Narrative of a journey through the Upper Provinces of India from Calcutta to Bombay 1824-25. (With notes upon Ceylon.) An account of a journey to Madras and the Southern Provinces, 1826, and letters written in India

Front matter

NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY .»-■ THROUGH THE UPPER PROVINCES OF INDIA, FROM CALCUTTA TO BOMBAY, 1824—1825. (WITH NOTES UPON CEYLON,) AN ACCOUNT OF A JOURNEY TO MADRAS AND THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES, 1826, AND LETTERS WRITTEN IN INDIA. RY THE I.ATE RIGHT REV. REGINALD HEBER, D.D. LORD BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. SECOND EDITION. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXVIH. LONDON : printed by r. gilbert, st. John's square. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE C. WATKIN WILLIAMS WYNN, M.P PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR THE AFFAIRS OF INDIA. My dear Sir, In dedicating this Journal to you, I have the melancholy satisfaction of fulfilling the intention of its Author. Had he lived to revise and complete the Work himself, he would more ably have expressed to you his sense of the obligations which he felt for his nomination to the Bishopric of Calcutta, for the invariable kindness he received at your hands during his residence in India, and for the zeal with which you met and forwarded his views for the welfare of its inhabitants. a2 DEDICATION.

IV The friendship that you have ever enter tained for my husband was met on his part by feelings of no common nature; and the affection which you bear his memory, makes me sensible that you will highly appreciate this testimony of his gratitude and regard. I have the honour to be, my dear Sir, Your much obliged and obedient, Amelia Heber. December 31, 1827.

Preface

. The painful task of editing the works of the late Bishop of Calcutta having devolved upon his widow, she is anxious to state that her principal object in publishing the following Journal is, that its readers may be made acquainted with the nature and extent of the duties performed by the Bishop during the short time he presided over the Indian Church, as well as with the difficulties he encountered in the visitation of his extensive diocese. Although written in the shape of a diary, the greater part of the work formed his cor respondence with the Editor, a fact which she hopes will be borne in mind, should some consider that he has dwelt less upon the professional objects of his journey than

PREFACE.

. VI might have been anticipated. The Letters to his friends in England, from which ex tracts are given, together with the sacrifice of his dearest affections which he was so frequently called upon to make, sufficiently prove that he never lost sight of his high calling, nor suffered any circumstances to in terfere with the object for which he left his native land. In the unreserved confidence of such com munications, it will be supposed that there was much ofa nature uninteresting to the pub lic eye, and that omissions were consequently necessary. Had it pleased God to spare the Bishop's life it was his intention, after revisit ing the same countries, to publish, corrected by further experience, an account of his tra vels from the notes, in which light only he considered the work now offered to the world.

If the Editor has retained too many proofs of her husband's attachment to her and love for his children, or too many traits of that kindness of heart for which he was so emi nent, some allowance should be made for the feelings of one whose pride it now is, as

PREFACE.

. VII it was her happiness, to have possessed the undivided affections of that heart whose qualities she so well knew and so fondly valued. During a residence of five weeks in Ceylon, the Bishop had not leisure to continue the account of his first Visitation, which con cluded in that beautiful country; but as it was a part of his diocese which, in many points of view, particularly interested him, he intended writing at some future period his recollections of the island, aided by the Editor's journal, which for that purpose was written more in detail. She has endeavoured to supply, in some degree, the deficiency, by inserting a few pages in the third volume. Having thus explained the circumstances under which the work was written, and her motives for its publication, the Editor begs to be allowed to express her gratitude for the great and invariable kindness received by her husband and herself during their residence in India. For the active furtherance of his views in the promotion of Christianity,

PREFACE.

. VIII for the deference paid to his wishes, for the hospitality, friendship, and respect which he met with from his Clergy and from all the military and civil servants of the Company, in whatever part of the country his Visita tions led him, as well as from the King's Go vernment in Ceylon, she can now but offer her own heartfelt thanks. That the Bishop highly appreciated the reception which he experienced, may be generally inferred from his journal ; but the Editor is convinced that the following extract from a private letter will be peculiarly gratifying to the members of Government in Calcutta, to whom, espe cially to Mr. Lushington, the Secretary for the Ecclesiastical department, he always con sidered himself as under much obligation : " The Members of Government have done every thing for me which I myself wished for, and which was in their power to do : and Mr. Lushington has just now been exert ing himself in Council to carry a point for me of great consequence." " Nothing can be fuller or more considerate than the Let ters which have been sent to the different commissariat and military officers to attend

PREFACE.

