I met an old acquaintance, who recognised me immediately, and insisted on my putting up with him. We had so many questions to ask each other, about ourselves, our travels, our relatives, and our connections, and each of us had so much to tell that, if my friend had not in his joy imbibed a little too freely the juice of the grape, we should probably not have retired at all that night. As it was, we did not part till the midnight hour. Futtyghur (which is also called Furruckabad) was built about the year 1700, and ceded to us in 1802. Here the celebrated Holkar was defeated by our troops, November 17th, 1804. It was formerly governed by a Patan chief, and was famous for its robbers. December 15th.-To Urrowl, forty-two miles distant. Put up at the Dâk Bungalow. This is beautifully situated amidst a large grove of trees, which affords a shade most delightful to the wearied traveller. Some one has filled nearly a whole page of the Traveller's Book here with his effusions, beneath which he who came next inscribed, "What an ass!" (A sad humiliation for the writer, could he have seen it.) December 17th.-I again reach Cawnpore. (Here I remained a week, engaged in visiting old acquaintances, and old familiar scenes.) December 25th.-CHRISTMAS DAY! But how different from an English Christmas Day! Still there is an attempt at festivity the bungalows are decorated with flowers by the native servants, who know it is our great National Holiday, and, after their manner, show (or would have us believe they show) their joy in our joy; bringing, too, their little presents to their several masters (from whom they naturally expect a liberal acknowledgment). We go to the Church (which is also decorated), and have our Christmas Service and Christmas. Hymns. Our tables are loaded with good things, and at this Station, and others to the North-West, pleasant little groups even gather round a fire, and some from outlying posts come in, and the cheerful wine circulates, and the pleasant toast is given, and the air is filled with music, and with song. • See Household Words, ii. 306. SONG. Wake the song! wake the song! to the days long gone by! When fondness and fellowship woke in the breast, And Truth Love's caresses engaged to renew ; Round the shades of the past what bright memories throng! Wake the song! wake the song! to the days with us now, And the voice hear again that oft charmed us of yore;- Wake the song! wake the song! to the days yet to come! To share the glad light of prosperity's day, And when clouds round the heart gather chase them away! Aye! as years round us circle may friends round us throng DAYS TO COME! DAYS TO COME! CROWN THE SONG! CROWN THE SONG! CHAPTER XVI. A VISIT TO OUDE. DECEMBER 26th-As I am again so near Oude, and * quite my own master, I determine on visiting Lucknow, and leave Cawnpore for that city, some fifty-three miles distant, on horseback, the day after Christmas. The river is crossed by a bridge of boats. From this the traveller enters that part of the bed of the Ganges which, in the rainy season, is covered by the river, but at this period of the year is a sandy waste. Hence he emerges into the main road, a fairly good but exceedingly dusty one; for the soil is loose, and macadamisation unknown. The aspect of the country, however, is agreeable; numerous groves of fine trees enliven the prospect, and afford shelter to the wayfarer; villages, which, embowered amidst rich foliage, look in the distance exceedingly pretty, are scattered around; and travellers of various castes and callings, from the Brahmin to the Soodra, from the Nawab to the Fakir, together with fierce and sturdy Mussulmans, throng the road, and enhance, by their variety of costume, the native charms of the scenery. Oude is considered to be the ancient Kosala, the oldest seat of civilisation in India, and the birthplace of the "god" Ram; it is one of the richest and most populous Provinces of Hindostan, and is about two hundred and fifty miles in length from east to west, with an average breadth of one hundred miles. It is one great plain (except on the Nepaulese border), with a This has been made since Oude was visited by Bishop Heber, who says: "We for some time lost our way, there being no other road than such tracks as are seen across ploughed fields in England; the whole country being cultivated, though not enclosed, and intersected by small rivers and nullahs." very fertile soil producing wheat, barley, and other grains, including rice of the finest quality, varieties of pulse, oil seeds, sugar cane, tobacco, hemp, cotton, etc. The climate is considered the healthiest along the whole valley of the Ganges. The people are a fine robust race, intelligent and manly; they are chiefly Hindoos, and most of them