The whole combined powers of the three Presidencies of India were now in
motion, to effect the dispersion or annihilation of the Pindarees, a set
of despotic marauders and savage barbarians, who were prowling about the
country in immense hordes. Their numbers might be estimated at two
hundred thousand, all horsemen, the remains of the old Mahratta sect of
warriors, who had been driven from their homes by the civil wars of the
several native powers of Hindostan. These marauders levied their
exactions from the poor peasantry of the more remote districts of
Hindostan, whom they robbed and plundered year after year; and murder is
a common incident of the day. The horses on which they ride, and also
their equipments, whether stolen or not, are the rider's own property,
and respected by the rest as such. The craftiest and most daring among
them are the greatest men, and call themselves, according to their
several degrees of superiority, names of high office, such as those of
our native officers of cavalry. Their weapons generally consist of a
long spear, a sabre, a shield, and a matchlock; but many of them have
pistols also, and some few I have seen with huge blunderbusses. Their
families generally accompany them, and they are mounted on the best and
fleetest horses. Should any of their women die or run away, they can
easily be replaced at the next village. If any resistance is made,
either on the part of the female herself, or of her father, mother, or
husband, coercive means are unhesitatingly resorted to, and the poor
creature is carried off in the same manner as any other commodity of
which they may stand in need. As soon as they have drained one town or
village, they take up their quarters in another, living entirely upon
rapine and plunder.
In this manner these marauders had long prowled about uncontrolled,
laying whole districts waste, and bringing with them, wherever they
went, desolation and ruin. These desperadoes, who set the laws of the
land at defiance, and the laws of humanity at naught, the Marquis of
Hastings was now determined to destroy; for which purpose, every soldier
that could be spared was now in the field, the noble marquis commanding
in person the centre division of the army, and superintending and
directing the whole plan of the war.
In four days I reached the division, then lying under the fort of
Callenger, and reported myself to Major-General Marshall, commanding the
division, with whom I breakfasted. His extremely kind manner of
receiving me was truly flattering. I cannot say that I was very bashful,
but I always endeavoured to be respectful to my superiors. I took the
earliest opportunity of expressing my acknowledgments for his kind
recommendation of me to his excellency the commander-in-chief. The
general replied, "Shipp, you deserve what you have been appointed to. I
have not forgotten your gallantry at Hattrass, although I was so
extremely ill before that place; but I must confess that plaguy gout
almost made me overlook your merit. I heartily wish you joy. There will
be a knife and fork always laid at my table for you. Make my board your
home." Thus saying, he shook me cordially by the hand.
I had now been told in person, both by the Marquis of Hastings and by
the general in command of the division of the army in which I was now to
act, that I had hitherto performed my duty like a brave and loyal
soldier. These attestations to my military character and conduct caused
my heart to glow with pride and satisfaction; and, indeed, nothing can
be more gratifying to the feelings of a soldier than the consciousness
that the approbation with which his superiors are pleased to regard him
has been really deserved by him, on account of his ardent attachment to
his profession, and his faithful performance of its perilous duties. It
was with heartfelt pleasure that I heard I had earned the good opinion
of men of high rank and command; and I felt highly gratified in the
contemplation that, when retired from scenes of war, I could add to the
enjoyments of the domestic circle the comfort of being able to look on
my former life with satisfaction, and of fighting my battles over again
and again with delight. Glory had been my motto; laurels were my crown!
I then paid my respects to Brigadier-General Watson, C.B., colonel of
his Majesty's 14th regiment, second in command of this division, whose
cordiality and hospitality, for nearly a year that I was a constant
guest at his table, I can never forget. After wishing me joy of my
appointment, he said, "Shipp, as you are the only king's officer in this
camp besides myself and staff, I hope you will take a seat at my table
during the campaign." This hospitality I could not accept, the
commanding officer having previously given me the same invitation; but
the brigadier-general would take no excuse, but said he would settle
that with General Marshall. I lived with him till the month of May
following, in a most friendly manner, faring at his board in a very
sumptuous style. In his private character, General Watson was generous,
kind, and affable, and ever ready to do a good act; and in his public
capacity a brave, active, and zealous officer, who seldom contented
himself with directing things to be done, but actually saw them
executed. From the extreme indisposition of the major-general, he
undertook the more active parts of the several storms and sieges in
which the left division was engaged, as the continuation of my narrative
will show.
