Narrative of a Residence at the Court of Meer Ali Moorad; with Wild Sports in the Valley of the Indus

Chapter I

Looms of Sindh — Silk- Weavers — Goat's Hair — Raneepoor and Gumhut — Summary from Report on Census of Sindh — The Kulloree — An Aquatic Battue — "Wild Fowl Shooting — Snakes — Captain Croker's Encounter with a Boa Constrictor — Accident to H. M. 17th Dragoons in the Mahratta "War — Swordsman and Sow— "Wounded Horse — Advantage of a little Medical Knowledge — Quinine a Panacea for all Diseases — Vaccination — The Crops of Sindh — Similarity of Climate to that of Egypt — Overflow of the Indus — -Canals for Irrigation — Increase of Population — Proportion of Sexes — Cattle — Wells — The Persian Wheel — Improvements under Sir Bartle Frere — Construction of Bridges — Grand Trunk Road — Military Road — Principal Routes in Sindh . 1

Chapter II

Revenue System — Assessment on Crops — Forms of Collection — Land Revenue iu Government Territory — Weights and Measures — Currency — Balance of Caste in Khyrpoor Territory — Character of the People — The Beloochees of Sindh — Want of Education — Indifference to the Fine Arts — Hindoo and Mahomedan Women — Civil CONTENTS. aud Criminal Justice at Khyrpoor — Tortures — Instance of Hote Singh's Barbarity — Police — Ordeal of Fire and Water — Wife Murder — Sale of Wives — Highway Roh bery — Pastoral Tribes — Camel Drivers of Sindh — Patri archal Character of the Beloochees — Bards and Minstrels — Khyrpoor Prima Donna — Professional Dancers — Peers, Seyuds, &c. — Supposed Jewish Descentof Beloochees — Meanis — Pulla Fishery 35

Chapter III

Hindoos in Sindh — Their Peculiar Customs — Indifference in Matters of Caste and Religion — Petty Traders— The Sindhi Language — Dialect of the Beloochees — Khyrpoor Artificers — Chellas — Meena — Manufacture of Arms at Hyderabad — Sword of Timour — Division of Time — Sindhian Eras — The Tear — The Seasons — Months, Weeks, and Days — Minor Divisions — Indian Astronomical Tear — Khyrpoor Water- Clock — The Ghurryal — Mode of marking Time at Khyrpoor — Dejee Kot — Extraordinary Gun — Its Inscription — Ali Moorad's Policy — Mutiny of the Meer's Troops — Embargo on his Breakfast — The Hukeem Emaum Ood Deen Khan — Anecdote of a Beloochee Chief — Anecdote of the Rajah of Wunpurty — The Hukeem in London 75

Chapter IV

The Village of Dejee — The Meer's family — Their Primitive Style of Living — The Meer's Bungalow at Dejee — His Occupation during the Day — Training Hawks — Simplicity of the Court — A Prince's Breakfast — Houses of the Ameers — The Smaller Houses — Ventilators — Household Utensils — Caussee — The Ali Surkars — The Post Office— A Voracious Calf— A Fleet of Invalids— Stolen Watch— Excessive Heat — Birth of an Heir — Grand Entertainment CONTENTS.

Chapter V

Antelope Hunting — Bad Government — Filling the Meerwah — Hindoo Ladies Bathing — Night-shooting — Killing a Tiger with an Arrow — Marriage Procession — Bursting of the Kulloree — Ruinous Walls — Habits of Meer Ali Moorad — Hote Singh — Religion of the Sindhians — Shiahs and Soonies — Evening Prayer — The Ramzan Festival — Fasting Unfashionable at Khyrpoor — Tiger Shot — Khoodbah — Buckreed Festival 147

Chapter VI

Mohurrum— Syed Jaffer Ali Shah — Murseeahs — Procession — Dool-Dool — Chanting of Women — Gallantries of Hindoo Ladies — Eloquence of Syed Mehr-i-Durrya Shah — Mourning Garments — Mortifying the Flesh — Hyderabad Puthan Fight — Sindhian Superstitions — Magicians — Magic Mirror — The Meer Moonshee — Science of Hazirat — Wasps discover Pilferers — Evil Spirits around a Sick Bed — A Wounded Prince — Amusements during convalescence 177

