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CHAPTER XIX.

VIZAGAPATAM AND WATTAIR.

THE season for the circuit-going judges at last arrived. My guardian and his wife and family left by land for Rajahmundo, and other intermediate stations, arranging to meet us at Vizagapatam. By us, I mean myself and my cousin Tom, who was then doing duty with the 29th N.I., but had been recently posted to the 43rd, stationed at Berhampore. We remained nearly a fortnight after B.'s departure lords and masters of his house -and household goods. Being both youngsters, and free from all restraint, I fear we rather flared up during this period. I am certain that B.'s wine cellar suffered materially. The weather was hot, the dust choking; and Sauterne the very thing to quench one's fiery thirst. Inde, we pitched into it unmercifully, despite the remonstrances and murmurings of the faithful old butler, and we were materially assisted in disposing of the fluid by sundry thirsty subalterns, and that invulnerable, unquenchable old sponge, "Dick"-vulgarly called old Dick-the Master-Attendant. I believe I have before reverted to this eccentric old gentleman, who had outlived and proved the effects of forty Massulipatam hot seasons, till he was literally shrivelled up, and dried like a smoked herring, and impervious to the effects of the fiercest sun, or the furnace breath of the hottest land winds. Full of anecdote, relative to past days and ancient heroes, his proudest theme was to dwell upon the intimacy that had existed between himself and Sir John Malcolm. Like most men of the old school, he looked upon modern improvements with a suspicious and mistrustful eye. I shall never forget the excitement the old gentleman was thrown into by the arrival at Bombay of the "Bernice" steamer, with the first regular overland mail. This route was then in its infancy, and as "Dick" was postmaster as well as Master-Attendant, he looked upon the innovation in the light almost of sacrilege. I believe he is still alive and hale. I almost believe that death has forgotten the old man who has for so many years braved the vile climate of Massulipatam.

At last the day of our departure arrived. The good brig Catharine, commanded by a brother of the Captain of the Isadora, afforded us an oppor tunity of bidding farewell to the vilest station in all India. A couple of days previous to our departure we had been the guests of our poor Fort-Adjutant, as hospitable and good a soul as ever breathed. His only failing was an extreme partiality to act as parson. Sunday after Sunday would he read the Church Service, stumbling over every long and difficult name in the Old Testament both painfully and ludicrously. The next tidings we had of him was, that he was added to the number of victims to the climate.

On board of the good brig Catherine, 200 tons register burden, coppered and copper-fastened, well manned, equipped, tight and staunch, and in every way fitted to undertake the voyage in question,-luckily for us, this was so far correct,-I had no sooner reached the deck, than I was regu larly on my "beam ends;" those old familiar abominations of bilge water, tar, salt fish, onions, &c., floated upon the detestable atmosphere that impregnated the ship, and I gave in without a struggle. Not so my other compagnons de voyage. They held out manfully, gloated over fat salt pork, pitched into the pickled onions, swallowed any amount of bottled porter, and swaggered about the decks, cigar in mouth, and apparently in the seventh heaven of enjoyment. Occasionally they paused to contemplate my prostrate form and suggest some palliative remedy for my sufferings; such, for instance, as a small bit of fat pork, well fried in salad oil; but my sufferings had already reached their climax, and I was beyond the venom of the shafts hurled at me. My greatest and most moderate torment was the old black steward, who, in a spirit of mistaken kindness kept continually worrying me to try some of his gams and gallies, (jams and jellies) as he called them. Night closed in over us, and, completely wearied out, I sunk into a peaceful slumber; from which, towards morning, I was aroused by a tremendous tumult on deck. There was nobody in the cabin or the cuddy to reply to my inquiries; everyone had gone on deck,

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and the chances seemed to be that the vessel was cious maiden aunt could have effected. The other going down in a hurricane, for I could distinctly officers attached to this invalid battalion were all hear it blowing up aloft. However, sea-sick broken down specimens of most deplorable bankpeople are great philosophers, and a termination ruptcy in body, mind, and purse. Not one but to my sufferings would, in any shape, have been stooped and shook with palsy, until wound up of a almost welcome. I am quite sure I was indiffer- morning, to a certain extent, by brandy and water. ent as to my fate-so much so that I coolly turned I may only except the Adjutant, who had risen round, and fell off fast asleep again. from the ranks, and was, comparatively speaking, a perfect Hercules in health and pocket. These poor officers who had all entered the army with brilliant prospects of promotion and honours before them were, in many instances, regularly bullied out of their regiments. At that period the Madras army was very differently constituted from its present state, when the march of intellect has made rapil strides in India. At the time these poor fellows joined, there was hardly a colonel or a major in the infantry that ever was guilty of going to bed sober. Even some of the generals commanding districts have left an unenviable fame and name for their drinking propensities. anecdote is told of old general V., who nightly presided at the mess table of the regiments in garrison, and as surely got stupidly intoxicated before 11 p.m. The certain indication to the aides de camp of the approaching state of uncon

