THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
HIS HIGHNESS MEER JAFUR ALEE
AND HIS SECRETARY.
OFFICIAL SKAL.
LONDON :
SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET.
JKlo0Iem floble:
HIS
LAND AND PEOPLE.
WITH
SOME NOTICES OF
, or
MRS. YOUNG,
II
AUTHOR OF " OUTCH;" " WESTERN INDIA ;" " OUR CAMP IN TUBKKY," ETC., ETC.
WITH
from eDrtjjtnal SraiDtugS fm tljc
LONDON:
SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET.
1857.
TO
HIS HIGHNESS
AND THOSE OF MY INDIAN FRIENDS
AMONG WHOM
SOME OF THE HAPPIEST OF MY YEARS WERE SPENT,
IN KINDEST RECOLLECTION,
INSCRIBED.
The Cloister, Chichester,
May, 1857.
PAGK
THE AUTHOR'S APOLOGY 1
CHAPTER I.
THE MARRIAGE . . . .8
CHAPTER II.
THE DHOBUN OR LAUNDRESS . .36
CHAPTER III.
TROOPS OF FRIENDS . . .49
CHAPTER IV.
THE BORAH . . . .71
CHAPTER V.
THE BURDEN OF SURAT . . .87
CHAPTER VI.
FIRE- WORSHIPPERS . . . .103
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER VII.
THE MUSICAL DOMESTIC . . .116
CHAPTER VIII.
THE OLD FORT . . . .130
CHAPTER IX.
THE SECRETARY . . . .148
CHAPTER X.
THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE HESPERIDES . 163
CHAPTER XI.
MAID A HILL 182
THE MOSLEM NOBLE AND HIS SECRETARY,
(From a Photograph in the possession of his High-
ness Meer Jafur) . . Frontispiece
OFFICIAL SEAL AND SIGNET in Persian Characters Title -}*"
SHEIK KHOOB, A favourite Moslem Servant (from life)
Page 8
A PARSEE LADY (from life) . . 26
PARBUTTI DHOBUN (from life) . 36
NATIVE PEDLARS . . . .72
BOMBAY HACKNEY CART . . . 82 V-
HADJEE AHMED (from life) . . .84
THE FORT, SURAT . . .92
MAHOMEDAN KIOSK on the Banks of the Tapti . 94 Y~
FRENCH TOWER . . . .96
VAUX^S TOMB, SURAT . .
COTTON LEAVES AND BLOSSOM .
DOWLUTABAD .... 140
ENTRANCE THROUGH SCARP TO DOWLUTABAD . 142'~
OUTER ENTRANCE FROM SCARP DOWLUTABAD . 144/~
TRAP-DOOR DOWLUTABAD . .145
THE " DUST EXCITER " . . 147^
VINDIA PURDASI (from life) . .163
THE MOSLEM NOBLE:
HIS LAND AND PEOPLE,
THE AUTHOR'S APOLOGY.
WE all love gossip. That fact I hold to be in-
disputable. The pleasantest chattings we can
remember ever to have had were full of it ; and
as for books, if we examine the matter closely, we
shall find that the more personification, the more
dialogue there is, the better we get on. How
delightful, for instance, are the Sevigne Letters ;
how charming the Walpole Memoirs. And
why? Because they are full of gossip; we
walk and talk with the writer; we see his
friends, we understand pretty well what they
think of each other; we enter into the racy
scandal of the day; we tread a measure with
the gayest, and laugh for the hundredth time
at the jeu & esprit of the wittiest. With sedate
history it is the same influence that leads us on ;
B
2 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
Macaulay and Napier are our favourite writers.
From their pages, as from the Girondists of
Lamartine, life-like tableaux open upon us, and
we move, and speak, and live among the actors.
We can see the pale student, Robespierre, steal-
ing to the glowing hearth of the beautiful
Madame Roland; we can hear Sarah, Duchess
of Marlborough, rating all about her; and we
know the very words of those who fell back by
hundreds in the trenches upon that fearful night
at Badajoz ! Now, gossip is of many kinds, but
this we speak of is, perhaps, the worthiest, its
key-note being sympathy.
The aid-de-camp of the fairy king declares
his power to u put a girdle round about the
earth in forty minutes." Steam by sea and
land has not yet quite arrived at the despatch of
Puck, but it has done much to bring, as it were,
the ends of the earth together, to crumble away
prejudices, and to originate the belief that there
has been learning, and wisdom, and art in
those eastern lands, which was even greater
than our own ; and we can imagine that friend-
ship, kindness, and all the sweetest virtues of
humanity may yet be found in the families of
those same lands, whose creed, climate, and
aspect so differ from our own !
The travelled man, well aware of this, sym-
pathizes with all the world, and that because
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 3
experience has given him knowledge. He has
enjoyed the courtesy and hospitality of the wild
and predatory chief of central Asia; he has
been gratified by the cordial reception of the
princely Moslem; he has listened to words of
purest wisdom from the lips of a learned
Brahmin; and he acknowledges and respects
that kindred spirit which makes all men bre-
thren.
Our " home-staying youth, who has ever
homely thoughts," lives in a seagirt isle, on which,
but comparatively a few years since, his fore-
fathers herded in caves, painted themselves with
woad, and lived (in intellect little higher than their
prey) on the animals they caught in hunting.
The result is, that he views with contempt all
that his narrow mind cannot comprehend; and
because the outward aspect of the Oriental
differs from his own, it pleaseth him to consider
the descendant of the Mogul as an inferior
being, or as one to be valued only for the rich-
ness of his costume and the liberality of his
largess.
Now, what can alter this lamentable condition
of the general mind? Evidently sympathy.
And as the mountain sometimes finds it difficult
to go to the mouse, and as all persons cannot
travel, the subject may now and then come
home to them in some pleasant form, " gilt and
B 2
4 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
lettered;" and as the gentleman of England
sits by liis seacoal fire, agreeable introductions
may take place between himself and the varied
classes of the East, from which opinions and
acquaintances may be formed, liberal feelings
may arise, and the whole atmosphere around
him become the warmer, for the genial flow of
kindness so begun.
Under this impression, and with the spirit of
Oriental gossip strong upon me, I beg to intro-
duce some of my most esteemed and valued
Oriental friends to the acquaintance of the
reader, jotting them down just as I saw and
knew them in their own land, where, surrounded
by their people and dependants, they were
honoured and beloved by all who knew them.
It was a brilliant day, even in the Strand
the cast shadows were well defined, and deep in
colour. The grim hospital seemed less grim
than usual; the very lion of Northumberland
House appeared excited as by a tropic sunshine;
and as our chat took the tone of foreign climes,
beguiled perhaps by this very sunshine, a bril-
liant-coloured, splendid carriage passed, dashing
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 5
by, as from the city, westward. It was a notice-
able equipage altogether. On the box was seen
one whose swarthy face surmounted a dress
glowing like a crimson poppy. Within the
carriage sat a portly, handsome, prince-like per-
sonage, flashing with gold and green, with jewels
and Cashmeres; and opposite to him another
eastern gentleman, with eyes so keen and coun-
tenance so expressive, that one felt at once how
shrewdly he could try conclusions with the
clearest-headed Templar of them all.
Each, as the carriage passed, raised his hand
with the graceful salaam of oriental recognition.
"Who's that?" exclaimed my friend. "Oh!
that is his Highness Meer Jafur Alee Khan
Bahadoor, of Surat." "Who?" I was be-
ginning again " No, don't ! do you know him?"
"Of course." " Where ? how ?" "Here, and
in India years ago; he is one of my kindest
friends." "Really! how interesting! do tell
me all about it ; I do so like to hear of Elephants,
and Howdahs, and Jewels, and Hareems." And
now, if the reader will allow me to consider
him as my companion for the time, we will chat a
little not, perhaps, about Elephants and How-
dahs, but of pleasant days and kindly friends,
associated with my recollections of his Highness
Meer Jafur Alee Khan, as I knew him in his
own land.
b THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
It is an unhappy truth that the moment
any one begins to chat about India, every
one looks bored. At St. Stephen's, in old
times, as a certain noble lord could well bear
witness, as soon as India, her rights or suf-
ferings were introduced, honourable members
strolled back to their clubs in search of rest and
refreshment. In drawing-rooms it is much the
same. Who among us does not dread the
sallow-cheeked old colonel, with his interminable
stories of tiger hunts and Seringapatam ? Who
knows anything about the Museum of the India
House, or cares whether they are Gunputtis 1 or
Guavas, that people in Bombay eat for their
dessert?
Well, for my own part, I promise to make
my subject as little tedious as possible, and,
therefore, instead of entering into all sorts of
dry details about Governor Duncan and the
Nuwaub of Surat treaty bill, with long names
of Begums that none but a student at Haileybury
could possibly pronounce ; and without saying a
word, at least at present, about how it was that
his Highness Meer Jafur Alee first visited Eng-
land in 1844 we will consider him as returned,
not to Surat indeed, where his family and palace
really are, but to the large porticoed house out
1 Elephant-headed deity of the Hindoo Pantheon.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 7
there, among the Girgaum woods, a spot, by
the by, that one can never think of without a
sense of suffocation, so dusty were the ways,
and so close the cocoa-nut plantations, in this
part of the otherwise most beautiful island of
Bombay.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
CHAPTER I.
THE MAEEIAGE.
" She is like the rising of the golden morning, when the
night departeth, and when the winter is over and gone ; she
resembleth the cypress in the garden, the horse in the chariots
of Thessaly." Idyllium of Theocritus, on the Marriage of
Helen.
IT was in the month of June that my friend's
carriage took me from the heat and horrors of
cotton bales and screws on the Apollo Bunder
at Bombay, to his house in the woods, the cha-
racter of the locality being only redeemed by
one pleasant avenue leading to the shore, by
which some circulation of air passes between the
stems of the crowded cocoa-nut trees, and pre-
vents that total stagnation of atmosphere so
common to the level parts of the island, particu-
larly at the season immediately preceding the
setting in of the monsoon. The retainers and
humble friends of an Indian nobleman are
legion, and the Meer's amiable and benevolent
disposition left him no lack of these. There
SHEIK KHOOB.
(FROM LIFE)
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
was Budr-oo-deen, the Meer's Hakeem ;* his man
of business, the Delall ; his English writer, with
the adopted title of Mahomed Jaffer, and a
Persian dress ; Hubbeeb Khan, or the beloved,
the Meer's favourite sepoy; with a crowd of
coachmen, grooms, water-carriers, pipe-bearers,
sherbet-makers, moonshees, and story-tellers
beside ; the most important of the whole being
Eamjeo, the Meer's confidential servant, or
Jemidar, as they call him in the family a
young, intelligent, handsome Mahomedan, who
accompanied the Meer to England, wondered at
Ascot, laughed immoderately at Astley's, and
stood with true Moslem self-command, gravely
and silently, with folded arms, in the corner of
every drawing-room which was adorned by the
handsome person and graceful manners of his
master.
Many among this crowd were old friends of
mine, had travelled with me in England, had
voyaged with me to India; and although they
did not burst forth into a series of loud praises
of my virtues, talents, and largesses, as they
would have done had I been their country-
woman, I met with kindly recognition, the more
grateful as it was the more disinterested. Good
old Budr-oo-deen, the Hakeem, smiled, and rolled
1 Physician.
10 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
his eyes with fearful activity as he welcomed
me ; and I was glad to see him there, both from
the personal regard I felt for the old gentleman,
and because his very original character never
failed to produce amusement to me whenever I
have met him.
The excitement of my arrival past, I found
the Meer's people deeply interested in some
transactions with little Dorabjee, the merchant,
who had brought fine muslins and chintzes in
abundance, to be admired and purchased as
ankrikas 1 and scarfs, though he looked little
suited to recommend them, being rather a grim-
looking mahajun, 2 with a harsh black beard,
descending to his waist. Dorabjee at once re-
cognized me, as " a lady I know very well "
i.e., "that I have imposed on, many times and
oft' 7 after his nature. Kamjeo, the Meer's
servant, was very busy in the transactions, re-
ducing charges and settling payments; and it
being rather hard labour to bring a Bombay
Borah to the semblance of honest dealing,
Ramjeo wore his working dress, consisting of a
clear flowered muslin skull cap, full trousers,
with a dark blue cotton handkerchief girded
round the waist; and as I looked at his bare,
glossy brown shoulders, it amused me to fancy
/
1 Linen dresses worn by men. 2 Merchant.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 11
how such an apparition would have startled the
Habitues of Hyde Park, and how little chance
Ramjeo would have had of being recognised as
the Meer's handsome valet, last seen, shining
in his rich livery of gold and green, the symbolic
hues of the Prophet and the Prince.
The great topic of conversation among the
native gentry of Bombay was the approaching
marriage of the fair daughter of Sir Jamsetjee 1
Jeejeebhoy, to her cousin, a young Parsee of
gentlemanly and pleasing exterior, much liked
and well spoken of. In consequence of the ill-
ness of the Governor of Bombay, Sir Jamsetjee
did not intend to issue any invitations for a
general party, a matter of regret to many, for
the knight's princely munificence was so well
known, and the preparations made for the nup-
tial celebrations were so extensive, that a parti-
cipation in the sumptuous entertainment and
interesting circumstance of the wedding was of
course desired by many, myself prominently
among the number.
The Meer delighted my eyes with the exami-
nation of a parcel, containing some of the most
magnificent shawls that were perhaps ever
produced from the looms of Cashmere, as Meer
Acbar Alee, his Highness's brother, having
1 From Jamsheed, a celebrated king of Persia.
12 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
arrived from Baroda, they were both anxious to
select shawls, with which to return Sir Jamset-
jee's present, sent selon rfyle with the original
invitation to the marriage. Now, the marriage
gifts of the inviter are of comparatively small
value, but my friends, as the prospective guests,
were anxious to quadruple them in richness and
splendour. This practice of making offerings
at all marriages in the East, is one of the most
mischievous in the social usages of oriental
families, expense being thus incurred wholly
inconsistent with the condition and means of the
individuals concerned ; so that debts are neces-
sarily contracted, which fetter with difficulty an
undue proportion of life's business. The truth
is, that marriage ceremonies in the East are
altogether inconsistent and absurd, as affects
what is supposed necessary eclat; and the pre-
sents received from friends on these occasions
are immediately disposed of, as the readiest
means by which some portion of the enormous
burthen of expense may be met by the father and
family of the bride. These remarks of course
do not apply to persons of the rank of Sir Jam-
setjee or Meer Jafur; but among inferior classes,
it might be found, if one's acquaintance was ex-
tensive in families with marriageable daughters,
that demands on the purse for " shawl money"
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 13
might arrive too frequently for Hymen's torch
to lead to welcome sacrifice.
On the day fixed for the presentation of the
marriage gifts to Sir Jamsetjee, the Cashmerian
shawl merchant, accompanied by Meer Jafur's
Surattee Delall, arrived early with a handsome
piece of Kinkaub, 1 wherewith to enwrap the
shawls. This same Cashmerian I fancy to have
been a good specimen of his race; he was tall,
graceful, and fair, his complexion partaking of the
European style of fairness, and not tinged with
the sallow hue so disagreeable in a light- coloured
native; his eyes were blue, and his hair a
reddish brown, while his manners were pleasing,
and he often spoke with much intelligence on
the condition of his beautiful and interesting
country. On the present occasion, he alluded
with great sadness to the enormities which, his
private letters told him, had been already per-
petrated among the Cashmerians by their Hindoo
ruler, Golaub Sing; among others, he men-
tioned liis countrymen's habit of eating beef,
and that on one occasion of a fat bull having
been slaughtered, Golaub Sing burnt alive several
Cashmerians as a punishment and warning. The
poor man absolutely wept as he dwelt on the
terror entertained by the people of the Sirdar,
1 Gold embroidered silk.
14 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
and said there was no hope, as long as the yoke
of Golaub Sing was on their necks. And then he
spoke, in the spirit of a mountaineer, of the
beautiful and romantic scenery of the Kohistan,
and gradually with his excitement recovering
his good spirits, chatted cheerfully enough of
what was passing, and spoke with a sort of awe-
inspired reverence and wonder, almost arising to
superstition, of the military powers of Lord
Hardinge.
A report was rife, to the dismay of shawl
merchants in general, that Sir Jamsetjee, sen-
sible of the expense caused to those who could
ill afford it, from this custom of offerings on
marriage, and of course feeling that the practice
was quite beneath his dignity, if he availed him-
self of it as a means, in ordinary use, for defray-
ing a large portion of incidental expense, had
determined in his own case to afford a distin-
guished example against the continuance of the
practice, and had already declined to receive the
shawls of Sunkersett and of Gungadhur Shas-
tree, the wealthiest Hindoo gentlemen in
the Presidency. I had heard this news with
great satisfaction while paying some morning
visits to friends, likely to be very well informed
on the matter, but as I repeated it to the Meer,
the shawl merchant's countenance began to dis-
play the most anxious interest, and at length he
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 15
burst forth, with rapid assurances of the whole
being a mistake. He knew, he said, what the lady
had heard, for he had been told the same tale;
of course it was very kind of Sir Jamsetjee, as
so rich a man, to refuse to receive anything from
the poorer gentry but from noblemen, such as
the Meer and his brother, it was quite another
matter; Sir Jamsetjee of course would receive
the shaws from them and the Cashmerian began
to fold the intended presents not only with
great care, but rather unusual despatch, the
absolute sale of the shawls depending, it seemed,
on Sir Jamsetjee's reception of them for as yet
they had been merely selected, and although I
have no doubt the merchant knew all the facts
as well as I did, he cared not so to abandon his
hopes, while he perhaps calculated a little on
the Meer's rank, with his Highness's class as a
Mahomedan, and his wrath was very ill concealed
when I suggested, that perhaps Sir Jamsetjee
would be more gratified if the shawls were not
even offered upon this occasion.
The Meer listened to the arguments of the
merchant, and looked doubtfully at me ; in truth,
he would not receive the idea that a Parsee could
exercise so much forbearance as to refuse (and
that in opposition to old established custom) a
means so favourable for receiving wealth into his
coffers, and so the shawl parcel, with its costly
16 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
wrapper, was placed in the carriage, and Meer
Jafur and Meer Acbar Alee, in full dress, went
forth to offer their compliments to Sir Jamsetjee.
The shawl merchant looked first triumphant,
then anxious. The Delall and he sat upon chairs
at the open window, bending towards each other
discussing chances, and from time to time suf-
fering their voices to sink to low whispers, as
they glanced through the open doors of the room
in which I sat, quite unconcerned, because con-
fident in the result. The stake of the shawl
merchant was a matter of more than four hun-
dred pounds (4,000 rupees), and the princely in-
dependence of Sir Jamsetjee could be but little
appreciated by this mercantile pair. They esti-
mated the feelings of others by their own, and
so even while trembling, dared to hope the best.
In half an hour, however, all doubt was at rest.
The carriage of his Highness dashed through
the gates. The merchant and Delall spring from
their seats. "Karnjeo, what news?" All praise
to the noble-hearted knight, the shawls are de-
clined, and my friends have returned, charmed
with the courteous bearing of Sir Jamsetjee.
As from this feeling of respect to the illness
of the Governor, the wedding party was to be
restricted to the native friends of Sir Jamsetjee's
family, anxious as I felt to be present at a
Parsee marriage, the idea was altogether aban-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 17
doned, and I endeavoured to gain contentment,
so that, in the best possible spirit, I might, with
other evening loungers on the Esplanade, admire,
night by night, the magnificent facade of the
knight's mansion brilliantly illuminated ; wonder
whether the pretty pavilion erecting in front of
it was for a natch or a supper-room, and gossip
about the report that Monsieur Koserre, the
Herr Dobler of the day, had been offered four
thousand rupees to do what any Kalatnee 1 would
have performed more surprisingly, for three thou-
sand nine hundred and ninety-nine rupees less.
At about three o'clock on a certain day, how-
ever, a servitor of Sir Jamsetjee's came to " call
them that were bidden to the wedding," and he
literally said in the Guzeratee tongue, " all
things are ready, come unto the marriage." 2 A
polite affirmative was at once written by Meer
Jafur, on coloured French note paper, and en-
closed in an envelope decorated with loves,
doves, hearts, and violin players, an original
design, perhaps, of the valentine producer's
art-union ; and this suitable missive having been
despatched, Meer Jafur and his brother Meer
Acbar soon appeared splendidly and most be-
comingly attired. The dress of Meer Jafur was
of fine white linen, flowered in Surat tambour
1 Gipsy. 2 St. Matthew, xii, I.
18 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
work with gold and coloured silks; his turban
was of Dacca muslin, striped with gold ; a long
muslin scarf, such as Mahomedans always wear
in dress, fell on his shoulders, and upon his
arm he hore a magnificent green Cashmere
shawl.
Knowing well the powder of perseverance in
all mundane matters (even those with the most
discouraging aspect), I determined mine should
not be lacking in a vigorously sustained en-
deavour to see as much of this great Parsee
wedding as the unbidden might; and, being
altogether urgent in curiosity, the Meer, with
his usual kindness, assisted my laudable ex-
ertions with the loan of one of his open carriages,
in which, with sketch-book in hand, I quickly
followed to the scene of action, and a brilliant
one in truth it was.
Passing through the Sunkersett Bazaar (as
this part of Bombay is called in compliment to
the rich Hindoo landholder, Juggernath Sun-
kersett, Esq.), our way was constantly impeded
by groups of women bearing marriage gifts, all
richly dressed, and followed by their male
relatives, every tenth woman bearing on her right
hand a salver, on which was a loaf of sugar
and an infant's suit of crimson satin, broidered
in gold or silver.
As we passed through the church gates of the
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 19
fort, the plot thickened, and the crowd was so
dense that we could proceed only at a foot's
pace, ourselves attracting attention from the
crimson silk reins and silver harness of our
steeds. This fact from time to time favoured
my advance, but the way was choking with the
processions of women I have described, and the
masses of bidden guests passing from every
avenue towards the mansion of Sir Jamsetjee.
Each guest wore a "wedding garment," and
bore on his arm, closely folded, a Cashmere
shawl. This wedding garment was a surcoat
of fine muslin, falling in full folds to the feet,
fastened with large bows over the breast on the
left side, and girded round the waist with flat
broad bands of a thicker material. It is proper
that this dress should be of sufficient length to
conceal the slippers, and must be of very ample
dimensions.
As we advanced, it was quite evident that the
constabulary force had labour almost beyond
their powers and patience in warning off the
hired Shigrams 1 filled with half-caste women,
and the Buggies crested with English sailors
that marred the scene ; but if Constable C, who
appeared the very genius of order, possessed
any taste connected with his public zeal, he
1 Native carriages closed by Venetians.
c 2
20 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
must have backed, passaged, and caracoled that
bay Arab, which seemed ubiquitous, with right
good will. On one side of us was the splendid
mansion of Sir Jamsetjee its handsome portico
and broad flight of steps occupied by the male
members of the family, welcoming the wedding
guests, while Cursetjee, the eldest son, pointed
to the place of each on the chairs and benches
previously arranged. Thus honourable men
who were bidden, sat in the highest place.
None were afterwards called on to give way,
neither was it necessary to say unto any,
"Friend, go up higher," 1 arrangements having
been previously made according to rank; and
thus "the wedding was furnished with guests." s
On the upper step of the porch was seated
Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, benevolence in his
every expression, dignity in his every gesture.
His garment was of white muslin, of the most
delicate fabric and ample dimensions, and on
his breast he wore a noble decoration in the
gold medal presented to him by her Majesty
Queen Victoria, in recognition of the princely
munificence which dictated the erection of the
noble hospital which bears his name.
In front of, and nearly opposite to, Sir Jamset-
jee's house, stretched a line of temporary and
J St. Luke, xiv, 10. ~ St. Matthew, xxii, 10.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 21
highly-decorated refreshment -rooms intended
for the Natch and supper, and here the band of
the 20th Native Infantry played polkas with the
most untiring spirit.
I had but time to direct my coachman to draw
in at this particular point, as the best for seeing
the passers by, when on the porch and steps of
the mansion, I observed the guests dividing as \
if to flank an avenue, and in a second more
came forth a procession as brilliant, interesting,
and beautiful as could be imagined. It was
difficult indeed to fancy myself the spectator of
a matter of real life, so like was it to some of
the rich, gorgeous, and well Imagined groupings,
that delight us in a new opera, or a splendid
ballet, where colour, light, and design, have
exhausted their best efforts for effect. In this (
case, however, truth added to the beauty of the ~"
scene, and instead of weary, worn-out coryphees,
we had here the handsome friends and fair
young relatives of the bride, bearing marriage
gifts to the bridegroom's house. And on they
came, trooping forth into the bright sunshine
clasped hand in hand, bearing salvers ; their rich
attire was of French satin of the clearest colours,
bright blue, pale blush colour, and full primrose ;
each Saree bordered with a deep band of gold or
silver, and each foot flashing in a jewelled
slipper. The band preceded this fair cortege.
22 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
and as the whole moved on, bright smiles and
mirthful glances gleamed upon the crowd, but
the slow and measured pace served well to dis-
play the grace and natural dignity of the Parsee
ladies.
Scarcely had this charming procession passed,
when a jewelled hand was laid on the carriage
door, and Cursetjee looked in. " I have come,"
he said, " the bearer of my father's compliments,
to beg you to honour my sister's marriage with
your presence; you would, perhaps, like to see
the ceremony, and your friends, the Meers, are
already here."
The reader, to whom I have already confided
my anxiety on this point, will sympathize in the
delight I felt at thus becoming a bidden guest ;
in truth, at this moment the invitation appeared
the very pleasantest I had ever received, and I
immediately followed its kind proposer to the
portico, where Sir Jamsetjee received me with
the courtesy which so eminently distinguished
the fine old knight, and I soon found myself in
the seat of honour, " the upper room at feasts,"
between my friends Meer Jafur and Meer Acbar.