. IX to all my wants in their respective depart ments." The liberality of the honourable the Court of Directors, in providing the Bishop with a house, and in making him an additional allowance for the expences of his Visita tion, was duly estimated by himself, and is now acknowledged with thankfulness by his widow. The Editor trusts she may be forgiven for intruding any mention of her own feelings ; but she would find it difficult at this moment to refrain from expressing her deep and grateful sense of the respect and affection shewn to her husband's memory by all ranks, all professions, and all classes of British in India, and were it possible that these senti ments could receive a stronger colouring, it would be from the knowledge that the natives of that country participated largely in such feelings ; that sincerely as he is re gretted by his own countrymen, he is no less so by those for whose eternal welfare he sacrificed his life. From these sources the

PREFACE.

. X bitter agonies of his widow's grief received all the alleviation of which such sorrow is susceptible : and though time may soften the poignancy of her loss, her gratitude can never be effaced; and fervent and lasting will be her wishes for the welfare of those whom she has left behind, and to whose per sonal kindness she was so deeply indebted in the hour of her affliction. To the right honourable Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, the right honourable Robert John Wilmot Horton, and those other friends who have contributed so much to the interest of the work by allowing the Editor to pub lish the Bishop's private Letters addressed to them, she returns her grateful thanks. For the invaluable and kind assistance af forded her by Sir Robert Harry Inglis in the publication of the work, her warmest ac knowledgments are due, and she feels sincere pleasure in thus publicly recording her sense of the obligation she is under to one of her husband's truest friends. TABLE OF CONTENTS. VOLUME I. Voyage to India p. xvii lxvii

Chapter I

Saugor — Tygers — Country Boats— Arab Ships — Village — Maldivian Vessels — Garden Reach — Approach to Calcutta — Arrival — Old Government House — Native Household 1

Chapter II. Calcutta

Description of Calcutta — Cathedral — Environs — Quay — Child-murder — Barrackpoor — Menagerie — Female Orphan Asylum — Consecration of Churches — Nach — Free- School — Botanical Garden — Bishop's College — Native Female Schools — Distress among Europeans 26

Chapter III. Calcutta

Pagodas — Barrackpoor — Serampoor — Decoits — Chandernagore^ — Christmas-boxes — Idols — Tittyghur — Suttee — Bore in the River — Salt-petre — Confirmation — Governor- General's Native Levee CONTENTS. XII CHa\PTER IV. CALCUTTA. PAGE Rope-bridges— Wedding Procession— Hindoo Festival- Cholera Morbus— Fruits— Ordination of Christian David 83

Chapter IX. Furreedpoor To Boglipoor

Blind Beggar — Crocodile — Ape — Silk Manufactory — Basket for catching Fish — Bogwangola — Strength of Current — Begging Dervises — Ant-hills — Rajmahal Hills — Gour — Rajmahal — Sultan Sujah's Palace — Puharree — Caves — Gossain — Boglipoor Schools — Religion of Puharrees- •

Chapter X. Boglipoor To Monghyr

Width of the Ganges — Charity of Dandees — Seeta Coom — Monghyr — Fort — Zemindars — Pensioners — Baptist Mission — Desertion of Dandees — Cheapness of Fire-arms • •

Chapter XI. Monghyr To Buxar

Cattle swimming across the River — Brahmin Labourers — Patna — Bankipoor — Granary — Hackeries — Dinapoor — Cantonment — Digah Farm — Chupra — Floating Shops — Fort — Native Christians — Schools — Curreem Musseeh — Varieties of Complexion 302

Chapter XII. Buxar To Benares

Caramnasa — Ghazepoor — Lord Cornwallis's Monument — Palace — Salubrity — Rose-fields — Suttees — Lepers — Dak Journey — Seidpoor — Benares — Case of Native Christians — Confirmation — Mission School — Description of Benares — Native Houses — Pagodas — Vishvayesa — Observatory — Jain Temple — Vidalaya — Hindoo Astronomy — Street-preaching — Amrut Row — Visit from the Raja CONTENTS.

