The colonel's pages, at this point, are filled with digressions and
dissertations on subjects somewhat miscellaneous--Aberdeen pale ale--the
enormities of Warren Hastings' government--the late James Prinsep and the
moral precepts of the Rajah Piyâdâsee--and a most incomprehensible
rhapsody about "a red mustached member of the Bengal civil service," of
which we profess ourselves utterly incompetent to make either head or tail,
and strongly recommend the colonel to expunge it if the work reaches
another edition. The voyage presents no incidents but the usual ones of
pelicans, alligators, and porpoises: and on January 15, he arrived at
Dhacca, "the once famous city of muslins." But the muslin trade has now
almost wholly disappeared; and with it "the thousands of families of
muslin weavers, who, from the extreme delicacy of their manufacture, were
obliged to work in pits, sheltered from the heat of the sun and changes of
the weather; and even after that precaution, only while the dew lay on the
ground, as the increasing heat destroyed the extremely delicate thread."
The jungle is in consequence advancing close upon the city, which is thus
rendered almost uninhabitable from malaria--the only manufacturers which
continue to flourish being those of violins, bracelets, made from a
peculiar shell resembling the _Murex tulipa_, and--idols for Hindoo
worship!
The colonel remained at Dhacca till February 4, awaiting ulterior orders
from headquarters, and had, consequently, abundance of leisure for making
himself acquainted with the place and its people. These researches,
however, were not always unattended with danger; for on one occasion,
while viewing the city from an elevated building, a piece of plaster was
struck from the cornice near where he stood by a matchlock ball--a
delicate hint that the Mussulmans disliked being overlooked. The Nawab,
apparently the son of Bishop Heber's acquaintance, Shumseddowlah, still
resides in the palace of his ancestors, but is described as an extravagant,
uneducated youth, who has mortgaged away his income from 5000 to 200
rupees per mensem--that is, from L.6000 to L.240 per annum. The
inhabitants were a mixture of almost all the creeds and nations of
Asia--Chinese, Thibetans, Mugs from Arracan, Burmese, Malays, etc.; but
the great majority are Hindoos, whose sanguinary goddess Kalee is adored
in not less than fifty temples. The Greeks and Armenians also have each a
church, the services of which, as described by the colonel, are conducted
in much the same form as at Constantinople:--"But among the (Armenian)
matrons only was any appearance of devotion visible; one of them, most
gorgeously appareled in the Armenian fashion, with a magnificent tiara of
jewels on her brow, and wearing a superb shawl, threw herself on the
ground, with her head sunk between her arms, towards the altar, and
remained in that position nearly five minutes. The others, being dressed
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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