A Visit to Europe ... With a preface by N. N. Ghose

Preface

BY N. N. GHOSE, ESQ., BARRISTER-AT-LAW. CALCUTTA : W. NEWMAN & Co., 4, DALHOUSIE SQUARE. LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD, 55, CHARING CROSS. 1889. All rights reserved. PRINTED BY J. LARK1NS, OXFORD MISSION PRESS, 132, LOWER CIRCULAR Rt'AD, CALCUTTA. gfebkaiion. TO THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, IN GRATITUDE FOR THEIR KINDNESS TO THE AUTHOR DURING HIS SOJOURN IN THEIR COUNTRY.

PREFACE.

. Mr. T. N. Mukharji and two other Indian gentle men were deputed by the Government of India to the Colonial and Indian Exhibition held in London in 1886. He stayed in Europe for about nine months, from April to December 1886, and travelled largely in England and on the Continent. He had no intention of writing an account of his travels and had therefore kept no notes of his journey and collected no materials for a systematic work. On his return to India, he was requested by some friends, and in particular by the Manager of the Indian Nation, to contribute to that journal, from week to week, a narrative of his experiences. Mr. Mukharji consented, and, relying upon his memory, and a few cards of invitation, catalogues and guide-books which he had preserved, he wrote his account which was published for about a year and a half in the Indian Nation in weekly instalments.

The present work is mainly a reprint of the weekl)' contributions. Such alterations as have been introduced relate more to form than to substance. The work has been, though the articles were not, divided into chapters ; and such adaptations as were necessary to secure greater

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. VIII continuity and coherence than existed in the articles, have been made. I had the privilege of looking over the proof-sheets of the work, as well in the earlier as in the later stage. This is my only apology for ac cepting the honour which Mr. Mukharji conferred on me when he requested me to write the preface. And readers who remember the circumstances under which the work was written and originally published, will understand how observations which are in the nature of comments on current topics {e.g. pp. 253-257) have found a place here. Mr. Mukharji is an unambitious writer. If I may presume to make any comments on his style at all, I may say that it is terse and idiomatic, and, above all, free and easy. He is blessed with a poetic vein and often indulges in metaphor, but is hardly ever obscure.

The exuberant energy of his nature finds expression in his style, and to purists he may appear to have taken some liberties with the English language, for, in all seriousness and fully conscious of the risk of the adventure, he has actually coined a word here and a word there. His first endeavour has been to express himself ; and in carrying it out with perfect freedom, he may have occasionally trodden under foot some conventional rule. Several of his com ments on social life and manners have a touch of irony ; but Mr. Mukharji is never bitter. Topics are discussed, about which opinions may differ as to

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. IX standards of reasonableness ; but the element of suavity will never be missed even in the most un compromising of Mr. Mukharji's criticisms. The book is not a mere narrative but a compound of narrative and reflection. Mr. Mukharji's journey was more analogous to that of Arthur Young than to that of Sterne ; and his account is at once a register of observations and a repository of ideas. Mr. Mukharji is at his best in the observation and description of details. The descriptions of the " banker at home " (p.41), of the " poor couple" (p. 45), and of the Houses of Parliament (pp. 3 1 1 -3 1 2), may be cited as instances. It is not ordinarily that the writer of travels sheds so much of dry light on the details of the life of a foreign people. The record of details is probably the most valuable part of the book.

