VARIETIES

OF

VICE-REGAL LIFE.

VOL. II.

LOISTOTT: PEIS-TED BT
SPOTTISWOOISC AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND TAELIAMENT STHEET

SKKTCll M.W
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preside:ncy of madras
incKKlinvS .1. (xirliou ol tlu'
TKUUlTdHV OF niK M/. \.M
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VARIETIES

OF

VICE-REGAL LIFE.

SIR -WILLIAM DENISON, K.O.B.
LATE GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES
AND GOVERNOR OP MADRAS.

' Wiat is that one thing that we shall at this time found our discourse upon ? '
'What you will, I will talk of things heavenly or things earthly; things moral
or things evangelical; things sacred or things profane; things past or things to
come; things foreign or things at home; things more essential or things circum
stantial.' TALKATIVE, in Pilgrim'!, Progress.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. II.

LONDON :
LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO.
1870.

CONTENTS

THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER XVI.
PAGE
Ne-w Zealand — Remarks on Respon.sible Government ... 1
CHAPTER XVII.
Arrival at Madras — Landing through the Surf — Body Guard —
The two Government Houses — Native Household — Public
Breakfasts — Durbar — First Evening Reception — Opening of
the N. W. Eailway to Naggery — ^Meeting -with the Eajah — A
Mute Dignitary — Incautious Question — Nature of Work at
Madras — State of Government and Army — Letter to Lord
Canning on Army Eeduction — Letter on proposed Legislative
Co-uncil — Character of Hindoos — Impossibility of Applying to
them English Principles of Government — Rail-ways — Reorgani
zation of Native Army — Suggestions for General Government
of India — Visit to Calcutta — Government House — ^Large ban
yan tree — Barrackpoor — Conversation -with the Principal of
the Sanscrit CoUege — Return to Madras .... 25
CHAPTER XVIII.
Public Works Department — ^Navigation of the River Godavery —
Curious Method of Laying up Native Shipping — Irrigation —
Irrigation Works on the Godavery — Insects — Journey to Salem
— Transits — Thunderstorm and its Conseqiiences — Ride up the
Hills — Coonoor — Accident to Dr. S.-  ¦ — Barracks at Wel
lington — Ootacamund — Shooting Parties — Variety of Game —
We Hunt for a Tiger, and find a Leopard — Makoortie Peak —
Constitution of Co-uncils in India — Remarks on Anglo-Indian
Colonisation ... ...... 81

CONTENTS OF

CHAPTER XIX.

Journey to West Coast — Reception at Beypore — Sedashegur —
Gairsoppah Falls — Bison — Transfer of North Canara to Bombay
Correspondence on Constitution of Legislative Councils — Gneiss
— Limit of the South-West Monsoon — Mangalore — German
Mission — Smell of the Sea — Its Cause— Steel -works — Bessemeer
Process — Snake Boats — Wundoor — Inopportune Visit from a
Rajah — Return to the Neilgherry Hills — Proposed Publication
of a Natural History of India — Lady D  's return to Madras
— Ball at the Banqueting Hall — Prince Azeem Jah — Guindy
Park ... . . . 119

CHAPTER XX.
Treatment of British Officers by the Nizam of Hydrabad — Sug
gestions on the subject — Cinchona Plantations — Nevr Tear's
greetings — Native Aide-de-camp — New Year's BaU — Paper
Chase — Remarks on Proposed Change in System of Land
Tenure in India — Trichinopoly — Tanjore — Visit to the Six
teen Wido-ws and Daughters of the Rajah — Bridge over the
Cauvery — Caste of Thieves — Native Roman Catholic Obser
vance of Good Friday — ' Plenty Cry ' — Letter to Sir C. Wood
on Registration of Land Titles — Opening of School for Chil
dren of Native Servants — College of Civil Engineers — Letter
on Encouragements to Cotton Cultivation — Characteristics of
Mahometan Population — ' King Tom ' — Rapacity of Native
Officials — Afternoon Receptions — Je-weUery taken at Kir-wee —
Journey to the Hills — Holicul Droog — Kotagherry — Runga-
sa-wmy's Pillar — Sale of Land — Supply of Horses — Journey
delayed by Bees — Cost of Transport on Railways — Proportion
of Rainfall discharged by Rivers — Chupatties . . .151

CHAPTER XXI.
Sail round Cape Comorin — Adam's Bridge — Pagoda at Ramiseram
— A Royal Pilgrim — Preparation of Sea Slugs for the Chinese
Market — Landing at Tuticorin — Mangosteens — INIode of Selling
Pearls — Pearl Lime — Tinnevelly — Durbar — The Great Zemin
dar — Missionary Training School — Night Journey to Nagercoil
• — Passage of a Swollen River — Arrival at Trivandrum — State
Visit from the Rajah— Illuminated Road — Dinner with the
Rajah — Metropolitan of the Syrian Church — Visit to the Ra
nees — Departure from Trivandrum — Night Voyaging on the

THE SECOND VOLUME.

Back Water — Fairylike Scenes — Quilon — Illuminated Garden
— AUeppey — Visit from Armenian Merchants — Missionary
work among the Slave Caste — Laterite — Cochin — Visit from the
Rajah — Boating extraordinary — CuriousFishing Nets — ' White
Jews of Cochin ' — Visit to the Synagogue — Return to Ma
dras .......... 195

CHAPTER XXII.
Reorganisation of Board of Works — Irrigation — Native Guests at
an English Wedding — Waste of Flood Water — Simple Mode of
Determining the QuaUty of Soil — Objections to Reorganisation
of Madras Native Army — Characteristics of Hindoo Architec
ture — Cost of Irrigation works — Journey to Mysore — Birthday
of the Rajah — Dinner at the Palace — Visit to the Zenana —
Seringapatam — Curious Bridges over the Cauvery — Tomb of
Hyder AU and Tippoo Saib — Tippoo's Summer Palace — Falls
of the Cauvery — Oossoor — Land Assessment — Journey to Bel-
lary and Kurnool — Mowing Match — Tumuli — Return to Ma
dras — ' Master looks beautiful ' — Burst of the North-East
Monsoon — Wreck of the ' Punjaub ' — Effect of Competitive
Examinations . . . . . . . . .224
CHAPTER XXIII.
Death of Lord Elgin — Assumption of the Office of Governor-
General — War on the North-West Frontier — Arrival at Cal
cutta, and first days there — Proposition to the Council to Re
scind their Order for the Withdrawal of Troops from the Frontier
— Protest of Sir Charles Trevelyan — Minute Embodying the
Reasons for the Proposition — Forward movement of Troops —
Successftd Result — Political Agents at the Seat of War — Ob
jections to the Removal of Local Corps from the Control of the
Central Government — Gallant Conduct of Ensign Sanderson —
Etiquette at Calcutta — Appointment of Sir John Lawrence to
the Governor-Generalship — House of a Wealthy Hindoo — Re
marks on the General Working of the Supreme Government in
India — Ganges Canal — Breeding of Horses for MiUtary Pur
poses ..........

289

CHAPTER XXIV.
Retui'n to Madras — Opinions as to Origin of so-called Flint Wea
pons — Water Rate — Finance — Machinery — Want of Survey of

vui CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. PAGB
Frontier — Irrigation Works — Want of Statistical Information
¦ — Death of Captain Glover — Cinchona Plantations — Action of
Forests on Rainfall — Toilsome Walk after Sambur — Killing a
Tiger — Letter to the Maharajah of Travancore — Irrigation
Company — Visit from Todas and Koters — Wynaad — Native
Archery — Return to Guindy — Cyclone at Masulipatam — Letter
to the Eajah of Travancore . ¦ . . . .326
CHAPTER XXV.
Financial Suggestions — Baptism of Native Christians — New Year's
Ceremonies — Visit to ' The City of Bali ' — Cattle Show at
Addunky — Vizagapatam — Roman CathoUc Female School —
Evening Party at the House of a Native — Ganjam — Chilka
Lake — Aska — Sugar Factory — Wild Boy of the Woods — Ro
man Catholic Cathedral at S. Thom6 — Grave and Relics of St.
Thomas — Threshing-Match, Natives versus Threshing Machine
— Madras a Good Winter Residence for InvaUds — Prince Frede
rick of Schleswig-Holstein — Festival of the Mohurrum — Ban
galore — Lall Bagh — Madras in July and August — Poinciana
Regia — Mysore Carpets — Native mode of Making up Chintz —
Cyclone— Experiment with Mongoose and Snakes — Visit to
Cuddapah — FareweU Fete by the Mahometan Community —
Departure from Madras ....... 370
CHAPTER XXVI.
Concluding Remarks .... . 425
INDEX  . . 441

Directions to Binder.
Map of Tasmania . ... .To face Title of Vol. I.
Map of Southern India . . . „ Title of Vol. II.

VARIETIES

OF

VICE-REGAL LIFE.

CHAPTEE XVI.
NEW ZEAIAND — EEMAEKS ON EESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.
So MUCH has been heard of New Zealand of late years,
that I feel justified in bestowing a short chapter upon it,
for the purpose of elucidating the action of English ideas
of ' responsible government ' when applied to a mixed com
munity such as that occupying the northern island of
New Zealand.
My position in Australia gave me many opportunities
of acquiring information as to the state of the islands. I
visited Auckland in 1857, when I was called upon to
give an opinion as to the mode of dealing with some
political movements of the Maories. After the first
war broke out, at the end of 1859 or beginning of 1860,
I was applied to by the Government of New Zealand to
send troops to help them out of a difficulty into which
they had plunged themselves, and I was kept constantly
well informed as to the state of affairs on the island, both
during the first and second wars. I say thus much for the
purpose of showing that I do not speak without some
VOL. IL B

2 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
knowledge of facts, though I was not in a position to
exercise authority, or to do more than give advice when
asked. Before, however, I plunge into the subject of colonial
politics, I may as well give a sketch of our relations
with the Maories, or natives of New Zealand, which
will, in point of fact, amount to a brief abstract of
the history of the country for the last thirty or forty
years. The first white settlers, if such they can be called, were
traders, who furnished the natives with European articles
at exorbitant rates, and who occasionally, with a view,
perhaps, to a permanent settlement on the island, took, in
exchange for their commodities, tracts of land from the
chiefs of the different tribes.
Tliese men were followed by the missionaries, who
found, at a very early period of their teaching, many,
among a notoriously wild and savage population, who
rewarded the toil and the risk which their teachers under
went, by a change of life and conduct most marked and
complete. It is said that the missionaries took advantage
of their position to acquire large tracts of land ; this may
have been the case in one or two instances, but most
certainly the great body of the missionaries were in no
way liable to such an imputation ; they devoted them
selves to their duties as preachers and teachers, and in a
very few years produced a very marked change iu the
habits of the people. The success of the missionaries, as
evidenced by this change in the natives, soon attracted a
set of land speculators ; a species of land shark almost as
great a nuisance on shore as his namesake is at sea ; and
to these succeeded a company, the New Zealand Land
Company, which, set on foot by wealthy and well educated
people, having, it is believed, a sincere wish to benefit the
country, ended by becoming, through the mistakes of
their agents, a land shark on a large scale. The evils

NEW ZEALAND. 3
arisiog out of the action of the different classes of settlers,
all talking to the natives of their anxiety to benefit them,
and all, with the exception of the missionaries, doing their
best to defraud them in the purchase of the only article
they had to sell, viz., their land, became so great, that the
Government was obliged to interfere for the purpose of
bringing the country under the dominion of some sort of
law. Accordingly, the natives were induced to acknow
ledge the supremacy of Great Britain, and to recognise
Queen Victoria as their Queen. The New Zealand Com
pany got out of a mass of difficulties by transferring to
the Government, for a consideration, the whole of the
land which they had purchased from the Maories, together
with their obligations ; and a stop was put at once to all
purchases of land from the natives by private parties, by
an agreement on the part of the former to sell land to
nobody but the Government. A Governor was then
appointed, and matters went on as quietly as could be ex
pected, for a time. Of course there were occasional
movements on the part of the natives of a hostile character,
for it could hardly be expected that each individual chief
would be inclined to defer to the acts or opinions of the
majority ; now and then a white man would be cut down,
and perhaps eaten ; now and then questions would arise
as to the price paid to the Maories for land ; but on the
whole, matters began to arrange themselves in a manner
which bade fair to secure peace between the two races,
and increased prosperity to the island. The Maories
turned their attention to agriculture, and showed them
selves sensible of the value of several European inventions
for economising labour ; they erected mills, purchased
and navigated small coasting craft, and proved themselves
to possess qualities which admitted of extensive develop
ment ; while there is every reason to believe, from the
reports of the active and zealous Bishop Selwyn, that
Christianity was exercising its best influence upon them,
B 2

4 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
and modifying, in a most satisfactory manner, their habits
and principles of action.
Matters were in this hopeful state when some evil
spirit prompted the Government to apply, to a colony so
very peculiarly constituted, the principles of what it chose
to term Responsible Government, but which has shown
itself to be a Government composed of persons altogether
irresponsible to either Queen or Parliament.
Under such prompting, it is hardly to be wondered at
that a scheme was devised, which, splitting up a scantily
peopled colony into five or six districts, gave to each of
these an elective Governor or Superintendent, with an
elective Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly ;
while an abortive attempt was made to retain a sort of
central authority in the hands of the Governor appointed
by the Queen, who, with another Legislative Council and
Legislative Assembly, and an Executive Council composed
of officers selected from the majority of the so-caUed
Parliament, was to maintain order among these most in
congruous elements of a body politic. The whole scheme
was, in fact, a wretched parody of the constitution of the
United States ; and, as our American brethren altogether
ignored the red man, and placed him beyond the pale of
the constitution, so the Government, while professing to
recognise the Maories as subjects of the Queen, gave
them no place in the Government, treated them as aliens
and outcasts, — handing them over practically to the
tender mercies of the Legislature, composed of European
settlers ; while theoretically the Governor was supposed
to have plenary power in matters in which the natives
were concerned. It is altogether beyond the scope
of my subject to allude to the squalls and tempests
in these petty legislatures, to the efforts of the local
Governments to override the central authority, to those
of the latter to maintain its dominant position ; neither
need I allude to the class of persons who have been

NEW ZEALAND. 6
placed in authority by the voice of their fellow-citizens ;
what I wish to show is the effect of this most absurd
experiment upon the relations between the Maories and
the white settlers.
I must premise that the great mass of the Maori popu
lation is settled in the northern island ; that it occupied
some rich tracts in the centre of the island, and was in
possession of by far the largest portion of the soil, though
many mUlion acres had been alienated, and were in the
possession of white settlers, or of the Government.
The central island contains a large area of land clear of
timber and fitted for pasture ; while there were not above
a couple of hundred natives scattered over the whole
island. The settlers have availed themselves of these
advantages, have turned their attention to sheep and cattle
farming, and have been rapidly increasing in wealth ;
while those on the northern island, being shut in by land
occupied by the Maories, and limited to the amount which
they have been able to purchase from the Government,
have been compelled to look to agriculture as the only
means of employing their labour and capital ; and in this
pursuit they have found active competitors amongst the
natives. The natural efiect of this has been to generate
a feeling of envy and jealousy among the white settlers
towards the Maories, a disposition to look upon these as the
main obstacles to the increase of their wealth, and a desire
to sweep these obstacles away by fair means or by foul.
This, which, under the former system of government,
might have been kept in proper subordination, soon
became an active working principle when the election of
superintendents and legislative bodies gave to the white
population the means of working out their views in what
may, by a figure of speech, be called a constitutional
way ; that is, by the use of tools which the Government
had most unwisely placed in the hands of persons not fit
to be trusted with them. Of course the gift of these

6 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
weapons was accompanied with various sapient ex
pressions of confidence that they would never use them
except as men and Christians; but there is an old Scotch
proverb, ' fules should na hae chapping sticks,' and the
effect of handing over these to such people was very soon
seen. The different legislative bodies expressed strong
opinions as to their right to legislate for — meaning of
course, against — the natives ; and as these, daily improving
as they were in knowledge of their own interests, could not
but be sensible of the spirit which actuated the legislature,
a feeling of jealousy of white interference naturally sprung
up amongst them, and gave rise to a variety of schemes,
which, if met by the Government in a spirit of conciliation,
would have either passed away, or have been so modified
as to produce wholesome results.
It will be remembered that when the Maories agreed
to become British subjects, they engaged to sell their land
to the Government only. Advantage was taken of this
concession by the Government, which, purchasing the land
from the natives at merely nominal prices, such as from a
penny to sixpence per acre, resold it to the white settlers
at ten shiUings, and appropriated the proceeds as part of
the revenue of the colony.
Again, all articles imported, whether for Maori use or
for that of the white population, pay duty at the port of
entry, and the proceeds of the customs, as weU as of the
land, were appropriated by the white Legislative Assembly,
in which the Maories had no voice, either as electors or
elected. Out of this general revenue a small portion was
appropriated to pay certain officers acting as agents in the
Maori districts, but who, looked upon from a Maori point of
view, might be considered more in the hght of authorized
spies than of friends and protectors. Can it be, then, a matter
of astonishment that the Maories, a remarkably acute and
intelligent race, should feel that advantage had been

NEW ZEALAND. 7
taken of their position by the Government, that they had
been deluded into a bargain in which the whole advantage
accrued to the white population, that they were treated,
not as fellow-subjects, but as aliens and intruders? They
did feel this, and it led to a resolution which was pretty
generally adopted by the chiefs, their natural leaders, that
they would not sell any more land to the Government.
They did not propose to break the agreement which they
had made, or to sell land to others, but they determined
to retain that which still remained to them, as the sole
guarantee for their existence as a people. Seeing, too,
how little the Government cared or did for them, and
sensible of the benefits which would accrue to them from
unity of action among themselves, they took the very
natural step of electing a single chief as their representa
tive, and the very foolish step of calhng him King.
This was the state of things when I landed at Auckland
in September 1857. I found the Government in a state
of alarm at the movement on the part of the Maories ; it
had evidently formed a wrong estimate of their powers of
endurance, and had never contemplated the possibility of
united action among them. The stoppage of the sale of
land to the Government was the measure which excited
the greatest alarm, for it threatened to dry up a profitable
source of revenue. It was true that the Government had
still on hand some millions of acres, but the movement on
the part of the Maories seemed to indicate that they had
gradually become aware of the value of the commodity of
which they had the monopoly, and that they were by no
means unlikely to raise the price upon the Government,
and thus diminish its profits. The question of the election
of a King did not seem to affect the Government so much.
The newspapers, of course, denounced it as equivalent
to rebellion, and commented upon the ingratitude of the
Maories in flying in the face of a Government which had
been so tenderly attentive to their welfare ; but, as the

8 VARIETIES OF VICE-EEGAL LIFE.
evil was remote, the king not having been elected, and as
the effect of the change from several chiefs to one was not
fully appreciated, this question shrunk into insignificance
in comparison with that relating to the land, which ad
dressed itself directly to their pockets.
These two questions were discussed by the Governor,
Colonel Gore Browne, and myself, very seriously. It
happened that I landed at the period of an election of the
representatives and superintendent of the district of
Auckland, and I had an opportunity of seeing "the state of
political feeling, as indicated by the character of the
representatives and the social position of the superinten
dent : I had also an opportunity of instituting a compari
son between the general demeanour of the Maories and
that of the white settlers, having had interviews with
several of the former, who addressed me through an inter
preter, and spoke very reasonably on the subjects of in
terest under discussion. Under such circumstances, with
the experience of several years of the state of feeling in
the colonies, I had no hesitation in proposing to Colonel
Gore Browne to meet the difficulties of his position
by recognising the right of the Maories to be treated as
British subjects, and to be placed in a position similar to
that of the white settlers ; that is, to have the power of
electing their own superintendents, their own councils of
advice, and of legislating for themselves in all local matters.
In carrying out this scheme, I proposed that the Maori
territory should be divided into three districts, over each
of which a chief or superintendent should be placed. The
Maories might wish to call such person ' king,' — to this no
objection need be made ; the whole sting of their proposal
to have one king would be removed by giving them
three kings. A small sum, say 300/. per annum to each
king for his privy purse, and some 20/. or 30/. to
each of the chiefs in his council, would make it their in
terest to keep on good terms with the Government ; and

NEW ZEALAND. 9
should any differences arise, it would be much easier to
deal with three separate and distinct interests than with
one united body. The question of the purchase of land
might, I thought, be left, when these steps had been taken,
to find its own solution. The Maories would, in process
of time, find it advantageous to sell off outlying portions of
their districts, and, if a fair price were offered, would, I had
no doubt, be quite willing to dispose of these to the Govern
ment, and the latter might be content to derive a profit
of cent, per cent, upon the money expended on the pur
chase, instead of attempting to grasp, as had been the case
hitherto, at 1000 per cent.
This advice, which circumstances have shown to be good,
had, as is generally the case with that which runs counter
to the prejudices or supposed interest of those to whom it
was given, no beneficial effect. I believe the Governor
would willingly have adopted it ; but his advisers set
themselves to work to devise a scheme by which, without
sacrificing any of the profit which they were making by
what I can only term, in plain English, defrauding the
Maories, they might render nugatory the resolution of the
chiefs on the subject of the sale of land.
In New Zealand, as in other countries occupied by
separate tribes, the whole territory is divided among these.
Individual members, or families, are allowed to occupy
specific portions, but the estate belongs to the collective
tribe, and cannot be alienated by any individual- without
permission first obtained from the chief, or the governing
body. This rule had remained unquestioned up to the
time when the chiefs adopted their resolution to sell no
more land ; but it suited the purpose of the Government
to assume that they coidd purchase land from individual
members of a tribe, without reference to the chief After
a good deal of enquiry, a native was found, a member of
a broken clan, who, residing on the west coast, some twelve
miles from New Plymouth, had eight hundred acres of

10 VARIETIES OF ^'ICE-REGAL LIFE.
land in his possession, to which, irrespective of the tribal
right, he could establish a good title. This man, Te Weira,
was induced to sell his land to the Government by the
promise of a much higher price than had ever been paid
for ordinary land ; he was, in point of fact, bribed to trans
fer his claims to the Government, which wished to try
conclusions with the Maori chiefs, not in the courts of law,
or with reference to any civil mode of ascertaining the
nature of the title to land, but by the sword. This was,
in fact, broadly stated by one of the members of the
Government, who, in a carefully prepared minute, said,
' An occasion has now arisen in which it has been necessary
to support the Government authority by a mihtary force.
The issue has been carefully chosen, the particular question
being as favourable a one of its class as could have been
selected.' The issue had indeed been carefully selected.
Te Weira, as before stated, was a member of a broken
clan, and the Government might perhaps have imagined
that it would have to deal with the individual and not
with the tribe. This, however, it soon found was not
the case. The chief, on hearing of the proposed purchase,
gave an express warning to the Government that the
alienation of the property could not take place without
his consent, which he was not prepared to give. In the
face of this, however, the Government hastened on all its
preparations for the purchase of the eight hundred acres,
and gave directions to their officer in the district to pro
claim martial law, in case any resistance was made by
the chief to the persons sent to survey and take possession
of the land. When the surveyors came on the ground,
they were met by a few men and several women ; the
latter occupied the attention of the survey party, while the
men quietly walked off with the chains and instruments,
without committing any assault, or even threatening the
white men. The officer in command of the district,
however, acting upon the order he had received, pro-

NEW ZEALAND. IT
claimed martial law, and thus plunged the country into
a war which cost upwards of half a million, the property
at stake being eight hundred acres, worth, at the utmost,
400/. Many valuable lives were lost in skirmishes with the
natives, who gained in these, and in the defence of their
pahs, or intrenched camps, a conviction that their mode of
warfare was well suited to the country which they occu
pied, and would enable them, with much smaller numbers,
to prolong a sort of war of skirmishes indefinitely.
The officer who proclaimed martial law so hastily,
under the idea, I suppose, that the Maories would be
easily firightened into submission, soon found that he had,
in his zeal to work out the purposes of the Government,
committed a most grievous mistake. He had but a
small body of troops at his disposal, and the Maories,
being well acquainted with the country, and thoroughly
conversant with their own system of warfare, very soon
had possession of the whole district, except a small portion
close around New Plymouth. He accordingly wrote to
the Government requesting reinforcements, and stating
that he should not be able to act efficiently without the
command of a body of some four or five thousand men.
The Government had but two regiments at their disposal,
and these were dotted about all over the country.
Application was therefore made to me to forward all the
troops I could spare from Australia. These I accordingly
despatched, after consulting the General in command ;
and I at the same time wrote to the Governor of New
Zealand, reiterating, in a form modified to suit the changed
circumstances of the case, the advice I had given to him
in 1857. A copy of my letter I sent, with the following
despatch, to His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, the then
Secretary of State for the Colonies.

12 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To His Grace the Dulce of Newcastle.
Government House, Sydney, June 8, 1 860.
My Lord Duke, — When the Governor of New Zealand
applied to me for assistance in the difficulty which had
arisen between his Government and the Maories, he sent,
for my information, a sort of manifesto drawn up by Mr.
Eichmond, one of the members of his Executive Council,
a copy of which I transmitted to your Grace with my
despatch dated April 12 last.
In my correspondence with Col. Gore Browne, I alluded
to the exposition of the policy of the Government con
tained in this document, and I received from him a more
formal document, a copy of which I herewith enclose,
drawn up by Mr. Eichmond, as the mouthpiece of the
ministry at Auckland, explanatory of the opinions
entertained by the advisers of the Governor of the state
of the relations between the Maories and the white popu
lation. In a private letter to Col. Gore Browne, a copy of which
I take the liberty of forwarding herewith, I have com
mented upon the document put forth by his advisers, and
have, at the same time, sketched out a course of pohcy
which would, as it appears to me, remedy many of the
evils which have arisen out of the anomalous system
hitherto pursued toward the Maories.
If the present state of relations between the two races
is allowed to continue, outbreaks like the present will
recur periodically; demands will be made for mihtary
assistance, with which it will be difficult to comply ; and
claims will be made upon the Imperial Treasury which
will not be willingly responded to, and which, if enter
tained, will only serve as precedents for similar demands
from other colonies.
A change, therefore, in the mode of deahng with the
native race in New Zealand is urgently required, and I

NEW ZEALAND. 13
trust that, in bringing, as I have, my views of the cha
racter of this change before the Governor of New Zealand,
and in submitting them to your Grace, I shall not be
deemed to have meddled presumptuously in a matter
with which I have no concern. I have, &c. W. D.
Letter enclosed in the foregoing : —
To his Excellency Colonel Gore Browne.
Government House, Sydney, May 16, 1860.
My dear Gore Browne, — The mail having closed, I am
now at leisure to look into and discuss the contents of the
printed document which you sent me, containing the
expression of the views and opinions of your responsible
advisers on the present state of Maori affairs.
I do not think that you can have derived much infor
mation from this document. The views and opinions of
your responsible advisers are, to all appearance, confined
to these : first, that they ought to have something to say in
the discussion of questions having reference to the natives
(of whom, I may observe by the way, they are in no way the
representatives) ; and secondly, that, as they are unable to
defend themselves, England should step in to help them.
With reference to the first of these opinions, I may
observe that the colhsion between the races would have
been precipitated, had the settlement of questions affecting
the Maories been left to the white men, who have a
direct interest in obtaining the principal article which
the native has to dispose of, namely, his land. With
reference to the second opinion, every one will, of course,
admit that the mother country is bound to defend the
colonies, and to help them out of difficulties ; but there
yet remain these questions : against whom are they to be
defended? and what is the nature and extent of the
assistance to be afforded " Mr. Eichmond's paper, how-

14 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
ever, opens up a much wider question than was, I think,
contemplated by him and his colleagues ; nothing less,
in fact, than that of the whole policy of the Govern
ment as regards the Maories ; and to this I wiU now
address myself, taking as correct the statements made of
the facts relative to the establishment of the Presidency
of Potatau, but exercising my own discretion as to the
admission or rejection of the inferences, whether as to
the motives which have influenced the natives in their
movement, or as to the results which are likely to flow
from it.
The fact, then, wliich appears to be established, is the
willing assent of a large proportion of the Maori race to
the establishment of some system of government among
themselves. Mr. Eichmond passes over very lightly the causes which
have induced a people consisting of clans or septs, analo
gous to those which used to occupy the Highlands of
Scotland, to forget their old feuds, and to unite together
for a common object. He says little or nothing as to the
origin of the wish on the part of the Maories to subvert
the Queen's authority over the northern island, and but
little more as to the foundation of their wish to prohibit
all further alienation of land to the Crown. Might not,
however, the movement have its origin in the conviction
of the natives that their position as nominal subjects of the
Queen, while it brought them under a variety of limita
tions, preventing them from selling their land to private
individuals, and subjecting them to taxation at the hands
of the white population occupying the seaports, did
absolutely nothing for their benefit, and was the means of
preventing the introduction of more wholesome social
arrangements, having a tendency, as administered, to
retain them in the position of isolated savage tribes,
instead of assisting to raise them to the rank of a people ?
With regard to the alienation of land, might there not

NEW ZEALAND. 15
exist a well-founded distrust of a Government which,
while it will not permit the sale of land to individuals, does,
by holding out inducements which few savages are able to
resist, acquire the article which the Maori has to sell at a
very low rate — say from sixpence to a shilling per acre —
which article is instantly retailed to the white man at ten
shillings per acre ? The fact is that Mr. Eichmond's letter
is based on the assumption that New Zealand is a colony
of white people, with whom, unluckily, there happens to
be mixed up a portion of the native race, strong enough
to make itself respected. His policy, and that of his col
leagues, would lead to steps which, if they were backed
up by England, would in a short time annihilate the
Maori race, and permit the occupation by the white man
of the rich land yet in native hands, upon which, for
years past, greedy and longing eyes have been cast. My
view, however, of the Maori is very different. He is a
subject of the Queen, and, as such, is entitled to have his
rights respected, his feelings considered ; he has shown an
aptitude for civilisation which ought to be encouraged ;
his efforts to raise himself in the social scale should be
assisted. If this policy were carried out steadily and
consistently, all causes of disaffection would soon be done
away ; there would be an end to all this petty warfare,
which, while it causes a large expenditure of money,
results in nothing but an aggravation of the feeling of
hostihty between the races. The Government, it is true,
would be abused by certain classes of the white popula
tion ; the land speculators might grumble ; but I feel con
vinced that the prosperity of the colony, and the happi
ness of the people, would be promoted by such a change
of system. You may say that all this is Utopian, that it
supposes a state of things which cannot exist ; but this
would be to beg the question. You may, however, very
fairly ask, by what means is it proposed to work out such
a reorganization of society? You may recollect that,

16 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
when I was with you in 1857, we were talking of the
policy to be adopted towards the Maories, and I then
suggested that your legislation should be based upon the
positive fact that the inhabitants of the colony consisted
of two distinct races, whose amalgamation, however
desirable it might be, could not be expected to take
place for very many years. My opinion now is much the
same as it was then, and the late occurrences have only
served to give greater precision and distinctness to that
which was, in 1857, more an instinctive feeling than a
carefully formed opinion.
You have now, as a fact, the establishment of something
analogous to a general Government among the Maories,
a recognition on their part of the necessity of some para
mount authority. This is a step in the right direction ; do
not ignore it ; do not, on the ground that some evil may
possibly arise out of it, make the natives suspicious of
your motives by opposing it, but avail yourself of the
opportunity to introduce some more of the elements of
good government among them ; suggest to them the
necessity of defining and limiting the power of the person
who has been selected as chief or king (I should not
quarrel with the name), of establishing some system of
legislation, simple, of course, at first, but capable of being
modified and improved ; but do not attempt to introduce
the complicated arrangements suited to a civilised and
educated people ; recognise publicly and openly the
Maories, not merely as individual subjects of the Queen,
but as a race — a body whose interests you are bound
to respect and promote, and then give to that body
the means of deciding what those interests are, and of
submitting them, in a proper form, for your considera
tion. This, you may say, will be very well for the future, but
how will it affect the issue of the present quarrel between
the Government and the Maories ? It appears to me that

NEW ZEALAND, 17
it will have a most material operation upon the combina
tions of the Maories. If Potatau and his abettors are
made aware that there is a prospect of obtaining by
legitimate means a recognition of their position, and an
acknowledgment of their rights, they will hardly be in
duced to plunge into a contest in which they must inevi
tably be worsted ; they will withdraw from the present
struggle and leave you to deal with Kingi and his im
mediate adherents, while these, when they find them
selves unsupported by the other tribes, will speedily be
brought to submission. The first effect, of course, of
the new system of policy will be the cessation of pur
chases of land from the Maories ; they will decline to
sell ; and, were I in your place, I should be in no hurry
to buy.
In proportion, however, as the Maori gets more civilised,
will his appetite for gain overpower his nationality,
and he wiU be found, in a short time, quite willing to
part with his land to purchasers who will give him a
better price for it than his native friends. I do not,
therefore, believe that the prohibition of sales to the
Government would prevail for any length of time, in case
the latter can be persuaded to give the full value for the
land ; but you wiU have to give up your present practice
of purchasing land at a cheap rate from some of your
subjects, and of retaUing it at high rates to others ; in
fact, you must show yourself impartial, and if circum
stances compel you to limit the power of the Maori to sell
to any but the Government, the latter must give him the
full market value of his land, less, of course, the "cost of
survey, &c.
I do not think that you would have much difficulty,
under such circumstances, in arranging for the cession or
the purchase of a certain amount of land round New
Plymouth, in order to get rid of the anomalous state of
things produced by the mode in which the Government
VOL. II. c

18 ^'ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
has purchased land in isolated patches, to which there is
no access except through land belonging to the Maories.
I ought to apologise for giving you my ' views and
opinions ' as to a matter of which I have but a partial
knowledge ; but thinking that these views and opinions
are more clear, and based upon sounder principles, than
those of your responsible advisers, I give them to you for
what they are worth.
There is no question but that the common and ordinary
way of dealing with the differences between the white man
and the Maori would be to treat the latter as a rebel ; to
pour in troops, regardless of expense ; and eventuaUy to
sweep away a race occupying land of which the white
man professes to be in want, though he has mUhons of
acres of which he can, or does, make no use. This,
however, is a very costly mode of dealing with such a
matter, to say nothing of its immorality and injustice.
The Imperial Government wiU have to pay a high
price for the land, which, after having purchased it with
its blood and treasure, it hands over to the colonists to
sell for their benefit. While, then, the ordinary course
of proceeding will be found both immoral and impolitic,
that which I have sketched out will be conducive to the
best interests of the Government and the people, and, as
such, I commend it to your consideration. Believe me, &c.
W. Denison.
The first war terminated, after a large outlay in money,
by the restoration of the land purchased from Te Weira
to the tribe. I do not suppose that Te Weira restored the
bribe given to him, so that he, the traitor, was the only
person benefited ; but as no steps Avere taken to establish
the relations between Her Majesty's Maori subjects and
the white settlers upon a footing which should give to
each equal rights, and secure the weak from the oppres-

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 19
sion of the strong, another ca.sus belli was soon trumped
up, and a war of races commenced, Avhich, after costing
several millions, terminated, of course, in the defeat of
the weaker party, and in the passing of an Act, by the
white legislature of New Zealand, confiscating a large
amount of Maori property, which Act has, I believe, been
accepted by the Government in England as the sole
solution of the question at is.sue. It would seem, however,
that the Maories are not inclined to accept this solution ;
they are carrying on a desultory war in various parts of
the country, setting at defiance the ill-constituted colonial
force opposed to them ; and the result of ten years' strife,
which a little judgment and a small sprinkling of honesty
might have prevented, has been the outlay of a large
amount of money, the loss of many valuable lives, both
English and native, the loss of character on our part, the
destruction of a fine race of people whom we were bound
to protect, and the return of those that remain to the
heathen practices from Avhich the efforts of the missionaries
had converted them.
I confess that my sympathy has been all along with
the Maories. I have looked upon them as free men
struggling bravely against fraud and oppression, and I
cannot but think that Ave have lost more in character
than we have gained in power or security, by the course
we adopted.

A few words illustrative of the action of the system of
government which, by a figure of speech, has been termed
' responsible,' will be an appropriate winding up of the
account of the fourteen years of my life as Governor over
and among bodies of people differing in origin, but, with
trifling exceptions, European in type : thenceforth I had
to deal with people born, bred, and nurtured as Asiatics,
carrying with them unmistakeable evidences of their
c 2

20 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
origin, and of the permanency of the habits and modes of
thought transmitted from father to son for two thousand
years and upwards. Let us first deal with the appellation
' responsible.' The legitimate inference to be deduced
from th© peculiar epithet applied to a form of govemment
which has, of late years, been introduced pretty generaUy
throughout our colonial empire, would seem to be that,
under all former systems of government. Governors and
their subordinates were altogether irresponsible, or, at aU
events, if responsible at all, to an authority at such a dis
tance, and so little likely to be influenced by any repre
sentations from the people of the colony, as to render the
Governor pretty weU master of the situation, and able to
do very much as he chose. Was this, however, the case ?
I do not deny that, in the early times of the colonies,
power was placed in the hands of the Govemor Avithout
much security against the abuse of it ; but, most certainly
for the last thirty years and upwards, both Governors and
their subordinate officials have been held much more
closely responsible for their actions in all those colonies
where not nominaUy responsible, than in those where the
government has been constituted upon a very indifferent
imitation of the form existing in England.
There are many precedents of the recaU of Governors
in former times ; and in the earlier portions of this narrative
will be found several instances in which I held the officers
of the Government, from the highest to the lowest, respon
sible for the non-performance of their duties; and by
stern reprimands, and even by dismissal from office, made
them understand that they had duties to do, and that
there was a superior authority over them whose business
it was to see that these duties Avere performed, and who
had not only the power, but the AviU, to inflict such
punishment as the nature of the offence might seem to
deserve. It is clear, then, that neither the Governor nor his sub-

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT. 21
ordinates were, at that time, ' irresponsible.' The change,
therefore, which has been made, if it he not merely a name,
should have been towards a system in which a stricter
responsibility than heretofore would be enforced. Let us
see what it has been in Australia. Parliament, instead of
passing an Act, as had usually been the case, defining the
system of government to be henceforward adopted in the
AustraUan colonies, gave to the legislatures then existing
the power of manufacturing constitutions for themselves.
It seemed to think that these small communities, differing
very much from each other in their origin and antecedents,
would have such an accurate conception of their present,
and such a correct anticipation of their future wants, as
would guide them towards the formation of that most
difficult piece of mechanism ' a constitution,' adapted to
meet their wants, and to lay the foundation of a pro
sperous future.
It is hardly necessary to say that these anticipations
have not been realised. The colonists, naturally enough,
wished for a government analogous to that of the country
which they had quitted, but they forgot, as we ourselves
are too apt to do, that a government adapted to the habits
and feeUngs of a people cannot be manufactured in the
closet of a poUtician, like a coat in the shop of a tailor,
and fitted at once on the body politic. In adopting the
ultra-democratical costume in which our cousins in
America have clothed their government, they overlooked
the very many circumstances of their position and habits
to which this costume was unsuited. They did not fore
see the difficulties which would necessarily arise out of the
undefined relations between the two houses of the legisla
ture. Neither, would it seem, did the Government at home
trouble itself to consider the probabUity or possibility of
such difficulties, or reserve to itself the power of stepping
in to remedy or remove them. It adopted at once the
A^arious patterns of governments submitted, differing, as

22 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
they did, from each other in the most remarkable way. It
accepted the very peculiar federal scheme sent home from
New Zealand, also the constitution of New South Wales,
where the Upper House was composed of nominees of the
Crown, as well as those of other colonies where the Upper
House was elective ; there being in some cases a qualifica
tion for members, in other cases none ; and the result, to
say the least, has not been satisfactory.
In NcAv Zealand there have been for the last ten years
wars between the Maori subjects of the Queen and the
white colonists, which have cost England many miUions,
have established a contest between the races, and, as far
as can be seen at present, have aggravated the evils out of
which the war originated. In Victoria there have been
differences between the Legislative Council and the
Assembly which bade fair, at one time, to put a stop to all
legislative, as well as executive, action. In Tasmania, the
Government, being the representative of the House of
Assembly, proposed to relinquish all indirect taxation, to
aUow tea, sugar, tobacco, to enter duty free, on the plea
that these were necessaries of life to the poor, and to
provide for the expenses of the Government by the levy of
an income tax of Is. 9d. in the pound ; that is, to compel
the rich to pay all the expenses of government, the dis
tribution of these payments to be determined by the re
presentatives of the poor. In Ncav South Wales attempts
have been made more than once to SAvamp the Upper
House, in order to secure a majority therein for the then
existing ministry, while the pohce has been reduced to
such a state of inefficiency as to be unable to compete
with the lawless border population of cattle-stealers and
bush-rangers. In point of fact, instead of being a form of govern
ment the members of Avhich are held strictly responsible
for what they do, or Avhat they leave undone, I can
only describe it as one in which nobody is practically

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT, 23
responsible for anything ; and the use of the term ' respon
sible ' is but one of the hundred instances in which, of late
years, a phrase has been made to do duty for a purpose
utterly at variance Avith its real meaning, the practical effect,
whatever may have been the intention of the sponsors,
being to deceive. I say ' deceive,' because the name does
in no way represent the character, or the action, of the
Government. The theory, of course, is, that ministers
are responsible to ParUament, and Parliament to the
electoral body ; but as ministers are but a fractional part
of the majority of Parliament, the chance of their being
held individuaUy responsible for anything they may do
is very remote. We wiU suppose, however, that the
electoral body is dissatisfied with its representatives, and
elects others holding different opinions ; the result is that
A, B, and C make way for X, Y, and Z. These latter, then,
enter upon office, knowing httle or nothing of the details
of the business which they have to superintend, and for
which they are, theoreticaUy, responsible. To whom are
they to look for information and advice but to the under
secretaries, the permanent holders of office ? and to whom
are these to look for information as to the thousand
details which must constantly come under consideration,
but to the chief clerks through whose hands all the
papers pass, to whom they are referred, Avho have at
their command the whole of the information which is
necessary to enable secretary or under-secretary to form
any satisfactory judgment as to the subjects upon Avhich
they are called upon to adAdse or act ? The practice is
unobjectionable ; it is better by far that the business of
government should be carried out by its OAvn officers, who
can be punished if they act amiss, than by speculative
theorists, who cannot be punished for the errors they
preach, or made subject to the faintest shadow of respon
sibility ; but the appellation is most objectionable. In no
sense of the word is the Govemment, or an individual

24 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
member, responsible for anything which it, or he, may do ;
and the men who in reality conduct the business of the
Government are exonerated from even the faint shadow
of responsibUity which is supposed to operate upon the
members of that Government.

ARRIVAL AT MADRAS. 26

CHAPTEE XVII.
AEErV-AL AT MADEAS — LANDING THKOUOH IHE S-0EF — BODT GTJAED — THE
TWO GOVEENMENI HQ-USES — NATIVE H0T7SEH0I.il — PUBLIC BEEAKFASIS —
BTTEBAE — FIESI EVENING EECEPTION — OPENING OE THE N. W. EAILWAT TO
NAGGEEY — MEETING -WITH THE EAJAH— A MITTE niGNIIAET — INCATJIIOtTS
QUESTION — NATUEE OP -WOEK AT MADEAS — STATE OE QOVEENMBNT AND
AEMT — lETTEE TO LOED CANNIN8 ON AEMT EEDUCl'ION — LETTER ON
PEOPOSED LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL — CHAEACTEE OP HINDOOS — IlIPOSSI-
BILITr OE APPLYING TO THEM ENGLISH PEINCIPLES OE GOVEENMENI 
EAIL-WATS  EEOEGANIZATION OP NATIVE AEMY — SUGGESTIONS EOR
GBNEEAL GOVEENMENT OF INDIA — VISIT TO CALCUTTA — GOVEENMENT
HOUSE — LAEGB BANYAN TEEE — BAEEACKPOOE — CONVEESATION WITH THE
PEINCIPAL OP THE SANSCEIT COLLEGE  EEIUEN TO MADEAS.
Extract from Journal,
Guindy Park, Madras, Febraary 19, 1861.
Dearest  , — I am afraid, with all the other matters I
have now on my hands and thoughts, I shall not be able
to give you a very connected history of our doings since
I last wrote ; but I should like to try, for I feel I have
much to tell. I closed my last letter at Galle, but, as the
ship was aU in a mess and bustle, coaling, and our own
servant very busy packing up our things, ready to go on
board the other steamer,* W  and I determined, when
evening came on, to go on shore, and take a little walk ;
and it proved a very interesting one. The place is not
particularly pretty, but it was the first really eastern town
we had ever seen ; so every object was a picture in itself.
It was like coming into a new world ; everything was so
like what we had seen before in pictures, and so unlike
to what we had ever seen in real life. The next morning
* The ' Arracan/ Indian Government steamer, wliich had been sent ioYra
to Galle to meet us, and bring us on to Madras.

26 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
(Friday) we went on board the ' Arracan,' government
steamer, which was clean and comfortable, but slow, and
we arrived here just before dayUght on Monday morning.
The time of arrival had been pre-arranged and calculated
upon, as far as might be ; because all the authorities,
troops, &c. were to be out to receive W  , and they
could not well turn out, nor could we land, during the
heat of the day. Almost as soon as it was light, therefore,
our landing had to be effected, and it was in itself a
novel and curious sight. Some of the members of
W  's new staff came on board, and carried him off in
a large boat, manned by native rowers, whose dress was
a sort of white shift, bordered with blue, and sUghtly
fastened in at the waist, leaving the arms and legs bare.
This big boat was attended by four catamarans, each
propelled by two nearly naked nati^^es ; these are supposed
to be in attendance in case the big boat should upset in the
surf, for there is no pier or landing-place,* and one has to
come on shore on the beach, where the surf is sometimes
very high. As soon as W  landed, he Avas received in
form, and drove off, surrounded by his body guard (a
body of native troops, in a rich uniform of dark blue and
silver, Avith a curious red shako, surmounted by a silver
knob) to the Fort, to be sworn in, a salute being fired fi'om
the Fort as he landed, and another as soon as he had
taken the oaths. Then the big boat came back for us,
one or two of the staff having waited to escort us. The
rowers sang a sort of monotonous song as they puUed, and
as soon as we got into the surf, doAvn rushed a croAvd of
swarthy, almost naked figures, some to seize on the boat
and drag it through the surf ; some carrying chaiis sup
ported on poles, into which we mounted, one in each, and
were carried thi-ough surf and sand to Avhere carriages
were waiting for us, umbrellas being held OA'er our
heads the Avhile, for the_sun Avas up by that time, and it
* A pier has since been constructed.

ARRIVAL AT MADRAS. 27
was already getting very hot. Then we drove aAvay to
the Government House in Madras, our town house, Avhere
we breakfasted, and remained during the day ; and, in
the cool of the evening, drove out to this place — our
country house — about five miles from Madras, where, for
the present, we remain. Oh ! I wish I could describe to
you the curious new world we seem to be living in ; the
change of hours and habits ; the look of Oriental luxury and
magnificence about everything, and the strange appearance
of our household. Both the houses, here and in Madras,
are charming ; so large, so cool and airy, that Ave have
none of us felt the heat at all since we have been
here : indeed, we sometimes feel almost inclined to be
cold, and occasionally shut a door, or stop a punkah,
rather to the surprise of C  , who, notwithstanding his
longer experience, feels the heat much more than Ave do.
But then we must remember that this is still winter, and
perhaps you wiU not wonder at our cool feelings Avhen
I tell you that my bedroom has twelve windoAvs and doors
in it, besides a punkah, and the other rooms in propor
tion. As to the household, I can hardly attempt to
describe it ; no pen and ink description could really do
justice to the native servants, with their very picturesque
appearance, and very strange Avays and habits : the swarm
of butlers and footmen formed quite a spectacle on our
arrival here, as they stood in two rows on the door-steps,
in their white dresses and turbans, and scarlet and gold
scarfs, to Avelcome us. The scarlet and gold scarf, as far
as I can make out, appears to be the livery, marking the
peon, or footman ; for there are one or two others,
elderly men, and evidently dignitaries, Avho Avear the same
white dress and turban (or rather cap, for it is not quite
of the usual turban shape) but no scarf, and Avhom I take
to be servants out of livery. All the male servants belong
ing both to house and garden, consisting of these afore
said butlers and footmen, cooks, dubashes, bearers.

23 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
' mateys,' and I do not know what besides, are paid by
Government, and so are also one or two dreadful looking
harridans, who make the beds, and do that portion of
housemaid's work which is not done by the men. Alto
gether there are two hundred and five servants kept for us
by Government ; in fact, each man does so httle in
India, that it is necessary to have a great many to get
through the work. I suppose thirty Englishmen, or less,
would do the work of the whole two hundred and five ;
but then their wages would be larger ; and, more
over, the native servants find their own board and
lodging. This latter is simple enough to a good many of
them, who sleep about on mats, in the passages and
verandahs ; so that as you go to your room at night, you
pass along a sort of avenue of sleeping figures, with their
turbans off, and lying beside them, but otherAvise appa
rently di-essed much the same as by day. The stable
servants we pay ourselves, and so we do two ' ayahs,' who
have been hired to assist in the nursery, ' Sarah ' and
' Minette,' as I at first understood the name, and as we,
somehow, continue to caU her, though I find her real
name is Menachee. These two women are profuse in
ornaments ; wear large earrings, bracelets, things like
bracelets on their ankles, and rings on nearly every
toe ! in addition to which ' Minette,' Avho is evidently the
most given to dress of the two, wears a sort of gold patch
on the side of her nose ! How she keeps it on is a mystery
that we have not yet fathomed.
To F. G. Deni.son, Esq.
Guindy, February 26, 1861.
My dear Frank, — I must write a few Unes by this mail,
if it be only to give you an idea of the sort of place we
are living in, and to enable you to contrast it Avith the
Government Houses at Hobart Town and Sydney. We
landed here on Monday ; and, after being sworn in at the

NATIVE SERVANTS. 29
Frt I proceeded to Government House. I was very
much struck with the dimensions of the building, the
luxurious mode in which all the arrangements were made,
and the way in which the sun was kept from the walls of
the building, whUe provision was made for the circula
tion of air in every direction. In order to keep off the
sun, there is a verandah fifteen feet in width round every
story ; or, rather, the external wall of the house is com
posed of three ranges of columns, while the interior wall,
being fifteen feet within this external inclosure, has
windows, corresponding with the space between the pillars,
looking into this verandah, and also as many openings in
the back and side wall as possible. Each bed-room has a
dressing-room and bath-room attached to it. Then as to
servants, the house is full of them. There are no bells, but
you have nothing to do but to call ' Peon,' and a man is
at yom- elboAV at once. There are men, too, always at hand,
night and day, to work the punkahs — a broad sort of fan,
hung from the ceiling, which moves backwards and for
wards, creating a pleasant current of air. The Avages of aU
servants are ludicrously small, varying from three rupees
and a half, or seven shiUings, to ten rupees or twenty
shilUngs, per month, for which sum they find their own
food. They have 'godowns' or huts outside, where they
wash, eat, and have their food cooked ; indeed, as we after
wards found, many of them sleep at their own houses, or
in these godowns ; and those lying about in the passages
are chiefly those who are to relieve each other at the
punkahs, or be in readiness for any other duty during
the night. When we drive, two horsekeepers run one
on each side of the carriage ; when I ride, the horse's
servant (or rather one of them, for each horse has a man
and a maid to attend upon him) runs after me ; I cannot
venture out into the garden or park but a man is sure to see
me and rush after me Avith an umbrella. AU this is to me
rather a bore ; but I suppose I shaU get used to it ; there

30 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
are advantages as well as disadvantages attendant on it.
Our life is rather peculiar : Ave get up in the dark, about
five ; throw on some clothes, and sally out for a walk or a
ride, as the case may be ; come in, not later than half-past
seven, have a bath, wash and dress ; read or write tiU
half-past nine, when we have prayers, and breakfast ; sit at
home, working under a punkah, till half-past four, when
the sun is low enough to allow us to go out without risk ;
ride or drive till seven ; dine at eight ; leave the draw
ing room about ten or half-past. A curious life, is it not ?
It seems, hoAvever, to agree Avith us. You will see your
mother, I hope, on her way home ; she leaves this on
March 20. God bless you, my dear boy.
Your affectionate Father,
W. D.
Extract from Journal. Guindy, March 4, 1861.
Dearest  , I hope this letter may only precede me by
a few days, as I ought, if all goes prosperously, to be in
England almost any day after April 21. We have
remained quite quietly since I wrote last, William going
into Madras on Friday, for the Council, and to haA^e a
public breakfast. This, it seems, is a Aveekly affair ; but
it is an exclusively masculine meal, so that I shall ncA'er
have anything to do Avith it. The object is to enable the
Governor to see and talk to officers and others in a
familiar manner, without the trouble of sending a formal
invitation ; anybody who chooses to put his name down
in the aide-de-camp's book comes to breakfast as a
matter of course ; and any one who Avants to see W 
on any matter of business peculiar to himself, has only,
at the time that he puts his name doAvn, to sav that he
Avishes to do so, aud he has his intervicAv after breakfast.
Last week there Avere, I believe, ninety people at break
fast ; but, fortunately, all the ninety did not want to
speak with him afterwards. This week he is, if aU be

FIR3T EVENING RECEPTION. 31
well, to hold a durbar, or a sort of levee, at which the
natives are presented.
March 11. — The durbar Avent off very well. The boys
were allowed to stand behind William to see what was
going on ; and one of the native dignitaries, on being told
that they were AV  's sons, came up and kissed both
their hands, to their great astonishment, and gave them
a couple of limes. I should mention that, as nobody ever
addresses a superior without the form of making a present,
this fruit is the established representation of a gift. Last
Friday I went in to Madras for my first reception : this
was a much more formal affair here than it Avas in Sydney
or Hobart ToAvn. There, on my arrival, I merely an
nounced in the papers what days I would receive visitors,
and at what hours, and they came in just like ordinary
morning visitors. Here, hoAvever, it was to be in the
evening ; so everybody was in full evening dress, and
each person was formally marched up the room by
an aide-de-camp, and introduced to me as I stood at
the upper end of it. In short, it would almost have
amounted to a DraAving-room, but that, Avhen once the
introductions were over, the formality ceased ; people
then sat down, or Avalked about the rooms as they liked,
or went away ; but the majority stayed, and very amusing
it was, I dare say, to them, watching the other arrivals ;
but it was terribly stiff formal Avork for us ; and poor
W  groaned over it, sotto voce, whenever he could :
but even he was better off than I was, as he had met a
great many of the gentlemen before at his breakfasts, &c.,
whereas I knew nobody. It is said to have been one of the
fuUest receptions that has ever been seen here, and I did
not feel much the wiser at the end of it, though I had been
doing my best to remember names and faces. And now
good-bye, dearest ; in the midst of heaviness of heart at
leaving W  , it is a bright gleam to think that this is
my last letter to you.

32 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Madras, March 13, 1861.
My dear Willy, — Your mother leaves this next week
with the children. It will be a sad breaking up of the
family ; I shall feel the absence of all most bitterly. Your
mother and baby, I may hope to see again in the
autumn, but from your other brothers and sisters, as from
you, my dear boy, it is a long parting. I can only re
concile myself to it by repeating that it is for the good of
you all. Happy will be the day when I shall again have
you all round me, should God permit me this pleasure on
earth. I am picking up small bits of information from
day to day, which will enable me to apply an Asiatic co
efficient to European formulge as to labour, materials, &c.
I got a wrinkle this morning about brick-making. Here
the expensive article is fuel, in England it is labour ; here
labour is as nothing, the price being but one shiUing per
thousand for preparing bricks for the kiln. By the way,
you may as Avell take a hint from me, and note down from
day to day anything in the shape of a ' fact ' which comes
across you ; stoAV these aAvay, and they wiU turn out
to be useful some time or other. I haA'e put a strong
mark against the Avord ' fact :' you will have hundreds of
statements made and opinions broached ; but before you
record anything as a fact, and put it away in your treasury,
make certain that it is worth recording — that it is true.
I feel certain that, in discussing Indian railway projects,
the difference betAveen the Englishman and the Hindoo
has been overlooked, or at aU events under-estimated.
Here the people cannot comprehend a change — they dis
like it ; in England, on the contrary, it is one of the pecu
liarities of our character that Ave are ahvays changing :
here everything goes on as it did in the time of Abraham ;
with us there are few of our habits Avhich wiU admit of
being traced very far back. Then again, we, having

OPENING OF NORTII-WFST RAILWAY. S3
convinced ourselves that the change we have made is an
improvement, are most anxious to force a similar change
upon others ; we overlook the difference of circumstances,
climate, wages, power employed, &c., and we must needs
force upon others contrivances or adaptations suited to us
and our mode of working, but not to the people Avhom
I haA'e here.
I went the other day to open the North-West Eailway,
or rather the first section of it, and took a large party
Avith me. We started at seven o'clock, and proceeded for
thirty-six miles over a country apparently as flat as a pan
cake, but in reality rising about four feet per mile. The
horizon ran into the sky, as it does at sea, and there was
hardly a tree or a house to break the uniformity of the
scene, or to indicate the presence of man ; yet the whole
of this great plain showed evidence of the expenditure of
a great amount of labour upon it. Wherever water could
be got to it, there it was leveUed, water-channels made,
the fields terraced ; but there was nothing living visible :
it gave me quite a melancholy feeling to look over this
great expanse of waste. After thirty-six miles, however,
we began to get a glimpse of a range of hills : these gradu-
aUy assumed visible shapes, and of a very marked and
peculiar character. They were composed of gneiss ; as
indeed, I believe the larger part of the Peninsula of
India to be ; and when we came near them, they seemed
to have been denuded of every scrap of soil, this having
been washed down to form the surface of the narrow
vaUey up which the railway was taken. Much of the
gneiss was disintegrated, but hard blocks were left stand
ing, which assumed all manner of forms, and were piled
up on each other as if placed there by man. We stopped
at a distance of sixty mUes from Madras, in this narrow
valley, where the ground began to rise rapidly ; and
there Ave found tents pitched and a comfortable break
fast aAvaiting us. A large elephant, gorgeously painted
VOL. II. D

34 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
and clothed, was pacing up and down in front of the
tents, and this I found had been sent by a neighbouring
Eajah, who wanted to know when he could pay me a
visit. We were much too hungry to postpone our meal,
so I told the messenger that I would receive the Eajah in
about an hour. Accordingly, after breakfast, carpets were
spread in front of the tent, chairs placed, and people col
lected, for we heard a great noise of a drum and horns,
announcing the advent of the Eajah. First came the
aforesaid elephant, then some men blowing horns, then
others leading several horses richly caparisoned, then a
great crowd of people, in the midst of whom we espied
a large palanquin, or sort of open couch, gilt and orna
mented, the pole by which it was carried being made
into the form of a huge snake, painted and gilt. I had
got my lesson from the collector of the district ; so, as soon
as the Eajah got out of his palanquin, I moved forAvard
to the edge of the carpet to meet him (it would not have
been etiquette for me to defile my feet by putting them
on the bare earth), took him by the hand, and led him to
a seat. I then had to speak to him through an inter
preter ; I had picked up some facts relatuig to his habits,
famUy, &c,, which formed the basis of my talk, but I
never saw an attempt at conversation so received. He
looked straight forAvard, never turned his head toAvards
me when I spoke to him, never uttered a word in answer,
but two servants repeated my questions and ansAvered for
him. I, as you may imagine, very soon got to the end of
my budget, and then, being very tired, I said to the col
lector, ' HoAV am I to get rid of this fool ? ' It Avas an
incautious question, asked under the impression that none
of the natives would understand it ; but a grin on the
faces of some of the Eajah's attendants betrayed that
their comprehension had been greater than I either ex
pected or desired. The coUector told me that all I need
do was to get up, shake hands with him, and express a

THE COMPANY AND THE CROWN. 35
hope that I might see him again on some future occasion,
which I did (with some qualm of conscience, for I never
wished to set eyes on him again), and we got rid of
him and his train. Shortly after we Went back to Madras,
arriving there rather tired. God bless you, my dear
boy. Your affectionate Father, W. D.
The foregoing letters will have described our arrival at
Madras, and the first impressions made upon us by the
marked change of place, of climate, and of people.
The change in the character of the work thrown upon
the Governor was not less marked and peculiar. Even
under ordinary circumstances, there would be much
requiring thought and study, in order to enable a man who
had been dealing generaUy with Europeans to adapt the
experience of his former life to the new set of circum
stances which present themselves daily in the East ; but
in 1861 matters Avere still more compUcated by the change
made in the relations between the people and the Govern
ment by the aboUtion of the East India Company. The
Government was, in fact, in a sort of transition state.
The East India Company had transferred its whole
system to the Crown, and the latter had assumed it, by
the mere substitution of the name of the Queen for that
of the Company ; but the relation between the Govern
ment and its agents, civil and military, must be very
different when the head of the Government is the Queen,
from what it is when that head is a corporation like the
East India Company ; and the changes necessarily conse
quent upon this transfer of authority threw a much greater
amount of responsibility upon a Governor than he would
have been subjected to in less stirring times. He had
not only to make himself acquainted witli the system
which had been in operation, and to ascertain what had
been its effect upon the people, but he had also to study
D 2

36 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
the probable action of the changes which must n«cessarily
take place, on the people, and on the agents of the Govern
ment, both civU and military. He had, in fact, to carry
on, mentaUy, a sort of double process ; to ascertain what
VMS, and make up his mind as to wha.t ought to he; and
this had to be done with reference to a state of things, I
might almost say, without a parallel in history. I felt, of
course, the weight of the responsibUity thrown upon me.
My experience as Governor, however, stood me in good
stead ; I had passed through a somewhat curious apprentice
ship in Australia for about fourteen years ; and though the
people whom I was now called upon to govern were very
different from those of Australia, yet I had the same
Government at home to refer to, and the tools I had to work
with — at all events those with whom I had principally to
deal — were Englishmen. It is quite true that these English
men Avere placed under circumstances so totally different
from any that existed elsewhere as to make it a matter of
necessity to study the action of such circumstances upon
their mode of looking at their duties, as well as upon the
character of the work done ; but stiU they were EngUsh
men, and it Avas quite possible, with regard to most of
them, to ascertain what might be expected from them. It
was different Avith regard to the native servants of the
Government ; as to these, their name was Legion : nearly
all the actual work of the Government was carried out by
them, under the direction and superintendence, it is true,
of Europeans ; but all that could be said of the natives
was, that their Avork would be done in a slovenly manner,
unless a constant and close superintendence was exercised
over them.
The actual state of things, so far as regarded the
European civU servants of the Government, was as follows.
They were, as heretofore, divided into two classes,
' covenanted,' and ' uncovenanted.' The former entered
into certain specific engagements Avith the Crown, just as

COVENANTED AND UNCOVENANTED. 37
they had previously done with the Company ; while the
Crown, in consideration of this, bound itself to grant them
certain advantages, which, practicaUy, conferred upon this
class of its servants the monopoly of aU offices of importance,
whUe it promised to each a retiring pension of 500/. per
annum, after a given number of years' service, compelling
each, at the same time, to purchase an additional 500/.
per annum by the payment of a certain percentage upon
his salary. Among the uncovenanted servants were dis
tributed a proportion of the offices of emolument ; but
many, even of these, were reserved for the officers of the
army, who, when not occupied in mihtary duties, were
made use of in a number of ways, though they were con
sidered Uable to be caUed upon to rejoin their regiments,
should these be sent on active service. Such a state of things
struck me as very anomalous. I could quite understand
that the East India Company, standing in such a peculiar
position with relation to the native states, would feel itself
compelled to maintain a large military force, and there
fore a greater number of officers than it could find pro
fitable employment for in time of peace, and would be
glad to avail itself of the services of some of these
supernumeraries for the performance of civil work. This
mixture of civil and military work would naturally cease
to be a necessity when the army assumed its proper and
fixed relation to the services which might be demanded
from it, and when the work of the civil servants became
clear and defined. One of the first subjects, therefore,
to which I turned my attention was the determination of
the strength of the miUtary force requisite to secure the
Presidency of Madras from attack from without, and from
mutiny within. The reduction of the military expendi
ture was pressed upon me by Sir Charles Wood, in one of
his first letters. The fact was that the mutiny had acted
most injuriously upon the finances ; first, by lessening
the receipts, and, next, by enhancing the expenditure —

38 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
especially the military expenditure. Troops had been
poured into India from England and the colonies, whUe
large bodies of irregular native troops had been organised ;
the outlay, too, upon stores, camp equipage, means of
transport, &c. &c. had been enormous. Now that the war
was over, it became a matter of the greatest importance
to bring the expenditure within the limits of the revenue,
and, in order to this, to look carefuUy to the state of all
our establishments, and specially to that of the mUitary
force, for the purpose of deciding upon its strength and
constitution, and of arranging for its distribution in such
a manner as to give the Government the means of hand
ling it most effectively.
In the following letter to Lord Canning, I gave a sketch
of the course which I was about to pursue at Madras, and
pressed upon him the adoption of a similar scheme for
the rest of India. To Lord Cannirig. Madras, March 7, 1861.
My dear Lord, — Will you allow me to give you a short
outline of my views as to the reduction of the mihtary force,
and as to the establishment of a system which, by pro
portioning the strength of the troops in any given locality
to the probable (or, under a proper arrangement, I might
almost say, possible) demand for their services, would not
only, I feel certain, enable the Government to make an
immediate reduction in the native army, but insure it
against any possibility of such an outbreak as has so lately
taken place ?
I start upon the assumption that Ave must look upon
ourselves as holding the country by the sAvord. It is quite
true that we ought, and also do, use every effort to make
the people contented and happy ; but differing as they do
from us, in colour, in reUgion, in habits, Ave cannot ima
gine that they Avill ever identify themselves with our

INDIAN ARMY. 39
Government as a whole, or feel an interest in maintaining
We must, therefore, always have a force at our dis
posal sufficient to resist, not only any attack from without,
but any attempt at combined action, in such a case, from
within. Looking at the subject as a mUitary man, and supposing
myself called upon to consider the question with a view to
determine the minimum force with which I could fulfil all
that ought to be demanded from such a body, I should,
of course, first strive to ascertain the position and strength
of the force with which I might possibly have to contend ;
and, beginning at Cape Comorin, I should work my way
up gradually to the northern frontier, carefully noting, as
I went on, the character of the population, especially of
that of the quasi-independent states included within our
territory : their means of action, the best positions in
which it Avould be possible to place a military force for
the purpose of keeping them in awe, the character of that
force, which would, of course, have to be adapted to that
of the country in which it is to act, &c.
- Whenthismilitary survey of the country was completed,
it would be seen hoAV it harmonized with existing arrange
ments ; and it would be a matter for the consideration of
the Government, whether some modification might not be
made in the proposed arrangements, even though such
modification might involve some addition to the minimum
strength. Political considerations might, I can imagine,
make it desirable to maintain a force at a particular place,or
to increase that force beyond what would, under ordinary
circumstances, be required. We will suppose this done ;
that the Government has before it all the data necessary
to enable it to determine the strength and description of
the force required for the whole of India ; and that, with
a due reference to the quality of the troops, it has decided
upon the number of the infantry, cavalry, artillery,
engineers, &c. which it requires. Ought this force to be

40 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
divided into three ? ought there to be any longer an army
for Madras, another for Bombay, another for Bengal ? I
should say, certainly not. The whole force should com
pose ' Her Majesty's Indian Army ; ' should be under one
head, under one system of management ; care being, of
course, taken that, under this system, no offence should be
given to the peculiar tenets or prejudices of race or
caste : the object to be kept in view should be the mixture
of various races, not, of course, in the same regiment, but
in the different corps d'armee or divisions, so as to give the
European element, in all cases, a decided preponder
ance over the native element of any one section or
race. You have now before you the despatches relative
to the amalgamation of the European portion of the
Indian Army with that of the Queen ; would it not be
wise to avail yourself of the opportunity of forming the
native armies of the different Presidencies into one united
army, pretty much upon the same principle as has been
suggested for the European portion of the force ; that is,
to select a portion from the armies of each Presidencj",
numbering the regiments, 1, and perhaps 2, Bengal; 3,
Madras ; 4, Bombay, and so on ? Before, however, you can
do this, you ought to have a military report, such as I haA'e
alluded to ; and so far as regards this Presidency, I ayUI
endeavour to collect the materials for such a document. I
may observe that, if you call upon a General officer for
such a statement, you AviU be almost certain to get an
over-estimate of the strength required. An officer is,
naturaUy enough, anxious to have at his disposal a force
sufficient to make success a certainty ; and he wiU not
bring down his demands to the minimum. In caUing,
therefore, for such a military survey of the country, I
should combine information from various sources. I
should make the coUectors and political agents report
as to the number and character of the population, and
the force which might be brought against us.

INDIAN ARMY. 41
I should call upon the officers of engineers to report as
to the state of the roads, and generally as to means of
communication, facilities of transport, character of works
of defence, forts, means of crossing rivers, &c. When
all this is before the Government, it will then be time to
submit it to the Commander-in-Chief, or a board of
General officers (though I object to a board, as frittering
away responsibUity), to determine the amount of the force
required at the head-quarters of the different divisions or
brigades. A summary of these would give the total
strength necessary, which, I feel certain, need not exceed
150,000 men. I have Sir Patrick Grant's authority for
saying that the force applied for by Bombay is far in
excess of the wants of that part of India, and I have
my own positive conviction that the amount stated by Sir
Patrick Grant as necessary for Madras is far in excess of
our wants. By withdrawing troops from points where they
are merely required for show, and centralizing forces upon
the frontier of ticklish neighbours, we might always be
ready to strike the first blow, and to make that blow an
effective one. I need hardly say that proper provision
should be made for transport of stores, ammunition, &c.
An army which is not in a position to move at short notice
is of Uttie or no use : tAvo thousand men who can move at
once will be more useful in quelling disturbances, or
checking any attempts on the part of an enemy, than ten
thousand who cannot move for a month. I send you
these remarks for what they are worth.
Yours very truly,
W. D.
The course sketched out in this letter was carried into
effect throughout the territory of Madras, and special
reference Avas made to those portions of the Peninsula in
which, though not subject to the Government, the Madras
army formed the staple of the military force, for the pur- ,

42 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
pose of ascertaining the opinion of the authorities as to
the feelings of the people towards ourselves, and their
capability of exhibiting these feelings in action, whether
they were favourable or unfavourable. As a general
rule, the feelings of the Mahometans were said to be un
favourable ; and it is easy to understand why this should
be the case, when we call to mind the fact that we have
reduced the Mahometan from the position of a conqueror
ruling over a subject people, to that of a man on a level
with his former subjects. In the territory of the Nizam,
for instance, where this petty Prince is, it may be said,
entirely dependent upon us for his existence, Ave are most
cordially hated ; and the only guarantees we have for his
good conduct are the dread of the consequences sure to
follow on an outbreak, and the wisdom of his minister,
Salar Jung. He is fully aware of the weakness of his
master's position, who, although nominally ruler over a
population of some fifteen millions, would, should he
provoke us, be moved upon by troops, concentrated in
and about his territory, attacked in front, flank and rear,
and very soon destroyed.
To Lord Canning.
Madras, March 7, 1861,
My dear Lord, — My hair stood on end when I heard
that I was likely to be visited with such an infliction as a
Legislative Council. I went back, in thought, some twelve
years, to the time when I was struggling with a body,
similarly constituted, in Van Diemen's Land ; and all the
annoyances and discomforts, aU the bitter party and per
sonal quarrels which emanated from this legislative body,
came vividly before me.
To deal, hoAvever, with the question more seriously ; do
you not think that to adniit, in a country constituted like
this, which we may fairly be said to hold by the sword,
the smaUest edge of the wedge of representation, is a fatal

' LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 43
mistake — fatal, I mean, in its eventual result, not its imme
diate ? It will be said, of course, that a nominee Legisla
tive Council is not a representative body ; and this, in one
sense of the term, is true : but it is intended to appear as
such. The men who are placed in it, not being officers
of the Government, are supposed to represent the different
sections of which society in India is composed. Their ap
pointment is a practical admission that the Government is
not competent to perform all the work which is demanded
from it, and is therefore obliged to call for aid ab extrd.
As the Government admits its own weakness, the Council
soon begins to assume that its presence and aid are essen
tial ; that legislation cannot proceed without it ; that it is
not a mere council of advice, but the legislative element
in the Government. The next step is to insist upon its
freedom from control ; the next, that it be representative
in fact. All these are phases which I have witnessed my
self ; they are not mere theoretical deductions from any
abstract idea of the constitution of man, or at all events
of the variety. Englishman ; though I believe that they
might be very correctly deduced from the nature of the
animal, as well known to us. If, then, we are ever to
gain wisdom from the past, or are justified in reasoning
from what has been to what will be, we have a right to
do so in this instance. There are thousands of motives
which impel people to foUow the course which I have
sketched out ; there is but one to withhold them, and that
is genuine public spirit, guided by the wisdom gained
from a careful study of the past. In how many men will
you find the two joined ?
You may, perhaps, say that the die is cast, that a
legislative system has been in operation some years, and
that it would be impossible to revert to the old system.
It would be difficult, I admit, but by no means impossible,
in India. Besides, it would not be necessary to revert
to the old system. The transfer of the government from ,

44 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE. '
the Company to the Crown affords a cover under which
changes may be made without creating any great feeling.
I gather from your letter that it is intended to give up
some portion of the control which the central Government
has exercised over the different Presidencies; to place
these, in relation to the central Government, something
upon the footing on which the States of the American
Union, (did) stand to the federal government at Washington.
Under such a scheme, with the exception of matters in
which the whole country is interested — such as military
defence, customs duties, postage, relations with foreign
States, &c. — all legislation would be local. You might
thus retain your general legislative body, composed of
members sent from the different Presidencies, limiting its
action, and calling it together only when there is some
thing for it to do ; while in the Presidencies the work of
local legislation might go on, without the intervention of
such a body as a Legislative Council.
It appears to me that the whole scheme proceeds from a
misconception both of the wants of society in India, and
of the best mode of supplying these wants. The Govern
ment and country Avill owe you much, if you can in any
way neutraUse the ill effects which are likely to be pro
duced by it. A Legislative Council is, as a tool, calculated
to do European work, I might almost say, only English
work ; and is therefore altogether unfitted for India.
I have been but a fortnight here ; I have, however,
found out, already, that the general principles which apply,
with some degree of plausibility, to Europeans, require
very extensive modifications when applied to Asiatics.
It is said that men are the same everywhere ; that they
have the same senses, passions, affections ; that they are
actuated by the same motives ; that the inducements to
action vary only in degree, not in character. There
cannot be a greater fallacy than this, or one more mis
chievous when reduced to practice. Men are men, I admit :

THE EUROPEAN AND THE ASIATIC. 45
they have the same number of limbs, framed according to
the same pattern ; their senses are the same in kind, if
not in degree. I admit the truth and beauty of Shylock's
appeal, and his claim to a common humanity ; but when
it is sought to apply this principle of the unity of race to
regulate the condition of man as a social being, and as a
reason for constructing the social edifice accorcUng to one
pattern, and that our own, I object most emphatically.
AU men are, I beUeve, descended from the original Adam ;
but God, in His wisdom, has modified their physical
characters, adapting them to the particular climates under
which they exist. We admit — indeed, it would be absurd
to deny — the physical difference between the European
and the Asiatic ; why, then, in the face of all experience,
are we to assume an identity of mental constitution ?
Why should I have a Legislative Council at Madras ?
The population of the Presidency consists (I am speaking
by guess, but believe myself to be under the mark) of
20,000,000 of natives, and, in addition to the servants of
Government, somcAvhere about 20,000 whites ; the latter
number I beUeve to be far in excess of the actual amount.
Of the whites, very, very few contemplate making this
country their home ; they look to a return to England as the
end and object of their being ; they have few or no local
ties : what right have they to claim to be represented in a
Legislative Assembly?
If this smaU portion of the community be abstracted,
are there any who wish for a system of representation ?
When I say, ' wish,' I mean who have a desire to go into
the CouncU for the object of benefiting the country at
large ? Very few indeed ! I do not believe that it ever
enters into the mind of the Asiatic that he could, or ought
to, assist in legislating for his feUow-men ; or that these
have a right to an opinion which would lead to action
opposed to the views of their rulers. For centuries upon
centuries the inhabitants of aU the low country in India

46 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
have been ruled over by others : they are content to be
so. Why should we suggest to them motives which can
in no way conduce to their happiness — which, indeed, they
are incapable of comprehending ; which, if they eventuate
in action, may, perhaps, produce some good, but certainly
a much larger proportion of very bitter fruit ?
Even in England, Avhere these institutions have grown
with our growth, and are almost a part of our nature, we
find that their effect is not purely for good. Party feel
ings split up society into hostile sections, act upon the
happiness of families, rend asunder very many ties, and
in no way conduce to the development of that spirit of
brotherhood which ought to prevail among us. If this
be the case with us, why should we try to force upon the
Indian people an institution the evils of which are certain,
but the good only contingent upon the wisdom of an
uneducated people ? To tell you the truth, I have for a
long time been convinced that, of all the mischievous
delusions which prevail in England, and among the
English, that which traces social evils to legislation, or
believes that they are to be remedied by legislation, is the
most mischievous. By it Ave are tempted to look without
us for the cause of an evil which has its abode in our own
hearts ; we seek to remove by external actions, by
Pharisaical observances, that which can only be remedied
by a change within us ; and we cry out for reform, or we
go on passing ' Acts to amend Acts,' legislating against
every varied external phase which the internal evU
exhibits, till the complication becomes a much greater
evU than that which it is sought to remedy. HoAvever,
I am making, what I commenced as a letter, an essay upon
the principles of government ; so good-bye.
Yours very truly,
W. D.

MILITARY AND POLICE, 47
I Avas not satisfied with making this appeal to the
Governor-General ; but I wrote to the Secretary of State,
reiterating the arguments addressed to Lord Canning, and
pointing out the special absurdity of any attempt to intro
duce the principle of representation into an Indian com
munity. The remarks, however, made in the letters to Lord
Canning, and in those on the same topics to the Secretary
of State, elicited a variety of comments. I was told, with
reference to the question of reduction and redistribution
of the military force, that the old Indian officials objected
to the concentration of the army ; that their wish was to
have the country divided into circles with an English
regiment at the centre of each ; their plea being that a
regiment so placed Avould act as the centre of a large area
of ' contented submission.'
Of this area the collector, or head man of the district,
would be the chief authority, and he would be naturally
inclined to maintain a system which placed at his disposal
(to a certain extent at all events) a military force for his
assistance and protection, and which insured for him, in
an out-of-the-way place, detached from European society,
a body of gentlemen with whom he could associate.
These old Indian officials, moreover, seem to have forgotten
that the new police — which was rapidly extending its action
throughout India, and which, in 1861, Avas, in Madras,
thanks to the energy of the officer placed at the head of
it, already well organised and efficient — was intended to
perform many of the duties which had formerly been im
properly thrown upon the military. Among these was,
specially, the duty of watching over the internal peace
of the country, and enforcing that ' contented submission '
to the law which can only result from the conviction that
the representatives of the Government, in the shape of
policemen, are always close at hand and ready to act. The
circle over which a regiment can exercise its influence is

48 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
but a small one ; its action, like that of gravitation,
diminishes as the square of the distance from head
quarters ; while that of the poUce, quartered in every
village, is spread over the whole district, and is continuous,
and therefore efficient.
With reference to the Legislative CouncU, I was assured
by the Secretary of State that the idea of a representative
system had never entered his head ; and, indeed, I do not
believe that he thought of the scheme as involving such a
consequence. Others, however, took a different view;
the people of Madras understood it as involving the prin
ciple of the representation of classes ; and the Eurasian,
or half-caste, population petitioned the Govemment to
nominate a person whom they recommended, as their
representative in the Council. Their claim was of course
disallowed by me, and they were told that they had alto
gether mistaken the object of the Government in con
stituting the legislative body, the members of which were
selected solely with reference to their capacity to assist
the Government with their advice. I felt, however, at
the time, that the first step had been taken, and that my
reply to the petitioners was an evasion.
Others, too, appear to have imbibed the same notion
as the Eurasians. Mr. Laing, in his speech introducing
the budget in 1861, alluded to representation as visible in
the distance ; others too, high in office, have talked of our
position in India as being that of schoolmasters sent there
for the purpose of teaching the Hindoos to govern them
selves ; while an ' East Indian Association ' in England
has adopted ' responsible government' as one of the bless
ings it proposes to confer upon the Hindoos. Such
schemes, hoAvever, argue on the part of their framers a
disposition so to fix their eyes upon an impossible future
as to ignore both the past and the present : had they not
closed their eyes to the past, they Avould have seen that a
very large proportion of the qualities and habits of men

UNCHANGEABLENESS OF HINDOO CIIARACTER. 49
are hereditary ; and that when there has been but a scanty
infusion of fresh blood, the stamp of race is indeUble.
They would have seen that the Hindoo of to-day is the
genuine descendant of the Hindoo of two thousand years
ago, in habits, character, modes of thought ; and that he
has never admitted, or even dreamed of any Government
but an autocracy. Had they not ignored the present, and
closed their eyes upon their OAvn experience, they would
have confessed that all attempts to train the Hindoo, to
induce him to adopt European habits or modes of thought,
have been most signal failures.
It is a curious fact that while we, in the two centuries, or
thereabouts, during which we have been dealing with the
Hindoos, have made no appreciable change in the conduct
or motives of the body of the people, they, the soft and
apparently yielding people, have impressed their stamp
upon us, and have had a very injurious action upon the
European character. To Lady Charlotte Denison.
Government House, Madras, March 29, 1861.
My dear Sister, — I am writing against time, as the
steamer from Calcutta arrived yesterday, and the mail is
made up at nine o'clock. Our habits of early rising, how
ever, give me some hours in a morning, and I am devot
ing this to letter-writing to-day, instead of to a walk.
By the time you get this, L  Avill have arrived in
England Avith five of the children. I put her on board the
steamer on the 21st, but had I anticipated the bitterness
of the parting, I should, I think, have hesitated to accept
the appointment of Governor. It is the great penalty
attached to service in India that it breaks up all family
ties : it separates often husband and wife, always parents
aud children. We have not yet fairly settled ourselves
here ; there is some doubt Avhether it would not be ad
visable to give up the house at Madras for public offices,
VOL. II. E

50 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE,
and to take advantage of the opportunity of purchasing
the house of the late Bishop on the NeUgherries, making
that the second residence of the Governor. The cooling
down we should get on the hills would enable us to with
stand the heat of the low country, which in the winter is
not excessive. The great complaint against the weather
here is its uniformity. You know exactly what it wiU be
from day to day, the only variation being the character
of the wind, Avhich, when it blows from the southward, or
is what is called an ' along-shore wind,' is damp and un-
refreshing. Day and night the thermometer shows much
the same : you cannot dispense with the punkah.
The relation in which we stand to the people of India
is a very peculiar one ; I do not think that it has its
parallel in history. We are not conquerors who, after a
time, amalgamate themselves with the people whose
country they occupy ; we are not Uke the Spaniards in
America, who reduced their subjects to the condition of
slaves ; we occupy a most anomalous position, and I am
very much afraid that the transfer from the Company to
the Government Avill be productive of many difficulties,
among which the constant meddling of the House of
Commons, and the consequent absence of anything Uke
fixity in the system of administration, will be one of the
greatest. People will reason about the inhabitants of
India as if they Avere Englishmen, or rather, as if by sub
jecting them to a cut and dried system of education, as it
is erroneously termed, they might become EngUshmen at
last. To this I entirely demur. I do not think that
national characteristics are to be thrown over as unworthy
of consideration ; but, even supposing the theory to be
correct, they ought to begin at the beginning, and to work
the Indians through the Avhole course of training, fi-om the
Heptarchy. Instead of this, these theoretical Solons
apply to a people who may, so far as political learning is
concerned, be said to be in their infancy, the principles

OUR POSITION IN INDIA, 51
by which the grown-up man is governed, and, of course,
the result is very much what it would be were I to put
my little George into a pair of my buckskin breeches and
top boots, and send him into the hutiting-field. Have you
ever read the first Napoleon's correspondence with his
brother Joseph ? I imagine not, for, as it deals very
much Avith military questions, it would not interest you ;
but there are some very shrewd observations, which apply
with full force to us as governors of India. Joseph was
expressing his anxiety for the comfort of his NeapoUtan
subjects, and his wish to make himself beloved by them ;
and Napoleon, pointing out to him the peculiarity of his
position, as a king thrust upon the people against their
will, and supported altogether by a foreign military force,
asked him how he could expect that his subjects would,
all at once, give him credit for his good intentions. ' No,'
said Napoleon, ' govern them : insist upon submission ;
show them that you are their master. You may then
relax, if you like, the reins ; but you must not think to
govern by love for many a year.' Here we are exactly in
the position of Joseph ; we have thrust ourselves upon
these people ; they have no affection for us ; our colour,
our habits, our religion, our principles of action, are alto
gether opposed to those of our subjects. How can we
imagine that they will look upon us otherwise than
as usurpers ? Since I came here, I have had a much
higher opinion of the indomitable energy of the Anglo-
Saxon than I ever had before ; and yet I have always set
him up pretty high : but to see, in India, a mere handful
of English keeping in subjection upwards of 120,000,000
of natives, and doing it without any apparent effort, is
really a thing to be wondered at. If, however, we pre
sume too much upon our moral strength, and begin to say
to the Hindoo, ' Take your share of the property ; I trust
the administration to you,' we shall find ourselves very
soon tripped up, and shall have a desperate struggle to main-
£ 2

52 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE,
tain our ascendency. Yet this is what we have a tendency
to do : we are talking of applying what people choose to
call ' the great principles of our system of government ' to
a people as utterly unfit to appreciate or apply them as a
child at the breast. However, I wiU not bore you with
poUtics ; though, as these matters are now pressed very
much upon my attention, it is natural that I should let a
little escape occasionally. I had no idea how closely
these people pack themselves, till yesterday, when S 
and I, in our morning's walk, passed through a portion of
the town just in rear of Government House. This was a
mass of loAv huts, six feet high to the eaves, each range
forming a quadrangle, into Avhicli the houses opened. The
lanes were about twelve feet wide, and the houses as close
as they could pack. Swarms of men, women, and chil
dren, were about ; the houses themselves appeared clean, as
also the court-yard, but the alley was awful. There is no
fall to carry off the drainage, on Avater to flush the gutters,
and my only Avonder is that fever and cholera do not
sweep aAvay thousands and tens of thousands annually.
This suburb Avas occupied by Mussulmen, who are said,
with Avliat degree of truth I know not, to be the dirtiest part
of the population. I am going to test my engineering know
ledge in devising a scheme for the drainage and cleansing
of the toAvn : many have tried their hands at it, but
hitherto the difficulty arising from the low level of thc
town, and the flatness of the country, has, together Avith
the expense, put a damper upon every scheme.
Seeing that I began my letter by saying that I was
writing against time, I have, I think, done pretty fairly.
Your affectionate brother,
W. D.

