Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 1.djvu/198

 CHAPTER XIV.

RESIDENCE AT CAWNPORE.

1830.—The iron-shod lāthī—Coins of Sekunder al Sāni—Hindostanī Song—The first Thermantidote—Dāk to Cawnpore—The Barkandāz—The Station Sand-storm—Indian method of washing the hair—Pukka houses and bungalows—The Ayha's revenge—Horses poisoned—The Isle of France—The visionary old man—Influence of women in India—Gambling—Eating the air—The Ayha's trowsers—Darzees—Refuge of the distressed—Signet-rings—The Durwān—Ganges water—Small-pox—Grass-cutters—Beauty of a night in India—Forgery—Qui hy?—Winged ants and bugs—The moon—A set-to—Revenge of a sā'īs—Soldiers in hospital—Arrak—The Chārpāī—A new servant—Unpopularity of the Governor-general.

1830, March.—The natives use a very dangerous weapon, which they have been forbidden by the Government to carry. I took one as a curiosity, which had been seized on a man in a fight in a village. It is a very heavy lāthī, a solid male bamboo, five feet five inches long, headed with iron in a most formidable manner. The man was brought before the judge for murder, and this lāthī was the weapon with which two men were supposed to have lost their lives. There are six jagged semicircular irons at the top, each two inches in length, one in height; and it is shod with iron bands sixteen inches deep from the top; diameter of the iron ornament on the top, six inches. Sticks headed with brass put on in the same fashion, are often carried by the native servants for protection when returning to their homes at night.