, as you say, he 
 is your enemy." And so the co-Regent was appointed, and Sir 
 Salar was much shut up.- How all the squabbling will end I do
 
 HYDERABAD. 3 ! 5 
 
 not know. I fear it can only end in one way, and that not the 
 way the Minister would wish. Meanwhile he has to put up with 
 the co-Regent, who was here to-day, and is an elderly gentleman, 
 with a capital head to paint, and has the name and title of Nawab- 
 Sheemool-ool Oomrah Amir-i-Kabir Bahadoor ! 
 
 Sir Salar Jung is a notable instance of the difficulties with 
 which an educated native has to contend. He is a most able 
 administrator, — that is allowed by all sides,— but he is not a suc- 
 cessful diplomat. Now this is not Sir Salar's fault. He fights us in 
 diplomacy as a native, and according to native ideas ; but he talks 
 English so well, and is so English in his seeming habits, that the 
 English officials who have to deal with him are apt to treat him 
 as though he were an Englishman. When, therefore, he commits 
 a fault in our eyes, everybody is aghast, forgetting that in the eyes 
 of the native what we consider a fault is not a fault, but even 
 a merit. To get the better of an adversary by whatever means 
 you can devise is the natives' idea. Truth, honour, consistency, 
 these are English virtues, and to the natives incomprehensible. 
 Not that I wish to accuse Sir Salar of any want of truth, but only 
 of that suppleness to be found in every Oriental from Con'stanti- 
 nople to Shanghai. The rulers of. India are often of the un- 
 bending class, and make no allowance for such things. 
 
 Sir Salar is accused of a wish to get all the power into his own 
 hands. " Ambition is a grievous fault, and grievously hath Salar 
 answered it." I think it is only too probable that Sir Salar is 
 fond of power. He has been Prime Minister since he was quite 
 young. Ruling has been his only occupation, and no one can say 
 he has been unsuccessful in ruling the state of Hyderabad. To 
 give up this would be as death to him ; yet, if he had been a 
 wise man, he would have resigned for a time, and let people see 
 that this turbulent state is not so easily managed ; for Hyderabad 
 is full of the descendants of all the wild Afghans, Pathans, and 
 Arabs of the late Mogul Empire, who sought a field for their 
 ambition here, under the Nizam-ul-Mulk. Thus, among the nobles 
 that followed the Nizam to Delhi last year, I find many Arabs, 
 and one Hindoo rajah. Sir Salar Jung himself is a pure Arab.
 
 3l6 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 He told mc that his ancestors came from between Jerusalem and 
 Damascus. In the old days all these Arabs had armies of re- 
 tainers, who always went armed, and were ever ready for a law- 
 less act. Now, Sir Salar has acquired such a supremacy over 
 them, that they are quiet ; but, his influence once removed, they 
 would quickly revert to their old ways. Two of the most power- 
 ful of these Arab chiefs Sir Salar took with him to England, to 
 be sure of them during his absence. One is since dead ; the 
 other, an old gentleman of past eighty, I saw. He was much 
 pleased at the notice the Pope Pio Nono had accorded him. He 
 was just of the same age as His Holiness. 
 
 As a curious instance of the state of the society at Hyderabad, 
 take this story. During the lifetime of the late Nizam, who 
 
 hated Sir Salar, there was as Resident a certain Col. D . Now, 
 
 the Nizam was anxious to oust the Minister, and naturally wished 
 to have the support of the Resident in doing so. 
 
 One day a lady, calling herself Mrs. D , put herself in 
 
 communication with the Nizam, through the Amir-i-Kabir, and 
 promised to use her influence. She was told to call again, and, 
 doing so, left with a carriage-full of rupees, when, to the horror 
 of the conspirators, it was discovered that the lady was the wife 
 of a chemist, who had dressed up as the Resident's wife, and had 
 walked off with the rupees. This story was one of the reasons 
 given for not employing this Amir-i-Kabir ; but the thing hap- 
 pened many years ago, and if attempts at bribery were to be a 
 bar to public employment in native states, even Sir Salar might 
 have to plead guilty. 
 
 Etiquette is very strict here. The amount of bowing and 
 salaaming at the Minister's is most embarrassing. A younger 
 brother is not allowed to sit in the presence of his elder, and 
 salaams to the ground on coming into the room. I have been 
 told that at the Nizam's Court when a boy is born, eight wet- 
 nurses are chosen for him, and generally succeed in killing him 
 with over-nourishment, as might be expected. The late Nizam 
 died in a singular and most distressing way. He had a disease, 
 not dangerous of itself, but one which rendered a slight opera-
 
 HYDERABAD. 317 
 
 tion necessary ; but he funked. He had all the people of the 
 city who were afflicted with the same disease brought to him and 
 operated on in his presence; yet he could not make up his mind, 
 and at last mortification set in, and he died miserably. 
 
 This story of the etiquette of the Nizam's Court will, I hope, 
 prove interesting. When the Nizam was paying a visit to Gol- 
 conda, he, boy-like, ran into Sir Salar Jung's room, and found 
 the Minister taking a siesta. The Minister had taken off his 
 girdle ! Now, to be in the Nizam's company without a girdle is 
 a heinous offence, and the Minister at once handed over to the 
 little Nizam fifteen gold moliurs. The next morning he sent 
 him 1,500 rupees to complete the fine! What do you think they 
 call this girdle, which is generally a golden kind of sword-belt ? 
 Buggclas, which they say is an English word. Can it be derived 
 from " buckles " ? 
 
 The Hyderabadists are, like all natives, mad on the subject of 
 glass chandeliers. They have them even in the mosques, and 
 when they are tied up in muslin bags they have anything but a 
 religious look, but rather as if the family were out of town. 
 
 Golconda, which raises in one's mind visions of diamond mines, 
 is a town about six miles from Hyderabad, and is the state prison.. 
 Europeans are jealously excluded from its sacred precincts, 
 except when the Nizam is there ; and as the Nizam never goes 
 there, except once, at the commencement of his reign, or when 
 consigned there as a prisoner, I do not suppose any European 
 had ever been there before the Resident and Captain Clarke, the 
 other day. There is nothing, they tell me, inside. The outside, 
 which I visited one morning, presents the appearance of a forti- 
 fied hill, of which I made a sketch. As a fortress, now-a-days, 
 it will be quite useless. The tombs about which I had heard 
 so much are veritable whited sepulchres, and not worth a visit. 
 
 On Wednesday, 5th December, the Nizam left Hyderabad 
 for an outing. He wished to show his grandmother, who was 
 too ill to go to Delhi with him, what the railway was like ; so 
 he got permission, not without difficulty, to go to a garden he 
 has at Puttemcheroo out - station, along the Hyderabad and
 
 3 l8 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 Bombay Railway. And what a set out it was, all to give plea- 
 sure to an old woman and a boy ! There was a special train 
 of sixteen carriages, for the Minister and most of the Court 
 went out, as a matter of course. The station was crowded 
 with the great ones of the country, all with pistols, swords, and 
 daggers. I went also to say good bye and see the little man off. 
 The ladies had to get in at a station of their own, far removed 
 from the vulgar gaze. They were late, of course ; but, after an 
 hour's waiting, drums beat, trumpets sound, and in walks the 
 little Azure with great dignity, amid the low salaams of the 
 notables. He shakes hands condescendingly with me, but is evi- 
 dently greatly excited. Three saloon carriages, full of ladies, are 
 hooked on, and off goes the train. And so I bad adieu to the 
 Nizam and drove off to Bolaram, where I was hospitably enter- 
 tained by the Resident, and polished off his portrait in three days. 
 Then I started for Bombay, and after thirty hours' rail arrived at 
 that centre of commerce. Again I am entertained by my good 
 friend Melvill, whose hospitality is unbounded. I left him just 
 a year ago, and return to find the Buganvilliers again in full 
 bloom, and everything as it was when I was last here ; and yet 
 what a lot have I seen since then ! I find sixty-seven names of 
 places marked on my pocket-book as visited within the year! 
 I have been seventy days and forty nights travelling in different 
 conveyances — more than two months of my life ! This " gives to 
 think," as the French say.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 NOWSAREE — BOMBAY. 
 
 I DO not remain in Bombay. On the 12th I leave for Now- 
 saree, where I am to paint the Gaekwar. It is not a long 
 journey, but the train is slow. I start at 6.30 a.m., and arrive at 
 5.40. The railway, besides being slow, is most inhospitable, for 
 during the whole of that time there is no station at which one 
 can feed, and having brought no food with me, I find myself 
 breakfasting at 6.30 p.m. It was, however, cool. In Bombay I 
 shall never forget Melvill's astonished observation : " Why, the 
 thermometer only reaches sixty-five degrees : I never remember 
 it so low ! " This was at 8 a.m. 
 
 I am rather disappointed at having to come here instead of 
 painting the Gaekwar at Baroda itself. I have deferred making 
 studies of elephants, camels, &c, and their trappings, since every- 
 body said, "Oh, you'll find all that best at Baroda." So at 
 Baroda I expected a regular orgie — a feast of colour ! and now 
 I shall not get done what I wanted, for I must not delay my 
 departure from India for any feast whatever. I ought to have 
 known better. Always sketch while you can, and never put off 
 making valuable notes because people say you can do better in 
 another place. I remember I was told that the carved work 
 was infinitely better at Jeypore than at Gwalior. I found the 
 contrary to be the case. Possibly the barbaric splendour of 
 Baroda has been exaggerated. Let me think so ! 
 
 Nowsaree is a town, or rather large village, of some 20,000 in- 
 habitants, differing from other Indian villages only in that it is 
 one of the head-quarters of Parseeism. These people, the most 
 industrious and money-making of all the people in India, origi- 
 nally settled down somewhere here, and here they still are, in 
 
 319
 
 320 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 great numbers. It is in one of their residences that I am lodged 
 at present. This house is perfectly new, and rather coquettish in 
 its bright yellow and blue paint. There arc two largish rooms, 
 both of course full of chandeliers, one on the ground floor, and one, 
 with a balcony, on the first floor. Opening from the latter is a 
 very small room, in which I sleep ; how a large Parsee family can 
 live here I cannot imagine. There are Towers of Silence at Now- 
 saree, and many grim stories about them. The following one 
 was told me as perfectly authentic, the name both of the man 
 and of the village in which he at present resides being given. 
 
 It appears, then, that a certain Parsee was attacked with some 
 choleraic symptoms, and through exhaustion fell into a kind of 
 syncope. His relations thought he was dead, and off he was 
 carried to the Tower of Silence. The priest saw his body placed 
 on the terrible grating ; the fatal door was closed ; the birds 
 swooped down on their prey. But at the first plunge of those 
 fearful beaks the man recovered consciousness. A terrible 
 struggle ensued ; but finally he succeeded in climbing up the 
 walls of his prison by ladders, which, they say, are always there, 
 and he crawled back home. His family, however, would have 
 nothing to say to him ; they declared the real man was dead, 
 and that he was an impostor. The Parsee community, too, 
 threatened to kill him if he stayed at Nowsaree, and so the poor 
 wretch went forth, a beggar and an outcast. One of the neigh- 
 bouring villagers, however, took pity on him, and there he lives 
 at present, and, so great is the indignation his case excited 
 amongst the quiet country folk, no Parsee dare show himself 
 within the precincts of that sheltering village. Such is the story 
 told me, and generally believed here. I do not certify to its truth. 
 It may be merely the invention of the enemy, but it is curious, 
 and somewhat ghastly. 
 
