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INDIA, AND INDIAN PROGRESS.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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No . 498 . Oct . 8 , 1859 1 THE LEADER . 1125
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ous manner with which , the quadruped walks by his master and looks up to his face , and the readiness with which he obeys his orders without murmurs , suggested to a sprightly habitue that he would not be unqualified for a portfolio . There is no need for alarm , however , on the part of the most nervous holde r of office , and the fidelity of this noble creature ( the Newfoundland in question ) need not disturb his slumbers . He would probably know as much of the Imperial mind as . any of the biped ministers , perhaps more than any of them—during a tete-a-tete . _ . . urin
A Lively Capital . — -No one coming to \ L ( says one of this week ' s correspondents ) , even in the best of times , will ever be particularly struck by the liveliness of the place . Those distressingly rectangular streets , following the four cardinal points of the compass—one-fourth unbearable in winter , the other insufferable in summer , the third disagreeable in the morning , and the fourth unpleasant in the evening ! Those dreary monotonous rows of houses all alike , each with the same iron balcony before the same sloped window , above each the same cornice , and all looking down on the same six lines of flagging—two for the foot passengers , and the four remaining ones for the carriages—each line divided the traditional
mathematically from the others by pavement of little round stones , evidently laid down with the intention of preventing people from using the largest part of the street , and confining their movements to the regular lines of flagging ! Wo to the inquisitive traveller who looks down on these straight lines from his window if he is in the least disposed to giddiness ! They will produce on him the effect of magic lines from which he can no more turn away his eye ^ something like a barn-door fowl , before whose beak a chalk line has been drawn on the ground , he becomes drowsy and immovable . At last , by an effort , he overcomes the effect of the spell , and goes down into tKe streets in search of life and movement . He hastens under the arcades
which run round the Piazza del Castello arid along the Via del Po , where he is told he is to see all the world . If it be early enough in the morning he may " see a number of servant girls making their provisions for the day , and here . aud there a sporadic crinoline , evidently intent on shopping , and a sprinkling of black coats moving towards one of the cafes to have breakfast . Later in ¦ the day the first element altogether disappears , and the lastnamely , the blackcoats—increases to a considerable extent ; so that towards the evening you find a regular procession of them moving up and down . But in the morning , or , indeed , any part of the day , there is the same automaton-like regular movement ,
which gives one almost the idea that a special improved breed of beings has been produced to move about in this most regular and sedate of towns . It is neither the busy , active , energetic orowd of London , which communicates its life even to the most lymphatic temperament , nor is it the amusing , enjoying crowd of flaneurs of the Paris Boulevards . There is neither enjoyment nor activity in it , but a general listlessness , I might say nothingness , which gives you the impression that you are walking about in a town of somnambulists by daylight . Even the crowds collected in the evening before the cafes present this half sleepy appearance ; you begin almost to feel an affection for the nowsvendors , who try in
vain with their shrill voices to rouse the town from its sleepiness . If this be the appearance of Turin in the best of times—ami every one not born within the precincts of Taurinum will tell you it is soyou may imagine what it is now" in the so-called dead season . Poetical Pkaybrs . —The Bombay papers give large extracts from the various sermons preached in the city on the appointed thanksgiving day . Jews , Mahomodans , Vcdantists , Gond Brahmins , Parsees , and their numerous sects , observed the day . One Moonahoo publishes his Mmiftjat in which the following occurs : —" Non-entity , O Lord , was our abode ; terra incognita our habitation . By tho sufferings of impatient lovers , and by the elegance and ' gracefulness , of the beloved ; by tho weeping eyes , nnd by the aft ' euting ardour of the Holyrender India a House of safety . " Dulputram
, Dyabnhee , " the celerntod poet of Gussorat , " read auch sentences as these in Shree Ranjeo ' s temple . " Bo gracious and blacken tho faces of the wicked . .. . Armies mutinied and calamities ensued ; children and women were tortured and cruelly murderod . It appeared as if Yama had boon excited with anger , .. , We resigned ourselves like beetles at Thy feot , and placed our entire reliance on Tlioe .. . When tho drum of the great subjeet-protooting Queen begnn to beat , the thundor-like noise of arms ceased of itself . " Some of the Parseo forms wore close imitations of those in tho Prayer-book , There was a poetical contest among the Shonvoo Brahmins . Hymns composed In Guzerati , Murathi , Hlndostani , And Sanscrit , were read by their authors to air extent more than sufficient to form a second ?• Queen ' s Wake . "
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A NEW SANATAEIUM . IN March last the commisioner called upon the collector of Kurrachee to take early steps for the purpose of ascertaining whether there could be a spot made available on or near our western border north of Sehwan for a sanatarium , or as an agreeable resort during the hot weather , and where the climate would be less trying to the European
constitution than that of the plains of Scinde . The object , in fact , was to be made a twofold one , inasmuch as it was also designed to place within reach of the deputy collector a place where he would be able to reside and transact his business with less trial to his health and strength , and where he would be accessible to the people of his districts ; the task was accordingly entrusted to Captain Lionel Dunsterville , the deputy collector in charge of Sehwan , and a better selection we do not think could have been made .