Chapter VII

Meer Ali Moorad — British Breaches of Faith — Maharanees of Nagpore — Sindiah — Jhansi — Carnatic Stipendiaries — Prince Azeem Jah — King of Oudh] — Sir Charles Napier's Prophetic Warnings — Causes of the Insurrection — Mr Layard — Feeling of the People — Finance — Wasteful Expenditure— -Salaries of Pondi cherry Officials — Sir Charles Trevelyan — Mr Bright's Speech on Indian Reform — Improved Policy — Native Qualifications — Rathborne's Report — Demeanour towards Natives — Our Government of Sindh — Beneficial Results — Departure from Khyrpoor — Adieu to Sindh .... 210 Appendix NARRATIVE OF A RESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF MEER ALI MOORAD.

Chapter I

Looms of Sindh — Silk-Weavers — Goat's Hair — Raneepoor and Gumbut — Summary from Report on Census of Sindh — The Kulloree — An Aquatic Battue— Wild Fowl Shooting — Snakes — Captain Croker's Encounter with a Boa Constrictor — Accident to H. M. 17th Dragoons in the Mahratta War — Swordsman and Sow — Wounded Horse — Advantage of a little Medical Knowledge — Quinine a Panacea for all Diseases — Vaccination — The Crops of Sindh — Similarity of Climate to that of Egypt — Overflow of the Indus — Canals for Irrigation — Increase of Population — Proportion of Sexes — Cattse — Wells — The Persian Wheel — Improvements under Sir Bartle Erere — Construction of Bridges — Grand Trunk Road — Military Road — Principal Routes in Sindh. ' The looms of Sindh are employed in the manufacture of various kinds of coarse silk and cotton cloths, or of fabrics half silk and half cotton, for which latter production Sindh was VOL. II.

SILK-WEAVING IN SINDH. long celebrated, but these are now completely eclipsed by the manufactures of Mooltan and Bhawulpoor. Every village has its weavers, by whom the country is supplied with that coarse cotton cloth in universal use throughout Sindh. The weaving is conducted in this wise : — the cotton, having been purchased in the raw state, is made over to the cleaners ; the instrument for beating it is the common triangular one, suspended from the roof; the string being of gut, the cotton is not much injured by this process, which is that of the Pinjaras, or cotton cleaners of India. After being thus cleaned, the cotton is spun by the women of the estab lishment. The thread is then drawn out upon rows of small sticks, and afterwards soaked in water and flour. When taken out, it is again stretched upon sticks and exposed to the air.

In this state it is rubbed with a large brush of tamarisk, and is then ready for the weaver. The weaving is the same as that adopted in Ceylon, the machine being suspended from the roof, and a hollow made below for the feet of the weaver, by which the upper and lower skeins of thread are raised and depressed as requisite. The cloth is generally made from a SILK-WEAVERS. 3 foot to eighteen inches in breadth, and thirty-six feet in length. Two of these pieces can be made in three days. The average price of cotton wool is about three seers per rupee, and from this three and a half pieces of cloth can be manufactured. The cloth is sold at an average price of fourteen annas ; so that, as the whole process, except cleaning the wool, is carried out by the weaver and his family, his profits may be easily calculated.

The best cloth is made from English thread, which is considered far superior in appearance and durability to that spun in Sindh. There are also silk-weavers in some parts of Sindh, the silk being imported from Kandahar, and occasionally dyed in Sindh. This province was formerly celebrated for its Loongees of silk and gold, but the only kind still manufactured is a checked cotton one with silk borders. Most natives of respectability wear cummer bunds of silk of showy colours, and the manufacture of the national head-dress is an important branch of trade. Goat's hair is woven into coarse cloth, and the most durable ropes are spun from the same material. Camel's hair is also applied to the i » RANEEPOOR AND GUMBUT. like purpose. The former is called in Sindhi Moong war, i. e. Bar-Kush, the "load fastener," and is much used in Kafilas, or caravans, for that purpose, from beyond the frontier.

Raneepoor and Gumbut are the chief manu facturing towns in the Khyrpoor territory ; at the latter place I am told the workmen are very expert in copying any patterns of chintz furnish ed to them, and I know that their colours are extremely durable. The Sahokars of Gumbut are very wealthy, and some of them carry on an extensive trade with Bombay, Shikarpoor, &c. I here subjoin a brief summary from a volu minous Report on the Census of Sindh by the Deputy Collector of Customs : — General Remarks. " The subdivision ofthe land is greatest in the Upper Sindh Western Frontier, and least in the Thurr and Parkur districts, the proportion of cultivation to population being 1.3 beegas in the former, to 4.3 beegas in the latter ; this may be partly accounted for by the fact that Jaco babad is a military station.

