VISIT TO MEER ISRAF ALI. 205 marvellously dirty, and unfit to see company. They were, however, apparently flattered and pleased, and shewed their good manners in offering no apologies, but leading me up a very mean staircase into their usual sitting-rooms, which were both better in themselves, and far better furnished than I expected from the appearance of things below. After the few first compliments, I had recourse to Abdullah's interpretation, and they talked very naturally and rather volubly about the fine sport their father would shew me the next time I came into the country, he having noble covers for tygers, leopards, and even wild elephants. At last out came a wish for silver sticks! Their father, they said, was not in the habit of asking favours from government, but it was a shame that the Baboos of Calcutta should obtain badges of nobility, while real Seyuds, descendants of the prophet, whose ancestors had never known what trade was, but had won with their swords from the idolaters, the lands for which they now paid taxes to the Company, should be overlooked. I could promise them no help here, and reminded them that an old family was always respected whether it had silver sticks or no, and that an upstart was only laughed at for decorations which deceived nobody. "Yes," said the younger, "but our ancestors used to have silver sticks, and we have got them in the house at this day." I said if they could prove that, I thought that government would be favourable to their request, but advised them to consult Mr. Master, who was their father's intimate friend. We 206 VISIT TO MEER ISRAF ALI. then parted, after their bringing pawn and rosewater in a very antique and elegantly-carved bottle, which might really have belonged to those days when their ancestors smote the idolaters. Mr. Master afterwards said, that if the Meer himself had been at home, I never should have been plagued with such topics; that he was a thorough gentleman, and a proud one, who wished for the silver sticks, but would never have asked the interest of a stranger. The young men called afterwards to see me to my boat, and brought me some toys for my children, and a travelling cap often worn by Mussulmans in this district. CHAPTER VIII. DACCA TO FURREEDPOOR. Inundation-Gun-boat attacked - Mussulman Fakir -- Furreedpoor System of Robbery-Domestic Habits of Hindoos-Extract from Calendar. HAVING preserved these hasty recollections of the past week, I return to my journey. Being anxious to prevent Miss Stowe, who I feared had, on hearing of her poor brother's illness, set out from Calcutta to join him, from coming to Dacca, I did not take the direct northern course by the great jeels, but sailed eastward across the Delaserry river and a wide tract of flooded country, which offered a strange and dreary spectacle, from the manner in which the wretched villages were huddled together on little mounds of earth, just raised above the level of the inundation, while all the rest was covered with five or six feet of water. I thought of Gray's picture of the Egyptian Delta, whose peasants "On their frail boats to neighbouring cities glide, But these villages do any thing but glitter. At length we passed them all, and entered what might be called a sea of reeds. It was, in fact, a vast jeel or marsh, whose tall rushes rise above the surface of the water, having depth enough for a very large vessel. We sailed briskly on, rustling like a greyhound in a field of corn: while in one place where the reeds were thickest, and I tried the depth with an oar, there was, I should guess, at least ten feet water, besides whatever else there might be of quagmire. After this we entered a nullah, with rice only partially flooded, and a succession of woods and villages, till at six we halted for the night, in a very pleasant spot, near a large village, named Nawâb Gunge. I should have enjoyed my little walk, if my recollections would have allowed me. July 23.-We commenced our journey this morning with unusual alertness, but ere long it was interrupted. A sudden turn of the river exposed us, about 12 at noon, to so strong a contrary wind, that after a few trials the men declared they could not proceed, and begged leave to get their dinner, in the hope that the breeze might moderate. I was not sorry for this delay, as I hoped to receive information from Dacca which might set me at liberty to go directly northward, but letters arrived which to my great sorrow established the fact that Miss Stowe was on her way to Dacca, and made it adviseable for me to push on to meet her as fast as possible. I put, therefore, into immediate force the magic of my own silver sticks, and the potent talisman of brass which adorned the girdle of the Chuprassee whom Mr. Master had GUN-BOAT ATTACKED. 209 ordered to accompany me to Hajygunge, and sent to the Jemautdar1 of the nearest village a requisition for twenty men to drag my boats, with the information at the same time, that the service would not be, as I fear it often is in this country, gratuitous. No sooner, however, were the messengers seen approaching, than half the village, fearing that it was some Government duty which was required, ran away to hide themselves, and it was not till the Jemautdar had gone round to explain matters to some of their wives, that any tolerable workmen made their appearance. At last the prescribed number arrived, and we began moving with tolerable rapidity, and continued advancing prosperously till nine o'clock at night, when the twenty men were extremely well satisfied with two rupees among them! and willingly promised to attend next morning; so cheap is labour in this part of India. An event has occurred on the Matabunga since we traversed it, which shews the low state of morality among the peasants of India, and how soon and how surely a sudden temptation will transform the most peaceable into banditti. A large boat attached to the gun-boats which arrived the other day at Dacca from Calcutta, loaded with ammunition, got aground pretty near the same place where we had the bank cut through. The country people were called in to assist in getting her off, very likely from the same village 'This appellation is variously given to a house-servant, the chief man of a village, and to an officer in the army, of a rank corresponding to a lieutenant.-En. |