Chapter XIII. Benares To Allahabad

PAGE Chunar — Intense heat — Trimbuk-jee — Hindoo Temple — Confirmation — Invalids — Departure from Chunar— Large Fish — Retrospect of Benares — Quarrels between Hindoos and Mussulmans — Sitting Dhurna — Natives' Opinions of English Governors — Allahabad — Fort — Jumna Musjeed — Confirmation — Preparations for marching — Festival of Rama and Seeta Tlie Binder is desired to cancel the page of directions for placing the Plates in each volume, and to substitute the following in the first volume. LIST OF WOOD ENGRAVINGS. VOL ,. i. Boat with fruit, to face page 2 Men holding up sails 174 Panchway ..- 5 Peasant and Boy 270 Mussulman Dandees at dinner 12 Village -.— ~~ ..-..-. 15 Monument to Mr. Cleveland 271 Arrows 281 Pagoda 307 Servants and horse 21 Granary „.„.... 315 Ghyals at Barrackpoor .... 39 Pagodas on the Ganges .... 60 Native carriages ._. 320 View on the Ganges 327 Swinging -.— „ 99 Gateway at Ghazeepoor .... 347 VOL. II.

Imambara and Gate of Constantinople 65 Sikh travelling 197 Women spinning 249 Mosque at Futtehpoor-sicri . 350 MarbleTowerTempleofSiva 483 Rawul's House at Banswarra 520 Native Cottage at Tambresra 533 VOL. III. Jain Temple 48 I Indian peasantry .... .___,_,_», 285 Church at Vepery 207 ' Park of Barrackpoor On Monday, June 16th, 1823, we went down by the Ramsgate steam-boat, to join the Thomas Grenville at the Lower Hope, accompanied by a party of kind relations and friends who were will ing to let us see as much of them as we could be fore our necessary separation. Captain Manning had the yards of the ship manned, and fired a salute in compliment to us. The Grenville weighed anchor soon after we were on board, but met with an adverse wind, and advanced a very little way down the river. On the 1.7th we had again baffling winds, and could not get round the North Foreland.

About two o'clock, on the morning of the 18th, a fine north breeze sprung up, which carried us very soon into the Downs. We lay off Deal about six hours, waiting for passengers and a fresh supply of water, much to the vexation of the old pilot who bitterly regretted that so fine a breeze was allowed to revol. i. a main useless. It continued, however, and we set off auspiciously at six the same evening, sailing with the wind so well on our quarter, and through so smooth a sea, that though the breeze grew strong in the night, the motion of the ship was hardly perceptible. In the course of the day I had proposed to read evening prayers regularly, which was received with readiness on the part of Captain Manning. Ac cordingly, after tea, I repeated, with the party as sembled in the cuddy, the General Confession, Lord's Prayer, Petition for all conditions of Men, General Thanksgiving, &c. On the 20th the ship's company were busied, during the early part of the day, in lowering the quarter-deck guns into the hold, and getting up the baggage for the passengers ; an operation which, we are told, is to take place once a fortnight.

The effect was singular ; the whole deck being strewed, during the greater part of the morning, with trunks and packages either shut or open, looked as if we had been boarded and rifled by pirates. To-day I finished " Quentin Durward," which I had kept as a resource of amusement for the voyage. I began it yesterday, and could not stop till I had quite eaten up my cake. It will, however, bear reading over more than once. I am, certainly, much pleased with it. It has more talent and interest as a story than most which have lately proceeded from the same quarter. Lewis the Xlth is powerfully drawn, though, notwithstanding the superiority of his talents, he does not, as a rich and vivid por trait, so completely please and amuse me, as James I. in " Nigel." Yet between the two mo narchs there are many points of resemblance.