 The morning after my arrival here, at 8 a.m., the Gaekwar 
 came to sit. Siaji Rao Guicowar, or Gaekwar, Maharajah of 
 Baroda, and future possessor of an income of ;£ 1,100,000 a year, 
 was about two years ago a common village boy. He was the 
 lucky one of three who were brought up for selection to Jumna
 
 NO WSA REE— BOM BA V. 3 2 1 
 
 Bae, the Ranee of Khundi Rao Gaekwar. To realize the extra- 
 ordinary changes and sudden rises that occur in native history, 
 it will be necessary first to recount the history of the Ranee. 
 Jumna Bae was of good family, and, being very pretty, cap- 
 tivated the heart of Khundi Rao, who married her when only 
 twelve years old. If report speaks true, the Gaekwar was not 
 above chastening even in public the object of his love, who 
 received at least as many slaps as caresses. 
 
 However, Khundi Rao went the way of all Gaekwars, and on 
 his death the Resident rather prematurely proclaimed Mulhar 
 Rao, his brother, Gaekwar in his stead. This Mulhar Rao had 
 the worst reputation. He had spent a good deal of his time in 
 prison. At nine years old he is said to have tried to poison his 
 nurse. At eighteen he tried to poison his brother, Khundi Rao 
 Gaekwar. Now Khundi Rao was not over given to clemency, and 
 would, had he had his own way, have got rid of his brother with- 
 out scruple. But our Resident was horrified. "What, kill your 
 own brother ? " he cried. 
 
 " Why not ? " said Khundi Rao, " since he is a wild beast, and 
 not fit to live ! " 
 
 But the Resident was firm, and Mulhar Rao was sent to prison. 
 After nine years, through the influence of another Resident, he 
 was so far pardoned as to be allowed to join a set of fakirs. 
 And so for several more years he went about with nothing on 
 but a bit of string, serving the deity of his choice. People have 
 told me that they have seen him go to the Resident's in this nude 
 state, and put on clothes in a carriage for his interview, and after 
 his talk retire again clothes-less. All this did not tame his wild 
 spirit. Once he tried to force his way into the presence of his 
 brother and sovereign, but was unceremoniously turned out by 
 Bhao Sindia, the Minister. However, the Gaekwar had no chil- 
 dren, so his brother was next in succession, and had to be acknow- 
 ledged Maharajah. As Khundi Rao predicted, we rued the day he 
 escaped the just punishment of his misdeeds. The Resident was, 
 moreover, premature in proclaiming him Gaekwar, for shortly after 
 this acknowledgment it was discovered that Jumna Bae was in a 
 
 21
 
 3 22 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 fair way to increase the number of the Gaekwar's family. Here 
 was a fix ! Mulhar Rao was told that if the child proved to be a 
 boy he would have to give up his gitddee. Imagine Mulhar Rao's 
 feelings ! For safety's sake Jumna Bae was removed from the 
 palace, and taken care of by an English lady. The Gaekwar in 
 possession was furious. He used to exercise his troops round 
 the house in which the Ranee lived, and fire his biggest guns 
 under her window, in the hopes of producing a mishap. He is 
 said to have tried poison. But in vain ! Eight months after the 
 death of Khundi Rao the child was born, and reported a boy. 
 Even poor Jumna Bae was told it was a boy. The Gaekwar was 
 in despair. At last, however, the truth came out that it was a 
 girl. The Gaekwar is reported to have danced about the room, 
 and to have shied his turban to the ceiling in his joy. His one 
 object then was to get hold of the mother and child, against 
 whom he swore all kinds of vengeance. To the mother espe- 
 cially, whose beauty excited his passions, he swore — I will not 
 say what. Jumna Bae was much too wise to trust herself to the 
 tender mercies of the Zenana. She escaped to Poona, and there 
 lived on the magnificent sum of thirty rupees a month, allowed 
 by the English. 
 
 Mulhar Rao's subsequent proceedings all the world knows. 
 How he fell a prey to the charms of Luxmee Bae, a woman of 
 low caste, and some one else's wife ; how he tried to poison 
 Col. Phayre, &c, &c. At last he was deposed. Then came the 
 question of succession, and Jumna Bae was fetched from Poona, 
 and thirty rupees a month, to assume the position of Ranee 
 Regnant, and choose a Gaekwar. The present Gaekwar is her 
 adopted son ; over him and the palace she rules supreme, and 
 whenever she goes out or in, it is amidst the cries of her servants, 
 " Wealth and happiness, Maharanee Sahib ! " and to the sound of 
 " God save the Queen ! " 
 
 The Gaekwar himself is a thick-set lad of fifteen. At first 
 he looks stupid and stolid, but when you talk to him you 
 quickly perceive that, though not brilliant, he is far from un- 
 intelligent. He has immense determination and energy. He
 
 H.H. JUMNA BAE, MAHARANEE REGNANT UF BARODA.
 
 NO WSA REE— BO MBA Y. 323 
 
 already speaks and reads English very well, and bids fair to 
 be quite a model chief. He conducts his sports with the same 
 energy he displays at his work. I got up one morning to see 
 him wrestle. Wrestling, you must know, is a national weak- 
 ness of the Gaekwars. Mulhar Rao spent prodigious sums on 
 this amusement. Under the frugal administration of Sir Mad- 
 hava Rao, the present Regent, this establishment has been very 
 much cut down. The principal pailwan, or wrestler, has left 
 in disgust, but No. 2 still remains to teach the young Gaekwar. 
 No. 2 is a very fine man, too "beefy" according to our ideas of 
 training, but with enormous development of shoulders and thin 
 flanks. His struggles with the 'Gaekwar were a most amusing 
 exhibition. He groaned, as if with terrible effort ; he allowed 
 himself to be thrown head over heels by the boy, and struggled 
 ludicrously in his boyish grasp. Then some of the smaller boys 
 came to have their lesson. It was like an enormous Newfound- 
 land toying with a small terrier. He rolled them about, and 
 kicked them gently over with his feet, without hurting them. 
 However, the Gaekwar is a most muscular fellow, and I would 
 back him against any lad of his size in his national pursuit. 
 
 There is nothing of a palace here. The house in which Jumna 
 Bae and the Gaekwar live is unusually squalid, even for a rajah's 
 palace. Here, on the afternoon of my first day, I went to see the 
 Ranee. We were ushered up to a tolerably well-sized room, where 
 we found a tall slender woman, still very pretty. Her eyes are 
 large and well formed, her nose straight, her check-bones rather 
 wide, and her mouth large and well formed, notwithstanding 
 her inveterate habit of pdn-ea.ting, which has spoiled her teeth. 
 Even while receiving us, when speaking, her cheek was bulged with 
 a lump of pan. She had on a dark blue muslin sarree, through 
 which one could distinctly see her olive-brown skin. Indeed, to 
 the waist she was virtually naked, except that across her breasts 
 she wore a rather coquettish red and gold embroidered staylette. 
 Her hands and feet are unusually beautiful, even in this land of 
 lovely extremities. Both are arranged with the greatest care ; 
 every nail is carefully marked, where the flesh ceases to adhere 
 
 21 — 2
 
 324 IMPERIAL IX MA. 
 
 with a semicircle of henna ; and on each great toe she has two 
 rings, and one on each little toe. Nevertheless, she is singularly 
 free from artistic retouches. Unlike the other women I have 
 seen in India, her eyes arc untouched with black ; she wears no 
 nose-ring ; only in the centre of her forehead there is a beauty- 
 mark, a kind of tattoo, of delicate blue, and on her cheek and 
 chin a single spot of the same colour ; and her jewellery, though 
 handsome, is not garish or vulgar. 
 
 Jumna Bae is still young, only twenty-five : her manners, when 
 she likes, arc charming ; with me she used her sweetest smiles, 
 and expressed her willingness to sit as long as I liked. I hear, 
 however, that she has the proverbial fickleness of her sex, and 
 that she can frown as well as smile. About her there arc all 
 kinds of rumours, which I would rather not believe. Who in 
 high position escapes the foul tongue of calumny? Tara Bae, 
 her little daughter, born, as I have described, during the stormy 
 times of Mulhar Rao, is a charming little creature of four or five. 
 She cannot believe she is not a boy, and insists on being dressed 
 like the Gaekwar. When he came here riding, she also appeared 
 riding astride. 
 
 It is not an] unusual thing for Maratha women to rise to 
 power. There were two celebrated instances in the Holkar 
 family, and more than one instance, too, in the royal family of 
 Sattara. Many of these ladies have left reputations behind them 
 which are not of the best. Tara Bae of Sattara, and Toolsah 
 Bae, widow of Jeswant Rao Holkar, were both ladies of capri- 
 cious tastes, who preferred to change the 
 
 " Lilies and languors of virtue 
 For the roses and raptures of vice." 
 
 Toolsah Bae was altogether a kind of Hindoo Messalina, and, 
 when she was taken and beheaded on the banks of the Scepra 
 in 1817, according to an eyewitness, "Not a foot stirred and not 
 a voice was raised to save a woman who had never shown mercy 
 t< > others." 
 
 But it is pleasant to find in the annals of the Marathas an
 
 NOWSAREE—nOMDA Y. 
 
 3^5 
 
 TARA BAE, DAUGHTER OF HER HIGHNESS THE MAHARANEE JUMNA BAE. 
 
 instance of a woman and a queen who may compare with any of 
 her Western sisters in virtue and talent. Ahalya Bae, the account 
 of whose life and reign may be read in Malcolm's " Central 
 India," was the wife of the son of Mulhao Rao, the first and 
 cleverest of the Holkar family. Her son, on succeeding his 
 grandfather on the guddee, proved unworthy of his parentage, 
 being a kind of lunatic. When he died the direct line of the 
 Holkar family failed. But Ahalya Bae, refusing to follow the 
 custom of her country and adopt a boy, assumed the sovereignty 
 herself, choosing Tukajee Rao to command the armies of the 
 state. Tukajcc styled himself " Son of Mulhar Rao Holkar,"
 
 326 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 and called Ahalya Bae his mother ; yet she was the younger of 
 the two. 
 
 In those clays (1765) the Maratha women appear to have 
 "rejected the custom of the Mohammedans, which is not pre- 
 scribed by any of the institutions of their religion." Ahalya Bae 
 showed herself to all, and transacted all her business in person. 
 Her days were divided between the affairs of state and her 
 religious duties. "I deem myself answerable to God," she used 
 to say, " for every exercise of power." And when urged by her 
 ministers to acts of extreme seventy, was wont to exclaim, " Let 
 us mortals beware how we destroy the works of the Almighty." 
 