An

When I next opened my eyes, it was broad daylight; and, though the tempest roared loudly, still my attention was immediately arrested by the groans and moaning of my two fellow passengers, who now, in just retribution for their mockery, were suffering from all the pangs of that dreadful sea ailment they had thought lightly of yesterday. Strange to say (such alas is the vengeful spite of frail mortals), this sight effectually cured me of all my own ills. Scrambling out of my berth, as best I could for the rolling and pitching of the vessel, I succeeded in reaching a seat at the stern of the brig, where the fresh cool air, soon entirely revived me. The sea was one mass of monstrous, frothy waves, the wind howled fiercely through the rigging; the lofty spars were all struck, and not an atom of canvass, save a double reefed storm-staysail, exposed to the gale. It was blowing one of those terrible hurricanes which periodi-sciousness, was a villainous effort the old man used cally visit the coast of Coromandel, aud commit to make in trying to sing one of Dibdin's famed such fearful devastation amongst the shipping. sea songs. This was the signal for the general to At that period, the storm was dead against us, and, be carried out, neck and heels, amidst the uproarious according to the ship's reckoning, we had drifted mirth of the youngsters. As the main road would considerably past Coringa, and were nearly opposite have proved a circuitous and tiring process, these Madras, in lieu of being exactly as far on the other reckless youths very coolly carried the general side of Massulipatam. There was something from hedge to hedge, and pitched him, cocked hat buoyant, however, and even cheerful in the vessel's and all, over every intervening ditch; the heavy motions, and the sun, though partially obscured, bump with which he fell, the groans which issued gave sufficient light to gild the froth-capped from his well-shaken frame, were nuts to his waves with a golden tinge. By breakfast time, I tormentors, and, strange to say, the old man was was as hungry as a hunter; at dinner, as ravenous never the worse for these mad freaks the next day. as a wolf; and tea and supper re-assured me as to There was another queer old customer-a Bacchathe possibility of getting over the complaint. It nalian hypocrite-who passed under the sobriquet was now my turn to look in upon the sufferers, of Nosey B. Nosey always got sentimentally drunk and suggest mild remedies. As Sterne's Corporal about midnight, and then discussed philosophy and says, Chacun a son tour; but, upon the whole, I temperance to the youngsters around him. drew it mildly. At sunset the wind died away for half an hour, and then blew with renewed energy from an exactly opposite direction. was a fair wind for us; we ran before it all night, and, soon after daybreak, came to anchor off the pretty looking town and fort of Vizagapatam.

This

Soon after sunrise we landed, little loath to quit the abominable odours and atmosphere of the trader. A couple of hired tonjons carried us in a very few moments into the fort, where, for the time being, the Circuit Judge resided in a very spacious and commodious house, which commanded an extensive prospect of the ramparts, the sea, and shipping, and the parade ground, with the invalid quarters opposite. The fort was exclusively garrisoned by European invalids, commanded by Major P.-a bald-headed, prosy, old man, who was the aversion of us youngsters, and got us into more scrapes by mischievous tittle-tattling than any vi

"A glass of brandy and water, by Jove, sir, in moderation, by Jove, sir!-a cigar in moderation, sir!-these are (hiccup) the best thi-n-gs (another hiccup) in the"-and here, exit the old humbug under the table, whence he was duly hauled, and carefully shaken, by his palkee bearers, who carried him home on their shoulders. With such examples before them, and the rascally facilities afforded by Indian baboos, and others, for incurring debt, it was hardly to be wondered at that many a promising lad of sixteen and seventeen, fresh from school, and thrown suddenly into a life of indolence, luxury, and almost entire independence, should have imperceptibly lost all the moral and religious sentiments imbued into him by sound English educations, and sunk into viee, and too often. a course of dishonesty. I myself knew an Honourable, the youngest son of an Earl, who, upon his fair and honourable name, had borrowed immense

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sums from some of the more respectable natives. Fancy what this noble youth's sentiments and feelings must have been when the black fellow, that he would hardly allow to sit in his presence, from whom he borrowed at exhorbitant interest, but under the hallucination that it was he and not the lender that was doing the favour, -I say, imagine this sprig of a noble stock standing in open court, a prisoner for debt, and being told, as he was, before assembled blacks and whites, that he was a dishonour to his honourable name! These were the very words the old baboo used; and as revenge, or even one satisfactory kick, was out of the question, our dishonourable friend went back to prison, and took violently to brandy and water, and so went to the dogs.