Nearly as valuable are the reflections which sometimes accom pany the descriptive portions. The reflections on the " city " of London (p. 40) will probably be found to be striking, alike in point of accuracy, condensa tion, and sweep of the imagination. The description of " sights " seems to be sometimes a little too over weighted with historical details ; but superfluity will naturally be regarded as more excusable than deficiency of detail. And an historical account of grand edifices, or of institutions associated with them, is sometimes the only way of conveying a vivid idea of them. Mr. Mukharji's observations on matters social,

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. X religious, and political, especially where they touch questions of principle, will probably excite controversy in some quarters ; but it will scarcely be possible not to acknowledge their relevancy or the independent spirit in which they have been made. His estimates of the Hindu character and the English, are sure to be closely scrutinised. In so far as they tend to make this a stimulating piece of work, they may be regarded as a desirable feature. Having regard to the origin of the work, it would be strange if it did not contain useful information on such a subject as Indian products, — raw or manufactured, — or the uses to which they might be turned, or the mode in which they might be developed. No reader is likely to be disappointed on this head. The chapter on the " Exhibition and its Visitors " contains as much prac tical information as could be introduced without breaking the continuity of narrative or impairing its interest.

The concluding chapter will be especially interesting to Indian readers, for, though they have had placed before them descriptions of England and English life by their own countrymen, this is probably the first time that they get from the pen of a native of India a published account of his experiences on the European continent. Taking a general view of the whole work, I may observe that it has a great moral significance. Here is an account of the experiences and ideas of a native

PREFACE.

. XI of India who knows his own country and has seen a great deal of Europe and European life. Mr. Mu kharji has travelled very largely in India and has had exceptional opportunities of studying the realites of Indian life. In Europe too, in consequence of his official position, he found easy introductions to the highest classes of society and learnt more in nine months than could be learnt in a much longer period by one not so favourably situated. He saw a good deal of humbler life also. He went to England not as a young student but as a grown-up, practical man of the world, brought up in the heart of Hindu society and steeped in Hindu traditions. The observations and reflections of such a traveller ought to be of in terest alike to the Hindu and the European. The Hindu cannot fail to regard the account as something like a revelation ; and the European will learn to see himself as others see him.

Above all, all parties will realise the far-reaching effects, moral, social and political, of a visit to Europe. Mr. Mukharji is still an esteemed member of Hindu society. He has not in curred those social pains and penalties which he dreaded (p. 2j). This is evidence that Hindu society, or rather Hinduism, is acquiring plasticity. And it would be well if plasticity were fully developed, for change is the condition of life, and incapacity of change can only mean death. What Mr. Mukharji especially regrets is the hidebound condition of

PREFACE.

. XII Hindu society. And while his book inculcates the principle of change in the direction of progress, he and others like him are among the main solvent influences acting upon a hardened social regime. No nation, left to itself, has improved to any great extent, and whatever tends to bring Indian life and ideas into contact with English, is desirable even more in the interests of India than of England. The travelled Hindu, if he is quiet, condescending and social, becomes a source of instruction to his country men and a centre of influence among them ; while his familiarity, acquired at first hand and not through the reading of novels and newspapers, with Western habits of thought and life, puts him in complete sympathy with the dominant race and qualifies him to be an interpreter of the Government to the people. N. N. GHOSE. Calcutta : ) March 22nd, 1889. \ CONTENTS. DEDICATION v

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vii

Chapter I

— On the Way . . . . i „ II. — First Impressions . 27 „ III. — The Exhibition anu its Visitors 64 ,, IV.— Notes and Observations . . 139 „ V.— The Excursions .... 196 „ VI. — Last Days in England . . 310 „ VII. — In the Continent . . . 331 INDEX A VISIT TO EUROPE.

CHAPTER I. ON THE WAY.

On 12th March 1886, the steamer "Nepaul" left Bombay for England. No mail-boat ever felt the throbbing of so many Hindu hearts as did the " Nepaul" on that spring evening when she proudly cut her way across the Indian Ocean towards Aden. Well might she be proud ; for, it is only through ships that England has been able to achieve the great destiny which she has been called upon to fulfil in the history of the world. Prouder was she now at the result of the moral influence of England in her vast empire of India, which enabled so many of her sons to break through the trammels of caste, to rise above old prejudices and superstitions, and to seek education and enlighten ment at the very fountain-head of modern civilisation. There were the stalwart Panjabi from Lahore with his wife, sister and child, two Hindu merchants from Delhi, a Lala from the North-west Provinces, a Musalman from Aligarh, a Marhatta from Bombay, two Brahmans from Bengal, a Kayeth from Orissa and four Christians from Goa, all going on different errands Chap. I. 2 ON THE WAY. to the great country which governs the destiny of India.

