[3] Travels of Kerim Khan; being a narrative of his
Journey from Delhi to Calcutta, and thence by Sea to
England: containing his remarks upon the manners,
customs, laws, constitutions, literature, arts,
manufactures, &c., of the people of the British Isles.
Translated from the original Oordu--(MS.)
Among the various signs of the times which mark the changes of manners
in these latter days of the world, not the least remarkable is the
increasing frequency of the visits paid by the natives of the East to
the regions of Europe. Time was, within the memory of most of the
present generation, when the sight of a genuine Oriental in a London
drawing-room, except in the angel visits, "few and far between," of a
Persian or Moorish ambassador, was a rarity beyond the reach of even
the most determined lion-hunters; and if by any fortunate chance a
stray Persian khan, or a "very magnificent three-tailed bashaw," was
brought within the circle of the quidnuncs of the day, the sayings and
doings of the illustrious stranger were chronicled with as much
minuteness as if he had been the denizen of another planet. Every hair
of his beard, every jewel in the hilt of his khanjar, was enumerated
and criticised; while all oriental etiquette was violated by the
constant enquiries addressed to him relative to the number of his
wives, and the economy of his domestic arrangements. "_Mais a present
on a change tout cela._" The reforms of Sultan Mahmood, the invention
of steam, and the re-opening of the overland route to India, have
combined to effect a mighty revolution in all these points. Osmanlis,
with shaven chins and tight trousers,[4] have long been as plenty as
blackberries in the saloons of the West, eating the flesh of the
unclean beast, quaffing champagne, and even (if we have been rightly
informed) figuring in quadrilles with the moon-faced daughters of the
Franks; and though the natives of the more distant regions of the East
have not yet appeared among us in such number, yet the lamb-skin cap
of the Persian, the _pugree_, or small Indian turban, and even the
queer head-dress of the Parsee, is far from being a stranger in our
assemblies. We doubt whether the name of Akhbar Khan himself,
proclaimed at the foot of a staircase, would excite the same
_sensation_ in the present day, as the announcement of the most
undistinguished wearer of the turban some ten or twenty years ago; but
of the "Tours" and "Narratives" which are usually the inevitable
result of such an influx of pilgrims, our Oriental visitors have as
yet produced hardly their due proportion. For many years, the travels
of Mirza Abu-Talib Khan, a Hindustani[5] Moslem of rank and education,
who visited Europe in the concluding years of the last century, stood
alone as an example of the effect produced on an Asiatic by his
observation of the manners and customs of the West; and even of late
our stock has not been much increased. The journal of the Persian
princes (a translation of which, by their Syrian mehmandar, Assaad
Yakoob Khayat, has been printed in England for private circulation) is
curious, as giving a picture of European ways and manners when viewed
through a purely Asiatic medium; while the remarkably sensible and
well-written narrative of the two Parsees who lately visited this
country for the purpose of instruction in naval architecture,[6]
differs little from the description of the same objects which would be
given by an intelligent and well-educated European, if they could be
presented to him in the aspect of utter novelty. The latest of these
Oriental wanderers in the ungenial climes of Franguestan, is the one
whose name appears at the head of this article, and who, with a rare
and commendable modesty, has preferred introducing himself to the
public under the protecting guidance of Maga, to venturing, alone and
without a pilot, among the perilous rocks and shoals of the critics of
_the Row_; him therefore we shall now introduce, without further
comment, to the favourable notice of our readers.
[4] _Shalwarlek_--"tight trousers"--was a phrase used,
under the old Turkish regime, as equivalent to a
blackguard.
[5] The Moslems, and other natives of India descended
from foreign races, are properly called _Hindustanis_,
while the aborigines are the _Hindus_--a distinction not
well understood in Europe. The former take their name
from the country, as _natives of Hindustan_, which has
derived its own name from the latter, as being the
_country of the Hindus_.
[6] Journal of a Residence of Two Years and a Half in
Great Britain, by Jehangeer Nowrojee and Hirjeebhoy
Merwanjee of Bombay, Naval Architects. London: 1841.
Of Kerim Khan himself, the writer of his narrative, and of his motives
for daring the perils of the _kala-pani_, (or black water, the Hindi
name for the ocean,) on a visit to Franguestan, we have little
information beyond what can be gathered from the MS. itself. There can
be no doubt, however, that he was a Mussulman gentleman of rank and
consideration, and of information far superior to that of his
countrymen in general; nor does it appear that he was driven, like
Mirza Abu-Talib, by political misfortune, to seek in strange climes
the security which his native land denied him. His narrative commences
abruptly:--"On the 21st of Ramazan, in the year of the Hejra 1255,"
(Dec. 1, A.D. 1839,) "between four and five in the afternoon, I took
leave of the imperial city of Delhi, and proceeded to our boat, which
was at anchor near the Derya Ganj." The voyage down the Jumna, to its
junction with the Ganges at Allahabad, a distance of not more than 550
miles by land, but which the endless windings of the stream increase
to 2010 by water, presents few incidents worthy of notice: but our
traveller observes _par parenthese_, that "though it is said that the
sources of this river have not been discovered, I have heard from
those who have crossed the Himalaya from China, that it rises in that
country on the other side of the mountains, and, forcing its way
through them, arrives at Bighamber. They say that gold is found there
in large quantities, and the reason they assign is this--the
philosopher's stone is found in that country, and whatever touches it
becomes gold, but the stone itself can never be found!" Near Muttra he
encountered the splendid cortege of Lord Auckland, then returning to
Calcutta after his famous interview with Runjeet Singh at Lahore, with
such a _suwarree_ as must have recalled the pomp and _sultanut_ for
which the memory of Warren Hastings is even yet celebrated among the
natives of India: "his staff and escort, with the civil and military
officers of government in attendance on him, amounted to about 4000
persons, besides 300 elephants and 800 camels." The noble buildings of
Akbarabad or Agra, the capital and residence of Akbar and Shalijehan,
the mightiest and most magnificent of the Mogul emperors, detained the
traveller for a day; and he notices with deserved eulogium the
splendid mausoleum of Shalijehan and his queen, known as the
Taj-Mahal. There is nothing that can be compared with it, and those
who have visited the farthest parts of the globe, have seen nothing
like it.[7] At Allahabad he launched on the broad stream of the
Ganges; and after passing through part of the territory of _Awadh_ or
Oude, the insecurity of life and property in which is strongly
contrasted with the rigid police in the Company's dominions, arrived
in due time at the holy city of Benares, the centre of Hindoo and
Brahminical sanctity.
