The Modern Traveller

THE MODERN TRAVELLER. VOLUME THE NINTH. INDIA. VOL. III. THE MODERN TRAVELLER. A DESCRIPTION, GEOGRAPHICAL, HISTORICAL, AND TOPOGRAPHICAL, OF THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE GLOBE. IN THIRTY VOLUMES. BY JOSIAH CONDER. VOLUME THE NINTH. LONDON: JAMES DUNCAN, 37, PATERNOSTER-RO W. MDCCCXXX. LONDON : Printed by W. CLOWES, Stamford-street. CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME. HISTORY CONTINUED. PAGE DESTRUCTION OF THE PINDARRIES 1 BATTLE OF MEHIDPOOR 4 ARREST AND DEPOSITION OF APPA SAHIB 9 BATTLE OF KOREIGAUM 11 ASHTA 17 SURRENDER OF THE PEISHWA 21 RESTORATION OF THE SATARAH RAJAH 22 PROCLAMATION OF THE BRITISH SUPREMACY IN INDIA 25 TOPOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. ACCOUNT OF TRAVELLERS IN INDIA SO CALCUTTA 36 STATE, &c. OF THE POPULATION 64 RELIGIOUS AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS AT CALCUTTA 85 HALF-CASTE POPULATION 91 HINDOO FESTIVALS ,-. 96 BOTANIC GARDEN 105 BARRACKPOOR 108 SERAMPORE 110 CHANDERNAGORE 114 CHINSURAH 115 FROM CALCUTTA TO DACCA 116 DACCA 134 BURHAMPOOR 145 MOORSHEDABAD * 147 RUINS OF GOUR 151 RAJMAHAL 164 BOGLIPOOR (BHAUGULPOOR) 170 FROM BHAUGULPOOR TO DEOGHUR 173 MOUNT MANDAR 175 DEOGHUR (BAIDYANAUTH) 188 ACCOUNT OF THE PUHARREES 191 MONGHYR ,, 202 IV CONTENTS. PAGE CHARACTER OF THE BENGALEES 207 EXTENT AND ANCIENT DIVISIONS OF BENGAL. 228 EXTENT, &c. OF BAHAR 229 BAHAR (CITY) ib. GAYA 230 PATNA 233 DINAPOOR 237 BUXAR 239 GHAZEEPOOR 240 BENARES 243 CHUNAR 263 JUANPOOR 275 ALLAHABAD 2?8 FROM ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW 286 CAWNPOOR 290 LUCKNOW 294 OUDE 312 KANOUJE 318 FROM LUCKNOW TO ALMORAH 324 ROHILCUND 326 ALMORAH 340 KUMAOON, PROVINCE OF , 343 GURWAL, PROVINCE OF 350 NAHN 352 APPEARANCE, &c. OF THE NATIVES OF SIRMORE 354 JOURNEY FROM NAHN TO DEYRAH 356 THE VALLEY OF THE SUTLEJ 364 BISEHUR, PROVINCE OF 372 JUMNAUTRI 377 GUNGAUTRI 381 THE COW'S MOUTH 384 HEIGHTS OF THE HIMALAYA PEAKS 38? SEIK TERRITORY 389 DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. GOVERNMENT HOUSE at CALCUTTA 40 BISHOP'S COLLEGE 106 OLD TREE at GYA, BAHAH 230 PATNA 233 PALACE at LUCKNOW 29G THE MODERN TRAVELLER, INDIA. HISTORY OF BRITISH INDIA. WHILE these important transactions were taking place at Poonah and Nagpoor, so confounding to all who had either openly or secretly taken part in the hostile confederacy, the Pindarries had been completely driven out of their haunts in Malwah, by the three divisions under Brigadier-generals their Malcolm, Adams, and Marshall ; lands being either taken possession of, or restored to the agents of Sindia and the Bhopaul Nabob. The durrahs of Kureem Khan and Wasil Mohammed, united about Seronje ; and thence, invited by Sindia, took the route of Nya-Seraee, towards Gwalior. Cheetoo went off to the north-west, in hopes of support from Holkar, as well as from Jeswunt Rao Bhow, one of Sindia's commanders, stationed at Jawud. Lord Hastings's camp was then at Erich,* and he had * Very soon after Lord Hastings had, by his advance to the Sindh, enforced the treaty of concert upon Sindia, his army was overtaken " by a pestilence as violent and destructive as any recorded in the pages of history." The source of this epidemic is matter of mere conjecture, although its progress was distinctly traced. It first ap peared in the Gangetic Delta, about the commencement of tho PART V. B 2 INDIA. placed detachments connecting his own with General Marshall's division. Upon ascertaining that Kureera and Wasil Mohammed had come to the northward, one of these detachments moved from Burwa Sagur, through Dutleea, across the Sindh, so as to cut them off from Gwalior ; while Lord Hastings brought his division within thirty miles of Sindia's camp, which had the intended effect of completely overawing that chieftain. The Pindarries, despairing of aid from Gwalior, yet unable to retrace their steps to the southward, where General Marshall and Colonel Adams were closing in upon them, halted in the jungles and on the broken ground about Shahabad ; till, approach of the British divisions, they forced the Lodwana Ghaut, leading into Haraotee, in consequence of the ill-conduct of Zalim Singh's troops posted there. General Marshall succeeded, however, in overtaking a rainy season of 1817; and from the early part of September, its ravages were felt at Calcutta, where, for a long time, it destroyed upwards of two hundred persons daily. Spreading thence up the course of the Ganges and its confluents, it reached the camp of Brigadier, general Hardyman about the middle of October ; but, .as it was pitched in a healthy country, the effects of the disease were much mitigated. Continuing westward, it fell with ex- traordinary violence upon the division coommanded by the Governor-General in person. The year was one of scarcity ; the grain was of inferior quality, and