Ludovic Leslie is but a very ordinary daubing of the Scots mercenary soldier, and only serves to remind us, unpleasantly, of Dugald Dalgetty, and most absurdly, and to the ruin of the conclusion of the story blunders at its end into the triumph which the wishes of the readers had reserved for his nephew. Quentin himself is precisely the Page of " the Abbot :" a raw lively lad, thrown by accident into situations of great interest and intricacy, and, in no very probable manner, and by no great merit of his own, rising from poverty and obscurity to fame and great wealth, and the enjoyment of the object of his affections. The other characters, male and female, are mere sketches, but sketches of great talent and vivacity. I like them all, from the grave, courtly, sententious and tipsy old soldier Lord Crawford, down to the good-natured, stupid burghers of Leige, and the weeping and the laugh ing executioner.

I would except, however, Hay raddin the Bohemian, whose sketch I think a com plete failure ; however ambitiously intended (and he seems to have been a favourite with the author) he is a very tame compound of Meg Merrilies, of Ronald Mac Eagh in " the Legend of Montrose," of Pacolet in " the Pirate," and of the dumb lady in the service of the Countess of Derby, as if a man, in his ambition after a new beverage, should a XX pour wine, whiskey, beer, and raspberry-vinegar into the same cup. And after all, Hayraddin, with all his talk about planets, palmistry, and atheism, does nothing but what a mere ordinary spy would have done as well, and what, if he had been em ployed to do, he never would have attempted under the disadvantage of any peculiarities of dress and manner. But though it is very easy to find fault with Quentin Durward, it is decidedly better than many of Scott's later works, nor is there any man now living but Walter Scott who could have written it.

So ends the last critique that I shall, in all probability, compose for a long time to come ! On the 21st we had the same gentle breeze, which, though now shifted to nearly due North, answered our purpose extremely well. Our latitude this day at noon was 48° 9' long. W. 7° 21'. The weather fine, though cruelly cold for Mid summer. I was this morning engaged by Scoresby's voyage to old Greenland, in 1822, but I find two circumstances for which, at sea, I was by no means prepared : — that, namely, we have no great time for study ; and that for me, at least, there is so much which interests and occupies me, that I have no apprehensions of time hanging heavy on my hands. June 22.— This day, being Sunday, the decks were all beautifully clean, having been well scrub bed on Saturday night. The awning was spread over the quarter-deck, and the capstan and sides of the vessel concealed and ornamented with flags of different nations.

Chairs were set for the of ficers and passengers on the poop, and round the afterpart of the deck, and spars laid across the remainder as seats for the sailors, who attended church in clean shirts and trowsers, and well washed and shaved. In the space between the capstan and half-deck was a small table set for me and the purser, who acted as clerk, and I read prayers, and preached one of my Hodnet Sermons, slightly al tered, to a very attentive and orderly congregation, of altogether, I should think, 140 persons. The awning made really a handsome church, and the sight was a very pleasing one. June 24. — This morning we were roused, after a night of much vexatious rolling, by the intelligence that a sail was in sight, by which we might send letters to England. I had some ready and finished others.

She was pretty close with us at about eight ; a small dark-sided brig, of very beautiful build, and with a British pendant, which made her pass for a man of war, though, on a nearer ap proach, the apparent slovenliness of her equipment, and a crowd of foreign and dirty-looking people on board, gave rise to various conjectures. Captain Manning hoisted out one of his cutters with ten oars, besides the quarter-master and the midship man who commanded, a handsome boat, making, from the appearance of the men, and their disci pline, a show little inferior to that of a man of war. He sent our letters, together with two newspapers, and two bottles of milk, a present which he said would fairly pay for the carriage of our despatches to England. She turned out to be a Falmouth packet, nine days out of Lisbon, crowded with different adventurers who had volunteered their ser vices to the Spaniards and Portuguese, and were now returning dispirited and disappointed.

About noon several porpoises were seen, and a remarkable fish passed the ship, which some of the sailors called a devil-fish, others, I believe more correctly, a sun-fish. It was a very large and nearly circular flat fish, with, apparently, some rather vivid colours about it, like those tints which are found in the jelly-fish. It impelled itself forward by lashing the water with its tail, and swam ex actly on a level with the surface. I, at first, thought that it was dead, but was soon satisfied to the contrary. The sailors seemed to regard it as a curiosity. The afternoon was cloudy, cold, and rainy, a bad summer's day in England, and what I should have still less expected in the pa rallel of Spain. June 25. — We had this day a considerable swell with a foul wind, though not much of it. A grampus came close to the ship and played round us for some time.