[7] Many of our readers must have seen the beautiful
ivory model of this far-famed edifice, lately exhibited
in Regent Street, and now, we believe, in the Cambridge
University museum. It is fortunate that so faithful a
miniature transcript of the beauties of the Taj is in
existence, since the original is doomed, as we are
informed, to inevitable ruin at no distant period, from
the ravages of the white ants on the woodwork.
The shrines of Benares, with their swarms of sacred monkeys and
Brahminy bulls, were objects of little interest to our Moslem
wayfarer, who on the contrary recounts with visible satisfaction the
destruction of several of these _But Khanas_, or idol-temples, by the
intolerable bigotry of Aurungzib, and the erection of mosques on their
sites. Among the objects of attraction in the environs of the city, he
particularly notices a famous footprint[8] upon stone, called the
_Kadmsherif_, or holy mark, deposited in a mosque near the serai of
Aurungabad, and said to have been brought from Mekka by Sheik Mohammed
Ali Hazin, whom the translator of his interesting autobiography
(published in 1830 by the Oriental Society) has made known to the
British public, up to the period when the tyranny of Nadir Shah drove
him from Persia. "Here, during his lifetime, he used to go sometimes
on a Thursday, and give alms to the poor in the name of God. He was a
very learned and accomplished man; and his writings, both in prose and
verse, were equal to those of Zahiri and Naziri. When he first came to
India, he resided for some years at Delhi; but having had some dispute
with the poet-laureate of the Emperor Mohammed Shah, he found himself
under the necessity of retiring to Benares, where he lived in great
privacy. As he was a stranger in the country, was engaged in no
calling or profession, and received no allowance from the Emperor, it
was never known whence, or how, he was supplied with the means of
keeping up the establishment he did, which consisted of some hundred
servants, palanquins, horses, &c. It is said that when the Nawab
Shujah-ed-dowlah projected his attack on the English in Bengal, he
consulted the Sheik on the subject, who strongly dissuaded him from
the undertaking. He died shortly after the battle of Buxar in 1180,"
(A.D. 1766.) The battle of Buxar was fought Oct. 23, 1764; but that
Sheik Ali Hazin died somewhere about this time, seems more probable
than that his life was extended (as stated by Sir Gore Ouseley) till
1779; since he describes himself at the conclusion of his memoirs in
1742, when only in his 53d year, as "leading the dullest course of
existence in the dullest of all dull countries, and disabled by his
increasing infirmities from any active exertion of either body or
mind"--a state of things scarcely promising a prolongation of life to
the age of ninety.
[8] These sacred footmarks are more numerous among the
Buddhists than the Moslems--the most celebrated is that
on the summit of Adam's Peak, in Ceylon.
Resuming his voyage from Benares, the Khan notices with wonder the
apparition of the steamers plying between Calcutta and Allahabad,
several of which he met on his course, and regarded with the
astonishment natural in one who had never before seen a ship impelled,
apparently by smoke, against wind and tide:--"I need hardly say how
intensely I watched every movement of this extraordinary, and to me
incomprehensible machine, which in its passage created such a vast
commotion in the waters, that my poor little _budjrow_ (pinnace) felt
its effects for the space of full two _hos_," (nearly four miles.) The
picturesque situation of the city of Azimabad or Patna,[9] extending
for several miles along the right bank of the Ganges, with the villas
and beautiful gardens of the resident English interspersed among the
houses, is described in terms of high admiration; and the mosques,
some of which were as old as the time of the Patan emperors, are not
forgotten by our Moslem traveller in his enumeration of the marvels of
the city. A few days' more boating brought him to Rajmahal; "on one
side of which," says he, "the country is called Bengal, and on the
other _Poorb_, or the East"--a name from which the independent dynasty
of Moslem kings, who once ruled in Bengal, assumed the appellation of
_Poorby-Shaby_. He was now among the rice-fields, the extent and
luxuriance of which surprised him: "There are a great variety of
sorts, and if a man were to take a grain of each sort he might soon
fill a _lota_ (water-pot) with them--so innumerable are the different
kinds. The cultivators who have measured the largest species, have
declared them to exceed the length of fifty cubits; but I have never
seen any of this length, though others may have." He now entered the
Bhagirutti, or branch of the Ganges leading to Calcutta, and which
bears in the lower part of its course the better known name of the
Hoogly--while the main stream to the left is again subdivided into
innumerable ramifications, the greater part of which lose themselves
among the vast marshes of the Sunderbunds; but he complains, that
"though by this branch large vessels and steamers pass up and down to
and from the Presidency, the route is very bad, from the extensive
jungles on both banks, which are haunted by Thugs and _Decoits_,
(river pirates:)--indeed I have heard and read, that the shores of the
Ganges have been infested by freebooters, pirates, and thieves of all
sorts, from time immemorial." He escaped unharmed, however, through
these manifold perils; and passing Murshidabad, the ancient capital of
Bengal, and other places of less note, his remarks upon which we shall
not stay to quote, reached the ghauts of Calcutta in safety.
