My Diary in India, in the Year 1858-9, Volume 1 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Aden aide-de-camp Allahabad Alumbagh amid Arabs artillery attack Bahadoor Balaklava bank Begum Kothie boats breakfast bridge bungalow Calcutta camels camp Captain carriages cavalry Cawnpore charpoy cheroot Chief Colonel Colonel Adye column court covered Crimea desert Dilkoosha dinner dust elephants enemy enemy's European eyes fellow fight fire French front gentleman gharry going Goomtee guns Gwalior hand head Head-Quarters heard Hindoo horses houses Imambarra India Kaiserbagh look Lord Lord Raglan Lucknow Martinière ment morning native never night o'clock officers once Oonao Oude Outram palaces palkee parapet passed passengers Pondicherry poor rebels regiment river road round round-shot Sahib sand sepoys ship shot side Sikhs Sir Colin Sir Colin Campbell smoke soldiers sowars station Stewart street syce tent tion to-day told trees troops walked walls whilst wounded
Popular passages
Page 253 - A vision of palaces, minars, domes azure and golden, cupolas, colonnades, long facades of fair perspective in pillar and column, terraced roofs, all rising up amid a calm still ocean of the brightest verdure. Look for miles and miles away, and still the ocean spreads and the towers of the fairy city gleam in its midst. Spires of gold glitter in the sun. Turrets and gilded spheres shine like constellations. There is nothing mean or squalid to be seen. There is a city more vast than Paris as it seems,...
Page 254 - ... gleam in its midst. Spires of gold glitter in the Sun. Turrets and gilded spheres shine like constellations. There is nothing mean or squalid to be seen. There is a city more vast than Paris as it seems, and more brilliant, lying before us. Is this a city in Oude? Is this the Capital of a semi-barbarous race, erected by a corrupt, effete, and degraded dynasty? I confess I felt inclined to rub my eyes again and again.
Page 166 - London society, and used the names of people of rank very freely, which, combined with the tone of his remarks, induced me to regard him with suspicion, mingled, I confess, with dislike. He not only mentioned his bonnes fortunes, but expressed a very decided opinion that, unless women were restrained as they were in the East, ' like moths in candlelight, they will fly and get burned.' I never saw or heard anything more of him till some weeks afterwards, when a gentleman rode up to my hut at Cathcart's...
Page 168 - Lucknow, where they remained for some time, and are thought by those who recollect their tone and demeanour, to have exhibited considerable insolence and hauteur towards the Europeans they met. Afterwards the worthy couple, on the pretence of a pilgrimage to the hills — a Hindoo and Mussulman joined in a holy excursion! — visited the military stations all along the main trunk road, and went as far as Umballah. It has been suggested that their object in going to Simla was to tamper with the Goorkha...
Page 208 - For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
Page 222 - When Neill marched from Allahabad, his executions were so numerous and so indiscriminate, that one of the officers attached to his column had to remonstrate with him on the ground that if he depopulated the country he could get no supplies for the men.
Page 330 - The men are wild with fury and lust for gold — literally drunk with plunder. Some come out with china vases or mirrors, dash them to pieces on the ground, and return to seek more valuable booty. Others are busy gouging out the precious stones from the stems of pipes, from saddlecloths, or the hilts of swords, or butts of pistols and fire-arms. Some swathe their bodies in stuffs crusted with precious metals and gems; others carry off useless lumber, brass pots, pictures, or vases of jade and china.
Page 331 - The first door resisted every sort of violence till the rifle-muzzle was placed to the lock, which was sent flying by the discharge of the piece. The men rushed in with a shout, and soon they came out with caskets of jewels, iron boxes and safes, and wooden boxes full of arms crusted with gold and precious stones! One fellow, having burst open a leaden-looking lid, which was in reality of solid silver, drew out an armlet of emeralds, and diamonds, and pearls, so large, that I really believed they...
Page 164 - Here we had not only a Servile War and a sort of Jacquerie combined, but we had a war of religion, a war of race, and a war of revenge, of hope, of national determination to shake off the yoke of a stranger and to re-establish the full power of native chiefs and the full sway of native religions.
Page 165 - Constantinople, and, while stopping at Missirie's Hotel, saw, on several occasions, a handsome slim young man, of darkolive complexion, dressed in an Oriental costume which was new to me, and covered with rings and finery. He spoke French and English, dined at the table...