Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

1850.]

BACK TO SHORAPOOR.

209 life this woman led me! I took a relative of hers with me, a respectable man. She was restless and uneasy, said she was sorry for what she had uttered, that she had lost her temper, that she could not sleep because I had left her in anger, and had sent for me to tell me so, &c.; and that she had determined to go to Shorapoor next day, and would do exactly as I bid her. Also she proclaimed that she intended to live privately, and to have no men about her; that they had all cheated her, and brought her into trouble. As I found her cool and reasonable, I gave her a lecture, appealing to what feelings she had, and showing her how her own evil doings had let her into disgrace and banishment, and would inevitably do so again if not controlled. She seemed to feel my words, and kept repeating, 'I have no true friend except you. Forgive me! forgive me!'

"After a long talk I left her and came home to bed, tired and worried enough. Next day we all started, the Rajah riding a fine horse; and about 3 P.M. the Ranee came to his tent, and seemed more pleased to see him. In the evening we started for Shorapoor, about seven miles, she and I in palankeens, the rest all on foot or on horseback-a motley crowd, but very numerous. The Ranee appeared in very good humour, and thanked me for having received her with so much honour. When she arrived at the palace, all the children, with dear old Kesámá, met her; but she took no notice of any one except Kesámá, at whose feet she fell, praying her to forgive her, and to place her hands upon her head-which the good old lady did at once."

Thus the Ranee subsided into her old palace and old associations. She had brought a poor half-caste with

her, and amused herself by writing English letters to officials she had known during her absence; but as these were invariably returned to her, she addressed the Resident with the like result. Her allowance was higher than she expected-12,000 rupees a-year-and she professed herself content.

She sent for her old friend Kasima, who came to me in much alarm.

"What am I to do?" he said. "I have had quite enough of her and of her schemes-she is a devil."

"She was kind to you," I replied; "she had you married in state, and made her son, your prince, walk before your palankeen; you should not abuse her. All you have to do is to keep quiet;" and he took my advice.

When I came in from the country in August the lady was very quiet, and returned my visit, bringing some of the children with her, and staying nearly all day amusing herself in my garden; but I found her chief object was to present me with a schedule of her debts! These amounted to 62,000 rupees, and there were more behind. I had no authority to pay any such sum, which had been borrowed by her chiefly in Mysore; and whether permission would be granted for the payment of these debts or not I could not tell. Eventually 500 rupees a-month was deducted from the Ranee's allowance to give to her creditors, a decision which set her frantic; and she announced her intention of appealing to Parliament, though utterly ignorant of what that tribunal was, or where!

CHAPTER XII.

1851-53.

A COPY of a despatch from the Court of Directors reached me in December. It was most satisfactory, and reviewed the transactions of 1847-48. It was full of honourable commendation, which I need not here repeat; but the State had made great advance since then in material prosperity, and I was glad to have an opportunity of showing it to Major Johnston, then military secretary at Hyderabad, and he promised to write to Sir Henry Elliott, at that time secretary with the Governor-General, and to tell him all he had seen, and about the improvements in progress. I found the Ranee very ill and miserable—she had had a stroke of paralysis that had affected all her left side, and more particularly her face, which was now hideous; and there was little doubt that dropsy had set in, in addition. The apothecary who had charge of the public dispensary and hospital did what he could for her, but had a very bad opinion of her case.

In March my public report for the year past went in, and was reviewed by the Resident, General Fraser. He was perfectly satisfied; and on the report of Major Buckle, engineer-in-chief at Hyderabad, sanctioned my

estimate for the new tank at Kuchaknoor, near Bohnal. Major Buckle had great experience in irrigation works in the Madras Presidency, and was kind enough, during one of my visits to Hyderabad, to instruct me in the principles of the construction of dams, sluices, and the like. I had put these instructions into practice, and sent up all the estimates, with survey, plans, and sections, for this new work. I was very anxious to complete it, if possible, during my stay at Shorapoor. It would be of considerable magnitude-the dam 1872 yards in length; the greatest depth of water-storage 50 ft.; the average of the whole basin about 20 ft.; and the area of water 6 square miles. It would be a noble sheet of water, and very profitable, as it would irrigate upwards of 10,000 beegahs of rice. As soon as my estimates were sanctioned I began the work, and the Rajah opened it with all due ceremony, turning the first sod, and carrying the first basket of earth.

During my wanderings over the Shorapoor district in this and former years, I had discovered, in many places, cairns and dolmens, some of them of very large size, corresponding in all respects to similar monuments in England, Brittany, and other places. I mistrusted my judgment in regard to them for a long time: but at length I drew up a paper on the subject, accompanied by sketches; and followed it up by another in regard to the contents of cairns which I had opened. In one spot, near Sholapoor, I found most curious remainsa large barrow, with a parallelogram of rocks, 440 ft. by 280 ft. The rocks were in regular line, some of them 12 ft. long and 9 ft. thick, and from 5 to 6 ft. high. They had been rolled from the granitic range, a distance of 1 mile. Another place contained an

1851.]

CAIRNS.

213

immense number of large rocks, placed in regular rows, direct and diagonally, leaving squares of from 5 to 6 yards between. In this area were some cairns. I sent my article on the subject to the Royal Asiatic Society in Bombay, who did me the honour to elect me a member. These stone monuments of Shorapoor tallied exactly with European examples; but it seemed to me so strange a discovery that I almost doubted whether European archæologists would admit it. They did so most fully afterwards, and my discoveries at Shorapoor were followed by others even more interesting in other portions of lower India.

For a long period the affairs of the Nizam's Government had been in a critical state. It owed nearly one million sterling to the British Government, which it could not pay. The Contingent was constantly in heavy arrear, and Lord Dalhousie, urged by the Court of Directors, pressed for a settlement. The subject had been under reference to England for several years, but it appeared now nearer a conclusion. Provinces, detailed in a minute I wrote by desire of the Resident in January 1851, were to be made over to the British Government, and I was to be put in charge of one of them.

"The experience and past services of Captain Meadows Taylor," wrote Lord Dalhousie to General Fraser, "at once point him out as the proper person for undertaking the direction of those districts which lie near Shorapoor, if his present occupation will admit of his entering on this additional charge."

It would have admitted of it, for no new measures were required at Shorapoor, and the Rajah was gaining enough experience to manage fairly for himself, with a

« AnteriorContinuar »