 Ahalya Bae reigned at Indore thirty years. She is thus de- 
 scribed by Malcolm : " She was of middle stature, and very thin ; 
 though at no period of her life handsome, her complexion, which 
 was of dark olive, was clear ; and her countenance is described 
 as having been, to the last hour of her existence, agreeable, and 
 expressive of that goodness which marked every action of her 
 life. She was very cheerful and seldom in anger, but when pro- 
 voked by wickedness or crime, the most esteemed of her at- 
 tendants trembled to approach her. The mind of this extra- 
 ordinary woman had been more cultivated than is usual with 
 Hindoos. She could read and understand the Puranas or sacred 
 books, which were her favourite study. She is represented as 
 having been singularly quick and clever in the transaction of 
 business. After her husband's death she never wore coloured 
 clothes or any jewels, except a small necklace, and indeed re- 
 mained amid every temptation unchanged in her habits or cha- 
 racter. Flattery appears to have been lost on Ahalya Bae. A 
 Brahmin wrote a book in her praise, which she heard read with 
 patience ; but after observing " she was a weak, sinful woman, 
 and not deserving such fine encomiums," she directed it to be 
 thrown into the Nerbudda, and took no further notice of its 
 author. 
 
 " A female without vanity, a bigot without intolerance, a mind 
 imbued with the deepest superstition, yet receiving no impres- 
 sions except what promoted the happiness of those under its
 
 NO WSAREE—BOMBA V. 3^7 
 
 influence; a being exercising, in the most active and able manner, 
 despotic power, not merely with sincere humility, but under the 
 severest restraint that a strict conscience could impose on human 
 action ; and all this combined with the greatest indulgence for the 
 weakness and faults of others. Such, at least, is the account which 
 the natives of Malwa give of Ahalya Bae : with them her name 
 is sainted, and she is styled an Avatar, or Incarnation of the 
 Divinity." 
 
 Yet few women have had to support such sore domestic afflic- 
 tions. Her husband was killed in battle when she was barely 
 twenty. Her son, on being raised to the throne, went clearly 
 mad, though she firmly believed him to have been possessed of 
 an evil spirit. She had beside one daughter, Muchta Bae, who 
 was married, and had one son, who died at Mhysir on reaching 
 manhood. Twelve months afterwards his father died, and Muchta 
 Bae declared immediately her intention of committing sati with 
 the corpse of her husband. " No efforts (short of coercion) that 
 a mother and a sovereign could use were untried by the virtuous 
 Ahalya Bae to dissuade her daughter from the fatal resolution. 
 She humbled herself to the dust before her, and entreated her as 
 she loved her God not to leave her desolate and alone upon the 
 earth. Muchta Bae, though affectionate, was calm and resolved. 
 
 "'You are old, mother,' she said, 'and a few years will end 
 your pious life. My only child and husband are gone, and when 
 you follow, life I feel will be insupportable ; but the opportunity 
 of terminating it with honour will then be past.' " 
 
 " Ahalya Bae, when she found all dissuasion unavailing, deter- 
 mined to witness the last dreadful scene. She walked in the 
 procession, and stood near the pile, where she was supported by 
 two Brahmins, who held her arms. Although obviously suffering 
 great agony of mind, she remained tolerably firm, till the first 
 blaze of flame made her lose all self-command ; and while her 
 shrieks increased the noise made by the exulting shouts of the 
 multitude that stood around, she was seen to gnaw in anguish 
 those hands she could not liberate from the persons by whom 
 she was held. After some convulsive efforts, she so far recovered
 
 328 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 as to join in the ceremony of bathing in the Ncrbudda, when the 
 bodies were consumed."* 
 
 Where in history shall we find a more painful scene? This 
 good woman, discharging her duties to her God and her subjects, 
 alone and amid such terrible affliction, has no parallel in history, 
 nor indeed, as far as I know, in fiction. 
 
 Times have changed now, and Jumna Bae has neither the 
 education or the talent to rule. She tries to get as much power 
 as she can over the boy Gackwar, who, notwithstanding his dogged 
 disposition, is most kind and obedient to the adopted mother who 
 raised him to power. But in the state she has but little influence, 
 neither do I think she has intellect enough to do anything but 
 obstruct any reforms Siaji Rao may wish to carry out. With 
 all that, Jumna Bae is a charming woman, although circumstances 
 may prevent her ever being a great queen. I have had three 
 sittings now from this lady, on the top of the house, under an 
 awning. As this place is open all round, and the roof or awning 
 only 7 feet 6 inches from the floor, one cannot fancy a worse light. 
 Around one hears all the noises of an Indian palace, — dogs yelp- 
 ing, children crying, and, what is more exasperating, tom-toms 
 and flutes making a hideous row. 
 
 Yesterday was the commemoration day of the death of Khundi 
 Rao Gaekwar, and the tom-toming was incessant. Why should 
 people think this objectionable noise is particularly grateful to 
 Heaven ? When the noise gets on your nerves at a time when 
 you are endeavouring to do your best, it beats organs into fits. 
 
 I shall be here the greater part of this (i/th December) week ; 
 then to Bombay for a week, and then home. 
 
 It is curious to spend one's time here at the Gaekwar's Court 
 with men who have played a great part in the stories I have 
 already told. This Court has ever been the scene of strange 
 crimes. The fate of Bhao Sindia is one of the most awful on 
 record. It was he who turned Mulhar Rao from his brother's 
 presence. On leaving, the Gaekwar that was to be cried to the 
 Minister, "You will live to rue this day!" So much did Bhao 
 
 * Malcolm's "Central India."
 
 NO IV S A REE—BOMB A Y 329 
 
 Sindia dread his vengeance, that he actually tried to commit 
 sati with his master's (Khundi Rao's) body. He was by force 
 prevented. No sooner was Mulhar Rao on the guddee than he- 
 threw his predecessor's Minister into prison. There he was fed 
 on curries and highly salted and spiced food, and given only 
 pepper-water to drink ; on each of his legs was fixed 200 lbs. of 
 chain. The unfortunate man lingered five days, and then died 
 raving mad. 
 
 Mulhar Rao was altogether a lunatic. His brother, Khundi 
 Rao, had during his reign built an additional storey to part of 
 the palace, and mounted silver guns thereon. Mulhar Rao, not 
 to be outdone, had a still higher storey built, and gold guns. His 
 extravagance was most unbounded, but then so was his brother's, 
 and the Residents would not believe in his madness till after the 
 celebrated attempt to poison Colonel Phayre. Poisoning was 
 common enough at Court, — in fact, traditional in the ruling family. 
 Grim stories have been told of former Gaekwars. One fell a 
 victim to toxicology, and poisoned himself in his laboratory con- 
 cocting poisons for his enemies. Former residents have had their 
 lives attempted. Sir James Outram, not a nervous man, always 
 thought he had been poisoned at Baroda. One resident died 
 under most suspicious circumstances. He had insulted the Gaek- 
 war ; he had refused to salaam to Gunputti.* Now, Baroda is a 
 very pious place — in fact, it is called by some "The Place of 
 Prayers," and Gunputti is the God of Baroda. Once a year, at 
 the feast of Gunputti, the Gaekwar makes a grand procession in 
 honour of his family deity. On that day it had been customary 
 for the Resident to hold a parade of all the troops ; and as the 
 Gaekwar and Gunputti passed on the same elephant, the troops 
 and the Resident saluted. Now, as the Gaekwar on this par- 
 ticular occasion was only playing second fiddle to Gunputti, the 
 
 * As far as I can ascertain from Moore's "Pantheon of the Hindoos," 
 this deity is probably Gangaputri, whose birth is recorded in the above book 
 in a minute but very unsatisfactory manner. That bis father was Siva is 
 clear ; his mother is more than doubtful. He was nursed by six rajahs' 
 daughters at the same time, and finally overthrew, after a fight of ten days, 
 Tripurasura. — See Moore's " Pantheon," p. 53.
 
 330 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 people of Baroda thought that the British Power was saluting 
 their particular god. This a certain Resident — I forget his name 
 — refused to do. The day after a holy man went to the then 
 Gackwar, and said that by prayers and magic he would destroy 
 the Resident in three days. The Gaekwar was delighted, and, 
 strange to say, on the third day the Resident was found dead in 
 his bed — from apoplexy, the doctors said. The son of this holy 
 man enjoys an estate of 20,000 rupees a year, settled on his father 
 by the grateful chief. 
 
 This yearly worship of Gunputti has been a very sore trial to 
 many consciences, and has now happily been stopped. The 
 Gaekwar is made to leave the religious procession, and receive 
 the salute of the troops in his own person. 
 
 As a pendent to the above story, let me here relate a tale that 
 was told me in the Punjab, and very well authenticated. Some 
 miles from Peshawur, on our side of the frontier, lies the town 
 of Nowshera. Peshawur being most unhealthy during certain 
 months of the year, the authorities decided to quarter certain 
 regiments at Nowshera. These troops were accordingly marched 
 down. Barracks were built for the troops, but the officers found 
 it difficult to provide themselves with fitting quarters. The doctor 
 of the regiment and two of the officers determined, therefore, to 
 build a bungalow where they could all three chum together. 
 They chose a site on the banks of the river, where on a small 
 mound they found a pleasant clump of trees around an old tomb. 
 Forthwith they proceeded to have the site cleared. The second 
 day an old Moslem fakir presented himself, and asked to see 
 the doctor sahib who was superintending the operations. 
 
 "Are you aware," said the fakir, "that you are defiling the 
 bones of a saint ? — that the tomb you are about to remove be- 
 longs to one beloved of the Prophet ? " 
 
 The doctor sahib laughed, and said that he was not aware of 
 the fact, but that the bones of the holy man were safe, and 
 should not be disturbed ; only the tomb must be moved. 
 
 " But the impiety of the act ! " cried the fakir. 
 
 The doctor shrugged his shoulders.
 
 NO WSAREE—BOMBA Y. 331 
 
 " Will you take money ? I will buy the ground — pay any- 
 thing to prevent the bones of the saint being moved." 
 
 But the doctor replied that this was the only healthy site he 
 could find for his house, that he was very sorry, but the tomb 
 must be moved. 
 
 Whereupon the fakir lost his temper, and cursed the three 
 sahibs, their comings in and goings out, — cursed their house 
 and all that was theirs, and departed, shaking off the dust from 
 his feet, amid the smiles of the soldiers. 
 
 Within the year one of these officers was killed playing polo. 
 A short time after, the second was thrown from his buggy, and 
 broke his neck. The doctor was ordered down to Allahabad ; 
 there, whilst canoeing with a friend, their canoes were upset. 
 Now, the doctor was a splendid swimmer, and he and his friend 
 struck out for the shore laughing. The friend landed safely, 
 but the doctor, when within a few yards from the shore, threw up 
 his hands and disappeared for ever ! 
 
 A year or two after there was a flood at Nowshera. The 
 swollen river wore out the bank on which the ill-fated house 
 stood, and while the man who told me this story was looking on 
 with some brother officers, suddenly the bank gave way, and the 
 house and all therein was swept away ! 
 
 This was a strange story, to say the least. 
 
 The sums of money squandered on jewels by these Baroda 
 chiefs is almost incredible. The necklace of diamonds I painted 
 around Siaji Rao's neck cost 40 lacs, or ,£400,000. The pearls 
 are almost as valuable, several strings being as big as pigeons' 
 eggs, and of fairish colour. Every time these jewels are seen or 
 put on, the attendants count them with the greatest care, and 
 Sir Madhwa Rao has had them all examined and registered, to 
 prevent their being changed for false. 
 