"In the Kurrachee Collectorate the proportion is 3.5 beegas to each head of its population, SUMMARY OF CENSUS OF SINDH. 5 whilst in the Hydrabad and Shikarpoor Collect orates it is only 1.5 and 1.7 respectively. The general average is two beegas or one acre, which is about the general average of the Punjaub. " The highest rate of land assessment is in the Shikarpoor Collectorate, where it averages rs. 1 6-0 per beega, or rs. 2-10-7 per English acre ; the lowest in the Thurr and Parkur, where it averages only one anna and nine pies per beega. "In Hydrabad the average is rs. 1-1-8 per beega, or rs. 2-2-2 per acre, whilst in the Kurra chee Collectorate it is nine annas and five pies per beega, or rs. 1-2-3 per acre. " The general average rate for the Province is 14 annas and nine pies per beega, or rs. 1-12-7 per acre ; or per head of the entire population, taking the total revenue of the Province in 1854-55, viz. rs. 3,273,749, rs. 1-15| annas.

" These varieties of assessment of course arise from the different productive capabilities of the soil, facilities of irrigation, and proximity to markets, affecting the price of produce. " Were the Indus to cease to flow, Sindh would become a barren waste, as it now is where fer tilising influence of its waters is unfelt, either directly by its periodical overflow, or through LAND UNDER CULTIVATION. the medium of the 6906 miles of water-courses, independent of minor-channels, which it supplies, cut in all directions, on either side of its course, like the veins and capillaries from a great artery ; these, with the aid of 8260 pucka wells — it is not stated how many cutcha ones — and 793 tanks, form the estimated irrigational resources of the Province, which seldom experi ences the genial influence of a shower.

" The total quantity of land under cultivation taken from the return of resources of the Province prepared by the Collectors is 33,44,458 beegas. " The total quantity of land under cultivation is estimated at 19,78,026 beegas, the produc tion at 69,04,712 maunds, and the value at rupees 76,20,805. " The value of produce diminishes as the distance fi'om the sea face increases. In the Kur rachee Collectorate the average price of grain is rs. 1-9 a maund. In the Hydrabad Collectorate, rs. 1-1-6, and in the Shikarpoor Collectorate 15 annas and six pies ; whilst the rate of Assess ment in these Collectorates is in the increase, viz. rs. 1-0-6 per beega at Shikarpoor, rs. 1-1-8 at Hydrabad, and nine annas and five pies at Kurrachee. PRICE OF GRAIN. " The proportion of produce to cultivation is for : mds. seers.

Kurrachee 2 18 Hydrabad 3 15 Shikarpoor 4 4 Jacobabad 1 20 ' - So that it would appear that nearly twice the quantity of land is required to cultivate a maund of produce in the Kurrachee than in the Shikarpoor Collectorate. "If as a general rule it holds good that the price of grain diminishes as the distance from the sea-coast increases, then the price of grain in the Punjaub must be still lower than it is at Shikarpoor ; hence probably, though the jDrinci ple woidd not seem to hold good in Sindh, the lower rate of land assessment in the Punjaub as compared with Sindh, which averages rupees 1-12-7 per acre, whilst for the Punjaub it is only rupees 1-5-4 per acre. " In a letter written in April last by Mr Tem ple, Secretary to the Chief Commissioner in the Punjaub, it is stated on the authority of the Friend of Tndia, that wheat was then selling in CORN TRADE OF THE PUNJAUB. the Punjaub at two maunds of 80 lbs. each per rupee, which is less than one-third the price quoted for the like produce in Kurrachee.

" But the Punjaub, unlike Sindh, has no remunerative outlet for her surplus produce. We are authoritatively informed (see Punjaub Re port, page 95) that in a season of superabund ance there is not a sufficient market to secure its sale at remunerative prices. No countries surround the Punjaub to which any great quantity of grain could be exported. To the west the disturbed state of Afghanistan, and the difficulties and cost of transit, must prevent the ex portation of food. To the south are Sindh and Bhawulpore, the former producing more than it can consume, the latter a poor and thinly peo pled tract. To the east is the Jullundar Doab, densely peopled, but so fruitful in its own soil as fully to support the inhabitants. To the north are the Hills, whose inhabitants have not the means of purchasing our surplus produce.

