_August 27._--We entered the territories of the Poligars. At this
pass we were met by three of the Company's revenue collectors flying
for shelter to our army, having been robbed of all their wealth by a
party of the rebels. We here see the dreadful condition of a country,
where all laws, divine and human, are put at defiance. We received a
visit from the Nabob of this district of country, who is tributary to
our government, accompanied with all his retinue. He himself, and
suite, were mounted on elephants, upon the back of which was placed a
square tower, covered with crimson velvet; but the greater part of his
guards were upon horseback, and those of them who were upon foot
carried a kind of pike twelve feet long, which they manage with great
dexterity. When they wish to strike an object, they place the one end
of the pike upon the right arm, and after giving it a powerful throw,
they immediately pull it back by a coil of rope which is held in their
left hand, the one end of which rope is of course fastened to the
pike. This country is very mountainous, and abounds with tigers and
wild boars, (particularly the latter;) but there is a species of dog
here that is a mortal enemy to the wild boar; and but for these useful
creatures, the natives would often run great dangers from their bold
and ferocious attacks. Our officers killed one at this camp-ground,
which I saw: it was nearly equal in size to one of our middle-sized
hogs, but apparently much more active, with terrible tusks.
_September 21._--For this some time past we have been marching
through woods, and jungles, and by impassable roads, until our
pioneers made them passable, by cutting trees, and covering them with
sods, so that there might be a passage for the guns and bandies[4];
and it was very seldom that we could get any victuals to buy for
money; because, as we advanced, the natives left their villages, and
retired to the hills, carrying all their cattle and effects with them,
not being quite sure whether we were friends or foes.
[4] These bandies are a kind of cart for the baggage, drawn
by two bullocks.
_September 22._--The place we arrived at this day is called
Gutta, where there is a very large garrison, built upon the top of an
immense rock, somewhat resembling that of Edinburgh Castle, but much
higher. It was formerly one of Tippoo's towers of refuge; and was
taken by the British with great difficulty. We halted here until we
should get a reinforcement from Bombay, which was ordered to join us
before we marched any farther. We were accordingly joined by his
Majesty's 34th and 86th regiments, and also the 3d, 6th, and 9th
regiments of native infantry, together with a large park of artillery
from the island of Ceylon.
We now presented to the eye a very formidable appearance; and, humanly
speaking, it would have taken a considerable force to have opposed our
progress, being in all ten thousand King's and Company's troops. The
followers of the army in this country are generally about four to one;
so that, in all, we must have been in number about fifty thousand,
white and black. Those who follow the army for a living, are
washermen, (for it is the men, and not the women, who wash the clothes
in this country,) barbers, cooly-boys, (that is, bearers of burdens,
cooks' assistants, officers' under servants, &c.) dooly-bearers,
horse-keepers, grass-cutters, officers' butlers, dubashes, and
mati-boys, palanquin-bearers, lascars, for pitching the officers'
tents, hospital-dressers, elephant-keepers, bandy-men, camel and
bullock drivers, and bazaar people, who sold articles, such as rice
cakes, spices, eggs, fowls, butcher meat, butter, &c. when they were
to be obtained; but this was very frequently not the case, as I have
before hinted; and in this case we were obliged to confine ourselves
to our regimental allowances, which was very poor living for such
laborious work.
_September 29._--We were ordered to move forward. Our mode of
marching was the following:--If our journey was long, we generally
marched about three o'clock A.M., that we might have it over before
the heat of the day; and we were allowed just half an hour to put on
our clothes, strike our tents, and place them on the elephants, one of
which was appointed to each company; and in that space of time our
bandies had to be packed, and the army ready to march,--so you may see
that we were not idle. We had mutton and rice twice a-day. The rice
was carried upon bullocks, and the sheep driven along with us, and
killed when we came to the ground which we were appointed to occupy
for a night. We were sometimes nine hours upon the march, although we
frequently did not travel above sixteen miles in the course of that
time; and this you need not wonder at, for our roads (when we had any)
were miserably bad and narrow, being generally confined by jungles on
both sides, so that, with such a numerous body, moving forward
frequently only two men deep, it was impossible for us to travel
otherwise than at a very slow and interrupted pace; yet, although we
were thus long upon our journey, we were sometimes two or three hours
at our camp ground before we got our breakfast. But this hard
marching, (I call it hard, for it was much worse than if we had been
moving at an ordinary pace,) I say, this hard marching, and long
abstinence, cut off great numbers of men; for we left them upon the
road almost daily, both white and black.
