19th.—At half-past 7 A.M. our party were at Cloud End, seated on the rocks under the old oak, enjoying breakfast after the ride. The delicious mountain air made me feel so well, I proposed to Captain A⸺ to visit the summit of Bhadráj, seven miles off. The rest of the party thought the exertion too great, and would not join us. On quitting the made road we entered a track on the side of the mountain, overhanging a deep precipice. We lost our way, and found we could neither turn our mules round, nor proceed any further. We dismounted; Captain A⸺, with some difficulty, turned my mule; he then attempted to do the same to his own,—the animal became skittish, and, slipping from his hand, went down the side of the hill; how he kept his feet was wonderful. The mule looked quietly up at us from below; to have attempted to catch him would have sent him down the rock to certain death, we therefore walked off, leaving this most beautiful mule, for which £20 had just been paid, to his fate. As we expected, when he found the other mule had gone off, he ascended the rock with the utmost caution, and rejoined his companion; I was glad to see his bridle in his master’s hand again.
After much toil we arrived at the flag-staff on the top of the hill; thence the view was such as is seldom seen in such perfection, even in these mountains:—looking down towards the plain of the Deyra Dhoon, instead of the beautiful valley in all its emerald green, intersected by rivers pouring down from the Hills,—instead of this, white clouds entirely filled the plain, giving it the appearance of being filled with hills covered with snow; beyond were the dark hills of the Lower Range; the next minute the clouds changed their appearance, and rushed up the Hills on a strong wind, covering several mountains at a time in a most extraordinary manner with volumes of white cloud; then, driving on, left them bright in the sunshine. The river Jumna, in the khud or valley, at times visible, at times concealed by clouds, wound its tortuous course below. I have seen the Hills under almost all forms, but the grandeur of the view on this stormy day exceeded any thing I had before beheld, and well repaid the fatigue. At times it rained a little, at times there was a scorching sunshine, then came gusts of wind and clouds, wrapping every object around us in dense white vapour. A little further on we found a Hindū idol, rudely cut in stone; this idol is now neglected, but was formerly much worshipped. Near it is a large stone, on which is chiselled, “Lady Hood, 1814:” on speaking of this to the political agent, he laughed and said, “You were more enterprising than Lady Hood; you visited the spot,—she only sent a man to chisel out her name, and that of Colonel B⸺ on the top of Bhadráj; she never visited the place in person.” We returned to dinner at Cloud End: how glad we were of a glass of champagne after our fatigues! and how glad we were we had brought the beautiful mule back in safety! After tea, remounting our steeds, we returned to Landowr: I rode in the course of that day twenty-six miles, up and down hill,—a pretty good distance for a lady;—but who can feel fatigue in the bracing, most enjoyable air of these delightful mountains?
21st.—At twenty-two minutes after 4 P.M., an earthquake shook the ground and the house; I was sitting at table and felt the shocks, which were very powerful. Rain, rain, storms, storms, thunder and lightning daily: truly, saith the proverb, “There are storms in high places.”
24th.—A delightful day! How fine, how beautiful are the Snowy Ranges! In consequence of the heavy rain the roads have become very rotten and dangerous; in many parts, half the road has fallen into the khud; and where the path is often not three feet in width, it leaves but a small space for a man on his gūnth. Mr. T⸺, of the artillery, met with a serious accident this morning; the road was much broken, and as he attempted to ride over it, it gave way; he and his pony went down the precipice. Mr. T⸺ was stopped in his descent, after he had gone one hundred feet, by a tree, was brought up, and carried to a surgeon. He was much hurt in the head, but is expected to recover in two or three weeks; no bones were broken: the pony went down two hundred and fifty feet, and was found alive!
One of my men was brought in for medical aid, he had been employed in charge of a gang of Hill-men, cutting slates for the roof of the new house, in a deep khud, and had caught a fever. The slates found in the Hills are very good, but more brittle than those of Europe. The houses formerly were all thatched at Landowr; a thatched roof is dangerous on account of the lightning which so often strikes and sets fire to it. Captain S⸺ introduced slated roofs, and several people have followed the good example he has set them.
CHAPTER LV.
LIFE IN THE HILLS.
Kharītā of her Highness the ex-Queen of Gwalior—A Mountain Storm—An Adventure—Asses carried off by Leopards—Bear’s Grease—Dēodar Oil—Apricot Oil—Hill Currants—Figs and Tar—The Cholera—Sacrifice of a Kid to the Mountain Spirit—Absurdity of the Fear of a Russian Invasion—Plague of Fleas—The Charmed Stone—Iron-stone—Khobarah, the Hill Dog—Sheep-stealing—Booteah Chharrā—Flexible Stone—A Fearful Storm—A doomed Banglā—Leaf Butterflies—Bursting of the Mahratta Bāndh at Prāg—Similarity of the Singular Marriages in the Hills with those of the Ancient Britons—Honesty of the Paharīs, i.e. Mountaineers.
THE KHARĪTĀ
1838, June 29th.—Her Highness the Bāiza Bā’ī did me the honour to send me a kharītā, that is, a letter enclosed in a long bag of kimkhwāb, crimson silk, brocaded with flowers in gold, contained in another of fine muslin: the mouth of the bag was tied with a gold and tasselled cord, to which was appended the great seal of her Highness,—a flat circular mass of sealing-wax, on which her seal was impressed. Two smaller bags were sent with it, as represented in the plate, each containing a present of bon-bons. The kharītā, as well as one of the small bags, is represented divested of its outer case of transparent muslin; the other little bag has on its white cover, and the direction is placed within the transparent muslin. The autograph of the Bāiza Bā’ī is on the right hand side of the page; the letter was written in Urdū (the court language), in the Persian character, by one of her Highness’s mūnshīs, and signed by the Bā’ī herself: the paper is adorned with gold devices. The letter commenced in the usual complimentary style; after which her Highness writes, that—“The light of my eyes—the Gaja Rājā—has been very ill; she has recovered, and her husband, Appa Sāhib Kanulka, having heard of her illness, has come from Gwalior to see her.” Kharītās of this sort pass between the mighty men of the East, and between them and the public functionaries of Government.