"Beneath this humble roof,

My father lived of old."

237

These contraband articles were coolly produced, from time to time, and read by their owner quite as a matter of course, and with no apparent sense of their combustibleness. Cousinly kindness at first barely tolerated them, but by-and-bye their exterior became familiar. One day the open book was dipped into by a native, as it lay upon the garden seat. It is written in the annals of Graveley that the first trespasser was a lady. It is also written in the same anuals that, having broken the ice, she began to drink more boldly. It is also recorded that a serious passage in "Thaddeus of Warsaw," artfully quoted without acknowledgment of its source, by a daring innovator, was so fortunate as to meet the approbation of one of the deacons of one of the churches, and from that hour the fortunes of fiction began to look up in Graveley. Children of the Abbey," were read at first in "Thaddeus of Warsaw," and "The snatches, and in bye-places: afterwards in extenso and before the sun. "Thaddeus of Warsaw" always held its own and commanded most readers, until I left the place, which I attribute partly to its intrinsic superiority, but still more to its being "founded on fact." This, which to a critical eye means a bad book, was a strong recommendation

"The silver piece to you is sent,
To banish all your discontent,"

and so on.
The figures of speech are often
questionable, and "truth" is sometimes forced
into a hateful rhyming alliance with "earth."
But the general conclusion from my bundle of
manuscript is, that Graveley would have been an
Arcadia, in its way, if it had not been for two
circumstances, I. That things cost money; II.
That two men cannot marry the same woman, and
vice versá―circumstances which (the philosophic
mind will not fail to observe) enter largely into the
composition of human discomfort everywhere.

These good people, then, found themselves in popular and entertaining literature. The circulating library was a thing only remotely dreamt of in Graveley. It was believed that works of fiction were read by the servants at the hall, and the wicked old parson at the church had been heard to speak of "Tom Jones;" but in my own immediate circle, which comprised nearly the whole population, these things were spoken of as hobgoblin stories. If you were seen with a story book in your hand, you would be reminded of Joseph, and the infelicitous fruit which grew on that garden wall in the "Pilgrim's Progress ;" and if the plague had broken out, the consternation could scarcely have been greater in Graveley than it was, when a female relative of one of our good friends who had come up from London to settle there, was found to have brought with her " Thaddeus of Warsaw," by Miss Porter, and "The Children of the Abbey," by Regina Maria Roche!

Graveleyians.

Yet

one.

238

of my reading friends that I cannot forbear remarking upon it. I mean in the capacity of reading the same book an indefinite number of times without getting tired of it.

In society, it is admitted that the longer you know a person who is worth knowing, the better you understand him-that you make fresh discoveries every time you see him-that, if at first he was a surprise and a pleasure, he becomes, as he grows upon you, more and more a revelation and a bettering influence. Why should it not be understood to be the same with a book that is worth reading? In fact, it is so; but few, com. paratively, recognise the fact. With books, as with men and women, though first impressions have their own proper value, the more progress you make in mastering their idiosyncrasies, the more good you get out of them. It is only when an author's trick of phrase has become quite familiar, that you have leisure to bestow on what underlies it, and master his secret thought. And even then, there are "wheels within wheels" ad infinitum.

CHAPTER V.

THE ADVENTURE.

ABOUT the third day after our entering upon that vast and almost impenetrable jungle alluded to in my last chapter, we had started, as usual, at early dawn, with a long and dreary day's journey before us. In the jungle, though we travelled slowly, and our progress was often interrupted by the density of brambles and tiger-grass, yet the complete shelter afforded by the netted foliage of stately and ancient trees, that had intertwined their branches through centuries of time, created a cool and refreshing atmosphere, which enabled both beast and man to undergo more bodily fatigue than could have been expected in the open country, exposed to the fierce rays of an Indian sun; moreover, everyone was anxious to be quit, as speedily as available, of such unpleasant neighbours as teemed in that vicinity.