 Rousselet, in his " Rajahs of India," describes the procession — 
 at which he assisted — of the Gaekwar, after his purchase of the 
 celebrated diamond known as the " Star of the North," which 
 forms the centre stone of this necklace. The stone was carried 
 to the Temple of Gunputti, and there dedicated to that deity,
 
 332 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 before the Maharajah would wear it. It cost £90,000. The flat 
 diamond, shaped like a heart, immediately underneath is called 
 the " Star of Dresden." It cost £45,000. 
 
 My sittings from the Ranee were rather amusing. She is 
 utterly uneducated, and can hardly read. Of course she docs 
 not talk English. To translate I had the " Master Sahib," who 
 tried to teach Khundi Rao English long ago. He is poetic. 
 One day, bowing to the Ranee, he recited some Maratha poetry, 
 which was thus translated for me : " See all the trees, how tall 
 they are ; but the palm is the tallest of trees ! " The palm was 
 of course the Ranee. And so I amused myself by talking in the 
 same strain : " To-morrow, I regret to say, my happiness comes 
 to an end, for I must leave the presence of beauty." 
 
 " Why don't you stop ? " 
 
 " The crow must fly back to his home in the jungle, and strive 
 to forget that it has perched on the steps of the throne." 
 
 All very foolish! But it was very hot ; the beads of perspiration 
 would run down my nose, and those wretched tom-toms would 
 continue their cursed row, so that foolishness was permissible. 
 
 I showed my picture of the Gaekwar to the Maharanee. It is 
 a profile. 
 
 " Why, you 've only given one eye ! " was the intelligent re- 
 mark ; " and why have you only shown two strings of pearls from 
 the tassel of his pitgree ? " 
 
 " The rest are on the other side." 
 
 ." Well, I suppose it is all right, you ought to know ; but — 
 but " 
 
 I saw she was not satisfied, and preferred her own picture, 
 which, being full-face, has two eyes. 
 
 I left Nowsarcc and the Maharanee on the 21st, and on the 
 morning of the 22nd safely reached Bombay. 
 
 Christmas at Bombay is indeed different from Christmas in 
 England, instead of snow, frost, and rain, here all is sunshine 
 and warmth. But the warmth does not add to the homeliness. 
 Here you have seldom the pleasant prattle of children, the mad 
 scamper of restless youth, or the merry laugh that shows the
 
 11.11. SIAJI RAO, GAEKWAR (OR GUICOWAR), MAHARAJAH OF BARODA.
 
 NO WSA REE- BOMB A Y. 333 
 
 mind free from cares. Still, the English in Bombay do their 
 best to keep the festive season, and if they do it sadly after the 
 manner of their countrymen, 't is often that their minds arc far 
 away in the old country; where children arc drinking the healths 
 of their absent parents, who have become sometimes little more 
 than a name, or old people arc thinking that one more Christmas 
 is gone of the many that must pass before their loved one's re- 
 turn. Yet are the shops full of purchasers, and many a plum 
 pudding is joyfully eaten in loving recollection of those that time 
 has long since digested. I ate mine at my good friend Melvill's, 
 and to me it is indeed a glad season, for now I may count my 
 days before my return home. I have painted all the rajahs and 
 chiefs on my list but one, and he, I know, is in Bombay waiting 
 to be painted. My passage too is taken, and I seem to see a 
 look in my good friend's eyes of kindly envy. 
 
 " Lucky fellow ! " they~say, " you are going home." 
 
 Home ! Who can appreciate home so well as those who are 
 absent ? And in India what magic there is in the word ! 
 
 I hope I do not triumph too much in my approaching de- 
 parture, or talk too much of what I shall do, &c. But talk I 
 assuredly do ; and the kind friends who keep Christmas with 
 me, bear with me, knowing the sensations which prompt me to 
 talk, and laugh, and be boisterous, and which they too have in- 
 dulged in ; and when my last rajah arrives, I confess it is with 
 difficulty I fix my mind on my work. 
 
 Rajah Jeswant Sing, of Ratlam, is a Rahtor descended from 
 the seventh son of Oodi Sing, who ruled in Marwar in 1569. 
 Rutna, the grandson of Oodi Sing, was the founder of the state 
 of Rutlam. He had all the pluck of his family. At the battle 
 of Futtehabad, fought between Jeswant Sing of Marwar in de- 
 fence of the aged Shah Jehan against his rebel sons Aurungzcbc 
 and Morad, the doings of Rutna arc " wreathed in immortal 
 rhyme" in the "Rasa Rao Rutna." On that day well did the 
 Rahtors maintain their reputation for courage and the fidelity 
 (swam dhermd) they .owed the Emperor "whose salt they ate." 
 The battle was gained through the desertion of the Mogul horse,
 
 334 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 who were bribed by the wily Aurungzebe ; but, if courage were 
 to decide a battle, the day would have ended in favour of the 
 Rajpoots, who never lost an inch of ground, though they could 
 not force back the vastly superior numbers of the enemy. 
 
 Jeswant next day retreated. But, on arriving at Jodhpore, "I 
 (Bcrnier) cannot forbear to relate the fierce reception which the 
 daughter of the Rana (of Oodcypore) gave to her husband, Jes- 
 want Sing, when she heard he was nigh, and had understood what 
 had passed in the battle : that he had fought with all possible 
 courage; that he had but 400 of 500 men left ; and at last, being 
 no longer able to resist, had been forced to retreat. Instead of 
 sending some one to condole him in his misfortunes, she com- 
 manded, in a dry mood, to shut the gates of the castle, and not to 
 let this infamous man enter ; that he was not her husband ; that 
 the son-in-law of the Great Rana could not have so mean a soul ; 
 that he was to remember that being grafted into so illustrious a 
 house, he was to imitate its virtue ; in a word, he was to vanquish 
 or to die ! A moment after she was of a different humour. She 
 commanded a pile of wood to be laid, that she might burn her- 
 self ; that they abused her ; that her husband must be dead ; that 
 it could not be otherwise. And a little while after she seemed to 
 change countenance, to fall into a passion, and break into a thou- 
 sand reproaches against him. In short, she remained thus trans- 
 ported eight or nine days without being able to resolve to see her 
 husband ; till, at last, her mother coming, brought her in time to 
 herself, comforted her by assuring her that, as soon as the Rajah 
 had but refreshed himself, he would raise another army to fight 
 Aurungzebe and repair his honour." Thus writes Bernier, who 
 witnessed this battle ; and he adds, " By which story one may 
 see a pattern of the courage of the women of that country." 
 
 Jeswant Sing of Rutlam, who is the head of the Rajpoots of 
 Malwa, may have a soul as great as his kinsman of Marwar. He 
 is in person a stout youth of sixteen, with rather aquiline features, 
 without much of what we painters call character in his face. He 
 has an enormous and most elaborate pugree, which he says was 
 invented by his grandfather, and which is heaped up with all
 
 NO WSA REE—BOMBA V. 335 
 
 kinds of jewels and ornaments. He tells me it takes two hours 
 to tie ! Salar Jung's simple pugree took twenty minutes. No 
 wonder Orientals cannot take off their hats. 
 
 I got a very good photograph done of this young man, which, 
 with my somewhat hurried sketch, will suffice for my picture. 
 And so having finished my work on the last day of the year 1877, 
 I embarked on board the good ship Gwalior. I was taken on 
 board by my friends, and as the screw of the Gwalior commenced 
 to beat the waves, the dull thuds that vibrated through the ship 
 struck me with regret at parting with so many good people, 
 whom I may never perchance see again to return the innumerable 
 kindnesses I have received during my year's travel in India. But 
 the thoughts of home quickly dissipate any such sentiments, and 
 after one look at Bombay, dark against the setting sun, where I 
 see lights twinkling, perhaps in well-known houses, I turn to gaze 
 on the watery track that leads to those I love.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 
 
 e \ T 7" ELL, and how did you like India?" This question has 
 » » been asked me very often since I returned home, and 
 yet I have never been able to answer it with satisfaction to my- 
 self. I feel, however, that the reader who has waded through the 
 previous chapters of this book, whom in consequence I regard as 
 a personal friend, may perchance wish to ask the same question ; 
 nor will he be satisfied with the "Very much indeed," or "It's a 
 wonderful country!" which sometimes has proved enough for 
 mere acquaintances. " How do you like being Prince of Wales 
 as far as you 've got ?" asks Artemus Ward, but H.R.H. does not 
 give a very satisfactory answer, if I remember right ; had he done 
 so, I might have moulded this chapter on an august model. 
 
 Everybody is accustomed to the observation, " India is a vast 
 place," but few can form any idea of its vastness till they have 
 travelled across the continent that we English have somehow 
 acquired. Do Englishmen realize the fact that it takes as long 
 to travel from Bombay to Delhi by rail as from London to Brin- 
 disi, and from Bombay to Mysore as long again? Yet neither 
 Mysore nor Delhi are the limits of our empire ! And the races 
 who inhabit this vast region are quite as different in their habits 
 as those through whose country you pass in a tour across Europe. 
 
 I have, however, striven in my journals to convey some idea of 
 the kind of people found in India. Exclusive as is a Hindoo by 
 caste, feeling, and prejudice, it is difficult to arrive at a knowledge 
 of his real sentiments. An Englishman and a" sahib" can never 
 hope thoroughly to penetrate the thick veil that surrounds the 
 domestic life of Natives, and it is only by their writings and 
 
 336
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 337 
 
 their actions in contact with Europeans that he can judge at all 
 of their characters. It is for this reason that I have very copiously 
 quoted from Tod's translation of the Rajpoot traditions, for these 
 have more domestic details than the wild legends of the Ramayana 
 and Mahabharata and earlier books of Hindoo literature. From 
 careful study of these legends and of more recent history, and 
 from observation during my travels, I have tried to arrive at some 
 conclusions which I venture now to submit to the public, with, I 
 own, considerable fear lest I may be put down as a prig by those 
 whose longer stay in the country ought to have given them more 
 opportunities of study. 
 
 Of course the difference of religion has produced a difference 
 in habit and character. The Moslem has still some of the swagger 
 of a ruling race, some of the confidence always found in the 
 followers of the creed of Mohammed. But with the exception of 
 the province of Hyderabad, where, under the able rule of Sir Salar 
 Jung, a Moslem state flourishes, I could not but observe that the 
 star of the Prophet is on the wane. Already the Maratha and 
 the Sikh assert their equality in military prowess to the Afghan 
 and Pathan, while in administrative capacity I fancy there are 
 at least five Hindoos in high position to one Moslem. As lawyers 
 the Hindoos are pre-eminent, and as money-makers — bankers 
 and general dealers — the Hindoo and Parsee are far ahead of 
 the Mohammedan. 
 
