temporary assistance to the destitute families, and farther on by neglect and suffering, which might be mitigated by the means now existing for insuring life against accident. The practice will not be general until the employers of miners introduce it among their men. Greater precaution should be enforced stringently by law. The coal in this pit was fiery in its nature. The quality was well known both to the owners and to the workers. In defiance of the dangers originating in the use of common candles, they were employed, and no doubt can be entertained that the deaths of all these men originated from that cause. The safety lamps are more expensive than open lights, but the public would cheerfully pay three or four pence, or more, for coals than the average price, to be assured that the profession of those who dig

them is not rendered trebly hazardous.

THE HAPSBURGHS AND THE IRISH.

A DUBLIN newspaper, Saunders's News-Letter, of a recent date, has an article meant to prove the attachment of the Austrian Camp and Court to those famous Irishmen who have bled for its despotism. Ireland produces doubtful characters who accept commissions from tyrants to destroy slaves; but we see no reason to be proud of them. O'Donnell, who committed the last coup in Spain, is one of these Austrian Irishmen, but Ireland must be rather pleased that the connection is cut. We cannot say, indeed, that Ireland is more productive proportionately of this class of men than Scotland. We read several Scotch names among the generals in the Russian service; and though some of them declined to serve during the last war against Britain, yet others of them fought, and one was shot at the battle of Traktir. We plead uot guilty, however, to any gratification from the career of these gentlemen.

The House of Hapsburgh may be served as readily by Irish pens as Irish swords, and it is grateful for a good book. Mr. W. B. M'Cabe, said to be well known as a journalist in London and Dublin, has written a book named "Adelaide, Queen of Italy." This book, of which we never formerly heard, describes events of the tenth century, and traces a connection between the Crown of Lombardy and the House of Hapsburgh even at that date. Mr. M'Cabe dedicated his volume to the Archduchess Sophia, the mother of the reigning Emperor, with permission. That lady has ordered the following letter to be transmitted to Mr. M'Cabe, touching "Adelaide, Queen of Italy:"

Sir,-It affords me great pleasure to have to communicate to you that I am charged by her Imperial Highness the Archduchess Sophia of Austria to address you, Sir, the herewith annexed trifling object, consisting of a breastpin, which you will please to accept as a small token of acknowledgment for your very interesting literary work. I seize this oppor

tunity to express to you my own feelings of high esteem, and remain, Sir, your very devoted COUNT DE POISEN, Grand Master of the Household to her Imperial Highness. To William B. M'Cabe, Esq.

Saunders indulges in a minute description of Mr. M'Cabe's breast-pin, from which we gather that it is "one of the most magnificent specimens of foreign jewellery" ever seen by the writer, who, probably, was allowed to look at the Queen of Spain's jewellery in the Exhibition of 1851. The instrument wherewith the author of "Adelaide may hereafter attach the plaits of his linen is a shamrock, consisting of diamonds of the purest water, numbering twenty-eight! From this critique on "Adelaide" by the Archduchess Sophia, tack upon the liberties of Italy, dug out of the ninth century, when there was scarcely a House of Hapsburgh, and very small ultramontaneism. Ruminating on the author, we can only recollect a gentleman of that name who was a pilot of the Morning Herald when, however partial to the House of Austria, that journal published bitter attacks on the Romanism of Ireland, sufficient to set the contending parties in the isle of shamrocks by the ears. He cannot therefore be the owner of "Adelaide," and the great shamrock; and yet Saunders describes a well-known journalist, but whose pledge of friendship from Vienna cannot be considered any proof of his friendship to the cause of oppressed nationalities; and therefore he is not a young Irelander, except in the John Mitchell sense of the phrase; whose unfortunate organisation permitted him to worship at the altar of liberty in Dame-street, and to cherish the desire for a plantation with three or four hundred niggers in Virginia at the same time, or shortly afterwards.

we learn that the volume is an ultramontane at

THE EX-KING OF OUDE AND HIS CHRONICLERS. THE Royal family of Oude have exhibited little activity since their arrival in this country. The agitation for the return of their Royal privileges must proceed very quietly if a beginning has been made. In India a journal devoted to their service has been commenced, under the title of the Central Star. In America it would have been styled the Lone Star, or some such imaginative title. Occidentalists are more imaginative than the Orientalists, and the latter, therefore, content themselves with the practical Central Star, which shone at Cawnpore formerly, and is now transferred to Lucknow. From this journal of the far East, we transcribe some sentences relating to an anonymous work that has been much quoted in this country:

