CHAPTER III.

SURAT, BOMBAY, AND POONA.

It was with much regret that, on the morning of Oct. 15, 1866, I took leave of the native gentlemen, who accompanied me to the station at Ahmedabad to bid me farewell, for I had been treated by them as a friend, though a stranger in a strange land. Having exchanged greetings till the train carried me out of sight, and watched to the last the minarets near the station, which my young friend, the interpreter, had taken me to explore while waiting for departure, I experienced a little of the desolate feeling of being thrown completely among foreigners. It was, then, with much pleasure, that I recognised, at the station at Surat, the young Hindoo who had provided us with an abode on our journey from Bombay; the sight of a place one has visited before, when one is travelling in a foreign country, and the countenance of even a casual acquaintance, gives one almost a home-feeling. He was accompanied by an elderly gentleman, who had commenced a girls' school in Surat fifteen years before, and the principal of the Normal School, who was also the secretary of a society for promoting female education. With these gentlemen was the educational inspector of the district, who, with his lady, had kindly invited me to take up my abode at their house.

It has many

Surat is a remarkable old city. of the same features as Ahmedabad, since it abounds in

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monuments of departed greatness; but it stands on much less ground, and is in a state of great dilapidation. Its situation on a river formerly navigable to Surat from its mouth for even large ships, rendered it naturally an object of attraction to European merchants, as well as a convenient place of departure for Mecca, for Mahometan pilgrims from all parts of Hindostan ; this obtained for it the name of the Gate of Mecca. the other side of the river are the remains of what was probably an ancient Hindoo city. About five centuries ago, probably, the Mahometans commenced to colonise Surat. The Portuguese found their way to the city soon after their arrival in India, and in 1512 sacked the then open town; it was afterwards fortified by the Mahometans. In the beginning of the seventeenth century the English visited the place; and in 1612 many conflicts occurred between them and the Portuguese, whose armaments were finally defeated; and the Mogul Emperor sent a firman authorising an English minister to reside at his court thus opening trade to our nation. In 1615 a factory was established at Bharuch or Broach, the trade of which was so flourishing that in 1683, 55,000 pieces of cloth were sent from it to England. The Dutch commenced trade here in 1616, and for some years their factory competed successfully with that of the English at Surat. The French finally established another factory in this city in 1668, but all commercial prosperity was then sadly interrupted by the ravages of the Marathas, which led to the erection of walls of brick instead of mud. This warlike race still continued for some time its incursions. Continual troubles arose, and for a time the English left their factory; but in 1712 a new firman was granted to the English company, which was now thoroughly established in Surat, and the real

government of the city was vested in presidents, a long series of whom ruled and passed away during the eighteenth century. The last titular Nawab died in 1842, and the flag of Delhi was removed from the citadel. This city has not only been a prey to the destructive attacks of its invaders, but has also been exposed to tremendous floods when the rains have swollen the stream of the Taptee; the waters have then risen to so tremendous a height that boats have sailed over the walls of the city. Great changes have also transformed buildings once famous. The noble pile, once the English factory, is now in part a lunatic asylum, in part a hospital for natives. The castle, once so important, can now boast of little but its historical associations. There is also an extensive asylum for diseased animals. A city with a history so remarkable, and with remains so interesting, would give scope for long researches to an antiquarian. But my object was the present, not the relics of the past-the condition of human beings, not of the brute creation. My short stay in the city did not allow of my devoting my attention to both, and I did not explore the curious records of departed splendour or power. A boating excursion in the evening was an agreeable termination of the day. On the left bank of the river we observed the house once occupied by the chief of the French factory, now the residence of a wealthy Banian. Farther on is a house called the Dutch Garden, where the chief of the Dutch factory resided. Most of the houses here have an air of dilapidation, and many parts show traces of the violence of the river, when swollen by rains. The banks, however, attracted our attention but little, for the exquisite beauty of the sunset on the water was so entrancing as to absorb all the thoughts and feelings. No one who has not wit

nessed it can comprehend the extraordinary richness and gorgeous red of a tropical sunset, reflected in the calm grey mirror of a broad stream. The landscape, even if uninteresting, when thrown into deep shadow against it, is invested with a solemn beauty. But the glory soon passes away-the pencil cannot portray it before one general gloom overshadows all. We might have felt some uneasiness in returning, if the moon had not given us the benefit of her silvery light.

Tuesday, Oct. 16.-A great confusion of tongues early broke my rest the next morning. The window of my sleeping-room overlooked the landing-place of the river. There, multitudes both of men and women assembled before sunrise to perform their ablutions, and for various household purposes, such as drawing water and washing clothes. Strange was the scene which was here every morning presented to an English eye; for the women appeared wholly devoid of any feeling akin to delicacy, and in this public place, to avoid wetting their garments, left the greater part of their bodies uncovered. It would seem as if the great seclusion of the women of the higher classes withdraws the refining influence of their sex from society;-those who are not so shielded are thus left in the rude position of barbaric life, where the weaker sex is oppressed by the stronger, and being degraded, is deprived of its special excellence. In India the voices and manners of the lower classes of women appeared to me more harsh and coarse than those of the men. I felt assured, however, that this did not arise from their nature being inferior, but from the condition in which they are placed.

It was necessary to be up betimes, since a very full programme for the day had been arranged by my friends. Our first visit was to the English cemetery, which is

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not far from the city on the road to Broach. It is thus spoken of in Murray's Guide: A mean wooden doorway opens upon a large expanse of broken ground, covered with weeds, trees, and mouldered tombs.' The present altered condition of the burying-ground proves how much devoted labour must have been bestowed upon it by the English clergyman of the place, who has made it one of his special cares, that his countrymen, whose remains are laid in a foreign land, shall not be forgotten or neglected. My attention was first drawn, not to the gorgeous sepulchral monuments, but to the extraordinary neatness and beauty of the place. While trees of English foliage were tastefully arranged to shade the walks and the tombs, lovely tropical plants and magnificent creepers, with their bright and splendid flowers, added a beauty to them which I had not witnessed elsewhere; the whole inspired into the spirit thoughts of the eternal spring, and the everlasting garden, while wandering among the abodes of the dead. Texts of Scripture recording heavenly aspirations, and a certain hope of a blissful resurrection,' were most refreshing to the mind in the midst of the surrounding joyless heathenism; they made me feel more intensely than ever the blessedness of that faith which survives the wrecks of time and the fall of empires, and calmly bears its testimony in the midst of a land of idolatry. He who has thus adorned with Nature's choicest treasures this abode of the dead, has not only shown pious reverence for the departed, but has soothed the wounded. spirits of those who have been called to lay their beloved ones in a foreign land.

A number of costly sepulchral monuments are in this cemetery, of some antiquity; they carry one back to the time when the European factories vied with each other