THE MAN VERSUS THE SYSTEM, 53
To Colonel Harness, R. E.
Government Houae, Madras, April 14, 1861,
My dear Harness, — I am sorry to hear from you that
you do not anticipate success in your endeavour to
improve the ciiaracter of the instruction giveu at Chatham
to the young officers of the corps. Now I do anticipate
a good deal. In all institutions of this kind, I look a
good deal more to the head of the institution than to the
system. It is too much the fancy of the present day to
think that men are mere machines ; that a certain routine
can be carried out with young men or boys, by Avhich (to
a great extent irrespective of the people Avho administer
the system, and carry its details into practice), a perfect
homunculus is turned out, fitted either to lead an army, or
govern a state. Now all my experience contradicts this,
and tells me that a good system badly administered,
or rather administered merely as a system, is far inferior
in its results to an indifferent system Avorked by a man
Avho is in earnest. Noav my reason for thinking that you
will produce a good effect is a conviction on my part
that, in the first place, you are in earnest ; and, in the
second, that you have sympathies with the young ; that you
are not old in mind, though both you and I are getting
on in years. Take, then, my advice, my dear felloAV, and
go straight ahead, in the line you mark out for yourcclf ;
Avork upon the young men by the influence of example —
by bringing the stores of knowledge, Avhich you have
accumulated during the thirty-five years Ave have been
alongside each other in the corps, to act upon their minds ;
stimulate their appetite for every sort of information ; do
not bind them down to the ' narrow gauge' of purely
professional study, but let them work on the ' broad
gauge' of general science ; and you Avill turn out good
officers and useful men, I wUl ansAver for it. You have read,
I dare say, some of Hugh Miller's Avorks ; do you recoUert

54 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
his advice to his fellow-workmen ? It is, I think, in the
first chapter of his ' Old Eed Sandstone.' He says, ' do not
seek happiness in what is misnamed pleasure ; seek it
rather in what is termed study. Keep your conscience
clear, your curiosity fresh, and embrace every opportunity
of culti'-ating your minds.' I could not give better advice
to a young officer than Miller did to his brother masons.
So much for your encouragement ; so work away in hope,
and in faith.
NoAv as regards myself I had never before been in any
but European society ; here I find myself dropped into one
Avhich is, I may say, altogether Asiatic, for the number
of Europeans is too scanty to act even as leaven to the mass;
they can only be looked upon as the thin, very thin,
upper crust of the pie. I had not been here a week before
I found that all my European experience required an
Asiatic coefficient to enable me to apply it properly. I
have hitherto done but little, having occupied myself in
reading up papers, and making myself acquainted with the
people and their doings, in order to enable me to get data
for my Asiatic coefficient. I am beginning, however, to see
my way. One of the first things which I have had to con
sider has been the railroad question ; and the conclusion
which I have come to is, that the Government here has
acted hastily in undertaking a great system of railroads ;
it has never gone quietly and calmly into the considera
tion of the character of the railway communication apphc-
able to India, but has allowed itself to be led aAvay by
analogies between the state of things in India and in Eng
land, which have no real existence. I am afraid, too, that
the companies, certain of the five per cent, interest upon
their capital, which is guaranteed to them (a much larger
interest than they can get in England), avUI, AA^hile lavish
in their expenditure of capital, take but Uttie trouble to
develope the traffic, but wiU allow it to jog on so long
as it wUl pay its working expenses. The scheme was

REORGANISATION OF NATIVE AltMY. ,",.5
commenced without the necessary data, with nothing
but vague promises of possible future advantages, and in
these promises, military and civil matters were heaped
together into a most incongruous mass, no one thinking it
worth while to attempt to separate the two, or to dis
entangle the complicated web. I have here before me a
line from the east coast at Madras to Beypore on the
west coast. The only reason I have ever heard for gomg
down to Beypore, Avhich is a mere open roadstead, is the
substitution of Beypore for Madras as a place of call for
the Peninsular and Oriental steamers. With this misty
vision before it, the Government has constructed 400
miles of railway, 200 miles of which are through a poor
country, which can contribute little or nothing to the
traffic ; and, with the most perverse ingenuity, the line
passes at a distance from every single town on this route,
Avhich might possibly have furnished a little passenger
traffic. I wiU deal Avith other matters in subsequent
letters. I hope you will catch a sight of my wife before
she leaves England. Yours affectionately, W. D.
The question of the strength of the army required to
maintain our supremacy in India was very soon compli
cated by a proposal on the part of the Government at home
to reorganise the native army (Avhich, in Bengal, and to
a certain extent in Bombay, had been chsorganised by the
mutiny), on a footing altogether different from that which
had prevailed before in these two Presidencies, and which
did, at the time, prevail in that of Madras. I think, from
the tone of Lord Canning's correspondence with me, that
he must have made the original suggestion, and supported
it on the ground of economy ; but I do not believe that
he had the most distant conception that what he proposed
to apply to a fraction of the body would be made at
home the ruling principle for the organisation of the

50 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
whole army. The subject was brought under my notice
incidentally, whUe the despatches containing the scheme
were under consideration at Calcutta, and I wrote to Lord
Canning, asking him to give me an opportunity of express
ing my opinion upon the scheme. The two months
which I had spent at Madras had given me an insight into
the general condition of the country and the feehngs of
the people, Avhich put me in a position to discuss subjects
connected with the military occupation of the country
with much more effect than I could have done had I
gone up to Calcutta soon after my arrival. I had now
formed an opinion upon the facts before me, and what I
wanted Avas to ascertain whether the state of things in
Bengal and Bombay would harmonise with that opinion.
Lord Canning kindly asked me to come up to Government
House ; and I accordingly put myself on board the mail
steamer, and landed at Calcutta on April 29. As the whole
scheme had been concocted in England, I might have
spared myself the trouble of remarking upon it. I
submitted, however, the following memorandum to Lord
Canning, which he returned Avith the notes appended to
it in his own hand-writing, showing that he was in no
way responsible for the impracticable and hopeless form
in which the scheme was sent out. To these notes I
appended some remarks, and I forAvarded the AAdiole to the
Secretary of State,
Memorandum on the Reorganisation of the Indiaji Native
Army.
Notes bt Lord Canning (signed C.) Replies to Notes (signed AA'. D).
The native army at present consists of three distinct
bodies, the armies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay-
Each of these is constituted of cavalry and infantry in
various proportions, and may be said to have an organisa
tion pecuhar to itself, Avhich is due, perhaps, in some
measure to traditions of the army itself, but to a much

REORGANIS.ATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 57
greater extent, to the peculiar habits and customs of the
people among whom it does duty, or from whom it is
recruited. This threefold form has sprung naturally from
the pecuUar position in which the East India Company
was placed. Its settlements at Calcutta, Madras, and
Bombay being separated from each other by wide tracts
of country, occupied, in many instances, by natives either
actively or passively hostile, each was compelled to
provide for its own defence by the maintenance of an
efficient body of troops, Avhich Avas gradually, by the
extension of territory, magnified into an army. This,
however, can no longer be pleaded as a reason for main
taining three distinct armies. The British territory
(meaning by that the districts over Avhich the Govern
ment exercises a direct control) is so united, the commu
nications from one part to another so comparatively easy,
that the necessity for a separate force for each Presidency
has manifestly ceased.
Such an anomaly as an army under three distinct
commanders-in-chief should be put au end to as speedily
as possible. The effect of such a system is to increase^
expense by multiplying staff appointments — to diminish
the efficiency of the troops by rendering concert ^ between
the different commanders-in-chief a matter of necessity.
' Quite true.— 0.
" I doubt this. It is physically impossible that a commander-in-chief in
India can hold his charge for more than a fe-sv yeara (even if his command
¦(vere not restricted, as no-w, to five years), and could any man in so short a
time acquire such a kno-wledge of a necessarily heterogeneous army, and of
the enormous and diversified countiy over -which it is spread, as to enable
him to dispense -with careful concert "with the general commanding in parts
of the country -with -which he has not become acquainted ? The substitution
of lieutenant-generals for commanders-in-chief in each of the three Presi
dencies, and of a single commander-in-chief for all India, is quite practicable,
and there is something to be said in its favour ; but it -will not enable the
commander-in-chief to act -with much less of concert than at present. — 0.
His lordship grants all I ask. The lieutenant-general is in fact a
general of division under the orders of the commander-in-chief. The
concert I allude to is that -which involves the necessity of agreement, not
the mere asking of advice, — W. D.

r,>i VARIETIES OF VIOE-REGxVL LIFE.
There are also many minor evils to which it is unnecessary
to allude, but which wUl present themselves at once to
any military man. Economy, therefore, and efficiency,
would be consulted by the union of the three distinct
armies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay, into one body,
Avhich might be styled 'Her Majesty's Native Indian
Army.' While, however, I am quite prepared to recommend
the fusion of these three armies into one, I am by no means
disposed to admit that it would be wise to adopt such an
unity of system with regard to the three elements of
which this army Avould be composed, as would in any
way tend to lessen the feeling which makes the soldier cling
to the recollection of the past, and gives him an interest in
the honour of the corps to Avhich he belongs. Neither
should I propose to adopt any uniform system of enlist
ment, &c. On the contrary, I should retain every existing
privilege. and every existing^ tradition, even, if possible, to
the number and designation of the regiments ; and I should
strive to make the change merely a substitution of one com
manding officer for another, and of Her Majesty's Indian
Army for the Bengal, Madras, or Bombay Army, as the
case may be.
Having thus determined the name aud style of the army,
the next point to be considered would be its strength ;
and in order to decide this, it would be necessary to
determine the relation which should obtain between the
' It -will be very difficult to retain these -when the armies are, even
nominally, fused into one. The rivalries and jealousies of the three armies
have been sho-wn to have their use. "Would the same spirit of -wholesome
antagonism to the mutinous Bengal army -which animated the armies of
Madras and Bombay in 1857, have shown itself so readily if all had been
taught to consider themselves of one army P Nobody wiU say so. — 0.
' This antagonism js_piinni pally n, niatter_of_ feelings among_tiie office^ I
believe it obtains but very partially among the men, and as theTmen -were
the mutineers, this feeling could have had but little effect in restraining
them from joining the mutineers. In Madras, the peculiar privileges
granted to the men and their families had a great influence on their
conduct. — W, D,

REORGANISATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 59
Native and European element in the force provided for
the defence of India.
Everyone will admit that it would be impossible to
depend upon the Native Army alone for the defence of
the country even against aggression from without ; but
wide differences of opinion exist as to the proportion which
the native troops should bear to the Europeans acting
with them. It is not necessary that I should attempt to
decide upon the proportion with any exactness ; it must
be finally determined by discussing the character of the
forces required at different points to meet any possible, or,
rather, probable, contingency — but, as an approximation,
I may say that the European element ought not to beaf
to the native a less proportion than that of one ^ to two.
Before, however, we can come to a satisfactory opinion
as to the strength of the whole force, English and Native,
which would be required for the maintenance of our supre
macy in India, we ought to possess a good military report
upon the whole country, coupled with remarks upon the
character of the people, the amount of force ^ which might
under any circumstances be brought against us, the state
of the communications, — the means of procuring food,^
the facilities for transport*, &c., &c., &c. : without such in-

> Too large.— C.
^ The amount of disciplined, or quasi-disciplined, force in the employ of
native states we kno-w. The amount of undisciplined men, but possessing
arms, -who might rise in a general rebellion, no report could give us. — 0.
This may be kno-wn, but it has not formed an element in any general
scheme for the maintenance of our supremacy. — W. D.
' The available food in any district varies so enormously with seasons,
that no report t-wo years old -would be trust-worthy. — C,
The supply varies from year to year according to the season, but the
quantity of land under crop remains pretty nearly the same — or is subject
to similar variations — and this, -with a kno-wledge of the character of the
previous season, -would give all the information required. — W. D.
* This kno-wledge is very necessary. The Bengal commissariat can give
it pretty correctly for this side of India. — C.
If the commissariat can do this, it will do more than any commissariat
ever did before. — W. D.

60 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
formation a general officer would not be able to decide
as to the position of his troops, or to make proper arrange
ments for concentrating them in case of necessity.
I have already arranged for the collection of data upon
which a military description of the Madras Presidency
may be founded, and if similar data can be furnished from
the other Presidencies and provinces, the task of drawing
up the complete report will be comparatively easy. It
should, hoAvever, emanate from one person, and that person
au officer of experience.
When the absolute force required for the defence of
the country has been settled, the difference between the
European element and the Avhole force AviU give the
strength of the Native Army. There are two consider
ations which must have a great influence in determining
the strength of the European element ; the first is the
number of men Avhicli England can, Avithout injury to her
other important interests, maintain in India ; the second is
the number of these expensive troops AAdiich India can
afford to pay.^ I have, however, an intimate conviction
that the result of a proper miUtar}- report upon the whole
But upon the above points I should be sorry to see the Government or
the commander-in-chief leaning upon any report of a few years old.
The elements upon which it must be founded are, iu Central and Upper
India especially, constantly fluctuating.
That which we are most deficient in is military topographical knowledge
of Central India, Rajpootana, and some parts of our o-wn old provinces.
We do not even know the number or strength of native forts, or the fords
of the rivers, or the passes through the hills — as they ought to be
known. — C.
All this shows the necessity of such a military report as I have sketched
out; upon such a report the local changes could be easily noted.— W.D.
' Even when we have ascertained these two points, we must take a third
into consideration.
The most probable and most serious danger which awaits India is a
stoppage, perhaps a withdrawal, of its supply of English troops in a European
war. We must, therefore, so deal with our native ai-my, and with native
interests and feelings, as to give us the fairest hope of obtaining support
from that quarter when the time of pressure arrives.  C.
I consider that iu such a case we should lean upon a very slight reed ;
indeed, we ought not to speculate upon its support. — W. D.

REORGANIS.\TION OF N.^lTIYE ARMY. 61
of India, will show that a large reduction can be made in
the existing force, both European and Native, and, there
fore, a corresponding diminution of our military expendi
ture. I will now proceed to consider the important question
of the organisation of the Native Army. I approach this
subject with some diffidence, for my residence in India
has been too short to enable me to make myself thoroughly
acquainted with the details of the existing organisation ;
my position, however, has placed at my disposal a vast
heap of official information, and I have received from many
sources much information, both oral and written, bearing
upon this important question.
I may premise that I consider the maintenance of a
really efficient army to be the only guarantee Avhich we
can have for the permanence of our authority in India.
I feel quite certain that, beneficial as our system of
government may be to the natives of India, however
much we may strive to convince them of the honesty of
our intentions towards them, of our wish to place them
in a position of complete equality with the European
before the law, the feeling of the native is that we
are interlopers, that we have acquired by force or
fraud, and retain, by the power of the sword, coun
tries which had for very many years been governed
by an hereditary race of princes ; and I am equally
certain that the whole mass of the community would
rise ^ against us if they dared, and would submit to
' I do not go this length, though I admit that we cannot trust the 7nas$
of the community anywhere.
I am sure, however, that we can operate upon the masses so as to diminish
greatly the chances of danger from them : not by elevating or favouring
them to the prejudice of the grades above them, amongst which their natural
leaders and instigators will always be found ; but by reversing this policy
(which has been the policy of later years), and by so dealing with the gentry
of the country as to convince them that their material and social interests
are actively cared for by us — in other words, by giving them power and
position, and by showing them that we look upon a native gentleman of

62 A'ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
a really grinding tyranny on the part of a native authority,
in preference to the mild control we exercise over them.
An army, therefore, we must have, to protect us from
enemies from without and traitors from within. This
army must be composed, probably to the extent of two-
thirds, of native troops, and the question which we have
to consider is one which involves : —
1. The consideration of the character of the individuals
whom we seek to enlist.
2. That of the military organisation to which these men
should be subjected.
As regards the character of the individual soldier, I
assume, of course, that it is by no means desirable that the
army should be composed of such a preponderating number
of men belonging to any one of the various tribes or sects
by Avhom India is peopled as would give to that tribe or
sect any, even the most remote, chance of estabUshing its
superiority over the European portion of the army.
It would seem, therefore, desirable that men should be
enlisted from every district' in India , in order to insure as
property [and family as something more than a coolie, "S\Tien the chiefs and
gentry begin to feel that they may lose a great deal, and can gain very little,
by substituting any other rule in the place of ours, I shall have little fear of
the masses. Even fanaticism will g-radually give way before plain and sure
material interests.
I grant that this policy is not so applicable to Madras, where a native
gentry is an unimportant element, as to Upper India ; but wherever such a
class remains, or can be re-called into existence, it is through their more
substantial interests, and, comparatively, greater intelligence, that we must
influence all below them. I see no reason why, without any sentimental
trust in the effects of generosity, we may not bring every zemindar to the
state of feeling which actuated Scindia, Rampore, the Cis-Sutledge chiefs,
and some of the Rajpoot chiefs throughout 1857 and 1858.— 0.
The fact that in Madras, where the semi-feudal system has but slight
root, there was but little tendency iuthe masses to rise, is a very pregnant
one ; they had no leaders. Lord Canning seems to wish to raise up leaders,
to create a strong feudal body — a policy very different from that of the
kings of England (who did their best to break down the feud.il system),
and I am afraid a perilous one. — W. D.
' This could not be done literally; — for there are many parts of this
country where the necessary conditions of military service are so distasteful

REORGANISATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 63
great a mixture as possible of all the elements of which
society is composed. In some instances it might be desir
able that the whole of these elements should be throAvn
into one mass, without respect of caste or sect ; in
others, it might be advisable to group together into a
company or regiment the men belonging to a particular
village or district — to give, in fact, to the body, a special
locality to which it should look for recruits, and the in
habitants of which would be, to a certain extent, hostages
for the regiment,^ — securities for its good faith and fidehty.
This system would, I think, be peculiarly appUcable to
parts, if not to the whole, of the Madras Presidency.
Other methods of grouping men together wiU of course
occur to officers ; but to these it is unnecessary that I
should refer, my object being merely to press the adop
tion, not of any one particular system, but of one, or
several, which would secure such a mixture of the various
castes and sects as Avould neutralise any efforts made by
one or more to rise against us.
The second subject to be considered is the character of
the military organisation to which these men should be
subjected. I address myself to this part of the subject with some
hesitation, because I fear that my remarks must assume
somewhat of a controversial tone. It is impossible now
to deal Avith this question as an abstract one, having
I'eference to soldiers in general ; I must, perforce, contrast
the two systems which have been placed in direct opposi
tion to each other^ in India, ' the regular and irregular.'
As, however, I haVe no local partialities, no feelings which
would lead me to give a preference to one system over
to the people, that good and willing soldiers could not be made out of
them. — C.
' I quite agree in these remarks. No one mode of mixing creeds, castes,
and local classes can wisely be prescribed as a universal rule, — C.
^ The placing of these two systems in opposition to each other, or as
alternatives, is an English blunder, and a very serious one,— C.

64 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
the Other, the judgment which I may form wiU be,
whether correct or incorrect, at aU events unbiassed, and
as such I submit it for Avhat it is worth.
The ' regular ' organisation is based very much upon
that of our European troops. To each regiment there is
a lieutenant-colonel, a major, a certain number of cap
tains, lieutenants, and ensigns, and these are aU Euro
peans. In addition to these, each company has a natiA'e
officer having the rank of captain, and another having
the rank of lieutenant. The non-commissioned officers,
of whom there is a full proportion, are all native.^ This
is substantially the organisation of those armies to whom
all our success in India is due ; it is analogous to the for
mation of every European army ;^ it carries out that which
is an acknoAvledged mUitary maxim, that the officers
should bear a certain proportion to the men ; the only
difference being that an inducement is held out to the
better behaved men of the regiment to strive for distinc
tion, inasmuch as there are rcAvards for good conduct in
the shape of commissions, to the extent of tAA'o to a com
pany. I cannot but think, then, that this system of organisation
has much in its faA^our. It is based upon acknoAvledged
principles,^ it has succeeded in action, has precedents in its
favour, and holds out rewards for good conduct of a kind
peculiarly attractive to a soldier.
It may, of course, be the case that a regular regiment
^ Not exactly. In Bengal it has been the rule to have a European
sergeant, and to allow him to take command of the commissioned native
offlcers, when parading or mustering the regiment. It is an atrocious
practice. — C.
I perfectly agree with Lord Canning. It is an atrocious practice, aud
yet one to which Bengal officers cling tenaciously, — AA'. D.
^ I doubt whether any army in the world can pi-esent such au anomaly as
that of allowing the junior European ensign to take precedence of the older
commissioned officers, because they are not European. But this is unavoid
able so long as native cuiiiinisfiioiHd officers are retained ; and it is difficult
to get rid of them without incurring other evils. — C.
'' Except as regards the position of the commissioned native ofiicers. — 0.

RE-ORGANISATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 65
may be in a bad state of discipline, may misbehave itself
before the enemy ; but it will be found in nearly every
instance that this misconduct was not the result of organi
sation — not from having too many officers, but too few. It
is very often the case that a large proportion of the officers
of a native regiment have staff appointments, and con
sequently that the discipline becomes lax, because there
are not a sufficient number of officers to superintend it.
Surely the best remedy for this would be to compel a
certain number of officers to join their regiments, not
to diminish the number doing duty.-^
A regiment on the ' irregular ' system consists of a
body of men commanded by an European officer, having
under him a second in command, an adjutant, a surgeon,
and two officers with indeterminate duties, — six in all.
The men of these irregular regiments receive a certain
daily allowance, which is calculated to cover all expenses
of food, clothing, arms, accoutrements, transport of stores
and camp equipage, &c.^ They have their own native
non-commissioned officers and regimental officers, but
the peculiar organisation of each individual body is very
much dependent upon the fancy of the officer who may
be placed in command. The advantages which this system
is said to hold out are — 1st, economy ; 2nd, efficiency.^
' But it must not be supposed that a regular regiment can be turned into
au iiTegular one by simpl}' reducing the number of European officers. The
relations between the Native and European elements are radically different
in the two systems. — C.
The less possibility then of making the transformations alluded to in the
Gazette of April 22, 1861.— W. D.
- There are other important peculiarities. Companies, troops, and squad
rons are commanded aud led in the field by native officers alone.
Native officers do not rise from the ranks to the same extent as in regular
regiments, but come in at once as officers ; and are, very many of them, sons
of chiefs and gentlemen of high birth, and sometimes of fair fortune.
They are allowed, and often required, to bring a certain number of troopers
into the regiment from their o-wn dependents, — C.
^ And, 3rdly, the opportunity, almost the only which we have, of giving
congenial and honourable employment to the cadets of the respectable and
influential families of the many parts of India where the feudal system is
VOL. II. F

66 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
With regard to economy, it is evident than the six officers
of the irregular regiment must cost much less than the
twenty-six officers of a regular regiment. It may also
be possible that, taking a particular regiment, the amount
paid to the soldiers and native officers, as a consoUdated
allowance, is less than the amount which is disbursed in
various ways before the regular regiment can be brought
into line; but this advantage will be very much diminished,
if not done away with, so soon as the whole army is
framed upon the irregular system. Any arrangement
Avhich presupposes the absence of a commissariat estab
lishment must ^ involve a system of living upon the country,
Avhicli implies the plunder of the inhabitants, their con
sequent hostility, and all the evils which follow necessarily
such a state of things.
So far as I have been able to learn, the expense of the
irregular regiments on service has not been inferior^ to
that of regular regiments. Without, hoAvever, laying
any stress upon this, I would observe that even under the
system proposed by General Jacob, who considered fom-^
European officers to be sufficient for a regiment, there must
of necessity be a large surplus of officers unemployed, from
Avhom a selection might be made of those Avhose talents
fitted them for employment fis officers of irregular troops.
still cherished. No native dynasty has ever neglected to turn that system
to account. We have done so, and have no reason to be proud of it. — C.
How many native dynasties have been deprived of their thrones by success
ful feudal dependents ? Is the policy a wise one ? I doubt it. — AA'. D.
' The regular regiments have no commissariat establishment (in our sense
of the term), and an irregular regiment, if properly commanded, does not
plunder or oppress the people more than a regular — or even than a
European one. — C.
^ There will be found to be a considerable difference. Colonel Balfour
can furnish the details at once. — C.
There are not, as yet, data sufficient, as I do not want estimates, but
payments. — W. D.
' If the four wore immortal I dare say Colonel Jacob would be right ; or
if a vacancy could at once be replaced by a fit officer found elsewhere. The
object of increasing the number to six is, parti}', to make sure that a
regiment shall novor bo al a loss for an officer capable of stepping at once into

RE-ORGANISATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 67
These officers must be paid, and they ought to be
employed upon such duties as might give them a know
ledge of native character, and of the mode of dealing with
men. The cost of the reserve of officers must, therefore,
be set against the saving arising from the diminution of
the number of those actually serving with the regiment.
It may, however, be true, though I should be unwill
ing to assert the fact positively, that the ' irregular
formation' is cheaper than the ' regular ; ' unless, hoAv-
ever, it can be shown to be superior in other respects, I
should consider this but a very poor reason for making so
SAveeping and startling a change in our military system.-^
The next claim made in favour of the 'irregular
organisation' is that the regiments under this system
are more efficient than the regular regiments.
This, however, is stated too broadly, and requires, in
the first place, explanation, and, in the second place,
proof Is it intended by this to affirm that a regular regiment,
deprived of 18 out of its 21 officers, and compelled to
furnish itself with all those articles for which it formerly
looked^ to the commissariat, would, from the very fact of
the change, become more efficient than it was before ?
If this is not intended, then the efficiency of the regi
ment is not due to mere organisation.
If, however, it be intended to affirm that a regular
regiment, commanded by an inefficient officer, will be
very much improved ¦ by being placed under the super
vision of an active, intelligent and zealous officer, who has
full power to reward and to punish, I am quite prepared
to admit the correctness of such a statement ; but it has
the discharge of the essential duties which are concentrated in the three (or
four) senior officers. — C.
' I quite agree. — C.
^ Is this so in Madras ? Is the system of regimental bazaars not the
same as in Bengal P — 0. r 2

68 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
yet to be shown that the same officer would not have
produced precisely the same beneficial effect upon the
discipline of the regiment under its old organisation.
The truth is, that the form has little or nothing to do
with the efficiency or inefficiency of the regiment. The
' regular' system, Avorked by an active and zealous
officer, wUl turn out troops as^ good, or even better
than the ' irregular,' for there will be a large European
element in the former; and even in cases where the
actual commanding officer is inefficient, there is a
chance that, among the 24 officers belonging to the
regiment, one or more will stand out to whom the
native troops will look, and whom they wUl wiUingly
folloAV. The ' irregular ' system is based altogether upon the
supposed qualities of the officer in command. Should he
have peculiar qualifications, be active, zealous, fond of his
duty, have a knowledge of the mode of dealing with
natives, he will manage his regiment weU ; should he,
in addition to these qualities, have those military instincts,
as they may be termed, a quick eye for ground, a percep
tion of the Aveak or strong points of the enemy's position, or
his own, he will lead his troops well during war, and secure
for them and himself the credit Avhich is given to success ;
but it is absurd to imagine that such men are common,
or that it is in the power of the Government, or any
' The systems are so different that this can hardly be safely predicated.
Of two officers, equal in professional ability and acquirements, the one who
has an aptitude and liking for dealing -with natives, ai-id who has pleasure in
moulding and training them into something better than he finds them, will
make a good irregular commandant ; whilst the other, with no such tastes,
will make a bad one — although he may be a very fair lieuti-nant-colonel of
regular.s, with whom he has little peraonal contact. It is the same in the
civil service. The man who makes an excellent secretary or judge at a
Sudder station, may be quite unfit to be a commissioner of a district in a
non-regulation province — and vice vcr.in. — C.
I quite agree — but then the two men are not egiial to begin with. Give
the same qualities to the lieutenant-colonel of a regular regiment, and he will
make them felt. — W. D.

RE-ORGANISATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 69
one, to select out of a large batch of officers the man, the
proper man, for such a responsible position.^
The truth is, that the work of the army, as the work
of the world at large, must be done with the ordinary
tools which are placed at our disposal ; by no system of
examination, by no tests which we can apply, can we hope
to make certain of securing a man so peculiarly consti
tuted as one who would develope the advantages claimed
for the irregular system by General Jacob ; and that,
therefore, is the best organisation which, demanding from
those who are called upon to work it out no very extra
ordinary talents, does yet afford a scope for the develop
ment of such talents ; — which, Avhile working out satisfac
tory results from men of an average capacity — men who
are acted upon by the ordinary inducements of interests
and ambition such as are exhibited in the mass of mankind
¦ — does offer sufficient inducement to men of the higher
degree of talent and mental power.
It is true that the " irregular ' system does hold out to
the ambitious man, and to him who feels that he is
possessed of qualities which fit him for command, induce
ments far superior to those which can be offered by the
'regular' system, and it is desirable that opportunities
should be ofi'ered to such men of bringing themselves
forward ; but it is no way desirable that the army should
be so organised as to induce a constant struggle among
the officers for opportunities of exhibiting their qualifica
tions for command. Where one commands many must
obey, and place must be found for those who, conscious
of no particular power of mind, go on their path steadily,
doing that which they feel to be their duty to the best of
their ability ; and I confess that I have a higher opinion
^, I entirely agree. The men are not common, and it is not easy to pick
them out.
Hence one of the advantages of adding junior officers to the irregular
regiments, although there may be no distinct duties requiring their pre
aence, — C.

70 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
of him who does his duty because it is his duty, than of
him who, actuated by^ a restless ambition and love of
distinction, is always pressing forward into the front rank,
and who too often in the pursuit of this shadow sacrifices
his truth, his honour, and his conscience.
The fact that the principle of the ' irregular' system is
based upon the selection of officers, is to me one of the
strongest objections to it. Who is to be the judge of the
qualifications of an officer ? The Government ? What
means has the Governor-General, or anyone in authority,
of ascertaining the peculiar qualifications of so many
officers? This principle of selection becomes, under
ordinary circumstances, but another name for jobbing ; and
unfair preferences, to an extent to which the regular system
affords no opening, will be exhibited daily.
The injury done by this is not to be measured by the
damage done to the service by the promotion of iucom-
petent individuals, but for every such individual impro
perly promoted dozens are injured, dozens feel that they
have been unfairly dealt with, and a bitter feeling is en
gendered which is most injurious to the service.-
On a careful consideration of the subject, with special
reference to the existing state of things in India, I am
decidedly of opinion that the ' regular ' organization is
that best fitted to work out satisfactory results.
' One of the chief charms which the in'egular service has for those officers
who are fit to take it up is the feeling that their individual character tells
upon the natives, and especially upon those of a higher class, far more
effectually than in the regular service.
This is a great attraction to those men, who are the very best servants
that England can have in India. — C.
It is the charm of commanding instead of being commanded. — W. D.
^ There are great evils in corps d'cSlite in any circumstances. But the
advantages of an irregular service (which as regards its officers must be a
corps d'^lite) ai-e so great that it is worth while to face those evils.
As to an irregular system without selection— and selection fi-om a laa-ge
field — it cannot subsist. — C.
Why, then, attempt to constitute the whole army upon this system ?—
W.D.

RE-ORGANISATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 71
I am, hoAvever, by no means disposed to deny that
bodies of men organized upon the irregular system may
form a very useful addition to the regular army. My
objection appUes to the establishment of a system under
which the whole army is to be transmuted into a set of
irregular bodies, to the commanding officers of which
it is proposed to entrust powers far greater than any
now given to colonels of regiments, and the abuse of
Avhich power may produce effects of a most dangerous
character. I believe that the opinion which I have here expressed
Avill be borne out by a very large majority of the officers
both of the European and Native Army. I cannot, of
course, expect that those who, like General Jacob, have
founded a system, or who have been instruments in work
ing it out, wiU admit the correctness of my inferences.-^
They have a natural tendency to attribute to the system
itself the results which are in fact the product of their
OAvn energy, determination, and mental power. Much,
however, as I respect and admire such men, I cannot
admit that they are to be looked upon as the best
evidences in their own cause.
For my own part, I cannot but consider the extensive
experiment now about to be made as fraught with great
danger to our Indian Empire. I believe that it will be
looked upon by a large portion both of the officers and
men with distrust and dissatisfaction ; and I believe it to
be altogether uncaUed for by any circumstances connected
either Avith the state of the army itself, or with our
financial position. W. T. Denison.
In my memorandum to Lord Canning, I aUuded to the
anomaly of having three distinct armies in India, under
three different commanders-in-chief My reasons for
' There is great force in this. But, as I have already said, the scheme of
substituting the irregular system for the regular system, instead of leaving
it as an off-shoot, is mainly an English scheme, — C.

72 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
pressing the amalgamation of these three armies into one
were purely military and ¦ administrative ; and when, on
political grounds, it was decided to retain the three, as at
present, distinct, I said no more on the subject. With
regard, hoAvever, to the reorganisation of the native army,
the case was quite different. I, reasoning paitly a priori
from general military principles ; Lord Canning from
experience of India, and a knowledge of the habits of the
people ; the commander-in chief from military experience
in India, had all arrived at the same conclusion, that the
scheme was a great mistake. I felt myself bound, there
fore, to bring the subject before the Government again
and again ; and I am bound to say that, during the course
of my residence in India, I had many opportunities of
representing the vices and absurdities of a system Avhich,
while it is, in principle, altogether dependent upon the
power of selecting well-qualified officers for command,
does, by the very mode in AA'hich it is Avorked out, render
such selection impossible. In writing to the Secretary of
State on this subject, I could not avoid remarking
upon the difference of the views taken by me and by
himself He looked at the question as a civilian, I as
a soldier ; he had decided to make an experiment upon
a large scale, and to reconstruct an army upon a novel
footing, with but the minimum of military experience,
and but indifferent military advisers. I, feeling certain
that the experiment must fail, that it Avas Avrong in
principle and most clumsy in detaU, did not hesitate to
tell him so. I was certain that it Avould injure the tone,
and destroy the efficiency, of the army ; and I pointed out
in 1861, that a portion of the scheme by Avhich it Avas
proposed to alloAV the old officers to die off, or to retire
tiU the number present was reduced to six for each
regiment, Avould be impracticable, for that the AAdiole army
would, so far as officers Avere concerned, be composed of
majors and heutenant- colonels, while there would be no

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. 73
subalterns to fill up the gaps occasioned by death or
retirement. My visit to Calcutta, which took place in May, made
me much better acquainted with the working of the
general Government than I could have been had I
reasoned from the facts which came within my OAvn cog
nisance as Governor of Madras. I witnessed this working
in many matters of detail, as well as of importance, and
the impression produced upon me was that it was clumsy
in its organisation, and sIoav in arriving at results. I
could quite understand that, when there were two different
heads of the Government — the East India Company, and
the Queen — acting through the Board of Control, the
complex system which, practically, placed the Governor-
General and his Council in the false position of represen
tatives of the two heads was almost a matter of necessity ;
but now that the Queen had become the sole head of the
Government, it struck me that the time had arrived for
making a change which should place matters upon a more
satisfactory basis. As Governor of Madras, I had already
found the action of my Government much impeded by
the interference of the Governor-General in matters of
detail which ought never to have come before him ; and
I had the less hesitation, therefore, in submitting my re
commendations to the Secretary of State. The outline of
this recommendation was as follows. The Governor-
General should be placed in a position analogous to that
of the President of the United States ; on him should rest
the sole and entire responsibility of managing all corre
spondence with States not under our control. He should
have the sole control of the army and navy : he should
— with the advice of a legislative body, to which I will
allude hereafter — have the power of imposing customs
duties and of regulating the foreign trade of the country.
The post-office should be subject to him, telegraphs, rail-

74 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Avays (except such as are of a purely local character),
and generaUy, all matters in Avhich more than one Presi
dency is interested should be placed under him. He should
be assisted, not checked, by an Executive Council composed
of a sufficient number of officers to do the work of the
different departments ; but it would not be desirable to
hamper him with too many advisers. These advisers, or
the Executive Council, might be formed into a Legislative
Council or Senate by the admission of one or two represen
tatives from each Presidency ; and it would be well worth
consideration whether this Council might not be extended
by dividing the country into blocks of more manageable
size than those which form the existing Governments ;
and placing all these, as regards their relation to the
general Government, upon one and the same footing. By
changing the present Council into a Senate, consisting of
public officers and representatives of the different Presi
dencies or provinces, the necessity of admitting any but
public servants as members of the Legislature would be
avoided. Such was a sketch of the constitution of the general
Government which I submitted to the Secretary of State.
With regard to the local Governments, I thought that the
best form would be something analogous to that originally
in force in the colonies ; namely, a Governor, appointed
by the Queen, and responsible to the Secretary of State ;
and an Executive Council, composed of the heads of de
partments, with the power of obtaining information
and advice from people interested. Such a Government
might undertake all the legislative as well as the executive
work, looking to the fact that the main body of the
people are living under their own laAvs, and Avould be far
better pleased to remain as they are than to be hampered
by laws prepared by people ignorant of their manners,
habits and wants. I Avas too well aAvarc of the working
of the anomalous legislative bodies composed of officers

GOVERNMENT OF INDLA. 75
of the Government and nominees holding no appoint
ment, save the honorary one of member of the Legislative
Council, and therefore altogether irresponsible, to wish
for their assistance.
The final change which I wished to see in the ma
chinery of the Government of India was the abolition of
the ' Council of India.' The gentlemen composing this can
only give the Secretary of State the record of their past
experience ; they dream of the India of the present day
as that of their youth ; they can give no information
Avhich cannot be obtained in a much more perfect and
correct form from the local authorities in India ; their
advice is disregarded by the Secretary of State when it
does not harmonise with his own views, and is merely
made use of by him to shelter himself fi'om the responsi
bUity which ought to devolve upon him of thinking out
and deciding questions submitted to him from India;
questions, I may say, which would be, in most instances,
better dealt with by a fresh mind than by a body con
stituted like that of the Indian Council.
To Children in England.
Government House, Calcutta, April 30, 1861.
My dear Children, — I must send you a joint letter, for
I have not time to write one to each of you. You will
have heard of my voyage up here, and will have seen my
rough sketch of this house. The dining-room occupies the
whole centre of the house, is upwards of a hundred feet
long, and must be sixty feet wide. It has two rows of
columns to support the upper floor, which is the baU-room;
it is paved, as well as the drawing-room (which is a long
gallery running across one end of the dining-room), with
grey marble, and looks very magnificent. The Governor-
General's body-guard are dressed in scarlet, and have
jack-boots corning up above the knee ; but they do not,
I think, look so soldierlike as my body-guard at Madras.

76 VARIETIES OP VICE-REGAL LIFE.
I went one day with Lady Canning to the Botanical
Garden, which is on the opposite side of the river. We
drove down our bank for a couple of miles or thereabouts,
and found our boat waiting for us ; pulled across to the
landing-place at the Garden, and wandered about for
some time, quite unconscious that a thunderstorm was
coming up. This burst upon us on a sudden, and we
had to run for shelter to the house of the superintendent,
where we waited some time till the rain ceased. The
wind, however, blew heavily, and we had some difficulty
in making our way across the river in our barge, which
exposed a long side to the wind : we got across at last,
however, and drove back to Government House.
On Sunday I went to church with Lord Canning. The
church at the Fort looks well inside, and was weU fiUed
in the morning, but there were very few in the evening.
I saw such a banyan tree in the Garden ; it spread over
nearly two acres of ground ; the great stems which it
sent down were covered with creepers, and the effect was
as if you were Avalking under a grove of large trees. It
is, I think, hotter here than at Madras ; hitherto, how
ever, at about six o'clock in the evening heavy clouds
come up, sometimes with thunder and lightning, and
sometimes with a gale of v/ind which brings up dust like
a ' brick-fielder ' at Sydney. Captain Glover and I went
out riding yesterday evening ; it was very hot indeed ;
and to make matters cooler, Glover had a hot, fidgety
chestnut horse, which, when it began to canter, got its
head up and pulled vigorously. The absurdity was,
after all, that we had taken horses which were not intended
for us, but which the native servants, Avho seem to think
it necessary to give such an answer as they think aa'UI be
acceptable, assured us were intended for the ' great Sahib
Governor and his officer,' while they were, in fact, horses
belonging to the General and his aide-de-camp! I took a
short walk this morning through a garden on the side of

MUSEUMS. 77
the road leading by the river bank, and. came across a
Burmese pagoda. The woodwork was most elaborately
carved, and had been brought from Burmah ; the stone,
or rather chunam, foundations were made by an artist
brought over for the purpose. At each corner was a large
sphinx with one head and two bodies, and these were
backed up by two great aUigators on each side.
May 3. — Yesterday was a very hot day, and yet I had
to go out at four o'clock, first to visit the Museum of
Geology, which was very well arranged ; then to the
Agricultural Society's rooms, where I saw all sorts of
machines for cleaning cotton, and a variety of textile
fabrics : there was some beautiful stuff, very like silk,
made of the fibre of nettles. After this I went to the
Asiatic Society's Museum : their collection of shells is a
very indifferent one : they have a magnificent coUection
of birds and animals, but so crowded together, for want
of space, that I could see but little of them. I walked into
one room where there was a table covered with stuffed
monkeys in all sorts of attitudes ; they really looked, in
some instances, as if they were asleep. I had good
accounts, per telegram, from Madras yesterday. God bless
you, my dear children. Your affectionate Father.
To Lady Denison.
Government House, Calcutta, May 4, 1861.
Dearest, — I finished yesterday my memorandum on the
organisation of the native army, and am going to give it
to Lord Canning, whUe I send a copy to Sir Charles
Wood. Lord Canning spoke highly to me of Sir Eobert
Napier,-^ who was promoted for his services in the mutiny,
and I had a long talk with Napier on the subject of the
reorganisation of the army.
I was about to drive with Lady Canning yesterday,
' Now Lord Napier of Magdala.

78 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
when a violent thunderstorm burst upon us. This cooled
the air, and I was more comfortable yesterday evening
than I have been since I left King George's Sound.
Barrackpoor, May 5. — We came to this place yester
day. Barrackpoor is on the bank of the Hooghly, four
teen mUes above Calcutta. The road to it lies generally
parallel to the river, over a country perfectly flat ; the
road itself being quite straight for at least ten mUes out
of the fourteen. It is said that Lord Cornwallis proposed to
build a house here, the duplicate of the one at Calcutta,
and to have a road quite straight, with an avenue of trees,
from one to another. The Directors, hoAvever, put a
stop to this. The present house stands about fifty yards
from the bank of the river, and is built to look down
a long reach of it. The park is well laid out, planted Avith
very ornamental trees, and has an aspect of neatness and
tidiness about it, such as I should be glad to see at
Guindy. Calcutta, May 6. — I started from Barrackpoor at half-
past five, and here I am at half-past seven, but my bag
gage and servants will not be here for three hours. I sent a
copy of my minute to the Commander-in-chief, Avho says
it is excellent — sound, true, and practical. I am going to
send it to Sir Charles Wood by this mail, and I am, at
the same time, writing to him on the subject of the
government of India generally, Avhich I want to see
transformed into something having more of a federal
character than the existing Government. My Avish, how
ever, is to define and limit the poAver of the GoA-ernor-
General, and also those of the Governors of the different
Presidencies ; and I am also anxious to see the country
subdivided into more of these separate provinces. At
present, a large portion of India is under the direct ad
ministration of the Governor-General ; that is, it is handed
over to Eesidents, Avho are practically omnipotent. I AA^ant
to have these Eesidencics transformed into Governments,

MENTAL CAPACITY OF THE HINDOO. 79
with well-defined duties on the part of the Governors. I
feel certain that the change would be both beneficial to
the country itself, and economical ; but it would be, I
imagine, unpopular at first, for these Eesidencies are high
prizes to the men in the civU and military services.
I dined with the Engineers last night ; we sat doAvn
about fifteen altogether, and had a good chat over all sorts
of matters. My health was proposed by General Napier
after dinner, as that of a brother officer who had AVorked
himself up to the top of the tree ; and I, in reply, expressed
the pleasure which I felt in being able to look upon men
who had been my friends, as now, by the amalgamation,
my brother officers also ; and assured them that I should
always do my best to promote the interests of the corps.
May 8. — Wehad a large dinner here yesterday — seventy
people — among whom I made acquaintance with the
Principal of the Sanscrit CoUege. I talked with him about
the mental capacity of the Hindoos. He corroborated all
that I have heard elsewhere as to their memory, but seemed
to think lowly of their mental power. The only tAVO ori
ginal works which have proceeded from the Hindoo mind
are, first, a mathematical treatise on Maxima and Minima
— which is Sanscrit to you — and, secondly, a novel, illustra
tive of Bengalee life, something after the style of Dickens.
He tells me that a Pundit strictly confines himself to one
book; not one subject, but to the book which is supposed to
Ulustrate and explain the subject ; so that, as you may
imagine, the chance of improvement is small. The teacher
keeps reading this book till he gets every word implanted
in his memory, and he then teaches that which he knows ;
namely, as much as his book tells him.
May 11. — Peninsular and Oriental steamer 'Simla.' I
parted with Lord and Lady Canning, not only as good
friends in the ordinary acceptation of the term, but very
cordially. I had nothing to say yesterday, for I was almost
too hot even to think. I tried to read the fifth volume of

80 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Macaulay, but, to my astonishment, fell asleep. It must
have been sympathy which made me do so, for, looking
along the deck, I could see nothing but faces of people in
various stages of somnolency.
May 13. — We are nearing Madras, but I am afraid we
shall not get in till too late to land. This will be a bore.
HoAvever, it is all right, I have no doubt.
Yours affectionately,
W.D.

PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. 81

CHAPTEE XVIII.
p-[TBLIC WOEKS DEPARTMENT — NAVIGATION OE THE EIVER GODAVERT —
CITRIOTJS METHOD OF LAYING VB NATIVE SHIPPING — IRRIGATION — IREI-
GATION WORKS ON THE GODAVERT— INSECTS — JOURNEY TO SALEM —
TRANSITS — THUNDERSTORM AND ITS CONSEdUENCES — RIDE UP IHE HILLS
 COONOOR — ACCIDENT TO DR. S  — BAREACKS AT WELLINGTON —
OOTACAMUND — SHOOTING PARTIES  VAEIETY OF GAME — WE HUNT FOE A
TIGER, AND FIND A LEOPARD — MAKiOGETIE PEAK — CONSTITUTION OF
COUNCILS IN INDIA  EBMAKKS ON ANGLO-INDIAN COLONISATION.
To Captain Clarke, R.E. Madras, June 8, 1861.
Mt dear Cl.\rk.e, — Since my arrival here in February, I
have been to Calcutta, where I stayed twelve days with
Lord Canning, talking over a variety of matters. I am
very glad that I went there, for, had I not done so, I could
not have got such a correct idea of the system of Indian
government as I have thus picked up. I have now
dropped quietly into my seat, and am setting steadily to
work. I am busy at present upon two knotty questions — the
constitution of the Public Works Department, and the
reduction of the Army.
The Public Works Department was transferred from the
Eevenue Department to the Engineers some years ago, in
accordance with the recommendation of a Commission
composed of men unconnected with the department.
These Commissioners worked out a very pretty theoretical
scheme, showing a gradual chain of responsibility from
the overseer up to the chief engineer, and a beautiful system
of accounts and checks, by which the Government was to
be able to tell, at any instant, what works were going on,
how. they were advancing, what they had cost, &c., but,
VOL. II. G

82 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
as this scheme supposed that every man was perfectly
master of his part, it, of course, broke down in practice.
The system of accounts was so elaborate, and so onerous,
that, practically, the Government paid a shilling to avoid
the risk of being cheated out of sixpence. Then, again,
the Commission included, under the head of Public Works,
all the little viUage tanks and roads, with which the coun
try is covered, and of which tanks upwards of ten thousand,
on an average, require some smaU repairs annuaUy. To
throw such works upon the Public Works Department was
absurd ; it would be just as reasonable to compel the
Board of Works in London to take charge of all the
parish roads in England. This subject has taken up a
good deal of my time, for I have been forced to read up
a mass of papers ; and, even now, though I see clearly the
mistake committed by Lord DaUiousie in adopting the
report of the Committee as a whole, I find great difficulty
in scheming out a plan which may work satisfactorUy.
The principal complaint made against the existing depart
ment is the cost of superintendence : this upon an outlay
of 700,000/. amounts to 170,000/. or nearly 25 per cent ;
but it must not be forgotten that this is not only engineers'
superintendence, but contractors', and manufacturers' as
well, for the department is obliged to manufacture its
own bricks, burn its own lime, &c.
The reduction of the army, too, is a question I am
about to take up seriously ; and I have caUed for informa
tion which may enable me to apportion to each district, or
mUitary division of the country, such a force as may be
sufficient, in connection with the police, to keep everything
quiet internally, as Avell as to repel any attack from Avith-
out. I feel certain that, when I have gone carefully into
this, I shaU find that half my present force wiU be suffi
cient for all the wants of Madras. So much for politics.
I must now give you an idea of the country and the people.
Calcutta is a fine-looking town : it is caUed the City of

CHARACTER OF NATIVES. 83
Palaces, but this is a misnomer. The so-called palaces are
built of the most rubbishy brickwork, covered over with
plaster or chunam ; in fact, the place is rather a sham,
and, were we to leave the country, half a dozen years
would bring the whole to its original state of mud. I
must say that the works of the natives put us to shame :
their public buildings are constructed of granite or gneiss
carved in the most elaborate way : they must have ex
pended an enormous amount of labour upon the work.
' Madras, as a town, is not to be compared with Calcutta ;
the population is larger, but there are fcAver white people.
The natives pack together like ants, in the smallest possible
houses, buUt of mud, generally. The effect produced upon
an European by the aspect of things in a native village is
a conviction that no forethought has been expended upon
the plan or arrangements of the buildings : these are dotted
about most confusedly ; and this, together with the dingy,
muddy exterior of the buildings themselves, gives a rubbishy
aspect to the whole place. The people — with some good
qualities, such as affection for parents and relatives, whom
they feel bound to support — are an indifferent lot : they
are coAvards and liars, abject in their submission to those
above them, and bitter tyrants to all those over whom
they can exercise control. I am afraid that there is a sort
of maudlin feeling in England that they have been a fine
people at one time, but have been reduced to their present
state of prostration by misgovernment ; and that, by good
government, as we choose to term it — meaning thereby a
system utterly at variance with every Eastern idea — we
shaU raise them again to their proper place in the scale of
nations. I look upon this as a mischievous delusion. The
mass Imve remained as they are for a couple of thousand
years, and two thousand years more wiU not change them,
or make a white man of an Hindoo. Yours very truly,
W. D.
g2

84 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Some of the first matters pressed upon my attention by
the Secretary of State, after my arrival at Madras, were those
connected with the improvement of the character of the
cotton sent from India, and the increase of the amount ex
ported. The war in America had cut short the supply from
the southern States ; the pressure in consequence brought
upon our manufacturers, and the cUstress and misery among
the working population in the cotton districts of England,
made the Government willing to Usten to any scheme,
showing a shadow of plausibiUty, which was brought
under its notice. Among these schemes were two as to
which reference was made to me.
The first of these was a plan for making the river
Godavery navigable. It was said that the interior of the
Peninsula was full of cotton fields, only Avanting an outlet
to the coast to freight any number of ships for the English
market. This outlet was supposed to present itself at the
mouth of the Godavery, a stream pouring into the sea the
water of several rivers having their heads in the Western
Ghauts, and therefore delivering, during the south-west
monsoon, an enormous body of water. The Government,
under the advice of Colonel Sir Arthur Cotton, had
availed itself of this supply of water to irrigate a large
portion of the delta at the mouth of the river ; and some
four or five hundred thousand acres had already been
brought under cultivation, while it was proposed to
increase this amount to nine hundred thousand or a
miUion acres.
Eough sketches and estimates had been made of the cost
of the Avorks required to make the river navigable during
a portion of the year, and the Government, under pressure
from England, had somcAvhat hastily accepted these plans
and estimates, and had already commenced Avork at some
distance up the ri\'er. I was in no respect inclined to
believe that a river, such as the Godavery was described
to me, could be made navigable for a distance of four

POUTS FOR SHIPPING COTTON. 85
hundred miles for the sum stated in the estimates ; but I
was unwilling to express any opinion upon the scheme till
I had seen the river, and had a conference with the
engineer. Shortly after my return from Calcutta, I made
arrangements for a trip to Coconada, a township, rather
than a town, at the mouth of the Godavery ; and I pro
posed to push up the river as far as I could, in order to
enable me to see with my own eyes the state of the lower
portion, and to form my own judgment of its capabilities.
The next scheme pressed upon me Avas the formation of
a harbour at Sedashegur, on the Avest coast of the Penin
sula, a httle south of the Portuguese settlement of Goa.
It was supposed that the cotton grown on the plains of
Dharwar, which are above the Ghauts, and about eighty
mUes distant from Sedashegur, would find an easier outlet
from that port than from Bombay.
Here, again, the scheme — which embraced the making
of a road through a feverish jungle for eighty miles,
rising some two thousand five hundred feet, the formation
of wharves, landing places, &c., the probable construction
of a breakwater in deep water, to shelter the harbour
from the sea brought in by the south-west monsoon —
Avas undertaken upon the loosest possible data. The
slightest inspection of the plans and soundings Avas sufficient
to convince me that the difficulties which Avould be en
countered were enormous, and that, when everything had
been done to form the harbour, there Avould be httle or
no traffic to justify the outlay.
The work, however, had been commenced ; that is,
men were employed in making the road up the Ghaut,
but no definite plan had been submitted to the Govern -
ment, nor had it the most distant conception of the
probable cost of the work which it had been forced to
undertake. In the meantime complaints had been made by those
interested in the cotton supply, that the Government of

86 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Madras, in whose territory Sedashegur was situated, had
not pushed on the work of road-making with suffi
cient activity ; and it was suggested to the Government
at home that the territory in connection with the
harbour, including a large portion of the district of North
Canara, should be transferred from Madras to Bombay,
on the ground that the proximity of the Government of
that Presidency would enable it to exercise a more
efficient superintendence over the work. It Avas in vain
that I pointed out the objections to the transfer of a
people living under one system of government to another
differing altogether in all the details of local management ;
the pressure brought upon the Government at home was
such as to override all local considerations. I determined,
however, to visit the place as soon as the south-west
monsoon had blown itself out, and in the meantime to
content myself with directing the . engineers to push on
the work which they had already in hand as quickly as
possible. The following letters will explain the state of things on
the Godavery in the summer of 1861.
To F. G. Denison, Esq.
Madras, .July 16, 1861.
My dear Frank, — Since I wrote to you, Ave — that is S-

and I, your uncle, and others of my staff — have had a run
to the north to visit the Godavery, Avhich, after draining a
large section of the central part of the Peninsula, runs into
the sea at a point about two hundred and fifty miles north
of Madras. We embarked on board the ' DaUiousie,' a
Government steamer, which, OAving either to bad coals or
a foul bottom, could make but little Avay, and we were
thirty-six hours making tAvo hundred and fifty miles with
the help of steam, the south-Avest monsoon, and a current
of upwards of a mile per hour. The heat was dreadful
below; on deck, by means of a double awning, Ave

PLANTING SHIPS. 87
managed to keep ourselves comfortable ; but my attempt,
on the first night, to sleep in my cabin was a fatal mistake :
I was nearly melted, and had to get up in the middle of the
night, and finish my nap on a chair on deck. All the rest
slept on the deck as a matter of course, S  and her
maid having a sort of tent of flags made for them. The
Godavery has made for itself a delta, extending about
thirty miles in depth, and it keeps pouring an immense
quantity of mud into the sea during the south-west mon
soon ; so that the (so caUed) harbour of Coconada is pushed
farther to the north every year. We had to anchor about
two miles fi'om the shore ; and, as it was quite calm, a small
canal steamer came to take us from the ' Dalhousie.' As
we had but little time to spare, I, instead of landing at
once, pushed up the Coringa river (one of the branches or
outlets of the Godavery) for some distance. This I found
to be one of the harbouring places of the native craft ;
there were about seventy or eighty vessels, varying from
two hundred to six hundred tons, aU laid up in dock in a
curious manner. The shore is quite low and flat, so a
sort of ditch is scooped out of the silt, big enough to allow
the ship, when quite light, Avith only lower masts on board,
to enter. As soon as she is weU in, a dam is made across
the mouth of the ditch, and water is pumped in from the
river tiU the vessel floats high enough to get her keel
above low water. She is then temporarily shored up, the
water allowed to flow out, any repairs Avhich she may re
quire are executed ; and then the earth is banked up
against her, and the shores withdrawn, so that she looks
as if she was growing out of a potato ridge. But what a
set of sailors they must be to lose the use of their vessels
for six months in the year for fear of the monsoons ? Do
you recollect in the account of St. Paul's voyage to Eome
it is said, ' for sailing was now dangerous, because the fast
was now already past ' ? Here, after June 15, the south-
Avest monsoon is supposed to bloAV, and no native vessel

88 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Ukes to keep the sea. In point of fact, the natives are
doing now exactly what their fathers have done for the
last two thousand years ; and I have no doubt that if Ave
could transport ourselves back to the time of St. Paul, we
should have seen ships planted on the banks of the same
river, and in the manner I have just described. The dodge
of raising the vessel by pumping in water may be of some
use to you hereafter, so lay it up in one of the pigeon-holes
of your memory, to be in readiness when you want it.
We went from Coconada, up one of the irrigating channels,
in a small steamer, to the head of the delta. The people
were all employed getting in their paddy or- rice crop,
the floods in the Godavery having supplied water enough ;
so they were, what they call ploughing, in the water, with
a sort of wooden implement dragged by two buUocks,
which merely scratched the surface of the ground, tearing
up the weeds, and leaving the entrance clear for the water.
After this was finished, more water was admitted, and the
women were turned in to dibble in the paddy plants, which
had been grown in a sort of forcing ground, or seed-bed.
They were stooping down under a vertical sun, with hands
and feet in the water and mud, while a man stood on the
narrow embankment with his feet dry, seeing that they
did their work. We were glad to get on board the
' Dalhousie ' again, but we were sixty hours making our
way back to Madras. Your affectionate Father,
W.D.
To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Madras, July 15, 1861.
My dear Willy, — Our trip up the Godavery was
interesting, though not very pleasant. I saAV a good deal,
and learnc d a good deal. We have been dealing with
this river for the last sixteen years, have used it to furnish
water for irrigation, and are now thinking of doing some-

GREAT DAM ON THE GODAVERY. 89
thing to keep the sUt out of the harbour, and to enable
us to get up the river, and use it as a means of internal
communication. The irrigation Avorks have been skilfully constructed: the
great anient, or dam, which crosses the river at the head
of the delta, for the purpose of raising the water to the
level required for irrigation, is a stupendous work. The
river at the point where this had to be placed is four
miles wide, divided into four channels ; and these four have
a total water way of two miles and a half The bottom
of the river is of shifting sand, and the time for work
ing did not exceed seven months in each year. Yet, in
the face of these difficulties, and of the risk of damage by
the floods, Avhich rise during the monsoon from twenty to
twenty-five feet or even more, the dam was completed,
with sluices and appendages, in three years, and has re
quired but little repair since. Here and there it has been
necessary to fill in rough stone, so as to maintain the apron
in rear of the dam, or at places where the action of the fiood
has scoured away the sandy bottom ; but there has been
no accident of importance for years. The dam is com
posed of two stout walls parallel to each other, and some
fifty feet apart. Each of these walls is founded upon
' wells.' In England we should use wooden piles, but
timber is scarce and dear in India, and these weUs are a
common and convenient foundation. A brick weU about
three feet in diameter and six or eight feet deep, is built
on a curb of timber, and is sunk into the ground gradually
by excavating the earth or sand inside. When this is done,
another is placed alongside of it, a space of about six inches
being left between the brick rings of the tAvo. The whole
line of the foundation is thus filled with wells, two or more
rows being used in proportion to the thickness of the wall ;
and these are packed with rough stone or concrete, and
make a set of stout legs upon Avhich the heavy weight of a
building may rest securely. The friction of the large

90 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
surface of the brickwork, and the broad foot of the well
filled with concrete, effectually prevent any settlement from
the mere pressure of the mass ; aU that has to be guarded
against is the action of the water washing away the sand
from underneath and between the wells. This was especially
to be dreaded at the dam of the Godavery, for, in the first
place, the river was raised tAvelve feet ; and, in the second,
there was, during flood time, a rush of upAvards of twenty
feet of water over the dam, which bid fair to carry every
thing away ; however, an apron of rough stones, both
above and beloAV the dam, has prevented this. The most
serious action took place when there was an eddy close to
the junction of the dam with the wall containing the under
sluices. Here the water worked, in a ver}' short time, a hole
thirty feet in diameter, which swalloAved up some thousand
tons of stone. We went up the river about sixty miles
beyond the head of the delta, getting well into the heart
of the mountains, and through a narrow gorge, about five
miles in length, where the river, prcA'iously half a mUe in
width, is reduced to two hundred and fifty yards, the
mountains rising 2,500 feet above it on both banks. These
hills are coA^ered with jungle, bamboo, and fine tamarind
trees at bottom, teak and other timber higher up. Their
appearance struck us, at first, as very picturesque, but, in
a little time, the sameness of form and colour became
oppressive, and Ave began to crave for some evidence of
life, for the small huts of the natives Avere too fcAv in
number, and too small, to give any character or break to
the landscape. These native vUlages occupy the small
vaUeys or, rather, gorges opening on the riA'er, and are
poor and miserable-looking ; there is hardly any appear
ance of cultivation about them. The people earn their
living, I was told, by felUng teak and bamboos, Avhich
they float down the river in flood time. The teak is
heavy, and is supported by a raft of bamboos. Tigers
are so numerous in these jungles that every viUage is

TIGER HUNTER. 91
surrounded by a good bamboo fence or stockade, about
ten feet high, for the protection of the people as well as of
their cattle. The Government gives a premium for tiger
and cheetah skins, at a rate sufficient to induce people to
hunt these animals. When we were at Coconada, a
hunter brought in to the collector three tiger skins (male,
female, and cub), and also a cheetah or leopard skin, for
which he received about sixty rupees. I examined his
gun, and such a weapon you never saw : it was so thin at
the muzzle that it Avas spht in various directions ; it had
a miserable flint lock, and was fastened to the stock
in aU sorts of ways, the original holdings having given
Avay. I honoured his courage much, in trusting his life
to such an instrument. I should have been afraid to fire
it off, and should never have dreamed of confronting a
tiger Avith it. Good night, my dear boy.
Your affectionate Father,
W.D.
Miss Denison to F. G. Denison, Esq.
Madras, July 15, 1861,
My dear Frank, — Papa tells me that he has given you
an account of our visit to the Godavery, and all the scenery,
business, &c. of our little tour. I have only, then, the
little miseries to enlarge upon, and among these the
insects are the most prominent. Such a place for these
I never saw. The gentlemen of the party went from
Coconada to DoAvlaishwaram by day in a steamer. Lady
Cotton, Eosalie, and I following in a canal boat. We
started about dusk, and as soon as the sun was fairly down,
out came cockroaches of aU sizes in swarms. Wlien tea
came, I climbed up on the roof of the cabin to be out
of their way, and I would not have a candle for fear it
should attract them ; but by the starUght I could make
out myriads of little black things careering in and out of
my plate, which, as you may suppose, rather damaged my

92 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
appetite. How we were to sleep was the question in my
mind ; but, to my astonishment and reUef, about ten
o'clock they all disappeared, retirmg, I suppose, for the
night. We sat in the cabin for some time after this, and
only saAV one or two of patriarchal size, wandering about
as if to see whether all their chUdren had gone to bed.
I had no idea they kept such early hours, and treasured
up the fact for my comfort in future, for, as Spreadborough
says, ' I can't abide varmint.' Our experience in insect
habits, however, was by no means over. The next day
we passed DowlaisliAvaram ; in the day time I found only
some many-footed crawling creatures on the walls of my
room, and a good many ants on my floor, but in the
morning, when I woke, I heard a regular drip, drip, on
the floor, and imagined that rain was coming in ; but
when I got up, I found that a swarm of large ants had
come in by the hole in the wall through which my
punkah rope went, had crawled along the rope for a
certain distance, and all dropped on the floor at the same
spot, luckily about tAvo feet or so fi'om my head. The floor
was quite black with them in a round spot about tAvo
feet across, from which lines radiated in every direction.
I got away, however, without being bitten, di-essed in a
hurry, and went off, nearly sick, from finding at the last
moment the decomposed remains of a great crawling
animal in the water-bottle I had been using. The climax
came the next night. We steamed up the river very plea
santly, looking about aU the day for deer, peacocks, and
alligators, all of which we were told were plentiful either
on the banks or in the river, but of which we only fancied
we saw one alligator. We anchored at night in a narrow
gorge, with steep lofty banks, but no sooner had we lighted
our candles than we found ourselves in the very midst
of a tremendous SAvarni of Avinged creatures of A-ai'ious
kinds, chiefly white ants ; they flcAV into the candles,
dropped into our tea, and buzzed in our hair ; they dropped

INSECTS. 93
their wings and crawled over us, looking like nasty little
grubs of some kind, for they have not the shape of ants ;
it was lucky that they have not the pugnacity of ants,
or they would have been the death of us. We passed
but an uneasy night, and, to add to our discomfort, the
only water for washing was that which we got from the
river, and as this was in flood, it brought down such a
quantity of mud that we were obliged to let it stand to
settle for a time, and then had to skim it carefully, so as
not to disturb a sediment of about two inches thick at
the bottom of the bucket. We were right glad to get on
board the ' Dalhousie ' again, for this was, when compared
with our small steamer, a perfect palace.
Your affectionate Sister,
S. M. D.
To Major-General Sandham.
Madras, July 14, 1861.
My dear Sandham, — Thanks for your letter : I am
very glad that you met my wife in town. I am anxious
that she should see as many of my old friends as pos
sible, that she may give me an account of their appear
ance, and assure them that they are not forgotten. Do
you know that it almost makes amends to me for the
absence of my wife to find that she has had such a kind
and cordial welcome from everyone, and that she so
fuUy appreciates it? Her letters show how happy she has
been ; she will bring back with her a host of remem
brances of kindly feelings and expressions, which will
serve her to feed upon during the remainder of her stay
in India.
I have just returned from a trip up the Godavery, where
works have been carrying on for several years for the
irrigation of the delta. These consist of a dam, some
four miles in length, at the head of the delta, which
raises the water into the irrigating channels. I could

94 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
see but Uttie of the dam itself, as the water was going
three feet six inches over the crown, but I got sight
of the wing walls, sluices, and locks. These were all
plainly and solidly built ; they had been lucky in finding
good lime pretty close to the work. The arrangements
for dredging the irrigation channels, into which the river
brings an immense quantity of sUt, the repair of steam-
tugs, &c., has made it necessary to establish a large work
shop at Dowlaishwaram, close to the dam ; and the sappers,
who were originaUy sent up to assist in the work, have
their head-quarters there. I did not visit the barracks ;
it Avas too hot to venture out during the day ; but I shaU
come up later if I can, when the river is lower, and have
a better look at the Avorks. There are four companies of
sappers at head-quarters, and ten altogether ; but their
organisation is an imperfect one, and Avill require revision.
At present they are under the command chiefly of officers
of the line, with a few young officers of engineers inter
spersed. From DowlaishAvaram we pushed up the
river about sixty miles, as I Avished to form some idea
of its prospects as a means of internal communication.
It certainly is a fine stream, bringing down a body of
water about a mile in width at twenty miles above
DoAvlaishwaram. Wliat avUI it do Avhen the Avater is
twenty feet over the dam instead of three or six ?
Imposmg, hoAvever, as the river noAV seems, it is for six
months and upwards, a mere bed of sand, having a
shaUow stream about two hundred yards Avide meandering
about it, at the rate of about a thousand yards per hour,
more or less ; so that for those months all navigation,
either up or down, Avould be impossible, unless one could
bottle up some of the flood Avater, and let it out during
the dry season. I think I must send you a copy of my
memorandum upon the reconstruction of the Indian
native army. In the opinion of nearly everyone to whom
I have spoken, not excej)ting Lord Canning, the attempt

NAVIGATION OF THE GODAVERY. 95
to transform all the native force into ' Irregulars ' will be
a complete failure. Of course the captains, who look
forward to be selected and placed in command of regiments,
are rejoiced at the prospect of promotion ; but every man
who is capable of analyzing the details of the scheme, and
who has moral courage enough to express an unfavourable
opinion of a proposition emanating from the Government,
says that it will destroy the army instead of improving it,
and that it wiU be accompanied with great risk to our
supremacy in India. For my own part, I do not in the
least comprehend what the staff corps is to do, or how it
is to proAdde means for selecting the regimental officers,
when there is nobody left to select from ; and no one has
been able to enlighten me as to this.
Eemember me most kindly to Mrs. Sandham and aU
old friends. Yours very truly, W.D,
My visit to the Godavery, and the enquiries Avhich
resulted from it, showed me very clearly that the whole
project had been hastily got up, without due thought or
consideration ; that it had been paraded before the mer
chants and cotton-manufacturers, as an easy and cheap
means of bringing down to the coast the (supposed)
enormous produce of Central India ; and that the Govern
ment, pressed by the manufacturing interest in England,
and deluded by the promises held out to it by the
engineers in India, had plunged hastily into the scheme,
more, I imagine, with the wish of stopping the mouths of
people in England, than with any definite idea of the mode
in which a system of internal navigation of 450 miles in
length could be completed. I soon found that the en
gineers had but a very slight knowledge of the state of the
river ; they had a general survey, or rather sketch, of the
whole, and were aware of the existence of three prominent

96 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
difficulties, in the shape of rapids, to be overcome, and of
one of these rapids there was a middling survey ; but
their plans partook of the vagueness of their knowledge :
they were the hasty suggestions of an inventive mind,
pressed to devise some mode by which the two parties in
terested in the completion of the undertaking could, if not
be satisfied, yet have a glimmering of hope held out to
them. It was proposed to surmount the special difficulties
mentioned above, in the ordinary manner, by making
canals round the rapids, with locks to enable the up traffic
to ascend the river, while it was supposed that the down
traffic Avould be able, for several months in the year, to
shoot the rapids. It was also proposed to retain a quantity
of the rainfall of the south-west monsoon in the valleys of
the rivers discharging themselves into the Godavery, and
to let this water free during the dry season, for the pur
pose of keeping up such a supply in the river as would
secure a depth of three or four feet of water in the shaUow
parts, and thus enable the traffic to continue during a
part, at all events, of this season of drought. I sent for
the engineer, and had several intervicAvs with him ; I cai'e-
fuUy examined all his plans, and listened to all he had to
say in support, or in explanation, of his schemes. The
plans Avere evidently framed on very insufficient data ;
there were no proper surveys or levels of the river ; the
information respecting the amount of labour available or
procurable, the cost of this labour, the quaUty, quantity,
and price of materials, were all vague and indefinite ; all,
in fact, was purely hypothetical. I also differed in opinion
with the engineer as to the general principle to be adopted,
my feeUng being that it would be more advisable to make
the river navigable in the ordinary manner, by turning it
into a set of pools or basins, by means of dams from dis
tance to distance Avith a set of locks at each dam to lift
the vessels from the lower to the upper pools, than to
plunge into a scheme the expense of which, though ap-

NAVIGATION OF THE GODAVERY. 97
parently much smaUer than that of the more perfect plan,
could never be estimated, and the success of which was
dependent upon the establishment of large reservoirs of
Avater at the heads of streams running through a coun
try not belonging to us. I came also to the conclusion
that we had no sufficient data to enable us to form the
slightest reliable approximation to the probable return
from the traffic up and down the river.
The investigations which I made led to a long corre
spondence between myself, the Secretary of State, and the
Government of India, but nothing very definite resulted
from this. I requested to be relieved from the responsi
bUity of superintending, nominally, a work beyond the
limits of my OAvn Government, and eventuaUy the charge
was transferred to the Commissioners of the Centi'al
Provinces. I have lately heard that the work is very
much in the state in which it was some six years ago ; that
but little more is known of the river itself, or of the
probable traffic ; that the estimates have gone on gradually
increasing. In fact, the Godavery navigation must be
classed as one of those loose suggestions which an engineer,
strong in the conviction of his own power to overcome
difficulties, is apt to press upon a Government or a com
pany. These, when money is cheap and labour plentiful,
may be successfully carried out ; but they had better be
postponed till capitahsts can be found willing to speculate
upon possible, but improbable, returns. Yours, &c.
Miss Denison to F. G. Denison, Esq.
Ootacamund, Aug-ust 12, 1861.
My dear Frank, — ^We left Madras on the 26th of last
month, for the Neilgherry hills. We had a special train as
far as Salem, a pretty httle town two hundred mUes from
Madras, where we arrived about two o'clock, rather hot
and terribly dusty, and drove to the house of the Collector
VOL. n. H

98 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
(chief magistrate and general gi-eat man) of the district,
passing under triumphal arches and strings of leaves hung
across the street. Papa, the children and I were lodged
in the house; Dr. S  , his daughter, the private
secretary, and an aide-de-camp, in large comfortable tents,
pitched in front of the house and joined to it by covered
passages, decorated very prettily with banana leaves and
boughs. We remained there three days, as papa had to
pay a visit to the Shevaroy hills, a sort of resort for the
people of Madras in hot Aveather. We drove through the
town the evening of our arrival, amidst the shrieks and
groans (for their attempt at a cheer always was a sort of
yell) of several thousand natives. Of course papa had to
stop at one place to put on an immense necklace and
bracelets of white and pink floAvers, very prettily made,
but not becoming, and smelling too strong to be pleasant.
Papa went the next day up to the Shevaroys, where he
slept in the house of a coffee-planter, returning early the
folloAving morning, and before we started for the hills he
held a durbar in a tent in front of the house. In the
afternoon we started on the railway, whicli took us up to
a place called Sunkerrydroog, about tAventy-five miles fi'om
Salem, beyond which it was not as yet ready for traffic.
There we found our ' transits' AAvaiting for us, and a crowd
of coolies whose business it Avas to transfer our baggage
from the train to the transits ; but their work seemed light,
or they made it so, for Mr. Y  saAv four of them
each take up one pith tumbler (covered cases of pith, each
holding a large tumbler of iced Avater), put it on his head
and march off with it, quite satisfied that he had his fair
load. You wiU ask, perhaps, Avhat a 'transit' is? It looks
like a bathing-machine, but is a tAvo-Avheeled carriage on
springs. It is difficult to get into, at least Avith a crinoUne,
as the door is behind, at a good height from the ground,
and the bed, which fiUs up the Avhole inside, comes up to

TRANSIT TRAVELLING. 99
half the height of the door. Once in, however, it is fairly
comfortable when the roads are good, but, as they are not
generaUy in very good order, the shaking is something
awful, and the only mode of securing any comfort is to
surround oneself with pillows, and give oneself up to be
tossed and shaken like dice in a box. We started off,
papa leading, but Ave had not gone far when a heavy
thunderstorm burst upon us. I became very uneasy
about my poor parrot, which was in front on a sort of box-
seat, and Avas getting very Avet. The little birds I got in,
cage and all ; but poll's cage Avas too big to come through
the opening. Of course the stupid creature Avould not
understand what I Avanted, or appreciate my motives ;
and it was only after a long struggle, and getting very
wet, and a good deal bitten, that I pulled him out of the
cage, and got him into the transit, looking very draggled
and sulky. My bed, too, got Avet in the struggle. I had
not long finished my battle with the parrot when I found
myself stopping, and was told that the thunderstorm had
filled a nullah or water-course, and changed it into a
torrent, which they were afraid to cross. Of course there
was a great deal of yelling and noise, in the midst of
which I heard Mr. B  order my driver to try the
streani, and in we splashed. We soon stopped, however,
turned round and came out again. Papa had apparently
got through the place before the water rose, but the rest of
us were in our transits, on the brink of this muddy stream,
looking rather disconsolately at each other. It would haA'e
been amusing had I not been a little uneasy about the
result. The torches were flaming and smoking, and throw
ing odd gleams of light on the trees, a:nd on the faces of the
drivers and bullocks. I could make out through the
clatter that our gentlemen wanted some of the natives to
try the depth of the stream by wading in, but this they
were not at all willing to do ; but, after a time, I saAV
Mr. B  himself wading in, foUowed at some distance by

100 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
a frightened ' mussaulchee ' or torch-bearer, whom he was
in vain beckoning forward. After a time I heard a splash
and a sort of struggle, and Mr. B  was, I believe,
nearly carried down the stream. This, however, did not
seem to disturb him much, for I saw him in a few minutes
coolly sauntering back to his own transit, affording a most
complete illustration of the difference between the
Englishman and the native. We were now rather in a
mess, I thought ; we had fifty mUes to go, and had only
done seven or eight. Papa had got over the stream, and
would not know what had become of us. The roads
were heavy with the rain, and four miles an hour is the
utmost to be got out of bullocks at the best of times.
However, the storm passed over, and the stream ran down
as fast as it rose, so that in about an hour or so we
were able to get across. We found papa waiting for us at
a place called Bowany, where the road crosses both the
Cauvery river and the Bowany, by two fine bridges. Both
streams were running fuU, and the sight, even by night,
was fine. Papa had been in for more than two hours ;
he had got his writing-case out, and was Avriting away
very philosophically, feeling pretty certain that we should
come up. We had some tea at this place, and then
pushed on, getting to our bungalow at about nine o'clock,
where we stopped during the heat of the day. We started
again about two p.m. and by eight o'clock reached Coim-
batore, a distance of twent3^-four miles, where we put up
¦at the house of the CoUector. I must send you the
account of our journey up the ghaut in my next letter.
Your affectionate Sister,
S. M. D.
The same.
Ootacamund, August 15, 1861.
My dear Frank,— I must take up my parable from
Coimbatore, Avliere my last letter brought us. We stayed
there that night and the next day, and it Avas arranged

UP THE GHAUT. 101
that we should set off in our transits at ten o'clock at
night, so as to reach MetapoUiam in time to get up the
Coonoor Ghaut before the sun got hot. There was, how
ever, a large dinner party. Then we, that is the ladies,
had to change our dresses before starting, and we were
just thinking of retiring to do so, when we Avere suddenly
summoned to prayers. I am afraid we" were not quite
weU disposed for this, as we were in a hurry to start.
However, there was no help for it, and we all knelt down
in rather an improper frame of mind, to follow, if possible,
a lengthy extempore prayer. Dr. S  , whose uncon
cealed appreciation of personal comfort is one of the
most amusing things about him, was particularly put out,
for, being taken by surprise, he unfortunately placed him
self in a corner, out of reach of the punkah, and between
the heat and the desire to get on with our journey, his
impatience for the end of the proceedings became irre
pressible, and vented itself in a sonorous Amen, to Avhicli
he gave utterance at every pause in the prayer, by way
of a hint that it Avas time to conclude. We got off, how
ever, at last, and went on in our transits to a place caUed
MetapoUiam, Avhere there is a bungalow. Here we put on
our riding habits, as well as we could by the light of a
tallow candle stuck in a bottle, and went on again about
five miles to the foot of the ghaut, where we found our
horses Avaiting. The ride up is charming, though it is
steep towards the end, and was hot ; but the scenery is
beautiful, and the delight of feeling a fresher breath of air
at every turn, and seeing the hot glaring plains further
and further below and behind, is something only to be
appreciated after some months' experience of the Indian
hot season. We reached the top of the ghaut, at about
ten o'clock, nearly a couple of hours later than Ave ought,
and were kindly received by Mr. and Mrs. Arbuthnot,
who occupied a cottage beautifully situated on a hUl look
ing doAvn the ghaut. No description could give you any

102 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
idea of the character of the scenery, so I shall not attempt
it. We remained at Coonoor tiU Saturday afternoon. On
Friday we had a very pleasant ride to a point caUed
Lady Canning's seat, from Avhich there is a beautiful view
up, down, and across the ghaut. We made our way back
to Coonoor by a different path, and Dr. S  had the
most terrible-looking fall I ever saw. He was riding a
large, clumsy, CAve-necked horse, and as we were going
along a narroAv path on the side of a steep hiU, he stopped
to gather a flower. His horse backed just as he stretched
out his hand for this purpose ; ils hind legs Avent over a
high bank of stone Avhich supported the road, and it fell
backAvards. Dr. S  was throAvn, luckily, clear of the
animal, but both rolled down the face of the hUl for some
thirty or forty feet, and it seemed to me that the horse
rolled over him. I was terribly frightened, thinking he
must be kiUed. Papa, hoAvever, and Uncle Charles were
off their horses in a moment, and scrambled down to him,
and found him a good deal shaken and bruised, with a
cut on the back of his head. It Avas a great mercy that
the side of the hill happened to be covered thickly Avith
shrubs, AA-hich broke his fall. It took four people to get
him up to the path again, the hill Avas so steep ; Uncle
Charles and papa supported him, one on each side, while
two others helped to pull them up. The horse was not
injured at all.
On Saturday afternoon we started with a large caval
cade to ride over here. General B  and his staff and
several officers accompanied us, Avhile others met us as
we approached Ootacamund, aud escorted us to our neAV
home, Avhich is comfortable, and cool enough to require
fires always in the evening and pretty often during the
day. Your affectionate Sister,
S, M. D.