" Land in Sindh is perhaps more fertile than the soil of the Punjaub. The Indus, which waters it, is capable of conveying its produce, at all seasons, to the sea face, whence it can be ex ported to various remunerative markets. Not ADVANTAGEOUS POSITION OF SINDH. so the Punjaub, whose rivers are uncertain and often unnavigable, and which has no surround ing markets to purchase the surplus fruit of its industry. The distance from the sea face, too, is great, and the means of reaching it for the most part tedious and uncertain. " In every respect, then, Sindh has the ad vantage of the Punjaub, in position, soil, facility of transit leading to remunerative markets — everything in fact which tends to give wealth to nations. Yet Sindh, if we include her military, is not a self-supporting country, but annually draws upon the general revenue of the state.

" Five millions sterling is not perhaps an ex cessive estimate of what has been spent in the Province since our occupation of it, besides its own revenues circulating through the Province and enriching the population. " Our policy in Sindh has been reduction of taxation, which has been effected to a large ex tent, from what it stood under the sovereignty of the Ameers. " All obnoxious taxes on commerce have been happily abolished." Here, however, I must return to my royal MEER ALI MOORAD AT NAUCHEE. master, whom I have lost sight of through some twenty pages or so. His Highness was de lighted with the Commissioner's cordiality at their meeting, and on the following day re turned the visit of that high functionary at Sukkur ; immediately after which he took boat and dropped down the river again to Nauchee, where we remained several days, hog and parah shooting on the island opposite, which is one of the Meer's pet preserves.

His Highness then moved his camp in a southerly direction ; and I, requesting leave of absence, returned to Khyrpoor to prepare letters, both public and private, for the next overland mail. In this, as in most other matters, I found the Meer very considerate and obliging. The old bungalow of Meer Sohrab really too appeared quite com fortable, after roughing it in His Highness' camp, and I quietly settled myself in my quar ters, awaiting the Meer's advent, which took place a few days subsequently. On the day after his arrival preparations were made for wild fowl shooting, and I assisted at a battue such as I never saw before. About a mile to the east of Khyrpoor is a lake, called the Kul loree, said to be about fifteen miles in circum- AQUATIC BATTUE. ference. This the Meer has formed by means of a canal, which being dammed up has over flowed a large tract of his finest land, in order to obtain one or two days' wild fowl shooting.

The said lake too has repeatedly threatened his capital with destruction by the bursting of its bund. The Kulloree, however, is nowhere deep, except in certain places close to the bund ; and, being intersected with bushes and sur rounded with reeds, affords shelter to water fowl of every sort in myriads, ducks and teal of various kinds ; pelicans and cranes, coots, water-hens, and every species of aquatic bird from the dabchick upwards. As these birds had not heard the sound of a gun for upwards of two years, consequent on the Meer's absence in England, they were less wary at first than wild fowl usually are, and His Highness' me thod of shooting them would, I think, rather astonish a professional wild fowl shooter from Hampshire or the fens. His Highness' breakfast tent having been pitched near the embank ment east of the city, I rode out there and found it surrounded by the usual crowd of Mooktyar Kars, Moonshees, Minstrels, Mendi cants, and the like ; and having submitted some WILD FOWL SHOOTING. papers for His Highness' approval, I was about to return home, when I was invited by the Meer to remain as a spectator of the wild fowl shoot ing.

His Highness and his youngest son took the field together in a maufifa, a sort of open palankeen, the pattern of which must have furnished the idea of that litter, or call it what you will, wherein the Inca makes his appearance in Pizarro, as represented at the Princess' The atre. His Highness and Meer Khan Mahomed, having been thus carried through the swamp, seated themselves on a raft composed of a dozen large pots lashed to a frame covered with reeds, very suitable for such sport, which was pushed throu°*h the water towards the ducks and other wild fowl ; and these were at first so little alarmed that they allowed the raft to approach within forty yards ere they took wing. Great was the destruction by the first few shots, till the continued firing caused them to become more wary ; but even then the birds wheeled round and round within eas}?- shot of the princes, till at length the ducks and larger fowl appeared each time to increase the length of their flights, and after some hundred shots had been fired they abandoned the lake for some more secure SPORT WITH WOUNDED BIRDS. place of refuge.

