Across India by Oliver Optic

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"The great river is one of the special objects of interest to the tourist
in coming from Bombay, for here he usually gets his first view of it. There
are important buildings here, including mosques and temples, but none to
compare with those you have already seen. The Indian Mutiny of 1857
attracts many visitors to the place."

"I don't think I care to see any more great buildings," interposed Mrs.
Belgrave.

"There are none here to see; and we shall remain here only long enough to
see the sites connected with the mutiny."

"I should like to hear the story of the mutiny over again," added the lady.

"I was able to give only a very brief and imperfect account of the
rebellion, with so great a subject as India in general on my hands, on
board of your ship, and very likely there will be occasion to repeat some
portions of it as we point out the various spots connected with it,"
replied Lord Tremlyn.

The accommodations for the party were ready on their arrival, and even the
luncheon was on the table. Before they had disposed of it the landaus were
at the door. Three military officers were also in attendance, appointed to
render all the assistance to the company they needed. They were introduced
to the members of the party, and then they were driven to the fort."

"At the time of the mutiny Cawnpore contained about one thousand English
people, one half of whom were women and children," said Captain Chesly, the
principal of the officers. "The troops were provided with ill-constructed
intrenchments for their defence. I am informed that his lordship has
already given you some details of the rebellion, but as I am not aware of
the extent to which he has given them I shall probably repeat some of
them."

"The party will be glad to have them repeated," added Lord Tremlyn. "I told
them who and what Nana Sahib was."

"His first act after taking the lead in the rebellion of the sepoys was to
murder one hundred and thirty-six of our people, who were deceived by the
sympathy he had formerly manifested for them, and easily fell into his
hands. Two hundred and fifty soldiers, with as many women and children, the
latter in the military hospital, had taken refuge in the fort. As soon as
he had completed his bloody work in the massacre, Nana Sahib besieged the
feeble garrison. They defended themselves with the utmost bravery and skill
against the vast horde of natives brought against them.

"For three weeks they held out against the overwhelming force that was
thirsting for their blood. Their chief had anticipated no such resistance,
and he was impatient at the delay in finishing the butchery. He resorted to
an infamous stratagem, proposing to General Wheeler, who was in command of
the British troops, to grant him all the honors of war if he would
surrender, with boats and abundant provisions to enable him and all his
people to reach Allahabad.

"The proposition was received with considerable distrust by the besieged;
but Nana swore before the general that he would faithfully observe all the
terms of the capitulation, and it was finally accepted. The garrison
marched out with their arms and baggage, and passed through the hordes of
the besiegers to the river. The wounded, with the women and children, were
sent to the Ganges on elephants. Now, if you take your seats in the
carriages, we will proceed to the scene of the massacre."

The company were conveyed to a Hindu temple on the shore, where the suttee
had formerly been performed, and which was provided with a broad staircase
leading down to the water. The place had a funereal aspect, to which the
terrible tragedy lent an additional melancholy.

"The treacherous commander of the rebels had provided about twenty boats of
all sizes, and supplied them with provisions, in order to complete the
deception," continued Captain Chesly when the party had alighted. "The
boats were cast loose to the current, and the hungry people rushed to the
eatables. But the flotilla was hardly clear of the shore before a battery
of guns, masked from their view, opened a most destructive fire upon them
with grape and solid shot, mostly the former.

"The smaller boats sank, and others were set on fire. The cavalry of the
enemy waded into the river, and sabred those who attempted to escape by
swimming. In the largest boat was General Wheeler; and, by desperate
rowing, it succeeded in getting away from the slaughter. Unhappily it got
aground, and all on board of it were captured.

"Nana ordered that not a man should be saved, and all were murdered in cold
blood. The various accounts differ considerably; but all the men were
killed but four, two captains and two privates, who escaped by swimming
down the river, and were protected by a rajah, who was afterwards pensioned
for this service."

"After the massacre of all the men, there remained one hundred and
twenty-five women and children captured from the boats, who were confined
in the town-house of the detested Nana, where they were fed upon the
poorest food and subjected to many indignities. They were heroic women, and
preferred death to any other fate at the hands of their miscreant captors.
They were kept in confinement about three weeks, when it was whispered
among them that deliverance was at hand. Sir Henry Havelock was marching
from Allahabad to the relief of the garrison, and when he was within two
days' march Nana went out to meet him and give battle to him. He was
defeated and driven back to Cawnpore."