On the following day I visited the strong hill fort of Callenger. It is
situated on an immense hill, on the ascent of which the greater part of
the town stands. At the extremity of this ascent, the rocks are almost
perpendicular. In some places they are fifty and sixty feet high. On
these are built prodigious bastions and stone walls, with embrasures and
loop-holes, so that any approach by assault or escalade was impossible.
On its summit is a beautiful tank of clear water, nourished by a crystal
spring. There are also fields, gardens, and woods, and two or three
temples or mosques. The view from this elevation embraced an expanse of
some miles of country. In its front, or more prominent part, lay the
lowlands of the station of Banda, on the most beautiful and clear stream
in Hindostan, the river Cane. This beautiful stream empties itself into
the Jumna, about sixteen or twenty miles from this station. Between us
and Banda stood some enormous hills; and temples were built on their
very pinnacles, which are reached by winding steps, cut out of the rock
by manual labour. These buildings, viewed from the base of the hills,
look like little white spots in the sky.
When the sun arose on the following morning, I was invited to go up and
witness the splendour of the scene; and I had no cause to regret such an
invitation. The morning clouds seemed to slumber on the tops of those
barren hills; but the rising sun's glittering beams roused them from
their lethargy, and drove them from their thrones of night. Even at
mid-day, I have seen the buildings on these hills entombed in the murky
clouds, and their inmates, when visible, seemed beings of another world.
They were Brahmin mendicants, who descended in the morning, and
solicited alms all day in the name of Alla, re-ascending at eve to their
aerial abodes, there to mumble forth their witchcrafts, and to
contaminate the salubrious breeze of night with their invocations to
blocks and stones. The breeze in these valleys is pure, renovating, and
salubrious. Pea-fowls are seen in great abundance on these hills. They
are both fed and worshipped by the mendicant priests, who are much
annoyed if you disturb or shoot them, which, notwithstanding that,
Europeans take the liberty of doing, wherever they can find them. These
birds are, while young, as delicious as a young turkey. In former days,
even during my time in India, shooting peacocks was strictly prohibited
by the government, as interfering with the religious rites of the
natives; but those orders or prohibitions have been long since
rescinded, and they are now considered fair game. They are found in
almost all the districts of Hindostan. Their plumage is splendid and
beautiful, and, when parading before the sons of idolatry, who worship
them, they seem as proud of their tails as the priests themselves do of
their pretended and presumptuous knowledge of futurity.
By their ridiculous predictions of futurity these wretches live, and
impose on the deluded villagers, whom they buoy up with the most
felicitous prospects to come, feeding their fancies with the hope of
future aggrandizement and wealth. Such is the confidence of the
uninformed villagers in these promises of future bliss, that they will
part with their all to insure a favourable prediction; but, when the
auspicious and long-watched-for period arrives at which their hopes are
to be realized, then they see how they have been deceived and robbed.
But the miscreant priest has always a loophole to creep out at, either
by asserting that his dupes have not dedicated a sufficient portion of
their property to the priesthood; that it is necessary for them to do
penance so many days; or give so much money, so much corn, and so many
pieces of cloth to the priesthood, to enable them to invoke their gods
for the promised mercies. This is frequently complied with, and the
delusion goes on from one imposition and infatuation to another.
This is the description of the people inhabiting those beautiful
mountains, on which the eye could dwell, and always find something new
to feast on. This very fort of Callenger had, but a short time before,
been stained with the purple stream flowing from Christian bosoms. It
was in the storming of this fort, that his Majesty's 53rd regiment of
Foot suffered so severely before they succeeded in planting Old
England's banner on its proud top. On the summit of the edifice is a
monument, which was erected to the memory of the brave fellows who fell
in the assault of this place.
We remained here three or four days, visiting this fort; and the oftener
we went up, the more we were astonished how it was possible our troops
could have got in on the occasion alluded to. To us who merely journeyed
for amusement up its stupendous sides, the ascent was most difficult,
and by the time we had gained its summit we were exhausted. That a fort
like that of Callenger, often attempted by legions of native armies,
should have been taken as it was, was matter of amazement to all who
beheld it. It had once, we understood, been taken by stratagem in the
following manner. A native rajah, who was going to war, solicited the
governor's permission to lodge his treasures and family there as a place
of security during the war. The governor, no doubt actuated by the hope
of the ultimate possession of the treasures, readily granted the
required asylum, for which purpose a hundred doolies, or covered
palanquins, were to be sent up on the following morning. The infatuated
and blinded governor, his soul burning with the prospect of gain,
slumbered on his couch of supposed safety. Each of these palanquins was
to be permitted to carry one female belonging to the rajah's family;
but, instead, each in reality contained a soldier dressed in the
habiliments of the female sex, and veiled to hide his huge moustaches.