Thus, the representatives of many nationalities of India on that day stood on the deck of " Nepaul " and watched the change which the waters of the Indian ocean gradually underwent from a greenish colour to an azure hue as the shores of their native land faded from their sight, and the noise of the surf that dashed on the Mahalakshmi rocks grew fainter and fainter. The sun had finished his day's work and prepared to retire for the night. Gradually he ceased to send forth his dazzling rays to the world below, his orb grew larger and milder, and at length putting on a red garb, which shed on the western firmament a glory of deep crimson, he suddenly dived into the blue waves of the distant horizon. The shades of evening now enveloped the world, and the reflection of the stars played backwards and forwards on the broad bosom of the ocean as the ship rolled up and down.

On the shore, now scarcely visible, the light of the Colaba light-house began to flash in its revolving course round the tower-head, shewing to distant mariners the approaches to the Apollo-Bunder. We all stood on deck, our mind struck with awe at the novelty of the scene that presented itself to our sight. Gradu ally, as the darkness grew deeper, and nothing could be seen but the white foam of the phosphoric waves that continually beat on the sides of the vessel and as often fell back broken and baffled, we began to speak with hushed voices, and exchanged notes on the length of the voyage, the dangers of the sea, the sufferings from sea-sickness and subjects of a like nature that presented themselves to our inexperienced Chap. I. A PASSENGER-SHIP. minds. The Indian ladies, bashful and child-like as they are, crouched in a corner, terrified at the vast expanse of water that surrounded us on all sides, and already complained of a swimming sensation in their heads.

It does not take long for natives of India to know one another. Our habits of life are such that we can not do without mutual help. We share our joys and sorrows with our friends, neighbours and relations. We do not consider it rude for a stranger to ask our names, our place of residence, our caste, our profes sion, our destination, and the object of our mission. " Where are you for, brother ? " would be the first question of one Indian to another, if both are going the same way. That was how the Thugs could carry on their nefarious trade with such ease, and that is how robbers now put their unsuspecting victims to sleep by means of stupefying drugs. So in half an hour we all knew each other on board the steamer, and were as friendly as a small number of Indians could be in a strange place among strange faces.

Most of my countrymen have no idea what a pas senger ship is. It may be compared to a large house with all the comforts and conveniences of high life. First there is the deck, paved with wooden planks nicely fitted in, which before being cleaned and wash ed by a strong stream of water flushed through long India-rubber pipes, is every morning scrubbed with sand and rubbed with a rude brush made of cocoa nut, with shells on, cut into two. Here passengers take exercise by walking up and down the two long passages left free on either side of the vessel. Or, one can sit under the awning and converse, or read, or play chess or other games, the materials of which are kept on board. In some vessels there is a smoking room on deck, nicely furnished, where the men assemble and smoke away the long tedious hours, when the ship, the sea, the waves, the flying fish and all other things no longer wear a novel aspect and have ceased to throw the mind of a new voyager into constant raptures.

Occasionally, if the weather is fair and warm, the piano is brought up on deck and a lady fa vours the passengers with music. Down below, there are two long rows of cabins on either side of the vessel, each containing two, three or more berths for the accommodation of the passengers. Most of the pas sengers, however, pass the whole day on deck, and many sleep there in the night, if it is not too cold. In many vessels the dining saloon is in the middle, be tween the two rows of cabins, but in some it com prises the entire breadth of the ship for a certain dis tance. Here the meals are taken, and after the meals, it is used as a sitting and a writing room ; specially when the deck above is uncomfortable owing to heat or unfavourable weather. The different meals supplied by the ship are regular feasts that contribute not a little to biliousness and sea-sickness from which most passengers suffer.

