_A Lucknow Derby-day--Sights of the city--Grand Trunk Road to
Delhi--Delhi--The Coutub--Agra--The fort and Taj--The ruins of Futtehpore
Secreh--A loquacious cicerone--A visit to the fort of Gwalior--The
Mahratta Durbar--Tiger-shooting on foot_.
On the following morning, in spite of all this dissipation, we, as well
as the greater part of the population of Lucknow, were perfectly ready to
go to the races, which took place at an early hour. After seeing the
first race, which was a well-contested one, and in which the natives
seemed to take particular interest, I went towards the town, and was
amused on the way by comparing the various conveyances used at Lucknow
with those that may be seen on the road to Epsom on the Derby-day.
Here came dashing along a coach and six, the four leading horses ridden
by postilions, while a sporting Baboo drove the wheelers, and two more
sporting friends sat inside, and outriders vociferously cleared the way.
Here two of the King's eunuchs jogged along in great style on camels with
gaudy trappings; after them came prancing steeds bearing some gorgeously-
dressed young princes, and then innumerable elephants bearing all sorts
of disreputable-looking characters, the gents and blacklegs of the
Lucknow community. In fact, I recognised specimens of nearly all the
various classes of society which are to be met with at races in England,
except that none of the fair sex were to be seen on this occasion.
There can be no doubt that Lucknow is a fast place, and contains a very
sporting population; and, if I remember right, the winning horse was the
property of the turbaned owner of a four-in-hand.
As in duty bound, we explored the whole city, but a correct idea of the
edifices with which it abounds is only to be gained from the drawings,
which are executed by the natives with the most delicate minuteness, and
convey a very correct notion of the exterior of the handsome mosques,
minarets, tombs, and palaces, which render Lucknow a most interesting
locality.
The Imaum Bara is said to contain the largest arched room in the world, a
fact which we very much doubted. The "Gate of Constantinople" is
handsome; not so La Martinere, an attempt at an Italian villa, the
figures on the roof of which look as much out of keeping with the rest of
the edifice as the building itself looks out of place planted in the
midst of paddy-fields; it was erected by General Claude Martine,
originally a French grenadier, and it is now, according to his express
intentions, devoted to educational purposes.
One cannot but be struck by the singular taste of eastern potentates, who
are so much more careful to provide a handsome place for their reception
when dead than they are for their residence while alive. Were I the King
of Oudh I should immediately move into the handsome tomb at present
vacant, and leave directions to be buried in my palace.
A night's journey took us to Cawnpore, one of the largest and most
disagreeable-looking stations in India. Here I resumed my acquaintance
with the great trunk road under more favourable circumstances, and was
not a little pleased to find how rapidly I was approaching Delhi. The
carriage in which I travelled was a small palanquin on wheels, which one
horse dragged along with ease; and as the stages were short, and the road
very good, he was generally put into a hand-gallop at starting, and kept
his pace up for the five or six miles allotted to him.
The great number of carts we passed confirmed me in thinking that this
was the proper line for an experimental railway. The country is here
well cultivated throughout; there is no water-carriage to contend
against, and the present means of conveying goods is lamentably slow and
expensive. The formation of the country affords every facility for the
construction of a railway, being perfectly level throughout; whereas
between Calcutta and Benares, the Rajmahal hills have to be traversed:
besides these many advantages, this line would be attended with a
pecuniary saving to the Government, as the two or three military stations
now on this road might be abolished.
The sights at Delhi are worth a visit, but are too well known to need
description. In the centre of the town stands the Jumma Musjid, the St.
Peter's of Mahomedans; its handsome domes and tapering minarets are built
of red sandstone and white marble, a combination which is common in the
edifices of this city, and which produces a most agreeable effect. From
the summit of one of the minarets an extensive view is obtained.
The large and well-built city, containing 156,000 inhabitants, is
enclosed by a wall, beyond which the country stretches away in appearance
much like the Campagna at Rome. It is covered with ruins, which, with a
few modern tombs scattered amongst prostrate slabs, give it a picturesque
aspect. Through this Campagna we drove one day to see the Coutub. We
passed the handsome tomb of Suftur Jung, and the mausoleums of many other
worthies, the splendour of whose present resting-places betokened their
former greatness. The Coutub is a tall column that is said to have been
originally intended for a minaret, though the Hindoos claim it as having
been erected before the Mahomedan invasion; however that may be, it is a
singularly beautiful monument, and rises to a height of 260 feet. It was
worth toiling up its narrow circular staircase to enjoy the view which
the summit afforded of the country I had just traversed: the Jumma Musjid
at Delhi was discernible in the distance, while immediately below lay the
large camp of the Commander-in-Chief, the tents of which were pitched
with great regularity, and looked dazzling white in the bright sun. After
descending the column, I wandered awhile amidst the ruins at its foot,
some of which looked very much as if they were of _Jain_ origin,--and
then returned to a desirable tomb, which the hospitable commissioner has
converted into a delightful retreat from the noisy city.
