The present governor of the province, | Gungadur Appajee, is residing at Godra. We were overtaken this morning by the principal moonshee of the residency, a shrewd Maharatta Brahmin, accompanied by two others, aides-ducamp to the Guicwar, who had some days been in quest of me with letters, having marched to meet me viâ Godra, and thus gone as far as Doodeah before they found their mistake. They had with them two of Mr. Williams's chobdars, and two of the raja's, with divers irregular horse, a standard, negari, and four regular cavalry. There was a good deal of parade, but not equal in grave and orderly magnificence to what I had seen in Hindostan. Still I found that in Guzerât, as well as elsewhere in India, pomp was attended to. I was agitated with a delight, not unmixed with painful anxiety, on hearing that my dear wife was probably already at sea, on her way to meet me, with one of my little ones, having been compelled, alas! to leave the other in Cal which I found, to my surprise, that the water was very near the surface, and that had the people possessed more capital, for industry I do not suspect them of wanting, they might have in a great degree defied the want of rain. We found Archdeacon Barnes's tent here, and he himself arrived at breakfast-time. I had not seen him since he left Oxford, and found him less changed by the lapse of seventeen years, ten of them spent in India, than I expected. In other respects he is scarcely altered at all, having the same cheerful spirits and unaffected manner which he used to have when a young Master of Arts. From him I learned that Mr. Williams and the Guicwar Raja both meant to come out to meet me the next day, at some little distance from Baroda. I walked in the afternoon with him and Dr. Smith, to look at the Maharatta horse, who had accompanied the raja's vakeel and Mr. Williams's dewan. They were fifty in number, the horses much better, both in size and spirit, than those usually ridden by the irregular cavalry of Hindostan, the men inferior in height, good looks, and dress; the arms and appointments of both pretty nearly the same; some had spears, most had matchlocks, shields, and swords. CHAPTER XXV. BARODA TO BOMBAY. Entrance into Baroda-Namdar Khân-Cantonment-Church-Character of the GuicwarConsecration of the Church-Visit to the Guicwar-Visits from Natives-Guicwar returns the Visit-Departure from Baroda-Crossing the Mhye-Kholees-Swaame Narain-Hot Winds-Interview with Swaame Narain-Arrival at Kairah-Insalubrity of Climate-Jain Temple-Departure from Kairah-Difficulty in crossing the Mhye-Broach-Banyan-tree in an Island on the Nerbudda-Surat-Embarkation-Arrival at Bombay. MARCH 19.-From Jerrdda to Ba- | showing off his horse and horsemanship roda is thirteen miles over a bare and open country, the roads much cut up. Expecting to meet "great men" we made our march in regular order, the nagari beating and Maharatta standard flying before us, followed by my chobdars and a chobdar of the resident's, who gave the word for marching in a sort of shrill cry, “ Chilo Maharatta!" "Forward, Maharattas !" The vakeels and the dewan followed with the chief part of my escort. After marching about eight miles, we were met by a body of horse in Persian dresses, under a young officer splendidly mounted on a dapple grey Arab horse, with the most showy accoutrements which I had seen in India, and a shield of rhinoceros-hide as transparent as horn, and ornamented with four silver bosses. He announced himself as sent by the resident to inquire after my health, and advanced in a very graceful manner to embrace me. Foreseeing that I should probably have these sort of ceremonies, I had chosen for the day my little Barreah horse, to whom my servants had given the name of Rawul, who having received his breeding at a native court, understood these ceremonies better, and endured them more patiently than either Cabul or Nedjeed would have done. After this ceremony, and a little more conversation with the dewan, the young officer, who was evidently a dandy of the first brilliancy in his own way, began to ride before me, in all the usual manège of the East, curvetting, wheeling, galloping forwards, and stopping short. He did all this extremely well, but some of his followers in imitating him were not so skilful or so fortunate, and one of them got a pretty rude fall in crossing some of the deep ruts with which the road was intersected. This gave me a good excuse for desiring them to ride gently, a measure desirable on more accounts than one, since the dust was almost intolerable. About a mile further Mr. Williams met us, with several other gentlemen, and an escort of regular troopers, one of whom carried an unionjack before him, a custom which is common, he told me, in Guzerât and the Deckan, though not practised, as far as I have seen, in other parts of India. He told me that "his highness had just left his palace as he passed the gate of the town, and that we should find him without the gates under some trees. We therefore quickened our pace as much as was compatible with the comfort of our attendants on foot, and with the movements of the suwarree elephant, who was, I found, considered as an essential part of the show, and was directed to follow me closely, though with an empty howdah. On the spot designated we found a numerous body of cavalry, camels, whose riders had each a large bundle of rockets, and infantry armed with matchlocks and swords, of whom was a good deal of its reality, both among the bankers and principal trades men. The residency is a large ugly house without verandahs, and painted blue, as stuccoed houses sometimes are in England. It was at this time under repair, and Mr. Williams, with his sister, was encamped in a grove of mangoes about a mile from the city; our tents were pitched near his. In passing through the city I saw two very fine rhinoceros (the present of Lord. Amherst to the