Leaving Lolldong on the 22d, they began to ascend the mountains. Next
day, as they continued their march through the forest, Forster, overcome
by fatigue, sat down under a tree to enjoy his pipe; but while he was
thus engaged, having apparently sunk into that dreaming state which
smoking sometimes induces, the kafilah moved on and disappeared. The
ground being thickly covered with leaves, no trace of a road was
discernible; and when he mounted to proceed, his horse, either terrified
by the effluvia of wild beasts lurking among the trees, or perceiving
the embarrassment of their situation, could with difficulty be made to
proceed in any direction. However, he was at length forcibly put in
motion; but after traversing the forest in various directions, without
perceiving either road or habitation, or the vestige of any creature,
except great quantities of elephants’ dung, he discovered a narrow path
leading through a wilderness to a small valley, whose inhabitants kindly
conducted him to the halting-place of the kafilah.
In two days they arrived on the banks of the Ganges, twelve miles above
Hardwar. It was here about two hundred yards broad, from ten to fifteen
feet deep, and rolled along rapidly through gloomy forests or barren
flats. The woods in these parts abounded with wild peacocks. On the 6th
of March he crossed the Jumma, which here equalled the Ganges in
breadth; both, however, were at their lowest ebb. The scenery all the
way from Lolldong to the Ganges is woody, mountainous, and picturesque;
and the principal game are wild elephants, which are hunted merely for
their tusks. Before them, to the north, was the vast snowy range of the
Himalaya, among the inaccessible pinnacles of which the Hindoo has
placed the heaven of India. Among the roots of this Indian Olympus,
which stretch out their rough huge masses far into the plains below,
affording safe haunts for tigers and banditti, the kafilah toiled along,
continually ascending, towards Kashmere.
On the 20th of March they arrived at Bellaspoor, on the frontiers of the
Punjâb, or country of the five rivers. Here they remained three days,
when, growing weary of attending the slow motions of the caravan, our
traveller, with his servant and another Kashmerian, pushed forward,
crossed the Sutlej, and on the 25th arrived at the camp of the Rannee of
Bellaspoor, then engaged in war with the chief of Kangrah. The
encampment of these rude soldiers was a curious spectacle. Eight
thousand foot and three hundred horse, armed with matchlocks, swords,
spears, and clubs, were huddled together in extreme confusion on two
sides of a hill, under small sheds composed of the boughs of trees. Four
ordinary tents, the only ones in the camp, afforded shelter to the
general and the principal officers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account