I left Delhi with no little regret after an agreeable sojourn of a week,
and rolled rapidly over the excellent road to Agra, so smooth that it was
_irresistible_ to the laziest horse, and 130 miles were easily
accomplished in eighteen hours including stoppages.
Of Agra the passing traveller can say little, because its wonders are so
inexhaustible and so interesting. The magnificent tomb at Secundra of
that greatest of Mahomedan princes, Ackbar, must be left to the
description already given by travellers of more leisure; so must the fort
and the white marble palace which it contains, where dwelt the powerful
Aurungzebe when he made Agra his capital. It was an endless source of
interest to me to wander through the paved courts and under the marble
columns of that glistening palace,--to look down upon the river, winding
at the base of the lofty walls,--to descend into dark vaults in which
were fountains and baths with water ever cool,--to creep yet lower, with
a dim flickering light, into the execution chamber, and stand under the
beam which had sustained the fair form of many a frail and faithless
beauty,--to retreat from the stifling influence of its confined air, and
return to inspect delicate little mosques, in which the Queen and her
maidens used to perform their devotions, and which were as pure and
chaste as the ladies were supposed to be.
The only other interesting relics in the fort are the renowned gates of
Somnath, which are placed in the arsenal, and which need no description
from my pen. But the greatest sight which Agra affords is the far-famed
Taj Mahal: situated on the banks of the river, it is a conspicuous object
from every quarter, and is as beautiful in its proportions when seen from
a distance as in its details when more closely and minutely inspected: an
unfailing source of gratification to the beholder, it well merits
repeated visits. In its vastness, in its costly material, in its
beautiful proportion, and in its delicacy of detail, it stands a noble
monument of the talent which devised, and of the skill which executed it.
It is said to have incessantly occupied 20,000 men for 22 years, and
three million pounds sterling were expended upon it.
The intention of Shah Jehan, whose ashes it covers, was to have connected
it by a marble bridge with a tomb exactly similar on the opposite side of
the river, in which were to be interred the remains of his wife. This
vast design he never lived to accomplish, and his son, who was of an
economical turn of mind, did not consider the maternal ashes worth a
further expenditure of three millions, and so Shah Jehan and his wife lie
buried in one tomb, which may safely be pronounced the most magnificent
in the world.
* * * * *
I like the Indian system of starting on a journey after dinner. When
other people are going to bed, you get into your comfortable palanquin,
and wake up 30 miles from your companions of the previous evening, who
are only beginning to rub their eyes, when you have already actively
commenced the work of exploring the sights at your destination. Thus did
I inspect the old city of Futtehpore Secreh under the guidance of Busreet
Alee, a garrulous old man, and a perfect specimen of a cicerone, with
whom I at once plunged into the most extensive ruins I had seen in India:
cloisters, colonnades, domes, walls, kiosks, and turrets, heaped together
in the utmost confusion, a mass of red sandstone, except when some white
marble denoted a more sacred or interesting spot as it glistened in the
beams of the rising sun.
Ackbar, the founder of the spacious palaces here situated, was an
exception to the general rule of Eastern potentates, and his residence
must have been even more magnificent than the handsome tomb of Secundra,
in which his ashes repose. The legend regarding the reason for which
Futtehpore Secreh was pitched upon by the monarch as his seat of
government is somewhat singular. It seems that he had long desired a
successor to perpetuate his great name, and rule over his vast dominions,
the possession of most of which he owed to his own strong arm and fertile
genius: it was therefore a great disappointment to him that the wished-
for prince did not make his appearance. Ackbar accordingly consulted
Shah Selim Shurstre upon this important subject, and Shah Selim Shurstre,
who lived at Futtehpore Secreh, recommended a pilgrimage to Ajmeer, which
was no sooner accomplished than Ackbar became the happy father of Jehan
Giri. In gratitude for so eminent a service, and in order to have the
benefit of such sage advice in future cases of emergency, Ackbar left
Delhi, and fixed his residence at Futtehpore Secreh, which place
possessed the further advantage of being more in the centre of his recent
conquests. Notwithstanding his devotion to the holy man, Ackbar was a
most unorthodox Mahomedan, as the figures of animals carved upon the
pillars of the palace plainly testify. These figures were sadly
mutilated by his undutiful grandson, the bigoted Aurungzebe, who held all
such representations in much the same horror that a Presbyterian would a
picture of the Virgin.
