1823, May.—The other evening we went to a party given by Ramohun Roy, a rich Bengallee baboo; the grounds, which are extensive, were well illuminated, and excellent fireworks displayed.

In various rooms of the house nāch girls were dancing and singing. They wear a petticoat measuring, on dit, one hundred yards in width, of fine white or coloured muslin, trimmed with deep borders of gold and silver; full satin trousers cover the feet; the doputta, or large veil, highly embroidered, is worn over the head, and various ornaments of native jewellery adorn the person.

They dance, or rather move in a circle, attitudinizing and making the small brass bells fastened to their ankles sound in unison with their movements. Several men attended the women, playing on divers curiously-shaped native instruments.

The style of singing was curious; at times the tones proceeded finely from their noses; some of the airs were very pretty; one of the women was Nickee, the Catalani of the East. Indian jugglers were introduced after supper, who played various tricks, swallowed swords, and breathed out fire and smoke. One man stood on his right foot, and putting his left leg behind his back, hooked his left foot on the top of his right shoulder; just try the attitude pour passer le temps. The house was very handsomely furnished, everything in European style, with the exception of the owner.

The children of Europeans in India have a pale sickly hue, even when they are in the best of health; very different from the chubby brats of England.

All the Indian fruits appear very large, and a new comer thinks them inferior in point of flavour to the European; as for the far-famed mangoes, I was disgusted with them, all those to be had at that time in Calcutta being stringy, with a strong taste of turpentine.

The fort is spacious and handsome, but very hot from the ramparts that surround it. The 44th Queen’s have lost three officers by death, nine more have returned to England on sick certificate, and three hundred of the privates are in hospital; this in six months! The mortality amongst the privates has been dreadful, owing, I believe, to the cheapness of spirituous liquors, and exposure to the sun.

Port or sherry is seldom seen on table, during the hot weather; Madeira is not much used; Burgundy, Claret, and light French wines are very rationally preferred.

Where the climate is so oppressive, what are luxuries indeed at home, are here necessary to health and existence; to walk is impossible, even the most petty Europe shop-keeper in Calcutta has his buggy, to enable him to drive out in the cool of the evening.

June 1st.—This is the first day of the month; the morning has been very hot, but at this moment the rain is descending, as if the windows of heaven were again opened to deluge the earth; the thunder rolls awfully, and the forked lightning is very vivid. I never heard such peals of thunder in Europe. No one here appears to think about it; all the houses have conductors, and as the storm cools the air, it is always welcomed with pleasure by those on shore.

Our friends who are going to Lucnow have hired their boats, an absolute fleet! I must describe the vessels.

1st. A very fine sixteen-oared pinnace, containing two excellent cabins, fitted up with glazed and Venetian windows, pankhās, and two shower-baths. In this vessel our friend, his lady, and their infant, will be accommodated.

2dly. A dinghee for the cook, and provisions.

3rdly. An immense baggage boat, containing all their furniture.

4thly. A vessel for the washerman, his wife, and the dogs.

5thly. A large boat with horses. 6thly. A ditto. What a number of boats for one family! The hire of the pinnace is twenty rupees a-day, about 2l.; the other boats are also very expensive. They will be three or four months before they arrive at Lucnow; they quitted us the 12th of June.

I have now become acquainted with the three seasons in India; the cold weather, the hot winds, and the rains. The last have set in; it is quite warm; nevertheless, the rains descend in torrents for some hours daily: pankhās are still necessary.

The natives are curious people; my ayha was very ill yesterday, and in great pain, she would take no medicine unless from a doctor of her own caste; brandy was prescribed; she would not take it, said it was very wicked to drink it, that she would sooner die; therefore I was obliged to leave her to her fate, and sent her home to her friends; she is a good and honest servant.

In July, my husband was seized with one of those terrific Indian fevers, which confined him to his bed about fourteen days; he got up looking very transparent and ghostlike, and in a state of great debility, from which he was some time in recovering. Happily, he was saved from a premature epitaph.

I had great trouble with the servants, with the exception of five of them; a speech made by the ayha is worthy of record:—“It would be a great pity if the sāhib should die, for then—we should all lose our places!”—symptoms of fine feelings!

Lord Amherst arrived, and we attended a party given to those over whom he had come to reign.

There is much talk here of a passage to India by steam. “Cœlum ipsum petimus stultitiâ,” which means, “On veut prendre la lune par les cornes.” Heaven forefend that I should find myself in a steam-boat, in a fine rolling sea and a brisk gale, off the Cape. I should not hesitate to give the preference to the twelve hundred ton ship. Some of the old rich Indians, as they are called at home, will have full opportunity to try its safety before my time is come. We have, however, established a steam-boat upon the Hoogly, which goes about four knots against tide; something prodigious in a river where the tide runs like lightning, and with tremendous force.

At this time we became anxious for an appointment up the country, at a cooler and healthier station than Calcutta, far removed from the damp, low, swampy country of Bengal Proper.

August 29th.—The Governor-general and Lady Amherst are great favourites in Calcutta; the latter renders herself particularly agreeable to her guests at the Government-house. The new Governor-general is so economical he has discharged a number of servants, quenched a number of lamps; on dit, he intends to plant potatoes in the park at Barrackpore; people are so unaccustomed to anything of the sort in India, that all this European economy produces considerable surprise.

It happens that in India, as in other places, they have an absurd custom of demanding a certain portion of the precious metals in exchange for the necessaries and luxuries of life, to procure which, if you have them not, you are forced to borrow from agents, the richest dogs in Calcutta: and why? Because, forsooth, they merely require now eight per cent, (formerly ten) added to which, after your debt reaches a certain amount, they oblige you to ensure your life, and in this ticklish country the rate of insurance is very high.