Most of these poor invalid fellows at Vizag had been victimised early in their career; very few had attained a captaincy; the greater part were lieutenants and ensigns, and as there is no promotion in the invalid battalions, lientenants and ensigns they were doomed to remain for life. Not possessed of equal powers of resistance, at a time when the slack reins of military discipline began to be lightened a little by Sir George Townsend Walker, and successive commanders-in-chief, whilst the old hands drank deep and late, but, being well inured to such indulgencies, rose fresh as a lark with the dawn, and went through their necessary duties, the youngsters, who followed in their wake, fell victims to the example, and being detected once, twice-perhaps a dozen times -unfit for drill, unfit for duty of any kind, received a gentle hint from the commanding officer to invalid, with the option of dismissal. Tenderhearted medicos furnished requisite certificates. The gold lace and buttons, and the varied cuffs and collars, were substituted by silver and French grey, and as the wretched man donned this livery of degradation, he sunk in his own esteem and that of his acquaintance, never to rise to the level again. Alas! this is no overdrawn picture; but remember I am speaking of 1838, just twenty years ago. Wonderful and rapid improvements have since taken place in all branches of the service in India.

man to boot. Here was a talented, carefully reared man, perfectly lost, body and soul, through the curse of evil example which-thank heaven! longer exists in India.

-no

My comrade's birthday happened to come, as birthdays will, and S. and I determined to celebrate the occasion by a regular blow out. The mess butler had to furnish the grog and necessary plates and dishes; the wines also came from the mess, as did the two silver candlesticks. Being bachelors, our own kit was certainly limited, the central room of the bungalow constituted our dining-room, in the centre stood the table, at either end our respective bedsteads, an empty six-dozen chest, on either side, though rather hard, afforded capital seats; and, in addition to all this, we really did own three chairs and a stool. The day at last arrived; preparations had been completed to our entire satisfaction; the dessert was spread out upon an old horse-cloth, which covered one of the window sills. A fearful array of bottles extended across the shady side of the verandah, and S. and I contemplated these preparations with sundry winks of satisfaction, and an inward presentiment of something good in store. The dinner hour fixed was 6 p.m. We expected several fellows belonging to the Queen's ships, and some of the juniors of our own place. As ill-luck would have it, old T. happened to have drawn his pay the very day before our party came off; and, as was his wont on these monthly occasions, he was seized with a visiting mania, and having hired a palanquin made a regular tour, taking every house in turn as he went along. A hospitable, but mistaken, practice exists in India of making every visitor swallow a couple of glasses of sherry and munch a biscuit or two; this is evidently derived from Oriental practices, only that we have substituted wines and spirits for the less intoxicating drink of the natives. Ours was the thirty-fifth house old T. called at, and he could go no further. On a rough calculation he had swallowed some fifty glasses of wine, besides ale, and this upon an empty stomach. The result was obvious, his visiting ended with us that day; he swallowed a glass of porter and immediately fell asleep in his chair, where, in the course But to return to Vizagapatam. Of all the ex- of an hour or so, he became the victim of a batch traordinary and singular characters assembled in of as thoughtless and rioting youngsters as were the fort, poor Mr. T. was undoubtedly the most ever collected under the same roof. The day was pitiable, and yet most grotesque. Never in the exceedingly hot, and the first thing that suggested memory of that respectable individual, the oldest itself was to cool the victim of our ruthless sport, inhabitant, had T. ever been convicted of going to the result was that some twenty bottles of saltbed sober, and he was then a lieutenant of sixty petre-cooled water, were deliberately poured over years of age, and upwards of forty years' standing. the head of the sleeping bacchante; at last this His wife was a half-caste, and I believe, owned the aroused him into some sense of consciousness, and house they lived in, besides having some small a terrible grave young Dr. of the 41th, actually patrimony from gardens, which assisted con- persuaded the shivering and debilitated old man siderably in keeping the wolf from the door, that his sopping head and garments were the results the more especially as poor T.'s propensities of a terrible outbreak of perspiration; fearful, tended rather to expense than economy. How-however, that the game might be carried too far, ever, with the assistance of his own meagre pay, he managed to rub along, and during the forenoon was a most agreeable companion, and a clever

I supplied him with a change of linen myself, with-inexpressibles. He accomplished the first change, but the second was too great an effort,

VIZAGAPATAM AND WATTAIR.

getting one leg in he fell fast asleep again, and it required our united effort to carry him into bed, which, however, we safely accomplished, leaving him until the dinner hour arrived.