The

We see allusion made in the Bombay journals to the book entitled "The private life of an Eastern King," in connection with a work apparently of a similar nature, called "Edgar Bardon ;" and its authorship, after having been at

tributed to we know not how many different persons, is at last ascribed to one Mr. William Knighton. We have often had a mind to set the public right in this respect, but did not think it worth while. Perhaps, though, it is as well that we do so now. Well, then, that little volume was concocted by an individual of the name of Edward Cropley; who, however, being too illiterate himself, sought the services of an emendator, before passing it through the Press-hence its appearance in its present form. But whether it was the said William Knighton, or any other like person, who performed that indelicate office, we are not aware. It is as well, also, to mention who this Edward Cropley is, or rather was. He was an adventurer, who, like many others of that ilk, went to Oude, hunting for something to do. He had the luck to fall in with a man of considerable influence at the Court of Nusseer-ood-deen Hydur, and through his interposition succeeded in obtaining the appointment of Librarian to the King, on the goodly salary of 500 rupees a month. Finding he had lost favour with Nusseer-ood-deen Hydur, he returned to England; and then, as impressed on the very face of the puerile production, out of revenge, engendered by some fancied offence from His Majesty or his courtiers, published the farrago of sickening lies against his master and the very man who had befriended him. Such, then, is the author of "The private life of an Eastern King."

Our quotation is garbled or incomplete by the omission of adjectives only, from the original text, because we consider them rather strong against Messrs. Cropley and Knighton, or both. The origin of "The Private Life of an Eastern King" has not been a great mystery, because the subject is not "great" in one sense; although it is certainly a great misfortune that persons resembling the characters drawn in the book, should be kings; but, unless some important interest is to be served, "family secrets" need not be turned into money by those who have participated in the "family wealth." It is creditable to Nusser-ood-deen-Hydur that he has a library, and that he paid 500 rupees a month, or £600 per annum, to Mr. Cropley, if that be the gentleman's name, for its oversight. Very strange it is, certainly, that Nusseer-ood-deenHydur's influential courtier found him a librarian at the salary, so illiterate that he could not correct his own book. That, perhaps, proves too much. We fear that an unreasonable proportion of the pensions accorded to these Indian Chiefs and expotentates, finds its way to the private purposes of "adventurers," who persuade them that they can effect impossibilities in their behalf. A strange letter appeared a few days ago in the Times, of which the following is a copy :

Sir,-My attention has been called to the following paragraph, reflecting on myself, and which has been copied out of the Bombay Times into certain of the London journals:

"The Bombay Times has obtained possession of a

163

singular document. It is a copy of an agreement between Meer Jaffir Ali, the Nawab of Surat, and Nusser Ali Khan, heir presumptive to the throne of Oude, in which the latter assigns to Jaffir Ali, the sole conduct of his case.' Should the throne of Oude be restored, Meer Jaffir is to receive a pension of three lakhs per annum. Should the Oude prince not succeed in enforcing his claims, a suit in Chancery is to be brought against the East India Company for all the sums subscribed by the Oude family to the Government loans from 1811 to 1855. If the suit succeeds, Jaffir Ali's pensior is to be a lakh and a-half. If the king repudiates the contract, the heir apparent is to observe it on his father's death. The agreement was sworn to on the Koran by both parties, in the presence of a large number of witnesses, and is dated Harley-house, London, November 7, 1856."

In reply to this circumstantial statement I am able to declare that such an agreement as that described above was never entered into or contemplated; that nothing resembling it ever occurred to either of the parties mentioned, and that, in short, there is no foundation whatever for the calumny.

I have the honour to remain, Sir,
Your obedient servant,

JAFUR ALEE.

15, Warwick-road West, Paddington, Feb. 20.

The lakhs of rupees are £10,000 each, so that Jafur Alee was to be provided with an income of £15,000 to £30,000 per annum, in proportion to his success. The Nawab of Surat is reduced, by some proceedings of the Company, to an honarary title, and the House of Commons having, at the close of the last session, adopted a resolution in favour of the owner's claims on the East India Company by an immense majority, abandoned his title immediately afterwards, at the instigation, chiefly, of Lord Ellenborough, and other ex-Indians. The little paragraph constructed in Bombay is no doubt false. It is easy to copy a deed that never existed. The story reminds us of another story. A Bom bay journalist once upon a time agreed to enlighten the miserable intellects of this country by lectures on Indian affairs. He called upon a native claimant from the East, and offered to include his grievances in his orations, in a style that would ensure their redress, for the small charge, only to meet expenses, of fifteen hundred pounds. At that time the Oriental gentleman was fresh to home politics, and did not deem agitation necessary. Therefore, he assured his visitor that he could not afford to pay the money for being lectured upon, but he would gladly give five hundred pounds upon the condition that his case and name should not be mentioned in the applicant's prelections.