Ours was evidently the most distinguished posi-
tion, for Sunkersett was with us, with his fat,
amiable son, and the Brahmin, Vinaek Gun-
gadhur Shastree, Esq., with others of note,
while upon the opposite seats, among those of
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 23
less degree, I soon espied "our family physician,"
Budr-oo-deen, whose eyes revolved more than
ever, as I thought, and who looked much paler
an odd old gentleman in sooth, and not at his
ease as a wedding guest.
But I am digressing, and while the Hakeem
is rolling his visual organs, as if boldly defying
any cobra in all India to fascinate them, the
din of women's voices grows louder through the
lattice behind my chair, the lights burn more
brilliantly, and Cursetjee summons me to wit-
ness the marriage ceremonies. The glare and
noise on first entering the great saloon were
quite overpowering, and it occupied some
minutes before I could see and understand what
surrounded me. It seemed that a few moments
previous to my entrance a large curtain had
been thrown down, which had been drawn across
the chamber, the ceremonies connected with
which had been strictly private, and from what
I afterwards learned of the matter, very properly
so ; but the mirth of the ladies was at its height,
and although this was their sixth day of festivity
preparatory to the marriage, rich peals of ring-
ing laughter left no doubt of their untiring
enjoyment, and their perfect appreciation of
all the
" Jest and youthful jollity,
Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles,"'
24 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
which had attended the performance of rites,
mystical to the stranger.
In the centre of the hall was spread a large
square carpet, the border of which I was par-
ticularly requested not to touch, even with the
edge of my garment, it being for the time sacred.
On one side of this were the bride and bride-
groom, seated on richly gilt chairs ; the young
husband in the usual dress of the Parsees, and
the bride enveloped in a veil, or Saree, of gold
gauze edged with pearls. They were a hand-
some couple, and with little disparity of age,
the bridegroom being perhaps eighteen, and
pretty Ferozebhai 1 some four years younger.
Facing the bride stood the Dastur, or chief
priest, with the flowing garments and white
turban peculiar to the order, and on either side,
Mobeds (priests of the second class) holding a
dish of coca-nuts and rice, and a small fan.
Between the priests and bride were two small
tables, teapoys as they are called in India (a per-
version of teen-pong or tripod), each supporting
a lighted candle and a green cocoa-nut on a
silver salver. 2 As the Dastur thus stood, with
hand upraised, he scattered rice and dried fruits
towards the bride, repeating the nuptial bene-
1 Literally, the sister of the Turquoi.
2 Genesis, i, 28.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 25
diction. This ended, the bride's feet were
bathed with milk, the Kusti, or cincture of
seventy-two threads, blessed and adjusted, with
some frivolous customs, on which it is unneces-
sary here to remark, inasmuch as I was assured,
both by Manockjee Cursetjee and my obliging
friend Nourojee Dorabjee, the radical editor of
the Chabook newspaper, that they were mere
grafts of Hinduism, and "contemptible to
speak of."
The concluding ceremony, however, had too
much absurdity in it to pass unnoticed, and the
reader will, if a bachelor, perhaps thank heaven
that he at least was not born a supposed wor-
shipper of A'tish (fire), to be liable to the
sufferings I am about to describe, in addition to
that of a " wedding breakfast." In the mar-
riage chamber were some hundreds of Parsee
women, of all ages and various ranks, splendidly
attired, for even those less wealthy than their
neighbours were radiant in gold and satin ; yet
the elder ladies, and some even more \h&npassee,
had reason to rejoice that the Saree, when re-
quired, levelled distinctions by concealment.
Every individual of this crowd from the moment,
however, the nuptial ceremony was concluded,
stepped upon the carpet, and commenced a little
benedictory appendix, performed by extending
the hands, and passing them over the faces and
26 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
garments of the bride and bridegroom, from the
crown of the head to the sole of the foot, repassing
them from the sole of the foot to the crown of the
head, and retiring, after a low salaam. I fancied
I could perceive a pitiable shrinking of the suf-
fering bridegroom from the bony hands of some
of the elder ladies, and a gentle shaking of the
pretty head of the bride, as if these harsh
touches on her smooth face were absolutely
painful. No doubt they were, but this is a
u custom" in the East a word of most extended
meaning, powerful enough at all times to set
aside any supposed necessity for reason, and
affording an excuse for anything, however mon-
strous, absurd, or irrational.
On entering the saloon, Cursetjee had intro-
duced me to his mother, Lady Jamsetjee, a
remarkably fine-looking person. Her dress was a
rich crimson satin Saree, with a deep gold border,
slippers worked in diamonds, and a nose jewel,
composed of three large pearls, with an emerald
pendant, an ornament which the Parsees as well
as the Mahomedans very generally use.
After the marriage I was presented to the
bride, and had the pleasure of seeing her sweet
face unveiled by gorgeous drapery. She wore
trowsers of white satin embroidered in gold, a
flowered lace under dress, with a pale pink satin
boddice, worked with an elaborate design in
LANDELLS.DEL?
SIMP SOU <fc,C LITE.
PARS EE LA DY
(FROM L\FE)
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 27
pearls of various sizes, her slippers and nose-
ring being similar to those of Lady Jamsetjee;
numerous strings of large pearls depended from
her face and neck, and her arms were half hidden
by rich ornaments. As I looked at the fair
Ferozebhai, the ode of the Persian poet came
into my memory, and never seemed the words
of Hafiz more applicable than here :
" Mild is thy nature, gentle maid,
As is the rosebud's modest head
In the fresh bower of early spring ;
And such thy shape, to equal thee
The garden of eternity
Must its own cypress proudly bring." 1
The demeanour of the fair girl was indeed <v
eminently graceful and quiet, and I am told that
she is accomplished and very amiable, speaking
English well, having been educated by an
Englishwoman who was accustomed to tuition
in England, and is herself well informed. And
here I cannot avoid remarking with commisera-
tion on the condition of many of my poor coun-
trywomen in India, whose position appears to
be, if not quite destitute, helpless and wretched
in the extreme ; one sketch of whom will serve
as the portrait of many. A young woman,
for instance, of a large and impoverished family,
the members of which, perhaps, all occupy the
1 Third Ode.
28 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
most dependent and generally the most degraded
position of governesses in second-rate families,
is induced, with the hope of assisting in mission-
ary labours, to come to India. She marries,
perhaps, a clerk in an office, or some man whose
family have been unable to provide him with a
profession. He gains chance employment pro-
bably in an office, or as English writer to some
native gentleman, where he gains lodgings and
some three pounds (thirty rupees) a month.
Disappointment now brutalizes him, he strives
to deaden its sense by stimulants; a young
family increases care, the wife struggles to im-
prove things by teaching among half-castes and
Parsees for a stipend less than her husband's;
mutual recrimination too often follows ; the un-
happy woman, unable to return to her country,
fails in health ; and the picture is one over which
we would willingly draw a veil, wishing that
society had no such scenes which have for
actresses our sorrowing sisters, sorrowing and
helpless in a foreign and ungenial clime.
I had quitted Sir Jamsetjee's house, and was
enjoying the refreshment of tea with my kind
friend, Manockjee Cursetjee, at his house, a few
doors from the knight's, when my attention was
excited by a blaze of light, which I found to pro-
ceed from hundreds of lanterns, swinging in
pairs from the tops of bamboos some ten feet
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 29
high, and carried by coolies, 1 engaged to light
the procession of the bride to her husband's
house. An avenue was now formed, and the
fair Ferozebhai appeared, surrounded by her
female friends, and enveloped in a crimson Saree,
closely drawn round her face and figure; she
was then carefully placed in an open palankeen,
decorated with cushions of gold and green ; this
was immediately raised and borne between her
male relatives, while the guests of both sexes
attended it in distinct groups, according to their
sex, but botli men and women holding hands,
and walking slowly two and two. The innu-
merable lights gave full effect to this interesting
scene, and military bands lent their aid to render
it yet more dramatic.
The looker-on could not but be impressed
with the singularity of the procession, and the
strange fact of this fair girl, whose life had been
passed in the seclusion of her own splendid
home, being thus brought forth, and borne above
the heads of the crowd through the close streets
of the crowded fort ; a blaze of light cast on her
delicate and shrinking form, and curiously gazed
on by the lowest of the people, arid, this misery
past, to enter her husband's house, and lead a
life secluded as before. Yet such is the " cus-
1 Porters.
30 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
torn," painful and revolting though it be, and,
as I remarked before, no further explanation is
required.
It was pleasant, however, to know, that in
the fate of this fair Parsee there was less harsh-
ness than attends the lives of many who dared
scarcely look from their lattices upon her a
fact arising from the strictness of Mahomedan
and Hindoo customs. Ferozebhai, it was plea-
sant to remember, had not married one old
enough to be her father, the present husband,
perhaps, of a trio of fair dames; nor had she
been betrothed in childhood to one she could
not but detest. She looks not forward to a life
whose sole pleasure is gossip, whose chief luxury
is sloth ; in her case there is no funeral pyre,
with its greedy flames, ever dancing before a
terror-excited imagination. Happily, no. Her
cousin-husband has won her girlish heart ; she
fears not the influence of other wives, or any de-
gradation at her husband's hands ; she will have
cheerful association with her friends, and possess
a degree of liberty unknown to other Eastern
women. By Parsee edict no legal rival can
dispute her power; and but that the Venetians
of her carriage are only half open to the morn-
ing and evening breezes as she drives to her
country house, to enjoy the family pic-nics and
festivities in which the Parsees delight so much,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 31
her fate does not materially differ from that of a
young Englishwoman commencing the duties
and cherished responsibilities of a wife. And
thus, sweet bride, with heartfelt good wishes
and pleasant thoughts, we say farewell to thee !
Be thou as one among the " honourable women,"
whose clothing is not only vestures "of gold
wrought about with needlework," but whose
" strength and honour are her clothing," and
whose "works praise her in the gates." 1
" Lips though rosy must be fed," and lips of
a less charming hue must also receive suste-
nance, despite ceremonies, Cashmeres, and stiff
muslins; the Parsees especially, too, agree in
the idea that life in Bombay would be but a dull
thing were it not illustrated by plates, as poor
Theodore Hook hath it of London ; consequently,
as soon as the bride had left her father's house
dinner commenced, and as this entertainment
was likely to last some hours, I thankfully
accepted Manockjee's invitation to look through
his library, for which purpose we proceeded to
his father's house. On the steps we met
Manockjee's interesting little daughter, Koon-
verbhai, who had run home for a moment to
change her delicate blue and silver Saree for a
less brilliant one, in anticipation of passing the
1 Proverbs, xxxi.
32 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
evening in romps and pastimes with the bride
and her companions. This little lady was in
high spirits and under great excitement, but
gentle, well-bred, and courteous as ever.
Placing her little soft hand in mine, she care-
fully led me up the winding staircase of the
house, smiling and chatting all the way in the
most winning manner, and never for a moment
betraying the anxiety she felt to return to her
more congenial party.
On entering the drawing-room we found a
weary group, for six days and nights of festival
will tire the most zealous in mirth and gaiety.
Manockjee's younger son, Shereen, was espe-
cially so, and taking off his little body-coat and
turban, and appearing in his loose muslin dress,
scarlet trowsers, and blue satin skull cap, he
threw himself on a sofa and was soon fast asleep.
Manockjee's wife was also there, with her pretty
round-faced little baby ; but as she spoke only
Guzeratee, the language now used by the
Parsees, our intercourse was confined to an in-
terchange of smiles.
Soon after ten, I left Manockjee Cursetjee's to
attend the Natch at Sir Jamsetjee's "bower," as
the Parsees called it. The band of the 20th
Native Infantry were still playing polkas with
great zeal, and the guests had not yet left the
feast. Cursetjee, Janisetjee, and the bridegroom,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 33
however, received us, and a servant presented a
large salver covered with bouquets of delicious
roses, but no sooner had I taken one than he
sprinkled it with scented water from a golden
Golaubdani, which notion of adding, as it were,
"perfume to the violet," was too completely in
native taste for me to approve. A few days
before this, the Meer, who had been at a large
party at Sunkersett's, presented me with a
bouquet, every blossom in which was speckled
with gold leaf. Sir Jamsetjee's people were
more poetical in this case, but the little triangu-
lar packets of Pan Suparee, folded in fresh
plantain leaf, were gilded most profusely.
The dancing-room was elegantly decorated,
spread with rich carpets, and lighted with mas-
sive silver candelabras and splendid chandeliers,
the cornices and pilasters painted with garlands
of flowers, evidently by a French artist, while
the draperies were of pale pink silk. The Taifa
consisted of only two Natch women, but good
specimens of their profession ; both were young
and handsome, wearing the tight trowser and
bell-shaped dress of gauze, embroidered with
gold. The contrast of colour was pretty: one
dancer wearing dark crimson and gold, and her
companion pale blue and silver. Natches re-
semble each other so nearly, that a description
of the present would be a work of supereroga-
D
34 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
tion indeed, and altogether intolerable to the
reader ; it is enough to say that the dancers at
Sir Jamsetjee's were perfect in their art. They
advanced, retired, revolved, and advanced again
as usual, while the musicians grinned, and
nodded, and stamped, and made horrible faces
of intense excitement, as it is their duty to do.
Thus the spectators were lulled and charmed by
turns into a succession of the most perfect satis-
faction. Behind the dancers a full curtain that
depended from an arch excited my curiosity,
and under pretence of viewing nearer the deco-
rations of the saloon, I peeped behind it.
Stretching away to what really seemed an in-
terminable distance were supper-tables, laden
with rich plate, decorated with epergnes and
roses, and abundantly studded with certain
long-necked bottles, in vases of fresh ice.
The guests now strolling in, I felt that, as the
only European present, I might be considered an
intruder on the scene, and after being escorted to
my carriage by a strong party of "links," I pro-
ceeded through the fort. The Will to return
was, however, easier than the deed, for the
town generally, and the Sunkersett bazaar with
its environs, was filled with wedding parties;
lights flashed from every house, coloured Chinese
paper lanterns swung from every porch, tomtoms
were beaten, and singers screamed in loud dis-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 35
cord on every side; fireworks cracked, and
torchmen rushed wildly from street to street.
It may be imagined that all this merry madness,
combined with a bright moonlight and a pair of
very fresh and shying horses, rendered my
homeward course rather an erratic one, making
it late before we drove through the gates of
Girgaum House, whither my friends, Meer
Jafur and Meer Acbar, the " bidden guests," had
preceded me, I found, some hours. 1
1 Both in this and in the chapter entitled " Golden
Apples," the reader may recognise some paragraphs, which,
written by myself, have, with few r alterations, already appeared
in one of our most successful periodicals.
i) 2
36 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
CHAPTER H.
THE DHOBUN OR LAUNDRESS.
" How truth's pure channel leads to sacred fame,
Learn, oh my heart ! from the pellucid stream."
Hafiz.
A VERY interesting little personage who, morn-
ing after morning, attracted my attention, moving
and chatting about among the roses and jasmines
of Meer Jafur's parterre, was Parbutti, the
Dhobun, and one morning, on returning from my
early ride, I persuaded her to let me " write her
in a book," as the natives were accustomed to
call sketching.
Now, it will be readily understood that the
Dhobun is a very necessary addition to an oriental
household, where the most scrupulous cleanliness
is joined to the scantiest imaginable wardrobe.
And so, at almost all hours of every day, the
washerwoman or her helpmate the Dhobhie may
be seen with the white Ankrika of either one or
the other of the servants, which, shining with rice
LAKDELLS.DEL?
PARBUTTI DHOBUN
(FROM LIFE)
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 37
starch, they return, in an hour or two, neatly
folded in a thin handkerchief, and balanced upon
the head. Parbutti's costume consisted of a
bright yellow silk Chola or boddice fastened
behind, and a light blue cotton Saree or scarf,
having a crimson silk edge, gracefully draped
around the figure. On the right arm she wore
a Taweed or charm, to defend her, poor little
soul, from the evil eye! and all her savings,
hard-earned rupees as they were, had been
melted down to form anklets and bracelets; a
safer system, Parbutti thought, than that of
burying them in an earthen Chattee, or pot,
within her father's hut. These braveries seemed
heavy for so slight an ankle, yet the Dhobun's
step was so light, and so elastic withal, and her
figure so well balanced that one could but re-
joice she had the means to wear them.
The matter of washing is conducted differently
abroad to what we know of it in England.
The Dhobun, with her husband and assistants,
ladens a little bullock with such of the family
garments as are in a soiled condition, and drives
the animal slowly along to the river bank, the
tank, the pool, or, it may be, to the nearest well.
The clothes being then laid on large stones
placed there for the purpose, they are rolled
and beaten beaten and rolled again, fresh water
being constantly poured over them from little
38 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
Lotas or metal bowls. Dried, at length, in the
warm sunbeams, the linen is powerfully starched
with congee, or rice starch, and then smoothed
with an iron, somewhat resembling the box-iron
of England, if we imagine red-hot charcoal
supplying the place of the ordinary heater.
The little Dhobun seemed the sweetest-
tempered little creature living, and every ser-
vant, Peon (messenger), Bhisti (water-carrier),
or whoever he might be, turned from his occu-
pation to exchange with her a cheerful greeting.
Parbutti seemed also to have eminently attained
the great virtue of punctuality; no servant
anxiously waiting for his clean attire to serve
the morning meal, ever had occasion to scold
the general favourite, for exactly at the moment
that the cook announced that the rice and
Kabobs were ready, that moment the sunbeams
were broken in their course by the slight figure
of the pretty little Dhobun. Youth, health, and
worthy occupation make all lives cheerful, but
if merry with us among the roses and oleanders
of his Highness' s garden, how much merrier was
the pretty Dhobun when engaged in her voca-
tion at the river bank or by the side of that well,
shaded by the fine old peepul tree, out there by
the Imaun's tomb. How musical has her voice
sounded at the sunset hour, when surrounded by
her young companions she has chanted her
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 39
Mahratta songs, polishing her little Lotas l as she
sung, while the blue Saree, drooping on her
neck, suffered some bright ray of light to fall on
the shining tresses of her heavily -braided hair,
and the rich gold ornament and red pome-
granate blossoms which formed its tasteful de-
coration.
There is certainly something exquisitely at-
tractive in colour and sunlight. How charmed
I have often been in watching the groups of
oriental women massed about these Indian wells
at sunset ! How interesting it becomes to note
the brilliant richnesses of colour, the great
variety of form, and the singular differences of
effect which individual arrangements of dress
alone are capable of producing. A stranger, if
happily endued with a perception of the graceful
and picturesque, can never weary in his admira-
tion of the groups so presented to his view, and
though a large number of the commoner classes
may mix therein, and, on a near approach, the
texture of their garments may seem coarse, their
ornaments rude in execution, and a superfices of
dirt appear more prominently than is pleasing,
the spectator will yet be delighted with the
charming contrasts and accidental graces which
are sufficiently present, in every oriental group
in which women form a part, to fascinate the
1 Metal bowls used for water.
40 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
artistic eye, and beguile all criticism as affects
detail.
The European traveller himself has a personal
interest in the village well. How often has he
felt his flagging spirits cheered, after a long, hot
ride over a vast plain, presenting not a shrub to
diversify the arid face of nature, when, from a
rising knoll, he suddenly descries a group of
fresh-leaved peepul trees, and, putting his horse
into a canter, speedily arrives at the welcome
fount they overshadow? How grateful to his
ear is the sound of the running ropes, and the
rude song of the water driver! how delicious
seems the bright stream that leaps through the
little grass-bordered rivulet, towards the rich
plantations of young grain ! and how willingly
he slackens the rein of his good steed, and
suffers him to take a long, delicious draught, as
the sturdy peasant, calling an authoritative halt
to "Kama and Crishnajee" 1 (who are well nigh
tired with their morning's work), points to the
traveller's tent, scarce an arrow's flight from the
spot, and now seen securely nestled under the
shadow of a noble banyan tree.
If to the European traveller this well is a
sight so refreshing to the eye, what then must it
be to the merchant, the pilgrim, or he that
1 The names of Hindoo demi-gods are frequently given in
India to draught bullocks and camels.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 41
journeys with all that he hath to a foreign pro-
vince, where neither hath the crops failed as
with him, nor the locusts devoured the first-
fruits of the field? See the aged man leaning
on his staff, his eyes bent on the ground, his
long white beard brown with dust, his garments
torn and travel-stained ! How his eye brightens,
his pace quickens, and his form becomes more
erect, as he sees those shading trees and hears
the music of the Mussack (water bag) ropes.
How he turns smilingly to point out that cheer-
ing scene to the poor weary woman, with her
little one cradled on the half- starved pony, that
her husband, tired of vainly urging, has left to
its own pace, while he loiters behind, with their
eldest boy, who, clinging round his father's
neck, with cheek upon his turban sleeps soundly
there worn to rest by heat and sheer ex-
haustion. How the group press together as
that refreshing well is seen and heard; how
quickly the worn-out wife adjusts her Saree and
rouses the babes, who wake to smile upon the
scene. The miserable pony, too, with cheerful
neigh, ambles along right briskly, while the
loitering father runs on to join the forward
group, holding the sleeping child more firmly by
his little hands.
And now the well is gained, the poor family
gather to its brink they drink at the sparkling
42 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
rill they bathe their hot swelled feet they
turn the pony loose, and take from his saddle-
bags the provender. Humble fare, indeed! a
little grain, a few spices, a fresh paun leaf or
two, and a Chillum, 1 shared between them but
it sufficeth for their wants; and then, by the
rippling water, they lay them down, shaded
from the noontide heat, and slumber calmly,
until the sunset hour approaching, the increas-
ing shadow warns the group they must not
loiter there. The pony is resaddled, another
refreshing Chillum passes round, the poor family
prepare to leave their halting place ; and Christian
charity forbid that the looker-on should scoff,
if, ere they quit that happy spot of rest, and
calm, and shelter, each elder of the group should
lay a grain of such food as he has partaken,
with a fresh leaf and a few blossoms, as an offer-
ing to the Supreme Spirit of the place, or re-
verently bow in gratitude to the stone he believes
a Deity, and the Giver of the good which has
so restored and comforted himself, his wife, and
little ones, on their long and weary way.
For my own part, I have quite the affection
of a native for a country well. I love to see
the bright green turf about it ; I love to note
the flickering, dancing forms of the huge boughs
1 Oriental pipe.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 43
that overshadow it, as the bright morning sun-
beams are closed out by a canopy of thick, rich-
coloured, clustering leaves; I love to see the
peasants bringing their baskets of fresh vege-
tables to wash them in the running stream; to
see the roses and the jasmines that were
gathered before sunrise to preserve their beauty,
sprinkled with fresh drops to keep them cool
for the neighbouring market, or until they are
strung into chaplets and formed into bouquets
for the rich man's hareem or the temple's service.
'Tis pleasant to see how the old well is covered
with flowering creepers, with various tinted
lichen, with a thousand graceful springing
shrubs, whilst all around, perhaps, is drear and
sterile. To see the richly -plumaged birds hover
near, watching their turn to benefit by its gifts ;
to listen to the song of the bullock-driver, as he
sits easily on the ropes, urging and encouraging
by turns his well-trained beasts, as, raising the
full water bags, they quickly descend the in-
clined plane, and after a brief halt, while the
sparkling, gurgling, frothing water falls over
into the wide trough or well-made channel, they
lazily and slowly back, until the bags have re-
filled, and the song and labour recommence.
'Tis pleasant, indeed, to look on good in any
form, and surely the Indian well is as full and
44 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
abundant in its good gifts to those who need
them as any feature in the land.
The two great descriptions of wells in India
are the " Koor " and the " Bhowree." The first
is the simple well surrounded by a wall of
masonry, and the other -is descended by flights
of steps, and is frequently a most costly work,
elaborately decorated with architectural orna-
ment. Many of the finest Bhowrees have arcades
or galleries round them of several stories, with
delicate traceries of flowers, pilasters, cornices,
and elaborate decorations of various kinds.
Some of the Mahomedan cities show fine remains
of this kind of well, which must have been
among their most admired architectural decora-
tions. I recollect one of singular beauty in the
old city of Junagurh; a second, of yet larger
size, near Bhooj, and others of much beauty in
all the great cities of Western India. The Koor
is essentially, I believe, Hindoo, but the Bhowree
pertains to both Hindoos and Mahomedaiis.
In Guzerat, a system of preserving fresh rain-
water is adopted, by means of small tanks to
each house, a plan which might well be bene-
ficial in other countries liable to great droughts.
In the neighbourhood of Nuggur there is a par-
ticularly fine specimen of Mahomedan masonry,
called the Elephant Well, and said to be of the
time of Arungzebe. It does not appear to have
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 45
ever been used, but the people aver that it was
intended to be drawn by double pairs of
elephants, hence its name; and the colossal
dimensions of the structure render the idea
very probable.
The garden well of the Deccan is always one
of its most pleasant features, both for the reasons
of coolness and shade before remarked, and from
the peculiar character of the Mahratta peasantry.
This peculiarity results, I conclude, from their
fine bracing climate, but there is a gaiety, an
activity, an energy of purpose, and an apprecia-
tion of the ridiculous about a Mahratta that I
have never seen in any other classes of the
people of Western India. The Mahratta
always lightens labour by a song, and he must
be a dull sluggard indeed, equally careless of
his health, mental and bodily, who does not feel
a cheerful desire to benefit by the fresh morning
air of " another blue day" (as the German song
has it), to which he is roused with the gay
cheerful song of the Mahratta water- drawer, as
the full Mussacks cast their sparkling waters
over the wheel, to refresh the sweet roses and
blossoming shrubs that pour forth their fra-
grance on the cool and healthful breeze.
To the observant traveller, who, with a mind
free from prejudice, desires to judge of the
manners and habits of a people with reference
46 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
to their own wants and condition, and not by
his own notions as an individual acquainted only
with the means and appliances of a civilized
country in agriculture and manufactures, the
simple contrivance of these wells of the Mahratta
Ryots must appear the best suited to their pur-
poses that can possibly be imagined, being at
/ once so simple, so cheap, and so effective.
