Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 Part 13

A French adventurer of the 18th century, General La Martine, had risen to great power and wealth in the service of the Kings of Oude. He erected a splendid mansion in Lucknow for the support and education of boys of every creed--Christian boys to be brought up in the Christian Government's religion--and richly endowed it. Similar inst.i.tutions were established in Calcutta and in Lyons, La Martine's native place. This inst.i.tution has proved a signal blessing to European and Eurasian families. On the outbreak of the Mutiny the teachers and pupils betook themselves to the Residency, and under the leading of their Princ.i.p.al took an active part in the defence. La Martine had so little confidence in the kings whom he had served for years, that he ordered his body to be buried in a vault under the building, which he knew would prevent a Muhammadan from making it his dwelling-house. This was accordingly done.

While we were at Lucknow we were most hospitably entertained by a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, to whom a large native mansion had been made over by the authorities on account of the owner having taken an active part in the rebellion. On Sabbath I preached in Hindustanee to the native Christians, and we attended the English service held in a building which had been an Imambara, the name given to a building where Muhammadans of the Shiah sect worship.

When going from Cawnpore to Lucknow we travelled by day. We returned by night, when the moon was full. It was one of those calm, clear nights of which we have many at that season. We reached the Ganges about four in the morning. While waiting for a boat to take us across, there fell on our ears, coming from a cl.u.s.ter of huts close by, the voice of a singer at that early hour; and what was our delight and surprise, as we listened, to hear the words distinctly uttered of a well-known hymn in praise of the Redeemer of mankind! A short time previously the mention of that name with honour in that place would have exposed him who uttered it to a violent death. The incident was very cheering as an omen of the dawn to benighted India, when, through the tender mercy of our G.o.d, Jesus the light of the world shall shine into the hearts of its teeming population, and raise them into the sunshine of heaven.

Lucknow, as well as Cawnpore, has undergone a great change since 1859.

We saw it last in 1877, when traces of the fierce conflict which had been there carried on had well-nigh disappeared; while on every side, in new roads opened up, in miserable tenements thrown down, in new houses erected, and in rubbish removed, evidence was given that the effete government of the Kings of Oude had given place to the vigorous government of their Western conquerors. Nothing is now to be seen of the ruins and desolation of the Residency. The ground has been levelled, trees planted, paths made, and the whole place is kept in beautiful order. On the highest spot there is a memorial cross. All out from Lucknow for miles, at the instance of friends, monuments have been raised, some of them with very touching inscriptions, in memory of the fallen, so far as the spots where they fell could be identified.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE LA MARTINIERE, LUCKNOW.]

We returned to Benares with a very vivid impression of what we had seen, with a new realization of the sufferings our countrymen had endured, with deepened admiration of the heroism they had shown, and with thankfulness at once for our rescue as a people from destruction, and for the restoration of our rule.

[Sidenote: VISIT TO DELHI.]

We continued at our post at Benares till March, 1861, when the state of the Mission admitted of our obtaining a much-needed retreat to the Hills for a few months. We accordingly left Benares for Almora, and took Delhi by the way, where we remained a few days. This was our second visit to the grand old imperial city. On this occasion we visited the scene of the memorable events of the Mutiny year, as we had previously done at Cawnpore and Lucknow. We went to the heights commanding the city, where our army was encamped for months, at once the besiegers and the besieged, and from which at last they took the city, after a contest so desperate and b.l.o.o.d.y that for days the issue was doubtful. The palace, with its magnificent halls of audience and entertainment, where the Emperors of India had for ages kept their court, we found turned into barracks and an a.r.s.enal. English soldiers trod those rooms where Indian magnates had bowed before imperial majesty--giving us an impressive ill.u.s.tration of the transitory nature of earthly glory.

For some time after going to Almora our health improved; but as the season advanced it gave way so entirely, that our medical attendant came to the conclusion a visit to England was indispensable to its restoration. The Directors of the Society gave their kind and prompt consent to our return. We accordingly embarked from Calcutta for England, _via_ the Cape of Good Hope, in January, 1862, and reached our destination in April.

All I have to say about the interval between 1862 and 1865 is that I visited many places in England and Scotland on behalf of the Society, did a good deal of ministerial work besides, and was kept in uncertainty about my future course by medical opposition to my going back to India.

In 1864 I feared I could not return; but my health improved so much in 1865, that the medical men I consulted, to my great joy, consented to our going back. We accordingly embarked for Calcutta _via_ the Cape, accompanied by two young missionaries appointed to Benares, in September, 1865, and reached our destination, after a prosperous voyage, towards the end of the year. We were very pleased with the thought that our traversing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans had come to an end.