On the 2 nd of April Captain Dunsterville . left Johee for Haira Khan Lugharee , a village founded , it appears , by the great grandfather of the present headman . Qn the 3 rd he started for Rajah Dehra . towards which there is no regular road , and he had to take a circuitous route in a north-westerly direction , until reaching the village of Meerur Lugharee , from whence a course was taken to Rajah Dehra , situated in the Mehur district . There are a great number of pukka wells here , upwards of 100 , many of which , however , are choked up from having . been neglected for a lengthened period . Rajah Dehra is close to the mouth of the Gaj , and at the foot of Kuchruk , the hill which Captain
Dunsterville had resolved on visiting ; he , however , found great difficulty in ascertaining correct information regarding Kuchruk , or , in fact , about part of the Keerthut range . It was soon discovered that obstacles were thrown in his way through the instrumentality of the hill tribes , who had a spy at Rajah Dehra to watch his movements , and who , no doiibt , were jealous of any encroachments on their boundaries . Captain Dunsterville , notwithstanding all these drawbacks , and hindrances , which under ordinary circumstances might have tempted him to retrace his steps , persisted in prosecuting his journey ; and when his determination to proceed was " made known } the spy referred
to actually had the audacity to warn the people to desert their villages or hamlets before Cantain Dunsterville ' s arrival ! The water of the Gaj is described as being as clear as crystal , and always cool . The stream for the greater part is narrow and shallow , but everywhere tolerably rapid . It abounds in large pools , some of considerable depth , and all literally teeming with fish , varying in length from an inch to three feet . Crocodiles are said to be numerous hereabouts , but Captain Dunsterville failed to see oven one ; neither did he learn of any ravages ever having been committed by tlie brutes . After undergoing privations and
difficulties , Captain Dunsterville managed on the 8 th April to reach the summit of the Kuchruk , which overlooked tho Gaj , some thousands of feet below . His stay on the hill did not extend over three days , but even in this short space of time he managed to ingratiate himself into the good graces of the Belooches , who wore exceedingly cross-grained and surly at first , insomuch that they would not be prevailed upon either to render assistance of any' kind , or to dispose of the veriest trifle . This -fueling of diffidence , or more properly antipathy , was to bo accounted for . on the assumption that Captain Dunsterville's advunb amongst them was looked on as a sure preludo to their being taxed , and that he had evidently boen sent on tho express mission of measuring their corn
fields J Such misgivings were eoon dispelled , unil tho first symptom of a relaxation in their feolinys was manifested in a consent to sell the travelling party fat-tailed sheop at two rupees each , and wheat at one rupee per cassu . or sixty rupees per Khurwar ! Tho men arc desqribeu by Captain Dunsterville an being a fine , manly , independent sot of fellows ; many of them good-looking , tall , and upright , with a Jewish cast of countenance . To give one an idea of tho prime vul state of simplicity they enjoy , and tho utter abaonooof any thing approaching bigotry nndintolorance in their religious notions , which are evidently us original as the people are themnel vos . Captuiii Dunatorvlllo states , " The gleam of satisfaction which brightened their countenances when they told mo they had no Moolahs amongst them , showed that thoy regarded those gentry In somewhat tho same
light as Mofussilites do lawyers in India . Divested as they are of religious prejudices , they are equally so of all ideas of cleanliness ; and one of the tribetold Captain Dunsterville that , as a general rule ,, he washed himself every tenth day ! " Up this path Captain Dunsterville met strings of Belooeh women , toiling with large goat skins filled with water , carried on their backs , and secured bystraps ; some with children astride on their hips ; others braiding goat ' s hair as they climbed the steep ascent with their accustomed loads . The fact of several of the women having passed the meridian of their years , and one woman in particular , whose age was scarcely under the span allotted to human existence , having a grey bearded son , and she herself
