The high walls of the Nawāb’s hunting-house at Plassey are now before
you, and we cannot but regard the spot with feelings of the deepest
interest, as it is the house in which Colonel, afterwards Lord Clive
rested for a short time during the engagement. The famous battle of
Plassey, which may be said to have decided the fate of India, was fought
on the 23rd June, 1757, on the plains of Plassey, about thirty miles
south of Moorshedabad; near the spot selected for the Nawāb
Sooraj-oo-Dowlah’s entrenched camp, the river at that period made a
remarkable bend, in shape like a horse-shoe. In a mango _top_, or grove,
a little more than a mile from the enemy, Colonel Clive had taken up his
position: the trees were planted in regular rows, as is usual in the
country, and all around the _top_ was a bank of earth, which afforded a
good breast-work for the troops, and also a ditch beyond. One detachment
was stationed at Plassey House, which was made use of by Colonel Clive
during the conflict. About eight o’clock A.M. the battle commenced; and
at eleven, Colonel Clive held a conference with his officers at the
drum-head, when it was decided to maintain the cannonade during the day,
and at midnight to make an attack on the Nawāb’s camp. The fate of
Sooraj-oo-Dowlah was sealed by his flight towards the capital, mounted
on a fleet _sawārī_ camel, accompanied by about 2000 horsemen. By five
o’clock the English had taken possession of the whole intrenchment and
camp, with no other obstacle than was presented by the enormous mass of
baggage, stores, camp-equipage, and cattle, scattered around them.
The lofty stage of bamboos in the field is erected sufficiently high to
be a refuge from wild beasts; it is thatched, and the native farmer
places a servant there to keep watch, especially during the night, at
the time the corn is nearly ripe. When a buffalo, or wild hog, comes
into the field, the keeper takes a wisp of lighted straw in one hand,
and in the other a dried skin containing broken bricks, pots, &c., bound
up on all sides; and in this manner he approaches the animal, shaking
his lighted straw and making a loud noise, on which it immediately runs
away. “The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the
field doth devour it.” (Psalm lxxx. 13.) The wild hogs and buffaloes
make great havoc in the fields of the Hindūs.
Below the stage is a domestic buffalo and a group of Bengalī cows. The
buffalo is a very useful beast of burthen, yields a rich but strong
milk, which is generally made into _ghī_ (clarified butter). This animal
has no hump—a fact not universally known by those who have not visited
India; on the contrary, the buffalo is generally supposed to have the
hump. Those sold under the denomination of buffalo humps are from the
common bull or cow of Hindostan.
[Illustration]