One cannot say the number of tales that offer may have originated; but we may be certain that the outraged journalist has not always been silent since then.

CHAPTER III.

THE ROAD.

How memory wakes up long slumbering echoes from the depths of the caverns of oblivion. Again, as vividly as though it were but yesterday, I witness the ever varying panorama of that road we travelled twenty-seven years ago. The delightful freshness of the morning air, when as yet, long before the dawn of day, the fragrant and delicious coffee was sipped; the few stray articles that had constituted our camp furniture and equipage carefully gathered together, and wisely packed up against further demand-last night's supper plates washed and stowed away, and the debris thrown out for the benefit of the wretched and more than half starved Pariah dogs. Then came the intolerable and suffocating odour of the massalgee's

torches, as these Eastern link-bearers cast a sud

den and brilliant glare around, by the light of which might be seen the stalwart forms of the bearers themselves, helping each other to tighten their lengthy black girdles-an operation which was accomplished by one man holding the extreme end of the sash or girdle, whilst another, firmly pressing the other end to his waist, waltzed ra

pidly round and round till both ends met, and

were tied in a knot. Last of all came the old

pensioned sepoy, who had charge of the bungalow, and who had yesterday catered to our wants by supplying fowls, eggs, milk, &c., from the neighbouring village, from all which, doubtless, he had derived an extra profit already, but who still was entitled to levy black mail upon travellers, and usually got as much from one set as would cover the whole of his expenses for a fortnight.

This

done, we were carried forth into the dark night, only too glad to exchange the close atmosphere of the bungalow for any stray breezes that might chance to be creeping over the sultry plains of India at that early hour.

Once free of the village, and the palanquin bearers subsided again into their dreary, monotonous chaunt, which almost invariably sent me to sleep. Sometimes, however, there was a sudden

cry of "Pambo,* pambo!" And then, instantly, the palanquins diverged from the line they were pursuing, and great excitement reigned among the bearers. No wonder, poor fellows for the deadly cobra was the most fearful and treacherous enemy they had to encounter, and there is no class in India that has furnished more victims to the venom of this hateful serpent. So we travelled on till the first streak of daylight woke the lark to her early song of praise, and warned the prow

* Snake.

ling jackall to his lair. Sweetly in the solitude and silence of those early hours, would resound the carol of countless skylarks, balancing themselves on dewy wings, and out-quavering each other in melody. Then came the interminable cawing of crows; then the crowing of distant cocks and the braying of donkeys, the lowing of cattle being early driven to pasturage, the bleating of sheep, and the interminable squabbling and Presently the daylight chirruping of sparrows. fairly set in, and, whilst objects became more dissilence as the causes were more or less occupied in the search after early grubs or provender. Then would appear in the distance the dark-skinned, meagre-clad peasant, carrying over his shoulders fore him a couple of ill fed oxen, and always an uncouth, aboriginal plough, and driving befollowing at his heels one of those miserable curs which are the pest of all Oriental countries. Hatless and turbanless, this man went forth to his labour, from early sunrise to sunset, toiling beneath a sun whose rays would almost fell an ox, and most delicious odours of early blown flowers Sometimes the country around was fair and level, filled the air; sometimes it was barren and rocky,

tinct and discernible-these noises subsided into

with nothing but bristling thorns, or prickly pears stretching before the eye. Sometimes again (and indeed mostly), it was low and marshy, well covered, however, with flourishing crops of paddy or rice, and hereabouts in hedge sides, or twittering among the graceful branches of the bamboo, were thousands of those beautifully plumaged and tiny little songsters, the avadavat certainly, as far as I can judge, the most beautiful bird on the face of the earth.

Then again, varying the prospect, were thickly set clumps of tall cocoanuts; whole topes of the beetlenut tree, miles upon miles of sugar canes; acres of mangoes and guava trees, the jack fruit, the Billinibi, the Calacca, fields of the beautifully rosy-tinted roselle, carefully hedged gardens growing the warlike looking baunub (or bandicoy, a vegetable which shoots up into the air like a tree with the drumstick vegetable, and whole respear), the green and purple budingan, the tall giments of red and green chillies-that grand

nucleus of hot Indian curries.