Cases of heat-apoplexy in the Red Sea have sometimes been attributed to over-feeding. Early tea between 6 and 7 ; breakfast between 8 and 9 ; lunch between 1 and 2 ; afternoon tea between 3 and 4, and dinner between 6 and 7, form the daily routine of meals. Except the two " Teas," each meal is substantial, consisting of many courses, in Chap. I. THE INDIAN OCEAN. 5 which meat forms the chief component of most dishes. But there is ample allowance of bread, rice, potatoes and vegetables on which a vegetarian can subsist with comfort. Even a Hindu, if he so minds, can preserve his caste by putting up his pot on a fire which the officers can doubtless find for him in some nook or corner of the vessel. A small library is maintained in such passenger vessels from which books can be borrowed on payment of a trifling sub scription.

In some vessels there is a Lady's Room too where non-smokers sit, and where the piano is kept. Thus a first class passenger ship is practically a well-decorated, well furnished palace with all the com forts and luxuries of civilised life. On board a vessel each day is so like another that there is scarcely anything worthy of record. We were alwavs in the midst of a vast circular expanse of deep blue water, at the circumference of which the azure sky bends and touches the whole heavens, looking like a huge convex basin inverted upon the sea. No living creature meets your eye, except occasionally a white seagull, which sits easily on the water and slides up and down as the waves rise and fall. When the ship nears her, she rises in the air and flies now on this side of the vessel, now on the other side.

Her movements excite the killing pro pensity of the sportsman passenger who hurries down from the deck to his cabin for his gun, but before he can unstrap the case, the seagull has finished her survey of the vessel and has taken a different course. When he returns to the deck with his gun, the sports man only sees her a little white speck which is soon lost among the foam of the distant waves. Now and then we also saw the flying-fish rise in a shoal of a few feet above the surface of the water and run a race among themselves ; the greater number of them soon fall into the water with a splash, but the race is continued between two or three until the winner lastly drops into the sea, dry and wear}-. Occasionally, when we were enter ing the events of the day in a diary, which all of us rigorously kept for the first few days of the voyage but which everyone abandoned as it gradually fell into arrears, we were called up to deck by the sound of the gong, signifying that a ship had been sighted.

Numerous naked eyes were at once strained to look towards the horizon, and eye-glasses directed towards the spot where a tiny black object broke the mono tony of the wilderness of water. The small black object soon developed itself into a large vessel as the two ships neared each other, when they exchanged signals and her name and destination were soon known to us. We passed our days in this way until, six days after we left Bombay, we saw before us the bleak hills of Aden. Accustomed as we are to luxuriant vegetation surrounding us on all sides, these naked precipitous hills looked extremely dreary to our eye. They are of volcanic origin ; the mass of lava reflected various colours, brown, grey, dark green, as the midday sun shone upon it. The crater formed by these lofty hills is occupied by the town of Aden which forms a portion of the little peninsula of Aden on the southern coast of Yemen in Arabia Felix.

Our ship gradually came to shallow water, bringing Chap. I. SOMALI BOYS. 7 up mud and sand as it neared the harbour. Little boats and canoes started from the shore to meet us, and they surrounded our vessel as soon as we drop ped anchor. Some of these were occupied by little dark boys who threw themselves into the sea and swam near the ship crying incessantly, " I dive, I dive," which means that they will dive for two anna silver bits if any one will be so kind as to throw them into the sea. In this they are very expert. As soon as a silver piece is thrown into the water from the deck, a height of about ten feet, they would dive after it. The transparent water, stirred by the waves, shews them the spot where the bright silver piece is sinking, which enables them to catch it be fore it can go man)' feet under the surface of the water.

