Camp, Umritzir, Dec. 10, 1838.
It has just occurred to me, in dating this letter, that we are very near
the end of '38, and in '39 we may begin to say, 'The year after next we
shall go home.' I never know exactly where we are in our story, for I
keep so many anniversaries it puts me out. So many people have married,
and died, and gone home, that it is really incredible that we should
have been here so long, and yet are kept here still. Something must be
done about it, because it is a very good joke; but life is passing
away, and we are in the wrong place. It has now come to that pass that
we are in a foreign country from India, and that crossing the Sutlej is
to be called going home again. You see how it is! Our first principles
are wrong, and G. says, with a placid smile, 'If Shere Singh does not
dine with us to-day, would it not be advisable to ask Hindû Rao?'--Hindû
Rao being a Mahratta chief, a dependent on our Government, who has
attached himself to our camp--not quite an idiot, but something like it,
and in appearance like a plump feather-bed, with pillows for his head
and legs--covered all over with chain armour and cuirasses, and red and
yellow shawls; and he sits behind G. at table, expecting to have topics
found and interpreted to him. Shere Singh has a great deal of fun; but
natives at table are always a great _gêne_. I had only time to tell you
of our arrival at Umritzir on Wednesday, and not of the show, which was
really surprising. F. and I came on in the carriage earlier than the
others, which was a great advantage; for the dust of fifty or sixty
elephants does not subside in a hurry, and they spoil the whole
spectacle. We met the old man going to fetch G. That is one of the
ceremonies, naturally tiresome, to which we have become quite used, and
which, in fact, I shall expect from you, when we go home. If the
Maharajah asks G. to any sight, or even to a common visit, G. cannot
stir from his tent, if he starves there, till an 'istackball,' or
embassy, comes to fetch him. So this morning we were all dressed by
candle-light, and half the tents were pulled down and all the chairs but
two gone, while G. was waiting for Kurruck Singh to come seven miles to
fetch him, and Kurruck Singh was waiting till the Governor-General's
agent came to fetch _him_, and then the Maharajah was waiting till they
were half-way, that he might fetch them all. Then, the instant they
meet, G. nimbly steps into Runjeet's howdah, and they embrace French
fashion, and then the whole procession mingles, and all this takes place
every day now. If the invitation comes from our side, B. and the
aides-de-camp act Kurruck Singh, and have to go backwards and forwards
fifteen miles on their elephants. So now, if ever we are living in St.
John's Wood, and you ask me to dinner in Grosvenor Place, I shall first
send Giles down to your house to say I am ready; and you must send R.,
as your _istackball_, to fetch me, and I shall expect to meet you
yourself, somewhere near Connaught Place, and then we will embrace and
drive on, and go hand-in-hand in to dinner, and sit next to each other.
If I have anything to say (which is very doubtful, for I have grown
rather like Hindû Rao), I will mention it to Giles, who will repeat it
to Gooby, who will tell you, and you will wink your eye and stroke your
hair, and in about ten minutes you will give me an answer through the
same channels. Now you understand.
To return to this show. We drove for two miles and a half through a lane
of Runjeet's 'goocherras,' or bodyguard. The sun was up and shining on
them, and I suppose there was not one who would not have made the
fortune of a painter. One troop was dressed entirely in yellow satin,
with gold scarfs and shawls; but the other half were in that cloth of
gold which is called kincob--the _fond_ being gold and the pattern
scarlet, or purple, or yellow; their arms were all gold--many of them
had collars of precious stones; their shields and lances were all
studded with gold. They have long beards down to their waists, and most
of them had a silver or gold tissue drapery, which they bring over their
heads and pass round their beards to keep them from the dust. In the
distance there was a long line of troops extending four miles and a
half, and which after much deliberation I settled was a white wall with
a red coping. I thought it could not possibly be alive; but it was--with
30,000 men. G. says old Runjeet was very much pleased with his own
display. Shere Singh dined with us again; but otherwise it was a day of
rest.