Creeping about amongst these, intensely green in foliage, were the twenty different varieties of

the cucumber and melon tribe-some fruit round, some long, some obloug; some yellow, some green, some brown; some sweet, some sour, some intensely bitter-yet all of them serving for the uses and food of man. Amongst these, rearing its head proudly, and wide spreading its handsome

branches, grew the graceful tamarind, under whose shadows Baboo Mullatombi-Perriahtombi, the opulent village Brahmin, ties the straw which is to limit his repast, and forthwith pitches into the glue and rice till he has eaten what might satisfy five hungry Englishmen. Then the largest leaf plant, whose name I forget, but the leaves of which, skilfully knit together with prickly pear thorns, daily serve Baboo in lieu of a clean plate, and when thrown away, are angrily contested for by riotous crows and hungry brahminny kites. All these we passed morning after morning, and stage after stage, until the sun began to grow uncomfortably hot in the heavens, which was usually about 7, a.m., when an increase of steam on the part of the bearers, a little jolting, and a great deal of noise, brought us to the end of the morning stage, and the shelter of another travellers' bungalow. Five minutes afterwards, we were as much at home in that bungalow, with all our servants and comforts around us, as though we had lived there for the term of our natural lives.

The sepoy in charge of every bungalow was sure to be in readiness to receive us; not that he slept upon the premises, or was within half a mile of it some few minutes before our arrival, but the song of the bearers had warned him of the approach of travellers (to him always a windfall), and using what speed his old limbs permitted of, he was usually on the spot in time to throw open the doors and windows, and await the invariable commissions for fowls, eggs, vegetables, and occasionally a few sheep for the palanquin bearers sheep tough and indigestible as leather, and only to be eaten as cooked in a palanquin bearer's curry, of which dish more anon. But let me endeavour to describe one of these traveller's bungalows; and the description of one will pretty well tally with all the others. Situated at a convenient distance from a village, and, if possible, in the neighbourhood of a tank of water, and a tope of trees, the bungalow was surrounded by a high, square, whitewashed wall, in the centre of which rose the building itself, which consisted of two distinct compartments connected by a verandah, and each compartment boasting of one large room and outhouses. These rooms were furnished with a com. mon deal table and 6 chairs, a framed circular of regulations to be observed by travellers, aud a small library of books, which augmented from time to time from the donations of Government or strangers. The palanquins were usually set down in the enclosure, as were the boxes carried by the cavalry coolies; our own servants, who usually arrived an hour or two before us, had hot water prepared for tea or coffee, and a wood fire lit in the most sheltered part of the yard-the boxes were unpacked, the deal table covered with linen and crockery, bread, biscuits, jams, and other things not procurable en route, were ranged in tempting array upon the table-the smoking teapot emitted a grateful aroma, and with the addition of the fresh laid eggs and a grilled fowl or

165

two from the village, we sat down to a breakfast not to be despised at the best of times, but especially when under the sharp influence of such appetites as we invariably carried with us from stage to stage upon our journey.

Meanwhile, the weary bearers, foot sore and hungry, would congregate in picturesque groups under the shade of the nearest tope of trees, or descend to the tank side and bathe their feet and legs in water, which, in the eyes of the more fanatical Brahmins, to touch was to pollute. Then, waiting till a good breakfast had in all probability put us in humour with ourselves, and the world in general, they would send a deputation to solicit the gift of a sheep or two, a request that was rarely, if ever, denied them. The sheep being obtained, they were forthwith slaughtered, and handed over by the head bearers to such amongst their gang as were most skilful in the art of curry making, and whilst these were busied with culinary occupations, the rest stretched themselves out in the shade, and were oblivious of everything till awakened up to a sense of their hunger by the grateful odour issuing from the stew pots hard at hand. The interval between breakfast and dinner time was often by far the most tedious portion of the journey. Sometimes what facetious travellers had scribbled upon the walls served to while away an hour or so; sometimes we stumbled across an interesting book, sometimes there was shooting to be had in the neighbourhood; but the heat was generally so intense as to preclude all chance, even at the risk of a sun stroke, of finding any birds at that hour of the day. The ladies had their needle work to amuse them, and the old lady, bless her, indulged in incessant remembrances of the great Rebellion. C and myself, under protection of a mighty chatry (umbrella) would stroll into the village in search of amusement (which we seldom found), and anything in the shape of relish for dinner, which we sometimes managed to pick up in the shape of a glorious bunch of ripe red plantains.