About three hours before noon, a favourite little spaniel, that sometimes trotted alongside of

us on foot, but oftener rode in one or the other of our palanquins, suddenly leapt out of mine in pursuit of some stray hare that had crossed our pathway, and instantly disappeared in the dense foliage that surrounded us on every side. C, who was close behind us on horseback, endeavoured to reach the pet before evil should befall her; but

He

almost as instantaneously did a chetah leap out from its lair, and with one bound disappear with our little favourite firmly secured in its jaws. Losing all control over himself, C— very injudiciously set spur to his horse, and followed as best he could upon the track of this felon of the forest. A few minutes gallop convinced him, however, of the futility and rashness of such the narrow track that we were pursuing. an attempt; yet, not before he had lost sight of speedily became entangled amongst an impenetrable maze of brushwood and brier. More and more bewildered-deeper and deeper entangled in a part where probably human being had never before penetrated, C, and his godawallah (who, Indian like, had followed him on foot carrying his gun for him), held a consultation as to the best mode of procedure, which resulted in their determining to leave it to the instinct of the horse and dogs to retrieve them from a dilemma far more horrible than conception ever realised. It was well they did so, as the result will clearly testify.

Giving head to the faithful Arab, preceded by a brace of greyhounds, and a few English pointers, these two adventurers speedily found themselves extricated from an apparently impenetrable thicket, and to their great joy entered upon a well beaten

* Indian groom.

track, where the ruts of cartwheels gave evidence of their having again recovered the highway from which they had so recklessly swerved. In this conclusion they were sadly mistaken. Emerging suddenly from the intense gloom that surrounded them, they found themselves in a wide open space that had been effectually cleared of trees and brushwood, and where, to their utter dismay and consternation, they beheld a herd of wild elephants lazily disporting themselves in the sunlight that here penetrated. Hardly a moment intervened before their intrusion was discovered, and instantly resented. The leader of the herd, an immense male elephant, with tusks that would have proved a treasure-trove to any ivory seeker, gave the alarm by raising such a trumpeting as woke up echoes far and wide. Immediately the others took up the strain, and then there ensued a bewildering and fearful scene, such as few of my readers would ever desire to contemplate. Amidst the deafening clamour and roar, the crushing and crackling of branches and tender plants, the chattering of frightened monkeys, the fluttering of alarmed birds, the screams of the peacocks, and a hundred other unaccountable, and heretofore unheard sounds, there stood that noble steed, with its pallid rider, an Arab of true blood, snorting forth defiance at his gigantic opponents, till, seizing the bit with firm grasp, and despite all my terrified friend's efforts to swerve him from his course, he charged boldly right in amongst the thickest of the herd, and by the suddenness of the movement scattered them left and right, bringing utmost confusion amongst their ranks-causing a like effect, most probably, as was produced by the fatal light cavalry charge at Balaklava. This effect, however, was but of momentary duration; no sooner had the gallant steed dashed through the monstrous phalanx that opposed it, than they with one accord wheeled round, and trumpeting forth their rage, followed in pursuit. These were moments of terrible suspense to poor CAway flew the terrified intruders over the narrow and uncertain pathway, often so wedged in with forest on either side, and so entangled with branches, as to threaten to overthrow horse and rider, a mishap that must have proved fatal to both, whilst poor C - retained just consciousness enough to be aware that the enraged elephants, well versed in the mazy mystifications of the jungle, were hot in pursuit, carrying away before them all minor objects that opposed their progress -tearing off huge branches that might have caused a hale man a forenoon's occupation to lop off, and even endeavouring by short cuts through the jungle to get ahead and arrest their further flight. Moreover, it was a matter of great uncertainty as to whether the pathway led to the abode of civilisation, or the densest and least frequented portions of the jungle,-whether the first thing they might encounter should prove friend or foe-man or tiger, and, in any case, whether the greater strength of the elephants

239

would not weary out the horse, and eventually triumph over its superior speed.

