I therefore decided upon taking up my quarters for the
night under the eaves of a house.
13th March. In Candapoor there are some handsome Hindoo temples and
several small Mahomedan monuments. Near Lony is a large English
military station. I also found an obelisk erected there in memory
of a battle won by 1,200 English against 20,000 natives.
14th March. Puna. I had endless trouble here to find Mr. Brown, to
whom I had an introduction from Mr. Hamilton. The Europeans reside
in all parts of the town, for the most part miles apart, and I had
the misfortune to meet with some who were not the most polite, and
did not consider it worth taking the trouble to give me information.
Mr. Brown, on the contrary, received me as kindly as I could desire.
His first inquiry was whether any accident had happened to me on the
road. He told me that, only a short time since, an officer was
robbed between Suppa and Puna, and as he attempted to defend
himself, was murdered; but he added that such instances were
extraordinarily rare.
I had arrived about noon. After dinner, Mr. Brown conducted me to
the town, which belongs to the East India Company. It contains
15,000 inhabitants, and is situated at the junction of the rivers
Mulla and Mutta, over both of which handsome bridges are thrown.
The streets are broad and kept clean; the houses, like those in
Udjein, are furnished with false wooden walls. Some were painted
all over, and belonged mostly, as I was informed, to fakirs, with
whom the town swarmed.
It was the month in which the Hindoos prefer to celebrate their
marriages, and we met in several streets merry processions of that
kind. The bridegroom is enveloped in a purple mantle, his turban
dressed out with gold tinsel, tresses, ribbons, and tassels, so that
from a distance it appears like a rich crown. The depending ribbons
and tassels nearly cover the whole face. He is seated upon a horse;
relatives, friends, and guests surround him on foot. When he
reaches the house of the bride, the doors and windows of which are
securely closed, he seats himself quietly and patiently on the
threshold. The female relations and friends also gather together
here, without conversing much with the bridegroom and the other men.
This scene continues unchanged until nightfall. The bridegroom then
departs with his friends; a closely covered waggon, which has been
held in readiness, is drawn up to the door; the females slip into
the house, bring out the thickly-veiled bride, push her into the
waggon, and follow her with the melodious music of the tam-tam. The
bride does not start until the bridegroom has been gone a quarter of
an hour. The women then accompany her into the bridegroom's house,
which, however, they leave soon afterwards. The music is kept up in
front of the house until late in the night. It is only the
marriages of the lower classes that are celebrated in this manner.
There is a road leading from Puna to Pannwell, a distance of seventy
miles, and travellers can post all the way. From Pannwell to Bombay
the journey is made by water. I adhered to the cheaper baili, and
Mr. Brown was so obliging as to procure one for me, and to lend me a
servant.
On the 15th of March I again set out, and on the same day arrived at
Woodgown, a village with one of the dirtiest bungalows in which I
ever made up my bed.
16th March. Cumpuily. The country between this place and Woodgown
is the most beautiful that I saw in India; the view from a mountain
some miles on this side of Kundalla, was particularly striking. The
spectator stands here in the midst of an extensive mountainous
district: peaks of the most diversified forms are piled in numerous
rows above and alongside of each other, presenting the most
beautiful and variegated outlines.
There are, also, enormous terraces of rock, flattened cones of
peaks, with battlements and pinnacles, which at first sight might be
taken for ruins and fortresses. In one place the lofty roof of a
majestic building presents itself - in another, a gigantic Gothic
tower rises aloft. The volcanic form of the Tumel mountain is the
most uncommon object which meets the eye. Beyond the mountains
extends a wide plain, at the extremity of which lies the polished
surface of the long wished-for ocean. The greater part of the
mountains is covered with beautiful green woods. I was so much
delighted with the extreme beauty of the prospect, that I
congratulated myself for the first time on the slow pace of my
sleepy oxen.
The village of Karly lies between Woodgown and Kundalla; it is
famous on account of its temples, which are about two miles distant.
I did not visit them, because I was assured that they were not half
so interesting as those at Adjunta and Elora.
Kundalla lies upon a mountain plateau. There are several pretty
country-houses here, to which many European families, from the
neighbourhood of Bombay, resort during the hot weather.
In the Deccan, and the province of Bombay, I found the natives were
less handsome than in Bengal and Hindostan; their features were much
coarser, and not so open and amiable.
For several days we have again met very large trains of oxen, some
of the drivers of which had their families with them. The females
of these people were very ragged and dirty, and at the same time
loaded with finery. The whole body was covered with coloured
woollen borderings and fringes, the arms with bracelets of metal,
bone, and glass beads; even to the ears large woollen tassels were
hung, in addition to the usual ornaments, and the feet were loaded
with heavy rings and chains. Thus bedecked, the beauties sat on the
backs of the oxen, or walked by the side of the animals.