[9] Most of the principal cities of India, in addition
to the ancient name by which they are popularly known,
have another imposed by the Moslems:--thus Agra is
Akbarabad, _the residence of Akbar_--Delhi,
Shahjehanabad; and Patna, Azimabad. In some instances,
as Dowlutabad in the Dekkan, the Hindu name of which is
Deogiri, the Mohammedan appellation has superseded the
ancient name; but, generally speaking, the latter is
that in common use.
A place so often described as the "City of Palaces," presents little
that is novel in the narrative of the khan; but he does full justice
to the splendour of the architecture, which he says "exceeds that of
_China or Ispahan_--a superiority which arises from the immense sums
which every governor-general has laid out upon public works, and in
improving and adorning the city: the Marquis Wellesley, in particular,
expended lakhs of rupees in this way." The account which he gives,
however, from a Mahommedan writer, of the disputes with the Mogul
government which led to the transference of the British factory and
commerce from its original seat at Hoogly to _Kali-kata_,[10] or
Calcutta, differs considerably from that given by the British
historians, if we are to suppose the events here alluded to (the date
of which the khan does not mention) to be those which occurred in 1686
and 1687, when Charnock defended the factory at Hoogly against the
Imperial deputy, Shaista Khan. Our traveller's version of these
occurrences is, that the factories of the English, which were then
established on the Ghol Ghaut at Hoogly, having been overthrown by an
earthquake, "Mr Charnock, the head officer of the factory, purchasing
a garden called Banarasi, had the trees cut down, and commenced a new
building. But while it was in progress, the principal Mogul merchants
and inhabitants laid a complaint before Meer Nasir, the _foujdar_,
(chief of police,) that their houses and harems would be overlooked,
and great scandal occasioned, if the strangers should be allowed to
erect such lofty buildings in the midst of the city.[11] The complaint
was referred by the foujdar to the nawab, who forthwith issued orders
for the discontinuance of the works, which were accordingly abandoned.
The Company's agent, though highly offended at this arbitrary
proceeding, was unable to resist it, having only one ship and a few
sepoys; and, in spite of the efforts of the foujdar to dissuade him,
he embarked with all his goods, and set sail for the peninsula," (qu.
Indjeli?) "having first set fire to such houses as were near the
river. At this time, however, the Emperor Aurungzib was in the
Carnatic, beleaguered by the Mahrattas, who had cut off all supplies
from his camp; and the Company's agent in that country, hearing of
this, sent a large quantity of grain, which had been recently imported
for their own use, for the relief of the army. Having thus gained the
favour and protection of the Asylum of the World, the English were not
only permitted to build factories in various parts of the country, but
were exempted from the duties formerly laid on their goods. Charnock
returned to Bengal with the emperor's firman; and the nawab, seeing
how matters stood, withdrew his opposition to the erection of the
factory at Hoogly. The English, however, preferred another situation,
and chose Calcutta, where a building was soon erected, the same which
is now called the old fort." This account, which is in fact more
favourable to the English than that given by their own writers, is the
only notice of these transactions we have ever found from a Mahommedan
author; for so small was the importance attached by the Moguls to
these obscure squabbles with a few Frank merchants, that even the
historian Khafi-Khan, who acted as the emperor's representative for
settling the differences which broke out about the same time in
Bombay, makes no allusion to the simultaneous rupture in Bengal.
[10] "So called from _Kali_, the Hindu goddess, and
_kata_, laughter; because human victims were formerly
here sacrificed to her."
[11] From the sanctity attached by Oriental ideas to the
privacy of the harem, it is a high crime and
misdemeanour, punishable by law in all Moslem countries,
to erect buildings overlooking the residence of a
neighbour. At Constantinople, there is an officer called
the Minar Aga, or superintendent of edifices, whose
especial duty it is to prevent this.
Our author, like Bishop Heber,[12] and other travellers on the same
route, is struck by the contrast between the robust and well-fed
peasantry of Hindustan Proper, and the puny rice-eaters of Bengal;
"who eat fish, boiled rice, bitter oil; and an infinite variety of
vegetables; but of wheaten or barley bread, and of pulse, they know
not the taste, nor of mutton, fowl, or _ghee_, (clarified butter.) The
author of the _Riaz-es-Selatin_, is indeed of opinion that such food
does not suit their constitutions, and would make them ill if they
were to eat it"--an invaluable doctrine to establish in dieting a
pauper population! "As to their dress, they have barely enough to
cover them--only a piece of cloth, called a _dhoti_, wrapped round
their loins, while their head-dress consists of a dirty rag rolled two
or three times round the temples, and leaving the crown bare. But the
natives of Hindustan, and even their descendants to the second and
third generation, always wear the _jamah_, or long muslin robe, out of
doors, though in the house they adopt the Bengali custom. The author
of the _Kholasat-al Tow[=a]rikh_, (an historical work,) says that both
men and women formerly went naked; and no doubt he is right, for they
can hardly be said to do otherwise now." Such are the peasants of
Bengal--a race differing from the natives of Hindustan in language,
manners, food, dress, and personal appearance; but who, from their
vicinity to the seat of the English Supreme Government, have served as
models for the descriptions given by many superficial travellers, as
applying to all the natives of British India, without distinction! The
horrible Hindu custom of immersing the sick, when considered past
recovery, in the Ganges, and holding their lower limbs under water
till they expire,[13] excites, as may be expected, the disgust of the
khan; but the reason which he assigns for it, "the belief of these
people, that if a man die in his own house, he would cause the death
of every member of the family by assuming the form of a _bhut_ or evil
spirit," is new to us, and appears to be analogous to the
superstitious dread entertained by the Greeks and Sclavonians, of a
corpse reanimated into a _Vroucolochas_, or vampire. "But if a man
escapes from their hands, and recovers after this treatment, he is
shunned by every one; and there are many villages in Bengal, called
_villages of the dead_, inhabited by men who have thus escaped death;
they are considered dead to society, and no other persons will dwell
in the same villages."