Most of these boys are of African descent, being children of men who come from the Somali Coast in search of employment. They generally take a temporary wife at Aden, and after a short time go back to their homes, leaving their wives and children to take care of themselves. The mothers are taken up by new immigrants from the same coast, and the children, as soon as they are able, take to begging, stealing or " diving." The Somalis have a curious custom of treating their women as other Muham madans treat their men, and it is said that the practice is followed by some Arab Tribes. Many Jews and Arabs came to our ship with ostrich feathers and eggs. Passengers passing through Aden purchase considerable quantities of these feathers which are used for the decoration of lady's hats. They are chiefly brought from the Somali Coast.

For retail Chap. I 8 ON THE WAY. sale ostrich feathers are made into small bunches containing four feathers each, a bunch of the best quality being sold at Rs. 20 to Rs. 30. Black feathers are not liked, a bunch of which sells for Re. 1 to Rs. 8. In Africa, they hunt the ostrich by the aid of a female bird. The hunter conceals himself under her wing and makes her advance towards a wild ostrich. When sufficiently near he shoots at the wild bird with a poisoned arrow. We went ashore at Aden, and then the place looked still more desolate. A joke is current among seamen to the effect that it is a capital offence to pluck the leaves of or otherwise injure a tree in Aden. Why ? Because there are no trees in Aden. We saw some small shrubs, however, on many of which the aridity of the climate has reduced the cellular tissue and favoured the production of spines.

In the native town which lies about two miles inland within the hills, there is a little public garden, which does not possess a single big tree. Plants which assume the dimensions of big trees in India, are re duced to mere shrubs in Aden. We saw our Bak tree in this garden (Sesbania grandiflora, Pers.) with flowers upon it, but the plant itself is reduced to a mere shrub scarcely five feet high. The most in teresting sight to be seen at Aden is its reservoirs. Since the foundation of Aden the question of water supply has always been a difficult problem, to solve which various attempts have been made from time immemorial. The rainfall is next to nothing, being only three to sour inches in the year. From the earliest times great care has been taken to store Chap. I. COFFEE AND KATH. 9 this little rain-water in reservoirs not only -in Aden but in all parts of Arabia.

The dam of Mareb was constructed for this purpose 2500 years ago. More than fifty such reservoirs exist in Aden, but all of them are out of repair except thirteen which have been re constructed by the British Government with the co operation of the Sultan of Lahej. Water from these reservoirs is sold in limited quantities to the public at one rupee for 100 gallons. But this water is not fit for drinking. Of late condensers have been esta blished both by Government and private companies, by the aid of which pure drinking water is obtained by distillation from the salt water of the sea. The bazar of Aden scarcely differs from that of an Indian town, the same filthiness and the same irregularity everywhere. But wherever the Englishman has gone, he has brought in his train commerce, peace and prosperity.

Aden has recovered her ancient com merce which she lost owing to the tyrannous con duct of her former rulers, and the constant struggles for supremacy that she witnessed in the last century. We found numerous coffee-houses where the Arabs and Somalis sip 'night and day a decoction of the coffee husk. The prohibition of wine and spirits has, since the time of Muhammad, made the Arabs look for other stimulating substances. Coffee is one of their discoveries. Another is the kdth, the produce of a plant of the name of Catha which grows on the mountains of Yemen. The Arabs chew this drug as a pleasurable excitant. At one time there was doubt in orthodox Arab mind whether the use of coffee and kath was in accordance with the principle laid E down in. the sacred Koran, " Thou shalt not drink wine or anything intoxicating."

Learned men of renown were ranged on both sides and considerable discussion went on for some time. But the question was at length settled by Fakhrud-in Makki and other learned Musalmans, and coffee and kath are now in universal use among the Arabs of Yemen. Those of our countrymen who delight to stretch their imagination in order to discover the wonderful performances of the ancient Hindus, will be glad to learn on the testimony of Ibn El Mojawir, a Muham madan historian, that Aden was the " Andaman Islands " of Das Sir, the ten headed giant (Ravan), where he used to send convicts sentenced to transpor tation for life. It is said that there is a well some where among the hills of Aden, through which a tunnel exists communicating with India. About this tunnel the historian says : — " It is stated to me by Mubarik II Sharoni Maula, father of Mahammad Bin Masud, that the monster (Das Sir) stole the couch of Ram Hyder's wife from the Province of Oudh, and flew with her until he rested on the summit of Jebel Seera.