the situation of the encampment " was low and unhealthy. For ten days, the whole camp was a hi that short hospital ; and the deaths period amounted, according to the nearest estimate that could be made, to a tenth of the whole number collected. Towards the end of November, the Governor- General had reached a healthy station, at Erich, on the Betwa, and the epidemic had visibly expended its virulence. See Prinsep, vol. ii. 107111. The author was present at head-quarters, and lost seven servants and a moonshee in four days. In the following April, the same fatal disorder attacked the division under Colonel Adams hi Kandeish ; and in a few days, the casualties far exceeded what the troops had suffered through the whole course of the military operations. No part of India, from Nepaul to Cape Comorin, escaped this dreadful visitation. Ib. p. 258. INDIA. 3 party and destroying a few of them. They then at- tempted to cross the Chumbul by the Loharee ford, but were there intercepted by General Donkin, who surprised their advanced guard in a night bivouac, about four miles N. E. of Burod, capturing the wife of Kureem Khan and all his state elephants, kettle- drums, standards, and other insignia. The two chiefs, after having burned their baggage, went off to the southward, at the head of 4000 of the best mounted of their followers, with whom they succeeded in passing Colonel Adams's division, and continued their flight westward into Mewar. Of those who were left behind, some were cut off by the troops, and others by the exasperated villagers. One considerable body, however, got clear off to the southward, and after travers- ing the whole Deccan, entered the Company's provinces in the Carnatic, where they were annihilated or completely dispersed before the end of the ensuing January. The scene of operations, as regarded the Pindarries, was now entirely confined to Mewar. General established at Marshall his head-quarters Seronje ; Colonel Adams moved down upon Gungraur, to hem them in on the east ; while General Donkin, re-crossing the Chumbul, took post at Shahpoora, west of the Bunan, so as to inclose them on the north. Such was the progress of the Pindaree warfare in the east of Malwah : more important events were passing to the westward. When Cheetoo went off towards the north-west, he was pursued by Sir John Malcolm with the third division, until he found refuge in Holkar's camp in the vicinity of Mehidpoor. Sir John arrived at Agur on the 4th of December, where he halted, and receiv- ing intelligence that Holkar's army entertained inten- B 2 4 INDIA. tJons decidedly hostile, he resolved to retire upoi. the first division, under Sir Thos. Hislop, then advancing to Oojein. The two divisions met on the 12th, and after a halt of two days, advanced towards Holkar's camp, with the intention to offer terms, agreeably to the Governor General's instructions. Gunput Row, the duan, had been gained over to the Peishwa's cause, and Toolsah had no will but his arrival Bhye ; but the of General Malcolm's division produced some alteration in their dispositions. The commanders of battalions, however, aware that if an alliance was formed with the British Government, they must lose the consequence which they derived from the existing state of anarchy, were from the first disposed to hostilities. It was through their influence that no satisfactory answer was returned to the amicable overtures that were made, and that, although a shew of negotiation was kept up, the leaders of the Mahratta horse were urged to provoke a rupture by daily depredations on " the cattle and followers of the British army. So determined were the Patans to cut off all chance of pacification, that, suspecting the regency of an intention to accept the terms, they confined Gunput Row, * and put Toolsah Bhye to death." On the day that this tragedy took place, the British army had advanced to within ten miles of Holkar's camp, on the banks of the Seepra, near Mehidpoor. A tumultuous council was held, at which the military chiefs decided, that it was advisable to hazard an action on the favourable ground that they occupied. Grant Duff, vol. iii. p. 462. The details are given by Sir John ' Malcolm, C. I. vol. i. pp. 314317. Not a foot stirred, and not a voice was raised, to save a woman who had never shewn mercy to others." INDIA. 5 " The order of battle was skilfully arranged. The horse, which had crossed to the right bank of the Seepra, took a position that was well calculated to embarrass the operations of the advancing army, by occupying its attention and threatening its stores and the covered baggage ; while infantry and cannon, by the remainder of the cavalry, occupied a strong and well-connected line, protected on the right by a deep water-course, and on the left, by the abrupt bank of the Seepra.

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