[12] "Almost immediately on leaving Allahabad," (on his
way from Calcutta to the Upper Provinces,) "I was struck
with the appearance of the men, as tall and muscular as
the largest stature of Europeans; and with the fields of
_wheat_, almost the only cultivation."--Heber's Journal,
vol. iii. "Some of our boatmen passing through a field
of Indian corn, plucked two or three ears, certainly not
enough to constitute a theft, or even a trespass. Two of
the men, however, who were watching, ran after them, not
as the Bengalis would have done, to complain with joined
hands, but with stout bamboos, prepared to do themselves
justice _par voye de faict_. The men saved themselves by
swimming off to the boat; but my servants called out to
them--'Ah! dandee folk, beware, you are now in
Hindustan; the people here know well how to fight, and
are not afraid.'"
[13] "I told his (Pertab Chund's) father, that it was
wrong to keep him where he then was, and he told me to
take him down to the river. He was lifted up on his
bedding; his speech was not very distinct at that time,
but sufficiently so to call on the name of his T'hakoor,
(spiritual guide,) which he did as desired; he then
began to shiver, and complained of being very cold. I
was one of those who went with the rajah to the river
side. Jago Mohun Dobee pressed his legs under the water,
and kept them so; and about 10 p.m. his soul quitted the
body. When he died, his knees were under water, but the
rest of his body above." Evidence of Radha Sircar and
Sham Chum Baboo, before the Mofussil Court of Hoogly,
September 1838, in the enquiry on the impostor
Kistololl, who personated the deceased Pertab.
The stay of the khan in Calcutta was prolonged for more than a month,
during which time he rented a house from a native proprietor in the
quarter of Kolitolla. While removing his effects from his boat to
this residence, he became involved in a dispute with the police, in
consequence of the violation by his servants, through ignorance, of
the regulation which forbids persons from the Upper Provinces to enter
the city armed; but this unintentional infringement of orders was
easily explained and arranged by the intervention of an European
friend, and the arms, of which the police had taken possession, were
restored. While engaged in preparing for his voyage, the khan made the
best use of his time in visiting the public buildings, and other
objects of interest, among which he particularly notices the _minar_
or column erected in the _maidan_, (square,) near the viceregal palace
of the Nawab Governor-General Bahadur, by a subscription among the
officers of the army, native as well as English, to the memory of the
late Sir David Ochterlony; but rates it, with truth, as greatly
inferior, both in dimensions and beauty, to the famous pillar of the
Kootb-Minar near Delhi. The colossal fortifications of Fort-William
are also duly commemorated; "they resemble an embankment externally,
but when viewed from within are exceedingly high--no foe could
penetrate within them, much less reach the treasures and magazines in
the interior." Our traveller also visited the English courts of
justice, in the proceedings of which he seems to have taken great
interest, and was apparently treated with much hospitality by many of
the European functionaries and other residents, by whom he was
furnished with numerous letters of introduction, as well as receiving
much information respecting the manners and customs of _Ingilistan_,
or England. The choice of a ship, and the selection of sea-stock, were
of course matters of grave consideration, and the more so from the
peculiar unfitness of the habits and religious scruples of an Indian
Moslem for the privations unavoidable at sea; but a passage was at
last taken for the khan and his two servants on board the Edinburgh of
1400 tons, and it being agreed that he should find his own provisions,
to obviate all mistakes on the score of forbidden food, and the
captain promising moreover that his comforts should be carefully
attended to, this weighty negotiation was at length concluded. It is
due to the khan to say, that whether from being better equipped, or
from being endued with more philosophy and forbearance than his
compatriot, Mirza Abu-Talib Khan, (to whom we have above referred,) he
seems to have reconciled himself to the hardships of the _kala-pani_,
or ocean, with an exceedingly good grace; and we find none of the
complaints which fill the pages of the Mirza against the impurity of
his food, the impossibility of performing his ablutions in appointed
time and manner, and sundry other abominations by which he was so
grievously afflicted, that at a time of danger to the vessel, "though
many of the passengers were much alarmed, I, for my own part, was so
weary of life that I was perfectly indifferent to my fate." Abu-Talib,
however, sailed in an ill-regulated Danish ship; and in summing up the
horrors of the sea, he strongly recommends his countrymen, if
compelled to brave its miseries, to embark in none but an English
vessel.