The railway had some time previously been completed to the North-West, and so instead of days and weeks spent on the journey from Calcutta to Benares, it was now made in twenty-six hours.

[Sidenote: APPOINTMENT TO RANEE KHET.]

The hot weather and rains of 1866 were spent in Benares. We felt the heat that year more than we had ever previously done, and were to a great extent incapacitated by it for the prosecution of mission work. We came to the conclusion that continued work in the plains was beyond our strength, and as we much wished to continue in the mission field, we hoped a hill sphere might be opened up. In March, 1867, we left for Almora, where, with our colleague Mr. Budden, we engaged in different departments of mission labour. Early in the cold weather we returned to Benares, and resumed our work there. As the hot weather of 1868 came on, we were again privileged to return to Almora. Towards the end of that year it was arranged that our connection with Benares should cease, and that we should begin a new mission at Ranee Khet, about twenty miles north-west from Almora.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER XX.

k.u.mAON.

(1) ITS SCENERY AND PRODUCTS.

k.u.maon is a sub-Himalayan region, with Nepal to the east, the snowy range, separating it from Tibet, to the north, Gurhwal and Dehra Doon to the west, and Rohilkund to the south. Including the hill country of Gurhwal, and the belt of forest and swamp lying immediately under it, of which only a small part has been reclaimed, k.u.maon is about half the size of Scotland.

[Sidenote: THE SCENERY OF k.u.mAON.]

The province presents a remarkable contrast to the great level country beneath. Over it you travel in some directions hundreds of miles, and scarcely any elevation or depression in the land can be discerned. As you travel northward, and approach the limit of the plains, you see hills rising before you, tier after tier; and behind them, on a clear day, the higher Himalaya, with their snowy peaks, as if touching the heavens.

k.u.maon is very mountainous, with as great irregularity as if the land had been fluid, had in the midst of a storm been suddenly solidified, and had then received its permanent shape. Here and there are valleys of some extent, table-lands and open fields are occasionally seen; but over a great part of the province hill is separated from hill by a s.p.a.ce so narrow that it can only be called a ravine. The consequence is that cultivation is carried on mainly in terraces. Where the slope is gradual, and the soil fit for cultivation, these terraces, some very narrow and others of considerable width, rise one above the other to the distance of miles, with the hamlets of the cultivators scattered over the hill-side, presenting to the eye of the traveller an aspect of scenery which is not to be seen in Europe, so far as I am aware. At any rate, we saw nothing resembling it on the vine-clad hills rising from the Rhine, or in the mountains of Switzerland.

The country is well watered. It has innumerable streams, varying from tiny rills to large rivers. In travelling, we have been for days within the constant sound of running water. It has a few lakelets, but it has no large bodies of water, like the lakes which contribute so largely to the beauty and picturesqueness of Switzerland and Scotland. It looks as if the deep hollows, of which so many are to be seen, had been unable to retain the water poured into them, and had let it all flow away. A large part of the province is so steep and rocky that it cannot be turned to any agricultural purpose; and even for grazing purposes a large portion is of little use, as the gra.s.s is coa.r.s.e and poor. There is a great extent of forest and brushwood. As the land slopes towards the Bhabhur, the forest is very dense and varied. The timber is of considerable value, but as there is neither road nor water carriage it must be carried on men's shoulders, and this involves an expense more than it can bear.

From what I have said about the peculiarities of k.u.maon scenery, its mountains, valleys, and ravines, my readers are prepared to hear it has a great variety of climate and produce. Of hills, of which there are many from 5000 to 9000 feet above the level of the sea, the climate is delightful--warm, but not oppressively warm, a little warmer than it is in our country in summer; and cold, though not so severely cold as it is with us in winter. The rains are very heavy, but to compensate for this there is, during the greater part of the year, a steadiness of climate which forms a striking contrast to the fickle climate of England. Down in the valleys the heat is very great. Even in winter the sun is unpleasantly strong, and in summer in the deep ravines the temperature is almost as trying as in the plains. When the season has been somewhat advanced, I have been very thankful to escape from the heat of these low places to the bracing air of the hills. The English Sanatoria are of course on elevated sites.

As k.u.maon has within its borders a cold, a temperate, and a tropical climate, it has a great variety of produce, and when its capabilities are more fully turned to account this variety will be greatly increased.

