TROPICAL SKETCHES;

OR,

REMINISCENCES OF AN INDIAN JOURNALIST.

CHAPTER I.

THE SEIKHS AND THEIR FOUNDERS.

ANY one who wanders much about Calcutta with his eyes open, will soon be struck with the fine manly appearance of the Seikhs as a body. Tall and well formed, they constitute unquestionably a superior division of the native community, physically regarded. They may be seen about the bazars and the native mercantile establishments with cotton garments, not always of the cleanliest, wrapped round their loins, a close-fitting jacket on their shoulders,

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B

and a turban of red or yellow hue—a muslin cloth, in fact,-twisted carefully and neatly round the head. They stand, or lounge about, squatting on their heels, in easy attitudes of indolent repose, when unemployed; but, busy, they exhibit far more of the bustling energy which the European naturally associates with the idea of labour than any other class of natives. Their features are, for the most part, good; their complexion a shade lighter, perhaps, than that of the Bengallee; their eyes dark and sparkling.

Look into that long native shop in the "Burra bazaar," and far away in the gloom, you will see three of them squatted on their heels in animated converse. You are observed, and, in a moment, one of them darts upon you as if you were a lamb appointed to the slaughterhe has made you his prey. He warns you not to allow yourself to be cheated by lying shopkeepers, who puff their own bad wares; he warns you that there is much villany in the Burra bazaar; that if you want to dispose of your money to your own advantage, you have an opportunity in his shop such as cannot be met with elsewhere. His two

brethren join in chorus, and, between the three, you will not find it easy to avoid seeing, at all events, what is pressed upon you with so much apparent honesty of purpose and sincerity of confidence.

You meet with civility, politeness, and attention, when you have entered there is certainly no individual living in Asia or Europe, who will treat you to more civility and polite attention than the Seikh when he is cheating you out of your money, or charging you only double what he ought to charge you for an article. You show that you know the prices of the goods, and his enthusiasm cools at once. It becomes, in that case, a mere business transaction, and he has nothing to do but to exhibit the article, and declare its value. Eloquence would then be thrown away. "Greenness" is the quality he adores most in his purchasers, and the more unsophisticated the customer the more attention and kindness may he be certain of receiving for his money.

No supercilious smile curls the lip of the energetic Seikh if you exhibit frightful ignorance; no ill-disguised contempt, such as makes you disposed to knock down the well

combed and finely peruked individual that exhibits it when he corrects your ignorance in a London shop, blandly and serenely. The Seikh knows better. Be as ignorant as you please of the nature of the article, of its quality and price, and he will not let you leave his shop until he has persuaded you" that you have displayed an amount of sagacity perfectly extraordinary, until he has so far flattered your self-esteem as to send you away rejoicing in your acuteness.

You make an absurdly high offer for something you know nothing about.

"Saheb sees that his slave is a poor man,' says the seller-the seller of other articles besides those of commerce." Saheb sees that his slave is a poor man, and knows that that quality cannot be bought or sold at that price."

You protest that you know nothing of the kind.

"Then Saheb must let poor man live," suggests the Seikh.

You never intended they should not, is your reply.

"Then Saheb will take the other quality at that price, or give me twenty per cent. more for this," he concludes.

You examine the other quality, and even you can see that it is villanously bad. Your perception of that fact puts you into a good humour-he sees that he has no nincompoop to deal with, you say blandly to yourself—and so you take the goods at a trifle below his suggestion. No line on his face is suggestive of the imposition he has practised-he merely observes, that as you have driven so hard a bargain with him in that instance, you ought really to take something more from him to make up for it.

This is merely the mercantile side of the extraordinary race. With their military ability, the British became feelingly acquainted at Ferozeshah and Chilianwallah-on the banks of the Sutlej and of the Chenab. Different as the Seikh is from either the Hindoo or the Mussulman of India, however, he is merely a descendant of ancestors of either community. Before the latter end of the fifteenth century there were no Seikhs at all. Education and early training alone have made them the people