Extra flammantia mænia mundi.
Extra flammantia mænia mundi.
Extra flammantia mænia mundi.
Extra flammantia mænia mundi.
Our traveller, standing on the platform from whence the Indian Caucasus can be most advantageously contemplated, beheld a range of snow-white pinnacles, which, stretching like an interminable line of shining spears from east to west, appeared with their glittering points to pierce the deep blue sky, which formed the ground of this landscape of unrivalled glory and splendour. At the foot of these mountains stands Almorah, the last point of Heber’s journey in this direction; whence, after a short stay, he again descended to the plain, and pursued his route to Meerut, and thence to Delhi.
The imperial city, the ruins of which extend over a surface as large as London, is still the residence of the descendants of the Mogul sovereigns of India. The reader who remembers how superb it was when visited by Bernier will learn with a melancholyregret that all its grandeur and power have departed from it, leaving in their stead want, wretchedness, decay, and disease. Heber was presented to the poor old man who, as the descendant of Akbar, is still, as it were in mockery, denominated “Emperor of Delhi.” Those who delight to triumph over fallen greatness may purchase this pleasure by a journey to Delhi; for myself, much as I abhor a tyrant, few remote scenes of distress, unless such in which whole nations are sufferers, could touch me more sensibly than the misfortunes of this Mogul prince, and I exclaim, with the prophet, “How are the mighty fallen!” It is true they deserved their fate—history in their, as in all other cases, justifies the ways of Providence—but we therefore pity them the more; and, before we lift up our hand to cast a stone at them, our heart involuntarily forms the earnest wish that we may by our justice and equity deserve the diadem which we have wrested from their brows. This consideration is the only thing which can confer an interest on such a presentation. In every other point of view it is, like every thing of the kind, a vulgar show, which has no more meaning than a theatrical exhibition.
From Delhi Heber proceeded to the still more ancient capital of Agra, where the principal objects of curiosity “are the Motee Musjeed, a beautiful mosque of white marble, carved with exquisite simplicity and elegance; and the palace built by Akbar, in a great degree of the same material, and containing some noble rooms, now sadly disfigured and destroyed by neglect, and by being used as warehouses, armories, offices, and lodging-rooms for the garrison. The hall, now used as the ‘Dewanny Aum,’ or public court of justice, is a splendid edifice, supported by pillars and arches of white marble, as large and more nobly simple than that of Delhi. The ornaments, carving, and mosaic of the smaller apartments, in which was formerly the Zenanah, are equal or superiorto any thing which is described as found in the Alhambra. The view from those rooms is very fine, at the same time that there are some, adapted for the hot winds, from which light is carefully excluded. This suite is lined with small mirrors in fantastic frames; a cascade of water, also surrounded by mirrors, has been made to gush from a recess at the upper end, and marble channels, beautifully inlaid with cornelians, agates, and jasper, convey the stream to every side of the apartment.” Heber likewise visited the Taj-mahal, which I have described in the Life of Bernier, and observes, that after hearing its praises ever since he had been in India, its beauty rather exceeded than fell short of his expectations. After holding a confirmation, at which about forty persons were made full members of the Christian church, our traveller departed from Agra, and commenced his journey across the independent states of Western India. During this portion of his travels he obtained, from unexceptionable authority, an account of the gorgeous style in which that fortunate adventurer, Sir David Ochterlony, lived in Central India. “Dr. Smith,” he observes, “in his late march from Mhow to Meerut, passed by Sir David’s camp. The ‘barra sahib,’ or great man, was merely travelling with his own family and personal followers from Delhi to Jyepoor, but his retinue, including servants, escort, European and native aids-de-camp, and the various nondescripts of an Asiatic train, together with the apparatus of horses, elephants, and camels—the number of his tents, and the size of the enclosure, hung round with red cloth, by which his own and his daughter’s private tents were fenced in from the eyes of the profane, were what a European, or even an old Indian whose experience had been confined to Bengal, would scarcely be brought to credit.”