By twelve o'clock the greater part of the servants, with the luggage, started for the next bungalow; at one o'clock we dined ourselves, almost invariably upon stewed fowls, and it was then that by turns (out of a little spirit of rivalry) the head bearers would borrow a dish of the servants, and bring in a sample of the curry they had made for their own dinners. Such currieswhy they bring tears into my eyes and make my mouth water, even at this long interval, for they were marvellously hot indeed, but as for piquancy and deliciousness of flavour-Soyer, immortal though he be, amongst cooks, would blush to taste one of them-aye, and cry too, I'll guarantee, for a good half hour after he had done so.

By 3 p.m., everything was packed again, and the bearers had fresh girded their loins for another toilsome jaunt. Again the old sepoy made his salaam and was settled with, again our palanquins were hoisted high into the air, and carried forth

after our backs were turned every door and window had been bolted-the Sepoy pocketed the key and the bungalows had relapsed into darkness and solitude.

So we travelled from day to day, only with such varieties and adventures as shall be found recorded in the succeeding chapter.

CHAPTER IV.

INCIDENTS AND ADVENTURES.

IN the preceding chapter I endeavoured to make the reader familiar with the every day life of a traveller in India, and to describe the ordinary run of travellers' bungalows, erected at stated distances, at the expense of the Indian Government. There were three or four exceptions en route to the general rule. Munificent Indian baboos, endowed with a spirit of philanthrophy, have immortalised their names by leaving behind them princely buildings, erected on the most frequented thoroughfares, for the special behoof and benefit of way worn pilgrims. These buildings are known in India as choultries, and they vary in size and pretensions, from a mere roadside barn to a palace fit to accommodate hundreds. Consideration for the suffering and fatigue of the travellers seem to have been the characteristic feature of good men of all Eastern nations, from the days of Abraham downwards. To dig a well, build a fountain, erect a stand for the wearily laden pilgrim to deposit his burthen, and ease himself of the heavy yoke awhile; afford shelter for man and beast, even though that shelter be but the rude cavern of a rock, or the hairskin tent of the Bedouin-these have ever been objects amongst Eastern philanthropists; and none ever properly appreciate them, save those who have known what it is to lack shelter, and the wherewithal to slake maddening, feverish thirst, too often experienced in those Countries.

The most remarkable choultries we halted at were Baltchitty's and Rajah's choultry-the latter famed all over India for a most magnificent tank, which is almost a miniature lake-lined throughout with stone, and having a remarkable Hindoo temple, and a pleasant tope of mango trees at one extremity. Here the Brahmins were extremely fanatical, and would barely allow even the palanquin bearers to bathe their feet in the water till such time as C's peons (native constables always attendant upon judges), reminded these gentlemen that the property was British, and no longer appertained to themselves. A remarkable contrast to these choultries, which are undoubtedly monuments of Indian philanthropy, was the immense and capacious bungalows at "Strepermatoor" (I think the fourth stage from Palaverem). Erected by an old English misanthrope, whom too much

It

The next remarkable place that we halted at was Saltgar, noted all over India for the quantity and excellence of the oranges it produces. The whole place was infested and overrun with monkeys, the most mischievous and rascally to be encountered in India. I recollect the terror with which I saw these brutes hopping from tree to tree, or boldly mingling with the throng that were in the fruit gardens, grinning and chattering at any one that menaced them, after a most alarming fashion. is astonishing how soon monkeys can distinguish a child from a man, and with what contempt they invariably treat the former. Not a roof or a cocoanut tree at Saltgar but what was teeming with monkeys, and the place being exclusively occupied by Brahmins, they led a very fine gentlemanly kind of life of it. An anecdote is told of a young cadet who was silly enough to fire at and wound one of these creatures; the moaning of the poor brutes so forcibly reminded him of frail humanity, that he inwardly resolved never to be guilty of such folly again; and with this resolve retired to rest at the bungalow, having first luckily bolted the door and windows. At midnight, he was awakened by a hideous uproar on the roof, when to his dismay and horror he discovered that the friends of the wounded monkey were absolutely untiling the roof in their endeavours to get at him, when they would doubtless have torn him to pieces. His cries fortunately brought opportune assistance from the village. I believe that it was at Saltgar also that General Td, then paymaster of his regiment, was seated in front of his tent, counting sundry bags of money, when a monkey, more audacious than his comrades, seized upon a bag of gold mohurs, and rapidly retreating with it, skimmed up a tall tamarind tree that overshadowed a very deep tank, and there chuckling over his work the while, deliberately dropped piece by piece into the water below.

From Saltgar we passed the Nackinnary Ghaut, and pausing awhile at Bungalore, resumed the line of march, passing through and halting for a day at Seringapatam. I went all over the ruined old palace of Tippoo Saib, the walls of which were grotesquely painted with pictures, supposed to represent the various engagements between Tippoo's