CHAPTER V.
Voyage in the Seik country.
By the 12th of June, our preparations for the voyage were completed, and we again embarked on the Chenab. The boats here were of a very inferior description, still called “zohruq;” they had no sails, and hoist a mat on a low mast instead; their waists are scarcely a foot above water, and those which they could collect for us, were but the different ferry boats of the river. There is no trade carried on by water in this country, and there are in consequence no boats. A sail of a few hours brought us to the ferry opposite Shoojuabad, where we halted. The country is of the richest and most fertile description, and its agricultural resources are much increased, by conducting water to the remoter parts, in large canals and aqueducts.
Shoojuabad.
In the evening of the 13th we visited the town of Shoojuabad, which stands four miles eastward of the river. It is a thriving place, surrounded by a fine wall of brick, about thirty feet high. The figure of the place is that of an oblong square, and the wall is strengthened by octagonal towers, at equal distances. The interior is filled up with houses, which are built in streets, at right angles to one another; and a suburb of huts surrounds the walls. Shoojuabad fort was built by the Nuwab of Mooltan in the year 1808, and the public spirit of that person raised it, in the course of ten years, to great opulence. It is situated in a most beautiful country, and is watered by two spacious canals for many miles, both above and below the town. It was captured by the Seiks, along with Mooltan, and now forms the frontier fortress of the Lahore chief. We were accompanied to Shoojuabad by our Mihmandar, who appeared in state for the occasion; he sat on an elephant in a chair of silver,—two horses were led before him, with saddles of red and yellow velvet,—his bow and quiver were borne by one menial, and his sword by another; while he himself was decorated with precious jewels. At the palace of the town, we were met by many of the respectable inhabitants, before whom the “zyafut,” or money gift, and sweetmeats of the Maharajah, were presented to us. We afterwards were conducted through the principal street, and welcomed in a gratifying manner, wherever we went. On quitting the fortress the garrison fired a salute.
Mooltan.
On the 15th we came in sight of the domes of Mooltan, which look well at a distance; andalighted in the evening at the Hoozooree Bagh, a spacious garden enclosed by a thin wall of mud, a mile distant from the city. The ground is laid out in the usual native style; two spacious walks crossed each other at right angles, and are shaded by large fruit trees, of the richest foliage. In a bungalow, at the end of one of these walks, we took up our quarters, and were received by the authorities of the city in the same hospitable manner as at Shoojuabad. They brought a purse of 2500 rupees, with 100 vessels of sweetmeats, and an abundant supply of fruit: we felt happy and gratified at the change of scene, and civilities of the people.
The city of Mooltan, is described in Mr. Elphinstone’s work on Cabool, and it may appear foreign to my purpose to mention it; but his mission was received here with great jealousy, and not permitted to view the interior of the town, or the fort. I do not hesitate, therefore, to add the following particulars, drawn up after a week’s residence. The city of Mooltan is upwards of three miles in circumference, surrounded by a dilapidated wall, and overlooked on the north by a fortress of strength. It contains a population of about 60,000 souls, one third of whom may be Hindoos; the rest of the population is Mahommedan, for though it is subject to the Seiks, their number is confined tothe garrison, which does not exceed 500 men. The Afghans have left the country, since they ceased to govern. Many of the houses evidently stand on the ruins of others: they are built of burnt brick, and have flat roofs: they sometimes rise to the height of six stories, and their loftiness gives a gloomy appearance to the narrow streets. The inhabitants are chiefly weavers and dyers of cloth. The silk manufacture of Mooltan is called “kais,” and may be had of all colours, and from the value of 20 to 120 rupees: it is less delicate in texture than the “loongees” of Bhawulpoor. Runjeet Sing has with much propriety encouraged their manufacture, since he captured the city; and by giving no other cloths at his court, has greatly increased their consumption, and they are worn as sashes and scarfs by all the Seik Sirdars. They are also exported to Khorasan and India, and the duties levied are moderate. To the latter country, the route by Jaysulmeer and Beecaneer is chosen in preference to that by Sinde, from the trade being on a more equitable footing. The trade of Mooltan is much the same as at Bhawulpoor, but is on a larger scale, for it has forty Shroffs, (money changers) chiefly natives of Shikarpoor. The tombs of Mooltan are celebrated: one of them, that of Bawulhuq, who flourished upwards of 500 years ago, and was a contemporary ofSadee the Persian poet, is considered very holy; but its architecture is surpassed by that of his grandson, Rookn-i-Allum, who reposes under a massy dome sixty feet in height, which was erected in the year 1323, by the Emperor Tooghluck, as his own tomb. Its foundation stands on higher ground than the summit of the fort wall; there is also a Hindoo temple of high antiquity, called Pyladpooree; mentioned by Thevenot in 1665.
Fort of Mooltan.