A Mahratta peasant, whose well formed a
pleasant resting-place in my evening walk, told
me that his whole apparatus for drawing water,
bags, ropes, yokes, and the general wood-work,
cost him some ten rupees ; that with care and
the expenditure of a little oil occasionally, the
whole would last some years, six or seven per-
haps ; that the price of bullocks varied much,
particularly according to seasons, but that for
the " Pandu and Bappoo " then in yoke he had
given fifteen rupees, a fair price, and they were
young and strong to labour; and this little
reckoning will show how much better such a
cheap and simple system is for such a people,
than a method less rude and clumsy perhaps,
but one which would require considerable outlay
in the original purchase of material, as well as a
degree of skill to repair and keep in order not
possessed by village workmen. It is often
complained that the agriculturists of India show
a very mischievous prejudice in favour of their
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 47
own old system of agriculture, but I think the
condemnation sometimes unreasonable, and very
frequently so as regards their implements, while
in the case of irrigation by native wells, nothing
could be found better, I should think, than the
common system adopted by the Mahratta
Ryots.
A native well is pleasant, too, considered as a
scene of social gossip and easy chat. To the
native woman of the lower ranks it forms the
great amusement of her life, in fact; and even
the frequenters of the male sex, who can chat
elsewhere at their leisure, linger much longer
at the well than necessity requires, while the
stranger may be most agreeably entertained by
observing the picturesque and often very curious
groups gathered at such trysting spots. We
have the graceful Hindostan sepoy, in the easy
native dress, which becomes him so well that
one wishes he was never required to wear aught
else; the cunning-eyed Bhisti, 1 with his pretty
bullock, decorated with a necklace of shells and
a little mirror, in which we suspect the -Bhisti
himself sometimes takes a sly glance at his
well-arranged Puggree, with the bunch of olean-
der so jauntily set over his left ear; the woman
of the lower class, with her bright water-vessels
1 Water-carrier.
48
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
to be filled for family use, yet wearing handsome
ornaments, and attired in a gay Saree, which well
sets off her bright eyes and smiling countenance ;
and as each member of the party fills their
vessel, and places it on the well-side to rest
awhile, a world of pleasant chat and kindly
question animates the group, and the looker-on
will readily perceive, as the merry laugh rings
on his ear, that lovers of lively gossip might
find worse places for its enjoyment than the
much-trodden yet grassy margin of an Indian
well.
We had commenced with a little chit-chat
about the object of our sketch, the pretty little
laundress of his Highness Meer Jafur Alee, but
the fair Parbutti has betrayed us into a disser-
tation upon Indian wells! It was a natural
transition however, for so often have we seen
the bright eyes and smiling face of the little
Dhobun raised to ours, as we have drawn bridle
beneath the shading peepul tree, that Parbutti be-
came to our imagination as the very nymph of the
fountain, inseparable indeed from our ideas of
coolness, refreshment, and the pleasant rural
music of sweet voices and honest labour.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 49
CHAPTER TIL
TROOPS OF FRIENDS.
" Give companions, who unite
In one wish, and one delight."
Hafiz.
THERE was swamp without, and swamp within.
The beautiful ruins of the old city of Bassein
were decidedly what Mr. Slick would call
"juicy." The frogs, snakes, and mosquitoes
were in" a condition of lively vigour, and, de-
spite the towers, the cloisters, the oriel windows,
the rich chancels, peeping from every flowery
nook of the tangled foliage (matters so at-
tractive to the owners of block books, pencils,
and a taste for the picturesque), we felt that we
were little better than the foolish, in thus wooing
miasma, in her favourite haunt.
Fortunately we were in time with our new
idea, and as a baggage pony was seen helping
himself to some coarse grass, flavoured with
indigo plants, at the door of the little mudfloored
50 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
bungalow, I persuaded him to splash his way
with me to the post or Dak-boat, and so arrived
at Gora Bunder, having, in this case, gained
experience without a fever.
But the interest of Gora Bunder 1 had waned.
The Mahomedan Fojdar, or ruler, good unassum-
ing man, pressed our stay, and pretty Rutton-
bhai, the Parsee, wished it too. Her eloquence
perhaps would have been the most persuasive,
for she was always well-dressed and amiable
(pleasant traits in woman), and she was cheer-
ing to look on, with her figured lace Sadra, and
her bright crimson Saree, its deep blue border
contrasting well with the fair round arm that
held the oval basket in which she brought down
fruit and flowers, attended by her little milk-
white curly dog ; but, in truth, Gora Bunder had
become tiresome.
To watch the great Butteelas or coast-boats
lading with corn, the Tannah craft passing and
repassing with grass from Bassein ; to hear the
fishermen shout for passengers, arid old Mootun-
bhai, the ferry woman, enforcing their fares; to
see the children play at tattoo-ba (or puss-in-
the-corner), and the little canoes depart laden
with people an old cow lying as ballast in the
bottom; all this had been seen too often to
1 A place of favourite resort, about thirty miles from the
Presidency of Bombay.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 51
afford amusement, and so a note was despatched
to his Highness the Meer requesting him to send
his carriage on a certain day to take us back.
But we acted unadvisedly; when too late to
alter our arrangements we received a Persian
note, saying that only one pair of horses could
be spared to come half-way, inasmuch as the
Eamazan 1 had ended, and the Meer required his
state carriage and bay horses wherewith to pay
visits to his friends, in accordance with Maho-
niedan custom. What was to be done? Ser-
vants, furniture, all was gone. In this dilemma
the Parsee, whose house we occupied, suggested
a remedy; he would put pillows, grass, mat-
trasses, into his bullock gharree; he had a fast
pair of little Deckanee bullocks, and in two
hours we should be at our friend Cursetjee's
house to meet the carriage, and so we were, a
distance of twelve miles! And I then learnt
that piles of grass, with a good mattrass resting
on it, is equal to a score of air cushions, and
allows a journey to be made as pleasantly in a
springless native cart, as in the best hung car-
riage, fitted with Collinge's patent axles, and all
such appliances, as was ever turned out of Long
Acre, but for the appearance of the thing ; and
Abdoola, the Meer's handsome coachman, cer-
1 The " Lent" of the Moslems.
E 2
52 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
tainly did look rather astonished as he drove up
the carriage-road of Cursetjee's house; hut all
was ready, and the Meer's splendid grays soon
found their way to rack and manger, even over
the newly-mended ways of the island of Salsette.
As we said, Ramazan had ended there was
no douht ahout that. The house at Girgaum
looked as gay as brightly dressed servants, with
their Zulufs, or love-locks, more carefully ar-
ranged than ever, could make it, and there were
heaps of roses scattered ahout, and streams of
perfume from scores of Hookaks, and minstrels
were in the garden, and professional story-
tellers among the retainers grouped in the
lower rooms, and his Highness attired in the
softest robes of gold- embroidered muslins, the
choicest produce of the looms of Delhi, sat in
his drawing-room, surrounded by native friends,
for it was the "Eed," a great Moslem day for
courtesy and salutation.
It was pleasant to have arrived, for among
them / also had friends. "What!" perhaps
some English reader may exclaim, "friends
among all those black people?" Even so,
friends that I respected and esteemed as much
as many among my own people, and, if the
reader will allow me, I will present to him a few
of those so present in Bombay: There was
Mirza Ali Mahomed Khan, a very gentlemanly
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 53
Moghul, who spoke English most correctly, and
was a very agreeable person. His father was a
rich merchant, but Mirza Ali himself was inde-
pendent, and had a pleasant country house a
short distance from our own. Then there was
Yinaek Gungadhur Shastree, the Brahmin, who
was so fond of taking photographs of everybody,
and clever Manockjee Cursetjee, whose daughter
Koonverbhai is already known to us, while he,
poor man, but lately returned from England,
was suffering from the disadvantage of being
educated in advance of his times and people.
There were some twenty other gentlemen be-
sides these, Moslem, Hindoo, and Parsee.
And here, animated as I must always be by a
high regard and warm esteem for all the mem-
bers of native society I have had the advantage
of classing among my friends, I cannot avoid
expressing my deep regret that a degree of
mutual sympathy is not cultivated between the
stranger and the native, which would elevate in
the one case, and purify from prejudice in the
other. I have often had occasion also to remark
the difference of consideration paid to a native
gentleman in India and in England. In the
drawing-rooms of London, or the salons of
Paris, we find the Oriental noble, or even men
of lesser rank, treated with the utmost courtesy,
and the most flattering distinction, but the same
54 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
hour that this lionized individual returns to his
own land, he is treated by all who meet him as
one of an inferior race, and tolerated, at the best,
by persons who, in rank, are less than his equals,
and it is not impossible but that were each in-
dividual judged by a fair standard, the Indian
gentleman would be found morally, and perhaps
intellectually, superior to many of those who
thus treat him with slighting disregard.
Persons who have mingled much in general
and foreign society, by means of travel, are dis-
abused of the idea that, because men differ from
ourselves, they must, per consequence, be in-
ferior in all things, or that intelligence has
some inexplicable connexion with colour. Every
rational being would scoff at the notion that he
could thus consider a dark skin as a proof of
semi-barbarism of mind, or fairness of com-
plexion necessary to the possession of enlighten-
ment. Yet, every day in India, acts tend to the
impression that some such latent ideas do re-
gulate men's opinions, of whose justice they
neither care to inquire, and of the extent of
whose mischief they are quite indifferent. Most
desirable would it be were this otherwise; and
that both travellers and residents in India would
make the same allowances for differences of
opinion in the East, as elsewhere, and as they
tolerate the Greek, the Turk, and the Jew, so
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 55
should they the Hindoo, the Parsee, and the
Moslem, respecting the good they find in all
men, and looking to climate and education for
the explanation of their varieties.
Juggernath Sunkersett, Esq., the great landed
proprietor of Bombay, a Hindoo gentleman of
much influence, as, of course, landed proprietors
always are, whether their estates lie among the
fire-flies of the tropics or the bees of England,
has a stout son, a very stout son indeed, at the
time I speak of, and poor little Koonverbhai,
the Parsee, and this young Hindoo were wont to
indulge in a good deal of amusing flirtation, for,
although the Parsee ladies are generally of very
retired habits, Manockjee Cutsetjee's liberal
opinions induced him to introduce his daughter
into general society, and this lively pair occa-
sionally were at the theatre together, where
Sunkersett' s son would amuse himself by break-
ing Koonverbhai's fan, with as accomplished an
air of mischief as any English gallant could
have done. They were also together at Meer
Jafur's on the "Eed," and when they had left,
we gossiped about the chance of our little
friend's marrying a Hindoo, forgetting what her
fate might be if she outlived her husband, for
Sunkersett is a most zealous Hindoo, and we
thought the directions of the Shastrees, and the
institutes of Menu might be rigorously ob-
56 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
served, and the torch of Hymen be kept alight
till it fired the pyre for Suttee! There was
much bandying of jest among the Moslem gen-
tlemen on this matter, but the soft eyed Parsee
maiden was reserved for another fate ; the angel
who presides over destiny, 1 snapt the silken cord
which strung the pearls of life, and it was not
long before poor little Koonverbhai passed
away through the portal of the Tower of
Silence,* to the flowers of her own Behisti 3
gardens.
The day after this great gathering, Dadoba
Pandoorunjee, Esq., the successor of the
excellent and talented Bal-shastree, who was
long a most respected and beloved teacher at
the Elphinstone College, called on me, having
heard that I was anxious to see a copy of
u Ferishta," which he obligingly brought with
him. He was accompanied by his little daughter,
an interesting child, eight years of age, who
spoke Mahratta, and also a little English, in
which language, she told me, she was learning
geography and history, and seemed already to
know quite as much of both as children of her
1 Ram, according to the Parsees, the Angel of Destiny,
who presides over the twenty-first day of the month. No
animal food is used on this day.
2 The funeral towers of the Parsees.
3 Paradise : presided over by the angel " Favardin."
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 57
age usually do whose advantages of education
have been very superior to hers. Dadoba and
myself had a very long and interesting chat on
education.
He confirmed that which I had already heard
of the state of transition, as it were, in which
the Hindoo mind now seemed to be, in conse-
quence of the views entertained by some of the
most intelligent natives in Calcutta ; and he said,
that even in Bombay people had received the
idea, that the manners, customs, and religion of
the Hindoos, as at present known, differed most
materially from those of old time ; and that the
intelligent classes were anxious on the subject,
and willing to investigate it. In the present
state of opinion, much good, he thought, could
be effected by translations. Those of the
Vedas, with annotations, had indeed appeared,
but great advance would be made, he thought,
could the people be instructed by means of their
own languages ; the translation, for instance, of
the Hindoo drama from Sanscrit into Mahratta,
he considered, would be of the highest value, by
acquainting the people with the manners of
society in olden times, the conduct pursued to-
wards the priesthood, and the estimation and
liberty of action enjoyed by women; also the
re-introduction, by similar means, of works on
algebra, astronomy, music, medicine, and others.
58 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
At present the ancient learning was sealed
against the people, and no interest was felt
about matters so difficult to investigate; the
learned men of England and Paris knew much
more about them than the Hindoos themselves.
Sir William Jones had enlarged much and
ably on their theory of music ; Professor Wilson
on their drama. Much had been said of their
knowledge of materia medica, and the skill of
their doctors of medicine, but the Hindoo people
were entirely ignorant of all this. The musi-
cians played as they sung, by the aid of ear,
memory, and tradition; and although it was
matter of history that the King of Serinuggur,
so late as 1422 A.D., caused many works to be
written on music, nothing is now heard of them.
The people are debased; they are ignorant of
the learning which once gave their nations dig-
nity, and unconscious of the corruptions that
the love of power had urged bad men to intro-
duce for their adoption. Blindly had the people
fallen into these snares; ignorantly had they
permitted their judgment to be led captive, and
their imaginations to be excited by dark and
terrible falsehoods. At the instigation of priests
they had given their daughters over to the fires
of Suttee, and their sons to a participation in
blood-stained rites ; but it had not been always
so, and if the people could be taught to know
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 59
the purity of their original religion as Deists,
they would cast open their hareems, purify their
temples, and bow no more to images of wood
and stone. These things had nothing to do
with Old India, but, unhappily, caste now came
in to divide men (even the highest students of
the colleges) into parties, and so the real objects
of education were constantly opposed.
It happened that as we talked the servant
announced dinner, and being very much inte-
rested in Dadoba's conversation, I asked him if
he would pass an hour with his Highness Meer
Jafur, and then return to me. Now, to arrive
at the Meer's apartments it was necessary that
Dadoba should pass through the dining-room,
on the table of which smoked a sirloin of beef!
Had I known this fact I should certainly not
have suggested an arrangement to my friend
the Brahmin calculated to insult him by wil-
fully shocking his prejudices; but I was quite
ignorant of the matter at the time, and Dadoba
passed through without remark, mistaking, I
fervently hoped, the offensive joint for a re-
markably fine saddle of mutton !
On his return, however, I was disabused of
this opinion. " How much better it would be,"
he said, "if we understood each other, and
could be friendly and kind, and make allow-
ance for prejudices; in that case they would
60 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
soon cease to annoy us, for when we had mutual
sympathy we should only regard such things as
the manners of different countries, just as I wear
a Puggree 1 and an English gentleman a hat ! I
saw you had beef for your dinner, and, as a
Brahmin, it is very shocking to me to see our
sacred animal so used, but I was not offended,
because I have a regard for you ; I know this is
your custom, and I am sure if you came to my
house when my wife was baking the bread for
our meal you would be careful not to let your
shadow fall over it, to give her the trouble of
cooking it all again."
Dadoba then expatiated on the good that would
arise from greater sociality between native gen-
tlemen and Europeans. " But," said he, " there
is no sympathy, no interchange of good offices;
you will not try to find any good in us. You
fancy we only offer you attentions from some
interested motive; this is often the case now,
but it would not be so if you threw off your
reserve, and treated us as friends for instance,
Sunkersett and the Shastree you know very
well, and Manockjee Cursetjee, and myself,
with All Mahomed Khan, and many others, and
yet you never ask us to assist you in any way ;
you always go to your English friends." He
1 Turban.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 61
was very anxious I should read the native news-
papers, the Chabook, the Samarchand, and others ;
I should then see, he said, the shrewdness of
native remark, and know what the people really
thought of our acts among them.
Dadoba was quite right ; many of the leading
articles in the Mahratta and Guzeratee news-
papers are full of interest. I remember a passage
translated from the Cliabook that amused me
much. It had been raining heavily, and on the
weather clearing the editor wrote " We hope
soon again to see that liappij sight, of fair
English ladies riding on horseback for their
health, attended by their brothers and husbands."
Some of the remarks made, too, on more im-
portant subjects are full of interest. The opi-
nions held on decisions passed in the Supreme
Court, the views taken of public affairs, with
criticisms on the acts of the Government and its
employees. One circumstance, then, of late
occurrence had awakened much controversy,
and led to the expression of divers opinions. A
Brahmin, to whose care was entrusted a child of
tender age, murdered the poor little creature on
the way to Malabar Hill, and cast the body on
the rocks, where it was eventually discovered.
The crime was fully proved; the child had been
loaded with gold, silver, and jewels in honour of
a Hindoo festival, and the Brahmin's cupidity
62 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
was the death- warrant of the helpless little one.
Some thought sentence would be commuted,
and that none would dare to hang a Brahmin,
whatever his crimes might be, and on this point
discussion of no common kind arose. Nowrojee,
the Parsee editor of the Clicibook, laughed to
scorn the notion that the odour of sanctity, sup-
posed to envelope a Hindoo priest, would save
him from the rope of the executioner; other
papers doubted ; some hinted at the danger of a
general rising, of the same kind as that which took
place some years ago among the Parsees on the
occasion of a great slaughter of dogs, when
their prejudices were outraged. It all ended, of
course, in the sentence of the law being executed
on the Brahmin, as on any other criminal; and
when the priest of Mahdeo was hanged by the
neck until he was dead, people went quietly to
their houses, and wondered how it could ever
have been doubted that it would be so.
Whenever it has been my fate to be in dis-
tricts governed by our political officers, where
the " non-intervention " principle obtained, and
have seen preparations made for Suttee, known
of cases of infanticide, and heard applications
for permission for individuals to be buried alive,
either to avoid their bestowing the heritage of
disease, 1 or in performance of a vow, I have
1 It is believed that when men die violent deaths, leprosy
and other diseases are not inherited.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 63
always eagerly desired that it were possible, in-
stead of talking of prevention, in the strain of a
missionary, by converting the people from their
religious errors, to talk of English law ; to treat
all Brahmins, who are ever the stimulators to
such acts, as criminals; to punish them as the
shedders of man's blood, and thus spread a
wholesome terror among these wholesale mur-
derers of a nation. Even a Brahrninical intel-
lect might thus arrive at the idea of " doing as
he would be done by," and that by a much
shorter process of argument than is now com-
monly used to convince him of his enormities.
Dadoba spoke in high terms of the capabilities
of the Mahratta language, as nervous, concise,
and not only admirably adapted for purposes of
business, but equally so for those of art and
scientific acquirement. All that remained worth
knowing in India now, beyond such things as
were locked away in the difficulties of the
Sanscrit language, was to be found, he said, in
Mahratta, while with a twelve months' study it
might be easily acquired, and would open stores
of interest well calculated to repay the labours of
the student. The paucity of books now written
or translated into the modern languages of India,
rendered it imperative that the lads desiring in-
formation should learn English ; but Dadoba con-
sidered that the vernacular would be much more
64 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
to the purpose ; would save a vast deal of time, and
prove to the native mind a much better medium
for the expression and reception of ideas.
For his part, the pundit said, he candidly
confessed he could not either understand or
relish Shakespeare or Chaucer; with modern
novels he seemed to get on swimmingly, and
enumerated of those he had read what would
fill a fair sized catalogue for the circulating
library of a country town. At present Dadoba
was working away at the " Heart of Mid-
Lothian," and I asked him if he did not find the
Scotticisms a difficulty, fancying they would be
as great stumbling blocks as, it appears, Mrs.
Gore's Gallicisms had been to Gungadhur
Shastree ; to my surprise, however, he replied in
the negative; the professor of the college, he
said, who was a Scotchman, explained the most
remarkable, and he perfectly understood that
they were necessary to give additional force to
expression, just as a man of business, speaking
Hindostanee, would be obliged to introduce
many Mahratta words to render the full strength
of his position intelligible to the extent he de-
sired. The Scotch novels, like the Hindoo
dramas, derived their interest, the pundit said,
from being true pictures of the times. The
character of Diana Yernon delighted him most.
It reminded him, he said, of the bold address
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 65
and courage of the Chand Beebee, 1 the heroic
Queen of Ahmednuggur, while many of the
Mahratta princesses had been celebrated for
their skill in horsemanship. As to the freedom
of the condition of women, he was, of course,
aware of this social difference from observing
the manners of the English in India, which,
after all, seemed much the same as it is repre-
sented to have been in Hindostan when the
"Toy Cart" and " Sacontala" were written.
Dadoba said, " That, among all books now
composed, he wished some one would enlarge
on the English in India, for he was sure they
were quite a different class of people to the
English in England. Some it was true were
very great, very good; animated by generous
feeling for the people, and learned in all that
concerned them, from ancient days to the present.
There could be found, no doubt, both in the civil
and military services of " the Company," gentle-
men who felt for the natives of India, as friends,
sympathized in their condition ; wished to benefit
them, and to elevate their position in society.
But how few these were ! What thousands, on
the contrary, in the military service, who would
1 The Chand Beebee, or Silver-bodied, of whom many
romantic tales are told, worthy the days of chivalry.
66 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
perhaps pass all their lives in India, and yet
cared nothing for the people; took no interest
in their religion, languages, or history, and did
not know a Hindoo from a Mahomedan, when
he saw him." On this I inquired why Dadoba
thought there was more interest felt in England,
and that the English felt differently in their
own country on India and its people. He said,
Because he knew that books about it were
written, which were read, and spoken of in the
papers, and the natives who had gone -home,
whether Mahomedans, Hindoos, or Parsees,
had always been received so well, either at
Court or by the Prince, and had been invited
everywhere, and treated with distinction and
kindness. Even the Parsee ship-builders had
received as many attentions as if they had been
noblemen ; for the English nation was known by
all to be hospitable to strangers ; but, in Bombay,
if a native gentleman called at an English officer's
bungalow to pay a visit, he was not conversed
with as* the other guests were, but was con-
strained to feel himself an intruder, and some-
times would be asked, as soon as he had sat
down, " Keea munkta" (what do you want ?) as if
he should not have come at all had he not had
business to transact.
There was a good deal of truth in all this,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 67
but, perhaps, in some of his remarks, Dadoba a
little exaggerated the state of matters between
the European and native society in India. How-
ever, as he spoke he felt, and many take his
view of the subject. I remember some remarks
boing made in a local English paper, on Mr.
Reid, when acting Governor, being supposed
likely to occupy (while his own house was not
in order for his reception) a mansion belonging
to Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, at Candalla, on the
Poonah road, and the editorial remarks being
none of the wisest or most judicious, called
forth observation in the Samarcliand, and a very
admirable article, from the pen of a native, adorned
its columns, glancing not only at the point in
question, but enlarging, with remarkable free-
dom from prejudice, and with great good feeling,
on the advantages that would mutually arise in
the feelings if both parties were each better
known to the other, and could those dependencies
for kindness and sympathy, which formed the
bonds of all social life, be encouraged and
strengthened between the natives of India and
the European residents. The writer of the article
was a wise-thinking, warm-hearted man, and his
opinions would have reflected honour on an
author of any nation. I understood that he was
a Hindoo, careful in observing the rites of his
F2
68 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
religion, and bowing daily before idols of wood
and stone. The spirit of Christian charity,
however, was in his heart, and its law of kind-
ness on his lips; happy will it be if they work
for him an equal amount of purifying good to
that he seeks to introduce to his fellow-men,
until he is brought u to stand in the ways, and
see, and ask for the old paths ; where is the good
way, and walk therein" until he sees the altar of
truth shining in all its majesty before him.
Meer Jafur had been for many days very
uneasy about the health of his mother-in-law
the Begum, and the youngest of his daughters;
his nature is most kindly and affectionate, and
although daily assurances arrived from the
European surgeon who attended the family, and
in whom the Meer had full confidence, that
matters were not of a character to give reason
for alarm, he had prepared to go to Surat, and
judge for himself. However, the " Sir James
Carnac" steamer not starting for a day or two,
the Meer, in the interval, was soothed by learn-
ing that the fever had left his little daughter,
and that the Begum was decidedly better.
After the death of the Nawaub of Surat, his
father-in-law, his Highness Meer Jafur, was con-
strained to visit England, and, as is customary,
left his daughters in the palace at Surat. The
eldest is grave, sedate, fond of reading the
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 69
Koran, being instructed in its pages by the
respected Moollali of the family; but the little
one loves merriment, enjoys romps in the
gardens, and recreates in a superabundance of
toys, with which her fond uncle, Meer Acbar,
himself without children, was at this time con-
stantly in the habit of supplying her. She is
very handsome, I am told, and has not been
very long placed behind the Purdah. 1
Meer Jafur was always particularly strict in
attending the Mosque on Friday, the sixth day
of the week, appointed by Mahomed to be kept
holy; before the Prophet's time, however, this
day seems to have been marked, and it is con-
sidered, with Moslems, as the " prince of days,"
the most excellent on which the sun rises. It is
allowed that, after public worship, men may
return to the common affairs of life, but a truly
religious man, a Syud, such as Meer Jafur,
devotes the great day wholly to works of re-
ligious service, to giving alms, and reading the
Koran. As affects giving alms, I never knew
the Meer deny relief to any one who sought it.
During an evening drive the Prince ever stopped
his carriage to relieve the beggar, of whatever
caste or creed he might be, who petitioned aid;
1 Curtain hareem.
70
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
none were sent from his gates empty, and of
all the bands of people that, on Friday and
Sunday mornings, came below his windows,
praising his charity, and clamouring for. its
exercise, none returned without food and money
in their scrip.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 71
CHAPTER IV.
THE BOBAH. 1
"Acazi was asked, 'What is the sweetest thing?' He
answered, When you can get vinegar for nothing/ " Per-
sian jeu d' esprit.