In this fearful state of affairs the chase continued for upwards of an hour and a-half, when most providentially C came upon a large party of wood-cutters, who had come out with bullock carts and provisions, for a week's labour in felling timber, required for ship-building purposes on the sea coast of Malabar, at Cochin, and Quilon. These men, by shouts and firing of guns, frightened away the enraged elephants, and thus the fugitives were most fortunately rescued. For a consideration, a large body of these men reconducted C to the highroad from which he had strayed, and, in their way, they encountered and delivered the terrified godawallah, who, at first sight of the elephants, had taken refuge amongst the branches of a very lofty teak tree, where he was exceedingly annoyed by the antics of monkeys, and whence he observed with terror that two elephants, detaching themselves from the herd pursuing his master, took up their position as sentries at the bottom of the tree, picked up C.'s double barrelled gun, chucked it with such force into the air, that the concussion occasioned by the fall caused both barrels to explode, and not only the elephants, but his other persecutors, the monkeys, were put to flight by so sudden and unusual a sound.

It may be readily conceived in what agonies of suspense the rest of the party had remained during the unaccountable absence of C. At first, ready excuses were framed, knowing, as we did, his sporting propensities; but when breakfast had long been discussed, and our dinner hour was near at hand, then indeed sad forebodings as to his fate arose. Our alarm was all the more augmented when, towards one p.m., the greyhounds and the other dogs, sore of foot and perfectly exhausted, crept into the bungalow where we were lodged. The cutwal had dispersed the whole village, with strict orders not to return without tidings; but it was not until night had closed over our miserable abode, that our hearts were made glad by the cheerful voice of the missing one, who, though exhausted, and without food from the previous evening, raised a cheer to announce his return, that made our hearts tingle again with gladness.

The day after this adventure, we reached Manautoddy, where we were hospitably received and lodged by Major Beavan (Author of "Thirty Years in India"); then the cominandant of the company of Sepoys stationed there, whose house was full of young subalterns, attracted hither by the love of sport-for game of every description, abounded in the neighbourhood, and the sportsman might take his choice from a royal tiger to a widgeon.

Five days more journeying brought us to our destination.

Native magistrate.

240

CHAPTER VI.

INSIDE A PALANQUIN.

I CARE not who asserts to the contrary, and this is a bold challenge, but I maintain that there is no mode of conveyance at once so luxurious and convenient as a good Indian palanquin. Admitting that for speed it will bear no comparison with other vehicles, and for appearance is far less dignified than a four-in-hand; still I persist that for distance, night travelling, and a hot climate, for a country, where hotels or inns are things yet to come, nothing can compete with a good palanquin, carried by a well assorted private set of bearers. Every respectable resident in India employs private sets of palanquin bearers, who are in regular monthly pay; and, in addition to their stipulated business of carrying to and fro, make themselves useful in a dozen different ways -they dust the furniture, sweep up the dry leaves and litter in front of the house, help to water the garden, carry cocked-hatted looking "chits" (the Indian for billet-doux), or scented invitations to balls from house to house, run for the doctor, help to pull the punkah, water the euscuss blinds during the prevalence of fierce hot winds, fetch chatties of water to the bath, rig up swings or make palm leaf toys for the children, sing Hindoo love ditties to soothe fractious master Billy, carry baby and the ahmah* in the best tongon down to the beach before sunrise (and never tell tales when ahmahs, liable to human frailties accidently, meet with chokera and carry on flirtations). All these, in addition to carrying the Burra Sahib to his office, and fetching him home in the evening.

A fine, sturdy, healthy, good humoured people are these Hindoo bearers, full of good feeling, willing, active, and of herculean strength. Seldom jangling amongst themselves, always neatly clad, and profuse and scrupulous in ablutions; respect ful and respectable, and usually all of a like stature and equal strength. I speak of private sets that are chosen by the head bearer, who is himself a perfect Adonis, with a voice that can be heard a mile off on a calm day, and who is usually possessed of the faculty of telling poochey-carah (tamul, ogre, or ghost) stories, which hush the most obstreporous of Anglo-Indian children into terrified slumber. Such, at least, is a fair picture of the sets employed by us; ordinarily they are the same all over the presidency, and carry you with a precision and ease that renders the motion hardly perceptible, and tends to soothe one to rest.