The fortress of Mooltan merits a more particular description; it stands on a mound of earth, and is an irregular figure of six sides, the longest of which (towards the north-west) extends for about 400 yards. The wall has upwards of thirty towers, and is substantially built of burnt brick, to the height of forty feet outside; but in the interior, the space between the ground and its summit does not exceed four or five feet, and the foundations of some of the buildings overtop the wall, and are to be seen from the plain below. The interior is filled with houses, and till its capture by the Seiks in 1818, was peopled, but the inhabitants are not now permitted to enter, and a few mosques and cupolas, more substantially built than the other houses, alone remain among the ruins. The fortress of Mooltan has no ditch; the nature of the country will not admit of one being constructed; and RunjeetSing has hitherto expended great sums without effect. The inundation of the Chenab, and its canals, together with rain, render the vicinity of Mooltan a marsh, even in the hot weather, and before the swell of the river has properly set in, the waters of last year remain. The walls of the fortress are protected in two places by dams of earth; the modern fort of Mooltan was built on the site of the old city, by Moorad Bukhsh, the son of Shah Jehan, about the year 1640, and it subsequently formed the Jagheer of that prince’s brothers, the unfortunate Daro Shikoh, and the renowned Aurungzebe. The Afghans seized it in the time of Ahmed Shah, and the Seiks wrested it from the Afghans, after many struggles, in 1818. The conduct of its governor during the siege, deserves mention; when called on to surrender the keys, and offered considerate treatment, he sent for reply, that they would be found in his heart, but he would never yield to an infidel; he perished bravely in the breach. His name, Moozuffur Khan, is now revered as a saint, and his tomb is placed in one of the holiest sanctuaries of Mooltan. The Seiks threw down the walls of the fort in many places, but they have since been thoroughly renewed or repaired; they are about six feet thick, and could be easily breached from the mounds that have been left in bakingthe bricks, which are within cannon range of the walls.
Antiquity of Mooltan supposed Capital of the Malli.
Mooltan is one of the most ancient cities in India. We read of its capture by Mahommed-bin-Cassim, in the first century of the Hejira, and its wealth afterwards attracted the Ghiznian, Ghorian, and Moghul emperors of Hindoostan. But we have little reason to doubt its being the capital of the Malli of Alexander: Major Rennell has supposed that metropolis to have been higher up, and nearer the banks of the Ravee, because Arrian states, that the inhabitants fled across that river. This is high authority, but Mooltan is styled “Malli than,” or “Malitharun” the place of the Malli, to this day, and we have no ruins near Tolumba, the site pointed at by Rennell to fix on as the supposed capital. It is expressly stated that Alexander crossed the Ravee, and after capturing two towns, led his forces to the capital city of the Malli. As the distance from the river is but thirty miles, and Mooltan is considered a place of high antiquity, I do not see why we should forsake the modern capital when in search of the ancient: had we not the earliest assurances of the age of Mooltan, its appearance would alone indicate it. The houses are piled upon ruins, and the town stands on a mound of clay, the materials of former habitations which have gradually crumbled, an infallible proof ofantiquity, as I have remarked of Tatta and Ooch. The late Nawab of Mooltan, in sinking a well in the city, found a war drum, at a depth of sixty feet from the surface; and several other articles have been from time to time collected, but no coins have been hitherto seen. Mooltan may, in some degree, be considered to answer the description of the Brahmin city and its castle, which Alexander captured, before attacking the capital of the Malli; but in that case, we should have no site to fix on as the capital. The manufactures of Mooltan and Bhawulpoor, the “kais” and “loungee,” seem to assist in fixing the country of the Malli, for Quintus Curtius informs us that the ambassadors of the Malli and Oxydracæ (Mooltan and Ooch) “wore garments of cotton, lawn or muslin (lineæ vestes), interwoven with gold, and adorned with purple,” and we may safely translate “lineæ vestes,” into the stuffs of Mooltan and Bhawulpoor, which are interwoven with gold, and most frequently of a purple colour.
Buildings of Mooltan. Superstitions.
During our stay at Mooltan, we were freely conducted to view the lions of this decayed Viceroyalty of the Mogul empire. In the interior of the fort there is the Hindoo temple, before alluded to, which its votaries believe to be of boundless antiquity, and with it couplethe following tradition. One Hurnakus, a giant, despised God, and worshipped himself; he desired his son Pylad to follow his steps, and was about to murder him for his contumacy, when the youth was miraculously saved by an incarnation of the Deity, who appeared in a shape of half lion and man. Hurnakus had given out that his death could never be effected in earth or air, in fire or water, by sword or bow, by night or day; and it happened without an infringement of these conditions, for Nursingavater (the name of the incarnation) seized him at dusk, and placing him on his knee, tore Hurnakus to pieces, and took his son under protection. This Hindoo temple, which goes by the name of Pyladpooree, is a low building, supported by wooden pillars, with the idols Hooneeman and Guneesa as guardians to its portal. It is the only place of Hindoo worship in Mooltan; we were denied entrance to it.