I now experienced the great benefit of having a healthy active woman
for the partner of my toils; for she used to go on before the regiment
along with the cooks, and by the time the army was up, she would have
gathered sticks, and found water for the tea-kettle, so that as soon
as the elephants (who followed in the rear of the army) appeared with
the tents, and ours was pitched, she would have our breakfast ready.
It was my province to _forage_ for rice cakes when I could get
them to buy, which I did generally the night before, carrying them
along with me, with some sugar and a bowl, tied up in my straw hat;
and often, often have we sat down upon the ground, as contented in
these circumstances, and much more so, than many of your European
epicures with all their luxuries. Hunger and contentment made it
sweet; for, as the Spirit of God by Solomon says, "Better is a dry
morsel, and quietness therewith, than a house full of sacrifices with
strife." There was just one thing that somewhat abated our relish for
these comforts, and that was, to see the rest of the poor fellows in
the tent hungry, as well as fatigued, while we could do very little
for such a number. We always travelled bare-footed, as it would have
been impossible for us to have procured shoes upon a march of this
kind, travelling through so much water and sand alternately; for
wherever there was any cultivation, the rice fields being for the most
of the year flooded with water, the roads near them were generally
rendered an absolute puddle. I may observe here, that travelling in
this country is more severe in some respects for fair people than for
those of a dark complexion; at least I have often had my face, feet,
and even hands, blistered as if they had been scalded with boiling
water; while I never saw any of our men of a dark complexion suffer in
the same manner; and this accounts perhaps in no small degree, for
fair people not retaining the impression of a warm climate so deeply
as persons who are darker; for when these blisters disappear, the skin
underneath is always renewed, and consequently continues fairer than
if it had been exposed to the sun for a great length of time. At this
time we had no knowledge where we were going, but, like Abraham, we
went we knew not whither; for our Colonel, as I stated before, having
the command of this division of the army, received his orders daily by
the Tapaals (letter-carriers) from the Madras government.
_October 1._--We fell in with a fine stream in the neighbourhood
of some immense rocks, piled one above another in such a manner, that
had it not been for their prodigious weight and size, I would have
been tempted to believe they had been placed there by the hand of art.
I am not at all surprised, that persons who live in such a temperate
climate as ours, do not see the full force or beauty of many of the
figures in the sacred volume; but were they to travel a few hundred
miles in this country, they probably would not read their Bibles with
such cold indifference; and, although even the figures of Scripture
may fall short of the truth they are intended to convey, yet their
appropriateness is often much greater than is generally conceived.
Were a reader of the Bible to see a company of way-worn travellers,
whose feet were roasted with the burning sand of the desert, the sweat
streaming from their bodies, and their features distorted with thirst
and fatigue, running to those rocks and waters for cooling and
refreshment, would he not then discover a sufficient illustration,
both of the strength and sublimity at least, of the second clause in
that passage of the prophet Isaiah, "A man shall be as a hiding-place
from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; _as rivers of water in
a dry place, and as the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land_."--And I am sure the traveller himself must be destitute of
all moral taste or natural sensibility, or rather, in more appropriate
language, "the things of the Spirit of God must be foolishness unto
him," if he does not perceive the full force of this passage. I can
say it from my repeated experience, that I have been so exhausted by
heat, fatigue, and thirst, as to be hardly able to crawl along on the
march, even with all the natural spirit I could muster; but after
having had an opportunity of resting for a short season in the cleft
or shadow of a large rock, and receiving a mouthful of refreshing
water, I have gone forward more invigorated, than if I had partaken of
the choicest dainties of India. Oh! that the blood and righteousness
of Jesus Christ were as much valued by my precious and immortal soul,
as the waters and rocks of the desert have been by my poor exhausted
bodily frame! Oh, how precious indeed would he then be! I might then
say with truth, that "he is the chiefest amongst ten thousand, and
altogether lovely."
I would here remark, by the way, that there are many things in
Scripture that were cleared up to me in this country, which before
were quite unintelligible, and that circumstance rendered me so
careless in reading my Bible. I shall mention one or two, which may
suffice:--for instance, our Saviour says, "No man putteth new wine
into old bottles, if otherwise, the bottles burst and the wine is
spilled; but men put new wine into new bottles, and both are
preserved." Now, I was wont to think that old bottles were not worse
than new ones, if they were properly cleansed; but, when I saw the
bottles of the east, made of the skins of animals sewed together, and
of various sizes, I formed another opinion; for I saw that after these
leathern bottles were in use for some time, the seams were very apt to
give way, and our Saviour's words would be realized.