FROM the large shaded upper room of the Meer's
house in Bombay it was exceedingly difficult to
keep away the Borahs, or itinerant traders, who
might be seen hour by hour at the entrance
porch, endeavouring to insinuate their way into
one's presence. As a group, taken in an artistic
sense, they were very admirable to look upon.
The merchant, with his white linen body coat
1 There is a bazaar called the Borah Bazaar in Bombay,
where stolen goods are too often received. An untranslated
Persian work has a good story touching this subject : A
thief stole a garment, and took it to the bazaar for sale ; while
he was disputing the price a second thief secreted and carried
it off. When the discomfited victim returned, his wife asked
him what he got for the dress ; he said, " Exactly what I
gave for it."
72 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
and brightly-coloured turban, smiling and bow-
ing in advance of some dozen swarthy porters,
bearing baskets full of goods ; but once admitted,
the waste of time and annoyance was absolutely
indescribable. At length we succeeded, by
means of considerable coercion and exercised
authority on the part of his Highness's servants,
in freeing ourselves from intrusion, always ex-
cepting one case, that of Hadjee Ahmed, a very
well-known and most pertinacious individual,
full of " wise saws and modern instances."
Before we enlarge on the characteristics of the
Hadjee, however, perhaps the reader will allow
us to introduce a slight sketch of what we mean
and understand by the " Borah," the waste-time
and pass-time of the English resident in India.
Now, just what the pedlar in olden times appears
to have been in the west, is the present Borah,
or itinerant tradesman of the East ; a curious
feature in its characteristics, and consequently
worthy of remark. In Bombay, the Borahs
form a distinct class, and have their principal
bazaar within the fort. In some rare cases they
are workmen as well as venders of goods, but
are generally considered and known only as
wholesale and retail dealers. The Borahs are
all Mahomedans of the " Shere" sect, and are of
two great divisions one, originally from Guzerat,
and the other from Mungrole, Porebunder, and
SIMPSON.
NATIVE PEDLARS.
(FROM LI FE)
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 73
the coast generally of Kattiawar. These classes
are subdivided into the " Daodee " and the
" Soolamaney," each of which has its "Peer," or
great ecclesiastical head. The Daodee Hadjee,
called Abdool Kader Nuzmoodeen, resides at
Surat, and the Peer of the Soolamaneys at
Jidda, in the Ked Sea. There is a considerable
schism between these sects, old jealousies, and
so on, not of much interest, however, to the
general inquirer. About three thousand of
these men are to be found in Bombay, and a
very large extra number among the navigators
of the native craft.
Such are the general statistics of the Borah
class ; but it is their ordinary bearing and occu-
pation which render them so curious and enter-
taining a subject of inquiry and observation to
the gleaner of Eastern characteristics. As with
the English auctioneer, who admits every de-
scription of goods into his store, from libraries
to liquorice, so with the Bombay Borah ; he may
deal in Cashmere shawls, rich silks, and fine
laces, but neither does he despise things of small
price odd mustard pots, pins, or boot laces.
Some of these people amass enormous fortunes,
and others remain comparatively poor, but I
fancy utter ruin and loss are never experienced by
a Borah, and if failing in one case, he invariably
hopes, like Jacob Faithful, for " better luck next
74 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
time," and, as is often the case with those who
are hopeful, and with people determined to help
themselves, the Borah finds it.
They are a strange class these itinerant mer-
chants, being at once particularly troublesome
and eminently useful ! Troublesome in impor-
tunity, and useful by reason of the extraordinary
variety of their wares. Always excepting the
great Borahs, Meerjee and Tiabjee, who are
highly respectable shopkeepers in the fort of
Bombay, and their goods of a very excellent
description, little that is worth having is to be
found in the possession of a Borah. The quick
perception of self-interest, which is the ruling
faculty of a native mind, attains its acme of per-
fection in the brain of a Borah ; and the class
contains, without exception, the most inventive,
most persuasive, and the shrewdest men of
business in the world.
A Borah said to me one day, in the course of
that sort of desultory chit-chat that I was in the
habit of holding with natives, and in the course
of which a good deal of original character often
displayed itself for my instruction and amuse-
ment " I have some thoughts of going to Eng-
land to buy goods for myself; my friends advise
me to do so, but they say the English people
are very shrewd ; however, I never was cheated
in Bombay, and therefore I think it would be
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 75
rather difficult to cheat me, even in London."
The Borah was quite right, for if a tradesman
can hold his own in the commercial, huckstering,
business-like, unconscientious arena of Bombay
native trading, he is tolerably sure in challenging
the whole world the London jeweller, the
Frankfort Jew, the Parisian of the Palais Royal,
or even the Greek of Constantinople (and that
is saying much), to a competition of skill in
the art of money-making on false pretences, or
the whole knack of buying cheap and selling
dear, illustrated by examples, in daily practice.
The most respectable among these dealers are
the cloth merchants; these men are generally
traders, who purchase goods from the merchants
in wholesale quantities and dispose of them
again as retail itinerant dealers. Heerjee Gun-
thur, for instance, a Banian of the Bhattia
caste, is called by many, not aware of his dis-
tinction, " Borah," by reason of his calling. He
is well known in Bombay, and is a man fair in
his dealing, and altogether respectable; but
Heerjee Gunthur is not a Borah, although, as I
have observed, he is often called so by persons
not acquainted with the distinction between the
Guzerat Mahomedan Borah and the Bhattia
Banian, although the Cutch Puggree of scarlet
cloth and the Loonghie flowing round his ankles
should at once show his Hindoo origin. Heerjee
76
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
is a most obliging person, and will procure any
article that can be possibly required from some
of his merchant friends, if notice is given a day
in advance. His goods, too, are fresh, and it
would seem he has much custom, for the coolies
who bear into the house his large japanned tin
boxes full of " Challis " and " new fashions,"
followed by those less favoured in his confidence,
who bear the huge bundles containing the
variety of cottons supplied so cheaply to the
Indian market, to the sad disgrace of those who
have rendered forgotten the looms of eastern
manufacture, look fresh, as if they rested long
and often, on pleasant, airy, China matted landing
places, and did not fag from one end to the other
of the oven-like island, to be dismissed from
doors without a chance of sale, and forced on
hopelessly by some unpitying, grumbling task-
master disappointed in his profits.
I believe that none but a patient and enduring,
because an apathetic native, could bear this
monotony of toil, this folding and unfolding
chintzes, and arranging and re-arranging packets
of socks, and parcels of rejected grass- cloth, hour
after hour, day after day, without the slightest in-
terest in the matter but the three pence per diem
as porters, which they receive, whether the goods
are sold or unsold. These people have none of
the pleasures of a shopman even of the com-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 77
monest class ; they cannot chat or gossip with a
customer, nor find amusement in the act of
draping a window to advantage, an absolute
matter of consummate skill to an English, and,
above all, to a French, shopman, The miserable
cooli has no recreation ; he must wipe the per-
spiration from his weary brows, repack the re-
jected goods (a duty too humiliating for his
master), and then taking box or bundle again
on his head, trudge away after the fat, well-
dressed taskmaster, who craves permission at
the door of every mansion to amuse the morn-
ing leisure of its mistress or fulfil her requisi-
tions.
The better class of Borahs, as I have said,
purchase their goods from merchants, but the
lower class, or " Chow-chow " Borahs, as they
are called in Bombay, depend for stores almost
entirely on the auctions of the commission
agents and the refuse part of Liverpool captains'
investments for the port of Bombay. Auctions
of this kind are of daily occurrence, and a strange
assembly generally attends them. The Borahs,
that is the people of Guzerat, were converted
some five hundred years ago to the Mahomedan
faith, and acknowledge as their head Abdool
Kader Nuzmoodeen ; all wear a similar turban,
a very closely folded one of red or white cloth,
78 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
but the Mehmens, often confounded with the
Borahs, although Moslems from the shores of
Cutch, dress, some with the loose turban of the
Arab, others with the horn-like fronted head-
dress of the Bhattias. Both classes of hucksters,
however, are to be seen in these strange auction
sales " Selums," as they are called while the
vociferation of the purchasers can only be
imagined by those who know to what pitch the
native voice can be toned, or with what marvel-
lous rapidity utterance can be given. The lots
so disposed of are often the most incongruous
that can be imagined, and these are greedily
sought by the " Chow-chow Borahs " as the
readiest of sale, and consisting of articles on
which they can the more easily realize profit.
Other salesmen, besides the Borah and the
Jew, commonly fix a certain per-centage of profit
on the article for sale, as calculated for fair re-
muneration, according to the ordinary rules of
general business ; but the Borah never dreams
of any such self-denying regularities. He gets
as much as he can, justly or unjustly, and
prices his goods, if compelled to do so at all,
generally with more reference to the opinion he
holds of the ignorance of his customers on the
subject than to the real value or the absolute
cost of the article to himself.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 79
A thoroughly ingenious Borah, however,
avoids pricing his goods as much as possible;
he either states the article to be the property of
some one else, whom he describes as a very
harsh, determined, never-to-be-turned-aside sort
of person, like the father or uncle in an old
comedy, and he tells you confidentially that he
really is afraid to ask him to take less, but will
" try and bring answer to-morrow, if gentleman
please;" or, knowing perfectly well that the
article is wanted on the instant, and delay won't
be thought of, he tries another plan, and with a
despairing, quite-satisfied-to-go-to-prison sort of
air, flings the bridle, saddle, book, or whatever
it may be, on the ground, unpleasantly near the
feet of the intended purchaser, and declining to
name a price, exclaims, packing up at the same
time the rest of the basket, as if it was altogether
a settled bargain, "Very well; there, master
take, give what he like / not say anything;"
hoping, of course, your ignorance will prove his
gain; if not, and a fair price is offered, the
Borah, in the teeth of his own settlement, takes
up his goods with an air of affronted honesty,
packs them up, puts his basket silently on the
cooli's head, just turns once to inquire if any-
thing else is wanted, and seeing you thoroughly
annoyed with your own waste of time and his
80 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
roguery, walks off. However, before lie has
reached the gate he returns, unpacks his basket,
and after one trial of what is called " splitting
the difference " in bargains, he gives up his
goods for the sum originally offered. The weary
buyer seizes the articles, his tormentor the
money ; while the purchaser orders him instantly
from his presence, never to return; on which
the Borah smiles blandly, and proposes to call
early the next day with some new goods, " very
nice."
The Borah, who knows well enough what is
expected of him (vain though such expectations
are), always commences negotiations with the
assertion, that he bought his goods yesterday at
auction very cheap, if you only please to look ;
and having done so, he immediately asks for
each article about ten per cent, more than would
be charged by a respectable shopkeeper. He is
apt also to purchase all sorts of things made ex-
pressly for importation, things worthless beyond
all description, and is quite shrewd enough to
know that they are so. Needles, for instance, half
the papers filled with eyeless rods ; pins, whose
heads fall off as the unhappy buyer draws them
from the paper ; reels of cotton, the wood simply
veneered, as it were, with thread; and similar
wares, their external appearance sadly contra-
dicted by the faithlessness within.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 81
Thus we have sugar cane bottled in Bombay,
for garden rhubarb ; acid pale ale for white wine
vinegar, and so on; all bearing, however, fair
promise to the eye, of Heskett, Davis, and
Company, with other well-known purveyors to
foreign markets. The chances are of course
much in favour of not again seeing the face of
the shrewd impostor master, but if " fate" causes
an encounter, he is not to blame ; " How could I
tell, master? vinegar; bad vinegar, made in
England; bought at auction; what can do?"
Articles and prepositions, it may be observed,
seldom take up position in the parts of speech
of a low class native; they are shorn as exu-
berant flowers of rhetoric, and are in no way
considered necessary to the argument.
I have now spoken particularly of the
generally inferior, or " Chow-chow " Borahs,
but not of the merchants, who usually bring
their goods, with great state, in tall hired bug-
gies, drawn by a miserable pony, supported
between the shafts, or in the little painted
wooden Gharries, covered with dark curtains in
the fine weather, and with wax- cloth in the rains,
the wheels and body of which are of two bright
contrasting colours, and drawn at a sharp trot
by a quick, active pair of little Mahratta
bullocks.
G
82
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
BOMBAY HACKNEY CART.
These are Mehmans, and generally of a superior
class, selling valuable goods, such as Cashmere
shawls, jewels, and plated ware.
The greatest character in Bombay, of the
Mehman class, is, beyond all question, our friend
Hadjee Ahmed, a very useful man, with wit
enough for twenty of his calling, yet not very
scrupulous, I fear, notwithstanding the odour of
morality supposed to be given by his Mecca
pilgrimage, and consequent Hadjeeship. No
householder ever arrived in Bombay to arrange
for proceeding to Europe, but his first visitor,
full of anxious inquiries for his forks and curry
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 83
dishes, was the Hadjee. No cadet, laden with
gun, pistol, rifle, broadsword, medicine chest,
and standard books, by considerate parents, but
finds the Hadjee seated in his tent the day after
his arrival, luring his young ideas with Arab
hunters, and Peat's best saddles, at unheard-of
prices, while both are represented by the Hadjee
as presenting singular advantages when con-
sidered as matters of exchange for books and
medicine chests.
He lendeth money, too, our Hadjee, but com-
mits not the sin " of being surety" for a stranger ;
on the contrary, he taketh himself both security
and heavy interest, well noted in the bond, and
smiles at danger, for, as he says, "I could
extract rupees from a stone," and I suspect that
few could resist those means of coining money
to their advantage, so well known to men of our
Hadjee's convenient class.
Meanwhile, the Hadjee's shop, situated in the
Bombay fort, is crowded with as much disorder
as a " Chow-chow" Borah's basket, yet contain-
ing goods of the most valuable description
here is plate of the best fashion, both of China
and English manufacture; massive candelabras,
silver tureens, epergnes, furniture of every de-
scription, valuable books, splendidly bound, en-
gravings, annuals, portfolios of beautiful litho-
graphs ! We wonder that he can find purchasers
G 2
84 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
for such articles in the quantities we see around
us, but branch establishments of the same kind
at out stations prevent a plethora of mer-
chandise, as well as the baskets of those
itinerants of his class, who are to be seen in
every station in India, increasing the prices of
their goods, mile by mile, as they advance
beyond the presidency.
The Hadjee hath a winning way, " a passing
pleasing tongue," and, if he have it not, as-
sumetJi candour, with liberality of dealing.
Moreover, he confides to the purchaser the
favourable circumstances under which he ob-
tained the goods he now offers at so low a price,
and whispers what will be the exact amount of
his small profit, if you intend to benefit by such
a happy accident. Then, again, the Hadjee
often stops a bargain in process at its most in-
teresting point, to tell you, in a low voice, some
touching anecdote of a man who ruined himself
by trying to gain too much ; then shakes his
head, and, with a moral sigh, exclaiming, " Ah !
avarice is a dreadful vice, master;" returns to
his curry dishes and negotiations, and generally
succeeds, quite to his satisfaction, in what a
Borah understands, by " doing business."
Sometimes the Hadjee tries a rapid, energetic
manner, pressing his goods upon his intended
purchaser, naming a certain price, ridiculously
-.-"*.
E LANDELLS, DEL?
SIMPSON kC'lITH.
HADJIE AHMED BORAH.
(FROM LIFE)
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 85
high, but using a quick, sharp tone in doing so,
as if he was a victim, and content to be one; as
if he had said, " There ! I hope that will satisfy
you!" At the same time piling tea-pot, milk-
jug, books, and fifty things you never had an
idea of buying, upon table, chair, and sofa, ex-
claiming as he does so, "Bus hua chul!"
(enough settled go on!) as if all hesitation
was now at an end. I never heard the Hadjee
bargain, that he did not use this favourite clinch-
ing phrase of his every five minutes, and after
every question concerning the price of his
articles.
Another character that was well known among
the Bombay Borahs, was the poor blind man
bearing a little box and bundle of trifling goods,
and leaning, for guidance and support, on a
little lad of particularly prepossessing counte-
nance. The boy was the old man's grandson,
and not only led him tenderly and safely over
the dangerous highways of the city, but showed
extreme shrewdness in assisting him in his call-
ing, examining the money paid to him, and sug-
gesting goods and customers. The poor creature,
in consequence of his affliction, was a pensioner
among the kind-hearted people in Bombay, and
few but lightened the load of the " poor blind
Borah."
Peer Abdool Kader, the head of the class at
86 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
Surat, is a living proof of ecclesiastical power
and influence in the East. As a Fakir he re-
ceives a stipend of two hundred and fifty rupees
a year only. But, from the voluntary contri-
butions of true believers, enjoys all the ad-
vantages of enormous wealth. The Borahs of
the Daodee caste, who acknowledge his priestly
power, give him five per cent, on all their gains
and marriages; gifts are also made to him in
accordance with the wealth of the couple, and
also on the birth of children.
At Surat this Peer lives in good style, gives
alms liberally, and receives visits from nobles
and governors, while, perhaps, the itinerant
trader deems all acts praiseworthy which enable
him to add his gift to the coffers of his powerful
and respected Moollah, to the increased honour
of priest and people.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 87
CHAPTER V.
THE BUKDEN OF SURAT.
" Kings are like stars they rise and set, they have
The worship of the world, but no repose."
LET us ask the first old Indian one can meet,
soldier or civilian, where he was the happiest,
and which he thought the pleasantest station in
the whole of the Bombay Presidency? His
answer will be immediate " Oh, Surat ! it was
such a splendid city; the river was so fine, the
commerce and shipping rendered it so cheerful,
and the Moslem buildings were so magnificent;
besides all that, there was such good feeling in
society oh, there was never anything like Old
Surat !" And then, with garrulous delight, the
veteran hog-hunter proceeds to dilate on the
numerous "first spears" he has taken; on the
pleasant pic-nics at Domas and Vaux's Tomb;
on the sporting songs of the celebrated Major
Morris, so often trolled forth in chorus from
88 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
tents pitched on the banks of the pleasant
44 Tapti ;" nor does he forget to laugh once
more over that character of fun and gossip, that
Figaro of the East, Old Tom the Barber of
Surat.
Of course we ourselves know all that charac-
terises Surat, or we should not presume to
gossip about it to the reader : still, there lies on
the table an odd old volume, possessing those
peculiarities of good binding, bad paper, and
worse printing, which seem to distinguish the
efforts of the press in the last century, and we
find that we cannot resist the temptation to begin
our sketch with this very book:
If the sharer in all this tittle-tattle really loves
literature, he will agree that there is nothing so re-
freshing as the originality of the old writers. It is
so pleasant to note what were men's ideas on sub-
jects new and unhacknied ; to see the quaint way
into which they put these ideas into their setting
of words at a time when book-making had not
become a trade, nor " special " or " foreign cor-
respondents " filled, like the air we breathe, all
space.
In those days of innocent wonder, the idea of
distant lands, and their often very hideous
"curiosities," rather alarmed, than pleased the
u ancient Britons." Society felt a certain awe
for those who had travelled therein, with con-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 89
siderable misgivings, moreover, upon the tales
they heard ; but now the very land of Sphinxes,
by its " return tickets to the first cataract, chil-
dren half price," has become so vulgarised, that
whatever we must continue to think of the
" Salts, Champ ollions, and Belzonis" of the past,
we all of us rather dread the imitation lion, with
his somewhat moth-eaten fur, and are apt to
consider the thinking man of England as the
pleasanter companion.
As with Egypt, so it is with India. The over-
land communication has set all wits to work.
Travellers indite their " first impressions" of the
Sea of Edom, and the river which bore the fleet
of Alexander, as readily as a Greenwich paper
would report a whitebait dinner. Yet this sort
of writing is very unsatisfactory it gives us
stones for bread. Pleasant chit-chat, indeed,
entertaining anecdote, but nothing that is really
interesting or valuable concerning these mighty
and mysterious lands, whose learning and wisdom
the learning and wisdom which calculates its
ages by thousands of years is cased in the trea-
sure caskets of a language almost unknown to
us. For all the religion, the philosophy, the
science, the arts of ancient India, we must still
look to the " Oriental Kesearches ;" we must
still seek through and through such media as
men chose, who, in laborious research, passed
90 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
the years of their Eastern career, devoting them-
selves, their time, labour, means, and mighty
intellects, to the history of the people among
whom they dwelt.
" You will still be talking, Signor Benedick,"
quoth the most witty of all Shakespere's hero-
ines, and I fear the reader thinks / also have
been chatting for the mere pleasure of doing so,
in that I have gone all this way about to intro-
duce the quaint old book of u Olof Torreen,
Chaplain of the Gothic Lion, East Indiaman
(fancy a Gothic lion!), and his account of a
Voyage to Suratte," a mighty wonder in his
days we may be sure.
This book being originally written in German,
was in due time printed in translation, not, in-
deed, by
" Longman, Brown, Rees, Orme, and Co.,
Our brethren in the Row,"
but by one Benjamin White, "at Horace's Head,
Fleet Street," the said White being an ancestor
of the kind-hearted old naturalist of Selbourne.
And here we really must stop again to remark
on the sign, "Horace's Head!" When Old
London was backward in her Horn Book, she
availed herself of hieroglyphics which the most
illiterate could construe, and the author's varlet
found no difficulty in throwing copy, as it were,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 91
at the head of the Latin poet in Fleet Street,
although to deliver it duly at the printing-office
of "Benjamin White" might have taken a higher
knowledge of orthography than the serving-man
possessed.
The style of oriental houses generally is well
known to us, and those of Surat differ little in
the ordinary characteristics. They have flat
roofs, and are covered with Chunam, 1 which
gives them a shining, clear, handsome appear-
ance, while the flower-gardens in which they are
built are usually well planted and gay in colour.
Torreen does not seem aware how much the
heat of houses is increased by windows, which
the Moslems ever avoid, preferring to ventilate
rather by shafts, where such means are practi-
cable. The chaplain, therefore, remarks, "In
the lower storeys there are no windows, and but
few in the upper. In my opinion, this is done
merely through jealousy, and not out of any
well-grounded fear of thieves ; for he who steals
five bottles full of rosewater is punished by the
loss of both his hands, which punishment must
probably deter from the commission of this
crime."
In speaking of the architecture also, Torreen
' A kind of mortar, composed of lime and powdered egg-
shells.
92 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
remarks "It is neither borrowed from the
Greeks nor the Italians, yet there is taste and
an agreeable proportion in their columns. Some
ornaments on the capital and pedestal do not
seem to be in their right places ; but they have
such confidence in their architecture, that they
would make one believe that an whole building
is supported by leaves or feathers." How truly
this expresses the beautiful tracery so noticeable
in all Moslem decoration !
Torreen speaks of the magnificence of the
Mahomedan tombs, built with domes (which
manner of architecture the Mahomedans greatly
affect), and of the castle, as the most consider-
able building on the banks of the Tapti. This
castle, which takes up a prominent position on
the wall of the city, is not less noticeable, as we
shall perhaps see, in the history of the Mahome-
dan government, and may be considered, in local
position, as the centre of a chord of which Surat
and its suburbs include a semicircle of some six
miles in extent. The castle has angular bastions
and a dry ditch, but in old times could hardly
have been well adapted for defence. Torreen
mentions that the reveille was played upon " a
flageolet" from this castle; and after deciding
that the jugglers of Surat were not to be com-
pared to those of China, he alludes to "the
dancing-women," facetiously introducing in pa-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 93
renthesis " (for such is their name, though they
stand still for the most part)" a phrase which
brings at once to the mind's eye the Natch
woman of India, on her flat foot, with her doubt-
fully poetic gestures, and hand upraised, in style
so essaying, rather as a fishwife than a Houri, to
render to every ear the glowing anacreons of the
immortal Hafiz.
The Moslems loved Surat. Its capabilities were
all such as delighted their peculiar tastes : the
fine river, with its refreshing breezes ; the great
sea, which, making this port the readiest high-
way to Arabia, gained for it the title of the port
of Mecca; the bright gardens, full of gay
flowers ; the rich mangoe groves ; the beautiful
position of the city: and thus this great and
powerful people sought to embellish it as they
did all places which came into their power, so
that the palaces and wells, tombs and terraces,
Ghauts and pleasure Kiosks of Surat charmed
the eye of every traveller who lingered there.
The Mahomedans had ever taste for the beau-
tiful : the sites of their cities, and the exquisite
delicacy of their architectural decorations are
proofs of this. The Moslem occupation of India
is marked by the magnificence of the Mahome-
dan capitals; but as the Moslem power gave
place to the British, we find ruin and devasta-
tion. Beejapore, the very queen of cities, is
94
THE MOSLEM NOBLE,
MAHOMEDAN KIOSK ON THE BANKS OF THE TAPTI.
now a mere refuge for the owl and the hyena ;
the exquisitely sculptured tomb of the wife of
Shah Jehan, at Aurungabad, is as a lovely pearl
overgrown by rank grass and tangled foliage;
the fountains, which in a thousand streams re-
flected the sunlit rays, are choked by thorns
and briers ; while the howl of the wolf, with the
shrill bark of the jackal, and the laugh of the
hyena, sounds through the flowery woods that
were once vocal with the prayerful call of the
Muezzin and the strains of Persian poesy.
Fallen Surat! thou wert once great among
the nations ! The beautiful fabrics of thy looms
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 95
were the wonder of the world. Arabia, in her
rest and luxury, owed thee no less thanks than
the slave colonies of the west, with their labour
and their tears! Merchants traded from thy
ports laden with diamonds and spices, fragrant
woods, pearls, ambergris, musk, gold, and silks.
Of thy wealth there seemed no limit ; thy fleets
swept the ocean ; but the day came, and with
it, its burden, its ruin, and its dismay !
We intended to gossip through this book, but
in some way we have committed the folly of
being serious for the nonce. Is the reader inte-
rested? If so, he will bear with us while we
transcribe the means by which this wondrous
change was wrought.