There is a shrine of some celebrity, near the walls of Mooltan, where rest the remains of Shumsi-Tabreezee, a saint from Bagdad, who is believed to have performed many miracles, and even raised the dead. This worthy, as the story is told, was flayed alive for his pretensions. He had long begged his bread in the city, and in his hunger caught a fish, which he held up to the sun, and brought that luminary near enough toroast it; this established his memory and equivocal fame on a firmer basis. The natives to this day attribute the heat of Mooltan, which is proverbial, to this incident.
Reflections.
In the ready belief which the inhabitants of Mooltan grant to such absurdities, we see little to exalt them in the scale of reasonable beings; but it seems inherent in the people to propagate and uphold such delusions, for there are tales equally improbable regarding every tomb in the city. Rookn-i-alum, the son of Bhawul Huq, removed to his present sepulchre when dead.
Religion of the Seiks.
At Mooltan we first saw the practice of religion amongst the Seiks. In a veranda of the tomb of Shumsi-Tabreezee, a “Gooroo,” or priest of that persuasion, had taken up his abode since the conquest of the city. We found him seated on the ground, with a huge volume in front of him; and a place covered with cloth, like an altar, at one end of the apartment: he opened the book at my request, and repeating the words “wa gooroojee ka futteh,”[11]touched the volume with his forehead, and all the Seiks in attendance immediately bowed to the ground: he then read and explained the first passage that he turned up, which was as follows—“All of you have sinned; endeavour therefore to purify yourselves: if you neglect the caution, evil will at last overtake you.” I need hardly mention that the volume was the “Grinth,” or holy book of the Seiks: their reverence for it amounts to veneration, and the priest waves a “choury,” or a Tibet cow’s tail, over it, as if he were fanning an emperor. The Gooroo was free from pomp and pride, and gave a willing explanation to our enquiries: he opened his holy book to acknowledge the gift of a few rupees, that I made in due form, and requested my acceptance of some confections in return.
Intolerance.
The presence of a Seik priest, and the paraphernalia of his order, under the roof of a Mahommedan tomb, will furnish a good commentary on the state of that religion in this country; it is barely tolerated. In this city, which held for upwards of 800 years, so high a Mahommedan supremacy, there is now no public “numaz;” the true believer dare not lift his voice in public. The “Eeds” and the Mohurum pass without the usual observances; the “Ullaho Acbar” of the priest is never heard; the mosques are yet frequented, but the pious are reduced to offering up their orisons in silence. Such has been the state of things since Mooltan fell, in 1818, and yet the number of Seiks is confined to that of the garrison, fromfour to five hundred men. The Mahommedans, who amount to about 40,000 souls, suffer no other inconvenience from their new masters, who afford every protection to their trade. The Seiks excuse themselves, by alleging, that they have not inflicted, in retribution, one fourth of their own sufferings at the hands of the Mahommedans. They are, I believe, correct in the averment, but religious persecution, is always revolting, and exercises a baneful influence in every age and country.
Climate.
The climate of Mooltan differs from that of the countries lower down the Indus; showers of rain are common at all seasons, and yet the dust is intolerable. For nine successive evenings, we had a tornado of it from the westward, with lightning, and distant thunder. Such storms are said to be frequent; they appear to set in from the Sooliman mountains, between which and the Indus the sand or dust is raised. The heat and dust of Mooltan have grown into a proverb, to which have been added, not unmeritedly, the prevalence of beggars, and the number of the tombs, in the following Persiancouplet:—
“Chuhar cheez hust, toohfujat-i-Mooltan.Gird, guda, gurma wu goristan.”
“Chuhar cheez hust, toohfujat-i-Mooltan.Gird, guda, gurma wu goristan.”
“Chuhar cheez hust, toohfujat-i-Mooltan.Gird, guda, gurma wu goristan.”
“Chuhar cheez hust, toohfujat-i-Mooltan.
Gird, guda, gurma wu goristan.”
As far as I could judge, the satire is just: the dust darkened the sun: the thermometer rose inJune to 100° of Fahrenheit, in a bungalow artificially cooled: the beggars hunted us every where; and we trod on the cemeteries of the dead, in whatever direction we rode.
The country around Mooltan is highly cultivated; the Acesines sends the water of its inundation to the very walls of the city, and there is a large canal, that extends it, at other seasons, through Mooltan itself. The plain that intervenes between the river and city has the appearance of a rich meadow, and is overgrown with date trees, which form here a productive source of revenue. It is a popular belief in the country, that this tree was introduced from Arabia by the army of Mahommed-bin-Cassim, who brought the fruit as a provision for his army. It is a curious fact that they are principally found in the track of that invader, who marched from Alore to Mooltan. If the tradition be true, the destroying Moslem compensated in some degree for the evils and scourge of his inroad. There are many ruined hamlets around Mooltan, the remains of Jagheers, held by the Afghans, but though these are deserted their inhabitants have only changed their residence, and occupy houses in the city.