In the third place, which to us is the argumentum ad hominem, many and many are the lives that have been sacrificed, because poor miserable invalids have been unable from their debts to leave India. Interest—horrible interest—soon doubles the original sum, and a man is thus obliged to pay the debt three or four times over, and after that he may put by a fortune to support him in his native land.

Do not suppose I am painting; this is the plain fact, of which almost every month furnishes an example.

A man on first arrival (a griffin) cannot or will not comprehend that “one and one make eleven[14].”

Sept. 7th.—Since our arrival we have been annoyed with constant robbery in the house. Seventy rupees were stolen one day, and now they have carried off about eighteen silver covers that are used to put over tumblers and wine-glasses to keep out the flies; in consequence we have discharged our Ooriah bearers, who we suspect are the thieves, and have taken a set of up country men.

Oct. 1st.—We have had a singular visitor, Shahzadah Zahangeer Zaman Jamh o Deen Mahomud, Prince of Mysore, the son of Tippoo Sāhib, and one of the two hostages.

He resides in a house near us, and sent us word he would honour us with a visit. The next morning he called, and sat two hours. He had studied English for twelve months. Seeing a bird in a cage, he said, “Pretty bird that, little yellow bird, what you call?”—“A canary bird.” “Yes, canary bird, pretty bird, make fine noise, they not grow here.” In this style we conversed, and I thought my visitor would never depart. I was ignorant of the oriental saying, “Coming is voluntary, but departing depends upon permission[15];” his politesse made him remain awaiting my permission for his departure, whilst I was doubting if the visit would ever terminate. At last he arose, saying, “I take leave now, come gen soon.” The next day he sent three decanters full of sweetmeats, very like the hats and caps that used to be given me in my childish days, mixed with caraway comfits, and accompanied by this note:—

“Some sweetmeats for Missess — with respectful thanks of P. Jamh o Deen.” I suppose my visitor Prince Jamh o Deen did not understand the difference between compliments and thanks. I did not comprehend why the sweetmeats had been sent, until I was informed it was the custom of the natives to send some little valueless offering after paying a visit, and that it would be considered an insult to refuse it.

13th.—We went to a nāch at the house of a wealthy Baboo during the festival of the Doorga Pooja or Dasera, held in honour of the goddess Doorga. The house was a four-sided building, leaving an area in the middle; on one side of the area was the image of the goddess raised on a throne, and some Brahmins were in attendance on the steps of the platform. This image has ten arms, in one of her right hands is a spear with which she pierced a giant, with one of the left she holds the tail of a serpent, and the hair of the giant, whose breast the serpent is biting; her other hands are all stretched behind her head, and are filled with different instruments of war. Against her right leg leans a lion, and against her left leg the above giant. In the rooms on one side the area a handsome supper was laid out, in the European style, supplied by Messrs. Gunter and Hooper, where ices and French wines were in plenty for the European guests. In the rooms on the other sides of the square, and in the area, were groups of nāch women dancing and singing, and crowds of European and native gentlemen sitting on sofas or on chairs listening to Hindostanee airs. “The bright half of the month Aswina, the first of the Hindu lunar year, is peculiarly devoted to Doorga. The first nine nights are allotted to her decoration; on the sixth she is awakened; on the seventh she is invited to a bower formed of the leaves of nine plants, of which the Bilwa[16] is the chief. The seventh, eighth, and ninth are the great days, on the last of which the victims are immolated to her honour, and must be killed by one blow only of a sharp sword or axe. The next day the goddess is reverently dismissed, and her image is cast into the river, which finishes the festival of the Dasera.

“On the fifteenth day, that of the full moon, her devotees pass the night in sports and merriment, and games of various sorts: it is unlucky to sleep; for on this night the fiend Nicumbha led his army against Doorga, and Lukshmi, the goddess of prosperity, descended, promising wealth to those who were awake[17].”

A short time before this festival, the Sircars employed in Calcutta generally return home to enjoy a holiday of some weeks.

Immense sums are expended by the wealthy Baboos during the Doorga Pooja.

Dec. 2nd.—Would you believe that we sit at this time of the year without pankhās, with closed windows, and our floors carpeted! In some houses, fires are adopted. We have not yet come to this, though I occasionally have found it cold enough to desire one. The mornings are delightful, and the nights so cold, I sleep under a silk counterpane quilted with cotton, called a Rezai.

The natives form images in clay; the countenances are excellent; the eyes, eyelids, and lips move remarkably well; they are very brittle; they represent servants, fakīrs, and natives of all castes: the best, perhaps, are to be procured in or near Calcutta; they are attired according to the fashion of the country, and cost from eight annas to one rupee each.

We are in the midst of our gaieties, balls, plays, and parties, agreeably varied. Our first meeting (the races) is held during this month; for we have our Derby, and Oaks, and Riddlesworth. The Riddlesworth is with us a very interesting race, all the riders being gentlemen, and sometimes ten or twelve horses starting. From the stand, of a clear morning, there is a good view of the horses during the whole of their course.

We have just received from China two magnificent screens, of eight panels each; they are exceedingly handsome, and keep out the glare by day and the air by night: I think I may say they are magnificent.

Amongst the ornaments of the household, let Crab the terrier be also mentioned; he is much like unto a tinker’s dog, but is humorous and good-tempered, plays about, chases cats, and kills rats, not only in the stable, but house, and serves us in the place of a parvulus Æneas.