If we consult the map of India, the value of
the position of Surat, on the river Tapti, re-
sembles, in some degree, that of Constantinople
on the Bosphorus; and thus it became a mart of
nations : the result of this local position being,
to bring together not only the merchants of
Persia and Arabia, of the western shores of
India and of Ceylon, but the produce of its
looms, celebrated throughout the world, sup-
plied cotton goods to all the slave islands of the
Eastern Ocean.
The certain effect of an extensive export and
import trade is, to give magnitude, magnificence,
and wealth to the capitals of the producing
96 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
land. So was it with Surat; and in the pleni-
tude of its greatness, Delhi became its governing
power. The Moguls, whether from doubt in
the political honesty of their great men, from
consideration of the temptations incidental to
too extended an authority, or from some other
causes, thought proper to divide the authority
of the civil and military powers, giving gover-
nors both to the town and castle, supporting the
commander of the castle by assignments of land
revenue, and the governor of the town by the
customs, taxes, and other minor matters, Delhi,
of course, with the royal treasury, now and then
taking the lion's share. It was said of old, that
a house divided against itself cannot stand,
though, certes, the position of some London
brick, perilous as it looks, would throw doubt
upon this assertion if of less authority ; but to let
that pass, it is beyond all doubt, that the govern-
ments of Delhi did not get on well together. It
very frequently happened that the governors
were brothers, which did not improve matters,
as they were apt to quarrel terribly, as brothers
of other lands will do where interest becomes
the stimulus. It was not unusual for the gover-
nor of the town to shut himself up in the pretty
French tower on the banks of the Tapti, and
hold his position as in a state of siege. This
pretty spot, cooled by fresh breezes, and sur-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 97
rounded by flowery woods, deserved that plea-
santer memories than those of feud should cling
around it, and perhaps they may in the recollec-
tion of the English sportsman, but to the native
resident in Surat the French Tower seems but a
monument to fraternal differences.
The Mahomedan government protected the
trade of Surat against the piratage so common
in the Arabian seas, by a powerful fleet, which
was given into the command of certain chiefs of
Rajahpoor, called Siddees; but when the ener-
getic Mahrattas, a people eminently skilled in
warfare, and ever opposed to the power of the
kings of Delhi, pressed their forces against the
very gates of Surat, the Nawaub, or Mogul
governor, found himself unable to support the
heavy expenses of the fleet, and thus excited the
commander to blockade the port, so turning that
which should have been the chief protection of
Surat, into an offensive medium of intimidation.
Compelled to appropriate the revenues by this
coercion, injustice in some quarters was followed
by revolution in others. Moslem governors
carried on civil war between themselves, and at
length Mea Atchurid, a clever man of some po-
pularity, secured his position by seeking the sup-
port of the Mahratta power. Then came
misgovernment in all forms ; the commander of
the fleet held the castle, and made matters worse.
H
98 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
The Mahomedans entreated help from the Eng-
lish; they, fearing the powerful Mahrattas, re-
mained neutral, until the naval commander
perpetrated some outrage on an Englishman;
coalition then took place, and on the 4th of
March, 1759, the Rajahpoor chief gave up the
fleet and castle, and the East India Company,
by sunnuds from Delhi, took the command of
both, with an order for the receipt of two lacs
of rupees per annum to meet their expenses.
Succession followed succession, but, as we
know what hard reading Mahomedan names are,
we will escape to the year 1797, when the
English, finding the enormous character of their
burthen, and requiring an enlargement of re-
ceipts from the ruling Prince, recommended him
to disband his own undisciplined soldiery, " and
assign to the English funds sufficient for the
maintenance of three local battalions." u The
Nabob," says Governor Duncan, "betrayed an
immediate jealousy of, and repugnance to, any
concession, as well on the alleged ground of the
inadequacy of his funds, as on the principle of
our interference with his administration ; which
he declared to be inconsistent with the treaty of
1759." l Eventually, poor man, he was pressed
so hard, that he agreed to make all sorts of con-
1 Vide Mills's History of British India.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 99
cessions, and perhaps the affliction killed him,
for he died before the necessary treaty could be
concluded. Then did the flag of England wave
triumphantly from the Castle of Surat. Money,
money ! was the cry. The power of all patronage
was in the hand of the British. The fiat of the
British placed the Prince upon his Musnud, but
not without money! The right of inheritance
indeed was a sort of stumbling block, but the
Supreme Government of India settled the matter
as they pleased.
In 1800, the Nabob agreed to pay a large sum
annually, but declared the impossibility of
advancing beyond it. Mr. Seton, the chief
English authority at Surat, assured the Govern-
ment that, except by a system of barbarous
tyranny among his people, the Prince could not
possibly raise more from the revenues of Surat.
A despatch in answer to this arrived, the import
of which was, to order " the Nawaub to be im-
mediately displaced, and the government arid
revenues to be wholly assumed by the English."
The British called this " a reform of the
Government of Surat." The Prince was weak;
a puppet of the English unpopular by reason
of his efforts to meet the urgent demands of an
oppressive power, and so, in the words of Mills,
the English Government exercised their right
H2
100 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
to "the monopoly of dethronement, and the
Governor of Bombay went up to do his bidding."
With tears the Prince declared " that he could
not survive acquiescence in the demand, not
only from the sense of personal degradation, but
from the odium he must incur among all Mus-
sulmans^ if he consented to place the door of
Mecca in the hands of a people who had another
faith." But what could all avail? Meer Nasseer-
ood-deen, forced into the narrowest compass,
loving and trusting Governor Duncan, and,
through him, believing in the faith of the British
Government, signed the required treaty. He
resigned all authority, civil and military, "all
emoluments, powers, and privileges" to the British
Government, "and, on their part, the Company
agreed to pay the Nawaub, and his heirs and
successors, one lac of rupees annually, together
with a fifth part of what should remain as sur-
plus of the revenues, after deduction of this
allowance, of the Mahratta Chout, and of the
charges of collection."
In gold, and silk, and jewels, the Prince was
then replaced on the throne of his ancestors by
the English Government; the farce was played
out with the trumpettings of elephants, and the
sounds of sackbut, psaltery and dulcimer, and
the great and good Mr. Duncan returned to his
seat of Government to whisper in the ears of
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 101
his many friends, that never had any day been to
him so bitter as that day !
Strange fatality ! The son of the dethroned
Prince, Nasseer-ood-deen, to represent the "heirs
and successors," in whose favour the treaty had
been made, saw but a fair daughter, growing
like a lotus flower in his Hareem, and this lady
he gave in marriage to one of the sons of a
noble gentleman of the Court of Baroda, the
" Old Meer," as his English friends affectionately
call the Prince Safaraz Alee, for, happily, the good
old man yet lives, respected and beloved by all
who know him. The " Old Meer" has an im-
mense force of cavalry, and there are few of the
large cities in Western India where bodies of
these troops are not to be found, commanded
by amiable and excellent officers, Moslems, of
course. His Highness Meer Jafur Alee, was one
of these sons, and Meer Acbar Alee, the other.
The fatality seemed not to end here. His
Highness Meer Jafur had himself only two fair
daughters born to his house, and, in default of
male heirs, claimed in right of his wife, as suc-
cessor to his father-in-law, the dignity of Nawaub
of Surat, in addition to the right of inheritance.
For fourteen years this question has been
mooted, but the first trial of the right was fatal
to the amiable mother of Meer Jafur's infant
daughters. Deprived, by reason of her husband's
102 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
visit to England, of her natural protector,
shocked at the want of respect shown her sex,
religion, and rank, by officials, on the sequestra-
tion of the family property, the poor lady pined
and died, and the loss of his gentle wife was the
first news which greeted the ear of the husband
on his return to his native land. The daughters
of the Prince are now marriageable, and upon
the settlement of his rank naturally depend the
arrangements for suitable alliance.
Whether experience, that watchword of rulers,
may point to, or necessity enforce, the measure,
the dethronement of Princes must ever be at-
tended with saddening circumstances old as-
sociations are so broken by it, old reverences so
trampled under foot ! Great even is the misery
when abdication is enforced by the will of the
masses among a misgoverned people; but, when
the will of a stranger nation commands the deed,
and that nation unsympathizing in all that in-
terests the people unsympathizing in religion,
customs, language, superstition, then indeed is
the burden great even as was this burden of
Surat.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE, 103
CHAPTER VI.
FIKE-WOKSHIPPERS. '
" Now, they touch the Temple walls;
Now Hafed sees the fire divine."
Moore.
A MOST delightful old lady a rosy, bright-eyed,
sweet-voiced, white-handed, dear old lady, and a
great friend of ours, the instant a word of mur-
mur or regret falls upon her ear, is wont to say,
" Take an old woman's advice, my dears, and
always keep the sunny side of the way." Now
we have been lounging slowly, and chatting
much in the shade, about Surat, up to the present
time, but, remembering our friend's advice, we
will, if our reader pleases, cross over, and take
the " sunny side."
The Fire-worshippers of Mr. Moore (and I
1 I have used this title in conformity with the popular
English notion of Parsee worship. But the term is, I be-
lieve, quite unfounded. There are two sects among the
Parsees ; the " Cudmis " and the " Rushmis," and they
104 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
had his word for it), came direct from d'Her-
belot's u Dictionnaire Orientale," but our Fire-
worshippers, the Parsees of Surat, landed
from Yezd, which any one, who likes hunting
up odd names on small maps, may easily
find in the province of Khorassan, and not
far from the wide-famed Ispahan. There is little
reason for it, but yet Yezd always reminds me of
York, with Sir Walter Scott, and " Ivanhoe," and
Rebecca; and this, not for the reason that the
word begins with Y and has only four letters in
it, but in remembrance of the religious perse-
cutions which occurred in either place; the
romantic episodes connected with both, and the
heroism of the women, whether Hebrew or Per-
differ on details of faith, as we Protestants may do with the
Romanists, but neither worship either the elements or the
heavenly hodies, being, in fact, pure Deists, and regarding
the works of God's hand, as to be reverenced only, as proofs
of the Divine power.
The Parsees claim descent from the Phoenicians, and ac-
knowledge Abraham as their chief. Many superstitions have
deformed the ancient faith since their naturalization among the
Hindoos of India. Such, for instance, as the idea of a dog
protecting the presence of a deceased person from the evil
spirit, with a general hatred of cats, and so on. But the
educated Parsees speak contemptuously of these things.
Several works on the Parsee religion, manners, and customs,
have been written by missionaries, but the Parsees deny their
truth. As a body they abhor the " interference of the mis-
sionaries," and admit that they wilfully mislead these zealous,
but often mistaken men.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 105
sian. While the spirit of proselytism shook the
sword of terror over the ancient Fire-worshippers
of Persia, many faint hearts yielded up their faith,
many weary heads bowed to the conqueror's will,
but at Yezd a faithful few clung to their olden
faith, and when pressed on all sides, they
gathered the yet glowing embers of their sacred
fire, sought the nearest port, and there, trusting
to the wild sea waves for the mercy denied by
man, pushed off, like the Pilgrim Fathers, they
knew not whither ; while, 'tis said, that many of
their women, necessarily left behind, at this time
of misery and dismay, sought death, rather than
fall into the captor's power, and asserted, to the
last, their faith in the creed of their fatherland.
The Parsees, still carefully preserving the
sacred fire, the emblem of their faith, landed a
few miles below Surat, at a place called Nowsara,
where they erected the Temple, which has since
become the point of pilgrimage for the Parsees
from every part of Western India, and, in Surat
itself, 14,000 of the followers of the doctrines of
the Zend and the Pagend preserve the ancient
traditions of the Persian people. 1
1 This is the received belief, but a Parsee gentleman, a
short time since, assured me that when the Parsees left Yezd
they first touched at " Diu," but finding that port incommo-
dious, they sailed on to St. John's, near Bassein, not far from
Bombay. The Prince of that country was a Hindoo, and he
106
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
As many Parsee refugees had fled alone from
their native shores, they intermarried with the
dark- eyed Pagans of the land in which they had
become naturalized, while it became a custom
among them to again intermarry almost entirely
within the circle of their immediate female re-
latives. It is also curious, and, therefore, worthy
of remark, that, so far from this custom produc-
ing a deterioration of race among the Parsees,
as it is found to do in other lands, the de-
scendants of the ancient Persians have become a
finer people; larger in stature, more active and
energetic in habit and character. Many of the
diseases common to the Hindoos and Maho-
medans are unknown to the Parsees, but one
scourge is among them, and that to a fearful
extent; the scourge of leprosy.
In the cities of India confirmed lepers dare
not enter, they have small villages immediately
only suffered the Parsees to land and make a settlement there
on four conditions. 1st, That the Parsees should adopt the
Hindoo dress ; 2nd, That they should not wear or use arms ;
3rd, That they should not eat heef ; 4th, That in marriages
the rights should first he performed according to Hindoo
ceremonial. Once, it is said, the Parsees repulsed an army of
attack on the Prince, who gave them Salsette ; the second
time the city was attacked, the Parsees were absent, keeping
some high day of their religion, and the women arming, drove
back the foe. The Parsees then separated, some going to
Oodipoor, and some to Nowsara; both these places are,
therefore, points of pilgrimage.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 107
without the walls, and, when believed incurable,
often seek the dense forest sacred to a favourite
saint, "the Datar Chelah," 1 who alone, as they
believe, can restore them in health to their
homes and little ones.
The Parsees are the most energetic people
living, except the French. Nothing dismays
them. Among other matters, they farmed nearly
all the cocoa-nut plantations in Guzerat for the
purpose of producing "toddy," 2 and took their
Hindoo wives with them, to overlook the culture.
The miasma of many of these plantations,
however, was so fatal that the women died in
great numbers from fever; and it is said that
many of the Parsees married no less than five
wives in succession from this cause; still, per-
severance, the motto of the Parsees, stimulated
them to continue the labour, and to realise not
only great wealth from this source, but to clear
and render the grounds sanitary. Whatever a
Parsee undertakes, he does actively ; occupation
1 The Hill of the "Datar," or Giver, overlooks a noble
forest on the Surashtra Peninsula, near the Mahomedan city
of Junagarh.
2 Name given to the juice of the palm tree. An annual
tax of one rupee, or two shillings, is levied by Government on
caeh tree cultured to make toddy, and the plantations of these
trees are considered excellent property, not requiring irriga-
tion, and producing a liquor much esteemed, refreshing in its
qualities, and only inebriating after sunrise.
108 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
is agreeable to him for its own sake, and specu-
lation is as the air he breathes, a necessary item,
as it were, in the requirements of his existence.
It is asserted by French oriental writers, M.
Burnouf and others, that the Parsees of Surat
lost such portions of their sacred books as they
brought with them from Yezd, and that the so-
called Zendavesta they now possess, has been
compiled from traditions among their priests. I
hope, if this remark falls under the eye of the
learned, they will not think that I am presump-
tuously going beyond my depth in this little
exhibition of knowledge, for nearly all I know
about the Parsees has been derived from per-
sonal observation, and I am not disposed to lose
myself in the difficulties of cuneiform inscrip-
tions, dialects of Zend, or Sanscrit relations. I
have seen the Parsees, day after day, on the
sands of the seashore, with their faces turned to
the rising or the setting sun, clad in white cotton
garments, with a Chinese umbrella or Chittree
of varnished palm leaf under their arms, and I
have heard them pray in some jargon or other,
but whether according to the words of Zoroaster
I cannot pretend to say, while sometimes, as we
have ridden by, some worthy creature, whose
name has ended with a "jee," has broken into
his prayer with an episode, reminding us, as we
passed behind him, " French ship arrived, master,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 109
good Bordeaux want, some very fine" and then,
on again with the morning invocation.
The present Zendavesta is said to be without
sense, and, therefore, I believe the learned will
not allow it to have been the compilation of so
great and wise a man as the Zoroaster of the
Greek, the Zeratush of Persia, a philosopher of
such unquestionable genius, that his opinions
commanded the intellects of some of the most
highly-educated among the Persian scholars and
princes. Anquetil du Perron devoted much
of his time to this question, and translated two
small liturgical works of the Parsees, called the
lesser and the greater " Si-roze." Now, "si"
means thirty, and u roz" day; but it seems that
there is a third book, which tells us the auspi-
cious and inauspicious days of the whole month.
This is a very singular affair; the good and evil
being so balanced, that 'tis odd if any one
escaping Scylla be not destroyed by Chary bdis.
Every day has its presiding angel. We could
repeat their names, strange as they are, but feel
sure that the gratification would not extend itself
to the reader. This " Si-roze" is, in fact, a " fate
book," and speaks of the common acts of life,
such as bathing, dressing, travelling, &c., on
which days they will be attended with for-
tunate results, and the contrary; as, for in-
stance, in the seventh day of the month, pre-
sided over by Amardad, we are told, among
110 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
other things, that "the day is auspicious for
forming unions, for learning science, and for
casting a malicious look at an enemy. The
person taken ill will be in danger of his life;
and the good and bad results of a dream will be
known within twenty days. Anything lost or
mislaid will not be recovered. Kumours will
not prove false," and so on through the thirty
days.
The Parsees are a most interesting people,
whether we regard them in the past or present ;
and, as India owed much of its pomp and
beauty to the results of the Mahoniedan con-
quest, so, all that is progressive in the pre-
sent day emanates from the Parsees. We
have heard of their Towers of Silence, where
the dead are seated among iron gratings to be
reduced to skeletons by the birds of the air; 1
1 There is something poetic in this Parsee term, " Tower of
Silence," as the resting-place of men when the golden howl is
broken, and the silver cord is loosed, as the wise man has it.
It is more serious, more suhlime, than the Saxon term,
" God's Acre," and yet to us, who are accustomed to say,
with Abraham, " Give me a possession of a burying place,
that I may bury my dead out of my sight," there is something
very horrible in the idea of these towers of the dead. True, in
the Capuchin Catacombs of Malta and Syracuse the dead are
placed in their ordinary attire, within niches, to be, as it is in-
tended, a perpetual comment on the vanity of life, and the tra-
veller is soon habituated to the hideous company. But the
revolting circumstance of these Towers of Silence is, that the
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. Ill
we have heard of their Mobeds or Priests, less
respected, as a class, than the priests of any
nation under the sun ; we have heard of the odd
superstition, which teaches that evil spirits are
driven from the dead by the presence of a dog,
and that the future fate of the deceased may be
somewhat guessed at by the manner of the
animal's gaze upon the corpse; we have heard
of their simple, undecorated Fire-temples, and
their gorgeous ceremonies of marriage; but we
look forward now to their influence, as men
of business ; as the introducers and speculators
in railways ; as the great ship-owners of Western
India ; as traders and merchants, keen, observant,
and speculative, as any men of business in the
world.
The head of the Parsee community is Sir
Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, widely known by reason
of his prince-like charities and munificence.
The parents of this great man came from Now-
sara, and he may, therefore, be considered as a
native of Surat, while it is his custom, though
by no means bigotted to his ancestral faith, to
dead, in their ordinary dress, are placed, sitting, in grated niches
that surround the interior of the tower. The birds of prey then
descend, and the fleshless skeleton falls through into the huge
pit excavated at its base. None but the priests enter these
towers, and their breathing is partially defended from the
noisome atmosphere by the folds of a linen cloth.
112 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
visit the great Fire-temple of Nowsara as a
place of pilgrimage, at intervals of two or three
years. 1
Before the period when trade was thrown
open at Surat, it was celebrated as a seat of
learning. The college was one of the best in
India, so that looms and literature worked hand-
in-hand, much as they do with us in modern
Manchester ; and it is this very city of facts and
factories that has told so much against the
cotton trade of poor Surat, inasmuch as it is
found, that the " raw material" can be sent home,
manufactured into usable articles of civilized
life, and sold in India, at a less cost than it
could be worked there; thanks to steam power.
Again, who has not heard of the Pingerah
pool, or hospital for old and diseased animals at
Surat; the Jains, who wear a cloth over their
mouths lest they should destroy insect life with
the air they breathe, as well as the Brahmins, are
morbidly tender on the idea of destroying life,
and hence the origin of this hospital, where the
poor beasts drag on a weary and loathsome
existence. Moral good is said to be produced
by this system, though the fact is very ques-
1 The public and private charities of Sir Jamsetjee for
British, Hindoo, and Parsee purposes, amount to no less a
sum than 234>, 272, a sum standing without parallel in the
annals of individual benevolence.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 113
tionable in the minds of all observers of tail-
twisting, as the coercive power in common
use towards the hapless draught bullocks of the
land.
Perhaps the most cheerful-looking points in
that part of Surat which rises from the river
banks are the Ghauts, or steps, which form the
landing-places. The Moollah's, or Priest's
Ghaut, the Mar Bhere Ghaut, and the Dutch
Ghaut, are the principal of these, although two
new landing-places have been recently added.
Some of the steps leading from the sea to the
fastnesses of our little ocean barrack, Malta,
remind one most of the Ghauts of far Surat, but
are deficient, even in that bright clime, in the
brilliant colour and varied groups, which render,
at early morning, the landing-places of the city
of the Nawaub so animated and attractive. The
Maltese dame in her black faldetta, the English
soldier, or the boatman with Neapolitan-like
cap and jacket, slung, like the pelisse of the
hussar, carelessly over his shoulder, are pic-
turesque enough in their way, but they cannot
be remembered for a moment, when compared
with the warmly-coloured groups of pleasant
Surat. We lack the Brahmin, repeating the
Mantras of his morning service, and laying
aside, as he does so, his turban of striped cloth,
i
114 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
and all the items of his upper dress ; the hand-
some wife of the Banian merchant, laden with
jewels, and attired in silks of the richest texture
and brightest colours, stooping to fill her polished
vessels from the sunlit waters ; the bright-eyed
little bullock-driver, filling his skins for the city's
use; the washerman, surrounded by heaps of
garments, the colours of the rainbow, beating
them on the smooth stones, as he laughs, and
sings, and chats to every fresh arrival at the
Ghaut; the little children singing, playing, and
weaving fresh necklaces of jasmine flowers ; the
Hindoo girl, slight and handsome; the fruit-
seller of the bazaar, or the flower-dresser of the
temple, her shining hair heavily braided, and
adorned with gold coins and fresh pomegranate
blossoms: all these, from time to time, descend
to the banks of the blue Tapti, and render the
landing-places of Surat the long-remembered
spots of interest and of beauty that they are.
Surat, indeed, is fallen ! Her Moslem rulers
have lost their power ; the sound of the shuttle is
scarcely heard; the tents of the sportsman are
few beneath the shadow of Vaux's Tomb ; the
college is like one of those at Padua, almost a
tradition among men. Still there is sunshine
yet. Nature is genial as of yore; the days
as blue, and the people as gentle and as kindly.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
115
So here let us end our sketch, satisfied, as our
dear old friend has it, of the philosophy of
keeping upon " the sunny side."
VAUX S TOMB, SURAT.
i 2
116 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
CHAPTER VII.
THE MUSICAL DOMESTIC.
" Mere wheels of work and articles of trade,
That grace the proud and noisy pomps of wealth."
Queen Mob.
" WHIRR, whirr ! whiz, whiz ! twang ! whirr !"
What an extraordinary noise ! " Mahomed Shah,
what are they doing down stairs?" " Oh!" was
the answer, "it is only the Churkee, or cotton-
cleaner, who wants to re-dress all the cotton for
his Highness's mattrasses !" Truly, a very
remarkable sound, decidedly musical in its way,
and one that I recollected to have heard before,
in the half-ruined streets of Citta Vecchia, where
it deluded me into the idea that the modern
Maltese had retained this strange rasping kind
of melody, as a tradition of some Arab occupa-
tion of their island in days long gone by. Yet,
as I listened, in utter ignorance of who a Churkee
was or how he cleaned cotton, and thinking, per-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 117
haps, that as he worked a companion beguiled
the task with some shrill piping stick, such as is
used by the snake charmers (though the sound
seemed too clear for any of the single instru-
ments commonly played in the highways by idle
people, in a spirit of wantonness and mirth)
curiosity conquered, and I went down stairs
among all the Meer's chess-players, Koran
copiers, and others, to see the Churkee, and, if I
could, to find out all about it. There he was, a
slight, active Mahomedan, his head bound with
a brightly-coloured handkerchief, bearing on his
shoulder a machine, in appearance very like an
old-fashioned, single- stringed harp, the catgut of
which, struck by a mallet, had produced the
sound described, and has its use, not only in
cleaning and separating the cotton, but of at-
tracting attention to the Churkee's presence,
the requisition for the cotton-cleaner being very
frequent.
It is remarkable that, in every detail of do-
mestic life, the manners of the natives of India
are as much opposed to our own, when resident
among them, as can be imagined; and of this
fact, the necessity for the profession of the
Churkee is a case in evidence. A European,
doomed to endure the mighty heat of an Eastern
climate, seeks to render repose at once as pos-
sible, as healthful, and as agreeable, as circum-
118 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
stances permit. A hard, firm couch contributes
materially to this desirable end; and where
horsehair, as cushion and mattrass stuffing is
not to be procured (which is commonly the case,
unless ordered direct from Europe), coir, or the
fibre of the cocoa-nut, is considered a most valu-
able representative. The native of India, how-
ever, if he can afford to do so, cherishes warmth
as his great remedy and general preventive ; the
body being always heated, warm beds are
deemed absolutely necessary, and a rich man
literally preserves himself in cotton, as the
Affghans do their Caubool grapes ; for he is not
only laid on a bed filled some two feet thick
with this gentle comfort, but beneath a coverlet
of the same quilted material, compared to which
a German eider-down is a cool and manageable
luxury. After brief use, this cotton, separating
itself into portions from the general body, like a
commonwealth breaking into parties, becomes
one of the most troublesome things to manage
in the world, and, by degrees, the poor son ol
the sleepless finds himself little better off than
the Jogee on his bed of blunted nails, until the
Churkee with his Jin sets matters smooth again.
There was no time to be lost, however, so
while I stood looking on, full of marvel at the
whole affair, the Churkee seated himself about
three feet from the wall, holding the handle of
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 119
his Jin in a horizontal position, a little inclined
towards him; and so commenced his labour.