During the last days of the khan's sojourn in Calcutta, he witnessed
the splendid celebration of the rites of the Mohurrum, when the
slaughter of the brother Imams, Hassan and Hussein, the martyred
grandsons of the Prophet, is lamented by all sects of the faithful,
but more especially by the _Rafedhis_ or Sheahs, the followers of Ali,
"of whom there are many in Calcutta, though they are less numerous
than the orthodox sect or Sunnis, from whom they are distinguished, at
this season, by wearing black as mourning. At the _Baitak-Khana_ (a
quarter of Calcutta) we witnessed the splendid procession of the
_Taziya_,[14] with the banners and flags flying, and the wailers
beating their breasts."... "It is the custom here, at this season, for
all the natch-girls (dancers) to sit in the streets of the
Chandnibazar, under canopies decorated with wreaths and flowers in
the most fantastic manner, and sell sweetmeats, cardamums, betelnuts,
&c., upon stalls, displaying their charms to the passers-by. I took a
turn here one evening with five others, and found crowds of people
collected, both strangers and residents: nor do they ordinarily
disperse till long after midnight." On the second day after his visit
to this scene of gaiety, he received notice that the ship was ready
for sea; and on the 8th of Mohurrum 1256, (March 13, 1840,) he
accordingly embarked with his baggage and servants on board the
Edinburgh, which was towed in seven days, by a steamer, down the river
to Saugor; and the pilot quitting her the next day at the floating
light. "I now found myself," (says the khan,) "for the first time in
my life, in the great ocean, where nothing was to be seen around but
sky and water."
[14] _Taziya_, literally _grief_, is an ornamental
shrine erected in Moslem houses during the Mohurrum, and
intended to represent the mausoleum of Hassan and
Hussein, at Kerbelah in Persia. On the 10th and last day
of the mourning, the taziyas are carried in procession
to the outside of the city, and finally deposited with
funeral rites in the burying-grounds.--See _Mrs Meer
Hassan Ali's_ Observations on the Mussulmans of India.
Letter I.
The account of a voyage at sea, as given by an Oriental, is usually
the most deplorable of narratives--filled with exaggerated fears, the
horrors of sea-sickness, and endless lamentations of the evil fate of
the writer, in being exposed to such a complication of miseries. Of
the wailing of Mirza Abu-Talib we have already given a specimen: and
the Persian princes, even in the luxurious comfort of an English
Mediterranean steamer, seem to have fared but little better, in their
own estimation at least, than the Mirza in his dirty and disorderly
Danish merchantman. "Our bones cried, 'Alas! for this evil there is no
remedy.' We were vomiting all the time, and thus afflicted with
incurable evils, in the midst of a sea which appears without end, the
state of my health bad, the sufferings of my brothers very great, and
no hope of being saved, we became most miserable." Such is the naive
exposition of his woes, by H. R. H. Najaf Kooli Mirza; but Kerim Khan
appears, both physically and morally, to have been made of different
metal. Ere he had been two days on board we find him remarking--"I had
by this time made some acquaintance among the passengers, and began to
find my situation less irksome and lonely;" shortly afterwards
adding--"The annoyances inseparable from this situation were relieved,
in some measure, by the music and dancing going on every day except
Sundays, owing to the numerous party of passengers, both gentlemen and
ladies, whom we had on board--seeing which, a man forgets his griefs
and troubles in the general mirth around him." So popular, indeed,
does the khan appear already to have become, that the captain, finding
that he had hitherto abstained from the use of his pipe, that great
ingredient in Oriental comfort, from an idea that smoking was
prohibited on board, "instantly sent for my hookah, had it properly
prepared for me, and insisted on my not relinquishing this luxury, the
privation of which he knew would occasion me considerable
inconvenience." In other respects, also, he seems to have been not
less happily constituted; for though he says that "the rolling and
rocking of the ship, when it entered the _dark waters_ or open sea,
completely upset my two companions, who became extremely sick"--his
remarks on the incidents of the voyage, and the novel phenomena which
presented themselves to his view, are never interrupted by any of
those pathetic lamentations on the instability of the human stomach,
which form so important and doleful an episode in the relations of
most landsmen, of whatever creed or nation.
The commencement of the voyage was prosperous; and the ship ran to the
south before a fair wind, interrupted only by a few days of partial
calm, till it reached the latitude of Ceylon, where the appearance of
the flying fish excited the special wonder of the khan, who was by
this time beginning, under the tuition of his fellow passengers, to
make some progress in the English language, and had even attempted to
fathom some of the mysteries of the science of navigation; "but though
I took the sextant which the captain handed me, and held it precisely
as he had done, I could make nothing of it." The regular performance
of the Church service on Sundays, and the cessation on that day from
the ordinary amusements, is specially noticed on several occasions,
and probably made a deeper impression on the mind of our Moslem
friend, from the popular belief current in India that the _Feringhis_
are men _of no caste_, without religious faith or ceremonies--a belief
which the conduct and demeanour of the Anglo-Indians in past times
tended, in too many instances, to confirm. Off the southern extremity
of Ceylon, the ship was again becalmed for several days; but the
tedium of this interval was relieved, not only by the ordinary sea
incidents of the capture of a shark and the appearance of a whale,
(the zoological distinctions between which and the true fishes are
stated by the khan with great correctness,) but by the occurrence of a
mutiny on board an English vessel in company, which was fortunately
quelled by the exertions of the captain of the Edinburgh.
