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ber weeks in this next autumn, to confer orders on him. He is every way fit for them, and is a most sincere Christian, quite free, so far as I could observe, from all conceit or enthusiasm. His long eastern dress, his long gray beard, and his calm, resigned countenance, give him already almost the air of an apostle.*

January 13.-I went to see the celebrated Tage-mahal, of which it is enough to say that, after hearing its praises ever since I had been in India, its beauty rather exceeded than fell short of my expectations. There was much, indeed, which I was not prepared for. The surrounding garden, which, as well as the Tage itself, is kept in excellent order by Government, with its marble fountains, beautiful cypresses and other trees, and profusion of flowering shrubs, contrasts very finely with the white marble of which the tomb itself is composed, and takes off, by partly concealing it, from that stiffness which belongs more or less to every highly finished building. The building itself is raised on an elevated terrace of white and yellow marble, and having at its angles four tall minarets of the same material. The Tage contains, as usual, a central hall about as large as the interior of the Ratcliffe library, in which, enclosed within a carved screen of elaborate tracery, are the tombs of the Begum Noor-jehan, Shahjehan's beloved wife, to whom it was erected, and by her side, but a little raised above her, of the unfortunate Emperor himself. Round this hall are a number of smaller apartments, corridors, &c., and the windows are carved in lattices of the same white marble with the rest of the building and the screen. The pavement is in alternate squares of white, and what is called in Europe, sienna marble; the walls, screens, and tombs are covered with flowers

* Abdul Musseeh was converted to Christianity, and baptized in the Old Church at Calcutta, when he was about forty years of age. He was, subsequently, employed for eight years by the Church Missionary Society as catechist, and received Lutheran ordination in the year 1820 from the hands of the missionaries of that society. In December, 1825, the Bishop conferred on him, together with three other missionaries, the rite of Episcopal ordination, the articles, the various oaths, and the ordination service, having been translated, for his use, into Hindoostanee. The Bishop also read a considerable part of the ceremony in that language. Abdul Musseeh, immediately after, went to Lucknow, where he resided, with the exception of a visit to Cawnpoor, till his death, which happened on the 4th of March, 1827, occasioned by mortification proceeding from a neglected carbuncle. The Resident, Mr. Ricketts, who had always behaved to him with the utmost kindness and liberality, read the burial service at his grave, and ordered a monument to be erected to his memory, with an inscription in English and Persian. Among other bequests, Abdul Musseeh left his books to the Bible Society.-En.

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and inscriptions, executed in beautiful Mosaic of cornelians, lapis-lazuli, and jasper; and yet, though every thing is finished like an ornament for a drawing-room chimney-piece, the general effect produced is rather solemn and impressive than gaudy. The parts which I like least are the great dome and the minarets. The bulbous swell of the former I think clumsy, and the minarets have nothing to recommend them but their height and the beauty of their materials. But the man must have more criticism than taste or feeling about him, who could allow such imperfections to weigh against the beauties of the Tage-mahal. The Jumna washes one side of the garden, and there are some remains of a bridge which was designed by Shahjehan with the intention, as the story goes, to build a second tage of equal beauty for his own separate place of interment, on the opposite side of the river.

On that side are some interesting ruins of other structures, more especially the tomb of Etmun ut Dowlah, prime minister of Shahjehan. It is said to be very beautiful, but I did not see it, since during the rest of my stay at Agra I was confined by a feverish cold, and was barely able to go out on Friday to hold a Confirmation, with a voice more completely lost than I ever remember happening to me before. I received very great kindness and hospitality from Mr. and Mrs. Irving, and on Sunday, though against Dr. Smith's advice, I preached and administered the Sacrament, and did not feel myself the worse for it.

The number of persons confirmed was about forty, half of whom were native Christians, mostly old persons and converts of Mr. Corrie's during his residence here. Abdul Musseeh told me there were a good many more scattered up and down in the neighbouring towns of Coel, Allyghur, and Etwah, whither he went from time to time, but who were too far off to attend on this occasion. Of several he spoke as elderly persons, who had been in the Maharatta service during Penn's time, of European extraction, but who knew no language but Hindoostanee, and were very glad to have religious instruction afforded them in that language. Many of them gladly attend on his and Mr. Irving's ministry, but others are zealous Roman Catholics, and adhere closely to the Priest of Agra.

One of these Indo-Europeans is an old Colonel of French extraction, but completely Indian in colour, dress, language, and ideas. He is rich, and has a large family of daughters, two or three of whom he has married, rather advantageously, to some of the wealthy country-born English. But no man is allowed to see any of these young ladies till he has had his offer accepted by the father, and till it is perfectly understood that he is pledged to marry one of them. He is then

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introduced behind the purdahs of the Zennana, and allowed to take his choice! The poor girls, of course, are never once consulted in the transaction. Mr. Irving celebrated one of these marriages, at which, except the bride, no female was visible, though he was told that the rest were allowed to peep from behind the curtains.

I took this opportunity of inquiring in what degree of favour the name of the French stood in this part of India, where, for so many years together, it was paramount. I was told that many people were accustomed to speak of them as often oppressive and avaricious, but as of more conciliating and popular manners than the English Sahibs. Many of them, indeed, like this old Colonel, had completely adopted the Indian dress and customs, and most of them were free from that exclusive and intolerant spirit, which makes the English, wherever they go, a caste by themselves, disliking and disliked by all their neighbours. Of this foolish, surly, national pride, I see but too many instances daily, and I am convinced it does us much harm in this country. We are not guilty of injustice or wilful oppression, but we shut out the natives from our society, and a bullying, insolent manner is continually assumed in speaking to them.