To each of those doolies were eight bearers; in the palanquins were
their arms, hidden from view. Those hundred doolies went up without the
slightest suspicion, and they were ranged around the governor's house.
The sequel may be readily guessed: no sooner were the supposed bearers
relieved of their loads than they flew to arms, and thus got possession
of the fort of Callenger.
The army being now formed and complete, with every requisite for a long
campaign, I put the implements of my office in lashing order. My post of
baggage-master being a situation which is, I believe, peculiar to India,
it may not be improper to state its duties, &c. He is a staff-officer, and,
when not employed in his particular department, is attached to the suite of
the commander of the division, as much as the commissary-general,
quartermaster-general, or any other staff-officer of the division. On
the line of march, he is held entirely responsible that neither men nor
baggage precede the column of march, and that they are on their proper
flank, which is regulated by the general orders of the day. If the
reader recollect what I before stated, that he may safely calculate ten
followers in a Bengal army to every fighting man, and when he is
informed that, according to calculations made in our camp, including the
several native contingents we had with us, our followers were not less
in number than eighty thousand, men, women, and children, some thirty
thousand of whom followed the army for what they could pick up, by fair
means or otherwise, my situation cannot be supposed to have been a
sinecure. It was truly one of great labour and activity. I had twenty
men belonging to a corps of local horse. These men were provided with
long whips, and placed at my disposal. To attempt to talk the numberless
camp-followers into obedience was quite out of the question; and,
therefore, these whips were for the purpose of lashing them into
something like discipline. To the great number of human beings I have
spoken of must be added fifty elephants, six hundred camels, five
thousand bullocks, five thousand horses, one thousand ponies, two
hundred goats, two hundred sheep, fifty ruts, one hundred palanquins,
one hundred dogs, and one hundred hackeries, or carts: presenting the
following total:--
Fighting men 8,000
Camp-followers 80,000
Elephants 50
Camels 600
Bullocks, horses, and tattoos 11,000
Goats, sheep, and dogs 500
Palanquins, hackeries, and ruts 250
Total. 100,400
One hundred thousand four hundred were thus under my command, for the
movements of the whole of whom, men, animals, and vehicles (except
fighting men), I was responsible; and I am sure the reader will not
class me amongst cruel men if I was obliged to use the whip, where
obduracy and contempt of orders were frequent.
On the following morning we commenced our march; and I began the
functions of my new situation by impressing upon the minds of some of
the followers, that my arm was strong as well as the lash of my whip. I
found I was soon obliged to take other measures besides merely bellowing
to them; and in three days I had whipped the whole body into perfect
obedience, which saved me a tremendous deal of labour afterwards, and
some hundred yards of whip-cord. Sometimes some mischievous fellows
would, to annoy me, get the whole baggage on the wrong flank; but I had
influence enough to find them out, when they paid dearly for their
trick. After a short time they found it would not do; so, my situation,
instead of a task, was at last a pleasure to me; and the sight of my
whip was sufficient to deter the most desperate from exceeding his
limits. My commanding officer frequently said that, if he lived and
commanded twenty armies, I should be his baggage-master.
In two days we arrived under the town and fort of Hedjeeghur, a strong
hill fort, that had been recently taken by the Honourable Company's
army. The refractory rajah, driven from his strong and proud walled
fort, lived in the town below, where no doubt he panted for vengeance
on his foes. He was a designing and crafty fellow, capable of the
blackest crimes; but he was so pressed under the thumb of the government
whom he had offended, that he dared not show himself in his true
colours. What must have been his heart's writhings, when he saw that
proud fort, which had been the residence and glory of his forefathers,
forfeited by the most diabolical breach of treaty! It must have filled
his cup of bitterness to the brim. In his disposition this conquered
rajah was cunning, cruel, and despotic; but, from fear, he was the most
cringing sycophant that ever lived.
