Thomas Williamson

“ As the parched soil of Egypt is refreshed by the overflowing of the Nile, so do the waters of the Ganges, by their annual expansion and abundance, renew the fertility of many millions of acres, and restore the blessings of health to those industrious and peaceable peasantry inhabiting that flat country through which they majestically wind their course. ”

“ From this we may judge how necessary it is to be guarded in making changes in the dress of our native soldiers; whose zeal and fidelity are unquestionable, but who instantly revolt at any invasion, however slight, of their religious tenets, or of their vulgar prejudices. Those who affect to consider such to be easily overruled, or, who vainly talk of coercing so many millions to adopt our faith, would do well to take a trip to Bengal, and to insist on any Hindu menials, or others, under their authority, wearing a feather in their turban. ”

“ It is no uncommon thing to see Madeira, which has been in a gentleman’s godown ten years in the wood: many have much older wine in their possession; a few can, indeed, boast of some, which, though inconceivably mild, and rich in flavor, is extremely potent. None will attempt to produce, at their tables, Madeira that has not been two or three years in the country; for the new wine is neither pleasant nor wholesome, and may be readily distinguished from the old, notwithstanding some venders are well skilled in the art of adding, in the course of a few hours, many years of age to the liquor. ”

“ If those who either gave, or believed in, such advice, were to see with what facility an alligator can turn about, or with what agility he can pursue, and catch, the large fishes that abound in the great rivers of India, the folly would be so self evident, as to cause an immediate dereliction of so preposterous an opinion. ”

“ In brief, India is not the soil to which a man of science, or of taste, should repair, under the hope of being liberally repaid for his trouble and expences; much less of being cherished for his genius and acquirements. ”

“ They inter their relations in a very slovenly manner, and may often be found lying drunk about the grave: their marriage forms are extremely simple, the bride and bridegroom mutually mark each other’s faces with red ochre, after which, they lock their little fingers together, and avow their union: the ceremony is usually concluded by a sacrifice to the muddled deity, in which all bear their parts with great eagerness, and devotion! ”

“ The exemption of tattoos, for the most part, from so formidable a distemper, seems to indicate their peculiar fitness for the climate: it matters not whether nature first planted them on the soil, or whether, by long continuance, they have become habituated to it, so completely as to defy that virulence with which the climate attacks strange animals. Wandering among all the puddles and jungles at every season ”

“ When I say ‘civilized,’ it is in deference to a British divine, who has been pleased to represent the people of Bengal in such terms as might lead persons who never visited India to set them down for a cruel, barbarous, ignorant, vindictive, senseless, and sanguinary race; whose civilization is 314‘devoutly to be wished.’ How far they merit such a character, may be understood from their forbearing to massacre all the Europeans in India; a work that might be effected by only one in thousands of their population striking the deadly blow! ”

“ When we see an hereditary priesthood, and that, too, by no means remarkable for the paucity of its members, we cannot but picture to ourselves the arrogance thus privileged in the whole of that tribe, and the humiliation which marks the actions, as well as the sentiments, of all who do not stand within the hallowed pale. ”

“ Nor am I here censuring the measure in a religious sense; though, on reference to history, and to my own experience of the dispositions of the Hindus, I feel surprized that fanaticism should have been allowed to meddle with a country over which we, in truth, have not an efficient control, and among a race whose tenets are by no means obnoxious to humanity; among whom apostacy is a mortal sin, who disclaim all interference with the doctrines of other sects, and who have most amply proved their title, at least to toleration, if not to protection. ”

“ Almost every book written in the East is the production of some court sycophant: a few have resulted from the labors of men who, being disposed to meditation, have committed their reveries to paper; and, a very small portion have displayed such scintillations of ability, as leave us to regret they were either not better educated, so as to enlighten their countrymen, or that they were not born in those parts of the world where their talents might have been fostered, and duly appreciated. ”

“ When a single gentleman is intent on proceeding on the most economical and expeditious plan, he will find it best not to have even a cook-boat in his suite; but should confine himself entirely to whatever convenience his budjrow may afford. ”

“ Though we generally attach the term ‘camel’ to that species of the camelus found in India, where great numbers are bred by persons who make a very large profit from their labors, the animal under consideration, having but one hump, or bunch, on its back, should, properly, be called a ‘dromedary.’ Whatever may be the true designation, the utility of the animal in a climate, and on a soil, to which it is so admirably suited by nature, is indisputable ”

“ What, then, is to be expected among persons thus practising a profession, to which the old adage of ‘ars longa, vita brevis’ so admirably applies, when we see not even one didactic page to which they can resort; no public institution where knowledge is either bestowed or received; no liberal, enlightened, patron, under whose auspices genius may be enabled to penetrate into the mines of science? ”

“ When we see the several shop-keepers, in every city and town, serving their customers, or, in their absence, smoking like Vesuvius, in their little boutiques, exposed to the glare, and to the burning winds; when we see these persons, 6with parched skins, and their eyes violently irritated, and clogged, by the clouds of dust which range along the streets, and which, occasionally taking a whirl, nearly suffocate all within their reach; we may then fairly admire the force of habit, and congratulate ourselves on the blessings of a more temperate climate! ”

“ Music, it might be thought, would prove a great source of gratification in a country where ennui is so much to be dreaded; but the climate is unfavorable to instruments of every kind, especially to pianos, and offers a most formidable bar to the indulgence of a musical ear. No persons can be more liberal in their purchases of instruments, or of select music, than the ladies of India ”

