[24]. [Ibid. iii. 8.]
[25]. The autobiography of both these noble Tatar princes are singular compositions, and may be given as standards of Eastern intellectual acquirement. They minutely note the progress of refinement and luxury. [The sweet melon was probably introduced from Persia, but some varieties of the plant seem to be indigenous. India, however, has a strong claim to ancient cultivation of the vine. Doubtless to the Portuguese may be assigned the credit of having conveyed both the tobacco plant and the knowledge of its properties to India and China (Watt, Econ. Dict. ii. 626, 628, vi. Part iv. 263, v. 361; Id. Comm. Prod. 437 f., 796, 1112; Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 924 ff.)].
[26]. [If the Greeks discovered opium, the Arabs were chiefly concerned in disseminating in the East the knowledge of the plant and its uses (Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. Part i. 24 ff.; Comm. Prod. 846).]
[27]. ‘Araq, ‘essence’; whence arrack and rack.
[28]. Even in the midst of conversation, the eye closes and the head nods as the exciting cause is dissipating, and the countenance assumes a perfect vacuity of expression. Many a chief has taken his siesta in his chair while on a visit to me: an especial failing of my good friend Raj Kalyan of Sadri, the descendant of the brave Shama, who won “the right hand” of the prince at Haldighat. The lofty turban worn by the Raj, which distinguishes this tribe (the Jhala), was often on the point of tumbling into my lap, as he unconsciously nodded. When it is inconvenient to dissolve the opium, the chief carries it in his pocket, and presents it, as we would a pinch of snuff in Europe. In my subaltern days the chieftain of Senthal, in Jaipur, on paying me a visit, presented me with a piece of opium, which I took and laid on the table. Observing that I did not eat it, he said he should like to try the Farangi ka amal, ‘the opiate of the Franks.’ I sent him a bottle of powerful Schiedam, and to his inquiry as to the quantity of the dose, I told him he might take from an eighth to the half, as he desired exhilaration or oblivion. We were to have hunted the next morning; but having no sign of my friend, I was obliged to march without ascertaining the effect of the barter of aphim for the waters of Friesland; though I have no doubt that he found them quite Lethean. [The Rājputs ascribed a divine power to opium owing to the mental exhilaration caused by the drug: hence the taking of it with a chief was a form of solemn communion, and a renewal of the pledge of loyalty (Russell, Tribes and Castes, Central Provinces, i. 170, iii. 164, iv. 425). For opium drinking among Rājputs see Malcolm, Memoir, Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 146 f.; Forbes, Rāsmāla, 557)[557)].]
[29]. [The use of the bow has now disappeared except among forest tribes. For its use in Mogul times see Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 91 ff.]
[30]. The author has now before him a letter written by the queen-mother of Bundi desiring his rejoicings on Lalji, ‘the beloved’s,’ coup d’essai on a deer, which he had followed most pertinaciously to the death. On this occasion a court was held, and all the chiefs presented offerings and congratulations.
[31]. [For the Jethi wrestlers in S. India see Thurston, Tribes and Castes, ii. 456 ff.]
[32]. [It takes its name from the town where they were made. The blade is slightly curved, one specimen being rather narrower and lighter than the ordinary sword (talwār), (Egerton, Handbook of Indian Arms, 1880, p. 105; Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 76 f.).]
[33]. Poetic impromptus pass on these occasions unrestricted by the fear of the critic, though the long yawn now and then should have given the hint to my friend the Maharaja that his verses wanted Attic. But he had certainly talent, and he did not conceal his light, which shone the stronger from the darkness that surrounded him: for poverty is not the school of genius, and the trade of the schoolmaster has ever been the least lucrative in a capital where rapine has ruled.