 But in all Indians I have noticed a singular and childish un- 
 thoroughness, and in turning to history the same quality must 
 strike a careful observer. With intellectual activity of the highest 
 order, and with brains capable of understanding the subtlest 
 reasoning and the nicest and most delicate quibbles of law, I 
 should doubt any Indian's capacity for large views on any subject. 
 Their diplomacy is so much infused with cunning as to frequently 
 defeat itself; while their actions are hampered by a suspiciousness 
 beyond that of any other Oriental. Their intellect seems to me 
 that of a precocious child, their astuteness childish cunning, their 
 suspicious disposition almost feminine. More than once the 
 most transparent tricks have been resorted to in order to break 
 
 22
 
 338 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 up the strongest confederacies. Several times in history the 
 Mogul power was checked, but the advantage lost through a false 
 idea of treachery. A forged letter or even a word has saved the 
 great empire of the Mogul in the hour of danger. The emperors 
 of that house were adepts in treachery ; by it they triumphed 
 over the valour of the Rajpoots ; Baber, the founder of the 
 dynasty, employed it against Sanga of Mewar ; and Aurungzebe, 
 the cleverest of the house, was such an adept at deceit that 
 Machiavelli was a child to him. His rise to the throne is one 
 of the most extraordinary stories on record, and during a long 
 reign he never forgot to employ treachery rather than force. 
 
 We have seen how the dread cry of " Nous sommes trains ! " 
 demoralized a high-spirited and chivalrous nation. With the 
 native the idea of treachery is ever present, and his imaginative 
 temperament works the vaguest apprehensions up to the point of 
 madness. Thus childish suspicions and proneness to intrigue 
 seem to be in the blood of the nation ; and as disloyalty and 
 deceit, when successful, are always applauded by the national 
 chroniclers, what wonder if a dread of treachery should always 
 be before the eyes of the native ? It is by the ideal characters, 
 founded no doubt on truth, but embellished by the poet in song, 
 ballad, and legend, that the character of a nation is founded. 
 The inventions of the Round Table, the Lancelots, Tristrams, 
 and Galahads of chivalry, produced their echoes in Chevalier 
 Bayard and Sir Philip Sidney, and did much to raise mediaeval 
 Europe from the depth of barbarism. But Christianity tempered 
 the warlike spirit of Europe, and if we wish to find a parallel 
 for the traditions of India, we must look rather to the Northern 
 legends, in which, amidst much that is fine and even tender, there 
 is many an instance of unaccountable want of faith and cruel 
 and indiscriminate slaughter. Fancy what Europe would have 
 been without chivalry, which was the result of the influence of 
 Christianity engrafted on Northern poetry, and you can imagine 
 the state of morality in India ! 
 
 And if we come down to later history, we shall find the same 
 characteristics, for we must not forget that though brought in
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 339 
 
 contact with the civilization of the west, the state of India at 
 the present day is hardly in advance of that of Europe in the 
 thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The Mutiny furnished in- 
 stances innumerable of this childish inconsistency, which was 
 in many instances the result of fear of treachery. No doubt, the 
 first regiments that mutinied were misled by artful instigators 
 of treason. They were told about the famous greased cartridges ; 
 they were informed of the prophecy after the battle of Plassy, 
 which limited the Raj of the East India Company to one hundred 
 years ; and they mutinied. But read the history of the rising 
 of succeeding regiments, and see how in nearly every case it was 
 fear of the treachery of the sahib that drove them to rebellion. 
 The Poorbeah Sepoys of the time were, no doubt, a mutinous 
 body of troops. To keep up the physique of the men they were 
 recruited from the high-caste natives of Oude, and everything 
 was conceded by their officers to their caste prejudices. That 
 such men, brought up and nursed in all the traditions of the 
 Hindoos, should treacherously sacrifice their English officers is 
 not to be wondered at, since there are twenty instances at least 
 of the like act of perfidy in the traditions which form the sole 
 literature of the country. 
 
 When not under the influence of fear, the native is most easily 
 governed. There is no nation imbued with a greater respect for 
 the power over them, and assuredly no nation contented with 
 so little apparent prosperity. Go but to any fair or religious 
 gathering, and see the merry chattering crowd streaming along 
 the road. From every man you receive a salaam and a joyous 
 greeting, yet his worldly lot is livelong toil, and his wealth con- 
 sists in his dhotie or loin-cloth, and the few ornaments in the ears 
 and nose, and round the ankles and wrists of his wife, who 
 marches contentedly behind him. But the Indian, though docile 
 in the extreme, has the makings of a tyrant within him. Your 
 servant is mild and obedient to you, and seems to have no spirit 
 in his brown breast. Take some more servants into your 
 employ, and place your mild friend over them, and see what a 
 Frankenstein you have raised. He will beat and bully them all
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 round, no matter what their size or strength. Your authority is 
 on his side, and that is enough. 
 
 Again, insult or imagined insult works a native up to madness 
 Instances without number may be found in native history where 
 insults have produced sad results. I have mentioned the contest 
 between Jeichund and Pirthi Raj through an imagined affront to 
 the last, which quarrel led to the subjugation of India by the 
 Moslem. Oodeypore and Marwar were at war for a lengthened 
 period because the Rana refused to eat with the chief of the 
 Rahtors. Marwar and Jeypore rushed to arms through a joke; 
 and although many times the chivalrous Rajpoot shed his best 
 blood for his salt, often at the last moment has the whole wing 
 of an army refused to fight on account of an imagined slight 
 on its chief. Frequently I fancy the Englishman quite uninten- 
 tionally gives the direst offence. I do not mean abuse to ser- 
 vants, and such-like : abuse to them, or indeed to any inferior, is 
 natural enough, and to call them the " sons of owls " or " hens," 
 or even worse, is what they are accustomed to even from their 
 native superiors. But a native gentleman's ways are not our 
 ways, and to his ideas the commonest conventionalities of our 
 civilization are the grossest barbarisms. The use of a fork or 
 spoon, or glass, that any one else has used, to the Hindoo is 
 unspeakable horror. These matters will right themselves in the 
 course of time. But breaches of etiquette, no doubt, occur, and 
 though not noticed at the moment, rankle in the breast of the 
 native for a long time. 
 
 One of the drollest occasions of unintentional offence I quote 
 from Sir Thomas Roe. Jehanghire playfully seized all the sup- 
 plies of presents sent out from England to Sir Thomas, and had 
 all the boxes opened in his presence, that he might see what 
 he liked to have presented to him. He " caused a chest of 
 pictures to be brought, which were taken out ; and there being 
 among them one of a Venus leading a satyr by the nose, he 
 showed it to all around him, bidding them to expound the sig- 
 nification of it, observing the satyr's horns, the blackness of his 
 skin, and other particulars. Every man spoke as he thought, but
 
 IMPRES.SIONS. 341 
 
 the King liked none of their expositions, yet reserved his own 
 thoughts, and asked me what it meant. I told him it was only 
 a painter's fancy. Whereupon he said, ' Why do you bring me 
 what you do not understand ? ' . . . And by what he said I 
 had ground to believe he thought that the picture was made in 
 derision of the people of Asia, whom he thought to be represented 
 by the satyr, as being of their complexion ; and that the Venus 
 leading him by the nose denoted the great power the women of 
 that country have over the men. This I relate for the informa- 
 tion of the gentlemen of the East India Company, and of all that 
 shall hereafter come in my place, and advise them for the future 
 not to send into those parts things that may be liable to an ill 
 construction, for those people are very jealous!' 
 
 On their religion Indians are very sensitive. There appears to 
 be something in the air of India that leads to bigotry. The 
 Hindoo is the strictest religionist. The smallest sin against the law 
 of the Brahmin is visited by the terrible gods of the country with 
 condign punishment, while in Hindoo states the prejudice against 
 many acts that are necessary for the existence and well-being of 
 the European is very powerful. I have seen a whole village turn 
 out at the slaughter of a peacock or a blue jay. To kill a cow or 
 bull is a crime which even an educated Hindoo would consider 
 worthy of death. The Rajah of Jheend, an enlightened ruler, 
 would cut off the hand that slew a neilghau or wild blue bull, and 
 these prejudices are retained by many even after the society of 
 the sahib has become familiar to them. I have been told of an 
 eminent lawyer (Hindoo) in Calcutta, who, on seeing that his 
 refusal of beef was noticed, said that he had long since overcome 
 his religious prejudice against eaters of beef, but he had still a 
 horror of that animal such as a Jew would have against pork 
 But it is not only the Hindoo who is intolerant and bigoted ; the 
 Mohammedan of India is ten times as strict as any Turk I ever 
 saw. When their religious enthusiasm is roused, either the Hindoo 
 or the Moslem is capable of any suffering, which is looked on as 
 a martyrdom. What they will bear for their religion is con- 
 stantly brought before the eyes of the traveller in the frequent
 
 342 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 self-tortures and self-mutilations met with at every turn. The 
 wealthy and great, even rajahs, will retire from the enjoyments of 
 life, and lead the lives of veritable ascetics. Men of both religions 
 were shot away from cannon during the Mutiny when they thought 
 they were martyrs to their faith, without showing, even at the last 
 moment, the slightest signs of fear. I have had these terrible 
 scenes described to me by eye-witnesses, who assured me that the 
 culprit who was about to be blown to atoms would lean with the 
 greatest nonchalance against the muzzle of the cannon, and was 
 by far the least moved of those present. 
 
 This is, then, the character of the native : childishly inconsis- 
 tent, fickle, and cunning, easily elated by power, accessible to 
 flattery but prone to take offence, bearing anything at times from 
 those put over him, and capable of the sternest fortitude in the 
 exercise of his religion, brave to foolhardiness yet prone to the 
 most unaccountable panics, trusting everything to the ministers 
 of his religion, yet placing no confidence in his fellow-man, ever 
 fearing treachery and ingratitude. 
 
 That we English, few in number, and living so many thousand 
 miles off, should have acquired this vast empire is one of the 
 marvels of history. The secret lies in the contrast we present in 
 our characters. We are the complement of the native. We owe 
 our success to the squareness and solidity of our character, in 
 every way the reverse of the fickle and treacherous nature of the 
 native. Our thoroughness inspires his respect. He believes in 
 our honesty — he has every reason to trust our courage. We give 
 him peace such as he never enjoyed before, and insure his having 
 justice, even against the great. There is no power that can take 
 our place in the country. If we were to go, the flames of war 
 would light India from the Himalaya to Cape Cormorin. I have 
 talked with eminent natives on this subject, and they have always 
 said, " It is peace that our nation wants. We have had no time 
 to develope ; we want education and knowledge." And they 
 make little secret of their opinion, that when they have acquired 
 knowleged and education we shall have to leave the country. 
 Such is native gratitude
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 343 
 
 The mass of the people are contented with our rule, which they 
 regard as an accomplished fact. They think we have been sent 
 to govern them by the Gods. The belief of the Hindoo, or 
 rather the Vishnavas, the mass of the people, is that from the 
 beginning of the world Vishnu has ever, on being roused, thrown 
 his spirit into some human form, who becomes an " oudtar" or 
 avatar of the deity, an inspired person, whose spirit on his death 
 returns to the God. There are many of these avatars which are 
 puerile enough, — the snake, the fish, the tortoise, the man-lion, 
 the dwarf, the bull. All these probably denote the absorption of 
 so many religions into the Brahminical creed.* The last, the most 
 famous "avatars" were Rama, Khrishna, and Buddha. Many 
 Brahmins preach a fresh avatar " the Raj of the English." This 
 has been solemnly stated to me as the received belief of the 
 larger number of Hindoos, and no doubt is a great strength to 
 our power. 
 