He then said to her, ' I desire to change your form from that of a human being to that of a Jinn,' and they began to wrangle, and Hunweet, who was an Efreet in the form of an ape, hearing them quarrel, dug this passage from the city of Oojein Bikrami under the sea until it terminated in the centre of Jebel Seera, and he completed it all in one night. Issuing from the passage he found her (Ram's wife) sleeping under a thorn tree on the top of the hill, so he took her on his back and descended with her into Chap. I. DUTY AND DISCIPLINE. 11 the passage, and ceased not to proceed with her until he arrived at Oojein Bikrami about daybreak, when he delivered her to her husband, Ram Hyder, who became blessed with two male children by her, one of them was named Luth and the other Kus, and hers was a long story and requires a lengthy narration, but the passage exists to this day."

That there was considerable commercial intercourse between the Indians and the Arabs in ancient times there is no doubt. In the above account the story of the abduction of Sita by the ten-headed giant of Ceylon has been curiously mixed up with Vikramaditya who came in a much later age, and an entirely different version has been given of the rescue of Sita. On our return we found the vessel getting ready to weigh anchor. Goods booked for Aden were delivered, and ' a cargo consisting chiefly of coffee was being taken in. A steam launch towed unto the side of our vessel barges containing coal and water which were duly transferred to the " Nepaul." At the proper time each man was at his place near the anchor. The Captain standing on the bridge gave the order to " heave up." There was no bustle, no hurry, no noise.

It was all work, done with the utmost precision and regularity. Not a moment was lost. The discipline maintained on board a ship was a wonder to us. Every body knew his duty, and he performed it with alacrity. Thus not the slightest confusion happens even when winds roar and waves rise mountain high. We left Aden on the afternoon of 18th March. The same evening after it was dark we passed the Straits of Babel Mandeb, the Bab-Darwaza of the Arabs. In a short time we saw the Light-House of Perim, a small island in the Red-Sea. Its position, commanding the outlet of the Red-Sea to the Indian Ocean, was considered of some importance from a long time, but it was never permanently inhabited nor occupied by any nation, until the British erected a light-house in 1857, and placed in it a small body of troops.

Albuquerque, the Portuguese navigator, visited it in 1 5 1 3 and erected a large cross on the top of one of the hills. In 1799 the East India Company temporarily occupied it, when Napoleon was preparing to invade fodia by way of Egypt. A story is related in the " Lays of Ind" about an attempt made by the French to take possession of this island, which led to its final occupation by the British. It is said that a French Man-of-War arrived at Aden with secret instructions to hoist the flag of France on this island. As a matter of courtesy the British Resident at Aden invited the officers of the French Man-of-War to dinner. After dinner when the glass went freely round, the French Captain secretly confided to the British Resident the object of his mission, on which the latter immediately sent a gunboat from Aden to take possession of Perim.

Next day when the French commandant arrived before the island he saw that he had been outwitted by the British officer: the English flag was proudly floating over the highest hill in Perim. It took us four days to cross the Red Sea. We were told that owing to excessive heat this part of the voyage was always trying to passengers, but Chap. I. THE RED SEA. 13 fortunately a cool breeze blew from the north, and we had an agreeable time of it. We passed many island rocks which rear their heads high above the water. At one place there are seven, known to mariners as the Seven Apostles. We saw herds of porpoises in the Red Sea whose frolicsome habits gave us great amusement. These porpoises would come near us as soon as they saw us from a distance, and would for some time swim, jump high in the air and gambol in all sorts of ways.