As soon as the sun has gone down, darkness rapidly prevails in this latitude; nor is there any artificial or enlivening substitute in a Hindoo village for the light of day. As soon as I could, therefore, I chose my birth in Bal-Chitty's choultrie ; but it was my lot to mingle, as one in a mixed multitude, with men of the least agreeable habits, and with them to share the troubles incident to a common caravanserai. I spread out my mat, and lay down upon the floor of the choultrie; my horse was picketed outside, in charge of his keeper; but my companions were less attractive within. Vermin of an offensive description-beetles, cockroaches, bats, mosquitoes, &c. &c. - were plentiful; the apartment was dark; a single oil lamp was our only source of light; added to all other incidental nuisances, one of the heavy showers common to the petty monsoon fell after sunset, and forced into the choultrie many who would have preferred a place in the open air. The atmosphere, confined and heavy, became most offensive, and all sleep fled, notwithstanding my earnest solicitations. It was in vain that I tossed from side to side, hoped for repose, or tried to coax myself to drowsy forgetfulness. The whirring of the bats, the chirping of the cockroaches, the stinging of the mosquitoes, the deafening nasal performances of some heavy heads, and the chattering of other sleepless companions, rendered Bal-Chitty no favourite of mine, and extracted from me a very deliberate resolve never again to come under his nocturnal influence, or to spend my vigils within his walls. As soon as the rain abated, I called my koodra-gara, or horsekeeper, and had my steed saddled for the journey; a native servant brought up the rear in the morning, and I made my movement as speedily forward as I could pick my way. On another occasion, however, I had to pass a night in circumstances not more propitious for comfort or refreshment. The scene of that affliction was also a choultrie, a few miles to the left of Bal-Chitty's. I was then in company with an original, an Irish traveller. We both were on horseback, and, besides our horse-keepers, had a coolie and a Madras servant. Having such company, I managed to spend the night at the caravanserai. I cannot say that I slept, though my companions were more successful. At one moment, being really sleepy, I had closed my eyes, and was just sinking into a troubled dream, when an immense bandy-cout, or giant rat, passed over my face. After that, I must have been wearied indeed to have yielded. I now became a watcher: the choultrie was more open than Bal-Chitty's, and we had more light from lamps, fires, &c.; but, as a counterpoise, besides the smaller vermin, we had cats, pariah dogs, and howling jackals, leaping about, or drawing near to our resting-place, and, by the most hideous noises, indicating a fearful insecurity to the unguarded or defenceless. This was a second lesson. While keeping my vigils in the middle of the night, I heard a European voice calling "Ghora-wala!" with considerable anxiety. I found next day it had been an officer from a neighbouring station, who had on the previous day shot a brother officer in a duel, and was now hurrying to the presidency, on leave, till the issue should be ascertained. He had sent forward a fresh horse, and was now, in breathless haste, calling for his horse-keeper, that he might without delay proceed. The wounded officer did not die at that time, though I believe he never fully recovered, but carried to his grave the ball of his adversary. Undue familiarity, or encroachments upon the family circle of the one by the other, had been the occasion of this murderous revenge and, falsely called, gentlemanly satisfaction. I met both officers afterwards, and I do not think the transaction had made either of them a better man. I am sure it was not fit preparation for the presence of their Judge-a just and holy God. We started in the morning: we were journeying to the station for which I had left Bal-Chitty's choultrie. My Irish companion was a grave man in his way, though he could relax and enjoy a joke now and then: his horse was not particularly surefooted; the animal I rode was high-spirited and swift. The morning had been wet, and threatened more rain. My fellow-traveller was more particular about his comfort than his appearance. He wore an old boat-cloak for protection from the heavy floods, and carried an umbrella up while he rode ; for convenience he had tied a cord round his hat with which to sustain his outspread covering, the handle of which was tied to a pocket-handkerchief, which he had girt round his waist. His grotesque figure was ludicrous enough, only there were few beside ourselves in the jungle through which we passed to be excited by the joke. We rode leisurely ; the day began to clear, and the rain was gradually abating. We whiled away the hours of our journey by conversation. One theme after another was discussed, generally of a profitable tendency, till some incident suggested to my companion the story of "Valentine and Orson." I had either forgotten it, or had perhaps not read it at all, and so did not recollect the matter to which he referred for illustration. He began to recite the story; had entered the wood, and was just about the denouement of some exciting part of the plot, when his horse, with a sudden jerk, came down upon his knees : if a bear had come out of the jungle the catastrophe could not have been more momentary and complete. My friend executed the evolution in an instant, and lighted first on the peak of his umbrella fastened to his hat; his boat cloak flapped round his head and shoulders. A more perfect summerset could not have been made by a merryandrew; and the passage from the grave to the gay, from the lively to severe, from the sublime to the ridiculous, was so abrupt, that terror and apprehension gave place to an irresistible outburst of laughter, which I had not time to check, till my horse sprang forward, startled by the disaster. Had the bones, or even neck, of my fellow-traveller been broken, I could not have restrained the first impulse, though, as soon as I could rein up my horse, and hurry back to the spot, it was my first solicitude to ascertain whether any injury had been received. A few bruises, slight and immaterial, were the only consequence; though, had a bone been broken, or a limb dislocated, my mirth would have been turned into grief very suddenly, and my perplexity would not have been the less, that we were some ten or twelve miles from any European assistance. While the story of Valentine and Orson would have seemed a poor preparation for a sick or dying bed, yet I cannot blame my fellow-traveller for levity or improper conversation. On such a feeble thread are suspended the congruities and coincidences of this ever-varying and chequered life! One of our topics had been "fate and freewill"-the extremes of Calvinism, and the opposites of Arminius; the moral influence of the Predestinarian doctrine, and the effect, in comparison, of the Latitudinarian creed of Pelagius. Perhaps never before had those wilds been the scene of such discussions, or had such converse been held by wanderers in those regions; but it was all interrupted, and passed away, by the events of a moment. |