"Smarting under this defeat, and stimulated to revenge for it, Nana at once
ordered the massacre of the helpless prisoners on his return. This order
was executed with all the atrocity incident to the character of the
savages, and the bodies of the victims were thrown into a well near their
prison. Now, if you please, we will drive to the memorials of this dreadful
butchery."

A memorial church now indicates the site of General Wheeler's
intrenchments, which the party visited first. The scene of the massacre is
now a memorial garden, in charge of an old soldier, who was one of the four
who escaped. The place of the well into which the bodies of the women and
children were thrown is marked by a beautiful marble statue of an angel
standing by a lofty cross. It is surrounded by a Gothic fence, with lofty
towers in the same style. The party looked upon these mementoes of the
terrible events with mournful interest, and had hardly recovered their
usual cheerfulness when they reached the hotel. The guides were invited to
dine with them, and the evening was more cheerful than the afternoon had
been.

Part of the forenoon of the next day was given to a ride along the Ganges,
which was crowded with boats of all kinds, from the boat with a cabin
covered with a thatched roof to steamboats of considerable size. They found
an abundance of temples on the shores of the sacred stream, and a beautiful
_ghat_ or staircase to the water, which excited their admiration.

"We are now going to Lucknow this afternoon; but it is only forty-five
miles," said Sir Modava. "If you prefer to do so, we can return to
Cawnpore, and go down the river on one of those fine steamers to Calcutta,
a thousand miles from here by the river."

"Or you could go to Benares, our next stopping-place on the river,"
suggested the viscount.

But it would take too much time, and Captain Ringgold objected; for he had
already marked Allahabad out of the route. Early in the afternoon the
tourists were again seated in the conference carriage. The station at
Cawnpore excited their attention, for it is five hundred and sixty feet
long. A bridge of boats sixteen hundred yards in length was an affair not
seen in their own country.

"We are now in the province of Oude, a word of various orthography," said
Lord Tremlyn, after they lost sight of the city from which they started.

"Oude!" exclaimed Miss Blanche. "Where did I see that name?"

"In Paris," replied Louis. "We saw the tomb of the Queen of Oude in
Pere-la-Chaise."

"I will tell you about her presently," continued Lord Tremlyn. "There was a
great deal of corruption in the government of the kingdom under the native
king. The people were robbed of vast sums in the guise of taxes, the police
was miserably inefficient, and it was not a safe region for the traveller.
The East India Company drew up a treaty with the king, transferring to the
corporation the government, but providing liberally for the ruler and his
family."

"The king refused to sign this treaty; the East India Company had been
superseded, and the governor-general deposed the king. No compromise could
be effected, though many believed the king had been unjustly treated. He
removed to Calcutta; but his queen, with her son and brother, went to
England, and endeavored to obtain redress for the real or supposed wrongs
of the family, but without success. The queen then went to Paris, and died
there in 1858.

"The people of Oude never submitted to the new government; and in the
Mutiny of 1857, not only the sepoys but the people rebelled. The
insurrectionists concentrated at Lucknow, the capital, and captured some of
the forts, as has been related to you. This city has now a population of
two hundred and seventy-three thousand, which makes it the fifth city in
size in India. It is regarded as a very attractive place. The streets are
wide, and the buildings are well-constructed, with the wooden balconies you
see all over India, and the shops and bazaars may entice the ladies to make
purchases. It has a fine park.

"The kings of Oude were ambitious to outshine the glories of Delhi, and, to
a considerable extent, they succeeded; but the architecture is fantastic
rather than grand and beautiful, and experts are inclined to laugh at it.
But our friend Professor Giroud has something to say, and I subside to make
room for him.

"I wish to tell the story of a Frenchman, which I think will interest the
party," said the professor. "Claude Martine was a Breton soldier who went
with his regiment to Pondicherry, the principal French settlement in India,
which has been tossed back and forth between the English, Dutch, and French
like a shuttlecock, but has been in possession of my country since 1816. He
attained the grade of corporal; but this elevated rank did not satisfy him,
and he left for the interior.

