Friendship gives to us the trust
To guard the hero’s honour’d dust.”
On the other side the monument is another inscription, also written by Colonel Skinner.
THE REMAINS
INTERRED BENEATH THIS MONUMENT
WERE ONCE ANIMATED
BY AS BRAVE AND SINCERE
A SOUL
AS WAS EVER VOUCHSAFED TO MAN
BY HIS
Creator!
A BROTHER IN FRIENDSHIP
HAS CAUSED IT TO BE ERECTED,
THAT, WHEN HIS OWN FRAME IS DUST,
IT MAY REMAIN
AS A
MEMORIAL
FOR THOSE WHO CAN PARTICIPATE IN LAMENTING
THE SUDDEN AND MELANCHOLY LOSS
OF ONE
DEAR TO HIM AS LIFE.
WILLIAM FRAZER
DIED MARCH 22ND, 1835.
In the evening the brother of the Bāiza Bā’ī, Hindū Rāo, sent me an elephant, and Colonel Skinner sent another; on these we mounted, and went through all the principal streets of the city. Dehlī or Dillī, the metropolis of Hindūstān, is generally called by Musalmāns Shāhjahān-ābād, and, by Europeans, Delhi. The Chāndnī chauk, a very broad and handsome street, is celebrated; it has a canal that runs through and down the centre of it; but such is the demand for water, that not a drop now reaches Delhi, it being drawn off for the irrigation of the country, ere it arrive at the city. This fine stream is called Nahr-i-Bihísht, or “Canal of Paradise.” “In the reign of Shāhjahān, Ali Merdan Khan, a nobleman, dug, at his own expense, a canal, from the vicinity of the city of Panniput, near the head of the Doo-ab, to the suburbs of Delhi;—a tract of ninety miles in extent. This noble canal is called by the natives the ‘Canal of Paradise,’ and runs from north to south, in general about ten miles distant from the Jumna, until it joins that river nine miles below the city of New Delhi: it yielded formerly fourteen lākh of rupees per annum. At present it is out of repair, and in many places almost destroyed.”
As we went round the Jáma Masjid, a fine mosque, I thought of the words of the Prophet,—“Masjids are the gardens of Paradise, and the praises of God the fruit thereof.” On the high flight of steps leading to the mosque were hundreds of people in gay dresses, bargaining for cloth, sweetmeats, &c.
The inhabitants of Delhi appear to delight in dresses of the gayest colours, and picturesque effect is added to every scene by their graceful attire. Native gentlemen of rank, attended by large sawārīs (retinues) on horseback, on elephants, or on camels, are met at every turn, rendering the scene very amusing and animated. Nevertheless, in spite of all this apparent splendour, a proverb is used to express the vanity and indigence prevalent in that city:—“Dillī ke dilwālī munh chiknā pet khālī;” “The inhabitants of Dihlī appear to be opulent, when, in fact, they are starving.” A little beyond the Jáma Masjid is the wall of the palace,—a most magnificent wall; I was delighted with it and its gateways. Shortly afterwards we turned our elephants towards the tents, and returned, considerably fatigued, to dinner.
19th.—This morning we had decided on visiting the tomb of Humaioon, but, on mounting our horses, hearing firing at a distance, we rode off to see what amusement was going forward, leaving the visit to the tomb for another day. It was lucky we did so, I would not on any account have missed the scene. We galloped away, to save time, and found Lord Auckland and his party at a review; after looking at the review a short time, Captain S⸺, himself an engineer, took me to see a very interesting work: the sappers and miners had erected a mud-fort; trenches were regularly formed in front of the fort, to cover the attacking party, and mines were formed underground to a considerable distance. We walked through the long galleries, which were all lighted up, and Captain S⸺ explained the whole to me. On our return, Lord Auckland came up, examined the fort, and walked through the miners’ galleries. The attack commenced, the great guns blazed away at the bastion, which was blown up in good style by the miners; the soldiers mounted the breach and took the fort, whilst, on the right, it was scaled by another party. This mimic war was very animated; I like playing at soldiers, and it gave me an excellent idea of an attack, without the horror of the reality: another mine was sprung, and the warfare ended. The sun was high and very hot,—we rode home as fast as our horses could carry us,—only stopping on the top of a rocky hill near the late Mr. Frazer’s house, to admire the view of Delhi, which lay below a mass of minarets and domes, interspersed with fine trees. Near this spot Mr. Frazer was shot. The house was bought by Hindū Rāo for 20,000 rupees. Out of this rocky hill a sort of red gravel is dug, which forms the most beautiful roads.
After breakfast we struck our tents, and came to stay with a friend, who has a fine house in beautiful grounds, with a garden filled to profusion with the gayest flowers, situated just beyond the Cashmere gate of the city. Colonel Edward Smith, of the engineers, deserves great credit for the style and good taste he has displayed in the architecture of this gate of Delhi, and for several other buildings which were pointed out to me as of his design in other parts of the city. We found the tents very hot within the walls, with flies innumerable, like the plague of Egypt; at least, they must be quite as bad during the hot season. In the evening we went to a ball, given by Mr. Metcalfe to the Governor-General and his party.
20th.—The ball gave me a headache, and I was suffering a good deal of pain, when a native lady came to see me, on the part of the Nawāb Shah Zamānee Begam, the Emperor’s unmarried sister, from whom she brought a complimentary message, and a request that I would call upon her at the palace. The lady, finding me in pain, most kindly shampooed and mulled my forehead so delightfully, that my headache was charmed away;—shampooing is the great luxury of the East.