CHAPTER XVII.

LUCKNOW.-CONCLUDED.

A Morning Surprise-Salám-Native Polish-Hindoo Manners-Parade-Red CoatCharacter of Sepoys-An Army of Priests and Kings-Caste misunderstood-Pariahs-India Conquered for the English, by Natives-Bullock Artillery-" Hathee pur Howdah" or Elephant Riding-Rich Dresses-Chokeedárs-Fukheers-A Coat of Paint-Royal Palace-Vanity-The Social Evil-A Modern Sodom-Defence of the Lucknow Residency-The Massacre of Cawnpoor.

AFTER dinner I returned to the dak-bungalow, and next morning again repaired by invitation to Captain Hayes', to accompany him to a review. As all parades take place before the heat of the sun becomes oppressive, I was obliged to get up very early, and after driving the two miles from the dakbungalow, arrived by five o'clock. I found the Captain not yet dressed. His house was shut up. On opening the door, I discovered ten or twelve servants asleep on the parlour floor, having chosen that resting place on account of the warmth of the house and the softness of the carpet. The noise I made in entering awoke them, and they all got up and salámed. The salám consists in opening the hands and placing them so that the little fingers touch, and both hands form one flat surface; then bowing and touching the hands to the earth and the forehead. This is the most respectful form and is employed by servants and inferiors. In it, the upper part of the body is bent as far as possible. There are less respectful varieties of the same salute, made by not bending the body so much, or lowering the joined hands so far. The lowest form of all is a simple inclination of the head, and touching the forehead three or four times with one hand. The salutation by salám was introduced by the Moosulmans, though it is now also practised by the Hindoos.

When used by one Mahommedan to another, the gesture de

scribed above is accompanied by the words "Salám Alékoom,” to which the reply is, “Alékoom Salám." The Hindoo salutation, which is given only to a Hindoo, is Ram-Ram. Hindoos are, commonly, much less polite than Moosulmans. The former never salute any one whom they do not knowthe latter salute all whom they have reason to believe superiors. The manly independence of Hindoo manners is, however, scarcely found in the north of India, where the Mahommedan influence has been very powerful. As a general rule, the manners of a native are cringing and slavish to his superiors-coarse and brutal to his inferiors. In addressing a superior, every deferential circumlocution is employed. The verb is never used in the second person, but always in the third, with the title "Sahib "—"lord ;" "Gureeb Purwar ""provider for the poor;" "Khodawund "-" representative of God;" "Huzoor "-" your worship;" "Sahib Bahadur "— "warrior Lord ;" "Bahadur Shah "-" warrior king," or some such term used as the subject. On the other hand, the native speaks of himself as "bunda,” “ your slave," or by some title of humility. Mrs. Colin Mackenzie relates that one morning her husband was travelling by palkee, and saw some others behind on the road. He put his head out of the door and asked one of his bearers how many other palkees there were. The reply was, "There are two, three, or even four, if such be your Lordship's pleasure." Another story is told of one of the Lieutenant Governors of Agra, who took much interest in native schools. One day he was examining a remarkably clever protégé before some friends. After several other questions, he asked the boy, "what makes the earth go round the sun ?" and was told, "the earth revolves by the favour of your Highness." The servants of Europeans, as is the universal custom of all natives, never wear their shoes in the house. When addressed by their master, they stand with the arms folded, and when speaking, join the hands in the attitude of prayer-a position well suited to the slavish style of their speech. When a native has a particular favour to ask, he kneels down on the ground, and puts his head under your feet. When they are flogged, they never think of resisting,

but kneel down with their foreheads in the ground, and joining the hands above their heads shriek frightfully, crying to the Honourable Company to come to their aid, and now and then yelling out that they are dead.

The servility of the Moosulman manners, would be all very well if they implied any real respect-but when you know that they detest and despise you, that, if they dared, they would spit upon you for an infidel dog, and that they would feel themselves eternally disgraced by sitting down at your table-you cannot help feeling a hearty contempt for the miserable fawning, cringing, slavish cowards.