The instrument, which really, as I have said, is
a good deal like an old-fashioned harp, and some
six feet in length, was fastened by the centre to
a long rope tied firmly to the cord of a bow,
suspended by a strong nail on the upper part of
the wall, which allowed the necessary play to
the Jin, while the cotton- cleaner, holding it with
one hand, placed the cotton upon the catgut
string, and striking it quickly with a double-
headed mallet in the other, caused the cotton to
fly from it, by means of the vibration, in a clean
and open state.
It was hard work for the poor Churkee, who
looked thin and wretched enough, and although
his hand was protected to a certain degree, by a
cotton pad, against the vibration of the string,
yet he had his knuckles sadly galled by the play
of the instrument, which had taken away the skin,
and caused soreness and swelling not a matter
of much consequence, however, to Esoo the suf-
ferer, who seemed rather amused at being pitied
than otherwise, for it must be a very severe flesh
wound indeed, that produces any effect upon a
native. This remark I have frequently made
when I have seen men wounded by sword-cuts
and desperate chances of flood and field ; while
perhaps it is to their own indifference in the
120 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
matter, rather than to absolute cruelty, that their
apathy in the cases of the poor beasts of bur-
then may be traced, when galled by heavy
loads.
Whatever the necessities of the factory system
may do in compelling the endurance of personal
suffering, very few like Esoo the cotton-cleaner
would willingly pursue a vocation that seemed
so painful as this, nor remain so careless in pro-
viding against its evils. " Every Churkee was
the same," he said ; " all their left hands raw
and swelled, but what was that?" I suspect his
work was very heavy too, for Esoo did not look
like an idler, and he was working for his own
people a fact of great importance as affects
honesty and speed among native workmen; it
was job work, too, paid at the rate of twelve
annas, or about one shilling and eight pence, for
a mattrass containing sixty pounds of cotton,
and yet every ten minutes he socially availed
himself of a Gora walla V offer to share the plea-
sures of his "bubble bubble."
The Churkee's stock in trade does not require
much capital, and once purchased his labours
are all profitable. The Jin, or " Caman," as it is
called, is made of the strongest wood, the sesum,
and is joined in three pieces, for the sake of com-
1 Horsekceper.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 121
bined strength and elasticity. Its price is fifteen
rupees (thirty shillings) ; the Gotilla, or mallet,
is of tamarind, at once the lightest and hardest
wood known, and this implement costs about
three rupees; so that for less than an expendi-
ture of two pounds sterling, the Churkee is set
up as a professional man; and as everybody
has their mattrass refilled twice a-year, and
there are but sixty of his calling in the Presi-
dency, the cotton-cleaner's trade is tolerably
profitable, and always secure.
The best cotton in the Bombay market is
brought from Guzerat, Broach, Bhownugger,
and Dholera. The cotton is gathered every
year in the spring, or Hooli season, and sown
during the rains, while it averages in price four
rupees a Maund, of eighty Seers, in Guzerat,
and three rupees a Maund, of forty Seers, in
Bombay. It is cultivated by both Mahomedans
and Hindoos, but cleaned only by the former.
Guzerat rather resembles one enormous park,
with its fine trees and flat, ribbon-like roads over
the rich black soil, than an extensive province,
as it is ; and its beauty is increased by the plan-
tations of cotton, which, when the bushes are in
bloom, with their pretty yellow-tinged blossoms,
and the snow-like cotton bursting from the pod,
are extremely gay and pretty, scarcely less so
than fields of the flaunting poppy, while more
122
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
COTTON LEAVES AND BLOSSOM.
pleasing to the thoughtful admirer, inasmuch as,
while the one is associated with half the disease,
misery, and apathetic indifference, flowing from
sensual indulgence among the people of the
East, the other is the very type of industry,
peace, and commercial affluence.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 123
In all great schemes, individuals suffer, I fear,
from the abuses and evils that seem almost in-
separable from the system. Inseparable from
many causes from the very nature of the thing
itself; perhaps from the weakness or the wick-
edness of human nature when armed with irre-
sponsible power; or from the impossibility of a
complete investigation of details by those in
authority.
Our attention, however, is not demanded on
this question ; we have a brighter and pleasanter
subject before us. Let us remember the cheer-
ful faces we have seen even here in the East:
young girls and matrons plying the distaff, sur-
rounded by smiling, happy children. Let us
think of the comfort this cotton work produces,
with the value of the product as an article of
trade, both here and in export to our own land ;
of the beauty that art, design, and colour can
effect from these snow-like balls of raw mate-
rial ; and on the value of knowledge, as a means
of wealth and happiness to countless thousands,
even as here shown by one cotton pod, if we will
but in imagination follow its course, first to the
screw, next to the cleaners, then to the winders,
the twisters, the dyers, the weavers, until it
shines forth a brilliant flower on the gay dress
of some happy village bride, among the rural
homes of England, or is returned in fabrics of
124 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
the most glowing tints to India, to delight many
with its brilliant hues.
Thinking thus, the cotton pod has great inte-
rest to the eye of the contemplative traveller,
and suggests a thousand thoughts, well suited
to its beauty and its value, far beyond the cold
calculations of u price currents," or the question
of its value in American markets. Let us but
put aside the statistics of cotton, leaving such
knotty matters, with all deference, to those who
best comprehend them to the merchant, the
broker, and the reporter on commerce and we
shall then see that no subject in the world
is more rife with the power of leading us
away with pleasant thoughts, in endless, wide
variety.
The looms of the East, for instance, how rich
they once were in beautiful fabrics, produced by
the cunning hand of man, ere the now forgotten
art, chased from India, became known in its per-
fection in the West, by the wondrous powers of
all- controlling, all-producing steam ! And even
now, how delicate the silk embroidering on this
same cotton ground, wrought, it is true, with
the rude tools of native workmanship, yet excel-
lent in beauty, and adorning forms among the
nobles and princes of the East, that classic lands
might have accepted as their artists' models.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 125
The divans and ceilings of princes' Hareems,
too, wrought on this same cotton in needlework
of divers colours, how beautiful they are ! how
fit to charm the eyes of fair and gentle women,
who need only the fostering hand of civilization
to render them in all other things, as they now
are in loveliness of feature and grace of form, the
more than equals of their Western sisters ! The
pretty children also, how interesting they are
with their little parti-coloured coats of brilliantly
dyed cotton cloths, on whom the eye of the
fond mother falls, as if her treasure were a second
Benjamin !
Contrasting with the child, we see the mounted
chief; his cuirass of quilted cotton turning aside
the bullets of the Jinjal fired from his rival's fort,
as though his armour were of ringed steel; the
saddle, too, so bright and gay, beneath which
his well-broken steed caricoles with so much
spirit; the reins of silk and cotton twist, also so
bright and gay : for, if a Hindoo warrior, he dare
no more, by reason of his caste, touch the un-
clean leather, than, indeed, the Prophet's fol-
lower can handle the (to him) accursed
hog-skin, the abomination of Islam and its fol-
lowers. Then, again, the holiday attire of the
Indian women, even of the common class, as the
warm sun shines in streams upon the brilliant
126 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
dyes, the gay and pretty borders of their various
coloured Sarees ; how beautiful even cotton seems,
when draped with a grace equalling Grecian
art over fair forms, which owe all to nature, and
acknowledge none of those interferences of the
toilette" that would mar their beauty! How
richly the dark blue folds fall over the half-
concealed crimson boddice, and drape round the
delicate elastic ankle, decorated with its silver
bangle! How handsome the expressive face
often looks, the saree half drawn over one cheek,
while it casts a clear, decided shadow on the
smooth forehead and the plaits of glossy hair so
softly braided there !
Would we have a contrast in our theme, let
imagination bear us to the gay kerchief head-
dresses of the south of France; to the scarlet
and yellow handkerchief braiding the woolly
head of the merry negress attending on the
Turkish hareem, all finery and laughter ; or to
the crowded streets of London, and moralize on
the groups that pass us there.
Half the commerce of the world appears in
cotton; half our ideas are borrowed from this
topic. Scarcely a thought, whether of the com-
merce and prosperity of England, or the suffer-
ings of her people, of her foreign influences, of
her growing power, but cotton may appear a
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 127
principal point in every tableau, and presents
a series of the most glowing as well as in-
teresting pictures to the imagination; while
the stranger, winding along the monotonous
roads of fertile Guzerat, his eye fixed on the
poor cultivator's little field of blooming plants,
may, by the help of a little imagination, be
transported to the uttermost ends of the earth,
and gather fresh wisdom and certain pleasure
from his reverie.
The best cotton known of old in England was
chiefly brought from Cyprus and Smyrna. The
cotton thread of Jerusalem, called bazas, was
also much esteemed. Of Indian cotton, that of
Bengal and Guzerat has the readiest sale, as
finer, longer, and softer than other kinds. In
olden times, the cotton of the Antilles, called
Siam cotton, had a high celebrity for its very
extraordinary beauty of texture, and stockings
woven of it could scarcely be distinguished from
silk, in consequence of their fine glossy, delicate
appearance, and were sold in England at fifteen
crowns a pair. Although cotton must be always
packed dry, moist weather, if the cotton is under
cover, is considered the best time for this pur-
pose. The great Apollo and Colabah screws in
Bombay are, perhaps, among the most curious
features in the island to a stranger's eye, as well
128 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
as the enormous warehouses required for storing
the cotton during the monsoon. These screws
are of double power, and worked by Ghatties, or
hill coolies, principally from the Southern
Ghauts. The screw compresses the cotton to
about a fourth its original bulk, and the work is
said to be laborious in the extreme.
It is reported that the Bombay cotton trade is
grievously declining, and many fear its ceasing
altogether. The trade between India and Can-
ton a few years since was very important, but
the Chinamen are said to have taken a fancy of
late to British goods, manufactured of cheap
American cotton, and will have little of India's
raw material. If this is indeed so, it were
time India recovered her knowledge of the arts,
and had steam and hand-looms, designers, cotton
printers, and dyers of her own. The poor cul-
tivator, at least, would find recompense for his
labour, while the Banian, the merchant, and
the boat-owner, might still find, in interior de-
mand and home consumption, all the benefits
erst derived from general exportation and foreign
trade.
I am afraid that picking through this mass of
cotton has tired the reader, as much as his work
did poor Esoo ; nor has the former had the sun-
shine that plays about Meer Jafur's pleasant
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 129
house to cheer his labour in making way through
the puzzled web of the " raw material," so that
were he called upon by the Chamber of Com-
merce to report upon the matter, " cottons
are lively " would scarcely be the phrase of
his selection, whereby to describe the present
market.
130 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
CHAPTEK VIII.
THE OLD FORT.
" Swift with exulting cries and wild despair,
On the proud fortress rush the maddened host ;
The lengthened ladders to its walls they hear,
And press contending for the dangerous post."
" I CAN'T go to Sweden this summer/' said a
friend of ours, a very gourmand in travelling;
" because I must read up sea-kings and Norse-
men first."
It has happened to me to have frequent oppor-
tunities of noting how this sort of labour has
gained the rich return it sought. How, like all
worthy things, not a grain of it has been lost in
producing the interest, the compound interest,
of recompense. I have stood in the ancient
theatre at Yerona, with a student of Euripides
and Aristophanes, and seen how it affected him
to note the very ways and means by which the
old Greek drama was put upon the boards.
I have sat on the Nyx at Athens, with one of
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 131
the first classics of the day, and admired the
ecstacy with which his eye fell upon the distant
groves of Academus, while, in the dreamy fancies
of the hour, the population of the neighbouring
city seemed streaming round the fair Acropolis,
to hear the mighty words of Demosthenes, as
given from that spot; and I have also seen the
"fast man," full of ignorance and conceit,
" doing " both Northern Italy and the fair city
of Pericles, and I have tried to pity him !
We have show places in India, too, as well as
Europe places great, wonderful, mysterious in
old tradition; speaking of languages and reli-
gions long forgotten, sciences and arts for ever
hidden as it seems : and yet people go and look
at them, and dance, and laugh, and boil potatoes
in true pic-nic style, nor ask to learn, nor pause
to think; they have done Elephanta, Ellora,
and Carli and what remains?
See that calm student there, with his friend
the Brahmin, who has glided away among these
glorious ruins towards his distant tent pitched
on the side of that rocky mound beneath the
peepul tree ! He has laboured on the records of
the past, and as he stands and gazes on these
mighty monuments of time and art, on gigantic
statues, on traceries of flowers, delicate as lace-
work, yet of a substance so hard as to turn every
instrument now used upon it in roughest work ;
K 2
132 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
he sees the ancient world rolling back again, as
it were, in eclipse of all now present; he hears
the wisdom of the Buddhist sages; he listens to
the strains of Hindoo poetry, to the glorious
language of the Sanscrit drama; beautiful
women, the "lights of the Hareem," move grace-
fully before him; conquerors, the Timurs and
the Akbars of the East, in shining armour, stride
through the corridors ; the priests perform their
dark, mysterious rites; the dancing-girls weave
fresh chaplets for the altar. The student's eye
is dark and bright, for glorious dreams are
lighting it; and he starts, as if too roughly
roused, when his watchful servant warns him to
his sunset meal.
Oriental students are, unfortunately, too rare
in modern days, nor can / boast a rank among
them ; yet having " read up " a little of Moslem
history before I travelled through the Deckan,
the reader may, perhaps, feel some interest also
in the way we took.
My supposed companion is probably not an
early riser, yet the horses will be saddled at
three in the morning, and we must make our
way over the soft, even, pleasant Mahratta roads
while the Pleiades are yet shining, so that we
may arrive at the great Mahomedan city of
Aurungabad before this sun is hot enough to
cause us headache. It will be pleasant, too, as
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 133
the dawn breaks and the breeze rises, to canter
on over the winding roads of the wide plain, all
green and fresh with its varied brushwood, the
dew lying on grass and flower, the birds, that
" king of the crows," the earliest riser, calling
on the Hooppoes and the Minars to give life to
the awakening world. How delightful the air
is! how peculiar the sensation it occasions!
How different is the climate of these mornings
in the tropics, to that of any other that we know !
The shores of the Mediterranean, the climates
of Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Italy are agree-
able, yet not as this is. But we must hasten
on, for the sun has risen; flocks of peacocks
spread their glorious plumage, strut for a time,
and then fly shrieking over our heads; while
the monkeys spring from bough to bough of the
niangoe trees, followed by their little ones, to
whom they never cease to chatter, with warnings,
no doubt, of danger.
And thus we reach the famous city of
Aurungzebe, the courageous, ambitious son of
the mighty Shah Jehan, the great Mogul con-
queror of the Deckan. 1
Our tents have been pitched we find in the
tangled garden of the beautiful Mukrubeh fit
monument to the beloved and accomplished
1 A.D. 1655.
134 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
wife of a Moslem prince. And when the rice
and curry have received their fair attention,
with the dish of blamange-like Soojee 1 that we
see in preparation, we can stroll out and note it
well. We find the model to have been that of
the famous Taj at Agra, and determine to devote
a day to its inspection, its beauty being so infi-
nitely beyond our expectations. Fortunately
the tomb is outside the town, near the hills to
the north, and is surrounded by a wall, the
masonry of which seems perfection; and the
entrance gate-way on the southern side has
doors, massive beyond belief, and richly orna-
mented with brass.
But we will turn to the tomb itself, which is
of pure white marble, raised on a terrace plat-
form some twenty feet from the garden plain,
and surrounded by beautiful minarets. The
traceries and fine work of the exquisitely carved
windows are of a lace-like delicacy indescribable ;
and as we look through the marble doors that
enclose the absolute tomb of the lady, with its
cloth of gold covering, in accordance with the
customs of the Mahomedans, art, we feel, can
have no greater perfection. 2
1 Fine flour, which is boiled to a certain consistence, and,
when cold, is eaten with sugar, cinnamon, and milk.
2 From the gate of the Mukrubeh we copied a Persian in-
scription, thus translated : " This illustrious shrine has been
built by Busput Roi, under the supervision of Ut Ullah,
1071" (Hegira).
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 135
The garden looks unusually gay, too, as it
happens to be Friday, a day when the Moslems
frequent it in great numbers, this being their
Sabbath as it were ; and though the fountains,
which at certain distances mark the centre of
each avenue leading to the mausoleum, have
long ceased to throw their sparkling showers to
the light, and the brilliant flowers, untended,
trail along the pathways, the colours of the
varied groups give, as we see, animation to the
scene, and awaken dreams of the time when
"fair women and brave men" made this spot
their favourite place of rest and recreation.
It is difficult to repose here on soft cushions
under the shadows of the widely -spreading
tamarind trees, and to gaze upon the lovely
tomb of the Empress Eabia Doorani, the beau-
tiful and tenderly loved wife of one of the
greatest warriors of the East, 1 without reflection
on the history and character of those great and
chivalrous rulers of India, of whose present de-
cadence and ruin, this tangled garden, these
broken fountains, these blossoms trampled under
foot, seem but as the symbols.
Bactria and Transoxiana gave those chiefs,
who, renowned for their learning, taste, and
1 Aurungzebe assumed the title of Alum Gir, or Conqueror
of the World, at Delhi, in 1658.
136 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
civilization, founded the Mogul dynasty of India;
among them were poets, historians, linguists,
and men of science; mathematicians, astrono-
mers, and geographists. Bokhara and Samar-
chand were as notable for their libraries and
universities as Verona and Padua. Mahmood
of Ghuzni honoured with his friendship and
protection the Tasso of Asia. The great Timur
made institutes marked by a wisdom and a bene-
ficence unrivalled in the history of rulers, and
there was a chivalry, a manliness, a purpose, an
independence about these Moslem princes, which
was unrivalled among the conquered. 1
Then there was the romance too, despite the
seclusion and matter of course system of the
hareem!. The great Jehangire owed all the
influences on his life to the power of love and
beauty. Who has not heard of "the light of the
hareem, the fair Nour-mahal?" no imagination
of the poet, but a Tartar maiden, who, saved
from the deadly coils of a snake in early life,
lived to become the favourite sultana of an empe-
ror, and not only so, but having carefully culti-
1 Abul Fazil, the great statician and geographer, was the
prime minister of the Emperor Ackbar, A.D. 1605, and assisted
him in the compilation of the Ayeen Ackbari. The Emperor
Baber, whose charming memoirs are the recreation and delight
of every reader acquainted with Oriental literature, died 1530,
leaving an inheritance of wisdom to be ever remembered
among the fountains and rose-gardens of beautiful Caubul.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 137
vated the arts for self-support in early life, she
possessed attractions which had power to exer-
cise sway over all the governments of the
land.
Then there were the daughters of Shah
Jehan; three Graces, as it were witty, gentle,
beautiful, accomplished not easily forgotten;
their charms and virtues not alone the theme of
minstrel poets, but which guided to courteous
sentences the pen of the very coldest of histo-
rians; but the sun is lowering in its course,
and we have yet, guided by that dark green
Moslem flag, to visit the tomb of the well-
known Musafir Shah, a saint of great reputed
holiness.
When I was there some time since, I made
many sketches of the place, and fed the tame
carp with bread, who sported in the cool
waters of the tank ; and I was shown the site of
the palace-like house of the great merchant
Palmer, who once exercised prince-like hospi-
tality all around. However, as we have to start
for the Old Fort at gun-fire in the morning, it
will now be enough, if the reader pleases, to
see the tomb of the Shah Sahib, as they call it
here.
How dirty Aurungabad is ! what swarms of
children ! what hundreds of long, white- teethed,
barking dogs ! what heaps of filth ! what horrid
138 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
odours ! But we have passed it all at last ; the
green flag of the Nizam waves over the wall so
handsomely carved in arches, and we are in the
cool garden that surrounds the tomb. 1
How full all the verandahs are of slippers!
and how odd it seems that all those grave elders
sitting in the shade, with Korans on their knees,
seem too much abstracted to notice either our
approach or the constant passing of the Hindoos
to fill their water-vessels, in preparation for
their evening meal. It is habit, and the good
Syuds read the Koran sedulously ; but there is
not much learning here, although some Jahgirs,
or landed estates, are enjoyed for the support of
the Morreeds, or pupils of the saint's successors,
there being colleges attached. Dinner, however,
is waiting, the pale ale is by this time cold, as
if frappe with American ice; the camels are
roaring in the distance, and we must see the
moon rise over the pearl-like domes of the
Muckrubeh before we seek rest and our morning
march must be right early too, though it is but
fourteen miles to the Old Fort of Deogurh, 2 our
intended halting-place.
1 On the gate of the Shah's tomh is this inscription:
" Musafir Shah, the world of truth, departed from this earth
when his time was come, and Khureed told the date of his
departure." 1126 (Hegira).
2 The Dowlutabad of the Mahomedans.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 139
It is as well that we guide our horses as far
from the centre of the pathway as we can, out
of the way of the stream of religious fanatics,
Hindoo or Moslem, who have entered the city
of Aurungzebe, to seek rest for the night at the
Shah's tomb. Here are Fakirs and Goshna-
sheens of all descriptions. That wild, nearly
unclothed, fine-looking man, with his black
hair falling over his neck, arid bearing those
great bell-like affairs of crimson embroidered
cloth over his shoulder, brings water holy
water, as 'tis thought from the river Ganges ;
he, on the side there, advancing prostrate on the
ground, is measuring his length from Benares to
all the sacred shrines of India, in performance of
a vow; and that wild, skeleton-like creature,
with a bell depending from his waist-belt to his
ankles, has walked through the deadliest forest
without scrip or clothing, sharing wild berries
with the parroquets, and scaring the beasts of
prey from his path by the sound of that same
bell. But we have, with all our care, pushed
against a priest how he scowls ! and holds the
tip of his ear till long past our group, and all
that trouble simply to guard him from the Evil
Eye and the contamination of the Feringee !
Now, then, for Dowlutabad! The road is
bad, and the tents will certainly not be up for
140 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
breakfast, for we can even now hear the creak-
ing of those dreadful carts, and see the camels
not very far ahead; it is evident that the ser-
vants halted at midnight, lighted fires among
the stones, and slept too late. Well, fortunately,
there is capital accommodation in the tombs, so
it does not much matter.
Perhaps our friend, the reader, considers it
better, as Russell would say, u to wait a little
longer" for " capital accommodation" in a tomb,
but he must be good enough to recollect that he
has consented to be our imaginary companion in
an Eastern trip, and there the large apartments,
the domed roof, the thick walls of a neglected
tomb, are worth the finest tent that Bengal, with
all its knowledge of four-cloth Kanauts, 1 double
flys, and extending verandahs, can possibly
produce.
The tombs we have decided on are capital,
they are twin mausoleums as it were, so we
arrange them accordingly, having in front that
handsome range of domes that the Emperor
Mahomed III. caused to be erected over the
tooth, which pain, and ignorance of the soothing
effects of chloroform, caused him to have ex-
tracted. 2 While we admire and wonder at this
1 The sides of a tent. 2 A.D. 1324.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 141
expenditure of masonry, a Taifa, or band of
Natch people, taking the expression of our
smiling observation for personal encouragement,
have sat down so exactly in front, that the head
of the gray-beard with the tom-tom has fallen
exactly on the lens of our camera lucida, so we
stroll away to the Old Fort. It is fortunate
that we have this order from his Highness the
Nizam, or we could never see this strong place
after all ! What a wonderful mound of earth-
work, and wall, and bastion it is, and how our
Arab steeds scramble, and stumble, and recover
themselves again, with rein on neck, till they
have wound round and round the roughly -paved
outworks, and arrive in front of the marvellously
low entrance doorway. It is scarcely high
enough to pass under without stooping, even
when we have dismounted. Ah ! there's the
trick of it, the old Mahratta stronghold of
Deogurh 1 had not repelled so long and so often
the attacks of the Moslem emperors of Delhi
but for such stratagems and architectural sur-
prises as we shall meet with here.
1 House of the God. Deogurh is by some considered to
have been the Tagara of Ptolemy. The first notice I find of
Deogurh, speaks of it as the capital of a Mahratta chief of the
Deckan, called Ramdeo, in 1298.
142
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
ENTRANCE THROUGH SCARP TO DOWLUTABAD.
Although the Mogul prince Alia so reduced
the power of the Mahratta chief of Deogurh, as
to compel him to hold his country as a depen-
dency of the throne of Delhi, still it was only in
the reign of Mahomed III. that, charmed with
the position of the fort, that emperor determined
to transplant his people there from the ancient
capital, and gave to the Old Fort the modern
title of Dowlutabad; but though long held, it
fell into the hands of rebels, Affghan insurgents,
and then followed bloodshed, insurrection,
miseries unspeakable, until 1650, about when
Futteh Khan, a governor under the Prince of
Ahmednugger, rather than give it over to the
King of Beejapore, offered it to Shah Jehan.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 143
Now, Futteh Khan, like a child who stretches
out a bit of cake towards its nurse in a moment
of generosity, repented of his act and drew back
accordingly but too late. Dowlutabad was a
bit of cake the King of Delhi experienced a great
relish for, and so laid siege to it; but, as we
shall see when we enter it, it was not to be
easily taken, and famine from within effected
what no outward attack could compass.
A wonderful place, in sooth, is this great forti-
fication, on a detached rock, of which every natural
precipice is taken advantage of for some work of
marvellous strength, that strength increased by
every ingenious device of Oriental skill.
The Moslem soldier, our cicerone, however,
seems rather tired of leaning on his matchlock,
and, no doubt, thinks that our rhapsodies should
have an end. A very picturesque person he is
truly, with his rhinoceros-hide shield bossed with
gold, his pouch and powder-flask of embroidered
crimson cloth, his green turban, and waist-belt
bristling with Creeses ; and as he is just the sort
of man it would be better to have as a friend
than an enemy, we will pass forward without
further parley.
Having achieved the outer gate, and passed
the great Wardlee wallah 1 by the ditch, all we
1 A gun, so called from its having a ram's head at the
trunnion. A magnificent piece of Mahomedan work, twenty-
two spans in length, and capable of carrying a 12-lb. ball.