Most of the grains found in the plains are grown in the hills. The warmer parts of the country produce superior oranges in abundance, and there is also a good supply of walnuts. Of late years apples and pears have been grown with great success, and if the farmers paid attention to this branch of horticulture they might reap a large profit. Attempts have been made on a small scale to cultivate the grape, gooseberry, and currant, but the excessive rainfall of the rainy season has been found unfavourable to them. Tea has become the most valuable product of the province. Tea-planting was commenced at the instance of Government, under its direction and at its expense, more than forty years ago; and now tea-gardens are found all over the province, owned almost entirely by our fellow-countrymen, and, with few exceptions, managed by them. At first Chinamen were employed, but they have been dispensed with, and the entire work is now done by hill people under English superintendence.

(2) THE NATIVE INHABITANTS OF k.u.mAON.

[Sidenote: THE INHABITANTS OF k.u.mAON.]

The hill people of Central and Southern India, the Kols, the Santhals, the Bheels, and others, as is well known, widely differ in race, language, customs, and religion, from the Hindus and Mussulmans of the plains. In k.u.maon, on the other hand, the great majority are strict Hindus, worshippers of the Hindu G.o.ds, and scrupulous observers of caste rules. It would appear that when the ancestors of the Hindus, coming from Central Asia, crossed the Indus, and took possession of the country now called the Punjab, they made raids into the lower range of the Himalayas, killing their inhabitants, or turning them into slaves. The descendants of the aborigines are at present found in a cla.s.s called Doms, who form the artisan portion of the population, and are also largely employed in agriculture. The Muhammadans form a very small part of the population, and are almost entirely emigrants from the plains.

The character of the hill Hindus, in its essential elements, closely accords with that of their brethren elsewhere. They worship the Hindu G.o.ds, practise Hindu rites, and are imbued with the Hindu spirit. The Brahmans and Rajpoots are proud of their position, firm in maintaining it, and shrink from everything which would invalidate it. Under native rule the high-caste spirit had full scope, for we are told that for murder a Brahman was banished, and a Rajpoot heavily mulcted; while other murderers were put to death. Such offences against the Hindu religion as killing a cow, or a Dom making use of a _huqqa_ (the pipe for smoking), or a utensil belonging to a Brahman or Rajpoot, were capital offences. The power obtained by the Brahmans was shown by the fact that, when the province came under British rule, one-fifteenth of its arable land belonged to the religious establishments.

All the Hindu G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses are worshipped in the hills, but the hideous G.o.ddess Kalee is the favourite object of worship. Small temples to her honour are found all over the province, many of them in solitary places on the tops of hills, to which it is meritorious to make pilgrimages, and around which at certain seasons melas are held. We have in our wanderings fallen in with several of these temples in spots from which, for many miles around, no human habitation is seen. By far the most famous shrines are those of Badrinath and Kedarnath, in the upper part of Gurhwal, within the snowy range, where Vishnu is the object of worship, and the officiating priests are Brahmans from Southern India.

Pilgrimage to these places is very meritorious, as it can only be accomplished at the cost of great toil and suffering, and at the imminent risk of life.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TEMPLE IN THE HIMALAYAS.]

In addition to the G.o.ds worshipped all over India, the hill people have local G.o.ds unknown elsewhere. _Bhoots_, evil spirits, commonly supposed to be the spirits of those who have during their earthly life been noted for their wickedness, and have acquired the demon character, are believed to haunt the mountains and forests, and are the objects of special dread. Homage is paid to them to secure their goodwill and avert their vengeance. The people greatly dislike travelling at night, as that is the season when the _Bhoots_ roam about and fall on their prey.

When they must move about they break off the branches of the pine-tree, and turn them into torches to frighten off both the wild beasts and the evil spirits. In the imagination which peoples hills and forests with beings outside the circle of humanity, that make their presence especially felt at night, the people of k.u.maon closely resemble the mountaineers of other lands, among others those of our own Scotch Highlands, as they were till a recent period. In my early days I heard so many stories in my native Highland village of ghosts and fairies, that I was afraid to move about after sunset except when guarded by others, lest these supernatural beings should lay hold of me and carry me away.

[Sidenote: THE CHARACTER OF THE k.u.mAONEES.]

The people have a character for industry. When one sees the difficulties under which cultivation is carried on, he is inclined to consider it deserved. They have periods of lounging, but also of very hard work. The women, in addition to household work, cut and carry wood and gra.s.s, and do much farm work--I have thought at times more than their share; but after all, the heaviest work, the carrying of great loads on head and shoulders, up hill and down hill, and the farm work requiring most strength, is done by the men. Much of the work done by them--work done by draught animals elsewhere--must tend to break down their health and shorten their days.

The k.u.maonees have been described as untruthful but honest. I must say our experience has verified the unfavourable part of this description more than the favourable. So far as veracity is concerned we have not been impressed with any difference between them and other natives of India. We think their honesty has received more credit than it deserves.

