The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, volume 2 (of 2): By His Wife, Isabel BurtonBurton, Isabel, Lady
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The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, volume 2 (of 2): By His Wife, Isabel Burton
Burton, Isabel, Lady
Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Scholars -- Great Britain -- Biography
The air was like blasts of a heated furnace on the 16th of April, and
the thermometer we pinned to the cushion showed 105º F. We ordered a
trap; the springs were broken, the projections stuck through the hard,
narrow cushions into our unhappy bodies, the carriage was lopsided
and bumped fearfully; but we were well, hearty, and happy. It was a
charming night, and we enjoyed it awfully, sleeping through the dark,
and drinking a lot of water. In the morning we passed a beautiful clean
bungalow at Soorool, where we brought down our provision basket, ate,
and had tea and milk with the old soldier that kept it; and we stopped
at Wali, the prettiest and most interesting village in Western India,
from its temples up to the river-bed.
We passed several most interesting things, which we inspected; and when
we arrived at the bottom of the mountain the horses were taken out,
and sixteen coolies took us up to the top. After every two minutes we
had to tie up our broken springs, but when we got under the verdure of
Máhábáleshwar at the summit, 4780 feet above sea-level, we found the
carriage-roads so broad and the vegetation and trees so plucked as to
give no shade, though the luxuriant woods extend over seventeen miles
long to five broad. The distances seemed intolerable, and the last
thirteen miles we were very tired. We had been eighteen hours out, but
on arrival we went off for a drive with Lady Agnes Danyell, who drove
a pair of "tattoos" the size of a dog. At the end of the day we were
thoroughly tired. We had been out twenty-five hours, and had had no
sleep for forty-one hours; we dined, and we do not remember the end of
the dinner nor how we got to bed. Dorabjee Sorabjee, the civil Parsee
of "Máhábáleshwar Hotel," treated us very well, and was most reasonable
in charges. One drives everywhere in a _tonga_, a little tea-cart with
small tattoo ponies; but it is an agony to drive with hired "tats,"
they are so ill-treated; so that Richard did nothing but swear at the
driver in his own particular dialect for being cruel. My fox-terrier
did nothing but struggle and fly at his throat, for she could not stand
cruelty either; and Richard, in contradiction, scolded me all the way
for my ridiculous tender sensibilities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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