In his apparent size he disappointed me, though every body said that if he had been on deck, he would have measured fourteen or fifteen feet. He presented, as I should conceive, a com plete miniature of a whale, blowing out water in the same manner.^ I find, indeed, that Captain Manning, and most persons on board, suppose that the grampus is only a young whale ; another, or the same grampus, in the course of the day was seen chased by a group of porpoises, and a real (or full grown) whale was also seen, but I was not then on deck. The wind sunk again before evening ; a number of little birds, like swallows, continued fly ing on the surface of the water and piping. The seamen called them " mother Carey's chickens," and said that a storm might be expected. Accord ingly, on the wind rising a little after sun-set, all hands were called to take in the royal or upper top-gallant sails, and the company were told off with a reference to the duties expected from them with more than usual hurry.

It blew hard about ten o'clock, and from two to three the storm was regarded as serious. On the morning of the 26th nothing remained but a violent rolling and pitching sea. June 30. — Two brigs were seen in the offing in the same course with ourselves, one of which gained on us fast, and overtook us about 3 p. m. She was the Christiana of Liverpool, in ballast, bound for Bahia, and to touch at Madeira by the way. An opportunity thus offered of sending our letters to the latter place, and thence to England. The poop of the ship would be no bad place for air, study, or recreation, (it is indeed used as such JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. by most of our young writers and cadets,) had it not the terrible drawback of a vile stench from the wretched imprisoned fowls, whose hen-coops cover it. These miserable birds suffer dreadfully for the gratification of our luxury.

Though less crowded on board the Grenville than in most vessels of the kind, they are even here packed like bottles in a rack, with hardly room to stir. July 2. — During the night we made a somewhat better progress than we had done for a good while. The breeze continued to freshen from the N.E. and the day was pleasant. A vessel bound for London, three days from Funchal, passed us at dinner-time. We regretted bitterly that we had sent our packets by the Christiana, and that we had, (now that so much better an opportunity occurred,) nothing ready to despatch ; but it was not to be helped. Captain Manning hailed the vessel, and asked her Master to report at Lloyd's that he had spoken the Thomas Grenville in such a latitude, " all well," so that this, at least, our friends will have the satis faction of seeing in the newspapers ere many days are over.

My wife's eyes swam with tears as this vessel passed us, and there were one or two of the young men who looked wishfully after her. For my own part I am but too well convinced that all my firmness would go if I allowed myself to look back even for a moment. Yet, as I did not leave home and its blessings without counting the cost, I do not, and I trust in God that I shall not, regret the choice I have made. But knowing how much others have given up for my sake, should make me both more studious to make the loss less to them, and also, and above all, so to discharge my duty, that they may never think that these sacrifices have been made in vain. July 3. — We made an excellent progress during the night. At about five in the evening we saw Madeira on our larboard bow. The horizon was unfortunately hazy, and the night shut in with clouds, otherwise we should, about an hour after, have had a fine view of the land at about twenty miles distance on the beam.

As it was we could barely distinguish its outline through the mist ; but the very sight of land, and the sense of progress which it communicated were very exhilarating, and kept us all on deck till it was quite dark. During this evening the gale and the sea had continued to increase ; some of the cabins on the gun-deck had shipped water ; Mr. Burnet predicted uncomfort able weather ; and the Captain, though he did not shorten sail, gave orders to have all the lower ports secured. We went to bed, therefore, not unpre pared for a little tossing, though certainly not for all that followed. The wind was high during the night, and the swell more than commensurate, and our furniture, though we had secured it with unusual care, seemed alive. The moon, during the latter part of the night, was clear, and the view of the following surge from the cabin windows, was very majestic ; but to enjoy it, it was necessary to hold hard with both hands.

JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. July 4. — The gale and tossing continued all the forenoon ; complaints of sleeplessness, broken heads and shins, were universal ; and we were only com forted by the assurance that we had seen, probably, the worst of the ship's rolling, and that, even off the Cape of Good Hope, nothing more than this was reasonably to be apprehended. Our progress too was very cheering. Our run during the last twenty-four hours was computed at 200 miles, and our latitude at twelve was 31° 10'. July 5. — Nothing very material occurred this day, excepting that some flying-fish began to be seen round us, but of so small a sort, that, though they were numerous, it was a long time before I could distinguish them from the spray among which they fluttered. July 6. — We had Divine Service, and I read a sermon on the Epistle for the day1.

I did not feel quite sure whether the subject were too difficult for the major part of my audience or no. But I thought its discussion might, at all events, be ser viceable to the educated part of my hearers, and I did not despair of making myself understood by the crew. I am inclined to hope that I succeeded with many of them. All were very attentive, and the petty officers, more particularly, heard me with great apparent interest. I am, on the whole, more and more confirmed in the opinion which Horsley has expressed in one of his Sermons, that a theo- 1 Sixth Sunday after Trinity, logical argument, clearly stated, and stated in terms derived from the ancient English language exclu sively, will generally be both intelligible and inter esting to the lower classes. They do not want acuteness or the power of attending ; it is their vocabulary only which is confined, and if we ad dress them in such words as they understand, we may tell them what truths we please, and reason with them as subtilely as we can.

The flying-fish to day were more numerous and lively. They rose in whole flights to the right and left of the bow, flying off in different directions, as if the vast body of the ship alarmed and disturbed them. Others, however, at a greater distance, kept rising and falling without any visible cause, and, apparently, in the gladness of their hearts, and in order to enjoy the sunshine and the temporary change of element. Certainly there was no appear ance or probability of any larger fish being in pur suit of even one hundredth part of those which we saw, nor were there any birds to endanger their flight ; and those writers who describe the life of these animals as a constant succession of alarms, and rendered miserable by fear, have never, I con ceive, seen them in their mirth, or considered those natural feelings of health and hilarity which seem to lead all creatures to exert, in mere lightness of heart, whatever bodily powers the Creator has given them.

It would be just as reasonable to say that a lamb leaps in a meadow for fear of being bitten by serpents, or that a horse gallops round JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO INDIA. a* his pasture only because a wolf is at his heels, as to infer from the flight of these animals that they are always pursued by the bonito. July 8.— The sun was now fairly to the north of us, and our trade-wind, though light, was steady. One of the sailors, a lad about seventeen, was ac cused of having, in wanton cruelty, stabbed and cut a sheep so severely that it bled to death. He had been cleaning knives near the sheep-pen, and the animal was found in this condition shortly after. He protested his innocence, and said the sheep had thrown down a board on which the knives were laid. This story was a lame one ; but, with a very praise-worthy moderation, Captain Manning merely ordered him for the present into confinement, till the business could be more accurately inquired into.

It is, he says, his general rule, and the rule of most captains in the Company's service, never to punish without a regular trial, or without some pause intervening between the accusation and the enquiry. July 9. — The boy's trial came on, but he was discharged for want of sufficient evidence, with a suitable admonition. The day was fine. We were on deck the greater part of the morning, having transferred our Hindoostanee lecture thither. Our course continues south-west ; our latitude 20°. 57'. longitude 24°. 32'. The favourable breeze almost became -a gale towards night ; but we had less rolling than on former occasions. July 11. — A flying-fish fell on deck this morn ing, and I examined it with much interest. The form and colours are not unlike a herring's, with the addition of the two long filmy fins which support the animal in its short flights.

This, how ever, was, as we were assured, a very small speci men, not exceeding the size of a small sparling or smelt. July 13. — We had divine service on deck this morning. A large shoal of dolphins were playing round the ship, and I thought it right to interfere to check the harpoons and fishing-hooks of some of the crew. I am not strict in my notions of what is called the Christian Sabbath ; but the wanton destruction of animal life seems to be precisely one of those works by which the sanctity and charity of our weekly feast would be profaned. The sea men took my reproof in good part, and left the mizen chains where they had been previously watching for their prey. I trust that they will have other and better opportunities of amusement ; this was a truly torrid day. July 15. — A hot and close day, with much swell and little or no wind.