We removed our camp on the 20th to the banks of the Acesines, which is four miles distant. The river is about 650 yards wide,but at the ferry itself, it is expanded to 1000 at this season. We here found ten boats, laden with mineral salt, from Pind Dadun Khan; they exceeded eighty feet in length. These boats drop down to Mooltan in twelve days, from the mines, when fully laden.
Quit Mooltan.
We embarked on the 21st of June, on a boat which the Maharajah had fitted up for our reception with two wooden bungalows; and, along with the rest of our fleet, prosecuted our voyage. We did not again exchange our boats, in the way to Lahore.Desert.On quitting the ferry at Mooltan, we came in sight of the desert that lies between the Chenab and the Indus. It does not commence so low as Ooch, as has been represented in our maps, but near the latitude of Mooltan, and runs parallel with the river, at a distance of about two miles, leaving a stripe of cultivated land. The sand-hills resemble those of the sea shore, and have a scanty covering of bushes, I cannot call it verdure: they do not exceed twenty feet in elevation, but from refraction often appeared much higher. There is a great contrast between the sterile tract, and the champaign plains of the eastern bank, which we found every where irrigated. The villages lie at a distance of about two miles from the river, and have their fields fertilised from canals, by the Persian wheel. On the banks of the Indus,wells are common, but on the Chenab they are only to be seen on the verge of canals that branch from it.
Peeloo.
There is a shrub called “peeloo[12],” which is to be found in this neighbourhood, and in all tracts of saline soil that border on the Indus and Punjab Rivers. It produces a red and white berry, which has but a poor flavour; the taste of its seeds resembles watercresses: this is the season of the fruit, and it was exposed for sale in the bazars of Mooltan. I observed this shrub in greatest abundance in the delta, and lower parts of Sinde; and, as I am satisfied that it is only to be found in the particular soil described, I believe we recognise it in Arrian’s Indian History. “The leaves resemble those of the laurel; they growchieflyin places where the tide flows among them, and where they are again left dry at low water. Their flower is white, and in shape like a violet, but much excelling it in sweetness.”
Seik government.
The arrangements made for our progress through the Seik territories were very complete. We sailed from sunrise to sunset; and found thirty or forty villagers alongside by day-break to drag each boat. The fatigue and exertion which these people underwent in a hot sun wasexcessive. When they passed a field of melons, but few were left to the owner; and many an old lady scolded loudly as they invaded her property. The people of this country are treated with little consideration by the government; they are not oppressed, yet considered its servants since the conquest. But for our interference, these villagers, who had waded through the water and quicksands, would have been dismissed empty-handed at night. The bounty of the Maharajah enabled us daily to entertain sumptuously, with flour and ghee, 300 hungry villagers; and the Mihmandar further assured me that due remission would be made for the destruction of the fields in our progress. While we ourselves advanced by water, the elephants, camels, and escort seconded our motions on shore; and we always found them drawn up in parade array on the ground fixed for our night’s encampment; we always slept on shore. Before dusk we rode out on elephants to the neighbouring villages, and conversed with the people. They are lamentably ignorant; and consisted chiefly of Juts, a tribe of Mahommedans engaged in agriculture. They are not allowed to pray aloud; but they stimulated each other when pressed in our service by loud shouts and invocations to Bhawul Huq, the revered saint of Mooltan.
Alexander.
As the sun set on the 23d, we moored below the village of Fazil Shah, in the mouth of the Ravee or Hydraotes, still called Iräotee by the natives. This was the spot where Alexander of Macedon met his anxious army after his severe wound, and showed to his troops that his precious life was yet preserved: but these are events which live only in the historical works of Europe; they are unknown to the natives of Asia. I must mention, however, a circumstance corroborative of the Greek historians,—the fields of beans that I observed on the banks of this river. They led Alexander, for some time, to mistake the heads of the Indus for the Nile; and now remain, in a distant age, as proofs of his journey, and accuracy in the historians of his expedition.
Gifts from Lahore.
The intelligence of our arrival in the country of the Seiks soon reached Lahore; and a pair of gold armlets, set with diamonds and emeralds, arrived in due course as a gift from the Maharajah to our Mihmandar. The Lahore chief is munificent in his distribution of presents among his nobles, though less so than in former years. Grants of land, and gifts of jewels and money, are yet made. They attest the wealth of the country, and the sound policy of the prince.
Enter the Ravee.
On the 24th we quitted the Acesines, and entered on the navigation of the Ravee. At the point of union, the former river has a breadth ofthree quarters of a mile, though the deep part does not extend for 500 yards.
