Page:Lord Amherst and the British Advance Eastwards to Burma.djvu/205

 were met by a number of men, some respectably dressed. As they approached us they set up a loud shout with the most discordant vociferations, so that the frightened elephants turned round. Upon inquiry we learnt that these people were complaining of their Rájá, and imploring the Governor-General to interfere betwixt them. He was a cruel despot, he massacred any persons who had property to seize. Captain Murray spoke to these unhappy people, to inform them that their Rájá was an independent chief, and that nobody could interfere. The Sikhs are, generally speaking, at war one with another. Those who are under British protection express their gratitude in the most enthusiastic terms, certain that their property and their lives are safe.'

At last our travellers are in the Hills. On April 1 they reach Subáthu, where they remain to give time for the rest of the party to come up. Seventeen hundred coolies were not enough to bring the baggage and the company! Lord Amherst reviews the Gurkhas who had distinguished themselves at the siege of Bhartpur, 'small men but active and intelligent, performing nineteen evolutions in the space of one hour, with great rapidity and exactness.' The diary still registers strange odds and ends of information about the ways of India. When the late Rájá of Jaipur died, we are told, eighteen men and eighteen women of his household were forced to burn with his body. Many were dragged from their families, bound hand and foot, and thrown into the flames, among them his barber, as they said he would not go into Paradise unless the barber was there to shave him. 'Satí,' the great English lady adds, 'is being gradually