Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/23

CHAPTER VIII.

LIFE IN THE MUFASSIL.

1827, January.

First Visits in the East—Papamhow—Runjeet Singh's Illness—Death of
Lord Hastings—Lord Amherst created Earl of Arracan—Marriage of
a Neem to a Peepul—The Bacäin—A Koord Arab—Visit to Lucnow—His
Majesty Nusseer-ood-Deen Hyder—Lord Combermere—Kywan
Jab—Presents not allowed to be accepted—Fights of Wild Beasts—Quail—Departure
of Lord Combermere—Skinner's Horse—Return to
Prāg 70


CHAPTER IX.

RESIDENCE AT ALLAHABAD.

1828.

Sinking a Well—Hurriannah Cows—Delhi Goats—The Jumnapār—Doomba
Sheep—Buffalo Humps—Water-cresses—Marrowfat Peas—Carrots—The
Chatr—The Oleander—The Ice-pits—Cream Ice, how
to freeze—Burdwan Coal—Indian Fevers—Mr. Bayley, Viceroy—Fear
of the Invasion of the Russians and Persians—Intense Heat—Deaths
in the Farmyard—Chota Jehannum—The Verandah at Noon—Mad
Pariah—Trelawny—Châteaux en Espagne—Height of the two Rivers—Death
of the Bishop of Calcutta—An Hummām—The first Steamer at
Prāg 77


CHAPTER X.

LIFE IN THE ZENĀNA.

1828, October.

Zenāna of the King of Oude—Regiment of Females—The Favourite
Wife—The English Begam—The Princess of Delhi, the Begam par
excellence—Colonel Gardner—Mirza Sulimān Sheko and his fifty-two
Children—The Forty Princesses—Mootee, the Pearl of the Desert—Hunting
Season at Papamhow—Jackals and Foxes—A Suttee at Prāg—Report
of a Suttee—An Ill-starred Horse 87


CHAPTER XI.

RESIDENCE AT PRĀG.

1829.

March to Benares—Misfortunes en suite—The Hummām of the Rajah—Flowers
of Wax and Ubruk—Return to Prāg—Storm en route—Gram—A
Central Government—Thieves, Domestic—Snake in the Stable—Death
in a Pālkee—Power of the Sun to change the Sex—Lord William