Footnotes
[1 ] The Reserve were enlisted for five years, or during the war, and were not obliged to go out of the three kingdoms.
[2 ] Most of these fellows belonged to the thieving bazaar, (a market here for receiving and selling stolen goods,) and took this method of obtaining some booty. I think it is a great shame (to say no worse of it) that such a place should be protected by law; for the goods taken from us could not be gotten from thence unless they were regularly paid for, in the same manner as if we had never seen them; but if the thief was caught before he reached the bounds assigned for the bazaar, he could be prosecuted and punished. As a proof of what I have stated, Captain M'Lean of our regiment had his regimental coat stolen, and it was found there, but he durst not touch it without agreeing with the bazaar man for a certain sum. However, before I left the country, they were much restricted, no goods being allowed to be publicly exposed until four o'clock in the afternoon.
[3 ] The grenadiers who were on board of the East India Company's ship, Surat Castle, had been obliged to part with the fleet, in consequence of the leaky state of that vessel, when we were near the latitudes of South America, and with difficulty reached the port of Rio Janeiro. But had it not been for the extraordinary exertions of these able-bodied men, the ship, and every soul on board, must, in all human probability have perished; for they were under the absolute necessity of working the pumps night and day for a considerable time before they reached that port, and, notwithstanding all their endeavours, the water gained upon them to such a degree as to be two or three feet deep upon the harlop deck; but in spite of their excessive hardships and fatigues, that company was the most healthy of any in the regiment. For during the whole voyage they had very little sickness, and none of their numbers diminished by death, in a natural way. They had, indeed, one struck dead by a thunderbolt, and another killed by the natives of a certain island, where they touched for a supply of fresh water. The way that this man came into the power of these savages was as follows:—A party of the grenadiers were sent ashore with a few water casks to get them filled, and while they were performing this piece of duty, some misunderstanding took place between them and the natives; and the soldiers not being aware that they were going to get such rude treatment, were quite unprepared with weapons offensive or defensive, so that some of them were cut and mangled most dreadfully by their assailants. But the man I allude to, whose name I do not recollect, and another of the name of Campbell, with whom I was very intimate, wrested each a weapon from the blacks, and, as the saying is, "made their own sticks break their own heads;" and, in this manner fought their way, retreating backward toward the boat, which some of their companions had reached; but before they could attain their object, the poor fellow sunk under the repeated blows of his overpowering enemies, and Campbell received seven severe wounds, several of which were in the head. Those who had not the good fortune to reach the boat were taken prisoners. No sooner did the news of this disaster reach the ship than the officers were fired with indignation at the treatment which their men had received, and the soldiers, particularly, for losing several of their comrades, while those who escaped came on board streaming with blood. Such outrages were not to be tamely submitted to by those who had not only the name, but also the courage, of British soldiers. Orders were immediately given for the men to get ready their arms and ammunition, to go in quest of their companions who were detained ashore, and these orders were attended to with all the alertness that could have been displayed had the ship been on fire, and they themselves obliged to fly for their lives to a safe and commodious shelter. No sooner were the grenadiers landed than they marched steadily towards a town not far from the shore, where the king lived, defying all opposition to their progress, and striking terror into the hearts of every beholder. And when they reached the place, the determined countenances of the men, and the dazzling appearance of their shining arms, so enervated the hearts and arms of his majesty's loyal subjects, that they could make little resistance until our party was in the royal presence itself. One of the men, named John Love, literally took the poor trembling Nabob by the neck like a dog, and the royal suite, seeing his majesty treated so unceremoniously, perceived well what was to be their fate if they continued to hold the soldiers in their place of confinement, and therefore prudently made all the haste in their power to restore them to the embraces of their brave mess-mates, who all returned to the ship in safety, and were warmly received by those on board. My wife has now the pillow that the Captain gave to Campbell, to lay under his mangled head, after he went on board. However, with proper medical attendance, and kind treatment, he recovered, and was raised to the rank and pay of serjeant after the company joined in Wallajahbad. March 3, 1808, I was married to Mrs. Allan. This is the circumstance I told you to mark before we left England, after I had obtained liberty from Colonel Stewart for her to go with her husband. But I had then very little knowledge that I was taking out a wife for myself, and one too, that was to be the means in the hand of Divine Providence of prolonging my days, for had it not been for her nursing care, I must, in all human probability, have gone the way of hundreds of the regiment, as I had much severe trouble after I was joined to her. She had no children, save one daughter that was left at home with her grandfather, whom I may have occasion to speak of afterwards. I was in a very poor state of health when married to her; for the complaint I caught in the frigate had never left me, and I really had at that time more need of a doctor than a wife; but I knew her to be an excellent woman, and as she had no objections to me as a husband, I could have none against her as a wife; but happily for me I found in her both a doctor and a wife, and I daily recovered and enjoyed a tolerable state of health for some time.
[4 ] These bandies are a kind of cart for the baggage, drawn by two bullocks.
[5 ] Paria takes its name from a despised class of persons in India, who, it is said, have sold or lost caste, and signifies any thing base or contemptible.
[6 ] I would here remark, that sleeping in the day is very dangerous in that country, for I have often known men lying down upon their cots to take a nap in perfect health, that would rise in the rage of a fever, and were obliged to be taken to the hospital.
[7 ] Those who had not Bibles of their own, had access to the Company's Bibles, which were served out to us before embarking at Portsmouth.
[8 ] The Sammy Hawk is a kind of brown bird that frequently flies about the barracks, to pick up any thing that it can find for its subsistence; and it has a kind of religious homage paid to it by some of the poor, ignorant natives. The meaning this nickname was intended to convey was, that those to whom it was applied were men of sober habits, who had not the heart to spend their money in the same jovial manner as their thoughtless comrades, who were determined, therefore, if they saved their money, that it should not be with both ease and honour.