BARRACKS AT WELLINGTON. 103

To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Ootacamund, August 11, 1861.
My dear WiUy, — S  will have given you an account
of our movement from Madras to this place. We are
here perched up about 7,500 feet above the sea, almost
at the southern extremity of the northern portion of the
backbone of the Peninsula, upon a sort of buttress. We
drop down at least 6,000 feet to the plain, Avhich extends
about forty miles to the point where the mountains rise
again, leaving a distinct gap in the chain, of not more
than twelve hundred feet in height, and of which the rail-
Avay has taken advantage. The hills to the south of this
gap are from five to six thousand feet above the sea, and
continue nearly to Cape Comorin. On my way from
Coonoor to this place, I went to visit a large range of
barracks, intended to contain a thousand men ; these were
built for a regiment of European infantry, and were oc
cupied, when I went there, by a battalion of the 60th
Eifles. The barracks were placed here, not that there
was any need of a regiment on these hiUs, but because it
Avas a healthy place. The consequence is that a sum of
180,000/. has been throAvn aAvay altogether. I have stated
that I have no occasion for a regiment at this place, and
the result will be that the barracks will either be left to go
to ruin, or be converted to some purpose for which it is
not well fitted. All these mistakes are the result of our
departmental system. We throw more responsibility upon
the heads of the military departments than they can or
ought to be made to bear, and we do not hold them re
sponsible for failures. Here military considerations have
been absolutely ignored, and aU that the proposers of
these barracks have looked to is the health of the soldier —
a very important thing, no doubt, and one to have every
attention paid to it at the place where the soldier is wanted;

104 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
but Avhich ought not to influence, except in a very
secondary way, the selection of the position where he can
be made most available. Your affectionate Father, W.D.
To Mrs. Stanley. Ootacamund, September 1, 1861.
My dear Mrs. StaiUey, — We have, as my date wiU shoAV,
fled from the heat of Madras, Avhere the temperature
varied from 82° at night to 98° during the heat of the
day. The effect of the change of temperature upon the
children is very marked ; they have picked up both flesh
and colour, and are twice the boys they Avere a month
ago. It is different, howevei', with our servants ; we are
obliged to treat them as exotics, to clothe them warmly,
and watch over them as hot-house plants ; and, after all,
they look miserable and pinched. It is by no means
uncommon to find several very iU from a change to the
hiUs from the warm plains. Here we have many Enghsh
floAvers and vegetables, and a fcAV fruits ; yet, by riding
twelve miles, I can place myself in the midst of pine
apples, nutmegs, cinnamon, &c., in a tropical climate.
The south-west monsoon blows heavily against us, bring
ing with it a steady drizzle, and sometimes heavy rain ;
but the great mass of the rain discharges itself on the
west face of the hUls, where from 120 to ISO inches is
the average downfall in three months, AvhUe here Ave do
not get more than 60 inches. We luiA-e our gallop every
day, in spite of the rain, sometimes after jackal, sometimes
merely exploring. Luckily the ground is covered with a
strong coarse turf, upon which there is no fear of sUppiug ;
the roads, where this is cut aAvay, are very greasy and
shppery. I am Avorking at various matters connected Avith the
Government and the people ; but I have a hard fight with

CLINGING TO OLD CUSTOMS. 105
the authorities in England. They wUl insist that every
thing which is good for Englishmen must necessarily be
good for the rest of the world ; that men are men, whether
they are black or white. Men they are, it is true, acted
upon by the same passions as ourselves, but acted upon
in a very different manner. Then, again, the whole
circumstances of the country are in direct opposition to
those which obtain in England. Here labour is ludicrously
cheap : it is better, that is, cheaper, in many instances to
employ men instead of bullocks, though these cost but
little. Steam is useless here, as I can do everything
cheaper by hand. Then, again, if people get money, they
do not speculate with it, or dream of a savings-bank ; they
purchase jewels and ornaments. Wilson and Sir Charles
Trevelyan thought that if money were made cheap, people
Avould change their habits, and speculate like Englishmen.
I am by no means certain, by the way, that this tendency
to speculate is an unmixed good ; however, good or bad,
it is an entire delusion to fancy that the Hindoo would
follow our example ; the habits of 2,000 years are not so
easily got rid of. The adhesiveness to old customs is one
of the circumstances which presses most forcibly upon an
European when he comes to this country. We, who
change our habits almost every month, cannot conceive
that tenacity of purpose which makes people here cling
to what they have been used to, without the least reference
to the appropriateness ot the tool, or whatever it may be,
for the purpose to which it is applied. It is most
interesting to look at the inner Ufe of these people, and
compare the existing state of things Avith what the Bible
tells us was the condition of the East 3,000 years ago.
The women go to the well to draw water, they grind the
meal in the same hand-mill which was used in the time of
Moses ; no one appears to have ever dreamed of a machine
which Avould cleanse or grind all the meal wanted for the
supply of the village. The corn is threshed or trodden

106 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
out by bullocks ; they have jewels in their ears and noses
as described by Ezekiel. Yet these people, so tenacious
of their customs, Ave believe Avill change their habits
all of a sudden ! I am altogether incredulous. We
flatter ourselves that they are so pleased with our system
of government that they would prefer that we — ahens in
colour, language, customs, religion — should reign OA-er
them, rather than one of themseh'es. Bosh! How should
we like King Mumbo-Jumbo, Avith 100,000 Africans, to set
up his throne in London, and domineer over us ? Certainly,
if they are unUke us in many things, they are like us in this,
that they prefer their relations to strangers. Yours very truly,
W, D.
To Miss Hornby.
Ootacamund, September 6, 1861.
My dear M  , — My letters to L  are now directed
to meet her on her Avay out. I shaU, therefore, give you a
sketch of our proceedings here, in order to keep up the
connection between my joiunal to her, and hers to you.
Tell the Admiral that, as I was ordering some guns for
myself from Nixon, of Newark, I have told my brother to
get an additional double-barrel for Willy. You may
think that an order for guns, in the plural, is rather ex
cessive ; but were you to see the mode in Avhich Ave issue
forth, your surprise Avould cease. We go out in parties
of from six to twelve, each man haA-iug with him a couple
of shikarries or huntsmen ; or, if he cannot afford this,
he has tAvo gun coolies, or common labourers, to carry
his guns, that is, generally, a double-barrelled gun and
ditto rifle. AYe proceed some miles on horseback to our
ground, having sent on before us dogs, beaters, guns, &c.,
and, above all, some luncheon. When Ave have large
covers to beat, Ave employ eighty to a hundred beaters,
and tAventy or thirty dogs, if we can get them. StiU you

SPORT ON THE NEILGHERRIE8. 107
may say, why so many guns ? We have, in the first place,
a variety of game : Ave have a chance of hares, jungle-
fowl, peacock ; and these we must fire at with shot. We
have sambur or elk, jungle-sheep (another kind of deer)
and ibex, and perhaps bison ; for these we want ball. We
have also a chance of a tiger, or a leopard, and for these
we want several balls. For instance, the day before
yesterday, I Avent out early, rode about eight miles,
wounded a sambur, shot a hare, missed a black monkey.
The party came home with one deer, one hare, and one
monkey. As we were riding homeward about six o'clock,
we were stopped by a 'Burgher,' or one of the agricultural
community, who, with frantic gestures, pointed to one of
his oxen, which, he said, had just been killed by a tiger.
There was the ox lying dead by the side of a brook, but
where was the tiger ? He had gone into a small patch of
jungle, from Avhence he would issue at night, and make
his meal comfortably. We had no guns, it was late, and
we Avere riding home fast, so there was nothing to be done
but to promise the man to come out early the next morn
ing, and finish off the tiger, who Avould probably gorge
himself so as not to be desirous to go far after supper.
Eight of us accordingly started early yesterday morning,
got to our ground pretty quickly, and, after a good deal of
consideration, took our places in pairs, so as to command
all the ground around the jungle. The tiger had, as was
expected, dragged the ox into the jungle, and, having
gorged himself, had sneaked off to a quiet spot to digest his
supper. The place Avas pointed out to us by the owner
of the ox, who had been on the watch all night, and had
no intention of allowing the brute who had taken such
hberties with his herd to get off scot free. We began to
beat the jungle ; a number of natives with drums threw
stones into the jungle in front of them, and the dogs beat
all the bushes, but no tiger made his appearance. The
ox Avas found, which turned out to be a yearling, of which

108 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
the tiger had eaten the hind legs and the sirloin. We
then looked about, and conjectured that he had travelled
about a quarter of a mile over a hill to a small jungle ;
and accordingly proceeded to beat this. After a short time
out dashed a leopard, at which no fewer than ten barrels
Avere fired. These turned him back into the jungle, and
he foolishly Avent up a tree, from which he was dislodged
by a ball, or rather half-a-dozen. He then took refuge in a
patch of jungle covering the tAvo sides and bottom of a small
nullah or ravine — it was not more than thirty yards square
— and from this he would not move. That he was alive was
very evident, for he damaged some dogs which ventured
too near him, and made himself heard occasionally by a
savage growl. The question was how to get at him ? We
tried to fire at the spot from AAdience the groAvls came, but
this produced no effect. We then tried to set fire to the
jungle, but it would not burn. At last a Colonel H  ,
who showed more pluck than the rest of us, went doAvn,
with two shikarries in front of him, to open the bush and
enable him to get a sight of the leopard. He caught a
gUnipse of him, and fired a ball ; this was replied to by a
roar, which frightened the shikarries, who, jumping back,
upset Colonel H  and ran over him, setting a number
of others running also : they all thought the animal was
after them. Another shot, hoAvever, from a shikarri
whose eyes were better than ours, finished the animal, and
we brought him home in triumph. We were obhged to
have him watched, or the Burghers would have cut off his
Avhiskers and claws as amulets. We also brought in an
old wild boar Avhich was shot afterAvards. The leopard
is much smaller tlian the tiger, but is said to shoAV more
fight Avhen wounded ; and I can testify to the fact of the
unpleasant sound of his roar when near ; for I was crossino-
the nullah, in order to see Avhether I could not look doAvn
upon him from the other side, Avhen I heard a roar ap
parently not a yard from my ear. I Avas up the opposite

SPORT ON THE NEILGHERRIES. 109
bank in an instant. This is a long explanation of the
necessity of having several guns. I do not intend, how
ever, to get in the way of either tiger or elephant.
September 8. — Tell the Admiral that I killed a fine
sambur yesterday ; a fellow much larger than a red deer.
I sat for two hours waiting patiently while the dogs and
beaters were working down a large cover ; and at last
my shikarri touched me, and pointed to a spot, whispering
' Stag sare ! ' I saw nothing at first, but at last I made
out a pair of horns moving about ; after a little time the
stag moved forward eight or ten yards, and I then fired a
little below what I guessed to be his head, and hit him in
the chest. He plunged round, and I gave him another
ball in the hind quarter ; he got about fifty yards into the
wood, and there the shikarri came up Avith him and
finished him. I brought his head home ; he looked a
monster when on the ground. I am going off to-morrow
for two or three days to a distant part of the district,-
coupling business with pleasure. But this letter must go.
Best love to you all. Your affectionate Brother,
W. D.
To Miss Hornby. Ootacamund, September 28, 1861.
My dear M  •-, — Since I sent off my last letter to you,
I have had a mixed exploring and shooting expedition,
of which I must give you an account. We started early
on Monday, 23, and rode to our camp, stopping Occasion
aUy to beat the sholas or woods near the line of march.
We got to our camp about four o'clock, and found every
thing prepared. I had a subaltern's tent, and, in order that
you may form some idea of how subalterns are treated in
India, I will give you a sketch of it. It was a marquee
eighteen feet square in the inside, with a closed passage
between the outer and inner tents, four feet' in width.

no ^'ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
In this, my bath was placed, my baggage stoAved away,
and my servants lodged. Inside the tent there was
room for a bed, table, dressing-table, three or four chairs
and arm-chairs, &c ; the whole must have been a load for
at least three camels, so you may imagine what a train
must foUow an Indian army. On Tuesday moming we
were up early, and on horseback before six o'clock, in
order to be at the top of Makoortie Peak before the mist
from the Ioav country rose. We rode up the valley of
the Pykara river for tAvo or three miles, crossing the
stream several times. We then began to ascend a spur
by a series of sharp zigzags, and Avere able to ride up till
Avithin about three hundred feet of the top of the peak.
Here Ave had to dismount, and clamber to the top, which
Avas literally a peak, going sheer down on one side to the
depth of seven or eight hundred feet, and sloping rapidly
to the right and left, as well as on the side by which we
ascended. The view from the top was indeed glorious :
to the right, that is, over the precipice, we looked down,
1,500 feet, into a dark valley, on the opposite side of
Avhich rose a peak to about the same height as that on
which Ave stood, having a background of mountains in
the distance. To the front — that is, facing westward — ^Ave
had in the foreground the tAvo other peaks composing the
summit of Makoortie, which means three-peaked : beyond
these the eye dropped at once into the Ioav country of
Malabar, more than 6,000 feet below us. This Avas coA^ered
with alternations -of forest and glade, had hiUs of pecuUar
shapes rising up from the general level, was dotted about
with white fleecy clouds floating three thousand feetbeloAV
us ; and, in the distance, though hardly visible at the time,
was the sea, some seventy niUes aAvay. We turned to the
left, and there Avas a total change of scene. We looked
first over some green slopes descending steeply, and these
led the eye doAvn into a deep and almost black chasm,
beyond which rose the scarped sides of a range of hills

MAKOORTIE PEAK 111
nearly as high as that on which Ave stood, with spurs pro
jecting from them at intervals, the spaces or gorges between
these being of the darkest purple, brought out more
strongly by the contrast between this background and the
light fleecy clouds floating halfway up the slopes, or the
Avhite threads of waterfalls pouring down into the black
abyss below. I never saw such a magnificent scene
before. The peak where we stood is helcl sacred by the
Todas, one of the hill tribes ; from the highest point the
soul of the defunct Toda, accompanied by those of the
buffaloes sacrificed by his friends and relatives, is supposed
to take its last flight, where to I cannot say. The jump is a
grand one. Three of our party commenced sketching
this scene, but it is one to which pencil and brush can
hardly do justice. We had our breakfast at the base of
the actual peak, and intended to return by another route
to the point where we began to ascend, but the mist came
up so thick from the low country that we were glad to
get into the zigzag path by which we came up.
My brother and I started the next morning early to
look after some ibex ; and after a long stalk, I was de
luded into going down a steep hill, at the bottom of which
our shikarries had seen a herd. The going down was easy
enough, though, as we had to keep out of view of the
animals, we had to slip doAvn on our backs. At last I
was planted behind a rock, and there, not twenty yards
from me, was an animal like a horned sheep, lying on a
flat rock. I fired, of course in a hurry, -and missed him I
fired the second barrel as he darted off, and missed him
again ! Just fancy, all this labour for nothing I and just
fancy the intense disgust of the shikarri ; but, above all,
picture to yourself my face when I looked back, and saAV
the hill up which I had to clamber, rising 1,500 feet
above me ! I was thoroughly beat before I g,jt to the top,
and was only too glad to get on my horse and ride home.
We returned here on Thursdav, and found the children

112 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
with colour in their cheeks, and fat and well. I shaU
keep them up here till November l,thatL  may have
a chance of seeing them in good looks.
Your affectionate Brother, W.D.
To Lord Elgin. Ootacamund, October 3, 1861.
My dear Lord, — Will you allow me to congratulate
you on your appointment to the Governor-Generalship of
India, and to express the gratification which it will be to
me to work out in the Madras Presidency those general
poUtical arrangements which you may consider best suited
to the peculiar condition of this great empire ?
I trust that you will, on your Avay to Calcutta, stop at
Madras, and afford me an opportunity of talking over
with you sundry subjects, as to which my views differ
from those of my predecessor ; and with reference to one
of which at least (the location of Europeans in India), I
am almost afraid that I am at issue with the Government
— I mean as to the policy of encouraging the settlement
of Europeans in India. I am aware that there is a great
demand, at present, for the introduction, as it is termed, of
British capital and British science — two very useful articles,
certainly, and if they could be introduced Avithout the in
cumbrance of the owners it would be very Avell ; but the
fact is, as soon as you encourage the settlement of any num
ber of them, they, as was the case Avith the indigo-planters,
get into trouble with the natives, and then call upon the
Government for assistance. I have a number of coffee-
planters in the hills, and Sir C. Trevelyan, after listening to
their complaints, ordered that the Avhole country should be
surveyed, that large sums of money should be expended
upon roads, looking upon it as a step in the way to
what he termed Anglo-Indian colonisation. The result of
these measures has been an outlay considerably in advance

ANGLO-INDIAN COLONISATION, 113
of the receipts from the coffee planters, who only pay to
the Government tAvo rupees per acre upon the area under
crop. Should any outbreak occur, these men will be a
source of weakness instead of strength to the Government ;
I shall be obliged to send troops to protect them, and
thus weaken the force disposable for active operations.
There is another point of view from which I wish you to
contemplate the settlement of Europeans in India. My
experience has shown me that the first step taken by
settlers in a colony is to demand assistance from the
Government, while the second is to claim political privi
leges ; that is, to insist upon representation. I firmly
believe that, with a few scattered people, dotted about
here and there, engaged in mercantile speculations, these
claims might safely be ignored, but when we have them
by hundreds — when the Manchester Cotton Association
multiplies its transactions, and sends agent after agent to
India- — when we have irrigation companies, railway com
panies, &c. &c., we shall be flooded with Englishmen in
no way under control of the Government, and shall find
it difficult to withstand claims Avhich wUl be pressed upon
the Goverument by members of the House of Commons,
some of whom may be political fanatics, but others who
will merely wish to make political capital for themselves
out of any question which may be mooted ; but, whether
fanatic or trading poUtician, each and both wUl be
perfectly ignorant of the state of society in India, or the
operation of the measures which they advocate upon the
Indian people, the mUUons whom we fancy we are about
to leaven with our very minute particle of English yeast.
I have written more at length than I intended, and must
apologise for troubling you ; but I have always liked to
have the views of different minds upon any given subject,
and I have dealt with you as I should have wished to
be treated myself Believe me, yours very truly,
W. Denison.
VOL. II. 1

114 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
In the summer of 1861, I received a copy of the Act
of Parliament making regulations for the establishment of
the Council of the Governor-General and of the Governors
of the Presidencies ; it was, of course, too late to do aught
but record opinions ; and this I did in a letter to the
Secretary of State, bringing forward again my objections
to these heterogeneous legislative bodies, composed partly
of officials and partly of nominees.
I pointed out also to Sir C. Wood, that the Act had been
framed with such ingenious perversity as to limit, or I
might almost say nullify, the power of the local councils
to deal with local matters ; while it yet afforded them an
opportunity of dealing Avith subjects of a more general
character ; so that there would be soon in existence
four bodies, tliree local and one general, each of Avhich
Avould have power to legislate separately upon the same
subjects. ToAA^ards the end of 1861, 1 had to bring before the
Secretary of State some correspondence between the
Government of India and that of Madras, curiously
iUustrative of Avhat I had said a few months before, show
ing hoAV possible it Avas for a local legislature to take a
view altogether different from the Council of the Governor-
General on a given subject, and that a subject of im
portance. Some papers Avere forwarded to me by the Governor-
General, having reference to the sale of Avaste land, and to
the redemption of the existing land revenue or rent, at a
certain number of years' purchase. I believe the subject
was pressed upon the Government by English capitahsts,
who were at that time anxious to invest their money in
land which would, they believed, yield them a large
interest Avhen cultivated Avith cotton, suo-ar, coffee, &c. ;
but with this I had nothing to do. I Avas, however,
directed to have a bill drawn up, giving effect to both
these measures, and it behoved me to consider the subject

GENERAL AND LOCAL COUNCILS. 116
carefully. Now the question of the redemption of the
land revenue had been referred to the Government of
Madras in 1859 by Lord Stanley, and had elicited a
distinct expression of opinion that such redemption would
be unadvisable. I, too, had been thinking over the
subject very carefully in connection with a proposal of
Colonel Baird Smith to make the existing money assess
ment perpetual, and had arrived at the conclusion that
it would be decidedly unwise to sell the assessment ; that
is, to enable the ryot to turn his leasehold into a freehold.
In the teeth, however, of this conviction, I was directed
to bring in a bill, to the principle of which both I and the
members of my Council were opposed. I could, of course,
only send the bill back to the Governor-General Avith a
statement of our objections, and call the attention of the
Secretary of State to thenecessity of defining, more strictly
than had been done, the sphere of action of the different
legislative bodies and Governments. Some two years
afterAvards, further experience of the tendency of the
Councils to take different views of the same subject
led to a proposal, on the part of the Governor-General,
that all attempts at legislation should be submitted, in the
first instance, for his consideration and approval. This
AA^ould have rendered the local legislation a mere non
entity, and the proposal was not acce ded to ; but the
very fact that such a proposal was made is sufficient to
shoAv that this specimen of the collective wisdom of the
nation was by no means faultless.
While I was on the NeUgherries, in 1861, several com
plaints Avere brought before me by the coffee-planters in
Wynaad, a district at the top of the Western Ghauts, but
about three thousand feet below the Neilgherries. The
burden of these was the want of means of communica
tion. The settlers required access to the table-land of
Mysore, on the one side, as from it they procured both
labour and the means of feeding that labour ; to the sea,-
1 2

116 AARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
coast on the other, as from the ports on that coast they
shipped their produce for England and elsewhere.
These complaints, while I did my best to aid and adA'ise
the planters, led me to look closely into the general question
of ' Anglo-Indian Colonisation,' and to consider whether
it was Avise or not to encourage it. The term ' Anglo-
Indian Colonisation ' is one of those high-sounding phrases
which, as my experience has shoAvn me, are generally
used to cover aa attempt to deceive either individuals
or the Government. In the present case, the object
Avas to deceive the Government. There was no attempt
at ' colonisation,' properly so caUed ; the EngUsh capi
talists Avho invested their money in indigo and coffee
plantations were in no proper sense of the AA^ord colonists,
but merely men seeking a profitable investment for the
money lying dead on their hands. The bait held out to
attract the Government Avas the idea that, by giving to
such persons facilities for the investment of capital in
these undertakings, a nucleus Avould be formed, round
which might be gathered an European population, a
population upon AA^hom dependence might be placed in
case of any difficulty or outbreak Uke that of 1857.
I questioned the Avisdom of this policy, for I could not
shut my eyes to thc fact that these detached plantations
Avould be an element of weakness, and not of strength ;
that, instead of helping the Government and banding
together to maintain themseh'es, the Government Avould
have to detach troops to secure them from insult. It is
true that the introduction of European capital into a
country like India, Avhere money is dear, Avould be a
great advantage, and the active brain of the European
would also be of use ; as soon, hoAvever, as the OAvners of
capital and brains congregate together, there is a tendency,
among Englishmen, to corporate action ; and this in India,
and other countries analogously situated, shews itself, not
in joint exertions for the improAcnient of the district, but

ANGLO-INDIAN COLONISATION. 117
in pressing upon the Government claims for special con
sideration ; for large outlays of money from the general
revenue for making roads, &c., and for diminished pay
ment of rent or land assessment. My predecessor had
encouraged these Anglo-Indian colonists, had reduced the
assessment in Wynaad, had set on foot a survey both of
land and titles, in order to simpUfy to them the process of
purchasing land from the natives ; he had also, at the
NeUgherries, established a §'«a5•^-corporate body, for the
purpose of spending, not their own money, but that of the
Government. I had to check this tendency, as leading to
a wasteful expenditure of public money, and as giving
help to those Avho needed it least.
Another objection to the extension of Anglo-Indian
colonisation Avas, to my mind, the tendency oa the part
of Englishmen to claim for themselves political privileges
analogous to those which they possessed in England.
Demands are made for 'representation,' for what they
choose to call their inherent rights as Englishmen ; and
these claims find supporters in the House of Commons,
where few members give themselves the trouble to enquire
whether the existence of such rights is consistent Avith the
peculiar tenure by which Ave hold possession of India.
They look into these questions with reference to the
claims of A or B, and neglect the rest of the alphabet ;
and they never dream of enquiring what took A or B
into a country where he must have been aAvare that he
could not claim any political status.
After thinking over the subject very carefully, the
conclusion I came to Avas, that it would be unwise to
encourage the introduction of any number of Europeans
unconnected with the Government, and still more unAvise
to give to these stray sheep any special political status.
The natives we can govern in the true sense of the word ;
they will not ask to be allowed to govern themselves,
and if they are foolish enough to make such a request,

118 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
there is a very ready and correct answer, ' You are not
able to do so.'
This answer, however, cannot be made to English mer
chants or planters ; they have a natural tendency to insist
upon having something to say to the Govemment of the
country in which they reside, and when they once get
astride upon their political hobby, they lose aU considera
tion for the road on which they ride, or for the other
passengers traveUing along it. The foUowing extract from
a letter of Bishop Heber to Charles Wynn, dated March 1,
1825, will corroborate, to a certain extent, what I have
said above.
' The indigo-planters are chiefly confined to Bengal,
and I have no wish that their number should increase in
India. They are always quarrelling with and oppressing
the natives, and have done much in those districts in Avhich
they abound to sink the English character in the natives'
eyes ; indeed, the general character of the lower order of
Europeans in India is such as to show the absurdity of
free colonisation.'
I can fully bear out the testimony of Heber, and I am
quite certain that the effect of inducing the EngUsh to
settle largely in India Avill be most prejudicial to the
peace, and I may say also to the prosperity, of the country,
as this must be dependent upon the quiet submission of
the people to the Government, which can never be the
case where there is a perpetual blister in the shape of
grumbling settlers irritating the body politic.

JOURNEY TO WEST COAST. 119

CHAPTEE XIX.
JOURNEY TO WEST COAST — RECEPTION AT BEYPORE — SEDASHEGUR —
GAIRSOPPAH PALLS — BISON — TRANSFER OE NORTH CANARA TO BOMBAY^
CORRESPONDENCE ON CONSTITUTION OE LEGISLATIVE COUNCILS — GNEISS
— LIMIT OE THE SOUTH-WEST MONSOON — MANQ.iLORE — GERMAN MISSION
— SMELL OE THE SEA — ITS CAUSE — STEEL WOEKS — BESSEKER PROCESS —
SNAKE BOATS — WUNDOOR — INOPPORTUNE VISIT FROM A RAJAH — RETURN
TO THE NEILGHERRY HILLS — PROPOSED PUBLICATION OF A NATURAL
HISTORY OF INDIA — LADY D  's RETURN TO MADEAS — BALL AT THE
BANQUETING HALL — PRINCE AZEEM JAH — GUINDY PARK.
To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Calicut, October 9, 1861.
Mr Dear Willy, — We left Ootacamund early on the
morning of the 7 th on a trip to the west coast. We
breakfasted at Coonoor, went down the ghaut in the
afternoon, getting into our transits at the bottom, and
reached the CoUector's house at Coimbatore about half-past
eleven at night. We left Coimbatore the next morning,
having to go about four miles to the station, and we started
by train at half-past eleven for the west coast. The road
for about twenty miles was over a very bare country ;
to the south there Avas a brown plain extending some
forty miles to a range of hills which form the continuation
of the Western Ghauts ; to the north, at a short distance,
rose a very marked and peculiar range of hills, varied
both in form and colour, but exhibiting very scanty
evidence of the presence of soil. The rock of which these
are composed is gneiss, tilted up at a very high angle, the
sides being smooth and bare, while in the crevices, where
the edges of the strata collect the water, there is soil and
moisture enough to nourish a few bushes.
The railroad was not complete to the west coast ; we

120 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
had to pass over a break of about seven mUes in bullock
transits, which delayed us a good deal, but we got to
Beypore about half-past six. There we were Avelcomed
with the usual display of lights, flowers, &c. We had to
drive about ten miles to Calicut, where we Avere to take
up our abode Avith the Collector. We crossed the river
on a sort of raft composed of two canoes lashed together ;
the platform forming the raft being very gaily and taste
fully decorated with chains of flowers, bright-coloured
elephant's trappings, and tassels of cocoa-nut leaves twisted
into various shapes. We landed among a crowd of the
native population, a mixfure of Moplas (Mahometans) and
Nairs (Hindoos), and, getting into our carriages, found
the road, for the whole distance to Calicut, crossed at
every fifty yards Avith festoons of flowers, banana leaves
and fruit, &c., while the whole population turned out,
some running by the side of the carriages, Avith torches
of dry cocoa-nut leaves, which they SAvung in a most
reckless way amongst each other's legs and Ught cotton or
muslin garments, others performing all sorts of antics. As
some fell out, others took their places, and the effect was
that of a continuous croAvd for nearly ten miles. I had
no conception that the Mahometan,' AA'hom one is apt to
consider a very staid, sober person, could cut such capers
as some of the Moplas did. To-day I have had the
principal officers of the district Avith me ; to-morrow I have
a durbar, when the natives are to present themselves. We
embark to-morrow evening on board a Government
steamer, Avhich is lying off CaUcut, and sail up the coast
to Sedashegur, which Ave expect to reach on Saturday.
Your affectionate Father,
W. D.

SEDASHEGUR. 121

To F. G. Denison, Esq.
Sedashegur, October 12, 1861.
My dear Frank, — We embarked at Calicut on the 10th,
the vessel, a small Government steamer, lying about a
mile and a half from the shore, in five fathoms water with
a very muddy bottom. We had a pleasant run up here
of about thirty-six hours, sea calm, sea breeze decently
cool. We got here before daybreak. All was clear out
side the Heads, but as soon as we passed these we plunged
into a sea of fog, through which we had some difficulty in
finding our Avay to the anchorage. The ' Feroze,' which is
to take us back, was lying in the bay, as also a surveying
vessel, which had been left here during the whole of the
south-Avest monsoon, in order to test the capabUities of the
place. The captain of this craft did not speak in high
terms of the comfort or safety of his position. Sedashegur
is a sort of bay formed by the projection of Carwar Head,
a bold promontory extending about tAVO miles beyond the
general line of the coast. There is deep water — that is, from
four to five fathoms — close along the north side of Carwar
Head, the ground of which rises a hundred or a hundred
and fifty feet pretty steeply. I fancy that at some no
very distant period Carwar was an island, for the land
connecting it with the coast is quite low ; indeed, it is
nothing but a sand bank rising a few feet above the sea, and
planted with cocoa-nut trees. There are a few islands to
seaward, but these are too small to afford shelter to vessels
against the action of the south-west monsoon, or to break
in any way the heavy sea which rolls in upon the coast
for the three or four months during which this lasts. The
captain of the surveying vessel had anchored as near the
north shore of Carwar Head as he could, but the wind
veered about, sometimes eddying through the gap between
the head and the main land, sometimes getting northing

122 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
into it, and whistling round the head, bringing with it a
nasty short sea which broke about a cable's length outside
of him. Had his ground tackle failed, he must have gone
on shore ; for he could not have Aveathered the islands out
side. As it was, he had held out ; but he told me that two
vessels coming in before the gale, and luffing up to get
into the anchorage, had been caught in the trough of the
sea and gone bodily on shore. I had reported against the
attempt to make this place a harbour upon the sight of
the plans Avhich were sent to me. I am glad, however,
that I came here, and have satisfied myself, on the spot,
that this opinion was a correct one. S  and I are Uving
in a chupper, or cottage run up Avith bamboos and cocoa-
nut leaves ; the front is open to the sea breeze, and it is
much cooler than a tent. The rest of the party — con
sisting of Commodore WeUesley, the Hon. Mr. Frere,
and two of the staff of Sir George Clerk, the CoUector,
Mr. Fisher, and his daughter, and my OAvn companions
— were similarly accommodated, or had tents ; while one
large tent, looking out to seaward and open to the sea
breeze, was our sitting and dining room.
Gairsoppah Falls, October 17. — We left Sedashegur
on the 14th, in the middle of the day, and ran doAvn the
coast about forty miles to the mouth of the river, Avhich
runs into the sea at Honore, where we arrived about four
o'clock. We sent off our servants and baggage at once,
proposing to follow in the evening, and to pull up the river
about twenty-six miles during the night ; but AA'hen it
came to the point, the boatmen objected to cross the
surf in the dark, so Ave could not start tiU the mommg.
We got off about five o'clock, and found no surf to signify ;
and, on seeing the river, I Avas very glad that we had not
lost such beautiful scenery by going up during the night.
There was pretty ground on the banks, partially cleared in
places, and dotted about Avith cocoa-nut trees ; Avhile from
time to time we caught a sight of a high range of hiUs in

GAIRSOPPAH FALLS. 123
the distance. We stopped to breakfast in a cocoa-nut
grove, and quenched our thirst with fresh cocoa-nut milk,
which was cool, and by no means bad when mixed with
a Uttie sherry. We found the boats rather hot, notwith
standing the protection of a sort of after-cabin ; but about
ten o'clock the sea breeze caught us up, and enabled us
to make use of a sort of square sail, both accelerating our
movements and cooling us. We reached the end of
our navigation about one o'clock, landing at the site of
a viUage, the inhabitants of which had some years before
been swept away by fever. We there found ' muncheels,'
or hammocks, slung upon bamboos, ready for us, and as
Ave had no wish to remain longer than necessary in a place
Avith such a character, we started at once. The mun-
cheel is fairly comfortable when you ate once in, but the
getting in is a feat requiring no inconsiderable agility.
The hammock is slung so near to the pole that sitting is
impossible, and one has to wriggle in sideways and lie
prostrate. There is a sort of coA^er to keep off the sun,
and one is carried by four men, who are relieved by four
others from time to time, eight being the number attached
to each muncheel. These men carried us up the ghaut,
a distance of twenty miles, with a rise of 1,800 feet, in
little more than six hours ; and we got to our bungaloAV
and tents, just above the falls, by eight o'clock, having
stopped for half an hour on the way to have some tea,
and rest our bearers.
We got on our arrival as good a sight of the falls as
the light of the moon would admit of ; but next morning
early we Avent across the river above the falls, and break
fasted under an arbour which had been constructed at a
spot from which there was a glorious view of all four
falls. The main, or 'Eajah' fall, drops clear 820 feet;
the next, or the ' Eoarer,' rushes down a sloping crevice
for about 250 feet, and then drops into the pool which
receives the water of the main faU. The third, or the

124 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
' Eocket,' is, if anything, a Uttie higher than the main
fall, but it does not carry such a body of water, and is
broken against rocks. The fourth, or ' La Dame Blanche,'
is split by projecting rocks into several little streams,
which fall gently in wreaths of mist.
In the height of the monsoon the whole four faUs are
merged into one, and a grand sight it must be to see a
body of water at least 300 yards in width precipitated into
such a deep chasm. Below the fall the river is squeezed
in betAveen rocks, and must be a boihng cauldron during
the wet season. The rock over which the river tumbles
is a hard gneiss, tilted up at a high angle ; the stratifica
tion is very marked, and here and there the water finds a
soft bed, as in the case of the ' Eoarer,' and works its Avay
along it. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get a sight
of the falls from such a distance as would enable one to
form any idea of the height ; one is obUged to look at
them from a point so near that, Avhether one looks up or
down, the foreshortening does away Avith the idea of height
or depth. We Avere discussing the propriety of attempting
to descend to get a sight from below, and were almost
inclined to make the attempt, in spite of Avhat we heard
of the leeches which SAvarmed among the wet grass and
shrubs, when the account of a herd of bison, at a distance
of two miles, settled the question for us, and induced us
to get our guns and start off in search of them. The two
mUes kept extending tUl they reached five, and the herd
of bison diminished, till it got to one solitary bull. Hoaa^-
ever, Ave got up to him at last, and having posted our
party so as to ensure a shot to some one, the men began
to beat. After a time the bison came out, about a hundred
yards from me, and about fifteen from V  , my aide-
de-camp. I fired and missed him, but V  fired both
barrels, and certainly hit the animal hard. He managed,
however, to keep on his legs, and got off for the night at
all events ; though, as some men Avere set upon his track,

BISON. 125
they may come up with and finish him. Bisons are said
to have been seen twenty-one hands, or seven feet, high
in the withers ; but I do not think that ours was above
fifteen hands ; I could only see a sort of brownish-grey
mass as big as a horse Avhen I fired. We got back to the
bungalow about six o'clock, very tired. In the evening Ave
let down some blue lights and bundles of blazing straw
in front of the large fall, Avhich lighted it up beautifully.
Your affectionate Father,
W. D.
To Sir George Clerk.^
Sedasbegur, October 15, 1861.
M)^ dear Sir George,^I must steal an hour or so from
Sunday to write to you upon certain matters connected
with this place, and upon one or tAvo other subjects which
I have discussed with Frere. I am sorry that you were
unable to meet me here, and still more that you are in
the hands of the doctors. I feel certain that a few weeks
in the Neilgherries would set you up, and should I not be
there, my house, &c., is quite at your disposal. From
Beypore now you can reach Coimbatore easily in one day ;
the next day would take you to Ootacamund. Nothing
Avould please me more than to think that you had
benefited by such a trip.
Now for Sedashegur. You Avill have heard from the
commodore and from Captain Eraser the facts relative to
the silting up of the harbour, and to the character of the
wind and sea during the monsoon months. A personal
inspection of the place has convinced me that it would bo
most unwise on the part of the Government to commence
any large works under the idea that this might be made
a place of great traffic. In the first place, the engineer
ing difficulties are of a character which it would be im
possible to surmount, unless at a cost far exceeding that
' Governor of Bombay.

136 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Avhich a Government would be justified in incurring ; and,
in the second place, the traffic to and from this place,
shut in as it is by mountains, Avould necessarily be very
limited. A few ships would carry off all the exportable
produce, and fewer still would bring to this place all the
articles which the people in the back country consume.
Mr. H  is one of those men who, in dealing with
large concerns, cannot condescend to the minuti^ of
arithmetic ; and is disposed to think that Dharwar cotton
Avill come down in quantities sufficient to freight a fleet ;
but a Uttie consideration will show the fallacy of this. An
acre of cotton avUI yield, perhaps, fifty pounds of clean
cotton ; that is, forty-five acres wUl produce a ton,
45,000 acres will load a ship, 450,000 acres will load
ten ships. Now it may be, though I doubt it, that
Dharwar Avill yield this quantity ; but Avhen the cultivation
extends over such an area as this, the chances are that it
wUl be found cheaper to take a portion of the produce
to some other port. In fact, each shipping place on the
coast is the receptacle of the produce of a section of
country varying in size in proportion to the facility
of transport. I have had a long talk with Mr. H  as
to the wants of the company, and the best mode of meet
ing them ; and I Avill see that these are at once provided
for ; that is, if they are in any Avay reasonable. Noav as to
the arrangements for the transfer of this district, or a por
tion of it, to Bombay. This, as I told you before, is
strongly objected to by the members of my Council, and
since I have been on the spot, and have heard the reasons
Avhich have been urged in favour of it, I confess I am
quite disposed to agree Avith them. Nothing, it appears
to me, Avould justify such a severance of the relations
Avhich exist betAveen the people and those to Avhom they
have been accustomed to look up, but some very special
necessity ; here there does not appear to be any necessity
at all. Mr. H  , it is true, says that his communications

CONSTITUTION OF LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 127
with the Government will be facilitated if Bombay is to be
his place of reference ; but I cannot think that the con
venience (if indeed it be a convenience) of a single
merchant or firm is to overbalance the wishes and the
convenience of the population at large : besides, as I said
to Mr. H  yesterday, what communication can the
members of a Manchester firm have to make to the Govern
ment ? I have hundreds of merchants dotted about the
country, and they never find it necessary to bother me
with their private affairs. I am afraid that Mr. H  ,
big Avith the idea that he is the representative of the
Cotton Supply Association, will be delivered of a variety
of crude schemes based upon the principle of encourage
ment to cotton, that is protection, very much at variance
with those which were advocated by his principals Avhen
they fought against protection. The further he is from
the seat of Government the better, for the Government at
all events.
Now as to the Legislative Council. I had written
' representative,' I suppose as a sort of foreshadowing of
that to which these legislative experiments would tend.
I talked over with Frere and my principal secretary the
replies to be returned to the queries submitted by the
Governor-General. As to the time of meeting, we agreed
that December, or thereabouts, would answer our purpose ;
Ave decided that the Council should not sit permanently,
but be called together when wanted; Ave sketched out
some of the general rules or standing orders, and came
to an understanding as to the number of members, &c.
There are, however, one or two matters as to which I
should wish to have your views. Frere thinks that you.
are in favour of the introduction of natives, but he does
not profess to speak with authority. My idea is that the
introduction of the native element can do no good, and
may do much harm. Frere advocates it under the idea
that, as the natives must rule the country some time or

123 ^-ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
another, we had better begin to teach them to do so. I
take quite the contrary view ; we have won the country
by the sword, and I see no reason why we should not
retain it by the same means, and govern it. As to induc
ing the natives to carry on the government under our
supervision, I should, I confess, have a very much lower
opinion of them than I have (and I have by no means a
high one) were they to submit for an instant to our rule,
did they see any chance of getting rid of it. So while I
would train and educate them, I would not put power
into their hands, or trust them beyond what is necessary.
I do not want, therefore, to have a native in my Council.
He may be able to speak English, but he cannot cUvest
himself of the idea that he is not in his place, that he is
only there on tolerance, that, in fact, his presence as a
^l«as^- representative of India is but a sham. The next
question is as to the admission of the public to the con
sultations. I am decidedly opposed to this. Give, if you
like, full reports of proceedings ; but I do not like to
change the character of our deliberative body, and to
make it a sort of debating society ; neither do I think
that it would harmonise with the position of a Governor,
were he to discuss questions with his Council under the
eyes and in the hearing of the public. Constituted
as the Council will be, especially if natives are admitted,
the colloquial form of discussion wiU be by far better
suited for the conduct of business than that Avliich will
prevail if the public are to be present, and men speak,
not to the president, but to the editors of newspapers. I
think these are the main points at issue at present. It is
so desirable that we should act together, and upon one
principle, that I should be glad to meet your vicAVS if
possible ; so pray let me knoAV them. Trusting that this
will find you in better health. Believe me, yours very truly,
W.D.

TRANSFER OF NORTH CANARA. 120
The result of the correspondence relative to the transfer
of North Canara to the Bombay Government was that the
greatest portion of the district was so handed over, and
the works for the conversion of the bay into a harbour,
and a safe shipping and landing place for goods, were
undertaken by that Government energetically. Mr. H  ,
too, as the representative and agent of the Cotton Supply
Association, selected the spot as a sort of head-quarters,
and commenced his share of the work at once. He got
land from the Government on the shore of the bay, as he
did not like the idea of the additional mile or so of road, &c.,
which would have been required to take the cotton
to Carwar Head by the side of the deep Avater ; he got
out machinery for cleansing and packing cotton, and he
began to erect the necessary buikUngs ; but, as might
have been expected, the two parties at work upon the
joint scheme soon found that their interests did not har
monize. Mr. H  and the company Avished to get a
rapid return for their outlay ; the Government, finding
itself called upon to complete a much larger undertaking
than it had calculated upon, and to finish it off rapidly,
began to suspect that it had been made a cat's paw of It
found that the revenue of the district which had been
transferred from Madras was but a mere trifle when com
pared with the outlay it was called upon to make, and it
began to question the propriety of most of the details of
the scheme, and, inferen tially, the Avisdom of the plan
itself. FeA^ers of a very mahgnant character decimated
the labourers brought in to make the road up the ghaut
to the high land of Dharwar, and, under the influence of
these various causes, the works progressed but sloAvly.
It was found that, owing to Mr. H  's preference for
the main land, a long jetty was required to enable the
cotton to be placed even on board boats, so that when I
left India in 1866, the work so energetically talked of
and arranged in 1861 was as yet in its infancy, and I am
VOL. II. K

130 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
led to understand now that the buildings and machinery
of the association have been sold for a very moderate sum
— in fact, for next to nothing.
To Sir Roderick Murchison.
Gairsoppab Falls, October 17, 1861.
My dear Sir Eoderick,- — I want your solution of the
origin of ' gneiss.' Here I am at the edge of a magnifi
cent faU, 820 feet in one sheer pitch. At present there is
not a great deal of water in the river, and there are four
distinct falls, besides a few subsidiary driblets ; but in the
monsoon, when the river above is ftill, there must be a
body of water three hundred yards wide, pitching head
long into a chasm of the depth above mentioned. The
rock is gneiss, tilted up at a high angle, hard and angular
in appearance, but the water has found soft parts here
and there ; and in several cases it runs in crevices which
it has worn for itself Now the rocks forming the mass
of the Neilgherries are also gneiss, but there they are in
many cases soft, almost in the state of clay, Avith veins of
broken quartz here and there, the quartz being angular,
not as if it had been subject to the roUing action of water.
There are, of course, masses of a harder material ; but
where deep excavations are made, the state of the strata
is such as I have described it. Now what was the primi
tive state of gneiss — hard or soft ? if the latter, how has
it been hardened ? I came, above the falls, upon a dj'ke
of hard blue stone about two feet in width, crossing the
line of stratification ; and this seemed to be altered at the
edges where it was in contact with the gneiss. The
latter, however, appeared to have acted on the dyke,
not the dyke on the gneiss. The scenery about here is
beautiful ; the hills angular in outline, as might be ex
pected ; below the hills — that is, between them and the
sea— there are numerous low, flat-topped hills composed of
' laterite,' a sort of vesicular material aggregated by iron.

LIMIT OF S.W. MONSOON. 131
of which it contains a large quantity ; so large, indeed, as
to admit of its being worked as an iron ore. When ex
posed to the air, the surface of the laterite is hard, but a
httle below the surface it is soft enough to be cut by a
pickaxe, and in this state it is quarried extensively as a
building material, being easily wrought into any form,
while a short exposure to the air hardens it to about the
consistency of a middling brick. I am writing hastily, as
I am continuaUy on the move, which must be the excuse
for this short interrogatory letter. Yours very truly,
W. D.
P.S. — On coming down by the railway to the west coast
we passed through a gap in the Western Ghauts, about forty
miles in width and 1,200 feet above the sea. The Neil
gherries rise 8,500 feet to the north of this ; the Anamul-
lays 6,000 or 7,000 feet to the south. The space between
is a brown dry plain. After passing over about twenty
miles of this, on a gradual descent, we, all of a sudden,
plunged into the richest possible tropical vegetation, there
being no change in the soil. On enquiring into the cause
of this, I was told that the Une of the jungle marked the
Umit of the south-west monsoon ; but why the monsoon
should stop there I cannot teU. People informed me that
a quarter of a mile was the amount of disputed territory
between moisture and drought ; that I might stand at one
place, and get but a slight sprinkling of rain, Avhile a
movement westward of a hundred yards would bring me
into a tropical downfall. I have seldom seen anything
which struck me as more remarkable. Why should not
the wind sweep the rain up the plain, seeing that it has
brought it thus far ? I am dealing in questions, but, in
point of fact, these apparently trifling queries are most
difficult to answer.

K 2

132 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To Colonel Davidson, C.B. Resident, Hydrabad.
Mangalore, October 19, 1861.
My dear Sir, — I have only just received your letter of
September 30. I have been on the move ever since the
beginning of this month, which accounts for the delay.
Many thanks for the papers you have furnished, illustrating
the proceedings which you are taking to give to the
ceded districts the full benefit of the railroad, and the
Godavery navigation.
I trust I have not explained myself badly as to the
question of the Toombuddra Anicut. I quite concur with
you in the opinion that the claim to utilise the water of
the river for both banks is fair and reasonable ; we have,
it is clear, no right to make use of the land of another
proprietor without giving him compensation, or advan
tages in return ; it was a conviction of the correctness of
this principle which made me draw a paraUel between
the works on the Godavery and those on the Toombuddra.
You will, long before this, have received an official com
munication from, the Government of Madras, inclosing
plans, &c., of Captain Haig's proposed road round the
barrier as a temporary expedient. This AviU be partly on
the Nizam's territory, and it Avill be advisable that his
permission should be obtained for its construction.
I will take care that you are kept fully informed as to
the works which are projected, their object, cost, time of
completion, &c.
I can quite understand the incapacity of the Nizam to
comprehend the principles of political economy. I have
no doubt that he would object to exports, as tending to
raise prices ; but he would be open, perhaps, to the argu
ment that the improvement of the navigation would tend
to cheapen imports ; and would probably jump at the
idea of raising a revenue from them by the imposition of
duties. I do not expect any assistance firom the Nizam

GAIRSOPPAH FALLS.

133

in the construction of the Godavery works ; aU that I want
is permission to Avork in his territory, which work, however,
would involve a right of exit and entrance, and also a
right to consider the works, Avhen complete, as my own.
I AvUl iUustrate my meaning by submitting a case. It is
necessary to cut a canal round one of the barriers or
rapids, and this can only be done with advantage on the
territory of the Nizam.

Noav we must not only have his leave to construct this,
but it must be transferred to us in property ; in fact, we
ought to have the whole of the land between the canal
and the river in order to secure ourselves from difficulties.
I wUl not, however, trouble you more on this subject
at present ; I have only Avritten for the purpose of explana
tion. I wiU take care that everything is communicated
to you which can either affect the Nizam, or the ceded
districts, feeling certain of your co-operation.
Believe me, yours very truly,
W.D.

My dear M-

To Miss Hornby.
Mangalore, October 19, 1861.
—We left the Gairsoppah Falls on the

17th, in the afternoon, having been very well pleased
with our visit. I should have liked very much to have
had a good sketch of the place, but I do not believe that
such a thing could be made so as to give any conception
of the height of the fall. We went on the morning of
the 17th to a spot opposite the main faU, and about a

134 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
hundred or a hundred and fifty feet below the top, but
we could not get any conception of the depth below us.
There were flocks of pigeons flying in and out behind the
fall ; they had their nests in the crevices of the rock, I
suppose, but they must have had very damp beds. We
went down the hill in muncheels, as we came up ; and,
to our great satisfaction, found that the collector had
pitched tents at the landing-place, and provided a capital
supper for us, to which we did great honour. We
embarked at ten o'clock at night, and got to the mouth
of the river about four o'clock a.m. We had some
difficulty in inducing the boatmen to face the surf, though
there was a fine moon ; however, we managed to screw
them up to make the attempt, which succeeded, for there
was not even a shadow of a break in the roUers, and we
got on board before six o'clock, and were soon under
way. We reached this place about half-past four p.m.,
and the coUector came off to teU us that there was no
surf ; we got into the river, therefore, without a wetting,
and as the tide was low, we were carried in tonjauns to
the landing-place. Nothing can be prettier than the
towns on the west coast : the streets are clean and weU
kept ; everything looks tidy ; and the houses stand back
from the street, and are hidden among the cocoa-nut trees,
except here and there where one peeps out, looking most
picturesque. S  and I are residing with the Judge,
and are very comfortable. There is a broad space in
front of the drawing and dining rooms, some thirty feet
in width, open on three sides; a sort of magnified
verandah, which is used as a draAA'ing-room whenever
the weather is fine — that is, for eight months in the year.
Then I have a good sitting-room, opening into a verandah
on two sides, and into my bed-room at the end, while
S  and her maid occupy the rooms next to me. I
held a levee to-day for the European population, con
sisting principally of the officers of the tAvo native regi-

PUTRID SEA. 135
ments quartered here ; and the Eoman Catholic Bishop,
who has resided here for thirty years, and some German
missionaries were also introduced to me. We visited the
establishments of these last ; they have a sort of industrial
school or manufactory here, and at other places along the
coast. I could not understand that, as a proselytising
estabUshment, they were very successftil.
Your affectionate brother,
W.D.
To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Wundoor, October 23, 1861.
My dear Willy, — We left Mangalore on the 20th,
pretty early, and reached Cannanore in the evening.
During the Avhole of the distance we were nearly poisoned
by the smell of the sea. I was at first disposed to accuse the
captain of having his hold filled with bUge water, but
when I took up my position just abaft the paddle I was
compeUed to admit that it was the sea which stank most
abominably. At Cannanore I was told that this was ahvays
the case after the south-west monsoon. The quantity
of fresh water poured into the sea, from a long line of
coast upon which from 120 to 180 inches of rain faU in
three months is the mode of accounting for this ; the sea
becomes nearly fi-esh water, the salt-water fish are kUled,
as also the sea-weed, and the water, under the action of a
tropical sun, becomes very offensive, tiU it is mixed with
the general body of sea water, and resumes its saltness.
We saw thousands of dead fish floating on the sea, and the
shore was covered with them. There is a small fort at
Cannanore, buUt by the Dutch, which serves to contain
our miUtary stores for this side of India ; it wants a little
doing to it on the side of the sea, but would keep out any
number of natives. The barracks, however, are on the
level land outside of the fort, which is occupied by an
ordinary guard. We left Cannanore on Monday evening,

136 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
and got to Beypore early on Tuesday morning ; landed
at once, and, after breakfasting at the railway station,
went up the river to inspect some iron works, at which
the Bessemer process has been tried with success. The
manager had everything prepared for us, and a furnace
full of metal nearly melted, so that I had the pleasure of
seeing the whole process. The metal was run from the
furnace into a huge ladle ; this was swung by a crane to a
large pot, and the metal allowed to escape into this by a
small opening in the side. As soon as the metal began
to flow into the pot, the blast Avas turned on, acting
through about a dozen £-inch blast pipes, the hues of
direction of which Avere tangents to a circle of about
twelve inches diameter in the centre of the pot. The
effect of the blast Avas to create an intense flame, first of a
blue, and then of a red colour, which, I was told, showed
that the oxygen was combining with the silica and the
phosphorus in the metal ; then the flame got white, and
after ten minutes the blast was stopped, and the metal run
into moulds, being in the state of steel, that is of iron
combined with a certain proportion of carbon. I was
told that 100 lbs. of metal from the furnace would give
80 lbs. of steel, while by the old process of puddling,
&c,, the produce Avould have been only 70 lbs. of
Avrought kon, and the cost much greater. I Avas very
much pleased Avith the intelligence of the manager, who
Avas doing his Avork entirely Avith natives. After
lunching at the iron Avorks, Ave started up the river in
' snake boats,' being long wooden canoes pulled by five
men forward, and steered, as well as aided a little, by two
paddlers aft. In the middle of the vessel there Avas a sort
of cabin, long enough for two people to he at fuU length.
We puUed about twenty miles up the riA-er against the
stream, and arrived shortly after sundoAvn at a place
caUed Ariacode, where a bungaloAv had been got ready for
us. The boats' crews amused themselves by singino-, and I

ANGRY ELEPHANT. 137
could gather that their songs had some relation to me, for
I heard the word Governor pretty constantly, accompanied
by a shout of laughter. We started early in the morning,
and puUed some seven miles further up the river, where
our horses had been sent from the hills to meet us, and
rode seven or eight miles to a place called Wundoor,
where we found a bungalow and tents pitched for the
accommodation of the party. The weather was oppres
sively hot, and we felt ourselves altogether unfit for any
exertion. In the midst of our listlessness, we were horror-struck
at the announcement of the approach of a Eajah. He did
not, however, stay long. He made S  a present of
two pea-fowls and two wild pigs ; to me he gave a young
bison, which I have left with the collector, who will tiy
to rear him, and if he succeeds I shall send him to the Zoo
logical Society. The Eajah had with him a fine elephant,
and we tried to verify on him the statement that twice
round the foot is equal to the height at the withers ; but
the animal thought, I suppose, that he was going to have
a chain put round his leg, for he began to scream, and
backed under a tree in order to knock off his mahout ;
and, faUing this, he set off in a sort of wild canter, roaring
and screaming. The mahout, however, had slipped off
his back and held on to a chain round the neck of the
animal, and very soon got into his seat again, and, by a
proper exercise of a very unpleasant Aveapon, like a short
and sharp boat-hook, brought him to his senses, and made
him walk quietly away. We had intended to have remained
at Wundoor, and shot elephants, &c., for a couple of days ;
but my private secretary was unweU, having an attack
of fever ; the weather was very hot, and the game a long
distance off ; so we decided not to wait, but to push on as
fast as we could. Accordingly at two o'clock this morning
we got into muncheels, and were carried to a small hut
at the foot of the Sispara Ghaut. There we again met our

138 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
horses ; and a ride of tAvelve miles, during which we rose
6,000 feet, brought us to the bungalow at the top of the
ghaut, where we found our camp pitched, and ourselves
cool and comfortable, having exchanged the vapour bath
of yesterday for an atmosphere where we were glad of
a fire. The hut at the foot of the ghaut is but a poor place ;
no one can live there, it is so feverish ; it is fenced in, at
about ten feet from the walls of the hut, by the strongest
possible fence, in order to keep out the wild elephants.
The posts are twelve inches square, and are let deep
into the ground, and the horizontal bars are of correspond
ing dimensions. The elephants have, notAvithstanding
this, made more than once an attempt to get into the
place. Some time ago a gentleman and his wife were
coming doAvn the ghaut in palanquins, and were met by
a wild elephant. They had but just tune to escape into
the jungle before the animal was upon them, and it broke
the leading palanquin to pieces. I heard one shortly
after we left the hut, crashing through a sort of cane
brake below me ; but I made S  , who was with
me, push on as fast as possible, and did not wait to re
connoitre the animal. We got to Ootacamund on
the 27th, and found aU AveU. God bless you, my
dear boy. Your affectionate Father,
W.D.
To Miss Hornby.
Ootacamimd, October 28, 1861,
My dear M  , — The heat of the Aveather, the iUness
of my priA'ate secretary, and the Avish to get to Ootaca
mund on Saturday, so as to have a quiet Sunday there,
induced us to push on more rapidly than we had in
tended. We got to the top of the ghaut on Thursday,
rode on Friday eighteen mUes to the Avalanche Bun-

DIFFICULTIES OF MISSION WORK. 139
galow, and coming in on Saturday morning, found the
httle boys quite weU. I hope to be able to show them to
L  in no way the worse for their nine months of India.
I find that at Madras and elsewhere, where there are
schools for natives, the first effect produced by educa
tion is to destroy all belief in their old reUgion. On
asking some clergymen engaged in the work of instruc
tion whether they thought it Avise to knock on the head
the old beUef before they attempted to substitute a better,
I always got a reply in the affirmative. Now I am in
doubt as to this. It seems to me like casting out the
evil spirit and leaving the house empty. Substitute the
principles of Christianity for those of Brahminism, let
the strong man eject the weaker, and all will be well;
but I am afraid that the disbelief in their own gods is not
likely to be succeeded by a belief in our Saviour. The
result is more likely to be a confidence in self and a love
of self, which will produce as great, or greater, evils than
a faith in Brahma. It strikes me that the difficulty we
have to encounter in our attempts to turn the heathen to
Christianity is the absence in them of a conviction of sin.
Of course, unless there is this, there can be no possible
conception of the value of our Saviour's sacrifice : they
need not a Eedeemer. Our first efforts, therefore, ought
to be to convince these people of their sinfulness ; not of
the general sinfulness of man, but of their own individual
sinfulness. When this is once done, then follow repentance
and faith, and .the heart is open to receive all the promises
of the Gospel ; without this, faith, being a mere belief in
certain facts, is void.
We had a curious exhibition of the docility of the
elephant at our camp at Sispara. Seven of these animals
and sundry camels had been sent to convey our tents.
It appears that it is the practice, at a certain time of day,
to wash the elephants, and to give them an allowance of
jaghdry (coarse sugar) and spices ; this was done just

140 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
below our bungalow, and S  and I were looking on.
One of the elephants, a female (showing the usual per
versity of the sex), refused to lie down and be washed.
In vain did the mahout drive his pointed weapon into
her head, or pull her ear with the sharp hook ; she only
grumbled, and in the end gained her point, for she had
the chatties of water poured over her, and her skin
rubbed or holystoned with cocoa-nut shells, as she stood.
The docile male, on the contrary, quietly laid himself
down when he was told, and roUed himself from one side
to the other as he was directed, without making any
resistance ; he now and then tried to raise his head, but
was stopped at once by a pull at his ear.
I have had very kind letters from people in New South
Wales and Van Diemen's Land. It is a great pleasure
to find that we are remembered with somethhig of an
affectionate feeling, and that people are AviUing to give
us pleasure even now, when I can neither benefit nor
injure them. It is one of the greatest pleasures that I
have, connected with the past, to think that I have
secured many friends, and have made hardly a single
personal enemy; and that I have secured this Avithout
compromising my duty in any Avay.
Your affectionate brother,
W.D.
To Lord Canning. Madras, November 10, 1861.
My dear Lord, — Dr. Cleghorn was with me yesterday,
and handed me the enclosed letter from Dr. Hooker to
himself on the subject of a work on the botany of India.
I had received a letter about this, by the last mail, fi'om
Sir WilUam Hooker, and had Avritten to him, suggesting
that he should bring thc matter in a positive form before
the Government of India, when I Avould do my best to
forward an undertaking of so beneficial a character. Dr.

BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY OF INDIA. 141
Hooker's letter does this, and, as no time should be lost
in commencing so extensive a work, I do not hesitate to
bring it before you, even in this informal shape, in the
hope that you may be induced to adopt the scheme, and
to communicate officially with Dr, Hooker, so as to enable
him to commence his work at once. His proposition is
that he shaU receive from each Presidency 100/. for each
volume as it is completed and published ; that is, practi
cally, the Government of India is to pay 300/. for each
volume, such volume to contain the description of some
1,200 to 1,500 species, and to be the work of a year. In
fact. Dr. Hooker asks for 300/. per annum while he is
thus engaged. This is a very trifling sum for the hire of
the services of such a man, especially as the Government
only pays for work done ; and it is only because Dr. Hooker
has other sources of income that he is able to make such
an offer. This is to be the only remuneration to Dr.
Hooker ; but in order to enable the pubUsher to print the
book, the Government will have to pledge itself to take a
hundred copies, at a price not exceeding twenty or thirty
shillings per volume, according as it is printed on small
or large paper. I do not think that I need say more to
induce you to take up the scheme. In Australia, the
different colonies have combined, though they are separate
and distinct political bodies, for the publication of a work
on the Australian Flora ; and it would be a disgrace to
India, which is under one head, to be left behind by a few
isolated communities clotted on the coast of that great
country. While I am on the subject of natural sciences,
wUl you alloAV me to allude to Dr. Jerdan's work on the
zoology of India ? He has sent to me, asking me to move
the Govemment to subscribe liberally ; that is, to take a
good number of copies : but it appears to me that, as the
work includes the whole of India, territories as well as
presidencies, it should be set on foot by the general
Government, the copies being distributed among the

142 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
different Governments as published. If, however, you
think that each Presidency should act for itself, I should
be quite willing to move the Government of Madras to
purchase or subscribe for fifty copies, or even more. Dr.
Jerdan says, in his letter to my private secretary, that he
has received every encouragement from you, and I should
be glad, I confess, to find that you had worked out
for India a problem which I failed to solve in AustraUa ;
namely, the publication by the Government of a natural
history of the country. With Hooker for the botany,
Jerdan for the zoology, and Oldham for the geology, you
will have nearly embraced the whole range of natural
history. You only want an account of the fishes (which
Dr. Day might furnish) of the invertebrata and the
insects ; and these will no doubt be taken up by compe
tent hands, as soon as they see that the Government is
disposed to assist in such an undertaking. Yours very truly,
W.D.
Extract from Journal.
Government House, Madras, November 12, 1861.
Dearest M  , — I cannot remember whether it was
to you or L  that I wrote fi-om GaUe, but it does not
much signify. We got in there about the middle of the day
on Thursday, and, as it was blowing fresh from the south
west, which always sends a heavy sea into the harbour of
Galle, I, and most of the other passengers, Avent on shore,
to spend a quiet night at the hotel. Cingalese hotels are
not first-rate in point of comfort, but still they are infi
nitely better than the ship in a rolling sea, and the quiet
sleep at night Avas very refreshing. The next afternoon
we went on board again, and steamed off; the sea stiU
high, but less heavy than it had been, and gradually going
down. Moreover, I had had a cordial in the shape of a

RETURN TO MADRAS. 143
telegraphic message from W  , intimating that he and
the children had all just got safely from the hills ; and
this good account of them, up to the present time, put
me in such good spirits that I cared comparatively little
for the roughness. As soon as we had ' turned the corner,'
round the south coast of Ceylon, we had the sea with us,
and ever since our voyage has been smooth and pleasant —
an unspeakable blessing, for there was something so un
usual in this south-westerly wind breaking in on the
ordinary career of the north-east monsoon, that people
had an idea that the strange change was the forerunner
of an approaching hurricane. We arrived here yesterday
moming. Before we came up to the anchorage, W  's
boat was seen putting off through the surf, and just as the
anchor dropped he was alongside. You may imagine
what that meeting was between us, after our long separa
tion ; and you may suppose that the greater part of the
day, after this, went in talk ; and I did not attempt to
touch my letters till to-day, though they must go to
morrow. So now I must end, in great thankfulness for
having been brought to the end of my sea troubles, and
for having had such a prosperous meeting with all here.
Much love to all. To Major-General Sandham. Madras, November 23, 1861.
My dear Sandham, — Here I am back again at Madras
after a three months' run on the hUls, which has been to
me like a run at grass to an old horse ; it has set me up
again, and been of the greatest benefit to my children.
Here I cannot keep myself cool, there I was glad of a
fire all the day long ; here I cannot take exercise without
being almost dissolved, there I could walk up and down
the hUls after deer all the day. I had some very good
sport after a variety of game. Woodcock and snipes are
now abundant, but I came down before they were fully

144 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
in ; but there are two species of deer, the sanibur, a large
fellow, bigger than a red deer, and the jungle-sheep,
which is about as heavy as an antelope, but not so high
in the leg ; then there are hares everywhere, ibex on the
mountain precipices, elephants and bison occasionally,
and, to add to the zest of a shooting party, you have a
chance of seeing a tiger or leopard, and now and then a
bear. I have killed samburs and hares ; had a shot at a
tiger, also at a bison ; was present at the death of a
leopard ; and was unpleasantly near to an elephant when
I was coming up the ghaut at the back of Calicut. I
heard the brute crashing through the jungle about a
hundred feet below me. These risks add to the excitement
of shooting, but they are, practically, but smaU, fractional
parts of a risk. The other day I was out deer-stalking on
the hills ; I had just caught sight of two deer, and was
setting off to get the Avind of them, when my shikarri, or
gamekeeper, touched my arm, and said, ' Tiger, sare ;' and
there, true enough, at about five hundred yards fi-om me,
was a monstrous feUow, stalking quietly along by the side
of a brook. I got very excited, and when the shikarri
said, 'Want shoot tiger, sare?' I said, unhesitatingly,
' Yes !' and off we set. Our object Avas to cross a brook,
and then, climbing up a steep bank on the opposite side,
to head the tiger, before he could get into cover. In
doing all this, I had time for deliberation, and it occurred
to me that I was rather a fool for attacking a tiger on
foot and single-handed. HoAvever, it Avas too late to turn
back, so I had to make up my mind to do battle ; and,
as I had a double-barrelled rifle aud gun, both loaded
with baU, I thought I might, if my gun-carrier stood by
me, give a good account of the animal. My nerves Avere
not strengthened by seeing the shikarri, Avlien Ave came
near the top of a slope, hft himself carefully on his toes
and peer over the ridge to see whether the tiger was
coming up on the other side ; I Avas, hoAvever, quitte

.lAGKAL HUNTING. 145
pour la peur. The tiger had probably Avinded me, and
not being hungry, had taken himself off into the wood.
In addition to shooting, we have capital fun riding after
jackals on the hills ; these are covered with good sound
coarse turf, and there are many jackals about, and if
we get near enough to slip a greyhound at them, we
have a good rattUng gallop. I am getting from AustraUa
some harriers, and kangaroo dogs, a powerful descrip
tion of deer hound, and hope to have good sport next
year ; the harriers will push the jackals out of the
cover, and giving tongue, we shaU be able to ride up to
them. The bottoms of these valleys are generally boggy,
so we have either to ride round the heads of them, or to
make for known passes. liadies, however, manage to join
in our sport. I have made a trip up the west coast from
Beypore to a little south of Goa : on my way back I visited
a magnificent waterfall ; the principal pitch is 820 feet ;
this was measured by an officer of the navy, who passed a
rope across the chasm and swung himself into the middle
while he let down a plumb line into the pool beloAV,
Nothing is more deceptive than looking down at a fall, I
should not have put this at more than 400 feet.
Lady Denison got out safe on the 11th ; pray remember
us both to Mrs. Sandham, and believe me.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
Extract from Journal.
Guindy Park, November 24, 1861.
Dearest M  , — We came up here yesterday, and
now that we are settled here, I hope to be able to re
commence my letters in the journal form. I paid a visit
on Tuesday to some of the native schools ; and iny morn
ing there resulted in an impression that, if I wished to be
of any use, either in the schools, or any thing of the sort,
I must know something of the language : so I have made
VOL. II. L

146 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE. '
enquiries for a teacher of ' Tamil,' which is the prevailing
language here.
November 27. — This morning W  had his usual
weekly public breakfast, but had it, for the first time,
here, instead of at Madras. There was something in the
aspect of all the arriving carriages, which put me in mind
of the old ' public days ' at Knowsley, when we as chUdren
used to stand at upper windows to see the carriages come ;
but with a great difference ; for Indian carriages, at
least those in which people go about in the day time, are
very unlike English ones, as they all have to be closed up
with Venetians, and white covers, and outside bUnds, and
all sorts of contrivances to keep off the sun ; and the
running horsekeepers, with their dark faces and bare legs,
are very unlike English footmen. I have had my first
lesson in Tamil this morning : a very ungainly looking
language it is, though not an ill-sounding one,
December 6. — I believe I wrote you word that W 
has had a slight attack of fever ; nothing of consequence,
but it came at an unlucky moment, when we had on
hand the great ball, properly belonging to the Queen's
birthday, but which we had postponed tiU this cooler
season, and which took place yesterday. W  was
much better, but stiU not able to leaA'e his room ; so,
at a quarter before six in the evening, S  and I
started for Madras, and dined at the Madras Government
House, in company with Mr. Morehead, the senior
member of council, who Avas coming to personate W 
at the ball, one or two other guests, and the staff. At
about a quarter past nine, Mr. Morehead and I, foUowed
by these dinner guests, made a formal entry into and
march up the Banqueting HaU, Avhich Avas already pretty
well filled, chiefly with Europeans, but a fair sprinkhng
also of East Indians and natives. This Banqueting Hall
makes the handsomest ball-room I ever was in : Avell
Ughted, and AveU fiUed, it looked beautiftd ; and outside

PRINCE AZEEM JAH, 147
it was illuminated, I suppose to please the public eye, for
the natives are very fond of illuminations, fireworks, &c.
Some half an hour after the ball had begun, a hasty scuffle
out of the baU-room on the part of Mr. Morehead and the
aides-de-camp announced the approach of Prince Azeem
Jah ; and here occurred a dire misfortune : for His
Highness is very tenacious of his honours, and for days
beforehand his ' private secretary ' had hovered about
Government House Avith endless negotiations and arrange
ments as to the manner of his reception : he seemed
always to have an idea that it was intended to slight his
dignity; and v;rhen, in the afternoon, it had become
necessary to inform him that W  was ill, and would
not be able to receive him in person, he evidently received
the message with some distrust, and was all ready to
believe that the illness was assumed for the purpose of
sUghting him : so, I suppose, he was not in the best of
humours to begin with ; and, unluckily, he did not send
forth the announcement of his approach as soon as he
ought to have done ; so poor Mr. Morehead, hurrying out
as soon as he heard he was coming, had only time to
reach the top of the stairs, where he met the Prince
coming up, instead of being, as he should have been, at
the bottom of the stairs, ready to receive him when he
alighted from his carriage. This, of course, aggravated
the original annoyance of W  's absence : the Prince
appeared, as the gentlemen afterwards told us, ' as sulky
as a bear ;' his private secretary came and wrangled with
Mr. B—  , and the whole course of explanations had to
be gone through again. However, all this was behind
the scenes : I suppose the Prince was content with vent
ing sulky looks on the staff, for he entered the ball-room
very amiably, leaning on the arm of Mr. Morehead, who
brought him up to me. Oh ! the difference between my
idea of an Eastern prince and the sad reality ! I saAV only
an elderly man, in a tumbled and rather dirty Avhite
L 2

148 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
musUn dress, with an ordinary looking scarf or shawl round
his waist. Into this was stuck a handsome dagger, but not
one morsel of jewellery or ornament of any kind had he
about him. In fact, he looked shabby. After him walked
ten or a dozen of his suite, all dressed much like himself,
in dirty white muslin gowns and scarfs, and looking in
finitely less well got up than our own native servants do.
However, he was very civil to me : he was introduced,
and sat down by me on mj own particular sofa, and we
said civil things to each other through the medium of an
interpreter : and I really flatter myself that I rather
moUified him, for he absolutely relaxed into a smUe once
when he asked whether I intended to dance, and I told him
in reply, that we considered that, when we had grown up
daughters, it was time to stop dancing ourselves. You
should have seen the sort of quick, amused glance that
the old man turned upon me, as though he would have
said, ' Quite right : it is high time I ' Conversation Avith
him was, however, rather a burden : and it Avas a great
relief when he took his departure. If I had not moUified
him, I suppose Mr. Morehead did ; for they parted with
an embrace ; and I could not help thinking that W 
had an escape of that, at any rate. The rest of the ball
went off very well, except the supper, Avith the appear
ance of which I was not at all satisfied : this came of
trusting things to our native head man, Cowajee : but it is
mortifying to one's vanity to start Avith a failure, in one's
first d^but on a new stage.

't)^

To Lady Charlotte D>

'etusoii.

Guindy, December 21, 1861.
My dear Sister,— I must anticipate Christmas, or I shall
never get my letters finished in time for the maU, and Avish
you every happiness: mirth, perhaps, dies out as ad
vancing years take the spring and elasticity of youth out
of us ; but happiness, I think, grows and increases, tiU it
is perfected Avhen we are taken aAvay from this Avorld. I

ESSAYS AND REVIEWS. 149
have been hard at work during my leisure time in writing
comments upon the Essays and Eeviews. I began the work,
at first, more for my own satisfaction than with any idea
of pubUcation, just, indeed, as I did with Buckle's work
on Civihzation ; but somehow or other it grew upon
me, as I kept reading and commenting, and it struck me
that comments by a layman, and by one whose pro
fessional studies had given him a knowledge of physical
science, and whose tastes had led him to the study of
natural history in its various branches, and to some me
taphysical reading, might have far more effect than the
more professional and conventional view which would pro
bably be taken by a clergyman ; so I am going to print my
comments here, and will send you a copy. I take a very
strong AdcAV of the conduct of the individual writers, and
of that of the collective body : theic work, however, is but
a rechauffe of the old objections, deistical and atheistical,
which have been so frequently brought against the Bible,
with a little fresh sauce distilled from the bones of the
fossil world brought to light by the geologists. However,
you wUl read it and judge for yourself; that is, you may
read it if these are subjects which interest you. My faith,
thank God, is too firmly fixed to be moved by such
attacks as these : to others, however, they are suggestive
of doubts which cling to and harass many a conscientious
mind ; and it is one of my great objections to the work
that it is not in any way prompted by the love of truth ;
it does not seek to prove anything, to make the present
happy, or the future fuU of hope ; it merely brings for
ward difficult points as suggestive of objections to the truth
of scripture, without attempting to solve or explain one
of them ; and without establishing any plausible theory
in place of that on which it has cast a doubt. However, I
am writing an essay, not a letter.
I have moved out from Madras permanently, and am
going to make this place my home. It is far pleasanter
than our Madras house ; here we are in the country, in

1.50 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
the centre of a park, Avith plenty of deer of two kinds,
and of antelopes skipping about ; a good garden which
may be made almost perfect when I get water, and plenty
of ground to gallop over. I have got L  a horse, so she
and S  can be companions of my rides. What political
moves are likely to take place ? We hear all sorts of
rumours of changes, either partial or total, of the ministry.
I do not like the course which has been pursued with regard
to India, either in respect to the army or to the general po
litical arrangements. The Government has rushed hastily
into changes of system, under the idea that if the principle
be good, the details would Avork themselves out ; it took its
principle for granted, whereas it was essentiaUy unsound,
and therefore every attempt to bring the detaUs into har
monious action does but plunge us more deeply into the
mire. The worst of these great political changes is that
they cannot be remedied ; you cannot say, ' The experiment
has failed, and we wiU revert to our old system ; ' you have
made the plunge, and you must get through the bog as
best you may. It is an old Whig hobby to substitute an
entirely new system for an old one which seemed to want
mending ; instead of acting as a sensible man wotdd do
whose coat pinched him, that is, send for the tailor to
remedy the particular defect, they must needs order a
new coat, which, instead of having only one fault, would
probably have a dozen. It is true that the necessity of
remedying these gives rise to much ingenious speculation ;
all the poUtical tinkers must needs try their hands upon
the social kettle, and all sorts of changes and modifications
are proposed. I, hoAvever, have hved long enough, and
seen sufficient of society under various phases, to have
convinced myself that change is a great evU in itself, and
requires strong reasons to justify it. I have Avritten a
curious letter to you ; hoAvever, it represents the state of
my mind at the instant, so I must let it go. I am Avriting
to E  , so good bye. Your affectionate brother,
W. D.

THE RAJAH AND THE NIZAM. 1-51

CHAPTEE XX.
TREATMENT OF BRITISH OFFICERS BY THE NIZAM OF HYDRABAD— SUGGES
TIONS ON THE SUBJECT — CINCHONA PLANTATIONS — NEW YEAR's GREET
INGS — ^NATIVE AIDE-DE-CAMP  NEW YEAR'S BALL — PAPER CHASE —
REMARKS ON PROPOSED CHANGE IN SYSTEM OF LAND lEN-UEE IN INDIA
— TRICHINOrOLY  TANJORE — VISIT TO THE SIXTEEN WIDOWS AND
DAUGHTERS OF THE RAJAH — BRIDGE OVER THE CAUVERY  CASTE OP
THIEVES — NATIVE EOMAN CATHOLIC OBSERVANCE OF GOOD FRIDAY —
' PLENTY CRY '  LETTER TO SIR C. WOOD ON REGISTRATION OF LAND
TITLES — OPENING OF SCHOOL FOR CHILDREN OF NATIVE SERVANTS —
COLLEGE OF CIVIL ENGINEERS  LETTER ON ENCOUEAGEMENIS TO COTTON
CULTIVATION  CHARACTERISTICS OF MAHOMETAN POPULATION — 'KING
TOM'  EAPACITY OF NATIVE OFFICIALS — AFTERNOON RECEPTIONS 
JEWELLERY TAKEN AT KIRWBE  JOURNEY TO THE HELLS — HOLICUL
DEOOG — KOTAGHERRY  RUNGASAWMY'S PILLAR — SALE OF LAND — SUPPLY
OF HORSES  JOURNEY DELAYFJD BY BEES — COST OF TRANSPORT ON RAIL
WAYS — PROPORTION OF RAINFALL DISCHARGED BY RIVERS — CHUPATTIES.
To Lord Canning. Guindy, December 21, 1861.
Mr Dear Loed, — I spoke to Laing when he was here
about two matters of much importance to which I wish
to draw your attention. In the first place, as regards
Mysore. The Eajah is very anxious to have the handUng
of the balance in his treasury, and all the management of
his OAvn territory. Would it not be as weU to concede
this to him upon the specific condition that he does not
adopt any one as heir to his territory ? or at all events
under the distinct understanding that no successor to the
territory wUl be recognised by the Government after the
death of the present Eajah ? In the second place as to
the Nizam's contingent. Are you aware that the treat
ment encountered by British subjects, officers and others,
who may chance to visit Hydrabad, is such as Avould not
be tolerated for an instant in any other part of the world?

152 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
They are ill-treated, spit upon, and run the risk of their
lives unless protected by an escort. Is a man who has
so little control over his own subjects fit to be entrusted
with a force, in the shape of a contingent, nominaUy ours,
but in reality his, not one of whom would be found to act
against him should either he or his friends, by their con
duct, compel us to exercise some gentle military pressure
upon him ?
What I want to see is the substitution of a Madras
force instead of the contingent ; and the erection of such
a citadel Avithin cannon shot of Hydrabad as would
cover our treasury and military stores, and keep the city
in awe. A smaU place with a trifling garrison would do
this. A company of Artillery, and 400 men, would in
case of necessity hold the place, and destroy Hydrabad.
Pray think of this. I do not wish to disband effective
regiments while I can get rid of such rubbish as the con
tingent ; and I want to secure our position at Hydrabad,
which, at present, as every officer Avho knows it avUI tell
you, is badly arranged and most insecure. By the erec
tion of a citadel, the Avhole of the force, except 500 men,
would be rendered disposable, while the 500 would secure
the stores, treasure, ammunition, etc., form a safe base for
our operations, and smash Hydrabad if occasion caUed
for such an exercise of force. Yours very truly,
W. Denison.
Lord Canning altogether declined to adopt the sugges
tions contained in the foregoing letter, and the ground of
his objections to the course proposed AviU be seen in my
reply to him, which was as foUoAvs :  Guindy, January 7, 1862.
My dear Lord, — I think you must have altogether mis
taken my meaning Avith reference to the Nizam. I am
perfectly aAvare that he is. Avithin his own dominions.

OUR RELATIONS WITH THE NIZAM. 153
theoretically, an independent sovereign ; though you must
allow me to observe that his independence is, as I say,
purely theoretical, for we, for our own purposes, that is
to secure ourselves from the risk of attack by his tur
bulent subjects, and him from having his throat cut by
them, maintain two distinct bodies of troops in his ter
ritory. It was because I did and do thoroughly recognise
his position, and ours, that I made the suggestion con
tained in my letter, and which I cannot conceive to be
otherwise than just as weU as politically expedient. You
say, ' I confess I am at a loss to understand upon what
principles of policy or right you advocate cutting and
carving our relations with the Nizam after the fashion
suggested in your last letter.'
Now the only suggestions I made were two. 1st.
That the ' contingent,' a force which we are bound by
treaty to maintain, should be composed of Madras troops,
owing allegiance to the Queen, instead of men, who,
although paid by us, and maintained for our purposes,
would at once, did occasion serve, turn their arms
against us.
2nd. That the fort required for the security of our
dep6t of arms and ammunition, our treasury, and the
women and children foUowing the camp, should be
placed in such a position as, while it answered the above
purposes, would also keep in awe the inhabitants of
Hydrabad. I don't think that there is much cutting
and carving in this.
The contingent is a force borne on our army list, and
is enumerated as one of the bodies of troops under the
control of the Government of India in the resolutions of
that Government bearing upon the reduction of the native
military force : so, in point of fact, my proposition Avas
merely to the effect that one body of our troops should
be substituted for another, and that the force upon which
least dependence could be placed should be disbanded.

164 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
You say, ' A treaty is a treaty, whether it be with a
strong power or with a weak one.' Granted (though, by
the way, we have been very apt in India to put our own
interpretation upon treaties) ; but it was because the
treaty, as was distinctly explained to me by Mr. Temple,
made no mention of the character of the troops, but
merely specified their number, that I considered, and do
still consider, that we should be fully justified in sub
stituting troops whom we can trust for those upon whom
we can place no dependence.
In my second proposition, as to the site of the fort
which must be erected at or near Hydrabad, I merely
expressed a military opinion, which I beUeve to be essen
tially a sound one.
You say, ' I can understand picking a quarrel with the
Nizam, and taking his possessions from him.' This, how
ever, in my opinion, would be neither just nor poUtic ;
and it is precisely because I do not wish that any occa
sion should arise to compel us to take such questionable
steps, that I am anxious to see our relations with the
Nizam placed on such a sound footing as would lessen
the chance of such an occurrence. Now the maltreat
ment of the Queen's subjects by a prince, or the vassals
of a prince, holding friendly relations AA'ith us, Avould be
likely at any time to call for explanations and apologies
which might lead to war.
The treatment to which Englishmen are noAV subjected
at Hydrabad would not be tolerated for an instant in
Europe. Why should it be submitted to in India ?
Believe me, yours very truly,
W. Denison.
Plans of works for the security of our arsenal and
stores in the vicinity of Hydrabad have been called for
since the date of this correspondence, but all those which
I have seen have been of too slight a trace, and far too

OUR RELATIONS WITH THE NIZAM, 165
extensive an outline. They would require a large force
to maintain them, while our main object should be to
cover what requires protection and security with works
which could not be carried by storm, though defended
by but a small force ; and to leave as large a proportion
of the troops as possible available for active operations.
Of the facility with Avhich a quarrel can be picked
with a native prince, the war with Abyssinia, or rather
with King Theodore, is a curious and pregnant instance.
Now the Nizam has a large and compact territory, with
some fifteen millions or thereabouts of bigoted subjects,
over whom he can and does exercise but a very limited
control. He is an ignorant man in every sense of the
word, specially ignorant in matters of government ; and
he is led by our obsequious conduct to him, to form an
erroneous estimate of the position in which he stands
with relation to us, and an exaggerated idea of his own
importance. We can have, in point of fact, no guarantee
for peace with him but the life of his minister Salar Jung,
a very weak security ; or a well founded fear of us, and
I should be disposed to pursue a line of pohcy which
would cultivate a wholesome dread of our power.
Our East Indian policy has led us generally to truckle
to the strong, till, as Lord Canning observes, we could
pick a quarrel with him and deprive him of his territory,
while we never hesitated to bully the weak. It is time
that we should assume a more dignified position ; that we
should spare the weak, and make the strong fear and
respect us. To Lord Canning. Guindy, January 7, 1862.
My dear Lord, — I saw Dr. Anderson on his way down
from the Neilgherries, and heard what he had to say. I
infer from this that he considers Darjeeling a more
favourable site for cinchona plantations than the Neil-

166 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
gherries, and he may possibly be right ; he speaks, how
ever, a httle too dogmaticaUy when he asserts, as I gather
from your letter, that not only is there no promise of suc
cess at the Neilgherries, but that success is impossible ; this
can only be decided by experiment. The sites where we
are making our experiments were selected by the man
who brought out the plants, who knew their habits, was
well acquainted with the climate, soil, and other condi
tions connected with the growth of the plants, and it is
fair to believe that he was not gratuitously deceiving the
Government. ' Who shall decide when doctors disagree ? '
Why, quiet, sensible men who have no hobbies to ride, no
theories to maintain. I consider myself to be one of these
impartial persons, and my opinion is that experiment is
the only test which can possibly be applied to decide
the relative quality of the two sites. Let Dr. Anderson
have a plantation, by all means, at Darjeeling ; but as we
have already incurred all the expense of building houses,
clearing land, &c., it would be as well that we shoiUd
ascertain by direct experiment whether our horticiUtural
prophet is not as much to be depended on as Dr.
Anderson. Extracts from Journal. Guindj', January 2, 1862.
Dearest M  , — On Monday we went to dine with
the Chief Justice, and here I saw a ncAV Indian custom ;
for at his gate Ave were met by four men Avith lanterns in
their hands ; and though we had the carriage lamps
lighted, and therefore did not need their assistance, they
ran with these lamps in front of us all the way up to the
house. Yesterday (New Year's Day), as I emerged from my
own room in the morning, I found myself waited for by
a whole troop of the native servants, Avith nosegays and
limes to present, and a great garland to hang round my

• NEW YEAR'S GREETINGS, 157
neck ! This was their New Year's greeting, and they had
strewed flowers about the floors, and hung them up in
various places. After breakfast we had a visit from a
functionary of whose existence I had never been aware
before, viz. William's native aide-de-camp. He came,
however, very grand in full uniform, also bringing gar
lands and nosegays with which he adorned me, and the
two Enghsh aides-de-camp. We bowed and smiled our
thanks, and looked very absurd Avith great garlands hang
ing round our necks. To-day is fixed for the great
official New Year's BaU : there are two of these annual
baUs here, one on the Queen's birth day, and one at the
New Year. We are just preparing to start for Madras for
it, as it is given in the Banqueting Hall, and therefore
we are going to dine at the Government House there.
January 3. — Our New Year's ball went off very well.
Prince Azeem Jah was in such high good humour that he
stayed to supper, and in the course of the evening invited
us to be present at his son's marriage.
We have had some rain during the last two days ; a
great blessing, for there was beginning to be great alarm
at the want of it ; and for the last two or three Sundays we
have had in all the churches either the prayer for rain, or
that against famine and scarcity ; for the terrible thing in
this country is, that if Ave miss the usual amount of rain
at the monsoons, it is not, like a bad harvest in England,
merely a matter involving a troublesome rise in prices,
bearing, perhaps, rather heavily on the poor. Here it
amounts to actual starvation and death amongst the
native population ; and, do what you will to relieve them,
many die before suppUes can be obtained. I am afraid
the rain has not yet been sufficient to avert the
threatened danger, but it looks as if there might be
more.

158 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Guindy, January 20, 1862.
My dear J  , — The Bombay steamer must have
broken down between Suez and its port, for although we
heard an account of the death of the Prince Consort, yet
the official intelligence, which should have come by that
route, has not reached us, and we have, in fact, no authen
tic news later than December 10 or 11. This is annoy
ing on several grounds ; but we must now wait patiently
for the maU vid Galle, the telegram from which we may
expect in a day or two. I am most anxious to know how
the poor Queen has stood the shock. Now that her chil
dren are growing up and leaving her, she would feel the
want of some one to lean upon very much. Here we are
going on as usual ; the weather, warm during the day, is
beautiful about sunset, and if we could have the English
twiUght, nothing could be more delicious than the soft
cool breeze from the sea.
I have just been practising rifle-shooting. I have
given a cup to be shot for by the members of the Eifle
Club, of which I am patron ; the butt is in the park here,
and several men come all the way from Madras (six miles)
to practise : the firing commencing at a little after six in
the morning, so that they must be up before five.
I have sent E  a set of Indian agricultural tools,
which contrast curiously with our perfect implements.
There are, however, among them the rudiments of our
drUl and horse-hoe, the principle of Avhich is almost
identical with that adopted in England, the execution,
however, being rude ; but then the Avhole lot, consisting
of plough, harrow, driU, horse-hoe, leveUer, spade, sickle,
bill-hook, &c., only cost me, I think, about 21. Ts. Od.
"^'ours affectionately,
W. D.

PAPER CHASE ON HORSEBACK. 159
To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Guindy, February 20, 1862.
My dear WiUiam, — ^We had to put off our Christmas
tree owing to the death of the Prince Consort, the news
of which cast a gloom upon society here ; but two days
ago we gathered the children together, had jugglers to
amuse them, then, after dark, some fireworks, and after that
the usual tree and presents. The chUdren were all young,
hardly one above nine years old, and most under seven.
We sent them away highly delighted. Yesterday we had
a ' paper chase ; ' my private secretary and an A. D. C.
having reconnoitred a line of country, rode off at half-past
four on horseback with saddlebags fuU of paper ; about
half-an-hour afterAvards a party of ladies and gentlemen
started from Government House, and in about ten minutes
we hit upon the scent and commenced our running. At
first our horses were so fresh that we kept overriding the
scent ; my horse, an old steeple-chaser, nearly pulled my
arms off; the foxes gave us some very cunning checks,
which delayed us a good deal, but at last, after fording a
river, and having a good gallop for an hour and a quarter,
we ran them into the park at Guindy. There were two
slight accidents : one of the ladies' horses came down in
getting over a ditch ; I, however, was close by, picked her
up and caught her horse, and, as she was not hurt, she
was soon up with the rest. Another horse came down
in a sandhole and gave his rider a roU, but no harm was
done. Sport of this kind does good in a variety of ways ;
it is good for one's health in the first place, and it
shows people I look after their pleasures as well as their
interests. I think I mentioned to you the stinking sea between
Mangalore and Cannanore ; I told the same tale to Sir
Eoderick Murchison, suggesting an enquiry into the cir
cumstances, and asking Avhether this might not account

160 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
for some of the phenomena of Palasontology, as, for
instance, the alternation in layers of sandstone of deposits
of fossil fish and molluscas. On the west coast we might
expect to find the annual deposit of mud brought down by
the monsoon smothering thousands of the fish and shells of
those seas, and in course of time this would become a bed
of fossUiferous sandstone. I heard from Sir Eoderick not
long ago, and he said that Lyell had taken a note of the
circumstance. As soon as you get your commission, you
should join some of the societies which deal with
questions of natural science ; you wUl find among the
members both useful and amusing friends.
February 25. — I rode yesterday, for the first time, my
grey horse which I bought at Sydney ; he is a cross be
tween an Arab horse and an Australian mare, of which I
have had several, and all good. I dare say you recollect
two very powerful horses of this breed, belonging to the
mounted orderlies at Hobart Toavu. Sinbad, for that is
his name, came up to the door with two men at his head,
for he is apt to go off Avith a sort of plunge before one
gets fairly into the saddle ; hoAvever, he was quiet
enough with my weight on his back.
This is your birthday ; my dear boy, may God bless j-ou
and give you many happy returns of it ; happy they Avill
be, whether many or few, if you strive to please Him, and
act under a steady and abiding conviction of His presence.
Your affectionate father, W. D.
The Government of India, pressed by people at home
who had visions of turning India into a sort of colony
by the encouragement of Avhat they termed Anglo-Indian
colonisation, took up the idea of seUing its Avaste land,
and then, deluded by the hope of getting some capital
into its hands, went a step ftn-ther and proposed to seU
the assessment or rent ; that is, practically, the land from

LAND ASSESSMENT. 161
which more than one-half of its revenue is derived, at
twenty years' purchase. A reference was made to the
Government of Madras by that of India, requesting an
expression of opinion as to the appUcabihty of this to the
various districts of Madras.
My opinion was decidedly adverse to the whole scheme.
I pointed out that a permanent money assessment gave
to the ryot an advantage to which he could have no
claim ; that the value of money had been steadily de
creasing for several years past, and that the landlord had
a fair claim to the benefit arising out of the rise of prices ;
this indeed Avould be the only means by which he could
escape the difficulties arising out of the fixed character of
the payments made to him, and the cA^er-varying but
steadily increasing price of labour aud commodities.
I objected altogether to the powers proposed to be
given to the ryot of redeeming his annual rent by the
payment, at once, of twenty years' purchase ; not that I
thought that many would be foolish enough to sacrifice
capital which would pay them, at the ordinary rate of
interest, some twelve per cent., and invest the same in
land returning five per cent., but on the ground that no
Government ought to be trusted with the power of expend
ing its capital.
My reasons, however, did not bring conviction to the
Governor-General, and a series of resolutions was sent
down to Madras relative to — 1st, the sale of waste land, in
perpetuity ; 2ndly, permission to redeem the existing
assessment by a single payment of twenty years' purchase.
These resolutions, in a modified form, and with a change
from twenty years to twenty-five as the standard rate at
which the rent was to be bought up, were approved by
the Secretary of State, and an Act in accordance Avith them
Avas passed by the general Government. The effect pro
duced has, hoAvever, in no way realised the expectations
of those who advocated the change : no large amount of
VOL. II. M

162 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE. '
land has been purchased, Anglo-Indian colonisation has
not increased to any extent, and the amount of capital
produced by the sale of assessment has been very trifling.
In discussing the cause of the great rise of prices
during the last ten years. Sir Charles Wood, in estimating
the effect of the discovery of gold in Cahfornia and
Australia in cheapening money, or raising prices gene
rally, put this at about five per cent. The returns,
however, from the revenue board of the prices of various
descriptions of grain for a long series of years shewed that
the average price of a given measure of paddy for the
years from 1801 to 1852 was 14 pence ; while for the
years from 1853 to 1858 the price of the same measure
was 21^ pence. I brought this fact under Sir. C. Wood's
notice, and put it to him whether such a marked and
rapid change did not seem to indicate a greater effect
of the gold upon prices than he had stated. I pointed out
to him that we should, if these high prices continued,
have to raise the pay of our troops, of our pohce, and
generally of all the servants of Government whose salaries
were contingent, in any way, upon the price of food, aud
that it was for this reason that I insisted so strongly upon
the establishment of a corn instead of a money rent or
assessment.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Trichinopoly, Mai-ch 12, 1862.
My dear J  , — I came here to open the South of
India Eailway, which has been completed so far (eighty
mUes) from Negapatam on the East Coast. The rail
way authorities wished to make some display, and I was
desirous to please them, though, in so doing, I have
plunged into one of the hottest places in the Madras
territory. Trichinopoly was once the head-quarters of
the Nabob of the Carnatic ; it stands on the banks of the
Cauvery, one of the sacred rivers of the Hindoos, and the
whole country around is under irrigation (the water being

TRICHINOPOLY AND TANJORE. 163
taken from the river for the purpose), producing, conse
quently, three crops in the year. Eice, sugar-cane, cotton,
&c., &c., all grow luxuriantly.
There is a curious rock, rising abruptly out of the flat
aUuvial soil, close to the banks of the river, to a height of
about 400 feet ; the top of this is crowned by a large
pagoda, to which the ascent is by a fine range of granite
steps, deeply worn by the action of the naked feet of the
thousands of worshippers. The entrance to the pagoda is
a passage with walls of granite or gneiss, having square
columns from distance to distance, all made of single
blocks of the same hard stone, while the capitals, cornices,
corbels, &c., &c., are most elaborately carved in all sorts
of fantastic forms in the highest relief I must say that
these people beat us out and out in the solidity of their
structures, and in the amount of labour and taste dis
played in their decoration.
We stopped at Tanjore on our way here. This was the
seat of the government of an old Mahratta dynasty, and
in default of direct male heirs has been ' annexed ' by us.
As to the wisdom of the absorption I have no doubts ; as
to the honesty of it I have many. However, the question
was settled by Lord Dalhousie many years ago, and all
I have now to do is to distribute the private property
among the several heirs or claimants, giving as liberal a
construction as I can to the term ^private.' This, how
ever, exposes me to a variety of modes of solicitation.
I had yesterday to visit the wife, or rather wives, of the
late Eajah. I was met at the door of the palace by six
or seven great bearded fellows, who claimed to stand in
some relationship to the Eajah, and who consequently
embraced me, going through the motions of kissing me
on both cheeks ; two of the oldest then each took a hand
and led me up a sort of narroAV back staircase, only wide
enough for one stout person hke myself, till at last I
found myself seated in front of a curtain, with here and
M 2

164 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
there holes in it, behind Avhich, I was told, the sixteen
wives of the late Eajah were assembled. I had then to
Usten to the eloquence of the senior widow, who, through
an interpreter, tried to persuade me to recognise the
adoption, by her, as the successor of the Eajah, of a fat
youth who was sitting by me. I had no sooner escaped
from her, by expressing my intention to do whatsoever
the Queen told me, than I was pounced upon by a man
who had married the Eajah's only daughter. He carried
me off to another range of apartments, and after some
discussion as to whether I was to see the Princess or not,
the husband evidently wanting to exhibit her, the Princess
being unAvilling to show her face, and I being utterly
indifferent, it was decided that she was to be behind a
curtain. She spoke EngUsh, and, having been well
tutored, addressed me as her father and grandfather,
and asked me whether I was not prepared to fulfil the
promise, made to her by Sir Charles Trevelyan, of putting
her on her father's throne. To this I was, of course,
obliged to make the same sort of evasive answer that I
had given to the other princesses. The husband, how
ever, thinking that I might be influenced by the sight of
beauty in distress, just as we were taking our leave,
pulled up the curtain, and exhibited the princess in the
shape of a young girl gorgeously dressed, arms, neck,
and legs covered Avith gold and jewels ; and my firm
conviction is that he wanted me to salute her on both
cheeks. I, however, backed out of too much familiarity,
and kissing her little henna-tipped fingers very respect
fully, took myself off. It is odd that these people should
not yet have learned how little store we set upon aU
these observances; it is, perhaps, due to the way in
which we enforce their customs upon them when they
come to call upon us. We insist that a native shall take
off his slippers, and approach us either with bare feet or
in English shoes and stockings. I am disposed to treat

TRICHINOPOLY. 165
these as matters of indifference, but my advisers insist
upon the necessity of adhering to them.
ISth. Yesterday I drove down to look at the bridge
over the Cauvery, which consists of thirty-two arches of
fifty feet span, while that over the Coleroon, another
branch of the same river, has thirty-eight arches of the
same size. These seemed to be gigantic works, and so
they are, but the former only cost 9,600/., and the latter
only 11,000/., so cheap is labour here. The river, at this
time of year, is merely a broad bed of sand, over which
runs a shallow stream of water not ten yards wide, but
during the south-west monsoon it rolls down a large
body of water, as you may imagine from the width of
the two channels.
This morning I was up at five, and at a quarter before
six was on the parade-ground, watching the movements
of four regiments of infantry (three native and one Euro
pean) and a battery of artillery (European). From thence
I went to visit the hospital and barracks. The heat here
I found very trying, but the health of the troops is not
bad ; in fact, mere heat does not do one much harm,
unless one is exposed to the direct action of the sun,
or unless there is matter upon which the heat can act
to generate unwholesome gases. I have invested some
money in Trichinopoly work. The natives are capital
workmen in gold and sUver, and, what is more, they Avork
cheaply. In gold an addition of one-fourth to the actual
value of the gold itself generaUy covers the cost of work
manship, indeed always, unless the pattern is ncAV and
elaborate ; for instance, a bracelet, if it contains gold to
the value of four pounds, would cost five pounds. The
value of the gold is tested by experts, who compare the
colour of the gold used with that of standard specimens,
both being rubbed on a touchstone.
There is a custom in Trichinopoly, and I believe pretty
generaUy throughout the South of the Peninsula, which

106 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
will rather astonish you. There is a caste of ' Thieves,' of
which the Eajah of Poodoocottah is the head ; and, in
Trichinopoly, every man Avho has anything to lose main
tains a ' Thief,' not for the purpose of stealing other
people's goods, but of securing his own. His paid thief
guarantees him against loss by theft ; in fact, his wages
are a sort of black mail paid to the caste. We are going
to try to break this clown by means of our new police,
but we shall have some trouble in doing so.^
16^A. I left Trichinopoly on Friday morning at seven,
ran down by rail to Negapatam, where the company had
provided a sort of breakfast and luncheon in one, and, as
the whole white population of Trichinopoly and its neigh
bourhood were invited, we had a large party. The usual
toasts were given, and the usual speeches made, and at
two o'clock I was on board the steamer making my way
to Madras, where I arrived in twenty-two and a half
hours. I found all well, and was delighted to be back
in this comparatively cool temperature. Lord Elgin
looked in upon us on his way to Calcutta ; he stayed
with us a couple of days. He was very amusing,
having seen much of the world, having much to tell,
and being able to tell it well. All well here.
Your affectionate brother,
W.D.
Extracts from Journal. Guindy, April 15, 1862.
Dearest M  , — Yesterday morning brought us a
couple of guests in the persons of Mr. and Mrs. Bowring :
he was Lord Canning's private secretary, and has just been
appointed Chief Commissioner of Mysore ; that is, he is,
practically, governor of the country. They AviU stay with us
until they can make their arrangements for going up to
Bangalore, Avhich is the head-quarters of the Govem
ment, the Eajah residing at Mysore.
' See Note A at the end of the chapter.

