The Hon. Miss Frances Eden has been with a party at Moorshadabad, tiger shooting; they had indifferent sport, and only killed five tigers, one of which had the happiness of dying before the eyes of the fair lady. They have returned to Calcutta. It must have been warm work in the jungles after the tigers; but when one has an object in view, one is apt to forget the power of an Indian sun, until a good fever reminds one of the danger of exposure.
21st.—Last night, at midnight, the moon was completely eclipsed, and darkness fell over the land. The natives are horror-struck; they say it foretels sickness, disease, and death to a dreadful extent. It is not unlikely their fears may be verified: the plague is raging at Palee; it is expected it will spread ere long to the Company’s territories. Then, indeed, will the natives believe in the direful presages of the eclipse, forgetting the plague was the forerunner not the follower of the signs of wrath in the heavens. Sir Charles Metcalfe has issued all necessary orders to prevent the intercourse of persons from the infected cities, with those of the surrounding country. The small-pox is carrying off the young and the healthy; in every part of the country you hear of its fatal effects.
The Brija Bā’ī, one of the favourite attendants on the Bāiza Bā’ī, came to see me; I showed her a prize I had won in a lottery at Calcutta; a silver vase beautifully enamelled in gold, value £40. She was much pleased with it, and anxious to procure tickets in the next lottery for mechanical curiosities.
22nd.—The Bāiza Bā’ī sent to me to say she had put into a lottery, and feared, having only taken seven tickets, she might not gain a prize, and her people would say she was unlucky. Therefore, to avert the evil of being called an unlucky person, she wished to procure the whole of the tickets which remained unsold. I tried to persuade her that she had tickets in abundance; nevertheless she sent for thirty more. How curiously superstitious the natives are! She is as much pleased as a child at this little bit of gambling for mechanical curiosities and jewellery.
24th.—The Brija came to request I would visit the camp to show them how to use a magic-lantern; I did so, but it was a failure, being dim and indistinct. In the course of conversation, wishing to remember a circumstance related by one of the ladies in attendance, I noted it in my pocket-book, on a little slate of white china. Her Highness, who observed the action, asked for the pocket-book, examined it, admired the delicately white china, and asking for a pencil wrote her own name upon it. She appeared surprised at my being able to read and write, accomplishments possessed by herself, but uncommon among the Mahratta ladies, who are seldom able to attain them, it being the system of eastern nations to keep their women in ignorance, imagining it gives them greater power over them. They are taught to consider it unfit for ladies of rank, and that it ought to be done for them by their writers and mūnshīs; nevertheless, they were proud of the accomplishments possessed by the Bāiza Bā’ī.
Her Highness returned me the pocket-book, which I received with pleasure, and value highly for the sake of the autograph, of which, in the plate entitled “[The Kharīta],” the writing on the right-hand side is a fac-simile.
All the needlework is done by women in the zenāna: to allow a tailor to make your attire would be considered indelicate, and their clothes are never allowed to be shown to men, lest they should thus be able to judge of the form of the lady purdanishīn, i.e. behind the curtain. Imagine the disgust an Asiatic lady would feel if placed in Regent Street, on beholding figures displayed in shop windows, intended to represent English ladies in corsets, bustles, and under petticoats, turning round on poles, displaying for the laughter and criticism of the men the whole curious and extraordinary arcana of the toilet of an European!
May 5th.—The Bāiza Bā’ī was unable to get the thirty tickets she sent for in the lottery; eighteen were all that were unsold, and these were taken by her. She was very fortunate, and won two prizes; one was an ornament in diamonds attached to a necklace of two strings of pearls, and a pair of diamond ear-rings, valued at 2000 rupees, i.e. £200; the second a clock, valued at 400 rupees, £40: my own ticket proved a blank. The clock is placed on a rock in the picture, on which are trees, a town, and a fort. In front is the sea, on which float a three-decker and a cutter, which roll upon the waves moved by mechanism. The Mahrattas were charmed with it: it is a good specimen, but they will spoil it in a month.
Copy from a native Akhbar (Court Newspaper).
July 7th.—“The King of Oude, Nusseer-ood-Deen Hydur, died this morning; he had been unwell for some days, but not very ill: he took some medicine, and expired almost immediately, not without some suspicion of having been poisoned. Colonel Lowe, the Resident, went to the palace, and was proceeding to place the late King’s uncle on the throne, by name Nusseer-ood-Deen, when the Padshah Begam, the late King’s mother, attended by fifteen hundred soldiers and two elephants, came to the palace, bringing a boy whom she vowed was the late King’s son, with the intention of putting him on the throne. Finding the palace-gates shut, she ordered them to be burst open by the elephants, entered, placed the boy Moona Jāh (Feredooa Buckht) on the throne, and desired the Resident to do him homage. In the mean time, Colonel Lowe had sent for the troops; on their arrival, he insisted on the Begam’s quitting the palace; this she would not do. The troops were ordered to dislodge her party. The Begam and Moona Jāh were taken prisoners, and sent under a guard to Cawnpore. The soldiers were dispersed, with the loss of about sixty lives on the Begam’s side, and two or three sepoys on the Company’s. Mr. Paton, Assistant to the Resident, was much hurt in the affray. Colonel Lowe placed the King’s uncle on the throne, and proclaimed him King of Oude. It is said the throne was plundered of its jewels to a great amount, and much treasure was carried off by different persons; some of which was recaptured a few miles from the city. Since the arrival of the Padshah Begam and the boy at Cawnpore, every thing has been quiet in Lucnow; she is to be sent a state prisoner to Chunar. It is believed the boy is not the late King’s son, but was made a tool of for the purposes of the Begam.”