The next march brought us to the foot of the ghaut we were to ascend. On
its projecting bosom could be seen a kind of winding path or road,
which, in some parts, seemed suspended from the clouds; and, how any
mortal power could get up our twenty-four pounders, and all their
gigantic appendages, seemed beyond human foresight to imagine. The
pioneers went to work with the view of enlarging the road; in which
occupation we will leave them, while I endeavour to describe the scene
below. I imagined that no spot on this wide earth could equal in beauty
the scene I beheld in Nepaul; but the one in which our encampment now
lay appeared to me almost to surpass it in magnificence. The hill, from
its base to its summit, was, I should think, a good English mile.
Similar hills surrounded the encampment, and rippling and creeping
streams wound through the camp in every direction. Here the trees,
closely embraced by the fragrant woodbine, were of an enormous size;
and, when in full leaf, their lofty tops vied with the encircling
mountains. Every kind of wild flower was here in great profusion, and
the grass under our feet was like the finest green carpet. The eye could
wander far through beautiful trees, and through their verdure could be
seen little huts of peace, standing by the brookside, which bespoke
domestic bliss. But here, as at Nepaul, stalked idolatry in all its
deformity, bidding defiance and evincing the most obdurate ingratitude
to the sole Author of such blessings. Oh! that in God's good time the
pure word of truth may flourish among this unenlightened race! May their
seed bloom in the blossom of faith, and may sweet anthems of praise
resound through their fertile valleys, and not only ascend to their
mountain-top, but to the throne of heaven!
I was delighted to find, by the orders of the day, that the army would
ascend the ghaut on the following morning; but that the baggage-master,
with one thousand men as a working party, would remain behind.
Immediately after the division had ascended, they were to follow,
permitting all private baggage to be got up in the best manner it could.
The working party which had been left below, was for the purpose of
getting up public stores. I was up early, and saw them off; and it was a
most terrific sight to see the cavalry hanging, apparently on the craggy
cliff. Strange to say, elephants ascended carrying up their usual
enormous loads; but the time occupied by these animals was considerable,
from their trying to step one after another, and never venturing without
first being well assured of the solidity of the ground. This reference
to the extraordinary sagacity of elephants reminds me of two or three
other anecdotes of these huge animals, which may be interesting to the
reader.
In the year 1804, when we were in pursuit of Holkar, there was, in our
encampment, a very large elephant, used for the purpose of carrying
tents for some of the European corps. It was the season in which they
become most unmanageable, and his legs were consequently loaded with
huge chains, and he was constantly watched by his keepers. By day he was
pretty passive, save when he saw one of his own species, when he roared
and became violent; and, during those moments of ungovernable frenzy, it
was dangerous for his keepers to approach him, or to irritate his
feelings by any epithets that might prove repugnant to him. On the
contrary, every endearing expression was used to soothe and appease him,
which, with promises of sweetmeats, sometimes succeeded with the most
turbulent to gain them to obedience, when coercive measures would have
roused them to the most desperate acts of violence. By night, their
extreme cunning told them that their keepers were not so watchful or
vigilant. The elephant here alluded to, one dark night broke from his
chains and ran wild through the encampment, driving men, women,
children, camels, horses, cows, and indeed everything that could move,
before him, and roaring and trumpeting with his trunk, which is, with
elephants, a sure sign of displeasure, and that their usual docility has
deserted them. Of course, no reasonable beings disputed the road he
chose to take. Those that did soon found themselves floored. To record
the mischief done by this infuriated animal in his nocturnal ramble,
would fill a greater space than I can afford for such matter. Suffice it
that, in his flight, followed by swordsmen and spearsmen shouting and
screaming, he pulled down tents, upset everything that impeded his
progress, wounded and injured many, and ultimately killed his keeper by
a blow from his trunk. He was speared in some twenty places, which only
infuriated him the more, and he struck away with his trunk at everything
before him. His roaring was terrific, and he frequently struck the
ground in indication of his rage. The instant he had struck his keeper,
and found he did not rise, he suddenly stopped, seemed concerned, looked
at him with the eye of pity, and stood riveted to the spot. He paused
for some seconds, then ran towards the place from whence he had broken
loose, and went quietly to his piquet, in front of which lay an infant,
about two years old, the daughter of the keeper whom he had killed. The
elephant seized the child round the waist as gently as its mother would,
lifted it from the ground, and caressed and fondled it for some time,
every beholder trembling for its safety, and expecting every moment it
would share the fate of its unfortunate father; but the sagacious
animal, having turned the child round three times, quietly laid it down
again, and drew some clothing over it that had fallen off. After this
it stood over the child, with its eyes fixed on it; and, if I did not
see the penitential tear steal from its eye, I have never seen it in my
life. He then submitted to be re-chained by some other keepers, stood
motionless and dejected, and seemed sensible that he had done a wrong he
could not repair. His dejection became more and more visible, as he
stood and gazed on the fatherless babe, who, from constant familiarities
with this elephant, seemed unintimidated, and played with its trunk.