guicwar) which is so tame as to be ridden by a mohout, quite as patiently as an elephant. There were also some very striking groups of the native horsemen, who thronged the street like a fair; one of them, a very tall and large man on a powerful horse, was cased completely in chain armour, like the figure representing a crusader at the exhibition of ancient armour in Pall-Mall. He had also a long spear shod with silver, a very large shield of transparent rhinoceros hide, also with silver studs, and was altogether a most showy and picturesque cavalier. Many of the others had helmets, vant-braces, gauntlets, &c., but none were so perfectly armed as he was. a large proportion were Arabs. These troops made a long lane, at the end of which were seen several elephants, on one of which, equipped with more than usual splendour, I was told was the maharaja. The whole show greatly exceeded my expectations, and surpassed anything of the kind which I had seen, particularly as being all Asiatic, without any of the European mixture visible in the ceremonies of the Court of Lucknow. We here dis-hunting tigers in silver chains, and a mounted and advanced up the lane on foot, when different successive parties of the principal persons of the city advanced to meet us, beginning with a young man whom Mr. Williams introduced to me as secretary to the raja and son of the Brahmin vakeel Shastree, whom the Peishwa, Bajee Rao, murdered by the advice of Trimbuk-jee, and thence proceeding through the different gradations of bankers and financial men, military officers (of whom many were Patans), according to their ranks, vakeels of foreign states, ministers, ending with the prime-minister (all of whom were Brahmins), the raja's brother-in-law, his nephew, a little boy of six years old, the raja's brother, the heir-apparent, a child also of about six, and the maharaja himself, a short stout-built young man, of twenty-seven years old. The usual forms of introduction and inquiries after health followed, and his highness, after asking when I would come to see him, for which I fixed Monday evening, remounted his elephant, and we proceeded different ways into the city, which is large and populous, with tolerably wide streets and very high houses, at least for India, chiefly built of wood, which I had not seen for a long time, with tiled sloping roofs, and rows along the streets something like those of Chester. The palace, which is a large shabby building, close to the street, four stories high, with wooden galleries projecting over each other, is quite a specimen of this kind. There are some tolerable pagodas, but no other building which can be admired. The streets are dirty, with many swine running up and down, and no signs of wealth, though, as I was told, there VOL. II. During our ride Mr. Williams introduced to me more particularly the officer with the splendid equipment who came to meet me, by the name of Namdar Khân, a native of Persia, and commander of the residency escort. He had been aide-de-camp to Sir John Malcolm during the Pindarree war, and was a man of very distinguished and desperate bravery,though, certainly, the greatest coxcomb, as he was also one of the handsomest young men I ever saw. Nothing could exceed the smartness of his embroidery, the spotless purity of his broad belts, the art with which his eyelids were blackened with antimony, his short curling beard, whiskers, and single love-lock, polished with rose-oil, or the more military and becoming polish of his sword, pistols, and dagger; he held his bridle with his right hand, having lost the other by the bursting of a gun. He had, however, an artificial hand made in Baroda, which, so far as show was H concerned, and when covered like the other with a white military glove, did very well, but which enhanced the merit of its wearer's excellent horsemanship, since it must have made the management of his charger more difficult. In his instance, and in that of many other natives of rank, who had been introduced to me this morning, I already perceived what I had afterwards abundant opportunity of observing, that they associated with Europeans and were treated by them on much more equality and familiarity than is usual in Hindostan. Some of this may arise from the frank and friendly manner which distinguishes Mr. Williams individually, as well as the unusual fluency with which he speaks Hindoostanee. But I apprehend that more may be attributed to the lively temper and neglect of forms which are general among the Maharattas themselves, and which are remarkably opposed to the solemn gravity of a Mussulman court, as well as to the long and recent wars in which the guicwar and the English have been allies, and in which the principal officers of both nations were forced into constant and friendly inter course. In the evening I drove out with Mr. and Miss Williams to see the cantonment and the church. The former reminded me of one of the villages near London, having a number of small brick houses with trellis, wooden verandahs, sloping tiled roofs, and upper stories, each surrounded by a garden with a high green hedge of the milkbush. The effect is gay and pretty, but I doubt whether the style of architecture is so well suited to the climate as the common "up-country" bungalow, with a thatched roof and a deep verandah all over. The church is a small but convenient and elegant Gothic building, accommodating about four hundred persons extremely well, and raised at an expense of not more than 12,000 Bombay or 10,000 sicca rupees. House-rent and building seem cheap on this side of India, but everything else excessively dear. The best houses in Bombay may be got for 350 rupees a month, and the best house in Baroda | cantonment for 50; on the other hand provisions are twice, and wages almost three times the rate usual in the upper provinces, and though fewer servants are kept, the diminution in this respect