Still, however, the firing was kept up on coots, divers, and water-hens, which, being hardly allowed a moment's pause to rest their weary wings on the bosom of the water, were forced to fly round and round, thus afford ing sport after the ducks and teal had all sought shelter at a distance. When the Meer and his sons were tired of slaughter, much'amusement was caused by their biped retrievers in endea vours to catch wounded birds, many of which were swimming about with broken wings, and afforded good sport, as their pursuers, in wading after'ihem, occasionally popped heels over head into deep holes, to the manifest entertainment of the Meer and his sons ; but the Sindhis are a good-humoured race, and though the water was cold they took their'duckings in very good part. Thus ended our grand water fowl shikar.

During the months preceding the inundation the Kulloree is nearly dry; indeed, it is a great pity that the water is not altogether excluded from it, as some thousand acres ofthe most pro ductive land in the Khyrpoor territory are at present sacrificed for a few days' sport. About this time the news was received of a tiger having crossed from the Larkhana side and SNAKES IN SINDH. been seen in the direction of the Buttee Ferry, about twenty miles from Khyrpoor. So the Meer and his household were all excitement, as tigers are very scarce game in Sindh ; in fact, when seen in the Khyrpoor country, they are merely stray animals which have crossed from the right bank of the river. Much to the disappointment of the Meer, the tiger crossed back to the western side without His Highness having had an opportunity of trying his shell gun at him.

In no part of India Proper are there, I be lieve, so many venomous snakes as in Sindli ; indeed, in the former it is rare to hear of an accident, whereas the Sindh official returns show that in 1855 above three hundred persons died froru snake bites, and I know that during the time I was at Khyrpoor several persons lost their lives from the same cause. Three, I remember, died on the same evening, after a heavy shower, the only one I saw in Upper Sindh, which I suppose set all creeping things in motion, and the crumbling walls of the old houses of the Ameers are filled with snakes, that find therein a secure refuge from birds of prey, which would otherwise decrease their numbers. Two or three very large snakes were SNAKES IN SINDH. 15 killed in our own court-yard, and the tracks of others were constantly visible in the dust every morning, showing how numerous they must be.

None of the snakes in Sindh are, however, to be compared with the rock snakes of India, which are occasionally met with of enormous size ; indeed, a snake of this description was killed some years ago in the Wynaud Jungle by Captain Croker, late of H. M. 84th regiment, which measured nearly thirty feet in length and three in circumference. The head and skin of this unusually large specimen of the Anaconda tribe were sent to the Hon. Arthur Cole, then Resident at Mysore, where they were preserved as curiosities. Captain Croker, who was a capital shot and an untiring sportsman, passed as much time as he could in the jungles in the pursuit of game, and being quite indif ferent to personal comfort, he only required shelter at night, which he obtained from the villagers, with milk and rice in abundance for himself and his attendant Shikaree, and he was quite content with this simple fare.

Captain Croker was greatly liked by the natives, several of whose languages he spoke sufficiently to be SNAKES IN SINDH. understood by them, and that was enough for his purpose. When on one of his sporting excursions in Wynaud, he was told of an enormous Boa, or Anaconda, which had been occasionally seen, and was held in great terror by the natives, but could obtain no certain intelligence of its whereabouts. Being, however, one day in pursuit of game, accompanied by a Shikaree, and a very powerful and high-couraged dog, the latter made a rush forward, and suddenly he heard a whimper and choking noise. Cap tain Croker at once thought that his dog was in the clutches of a Cheetah, and pushed on to his assistance through the thick jungle, wherein he got sight of a large object, in colour black and orange, which he at first thought was a tiger, but presently saw that it was a huge Boa con strictor coiled up.

As he approached, the mon ster began to uncoil itself; presently its head became revealed, and two diamond-like eyes glared as the animal glided towards him. Caj) tain Croker was a man of great nerve, and he fired both barrels at the Boa's head — both balls took effect ; yet, though checked for an instant, the snake came on more fiercely than before, ENCOUNTER WITH A BOA CONSTRICTOR. and the Shikaree having bolted with the Captain's rifle, he also was compelled to run, and had just time to climb up into a tree when his pursuer arrived at its foot. Captain Croker lost no time in reloading, but to his dismay found that the Shikaree had carried off all his balls ; luckily, however, he had plenty of shot, and having reloaded, saw that one of the Boa's eyes was knocked out ; nevertheless the animal appeared quite aware of his proximity, having seemingly followed him by the scent.