From this moment the animal became passive and quiet, and always seemed
most delighted when the little orphan was within its sight. Often have I
gone with others of the camp to see him fondling his little adopted; but
there was a visible alteration in his health after his keeper's death,
and he fell away, and died at Cawnpore, six months afterwards; people
well acquainted with the history of the elephant, and who knew the
story, did not scruple to say, from fretting for his before favourite
keeper.
During the Nepaul war (1815) a female elephant, that had a young one
some seven years old, died, leaving its young to lament its loss. I went
to see it every day; and I pledge my word to the reader that the sorrow
and sighing of this little animal was truly piteous and distressing. For
some time it refused all kind of food. An old male elephant, that always
stood near its mother, after some days seemed to take pity on it,
fondled over and caressed it, and at last adopted it. It always
travelled on the line of march close by its side, would feed out of its
mouth, and gambolled with it as it was wont to do with its mother. Thus
noticed, it grew fast, and, ere the campaign was over, its poor mother
was forgotten, and all its affections seemed settled on its new friend.
Its name was Pearee--love, or lovely, in English.
Colonel James Price, now major-general in the Company's army, knew,
perhaps, more of the history of elephants than any man in India, having
been one of the Company's breeders, at Chittygong, for many years. I
have heard him recount the most affecting stories about these animals.
He generally kept two or three himself. I was tiffing one day with him,
when the subject turned on the sagacity of elephants, and he said he
thought he had a young one as cunning as any one he had ever seen; and
he offered to lay a bet, that if any one played this animal a trick, he
would return it, if it was a month afterwards. The company seemed to
doubt this, and the consequence was a small wager, taken by me. I cut
the elephant some bread, of which these animals are extremely fond, but
between the pieces I introduced a considerable quantity of cayenne
pepper. Thus highly seasoned, I gave this bread to the elephant; but he
soon discovered the trick, and I was obliged to run for it. I afterwards
gave him some bread without any pepper, which he ate and seemed grateful
for, and we parted. About a month or six weeks afterwards, I went to
dine with the same colonel, and, prior to dinner being served, we took
our usual walk to look at his stud. I had forgotten all about the
elephant and the bet I had made respecting him, and accordingly played
with and fondled him, without any suspicion. With this he seemed much
pleased at the time; but, on my going away, he drenched me from head to
foot with dirty water, in return for my cayenne pepper trick.
About mid-day, the whole of the private baggage was up, and some small
guns had been drawn up by the working party. By six o'clock, no one but
myself and the working party were remaining below. When I made my report
to the commandant of the division that everything was up, he could
scarcely credit my assertion; but when I assured him of its reality, he
thanked me in the most cordial manner, and said he had given the
following day for the completion of that job. The large guns took four
hundred men, with double and treble drag-ropes, to pull up; and some of
them were, in some of the most abrupt turnings in the ascent, actually
hanging by the ropes, in a very dangerous state. One gun broke from its
drag-ropes, but it was, fortunately, not far from a turning, which
brought it up without any accident. Indeed, scarcely an accident
happened worth the relation, save one, which I pledge my word was an
absolute fact. A small hackery, or cart, belonging to some of the
followers of the camp, fell down a precipice upwards of eighty yards
deep, the sides of which were studded with trees of an enormous size.
The two bullocks who drew this cart were dashed to pieces, and the
driver so dreadfully injured that he had scarcely a feature left that
could be recognized as human. Some ten feet from the cart lay a child
about two years of age, perfectly uninjured, with the exception of one
slight bruise on its little knee. It was supposed that the cart did not
upset till at the bottom of the declivity, and that not until then did
the child fall out; but it was certainly one of those extraordinary
circumstances which sometimes happen, for which it would be difficult
satisfactorily to account.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]