Fifteen years in India; or, sketches of a soldier's life ; being an attempt to describe persons and things in various parts of Hindostan. From the journal of an officer in his Majesty's service

Front matter

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LIBRARY-

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Preface

The gentleman who wrote the journal from which the following pages are chiefly drawn, went out to India in the beginning of 1805, and returned in 1819. During that period it was his lot to traverse a great part of the peninsula, from the Ganges to the Indus. He landed at Madras, and saw part of the Carnatic, joined his regiment in Malabar, and served with it in Mysore and Travancore ; after which his fortune led him to Bengal, and a few years afterwards to Bombay, where he was employed with the army in Guzerat which invaded Kutch-booge for the first time, marched through Kattywar, and destroyed the fastnesses of the pirates in Okamundel. His corps being then called to join the Poonah subsidiary force, an opportunity was aflbrded him of seeing a considerable part of the Deckan during the late Mahratta war. The impressions made upon

Vlll his mind by the scenes which he beheld in India, are now, with deference, offered to the public.

Much might be written on the excusable topic of prepossession ; and, on the other hand, many arguments might be adduced to prove that all an author can say in behalf of his own book is vox et pi^cetcrea nihil. These pages are therefore dismissed to their fate with a short anecdote.

A British officer, with a small detachment of sepoys^ was stationed in a pass of the ghauts, for the purpose of intercepting the enemy's hurhariis. Among many other travellers, a man in the garb of a villager was stopped. By his own account he was merely going to a neighbouring town. He wore only a cloth round his loins, a blanket, which served him as a sort of tent, being contracted to fit his head while it covered his shoulders, and a pair of old sandals. This scanty dress and all other suspected means of concealment were carefully searched, and a stick, which he carried with little bells fixed to it, for the l)urpose of frightening away tigers and wild elephants on his journey through the forests, was broken lest there might be a letter en-

IX closed. " Let him pass," said the officer. " Sahech^' rephed an old suhadar with a venerable beard, whose language being Hindostannee, I shall translate, " Sir, permit the voice of experience to penetrate the ear of understanding, and suffer me, thy servant, to examine these sandals." This hint, respectfully offered, was not scornfully rejected. The soles of the almost worn-out sandals were cut, and behold a letter in the Persian character, made up in the form of a small roll, was secured in a proper opening. It contained information that led to the surprize and defeat of the Mahrattas, with the capture of their treasure, camels, and elephants. The native officer knew what the European did not, that the old sandals were carried by the messenger on his march, lest the concealed communication should be injured by friction, and merely put on as a ruse contre ruse, when he was taken prisoner.

Thus reader, I wish with luimihty to insinuate that you sliould examine my book very attentively, for it comes before you without the recommendation of a literary name, a higli sounding title, orapowerful patron ; and tlierefore should it contain any interesting matter,

a it will resemble the hurliaru, you the officer, and I the old suhadar, who assure you, with solemnity, that in it there is a great deal of truth.

Introduction

1 HERE is nothing, it is presumed, in the following pages, contrary to good manners, received opinions, and social duties. It may therefore be asked. Why is the title page without a name ? The writer may have a thousand reasons for anonymous publication ; but, without enumerating them, he will give at once the history of this work, and his motive for declining immediate notoriety. On both subjects it is only proper to state, that he who now obtrudes himself on attention came home from India, after a long residence there, in a debilitated state of health, with a large family, under the well-founded expectation that solid independence awaited him ; but so great and severe were his disappointments that he retired to a mountain, where he pasted on the fireboard of his humble parlour, the singular order of the day issued by Napoleon, when First Consul, against suicide : " A soldier ought to know how to subdue sorrow, and the agitation of the passions; there is as much courage in enduring with firmness the pains of the heart, as in remaining steady under the grape-shot of a battery. To abandon one*s-sclF to grief without