"Finally, after a thousand adventures, which he never wrote out, he arrived
at the court of Oude, where, by some means, he obtained a captaincy in the
royal army, and, what was better, the favor of the king. In 1780 he was
commander-in-chief of the native army. But his enterprise did not end here;
for he was the king's trusted favorite, and of course he became a
millionaire, even though there were no railroad shares in being at that
period.

"He brought with him some crude notions of architecture, and he set about
reforming that of India. He was not a success in this capacity; and, as my
lord says, his work is ridiculed by men of taste. But this appears to have
been his only sin; for he used the money he had accumulated in establishing
schools, now known under the name of La Martiniere, in which thousands of
children are educated. As a Frenchman I do not feel at all ashamed of
Claude Martine."

"You need not, Professor," added the viscount. "But here we are at the
Lucknow station."

As usual, by the kindness of Lord Tremlyn, everything had been provided for
the arrival of the company of tourists. There were carriages and servants,
and officers as guides, in attendance. Captain Ringgold was very economical
of his time; and, as it was still early in the afternoon, he proposed that
the party should visit some of the objects of interest before dinner. The
baggage was sent to the hotel, and the carriage proceeded to the Residency,
which had been occupied by the official of the British government when the
province was under the native ruler. It was in ruins, for it was so left as
a memorial of the events of the past.

The city was attacked by the rebels; and the little garrison, with the
English people of the town, took refuge in this building. It was a
three-story brick house, not at all fit to be used as a fort. The
cannon-shot of the besiegers wrecked the building, and many of its
defenders, including Sir Henry Lawrence, the commander, perished in the
fight.

The visitors looked over the house and its surroundings, and then went to
the hotel.

CHAPTER XXXII

MORE OF LUCKNOW AND SOMETHING OF BENARES

"I suppose you recall the events of the Mutiny well enough to understand
the situation here in 1857," said Lord Tremlyn the next morning when the
company had gathered in the parlor of the hotel. "But there was no massacre
here, as in Cawnpore, to impress the facts upon your memory, though many
brave men lost their lives in the defence of the place. There were only
seven hundred and fifty troops in the town; but Sir Henry Lawrence had done
the best he could to fortify the Residency, ill adapted as it was for
defensive works.

"An attempt was made to check the advance of the rebels eight miles from
the city; but it was a failure, with the small available force, and two
days later the enemy attacked the British at the Residency. Three times
the brave defenders beat back the assaults of the assailants. These events
on the spot you have visited occurred between the last of May and the first
of July. It was not till the twenty-second of September that Havelock and
Outram arrived, and captured the Alum-Bagh, which we shall visit this
morning. It was a terrible summer that the beleaguered people and their
brave handful of soldiers passed; and Tennyson has commemorated Lucknow in
his immortal verse.

"But the coming of Havelock was not the end; for the rebels besieged the
place again, and it was near the middle of November before Sir Colin
Campbell arrived, with a considerable force. He captured the Alum-Bagh,
and, leaving in it a force of three thousand five hundred men, he escorted
the women and children and the civilians to Cawnpore; but returned in March
to subdue the rebels. For a week he fought them, drove them from the
intrenchments in which they had fortified themselves, and the mutiny was
ended, as I related to you on board of your ship."

The carriages were at the door as soon as the party had breakfasted. They
were driven to the cemetery, where they saw the grave of Lawrence, whose
memorial is that "He tried to do his duty." In the Alum-Bagh, which means
the Queen's Garden, was the grave of Havelock. It was here that Outram had
his camp and fortifications for the defence of Lucknow during the absence
of Campbell.

The Kaiser Bagh, or Caesar's Garden, contains some of the principal sights
of the city, which the viscount pointed out and described. It is a forest
of domes and cupolas; and the company halted at the pavilion of Lanka,
which a French writer called the least ridiculous of the structures in the
enclosure, though the professor insisted that it was quite as bad as the
worst. It had an abundance of cupolas with arabesque domes; but the edifice
looked like a shell, for the veranda, with lofty columns supporting the
roof, appeared to take up the greater portion of the enclosed space.