Another expression which puzzled me was this, "No man seweth a piece
of new cloth upon an old garment, else the new piece that filled it
up, _taketh away from the old_, and the rent is made worse."--With
regard to this, I thought I had seen the tailor, when I was with my
grandfather, making a very good job of an old coat, by mending it
with new cloth; but when I saw the thin cotton garments of India,
worn to a cob-web, I was then satisfied that he would be a clever
artist indeed, that could sew a piece of new cotton cloth, however
fine, to a spider's web, without tearing it in pieces.
Once more, and I shall have done; the apostle says, in the thirteenth
of First Corinthians, "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then
face to face:" Now, I could not perceive the fitness of this figure,
as people use a glass, or glasses, to enable them to see better; but
when I saw the glass of the east, (and I suppose in the country and
age of the apostle it was similar,) I say, when I saw the glass here,
made of paste from rice-flour, blown and fired, my opinion was
entirely changed, as it is quite dim, and full of white scales; so
that, if persons look through it, they observe objects as the blind
man did, mentioned in the gospel, who, when his sight was only in part
restored, said that he saw "men like trees walking." I could bring
forward many other passages, but I give you these as specimens; and,
to deal plainly with you, my dear reader, I must tell you that I was
very little short of a Deist before the Lord brought me here; because,
as I could not see how this and the other thing could be, I in a
manner rejected them as false, or at least gave myself very little
concern about them; but when such things as these were made out to me,
I then perceived that it was in consequence of the blindness of my
mind, and not from the want of truth and evidence in the Bible, that I
was not able to understand such difficulties; and, by the blessing of
God, I gradually conceived a greater and a greater liking for that
best of books, which alone points out to sinful men the way of
salvation.
_October 12._--We encamped this day at a place called Canool.
This is a beautiful country, and abounds with woods and water, the
river Tamboothera running close by the town. We had here a visit of
the Nabob of Canool, with an equipage nearly resembling that of the
Nabob of the Poligar country, formerly described. While we were upon
the banks of this river, the artillery from Ceylon, his Majesty's 66th
and 89th regiments left us, on account of a general order received to
that effect. As the rebels had given up Seringapatam and other forts
which they had in possession, when they heard of such a powerful army
coming against them; and Colonel Bell, with a number of other European
officers of different ranks in the Company's service were taken into
custody, and sent prisoners to Madras; this business, therefore,
terminated much more favourably than was expected; for the 25th light
dragoons was, I may say, the only European regiment that suffered any
thing by powder and shot; but although there were comparatively few
lives lost in this way, yet during the march a great number indeed,
both white and black, went to their long homes. I dare say it, from my
own observation and inquiry, that there is an average of ten men who
die from the fatigues and disorders incident to this country, to one
that dies by the fate of war.
_October 16._--We crossed the river Tamboothera in what may be
with justice termed basket boats. These boats were made by strong
twigs interwoven with each other, and covered externally with buffalo
hides. They were of a circular form, and managed by short flat
paddles, and without any helm; each boat containing 12 or 14 men with
their firelocks and knapsacks. Our baggage and bandies were also
carried over in them, but the cattle of every kind were obliged to
swim. It was truly amusing to see the elephants and bullocks get
across, for the elephants being driven to the side of the river,
entered and swam over, holding up their trunks all the while for the
sake of air; but there was one of them that would not take the water
in spite of all the efforts the keepers could use, and at last they
compelled him, by bringing out two lusty ones of his kindred tribe,
who, at the command of their drivers, fairly pushed him into the water
by main force with their heads. The bullocks were led two and two by
their driver, who went before them lying upon a plank previously tied
to his body, holding a rope which was fastened at each end to the
horns of his cattle; one man thereby moving himself and leading his
bullocks by the motion of his feet. We were two days in getting
ourselves, with the baggage and cattle, across this river, and we
pitched upon the right bank for one night.
_October 19._--We reached the left bank of the Kistna. This river
is larger than the former, and the same boats were carried from the
Tamboothera by three coolies, or labourers, to each boat, and we
crossed in the manner formerly described. Upon this camp ground, I got
(what is called in English) a live grass in the fleshy part of my leg.