Lieut. Macartney makes mention of a report which he had heard of the Chenab being fordable in the cold season below this point; but the natives assured me, that such an occurrence had never happened in the memory of man, and I found the soundings to exceed twelve feet. The Chenab, indeed, is only inferior to the Indus; its current is more rapid than that river, and, with its depressed banks, it yet preserves every where a depth of two fathoms. The Ravee throws itself into the Chenab by three mouths, close to each other. This river is very small, and resembles a canal, rarely exceeding 150 yards in breadth in any part of its course. Its banks are precipitous, so that it deepens before it expands. Nothing can exceed the crookedness of its course, which is a great impediment to navigation, for we often found ourselves, after half a day’s sail, within two miles of the spot from which we started. The water of the Ravee is redder than that of the Chenab. It is fordable in most places for eight months of the year. Its banks are overgrown with reeds and tamarisk, and for half the distance, from its estuary to the capital, there is no cultivation. There are no canals or cuts from this river below Lahore. There is a very extensive one above that city,which I shall have occasion to mention hereafter.
Tolumba.
On the 27th of June we reached the small town of Tolumba, which is situated in a grove of date trees, nearly three miles south of the Ravee. Sheriffo Deen, the historian of Timour, informs us that that conqueror crossed the Ravee at Tolumba on his route to Delhi, so that we now found ourselves on the track of another invader.
The Tartar is yet remembered by his offerings at the shrines in this neighbourhood. Below the town, the Ravee assumes a straight course for twelve miles, and presents a vista of beautiful scenery, as the banks are fringed with lofty trees, that overhang the river. The natives attribute this peculiarity in the Ravee to divine influence. The clothes of a saint, when bathing, were washed into the stream, and the eyes of the holy man, when turned in search of them, straightened the river!
Visit to the Hydaspes.
The Hydaspes was now at hand, the spot where it unites with the Acesines was only forty-five miles distant: here the fleet of Alexander encountered its disasters in the rapids, and the hordes of Timour were terrified by the noise of the waters. Much to the surprise of our Seik friends, who could not comprehend the motives of our curiosity, we set out on a galloping expedition for the scene of these memorable events, and found ourselves on the second evening on the banks of the Hydaspes. Our anxiety to behold the “fabulous Hydaspes” was heightened by the belief, that this spot, so famous in its ancient history, had never been visited by an European since the days of the Greeks. The river joins the Acesines with a murmuring noise, but the velocity of the current is inconsiderable, and vessels pass it without danger, except in July and August. There are no eddies or rocks, nor is the channel confined, but the ancient character is supported by the noise of the confluence, which is greater than that of any of the other rivers.
The boatmen at the ferry said, that, during the swell of the river, they placed themselves under the protection of a saint, whose tomb stands at the fork of the two rivers. The superstitious reliance bespeaks danger. We stood on the verge of the river, talking with the people, till the sun set in the desert westward of us; our Seik companions in the mean time, bathing in the stream; for, if deprived of the enjoyment which we derived, they had a compensation in the belief of performing ablutions at a holy spot, the junction of one river with another.
The Hydaspes.
This river is named Behut or Bedusta, also Jelum, by the people on its banks, and falls into the Acesines or Chenab in the latitude of 31° 11´ 30´´, forty-five miles north of the town of Tolumba, on the Ravee. The banks of the Hydaspes coincide but faintly with the description of Arrian: they do not confine the river in a narrow channel, nor are there rocks anywhere near to mark the spot where the Greeks retired with their dismantled fleet. The name of Hydaspes is yet discoverable in the modern appellation of Bedusta. The Hydaspes is less rapid, and altogether a smaller stream than the Acesines, being about 500 yards in breadth at the point of conflux; when joined, these rivers roll on for a short distance in a channel full a mile in breadth, and about twelve feet deep.
Boats of the Greeks.
The timber of which the boats of the Punjab are constructed is chiefly floated down by the Hydaspes from the Indian Caucasus, which most satisfactorily explains the selection of its banks as the site of a naval arsenal by Alexander in preference to the other rivers, by any of which he might have reached the Indus without a retrograde movement. There are but few boats on this river: about fifty are used in the salt trade at Pind Dadun Khan, some of which carry 500 maunds of salt, and exceed 100 feetin length, being built like the “Zohruq,” rounded at both ends. They do not hoist a sail, and often pass the conflux in safety. We are informed that the war-ships of the Greeks encountered the greatest difficulties in the navigation of this river, and are naturally led to attribute the calamities of some of them to the build, since the provision boats, which are described as of “a round form;” and, I presume, like the “Zohruq,” escaped uninjured. That Alexander built the greatest part of his own fleet, is certain, for he commenced his voyage on the Hydaspes with 800 vessels; and when he first reached that stream he was entirely destitute of them; so that he ordered the boats by which he passed the Indus to be broken up and brought by land across the Doab. We hear likewise of triremes and biremes, that in no way correspond with the present description of boats on the Indus; from which it is probable that the round boats which escaped uninjured were country vessels.