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resistance, to kill one*s-self in order to escape from it, is to fly from the field of battle before one is conquered." — At last, remembering the precept of Virgil, *' ne cede malis,^' he sat down to write on India. A short prospectus gave some publicity to his intention, and the proposal was countenanced by his Majesty's librarian, by his Royal Highness the Duke of York, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and two other distinguished personages. However so very few answered his letters, that one day w^hile contemplating the fate of his undertaking, he scribbled thus in bad verse, for when sorrow touched his heart his understanding was in the habit of flying for aid to poetry : —

Adieu ! if patrons fail, thou sweetest charm O Education ! to thy helping arm ! — From Homer, Cicero, and Virgil's glow. My boys the force of truth will never know. And round my girls the Graces w'ill not play, For maids of honour must have royal pay.

Casting his eye to the window which overlooked the road winding up the mountain, he saw a gentlemanly person, of the middle size, in a blue frock, leading a handsome grey nag, approaching, which w^as an unusual sight.

*' I think I should know you,*' said the stranger, extending his hand, with a friendly and familiar aspect.

" Your face is that of an old Indian," replied the other, grasping the proffered liand j — " but the name — '*

INTRODUCTION'. 3

" Thouglitiess," answered he j '' the liver has altered us both ; I should not have known you either, but for your Prospectus ; — I came to see you, and put down my name ;'* and he pulled some bank notes out of his pocket.

" Not till the delivery," said the author.

" And I hope," said Thoughtless, after some preliminaries, " you have experienced much encouragement of a private and individual nature."

*' Very little. I really fear I have mistaken the pubhc taste."

" Your book is certainly addressed to the understanding, contrary to the modern system, which is to tickle the fiincy, and occasionally become so pathetic that the heart almost breaks with a swell, and the soul rises towards the end into harmonic sublimity with the scene, till the curtain drops on a sort of ineifable felicity. — He who can effect this, may sport his curricle and livery, and breathe his nags at Brighton 1"

*' My own thoughts precisely, in better drapery than my wardrobe affords. I have often felt inclined to suspend my labours on the book in question. The risk of a light work would be trifling, and should the style and matter have merit to force their way, Messrs. Longman and Co. would not hesitate to make a proposal for something more scientific. But my own adventures in India are common-place: — joined my regiment an ensign,

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rose in gradation, and served a few campaigns not of an interesting nature."

" The circumstances of my life have been more diversified — I shall send you my journal — use it — * speakofmeasi am — nothing extenuate;' — where fictitious names are used, add or diminish at pleasure ; but where real actors are introduced, let no embellishment allure from justice and truth. You will perceive I wrote in the title page — ' Fifteen Years in India, or, Sketches of a Soldier's Life.* *'

" That strikes me as happy — simple — unostentatious— it pledges to no particular line. A tangent may at any time be formed in favour of merit or expediency, as the practice is at the Horse Guards, where no promise of a step is ever given. Had it been Memoirs, Travels, or any of the designations heretofore used, some known course must have been pursued at the jog-trot of a set o? palankeen boys from one regular stage to another, instead of being as ivee as Pug in the wilderness to jump from the sublime to the ridiculous, and to chatter and grimace, just according to the romance of my disposition."

" Exactly — you will be in the situation of a prudent minister of state who reserves to himself perfect liberty ; for what is there in fifteen years in India? In that time, it is true, a man may have seen much and observed little. It is sufticient, then, to excite curiosity, but it is by no means binding as to any particular mode of gratification. But there

INTRODUCTION. 5

is a third addition, explanatory of the first and second, namely, * being an attempt to describe persons and things in various parts of'Hindostan.* "

" Equally guarded I protest ; parvis componere viagna, the three heads resemble those of Brahma, Vishnu, and Sheva, in the cave of Elephanta, which are curious to behold, but so difficult to understand, that learned Pundits and Christians deeply skilled in oriental lore cannot agree as to the interpretation.