This grass has much the resemblance of a bear or barley awn, and is
furnished with a small barb at the one end, like that of a fish hook;
and when it once enters the flesh, there is hardly a possibility of
extracting it. It takes its name from the motion it exhibits when laid
upon the hand, because it is twisted, and when pulled from the stalk
the twist goes out and produces a motion like a hard twisted cord. I
have heard many strange stories about this live grass, as of its
entering at the one side of the foot or leg, and working its way to
the other, and in consequence of its poisonous qualities that many
have died thereby. But I shall not affirm these things for truth, as I
never saw any such fatal effects produced by it; but this I know, that
all I received from the doctor did not cure it; and the wound in
the course of a week became quite black, and was attended with a
considerable degree of pain, which was probably much aggravated by our
severe marches. But when we arrived at Hydrabad, and I was seized with
the jungle fever, the leg was totally neglected, I may say, and when I
recovered from this disorder, we were quite surprised to find the
wound healed. For this I had great reason to be thankful, as I have
known instances of death being indirectly produced by still more
trifling causes. Some of our men, for example, may be said to have
died of the bite of a mosquito, for the bite of that little insect
occasioned a grievous itch, and the part being constantly scratched,
soon festered and mortified, so that it was necessary to cut off the
leg, after which the poor men fevered and died.
I would remark, by the way, that there are a great number of
annoyances to the poor soldier in this country, exclusive of hard
marching, bad provisions, wet camp ground, and the many bodily
afflictions arising from the climate: because upon the march, they are
liable to get bitten by serpents, or stung with scorpions and
centipedes. And in all the barracks in the country that I have seen,
or heard of, they are infested with bugs, in such a degree as often
compels the men to take to the barrack square, and to sleep under the
canopy of heaven, by which means, while seeking to avoid one evil,
they expose themselves to a worse, for the heavy dews during night are
almost sure to bring on the flux, the most fatal of all the disorders
of this country.
_October 23._--Upon this march one of our sepoys was bitten by a
green snake. This poor man suffered the most agonizing pain which I
suppose is possible for a mortal to endure, but his sufferings were
soon terminated in this world, for he expired in a few hours. The
green snake is thought to be the most dangerous of all the serpent
tribe in this country. I have never known nor ever heard of a person
recovering that had been bitten. It takes its name from its green
colour, and it generally frequents fertile places, where it is not
easily perceived, which makes it still more dangerous. It will not,
however, attack any person unless he treads upon it, or approaches
very near its young. It is about the length and thickness of a
coachman's whip. The influence which the Great Enlivener of animal and
vegetable life exercises upon this animal is most remarkable, for
while it is exposed to the sun's rays, it seems almost impossible to
deprive it totally of life. I had this information from a very
intelligent native, who also showed me one that he had been
endeavouring to kill, but to no purpose; for after he had bruised the
head to pieces, it was still in motion when I saw it, at which time
the sun was a little past his meridian, but this glorious luminary had
not finished his daily course many minutes when all signs of life and
motion completely vanished.
Many of the serpent tribe here are perfectly harmless to man, and may
even be tamed so as to act the part of a cat in destroying vermin. The
tanks, or ponds, are full of water snakes, which, when bathing, we
often amused ourselves with endeavouring to catch, and never received
the least injury from any of them. There is a land snake, however,
called the _Hooded_, or _spectacle_ snake, (from the appearance of a
pair of spectacles on the back part of the head,) the bite of which is
very deadly, but even of these I have seen great numbers tamed, and
carried about in baskets through the barracks, by the natives, for a
kind of livelihood. No sooner was the basket uncovered, and the owner
commenced playing on his simple instrument, than it raised its head
and moved it about with all the gestures of a coxcomb possessed of a
new suit of clothes and a silver-headed cane; but when the charmer
desisted from his playing, the snake generally made a dart at him,
which he studiously avoided, and pretended to be very much afraid of,
but this was just a pretence for making us wonder, for it could do no
harm, being previously deprived of the sting, or rather the bag of
poison, which lies within its mouth.
Although serpents generally love music, yet here, as in most other
cases, there are exceptions to the general rule; for I am told there
is one species, which, instead of being allured by the charms of
music, testifies a very remarkable aversion to it; and we need not
wonder at this peculiarity, for we know that, generally speaking, all
the human species, whether civilized or savage, are fond of music: but
we know also that there are many individuals to whom it is rather an
annoyance than a pleasure. The serpent I have alluded to is probably
the species which the Psalmist had in his eye, when he compared wicked
men to it, in respect of their dislike and antipathy to divine truth.
It has been said, indeed, that there is a serpent, or adder, to which
the Psalmist's comparison literally applies; that it actually covers
one ear with its tail, and applies the other close upon the ground, to
prevent itself being overcome with the charms of music, so as to run
the hazard of being taken and killed. We know certainly, both from
Scripture and observation, that the serpent is subtile above all
beasts of the field, but this surely is a piece of cunning which is
beyond its nature. It is surely much more rational to think that the
Psalmist refers entirely to the utter dislike of the charmer and his
music, which this serpent is characterized by; and, moreover, we have
the words "stoppeth his ears," in Isaiah xxxiii. 15, employed to
express the utmost disregard and abhorrence.