'PLENTY CRY.' 167
17th. We have been to church this morning (Good
Friday), and hope to get to the little seaside church of
St. Thome in the evening, for there it will be quite cool
and pleasant. I am a Uttie curious as to the observance
of Good Friday amongst the native Eoman Catholic
Christians : our old woman servant, Jenny, as Ave call her
(her real name being, as I afterwards discovered, Chinnec),
told Spreadborough last night that she and her daughter
and grandchildren were all going into Madras to-day
to church ; and she added, ' Plenty crying to-morrow.'
' Crying, Jenny!' said Spreadborough, ' what for ?' ' Oh,
yes ! ' said Jenny, ' all cry in church ; fishermen, everybody
cry, plenty cry !' This looks as if they thought it a matter
of course to make a gi-eat wailing and lamentation on
Good Friday ; but I am afraid they do not understand
much about it. However, with their very small know
ledge of English, and my still smaller acquirements in
Tamil, it is impossible, as yet, to have anything like con
versation with them ; and the more I see, the more I
marvel how missionaries ever do get on — how they make
their first steps, I mean, towards acquaintance with, and
instruction of, the people ; and instead of exclaiming, as
some people do, at the slowness of missionary progress, I
only wonder that they have got on so weU, and done so
much as they really have.

To the Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood.
Guindy, April 10, 1862.
My dear Sir Charles, — I am glad to see that a Bill for
the registration of titles has been introduced in the House
of Lords. When I was in New South Wales the subject
attracted my attention, and I placed myself in communi
cation with the registrars-general in South Australia and
New Zealand, in both of which colonies Acts had been
passed dealing with the subject of the registration of titles

168 VARIETIES OF ^'ICE-REGAL LIFE.
to land, and simplifying very much all the proceedings
connected with the transfer, &c., of real estate. The
lawyers, of course, complained because their business was
lessened, all, or nearly all, transfers of land being made
through the registrar ; but the benefit to the public was
very great. In this part of India Ave have the means of
establishing a similar or analogous system ; the registrars
in the coUectorates, Avith a trifling modification of form,
would probably ansAver all our purposes. I have written
to Sir George Grey, asking him to send me a full report
upon the system in force in Ncav Zealand, and should I
see my way to the introduction of something of the same
kind here, I shall bring the subject officially before you.
I don't like the tone which the House of Commons is
taking with reference to the colonies. The resolution
relative to the share of the cost of the defence to be
borne by a colony is very vague, it is true, but it wUl,
of course, be interpreted by the colony in the worst sense.
I hold that the mother country and the colony have a
joint interest in maintaining the connection ; and that the
cost of defending the colony against attack from without
should be shared equally between the two. I should like
you to look at a despatch of mine on this subject, dated
August 14, 1856. We are in the habit of looking at these
matters in England from our own point of view, and
of forgetting that the colonists also have feeUngs and
opinions as to both the rights and the obligations of the
mother country. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Colonel Harness, R.E. Guindy, May 14, 1862.
My dear Harness, — Many thanks for your letter : it
touches upon several objects of great interest to me, both
as a member of the corps and as Governor of Madras, and

EDUCATION FOR OFFICERS OF ENGINEERS. 169
I will deal with these in their order. I have always main
tained that the inspector-general of fortifications should
make a point of knowing the qualifications of his officers,
and thus be able, when applied to by any department of the
Government, to supply an officer competent to do, and do
well, the particular work required. Science in all its
branches, art in its various appUcations, should find repre
sentatives amongst us ; and I think it will be one of your
privileges to develope this idea among the young officers
under you at Chatham. I should not attempt to tie them
doAvn too strictly to any particular routine. Of course there
are certain subjects with which they must be thoroughly
acquainted, certain things which they must be able to do ;
but, apart from these, I should encourage the widest scope
of study, I should open the door to an unlimited area of
research. All physical science, every branch of natural
history, all the arts and their appliances, are open to you ;
and I should be glad to see individuals taking up in
earnest particular branches of study, and should afford
them every assistance, with a special reference to the
benefit which would result to the corps. Your library,
your museum, your observatory might offer subjects of
interest to many, and lead them to particular fields of ob
servation. With reference to your museum, I send you a
copy of some instructions which I caused to be published
in Australia, and have republished in India ; if you can
get officers to take even a trifling interest in such subjects,
you might soon have a magnificent collection of speci
mens. If you will give me an idea of the character of
your museum, I will lend you a helping hand both as re
gards Australian and Indian specimens. I can send you
specimens of timber from India ; Ward can send you the
timber of Australia ; Mould could send specimens from
New Zealand. Then I could get you from Australia
geological specimens illustrative of the coal-fields there ; I
could do the same for you from hence. I could send you

170 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
specimens illustrative of the natural history of India, &c.
I have looked into some of the papers you sent me, and I
think they are hkely to prove useful : at all events it is a
good thing to get a man to put his ideas in writing, for he
finds by this how vague and indefinite they often are. I
have been thinking of trying to discuss, on general prin
ciples, the effect likely to be produced upon the attack
and defence of fortresses by the improvements which are
taking place in artillery, and, generally speaking, in
weapons of offence and projectiles. Has any one taken
this up ? It is a subject which ought to be discussed care
fully, now that we are talking of spending so much money
on fortifications. I feel, I must say, rather ashamed of the
panic which has led the people of England to rush so
hastily, and unadvisedly, into such an outlay.
I think you exaggerate the probable amount of traffic on
the railroads. You say ' endless hackeries, piled vrith stacks
of cotton,' &c., &c. Now, translate this cotton into bales
and tons, and you wUl find that it will go but a little way
towards maintaining a railway. A miUion bales Avould give
but 250,000 tons; in fact, as the cotton in the hackeries
is compressed, it would not give above half this, or 125,000
tons for freight ; and this, at our rate of 13 pice per ton
per mUe, would give about 800/, per mile for each mile
gone over. However, we shall soon see Avhat the result wUl
be on our railway, for on the 12th, that is two days ago,
we opened the whole length from Madras to Beypore.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Children in England. Guindy, June 2, 1862.
My dear Children,— A climate Avhere the thermometer
ranges from 83°, as it now is, to 91°, -is decidedly un
pleasant, and takes all energy out of one. HoweA'er, it
does not seem to disagree with us otherAvise.

SCHOOL FOR SERVANTS' CHILDREN. 171
I went the other day to the Normal School, to give the
prizes, both to the boys of the practising school, and the
pupils under instruction as masters. They were mostly
natives ; some of them seemed very well up in their work,
and they were especially quick in their geography. We
went this morning at half-past six, to open our new school
for the children of the native servants and others, just out
side the gate leading from the park to the race-course.
There Avas an old building there, which had been put up
by Lord Harris as a school, but it was out of repair.
Now, however, it has a new thatch, new mats round it,
fioor made good, benches ditto, and the whole looked very
tidy. We found fifty children and upwards candidates
for admission, and we opened the school by a very few
words of address from myself, and a prayer, read in Tamil
by the schoolmaster, who is a native Christian. One of
the native inspectors of schools helped the schoolmaster
to classify the children, which involved, of course, an ex
amination of each. Some could read fairly in Tamil, and
had made some progress in arithmetic. They had been
at a school near, in Sydapet, and professed to come for
the sake of better instruction, but I strongly suspect that
the true motive was an expectation that something would
be got out of the Governor Sahib. I must be careful as
to any system of rewards, or I shall have all the children
from the surrounding schools streaming in upon me.
On Friday I went to distribute prizes at the College for
Civil Engineers, in the Chepauk Palace.^ The object of
the Institution is to train soldiers, and others, fitting them
for the subordinate appointments in the Department of
PubUc Works, such as overseers, &c., and it seems to
answer very fairly. When I left the college, I found my
self in the midst of a dust storm, which is equivalent to a
thunderstorm elsewhere ; only here, instead of rain faUing,
' The Chepauk Palace is the palace of the old Nabobs of the Carnatic,
now occupied as public offices.

172 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
dust rises. There was very fine lightning, but it was so
far off that the thunder was poor in comparison to that
which we used to hear at Sydney 
The school mentioned in the above letter, which was
opened by us chiefly for the children of our native
servants, was nevertheless soon attended by several others
from the neighbouring villages. The attendance was
irregular, at least amongst the younger children, but the
school contained, throughout our stay, an average of from
thirty-eight to forty children ; a very small proportion,
alas ! of the numbers belonging to the servants of our
household ; and those that did continue to attend were
almost exclusively boys. Female education is, as might
be expected, little cared for by native parents ; we never
had more than four or five girls in the school, and these
soon left us, with one sole exception — a Eoman CathoUc
child, by narne EUzabeth, a niece of our head butler ; and
she, chiefly, I believe, by the force of her OAvn will, con
tinued a regular attendant at the school up to the time of
our leaving Madras. We admitted children of aU persua
sions, though the school teaching was, of course, based on
what we felt to be of most importance — instruction in the
Christian religion. A difficulty had been felt in some
mission schools, with respect to a suitable prayer to be
used daily on opening the school ; our schoolmaster
solved this by commencing, every day, Avitli the Lord's
prayer alone; and this, though pre-eminently the Christian
prayer, was never found to provoke any cavil or opposi
tion from either Hindoo or Mussulman parents. The first
hour each day was devoted to reUgious instruction,
beginning with an easy catechism used in mission schools,
and compiled somewhat on the principle of Dr. Watts's
First Catechism, and going on to the Bible itself, as the
children became more advanced ; but it is painful to see
how little impression seems to be produced by aU this.

SCHOOL FOR SERVANTS CHILDREN. 173
The children, with the naturally good memory which
characterises the Hindoo, soon became proficients in Bible
history ; they could answer questions, and repeat all the
principal facts as to the creation and fall of man, our
Lord's life on earth, death, resurrection, &c., quite as
fluently as English school children could have done ; but
it was all repeated just as any other lesson would have
been, Avithout, apparently, the slightest approach to any
realisation of these things as actual truths. I believe they
had the general impression which appears to me to pre
vail among the Indian natives, that all religions are good,
one not better than another ; and I could not but feel
that they would have learned and repeated anything about
Brahma and Vishnu with exactly the same amount of
appreciation. The instruction given at the school, both religious and
secular, was at first entirely in Tamil ; but we found such
a desire prevailing among the natives that their children
should be taught English, that we soon established
English as part of the routine for the upper class, who
made rapid progress. A small fee, the same as that usually
established in mission schools, to the amount of two annas
(threepence) a month ! was paid by each child in addition
to the schoolmaster's regular salary. We established this
regulation at the recommendation of those more experi
enced in native schools than ourselves, and the adAdce was
undoubtedly good : the native parents appreciate the
school more if they have to pay for it, and it must surely
be well, in a moral point of view, for a child to feel that
he owes his advantages of education, in part at least, to
his father. Moreover the rule entails the minor advan
tage of making it the schoolmaster's interest to keep up
the numbers of the school, and to induce continuous
attendance there.^ ' See Note B at the end of the chapter.

174 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To Sir Charles Wood. Guindy, June 3, 1862.
My dear Sir Charles, — Have you looked into Money's
book upon Java ? I am reading it carefully for the pur
pose of getting at the arithmetical fallacy which I am con
vinced must lurk at the bottom of the comparison between
Java and India. How the labourer, the farmer, and the
Government are each and all to enrich themselves out of
a crop which often ruins a private individual, it is difficult
to imagine. I take it that the enrichment of the labourer
is a figure of speech, meaning, that he manages to live,
without the power of laying by a farthing, the forced
labour at the disposal of the Government being the power
which sets the machine in motion. Without, however,
discussing this, have you thought at all about the culture
system as described by Money ? I do not mean that part of
it which makes the Government the great dealer in produce,
but that which empowers the Government to advance
money to persons about to commence any undertaking
likely to be profitable. The two great wants here are
capital and brains : the Government could supply the
former at all events. This has been done in Java by an
advance of money on the part of the Government to any
person willing to devote himself to any kind of manufac
ture or cultivation, the Government repaying itself by
taking the Avhole or a portion of the produce at a fixed
price, and running the merchants' risk. This would, of
course, be out of the question in India generally, though it
is done with reference to opium, and, to a certain extent,
with salt ; but I do not feel quite so certain that advances
of money might not be made to encourage cotton-planting
in the present pecuUar state of the trade. Capital is, as
I have said, the great want, and the charge made for
interest is so enormous, that a man Avho begins with a
mortgage on his farm is very soon riuned. As regards

THE MAHOMETAN AND THE HINDOO. 175
cotton, no man but a gambler would be wiUing to invest
capital in a scheme Avhich might be rendered unprofitable
at any instant by a change in the pohtical relations of the
sections of the United States! (rather a buU this).
Government, hoAvever, is anxious to bring about a state
of things in India which will relieve the country from the
risk of being caught napping again, and of having so large
a proportion of its population thrown out of work.
Government, then, must run some risk ; it cannot cultivate
itself, but it can make it the interest of others to cultivate,
and content itself with a share of the proceeds. I throw
out this merely as a hint. Should you think it possible,
or, rather, should the Government be wiUing to make a
trial of the scheme, I will go more fully into details. The
principle is objectionable, but if you can once swallow
this, there wUl be no difficulty as to details.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Lady C. Denison.
Guindy, June 11, 1862.
My dear Sister, — I was present last week at the exami
nation of the children of a Mahometan school, and met
there a large proportion of the Mussulman gentry, the
former conquerors and rulers of India. They contrast
favourably in external appearance with the Hindoo, are
men of more poAverful frame, and better features; and
there is an appearance of power about them still ; but
when the children were examined, the tables were turned.
The Hindoo is quick and intelligent, and his mind appears
to be at work ; but the Mussulman is slow, heavy, and
hardly shows any mental activity. It is difficult to say
whether this proceeds from natural causes ; that is, from
the constitution of the animal ; whether it is the result of
their religious creed, which merges into fatalism ; or
whether it arises from that sort of contemjDt for intellectual

176 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
cultivation which seems, oddly enough, to have come upon
the Mussulman within the last four or five centuries. In
the time of the Crusades the literature and sciences of the
world were in the hands of the Eastern nations ; now there
is not a remnant of this visible.
l%th. — 'King Tom,' the barber, has just been to cut
my hair. A barber is proverbiaUy a talkative animal,
and King Tom is no exception to the rule. He speaks
English, and I got from him casual remarks as to the feel
ings of the people, their wants, fancies, &c., which are useful.
To-day, after enquiring the price of rice, condition of the
working class, health of the town, &c., I got him to talk
about the produce of land, the mode in which it is shared
between the Government and the ryot ; and from that
we naturally got to the illegitimate claims made upon the
cultivator by the subordinate agents of the Government.
These are, first, the tahsildar, who is responsible to the
collector for the rent of a district called a talook, con
sisting of several villages ; he is a sort of land agent.
Second is the sheristadar, or accountant in the office of
the collector ; he keeps the accounts, and comes between
the tahsildars and collector, and I should have caUed
him No. 1. Nos. 3, 4, 5, 6, &c. are a SAvarm of subordinate
bloodsuckers, who prey more or less upon the ryot. The
tahsildar is a magistrate, a man of weight and power locally ;
he lives upon the people : they give him rice, grain for
his horses, cut his grass for him, and, in fact, supply his
household. In addition to this, there is, according to Tom, a
regular black mail levied — a sort of assessment per acre,
which is divided among the sheristadars, tahsildars, and
subordinate leeches in different proportions. Now aU this is
very probable ; they are a gift-loA-ing and a gift-giving
people ; but it is a practice liable to gross abuse, and I
should be glad to break the neck of it : but it would
require a long time, the cordial concurrence of all the

AFTERNOON RECEPTIONS. 177
European officers, and hard work on their part, to over
come the tendency. Your affectionate Brother, W.D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Guindy, June 16, 1862.
My dear J  , — We have had some rain at last : a
rattling thunderstorm brought down a deluge last night,
which will, I hope, cause the grass to spring, and give
food for the deer, who have been reduced to broAvse on
the trees. The contrast betAveen the bright green of the
trees which have got their new leaves, and the brown
ground about them, is very marked. I am cutting away
several of an ugly species of palm, and am planting
clumps here and there, in order to fill up the space left
vacant, and relieve the eye from the monotony of the
brown ground.
I have established a system which seems to Avork very
well and to give much satisfaction. L  used to have a
visiting day once a Aveek, as had been the usual practice
hitherto ; and people came between eleven and twelve,
sat for ten minutes, and drove back, some three or four
miles, in the very heat of the day. Now we have the
visiting hour at five in the afternoon, and instead of
sitting in-doors, we have chairs placed in the shade of
the trees, the band playing under a tent at a short dis
tance ; targets for those who wish to practise archery,
croquet for others. People get their afternoon drive, have
music, see each other, have some amusement, get ices and
refreshments, and accomplish a visit at the same time,
without the formality of a regular call. This bids fair to
be a very popular move. I have always found it advis
able to bestow a little thought upon the amusements of
our society.
During the mutiny a portion of the army took the
A'OL. II. N

178 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
town of Kirwee, inhabited by a Eajah, who was foolish
enough to imagine he could hold the place against us.
The spoil in jewels, gold, and silver was very great, and
much discussion has been going on as to the claims of
different parties to share, and these have not yet been
decided. In the meantime, however, the jewellery has
been sold at Calcutta, and agents from all the native
princes have been bidding against each other, tUl the
prices paid are far in excess of the intrinsic value of the
articles. The curious thing is how a petty prince could
have collected such a mass of jewellery ; but the truth
is that an appetite for jewellery and personal ornaments
prevails in India, and, I should say, generally in the East.
Every woman has rings in her ears and her nose, neck
laces in the plural number, armlets, bangles, &c., &c. ;
the commonest labourer spends his money in this unpro
ductive way, and his superiors show him the example.
The quantity of money thus locked up is incredible, and
the loss to the country from this unproductive mode of
deaUng with earnings is immense. The artisan or labourer
hoards his wages and buys a ring or a silver girdle :
the Eajah hoards his revenue, probably cheats his cre
ditors, and buys all sorts of useless baubles. You woiUd
have been astonished at the sight of the tables in the
palace at Tanjore, covered with every kind of useless
absurdity, from jewellery down to the lay figures seen
in a tailor's shop, dressed in the fashion of the day. The
sale at Calcutta has set free a lot of rupees which have
been hoarded for years. I see that some gold mohurs, a
coin worth about 1/. 10s., but which has become scarce,
have been sold for ornaments, at from 4/. to 6/. each. I
am about to start for the hills in a few days. God bless
you. Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.

HOLIOUL-DROOG. irg
To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Coonoor, July 1, 1862.
My dear William, — Here we are at the top of the
ghaut, about 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, with
a corresponding decrease of temperature. In Madras the
thermometer ranged from 82° to 90° ; here it stands pretty
steady at 68°. We made our journey easily enough,
travelling through from Madras to Coimbatore, 300 miles,
in the night, provision being made for the children in the
shape of beds, as weU as for your mother and S  , all
of whom slept very fairly. The next night we left Coim
batore at eight o'clock, and got to the foot of the ghaut
at six A.M., having stopped for an hour to clothe the
chUdren and ourselves for the change of temperature :
some of the party rode up the hill, the children were
taken up in tonjons. We have been staying with Mr.
and Mrs. Arbuthnot for three or four days. We are about
to move to a house at a place called Kotagherry, about
twelve miles from this place and eighteen from Ootaca
mund, the cUmate of which will be better suited to the
chUdren than that of Ootacamund, where I imagine the
monsoon is blowing hard. We had a pic-nic party
yesterday at a place called Holicul-droog, an old fort
belonging to Tippoo, situated on the scarped end of a
spur of the hills, the road to it passing over narrow
saddles easily defended, while the fort itself occupied the
whole area of the spur. Tippoo used it as a state prison,
I believe ; as a fortress it is useless. You will often hear
unprofessional men, when they see a scarped rock, express
an opinion that such a site would be a capital one for a
fort, the truth being that for most of the objects of a
fortress it would be useless. The difficulty of access is in
rriany instances a disadvantage, and is always coupled
with a corresponding difficulty of egress ; while a few
men properly placed would shut up the garrison, and
N 2

180 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
soon starve it out. Our ride was a trying one. I was
glad that your mother stayed at home. We had incessant
clambering, and, starting at nine, we did not get back till
five. I saw in the journal of the United Service Institu
tion a paper by Captain Tyler, E.E, on the effect of the
modern rifle upon siege operations. He seems to think
that the attack will be facilitated by the improvement in
cannon and fire-arms generally. I am disposed to think
that the advantage would be with the defence. When a
place has its scarps properly covered, so that no breach
could be made, unless the batteries were placed on the
covered way, the improvement in fire-arms would tend
to prolong the time required for the siege, and most
certainly to render it more destructive to the assailants.
In a fortified place arrangements might always be made
to secure cover, and a steady fire from a very few guns
upon the head of a sap Avould make it impossible to carry
this on by day. I have had letters from officers in New
Zealand, which do not speak hopefully of the state of
things. It is an awkward country for regular troops : the
fern grows six feet high, and very thick, so as to give
perfect cover to the natives. We committed a great foUy
in going to war at all. Your affectionate Father,
W.D.
To Lady C. Denison.
Kotagherry, July 3, 1862.
My dear Sister, — We have taken up our resting-place
here for a month, as being Avarmer and more sheltered
from the monsoon than Ootacamund, and therefore better
for the children. This is ' the hiU of the Koters,' the
head-quarters of a sort of mechanical tribe of the hill-folk,
specimens of whom I saAV last year at Ootacamund. We
had an easy journey, as we Avere able to make use of the
railway for 300 miles. The house in which we are resid-

COTTON TRADE, 181
ing was occupied by Lord Dalhousie, Lord Harris, Lord
Elphinstone ; in fact, it has been the refuge of all the
Governors. It does not offer much accommodation, but,
such as it is, we find it comfortable enough.
I hear rumours of all sorts of reverses and successes in
America, and I am looking rather eagerly for positive
accounts from thence, as affecting us out here. The
Manchester people have squeezed the Govemment at
home, and the pressure has been transmitted to us ; cotton
has been the universal cry ; there has consequently been
an increased amount of cotton cultivation, the ryots
having been stimulated by the promise of higher prices
than usual. Should, however, any change in America throw
open the trade with the Southern States, doAvn will go
prices here, and hundreds of merchants will be ruined. A
little forethought might have brought the cotton trade
into a steady, wholesome state ; noAV it has all the aspect of
gambling ; while, should a reaction take place, the natives
will be more suspicious than ever of our motives, and
more unwiUing to adopt our ideas or carry out our
suggestions. However, we must do our best to induce a
change of system, but the process will be a very slow one.
What annoys one most is the folly talked and written at
home on these and similar subjects. People in England
have a mania for legislation, and seem to think that moral
as Avell as social evils can be cured by law. They forget
that law is but the exponent of the opinions and wants of
the people, and that it is utterly hopeless to legislate in a
manner contradictory to their opinions and wants. They
would legislate in London for India just as if they knew
as much of it as they do of Kent ; and this, be it recollected,
is not the fancy of the ignorant, but of the educated por
tion of the community : the ignorant man merely repeats
that which the educated and semi-educated thrust upon
him through the medium of the newspapers. I have asked
G  to give an article in his EevieAv upon the use and

182 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
abuse of language. Since education has become more
general, language has been unfairly dealt with — men learn
words, not as the representatives of ideas, but as tools to
be used for certain purposes, generaUy for mystification.
Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Kotagherry, July 13, 1862.
My dear J  , — The view from our present habitation
is beautiful. I am sitting in a library opening into a broad
verandah, which runs the whole length of the building. In
front of the verandah is an English garden full of flowers,
running down the hill, and looking into a beautiful valley,
closed in by green hills to the right and left. Beyond this we
look down into the low, flat land of Coimbatore, differing
altogether in colour and aspect, reflectins; fi-om its brown
surface the hot rays of the sun, some 6,000 feet below us.
Beyond this again, at a distance of some forty miles, a range
of hiUs is seen, about 6,000 or 7,000 feet high ; while to
the right hand we catch sight of the outlines of the
Neilgherry escarpment, broken into all sorts of forms, and
variously coloured. Last week Ave Avent out to see whether
we could get any shooting, and Ave decided to combine
sport Avith a sight of Eungasami's Pillar, a sort of pinnacle
of rock which is one of the Avonders of the hills. We had
but indifferent sport. I, hoAvever, killed a jungle-sheep (a
smaU kind of deer), and a young pig, Avhich, by the AA^ay,
we found very good, roasted as a sucking-pig. Our trip to
the piUar gave us a hard day's Avork. I rode out with
E  and S  to the camp to breakfast. L  was
tired, and wisely remained in camp, Avhile S  and I
and the rest of the party Avent first to try for some deer
over roads or tracks whit-h you never A\'ould have con
ceived to be practicable for horses. We got no deer, and
had to work our way up hill to the Peak, Avhere our

RUNGASAMPS PILLAR. 183
luncheon had been sent. It certainly is well worth a hard
ride to see the pillar, which is a thin pinnacle of gneiss
rising up from the steep side of a hUl to the height of at
least 500 feet. It is separated from the escarpment called
the Peak by a gap of 100 or 150 yards in width ; but
this is not the most beautiful part of the picture. Stand
ing on the Peak, with the pillar in front and in the fore
ground, one looks down into the Mysore ditch, as it is
termed — a sort of chasm, separating the table land of
Mysore from the hills. The opposite side of this ditch was
formed of variously coloured hills, broken into peculiar
forms, making a most beautiful picture. We had to make
our way back to camp a,fter luncheon, and had then to
ride home, which we reached about six, not a little tired.
We have done little but take scrambUng rides about
a rough country, over tracks which would make you
shudder to look at. S  and I narrowly escaped
yesterday from passing the night in a native village. We
were trying to get home by what we imagined to be a
short cut, and at half-past five found ourselves going down
hill at six miles from Kotagherry, when Ave luckily met
a party who told us that we could not possibly make our
way in that direction. We had therefore to turn to the
right-about and ride hard, for we had a dinner party ; and
we managed to get home by seven o'clock, quite wet
through, for it rained hard all the way back.
Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.
To the Earl of Elgin. Kotagherry, July 15, 1862.
My dear Lord, — There are one or tAvo matters now be
fore you as to which I wish to say a few words. 1st. Sale
of land. Lord Canning's resolutions have gone into such
detail, that they appear to have pledged the Government
to a fixed price throughout India, and this fixed price

184 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
has reference altogether to the character of land in Bengal,
2 .^ rupees and 5 rupees being the prices stated. Now with
us in Madras the value of land is actually reversed ; that
which is to be sold for 2^ rupees is very much more
valuable than that which is to be sold for 5 rupees.
Neither of these prices, however, represents the value of
land in districts where Europeans are likely to purchase it.
Coffee land, for instance, on the Neilgherries is sold for
30 rupees per acre, subject to our assessment of 2 mpees
per annum. This is land covered with jungle, and which,
according to Lord Canning's resolutions, would be sold,
out and out, for 2 V rupees, or one-tenth of its market
able value. This, however, is not the Avorst feature of the
scheme. By putting so low a price on the land, jobbers are
induced to come in : they purchase for the mere purpose
of selling again, so that, by establishing such a low maxi
mum, you neither secure settlers, nor promote their
interests : you merely pander to the capitalist, AAdio puts
the money into his pocket Avhich ought to go into that of
the Govemment, and which might be expended by it in
making roads and opening the country. AYhatI object to
in the resolutions is, 1st, the fixture of a maximum price
without the guarantee of auction ; 2ndly, the establish
ment of one price for all India, without any reference to
the character of the soil or the nature of the crop ; 3rdly,
the poAver given to any purchaser to lock up a quantity
of land equal in amount and contiguous to that AAdiich he
has purchased for a given number of years. There are
other modifications of detail which might be made, but
to these it is unnecessary to allude.
The second subject Avhich I Avish to bring under your
notice, is that of the supply of horses required for remount
ing the cavalry and artillery. In a despatch from Sir C.
Wood, he aUuded to the plan of breeding horses for the
service, and I think Sir Hope Grant has a fancy for the
estabUshment of a stud in this Presidency. Now, my

SUPPLY OF HORSES. 185
Australian experience in horse-breeding is, that even there,
where the mares have an unlimited run over capital
pasture, the system is, comparatively, unprofitable ; that
a large number of Aveedy brutes are bred, Avhich would
not be fit for either cavalry or artiUery, and whose sale
would not cover their expenses. If this be the case in
Australia, where there is good pasture, Avhat Avill it be
here, where for four or five months in the year we have
none? It is absolutely necessary that the mare, both
AA'hile she is with foal and Avhile she is suckling, should
have good and abundant pasture ; otherwise the foal is
never fully developed, and becomes a poor stunted
animal. Then, again, the foal as a yearling should have
plenty to eat, or it is stunted in its growth. Now, here,
at all events, Ave should be obliged to feed both mare and
foal Avith gTam, or some food specially cultivated for them,
and the cost of this would seriously enhance the price of
a five-year-old. I shall be able to give you some idea soon
of the cost of our horses. It is very desirable that some
simple system should be estabUshed, which might, should
a large demand for horses arise, be capable of develop
ment. This, it is evident, cannot be the case with a stud;
indeed it could only be done by multiplying the regular
markets for the supply of horse stock : a few hundred
extra horses from each of these markets would not have
much action upon the price. I have an offer, Avhich I
have accepted, from an Australian breeder, to deliver
horses in India, subject to the approval of the Government
at landing, for 55/. per horse, the breeder or importer
taking the Avhole risk of shipment, &c., so that the
Government gets a good horse for 55/. and is subject to
no risk. Others Avould be found, I have no doubt, to
undertake to deliver horses at Calcutta and Bombay on
about the same terms. Yours very truly,
W.D.

186 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To Lady C. Denison.
Ootacamund, August 3, 1862.
My dear Sister, — We moved over from Kotagherry on
the 1st, sending the children some tAvelve mUes in tonjons
to meet the carriage, as Kotagherry is inaccessible to
vehicles on wheels ; while we rode a shorter, but very
pretty, new bridle road, which is cut out of the hiU side
for most of the distance of eighteen miles. We sent spare
horses and our luncheon forward to a sort of half-way station
in a wood, and took L  that distance in a tonjon. We
had just estabUshed ourselves comfortably and commenced
our luncheon, when two aides-de-camp, who had been sent
to look after the horses, came rushing back, foUowed by a
sAvarm of bees, and we had to beat a hasty retreat, leav
ing our luncheon behind us. L  and Dr. Sanderson
were both stung, and eventually we had to retreat about
a quarter of a mile before we could feel secure from attack.
It seems that some of the horse-keepers had seen a large
set of combs hanging to the trees near the road (this is
the usual position of the comb of the wild bees), and had
appropriated them, starting the inhabitants in search of
vengeance and a new home. We were delayed by
this upwards of two hours. We first tried to make fires
along the path, advancing gradually, pushing each fire
about twenty yards on beyond the last. However, Avhen Ave
got near the main body of the bees, they mustered in too
great force to allow us time to make a ncAv fire, so we had
to retreat. The side of the hill was too steep to permit us to
venture off the path, and as our attempt to drive the bees
from their position had failed, I rode back about a quarter
of a mUe to see whether I could not get doAvn the liiU by
some other route. I had made up my mind to make the
attempt, Avhen I was told that the bees had gone off in a
body, and that the road Avas clear, so Ave succeeded in
passing the defile. These bees are different from ours ;

WILD BEES. 187
they are shorter and fatter, with yeUow bodies ; they leave,
however, their stings behind them, as I had to extract
some from those who had been wounded.
I have been looking over the book which you sent me,
or, rather, have been reading it with great interest and
pleasure. The difficulty A\diich I have always had in ap
preciating the feelings of those Avho press 'the Church'
upon us almost as a substitute for Christ, is the conviction
that religion must, in the first place, be personal and
individual ; whereas they would almost reverse this, and
make the Church, that is the multitude, teach and form
the individual. God's Holy Spirit operates upon the
heart of the individual, makes it loving and trustful ; the
soul, thus acted upon, looks around for sympathy, and
finds it in those whose conduct shows them to be sub
jected to the same influence ; man is thus added to
man, and a Church is formed ; but a Church is nothing
abstracted from the individuals who compose it. The
Church (I use here the definite article) has its ministers, and
its machinery for teaching ; and of course the young, and
indeed the old also, are dependent upon this for instruction,
but not for holiness — not for that which God alone can
give. I have given you a long explanation of my reason
for liking Goulburn's work ; it deals with personal religion,
and this, I feel sure, is, and ought to be, the first step to
be taken by the individual, and pressed upon him by the
teacher. Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.
To Colonel Harness, R.E.
Ootacamund, August 10, 1862.
My dear Harness, — I got your letter yesterday. I think
you have over-estimated the quantity of goods likely to
come by the rail. You must recollect that in this country
the cost of conveyance by the usual buUock bandies may
be put at 3d. to 3Ld. per ton per mile. This is not a

188 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
heavy charge. In England, before railways were con
structed, the cost upon the turnpike-roads was from 9d.
to lOd. During the dry season here, the peasant, having
nothing for his bullocks to do, or indeed for himself, is
glad to avail himself of any opportunity of earning some
thing, so he goes upon the road. As he must maintain
his cattle and himself, any money which he may make is
almost clear profit. At present we charge l|^d. per ton
per mile by the rail, but I doubt whether this covers the
cost of transport. I must send you, when I get back to
Madras, two papers on railways, Avhich I read to the
Eoyal Society at Sydney. In these you wiU see, fuUy
stated, my views with regard to these expensive con
structions in particular countries.
I have had a curious incidental confirmation of some
facts relative to drainage, &c., which I deduced from
experiments made in New South Wales. This may be
useful to your young officers. The Irrigation Company,
which is bringing water from the Toombuddra Eiver into
the Pennaar, and making a canal for navigation as well
as for irrigation, proposed, as a part of their scheme, to
make a dam 200 feet high across the outlet of a valley
in Mysore, to collect therein the drainage of a large
extent of country, and to pass this Avater doAvn the canals,
during the dry season. The scheme Avas submitted to
me, and I asked to be informed —
1st. As to the area of country the drainage from which
was to be intercepted.
2nd. As to the number of inches of rain faUing upon
this area.
3rd. As to the proportion of this rain Avhich ran off to
the outfall.
I got at the time but a very vague reply to questions
one and two, and the reply to question three was that
three-fourths of the rainfall was discharged pretty speedily
by the river. I told the engineer that the result of my

DRAINAGE. 189
experiments shoAved that the proportion in AustraUa was
betAveen one-fourth and one-fifth ; and I directed the engi
neers in different parts of the country to make some
experiments to determine this proportion for the Madras
territory under varied circumstances. I have as yet got
no returns which can be relied on ; but a short time ago
I got a proposal from the Mysore Government to con
struct a dam across the very river which the Irrigation
Company intended to make use of, and to employ the
water to irrigate a portion of their own territory. With
this scheme I got tables showing the actual discharge of
the river, the area of drainage, &c. Now the facts were
as follows : The area of drainage was 400 square miles, or
256,000 acres. The discharge of the river during nine
months 320,715,286 cubic yards, or 3 2^i_528 6 = 1253
cubic yards per acre ; that is, the amount coming to the
outfall from each acre would be equal to about 9-3 inches
in depth over that area. I have not the actual measure
ment of the rainfall, but I shall be under the mark if I
put it at from 36 to 40 inches during the rainy season ;
so that the actual discharge is pretty much as my experi
ments in New South Wales testified, namely, between one-
fourth and one-fifth of the total quantity falling. Of
course, when there is a steady down-pour, as in the mon
soon on the west coast, and when the hills are bare and
precipitous, this proportion will be exceeded ; but I think
that the proportion of one-fourth might be taken in calcu
lations for drainage, and one-fifth for those relating to the
supply of water. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Sir C Wood.
Ootacamund, September 13, 1862.
My dear Sir Charles, — I have heard from two sources
that the natives in the northern parts of the Nizam's terri ¦
tory are beginning to send about chupatties, or cakes, as
they did before the mutiny. This would seem to be

190 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
something analogous to the fiery cross in the Highlands.
The process appears to be as follows. Cakes are sent to
a village, with instructions that they are to be thrown to
the dogs, and that other cakes are to be prepared and
sent on to the next village. The suggestion, or warning,
or whatever it may be, circulates in this way through
out the country without attracting much attention. My
feeUng is that we are dealing with these people too much
according to English principles. We attribute to them
feelings which would operate upon us, but which have
either no action, or a very different action, upon them.
I do not believe that, with perhaps a few exceptions,
they care one fartlung about the justice, as we term it, of
our dealings with them, and for the security, we say, that
they enjoy. AU that they remember — and their memories
are very good — is that we have come in as aUens and
intruders, have ousted their native rulers, sometimes by
the strong hand, and sometimes, betAveen you and me,
by very dirty processes. We must not expect gratitude
or affection from them, and must be prepared to deal
with them, should they be fooUsh enough to break out a
second time, just as their native rulers would do ; that is,
to show but httle mercy, to act thoroughly upon their
fears. Leniency, they, as weU as other savage or semi-
civiUsed nations, regard as a proof of weakness.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Ootacamuud, September 11, 1862.
My dear J  , — The more I see of the state of things
in this country, the more earnestly do I Avish for altera
tions and reform ; yet the growth of abuses has been so
natural and so gradual, each step having been almost a
necessary consequence of the preceding one, that it is
difficult to know where to begin, and, having begun, equally
difficult to know where one is to stop. Many matters

LONG-STANDING ABUSES. 191
come before me which involve a consideration of the
treatment dealt out by us to the great men of the land in
former times, and which impress me with the conviction
that we acted towards them most nefariously ; but, were I
to attempt to grant redress tothe children of these, where
could I stop ? I should have to give over a large slice of
the Madras Presidency to others who, ignorant and full of
native prejudices, would bring back a state of things which,
if not passed, is, at all events, passing away. I have made
up my mind, therefore, not to attempt to redress hereditary
injustice, but taking Avhat happened before my time as
Q.fait accompli, to be careful that no complaint is made
against me. The evil, however, is not merely in the
injustice committed, but in the generation of ideas and
principles in the servants of Government which lead them
to advocate such injustice — to do evil that good may come ;
and I by no means exclude myself from the number of those
upon whom this influence acts. In looking to these
crooked paths, we neglect the simple and straightforward
way by which good is sure to be done ; that is, we neglect
to train or educate the people. You must not think when
I use the hackneyed phrase educate, that I mean mere
mental trahiing, mere teaching to read and to write. I
lay much more stress upon that sort of training by the
eye, that exhibition before the people of the results of
education upon ourselves, that proof of the benefits of
civiUsation of which Christianity is the main element,
Avhich it is so desirable to introduce. However, I have
given you too large an allowance of grumbling ; so good
bye. Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.

192 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

NOTE A.
I subjoin an extract from a series of notices sent to the Eajah
of Poodoocottah by one of his creditors ; the whole letter hav
ing been eventually sent in to the G-overnment, in the form of a
complaint against him.
' Take notice of sale, Maharajah Eama Chundra Tondimon
Bahadoor, Eajah of Poodoocottah,
'That, on and after the 10th of December, in the year one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, unless the sum of rupees
(28,200) in full is previously sent by you to my house, as inti
mated in my last notice, sent to you under open cover, dated
1st November, 1861, your second wife, son, and daughter,
begotten of her, will be put up conjointly, and nominally sold
to the highest bidder, in my Eeceiving Hall, in satisfaction of
the claim in question, of which you will re3eive notices from
time to time.'
After two or three repeated notices, at different dates, of
nominal bids for the Eajah's wife and children (probably in
tended as stinging insults ; for, of course, no real sale could be
attempted), the document concludes as follows : — •
' But should you, Maharajah Eama Chundra Tondimon
Bahadoor, of Poodoocottah, fail either to send down the above-
said amount, or your second wife, son, and daughter by her,
within the 25th inst.. Know you for certain that my old shoes
or slippers will be issued and sent to you, to compel and demand
of you to fulfil the terms of this condition ; for you must bear
in mind that you are not supposed to trample upon the rights
and liberties of others with impunity, when you yourself wi.sh
and expect your own rights, liberties, and privileges, accorded
you, as an ally, to be respected.'
It is evident from the above that the reception of a creditor's
old shoes or slippers is looked upon as a greater degradation
than the sale of wife and children; for, in a former part of the
document, after one of the notices of nominal auctions, it is
tauntingly remarked, that it will now be seen whether Eama
Chundra is ' even ivilling to submit to the shoes or slvp'pers,
rather tha.n act the part of a prince.'

193

NOTE B.
On the occasion of a Christmas examination at our little >
school, about a year and a half after its establishment, we were
requested to listen to a Tamil song, composed by the school
master, and sung by his pupils ; and this ' schoolmaster's song '
eventually became an annual Christmas performance. The
sound of the tune, when delivered with the true Tamil twang,
and falling off into a sort of nasal groan at the close of each
cadence, was, as a friend of ours present on one of these occa
sions remarked, 'like vocal bagpipes;' and I subjoin a trans
lation of the song given at the last examination, which is worth
preserving, in its way, as a specimen of Orientalism, and a proof
that our schoolmaster, though a Christian, and really, to all
appearance, conscientious in the discharge of his duties, yet
could not divest himself of the ordinary tendencies of the
Asiatic in contact with bis superiors.

(TRANSLATION.)
THANKSGIVING.

D E V A E A M.

Praise the feet of the All-adorable — Bhagavan is indeed
a beautiful rule given by the high Tamil Pundits ; but the
voice of the genuine Gospel — Science revealed by tlie
Glorious One — bids us to keep to His matchless feet that
that Mary had kept as ' One thing is needful.'
POKTUGUESE TuNE.
(1) Ever cheerful Dekison— the Eepresentative of Her
Majesty the Queen Victoria, whose constant care is
universal preservation. Like the great mystery of life,
whereby the physical nature is sustained by the beams
of the bright sun, is our Eoyal Supporter and
Auspicious Parent.
VOL. II. 0

194 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
(2) The Sun of Eighteousness is Jesus our Lord, who on that
day (of crucifixion) had Aviped off our shame, is even
to this day our own dear friend ; He is the prime cause
of the Universe and our great Preserver.
(3) (^In) the maternal bosom of the benevolent Lady Denison
is our livelihood and our prosperity now and for ever
more. The Honourable Anglican Lady is our sup
porting stay.
ANOTHEE.
CI) The first cause, The Gracious Order, The Sun of Eighteous
ness, The Light of Love, The Grand Teacher of man
kind.
(2) May the little School of Governor Denison of the Presi
dency of Madras be blessed, and may its glory shine to
the relief of many a little one.
(3) 0 King of Heaven, grant us improvement in learning
and sound Avisdom, and save us from all evils in this
life.
(4) 0 God of Angels, The Holy One worshipped by man
kind, grant that possessors of the Truth may long live ;
give us wisdom to seek thy feet and to attain Eternal
life.
D E V A E A M .
May the Gracious God continue His blessing to the Institution
established by Mother Lady Denison in 1862, and cause its
usefulness to extend on.

JOURNEY. 195

CHAPTEE XXI.
SAIL ROVND C.IPE COMOKIN — ADAll's BBIB&E — PAOODA AT EAUISEEAM —
A EOYAL PILGEIM — PEEPAEATION OE SEA SLUGS POE THE CHINESE
MAEKET — LANDING AI UTTICOEIN  MANGOSTEENS — MODE OF SELLING
PEAELS^PEAEL LIME — TINNETBLLT — DUEBAE  THE 6EEAT ZEMINDAE^
MISSIONAET TRAINING SCHOOL— NIGHT JOVENET TO NAGEECOIL — PASSAGE
OF A SWOLLEN EITEE — AERIVAL AT lEIVANDEUM — STATE VISIT FEOM
THE EAJAH — ILLVMINATED KOAD — DINNEE WITH THE EAJAH — METEO-
POLIIAN OF THE STEIAN CHUECH — VISIT TO IHE EANEES — DEPAKIURE
FEOM TEIVANDETIM — NIGHT VOYAGING ON THE BACK AVATEE  FAIEY-
T.TTTF. SCENES — QUILON — ILLUMINATED GARDEN — ALLBPPBY — VISIT FROM
AEMENIAN MERCHANTS — MISSIONAEY WOEK AMONG THE SLAVE CASTE 
LAIEEITE — COCHIN — VISIT FEOM THE EAJAH — BOATING EXTEAOEDINARY
— CITRIODS FISHING NETS  ' WHITE JEWS OF COCHIN '  VISIT TO THE
SYNAGOGUE — EETUEN TO MADEAS.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Coimbatore, October 11, 1862.
Mt DEAR J  , — We got here at five this morning, and
our journey did not commence prosperously, for we had
not got three miles from Ootacamund before it began to
pour. L  and I were in a carriage, but the rest of
the party, who were riding, were wet to the skin ; luckily
we had dry clothes for S  , and she and L  and I
went down the ghaut in tonjons. We got into our bullock
transits at half-past eight p.m., and arrived here, twenty-
six miles, at half-past five in the morning. We met a
man going up the ghaut who had been nineteen hours
going the same distance.
ISth. — Off Cape Comorin. We ran down by rail in
three and a half hours from Coimbatore to Beypore. The
first half of the distance has a very peculiar character ;
on one side you look out on a bare brown plain, while on
the other the eye dwells upon a curious range of hills
o 2

196 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
most peculiar in form, colour, and structure. LoAver
down again you plunge into the low land of Malabar,
well clothed with timber, rich and well cultivated. At
this time of year the people were employed in the fields,
and everyone had either an umbrella, or a hat equivalent
to an umbrella, made of palm leaves, about 2 feet 6
inches or 3 feet in diameter, with a centre part to fit on
the head. I was told that the men with umbrellas were
the aristocracy of the country, while those with umbrella
hats were the lower or working class, many of whom
were slaves. They were working in the paddy fields
(paddy is growing rice, or rice in the husk), some reap
ing, some planting, some preparing the ground for a
second crop. They always get two crops ofl" the ground,
and in several instances three. We found the steamer
waiting for us about two miles from the shore, and Ave
got on board by five o'clock, and were very soon under
weigh. We stood down the coast all that night, sighted
Cochin, AUeppey, and Quilon, and when I awoke this
morning, pretty early — for I slept upon deck on account
of the heat — I found that we were abreast of Cape
Comorin. There are some hiUs in the vicinity which
make a bold termination to the Peninsula, but there is a
gap between these and the southern end of the long
range of the Western Ghauts.
Paumben, October 14. — This is, speaking generally, a
part of the reef connecting India and Ceylon, called Adam's
Bridge, across which he, according to tradition, stepped
when he went to visit the eastern portion of his in
heritance. More particularly, Paumben is the channel
which we are deepening and widening for the accommo
dation of the native trade between India and Ceylon.
We arrived at our anchorage this morning, having
stopped for a pUot at Tuticorin. On the island of
Eamiseram, off which we anchored, there is a pagoda
of great note ; it forms the southern termination of a

PILGRIMAGES. 197
great Brahminical circuit, commencing at Benares ; and
during the new moon as many as 5,000 pUgrims pay
their devotions to the idols, wash off the dust of their
journey in the sea, and after that follow different routes
back to the North, some going up the holy river Cauvery,
Avhile others go round by Cape Comorin and the West
Coast. Last year a Eajah came down as a pilgrim, went
to bathe at the end of the island, and was beset, on
coming out of the water, by a herd of Brahmins, who got
5,000 rupees out of him in exchange for a few rings
made of grass. The distance to the pagoda Avas too great to
allow of our paying it a visit en masse ; but two of our
party went ashore for the purpose, and got a good duck
ing in the surf on landing. They described the pagoda as
being poordooking externally, but beautifully carved and
arranged within.
Tinnevelly, October 16. — My last sheet was written
at Paumben. I went from the steamer to inspect the
works of the channel, and after a long pull landed at a
small village, where the reef abuts on the Island of
Eamiseram. I was met by the authorities of the pagoda ;
they paraded an elephant, a camel, and a body of
dancing girls ; they also brought me a present of fruits
and sweetmeats. I had not much time, however, to waste
upon these formalities, as it was getting dark, and we had
a long pull back to the ship, luckily, however, with the
stream. I forgot to say that we stopped on our way to
Paumben at a Chinaman's establishment, where he was
catching and preparing sea-slugs (trepang) for the
Chinese market. The children of the place collect these
for him at low water, and receive two rupees per thousand.
They are large, nasty-looking slugs, about 9 inches in
length and 2 j inches in diameter, striped on the back
with black and grey, and have a white stomach spotted
with black. The mode of preparation is simple enough :
the slugs are thrown (alive ! I ) into an iron pot, and

198 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
boiled for a short time, or rather stewed partially ; they
are then put into a hole in the sand of the beach, and
left there for some time to dry and cool ; boiled a second
time, and then dried, first in the sun, and after that in a
hut, a fire being kindled on the ground, and the slugs
spread upon a hurdle about 6 feet above the fire. They
sell at Singapore for 13 rupees per thousand, so the man
drives a profitable trade. We left our anchorage in the
evening, and found ourselves abreast of Tuticorin by six
o'clock in the morning, made all our preparations for
landing, and got ashore, after a long and hot pull, by
half-past nine. We were getting short of ice ; so, as I
proposed to go back, as far as Cochin, overland, I sent the
steamer over to Colombo for l,0001bs. weight of that
necessary of life. We landed, of course, in the midst of
a crowd of officials and natives, the latter all standing in
the water, and found breakfast ready, and, to my great
satisfaction, a basket of fresh mangosteens, Avhich had been
sent by a merchant from his garden on the east side of
the Ghauts. Everybody in India speaks of the mangosteen
as the prince of fruits. It is got in perfection at the
Straits Settlements, Singapore, &c., but it grows in parti
cular localities at the south extremity of India. It is a
dark-coloured, round fruit, about as big as an average-
sized apple ; the skin is purple, about one-eighth of an inch
in thickness ; this is cut through carefully, and when the
interior is exposed it is snow white, and consists of five
or six lobes like those of an orange, one or two of which
are larger than the rest, and contain the seed. The fruit
itself is sweet, shghtly subacid, Avith, perhaps, a soiipcon
of strawberry flavour ; but its coolness, its consistence,
which is slightly mucilaginous, and its slight acidity are its
great recommendations : it is not, hoAvever, to be com
pared to a peach. We Avent to A'isit some of the cotton-
pressing establishments ; they are driving a thrivin"-

PEARL FISHERY. 199
trade. I was told that cotton to the value of 800,000/.
had been exported from Tuticorin during the present
year. Of late years the pearl fishery has been rather pro
ductive, and a merchant brought us specimens of several
which had been the product of his speculations during
this year. I say speculations, for the mode of dealing is
as foUoAvs. The shells are brought to land, a certain
number are opened, and the character of the pearls deter
mined and made public. The shells are then put together
in heaps containing a given number, and each heap is bid
for separately, the chance of the return being estimated
by the quality and quantity extracted from the sample
lot. Of course there is a great variation in price, but
there has been a fair return to the Government, and we
are now beginning to attempt to breed the animal, which
is not an oyster, but an avicula, a very different animal,
as I shaU be able to show you some time or other. The
leading man of the pearl-divers was presented to me ; he
had, as a sort of badge of office, a gold shell with a pearl
inside, a very pretty ornament. We had some shells
brought in and opened, but found nothing but small seed
pearls, and these seemed to be deposited within the
animal, and not to adhere to the shell. The rich natives
have these seed pearls burned into lime, and use this
Avith their betel nut instead of ordinary lime, a piece of
luxurious folly about on a par with that of Antony. I
had two addresses presented to me, to which I returned
the usual answer. We left Tuticorin after dinner, L  ,
S  , and I in palanquins, as the road was said to be bad,
the rest in buUock transits. We sent off our baggage at
two o'clock; but such roads I never travelled before,
except, perhaps, in Australia. Our bearers were some
times in water, sometimes plunging through deep sticky
mud, and sometimes in deep drifting sand, but never on
a decent road. It took us ten hours to go twenty-eight

200 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
miles. Some of the transits and carts have come straggling
in, but some I do not expect to see for hours. L 
and S  went on at once to the collector's house, but I
stopped at some distance from Tinnevelly in order to get
myself into a fit state to be seen by the concourse of
people, military as well as civil, who turned out to wel
come me. We are at the collector's house, and are very
comfortable. October 18. — As I am the first governor who has visited
this district, I am made much of. The night after our
arrival we had a display of fireworks ; the next day all
the principal natives came to the durbar, or levee. One
zemindar, determined to outshine his neighbours, came
with a procession consisting of five elephants, two camels,
a lot of led horses, two sets of dancing-girls, two bands,
guards, &c. &c. without number. He himself was dressed
in cloth of gold and covered with jewels. We made him
stop, after the rest had gone away, and show us his
various ornaments. Diamonds and emeralds seemed to be
the stones most in request, but they appear to set more
store upon size than on quality ; many of the stones had
flaws, and all were badly set. He had a smaU dagger,
with a sort of guard which covered the back of the hand,
which was one mass of emeralds and diamonds. This
man pays the Government 9,000./. per annum, and gets
out of his tenants, I dare say, 30,000/. in addition. I have
had addresses without end, and specially a long one from
the missionaries ; this is, in fact, the head-quarters of the
two great bodies, the Church Missionary Society and that
for the Propagation of the Gospel.
I went yesterday to inspect a training school where
about 100 chUdren are boarded, lodged, clothed, and
educated, most of whom avUI eventuaUy become clergy
men or catechists, schoolmasters and mistresses. The
place is prettily situated ; the ground, though flat, has a
beautiful background in the Western Ghauts some twelve

TINNEVELLY. 201
or fourteen mUes distant ; these rise up abruptly from the
plain, and have a marked and peculiar outline.
October 19. — I inspected the native regiment here at
a quarter before six, and gave great pleasure to officers and
men by my commendation of their appearance and move
ments. I visited two schools in the afternoon. All the
authorities are anxious that I should see everything, or,
rather, I believe, they are anxious to show me as a sort of
lion. One old lady, the wife of a missionary, and an
active agent in all educational matters, told me that she
was holding me up as an example of simplicity of costume
to her children, and had pointed out the difference
between the Governor, in his plain black coat, and the
zemindars, dressed in cloth of gold and covered with
jcAvels. The fact is that I dress simply in this country on
principle, to say nothing'of comfort. It would be hopeless
in me to attempt to vie, in finery, with the humblest
zemindar : he in cloth of gold must always make a greater
show than I could, even were I to dress in uniform. I,
therefore, put on a simple black dress with my star, and I
stand out in strong relief to my military staff, and to the
gorgeously dressed natives. We go on towards Trivandrum
to-morroAv. God bless you, my dear J  .
Your affectionate Brother,
W. D.
To W. E. Denison, Esq.
Tinnevelly, October 18, 1862.
My dear W  , — S  is giving you an account of
our journey, so I will confine myself to one or two
matters in which I feel a special interest. At Beypore
I went to examine a spot sheltered in some measure by a
reef, which it was proposed to turn into a boat harbour.
The people connected with the railway are, of course,
anxious to get anything done which might draw more
traffic to the line. I, however, set my face against the

202 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
proposed breakwater, on the plea that the shelter given
by the reef Avas quite sufficient to make smooth water
inside, and that aU we wanted was a sort of jetty from the
station, at which boats and small coasting craft could lie
and load or unload. We sailed from Beypore to Paumben,
rounding Cape Comorin. We found the sea as offensive off
Beypore and along the West Coast as it was last year off
Cannanore, and I made the captain of the steamer put her
head off shore till the evidence of my nose told me that we
¦were in sweet water. At Paumben we are deepening and
widening a cut through ' Adam's Bridge.' There is a great
traffic by this channel to Colombo in Ceylon, as much as
170,000 tons passing through every year. Thereof looks
in places like a set of giant stepping-stones, over and
betAveen which the Avater rushes rapidly, for a north wind
forces the water into the gulf on the north side, creating
a fall sufficient, they say, to give a current of six or eight
knots ; and there is a reverse current when the Avind is
southerly. When I was there the water Avas rushing
from the north, but 2^ or 3 knots Avas the fuU velocity of
the current. We have deepened the channel from 8 to
12 feet, and are going to carry it to 14 feet. It is useless
to make it deeper, because the Avater in the chamiel
followed by the vessels which use the passage is not more
than that depth. A committee of the House of Commons
reported in favour of a deep-water channel, which must
have been made farther to the eastAvard, and would have
cost at least half a milUon ; but I see no use in this, the
only object being to shorten the voyage, at a certain
time of the year, between Calcutta and Colombo, a voyage
not made by half-a-dozen vessels.
From Paumben we went to Tuticorin, the shipping port
of most of the cotton from the South of India. I Avent
over the stores of tAVO merchants, one of whom Avas pack
ing cotton with the old screw press, the other Avith a ncAV
patent press which weighed the cotton and pressed it into

COTTON PRESS. 20.3
a bale, at one-half the cost of labour expended in working
the screAV. The machine, however, was very expensive.
The idea of this machine was taken from the bent lever of
the printing-press. One end of the lever was fixed at the
top of the framework of the press, whUe the other was
connected with the moveable top of the case containing
the cotton ; the centre of the bent lever was connected
with an arc or quadrant which, being moved, as the patent
windlass, by two claAvs catching alternately on two racks
in the edge of the arc, gradually drew the lever into a
position approximating to a straight line. These claws
were worked by a capstan moved rapidly by twenty men.
October 19. — I had the district engineer with me for a
long time to-day. He brought before me a plan by Avhich
a large reservoir might be made in the hills, by putting
a dam 100 feet high between two ranges of rocky hills,
through which gap a river runs. This dam would make
a pool, covering an area of 5 miles by 3 miles, to an aver
age depth of perhaps 30 feet ; this Avould supply Avaterto
a tract of country of some extent, and would ensure the
whole valley of the river against drought. We then Avent
into the question of roads, and decided what Avas to be
done by the Government, and what by the people. Upon
the whole I think the people will be weU satisfied with
the result of my visit. Your affectionate Father,
W. D.
Extracts from Journal.
Residency, Trivandrum, October 23, 1862.
My dear M  , — I do not think that I shall ever keep
pace in my letters with all I have to tell. This Indian
traveUing is so amusing, and letters are so little able to
do justice to the scenes. On Monday evening we left
Tinnevelly, and a palanquin journey through the night
brought us to Nagercoil, Avhere we were to rest in a

204 A'ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
bungalow for the day. The night journey was long,
very wet and tiring, but nevertheless very amusing. We
passed through a native town, where the people were
waiting in crowds to see us. Through the darkness we
had a glimpse of a large elephant, with smart red trappings,
making salaams to us, and the people ran by the side of
our palanquins with flaming torches tUl we got a long
way past the town. At another place we crossed the
boundary between our territory and that of the Eajah
of Travancore, and there was some great official or other
sent by the Eajah to welcome W  to his dominions ;
but I, unfortunately, had fallen asleep in my palanquin
just at this juncture, so I missed the ceremony. I am
told, hoAvever, that W  , who had also faUen asleep,
was roused suddenly, and, only half awake, conscious of
a necessity for some immediate action, but not quite
UAvare of what the occasion might be, stepped hastily out
of his palanquin, just as he Avas, without waiting to put
on his coat and Avaistcoat, which he had throAvn off for
the sake of coolness ; so, in the midst of a gazing crowd,
and of all the ' pomp and circumstance' which the place
could muster, there suddenly emerged the great man, in
shirt sleeves and rumpled hair, not, I am afraid, for the
moment, a very imposing representative of British
majesty! Wherever we have gone, all through our
journey, we have found all the bungalows at Avhicli we
stopped prettily ornamented with strings of flowers, and aU
along the road, crossing over our heads, long strings, with
leaves, ferns, &c., fluttering from them. I thought at first
that these were feeble attempts at triumphal arches ; but I
have since been told that they are charms intended to
preserve us from the evil eye ! We had a long weary
day at Nagercoil, for it rained in torrents, and Ave had
nothing to do. The missionaries of the station (it belongs
to the London Mission) and their wives called on us in
the afternoon, and Ave went with them to see their schools.

SWOLLEN RIVER. 205
or rather their scholars, for the children and adults of the
different schools Avere all collected together in the church ;
but this was our only occupation, and we were all glad
when night came on, and with it the time for starting
again on our journey, though it still rained as hard as
ever. Now we had to encounter the greatest obstacle to
our travels ; we had a river to cross ; and everybody said
that this would be so swollen from the rain, that we
should find it very difficult, probably impossible, to cross
it, as there were none but native boats, which, if the
torrent was strong, were likely to be swept far doAvn the
stream before they could reach the other side. At all
events we were told that it would be quite impossible to
cross it in the dark ; so our palanquin journey that night
was only to take us to a bungalow on the bank of the
river, there to wait till daylight, and then cross, if possible.
We got to our bungalow about two o'clock in the morning,
rested there for three hours, and with the first of the day
Ught went down to the river. Imagine my horror, when
I and my palanquin got there, at being told that W 
and Dr. Sanderson had gone off first in the boats to try
the passage. It was just like my good man to try it him
self first ; but nevertheless I wished he had not, and
remained in a great fidget, for intervening trees hid the
boats from our sight. The Dewan Peishcar, or official
whom the Eajah of Travancore had sent to welcome
W  , and to assist us on our jom'uey, and who was
among the party waiting on the bank, apparently thought
that now, in a moment of anxiety, it behoved him to dis
tinguish himself Accordingly, with an air of great
gravity and preparation, and as if about to take a very
important step in our behalf, he came forward, and, lean
ing on the shoulder of one coolie, and carefully sending
another before him to sound the depth, he solemnly
stepped into the water, about half-way up to his knees, and
there stood till the boat in which W  had gone waa

356 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
seen returning — a sign that he had got over safely.
We were a little astonished at the importance he seemed
to attach to this step, when compared with the smallness of
the result; for it was difficult to see what good effect the im
mersion of his fat legs could have on our progress; but it
Avas impossible to mistake the expression of self-compla
cency with which he stood there, as if now he really had
helped us over the whole difficulty ; and, sure enough, he
afterwards sent in a claim for some reward, on the ground
of his distinguished services during our journey ! It was a
great relief to see W  's boat come back safe, and we
addressed ourselves to our crossing in good heart. S 
and I Avere to go in our palanquins, which were to be
hoisted into the native boats, and which took up so much
room that only one gentleman was to go with each, the
remaining gentlemen following in other boats. After aU
the stories we had heard about the difficulty of crossing,
we got over the river as peacefully as possible : it had
overflowed its banks, and was very Avide ; but though
the stream was strong, there was no torrent to sweep us
down, or anything of that sort ; and in due time we got to
the other side, and went on in our palanquins for about
twelve miles, to a bungalow, where we stopped for break
fast. At twelve o'clock we started again, still in palan
quins, and came to this place, the capital of Travancore,
which we reached about half-past three. At the entrance
of the town we were met by an escort of the Eajah's
cavalry, and some of his carriages, into which we got.
The carriage in which S  and I were was a toler
ably well-appointed Englishdooking carriage, drawn by
four white horses, ridden by two postilions, dressed in
scarlet jackets with epaulettes, blue trowsers, and bright
blue caps Avith gold ornaments ; but, in contrast with
this, the horse-keepers who ran by the side were almost
naked ; and this is generally the Avay with these Eastern
appointments and equipages — a queer sort of incongruous

STATE VISIT FROM. THE RAJ All. 207
mixture of finery and shabbiness. We were followed by
a troop of police peons and a croAvd of people ; and
thus we came to the house of Mr. Fisher, the English
resident at the court of Travancore. This morning
W  has held a levee, and I have received the ladies ;
and we have had a private visit from an old acquaintance.
Prince Eama Vurmah, the first prince, brother of the
Eajah, who came dressed in dark Ulac satin trimmed with
gold. October 24. — The Eajah paid W  a state visit
yesterday, and it was an amusing sight. The long draw
ing-room was prepared for it by having chairs and sofas,
in a long semi-oval, round the room, and we were told off
beforehand to the seats which we were to occupy during
the ceremony. W  and the Eajah were to sit together
on the sofa at the upper end of the room ; I on the nearest
chair on W  's right hand, and next to me Prince
Eama Vurmah. In the opposite chair, on the Eajah's left
hand, was to sit the Eesident, Mr. Fisher, and next to.
him S  . All the staff, and the other European gentle
men of the Eesidency (who all come on these occasions
to meet the Eajah), Avere to occupy the remaining seats
along the room. Having made all these arrangements,
we went out into the verandah to watch for his coming.
There was a guard of honour posted, and all the different
European gentlemen came dropping in one by one. By-
find-by we heard a salute, the signal that the great man
had started from his palace ; but he went very slow, and
it was a long time before the near sound of native drums
announced that he was entering these grounds. The first
thing that appeared was a magnificent elephant ; then
came a horse, with a man sitting far back, nearly on his
tail, as boys do on donkeys in England, beating a pair of
kettle-drums ; then five or six more led horses ; then a
tolerable band of military music ; then all the Eajah's
troops, cavalry and infantry, amounting to about 1,800

208 VARIETIES OF ATCE-REGAL LIFE.
men ; then some discordant native music ; and by-and-by
the Eajah himself, sitting enthroned on a high state car,
drawn by six white horses, Avith all sorts of fans and
flags Avaving about him. After him came the Prince in
an ordinary carriage, and then four or five more elephants ;
but I did not see this part of the procession, for we were
called in hastily to take our seats. Mr. Fisher met the
Eajah as he descended from his car by a flight of steps of
green velvet and gold, and handed him up the steps to
the door, where he was met by W  , who offered him his
arm and led him to his sofa, while Mr. Fisher went back
to escort the Prince. All the other gentlemen streamed
in after them, and dropped into their respective seats, and
then began the conversation. The Eajah is about thirty-
tAVO years old, but looks older ; stout and portly, with a
sort of jolly, comfortable-looking face. He Avas dressed in
gold brocade, studded over with emeralds ; this dress
was shaped something like an Englishman's dressing-
gown ; and on his head he wore a sort of cap, Avith a
beautiful jalume of bird of paradise feathers. He is an
intelligent man, and speaks very good English, and he and
W  seemed to be getting on capitally, but I had not
time to listen to them, as I was labouring, with great toil
and trouble, to keep up a conversation with the Prince,
who, though he also speaks EngUsh well, is shy, and not so
conversable as the Eajah. He also was dressed in gold
brocade, but duly inferior in splendour to his brother.
After about a quarter of an hour of this Avork, W  ,
according to previous instructions, made a sign, and a peon
brought forward a tray covered over Avith a cloth, on
which were garlands of flowers, one of Avliich W  was
to put round the Eajah's neck, and two others round his
arms. It was all I could do not to laugh during this
part of the ceremony, it looked so very absurd, particularly
as the large garland, on being put over the Eajah's head,
caught somehow on thc back of his cap, and Mr. Fisher

STATE DINNER WITH THE RAJAH. 200
had to come behind him and set it all to rights again.
W  , however, kept his countenance admirably. Then
another tray of flowers was brought in, with Avhich he
similarly decorated the Prince, and then they took their
departure. The Avhole shoAv was the best, and the least
trumpery I have yet seen in India. The Eajah's state car
Avas really handsome, and so was his dress.
October 25. — Our state dinner with the Eajah yester
day was a fairy-like scene, more like a spectacle in a
pantomime than anything in real life. The dinner was to
be at half-past seven ; so we started from the residency at
a little past seven, all in open carriages ; for in this
cUmate one can go out in one's evening dress with only
a light shawl over one's neck, and that more for ap
pearance' sake than for any need of it. The whole road
from the residency to the palace, about a mile and a half,
was iUuminated by a line of bamboo frames with three
rows of lights hung on each ; and, as if this was not light
enough, there were numbers of men running by the sides
of the carriages with torches, and at every turn of the
road very powerful blue lights were lighted in succession
just as we came up ; and really the effect of all this — the
blaze of blue light illuminating the thick trees and show
ing off the carriages, the cantering escort of cavalry, and
the croAvds of native spectators — was beautiful, particularly
at a place where the road passed by a piece of still water,
in which all the Ughts were reflected. The only unpleasant
thing was, that at the moment we entered the palace-
gates, a salute was fired almost close to our ears. Luckily
the Eajah's horses are used to all this sort of thing (we
were in his carriage), and minded neither guns, torches,
nor the band, and clash of presented arms as W  ¦
arrived. At the palace door stood Prince Eama Vurmah,
who offered me his arm, and handed me upstairs to the
draAving-room, where we were met by the Eajah, dressed
in a dark blue velvet dress, rather hot, I should think,
A'OL, II. p

210 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
for this climate, but still very handsome, and in real good
taste, rich, but with nothing gaudy about it. This velvet
tunic reached about half way down his legs, and below it
appeared a pair of white muslin trowsers and bare feet.
He had on a beautiful collar of diamonds, and diamond
earrings ; a white turban with the bird of paradise plume,
and a quantity of little emeralds attached to the ends of
the plume, just to give it weight enough to make it hang
gracefully ; — a gold chain went round his turban, with
some large emeralds hanging in front of it. The dress
was made quite plain, without any trimming or ornament,
except a sort of little wristbands of pearls, which stood out
well on the blue velvet. The Prince was also in dark
blue, but his dress Avas slightly trimmed with gold lace,
and he wore no jcAvels, nor any plume in hist urban. The
drawing-room was a good room in the shape of a X,
furnished as much in English style as an Lidian room,
open on all sides, can be ; that is to say, vrith Brussels
carpet, marble tables, glass chandeliers, some good
alabaster statues ranged along the long part of the room,
and some rather trumpery-looking pictm-es hanging
against the wall. By-and-by dinner was announced.
The Eajah offered me his arm, and led the way into the
dining-room, which opened from the long straight part of
the drawing-room. The dining-room was a mass of
looking-glass — a long room with pier glasses, not here and
there only, but rows of them all down the sides. The
room was narroAV in proportion to its length, but still
wide enough to admit of the servants passing with ease
round the table : it was lighted by a row of glass chan
deliers hung from the ceiling, and there Avere standing
lamps on the table besides.
The dinner was altogether Enghsh. The Eajah sat in
the centre of one side of the table, with me on his I'io-ht
hand and W  on his left. The Prince handed in
S  , and placed himself opposite us, Avith her on his

PATRIARCH OF THE SYRIAN CHURCH. 211
right hand and Mr. Fisher on his left. No natives sat at
the table except the Eajah and the Prince. His dewan, or
prime minister, was in the drawing-room before dinner
and after, dressed in white muslin and gold ; but he did
not come in to dinner, because it is not etiquette for him to
sit down in the presence of the Eajah. Their Hindoo
religion does not permit the Eajah and Prince to eat with
Christians, so they merely sat in their chairs without
touching the table, and talked with us while we eat. The
Eajah is very conversable.
The table was fiUed by Europeans, nearly all the
English inhabitants of the place, gentlemen and ladies,
having been asked to meet us. I made the move after
dinner as soon as it suited me, and the Eajah, Prince, and
other gentlemen were not long after us. There was to
have been a display of fireworks in the evening, and for this
we had all to get into carriages and palanquins again,
and move from the palace to Avhat is called the durbar haU,
which looks into a large square, where the fireworks were
to be. A shower of rain, however, came on, and spoilt most
of the fireworks. Of course I did not care much for this,
for there were quite enough left to show, from time to time,
the picturesque sight of the large square with the crowds
of natives looking on, a living spectacle which Avas far
more interesting. As soon as the fireworks were over,
we took our leave of the Eajah, who accompanied us
downstairs to the door, and we returned here with the
same circumstance of guns, torches, &c. with which we
came. This morning I have seen a remarkable sight in its way :
viz., the Patriarch or Metropolitan of the Syrian Church,
who has been to caU on W  These Syrian Christians
were once very numerous in this part of India, but they
were a good deal oppressed by the Jesuits, under the
Portuguese rule, and so they migrated to the hill country,
to which they stiU confine themselves. The Metropolitan's
r 2

212 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
dress was decidedly handsome and ecclesiastical -looking
— a black silk gOAvn, not unlike those worn by our own
clergymen, only more voluminous ; a black skuU cap, em
broidered with gold, and having two black silk lappets or
bands depending from it behind. W  says that he
seemed a shrewd, intelligent man, and spoke English weU.
Extracts from Journal. Quilon, October 28th, 1862.
Dearest  , — I must resume my history, but really I
despair of ever keeping pace with the events of this
travelling time, still more of being able to give an
adequate idea in writing of all the scenes which arise
in these Eastern travels : such a succession of pictures ;
such gay spectacles and amusing sights ; sometimes with
a strong dash of the absurd, but always Avith a much
stronger of the picturesque ; so that this journey has alto
gether been a time abounding in enjoyment. I finished
my last bit of journal with a description of the dinner
with the Eajah ; that was on Friday. On Saturday after
noon we were to pay a private visit at the Palace, for the
purpose of seeing the young 'Eanees,' the Eajah's nieces.
I do not suppose gentlemen in general are allowed to
see them, but W  was specially invited, and also Mr.
Fisher. We Avent at five o'clock, and were met at the
door by the Eajah, Avho took us up to the druAving-room,
and moved about in a quiet, sensible way, without any
attendants or fuss, going out himself to fetch these poor
children, who were not in the room Avhen Ave arriA-ed.
In they came presently, foUoAving him : two girls, one
not quite fifteen, the other eleven ; both small of their
age, aud so cumbered Avith their dress aud ornaments
that it seemed almost difficult to them to Avalk. They
had only a petticoat on by way of loAver dress, but Avere
mufiled up in great red sluiAvls ; they had jcAvels in their
noses, and such enormous car-rings that they quite di-ag

A CHURCH WITHOUT A CLERGYJMAN. 213
the ears down, and make large holes in them ; broad,
heavy gold necklaces and anklets, and each one ring on
their second toe. They came up and shook hands with
us, and just said ' Good morning,' and then seated them
selves ; and this was the extent of our communication ;
for, though I spoke once to the eldest, the Eajah ansAvered
for her, as if conscious that she would not be able to do
so, though they have both been by way of learning a little
English. They are both married ! but their husbands did
not appear. They were foUoAved into the room by two
little boys, nephcAvs of the Eajah ; one eight years old,
the other five. These were dressed, the elder in yellow,
the younger in white satin, a good deal embroidered, and
came in attended by a man servant. The elder might
have stood for the fat boy in ' Pickwick ' — nearly as broad
as he was long, and looking stupid and heavy ; the younger
was a nice intelligent little fellow, who spoke three or four
words in English very well. After sitting thus for a few
minutes, we rose and took our departure ; but it was not
our final farewell of the Eajah, for he paid a quiet visit at
the Presidency that evening, coming in just as we had
finish.ed dinner, without any fuss or parade, except that
W  and Mr. Fisher went out to meet him, and the
rest of us all stood up as he entered ; and then he sat
quietly down, and spent the evening like anybody else.
In fact, he is really a sensible, kind-hearted man ; and he
is said to have been very much pleased with W  's
visit, and to have liked talking over general and useful
subjects with him. The Sunday arrangements of Trivan
drum are not agreeable ; for, though there is an English
church, there is no clergyman I Two gentlemen, the ' lay
trustees ' of this church, are in the habit of reading prayers
and a sermon every Sunday, one of them in the morning,
the other in the evening. This last was at six o'clock,
and we dined as soon as we returned from it ; for we
were to set off in the night for our voyage to this place.

214 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
This was to be a new mode of travelling : in boats, up
what is called the ' back water,' a succession of rivers,
canals, and lagoons, running parallel with the sea, but at
a distance of from a mile and a half to three miles inland.
Our departure was just the same fairy-like scene that our
drive to the palace was : torches, blue-lights, a very
prettily ornamented tent to receive us, as we got down
from the carriages, and from that an iUuminated and
ornamented descent to the boats, and crowds of natives
standing to look on. The torch-bearers ran by the side
of the carriages, sometimes with an attendant carrying a
pot of oU to replenish the flame ; and one of these at
tendants, close by the side of our carriage, running along,
eagerly gazing at the spectacle, tripped and fell, his
oil-pot breaking with the concussion, and jets of oU
scattering all round him, to the great deUght and amuse
ment of the bystanders. The boats are long rowing-boats,
with a sort of poop at the stern, and under it a little cabin,
that just holds two people ; there is a seat on the top of
the poop, where one can sit during the evening and night ;
in the daytime, of course, the sun is too poAverful, and one
has to take refuge in the cabin, which is shaded by
Venetians. We sat on our poop seat till sleep over
powered us, greatly enjoying the scene — the lovely star
Ught, the thick trees by the water-side, and feathery-
looking palms, stretching almost into the water, and
showing Avell in the torch-light ; for torch-bearers con
tinued to accompany us, walking along the banks. Every
now and then we came suddenly upon an illuminated
bridge, or some unexpected demonstration in the way of
illuminations on the banks ; the Eajah having, I beUeve,
given orders that everything of this sort should be done
in honour of his guests. The roAvers made all sorts of dis
cordant noises, and every now and then Ave stuck in a
shaUow place, and then six or eight men, Avho Avalked
with the torch-bearers along the banks, all rushed into

ARMENIAN MERCHANTS. 215
the water to the rescue, and, with much shouting and
vociferation, helped the rowers to push us off. Yester
day morning we got to a neck of land, where the navi
gation was interrupted ; but here there were palanquins
Avaiting for us, and we were carried for about five miles,
and then got into another and better boat, which brought
us here about the middle of the day. Here we are again
in a house of Mr. Fisher's, as his residency extends here ;
and he and his daughter are accompanying us. This is a
military station, and in the evening the band came and
played on the water just opposite to the landing-place
at the bottom of the garden ; and the scene was more
pantomime-like than ever. The garden and steps down to
the waterside were illuminated ; blue-lights were burned
in barges on the water ; and we sat in a sort of alcove
close to the water ; groups of native servants at some
distance behind us ; behind them the iUuminated garden
and steps, and on either side the usual gazing crowd of
natives from the town. This afternoon we are to proceed
again in our boats to a place called AUeppey, which we
hope to reach to-morrow morning.
Cochin, October 30. — Our voyage to AUeppey was not
very agreeable, for there came on a thunderstorm, with
such violent rain that I was obliged to close the shutters
on my side of the cabin, which is not pleasant in this
climate, where one wants all the cool air one can get.
At AUeppey we were received in the house of a Mr,
Crawford, a merchant, the only European resident there.
He and Mrs. Crawford were very kind to us, and, in the
course of the morning, W  received a visit from a
number of Armenian merchants, who came in, looking
gorgeous in long robes (I think silk ones), of various gay
colours ; and who brought with them, and presented to
us, sundry little bottles of excellent attar of roses. Also,
there Avas some very interesting talk with a missionary
clergyman, a Mr. Andrews, who came to call on W  ;

216 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
and who told us about the effect that had been produced
by Christian teaching amongst the poor slave caste in that
part of the country, a race much oppressed and ill-treated
by their own countrymen of higher castes, who treat them
like the dirt under their feet. Very ignorant these poor
creatures are, and stupid on most subjects ; but they
listen with evident pleasure, and a sort of surp7'ise, on
being told of a God who loves and cares for them. They
are not used to be loved or cared for, and this idea evi
dently finds its way to their hearts, and connects a happy
feeling with their first notions of Christianity. We em
barked again in our boats at night, and came on here,
reaching our destination about six o'clock this morning.
This was our last night of back-water navigation, and it
was a glorious one : the stars seemed to stand out from
the sky like great blazing jewels. You must have noticed
this sort of effect in your tropical voyagings, and I do not
think one sees it anywhere but in the torrid zone ; and
the glowing tropical dawn this morning was equally
glorious. TlUs seems a pretty place. We are stUl guests
of Mr. Fisher, who is Eesident here likewise. Cochin once
belonged to the Dutch, and this house is built in a sort of
Dutch Oriental style, with a verandah, haunted, they say,
by the vexed ghost of some old Dutch governor. We
are to stay three or four clays here, and then take our
leave of the Fishers, and go by sea to Calicut.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Travancore, October 26, 1862.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — I repeated in my last letter a
query which I made last year as to the origin of a
large stratum called ' laterite,' which exists betAveen the
Western Ghauts and the Malabar coast. I have, since
my arrival here, been able to give a partial ansAver to
my own question, thanks to information obtained from
Mr. Brown, who is in charge of the observatory here.

NUMMULITIC LIMESTONE. 217
whose name is well known to those Avho have made the
phenomena of terrestrial magnetism a study, and Avho is
a man of many and varied attainments. With this preface
I will tell you what I heard from Mr. Brown. The
laterite, as I mentioned, assumes the form of low flat-
topped hills apparently weathered at top and washed by
the heavy rains of the monsoon. Some twenty miles to
the north of Trivandrum, one of these hills comes doAvn to
the coast, making a headland, and intercepting the ordinary
formation of sandbanks and backwaters which charac
terizes the whole of the coast to the south of Calicut.
Through or round this hill it was intended to make a
canal in order to continue the inland navigation parallel
to the coast. On my arrival, I enquired from the
engineer what was the character of the soil of which this
obstacle Avas composed, and was told that the upper part
was laterite, the lower granite, and that between the two
were various fossUiferous strata ; he added that the cliff
was yielding fast to the action of the sea. This seemed
to me but an incongruous mass of information, and, in
mentioning the matter to Mr. BroAvn, he at once denied
the existence of either granite or gneiss, and affirmed that
the rock at the base of the cliffs was a nummuUtic lime
stone. I went, therefore, yesterday to the observatory to
examine the fossUs, and Mr. Brown showed me a section
of the strata composing the cliff. I cannot, of course, give
you from memory the relative thicknesses of the strata,
but the top consisted of sixty feet of laterite ; under this
were strata of sandstones and clays variously coloured ;
below there was a bed of lignite, under which was a stratum
of clay with nodules of limestone, and under this, near the
level of the sea, a bed of limestone containing shells.
Mr. Brown calls this a nummulitic limestone, but it hardly
appeared to me to have such a number of shells as to
deserve the title. I have now given you a sketch of the
information I got yesterday. I think it would justify an

218 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
appeal to Mr. Brown, who would, I am sure, be glad to give
you every information in his possession. You might as
well give Oldham, if he is in England, a hint to take up the
geology of the Malabar coast ; it would settle the geology
of upwards of 24,000 square miles. My belief is that the
laterite is one of the latest formations. I wiU not, hoAV-
ever, attempt to give reasons for such an opinion, which is,
after all, but a mere guess. Some time ago, when I was
at Sydney, a tailor came to me with a scheme for the
defence of the harbour. I listened to him very patiently
tiU he had told his story, and I then asked him whether
he would not think me an intense ass Avere I to give him
instructions as to the making of a coat? He cordially
assented to this, but Avas not disposed to adopt the con
sequence when applied to himself, that he was equaUy an
ass for attempting to meddle with matters of which
he knew nothing, or to give advice to an engineer on
questions relating to engineering. In dealing, therefore,
with experts like yourself, I am content to supply /acte,
and leave you to draw inferences. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Lady C. Denison.
Cochin, October 31, 1862.
My dear Sister, — We arrived here yesterday morning.
At half-past four in the afternoon the Eajah paid his
state visit. The English Eesidency, where we are, is situ
ated on a small island, so the Eajah came over Avith a
train of boats from his palace on the opposite side of the
bay which forms the harbour. At the end of his pro
cession came one long boat, the rowers pulling very fast,
with a sort of hasty, agitated stroke, as if there Avas some
need for immense haste, the Avater apparently coming in,
and the boat sinking deeper and deeper into the water.
At length, when within a short distance of the shore,

STATE VISIT OF TIIE RAJAH. 219
down it sank ! The rowers, however, sprang to their
feet, and stood upright, apparently upon their sunken boat ;
and then it appeared that the whole affair was a regular
part of the programme ; the water having been purposely
let into the boat in just sufficient quantity to make it sink
a short way below the surface as it neared the shore.
From his boat the Eajah stepped into a palanquin, in
which he was carried up to the house. His procession,
however, was nothing like so showy or magnificent as
that of his Travancore neighbour. He spoke English
fairly, but looked dirty, and had a ragged half-and-half
beard, which gave him the appearance of not having
shaved for a week. His dress Avas a green robe, with a
kind of shawl- Uke pattern upon it, and a collar of mixed
jewels ; but it looked tumbled and shabby, and though
some of his attendants took great pains to shake it out
into proper folds as he alighted from his palanquin, the
result was not, on the whole, successful. I got rid of him
in the usual way, after which we pulled about the harbour,
and I went to examine the entrances, where the sea has
latterly been making heavy inroads upon the cocoa-nut
plantations which occupy the ground as soon as it rises a
couple of feet out of the sea. The whole coast was
lined with a peculiar kind of fishing net. It is, in fact, a
large casting net turned the wrong way. It is kept
stretched by two bamboos, and is suspended from the top
of a post, from a bamboo which turns upon this. The net
is lowered and raised by means of this bamboo ; it
remains four or five minutes in the water, and is then
hauled up ; the fish are turned into a small net by hauling
the point up, and down goes the net again. The whole
circumference of the bay — a distance of eleven miles — Avas
illuminated last night in honour of my arrival. The Eajah
came to pay me a private visit this morning at half-past
seven. He had a number of grievances which he wished
me to redress, and I felt well disposed to do so with many of

220 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
them, for his position is a very anomalous one. He may
be lU^ened to a tenant, who, although he pays his. rent
regularly, is compelled to cultivate his farm according to
the will of his landlord.
We leave this on Monday, and hope to get our English
letters the following day. Yours affectionately, W.D.
On the morning after the ceremony described in the
foregoing letter, we received a visit from two fine, vener
able-looking, middle-aged or rather elderly men, who
Avere announced as 'Elias Eabbi'and 'Samuel Eabbi.'
They were apparently elders, or persons in authority
among the Jewish community of Cochin, and a part of
their errand was to invite us to be present that evening
in the synagogue at their first sabbath service,— their
sabbath, according to the JeAvish method of computing
time, commencing on the Friday evening. No invitation
could have been more welcome ; for we had heard of the
two singular communities, ' the white and the black Jcavs
of Cochin,' and we were anxious to increase our acquain
tance with them. Of the black Jews we had, unfortunately,
no time or opportunity to learn anything : whether they
are Jewish proselytes from native races, or people of
Jewish origin, Avho, while retaining something of their
own faith and rehgioiis ceremonies, have, by intermarriage
with the natives, lost much of their distinguishing physical
characteristics, we could not ascertain. Our tAvo friends,
however, belonged to the white JeAvs ; and these, accord
ing to their own statement, which is to a great extent
corroborated by other records, migrated from Palestine
a short time before the destruction of Jerusalem — before
the advent of our Saviour indeed, as they deny having
taken part in His crucifixion — and have, ever since, con
tinued here as an unmixed race, so careful to preserve the

WHITE JEW^S OF COCHIN. 221
JeAvish blood unmingled, that, when the men cannot find
a sufficient number of Avives in their OAvn community,
they go to seek them from afar, and import those of pure
JeAvish descent from Damascus, and other parts of Syria
and Armenia. Their appearance certainly goes far to
bear out this statement: they are unmistakably Jewish in
feature, and Avith complexions so fair as to show that the
cUmate, at any rate, has had no effect on them during the
number of centuries through which they have resided
here. As sunset approached, we set out in compliance
with the invitation Ave had received in the morning ;
pulled across the bay, and Avere met at the landing-place
by our friends the Eabbis, and one or two more, Avho con
ducted us up some narrow lanes to the house of the chief
Eabbi, through a sort of back passage of Avhich we passed
at once to the synagogue. In this passage Ave met the
Eabbi's daughter, Avho was introduced to us by her
father, a decidedly handsome woman, of the Jewish type
of feature, and richly dressed, with a sort of necklace or
stomacher that looked to be entirely composed of gold
coins. She, and one or two other Avomen, apparently of
the Eabbi's family, accompanied us into the synagogue,
and sat, during the service, on a seat just below the pulpit
of the reader ; and they were the only women that
appeared. There was, indeed, at one end of the synagogue
a raised and partly closed gallery, that looked as if it
might have been intended for women, but it was quite
empty ; and the two or three above mentioned who
were present sat throughout the service, chiefly occupied
in gazing at us, hstless and lounging in manner, and ap
parently feeling no interest, and taking no part in what
was going forward. With the men it Avas strikingly
different ; they were a remarkably handsome race —
soine of the finest old men I ever saw, and strong, vigorous
looking young and middle-aged ones, some with
black hair, some with red, and their complexions, as a

222 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
general rule, fairer than that of the ordinary Jew in
England. They were dressed in short robes, something
betAveen a tunic and a blouse, of various colours, either of
silk or some less costly stuff, according, I suppose, to
their means ; and their manner was peculiarly solemn and
devout. The Eabbis gave us printed papers, containing
the Hebrew service on one side, aud an English translation
on the other, so that we were able to foUow what was
going on. The first part of the service consisted of
selections from the Psalms, chanted, in a sort of
monotonous voice, by the reader and congregation ; then
ensued a solemn pause of complete silence, during which
each seemed engaged in private prayer, moving the lips,
and occasionally bowing the head, but with no sound
audible. Then the reader moved from his pulpit, covered
his head with a kind of white cloth or veil, and, in a
different tone, and standing in another part of the syna
gogue, commenced reciting a few more prayers, chiefly
intercessory, and with these the service concluded. I do
not know Avhether they habitually recognise the EngUsh
as rulers of the country, or whether it was only in compU
ment to us : the printed form, with the translation, looks
as if it were habitual ; but there was a prayer for the
Queen, and another for me, as Governor ; every prayer,
whatever might be its subject-matter, ending with a
petition for the coming of the Eedeemer ! When the
service was concluded, they asked if we should like to see
' the Ark,' which was a high chest behind a curtain, on
the top of a flight of steps : and which, on being opened,
disclosed five huge roUs of parchment. These, Ave Avere
told, were a copy of the Pentateuch, one book contained
in each roll. After seeing this, we left the synagogue,
escorted, as before, by the Eabbis, who accompanied us
to the landing-place, where the boat aAvaited our return.