** An author should consider himself as opening a game at chess. He who aims at success, whether he play a regular Philidor ])arty or a Gambit, must well consider before he pushes his meanest pawn, for one move at the outset may so entangle his pieces, confine his field of operation, expose his king to check, and disorganize the combination of his queen, rooks, bishops and knights, that he may be mated under the very fire of his own towers, from taking up a position where his forces could not come into action."

But, gentle reader, I most conscientiously declare that I aspire not at sporting either curricle or livery, nor do I wish to breathe my nags at Brighton, though the desire of beholding the smile of my Royal Master is near my heart. The highest flight my ambition has indulged in is to have a.shigrampo of such dimensions as to contain twelve persons, great and small, with an abundance of warm cushions, to protect from the penetrating winter

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air of my native hilJs in journeying to church. All that is desirable in the shigrampo of Malabar, the hackery of Hindostan, the bullock coach of the Carnatic, and the 'palankeen carriage of Calcutta, might be adopted ; for a pair of mules or Scotch poneys, in plain clothing and harness, would transcend a couple of oxen, notwithstanding their delicious humps, silk housings, golden tassels, and silver bells J and a servant in clean drab surtout would be as ornamental as any turbaned driver. I would covet nothing more in the mansions of luxury, except a glass of good old Madeira or Port, instead of raspberry and ginger substitutes ; yet the Vicar of Wakefield's wife was not better pleased with champagne of her own making, than my kind-hearted rib is when she mixes the ingredients in such just proportions that the acid does not prevail, or, as she technically says, ^^predominate;''* nor the lusciousness hurt the vivacity or interfere with the transparency. Nevertheless, I am seriously inclined to think that with my sJiigrampo, and servant in clean drab surtout, I should not have *• les vapeurs rioirs" or in native phrase " the blue devils^'' at home so often when a sigh assails me. " To be sure, my dear, as you say, we must strive to be contented ; but I wish I was once more on the sweet little island of Colabah, taking an airing to the light-house, the band playing, and all your brother officers promenading and saluting the ladies with such grace and spirit. Then you know we would have a little tea party this

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evening and a dance, but I must forget those happy times.** Then a tear starts to that eye whose beam has pleased mine for near twenty years ; and really, sympathetic reader, one at present fills mine to think that I cannot kiss it away so as to prevent another from springing up when that deceiver Memory mocks her by representing the past more fascinating than the present.

To conclude, trust me, I have more respect for your feelings, notwithstanding all the aforesaid trifling, and a better opinion of mankind in general (though I know human nature to be a curious mixture J, than not to make it my ardent aim to afford you information and entertainment.

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SKETCHES.

CHAPTER I. To see an estimable friend depart

For Europe, agitates my pensive heart.

Adieu to scorching winds ! Farewell, ye plains.

Long marches, camps, where war eternal reigns.

Welcome the comforts of his native soil.

In blest retirement sweet from by-gone toil.

The prospect with which a man solaces himself who leaves his native land for the purpose of improving his condition, is to return home and enjoy the fruit of his enterprize. This fond hope, common to all speculators in India, makes it a subject of congratulation when any one is so fortunate as to realize the general expectation by taking a passage for Europe. But there is a struggle between joy and sorrow on both sides. Fifteen or twenty years must elapse before even a successful candidate for the favours of fortune can in progression be in the state to which he looks common forward with such anxiety. In the meantime his heart becomes linked to friends and associates, the anticipated separation from whom be-

10 FIFTEEN YfiARS IN INDM*

comes more and more painful as the hour approaches. At that period he again experiences some of the emotions of an exile. He lingers fondly, and hesitates to bid adieu, perhaps for ever, to companions endeared to memory by long community of pursuits, and participation in toil and danger.