The most grotesque feature was at the entrance. A flight of broad stairs
led to the principal floor, over which was extended what looked like an
imitation of the Rialto bridge in Venice, with a small temple under the
middle arch and at the head of the stairs. The top of the bridge was on a
level with the flat roof, and the two side-arches started from the ground.
The building was handsome in some of its details; but the professor said it
was an "abomination," and Dr. Hawkes called it "queer." The various
edifices are now occupied by the civil and military officials.

"Where does the name of this place come from?" asked Captain Ringgold.
"Kaiser Bagh seems to be half German."

"But it is not German," replied Lord Tremlyn. "These buildings were mostly
erected no farther back than 1850, by Wajid Ali Shah, the King of Oude, who
was deposed by the British government in 1856. He called himself Caesar, and
Kaiser is simply a corruption of that name, with no German allusion in it.
He was the husband of the Queen of Oude, whose burial-place you saw in
Pere-la-Chaise."

The next visit was to the palace of Claude Martine, a conglomeration of all
the styles of architecture ever known, and some that were never heard of.
At first view it looks like a small palace set on the top of a large one.
It is certainly very original and very elaborate. Going to the citadel,
they entered by a highly ornamental gateway, which opened to the visitors
the view of the vast pile of buildings, in the middle of which is the
Imambara. The vastness of the pile presented before them was bewildering,
though they had seen so many immense structures that mere size did not now
overwhelm them. The Great Imambara is considered the marvel of Lucknow, and
should not be confounded with another in the citadel bearing the same
general name. To walk around or through this enormous building was simply
impossible, and the party contented themselves with a general view from
different points. It is located on a lofty terrace; and its long line of
walls, crowned with Arabic domes, is very imposing.

"This palace was erected at the close of the last century, by Nawab, with
half a yard of other names to fetch up its rear," said Major Shandon, the
military officer who was doing the honors of the city, with a pleasant
smile. "Like many others of the Indian monarchs, he desired to immortalize
his name by erecting a monument in his own honor; and he offered a prize
for the competition of all the architects of India, for one that would
surpass all others. We think he produced a plan that was worth the money he
received; though we don't think he surpassed the Taj, or some other
buildings that might be mentioned."

This immense structure is now a vast arsenal. The other building, which
sometimes robs this one of its honors, is called the Hoosseinabad Imambara;
and perhaps the length of the added name may account, to some extent, for
the robbery. It is in the citadel, and in sight of its namesake; but the
mausoleum, for it is the tomb of Ali Shah, who died in 1841, stands alone;
and it does not fatigue the eyes to look at it. It is a light, ethereal
sort of structure, and looks like lacework. It is surmounted by a beautiful
dome, and the roof bristles with the points of turrets and towers. It
contains, besides the tomb of the monarch, a mosque, a bazaar, and a model
of the Taj, which make up a sufficient variety for an edifice erected for a
tomb.

This temple completed the list marked out for inspection in Lucknow. The
party had not supposed there was much of anything here to be seen except
the memorials of the Mutiny; and for these alone they would not have missed
seeing the historic locality. The rest of the day was devoted to rides
through the streets and suburbs of the city. The avenues were wide, the
houses neat and commodious, and the gardens laid out with English taste.
The evidences of British thrift were to be seen in many portions of the
place.

Lochner's Hotel was their abiding-place, and Major Shandon regaled the
party at dinner and in the evening with stories of the place, and proved
himself to be a gentleman of "infinite humor." The next morning the company
took the train for Benares. They were a very sociable party, and preferred
the conference carriage to being confined to the smaller compartments. The
route was along the Boomtee River at first, which, some one has said, is
the crookedest stream in the world, and the scenery was worth looking at.
But as soon as the ladies and gentlemen had satisfied themselves with
looking out the windows the commander presented Sir Modava as the "talkist"
for the trip of six hours, or as much of the time as he chose to occupy.

