'Up the Country': Letters Written to Her Sister from the Upper Provinces of IndiaEden, Emily
History
'Up the Country': Letters Written to Her Sister from the Upper Provinces of India
Eden, Emily
Eden, Emily, 1797-1869 -- Correspondence; India -- Description and travel
There has been some quarrel about our encamping ground. Captain P. put
the tents in the right place, and the Brigadier said it was the wrong
one, and had them moved again, and put between two dusty roads; and now
we again say _that_ is quite wrong, and that we _will_ be on the
Brigadier's parade ground; so last night's camp, when it came up, was
pitched there and with much dignity, but with a great deal of trouble in
moving all our goods and ourselves. It was quite as bad as two marches
in one day; but then, you know, we could not stand the idea of
Brigadier ---- presuming to interfere with the Governor-General's camp.
The thieves at Bareilly are well educated, and pilfered quantities of
things in the move. Still, Brigadier ---- had the worst of it!
This is the most absurd country. Captain N. has a pet monkey, small and
black, with a long white beard, and it sits at the door of his tent. It
had not been here an hour when the durwar and the elders of the village
came on deputation to say that it was the first of that species which
had ever been at Bareilly, and they begged to take it to their temple to
worship it. He did not much like trusting it out of sight, but it was
one of the requests that cannot be refused, so 'Hunamaun' set off in
great state with one of N.'s bearers to watch him. He came back
extremely excited and more snappish than ever. The bearer said the
priests carried the monkey into a temple, but would not let him go too.
I suspect if N. washed the returned monkey, he would find the black come
off.
CHAPTER XII.
Bareilly, Monday, Jan. 22, 1838.
We were 'at home' on Friday evening. There are ten ladies at this
station, several of them very pretty, and with our own ladies there were
enough for a quadrille; so they danced all the evening, and it went off
very well.
There are two officers (Europeans) who command that corps of irregular
horse, and dress like natives, with green velvet tunics, scarlet satin
trousers, white boots, bare throats, long beards, and everything most
theatrical. It does tolerably well for the young adjutant, who is
good-looking; but the major, who commanded the regiment, would look
better with a neck-cloth and a tight coat. He doats on his wild
horsemen.
He says the officers come to him every morning, and sit down round him,
and show him their Persian letters, and take his orders, just as
children would; and to-day, when they were all assembled, they had been
reading our Russaldar's account of how well he had shown off all his
exercises, and how I had drawn his picture, and how G. had given him a
pair of shawls and some spears, &c. Just as they were reading this, the
man himself arrived, and the others all got up and embraced him, and
thanked him for keeping up the honour of the corps. They seem to be
something like the Highlanders in their way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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