Thursday we began poking about to find shawls and agate curiosities,
which are supposed to abound at Umritzir; but our native servants are
afraid of going into the bazaars: they say the Sikhs laugh at them and
their dress. My man told me 'they are a very _proudly_ people, me not
much like; they say, "What this?" and "What that?" I say, "It Mussulmun
dress--if you not like, don't touch!" Then they say, "No city like our
Umritzir!" I say, "I say nothing against your Umritzir; but then you
never see anything else. If you come to _Calcut_, I show you beautiful
things--ships that go by smoke, and fine houses." However, they are so
proudly that now I pretend I no understand their Punjâbee, but I know
what they mean.'
With all their '_proudliness_' they are very civil to our people, and
told them that the Maharajah had proclaimed he would put to death
anybody who maltreated any of the Governor-General's followers; or, as
they expressed it, that 'he would cut open their stomachs'--very
unpleasant, for a mere little incivility. In the afternoon he sent word
he was going to show us the city and the famous Sikh temple, where he
had consulted the oracle about his present alliance with us. This temple
is the only thing the Sikhs are supposed to venerate in a religious way.
After all the plans were settled, a grand schism sprang up in our camp
about G.'s taking off his shoes, and parties ran very high; however, I
believe it was settled that it was impossible he could ever take off his
shoes, except for the purpose of going to bed; but then it was equally
impossible to rebut Runjeet's great civility in letting us go to this
temple at all, and it was not a question of state. Runjeet takes off his
shoes and stoops down, and puts some of the dust on his forehead; it
amounts to taking off a hat, and only answers to the same respect that
we should wish anybody to pay on entering one of our own churches. So it
ended in G.'s drawing a pair of dark stockings on over his boots, and
the Sikhs made no objection. F. and I went in white shoes, and pretended
to take off our dressing slippers from over them. All they really care
about is, that their sacred marble should not be defiled by shoes that
have trod the common streets. I am glad we went, and would have given up
my shoes, and stockings too, for it.
The temple stands in an immense tank of holy water, and a narrow marble
bridge leads to it. There is a broad walk all round the, tank, and it is
surrounded by palaces belonging to his principal sirdar, and by other
holy buildings.
The temple is of pure gold, really and truly covered completely with
gold, most beautifully carved, till within eight feet from the ground,
and then there are panels of marble inlaid with flowers and birds--very
_Solomonish_ altogether. There are four large folding-doors of gold. We
walked round it, and then Runjeet took us in.
There was a large collection of priests, sitting in a circle, with the
Grooht, their holy book, in the centre, under a canopy of gold cloth,
quite stiff with pearls and small emeralds. The canopy cost 10,000_l._
Runjeet made G. and F. and me sit down with him on a common velvet
carpet, and then one of the priests made a long oration, to the effect
that the two great potentates were now brothers and friends, and never
could be otherwise. Then G. made a speech to the same effect, and
mentioned that the two armies had joined, and they could now conquer the
whole world; and Runjeet carried on the compliment, and said that here
the oracle had prompted him to make his treaty, and now they saw that he
and the English were all one family. In short, you never saw two
gentlemen on better terms with themselves and each other. G. presented
16,000 rupees, and they, in return, gave us some very fine shawls. I
think mine was scarlet and gold, but the Company's baboo twisted it up
in such haste that I did not see it well.
When all this was over, Runjeet took us up to a sort of balcony he has
in one corner of the square, and by that time the bridge, the temple,
the minarets, everything was illuminated. Shere Singh's palace was a
sort of volcano of fireworks, and large illuminated fish were swimming
about the tank. It was a curious sight, and supposed, by those who know
the Sikhs, to be a wonderful proof of confidence on Runjeet's part.
Yesterday my search for small agate curiosities was rather successful;
and the shawls here are not _despicable_ by any means, and very cheap,
but I happen to have spent all my money. W. O.'s tent is the great
harbour for merchants, but I have found out that I make my little
bargains better if I can convey my merchant safely into my own tent.