Adventurers to India would not be so frequently disappointed, if, soon after arriving there, each fixed for himself the object of independence at a moderate and rational distance, with determined resolution to march steadily towards it, and there to stop. In taking the first steps for the acquisition of fortune, the mind is humble and easily satisfied; but this calm and philosophic contentment gives place to ambition, when the career becomes more rapid and easy. New desires then arise, hopes expand, and an exertion is made to increase what was once thought enough. One boundary is passed after another till death either stops the march, or the traveller returns to his native soil, so much debilitated from long residence in a hot climate, as to be incapable of enjoying his hoarded wealth.

The Company's immense army is officered by young gentlemen of family, respectability, and good education. They go out at a tender age, and a few months places them at an apparently hopeless distance from the objects dearest to their affections. On joining their regiments in the interior, and becoming fit for duty, they are sent on detachments to small out-stations, where they have frequently to pass the dreary wet season without a possibility of enjoying the consolation of society or friendship. Placed in command of whatever number of Sepoys the exigency of the service may require, with merely the assistance of native officers, they are entirely left to the resources of their own minds. In the civil department, the Company's servants are generally replaced by youths of high connections, and very often of most finished education, which is carried on in oriental literature for a considerable time after their arrival in India ; and although they have advantages as to society and comfort far beyond those of the military branch, still the attendance on college lectures, and the great labour required by such as are not blessed with natural talents to pass the examinations, make life very irksome. Another class consists of the young officers of the King's regiments in India, who generally experience much mental pain before they become reconciled by habituation to the country.

These three classes of fine young men at setting out in life feel the emotions so beautifully described by Campbell in his Pleasures of Hope. While surrounded by friends and the tender ties of kindred in their native land — while their young hearts feel the influence of that sweet affection which exists between brother and sister, and perhaps

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begin to warm witli sensations of a still more tender nature for a sister's fair friend — they stand at summer eve, and behold the prospect glittering in all the enchantment given by distance ; but upon approaching the tempting scene, the rocky and barren projections of that mountain are perceived which fancy had conjured into those green spots on which the aching eye rests so seldom in life.

It has been suggested to the reader, by the lines at the head of this chapter, that an adventurer to India was regretting the departure of a companion for his native soil, while at the same time he rejoiced at the accomplishment of his friend's wishes, and the cause of this intermixture of sorrow and pleasure has been explained. Both were military men who had seen some service together; and these sketches of a soldier's life will open with a relation of the manner in which Lieutenant George True was enabled to return home.

This officer had the honour of holding a commission in one of his Majesty's regiments, and Itaving been long exposed on very active campaigns to the utmost severity of the climate, his health was in a declining state. Strict temperance and a good constitution had enabled him to keep at his post, while many of his companions found an untimely grave instead of that distinction at which they aimed. His private affairs, however, Mere of a nature to preclude the prospect of returning to the renovating breezes of his native hills, and he persevered in his profession, in the hope of honourable fame and glorious independence.

The irruption of a predatory horde into the Company's provinces in the soutli of Hindostan Proper, bad rendered the march of his corps from Baroda necessary, in the month of June. At this period all nature is parched. The thirsty earth throws back with sickly languor the burning rays of the sun, and the air, heated to a suffocating degree, sweeps along whirling clouds of dust. But the benevolence of Providence about this time intercepts the glare by spreading a thick canopy of damj) clouds over this torrid part of the earth, which soon open their flood-gates and pour down a deluge of refreshing rain, that revivifies expiring vegetation and animal life. In the awful intervening space, however, burning fever drinks the juices of many a distracted brain. A major and twenty-three soldiers of this brave regiment fell dead under coups de soleil in one day. Death in this form is terrible to contemplate. The moment the system is aflected by the atmosphere, the blood no longer circulates ; and if immediate steps be not taken to remove the obstruction by copious bleeding, a relief often very difficult to be procured, life for ever ceases. No enemy being in the vicinity, the marches were made at a very early hour, to avoid tlie intense heat of the meridian sun. On the day previous to that in which a material change occurred in the prospects

of Mr. True, the force had reached a village called Bowla, situated in the Run, a deserted tract of country so named, between t!ie gulfs of Kutch and Cainbay. Tlicnce to the town of Limree extends a cheerless sandy plain. The villages were all in ruins, having been desolated by the dreadful famine of 1802. Indeed it is siuprisingthat even the poor and miserable should have ever thought of seeking an asylum in this unfriendly region ; for the earth is of such a thirsty nature that the deepest wells will not yield water, nor the best made taiiks contain it. Nondoudra is the next halting place, and during the march thither the long looked for monsoon commenced.