RAJAH INVESTIGATES STEAM-ENGINE. 223
To Mrs. Des Voeux. Madras, November 13, 1862.
My dear J  , — The remainder of our tour was as suc
cessful as the portion of which I have already given you
an account. We stayed at Cochin till Monday, going to
church twice on Sunday. The church is a solid old
building, containing monuments of both the Portuguese
and Dutch, the former European masters of the place.
The Bishop of Madras, who was on a visitation tour, and
had arrived at the Eesidency during our stay, confirmed
several young persons. We started on Monday about
the middle of the day. The Eajah came to pay us a visit
on board the steamer, just before our departure. I
showed him the engine, and gave him a brief practical
explanation of the mode of working, which, of course, he
did not comprehend. When he was gone, we steamed
away for Calicut, which we reached early on Tuesday
morning, and there I and some of my staff landed, in order
to meet a deputation of coffee-planters, while L  and
S  returned in the steamer to Be3rpore. I had a very
satisfactory interview with the planters, and left them weU
pleased with the views I propounded. After breakfast
we drove over to Beypore, where we met the rest of our
party, got off from thence by rail at half-past two, arrived
at Coimbatore at six, and got home on the following day.
Yours affectionately,
W.D.

224 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

CHAPTEE XXII.
EEOEGANISATION OF BOARD OF WORKS — lEEIGATION — NATIVE GUESTS AT
AN ENGLISH WEDDING — WASTE OF FLOOD WATER  SIMPLE MODE OF
DETERMINING THE ftUALITY OF SOIL  OBJECTIONS TO REORGANISATION
OF MADRAS NATIVE AEMT  CHARACTERISTICS OF HINDOO AECHITEOTUEB
 COST OF lEEIGATION WOEKS — JOUENEY TO MYSOEE — BIETHDAY OF
THE RAJAH — DINNEE AX THE PALACE — VISIT TO THE ZENANA —
SEEINGAPATAM — CUEI0U3 BRIDGES OVER THE CAUVEEY — TOMB OF
HYDER ALI AND TIPPOO SAIB  TIPPOO'S SUMMER PALACE — FALLS OP
THB CAUVEEY  OOSSOOR  LAND ASSESSMENT — JOURNEY TO BELLAEY
AND KUENOOL — MOWING MATCH — TUMULI — EETUEN TO MADRAS —
'master looks beautiful' — -BUEST OF THE NOETH-EAST MONSOON —
AVBECK OF THE 'PUNJAUB'— EFFECT OF COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS.
To Colonel Harness, R.E.
Guindy, Januarj'- 4, 1863.
My dear Harness, — A happy New Year to you, and
much success in your efforts to work out good among the
young officers of the corps, intellectualljr and moraUy.
The great thing is to unite intellectual and moral excel
lence : Ave too often find them disunited, and many seem
to think that the two are incompatible ; but this, I am
certain, is a mistake. That intellectual poAver brings with
it many temptations is perfectly true : it is like Avealth,
of Avhich it is said, 'How hardly shaU they that have riches
enter into the kingdom of Heaven ;' but, though intellec
tual activity does bring temptations in its train, yet it
also, in many instances, provides that which enables one
to resist and overcome ; that is, it brings a more certain
conviction of the truth of God's Word, and of the folly
and Aveakness of those Avho pretend to impugn it. I say
this, as I am fresh from reading that book of Bishop
Colenso, Avho. being great in arithmetic, has tried to treat

REORGANISxlTION OF THE BOARD OF WORKS. 225
the Pentateuch according to the rule of three ; but has
forgotten that, in all computations, as well as in all logical
processes, you must first be sure of your premisses before
you multiply the second and third term together, and
divide by the first.
I think you Avere quite right in trying to induce the
whole of your young men and sappers to be confirmed, and
I am not certain that you were not right in leaving the
general questions of faith, &c., to the clergyman ; but I
think that I should have taken a more practical, and less
doctrinal, view of the matter, and should have said some
what of the object of confirmation, and of the blessing of
that feeling of firm confidence in God as our Father, our
Saviour and Eedeemer, our Comforter and Sanctifier,
ever present and ready to hear and to help us. That is
the conviction which makes life happy.
I must not, however, make my letter a confession of
faith, but must teU you something of my doings. At
present I am at work upon the re-organisation of the
Board of Works. In May, 1861, I sent in my memo
randum as to the changes which I should wish to make, not
in the department, but in its mode of working. I had not
had time to ascertain whether its strength was properly
proportioned to its work, or not. My minute rested with
the two members of Council till November, when they
sent in their minutes, recommending that the charge of
the Public Works, that is, of repairs, &c., should be in
trusted to the Collector. The minutes went home, and
the Secretary of State took bits of both ; decided to give
to the Collector a bit of his old authority, and proposed,
in fact, to have two sets of people working in each district.
When this order came out, in May, we referred to the
revenue authorities, in order to ascertain hoAV they pro
posed to carry out the vicAvs of the Secretary of State,
and what sort of help they Avanted. We got their answer
in November ; it Avas then handed to a commission of
VOL. II. Q

226 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
engineer officers, and I have now got all the papers before
me, and am writing my minute. The engineers shew
that the cost of the establishment required by the CoUector
will be about forty per cent, of the money he has to ex
pend ; and they then propose to reorganise this department
so as to produce a saving of upwards of 20,000/. per annum.
This slow process of amendment or alteration is but a
type of the working of the Government in India. The
local Governments are slow, very slow ; but then, when
they have made up their minds, they have first to convince
the general Government at Calcutta, and then the
Secretary of State. Yours truly,
W.D.
To Sir Charles Wood. Guindy, February 4, 1863.
My dear Sir Charles, — Do you recoUect my assertion
of a principle as to the storage of water — that Ave
should begin at the outlet of a river and proceed to make
anicuts or dams, until not a drop of Avater got into the
sea without having been previously utUized for irriga
tion ? I have just had a return of the amount of Avater
passing into the sea at the outlet of the Cauveiy ; the
quantity being sufficient for the fuU irrigation of a mUlion
of acres. I have also had a scheme submitted for bottUng
up a portion of this in some of the gorges of the Neilgher
ries, sufficient to irrigate 125,000 acres. The anticipated
cost is 8 lacs ; but double this, and caU it 16 lacs, and let
repairs, &c., cost five per cent, on this outlay, and even then
there would be a return equivalent to twenty per cent, per
annum. I will have the plan carefully examined, and
hope to be able to submit it in a few months, or, rather,
after the next monsoon shall have slioAvn me the amount of
Avater I can depend upon collecting. What I want you to
think over is, the advisability of carrying out such Avorks
by borrowed money : it is perfectly hopeless to attempt any
large undertaking out of savings of revenues. Tke

UNRELIABILITY OF GAOL REFORMATION, 227
cost of dawdling over such works, expending a lac or
two per annum, would be enormous, and the loss of re
turns during the period of construction would more than
swallow up the interest of the sum which would be
borrowed to complete it in the course of two or three
years. Yours very truly, W.D.
Captain Clarke, R.E.
Guindy, February 6, 1863.
My dear Clarke, — I am sorry for your disappoint
ment, but it will probably, nay certainly, turn out that the
result wUl be beneficial. I have for very many years
made up my mind that God manages matters for us far
better than we can do for ourselves, and have given up
any attempt to carve out paths for myself I tried in
former years to alter the groove in which I was running,
but, very luckily, failed in so doing : do you take up the
same principle of faith and trust in God, and you will find
yourself freed from an immense amount of trouble and
anxiety. I send you a couple of copies of a minute of
mine on secondary punishment, addressed to the Executive
Council of New South Wales : it may be of use to you if
you have anything to do with the Commission which is
about to enquire into the subject. You will see that we took
action upon this minute to the extent of declaring that
no remission of sentence Avas to be permitted for the
future. Of course the prerogative of pardon remained, and
would be used, sparingly, and in special cases only ; but
we determined that, as a rule, every man should work
out the whole of his sentence, whatever that might be.
I feel convinced that the principle is a souud one. The
idea of reformation in a gaol is, generally speaking, a
delusion ; I can testify to the fact that the men who
used to come out to Van Diemen's Land with the best
recommendations from the gaol chaplains were, as a rule,

228 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
the greatest scoundrels in the lot, and had added hypoc
risy to the catalogue of their vices. The man who talks
loudly of his reformation, who pleads that he ought to
be let out because he has repented of his conduct, is just
the man Avho ought to work out his fuU time ; he is a
hypocrite. Were he penitent in truth, he would submit
to the punishment as a just consequence of the crimes he
has committed. The people who advocate the issue of
' tickets of leave' in England, appear to have altogether over
looked the fact that ' transportation^ that is, ' banishment^
was the punishment m'Aicted by laAv ; and that the arrange
ments in the convict colonies were merely police regulations
intended to secure the people from the dangers arising out
of the preponderance of a convict population ; the sentence
Avas very seldom remitted, for free pardons were rarely
issued. I have now got an opportunity of dealing officially with
the question of the proposed reorganisation of the native
army, and I am going carefully into the whole subject,
taking up, first, its action upon our military position, and
then looking to the political consequences. My vieAvs as
to the mihtary part of the subject are strongly backed by
military men ; and some of the civilians who advocated
the change of system Avere startled when I pointed out to
them that the necessary result of the new organisation
would be to sweep away at least 500 European gentlemen
in this Presidency only ; these being the men upon aa-Iioui
alone the Government could place any dependence,
should the natives show any inclination to rise against us.
Good-bye. Yours truly,
W.D.
To Sir Charles Wood. Guindy, March 4, 1883.
My dear Sir Charles,— I have been reading Iavo articles
on the government of India, one in the ' Edinburch,' the

THE PRESS ON LORD DALHOUSIE. 229
other in the ' Westminster Eeview,' the one most laudatory
of Lord Dalhousie (after a sort), the other condemning
him as a public robber. As usual, the truth lies between
the two, but it seems to me that both are in error when
they begin to deal with the grounds upon which the
policy of the Government of India is made to rest. The
' Westminster ' represents Lord Dalhousie as ready to take
everything he could lay hands upon, by hook or by crook.
The ' Edinburgh ' depicts him as without any fixed policy at
all ; but neither seem to refer at all to the' state of the
native territories, embraced by ours, as operating upon
the peace and happiness of our own people. The ' Edin
burgh ' justifies the annexation of Oude on the ground that
the king tyrannized over his own subjects. The ' West
minster,' in its anxiety that a man should be allowed to do
what he likes with his own, altogether ignores the fact
that a man who breeds up a set of banditti upon his estates
cannot prevent them firom attacking his neighbours. We,
for instance, have no right to meddle with the internal
arrangements of the Nizam ; but we have a right to insist
that he should look after his own people, and prevent
them from robbing our tenants. The country on the
border of the Nizam's territory to the southward is in
fested by Eohillas — mounted robbers, Avho take refuge in
the Nizam's territory, and its state is analogous to that of
the Scotch and Welsh marches in times past. We have
ample grounds for attacking a man Avho is injuring us,
but a very meagre excuse if we punish him for ' wallop
ing his own nigger.' To Captain Clarke, R.E. Madras, March 10, 1863.
My dear Clarke, — I have had a long talk with Captain
Haig, the engineer in charge of the Godavery, on the
subject of the works proposed for the improvement of the
navigation of that river. The Government at home.

230 VARIETIES OF VICE- REGAL LIFE.
pressed by the cotton manufacturers in England, who
wanted to facilitate the transport to the coast of the cotton
supposed to be rotting in the interior of India, rushed
hastily into the speculation. The estimate, a very rough
one, amounting to 300,000/. was accepted without investi
gation, and the work was commenced. When I visited the
Godavery in 1861, 1 told Sir Charles Wood that I thought
Haig's plan was a mistake, that it was an expensive make
shift, and that it would cost at least 1,500,000/. to do the
work well. I applied to be relieved from the responsi
bility of the charge of the work, which was then trans
ferred to the Government of Central India. I asked Haig,
however, how he was getting on, and was told that
wages were rising, that everything was getting dearer, &c.
This I interpreted to mean that the estimates would be
exceeded, so I put the question to him with reference to the
lower dam and locks, which were to have cost 80,000/. —
' Will this be doubled ?' ' No,' said he, ' I don't think that
they will cost more than 14 lacs or 140,000/.' I would not
mind betting that they do cost upwards of 200,000/.
Now all this is very much the fault of the Government,
which accepts loose statements instead of estimates, and
which does not punish the officer who submits these as
estimates. I propose to make a great change in this ;
that is, to hold the chief engineer, whose business it is to
investigate thoroughly every estimate, responsible for the
plan and the estimates for the work ; Avhile I make the
executive engineer responsible for its proper execution.
In any plan for the improvement of the Godavery, I
should take into account the application of the flood water
to irrigation. A slight sketch of the state of the river
wiU serve to give you an idea of what might be done in
this way.
At 40 mUes from the mouth the river is 4 miles in
width, including islands, and has at least 21 miles water
way. During the monsoon, that is, from June tiU October,

WORKS ON THE GODAVERY. 231
an enormous body of water passes doAvn. This may
average, for at least thirty days of this period, a depth of
25 feet, or say 8 yards, for a width of 4,000 yards, with a
velocity of 2^ yards per second, so that 6,912 millions of
cube yards would pass during the day. Now, 5,000 cube
yards is an ample allowance per acre for the whole of the
season, so that there is a waste of water during twenty-
four hours, which would, if properly applied, irrigate
thoroughly upwards of 1,250,000 acres, and if this were
multiplied by the number of days during which the flood
continued, say thirty, the resultant would be 37,000,000
acres and upwards. Now the value of water when applied
to land varies from 2.V rupees to 7 rupees per acre per
annum ; say, on an average, 4 rupees. We therefore allow
water to go to waste which would be worth to the Govern
ment 120,000,000 rupees per annum, or 12,000,000/.
sterUng, while the value to the ryot may be put at three
times that sum, or 36,000,000/.
It would cost the Government, say, 1/. per acre to
construct the dams, channels, &c. that is, 30,000,000/.,
which could be borrowed at less than 5 per cent., or, say,
1,500,000/. per annum ; the Government would clear at
least 30 per cent, on its outlay, while the ryot would
realise a profit of about one-third of the value of the water
to him, or say 10,000,000/. annually.
Is not this an enticing speculation ? Yet it is not to
any great extent exaggerated, except that it would be
difficult to find such an area of ground to be irrigated
within our own territory. As a principle, however, we
ought not to aUow a drop of rain-water to pass into the
sea, without having first paid toll and done its duty in
irrigating the dry soU of India. Yours truly,
W.D.

233 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Lady Denison to Mrs. Stanley.
Guindy Park, Madras, March 21, 1863.
My dear Mrs. Stanley, — I hope you wUl not have felt
much disappointed at my long silence, but Avill have made
aUowance for circumstances ; for I have been fairly over-
Avhelmed with letters, and have never been able to com
plete all that I Avished. Now let me begin by thanking
you for your letter of January 31st, entering so warmly
and affectionately as it does into our interests, and espe
ciaUy into that great one of dear S  's mairiage. Our
bride and bridegroom returned to us a fcAV days ago, after
a month's stay on the hills, and are here noAV ; but I am
afraid we shall lose them soon, for they expect to start
on their homeward voyage early n'ext month. We had
some trouble, and a good deal of cogitation, over our list
of invitations to the wedding. One element of difficulty
was the intense interest which the upper classes of the
native population took in the affair ; they had been at ws
ever since before Christmas, in the most point-blank way ;
at one time accosting W  with, ' Your daughter going
to be married ; why do you not ask me to the wedding ? '
at another, coming to wish me a happy new year, and
taking advantage of the occasion to ask me for an inA-ita-
tion ; at others, attacking the aides-de-camp Avith similar
requests. After some consideration, we decided on in
viting three or four of the leading natives, and Ave asked
them, just as we did every one else, to meet us at the
church, and come here afterwards. In truth, as they
were to be there, I was glad that they should Avitness the
reUgious part of the ceremony, as well as merely the
social one ; and should see hoAv quiet and sensible a
Christian marriage ceremony is, as compared with their
own noisy proceedings on such occasions. We had no
formal breakfast, but we had the wedding-cake, and some
ices, &c., in a tent on the lawn at the side of the house ;

READY METHOD OF CLASSIFYING SOILS. 233
and the native guests were most eager to taste the Avedding
cake, and took very kindly to the champagne, which, con
sidering that they Avere Mahometans, I thought rather
odd ; but I beUeve they somehow persuade themselves
that that sort of effervescing liquor is not wine !

To Sir Charles Wood. Guindy, March 21, 1863.
My dear Sir Charles, — I had no idea till the other
day that it was so simple and easy a matter to classify
soils according to their quality or productiveness. I
had an idea that an accurate chemical analysis was
required, but we manage matters in a much more
simple manner here. A pinch of soil, less than an ounce
in weight, is sent by post from the different localities
to the Eevenue Survey Office, and being there sub
mitted to the inspection of some sharp-sighted functionary,
is shaken up in a bottle with some water, and a rough
determination of the proportion between the clay and
sand in t.he specimen is sufficient to settle the class. The
simplicity of the plan is eAddent ; the accuracy of the
result is not quite so clear. For instance, I got a thresh
ing-machine from America, and being anxious to show its
mode of working to the natives, and at the same time to
get at some facts as to the amount of the crop upon
different soils, I bought some ten or twelve acres of
standing paddy, had it reaped and carried to my farm
yard, and there threshed by the machine. In purchasing
the crop I got a return from the tahsildar showing the
number of the field in the register, its class, its size, the
rate of assessment, the estimated crop, the amount I was
to pay for this, and the amount due to each man. I was
grossly cheated, of course, as to the amount of the crop ;
in one or two instances the owner (probably a friend or
relative of the tahsildar) got three or four times what he

234 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
ought; but as my object was to get information as to
the actual produce per acre, and to work my threshing-
machine, I did not grudge the loss of a few rupees. I
got more information than I anticipated, for I found that
the classification, based upon the simple system of inspec
tion described above, was an entire delusion. I got crops
off land rated as 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th class. The largest
crop came off a 2nd- class field ; the next largest off a 4th-
class ; and the sixth in the scale was off the Ist-class. The
cultivation was the same in all, for it was wet land aud
fully irrigated. The difficulty I experienced in bringing
the quantities into a proper form for comparison has led me
to press upon the supreme Government the advisability of
looking into our system, or rather no system, of weights
and measures ; not for the purpose of estabUshing the
best possible system, which people will teU you is the
decimal, but for that of getting one uniform system for
India, and that, one which will harmonise Avith our EngUsh
scale. What we require is simpUcity and uniformity,
while for statistical purposes the scale of our dependencies
should admit of easy reduction to our national scale.
Hitherto attempts to establish a better system have failed,
principally from an absurd fancy on the part of some per
sons to continue the rupee or tola as the unit of weights.
Now the rupee weighs 180 grains, and this cannot be made
to harmonise in any way with our standard of weights.
Yours very truly,
W. Denison.
To Sir Charles Wood. Guindy, April 8, 1863.
My dear Sm Charles, — The worst feature in our rela
tion with the inhabitants of India is our incapacity to act
upon them in such a way as to modify their views, or to
introduce any beneficial change of principle or practice.
We are teaching them English, but their object in learn-

ANGLICISING HINDOOS. 235
ing it is to get a place under Government. They, as a
body, get Uttie or no benefit from their knowledge of
English, they do not read our books, and they have a
Uterature of their own. The change, if there be any
change, will be very gradual. I only hope that the Go
vernment wiU not put the cart before the horse, and give
institutions which the people cannot comprehend, under
the idea that they wUl adapt themselves to the institutions
instead of adapting their institutions to themselves. This
would be about as wise as it would be to put the father's
coat on the child, in anticipation of the time when he
would grow up to it. That time will never arrive in
India. You will never be able to give to the Hindoo the
feelings and character of the Englishman ; he belongs to a
distinct race. I hold it most unwise to press upon such
a people forms, or even principles, which we have, after
centuries of labour and toil, made out for ourselves, upon
the plea that they are the best possible. Man is not a
mere machine, cast in one mould common to all ; his
physique is different in different climates, and so are his
moral and intellectual faculties. You would not give to
the French people English institutions ; at all events, if
you were to do so, experience shows tha,t they would not
comprehend or work them out. Much less could you
venture to give to the semi-savage (for, Avith all the talk
about Indian civilisation, the Hindoo is but an agricul
tural savage instead of a hunting one) institutions based
upon the principle that each man is capable of judging
correctly of his wants, and of the means of supplying
these. Yours very truly,
W.D.

236 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To Colonel Harness, R.E. Madras, June 18, 1863.
My dear Harness, — I enclose a comment upon Huxley's
book, in which he strives to prove man to be first cousin
to the gorilla. His object is to back up Darwin's modifi
cation of Lamarck's theory of development. I have a
great objection to all these baseless hypotheses, and am
quite content to believe that God made us, as we are told
in the Bible, and that He gave us dominion over the
beasts of the field, who were also made by Him. We have,
by His gift, a right to deal with these as made for our
use ; but, had we merely arrived at our present position
by development, or natural selection, our rule over the
animal world would be but an usurpation. I have taken
advantage of Huxley's anxiety to further DarAvin's theory
to have a cut at the foundation of the materialists ; for if
the gorilla, with man's brain, is but a brute, and has no
more reasoning powers than any other animal, it follows
necessarily that the formation of the brain has little, or
nothing, indeed, to do with man's position as lord of
all. I am hard at work upon two matters of some im
portance. First, the reorganisation of the Public Works
Department, which will lead to some modification of the
position of the Engineer officers, to the formation of a Survey
Department, and, eveiitually, to a discussion Avith the home
Government of the numerical strength and position of the
officers of Engineers. I will send you my minutes when
I have fully discussed all the points, but at present the
whole matter is so mixed up that I hardly see my Avay
to disentangle the knot. Secondly, the Eevenue Survey and
settlement. This has been before me some time ; last
year I dealt with the general question, and decided that
the work was done in too costly a manner. Noav I have
had to go closely into the details, and have arrived at the
conclusion that, not only is the Avork too costly, but that

CHANGE IN THE STATUS OF ENGINEERS. 237
it is SO badly done as not to be worth anything, and this
implicates the Board of Eevenue, and bears upon the
general question of the mode of doing business.
On looking over your letter, I see you allude to the
mode in which the Engineers are employed in this country,
and you ask my opinion on the subject. As long as the
Madras Engineers remained as a separate corps, used
specially for civil purposes, and only occasionally as
military men, I was willing to make such use of them as
I could, Avithout thinking or caring much about the prin
ciple upon Avhich we were acting. Now, however, I
have had this forced upon me. They are, or very soon
will be, members of the corps of Eoyal Engineers, and
the rules which guide us in the performance of our duties
in the colonies, must apply to India also. The officer of
Engineers Avill receive his pay as usual ; he will have
some colonial allowance, proportioned to his rank ; but,
having that, he will not be entitled to any staff pay, such
as he gets at present in the Public Works Department.
My present feeling is to reduce the number of officers
sent out to the number which are required for military
purposes, such as command of sappers, &c. ; to have, at
each divisional command, a company of sappers, and a
field officer, and, perhaps, one or two officers on the
general staff; to give to these men the charge of the
construction and repair of all miUtary buildings : then,
as regards public works, if there were any who showed
an aptitude for employment in such matters, I should
second him, as is done in England, and pay him, certainly
not more than I pay a civilian, as is the case now, but some
thing which woiUd be a sufficient inducement to him to take
charge of the works. These, hoAvever, are but rough out
lines of my present ideas. I have not licked them into
shape at all. I shall, probably, in writing to Sir Charles
Wood, recommend him to talk the matter over with you.
We cannot move yet, or until we get rid of a good

238 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
number of our present men ; but the sooner we let it
be understood that the men who now join the corps
will not find the Indian service an exceptional one, the
better. Yours very truly,
W. Denison.
To Sir Roderick Murchison.
Madras, June 10, 1863.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — An action has been brought
in the Court of Eng's Bench at Timbuctoo by the gorUla
against the chief of the Fans. I suppose it must have been
in form of a writ of ejectment. I send you the speech
of the counsel for the defendant, for whom the verdict
was given.^ I have been reading LyeU since I last Avrote,
and, so far as I have gone, am not at aU disposed to adopt
his hypothesis. He will, of course, say that it is a legiti
mate induction from facts ; but these, if they are facts,
are eked out and supplemented by the imagination ; and
Lyell has the advantage of being able to draw upon a bank
— that of time — which honours his drafts to any amount.
I object to his appeal, for I can call it nothing else, on
behalf of Darwin. He says, do not trust to negative
evidence ; do not refuse to believe in him, because no
specimens have been found which in any way bear out his
hypothesis. This would be all fair enough if the hypo
thesis had the slightest basis on fact. I quite admit that
a very small bit of positive evidence is quite sufficient to
overpower any quantity of negative testimony ; but we
want this tiny little bit. Darwin has drawn upon his
imagination altogether, and may very fairly be told that,
before we yield assent to any such speculations, we require
to have something like evidence. Huxley is doing his
best to back up Darwin. What I have seized upon is his
admission that the brain of the gorilla is as perfect as that
of man. If this be the case, the inference is simple, that
' This has reference to a pamphlet.

NATIVE OFFICERS. 239
the brain which, in its perfect state, allows a brute to be
such a brute cannot be that which constitutes the man.
Yours very truly, W.D.
At the beginning of 1863, we received from the
Governor-General a sketch of the mode in which it Avas
proposed to carry out the reorganisation of the native
army, and the Government of Madras was asked whether
such a system as that submitted could be advantageously
introduced into the Madras Presidency.
As the opinion which I had expressed to Lord Canning
in 1861 had been confirmed by longer experience of
the state of the relations betAveen the Europeans and
natives of India, and of the working of our civil and
military system, I had not the least hesitation in objecting
to the introduction into Madras of the crude and ill-
digested scheme which Avas laid before me. In a minute
addressed to the Council, I went fully into all the reasons,
military and political, against the measure which presented
themselves to my mind. A brief abstract of these will be
sufficient to give a clear idea of the grounds upon which
my objections to the scheme Avere based — a scheme, I may
observe, founded upon no military necessity or advantage,
and advocated, most erroneously in my opinion, as an
economical arrangement.
The native army, which forms at least two-thirds of our
military force in India, was organised, speaking generally,
upon the pattern of all European armies. Each regiment
had a lieutenant-colonel and two majors; a captain and tAVO
subalterns to each company : these were all Europeans. In
adcUtion to these, there were two native officers to each
company, holding ranks equivalent to that of captain and
subaltern. Their rank Avas given them as a reward for faith
ful service as soldiers and non-commissioned officers, and
not with the least intention of conferring upon them any

210 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
of the poAvers of the rank which they respectively held ;
and I may safely say that in the Madras army the native
officers thoroughly realised their position, and, as a rule,
had not the least desire for further promotion, or for higher
responsibility. In time of war it had been usual to add to
the strength of the native army by raising irregular bodies
for temporary service. Young and active officers, having
a good knoAvledge of the native language, and of the
habits of the particular people among whom they were
going to act, were selected, from among the captains
generally, and, with the aid of a subaltern or two, were
authorised to raise bodies of irregulars, well fitted to act
on the flanks and rear of a retreating army, or to encounter
other natives Avhen brought into line. It was the effective
services of some of these bodies which su^crested the
preposterous scheme of making the whole native army
irregular. I say preposterous, because it is, in fact, self-con
tradictory. The scheme, as proposed, takes out portions of
the system upon Avhich the irregular bodies Avere formed,
and strives to graft them upon a different stock altogether;
and in carrying out this absurd anomaly of a regular army
irregularly organised, it strikes at the root of the very
principle upon which the irregular system was based,
namely, that of the selection oi officers qualified to command
and to lead these bodies into action. The necessary result
of the system, submitted to me for my opinion, Avas that
there would be in Madras a regular native army Avith six
officers to a regiment instead of tAventj^-six, that these
officers would be aU old men, principally field-officers,
lieutenant-colonels, and majors ; that there Avould be no
subalterns to replace these Avhen they retired, or Avere ex
pended in action.
The opinion of every military man whom I have been
able to consult is conclusive as to the fact that the
efficiency of a regiment depends upon the presence of a
due proportion of European officers. Soldiers require to

TENDENCY OF IRREGULAR SYSTEM. 241
be led : they will foUoAv readily whenever and wherever
they see their officers wilUng to lead, but they will rarely go
forward Avhen the latter merely indicate the road, and
are not prepared to sIioav the Avay along it. The officers,
in the best armies, must go in front. If this be the case
with Europeans, how much more necessary must it be
Avith the native soldier. He is fighting for a Government
Avhich he, in common with the great mass of his country
men, cannot but look upon as alien and intrusive ; he is
acting, in all probability, against men of the same race as
himself, speaking the same language, professing the same
religion, and this a religion altogether at variance with that
of his masters and employers; he has prejudices (as we
term them) of caste, which interfere with the performance
of his duties in various Avays : is it likely, then, that he can
be trusted to act Avith a smaUer proportion of European
officers than is usual? I shall, of course, be told that
irregular bodies have acted very well Avith but three
European officers to a regiment. I do not doubt the fact,
but I altogether deny the correctness of the inference.
These bodies acted well because they Avere irregular
altogether — because they were commanded by special
officers thoroughly up to their work, and hampered by no
rules, no articles of war, no necessity for courts-martial :
they were few in number, and were placed in positions
Avhere the officers might look for distinction and promotion
if they did their duty well; and, as regards the men, I think
it will be found that no very stringent rules were laid
down, or at all events acted upon, as regards plunder.
I have said that the officers would soon be all old men —
field-officers in fact, and the following return will show
what the tendency of the system must be: —
January 1, 1863. Marcli 1, 1863.
Lieutenant-colonels . . 7 ... 30
Majors  104 .. . 87
Captains .... 167 ... 162
Subalterns .... 71 . . . 70
VOL. II. II

242 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Three months made twenty-three majors lieutenant-
colonels, and six captains majors.
The plain and simple truth is that the attempt to con
vert a whole army into a corps d'elite must necessarily
fail. The work of an army, like the AVork of every other
profession, must be carried out by average men. We
cannot afford to get rid of officers after they have arrived
at some fixed age ; we cannot afford to dispense Avith the
experience which age gives, or should give ; we cannot
afford to dispense with the vigour and activity of youth,
the physical energy which scorns fatigue and danger, even
though this be unaccompanied with that degree of mental
culture Avhich theorists may conceive to be essential to
an officer. In an army there is room aud Avork for all,
and it Avould be a fatal mistake so to organise our Indian
army as to exclude any of the elements mentioned above.
There are, however, considerations, of much more im
portance than those which may be called professional,
to which it would behove the Government to pay the
most serious attention. We have become possessed,
gradually, of a very large portion of the vast territory of
India; we have gained possession of this by means
necessarily veiy distasteful to the former rulers of the
country, and to the people generally ; and of these means
I may say that they haA^e not been of a character hkely
to inspire the community with much faith or confidence
in us. I have the written admission of Lord Canning
that we cannot trust the mass of the Indian community
anywhere. We retain our position and supremacy
principally by the moral effect produced on the natives
by our constant success, and by that energy and deter
mination of purpose Avhich imposes upon the Aveak
inhabitants of India — weak, I say, both physically and
morally. We are, even now, but a mere handful of
Europeans scattered among millions of natives, and we
cannot afford to lessen our number, or to AA^eaken the

ORGANISATION OF NATIVE ARMY. 243
European element by which the natives are kept in
subjection. The principle of the proposed change in the organisa
tion of the native army is that of substituting native
agency for European. It is proposed to reduce largely
the number of European officers in a regiment, and to
supply their places with natives, placing these latter
in positions of responsibility and authority, making them
more efficient than they have been, and selecting them
from a higher class. Now our main safeguard during
the mutiny was the utter inefficiency of the native
officers of the Sepoy regiments ; there was not a man
among them capable of taking command, or of acting
otherAvise than he had been accustomed to do. If,
hoAvever, Ave submit them to a course of training ; if
we place them in command of companies, and strive to
make them reaUy effective as company officers ; if they
are to lead their men in action, and thus get knowledge
and self-confidence, we shall find that we have raised up
a class of men more dangerous than useful. We shall
have opened to them prospects which they have never
hitherto contemplated ; we shaU have given them a
glimpse of the position to which they might hope to
attain were all the rounds of the ladder left free ; but we
tell them that they must be content with what has been
conceded, and that command they must not hope for.
What Avill be the result ? At present I believe the native
officers in the Madras army are satisfied with their position ;
they have attained the limits of their ambition. Hereafter,
however, this Avill not be the case. The officer who has
been raised above his fellows will be discontented when
he has reached the conventional, not the natural, limit
of promotion ; and in proportion as he has been elevated
in the scale, and allowed to have influence among the
men, so is his discontent likely to produce results of a
character Avhicli we have not hitherto experienced.
E 2

244 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Having thus rendered our native officers more discontented,
and at the same time more effective, what do we propose
to do with the European element ? Formerly Ave had in
200 regiments about 5,000 officers. With these we not
only led the regiments into action, but provided for all
the military staff employments, and for a variety of others.
In fact, out of the 5,000 officers, it is probable that 1,500
were employed upon other than regimental duties. Under
the proposed scheme, the number of officers performing
mihtary duty Avill be 1,200 : if we take the same number
as heretofore (say 1,500) for staff and civU employment, we
shall have a total of 2,700 actively employed, and we
shall lose the benefit derived from the presence of 2,300
men of education and energy, without whom we shaU
find it difficult to keep the natives in awe. In fact, Ave
dispense at once with more than one-third of the educated
Europeans in the country; we lose the services of that
number of men, many of whom, from their mUitary train
ing, would be most useful in times of danger and difficulty.
It is not, howcA^er, so much the loss of the services of
these men that I look upon with alarm, as the moral
effect Avhich their departure will produce. We have
deprived the Mahometan of empire, and we ask him to
sacrifice all his traditions of dominion at our shrine. We
turn to the Hindoo, and tell him that he must put on one
side his prejudices of caste. We tell both the Mahometan
and Hindoo that they must not only submit quietly to the
yoke of men hated and despised on every ground, national,
political, and religious, but must help us to fasten the yoke
upon their own necks ; and, Avhile Ave do this, avc strengthen
their hands, foster their pride, and hamper and Aveaken
ourselves. I am quite aAvare that Lord Canning's Avish Avas to give
place and position to Avhat he termed the natiA^e gentiy,
and so to prove to them that their interests Avere bound
up Avith ours. He looked upon them as a species of feudal

WAR NOT A SCIENCE, BUT AN ART. 245
nobility, and wished to put power into their hands, under
the mistaken idea that they Avould use that poAver for the
Government, instead of for that which they might con
sider their own special interest. With every respect for
his lordship, I hold this to be a weak, erroneous, and
dangerous pohcy, and one which all history condemns.
Sir Charles Wood, in a letter which I received in the
beginning of the year, alluding to the course Avhich he
had adopted with reference to the reorganisation of the
native army, supported the view which he had taken
by the authority of Lord Elphinstone and Sir Charles
Trevelyan ; and did not hesitate to say that, in his opinion,
the irregular organisation for the native army was the
best in aU ways, military and political, for India. He
added to this, it is true, a modest disclaimer, by saying,
' Of course, I may be utterly Avrong.' I could not admit
that either Lord Elphinstone or Sir Charles Trevelyan
were competent persons to deal with a military question,
or that their opinion should have any weight when
opposed to those of the experienced officers who had
condemned the irregular system both in principle and
detail. Looking to the fact that I held the experiment
to be a rash and a dangerous one, I did not attempt to
conceal from Sir Charles my conviction that he was, in
respect to his cleahngs with the native army, utterly and
entirely Avrong.
Of late years it has become very much the habit to
treat professional experience with some degree of scorn,
and to believe that, in most cases, a man of ordinary
abilities might sit down steadily at his desk, and Avork
out some very, complicated social problems, treating them
as part of some special science. I mentioned this to Sir
Charles Wood, and pointed out to him that war was not
a science, but an art, and that to perfect a man in it, and
to enable him to express opinions upon it, he should serve
a long apprenticeship. I must say that the dealings of the

240 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
men of science with matters of which they had no special
cognizance has not been so successful as to justify the
country in trusting them.
To Captain Warburton. Bangalore, June 27, 1863.
My dear W  , — Thanks for your letter and the port
folio of ferns, Avhich arrived in safety, and will be a great
addition to my collection. If you have an opportunity
of purchasing or procuring a collection of ferns from the
Fiji or any of the South Sea Islands, will you act as my
agent ? 1 will repay all outlay on my account, either by
placing the money to your credit Avith Cox & Co., or by
transmitting it to you through the Oriental Bank.
Noav as to the subject of my last letter. You iissume
that the advice I gave you, based upon my own expe
rience, Avas solely applicable to myself, or to a person
placed in analogous circumstances to those in which I
found myself A sketch of my career Avould show you
that you are mistaken, and that the rule I laid down Avas
one of general application. What, however, I want to
impress upon you is the wisdom of irorking, of gaining
knowledge of every kind. I don't want you to hide your
candle under a bushel by any means, but neither do I
want you to parade it offensively. If you have knoAV-
ledge people will soon be aAvare of it, and will be glad to
make use of it. For instance, you are in the midst of a
very pecuUar people, placed in very peculiar circum
stances. I should, Avere I in your place, make myself
master of all the circumstances, pohtical, social, industrial,
connected Avitli the country in Avhich my lot was tempo
rarily cast. It Avould be Avortli your Avhile to make your
self master of the system of registration of titles to land,
Avhich is peculiar and very simple ; ascertain Avhether it
is effective. You may hear and learn much relative to

ADVICE TO AN OFFICER OF ENGINEERS. 247
the islands in the South Seas, to Australia, &c., &c. Make
use of your opportunities, and, what is more, don't trust
to your memory ; note down everything, even your
opinions, in black and white. You may hereafter, when
you look back on these records, be rather ashamed to see
how hastily you formed, or adopted, such opinions ; but
the very thought which is necessary for the formation of
such is useful ; it gives you a habit of thinking, of putting
this and that together, of drawing inferences, which is
invaluable. I am on a tour of inspection through the
central part of my territory. Our mode of travelling is
principally in spring carts, drawn by bullocks ; fresh
bullocks are posted at from five to ten miles apart, and
for the Governor they will probably get four, or even
more, miles per hour out of them. We travel principally
by night ; it is too hot to do much by day.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Lady C. Denison.
Madras, June 18, 1863.
My dear Sister, — Do you take an interest in Indian
architecture and antiquities ? I am getting together pho
tographs of many of the buildings, both existing and
ruined, and shaU be glad to send you some. There is a
sameness of form about those of Southern
India — I mean about the pagodas ; they are
all pyramidal — carved and moulded differ
ently, but preserving the same shape. When you get
up to Cuttack, or Orissa, near the old Juggernaut Pa
goda, the form alters to a sort of oval. There
is, however, a sameness of conception and of [^9i
execution about them, which very soon fatigues
the eye. One looks with some degree of admira
tion at the deep carving of the hardest material ; one

248 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
wonders how the Hindoo could have faced such a solid
block of stone, and had courage to commence working
upon it ; but after a short time this admiration evaporates,
and one is tempted to look upon him as a mere laborious
copyist, a bad executor of the ideas of others. The longer
I stay here, the lower opinion of the native character do
I form. People are fond of attributing the vices of the
Hindoo to tyranny ; they say that oppression has made
him resort to the only weapons which he can use ; but I
very much doubt this. He has been, I admit, ground
down by all who have made India their own ; but my
belief is, that it was the very fact of his poor character —
the softness, the cowardice which does, and, I believe,
always did, characterise him — that tempted others to
make him a prey. I am afraid that the Government is
disposed to adopt the cry of ' India for the Indians,' and
to attempt to govern by, and through, them. My feehng
is just the reverse of this. I cannot trust the Indian — I
cannot get the truth out of him ; and by leaning on him
I should come to grief, for not only Avould the staff break,
but the splinters would run into my hand.
I start for Bangalore to-morrow, and must leave my
letter behind me ; so good-bye. Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.
Extract from. Journal.
Y'elwal, near Mysore, June 30, 1863.
Dearest M  , — I finished my last letter at Bangalore
on Saturday. Our Bangalore Sunday Avas not a very
pleasant one. The morning service at church Avas at seven
o'clock, an arrangement \vlii(,'h one Avould be verv "lad
of during the hot season at Madras ; but, in cold and
cloudy Bangalore, it hardly seemed necessary ; and,
indeed, the clergyman, Mr. G  , seemed to think it a

JOURNEY TO MYSORE. 249
bad arrangement ; but he had been forced into it by the
doctors, for everything in Bangalore seems to be con
ducted with reference to the troops. The service in the
evening Avas at six o'clock, and there was some refresh
ing singing of good old chants and tunes.
On our return, just as we were going to dinner, we
received a telegram from C  , from Mysore, whither
he and the rest of the staff had preceded us, saying that
the river Cauvery Avas in heavy flood, and still rising,
and that he would advise our not starting till he could
let us knoAV that it was faUing again. This seemed just
the difficulty that used to beset our troops in the old
Indian wars — the monsoon rains and flooded rivers ; but
this particular river has not been so high for tAvelve
years, and I was a good deal disappointed, for I thought
it Avas all over with our expedition. However, between
eight and nine o'clock yesterday (Monday) morning, Ave
received another telegram, stating that the river was
falling, and that, if Ave set out at once, we should reach
our destination by ten o'clock at night, which would be
the best plan, as any further delay would interfere
Avith the Eajah's arrangements for us. Fortunately we
were all ready, for we had been packed and prepared
beforehand, under the supposition that we were to start
at ' skrike ' of day, as we should have done but for that
first telegram ; and as it was, Ave were off in little more
than half-an-hour after receiving the second message.
We had a very pleasant journey, like an old-fashioned
posting journey. We travelled in Mr. Bowring's carriage,
and the Eajah had furnished changes of horses all along
the road, and relays of cavalry escort, too ; and it Avas
pretty to see, how, at each relief of the escort, the leader
of the relieved party used to ride up to the side of the
carriage, make a sort of salaam, and utter several words,
utterly unintelligible to us ; but the whole gesture seemed
courteous, and looked like a sort of established form of

250 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
farewell, before leaving us to the charge of his successor.
About dusk in the evening we arrived at the outskirts of
Seringapatam, and there we found ourselves surrounded
by a crowd, headed by two or three very voluble men,
Avho came offering limes and garlands of flowers, and
saying a great deal, of which we understood nothing, but
that they wanted us to stop and get out of the carriage ;
and at last it appeared that the Eajah had sent one of his
own carriages there for us. Out we got, therefore, and
transferred ourselves to his carriage, rather a rubbishy-
looking, but a very easy-going one. We crossed two or
three large bridges over the Cauvery, which was still very
high, but not overflowing. I was sorry that we could see
nothing of the town, which I wanted to look at, because
it was Seringapatam. However, I hope we shaU make a
day of it over there in the course of our stay here. We
reached this place between nine and ten o'clock. This is
Mr. Bowring's official residence, as Chief Commissioner,
a few miles from Mysore. This morning W  , ' with
his tail on,' is gone to pay his state visit to the Eajah,
and the plan is that I am to drive in the afternoon to the
racecourse, and meet him there, in time to see the Eajah
come in state to the races. We were to have dined with
his Highness this evening ; but Mr. Bowring, who pre
ceded us here on Saturday, has, by a little skilful diplo
macy, got us off that ; as we were all inclined to think
one of these royal dinners would be enough ; and the
great occasion, on Avhich he Avas most anxious to have us
at dinner, is on Thursday next, his birthday. W  is
to have his luncheon at the Eesident's house in Mysore,
after his meeting with the Eajah, and then to drive back
as far as the racecourse, where I, escorted by Captain
SteAvart and Mr. Bowring's secretary, Mr. H  , am to
meet him.
July 1. — We were able to carry out our plans yester
day just according to the programme I sent you. There

THE RACE-COURSE. 251
was not much worthy of notice in the races ; the really in
teresting sight was the course itself, such an entirely
Oriental scene, though the sport was so exclusively
EngUsh. The variety of costumes — the Eajah's motley-
looking troops keeping the ground, and forming guards
of honour and escorts for himself, for W  , and for
me (for, as I came on the ground without W  and
left it again in a separate carriage, I had a separate and
smaller guard) ; his elephants, drawn up in a line, with
their tusks and trunks painted ; his state car, drawn by
six elephants ; officials of all sorts (native) in varieties of
uniforms ; one or two Persians, in a sort of dressing-
gown-looking garments, and high, pointed caps (these, I
imagine, Avere either horsedealers, or in some professional
way interested in the races) ; — altogether they made up a
gay and curious sight. The Eajah himself came on the
ground in a better appointed carriage than any I have
yet seen of his ; it had a gilt crown and flag on the top
of it, but otherwise looked tidy enough. His OAvn dress,
except the turban, Avas rather European than Asiatic ; a
dark blue sort of frock coat, white trowsers and English
boots, and a gold lace sash. Altogether the dress seemed
not at all unlike the undress uniform of a general officer,
excepting that he wore a turban ; but I was not near
enough to get a good view of him, as he was in his
carriage, or on the ground near it, all the time, and I was
up in the stand. Another small stand near us held all
the Eajah's ladies ; but their stand was closed at the
sides, so that they could see without being seen. W — ¦ — 's
interview with the Eajah in the morning had been very
comical, very ceremonious in its way, and very noisy ;
and of the same nature has been the ceremony we have
witnessed to-day, of his return visit to W  . This was
to take place at the Eesident's house in Mysore, and
there I also was to receive the visits of all the ladies of
the place ; so we drove in there soon after breakfast this

252 ^'ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
morning, it being about an hour's drive from this place.
Captain Pearse (the Eesident) and his wife are old ac
quaintances of ours : her father has property near Sydney.
About twelve o'clock the guns announced that the Eajah
had left his palace and was on his way ; and in due time
his noisy procession began to make its appearance. It
was a specimen of ' barbaric pomp,' indeed, but it was very
barbaric ; larger than, but not nearly so interesting as that
of the Eajah of Travancore last year : that was really in
good taste, after a sort, and most of the Eajah's appoint
ments and surroundings were good of their kind ; whereas
this, to-day, was much more like an exaggeration of the
procession of the Zemindar of Tinnevelly than anything
else — very much nearer to the ridiculous than to the
sublime. He has troops of all sorts, some in red, some
in green, and his body-guard in blue ; elephants, led
horses, quantities of men marching in ft-ont of him, carry
ing spears, with Avhich they eventually file off to each
side of his carriage, and shake them aloft as he passes
by. The prettiest part is, that in front of his carriage
there walk men waving and throwing up coloured cloths
and shawls before him, Avith a peculiar and somewhat
graceful wave, which, I always think, is the same kind of
custom that made the people ' spread their garments in
the way' of our Saviour.
The Eajah Avas in the same carriage as that in Avhich
he came to the races yesterday, but he was dressed in
Avhite, Avith a fine jewelled scimitar. I could not see him
weU, however, for I was not ostensibly present at the
interview this time. Mrs. Pearse and I, and two or
three ladies, Avatched it from a side room, through a
muslin curtain, and the ceremonial was much the same as
at Travancore, W  handing the Eajah to a sofa, and
sitting there beside him, all the staff and other gentlemen
in a semicircle about them ; a little talk, then a presenta-

TIIE RAJAH'S BIRTHDAY. 2.;:i
tion of garlands and perfumes.^ The talk was not entirely
fruitless ; for W  , who has been Avanting a sketch
of the inside of the Eajah's durbar hall, in which he
received him yesterday, obtained leave for Captain Glover
to go and make one. ' What ! in colour?' said the Eajah,
as if he thought a drawing in colour of his hall would be
a very fine thing indeed, and as if he was rather pleased
with the idea. I have forgotten, after all, to tell you
the most absurd part of the proceeding, which is that,
just in front of the Eajah's carriage, there come some men,
whose supposed business it is to clear the way ; and these,
when there is no real obstruction, seem to make it a point
of honour to get up a sham one ; and so they go pushing
and thrusting and making a show of fighting and forcing
a passage, and a perfect turmoil of noise, which continues
long after he is fairly inside the house. All through the
interview too, there were two or more men spasmodi
cally shouting out in a lugubrious tone, sets of words,
Avhich we were afterwards told were some of the great
man's titles : ' Father of the sun ! ' ' Brother of the moon I'
&c. &c. As soon as the talk was over, and the Eajah had
departed with the same ' pomp and circumstance ' that
marked his arrival, I received all my visitors ; then we had
luncheon, and returned here soon after.
July 3. — Oh that pen could do justice to the scenes of
yesterday, when we ' assisted ' at the celebration of the
Eajah's birthday I How I longed for dear P  's capital
illustrating pencil ! but even that Avould not have proved
equal to the occasion. W  • began the morning by
writing him a note of congratulation, to which, in the
course of the day, he received an elaborate reply. We
spent the morning quietly here, and at half-past three set
out for Mysore, to be present at the birthday review.
' lought to mention one ceremony which we did not observe at Travancore,
viz., that as W  and the Rajah walked up the room together, showers
of very small coins were thrown by some of the attendants over and around
them.

254 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE,
W  only drove part of the way, and then he and his staff
mounted their horses, to ride on to the ground. I went
on in the carriage (accompanied by Spreadborough, my
maid, whom we had brought in to see the sights), and
arrived on the ground first. Presently came the Eajah,
riding a small white horse led by one or two men on foot ;
and a minute or two afterwards, W  and his train
rode up, W  in his engineer uniform, which he has
taken to wearing on public occasions, and which is much
more becoming than the Windsor uniform. The Eajah
-rode to meet him, embraced him, and then they took up
their stations by the saluting flag, the Eajah in the centre,
with W  on his right and Mr. Bowring on his left,
and the staff behind them. First, however, they made a
digression my Avay, as the Eajah wished to be introduced to
me, to the great alarm of Spreadborough, Avho squeezed her
self into a corner of the carriage, and only just retained pre
sence of mind enough to remind me that we had heard that
the Eajah, from some caste prejudice or other, objected to
the touch of leather of any kind. I twitched off my glove
accordingly, and in the meantime the Eajah dismounted,
came to the side of the carriage, and offered his hand to help
me out. I stepped out accordingly, bowed, and begged to
congratulate his Highness on his birthday, and to wish him
many happy returns of it (all which was translated to him
by Mr. Bowring), and gazed upon a little wizened old man,
with red eyes, and making a sort of mumbling motion Avith
his mouth, as if he were perpetuaUy chewing betel nut, as I
believe he really is. He wore the same sort of undress
uniform in which he had appeared at the races, and the
same turban, but Avith a necklace of three rows of
emeralds and pearls. He is the same person whom Ave
put on the throne as the nearest heir to the old Mysore
family, upon the taking of Seringapatam and death of
Tippoo. He was quite a child then, but he stiU remem
bers the Duke of WeUington (then Sir Arthur WeUesley),

THE RAJAH'S BIRTHDAY. 255
who, it seems, made an attempt to enforce a little edu
cation on his young Highness, and used to lecture him
when he heard that he had been idle with his lessons.
After a moment or two of this sort of interview, he bowed
me into my carriage again, and then he and W  took
up their station as aforesaid, and the troops marched past.
First, the cavalry — very respectable-looking, very Avell
dressed and weU mounted ; then the infantry, tolerably
well-appointed at first, but each successive batch decreas
ing in respectabiUty, tiU it ended in a sort of Falstaff's
ragged regiment, a regular set of ragamuffins. When they
had all marched past, there was a little manoeuvring and
exercising — pretty respectable on the part of the cavalry,
but consisting chiefly, on that of the infantry, in some
rather clumsy voUey-firing. There were some artillery with
guns, too, at the corners of the ground, which never fired
a regular salute, but kept banging away at intervals in a
purposeless sort of way, as if the only object was to cause
a certain quantum of noise. As soon as all this was over
the Eajah rode up to the carriage again, dismounted, and
went through the ceremony of presenting flowers, &c.
First, he hung a garland on my arm, then presented a
little nosegay, then poured scent on it, and lastly gave me
some betel nut, wrapped up in a leaf ; and then he Avent
through the same form with W  -, and W  with
him, while some of his attendants did the same to all the
staff; only with the gentlemen it is still more absurd,
because the garlands are hung round their necks instead
of on the arm, and at each successive presentation you
have to make a little salaam. When all this was over, we
drove off to the Eesidency, to dress for dinner, and then
wait till we were told that everything Avas ready at the
palace for our reception. Then the real comicality of the
business began : all the Eajah's spearmen came to escort
us, and we drove at a foot's pace from the Eesidency to
the palace, surrounded by these spearmen, and by a very

258 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
motley crovrtl besides, some carrying torches, and some a
sort of wooden frame with candles upon it ; and these
last trotted on in happy ignorance of, or indifference to, the
fact that the wind had blown all the candles out, almost
as soon as they were lighted. There were other candles,
too, stuck on fi-ames by the road-side ; but, as most of
these either had not been lighted, or had gone out, the
only result was a strong smell of tallow. Very different,
this, from our dinner visit to the Eajah of Travancore,
where the illumination of the road was really beautiful ;
but things improved as we arrived at the fort, within
Avhich the palace was situated ; for here one or two red
lights Avere burned with very good effect, shoAving at one
corner a large elephant, making the regular elephant
salaam, by putting up his trunk to his forehead ; at
another, a guard presenting arms, and, above all, the great
squa.re before the palace filled with crowds of people. At
the palace door was the Eajah, still in the same dress, with
a napkin over his hand, and over that a cloth of gold, upon
Avhicli W  put his hand, and thus he Avas walked up by
the Eajah, I foUowing with Mr. Bowring. But oh 1 the
places we went through ! dirty passages, the floor covered
with shabby pieces of drugget of different colours, up steps
and down ; and, oh, the turmoil and noise ! Men walking
in front, shouting out the Eajah's titles, and affecting to
move obstructions out of his way ; a tall boy in a long
pink dress, just behind him, holding up the end of his
Highness's sword, lest it should catch in his legs and
trip him up : crowds of people of all sorts filling up
the passages, croAvds more in the squares beloAV. (The
Eajah's own household is said to consist of 10,780 persons.)
At last we got to the Durbar Hall, and here the Eajah
seated himself, W  , and me ; and here Ave waited
while the rest of the dinner-guests came in aud Avere
introduced to the Eajah by Mr. BoAvring. Noav avc had
time to look about us : and very striking, and at the same

THE RAJAH'S BIRTHDAY. 257
time, truly absurd, was the scene. We Avere seated on
common-looking chairs in a square room, rising to a sort
of dome in the centre ; the room handsomely painted, all
deep red and gold, but disfigured by a number of trum
pery-looking pictures hung on the walls ; round three
sides of the room Avere seats, on Avhich the guests suc
cessively seated themselves, after making their bow to
the Eajah, and behind them stood a crowd of natiA'e
servants. The fourth side was the entrance, and here
the noise and clamour had become ' fast and furious.'
In front of the door stood tAvo men, waving the cloths,
and shouting out the Eajah's titles. On one side of them
Avas a dancing-girl, performing her evolutions to the sound
of a common fiddle played by a man standing near her.
The door itself seemed besieged by all sorts of people
trying to get in : I saw one of our own butlers half
forcing his Avay, half projected into the room by pressure
firom behind, coming to take up his station among the
servants behind the chairs, and others, probably, effected
their entree in the same convulsive sort of Avay. As
soon as aU the guests had arrived, the Eajah rose and
handed W  out as before, and Ave all set off- again in
procession, through more dirty passages, to the old Hall
of Audience, where Ave were to dine. This is the place
where the Eajah used to have his throne and receive
people officially ; but since we English took upon our
selves the administration of his province, and reduced
him to an entirely nominal royalty, he has only used it
for this sort of state dinner. It is, in fact, a gallery,
divided by two long rows of columns, surmounted by
something resembling Byzantine arches, very handsome
in its own barbaric style ; columns, arches, and ceiling
richly painted and gilt, the whole a mass of red and gold
and gorgeous colouring, and at the centre, near which we
sat, four arches joining in a sort of groined work.
Tavo long tables were set in this gallery, between the
VOL. II. s

268 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
rows of columns ; a coarse common table-cloth, which
only just covered the table ; common, kitchen-looking
chairs ; some handsome china plates, some plain white
ones ; knives, forks, spoons, and glass very respectable ;
rubbishy blue glass salt-cellars. I give you this as a
specimen of the mixture of finei-y and shabbiness which
pervaded everything. We sat down about ninety in
number — all our own party, all the English residents in
Mysore, and the rest officers and others from Bangalore,
Madras, and other places, who had come up for the races.
Having seen us to our seats, the Eajah retired, and
watched us during the meal from behind a curtain, occa
sionally sending us a special bottle of sherbet, or some
particular fruit or SAveetmeat, on tasting which we had to
make a little salaam towards the invisible Eajah, who, it
is said, always watches the reception of these gifts very
criticaUy. I am afraid we did not get through this part
of the ceremony quite creditably, for W  , between
amusement and discomfort, had by this time got to the
stage of thinking aloud, as he is wont to do when he is a
little uncomfortable ; and so the Eajah's benefactions
were received Avith a very audible ' What is this ? What
do you Avant ? Good heavens ! I can't eat this ! it smells
particularly nasty ! ' &c., &c., and I, in my vain efforts to
stop him, was at last seized with such a fit of laughter as
I could not suppress tiU the tears were running down my
face. As soon as dinner was over (there was no dessert)
the Eajah came in again, and W  and I Avere re
moved from our seats at the dinner-table ; that is to say,
our chairs Avere taken aAvay from us there that Ave might
sit beside his Highness a little Avay from the table, while
the toasts Avere being given. Mr. BoAvring gave the three
first toasts : the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales,
and W  's and my health, and then W  returned
thanks and gave the Eajah's health, after which we all
withdrew, W  handed by the Eajah, as before, to a

THE RAJAH'S BIRTHDAY. 259
place overlooking the great square, where we were to see
some fireworks. These were noisy and tiresome enough;
but the square itself, with its crowd of spectators, was an
interesting sight. After this, we were handed down to
another square courtyard of the palace, in the midst of
which was a circus, and here Ave were to see an exhi
bition of the Eajah's trained horses and elephants. This
Avas much like any other exhibition of the kind, and it
concluded the entertainments of the evening. At its close,
there was again just the same ceremony of presenting
garlands, perfumes, and betel nut, the indefatigable men
shouting out the Eajah's praises again every time any
one made the salaam in acknowledgment of these gifts,
and then the Eajah handed W  to the carriage, and
the spearmen and torch-bearers accompanied us to the
gate of the fort. Another salute was fired, as there had
been at our entrance, and then it was all over, and we
were Avending our Avay slowly and sleepily through the
quiet country roads to this place, which we reached at a
little after midnight, I thinking that of all the sights or
ceremonies at which I had ever assisted, that of a dinner
with the Eajah of Mysore was decidedly the oddest.
July 6. — Our doings since I last Avrote have been
quiet ones, compared with those of the Eajah's birthday.
On Friday W  went to have a private view of the
palace, armoury, &c. I was to have gone with him,
but was not well enough. However, I hope to make up
for it to-day, when I am to pay a visit to the Eajah's
ladies, and I shall have an . opportunity of seeing Avhat is
to be seen in the palace at the same time. On Saturday
afternoon we went to the races, and yesterday (Sunday)
we again drove into Mysore to church ; for there is a
very tidy little church there, served by an East Indian
(that is, half-caste) missionary. It was but an uncom
fortable Sunday, however ; for this ten miles' drive to
church, and back again in the afternoon, Avith the inter-
s 2

260 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
lude of luncheon at the Eesidency, broke up the day
completely. I was interrupted in my writing this morning by having
to get ready for my visit to the palace, and now I have
just come loack, and will tell you all about it. I was
under the delusion that I was going to pay a quiet visit to
the ladies, but lo ! as soon as we got well into the town
of Mysore there was a sudden sound of native music, and
presently I found the carriage surrounded by aU the
spearmen again, and a man at each door with a sort of
fan or flapper, and two others Avith gold and silver sticks:
a great elephant, Avith a man upon him playing kettle
drums, and a tremendous noise altogether ; and in this
state we drove on to the palace, passing on the way two
or three carriages full of ladies, who were taking this
opportunity of coming in my train, that they might see
the Zenana and the jewels too, and who followed us
closely. In the courtyard of the palace there was a guard
of honour, and a band playing ' God save the Queen,' as
if I had been W  , and at the door was the Eajah in his
white dress, and much bejewelled, with his napkin and
cloth of gold over his hand, on which I placed mine, and
so he handed me up through a Avilderness of passages,
Avitli every here and there an opening into a fresh one,
that looked crowded Avith people. Mr. Bowring had
driven in with me, and Captain StcAvart and Dr. Porteous
followed in another carriage ; but all these gentlemen
subsided out of sight soon after avc got into the palace,
and left me to be handed on to the mysterious regions by
the Eajah, the other ladies foUoAving, and the attendants
walking backAvards before the great man, shouting out his
titles as usual. At last Ave reached a little open court or
landing-place, crowded Avith women servants ; and crossing
this we entered a gaily painted draAving-room, separated
from the court only by a row of open arches, and in this
were all the ladies. Two principal Avives and five inferior

THE R.AJAH'S WIVES, DAUGHTERS, &c. 261
wives sat in a roAv across the room. They were all
dressed in the same style — viz., a long gown, traiUng
below their feet, and over this a sort of gold brocade
shawl. The gowns Avere all of some deep colour : one
was of a dark green, embroidered with gold peacocks ;
another, maroon colour, with gold elephants worked on
it ; a third of dark crimson, with small gold fish, &c. The
shaAvls were all much aUke, and the ladies all had their
heads bare, and jewels in their noses and ears, necklaces,
bracelets, rings, &c. I shook hands with them all, and
then the Eajah seated me in an arm chair, and beckoned
up five younger women to be introduced to me. Tavo of
these were his daughters, the others his grandsons' wives.
These poor girls really looked like a sort of lay figures
for the display of all the jewellery of the palace : they
were Uterally loaded with it ; and when I expressed a
wish (as I had been told I was expected to do) to look at
their jewels, the Eajah handed me forward again to the
entrance of the room, where there was the best light, and
then made the girls turn round and display themselves.
Such a profusion of jewels I certainly never saw. They
all had an ornament on the back of the head, which
ended in a long pendant down their back, formed of
diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, great massive necklaces,
earrings, nose jcAvels, armlets, bracelets and rings, formed
chiefly of diamonds, pearls, and large emeralds, with
a good many rubies too ; but these, like all native
jewellery, are so badly cut and set as to have more the
appearance of pieces of coloured glass than jeAvels, though
they really are genuine. After I had duly admired all
this, the Eajah led me to my seat again, and Ave went
through the usual ceremony of the garlands, nosegays,
&c. Then I shook hands with the Avives, Avho were all
great fat women (I believe fat is considered rather a mark
of beauty,) and the Eajah handed me back through the
wilderness of passages to the Durbar HaU, where we met

262 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
all our gentlemen again. There we sat down for a little
while, and went through another ceremony of garlanding,
and then the Eajah retired and left us to see his palace ;
but first, just after he left the room, his prime minister
returned and threw a gorgeous-looking shawl over the
shoulders of Spreadborough, whom, to her great dehght,
I had brought with me, and who had been in a state of
great wonderment over the masses of jewellery. The
effect of the shawl was almost bewildering ; she half-
laughed, looked a little frightened and shocked at seeing
herself in such a blaze of red and gold, and then said in
an enquiring tone, ' Sure to goodness I may take it off
again ? ' Once set at ease on this point, she soon recovered
sufficiently to beg ]\Ir. Bowring to convey her acknow
ledgments to the Eajah, and then viewed her present
with great complacency. On examination, it was found
to consist of two shawds tacked together ; and I am told
that they are always given in pairs. Both are red, with
a very deep border of gold, much too gorgeous ever to be
Avorn, but worth looking at as curiosities. WeU, under
the guidance of the prime minister, we went to see first
the golden throne, on Avhich the Eajah only sits once a
year, at some great festival which takes place in October.
It is handsome in its way, with a set of silver steps leading
up to it, and surmounted by a canopy fi-inged Avith pearls,
with long strings of pearls hanging down at the sides. The
vacant seat of the throne was now occupied by a httle
jewelled peacock. I wonder what these peacocks mean,
for I have read of them before as appendages to Eastern
thrones. It was handed about to us aU to look at, but I
confess I did not think it Avas very much like a peacock
after all. Next we Avent to the Ubrary, Avhich is aU com
posed of manuscripts written on palm leaves, very neatly
arranged and kept, some of them, I dare say, Avorth fer
reting into by Oriental scholars and antiquaries. Our
next move was to the armoury, Avhich contained many

THE RAJAH'S GRANDSONS. 263
curious old weapons neatly arranged, but somewhat rusty
and dirty. While Ave were there I was informed that the
Eajah's grandsons had come to make their salaams to me,
and straightway there appeared four young men, with
Avhom I exchanged bows and shook hands, and then they
walked off. When we left the armoury it was raining
hard, and it became a question whether I should wait tiU
the shower Avas over ; but as we passed back through the
long room in which we dined the other night, I caught
sight of the unfortunate troops still on duty in the court
yard, and I thought it would be better to get aAvay at
once, and release them from their attendance in the
pouring rain. Moreover, just outside this room there was
the Eajah waiting to hand me to the carriage again, so
we went away at once, and it was weU that we did, for
the rain lasted more than an hour, so it would have been
of no use to wait. Mr. Bowring, who is skilled in the
native languages, managed very soon to dismiss the escort
of spearmen, who were also, to our concern, running
along by us in the rain, and we drove to the Eesidency,
had our luncheon there, then returned here and found
that W  had come back before us from his visit to a
Government establishment at Hounsour.
July 7. — I must finish my letter to-day, for we hope to
start at six o'clock to-morrow morning for Seringapatam
and the falls of the Cauvery; these tAvo objects wiU
occupy two days, so that we hope to get back to Banga
lore on Friday. I am not sorry to bring my letter to a
close, for I am almost afraid you will weary of the
length of it ; however, one does not see an Eastern
palace, harem and aU, every day, so I could not but make
my account rather long.

264 VARIETIES OF VICE-REG.AL LIFE
To Colonel Harness, R.E.
Falls of Cauveiy, July 9, 1863.
My dear Harness, — I left Madras for Bangalore on
June 23, and after remaining there a week inspecting the
barracks, &c., I started for Mysore, and, thanks to the
Eajah, Avho posted horses for me all the way, we got to
our journey's end (eighty-four mUes) in twelve hours. Of
course a good deal of my time was spent in paying and
receiving visits of ceremony from the Eajah, an old man
of seventy, who was replaced on his father's throne by us,
after the death of Tippoo, upwards of sixty years ago.
The Eajah is a kind-hearted, good-natured man, not by
any means wanting in ability, and, had he received the
advantage of education, such as Avas enjoyed by the Eajah
of Travancore, he would have established himself in the
heart of India, and made Mysore a powerful kingdom ;
but his good nature led him to lavish money upon favom--
ites, and he Avas unable after a time to pay us oiu' tribute;
we therefore took upon ourselves the management of his
territory, and retain it still, although the debt is paid ofi,
and there is a balance of a million in the Treasmy to the
credit of the Eajah. This sounds unfair, and is unfair,
but it is the necessary consequence of our system of inter
meddling. So far as the people are concerned, it is cer
tainly better for them that they should be Avell treated by
us than ground to dust by native officials.
I will not say anything of the Court of the Eajah : you
have seen enough of these people to conceive the mixture
of pomp and absurdity, of finery and filth — the utter in
congruity of all their arrangements. I Avent to a revicAV
of the Eajah's troops on his birthday. I cannot say much
for their appearance as soldiers. As they marched past
there Avas a fair proportion of Avell-drilled men, but the
tail of the column Avas of a rubbishy description ; it Avas
composed principaUy of spearmen, the heads of whose

SERINGAPATAM. 205
spears were some thirty inches in length. These spear
men would be awkward people to deal with in rear of a
wall. It is said that in an assault upon a mud fort in
southern India, no fewer than thirteen officers were killed,
and the troops beaten off by them. A spear with a head
thirty inches long would be a formidable weapon either for
the defence or attack of a breach. The fact of thirteen
officers having been killed tells against the irregular form
ation of the army; it shows, in the first place, that officers,
in India, as elsewhere, must go to the front — must lead,
and therefore the more there are the better. It shoAVS,
in the second place, that a rush at a place defended by a
few brave men is a rash act. Half-a-dozen shells would
have made a hole in the wall, and disheartened the de
fenders ; the rush might then have been made with some
chance of success.
Yesterday, on my way back to Bangalore, I stopped at
Seringapatam, and went to look at the breach through
Avhich we forced our way into the fort or citadel. The
fort is placed at the upper end of an island in the Cauvery.
The works follow the outline of the island, having but a
poor, irregular bastioned trace, badly flanked. There is
a sort offausse braie at the edge of the Avater, with but a
low scarp, while in rear of this is a bastioned trace, with
a scarp from twenty-five to thirty feet in height. The
river at the point of the island may be fi-om 400 to 500
yards wide, but the main body of water goes down the
north side of the island, occupying a channel of from 800
to 1,000 yards in width. It is evident that a good deal
of confidence was placed in the river, which at present is
rolUng down a great body of water ; in the dry season,
however, it is fordable nearly everywhere.
The spot selected for the breach was a badly flanked
face of the bastion at the salient angle of the work ; the
scarp was of hard stone for about a height of twelve feet ;
above that it was of brick, but this brick was carried back

266 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
for a thickness of eighteen or twenty feet. In the gorge
of this bastion was a lofty earthen cavalier, with a com
mand of at least twenty feet. It would seem that a
battery was placed on the opposite side of the Cauvery for
the purpose of breaching this badly flanked face, while on
the opposite side of the main river a ricochet battery
was erected for the purpose of keeping down the fire of
the bastion and cavalier.
The effect of the breaching battery was, first, to beat
down the wall of the fausse braie, and to expose the
whole of the brick and stonework of the scarp. The
fire Avas then directed upon the brick portions of the
revetment, and enough was soon brought doAvn to make a
steep slope up to the top of the stone portion of the
scarp, but the thickness of the brickwork, and its quaUty,
which is excellent, made it impossible, at the distance of
the battery, to cut through the scarp, and the breach Avas,
in fact, a slope of rubbish for a height of twelve feet, and
then a broken face of a brick Avail, not quite vertical, but
nearly so. The breach was left just as it was, with the
single exception that the rubbish at the base had been
cleared away. I got down by stepping from one project
ing brick to another, but to get up again would have
been a very difficult matter, had there been resolute men
at top. The truth, however, is that the men Avere natiA^es,
and the columns of attack, which forded the river in
face of the fire of the whole front, had shaken their self-
confidence, and I have no doubt had sent a detachment
to the right and left to clear the parapet of fhe fausse
braie, so that there was, in addition to the force at the
foot of the breach, a prospect of an attack both in flank
and rear. I have a strong conviction that Tippoo had
intended to lead a body of troops by a sally port some 200
yards from the breach, to attack the storming party in
flank, and that the detachment Avhich had moved down
the fausse braie, finding the sally port open, had forced

BRIDGES ON THE CAUVERY. 267
its way in. Tippoo was wounded there, and was killed
some 100 yards in rear. The look of the breach has
strengthened my opinion of the advantages of a revet
ment such, as I wrote to you about some time ago ;
namely, a thin skin of a scarp wall, with counterforts
eighteen or twenty feet in length, and Avithin eighteen
inches of each other ; in fact, a revetment en decliarge ;
and if the spaces between the counterforts Avere filled in
with concrete, it would be right difficult to form a breach.
The fausse braie was an absurdity ; a steep glacis to the
water would have covered the foot of the wall, and have
made it almost impossible to breach it.
The Cauvery is a fine river during the south-west
monsoon. The bridges over it in this neighbourhood are
made in a very peculiar way. The rock in the neigh
bourhood is gneiss, which can be split into long blocks.
Three rows of these, some twenty or twenty -five feet in
length, and about eighteen inches square, are placed on
end in the rocky bed of the river, about ten feet apart
from centre to centre, in the direction of the length of
the bridge, and about eight feet apart in the width. On
the top of these uprights a sort of capstone is notched
down, and on these capstones a lintel is placed, projecting
some eighteen inches on each side of the bridge. On
these lintels a set of blocks of gneiss are placed, in contact
Avith each other, stretching over the space between two
piers, and on these gravel is spread, forming the roadway.
The most curious-looking thing in these bridges is their
irregularity. As the upright stones have to be let into
the rocky bed of the river, and notched weU into this, it
is a matter of necessity that the line of the bridge must
foUow that of the outcrop of the stone, and accordingly
the bridge meanders about across the river in the most
irregular manner. There is an advantage, however, in
this kind of bridge, in that the destruction of a few of the
piers, which is occasionally caused by an accumulation of

268 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
timber against them, merely carries away sufficient of the
bridge to let the timber pass, and this is easily repaired
during the dry season. I wiU send you by the next mail
a minute of mine on the subject of the organisation of the
Engineers. I am going to send a copy to Sir John Bur
goyne, for the purpose of enabling him to bring this sub
ject under the consideration of His Eoyal Highness the
Commander-in-Chief Yours very truly, W. D.
To Sir Charles Wood. Bangalore, July 12, 1863.
My dear Sir Charles, — You do not Uke to adopt my
opinion of the natives of India. I should be really glad
were I able to look more hopefiiUy to their future — could
I see in them the elements of improvement. Hitherto
education has done but httle for the Hindoo ; it has not
developed him intellectually so much as it has lowered
him morally. The truth would seem to be that, their
religion being purely formal, and having no connection
with anything moral, or, I may rather say, haAdng an
intimate connection with the most brutal forms of immo
rality, is not operated on by that which tends to develop
the intellect. The educated Hindoo does not beUeve in
Brahma or Vishnu, but he avails himself of the hcence
which the profession of such a religion permits, or rather
encourages. He lives entirely for the present, and uses
the power which knowledge gives him to make that pre
sent as pleasant as possible.
I have had a letter fi^om Sir WUliam Hooker, en
closing a memorandum on the subject of ' Colonial
Flora,' and pointing out the scantiness of the encourage
ment given by the East India Company toAvards the
development of the natural history of this great country.
Would it not be as well to redeem India from this

TOMB OF HYDER ALI AND TIPPOO. 269
disgrace, and to hold out encouragement to those who
have laboured in the cause of natural science, and in
ducements to others to follow upon the same track ?
There is a very wide field open here, but few who attempt
to cultivate it. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Lady Charlotte Denison. Oossoor, July 23, 1863.
My dear Sister, — My last letter finished off, I think, the
account of our visit to Mysore. We took leave of the
Eajah on the race-course, and the next day we started
after breakfast on our way back to Bangalore. We stopped
at Seringapatam to examine the breach through which
the Highlanders forced their way into the place, and, as
the breach was nearly in the same state as when the
assault took place, we were able to form a good idea of
the difficulties encountered by the storming party. I went
down from the top, and felt that a very slight poke
would have sent me from top to bottom, had I been
climbing up. We went from the breach to see the tomb
of Hyder AU and Tippoo. It was built by Tij)poo as a
sort of family mausoleum. It is square, with a broad
stone verandah all round it, the pillars of which are
black marble. The basement of the buUding is of granite,
well wrought; the roof of the verandah of blocks of
granite ; the upper part of brick, covered with plaster, and
the dome is the same. There are four doorways, one
fiUed up with a handsome grating of black marble, very
well wrought, the others enclosed by heavy doors of rose
wood, inlaid with ivory. Hyder, Tippoo's mother, and
Tippoo are buried inside ; each tomb or sarcophagus is
ornamented with flowers, which are freshly gathered every
day ; when we were there, this ornamentation consisted
entirely of roses, placed all along the exterior lines of each

270 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIPE.
tomb, so as to mark out its shape ; and a lamp was kept
constantly burning in the chamber in which these three
tombs were placed. The graves of others of Tippoo's
family are in the verandah and outer court. The whole
place is very Avell kept up, 50/. a month being paid by the
Government for various items, charities, &c. From the
tomb we went to Tippoo's summer palace, which was put in
full repair by order of Lord Dalhousie. The palace itself
is a quadrangle of about 80 feet wide, with a central hall,
and rooms on the sides, below and above ; the whole is
most gorgeously, or perhaps I should rather say richly,
painted, gold being lavishly used in the decorations.
While these are confined to arabesques, nothing can be in
better taste, or more beautiful ; but, when natural objects
are represented, such as birds, &c., want of perspective
and of correctness of eye shows itself I shall try to get
some of the patterns of these arabesques if I can, for they
Avould, I am sure, be good examples of ornamentation in
colour. We Avent on about seventeen miles beyond Serin
gapatam to a bungalow on the road, where we found five
palanquins, with twelve bearers to each, ready for us.
This journey afforded rather a curious specimen of the
manner in AAdiich Governors travel in India. The resident
Commissioner of Mysore, Major Pearse, who had arranged
matters for our trip to the Cauvery, rather apologised for
the small amount he had been able to do for us, and
lamented the shortness of the notice he had had of our
intended journey. He had, he said, sent 480 men doAvn
the road to form rela3's of palanquin-bearers for us ; he
hoped we should be able to mariage with that number ; he
Avas extremely sorry ; if he had knoAvn a little sooner, he
could have managed a great deal better, &c., &c.
We dined at the bungaloAV, and got under Aveigh at half-
past six in the evening, as Ave had to travel forty miles to
the Falls of the Cauver)^, aud avc found our 480 men
sufficient for us. Wc seemed to be going across fields.

THE FALLS OF THE CAUVERY. 271
by no certain or definite path, but we hit our points
where fresh bearers were waiting for us, and got to the
falls early. The river is divided into two channels by an
island, and of course there is a fall in each channel ; but
these differ from each other in character. In one there is
a sheer pitch of 240 feet or thereabouts, with other
broken falls roaring to the right of this, and making a
very mixed scene ; on the other side the river seems to
open out above the faU, and to be divided into numerous
channels by islands ; all these, however, pour doAvn into
one central basin, out of the base of which the river
makes its exit, so that there were no fewer than sixteen
falls in sight at once, some falling sheer over the edge of
the rocks upwards of 200 feet, others taking the same
depth in a succession of plunges, like natural stairs. I
hardly know which of these falls struck me most. We
had our dinner at the bungalow at the falls. This is the
private property of a native, and he not only permits
people to use it, but furnishes them with everything they
want without fee or reward. I took down wine, &c., for
ourselves, but the owner's wine was put on the table, and
we were indebted to him for a good deal of comfort. On
the evening of the same day we started back in our
palanquins, being told that it was not desirable to sleep
at the falls, where fever is said to prevail. We were
eleven hours in the palanquins, and got back to the
Bangalore road at six o'clock on the foUoAring morning.
After staying two or three days at Bangalore, where I
was laid up by a slight attack of fever, we came on here,
where I have taken a house for a few weeks. It is a good
castellated mansion, built in and upon the walls of an old
fort, by a man who laid out a great deal of money in
perfecting all arrangements. The place, within the fort,
is pretty enough, but the country round it very bare.
There is a constant breeze blowing, the tail of the south
west monsoon, and the weather is cool and pleasant.

^72 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
L^  and the children will remain here for two months,
at least, but I shall have to make a run to the north,
which will occupy me for three weeks or so.
Yours affectionately, W.D.
To Sir Charles Wood.
Oossoor, July 26, 1863.
My dear Sir Charles, — I have just been reading your
speech on the ' waste lands question,' and sit doAvn while
it is fresh in my memory to express my full agreement
with you in every part of the speech, with the single ex
ception of that Avhicli relates to the ' permanent settle
ment.' I have been going carefully into the questions
connected with the Eevenue Survey, and I cannot but
feel that the Government will make a great and unneces
sary sacrifice of revenue if it establishes a permanent
money rent or assessment. To a permanent grain rent,
representing a fair proportion of the crop, I have no ob
jection at all. I would leave to the tenant or occupant
the enjoyment of the ivhole of the increase which might
be due to improvements in his system of cultivation, to
the outlay of his capital, or the application of more
labour ; but I should deal unfairly by the rest of the com
munity were I practically to reduce his rent by consenting
to take three bushels of paddy instead of form bushels, on
the ground that the price of the three bushels Avas, owing
to the rise of price, equivalent to that of the original four
bushels Avhich represented the Government share of the
produce. You have no conception of the great increase
in the value of every kind of produce since 1852. The
mean of the last ten years gives au increase of upAvards of
50 per cent, over the mean of the previous ten years ; and
the last year, which was a fiivourable one for the ryot,
there having been plenty of rain, shcAved a steady increase
beyond the average. I see no chance of a reduction of

BRIDGE ACROSS THE IIUGGRY. 273
price ; the demand increases faster than the supply, and
the causes which have created this rise of prices are stiU
in operation. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Sir Charles Wood.
Herior, on the road to Bellary, August 12, 1863.
My dear Sir Charles, — I have just crossed the Huggry
river, ten miles below the site of the proposed Mauri
Canwai reservoir. The bridge across the river has 15
arches of 15 feet span, or 225 feet water-way. On one
occasion a flood came down, clear over the parapet of
the bridge ; but now, in the middle of the monsoon, there
is only one foot or nine inches of water in the river, and
this for a width of 90 feet. The average flood level, as
shewn by marks in the piers of the bridge, appears to
vary from the present level to about four feet, though
there is evidence of one flood up to the springing of the
arch, about ten feet above this level.
The Irrigation Company and the Mysore Board of
Works have each got a man measuring the water passing
down the river. It will be amusing to see how their
returns agree with their estimate of the discharge of the
river. There is a good deal of cotton passing down this road,
not only from the northern talooks of Mysore, but also
from Dharwar. It seems that the merchants would rather
send theU- cotton 250 miles by bandy, and 136 by rail
way, to Madras, than 100 miles by road, to Sedashegur,
or than 160 by road from Dharwar to Sholapore, aud 260
miles by rail to Bombay. The cause I believe to be the
cheapness of bandy transit. The road from Bellary to
Bangalore, and from Bangalore to the raihvay, is bridged
and in good order.
Bellary, Aug. 1 3. — I was a little premature in reporting
VOL. II. T

274 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
the good condition of the whole of the BeUary road, the
rain having had a very damaging effect upon the last 30
miles into Bellary ; for nine months, however, out of the
tAvelve, the road is in reality very good. Nothing could
be more barren and more melancholy-looking than the
country from Herior. We passed over twenty-seven miles
of a bare gravelly plain ; to the right and left of the road
we could see nothing to break the outline of this dreary
expanse ; from distance to distance we caught sight of a
tank, with a little patch of green under it, but these were
few and far betAveen. A tahsildar told me that 70,000
acres Avere planted with cotton this year ; two-thirds of
this amount had been substituted for some other crops.
I have been discussing several local questions, one of
which is of great importance to the town and district. I
allude to the proposal to bring water from the upper
Toombuddra to irrigate the upper talooks, and to secure a
supply for the town. This is one of the schemes suggested
by some of our officers, and taken up by the Irrigation Com
pany ; but, to tell you the honest truth, I do not Uke to
see these companies executing work which ought to be
done by the Government, for the benefit of its oavu
tenants. The Nabob of Kurnool is shut up in the fort at
BeUary ; he has been incarcerated forty years. He Avas
convicted (upon circumstantial evidence) of having
murdered his wife, on our side of the river, and was
deprived of his territory and shut up by us. He was a
scoundrel, of course : I mean, he had no conception of
moral obligation. He Avas cruel, as most Indians are
who have power placed in their hands ; but I do not
know that lie Avas any worse than his neighbours.
Yours A'cry truly,
W. D.

ASPECT OF VILLAGES IN KURNOOL. 275
To the Speaker. BeUary, August, 1863.
My dear Evelyn, — I left Oossoor on Monday, drove to
Bangalore, dined and slept there, and started for this
place at eight yesterday morning. The coimtry, for the
first thirty miles from Bangalore, was bare of trees, but it
was all green, there having been plenty of rain to push
forward the crops. The upper tanks also were quite full,
and the lower ones with a good quantity of water in
them, and this adds much to the look of the country, for,
upon every Avater-course, dams are erected, from distance
to distance, and every drop of water is utilised. The
crop, on irrigated land, is generally paddy or rice, but
here and there sugar-cane. On the upland, a small grain
called raghi is grown in drills, at about six inches apart in
the drill, while at about four feet six inches apart, that is,
the width of the drUl, a row of a sort of bean, which pro
duces the Gingeli oil, is sown — a bad practice, but the
ryots have an idea that, by so mixing the crops, they
make certain of getting something out of the land. The
latter part of my route to Bellary was through a dry and
barren-looking tract, a bare gravelly plain extending to a
range of hills in the distance on each side. Bellary is the
head-quarters of a division of the army ; about 2,000 men
are quartered here. There is a curious old fort occupy
ing the bottom, sides, and top of a rocky hill, which on
one side is a mere mass of boulders of all sizes, on the
other a smooth rock of gneiss.
Kurnool, August 22. — We annexed this country some
twenty or thirty yea.rs ago. The town is Mahometan,
the country Hindoo. In passing through the country,
one is struck by the appearance of the vUlages ; every
one is either enclosed with a wall and ditch, or has a
strong central tower. This is pretty good evidence of
the state of the country previous to our occupancy. One
T 2

273 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
would be apt to think that the feeling of security which
now prevails would lead people to draw a favourable
contrast between their present and their late rulers ; but I
do not believe that such is the case. To say nothing of
the difference of colour, language, religion, &c., I have an
idea that, although each individual ryot cannot but feel
himself to be better off than he was, yet there is, with
regard to many, if not all, some little sore where we have
rubbed against him, and Avhich, though small, is always
irritating him.
The rise in the price of every article of produce has
been very great ; and, consequently, the people who
depend upon small payments in money are veiy badly ofi.
The gate of the yard of the Collector's house, where I am
staying, is daily besieged by fifty or sixty old women,
whose prayer is that I will fix a maximum price on rice.
It is of course impossible to blame these poor creatures :
their native Government would either have done this, or,
by some equally foolish and arbitrary process, have made
some individual merchant supply food gratis ; and, just on
the other side of the river, the Nizam is in the habit of
acting as they wish me to do.
I went up on the 20th to visit the Avorks of the Irriga
tion Company. These consist of a dam or anicut on the
Toombuddra, and a channel leading fi-om this, which
brings the water of the fioods at a high level, and distri
butes it over a great extent of country. The river is noAV
in flood ; it is, on an average, 1,000 yards Avide, and is
roUing down a body of thick muddy Avater, seven or
eight feet deep, but during the dry season this wide bed
is a mass of sand, with a small stream meandering through
it. These periodical rains, Avhile, from their amount and
certainty, they secure some return to the cultivator, are a
great evU in many respects ; the ground is necessarily
left untouched during many months in the year, and thus
there is a species of enforced idleness which, while it

BOULDERS. 277
accords well with the character of the Hindoo, is sure to
perpetuate its weakness, and destroy all habits of steady
industry. My feeling is that the people are deteriorating,
and that we have, to a certain extent, been the cause of
this. We have destroyed their native manufactures, have
put a stop to the development of native talent, and are
fast bringing them down to the concUtion of producers of
raw material. I do not like to see this. I would wil
lingly, if possible, raise and stimulate the native to
exertion, give his mental power better scope for action,
and hold out rewards for such action ; but I confess that I
do not see my way to this. HoAvever, I must finish this.
I leave on Monday to return to Oossoor.
Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Arrautipore, August 25, 1863.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — I am resting during the heat
of the day in a bungalow at this place, being on my way
from Kurnool, where my territory joins that of the Nizam,
to Bangalore, and may as well spend a portion of my few
hours' rest in writing to you. This is not a pleasant
journey. The distance is only about 240 miles, and yet it
wUl take three days' and three nights' constant traveUing
in a buUock transit to get over it. Had I not got a Uft of
thirty miles this morning in a carriage drawn by horses,
I should now have been jogging along, semi-baked, at the
rate, at the utmost, of four miles per hour. I shall have
travelled about 600 miles by this kind of conveyance by
the time I get back to Bangalore. There is a great
sameness of character throughout all the country which I
have seen ; there is a trifimg local difference at Kurnool,
but this does not extend far. The hiUs are masses of
rock, generally gneiss covered with boulders ; the most
marked feature being the constant occurrence of large
boulders balanced, like rocking-stones, one on another. I

278

VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

send you a sketch of tAVO which struck me specially, but
every hill has a dozen. In No. 1, the top stone was at
least thirty feet in length, while that on which it rested
was not six feet long. The stone standing on two legs
in No. 2 was full twenty feet in height, while the legs
were about ten feet in length. No. 2.

No. 1.

Now I want you to give me a plausible explanation of
the mode in which these stones got placed so curiously.
The hills are bare of soil ; in fact, they rise out of the di-y
plain, looking as if they had been Avashed clean of all
earth. A force capable of denuding the hiUs would, one
Avould think, have destroyed the equUibrium of these
balanced boulders. I have said that the rocks at Kurnool
are different : there the rock on one side of the river is a
clay slate dipping about north-east at a small angle. About
a quarter of a mile from the river the contractors for
the work of the Irrigation Company are quarrying a
bed of limestone, both for building materials and hme,
which is curiously contorted. Close to the road the beds
appear to be nearly vertical ; at fifty feet from this
there is an anticlinal axis Avliich Avould seem to dip to
the south-west, and there is apparently another at about
thirty or forty feet from this. The sketch below AviU give
you a better idea of the section than my description.

