Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/40

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INTRODUCTION.

his caste-system has given to his own society which the has to thank that the disease has not penetrated deeper, yet remains a mere surface ulcer, dangerous but curable. is

Hindu

and aa There no denying the abominable mendacity and corruption which

disgrace the relations of natives with their rnlers. But the cause Their exceptional honesty in their dealings among is patent. themselves gives grounds for hope that, under a Government which rewards merit and promotes a public spirit, the vice may be eradicated, and even now the higher judicial ranks give examples of probity of which any country in the world might be proud. In physique the people of Oudh are the medium height, with light, active bodies, and well-proportioned limbs, capable of great endurance, but inferior in strength to Europeans and the inhabitants of the Punjab and Afghanistan. Their features are generally well formed ; their eyes and teeth remarkably good; and their carriage and movements full of grace and ease. In colour they are half way between the olive-brown of the Kashmiri and the swarthiness of the Bengali. The distinctions of and the Chhattri excels all other birth are strongly marked castes in his superior stature and strength, the greater regularity of his features, and fairness of his complexion. And it is this class which furnishes all the best examples It is impossible to think badly of of the national character. a race who, from among the dozen chiefs cf a single district, could produce in one season of national convulsion two such eminent instances of loyalty and devotion to opposite sides as the present Maharaja of Balrampur and the late Eaja Debi Bakhsh Singh of Gonda the one who risked his property and his life to save a handful of English friends, and remained their firm protector when it seemed certain that their cause was lost ; the other who did not join the standard of national revolt till he had escorted the treasure and the officials of a Government he hated to a place of safety, who was the last in the field when fighting was possible, and who, though offered an honour^ able reception and the whole of his immense estates by his conquerors, elected to sacrifice position and wealth, and die a starving exile in Naipal rather than desert his defeated mistress. ,



—

Their fortunes were same.

different,

but their chivalrous honour the