Ghaut

“ It often happens that a bather is carried off daily from a ghaut, perhaps for a fortnight in succession; when the evil is put a stop to by some lucky shot, which either kills the alligator, or causes him to quit the vicinity. Such is the faith entertained by all the natives, whether Mussulmans or Hindus, regarding predestination, that, although, on such occasions, they proceed to the ghaut with obvious apprehension, they allow no intermission to take place in the ablutionary duties, on account of those depredations they may have daily witnessed for some time before. ”

“ Soon I reached the river bank where I saw [51] thousands and thousands of pilgrims crowding the steps of the Ghaut, the staircase leading to the river, bathing and waiting to greet the dawn. As I followed their example and took my bath, there arose over the swaying crowd and the beating feet, a murmur like the spray of foam on the seashore after the breakers have dashed against the beach. Then the day broke like two horses of livid light rushing through the air. In the tropics the day-break is very sudden. ”

“ In the end of November I set out from Ootacamund, by way of the Coonoor ghaut and Coimbatore, with the intention of examining the suitability of the Pulney hills in Madura for chinchona cultivation. The Coonoor ghaut, on the southern side of the Neilgherry hills, leads down into the plain of Coimbatore. The road is good, though much too steep ever to make a convenient means of carriage traffic, and the scenery is exceedingly fine. The deep gorge has forest-covered mountains on the left, and a grand range of cliffs on the right, crowned by the bold peak of the Hoolicul Droog. ”

“ At noon we reached the post-house of Sholacul, at the foot of the Sispara ghaut, which leads up to the summit of the Koondahs, a western continuation of the Neilgherries.
The building at Sholacul was surrounded by a very stout pallisade, to protect it from the wild elephants, who strongly object to all encroachments on their domain; and even take the trouble of pulling up the wooden milestones by the side of the roads. We found all the roads which we travelled over in Malabar excellent, and the ascent of the Sispara ghaut, though only a zigzag bridle-path, is in very good order. ”

“ I had scarcely attained the top of the Ghaut, or flight of steps, where I waited till my baggage was brought up and coolies were obtained to transport it, than I found myself besieged by a bevy of fellows, mentioned before as baboos, or sircars, and who, though of a distinct species, I saw at once belonged to the same genus as my friend Ramee Sawmee Dabash. ”

“ The usual idlers of an Indian ghaut, are to be seen bathing, praying, gossiping, or drawing water, together with the never-failing Gossain, who may be distinguished by the flowing drapery, which he holds up over his right arm. ”

“ The young cotton crop will be drowned out. What is to prevent it? Here we have another beautiful provision at hand. The reader has observed the Ghaut Mountains stretching along parallel with the west coast of Hindostan. These mountains protect the plains from inundation. They have, therefore, equally important functions to perform with the deserts. The south-west monsoon blows square across these mountains. As the heavily laden wind begins to ascend the first slopes, it commences to deposit its moisture. ”

“ If we visit any of the legitimate places for lifting water, any of the ghauts of the river, we shall see a dense mass of naked people of all ages and all sexes standing up to their waists in water; some washing their clothes, some their bodies, and all stirring up as much mud from the bottom as they can; yet when their ablutions are completed, filling their pitchers where they stand for the day's consumption; probably one of the common sewers of a bazar enters the river a few yards above the ghaut ”

“ Shortly after 10 A.M., we resumed our march, and began the descent of the Ghauts by a ravine to which the guide gave the name of 'Kadar.' No sandy watercourse, the 'Pass' of this barbarous land, here facilitates the travellers' advance: the rapid slope of the hill presents a succession of blocks and boulders piled one upon the other in rugged steps, apparently impossible to a laden camel. ”

“ Adam's Peak, north end of large basin, about 41⁄2 miles down. 4982.8
Giant's glen, about 5 miles down 4296.5
Tent mydan, about 51⁄2 miles 4001
Bamboos begin hereabouts
Large nullah, bottom of ghaut 3408.9
Seegoor 3393.6
North direction from Ootacamund.
It is much to be regretted that my friend Dr. Benza did not find his way down the new ghaut, for (beauty of scenery apart) the features of the country are most extraordinary, and well worthy the attention of one so capable of delighting both the Scientific and general reader. ”