Busreet and I went over the ladies' apartments, which must have been very
cheerless, since they are entirely composed of immense slabs of red
sandstone and look hard and uncomfortable. Descending from them to the
level of the court-yard, Busreet took me into a narrow sort of corridor,
and jabbered incessantly for some minutes. I thought I could distinguish
the words "hide and seek;" but it was so very unnatural to suppose that
the only words of English Busreet knew were "hide and seek," that I
imagined he was repeating some Hindostanee phrase, until he dodged round
corners and behind pillars, crying out as he did so, "Hide and seek! Hide
and seek!"--from which I at last understood that he meant to inform me
that the ladies used to play that Occidental game in Ackbar's harem; so,
after a short game to show the old man that I understood him, we strolled
on to a singular kiosk-like little building, my guide every now and then
renewing the game and hobbling round corners despite of my remonstrances
to the contrary. The little temple was the residence of the holy man,
and near it a room of most extraordinary construction astonished me not a
little, since I could not divine its use, and Busreet afforded no
information on the subject, as he pulled my head down and whispered
something in my ear, which left me in doubt whether what he told me was a
secret, or whether he meant to intimate that it was a whispering gallery:
its real use I afterwards discovered.
In the centre of a square room was a pillar 15 or 16 feet in height, the
circular top of which was six or eight feet in diameter and had been
surrounded by a stone parapet; communicating with this singular pulpit-
like seat were four narrow stone passages or bridges, one from each
corner of the room. In each corner a minister of the realm used to sit,
only one of whom might approach their royal master at a time. Seated on
this centre point high above the heads of his subjects, who crowded the
room below, and approached only by the four narrow causeways, the King
deemed himself secure from assassination.
It was an original idea, and, after inventing so novel a method for
guarding against treachery, he deserved to die in his bed, as in fact he
did.
Emerging from this singular apartment, we crossed a square, in the midst
of which was placed an immense slab of stone, raised a little off the
ground; on each of the four sides of this slab there were 16 squares
marked on the ground like those on a chessboard.
Four ladies used to stand on the squares on each division, making sixteen
in all, each party of four dressed in garments of different colour from
those worn by the others. The King and his ministers sat on the slab in
the middle, and the game, which was something like chess, commenced. It
must have been a glorious game: the prizes were numerous and worth
playing for, and one can easily imagine the crafty old King moving his
Queen so as to take the lovely slave of one of his ministers, or a
handsome and fashionable young noble giving check to Queen and concubine;
probably the Queen could not be taken, but it must have added immensely
to the interest of the game to be playing with pieces that were
interested in the result.
We ascended a handsome gateway of the mosque, 120 feet in height, whence
I looked over a wide expanse of level country, while the intricate maze
of ruins through which we had been wandering lay spread at our feet like
a map; the wall of the city is still entire, and encloses a space of six
miles in circumference, the extent of this once famous place.
The court-yard of the mosque, which was at least 150 yards square,
contains the white marble tomb of the holy man. It is, without
exception, the most perfect little bijou imaginable. The walls are
composed of immense slabs, or rather screens of marble, delicately carved
and perforated, so that, while they allow a dim light to penetrate, the
effect of the tracery, when viewed from the interior, is exquisite. While
I was admiring this beautiful structure Busreet suddenly assured me that
he was very fond of tea. As he had already made many other observations
equally unconnected with the matter in hand, I merely assured him of my
sympathy; when the more home-question of whether I had any tea at once
enlightened me as to his meaning. I accordingly invited him to take tea
with me, and we sat on the steps of the good man's tomb, and had a
sociable cup together; after which I entered my palanquin, and,
travelling through the heat of the day, returned to Agra in a
semi-grilled condition.
* * * * *
Having seen most of the sights of Agra (and it has a goodly share of its
own), and having made the necessary preparations for the conveyance to
Bombay of our party, now four in number, we took our departure from the
handsome and hospitable residence of the Lieutenant-Governor, on the
evening of the 9th of March, and drove in our buggies by moonlight over
rather a wild country, in rather a wild manner, arriving at the station,
where our palanquins were to meet us, a little before midnight.
An Indian coolie's powers of endurance are marvellous. Our cortege
consisted of 112; and they were to carry ourselves, servant, baggage, and
provisions, at the rate of thirty-five miles a night, for as many
consecutive nights as we should choose to require their services.