Road

.SECTION OF QTIAIiRY. I.OOKTNO NORTH.

EASTERN IDEAS AS TO VALUE OF LIFE. 279
The Umestone seems to be devoid of fossils ; at least I
could not see any. It is crystalline in texture, conchoidal
in its fi-acture, burns into good lime, and, though brittle
and difficult to work, makes very good buUding stone.
You have heard of ' cotton soil,' I dare say : it is a black
soil, as sticky as birdlime when wet, cracking and gaping
when dry ; the subsoil in some places appeared to be a
stratified rock tilted at a high angle, and composed of
quartz and feldspar, the latter black in colour. So much
for the soil. Above this everything is bare ; no trees are
to be seen, and for nine months it presents a very barren
aspect. The villages are always either enclosed by a
ditch and a wall, or have had a central tower or fortalice.
This shows pretty well what the state of the government
must have been before we annexed the country. Every
man's hand was against his neighbour, and the ruler was
a predatory ruffian a little stronger than his neighbours.
Still I am by no means certain that the great body of
the people relish the change from the ruffianism of their
native rulers to the orderly legal proceedings of their
present masters. The merchants and money-lenders feel
more secure, it is true, but even with these there is a sort
of conviction that the road to greatness, which their
wealth formerly opened to them, accompanied as it was
with the risk of the bowstring or dagger, was a more
exciting road to travel ; there were more prizes then than
now ; it was a sort of lottery in which a man staked his
life against the chance of being able to tyrannise over
others. Now his life was not worth much ; these Eastern
people do not value life as we do, and he staked it readily.
They are a curious people : the longer I live among them
the less I Uke them : their bad qualities come before me
constantly, and it is but seldom that I hear of their good
ones. Bangalore, August 27. — I am comfortable, and in a
better humour than when I wrote the first part of my

280 VARIETIES OF VICF^REGAL LIFE.
letter; still, however, I do not think that I can modify
the last paragraph. I do not like the people. They are
tyrants, bitter tyrants, to those below them ; sneaking,
abject slaves to those above them : they are cowards, and
consequently lie Avithout hesitation, in fact, instinctively.
They have marvellously little honesty, and not much sense
of honour Avhich might serve as a substitute. People say
that it has been misgovernment which has made them such
as I have described; but in my opinion they have always
been such as they are now, and have therefore invited op
pression. However, I Avill not thrust these opinions down
your throat at the close of a letter. I am a great believer
in breeding and blood : more of our qualities are here
ditary than Ave have any conception of I do not there
fore relish Darwin's crosses, Avhich Avould, in my opinion,
spoil the breed, and make a very bad man out of an
indifferent monkey. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Sir Charles Wood. Oossoor, September 19, 1863.
My dear Sir Charles, — If you in England are suffering
from the deficiency of cotton, we in this part of the world
have not escaped scot-free. You have bought up the
cotton, and I cannot attempt to estimate the number of
spinners and weavers here who have been thrown out of
work by inability to procure the raw material, but there
must be many thousands. These are suffering also from
the rise in the price of food, which is, of course, locally
influenced by the transference to cotton of a large portion
of the land formerly devoted to the growth of millet and
other grain crops. They suffer, too, more than EngUshmen,
for as they form a ' caste,' they cannot turn their hands
to other work. It is wretched to see these poor people
prostrating themselves before me, and craving me, as the
representative of the ' Nabob,' their old ruler, to do for

THE SCYTHE VERSUS THE SICKLE. 281
them what he would have done, namely, order some
wealthy man to furnish food to the supplicants. Hither
to the largest portion of the profit arising out of the rise
in price of cotton has gone into the pockets of the mer
chants and speculators; but this year will show a different
state of things ; the ryots have become sensible of the
value of the cotton crop, and are standing out for their
fair share.
I have as yet only seen extracts from the report of the
Sanitary Commission : from these I should infer that the
members had trusted too much to averages, as a means
of eliminating numerical errors. Did you ever read
' Buckle's History of CiviUsation ' ? He there proves, to
his own satisfaction, by means of statistical facts, that
marriage in England has nothing to do with the affec
tions of the parties, but is solely dependent upon the
price of wheat. This is an instance of the absurdities
into which we may be led by following statistics too
closely : the fault of medical men is their tendency to
generaUse upon too few facts.
I have alluded in former letters to the clumsy system
of native farming. I went j^esterday to the remount
depot for the purpose of witnessing a match between one
Englishman with a scythe and twenty-two women (women
always reap in India) with the small sickle which is used
to cut every description of crop, hay as well as corn.
The women were instigated by the promise of a rupee
(about a penny for each), and worked as I never saw
natives work before ; they therefore beat the man with
the scythe, but he certainly would have beaten, sixteen
working at this racing pace, and would probably have
beaten twenty ordinary workers. This wiU give you
some idea of the loss of labour in agricultural work. It
is true that the man with the scythe was an Enghshman,
but a native soon learns to use it, as I have seen in my
own garden, and he would be physically equal to half an

282 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
European. So one native with a scythe would do the
work of ten, or say eight, natives with sickles, and were
he paid at double the usual rate, the labour of six men
or women would be saved by the use of a proper tool.
Colonel Thompson showed me a native ploughing, and
he drew as straight a furrow as anyone could desire to
see. Pray take this as a corollary to my request about
agricultural implements. I shall supplement it by an
appUcation for tools as soon as I get down to Madras.
Yours truly, W.D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Madras, October 4, 1863.
My dear J  , — We got here yesterday at 11 a.m.,
having left Oossoor at six the evening before, and tra
velled all night in transits, getting early in the morning to
the railroad, where a special train was waiting for us. A
short time before we left Oossoor we went to visit an old
tumulus which had been opened. It was about seven
miles fi'om our house, on a narrow stony ridge between
two small valleys. The one which had been opened was
covered Arith a large stone slab 14ft. by 12ft. by 19in.,
and weighed fuU twenty tons. How the people got it
there it is difficult to say. There were several tumuli
upon the same ridge, and I agreed to pay for the labour
of opening another, which we did at a cost of 16^^. &d.
We found it to consist of a sort of square box enclosed by
slabs of split gneiss about six or seven feet long, four
broad, and from six to nine inches thick. The space
within was filled with earth weU rammed. Some clever
fellow had been beforehand with us : he had got in by
knocking a hole through one of the side stones big enough
to admit his body, and he had taken Avhatever there was
to take, leaving only some broken earthen chatties or pots.
The superintendent of the remount depot has caused several
of the tumuli to be opened since our departure, and has

'MASTER LOOKED BEAUTIFUL!' 283
found some which had not been disturbed, containing
bones and weapons, spear-heads, and swords of iron.
We have made a good many improvements both here
and at Guindy. Here Ave have levelled and improved the
grounds about the house, and made a fresh entrance
under some banyan trees, which give it the effect of an
avenue. Your affectionate Brother, W.D.
This alteration of the entrance gave rise to a little scene,
which affords a droll illustration of one phase of native
character — viz., the total want of perception, not only of
the value of truth in itself, but of the importance which
we attach to it ; and the consequent tendency, on aU occa
sions, to give the answer which they imagine will be most
agreeable to the questioner, rather than the true one.
This new approach passed so close to the rear of the
bungalow occupied by one of the aides-de-camp that he
believed himself in some danger of being visible to passers-
by while at his ba.th or performing his toilette ; and, under
the influence of this idea, he sent his servant to walk by
the house and let him know if he could see him from the
road. The man, unable to conceive any motive for such
a request but one of personal vanity, shortly returned with
the assurance that ' master looked beautiful ! '
It is scarcely necessary to add that it was found, on
more accurate observation, quite impossible to see into the
bungalow from the approach.
Extracts from Journal. Madras, October 6, 1863.
We drove yesterday, in the cool of the evening, up to
Guindy. That charming place really has very nearly
approached perfection, and is almost like a bit of fairy
land. The beautiful Victoria Eegia was in bloom in its
tank, which will have to be enlarged to give full scope to
all the great leaves.

284 VARIETIES OF VIOE-REGAL LIFE.
October 14. — This morning I have witnessed the sight I
have been wanting to see — viz., the first burst of the north
east monsoon. It is the only monsoon we get much of
in Madras, and it is supposed to begin on the 15th of
October, so we missed its first onset last year by not being
back from the hills. For the last three days I have been
watching clouds collecting in that quarter, and yesterday
evening, for the first time, the wind shifted into the north
east — very quietly and gently ; but, quiet as it was, it was
the forerunner of an immense change, for this morning
we opened our eyes on a complete atmosphere of mighty
rain. It did not come in, as I expected, Avith a roaring
gale ; on the contrary, it was quite cahn : there was only
thunder and this wonderful rain, and such rain ! the
whole air was darkened with it as if it had been a mist ;
but it really was rushing, roaring torrents, which lasted
for several hours, and soon converted our ' compound '
into a swamp. There was something grand in it ; and
little George, to whom a shower of rain is an event, came
running to my room to beg me to look at it. It is
curious to see how that child admires rain, and gazes at it
as a sort of phenomenon. This morning we have parted
with Captain Glover, who has had to give up his appoint
ment with us in order to rejoin his regiment, now that it
is going on war service to New Zealand. He is a great
loss to our party here : so seriously good and right-
minded, so kind and warm-hearted, and so amusing and
agreeable; and he, I believe, is as sorry to leave us as we
are to part with him.
October 19. — After some days of heavy showers at in
tervals, the north-east monsoon has at last burst upon us in
great force. All last night, in waking intervals, I Avas aware
of a continuous roar of mingled Avind, surf, rain, and thunder,
with vivid Ughtning ; and this morning revealed to us a
very stormy sky, and such a tumbling surf as made us
resolve that, rain or no rain, we Avould struggle down

WRECK OF THE 'PUNJAUB.' 285
somehow to the beach in the evening to see it in all its
grandeur. At about eleven o'clock the ' danger signal '
was hoisted at the Fort to warn aU ships in the roadstead
to put to sea, for the Madras roads are a most dangerous
place during the north-east monsoon gales. During the
latter part of the morning, therefore, my bedroom win
dows became a point of most tempting fascination, and I
am ashamed to say I wasted a good deal of time there
watching the ships one after another clawing off, as well
as they could, from the dangerous neighbourhood of the
surf, and plunging out to sea, roUing and pitching so
heavily that it almost made one sea-sick to look at them.
About two o'clock the fort began firing guns at five
minutes' intervals, to enforce the warning to all vessels to
put to sea ; and as soon as luncheon was over, we all
hastened to the upstairs verandah, to watch the struggles
of the poor ships which had not been wise or fortunate
enough to take the first hint of the flags. It was very in
teresting. One or two we thought were on shore, or in
the very act of drifting on, as they tried to start ; but at
last they aU got away, except two. W  had received
a message to the effect that one of these, the ' Punjaub,'
Avas drifting on shore, and when we got upstairs we saw
her masts apparently close to the Fort church. At last
curiosity overpowered us, and we thought that on a day
of such heavy clouds there could not be much to fear from
the power of the sun, and why should we not, then, go
down to the beach at once ? so we ordered the carriage,
sallied forth, and drove along till we came nearly
abreast of the unfortunate ' Punjaub,' which was lying in
the surf literally within a few yards of the shore, just
under the fort. Her crew were coming on shore one by
one along a hawser, which was stretched from the stern
of the ship, while a group of catamaran men were diving
through the surf to assist them. Each man clawed along
the rope till he came to the line of surf, where the rope

286 .VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
descended till he touched the water, and then he let him
self drop into the great wave, and was instantly clutched
by these catamaran men and helped on shore. It was
really a fine sight to see these men plunge through the
surf; diving just under the advancing wave and coming
up on the other side of it, all ready to receive the ship
wrecked men as they dropped. I waited tiU we saw one
man, Avho could not swim, hauled along the rope in a
sort of bag, or sling ; and then I came home, as it was be
ginning to rain again, and we did not like keeping the
servants out in the wet ; but W  remained out him
self, and has just come home with the news that all the
people are safe out of her. The ship is being lifted in by
the surf closer and closer, and I believe she AviU be almost
dr}^ by morning if the sea goes doAvn at all.
To Sir Charles Wood. Madras, November 7, 1883.
My dear Sir Charles, — Has a doubt ever crossed your
mind of the benefit Avhich the public service derives fi'om
the system of competitive examination ? If such a doubt
has not suggested itself, pray have a Uttie conversation
Avith some of the men whom you are about to send out as
civil servants to India. Don't take an umversity man,
but some of the stray diamonds which are picked up
rather promiscuously. If there is one quality Avhich is more
required in India than elsewhere, it is that Avhich makes a
man a gentleman. I do not mean that a civil servant
should be perfectly au fait of the usages of societ)-, but he
should respect himself, and be specially courteous to
others. I am decidedly of opinion that some selection of
candidates should be made. It AviU never ansAver to ring
a bell at the corner of the street and ask aU passers-by to
come in aud fight for their dinner, even though the con
test be intellectual. For my own i)art, I should Uke to
see a really good examination of selected men, Avithout

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATIONS. 287
any competition at all. I want to have thirty or forty
really good men, but I don't want to know, at this early
period of their career, which is considered to be the best
of the lot. Competition introduces and fosters cramming,
and I believe this to be positively injurious to both the
intellectual and moral qualities. Yours truly,
W.D.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Madras, November 8, 1863.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — Many thanks for your letter :
it was a lucky day, to be marked with a white stone,
when I first commenced my correspondence Arith you.
I am glad that you find something in my letters worth
notice, for I feel sometimes as if I were exchanging
' greenbacks ' for gold. Your account of the doings of the
Duke of Northumberland is very interesting : it is very
pleasant to see a man make use of his wealth in the way
the Duke is doing ; no one grudges him one sixpence of
an income which is spent in such a manner. Your ' Lord
and Pearl of Princes ' must be rightly named if he has
the varied qualifications enumerated by you. You may
take my word for it, however, that he is a very rare
pearl, and you might dredge in vain throughout India
for an oyster Avhich would turn out such an article. It is
lucky for us, probably, that it is so, for our tenure of the
country would be very shaky were such men common.
I hold, however, to the straightforward, dogged perseve
rance of our English nature (I will not call it obstinacy,
though it is closely allied to it) to enable us to hold India
against all the Hindoos that ever were or ever will be
born, and I look upon the idea which the doctrinaires are
so fond of pressing upon us, that we are acting as tutors
to teach the Hindoos to govern themselves, as a piece of
sentimental trash, good enough for Exeter Hall, but too

288 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
absurd to be uttered in the House of Commons. To
return, however to our sheep, though he be but a black
one. You say he is a Buddhist. How does he manage
to feed and worship ? Does he carry his little pet
idol about with him ? I had a weU-educated Hindoo in
my councU, and I heard that he was seen, on one of the
hottest days of last summer, stripped to the waist, fanning
a stone idol with all his might. Now my experience of
educated Hindoos, which I admit is not very extensive
• — I mean, of course, of men who have some knowledge
of our literature — is, that they have thrown overboard
everything in the shape of belief in their idols, but have
not taken up any other belief : they are, in fact, worship
pers of themselves ; and my friend who was fanning the
idol, I have no doubt, had some object to gain which was
worth the labour ; he was imposing upon a Brahmin, I
dare say.
A Hindoo drama on the value of truth must be a
curiosity, looking to the fact of their habitual disregard of
it in real 'life. What do you think of Trevelyan's scheme
of competitive examination ? I dislike it. It may have
the effect of getting a few first-rate men into the pubUc
service, but it is no guarantee for the abiUty of the great
body. The work of the world is done by men of average
abiUties, and the Government Avants, Ave wiU say, thirty
of these. By the competitive examination it gets thirty
men who go taUing away from A, Avho gets 7,000 marks,
to X, who gets 1,500. I would rather estabUsh a suffi
ciently high standard, and take care that everybody came
up to that, than introduce the system of competition,
which holds out an excuse for cramming, a practice most
injurious to both the inteUect and the inor.gls of the men
Avho are subjected to it. Yours very truly,
W.D.

DEATH OF LORD ELGIN. 289

CHAPTEE XXHI.
DEATH OE lOED ELGIN — ASSUMPTION OP THE OFPICE OP GOVEENOE-GENEEAl
— WAB ON IHE NOEIH-AVEST PEONIIEE — AKBIVAL AI OAIOTJTTA, AND
PIEST DATS THEEE  PEOPOSITION TO THE COITNCIL TO RESCIND THEIE
OEDEE POE THE WITHDEAAVAL OF TKOOPS FEOM THE PEONTIEE— PSO-
TESI OP SIE CHAELES TEEVELYAN — JIINHTE EMB0DT1W6 IHE SEASONS
POE THE PEOPOSITION — POEAVAED MOVEMENT OF TEOOPS — STJCCESSPTJI,
EESDLT — POLITICAL AGENTS AT THE SEAT OP WAE — OBJECTIONS TO THB
REMOVAL OF LOCAL COEPS FEOM THE CONTEOL OP THB CENTRAL GOVEEN
MENT — GALLANT CONDFCI OP ENSIGN SANDEESON — ETIQUETTE AT CAL-
CITTTA  APPOINTMENT OP SIE JOHN LAAVEBNCE TO THB GOVBENOE-
GENEEALSHIP— HOUSE OP A WEALTHY HINDOO — REMARKS ON THE GENERAL
WORKING OP THB SUPREME GOVERNMENT IN INDIA — GANGES CANAL —
BREEDING OP HORSES POE MILITARY PURPOSES.
Lord Elgin had decided to call together the Legislative
Council of India at Lahore towards the end of 1863, and
at the same time to collect a large body of troops at that
point, forming a sort of camp of instruction. He left
Simla, where he had passed the hot season, and moved
across the difficult mountainous district which lies betAveen
that place and Lahore. The fatigue, however, of such a
journey was too much for a man in his state of health, and
he was taken so seriously ill at a place called Dhurrumsala
as to be compelled to halt there, and, after lingering for
about a fortnight, he died at 2 a.m. on November 20, the
proximate cause of death being disease of the heart.
On November 10 I received a telegram from the
private secretary, to the effect that Lord Elgin had di
rected him to communicate to me the fact of his danger,
and from that time I received nearly daily accounts of the
progress of the disease, tiU, on the 21st, I received infor
mation, both from Dhurrumsala and Calcutta, of its fatal
A'OL. n. u

290 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
termination. These telegrams were sent to me because
by the 51st clause of the India Council's Act, providing
for cases in which a vacancy in the office of the Governor-
General might take place unexpectedly, the senior of the
Governors of the presidencies of Madras and Bombay was
authorised to act as Governor-General until the vacancy
could be filled up by the arrival of a successor. I then,
as being the senior, had to assume temporarily the func
tions of Governor-General, and the following narrative,
iUustrated by letters to my family and others, will give a
sufficiently detailed account of the character of the duties
I had to perform in the six Aveeks, or thereabouts, during
Avhich I officiated as Viceroy, and of the opinion Avhich I
was able to form of the working of the system of the
Indian Government generally.
On November 13, in addition to the usual telegram
giving an account of the state of Lord Elgin, I got another
in cipher from one of the secretaries of Govemment,
informing me that the Avork in his department was getting
in arrear, and asking me Avhether, in case of Lord Elgin's
death, I proposed to proclaim myself at once as Governor-
General under the 51st clause of the Council's Act.
I did not at all like this mode of ignoring the existence
of Lord Elgin, who, for aught I knew, might recover ; and
I therefore replied to the effect that I did not mtend to
proclaim myself as Governor-General, but that, should
Lord Elgin's disorder terminate fatally, I should proceed
with as little delay as possible to Calcutta, and there
assume the government. I shoiUd not have attempted to
carry on the work of the government of India through
the medium of the telegraph, even in quiet times ; still
less, then, did I wish to plunge into the troubled waters
of Calcutta politics Avitli nothing better than telegrams or
letters to guide me. Telegrams I did get, both from Sir
Hugh Eosc, the Commander-in-chief,* and from Colonel
* Now Lord Strathnnirn.

WAR ON THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER. 291
Durand, the Foreign Secretary, bearing upon the state of
things on the north-Avest frontier, and these showed me
that matters were not by any means in a satisfactory
position. To Sir Hugh Eose I replied by asking him to
give me full information as to the particular evils which
required to be remedied, and to let me know Avhether my
presence at Lahore would in any Avay strengthen his
hands. To Colonel Durand, Avho sent me a list of ques
tions Avhich required speedy consideration, I gave cUrec-
tions to let me have a distinct precis of aU the matters
relating to each of these, so that, on my arrival at Cal
cutta, I might have some notion of the questions with
Avhich I should have to deal. I got from Sir Hugh Eose
a telegram, on the 25th, saying that it would strengthen
his hands most materially, and be of the greatest benefit
to the public service, if I were to proceed to Lahore as
soon as possible, and he promised me a full and frank
expression of opinion upon the existing state of things on
the frontier. The effect of this telegram was to decide
me to make my way up to Calcutta with as little delay as
possible. I had intended to have gone up by the mail
steamer, which was expected in about the 28th, but under
the circumstances I thought it better to start at once, and
I embarked on the 26th on board the ' Arracan ' Govern
ment steamer, taking with me only my military secretary
and an aide-de-camp, as I heard that I should be able to
avail myself of the services of the officers on Lord Elgin's
staff Before I embarked I received a letter from Colonel
Durand, and another from Colonel Adye, Eoyal Artillery,
both dated from the camp near Lahore, and written, of
course, previous to the death of Lord Elgin, but the
former clearly anticipating such an event. From this
letter I gathered that the principal cause of the visit of
the Governor-General to Lahore was a wish to control the
mUitary operations in the north-west against the Sitana
u 2

292 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
fanatics. ' I say the most important ' (I quote the letter),
' because these operations having been forced upon Lord
Elgin, much against his will, by the aggressions of the
fanatics and their aUied tribes, and by the pressure of the
Punjaub Government, anxious to free its frontier from this
ii-ritating sore, the Governor- General was determined to
circumscribe the sp)here of action within manageable
limits, and not to accede to Sir Hugh Eose's views, which
were all in favour of a regular campaign on a large scale,
under his oavu guidance, early in the ensuing spring.'
The letter fi-om Colonel Adye gave, as avUI be seen, for I
copy the whole of it, a sketch such as a clear-headed
military man would draAV of a state of things coming under
his own observation, Avithout troubling himself about
causes or motives other than those of which he was
cognizant. It will be the more interesting as showing how
two accounts of the same events may vary, not so much
when the writers deal simply with the facts, as when
they begin to draw inferences from these, and to form
opinions as to the wisdom of the policy pursued. Colonel
Adye says : —
' The frontier question has suddenly assumed rather a
serious aspect, and, as far as I understand, the state of the
case is as folloAvs. The whole of our north-west frontier
is shut in by high mountains, which are inhabited by a
wUd, lawless set of tribes, men Avho only agree in one thing,
Avhich is that they will never leave off cutting each
other's throats, unless there seems a chance of cutting ours.
Various desultory expeditions have been made during the
last few years against these tribes ; but although they are
badly armed, and Avithout discipline, they are brave and
Avarlike, and their country is so mountainous and difficult,
and so destitute of roads, that it is no easy matter to
punish them. They manage, therefore, to cause us as
much loss as Ave do them. Being a dangerous frontier, it
is, as seems usual in this country, guarded by a force

WAR ON THE NORTH-WEST FRONTIER. 203
which is altogether independent of the Commander-in-
chief, with the exception of the one station of PeshaAAoir ;
in fact, the Governor of the Punjaub has this force at his
disposal, and every now and then enters into a little war on
his own account, and, in this instance, seems to have burnt
his fingers. Some distance to the north-east of Peshawur,
there is a tribe which has been harbouring fanatical
Mahometans from the plains, including, I believe, some of
our old sepoys ; and, as they have been troublesome, it
was resolved to make a rapid expedition over the Indus
into their mountains to punish them. To the Punjaub
force were added the 71st Highlanders, and a battery of
artillery, the latter carried on elephants, in addition to the
mule mountain batteries of the Punjaub force — say 6,000
of all arms. The rebels whom Ave are anxious to punish
inhabit Sitana, and the Mahabun mountain. In order to
catch them, a force under Colonel Bright was posted at
Derbund, whilst the main body, under Chamberlain,
leaving Peshawur, made its way up the Umbeyla Pass
behind the mountain. Little is knoAvn of the country,
and the pass proved longer and far more difficult than was
supposed, aud the transport of supplies and ammunition
was a tedious affair. The Sitana fanatics, therefore, were
not so thoroughly surprised and surrounded as Avas
intended. Another result of our unexpected appearance
at the head of the Umbeyla Pass was, that we Avere in
close proximity to the fastnesses of the Boneyr and other
hill tribes, who, taking alarm, lost no time in attacking us
in the most vigorous manner, and have continued to do
so almost daily ever since ; so Chamberlain, by all
accounts, stands intrenched at the head of the pass,
perpetually attacked night and day by the Sitanas and
Boneyr people, who have also been joined by the Swats,
a very powerful tribe still further to the north. These
people make rushes at night, charging up to our guns,
and, although badly armed, shoAV the most determined

294 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
courage, and have already inflicted severe loss upon us.
We have had several officers killed ; in one action there
were 80 casualties among the men, and in another about
110, and to-day (Nov. 11th) a rumour has arrived of
further fighting, and that two officers of the 71st are
killed. Chamberlain cannot well advance, for fear of
losing his communications, and to retire Avould look like a
defeat ; consequently, I believe, he is standing stUl, and
waiting for reinforcements. It is said that the Momunds,
and other tribes about Peshawur, are up, and the Avhole
frontier is in excitement. Eegiments and batteries, which
had just begun their march to the camp of exercise here
(Lahore), are hurrying on by forced marches upwards.
Telegrams are flying about, there is all the bustle and
excitement of a war. We began, intending to make
a small excursion against a few fanatics, and, instead of
that, are fighting Avith others Avith Avhom Ave have no
cause of quarrel, or, at all events, with Avlioni Ave had no
intention of coming into collision, and we may find our
selves soon in a state of Avar along the whole frontier ; for,
of course, all these people have a certain amount of
sympathy Avith each other. Before the expedition
started. Sir Hugh Eose pointed out that the season was
late (for snoAV falls in the mountains in November), that
to march European soldiers through a difficult country,
where no food is to be got, Avould necessitate careful pre
paration, and ample means of transport, &c., &c. ; but his
views Avere not Ustened to, though I beUeve Lord Elgin,
for the most part, agreed with him ; and therefore the
Governor of the Punjaub began his little Avar, which is
rapidly developing into a big one. Whether the present
state of the frontier is influenced by the recent events in
Cabool, I am not able to say.'
The actual state of things on the frontier, on the 20th
November, as sketched iu Sir Hugh Eose's teleo-ram, AA^as
as follows : General Chamberlain did not ask for rein-

RELATION OF GENERAL TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT. 295
forcements ; his statement Avas that he only needed to be
supported, kept in suppUes of stores, ammunition, &c.,
and that the corps which had suffered most should be
relieved, in order to enable him to tire out the enemy,
and overcome all opposition. He had sent all his sick
and wounded to the rear, and had established free com
munications with the plains.
I got a telegram from Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor
of Bombay, on the 26th, and I took the opportunity, after
answering his telegram, to write to him explaining the
motives which induced me to throw upon the President
of the Council, Sir Eobert Napier,* the responsibility of
acting as Governor-General till I could get to Calcutta,
and I brought before him one or two matters upon which
I wished for his opinion, as will be seen by the following
letter, written just before my embarkation for Calcutta.
To His Excellency Sir Bartle Frere.
Guindy, November 26th, 1863.
My dear Sir Bartle, — I got your telegram this morning,
and have replied to it. I did not wish to assume the
office of Governor-General at once, as Durand telegraphed
to me that there was much business of importance press
ing upon the Government ; I therefore telegraphed
back to him that I should not assume the government
till I came to Calcutta, and that any pressing matter had
better be referred at once to the President of the Council.
I should have remained here a few days longer, as one of
my children is ill ; but Napier pressed me to come up, and
Sir Hugh Eose says that it is very desirable that I should
come to Lahore, which request is backed by Durand,
though, I imagine, upon grounds differing very much
from those upon which Sir.H. Eose's request is founded,
so I have made up my mind to go at once. And now I
want to say a few words as to the relation between the
* Now Lord Napier of Magdala.

2 6 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
general and local Governments. You may, perhaps, be
aware that I pressed upon Lord Canning the advisability
of drawing a clear and well-defined line, separating the
functions of the one from those of the others. I AA'as
desirous of giving to the Governor-General everything
which could be said to have any application to more than
one Presidency ; but I was equally desirous to retain for the
decision of the local Governments, everything local and
municipal. The late move of the PubUc Works secretary
has induced me to reiterate these views strongly to Sir
Charles Wood ; indeed, in my private correspondence
with him, I have ahvays done so ; but now I pressed it
upon him in a minute accompanying the despatches on
the subject of the public Avorks. I should be very glad
to be made acquainted Avith your views upon this
subject. The whole system of government at pre
sent is in such an unsettled state, that a representa
tion emanating from us might very possibly haA^e a
beneficial effect in modifying the present system. I am
writing in haste, but will do so more fuUy when I get to
Calcutta. Yours very truly,
W.D.
The following letter to my wife will give an account
of my voyage to Calcutta, and of my meeting Avith one of
the secretaries of the Government at the mouth of the
Hooghly. To Lady Denison.
Steamer ' Arracan,' November 29, 1863.
A very melancholy 'silver Avedding-day,' dearest. I
am not spending my Sunday or the anniversary of my
wedding-day as I could wish, but I can at all events say
to you, dearest, that not for one single hour of thq last
twenty-five years have I ever regretted the day that

CHURCH SERVICE ON BOARD SHIP. 207
made you and me one, not merely in name but in
reality, one in our affections and our hopes both here
and hereafter. I have used a cold expression in saying,
' I have never regretted ' ; for years I have not failed to
bless and thank God daily for having given to me a wife
who has been truly a help meet for me, who has aided
and assisted me upon the narrow path which leads to
life eternal.
I began my letters for the December mail yesterday,
and shall keep on writing, as I shall not have much time,
I suspect, when I get to Calcutta. Time here passes
slowly, almost as slow as the steamer itself However,
the weather is fine and the sea smooth. The church
service this morning was performed by the captain in a
manner which shewed that he Avas utterly unused to it,
as indeed I heard afterwards. He dashed into the first
lesson, immediately after ' Oh come, let us sing,' &c. ; after
the first lesson he read the Psalms, then the ' Te Deum ' ;
after the second lesson he read the several prayers for the
Queen, &c., then the Thanksgiving, and then took up
the Litany. I am glad, however, that my presence in
duced him to have service, for some of the officers sp,oke
to H  , regretting his habitual neglect of the practice.
November 30. — We had a better run last night, and
may, if the wind would but moderate a little, see the sand-
lieads to-day. I have been working hard at the geography
of Upper India, and have been this morning studying the
immediate vicinity of the seat of war, thinking how we
might best manage to avoid fresh extensions of boundary,
by making our present line secure — so secure as to defy
aggression. Hitherto we have always pleaded the neces
sity of extension for security ; but extension brings
weakness ; it lengthens lines of communication with the
heart of the country, and brings us nearer to our
enemies. I should strongly deprecate any extension of our
external boundary ; in fact, I would gladly narrow our

298 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
territory were it not that such a step would produce a
bad moral effect ; however, I must hear more before I can
come to any definite opinion.
December 2. — We got to Saugor yesterday afternoon,
and found there a small steamer with Mr. Bayley the
civil secretary. Colonel Whish, and another officer on
board. This morning I transferred myself to the smaU,
but fast, steamer, which is to bring me up by half-past
three o'clock. The ' Arracan ' will not come up till the
evening. We were obliged to anchor yesterday after
noon on account of the tide, and the officers from the small
steamer came on board, and brought me a variety of
telegrams, letters, and papers. The telegrams were mostly
from the camp, and gave a better account of our position.
I hope to find a telegram from you at Calcutta. God
bless you, dearest. Yours affectionately, W.D.
The papers brought down by Mr. Bayley comprised
the whole of the correspondence on the subject of the
move against the Sitana fanatics. I had time to go
through it all, and to make notes of the prominent features,
while on my way up the Hooghly ; and the conclusion I
drew from the perusal of the whole was, that it AA^as very
impohtic to meddle with these hill people at all. Their
country is very difficult; they are a bold and wariike
race ; Ave have nothing to gain, and everything to risk, in
attacking them. This, I felt certain, Avas Lord Elgin's
opinion ; for, though he yielded to the pressure brought
upon him by the Punjaub Government, he insisted strongly
upon the necessity of imposing a very naxroAv limit upon
the action of the force sent into the country. It is, how
ever, A^ery difficult to chalk out lines of operation for a
military force, and it is impossible to impose a limit upon
its action. Of course, after the event, people found out

FRONTIER WAR. 299
that all the difficulties which were encountered arose out
of the fancy of General Chamberlain to move by one
route in preference to tAvo, that this brought him into
contact with the Boneyrs, &c., &c. In my opinion, how
ever, it was most unfair to throw upon the executive
agent the responsibility which necessarUy arose out of the
scheme itself General Chamberlain took the route which
seemed to him, as a military man, most likely to secure
the fuU results of the move ; and if this line of march was
likely to produce injurious results politically, he should
have been warned of this by the Government. It is not
fair to throw blame upon a man who has acted well and
bravely under very diSicult circumstances, or to shift the
responsibility off the shoulders of the Government upon
those of the generals in command. As far as I was able
to make out from these papers, there had been a good
deal of politico-religious agitation among the hUl tribes ;
prophecies had been uttered, and encouragement given to
those nearest the frontier by promises of general support ;
and the effect was that one might as Avell have put one's
hand into a wasp's nest, Avith the fancy of being able to
withdraw it intact, as to have meddled with any of these
tribes without stirring up the whole confederacy. The
feeling with which I rose from the perusal of these papers
was that we ought never to have meddled with such
waspish neighbours.
I could not but think, -too, that the Commander-in-chief
had been improperly kept in ignorance of the steps Avhich it
was proposed to take ; and that the communications be
tween the Military Secretary to the Government of India
and the Commander-in-chief had not been sufficiently frank
and open ; whUe comments were made upon his opinions,
which, considering his rank and the position he held,
could hardly fail to be annoying.
The most startUng fact of all, especially when taken
with reference to the report made by General Chamber-.

.•5C0 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
lain of his position and prospects not more than ten days
previous, was the morbid fear which seemed to have in
fluenced the Government of the Punjaub, and the Mihtary
Secretary to the Government of India, making the one
propose, and the other recommend, the withdrawal of the
troops ; while the members of the CouncU at Calcutta, par
taking of, or influenced by, this alarm on the part of the
originators of the movement against the tribes, had backed
up the recommendation by a statement to the Commander-
in-chief that the object of the Government was to vdth-
draAV the troops, as soon as it could be done without loss
or discredit.
I could not conceal from myself that such a declaration
on the part of the Goverument must very much enhance
the difficulties of my position ; that it would appear
presumptuous in me, a mere acting officer, to set up my
opinion in opposition to that of all the officers of the
Government, who might be supposed to know very much
more of the circumstances Avliich had induced the Go-
A^ernor-General to make this movement against the tribes
than I could possibly be cognizant of, and Avho ought to
be better informed as to the state of the frontier, both
Avithin and Avithout our boundaries, than I could possibly
be. Still, I felt convinced that nothing could have hap
pened during the short interval which had elapsed since
General Chamberlain had made his report, to justify such a
coAvardly pohcy, which, if acted upon by the Commander-
in-chief, would at once bring the Avhole of the tribes upon
us. I therefore made up my mind at once to press upon the
members of Council the advisability of reversing the order
given to the Commander-in-chief, and, should they not
agree to do so, to act upon my oavu authority, and direct
the Commander-in-chief to make a forward instead of a
retrograde movement.
Havmg finished reading all the papers laid before me,
and having made up my mind as to the course to be pur-

ASSUMPTION OF GOVERNMENT AT CALCUTTA. 301
sued, I had time to look about me, and to recal Avhat I
had seen on my way up to Calcutta in 1861.
The following letter will give an account of the for
malities of my landing and assumption of the gOA^ernment,
as also of the effect of my address to the Council, on the
day but one after my arrival, pressing upon the members
the reversal of their direction to the Commander-in-chief.
The substance of my address was that it was unfair to
the Commander-in-chief to throw upon him the responsi
biUty of deciding whether the wishes of the Government
could be carried into effect without loss or discredit. I
then pressed upon them the necessity of keeping in sight
the object for which the move into the hill country was
ordered by the Government, and stated my opinion that
the troops should be directed to act upon the offensive
as soon as possible. To Lady Denison.
Government House, Calcutta, December 2, 1863.
Dearest, — Here I ara sitting in the Governor-General's
office, having been duly sworn in, installed, and gazetted.
I am very thankful for the good news in your telegrams ;
let me know when it will be safe for S  to move,
and I will send the 'Arracan' for you. I think you might
spend your Christmas here ; that is, you might leave
Madras on the 18th, and arrive here on the 24th, or
earlier, if you like. Now for our doings since I closed
my last letter.
We paddled, or rather screwed, away in our fast boat,
the ' Celerity,' amid a great number of ships, and, at the end
of Garden Eeach, spied a long range of low houses, ap
parently floating in the middle of the river, and hanging
on to a buoy. These, as we came nearer, transmuted
themselves into, first, a long, low steamer, to which Avas
attached a sort of bungalow, and astern of this a tail of

302 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
long boats properly manned. When we got near these
we anchorecl. One of the boats then came alongside and
carried us off to the bungalow, which was really a float
ing house containing several rooms. The steamer then
started with us in tow, taking us about half a mile
further up the river, abreast of a landing-place near
Government House. We transferred ourselves again
into one of the boats, and puUed in to the landing-place,
Avliere a crowd of people was collected, and I was re
ceived by the port officer, who handed me into one of
Lord Elgin's carriages. I was driven at once to the
Government House, and was received at the bottom of
the large flight of steps by Mr. Cecil Beadon, the Lieu
tenant-Governor of Bengal, Sir Charles Trevelyan, Sir
Eobert Napier, &c. Thence Ave moved into the council
chamber, and I took the oaths and my seat.
Thursday, December 3. — When we Avent to breakfast
this morning, I found the rule of ' speak Avhen you're
spoken to, do what you're bid ' — a very good rule as ap
plied to children — in full force with the officers on the
staff; they kept silence religiously till I addressed them,
and then answered monosylkbically. You may imagine
that if I thought this an unpleasant state of things when I
was in Calcutta in 1861, with Lord and Lady Canning to
converse with, I found it perfectly insufferable when I
was the sole speaker of the party ; I therefore set Henley
and Stewart to work to explain to the other members of
the staff, that the state of my lungs was not such as to
admit of my going through a cross-examination of them
aU at every meal, and that it would be much pleasanter
to me if they would act just as they would do at the
¦ table of any other gentleman.
Friday Evening, December 4. — I have been too busy to
write till now. The fresh air of the morning makes me ex
tend my walk, so that I have but little time before breakfast
for private letter-writing, and the rest of the day is taken

LIFE AT CALCUTTA. 303
up by business. The Council met to-day, and I pressed
upon the members my vicAvs of the proper policy to be
pursued on the north-west frontier. I carried a majority
of the members AAdtli me, and I hope the result will be
the speedy restoration of peace, on conditions such as
will justify the move Ave have made in attacking these
people ; though I think it Avould have been better had
we made no move at all ; it is useless to make enemies
where you cannot hope to make subjects. My business,
however, was to make the best of a bad state of things,
and this, I trust, I have done. Having settled this, we
decided that, under existing circumstances, it was not
desirable that the Legislative Council should meet at
Lahore, and they aU agreed with me that my presence at
Lahore was unnecessary ; so here I shall remain till you
come up, at all events. I almost doubt whether it Avould
be worth while to bring up books, &c., for, as I find that
Lord Elgin sent by the Bombay mail of the 12th, notify
ing his state, and suggesting the appointment of a suc
cessor, it is probable that my tenure of office will not be
very long.
Sunday, December &. — Went to church this morning at
St. John's, close to the Government House. Went in a
carriage with an escort of cavalry, was met at the door
by two mace-bearers, and handed to a seat large enough
for three, raised one step above the fioor, Avith three large
prayer-books, very high stools, &c. I propose for the
future to dispense with the escort, also with the mace-
bearers, and to have the big books exchanged for some
more portable. I dislike particularly all attempts to
carry one's dignity into church : there we -are, or ought to
be, all on a level.
December 10. — My life here is monotonous enough. I
am out of bed a little before six, get on horseback and
have a gallop round the meidan or esplanade, going,
generaUy, to look at the race-horses which are taking their

304 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
gallops at that hour. There is usually a heavy fog resting on
the low ground, and this, I suppose, has given me a cold.
When I return home I dress, read, &c., and, if I have any
time before breakfast, write letters : breakfast at half-past
nine. This is becoming a pleasant meal, as we have
more conversation. From ten till five, exclusive of
luncheon, I am pretty steadily at work. I am going,
hoAvever, to concentrate and distribute my Avork better.
At present boxes come pouring in upon me at aU times,
and from all departments ; and I am interrupted when
reading one paper by the advent of another on a different
subject altogether. In the afternoon I either walk, ride,
or drive. I have made one or two attempts to get be
yond the meidan for a ride, but have always been driven
back by finding myself on a dusty road.
Yours affectionately, W.D.
I mentioned the fact that the majority of the CouncU,
on the meeting on the 4th, had adopted my advice as to
the movement in advance. Sir Charles Trevelyan, how
ever, did not concur with the majority, and he availed
himself of his right to record the reason of his dissent in
a minute which was embodied in the proceedings of the
Council. I was then compelled to place upon record the
reasons Avhich induced me to adopt the view which the
Council had affirmed, and these will be seen in the fol
lowing minute.
Minute. — ' Sir Charles Trevelyan has recorded his ob
jections to the course adopted by the Council in modifying,
at my instance, the instructions given to the Commander-
in-chief relative to the withdrawal of the troops from
their position at the head of the Umbeyla Pass. I should,
under ordinary circumstances, have submitted to the
CouncU a minute embodying my reasons for pressing the
matter on their notice ; but the urgency of the occasion

MINUTE. 305
was too great to admit of any delay. As, however,
the policy of the decision of the Government has been
questioned, I think it but due to myself, and to the mem
bers of Council who agreed vrith me, to place on record
the reasons which induced me to adopt the view which
has been affirmed by the Council.
' The following brief recapitulation of the circumstances
connected with the movement of troops into the moun
tainous country beyond the Indus wiU be a necessary
preface to what I have to say.
' At the urgent request of the Lieutenant-Governor of
the Punjaub, Lord Elgin consented to allow a body of
5,000 men to move into the country around the Mahabun
mountain, for the purpose of destrojdng, if possible, or at
all events of driving to a distance, a horde of fanatics
who had reoccupied Sitana (from which they had been
driven in 1858), and who were in the habit of making
inroads upon our territory, and robbing and murdering
the merchants whom the hope of gain might tempt into
such a dangerous neighbourhood.
' The proposition, as laid before Lord Elgin, was very
distinct and definite. The force was to be divided into
two columns, one of which was to march on one side of
the mountain, and another on the other side, and it was
anticipated that the whole operations would not occupy
more than thirty or thirty-six days, from October 10 to
the middle of November, after which the mountains were
said to be covered with snow. General Chamberlain, a
well-known and distinguished officer, was selected to com
mand the whole force, the object of which was, I assume,
clearly explained to him ; at all events, if not, it ought to
have been.
' General Chamberlain, in the exercise of a discretion
most properly, and indeed necessarily, vested in an officer
in command of such a body of troops, chose to keep his
men together in one body, and to move up the Umbeyla
VOL. II. X

306 VARIETIES OF VIOE-REGAL LIFE.
Pass in rear of the Mahabun mountain. He made his
way to the top of that Pass, and encountered there, not
merely the fanatical occupants of Sitana, but also strong
bodies of mountaineers of different tribes, who attacked
him in the most vigorous manner, and who have, in point
of fact, as yet barred any forward movement of the troops,
have occasioned us a heavy loss both of officers and men,
and have practicaUy set us at defiance.
' As soon as the Government was aware of the resistance
encountered by General Chamberlain, reinforcements were
moved to the front as expeditiously as possible, better
means of transport for stores and ammunition provided,
arrangements were made for the conveyance of the sick
and wounded to the rear, and every means taken to place
the force in a position to overcome the resistance it was
encountering. ' While these steps were in progress, the Lieutenant-
Governor of the Punjaub, taking alarm, in the first place,
at the, by him, unexpected results of the incursion which
he had recommended, and, in the second place, at the
drafts made upon the troops occupying the Punjaub,
whose presence he supposed to be necessary for the main
tenance of peace and good order, pressed most urgently
the withdrawal of the force. Colonel Norman, the mUi
tary secretary to the Government of India, in a memo
randum dated November 20, anticipated most disastrous
results if General Chamberlain were aUowed to remain at
Umbeyla, and suggested his withdraAval to the plains,
where the Government would have time to prepare for
future operations. The Government, yielding to these
pressing instances, conceded to the Avisli of the Lieutenant-
Governor, and gave directions, on November 26, that the
troops should be withdrawn " as soon as it could be done
without risk of miUtary disaster, or without seriously
compromising our military reputation."
' While, however, these messages Avere moving back-

MINUTE. 307
wards and forwards, events were progressing. The troops
at the head of the Pass maintained their position, causing
serious loss to the enemy, who were consequently getting
disheartened ; reinforcements Avere moving up ; the troops
which were intended to form the camp at Lahore were
rapidly approaching the scene of action ; better means of
conveyance for stores and ammunition had been pro
vided ; the threat of snow proved to be a delusion ; and
the fears of the Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjaub that
risings would take place in consequence of the removal of
troops to the firontier were seen to be groundless.
' Such Avas the state of things when I landed at Calcutta,
and, such being the case, I felt myself compelled to ask
the CouncU to modiiy the instructions previously given
for the withdrawal of the troops. I did not think it
necessary to comment upon thfe original proposition of the
Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjaub, or to express an
opinion as to the policy of meddling with these Avarlike
tribes. I did not, as a military man, express an opinion
as to the mode in which it was originally proposed to
carry this aggressive movement into execution, or hint a
doubt as to the wisdom of dividing a small force into two
columns, neither of which would be able to give the least
assistance to the other. It has been assumed, somewhat
gratuitously, that the operation, as originaUy schemed out,
was quite simple and easy, involving only a march through
a rough district, to which little or no resistance would be
offered ; and the blame of the failure of the plan has been,
in my opinion, most improperly and unfairly thrown upon
General Chamberlain. I mention these circumstances
merely for the purpose of expressing my opinion that
they have been improperly imported into the discussion.
What the Government had to consider was the simple fact
that a body of troops, ordered (whether Avisely or not is
nothing to the purpose) into a district for a specific pur
pose, had been resisted and prevented from executing that
x2

308 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
purpose ; had sustained some loss, but was now in a
position to overcome all resistance, and to carry out the
spirit of the original instructions, and very probably the
letter ; and that, under a different and a much more un
favourable state of things, it had been induced to order a
retrograde movement of the troops, which order it was
now requested to reconsider.
' My opinion was, and is, that the withdrawal of the
troops from what had proved to be merely a defensive
position .would be considered by the mountain tribes as
equivalent to a victory on their part ; and, although I did
not doubt the possibility of withdrawing the troops with
out loss, I yet felt convinced that the moral effect on our
troops of such a move would be of the worst possible
description. I was, and am, of opinion, that a movement
in retreat would probably bring about all the financial
difficulties so vividly described by Sir Charles Trevelyan,
for the certain result would be such a series of aggressions
on the part of the mountain tribes, elated by their supposed
success in causing us to retreat, as would compel us to
make a more serious attack upon them in the course of
next year for the purpose of asserting our superiority.
Upon the grounds, then, both of policy and economy, I
consider the instructions given to the Commander-in-chief
to be right and proper; and while I am disposed to main
tain this opinion, irrespective altogether of what the local
authorities may think, yet I may observe that the Lieu
tenant-Governor of the Punjaub, who is quoted by Sir
Charles Trevelyan as an advocate for the immediate with
drawal of the troops, Avould seem by the latest telegrams
to press most earnestly for an immediate advance.'
I was able, on December 10, to report to Sir Charles
Wood that we were in a position to make our movement
in advance. The Government having, previous to my
arrival at Calcutta, throAvn the responsibility of directing
the movements of the force upon the Commander-in-chief,

MOVEMENT IN ADVANCE. 809
I was not in any way disposed to take this responsibihty
off the shoulders of one who, from his position, was the
only proper person to bear it. As a military man, I had,
of course, opinions upon such matters, but I should no
more have thought of insisting upon the adoption of my
ideas by the commander of a body of troops, or even of
obtruding, unasked, these ideas upon him, than I should
have thought of discussing a question of law with the Chief
Justice. On the 12th, news was received firom the seat of war
to the effect that the chiefs of the Boneyr tribe had come
in, and were disposed to make their submission ; but it
seemed that they were not willing to agree to the terms
proposed by us, so in a day or two a forward movement
was made. The position occupied by the mountain tribes,
a very strong one, was attacked and carried, the defenders
being driven fi'om their commanding point into the plain
country below, leaving 300 men dead on the field. A
day or two afterwards the forward movement upon Um
beyla, the vUlage on the north side of the range below
the Pass, was continued. The troops were attacked while
on their march by a strong body of the fanatics, who,
rushing in upon our men sword in hand, carried then-
standards into the middle of the leading regiments of the
columns, so that the fight became a hand-to-hand confiict.
We lost fifty men ; one officer was killed and four
wounded, but the assailants were routed, and a couple of
hundred killed. This settled the whole affair. The tribes
made up their mind that they could not compete with us,
so they sent to ask for a cessation of hostilities, agreeing
to all our demands, one of which was that Mulkah, the
stronghold of the fanatics, was to be destroyed. This
they accordingly did, some of our officers having been
sent to witness this closing scene of a drama which, while
it disturbed our financial arrangements, has probably
taught us a lesson as to the folly of interference with

310 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
these tribes, and at aU events has read them a lesson
which they will not forget for some years. Before I
allude to other subjects which came before me at Calcutta,
I may as well finish my account of those which were
brought specially under my notice during the progress of
the campaign in the north-west.
The telegram announcing the desire of the Boneyrs to
come in and make their submission contained also a pro
position from the political agent Avith the army that the
general in command should be directed to carry out
Avhatever he, the aforesaid agent, might fancy or recom
mend. I had, in other letters to the Secretary of State,
dated a few days before the receipt of this, remarked that
a good deal of the difficulty of campaigning in India Avas
created by the ' political agents.' These men, very often
officers of no high standing in the army, are apt to think
that the possession of a smaU amount of local knowledge
entitles them not only to express opinions on mUitary
matters, but also to control the action of the mihtary
authorities. They do not make the general in command
acquainted with the facts which their position enables
them to ascertain, but, reasoning upon these, they strive
to get practically the command of the force, while they
repudiate the responsibility attaching to this ; and they do
not hesitate, as in this instance, to apply to the highest
authority to grant them powers Avliich no general in his
senses would allow them to exercise. Several instances
of this craving for power came under my notice. The
agent, communicating with his superior (the Commissioner
or Lieutenant-Governor, as the case may be), complains
of the conduct of the officer in command, asks for addi
tional powers, feels confident that if these are vested in
him he could quiet the country in a week, and so on. I
was obliged to administer a severe rebuke to one officer
who acted in this Avay, and I pressed upon the Secretary
of State the advisability of directing that all the corre-

USE OR ABUSE OF PATRONAGE. 811
spondence of the political agents, when in camp, should be
submitted to the general in command. That officer ought
to be cognizant of the character of this correspondence,
and it might be better that he should have political as
well as military power invested in him when the opera
tions are extensive. Had I remained in the position of
Governor-General for another month or two, I should
have acted upon my own opinions, merely reporting the
fact to the Secretary of State, but under the circumstances
in which I was placed I could do nothing but make
recommendations. Another matter which I brought strongly before the
Secretary of State was the impolicy of learing the com
mand of local corps, such as that of the Punjaub Irregular
Force and the Nizftm's contingent, in the hands of civilians.
Lord Elgin found that the control of the Punjaub force
made the Lieutenant-Governor there, to a certain extent,
independent of the Governor-General. He had the power
of so employing his force as to bring about a state of
things which compelled the supreme Government to act in
a manner the very reverse of that which a sound policy
would have dictated. I gathered from what I read and
heard, that the principal reason for maintaining this
anomalous state of things was that it secured a large
amount of patronage to the Governor-General. Much
stress has, I know, been laid upon the advantage which
the possession of such patronage gives to the head of the
Govemment ; but for my part I am inclined to dispute
this. I never found that the dispensation of patronage
helped me in the least, while I am certain that it led me
occasionally into difficulties. In reality it is but a system
of political bribery, such as is carried on to a great extent
by those who profess the highest principles of pohtical
purity. Whether, however, my view of patronage, or the
more ordinary one, be correct, there can be no doubt that
the application of the latter in a way which leads to such

312 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
an anomaly as that of placing the army, or any part of
it, under the command of a civUian, must be erroneous.
It is but right to state that my mode of proceeding did
not meet with the approval of Sir Charles Wood. He told
me that he differed very much from the views which I
seemed to entertain, and that the whole story gave him
the greatest pain and annoyance. That such should be
his feelings with respect to the origin of the war is not
surprising, but with this I had nothing to do. I had from
the time that I first heard of it expressed my opinion that
it Avas unwise and impolitic. As a miUtary man I had
not hesitated to affirm that the scheme involved a grave
strategical blunder; but, as soon as I had power to act, I
had pressed upon the Government the adoption of a course
which had brought matters to a satisfactory termination.

Lady Denison to F. G. Denison, Esq.
Guindy Park, Madras, December 12, 1863.
My dear Frank, — I had not time to AATite to you by the
last mail, and I minded it the less as I knew yom- father
was writing : he would tell you that the event we were
expecting when I last wrote — poor Lord Elgin's death —
had come to pass, and that he (your father) Avas, in con
sequence, on the point of starting for Calcutta to assume
the office of temporary Governor-General. He saUed on
the 26th of November and got to Calcutta, and assumed
office there on the 2nd of this month. I could not go
with him on account of S  's illness ; but we are
anxious to join him as soon as possible, and he was to
have sent the ' Arracan ' steamer for us ; now he has
telegraphed to us that the vessel has to be sent to Moul-
mein first, so I almost doubt our being together again by
the ncAV year. I had a letter from him last Sunday, and
it contained one very sad piece of ncAvs, which I have
since seen confirmed in the papers — namely, that amongst

GALLANT DEFENCE OF AN OUTPOST. 313
those who have fallen in one of the skirmishes now con
stantly taking place on the north-west frontier is the
younger of the two Sandersons. This news has cast a
cloud over us all, for we were all fond of him on his own
account, besides our sympathy for his poor mother and
brother. Your father's letter could tell me nothing be
yond the bare fact of his having been killed in action ;
but the other day I found in one of the ' newspapers a
letter from an officer at the seat of war giving an account
of his death, which is really a noble one, and shows what
a stout, gaUant heart there must have been in that smaU
fragile-looking body. It appears from this account that
two companies of his regiment (the 101st) were at an
outlying picquet under the command of a Major Dela-
fosse, and that a fierce attack was there made upon them
by such overwhelming numbers that the officer at the
head of one company of the 101st absolutely quaUed and
retreated with most of his company, ' but,' says the ac
count, ' Delafosse bravely held on with his company, and
the subaltern of the other — Sanderson — and Dr. Pile,
until at last further resistance was hopeless. Pile and
Sanderson lay dead, together with twenty-six of his com
pany of fifty men.' Thus it would seem that this noble
boy held on with his commanding officer even when de
serted by his senior officer and many of the men. Is not
this good ? and is it not a comfort to think that our dear
little friend should have done his duty so nobly.

To Mrs. Stanley.
Government House, Calcutta, Christmas Day, 1863.
My dear Mrs. Stanley, — I can hardly wish you a merry
Christmas, but I can and do wish you a happy Christmas
and New Year. Happiness is for the grave man what
merriment is for the youth ; and the older one gets, I think,
the happier one gets, for one becomes more thoroughly

314 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
satisfied to place oneself in God's hands to do or to suffer
as to Him seems best. You wiU have heard, I have no
doubt, of the event which has brought me up here.' On
the death of Lord Elgin I succeeded to the office of
Governor-General pro tempore tUl a successor was ap
pointed, in virtue of my position as senior of the two
Governors of Madras and Bombay. I have now been up
here for a month by myself I left Lady D  to nurse
S  , and I am in daUy expectation of her arrival Arith
the rest of my belongings. As you may suppose, how
ever, Christmas is anything but merry to me, for I lack
the sound of my children's voices, and the merry laugh of
childhood, which is so cheering to my ear and heart. You
will naturally expect to hear somewhat of my new
position, and of the people by whom I am surrounded. I
think I must have given you my impression of Calcutta
when I was here in 1861 with Lord Canning, and I see
no reason as yet to alter the opinions then formed. There
seems to be less sociabUity than there is at Madras, less
cordiality among people themselves, and more stiffness
and etiquette in their relations with me. This, however,
is, I think, to be attributed to the governors, not to the
governed. It seems to me that people here have always
had a tendency to the opinion that we, the governing
race, must submit to the etiquette of the people whom we
ride ; that we are bound to make all sorts of display, and
to try to overpower the native by convincing him of his own
insignificance. We accordingly surround ourselves with
a sort of atmosphere of etiquette, forgetting that, when Ave
have done our best, the most miserable of the zemindars,
or petty nobUity, can, and does, beat us hoUow on the
ground of outward magnificence. He comes up to see me
with elephants, horses, dancing-girls, &c., is covered with
jewels from head to foot, is dressed in cloth of gold while
I sit quietly in a black coat and Avaistcoat, and, though I
have a guard about me, aides-de-camp in uniform, &c.,

CHRISTMAS AT CALCUTTA. 315
make a very inferior show. My feeling is rather the
reverse of the Calcutta one. I look upon myself in my
plain clothes as the representative of the earnestness and
power of the Englishman, and I consider that I lower
myself by attempting to compete with the native race.
Government House is a large mass of building, consisting
of a central block which contains dining-room, ball
room, drawing-rooms, &c. on two floors, and four wings
in which family and staff reside. This looks out upon the
esplanade — the only place on which one can either walk,
ride, or drive. The consequence of this is, that one's life
is most monotonous. I ride in the morning, and take two
turns round the racecourse : in the evening I do the same
thing, only I extend my ride by a turn in the ring — a
sort of oval drive round a garden in which there is a
band, and round which the carriages collect. Yours truly,
W.D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Calcutta, December 27, 1863.
My dear J  , — I am spending but a lonely Christmas
here in this great rambling house. I long for a child to
romp with ; but, instead of that, no sooner do I open my
door than up start four or five men in scarlet dresses,
who are waiting my commands, and if I move about the
house, one of them is sure to follow me. Poor Lord
Elgin said that he felt like what he could imagine a
lunatic would feel with his keeper always close to him.
It is not etiquette to go out without an aide-de-camp,
and when I ride or drive, an escort of cavalry foUows me ;
whUe in Government House there are, heaven knows
why, sentries at the bottom and top of the staircase. It
looks very much as if I was under watch and ward, only
I find that I can pass these sentries, and go out if I like.
December 31. — I got a telegram this morning, notifying
the appointment of Sir John Lawrence, who will be here

316 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
on January 10. I stay here to meet him, and shall then
take myself off to Madras with as Uttie delay as possible.
Bating the difference of pay, Madras is a far pleasanter
place than Calcutta, and my houses there are four times
as comfortable as either this house, or the one at
Barrackpore. Here I am shut up in a town misnamed,
most woefully, ' the City of Palaces,' with nothing between
these so-called palaces, and the river, but a large green
plot, on which I can either walk, ride, or drive : there is
a vast compound of viUanous smells pervading the whole
space ; how can one, then, expect to escape disease of the
liver ? I long for a good hearty laugh to clear my lungs;
as it is I cannot muster more than a whimper.
January 5. — The ' Nemesis,' with Sir John Lawrence
on board, has arrived at Galle. I may look for him here
on Monday.
January 10. — The Bombay mail leaves to-day, so I wiU
close this, and write again when I get to Madras.
Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.
To Lady Denison.
Government House, Calcutta, December 31, 1863.
Dearest, — I stopped writing because I was in daily
expectation of hearing that you had started. I now
begin again, and shall send this by the first conveyance,
because, by a telegram I have just got, I find that my
tenure of office here will be shorter than I expected.
Henley came to me this morning, bringing me a telegram
from Sir Bartle Frere, informing me that Sir John Law
rence had been appointed Governor-General, and would
be here on the 10th. My first thought Avas, ' How lucky
it was that you had not started ; ' my second was a mixed
one : I was glad to get away from Calcutta, but I grieved
over the loaves and fishes. HoAvever, this very soon
wore away, and I can say now that my feeling is

VISIT TO A RICH HINDOO. 317
almost one of unmixed pleasure. How I do look for
ward to the time when we can sit down together and
have a regular talk.
January 1, 1864. — A happy New Year to you, dearest!
I got your telegram this morning, and am very glad that
you are not disappointed. I am not in the least sorry.
The httle bit of love of mammon which acted upon me
yesterday has vanished, and I feel the happier that I shall
be with you again, please God, about the 16th or 17th.
I went yesterday to pay a visit to a rich Hindoo, the
owner of house property in Calcutta. He hved in the
centre of the native town, and the access to his house
was through the filthiest of filthy lanes. In one of these
lanes there was a handsome gateway, opening into a sort
of court, or rather garden. Lions and other figures
marked the roadway, and among these were staUdng
about cranes and ostriches. The house was a very large
one, forming a quadrangle ; the court in the centre was
fiiU of statues, shrubs in pots, &c. The rooms on the
ground floor on two sides were show rooms, as were
those on three sides above. A magnificent verandah on
both sides kept off the sun. The rooms themselves were
full of tables, on which were placed bronzes, statuettes,
&c. &c. Statuettes filled the corners, the walls Avere
covered with pictures, and it was evident that a very
large sum of money had been expended in various way-s.
In the courtyard were cages for birds, of which there
were many of great value : the owner had been in corre
spondence with the late Lord Derby, and had got speci
mens from all parts of the world ; but, the place Avas
covered with dust — the bronzes and statuettes had not
seen a duster for a long time ; the plants in the quadrangle
had their leaves brown instead of green; the temple of
the idol which was in the yard looked very rubbishy —
he would have been covered with dust had he occupied
his seat ; the buildings for the animals and birds were

318 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
out of repair, &c. ; all this, not from want of means,
but from an incongruity of mind, a tendency to display,
without care for that harmony of the whole which makes
display pleasing. I have no time for more, but look for
Avard to be with you again before long, and am not a little
pleased to think that our separation is drawing to a close.
Yours affectionately, W.D.
Sir John Lawrence landed on Tuesday, January 12,
1864. A large crowd was collected to see the proces
sion from the landing-place to Government House, and
Sir John was loudly cheered.
I had a long talk with him on sundry matters on the
following day ; told him what I had done, and what I
had left for him to do. I gave him, according to rule,
the two dinners which the out-going Governor gives to his
successor ; but I did not remain to receive the two which
he was to give me in return, so we parted at the landiug-
place with a request on my part, and an engagement on
his, that he Avould write to me, whenever he had anything
to communicate, in the plainest and simplest English.
The result of my short experience of the working of
the Government at Calcutta was a conviction that there
was great room for improvement ; that it was sIoav in
decision, and slower still in action. Lord Canning had
distributed the business among the different members of
CouncU, retaining for himself a specific portion. This
arrangement, while it relieved the Governor-General fi-om
a great amount of labour in looking into petty details,
was defective in that there was hardly auy check upon
the action or inaction of the members of Council. Or
dinary business which required but little thought was
got through rapidly ; but questions invohdng a good deal
of consideration Avere apt to slumber in the pigeon holes
of the office for months, and to come out unhatched at

DEFECTIVE WORKING OF GOVERNMENT. 319
last. I mentioned this to Sir John Lawrence, and told
him that I had schemed out a plan, by which the
Governor-General would have before him, Aveekly, a
return of the state of business, showing what subjects
were awaiting decision, and where they were delayed.
This, however, was but a minor evil ; a much greater one
arose out of the tendency on the part of the Commissioners
and Eesidents at the courts of the native states, to make
their position appear to be one of importance, and con
sequently to thrust upon the Government, through the
Secretary for the Foreign Department, a mass of petty
details relating to the internal condition of these states,
which could be productive of nothing but annoyance to
their rulers, and trouble and waste of time to the
Governor-General. I give, as an instance, a sketch of a
matter which came before me very frequently, involving
a mass of correspondence sufficient to have decided the
fate of one of the minor states of Europe.
It seems that the Eanee, or princess, ruling over a small
territory in the interior, had succeeded in getting leave
to make the pilgrimage to Mecca (it seems hard that a
sovereign princess should not be allowed to please herself
in such a matter as this ; however, it had all been settled
before I came to Calcutta). Some questions had arisen as
to the management of the government of her country
during her absence, and the Eesident thought himself
caUed upon to interfere. In the course of this, a request
was made by the Eanee that she might be allowed to
visit England. Here was another subject for corre
spondence, and letter after letter was poured upon me
through the Foreign Secretary, placing in the strongest
possible hght the impolicy of acceding to the request of
the Eanee ; but I never was made aware that her Highness
had slipped her neck out of the coUar, and had got as
far as Mecca, tiU, being thoroughly tired out, I asked
where she was, and finding that she had already got

320 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
halfway to England, I decided that the correspondence
should cease, as we had practically no power to prevent
her doing what she pleased.
The following letter wiU show the view taken by me of
a matter of professional interest which was brought
under my notice at Calcutta : —
My dear  , — I have an interesting subject to bring
before you, one which has caused a good deal of discus
sion among the engineers here, and which, in point of
fact, has been dealt with here more as a personal matter
than as one involving some very serious professional
questions with reference to both the principle and details
of certain classes of works. The Ganges Canal Avas
undertaken for the purpose of bringing water to irrigate
the land lying between the rivers Ganges and Jumna ;
and as there were doubts as to the possibility of taking
the water at different points from either river by con
structing dams, or anicuts, as they are termed here, it was
decided to bring the whole body of water required from
a point on the Ganges above the district to be irrigated,
along the ridge or saddle dividing the two valleys, taking
off the water to the right and the left as occasion might
require. As a matter of course, the estimate for a canal
of such length (upAvards of 350 miles), and wide and deep
enough to bring down a body of water sufficient to irri
gate such an enormous tract of land, was very largely
exceeded. It was, however, completed to such an extent
as to allow the water to be brought down ; but it was
then found that, on striving to economise excavation by
addmg to the slope of the bed, and consequently to the
velocity of the stream, this had been increased to such an
extent as to threaten seriously the stability of the work :
the banks were worn away, the masonry Avorks under
mined, and it became a matter of necessity to lessen the
amount of water passing down the channel, Avhile reports

GANGES CANAL. 321
were called for as to the state of the works, causes of
failure, &c.
This brought out, of course, comments on, and excep
tions to, the original scheme. It was stated by one party
that the difficulty of establishing dams on the Ganges had
been exaggerated. An instance was given where a dam
12ft. high, with a water-way of 2^ mUes in width, had been
constructed on a sandy foundation, and had stood the test
of the annual floods passing over the coping to the depth
of 20ft. and 25ft. without requiring much repair. This
discussion was going on while I was at Calcutta, and com
ments and replies were passing backwards and forwards.
A committee of engineers was appointed, I believe, after I
left, to decide upon the plan to be adopted, and to form
an estimate of the cost of completing the work in a
substantial manner. I wUl not attempt to go into the
question of the possibility or impossibility of making a
dam across the Ganges. I know too little of the cha
racter of the bed of the river, or of other circumstances
connected with it, to attempt to ' decide when doctors
disagree ;' but the fact of a clam of such height and
vridth having been established over a river pouring clown
such a body of water as the Godavery is a precedent of
some value. I may as well, however, having given you this
sketch of the existing state of things, say a few words on
some of the questions under discussion, to which it would
be as weU that officers of Engineers, many of whom will
have to serve in India, and some of whom may, in all
probabiUty, be caUed upon to work on this very Ganges
Canal, should turn their attention specially.
The first question may be stated thus : Is it wise to
attempt to combine together, in one, a canal for irrigation
and one for navigation ? As a general rule, I should say,
certainly not. The object of a canal for irrigation pur
poses is to pass a given body of water to the spot where
it is to be utilised in as short a time as possible, duo
VOL. II. Y

322 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
attention being paid, of course, to the capacity of the soil
to withstand the action of running water, and to the
nature of the works, &c., required to control and regulate
the discharge. For the convenience of navigation, on
the contrary, it would be desirable to convert the channel
into a series of quiet pools. It would be far better, in my
opinion, where the traffic is likely to be large, to go to
the expense of making a separate narrow canal for navi
gation, and to keep this altogether distinct from the irri
gation channels, taking water now and then from these,
should occasion require it, than to strive to combine the
essentials of the two into some compound which would
work unsatisfactorily for both. I am by no means sure
that the cost of the two, working in the best manner,
Avould be more than that of the one in which the two
objects were attempted to be combined.
The next question has reference to the source or sources
from which the canal, whether for irrigation or navi
gation, should be supplied with water. This must of
course be determined by local peculiarities ; but wherever
it is possible it would be better to secure several sources
of supply. An accident to the main channel, if there be
only one, puts an end to both narigation and irrigation
until the damage is repaired ; and the large body of
water passing through a breach in the bank would render
repairs more difficult to execute than they would be were
the channel smaller, as would be the case when there are
several supply channels. It Avould also be advisable to
seek for sources of supply as near as possible to the land
to be irrigated, for the cost of bringing the whole of the
Avater for a district of 350 miles from one point at the
upper extremity of the district Avould be enormous.
However, I have given you enough to think of for the
time. What has struck me most iu the correspondence
relative to the Ganges Canal is the strong feeling exhibited
between the engineers of Madras and Bengal ; it almost

STUD ESTABLISHMENTS. 323
seemed as if the locality governed the opinion of those
who had to discuss the subject. Yours very truly, W.D.
Calcutta, January 4, 1864.
My dear  , — You wUl feel an interest in a ques
tion which has been lately brought before me. It
seems that the subject of the supply of horses for the
artUlery and cavalry had been under discussion previous
to my arrival here, and that some enquiry had been made
as to the number and quality of the stock bred at the
Government establishments. A return was handed to me
a few days ago containing a summary of the operations of
the stud depot at Koruntadha for the eleven years from
1852 to 1862 inclusive ; also another return containing a
detailed account of the expenditure upon the stud for the
year 1862-63, and the number of horses furnished to the
service in that period. From this latter return it ap
peared that 923 horses had been furnished to the troops
at a minimum average cost of 765 rupees per horse. I
say the minimum cost, for I cut out all the items of
expenditure which seemed to me questionable. Had I
included these the cost would have exceeded lOOOr. On
looking into the returns of the breeding operations it was
evident that there had been a steady falling- off in the
numbers both of staUions and mares, for of the former
there were sixty-seven in 1852, and only thirty-seven in
1862 ; while of the latter there were 1,850 in 1852, and
only 1,018 in 1862. I went fully into the data fur
nished by these returns, but could not discover any reason
for this faUing-off, and was obliged to infer that there
must be something wrong either in the management or
the system.
In making enquiries as to the quality of the animals
bred at the stud, I heard, of course, several very contra
dictory reports. I was told by some that the horses bred
Y 2

824 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
were good, hard-working, wilUng slaves ; by others that
they were not fit to ride, &c. An inspection of the
Calcutta stables, where there were horses of aU sorts —
Arabs, Australians, and stud-bred — convinced me that
these last were animals of a low stamp : they were heavy
in the carcase, light in the limbs, their joints small and
badly formed. I should have been very sorry to put even
my weight upon one of them, and of course could hardly
have felt justified in putting the eighteen stone of a light
dragoon upon its back. I cannot but think that the
Government has made a most egregious mistake in sending
out stallions from England ; you recoUect what a washy,
weedy lot were forwarded a year or two ago. No one
would be surprised, after looking at these, at the sort of
stock of which they have the parentage. The Arab
stallion, which stands not more than 14^ hands, when
put to a good Australian or EngUsh mare, becomes the
sire of a fine animal, with many of the good qualities of
both parents. It has the clean sloping shoulders of the
Austrahan, and stands from 15| to 16 hands high; it has
the good head of the Arab, the good hard bones and
hoofs of the sire, is well ribbed up, and has a good hind-
quarter. I have had, as you know, many specimens of
these in my possession both in Australia and India, and I
never had reason to complain of one of them : they Avere
well up to my weight, which is no trifle ; they carried me
well through and over everything, and I ride hard. Their
legs are always clean, they never throw a splint; and
though, now and then, if bred in India, they showed a
tendency to the shuffling walk of the Arab, which brings
him down on his nose occasionally when waUring, yet
this was the exception, not the rule ; they generally bent
their knees and pasterns well, after the pattern of their
Austrahan parent, whose first hint of the propriety of
this is given a few days after its birth by a hard rap on
the shins against a log in the bush.

IMPORTATION OF MARES IN PREFERENCE TO STALLIONS. 325
I commenced importing mares from Australia on the
ground that this extended our range of choice of animals,
and that by so doing I was introducing the rudiments of
a better description of stock. I would much rather see
a hundred or so strong, well-shaped, three-parts-bred
mares from Australia or England imported annually than
the twenty or thirty washy thorough-bred staUions which
are of no use to the Government or the country.
I was sorely tempted the other day when going round
the stables at Calcutta by a beautiful thorough-bred chest
nut mare, well up to my weight, and fit to go across any
country. I resisted the temptation, however, and it was
just as well that I was so self-denying, for I heard that
the man who had bought the animal, for, I think,
2,000 rupees, had at the end of the week offered 10/. to
any one who could ride it ; it was an inveterate buck-
jumper. Yours very truly,
W.D.

326 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

CHAPTEE XXIV.
RETURN TO MADEAS — OPINIONS AS TO ORIGIN OP SO-CALLED FLINT
WEAPONS — WATER BATE — FINANCE MACHINERY — WANT OF SURVEY OF
FRONTIER — IRRIGATION WORKS — WANT OP STATISTICAL INFOEMAHON—
DEATH OP CAPTAIN GLOVER — CINCHONA PLANTATIONS — ACTION OP POEESTS
ON RAINFALL — TOILSOME WALK AFTER SAMBUE — KILLING A TIGEE —
LETTER TO THB MAHARAJAH OP •TRAVANCORE — IRRIGATION COMPANY —
VISIT PROM TODAS AND KOTERS — WYNAAD — NATIVE ARCHERY — RETURN
TO GUINDY^CYCLONE AI MASULIPATAM — LETTEE TO THE RAJAH OF
TRAVANCORE.
Lady Denison to F. G. Denison, Esq.
Guindy Park, Madras, January 13th, 1864.
My dear Frank, — Unless your father has written to you
by this mail, you wUl wonder to find me still Avriting from
hence ; for, of course, I expected to have been at Cal
cutta long before this, but now I am not going there at
all. You never heard of such a succession of impedi
ments as there were to our voyage. I think at the time
of my last letter to you things must about have arrived at
the point at which the Government steamer ' Arracan,'
which was to have been sent for us, had been diverted to
take some convicts first to Moulmein, at the urgent request
of the Bengal Government to your father, which he
thought it right to comply Avith. Having accomphshed
this service, the ' Arracan ' came here for us, arriving on
the 21st of December ; but in the meantime a new diffi
culty had arisen about some Government stores of gun
powder which were to be conveyed fi-om hence to
Calcutta, and for which no conveyance could be found, as
the mail and passenger steamers are not, I think, allowed
to take combustible or explosive cargoes on board. At
aU events they would not do it ; so at last your father

APPOINTMENT OF SIR JOHN LAWRENCE. 327
telegraphed to us to give up the ' Arracan ' for the
powder, and come up ourselves by the mail steamer which
was then daily expected at Galle. Then the mail steamer
broke down and never got here at all! and the supplemen
tary steamer, which found her in a disabled state and
brought on her mails and passengers, did not get here till
the 5th of this month ; and in the mean time the Bombay
maU had arrived, bringing news that Sir John Lawrence
had been appointed Governor-General, and would be out
by the very next mail ; so then, of course, it was not
worth while for me and S  and the children to go up
to Calcutta, and your father telegraphed to us to stay
where Ave were. The news took us rather by surprise,
for we had not thought it possible that a new Governor-
General could get out so soon ; nor could he, in fact, if
he had only been appointed on Lord Elgin's death ; but
the truth was that, at the beginning of his illness. Lord
Elgin had telegraphed home his wish to be relieved, and
they had acted on it at once. However, your father does
not seem at all disappointed at the speedy termination of
his Governor-Generalship ; he does not ever place his
happiness much in money or honours, so he can do very
well either with or without them, and he writes in great
joy at the prospect of being with us all again, and you may
be sure we, on our side, are equaUy looking forward to
having him here, for we have had on both sides a solitary,
unsatisfactory Christmas and New Year.
The mail steamer, with Sir John Lawrence on board,
kept to her time very well, and got to Calcutta last night ;
at least we presume she did, for a telegram from your
father in the evening informed us that she was in the
river, and that he himself hoped to start to-morrow.
In this case we may hope to have him here by Sun
day night or Monday, not sooner, I am afraid, for the
' Arracan,' in which he comes back, is a slow vessel.
When she went up with the powder, just after Christmas,

328 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
J  went in her at the head of a band of cricketers ; for

a challenge had come down from Calcutta to a Madras
eleven to come up and play there, and it was a good op
portunity for doing so, as it was during the Christmas
holidays, and the ' Arracan ' was here to convey them. I
am happy to tell you that the result was a complete
victory on the part of Madras ; they beat their opponents
by sixty runs, though they had all the disadvantages of
being, not a picked eleven, but only the best that could be
got together at a few days' notice, of playing on an un
known ground, and having had no time or opportunity
to practise together beforehand. J  wUl return with
your father, of course ; the rest of the victorious cricketers
wiU probably be back here to-night by the maU steamer.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Guindy, February 3, 1864.
My dear J  , — Here I am again safe and sound,
feeling happy at being among my belongings, and with
all my comforts about me. I have a coiiAdction that I am
at home, while at Calcutta I felt uncomfortable, and as if
I were upon a journey, and were tenant of a house for a
Aveek or so. I left on the 14th, having inducted Sir John
Lawrence into office. I was heartily pleased, however, to
think that I had been able to hand over the govemment
to him with an assurance that everything was quiet, both
within and without our frontier.
There is a pack of hounds here, and I have generally a
gallop about twice a week. We have to get up early, as
we throw off as soon as it is light enough to see — about
twenty minutes before sunrise. We are always in before
eight o'clock, so there is not much chance of our being
affected by the sun.
L'ebruary 6. — Mr. Chaplin, of Blankney, and Sir F.
Johnstone made their appearance on Thursday at a baU
AA^e gave. They are coming to stay Avith me Avhile they

A MAN-EATER. 329
remain in Madras, which wiU be only for a few days, as
they move on to Calcutta by the next P. and 0. steamer.
Mr. Chaplin wants to kill an elephant : however, I am
afraid he vrill not have the opportunity, unless he calls
in at Ceylon. Several men take advantage of the
steamer, and run out here in the cool season, for a month's
shooting. Sir Victor Brooke, an Irish baronet, made a
very large bag last year, including elephants, tigers, &c.
These latter in some parts of the country become a regular
nuisance, carrying off cattle, and occasionally men. Last
year a reward of 50/. was offered for one in Mysore, which
had kiUed upwards of fifty people. They say that Avlien a
tiger has once tasted human flesh he loses his appetite for
beef In revenge, however, for his unnatural taste, a
man-eater is sure to become mangy, and to lose his re
spectable appearance.
B  and I walked round the park with our guns
yesterday, and brought home five couple of snipe, two
brace of partridges, one brace of quail, and a hare.
Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.
To W. R. Cornish, Esq.
Madras, February 20, 1864.
My dear Sir, — ^Mr. B  has shoAvn me your letter,
and I have inspected the so-called ' stone implements '
which you sent. These are very similar in form and
character to some which Mr. Oldham shewed me a few
months ago.
I agree with you as to the probable age of the laterite
in, or upon, which you found these specimens. I beheve
the laterite, which is always, as far as I know, a superficial
deposit, to be among the latest post-phocene formations.
I wiU now go into the question of what you term the
' genuineness ' of the specimens ; that is, I suppose, their
character as implements or tools made by man. So far as

330 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
I know, the character of the evidence in favour of their
human origin is as follows. Implements of fiint, or, to
speak more generally, of stone, have been found in con
nection with human remains in cairns and other places ;
and there is ample evidence to prove that these stones
have been used as ' weapons ' or ' implements.' The next
step, however, in the chain of evidence is, ' that man
made or shaped this tool or weapon ; ' and the only reason
for this assumption seems to be this — that the stone does,
in form, resemble articles now in use, which we term
hatchets, chisels, &c. The geologists having settled that
man made the tool found in connection with his bones,
then infer, legitimately enough, that, wherever similar
stones are found, man must have had a hand in shaping
them into forms fittest for use ; and, having found quan
tities of similarly shaped stones in a deposit far below the
tertiary strata, or post-tertiary strata, supposed to be
coeval with man, they conclude that this supposition is
incorrect, and that man is much older than we assume
him to be.
I do not think that I have in any way misstated the
general chain of reasoning adopted by Lyell and the
geologists with reference to these stones.
I quite admit that they are found so frequently in con
nection with the remains of man as to justify fuUy the
inference that he made use of them as weapons or tools ;
but did he make them ?
We are told, in proof of the allegation that he did do so,
that the discoverers of similar stones were able to make a
pebble into an instrument simUar to one found in a cairn.
Very possibly. I have no doubt that man could make
such tools ; but this possibiUty is no evidence that he did
do so ; and there are many facts connected with the
position and numbers of the implements themselves, to
say nothing of their irregularity of form, which would
induce a contrary belief

STONE IMPLEMENTS. 831
In the first place, the stones appear to be very numerous.
You, in the course of a short time, have picked up several,
and in the sites mentioned by Lyell a great number of
flint specimens have been found. Now, from all we know
of savage Ufe, each man is the maker of his own tools or
weapons ; there is no trace of the existence of any manu
facturing establishment among them. Each family makes
its own tools, clothes, weapons, &c. If this be the case —
and every voyager and historian will vouch for it — who
could have made the stores of tools which are said to be
scattered about so profusely ? Few or none exhibit
evidence of having been used, and we must therefore sup
pose the existence of a manufacturing establishment, at
which the work, when finished, was allowed to lie about
after the expenditure of a good deal of labour upon it.
The stones, however, which have assumed the form of
tools, are not the only stones which exhibit the action of
force upon them. You have sent me one chipped about in
various ways, but which could not have been intended
for any implement ; and I have Oldham's admission that
several had been picked up for him by the collector, which
were rejected by himself because he could not give a name
to them, or imagine a purpose to which they could be
applied. I decline, therefore, to admit the validity of the
evidence in favour of the assumption that man made these
stones into the shape in which they are found. That he
sav/ theiu on the ground, as you did, that he took them
up and made use of them, as you would have done had
you been pushed for an implement of the kind, is very
probable ; and this, as it is the most natural supposition,
so it is the one Avhich accords best with all the facts
brought under our notice.
I do not wish to enter into any speculation as to the
forces which were brought into action to produce the
effect now shown on these stones. It is evident that
many of them have been rounded pebbles, and I believe

332 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
that if such a pebble were powerfuUy compressed, in
directions perpendicular to its curved surface, the effect
would be to break a material having a conchoidal fracture
into some of the various forms we now see exliibited. I
should Uke to try the experiment, and would do so had
I an hydraulic press at my disposal. However, I must not
prolong my letter. My belief is that man found the
stones, and made use of them just as the South Sea
Islanders make use of the shark's teeth, or the thorns of
trees, &c., as barbs to their weapons ; but I do not admit
that there is any evidence to prove that he cUd more
with his stone tool than fit a handle to it.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Captain Warburton, R.E.
Madras, March 12, 1864.
My dear W., — I gather from your letter and sketch
that we have crept into the enemy's country about abreast
of Waingaroa, which is, I infer, Eaglan. We have got,
however, some distance to make good before we get into
the heart of the country by the Taupo Lake. General
Cameron is going about his work in the proper way,
making roads, opening the country, and securing what
he has got by stout works.
I confess that I am sorry for the Maories. I advised
Gore Browne in 1857 to place them on the same footing as
the other subjects of the Queen; to divide their country
into provinces, and to give them the power of settUng aU
their own matters in their own way. A couple of thou
sand pounds per annum, spent in giving a salary of 300/.
per annum to each of the three presidents, and of 50/. each
to twenty of the subordinate chiefs, Avoidd have saved us
all the expense and disgrace of these two wars, and made
the country prosperous aud the people happy. Now Ave
have made it impossible for the Avhite man and the Maori

CIIARACTER OF HINDOOS. 333
to live together, and the latter must go to the wall, that
is, must be swept away. It is a sad termination to a
people who had commenced the task of civilisation so
promisingly. The Government has got itself into a difficulty with
reference to the amalgamation of the Engineers, and I
do not see any way out of it ; neither, am I sure, does
the Secretary of State or the Commander-in-Chief
As regards special service ; do you fit yourself for it
and it wUl come to you, take my word for it : let yourself
be known for a hard-working, active, inteUigent officer,
and you wUl find many that will seek for you. It is
better to be sought after than to seek. Yours very truly, W.D.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Guindy, March 8, 1864.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — Your Hindoo friend may be
an exception, may have an unfeigned love of truth, may
even have been a martyr to this love ; but you may de
pend upon it, if that be the case — which by the way I
very much doubt — he is a phoenix, more rare by far than
a black swan. I do not put the least faith in the state
ment that they were, at one time, a truth-loving people,
and have been made liars by oppression ; the character
is bred in the bone and is indelible.
My administration of the Indian Empire did not last
long, but I was able to put an end to the war in
the north-west, and to hand over the government to
Sir John Lawrence with an assurance that all was
peaceful both within and without our boundaries. I
found on my arrival at Calcutta that the Government
having been persuaded by some of its subordinate
agents to undertake a small war, and having met with
stronger resistance than it anticipated, had lost heart, and

384 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
had given orders to the Commander-in-chief to withdraw
the troops ; that is, they were prepared to admit that
the mountaineers had had the best of the battle so far.
This I strongly objected to, and I urged upon the Council
the necessity of eating its words, and of directing the
Commander-in-chief to move forwards and act on the
offensive, instead of confessing his weakness by with
drawing the troops. This was done, and the result was
that two days' fighting finished the business, frightened
the mountaineers, restored to our troops the prestige of
victory, and secured us peace. My feeling is that we
have acted unwisely in stretching our firontier beyond the
Indus : a marked line of boundary should be established
between civUisation and barbarism ; the two ought not to
be brought into too close contact. As to attacking these
Affghan tribes, it is the height of folly. They are fine, bold
fellows, very like your Scotch borderers in old time, Arith
very much the same tastes and propensities — they quarrel
with one another, cut throats, &c., but vriU always join
against an enemy from without. They are like the High
landers whom BailUe Nicol Jarvie declared to be sure to
join in the long run against ' a' civUised folk that wear
breeks on their hinder ends, and hae purses in their
pouches.' I should propose to maintain an efficient
border police, well backed up by a military force, and
to enact a stern border law. I should hang, as a matter
of course, every man whom I found armed within my
boundary ; but I should take especial care never to cross
the frontier line, and if my people chose to do so, they
should do so at their own risk. We have everything to
lose and nothing to gain Liy such petty incursions as we
have just made : Ave have roused a hornet's nest, and
have shoAvn the inmates that they have \'ery effectiA'e
weapons to use against us. Yours very truly,
W. D.

WATER-RATE OR ASSESSMENT. 335

To Sir Charles Wood. Guindy, March 16, 1864.
My dear Sir Charles, — I have been at work upon the
drainage and water supply of Madras : these wiU be some
of the first questions which will come before the Sanitary
Commissioners. The risk we run is that crude and hasty
theories will be adopted as general principles, and be
acted upon without due aUowance for local peculiarities.
I send you a copy of some memoranda of mine on the
subject of the ' Water Eate.' The correctness of the view
which I have taken has been exemplified by the conduct
of the ryots in the Godavery district, many of whom
have thrown up their land because the charge for water
was too high ; I don't mean generally too high, but too
high for their particular quality of land. I feel certain
that the old system, of valuing land by the crop Avhich it
produces, is the simplest and best ; it is fairest both to the
ryot and to the Government. Yours very truly,
W. D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux. Guindy, April 5, 1864.
My dear J  , — This is our spring as well as yours,
and although the whole of our trees are, so to call, ever
greens, they all get a new suit of clothes at this time
of year, dropping their old leaves and getting a fresh set
in a few weeks, and the whole face of nature is changed,
and looks happy and joyous. When, however, I say the
whole face of nature, I must except a large portion, for
the surface of the ground, instead of being green, as with
you, is burnt up, and as brown as the road : we have to
wait for our grass tiU the autumn. StiU, however, it is a
pleasant time of year ; the trees are not only in leaf, but
in fioAver, and the whole air, as I walk about in the park,

336 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
is perfumed with various scents. I am getting on well
with my garden ; the passage between my room and the
drawing-room is filled with flowers in pots, and, having
three stephanotus, and two pergolaria odoratissima, you
may imagine how sweet it is. I delight in the pergolaria,
and am using it as a creeper in a variety of places. My
orchids too are beginning to do well, and next year I
shall have them in the verandah and about the house,
showing magnificent spikes of flower, and lasting in
bloom for a long time.
April 14. — There is rather a gap between the begin
ning and end of my letter, but one's life here is not
very eventful. I do my best to amuse the people, and I
think I succeed well, for aU seem to reckon upon me as
the leader in aU sorts of amusement. We had a paper
chase the other day on horseback, which gave great
pleasure. Thirty-six people came to luncheon, and at
four o'clock two of my staff started off as hares. We
had a round of about ten or eleven mUes, and sent them
home well tired and well pleased.
I had a narrow escape in the morning, having been
run away with in my carriage going doAvn to Council,
and upset. However, I sat quietly in the middle of the
carriage, holding on by the straps on both sides ; so, when
the smash came, I held on by the upper strap, and all
the inconvenience which I suffered Avas from the aatcucIi
given to my left shoulder by the shock of turning over.

