October 3.-This day being Sunday was a day of rest to us all, and to none of us I believe was it unacceptable. Its value to the animals, soldiers, and labourers, was never perhaps so powerfully impressed on my mind, as now that I saw them round me, after three days of great fatigue, in the actual enjoyment of a twentyfour hours' repose and relaxation. I had church in my tent, which, besides our two families and Abdullah, was attended by two of Mr. Corrie's former converts, Fyzee Musseeh and Anund Musseeh, who joined him at Benares, and are attending him up the country. The latter is a fine young man, who speaks and reads English well. Fyzee Musseeh understands it but imperfectly, except in reading, but is an interesting and remarkable person. He is the son of a wealthy Ryut near Moradabad, who, though himself a Hindoo, sent his son to a celebrated Mussulman preceptor, in the hope that a knowledge of Arabic and Persian would recommend him to the service of the king of Oude. The lessons, however, which the young idolater received opened his eyes to the absurdity of the religion which he had hitherto professed. He turned Mussulman, was circumcised, and received the name of Fyzee Mohammed, and was regarded for several years as one of the most promising students among "the true believers." His increased knowledge, however, of his new creed was far from satisfying him of its proceeding from God, and he was still more induced to waver by learning that a very holy Mussulman saint in the neighbourhood had, on his death-bed, confessed that he found no comfort but in the words of Jesus the son of Mary. To obtain a knowledge of these words, he went to a Romish priest at Lucknow, and applied to him for a copy of the Gospel. The priest took considerable pains with him, but Fyzee Mohammed no sooner saw the images in his chapel than he cried out that this could never be the religion of which he was in quest, and undertook another journey in search of Mr. Chamberlain, the Baptist minister, who was then in the service of the Begum Sumroo. He had but little conversation with him, but obtained the book he wanted, which completely convinced him, till he was again dissatisfied with the explication which he obtained of some of the difficult passages. He at length went to Agra, another long journey, and after staying some time in Mr. Corrie's neighbourhood, was baptized into, and has ever since continued a steady member of, the Church of England, under the name of Fyzee Musseeh. He is a little man, middle aged, with a very mild and meditative cast of countenance, of no talent for public speaking, and his whole manner reserved, shy, and timid. He is, however, an admirable scholar in every part of eastern learning, of much disinterestedness and modesty, reads English pretty well, though he is too diffident to speak it, and is still very greatly respected as a learned and holy man by many both of the "If the grandson of Jesus had died for the sins of men, The meaning of this couplet is not very easy to make out. All I can conjecture is, that there is some confusion between sister's son, or cousin, and grandson, the name of Agawzee being, though less properly, applicable to these relations likewise, that an allusion is made to the notion entertained by Mussulmans, that our Lord himself was not crucified, but taken up to heaven, and that Judas was executed in his stead, and in his likeness and lastly, that they confound Judas, or Jude, the relation of our Lord, (not Iscariot,) with the traitor, and that they mean to say, that had the atonement on the cross been what Christians suppose, they would have been the true professors of Islam, and the subsequent mission of Mohammed would have been unnecessary. Be this as it may, the couplet gave occasion to Fyzee Mussech to set his new acquaintance right as to many particulars in the history of Christ, to which the man listened with profound attention. When he had ended, he asked some very pertinent questions, and at length said, "May God reward you, sir! God, I believe, has sent me to this place to meet you, for you have told me much which I did not know before, and much that I was desirous of learning. I am a Hindoo, but have been for some time a searcher after truth, and was inclined to turn Mussulman, if I had not found that the Mussulmans also acknowledged Eesa as a prophet, and that therefore it was desirable to learn something of his religion in the first place. I shall now pray to God and to Jesus to guide me farther." They prayed together, and parted next morning, the man saying that Fyzee Musseeh should hear from him again. This is interesting in itself, and on many accounts; but it is 296 VISIT FROM ZEMINDAR. particularly curious, inasmuch as Fyzee Musseeh says it is only one of many symptoms of a considerable change taking place in the Hindoo mind, a growing contempt of idolatry, and an anxiety after other forms of belief. At present he says the Mussulmans get many converts. Ere long, perhaps, Christianity also may come in for its share of the harvest. Fyzee Musseeh was not our only visiter; the Zemindar, a very well dressed and gentlemanly man, on a good horse, and with a greater retinue than usual, also called and sate some time. Mr. Ward, the collector of Allahabad, had prepared us to expect him, and told us that he was a man of good family, and respectable character. The conversation was, of course, general enough, till I luckily introduced the subjects of field-sports, on which he was eloquent. I observed, that there was much jungle in the neighbourhood, and asked if there were any tigers. "Tigers! No," said he, "not for several years back; and as for jungle, there is three times as much cultivated land now as there used to be under the government of the Vizier. Then there were tigers in plenty, and more than plenty; but there are better things than tigers now, such as corn fields, villages, and people. However, in the jungle which still remains, we have deer, wild hogs, and arnu." This latter name belongs to a species of gigantic buffalo, which I had understood to be very uncommon, but which it seems, though rare, is here sometimes to be met with. The thickest jungles, he said, were on the banks of the river, and they were the most abundant in game of every kind. On the whole it is curious and interesting to find both the apparently progressive improvement of the country under the improvement of the British government, as contrasted with its previous state, and also how soon, and how easily, in a settled country, the most formidable wild animals become extinct before the power of man. The tiger will soon be