is not enough to make up the difference. Most of the household servants are Parsees, the greater part of whom speak English. They are of lighter complexion than the majority of their eastern neighbours, and in dress, features, and countenance, nearly resemble the Armenians. They are good waiters, but less respectful, and I think less cleanly than their brethren in the east. Instead of "Koee hue," who's there? the way of calling a servant is, " boy," a corruption, I believe, of " bhae," brother. are The Bombay Sepoys were long remarkable for their very low stature; at present they have had so many recruits from Hindostan that the difference is greatly removed, and their grenadier companies have a full proportion of tall men among them. Their battalion companies are, indeed, still under-sized. Nor have they, like the regiments in Hindostan, drawn recruits from the purer castes alone. Many of their number are Kholees, some are Boras, and no inconsiderable number Jews, of whom a great many found on the coast of Catteywâr, Cambay, &c. Their pay and allowances are considerably better than those of the Bengal Presidency, and, altogether, the taller men among them have more the appearance of English troops than even the fine strapping soldiers of Hindostan. They are said, indeed, to fall far short of these in sobriety and peaceable temper and obedience to their officers. In bravery they are surpassed by no troops in the world, and this is fortunate, since no army can have a more troublesome country to manage. The guicwar is said to be a man of talent, who governs his states himself, his minister having very little weight with him, and governs them well and vigorously. His error is too great a fondness for money, but as he found the state involved in debt, even this seems excusable. His territory is In the evening we went, in all the state which we could muster, to pay our visit to the guicwar, who received us, with the usual Eastern forms, in a long narrow room, approached by a very mean and steep staircase. The hall itself was hung with red cloth, adorned with a great number of paltry English prints, lamps, and wall-shades, and with a small fountain in the centre. At the upper end were cushions piled on the ground as his highness's musnud, with chairs placed in a row on his left hand for the resident and his party. The evening went off in the usual form, with Nach girls, Persian musicians, &c., and the only things particularly altogether considerable, both in Cutch, | to return, together with their elephants Catteywâr, and Guzerât, though and camels. Mr. Williams kindly asstrangely intersected, and cut up by sured me that all necessary aids of the the territories of Britain, Sindia, and sort would be forthcoming from the several independent rajas. Those of commissariat. Lunewarra and Doongurpoor, which used to hold of Sindia, now pay him tribute also, as do the Rajas of Palhanpoor and Catteywâr. Still his income, amounting to no less than eighty lacs, or nearly 800,000l., exceeds greatly anything which might have been expected from the surface under his rule, and the wild and jungly nature of some parts of it, and can only be accounted for by the remarkable population and fertility of those districts which are really productive. Out of these revenues he has only three thousand irregular horse to pay, his subsidiary force being provided for out of the ceded territory, and he is therefore, probably, in more flourishing circum-worthy of notice were, that his highstances, and possesses more real power than any sovereign of India except Runjeet Singh. Sindia, and, perhaps, the Raja of Mysore, might have been excepted, but the former, though with three times his extent of territory, has a very imperfect control over the greater part of it, and, indeed, cannot govern his own house: and the latter is, apparently, intent on nothing but amusing himself, and wasting his income on costly follies of state-coaches and gimcracks, to which the guicwar wisely prefers the manner of living usual with his ancestors. On Sunday, March 20, I consecrated the church, preached, and administered the sacrament. The chaplain is Mr. Keays, a young man who is well spoken of, and seems to like his situation; he and his family have as yet enjoyed good health, though Guzerât is reckoned one of the worst climates in India, being intensely hot the greater part of the year, with a heavy thickness of atmosphere which few people can endure. It is in the same latitude with Calcutta, and seems to be what Bengal would be without the glorious Ganges. March 21.-The morning of this day I was busily employed in preparing for the discharge of all my Hindoostanee people, who were impatient ness went through the form of giving the resident and myself a private audience in his own study, a little hot room up sundry pair of stairs, with a raised sofa, a punkah, and other articles of European comfort, as well as two large mirrors, a print of Buonaparte, and another of the Duke of Wellington. He there showed me a musical snuff-box with a little bird, in which he seemed to take much pride, and an imperfect but handsome copy of the Shah Nameh, of which he desired me to accept. The rest of our conversation consisted of inquiries after the Governor-General, the war, the distance from Calcutta, and other such princely topics, till, a reasonable time for our consultation having elapsed, we returned down stairs again. The next thing that struck me was the manner in which the heir-apparent, the little boy before mentioned, made his appearance in the durbar, announced by nearly the same acclamations as his father, and salaming, as he advanced, to the persons of rank, with almost equal grace, and more than equal gravity. After bending very low, and touching the ground before his father's seat, he went up to Mr. Williams with the appearance of great pleasure, climbed upon his knee, and asked him |