To Sir John Lawrence. Guindy, April 10, 1864.
My dear Sir John, — I cannot think that our finances
are in such a state as to requU-e any petty economies.
I can quite understand Trevelyan's anxiety to make a
great show of a surplus in order to enable him to propose
the reduction of taxation ; but, upon iny word, when you

MISTxVKEN ECONOMA'". 837
look fairly into the question, I think you will agree with
me that there are few countries in the world where tax
ation presses less upon the people than in India. With
good management there Avill be a steady increase in the
land revenue, aud in every other branch of our income.
If, however, for the purpose of making a show of re
duction of expenditure, and especially of our military
expenditure, Ave sell this thing and that, and decline to
maintain our forces in a proper state of efficiency, we
shall find oiuselves at the beginning of another war in no
condition to carry it on effectively. Last year we sold
off our steamei's aud transports, and the result was that
we had to pay 50/. per man for the transport of troops to
New Zealand, simply because the ship-OAvners and mer
chants knew that we Avere entirely in their hands. This
year we are going to sell more steamers, and shall be left
altogether at the mercy of the steam companies.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To T. Sutherland, Esq., Rangoon. Madras, May 19, 1864.
Sir, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of the draw
ings of your hulling- mill and turbine, and of your letter
expressing your willingness to give me any information
I may require upon subjects connected Avith machinery
and engineering.
I should be glad to obtain from you such definite in
formation regarding the work of this turbine under
different falls — the quantity of water required per horse
power under each of a series of falls ; the velocity of the
first mover, Avhich is, I suppose, the prolonged axis of the
turbine itself — as would justify me in applying the machine
to a variety of purposes. I want a pump to hft water
about 100 feet, and I can get any fall I Uke within the
limits of from forty to sixty feet. I Avant to work a saw
VOL. II. 2

338 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
mill in the forest where I can always get water; the
quantity wiU be smaU, but the fall great ; but as there are
many parts of the country where no water is to be found,
I should like to utihse the power of the wind for the
purpose of raising water from wells to irrigate land. In
one district of this Presidency there are upwards of
20,000 wells, and with many of these a pump worked by
a self-acting windmill would save an immense deal of
labour, and would, if shown to be successful and decently
cheap, soon commend itself to the natives : a powerful
pump is not wanted. I suppose that ten acres might be
watered from one well, and this would be equivalent to
about 1,550 pounds raised per minute from a depth of,
say, twenty feet, which would be equivalent to a horse
power. This would be the maximum. I take 5,000 cube
yards as the amount of water to irrigate an acre, and this
quantity is distributed over the Avhole season of, say, three
months. I suppose the pump to Avork ten hours per
day. With many thanks for the information you have
given me, I remain, &c.
W.D.
To Sir Charles Wood. Madras, May 19, 1864.
My dear Sir Charles, — You say, very truly, that neither
the Government nor any of its officers kncAV anj^thing of
the ground over which the troops had to move to the
attack of Mulkah ; they knew nothing of even that portion
which was Avithin our own territory.
I wrote to Sir Hugh Eose Avlien I was steaming up the
river, and asked him whether there was in existence a
mUitary report on the frontier, and Avas told that he knew
of no such thing. And when I enquired at Calcutta, from
the survey officers and others, I found that no such thing
had ever been thought of Now I recollect, some five-
and-thirty years ago, looking over a French report upon

BHOOTAN TREATY. 339
the Ehine frontier, draAvn up with great care, noting
down every feature of the ground which could be of
service to the officer in command of a force, either ad
vancing or retreating through that country ; and I think it
would be very desirable that the Government should be in
possession of a similar report for the whole of our trans-
Indus frontier. This is the only portion of the whole of
our frontier by which an enemy of any importance could
attempt to attack us, and we ought to have a thorough
knoAvledge of every position which it affords for defence,
or any advantages which it may present to aid a forward
movement. I am afraid, from what I see in the papers, that we
are likely to have some trouble in the north-east, now
that we have settled the north-west. The Bhootan people
have frightened Eden into signing a treaty conceding
certain matters to them. I don't know the extent of his
weakness, but the Government can never dream of carry
ing the treaty out. These embassies to and treaties
with a people which has nothing to be called a Govern
ment, are merely traps. The breach of a treaty, which is
sure to be broken ten weeks after ratification, can always
be brought up as a ground for hostilities. It would be
far better to maintain a strict border law, to hang every
man found in arms on our side of the frontier ; the
borders would be desolate, but we have more land
already than we know what to do with. Yours very truly,
W. D.
To Sir Charles Wood. Madras, May 26, 1864.
My dear Sir Charles, — I have got returns of the cost of
our three principal irrigation works — the Godavery, the
Kistnah, and the Pennaar or NeUore works.
The first has cost 360,000/. or 370,000/., and will cost
z 2

340 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
about 200,000/. more ; it irrigates at present 650,000
acres, and will irrigate about 450,000 more. The cost
has therefore been about lis. Qd. per acre, and will be,
when the whole is completed, about 10s. per acre.
The Kistnah has cost 240,000/., and wiU cost 370,000/.
more ; it irrigates 200,000 acres, and will irrigate
300,000 more ; it has cost 245. per acre, and will even
tually cost about 225.
The Pennaar has cost 100,000/., and wiU cost 10,000/.
more ; it irrigates 30,000 acres, and will irrigate 7,000
more ; it has cost 305. per acre, and will eventually cost
275. Qd. This latter work has cost more than the others
because the dam was placed too near the sea. Had it been
placed near the spot where the river issues from the hiUs,
the work Avould have cost more, but ten times the quantity
of land would have been irrigated. Even here the work
has paid itself, the return being at the least 6s. per acre,
or one-fifth, or 20 per cent, upon the cost. It would
always be good policy in the Government to borrow
money for works of this kind : it might set apart a portion
of the revenue as a sinking fund, so as to pay off the
capital in a few years ; while the indirect return in the
shape of money put into the ryots' pockets would soon
make itself felt in the extension of cultivation.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Mrs. Des Vceux.
Madras, May 29, 1864.
My dear J  , — It seems to me that you in England
are all afflicted with a sort of periodical fit of insanity :
with some it takes the form of professed admiration of
Shakespeare, while others fall down and Avorship that very
small lion Garibaldi. I am told that one lady framed and
glazed a glove which Garibaldi had touched, while
another had actually gone on her knees to him. I do

HERO WORSHIP, 841
not think that I should have partaken of either phase of
this madness, but there is no telUng. I most certainly
should not have followed Garibaldi, for I look upon him
as a mischievous fellow — just the sort of person who is
pushed to the front in order that others may reap the
benefit of his courage. In India Ave cannot get up steam
enough for hero-worship, although Ave have a good many
small people, heroes in their Avay, to Avhom we erect
statues. This tendency to try and immortalize people in
brass or in marble is becoming almost an evil of Avhich
the police should take notice : the thoroughfares Avill very
soon be blocked up by statues. I came upon them at
Calcutta in the most extraordinary places, and even here
I have two Avhich block up a croAvded thoroughfare. I
suppose posthumous fame has its attractions, for we see
many who strive for it, and many more who strive to per
petuate the memory of some friend or relation ; but I
had all this knocked out of me years ago, partly by read
ing the life of Lord Metcalfe, Avho worked for fame from
the beginning of his life, and reached high places and
honours, but whose name is now absolutely forgotten ;
and still more by the conviction of the utter worthless-
ness of such a motive to action.
We have had a cool season at Madras, but no rain. I
went to Guindy yesterday, and found my garden doing
weU, owing to constant watering. My Victoria Eegia
has seeded itself to such an extent that I have hundreds
of plants, which I am going to spread about in every
direction. The orchids which I got from Burmah are
doing well, but it is a little too hot for those from the
hills. What a pity it is that Ave cannot generate cold as
we do heat. We are all well, and have arranged to go
to the hills about the 4th or 5th of July.
Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.

342 VARIETIES OF VICE- REGAL LIFE.

To Sir Charles Wood. Madras, June 6, 1864.
My dear Sir Charles,— I have been trying to pick up
facts as to the longevity of the natives, their physical im
provement or degradation — in fact, statistics of popu
lation ; but, of course, I only get vague opinions. These,
however, appear to point to a decrease in the length of
life, caused, as said by some, by the habit of breeding
in and in, and by a mere sensual indulgence of the
appetites. My informants say that men are now obliged to marry
not only Avithin their caste, but within their family, and
that they marry much earlier than they used. All this
may be true, or may be false, but it points to the neces
sity of acquiring some definite information as to vital
statistics ; and I think it would be as Avell that Ave should
commence a system of registration of births, deaths, and
marriages as soon as possible.
June 8. — The mail came in yesterday, and I got your
letter. You have mistaken my meaning as regards the
comparative merits of mUitary and cirilians ; but I did
and do maintain that, for military Avork, the former are
the proper authorities. As regards the operations in the
north-Avest, they Avere suggested by civilians, interfered
with by civilians, and the only wonder is that they termi
nated so well. This they would not have done had I not
put an end to the meddling of the civilians and placed the
matter in the hands of the military.
To Sir John Lawrence. Madras, June 20, 1864.
My dear Sir John, — I congratulate you most sincerely
upon the safety of Lady LaAvrence, and upon the addition
to your family.

POLICE. 343
I have ahvays taken to myself the saying of the Psalmist,
' Lo, children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage
and gift that cometh from the Lord : happy is the man
who hath his quiver fuU of them,' and have found it
literally true in a variety of senses ; so I can and do con
gratulate you on the addition of another arrow to your
quiver. Many people say that with children come cares. Per
haps so ; but Avith children come thousands of pleasures.
From the very day that we can take them in our arms,
even to that Avhen we may have to place them in their
coffins, and even after that, they are a help and a blessing
to us ; and I can hardly beUeve that a man not a parent
can comprehend the blessed meaning of that which we
learn from our Saviour — that God is our Father.
I have given directions that, unless in cases of absolute
necessity, the rail is to be kept clear of all burial-grounds
near Trichinopoly. This place is the head-quarters of a
sulky and fanatical Mahometan population ; but they have
so few to back them that I do not apprehend any risk of
an emeute among them. With the new railroad to
Trichinopoly Ave should be able to pour in troops upon
them so speedily as to put down any disturbance imme
diately. It is, however, far better that we should not
give them any just cause of complaint.
I will do my best to keep clear of any increase of police
expenditure. It is a very hard service for officers : I have
now upwards of 25 per cent, on sick leave. I think, how
ever, that we are working ours very satisfactorily. My
inspector-general, Eobinson, is a first-rate man, not only
as regards his thorough acquaintance with the police
system, but his zeal and energy in looking after his sub
ordinates and Avorking out all details. The result of his
energetic Avorking is that the gaols are filled to over
flowing. This was the result in England also of the in
troduction of the new police; but in a few years we shall

344 A'ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
find the preventive action will begin to tell, and the gaols
will be emptied again. It would not be Avise, therefore,
to calculate upon the maintenance of the present number
of prisoners, and to erect gaols to contain them : we had
better make temporary arrangements for working the
surplus, which we might do with advantage.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Sir Charles Wood. Madras, June 17, 1864.
My dear Sir Charles, — I see that HaAvkshaAV agrees
with me, that, if light railways are to be made, they
should be worked by animal poAver. This Avas the opinion
I expressed in New South Wales, and the reasons are
stronger in favour of it here. I am completing some old
papers of mine on the subject by adding a chapter ou
India, and I Avill send it to you Avlien finished.
June 27. — I had letters from New Zealand by the last
mail. It seems that the pah which Ave failed to storm Avas
situated on a hill ; it had been breached, and the naval
brigade and three or four companies of the 43rd were
ordered to storm the breach. They moved up to the
attack very steadily, and forced their way in Avithout much
difficulty ; but as soon as they Avere inside a terrific fire
Avas opened upon them ; the officers Avere shot doAvn. My
poor friend Glover was leading, and Avas shot through the
head at once, and the men, m spite of every effort to
retain them, retreated in haste, leaving the dead and
wounded officers behind them. Lieutenant Glover tried
to carry off his brother, thinking that he was only
wounded, but he was so severely Avounded in the attempt
that he died in a few days. The soldiers have got to
appreciate the character of the Avar, and say that they
are sent to bolster up a land-jobbing speculation.
I tried in the last Avar to persuade the military autho-

CAPTAIN GLOVER. 34 6
rities that it was a piece of folly to storm a ' pah.' The
Maories hold on till they are seriously attacked, and then,
as we come in at one end, they, having done as much
harm to us as possible, go out at the other. We ought
to take a leaf out of Ctesar's book, and when we have
three or four hundred men in a pah we ought to enclose
them. They are not provisioned for a siege ; the pah is
as often as not on a hiU having no water within the line
of palisades ; so that in a fcAV days the garrison would be
obliged to capitulate, or to make a rush to escape, when a
ditch or parapet with a few trees felled in ft-ont would
detain them under fire long enough to cause a very serious
loss, if not to compel them to surrender. Yours truly,
W. D.
Lady Denison to Mrs. Stanley. Madras, June 28, 1864.
My dear Mrs. Stanley, — Before this reaches you, you
¦will have seen the ncAVspaper accounts of that terrible
battle in New Zealand, and will knoAv that Captain
Glover and his youngest brother Avere both killed. The
news has been a real grief to us. I think I knoAv few
people who made themselves so generally beloved as
Captain Glover has clone, and it is quite nice to see how
people here think and talk of him, and how his death
has been a general blow to Madras ; while to us, of
course, it is the loss of a real and intimate friend, and
from his having lived in our house so long, it is almost
like one of the family being gone, in respect of the many
little matters in and about the house with which the re
collection of him seems connected. We were, of course,
anxious to hear all the particulars Ave could about him,
beyond the bare fact which the telegram conveyed, and
we have got all the detaUs by this mail, in a letter to
W  from Colonel Carey, the Adjutant-General in
New Zealand. From this letter it appears that Captain

346 VARIETIES OF A'lCE-REGAL LIFE.
Glover was one of the leaders of the storming party, and
had made his way at the head of his men weU inside the
enemy's ' pah,' when he was shot through the head and
died instantly. His poor brother, thinking and hoping
that he was only wounded, tried to carry his body off,
and was shot himself in so doing, and as the event
proved, mortally wounded. He lingered, however, for
two days, and, I am afraid, suffered a great deal ; but
then died ; and the two brothers were buried together in
the mission burying-ground near the camp, along Avith all
the others (a fearfully large number) who feU in the same
battle. It is a sad story, and I am afraid it Avas a bad
business altogether ; for there seems little doubt that the
officers, who all behaved heroically, were not supported
as they should have been by their own men. As regards
Captain Glover himself, the details are just Avhat one
could have wished to hear. As far as human eyes could
see, his life had been so good a preparation for an early
and sudden death, that its suddenness only gives one the
satisfactory conviction that it must have been painless ;
and one cannot but be glad that he feU during the early
part of the action, before the repulse which befel our
troops, and which must be a grief to the very few officers
who survive. The two brothers were so devotedly at
tached to each other, that one could just imagine one of
them losing his own Ufe in the effort to save the other.
Yours affectionately,
C. L. D.
lo Mrs. Stanley.
Woodlands, Ootacamund, July 14, 1864.
My dear Mrs. Stanley, — Our cinchona experiment is
working admirably ; Ave propagate from 20,000 to 30,000
plants per month, and are preparing and planting out land
rapidly. The plants like the soil and the climate, and
private individuals think so Avell of the prospect of profit

CINCHONA PLANTATIONS. 347
as to be willing to pay us sixpence per plant for the
purpose of planting out. Now sixpence per plant is about
15/. per acre, to say nothing of the probable loss in
planting ; in fact, it will be nearer 20/., so that, what with
purchasing the land, clearing and preparing it, the cost
will not be short of 30/. per acre. Bark, however, will
be worth three or four shiUings per pound, and in three
or four years the yield would be at least 200 lbs. of bark
to the acre, which at even two shiUings per pound would
give 20/. I think, therefore, the speculation would be a
good one, and I have no doubt that a great many people
wiU go into it. The difficulty will be to find labour
enough. People imagine that India is overfloAving with
population, the fact being that we have not labour enough
to cultivate our own soil. We do this, it is true, in a
slovenly way, and I am trying to introduce machinery
which wiU set labour free. This, however, wiU be a long
process, for I have a curious set of people to deal with.
To revert to cinchona. At present Ave cannot make use of
quinine in the hospitals to the extent which would be
desirable ; not so much on account of the expense, as of
the scarcity of the commodity. When we have got our
hills well covered, we shall be able to extend the use of
this febrifuge, and this will be an immense blessing to the
natives. I hear of villages actually depopulated by
fever. To Sir Roderick Murchison. Ootacamund, July 29, 1864.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — Thanks for your letter. I am
glad that you have decided to remain as President of the
Geographical Society. I should have voted for any
arrangement which would have been required to retain
the right man in the right place. I shall read your views
as to Africa and its inhabitants with a good deal of in
terest. I am at present corresponding with Dr. Schertzer

348 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
of Vienna on the subject of his ethnological views. He
is engaged in drawing up the report of the Austrian
voyage of discovery, and I furnished him with a variety
of matter relative to the Australian and Indian popula
tion. He differs from Darwin and Huxley as to man's
antecedents, but is disposed to adopt some German riews
as to various centres of creation, and to repudiate Adam
and Eve. It occurred to me, a month or tAvo ago, to try
how Bunsen's and Lyell's speculations as to the antiquity
of man would harmonise with any reasonable vicAvs as to
the progressive increase of the race ; and I found reason
to believe that the chronology of the Bible, and the fact
of the Deluge, Avould agree better A\dth the state of the
existing population as to numbers, than any of the theories
of a prolonged residence upon earth, or of different centres
of creation, would do. For instance, if we assume that
the population doubles itself in 100 years — only half the
rate at which we are progressing, in spite of our Irish
exodus — Ave shall find that in the first thousand years the
population increased from two to about two thousand ; in
the second thousand years the tAVO thousand became two
millions ; in the third thousand it became tAvo thousand
millions ; in the fourth thousand it became two miUion
millions, and so on. Now Ave require such an event as
the flood to SAveep away sixteen or seventeen terms of
this progression, and even then Ave should find that the
theoretical population Avould be about ten thousand times
as numerous as the real population. Famines, pestilences,
wars, the sweeping destruction of nations by the Jcavs, by
the Eastern kings, by the Eomans, by xittila, &c., Avill
make, of course, shrcAvd gaps, and reduce the numbers in
particular terms of the progression ; but if Ave assume
four centres of creation, Ave shall haA^e to multipl}^ the
numbers given above by four ; and if Ave suppose, Avith
Bunsen, that man has been 20,000 years upon earth, Ave
should be puzzled to find standing-room for the present

ACTION OF FORESTS ON -RAINFALL. 349
population. We ought to have some evidence of his
existence in the remains of his bones, looking to the
number which must have been placed under the sod.
I have been discussing a question relative to the action
of forests upon the rainfaU, Avith reference to the very dry
character of a great part of our plain country, and have
arrived at the conclusion that the Government ought to
take energetic action to remedy a state of things which
has a most injurious effect upon our agriculture. I
think I must have mentioned to you the curious fact
that the south-west monsoon, that is, the rainy part of it,
stops at a specific line in the middle of a plain, which
Une is marked by the existence of jungle on the rainy
side, while the dry side is bare of trees. I at first attri
buted the presence of trees to the rain, but I am now
disposed to look upon the jungle as the cause of the rain,
not the effect of it ; for I have been told that, just in pro
portion as the belt of jungle is cut away, so does the line
of rain retreat. When one comes to consider this, the
reason is plain enough : the cleared ground is exposed to
the action of a vertical sun at the solstice, and a heated
stream of air ascends from it, converting the rain into
vapour, which is carried off by the prevailing winds, and
faUs into the Bay of Bengal. The desolation of a great
part of the East, Palestine, Edom, Assyria, &c., may, I
think, be traced to the causes which are now in operation
in India, and which I wish to neutralise.
Colenso insists upon the existing state of the Sinaitic
desert as a proof that the Israelites could not have passed
through it, could not have found fuel, &c. ; but, in truth,
the existing denuded condition of the country, coupled
with the fact that there is evidence of the action of tor
rents, where there is now hardly a dribble, is the best
possible proof of the correctness of the story of the
exodus. The wood required for the use of a couple of
million of people during a period of nearly forty years

860 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
would have covered the flanks of the mountains, and have
been used without stint. That there was wood we know,
that there is none we know; where there was wood there
was rain, where no wood exists there is no rain. A pro
per consideration of meteorological phenomena will afford
an explanation of many of the anomalies which puzzle us
when we view them with reference only to the existing
state of things.
I am getting the benefit of the south-west monsoon. I
have been up here little more than three weeks, and have
only had one day without rain. We are high (7,500 feet)
and in the clouds, where Ave get our provision of water
in the shape more of mist than of rain ; but twenty miles
from this, and a couple of thousand feet lower down, the
rain has been very heavy, fifty-seven inches having fallen
in the month. I am looked upon here as a water-god, a
sort of Jupiter pluvius. The native, when I ask him if
he has had a good monsoon, says, ' by your favour we
have had rain.' This is meant by them as a deUcate
piece of flattery, but my gorge rises at it.
Yours very truly,
W.D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Ootacamund, August 5, 1864.
My dear J  , — We have been here for more than a
month, and have had only four days without rain. Still
we have made our way out, both on horseback and on
foot. I have had two special wettings in an attempt
to get a day's shooting.
Can you imagine the cold being sufficient up here to
kill people ? It is, hoAvever, the case. The coolies from
the low country, with cotton wrappers, and a blanket
which covers their head, their legs and feet being bare,
frequently die from exposure to the AAdnd and rain. They
seem to get stupified, just as a man does Avhen exposed

EXCURSIONS. ' 351
to intense cold, and will lie down and die within a few
hundred yards of shelter. A man, the other day, carried,
for about a couple of miles, one of his cooUes avIio was
just giving in. The temperature at this time of year is
seldom below 60°, but the Avind and the rain together
make a very chilly compound.

Lady Denison to F. G. Denison, Esq.
Ootacamund, August 22, 1864.
My dear Frank, — I am afraid I have not much to tell
you from hence to make a letter lively. We are in the
midst of torrents of rain, according to the usual fashion
of Ootacamund ; but we really had a few fine days at the
beginning of last week, which were very enjoyable.
Thinking the monsoon must be nearly over now, we are
beginning to plan a few excursions for next month. The
present idea is to start on Tuesday, the 30th (to-morrow
week), for Pycara : a party of twelve. The plan is to
spend the remainder of that week between the Pycara
waterfall and Neddiewuttum — a very beautiful place in
the neighbourhood — returning here on Saturday, and the
following week going out again to Makoortie Peak. This
last expedition is the one I am most anxious for, for I
have never seen that Makoortie Peak view, which is said
to be such a glorious one. We attempted it Avhen we
were last up here, but there was such a mist when we got
up that we could see nothing.
Last Thursday we gave a ball, the only way we could
devise of doing the needful in the way of hospitalities
to the people of Ootacamund, as our rooms in this house
are quite too small to admit of our giving dinners. It
was ball-giving under difficulties, as you may suppose ;
for, of course, the rooms here, being too smaU for dinners,
are also too small for balls, so we had to give it in the bun
galow occupied by the staff, where there are two rooms

352 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
opening into one another— small, indeed, for the purpose,
but larger than our own, and altogether the most con
venient we could get. The floors were very rough, and
had to be planed and smoothed, and old Chinniah, the
butler, danced up and clown them nearly all day to see if
they were getting smooth enough. Then it rained in
torrents all the afternoon ; and, though it cleared a little
in the evening, it was very wet everyAvhere, and we had
only the B  's palanquin carriage in Avhich to get down
to the bungaloAV in detachments, for we only brought one
pair of horses with us, and a stupid native coachman
managed to throAV one of them down the other day and
break one of his knees, so he was hors de combat. How
ever, in spite of all these cUfficulties, the ball Avent off very
fairly well, and people in general seemed pleased.
Your affectionate Mother,
C. L. D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Ootacamund, August 25, 1864.
My dear J  , — I propose to finish off my three
months on the hills by a visit to a district called Wynaad,
which is on the top of the Ghauts, though 2,000ft. or
3,000ft. lower than the mass of hiUs upon Avhich we are
perched. This district is principally occupied by coffee-
planters, Avho, being for the most part Englishmen, are
always grumbling that the Government does not help
them, .though Ave are spending much more money upon
them than we get from them. I want to stop their
mouths if possible. This journey I shaU have to make
principally on horseback, and I do not look forward to it
with any very pleasant anticipations, as I shaU haA^e to
ride betAveen 250 and 300 miles. Of course, the people
whom we talk to on the subject have ahvays some story
of wild elephants and tigers that Ave are to meet. There
is rather a good story of an elephant meeting a man and

KILLING A TIGER. 353
his Avife, Avho Avere coming up a narrow path in palan
quins ; they, of course, trundled quickly out of their
palanquins, Avliich the elephant destroyed ; but, Avhen
he had passed, all their goods Avere found correct, except
a large box of HolloAvay's pills, which it is supposed the
elephant must have sAvalloAved. A rider has been added
to the story : that the elephant was found dead a fcAv
days after, in consequence of the severity of the dose ; but
this is mythical.
Pycara, August 31. — We came out here Avith a party
of fourteen altogether, two of Avhom are in the bun
galow and the rest in tents, with the intention of seeing
the Avaterfall, the cinchona plantations, &c., and having a
little shooting. We were just starting for the Avaterfall
Avhen a man came in and told us that a tiger had killed a
buffalo and a pony about a mile and a half from our
camp. We went to the place and found that there were two
tigers : one of them, after being fired at from above, came
doAvn towards the spot Avhere B  and I, Avith a Colonel
Hamilton, Avere posted. He was sneaking away doAvn
the river, Avheii I caught sight of him. I hit him with my
first barrel, Avhen he tui'ned, groAAded savagely, and made
at us, but I fired my second barrel and crippled him, and
B  and Hamilton finished him, but he took a great deal
of killing. I am very glad that I have killed one, but I am
more and more convinced that no one ought to encounter
a tiger single-handed.
September 2. — We Avent yesterday to visit a cinchona
plantation, Avhich has been established about three years,
and I was very much struck Avith the groAvth of the plants
during the last tAVO years. Se\-eral, put in tAvo years ago,
being then yearling plants about ] 5in. to 24in high, are
from 8ft. to 10ft. in height. The experiment has been a
very successful one, and in a fcAv years Ave shall beat the
South Americans out of the market. This success is
principally oAving to our gardener, Mr. Mclvor, a Scotch-,
VOL. II. A A

354 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
man. I relieved him from control and superintendence,
and made him answerable for the success of the scheme,
and the result is certainly most satisfactory. Were I a
young man with a few thousand pounds I should decidedly
become a cultivator of cinchona on these hills : they are
A^ery healthy, and the profit from cinchona cultivation
will be very large, if a man would look after it himself
Many men, however, buy tea and coffee plantations, and
place them in the hands of agents, expecting to receive
large interest for their money, but the agent swallows up
the whole of the profits.
Ootacamund, September 6. — We returned here on
Saturday, having a perversely fine day for our ride back.
I am going to have another ' out ' to-morrow, to visit
Makoortie Peak — the great lion of the place.
Your affectionate Brother, W. D.
lo His Highness the Maharajah of Travancore.
Madras, August 29, 1864.
Your Highness Avill be pleased to accept my con
gratulations upon the birth of the first of the new gene
ration in your family, and my best Avishes for the health of
both mother and child.
Your visit to Kuthalum must have given you gi'eat
satisfaction, but I am more interested iu the remarks
which you make on the subject of utUizing the water of
the second fall. I am very anxious to see the forces
which nature places at our disposal in India made use of
for productive purposes. Hitherto both wind and Avater
have been allowed to Avaste their energies, Avliile man has
been tasked to do the work which might have been better
and more economically performed by these natural
agents. In Travancore Avater-poAver is available to any extent.
.Saw-mills, spinning and weaving machinery, mills for

INSTRUCTION IN MECHANICS. 355
hulling rice and preparing it for exportation, and, in fact,
for a hundred other useful purposes, might easily be
established. I have sent to England for a variety of
agricultural implements, among which there is a steam
plough, and I hope to prove to the ryots, and to the
agricultural population generally, that by the use of better
implements their crops will be improved, and their profits
larger. I should wish to see more attention paid in the
schools to instruction in mechanics ; that working imple
ments should be exhibited in action to the scholars, so as
to produce an impression on their minds and memories
that there are means by which results may be arrived at
such as man could not hope to perform unaided by
machinery. My object is to enable you to utilize a large
amount of power which is lying dormant in Travancore.
Wages are rising daUy, demands are being made upon
India with which she vriU be unable to comply, unless
she avails herself of the knowledge which the pressure of
circumstances has matured in England and America, and
this leads to the employment of other agencies than man.
Of course, all progress of this kind must be very
gradual ; but educated men, Uke your Highness, are well
aware of the kind of preparation which is required to fit
the minds of people for the changes which must take
place, and in which your position fits you most especially
to take the lead.
I trust that you will excuse me for Avriting thus to you ;
but I feel so great an interest in the development,
through native energy, of the resources of the country,
that I do not like to let an occasion sUp of pressing my
views upon any whom I may think likely to aid in
carrying them out.
Believe me to be your sincere friend,
W. D.

A -v 2

356 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

J. H. Hen.slowe, Esq., Agent for Irrigation Company.
September 5, 1864.
My dear Sir, — I am afraid that you must make up
your mind to encounter all the difficulties arising out of
the increased cost of labour — difficulties which press
hardly upon all departments of the Government, and from
which, therefore, the Irrigation Company cannot hope to
be exempted. The rise in the price of labour has its
origin in too many causes to admit of the application of
local remedies to the erils which it creates — evils, by the
way, which have their counterbalancing advantages.
The railways are one of these causes; the works of the
Irrigation Company another ; the great extension of public
works another; the rapid increase of cultivation another;
emigration another. The remedy is to be found not in
diminishing the demand for labour, but in increasing its
efficiency ; in applying mechanical expedients to enable
one man to do the work of half a dozen ; in utilising the
power which nature has placed at our disposal ; in making
more use of animal power, &c. &c.
The principle which the Government has affirmed, with
reference to the emigration question, is the right of the
native of India to carry his labour to any market which
suits him, and it most certainly will not modify this to
meet a difficulty which is, but to a very shght extent, due
to the exercise of this right by the natives. I do not
quite comprehend the course of action Avhich you have
submitted to the Directors of the Irrigation Company,
and which you say they have sanctioned. That you will
act wisely in concentrating your efforts upon the upper
portions of your present work — that is, upon those be
tween the Toombuddra and the Pennaar — I am quite
disposed to admit ; as these portions are, in the first place,
likely to be most remunerative, and as they are, in the

PLEASURE or RIDING ON ELEPPIANTS. 357
second place, essential to the efficiency of the lower
portions of the work : but you must recollect that your
contract embraces aU the work from Sunkesala to the
sea ; and you must understand that the Government, whilst
it does not Avish to hamper the action of the company in
its efforts to carry out the work to the best advantage, is
not in any way disposed to ignore the contract which has
been entered into, or to allow the company to leave un
done any portions of the work, on the ground that sueh
are not likely to prove remunerative. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To F. G. Denison, Esq.
Croormund, September 10, 1864.
My dear Frank, — Our Makoortie trip has proved a
failure. I am writing now at the Croormund bungalow,
as we are preparing to return to Ootacamund. We in
tended to come out on Wednesday with a party of six
teen, seven ladies and nine gentlemen ; but it rained too
hard. It was finer on Thursday, so we started, but were
caught in the rain before we got to our camp. We had
a very merry party, however, in the evening, and de
cided to be up at four on Friday morning, so as to get
up to the top of the peak betimes. At a quarter to four I
looked out and found that it was raining ; however, it was
too late to make any change then, so we started. Our
first difficulty v/as how to get across the stream just below
the bungalow, which was over the saddle-flaps. We first
proposed to carry the ladies over in a chair ; but it was
suggested that the elephants which had brought out the
tents might carry us over, so we decided to try. They
had no howdahs, but only the pads, so there was not
much to hold on by.
Your mother and I and two others went over first, and
I never was in such a fright. The elephant kneels down,

858 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
and one gets on his back easily enough ; but when he
gets up, he lifts his fore- quarters first, and one has a great
tendency to slip over his tail. Then his motion is a sort
of rolUng gait, very like a boat in a short sea ; and when
he lies down to let you get off it is almost worse than
when he rises up, for he brings his hind-quarters down,
bending what would be the hock of a horse inwards
instead of outwards, so that his leg from the stifle is flat
on the ground. In one instance, the animal, instead of
kneeling proj)erly, rolled over on one side, so that two
ladies had to be pulled off backAvards. We were amused
at seeing one of the men belonging to the elephants,
sitting far back on one of them, and puUing up the
creature's tail behind him, to keep himself from shpping off.
In spite of our early move, we found, when we got to the
river, that the whole of the upper part of the valley was
enveloped in mist, so that it would have been a piece of
absurdity to attempt to get up the peak. We went
back, therefore, to breakfast, and a party went ofi' to beat
some sholas, but they saw but little game, and came home
wet and tired.
We have had some very good sport Arith the hounds.
We go out twice a week at half-past seven, and are in
generally by ten or half-past. The other day we must
have ridden upwards of twenty miles.
A party went out shooting yesterday and brought
home three hinds ; they missed one or tAvo fine stags.
B  made a very pretty shot at a stag running across
him, and killed him dead.
September 23. — We had an exhibition of the Todas
and Koters, two of the tribes of these hills, yesterday, at
the Commander-in-chief's house — 146 of the first and 89
of the second. They brought with them a strong smeU of
garUc, which rather overpowered some of the visitors, of
whom there were many. I sent them aAvay pleased
enough, giving half a rupee to each of the men, and a

TODAS AND KOTERS. 359
quarter of a rupee to each of the women and children.
There Avere tAvo very fine old felloAvs standing upAvards
of six feet high, and Avitli very good features. I am going
to have them photographed. Your affectionate Father, W.D.

A visit from these Todas and Koters was an annual
occurrence during our stay on the hills. Their chief
object, of course, was to obtain the above-mentioned
dole Avith which our interview concluded; but before
this was given to them, they used to entertain us with
their national dance. That of the Koters consisted in
whirling round, first Avith one arm raised, and then in a
contrary direction, holding up the other arm ; but, as
their dress was rather remarkable, consisting of a long
white robe (usually very dirty), covered with patches of
red, arranged in pecuUar and cabalistic-looking forms, there
was a kind of weird and witch-like look about the whole
— a something between the dervish and the sorcerer —
that, but for the extreme dirt, would have given a kind of
quasi-dignitj to the performance. The dance of the
Todas consisted merely in slightly raising and advancing
one foot, and hopping slowly upon the other, each hop
being accompanied by a peculiar grunt ; their dress, too,
was less strange than that of the Koters, consisting simply
of a blanket thrown over the shoulders and reaching to
the knees, which garment, it is said, is never changed
or taken off till it drops to pieces from actual age ! The
hair of the Toda man is worn in a kind of thick mat on
the top of the head ; that of the women is dressed with
some care, in long and shining ringlets round the face,
and reaching down to the neck. The Todas, however,
are much the finer people of the two ; they are stronger
and more muscular than the Koters, and there is some-

360 \-ARlETIES OF MCE-REGAL LIFE.
thing of an independent dignity and fearlessness in their
manner which contrasts most favourably with the cringing
servility of the Hindoo in the plains.

To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Manantoddy, September 30, 1864.
My dear J  , — I may as well explain my date before
I commence my story. Manantoddy is the central town
of a district called Wynaad, inhabited principally by
coffee -planters, who, having complained to me bitterly of
A'arious grievances, haAe, to a certain extent, compelled
me to pay them a visit. The mode of travelling, on
horseback, did not lead to any very pleasant anticipations
on my part ; and I started on the 26th at 2 p.m., not in
the best of humours, for a ride of seventeen mUes to my
resting-place for the night, with the prospect of a wetting.
However, matters turned out better than I expected ; Ave
escaped the rain, and found our bungaloAv fairly comfort
able. Our Tuesday's journey was rather a formidable
one. We were to start at seven, to get doAvn a descent
of about 2,000 feet; then to meet a deputation of planters,
and to ride on about fifteen miles to breakfast. We
started to Avalk down the ghaut, and soon found that our
four miles of descent lengthened out to five, six, seven and
a half : in point of fact, it was upwards of six miles, and
this elongation of our walk made us behind time with
the deputation ; this, however, did not matter much. We
said our say, had a cup of tea, and then pushed on along
a new road as fast as its character Avould permit. We
had been warned that we must keep our eyes about us,
for that the road was rotten in several places, the ants
having made excavations Avhich Avere likely to let us in,
and give us a fall. However, by careful riding, Ave got
on to our breakfast place, which was a tent pitched upon
a grassy knoll, and did ample justice to our fare, as you

WYNAAD. 361
may imagine, having ridden and walked twenty-one or
twenty-two miles. We intended to have remained at
this place for some hours, and then to have pushed on
when the sun got low ; but about 10 o'clock the clouds
collected and it began to rain, so we decided to start at
once, and try to ride out of the rain. We therefore sent
on our tired horses, and, mounting fresh ones, made our
way as fast as we could to our resting-place for the night,
Avhich Avas a bungalow with tents round it, at a place
called Sultan's Battery; Hyder or Tippoo having esta
bUshed a post here, in a move which they made against
the Zamorin of Calicut on the coast. I wish I could give
you an idea of the beauty of the scenery, both generally
and specially. The road wound round hills, giving us
peeps of the range of mountains we had left, and show
ing us, from different points of vieAV, detached hills with
rugged and irregular outlines : the country was clothed
with timber generally, but the hills had beautiful grassy
patches of the most vivid green. Then the forest itself
was not like an American one, a mass of trees and under
wood, but had much more the look of an English park :
here and there a mass of wood, then a grassy glade, with
beautiful short turf dotted about with clusters of bam
boos, whose feathery foliage rose to the height of fifty or
sixty feet, and whose outlines are most beautiful and
graceftil. Then the wild flowers were lovely ; the trees,
shrubs, and creepers were just bursting into bloom after
the monsoon. The butterflies, by hundreds, were flaunt
ing about, of colours such as you never saw or dreamt of
in an extra-tropical cUmate. Our journey, therefore —
barring the rain, out of which we managed to ride — was
very pleasant, and a good sponge with warm water made
me feel quite fresh, notwithstanding a walk of upwards
of six miles and a ride of twenty-eight or twenty-nine.
We stopped at Sultan's Battery all Wednesday, in order
to give our men and horses time to get forward. In the

362 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
afternoon we had a party of the wild tribes, who keep
much to the bush, to exhibit their archery. They put
up a bottle at twenty yards, and I gave a prize of two
annas (od.) to whoever hit it, and four annas to the one
who broke it. Their bows were made of bamboo, strung
with vegetable fibre ; arrows also of bamboo, some
headed Avith sharp iron like the pointed blade of a knife ;
others, with Avhich they shoot birds, had a broad head,
widening gradually from the shaft, with a hole in the
middle in which a bit of stone was placed. I was not
much impressed with their skill. I was struck, however,
with the muscular power exhibited by men whose frame
was shght, and their limbs by no means well clothed with
muscle : their bows Avere very stiff, and I found it difficult
to bend them to the extent AA'hich they do with apparent
ease. On Wednesday evening it rained hard, continued to do
so all night, and when I got up at a quarter before six it
was still drizzling. We had intended to have ridden on
some thu-teen miles to breakfast, but, looking to the state
of the weather, we decided to breakfast before we started,
and to ride straight through, taking our chance of the
heat. A tent is not a pleasant tenement under a burning-
sun, even though it be double, with a space of some three
feet betAveen the inner and outer tent, as they all are
here. We started at ten o'clock, and rode tlu-ough a
country more beautiful than that which we passed through
on Tuesday. We had three rivers to cross, upon rafts
made of bamboos, which just carried me and my horse,
the water even then coming up over the raft. The rope
which was stretched across the river, and by Avhich the
raft was pulled across, was made of tAvisted rattans ;
these grow to a length of from 60ft. to 80ft., and make a
very strong rope. We did our tAventy-four miles, in
cluding these crossings of rivers, in about six hours, and
were glad to find ourselves under a good roof

INTERVIEW WITH COFFEE-PLANTERS. 363
Lackady, October 4. — We rested at Manantoddy,
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, being comfortably lodged
in a bungalow belonging to the deputy collector. I had
to receive and answer an address, to dine Avith the set
tlers, to write several letters, &c., so the time passed aAvay
quickly enough. Wehad service in the house on Sunday,
at which several settlers attended. On Monday we started
to ride thirty miles to this place — Lackady — at the head
of a pass doAvn to the Ioav country. We passed through
a country differing very much from that which Ave had
seen on our former rides ; the forest was closer, but
there were occasional openings which made beautiful
pictures. We came across the tracks of several wild
elephants : these come lumbering down the hills to drink
at the brooks at the bottom, and leave their marks
upon the road ; they wiU be gradually cleared out as the
country gets cleared. This morning I breakfasted vrith
the settlers, received a long grumbling address, gave a
written answer, and then had a long talk with them,
which ended satisfactorily, for Ave parted very good
friends. It is raining hard, everything- feels damp, and I
shaU not be sorry to get down the ghaut into the low
country to-morrow.
October 6. — We started at six yesterday morning and
walked seven miles down the ghaut, through a dense
forest, out of which we only got a peep occasionally. The
vegetation, however, was truly tropical ; here and there
the road was strewed with wild nutmegs, the mace good
enough, the nutmegs themselves without any taste. A
merchant of Calicut sent home a large cargo of them one
year, for which he got a good price ; he tried the same
trick the next year, and found that they would not pay
the freight.
From the bottom of the ghaut we rode nine miles to
breakfast, and I was then driven in to this place (Calicut)
by the Collector, Mr. Ballard, at whose house I am stay-

364 VARIETIES OP VICE-REGAL LIFE.
ing. I am now writing in the verandah in front of my
room in my dressing-gown, the temperature being that of
an orchid house. We move on by rail to-morrow,
picking up L  and the rest of the party on the road.
Madras, October 12. — We started from Calicut on the
afternoon of the 7th, reached Beypore in time for the
special train, which took us 100 miles to Coimbatore in
three hours ; found L  and all our belongings waiting
for us. Slept at Coimbatore that night ; set off at 8 A.M.,
and got to Madras at a quarter to 6 p.m., haring gone
306 mUes in nine hours and three-quarters, inchiding fifty
minutes given us for luncheon ; — fair going. Formerly it
would have taken seven or eight days of bullock transit.
Your affectionate Brother,
W. D.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Madras, October 31, 1864.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — I want to get from you an
explanation of some phenomena connected Arith the gneiss
formation. The Government is making a new ghaut or
pass doAvn the hills from Wynaad to the coast, and a
couple of companies of sappers are at work upon the
upper 500ft. of the ghaut, which has to be cut out of a
solid mass of gneiss. The face of the hUl where the men
were at Avork is very steep — say from 75° to 80° ; this,
however, is not the dip of the gneiss, but the plane of a
section across the strata which stand at much the same
angle, shewing the plane of stratification in paraUel lines
of black and white on the face of the hill. Here and
there we came upon veins of quartz crossing the planes of
stratification ; and these, producing no dislocation of the
strata, nor exhibiting any evidence of having acted upon
the edges of the narrow lamina of the gneiss, would almost
seem to have been deposited at the same time, or even
previous to the gneiss. I assume gneiss to be an aqueous

CYCLONE AT MASULIPATAM. 365
deposit ; to have been at one time horizontal, or nearly so ;
to have been tilted up ' somehow ' — how deponent sayeth
not. How and when came the quartz vein in the position
shown below ? QCABTZ VEIN.
NINE INCHES /W/fj?''

Yours truly,
W. D.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Madras, November 8, 1864.
My dear J  , — I think I mentioned the cyclone at
Calcutta, which had done so much damage, in my last
letter. We have had a repetition of it on this coast,
about 200 miles to the northward, at a place called
Masulipatam. The damage done to the town has been
very great ; it lies low, and the wind brought the sea
upon it, the water being two or three feet deep in the
streets. With the rubbishy houses built of mud, of course
the destruction was great, and I am afraid the loss of
native life was great also. I only heard the account yes
terday evening as I was going out, when I was called
upon to sanction an outlay of 3,000/., to clear away the
ruins and bury the dead. Just about the change of the
monsoon is hurricane time here. I hope they have bloAvn
themselves out by this time, and that those dear to me,
either coming out or going home, may encounter nothing
of the kind. Your affectionate Brother,
W.D.

366 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To Captain Warburton. Madras, November 11, 1864.
My dear Warburton, — Many thanks for your letter, and
the account of the loss we sustained in our attack on the
Gate Pah. I was deeply interested in getting at the truth
of this affair, for I lost in the two brothers Glover, Avho
were killed, two very good friends. The elder " brother
had been on my staff ever since my arrival in India, and
quitted it, hke a gallant fellow, to go with his regiment to
New Zealand. It is useless to speculate as to the cause
of the panic of the 43rd and the Naval Brigade, unless for
the purpose of drawing instruction from it ; but I should
say that the failure of the attack was due to the absence
of proper support. As a rule, the storming party shoidd
be strong enough to overcome all opposition ; but it
ought to have a strong support in rear, and to be aware
of the presence of such support. The accounts in Jones's
' Sieges in Spain ' of the storming of Badajoz, Ciudad
Eodrigo, San Sebastian, &c., and of the assault on the
castle of Burgos, are most instructive. At the pah, how
ever, there would seem to have been an inner line of
stockade, of which we ought to have been cognisant ; and
we ought to have breached the other angle of the work,
and have attacked both breaches at once. But the folly
was in storming at all. In the Peninsula Ave were pressed
for time ; unless we could take the town in a given time,
the chance was that the French would have got together
a force sufficient to raise the siege ; but in New Zealand
time was no object, and to take the garrison prisoners
was a very great object. Altogether, then, it seems tome
that our mode of carrying on the Avar has been marked
by no originality of conception, by no proper adaptation
of means to ends, and by no proper ajipreciation of ends.
I do not think it wUl redound to the credit of any of the
parties concerned.

STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY. 367
I have just returned to Madras from a trip to the
hills, which ended in a tour on horseback into a
plateau of the Western Ghauts occupied by coffee
planters. I never rode through a more beautiful country,
one for which nature has done so much and man so
little. The bridges over the small watercourses were
made of bamboos covered with mats made of split bam
boos, whUe the rivers were passed upon rafts made of
bamboos covered with the same material. This is very
strong when new, but easily broken when dry. The rafts
wUl carry but one horse and his rider, and are kept in
their place by a strong rope made of twisted rattans.
Nothing could exceed the beauty of the foliage. The
south-west monsoon was just over, everything was fresh
and green, flowers coming out, and most gorgeous butter
flies flaunting about gave one's eyes quite enough to do.
By the way, why don't you take to the study of some
branch of natural history? I have always found that,
when a tendency to slumber comes over me, which is
apt to be the case about the middle of the day, a
change of occupation from writing minutes to classifying
shells wakes me up at once. Apart, however, from such
a motive as this, which you probably will not require
in New Zealand, I hold the study of nature to be a
very wholesome occupation. There is a calming
tendency in it very different from that stirring, exciting
feeling with which one deals with man, either singly or
collectively. Yours very truly,
W.D.
To His Highness the Rajah of Travancore.
Madras, November 16, 1864.
Your Highness, — I have lately received from Mr.
Brown a description of the series of magnetical obser
vations which he thinks it would be desirable to continue,
for a few years, with the instruments already in the obser-

368 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
vatory : these observations, it would seem, could be
made at a very small cost, while their value to science
would be great.
Their continuance would involve the maintenance of
the magnetic instruments in their present position, and
the payment of a small salary to two observers, while the
remainder of the instruments might be removed and sold,
and the main buildings of the observatory be made avail
able for any purpose to which your Highness might
choose to apply them, subject to the condition that the
magnetical instruments should not be disturbed, nor the
action of the observers interfered with. The matter is
one which rests entirely with your Highness. I have only
alluded to it as Mr. Brown brought the subject under my
notice, and because I thought it would be as Avell to make
the series of observations complete.
I am going to exhibit some neAV agricultural imple
ments, such as reaping and threshing machines in action,
and to compare the results arrived at by Avorking these
machines with those shown by the employment of native
implements or processes. I think it probable that with
some it avUI be seen that both time and money avUI be
saved, whUe with others — such as the steam plough, and,
perhaps, the threshing-machine — the first outlay and the
cost of working may either put it beyond the means of
the ryot, or make it incompetent to compete Avith the
cheaper but less efficient native processes.
I knoAV that your Highness appreciates fully the advan
tages which result from the introduction of improvements
in tools and implements ; and I Avill therefore take care
that you shall be furnished Avith the results of the experi
ments we make. Eventually I hope to be able to exhibit
the action of machinery in the districts bordering upon
your Highness's dominions, in Avhicli case notification
shall be sent of the time and plai-c of such exhibition, Avhen
the officers and the agricidturists of Travancore Avill be

ADVANTAGES OF MACHINERY. 369
able to witness the working of the machines, and thus to
convince themselves of their usefulness. There is a great
store of water-power in the hiUs at the back of Travan
core, which wiU eventuaUy, I have no doubt, be made
available. Even at present I should think that a simple
American saw-mUl, which would cost very little, might be
of much use in bringing the valuable timber of these
forests into an available form, such as planks, beams, joists,
and rafters, for which a ready market would be found at
Bombay. It is a pleasure to me to write on such subjects
to one who, hke your Highness, has the interests of his
people at heart. I remain your Highness' sincere firiend,
W.D.

VOL. IL B B

370 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

CHAPTEE XXV.
FINANCIAL SUGGESTIONS — BAPTISM OF NATIVE CHRISTIANS — NEVT YEAE's
CEREMONIES — VISIT TO ' THE CITY OF BALl' — CATTLE SHOW AI ADDUNKY
— VIZAGAPATAM — ROMAN CATHOLIC FEMALE SCHOOL — EVENING PARTY AT
IHE HOUSE OF A NATIVE — GANJAM  CHILKA LAKE  ASKA — SUGAR FACTORY
 WILD BOY OF THE WOODS — ROMAN CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL AI S. IH0M£—
GRAVE AND RELICS OF ST. THOMAS — THRESHING MATCH, NATIVES VERSUS
THRESHING MACHINE — MADRAS A GOOD WINTER RESIDENCE FOB INVALIDS
— PRINCE FBEDERICE; OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN — FESTIVAL OF IHE MO
HURRUM— BANGALOEE^LALL BAGH — MADRAS IN JULY AND AUGUST —
POINCIANA REGIA — MYSORE CARPETS — NATIVE MODE OF MAKING UP CHINTZ
— CYCLONE — EXPERIMENT WITH MONGOOSE AND SNAKES — VISIT TO CUDDA
PAH — FAREWELL FETE BY THE MAHOMETAN COMMUNITY  DEPARTURE FROM
MADRAS.
Towards the end of 1864 I received a letter from Sir
Charles Wood on the subject of the finances of Lidia.
He pressed on my attention not so much the state of
the revenue of Madras, as that of the whole of India, and
said, ' I am sure that the greatest benefactor to India avUI
be the man who devises some means of raising taxes.'
My reply was a lengthy letter, much too prolix and
detailed to find a place here ; but as my opinions differed
very much from those advocated by others, a brief sketch
of them, as an essential part of my vice-regal experience,
may not be uninteresting to all, and can easily be skipped
over by those who do not care to meddle Avith questions
of finance.
Very soon after my arrival at Madras I wrote to Sir
Charles Wood, expressing my behef that Wilson, and,
generally, the financiers who had been sent out from
England to re-estabUsh the revenue system of India, had
omitted to take into consideration the difference between
the Indian and the Englishman, and had attempted to

INDIAN REVENUE SYSTEM. 871
apply to the former rules deduced from the experience
of the latter.
Four years' additional experience of Indian people had
but added strength to the conviction, and furnished me
with a variety of instances in which the management of
the finances by the imported revenue secretaries had
been unsatisfactory. This opinion I did not hesitate to
express to Sir Charles Wood, and I pressed upon him the
advisability of adopting a system which would harmonise
with the traditions and habits of the natives of India.
The national difference between the Hindoo and the
Englishman is not merely that of colour, or of language ;
it exhibits itself in every relation of life, and has its roots
too deeply seated in the character of the race to be
reached or acted upon by any of the specifics which
political doctors — may I not say quacks "i — are so fond of
prescribing. We hear constantly such expressions as these : ' A fine
people spoiled by misgovernment,' and, coupled with this,
plans for good government based upon English expe
rience. There cannot be a greater fallacy than this
supposed action of a government upon a people. It is
the Englishman who has made his government, not his
government the Englishman. In like maimer it is the
cowardly Hindoo Avho has made for himself the bed on
which he has been lying for some two thousand years :
the men are the same as they have been, and Avill be, and
as Hindoos they must be dealt Avith.
Now, as Hindoos, they have always admitted the right
of their rulers to the soil of the country, and to an in
determinate share of the produce : their Mahometan con
querors took, nominally, 45 per cent, of the gross produce.
They have admitted the right to impose duties both on
exports and imports ; to establish monopolies, such as those
of opium and salt ; to insist upon payments from indi
viduals for licenses to exercise peculiar privileges, or
B B 2

372 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
trades. They have admitted the right of the Government
to compel them to give their labour for any public work,
upon the mere condition of being fed. Such as they
have been they wiU be ; the taxes which they have been
used to pay, they, as children of habit, will pay without
demur ; but they will grumble at, resent, and perhaps
resist, any new system of taxation. I have long been of
opinion that change in itself is an evU, and that nothing
but a clear conception of the benefits to be derived fi:-om
it, and a conviction that these predominate over its in
herent evils, can justify the disturbance which change
creates; but if it be an evil even to a changeable people
like ourselves, what must it be to the Hindoo with whom
habit has become a second nature ? Now, of the sources
of revenue alluded to above, the land is by far the most
productive, as will be seen by the foUovring tabular
statement of the revenue of 1864.

Land
Assessed Taxes .
Customs
MonopoUes { g P/™'' }
Stamps

£
19,440,244 1,760,000
2,610,3936,359,270
4,534,693
1,604,452
Total 36,309,082

Of this total the land and the monopolies yield
30,334,207/., or more than five-sixths. It is, then, to the
improvement and proper cultivation of these that we
must look, if we want to add to our revenue. The opium
monopoly is a mercantile speculation, and as such is un
certain in its yield; but the salt, as deaUng with a
necessary of life, is equivalent to a poU tax, Avithout any
of the evils which attach to a direct personal demand
upon each head of a family. So that our chief depen-

PERMANENT SETTLEMENT.

373

dence must be on the improvement in the land and salt
revenues. The foUoAring table will show the distribution of the
land revenue among the different Presidencies and Govern
ments, the population of each of these, and the amount
per head contributed towards this item of revenue.

Population

Land Revenue

Amount
per head

Bengal ....
Madras ....
Bombay ....
North-West Provinces
Punjaub ....

40,853,000 23,301,700 12,038,113
30,250,000 15,467,800

4,670,796 4,831,4023,076,5344,909,813 1,952,699

s. d.
2 3
4 1
5 1
3 2
2 6

The land revenue of Madras is equivalent to 4s. Id. per
head of the population, while that of Bengal does not
exceed 2^. Sd. Whence this very marked difference ? It
is due (I believe) principally to the difference of the land
tenure. In Madras a very large proportion of the land
is held directly fi:om the crown, which stands to the ryot
in the relation of landlord ; whereas, in Bengal, the land
has been to a great extent granted to zemindars, at a
fixed and low money rent or assessment, under the idea
that by so doing a foundation was being laid upon which
a landed aristocracy might be built up, who would have
a special interest in the improvement of their estates!
This idea is due to Lord CornwaUis ; it is known by the
name of ' the Permanent Settlement,' and is regarded by
most of the civil servants in Bengal as the perfection of
administration and financial wisdom. Let us see what it
is in fact, and judge, by the results upon the land revenue
and upon the condition of the people, whether the praise
bestowed upon ' the Permanent Settlement ' be in any way
merited. What Lord CornwalUs did was to hand over, in
fee simple, to zemindars — a set of people analogous to the
pubhcans in the Bible — the whole district, the revenues of
which they were in the habit of farming, subject to the

374 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
payment of a quit rent equal to two-thirds of the then
existing land revenue. That is, he paid these men 33^
per cent, for collecting the existing revenue, probably
twice as much as it would have cost to collect it by
Government agents ; he sacrificed the revenue which
would, necessarily, have arisen out of the increased culti
vation of the village land ; he sacrificed, by making the
money rent perpetual, the very large amount which
Avould have accrued to the Government from the rise in
the price of produce, whether this might be owing to the
increased demand for such produce, or to the diminution
in the value of money. This is a brief sketch of what
his lordship did, and the difference between the rate per
head paid in Bengal and that paid in Madras, may be taken
as the measure of the monetary loss sustained by the Go
vernment in Bengal alone, Avhich is equivalent to about
three millions and a half sterling annually. This, however,
is by no means a measure of the AA'hole loss incurred by the
Government. The revenue in Madras is lessened to some
extent by the existence therehi of some of these zemin-
daries, and also by the prevalence of a sort of traditional
feeling in favour of a permanent money assessment. I
found that in Madras, owing to the change in the value
of money, caused partly by the discovery of gold in
California and Australia, and partly by the increased
demand, prices had risen at least 50 per cent., and I felt
convinced that, by a careful survey of the country, giving
not only the area of cultivation, but also the average
yield per acre, and by the establishment of an equitable
corn rent, I could have raised the land revenue of Madras
from 4,800,000/. to at least 6,000,000/., or to hs. Id. per
head of the population, in which case the equivalent
revenue in Bengal would have amounted to ten and a half
millions. With these convictions strongly pressed upon
me, I submitted to Sir Charles Wood the foUoAvinsr
suggestions as to the best mode in Avhich he could en
hance the receipts from thc land : —

FINANCIAL SUGGESTIONS. 375
1. That in all parts of India where the permanent
settlement had not been established, the permanency of
any settlement should apply only to the corn rent.
2. That the commutation rate should be determined
from time to time on an average of the prices of a given
number of years ; say ten.
3. That the proportion of the crop to be taken by the
Government should be determined after a careful con
sideration of returns to be furnished by the collectors.
4. That the water suppUed by the Government from
the rivers or tanks should be charged according to its
value, as tested by the amount of the crop produced
by it.
The object of the first suggestion was to give an aspect
of finality to the arrangement, so that the ryot might
feel secure in the enjoyment of the produce due to any
expenditure of capital or industry bestowed upon the
land. By the second he would learn to know the absolute
amount of the claim made upon him, and would be
secured from the extortion practised upon him, too com
monly, by the native officials.
The third is required in order to secure the Govern
ment its fair share of the produce of the soil.
While, by the fourth, I get rid of an absurd system of
imposing a water-rate ; by which, under a mistaken
analogy between the occupiers of land in northern Italy
and the ryots in India, in their relations to their Govern
ments in respect to the supply of water for irrigation,
the system in force in Italy had been introduced into
India. The practice in India, or at all events in Madras, had
nearly always been to put a value upon the water in pro
portion to the effect produced by it on the crop ; but, by
the change proposed in accordance with the analogy of
the Italian scheme, a fixed sum per acre was charged for

376 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
water, whether it was employed to produce rice or sugar
cane ; whether the land was bad or good ; so that the
poor soil was over-rated, and the rich very much under
rated ; and the Government, while injuring many of its
tenants, and adding largely to the profits of a few, was
itself a very great loser. In point of fact, there was no
true analogy between the Governments of Italy and India
in their relation to the occupants of land. In Italy the
Government was the owner of the water ; it made the
dam and the main distributing channels, and charged as
much for the water as the landlords were vrilUng to pay ;
but, having no interest in the land, it could not claim any
share in the crops resulting from the • application of the
water. In India, on the contrary, or at aU events in
Madras, the Government is generaUy the owner of the
land, as well as of the water, and is entitled to the profit
which accrues both to the constructor of the water
works and the retailer of the water.
I will not attempt to guess at the amount of the land
revenue under circumstances altered as they would be
were my proposals adopted generaUy, but an increase of
several millions might fairly be anticipated.
The charge now made for salt varies very much in the
different Presidencies and Governments. In Bengal it is
Is. Id. ; in Madras it is 8],d. ; in Bombay 7^^. ; in the
North-West Provinces, 4|rf. ; in the Punjaub, 9^d. These
might without difficulty be gradually brought up to the
Bengal standard, and an addition would then be made to
£ s. d.
the revenue of Madras of . . . 436,906 7 6
of Bombay . . . 275,873 8 5
of North-West Provinces 1,633,804 3 6
of Punjaub . . . 225,572 1 8
Total 2,574,156 8 11

BAPTISM OF NATIVE CHILDREN. 377
The remainder of my letter to Sir Charles Wood was
fiUed up with remarks on a variety of details of outlay to
which it is unnecessary to allude here.

Extract from Journal.
Guindy Park, Madras, January 1, 1865.
My dear M  , — Many happy New Years to you aU,
dears, if it please God ! This new year has opened very
brightly on me, for W  is much better. To-day, too,
the Bombay mail came in, bringing your welcome letters.
In fact, I have two mails' letters to answer at once, for
the last mail was terribly slow, and only came in the day
before yesterday, and I had not time to comment on its
contents in the little scrap I wrote yesterday. With
regard to M  's queries as to the baptism of native and
half-caste children attending our own and other Christian
schools, the 'half-castes,' or East Indians, as they call
them here, are aU regularly brought up just like English
children, and baptized in infancy ; in fact, they receive
altogether an European education. Of the native children
who attend Christian schools, several are, of course, the
chUdren of native Christians, and these are, I suppose,
-baptized as infants ; the others, of course, are not baptized,
unless, after due instruction, they themselves express a
desire to become Christians, and show, as far as one can
judge, evidence in their conduct that the desire is a sincere
one, and that they understand what they are about ; even
then they would not baptize them under a certain age
(sixteen, I think) without the consent of their parents :
after that, or whenever it is that they come so near to
man's or woman's estate as to be fairly capable of judging
and acting for themselves, they would be received to
baptism even without their parents' consent, if they con
tinued to desire it themselves, and were considered fit for
it. This seems, on the whole, all one can do ; but it is

378 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
painful to see how many there are who go on attending a
Christian school, reading the Bible regularly there, and
having it explained to them, and answering questions, &c.,
so as to show that they are acquainted with its main
facts, and yet go aAvay after aU without ever becoming
Christians, or, at all events, without professing themselves
such. As to M  's other supposed case — of a converted
Avoman in a harem — I really do not know what she would
do, nor am I aware whether the case has yet occurred. I
believe some ladies at Calcutta have made an attempt at
paying visits to the harems and teaching the poor ladies
there to read, shewing them how to do amusing sorts of
Avork, &c., and trying to awaken a little taste for occu
pation, in hopes that it may lead to something better by-
and-by ; and it seems a good move ; but I do not knoAV
how far the Mahometan husbands wiU aUow of its being
carried out. You would Uke to see the httle knot of
native Christians at the Mount coming up to the Sacra
ment : the Avomen all with a red or white muslin scarf
thrown over their heads, like a Spanish mantiUa. In
other respects, the Christian native women dress just hke
others, and a very pretty, graceful dress it is ; but they
ahvays throAV this scarf or mantilla over their heads and
shoulders, in addition, when they go to church; I suppose
Avith the notion derived from the Epistle to the Corin
thians, of not praying with their heads uncovered. The
sentences, on giving them the bread and Arine, are ahvays
read by the clergyman first in English, and then repeated
over again in Tamil by the native catechist.
January 5. — We have been for the last three days
going through the usual little Ncav Year's ceremonies, and
they are aU such an amusement to Mrs. Stanley that I am
quite glad she has come in for a sight of them. On
Monday morning there came up the native aide-de-camp
with his usual Ncav Year's offering of garlands and limes ;

CHRIST.^IAS GIFTS TO CHILDREN OF SERVANTS. 379
then I received, and had to answer, a New Year's letter of
good wishes from ' Lady Sharf-ool-oomrah-Bahadoor,' a
personage of whose existence I had hitherto been ignorant,
as, of course, Uke other Mahometan ladies, she never
appears. This morning W  is receiving the visits of
native gentlemen, for the same purpose ; and, besides this,
Ave have had all the children of the servants, to the
number of some hundreds, to receive their usual Christmas
dole. This is a very amusing sight. Mrs. Stanley thought
it reminded her of a picture of ' the gate alms ' in some
old convent or monastery. The night before last we went
to the official New Year's ball at the banqueting hall, but
did not stay there late.
January 7. — Yesterday we went to Madras, for the
double duty of receiving visitors and of giving a tea-
drinking to the children of the civil and military orphan
asylums. This last affair was not quite so satisfactory as
I intended it to have been. I meant to have given them
a Christmas-tree, by way of wind-up to the amusements,
and with a view of sending them away with something
that would be a pleasure to them even beyond the actual
day ; but the box of presents I had ordered from England
did not arrive, so that fell through, and, as we had lingered
on till nearly the last day in hopes of it, we had to alter
that part of our programme hastily at last, and turn it into
a magic lantern, which, being neither very good in itself
nor at all well exhibited, proved rather a failure. W  ,
being a little tired with the afternoon's work, came away
just after the children's tea, L  and I, with the staff
generally, remaining to superintend the magic-lantern part
of the business.

380 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.

Lady Denison to ¦

Guindy Park, January 22, 1865.
My dear  , — The week before last we made a most
interesting excursion to a place on the sea-coast, about
thirty miles to the southward, commonly caUed 'The
Seven Pagodas,' but more likely to be known to people
at home as the remains of the ' City of Bali,' mentioned
in Southey's ' Curse of Kehama.' We started on the
evening of the 11th, a party of twenty, in ten boats on
the canal, which runs down close past the place to which
we wanted to go. It was a glorious night, with a fuU
moon ; and very quietly and pleasantly we floated down,
partly sailing, partly towed by men walking along the
banks. The country on each side of the canal was very
bare and ugly ; but the soft beauty of the night, and the
glorious moonlight, made it pleasant. During the evening
the party collected in groups in two or three of the boats ;
but towards the middle of the night all retired to their
own boats, where, in the middle of each boat, was a
space covered in, and partly curtained off, in which there
were beds spread, two in each boat. Thus, partly un
dressed, we reposed as weU as we could during the
remainder of the night ; and early the next morning we
found ourselves at our landing-place. Here, as soon as
we stepped out of the boats, we were surrounded by a
group of the native inhabitants of the neighbouring
village, accompanied by some dancing-girls, who straight
way began to dance. In a few minutes, however, palan
quins arrived for the ladies, and horses and ponies for the
gentlemen, and we all started for our camp, which was
about a quarter of a mile off, close to the sea, and very
comfortable — two rows of tents, the party lodging two in
a tent, except W  , Mrs. Stanley, and I, who had each
a tent to ourselves ; and at the head of the double row
was a large dining-tent, with a sort of bower of bamboos

THE CITY OF BALI. 381
and palm leaves in front of it, making a very pretty
sitting-room facing the sea. As the sun was not up when
we arrived there, we agreed, as soon as we had each had
a cup of tea, to walk off at once to a beautiful old pagoda
that stood on the sea-shore, very near us, and which we
thought we should have time to see before it got too hot,
I mentioned before that this village is the place to which
the legend of BaU belongs ; one of its native names is
Mahabalipoor, which means ' the city of the great Bali ; '
and I, for one, am inclined to believe that there is some
foundation for the notion of a submerged city, though we
certainly did not see any tops of pagodas peeping above
the waves ; and though one place, a little way out,
where the sea was breaking over some obstruction or
other, was named by us ' Bali's Palace,' I am afraid it
was only a sunken rock. Still, there is this one temple,
so close to the sea that the waves actually dash against it
at high water, and in rough weather ; closer, I think,
than anyone was likely to have built it in the first
instance ; and, indeed, we are told that twice within the
last twenty-four years the sea has advanced so as quite to
surround it, and twice it has receded again. There are
three of these sea-side temples ; but one is in ruins, and
another appears to have been only just begun to be carved
out of a solid lump of rock, and then abandoned. This
one temple, which we went to see, is the centre one
of th'e three, and is very handsome. It is all carved over,
inside and out, with figures of gods and goddesses, lions,
buUs, &c., and altogether it exactly answers to the descrip
tion in Kehama of the ancient temples of the city of BaU,
once so crowded with worshippers, now so silent and de
serted. We scrambled about it tiU the sun was weU up,
and it began to be hot, and then we walked back to our
camp, bathed, dressed for the day, breakfasted, and
amused ourselves quietly during the hot hours. As soon
as it got cool enough in the afternoon we saUied forth

382 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
again, all on horseback this time, except Mrs. Stanley
and Mary S  , who were in palanquins, and rode
through the vUlage at the back of our camp, which is full
of pagodas and rock sculptures. The head Brahmin of
the village, a decrepit old man, with his head somehow
sunk down between his shoulders, and four or five other
natives, accompanied us about, sometimes acting as guides,
when we could make them understand what we wanted
to see ; at others volunteering their information thus :
' Tomasha ! ' pointing in one or other direction as they
spoke. A ' tomasha ' generally means a show or
spectacle ; but it evidently may be understood as meaning
anything to be seen ; for sometimes, with this inviting
word, they got us into some nook or cranny of the rocks,
where there was nothing to look at but, perhaps, a single
rudely traced carving of an elephant, or a peacock, on the
face of the rock. These sculptures up in the village are
of a different kind from the temple on the sea-shore, and,
I should think, of a more modern date. Some are
temples, more or less in ruins ; others are excavations —
temples partly formed out of the rock, Arith aU sorts of
Hindoo mythological figures carved on the Avails inside. A
portion of the story of Bali is the subject of one of these ;
in another is an image of Ganesa, the elephant-headed
son of Siva ; and this last is still Avorshipped by the
village people, and is consequently A^ery black and dirty
with all the offerings of ghee and cocoa-nut oil which
they pour over, or burn before it. I saw one of our poor
horsekeepers turning round to adore this grim, ugly idol
as we passed it. Further up the hill ai'e five very curious
temples, each carved out of a single block of stone ; and
in other parts the whole face of the rock is covered with
carvings. Of these, the most ciu'ious is that Avhich repre
sents the penance of Arjuna, a devotee, Avho, in order to
obtain some favour from the gods (a charmed Aveapon to
destroy his family's enemy, I believe it was), stood for a

ARJUNA. 383
¦month on the tip of his left great toe, with his right leg
lifted up, and his hands crossed above his head. His
figure is carved on the rock in this attitude ; but, what is
more unaccountable, some way lower down, on an
adjoining rock, there is the figure of a cat on its hind
legs, with its fore legs crossed over its head, in manifest
imitation of Arjuna up above. What the history of this
figure can be it is not easy to imagine : it looks too like
ridicule of Arjuna to have been perpetrated by the
same authors ; but, at any rate, it is a capital caricature
of him. We had not time to see all the ruins and carvings
that evening, so we returned to our tents, and came again
early the next morning to complete our inspection. The
curious thing about these carved temples and excavations
is, that they are all unfinished ; it is as if they had all
been stopped suddenly, nearly at the same time. W 
could not help imagining that the place had, at one time,
been a sort of school of design, and that the workmen
must all have fled from it, either during a Mahometan
invasion or some similar convulsion. This was merely a
guess on his part ; but I have been delighted to find a
sort of confirmation of it since in Fergusson's ' Eock-cut
Temples of India,' where, in speaking of these Mahabali
poor carvings, he gives two traditions respecting their
history. One is as follows : ' A northern prince, about
one thousand years ago, was desirous of having a great
work executed, but the Hindoo sculptors and masons
refused to execute it on the terms he offered. Attempting
force, they (in number about four thousand) fled Avith
their effects from his country hither, where they resided
four or five years, and in this interval executed these
magnificent works. The prince, at length discovering
them, prevailed on them to return, which they did, leaving
the works unfinished.' Another tradition is, that, during a
famine, many artificers resorted hither, and wrought on

384 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
the mountain a great variety of works during two or
three years.
Having finished our inspection, we spent the remainder
of the day, as far as the heat allowed, some in sketching,
some in trying to copy some of the figures on the Ajjuna
rocks ; Mrs. Stanley and I in a last visit to the beautiful
sea- side temple — our favourite. In the evening, after a
rather early dinner, we re-embarked in our canal boats,
and reached Guindy by six o'clock on Saturday moming.
To Mrs. Des Vceux.
H.M.S. ' Feroze,' January 20, 1865.
My dear J  , — I embarked yesterday morning with
the intention of going up the east coast, and of caUing at
several points : at the first, which was about 160 miles
from Madras, I was to land, to proceed forty mUes in
land, to be present at a cattle show, &c. ; but, having
steamed away for twenty hours, I find myself about ten
mUes from the coast in shoal water, and the captain of
the steamer professes utter ignorance of his whereabouts,
and will have to wait till twelve o'clock to get his lati
tude, the probabiUty being that I shall not get into the
place at all. The coast is so low, and has nothing to
mark it, that I can quite understand the unwillingness of
the captain to take a ship of 1,500 tons any nearer upon
experiment, and I do not think the visit to be of such
importance as to justify me in running the least risk.
January 26. — While we Avere Avaiting for the sun, out
came five boats from the shore, and we managed to land
after a long pull of twelve or fourteen miles. We started
off at once in carriages ; mine, in which there Avere four
people, was drawn by tAvelve men harnessed in three
rows of four each. These tAVO-legged horses took us
about eight miles, Avhcre we met our regular team, and
pushed on to our dining-place. We left this at twelve
o'clock at night to proceed to our destination (Addunky)

PRIZES TO EXHIBITORS OF CATTLE. 385
in palanquins, and reached it by day-break. We have,
ever suice our arrival, been busy in looking at stock, of
which a large proportion has been brought together.
There are some very fine bulls, and I am having photo
graphs taken of the prize cattle, for the purpose of
exhibiting them in other parts of the country, and of
gratifying the owners.
January 28. — I gave the prizes to the successful com
petitors yesterday, and promised to five, who had each
gained two prizes, a special gift of a gold ring. I then
started, and drove thirteen miles to dinner, after which
we got into our palanquins, and reached the coast by
4 A.M. As it was dark, we aU slept on, the bearers
having dropped us on the sand, till it was Ught enough
to embark, and here I am, steering northward to Vizaga
patam, which I hope to reach to-morrow night.
Vizagapatam, January 30. — We landed here this
morning, and were received by the civil and mUitary
authorities and a guard of honour. On our way up to
the CoUector's house, we stopped to visit a Eoman
Catholic female school, and a large Hindoo school. I
Avas much pleased with the former ; the children looked
clean and happy, and they sang well. Generally speaking,
the chilch-en of schools in and near Madras have a nasal
twang when they sing. I stay here over to-morrow.
Ganjam, February 2. — I went to an evening party
given by a wealthy native on Monday night. The first
part of the exhibition was a dance, or rather a set of
postures by a number of gurls, who accompamed them
selves with their voices, and a horrid set of screechers
they were. After that, a man sang a hymn of his own
composing, accompanying himself on the pianoforte, play
ing with one finger, like a child picking out a tune.
Then we had a man, said to be a well-known improvi-
satore in the district, who played upon a sort of guitar
with seven strings, which, as they were metal, made a
VOL. II. c c

386 VARIETIES OF. VICE-REGAL LIFE.
viUanous twang ; then we had fireworks, and a good
supper. I was heartUy glad to get away, having to get
up early to reach Bimlipatam, seventeen miles, by break
fast. We drove there across a barren-looking, stony
country, which, however, during the rains is green and
well cultivated. Bimlipatam is a small town on the
east coast, formerly occupied by the Dutch. Several
merchants have established themselves in the town, as
holding out a prospect of business, and it bids fair to
increase in importance. The steamer called for us about
twelve o'clock, and we got under Aveigh for this place,
where we landed this morning.
February 4. — We remained at Ganjam the whole of
Thursday, and started early on Friday morning to come
to Eumbah, on the Chilka Lake. I am now sitting in
the verandah of the house looking out on the lake,
having a nice breeze blowing upon me. The lake is
covered with boats, bringing rice from Cuttack : the hills
come down to the right and left steeply into the water,
the whole making a beautiful picture. The lake is
covered with water-fowl of aU sorts, but they are too
shy to be got at.
Berhampore, February 7. — We left Eumbah on Sun
day night, and, travelling in palanquins, arriA^ed at Aska —
about twenty miles — by 6 a.m. The whole day was
spent in looking over the sugar factory, and making
enquiries. The manager of the factory buys the coarse
sugar from the ryots, and refines it ; but he is going to
try how he can manage by purchasing the canes, and
going through the whole process himself ; and I have no
doubt that he will succeed, for he is an active, intelligent
man, with capital arid brains. We had a magnificent
illumination at night, the whole of the factory buildings
being lighted up. There were 10,000 lamps, consisting
of little earthenware saucers holding oil and wicks, and,
as the night Avas quiet, nothing could look better. We

A WILD BOY ON ALL FOURS. 387
left Aska at half-past five A.M., and arrived here by eight.
I have to hold a levee, and see a number of natives.
To-morrow I embark on my way to Madras, and right
glad shaU I be to get there again.
To Sir Roderick Murchison.
H.M.S. 'Feroze,' January 26, 1865.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — I have been looking into
M'Causland's 'Adam and the Adamite,' and cannot
admit that his theory will hold water ; it compels him
to class the ' Turanian race ' in India as inferior to
the pure Hindoo, Avho, according to him, is made
of the pure porcelain clay of the earth. Precious
bad workmen have been at the material, if his theory
be correct. I, however, am in the middle of the
Telugu or Turanian district, and, I must say, in the
presence of a very fine race of men. All the trash talked
of the Mongol type is simple bosh, there is not a trace of
the high cheek bones of the Mongols. India is full of
tribes or septs which present marked differences of face
and form, which might suggest the idea of difference of
origin, but which would not, if closely looked into, in any
way bear out M'Causland's idea of the plurality of races.
There are on the Neilgherries no fewer than five distinct
tribes, and the difference betAveen the Toda and the Co-
rumba is nearly as great as that between the red Indian
and the Hottentot.
Ganjam, February 2. — I arrived here this morning at
the limit of my territory to the noi-th, and shall have
to travel about for some days to see what is to be seen,
and to be seen by those who may Avant to tell me any
stories or make complaints. I have already heard one
curious tale, which will interest you. Captain Phillips
has charge of a part of the hill country to the west of
the district ; it is occupied by a wild tribe called Khonds,
but who are daily becoming more civiUzed. Captain
c c 2

388 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Phillips was riding through the bush not long ago, and he
saw before him a curious animal galloping awkwardly, but
fast ; he put his horse into a canter and gained upon the
animal, but before he could come up with it, it ran into a
hut ; he followed it, and found a chUd of about seven years
old, who, he was told, had been lost for a long time in the
bush, but had been recovered. Captain Phillips examined
the boy and found him to have a horny callus upon his
knees. I wiU see if I can get some more detaUed informa
tion as to the boy. This I give only at second hand.
Berhampore, February 7. — I have paid a visit to some
large sugar-works, the manager of which, Mr. Minchin,
being an active, intelligent man, has not only improved
many of the ordinary processes, but has given the natives
a helping hand, by showing them how to get some 30 per
cent, more juice out of the canes than they could extract
by their native methods. We had illuminations and a
display of tumblers, dancing girls, &c., in the evening.
I agree with you altogether in your opinion that the
action of forces which lifted up the mountains, and pro
duced the great and marked features on the face of the
globe, was much more violent than that of which we have
at present cognizance, and I beheve that it must}i&\e been
the case necessarily. Every force which lifted up the surface
of the earth, must, unless we suppose a corresponding
depression elsewhere, have added to the cubical space
occupied by the fluid or active agent under the surface or
skin of the globe, and therefore have lessened to some
extent the expansive power within ; and every fi-esh action
must have still further lessened the power, if we suppose
it to have been a constant, or rather an elementary force,
and incapable of recruiting itself If, on the contrary, we
suppose it to be the result of chemical action, or of any
process whatever which is going on constantly, I see no
reason why it should not vary indefinitely, at one .time
squirting up a column of water, at another upheaving

BURIAL-PLACE OF ST. THOMAS. 389
an island or a continent. I do not see how small forces
acting for an indefinite period could explain the pheno
mena which come daily before my eyes in this country.
I have no time for more ; so good-bye. Yours very truly, W.D.
Extract from Journal.
Guindy Park, March 25th, 1865.
On Thursday we went to see the Eoman Catholic
Cathedral at St. Thome, in which, or rather under which,
is the place where the apostle St. Thomas is said to have
been buried, he having been killed at St. Thomas's Mount,
about four miles distant. The present church, or cathe
dral, as I believe they caU it, though it has little right to the
name, does not evenprofess to be more than 250 years old
or thereabouts, and I believe it was built by the Portuguese.
When we got there, we found waiting for us Mr. Symonds,
the Church of England clergyman of St. Thome, who had
promised to ask the principal padre to shew us the cathe
dral ; and there was the padre also, M. Amaranthe, a dark
Portuguese East Indian, or half-caste, who looked inteUi
gent and good-humoured, and spoke very fair EngUsh.
He shewed us through the church, which seemed tolerably
weU kept, though with a good deal of tawdry gUding
about the altar and shrines ; and then into a sort of back
chapel or shrine, built over the vault said to have been
the original grave of St. Thomas. The first chapel built
over this hole has entirely cUsappeared, and the bones of
the saint are said to have been removed, some to Eome,
and some to Milan ; only a smaU portion of them being
left here, which, with some fragments of his clothes, were
shoAvn to us, enclosed in a sort of rehc case. Two of the
other brethren (for there is a small monastery of them at
St. Thome), who were apparently hearing confessions in
the church when we went in, joined us just before we

390 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
took our leave, but only for a minute or two ; and then we
remounted our horses, and got home only just in time to
dress for dinner.
To Mrs. Des Voeux.
Guindy, March 30th, 1865.
My dear J  , — We had a curious exhibition of agri
cultural imj)lements last week, and a contest betAveen a
threshing-machine worked by bullocks, and the rude
mode of threshing and dressing rice practised by the
natives. Eice being a grain with a head something hke
that of oats, the natives take a sheaf or a bundle and beat
it against the ground : tAvo blows suffice to loosen 90 per
cent, of the grain from the straw ; this is then thrown into
a heap, and the bullocks are driven round and round upon
it. The natives set to work in a way which you never
see tried except on occasions Avlien their mettle is up, and
the result was that they threshed their share of the crop
in a shorter time than we could do vrith the machine, and
then crowed over us.
Mrs. Stanley has derived great benefit from her trip to
Madras, and I have another invalid from Tasmania staying
with us, to whom the soft, warm, unchangeable tempera
ture of this place is doing a great deal of good. I
believe that Madras would be the best place for invalids
from November to April ; I mean for such as Avish to fly
from the cold of England ; the range of temperature is so
very trifling — from 70° to 80° or 85°, and generaUy from
78° to 84°. Lady Denison to Mrs. Stanley.
Guindy, April 20th, 1865.
My dear Mrs. Stanley, — I wiU begin to-day my history
of what we have been doing since you left us ; I need not
say that we thought of you a great deal, and foUowed
you in mind throughout the day. On Monday the Bom
bay mail arrived, bringing, amongst other things, three

PRINCE FREDERICK OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN. 391
letters for you, which might as well, I think, have come
the week before. Our own letters were not numerous,
but the accounts pretty good. There arrived also a note
fi-om Prince Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein (who, you
know, was expected here), saying that he was coming by
way of the Seven Pagodas, and hoped to be here on
Wednesday morning. Accordingly that morning the
carriage went down before five o'clock to the canal bridge
to await him, and with it poor Captain McLeod, who had
the pleasure of waiting there till nearly nine before the
Prince's boat made its appearance. Spreadborough is
evidently a httle disappointed in her vision of a royal
guest, because, as she observes, ' he does not look the
least like a Prince,' neither does he ; he is evidently a
man who throws ' the Prince ' altogether aside, very
wisely, probably, under his circumstances, and is quite
content to knock about the world pretty much like any
body else, with plenty of energy and independence, and
apparently rather liking Uttie adventm-es, and laughing at
small difficulties.
There was a cobra caught in the park this morning,
and brought alive to the door. How perverse of it not
to have been caught some days ago, when you were wish
ing to see one!
We have had some such evening skies as I never saw,
even here, before : the usual bank of clouds that rises in
the west at this time of the year, but along the upper
edge of it, and just above it, streaks and patches of the
colours of the rainbow — a sort of rainbow edge to the
cloud, most vivid, and aU the colours, though not the
shape, of the bow. The general exclamation has been,
' Oh ! if Mrs. Stanley could but see that ! '

392 A^ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Madras, May 30, 1865.
My dear Str Eoderick, — I wonder whether the men
who are rummaging after the dry bones of the past ever
dream of speculating as to the fiiture of the world, as to
the effect of the twists and changes which it is in process
of getting from the perpetual stomach-ache of which it
shcAvs evidence. We hear of calculations as to the
quantity of coal, and whether there wUl be sufficient to
last our time ; but, even in these, it strikes me that the
speculators leave out one principal element in the cal
culation — namely, the number of people who burn the
coal. They keep in the background altogether the start
ling fact that in England the population is doubhng itself
in fifty years. Malthus stated, and very correctly, that
the tendency of population is to increase in a more
rapid ratio than the means of subsistence ; and a little
industry bestowed upon working out the results of this
ifartling fact would have led to much the same conclusion
that I have arrived at from an analysis of the statistical
tables — namely, that the old hypothesis that the world is
to last about 6,000 years, is by no means an improbable
one. Men increase in a geometrical ratio, and every step
of progress in social life ; every check which improve-
:iient in morals imposes upon the gratification of our
passions ; every invention which makes war more expen
sive ; every improvement in medical science (by the way,
medicine is not a science, but an art) Avhich adds to the
security from the effects of disease ; every step taken by
sanitary commissioners — each and all of these accelerate
the rate of increase of the population, that is, cause it
to double itself within a shorter period. The result
Avill, of course, be that our present 1,200 milUons will
become 2,400 miUions ; the 24 become 48, the 48, 96,
with increasing rapidity; the world Avill be replenished

GAMBLING SCHEMES. 893
and subdued, and then shall the end be. I am afraid that
the end wiU come before any more of Darwin's species
will have time to develop themselves.
I have been looking into Marsh's book upon the action
of man upon nature. I think I have mentioned to you
one or tAvo very startling instances in which this action has
been exhibited m India. These were, it is true, special
and local ; but I should say that all the southern part of
India OAves its parched and desolate aspect to the reckless
mode in which man has stripped it of its clothing. No
chance here of the deposit of a new coal-field. If they
who succeed us as tenants of the world are dependent for
fuel upon the debris of our forests, they will hardly be
able to cook their dinners, unless they can arrive at some
mode of making the hydrogen of the water available — an
event which seems to be prefigured in the old saying
of ' setting the Thames on fire.'
A gambling mania, set on foot by the Manchester
people, in their anxiety to secure cotton to fill up
the gap in the supply caused by the war in America,
has swept over the Avhole of India. The focus, how
ever, has been in Bombay, where every species of
company was set on foot, every species of work
suggested, not with any intention of carrying these out,
but as a plausible basis for a company, and a means of
getting shares afloat to gamble with. They say that
everybody at Bombay is bankrupt : officers, civil and
military, judicial and ecclesiastical. Here we have had
the disease in a milder form, and have not suffered much ;
one or two firms have declared themselves insolvent, but
generally we are sound and can pay our way. They tried
me the other day with a gigantic scheme for docks, &c. ,
baiting their hook with an engineering bait, which they
thought I might rise at ; but I was too old a fish to
nibble ; and when the projector stated that, if I would
express an opinion that the work was feasible, he had no

394 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
doubt that he could form a company, I told him plainly
that I considered the whole as a humbug. I hope to be
at home at the end of the year. To tell you the honest
truth, I am tired of the people : they are a hopeless race,
hanging upon our hands as a dead weight, which Ave
strive in vain to lift. I do not think that they have
undergone any change — at all events, for the better — since
the time of Alexander. All talk of educating them, of
fitting them for liberty, of teaching them to govern them
selves, is the veriest twaddle. I wonder how the people
who, upon the strength of aflinities of language, insist
upon the identity of the Hindoo and the Englishman,
account for the colour of the Hindoo, and other physical
differences ? The Hindoo is darker than the red Indian,
and in many cases nearly as black as the Afiican ; his
skin does not blister as ours does, and a new-born infant
is exposed with its head bare to the sun, the action of
which would kUl an European child in five minutes.
In fact, he is physically adapted to the cUmate just as
the animals are, and by the same agency, which is not
that of chmate, but of something beyond and above it.
Good-bye. Yours very truly,
W.D.
Extract from Journal. Madras, June 5, 1865.
Dearest M  , — Owing to the departure of the
Bombay mail so early there wUl be rather a long interval
before that of the next steamer ; but, nevertheless, I may
as well begin at once, and keep up my journal as regularly
as may be. After finishing our letters on Saturday we
took a ride ; but it Avas but a short one, for we wound it
up by paying, according to promise, our annual visit to
the body-guard Unes during the festival of Mohurrum.
I am not skilled enough in Mussulman lore to know

THE MOHURRUM. 395
whether, or how far, this festival ever had a religious
character. It was originally, I beUeve, a sort of annual
funereal celebration in honour of two departed heroes —
Hassan and Houssein— sons of AU, the grandsons, I think,
of Mahomet ; and I believe it is still observed in Northern
India as a kind of mournful anniversary, where people go
about howling and wailing, and shouting, ' Hassan ! ' and
' Houssein ! ' at the top of their voices ; but here it has
entirely changed its character, and has become a mere
merry-making, a sort of saturnalia, in which Hindoos and
Mahometans aU join, in equal ignorance of what it is
about ; at least, Spreadborough asked me this morning
what it was intended to commemorate, and said she had
asked several of the servants, none of whom could tell, so
she was fain to come to me for an explanation, after all.
Our body-guard always dress up and illuminate a tent to
hold their sports in on the occasion, and we are always
invited to come and look at it ; and it certainly is one of
the most completely Oriental scenes, and most charac
teristic of Indian Ufe, that we see here. Unfortunately,
on Saturday evening, we were a little too early in our
arrival, and the newly-lighted lamps and candles had
hardly had time to burn up ; so the iUumination was dim
compared to what it usually is ; but stiU the general effect
was pretty. There was, as usual, a crowd of natives out
side the tent, and the officers of the body-guard (English)
waiting for us, with a little guard of honour, just at the
entrance ; and we were conducted to a carpeted space
inside the tent, at one end of which is a representation of
the tomb of Hassan and Houssein, manufactured by the
body-guard men themselves out of talc and paper. On
each side of this space were seats placed for our party and
the officers ; and behind us were, what always forms the
principal feature in these Indian scenes, the mixed crowd,
in all their picturesque varieties of costume. As soon as
we were seated, blue Ughts were burned at the entrance.