Our traveller’s journey through Rajpootana was attended by circumstances flattering to his personalfeelings. The petty sovereigns through whose dominions his route lay invariably received him hospitably when he visited their capitals, and on some occasions, when he did not choose to diverge so far from the road, sent messengers expressly to meet him on the way with polite invitations to their court. He pushed on, however, with considerable expedition, and having traversed the territories, and beheld the capitals of Jyepoor, Ajmere, Bunaira, and others, proceeded, by way of Neemuch and Baroda, to Bombay. His time, during his stay in this city, was principally occupied with ecclesiastical business, in promoting the founding of schools, and in conversing with that venerable statesman and traveller, Mr. Elphinstone, the governor, who, from the most humane and enlightened motives, has endeavoured, with success, to diffuse among the natives a knowledge of our literature and sciences. Here Heber had the satisfaction of being joined by his wife and elder child. With these, shortly afterward, he visited the cavern temples of Elephanta and Kennery; and subsequently, in company with Archdeacon Barnes, made an excursion across the Western Ghants to Poonah, in the Deccan, during which he enjoyed an opportunity of examining another celebrated cavern temple at Carlee. I cannot refuse myself the pleasure, or deprive the reader of the advantage, of inserting in this place the character which Heber has drawn of the most extraordinary man whom he encountered during his travels. “Mr. Elphinstone,” says he, “is in every respect an extraordinary man, possessing great activity of body and mind; remarkable talent for and application to public business; a love of literature, and a degree of almost universal information, such as I have met with in no other person similarly situated, and manners and conversation of the most amiable and interesting character. While he has seen more of India and the adjoining countries than any man nowliving, and has been engaged in active political and sometimes military duties since the age of eighteen, he has found time, not only to cultivate the languages of Hindostan and Persia, but to preserve and extend his acquaintance with the Greek and Latin classics, with the French and Italian, with all the elder and more distinguished English writers, and with the current and popular literature of the day, both in poetry, history, politics, and political economy. With these remarkable accomplishments, and notwithstanding a temperance amounting to rigid abstinence, he is fond of society; and it is a common subject of surprise with his friends, at what hour of the day or night he found time for the acquisition of knowledge. His policy, so far as India is concerned, appeared to me peculiarly wise and liberal, and he is evidently attached to, and thinks well of, the country and its inhabitants. His public measures, in their general tendency, evince a steady wish to improve their present condition. No government in India pays so much attention to schools and public institutions for education. In none are the taxes lighter; and in the administration of justice to the natives in their own languages, in the establishment of punchacts, in the degree in which he employs the natives in official situations, and the countenance and familiarity which he extends to all the natives of rank who approach him, he seems to have reduced to practice almost all the reforms which had struck me as most required in the system of government pursued in those provinces of our eastern empire which I had previously visited.”
From Bombay, Heber sailed with his wife and daughter to Ceylon, a large portion of which he visited. He then proceeded to Calcutta. On the 30th of January, 1826, shortly after his recovery from a fever, he again quitted his family for the purpose of visiting Madras and the southern provinces of India. At Madras he was received with great kindness bySir Thomas Munro, who was warmly desirous of rendering his position as little disagreeable as the season and climate would permit. From thence he proceeded through Caddalore and Tanjore to Trichinopoly, where, on the 3d of April, 1826, his pious, active, and valuable life was closed. “It were a useless,” says Mrs. Heber, “and a deeply painful task to enter into any detail of the apparent cause of his death: it is sufficient to say that disease had, unsuspected, been existing for some time; and that it was the opinion of all the medical men in attendance, that under no circumstances could his invaluable life have been very long preserved, though the event was undoubtedly hastened by the effects of climate, by intense mental application to those duties which increased in interest with every step he took, and was finally caused by the effects of cold on a frame exhausted by heat and fatigue.” His mortal remains were attended to the grave with the highest honours, and followed by the tears of the inhabitants of Trichinopoly. They rest on the north side of the altar in St. John’s Church.
THE END.