Memoirs of a griffin : $b Or, A cadet's first year in IndiaBellew, Francis John
General
Memoirs of a griffin : $b Or, A cadet's first year in India
Bellew, Francis John
India -- Description and travel
The fort of Chunarghur, to which we ascended from the town side by a
somewhat steep road, occupies the summit of a table rock, some hundred
feet above the surrounding country, and terminating abruptly on the
river side. A strong wall, defended by numerous towers, runs round the
edge, and the interior contains modern ranges of barracks, magazines,
&c., and some fine masses of old buildings, in the Moorish style of
architecture, characterized by the cupolas, horseshoe arch, &c.
The views on all sides are extensive and interesting: on the one, you
look down upon the roofs of the closely-built native town, its temples
and intermingled foliage, and tall bamboo pigeon-stands, with the white
houses and luxuriant gardens of the adjacent station, the broad Ganges
skirting the verdant slopes in front, and stretching away through many a
sandy reach towards Benares; on the opposite side, above the fort, a
rich and cultivated country, waving with crops, adorned with mango
groves, and dotted here and there with old mosques or tombs, extends far
in the distance, traversed by bold sweeps of the river, which, sprinkled
with many a white sail, or strings of heavy boats, advancing with
snail-like pace against the current, glistens brightly below.
The general pointed out to me the particular part of the wall where we
made our unsuccessful assault in the year 1764, with some other lions of
the place; after which we left the fort by another gateway, and a
somewhat zigzag descent, on the opposite side to that on which we had
entered.
In passing a guard of invalids, however, before emerging, I was highly
entertained to see the old veterans, who were rather taken by surprise,
hobbling out from their pipes and repose in a mighty pother, to present
arms to the general, which they managed to effect before he had left
them far behind, with a most picturesque irregularity.
Chunar, some thirty or forty years before the period to which I am
adverting, had been, I believe, one of our principal frontier stations,
and the head-quarters of a division, though then, as now, scarcely
occupying a central point in the immense line of the British dominions
on this side of India. The cantonments of this large force were situated
on the plain last noticed, above the fort, and present small station,
though almost every trace of it has long disappeared, at least of the
abodes of the living, for the mansions of the dead still remain nearly
_in statu quo_ to tell their pensive tale.
We paid a visit to this now remote and forgotten burying ground (or
rather to one of them, for there are two) a mile or two beyond the fort;
and I confess, albeit a juvenile, that I was touched at the sight of
these lonely mementoes of the fact, that a bustling military cantonment,
of which hardly a vestige remains, once occupied the immediate vicinity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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