Nov. 13th.—We were out riding about 5 A.M.; the sky was cloudy, with a rainy appearance, and we saw a great number of meteors falling in every direction; at first I did not know what they were; afterwards I counted eight; two of them fell, leaving a stream of blue light for a second, and then vanished. I never before observed these meteors.
The followers of the Prophet assert, that falling stars are believed by the idolaters to be on account of the birth or death of some great man; but are in reality weapons thrown at the devils. While the friends of Muhammud were sitting with him one night, a very bright star shot; and his Highness said, “What did you say in the days of ignorance when a Star shot like this?” They said, “God and his messenger know best; we used to say, A great man was born to-night, and a great man died.” Then his Majesty said, “You mistook; because the shooting of these stars are neither for the life nor death of any person; but when our Cherisher orders a work, the bearers of the imperial throne sing hallelujahs; and the inhabitants of the regions who are near the bearers repeat it, till it reaches the lowest regions. After that, the angels which are near the bearers of the imperial throne say, ‘What did the Cherisher order?’ Then they are informed; and so it is handed from one region to another, till the information reaches the people of the lowest region. Then the devils steal it, and carry it to their friends, that is, magicians; and these stars are thrown at these devils; not for the birth or death of any person. Then the things which the magicians tell, having heard from the devils, are true; but these magicians tell lies, and exaggerate in what they hear.” Kutadah said, “God has created stars for three uses; one of them, as a cause of ornament of the regions; the second, to stone the devil with; the third, to direct people going through forests, and on the sea. Therefore, whoever shall explain them otherwise does wrong, and loses his time, and speaks from his own invention, and embellishes[97].”
An officer in the sixteenth lancers, at Cawnpore, thus describes some meteors he saw on the 12th of this month. “On going to field exercise this morning, soon after daybreak, the air presented a very singular phenomenon, being as it were filled with innumerable meteors, descending like vivid streaks of fire. These continued for about half-an-hour, and one passed so near me as to frighten my horse.”.
Nov. 22nd.—Two days ago there was an immense flight of locusts; we caught a great number. The natives turned out, and with hideous noises, waving flags and sticks, drove them from settling on their plantations.
The jamadar has just brought in a curious pigeon; it has four legs; the pair in front have four toes like all pigeons’ feet, the other pair are placed behind, they are smaller, and each foot has only two toes; all the four legs hang down, after the fashion in which pigeons wear their legs.
What strange people these natives are! A traveller who came here this morning complained to my husband that his coachman and sā’īs had robbed and beaten him. The coachman said, “The traveller was going a short cut to the bazār by a road in your grounds you had ordered to be stopped; we turned him back, therefore we had a quarrel.” The traveller, to spite them, hung himself on a tree opposite the stables, and was cut down by the guard. Natives are fond of hanging themselves for spite when they are sure of being cut down! It is better to let them please themselves, if you do they will seldom kill themselves in reality; a good caning in such circumstances would be of great service.
A man has brought a heron’s plume for sale; the natives put them into jewelled ornaments on their turbans, called jika, and also on the heads of their horses. These feathers are extremely expensive in Paris; I was asked two hundred francs for a small plume.
The pine-apple shaped figure on the Cashmere shawls is the representation of the jewelled jika worn in front of the turban; the plume rises from it.
Speaking of the guard, who cut down the traveller who hung himself, I must remark, we had a guard of twelve sipahīs and a hawāldār; a sentry in front of the guard-room kept the time by striking the hours on a gong; non mi recordo, how I became possessed of the following scientific description of the Ghurī, which I insert on account of its excellence.