Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/288

 CHAPTER LV.

LIFE IN THE HILLS.

Kharītā of her Highness the ex-Queen of Gwalior—A Mountain Storm—An Adventure—Asses carried off by Leopards—Bear's Grease—Dēodar Oil—Apricot Oil—Hill Currants—Figs and Tar—The Cholera—Sacrifice of a Kid to the Mountain Spirit—Absurdity of the Fear of a Russian Invasion—Plague of Fleas—The Charmed Stone—Iron-stone—Khobarah, the Hill Dog—Sheep-stealing—Booteah Chharrā—Flexible Stone—A Fearful Storm—A doomed Banglā—Leaf Butterflies—Bursting of the Mahratta Bāndh at Prāg—Similarity of the Singular Marriages in the Hills with those of the Ancient Britons—Honesty of the Paharīs, i.e. Mountaineers.

THE KHARĪTĀ

1838, June 29th.—Her Highness the Bāiza Bā'ī did me the honour to send me a kharītā, that is, a letter enclosed in a long bag of kimkhwāb, crimson silk, brocaded with flowers in gold, contained in another of fine muslin: the mouth of the bag was tied with a gold and tasselled cord, to which was appended the great seal of her Highness,—a flat circular mass of sealing-wax, on which her seal was impressed. Two smaller bags were sent with it, as represented in the plate, each containing a present of bon-bons. The kharītā, as well as one of the small bags, is represented divested of its outer case of transparent muslin; the other little bag has on its white cover, and the direction is placed within the transparent muslin. The autograph of the Baīzaiza] Bā'ī is on the right hand side of the page; the letter was written in Urdū (the court language), in the Persian character, by one of her Highness's mūnshīs, and signed by the Bā'ī herself: the paper is adorned with gold devices. The letter commenced in the usual complimentary style; after which her