Passage of the Hydaspes.
The Hydaspes and Acesines have been forded in the cold season; but when joined they have never been passed but by boats. Timour, in his expedition to Delhi, threw a bridge across the conflux at Trimo ferry. Runjeet Singh swam the Hydaspes at Sahewal with a largebody of horse; but that enterprising chief has crossed the Indus itself above Attok in the same manner. The merchants from Khorasan travel to India at all seasons, taking the route by Dera Ismael Khan, Mankere, and the Sandy Desert, crossing at Trimo, on the road to Toolumba. The country between these last two places differs from the right bank of the Hydaspes: destitute of sand hills, it is almost as barren and desert. A sheet of hard clay, with clumps of tamarisk,khair,lan,kejra, and such other shrubs as are to be found in the Thurr, or Desert of India, extends from the Chenab to the Ravee. There is not a blade of grass but on the banks of the rivers. Water is procurable from wells about thirty feet deep, but is scarce, and always fetid and noxious, though rarely salt.
Cathæi of Arrian.
The population chiefly consists of the pastoral tribe of Kattia, or Jun, who are so called from their living an erratic life, “Jun” having that signification: few of them are found at any distance from the rivers but in the rainy season. They have immense herds of buffaloes and camels, from the milk of which they derive sustenance; hardly cultivating the soil, though some tolerable fields of tobacco, raised by irrigation, may be seen near their habitations. They are a tall and handsome race; which maybe attributed to a rule among them, prohibiting marriages before their females attain the age of twenty years: they believe that the children of an early union, so common among every other Indian tribe, are puny and unhealthy. These Kattia are a predatory and warlike race: few of them are free from scars and wounds. They extend from the banks of the Hydaspes across the deserts to Delhi, and are the aborigines of this country, in whom, I think, we recognise the Cathæi of Arrian; as he calls them “a stout people, well skilled in military affairs.” I am aware that these people have been supposed to be the Kuttrees or Rajpoots; but their country is further to the south, and did not occupy this part of India on the Greek invasion.
Ruins of Shorkote.
In the space which intervenes between the Hydaspes and Ravee, and about equidistant from either river, stand the ruins of Shorkote, near a small town of that name. They occupy a considerable space, being much larger than Sehwun, and of the same description; viz., a mound of earth, surrounded by a brick wall, and so high as to be seen for a circuit of six or eight miles. The traditions of the people state that a Hindoo Rajah of the name of Shor ruled in this city, and was attacked by a king from “Wulayut,” or the countries westward, about1300 years ago, and overcome through supernatural means. Shorkote is mentioned by Timour’s historian; and its locality leads me to fix on it as the place where Alexander received his wound, for he crossed to the west bank of the Hydraotes in pursuit of the Malli, who had retired to “a fortified city not far off,” the walls of which were of brick. The story of the King of the West is, to say the least of it, a very probable tradition of Alexander of Macedon. The construction of the place throws some light on the fortresses which were captured by Alexander. Ancient cities on the Indus appear to have been mounds of earth surrounded by brick walls. At Shorcote I had the good fortune to procure a variety of coins, which I long believed to be Hindoo; but my surmise regarding the antiquity of the spot received a strong and satisfactory confirmation through the intelligence of the able secretary to the Asiatic Society of Bengal,—Mr. James Prinsep. That gentlemen discovered it to be a Bactrian coin, resembling that of an Appolodotus, and shaped like a Menander,—two coins of the Bactrian monarchs, found by Colonel J. Tod, and engraved in the transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. The Greek word Bazileos may be read; and I had, therefore, to congratulate myself on having, in my journey tothe Hydaspes, found the first Grecian relic in the Punjab.
Return to the Ravee.
We retraced our steps from this famous river, and saw much of the Kattia, or Jun tribe. They were greatly surprised by our visit, and approached in crowds to see us. They live in scattered villages, and move their houses from place to place. Both men and women were tall and stout, with sun-burnt complexions. The men allow their hair to grow in loose tresses over their shoulders: the women have ear-rings of an enormous size; but the stout and sturdy dames appeared not the least incumbered from their weight.
Birds and reptiles of the Ravee.
We returned to Toolumba on the 1st of July, jaded from the excessive heat, but highly gratified with our journey. We immediately embarked, and prosecuted our voyage. During our absence the river had risen two feet, from a fall of rain in the mountains; but it did not appear much wider. We saw more aquatic birds in the Ravee than in our whole voyage; they consisted of cranes, storks, pelicans, ducks, teal, &c. Among the inhabitants of the river itself, a creature called “bolun” was the most remarkable. We saw several of them in the mouth of the Ravee, which were of a black colour, and rolled like the porpoise. The natives class this fish with the alligator, and say it has four smallpaws, and a long snout like a pig. Its habits do not lead it on shore, and it lives on small fish. The large alligator is unknown here; but the long-nosed reptile called “ghuryal” abounds. There is said to be a singular creature, called “thundwa,” in this river, which is described as of the turtle species, and to have a string in its mouth, by which it can entangle a man, or even an elephant. It is mentioned in the Shasters as having seized the elephant of a god. I have not seen the “thundwa,” nor do I believe the story of it.