CHAPTER XXI.

AGRA TO JYEPOOR.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY THROUGH THE INDEPENDENT STATES OF WESTERN INDIA-FUTTEHPOOR-CITY OF ACBAR GREAT MOSQUE-PALACE-BHURTPOOR-MODE OF SINKING WELLS-LETTER FROM THE RAJA OF BHURTPOOR-GOOD STATE OF HIS COUNTRY-SIR DAVID OCHTERLONY-SIR JOHN MALCOLM-WYREMOWAH-FRONTIER OF JYEPOOR-IDOL CARRIED TO BINDRABUND-DEOSA-HINDOO FESTIVAL ARRIVAL AT JYEPOOR.

JANUARY 17.-I sent off my tents this morning to a small village about nine miles from Agra, and two on the Agra side of the little town of Kerowlee, and drove over myself in the afternoon. I had found it necessary, during my stay at Agra, to make many alterations in, and some additions to my usual domestic arrangements, preparatory to leaving the Company's territory for my long journey through the independent states of Rajpootana, Meywar, &c. My tents were only adapted for cold weather, and would prove a very insuf

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ficient protection against either the sun or the storms of central India, being of European construction, and formed simply of one fold of thin canvass lined with baize. The necessity being admitted by all parties, I purchased two, which were on sale in the city, on the Company's account, there being none of any sort at the Depot. My new lodgings were not so roomy or convenient as my old, but they answered very well, and every body tells me I shall find the advantage when the hot winds begin to blow. Another necessary was a fresh supply of live-stock. I had before been content to carry a few fowls on the back of one of the camels, and to trust to the supplies which the villages afforded for a kid or a sheep occasionally. But we were now going to countries where no Mussulmans are found, where there are few great cities, and a very scattered population of villagers, who consume no animal food themselves,-who have no supplies of the kind for strangers, and, above all, who are now in a state of absolute famine. And though by myself, it must be a desolate country indeed where I should feel want, I was bound to consider that I was not alone, and that my companions also required attention. I was advised to buy some sheep, which were to be driven with us and killed as they were wanted. These, with some salt beef and tongues, were thought sufficient to carry us to Guzerat. At Nusseerabad no supplies of any kind are to be looked for. A solar hat and green shade were next recommended, and pressed on my acceptance by the kindness of Mrs. Irving. A spare saddle, and a store of horse-shoes, were also declared to be necessary, and, in short, so many things were to be procured, that, had I been actually going into the interior of Africa, a less formidable preparation might, I should have thought, have sufficed. Some of my bearers, too, declared they neither would nor dared go beyond the limits of the Company's Raja! This was at first likely to be the greatest difficulty of all, since there were at Agra none to be obtained who would undertake to go further than Nusseerabad, and there, there are absolutely none to be had. A small advance of wages, however, induced most of them to promise anew they would follow me to the world's end. The very deep and difficult wells which I am told to expect in our progress to the south-west, made it necessary for me to hire another bheestie, to draw water for myself and my horses. All these difficulties I had little doubt that I should find extremely exaggerated; but I was compelled, in my local ignorance, to follow the opinions of those who had local knowledge, and who evidently considered my journey as one of an arduous

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For the alarm and reluctance expressed by the natives of Hindostan to go into these western states, many good reasons may be given. But a very few years have passed away since the British Government had neither influence nor authority in these districts, which, between the Maharattas, the Rajpoots, the Mewattees, and the Seiks, were in a constant state of intestine war, and as dangerous for travellers as the interior of Arabia is at this moment. At that time a person wishing to go into these provinces, could not, as I am assured, have obtained bearers for less than eight or ten rupees a month; and the merchants travelled in caravans, paying high rates of protection to every little plundering Raja. Now the Maharattas are subdued and driven out of the country,-the Mewattees are in a great measure reclaimed,-the Seiks are fully employed at home, and the Rajpoot princes and nobles are kept in awe by British Residents and British garrisons. It still, however, is spoken of as a wild, dreary; and inhospitable country, where provisions and water, fruit and forage, are scarce, where thieves are numerous, and regular inhabitants few;-where a servant must look for inconvenience and fatigue, and where he can expect few of those circumstances of amusement or gratification, which, in Hindostan proper, make many of this class of men prefer a rambling to a settled and stationary service. I was told to expect at this place a great desertion of my Bengalee servants also. But nothing of the kind has occurred: even if they talk with some dismay of accompanying me through the desert and over the sea, they like still less the notion of finding their own way back to Calcutta. They all say they never heard of such a journey as mine before, and that neither mountains nor any thing else stand in my way." This is all absurd enough at the present moment; but the recollection of where I am, and the circumstances of convenience and safety under which I have traversed, and am about, if it please God, to traverse regions which are laid down as a terra incognita in Arrowsmith's map of 1816, ought to make, and I hope does make, a strong impression on my mind, of thankfulness to that Great God, whose providence has opened to the British nation so wide and so untried a field of usefulness,-and of anxiety, lest we should any of us, in our station, fall short of those duties which this vast increase of power and dominion imposes upon us. I am often ready to break into lamentations that, where so much is to do in my own peculiar profession, the means at my disposal enable me to accomplish so little. But I ought to be anxious, far more, not to fall short in my exertions of those means which I have, and to keep my attention steadily fixed on professional objects, in order that, what I cannot do myself, I may at least lead others to think of, and perhaps to accomplish. VOL. I.

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