We were all young and bachelors, and consequently not over fastidious about our indoor costumes; indeed, not to mince matters, they usually consisted of shirt, drawers, straw hat and slippers; in these we passed the day; breakfasted, dined, and supped. Old T. had come in full dress, with swabs and sword complete, the latter un fortunately we left by his bedside. We smoked our manillas in the open verandah, and drank pale sherry and water anxiously awaiting the hour of six; when mentally we calculated upon much fun and jollity in store. Six came at last, and so did the mosquitoes; but we had safe guards against the attacks of these villanous insects, from the fact of our clothes having been so made expressly as to embrace feet and all. A few minutes later and our seafaring guests made their appearance; there was M. the Scotch assistant-surgeon, S. the middy, G. the purser's clerk, and one or two others. The candles were lighted, our guests divested themselves of all superfluous clothing; G. placed his silver watch on the table; T. snored peacefully, when, with a true spirit of loyalty we commenced the evening, with a bumper to "the Queen, God bless her;" followed by an odious attempt at

A bamper of Burgundy, fill, fill, to me. Whether it was from our discordant howling, or the work of evil genius, or fate, or thirst, or inebriety, I really cannot assert, but one thing is certain, viz. that the sleeper awoke, and starting up into a sitting posture, insisted in joining in the toast. S. poured him out a bumper of Dublin stout, a rarity in India, and T. having swallowed half, roared out vociferously, "God save the Queen," and capsized the remaining contents of his glass over our only two candles, leaving us in utter darkness.

Then ensued a scene and scrimmage, and to it Hogarth could barely have done justice; the odorous soup assailing our olfactory nerves had given a spur to our already keen appetites; other dainty dishes smoked upon the table; an awful pause of seconds ensued, during which interval surprise gave way to rage.

"What do you mean by that you scoundrel?" asked little S. fiercely, at the same time administering a no gentle cuff on the head of old T. who was labouring evidently under symptoms of insanity.

"Strike me, sir! me, an officer and a gentleman!" off flew the coverlids, out hopped old T., one leg duly encased, the other sans couverture, and before we could interfere he had unsheathed his sword and made a plunge in the dark, left and right. Our servants had gone back to the mess room to fetch what had yet to be brought; not a match was to be had for love or money, and I am

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ashamed to say we were forced ignominously to retreat sans ceremonie; sans slippers, and worst of all, oh! ye fates, sans dinner, or anything in the shape of food. Truly, that was a bad omen for poor S.'s birthday. Our bungalow was situated on the summit of a hill, and we had some twenty steps to ascend and descend from the verandah to the gradually sloping hill. Down these, on that eventful night, in our hurry to be beyond the reach of T.'s cold steel, some half a dozen of us rolled in horrid confusion, laughing, threatening, roaring, all at the same moment. Poor young S., the middy, endeavoured to bolt through the window, but T. who caught sight of him, hurled the soup tureen at his head, with such precise aim, that the scalding contents nearly blinded him; most sortunately, beyond a slight cut, he had sustained no material injury.

We, however, who had been ousted were placed in the most ludicrous and unenviable position. The night was pitch dark, and old T. in his valiant defences had smashed every bit of crockery and glass, and hurled every bottle after us with alarmingly correct aim. Whilst the darkness indoors precluded the possibility of our watching his movements, he possessed the decided advantage of being able to distinguish forms and figures as we glided about in uncertainty, from the back to the front of the bungalow. On one occasion the alarm was raised that the enemy (possessing all the cunning of a lunatic, and if ever man was temporarily insane, old Mr. T. was that night) was creeping towards us, drawn sword in hand. Away we started, helter-skelter, down the hill, laughing uproariously, the while, at our absurd position. To add to the noise and turmoil of the scene, the two D.'s, brothers, having inadvertently stumbled against each other during our ignominous flight, got up a private quarrel amongst themselves, which might have ended in a regular row, had not the alarm of the Philistine being upon us once more put them to flight.