At two o'clock on the morning of that eventful day, the moon was dimly seen at intervals, through dark clouds. The British camp was, however, often visibly revealed by vivid flashes of lightning that illuminated the zenith, and rushed with fiery broad course into the remote horizon, accompanied by awful and sublime peals of thunder. Natives, camels, elephants, and bullocks, pressed by their loads, w^ere ready to move off with the line drawn up in front. Here the Sepoy's wives might be seen, tying their children on the backs of bullocks, or placing them, like poultry in baskets, to be carried on their own heads. There the numerous servants of the officers, some with lanterns searching where their master's tents stood, lest any thing should be left behind j others with chairs and breakfast apparatus, conducting greyhounds in leash, carrying couches, or leading horses, and followed by grass cutters and water carriers — in short, there were at least seven native followers for every fighting man. But it was melancholy to see the numerous European sick of the force carried along on men's shoulders, some dying, and others in burning fever ; and it would have produced a smile on the face of the most serious, to behold the convalescents mounted on bullocks, and laughing heartily at each other when left sprawling by the plunges of their horned supporters, unaccustomed to such obstreperous loads.

Two miles from Bowla the flood-gates of the heavens opened, and the rain fell in torrents. For some time the sandy expanse, which had not tasted moisture for six months, drank freely the mighty deluge ; but as the line proceeded very slowly, being forced to halt frequently for the rear, this march occupied several hours, and the road at length becahie so soft and heavy, that the beasts of burden sunk to their bellies. Then were seen tents and boxes rolling in the mud, while the field pieces were dragged along with great difficulty. In short, order was changed into confusion, and as indescribable a clamour was produced by the crowd on the baggage flank, as if the enemy's cavalry had been dashing among them with their merciless spears.

Lieutenant True was the officer of the rear guard. During the march, finding himself so

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exceedingly faint as to be unable to keep his seat in the saddle against the pelting of the storm, he liad sent his groom for a doolyy and discovering a little to the right a pagoda y near a ruined village, he alighted under its shelter, and stood leaning on the neck of his horse. The objects before him seemed to grow black, and the whole scene became of a shadowy tint. In fact, he felt as if the hand of death was upon his heart. " Gracious God," said he, " is this the end of my earthly hopes ? Preserve me, for the sake of her I love, and the dear objects of our affection.*' He fainted and fell. At this moment, a profuse gush of blood from his nose relieved him. After bleeding copiously, he felt much better. His docile Arabian had stood near him. " Thank God," said he, regaining his seat, " I feel now able to proceed,** and he soon overtook his guard, and reached the camp, where the surgeon having prescribed for him, he retired to his tent for repose.

*' Saheeb,'* said his servant Ballo soon after, opening the tent door, " one soldier other regiment, master speak to want."

** Let him come in." He entered the marquee, and making a fine curve with his right arm, touched the polished front of his shining cap, and withdrawing the same gracefully, stood in the erect posture of "Attention."

" Ah i what do I see ? Am J awake? As I live the face of Bob Gordon."

FTFTEEN years in INDIA. 17

" lam indcL'dthe identical Bob, and right happy to see your Honour in the land of the living.'*

" This is wonderful ! — When did you leave home, and what forced you to turn soldier ?"

" Misfortune, Sir; I left Ireland only a year ago, and recognized you this morning passing with the rear-guard through our lines."