Soon after five o'clock Captain Hayes joined me, and we went together to the parade ground. We stood near the colours, and saw the troops march by. They were all Sepoys, but very fine-looking and tall men. Like all native regular regiments, they were officered by an equal number of Europeans and natives. The latter looked intensely proud of their red coats, showy accoutrements, and the strings of gold beads around their neck. The dress of the Sepoys, is nearly the same as that of English soldiers, and though not so pleasant or convenient as the native dress, is much preferred by them. The red coat takes the fancy of the natives, both on account of its colour and the prestige attached to it. It was adopted years ago in the armies of the independent native princes; and in the Punjab war the Seekhs were only distinguished from the Company's sepoys by wearing a turban instead of the military cap. Native soldiers march as well as possible, manœuvre admirably, and are better shots than Europeans. The only desiderata as regards drill, are a prominent chest, and physical strength. In all other respects they would be as fine soldiers as any in the world if they only had one thing— and that is manly courage.

Oude was the great recruiting ground of the Bengal army. Among its teeming population there is an unusually large proportion of Brahmuns, and Rajpoots, the latter the highest of the Soodra castes; and they had contrived almost to monopolize the army appointments. The pay of the army was so high, and the service so desirable in every way, that each

if

soldier would induce his young relations to enlist, and at the same time would endeavour to prevent the enrolment of men of inferior caste. Though the Oude Brahmuns and Rajpoots, were the finest races in India, yet one quality alone of theirs would have totally unfitted them for a serviceable army. I mean their indomitable pride-which far exceeded that of the bluest-blooded Castilian noble. The hidalgo may trace back his descent for several hundred years of unspotted lineage, but the Rajpoot's genealogy ends only in the sun or the moon-the Spanish gentleman may fancy himself equal to any prince or nobleman, but the Rajpoot would not acknowledge his inferiority to a king, and would not even allow the equal rank of most monarchs. But if such is the Rajpoot's pride of birth, how much greater is that of the Brahmun. The former believes that he is the equal of any living man, the latter, that he is by far their superior. "You may say, you please," they will observe, "that Brahmuns are men, like the rest of mankind-so it is true that cows and hogs are both animals, but you can never make a hog into a cow, nor pretend any equality between them. A wicked Brahmun is entitled to more reverence than the most virtuous Soodra-is not a vicious cow better than a well-behaved cat?" In speaking of this divine caste, the great law-giver Měnoo says, "Whatever exists in the universe is in effect, if not in form, the property of the Brahmuns-and so the Brahmun is entitled to everything by primogeniture and superiority of birth. The Brahmun who lives on another's charity is under no obligations; he eats but his own food, wears but his own apparel, and bestows but his own alms. It is, indeed, only by the benevolence of the Brahmuns that other mortals enjoy life.” How could discipline be maintained in an army composed of men with such feelings; any one of whom would consider himself eternally disgraced by dining with you, my reader; and would almost prefer death to eating a meal prepared for him by the hands of his own general, whom he would consider as bearing the same relation of rank towards himself, that the unclean hog does to the pure and sacred cow.

This institution of caste is the most remarkable feature in

Hindoo society, and is, perhaps, scarcely at all understood by those who have not lived in India. Almost all the English books which I have read on the subject of India, seem to assume the actual existence of the original four castes, the Brahmun, Kshatrias, Vaishyas, and Soodras-whereas the two intermediate castes have wholly disappeared, and the Soodras, who comprise the mass of the population, have become broken up into innumerable subordinate castes, as entirely separate from one another as from the Brahmuns. Although the Brahmuns are properly priests, and the other castes are generally called by the name of some trade, so that they are, to some extent, guilds-yet a man of any caste is allowed to do anything which does not require him to touch substances or engage in occupations which are pollution, according to the rules of his particular caste. For instance, a Brahmun will be a coachman, a clerk, or an employé of government, and perhaps their most common occupations are cooking as domestic servants in the houses of natives, and begging. But no matter how menial is their occupation, howsoever poor and miserable they may be, whether squatted on the mud cooking, begging naked in the streets, or licking your feet for an extra bucksees, he always considers himself, and is looked upon by all Hindoos, as infinitely superior in rank to the mightiest monarch in Christendom. So also, any Hindoo will be a domestic servant-but he will not cook beef or take care of fowls; he will make his master's bed and mend his clothes, but he will not sweep the room or empty the dirty water, unless he be of a low caste. The higher the caste, generally, the fewer the occupations that the subject can engage in, and the more limited the number of articles he can eat. There are some castes so low that scarcely anything is a pollution to them, and they even eat the putrid meat of animals which have died a natural death. Still they are very punctilious on the few points which mark their caste.

Lowest and most degraded of all are the Out-castes, who, in Southern India, form a large part of the population. An English missionary describing the condition of this class, and comparing them with negro slaves, says: "The slave may