396 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
and some of the body-guard men, attired — or, I might
rather say, disrobed — ^for the occasion, assisted by some
hired performers, came forward and began exhibiting
jugglers' tricks with baUs, knives, &c., singing and acting,
and performing gymnastic and acrobatic feats. As an
interlude, they handed round sweetmeats, and adorned us
all with garlands, and poured rose-water and attar of
roses on our handkerchiefs ; and so, having sat there
about half an hour, we took our departure, leaving them
to the noisier sports which, I imagine, succeed, and got
home just in time to dress for dinner. The festival still
continues : to-day, I think, is the last day of it, ' and a
good thing, too,' as Spreadborough observes, for it gets
noisier and noisier as it advances towards its conclusion.
One of its features is, that, amongst the crowds which
parade the streets are sets of mummers, dressed and
painted to look hke tigers walking on their hind legs,
with other men behind them holding up their long paper
tails — a most absurd sight, but one which delights George,
who calls it the ' tiger feast ' in consequence. Yesterday
(Sunday) afternoon he was with me in the dravring-room
verandah, Avhen the sound of drumming, which is com
paratively quiet during the morning, began to make itself
heard again in the streets, and drew from him the
question, 'Mamma, do you think the people ought to
make that tiger music on Sunday.?' I could only explain
to him that I was afraid the poor people who made it did
not know much about God, or about Sunday either, and
that we must only hope that they or their children would
be wiser in time ; but they were sad sounds for a Sunday
evening  so different fi-om the quiet of an EngUsh town
at such times. In the course of the night the 'tiger
music,' as usual, got louder and louder, and at last swelled
into such an uproar, accompanied by such a glare of red
light, reflected upon the wall of our room, that I got up
and stepped on the verandah to look out, and really it was

JOURNEY TO BANGALORE. 397
worth it as a spectacle. There was the main street (which,
at this point, is only separated from the house by a narrow
strip of ' compound,' or pleasure-ground) aU in a glare of
red and blue light, and a perfect Babel of sound pro
ceeding from it : drums, squeaking fifes, and all sorts of
native music ; shouts, cries of aU sorts, and that kind of
general, undistinguishable roar which characterises a large
excited crowd ; and then, over all, the bright, glorious,
tropical night, with the grand stars looking so quietly
down on the confiised scene ; altogether, it was a striking
sight in its way, and I was half unwilling to go to bed
again ; but I certainly thought that George's ' tiger
music ' is not at all a bad name for it.
Bangalore, June 8. — We left Madras at seven o'clock
yesterday evening, after an early dinner, and reached
Vellore, where we had a late tea at ten. After this, the
whole party retired to their different sleeping carriages,
leavdng us in undisturbed possession of the large saloon
carriage, in which we had all spent the evening together,
the gentlemen playing at whist at one end of it, the two
girls at chess at the other. When they retired we had
our pUlows in, and made beds of the sofas at each end ;
but the sleep one can get in a raUway carriage is never
much, I think, as I am a good deal tired to-day. We got
here about half-past five this morning, and found carriages
waiting to bring us on to this house, which is a couple
of miles from the railway station. The house is a better
one, and the rooms more comfortable, than I had expected,
from the description ; but, unfortunately, people here
seem to have built their houses as if the climate had been
that of Madras, instead of Bangalore — all open ; and the
consequence is that there is a raging vrind blowing every
where, which one cannot get out of, and which goes
through me, and makes me feel as if I had an incipient
cold already. The rest of the party like it, luckily.
June 11. — Yesterday W  held a levee here, which

398 VARIETIES OF VIOE-REGAL LIFE.
was numerously attended ; and when it was over we
drove down tothe 'Lall Bagh,' an^/z'ce. Botanical Garden,*
the fashionable resort of Bangalore, especially on a Saturday
evening, when a band plays there. The garden itself is very
pretty, and very nicely kept. W  and I had had a
quiet walk in it the evening before, when we had it
pretty much to ourselves, and, consequently, could see it
to much more advantage than in its crowded state
yesterday. June 20. — Sunday came again to confirm us in the im
pression that Bangalore Sundays are not nearly as pleasant
as Madras ones. The singing is very bad, and the church
terribly haunted with eye flies, making it reaUy a difficult
matter to sit still ; and altogether we have a great idea
of trying some other church, though I do not like wan
dering about fi'om church to church, as a general rule. I
have established two days for receiAdng visitors here —
Mondays and Thursdays— and yesterday I had a pretty
continuous stream of them.
June 25. — On Friday evening we took an exploring
drive into the country, which served to strengthen our
original impression that Bangalore is a sort of oasis in a
desert : a green, well-planted place in the midst of a very
bare country ; or rather, I fancy, the real difference is,
that, just about the cantonment, the trees have been pre
served, whUe everywhere else throughout the prorince of
Mysore they seem to have been cut away for firewood ;
and aU looked barer than usual just now, because the
fields have been ploughed in preparation for the monsoon
rains, but not a blade has as yet had time to come up.
However, it was a pleasant drive in the soft, summer-like
evening. June 27. — Our last tAVO days have not been very
pleasant ones, for the rains haA*e set in just in the usual
* I believe the literal meaning of the vroxi to be ' red garden,' but -why
it ia so called I know not.

CLIMATE OF BANGALORE. 399
Bangalore fashion — viz., the rain always commencing just
before the time when one can go out in the afternoon.
This would not matter much in a climate like England,
where one can get out at any time of day ; but here,
where one cannot go out before half-past five, on account
of the sun, rain then, of course, implies not getting out at
all, except what little one can do in the early morning.
We could not go to church on Sunday evening for the
rain, nor out at all yesterday, and to-day it is threatening
to be just the same ; but we are growing desperate, and
shaU not give up all hope tiU the last moment. Fancy,
under these circumstances, how irritating it is to be per
petually asked whether I do not find this an agreeable
change from Madras ! I think, however, that I have
nearly put a stop to this question by the vehemence of
my negatives.
June 28. — I rather wronged the cUmate yesterday, for
it actually did clear up after the rain in time for us to
have a drive, though the air was somewhat damp and
chilly. We went out this morning to see a general inspec
tion of all the troops here : a very pretty sight, as artillery
(horse and field batteries), cavalry, infantry (European
and native), all were there — about 2,600 men, I think.
July 5. — I had risitors this morning ; amongst others,
a lady, who gave me a very interesting account of her
adventures during the great cyclone at Masulipatam last
winter. She was there at the time, and her husband
away; and the sea broke into her house, and washed
down a great part of it, one of her servants being so
injured amongst the nuns that he died a few days after ;
and she and her children and ' ayahs,' after remaining all
night sitting on a table in the centre, or safest part, of the
house, in perfect darkness, got, as soon as it was daylight,
into tAVO of their great bathing-tubs, and floated aAvay in
these to the house of the doctor at the station — the nearest
place of refuge.

400 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Bangalore, July 2-3, 1865.
My dear Sir Eoderick, — Many thanks for your letter ; it
is a great pleasure to have a correspondent whose letters
stir up the mud of the mind, the deposit which is too apt
to settle down at the bottom of the mental reservoir ; or,
to speak in Indian phrase, the tank, which receives the
drainage from all sources. I am very glad to hear that
you retain your position as President of the Geographical
Society. One of the foUies into which our American
cousins have faUen, is the adoption of the principle of
' rotation in office : ' they look upon office as a bonne
bouche of which every adult man ought to have a bite. I
think that we ought to apply competitive examination to
the heads of departments as weU as to the unfortunate
clerks. I have been reading Vambery's narrative of his journey
through Central Asia, and have been much interested
with it. What a country it seems to be, aud what a
country it might be made if it were in the hands of an
educated and energetic people ! I was surprised, on looking
at the map, at the smallness of the portion of Asia known
to us ; and also at the extent of that which has been,
either by the action of man, or by nature, left unfit to
maintain any amount of population. You may depend
upon it that we, the breeding part of the human race,
shall soon have to avenge the inroads made by the Hims
and others, and to reoccupy the Avhole of Northern and
Central Asia, if the world lasts four centuries longer.
It has struck me that many of the hypotheses pro
pounded of late years, as modes of determiuing the cause
of some specific phenomena, are singularly deficient in
probabiUty; and I have been reading up, latterly, the
Avorks pubUshed within the last fcAV years on physical
science, for the purpose of classifying the so-called dis-

FACT, THEORY, AND HYPOTHESIS. 401
coveries of modern science under one of the three heads :
Facts, or realities ; Theories, or probabilities ; Hypo
theses, or possibilities. You would be startled were you
to see the large proportion which come under the latter
category ; many indeed are barely possible, and some
physically impossible.
You say that, ' without we adopt the theory of some
separate creations of man, an enormous period is required
to change the white man into the negro, or vice ver.sd.'
I do not believe that the Avhite man would ever become
black by the operation of the climate, and we have a
curious instance in India of the permanence of colour.
We have, on the Avest coast at Cochin, a colony or
synagogue of White Jews. Their own tradition says that
they have been there 1,800 years, and I believe that there
is fair collateral evidence to prove that they have not been
there for fcAver than 1,400 years. They have inter
married among themselves, or have sought wives for
their children among the western Jews, and the result has
been a permanence of type ; so that, within eight degrees
of the equator, under a tropical sun, they are just as fair
as ourselves. Climate has had upon them none of that
action Avhich is, in my opinion, erroneously attributed to
it. To race, to breeding, to the effects of crossing, I
attribute very great influence upon the physical structure,
complexion, &c., and also upon the intellectual and moral
qualities of men. I have seen a good deal of the world,
and have always observed that, where there has been no
marked intermixture of races, physical peculiarities and
mental characteristics remain constant. Education has
no action in altering the type of character ; the French
man in Lower Canada is a Frenchman, not an American ;
the Hindoo of the present day is framed upon exactly
the same pattern as the Hindoo of the time of Alexander ;
the Greek of the present day is the same animal as the
Greek of the time of Themistocles ; the same may be said
A'OL. II. D D

m VARIETIES OP VICE-REGAL LIFE.
of every unmixed or only slightly mixed race. If educa
tion does httle to modify man, government does less. As
a general rule, it is the people who model the government,
not the government the people ; and, in cases where the
government is that of a conqueror, who may be supposed
to act according to his simple will, the result is either an
amalgamation of races, and the gradual but certain action
of the majority upon the minority, as was the case in
England, or the submission of a weak and cowardly
people, who may perhaps become more weak and
cowardly ; but the change in this case is not one of kind,
but merely of degree. Yours very truly, W. D.
In the course of the summer of 1865 I had a letter
from Sir John Lawrence, pressing upon me the necessity
of fortifying our barracks and railway stations. I wrote
to Sir Charles Wood, characterising this as a bad and
cowardly policy (epithets, by the way, almost synony
mous), and asking him to ignore it, as the result
would inevitably be to create an impression among the
natives that we feared them. I pointed out that if
we attempted to fortify these rubbishy places, we should
be compelled to maintain competent bodies of troops to
defend them, and should have oUr men scattered about
along the lines of railway, half a company here and half
there, exposed to the risk of being cut off, and their
arms and stores appropriated by the enemy, instead of
having them massed together in bodies capable of acting
independently. Sir John looked to a system of defensive
operations ; he considered a camp or a barrack, not as
the mere temporary residence of a body of troops, but as
a sort of stronghold to be defended. This is altogether a
mistake. What we want in India is a force capable of
moving speedily, whose efficiency is multiplied indefinitely
by rapidity of movement. We cannot hamper military

PROPOSED DEFENCE OF RAILWAYS. 403
operations by thinking of the fate of the few civil servants
or settlers whom we may be compelled to leave behind
us ; the delay which would be caused by attempts to
secure the safety of these would be ruinous ; we must be
content to av^enge them.
The plan of dotting the country about with small forts
would do nothing but harm ; if we are to make our barracks
small bungalows for four inmates, to please Miss Night
ingale, and then to fortify them and our railway stations
for fear of the natives, the immense estimates which have
been sent in for military buildings will be largely ex
ceeded, and an increase of the army will be required.
If, however, following out sound military principles, our
forces were concentrated at good strategical points, and
held in readiness to move at a few hours' notice, we
should always be able to act on the offensive ; should do
the maximum of work with the minimum of men, and
rule aU India with ease, as we should inspire the natives
with a wholesome dread of us.
I cannot but think that the tendency of late years to
look upon professional questions as subjects which any
man of ordinary abilities might be able, without any
severe amount of application, to deal with, has been pro*
ductive of bad effects generally, but specially in military
matters. There cannot be a greater fallacy than the ten
dency to treat professional questions as matters of science*
I had to press this more than once upon Sir Charles
Wood, who has tinkered the native army in a very ' civil
way,' and to point out to him that war was not a science,
but an art, to practise which a man should undergo a
severe apprenticeship.

S D 2

404 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGaL LIFE.
Extract from Journal.
Government House, Madras, July 29, 1865.
Dearest M  , — I am afraid there is not likely to be
anything to make my letter lively, for mine seems likely to
be a very quiet, monotonous life for the present. Greatly
did we rejoice yesterday in a Madras Sunday instead of a
Bangalore one. We went to church in the morning at
the cathedral, in the evening at St. Thome, as usual. The
evening service at St. Thome is particularly nice, and our
drive home was absolute perfection : the moon and stars
overhead, the white gleaming surf on one side, and on
the other the distant lightning, so far down on the western
horizon that we could not see the cloud, onlv the flashing;
light, made one of those combinations of glory aud beauty
that tropical evenings excel in. I cannot but think that
people lose a great deal by their determined fancy for
rushing aAvay at this time of year to the Avet, gloomy
hills, under the idea that Madras must be too hot to be
healthy or agreeable in July and August. It is positively
less hot than it was iu May, for then avc had some days of
hot Avind, obliging us to shut the house up, Avhereas now,
though it is always radiantly, gloriously bright, there is
always a sea breeze, so that Ave can have all the doors
and windows open all day long ; and the still evenings,
when the breeze dies away, are as perfect as ever. More
over, the flowering trees ! The Avhole place is alive with
a grand tree, covered Avith the most brilliant scarlet
flowers, which I have never seen in their fuU perfection
before, because we have always gone away just as they
were beginning to come out, Avhereas here they are noAV
almost dazzUng our eyes to look at ; the Poinciana
Regia, I think, is its name.

THEORY AND PRACTICE. 405
To Lieutenant-General Sandham. Madras, August 29, 1865.
My dear Sandham, — ^The steamer came on Sunday,
bringing your letter of July 14. I could not reply to it
by the mail which litis just gone out, but shall begin
writing Avhile I have your letter fresh in my memory. I
agree Avith you as to the length of the course at Chatham ;
the effect of it is to disgust men who wish to start into
practical life, and to get rid of the idea of school ; and at
the same time to make men presumptuous when they do
join the corps, as they think that the smattering they
have picked up of a variety of subjects is sufficient to
enable them to perform all their duties. People now-a-
days seem to imagine that one can turn a thoroughly
educated man out of school or coUege, just as a tailor
turns out a, good pair of breeches : they forget that a
man is not worth his salt who is not always learning
somethino;. Another evil we are falling into is that of believing
that our clothes will suit all other people, and Ave set
about, in New Zealand, in India, and elscAvhere, adapting
our form of government, and our principles of action, to
nations whose habits, feeUngs, modes of Ufe, are alto
gether different from those which we recognise as right
and proper. I had been but a fcAV weeks at Madras
before I pointed this out to the Secretary of State, and I
have never lost an opportunity of pressing the absurdity
of such a system ; but one feels like a man puUing hard
against a stream Avhich he can only just overcome, and
which at any sharp turn is sure to beat and drive him
back again.
You say you can hardly fancy me as a colonel of
Engineers. I can hardly fancy myself doing the duty ;
StiU, I have never lost sight of my engineering experience,
and aU that I shall require wiU be instruction in the

406 VARIETIES OP VICE-REGAL LIFE.
routine of duty. I wish very much to be able to have
my say to the Commander-in-chief with reference to the
organisation of the corps in India. I have just heard
from Colonel Adye, E.A., who is working hard to reduce
the Artillery into order. He anticipates, as I do, a large
reduction of the corps, and indeed, as regards the Artil
lery, the necessity of the reduction of the strength of the
corps out here has been seen by the Governor-General,
who proposes to get rid of a Avhole brigade of Horse
Artillery. I want to avoid a half-pay list, which does
infinite harm to the corps, and I should propose to begin
at once, and give no commissions for vacancies in the
Indian Engineers until we had brought them doAvn to a
reasonable strength. I am not satisfied with what I have
seen of the corps out here ; nothing wiU make matters
work satisfactorily till we adopt our English system of
placing all military works under the corps as part of their
ordinary duty, and making a marked cUstinction between
Engineers' work, and the civil work upon Avhich an
officer may occasionally be employed, and while doing
which he ought to be seconded. Yours very truly,
W.D.
Lady Denison to Mrs. Stanley.
Guindy, October 23, 1865.
My dear Mrs. Stanley, — Let me begin my letter by
answering yours, and thanking you for all your com
mission-doing, your choice of chintz, &c. I grieve to say,
however, that a dire misfortune has happened to this
chintz ; so dire that I really should hardly have liked to
let you know of it, but that the calamity has its ludicrous
side, too, and altogether I cannot help telhng you about
it. I Avas pleasing myself as I drove up here last Friday,
with the idea of seeing the drawing-room, &c., glistening
in the new chintz, which had been made up during my
absence at Madras. When I got in, hoAvever, it struck

TAKING THE 'CONJEE' OUT. 407
me that the general effect was somehow rather disappoint
ing, and when I came to in\'estigate matters a little more
closely, imagine my dismay at finding that the native uphol
sterers had, as I conceived, washed it all before making
up, thereby taking out the glaze and gloss, and reducing
it at once to the aspect of old furniture that wants calen
dering ! Eeally I could have cried with vexation, but yet
it Avas impossible not to be amused, too, when the unlucky-
upholsterers were spoken to on the subject, with their
utter unconciousness of havingdone any harm. They denied
the leashing, and, I really believe, truly ; but, Avithout
the least hesitation, they told, and showed by signs quite
as expressive as Avords, what they really had done, which
was, to rub the chintz together hard in their hands, near
the edges, a sort of dry washing process, ' to take the
conjee out,' as they said. ' Conjee ' means, in general, any
preparation of flour, meal, &c. In this case, of course, it
meant ' starch,' and was applied by them to the glaze of
the chintz. In short, though I was wrong as to the
means used, and the extent of the mischief, I was quite
right in supposing that they had purposely got rid of
the glaze, in order to make their work easier. Indeed,
they had not the least hesitation in avoAving this,
and they fj^uite seemed to think that it was the most
natural and perfectly right thing to do under the
circumstances Extract from Journal. Guindy, October 27, 1865.
Dearest M  , — I am expecting W  and the rest
of the party from the hills this afternoon. Such a
luncheon as has been sent up to meet them, at a station
with an unrememberable name, just on the other side of
Vellore, I have not often seen. The old butler brought
me the bill of fare for it yesterday, and I was on the point
of saying that I thought it rather more than the occasion

408 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
required, but I was silenced by the old man's remark, ' Cap
tain StcAvart say, great many coming, all very hungry ! ' It
is quite true that we have not only our own party to pro
vide for, though that is pretty numerous, but there are
almost always on these occasions one or two extra people
who are glad to take advantage of our special train, and
to whom W  gives a passage.
November 10. — Yesterday, the Prince of Wales's birth
day, we had our great official ball in the Banqueting Hall,
which properly should take place on the Queen's buthday,
only that it is too hot for it at that time of year. The
ball Avas rather thinly attended : Piince Azeem Jah was
not there ; he sent an excuse, at the last moment, of not
being Avell, or something of that sort ; but there are one
or tAVO surmises that the real cause of his absence was an
affront at a note which W  had caused to be Avritten
to him, to say that, in consequence of his sprained ankle,
he should not be able to come clown the stairs of the
Banqueting Hall to meet his Highness, but would receive
him at the door. This sounds simple enough to us, but
any such little difference in ceremony is a matter of real
importance to the Eastern mind, and this poor old Azeem
Jah is specially tenacious of his little privileges and digm-
ties, as is natural, I suppose, considering the anomalous
nature of his position, and the struggle in Avliich he is
engaged with the British Government, for the purpose of
having the ancient dignities of his family restored to him.
Old Shurf-ool-Omrah, the native member of Council —
the old man who ahvays used to say he regarded me in
the light of his aunt, appears noAV inclined to consider me
more as his mother, for, in the course of the evening, he
brought up to introduce to me his son, a vulgar-looking
youth, not at all, in appearance at least, Avorthy of his father,
who is really a gentlemanlike old man ; and, not satisfied
Avith this first introduction, the old man Avaylaid us on the
steps as we were going away, and again brought up the

CYCLONE. • 409
youth to me, saying, as he did so, ' Your grandson, my
eldest son ! ! '
November 25. — I received visitors here yesterday after
noon ; the weather Avas looking threatening then,or,I should
rather say, promising, for rain was much needed, and anxi-
:^usly looked for — and Ave have got a magnificent burst of
monsoon at last : torrents of rain, and such a gale of Avind
as makes me a little anxious about the mail steamer, A\-hicli
aiTived at Galle on Thursday, and left it again yesterday
evening. This morning we heard the guns fi-om the fort,
Avarning all ships to leave the roadstead, so it is fortunate
that the steamer is not due to-day, as her passengers could
not have landed.
November 27. — The weather has moderated, but I do
not think there is a chance of that poor mail steamer
getting in to-day ; indeed, I shall feel very thankful if she
conies in safe at all, for she must have had a terrible time
of it. I mentioned on Saturday that the ships had been
warned off by the signal guns from the fort ; they all got
out safely. The gale continued all that day, and all night,
with torrents of rain. Some of the gentlemen went to
Madras in the afternoon, and on their return reported
that the surf Avas very grand ; the waves, even then, were
dashing over the end of the pier. Yesterday (Sunday)
morning we thought the storm was breaking : the rain
stopped, and the sky partially cleared ; the glass went
up, and it looked so promising that we went to church
as usual, being overtaken, hoAvever, before we got there,
bv a sprinkle of rain ; but before the service Avas over
the wind came on again in tremendous gusts, Avith tor
rents of rain, and by the time we got home the storm
raged more fiercely than ever. Soon afterAvards, a tree
fell near the kitchen, and still the wind and rain kept
increasing-, and between three and four o'clock one of the
casuarina trees, at the other side of the house, Avas torn
up by the roots. The next event of the afternoon was -

410 VARIETIES OF VICE-EEGAL LIFE.
the arrival of a warning note from the astronomer at the
observatory, thinking it right ' to forewarn his Excellency
of the approach of a severe gale.' (Fancy being told that
the severity of the gale is only approaching, when you
have two trees down already!) However, Mr. Pogson,
the astronomer, went on to explain what he meant by a
severe gale ; saying that, from all his observations of the
barometer, force and direction of the wind, &c., he was
led to believe that a cyclone was coming on, the centre
of which would, he thought, pass directly over Madras !
so he sent this opinion (backed by that of the master
attendant) to warn us to secure the doors and windoAA^s
on all sides, so as to be prepared for the counter-
burst of the cyclone, which, after its first burst from the
north-east, would, he said, wheel round and come on still
harder from the south. W  sent on the note to our
nearest neighbour. Sir Adam Bittleston, begging him to
forward it to his neighbours, so as to warn as many as
possible. Then we took our measures of defence ; all the
glass doors were shut, and the wooden shutters closed
and bolted on the outside of them, so that we Avere soon
almost in darkness, and obliged to have candles nearly an
hour sooner than usual. Of course, going to evening
church was out of the question, the torrents of rain Avould
have prevented that, to say nothing of the violent Avind ;
so we sat in the house, which was very hot in its closed-
up state. Mr. Pierson coming in to dinner told us of
two more broken trees, and of a frightened herd of
spotted deer, huddled together near his bungalow, appa
rently not knowing what to do Avith themselves. Just
after we had closed up the house, I fancied that the Avind
was lulling ; but in the course of the eA-ening it came on
again, and about eleven o'clock the Avind reached its
greatest force, and the expected Avhirl roimd to the
south took place. The centre of the storm did not, I am
thankful to say, pass over us, as the astronomer expected :

CYCLONE. 411
it passed to the southward, somewhere about Negapatam,
so we only got the skirts of it ; and the only effect of the
sudden change of wind, as far as we were concerned, was
a thumping and clattering in the north and south veran
dahs, betokening that something had ' gone adrift ' there.
We peeped cautiously out, and found that one of the
' chicks,' or large blinds, had been partly blown aAvay.
Some of the men were sent to try and secure it, and were
still feebly and ineffectually struggling with it — amidst a
great deal of talk, as their manner is — Avhen W  came
up to bed ; so he sallied forth to their aid, and, seeing
that it was quite impossible to secure the chick effectually,
told them to take it down altogether ; but, before they
could accomplish this, the wind did it for them, and the
chick was bloAvn down bodily. This was our worst : the
gale raged on through the night, but, after a time, became
not much more violent than I have often heard gales
before, and we slept quietly enough, only that I could not
help thinking of the mail steamer, and her passengers.
Now it is quite calm, and we propose to drive down to
the beach and see the surf, which, however, is rapidly
going down.
November 29. — The steamer arrived last night, all safe,
I am thankful to say, but too late to land her passengers,
though the mail was sent on shore, so that we got our
letters at five o'clock this morning.
December 4. — I am afraid we have by no means heard
the last of the effects of the cyclone of yesterday week.
Here we only got the skirts of it, which was sufficient to
do some damage : two trees were blown down, and our
whole bed or grove of bananas was entirely destroyed.
All along the roads between this and Madras there are
trees bloAvn down, or very much broken, and in Madras
itself one of the native infantry barracks and a portion of
the hospital were inundated, and I believe one or two
native huts were washed down ; but I am afraid the

412 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
disasters at sea must have been far worse. Very few
vessels have returned, and all the coasting steamers seem to
come in with reports of having seen and assisted dismasted
and otherwise disabled vessels ; but there are some that
have neither been seen or heard of since the cyclone, and
in three of these one cannot but feel a peculiar interest.
One has troops on board, one wing of the 60th Eities,
who, poor fellows ! had just arrived from Burmah as the
stoim was beginning, and the surf too high to aUow them
to land, and they had to put to sea again. Another
ship had just arrived from Australia, with a cargo of
horses, and had expended nearly all her forage on the
voyage. She had to go off again in this state, and it is
feared that, even if the ship is not lost, the poor horses
will be nearly all dead of starvation before she gets back.
The third of the missing vessels is the ice ship, which had
only landed a small portion of her cargo, when she had
to run for it, and we can ill spare her, for if she does not
return we shall soon be Avithout ice.
Decemher 5. — To-morroAv, if all be well, we haA'e pro
mised to go up to Cuddapah for the doings there on the
occasion of opening the ncAV i-aihvay (the raihvaA' has been
opened and used some little time, I believe, but they
waited for the festivities till W  could come up to
be present at them). We do not expect to get back till
Friday. This morning's paper announces that a ship AA'ith troops,
supposed to be the missing one, has been seen, totally
dismasted, but in a position AA'hich giA-es good hopes that
she may have got into Trincomalee ; the ice-ship has
actually been spoken, with only the loss of her foremast,
so I hope she will soon be back.
December 6. — Our expedition to Cuddapah Avas sud
denly put off, in consequence of a telegram received
yesterday by the manager of the railway, announcing
that three bridges on the north-west line had been Avashed

MISSING SHIPS. 413
away by the bursting of some tanks during the late
rains, and, consequently, that all communication with
Cuddapah was cut off; so, of course, Ave stayed our pre
parations, and the orders for a start Avere countermanded.
I am sorry for the Cuddapah people, who have been in a
great state of preparation, and gone to a good deal of
trouble and expense for nothing ; for though W  .
thinks the disaster will be repaired in a few days, it will be
difficult for us to find two such convenient days for our
expedition as to-day and to-morroAV would have been,
for December is a very busy month with us. The poor
ships that have been missing since the cyclone are
beginning to creep in again : the horse-ship has arrived,
but Avith only four of the poor horses left aUve, as,
besides those that died of starvation, many of the animals
broke loose in the storm, and Uterally kicked and trampled
each other to death. Happily, she had landed more than
half her cargo before the storm began, so there were only
seventeen horses on board when she put to sea again, but
the death of thirteen out of these, and the probable
decease of three more which are in a very doubtful state
from starvation, must be a heavy loss to the owners. The
ice-ship is known to be at Pondicherry, repairing damages,
but great anxiety is beginning to be felt about the troop
ship, of which there is no certain intelligence. A steamer
has been sent out to look for her, and I hope may succeed
in finding and bringing her in.*
I have nothing to add, but that Ave are all well ; unless
you would like to hear of a small calamity that has be
fallen us, or rather our gardener, on Avhose feelings it weighs
most heavily. We have got a tame emu, lately imported
from Austraha ; and, as the gardener did not know any
thing about the habits of this bird, and nearly killed it by
* This troop ship came in just after the steamer had been sent in quest of
her : totally dismasted, and having been, for about twenty-four hours, ia
considerable danger.

414 VARIETIES OF VIOE-REGAL LIFE.
cramming it with meat, we made him let it go to shift
for itself about the garden, pacifying "his rather alarmed
feelings by assuring him of what we, at the time, believed
ourselves, viz., that it would only graze, and not meddle
with his floAvers and vegetables. However, in this we
have found ourselves deceived — it does meddle with the
flowers ; but the most cruel blow to the gardener has been
that there was one cauliflower which he actually had
succeeded in nursing into flower, of course a very rare
thing to do in this climate, and over Avhich he was watch
ing with great anxiety, thinking it would just be ready
for our Christmas dinner ; and the emu has eaten it !
We do not break our hearts much over the cauliflower,
but it will never do to have all our flowers nibbled at, so
we shall have to rail in a place for the emu, or to turn
him into the park. To Children in England, Madras, January 2, 1866.
My dear Children, — -Many happy New Years to you all.
This year avUI be specially happy to me, for I have the
prospect of seeing you all again, and am looking anxiously
for news from England as to the time of the arrival of my
successor. I have secured a passage in the P, and 0,
steamer leaving this in March, and, as I stay a short time
at Alexandria, Malta, and Gibraltar, I shall be in England
in May, I hope.
On Saturday we got three mongooses and four snakes,
and turned them into an enclosure, for the purpose of
seeing the mode in which the mongoose deals with
a snake. We had not much sport, however ; neither the
snake nor the mongoose seemed to like the thoughts of a
fight. In one instance the mongoose got hold of a snake
by the neck, and gave him a shake, the result of which
was that the snake coiled himself up into a stiff coil, with

FIJTE at CUDDAPAH. 415
his head well hidden in the centre of it, and no persua
sion could induce him to put his head out again.
Cuddapah, January 9th. — We came up here yesterday
to be present at a fete given by the native inhabitants of
Cuddapah on the occasion of the opening of the new
raihvay as far as their toAvn. We left Madras at 10 a.m.,
and arrived here a httle after four, the distance beino-
about 160 miles. We went as far as the Naggery Hills,
or that part of the N.W. Une which I opened in '61,
From thence it was a new country to me, and the aspect
Avas peculiar, if not pretty. We ran along a narrow
valley, with bare hills on each side, the rocks of which
took very fantastic forms, while the valley was rich and
well cultivated. When we got to Cuddapah we were
received by the civil and military authorities and a crowd
of natives ; were placed in carriages, and taken off to the
Collector's house, Avhile the rest of the party were accom
modated in tents. We rested till it was time to dress for
a great dinner given by the native inhabitants of Cudda
pah. This took place in the verandah of a house not far
from the Collector's, and was rather a tedious affair.
Nearly a hundred guests sat down to dinner — all the Euro
pean inhabitants of Cuddapah, together with a large party
from Madras. None of the natives dined with us, but
after dinner a body of them came in with an address,
Avhich they read. I gave a written answer, which, after
I had read it, was freely translated into Telugu by one of
the civilians. Then Ave had some toasts and speeches,
and then followed fireworks, for which we adjourned to a
verandah at the other side of the same house. This was
really the best part of the evening's amusements ; the fire
works were very good, and all fireAvork and torchlight
scenes are, to my mind, peculiarly effective in this
country, owing to the very picturesque groups of natives,
in their many-coloured dresses, which they illuminate.
When the fircAvorks were expended, dancing commenced ;

416 VARIETIES OF VIOE-REGAL LIFE.
here, hoAvever, as the ladies were fcAv, and the floor hard
and unelastic, they soon got tired ; but altogether you
may suppose we had had a pretty good clay's work. On
Tuesday we were all tired. I had to hold a levee and a
durbar in the morning, and in the afternoon we drove
round the town. All the compounds were filled with
magnificent mango trees, Avhich, in their wild state, are
certainly the handsomest trees in India. The ground was
clean, the crops good, and there was a flourishing aspect
about the immediate vicinity of the place, but the hills in
the distance were very bare and brown. In the evening
there was another dance — a sort of ' smaU-scale repeti
tion of the ball of the night before ; but we got aAvay a
little after twelve. On Wednesday I Avent in the morning
to visit the mission school. The girls seemed to be well
taught, as they were under the immediate supervision
of the missionary's wife ; but as to the boys, it seemed to
me that they suffered from the mixture of missionary and
schoolmaster, the duties of the mission taking the
schoolmaster away too often from the school. We
started at twelve on our return home, having, as all
agreed, had a very pleasant trip.
To Sir Charles Wood. Guindy, January 11, 1866.
My dear Sir Charles, — I am sorry to see from your
letter to me, which I received yesterday, that your fall
has damaged you more than I anticipated. I trust, hoAV-
ever, that by this time you are all right again. I came
down yesterday from Cuddapah, about 160 miles from
Madras on the north-west Une of raUway. I Avas asked
by the natives to be present at an exhibition of fireworks,
and they gave a dinner and a ball to a party of nearly
100. I was well pleased to have the opportunity of
paying a visit to this, which is one of the ' ceded dis--
ti-icts.' I had seen the other tAvo iu '63j

CONJEVERAM. 417
The line taken by the rail did not seem promising ; it
ran for 100 miles in a narrow valley between two ranges
of very bare hiUs, but opened out near the town itself,
and the level portion seemed very well cultivated. The
Collector brought before me several of the merchants and
ryots, all apparently well-to-do. Here, however, as well
as elsewhere, it is perfectly clear that the assessment or
rent is very much less than it ought to be.
The CoUector submitted a plan for a branch railway
which he told me the native capitalists were anxious to
undertake. I gave him every encouragement ; but I
warned him not to allow himself or the natives to be
deluded into constructing a locomotive line, at a heavy
cost, when a line worked by bullocks would answer every
purpose. The promoters of the line to Conjeveram, which
is Adsited by three or four thousand pilgrims annually,
have found that the roUing stock required to work an
occasional flood of traffic swallows up all profits. It is
very difficult, however, to induce an engineer to calculate
quietly the cost of working a line of rail ; he is always
looking forward to an enhancement of traffic, which is
pretty sure to take place in England, but which looms
but vaguely in the far distance here.
We have just had an outbreak in the north among the
Khonds, but have put it down by the police. I will not
shock you by using the terms fire and sword, but in
dealing with savages any excess of lenity is looked upon
by them as an evidence of weakness. I am very glad
that we are far enough away from the Exeter HaU
fanatics, or they might propose to me to hang my active,
useful police officers, as they seem inclined to do to Eyre
at Jamaica. Yours very truly,
W.D.

VOL. II. E E

418 VARIETIES OF VIOE-REGAL LIFE.
To Sir Charles Wood. Madras, February 13, 1866.
My dear Sir Charles, — I got a telegram a few days ago
announcing your resignation. I am afraid that your fall
has been productive of more serious effects than were an
ticipated. I trust that the relief which secession from
business will give you, and the absence of that mental
strain which the management of such a territory as India
must necessarily occasion, will set you right again in a
month or so.
I cannot close my correspondence with you Arithout
thanking you for the kindness you have shown me during
my Indian career. I believe that, in my correspondence
with you, I may have often expressed my opinions too
strongly, but my object was to let you know what those
opinions were, without any disguise, leaving it for you to
judge of their correctness, and being quite prepared to
find that your views and mine differed ; but being in no
respect desirous to maintain my own opinions in opposition
to yours.
I leave this in about six weeks, but as I stop to have a
look at the Suez Canal, and also at the works at Malta
and Gibraltar, I shall not be in England before the end
of May. Trusting to see you in good health in a few
months, believe me. Yours very truly,
W.D.
Extract from Journal. Guindy, March 12, 1866.
Dearest M  , — On Friday I received Adsitors here —
my last Guindy reception, probably, as Ave are thinking
of going down to Madras on the 20th, and taking up our
abode there till our departure. Here is a specimen of the
' march of intellect,' Avhicli made its appearance on Satur
day : the original was printed on a common invitation
card : —

MAHOMETAN INVITATION TO LADIES. 419
' The Committee of Management for the Entertainment
to be given by the Mohammedan Community to his Ex
ceUency Sir W. T. Denison, K.C.B., Governor of Madras,
and for the presentation of a farewell address previous to
His Excellency's departure, r.equest the honor of Lady
Denison and Miss Denison's company at a Dinner and
Nautch, at the gardens of Azeez-ool-Moolk Bahadoor,
Graemes Eoad, at 7^ p.m., on Saturday the 24th of March,
1866. ' SUMSAUM-OOD-DOAVLAH BaHADOOR, ' Secretary.'
Do not these names rather savour of the ' Arabian
Nights ' ? an evening entertainment in the gardens of a
man bearing such a name ! but the ' march of intellect '
lies in Mahometans inviting ladies ! The next step will be
when they bring their own ladies to meet us ; and I think
that Avill come, in time, though they are w good way off it
yet : and even now there was a curious little etiquette
about our invitation. A deputation of these Mahometans
came in person on Saturday to invite W  to this fke ;
but they could not couple L  's and my invitation
with his : it would have been decidedly improper to men
tion our names in public ! so Ave had to be asked, as you
see, separately.
This fete, as it was the last, so was it one of the most
jjicturesque, of the festival ' tomashas ' which we attended
in India. At the hour appointed, we drove through the
illuminated garden of Azeez-ool-Moolk, and drcAV up in
front of a wide, open verandah, brilliantly Ughted, the
effect of the lights being heightened by their being intei--
mingied with suspended globular mirrors.
Upon this verandah stood our hosts, massed together
on either side of the central steps. They were mostly
dressed in white robes, with red turbans and sashes, though
here and there might be seen a slight admixture of other
E li 2

420 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
colours. We were conducted up the steps to a carpeted
space in the back part of the verandah, on which were
placed sofas for the Govemment House party and other
principal guests ; all the chief dignitaries, military and
civil, being also invited ; and here the ladies remained
seated, while the address of the Mahometan community of
Madras was presented. In this, as well as in most other
documents of the kind, the Mahometans strive to bring into
view the difference between their own nation and the Hin
doos, of whom they were once the conquerors. We are
too apt to take no account whatever of this distinction,
and to confound them altogether, when we speak of them,
under the one general term of ' natives : ' wrongly, I
think ; for, after all, the distinction is founded in fact,
and we unnecessarily wound their feelings by ignor
ing it. After the presentation of the address, we pro
ceeded to dinner, in a temporary erection at one side of
the verandah. Old Azeez-ool-Moolk conducted Lady
Denison to dinner, while his son, Nazim Jung, who is an
active, rather intriguing man, a sort of politician in his
way, and the presiding genius of the present entertain
ment, marshalled me in. These two, and a feAV of the
other leading Mahometans, sat doAvn to table with us,
but partook of nothing, throughout the repast, but a httle
fruit, or a biscuit. The dinner itself was served in the
European style, and was rather a tedious affair. After it
was concluded, we were conducted to the part of the
building in which the ' nautch ' was to take place, and in
front of which, to begin with, some brilUant fireworks
were exhibited. This nautch was to be marked by the
introduction of a dance, which is only performed on
special occasions, and which is much prettier than the
ordinary ' nautch.' Eight dancing-girls, all dressed alike,
stood in the centre of the apartment, each holding one of
a cluster of eight ropes, which Avere suspended from the
ceiling ; and then, with a slow and graceful movement.

MAHOMETAN FI)TE. 421
passed to and fro, in and out, in such a manner as, by this
movement only, to twist the eight ropes into a regular
plait through their whole length, and then to untwist them,
the whole being done by the dance figure only, without any
further application of the hands. These dancers were,
of course, the only native females that appeared ; but,
on some enquiry being made about the ladies of the
families of our hosts, we were told, by an European con
versant with Eastern manners, that they were sure to be
all looking on, somewhere : probably in carriages drawn
up in front of the building. In point of fact, though the
Eastern lady objects to being seen (and the objection ap
parently is more on her own part than on that of her lord
and master) she has a great notion of seeing ; and generally
contrives to get her share of any sight or festival that
may be going on, in this sort of invisible way. Our part
of the entertainment ended with the above-described
dance, and we took our leave on its conclusion ; all the
European guests, I believe, shortly following our example.
To Sir Roderick Murchison. Madras, March 12, 1866.
My dear Sii- Eoderick, — Another fortnight wiU see me
on the eve of embarkation for England. I will not, how
ever, lose the opportunity of answering your last letter,
and of congratulating you upon the tardy acknowledg
ment of the position which you hold in the scientific
world. Better late than never, however.
I will not attempt to discuss geological questions in a
letter ; nor, indeed, do I pretend to deal with such
matters ; they come before me only occasionally, and I
ask for explanations from those who know more than
myself To tell you, however, the honest truth, I get
little satisfaction from the books I refer to. I am quite
sick of the term 'philosophy of causation;' and even
' phUosophy ' occasionally stinks in my nostrils, when I see

422 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
how the term is abused, and how a man is termed ' a
lover of wisdom or science,' when, in point of fact, he
is doing his best to make science ridiculous by thrusting
ill-digested ' hypotheses ' down the throats of those who,
like young birds in a nest, open their mouths and swallow
all that is offered them.
I have read your Birmingham address. I am quite
prepared to maintain the correctness of your view of the
magnitude of the forces which have been acting on the
crust of the earth. Why Lyell and others shoidd insist
upon small forces and an infinity of time, when they
might just as well draw upon the bank of force, and
measure the amount of their draft by the effect required
to be produced, is beyond my comprehension. The evi
dence before our eyes shows every gradation of force
from that Avhich disintegrates a bit of sandstone, to that
which heaves up thousands of square miles. For my part
1 am more puzzled to account for the small forces than
the large. I can imagine an enormous meridional force
sufficient to Uft up the Eocky Mountains and the Andes ;
but I cannot comprehend, either upon Lyell's theory or
yours, the mode in which the small contortions are made ;
as, for instance, in the neAV gneiss of India ; or how the
crystaUine limestone, described in a former letter, got
rolled up into such a peculiar form. However, this Ave
will talk about before long. I have a fancy — I won't
call it either theory or hypothesis — that the world Avill
come to an end before we work out our coal-fields. I
base my fancy upon the rapid increase of population. It
seems to me that in two hundred years we shall hardly
have standing room. Even at present we in England do
not feed above one-half of our popvUation : that is, we dp
not supply bread and meat to more than ten of our
twenty miUions. What shall we do when the twenty
millions become forty ? However, the Avorld will, in all
probability, last my time, and that of my children, so I

LAST DOINGS AT MADRAS. 423
need not trouble myself about its fiiture, but look to my
own, not here, but hereafter. It is a great comfort to
me to find that the ' so-called ' discoveries of science
strengthen rather than disturb my faith.
I am reading Palgrave's ' Arabia : ' he deals more vrith
the men than the country they inhabit. I can back up his
assertion as to the fatuity of the Mahometans, and the curse
of their system of Fatalism. Trusting to see you in June,
believe me. Yours very truly, W.D.
Here must close our epistolary recollections of Madras,
On the very day of the Mahometan fete, above described,
March 24, 1866, I received a telegram announcing the
arrival of my successor. Lord Napier, at GaUe. On the
afternoon of that day I, for the last time, conferred
degrees at the annual commemoration of the Madras
University. On Monday, March 26, my wife had a farewell
reception in the grounds of the Government House, at
Madras, and I embraced the same opportunity of taking
leave of numerous friends and acquaintances, rather than
encounter the more formal ceremony of a farewell levee.
Lord Napier arrived on Tuesday, March 27. His com
mission was so worded as to take effect from the date of
my ' death, resignation, or departure ;' and I had, there
fore, on that morning, previous to his arrival, gone down
to the Council, and there tendered my resignation of the
government, so that there might be no objection to his
installation immediately on his arrival.
On Wednesday, March 28, we sailed for England, and,
though the reception on the previous Monday had been.
the ostensible parting with our Madras friends, their
kindness did not allow it to be the real one. All those
who had, either from official position, or any other cir
cumstance, been more intimately connected with us, were,
with their famihes, waiting on the pier to send us off with

424 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
their kindly good wishes and warm-hearted fareweUs, and
their hearty cheer, accompanying the parting salute, was
the last sound we heard as we left the shore.
It is a blessed thing to return to one's own country
after a long absence, and to find, as we did, loving friends
to greet us — friends who had never aUowed our places in
their hearts to be otherwise fiUed up ; but I cannot finish
this record of the twenty years' absence from home with
out thankfully acknowledging that the years so spent have
been by no means the least happy of a very happy life.
Many an enduring friendship has begun in them ; many a
kindness been received ; many a blessing enjoyed that
will ever remain in grateful remembrance ; and were it
not for the impossibiUty of having two separate dedi
cations of the same work, I would vriUingly dedicate
these closing Unes, at least, to the many fiiends made in
AustraUa and in India, who wiU never lose their hold
upon our hearts, and to whom these pages may occasion-
aUy recal some past scenes of pleasant intercourse.

THE MORAL OF THE TALE. 425

CHAPTEE XXVI.

CONCIUBINQ- EEMAEES.

Among the subjects brought forward in the foregoing
portions of this work are one or two which appear to
me to be of so much importance that I cannot but sub
join a few remarks on them in conclusion, by way of
moral to my tale, aud in order to show how far the
opinions I expressed at the time when they were first
forced on my notice have been illustrated and borne out
by subsequent and stUl existing facts. These subjects are,
first, the relations between the colonies and the mother
country ; and, secondly, the state and prospects of our
Indian native army.
Nine years have elapsed since I left Australia, and
fifteen years since I was made an unwilling instrument
in working out a change in the form of the government
of the Australian colonies. A period so short as this is
but a trifling portion of the life of a country ; it may,
however, show evidence of tendencies on the part of a
people or of its Government to carry out in action certain
pohtical fancies or hypotheses, the effect of which on the
character and happiness of the people may be strongly
marked either for good or for eril. I have said above,
' a people or its Government.' I am by no means, how
ever, disposed to Umit the tendency to work out political
theories to the people and the Governments of the colonies.
The changes which were asked for by some of the
colonies were thrust upon others ; all, whether in a state
of infancy or incipient manhood, were treated ahke —

428 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Avere told to manufacture constitutions for themselves ;
and these specimens of constructive capacity were adopted
by the Government of England with so Uttie question or
remark, with so little thought of their possible, or even
probable, action upon the future of either colony or
mother country, as would almost lead to the supposition
that the object was to give to these infant states a lesson
in constitution-making, which might induce them to
think that they were of full age and capacity to manage
their own matters, and to set up housekeeping for them
selves. The impression created upon my mind was, as will be
seen by more than one of my letters to the Secretary of
State, that a feeling was creeping up in England that the
colonies were expensive encumbrances. This I did my
best to combat. I felt certain that the prestige arising
out of the spread of our colonial system, and the extent
of our nominal empire, added largely to our actual
strength, as well as to our political importance.
I am afraid, however, that a feeling of the kind has
got possession of the public mind, bidding fair to produce
results as injurious to England as those which Avere
brought about by a similar feeling of petty economy just
about a century ago.
The Government in 1769 strove to make the colonies
contribute towards the general expenditure of the country,
and asserted the right of Parliament to impose taxes on
these dependencies. It had courage enough to maintain
its opinion by the sword, and was oiUy convinced, after
a struggle which lasted several years — Avhich cost many
millions more than we could ever have drawn from the
colonies had we been successful, and thousands of lives
which we could ill spare — that it had acted, both economi
cally and politically, most foolishly, soAviug the Avind
which had produced the Avhirhvind, changing those who
Avere friends and relatives into bitter enemies.

RELATIONS WITH OUR COLONIES. 427
There is now a similar economical outcry. The colonies,
it is said, ought to defend themselves ; they have no right
to call upon England, the parent state, their mother
country, for aid and assistance when they are attacked,
Avhether the attack be the consequence of any action on
the part of the colonies, or of the policy of the Govern
ment of England ; and when the colonies claim to be
considered as brethren, as children of one common parent;
Avhen they (which they do unanimously) express an anxious
desire to maintain their connection Avith a country Avhicli
they term their home, they are told by the penny-wise
and pound-foolish political economists that these feelings
of affection ought not to influence them, that they are of
full age to judge and act for themselves, and that as soon
as they have arrived at the period of manhood, they
should cast off the ties which bind them to their pa
rents, act without any reference to the views and wishes
of those who have nurtured and brought them up,
and think only of themselves. It is a curious circum
stance that, while a century ago we were anxious to
retain our children under our control, and spent blood
and treasure in the effort to do so ; now, when these
children pray to be allowed to retain the family name, we
are anxious to turn them out of doors. The same paltry
spirit of economy which made us act so fooUshly a century
ago is now working, though in a different and more
cowardly manner, to produce the same results — the dis
memberment of the empire.
Let us, however, enquire whether there are any sound
economical reasons why we should grudge the outlay of
the few thousands of pounds which the colonies (properly
so called) cost us annually.
Are we poverty-stricken ? So far are we from this,
that, while in 1846 the difference between the income and
expencUture of the people, making the annual addition to
the capital of the country, was twenty millions, now, in

428 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
1869, this very difference is estimated by some to amount
to 150 millions, and acknowledged by aU not to be less
than 100 millions per annum. Surely we might spare a
small portion of this accumulation of wealth to maintain
a state of things which insures to us a friendly welcome
in every corner of the globe, which guarantees to our
ships assistance and protection at every colonial harbour,
instead of the cold treatment of a neutral, or, it may be,
the active enmity of a competitor in trade and manufac
tures. If an individual is wise in investing money in the
purchase of an annuity for his support when old age or
infirmity renders him incapable of helping himself, surely
a nation would act still more wisely in expending a por
tion of its capital in maintaining a state of things which
may almost be said to insure a perpetuity of the strength
of manhood, and to guarantee the presence of loving and
affectionate children in every part of the world where its
flag can fly.
But in truth it is not in the absence of means that this
outcry against the expense of maintaining our colonies
has its origin ; it is due to that superfluity of wealth which
generates an intensity of selfishness — an insatiable appe
tite for accumulation, a greed for gain, which looks upon
every halfpenny expended in a manner not reproductive
of money as lost to its possessor.
I hope and trust that no visions of a paltry saving of
expense wiU induce the Government to adopt such a
suicidal policy as that which has been suggested by the
advocates of economy ; that it will regard the colonies as
integral portions of an empire destined to embrace within
its Umits a very large proportion of the surface of the
earth, Avhicli should be added to, strengthened, and
developed to the uttermost, in the certainty that every
such addition or development is a source of strength
instead of weakness — of practical economy, as contrasted

INDM.N NATIVE ARMY. 429
with that penuriousness which looks merely to the accu
mulation of wealth, and not to its employment as a means
of promoting the welfare and happiness of others.
State of Indian Native Army — 1869.
Nearly four years have elapsed since I left India, and
upwards of eight years since I addressed to Lord Canning
the memorandum upon the reorganisation of the native
army, which I afterAvards forwarded, with his lordship's
remarks and my comments, to Sir Charles Wood, and of
which a copy will be found in vol. ii., p. 56 et seq.
What has been the effect produced by this so-called re
organisation upon the disciphne and efficiency of the
native army up to the present date ?
The effect, so far as the experiment has gone, is in
every way injurious ; the native army is less efficient than
it used to be, and is steadily deteriorating. This, be it
remembered, is not an opinion, but a fact : it is testified
to by officers of all the three Presidencies, speaking
from their own experience of the change of tone and
feeUng among the officers and men of the regiments to
which they are attached, and repeating the statements of
officers with whom they have been thrown in contact on
duty, as to the state of other regiments.
It may, perhaps, be said that this is merely the ordinary
expression of dissatisfaction of men Arith a change of
which they have not yet reaped the anticipated benefit ;
and I have but little doubt that the advocates for the
change will assert that the existing evil condition of things
is the necessary consequence of the change of system, and
has been foreseen and provided for, as no alteration could
be expected to produce its full benefit in so short a
period as has elapsed since the change was commenced.
Let us, therefore, go a little more into detaU, and see
whether the evils of AA'hich the officers complain are mere
petty, temporary inconveniences, Avhich Avill, after a time.

430 A'ARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
die away, and from the dead roots of which will spring up
efficiency and economy, the latter of which, by the way,
was held out as the immediate result of the change of
organisation ; or whether they are not the inevitable results
of the new system, which, erroneous in principle, has
been made more actively injurious by the mode in which
it has been carried into effect.
What, then, has been the action upon the European
officers, as a body ?
They complain that they are too few in number to
maintain a mess, or to act collectively as a social body ;
that they are, therefore, obhged to decline invitations
Avhich they receive, as a body, from the officers of Euro
pean regiments, quartered in the same cantonment, as
they cannot make any return to such civilities. From
this arises, necessarily, a feeling of dissatisfaction Avith the
service among the officers of the native regiments, and
something allied to contempt on the part of the officers of
the British regiments, the joint effect of the two being a
want of harmony between the services, Avhich is gradually
drawing them farther apart, lessening, in all probability,
the disposition of officers in the British regiments to serve
in the native regiments, and most certainly injuring the
efficiency of the army as a body.
Next, as to the action upon European officers indi
vidually, and their relation with the regiment to Avhich
they are attached. This last, according to the present
system, is merely a matter of chance, or favouritism : it is
in no way, as heretofore, a matter of selection. An
officer now belongs to the so-called Staff Corps ; he is
not knoAvn as belonging to any regiment ; he does not
.share, necessarily, in the credit which the regiment has
obtained from its previous service ; he has no e.^^prit de
corps, for he has no body of which he can feel that he
forms a part. He belongs to the Stafl" Corps, it is true ;
but this is a body Avithout a soul, or, rather, it is an

DfDL^N NATIVE ARMY. 431
empty name, meaning nothing. AU other bodies in which
promotion is dependent on seniority— such as the Artil
lery, the Engineers, and the old Staff Corps which served
with distinction during the Peninsular War — have a proud
reality : the credit which is gained by each officer or man
becomes the property of the corps, and is reflected upon
each individual belonging to it. I may say also that each
individual suffers from the misconduct of a member of
the corps, and has a direct interest in maintaining the
character of the body.
Is this the case with the Indian Staff Corps ? No ;
most certainly not ! The praise which officers may gain,
while serving with a native regiment, may belong to them
individuaUy, or may be shared with the regiment to
which they are but temporarily attached, but none of it
is credited to the ' Staff Corps.' But are they likely to
get any credit? or, rather, are they entitled to any? They
have nothing to do with the organisation of the body ;
they have not raised it, or disciplined it ; they are merely
attached to it for a time — can hardly be said to lead their
men into action, for they are mounted officers with
infantry, they do not fight alongside of them. The credit,
if there is ever likely to be any credit Arith such an organi
sation, belongs to the native officers, who march and fight
with their men, who are identified with them, and to
whom, in the scheme Avorked out by the Government, no
prospect of promotion or honour is held out. What is
the change in the relation between the European officer
and the men serving under him ? Formerly he was
responsible for their appearance and efficiency, but the
responsibility is now transferred to the native officer. The
effect of this is, naturally, to separate the European officer
more and more from the natives whom he commands, to de
prive him of the interest which he used to take in the con
duct of each individual of his company, and to make the
soldiers careless of his approbation, which can have little

432 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
practical effect upon their comfort or well-being. The
native officer, to whom the responsibility of the discipline
of the regiment has been transferred, has more required
from him, while he has less hope of reward ; he is made
more efficient, and has more power of doing harm, while
he has less inducement to remain faithful to his colours,
or content with his position. It wUl, possibly, be said
that the absence of fellow-feeling between the men and
their European officers will be more than compensated
for by the closer connection between them and their
fellow-countrymen, the native officers. I will not aUude
to the risk to our dominion in India arising out of such a
transference of confidence from the European to the
Asiatic officer, should it take place ; it is sufficient to say
that as yet it has not taken place. All the accounts
received from India, at all events all the accounts received
from men who have no interest in putting a false colouring
upon the actual state of things, represent the disorgani
sation of the regiments to be on the increase ; they say
that the men have no confidence in the native officers, and
these latter but little influence over the men, whUe a
general feeling of indifference and dissatisfaction prevails
among a,ll — Europeans as well as natives — arising out of
the conviction that the change of organisation has been
the source of a variety of evils, aU of which are felt and
appreciated, but from which no one sees a way to escape.
In point of fact, the Government, thinking, as is too
commonly the case, that, with the power to deal with pro
fessional questions, the knoAvledge and capacity to treat
them aright was necessarily united, caught hastily at the
title of ' The irregular orga.nisation,' and attributed to
the name all the advantages which Avere in reality due to
the talent and energy of the indiAiduals at the head of the
irregular regiments. By meddling m this hasty manner
with a professional question, of Avhich it Avas profoundly
ignorant, it has broken up and disorganised a A^ery

INDIAN NATIVE ARMY. 433
efficient body of troops in the Madras army, upon which
it could depend fully ; Avhile it has, Avith the most per
verse ingenuity, deprived itself of the poAver of organising,
in case of necessity, bodies of irregular troops, such as,
under the direction of men Uke Jacob, Skinner, and
others, did good service in former campaigns.

REMARKS ON THE ORGANISATION OF THE CORPS OF
ROYAL ENGINEERS IN INDIA.
I WISH to bring more clearly before my brother officers
the peculiar position in which they are placed with
reference to their duties in India ; a position the action
of Avhich upon the future of the corps few, as far as I can
judge, seem to realise. The following statement of the
views with reference to the constitution of the corps, and
the character of its duties, Avhich I pressed upon the
Government of India, in 1863, and which I have reite
rated during the year just past to the Government in
England, wiU be a fitting conclusion to these volumes.
The amalgamation of the European portion of the
troops of the East India Company with the Queen's
army seemed at first to be a very simple matter, involv
ing merely a change of name ; it has, however, been
found more complex in its results than was expected.
As regards the Engineers, it has led to a variety of com
pUcations, arising out of the mixed character of the duties
which the officers are called upon to perform, and these
difficulties have kept increasing up to the present time.
Very soon after my arrival in India, I Avas obliged to
enquire into the constitution of the Department of PubUc
Works, which, having been reorganised by Lord Dalhousie,
had been placed in the hands of the officers of Engineers,
as being, in point of fact, the only persons competent by
their education and training to perform properiy the
duties of the dcp-artmeut.
VOL. II. ^' *'

434 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
The result of this change was to make the officers of
Engineers practically officers of the Public Works ; the
organisation of the corps was miUtary in name, but civU
in substance.
I brought this anomalous state of things under the con
sideration of the Government in 1863, and I pointed out
the injurious consequences which must necessarily result
from this sort of hybrid constitution ; the following is a
summary of the statement made by me on the occasion.
' The military organisation of the corps of Eoyal En
gineers has been lost sight of altogether. The mihtary
duties of the officers have either, as in the case of the
Sappers,* been transferred to others, or, as in the case
of the construction and repair of military works and
buildings, been merged in those of the mixed department
of Public Works, which is composed of officers of
Engineers, officers of different regiments, and cirilians.
' One of the results of this mixture of civil and military
duties is the undue enlargement of the corps of
Engineers, the strength being calculated with reference
to the sum total of its duties civil and military ; the
consequence is that the number of officers is far in excess
of the mUitary Avants of India.
' I am of opinion that this arrangement has not worked
economically as regards the outlay of money, or satisfac
torily as regards the service of the pubhc ; but whether
economical or not, satisfactory or unsatisfactory, the
system cannot be maintained for any length of time under
circumstances as they exist at present.
' For a few years the Indian Engineers might continue
to officiate in their present anomalous condition, but
gradually, as their numbers lessen by death and
retirements, the vacancies even in the higher ranks would
* The Sappers are not a portion of the corps of Engineers, but are under
the command of officers detached from native regiments, or from the Stnft'
Corps.

ORGANISATION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS IN INDIA. 435
have to be filled up by officers from England, and the
English and Indian systems would necessarily come into
coUision. ' If AA^e suppose, for instance, the death of a captain of
Engineers in charge of some Public Works district — there
AviU be a vacancy in the department which avUI have to
be filled up by some competent officer, and there will be a
vacancy in the corps Avhich wUl have to be filled up by
the promotion of the senior subaltern, and this senior
subaltern may be employed in any part of the world.
The vacancy in the corps will, therefore, in all proba
bility, have to be filled up by an officer from England.
' Now the officer so sent out Avill not be able to speak
any of the vernacidar languages ; he may, very probably,
be uuAAdUing, at his time of life, to commence the study of
a new language, or, if willing to make the attempt, he
may be unable to attain the necessary proficiency. He
vrill, however, be entitled to the pay and allowances of
his rank, and if he cannot qualify himself for the PubUc
Works Department, he wiU be, according to the existing
system, a supernumerary, with no duties to perform. This,
which, in the instance quoted, applies only to a single
individual, avUI practically be the case with an increasing
number of officers until the present constitution of the
Public Works Department breaks down altogether.
' The simplest mode of remedying this anomalous state
of things, and of avoiding the inconveniences which must
necessarUy in a few years arise out of a system requiring
the officers of the same corps to be paid and employed
according to two different rules, would be that of restor
ing to the corps of Engineers in India its military organi
sation, and of making the arrangements there harmonise
with those which regulate the service in England and
the Colonies.
' Under such a state of things the construction and re
pair of all military AVorks and buildings would be placed

436 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
in the hands of the officers of Engineers, as part of their
military duty ; while the Department of PubUc Works
would be exclusively a civil establishment.'
This arrangement, which would have had the effect of
lessening the nominal strength of a military body, and
of requiring the organisation of a fresh civil department,
was, as might be imagined, objected to by both the
military authorities aud the Government — the latter
taking its tone from its military advisers ; and matters
were allowed to continue in a mostunsatisfactory condition.
It must be understood that in India the GoA^emment
is obliged to construct and maintain all the roads and
bridges, all the public buildings, a// the works of irrigation,
great and small ; it is the OAvner, at all events in Madras, of
the soil of the country, and is bound to act as landlord.
While I, then, in my capacity of landlord, was anxious
to carry out large works of irrigation Avhich Avould have
been a most profitable investment of capital, I was met
by complaints on the part of the General Government
of the expensive organisation of the department, and
was unable to employ an officer to plan these profitable
undertakings, because the Avhole department was fully
employed upon its ordinary duties of repairing and main
taining existing works.
Gradually, however, the demand for a larger outlay
upon all sorts of Avorks, both military and civil, became
overpoAvering, and an appeal was made to the GoA^ern-
ment at home for an addition to the number of officers of
Engineers. It Avas proposed to add two battalions to
the strength of the corps serving in India, not because the
existing strength of the corps Avas in any Avay inadequate
to the performance of its mihtary duties, but because the
number of officers Avas not sufficient for the additional
duties of the Public Works Department.
Two battalions Avould have given an addition of about 80
officers of all ranks. As hoAvever, this number could not

ORGANISATION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS IN INDIA. 437
be collected at once, it became necessary to employ civilians
in the subordinate appointments, and gradually the
number of these increased tUl it exceeded that of the
mUitary members of the department.
The subject Avas brought under my notice early in
1869 in a peculiar way. I am an old Associate of the
Institution of Civil Engineers, and Avas appointed in
1869 a member of the Council of that body. In this
capacity I Avas made cognizant of the present state of the
Department of Public Works in India by the complaints
of the civil officers, addressed to the Council of the In
stitution. These gentlemen were dissatisfied with their
position ; they were socially in a lower scale than the
mUitary officers, though employed upon the same duties,
and they pressed the Council to bring the subject under
the consideration of the Secretary of State for India.
The President, naturally enough, made a reference to me,
as being thoroughly acquainted with the relative position
of the miUtary and civil members of the Public Works
Department, and I Avas very glad to avail myself of this
opportunity of pressing upon the Government the con
clusions I had arrived at in 1863, which had been
. strengthened and confirmed by the statements made of
the existing condition of the department. I therefore
wrote to his Grace the Duke of Argyll, suggesting the
expediency of assimilating the duties of officers of En
gineers in India to those of officers of the same corps in
England and the Colonies ; of retaining the purely military
organisation, which enables the officers of Engineers to
act as an integral part of the army ; and of proportioning
the strength of the corps to the miUtary work Avhich the
officers are called upon to perform ; Avhile I modified to
a certain extent my recommendation as to the constitu
tion of the Public Works Department, by proposing that
it should be organised upon a system analogous to that
of the ' Fonts et Chaussees' in France.

438 VARIETIES OF VICE-REGAL LIFE.
Further considerations, and a knowledge of the recom
mendations which have been made for the purpose of
obviating some of the difficulties arising out of the mili
tary organisation of the department (recommendations
which, in point of fact, get rid of the difficulties by de
stroying the organisation), have convinced me that it
would be more economical in every respect, more for the
advantage of the corps of Engineers, as well as for that
of the Public Works Department, that a distinct Une of
division should be drawn between them ; that one should
have a positive military organisation, while the other
should be composed of officers trained specially for the
Public Works Department in India, should look to that
country as its sole field of labour, should have a recog
nised social position analogous to that of officers in other
departments of the Government, and be entitled to all
the advantages which men who have to encounter the
risks of an Indian climate have a right to expect. I vrish
my brother officers to understand that my principal reason
for advocating such a change of system as that alluded to
above, is the conviction that an attempt to maintain the
present anomalous organisation of the corps in India
Avould in a few years have the effect of destroying our
efficiency as a body. By it we are practically divided into
tAVO sections — one, and that the most numerous, looks to
India as its principal sphere of duty ; while the character
of that duty, and the mode of performing it, is so different
from that which prevails elscAvhere, as almost to unfit an
officer trained in such a school for the performance of
the ordinary duties of his position in England and the
Colonies. On the other hand, the mihtary duties in India
will be distributed among such a very small section of the
corps as to deprive the majority of tiie means of keeping
up their knowledge of details Avhich they are never
caUed upon to practise.
It is quite true that an officer Avho has acquired some

ORGANISATION OF ROYAL ENGINEERS IN INDIA. 439
knowledge of civil engineering is in many respects more
efficient as a mUitary engineer than one Avho has not had
simUar advantages ; but this improvement avUI be pur
chased at too high a price if, in the process of acquiring it,
an officer ceases to be a soldier.
I must noAV bring these volumes to a close. I have
probably sufficiently Avearied the patience of my readers
by repetitions, and may, perhaps, have incurred the re
proach of harshness and presumption by the strength of
some of my expressions ; but a man is apt to express him
self strongly when he feels strongly, and whatever ob
jection may be taken to the force of my expressions, they
have, at all events, the claim to be the utterances of one
who has earnestly at heart the interests of the corps of
which he has been so many years a member, the honour
of our common country, and the welfare of those portions
of her empire with which it has been his lot to be spe
cially connected.

INDEX,

ABO
A BORIGINES of Tasmania, account
-'^ of, i. 66-72, 103, 104
— Children at Orphan School, i. 78-79,
81
— Alsit from, i. 81, 83
— of King George's Sound, i. 513
— Iiideous appearance of, i. ijlS
— of Australia, a hairless tribe, i. 410
Adam's Bridge, ii. 196
— channel through, ii. 202
Adam and Adamites, ii. 387
Adye, Cal., R.A., war in north-west, ii.
292,294
Anglo-Indian colonization, objections
to, ii. 112,113
— an element of weakness, ii. 116, 117
Antiquity of man, inquiry into, ii. 348
Appointment as G-overnor-Genera,! of
Australia, i. 265
— as Viceroy of India, ii. 290
Approval of conduct, i. 213-215
Army, Indian, strength of, ii. 37-39
 native, reorganisation of, ii. 55-
72, 95, 239, 240, 243
¦  reduction of, ii. 72, 82
 present state of, ii. 429-433
Auckland Islands, government of, i.
188, 189
Auckland, New Zealand, i. 428
Aurora Australis, i. 471
Avoca, i. 90
Azeem Jah, Prince, ii. 147

"DACKWATEE, mode of travelling
^-* on, ii. 214
Ball, under difficulties, i. 61, 62
— at Madras, ii. 146
Bangalore, journey to, ii. 397
— appearance of, ii. 398
— climate of, ii. 399
Bathurst, journey to, i. 323-326, 327
Bazaar, i. 83
Beacon, plan for, i. 191
Becker, Mr., i. 170, 171, 175, 180
Bees, journey stopped by, ii. 186
Bellambi, coal mines at, i. 450
Bessemeer process, ii. 136
Black swans, i. 86-87
Blow-holes, i. 234, 451

COL
Botany Bay, i. 315, 316
Botany of India, proposed work on, ii.
141
Braidwood, i. 388, 389
Bridge at Perth, i. 197, 198, 202, 203
Broken Bay, proposed trip to, i. 378, 379
Brownlow HiU, journey to, i. 342-346,
385-386
Bushrangers, i. 22

/CALCUTTA, voyage to, ii. 73, 291
^^ — landing at, ii. 297
— life at, ii. 302, 304
Calicut, I'ourney to, ii. 120
Campbell Town, i. 90
Capital sentences, rule concerning, i. 19
Cataract Glen, i. 60, 61
Cattle-show, ii. 385
Cauliflower, fate of, ii. 414
Cauvery, bridges over, li. 266
— falls of. ii. 270
Chamberlain, Gen., unfairly dealt with,
ii. 299
Chatham, course too long, ii. 405
Chinese immigrants, i. 433
Chintz, catastrophe with, ii. 407
Christmas at antipodes, i. 66, 68, 69,
101, 102,372, 373
Christianity, action of on nativps, ii.
216, 377
Chupatties, aspeeies of fiery cross, ii.190
Church of England, i. 141, 142, 233,
252, 253
Church government, i. 173
Church Society, i. 355, 381, 382
Church of Eome, absent from levee,
i. 459-460
Cinchona, opinions as to site, ii. 156
— value of, ii. 347
— rapid growth of, ii. 354
Clergymen's daughters, school for, i. 360
Coal mines in Tasman's Peninsula, i. 38
 road to Falmouth, i. 90
— specimens of, i. 108
 on East coast, i. 120, 153, 154
Colonial Secretary, suspension of, i. 195,
197
Colonies, relation of to mother country,
i. 346, 347, 439, 441

442

INDEX.

COL
Colonies, relation of to mother countries,
ii. 425-428
Competitive examination, objections to,
ii. 281, 287
Conversion of natives, effect of, ii. 1 39
Convict labour, i. 23-25, 41
— females, i. 30
— stations, i. 37, 39
— carriages pushed by, i. 38
— at Maria Island, i. 41, 42, 104, 105
— at D'Entrecasteaux's Channel, i. 86,
87, 104
Convicts Prevention Bill, i. 257
Curious mode of docking ships, i. 87
Cotton presses, ii. 202
— transit of to Madras, ii. 272
— famine, effect upon India, ii. 181, 279
— speculations created, ii. 393
Cuddapah, opening of railway to, ii. 417
Cyclone, Masulipatam, escape from, ii.
399
— to the south of Madras, ii. 409-414

"TiAIRY Farms, i. 209
-^^^ Defences, plans for, i. 244, 245,
249, 494
— expenses of, i. 441
Defence of fortresses, how affected by
improvements in artillery, ii. 180
Defensive system, a mistake in India,
ii. 403
D'Entrecasteaux's Channel, i. 85. 86
Despatch, confidential, publication of, i.
123-130
Destitute Children, a.sylum for, i. 348-
350
Development, Darwin's theory of, i. 495,
496 ; ii. 238
Disturbances in Victoria, i. 216, 217,
263, 264
Doubts Bill, i. 75, 81, 82.

EAGLE HawkXeck, i. 41
— Life at, i. 231, 232, 234-237
Eclipse, i. 382, 383
Education, i. 56, 161, 217-225, 311
— Bill, i. 84, 85, 89, 90
Electoral scheme, i. 242-244, 460-463
— for Moreton Bay, i. 446, 447, 469
Elephant, docility of, ii. 140
— riding, effect of, ii. 357
Elgin, Lord, death of, ii. 288, 314
Embarkation, i. 3
Embrasures, suggestions for improve
ment in, i. 464, 465
Engineers, as Governor?, i. 1 94
• — employment of, ii. 237
— education of ofRcei-s of, ii. 109

GOO
Engineers, organisation of corps in India
ii. 433
English institutions, unfitted for Hin
doos, ii. 235
Epitaphs, i. 433, 434
E.ssays and Eeviews, remarks on, ii. 149
Estates, management of, i. 88, 89
Etiquette,!. 36
Etiquette, official, a mistake, ii. 314
Executive Council, i. 13
E-'chibition of 1851, colonial contribu
tions to, i. 146, 147, 169, 170, 227
"U'ACT, theory and hypothesis, de-
¦*- finition of, ii. 400
Falmouth, i. 91
Farewell addresses in A"an Diemen's
Land, i. 270, 271
— in New South AA'ales, i. 508-512
— Leree, i. 273-276
Federal system, i. 261-263
Female Refuge, i. 82, 83, 93
Fern Tree A'alley, i. 20-22
Fire in Hobart Town, i. 237, 238
Fitz Eoy, Sir Charles, visit from, f.
109-111, 112
Floods in Hobart Town, i. 238-241
— at Parramatta,' i. 489-491
Ford, adventure at, i. 200, 201
Forests, action of on rainfall, ii. 349
Freemasons, ball given by, i. 355, 356
French naval oflScers, i. 336, 337
/^AIESOPPAH Falls, journey to,
^^ ii. 122-129
— description of, ii. 132
Galle, sketch of, ii. 28
Ganges canal, remiirks on, ii. 320-322
Gate Pah, attack on, ii. 366
Geology of Van Diemen's Land, i. 153,
154
— New South Wales, i. 445
Glover, Capt., death of, ii. 346
Gneiss, question as to origin, ii. 130
— peculiarities of formation, ii. 365
Godavery, navigation of, ii. 84, 96, 97
— irrigation works, ii. 89, 90
 slow progress of, ii. 97.
 cost and value of, ii. 230, 231
Gold, discovery of, in California, i. 136
-138
— in Australia, i. 159-160
— effect of, i. 159, 160, 176, 182-1S7,
192-195, 210, 217, 227, 229, 248
— diggings at the Turon, i. 328-330
 at Kiandra, i. 492, 493
— reduced yield of, i. 479
— diggers, representation of, i. 268, 269
Good Friday, singular observance of, ii.
167
Gooseberry fool, i. 317

INDEX.

443

GOV
Government domain and gardens, i. 19,
20
— new house, i. 194
— servants, classification of, ii. 37
— suggestions as to constitution of, ii.
73 78
— of India, slow working of, ii. 226
 relations between general and
local, ii. 296
— comments on working of, ii. 318-320
Govett's leap, i. 432

TTAMILTON, i. 88
-'^ Hero-worship, folly of, ii. 341
Hindoo unfitted for self-government, ii.
48.
— relation to us, ii. 50, 61
— mental capacity of, ii. 79, 83
— character of, ii. 83, 267
— disregard of truth, ii. 287, 333
— house, visit to, ii. 317
Hobart Town, arrival at, i. 9.
— description of, and scenery, i. 10-
18,20
¦ — return to, i. 64
— harbour of, i. 106, 106
— social state of, i. 107, 108
Holicul Droog, ii. 179
Home legislation, difficulties of, ii. 18
Horses, supply of, for India, i. 429,
430, 437, 438; ii. 185
— breeding establishments in India,
ii. 323, 326
Hospitality, i. 207
Hot wind, i. 29, 227, 228
Hunter Eiver railway opened, i. 383
Hunting accident, i. 162
Hutchins school, i. 57

TNDIA, troops sent to, i. 434, 436,
-•- 438
Indian railways and navigation works
hastily undertaken, ii. 84, 85
— government curiously framed, ii. 114
— finance, ii. 370-377
— army, suggestions as to constitution,
i. 437
Infant schools, i. 52—56
Insects, i. 373.
Intercolonial differences, i. 377, 378, 486
Irish State prisoners, i. 130-136, 144-
149, 151-163, 181, 182, 248
Irrigation, i. 371, 372
— in India, money -for, to be borrowed,
ii 226
— reservoirs for, ii. 203
— works, cost of, and returns from, ii.
339, 340
— Company, works of, ii. 275.

MAK
TEWS, white and black, at Cochin,
" ii. 220-222, 401
Jordan, river, i. 28
Jubilee, i. 149, 150
Judges, difficulties with, i. 73-78, 79
93, 94, 97-99, 134, 135

TTANGAROO, i. 56, 130
-^*- — Point, regatta at, i. 204-206
Khonds, outbreak of, ii. 418
King Tom, ii. 176
Kirwee, plunder taken at, ii. 178
Kurnool, appearance of villages, ii. 274
— geology of, ii. 277

T ABOUE, scarcity of, i. 18
-•-' Lake Tiberias, i. 163.
Land, sale of, ii. 184
— price of, ii. 184
Laterite, geological position of, ii . 217
Launceston, journey to, i. 23-27
— events at, i. 58-61
— farewell visit to, i. 258 -260
— harbour of, i. 106, 107
— plans for sewerage of, i. 380
— swamp, i. 203, 204
Lawrence, Sir John, appointment of, ii.
316
— arrival of, ii. 327
Legislative Council in Van Diemen's
Land, old, i. 32, 47, 48, 76, 85, 92-96,
166-158, 208, 241-244
— new, i. 173, 174, 175, 178-180, 183,
193.
— in New South Wales, i. 312
— in India, objections to, ii. 43
 proposed admission of natives to,
ii. 127
License fee to gold diggers, i. 268
Lieutenant-Governor, proposed appoint
ment of, i. 440
Lignite, i. 454

"jV/TADEIRA, i. 4, 5
-'-'-'- Madras, appointment to, i. 490,
498-507
— voyage to, i. 510, 512-514
— arrival at, ii. 26
— mode of life at, ii. 30
— first receptions at, ii. 30, 31
 climate of, suited to invalids, ii. 390
— departure from, ii. 424
Magnetic observations at Travancore,
ii. 368
Mahometans, state of feeling amongst,
ii. 42
— invitation from, ii. 419
 fete given by, ii. 420
Makon-tiePeak, ii. 110, 111

444

INDEX.

Man, action of, on nature, ii. 393
Mangosteens, ii. 198
Maories, character of, ii. 3
— refusal to sell land by, ii. 7
-7- tribal rights of, disputed by govern
ment, ii. 9, 10
— advice as to treatment of, ii. 8, 9,
14-18
— results of course pur,sued towards, ii.
19
— mistaken treatment of, ii. 332
Market-place, new, in Hobart Town, i.
230, 235
Mathematics, remarks on study of, i.
246
Meat, supply of, i. 450, 451
Midland Agricultural Association, i. 125
-130
Military matters, interference of civil
ians in, ii. 312
Mint, i. 318, 319, 352
Minute on war in N.W. frontier, ii.
305-308
Missionary societies, action of, ii. 19,200
Mission, London, schools of, ii. 204
Mohurrum, festival of, ii. 395-397
Mongoose and snakes, battle of, ii. 415
Monsoon, north-east, effect of, ii. 283
— south-west, limit of rainfall of, ii.
131.
Moreton Bay, separation of, i. 369-371,
377, 468-470
Mountain tribes, impolicy of meddling
with, ii. 299
Municipal organisation, i. 57, 172
Murder of Mr. Price, i. 384
Mysore, journey to, ii. 248-250
— visit from the Eajah of, ii. 251
— birthday of Eajah of, ii. 253-257
— visit to wives of Eajah, ii. 258
— character of Eajah, ii. 263

"lyTAGGEEY, interview with Eajah
•^^ of, ii. 34
Native hill tribes, archery of, ii. 362
 Todas and Koters, ii. 359
Natural history of colonies, i. 455, 456,
479
— study of, i. 483
National banquet, i. 358-360
Neilgherries, journey to, ii. 97-102
— description of, ii. 103, 104
Newcastle, i. 306, 307
New Caledonia, i. 446, 465
— grants of land in, i. 442, 443
New constitutions, i. 251, 252, 315, 322,
. 323, 326, 327
New Norfolk, i. 34, 46
New South Wales, appointment to, i.
254-257
 state of society in, i. 339, 340

prr
New year, i. 100
— native greetings on, ii. 157
New Zealand, i. 120, 121, 476-478, 479,
480, 485, 486, 488
— bishop of, i. 353, 356
— mode of carrying on war in. i. 483,
484, 493, 494
— sketch of history of, ii. 1-7
— effects of system pursued, ii. 7, 8
Nizam, contingent furnished to, ii. 151
-154
Nobbs, Mr., son of, i. 418, 419, 456,
457, 460, 470, 489
Nomenclature, singular, i. 29
Norfolk Island, i. 394-415, 417, 418,
420-426, 428
Norfolk Island pine, i. 20
North Australian discovery expedition,
i. 310, 353, 374, 381
North Australia, proposed eolony in, i.
362, 363
North-west raihvay, opening of, ii. 33
Nutmegs, wild, ii. 363

(^BSEEVATOEY, i. 107
^^ — at Sydney, i. 309
Odd Fellows, society of, i. 265, 266
Official life, commencement of, i. 11
Old Jones, i. 481, 482
Orange gardens, i. 313, 368, 369
Oranges, cultivation of, i. 419, 420
Orphan schools, i. 78-81, 96, 97, 111,
112, 116, 117-119, 266
— at Parramatta, i. 316, 317

T)AGODAS, different in form, ii. 246
Pah, folly of storming, ii. 345
Parramatta, question as to domain, i.
376, 377
— visit to, i. 470, 472
Parasitic figs, i. 460
Parliament of N. S. Wales, character of,
i. 341, 342, 346, 494, 495, 497
— opening of, i. 350, 351
— prorogation of, i. 383
— dissolution of, i. 507
— attempt to s^i-amp Upper House, i.
436
Patriotic Fund, i, 305, 306
Peace, news of, i. 357
Pearls, speculative purchase of ovsters,
ii. 199
Permanent settlement, a mistake, ii. 271
Philosophical Society, i. 364
Philosophy, abuse of term, ii. 422
Pitcairn, Mr-., correspondence with, i.
267, 268
Pitcairn Islanders, account of, i. 337,
425, 427, 439

INDEX.

445

Pitcairn Islanders, arrival at Norfolk
Island, i. 360, 361, 363
— ¦ desire to return to Pitcairn, i. 418
Police new, effect of, ii. 343
Pohticid Eigents, improper interference
of, ii. 310
— changes, evil of, ii. 150
Poiitville, visit to, i. 28
Population of world, rate of increase of,
ii. 392
Port Arthur, i. 39, 40, 46
Port Curtis, rush to reported gold field,
i. 453, 454
Precedence, i. 36
Preparation for voyage, i. 2
Prince Consort, death of, ii. 168, 169
Public Works, system of, ii. 81
— feeling, change in, i. 164-169,
213
Punch, i. 321
' Punjaub,' wreck of, i. 284
Putrid Sea, i. 135

QUAIL shooting, i. 11
Queen's birthday, celebration of,
i. 43-45
Quilon, illuminated garden at, ii. 215

RACES at Newtown, i. 211
— at Sydney, i. 486
Eailwaye, schemes for, i. 307, 308, 314,
315, 319, 320, 367, 368, 443, 487
Eainfall, proportion of discharged by
rivers, ii. 188, 189
Eajah of Wundoor, visit from, ii. 137
Eajah of Poodoocottah, ii. 166
— letter sent to, ii. 192
Eajah of Travancore, interview with, ii.
207
— character of, ii. 208
— dinner with, ii. 209-211
Eajah of Cochin, ii. 219
Eanees of Travancore, visit to, ii. 212
Eeduction of expenditure, mistaken, ii.
337
Eent, redemption of, ii. 161
— in com, ii. 162
Eegistration of titles to lands, ii. 168
Eeports, military, on N.W. frontier de
sirable, ii. 338, 339
Eesponsible government, i. 326, 327
— inauguration of, i. 331-335, 351, 352
— progress of, i. 353, 364-367, 368,
369, 467, 468, 472, 473, 476, 476,
481, 487, 497, 498
— a misnomer, ii. 20-24
Eoad to Launceston, i. 24
Roads, inspector of, i. 23
— in New South AVale.s, i. 325, 387.
470

Koyal Society, i. 107
Runaway horses, i. 206
Eungasami's Pillar, ii. 183
OANDEESON, Ensign, ii, 313
^ Savages, conduct towards, i. 446,
446
Sebastopol, news of fall of, i. 321, 322
Secondary punishment, i. 280-301 ; ii.
227, 228
Sectarianism, i. 55, 56
Sedashegur, voyage to, ii. 121
— proposed harbour at, ii. 85, 121
— works at, ii. 125-127, 129
Seringapatam, ii. 264-266
— tombs of Hyder Ali and Tippoo at,
ii. 268, 269
Servants, convict, i. 33
— native, number and quality of, ii. 27,
28
— school for children of, ii. 171, 173, 193
Seven Pagodas, visit to, ii. 380-384
Shells, collection of, i. 457, 468
Shoalhaven, i. 452, 453
Shooting in India, ii. 106-109, 111
Sispara Ghaut, ii. 138
Snakes, i. 116
Social arrangements, i. 336
Soil, mode of ascertaining quality of, ii.
233
Stanley, Captain, i. 122, 123
Statistical information required in India
ii. 342
St Thomas, burial-place of, ii. 389
Stone implements, remarks on, ii. 329-
332
Storm at sea, i. 416, 416
Sugar works, ii. 386, 388
Sunday, observance of, i. 198, 199
Survey, trigonometrical, i. 105
Surveying in Victoria, i. 473, 474
Sydney, arrival at, i. 278, 279, 302, 303
— description of, i. 304, 305
rPABLE-TUENING, i. 225, 226
-*- Tableaux Vivants, i. 50-52
Tanjore, visit to, ii. 163, 164
Tappa cloth, manufacture of, i. 407
Tasman's Day, i. 64-66
Thierry, Father, correspondence with, i.
441, 442
Thieves, caste of, ii. 166
Thunderstorm, i. 474, 475
Tiger-shooting, ii. 144, 353
Timber of Van Diemen's Land, i. 106,
113, 114, 143, 155, 156
Tortoise, found in railway cutting, i.
458, 459
Training-school for masters, i. 117
Transportation, i. 14, 27, 62, 63, 64,
158, 169. 160, 161, 162, 211, 212,
214

446

INDEX.

Trawling expedition, i. 457, 468
Trepang, preparation of, ii. 197
Trichinopoly, ii. 162, 163
— work in gold and silver, ii. 165
Tumuh, contents of, ii. 281

TTNIVEESITY, Sydney, i. 338, 339,
'-^ 463, 466, 467

"VTAN Diemen's Land, appointment
* to, i. 1
¦ — description of, i. 12
— history of, i. 13
— state of in 1847, i. 15-17
— climate of, i. 82
— departure from, i. 276-278
— responsible government in, i. 386
A'ocal Harmonic Society, i. 491, 492
Voyage, incidents of, i. 3-9

w

AE with Russia, i. 247, 264, 265
— Fai^t Day oii account of, i.
253, 2.54

TOO
War on N. W. frontier, termination of,
ii. 309
Waste land, sale of, ii. 161
AVater, charge for, ii. 336
— power, use of, ii. 354, 366
Waterfalls, i. 431, 432
Waterspouts, i. 416, 417
Wedding, Archdeacon M.'s, i. 94
— native guests at, ii. 232, 233
Wesleyans, agency among convicts, i.
138-141
Whalers, race of, i. 180, 181
Wild boy, ii. 387
— cattle, i. 249-251
Wine, i. 314
Wreck of ' Dunbar,' i. 390-393
— of ' Punjaub,' ii. 284, 285
Windsor, i. 430, 431
AVoUongong, visit to, i, 447—449
— harbour of, i. 449, 450
AVynaad, visit to, ii. 360-364
— scenery of, ii. 361

''OUNG, Sir Henry, arrival of,
270-272

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