By this time the Boa was twining itself round the bole of the tree in order to ascend it, when Captain C. fired one barrel into its remaining eye, at a distance of only about ten feet ; the creature at once fell back, but again and again renewed its efforts to reach him, though without effect, and Captain Croker continued to fire at it till life appeared to be extinct ; though for a considerable time it continued to writhe and lash the bushes with its tail, the vast muscular power of which seemed quite astonishing. At length, Captain Croker's firing having ceased, the Shikaree returned, accompanied by a number of villagers, who were both delighted and aston ished at beholding the dead Boa, in whose VOL. II. ACCIDENT TO A FALCONER. crushing folds many of their cattle had perished. They now placed the dead snake on a cart and carried it in triumph to their village, where it was skinned and the carcass hung upon a tree, its fat being previously removed for medicinal purposes, the natives believing it to be a sovereign remedy for impotence and other com plaints incidental to them.

The unfortunate dog was found completely crushed, and near it a dead deer in the same state, on the spot where Captain Croker had discovered the monster coiled. One morning a falconer fell with his pony into a small well ; fortunately the depth was not great, and the man was extricated with little injury by means of turbans knotted together, by which he was hauled up ; but whether the steed was ever got out or not I cannot say. I wonder, indeed, that such accidents do not more frequently occur in India, where pot-wells are in all directions to be met with. I once, when hunting in the Nagpore country, had a narrow escape. We were running a jackal through some melon gardens, when I came full speed on one of these wells, so close before my horse that it was impossible to avoid it ; so I crammed him at it, and he carried me over in gallant style, ACCIDENT TO THE 17tH DRAGOONS. 19 but I afterwards saw it would have been an awkward place to have got into.

A terrible accident occurred during the Mahratta and Pindarrie campaign of 1817-18, by which several men of H. M. 17th Dragoons lost their lives. A squadron or more of the regiment was with the advanced guard, and with it a couple of Galloper Guns. Marching in the dark on the outskirts of a village, the troops passed close to a well without any parapet around it ; the horses and limber cleared the well ; but unhappily one of the gun-wheels slipped in, clown went the gun, its weight dragging the limber and horses after it. A staff-officer who was present described the scene as most heart-rending; the night was pitch-dark, and nothing could be discerned till a light was procured from the village. For a few moments agonizing screams of both men and horses rent the air ; but the former soon ceased, though the struggling of the horses continued.

No human aid could avail, and three dreadful hours crept away ; but at length morning dawned upon that scene of horror. Five fine soldiers were lost to the regiment ; those upon the limber, if not killed by the fall, must have been crushed to death at a< HOG HUNTING. once by the horses falling upon them ; and the others, most probably, died from the injuries sustained in the fall, or from suffocation. In one of our hunting excursions a young boar about a year old was caught by the dogs and secured alive, being tied neck and heels by the Shikarees, who brought him before the Meer. His Highness called for the dogs, fierce Khorassan boar-hounds, which were brought up; and the captive being taken about fifty yards to the front, the cords were cut, piggy remaining perfectly quiet till he found himself free, when, instead of running away, he made a rush at the Shikaree, who in his flight was so closely pursued that his nether garment was ripped up and an ugly scratch inflicted by the animal's tusk on his seat of honour, but the dogs being luckily slipped in time prevented more serious injury.

Some days after this we had a hog hunt of another kind, in which there certainly is considerable danger. It took place in a walled garden of great extent, the wall of which being broken down in some places afforded ingress to numerous hogs, who resorted there to feed on the jowaree, which also afforded them good cover. These apertures having been THE COURT JESTER. closed on the morning of the hunt, which took place in the afternoon, a raised building was constructed for the accommodation of the Meer and some of his principal officers, in which they placed themselves. Inferiors seated themselves on the wall, or on trees, anywhere, in short, out of reach of the animals. One of Jacob's horsemen was present, and the Meer asked him if he would encounter a hog with his sword, but the trooper declined the honour, for which the Meer called him a coward, though if all present were cowards who would have done the same, I apprehend that His Highness and most of those around him would have come within the category.