[9 ] A great proportion of the regiment had been enlisted in that city, and its neighbourhood.
[10 ] Two drams of arrack were served out daily to each of the men, and as there were at that time no canteens in the regiment, the jovial fellows could not obtain more than their allowance but by getting it from the women, the Sammy Hawks, or from such of their boon companions who had put in the pin or kegged, which expressions signify to take an oath against liquor till some given time, such as the new year's day, the king's birth day, some particular fair in their native place. From the regimental store nothing beyond the ordinary allowance could be obtained but by drawing out a chit or line, and having it subscribed by the commanding officer, addressed to the keeper of the store, who delivered the quantity specified upon receiving payment for it; but it required a very sufficient reason indeed; such as a marriage, the baptism of a child, or something of that nature, before our Colonel would subscribe such an order. I understand that canteens are now common in every barrack in India, from the belief that the men will not be so mad upon liquor when they have the power to spend their money as they think proper.
[11 ] This puts me in mind of the saying of good Mr. Boston, with regard to people of this description.—"Those who act such a part," says he, "behave as foolishly, but more criminally, than that person who would dig into a mine for metal to melt and pour down his own and his neighbour's throat."
[12 ] The reader may quite naturally think that there was a great inconsistency displayed here; first talking of the religion of Jesus, and then rushing immediately into a breach of that sacred command, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy;" now, was not playing on a musical instrument directly opposed to this precept? I answer that it certainly was; but you may believe me that it was necessity, and not choice on my part, that forced me to do it; and the first time I played the fife upon the Lord's day going to church, after I joined the 26th, I was in such a state of perturbation that I could not play a note, although I kept the fife to my mouth, and moved my fingers as if I was as busy as any of them. Thus we may see that although any sin may, upon its first commission, cause great pain to the conscience, yet the more frequently it is repeated, the more natural it becomes, for this uneasiness had left me long before the time I allude to. We had therefore much need to guard against sin in whatever form it appears, for it hath been justly said, that "he who despiseth small things shall fall by little and little;" but I am of opinion that the malignity of my crime consisted principally in not weighing these things, before I came into this state of subjection; for I was not ignorant that this was a part of a fifer's duty in the army; but although I will not attempt to justify my conduct; yet this I will say, that I could earnestly wish that my mind had been always as well employed when I have professedly been worshipping God, as it has been when engaged in this musical employment, after my blessed affliction in the Prince of Wales's Island; for I have often been so full of the topics we had been conversing about, as to be unable to know whether I was playing or not, until the rest of the corps, (as is common in these cases, after the tune is played over two or three times,) waited to hear if I was going to change it, and the sound thus dying away, it would immediately strike me that I was so engaged; and you may think it strange, when I tell you, that I never recollect in one instance of even making a mistake, for when I would come to myself, I was playing with the greatest fluency, although I acknowledge that I have been taken sometimes so short, that I was obliged to repeat the tune once more than I perhaps would have done, not being provided in my own mind with another in time.
[13 ] The reader will naturally enough think it was a very strange thing of a woman to live so short time in widowhood; but if you consider the situation of these poor women, you perhaps may not be so much surprised at their apparently indelicate conduct; for they had no provision made for them whatever, except one pagoda per month, (eight shillings of our currency) allowed by the East India Company; and a reason fully as satisfactory as the former, was their unprotected state; for the barracks in this country are, in general, divided into two wings, without any partitions whatever. Now, just think of these women, without a guardian, day and night, in a room containing between four or five hundred men; and, alas! too many of them very immoral characters, to whose vile passions they presented a more tempting bait, from the scarcity of white women in the country.
[14 ] Some of the married people had liberty to build small houses for themselves outside the barracks.
[15 ] I have received word since I left the regiment of this man's death.
[16 ] She had already a Bible of her own.
[17 ] The Cungie-house is intended to answer the same purpose as the black-hole for soldiers in this country; where the prisoners receive for subsistence boiled rice, and the water with which it is made ready, which kind of food is called Cungie; and from which also the place above mentioned receives the appellation Cungie-house.
[18 ] Only, to be sure, in a certain sense; but it would have been verified strictly if the serjeant had been one of God's people.
[19 ] Rice, in this country, may be called the staff of life.
[20 ] We had several of our regiment who attached themselves to black women, by whom they were poisoned; one, in particular, suffered under a long lingering illness. This young man was the Paymaster's clerk, who had taken one of these women (who had broken her caste) and kept her for a considerable time, but, happening to have some words with her one day, he threatened to put her away; and she, taking it for granted that he would be as good as his word, gave him a dose of poison; but afterwards lived with him for some time, with all the apparent affection that a wife should show for a husband; nor did she leave him until a suspicion arose that she was the person who had done the wicked deed. This young man died; and his body having been opened by the surgeon, he was found to have been poisoned.
[21 ] We were allowed neither candle nor oil all the time we were on board; but we sometimes cut off a piece of the fat pork served out to us, and burned it in one of our iron canteen lids.
[22 ] The tally is a piece of wood, with the number of the mess to which it belongs marked upon it. These are used on board a ship, to distinguish between the pieces of meat,—for without something of this kind, it would be impossible for one mess to know its own.
[23 ] This medical officer left our regiment, being promoted to the rank of head surgeon to his majesty's 33d regiment; and, at this time, was practising for himself in Edinburgh.
Transcriber's Note:
Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
The book was printed with two Chapters numbered IV and no Chapter X. The chapter numbers have been corrected to be sequential.
Other irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have been retained as printed.
The cover image of this ebook was created by the transcriber and is hereby placed in the public domain.