 But we derive a greater hold from the divisions that exist 
 amongst the people themselves. I cannot think that we English 
 are loved, but the orthodox Hindoo hates us less than he hates 
 the dissenting Sikh, and both have many reasons for preferring 
 our rule to the rule of the Moslem. Aurungzebe's bigotry led the 
 way to the fall of the Mogul. It was the institution of the Jezeya; 
 or capitation grant on all Brahmins and Hindoo devotees, that 
 alienated the affection of the Rajpoot princes who were allies to 
 the imperial family. It roused an intolerance among the Hin- 
 doosf that was foreign to their disposition. Their religion rather 
 aimed at absorbing all the religions of the world. Their priests 
 insist that both Mohammed and the Founder of our religion were 
 alike incarnations of Vishnu. But persecution sowed the seeds 
 of a hatred between the Moslems and Hindoos which is not yet 
 effaced, and which, if we are wise, ought to strengthen our hands 
 for many a year to come. 
 
 * The Brahmins convert whole tribes of the aboriginal Bheels and Shenas 
 by incorporating their favourite idol into the circle of Hindoo Gods ; they 
 say such idols were no doubt incarnations of Vishnu. See Benares, p. 274. 
 
 ■j" See Appendix II.
 
 3 1-1 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 There is one side of the native's character that I have not 
 noticed — his extreme and feminine gentleness. With children 
 he is most admirable. In the South of Europe the same gentle- 
 ness is found, but throughout India I have observed it in high and 
 low. Most people must have noticed in the streets of London 
 the native man-servant carrying a small child. In India every- 
 where the man-servant looks after the children from the moment 
 they leave the wet-nurse. Their devotion to their charges is 
 perfectly wonderful. As a general rule, English children in India 
 are unruly brats, wilful to a degree, and a severe tax on the best 
 of tempers. Yet the bearer, often a high-caste Hindoo, will watch 
 over them and humour them with a gentleness that is entirely 
 foreign to the Northern nature. In his relation to his master, too, 
 the Indian servant often shows the most affectionate solicitude, 
 and he who would cheat and pilfer on other occasions will, when 
 his master is ailing, prove the most gentle and faithful of nurses. 
 I have seen the youthful rajahs and princes with their tutors, and 
 their affection — nay, tenderness — for some of these officers has 
 been a convincing proof of the depth of the native character. 
 Instances without number occurred during the Mutiny of personal 
 influence exercised over the native by the European. A strange 
 kind of mesmeric power was possessed by men like Nicholson, 
 which the softer nature of the Hindoo seemed unable to resist. 
 To such men the natives would always be true and loyal. Their 
 affection for them is that of a child to its parent. 
 
 I have seen it frequently stated that we rule in India by the 
 sword alone. No man can readily believe that the few hundred 
 Europeans in India can hold in subjection the 240,000,000 natives 
 except by force. No doubt our sway has originated in conquest, 
 and what empire has not ? No doubt after the Mutiny we gave 
 the Indian nation a severe lesson. The sword of England was 
 heavy on the wrong-doer. Our justice was rather that of the 
 terrible Gods of the country than of that Deity whose attribute is 
 mercy. But it is not by the sword alone that we rule. The 
 Moguls had the power of the sword. They had the means to 
 strike, and struck sharply and without sparing; but during their
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 345 
 
 reign, lasting over two hundred years, there was no peace, neither 
 did their power extend over nearly so much of the country as 
 the Viceroy rules. Therefore, I am inclined to think with Sir 
 James Stephen that we govern more by justice than by the 
 sword. It is the moral force of our rule rather than the physical 
 that maintains our authority. It is the high character of the 
 nation that enables an Englishman to travel through the country 
 as I did, and as any other Englishman can do, alone, unarmed, 
 and without speaking the language. And this character we 
 owe to the men who have governed, and still govern, the 
 country. 
 
 Surely in this we English have something to be proud of. 
 History has no parallel to our rule in India. The Romans ruled 
 over' an equal extent of country, and in somewhat the same way; 
 but the Roman official was too prone to make hay while the sun 
 of office was bright. No doubt the early English administrators 
 did likewise. Ill paid, and amid a population with whom bribery 
 was an institution, themselves more or less adventurers, our first 
 officers in India retired with wealth sufficient to make the word 
 Nabob a proverb. But for the last hundred years, ever since the 
 English rule has been consolidated, the English official has been 
 without reproach. With every facility, amid every temptation, 
 the name of an Englishman is still in India a synonym for honesty 
 and truth. During those hundred years the number of those who 
 have fallen to temptation would not equal the number of one's 
 fingers ; and if an Englishman wishes to feel that his nation is 
 something in the world, if he wishes to have the sensation of 
 pride of the Roman, whose greatest boast was " civis Romanus 
 sum" let him go to India, where all that is great and noble is 
 associated with the name of England. 
 
 Coming as I do from an Indian family, allied to many still in 
 the service, it ill becomes me to criticize ; but I have tried to be 
 honest in my journals, even at the risk of giving offence, and so 
 now I cannot forbear pointing out what I consider to be the faults 
 of our rule in India. 
 
 And in truth I have but little fault to find. If anything, we
 
 346 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 are a little too English. We are a nation without poetry. We 
 are apt to be guided by the hard and fast line of the law, and are 
 devoid of sentiment or enthusiasm. Now, the Indian, like the 
 Irishman, is full of poetry and imagination, and so, like the Irish- 
 man, we have conquered his respect, but, I fear, never tried to 
 gain his love. We have never flattered him with the gorgeous 
 pageant of sovereignty, as did the great Mogul. Hardly can he 
 suppose that he forms a part of that Government which he sees 
 so firmly carried out by our iron hands. He is dazzled by dis- 
 play, and cannot yet understand the hard reasoning of figures, 
 which prove that India, so gorgeous in the past, is a very poor 
 country. In matters of religion we maintain the same dry neu- 
 trality. The Government aid neither the Hindoo nor the Moslem 
 communities ; nor do they publicly befriend the Christian. 
 All this to the native is incomprehensible. To him a tyranny 
 is familiar. To crawl on all-fours to the throne would be no 
 disgrace ; to be degraded or raised to power at the caprice of 
 his Sovereign would give scope for his ambition and talent for 
 intrigue ; but to be told to stand up and be a man, and yet not 
 to have the same position as the sahib ; to be taught that before 
 the law all men are equal, and yet not to be allowed his portion 
 in the Government of the country, — such is the position we have 
 taken, and I fear it is hardly logical. I do not say that the 
 native is yet fit to govern. Those few natives who have passed in 
 the Civil Service competition — and it is greatly to their credit to 
 have done so — have, I fear, not proved as yet brilliant successes. 
 Yet if we open the door, we should open it wide. It does not do 
 to show the bright inside, and then shut the portal. It does not 
 do to preserve too strictly the pride of the conquering race, and 
 yet to preach liberality of sentiment. 
 
 It was not thus that the early rulers of the country consolidated 
 their power. They mixed more freely with the natives, they 
 showed more sympathy with their prejudices, and strove more to 
 understand their characters, at the same time treating them more 
 as their own rulers would treat them in matters of etiquette. I 
 would not advocate the return of the lax morality of our old
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 347 
 
 services,* but I would have more interchange of sociality between 
 the two races. I would have the Englishman unbend somewhat 
 towards the native, and be inclined to make more allowance for 
 his prejudices, which are the inheritance of ages ; in fact, not 
 expect a native to be an Englishman. 
 
 And I am emboldened to speak in this manner, because I fear 
 that each day we are becoming more English in India. Each 
 year communication becomes more easy between England and 
 her great empire in the East. Each year greater facility is 
 offered to the English official to visit his native land, and so that 
 official becomes more and more a camper and sojourner in India. 
 With his eyes constantly fixed on England, he does not identify 
 himself with the people and the country, with which he has little 
 sympathy, and is apt to regulate his conduct by the opinions of 
 his fellow-countrymen, rather than by the interests of the empire 
 he is called upon to govern. Frequently, too, I fancy, India is 
 sacrificed to the exigencies of the home Government, for those 
 who direct our home policy have no idea of the many wants of the 
 native, whose character they have never studied. I think I am 
 only saying what every Indian officer would endorse, and that it 
 is impossible for India to be well governed from Downing Street. 
 
 Meanwhile, I cannot but observe that much has already been 
 done towards breaking down the barriers which separate the 
 Hindoo from European civilization. Gradually caste and caste 
 prejudice must disappear before those great levellers, the railway 
 and the telegraph. But let us not break down such prejudices 
 before we have given something to supply their place. Let us 
 give the necessary time for the change we expect. The native is 
 of an imitative nature; and to put on a mere veneering of civiliza- 
 tion will be to him an easy matter. Let us remember that such 
 a cleaning of the outside of the platter, such a conforming to the 
 outward observances of society, is not sufficient. That there are 
 many good and loyal native gentlemen in India I have no doubt, 
 
 * I have heard old officers assert that in the old time the Mutiny would 
 have been impossible ; that full intelligence of the revolt would surely have 
 come to the authorities through their connection with the bazaars !
 
 34§ IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 but I do doubt their being amongst those who seek the approba- 
 tion of the English by outward observance and time-serving. 
 
 I have been frequently asked since the Afghan troubles have 
 come upon us my opinion of the native army. I can speak best 
 of the Punjabees, as it is that portion of our force that I had most 
 leisure to observe.* Of these I can affirm that I rarely have seen 
 a finer body of men, and I am also sure that they are true to their 
 " salt." I had an opportunity of seeing and speaking with many 
 of their officers, both native and English. I believe that the 
 spirit of chivalry, such as I have described in my extracts from 
 the history of the Rajpoots, exists in many of the frontier regi- 
 ments. I have heard authentic accounts of their exploits. "When 
 a body of frontier cavalry of my regiment," said an English officer 
 of cavalry to me, " had to charge a lot of Afredees the other day, 
 their native officer (a Sikh) suddenly let down his long hairf and 
 cried, ' Let us show the sahibs that we are worthy of their salt ! ' 
 His men did the like, and, headed by their rassaldar, delivered 
 a brilliant charge." If such men are well led, they are capable 
 of anything ; and I am confident that, as a rule, their officers are 
 dashing and efficient soldiers, in whom the men can trust. 
 
 And in this Afghan business the good wishes of every inhabi- 
 tant of Hindostan will be on our side against the hated Afghans. 
 Many a time have these mountaineers, since the reign of the ter- 
 rible Mahmoud of Ghuznee, invaded the rich plains of India, 
 carrying desolation and famine with them. The Mohammedan 
 cannot have forgotten the sacking of Delhi by Nadir Shah, 
 whose army, though nominally Persians, consisted principally of 
 Afghans and nomads from Central Asia. The Marathas yet 
 remember their defeat at Paniput by Ahmed Shah Abdallee, 
 and Sindia himself would not be slow to avenge the death of 
 the head of his family and the laming of the celebrated Madaji 
 
 * As a rule Indian regiments have a higher average standard of height 
 than the regiments that come from England ; the men do not, however, 
 weigh so much. The Goorka regiments are an exception ; they are composed 
 of short, wiry, active mountaineers. 
 
 f When a Sikh lets down his hair, it is a sign that he intends to conquer 
 or die.
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 349 
 
 Rao Sindia at that disastrous battle. When Tukaji Rao Holkar 
 wished to make a truce on a subsequent occasion with Nujeeb-ud- 
 Dowlah, to whose bravery the victory of Paniput was due, Madaji 
 Rao said, — 
 
 " I demand for the Peishwa the country possessed by this chief 
 and the Afghans. I demand for myself the blood of my brother, 
 of my two nephews, and my own leg, of which I am deprived." 
 
