Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

roses and jessamin surrounds immense beds of various coloured poppies, closely sown; which having the appearance of a richly variegated carpet, forms a partérre much liked by the Indians. While we were enjoying our tea and hookas, fanned by the evening breeze on one of the garden terraces, a set of dancing-girls, with their duenna and musicians, unexpectedly made their appearance, requesting to have the honour of amusing us. The principal dancers were two sisters; the eldest a pretty girl not sixteen, the other about a year younger; both performed with an elegance and grace beyond the generality of these courtezans.

Every attention was paid to the embassy during its stay at Oojen, and on the 12th the governors waited on Sir Charles, by whom they were handsomely received, and presented with the usual tokens of friendship.

On the 14th of April we left the Malwa capital, attended by an honorary escort as far as Shah-Jehan-pore, to repair as soon as possible to Mhadajee Sindia, then with his army nor Agra; which, with its castle, had lately surrendered to him; and Shah Aalum, the Mogul emperor, was then a sort of state prisoner in his camp. After a pleasant journey of twenty-two miles we arrived at Turrana, a tolerable town, with a neat fort. We passed the Chota Colla Sind, about four coss from Turrana: this river had now a plentiful stream, flowing over a rocky bottom; it falls into the Chumbul. We crossed several smaller rivulets in this march, which lay generally through a cultivated tract of country, partly belonging to Sindia, and the rest to Holcar, another great Mahratta chieftain, in whose dominions Turrana is situated.

We proceeded the next day to Shah Jehanpore, a distance of

[blocks in formation]

eighteen miles. From whence Sir Charles Malet intended to deviate from the usual direct route of Seronge; by which means the course will be more westerly, and probably more interesting in a geographical point of view, it being one of his primary objects in this embassy to acquire as much information as possible in that line.

The first part of this day's journey was on a very indifferent road, passing through an uncultivated tract of country: from those wild uplands we descended into a fertile valley, watered by the Lacoondra, now a small stream flowing in a broad bed, which in the rainy season must be a river of consequence. The Lacoondra falls into the Sind at some distance from hence. About half way between Turrana and Sháh Jehanpore we descended from an eminence, to view an extraordinary piece of water, situated between two hills, called Canadraka Tellow; and presently after were obstructed by a very high bank of earth; which being thrown across the road formed a head either to prevent the water from overflowing a neighbouring vale, to which we saw the traces of its having forced a passage in the rainy season, or to carry off its redundancy in some other direction. The vale was so exceedingly stony, that the greatest exertions could alone render it fruitful, and it is but justice to remark, that no cultivators can be more industrious than its inhabitants. The country was generally pleasing, exhibiting great variety in the colour and disposition of the trees. Shah Jehanpore is a large town, about a mile from the foot of Baruse Dungur, a very lofty hill, with a single tree and Hindoo temple on the summit, seen at a great distance on all sides. The town is walled, though the works are now going to decay; the river

Cheeler or Teekum flows on its eastern side; a little below the fort is a kind of bridge without arches, intended as a dam to preserve a sufficiency of water for the town, which contains some good houses and several handsome gates, leading to the principal streets, formerly paved, but now sadly out of repair, as indeed is almost every thing in the place. The Mahomedan inhabitants complain bitterly of the Mahratta government; the dreadful oppressions of the Amul within, and the cruel depredations of the Gracias without the walls, have almost driven them to despair. Here are many splendid remains of Mogul buildings, and ruinous Mausoleums in a grand style; in some of their enclosures the Hindoos had built small places of worship, which among so bigotted a people appeared very extraordinary; in another place we saw a Mahomedan mosque inhabited by a Hindoo Gosannee.

We had this day a most violent gale of wind, accompanied by such heavy clouds of dust, that until after a short fall of rain, we could not see each other; this also alleviated the extreme heat, and in the evening the thermometer fell to 60°. A few days before I took a thermometer which stood in my tent at 100°, and carried it into a house, at about eighty yards distant, cooled by tattees sprinkled with water, where in less than an hour it fell eighteen degrees.

The nature of the country now made it necessary to discharge the carts drawn by oxen, which had hitherto carried part of our baggage, and to procure an additional number of camels for that purpose; with which, on the 17th, we proceeded to Sarungpoor, a distance of near seventeen miles from Shah Jehanpore; during which we crossed several rivulets, and at length arrived at the

Cotta Sind, which runs along the west side of the town, and is by far the fullest river we have seen since leaving the Nerbudda. The eastern bank for a mile from the town is extremely beautiful. Its lofty slopes are in reality hanging gardens, planted with cucumbers, melons, and a variety of vegetables.

Sarungpoor is surrounded by remains of Mogul mausoleums, for the most part well designed, and elegantly executed; on the south-east side is a kubberstan, or burying-ground, with five large tombs still entire, and many in a state of dilapidation. Verses of the Koran are legible on their porticos. Some appear to be under a peculiar care, the chamber under the dome clean swept, and the tombs strewed with flowers; particularly a very handsome one, erected to the memory of Baz Bahauder Patshah, king of Malwa, who was killed near Sarungpoor, during the wars of Akber. In the centre of the town is a noble musjid, with a grand and lofty entrance, surrounded by a large court, with arcades, in ruins; this mosque is turned into a government hay-loft and granary for horses. Near it is the ruined gate leading to the hummums, and many other splendid remains, which fill the mind with melancholy reflections on the downfall of the Moguls, and with them all the arts and sciences they once cherished, without the smallest prospect of a revival under the wretched government of the Mahrattas, who now, under different chieftains, possess all these provinces.

Sarungpoor is famous for a manufactory of muslins for turbans, and other cottons, which are cheaper than any we have met with. A jatterah or religious fair is occasionally kept here; at which our fellow traveller, Siad Mahomed, a particular friend of Sir Charles

Malet's, was present, on his last journey to Delhi; when several men were taken up for a most cruel method of robbery and murder, practised on travellers, by a tribe called phanseegurs, or stranglers, who join passengers frequenting the fair, in bye-roads, or at other seasons convenient for their purpose: under the pretence of travelling the same way, they enter into conversation with the strangers, share their sweetmeats, and pay them other little attentions, until an opportunity offers of suddenly throwing a rope round their necks with a slip knot, by which they dexterously contrive to strangle them on the spot.

Sarungpore is a part of the allotment of the Powar family; the fine province of Malwa, having, after the Mahratta conquest, been chiefly divided between the great families of Sindia, Holcar, and Powar, with certain territorial and feudal reservations to the peshwa, as head of the Mahratta government.

On the 18th of April we travelled from Sarungpore to Koojneer, a large village in Holcar's districts, having in the last stage made the deviation, already mentioned, from the usual route. The road was excellent; the country beautiful, populous, and well cultivated, with hills in the distance. Koojneer is surrounded by regular groves of mangos, so contrasted by irregular forest trees, as to form a charming variety in form and colour; not more so than the crops in the intervening fields, where sugar canes, oil plants, flowers for dying, pulse and vegetables, present a rich scene of mingled hues. Large herds of cattle were grazing in the pastures, and the general appearance of industry among the peasants, afforded unusual delight. How truly happy might these people be under the wholesome regulations of a mild and foster- ·

« ForrigeFortsett »