almost as great a rarity in our eastern as in our western dominions; the snake, however, will hold his ground longer. I forgot to mention, that while at Allahabad I was one night roused by the entrance of several men armed with sticks and spears. Abdullah, who was at their head, called out, "Lie still, my lord; these people have seen a very large chichta (cobra di capello) creep into your window." I did not lie still, however, but got a stick and joined the party; after an accurate search nothing was found except a large hole in the floor, into which, probably, the animal had made its escape. The bearers might have killed him when they first saw him, but, unless they are urged to do so, they seldom will, from their superstitious veneration for serpents, a feeling very common among the Hindoos, and which accounts, in part, for the number of snakes yet found in these provinces. Next morning a farther search was VISIT FROM AN IMAM. 297 made, but nothing found; and I could observe that this double discovery of snakes entering my bed room, was considered by my Hindoo servants as a sign of great good luck, and raised me in their estimation. We had yet another visiter; the Imam of the neighbouring mosque, a very handsome man, with a splendid beard, a cheerful, though rather sarcastic countenance, and two of the merriest, most intelligent eyes that I have seen, called, as he said, in his capacity of Padre, to offer his respects to his Bishop. He had been a pilgrim to Mecca and Medina, had visited Jerusalem, Mount Sinai, and Cairo, and had testimonials from a Greek Archimandrite at Bethlehem to his good character and good acquirements. He sate with us some time, and I was able to understand him very tolerably. Mr. Corrie was much amused with him, and said he was a good specimen of a travelled worldly Mussulman, with little seriousness in his peculiar creed, and probably few thoughts of religion at all. I asked him to drink coffee, telling him that he must know very well that in Turkey, Egypt, and Arabia, Mussulmans and Christians eat together without scruple. He bowed, and answered with a smile, "I know that well, my lord, but it is not the custom in this country." He was pleased, however, with the offer, and said, with my permission, since we seemed curious about his travels, he would return in the evening and bring his journal, which he had kept regularly. I answered, that if his journal was as entertaining as his conversation, he might find it worth his while to get it printed at Calcutta. In the evening, however, it turned out to be a very short and dry diary, merely curious to a person making a map. Indeed, to do him justice, when I talked about printing it at first, he shook his head, as if he thought it would not answer. He now told us how it came to pass that he first went to Mecca. A certain Mussulman of good connections, and bred a soldier, had been, after the late pacification of India by Lord Hastings, completely thrown out of employment. In his distress what to do, he applied to a relation high in the service of the Nawâb Vizier, for help and advice, whose answer was "Turn Saint." "How so!" was the reply; "every body knows that my life has not been saintly!" "But your beard," said the adviser, "is very much so, and a few weeks will enable you to assume the proper tone and carriage. I have a brother who is a man of acknowledged learning and holiness; I will get him to countenance you, and introduce you to different devout Mussulmans, and then you have only to get disciples, and you will live very well." He did so,-put on a coarse raiment and a sad exterior, preached up pilgrimage to Mecca, declared himself ready to conduct a caravan thither, and soon found people enough, among whom our guest was one, to VOL. I.-38 298 INDIAN ARMY--CHOUBEE SERAI. follow him and subscribe their money for this holy undertaking. The profits, however, he made during the voyage, and by a dustoory* on all the alms either given or received by the party, were so considerable, that on his return some of his confidential disciples had a quarrel with him for a more equal distribution of booty, and scandal arose, which compelled the saint to go and make disciples elsewhere. "Nevertheless," said the Hajee who gave us this account, composing his face to a due expression of gravity," he is doubtless a holy man, and of great eloquence." I suspect our visiter may have been, on this occasion, not one of the geese, but the foxes. October 4.-We went this morning to a station named Choubee Serai, through a country differing little from that which we had passed already. In the march we met a strong column of infantry, about 2,300 men, with a long train of baggage, elephants, camels, bullocks, and camp-followers, on their march from Cawnpoor to the eastward. The groups afforded by the line of march, the little parties halting under trees, the loaded animals, the native women conveyed in "dhoolies," or litters, and hackeries, the naked limbs of the baggage-drivers and camp-followers, the different gradations of horse, from the wild shaggy Tattoo to the sleek and gentle Arab, with the uniforms and arms, were some of them beyond description beautiful. What would not Wouvermans have made of an Eastern army? Some of the sepoys asked Mr. Corrie's servants to whom our party belonged, and where we were going. On being told it was the Lord Padre Sahib going to Bombay, one of them exclaimed, "The Lord Sahib goes to the side of Bombay, we go where fighting is!" It is possible that he had never heard of any Lord Sahib but the Governor-general, and was therefore naturally surprised to hear of his going in a direction so contrary to that where the stress of public affairs called him. On our arrival at Choubee Serai, we found the people complaining sadly of these troops, who had, they said, taken whatever they wanted without payment, had broken and wasted more than they consumed, and beaten the peasantry for not bringing the supplies faster. The laws of British India are, in these respects, no less just than those of England, and the magistrates, I have every reason to believe, are, to the utmost of their power, anxious to afford complete protection to the people. There are some articles, however, such as grass, fire-wood, and earthen pots of the cheap and coarse kind used once for cooking a dinner and afterwards broken by all Hindoos of a respectable caste, which the Zemindars are expected * A customary deduction from all money paid, given, or received on any possible occasion, made by the person through whose hands it passes, and one of the most fruitful sources of cheating in India.-ED. |