 "He used frequently," says Sir John Malcolm, in his "Central 
 India," "to recount the particulars of this event. He fled from 
 the field, but was pursued to a great distance by an Afghan. 
 His fine Deccany mare carried him a great way ahead of the 
 strong animal upon which the soldier who had marked him for 
 prey was mounted ; but whenever he rested for an interval, how- 
 ever short, his enemy appeared keeping the same pace. At last 
 his fatigued mare fell into a ditch. He was taken, spit upon, 
 and left. He used to say that the circumstance had made so 
 strong an impression upon his imagination that he could not for 
 a long time sleep without seeing the Afghan and his clumsy 
 charger pacing after him and his fine Decanny mare." 
 
 Does Sindia ever think of this ? 
 
 But our army in India and the discipline of our regiments are 
 kept up entirely by our prestige, and if this should suffer in any 
 way our troops would at once become demoralized. It is neces- 
 sary for us to take every precaution against any disaster, or even 
 the rumour of a disaster. Bazaar gossip in India supplies the 
 place of public opinion ; and a story flies through the country 
 in an incredibly short space of time. Like the social game of 
 German gossip, the tale with an original tittle of truth gets dis- 
 torted into a monstrosity. I have alluded before to the pro- 
 phecy of the duration of the Raj of the East India Company 
 I have been assured that a belief in that prophecy had much to 
 do with the Mutiny.* Our reputation should, like that of Caesar's 
 wife, be above suspicion. 
 
 * See Meadows Taylor's " Life." It is curious that the transfer of the 
 Government of India from the East India Company to the Queen should 
 have carried out this prophecy !
 
 350 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 We have, then, a noble reputation to keep up. We have an 
 inheritance of which we may well be proud. But such an inhe- 
 ritance has its duties as well as its advantages. By valour we 
 acquired, by justice we have consolidated, our empire. Let us 
 never, through the necessities of the Home Government, forget 
 our position. Let us never, for the sake of a cry, show the weakness 
 or vacillation, sometimes the apparent result of our representa- 
 tive system, lest perchance the native — not understanding our 
 real strength, and seeing only our apparent weakness — should 
 think with Sir Josiah Child, " that the House of Commons 
 hardly know how to make laws for the good government of their 
 own private families, much less for the regulating of foreign 
 affairs or commerce ! "* 
 
 In conclusion, let me say a few words about my impressions 
 as an artist. As a field for artists, India has been of late years 
 sadly neglected. While the more fortunate countries of the 
 East — Turkey, Syria, Egypt, and Arabia — have been frequently 
 depicted, India has remained almost unknown to the painter. 
 Zoffany and Daniel, both Royal Academicians, in the old time, 
 when the voyage alone to India was an affair of six months or 
 more, thought it worth their while to visit the unknown land of 
 Hind. Now in six months much of India may be seen, and yet 
 since the time of these two artists no painter of notef has thought 
 it worth his while to convey to his countrymen an impression of 
 our Eastern empire. The only figure painter of eminence who 
 has visited India for the last eighty years has been a Russian, 
 M. Verestchagine. Ought not we painters to be rather ashamed 
 of this? Yet India, I can assure my brother painters, is an in- 
 exhaustible field for artistic energy. It is unlike anything else 
 ever painted. It outdoes in originality the weirdest fancies of 
 Fortuny, Gerome, or Decamps, for it presents not only the most 
 original combinations of colour and form at every turn, but 
 abounds in romantic tradition. I have striven to record some of 
 
 * See ante page 17. 
 
 t I must except one or two water-colour painters, who were only landscape 
 sketchers.
 
 IMPRESSIONS. 351 
 
 these, and if I have succeeded in exciting the imagination of 
 any of my brother labourers in the arts — if I can induce any of 
 them to follow in my footsteps, and visit the scenes I have feebly 
 described — I shall be rewarded for many a toilsome journey, in 
 heat and discomfort, through the length and breadth of Imperial 
 India.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. 
 
 I CANNOT refrain from printing in the Appendix of my book 
 the following ballad written by my father, which is taken from 
 a legend of Sirmoor. The Giri is a river flowing a few miles 
 from Simla. 
 
 THE NUTNEE* 
 
 A LEGEND OF SIMLA. 
 
 I. 
 
 In the mountains of Sirmoor spreads far and wide 
 
 The domain of a Rajah dread, 
 And his palace is built on a mountain's side, 
 Where the Giri rushes with furious tide 
 
 Deep in its rocky bed. 
 
 II. 
 
 On a jutting rock's summit, the palace wall 
 
 Stands at a dizzy height ; 
 And a stone from the topmost tower of all 
 Into the Gin's deep bed would fall 
 
 In one unbroken flight. 
 
 in. 
 
 On that tower's high terrace the Rajah sits, 
 
 And the wine they freely pour, 
 And the voices of mirth and the laughter-fits, 
 As the Rajah drinks with his favourites, 
 
 Mix with the torrent's roar. 
 
 * Nutnee,— The Nuts are the gipsies of India, living by jugglers' tricks and feats, to which they 
 train children from youth. Nutnee is the feminine of Nut. 
 
 353 23
 
 354 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 " Where lingers my Nutnee concubine ? 
 
 My queen of the dance and song ? 
 Bid her come hither to share our wine, 
 Her merry black eye and her voice divine 
 
 Shall the joy of this revel prolong." 
 
 v. 
 The Rajah a cup to her health hath quaffed, 
 And called her to sit by his side. 
 " Now tell us, while draining this goblet's draught, 
 How cams't thou to learn the tricks of thy craft, 
 And the feats of thy people the pride ? " 
 
 VI. 
 
 " My training at three years old began, 
 I learned then the balance true ; 
 From little to great things my lessons ran, 
 Till there 's not a feat performed by man 
 That I have not learned to do. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Amid sharp swords I can dance blindfold, 
 
 Stringing of eggs a crown : 
 So true is my balance, so firm my hold, 
 I can swing on a bamboo, and walk quite bold 
 
 On a tight rope, up or down." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 " I have seen thee walk on a rope stretched tight ; 
 
 But thy courage now prove to me. 
 We will stretch a rope over to yonder height, 
 And there thou shalt walk like an angel bright, 
 
 For my people below to see." 
 
 IX. 
 
 " 'T is a dizzy height of two thousand feet, 
 And the torrent that roars below 
 Sustains not the spirit like music sweet : 
 Sure never hath mortal performed like feat. 
 The Guerdon I first would know."
 
 APPENDIX. 355 
 
 x. 
 
 " For guerdon thou shalt not my humour mock ; 
 A bond I will seal and sign, 
 That if thou walk over from tower to rock, 
 Bearing thy infant child on thy back, 
 One-half of my kingdom is thine." 
 
 XI. 
 
 " Shall the child of my heart then a Rajah be, 
 And a powerful lord among men ? 
 Then stretch the rope over, and thou shalt see 
 What a mother will do in her bravery, 
 That meed for her child to win." 
 
 An arrow is shot from a strong hill bow 
 
 Bearing a silken thread : 
 Then thicker and thicker the cords they throw, 
 Till over the chasm that gapes below 
 
 The perilous bridge is spread. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 She hath girded her loins, she hath strapped the child, 
 
 It will motionless lie in sleep. 
 " Salaam to thee, Rajah," she said, and smiled ; 
 Then sank on her knees, and in accents wild 
 
 Thus prayed o'er the terrible deep : 
 
 XIV. 
 
 " Great God of my fathers, great God of my race, 
 Life, honour, and all are Thine ; 
 'T is Thou givest glory, or death and disgrace ; 
 Oh ! be it Thy will, I Thy people should raise, 
 And found here a royal line." 
 
 xv. 
 
 In hand she hath taken the balancing-pole, 
 
 And steps on the perilous bridge : 
 Firm forward she goes, for high hope fills her soul. 
 She walks in mid-air — Hurecbol! Hitreebol /*■ ■ 
 
 With her eye on the opposite ridge. 
 
 Hurheb6l.— The usual exclamation of great wonder ; an invocation to Hurcc or Krishna.
 
 35 6 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 ' Back, back ! " cries the Rajah, " and tempt not fate ; 
 
 I wished but thy courage to try." 
 Still forward she walks, — the recall is too late ; 
 So steady her step, so unflinching her gait, 
 
 All danger she seems to defy. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 Half-way she hath reached, and still safely moves 
 
 Mark the sweat on the Rajah's brow, — 
 Already he deems half his kingdom gone, 
 And his eye falls by chance on his Jobraj* son ; 
 
 And where is the remedy now ? 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 A Nutnee will take his inheritance, 
 
 Thus staked in a foolish whim, 
 And the curse of his caste, of Rajpoot Chohans, 
 The curse of the children born of his loins, 
 
 Will lie for ever on him. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 A thought diabolical seizes his brain : 
 
 He clenches his dagger-hilt hard ; 
 He looks at the Nutnee girl once again, 
 To the rock but a dozen short steps remain ; — 
 
 He severs the tightening cord ! 
 
 xx. 
 
 Ah ! heard you that shrill supernatural cry, 
 
 And heard you the wail from below ? 
 Down, down like a meteor shot from the sky, 
 Or angel rebellious hurled from on high, 
 
 Down, deep where the waters flow, 
 
 XXI. 
 
 They have fallen, the mother and innocent child, 
 
 And are lost in the Giri's flood 
 But the cord on the rock- side, fresh cut and uncoiled, 
 Damning evidence, shows how the bold feat was spoiled, 
 
 And on whom lies the gilt of blood. 
 
 ' Jobraj. — A rajah's heir- apparent is so called.
 
 APPENDIX. 357 
 
 The curse of all good men lies heavy on him, 
 
 Cain-marked — void of honour and truth. 
 Alas ! one so perfect of feature and limb, 
 So courageous, to be, by a damnable crime, 
 Cut off in the flower of youth ! 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Can that Rajah sleep now in his palace bed, 
 
 And list to the Giri's roar ? 
 Hath his soul no remorse, and his conscience no dread 
 Of the power on earth of the murdered dead, 
 
 Of the gods who watch over Sirmoor ? 
 
 Oh, honour, lost honour ! how can he forget 
 
 That shriek of unearthly sound ? 
 For aye is the sun of his destiny set : 
 Unnerved now for action his realm is beset 
 
 By enemies gathering round. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 A battle is lost, and the Rajah hath fled 
 
 To his refuge, the rock-built tower : 
 'T is the day of the year when the Nutnee fell dead, 
 And the heavens look wild, and the sun sets red, 
 
 And storm-freighted clouds dark lower. 
 
 xxvi. 
 