Table supplies.
Though we had journeyed thus far in the country of the Seiks, we had not passed a village inhabited by them, or seen any others of the tribe than were attached to our suite. The country is very poorly peopled, and without tillage for many miles. The means taken to supply our wants in the voyage often excited a smile. Every villager in office had been addressed, and a list of articles which are edible to the “Firingees” ordered to be collected. Baskets of eggs, kept for weeks in expectation of our arrival, were daily brought to us, sometimes to the number of 400 or 500; but they were better adapted for the punishment of a malefactor in the pillory than the table, and, in a few, chickens were to be found in the shell! Butchers were brought from Mooltan to supplyour wants: loads of saltpetre were daily sent to cool the wine and water, and the necessaries and luxuries of life were supplied without bounds.
Heat.
The heat now became oppressive, and gave indication of the monsoon, according to the natives. In the afternoon of the 3d of July we had the thermometer so high as 110° at 4P. M.; and at sunset a storm set in from the north-west, which was really sublime. Clouds appeared to approach us for about half an hour, gradually rising from the horizon, and looking more like mountains in motion. When it came upon us, we found it to be one of those tornadoes that we experienced near Mooltan, and unaccompanied by rain. The wind was hot and sultry, and bore clouds of fine dust along with it. It passed over in an hour, and was succeeded by vivid flashes of lightning from the same quarter. Six days after the phenomenon the rain set in with great violence; and till then we had a continuance of the dust every evening.
Arrival of an elephant.
Our Mihmandar waited on us at the village of Cheechawutnee with an enormous elephant, and said that he had been instructed by the Maharaja to place it at our disposal, as he feared the native houda did not suit our taste: he was right in his conjectures, and we appreciated the civility. The animal was richly caparisoned,and bore a large chair, ornamented with silver and enamel work, lined with red velvet. He was accompanied by six of the Maharaja’s own Orderlies, in dresses of scarlet faced with yellow, which had a good appearance. The Seiks, in all the various military costumes that they have adopted, never lay aside the small turban of their tribe; which, I must say, becomes them.
It was a source of no small amusement to watch the love of gossip among the natives of our suite. We had a reporter sent purposely from the Court, who daily despatched an account of our employment and rides: the news-writer of Mooltan followed us from that city, and every day transmitted a Gazette; I had also letters from the news-writer at Lahore, giving me aprécisof local news, and asking for amorceauin return. Our Dewan corresponded with the Chevaliers Ventura and Allard; and I was somewhat surprized to receive answers to many of my enquiries regarding the country from the former gentleman, to whom their subject had been communicated without my knowledge. Nothing, however, could exceed the politeness of all the people towards us; and the ready and happy manner they acceded to our wishes made us careful to wish for any thing. As may be supposed, there were no bounds to their flattery; and we were daily informed that we were the“second Alexander,” the “Sikunder sanee,” for having achieved so dangerous a voyage as the Indus. The polite natives of this quarter view with dread the barbarity and customs of Sindees and Beloochees.
Ruins of Harapa.
About fifty miles eastward of Toolumba, I passed inland for four miles to examine the ruins of an ancient city, called Harapa. The remains are extensive, and the place, which has been built of brick, is about three miles in circumference. There is a ruined citadel on the river side of the town; but otherwise Harapa is a perfect chaos, and has not an entire building: the bricks have been removed to build a small place of the old name hard by. Tradition fixes the fall of Harapa at the same period as Shorkote (1300 years ago), and the people ascribe its ruin to the vengeance of God on Harapa, its governor, who claimed certain privileges on the marriage of every couple in his city, and in the course of his sensualities, was guilty of incest. At a later period, Harapa became a Mahommedan town; and there is a tomb of a Saint of the “faithful,” eighteen feet in length, the assigned, but fabulous, stature of the deceased. A large stone of annular form, and a huge black slab of an oval shape, which lie near the grave, are said to represent the ring and its gem of this departed giant, and to have been converted frommore valuable to their present base materials. Where such fables are believed, we must cease to hope for even reasonable fiction. I found some coins in these ruins, both Persian and Hindoo, but I cannot fix its era from any of them.
The inhabitants.