"The spicy gales of Ceylon," blowing off the coast to the distance, as
stated, of fifty miles, (an extremely moderate range when compared
with the accounts of some other travellers,) at last brought on their
wings the grateful announcement of the termination of the calm; but
before quitting the vicinity of this famous island, (more celebrated
in eastern story under the name of Serendib,) the khan gives some
notices of the legends connected with its history, which show a more
extended acquaintance with Hindu literature than the Moslems in India
in general take the trouble of acquiring. Among the rest he alludes to
the epic of the Ramayuna, and the bridge built by Rama (or as he calls
him, Rajah Ram Chunder) for the passage of the monkey army and their
redoubled general, Huniman, from the Indian continent into the island,
in order to deliver from captivity Seeta, the wife of the hero. The
wind still continuing favourable, the ship quickly passed the equator,
and the pole-star was no longer visible--"a proof of the earth's
sphericity which I was glad to have had an opportunity of seeing;" and
they left, at a short distance to the right, the islands of Mauritius
and Bourbon, "which are not far from the great island of Madagascar,
where the faithful turn their faces to the north when they pray, as
they turn them to the west in India," the _kiblah_, or point of
direction, being in both cases the kaaba, or temple of Mekka. They
were now approaching the latitude of the Cape; and our voyager was
astonished by the countless multitudes of sea-birds which surrounded
the ship, and particularly by the giant bulk of the albatrosses,
"which I was told remained day and night on the ocean, repairing to
the coast of Africa only at the period of incubation." The Cape of
Storms, however, as it was originally named by Vasco de Gama, did not
fail on this occasion to keep up its established character for bad
weather. A severe gale set in from the east, which speedily increased
to a storm. A sailor fell from "the third stage of the mainmast," (the
main topgallant yard,) and was killed on the deck; and as the
inhospitable shores of Africa were close under their lee, the ship
appears for some time to have been in considerable danger. But in this
(to him) novel scene of peril, the khan manifests a degree of
self-possession, strongly contrasting with the timidity of the royal
grandsons of Futteh Ali Shah, the expression of whose fears during a
gale is absolutely ludicrous. "We were so miserable that we gave up
all hope; we gave up our souls, and began to beseech God for
forgiveness; while the wind continued increasing, and all the waves of
the western sea rose up in mountains, with never-ceasing noise, till
they reached the planets." Even after the violence of the hurricane
had in some measure abated, the sea continued to run so high that the
ports were kept closed for several days. "At last, however, they were
opened for the purpose of ventilating the interior; and the band,
which had been silent for some days, began to play again." The
appearance of a water-spout on the same afternoon is thus
described:--"An object became visible in the distance, in the form of
a minaret, and every one on board crowded on deck to look at it. On
asking what it was, I was told that what appeared to be a minaret was
only water, which was drawn up towards the heavens by the force of the
wind, and when this ceased would fall again into the sea, and was what
we should call a whirlwind. This is sometimes extremely dangerous to
vessels, since, if it reaches them, it is so powerful as to draw them
out of the sea in the same manner as it draws up the water; in
consequence of which many ships have been lost when they have been
overtaken by this wonderful phenomenon."
The storm was succeeded by a calm, which detained the ship for two
days within sight of the lofty mountains near the Cape. "It was
bitterly cold, for the seasons are here reversed, and instead of
summer, as we should have expected, it was now the depth of winter.
At length, however, (on the 69th day after our leaving Calcutta,) a
strong breeze sprung up, which enabled us to set all sail, and carried
us away from this table-land." The run from the Cape to St Helena
seems to have been barren of incident, except an accidental encounter
with a vessel in distress, which proved to be a slaver which had been
captured by an English cruiser, and had sustained serious damage in
the late storm while proceeding to the Cape with a prize crew. On
approaching St Helena, the captain "gave orders for the ship to be
painted, both inside and out, that the people of the island might not
say we came in a dirty ship; and as we neared the land, a white flag
was hoisted to apprise those on shore that there was no one ill on
board. In cases of sickness a yellow flag is displayed, and then no
one is permitted to land from the ship for fear of contagion. The
island is about twenty-six miles in circuit, and is constantly
enveloped in fog and mist. It is said to have been formerly a volcano,
but has now ceased to smoke. The vegetation is luxuriant, but few of
the flowers are fragrant. I recognised some, however, both flowers and
fruits, which seemed similar to those of India. I took the opportunity
of landing with the captain to see the town, which is small, but
extremely well fortified, the cannon being so numerous that one might
suppose the whole island one immense iron-foundery. It is populous,
the inhabitants being chiefly Jews and English; but as it was Sunday,
and all the shops were shut, it had a dull appearance. After surveying
the town, I ascended a hill in the country, leading to the tomb of
Napoleon Bonaparte, which is on an elevated spot, four miles from the
town.
"This celebrated personage was a native of Corsica; and enjoying a
fortunate horoscope, he entered the French army, and speedily rose to
the rank of general; and afterwards, with the consent of the people
and the soldiery, made himself emperor. After this he conquered
several kingdoms, and the fame of his prowess and his victories filled
all the European world. When he invaded Russia, he defeated the
Muscovites in several great battles, and took their capital; but, in
consequence of the intensity of the cold, several thousands of his
army both men and horses, perished miserably. This catastrophe obliged
him to return to France, where he undertook the conquest of another
country. At this time George III. reigned in England; and having
collected all the disposable forces of his kingdom, appointed Lord
Wellington (the same general who was employed in the war against
Tippoo Sultan in Mysore) to command them, and sent him to combat the
French Emperor. He entered Spain, and forced the Emperor's brother,
Yusuf, (Joseph,) who was king of that country, to fly--till after a
variety of battles and incidents, too numerous to particularize, the
two hostile armies met at a place called by the English Waterloo,
where a bloody battle was fought, as famous as that of P[=a]sh[=a]n,
between Sohrab and the hero Rustan: and Napoleon was overthrown and
made prisoner. He was then sent, though in a manner suitable to his
rank, to this island of St Helena, where, after a few years, he
finished his earthly career. His tomb is much visited by all who touch
at the island, and has become a _durgah_ (shrine) for innumerable
visitors from Europe. There are persons appointed to take care of it,
who give to strangers, in consideration of a small present, the leaves
and flowers of the trees which grow round the tomb. No other Emperor
of the Europeans was ever so honoured as to have had his tomb made a
shrine and place of pilgrimage: nor was ever one so great a conqueror,
or so renowned for his valour and victories."