We arrived at Dholpoor next day--looked down a magnificent well, about
sixty feet in diameter, with corridors round it, and a handsome flight of
stairs leading down to them--and then pushed on for Gwalior, crossing the
battle-field of Maharajpore, and paying a visit to the fort perched upon
the scarped rock. Some portions of the fort walls were covered with
various devices in green and yellow porcelain, which added to their
singular and characteristic appearance.
We visited the young Rajah in Durbar, and the difference between the
Mahratta and Nepaulese Courts was most striking. The waving plumes,
hussar jackets, and gold-laced pantaloons of the latter were exchanged
for the simple white turban and flowing robe of the Indian senator; but
though the character of their costume may have been more in accordance
with our ideas of Oriental habits, there was a lamentable deficiency of
intellect in their faces, and the fire and intelligence which flashed
from the eye of the Highland noble were wanting in that of the Mahratta
chief. After two days' agreeable sojourn at the Residency we proceeded
for two or three consecutive nights over flat dreary country, spending
the days in the miserable little resthouses provided for the
accommodation of the traveller, and generally picking up a few partridges
for breakfast.
At Goonah we had a prospect of more important game. We here fell in with
a most ardent sportsman: the numerous trophies of bears and tigers with
which his bungalow was adorned proved his success as well as his skill.
With him we sallied forth at about 10 A.M., some on horseback and some on
an elephant, all equally indifferent to the sun, fiercely blazing in an
unclouded sky, and reached a dell, the sides of which were covered with a
low scrubby jungle, where sport was to be expected.
As tiger-shooting on foot is almost unheard of in the northern part of
India, and is practised in the southern only, because the tiger there is
a much less formidable animal than his majesty of Bengal, we were told to
proceed with considerable caution by the veteran, who posted us in the
most likely places, saying to one of our party, as he stationed him in
the most _favourable_ locality, "I put you here because the tiger is
nearly sure to charge down this hill; and if he does, there will be very
little chance of escape for you, as you see he has so much the advantage
of you, that if you do not kill him with either barrel--and the skull of
a tiger is so narrow that it is exceedingly improbable you will be able
to do so--he must kill you, but I would not for the world that you should
miss the sport."
Thus did this self-denying Nimrod debar himself the pleasure of being
charged by a tiger, reserving it, in the kindest manner, for his guests,
who but half appreciated the sacrifice he was making on their account,
from their dread of themselves becoming a sacrifice to the tiger. And as
they crouched behind their respective bushes they had time to brood over
the appalling stories of hairbreadth escapes just recounted to them by
the gallant captain, who had been particular in describing the requisites
for the successful tiger-shot--the steady hand and steady nerve--admitting
that these were not always efficacious, as the last tiger he had
encountered had struck him on the leg, and his torn inexpressibles
existed to this day to testify to it. The thoughts of this and sundry
other escapes he had experienced made the blood run cold, as one imagined
every rustle of the leaves to be a bristling tiger, preparing for his
fatal spring.
Gradually the beaters approached nearer and nearer, and, as the circle
became smaller, pea-fowl innumerable flew over our heads with a loud
whirr, their brilliant plumage glancing in the sunshine like shot-silk. A
few moments more, and I perceived stripes gliding rapidly behind a bush,
and a shot from L--- made me suspect that our _worst_ anticipations had
been realised, and that we had really found a tiger--a suspicion which
soon disappeared, however, as a grisly hyaena bounded away, having
received a ball in his hind-quarters, which unfortunately did not prevent
his retreat.
The beaters soon after appeared over the brow of the hill, and relieved
us for the present from further apprehension of that charge which was to
seal our fate, for the monarch of the Indian jungle had changed his
location. We beat some more jungles, in the hope of finding other game,
but only succeeded in bagging a deer. I had a long shot at a four-horned
buck, but the smooth bore of my piece was not equal to the distance.
On our way home we came upon a cave, which, from marks in the
neighbourhood, bore evident signs of containing a panther; we accordingly
attempted to smoke him out by lighting quantities of straw at the mouth,
but he was not to be forced out of his secure retreat, and preferred
bearing an amount of smoke that would have stifled a German student.
On the following day we renewed our attempt to find a tiger, and were to
a certain extent successful, as at one time we were within a few yards of
him, and could see the bushes move, but he succeeded in breaking through
the line of beaters; and some deer and a neelgye were all the game we
could boast of, notwithstanding a perseverance and endurance of heat
worthy of greater success.