As we ascended the Ravee, and cleared the country of the Kattias, the population increased, and their hamlets, though small, were numerous. Crowds of people flocked to the banks of the river as we approached, and evinced the most intense curiosity to see us. One man would call out that he was a Syud, another that he was a Zemindar, a third that he was a Peer, or Saint, and a fourth, that he was a Seik; while the ladies themselves were not backward in expressing their anxiety for a sight of us. On such occasions we always moved out of our cabin, or bungalow; but this ready exhibition only attracted another concourse of spectators. The notions which they entertained of us were most extravagant: we were believed to be under the guardian care of two pigeons, who shaded us from the sun and rain. One individual asked us seriously to impart to him the secret of converting shreds of onions into gold ducats, which he had understood we had been practising!
A tiger hunt.
The bravery of our Seik friends had been already exhibited to us by their attacking thewild hog with a sword, on foot; but a nobler specimen of their courage was displayed in the death of a tiger. We disturbed the animal in a thicket of tamarisk close to our boats; and the Mihmandar immediately invited us to see the sport. Mr. Leckie accompanied the party; but our elephant was not at hand, and I did not go. The party was entirely composed of horsemen. The monster was speedily wounded by some one, and several riders were unhorsed from the fright of their steeds. The Seiks then advanced on foot, sword in hand, to attack the tiger: he sprang at one man most furiously; and, as he fixed on his left shoulder, the poor fellow bravely struck his head by a well-directed blow: the contest was unequal, and the man fell, horribly lacerated. His comrades instantly ran up, and, with cuts and wounds, the tiger soon fell. He was a huge animal, and measured ten feet: his thigh was as large as that of a full-grown man. The coolness and courage of the Seiks surpass belief; they have great encouragement from their chiefs. To all my enquiries regarding the unfortunate man that had been wounded, they replied, with an ostentation of indifference, that he was but a Seik, would be well rewarded, and had already received a horse, and his annual pay had been increased an hundred rupees. The skin, head, and paws ofthe tiger were immediately despatched to the Maharaja, whose bounty will be further extended to the wounded. This encouragement makes these people the bravest of the Indians.
Strange treatment.
The faculty will be surprised at the Seik mode of curing a wound received from a tiger, at variance as it is with European practices. They entertain an opinion that, if a person who has been so wounded be allowed to sleep, he will see the tiger in his dreams, and thus lose his heart, and inevitably die. They therefore furnish the patient with the strongest stimulants, and set people to prevent his falling asleep for five or six days. By that time the wounds assume a certain appearance; and they then permit the man to rest. In the instance which I have mentioned, I can answer for the copious use of stimulants, as we supplied the brandy.
Intelligence of a Seik.
The intelligence of the Seik Sirdar Senu Sing, our Mihmandar, had, more than once, arrested my attention. From a perusal of translations, he had acquired some knowledge of our astronomical system, and of the astrolabe, with several other such instruments. He expressed his doubts on some parts of the theory; and asked me to explain the continuance of the pole star in one place when the earth was said to move so many miles daily in its orbit round the sun. Among other information that I wasenabled to impart to him, I showed him the thermometer, and explained the nature of the instrument. He immediately had the whole particulars committed to writing: and, where such avidity, and so laudable a thirst for knowledge, were displayed, I could not withhold making him a present of the instrument. This Sirdar was equally expert in the martial exercises of his nation: he handled the bow with grace and dexterity; he was an excellent horseman, and could hit a mark at full speed; and I have seen him touch the ground with both feet at the gallop, and regain his seat. I must mention that his curiosity did not always take a scientific turn; for his wonder had been excited by our art in preserving meat, fish, &c. A ham, which I showed him, was calculated to satisfy his doubts; and he was only contented when he had got a complete recipe for curing it. The Seiks are very fond of hog; and ham bids fair to be a standing dish in the Punjab. By the 11th of July we had left the country of the Kattias, and reached Futtihpoor, where the land is cultivated. Our approach to Lahore seemed to facilitate every arrangement: a detachment of fifty lancers had been stationed in the intervening villages, to assemble the inhabitants, to drag the boats the moment we approached. Our own suite was now increased toabout 500 people; and to a drum and fife, which had always been with us, a bugle was added. Such dissonance as was now produced was never heard “at tattoo or reveille o;” and they played at both hours.A Cashmere boat.We had also a Cashmere boat sent for our accommodation, called the “purinda” or bird. It was a complete skiff, about sixty feet long, and pointed at both ends, so that half of the boat did not even touch the water. I am informed that this style of build, not unlike the gondola of Venice, is general in the lake of Cashmere. The crew were natives of that country; and they impelled their vessel by small green-painted paddles, with which they struck the water in a peculiar manner. They were very handsome and athletic men, dressed in red jackets. The boat itself had a square bungalow in the centre, with a flat roof; where we sat during the cool of the evening. She was flat-bottomed; and had her planks clamped with iron. Her motion through the water was tremulous, and by no means agreeable; but the celerity with which vessels of this kind move is acknowledged.