 A tempest is raging the whole night long, 
 
 And frequent the lightnings flash, 
 And loud rolls the thunder the mountains among : 
 One flash ! then a thunder-clap, sudden and strong ! 
 
 Hark ! hark to the following crash ! 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Dark with rain is the night, all is silent now 
 
 Save the Giri's more angry roar : 
 Men listen and whisper who live far below : 
 Some dread thing hath happened, yet none may know, 
 Till morning, the fate of Sirmoor.
 
 358 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 Men look for the palace that frowned o'er the town, 
 
 They look for that guilty tower. 
 All into the Giri have crumbled down, 
 The Rajah and all his household have gone 
 
 Where his victims went before. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Some said that a thunderbolt shivered the rock, 
 
 From heaven in anger sent ; 
 Some said they had felt a earthquake-shock, 
 That the spirits below did the earth unlock, 
 
 And dragged him to punishment. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Not heaven nor hell, but the Nuts did this, — 
 
 Their vengeance strikes ever true : 
 'Mong Nuts ever sacred their secret is, 
 This was one of the wonderful mysteries' 
 Of arts which they only knew. 
 
 II. 
 
 The letter from Rana Raj Sing, of Mewar, to the Emperor 
 Aurungzebe, is so remarkable an instance of the feeling of tolera- 
 tion among Hindoos, that, though it is quoted by me before, I 
 venture to insert it here in extenso. Recollect, it is the temporal 
 head of the Hindoos who thus writes on the imposition of a 
 most intolerable tax on all that he held most sacred : 
 
 "All due praise be rendered to the glory of the Almighty, and the munifi- 
 cence of your Majesty, which is conspicuous as the sun and moon. Although 
 I, your well-wisher, have separated myself from your sublime presence, I am 
 nevertheless zealous in the performance of every bounden act of obedience 
 and loyalty. My ardent wishes and strenuous services are employed to pro- 
 mote the prosperity of the kings, nobles, mirzas, rajahs, and rojs of the pro- 
 vinces of Hindostan, and the chiefs of /Eraun, Turaun, Room, and Shawm ; 
 the inhabitants of the seven climates, and all persons travelling by land and 
 by water. This my inclination is notorious, nor can your Royal wisdom 
 entertain a doubt thereof. Reflecting, therefore, on my former services and
 
 APPENDIX. 359 
 
 your Majesty's condescension, I presume to solicit the Royal attention to 
 some circumstances in which the public as well as private welfare is greatly 
 interested. 
 
 "I have been informed that enormous sums have been dissipated in the 
 prosecution of the designs formed against me, your well-wisher, and that you 
 have ordered a tribute to be levied, to satisfy exigencies of your exhausted 
 treasury. 
 
 "May it please your Majesty, your Royal ancestor Mohamed Jelal-oo-Deen 
 Akbar, whose throne is now in heaven, conducted the affairs of this empire 
 in equity and firm security for the space of fifty-two years, preserving every 
 tribe of men in ease and happiness, whether they were followers of Jesus or 
 of Moses, of David or Mohammed ; were they Brahmins, were they of the sect 
 Dharians, which denies the eternity of matter, or of that which ascribes the 
 existence of the world to chance, — they all equally enjoyed his countenance 
 and favour, insomuch that his people, in gratitude for the indiscriminate pro- 
 tection he afforded them, distinguished him by the appellation, 'Juggut 
 Gooroo ' (Guardian of Mankind). 
 
 " His Majesty Mohamed Noor-oo-Deen Jehanghir likewise, whose dwelling 
 is now in Paradise, extended, for a period of twenty-two years, the shadow of 
 his protection over the heads of his people, successful, by a constant fidelity 
 to his allies, and a vigorous exertion of his arm in business. 
 
 " Nor less did the illustrious Shah Jehan, by a propitious reign of thirty-two 
 years, acquire to himself immortal reputation, the glorious reward of clemency 
 and virtue. 
 
 "Such were the benevolent inclinations of your ancestors. Whilst they pur- 
 sued their great and generous principles wheresoever they directed their steps, 
 conquest and prosperity went before them ; and then they reduced many 
 countries and fortresses to their obedience. During your Majesty's reign 
 many have been alienated from the empire, and further loss of territory must 
 necessarily follow, since devastation and rapine now universally prevail with- 
 out restraint. Your subjects are trampled underfoot, and every province of 
 your empire is impoverished ; depopulation spreads, and difficulties accu- 
 mulate ; and when indigence has reached the habitation of the Sovereign and 
 his princes, what can be the condition of the nobles ? As to the soldiery, 
 they are in murmurs, the merchants complaining, the Mohammedans dis- 
 contented, the Hindoos destitute, and multitudes of people, wretched even to 
 the want of their nightly meal, are beating their heads throughout the day in 
 rage and desperation. 
 
 "How can the dignity of the Sovereign be preserved, who employs his power 
 in exacting heavy tributes from a people thus miserably reduced ? At this 
 juncture it is told from east to west, that the Emperor of Hindostan, jealous 
 of the poor Hindoo devotees, will exact a tribute from Brahmins, Sanorahs, 
 Joghies, Berawghies, Sanyasees ; that, regardless of the illustrious honour of 
 his Timurian race, he condescends to exercise his power over the solitary in- 
 offensive anchorites ! If your Majesty places any faith in those books, by 
 distinction called divine, you will there be instructed that God is the God of
 
 \6o 
 
 IMPERIAL INDIA. 
 
 all mankind, not the God of Mohammedans alone. Pagans and Moham- 
 medans are equal in His presence, distinction of colour are of His ordination. 
 It is He who gives existence. In your temples to His name the voice is raised 
 in prayer ; in the House of Images, where the bell is shaken, still He is the 
 object of adoration : to vilify the religion or customs of other men is to set at 
 naught the pleasure of the Almighty ; when we deface the picture, we natu- 
 rally incur the resentment of the painter ; and justly has the poet said, ' Pre- 
 sume not to arraign or scrutinize the various works of Power Divine.' 
 
 "In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindoos is repugnant to justice; 
 it is equally foreign from good policy, as it must impoverish the country. 
 Moreover, it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of Hindostan. 
 But if zeal for your own religion hath induced you to determine upon this 
 measure, the demand ought, by the rules of equity, to have been made first 
 upon Ram Sing, who is esteemed the principal among the Hindoos. Then 
 let your well-wisher be called upon, with whom you will have less difficulty 
 to encounter; but to torment ants and flies is unworthy of an heroic or 
 generous mind. It is wonderful that the Ministers of your Government should 
 have neglected to instruct your Majesty in the rule of rectitude and honour."
 
 ii, Henrietta Street, Co vent Garden, JV.C. 
 {Late 193, Piccadilly, IV.) 
 
 June, 18S4. 
 
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 STORY OF LITTLE DOMBEY. is. 
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 MRS. GAMP. is. 
 
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 OUR MUTUAL FRIEND. 2 vols. 
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 (. Gymnospermous . . . . . . . . . . 6 
 
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 ( Glumaceous .. .. .. .. .. 9 
 
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 CHAPMAN &> HALL, LIMITED. 31 
 
 J^tsicrrg of «^Ui in <£hdb&a& JUsgra, 
 
 By GEORGES PERROT and CHARLES CHIPIEZ. • 
 
 Translated by Walter Armstrong, B.A., Oxon. With 452 Illustrations. 
 2 vols, royal Svo, £2 2s. 
 
 " It is profusely illustrated, not merely with representations of the actual remains preserved 
 in the British Museum, the Louvre, and elsewhere, but also with ingenious conjectural repre- 
 sentations of the principal buildings from which those remains have been taken. To English- 
 men familiar with the magnificent collection of Assyrian antiquities preserved in the British 
 Museum the volume should be especially welcome. We may further mention that an English 
 translation by Mr. Walter Armstrong, with the numerous illustrations of the original, has 
 just been published by Messrs Chapman and Hall." — Times. 
 
 "The only dissatisfaction that we can feel in turning over the two beautiful volumes in 
 illustration of Chaldaean and Assyrian Art, by MM. Perrot and Chipiez, is in the reflection, 
 that in this, as in so many other publications of a similar scope and nature, it is a foreign name 
 that we see on the title page, and a translation only which we can lay to our national credit. 
 The predominance of really important works on Archaeology which have to be translated for the 
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 "Thework is a valuable addition to archaeological literature, and the thanks of the whole 
 civilised world are due to trie authors who have so carefully compiled the history of the arts of two 
 peoples, often forgotten, but who were in reality the founders of Western civilisation." — Graphic. 
 
 ^btarg of Jlrtamt (Eggpttan JUt. 
 
 By GEORGES PERROT and CHARLES CHIPIEZ. 
 
 Translated from the French by W. ARMSTRONG. Containing 616 En- 
 gravings, drawn after the Original, or from Authentic Documents. 
 2 vols, imperial Svo, £2 2s. 
 
 " The study of Egyptology is one which grows from day to day, and which has now reached 
 such proportions as to demand arrangement and selection almost more than increased collec- 
 tion of material. The well-known volumes of MM. Perrot and Chipiez supply this require- 
 ment to an extent which had never hitherto been attempted, and which, before the latest 
 researches of Mariette and Maspero, would have been impossible. Without waiting for the 
 illustrious authors to complete their great undertaking, Mr. W. Armstrong has very properly 
 seized their first instalment, and has presented to the English public all that has yet appeared 
 of a most useful and fascinating work. To translate such a book, however, is a tusk that 
 needs the revision of a specialist, and this Mr. Armstrong has felt, for he has not sent out his 
 version to the world without the sanction of Dr. Birch and Mr. Reginald Stuart Poole. The 
 result is in every way satisfactory to his readers. Mr. Armstrong adds, in an appendix, a 
 description of that startling discovery which occurred just after the French original of these 
 volumes left the press — namely, the finding of 38 royal mummies, with their sepulchral furniture, 
 in a subterranean chamber at Thebes. It forms a brilliant ending to a work of great value 
 and beauty."— Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 The Saturday Review, speaking of the French edition, says : " To say that this magni- 
 ficent work is the best history of Egyptian art that we possess, is to state one of the least 
 of its titles to the admiration of all lovers of antiquity, Egyptian or other. No previous 
 
 work can be compared with it for method or completeness Not only are the best 
 
 engravings from the older authorities utilised, but numerous unpublished designs have been 
 inserted. M. Chipiez has added greatly to the value of a work, in which the trained eye of 
 the architect is everywhere visible, by his restorations of various buildings and modes of con- 
 struction ; and the engravings in colours of the wall paintings are a noticeable feature in a 
 work which is in every way remarkable. This history of Egyptian art is an invaluable 
 treasure-house for the student ; and, we may add, there are few more delightful volumes 
 for the cultivated idle who live at ease to turn over — every page is full of artistic interest."
 
 12 BOOK'S PUBLISHED BY CHAPMAN &> HALL, LIMITED. 
 
 THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW. 
 
 Edited by T. H. S. ESCOTT. 
 
 HPHE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW is published on the ist of 
 every month, and a Volume is completed every Six Months. 
 
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 MATHEW ARNOLD. 
 
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 PROFESSOR A. V. DICEY. 
 
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 PROFESSOR TYNDALL. 
 A. J. WILSON. 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
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