There are authentic sketches of Bishop Heber and others out for a
ride, dressed in frock coat and tall hat, as if they were in Rotten
Row. The Bishop, nevertheless, seems to have accommodated his dress to
the necessities of the climate more than most of the clergy, at any
rate when on tour. There is an amusing paragraph, bearing on this
point, in the journal of the Archdeacon of Bombay in 1825. When Bishop
Heber was drawing near to Bombay, after a long and arduous tour, he
was joined by the Archdeacon, who says in the course of his notes that
"there are some points, such as his wearing white trousers and a white
hat, which I could wish were altered with more regard to his station,
and which, perhaps strike me the more after being accustomed to the
particular attention of Bishop Middleton in such points." But he goes
on to say that he felt compelled to forgive him, on the score of all
his other excellent qualities. In a note the editor explains that "on
his journeys the Bishop wore a white solar hat, with a very broad brim
(lined with green silk), made from the pith of the bamboo. As it
afforded more protection from glare and heat he preferred it to the
episcopal hat, his usual dress when residing at any of the
presidencies. The white trousers he adopted soon after his arrival in
India, from their greater coolness; and he recommended them to his
clergy on all ordinary occasions." It might be added that coolness is
not the only thing to be considered for residents in India. A chill of
some sort is the cause of many Indian ailments, and shirt and trousers
of flannel, however thin, should be the invariable dress, by day and
by night.
One of the ways of trying to regain health amongst those early workers
in the East, was to go for an excursion of some weeks' duration on a
river. Possibly they had in mind the beneficial results of a boat
excursion on the Thames. But slow progress in a native boat, alongside
the mud-banks and reedy swamps of many Indian rivers, was about as
sure a way of getting, or increasing, malaria as they could have
devised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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