“ After advancing about ten miles in a south-east direction from Berberah, we entered rough and broken ground, and suddenly came upon a Fiumara about 250 yards broad. The banks were fringed with Brab and Tamarisk, the Daum palm and green rushes: a clear sparkling and shallow stream bisected the sandy bed, and smaller branches wandered over the surface. This river, the main drain of the Ghauts and Sub-Ghauts, derives its name from the increased volume of the waters during night: evaporation by day causes the absorption of about a hundred yards. ”

“ Far away is the dim outline of the mighty Ghauts, towering amid soft fleecy-white clouds, and extending farther than the eye can reach in the purple distance. The striking views of the adjoining mainland, with ruins innumerable of chapels, convents, and monasteries erected by the Portuguese conquerors, all covered with a rich tangle of tropical foliage; the strange shapes of pagan temples, each in its own peculiar style of architecture, Hindoo, Parsee, Jain, and Mohammedan ”

“ This high background, which arrests the noxious vapours of the lowlands and of the Bullom shore, and which forbids a thorough draught, is the fons malorum, the grand cause of the fevers and malaria for which the land has an eternal ill fame. The 'Sultan' of the Ghauts is Regent Mountain, or Sugarloaf Peak, a kind of lumpy 'parrot's beak' which rises nearly 3,000 feet above sea-level: one rarely sees even its base. ”

“ The natives in the valleys at the foot of the Ghauts, who have always been a semi-independent race, ready to rob whenever they saw a chance, were great friends with the Dacoits and supplied them with provisions whenever the hunt on the Deccan was too hot to make raids in that direction.
“This is a long introduction, you will say, and does not seem to have much to do with bears; but it is really necessary, as you will see. ”

“ It seems to have been uttered from some eastern summit, with a sober morning prescience in the dawn of time, and you cannot read a sentence without being elevated as upon the table-land of the Ghauts. It has such a rhythm as the winds of the desert, such a tide as the Ganges, and is as superior to criticism as the Himmaleh Mountains. ”

“ As soon as it gets a little lighter, Surajah, we will go up on to one of these rises, so as to have a good look down over the line we have come. If they are following us, we must go on at the top of our speed. If we see nothing of them, we can take it quietly. Of course, they can't have been following our steps, but it is quite likely that some of the villagers may know that the ghauts can be climbed at the point where we came up. You know we noticed signs of a path, two or three times, on the way up. ”

“ She is the great goddess of the herdsmen and other dwellers in the forest, and they vow to her a cock, a goat, or a young pig if she saves them and their cattle from beasts of prey. Sometimes she is identified with the Churel, more often with a Havva or Bhût, the spirit, usually malignant, of some one who has met untimely death in the jungle. Akin to her is the Ghataut of Mirzapur, who is the deity of dangerous hill passes (ghât) and is worshipped in the same way, and Baghaut, the ghost of a man who was killed by a tiger (bâgh) . ”

“ In the Eastern Ghauts we have the Chenchwars, between the Kistna and the Pennar; in the Western the Cohatars, Tudas, Curumbars, Erulars, and numerous other hill-tribes; all agreeing in being either imperfect Brahminists or Pagans, and in speaking and languages akin to the Tamul of the coast of Coromandel; a language [221] which gives its name to the class, and introduces the important philological term Tamulian. The physical appearance of these is by no means so characteristic as their speech and creed. The mountain habitats favour a lightness of complexion. ”

“ WE CROSS THE EAST AFRICAN GHAUTS.
On the 7th August, 1857, the Expedition left Zungomero. We were martyred by miasma; my companion and I were so feeble, that we could scarcely sit our asses, and weakness had almost deprived us of the sense of hearing. It was a day of severe toil. We loaded with difficulty, for the slaves and porters did not assemble till past 8 A.M., and instead of applying for their loads to Said bin Salim, every man ran off with the lightest burden or the easiest ass. ”

“ A ghat is a long flight of steps, of stone or brick, leading to a river for the purpose of bathing, drawing water, embarking or disembarking. It is a high object of ambition in India, among the wealthier classes of natives, to construct these ghats, and this species of useful ostentation has produced some magnificent structures of the kind on the rivers Ganges, and Jumna, which are of great public utility. ”