144
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
thought would be easy. Not so ; you see every
irregularity of the rock must be ascended and
descended by steep steps, part concealed by
brushwood, in which lions by the dozen delight
to rest, and then we have more strong works
before us, and the narrowest and lowest of all
possible doorways. " Stoop, stoop, young man,"
said the wise Franklin to his young friend, " and
both in the world and in the gateways you will
escape many hard knocks ;" so we shall do well
to stoop in this great Moslem fortress, for many
hard knocks must the besiegers from time to
time have had before us here.
OUTER ENTRANCE FROM SCARP DOWLUTABAD,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
145
There is a cold breeze rushing down from
above us, and we find it is caused by a large
square opening, heading a flight of wide, conve-
nient stairs ! Ha, ha ! another trick ; the enemy,
who had once gained an entry to the fort, and
arrived thus far, thought all won; with shouts
of triumph they then rushed madly on, to be but
cast down again, with yells of pain and anguish.
Now, we see those heavy gates of iron resting
against the wall ; they fit this opening ; on them
lighted wood was often piled, and kept blazing
by a blast-hole from the outer bastion. As the
soldiers rushed up to victory, they struck their
heads against this burning roof, and were cast
TRAP-DOOR DOWLUTABAD.
146 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
pell-mell back, to die in torments in the castle
ditch !
Now we have gained the summit of the fort,
and stand beside the old brass Hindoo gun, over
which floats the green flag of the Moslem ; l it is
supported on a rickety wooden rest that stands
on a circular plateau of masonry, and here the
soldier turns, and thinks when we have looked
down a dismal hole, of which he tells many tales
of men lost, and of Gins and Devis seen, that
we have done enough.
So we have, but let us look around upon the
great plain below; on the beautiful Moslem
tombs of divers architecture, on the fine niangoe
trees grouped around, on the graceful Minar
rising at one side near the entrance of the fort,
and on the little hamlet clustered at the base.
We can just make out our own tombs in the
distance, with the cooking tent and servants,
who seem moving to and fro, as if preparing
our now much-needed evening's refection; we
will descend then, carefully and slowly, and now,
once more upon the open plain, we turn again
to gaze upon this wonderful stronghold, and our
melancholy friend, the Persian Moonshee, seeing
1 Bearing the following inscription in Mahratta " This gun
was made at Agra, by Mahomet Hassan, Arab ; and is called
-" Dust Exciter."
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
147
us do so, strokes his beard, and breaks forth,
after his manner, with a sort of compliment,
which, though it does not sound so well in
English, we will venture to transcribe-^-
" Whoever has travelled is approved
His perfections shall be reflected as from a
Mirror of light,
There can be nothing more pure than water,
But wherever it stagnates it becomes offensive,"
THE " DUST EXCITER.
L2
148 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
CHAPTER IX.
THE SECRETARY.
" Give, to spend the classic hour,
One deep read in learned lore ;
One, whose merry, tuneful vein,
Flows like our gay poet's strain."
Hafiz.
WE have been introduced to Mirza All Ackbar
Khan Bahadoor, his Highness's attache^ dashing
along the Strand in the Meer's carriage, on his
return from some notable interview with the
chiefs of the English bar; we can now take a
nearer view of him as he stands behind Meer
Jafur Alee's chair, 1 and the scrutiny will satisfy
us at once how completely the countenance is,
in this case, the index of the mind.
When his Highness Meer Jafur Alee visited
England in 1844, he brought in his suite from
Bombay, an English gentleman, who, as he had
1 Vide frontispiece.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 149
occupied a commercial and literary position at
the capital of Western India, his Highness
thought a fitting person at once to advance his
claims and to assist his introduction to society.
It is needless to say that the Nawaub of Surat,
as he was called, soon proved his own best intro-
duction. His courtly manners, his splendid
costume, the interest which attached to his
position in this country, soon gave to his
Highness Meer Jafur Alee an entree into the
first society of London; and, although he was
at this time quite unacquainted with the English
language, interpreters of his own pure and
elegant Persian were easily found among several
officers of the Honourable East India Company's
service, who had known his Highness in India,
and, being warmly attached to him, felt the
greatest possible satisfaction at the reception
which greeted the Meer in our own aristocratic
and courtly circles.
At Windsor and St. James's his Highness was
received as became his rank. At balls and
fetes, dejeuners and fancy fairs, the eye of beauty
rested, well pleased, upon the "Nawaub" and
his richly attired suite. Crowds of gaping idlers
thronged every street in which the carriage of
his Highness stopped, in hopes of seeing him
re-enter it, for visions of oriental costumes,
with an abundant use of gold, Cashmere, and
150 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
the primitive colours, were not so common
between St. John's Wood, Maida Hill, and
Leadenhall Street in those days, as they are
now; and, even at the Polish ball, the brilliant
dancers of Willis's Rooms, forgot their own
braveries, whether of Turk, Greek, or Man-
darin, to gaze upon a costume, whose very
correctness seemed a stumbling block in the
popular belief. 1
His Highness returned to Bombay, but dis-
appointment awaited him there, and, after years
of anxiety, and that hope delayed which maketh
the heart sick, Meer Jaiur Alee determined to
revisit the shores of England, and, on this occa-
sion, was accompanied by one of the shrewdest
of all shrewd political workmen, and the subject
of our "present sketch Mirza Ali Ackbar Khan
Bahadoor, late Moonshee in the service of the
1 The receipt for making an "ugly Christian" into a
handsome Mahomedan, was, some many years ago, very
amusingly given by Mr. Horace Smith, in the New Monthly,
and seemed very generally tried on the evening in question
" I made myself that night a vow
To startle all beholders
I wore white muslin on my brow,
Green velvet on my shoulders
My trowsers were supremely wide,
I learnt to swear by Allah !
I stuck a poignard in my side,
And called myself Abdallah ! "
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 151
British Government in Sindh. At present his
Highness speaks and understands English, so
that, in ordinary society, an interpreter is not
required, but Ali Ackbar's services in other
ways have been of the greatest possible value
in the arrangement of his Highnesses claims.
As he stands there, one hand resting on the
chair of the "Nawaub," the Arab Secretary,
thoughtful as he looks, seems fitted better for
the cabinet than the camp, and yet he has been
a warrior, too, and has earned goodly laurels.
The history of Ali Ackbar' s life is a romance,
glowing with tableaux of battles by flood and
field; of forays with border chiefs; of single
combat; of treacheries 'mid murderous bands;
of perilous escapes amongst Beloochee hordes !
The present chief of the British army on the
shores of Persia, called him his friend ;* and Sir
Charles Napier, in the style eminently cha-
racteristic of that hyperbolic warrior, observed,
" I have a right to say that Ali Ackbar did more
for the conquest of Sindh than a thousand
soldiers could have done." This speech was
made after dinner at the Bycullah Club, but
Ali Ackbar is, in truth, a brave soldier ; and for
1 Vide the letter of General Outram to Ali Ackbar, when
that gentleman was employed as chief Moonshee to the Sindh
agency.
152 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
his chivalrous bearing, his undaunted courage
at the battle of Meeanee, the Governor- General
of India bestowed upon him his title of Baha-
door.
Now, as we admit our love for gossip, it is
natural we should like to know exactly who
Mirza Ali Ackbar Khan is, and all about him,
and we may preface the chat by telling the non-
oriental reader that Mirza Ali Ackbar are
names, Khan and Bahadoor, titles. Just as we
have our Governors of Provinces and Com-
manders of the Bath.
Now Ali Ackbar was an only son. Not in
general an enviable position; but his father,
Mirza Hassan, who was employed for nearly a
quarter of a century as Moonshee to the British
resident at Bushire (oh! it is such a very
hot place, Bushire), not only saved consider-
able property in that political oven, but had
the wit to belong to the Native Education
Society in Bombay, at whose college, when
Mirza Hassan died, Ali Ackbar was placed by
his guardian, and as Ali was just then fourteen,
the very blossoming time of learning, such
forcing and culturing ensued, as brought forth
marvellous fruit in due season.
Soon, Ali, treading in his father's steps, be-
came also that very important person at native
Durbars, a Persian Moonshee, and was identi-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 153
fied, as all Moonshees are, with the appeals of
farmers, the quarrels of chiefs, the remon-
strances of the taxed with yellow paper, reed
pens, and ink boxes of Chinese lacquer work.
But ability soon asserted its prerogative of
success. When Lord Keane forced his army
through the difficult defiles of the Affghan
mountains, 1 where the scarped rocks of the
varied passes were fringed, as it were, with the
armed hordes of the marauding chiefs, and their
matchlocks, as a deadly chevaux de frise, were
pointing at the advancing hosts, Mirza Ali
Ackbar was appointed on the general's staff.
Throughout that fearful Caubool campaign,
with pen and sword, Ali Ackbar cut his way;
in the Punjaub, presents from the Court of
Lahore were proffered on every side, and, in
acknowledgment of his services, the Moonshee
was allowed not only to accept, but to keep them
too. No common boon that, as the reader will
admit, if he has ever been the recipient of a
splendid matchlock, a superbly chased sword, or
a magnificent pair of shawls, from the hand of
an Eastern Potentate, and then, ere he has had
time to wonder at their beauty, or rejoice at
their value, be called upon to send them, with-
out delay, to the Tosha Khana, or Government
1 In 1838.
154 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
auction, and to become proxy for their acknow-
ledgment, his hands full of pistols and watches,
and the smile of friendship on his eyes, while his
heart was still yearning for the forbidden Cash-
meres! Ali Ackbar, however, kept his gifts,
and we, for our part, fully appreciate the in-
dulgence. We can see them now, those ex-
quisitely delicate French gray Cashmere shawls,
embroidered in silver, that, presented on the
banks of the classic Indus, were so soon torn
from our grasp, and cast unrelentingly into the
Tosha Khana! We can see that gazelle-eyed
Arab, his sweeping mane worthy of Mazeppa,
henna stained, after the manner of a chieftain's
horse, and plaited, moreover, with golden
threads, we can see even him led away to the
Tosha Khana! The bags of turquois the
emerald signets the embroidered slippers the
caps, like bowls of gold all had the like fate
all and each of these tempting hopes were ever
rounded by the Tosha Khana !
There were not only gifts, but orders bestowed
upon the secretary for his energetic service.
Lord Ellenborough, as we see, gave him the title
of " Bahadoor," in addition to the pistols, which
seemed symbolic of his warlike bravery at
Meeanee. Lord Gough decorated him with a
Ghuzni medal, and Colonel Outram writes that
he " had never witnessed services, by any
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 155
native of India, more zealous, more able, or
more honest" than All Ackbar's.
We have our great dramatist's word for the
difficulty there is of escaping calumny Hamlet
had learned that philosophy of life. We know,
too, what the sacred Syrian writers thought of the
character of him of whom all men speak well ! We
know what Sindh and its campaign did for us in
confusing right and might, good and evil ; what
public and private disputes arose from it; what
huge differences grew out of it; how powerful
became expediency, and what an individual
amount of suffering tended to impede the
triumphant progress of the conqueror's car!
It would have been strange had these clouds
over the political horizon not, in some way, been
attracted by a point so prominent as that of
chief Moonshee! More or less, consequently,
Ali Ackbar has been distressed, and suffered;
but he has now petitioned the Court of Directors,
and, when fuller evidence is before the Govern-
ment of India, we hope that the secretary's
many friends will have reason to rejoice that
the prayer of his memorial is heard.
Ali Ackbar is married, his wife remaining in
Bombay. He has two sons, of the respective
ages of twelve and seven. These lads he pro-
poses to have at once sent home for education,
his nephew being already a student in the
156 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
London College. No one knows better than
All Ackbar the value of learning, although, as
he admits, his own advantages have been gained
in a university that no student ever graduated
in without success. The school of experience, in
the East, advances the most entangled and diffi-
cult problems, and he must have a clear head
indeed who works them satisfactorily to the end.
The statesman, fresh from European courts, sees
perplexity and dismay on every side, and were
it not for the aid of the old civilian of half a
century's standing, and the clear-headed, clever
Moonshee, that is ever at their side, few of the
great men in our Indian administration would
have gathered the laurels with which posterity
adorns their brow.
It was experience, daily, hourly experience of
native character among all ranks, that formed
the great and noble characters of Sir Thomas
Munro and the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone;
and it is only at the hands of such men as these
men skilled in the languages and religions of
the East, and blessed, moreover, with natures
abounding with human sympathies and gentle
charity, that the people of India can ever receive
justice, as it is they alone who can understand
the characters of the people they govern, with-
out the necessity of any distorting medium.
Mirza Ali Ackbar has all the strength of
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 157
frame and appreciation of the humorous which
is peculiar to the Arab. He loves a jest infi-
nitely, and the quaintnesses of Persian literature,
the punning character of Oriental epitaphs, the
involved witticisms of Arabian anecdotes, find
in him an admirable translator. So peculiarly
characteristic is he in this matter, that I have
sometimes fancied his own wit has out-ran that
of his author, and that the good old Persian who
indited the verses over the saint's tomb, never
had a notion of the double meaning and epi-
grammatic point given to them by Mirza Ali.
As may be supposed, the secretary is an ad-
mirable logician, and few could withstand him in
argument; and it is when gathering his forces
in this way, that Ali Ackbar's diplomatic talents
become most developed to the looker-on.
Often have I seen him, since his arrival in
England, awaiting a discussion on his Highness
Meer Jafur's interests, in presence of old officers
of the Indian service, civil and military, while
the debate was to turn on a legal opinion given
by the highest authorities in the land. We will
suppose the tenor of the argument to have be-
come adverse ; the Moonshee sits a little apart,
looking grave, respectful, grieved ; a momentary
pause ensues; Ali Ackbar suddenly moves for-
ward, he presses his turban slightly from his
158 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
brow, his eyes flash, and a tide of argument, of
close reasoning, the result of clear and intimate
acquaintance with every detail of his subject, is
poured forth, with a pureness of accent, a cor-
rectness of expression, and a careful choice of
words, which must have startled many, unaware
of the acquirements and abilities of the class so
distinguishingly represented by the subject of
our sketch; for truly, as Hafiz has it, " his coun-
sels are like Asaf s sage." 1
On the return of his Highness Meer Jafur
Alee to India, it is understood that the secretary
does not accompany him, being engaged to re-
main in England on some affairs of importance.
The active, intellectual life of Europe~well suits
the temperament of our Moonshee, and his con-
stant association with English character, among
the officers of the British army in the East,
enables him to understand and appreciate it
here, while, from his Arabian origin, Ali Ackbar
possesses a vigour of constitution which renders
him almost insensible to fatigue, whether mental
or physical. His observation is keen, and has
been the schoolmaster of his judgment, so that
his opinions of men and acts arise out of the
1 Asaf was the minister of King Solomon, and the sound-
ness of his policy is the admiration of all Moslems.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 159
broad principles which his experience has taught
him, without any of the narrowing prejudices
that might be supposed to influence his character
as an Oriental. The theory of expediency in
all its shapes, the stimulus of self-interest, he
everywhere expects, inasmuch as he has been
trained in a school where both were common
watchwords. It would require a clever diplo-
matist indeed to outwit the secretary, Mirza Ali
Ackbar, although his courtesy of manner, and
yet frank address, would lead to the impression
that distrust was impossible to him.
This high polish observable in the manners of
Asiatics is eminently remarkable ; and I recol-
lect being particularly impressed by it in the
person of the ex-chief of Sindh, his Highness
Meer Ali Moorad, also now in England. At the
time I speak of, this nobleman was chief of Diji,
a stronghold near the classic Indus. The chief
had a large force assembled there, and we passed
over, to interchange presents at his Highness's
camp. Had Meer Ali Moorad been the most
accomplished gentleman at the most polished
court in Europe, had his time passed entirely with
the gay, the beautiful, and the learned, amidst
poets, painters, and wits, the influence on his man-
ners could not have produced a bearing more per-
fectly elegant and courteous what the circum-
160 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
stances which followed may have produced I am
not prepared to record ; and this instance is only
given to show, that men in almost desert lands,
surrounded by bands of wild soldiery, and apart,
as it would seem, from all civilizing means, may
yet, perhaps, by reason of climatic influences,
possess, to a remarkable degree, that ease,
suavity, and grace of manner which we, as a
race certainly not distinguished for our courtesies,
imagine to result only from a highly-trained in-
tellect and carefully cultivated tastes.
Talking of Moonshees always suggests the
peculiarity of epistolary correspondence in the
East ; of the wonderfully long slips of paper that
are covered with curved characters, sprinkled
with gold dust, enclosed in an envelope of em-
broidered satin, then passed into a muslin case
carefully tied and sealed, and protected by a
huge strip of paper on the side, with a most
elaborate direction. I asked Ali Ackbar one
day if such letters were ever sent from India to
the Meer's party here, and he said, "Oh, yes!
sometimes." What a wondrous affair one of
these missives must appear to the penny post-
man ! How he must look at it, and turn it over,
and get confused ideas of the seven men of the
mountain, and Ricket with the Tuft, and the
Princess Sheherazade, and Sinbad the Sailor,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 161
with Kobinson Crusoe, and a hundred other
juvenile studies ; and how he must wonder" what
is the meaning of all those dots, and curves, and
crooked little marks before him ! and how much
more surprised he'd be to see the way in which
the letter is composed, with all that wonderful
hyperbolical preface, and the wee, wee bit of fact
at the end a letter on business too ; and how
he would marvel could he see the great reed pen
that formed the delicate characters moving from
right to left, and the writing on the knee, with
the odd way of smearing Indian ink over the
signet, to gain the clear impression, which
should stand as " my mark," and the authority
of the great man, who, possibly, cannot write
himself. Poor benighted postman! what won-
ders, what agonies, what hopes, pass daily
through his hands, and 'tis only such a chance
missive as this one, all gold and satin, from far
Surat, that leads him to question for a moment,
or to slacken his mechanical career.
And here, as we are talking of the pen and its
labours, with secretaries and so on, chatting
together about knowledge and its influences in
various forms, the reader may be amused, as I
was, if I end this gossip with a quaint saying,
gathered from an unpublished Persian book,
which Mirza All Ackbar himself was good
M
162
THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
enough to translate to me but the other day;
it runs thus :
" If a person knows, and knows that he knows,
He'll pass a very happy life ;
If a person does not know, and knows that he does not know,
He'll pass a very tolerable life ;
But if a person does not know, and does not know that he
does not know,
He'll pass a very miserable life."
An ingenious bit of philosophy enough, and very
characteristic.
SIMPSON & .CIJTH.
VI N Dl A P U RDA SI.
(MANGOE SELLER) V FROM LIFE)
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 163
CHAPTER X.
THE GOLDEN APPLES OF THE HESPEEIDES.
" See ! the knotted clusters shine
In the gaily spangled glade."
Hafiz.
THESE I firmly believe to have been mangoes ;
and any one who had ever tasted one of those
freshly brought to his Highness Meer Jafur's
house day by day, borne in a light bamboo
basket on the head of the pretty fruit-seller
Vindia Purdasi, will not only be inclined to
agree with me, but consider those dragons as
much to be envied, who formed the guard of
honour to fruit so worthy the banquet of the
gods.
Eggs, oranges, and mangoes had best be
eaten u privately, alone." And, as we write, we
can again fancy we see the luxuriating old
Bombay civilian on a hot morning, with his
sleeves tucked above his elbows, a tub of water
M 2
164 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
between his knees, a wicker basket on one
side, and a deliciously-flavoured Alplionso man-
goe between his lips, with the yellow juice
streaming away in all directions, his own face
reminding one of the melon-eating boys of
Murillo, only, that our hero is somewhat of
longer standing in the service. The great stone
in the centre of the mangoe is a sad stumbling-
block to beginners, but after a while, facial con-
tortions decrease, and ingenuity supplies a
remedy.
Much of the property in Western India con-
sists of plantations, or " topes" of mangoe trees,
and mangoes and tamarinds being considered as
the fruits dedicated to the ladies in all marriages,
they take up a considerable position in the settle-
ment of dowry.
There are no less than thirty different kinds
of mangoes, as puzzling as geraniums are with
us, but the Alphonso, the Mazagon, and the
Raspberry, are the most esteemed. Mangoe-
trees live wonderful lives quite patriarchal.
There is a Mazagon mangoe-tree that was
brought from the Portuguese settlement of Goa
about three hundred years ago, still living in
that "Camberwell" of Bombay, and thriving
too, with a right cheerful countenance, notwith-
standing the " old party " that he is ! One is
almost apt to forget the birth of such very long-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 165
lived individuals, but the origin is thus: the
stone of a mangoe is planted good ; when the
plant springing therefrom is four years old, it is
grafted with a fine tree, after which, each suc-
ceeding year it bears fruit for twelve years.
Beyond this period the produce gradually de-
creases. If the plant is allowed to attain its full
size without grafting, it will not bear fruit until
it is twelve years old, but every year the pro-
duce is finer, both in the flavour and size of the
fruit ; still the best mangoe is produced from the
graft.
His Highness had some mangoes sent home
from Bombay, hanging over the stern of the
steamer up the Red Sea, and Gunter made ice
thereof, and we ate the same rejoicingly in Upper
Gloucester Place, and the flavour was as good
as that of the fresh mangoe brought to Girgaum
House on the head of little Vindia Purdasi,
mangoe-seller and smile-dispenser to the house-
hold generally.
In Bombay also, his Highness ate mangoes for
dessert; and we had there ices of it too, in
change with guava and pine-apple, and very
pleasant these Indian fruits are when wellfrappe
with American ice, notwithstanding good Bishop
Heber's criticisms thereon. Dessert always
seems useless, except for the purposes of chit-
chat, and especially so in India at a native
166 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
dinner, but in the months of June and July,
when mangoes are ripe, and twenty for a rupee,
they are not to be despised.
Perhaps the reader has never been to a Mos-
lem's dinner, and so can't judge ; gladly, therefore,
we place our experiences at his service. Some
Moslems take three meals a day, after this
manner; they breakfast at eight, dine at one,
and again sup at eight. Some, two meals suf-
fice ; this class breakfast at ten in the morning,
and dine at eight. His Highness Meer Jafur,
when I was with him in India, took but one
meal in the twenty-four hours, and this was
served at mid-day.
It is customary to spread a table-cloth on the
floor, and when dinner is ready, the head servant
goes into the room where the guests are assem-
bled and says, "Bismillah" (In the name of
God) ; this is repeated as a grace. The com-
pany then bathe their hands, and, sitting round
the table, the dinner is served (the Moslems use
silver plates, the Hindoos leaves). Several
kinds of bread are then brought, leavened and
unleavened, some plain, some prepared with
butter, almonds, and so on. The dinner is
varied : there is Pillau-kooshka, or rice plain
boiled with a little butter; Salna (curry);
Nahadi (spiced meat) ; a great variety of acid
and sweet confectionary; " Burfee," from Surat,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 167
made of milk and flour; " Hulwa," very like the
Turkish Rah-huk-la-koom, from Muscat; and
then, sherbets, lemon, orange, rose, &c., &c., im-
possible to describe. 1 Then follows another
grace, and the hands are again washed. The
table-napkins are so pretty ! the rich embroidery
with the gold and silver fringes, and the coloured
silks it 's like the phylacterie of a high priest
of the temple of Solomon ; and yet it all washes,
just as if it were no better than ordinary diaper.
Ah ! that Indian washing is a great mystery
colours never run there ; from a Cashmere shawl
to a gold-embroidered table-napkin everything
washes and is refreshed ; the river and its stones
being its sole appliances.
These dinners of great men, however, are
more savoury than wholesome we suspect, and
" the preserved bamboo " holds a sort of rod in
pickle for many a poor dyspeptic; but then
there is the family physician to set all right
again ; and as dear old Budr-oo-deen, the Escu-
lapius of his Highness Meer Jafur Alee, was, as
I have said, an especial friend and favourite of
1 Soup and fish are seldom eaten. The Moslems of India
also avoid what Dr. Kitchener calls
"That surly elf,
Digesting all things but itself."
But the Turks and Persians always finish dinner with cream
cheese.
168 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
mine, I should like to present him in a sort of
Daguerreotype sketch, taken as I saw him when
we were together living in the society of his
Highness, at our old house in the Girgaum
Woods.
THE FAMILY PHYSICIAN,
was a small man, very ; yet exceedingly pomp-
ous withal, as small men generally are in all
countries; his costume consisted of a white
calico body coat, a huge cotton turban, and a
narrow spotted muslin scarf that he wore round
his neck, the ends depending to the turned-up
toes of his green morocco slippers, while on his
little finger was an enormous emerald signet,
engraven with his name and titles in Arabic
characters. Had the gem been a solid unflawed
emerald, it would have been fit to be promoted
as a crown jewel, or would doubtless have been
bought up fresh from the mine for the great
peacock throne of the Delhi sovereigns; but
" general effect " being the object cared for in
the East, this decoration of the worthy Hakeem's
was like most such a thin plating, as it were,
of gem on a glittering foundation of very suffi-
cient tin, but it answered the purpose^ and looked
of wondrous brightness whenever the worthy
man stroked his beard, and of course added
very much to the influence of his "Bismillahs"
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 169
on all around; and all around both loved and
reverenced our Hakeem beyond description: to
them, his wisdom, his learning, his grace, his
courage stood unrivalled, and whether his noble
employer was considered, the ladies of the
Hareeni, the Jemidar or butler, down to the
grooms, and even the little barber, with his
cunning eyes, compact bundle, and parti -coloured
jacket, in the heart of all and each rested that
degree of awe, which the reputation for sur-
passing knowledge is sure to awaken.
We have imagined the costume of Budr-oo-
deen, but not his eyes, and they indeed seemed
to form the idiosyncrasy of the man. Never
were seen such eyes. They were gray in colour,
consequently lighter than his complexion a
fact which gave them a strangely glassy and
glaring appearance; they seemed, moreover, to
have no speculation in them, and they rolled in
their sockets with so wonderful an organic
mechanism, that 'twas little marvel the people
believed he could look into futurity, for one
could easily fancy he could look into anything
with eyes that seemed to make an entire revolu-
tion in their orbits every time he spoke; this
singular action forming, as it were, with the
Hakeem Budr-oo-deen, what a capital letter does
in writing the sign of the commencement of a
fresh sentence.