Brahmins, but there are numerous Rajpoots-the famous "sons of kings," the chivalry of India-among them. Hence, as a natural consequence, the tone of the people is fierce and warlike. The Bengal Army is largely recruited from this province. Oude was conquered by the Mahommedans in 1195, and annexed to their empire, under which it appears to have remained till 1753, when the Nawab Vizier, Saffdar Jung, revolted, and compelled the reigning Emperor to make the Governorship hereditary in his family; his son and successor, Shujahood-Dowlah, became entirely independent, and founded a dynasty that, protected by ourselves from external enemies, has been notorious for its wretched misgovernment. Shujah was succeeded by Assufud Dowlah, the builder of modern Lucknow, and of most of its numerous Palaces; he (after the deposition of an adopted son, who immediately followed him, and was removed by the British) was succeeded by his brother Saadut-Alee Khan; and he in 1819 by his son Ghazee-ood-Deen, who, with the sanction of the GovernorGeneral, assumed in 1819 the title of King. Since then Nussur-ood-Deen (who died by poison in 1837),† Muhammad Shah, who died in 1841, and the present ruler, Amjad-Ali *The author of "From Sepoy to Subadar" (whom we have before quoted) gives an amusing account of the way in which our countrymen were formerly regarded in Oude. "I had never yet seen a sahib, and imagined they were terrible to look on, and of great stature. In those days there were but few sahibs in Oude; only one or two as sahib residents in Lucknow, where I had never been. In the villages in my country most curious ideas existed about them; any one who had chanced to see a sahib told the most absurd stories of them. In fact, nothing then could be said that would not have been believed. It was reported that they were born from an egg which grew on a tree. This idea still exists in remote villages. Had a memsahib (an English lady) come suddenly into some of our villages, if she were young and handsome, she would have been considered as a kind of fairy, and probably have been worshipped; but should the memsahib have been old and ugly, the whole village would have run away, and have hid in the jungle, considering the apparition as a witch." † Some revelations of the court of this monarch will be found in "The Private Life of an Eastern King." Shah, have successively reigned over this beautiful, but most unhappy kingdom. It is said that the King, sunk like his latest predecessors in sloth and sensuality, gives no thought to public affairs, or to the counsels of the British Resident. Court favourites sell every office in the State.* The ryots, cultivating the land (generally their own by inheritance, and "no people carry so far the love of the paternal acres as the Hindoos of Oude") are subject to the talookdars, or farmers of the revenue; who so impoverish them by their impositions as often to dispossess them, and compel them to resort to depredation and plunder; so that the country is overrun with Thugs and robbers. The talookdars have their forts and strongholds, in which they defy the power of the Government, and from which they issue to make war against each other, to spoil the neighbouring villages, and to strip merchants travelling on the highways. The strong everywhere prey upon the weak, and crime in every form stalks about unpunished. The public revenue can be collected only by force of arms, or by a compromise with the more powerful barons. Law and justice appear to be unknown, and the country is thus brought to chaos and the verge of general ruin.† Basket-loads of heads of poor wretches executed for alleged crimes are said to be brought in frequently and suspended in public in Lucknow. The manufactures and commerce of the kingdom seem chiefly limited to soda, saltpetre, and salt; but military weapons are largely made for home service. After some six hours' riding from Cawnpore I approached the capital. Lucknow (which is 610 miles from Calcutta) is said to be the oldest of the great cities of India, and to have been founded four thousand years since by Latshman, brother of Rama, who gave his name to the city, and resided on a spot whereon Aurungzebe afterwards erected a mosque, thus converting it into a Mahommedan city. Its appearance at a "The minister and his creatures appropriate to themselves at least one-half of the revenues of the country, and employ nothing but knaves of the very lowest kind in all the branches of the administration."-Sir W. Sleeman. + Trotter, i. 108. "We were passing a very picturesque clump of trees, near a mud village; a skeleton hung from one, and sundry skulls, stuck upon prominent branches of others, were expressive of the political economy of Oude."-Indian Army Surgeon, |