With a submissive reverence due to such power, the two gentlemen in black took their departure, evidently satisfied with the success of their mission.
The ghost complained of was the cholera, which pays frequent visits to this country, but rarely resides more than a few days in a village, when he takes wing in search of fresh victims.
A chuprassie, or messenger, dressed in the belt and insignia of office, is sent to the village, and ordered to await until the scourge abates; and as imagination, beyond a doubt, has much influence in this disease, the arrival of the chuprassie, sent officially to catch the ghost, has no doubt a salutary effect on the superstition of the sufferers; and probably, on leaving, there is not a soul in the place foolhardy enough to doubt that the ghost has taken his departure under the chuprassie's belt.
In this part of India, a few years back almost unknown, and affording a safe asylum for the predatory tribes of Pindarrees until the wise policy of Lord Hastings' government uprooted those daring tribes of banditti, the most profound tranquillity now prevails. The natives have learned, not only to respect, but to love, the mild authority which has restored the golden era, enabling all to repose in security, and to lead the life of inoffensive simplicity for which the Hindoo is eminently qualified, but which the oppressive rule of the Mussulman conquerors long forbade him to enjoy.
The climate in this hilly district is temperate, presenting a favourable contrast to the execrable damp heat of Calcutta, at the close of the rainy season. The numerous conical hills, hinged with thick jungle, afford an agreeable change of view to one accustomed to the monotonous flat surface of the Bengal provinces from the Rajemal to the Himalayah mountains; and these belts of jungle merit the sportsman's attention, owing to the colonies of tigers, bears, and leopards which seek their shelter. In the thick forests and prairies, further to the west, is found a large beast of the bison kind,[9] whose courage and ferocity recommend him to the most adventurous of Eastern sportsmen; indeed, few would enjoy the daring toil and sport long, unless provided with a heart and eye correctly placed.
My visit to these alluring regions, and to the residence of my kind and valued friends, will always continue the most pleasing recollection afforded by my sojourn in India; but that happy time was curtailed by letters which reached me from Upper India. The aspect of affairs on the north-west frontier, upwards of a thousand miles distant from my present abode, was so warlike, that I felt it my duty to lose no time in prosecuting that long and tedious journey, as my regiment were cantoned in a neighbourhood which rendered the requisition for their service a certainty, in case of hostilities ensuing.
Sending on our palanquins and bearers in the morning, we followed, in the afternoon, on elephants, through the heavy jungles and deep, gloomy ravines; and, travelling at a rate of about five miles an hour, reached Hazarebaugh in the course of the next day.
Some of the Ameers of Scinde,[10] who had been recently deposed, were then residing at this deserted cantonment under surveillance, and we paid them a visit in the evening, accompanied by the officer in charge. They were living in spacious bungalows, under little restraint, and with many of their own people around them. Were it not that those who have once been possessed of power seem to languish under its loss—should the privation have been involuntary—I should have said that the Ameers had more reason to be contented with their present lot than when placed at the head of a lawless and warlike race, whom they were unable to control, and of whom they stood in constant dread.
But the recommendation of sages, and the advice of poets, "privatus ut altùm dormiret," have been alike disregarded; and although, from the reign of Commodus to the accession of Constantine, every Roman emperor, save Claudius, was assassinated, yet was there no dearth of candidates for the fatal purple.
On informing the Ameers that we had recently arrived from England, they eagerly questioned me as to the probability of their reinstatement.