170 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
As a teller of stories (not as a story-teller, for
I believe, except when he spoke of the miracles
of Mahomed, his veracity was unimpeachable),
Budr-oo-deen was a perfect Feramorz, and, after
the evening meal, when the rich Persian carpet
was spread in the moonlight that streamed
through the plumed heads of the tall palm trees
into the perfumed garden, shouts of -laughter
and exclamations of the most intense delight
would ring from the circle of which Budr-oo-
deen was the centre, and Kaliuns grew cold, and
the sherbet was untasted, while the skilful
raconteur fascinated his audience with impromptu
tales, of kings who turned religious mendicants,
wandering over the earth seeking food and
adventures where they might be found, and of
those little hareem fracas, so common where
some hundred and fifty ladies are each deter-
mined to support her own individual right!
Far into the night did these merry mimicries
extend, and the imaginative powers of the
entertaining Hakeem seemed never to desert
him.
One of the chief merits of Oriental fiction
consists in its general absence of all plot, so
that the narrative may be continued at any time,
or renewed at any interval, a quaint conceit or
an absurd adventure fitting one niche in the
compartment of a story as well as another.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 171
The audience, too, lose little in these cases ; the
raconteur continues hour after hour with un-
bated breath, and the listeners come and go, as
their occupations may require ; one man strolls
away to refill his Kaliun, another to bathe his
head, a groom to feed his horse, yet, on the
return of each, nothing seems to have been
missed, for the story proceeds with equal in-
terest, whether at the first, second, or third part
thereof, thus bearing no resemblance to a
modern novel.
And then the riding of our Hakeem ! in
sooth he was a very Roostum. In all the
Guicwar's cavalry, I question if a rider of them
all, regular or irregular, could have matched him,
by many a bound, and prance, and curvet. There
was a gray, large-boned colt, a wild, unbroken
creature, fresh from the Arab stables, with a
wicked eye, a heavy shoulder, an unformed
mouth, and a back-lying ear ; the Hakeem
thought these things rather in the creature's
favour, as they promised necessity for greater
skill in the equestrian, and he rejoiced thereat
in grave and solemn triumph. So soon as the
sun was shaded by the feathery palms, the iron-
gray came forth, held by two grooms, each of
whom had long been satisfied, according to the
eastern belief in transmigration, that the soul of
one of the most distinguished favourites of Siva
172 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
(the destroyer) was incarcerated, and having its
wicked will, in this same pleasant steed. So a
sharp Mahratta bit was placed in his mouth a
contrivance much resembling the barrel of a
musical box; his head was tied almost to his
knees with a standing martingale of crimson
rope, strong enough to have pulled the alarum
bell at the market-place at Naples, and stirrups
dangled from the well- quilted demi-pique saddle,
much like the sole of a shoe set round with
spikes.
After much delay, during which the iron-gray
spurred his sides and cut his mouth, as the
smallest excitement inevitably caused him to do,
thereby rendering him momentarily more vin-
dictive, our Hakeem would come forth, and
with him all the servants of the family, filled
with wonder and admiration, anticipatory of the
coming show. And then our friend would
mount, and sit for a moment in dead calmness,
not as if he were about not to enjoy healthful
and vigorous exercise, but to do a deed of
desperate purpose ; his eyes the while rolling, as
only Budr-oo-deen's can roll, and then, with a
dash of the stirrups against the sides of poor
Bucephalus, away flew horse and rider, like an
arrow from a bow. In a second the creature
was almost pulled upon his haunches by the
cruel Mahratta bit, and then came the grand
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 173
spena of the piece. By right application of the
hand and heel, the animal bounded, leaped, and
turned, on a space incredibly small, and then
again rushed madly forward, scattering the
dust about him, until rider and steed were both
obscured.
Then the Hakeem would turn the iron-gray,
at a hand-gallop, round every palm tree in the
plantation, avoiding water vessels and Kaliuns
with wondrous dexterity, much as one has seen
accomplished waltzers practise with selected
chairs as the centre of their circles. And then
the lookers-on would cry "Shah bash!" (well
done), and the water-carrier's little bullock, who
had been long intently looking on, would grow
excited too, and, slipping off the half-filled
water-bags, canter away himself into the woods,
doing infinite mischief, and causing much shriek-
ing from the fair Parsee women, bearing their
well-balanced water vessels from the neighbour-
ing Koor (open well).
After an hour so passed, our Hakeem would
brink back his panting steed and receive the
unqualified expressions of admiration from the
lookers-on. Day by day would he repeat the
exercise, never, by any chance, going beyond
the limits of the shrubbery and grounds, or
mounting any steed but that wicked iron-gray !
In due time the animal had his mane dyed a
brilliant crimson, to match his saddle, by means
1 74 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
of henna, a rule for the horses of all great men,
and his mane was plaited with red silk and
white shells, and a blue thread was tied round
his throat, to keep off the evil eye, equivalent to
the horse-shoe on an English stable door, to
ensure the preference of witches for broomsticks
over hunters for their moonlight rides ; en bref, the
iron-gray was considered trained. After which he
was led about for exercise with the general stud,
the grooms, however, as the result of their own
private opinions, always leading him in couples,
each bearing a stout bamboo.
But, if the reputation of the family physician
stood high as a horseman, how infinitely higher
was his celebrity as an astrologer! By this,
indeed, was he sovereign lord of all, for nothing
in the household could be done with comfort,
unless Budr-oo-deen declared the hour auspi-
cious. I do not think a servant in the house
would have had his hair cut or his moustachios
trimmed without consulting the Hakeem; if a
rich curry disagreed with a luckless epicure,
everybody knew he had eaten it at an unlucky
hour; if a horse fell lame, it was evident to all
that the Hakeem had not been consulted when
the Nalbund (farrier) shod him ; and when it was
necessary for his noble friend to pay a visit of
ceremony, or one connected materially with his
interests, the Hakeem was invisible for hours,
pondering over his horoscope ; and I have been
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 175
frequently diverted by watching the horses
champing their bits, the party in full dress, and
all patiently waiting till the Hakeem was pleased
suddenly to announce the arrival of the aus-
picious moment, when a hurried rush was made
to the carriage door, the coachmen and grooms
mounted with a simultaneous movement, the
people vigorously cheered, and the cortege
dashed forth to fulfil the prognostications at-
tending the lucky hour ! And, strangely enough,
there never appeared any dissatisfaction in the
matter, all that happened was considered right,
and "whatever is, is best," was ever the contented
feeling after a particularly serious attention
to the effects of the Hakeem's astrological
inquiries. 1
Budr-oo-deen was a good Mahomedan, too,
and studied the Koran daily, and prayed five
times a day, with all the varied attitudes and
genuflexions proper to be observed, and he knew
all the miracles of the Koran by heart, and a
thousand others, of the ridiculous kind, that Mos-
lem traditions have appended to the acts of Ma-
homed, quite unworthy, as they are, of the cha-
racter of that earnest and clever man. And the
Hakeem knew some verses of the Koran by rote,
and repeated them at times with great unction,
1 It must be understood that his Highness did not, by any
means, yield to this credulity of his household.
176 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
stroking his beard the while, and wagging his
head from side to side, in a fashion worthy the
Moollah of the Jumma Musjid (Friday Mosque)
himself; but if he could not scribble margins
full of little Persian annotations, as his friend
the Moonshee did all day in the back verandah,
nor write sonnets descriptive of the houris and
fountains of Paradise, as an idle young poet did,
who lounged about the house, and won the
sobriquet of Hafiz, yet still, setting the Moon-
shee on one side, the Hakeem certainly was a
miracle of religious learning. He earnestly
desired to go to Mecca, not for anything to be
seen or learnt there, but with a vague idea it
was a proper thing to do.
He was remarkable for not having a particle
of observation; and although, as forming part
of his Highness Meer Jafur's suite on his visit
to England in 1844, Budr-oo-deen had abso-
lutely been in London, he knew little enough of
Frangistan, for though it was in the dog-days,
and in a peculiarly hot summer, he remained
with closed shutters during the four-and- twenty
hours, smoking a Kaliun on a Persian prayer
carpet, and rolling his eyes with much apparent
agony at a little floating wick in a tumbler of
oil ; breathing, as he, poor exile ! thought, some-
thing of the atmosphere of Hindostan. Poor
man ! no one who has never enjoyed the freedom
of the East, of a life passed in the open air,
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 177
surrounded by the glad sunshine, which casts on
all around it that unimaginable glory which
must be seen to be understood ; no one who has
never felt the exquisite freshness of the morning
air in the tropics, nor gazed on the bright " star
galaxies" of the "deep blue noon of night"
who has never experienced the delicious effects
of the climate of the East in conferring physical
enjoyment, and lulling all care to rest who has
never gazed on faces animated with the intense
interest produced by Eastern story, or the eager-
ness of social intercourse can judge of what the
Asiatic must feel in our cold land, caged in an
apartment scarcely large enough, as he feels, for
a bath-room, pressed on by an atmosphere of
clouds, chilled into torpor by the climate, and
receiving the ideas of commonplace existence, in
exchange for his poetic dreams and traditionary
story, which, fantastic as they often are, yet are
filled with sunshine and splendour, with the
glitter of spears and minarets, with sparkling
fountains, with Houris brighter than the gems
of Samarchand!
It was little marvel, then, that poor old Budr-
oo-deen preferred to revel in his dreams of
distant India, rather than to gaze forth on smoky
London, or that the Hakeem's eyes rolled with
some pleasure, inexpressive as they are, when
N
178 ^HE MOSLEM NOBLE.
he found himself once more seated beneath the
feathery palms of his beloved land.
The family physician, as we have seen, was a
man of rare accomplishment, but, strange to
say, of the healing art he was profoundly
ignorant. He divided all diseases into "hot
and cold." Remedies he never attempted, and
the sufferers either wore out the disease with
patience, or used the simplest aids that pleased
them ; the Hakeem merely advising them of the
most auspicious hours for their adoption. Thus
a man with a violent headache would smear his
forehead with lime and water, which, tightening
as it dried, relieved the pain ; or he would tie a
blue thread round each wrist for rheumatism, or
bind a fresh plantain leaf on the head for fever ;
he would, if attacked by lumbago or cholera, sear
himself with a hot iron, as a farrier would ope-
rate on a horse, or perhaps he would patiently
excavate an offending tooth with a rusty nail
it was all quite immaterial to the family physi-
cian. He wished them better, gave them lucky
hours, rolled his eyes most wonderfully, but
never attempted to bring his knowledge of
mater ia medica, or his skill as a surgeon- dentist
to bear upon the facts.
The monsoon had set in, and it was wet and
cold, and some native friends suffered severely
from rheumatism. Budr-oo-deen solemnly an-
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 179
nounced that tlie sufferings had arisen from
eating Guava ices, and the ice confectioner was
half ruined in consequence, for he depended on
the Mahomedan gentry of Bombay for consuming
his consignment of ice before the arrival of the
next American ship. On one occasion, I recol-
lect, a boy in my service was taken alarmingly
ill, by reason of having eaten some six pounds
of Muscat dates, landed from an Arab boat
rather the worse for their voyage, and in much
anxiety I appealed to Budr-oo-deen for remedies.
His face of wonder I shall long remember. I
mentioned half-a-dozen drugs in vain. The old
man smiled, salaamed, and rolled his eyes; the
boy writhed and screamed with agony.
" Had he any opium?" I asked, at last.
" Oh, yes ! Affeem in plenty."
" Could the family physician weigh or measure
it in solution?"
" By the beard of the Prophet he could not."
So, as a matter of mere chance we gave the
lad a great pill of opium, and he recovered to fill
the people with gratitude and wonder at the
skill of the family physician.
The East is a favoured land. We see worked
out among its people and in its scenes the great
truth of all creation, that happiness and physical
enjoyment is the rule, suffering and pain the
casual exception. In the East the effect of cli-
N 2
180 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
mate itself is to produce a quiet consciousness
of physical enjoyment, and to lull the mind to
ease with all about it, in a manner extremely
agreeable. Trifling yet distressing ailments,
such as are in the northern climates the effect of
cold acting on the skin and system, are unknown.
The remedy of opium with hot baths is at
everybody's disposal, with spices in abundance,
and oils of the finest quality. The fevers caused
by the decay of vegetable matter seldom affect
the natives of the country very materially, unless
after wantonly exposing themselves to such
effluvia, or sleeping on the damp ground; while
this very decay becomes the cause of a loveli-
ness in the vegetation of the tropics that no
other land can rival, and brings forth abundantly
the plants and fruits required for the food, and
shelter, and comfort of man.
Cholera, indeed, devastates towns and cities,
and fills with terror the heart of the observer;
but the population of the East is a very abun-
dant population, and death is its inevitable ne-
cessity. Life, while it last, is one of enjoyment,
and its extinction, even by means of the scourge
of the East, as it is called, is brief in its pains,
and more to be desired, perhaps, than an old
age of protracted suffering ; soft air, pure water,
simple plants, spices, and earths, are every-
where abundantly supplied as remedies for the
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 181
trifling sufferings of the people ; while a beneficent
climate, a natural system of life, and a vegetable
diet, preserve them from many of the physical
sufferings, known in our colder and more
artificial land. As the use and knowledge of
their simple remedies are traditional, and no
inflammatory symptoms ever follow the most
extraordinary surgical practice, the general
practitioner would enjoy a sinecure; and of
Budr-oo-deen, I have little doubt that his charm-
ing romances, his exciting horsemanship, his as-
trological predictions, and his kindly temper,
served, in more good ways than even they be-
lieved, the credulous arid admiring friends of our
" Family Physician."
182 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
CHAPTEE XI.
MAIDA HILL.
" Of people there was hurrying to and fro,
Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam,
All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know
Whither he went, or whence he came, or why
He made one of the multitude."
THE cabman asks just two shillings more than
his fare, and his Highness's servant, Mahomed
Shah, is good enough to settle the matter for
us. There is quite a collection of handsome
carriages and dirty hack vehicles about, but the
little boys have left off waiting at the curb- stones
for new arrivals ; green, and gold, and Cashmere,
having quite wearied their young eyes.
Warwick Road West promises well, but at
present brick and mortar occupy too much of
the roadstead, and the coachman of his Highness
the ex- chief of Khyrpore, Meer Ali Moorad,
does not find it easy to turn his handsome bays
on the sort of promontory which separates the
plateau on which Meer Jafur's house stands, from
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 183
the wide extent of " desirable building ground,"
which stretches far away towards smoky London.
As we enter the door two persons are passing
out, and we stop to shake hands. One, all
green and gold, the A.D.C. of the King of Oude,
leaves a perfume on the air which reminds us at
once of high mass at St. Peter's, with its censers
and frankincense; and the other, in a black
dress and dark glazed cotton head-dress, is the
Parsee Seit, or merchant, Mr. Heerjeebhoy
Rustomjee, 1 who is always so courteous, and
full of information about his people. Just now
his fine countenance is a little excited, for some
altercation has taken place between himself and
" the Oude people." As usual, a strong aroma
of " curry stuff," garlic in the ascendant, is
making its way from his Highness's kitchen,
where the cook is preparing dinner for Mahomed
Shah, Noor Mahomed, Ryan, and Mirza Meeran ;
while Hill, the English servant, looking almost
like a gentleman, has just come in with Punch,
the Family Herald, and Reynolds's Miscellany
diet to suit all tastes.
His Highness Meer Jafur Alee receives us with
his usual courtesy and kindness, and Mirza Ali
Ackbar looks excited, his eye bright, his brain
hard at work both are going out to the Temple
as usual; but Meer Mahomed Ali, the nephew
1 The " jee" in Parsee names is equivalent to our " Esquire."
184 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
of All Ackbar, remains at home ; so we sit down,
and chat, and turn over some Persian books.
Here is one, written only lately at Tehran ; very
droll it is, that the Persians so delight in ridi-
culing the Hindoos, and that the Hindoos so
vivaciously return the compliment. Here is a
story to the point: A Hindoo king began to
distrust everybody, and so he convinced him-
self that fish only were faithful. The king,
therefore, turned all his wealth into blocks of
gold, and every year dropt them into the sea,
that his treasury might be safe, as " fishes
only were faithful."
Then came the story of King Solomon and the
sea monster, a legend altogether Persian. This
king was known to be most benevolent, and he
laid up stores to feed all creatures that were in
want, and none died for lack of food; and Solo-
mon was said to have power over fish, over
men, over animals, and over genii. One day
the king was walking alone upon the sands, and
a great monster raised its head from the sea,
and asked for food. The king gave orders that
the creature should be satisfied, but it ate, and
ate, and devoured all the stores laid up, and
roared for more ! Then, when it came not, the
creature rebuked the king, saying, Oh, man!
who art thou to have power over all created
nature, birds, beasts, men, and genii, and cannot
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 185
feed one fisli ! God has fed me day by day, and
I have never wanted; there is none all-powerful
but Allah ! And the fish was seen no more.
Then came a story about a tree of emerald,
planted on a bank of rubies, which, during the
reign of Mahinoud of Ghuzni, blossomed with
gold Mohurs, 1 but when the king died the tree
disappeared; to this the historian modestly
adds, " this is said of a truth, but God is great,
and who can tell?"
This Persian book that we were laughing over
had the oddest drawings in it possible. They
were worse than anything a child of ten years
old, in these Marlborough House days, would put
its hand to; but we found that they described
talismans, and that the Persian text illustrated
their virtues.
Mirza Ali Ackbar returned while we were
still engaged with the volume, and he said,
" Now, I will tell you a droll thing that I know
happened to two English officers when I was
with Lord Keane's force. We were encamped,
and did not know what to do to amuse ourselves.
It was said that some twenty miles off there was
a village, and near the village a well, and that
everybody who drank of the water of that well
became fools, and the village was full of fool-
ish people. So the two young men laughed,
1 A coin equal in value to the French Napoleon.
186 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
and they said it would be something to do, and
they would go and see this village. In the
morning 'tope ke braba' (dawn, or gun-fire),
they set out on horseback for the foolish village,
but it grew hot before they neared it, so, seeing
a Bhowree (Moslem well, with steps that de-
scend to the water), they said, 4 Let us go down,
and drink some water, and then go on ;' and they
did so, and felt much refreshed. But, as they
came up the steps, one said to the other, 4 We
ought to have brought the servants, perhaps we
may not get anything to eat here, and who
knows? they are a wild set, these Affghans,
and we are unarmed ; really, I think, it is a very
dangerous joke/ They, therefore, agreed to re-
turn to camp ; but had no sooner arrived there,
than one said, looking at the other, c We went all
that way, and bore the heat, and nothing
molested us, and still we have come back, and
seen nothing; truly there is reason in the say-
ing, that those who drink at that well become
fools!'"
Somehow or other, we talked of marriage, and
I asked how, as a general rule, people got on,
who had four wives ! Mirza Ali assured me
that few Mahomedans, unless they were great
men, or influenced by state reasons, had more
than one; but, he added, we say, if a man has
one wife, he may not like her ; if two, the ladies
invariably quarrel ; but if the husband marries a
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 187
third, there is perfect happiness, because the
wives so much fear that he will take a fourth.
The Shah of Persia has five hundred wives, and
that establishment is marked by the amiable
tone of its internal arrangements, while, as illus-
trative of the same system in a different class of
society, Aga Khan, the priest of the Khojas in
Bombay, has four wives, all living in a small
house, where the ladies have but one apartment
between them, and yet domestic tranquillity
finds to it no parallel.
Divorces are rendered as difficult as possible
by Moslems, and after this manner : when a man
marries he settles a dowry on his wife, and if he
desires to give her a writing of divorce he must
pay this dowry, otherwise it is regarded as
nominal. Now, the object of all parents is, to
render divorce impossible, by reason of the diffi-
culty the husband would have to perform in
detail his treaty. It is usual in Persia to fix
the dowry at two hundred and fifty rupees, but
in India, it sometimes rises to fifty thousand, or
a lac. Then come male and female slaves, and
sometimes is added, ten maunds 1 of mosquito oil !
Now, any one who has ever seen that very slight
and remarkably active little insect, the mosquito
of India, will at once feel how difficult it must
be for a querulous husband to fulfil this point
1 A Bombay maund is forty pounds.
188 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
of the treaty, and so obtain the required emanci-
pation from the wife of his bosom, when con-
sidered frail or offending! A Mahomedan
lady's property on marriage remains her own,
nor can a Moslem, if of the " Shere" sect, marry
a second wife, unless he can declare before the
priest, that he has obtained the consent of the
first.
Some doubters in female devotion, where
lords and masters are concerned, may fancy
that a tolerably strong guard of "detectives"
may be required, to watch over five hundred
ladies, the vowed thralls of an Oriental Blue-
beard. This is a delusion; the more, the safer,
as well as merrier. The ladies look after
each other, and the least backsliding is instantly
denounced.
The Mahomedan marriage ceremony does not
materially differ from our own, except in the pri-
vacy of position afforded the lady. The priest
sits in front of a door, and the intended bride-
groom near him ; the lady is then placed behind
the door, and the priest inquires if she
will have this man, &c. It is true the bride
elect cannot answer, "Ay, my lord, and fifty
such," for the plurality of helpmates is reserved
as a privilege for the woer, not the won, yet the
matter passes off with sweetmeats and fireworks,
presents and dances, and, on the whole, Moslem
marriages are quite as happy as any other.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 189
This, however, Mirza All Ackbar accounts for
by saying, that husbands are never with their
wives for more than eight hours out of twenty -
four.
All the servants of his Highness have become
attached to England, and they enjoy a freedom
from the attacks of fever, so common in their
own land, which itself puts them in good
humour with our damp but wholesome climate.
One or two of them have attained a very
respectable knowledge of the English language,
and find great amusement at theatres and
places of ordinary entertainment. One of the
most interesting points to be remarked in
Moslem establishments is, the admirable feeling
that exists between masters and servants; the
protected freedom allowed to the domestics, and
their devotion and gratitude to their employers.
His Highness Meer Jafur's servants go and
come as they please; yet this indulgence is
never abused. A servant never leaves home
while any possible cause can arise for his
services, and their devotion to his Highness's
person is so great, that should the slightest in-
disposition afflict him, the servants not only
never absent themselves, but can scarcely be
persuaded to give their tour of watchfulness to
another.
Meer Jafur was, however, ever noted for con-
sideration arid benevolence. His Highness, by
190 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
birth, is a Syud, 1 and, in opinion, a liberal
Soonee. He is now thirty-eight years of age,
though perhaps his stature and general large-
ness of figure give him the appearance of being
rather older. His Highness' s habits are most
temperate, and his liberality princely. In India
he never failed to repeat the Khum,s, or five
daily prayers, commanded by his religion, and
he has never availed himself of the Prophet's
permission for polygamy.
Since the death of the Begum Bukhteya-ol-
Nessa, the mother of his children, Meer Jafur has
married the daughter of the Cazi of Ahmedabad,
and only a month after this marriage, his High-
ness's affairs compelled his return to England.
His present residence among us has extended
over a period of three years years marked by
unceasing anxiety; yet, both in public and in
private life, his Highness has gained the good
opinion, the high respect, and the warm friend-
ship, of all with whom he has been associated,
and among these are the fairest, the wisest, the
1 A Syud is ;a lineal descendant from the Prophet, not
necessarily a priest, however, though he can adopt that pro-
fession when he pleases. All Arabia, Turkey, and most of
the Affghans are Soonees. A small portion of Affghans and all
Persians are Sheres. The one sect believe, that the succession
is by inheritance, and ought to be given to Ali, as the son-in-
law of the Prophet. The others believe the succession is
given to the descendants of the companions of Mahomed.
THE MOSLEM NOBLE. 191
highest-born of our most distinguished circles.
He has gained considerable knowledge of the
English language, and speaks it easily and
correctly; but, while his health has been im-
proved, and his time (when not absorbed by the
difficulties of his position) agreeably passed, the
heart of the Moslem noble yearns for his land
and people; and, more than all this, he sighs for
the bright glances and sweet smiles of the young
daughters, who, doubtless, day by day, look
forth on the blue waters of the Tapti, and ex-
claim, in words like those of one who also waited
for the familiar voice of the absent and beloved,
"Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why
tarry the wheels of his chariots?" 1
Before the close of this present year, 1273 of
the Hegira, his Highness Meer Jafur Alee Khan
will be, probably, once again beneath the
palm trees of his native land. The tropic sun-
shine will, once more, rest upon his brow, the
prayerful call of the Muezzin fall upon his ear.
Time will pass, and the sounds of London
streets, the glare of London soirees, the excite-
ment of London parliaments of public meetings
of legal quibbles of interested adventurers,
who sought to gain a fortune from the Moslem
noble's anxieties and inexperience, will be re-
membered by him but as an uneasy daydream.
1 Judges, v, 28.
192 THE MOSLEM NOBLE.
To bless his family and the poor, to cultivate
the regard of good men, and to return to his
duties, as a Moslem and a Syud, will soon
become, as they once were, the sole objects of
his Highness Meer Jafur Alee's life, and while,
in a considerable degree, success has at length
crowned the object of his residence among us,
the Meer will not leave our shores without
carrying with him the kindliest good wishes of
all who have had occasion to remark the high-
bred courtesy and winning condescensions of
this most amiable "Moslem noble;" while,
though we cannot quite compare this gossip
on his land and people, to
" Orient pearls at random strung,"
and though we must plead guilty to having
had " all the talk to ourselves," yet our chat has
not, we trust, been quite devoid of interest,
neither fatiguing, beyond all reasonable prospect
of his recovery, to our kind companion, and
most agreeable, (because, we trust, uncritical)
fellow-traveller the reader.
THE END.
F. SHOBERL, PRINTER, 51, RUPKRT STREET.
ERRATA.
Page 52, line 12, for Hookaks, read Hookahs,
Page 54, line 13, for per read par
Page 130, last line for Nyx read Nynx
Page 155, lines 17 and 18, for of chief Mooonshee !
read of the chief Moonshee !
Page 173, line 23, for brink read bring
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