This is, at any rate, the opinion of the tea-planters with whom we have conversed, and who have had superior opportunities for judging. They have told us of the strict watch they have to set to guard their tea and fruit. We found that some hill servants, whom we had greatly trusted, had systematically robbed us. The character for honesty was, I believe, given to them because when they set out on their periodical migration to the plains they left their villages unguarded, and found their property safe on their return. I suppose this resulted partly from an unwritten--may I say?--honourable understanding, that as in their spa.r.s.e and widely-scattered population it was well-nigh impossible to guard their goods, the rights of property should be respected; and partly from the circ.u.mstance that there was little left behind in the villages which could be carried away. So far as others, especially Europeans, are concerned, this understanding to practise honesty does not hold.

We incidentally heard of no small degree of immorality among the people, but our information is too limited to justify one in comparing them with others in this respect. There is much that is likable among them, but the general moral tone is undoubtedly low. Polyandry, which prevails in some districts in the Western Himalayan range, is I believe unknown, but polygamy is not uncommon among those who can afford it.

Cleanliness has never been considered a virtue of Highlanders. It is not--or perhaps I should say it has not been--a characteristic of the Highlanders of our own land. Among the k.u.maonees it is notably wanting.

The loathsome disease of leprosy has long prevailed in the province, owing to a large extent to the filthy habits of the people. To the same cause there is every reason to believe, we have to trace the outbreak now and then of the plague--_muha muree_, the great plague, as it is called--which has proved very destructive. It resembles the plague which at different times prevailed in Europe and swept away thousands. So great is the dread of this terrible malady, that on the report of its approach people flee from their villages. Cholera has been at times fatal to many, but its ravages are not to be compared to those of the plague.

(3) HISTORY OF k.u.mAON UNDER GHOORKHA AND BRITISH RULE.

[Sidenote: CONQUEST OF k.u.mAON.]

k.u.maon had been long under the rule of a native dynasty, but intestine feuds laid the country open to the attacks of ambitious neighbours. In the latter end of the eighteenth century the Ghoorkhas, a military tribe, rose to power in Nepal, the hill-country to the east, and early in this century they extended their conquests over the hill-country to the west, till they were checked by Runjeet Singh, the famous ruler of the Punjab. Their rule over k.u.maon was said to be very oppressive. By raids into British territory they came into collision with the English.

After a severe struggle, carried on through two campaigns, they were defeated, and forced to give up the country they had conquered to the west of Nepal, which they had held for about twelve years. k.u.maon and the adjoining hill-country of Gurhwal were placed under the jurisdiction of a British Commissioner, and the arrangement made in 1816 has been maintained to the present time.

[Sidenote: PROGRESS OF THE PROVINCE.]

The country has made immense progress since the English took possession.

The people are now under a government which aims at protecting life and property, and at treating all, high and low, with equal justice. No longer are Dom offenders against caste laws executed while Brahman and Rajpoot murderers escape. Atrocious customs have been suppressed, such as the burial of lepers alive, which was formerly largely practised.

Sanitary regulations have been issued, and penalties imposed on those convicted of violating them. Fights between villages, ending in robbery and murder, are no longer permitted, though sham-fights are still allowed. I was once a witness of such a fight, when a vast number of hill people were collected, as if for a great field-day, and stones were thrown from slings in a way I thought perilous to the combatants. Roads have been made, and rivers bridged. The new roads are too narrow and steep to admit of wheeled conveyances; often they are only three or four feet in width, and are at a gradient which makes them trying for horses and for persons on foot; but they are an immense improvement on the footpaths with which the natives were satisfied till they came under British rule, and with which they are still satisfied when left to themselves. I have not had much experience of the by-paths of the country, but quite enough to have made me thankful for the new order of things. Very recently a road for carts and conveyances has been made from the plains to Nynee Tal, Ranee Khet, and Almora; but the route is so circuitous that the roads. .h.i.therto traversed will continue the chief means of communication.

No sooner was the British rule established than the effect was seen in the increase of cultivation. Mr. Traill, the first Commissioner, states that from the time of the occupation, 1816 to 1822-23, the date of his retirement, cultivation had increased fully one-third, and since that time there has been a steady advance. The population has more than doubled, for we are told that in 1823 there were 27 inhabitants to the square mile, while in 1872 there were 65. At the same time there were 797 to the square mile in the Benares district, and there was no district in the North-West Provinces where the population was under 185, while the average was 378. An immense disparity must continue between countries with such different capabilities, but the progress made in k.u.maon under British rule is proportionably as great as that made in the most favoured parts of India.