" Ah Bob ! Several years have passed away since I left my native land, and emerged from the joyous stage of school-boy. In all my wanderings I have not met a soul from the spot that cherished my childhood, nor have I received any account from home, having never written, for private reasons. But the sight of you has brought early associations feelingly to mind. I have many questions to ask ; but first, sit down and tell me the cause of your own misfortunes."

" Then you have not heard of your father's return to his native soil."

" Eh Bob ! — Is my dear father in Ireland, and has he overcome the persecution of fortune ?"

" He has indeed, Sir. — Rolling in wealth, he would give it all to witness the return of you, his only son."

" Wonderful ! And my uncle, what of him, is he alive and still the same ?"

" Alas, Sir, still so."

" How melancholy to think of him, and what he might have been. * Oh that a man should put an enemy in his mouth to steal away his brains !* And the worthy Mr. Stanhope, what of him ?"

** A distressing account, Sir. A villain, in the mask of a gentleman in jioly orders, seduced his beautiful and only daughter. The father threatened to prosecute the clergyman, who was of the Catholic church, unless he changed his religion and married her. Dreading this, the horrible miscreant induced his victim to forget the strongest tie of nature, and to father her child on the author of her own being. The distracted parent died brokenhearted. His daughter, stung with remorse, confessed on her death-bed, almost immediately after, the horrible part she had acted. The priest fled, and her only surviving brother sold off his property, changed his name, and exiled himself for ever from his native country.'*

*' Torturing thought, that the depravity of human nature should produce such a tragedy !'*

** But say. Bob, how are the family of Rose Mount ? Well, I hope."

" Ah no ! The worthy old magistrate became a bankrupt, and his son-in-law, young Mr. Sinclair, who married the lovely jMiss Fanny, lost his whole fortune in the crash, and is now a struggler in life with several children to support. There was a bill of exchange drawn and accepted by the old gentleman, who was in th.e habit of taking that freedom, on his son, then engaged in commerce. It happened tliat lie was embarrassed and unable to lionoiir the unexpected bill when presented, and to secure his credit disavowed the acceptance. The enraged holder lodged an information against the father for forgery. He withdrew till it could be explained and adjusted, but was soon after killed by a fall from his horse."

" And how is old farmer Glendinning ? His pretty daughter, the gay thoughtless Mary, is, I hope, happy."

** The fate of poor Mary, Sir, is a sad one. She was seduced by a captain of yeomanry. She had received a religious education, and would have resisted the insinuating addresses of a suitor so much above her in rank and fortune ; but the son of Sir ^^^alter Sennit had married a miller's daughter, and made a lady of her by education, and poor Mary concluded that her own station in life was more respectable and less liable to objection. The circumstances of her fate were so affecting that I, who am poetically inclined, could not resist the temptation of endeavouring to immortalize her story in a ballad, for the instruction of every pretty girl."

" Let me hear it, Bob? — You had from your childhood a turn that way. I recollect hearing of one of your verses made at a singing school, and given out to the psalm tune."

" As I was coming here the night,

" I spied a merry joke, " A young man courting wi' a lass,

" Rolled up in a big coat"

** Yes indeed, Sir, and what caused it to be taken notice of was, that the very young man, the subject of it, started up and exclaimed — ' Fine a bit. Bob, but that was me.* *'

THE FATE OF MARY.

Beneath Rosstrevor's lofty side,

Glenallon cottage stood.

Whose front o'erlook'd the silver tide.

And kiss'd th'approaching flood,

A pretty garden near it smiled, Perfumed by countless flowers ;

These favourites of an only child. Amused her leisure hours.

No snow-drop peeping from its bed,

Was more divinely fair ; The tints transparent blood had spread.

With roses might compare.

Her parents saw with fondest hope Her childish years subside ;

Each heart-endearing look bespoke Their happiness and pride.

To win her love, full many a youth, Soon bent with ardent aim,

And in the crowd professing truth, A yeoman captain came.

His form was of the manliest kind. Yet dashing spruce and neat ;

With manners pleasingly refined.

His herds and floc-kr. were areMt.