“ Setting whatever relates to religion apart, and viewing our intercourse with India as a matter merely of meum and tuum, it is self-evident, that to whatever extent we may instruct the natives to analyze the produce of their soil, and to present it to us in a marketable shape, so much must Britain be benefitted by the extension of her commerce, and by the possession of a territory whose value would be thereby proportionally raised. ”

“ At Dacca, where the air is more saline, all visitors undergo the penance of a copious eruption: some of the old residents have a return of it every hot season; although they may be extremely careful never to touch river water, but, like the inhabitants of Calcutta, allot a spacious godown to the reception of immense jars of earthen ware, which, being placed side by side, in close rows, are successively filled by the aub-dar, or servant whose business is confined to the care, and to the cooling, of water for table expenditure. ”

“ The natives of India rarely venture beyond Hurdwar. They have, however, an opinion that the true Ganga, as they term the Ganges, originates at that spot; and, considering the cow as the greatest blessing given to mankind, (for the Hindus venerate it with even more fervor than a Catholic does a supposed relic of our Saviour,) emphatically term it ‘the Cow’s Mouth;’ implying thereby the purity, as well as the value, of the waters.
But those mountains which give birth to the Ganges, are likewise the sources of the Barampooter; a river exceeding even the Ganges in capacity! ”

“ Yet do the venerable dealers in horse-flesh always plead poverty, and that they have made so very bad a trip, that, on their return home, their affairs must go to ruin: however, they make a shift to come down, year after year, though buying and selling to so much loss!
In selling horses, it is customary to describe their several casts, the same as those of the people of India; thus, an auctioneer advertises a toorky, or a majennis ‘of high cast,’ to be sold on such a day. ”

“ This jealousy occasions the Hindus to look upon every vestige of a Mussulman as a contamination; and, as ablutions are enjoined even more by the Hindu law than by the Koran, which is the Mussulman’s book of faith, we may consider the person of a Hindu to be as clean and wholesome as repeated washings can make it. He wears only a small lock of hair, growing from a spot about the size of a dollar on the crown of his head. ”

“ Bees are by no means so bold as wasps and hornets, but they frequently take possession of some bush, or even of several parts of a hedge around a garden, especially one well stocked with flowers; rendering it unsafe to approach that quarter. The combs are sometimes large, but may, perhaps, on the average, when full, weigh from four to ten pounds. No bees are domesticated in India; at least I never heard of an apiary of any description; though, from the great abundance of food to be had at all seasons, it might prove very easy to maintain them properly. ”

“ The Indian wood-feller, who pays not more than sixpence, or a shilling, for each tree he may choose, and which may, perhaps, contain from sixty to a hundred feet of timber, considers it a bad speculation, if some river be not within a stone’s throw of the selected wood: his object is to lop and bark as fast as he can, and then to launch the tree into the river, there to be fastened to others, intended to form a raft, or float, which, being secured to a boat, may glide down with the current to some established market. ”

“ Common sense points out the impropriety of allowing a gambler to occupy any office in which either great trust, or particular application, and vigilance, might be requisite; therefore, as the generality of the posts held under the Company are of either one or other of those descriptions, or may perhaps blend both, it stands to reason that a man whose brains are ever casting the dice, and whose carriage rolls upon the four aces, never can with safety be trusted. ”

“ When the turkies light upon such a line of march, they fall to with a famous appetite; seeming to rival our pheasants in that particular, and exhibiting the satisfaction they feel on receiving a supply of their favorite food. ”

“ That considerable amelioration must have taken place under our government, is to be proved, from the safety with which travellers may proceed by land throughout the country, when compared with the extreme danger attendant upon a journey through any part of the Vizier’s territory; wherein almost every well presents the horrid spectacle of the mangled bodies of those who become victims to the sanguinary hordes of robbers that infest every part of that prince’s dominions. ”

“ The former class confine themselves, as much as their avocations may permit, within gloomy, but cool, chambers; living most abstemiously, yet, at certain times, exposing themselves in the most unequivocal manner to the severest heats: the other, perfectly inattentive to the dictates of prudence, yet performing what we may fairly term wonders, in opposition to their destructive locality. When the English first visited India, they adopted a mode of building by no means consistent with common sense, and displaying a total ignorance of the most simple of nature’s laws. ”

“ Those who cannot afford, or who consider it unnecessary, to retain either an elephant, or camels, usually purchase, or hire, bullocks, when about to march to any station not very remote. Some, indeed, prefer them altogether; but, after having given them more than one trial, both from necessity, and from the persuasions of others, my mind is made up to the full conviction, that, although rarely costing more than sixteen or twenty rupees each, (that is, from forty to fifty shillings,) they are the most tardy, the most troublesome, and the most expensive, of all the beasts of burthen in question! ”

“ Convince the natives of India, or of any other nation, that such is the truth, and that you practise, while you teach, the doctrines of Christianity, and nothing will, in the end, be able to stand against so formidable an attack. ”

“ In India, no such recreation or benefit is ever afforded to the inquisitive traveller, who may remain, for years, within a stone’s-throw of what, to him, would appear an invaluable treasure, without his being able to obtain the smallest indulgence in aid of his pursuits. ”

“ If the vessel is on a lee-shore, the luggies must, of course, be between her and the bank, to prevent her from bumping against it, and the anchor should be carried out to windward, into deep water, to keep her from being forced ashore: a danger particularly to be apprehended on long shelving sands; where many a well-conditioned boat has had her bottom beat out, by the force with which the surges, coming across an expanse of perhaps a mile, or more, have dashed her against the hard sand. ”