The remainder of the voyage from St Helena to England was apparently
marked by no incident worthy of mention, as the khan notices only the
reappearance of the pole-star on their crossing the line, and
re-entering the northern hemisphere, and their reaching once more the
latitude of Delhi, "which we now passed many thousand miles to our
right; after which nothing of importance occurred till we reached the
British Channel, when we saw the Scilly Isles in the distance, and
about noon caught a glimpse of the Lizard Point, and the south coast
of England, together with the lighthouse: the country of the French
lay on our right at the distance of about eighty miles. I was given
to understand that the whole distance from St Helena to London, by the
ship's reckoning, was 6328 miles, and 16,528 from Calcutta." In the
Downs the pilot came on board, from whom they received the news of the
attempt recently made by Oxford on the life of the Queen; and here the
captain, anxious to lose no time in reaching London, quitted the
vessel as it entered the Thames, "the sources of which famous river, I
was informed, were near a place called Cirencester, eighty-eight miles
from London, in the _zillah_ (county) of Gloucester." The ship was now
taken in tow by a couple of steam-tugs, and passing Woolwich, "where
are the war-ships and _top-khana_ (arsenal) of the English Padishah,
at length reached Blackwall, where we anchored."
"I now (continues the khan) returned thanks to God for having
brought me safe through the wide ocean to this extraordinary
country--bethinking myself of the answer once made by a man who had
undertaken a voyage, on being asked by his friends what he had seen
most wonderful--'The greatest wonder I have seen is seeing myself
alive on land!'" The troubles of the khan, however, were far from
being ended by his arrival on _terra firma_: for apparently from
some mistake or inadvertence, (the cause of which does not very
clearly appear,) on the part of the friends whom he had expected to
meet him, he found himself, on landing at Blackwall and proceeding
by the railway to London, left alone by the person who had thus far
been his guide, in apartments near Cornhill, almost wholly
unacquainted with the English language, separated from his baggage
and servants, who were still on board the Edinburgh, and with no one
in his company but another Hindustani, as little versed as himself
in the ways and speech of Franguestan. In this "considerable
unhandsome fix," as it would be called on the other side of the
Atlantic, the perplexities of the khan are related with such
inimitable naivete and good-humour, that we cannot do better than
give the account of them in his own words. "As I could neither ask
for any thing, nor answer any question put to me, I passed the whole
night without a morsel of food or a drop of water: till in the
morning, feeling hungry, I requested my companion to go to some
bazar and buy some fruit. He replied that it would be impossible for
him either to find his way to a bazar through the crowds of people,
or to find his way back again--as all the houses were so much alike.
I then told him to go straight on in the street we were in, turning
neither to the right nor the left till he met with some shop where
we might get what we wanted: and, in order to direct him to the
place on his return, I agreed to lean half out of the window, so
that he could not fail to see me. No sooner, however, did he sally
forth, than the people, men, women, and children, began to stare at
him on all sides, as if he had dropped from the moon; some stopped
and gazed, and numbers followed him as if he had been a criminal
about being led to execution. Nor was I in a more enviable position:
the people soon caught sight of me with my head and shoulders out of
the window; and in a few minutes a mob had collected opposite the
door. What was I to do? If I withdrew myself, my friend on returning
would have no mark to find the house, while, if I remained where I
was, the curiosity of the crowd would certainly increase. I kept my
post, however, while every one that passed stopped and gazed like
the rest, till there was actually no room for vehicles to pass; and
in this unpleasant situation I remained fully an hour, when seeing
my friend returning, I went down and opened the door for him. He
told me he had gone straight on, till he came to a fruit-shop, at
the corner of another street, when he went in, and laying two
shillings on the counter, said in Oordu, (the polished dialect of
Hindustani,) 'Give me some fruit.' The shopman, not understanding
him, spoke to him in English; to which he replied again in Oordu, 'I
want some fruit!' pointing at the same time to the money, to signify
that he wanted two shillings' worth of fruit. The man, however,
continued confounded; and my friend at last, not knowing of what
sort the fruits were, whether sour or sweet, bitter or otherwise,
ventured, after much hesitation and fruitless attempts to
communicate with the shopman by signs and gestures, to take up four
apples, and then made his retreat in the best manner he could,
followed, as here, by the rabble. I at last caught a glimpse of him,
as I have mentioned, and let him in; and we sat down together, and
breakfasted on these four apples, my friend taking two of them, and
I the others."
It must be admitted that our khan's first meal in England, and the
concomitant circumstances, were not calculated to impress him with a
very high idea, either of the comforts of the country or the
politeness of the inhabitants; but the unruffled philosophy with which
he submitted to these untoward privations was, ere-long, rewarded by
the arrival of the East India agent to whose care he had been
recommended, and who, after putting him in the way of getting his
servants and luggage on shore from the vessel, took him out in a
carriage to show him the metropolis. "It was, indeed, wonderful in
every point of view, whether I regarded the immense population, the
dresses and faces of the men and women, the multitudes of houses,
churches, &c., and the innumerable carriages running in streets paved
with stone and wood, (the width and openness of which seem to expand
the heart,) and confining themselves to the middle of the road,
without overturning any of the foot-passengers." The cathedral of St
Paul's is described with great minuteness of detail, and the expense
of its erection stated at seventy-three lakhs of rupees, (about
L.750,000;) "but I have heard that if a similar edifice were erected
in the present day, it would cost four times as much, as the cost of
every thing has increased in at least that proportion."