being * in the full possession of her intellectual faculties , and strong and healthy in every respect , would favour the notion that such drud g ery was by nomeans injurious . Captain Dunsterville gave up the idea of selecting a site at Kuchruk for a summer residence for the deputy collector of Sehwan . Kuchruk , as described by him , is a large crater or basin , and the difficulty of procuring water there is great ; the springs or pools on which the populace depend for their daily supplies are found in the bed of a torrent several hundreds of feet below the level of the basin , and an attempt to make the hill track traversable by donkeys heavily laden would be attended with a heavy expense ; at present it isimpassable by beasts carry ing even ordinary loads . A stone dam , however , could be thrown across the gorge , the expenditure on . which , it is
calculated , would amount to something near Its . 2 , 000 , but it would last for years . Captain Dunsterville * recommends that , as a preparatory measure , a careful survey be made of the whole basin , when it would be easy to secure the retention of a large body of water , sufficient to meet a year ' s consumption , by regulating , the height of the dam by thelevels taken . No obstacles to the project being carried out need be apprehended from the people living in those parts , as it is reasonable to surmise that they would gladly purchase the inestimable blessing of having a ready facility of procuring the precious liquid at the cost of a few wheat fields-Fort Hurrar is one march , or a . distance of about ten miles from Kuchruk ; the route to it is cercuitous , and in its present state traversable only by foot passengers , and donkeys lightly laden . The basin here is of a less area than that of
Kuchruk , with which it contrasts favourably by its being irrigated by a rapid little stream , issuing from a clear spring sacred to the Pttnj tunn ( the Five Companions — Mahommed and the Char Yar ) . This stream is deemed sufficient to supply four wheels in the twenty-four hours , and as it appears to be choked by fallen leaves and detritus from the hills , a removal of such obstacles , and their effectual prevention , will , no doubt , conduce to beneficial results . A portion of this ground , or all that happens to be level , is surrounded by a massive wall of stone and chunani .
standing about ten feet in height . Within this inclosurc Meer AH Moorad intended to secure his harem and valuables in the event of a foreign invasion . Two round towers of stone and chunani , loopholed and furnished with embrasures for cannon , guard the head of the pass leading towards Scinde . These towers are connected with each other by curtain walls of the same material , which , descending in steps , meet about the centre of the gorge in a doorway just large enough to admit of the ingress of a camel with a Kujawah . The whole is in excellent preservation , including the woolen framework for tho door or gate . —Sindian .
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CIVIL SALAIUBS . " Musdamjss , " says a cook , in mi old French carjeaturo to his fowls , "how do you wish to bu cooked t " Wo do not want to bo killed , " cackled the hens , wandering , suya the caricaturist , from t | ic pomr . The members of the Civil Service arc like the unfortunate hens . They do not vvmit to bo killed , au < l will give no hints as to the comparative savouriiK'ss of sauces . The petition drawn up by Mr . Aloim > Monoy has been signed by nil civilians accessible , from secretaries downwards , and goes home by tho next mail . It is simply a protest againt reduction . The writer points to tho past position of tho service , mid eomnures its prospects unfavourably with thoao
of the service iu Ceylon . Tho signer * would perhaps bo slightly astonished if Sir C . Wood took them nt their word , and placed them ut oncu on the Cuylon scale . All this , and all protest ogain « t reduction in tho abstract , is simply wandering . II reductions bo not a necessity , reduction * will not bo made . No man , secretary or subordinate , want * to reduce j to bo tormented by petition * and protests : to bo besieged by angry officials , und cwnsldored a demon by officials' ungrler wives . There is no popularity to bo niado in Iiulin by " cuttings . " Nobody wishes for them \ from the clvlliuns who lose their luxuries to tho trades-
India, And Indian Progress.
INDIA , AND INDIAN PROGRESS .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 8, 1859, page 1125, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2315/page/9/
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