Such is not the case, however, with hired bearers, who carry hack palkees at so much a day. These are a very inferior class of people, and seldom of the true caste; rarely of an equal height, the deficiency has to be made up by a mass of shoulder cushions, the slipping or mal-arrangement of which cause excruciating joltings to the unfortunate victim inside. And it not unseldom happens

* Wet nurse.

that five or six of these hired palkees, laden with fresh imported griffins, bound on a formal round of morning calls, get up a kind of hurdle, tearing along full speed, screaming and jostling, till some abrupt turning brings them into violent contact with each other, and the result is a lamentable heap of ruins-bearers with bruised heads and skins, broken poles, and smashed panels, and, in the centre, endeavouring to extricate himself from a chaos of ruined materials, gentleman Cadet Snibbey in a profound state of bewilderment.

Sometimes it also occurs that ludicrous mislakes, rather aggravating to the bearers themselves, are brought about from ignorance of the people's language and customs. An old anecdote is current at Madras of a very corpulent shipmaster, whose weight threatened to force the bottom out of the palanquin, and grievously oppressed the unhappy men, who could only just crawl along with their burden. Conscious of his own misfortune, an noyed at the notice he evidently attracted, and enraged at the snail's pace they were creeping along at, the stout man lay smothering his anger till his fevered imagination interpreted the usual sing-song nasal drawl of the poor bearers into insulting insinuations towards himself. Their ah-be-fah pe, ground over and over again, sounded to him amazingly like a big fat pig, and so roused his indignation, that he jumped out af the palanquin, and violently assaulted the astonished and unoffending men.

But to return to the argument with which I started. Travelling by train is doubtless agreeable and expeditious, when the journey occupies only a few hours, or at most a day and night. Travel as I have done, with hardly an hour's interval, between London-bridge and Marseilles, and however warm and comfortable the first-class carriages, the thing is no longer a joke; you feel as if every bone in your body was bruised; you feel as every man feels that has not winked at sleep for three nights -you are fit to go to bed, and to do nothing else. Travel, as I have done also, on horseback, for thirty hours at a stretch, and, tell it not, ye Fates, what is the result? If you had been broken on a wheel you could hardly be a greater martyr for a period. Travel on a camel's back, as I have been idiot enough to travel, and how do you feel after the first hour or so, with regard to breath and stiffness? Journey upon an elephant, with a well fitted howdah, and, apart from the elephant's vagaries, such as filling his trunk at every puddle, and deliberately squirting the contents all over you-Heavens! the very recollection is productive of an ague. So with regard to stage-coaches, carriages, cabs, carts, waggons, omnibuses, all these are agreeable enough, and full useful for a measured distance. But I should like to see the man who would undertake to travel night and day in these without dismounting, save for a few minutes at a time, and so continue travelling through eight successive days and nights, as I have travelled, dawk in a palanquin. With a couple of thousand

I remember an old anecdote told of a stage coachman, when railways first came into vogue, which certainly was the most clearly defined explanation of the difference between where are you? and there you are. The "old whip," hard upon the new fangled innovations, brought matters to a crisis, and his argument to a dead settler, by illus. trating two imaginary accidents, and drawing his own satisfactory conclusions from the results. "A railway," said he, “why there's the engine goes a busting, or is blown up, or running into each other, or over pressempieces (precipices) and then where are ye? Whereas a coach wheel may bolt off, or a haccident occur-mayhap you get a bruise or two-mayhap a broken limb; but there you are-we sees you, and we picks you up, and carries you to a hospital-now that's what I call a hadequate advantage." Precisely so I am perfectly of honest John's opinion-with this even hadequate advantage" that my palanquin has no wheels to lose; no restive or kicking horses to contend with; if an accident happens at all, its the poor bearers' shins that suffers, not mine, and the utmost inconvenience I am put to is the abruptness of the jolt.