The difficulties of the khan, from his ignorance of the language, and
Moslem scruples at partaking of food not dressed by his own people,
were not yet, however, at an end. For though, on returning to his
lodging in the evening, he found that his friend had succeeded in
procuring from the ship a dish of _kichiri_, (an Indian mess, composed
of rice and _ghee_, or clarified butter,) his inability to communicate
with his landlady still occasioned him considerable perplexity.
"Having ventured to take some pickles, which I saw on the sideboard,
and finding them palatable, I sent for the landlady, and tried to
explain to her by signs, pointing to the bottles, that I wanted
something like what they contained. Alas, for my ignorance! She
thought I wished them taken out of the room, and so walked off with
them, leaving me in the utmost astonishment. How was I to get it back
again? it was the only thing I had to relish my _kichiri_. I had,
therefore, recourse to this expedient--I got an apple and pared it,
putting the parings in a bottle with water; and showing this to the
landlady, intimated, by signs, that I wanted something like it to eat
with my rice. She asked many questions in English, and talked a great
deal, from which I inferred that she had at last discovered my
meaning, but five minutes had hardly elapsed when she re-appeared,
bearing in her hand a bottle of water, filled with apple-parings cut
in the nicest manner imaginable! This she placed on the table in the
most respectful manner, and then retired!"
The good lady, however, conceiving that her guest was in danger of
perishing with hunger, was benevolently importunate with him to
partake of some nourishment, or at least of some tea and toast, "since
it is the custom in this country for every one to eat five times
a-day, and some among the wealthy are not satisfied even with this!"
The arrival of an English acquaintance, who explained to the landlady
the religious prejudices of her lodger, in some measure relieved him
from his embarrassment; but he was again totally disconcerted, by
finding it impossible, after a long search, to procure any _ghee_--an
ingredient indispensable in the composition of every national dish of
India, whether Moslem or Hindu. "How shall I express my astonishment
at this extraordinary ignorance? What! do they not know what _ghee_
is? Wonderful! This was a piece of news I never expected--that what
abounds in every little wretched village in India, could not be
purchased in this great city!" How this unforeseen deficiency was
supplied does not appear; but probably the khan's never-failing
philosophy enabled him to bear even this unparalleled privation with
equanimity, as we hear no further complaints on the subject. He did
not remain, however, many days in those quarters, finding that the
incessant noise of the vehicles passing day and night deprived him of
sleep; and, by the advice of his friends, he took a small house in St
John's Wood, where he was at once at a distance from the intolerable
clamour of the streets, and at liberty to live after the fashion of
his own country.
The first place of public resort to which he directed his steps,
appears to have been the Pantheon bazar in Oxford Street, whither the
familiar name perhaps attracted him--"for the term _bazar_ is in use
also among the people of this country;" but he does not appear to have
been particularly struck by any thing he saw there, except the
richness and variety of the wares. On the contrary, he complains of
the want of fragrance in the flowers in the conservatory, particularly
the roses, as compared with those of his native land--"there was _one_
plantain-tree which seemed to be regarded as a sort of wonder, though
thousands grow in our gardens without any sort of culture." The
presence of the female attendants at the stalls, a sight completely at
variance with Asiatic ideas, is also noticed with marked
disapprobation--"Most of them were young and handsome, and seemed
perfect adepts in the art of selling their various wares; but I could
not help reflecting, on seeing so many fine young women engaged in
this degrading occupation, on the ease and comfort enjoyed by our
females, compared to the drudgery and servile employment to which the
sex are subjected in this country. Notwithstanding all the English say
of the superior condition of their women, it is quite evident, from
all I have seen since my arrival, that their social state is far below
that of our females." This sentiment is often repeated in the course
of the narrative, and any one who has read, in the curious work of Mrs
Meer Hassan Ali, quoted above, an account of the strict domestic
seclusion in which Moslem females having any pretensions to rank, or
even respectability, are constantly retained in India, will not be
surprised at the frequent expression of repugnance, whenever the
writer sees women engaged in any public or out-of-doors occupation--a
custom so abhorrent to Oriental, and, above all, to Indian ideas.
We next find the khan in the Zoological Gardens, his matter-of-fact
description of which affords an amusing contrast with that of those
veracious scions of Persian royalty, who luxuriate in "elephant birds
just like an elephant, but without the proboscis, and with wings
fifteen yards long"--"an elephant twenty-four feet high, with a trunk
forty feet long;" and who assure us that "the monkeys act like human
beings, and play at chess with those who visit the gardens. On this
day a Jew happened to be at this place, and went to play a game with
the monkey. The monkey beat, and began to laugh loudly, all the people
standing round him; and the Jew, exceedingly abashed, was obliged to
leave the place." The khan, in common with ourselves, and the
generality of visitors to the Regent's Park, was not fortunate enough
to witness any of the wondrous feats which gladdened the royal eyes of
the Shahzadehs--though he saw some of the apes, meaning the
orang-outan, "drink tea and coffee, sit on chairs, and eat their food
like human beings." * * *
"There is no island or kingdom," (he continues,) "which has not
contributed its specimens of the animal kingdom to these gardens: from
the elephant and rhinoceros, to the fly and the mosquito, all are to
be seen here"--but not even the giraffes, strange as their appearance
must have been to him, attract any particular notice; though the sight
of the exotics in the garden draws from him a repetition of his old
complaint, relative to the want of fragrance in the flowers as
compared with those produced under the genial sun of India. The
ceremony of the prorogation of Parliament by the Queen in person was
now at hand, and the khan determined to be present at this imposing
scene. But as he takes this opportunity to introduce his observations
and opinions on the laws and customs of this country, we shall
postpone to our next Number the discussion of these weighty subjects.