“ A piece of new cloth dyed yellow with turmeric is tied round the neck of the ghata, and a figure of a God with two arms and two legs is described on the central portion of the ghata, with a paste made of vermillion and ghee. The ghata thus decorated is placed upon a lump of fine dough of clay, brought from the River, over which are scattered the five grains. In a small earthen pot a mixture of curd and rice is made, which is sprinkled on the ghata. Every process above described is performed by the priest with a separate mantra. ”

“ There were various holy people about the road leading to the ghat—"Sadhus" and "Nagas" with naked bodies whitened with ashes.
A friendly Brahmin took me into the inner sanctum of the temple at At Khamba Mundi near the ghat and there, under a mauve silk coverlet, decorated with gold thread-work, rested the Granth, the sacred book of the Sikhs. It was rather like a body upon a wooden bed. Above, hung a canopy with a deep border of gold and silver fringe. The place was covered inside and out with paintings of the stories of the gods. ”

“ The news of Gaut’s return alone, his improbable story, and the discovery of its almost certain falsity, spread like wild-fire over the settlement; and the people, already prepared to believe the worst by their previous suspicions of Gaut’s evil designs, rose up as one man, instinctively shuddering at the thought of the apprehended crime, and feeling irresistibly impelled to attempt something to bring about that fearful atonement which Heaven demands of every man who wilfully sheds the blood of his fellow-man. ”

“ At every ghat or opening to the river, down the great flights of steps, a throng of natives in all the colours of the rainbow press to the water’s edge. Some plunge in, some approach timidly, and very gradually submerge themselves. Their brown skins shining in the water. The men always have some sort of waist cloth on, but the women go in in their garments, or, at least, clad to their waists. ”

“ I think the Ghats are the most nauseating place in the world; there, is Idolatry, in capital letters—the most terrible vision that a mind diseased could picture in horrible nightmare! for you see thousands of inferior specimens of men and women dabbling in the water's edge, doing all and every particular of the toilet in the same place almost touching each other, and right amongst them are dead people in pink or white winding sheets being burned, and the ashes and half-burned limbs being shoved into the water—and I forgot—there's a main sewer comes into the middle of this. ”

“ The road up to the ghat is visible, as well as the Choky and a fort, with a small sheet of cultivation to the eastward. Beyond this a ravine, then two other ridges, of which the nearer one is high. The Cabul river passes to the NNW., and Lalpoor lies to the north. One peak and a small piece of ridge of Hindoo-koosh, white with snow, is seen very distinctly though distant, it must therefore be very lofty; far more so than any part we have seen to the westward. ”

“ For weeks Gahan of Gathol crossed valleys and hills in search of some familiar landmark that might point his way toward his native land, but the summit of each succeeding ridge revealed but another unfamiliar view. He saw few animals and no men, until he finally came to the belief that he had fallen upon that fabled area of ancient Barsoom which lay under the curse of her olden gods—the once rich and fertile country whose people in their pride and arrogance had denied the deities, and whose punishment had been extermination. ”

“ Where it took weeks for other men to travel a hundred miles through the African jungle, we shall manage it in as many hours. We could leave Gaboon at eight in the morning, say . . ."
"Where on earth is Gaboon?"
[Pg 105] He treated the interruption—which was actually inspired by a genuine thirst for knowledge—with contempt.
"You'll find it on any map of Equatorial Africa," he answered quietly. "As I was saying, we could leave there at eight in the morning and be in the heart of the gorilla country by ten o'clock at the latest. I intend making Gaboon the headquarters." ”

“ It may be as well to remind the reader that Ghât is a small town which has grown up in the territory of the Azgher Tuaricks, in consequence of the convenience of the place as a station for the caravans from Soudan Proper, and other points of Central Africa. It is inhabited principally by people of Moorish origin, but mixed and known as Ghâteen. Haj Ahmed, the governor, is also a [161] Moor, born at Tuat. He is a marabout, or saint, but is looked up to by the people for the settlement of all municipal concerns. ”