Cunning, with all his madness, T. found it safest to retire to the bungalow and keep a sharp look out to repel intruders. He had got the notion into his addled brains, that our bungalow was his private residence, and that he was only repelling the attack of a parcel of freebooters, who had no business at all there. Many of us certainly were freebooters, in one sense of the word; for, having lost our slippers in the hurry, we had neither stockings nor shoes to protect us from the sharp gravelly pebbles; this, moreover, was one cause of T. being able to keep us so long at bay; the ground all round and the inside of the bungalow were strewed with fragments of broken glass and crockery, and, being without means of procuring a light, even with the utmost precaution, we could barely avoid treading upon the fragments.

After many councils of war, and when the night had waned into morning, we made a simultaneous attack on the front and back of the bungalow, resulting in the speedy capture of the offender,

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who was disarmed, secured, carefully lodged in a the umbrageous foliage of stately banians and palanquin, and sent back to the bosom of his neg-marinds, whilst the whole air was perfumed lected family. This was the last we saw of him. Some weeks later he took exclusively to cherry brandy, and in a few months' time was carried to his last home.

Not far from the Fort at Vizagapatam, is a manufactory of those beautiful porcupine quill workboxes, desks and baskets, for which this place has a wide reputation. In the fort also was the powder manufactory, and an infant school, supported by some missionaries. The latter was situated just behind our house, and gave us full scope at all hours in the day of judging of the vocal capacities of its infantile scholars, who sung squeakingly, "I love little pussy, I like her coat so warm," and similar lugubrious ditties, which embraced all branches of education, even mathematics included.

At Wattair resided all the aristocracy of the place, and thither, when the hot weather had set in, we also repaired. About midway, between the Fort and Wattair, was situated the residence and extensive grounds of Goday Sooriab Precashar Row, a native gentleman of birth and education, and who was possessed of many good qualities that rendered him a favourite with the English. Sooriab's house was a perfect palace as to size and structure, and the magnificence and costliness of the furniture. His grounds constituted a perfect park, with a fine carriage drive through them, which he had very liberally thrown open to the public. Here, of an evening, all the whites congregated, and enjoyed their evening exercise under

with the roses and jessamine that grew in abundance all over the place; birds of fifty bright and varied plumages fluttered from bough to bough, and carolled pleasantly in the golden light of the setting sun from the loftier branches of the stateliest trees. In the centre was a large tank, with a jet d'eau perpetually in play, and the pleasant sea breeze swept uninterruptedly over the hill sides and precipices, which lined the sea shore.

Sooriab himself was a tall, handsome man, the perfect beau ideal of a high caste Indian gentleman; he spoke and wrote the English fluently, though he had never been out of India, and conversed on all topics, political and general, with case and much good sound sense.. His great hobby seemed to be clocks, and I have often been bewildered and surprised at the perpetual hammer and tongs created by some couple of score clocks, striking in all intonations and at all distances. Before entering his private reception room we had to pass through a series of ante-chambers, each boasting of at least six clocks of various dimensions and patterns, but mostly of a costly nature. What with cuckoos and musical clocks, and giants with clubs, and little old men that darted out of turrets, and careful old sentries that were never relieved; these clocks were the greatest conceivable attraction to all the European children in the place, though by a wise precaution they were so placed as to be beyond the mischief that might otherwise have resulted from the prying propensities of these juvenile visitors.

BROKEN MEMORIES.

Broken memories of many a heart
Woven into one.-Shelley.

THE SMUGGLER'S REVENGE A SEA-SIDE YARN.

CHAPTER I.

FROM THE SEA-SIDE.

A dreamer on a lonely shore,

Strange thoughts but half defined were his,
And there from restless Fancy's store,

He shaped those dreamiugs into this.—S-———.

SEPTEMBER and out of London, breathing fresh air, and once more seeing honest country-faces, ruddy as autumn apples, without that worn £s. d. kind of expression which so painfully reminds us of Fleet-street. In short I am in -shire, by the sea-side, in a little cottage which I have all to myself, and which stands on a bluff headland away from the town, with the sea moaning musically some fifty feet down in the bay beneath my garden railings. I have nothing to do but walk, bathe, smoke, and think. "A pretty extensive list of

possibilities," you will say-but all of which, nevertheless, as is too often the case in sea-side retirements, resolve themselves into a general lounging away of pleasant days till the time comes when we must return to London, when we wonder how they can possibly have passed away so quickly and blame ourselves for having done so little worthy of recollection in them.

The readers of this magazine no doubt have by this time thought, judging from the non-appearance of "Broken Memories" last month, that their author has become sick of his goose quill altogether. It is not so, however, dearest of readers. Ill health alone has prevented me from gossipping with you; ill health alone has put a temporary stop to our friendship, which has jogged on so pleasantly, with but one interruption, since January last. More

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