"I shall not take more than half an hour for what I have to say, my
much-loved friends," the Hindu gentleman began, "though I know you are very
patient and long-suffering; and I assure you that I shall not take offence
if you look out the windows while I am talking. The Boomtee River is as
pretty as it is sinuous. If you write to your friends in the United States
about it, you can spell the last syllable t-i, if you prefer; for Indian
orthography is not yet controlled by statute, as I hope it will be when we
have established an _Academie Indienne_, such as they have in France.
But Benares is my subject, and not spelling.

"Where is Benares? It is four hundred and twenty miles by rail from
Calcutta, and is on the left bank of the Ganges. I suppose you know which
side that is."

"Of course we do," laughed Mrs. Belgrave. "It is on the left-hand side."

"You have put your foot in it, mother," rallied Louis.

"Into the Ganges?" queried the lady. "I did at Cawnpore, but not here."

"Suppose you were coming up the river in a steamer from Calcutta, which
would be the left bank?" asked Louis.

"On my left, of course."

"Then Sir Modava will have to oblige you by locating Benares on both sides
of the Ganges, and I don't believe it would be convenient for him to do
that," said Louis, laughing at the expense of his mother, who blushed,
though she did not see what was wrong, when she realized that she had made
a blunder of some kind.

"Better not have said anything," whispered Mrs. Blossom in retaliation; for
hitherto she had had a monopoly of all the blunders."

"Will you tell me, Sarah, which is the left bank of a river, for it appears
that I don't know," added the lady out loud.

"The left bank of the Ganges is the one Benares is on," replied the worthy
woman; and she was greeted with a roar of laughter, and a volley of
applause started by the live boys who were making their way across India.

"Quite right, madam!" exclaimed Sir Modava, applauding with the others. "It
may be a matter of no particular consequence; but you will excuse me for
saying that the left bank is the one on your left as you go down the
stream, and not at all as you go up."

"I remember now, for I learned that in my geography when I first went to
school; and it is strange that I should have forgotten it," added Mrs.
Belgrave.

"We know just where Benares is now," Sir Modava proceeded. "It is the
largest city in this part of India with the exception of Lucknow, to which
it stands next, or sixth among those of the country, having a population of
219,467. It extends along the Ganges for three miles; and the shore is
lined continuously with staircases, called _ghats_, which lead up to
the temples, palaces, and the vast number of houses on the banks of the
river. The stream sweeps around the place like a crescent, presenting one
of the finest views you ever saw, with the ornamented fronts of dwellings,
public offices, and a forest of towers, pinnacles, and turrets. To the
Hindus it is the most sacred city known to them.

"When I was a boy I came here for the first time, brought by my father on
account of the religious character of the place, if I may call anything
idolatrous by such a name. But the city, when you get into it, will
disappoint you. It is like Constantinople, very beautiful to look at from
the Bosporus, or the Golden Horn; but its dirty, narrow streets disgust
you. I am afraid this will be your experience in Benares. You will be
obliged to forego the luxury of carriages in making your tours through the
place, for the streets are so narrow and crowded that it is impossible to
get along with a vehicle. An elephant is equally impracticable, and even in
a palanquin your progress would be so slow that you would lose all your
stock of patience."

"The city must be 'done' by walking, must it?" asked the commander.

"Whew!" whistled Dr. Hawkes; and the sibilation was repeated by Uncle
Moses, for each of them weighed over two hundred and a quarter.

"If the ship were here I would lend you the barge with eight rowers, to
enable you to see the sights from the river," suggested Captain Ringgold.

"A steam-launch shall be provided for all the company, and our obese
friends shall be provided with stuffed chairs, for the survey of the river
scenes; but carriages can be used in some parts of the city, though what
you will desire to see can best be observed from the river; and we can land
when you wish to see interiors," added Lord Tremlyn.

This interruption was heartily applauded by the Cupids, as the fat
gentlemen had been called in Cairo, assisted by all the others.

"The famous Monkey Temple is just out of the city, and that can be reached
by carriages," continued Sir Modava. "There are fourteen hundred and fifty
Hindu temples, pagodas, and shrines, and two hundred and seventy-two
Mohammedan mosques, so that our good friend, General Noury, need not
neglect his devotions."

"The good Mussulman never does that, whether there be a mosque at hand or
not, for he says his prayers at the proper time, wherever he may be,"
replied the general.

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