About Seven
Miles From Muree, We Halted For Dinner, And Made Renewed Acquaintance
With That Interesting Object - The Indian Roadside Chicken.
OCTOBER 16.
- Arrived early at Rawul Pindee, and breakfasted at
seven, apparently off guttapercha and extract of sloe leaves. On
again immediately, and reached Gugerkhan bungalow at seven P.M. hot,
apoplectic, and saturated with dust.
The room smells thoroughly of the plains; an odour, as it were,
of punkhas, mosquitoes, and mustiness, not to be found elsewhere,
and entirely unexplainable to uninitiated sufferers.
The chicken, whose "fate had been accomplished," died as we entered
the yard, and was on the table in the fashion of a warm SPREAD EAGLE
in fifteen minutes! After this delicacy is duly discussed, the doolies
are emptied of dust, the bedding laid down, and jolt, jolt, creak,
creak, grunt, grunt, on we go again, until sleep good-naturedly
comes to make us oblivious of all things. The kahars, or bearers,
however, take a different view of life, and at every relief a crowd
of sniggering darkies assemble, on both sides, with applications for
bukshish. At first one hears, "Sahib, Sahib!" in a deprecating tone
of voice, mindful of sudden wakings of former Sahibs, sticks, and
consequent sore backs, then piu forte, "Sahib!" crescendo, "Sahib,
Sahib!" and then at last, in a burst of harmony, "Sahib purana Baira
kutch bukshish mil jawe?"[33] and the miserable doolie traveller, who
has been, probably, feigning sleep in sulky savageness for the last
ten minutes, makes a sudden dive through the curtains with a stick, an
exclamation is heard very like swearing, only in a foreign language,
and the troop of applicants vanish like a shot, keeping up, however,
a yelping of Sahibs, and Purana Bairas, and Bukshishs, until the new
bearers get fairly under weigh, and have carried their loads beyond
hearing. None but those who have been woken up in this manner from a
comfortable state of unconsciousness, to the full realities of doolie
travelling in Indian heat and dust, can form an idea of the trial
it is to one's temper; and, from my own feelings, together with the
sounds I hear from my companion's direction, I can testify as to the
relief that the use of foreign expletives affords under the affliction.
OCTOBER 17. - Arrived at Jhelum about eight A.M. to all intents and
purposes dust inside and out. Flesh and blood can stand no more for the
present, and we resolve to halt here for the day. The weather appears
quite as hot as when we started, and the wind comes in, hot and dry,
and makes one feel like a herring of the reddest; while an infernal
punkha is creaking its monotonous tune, as it flaps to and fro in the
next room, making one again realize to the full, "the pleasures of the
plains." We begin, in fact, to discover that the thorns which were not
forthcoming on the Cashmere roses are too surely to be found elsewhere.
OCTOBER 18. - Reached Goojerat at cock-crow; thus completing
a distinct circle of travel through Bimber, Sirinugger, Ladak,
Kushtwar, Muree, and back to our present halting-place, from whence
we had originally branched off.
OCTOBER 19. - A dusty night's work brought us at two A.M. to
Goojerwala. Here we found that there was no bungalow between us and
Lahore, and, consequently, no chance of either a wash or breakfast
should we go on; we therefore chose loss of time in preference to
loss of breakfast, with the addition of a day under a broiling sun,
and halted until the authorities should awake to feed us.
OCTOBER 20. - Reached Lahore before sunrise, and got our letters
and papers from the post once more. Afterwards we laid our dak for
Cawnpore, and made all arrangements for a start in the evening.
OCTOBER 21. - Arrived at Umritsur about three A.M., and remained in
our coaches until sunrise, when we set off for a stroll through the
city. This we found the cleanest, if not the only clean, town we had
seen since landing in India. The streets were well drained and built,
and were guarded by a force of yellow-legged, red-turbaned Punjabee
policemen, who were provided, like their brother blue-bottles at home,
with staves and rattles instead of the more usual insignia of sword
and shield. The houses were almost all decorated, outside and in, with
grotesque mythological and other paintings, such as Vishnu annihilating
Rakshus, or demons of various kinds, or wonderful battle-pieces,
wherein pale-faced, unhealthy-looking people, in tailed coats and
cocked hats, might be seen performing prodigies of valour, assisted
by bearded and invincible Sikh warriors of ferocious exterior. The
shops were built with verandahs, and the piazza character of some of
the streets, in conjunction with the unusual cleanliness, gave one a
very agreeable impression of Umritsur and its municipal corporation,
whoever that body may be. The inhabitants are principally Sikhs,
fine-looking men generally, with long beards turned up at either
side of their faces, and knotted with their hair under the voluminous
folds of their turbans.
OCTOBER 22. - Out at four A.M. to explore the great durbar, or
head-quarters of the Sikh religion in the Punjab. Entering through a
highly decorated archway in the kotwalee, or police station, we came
upon an enormous tank, with steps descending into the water on all
sides, and planted around with large and shady trees. In the centre
of this rose the temple of the Sikhs, a light-looking, richly-gilt
edifice, the lower part of which was constructed of inlaid stones upon
white marble. From this to one side of the tank, a broad causeway
led, decorated with handsome railings, and lamps of gilt-work upon
marble pedestals. Along this, crowds of people were passing to and
fro, arrayed in every possible variety of costume and colour. Sikhs,
Hindoos, Mussulmen - men, women, and children, crowded together like
bees in a hive. Round the edges of the tank were handsome buildings,
minarets, &c. with trees and gardens attached to them; and that,
towards the causeway, was divided in two by a fine and richly-decorated
archway, in the upper part of which a party of patriarchal old Sikhs
were squatted on their haunches, discoursing the affairs of the
nation.
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