They all went to a great review this morning, and we had Runjeet's
French officers to dinner in the evening, besides the A.s and C.s; and
then Shere Singh, and that darling little Pertâb came again to dinner.
We had little Pertâb to sketch this morning, and he was very pleasant. I
asked him to fix his eyes on Captain M., who was acting interpreter.
After a time he began to fidget, and his stern old Sikh tutor (you don't
want a Sikh tutor for your boys by chance?--if so, I can safely
recommend this man for a remarkably good manner of teaching, besides
having a beard half a yard long) reproved him for it. Pertâb declared he
could not help it,--he was told to fix his eyes on M., and 'this is the
way he moves his head,'--and then he mimicked M. turning from one to the
other and interpreting, in such a funny little way. We gave him a
diamond ring, which seemed to delight him.
In the evening we went to a garden half a mile off, where Runjeet is
living, and where he was going to give us an evening fête. He had had
the house actually built on purpose, and it was beautifully painted in
an arabesque fashion, with small pieces of looking-glass let in, in
various patterns. The walks of the garden were all lined with those
splendid soldiers.
I whispered to Major E., who was sitting on the other side of me, to ask
if it would be wrong to step out of the house to look at these gorgeous
people, as I had missed all the other opportunities of seeing them; and
the old Maharajah did not wait to have the question explained--he
delights to show off his soldiers. He jumped up, and took hold of my
hand, and ambled out into the garden, and then made all the guards march
by, and commented on their dresses, and he looked so fond of the old
grey-bearded officers.
There is something rather touching in the affection his people have for
him. The other day, in going through the city, it struck us all, the
eagerness with which they called out 'Maharajah!' and tried to touch
him, which is easy enough in these narrow streets, and the elephants
reaching to the roofs of the houses.
When we had sufficiently admired the golden men, we all ambled back to
our silver chairs, and then the drinking and nautching began. Nothing
can be more tiresome! But he asked some very amusing questions of G.,
which I believe C. softened in the translation. If he had a wife? and
when satisfied about that, How many children he had? Then he asked _why_
he had no wife? G. said that only one was allowed in England, and if she
turned out a bad one, he could not easily get rid of her. Runjeet said
that was a bad custom; that the Sikhs were allowed twenty-five wives,
and they did not dare to be bad, because he could beat them if they
were. G. replied that was an excellent custom, and he would try to
introduce it when he got home. Then Runjeet asked if there was anybody
present who could drink wine as well as Sir W. C., and I said, for fun,
'Mr. A. could;' upon which there was a general cry for A., and poor Mr.
A. was accommodated with a chair in front of all the circle, and Runjeet
began plying him with glasses of that fiery spirit he drinks himself.
Mr. A. is at present living strictly on toast and water! However, he
contrived to empty the glass on the carpet occasionally. That carpet
must have presented a horrible scene when we went. I know that under my
own chair I deposited two broiled quails, an apple, a pear, a great lump
of sweetmeat, and some pomegranate seeds, which Runjeet gave me with his
dirty fingers into my hand, which, of course, became equally dirty at
last.
F. and I came away before the others. He gave me the presents which were
due, as I had never been at one of his parties before. They were very
handsome; the best row of pearls we have had in this journey, with a
very good emerald between every ten pearls; a magnificent pair of
emerald bracelets, and a shabby little ring. G. handsomely offered to
buy the pearls for me; but that is not what we came to India for. It is
very well his buying a little ring, or a shawl, for ten or fifteen
pounds, but I do not want pearl necklaces.
I believe now in the story our governess used to tell us, of grocers'
apprentices, who, in the first week of their apprenticeship, were
allowed to eat barley-sugar and raisins to such an amount that they
never again wished to touch them. We thought that a myth; but I have
latterly had such a surfeit of emeralds, pearls, and diamonds, that I
have quite lost any wish to possess them.