more

And now for the inside of my palanquin-that palanquin in which I travelled, and where I found myself cosy and snug, when I opened my eyes on the eventful morning recorded in the second chapter. My palanquin, then, was about six foot long by three broad, and three in height-for model, see specimen in the museum at the India House-I mean the small model in the glass case. It was lined throughout with green morocco, well padded and stuffed. The mattrass and the cushions (one flat and one round one) were covered with the same material, also well stuffed and padded ; over these, at night time, or when anxious for a nap, the head bearer carefully spread blankets and sheets, and placed a couple of bed pillows, when my palanquin became as luxuriant a four-poster as one could wish for in a hot climate. At other times, these were removed and folded together, and placed behind the palanquin cushion, so as to prop one up into a comfortable sitting posture, then the palanquin answered for an easy chair or a couch. The cushion, moreover, was so arranged by means of leather straps and buttons, as to ad mit of my altering the angle of support for the back, by raising or lowering the cushion at pleasure, when growing weary of one posture. Behind my head, and over either shoulder, were a couple of carriage lamps, fixed outside the palanquin, but which threw all the light, when they were lit at night, into the interior, through small panes of glass, which had curtains to shroud the glare at pleasure. On either hand, also, were pockets and contrivances for holding a tumbler, a bottle, a small goglet of water, biscuits, sand

* Indian porous jars.

for the upper end. From the knees downwards (the knees of a full-grown man, not such a precq. cious traveller as I was) extended, at an elevation of a foot and a half from the bedding, a firm shelf, with a ledge, and a good secure drawer in it. Here was packed away hat box, dressing case, desk, more books, more papers, (aud in most gentlemen's palkees, cigars) and other odds and ends, whilst in the drawer itself were brushes and combs, looking glass, peus and ink, and other little requisites. Over this shelf, suspended from the ceiling of the palanquin, was a strong open net, capital contrivance for preserving oranges aud other fruit, so refreshing on a sultry day, and which on this present, occasion, was well filled with mangoes and custard apples, which were sadly diminished in proportion as the first day's journey drew to a close. Under the mattrass itself, spread out between two sheets, was the limited change of linen, &c., allowed for the journey, and what was soiled was transferred to a flat tin box on the outside, which covered twothirds of the palkee roof. There was, moreover, outside of the palanquin, and just over the front pole, a large open wicker-work basket, well fasttened to the iron rods that secured the pole, and which contained a large sized goglet of water, bottles of wine and beer, a few spare tumblers, and a plate or two. Behind, in a similar position, and similarly secured, were metal basins and jugs, with a wooden camp wash-hand stand, and with what Jonathan calls all the fixings. The sliding doors of the palanquin opened on either side, at least two foot wide, and had, in addition, threc distinct sets of curtains, which all rolled up into a comparatively small space at the top. There were green silk curtains for fine weather, oil clothi ones for wet, and euscuss blinds to shut out the dreadful long shore winds, which are bad enough in the best house, but insufferable out of doors. By keeping these damp, and renewing the supply of water at every puddle or stream we came across, the scorching wind lost its effect, and blew in cool and invigorating. Talk to me of luxuries and inventions in travelling. I should like to know what could surpass the comforts of that palanquin? It was a portable palace, a locomotive drawing-room, a dining room, studio, bedroom, everything and all things at once and in one. It was an enchanted castle (I recollect thinking so at the time) in which I had only to harbour a wish, and that wish was instantly gratified. I thought "mango," and straightway fisted one out of the curtain, "wine and water," it was at my right and left, so with biscuits, so with anything to read, so with sleep, so with all the shadows from light to darkness; and, at night, vice versa. I had only to close the sliding doors, and the brilliant glare of day was gone. To let loose a flood of light from the lamps at night, and impenetrable darkness fell into the roadside hedges. No monarch newly come to the high

P