FORT OF CUTTACK.
A walk round the compound early in the morning is quite delightful. On each tree are three or four of the beautiful little striped squirrels, whilst in the branches are many paroquets, parrots, &c. All about on the ground are numbers of a bird of a bright green, with a red breast and head, about the size of a love-bird, and very much like it, except that the beak is straight and rather long, and from the centre of the tail project two long straight feathers of a reddish green. There is also the beautiful mango-bird with its bright yellow plumage and its glossy black head. Occasionally may be seen an alligator lying asleep, with his head and shoulders on the bank and the rest of his body in the water, while a lung-bird has just alighted on his head and twitters to its mate by the side of the tank. They are about the size of the amadavad, but shaped like the swallow, and their plumage is alternately a glossy black or a deep crimson, according as the sun shines on it. Then there is the India-rubber tree, and skulls bleached in the sun. I saw one with its little teeth in the front that had not yet pierced the gums: they are the second teeth, and the skull, which is very small, must have belonged to a mere child. The house belongs to Government, and there are therefore three wells in the compound; but the water is not good. The plan for watering this large orchard and garden is as follows:—From the edge of the wall to the cistern is a wooden trough, into which the water is thrown as it is drawn from the well. By this means the cistern is filled. A brick gutter runs from the cistern and separates it into so many branches; round each bed and every here and there are little openings which let the water run out on the bed. Suppose they only want to water one, they just take up a little earth in a spade and stop up the other branches of the gutter. Whenever it crosses a path, it is carried underneath by means of a small drain. The muller takes two long bamboos, having at one end a heavy weight and at the other a large gomlah suspended by a cord. One muller pulls one cord downward to make the gomlah reach the water, the other fills the gomlah, and, letting go the cord at the other end of the bamboo, draws it up. This work proceeds with great rapidity, and so the cistern gets filled and the garden watered. At a very short distance from our garden stand the remains of a fort. When the English took Cuttack this fort was garrisoned by the Mahrattas. They, however, soon gave it up. The angles of the bastion were rectangles, which prevents it being so strong as if they had been obtuse angles, for then the balls would have had a tendency to glance off; but its great strength consists in the ditch, which is about a hundred or a hundred and fifty yards wide, with the perpendicular side faced with bricks, full of water and swarming with alligators. The water is most foul and offensive, but the medical men say that, if they were to empty and drain it, it would make for many months a most fearful pestilence. The natives have offered us 30,000l. to be allowed to drain it, because they say there is a vast quantity of treasure in it.
ORIGIN OF THE MOHURRUN.
I have just learned the origin of the Mohurrun. It is a festival, or rather commemoration of the death of Hussein and Houssein, the sons of Ali, Mohammed's nephew. These two were pursued towards the desert by their enemies; they took shelter in a well, and a spider immediately wove a web across the top. Their enemies came up, and, seeing the web, thought that Houssein and Hussein could not be in the well. However, one of them looking down observed a number of lizards all hastening up the sides, so then they thought there must be some one at the bottom who frightened the lizards, and, searching, they got up the two brothers and killed them. It is to commemorate this fact that they have instituted the festival of the Mohurrun, and in consequence the Mohammedans all reverence the spider, while they kill the lizard.
The fort here is of great extent, comprising, I should think, at least 100 acres. The walls have been demolished, and a great portion of the interior is now occupied by a botanical garden and a racket-court.
The winds have risen to-day with tumultuous fury, as though they had been long confined and in one fearful moment had burst their prison-house. There is something very grand, though awful, in these furious tempest-bursts within the tropics. A few minutes back not a leaf rustled; now the trees are waving to and fro, small branches are whirled into the air, and leaves and rubbish are carried far away by the revolving eddies of almost a hurricane. I could scarcely see the river through the volumes of sand which are tossing about mixed with the spray.
[Monday, February 13, 1843.]
I am going to cross the river into the jungle in a day or two, with two other gentlemen. Our object is to plan a new village for some native Christians. We each take a gun and a brace of pistols, and have no doubt that we shall bring home some venison. We shall also look out as we go along for two tigers, which have recently committed terrible depredations about Condah, whither we are going. The other day they carried off two men.
Gold-dust is mixed with the sand of the river, but the quantity is very small, and is therefore not considered worth the trouble and expense of collecting.